#I kinda love TV Movie Eight and the implications that he's so tied into the fabric of time

[being-of-rain]

I just listened to The Children of the Future, and really enjoyed it (Sarah and the Brig were such a delight in it, and Tim Foley is definitely one of my favourite current regular Big Finish authors). But I found it interesting that Three seemed to think he was near the end of his current life, because that's a trope that turns up a fair amount in the Dr Who expanded universe. Basically every classic Doctor seems to know when they're in their final few years, (it sometimes feel like Seven spends half his EU life thinking about how he's going to die soon,) because the authors just can't help themselves. The stories are deeply rooted in the continuity of the TV show, and the emotions of the fans who are writing the new stories. So every time a Doctor reaches their final season they get a meta self-awareness about it, which is something that I don't think ever happens in Classic Who itself. Even in New Who, the melodramatic 'the end is coming' attitude only turns up when the Doctor is told so by someone else. It's just when authors are looking back on the show that authors add the knowledge in, as if it wouldn't have any affect on the character or stories.

I don't know where I'm going with this yet. It's not something I really dislike, because I'm a fan too, and I understand exactly the bittersweet place that the writers are coming from. And in some stories, like The Children of the Future, it works really well and adds an extra dimension to the character (which goodness knows is always welcome when it comes to a character as well-worn as the Doctors). But it's another instance where it feels like the Doctor is really in-tune with the timeline (or narrative) of themself and everyone around them. Things like that always puts me in mind of TV Movie Eight, who reads people's entire lives like a book just by being around them. Or even less deliberately than that: he instinctually, maybe even subconsciously, picks up on their destinies, like long-time audience members of a specific genre, passively recognising the tropes and character archetypes as they're introduced.

#my posts #just some thoughts. tying a few different ideas together. idk how much sense they make right now. #doctor who #who eu #I kinda love TV Movie Eight and the implications that he's so tied into the fabric of time #that he can see the threads around him and where they lead like its nothing #I think people want to explain away that aspect of the character as just knowledge from the future but that just isn't what the movie shows #and besides. the other way is cool as heck. #see Interference turning that awareness of people's lives into blood stained mathematics