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eve11Hm, I think I finally have an idea to start with for your story, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
livii. Hopefully it will not disappoint :) Speaking of Seven, I listened to the most recent triple of audios with him and Elizabeth Klein:
Oh, I really enjoyed these. Best Big Finish audios in quite a while. I love the complicated relationship between Klein and the Doctor. She's never going to really get a happy ending, nor does she deserve one, and of course Seven realizes that in no uncertain terms. I love how the stories were so far-reaching and diverse. Probably my least favorite was the first one, although the aliens were very intriguing and new. It did a good job setting the stage but was very Towering Inferno in the way it just picked people off one by one. Also if I were Sylvia I'd say "screw you" to the Doctor's command of committing all future generations of her family to guarding an alien cave with deadly viruses in it. Sure, fine, whatever, is what I'd say. I thought they did a good job of personalizing Elizabeth Klein in this one, but not to the point where we trust her or agree with her.
I loved the bee-like Vrill in the second one, and the episode did a good job of showing the communication via scent without it becoming, well, frankly, embarrassing ;) The idea that someone's last words linger in the air, stronger than echoes, and what we see when they come upon the dead, is a pretty powerful image. I also really like the workers, Rose and Lily, the voice acting and effects were fantastic. I think that the Doctor was a bit out-of-character in how quick he was willing to trust Klein, though. Also the parallels between nerve gassing the bug-aliens and the Nazi concentration camps (who knows if Klein even knew about them) were understated but I'm sure most definitely intended. Down to the empty canisters. *shudders* I do wonder why Elizabeth seemed rather quick to change her perspective: wiping out the mao-mao rebellion in the alternate timeline is fine, but wiping out a very very different alien race like the Vrill suddenly becomes bad. Is it because she gets to know the vrill first? Sees first-hand the damage done? somehow I think she'd be more practical than that, but her emotion surprised me. Possibly also she saw echoes of a kind of truly perfect Fascist society in the Vrill, and empathized with them. I think that may have been deliberate too, the Vrill were a very ordered, compartmental society all under control of the one Authority (the queen). Anyway, lots to think about.
Oh, and there was surprise Alt-verse Eight in this one as well! They didn't even get to the Vrill planet until part 2, did they? I loved hearing this backstory, seeing how the Doctor managed to manipulate things so he could send Klein back in time and fix his mistake. And to think he would trust Klein to forgive him after learning he set her up? Hm, no, she'll steal his TARDIS key and then architect the rise of the Galactic Reich. Which was quite chilling, I must say.
The last story gives us a glimpse into yet another Seventh Doctor, who seems darker and more manipulative than his counterpart. Even though we never actually see this Seven on screen (hear him in speaker, I guess), we know a lot about him. He is a mode of the Doctor who has been hardened by his past mistakes. His schemes are deadlier and scarier, his TARDIS itself is secretive, and he is very much more detached from this reality (even his companion Rachel, who broke my heart), solely because he knows it's his mission to destroy it. He still cares about people, as Rachel points out she knows he's going to go where he can help, but we can't help thinking that he has a bit more of a God And Responsibility complex on account of the fact that it was Elizabeth's theft of his TARDIS that brought this world about. Our Seven makes a point that the suffering of these people, even if they are ultimately doomed, still matters. This world matters, even if it is erased. (Which is an interesting contemplation even in the face of our own mortality and eg, the eventual destruction of the solar system.) But at the end, this new doctor doesn't even remember his companion, despite her unfailing loyalty and courage. She is abandoned and erased, and can only hope she finds him again in a new universe. Maybe some time, she will, but the ending as it is, with no canon mention of her ever again, really packs an emotional punch.
There is also the parallels between what Elizabeth is trying to do-- remake the world to her own desires-- and what the Doctor has to do-- remake the world according to "how it should be." Is there a teensy bit of doubt that creeps into our minds? Perhaps the Doctor's compass for the Web of Time is not as absolute as we would think? It is a much more subtle exploration of the themes we saw with Ten and the Waters of Mars, where he says to hell with the Laws of Time and all that jazz, and mucks things up badly. We have to take it on faith in the Whoniverse that the Web of Time is some immutable fact that Time Lords can perceive and from which they can navigate, otherwise it is a really terrifying amount of power to wield.
I love the point where Elizabeth dares the Doctor that he can't press the button that resets history. Of course he can. And I doubt he wasted any time on it either. Though I'm not sure why the button was apparently a 50-50 coinflip between realities, was it because the strands were so strained already? At any rate, she gambled and lost, and he gambled and won. I know they needed to show that he pushed the button but I thought her alternate real-world history as a member of UNIT was a bit tacked on. The consequences of the Doctor's responsibility end up being beneficial for all. Except Rachel, whose worst fear comes to bear, with no one even left to remember it.
livii. Hopefully it will not disappoint :) Speaking of Seven, I listened to the most recent triple of audios with him and Elizabeth Klein:Oh, I really enjoyed these. Best Big Finish audios in quite a while. I love the complicated relationship between Klein and the Doctor. She's never going to really get a happy ending, nor does she deserve one, and of course Seven realizes that in no uncertain terms. I love how the stories were so far-reaching and diverse. Probably my least favorite was the first one, although the aliens were very intriguing and new. It did a good job setting the stage but was very Towering Inferno in the way it just picked people off one by one. Also if I were Sylvia I'd say "screw you" to the Doctor's command of committing all future generations of her family to guarding an alien cave with deadly viruses in it. Sure, fine, whatever, is what I'd say. I thought they did a good job of personalizing Elizabeth Klein in this one, but not to the point where we trust her or agree with her.
I loved the bee-like Vrill in the second one, and the episode did a good job of showing the communication via scent without it becoming, well, frankly, embarrassing ;) The idea that someone's last words linger in the air, stronger than echoes, and what we see when they come upon the dead, is a pretty powerful image. I also really like the workers, Rose and Lily, the voice acting and effects were fantastic. I think that the Doctor was a bit out-of-character in how quick he was willing to trust Klein, though. Also the parallels between nerve gassing the bug-aliens and the Nazi concentration camps (who knows if Klein even knew about them) were understated but I'm sure most definitely intended. Down to the empty canisters. *shudders* I do wonder why Elizabeth seemed rather quick to change her perspective: wiping out the mao-mao rebellion in the alternate timeline is fine, but wiping out a very very different alien race like the Vrill suddenly becomes bad. Is it because she gets to know the vrill first? Sees first-hand the damage done? somehow I think she'd be more practical than that, but her emotion surprised me. Possibly also she saw echoes of a kind of truly perfect Fascist society in the Vrill, and empathized with them. I think that may have been deliberate too, the Vrill were a very ordered, compartmental society all under control of the one Authority (the queen). Anyway, lots to think about.
Oh, and there was surprise Alt-verse Eight in this one as well! They didn't even get to the Vrill planet until part 2, did they? I loved hearing this backstory, seeing how the Doctor managed to manipulate things so he could send Klein back in time and fix his mistake. And to think he would trust Klein to forgive him after learning he set her up? Hm, no, she'll steal his TARDIS key and then architect the rise of the Galactic Reich. Which was quite chilling, I must say.
The last story gives us a glimpse into yet another Seventh Doctor, who seems darker and more manipulative than his counterpart. Even though we never actually see this Seven on screen (hear him in speaker, I guess), we know a lot about him. He is a mode of the Doctor who has been hardened by his past mistakes. His schemes are deadlier and scarier, his TARDIS itself is secretive, and he is very much more detached from this reality (even his companion Rachel, who broke my heart), solely because he knows it's his mission to destroy it. He still cares about people, as Rachel points out she knows he's going to go where he can help, but we can't help thinking that he has a bit more of a God And Responsibility complex on account of the fact that it was Elizabeth's theft of his TARDIS that brought this world about. Our Seven makes a point that the suffering of these people, even if they are ultimately doomed, still matters. This world matters, even if it is erased. (Which is an interesting contemplation even in the face of our own mortality and eg, the eventual destruction of the solar system.) But at the end, this new doctor doesn't even remember his companion, despite her unfailing loyalty and courage. She is abandoned and erased, and can only hope she finds him again in a new universe. Maybe some time, she will, but the ending as it is, with no canon mention of her ever again, really packs an emotional punch.
There is also the parallels between what Elizabeth is trying to do-- remake the world to her own desires-- and what the Doctor has to do-- remake the world according to "how it should be." Is there a teensy bit of doubt that creeps into our minds? Perhaps the Doctor's compass for the Web of Time is not as absolute as we would think? It is a much more subtle exploration of the themes we saw with Ten and the Waters of Mars, where he says to hell with the Laws of Time and all that jazz, and mucks things up badly. We have to take it on faith in the Whoniverse that the Web of Time is some immutable fact that Time Lords can perceive and from which they can navigate, otherwise it is a really terrifying amount of power to wield.
I love the point where Elizabeth dares the Doctor that he can't press the button that resets history. Of course he can. And I doubt he wasted any time on it either. Though I'm not sure why the button was apparently a 50-50 coinflip between realities, was it because the strands were so strained already? At any rate, she gambled and lost, and he gambled and won. I know they needed to show that he pushed the button but I thought her alternate real-world history as a member of UNIT was a bit tacked on. The consequences of the Doctor's responsibility end up being beneficial for all. Except Rachel, whose worst fear comes to bear, with no one even left to remember it.
