It’s a plot point in the show, based largely on the Doctor’s experience and actions during the Time War. Possibly before.
[QUOTE=Declan ]
Maybe its just me, but none of the incarnations of the doctor, since Eccelston have had any moral quandries with Sontarans, Cyberman or Daleks. Each in its own way, a militaristic society, only they are either Clones, or Mechanicals.
[/quote]
I’m pretty sure he has a moral quandary with at least the Daleks and Cybermen.
Maybe it’s the Doctor’s own hypocrisy on the matter that he hates so much? It’s actually been pointed out to him on several occasions:
From The Doctor’s Daughter:
The Doctor: What are you staring at exactly?
Jenny: You keep insisting you’re not a soldier but look at you, drawing up strategies like a proper general.
The Doctor: No, I’m trying to stop the fighting.
Jenny: Isn’t every soldier?
The Doctor: Well, I suppose, but that’s, that’s. Technically, I haven’t got time for this. Donna, give me your phone. Time for an upgrade. [pulls out sonic screwdriver]
Jenny: And now you’ve got a weapon!
The Doctor: It’s not a weapon!
Jenny: But you’re using it to fight back. I’m going to learn so much from you. You are such a soldier!
I also recall Clara’s soldier boyfriend getting into a lot of arguments with The Doctor on how he was as pompous and condescending as any other “officer” he encountered in the service.
And let’s not forget The Doctor’s long service with UNIT.
The Doctor has always been pompous and hypocritical when it comes to the military and fighting in general, going all the way back to at least his first interactions with UNIT in the original series. I think IRL it’s because you started with a bunch of 60s and 70s Brits with a very skeptical attitude toward the military writing the adventures of a smart action hero. Inside the show, I think the Doctor started off running and has spent lifetimes engaging in big amazing adventures, but wants to think of himself as smart and not a killer or fighter at all, even when the body count he’s directly responsible for onscreen is astronomical. Instead of quietly ditching that attitude, the post-reboot Doctor has embraced it because of what he did in the Time War and his inability to reconcile that with who he wants to be.
My understanding is that Brits have much less of a military worship element in their culture than the US, but I don’t think that’s what really drives the writing on the show. To me, it read like Clara was stumbling and trying to say teasing stuff but screwing up and offending Danny, in part because she’s had some intense experiences that he doesn’t realize they share, and not that she was reflecting general British sentiment. If her character was an American teacher, I’d buy it just as much - I encountered a number of teachers who were not military fans back in the day.
The British are indifferent to most things. As far as I’m aware, the majority of people over here admire and respect the armed forces by default - but aside from that, we don’t really think about it.
I haven’t kept up, but I thought the 8th doctor was (however controversially) the Paul McGann version from the American TV movie, and that the War Doctor wasn’t a true regeneration but the 8th Doctor dramatically-healed-from-lethal-injuries.
The War Doctor was a true regeneration, but not a true “Doctor” (in that he didn’t call himself that during that time, although seemingly everyone else did).
(FWIW, I don’t think Paul McGann was that controversial a Doctor. The movie was dreadful, but (I hear) the character was well received in other media.)
There have been more 8th doctor stories than any other. McGann did over 70 audio dramas as the doctor. I saw the TV movie live when it happened and was not impressed but his later career and appearance in The Night of the Doctor makes me think he would have been one of the best. I like McGann in everything I’ve seen him in.
He was a regeneration; the Sisters of Karn gave the dying 8th Doctor a draught which triggered his regeneration into someone more soldierly. This was John Hurt’s War Doctor, whom we only learnt about retroactively, but who spanned the period of the Time War and came between McGann and Christopher Ecclestone, the supposed 9th Doctor.
I don’t know from Dr. Who; but if the following might be any sort of an indication…
My brother was a teacher, for much of the decade of the 2000s, in a very upper-crust British girls’ private school. His pupils were of the social milieu which would include many young officers in the British military. I idly observed to him that it seemed to me that, even in these times, a fair number of girls tend to find attractive, lads in the armed forces (“it’s something about the uniform”, etc…). He said that that was very much not true of his pupils: for most of them, anything about the military was a turn-off – perceptions of professional killers, and nations throwing their weight around. And this, with decidedly upper-class young women – the impression was got, that if a girl liked a chap who was in the military, it would not be “with that as a point in his favour”; but “in spite of”.
The UK seems to be trying to move towards the US way of venerating soldiers and normalising militarisation, which is rubbing some people up the wrong way. I know I am not a fan. My small home town had a parade for soldiers coming back from somewhere in the Middle East, most likely a war we should never have been a part of.
Then there was this, when Wayne Rooney was presented with a golden cap for his 100th England appearance:
I think the real question there is why we are celebrating Rooney’s 100th international cap when he hasn’t done anything in them (50 international goals, one of which came in a World Cup).
Why would the Brittish have a universal opinion on soldiering or anything else any more than Americans would? Opinions on the military in the US range from hero worship to apathy to outright animosity and distrust.
It’s like our treatment of intelligence agencies in film. We love our spy agencies to be shadowy and corrupt. But we also love Jason Bourne kicking the crap out of people or Nick Fury using his endless connections and resources to save the world.
I often wonder how many innocent lives would be saved if the Doctor used proper space weapons instead of constantly trying to Macguver less-than-lethal solutions that are very clever.
Although I suppose one might argue that The Doctor is hamstringed by a) not screwing up the timeline and b) the last time he used a proper weapon he wiped out his home planet to destroy the Daleks (with someone questionabe effectiveness).
Of course the whole “timey wimey” thing sort of begs the question anyway. How is it decided what events in time and space are important enough to warrent his attention, but not so important that he would screw up the time / space continuum. Like it’s important to stop the Dalek invasion of WWII England, but not kill Davros as a child or the Daleks as they are being created or kill Hitler for that matter.
And does none of The Doctor’s companions ever turn to him and ask “why the FUCK am I risking my life trying to rescue a bunch of people who are going to die1000 years before/after I was born anyway!!?”
Maybe that’s what’s eating the Doctor all the time? The fact that in the grand scheme of things, all the good he does (or doesn’t do) over his 1000 year life span stretched out over billions of years of history and an infinite universe are largely irrelevant?
During his trial by the Time Lords at the end of his second life (The War Games), the Doctor basically argued that he he shouldn’t have to ignore evil right under his nose.
That one is because the Doctor only takes companions who want to come with him and enjoy the adventure. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t want to have exciting and risky adventures traveling through the universe, he’s not likely to ask you to come, and you’re not likely to say yes. Note that there’s usually a point after the first near-death experience where he asks if the companion wants to return home, and while they might consider it, they always want to travel again.
Ironically, Lumpy’s actually got the War Doctor and Ten’s abortive Regeneration exactly reversed.
Eight Regenerated into the War Doctor - his face changed, his body changed, his personality changed. That is a Regeneration. It was a deliberate, chosen Regeneration, much like the one from Two to Three (which was forced, but did give him the option of choosing how he’d turn out), rather than the haphazard Regenerations he’s usually had, but still a proper Regeneration.
Ten used the Regeneration energy to heal himself, but before the process completed, before he Regenerated, he shunted the energy into his severed hand (from The Christmas Invasion), which merged with Donna’s DNA becoming the Meta-Crisis Doctor.
Actually it turned out that it wasn’t destroyed: all the previous Doctors plus his next incarnation got together in their Tardises to tow it away somewhere safe. So now it’s lost, but around somewhere.
There definitely is not widespread anti-soldier sentiment in the UK, with the exception of Northern Ireland, for understandable reasons, as stated by the posted above.
One of the big differences here is that it’s extremely rare here to see a soldier in his uniform unless he’s actually working. A discount for soldiers in uniform, like I’ve seen in many businesses in the US, wouldn’t work in the UK because we’d all wonder why on Earth he was wearing his uniform to go to a cafe.
I also don’t think Clara’s comment displays a huge anti-soldier sentiment. Wouldn’t a lot of people assume that being a soldier involves shooting people? It doesn’t mean she hates him or thinks he’s a terrible person just because he’s a soldier.
Indeed and one World Cup he was injured during, damaging his toe in the run up. IIRC he missed a few games and just wasn’t himself when they rushed him back into the squad.
