Maybe spoilers (I really hope not)

[clocketpatch]

http://whatculture.com/tv/doctor-who-10-theories-for-john-hurts-doctor.php

This was worth reading just for number 5, which made me actually cry a bit (with laughter), because is this actually a theory?!? Though the article purports that there is at least one active thread on the subject so... I choose to believe that thread is being ironic.

Number 4 is probably funny to people who've seen Alien. I haven't. please don't judge me. Number 2 got me giggling again because... well. Because. Seriously.

The only theory here I found substantially intriguing was number 3. Discuss.

Also, what are your most off the wall theories for John Hurt's identity?

Comments

[justice-turtle.livejournal.com]

Re #5, I've never seen any threads claiming that. (I have seen more than one really interesting debate on the relative efficacy of a fictional versus a factual savior - what kind of people are more likely to survive / get out from what kinds of bad situations if their main anti-despair focus is a known-fictional character like the Doctor whom they may be inspired to imitate, versus a believed-factual character like Jesus whom they may rely on to help or save them. But I can't imagine anything farther from a conflation of the two than that sort of thread, even if it does kind of start from the "The Doctor will save us all" place that can read kind of Christ-parallel in ways.)

[clocketpatch]

What got me on #5 was how utterly out of left field it was. Even if the compiler of the list is making it up, the idea of that airing made me stare at the screen for a good long while before finally deciding that laughter was the only appropriate response (which is more or less how it went when Ten had his moment in Voyage of the Damned too...)

The discussions you're talking about on relative efficacy sound very interesting. Do you have any links/ what was the conclusion?

edit: sorry, I accidentally a word

[justice-turtle.livejournal.com]

I don't have links, sorry. It's been a few years. :S As best as I can remember, the step-before-the-conclusion was something like "If our hypothetical people need to (1) take charge of a bad situation in order to fix it, the Doctor is better for people who are motivated by being the last best only hope / who consider that they would sit around and wait for someone more powerful e.g. Jesus to fix it if they thought one was available. They'll take an early opportunity to step into the Doctor's shoes, so to speak. In the same situation, Jesus may be better for people who are motivated by not being the last best only hope / who consider that they can't succeed in the endeavor unless somebody out there is watching their backs. Their belief in Jesus could give them the confidence to do what needs to be done."

And then - artificial paragraph break, sorry - "If our hypothetical people need to (2) leave the bad situation behind without fixing it / survive and keep their heads down until someone shows up to help them, belief in Jesus provides hope that there is an attainable good situation somewhere [Heaven, if not sooner] and that help will arrive, as well as a potential sense of companionship while the people wait. In the same situation, the Doctor's fictional example is less helpful, because people following in his footsteps will go and poke things with a stick."

So, iirc, it boiled down to an "agree to disagree", with people who preferred not to wait for help / felt that poking things with a stick was better (or to rephrase very roughly, people who saw themselves in the Doctor role) more or less on the Doctor's side, and people who preferred to have reliable backup / felt that keeping their heads down and helping behind-the-scenes if possible was better (or to rephrase equally roughly, people who saw themselves in a sort of Rory role, a companion who doesn't like to wander off - unlike many actual companions on the show who are more of subordinate Doctors with smaller poking-sticks) more or less on the side of Jesus.

Whiiiich opens up a whole lot of new fields for speculation, summarizing it like that, but I'll post this before I overrun the comment length limit. ;-)