the end of time

[scarfman]

There was an article at Blastr, the newssite for the Syfy Channel, when that Doctor Who "spoiler" from an upcoming Sarah Jane Adventures was going around last week. There's a quick exchange between the Doctor and Clyde Langer in which the Doctor tells Clyde he can regenerate as often as he wants. The article's headline complained that it's a mistake to make the Doctor an immortal.

First of all, I haven't seen a lot of notice of this in the discussion of the spoiler but I did see one statement by unnamed parties who've actually seen the exchange as it plays onscreen. They said that the discussion doesn't take into account the ironic tone given the delivery of the line and judgment ought to be suspended till airing.

But, back to the Blastr article. It quotes the Alan Moore introduction to the graphic novel compilation of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns: "All our best and oldest legends recognize that time passes and people grow old and die. The legend of Robin Hood would not be complete without the final blind arrow shot to determine the site of his grave. The Norse Legends would lose much of their power were it not for the knowledge of an eventual Ragnarok, as would the story of Davy Crockett without the existence of the Alamo."

Yes, all serialized heroes have endings: James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Brown. Oh, wait.

All due respect to Alan Moore, but for every Salisbury Plain there's a Sussex Downs. For every Trojan Horse there's an Astin Martin with an ejector seat. For every final arrow shot into the air, there's a pitcher's mound and a doghouse only viewable from the side.

And for every Batcave there's a TARDIS.

Comments

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

I've always thought Alan Moore was egregiously overrated, myself.

[scarfman]

I think his writing's great. He was just wrong about this.