Les ennemis du Docteur

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Une vidéo suivie d’une discussion très intéressante à propos de l’univers de la série Doctor Who : pourquoi le Docteur a-t-il autant d’ennemis ? Pourquoi craignent-ils ce grand pacifiste qui refuse de même toucher une arme ? Pourquoi est-ce que dans certains peuples de cet univers « docteur » veut dire « puissant guerrier » (« mighty warrior ») ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owm9lluWnu4

Il ne le désire pas vraiment, mais il est à l’origine, plus ou moins directement, d’une quantité impressionnante de morts…

Le texte qui suit est de Jack Jackson. Permalien : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owm9lluWnu4&lc=z12qcpfocvnatp3ma23uy3bwrp2us11y304

tldr: its not « technically » his fault

The Doctor hasn’t always been such a stand-up guy, nor have his people… and the issue noted here is that the Doctor is seen as a great warrior. In his own words, his people -the Timelords -at the end of the Last Great Time War, became « Hell ». If his people were known as warriors (for « defeating » the Daleks -the most feared species in the universe), it would only be natural that the Doctor, the best of the best of the best of the Timelords, would come to be known as their mightiest warrior. This makes him the best warrior of a feared race who killed off (more or less) the most feared race in the universe. Add his entire species to the list of casualties, and you have a man guilty of two genocides (many shades of gray here, but we are talking about perception, not historical fact). This is all discounting the times when he has gone into hulk mode and destroyed things he didn’t have to (or even the things he did!)

For more info, see:

  • Nestene Consciousness
  • Gelth (technically not a genocide, since we can assume he hasn’t killed all the Gelth, just those that came through the rift)
  • Slitheen (another « small scale » massacre, of a crime family)
  • Cybermen AND the Daleks (« Doomsday » in particular, is cited as a « massacre » by the Daleks later)
  • « The Family » (not a massacre, but debatably could be called torture, if you are an alien with a loose definition of torture)
  • Racnoss (Tennant years, more or less a genocide)
  • Sontarans (Tennant, medium-sized massacre, though the Rattigan was probably more responsible)
  • Weeping Angels (Smith)
  • Basically any alien/family/organization/species involved in any « real » « Who’s it gonna be? »-type situation

Throw in events/conceptions like:

  • Pompeii, which could have had some rumors twisted about it (never implied, but highly conceivable)
  • 1915[?] (« Family of Blood ») where John Smith’s boo noted that, had the Doctor never chosen that little village on a whim, no one would have died there (the killings themselves, as per usual, were not his fault)
  • and of course, every one’s favorite « magic » box at Stonehenge, which led to the revelation (to us, the audience) that any species with primitive scanners came to believe that the Doctor was going to end everything in the universe (again, he technically wasn’t going to, but we are talking about the perception of the Doctor)

What you end up with (not even citing everything, just a select « few » events), is a man guilty of multiple mass murders (go alliteration!), at least two genocides, and the destruction of everything, everywhere (in the eyes of a number of species who didnt understand the cracks).

In the end, while the Doctor isn’t directly responsible for most of the damage that was caused, those few times when he did let himself fly off the handle, and he more or less took all mercy out of the equation (Racnoss, for example) seriously damaged his reputation, or at least, these events didn’t serve to repair the damage that was done by rumor and heresay. In a nutshell, you can be a saint all day-everyday, and then one day you shoot an old lady in her garage with an armadillo gun… how will the world see you? Saint, or murderer? (please do not consult the Jack Black movie « Bernie » for anyone playing devil’s advocate).

To sum this veritable thesis up (sorry I included so much, i just woke up and my liver has not yet processed all of the scotch in my system, so I had trouble calling it quits)

The Doctor has made a small handful of poor decisions, driven by anger, and despite the fact that his good deeds greatly outweigh his bad ones – as anyone who has ever failed something can tell you – people (aliens too!) tend to remember when you screw up about a thousand times more than when you succeed. Tis human (and alien!) nature.

Remarquons cette phrase :

What you end up with [..], is a man guilty of multiple mass murders (go alliteration!), at least two genocides, and the destruction of everything, everywhere […].

Et c’est vraiment ce que je ressens : le Docteur n’est pas méchant, il veut faire le bien, il sauve des gens (et l’univers aussi, des fois), mais au prix de destructions massives, et de nombreux morts (même si « c’était des méchants »).

En fait, cela ressemble un peu à ces héros titanesques, comme Urza dans l’univers de Magic: The Gathering : tellement puissants qu’ami ou ennemi, toute personne qui croise leur chemin est en danger.