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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 10:21:14 GMT -5
Tea! We're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British! True. And, obviously, tea is all that's required to repair the synaptic damage caused when an unimaginable physical process of regeneration has been interrupted.
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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 10:40:47 GMT -5
Snow! Well, not really. Signifies change anyway. I never thought how the Doctor would have to figure out who he is each time he regenerates. I mean, he's the same Doctor, but not. So what makes him different each time? It's the most intriguing thing about the character. His personality alters with his body (which makes sense, since regeneration renews all the body's cells, which would include the brain), yet he is the same person. He retains the memories of all his past selves, but, more than that, some central core of Doctorness remains. He really is the same person, and yet different. My own take on this is that the personality is quite a fluid and superficial thing. For example, I'm sure we're all very different people than we were 20 years ago; we have different personalities. But somehow, a part of us (the subjective bit that we call "I") remains constant and unwavering. That's why we say things like, " I've changed." Imagine if a 20-year change in personality happened in few seconds. You don't get new memories or experiences, just a shift in opinions, emotions, ways of interacting with people, and so on. It would be quite disorientating, I'm sure. Another way to look at it is the notion of reincarnation. Different lives, but the same person. Some of the Doctor's incarnations have had pretty unpleasant personas, but he's always compelled to act morally. No matter what sort of character he has, he's still recognisably the same person. It's not just memories that somehow survive from one regeneration to the next, but also something fundamental, more fundamental than the personality.
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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 10:43:53 GMT -5
"No second chances." Yup. That's the Doctor. Oh, dear. Firing on it anyway. "I should have told them to run." I can see each of their points. Ah, those 6 words. OK, what is the new "Look"? Ohh, very nice. Sharp and smooth and pretty. And he walks past the coat rack with all the past "looks" on it. Nice. The episode's writer agrees with you on that. As for the TARDIS wardrobe, it's seeded with items from every Doctor's costume. I've also recognised some of the companions outfits, too.
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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 10:44:42 GMT -5
Snow! Well, not really. Signifies change anyway. I never thought how the Doctor would have to figure out who he is each time he regnerates. I mean, he's the same Doctor, but not. So what makes him different each time? I've just always seen it as part of the way Time Lords regenerate, I guess. That they don't so much regenerate as rebuild. Or something. It's a Time Lord thing.
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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 10:46:18 GMT -5
One of his hearts not working. Sycoracs rock?! So, Rose is having a "this isn't MY Doctor, this isn't the real Doctor" vibe, eh? So, she's the stand in for fans that sometimes have trouble moving on to the next one, eh? Well, who's NOT having trouble moving on? Especially with the Doctor all writhy and annoying? Ahem. "You can tell the President...and please use these EXACT words...he's not my boss, and I'm not going to let him turn this into a war." And a cheer goes up from the entire English population. That line had no recent cultural reference, I'm sure.
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Post by Onjel on Oct 1, 2006 10:54:55 GMT -5
Bad tree - no pressies for you! "Ooooh, he hasn't changed that much." ;D We eventually see he has, though. At the end, when Jackie says, "Well, I think you're mad, the pair of you. It's like you go looking for trouble." He waxes lyrical with, "Trouble's just the bits in between! It's all waiting out there, Jackie..." Can you imagine the Ninth Doctor saying this? He'd probably have responded with, "Like you'd know. Yeah." In fact, can you imagine the Ninth Doctor joining in a group hug or wearing a party hat? ;D Exactly. Number 9 was more stern. This one is fun from jump city! He's more happy-go-lucky on the outside, with all the serious, moral, concerned bits still intact on the inside, I think. I really love the different personalities of the Doctors. I thought I loved Eccleston, stern as he was, but I postively adore David Tennant. So boyish!
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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 11:08:35 GMT -5
Hmmmm. Pretty effective threat. Losing one third of the world's population would be just be devastating. I mean, the personal loss would be horrible but also it would result in total chaos! Huh. Big ship. And it looks sort of organic. Oh, get a spine Rose! Be spunky and and feisty and all! Not sure it'd be more devastating than having half sold into slavery, though, chaos-wise. And the TARDIS should NOT have equipment that's exposed so that spilt tea can damage it. As for the "blood type mind control"...not gonna say it...not gonna say it...not gonna...ARGH... BLOOD TYPE!?*thinks for a while. quite a good long while* Okay... Perhaps red blood cells, antibodies, antigens, and so on have a function we haven't detected or understood. As well as their more utiltarian jobs, perhaps they are instrumental in the production of consciousness! I mean, it's common sense, really. *begins to warm up* It's all to do with very complex subatomic processes. You know quantum-type stylee stuff. So, by controlling this and sending a signal that works via quantum connectedness... *nods to self* Scientists in the future will be saying, "Oh, those silly 21st-century scientists with their respiration and immune-system hangups!" Ahem. Or perhaps not. ;D That's the thing about science fiction that involves the distant future or massively advanced cultures - writers can get away with murder. In Bad Wolf, the Doctor mentions that the Games Station's blocking signal hides the Dalek fleet from "radar, sonar, scanner". Now, we might think to ourselves, You don't actually need a jamming signal to hide from sonar in a vacuum, Doctor. But that's because we don't know about super sonar in the 200th century! *laughs* As far as I know, DW has no technical advisor. It's never been hard sf, of course. Even so, I take your point.
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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 11:11:25 GMT -5
*nods* Good point. It's a good ploy, too. I still love Harriet Jones. I don't love her so much anymore. What with the mass murder. And I LOVE that the tea was the answer. Silly, silly British man. And we were ALL thinking "Arthur Dent", weren't we?Okay. When he's awake, I like him. ;D There's quite a few cheeky sf references in the ep, but that one is the best.
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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 11:24:15 GMT -5
Snow! Well, not really. Signifies change anyway. I never thought how the Doctor would have to figure out who he is each time he regnerates. I mean, he's the same Doctor, but not. So what makes him different each time? Completely new brain, is my guess. Now, where he's storing all his memories and knowledge while he grows a new brain, I have no idea. They're big with the separation of the personality from the memories on this show. Alternatively, I guess you could say, "Different actors." But that's cheating. There are some explanations, but they're fandom explanations. A popular idea in fandom is that regeneration is an artificial process, the result of some form of unguessed-at biological/genetic engineering. In "The Deadly Assassin" we learn about the Matrix on Gallifrey, which stores the minds of deceased Time Lords (somehow uploaded - there is some confusion as to whether this is merely their memories or the psyche itself, but the story does imply that the Matrix is a form of secular afterlife). Fandom has taken this idea and come up with the notion that the Doctor's memories are uploaded into the TARDIS during the regeneration itself and then returned to him. This is just fan speculation, though. Anyway, not all the reincarnations occurred in the TARDIS.
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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 11:33:58 GMT -5
I don't love her so much anymore. What with the mass murder.
And I LOVE that the tea was the answer. Silly, silly British man. And we were ALL thinking "Arthur Dent", weren't we? Okay. When he's awake, I like him. ;D Yes, pre-emptive strikes are difficult decisions, and it made me love her less, too. I was surprised at 10's reaction to it,(removed possible spoiler), and it was his words that prompted her to do it now. Similar decision was made by one of the characters on ER the other night. After living with years of dealing with her psycho ex-husband, he really went psycho, killed his partners and kidnapped her and her son. She escaped when he fell asleep, after she lulled him into a false sense of security by saying they would stay with him, but instead of leaving in the van with her sleeping son, she changed her mind, went back to where he was sleeping and shot him 3 times - in cold blood. Was that 'wrong'? At the time, she believed that he would continue to make their lives a living hell. I feel she will pay for it anyway, if not by the law, by her own goodness and her son's eventual anger towards her when he finds out. //tangent// sorry It's a difficult issue. The question is, basically, do you shoot someone in the back if they might be a serious danger to you and yours? Harriet made a hard decision and the Doctor was hard on her because of it. A tricky one, but the Doctor generally serves as a moral compass for the series, so we have to assume that the message is, "Life is precious. Don't shoot at a retreating enemy." But never mind all this serious stuff. The real question is, "What is Torchwood?" ;D
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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 11:35:31 GMT -5
Yes, pre-emptive strikes are difficult decisions, and it made me love her less, too. I was surprised at 10's reaction to it, since 'he' basically did the same during the big Time War, and it was his words that prompted her to do it now. Did he? I haven't seen that, if he did. All I know is that he feels responsible for killing all the Daleks, and also his own people, but not the specifics of why. I pretty much figure the Daleks were being aggressive at the time, not retreating, 'cause they always are. And The Doctor (4) did once have the choice whether to commit genocide against the Daleks before they had the chance to do anything, and IIRC, didn't do it. Because committing genocide would make him like them.
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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 11:36:42 GMT -5
Psst. Do you think they stop periodically to let Rose visit her stylist and get her roots touched up? 'Cause check out the eyebrows on my avatar. It just occurred to me to wonder about the TARDIS's hairstyling capacity.... She's a Rose who's proud of her roots.
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Post by Riff on Oct 1, 2006 11:40:28 GMT -5
We eventually see he has, though. At the end, when Jackie says, "Well, I think you're mad, the pair of you. It's like you go looking for trouble." He waxes lyrical with, "Trouble's just the bits in between! It's all waiting out there, Jackie..." Can you imagine the Ninth Doctor saying this? He'd probably have responded with, "Like you'd know. Yeah." In fact, can you imagine the Ninth Doctor joining in a group hug or wearing a party hat? ;D Exactly. Number 9 was more stern. This one is fun from jump city! He's more happy-go-lucky on the outside, with all the serious, moral, concerned bits still intact on the inside, I think. I really love the different personalities of the Doctors. I thought I loved Eccleston, stern as he was, but I postively adore David Tennant. So boyish! The one thing that makes the Ninth and Tenth Doctors stand out from the others is that they are both post-Time War. The Tenth Doctor doesn't have the survivor guilt and cynicism (wouldn't it be nice to simply become someone new!), but the sorrow and loneliness is in there somewhere.
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Post by Rachael on Oct 1, 2006 15:10:47 GMT -5
Tea! We're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British! True. And, obviously, tea is all that's required to repair the synaptic damage caused when an unimaginable physical process of regeneration has been interrupted. Now, now. He never said it was "all". It was just the missing ingredient.
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Post by Rachael on Oct 1, 2006 15:13:04 GMT -5
We eventually see he has, though. At the end, when Jackie says, "Well, I think you're mad, the pair of you. It's like you go looking for trouble." He waxes lyrical with, "Trouble's just the bits in between! It's all waiting out there, Jackie..." Can you imagine the Ninth Doctor saying this? He'd probably have responded with, "Like you'd know. Yeah." In fact, can you imagine the Ninth Doctor joining in a group hug or wearing a party hat? ;D Exactly. Number 9 was more stern. This one is fun from jump city! He's more happy-go-lucky on the outside, with all the serious, moral, concerned bits still intact on the inside, I think. I really love the different personalities of the Doctors. I thought I loved Eccleston, stern as he was, but I postively adore David Tennant. So boyish! Well, you know, they're just different. Nine was...stern, yeah, but also wore his heart on his sleeve more than he would like to admit. Your classic tortured soul, which can be attractive, though only briefly. He was at his best at the end of "The Doctor Dances", when he was also least tortured. Ten, OTOH, so far seems much more boyish. Actually rejuvenated this time. Helps that he looks younger than ME. When's that ever happened on DW before?
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