Doctor Who video rec: "I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars..."

[timepiececlock]

Video: Handlebars
Spoilers: seasons 1-4
Fandom: Doctor Who
Vidder: flummery

I'd like to join in on the chorus that says how amazing, sweeping, and disturbing this video is. It's a beautiful testament to four seasons of the Doctor's inner demons: pride, arrogance, righteousness, anger, and lack of any form of oversight... it's quite jarring to see it all gathered together so skillfully into a single three minutes. And the song! Such a perfect, perfect song for this. Eerie and slow, then exciting and threatening. It's everything fun and brilliant and beautiful mixed with everything cruel and merciless.


A minor rant to go along:

However, just because I can't leave well enough alone, I have to say that in comments and often in LJ discussions I feel like Ten gets a bad rap from fans. Sure, his god complex is much more visible than the Ninth Doctor's was, but Nine was by no means a saint. I mean...Cassandra? And other times too. And we know by the super magical powers of deduction that Eight was the one who pushed the button on the Time War, and we all know Eight was a sweetie in the movie but he still did it. And I've been assured that the arrogance, superiority, and willingness to just decide things for other people without asking was part of prior Doctors as well. We *all* know that the Doctor's true Gallifreyan name might as well be Doctor McJudge-Your-Ass.

Although it works for me to have the video just focus on Ten (best that way, since visual continuity and consistency is important in a video, and difficult when you've got multiple actors for the same part), this could have been made to encompass other incarnations as well without losing the central message. And sometimes I get tired of hearing how Ten is so much scarier than the others when, frankly, I think the Doctor in any incarnation is going to be this way. Especially now that he's the last. Nine wasn't shy about pulling his authority as The Last of the Time Lords. And just as he tried to negotiate with the Nestene in "Rose", Ten tried to negotiate with the monster in "Midnight". They're the same character in the bad AND the good.


warning: may be spoilers in comments

Comments

[zauberer-sirin.livejournal.com]

GOD I LOVE THAT VID. I watched it the other day and it made me happy in my parts. Even if it was about Ten.

And sometimes I get tired of hearing how Ten is so much scarier than the others when, frankly, I think the Doctor in any incarnation is going to be this way.

Yeah, totally. The level of creepiness varies from incarnation to incarnation (and Nine was creepy as everything, with his PTSD and all, though he hid it better than Ten, IMHO) but the Doctor is scary always. I mean, Seven scares the shit out of me sometimes, with his no-nonsense attitude. The problem with Ten and Nine is that they don't have to be rebels anymore, so they are a bit more restless than the rest of the Doctors. Even my favourite Doctors (Five and Eight) who are total sweeties most of the time have their moments of darkness to me (although Eight normally pulls back pretty quickly, even if you are a Zygon, but I digress).

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Nine was creepy as everything, with his PTSD and all, though he hid it better than Ten, IMHO

Yes, he was, and yes, he did. I mean, pretty much all of episode 1x06 "Dalek" showed as much, and he was quite threatening and creepy in 1x02, which Rose seemed to realize only once she'd already joined him.

I agree that he hid it better sometimes, but he hid his anger less... Nine's anger and loneliness were closer to the surface, much closer, so the jump from happy-bouncy-time-traveler to jude-and-jury-Lord-of-Time wasn't as abrupt as it frequently has been with Ten.

[goldy-dollar.livejournal.com]

Haven't watched the vid, but thought I'd comment and say that I also don't like to see Ten get put down so much in fandom. Yes, he's a very faulted character, but not necessarily scarier than other incarnations. In fact, he's even downright affectionate and nurturing sometimes. Can you imagine Ten flinging "stupid ape" at a companion like Nine did to Rose? Or threatening to drop them off back at home if they didn't agree with him? (Again, like Nine did to Rose?) I mean, even in The Fires of Pompeii when Ten is fighting Donna over the future of the city, he still gives in to her demand in the end.

We've also seen Ten have an amazing scope of compassion for other creatures. He's so gentle with other beings in pain such as Chloe in Fear Her or the Ood. AND he's even shown mercy towards his greatest enemies like the Daleks, the Master, and Davros. Contrast that to the way Nine had to be stopped by Rose in "Dalek."

Ten is far from perfect, but he's not exactly this big scary opposite to Nine's sainthood.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Watch the video! I've rewatched it six times now I think. I even went and hunted down the artist so I could have the song.

Although the video is kind of spoilery, most of the spoilers are so quick and out of context that it doesn't really spoil anything, so I was actually thinking the video makes a great advertisement or trailer for the show. For the darker elements of the show, anyway. I could imagine showing this to someone who was thinking about getting into the series.


I agree with you about his affection and his compassion. He does moments of great compassion--which sometimes highlight how terrible his anger is. I think a lot of it comes down to Tennant for putting so much force of personality and passion into his performance.