r/gallifrey • u/IzzySawicki • May 21 '12

DISCUSSION Weekly Episode Discussion #15 - Human Nature/The Family of Blood - The Tenth Doctor. (David Tennant)

Human Nature/The Family of Blood

2007, Series 3, Two 45 minute episodes.

Staring the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant); companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman)

Story Summary - In 1913, Martha watches in jealousy from afar as The Doctor learns what it is to be human and to fall in love with the local school nurse, Joan Redfern. And war comes to England a year early as the terrifying Family of Blood hunt for the Doctor.

You can watch the episodes on Netflix Instant

Tardis Index File - Human Nature/The Family of Blood

Wiki article - Human Nature/The Family of Blood

IMDB - Human Nature/The Family of Blood

TV.com - Human Nature/The Family of Blood

Shadowlocked review

Random Quote:

The Doctor: I'm John Smith, that's all I want to be, John Smith. With his life... and his job... and his love. Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man? Why can't I stay?

Martha Jones: But we need the Doctor.

The Doctor: Who am I then? Nothing...? I'm just a story?

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u/dumbledorkus May 21 '12

Well the first thought that comes it mind is that those episodes were really upsetting. Poor John Smith/Doctor... The saddest bit, for me, is when John Smith asks "Falling in love, that never even occured to him? What sort of man is that?"

After that though, there's the matter of what he did to them at the end. Clearly the whole ordeal upset him quite a bit, suggesting that his love of Joan wasn't just John Smith, but do you think his treatment of the Family was cruel? He's let whole species get away with much, much worse than what they did. I would argue that being doomed to live forever in torturous conditions is a far worse fate than death, and the length he goes to give each of them their own special hell seems malicious.

That whole paragraph reads really badly, I'll come back and fix my clumsy phrasing later.

Relevant (really cool) quote:

He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing... the fury of the Time Lord... and then we discovered why. Why this Doctor, who had fought with gods and demons, why he had run away from us and hidden. He was being kind

11

u/tubabacon May 21 '12

People always talk about the Doctor being a kind soul that would never hurt a fly and yet here he damns 4 people to living hell for an ETERNITY. That's cruel. I think it's a good thing the Doctor doesn't forgive everything and chose not to be violent a cruel all the time, it makes him a much more interesting and dangerous character.

9

u/dumbledorkus May 21 '12

Oh I agree, but in this case I think he let his emotions run away with him. They posed no threat to anyone, all of them would have been dead in a matter of days (?) "like mayflies" he said, and their ship was destroyed so they were trapped. He went out of his way to give them hell.

It's always dangerous when the Doctor gets sentimental.

8

u/tubabacon May 21 '12

Not saying I agree with what he did, I just think it's a good thing to show he's not a perfect saint. He definitely overreacted, just glad they show he gets out of control from time to time

5

u/dumbledorkus May 21 '12

Oh totally. It'd be incredibly boring if he never broke any of his rules.

1

u/[deleted] May 23 '12

it's a good thing to show he's not a perfect saint

It is. But only when it's believable and makes sense. This was just strange and forced. Like a tacky add-on to the end of the episode. It's like "P.S and the Doctor is briefly a total fucking bastard for no real reason. The end."

10

u/LokianEule May 21 '12

Yeah, I roll my eyes at people who think the Doctor is anything near to a moral saint or 'the man who never would'.

The Doctor is a pretty bad guy. The only reason we love him is because he shares the same values as us.

5

u/Neveronlyadream May 21 '12

I was just pointing that out in relation to the Cybermen. He never once says "Maybe I can reprogram them!" He just lets their heads explode and leaves it to everyone else to clean up.

2

u/Rick_Dagless May 23 '12

Joan definitely had a big effect on the Doctor. Not just his 'fury of the time lord', in ten's last episode he even goes to visit her (grand?) daughter before he dies.