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Post by aquabluejay on Jun 29, 2011 5:12:27 GMT
Ok, so I have the oddest feeling that I have definitely put forth this question before, but cannot find any record of it, going through all my past posts here...
I'm thinking about writing another fanfic, but I need a bit of information before I decide on what I'm doing exactly.
My question is: Can the Doctor Swim?
Have we ever really seen him swim?
In one of the old DWM comics with five, they say that he can't, but this seems somewhat odd to me... (And is of course of questionable cannonocity.)
I'd love to see if we can put our heads together and come up with a list of instances in which the Doctor - any Doctor - has either gone swimming, or perhaps even talked about swimming on one of his tangents.
So far all I can come up with is Five in "Warriors of the Deep". I need to check if he's actually swimming, or more just sort of flailing, but I think he does a bit of swimming after Turlough declares him drowned.
I was thinking maybe when Perri is drowning in "Planet of Fire" but then I remembered that it's Turlough who actually gets in and saves her... Oddly enough...
Four submerged himself in a pond in "Seeds of Doom" but he was standing the whole time...
Anyone?
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Post by clocketpatch on Jun 30, 2011 0:58:21 GMT
I seem to remember Five more sort of float-flailing but I really don't want to watch again to be sure. the only other time I can think of him in water is during the Deadly Assassin... and he's not very adapt in it. Granted, because shot twice and having a random dude put you in a choke hold can't help your stroke technique any.
Gallifrey seems to be a very dry planet in any case. I wouldn't surprised if the Doctor didn't know how to swim, or wasn't particularly good at it.
He does have a swimming pool mind... or says he does anyway.
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kirkg
Auton Daisy
"Hello, Sweetie!"
Posts: 442
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Post by kirkg on Jun 30, 2011 3:27:07 GMT
Yeah, but the existance of a pool doesn't necessarily mean HE knows how to swim. It could be a really, really funny plot point! Especially if he's embarassed about it... somewhat shy to admit it. (much like in Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, when Robert Redford is forced to admit that he can't swim. Or in "War Games" when Mathew Brodrick confesses he can't swim.)
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Post by aquabluejay on Jun 30, 2011 3:29:29 GMT
Yeah, I thought about the swimming pool thing... But that doesn't mean he uses it... Maybe it has a kiddie shallow end? There was a splash when River jumped into it though, so I think it exists. ^^
OOOOhhhh! I just had an adorable image of Eleven splashing around in Tardis-print trunks with inflatable water wings on! XD
I'm thinking about doing a fic with either Five or Eight, maybe something centering around the idea of his companions having to rescue him. Thinking a near-drowning scene could end very sweetly.
I know that Eight does some impressive swimming in "Unnatural History" In a choppy San Francisco bay no less... But it's an EDA... So continuity....
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Post by jjpor on Jun 30, 2011 17:21:16 GMT
Well, the EDAs are only real if you want them to be, imho ;D I don't know, I'd say if the Doctor wanted to swim, he probably could. He'd have an unorthodox technique, no doubt, and probably look like he didn't know what he was doing, but he'd get where he wanted to get. And of course, it being the Doctor, if he claimed he didn't know how to swim it'd instantly make you suspicious that he was bluffing about it (or is that just me?  ) |
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kirkg
Auton Daisy
"Hello, Sweetie!"
Posts: 442
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Post by kirkg on Jun 30, 2011 23:03:15 GMT
You mean, sort of like Matt Smith trying to play soccer or football???!!!
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Post by magnusgreel on Jul 1, 2011 19:06:43 GMT
Possibly you could create some different reason for the Dr's having to be saved from drowning other than his not knowing how to swim. Maybe a limb is injured or cramps or something... Maybe he passes out while in the water. If you absolutely have to have him unable to swim for this story, then it's a shame to lose the story because of a point like this. It sounds as if he can swim from previous stories (and he's got a pool in the Tardis!), but I imagine he forgets a lot over the centuries, and regenerations themselves probably shake the brain up in many ways, including loss of bits of memory. If you just don't do something for years, you might just forget how. You can whip up some reason...
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Post by clocketpatch on Jul 2, 2011 1:32:29 GMT
Ooo... you could say that his buoyancy changes from body to body so, while he theoretically knows how to swim, the method/energy expended needed to keep him afloat in one body might not work as well in the next. Through in some choppy water and bing, bang, boom you've got yourself a Doctor who's in over his head.
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Post by aquabluejay on Jul 2, 2011 4:59:46 GMT
Lol, Clocket! His buoyancy?! XD I find that extremely funny for some reason...
I have been considering the knowledge regeneration to regeneration thing... But I kind of feel like swimming is a bit as they say "like riding a bycicle" and not even regeneration should rightly be enough to make him completely forget something like that.
As for the idea of him being unconsious or injured... I've been playing with the idea of a cute scene of 11 slipping and hitting his head on the edge or something... But then I got to wrestling with the whole "respiratory bypass" thing, and what the hell that would mean in that situation. As we all know, that's never really been explained, and has varied widely throughout the series... so whatever.... I'm thinking it's kind of an automatic process, like normal breathing for us. But if he were unconscious before he hit the water, I'm not sure if it would engage... or what exactly it'd even do. Different mentions of it very so widely...
Something going Bang Boom does seem like a viable option...
So basically, I'm trying to decide between three doctors.
1. I could do something with Five, and have Tegan and Turlough, (or possibly Nyssa, but that would probably make things to easy, what with her specialty in semi-medical-ish stuff...) Five gets taken care of by Tegan while he's unconscious/recovering! XD
2. Something with Eight, getting rescued by Fitz would be, in a word: adorable. (Just read 'The Taint' ^^)
3. Eleven is showing off the pool to the Ponds' and with his particular brand of grace, manages to slip, knock himself out, and fall into the pool, leading to Rory getting to use his awesome nurse skillz.
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Post by aquabluejay on Jul 2, 2011 5:07:38 GMT
I seem to remember Five more sort of float-flailing but I really don't want to watch again to be sure. I looked. And yeah... I don't really think that count's as swimming... He doesn't even really try to reach the surface, just flails a bit and let's himself sink... I was talking this over with my brother and brought this up in fact. In 10's descriptions of Gallifrey, I don't recall any mentions of a sea, or anything. Also, them being all high and mighty Time Lords, I could see it being beneath them to learn that thing, if any Gallifreyan ever did know how, it's probably been lost in the cultural stagnation. Although, thinking about it gives me nagging images of a young Doctor and Master, sneaking off from the academy to go skinny-dipping or something . XD |
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Post by jjpor on Jul 2, 2011 15:35:27 GMT
Yes, I like the idea of Gallifrey's lack of seas/lakes etc making swimming something they just never learn. And maybe if he did learn at some point, as Clocket says things probably change from one body to another. There might be some things he has to "re-learn" after every regeneration...?
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Post by aquabluejay on Jul 3, 2011 5:44:37 GMT
I've just noticed slight irony of this whole point of whether Gallifrey had seas or not.
You may not really be able to tell, as it didn't really end up turning out, but i actually drew the edge of a sea and a strip of beach into the Gallifrey landscape on my Time War project. XD It's just in the uppermost corner... When I was waxing picturesque, and remembering the panorama's we're treated to during 10's reminiscing, it just seemed to fit. Toss a line in there somewhere about the shinning seas, why don'tcha?
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Post by aquabluejay on Jul 15, 2011 1:51:35 GMT
OK, so I may have bit off slightly more than I can chew here, but I've pretty much decided to write all three of those possibilities. Yes, the world is getting three fics for the price of one due to my indecision.
I don't normally write outlines, but I've decided to go ahead and basically write out these three in bullet points so I don't forget anything. This will also help to better balance them out before I actually undertake writing them. I'm currently about 2/3rds through the second one. I do however have a new question, for those of you who are familiar with the EDAs cannon:
Can Fitz Swim?
Pretty much the same as my initial question about the Doctor. I've decided to go with the EDA's assertion in "Unnatural History" that the Doctor can swim quite well, (by his eighth regeneration at least.)
...Although frankly, given the entire subject matter of that particular novel, that fact could very well be in question throughout and especially by the end...
Darn Faction Paradox, as bad as that darn movie, messing with our continuity... (Did anyone else find it hilarious that they somewhere in there, managed to work in an excuse for the Doctor actually being half human? XD )
Unless it actually says otherwise, I'd be inclined to say yes, he can, but I really don't know... It would have made another interesting character flaw for Fitz, although I suppose he probably has enough of those already...
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Post by clocketpatch on Jul 15, 2011 2:14:47 GMT
Unless it actually says otherwise, I'd be inclined to say yes, he can, but I really don't know... It would have made another interesting character flaw for Fitz, although I suppose he probably has enough of those already... Not particularly helpful, but I know exactly enough about Fitz for that to make me laugh and go "Oh Fitz..." |
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Post by jjpor on Jul 15, 2011 20:23:11 GMT
Doesn't Fitz smoke a lot? So he can probably swim a bit...before he has to tread water a bit while he catches his breath. ;D
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Post by aquabluejay on Jul 16, 2011 3:37:08 GMT
This is true... Hmmmm.... I can work with this...
This middle section is kind of exploding. Possibly it is that I am no longer using straight bullet points, but starting to actually write out some of the sentences in proper prose, to help remind me of the exact words I want to use...
The part about the fifth doctor takes up less than two pages, while the part about eight is going on four right now...
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Post by aquabluejay on Jul 16, 2011 7:47:59 GMT
I'm surprised we don't seem to have any rabid Fitz fans here. I kind of expected someone to pipe up...
Actually, I think I know someone I can ask on another sight. ^^
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Post by clocketpatch on Jul 16, 2011 19:06:39 GMT
Do it! I think that rabid Fitz fans are just the demographic we're missing and need to reach out too. ;D
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Post by aquabluejay on Jul 17, 2011 6:02:51 GMT
I got my answer from my contact within the circle or rabid Fitz fans! XD
She says that they actually mention the fact that Fitz CAN'T swim in several of the novels. I thought I remembered some mention of it in one of the one's I read, but couldn't remember which way it was.
This throws a slight hiccup into my plan, but I can work it in just as easily. (I just have to erase about half of what I wrote last night....Ehh... Not too much then... XD)
I should go back and invite her to the site...
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Post by aquabluejay on Aug 27, 2011 19:30:16 GMT
OK, so far this project is sort of meandering towards completion.
I finished out the outline of Eight's section by just actually wrighting it. It goes a bit off in the middle, but I like the actual ending I tacked on... I think I'll have to get back to that, I missed the opportunity for a good deal of Fitz and Doctor fluffy cuteness... Getting on that later, then.
The first part with Five is currently being written out based on the outline I did, and is actually nearly finished. The story's beginning to wander a bit again, so I'm having a bit of trouble pinning down the ending, but it's close.
Still haven't started on the part with Eleven, but school's started again, so we'll see how that goes once I've finished the rest...
Over all I'm pretty pleased with it so far!
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