Vid: [Doctor Who] Visions and Revisions (Dare Disturb the Universe?)

[intrikate88]

After changing the course of history in "The Waters of Mars", the Doctor must face not only the unforeseen results of his choices, but also the responsibility of altering the world for the better- or for the worse. Now, with power in his hands that he's always known he shouldn't use, he faces the option of going back to change... anything. But where does that stop? And now that he has lost everyone, who will point out the line he has crossed? He's over the border of where rules define his travels through the world, and Here Be Worse Than Dragons: all the terrible things that he hasn't changed. How much does he dare revise, how much can he disturb the universe?

Exploring themes from T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," this vid displays the burden of such choices in his past and present, and the anxiety of encroaching mortality. Featuring TS Eliot reading the poem (courtesy of HarperCollins Audio), Mogwai's "May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door," clips from the BBC's Doctor Who, and photographs from the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Subaru Telescope, Wikimedia, Ken Carver, and others.

Download (please download, the streaming version is SERIOUSLY not the quality with which I made this)

with music. || without music.

Comments

[cool-tre-cool.livejournal.com]

I am absolutely astounded by this wonderful work! Not only is it amazing to listen to Eliot read his poem, the power of the scenes chosen, the fitting nature of it all... Amazing.

(So using this! With credit, of course ^_^)

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

I am so, so pleased that you like it, and that you're using it- let me know what people in your class say! I've always loved the poem and I'm just thrilled that I could use it in such a way- I really feel that this sort of thing is what fanfiction and derivative works are all about, using every medium available to comment on the text. :)

[communicator.livejournal.com]

That's astonishing. I'm a big Eliot fan, and there was a part of me that was nervous about watching this at all. But it works perfectly. very thoughtful. I think you took a second risk with some of the clips of atrocities you used towards the end, but again, a risk that paid off. I will be recommending this to people.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you so much! I was almost sure I couldn't do the poem justice, but I so wanted to try. I'm glad that you thought it worked, and especially that the photographs contributed towards the overall themes.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Thank you for dropping by; I'm glad to hear that you liked it! It was actually the eternal footman line that first gave me the idea- something about the Ood standing there really struck me when I first saw the episode, but I didn't realize until a few days later I had associated him and Ten's reaction with the eternal footman and Prufrock's reaction in the poem. When I went to look it up in context, the entire poem seemed very relevant, and I'm glad it all worked out the way it did.

[elisi]

Ooooh, you finished it! Have only watched it through once (so might come back at some later point with more profound thoughts) but especially loved

I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.

which made me catch my breath, and this:

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,

Where your chosen images were just fantastic (DT as Hamlet, to Harriet Jones... and right up to Ten in a ruff as the fool. Just amazing).

Oh, and

Do I dare to eat a peach?

Made me smile, and half-wish that you'd used John Smith eating a pear - or possibly Ten instructing Martha not to let him eat pears... (Both of which would have been very silly, and not fitting at all, and I loved the scene you *did* use, that gave it a much greater meaning.)

Also loved:

But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen

which, along with the last image

Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

was incredibly haunting.

Seriously, fantastic work.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

*glomps* Thank you for such an in-depth comment! I'm glad you were able to enjoy it as much as I enjoyed thinking about all the themes and lines to make it!

Where your chosen images were just fantastic (DT as Hamlet, to Harriet Jones... and right up to Ten in a ruff as the fool. Just amazing).

I was so unsure on that, after the point of the irony of David Tennant as Hamlet, but I had imported The Christmas Invasion just in case I wanted to use a clip for the "I am Lazarus, come back from the dead to tell you all, I shall tell you all" bit. But then that worked there and Fires of Pompeii worked for the Lazarus line, what wiht the stone rolling aside and the other themes involved.

Made me smile, and half-wish that you'd used John Smith eating a pear - or possibly Ten instructing Martha not to let him eat pears...

Aw, I wished I had remembered that bit! I was going with the more traditional interpretation of the narrator wondering how to behave now that he's become old- and putting a twist on it, since Ten is both old, and very new in the Journey's End beach scene. It was interesting, looking for places where I could use but also twist the traditional interpretations- I also wanted to do that with all the parts of "that is not what I meant, at all", since now that the Doctor is realizing there are fixed things that he can change, how very many terrible things he hasn't changed, and if he doesn't, he has to answer to himself why he hasn't if "that is not what I meant at all" for them to be. Hence the pictures from Mt. St. Helens, the Titanic, the Holocaust, Sudan, Hiroshima, Civil War trench warfare, and HIV.

Till human voices wake us, and we drown. was incredibly haunting.

Isn't it, though? He always comes back to that, no matter what omnipotence he displays- eventually, the humans that are important to him say no, you're not right and he comes crashing down again.

[hollywoodgrrl.livejournal.com]

First thing's first CONGRATULATIONS ON MAKING A VID! *confettis* :D

And what an epic! Sheesh. :P I really admire the fact that you got the idea and went for it because no one would have done it otherwise. You were very attached to it and it really just played out like something that needed to be said. I'm going to echo YOU and say that this is exactly what fanworks are about! It's probably the most unique post WoM vid I've seen. Brava!

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Thank you! I really love working with bringing texts together and seeing what they have to say about each other, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity. :D

[orange-crushed.livejournal.com]

There are so many parts that gave me chills: do I dare disturb the universe as he stands in the flames, the voices of the dying so faint in the background, Adelaide and force the moment to its crisis. I must've watched this five times since you posted it.

Seeing Ten in the Christmas Invasion episode, picking out his coat and checking his teeth, actually made my heart squeeze painfully for a moment. Because it's been such a hard road, so many losses, and you illustrate that very well here. So good job, you. :)

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

*glomps* You GET it. There are just so many lines in there that, to see those moments from the Doctor's life, are just rendered so much more than just one text alone. Thank you for watching it, and multiple times! I blush. :D

[seti-fan.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'll confess, I wasn't expecting to see a video out there combining Prufrock and Doctor Who, but I'm really glad you did. What a wonderful surprise. And hearing Eliot read it himself, his voice perfectly suiting the poem, was magical. You put together something really beautiful here, truly moving and fitting bizarrely well with the show. I really enjoyed this (and about laughed at the Hamlet reference for, again, how strangely well this fits).

I'm definitely recommending this. It's an interesting journey and well-worth the amount of work I'm sure went into it. Thank you for bringing to life a very unusual idea in fandom. Poetry is underused these days, and it was a joy to get to see it blended with one of my favorite shows.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm so flattered by your thoughts and how much you got out of the vid. It was a lot of work and I'm glad to know it's appreciated. When I realized that Prufrock was what the episode had reminded me of (particularly the shot of the Ood heralding Ten's immenent death- a very striking Eternal Footman, that) I remembered I had seen a copy of Eliot reading his poem and wanted to see if it were possible to do something with it. I'm thrilled it turned out as well as it did; thank you for offering to recommend it! :D