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life is a cabaret!
So I watched Scream of the Shalka, the 1999 now-AU Dr. Who flash series, today in between housework, and OH MY GOD.
The story's rubbish and the animation's occasionally painful, but that may have just unseated Boston Legal as the most unambigiously and deliberately slashly series ever committed to video. The Master isn't even on screen for very much, so you'd think there couldn't be *that* much subtext, except that apparently the Master's sole narrative *purpose* is to be the Doctor's domestic partner. Yes - for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, the Doctor and the Master are doing domestic. And apparently have been for an unspecified-but-long time, angst and snark and trust and silliness and plotting and all.
So, yeah, you say, that's no more than what Ten wanted anyway. But - the first actual interaction we get between the two of them? Is the Doctor leaving a message on the their answering machine while the Master's trying to get to the phone. (I said they were doing domestic...) The video interface is crap, so here's a transcript:
I'm not even going to mention the Master's continual cattiness about his "dearest companion"'s weakness for human wimmens. Or the Doctor's quoting the emcee from Cabaret at climactic moments. Or "That's it! Take me home, big boy! Yee-Haa!" -- see, here's me being strong and not mentioning any of that!
All through Shalka, though, you can totally see parallels and precursors of what came out in New Who later, and I really, really, really want to see Tennant!Ten having to deal with Shalka-verse Nine and Jacobi!Master. Really, really want to. And Allie and Joe meeting Rose and Mickey and Martha and Tom, for that matter. So, real quick,
1. After he lost Rose, the Doctor was doing some really risky stuff with alternate universes, and he wound up falling into Shalka!TARDIS and needing help from that Doctor and Master (and Allie) to get back out. He picked up Martha mostly because she reminded him of Allie and spent the next year frantically obsessing over Rose so as to not think about the fact that he could have had the Master instead. Then he finds *his* Jacobi!Master and gets to spend all of The Year That Wasn't tormenting him with stories about what could have been, which unfortunately mostly just convinces Simm!Master that it's a fate worse than death.
2. Alternate Time Crash - after tLotTL he hits the Shalka!Tardis instead of Fivey's. There is much H/C and cathartic sexings and Ten really, really doesn't want to go back, and he and Shalka!Master make bets on which universe would be destroyed if he didn't, and the Master tries to convince him that it would be all for the best, really, if Ten stayed and his universe ended (after all, there's no Master in it any more, so what's the point?) while Shalka!Nine stumps around in the background sulkily fixing things. (And right before he leaves Shalka!Master points out that his Master might very well still be imprinted in his TARDIS, too.)
3. During the Year that Wasn't, the Doctor gets his hands in the paradox machine and with a little help from his TARDIS sets up a timeline shift where the Time War never happened. They find themselves in much the same situation, Valiant and Lucy and all, only Ten and Simm!Master regenerated from Shalka! Nine and Jacobi!Master instead of the New Who versions. Only Ten can't act the part right and the paradox fails and he has to go back to the way it was and is very, very sad, but convinced he can make that happen in his timeline, too.
4. Just like Old!Who is the past that would have existed for the Doctor and the Master if Gallifrey weren't wiped from time, Shalka is the future that would have existed for them, and they remember it, too. (Perhaps they even have vague memories of a "Nine Doctors" animated special they were in once, before the timeline changed.) All their interaction in New!Who is colored by the memory of what they might have been, what they ought to have been, if only.
5. Shalka!Nine isn't Nine. He's the Valeyard.
The story's rubbish and the animation's occasionally painful, but that may have just unseated Boston Legal as the most unambigiously and deliberately slashly series ever committed to video. The Master isn't even on screen for very much, so you'd think there couldn't be *that* much subtext, except that apparently the Master's sole narrative *purpose* is to be the Doctor's domestic partner. Yes - for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, the Doctor and the Master are doing domestic. And apparently have been for an unspecified-but-long time, angst and snark and trust and silliness and plotting and all.
So, yeah, you say, that's no more than what Ten wanted anyway. But - the first actual interaction we get between the two of them? Is the Doctor leaving a message on the their answering machine while the Master's trying to get to the phone. (I said they were doing domestic...) The video interface is crap, so here's a transcript:
Doctor (on recording): *giggle* - You have reached the good ship TARDIS. *giggle* We're rather - *giggle* - busy at the moment, *giggle* *giggle*so leave a message after the beep and we'll try to get back to you before you called. *giggle*-- Stop that! *giggle* *giggle*...yes, okay, I think the UST is officially not U in this universe...
Master (smirking): We really should change that message.
I'm not even going to mention the Master's continual cattiness about his "dearest companion"'s weakness for human wimmens. Or the Doctor's quoting the emcee from Cabaret at climactic moments. Or "That's it! Take me home, big boy! Yee-Haa!" -- see, here's me being strong and not mentioning any of that!
All through Shalka, though, you can totally see parallels and precursors of what came out in New Who later, and I really, really, really want to see Tennant!Ten having to deal with Shalka-verse Nine and Jacobi!Master. Really, really want to. And Allie and Joe meeting Rose and Mickey and Martha and Tom, for that matter. So, real quick,
1. After he lost Rose, the Doctor was doing some really risky stuff with alternate universes, and he wound up falling into Shalka!TARDIS and needing help from that Doctor and Master (and Allie) to get back out. He picked up Martha mostly because she reminded him of Allie and spent the next year frantically obsessing over Rose so as to not think about the fact that he could have had the Master instead. Then he finds *his* Jacobi!Master and gets to spend all of The Year That Wasn't tormenting him with stories about what could have been, which unfortunately mostly just convinces Simm!Master that it's a fate worse than death.
2. Alternate Time Crash - after tLotTL he hits the Shalka!Tardis instead of Fivey's. There is much H/C and cathartic sexings and Ten really, really doesn't want to go back, and he and Shalka!Master make bets on which universe would be destroyed if he didn't, and the Master tries to convince him that it would be all for the best, really, if Ten stayed and his universe ended (after all, there's no Master in it any more, so what's the point?) while Shalka!Nine stumps around in the background sulkily fixing things. (And right before he leaves Shalka!Master points out that his Master might very well still be imprinted in his TARDIS, too.)
3. During the Year that Wasn't, the Doctor gets his hands in the paradox machine and with a little help from his TARDIS sets up a timeline shift where the Time War never happened. They find themselves in much the same situation, Valiant and Lucy and all, only Ten and Simm!Master regenerated from Shalka! Nine and Jacobi!Master instead of the New Who versions. Only Ten can't act the part right and the paradox fails and he has to go back to the way it was and is very, very sad, but convinced he can make that happen in his timeline, too.
4. Just like Old!Who is the past that would have existed for the Doctor and the Master if Gallifrey weren't wiped from time, Shalka is the future that would have existed for them, and they remember it, too. (Perhaps they even have vague memories of a "Nine Doctors" animated special they were in once, before the timeline changed.) All their interaction in New!Who is colored by the memory of what they might have been, what they ought to have been, if only.
5. Shalka!Nine isn't Nine. He's the Valeyard.