(no subject)

[retro_eidas]

New S4 pics... with Martha bonus! YAYZ!

She's got a ring on her finger which, understandably, folks are wondering if it means she's engaged/married. Possibly. As a woman could only ever get over someone by being suddenly married off. *insert massive eyeroll here*

Although - as my brain is full of crackspec as anyone who reads my Who posts probably knows at this point - I'm wondering if it might be a modified version of this ring....



I'm thinking a Master possession in S4 is all but an inevitability. It's not only an old skool thing he does, but he totally has no body now (as Jedi!Doctor burninated it).

I do have to admit, as long as she doesn't end up Truly Dead by the end of it, I think the idea of Master!Martha is kind of hot. However, that could just be me desirous to see (Not)Martha kick the Doctor's scrawny ass ("Second best", I'll show him "second best"), so I could be a little biased.

Comments

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

the Time Lords really need to come back. The Doctor as the Highest effing Authority and answerable to no one has gone beyond the pale.

I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, the dramatic break created by killing off Gallifrey is the only thing that made the Nu Who work for me in the first place (even if it's only ever "worked" for me in pretty much exactly the same way as any good fanfic does). They needed to do something to get away with so many drastic differences in approach—it really is a completely different show, yet they have to sell it as a convincing spin-off. Short of destroying the TARDIS—which would be kind of self-defeating—I'm not sure there's anything else big enough.

On the other hand, I'm becoming increasingly convinced that the Doctor, as character, needs that cultural context to rebell against and challenge and ultimately in his own way be a part of in order to work, to really work. It's like having a Santa Fe without a D.C. He's the child playing hooky from home; our own desires to do something of the same is part of what creates that instant sympathy and magnetism. Which goes poof if there isn't any home to play hooky from.

That, and angst can only be entertaining for so long.

Maybe the solution would be to do a good, solid job building up a new context for the Doctor to be a part of and accountable to and get smacked down now and again by? It would be difficult, but not impossible. Of course, that's not to say that I can envision RTD doing it.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

My personal dream is some grand ourobouros loop-de-loop where it turns out that all of Nu Who has indeed been a mere AU branch in the Doctor's timeline all along, caused by some paradox or other (Faction Paradox?), and thus Eleven is actually Nine and Gallifrey and the Time Lords were actually there all along and we go back to kickin' it old school. Not that I'm holding my breath, you understand, I'm no fool.

[eido.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, the dramatic break created by killing off Gallifrey is the only thing that made the Nu Who work for me

I give you I think it worked really well with Nine. I could buy the trauma and PTSD or maybe that's just because I think Eccleston is a better actor than Tennant.

Ten - at least I'd have guessed initially (but I get confused due to Rusty seemingly incapable of keeping Ten guilty or in the wrong for too long) - seems to be the aftermath of someone capable of doing what he did and, sometimes very frighteningly, unable to realize how far he can go. Except for the times the writers treat him like a misunderstood w00bie who's everso lonely and just needs a hug (forget he might treat his companions deplorably at times, the god crap and his punishments can sometimes far exceed the crimes, HE'S LONELY!!!)

However, and maybe this could be the inconsistencies I feel written in Ten, but I sometimes question how much drama the loss of Gallifrey really has given the Doctor's character compared to old school. fantasyjax makes some really good points in that regard (http://fantasyjax.livejournal.com/92075.html#cutid1).

There's also times I wonder if the writers blew up Gallifrey just to write the Doctor into the typical heroic orphan role a la Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter. Two other hella popular stories with the kids and Rusty has homaged more than once.

that's not to say that I can envision RTD doing it.

Which is the clencher, isn't it? The reason I tend to fall back on the Time Lords coming back is this is actually something I see him capable in doing. It's really the easiest way out of this and give the Doctor a new story to angst over (the Time Lords are alive... but they hate him / made him think they were all dead and then isolated him from them on purpose). Also considering the fact the Daleks are anything but extinct and the advent of the Master? Well, truthfully, it really does seem like only a matter of time.

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

I sometimes question how much drama the loss of Gallifrey really has given the Doctor's character compared to old school.

Oh, it never gave it more drama; it helped with the shift simply because it was different. Or it helped for Nine, at least, and I think a big part of why it worked better there than with Ten is that—hullo, RTD!—it was more understated. (There are a lot of things I like about how S3 dealt with the Gallifrey arc, including the Chameleon device and Martha's collateral involvement… but, dude.) On the whole I don't prefer the New Skool approach to the Old, but if you *are* going to suddenly shift to what Davies likes to do, it helps to make it more different in other respects, not less. Um. That's not coming out very coherently.

fantasyjax makes some really good points in that regard.

That was an excellent post.