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septicmomma · 3 years ago

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Learning To Love The Timeless Child

I’ve gone through a flux (har har) of emotions upon my thoughts on The Timeless Child reveal. From feeling ambivalent to mild disliking and to thinking it was just “ok”. I’m finally ready to put my foot down and not only say I love it but it’s actually one of the best inclusions in DW cannon.

But before you rase you're pitchforks I’m not writing this in an attempt to invalidate the opinion of people who don’t like it but to offer understanding of those that do.

While also identifying some of the common complaints/criticisms that've been levelled at it. "It breaks cannon, it makes the Doctor a Messiah figure, its pointless, it disrespects Hartnell ect".

First off The Doctor still is “some guy” but in all honesty the reality is arguably since The War Games the Doctor has always been a figure of relative importance. Which is something I think people are just going to have to come to accept, and if anything, adding a potential nuance by centring the exploitation of the Doctor by an uncaring society only makes their character that much richer imho. Whereas instead, they’re usually related to Gallifrey in a more heroic profession.

But that doesn't make the Doctor special by virtue of being the Timeless Child. What makes her “special” is only a by-product of exploitation, any uniqueness she may have had was stripped away and trivialised to forge someone else’s story of supposed ‘greatness’ leaving her part buried and forgotten. They may occupy a significance position within DW lore, but it’s in a passive capacity not a proactive role. I also think the notion that the Doctor was “supposed” to be some kind of underachieving drop-out who proves themselves through sheer bare-knuckled heroism isn’t entirely accurate. As strictly regarding newwho the Doctor has often been a source of significance and intrigue, albeit a remarkably personable one. The companions are where the modern series has typically rooted the ethos of being capable of great things even if you’re ordinary. The modern series Doctor is, more often than not the catalyst for that potential in other people, rather than an example of it themselves. TTC has literally changed nothing about the Doctors modus operandi. She doesn’t have any memories of that time of her life and can’t exactly use any of that knowledge to help solve her problems. None of the Doctors ideological impulses comes from being the Timeless Child. And even if she did have those memories TTC doesn’t make them this all-knowing messiah figure, they’re just another alien that just so happens to have a longstanding healing ability which grants them no inherent edge, nor any heavenly merit.

Tecteun finds her alone and abandoned, as the Master puts it a “refugee” the only thing this change’s is that she was the first person able to regeneration which in-itself is just a cosmetic plot device it’s not what defines Gallifreyans as a race, whilst there have been instances where it's used to comment on the Doctors mortality (The End of Time, Twice Upon a Time) rarely is it displayed as anything more. As for the Doctor being “it makes the Doctor a Messiah figure” the Timelords evolved naturally and expanded their outreached as mentioned in the TTC, with Tectuan they became the self-appointed elite and renamed themselves Timelords, there would still be “Timelords” regardless of the Doctors involvement it's a title not a literal race. The Doctor is only ever presented as a “messiah” figure through the lens of the Master's insecurity "All I am is somehow because of you". The Master is essentially meant to symbolise an outrage merchant/NMD type, wanting the Doctor to be scared and outraged over everything. He even goes to the lengths of creating an army of Cybermasters purely in his image, when they regenerate, they don’t change they just stay the same. Echoing the fear of change and evolution. This fear is also accentuated through Ashad, though despite their similar aspirations both him and the Master still butt heads because it doesn't cater to their specific vision. Ironically this is something the Master points out regarding Ashads plan, yet he himself doesn't see the hypocrisy by making them shallow self reflections.

TTC narratively justifies itself within its own story it doesn’t need to exist outside its own confines as it already serves a narrative purpose in this episode. Primarily as a story dealing with the Master attempting to destabilise the Doctors perception of herself while also acting as a commentary on colonialism. With the added subtext of the Doctor appearing as a black girl who was taken and exploited for gain of another race and having her history buried and forgotten.

Posing the question of what if there were many different Doctors from any ethnicity groups but we haven’t seen them before because the Timelords have appropriated the ability to regenerate for themselves in addition to this doubling as commentary all the previous Doctors being white men. Showing the Doctors previous lives as children, that diversity has always existed after decades of telling people that this how it’s always been so it so should just to stay the same; instead of questioning why an alien who can change their appearance into literally anyone would always take the form of a white guy. Being that identity has been the following theme throughout this era, I think there’s a lot of value in this conceit, which comes through in Ruth and Thirteens short interaction. Learning to reconcile with parts of yourself that you never realised were there. I suspect those sequences might mean a lot too adopted or just alienated kids in general watching the show, showing that this program is for them as it is for anyone else.

At the end of the day, it’s an adoption story. Discovering your life is a lie can seem like a world-shattering revelation. But it doesn't have to be, and other people imposing their beliefs onto you doesn't mean you have to listen. The Master is an example of revelation like this literally breaking someone into such a self-loathing state it leaves them impetuous, desperately grappling to find some new sense of purpose. There's nothing 'chosen one' about being someone who was taken by a self-serving pragmatist and indoctrinated into a totalitarian elite. Everyone convinced themselves the Master meant the Doctors past when in fact the obvious “lie” of The Timeless Child is just his way of compartmentalising their trauma, that it prohibits his own ability to develop meaning outside of the moment where it collapsed. Detractors keep focusing on the lore elements as if that’s the point of the reveal but it’s not. The point is what happens when your sense of identity is turned on its head? what happens when something you once believed to be a fundamental part of yourself isn’t quite as clear as you thought it was? It hangs on the notion that the Doctor and the world they’ve seen grown around them is built on a paradoxical impasse, that indicates a potential otherly aspect to their upbringing. Her dropping the watch is the first time she’s away from manipulation, away from unruly expectation and threat. It’s the only time she’s allowed to make the choice for herself, not based on any preconceived bias. So naturally, she decides to not let the past define her and allow herself to just truly live in the moment. 13 spent all of Series 11 instinctively trying to suppress her past in a way to necessitate her need for company and comfort only for it to get thrown in her face in Series 12, leaving her with no sense of individual importance, and Series 13 is where she’s faced to tackle those facets head on to retake her own narrative.

The TTC makes it very clear that the point is the open up possibilities and new venues for the show to explore, that your past doesn’t define you. With the Doctor partially acting as an audience surrogate, constantly asking questions of what it all means.

It’s about the intrigue and the joy of the mystery itself which is what the TTC is trying too ahead too. It doesn’t matter what the specifics of what her backstory are because frankly It plus all the lore about Division is simply there to provide motivation for the Master and a framework for Flux. The fact that this new backstory even exists at all only means that the Doctor didn’t know herself as well as she thought she did, which drives her to want to find out and develop a better understanding of who she is. It's ultimately a journey of self-identification, and for me at least, Flux managed to cap that off in a place where I felt fairly satisfied. What I think 13 truly learned is that she never desired the information per se, but rather, gaining the agency to decide what to do with it. It’s about her having autonomy over her own life and sense of self without it being dictated by other people as it’s something she was denied by Tecteun, who essentially abducted her and unilaterally changed the course of her life, her physiology was exploited for the benefit of others, Division wouldn’t let her willingly leave their service, and eventually she had her memories stolen and her body reset. By the end of Flux, the Doctor is back in the driver’s seat ready to face whatever journey may come their way.

You can even look at it on a metatextual level, with a show that spans a history of almost 60 years, amassing numerous spin offs and expanded media. Making an almost celebratory deconstruction on the arbitrary nature of cannon and if you’re going to tell a story the largely focuses on this then you have to acknowledge that cannon isn’t necessarily fundamental, as much as it’s just a storytelling device, especially in the case of DW with its numerous contradictions. Incidentally, this also applies to the revelation itself. If you really don’t like it then feel free to disregard it. But be prepared to accept the fact that some people might critique that standpoint, and that’s OK.

The inclusion of the Morbius Doctors is a prime example, hell even the Curse of Fatal Death Doctors, all of it is possible now. To have the revelation change the Doctor in any significant way would be hugely undermining the point of what the episode is trying to say. Instead of conforming to the Masters way of thinking she doesn’t let this change frighten her she embraces it. Much like the very nature of the show.

Anyway, hope u enjoyed my rant :-]

#doctor who #the timeless children #13th doctor

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