Yeah, these things unfortunately happen when meetings are supposed to get underway and I'm waiting for everyone. And waiting. And waiting. Sorry about that.
For me, at least, the expectation was there because the damned program kept telling she was Special and Important.
Ah, no, I phrased that badly. I didn't mean to imply that there was no such message of Special Importance from the entire production team. There most certainly is such a message being bull-horned at us. I also agree with you that it all started with RTD, although (and as much as I loathe to cut that man any slack at all) I think that it's unfortunately an invention of "modern" (i.e. 21st century) entertainment to have the focus on characters in a way that's always making them face an emotional crisis, or turning point, or revelation. And it isn't just that this is what the production teams give us, it's that it's what audiences in general (oh, sure, there are exceptions, such as you, apparently, and others I've seen out there who make comments similar to yours, and definitely such as me) want. It's either schadenfreude, or sadism, or "there but for the grace of God go I" attitude, or just some weird inability to form an interest in a character unless he or she always being buffeted on all sides by a giant, angst-producing shitstorm. Which makes me think of those papers I read in college about how sociopaths need extra stimulation to feel anything, but that's a tale for another day.
Where I disagree is your contention that the emphasis in classic Who was usually on the Doctor. "He's what matters," you said.... The story was what mattered, the adventure was what mattered.
It is indeed, and again I phrased it badly. I am actually much more in agreement with you than it seemed from my comment, I see now that I"ve perused it in e-mail format (always helpful to see how I totally screwed up saying what I meant to say). In my haste to hammer my point into the ground, I overstated that point. I do think that the companions of Classic Who were there to showcase the Doctor in the sense that they there for him to explain things, but everyone --- companions and Doctor --- where there to tell a story. Yes, the Doctor saved the day, but what was the focus was the trouble wherever it was he landed, and how he went about helping to solve it. Even the Doctor's characteristics were let out slow in furtherance of (or perhaps more of a side-effect of) the stories. On the surface he looked heroic (rightly so, for a show targeted at children); it took an older eye watching over the course of all the seasons to realize, for instance, that the Doctor is irresponsible because of the way he comes in and solves crisis but never hangs out for what looks to be a long, hard clean-up. And thank goodness that, in those days, the story was more important than showing that the Doctor is irresponsible in that way. Now, and including RTD's turn at bat, that focus is by the wayside.
He's fickle because Moffat doesn't know what to do with him. I rather suspect his instincts are telling him that this "human" Doctor is a mistake, a dead-end...
I do agree that Moffat seems to be showing progressing signs of having lost the faith about humanizing the Doctor. It's probably the one thing that I see that actually makes me have a bit of faith in him. But, as you say, he can't pull back now, not when he already started down the path that RTD blazed for him --- which, let's face it, he couldn't have avoided walking down even if he wanted to.
(Funny, but I just had a discussion about Logopolis and how that story featured a "really bad" crisis --- the threatened end of the universe. Nowadays, that happens every week, and it actually does happen! It's a wonder Eleven doesn't throw up his hands and say "I've had it with everything. You none of you know how to not destroy all of existence," and go live in a cave.)
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dancing_serpent
Re: Wildly different view, same facts
Date: 2011-10-02 01:50 am (UTC)Yeah, these things unfortunately happen when meetings are supposed to get underway and I'm waiting for everyone. And waiting. And waiting. Sorry about that.
For me, at least, the expectation was there because the damned program kept telling she was Special and Important.
Ah, no, I phrased that badly. I didn't mean to imply that there was no such message of Special Importance from the entire production team. There most certainly is such a message being bull-horned at us. I also agree with you that it all started with RTD, although (and as much as I loathe to cut that man any slack at all) I think that it's unfortunately an invention of "modern" (i.e. 21st century) entertainment to have the focus on characters in a way that's always making them face an emotional crisis, or turning point, or revelation. And it isn't just that this is what the production teams give us, it's that it's what audiences in general (oh, sure, there are exceptions, such as you, apparently, and others I've seen out there who make comments similar to yours, and definitely such as me) want. It's either schadenfreude, or sadism, or "there but for the grace of God go I" attitude, or just some weird inability to form an interest in a character unless he or she always being buffeted on all sides by a giant, angst-producing shitstorm. Which makes me think of those papers I read in college about how sociopaths need extra stimulation to feel anything, but that's a tale for another day.
Where I disagree is your contention that the emphasis in classic Who was usually on the Doctor. "He's what matters," you said.... The story was what mattered, the adventure was what mattered.
It is indeed, and again I phrased it badly. I am actually much more in agreement with you than it seemed from my comment, I see now that I"ve perused it in e-mail format (always helpful to see how I totally screwed up saying what I meant to say). In my haste to hammer my point into the ground, I overstated that point. I do think that the companions of Classic Who were there to showcase the Doctor in the sense that they there for him to explain things, but everyone --- companions and Doctor --- where there to tell a story. Yes, the Doctor saved the day, but what was the focus was the trouble wherever it was he landed, and how he went about helping to solve it. Even the Doctor's characteristics were let out slow in furtherance of (or perhaps more of a side-effect of) the stories. On the surface he looked heroic (rightly so, for a show targeted at children); it took an older eye watching over the course of all the seasons to realize, for instance, that the Doctor is irresponsible because of the way he comes in and solves crisis but never hangs out for what looks to be a long, hard clean-up. And thank goodness that, in those days, the story was more important than showing that the Doctor is irresponsible in that way. Now, and including RTD's turn at bat, that focus is by the wayside.
He's fickle because Moffat doesn't know what to do with him. I rather suspect his instincts are telling him that this "human" Doctor is a mistake, a dead-end...
I do agree that Moffat seems to be showing progressing signs of having lost the faith about humanizing the Doctor. It's probably the one thing that I see that actually makes me have a bit of faith in him. But, as you say, he can't pull back now, not when he already started down the path that RTD blazed for him --- which, let's face it, he couldn't have avoided walking down even if he wanted to.
(Funny, but I just had a discussion about Logopolis and how that story featured a "really bad" crisis --- the threatened end of the universe. Nowadays, that happens every week, and it actually does happen! It's a wonder Eleven doesn't throw up his hands and say "I've had it with everything. You none of you know how to not destroy all of existence," and go live in a cave.)