DW bunnies hop hop hop
Aug. 5th, 2007 07:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI've been thinking about what that DW writer from the Shakespeare Code ep said, about how it would be great to do a multi Doctor ep but you'd need a reason now for why they all looked older. My first thought was Toth stick, split him into different aspects. He'd look older because he knows he is. But that didn't quite satisfy.
So, different show - Deep Space 9. Trill have previous incarnations, previous hosts, and in a couple of episodes Jadzia got to interact with her previous hosts. One time they were psychically removed from her mind and embodied in her friends. That would be nifty, and also get around the unfortunate thing where not everyone is still available. Plus it's always fun getting actors we know doing impressions of characters we know, like the body swap episodes on Farscape. But it doesn't actually get all the other Doctors together.
The other way was when Ezri called up sort of the ghost or memory of a previous host, who could walk around and only her see him. That was a good episode. But it would only have the Doctor interacting with himself.
Part of the fun with the Five Doctors episode was watching all the previous companions getting along with all the other Doctors.
In the new series we've only got Martha, Jack, and Sarah Jane to work with. Seeing as all those have work and two of them their own series, getting them all together for an episode might prove complicated. But I'm only writing fanfic so I could probably ignore that.
... and yet have to account for ageing actors. Consistency is not my strong suit.
It would be more fun to introduce even more companions from the past.
Some of them are harder to plausibly bring together than others. That would be part of why the Time Scoop was a brilliant bit of handwavey, could pull people together from anywhen.
Also I've no clue what the actual actors are doing these days, if anything. Fanfic mode can ignore that too.
What if...
The Doctor encounters a bit of technology meant as some kind of spiritual or psychiatric device, a way of confronting yourself. It pulls out different aspects of him so he can talk to them. Only of course with the way Time Lords regenerate the different aspects are simply his different lives. Because they're part of his psyche they look older because he feels older. And they get odd effects like the oldest parts fading to grey and going fuzzy, the way distant memories don't stay as sharp.
... that way you could use bits pulled from old episodes to be the unavailable Doctors. It would take some mucking about with editing to make available lines fit a new story. I saw something fun done like that at the convention, a Five Doctors remix sort of thing, so that's why I think of it.
It would look weird if there was a sudden cutoff between fuzzy-grey-Doctors and sharp-colorful-Doctors but there could be a gradual fading in effect instead. Or it could be they're *all* fuzzy and grey until they start pulling themselves together. A Time Lord is the sum of their memories, so pulling apart a Time Lord makes them go all wobbly. We saw that last time. So he'd only remember the bits he did wearing that face, and that would make him lack a whole lot of context and data, and not feel quite real. So he'd be fuzzy. Pulling himself together, making it so he had all his background again, he'd be proper and colorful. So if he started at the beginning and 1 & 2 met and merged then there would be sharp fully filled in 2. But if he started in the middle and 3&5 met there would be fuzzy 5 with still many gaps in his memory, and 3 wouldn't be wandering about any more.
So now it needs a plot.
I'm in ghost story mode still, all about the unfinished business. 1 let go and became 2 quietly, right? Figured he was all done? So he'd have no trouble doing that again. And in giving his reasons, stuff like mentioning Susan would come up.
Other Doctors could want to have a last word with someone, apologise to someone or make sure they're okay or something. Excuse to call in old companions.
The only one I've really thought of though is Jack talking to 9. Because when he's with 10 he can be all "You too" about fancying the Doctor and the Doctor not noticing, but 9 wasn't like that. 140 years of waiting could fuzzy up Jack's memories until he could believe it, but 9 being right there and acting like he did in Boom Town, the exact words and phrasing and stuff, even if he did just look like a grey fuzzy echo of himself... that would make it a lot harder to believe that. And when all of the Doctor is together except for 9 rejoining 10... 9 would be almost all solid, and Jack would have things to say to him. Except already only half of them would make sense, because 9 could say stuff about being a coward and running away and Jack would counter with talking about the Master and that whole year, only that conversation he can only have with 10. And maybe 9 flirts easier, but they can't have a second kiss, only the memory of the first. Because he's only dust and echoes. If Jack wants something new, he needs the whole man, the present and the making of the future.
So then 9 would go join 10, and then 10 would remember the conversations he'd been having with Jack all day, and... they'd have to talk.
I really, really want them to talk.
I also got fed up with 10 for the way he was treating Jack, and how the others would have all treated him different, and yeah maybe 9 started out mad at him but he really wasn't by the end, and 10 should show just a teensy little respect, and... I could do that with all the others meeting Jack and reacting to him. And then 10 would remember it all like it was fresh, and have all his own second opinions on the whole thing, and he'd have to have a bit of a rethink. He'd probably tell himself off. The Doctor always tells himself off. Getting on with himself never his strong point.
So he'd have a whole new conversation, and it would be different, and I could make them say stuff like "But you didn't want to go with me!" And "But you can come visit me here while I save the world a lot!" and maybe turn around that whole 'can spend the rest of my life with you' bit 10 said to Rose and make Jack be the one on the ouch end this time only 10 has a time machine so he can be all, no worries, see you in 10 years, or something. Only not, because then we'd not see him for 10 years and that doesn't work.And also I kind of want to get him into bed with Jack and Ianto and Martha.
... My plot bunnies just don't stay Doctor Who shaped. I said to college I want to write for Doctor Who, but I'm a slash writer, I want to write a grand romance where they end up in bed. The Doctor never ends up in bed, even the new version.
I can write for Torchwood and people end up in bed. I like that idea. But it's going to take 5 years to finish my degree, and who knows if there will still be Torchwood by then? I mean I think the setup is flexible enough they could do it - it has the benefits of Stargate style team swapping being available, for everyone including Jack, except Jack leaving for any reason except travel with the Doctor would be rather depressing so... well, I guess there could be travel in a new spaceship with someone just as dear to him, like taking Ianto to see the universe or something. Only then that would be two characters I like leaving at once. Woe.
ANYways, what I was saying is, Torchwood might still exist by then, but Doctor Who has pretty much proven it's not going anywhere.
:-D
I have another Doctor Who plot bunny that keeps biting. A story arc actually. The trouble is it's with a new companion. I was thinking what I haven't seen in a companion and would want, and made up a guy to fit. And I don't know if new companions have any audience in fanfic. I know in most fandoms I've been in new characters get rather less interest than even minor canon characters. I don't know about DW.
... that's the other weird thing - until my recent Doctor/Master reading, I haven't read any Doctor Who fanfic, or been in DW fandom really beyond the few on my f-list who also watch. So it feels weird writing fic. I've only seen (large parts of) the canon, how can I write fic?
... the fact that this feels like a perfectly sensible worry indicates the flaws in the theories I've read about fanfic production, because they mostly leave out that community aspect.
So, different show - Deep Space 9. Trill have previous incarnations, previous hosts, and in a couple of episodes Jadzia got to interact with her previous hosts. One time they were psychically removed from her mind and embodied in her friends. That would be nifty, and also get around the unfortunate thing where not everyone is still available. Plus it's always fun getting actors we know doing impressions of characters we know, like the body swap episodes on Farscape. But it doesn't actually get all the other Doctors together.
The other way was when Ezri called up sort of the ghost or memory of a previous host, who could walk around and only her see him. That was a good episode. But it would only have the Doctor interacting with himself.
Part of the fun with the Five Doctors episode was watching all the previous companions getting along with all the other Doctors.
In the new series we've only got Martha, Jack, and Sarah Jane to work with. Seeing as all those have work and two of them their own series, getting them all together for an episode might prove complicated. But I'm only writing fanfic so I could probably ignore that.
... and yet have to account for ageing actors. Consistency is not my strong suit.
It would be more fun to introduce even more companions from the past.
Some of them are harder to plausibly bring together than others. That would be part of why the Time Scoop was a brilliant bit of handwavey, could pull people together from anywhen.
Also I've no clue what the actual actors are doing these days, if anything. Fanfic mode can ignore that too.
What if...
The Doctor encounters a bit of technology meant as some kind of spiritual or psychiatric device, a way of confronting yourself. It pulls out different aspects of him so he can talk to them. Only of course with the way Time Lords regenerate the different aspects are simply his different lives. Because they're part of his psyche they look older because he feels older. And they get odd effects like the oldest parts fading to grey and going fuzzy, the way distant memories don't stay as sharp.
... that way you could use bits pulled from old episodes to be the unavailable Doctors. It would take some mucking about with editing to make available lines fit a new story. I saw something fun done like that at the convention, a Five Doctors remix sort of thing, so that's why I think of it.
It would look weird if there was a sudden cutoff between fuzzy-grey-Doctors and sharp-colorful-Doctors but there could be a gradual fading in effect instead. Or it could be they're *all* fuzzy and grey until they start pulling themselves together. A Time Lord is the sum of their memories, so pulling apart a Time Lord makes them go all wobbly. We saw that last time. So he'd only remember the bits he did wearing that face, and that would make him lack a whole lot of context and data, and not feel quite real. So he'd be fuzzy. Pulling himself together, making it so he had all his background again, he'd be proper and colorful. So if he started at the beginning and 1 & 2 met and merged then there would be sharp fully filled in 2. But if he started in the middle and 3&5 met there would be fuzzy 5 with still many gaps in his memory, and 3 wouldn't be wandering about any more.
So now it needs a plot.
I'm in ghost story mode still, all about the unfinished business. 1 let go and became 2 quietly, right? Figured he was all done? So he'd have no trouble doing that again. And in giving his reasons, stuff like mentioning Susan would come up.
Other Doctors could want to have a last word with someone, apologise to someone or make sure they're okay or something. Excuse to call in old companions.
The only one I've really thought of though is Jack talking to 9. Because when he's with 10 he can be all "You too" about fancying the Doctor and the Doctor not noticing, but 9 wasn't like that. 140 years of waiting could fuzzy up Jack's memories until he could believe it, but 9 being right there and acting like he did in Boom Town, the exact words and phrasing and stuff, even if he did just look like a grey fuzzy echo of himself... that would make it a lot harder to believe that. And when all of the Doctor is together except for 9 rejoining 10... 9 would be almost all solid, and Jack would have things to say to him. Except already only half of them would make sense, because 9 could say stuff about being a coward and running away and Jack would counter with talking about the Master and that whole year, only that conversation he can only have with 10. And maybe 9 flirts easier, but they can't have a second kiss, only the memory of the first. Because he's only dust and echoes. If Jack wants something new, he needs the whole man, the present and the making of the future.
So then 9 would go join 10, and then 10 would remember the conversations he'd been having with Jack all day, and... they'd have to talk.
I really, really want them to talk.
I also got fed up with 10 for the way he was treating Jack, and how the others would have all treated him different, and yeah maybe 9 started out mad at him but he really wasn't by the end, and 10 should show just a teensy little respect, and... I could do that with all the others meeting Jack and reacting to him. And then 10 would remember it all like it was fresh, and have all his own second opinions on the whole thing, and he'd have to have a bit of a rethink. He'd probably tell himself off. The Doctor always tells himself off. Getting on with himself never his strong point.
So he'd have a whole new conversation, and it would be different, and I could make them say stuff like "But you didn't want to go with me!" And "But you can come visit me here while I save the world a lot!" and maybe turn around that whole 'can spend the rest of my life with you' bit 10 said to Rose and make Jack be the one on the ouch end this time only 10 has a time machine so he can be all, no worries, see you in 10 years, or something. Only not, because then we'd not see him for 10 years and that doesn't work.
... My plot bunnies just don't stay Doctor Who shaped. I said to college I want to write for Doctor Who, but I'm a slash writer, I want to write a grand romance where they end up in bed. The Doctor never ends up in bed, even the new version.
I can write for Torchwood and people end up in bed. I like that idea. But it's going to take 5 years to finish my degree, and who knows if there will still be Torchwood by then? I mean I think the setup is flexible enough they could do it - it has the benefits of Stargate style team swapping being available, for everyone including Jack, except Jack leaving for any reason except travel with the Doctor would be rather depressing so... well, I guess there could be travel in a new spaceship with someone just as dear to him, like taking Ianto to see the universe or something. Only then that would be two characters I like leaving at once. Woe.
ANYways, what I was saying is, Torchwood might still exist by then, but Doctor Who has pretty much proven it's not going anywhere.
:-D
I have another Doctor Who plot bunny that keeps biting. A story arc actually. The trouble is it's with a new companion. I was thinking what I haven't seen in a companion and would want, and made up a guy to fit. And I don't know if new companions have any audience in fanfic. I know in most fandoms I've been in new characters get rather less interest than even minor canon characters. I don't know about DW.
... that's the other weird thing - until my recent Doctor/Master reading, I haven't read any Doctor Who fanfic, or been in DW fandom really beyond the few on my f-list who also watch. So it feels weird writing fic. I've only seen (large parts of) the canon, how can I write fic?
... the fact that this feels like a perfectly sensible worry indicates the flaws in the theories I've read about fanfic production, because they mostly leave out that community aspect.