I should probably try to watch the 1996 movie, but the snippets that make up this 3-minute super-cut don't exactly convey confidence that the producers really got the concept too well. Still, the Eighth Doctor kept on chugging through the audio plays, novels, and comic books, and actually racked up far more adventures than any of his predecessors.
Quotation:
"I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there."
The Eighth Doctor is a PISCES. According to an authoritative source, this Doctor "...showed a romantic and sensitive side not displayed by previous Doctors." That seems pretty on-target for a Pisces, whose traits include compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and dreaminess. Even many of the negative traits listed for this sign don't seem so bad to me -- escapist, overly idealistic, secretive, and vague. Those last two may be on target for the Eighth Doctor, but only inadvertently. The writers of the TV movie slipped in some things that were a bit out of continuity for the Doctor -- psychic powers? a human mother? -- which, if we're being charitable, can be written off as the kind of playful misdirection that other incarnations sometimes employed.
So what does the overly galvanic Pisces need to work on as a New Year's Resolution? The suggestion from my source is to create boundaries. I'm not a Pisces, but I definitely need to learn more about how to say "no" to things that will otherwise pull me in too many different directions.
[See the introduction for more about sources and motivations for this series of posts.]
I have not watched the web short but it's gotten rave reviews from the fans I know and love.
ReplyDeleteIf you've watched, or plan to watch, the 50th anniversary special ("The Day of the Doctor"), then the short (The Night of the Doctor) definitely adds some useful context and emotional oomph.
DeletePisceans are not escapist and vague. They are subtle visionaries. :)
ReplyDeleteNow, for a slightly more serious thought. I actually have a very strong reaction against the quote you've included for this Doctor. That is the spirit I detected in the skeptical, atheistic writing I engaged a few years ago, a cavalier dismissal of our keen skill for drawing out signals from noise. While it is true that this penchant might lead us to construct wishful fallacies, the opposite renders a seeker incapable, for an unbending loyalty to stemming credulity at all costs, of two vital aspects of the human experience: 1. grappling with mystery and 2. seeing what is there.
I do know one Pisces who is a subtle and sublime visionary.
DeleteI don't know the context for the quote, but I can imagine it being said with wonder and not dismissal. I'm a huge fan of divination systems (Tarot, I Ching, astrology) that build coherent, applicable stories from the raw materials of this mental ability. Going further, the fact that we craft the stories of our lives from (seemingly?) random events is nothing short of miraculous.
(I also must throw my hands up and say that I had only two hours worth of material to comb through for quotes for this Doctor, as opposed to years for the others!) :-) :-)
Cyg, we just got back from watching Saving Mr. Banks and the epiphanic (I don't think that's a word word but I like it here) scene has Hanks's Disney elucidating on a storyteller's job in a way that had me struggling to conceal my profound weeping in the middle of a packed theater house. I hope to write a review but, in the meantime, I recommend the film to you, fellow traveler.
DeleteThanks so much... I've been really wanting to see this. (I was amazed to see a movie with a title that conveys the content of a very personal revelation I had years ago. Maybe seeing this movie will help me find the words to write about it.)
DeleteI loved the short! But not having seen any of the past Doctor Who episodes since my childhood, I didn't have a clue as to who was who, LOL! Especially Paul McGann! When he showed up, that's when I hit pause and had to go researching!
ReplyDeleteI give thanks for Wikipedia, and the rest of the web, pretty much every day. :-)
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