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beccaelizabethI re-listened to this because it's 4 short stories with 5 and Nyssa. Also because I like it very much. Usually the short stories give me a feeling like sitting down for a meal and getting a biscuit, but these are more like the chocolate brownies I got from the shop today - yeah, they're small, but they're packed full of the good stuff.
The leaflet in the CD has PC describe them as representing "four different sorts of Doctor Who stories: alien planet; pure historical; social realism and shameless fan service. I'll leave it to you to decide which is which." This is an interesting summary of all the places Doctor Who can go. Stretches it rather more than a +time+aliens formula. And there's only aliens in one out of four.
The first of the four stories is about the Doctor seeking out a fellow Time Lord on a planet full of bird people. But it's also about justice, injustice, and regeneration, and therefore very much about the Doctor and how he relates to his fellow Time Lords at that point in his life. He's their favourite rebel, the rebel president, but he was also forcibly regenerated, and that's a very big deal. The other Time Lord in this one regenerates to remake himself in a more useful image, to change the fate of a whole species, and you can see how a Time Lord's next life is born out of their current one, how they're crafted for their purpose. The last story of the set says something along those lines. But when 2 turned into 3 it wasn't his choice, and it might be that his people wanted to be the ones reshaping him. But here they aren't the ones driving, they don't make the choices for him, even though the times they have are referenced. Here they've given up on controlling him and just wave a shiny in front of him and let him go be him at it. They suggest going to a place he really wants to go anyway and let him follow his instincts. It's the only thing that would work. So in a quick couple of conversations with another Prydonian, and watching one cunning plan at work, we cover a lot of ground about the Doctor and the Time Lords. But the bird people and their system of justice adds another layer, with their punishments being clearly unjust, punishing the innocent for the actions of the guilty. Is that what happened to the Doctor?
When I first listened I didn't understand why the Doctor had to be there because the plot wouldn't have worked out different if he wasn't there. Clearly I was listening with the wrong brain in cause I missed all the subtle theme and character stuff. I was on the train to a new place, I wasn't feeling subtle. But I also missed a bit of the plot, because the Doctor being the closest 'relative' to the Time Lord he was visiting was important to how the 'justice' of the world acted. The punishment would have fallen on him, except he, alone of everyone on the planet, had the capacity to escape without putting anyone else in danger. It's an elegant solution for the other Prydonian; and it says interesting things about Time Lords again, dumping on the Doctor in the knowledge he can handle it.
The second part had Sir Isaac Newton figuring out the future history of the Earth from a handful of coins. Which is rather fun in itself, the politics and symbolism wrapped up in these little pieces of metal we hand over without really thinking about it. But the Doctor says early on that he admires Newton because he is like him, so we have a compare/contrast going on. He can take tiny little clues and spin them together to see the shape of the whole future, and then he gets bored and goes to think about something else. He's got a seat in government but he's bored with politics. And he's scientifically brilliant. The differences of course involve religion, opportunity, and not being homicidal.
... probably.
There's fun little lines like the Doctor calling Houdini the second greatest escape artist of all time. Who's the greatest? "Modesty forbids." "Well it can't be you or we wouldn't still be stuck here." Though to be fair he has escaped from considerable more places than just about anyone. ... I love that 'Modesty forbids' bit because really, modest? :eyeroll: But it's classic 5, the not quite saying. And then Nyssa doesn't let him get away with it.
Also there's the bit where Newton complains about the apple giving him a nosebleed and the Doctor says he is a fast bowler.
... just giving history a hint there :eyeroll: :-)
Add to that the Doctor trying denial, sleight of hand, and then Nyssa going with 'the truth will set you free' and the Doctor joining in... it's like a little map of how he works under pressure. I like it.
... truth is quite a long way down the list, really.
This one ties in to time because of Newton and his logical extrapolation of the future. One man's legacy across the ages, and the rise and fall of nations. It makes a very large story of a very small bit of metal, three people, and a prison cell.
The third story is the one that sticks in my mind most between listens. I like it. Which is odd, because in many ways it's not a Doctor Who story. There's no alien invaders, time travel isn't particularly relevant, and nobody gets in fights let alone has big battles. The only connection is it's about the Doctor and Nyssa. But it's very much and specifically about the Doctor and Nyssa, and in a way that reminds you both that they're the aliens that make it an SF story, and that they're quite a lot human too. All that actually happens is the Doctor plays cricket and Nyssa writes a book and gets a boyfriend, but that's not a summary of the important bits. It's about Nyssa writing about home and getting upset when it's called a fantasy, and it's about the Doctor trying to have time away from his usual high pressure life and not precisely getting it. It's humans meeting outsiders, meeting the fairy princess who turns out to be an alien, or the star cricket player who gets jeered at for not being English. How people deal well and badly with that. And it's about time, about autumn, about that sense of being on the edge of loss, time running out, and for some people ending. But the Doctor and Nyssa move on. And Nyssa's book stays behind, not subject to change and decay, the story not subject to time. But what is that story? Well it starts with the exact same words the story we've listened to did. If what we just heard was Nyssa's story then her fantasy is to us an ordinary life.
And that leads in to the fourth story, where Nyssa has a husband and child, and the Doctor has a farm, children, and a wife. But for the Doctor it's a trap, a fantasy spun up by the Master, who tried that trick because he's so very lonely. It doesn't work because travel is the Doctor's home now, but also because the Doctor's real family, Nyssa, gets through to him. She's just the first, by the end everyone was with him, helping him regenerate. It's set in the moments at the end of the 5th Doctor's life, hallucinating as he dies. And it ties a lot together, regeneration, ordinary life, cricket, home, relationships, and moving on. The fact that the plot is a bit skinny and a bit bizarre is really not the point. The idea of choosing between definitions of who the Doctor is, that's the point. He's a man of many connections, one of the Doctor's you could see gathering his favourite people around him and staying a while. But he's still the Doctor, still the grand adventures man. Staying still is a trap. He's ready to be the next him.
They're tiny little bites of story, 4 short and unrelated plots, but the themes tie them in together, and between them they explore so many facets of the Doctor and Nyssa. And the time, the spring-summer-autumn-winter, the different phases of their lives together, the harking back to the Doctor's past lives and seeing him run into his future... it all adds up to a much larger story, by being tied so firmly to the grand sprawling myth narrative that is Doctor Who.
And Nyssa says it in the last one. (The writers say it to us, but make it sound like Nyssa.) The Doctor is a man who lives in ordinary time, has best friends and a life, and yet also in mythic time, striding through the stars. And that's what makes him wonderful.
So now I'm looking at the idea of writing a little 25 minutes and... *blinks*. There's a lot can be packed in to any of them. Have to start not with the monsters but with Nyssa and the 5th Doctor. Specificity, character. Throw some events at them, yes, but it's them we're all there for.
Teensy bit challenging.
I'm not sure I've even written about them coherently, actually writing them...
Maybe next I'll listen to something that makes me giggle for badness and set a bar I think I can reach...
The leaflet in the CD has PC describe them as representing "four different sorts of Doctor Who stories: alien planet; pure historical; social realism and shameless fan service. I'll leave it to you to decide which is which." This is an interesting summary of all the places Doctor Who can go. Stretches it rather more than a +time+aliens formula. And there's only aliens in one out of four.
The first of the four stories is about the Doctor seeking out a fellow Time Lord on a planet full of bird people. But it's also about justice, injustice, and regeneration, and therefore very much about the Doctor and how he relates to his fellow Time Lords at that point in his life. He's their favourite rebel, the rebel president, but he was also forcibly regenerated, and that's a very big deal. The other Time Lord in this one regenerates to remake himself in a more useful image, to change the fate of a whole species, and you can see how a Time Lord's next life is born out of their current one, how they're crafted for their purpose. The last story of the set says something along those lines. But when 2 turned into 3 it wasn't his choice, and it might be that his people wanted to be the ones reshaping him. But here they aren't the ones driving, they don't make the choices for him, even though the times they have are referenced. Here they've given up on controlling him and just wave a shiny in front of him and let him go be him at it. They suggest going to a place he really wants to go anyway and let him follow his instincts. It's the only thing that would work. So in a quick couple of conversations with another Prydonian, and watching one cunning plan at work, we cover a lot of ground about the Doctor and the Time Lords. But the bird people and their system of justice adds another layer, with their punishments being clearly unjust, punishing the innocent for the actions of the guilty. Is that what happened to the Doctor?
When I first listened I didn't understand why the Doctor had to be there because the plot wouldn't have worked out different if he wasn't there. Clearly I was listening with the wrong brain in cause I missed all the subtle theme and character stuff. I was on the train to a new place, I wasn't feeling subtle. But I also missed a bit of the plot, because the Doctor being the closest 'relative' to the Time Lord he was visiting was important to how the 'justice' of the world acted. The punishment would have fallen on him, except he, alone of everyone on the planet, had the capacity to escape without putting anyone else in danger. It's an elegant solution for the other Prydonian; and it says interesting things about Time Lords again, dumping on the Doctor in the knowledge he can handle it.
The second part had Sir Isaac Newton figuring out the future history of the Earth from a handful of coins. Which is rather fun in itself, the politics and symbolism wrapped up in these little pieces of metal we hand over without really thinking about it. But the Doctor says early on that he admires Newton because he is like him, so we have a compare/contrast going on. He can take tiny little clues and spin them together to see the shape of the whole future, and then he gets bored and goes to think about something else. He's got a seat in government but he's bored with politics. And he's scientifically brilliant. The differences of course involve religion, opportunity, and not being homicidal.
... probably.
There's fun little lines like the Doctor calling Houdini the second greatest escape artist of all time. Who's the greatest? "Modesty forbids." "Well it can't be you or we wouldn't still be stuck here." Though to be fair he has escaped from considerable more places than just about anyone. ... I love that 'Modesty forbids' bit because really, modest? :eyeroll: But it's classic 5, the not quite saying. And then Nyssa doesn't let him get away with it.
Also there's the bit where Newton complains about the apple giving him a nosebleed and the Doctor says he is a fast bowler.
... just giving history a hint there :eyeroll: :-)
Add to that the Doctor trying denial, sleight of hand, and then Nyssa going with 'the truth will set you free' and the Doctor joining in... it's like a little map of how he works under pressure. I like it.
... truth is quite a long way down the list, really.
This one ties in to time because of Newton and his logical extrapolation of the future. One man's legacy across the ages, and the rise and fall of nations. It makes a very large story of a very small bit of metal, three people, and a prison cell.
The third story is the one that sticks in my mind most between listens. I like it. Which is odd, because in many ways it's not a Doctor Who story. There's no alien invaders, time travel isn't particularly relevant, and nobody gets in fights let alone has big battles. The only connection is it's about the Doctor and Nyssa. But it's very much and specifically about the Doctor and Nyssa, and in a way that reminds you both that they're the aliens that make it an SF story, and that they're quite a lot human too. All that actually happens is the Doctor plays cricket and Nyssa writes a book and gets a boyfriend, but that's not a summary of the important bits. It's about Nyssa writing about home and getting upset when it's called a fantasy, and it's about the Doctor trying to have time away from his usual high pressure life and not precisely getting it. It's humans meeting outsiders, meeting the fairy princess who turns out to be an alien, or the star cricket player who gets jeered at for not being English. How people deal well and badly with that. And it's about time, about autumn, about that sense of being on the edge of loss, time running out, and for some people ending. But the Doctor and Nyssa move on. And Nyssa's book stays behind, not subject to change and decay, the story not subject to time. But what is that story? Well it starts with the exact same words the story we've listened to did. If what we just heard was Nyssa's story then her fantasy is to us an ordinary life.
And that leads in to the fourth story, where Nyssa has a husband and child, and the Doctor has a farm, children, and a wife. But for the Doctor it's a trap, a fantasy spun up by the Master, who tried that trick because he's so very lonely. It doesn't work because travel is the Doctor's home now, but also because the Doctor's real family, Nyssa, gets through to him. She's just the first, by the end everyone was with him, helping him regenerate. It's set in the moments at the end of the 5th Doctor's life, hallucinating as he dies. And it ties a lot together, regeneration, ordinary life, cricket, home, relationships, and moving on. The fact that the plot is a bit skinny and a bit bizarre is really not the point. The idea of choosing between definitions of who the Doctor is, that's the point. He's a man of many connections, one of the Doctor's you could see gathering his favourite people around him and staying a while. But he's still the Doctor, still the grand adventures man. Staying still is a trap. He's ready to be the next him.
They're tiny little bites of story, 4 short and unrelated plots, but the themes tie them in together, and between them they explore so many facets of the Doctor and Nyssa. And the time, the spring-summer-autumn-winter, the different phases of their lives together, the harking back to the Doctor's past lives and seeing him run into his future... it all adds up to a much larger story, by being tied so firmly to the grand sprawling myth narrative that is Doctor Who.
And Nyssa says it in the last one. (The writers say it to us, but make it sound like Nyssa.) The Doctor is a man who lives in ordinary time, has best friends and a life, and yet also in mythic time, striding through the stars. And that's what makes him wonderful.
So now I'm looking at the idea of writing a little 25 minutes and... *blinks*. There's a lot can be packed in to any of them. Have to start not with the monsters but with Nyssa and the 5th Doctor. Specificity, character. Throw some events at them, yes, but it's them we're all there for.
Teensy bit challenging.
I'm not sure I've even written about them coherently, actually writing them...
Maybe next I'll listen to something that makes me giggle for badness and set a bar I think I can reach...
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 09:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-22 07:32 pm (UTC)I figure, I set a high bar to attempt to copy, and a low one to try and avoid, and maybe I'll end up somewhere in the middle.
Also I need Nyssa voice in my head cause usually I don't got that :-/
... yes there's better people to get to do this. I still try I think.