Interference
May. 23rd, 2011 03:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitIt occurred to me recently that there were, actually, a couple of Eighth Doctor Adventures novels (with Fitz in them) that I hadn't read: the two volumes of Interference by Lawrence Miles. I'm not quite sure why I left what are widely considered to be key books in the series for last . . . except possibly that they are so widely considered the EDAs, and I have a perverse tendency to avoid things that are widely and strongly hyped. Well, there's also the fact that I'm not particularly a Lawrence Miles fan, having greatly disliked both The Adventuress of Henrietta Street and what I've read of his blog posts about Doctor Who.
But eventually it seemed silly to keep on not reading Interference. So I read it.
My main thought is: oh, Fitz. Oh, poor darling Fitz. I was spoiled for everything that happened, but it was still terribly sad reading about him waiting and wishing that the Doctor would come for him. And all that need turning to hatred, but the hatred itself dissolving in the end so that all he wants is to find his way back into the TARDIS.
Then there's Kode, poor bewildered copy-Fitz, who after all those iterations still loves the Doctor enough to let himself be turned back into a person he doesn't remember being, because, as he tells the Doctor, "[Fitz has] got a place, hasn't he? He's supposed to be with you. And you want him back."
It's worth reading that moment against the end of the book, when the Doctor confesses his need for "romance" and a feeling of connection. I don't find I actually believe that Foreman's World is enough connection for him; the world may be his equal in complexity (although Fitz is becoming pretty complex himself) but it can't be with him. I've read speculation that the TARDIS re-created Fitz specifically to be someone the Doctor could feel attached to, someone who would be there for the long term, or at least longer than the Doctor's companions usually manage. The idea always intrigued me, and it makes even more sense after reading Interference, although I will say that I think the TARDIS was building on something that Fitz felt already.
So, Lawrence Miles was the first Eight/Fitz shipper. Thanks, Larry!
As for the rest of the book: it wasn't as mind-blowing as I'd expected, but then, since I'd read all the other books first, I was spoiled for much of what happened. What I enjoyed most were little details, like Ogron culture, or Llewis becoming a Cousin, or Sam and Sarah Jane becoming friends and flatmates. (Although I don't think Sam is much like Sarah Jane at all; I'm puzzled by how Sarah Jane fanonically got the reputation of being the feminist/activist companion when clearly that role should've gone to Liz Shaw. Is it just because Sarah Jane was a journalist?)
Miles clearly had a bee in his bonnet, while writing the books, about the international arms trade and especially British sales of weapons to totalitarian regimes. That's unquestionably a bee-in-millinery worthy cause, but at times I wanted to give him a good shake and yell "I get your point already!" On the other hand, the scenes with Badar and the Doctor in the Saudi prison, with Badar asking the Doctor over and over again why he doesn't try to stop political evils on earth, are among the most powerful moments I've ever seen or read in Doctor Who. (Incidentally, they made me think of Umberto Eco's "The Myth of Superman," which asks essentially the same question from a critical rather than fictional perspective.)
I've been re-reading (most of) the EDAs from Fitz's debut; it'll be interesting to see how my perspective on the later books changes from having read Interference.
But eventually it seemed silly to keep on not reading Interference. So I read it.
My main thought is: oh, Fitz. Oh, poor darling Fitz. I was spoiled for everything that happened, but it was still terribly sad reading about him waiting and wishing that the Doctor would come for him. And all that need turning to hatred, but the hatred itself dissolving in the end so that all he wants is to find his way back into the TARDIS.
Then there's Kode, poor bewildered copy-Fitz, who after all those iterations still loves the Doctor enough to let himself be turned back into a person he doesn't remember being, because, as he tells the Doctor, "[Fitz has] got a place, hasn't he? He's supposed to be with you. And you want him back."
It's worth reading that moment against the end of the book, when the Doctor confesses his need for "romance" and a feeling of connection. I don't find I actually believe that Foreman's World is enough connection for him; the world may be his equal in complexity (although Fitz is becoming pretty complex himself) but it can't be with him. I've read speculation that the TARDIS re-created Fitz specifically to be someone the Doctor could feel attached to, someone who would be there for the long term, or at least longer than the Doctor's companions usually manage. The idea always intrigued me, and it makes even more sense after reading Interference, although I will say that I think the TARDIS was building on something that Fitz felt already.
So, Lawrence Miles was the first Eight/Fitz shipper. Thanks, Larry!
As for the rest of the book: it wasn't as mind-blowing as I'd expected, but then, since I'd read all the other books first, I was spoiled for much of what happened. What I enjoyed most were little details, like Ogron culture, or Llewis becoming a Cousin, or Sam and Sarah Jane becoming friends and flatmates. (Although I don't think Sam is much like Sarah Jane at all; I'm puzzled by how Sarah Jane fanonically got the reputation of being the feminist/activist companion when clearly that role should've gone to Liz Shaw. Is it just because Sarah Jane was a journalist?)
Miles clearly had a bee in his bonnet, while writing the books, about the international arms trade and especially British sales of weapons to totalitarian regimes. That's unquestionably a bee-in-millinery worthy cause, but at times I wanted to give him a good shake and yell "I get your point already!" On the other hand, the scenes with Badar and the Doctor in the Saudi prison, with Badar asking the Doctor over and over again why he doesn't try to stop political evils on earth, are among the most powerful moments I've ever seen or read in Doctor Who. (Incidentally, they made me think of Umberto Eco's "The Myth of Superman," which asks essentially the same question from a critical rather than fictional perspective.)
I've been re-reading (most of) the EDAs from Fitz's debut; it'll be interesting to see how my perspective on the later books changes from having read Interference.
