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Doctor Who: Journey to the Center of the TARDIS
The word for this episode is derivative. But to avoid spoilers...
So, we have seen that crack before in Amy's wall. We have seen the TARDIS explode, too. We have seen these corridors and it is very easy to see that the burned creatures were future versions of the people in the story. Hands are held. Hugs are given. Clara is reassured and we all want to know the Doctor's name. Doctor Who? Only we don't, because that's when the story ends. And it should end just before that name is spoken...because...the Doctor is losing his mystery. He's acting out a dance that is no longer vital or even slightly diverting. We know these steps. And only Jenna adds a little life to them.
My buddy Cat has given me a hint that she wants to discuss the shape of the narrative. And this is, as my loyal readers know, a subject very close to my heart. Stories have a progressive pattern. You can't just throw anything in there and expect your story to work. Writers try to tweak the pattern, change it up, surprise the audience. But, there comes a time when you are just jerking an audience around, if you promise one story and deliver another. You become a player in your own play. Doctor Who worked for decades by keeping true to the idea of a man/being who made things better, couldn't help meddling and loved humanity in a way that was quite pure and profound. Moff has been screwing around with the essentials of premise that doesn't need his input. And you know what, he hasn't added anything of import to the show. RTD added a lot of new twists. Moff just copies stuff. He made the Doctor a different, shallower character, to avoid the idea of character growth that RTD tried to introduce. Moff, to me, is the master of resets. And in Journey we see his true colors on display.
The ship that is crucial to this show can be blown to bits...and, yet, saved, because the last Time Lord can do anything. Ah, but there's the rub. If he can do anything, why not just fix it all with a snap of his fingers? Once we establish those rules for the story, that the fabric of time and space can be bent to give us any eventuality, then, we must ask ourselves if any of the things we have seen and done with Eleven matter. Isn't it just as likely that the Rose we saw return to Ten was an alternative Rose? And somewhere out there she and the Doctor had a long happy life together? Or she and Nine? Perhaps we should go back to where River arrives, knowing his name, because that led us into a preordained reality where the Doctor must marry River and must become a finger-snapping God. But after he's done that...he can reset all of it, right?
He can reach thorough a crack in time and rewrite his own story...and become mysterious again. Only he really can't. Sure, Moff could write that. But you can't regain mystery. The audience would know what it knows. We know that the Doctor isn't brave. He abandoned and betrayed his most loyal companions in JE. We know he doesn't truly admire humans, because he is so capricious and cruel. We know now that he is shallow. We don't believe he can love, in any sense that we recognize.
Or none of this is real. As I've said, if that is the story Moff is telling. If it turns out that Eleven exists only in the moment of many realities colliding as the TARDIS exploded at the start of his run...then...okay...that's a story that is complete. But, if Moff is, as is far more likely, simply manipulating the same tinker toy pieces into something timey-wimey, well, we have seen this all before, right? And it undermines the future of the show. We need to look to a new show-runner to set things right, creating a new set of boundaries for our story. Really, I feel it is time to take Who off the air for a bit. I think it is starting to look like Joan Rivers will all of the plastic surgery that's been going on these last couple of seasons.
On the plus side, I still like the new Matt. And the memory card was played hard in this one, wasn't it? It is possible that wonderful room with the exploding TARDIS means something. And, just for second, I thought Clara might actually be malicious, when she found his name in the book. I thought, oh, she IS a spy. Because what better way to get some secret out of the Doctor than to give him a trusty companion? However, in keeping with the family tree idea, we have another tree symbol as the TARDIS engine. We also have that lovely Time Lord style cradle and puffy TARDIS. Babies on board it seems. And Grandfatherly Eleven continues. So, I'm still thinking Clara is some distant relative. There were shades of The Edge of Destruction in this one, especially Eleven's paranoia just before the leap of faith.
So, we have seen that crack before in Amy's wall. We have seen the TARDIS explode, too. We have seen these corridors and it is very easy to see that the burned creatures were future versions of the people in the story. Hands are held. Hugs are given. Clara is reassured and we all want to know the Doctor's name. Doctor Who? Only we don't, because that's when the story ends. And it should end just before that name is spoken...because...the Doctor is losing his mystery. He's acting out a dance that is no longer vital or even slightly diverting. We know these steps. And only Jenna adds a little life to them.
My buddy Cat has given me a hint that she wants to discuss the shape of the narrative. And this is, as my loyal readers know, a subject very close to my heart. Stories have a progressive pattern. You can't just throw anything in there and expect your story to work. Writers try to tweak the pattern, change it up, surprise the audience. But, there comes a time when you are just jerking an audience around, if you promise one story and deliver another. You become a player in your own play. Doctor Who worked for decades by keeping true to the idea of a man/being who made things better, couldn't help meddling and loved humanity in a way that was quite pure and profound. Moff has been screwing around with the essentials of premise that doesn't need his input. And you know what, he hasn't added anything of import to the show. RTD added a lot of new twists. Moff just copies stuff. He made the Doctor a different, shallower character, to avoid the idea of character growth that RTD tried to introduce. Moff, to me, is the master of resets. And in Journey we see his true colors on display.
The ship that is crucial to this show can be blown to bits...and, yet, saved, because the last Time Lord can do anything. Ah, but there's the rub. If he can do anything, why not just fix it all with a snap of his fingers? Once we establish those rules for the story, that the fabric of time and space can be bent to give us any eventuality, then, we must ask ourselves if any of the things we have seen and done with Eleven matter. Isn't it just as likely that the Rose we saw return to Ten was an alternative Rose? And somewhere out there she and the Doctor had a long happy life together? Or she and Nine? Perhaps we should go back to where River arrives, knowing his name, because that led us into a preordained reality where the Doctor must marry River and must become a finger-snapping God. But after he's done that...he can reset all of it, right?
He can reach thorough a crack in time and rewrite his own story...and become mysterious again. Only he really can't. Sure, Moff could write that. But you can't regain mystery. The audience would know what it knows. We know that the Doctor isn't brave. He abandoned and betrayed his most loyal companions in JE. We know he doesn't truly admire humans, because he is so capricious and cruel. We know now that he is shallow. We don't believe he can love, in any sense that we recognize.
Or none of this is real. As I've said, if that is the story Moff is telling. If it turns out that Eleven exists only in the moment of many realities colliding as the TARDIS exploded at the start of his run...then...okay...that's a story that is complete. But, if Moff is, as is far more likely, simply manipulating the same tinker toy pieces into something timey-wimey, well, we have seen this all before, right? And it undermines the future of the show. We need to look to a new show-runner to set things right, creating a new set of boundaries for our story. Really, I feel it is time to take Who off the air for a bit. I think it is starting to look like Joan Rivers will all of the plastic surgery that's been going on these last couple of seasons.
On the plus side, I still like the new Matt. And the memory card was played hard in this one, wasn't it? It is possible that wonderful room with the exploding TARDIS means something. And, just for second, I thought Clara might actually be malicious, when she found his name in the book. I thought, oh, she IS a spy. Because what better way to get some secret out of the Doctor than to give him a trusty companion? However, in keeping with the family tree idea, we have another tree symbol as the TARDIS engine. We also have that lovely Time Lord style cradle and puffy TARDIS. Babies on board it seems. And Grandfatherly Eleven continues. So, I'm still thinking Clara is some distant relative. There were shades of The Edge of Destruction in this one, especially Eleven's paranoia just before the leap of faith.