Talk:Music of the Spheres (TV story): Difference between revisions

I know it's bad form to remove rationales from the Discontinuity section, but the one that was there regarding the canonicity of the story didn't make sense and was incorrect. The fact the Graske appeared in an SJA episode has no relevance over whether ''this'' mini-episode is canonical. And yes of course Daleks Master Plan is canon even though the Doctor wished the viewers a Merry Christmas halfway through. However just as Attack of the Graske is not considered canon because it involved interaction with viewers, so too does Music of the Spheres fall into the same category. Ask yourself this: does it stand on its own without the audience interaction? It does not because if you watch the YouTube version you don't hear the audience replying to him. [[User:23skidoo|23skidoo]] 18:25, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

::I don't know where you're getting that Attack of the Graske isn't canon just because it involved interaction with viewers.  You can say that there are several canonical versions, depending on the choices the audience makes, but there's no real reason to suppose it's entirely out of canon.  The Doctor's in character, the Graske is in character, the universe behaves as it's supposed to.  ''Dimensions in Time'' is clearly not canonical.  ''Attack of the Graske'' is merely a choose-your-own-adventure.   

::Anyway, this brings up the whole question of the following statement, pulled not from the Discontinuity but the Continuity section:

:::"* The Doctor breaks the fourth wall and directly addresses the audience, and also interacts with them as well. This renders it unlikely that the episode takes place within established continuity. "

::Really, this isn't actually true.  As with ''Attack of the Graske'', I don't particularly accept that a character's direct address of the audience necessarily renders something completely moot to canon.  But more than that, I don't think this is an actual example of breaking the fourth wall, because it is given a narrative rationale.  In ''DMP'', the Doctor's Christmas salutation is ''completely'' fourth wall.  There's no rationale for it; he just turns to the camera and tears down the fourth wall with complete abandon.  Here, though, we have this portal-thingie.  We have profile shots of him approaching it.  Then the camera simply changes direction so that it's filming through the back of the portal.  The audience knows that the Doctor is talking through a portal the whole time.  That we don't hear what the Doctor is hearing is irrelevant to the question of breaking the Fourth Wall.  A character doesn't break the fourth wall by having a phone conversation if we are only privy to his half.  In the same way that you can kinda tell by his reactions whom he's talking to, ''Music of the Spheres'' gives those of us not in the Proms a one-sided phone conversation.  Sure, the episode played differently to that tiny fraction of the entire, worldwide audience of ''Spheres'' that was in attendance at the Royal Albert, but you can totally watch this episode without knowing what the hell the intended audience was and not think, "Well, that's not canon."  For instance, I think it's completely acceptable to believe that a) the "music of the spheres" itself is a valid concept, b) the Doctor tends to think of Graske more as pests than a full-on threat to humanity, and c) the Tenth Doctor has fairly profound musical abilities.  Moreover, the audio version of the episode does indeed include the Royal Albert audience reaction.  When listened to in its full context, the fourth wall isn't even touched.  The Royal Albert audience merely forms a part of the story to the listeners at home.  For the vast majority of the audience of this work, It's a [[wikipedia:metafiction|metafictional]] story, not one in which the fourth wall is broken. '''[[User:CzechOut|<span style="background:blue;color:white">Czech</span><span style="background:red;color:white">Out</span>]]'''  [[User talk:CzechOut|☎]] | [[Special:Contributions/CzechOut|<font size="+1">✍</font>]] 22:36, 27 July 2008 (UTC)