Post by Deleted on May 17, 2021 23:34:33 GMT
May 16, 2021 23:10:40 GMT @wolfie53 said:
And an example of this particular discussion can be found in... The Trial of a Time Lord. 
The underlying argument with the Doctor's trial is that his travels in spacetime are an inherently political act against the Time Lords. He's the Engle to their Orwell. From the perspective of his People, his claim of an apolitical stance is irrelevant. It's still political to them. The Doctor, on the other hand, considers his journey to be far more about deeper or higher emotional truths. Beyond the framework of the High Council and their agenda. It's about an inherent moral desire to see people saved and explore the wonders of the cosmos. Sticking it to his People would perhaps be a bonus, but it's not an active consideration when stepping outside those TARDIS doors.
Mindwarp employs elements of both. Memory is made inherently treacherous through a political lens (i.e. the unreliability of the Matrix), but the conclusion of the story reflects a warning that strikes at the emotional core of the Doctor -- an Engleic impulse he pursues until the end.
I think that's an interesting read. I would offer an alternative on Trial, albeit more of an extrapolation of these two men's very different life experiences: Orwell was a well-travelled writer, political activist and heavily embroiled in major conflicts, whereas Engle was not (one of his famous quotes is do with cornfields in Iowa, if that says anything). In this scenario, I'd say the Doctor is Orwell and the Time Lords are Engle: the Doctor's worldliness informs his decision to take moral stances and intervene (take political action) in conflicts, not unlike Orwell's call for art to have a political/social purpose, whereas the Time Lords see this as a betrayal of their purpose, not unlike Engle's argument that such an action is the improper way to tell stories. That they too are are of a 'higher' purpose and should not concern themselves with something so base.
(Wow, we really used Who stories with a giant green worm to discuss the plasticity of art and literary theory!)
)And that's just as valid a reading as the first. That's the thing I love about the genre, in particular. Speculative fiction is all about extrapolation. It can be as rich, broad and deep as you want it to be and still have space for the Earth-shattering kaboom.