Wow. I want to have your brain. This is where I realise that I forgot to mention that half of this belongs to promethia_tenk. (Two heads are better than one, and all that - or maybe we just share a brain. Haven't worked out how to describe it, but it's not just me!)
I'm floored by the fact that you used the story of Hades and Persephone as a metaphor for Eleven and River's marriage. Case in point being this, which is one of the only things in this meta which are almost exclusively Promethia's... (She rather disappeared down a rabbit hole. *g*)
I once wrote a fanfic where I used the Hades/Persephone story to resolve Ten Too's struggle with loss of godhood following Journey's End. Sounds clever!
She's splitting her time between Stormcage (gloomy imprisonment), the Ponds (family), and the TARDIS (otherworld/adventure). As a metaphor, it fits River pretty well. *nods* I don't think its intentional, but subconsciously Moffat must be drawing on a lot of this stuff.
I don't know that I agree that RTD "broke" the Doctor, so much as he pushed the pendulum out further than it had ever gone but still on an arc that would eventually have to swing back to the middle. Oh definitely, but I do think he literally broke him too - I'll get to this further down.
The cross-section of humanity present on that bus represents a pessimistic view of human nature that is alien to the more charitable world-view championed by every other episode of the show, and that is what makes it truly scary. I'd forgotten about Midnight... (Which means that maybe I'm getting better at suppressing it?) Anyway, yes that's a perfect example, and interestingly one that is a far better representation of RTD's actual view of humanity than the normal tone of the show. Which makes sense of a lot of things - esp when viewed in contrast to Moffat who loves nothing better than a happy ending. (I can back all this up with quotes, I've just not got the time to go hunt them down.)
And, yeah, okay, Waters of Mars breaks the Doctor in the sense that he becomes more terrifying than any of the monsters he fights. I think he definitely breaks - or has a nervous breakdown, or whatever it's called. (Also see this post which predicts this perfectly! Money quote: 'I think a full-out Time Lord meltdown would bring down galaxies and that's always lurking just below the surface with this Doctor.')
RTD tried to push the boundaries on the definition of what the show could be, and heaven help us, he certainly found where those boundaries are, by walking right up and sticking a toe over. Perfect description!
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This is where I realise that I forgot to mention that half of this belongs to
I'm floored by the fact that you used the story of Hades and Persephone as a metaphor for Eleven and River's marriage.
Case in point being this, which is one of the only things in this meta which are almost exclusively Promethia's... (She rather disappeared down a rabbit hole. *g*)
I once wrote a fanfic where I used the Hades/Persephone story to resolve Ten Too's struggle with loss of godhood following Journey's End.
Sounds clever!
She's splitting her time between Stormcage (gloomy imprisonment), the Ponds (family), and the TARDIS (otherworld/adventure). As a metaphor, it fits River pretty well.
*nods* I don't think its intentional, but subconsciously Moffat must be drawing on a lot of this stuff.
I don't know that I agree that RTD "broke" the Doctor, so much as he pushed the pendulum out further than it had ever gone but still on an arc that would eventually have to swing back to the middle.
Oh definitely, but I do think he literally broke him too - I'll get to this further down.
The cross-section of humanity present on that bus represents a pessimistic view of human nature that is alien to the more charitable world-view championed by every other episode of the show, and that is what makes it truly scary.
I'd forgotten about Midnight... (Which means that maybe I'm getting better at suppressing it?) Anyway, yes that's a perfect example, and interestingly one that is a far better representation of RTD's actual view of humanity than the normal tone of the show. Which makes sense of a lot of things - esp when viewed in contrast to Moffat who loves nothing better than a happy ending. (I can back all this up with quotes, I've just not got the time to go hunt them down.)
And, yeah, okay, Waters of Mars breaks the Doctor in the sense that he becomes more terrifying than any of the monsters he fights.
I think he definitely breaks - or has a nervous breakdown, or whatever it's called. (Also see this post which predicts this perfectly! Money quote: 'I think a full-out Time Lord meltdown would bring down galaxies and that's always lurking just below the surface with this Doctor.')
RTD tried to push the boundaries on the definition of what the show could be, and heaven help us, he certainly found where those boundaries are, by walking right up and sticking a toe over.
Perfect description!
[need to cut comment in half, I'm too wordy!]