What the Thunder Said (Meta on the Doctor Falls and the Twelfth Doctor's era)
Alternative title: Why Moffat Who is Poetry
Welcome to the meta café! Although this time it's more The Poetry Café (not that there's ever much difference). What I mean is, this post is like a follow-up to The Hollow Men and will be formatted in a similar way: I.e. first up is the poem/imagery, which will then be followed by lengthy, complex and in ( Read more... )
Welcome to the meta café! Although this time it's more The Poetry Café (not that there's ever much difference). What I mean is, this post is like a follow-up to The Hollow Men and will be formatted in a similar way: I.e. first up is the poem/imagery, which will then be followed by lengthy, complex and in ( Read more... )
Comments 60
Reply
Very true. One is about cheating death, the other about embracing it. One about romantic love (marriage), the other about platonic (Stand with me).
So Missy doesn't get to stand beside the Doctor like River did. She dies alone, unrewarded, unknown.
But then, that is the point. 'Goodness is only good in the final hour. Without hope, without witness, without reward'. Without that, her transformation wouldn't be complete. (She fell where she stood. And she had chosen to stand with the Doctor. The fact that he wasn't there is immaterial. The choice condemned her.)
He worked so hard to convince her that he didn't care about her, I can only conclude he did.
Absolutely. (And I will write much & flailingly about the Master in my more 'normal' post - whenever I get round to that.)
Of course, what's the one thing that can corrupt and even erode metal? Water.
Ha! Yes, love it. <3
I think this series was all about change for the Doctor as well ( ... )
Reply
Oh, indeed! In the end, she very much died without hope, without witness, without reward. But she made her stand on the right side before she did that. <333
This is a beautiful point. And yes, there is that disappointment, although on the other side we have 'without hope, without witness, without reward'. It matters that he tried.
Absolutely, but he can't see that at the moment. He thinks it was all for nothing. So what's the point in changing when Bill and Missy couldn't change? That's why I'm so grateful that Moffat stayed to write the Christmas episode, so he could wrap up this last little storyline.
I think Christmas is very much going to be about what a difference he has made, much like River's speech in TWoRSYes ( ... )
Reply
It's just so heart-stoppingly beautiful that I am yet at a loss to do it all justice.
Absolutely, but he can't see that at the moment. He thinks it was all for nothing. So what's the point in changing when Bill and Missy couldn't change?
But I am pretty sure he wanted to die before that. He keeps his regeneration at bay for a fortnight, and basically counts on going down fighting. ('Where I stand - I fall') He has no plans to survive. Losing everyone is just one additional reason. *pets poor Twelve*
That's why I'm so grateful that Moffat stayed to write the Christmas episode, so he could wrap up this last little storyline.
Totally. I can't imagine it otherwise.
Yes! Hence Clara reappearing and also The Hug between Bill and the Doctor (that better not be a dream or a vision).
CLARA?????
Reply
Reply
Reply
Thanks for that link to that Who comm discussion I’d previously missed. Am in violent agreement with this description: It seems a common thing to refer to Moffat as a “plot” rather than “character” writer, but I think this season has pretty firmly disproven that: he is neither. He is, instead, an idea writer --
POETRY INDEED
The image of the barn is also important… Note also that the barn is connected to some kind of collective living situation for children and that Hazran echoes the woman in the apron who finds the Doctor back in the barn in Hell Bent and was presumably the one talking about him as a child in Listen.
Whenever I read your meta I realise that I’m a moron because of connections like this to which I lived in obliviousness. (Also, interesting Biblical allusion for a secular writer.)
Nardole (whom I am neglecting shockingly in this meta, due to my focus) also deserves a word here, since ( ... )
Reply
Not just me, at least half is Promethia. (It's VERY HANDY sharing a brain with other people...) And your comment is pure delight. <3
Thanks for that link to that Who comm discussion I’d previously missed. Am in violent agreement with this description - POETRY INDEED
Excellent, isn't it? And it really is. I'll miss it insanely.
Whenever I read your meta I realise that I’m a moron because of connections like this to which I lived in obliviousness.
Put, we uncover them as we go along. Some are obvious, because we have been over everything so often, other parts just appear and we go 'OMG HOW DID WE NOT SEE THIS??' When we post we have gathered all the insights together and presented them nicely, rather than 'Oh, here's a bunch of random insights' *g*
(Also, interesting Biblical allusion for a secular writer.)
Oh aye. But then it's hard to get away from religion.
WAILING ABOUT IT. MY BOY. (… The secret ( ... )
Reply
Reply
So worth the wait. You should know I went “oooh!!!” and cheered several times while reading this beautifully beatific beauty.
(Also, thank you for the handy analysis of the poem since I have read it, but I’m a lazy/busy bastard who wouldn’t do research past the footnotes).
Just…THIS. This. I want to copy all the pictures with the quotes and use them as screensavers because this is so amazing.
And then you broke my hearts with poor, death seeker-ish Twelve (Pets the Floof). Capaldi killed it with that speech indeed. No wonder everybody’s posting it.
A few things:
1. HOW CAN WE REWARD YOU, YOU MUST BE REWARDED FOR THIS, FICS, ANALYSES, ART, VIDEOS, ANYTHING, JUST SAY IT.
2. Since you brought up the cap, someone wrote this great Fridge Brilliance about Extremis: “Nardole, while dressed as a monk, brings the Doctor River Song's diary. In many ways, that book ( ... )
Reply
I would have expected nothing else. :)
So worth the wait. You should know I went “oooh!!!” and cheered several times while reading this beautifully beatific beauty.
:D :D :D
(Also, thank you for the handy analysis of the poem since I have read it, but I’m a lazy/busy bastard who wouldn’t do research past the footnotes).
Thank Promethia. She's the expert!
Just…THIS. This. I want to copy all the pictures with the quotes and use them as screensavers because this is so amazing.
It is rather gorgeous, isn't it? I want to draw hearts around Moffat. ♥
And then you broke my hearts with poor, death seeker-ish Twelve (Pets the Floof). Capaldi killed it with that speech indeed. No wonder everybody’s posting it.
It's the most Doctor-y speech ever. Literally. If you want to know who he is, that speech is it.
1. HOW CAN WE REWARD YOU, YOU MUST BE REWARDED FOR THIS, FICS, ANALYSES, ART, VIDEOS, ANYTHING, JUST SAY IT.
Couple of more weeks holiday, a cleaner, a gardener.
“Nardole, while dressed ( ... )
Reply
Well, yes, if anything, this was rather short by my standards.
Thank Promethia. She's the expert!
I sometimes wonder how these conversations go, after an episode…
Couple of more weeks holiday, a cleaner, a gardener.
There ought to be a way to give packets of time as presents to your friends. Like, here’s 3 days, you can do whatever you like with them.
LOL. (When we watch EoT my children sing 'Happy Death Day to You'. It nicely undermines Ten's epic angst.)
I think my favourite, incredibly evil suggestion/weird coping mechanism is that one should sing “shot through the heart and you're to blame, (you give love a bad name…)” throughout World Enough And Time.
Oh that's been done! Not that specific one, but the idea.
Oh, you’ve shown me (and vice versa). Well, I didn’t mention it as something amazingly groundbreaking, bow before my inventiveness, puny humans. But it’s still something that I feel should be done -and would be quite nice too in my opinion.
He's frail in ways we aren't used to. And ( ... )
Reply
Oh, the usual: squee, incoherent gif usage, squaking of quotes we latched onto five years ago and have repeated like mantras ever since so that they now define entire complexes of ideas that we can no longer articulate in a coherent manner, demands that the other drop everything immediately and go read 17th century poetry. You know, normal fandom stuff.
Reply
Let me rest in the arms of Slumber, for my open eyes are tired;
Let the silver-stringed lyre quiver and soothe my spirit;
Weave from the harp and lute a veil around my withering heart.
Sing of the past as you behold the dawn of hope in my eyes, for
its magic meaning is a soft bed upon which my heart rests.
.
.
They find him while they’re walking on the beach, lying on his back at the edge of the water.
The swirling fog that’s only just lifting doesn’t make it easy to spot things from a distance. But there’s a surprised exclamation. One tugs at the other’s sleeve and points. Oh, look. Look over there.
He’s pale and unmoving, almost completely dry, an arm and a leg slightly bent in a strange symmetry. His eyes are closed.
The two walk closer, and if he could hear them -Could he? Is he? - he’d hear the hesitating but curious steps, the scraping on the large, smooth peddles that roll down to the near-silent waves ( ... )
Reply
At some point the Nurse kneels beside him and traces his injuries through the torn, tattered clothes, wincing in sympathy.
Most of the damage has been done by internal bleeding -traumatic brain injury, probable aortic rupture, multiple rib fractures, blast lung, dislocated shoulder- but there are many visible cuts, bruises, and burns. Some hidden wound in the back of his right leg still bleeds down a dark trouser-leg, releasing small, pinkish clouds that quickly disperse in the water ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Not that you need me to tell you, but I sort of read it almost in a daze. No, like it's music?
Mostly, thank you for sharing, and I'll go tell Proton. ♥
Reply
Leave a comment