Thoughts on 'Last of the Time Lords', having read t'internet

[altariel]

I have been pondering about Martha leaving, and I'm starting to think it was the right decision, both for the character, and in terms of the narrative.

One of the 'big themes' of the season is that we should think very carefully about how and why we create our Gods. Throughout 'Gridlock', while Martha is trapped in the car with the Macra biting, she constantly says, "The Doctor will save us! The Doctor will save us!" In fact, it's only her co-passenger, Milo, turning the engine on and driving like a lunatic that saves them in that situation. (The Doctor's intervention comes later, after Boe-Jack has died to save the world.)

By 'Last of the Time Lords', Martha just gets on with the salvation business, without the Doctor. If, after a year as public enemy number one in a post-apocalyptic world, she had needed to go back into the TARDIS, she would, like Rose (and Peter Pan), have proven herself unable to grow up: i.e. unable to transition into an adult world in which our childhood authorities are only one source of psychological nourishment available to us. By the end, I think Martha intuits the difficulties Sarah-Jane had in saying goodbye. She has spent more time without the Doctor than with, and throughout has been an active agent of her own - and Earth's - destiny. I do hope we see more of her, whether in Who or Torchwood, or elsewhere.

On the Doctor as glowy-Christ, again, I think we need to see this in the context of what the season as a whole seems to have been saying about where you should put your faith, and in whom. What seems important in this episode is that this power is not innately the Doctor's (although Jack-Boe clearly thinks it is, as later he describes him as the 'Lonely God'). The Doctor's power is conferred by people: by Martha's Riddley Walker style mobilization of the innate power of communicative action - helped by the Master's technology, of course! (The 'power of words', technologically augmented, was foreshadowed in 'The Shakespeare Code'.) The shots of all those people saying the Doctor's name didn't call Peter Pan to my mind, they made me think of V for Vendetta.

I think there's something more complex going on in this narrative than a simple faith-vs-science conflict. The world seems, at the moment, insistent on dividing itself on these manifestly destructive lines. I'm not religious at all, but it does me no harm to be reminded that many people who believe in a god are not crazed fanatics, and share some common ground with me in terms of valuing redemption, or the faint hope of a possible better future. 'Gridlock' shows us that this better future can happen now, not after. The faith of the Undercity promises them something, and gives the society the ability to keep going, even if it doesn't provide the mechanism to get there. For that, someone needs to take action and break the cycle. Like Martha can, by 'Last of the Time Lords'.

So, faith in the future and our ability to achieve it. Even when, you know, we're only going to turn into self-devouring shrivel-headed spheres from Terrahawks.

Comments

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Wow! I'm seriously impressed. And here was I thinking that Doctor Who was just a much-loved but at times rather silly TV show. I didn't realise that it had a Message. :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

LOL! It's children's fantasy. Of *course* it has a Message! :-)

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

although Jack-Boe clearly thinks it is, as later he describes him as the 'Lonely God')

I've always heard that with the emphasis on "Lonely", rather than "God". I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

The shots of all those people saying the Doctor's name didn't call Peter Pan to my mind, they made me think of V for Vendetta.

I didn't think of Peter Pan either, but I haven't seen/read V for Vendetta so I didn't think of that. I thought of Intervention,and Magnificat by Julian May, and these lines from the song Mis-shapes by Pulp: " We won't use guns, we won't use bombs, we'll use the one thing we've got more of, that's our minds."

[altariel.livejournal.com]

That is a truly beautiful icon.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The base picture was from the BBC website, and I've been wanting a "sense of wonder" icon for a while, and a Martha icon. And when I saw that picture, it all came together.

[kerravonsen]

I'm not sure -- does Rusty get points for intent, even though he failed on execution? Theme over plot seems to be one of his weaknesses.

But, yes, agree that Martha's reasons for leaving were good for the character.

Even when, you know, we're only going to turn into self-devouring shrivel-headed spheres from Terrahawks.

LOL!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

does Rusty get points for intent, even though he failed on execution? Theme over plot seems to be one of his weaknesses.

I tend not to notice missing plot because I'm usally not paying enough attention, and then have to make it up for myself anyway :-)

[(Anonymous)]

RTD's writing style always reminds me of Wagner - huge, sweeping, emotionally charged pieces which when they work are heartrending tours de force, but which always run the risk of tipping over into uncontrolled pompous schmaltz (I love lots of Wagner, just as I love a lot of RTD, but there are times with both when I find myself snorting with cynical laughter when I think I was meant to be in tears.)

Whereas Steven Moffat writes like Bach - structurally flawless, economical, elegant, never a word (note) wasted, far less showy but with a tendency to get right under one's skin. And I've never heard a piece of Bach I didn't like.

(Tempted now to start assigning RTD episodes to Wagner operas but I think this analogy can only be stretched so far...)

Azalais

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Whereas Steven Moffat writes like Bach - structurally flawless, economical, elegant, never a word (note) wasted, far less showy but with a tendency to get right under one's skin.

This is very interesting: I thought 'Blink' was technically flawless, not a foot wrong, but it lacked the emotional core of 'The Girl in the Fireplace'.

We discussed RTD in depth on the way to the supermarket and concluded that if we're talking classical composers, it has to be Mozart. Some guff, frequent flashes of brilliance, occasional genius. However, he's not really a classical composer at all. He's more like ABBA.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

He's more like ABBA.

Fantastic!

In that case, I'll have The Piper for the Master, Eagle for The Doctor, and Fernando for Martha, and for Lucy The Winner Takes It All.

And Chiquitita for Rose.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Love it.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I had ABBA songs in my head all afternoon, which meant I finally got the Scissor Sisters track out of my head.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm doomed with that Scissor Sisters track.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I was humming it again this morning as I turned the calendar dice over. Clearly ABBA-power is not quite powerful enough.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Wonderful view of the episode and the series. I hadn't quite put my finger on why I found Martha's storytelling journey so moving, but as soon as you mentioned Riddley Walker, I got it.

I agree that Martha's departure was right for the story and the character. She came into her own full power and no longer needed her fixation on a savior. Her last scene was lovely and created a nice role-reversal.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I know Riddley Walker is never far from my thoughts, but it's immediately what I thought of, watching a storyteller beat a path through a ruined landscape. Very powerful set of images.

My Martha love is becoming vast! I must get an icon.

[seimaisin.livejournal.com]

Wandered over here randomly, as I clicked through links in other journals ... I love this, it says a lot that I've been thinking about this episode. Good thoughts!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :-)