tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8708273719674528189.post2169902666016783813..comments2024-03-22T00:20:38.510-07:00Comments on Adam Riggio writes: A Familiar Architect, Doctor Who: Time Heist, Reviews, 21/09/2014Adam Riggiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14606510835439580828noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8708273719674528189.post-8536143207802662902014-12-27T19:18:52.725-08:002014-12-27T19:18:52.725-08:00I like your interpretation, Alan, and I'm glad...I like your interpretation, Alan, and I'm glad to hear from a new reader. Wander around the archives. I've made a lot of them already.<br /><br />This post describes my own reaction to the story. Although you're right that the Doctor generally dislikes interacting with other people similar to himself (especially when it's himself, as the mutual irritation scene is always an initial part of a multi-Doctor story), or being manipulated by cryptic clues from himself or a similar enemy. <br /><br />But the dominant mode of the Doctor's self-hatred expressions throughout the new series has been, in almost every case, rooted in Time War guilt, the ethical contradiction at the heart of his character since the revival that our hero was a genocidaire. The gravity and frequency of that expression makes it the default mode of the Doctor's self-hatred. And Capaldi doesn't just say he's irritated with "the Architect," as McCoy was with his future self in Battlefield. "I HATE the Architect." He hates that terrible pragmatism in his more manipulative nature that would sacrifice people for a greater good, the most horrifying articulation of which was the destruction of Gallifrey. It exerts a gravity over Doctor Who in the modern era that drowns out more nuanced accounts of these feelings in the character like yours.Adam Riggiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14606510835439580828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8708273719674528189.post-81098327450129360142014-12-27T10:46:38.657-08:002014-12-27T10:46:38.657-08:00Annoyingly, I just found this blog, and so am comm...Annoyingly, I just found this blog, and so am commenting on a post from September near the end of December. But if you read this, I'd just like to suggest that the Doctor's hatred of the Architect doesn't stem from self-loathing but from anger at being manipulated by someone who knows more than he does and can plan for every eventuality. Although less emotional than Capaldi's Doctor, the Seventh Doctor was visibly in "Battlefield" by how he was being manipulated by cryptic clues left behind by a future incarnation even though he must have realized that said future incarnation would have known he could save the day with the limited information contained in those clues. Honestly, most of the Doctors would have probably hated dealing with someone else with identical character traits. All the Doctors would, I think, have hated interacting with mirror-images of themselves that were bent on manipulating them for an unknown and possibly evil purpose.Citizen Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05230398432290520198noreply@blogger.com