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fangrrl_squees) wrote2006-09-11 08:07 pm
fangrrl_squees) wrote2006-09-11 08:07 pm
Entry tags:
Zagreus - Or How To Confuse A Fangirl In Six Easy Steps. (FE, 15)
OMG, an entry that's not about B7! I told you they'd happen, eventually.
I've been chewing through a lot of Big Finish audios, recently, focusing on the 8th Doctor stories. In general, I've enjoyed them a lot. I've run into a couple of obvious clangers - I couldn't get past the first fifteen minutes of Minuet in Hell or Creed of the Kromon - but there's been some brilliant ones, too - such as The Natural History of Fear1, Scherzo and Caerdroia.
And then there's the ones that I think of as "bearable, but could have been so much better". Case in point: Zagreus, and the whole concept of "anti-time".
The premise of Zagreus puts my teeth on edge. Time must have anti-time as matter must have anti-matter? Hrm... okay, fine, I'll swallow that for the sake of the story. An entire universe of anti-time? Er, how is that different from a parallel 'verse? Because it's full of anti-time and not regular time? But it's full of regular matter (otherwise Scherzo would have been a much shorter story - opening tune, boom!, run end credits) so, er, time and matter aren't necessarily related in this anti-time universe? Alright, I'll try to swallow that (choke, gasp, gulp).
The Doctor gets infected by "anti-time" and somehow this manifests with a de-facto split personality that calls itself Zagreus - oh, but wait a minute, Zagreus is an actual being (one of the Divergents, who would have displaced the Time Lords, had Rassilon not locked them up in the aforementioned other universe) who has somehow seeded legends/stories of his own existence throughout our universe - without, it seems, actually being a part of it because how could he be if he was a being of anti-time and didn't that road sign just say Bad Wolf? Ack! Sorry! Can't quite manage that mouthful.
I've only listened to it twice, so maybe I'm just confused - it wouldn't kill me to look for a copy of the script, I s'pose - but at this point, the entity of Zagreus (and, by extension, the story as a whole) is murkily defined, and murkily executed. Is "Zagreus" just a name for anti-time and its effects (on time and Time Lords, etc), one which is handily co-opted by Rassilon as he shoves anti-time down the Doctor's throat (so to speak) when turning the Doctor into his own, personal, Divergent hunter? Or is Zagreus an actual, sentient being, that seizes an opportunity to use the Doctor - only to be thwarted not only by Rassilon's intentions and the Doctor's strength of will but, most importantly, Charley's courage?
Or did the writers just get as confused as me and decide that the listeners could come to whatever conclusion they liked? Me, I'm leaning more towards the former conclusion. The Divergents might have set up the legends of Zagreus, sure, but "Zagreus-in-the-Doctor" was a second personality created when the Doctor was forcibly infected with anti-time (whatever the fuck that means) by Rassilon et al.
And then there's this little conundrum. The TARDIS is melted down by Rassilon to create the "vorpal blade" which will be wielded by Zagreus. Meanwhile, the manifestation of the TARDIS' personality (voiced by Nicholas Courtenay) is still wandering around, apparently a-okay, until s/he is dropped into some sort of unpleasant crucible/furnace by Romana. But then the TARDIS is somehow restored by the end of the story, for the Doctor and Charley to depart. Was everything taking place inside the Doctor's mind, including the encounters with Rassilon, and the creation of the vorpal blade, or what? Like I said, I'm confused.
I know, I know, I'm trying to apply logic to sci-fi - sci-fi about time travel, no less - and that's always a short cut to madness.
To be fair, there are some great moments in Zagreus. I liked the notion of aspects of the Doctor's personality/past incarnations manifesting as other figures from the past/present/future. I liked the fact that Rassilon is not some serene, kind bestower-of-knowledge type of fellow. Heck, I even liked the TARDIS' personality taking on the appearance of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart ("Girls. It's always young girls... leaving their dirty laundry on my floor.") And when the Doctor has completely flipped out and remade himself into Zagreus? Utterly, utterly fab, although I admit that I'm a fan enough of Paul McGann's voice that I'd cheerfully listen to him reading the phone book so perhaps I'm a bit biased in that last point. Sinister characterization and innuendo-laden implications? I was a happy fangirl - but as I say, I'm biased.
But damn, all that confusion is distracting - and disappointing. Zagreus is a big, complicated story that somehow got away from itself, alas.
And don't even get me started on how a woman in 1933 can call herself an "Edwardian adventuress". The Edwardian era ended the day Charley was born, dammit. But I think I've threatened to go off on that rant, before...
1 - I'll go off on the brilliance of The Natural History of Fear in a later entry, although I doubt I can say anything that hasn't been said already
I've been chewing through a lot of Big Finish audios, recently, focusing on the 8th Doctor stories. In general, I've enjoyed them a lot. I've run into a couple of obvious clangers - I couldn't get past the first fifteen minutes of Minuet in Hell or Creed of the Kromon - but there's been some brilliant ones, too - such as The Natural History of Fear1, Scherzo and Caerdroia.
And then there's the ones that I think of as "bearable, but could have been so much better". Case in point: Zagreus, and the whole concept of "anti-time".
The premise of Zagreus puts my teeth on edge. Time must have anti-time as matter must have anti-matter? Hrm... okay, fine, I'll swallow that for the sake of the story. An entire universe of anti-time? Er, how is that different from a parallel 'verse? Because it's full of anti-time and not regular time? But it's full of regular matter (otherwise Scherzo would have been a much shorter story - opening tune, boom!, run end credits) so, er, time and matter aren't necessarily related in this anti-time universe? Alright, I'll try to swallow that (choke, gasp, gulp).
The Doctor gets infected by "anti-time" and somehow this manifests with a de-facto split personality that calls itself Zagreus - oh, but wait a minute, Zagreus is an actual being (one of the Divergents, who would have displaced the Time Lords, had Rassilon not locked them up in the aforementioned other universe) who has somehow seeded legends/stories of his own existence throughout our universe - without, it seems, actually being a part of it because how could he be if he was a being of anti-time and didn't that road sign just say Bad Wolf? Ack! Sorry! Can't quite manage that mouthful.
I've only listened to it twice, so maybe I'm just confused - it wouldn't kill me to look for a copy of the script, I s'pose - but at this point, the entity of Zagreus (and, by extension, the story as a whole) is murkily defined, and murkily executed. Is "Zagreus" just a name for anti-time and its effects (on time and Time Lords, etc), one which is handily co-opted by Rassilon as he shoves anti-time down the Doctor's throat (so to speak) when turning the Doctor into his own, personal, Divergent hunter? Or is Zagreus an actual, sentient being, that seizes an opportunity to use the Doctor - only to be thwarted not only by Rassilon's intentions and the Doctor's strength of will but, most importantly, Charley's courage?
Or did the writers just get as confused as me and decide that the listeners could come to whatever conclusion they liked? Me, I'm leaning more towards the former conclusion. The Divergents might have set up the legends of Zagreus, sure, but "Zagreus-in-the-Doctor" was a second personality created when the Doctor was forcibly infected with anti-time (whatever the fuck that means) by Rassilon et al.
And then there's this little conundrum. The TARDIS is melted down by Rassilon to create the "vorpal blade" which will be wielded by Zagreus. Meanwhile, the manifestation of the TARDIS' personality (voiced by Nicholas Courtenay) is still wandering around, apparently a-okay, until s/he is dropped into some sort of unpleasant crucible/furnace by Romana. But then the TARDIS is somehow restored by the end of the story, for the Doctor and Charley to depart. Was everything taking place inside the Doctor's mind, including the encounters with Rassilon, and the creation of the vorpal blade, or what? Like I said, I'm confused.
I know, I know, I'm trying to apply logic to sci-fi - sci-fi about time travel, no less - and that's always a short cut to madness.
To be fair, there are some great moments in Zagreus. I liked the notion of aspects of the Doctor's personality/past incarnations manifesting as other figures from the past/present/future. I liked the fact that Rassilon is not some serene, kind bestower-of-knowledge type of fellow. Heck, I even liked the TARDIS' personality taking on the appearance of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart ("Girls. It's always young girls... leaving their dirty laundry on my floor.") And when the Doctor has completely flipped out and remade himself into Zagreus? Utterly, utterly fab, although I admit that I'm a fan enough of Paul McGann's voice that I'd cheerfully listen to him reading the phone book so perhaps I'm a bit biased in that last point. Sinister characterization and innuendo-laden implications? I was a happy fangirl - but as I say, I'm biased.
But damn, all that confusion is distracting - and disappointing. Zagreus is a big, complicated story that somehow got away from itself, alas.
And don't even get me started on how a woman in 1933 can call herself an "Edwardian adventuress". The Edwardian era ended the day Charley was born, dammit. But I think I've threatened to go off on that rant, before...
1 - I'll go off on the brilliance of The Natural History of Fear in a later entry, although I doubt I can say anything that hasn't been said already