the real, the unreal, and the Doctor
Aug. 17th, 2023 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliDoctor Who is not quite the perfect endless series, for all its virtues. It hits the same issue as the superhero behemoths: the relative weight of the historical real and the fictional real. And it does not manage to thread the needle there.
When they are on Earth, in historical times, the Doctor and his companions can not effect real changes except such as would slip between the historical record. Indeed, on several occasions, the Doctor and his companions actively act with the sole purpose of keeping history on track. There is one occasion I recall where the Doctor is reluctant to intervene in human future history, and the net effect is that after he does, rather than let the innocent suffer, he tells, really, don't mention it -- he's afraid the Time Lords will punish him.
When he hesitates to destroy the Daleks before they can ravage the universe, it's not because that's a bigger change than preventing the Norman Conquest; it's because it wasn't all evil; many peoples, for instance, allied themselves to fight the Daleks, to their long term benefit.
This is the little problem of fictional history: you frequently don't take it as seriously. As for real history, it manages to trundle along despite the Doctor, and this becomes more and more blatant the longer the series goes -- and has episodes on Earth.
When they are on Earth, in historical times, the Doctor and his companions can not effect real changes except such as would slip between the historical record. Indeed, on several occasions, the Doctor and his companions actively act with the sole purpose of keeping history on track. There is one occasion I recall where the Doctor is reluctant to intervene in human future history, and the net effect is that after he does, rather than let the innocent suffer, he tells, really, don't mention it -- he's afraid the Time Lords will punish him.
When he hesitates to destroy the Daleks before they can ravage the universe, it's not because that's a bigger change than preventing the Norman Conquest; it's because it wasn't all evil; many peoples, for instance, allied themselves to fight the Daleks, to their long term benefit.
This is the little problem of fictional history: you frequently don't take it as seriously. As for real history, it manages to trundle along despite the Doctor, and this becomes more and more blatant the longer the series goes -- and has episodes on Earth.