You know, it took me years of arguing in Buffy fandom to figure out that sometimes people just disagree, but that they can still be friends and that neither side is wrong or right. We all bring our own life experiences and see the show through our own perspectives, so of course our opinions differ.
I almost always see fandom through the eyes of one character, who I adore completely and of whom I can forgive anything. Anything s/he does wrong just makes me love him/her more. (For example: "Methos killed tens of thousands of people once? Awesome!")
I agree that the Doctor sees himself as a higher authority... I just think he's right. He *is* usually the most powerful person in the room. He's the smartest and he understands more than anyone else, and he has more ability to act and to change things than anyone else. I'm glad that he acts, even if he makes mistakes, because I think it's better to try to stop wrongdoing than to sit back and claim that it's not your place.
He changes time lines every time he acts, so I don't see how stopping Harriet Jones was different from any of the other wrongdoing that he regularly stops. It just looks different to us because she's human, but to him, everyone's an alien, and he stops wrongdoing regardless. (Of course, when it comes to his own species he's totally biased, but I love that too. Doctor/Master FTW.)
I'd think he'd have some sort of obligation to ensure that he didn't make things worse.
Has he ever really made things worse? (In the new series; I haven't seen the old.) As far as I can tell, even when he's left situations less than perfect, his presence stopped an even greater evil from occurring. And I just don't think it's his responsibility to pick up the pieces for everyone else; if he leaves and people screw up again, that's their fault.
I don't see Rose's behavior in T&C as inappropriate. Everyone would've died if she and the Doctor hadn't shown up and helped. She was a little irreverent, but that's part of what I love about her and the Doctor--that they genuinely enjoyed themselves, instead of pretty much every other show where characters are constantly suffering the Epic Burden of having awesome adventures and exciting lives. I certainly don't think it's anything they needed to be punished for.
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Date: 2008-01-26 11:21 pm (UTC)I almost always see fandom through the eyes of one character, who I adore completely and of whom I can forgive anything. Anything s/he does wrong just makes me love him/her more. (For example: "Methos killed tens of thousands of people once? Awesome!")
I agree that the Doctor sees himself as a higher authority... I just think he's right. He *is* usually the most powerful person in the room. He's the smartest and he understands more than anyone else, and he has more ability to act and to change things than anyone else. I'm glad that he acts, even if he makes mistakes, because I think it's better to try to stop wrongdoing than to sit back and claim that it's not your place.
He changes time lines every time he acts, so I don't see how stopping Harriet Jones was different from any of the other wrongdoing that he regularly stops. It just looks different to us because she's human, but to him, everyone's an alien, and he stops wrongdoing regardless. (Of course, when it comes to his own species he's totally biased, but I love that too. Doctor/Master FTW.)
I'd think he'd have some sort of obligation to ensure that he didn't make things worse.
Has he ever really made things worse? (In the new series; I haven't seen the old.) As far as I can tell, even when he's left situations less than perfect, his presence stopped an even greater evil from occurring. And I just don't think it's his responsibility to pick up the pieces for everyone else; if he leaves and people screw up again, that's their fault.
I don't see Rose's behavior in T&C as inappropriate. Everyone would've died if she and the Doctor hadn't shown up and helped. She was a little irreverent, but that's part of what I love about her and the Doctor--that they genuinely enjoyed themselves, instead of pretty much every other show where characters are constantly suffering the Epic Burden of having awesome adventures and exciting lives. I certainly don't think it's anything they needed to be punished for.
But, yeah. Totally YMMV.