Hope you don't mind my running off at the mouth with some of my thoughts. :)
I like that this series has fit in so well with the canon series. You have a lot of AUs and several baby fics. I love them all, but this more canon type fic is a refreshing thing to read.
In fact, I'd been hoping for a while you'd explore their relationship in a more canon format, and have been very happy with this series as it stands. There's so much more to explore in this format as well: Mickey and Rose in Boomtown, TPOTW, Rose's reaction to him as 10 and how their relationship develops from there through series 2. These are all things I'd very much like to see you explore in this series. Heck, you could even push through the Doctor's struggle with Rose's loss and Rose's return in Series 4.
You write for these characters so well, it'd kind of be a loss to have this turn AU so suddenly.
Also, I have a real problem with Time Lord/Human hybrid babies without some kind of genetic manipulation to help it along, and even then it bugs me.
This mainly comes from the scientific background of my work - I work in a Genetics Research Lab. The likelyhood of an alien life-form evolving on another planet that is genetically compatible enough to produce viable offspring with Humans is so incredibly low it's almost ridiculous.
It's also likely that the nucleotide bases in our DNA would not be the same as an alien species, thus making any kind of inter-breeding an impossibility even with genetic manipulation. I could point to the visual graphics of Dalek DNA in Evolution of the Daleks as an example of that - the very structure of the deoxiribose mollecules that bond the base pairs into place is very different than that of Humans, and though I couldn't get a great look at it, I would bet that the nucleotides were different compounds as well.
Also a case in point, the Chameleon Arch that the Doctor uses to become Human. He says it has to re-write all of his DNA, and the process is long and painful for him, making it very unlikely that any kind of natural breeding between Time Lords and Humans would be possible.
Now don't get me wrong, I would love to ease some of the Doctor's lonliness and loss by seeing him have a family and a future again, too. I just think there's a believeable way to handle it within the bounds of the series and Science Fiction. I hope that some day he can regain much of what he lost, but that's part of the journey and the journey has to be believeable within the bounds of the character and the series.
One of the things I love about your fics so far is that you always work in some kind of scientifically viable reason that the Doctor and Rose can have children. It's always well thought out and believeable. As sweet and romantic as the idea that Rose could be pregnant now is, and as much as many might like that (yes, including me in my more whimsical moments), it just isn't believeable and it's bad science.
Of course, during TPotW Rose might have been genetically altered enough to conceive with the Doctor. Heck, they might not even know it... but then we go back into AU land and at the risk of sounding redundant, I like that this story isn't.
Just to elaborate on that thought, the TARDIS (or Bad Wolf, or the Power Rose borrowed from the TARDIS) can obviously change genetics, since she made Jack almost immortal with a word.
If you're curious as to the logic: Humans have a life-span limited to 150 years if we didn't age or get sick. It's a function of replication, we lose a few base pairs from each end of each chromosome with each cell division. After 150 years, our DNA is no longer stable enough or complete enough to support life.
If the TARDIS's power can do that, who's to say what it did (or what the TARDIS herself did) to Rose when she held it's power? I've been hoping for some kind of change along these lines since it happened.
Anyway, that's enough verbal diarhea from me. Should it go AU? I hope it doesn't, or at least not until after TPotW. But, all of this is just my opinion for what it's worth... probably not much. :)
Yeah, sorry about the tech babble. I'm worse than the Doctor when I'm at work, so I try not to post many reviews when at work, for that reason.
I hope my little rant didn't get you down or anything, it was meant as a complement to your writing. I am a notoriously picky reader/fan and very hard to impress, so when I am impressed by a writer I try and let them know. Not always in the most concise or productive way, though. *g*
I love that you make an effort to make the science work. So many people don't bother, and it makes all the difference to me. It is Science Fiction, after all.
I read in a response you wrote earlier that you've considered splitting this into two alternate timelines, one where they do have babies and one where things play out in the progression of the show.
I love that idea. I do want to see 9 as a daddy, but I want to see this continue as it has, so it's a hard choice for me, too. I just always default back to canon and science when I can't make up my mind.
Nope. I don't like it when the science doesn't match either, so it's fine. *smiles* It's not like you're being nasty pointing it out, you're being polite and kind, so no worries.
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branchandroot
Warning: Opinion-Mongering Ahead
Date: 2008-04-29 09:06 pm (UTC)I like that this series has fit in so well with the canon series. You have a lot of AUs and several baby fics. I love them all, but this more canon type fic is a refreshing thing to read.
In fact, I'd been hoping for a while you'd explore their relationship in a more canon format, and have been very happy with this series as it stands. There's so much more to explore in this format as well: Mickey and Rose in Boomtown, TPOTW, Rose's reaction to him as 10 and how their relationship develops from there through series 2. These are all things I'd very much like to see you explore in this series. Heck, you could even push through the Doctor's struggle with Rose's loss and Rose's return in Series 4.
You write for these characters so well, it'd kind of be a loss to have this turn AU so suddenly.
Also, I have a real problem with Time Lord/Human hybrid babies without some kind of genetic manipulation to help it along, and even then it bugs me.
This mainly comes from the scientific background of my work - I work in a Genetics Research Lab. The likelyhood of an alien life-form evolving on another planet that is genetically compatible enough to produce viable offspring with Humans is so incredibly low it's almost ridiculous.
It's also likely that the nucleotide bases in our DNA would not be the same as an alien species, thus making any kind of inter-breeding an impossibility even with genetic manipulation. I could point to the visual graphics of Dalek DNA in Evolution of the Daleks as an example of that - the very structure of the deoxiribose mollecules that bond the base pairs into place is very different than that of Humans, and though I couldn't get a great look at it, I would bet that the nucleotides were different compounds as well.
Also a case in point, the Chameleon Arch that the Doctor uses to become Human. He says it has to re-write all of his DNA, and the process is long and painful for him, making it very unlikely that any kind of natural breeding between Time Lords and Humans would be possible.
Now don't get me wrong, I would love to ease some of the Doctor's lonliness and loss by seeing him have a family and a future again, too. I just think there's a believeable way to handle it within the bounds of the series and Science Fiction. I hope that some day he can regain much of what he lost, but that's part of the journey and the journey has to be believeable within the bounds of the character and the series.
One of the things I love about your fics so far is that you always work in some kind of scientifically viable reason that the Doctor and Rose can have children. It's always well thought out and believeable. As sweet and romantic as the idea that Rose could be pregnant now is, and as much as many might like that (yes, including me in my more whimsical moments), it just isn't believeable and it's bad science.
Of course, during TPotW Rose might have been genetically altered enough to conceive with the Doctor. Heck, they might not even know it... but then we go back into AU land and at the risk of sounding redundant, I like that this story isn't.
Just to elaborate on that thought, the TARDIS (or Bad Wolf, or the Power Rose borrowed from the TARDIS) can obviously change genetics, since she made Jack almost immortal with a word.
If you're curious as to the logic: Humans have a life-span limited to 150 years if we didn't age or get sick. It's a function of replication, we lose a few base pairs from each end of each chromosome with each cell division. After 150 years, our DNA is no longer stable enough or complete enough to support life.
If the TARDIS's power can do that, who's to say what it did (or what the TARDIS herself did) to Rose when she held it's power? I've been hoping for some kind of change along these lines since it happened.
Anyway, that's enough verbal diarhea from me.
Should it go AU? I hope it doesn't, or at least not until after TPotW. But, all of this is just my opinion for what it's worth... probably not much. :)
Re: Warning: Opinion-Mongering Ahead
Date: 2008-04-29 11:12 pm (UTC)And, regardless of what you decide, I'm sure it will be great and I'll love it. :)
Re: Warning: Opinion-Mongering Ahead
Date: 2008-04-30 07:23 am (UTC)Re: Warning: Opinion-Mongering Ahead
Date: 2008-04-30 07:24 am (UTC)Re: Warning: Opinion-Mongering Ahead
Date: 2008-04-30 03:29 pm (UTC)I hope my little rant didn't get you down or anything, it was meant as a complement to your writing. I am a notoriously picky reader/fan and very hard to impress, so when I am impressed by a writer I try and let them know. Not always in the most concise or productive way, though. *g*
I love that you make an effort to make the science work. So many people don't bother, and it makes all the difference to me. It is Science Fiction, after all.
I read in a response you wrote earlier that you've considered splitting this into two alternate timelines, one where they do have babies and one where things play out in the progression of the show.
I love that idea. I do want to see 9 as a daddy, but I want to see this continue as it has, so it's a hard choice for me, too. I just always default back to canon and science when I can't make up my mind.
Re: Warning: Opinion-Mongering Ahead
Date: 2008-05-02 06:13 am (UTC)