so i've been doing a doctor who rewatch with my flatmate, which is giving me whole new avenues to think about doctor who meta from
and i wanna talk about this moment
the dalek emperor asks "so prove yourself, doctor. what are you, coward or killer?"
and i think the full context of his response goes a little underappreciated
because especially if you know a lot about doctor who, this line seems fairly obvious. still poignant as hell, but we know the doctor, and we know he's the man who'd always make that choice, it's built into his very mythology
except this is nine
and the choice he's being offered is whether or not to use a weapon that will kill every living thing in its radius - it'll wipe out the daleks, but the range of it also includes the entire earth. you can finally stop the war, but you have to sacrifice a planet you've come to call home, and all of its people, in order to do so. and you'd better act fast, because the daleks are waging war right now, people are already dying - if you don't do something, they're going to wipe out the human race anyway
logically, he should. logically, he has to.
but this is a doctor who is fresh of the heels of making that same choice! he already did it! not too long ago, with his own world in the balance, he proved himself killer, once and for all. what's one more planet, compared to all that? one more planet, to prove it wasn't all worthless? if you let them go now, you killed your own people for nothing
i don't think he knew, until he got his hands on that trigger, what choice he would make. he was certainly planning to be able to do it. and it's not like he stopped being a soldier after the war, when he met that one lone dalek he did everything in his power to kill it, to make the war finally over, to make it worth it. nine doesn't want to be a killer, but he knows that he is. and he's proven it many times this season
until right now. staring down his worst enemy, his worst nightmare, knowing that if he acts with mercy here he'll condemn the universe to destruction, he does it anyway. throws everything aside to give the devil itself the kindness neither of them deserve
this isn't just the moment he declared himself the man who never would. this is the moment he became the man who never would
and time lord regeneration's a funny thing. same man, new man. same memories, new personality, new goals, new ideals. and sure, some aspects of that are random, but there's still a chain of connection. each new incarnation becomes who they are in response to how the last one ended. the 50th enjoyed going into the differences between ten and eleven, how eleven ran away from everything that the doctor was before, played up the childish and the trickster and never fully looked at all the horrors in their past, because ten couldn't help but take responsibility. he considered responsibility the only moral option, but at the end was still so angry that this weight never stopped dragging him down, that he could never make the selfish decision. the world isn't fair and i don't want it to end like this, i see so much of that in eleven
and that defining moment of nine's that birthed ten, that's right here
the man who never would is a line stolen directly from the doctor's daughter. ten is the doctor who holds up genocide as the worst crime someone can commit, no matter the circumstances. ten who will let a dalek go just to avoid causing another. ten who won't touch a weapon of any kind unless absolutely necessary. who doesn't even want to be in the same room as a gun. it all comes down to this moment, with nine against the end of everything, in the final hours of his life
handed an identical choice to the one that changed his life forever and saying never again.
102 notes
·
View notes
[ID: 13 gifs from season 3, episode 1 “the search, part 1” from the tv series “star trek: deep space nine”, the gifs show benjamin sisko and jadzia dax in the wardroom. jadzia is seated while sisko is standing in front of a monitor.
1st gif: “you know, after jennifer died, i never thought i would see you this passionate about something again.” jadzia tells sisko.
2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th gif: the camera shifts to sisko, who has his arms are crossed in front of him and takes a couple of steps forward, the camera moves with him, “two months ago, i would have agreed with you.” he takes a seat, and the camera focuses on him. “then i went back to earth and i spent all those weeks debriefing at starfleet headquarters. and i… i used to get a thrill just walking into that building. i'd look around at the admirals and think, "one day, that's going to be me." "one day, i'm the one that's going to be making the big decisions."” sisko is slightly smiling at the end.
7th gif: jadzia laughs as she recalls, “curzon always thought that was very funny.”
8th, 9th gif: the camera cuts to sisko, “did he?” then back to jadzia as she explains, “what i mean is he could never see a set of admiral stars on your collar. he thought that just making the decisions would never satisfy you. you had to implement them – “
10th gif: a shift to show sisko listening to jadzia, “see the results, face the consequences.”
11th gif: “curzon always thought you were the kind of man who had to be in the thick of things -- not behind some desk at headquarters.”
12th gif: “he was a smart old man, wasn't he?” sisko gets up and returns to the monitor.
13th gif: “he'd like to think so.” jadzia confirms. /end ID]
1K notes
·
View notes
gif credit (x)
im glad that instead of trying to change himself to be the person sonic wants him to be, nine fires back here and demands the recognition and respect he deserves as an individual separate from the one sonic knows. he’s done it repeatedly through both seasons and im ridiculously proud of this little 8-year-old for having the gumption and resilience to stand up to someone he clearly wants acceptance from bc that’s an extremely hard thing to do at any age. but nine is such a strong kid and he knows it’s his right to be treated as the person he is and not the person sonic wants him to be.
and i do like that we see a look of realization and regret on sonic’s face here— it says a lot. namely that sonic hasn’t meant to undermine nine’s identity. sometimes you just hurt ppl without meaning to and sonic has clearly done that by being so dismissive of the fact nine is a person wholly disconnected from the tails he knows. he even goes so far in this moment as to try and make nine feel bad for not being more like his tails.
that’s a cruel and manipulative thing to do and i think we’re seeing sonic begin to understand that he really hurt this poor kid without realizing it.
390 notes
·
View notes