Doctor Who

That's actually a rather striking parallel with colonialism, actually. I mean, save for the actual clear and present danger vs. the perceived danger of not being enough like European culture being "savage".

edited 31st Jan '14 10:54:46 AM by Wackd

Monoids asking for help and offering to pay for it with all they have left is equal to colonialism or racism? How, exactly?

There's such a thing as reading themes or meanings into a story that simply aren't there.

It's always been very clear to me that both sides are guilty of mistreating the other. The Guardians appear more civilized at first, but they quickly descend into panic and mob rule and are ready to just toss the Doctor, Steven and Dodo out the airlock, quite literally. There are some brutal tendencies under the veneer. The later generation of Monoids that take over the Ark are murderous and genocidal. And yet in the end the Doctor advocates peace and understanding, not revenge or bitterness. He believes they can put the past behind them.

There's a nice theme of forgiveness and tolerance in The Ark when it's all said and done, and concocting some racist, colonial interpretation of the story is a disservice to the actors and producers of the show. It assigns thoughts and motivations that none of us can possibly know. It's more than a little insulting, honestly.

edited 31st Jan '14 11:04:01 AM by andersonh1

It was weird that Dodo somehow figures the Monoids for savages ("sounds like savages") from a windowless cell through a door just by hearing their funeral procession pass by, despite the fact that the only sound being made are the drums of the overarching soundtrack.

Also, multiple Monoids have died and are dying because of the plague the TARDIS crew inadverndently brought to the Ark but the Doctor and his crew only get properly condemned after gasp a human finally dies of the plague.

They're arrested and imprisoned after the first death, which is a Monoid. Though I'll grant you that the humans seem far more concerned once one of their race has died. But they've already become scared and ready to kill. Is it any surprise that they're prejudiced as well? They're very flawed individuals. Steven calls them out on it.

Then they turn around and offer the Monoids the chance to carry out the execution since a Monoid was the first to die. They can't make up their minds.

edited 31st Jan '14 11:06:36 AM by andersonh1

Bread and Circuses.

Huh, we're in a weird place right now.

I don't have much to contribute to the discussion of the Monoids, since I've neither watched the serial nor read the Eruditorum piece on it (and don't care to do either just now) so instead I'll bring up a similar topic, his Mind of Evil piece.

So the premise of the thing is that a scientist (who later turns out to be the Master, but never mind that for now) has created a device that sucks the evil out of people. Sandifer condemns that for being an overly simplistic view of morality. I can't entirely disagree with him there.

But then he goes on talk about how it serves to divide people into clearly defined groups of good and evil, and that's where I have to disagree with him. First, the serial makes it clear that everyone has some of what machines sucks out in them- Jo and The Doctor are both menaced by the machine at various points- and, more importantly, the thing it sucks out is a necessary and important part of life; as the guy who the machine is used on is portrayed as being a near helpless invalid.

So, I mean, the idea that evil is an objective Thing that can extracted is bullshit, but the way that idea is actually used is a lot more nuanced than Sandifer's giving it credit for. It doesn't people can be sorted into one of two categories, it says that everyone belongs to both categories too some extent, and furthermore, belongs solely to a single category would be a bad thing.

Pfff snerk Security Kitchen.

I mean, that, right there, is the end of any claims that Doctor Who might somehow, if you think about it long enough, make sense. No. Doctor Who might somehow, if you think about it long enough, drive you very productively mad.

Reminds me of the Dark Crystal.

My goddather actually had The Mind Of Evil in colour.

That jacket still haunts my nightmares.

Yay Ace of Wands!

The Kandyman runs his own security kitchen. Clearly the Monoids stole the idea from him.

I have to agree, that's bull for saying it's a simplistic view on morality just because it looks like that's what the machine/parasite does on the surface. But it's quite clear it takes more than negative impulses, it leeches your free will and capability of complex thought, effectively killing the person you used to be.

I don't think the idea that "evil" is ever necessary is one that should be espoused ever.

Things like ‘plot’, ‘story’, ‘the sequence of events’ and ‘what actually gets written’ are all wildly different things.

Paul Cornell is going to be reading the TARDIS Eruditorum essay on The Three Doctors.

He was only trying to fool the younger River that was shooting him anyway. The older one he'd just had a picnic with was already keeping like a dozen secrets as it was.

edited 31st Jan '14 4:35:19 PM by unnoun

I'm reading through a transcript of the episodes and currently I'm not inclined to interpret it charitably.

EDIT: in the interview someone posted, “Brian Hayles’ ‘The Celestial Toymaker’ was a good indication of what we really wanted. Ahahahaha.

edited 31st Jan '14 8:53:51 PM by Laura

I have a theory. What if some parts of the Expanded Universe are like in-universe fiction? Like, some of the wilderness years books could be fiction written in-universe by someone who met the doctor? Also the tvm would make a lot more sense if it was just an embellished version of actual events-maybe chang lee became a writer and decided to make a film of what happened in san fransisco.

Well, this is one hell of a call back.

Only eight years. That barely even qualifies.

Yeah, as far as call backs go, Doctor Who has done way better.

See: every single frame of Day of the Doctor.

day was rather overloaded with call backs. But as an anniversary special, it's sort of expected to, so I didn't mind. I like call backs anyway, 'cause I think its fun to spot them.

Just finished watching Last Of The Time Lords.

Damn, the Master is probably the villain that came closest to winning.

Davros comes pretty close though.

edited 1st Feb '14 11:33:06 AM by Archivist10

I thought the Doctor was the villain who came closest to winning, well, before the great big retcon Moffat got away with in Day of the Doctor anyways...?

The whole of the end of series 3 really impressed me. The master was funny but at the same time dangerous, and he pretty much beats the doctor. Martha gets to be awesome and not just Not-Rose.

Can't wait for the Master to come back.

Benedict Cumberbatch said he wanted to play him in the Big Finish. Imagine him doing the actual series.

15 SATELLITES!!!!!!

The Double Take the Master does when she brought that up makes me chuckles.

edited 1st Feb '14 11:53:40 AM by HandsomeRob

Yay Metaphors?

Yay Cornell?