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[doyle]

Leaving aside the Doctor's gushy speech on Evelyn being his intellectual equal and 'emotional better' and more important to him than the TARDIS and the bestest companion EVER (I love Evelyn, but that scene was determined to make me dislike her: there's no faster way to turn me off a character than to have someone else unrealistically praise them to the skies - the Doctor's intellectual equal? Really? - while implying every other companion just couldn't measure up), this play really got my back up. A rhetorical quiz:

You are a Time Lord visiting a planet you know is soon to be invaded by an alien force. You know that history says the aliens were defeated because the planet's two biggest kingdoms had recently allied after the marriage of a prince and princess. Unfortunately, you've accidentally talked the princess out of going through with the arranged marriage because she's in love with a humble soldier. Whoops! The kingdoms go to war. 400,000 people die in the first couple of days, with countless more killed when the aliens turn up. The princess and her lover both die in the fighting. Do you:

(a) restore time to the correct path. Events will unfold as they would have without you interfering. The princess will sadly break it off with her boyfriend, go through with the marriage, the kingdoms won't go to war and the alliance will repel the alien invasion.

(b) leave things as they are. Soulmate Love > life and a few weeks of furtive giggly meetings followed by a brutal death is a better outcome for a couple of teenagers than being separated. Those half a million innocent bystanders would probably be only too happy to lay down their lives to facilitate the doomed romance of two total strangers.

The play would have me believe that b's the right option. Certainly it's what Evelyn convinces the Doctor is the Right Thing To Do.

Pn the plus side, I'm suddenly struck by how much worse the end of Doomsday could have been...

Comments

[bibliophile1887.livejournal.com]

Now that I've had time to think about it ... I seem to recall not liking the fact that the Doctor changed history when he is always preaching to everyone who will listen that you can't change events that have already happened. It seemed to say that the Doctor can do whatever the hell he wants and the universe be damned. Which in a way, he is, but not dramatically so.

I shall have to listen to it again this weekend. The things I do for my fandom! *sigh* ;)

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall not liking the fact that the Doctor changed history when he is always preaching to everyone who will listen that you can't change events that have already happened.

Yes, you'd think he'd be a bit more worried that he's managed to completely screw up the timeline... (I expected him to have to call in the Time Lords for help)