Characterisation Meme
Mar. 21st, 2008 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thecricketerFrom...any number of people on my flist, and it's been a joy to read.
1. The Doctor is an alien. He works different than humans do – not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. He understands things we never will, and cannot grasp things we take for granted. His thoughts are rapid and varied, his feelings are processed in different ways. The Fifth, specifically, tries to distance himself, but while he succeeds outwardly, often fails inwardly – rather the opposite of his former incarnations.
2. The Doctor is a Time Lord. He may have abandoned Gallifrey, may have fought its ideals while he was there, but it still shaped him. This showed most, of course, in his first incarnation – condescending, distant, imperious, pragmatic. All of those traits are still there. I believe that, when he was younger, he was more like the Doctor we know – it took freedom, and Susan, and Barbara and Ian to bring that out again. However much he may deny it, however, he still has ties to his culture, not all of them bad.
3. The Doctor is a contradiction. This holds especially true for this Doctor. He is ancient and young, hopeful and cynical, compassionate and callous, merciful and ruthless, pacifistic and fierce. There must be a balance, and it must make sense in the context of the situation, the place in his time line. I don't understand him entirely, and if I did I think I'd be doing it wrong. You can't understand other humans entirely, let alone someone like the Doctor.
4. The Doctor is very, very old. Eight hundred years. Human beings can't really fathom living for such a long time. He's seen so much, been through so much – he's become accustomed to things none of us could because we simply don't have the time. He doesn't merely travel through history, he is history. He can be bitterly jaded one moment and full of youthful wonder the next.
5. The Doctor is a hero. No matter his flaws, no matter his mistakes, no matter his weaknesses, he tries his best to do the right thing. He's someone to look up to. He's someone you wish you could know, wish you could be. Sometimes he needs to make hard decisions, unpleasant decisions, ruthless decisions – but they are never careless, never selfish. Life is precious, and remorse is essential.
1. The Doctor is an alien. He works different than humans do – not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. He understands things we never will, and cannot grasp things we take for granted. His thoughts are rapid and varied, his feelings are processed in different ways. The Fifth, specifically, tries to distance himself, but while he succeeds outwardly, often fails inwardly – rather the opposite of his former incarnations.
2. The Doctor is a Time Lord. He may have abandoned Gallifrey, may have fought its ideals while he was there, but it still shaped him. This showed most, of course, in his first incarnation – condescending, distant, imperious, pragmatic. All of those traits are still there. I believe that, when he was younger, he was more like the Doctor we know – it took freedom, and Susan, and Barbara and Ian to bring that out again. However much he may deny it, however, he still has ties to his culture, not all of them bad.
3. The Doctor is a contradiction. This holds especially true for this Doctor. He is ancient and young, hopeful and cynical, compassionate and callous, merciful and ruthless, pacifistic and fierce. There must be a balance, and it must make sense in the context of the situation, the place in his time line. I don't understand him entirely, and if I did I think I'd be doing it wrong. You can't understand other humans entirely, let alone someone like the Doctor.
4. The Doctor is very, very old. Eight hundred years. Human beings can't really fathom living for such a long time. He's seen so much, been through so much – he's become accustomed to things none of us could because we simply don't have the time. He doesn't merely travel through history, he is history. He can be bitterly jaded one moment and full of youthful wonder the next.
5. The Doctor is a hero. No matter his flaws, no matter his mistakes, no matter his weaknesses, he tries his best to do the right thing. He's someone to look up to. He's someone you wish you could know, wish you could be. Sometimes he needs to make hard decisions, unpleasant decisions, ruthless decisions – but they are never careless, never selfish. Life is precious, and remorse is essential.
