I think I may have snapped.

[mrv3000]

Ahh! AHHH! Must not look, touch, click, read DW meta! NOT. It's making me nuts exponentially. And now that I've watched around 40% of Classic Who, can I legitimately roll my eyes when I see a long-time fan explaining in very small words "The Way Things Are" to newbies? Or do I have to wait until about 70%? Because I'm rolling them already, but it's the legitimacy I'm after.

Fellow newbies, shippers and non-shippers alike, I have come from the holy Mount Sinai where I've been viewing the Sacred Episodes, to share a commandment that was passed down to help guide you through the meta waters:

Thou shalt cite canon for thy theories, lest thee be accused of pulling it out of thine ass.

Nuts, I tell you. NUTS. This fandom is driving me nuts! There's this whole mythology built up that seems to be entirely based in fanon. I'm watching episodes and...it's just not there. All this "The Way Things Are" is simply not there.

Where's my straight jacket?

Comments

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Dude. DW fandom has been wanking since 1963. Of course it's warped. We might even be blind, at this point.

(also, I got my netflix discs today, one of them was 'The Visitation'.)

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Dude. DW fandom has been wanking since 1963. Of course it's warped. We might even be blind, at this point.

Bwahahahahaha!!

(also, I got my netflix discs today, one of them was 'The Visitation'.)

Ha! Coincidence! I did really love that guest character - one of the more fun ones. :)

[fiona-conn.livejournal.com]

*smiles* Welcome to our world, Michelle.

For a more thorough investigation of this theme, try Paul Cornell's Blog:

http://paulcornell.blogspot.com/2007/02/canonicity-in-doctor-who.html

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

*goes mad*

This is why I have a feeling I'll probably be sticking to TV and possibly some Big Finish audios as what I consider canon. Even the DW novels I read, as fun as they were, I'm not really willing to call canon.

[fiona-conn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, some people even contest Big Finish as being canon. This issue is particularly obvious with the Eighth Doctor -- considering that in his BF line, he goes off into an alternate universe because he gets infected with Anti-Time or some such nonsense. XD; Which, to some, means that the books can't have happened. Though some just view the audio as having taken place AFTER the books.

'Tis somewhat mind-boggling.

[noblealice.livejournal.com]

Eek, I'm really hoping this isn't because of that essay that I linked to. I'd hate to be the cause of frustration and loss of fannish glee. Just remember all the cute hamster ear-ed Daleks!

Also, it's good to know that just because I'm a newbie my opinions can count too, and I'll take all future meta with a grain of salt.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Eek, I'm really hoping this isn't because of that essay that I linked to. I'd hate to be the cause of frustration and loss of fannish glee. Just remember all the cute hamster ear-ed Daleks!

No, not really. Yours was just another in a very long line that I've been finding my way to lately. (How does that happen? HOW? *mutters*)

Also, it's good to know that just because I'm a newbie my opinions can count too, and I'll take all future meta with a grain of salt.

Oh *definitely* take it with a grain of salt. The classic stuff, while loads of fun, just isn't 20 layers of deep like I've seen some try to make it. I mean, you *can* go on about the 20 layers of deep, but that's just fanon then.

And another thing...

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Also, it's good to know that just because I'm a newbie my opinions can count too

YES! Just because you and I haven't been watching this for 30 years doesn't mean we can't come to our own conclusions, or that those conclusions are automatically wrong.

[katesutton.livejournal.com]

ACK. I'm so with you. The crazy-making for today consists of the 'companions are like pets' argument. NO. NO, they are NOT. They are transient; they are not inconsequential. As much as I love my pets, nothing they do MATTERS. Except for how they make me happy, but that's really pretty trivial.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

It's probably the same one I got linked to today. :D

It's not the first time I've heard that Companions = pets. But you've put the reasoning *why* this analogy sucks way better than I ever have. My response has usually been, "godammit, NO" and to stomp around for a while. :D

[katesutton.livejournal.com]

Oh, I did a bunch of raging and stomping. Then I thought about why it was so offensive and decided it was because it completely trivializes companions. But this is brought to you by someone who kinda hates the lonely god appellation. The Doctor is not a god and I dislike it when fans deify him almost as much as I hate it when they infantilize him by comparing him to Peter Pan.

[beck-liz.livejournal.com]

I saw that. Or rather, I saw a post linking to that, and just the summary made my blood pressure go up. *throws up hands* You put it nicely. Transient, yes; inconsequential, no. Also, it's a terribly condescending attitude, especially since the summary I found (and showed to mrv3000) had a bit at the end that read very much like, "And now you good little newbie Whovians should be aware and understand why Companions must always leave and why no Companion should mean more to the Doctor ever ever." Grrr.

[katesutton.livejournal.com]

"And now you good little newbie Whovians should be aware and understand why Companions must always leave and why no Companion should mean more to the Doctor ever ever."

Seriously. Do people not GET how condescending that is? If that's how you see the show, FINE, although I think it's very hard on the Doctor, as mrv3000 said. But it is not gospel sent from above and you do not have to 'get' it to enjoy Doctor Who.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

If I'm a good little newbie Whovian, can I get a sticker?

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

Thou shalt cite canon for thy theories, lest thee be accused of pulling it out of thine ass.

Amen, sister.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

*smoooooooooooch*

That's right. I smooched you.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

*smooooooooooooooches back*

I have acres of tolerance for pretentious meta...right up to the point where it presupposes that any other interpretation is wrong. Then it must be doused with water balloons for its own good.

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

I've been watching it since the 70s and it's always been slightly out of sync with the universe. Better get used to it. It ain't gettin' better...

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Maybe one day it will implode so that all that will be left is a guy named Chuck who's got some DVDs.

[beck-liz.livejournal.com]

Thou shalt cite canon for thy theories, lest thee be accused of pulling it out of thine ass.

*snicker* Oh, how I adore this. Yes, please. Also, please to be citing which canon source you're pulling it from, so that we can know if it's actually apocryphal and we can therefore ignore it with impunity.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Exactly! Chapter and verse, please!

[shaela]

Thou shalt cite canon for thy theories, lest thee be accused of pulling it out of thine ass.

Oh, how I love this. It’s not just a rule for the Doctor Who fandom, though—it’s a rule for every fandom ever. I’d call it the First Law of Fandom, but that might be pretentious. :-)

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

HA! :D

[kammgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh sign me up for your newsletter. I have watched quite a bit of classic Who at this point and when thinking about some of the meta I have read or the exclamations of OMG this is a slap in the face to all Who is because this is not what the Doctor is, this is not how a companion is regarded and compared to the others this is why she sucks especially in S2 I am reminded of that wonderful quote from The Princess Bride:

This word you keep using. I do not think it means what you think it does.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Heh. Totally. Going in to watching Classic Who, I really did expect to discover that RTD had thumbed his nose at the past. And at which point I would have had an "oh well," and moved on. But...I'm not finding it. That place where New Who has trashed everything that's come before - haven't seen it yet.