DW - The Happiness Patrol
Oct. 4th, 2006 04:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mllelaurelSure, this is the arc people site for DW's Jump the Shark moment. To them, I say 'pthbbt'. Is it great TV literature? No. Is it fun? Yep! I mean, come on. If nothing else, it's the serial where the Tardis gets painted pink. (Man, is she gonna need therapy for that!)
Ace is fabulous here, which comes as no surprise. One of the things I love about her is how easily she makes friends with the locals, wherever she and the Doctor go. Not just 'hi, how are you', but real friends. It's something the show doesn't do enough, in my opinion, but I love it when it does happen. (Rose's friendship with Gwyneth comes to mind.)
And the Doctor sings. When is that ever not a good thing?
Up till this point, I've managed to dig up some origins for 'Theta'. 'Sigma', however, remained a mystery. In "The Happiness Patrol", it's used as a designation for aliens and foreigners. Which actually fits quite well with the Doctor's nomadic life.
But even more so, when you consider what we learn about him in the '96 movie. Sure, the whole half-human thing was handled attrociously there. Nonetheless, I think the concept itself could be made to work, and fits what we know of him.
So:
Theta - "In classical Athens, it was used as an abbreviation for the Greek θάνατος (thanatos, "death") and as it vaguely resembles a human skull, theta was used as a warning symbol of death, in the same way that skull and crossbones are used in modern times. It survives on potsherds used by Athenians when voting for the death penalty." (wikipedia)
Sigma - An alien; an outsider.
Was the Doctor psychic during his days at Prydonia, or what?
(Let's have a digression within this digression, shall we? Personally, I don't belong to the camp of those who believe that the Doctor brings death in his wake. He goes where death is and tries to stop it, for all that he doesn't always succeed. Want an example? The Happiness bloody Patrol. Despite this, the foreshadowing - or possibly retro-foreshadowing for the new series can't be ignored.)
Does the foreshadowing model hold up when used with other nicknames we know? It sure does.
To wit, the Master, who once went by the name of Koschei. Now this is my area of expertise. Koschei the Deathless is a villain frequently appearing in Russian folktales. You can kill him, but he will always come back, unless you find his true life/heart/soul, which is hidden beyond many obstacles.
In the course of the series, the Master runs out of lives (which is impressive, considering he's a Gallifreyan.) Not satisfied to do down without a fight, he steals the lives of others, resurfacing again and again. Not deathless, maybe, but pretty damn close.
Lastly, we have the Rani, who went by the name Ushas. She's the one I can't make fit. According to Wikipedia, Ushas is a Hindi goddess, the embodiment of the dawn. Strange association to a thoroughly pragmatic antagonist. Unless the writers were trying to hint at her softer side, I'm stumped.
What do we learn from this? That the writers are mythology geeks? That they like foreshadowing as much as Lily does? That Lily sees mythology and foreshadowing in everything? Personally, I'll go with 'all of the above'.
Ace is fabulous here, which comes as no surprise. One of the things I love about her is how easily she makes friends with the locals, wherever she and the Doctor go. Not just 'hi, how are you', but real friends. It's something the show doesn't do enough, in my opinion, but I love it when it does happen. (Rose's friendship with Gwyneth comes to mind.)
And the Doctor sings. When is that ever not a good thing?
Up till this point, I've managed to dig up some origins for 'Theta'. 'Sigma', however, remained a mystery. In "The Happiness Patrol", it's used as a designation for aliens and foreigners. Which actually fits quite well with the Doctor's nomadic life.
But even more so, when you consider what we learn about him in the '96 movie. Sure, the whole half-human thing was handled attrociously there. Nonetheless, I think the concept itself could be made to work, and fits what we know of him.
So:
Theta - "In classical Athens, it was used as an abbreviation for the Greek θάνατος (thanatos, "death") and as it vaguely resembles a human skull, theta was used as a warning symbol of death, in the same way that skull and crossbones are used in modern times. It survives on potsherds used by Athenians when voting for the death penalty." (wikipedia)
Sigma - An alien; an outsider.
Was the Doctor psychic during his days at Prydonia, or what?
(Let's have a digression within this digression, shall we? Personally, I don't belong to the camp of those who believe that the Doctor brings death in his wake. He goes where death is and tries to stop it, for all that he doesn't always succeed. Want an example? The Happiness bloody Patrol. Despite this, the foreshadowing - or possibly retro-foreshadowing for the new series can't be ignored.)
Does the foreshadowing model hold up when used with other nicknames we know? It sure does.
To wit, the Master, who once went by the name of Koschei. Now this is my area of expertise. Koschei the Deathless is a villain frequently appearing in Russian folktales. You can kill him, but he will always come back, unless you find his true life/heart/soul, which is hidden beyond many obstacles.
In the course of the series, the Master runs out of lives (which is impressive, considering he's a Gallifreyan.) Not satisfied to do down without a fight, he steals the lives of others, resurfacing again and again. Not deathless, maybe, but pretty damn close.
Lastly, we have the Rani, who went by the name Ushas. She's the one I can't make fit. According to Wikipedia, Ushas is a Hindi goddess, the embodiment of the dawn. Strange association to a thoroughly pragmatic antagonist. Unless the writers were trying to hint at her softer side, I'm stumped.
What do we learn from this? That the writers are mythology geeks? That they like foreshadowing as much as Lily does? That Lily sees mythology and foreshadowing in everything? Personally, I'll go with 'all of the above'.
