Casual Gallifreyan

Gallifreyan "language" (more of a code for us Earthicans) can be a bit of a challenge, especially to design the more beautiful words, sentences, phrases, and paragraphs we see wandering around the internet. These are lovely, but also difficult to do, especially when working by hand. Take this one for example. It's my name:

It took me about twenty minutes to get a good circle, put in the right letters, and erase the extra lines. It's my name. I know how to write my name, so very little of the time is spent thinking - it's spent making it look pretty. It's a bit like learning cursive in second grade, or learning calligraphy as an adult.

So it seems like the Time Lords must have had some type of shorthand, right? A short hand which allowed them to scribble notes to each other without spending hours desperately sand-blasting their message into the floor of some great hall. 

See image here.

Suppose some Time Lord had to desperately get the above message (I'm a little teapot, short and stout; here is my handle, here is my spout, etc., etc.) to another Time Lord and couldn't go back in time to cross her own timeline... Time Lord problems. You know.

So anyway, casual Gallifreyan - that's where I'm going with this. I started experimenting with a handwriting version of this, and while not as pretty, it's a heck of a lot easier. Unless Time Lords were born with the innate and unbelievable ability to draw perfect circles every time, then scribbly handwriting would probably be written in ovals. On the left are the three words in my name (Ariele Joy Sieling). On the right are the same characters written in ovals.

And no I didn't just take a picture of the page from a weird angle.

But then I began to consider the elements that might make one Time Lord's handwriting different from another's. The little dots, for example - some might just do them as dots, others might have the size change, and they can be placed differently as well - mine tend to be in the middle of the letter, but they could be on either edge. It's just like some people cross their t's low or high, some people dot their i's with circles or hearts, and some write in tiny or big letters.

Here is my name written in four slightly different styles. I'm the only one making the words, so the strokes all look the same, but the dots, tidiness, lines, and shapes are slightly different. With other people writing similar words, it would look completely different: 

I intend to keep experimenting with writing quickly, because I think that is really how handwriting is formulated - practice! Here is vaguely what I think my Gallifreyan signature should look like - a 3/4 moon having a seizure: 

For more practice, I wrote "Doctor" repeatedly: 

And of course, as any good Doctor Who fan would do, I tried to invent a signature for the Doctor using the word "Doctor," since we're not allowed to know what his real name is. Of course it should be as messy as a medical doctor's:

I would really like some nerd at the BBC to teach each of the doctors how to write "doctor" in Gallifreyan - then we could see how his handwriting changes, in addition to his face, outfits, and tardis!

Anyway, I intend to keep working on this - practicing my writing, getting faster and better at full sentences (not just words), and figuring out what shortcuts make it easier to write but not confuse the meaning. Stay tuned.

And send me any of your scribblings and I'll include them in my next post!

The Internal Metamorphosis of the Doctor

I am working on a project about values* and the implementation thereof in day-to-day life. So, I thought to myself, I wonder what Doctor Who would consider his primary values? What is it that motivates his actions (besides the constant need to save the Earth/his friends/wherever he happens to be/whomever he happens to be with from impending doom, that is)?

Now, the personality of the Doctor has evolved, for sure. I haven't seen every Doctor yet (still working on it), but I'm going to take a stab at guessing the values of the ones I have.

1: Kindness, wisdom, curiosity

3: Intelligence, perseverance, knowledge, exploration

4. Humor, curiosity, exploration

5. Curiosity, intelligence, open-mindedness

That's all I've seen of the first bunch. Now, looking at the three newest Doctors, it is clear that his attitude and intentions have been changing gradually. He started out (as Christopher Eccleston) pissed at everyone and everything, probably because he had just blown up his planet and killed his entire species. David Tennant was a bit irritable in the beginning, but Rose had chilled him out a lot, and he cooled off majorly through the next three seasons. He became more open and willing to acknowledge his feelings (to a point), as opposed to constantly running away from his feelings. Then, when Matt Smith arrived, the Doctor began to work through his feelings of guilt over what happened to Rose and Donna, then Amy and Rory; he goes through extreme bouts of wishing he would never hurt anyone ever again. So, through out the most recent six seasons, I would say the prioritization of his values changes quite a lot.+

9: Problem-solving, resilience, strength, intelligence, assertiveness, conviction, daring, cunning, ferocity, shrewdness

10: Optimism, passion, playfulness, curiosity, intelligence, exploration, discovery, teamwork, persistence, victory

11: Inquisitiveness, perceptiveness, persuasiveness, self-control, watchfulness, adaptability, appreciation, relationships, giving back, patience

Then, of course, is the whole issue of how his companions' values influence, negate, or keep in check the Doctor's... but that's like a whole book's worth of material.

Thoughts? Agreements? Disagreements? Please, share in the comments below.

Following image found here.

*Here is a list of potential values that anyone might have.
+To clarify: I think that his values remain relatively consistent, but which ones have the most influence on his behavior at any given time change radically throughout the series.

Images of Gallifrey

David Tennant's famous quote is: "The sky is a burnt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever... slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow..."

So I found pictures. I thought that even if we can't know exactly what it looks like, a combination of them all might give us a sense.

This one is just beautiful. I think this is the kind of image 10 had in his mind at the time of his quote.

This is pretty, with the snow, and the two suns. No red grass though.

Evil Time Lord overlooks his barren planet that is stricken by war. 

All of this images have an orange sky; but how do you make it look like it's not on fire?

It's interesting how the Doctor focuses on the citadel, and makes it seem so big, but compared to a planet, any citadel would be quite small. This picture makes it seem tiny... but giant at the same time.

It also looks like it's all about to go up in flames.

This is pretty, but somehow I can't imagine 10 and Rose going back and skipping through the fields of a planet that went up in flames and caused the Doctor so much distress.

This one is an interesting depiction, much more devoid of detail and more concept based. 

Also, the sky is orange, but obviously not on fire.

I like this one because it clearly depicts the two suns.

Also, this version of the planet has water.