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indriOh, how I loathe housework when I'm in this sort of state. It gets in the way, of fic and thought and the re-watching of episodes. I'd say I loathe eating too, except it would be more accurate to saying I loathe needing to eat, because I don't so much mind the eating, except that it's hard to munch when you're laughing or when your eyes are bugging out over someone else's fanfic. My dinner got cold before I finished eating it.
Last time I was this bad I didn't have a LiveJournal. Just as well.
So tonight, as I made myself cook a square meal (the SO was out), I wondered what Whofic I would like to write. I have, in fact, absolutely no intention of writing any, because I have other things I'm keen to write first, but if I were to write fic, what would it be? I suppose I could dig out my history course notes on pre-revolutionary France, but as I can't write romance fic, it would go downhill from there. No, I'd be more likely to go with my usual schtick of minor character viewpoints, at least at first: The Ghost of Mrs Moore perhaps or More Adventures of Mrs Moore, yes, that would be fun, never mind the AU. But you know what I really want to do, the idea that lodged in my head as I turned sausages on the grill? Boefic. Fic about the Face of Boe. Because he has, what, two appearances and two lines? Because we'll know he'll appear a third time, so the fic will inevitably beJossed RTD'd? But s/he's got the long time frame and the sonorous voice and don't you just love saying "Boekind"? The Face of Boe, last of his race -- and why's that then? They all got bored? A great plague? The Time War? "What did Boe do, daddy, during the War?" And why's it the Face of Boe anyway? The figurehead? The spokesbeing? What sort of ecology does a fish-bowled head have, on its own? Maybe "boe" is an adjective for some qualia that can't be translated into English and you say "The Face of Boe" the way you'd say "The Face of Evil". Or perhaps the Boe are a composite species, divided up into parts for safekeeping, like the Judge on Buffy. Out there, somewhere, there would be the deceased Big Toe of Boe and the expired Elbow of Boe. No wonder the Face of Boe is the last of its kind then: if you were placing bets on which Bit would survive longest, you'd pick the one with the brain. Especially on Doctor Who, where brain matters so much and there's no business like know business like no business we know.
I have this theory about Time Lords now. Here's my theory, half-formed as it is. They were human once, more or less. Of course they were great physicists and engineers because back in the time of the Old Series, what's what proper science was. These days, though, biotech's the go, and I think it's time we learnt about Time Lord bioengineering. I mean, consider the facts of Time Lord biology: two hearts, regeneration, superhuman endurance for running up and down corridors. If you were a Gallifrey-bound Time Lord, all too fond of roast dinner at High Table and averse of exercise, wouldn't you want a second heart as a spare? So bioengineer it! And regeneration, well, you don't want immortality per se because (i) you'd have to also engineer almost zero desire for reproduction as otherwise as a space-and-time-faring species would soon fill up the known universe and (ii) everyone knows that it is Tempting Fate and an Act of Hubris that the universe will strike down etc. So, not immortality, but a long life, maybe with some aging, and some protection against disease. We all know that diseases originating from distant places can cause havoc when introduced to a new population: and aforesaid space-and-time-faring Time Lords could catch anything as they roamed around. And this is where I think they were terribly clever, because clearly there is some mixing or reselection of genetic material during regeneration (there must be a fair bit of redundant DNA for any given incarnation) which is exactly what you need to fend off diseases. The plague-stricken Time Lord regenerates, genes are switched, and she/he may have some hope of finding a genetic mix that can survive Spacepox. So the Time Lords stitched up their own DNA and have felt superior about it ever since, I mean until they just about went extinct.
Is it wrong of me to hope that this is what the Eighth Doctor meant when he said he was half-human? The "on his mother's side" bit was a joke! I'd just prefer him to be all Time Lord because otherwise it cheapens his fondness for humans. I suppose it could explain his lonely childhood though: he'd be called "Half man, half ape!" in the hallways. Perhaps superhuman endurance for running down corridors is the Doctor's alone, a survival trait from school? It would also explain his unfailing sympathy for the underdog. And why do I think of him as an overgrown English public school boy?
I've started to go through the fanfic. Why is so much of it Doctor/Rose? She's sweet but far too young. I expected more Doctor/Reinette, Doctor/Sarah-Jane and Doctor/Jack. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. I notice that the Tenth Doctor is much more likely to get some action than the Ninth, even if it's Doctor/TARDIS or Doctor/sonic screwdriver. I'm starting to find character studies and reflective pieces. May post links later. But why does no-one post spoiler warnings? SPOILER WARNINGS, people. I'm up to "The Impossible Planet".
I wonder if it would be possible to write a fic from the POV of the TARDIS that didn't entirely suck.
Anyone got recs? Or rec lists? Or links to websites that aren't mostly tosh?
OK, need to stop now. Have to wash those blasted dishes.
Last time I was this bad I didn't have a LiveJournal. Just as well.
So tonight, as I made myself cook a square meal (the SO was out), I wondered what Whofic I would like to write. I have, in fact, absolutely no intention of writing any, because I have other things I'm keen to write first, but if I were to write fic, what would it be? I suppose I could dig out my history course notes on pre-revolutionary France, but as I can't write romance fic, it would go downhill from there. No, I'd be more likely to go with my usual schtick of minor character viewpoints, at least at first: The Ghost of Mrs Moore perhaps or More Adventures of Mrs Moore, yes, that would be fun, never mind the AU. But you know what I really want to do, the idea that lodged in my head as I turned sausages on the grill? Boefic. Fic about the Face of Boe. Because he has, what, two appearances and two lines? Because we'll know he'll appear a third time, so the fic will inevitably be
I have this theory about Time Lords now. Here's my theory, half-formed as it is. They were human once, more or less. Of course they were great physicists and engineers because back in the time of the Old Series, what's what proper science was. These days, though, biotech's the go, and I think it's time we learnt about Time Lord bioengineering. I mean, consider the facts of Time Lord biology: two hearts, regeneration, superhuman endurance for running up and down corridors. If you were a Gallifrey-bound Time Lord, all too fond of roast dinner at High Table and averse of exercise, wouldn't you want a second heart as a spare? So bioengineer it! And regeneration, well, you don't want immortality per se because (i) you'd have to also engineer almost zero desire for reproduction as otherwise as a space-and-time-faring species would soon fill up the known universe and (ii) everyone knows that it is Tempting Fate and an Act of Hubris that the universe will strike down etc. So, not immortality, but a long life, maybe with some aging, and some protection against disease. We all know that diseases originating from distant places can cause havoc when introduced to a new population: and aforesaid space-and-time-faring Time Lords could catch anything as they roamed around. And this is where I think they were terribly clever, because clearly there is some mixing or reselection of genetic material during regeneration (there must be a fair bit of redundant DNA for any given incarnation) which is exactly what you need to fend off diseases. The plague-stricken Time Lord regenerates, genes are switched, and she/he may have some hope of finding a genetic mix that can survive Spacepox. So the Time Lords stitched up their own DNA and have felt superior about it ever since, I mean until they just about went extinct.
Is it wrong of me to hope that this is what the Eighth Doctor meant when he said he was half-human? The "on his mother's side" bit was a joke! I'd just prefer him to be all Time Lord because otherwise it cheapens his fondness for humans. I suppose it could explain his lonely childhood though: he'd be called "Half man, half ape!" in the hallways. Perhaps superhuman endurance for running down corridors is the Doctor's alone, a survival trait from school? It would also explain his unfailing sympathy for the underdog. And why do I think of him as an overgrown English public school boy?
I've started to go through the fanfic. Why is so much of it Doctor/Rose? She's sweet but far too young. I expected more Doctor/Reinette, Doctor/Sarah-Jane and Doctor/Jack. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. I notice that the Tenth Doctor is much more likely to get some action than the Ninth, even if it's Doctor/TARDIS or Doctor/sonic screwdriver. I'm starting to find character studies and reflective pieces. May post links later. But why does no-one post spoiler warnings? SPOILER WARNINGS, people. I'm up to "The Impossible Planet".
I wonder if it would be possible to write a fic from the POV of the TARDIS that didn't entirely suck.
Anyone got recs? Or rec lists? Or links to websites that aren't mostly tosh?
OK, need to stop now. Have to wash those blasted dishes.
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Date: 2006-09-06 09:41 pm (UTC)Yep, exactly. So the notion of the Time Lords using this extra DNA to rewrite their own genetic makeup from time to time doesn't strike me as terribly farfetched. (I guess it's also possible that their DNA stays the same when they regenerate and the change in appearance and personality is purely skin-deep, but that seems both implausible and, what's worse, boring.)
One possible extrapolation of the hoover theory is that the Time Lords, once they had ceased gallivanting about the universe, would become limited only to the genetic material on Gallifrey. Perhaps that contributed to their eventual isolation and stagnation.
Exactly! This gives the roving Doctor a unique role in their society even aside from all the ominous hints they used to offer about him being Special and Ancient and Spooooky. By this theory, the centuries he's spent wandering around the universe opening himself up to new experience on every level, from the intellectual on down to the genetic, would give the Doctor a hybrid vigor far surpassing that of his fellow Time Lords.
And, more importantly, it gives us a means of hand-waving away the TV movie's ridiculous assertion that the Doctor is half-human. He's simply picked it up by osmosis. :-)
But I also meant to ask what you thought of the telemovie.
Oooh, I try not to. Paul McGann would make a wonderful Doctor, and I hope he gets the chance to appear in a Doctor Who production some day. :-)
Aside from all the continuity and quality issues, I was particularly offended that they pulled a Superman at the end and used the Tardis to revive the Doctor's love interest. Somehow it seemed like a real cheat given the restrained way the original show had always used the time travel gimmick.
But that's me. What did you make of it?