While I am the essential romantic, probably the most romantically-inclined person you will ever meet. That doesn't mean I have a special taste for mush (I don't), or that I see the world through pink-coloured glasses, but I have a certain perspective that veers away from the pragmatic to the emotional and the heroic.
if a show leads to me to expect a high level of quality, I come to hold it to very high standards indeed. If it starts consistently failing to live up to those standards, I will start ripping at it.
I'm the same that way. If a show raises the standard (as Doctor Who does), then it should live up to that standard. Because demonstrably it can.
Nine was, I think, more prone to moments of kindness, but he could also be quite harsh
Granted. But I never felt his harshness was arbitrary. He judged people - look at his reaction to Mickey in "Rose". (Justified, I always felt!) Ten often has a different outlook - he likes Mickey. As an example. How would Ten treat Adam?
Ten ... He affects obliviousness as it suits him, consciously or not. He knows this about himself, too, as indicated by his regret over Martha.
Good point. Which is why it seems... I'm not sure what word to use. Wilful? Deliberate? Cruel, sometimes? Yet I feel he's being cruel to himself as often as to others, or more - and harsher in his self-judgements sometimes. Nine often became angry, but had a sense of interior tragedy. Seems to me that Ten is filled with anger, but expresses it indirectly.
the whole thing with the wristband is indeed a writerly manipulation for TW's sake
Yes. That, obviously, is the writer's motivation - but I need to decipher the Doctor's unspoken motivation. And I don't quite have it yet. I am hampered by a few things such as desperately wanting to believe he really does value Jack.
with my more cynical take on the Doctor, it's because there is some deeply buried level on which he simply doesn't trust Jack and probably never will just because of what Jack is.
Which "what"? Con man? Time Agent? Torchwood? Fixed point? Immortal? Soldier? All of the above? Given the Doctor's attitude to his human self in "Journey's End", I can imagine him blaming Jack for shooting and killing Dalek's on the Game Station, even though he himself sent him to do precisely that....
But I don't want to think Nine would see it that way.
Your logic that Jack is 'unstable' is understandable, but I don't see it. From what I've seen on screen, Jack seems much more stable than Ten.
I too enjoy the Doctor's complexity (good or bad) and enjoy the character much more when I can dissect and analyze and judge and reconsider him. Yes, I really do love him. That's why he's such fun to ponder - him and his motivations and his unspoken inner thoughts and feelings.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-08-14 07:34 pm (UTC)While I am the essential romantic, probably the most romantically-inclined person you will ever meet. That doesn't mean I have a special taste for mush (I don't), or that I see the world through pink-coloured glasses, but I have a certain perspective that veers away from the pragmatic to the emotional and the heroic.
if a show leads to me to expect a high level of quality, I come to hold it to very high standards indeed. If it starts consistently failing to live up to those standards, I will start ripping at it.
I'm the same that way. If a show raises the standard (as Doctor Who does), then it should live up to that standard. Because demonstrably it can.
Nine was, I think, more prone to moments of kindness, but he could also be quite harsh
Granted. But I never felt his harshness was arbitrary. He judged people - look at his reaction to Mickey in "Rose". (Justified, I always felt!) Ten often has a different outlook - he likes Mickey. As an example. How would Ten treat Adam?
Ten ... He affects obliviousness as it suits him, consciously or not. He knows this about himself, too, as indicated by his regret over Martha.
Good point. Which is why it seems... I'm not sure what word to use. Wilful? Deliberate? Cruel, sometimes? Yet I feel he's being cruel to himself as often as to others, or more - and harsher in his self-judgements sometimes. Nine often became angry, but had a sense of interior tragedy. Seems to me that Ten is filled with anger, but expresses it indirectly.
the whole thing with the wristband is indeed a writerly manipulation for TW's sake
Yes. That, obviously, is the writer's motivation - but I need to decipher the Doctor's unspoken motivation. And I don't quite have it yet. I am hampered by a few things such as desperately wanting to believe he really does value Jack.
with my more cynical take on the Doctor, it's because there is some deeply buried level on which he simply doesn't trust Jack and probably never will just because of what Jack is.
Which "what"? Con man? Time Agent? Torchwood? Fixed point? Immortal? Soldier? All of the above? Given the Doctor's attitude to his human self in "Journey's End", I can imagine him blaming Jack for shooting and killing Dalek's on the Game Station, even though he himself sent him to do precisely that....
But I don't want to think Nine would see it that way.
Your logic that Jack is 'unstable' is understandable, but I don't see it. From what I've seen on screen, Jack seems much more stable than Ten.
I too enjoy the Doctor's complexity (good or bad) and enjoy the character much more when I can dissect and analyze and judge and reconsider him. Yes, I really do love him. That's why he's such fun to ponder - him and his motivations and his unspoken inner thoughts and feelings.