interestingly although i kind of agree with you i also... disagree with you a bit.
in that i think the doctor only lets the master die because it's more of the same inaction. if he had to actually 'pull the trigger' (metaphorically or actually) he'd have saved him, but the fact that it would be an action to save him and that it's being drawn out means the doctor has to consider whether he should save him and would have to actively act against events in order so to do. and so he has to think (and he's got time to think) whether he's got the right to stop what is happening. (saving the master would be personal and the master makes that obvious by bringing up their personal connection, whereas the universe would be better off if he wasn't saved).
although i do agree that he might have veered towards the personal choice more if he hadn't felt so badly about what happened with the daleks the week before. and part of why he knows he did so badly there is that tegan left him becasue everything was bad, which i think also can't be ignored in this trail of episodes. to be fair, turlough says he doesn't want to go, but he still goes.
i also think it's interesting to think of it in terms of last-minute character development, becauese i watched these episodes so out of order that this probably happened for me quite early on. and now i just back-import this sort of reactive (and the possibly deeply upset but able to weigh his feelings against the fate of the universe) characterisation into early five, so it all works out fine for me as a late-to-Who fan :)
five is one of the most interesting doctors, for definite.
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Date: 2013-02-24 10:14 am (UTC)in that i think the doctor only lets the master die because it's more of the same inaction. if he had to actually 'pull the trigger' (metaphorically or actually) he'd have saved him, but the fact that it would be an action to save him and that it's being drawn out means the doctor has to consider whether he should save him and would have to actively act against events in order so to do. and so he has to think (and he's got time to think) whether he's got the right to stop what is happening. (saving the master would be personal and the master makes that obvious by bringing up their personal connection, whereas the universe would be better off if he wasn't saved).
although i do agree that he might have veered towards the personal choice more if he hadn't felt so badly about what happened with the daleks the week before. and part of why he knows he did so badly there is that tegan left him becasue everything was bad, which i think also can't be ignored in this trail of episodes. to be fair, turlough says he doesn't want to go, but he still goes.
i also think it's interesting to think of it in terms of last-minute character development, becauese i watched these episodes so out of order that this probably happened for me quite early on. and now i just back-import this sort of reactive (and the possibly deeply upset but able to weigh his feelings against the fate of the universe) characterisation into early five, so it all works out fine for me as a late-to-Who fan :)
five is one of the most interesting doctors, for definite.