Time (Lords) Can Be Re-Written. Meta on Ten -> Eleven.

[elisi]

Firstly, then the icon really says it all. The post is merely an attempt at explaining my thinking behind it.

Secondly, most of this sprang out of long and complicated conversations with promethia_tenk, who deserves credit for at least half of this, if not more.

Thirdly, HUGE thank you’s to kathyh for making the icon, for lo, it is awesome and everything I wanted. :) Also it is very snaggable! Just credit Kathy.

Ten -> Eleven
I will start with a quote from Radio Times, which sums up a lot of the discussion on the topic so far:

‘Meanwhile, Matt Smith walked straight into Doctor Who and made the role his own, with a sweet, quirky and funny interpretation of a man who was once in danger of becoming a bleak, existential figure consumed by loss and despair.’

(The use of the word 'once' cracks me up, btw. 'Once'? You mean last year? Heh.)

Anyway, I loved that bleak, existential Doctor rather a lot, but was happy to see the change (he sorely needed it, poor thing). The problem of course being - was the change too great? How could he change so very drastically? (I re-watched 'The Eleventh Hour' the other day, and throughout tried to remind myself that he'd just been Ten. It wasn't easy – maybe that ‘once’ isn’t so misplaced after all.)

When mulling this over, I kept coming back to this quote from Angel – the context is rather complex (it is spoken re. someone becoming a vampire), but I think it speaks well enough on its own:

"What we once were informs all that we have become.”

I have said before that I don’t see much of Ten in Eleven – except for the effects of having been Ten. And I think we need to look on that as being deliberate – Eleven is a conscious, intentional attempt at change, a decision to transform made flesh, literally. This works twofold:

1. In many ways Eleven isn’t a continuation so much as a reaction against Ten’s more problematic flaws. Or a self-correction, maybe – swinging the other way? This is not uncommon – look at Two and Three, or Five and Six, or Seven and Eight, for examples of drastic change. (I always loved One's comment, when meeting Two and Three: "So you're my replacements - a dandy and a clown." I know there are icons out featuring Nine, Ten and Eleven with the same text.)

2. Stepping back further we can see how the Doctor, post-Time War, slowly re-gains a sense of self. The Doctor from Classic!Who was bright (sometimes too bright, I’m looking at you, Six) and eccentric. Nine was all in black (mourning), closed off (lonely), taciturn (guilty). Nine led to Ten - brighter, more in-your-face, but also more brittle, and with a very sharp dress code. Ten was the man of ‘No second chances’, someone who had a tendency to see the world in black and white - for or against him. Which brings us to Eleven. Eleven who is a true eccentric once more, and a man who – whilst mourning the loss of his race, and wishing things could have been different – no longer lets his loss (or his actions) define him.

But how did it happen so ‘quickly’? Well, here's my theory. To start off with 'A Christmas Carol':

Amy: Time can be re-written.
Kazran (scornful): People can't!

Well now, ignoring the extent to which the Doctor re-wrote Kazran, please look at this:

The Doctor (to Amelia): Am I 'people'? Do I even look like 'people'?

This is in essence what my icon says: Timelords rewrite themselves. After all, what else is regeneration? I think in many ways Eleven's 'birth' is very much borne out of a moment like the one where young!Kazran sees his older self - death (that Ten runs from so desperately) in the end forces him to look inwards, to look at who he is, the mistakes he made, and deal with it, in many ways exactly like sahiya summed it up:

‘In "The End of Time," when Ten dies, it is with one last big melodramatic, overwrought, overly emotional BANG. And then he wakes up as Eleven - AND IT'S FINE. Better than fine, really. Sure, the TARDIS is crashing, but it's not like that hasn't happened before, and then he meets this awesome little Scottish girl, and really, things are fine. And the Doctor goes, "Holy crap on a cracker, I was mad. Let's not do that again!"’

Because the thing is, he's a Timelord, not 'people'. Where a human being needs time (and therapy would be neat too) to move forward, a Timelord can do things that seem impossible - or rather, Timelords quite simply work differently. Ten's flaws and strengths were there right from the start, running through him like the letters in a stick of rock. He didn't 'grow' so much as become more and more entrenched, until finally we got all the growth and change all in one go, when he regenerated. And wouldn't that make sense, from what we know about Timelords? Personally I can absolutely accept that in the moment of death/regeneration, the Doctor's DNA performed clever self-corrections. He claims not to have much - if any - control over this process, but I think he lies. I think he has control over what kind of person he turns into, if not maybe the physical form. (I also like how this makes his whole world view very different from a human's. Plus it casts new light on why Jack is so wrong from the Doctor's perspective: It's death without change, and unnatural in the extreme from a Timelord's POV.)

But I'm rambling now. My basic point remains very simple:

Eleven is the Doctor, re-written.

Comments

[skipthedemon.livejournal.com]

I agree so much to all of this.

I know the audio adventures have a complicated explanation for why Romana regenerated after the Key to Time arc. Based on the just TV canon though, I concluded that she had decided to stay with the Doctor, despite what she had thought was a mission from the President of Gallifrey being over. She also decided she couldn't be the prim young woman in-calculated with the all the expectations of Time Lord society. She was out in the universe now. So, she changed.

Unless Time Lords are busy assassinating each other behind each other's backs, it seems like a pretty safe place. I doubt they get sick much, either. Yet, Time Lords must have regenerated with reasonable frequency, right? I'd guess Romana's method is actually how the majority of Time Lords regenerated: choice. They live for so long and get bored, or something happens in their lives they can't deal with as they are, so makes themselves something new.

That makes the Doctor actually very reactive in this one aspect of his life.

I wonder how many regenerations the Master went through try to make himself 'perfect'?

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

Yep, I've mentioned before that I have a theory that the rewriting you mention is the natural process of regeneration, but that Ten went out of his way to subvert it by trying to make it easier for Rose. He tried to become more human, and it led to many of his problems. It would also explain why FoB created such an explosion and strong reaction in his personality.

Good meta.

[calturner.livejournal.com]

This is wonderful meta - and makes so much sense.

Eleven is the Doctor, re-written.

Yes!

[chloris67.livejournal.com]

Yep! That's how I always saw it. Each regeneration is borne out of the previous but that doesn't mean we should see some sort of gradual evolution. Instead it's Puncuated Equilibrium. (in one being instead of in a species but the same idea!) All the change gathers up and then bursts out as it were. :D

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, interesting.

I have said before that I don’t see much of Ten in Eleven – except for the effects of having been Ten.

One of the themes of S5 was that the Doctor was the Doctor was the Doctor. I agree, Eleven is a very conscious reaction to Ten, and the darkness within--but Ten still lurks there, as they all do. Eleven was in danger of slipping back into Ten in "Victory of the Daleks." It was there in his reaction to the Daleks, and in his reaction while trying to defuse Bracewell's bomb. (Which I think I mentioned before, way back when.)

He [Ten] didn't 'grow' so much as become more and more entrenched, until finally we got all the growth and change all in one go, when he regenerated.

I disagree. Ten's evidence of growth and change came in TEoT when he said goodbye to his companions. I know fans detested the Long Goodbye, but IMHO that coda was absolutely critical to finish his arc. I'm working on an essay why, I really should finish it. Anywho, Ten's journey was realizing he was never truly alone. To do that, he had to re-define what "family" meant to him, in the absence of Gallifrey (and, after S2, Rose). His tragedy in S3 and the end of S4 was, he was so focused on being "last of the Time Lords" that he couldn't see the family right in front of his face. ("The Doctor's Daughter": A Time Lord is so much more. A sum of knowledge. A code. A shared history. A shared suffering. Oh, Ten, so rigid. Why is it the most insightful arc episodes are also the worst?) As a result, Eleven becomes a parental figure. So I do see Ten ---> Eleven continuity.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed this! ♥

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Interesting points!

I'm a little handicapped-- I was only vaguely aware of the who-niverse and the Doctor before Nine; so while I've made a point of seeking out classic who I've experienced it through a filter of Nine, Ten, and now Eleven. I've actually never watched any of the Romana I stories. Four has such great chemistry with Romana II; I should go seeek out the Key arch. (BTW, there needs to be some Buffy-verse/Who-niverse crossovers focused on Dawn, don't you think?)

I grew to love the Doctor when he was Nine and continued to love him as Ten in a big way because he was so broken. He was so much more relateble than the classic who doctor was. I see what you mean about Eleven being more healed than Ten, but it also distances him.

[kateydidnt.livejournal.com]

Plus it casts new light on why Jack is so wrong from the Doctor's perspective: It's death without change, and unnatural in the extreme from a Timelord's POV.

*Jaw Drop* That is one of the absolute most insightful things I have ever read about the Doctor's reaction against Jack. Brilliant. Your whole essay is in fact brilliant, but most I had thought of or read, but I never fit that bit into it. BRILLIANT.

One thing though- I don't think the Doctor would have been able to heal so completely though if Ten had not ended the way he had. Nine was still feeling guilty when he died and that carried through into Ten. But Ten--when he died--had finally decided he wanted to LIVE and, the way I see it, in having to make the choice again to doom Gallifrey he could finally forgive himself for doing it.

I think Ten in a lot of ways was always doubting his own actions in the Time War, but in having to confirm it was the only way by repeating them he could finally let go of the guilt.

And I'm rambling too now.

There's a fic on whofic that the total is not my favorite, but within it has one of the most brilliant analyses I've ever seen of how each doctor is a reaction against the previous:

http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=12441

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. A lot of thought in it.

Rewatching some of Who recently it's increasingly struck me that I loved 10 on the first go round but the existential angst kind of overwhelmed me by the end, so I notice it more every time I see those episodes again and I don't like it quite as much.

The existential angst was interesting, I just think they may have done a bit too much of it.

[eve11]

here from who_daily. I quite enjoyed your insights in this. I agree with you in the way that the Doctor can re-write himself. Partially, becoming a new person -- getting a new body -- gives him a chance to step back and examine who he was and learn from it.

[ever-neutral.livejournal.com]

Eleven is a conscious, intentional attempt at change, a decision to transform made flesh, literally.

Yes. I love this. On the surface Eleven is SO DIFFERENT, and then you watch something like "Amy's Choice", and the deep self-hatred is still SO MUCH THERE. Ugh, I love it.

[tardiscrash.livejournal.com]

All very well put. I agree and think this is the case for pretty much all of the Doctors. You can look at all of them and see this same process.

Add to that the distaste he seems to have for himself when he runs in to other regenerations. Excepting Ten and Five becasue well, Ten would be pretty well saturated with nostalgia.

[stick-poker.livejournal.com]

Nice. I think a lot of this is stuff I had loosely in my head, but it's good to have it all marshalled together into a proper argument like this. Ten's speech in the Sycorax spaceship says the same thing; he's done all his changing in one go, and then he has to work out who he is, because he's become it already but not through experience like a human. Hence all the fun with fic where the Doctor is in new territory, too...

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Very interesting, as usual :-)

I think that one of the ... problems may be the wrong word - issues? I've had with Eleven is that I was able to get a handle on him initially only in relation to Ten; because he is, as you say a reaction against the heightened emotional states that Ten frequently displayed.
And that feels like a cheat to me - because I want to know Eleven AS Eleven, and not just because of the things he isn't - if that makes sense?

But then, Moffat clearly sees the Doctor through a different filter to the one we were used to, and I suspect he wants to keep him (the Doctor) a little more distanced from the audience - Eleven is certainly more secretive and repressed than Ten was.

[honeynoir.livejournal.com]

*applauds*

This meta pleases me. One of my first impressions of Eleven was that he had, well, rebooted himself – basically dealt with/repressed the Time War angst and gone back to a personality similar to his earliest selves – and you just put that into words in a way that made perfect sense.

Now to read all of these comments...