2MTL 138: The Doctor Chooses a Personality

In 2MTL 136 we noted this new Doctor's increased alienness and, more importantly, his decreased ability to relate to the people around him. In today's podcast, we look within the fiction for a reason why.

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4 Comments

  1. This is absolutely fascinating! I think it's a great explanation for why the eleventh doctor is so asexual compared to the tenth. It's much more interesting to explain the changes between doctors based on the character himself rather than Moffatt and the directors trying to revamp the show… though that's part of it too. Love the idea!

  2. I love psychology, and Freudian thought especially, so I love this idea. This is a very interesting, large idea that you've put forth and I like it a lot. I've though about how the doctors mind probably works, comparing it to how a human mind works, a lot, but I never thought about the subconscious before… very nice explanation.

  3. Brilliant, Chip, just brilliant. I agree completely, and I think your theory is substantiated by the extreme differences between other incarnations — I'm thinking of going from Five to Six in particular. He's just died of selflessness, basically, and then bounces back — "not a moment too soon!" — as someone immensely impressed with himself and his own desires. It's part of how the Doctor takes care of himself — a kind of course-correction in navigating a river that's been twisting and turning for nearly a thousand years…

  4. Wonderful spot-on analysis. We've seen it several time in the show's history. From the 9th Doctor into the 10th (when Rose "saved" him.) From the 4th's weird, aloof alien into the more (and sometimes too) compassionate, more human 5th, and again from the 5th back to a more alien, brash and arrogant 6th. I would also imagine if the 8th regenerated during or after the Time War that would have certainly explained the 9th more somber, dark personality. Each time the previous incarnation's experiences seemingly shaping his personality in some way.

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