This post is COMPLETELY tongue-in-cheek!

[elisi]

OK, so Promethia and I stared arguing over which episodes were worst/the maddest - the S4 finale or EoT. Now, I need to explain that this is not some kind of RTD-bashing excuse. I love those episodes like pancakes. I watched TSE six times when it first aired. I watch EoT through a haze of 'Mmmmm Doctor/Master... Wait, was there something else happening?' Seriously - give me crack, I will eat it up with a spoon.

HOWEVER. EoT - IMHO - makes NO SENSE plot wise. Cut & pasted from another post:

Stuff happens just because it happens. I mean, what's the deal with the Doctor's mother talking to Wilf? How does she do it? WHY? How do the Naismith's know about the Master returning? Why is Wilf the only one who can remember the dreams? Why does Rassilon narrate, and from what point in his personal timeline does he do so? WHO gave the Ood the gift to see through time? I just... It's not MD levels of bad (the continuity is fine), it's just a lot of random stuff tied together. *shakes head and tells self to focus on the Doctor/Master* (Also the EPIC EPIC ANGST is sort of undercut by the fact that... he's not really DYING, y'know? He's going to be FINE. It's such a storm in a teacup. But then Ten always ate up ALL his drama-flakes.) [...] If actual angels had appeared at that point and helped the Doctor on his final STRUGGLING walk I wouldn't have been the least surprised. It's so OTT that it's almost collapsing from lack of oxygen.

The best explanation is actually this one, by 10littlebullets:

'I found that EoT makes perfect sense if you think of the whole thing as Ten's regeneration-sickness-induced fever dream: somewhere, somewhen, he tripped over a brick and hit his head and was so disappointed at his anticlimactic regeneration that he dreamed of an epic universe-imperilling death sequence where he is the most important person in the universe, his angst is so tragic and full of pathos look at all the burdens on his poor shoulders, he gets final confirmation that he was right to blow up the Time Lords, the Master is staring into his eyes and wibbling about their lost childhood on Gallifrey, and the whole thing works by dream logic.'

Again, I mock BECAUSE I LOVE. Honestly, mostly I just want to hug EoT. However, it doesn't make sense. Promethia, though, thinks that TSE/JE is worse in the sense making department:

'Whereas Ten siphoning off his regeneration energy into his amputated hand, which then calls out to Donna backwards through time to make her touch it, thus producing a human/Time Lord clone which can be left in a parallel universe with the slightly clingy girlfriend is the epitome of sense making, yes you are right. ;)'

Personally I can easily hand-wave all that stuff because of 'These things happen on a Hellmouth'. (You know what I mean.) Timelords can do all kinds of mad things. It's like magic. Those episodes might be crammed full of more STUFF than should be possible, but at least it mostly makes sense... Comparatively.

ETA: Promethia wishes to clarify her position: 'My argument was really that TSE/JE are worse episodes in general, of which the blatant trampling on sense is only a part.'


So, gentle flist, what is your opinion? Again, this is NOT an invitation to say nasty things about RTD. I luff him very much. He just writes MAD stuff (which is one reason I luff him - logic is for losers. *g*)

[Poll #1845878]

(Although if you want something more serious, then I posted the final chapter of My Immortal 2 yesterday.)

Comments

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

I love them both for the OTT scenery-chewing. I like Ten best when he's emotionally battered; I'm a bad, bad fangirl.

I can kinda, almost fanwank JE (and I love the Rose/10.5 ending) but nothing but the "fever dream" explanation has ever made made EoT really make sense. SO I ticked the JE box. But I'm a little disappointed that you totally failed to discuss season 3's tinkerbell-jebus closer. No Sense Was Had! Not by anyone! Well, maybe Martha, but it's a stretch.

[elisi]

Ooooooh the scenery chewing! ♥ It's a miracle that there's anything left!

And as for S3, then I shall quote the great man himself:

"I just channel-hopped and caught The Sound of Drums. Am I on drugs when I write these things?"

However, Promethia has never kicked off about S3 the way she does about JE, so it didn't feature in our argument... Also I LOVE Tinkerbell!Doctor and - despite everything being MAD, there's method in the madness. The Master's plan makes sense, as does the Doctor's, and it all builds on what came before. *draws hearts around S3*

[betawho.livejournal.com]

Strangely enough, the "tinkerbell jesus" image didn't bother me. How else would someone look if they had access to the psycic power of a whole planet?

And, up to that point, the plan more or less makes sense (other than taking way too long) Get Martha out of harms way, get her to set up a plan that uses the Master's psychic network against him, and time it for the countdown, because the Master can never resist a countdown. Martha still has her key, so she can walk unnoticed. She uses the excuse of a Time Lord killing gun as a believable cover for why she's walking the world instead of staying near the Valiant. It's an excuse that makes sense (UNIT created a gun that would kill Time Lords at a time when they had two Time Lord renegades showing up constantly, one of whom was a murdering mass renegade, and the other of which was uncontrollable. It only makes sense to have insurance. And the military would naturally think of a gun. And having the parts separated by countries would be one way to prevent either of the Time Lords in question from easily getting their hands on it. It had verisimilitude.)

So the Doctor uses the very method the Master is using to subjugate the world (a ring of psychic satellites) to free himself and free the world by turning it back against him.

For once, I was happy to have a plot resolution that actually made sense.

I didn't even mind the poetic license taken with the power turning the golem him back to normal, or deflecting a bullet, or making him glow and fly. He was literally "flying high" on that much mental energy.

What really annoyed me, was the sanctimonious "I forgive you," speech. He's not god! He's not Jesus! And the Master didn't want to be forgiven. So it just made the Doctor look like a sanctimonious tit.

It left this bad taste in my mouth as the Doctor was portrayed as, "Oh, I'm so much better than you that I will forgive you for all your transgressions and show you how wonderful I am."

I wanted to throw things at the screen. It wasn't enough that he had outwitted the Master, but he had to be sanctimonious and "messianistic" about it.

Ugh.

Loved the clever problem solution, hated the "holier than thou" tone.

[elisi]

Oh but I LOVED it! and I even have a whole essay delving into everything, if you're in the mood for meta:

What if God was one of us?

But in brief, then let me quote the relevant parts:

Arch-enemies are always trying to out-do each other. Which is why The Master cannot kill The Doctor - he needs him to be there, to witness his triumph... (I love that The Master plays I Can’t Decide - the metaness of it is delightful). The thing is of course, that The Doctor with three words makes all of The Master’s plans futile. He slaughtered millions of people - planned on a galaxy wide blood bath - and The Doctor ‘ain’t bothered’.
[...]
I of course touched on the subject of forgiveness before, and I love how it mirrors in these two characters - it is the one thing The Doctor wants more than anything, but cannot have, and it is the worst thing The Master could imagine. It implies that he is - could be - sorry. Could truly regret his actions. And that never enters into it.
[...]
Anyway, forgiving The Master is also in many ways the most cruel thing The Doctor can do - and he knows it. The Master is evil, The Master has killed millions with a smile on his face. By forgiving him, The Doctor makes it ‘not count’... and also of course sets himself up as being *above* The Master.
It can certainly be argued that everything The Master did was designed to hurt The Doctor. And then it gets brushed off just like that. (Sorry - try harder...)

Basically - that 'I forgive you' is THE biggest 'Fuck You' the Doctor could conceivably have come up with.

And that is why I love it.

(Of course it's completely mad considering the overall story of DW and Old!Who etc etc, but in the context of Rusty's Who and Ten's issues, it's perfect.)