my fandom can wank about *anything*

[rivendellrose]

I can't help being amused: Doctor Who fandom will fight about anything. Literally.

Right now, 'we' appear to be fighting about the whys and wherefores of multi-Doctor episodes and the seeming trend for the older (but younger) Doctors to be deferred to by the younger (but older) ones.

I'm tempted to post to the main comm something like "Daleks are the best and all the other villains suck!" just to see if I'll get an attempted thrashing from the fan contingent of some other group of baddies. But I won't. Because I'm good.

Although I will put forth the theory that not only is the Doctor getting less stable as time goes on (which is saying a lot, all things considered), but additionally that there's nothing to say there isn't a cultural understanding that one ought to respect one's former incarnations. And besides, a culture that old and conservative probably has a pretty serious "respect thy elders" type thing, which would unconsciously apply even if you know this person is really your younger self. So there.

Yes, I do believe that everything can be explained by judicious application of theoretical and inventive anthropology.

Comments

[babel.livejournal.com]

... There is something seriously wrong with this fandom. It's like we're JUST intelligent enough to put forth an argument and make it sound like it makes sense, but not intelligent enough to be civil and reasonable and have any amount of perspective.

I agree with you about the Doctor getting less stable, though. I'm kind of playing with that idea in a story right now.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Exactly! There are smart, wonderful people in this fandom... but a lot of them seem to have absolutely no sense when it comes to talking to each other. And the delight everyone seems to take in bitching about things just confuses me.

It also seems like every time he regenerates he ends up with a 'younger' body, which is interesting. I don't know if we're meant to take that (in the context of the universe) as normal for Time Lords, or random, or if it's just another weird thing about the Doctor.

[babel.livejournal.com]

I've been discussing the age thing with a friend of mine for a while. She thinks that they get younger as they regenerate, but in the first lifetime, they start from kids age normally (Since we see the kiddo Master and we see Susan age from a teenager to middle agedish without regenerating). I guess that would mean that they age normally in each generation as well, just not starting from a kid.

I suspect that it's just that the audience changed as they went, personally, but it's interesting to think about. (As long as you don't get into CRAZY ARGUMENTS over it. :>)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

That's been my assumption, too, but it also seems that each succeeding regeneration is younger, you know what I mean? Two was younger than One was, obviously, but... Four seems to have been a good deal younger than Three, and Five was younger than Four, and so on. So it's like each time he regenerates he's starting the new regeneration younger than he started the last one.

Sure, it's pretty clear that it's a demographic thing, and also that current TV demands younger, prettier leads than it used to. Which is kind of silly, but whatever. And yes! It's very fun to talk about and theorize on, as long as the people involved don't go completely stupid over things. Which is why the comm kind of makes me sad - I love the conversations that come up, but I hate how stupid and petty people can be about them.

[babel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I mean. They always regenerate younger, but the first time around, they start as children and age normally. I'm probably not clear, because I'm translating Latin on the side. XD It makes sense to want to regenerate younger, because that last life would last as long as possible? That seems like something they'd do.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I might be being spacey, too, and missing stuff that you're saying - our tools are down at work, so we can't actually do anything, but there's all kinds of twitchiness about whether or not we're staying to 'hold do the fort' and hope it comes back up, or going home, so I'm kind of... fluttery-distracted. *Laughs*

It does seem like the most reasonable solution.