Doctor Who Followup Reaction Post
Oct. 28th, 2022 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
c_carol_againOkay, I said that I had more to say about "The Power of the Doctor", let's find out whether that's true...
First and most importantly, I want to rant about the RTD Wrongheaded Theory of Regeneration.
The way regeneration works in Classic Who is relatively straightforward. A Time Lord's body is damaged beyond repair, so we solve the problem by giving them a new body. It makes sense, for Who-ish values of "sense". For some weird reason though, New Who splits regeneration into a two-step process. _First_ the regeneration energy heals you. Not necessarily all the way to 100% health, but at least enough that you can scramble to your feet, get rid of most of the visible damage, and run around for a while having heartwarming farewells. And then _after that_ it replaces your body. What the _heck_, Russell? Where did that come from?
They've used the Wrongheaded Theory in some very clever and interesting ways, I'll give them credit for that. It gave us Handy, who I love unreasonably. It gave us Eleven's mid-regeneration, inter-episode phone call, which is a really fun trick. Two-step regeneration is not a major, unforgivable flaw. (If you can't tolerate a certain amount of complete nonsense, this show is not for you.) But it still annoys me, just a little tiny bit, every single time it happens. Even though I have to reluctantly admit it's not _that_ much more ridiculous than the whole concept of regeneration in the first place. And even though it's been (are you ready for this) _fourteen years_ since it was introduced in "Journey's End".
So it's not surprising that Thirteen gets a break between being zapped and finally changing. That's just how it works now. And it's not surprising that she spends that break saying goodbye to people as if she's never going to see them again. Regeneration isn't actually a death, but I can see how it would kind of feel that way, even if you _know_ you're still going to be yourself on the other side of it. But the way they handled Yaz's departure....
I had wondered how they were going to write her out. She can't just casually opt out the way Dan did; it made perfect sense for him, but Yaz has _never_ had a healthy sense of self-preservation around the Doctor. Her first near-death experience didn't even slow her down. But you also can't kill her off or give her a horrible traumatic forced separation, because it just wouldn't work, it wouldn't _fit_. So what kind of reason were they going to give her for leaving? I really, really wasn't expecting the answer to be "none".
Doctor: You know what this means, right?
Yaz: We've got to break up now?
Doctor: Exactly! New face, new showrunner, new companion!
Yaz: Because obviously people never stay with you across regenerations.
Doctor: Right. That would be silly.
Yaz: I've got a massive crush on you, and you're at least extremely fond of me in an ambiguously-romantic way. But our weird relationship could never survive you getting a new face and a slightly-altered personality. It's not like you might regenerate into someone even more attractive who still loves me just as much as you do now. I'm sure that kind of thing has never happened before.
Doctor: Of course not. Now, I think I need to do this next bit alone.
Yaz: Because you don't want people who care about you around when you're going to be wobbly, confused, and unusually vulnerable.
Doctor: Right again. Well, guess I'll see you in thirty or forty years, then. Bye!
Oh, Chibnall.
First and most importantly, I want to rant about the RTD Wrongheaded Theory of Regeneration.
The way regeneration works in Classic Who is relatively straightforward. A Time Lord's body is damaged beyond repair, so we solve the problem by giving them a new body. It makes sense, for Who-ish values of "sense". For some weird reason though, New Who splits regeneration into a two-step process. _First_ the regeneration energy heals you. Not necessarily all the way to 100% health, but at least enough that you can scramble to your feet, get rid of most of the visible damage, and run around for a while having heartwarming farewells. And then _after that_ it replaces your body. What the _heck_, Russell? Where did that come from?
They've used the Wrongheaded Theory in some very clever and interesting ways, I'll give them credit for that. It gave us Handy, who I love unreasonably. It gave us Eleven's mid-regeneration, inter-episode phone call, which is a really fun trick. Two-step regeneration is not a major, unforgivable flaw. (If you can't tolerate a certain amount of complete nonsense, this show is not for you.) But it still annoys me, just a little tiny bit, every single time it happens. Even though I have to reluctantly admit it's not _that_ much more ridiculous than the whole concept of regeneration in the first place. And even though it's been (are you ready for this) _fourteen years_ since it was introduced in "Journey's End".
So it's not surprising that Thirteen gets a break between being zapped and finally changing. That's just how it works now. And it's not surprising that she spends that break saying goodbye to people as if she's never going to see them again. Regeneration isn't actually a death, but I can see how it would kind of feel that way, even if you _know_ you're still going to be yourself on the other side of it. But the way they handled Yaz's departure....
I had wondered how they were going to write her out. She can't just casually opt out the way Dan did; it made perfect sense for him, but Yaz has _never_ had a healthy sense of self-preservation around the Doctor. Her first near-death experience didn't even slow her down. But you also can't kill her off or give her a horrible traumatic forced separation, because it just wouldn't work, it wouldn't _fit_. So what kind of reason were they going to give her for leaving? I really, really wasn't expecting the answer to be "none".
Doctor: You know what this means, right?
Yaz: We've got to break up now?
Doctor: Exactly! New face, new showrunner, new companion!
Yaz: Because obviously people never stay with you across regenerations.
Doctor: Right. That would be silly.
Yaz: I've got a massive crush on you, and you're at least extremely fond of me in an ambiguously-romantic way. But our weird relationship could never survive you getting a new face and a slightly-altered personality. It's not like you might regenerate into someone even more attractive who still loves me just as much as you do now. I'm sure that kind of thing has never happened before.
Doctor: Of course not. Now, I think I need to do this next bit alone.
Yaz: Because you don't want people who care about you around when you're going to be wobbly, confused, and unusually vulnerable.
Doctor: Right again. Well, guess I'll see you in thirty or forty years, then. Bye!
Oh, Chibnall.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-29 10:22 am (UTC)LOL! You know, there is a part of me that loves (in the way I love really really awkward people) that Thirteen just NEVER gave an inch. We will NEVER know what she thought about anything. Zero insights, ever.
Now I want to write fic where Yaz is picked up by, say, Clara or River, and is finally appreciated properly and gets all the answers she could ever want. Or I might just wait until Ncuti shows up and then write an extra adventure where he comes back for Yaz and they have the time of their lives.