beccatoria | Why I'm Still Watching Doctor Who (I Think).

I've been thinking a fair bit about Doctor Who recently. I think because I'm so bothered by what I'm supposed to be supporting - by who I'm supposed to be rooting for. But...I still seem to want to watch. And I still really want to catch up with all the old series I haven't seen. So, I'm trying to work out why, how and if the new Doctor can be reconciled with the old ones, what it is I'm watching for. If the show still has the strengths that made me love it, in spite of its dodgy plot, acting and effects, when I first got into it, before the new series was even announced.

1. It's Doctor Freakin' Who. I'm so impressed that it's been resurrected after so long. I still haven't seen all of the old series, so I'm still re-discovering/discovering that, and that keeps me interested in the universe. Basically, this is more of a meta-type point. Doctor Who fascinates me as a show that started 43 years ago. I respect its endlessly complicated continuity, the BBC's crap effects that nonetheless TRY to look like alien worlds, its attitude to its hero. I want to keep watching it evolve. It really is an institution.

2. Scenery watching. It's shot in Cardiff, where I grew up. So that often proves hilarious. Plus my Ma once made the entire filming crew pack up and move out of her meeting room and saw "some man in a leather jacket sprinting down the hall," for which I will be eternally jealous.

3. Moving on from point two, it's really nice to see a show have welsh characters with welsh names outside of a welsh setting and for that not to be WEIRD. Cos, really, on tv dramas you get scottish people and irish people and northern people, but when is there a welsh person, unless they're a comedy character. Next, we'll even have a welsh character without a stereotypical accent! Aah, dreams... ;) So anyway, so far 66% of the reason I'm still even watching this show has more to do with national indoctrination than the show itself...great...

4. Sometimes, just sometimes, it still really shines. Because the acting isn't bad (in fact, it's quite good) and the writing doesn't always live up to its occasionally excellent concepts, but it's not *bad* either. Christopher Eccleston acted his heart out, and I didn't really start to dislike bits of the show until the Tenth Doctor. And even there... Well, I'd sit through a lot to see Sarah-Jane and find out she didn't get a happy ending after all. To see the darker side of travelling with the Doctor. I'll be coming back to that.

So there we have it. I love the show more for what it is than what's in it. Which is a shame. But I'm kind of...trapped that way.

That said, WHAT THE FREAKIN' HECK IS GOING ON WITH THIS SHOW'S ETHICS?!

I present for your edification the fantastic and fabulous moral code of the Tenth Doctor:

In Age of Steel it seems to be that quality of life is more important than life. He euthanises a woman named Sally who has been turned into a cyberman. When the technology suppressing her emotions fails, she wakes up, remembering her life and the emotions in it. She is extremely distressed at her inability to feel, that everything is so "cold" that her fiance is not present. To be fair to Sally, she has all of sixty seconds to acclimitise to her new state of being before being mercifully killed by the Doctor.

Let's note that Sally shows an awareness of herself, emotional attachment to aspects of her life, fear and compassion for the state of another, sentience independent of any external cybus computer network, and if she could still be controlled by the cybermen, it's never discussed in the episode.

Now, I don't relish the idea of being forever trapped inside a cold metal body, so I can sort of sympathise with the Doctor's code. Except, four episodes later, we have:

The Doctor's moral code according to his actions in Love & Monsters. Which seem to be, life is more important than quality of life.

I present the case of Ursula Blake, who again, according to what we see in the episode, is, against her will, is made immortal and has her head stuck to a paving stone for all eternity. Which is presented as a happy ending and reward, but is eerily reminiscent of the ultimate punishment in The Five Doctors, where hubris and desire for immortality is rewarded with immortality as a head on a slab of rock.

Again, Ursula shows that she is still a thinking, feeling person. But then, so does Sally. If we're defining life by the ability to think and communicate, I fail to see the difference between the two.

Even steering well clear of future speculation (what will happen to Ursula if it doesn't work out with Elton? When she's a million years old and nuts from her immortality?) I can't find a single difference between the two except the Doctor's whim on that day. Yes, Sally was a member of an enemy army, but her threat was clearly neutralised and her personality had been emacipated. Yes, Ursula has love, but so does Sally - she had a fiance we have no way of knowing was dead or wouldn't continue to accept her.

In fact, Sally at least had the power to move and manipulate the world around her. Yeah, she looks like a giant robot, and Ursula (what's left of her) looks mostly like herself. But I think I'd pick Sally's fate, not Ursula's given the choice.

Really...can anyone tell me what the difference in these circumstances is? Nothing in the text clarifies it. We're never told Ursula asks to be saved, and even if she did, we're never shown she had the sanity to make that choice - Sally's sentience certainly wasn't respected for making such a descision, so why should Ursula's have been? Could she have understood the consequences of her split-second shovel-induced decision?

I got no problem with Doctor Who not being some kind of brilliant moral authority or all that consistant. But inconsistancies of THIS MAGNITUDE in THIS SHORT A SPACE OF TIME bug the crap outta me. Especially when combined with this whole moral authority bullshit he has going on. *sigh*

Anyway, clarification would be appreciated. Cos, really, there might be something I've overlooked here. But I'm having trouble seeing it.

(Oh, also, killing Sally because she was from an attacking enemy force doesn't carry so much weight since she was, effectively, surrendering at the time. I mean the poor girl was a mess in search of comfort. Apparently unrequested euthanasia against a helpless enemy is acceptable, but a defensive strike against a far superior enemy who repeatedly threatened to enslave your species, and who's only retreating as a one off you have no hope of repeating and no guarantee will stick, is a REAL no go area. It's stuff like this that pisses me off. It's character inconsistancy. Or rather, the only consistancy is that the Doctor's whim is always the moral high ground and god help you if you don't anticipate it and fall down on the right side of it...)

Hmm, that bears saying outside the parenthesis and an LJ-cut. The Doctor's only character consistant trait seems to be that his current whim is guaranteed to have the moral high ground.

So. This leads to, who is the Doctor, really? He's this guy, who travels around in his blue box, running from responsibility. Apparently he finally steps up to it during the time war. But really, for the majority of his travelling, has he been such an excellent kind of guy? Sure, he has great ideals. I think that kindness has been his hallmark. Even the Tenth Doctor likes to think of himself as kind, though I find it a twisted sort of kindness. Even the Seventh Doctor, the one I like most (and possibly the only Doctor I would have primarily identified with if it weren't for my stupid love of Ace), wanted to be kind. Or perhaps, he understood compassion.

He would do terrible things, but he had compassion. He understood he was looking into the Abyss and the Abyss was looking back at him. He chewed on the scenery better than anyone, and he literally broke down Ace's emotional stability in order to save the universe, and he had rage, boiling rage for the big bad of the Curse of Fenric. But his performance suggested he understood how close he was to that thing he hated, than standing on high, judging it.

Perhaps I'm just seeing what I want to see. I probably am. Still, though, meddling is in the Doctor's character. Making unilateral decisions is in his character. I can't say that Ten's style of doing that is completely out of character. But it is obnoxious. The Fourth Doctor sometimes dithered about his rights to meddle. The Seventh didn't, but also accepted that by asserting those rights he took on responsibility both good and bad.

This guy seems to...well, he seems to want everything. This guy is a lonely god in a very real context. He lacks empathy for the ants. He toys with them and doesn't need an understanding of responsibility because there's no one to smack him when he screws up. He's a selfish god.

Makes me wonder about the general selfishness of the Doctor. He's never been good at the details. The bigger picture he worries about, whether through a sense of responsibility (to something outside, and more idealised than Gallifrey), a desire to explore. In some ways he is selfish and short-sighted in a godlike way. He doesn't understand the perspective of someone with one, short, linear life. He thinks thirty seconds of kindness is enough. He'll never understand the effect he has on people, the way he disrupts their lives, shows them something they want desperately, and then takes it away.

Look at Sarah Jane. Maybe it's why I find it hard to empathise with the Doctor. I'm always watching, half sad because one day my POV character is going to have to leave. And I find it hard to imagine a good life for them afterwards. Perhaps that's why Romana and Ace are some of my favourites. Romana was a Time Lord in her own right; Ace never left, at least not in the continuity of the show as I used to know it. And I've never been told what happened to her so I can make up all kinds of cool crap.

The Tenth Doctor might have a ways to go in consistant ethics, but at least he's learned to say goodbye.

Ugh. I'm stuck with this show. I love it, it's such great fun, but I also...eh. I'm really hoping the next series is better. I'm kind of interested to see who the new companion is, but the news that it'll be another young woman worries me. I really hope there's less of an overt proto-romantic relationship. We'll see.