#anyway i think think of RTD!Who (and RTD's work in general) as essentially optimistic but deeply cynical at the same time | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nostalgia-tblr · 1 year

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thanks to TV Tropes for reminding me how damn often RTD!Who does that thing of condeming the mass-killing of (usually) Daleks and getting (usually) the Doctor to decide not to do it and then getting someone else to kill them all anyway because we don't want the hero to make a horrible choice but we also don't want him and the rest of the universe to have to live with the consequences of his decision to nope out of it on moral grounds. so the story does in fact think that the Daleks need to be killed en masse but only if it can be done by a scapegoat or someone who is unaware of what they're doing and who thus cannot be blamed for their actions.

#(except the TARDIS probably knew exactly what she was doing in Parting of the Ways so if you want to feel free to do that)#(she did save the universe but she also hijiacked a human's body so she could use it to kill all those Daleks and kiss her Thief)#(all of which is complicated by her unique relationship with time so we don't actually know what she'd have known about the consequences)#(also she's a weird eccentric living time-machine and so i feel like her ethical concerns will be very different to anyone else's anyway)#anyway i think think of RTD!Who (and RTD's work in general) as essentially optimistic but deeply cynical at the same time #he doesn't *like* some his own conclusions as to which option is more morally acceptable so he solves the problem by cheating #'coward every time' is popular but like... it IS a massive act of moral cowardice that without a cheat does lead to billions more deaths #but by the writer cheating the hero keeps his hands clean of any responsibility for both action AND inaction which is... hrm #dw

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