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MrL_JaKiri posted:I have a lecturer who looks very like Alex McQueen, it's creepy. It's more that courtney started saying "I should call you MISS, it fits you " for no real reason in the middle of an episode Could just be that it was a lovely episode, could be a writer thinking he's being clever or somethng
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Oct 15, 2014 00:32
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 I am very vaguely unsettled by Dreamtime and it's not because of the quality of the story, but the fact of the subject matter. The premise is a familiar one - the world is ending and inhabitants of Earth are preparing to move off-world in order to survive. This has been referenced multiple times in various episodes of Doctor Who and this story could be in reference to any number of those events (or its own unique disaster), though it seems to fit in most smoothly with the solar flare danger that saw various nations pack up their citizens into starships and head out into the stars. This raises questions about nationalities, ties to the earth, culture etc. What's problematic about this story isn't that it heavily involves an indigenous culture and their link to the land, but the cultural appropriation of these things. The story strongly features the use of Aboriginal myths, the notion of Dream Time and various personifications of death, chaos, and the importance both of a connection to the land as well as a oneness with ancestry. That's great stuff... except all these things happen in the total absence of any actual Aborigines. Everybody in this story is, for want of a better word, white. Those opposed AND those who embrace the culture are white people. They start as antagonists, then thanks to the Doctor's meddling become enthusiastic and committed followers of the spiritual world they find themselves living in.... but it's all about them and nobody else. The actual Aborigines are never "seen" as characters, just sometimes heard as a dull roar of indistinct protestors near the start of the story, later referenced as having been quickly absorbed into the Dreaming because their link to the land was stronger than the Dream Commandos could have ever been. There's just this overwhelming sense of paying lip-service to the strength of the Aboriginal spirit while simultaneously dismissing them from the entire story. Even Baiame, Creator-God/Sky Father of the Aborigine people, is played by a white Englishman with a voice that sounds very much like a white Englishman doing an impersonation of an white Australian attempting an Aborigine accent. Baiame - who rather pointedly is treated as NOT a God, but just a VERY old human being - is also very much in a passive role despite his paternal/deified nature. He allows himself to be convinced by the Doctor to change his mind and save the white people when he attempts to move the land from the Earth, and has to call on the Doctor for help when the Galyari attack. The Doctor even chides him like a child for his plea, telling him to do something for himself until the Doctor can save the day. Maybe I'm just reading a bit much into it, but for me there was very much a sense of a slightly patronizing tone to the whole thing - yes they talk up the wonder and validity of the Aborigines' spiritual beliefs, but at the same time they co-opt them or otherwise seek to control them. The end of the story where the Doctor manipulates this spiritual power through the use of technology also seems to endorse the superiority of white colonial culture over indigenous belief - while acknowledging that it exists and has power, it is a power that can be misled, controlled or otherwise manipulated by thinking men. I've never been a fan of the outright supernatural in Doctor Who (Loups-Garoux suffered immensely in this regard for me) but in this case I think they needed to either go whole hog or not bother. The story tries to have it both ways with the Galyari positing alternative explanations for Baiame's powers, and even Baiame himself suggests that he is simple an old man who corrals the collective power (psionic) of his "people". But at the same time you have the Dream Commandos scoffing at these attempts at explanations, for them the power is real and their belief is solid. It's a fine line to walk and I don't think Dreamtime does it particularly well, it's a story that can't quite decide what it wants to be. Supporting character wise, Hex and Ace both gets lots of stuff to do but nothing that really seems to speak to either of their characters. Their roles are oddly reversed where Hex is the one who goes on the rescue mission for the Doctor while Ace is lumped in with the commandos and troopers without being really accepted as one of them (so is she there for her own protection? Wouldn't that suit the inexperienced Hex better)? Hex at least makes note of this when he discovers he was selected for the rescue mission because the Doctor needs somebody he feels a deep connection with to save him, which makes him rather woefully inappropriate as they've really only just met. He stumbles through peril after peril and Ace does the same, in the latter case seemingly jumping between sympathies for either the Galyari or the Dream Commandos. The other characters are all basically unremarkable, apart from an unspoken but pretty apparent love affair (or unspoken crush?) going on between the two Galyari officers. The storyline is rather confusing, as it's one of those predestination ones where the Doctor turns out to have been responsible for creating the situation he found himself in and tried to resolve. Along the way a lot of references to Aboriginal myth get thrown in and then discarded, including the dingo protectors (with requisite Lindy Chamberlain joke) which show up every so often and then just leave, or the personification of death taking on the Doctor's form and then.... just not being in the story anymore for no apparent reason. The resolution when it comes is an earned one in that all the breadcrumbs were laid down appropriately in the build-up, but it still gives me that rather uneasy sense of cultural appropriation. Basically, Dreamtime is a pretty standard 7th Doctor story that attempts to marry a spiritual element to the show or at least create an air of mystery and that sense that there is more going on in the universe than anybody is really entirely aware of, including the Doctor. It throws a bit too much extraneous content at the listener, perhaps simply to make up time, but the resolution is one that is earned in the build-up to the climax. Hex and Ace are both poorly used and the Doctor is a bit too absent from much of the main story's action, but all three actors give solid performances and Hex is at least still an interesting person - I'd hate to imagine C'Rizz in the same situation. My major problem continues to be one of unease with the way the indigenous elements of the story were handled, and I'd be very interested to hear what other people thought about it, or if I'm just making a mountain out of a molehill.
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Oct 15, 2014 00:34
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An idea that occured to me recently: Missy -> Mistress -> The Master is a woman now Really makes you think............
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Oct 15, 2014 00:39
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Rita Repulsa posted:It's more that courtney started saying "I should call you MISS, it fits you " for no real reason in the middle of an episode ...Kids in British schools pretty much call all female teachers 'Miss' and Courtney only reasserted it when Clara said she should use her first name.
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Oct 15, 2014 00:42
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Fred is on posted:An idea that occured to me recently: It would explain the boyfriend line.
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Oct 15, 2014 00:51
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Fred is on posted:An idea that occured to me recently: Missy -> Miss E -> Miss Evangelista -> Evilest Man Is Gas -> The Master is now made of sentient nanofog in the form of a woman
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Oct 15, 2014 01:05
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AlexG posted:The Master is now made of sentient nanofog listen to Mastermind...
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Oct 15, 2014 01:08
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Fred is on posted:An idea that occured to me recently: Having a female Master seems like it would be a good idea but I'm almost certain they'd gently caress it up.
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Oct 15, 2014 01:15
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DoctorWhat posted:listen to Mastermind... John Humphries is the Master? 
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Oct 15, 2014 01:15
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Gaz-L posted:John Humphries is the Master? no, the other one 
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Oct 15, 2014 01:26
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Kinda hoping The Master is Chris Addison personally.
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Oct 15, 2014 02:09
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I have another casual viewer question, how good is time lord regeneration? Could one come back from being beheaded or blown into pieces, what if one was impaled on a huge spike and died, would he regenerate only to immediately die again until he ran out of lives? Or can they only come back from fancy space lasers and minor wounds? I was falling asleep and then these questions popped in to my head and j must know... What if one fell in to a very deep pit and died then regenerated stuck at the bottom of the pit, doomed to die of old age and regenerate over and over... Ok thanks.
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Oct 15, 2014 02:28
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A Time Lord can only regenerate if they are DYING, out right. Be it stabbed through the chest or poisoned or whatever. Heart attacks. You kill a Time Lord in the middle of their regeneration, they're dead for realzies. You out right kill a Time Lord before they can regenerate, such as beheading, they're dead dead. Time Lords also can live in a single body nigh indefinitely. More likely one would starve to death in a hole than die of old age.
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Oct 15, 2014 02:35
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Burkion posted:A Time Lord can only regenerate if they are DYING, out right. This helps, I misunderstood the dying and not being dead already part so now my mind is at peace.
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Oct 15, 2014 02:39
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DoctorWhat posted:no, the other one Those loving looms again 
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Oct 15, 2014 02:45
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Does a dalek beam not deliver instant death then?
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Oct 15, 2014 02:48
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Irony Be My Shield posted:Does a dalek beam not deliver instant death then? No Time Lord has been DIRECTLY hit by the Dalek death beams. Outside of the Time War and they all died pretty instantly, though if they were ALL Time Lords or not I don't know. The one time the Doctor ever got hit by one, it was a glancing blow, so it didn't get the full effect- and he was dying pretty goddamn quickly, unable to hold it in at all.
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Oct 15, 2014 02:56
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Whereas the Fifth and Tenth (and maybe Third? I've actually never seen Planet of Spiders) were able to hold off regenerating for an extended period.
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Oct 15, 2014 03:00
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Gaz-L posted:Whereas the Fifth and Tenth (and maybe Third? I've actually never seen Planet of Spiders) were able to hold off regenerating for an extended period. Don't forget about Eleven, who might have held it off the longest.
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Oct 15, 2014 04:18
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Solaris Knight posted:Don't forget about Eleven, who might have held it off the longest. Not really. Eleven was just dying of old age. The Third Doctor, if some sources are to be believed, was in his TARDIS dying of that poison for years and years.
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Oct 15, 2014 04:19
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Burkion posted:No Time Lord has been DIRECTLY hit by the Dalek death beams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx0LSM_qy7s
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Oct 15, 2014 04:24
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quote:The one time the Doctor ever got hit by one, it was a glancing blow, so it didn't get the full effect- and he was dying pretty goddamn quickly, unable to hold it in at all. Excellent reading comprehension skills there champ.
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Oct 15, 2014 04:30
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Now that I rewatch it, yeah, it looks like it sortof bounced off slightly.
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Oct 15, 2014 07:38
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Burkion posted:A Time Lord can only regenerate if they are DYING, out right.
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Oct 15, 2014 08:14
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Doctor Spaceman posted:What about Romana? Except for cheap tricks.
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Oct 15, 2014 08:21
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A Time Lord can only regenerate based on the rules in play in the current story. That's totally how Doctor Who works.
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Oct 15, 2014 08:30
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david... posted:I have another casual viewer question, how good is time lord regeneration? Turn Left had The Doctor drowning and being unable to regenerate due to being stuck underwater.
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Oct 15, 2014 09:02
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Eight died in the ship crash, and it took the Sisterhood bringing him back to life in order for him to have a shot at regeneration. I wonder if he would have regenerated at the end of those six minutes anyway, since all the chalice did was give him a choice at what he wanted to be.
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Oct 15, 2014 09:25
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Irony Be My Shield posted:Kinda hoping The Master is Chris Addison personally. Read that as "Kinda hoping The Master is Adrian Chiles" david... posted:This helps, I misunderstood the dying and not being dead already part so now my mind is at peace. That's all bunkum, regeneration works however it works at the time.
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Oct 15, 2014 10:03
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CobiWann posted:I wonder if he would have regenerated at the end of those six minutes anyway, since all the chalice did was give him a choice at what he wanted to be. this is implied, yes. they only postponed his death and subsequent regeneration, so he could drink the goo in the cup and have a choice.
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Oct 15, 2014 10:22
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CobiWann posted:Eight died in the ship crash, and it took the Sisterhood bringing him back to life in order for him to have a shot at regeneration. That was probably the point of the chalice. Rather than inducing the actual regeneration, it merely shaped it. edit: drat you, Attitude Indicator! 
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Oct 15, 2014 11:04
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MrL_JaKiri posted:Read that as "Kinda hoping The Master is Adrian Chiles" lol that would be a great twist on things
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Oct 15, 2014 12:21
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Senor Tron posted:Turn Left had The Doctor drowning and being unable to regenerate due to being stuck underwater. I don't think that's what they intended. You don't see he's face because he's meant to have regenerated and then drown, using all his chances up.
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Oct 15, 2014 12:25
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Missy is Courtney Woods. You heard it here first.
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Oct 15, 2014 12:34
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qntm posted:Missy is Courtney Woods. You heard it here first. Nah, heard that before
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Oct 15, 2014 12:43
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I'm about to go back in time and make it known earlier.
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Oct 15, 2014 12:44
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PriorMarcus posted:I don't think that's what they intended. You don't see he's face because he's meant to have regenerated and then drown, using all his chances up. That's one interpretation but the dialogue in the episode suggests that he simply died too quickly and was dead before having chance to regenerate. He has a discussion with Wilf later on in the series that says that can happen. I'm all in favour of the idea that he used up all his regenerations underwater though, because I like when shows get morbid like that.
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Oct 15, 2014 13:12
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Fred is on posted:An idea that occured to me recently: Perhaps taking a female form to swoon the doctor after the "beard" comment?
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Oct 15, 2014 13:26
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Doctor Spaceman posted:What about Romana? mumble mumble... listen to Gallifrey etc...
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Oct 15, 2014 13:26
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After The War posted:mumble mumble... listen to Gallifrey etc... Of course, the Mary Tamm 4DAs kinda-sorta wrinkle the issue...
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Oct 15, 2014 14:04
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