Fic: Protect and Survive

[jjpor]

Fic: Protect and Survive, Part VIII: Protect and Survive

The conclusion! Answers, though they may not be the ones the Doctor wants to hear, and a solution, of sorts; here's hoping it makes sense. More past Doctor cameos too. All of the quotations I have used as chapter headings in this fic are from the movie Dr Strangelove, and some dialogue in this part is taken from the Who stories Genesis of the Daleks by Terry Nation and Resurrection of the Daleks by Eric Saward. The Daleks belong to the Terry Nation estate. None of these things belong to me!

The link:

www.whofic.com/viewstory.php

Comments

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

To be fair, it was a paraphrased quote to the effect that (or so it seemed) no matter what was written, it was never possible to construe anything as being lacking in continuity. I interpreted --- somewhat dejectedly and perhaps incorrectly --- this to mean he felt that it was all right to willy-nilly and glaringly contradict prior show stuff for the heck of it (e.g., Eleven suddenly didn't kill Sutekh, even though Four did, or Reapers don't exist for Eleven when they did for Nine) because time travel makes all things possible. I like consistency within a serial (I'm a crazy demon for it, in fact --- I got incensed beyond all proportion at a "House" episode where an actress had a pen behind her ear then turned up without it in the same scene after a cutaway), but I tend to extend it to an entire show. Right or wrong, I count Doctor Who back to 1963 as one entire show. I'm still quite looking forward to Moffat's take on everything, though.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I have faith in Moffat not to screw things up any more than they already are, but I may be getting soft in my old age (I've been known to say nice things about RTD in the last couple of months, now that I'm getting over my Journey's End trauma). Still, watch the backlash against him when it comes (if it hasn't come already!); this time next year, he'll be worse than RTD ever was, in the eyes of some sections of fandom. Still, I don't think he's produced a bad story for Who yet (even if they aren't all the works of Bob-Holmes-level genius some people would have you believe). If he can just keep it up for a whole season...

Having said that, I have no reason to expect him to be any more respectful of canon than RTD was; certainly, some of his remarks suggest that he won't be. Still, he has actually made use of time travel as a plot point in at least one of his stories (which is a lot rarer than it should be in a show that's supposed to be _about_ time travel), so if he does go trampling all over canon, at least we can expect his handwaving to be more elegant and plausible-sounding than we're used to. :D

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

Truly, it is impossible to please all people all the time. Or even one person all of the time.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah; indeed. I think one of the things that led to the demise of oldschool Who in the 80s was excessive pandering to fandom. On the other hand, treating them with complete contempt isn't very smart either. I hope Moffat can find the middle ground, but whether or not he does remains to be seen...

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

one of the things that led to the demise of oldschool Who in the 80s was excessive pandering to fandom.

I was watching one of the special features on the Trial of a Time Lord DVD the other day and they were saying this very same thing. It's too bad how agendas can get in the way of a good show.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I agree; from a cold-hearted BBC exec point of view, terminating Who around the time of Trial of a Time Lord made sense. It was ripe for the plucking after JNT and Eric Saward had done their best to turn it into unadulterated fanw*nk. The sad thing is that it had started seriously to pick up again in the later McCoy era, just as the axe fell. Much the same thing happened to the Star Trek franchise in the Voyager/Enterprise era. I can actually see what JNT was trying to do, to take the show away from the pantomime/comedy state it had fallen into in Season 17, to try and make it into serious science fiction again. I like Season 18 far more than a lot of people do. Still, I don't see how anyone can seriously argue that stuff like Twin Dilemma and Resurrection of the Daleks is an improvement over things like Horns of Nimon. I mean, it isn't, and to my mind, Horns of Nimon is far more entertaining.

On the other hand, I think that at times the RTD era has been almost dismissive of some of the qualities that made the original show so distinctive and so good, in its heyday. I really do think that there is a middle ground to be found here, but as I say, whether Moffat is the man to do it...time will tell.

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

Oops --- missed this. I struggle to be fair and toremember that Moffat faces, as RTD faced before him, a different kind of audience than Old School Who's audience. The problem is that I can't quite bring myself to believe it. Sex and pretty faces have sold TV programs as long as I can remember; I have no doubt that selling was always a factor in all but the very early years (if that even) of Doctor Who. I will say that 21st century viewers seem less capable, or are perceived by producers to be less capable (so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy) of thinking about and focusing on storyline; the emphasis on "character development" --- if that's what having a character wallow and indulge in immature behavior can be called --- over story virtually must lead to an overall decline in story and series. I'm hoping that, with a not-so-well-known actor playing the Doctor, the production team may let themselves return to a more story-oriented focus than character/relationship focus. Then we'll get things like "Seeds of Death"; they took an entire episode to set that one up without thrusting any relationship dynamic in our face and we still got to come away with a little more insight into not only Troughton's Doctor, but every other character in that serial.

As you say, however, time will tell.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to keep an open mind - I'm prepared to be positive about Moffat and Matt Smith until either or both of them prove me wrong. As you say, though, the received wisdom among people in the TV industry seems to be that in order to be popular and to remain popular in the modern environment, a show has to be done a certain way, with a certain type of emphasis. "Character driven", in other words, which is often just a syonym for low-grade soap opera. As you say, oldschool Who, at the height of its powers, was full of at times very subtle character insight (even in the case of very minor villains/guest characters in a lot of cases), without it ever being detrimental to the storylines or ideas. I think it was something television in general did better in those days. Still, to play devil's advocate, I think that the soapy stuff has been less prevalent in Seasons 3 and 4 of NuWho, while always present; maybe this reflects growing confidence on the part of the production staff as they realise they don't have to keep constantly ticking demographic boxes to keep their audience share. Whether this will continue into the new era is something that remains to be seen - I worry about what the year out may have done to the show's audience base, because if it has been affected I worry about what Moffat and co might do to try to win them back. There are already all sorts of stunt-casting rumours flying about, but I hope those are just the usual paper-talk.

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

"Character driven", in other words, which is often just a syonym for low-grade soap opera.

Or, to call a shovel a spade, adolescent titillation for the sake of nothing more than itself. Oh, and for the sake of ratings. On the other hand, I was a rather boring, cloistered adolescent. Perhaps I am not qualified to judge. (****snork****) Yeah, right. Like I'll ever cop to that.

I agree. I think a year's hiatus may have ultimately disastrous impact on the show's viability. A handful of specials does not a whetting of the appetite make. It's not like there was a rampant, 16-year-long, all-across-the-board collective howl into the wilderness for the show's return. Other brains in charge may well have decided that's Tennant's popularity (and I guess RTD's clout, but it's not like he has lots of teenyboppers throwing themselves at him the way the star does so it may not matter as much) simply wasn't strong enough to forestall moving right along to Eleven. I would have if I'd been in charge. Momentum is all.

Stunt-casting may be a little distasteful in concept, but it can be executed tastefully in practice. Pussy Galore in the Vervoid section of "Trial of a Time Lord" (sheez, I wanna call her Anne Francis but I know that's Honey West; I'm just channeling the guys in "Resevoir Dogs" --- I least I know it's not Pam Grier) was, I think and for what the story was, nicely executed stunt-casting. However, if it's all going to be in the service of feeding the self-pitying, solace-seeking trip we've seen in NuWho, then it'll be awful. I may very well stop watching then, and I'll be seriously pissed off because I'm actually prouder of my 31 years of Doctor Who appreciation than I am of my 21 years spent practicing law. Oif - How sad is that?

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Honor Blackman? That's her name, isn't it? She used to be in the Avengers at one point, I believe.

But yeah, I do think the hiatus may prove to be a serious mistake. Everywhere I go online nowadays I see young Tennant fans saying things like they aren't really as into Doctor Who as they once were, thanks to the long wait between new instalments. As if Matt Smith wasn't going to have a hard enough time competing with the runaway juggernaut that is the Cult of Tennant. I can only shake my head and wonder at what their reasoning was for doing things the way they have. I think you may have a point about them puttting off a painful change for as long as the could, but seriously, how cool would it have been if the Journey's End regeneration had been a real one - straight out of the blue - and in the middle of that blaze of publicity that accompanied the cliffhanger?? Momentum, as you point out, is everything, in televison as in anything else; I hope they can get the ball rolling again next year and that a lot of the young fans who have only ever known Tennant as the Doctor will stick around and given them a chance.

I think stunt-casting is often in the eye of the beholder; if you have the opportunity to cast a classy, big-name actor in a role, you should probably go for it, but some of the rumours you hear just make you want to scream NO! DON'T! Still, I don't know what they'd have to do to make me stop watching it now. Marry the Doctor off permanently to Rose and have them raise 2.4 Time Tots? I even forgave them Journey's End. Eventually. Well, when I say "forgave"...

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

Yes! Honor Blackman! Thank you! That was bugging me, as these things do. And yes, I Diana Rigg was her replacement, in fact.

the hiatus may prove to be a serious mistake

Not the first one the BBC has ever made vis-a-vis Doctor Who, and probably not the last. Unfortunately.

I can only shake my head and wonder at what their reasoning was for doing things the way they have.

I'll bet it's at least in part to revenue on Ten's action figure sales and a brutal game of hardball with Tennant's extremely astute and adept agent. S/he must be to have gotten him the sweet deal of "finagle on your contract and still get to hang around on your terms" he got. Alas, the show itself suffers after a dramatic rebirth.

...how cool would it have been if the Journey's End regeneration had been a real one...

Cooler than a penguin's soles. And something that could have propelled the show into perpetual, money-making popularity. Time Lords are supposed to regenerate, and it would have been well for the show to remind viewers of that then and there. Oh well.

You are better person than I am about all this, I think. I don't forgive. Instead, I take it as an opportunity to grumble.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I don't know about a better person...easily pleased, maybe? I think I may be a little too forgiving of some of the crap that has been pulled over the last couple of years of Who, but then again, I seem to like most of the oldschool stories that most other fans think are real stinkers, so...

I mean, time will tell (pun? unintentional) as to how much harm this past year has done to the show. It remains to be seen how people will react to the new Doctor and whether he can win over some of the legions of Tennant fans. Maybe Moffat really will turn out to be the magician a lot of people thought he was before the backlash started, and maybe Matt Smith really will be the best Doctor ever. And maybe I'll win the lottery and become President of the World... XD Staying positive - that's the thing, LOL.