itsallovernow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
itsallovernow) wrote2008-03-27 12:06 pm
itsallovernow) wrote2008-03-27 12:06 pm
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Here's How You Get the Chance to Be Someone Else
I alternately love or despise episodes where the characters get to be someone else for the duration, to inhabit an alternate life, lead a different path, feel different feelings. Those eps can be glorious wish fulfillment, devastating what-ifs, or alternately, a wasted hour with a reset button.
Having watched (last night) Season 3 Doctor Who's "Human Nature/Family of Blood", and having found myself all weepy at the end of it in spite of myself (partly hormones, partly… WWI will get me every time), I wanted to take a look at "be someone else" eps that worked and those that didn't.
Episode wise, I did find this terribly compelling, rich in the way that many of the eps that explore the less than stellar effect that the Doctor's presence has on humanity and individuals have been. Season 3 was a lot about the Doctor's loneliness, his isolation (both chosen and not). He keeps his emotional distance from Martha, who can't hide her own connection to him, which is a type of tragedy, or would be if Martha weren't keenly aware of the problem and the dichotomy, if she weren't active about saying, "Yes, I love him. But, I know better, and I'm not going to be… foolish. I'm still acting on my own agency here." But he also has the inevitable distance of being someone beyond time, someone who knows the heartbeat of the universe and how small everyone's tragedies and heartbreak's really are.
He's never going to have the sort of empathy necessary to love like a human because in the end, it fades, it disappears, it becomes meaningless. It's not forgivable, actually, but then, my sympathy for the Doctor falls more in the sympathetic with reserve category. He's selfish in his need for companionship, in his manipulations and cruelties and joys. It's a game to him, although a serious one, and while I adore him, I don't always like him and I think the show is doing a sort of beautiful job showing that there should be multiple views of him and his choices.
One of the many, many things I loved about Farscape was the way in which we were never allowed to forget that while John Crichton was the hero of the show, he wasn't necessarily a hero to the universe. His actions had consequences, and more often than not, those consequences were negative for the people around him, often people whom he didn't meet or know.
In "Family of Blood", when Joan asks if they'd chosen someplace else, would anyone in the village have died, that's the key. The doctor doesn't just change history for the better. He changes it, and fallout is inevitable.
I, myself, often have the desire to be someone else, more in the "run away from my life and start up a business in small town with a handsome sheriff" kind of way than looking at an actual individual's life and wanting to take over that, so I'm predisposed towards them, however... I am not a fan of the reset button.
So the question is, what are your favorite "alternate character or timeline" eps in any fandom?
Having watched (last night) Season 3 Doctor Who's "Human Nature/Family of Blood", and having found myself all weepy at the end of it in spite of myself (partly hormones, partly… WWI will get me every time), I wanted to take a look at "be someone else" eps that worked and those that didn't.
Episode wise, I did find this terribly compelling, rich in the way that many of the eps that explore the less than stellar effect that the Doctor's presence has on humanity and individuals have been. Season 3 was a lot about the Doctor's loneliness, his isolation (both chosen and not). He keeps his emotional distance from Martha, who can't hide her own connection to him, which is a type of tragedy, or would be if Martha weren't keenly aware of the problem and the dichotomy, if she weren't active about saying, "Yes, I love him. But, I know better, and I'm not going to be… foolish. I'm still acting on my own agency here." But he also has the inevitable distance of being someone beyond time, someone who knows the heartbeat of the universe and how small everyone's tragedies and heartbreak's really are.
He's never going to have the sort of empathy necessary to love like a human because in the end, it fades, it disappears, it becomes meaningless. It's not forgivable, actually, but then, my sympathy for the Doctor falls more in the sympathetic with reserve category. He's selfish in his need for companionship, in his manipulations and cruelties and joys. It's a game to him, although a serious one, and while I adore him, I don't always like him and I think the show is doing a sort of beautiful job showing that there should be multiple views of him and his choices.
One of the many, many things I loved about Farscape was the way in which we were never allowed to forget that while John Crichton was the hero of the show, he wasn't necessarily a hero to the universe. His actions had consequences, and more often than not, those consequences were negative for the people around him, often people whom he didn't meet or know.
In "Family of Blood", when Joan asks if they'd chosen someplace else, would anyone in the village have died, that's the key. The doctor doesn't just change history for the better. He changes it, and fallout is inevitable.
I, myself, often have the desire to be someone else, more in the "run away from my life and start up a business in small town with a handsome sheriff" kind of way than looking at an actual individual's life and wanting to take over that, so I'm predisposed towards them, however... I am not a fan of the reset button.
So the question is, what are your favorite "alternate character or timeline" eps in any fandom?
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(Ok, I will also admit that fifth season TNG is my absolute favorite anyway, so remembering the episode is really not that big a surprise)
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