#; clara oswald ❪ character study. ❫

[phyyyyysics]

After finishing Doctor Who during Moffat's run, I think I see a pattern here for most (but not all) of his female characters choices in Doctor Who & Sherlock. I know people have already analyzed this before, but I want to do it myself so here we go.

There are primary three categories:

1. The first is the generic and the normal ones, according to him. Characters like Amy, Donna (silence in the library episode) from Doctor Who, Mary from Sherlock. These are the characters that will always stand with the good people, never straying, and whose life long dream is to settle down and have children. Mary of course is an outlier, because she had shot Sherlock and broke John's trust. But in the final season, it turned out that her hands had been forced, and she had been good all along.

For me, I think wanting to settle down to have a family of course is not necessarily a bad thing. I can't say for Mary and Amy because I couldn't relate to them personally, however, Donna's storyline in the Silence in the Library didn't sit well with me. When she was saved by the Computer, it sort of simulated a life that it thought she wanted. One where she had two beautiful children and a dotting husband. The problem here lies in the fact that she had been ridiculed and thought to be loud and brash and stupid all her life, and had been a temp for a long time. She literally ran to the TARDIS the second time she met the Doctor because she didn't like the life she had had, or the life her mom has been pressuring her to have. Can you see how reluctant she has been to pursue anything really? Do you really think her life-long dream, her secret desire is still to settle down and become a wife to someone? Maybe, but not before taking the chance to see the Universe with the Doctor. I actually have a feeling that finding a husband might have been on her list, but she could be doing that more out of obligation and societal expectations. Again, it's not a bad thing to want a family, but there's a recurring theme for his character choices that I can't help notice.

2. Second are the women who are smart and resourceful. These are the characters that are most of the time portrayed as sexy and intelligent, and most of all above all the others. Characters like Irene Adler and Mary (a little bit) in Sherlock, River and Clara in Doctor Who. I think there are many discussions we can have about the definition of strong, female, characters. However, I agree with many others that these women's lives all revolve around one man. And even if they are smart enough, we have to remember there will be one guy who can still tell them otherwise: which are Sherlock and the Doctor respectively.

3. The third type of women in Steven Moffat's writings are those who are too intelligent they become unpredictable and sometimes downright inhuman. Characters like Eurus in Sherlock, Missy in Doctor Who are in this category. They are extremely smart and morally questionable characters, and certainly, they have a lot of potential to explore. However, they are almost too smart that it becomes harder to relate to them. And since I don't think Moffat really knows how to deal with them, they are either put in a cage when they are being "naughty", or out of the cage at their male counterpart's side when they finally decide to stand with them, to be "good".

By the way, there is one addition that I think is relevant. It is fucking funny that with the way he wrote these women, they are most of the time too put together to really have any story to tell. From first glance, you wouldn't be able to really see what their backgrounds were like and what's on their minds, and as the story progressed nothing really developed. Since this is not good for story telling, he would give you some (in my opinion) unnecessary stories to compensate the lack of substances, such as family drama TM (the whole John and Mary arguments), or the boyfriend drama TM (why didn't you approve my choice of a boyfriend, Doctor? & OMG my boyfriend just been run over by cars because I said "I love you" to him). Those back and forth we didn't really see coming to distract us from the facts. However, this makes a lot of the stories feel disjointed and the time jump between episodes sometimes doesn't make sense. Also when the dramas are added, some audience (normally cis straight guys) can be like look, the main guys don't really care to deal with them and in comparison are way cooler, these girls just needed to be put in their places.

In conclusion, most of the women written by him are either categorized as:

(1) normal girls will -> get pregnant

(2) Smart & sexy powerful women will -> get beaten by the main character (who are always white, more superior and smarter)

(3) Unpredictable brainiacs (who deserve better) will-> get put into dungeons and cages 'cause they are crazy and "bad" (as in their beliefs are not aligned with the hero's). Oh and sometimes they can be sexy, too

[anotherbummer]

"Never be cruel, never be cowardly…Remember, hate is always foolish, and love is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind."

[smokedanced]

@dimitresca said: top or bottom for hannibal, will, izzy hands, Ed — any muses you feel like doing this for. i feel like it’s a classic question

NSFW HEADCANON MEME    /    ACCEPTING ↷

Hannibal — mostly top (mostly a sadist with a secret masochist side)

Will — mostly bottom (mostly a masochist with a secret sadist side)

Izzy — lawful bottom

Edward — chaotic switch

A few bonus muses, since you enabled

Clara — a bossy top

Iris — a repressed bottom

Jillian — no power dynamics whatsoever, instant turn-off, but positions do not really matter

Lucius — neutral top, give him an older, damaged man to fix by domming him

[theirmadness]

allow me to Cry about clara and 12th's relationship for a moment.

clara LOVED 11, right???? she absolutely loved him. she adored her funny little boy. yeah, the doctor plays around calling himself her bf. they flirt. it's like... when you have a crush on someone when you're a teenager. she loved him, but it was different. then........ then she BEGGED the timelords to give him More. more time. not more time with her, bc clara oswald is not that selfish, but more time with the universe, bc the universe NEEDs him. the universe needs the doctor.

and she got 12. and 12.......... 12 is the opposite of 11, and he's this grumpy old man. this is the doctor looking like The Doctor for the first time in a while. i feel like 12 is the doctor being like. I'm Tired. I thot I was Dying. for GOOD. i just don't have it in me any more. and then he gets a whole new set of regenerations bc THERE CLARA OSWALD GOES AGAIN, BEING THE IMPOSSIBLE FUCKING GIRL AND SAVING HIS LIFE. ALL OVER AGAIN. the doctor saves everyone but how often do people save the doctor? like. FOR REAL, SAVE THE DOCTOR. the way that clara did???? what she did trumps bad wolf in so many ways and that alone was such a sacrifice from rose.

BUT YEAH. BACK TO MY POINT.

what clara felt with 12 was like this soul connection. this old man who's not charming and needs social cues from her was literally MADE for her. she feels more connected to him than she ever has. and this is beyond the physical stuff which like..... their sexual chemistry in every fucking episode was absolutely insane. it's CRAZY how so little people touch on this and i fully believe it's bc of ageism bc peter capaldi isn't yk, matt smith or david tenant. but bro, mummy on the orient express was legit so sexually charged i thot i was watching a romantic comedy lol. and that was just their energy.

11 was this schoolboy with a crush but 12 was her life partner. she anticipated his needs and he Saw her. "when do i ever not see you?" the episode where she aged and she's so frail and yet all he says is: "i just see you, clara." AND HE JUST SEES HER AS HE KNOWS HER. YOUNG AND FULL OF LIFE AND UTTERLY PERFECT IN HIS EYES. nd i don't think the doctor has, had, or will ever love someone the way that he loved clara. i don't think he will ever go to the lengths that he went to save her. the devotion 12 had for clara was something unique to their relationship and their dynamic and i don't think the doctor would ever allow himself that again bc he KNOWS the lengths that he will go for if he truly gives himself to love the way he did with clara. they were never overtly romantic the way doctor is with the few romantic interests he has had, but their relationship went so much deeper than that. the doctor LITERALLY PUNCHED HIS WAY THROUGH FUCKING TIME TO GET HER BACK. this man, this man who sacrificed so much, for so long to save the universe, who made the ultimate sacrifice to end a war, was ready to throw it all away for THIS ONE HUMAN WOMAN. his love for her made him reckless, made him dangerous, and it made him........... the most human he has ever been and GOD THE WAY THAT FUCKING TERRIFIED HIM.

but the way that it meant the world to clara because she spent her entire time with 11 thinking she'd just be a ghost in the end to him. just another story. but then in comes 12 and he proves his undying, unwavering love and devotion to her and she's absolutely made her peace with the fact she's Dead. She's dying. and she's okay with it because every moment she has lived with him has been worth it and????????? oh my god i'm fucking crying these two are too much i can't. i'm just gonna sit in MY CORNER AND FUCKING SOB.

clara oswald loves EVERY version of the doctor there has been, and she can say that because she's one of the few people that has actually met in some way ALL of them, and she will love every version of him there will be but my god the 12th doctor is It for her.

[oswildin]

“WELL I GUESS THAT’S WORTH A LOOK…”

FIC MASTERLIST // TIKTOK // PLAYLISTS

ART PORTFOLIO

(DO NOT REPOST MY WORK, ART OR FICS).

i mainly write for loki (mcu), but have one shots for other fandoms and characters like star wars, the boys, the last of us (hbo), the amazing spider-man, doctor who and moon knight.

My thoughts on Loki (and related media) compilation

about me

name: gigs or oswald // pronouns: she/they // age: 21+ // personality: INFP // autistic

active fandoms: marvel (mcu), doctor who, the boys tv, the mandalorian, the last of us (hbo), house of the dragon

favourite characters: loki, sylvie, nebula, agatha harkness, wanda maximoff, kate bishop, yelena belova, moon knight, tasm!peter parker, clara oswald, the master (dhawan & missy), the doctor, (fave is 12)

favourite albums: artpop (lady gaga), the family jewels (marina), vessel (twenty one pilots), too weird to live (p!atd), rise & fall (chappell roan), all my demons (aurora)

favourite song of all time: take on me - a-ha

hobbies: making music, writing poetry, making fanfics/povs, drawing (new to digital art making)

other general info: i’m autistic, have been a tumblr user since the golden days - yes i lived through superwholock lmao. love comedies (rom-coms are a guilty pleasure). favourite marvel film is, ofc, thor ragnarok (comfort film). been a loki stan since 2012/2013. favourite sit-coms have to be superstore, the office us and modern family. studied media analysis.

why is my blog called ‘what a world for a one finned goldfish’?: it’s a reference to gus from moon knight, steven’s one-finned goldfish, but also that in a way I feel like a one-finned goldfish in this weird, scary world made for neurotypicals lol.

what is my blog?: a mess lmao. i mostly come on here to reblog, stare at gifs for hours, appreciate peoples writing, fangirl and occasionally write or make stupid text posts.

polite asks and disclaimers

- this blog is a safe space. dni if you’re a bigot (ableist, homophobic, transphobic, racist… you get the idea, it is not welcome here.)

- no fandom drama, no ship wars, i frankly do not care nor wish to argue with strangers on the internet! personally, i think the whole thing is silly. but go off besties, just not on my posts please! be respectful. lokius & sylki shippers welcome, just be kind. i am a multi-shipper. I do not follow or engage in drama, i keep to myself. I’m within my right to block whoever I wish for whatever reasons I have, just like everyone else. it’s about curating my online experience.

- i’m open to discussion and conversation, not arguments, especially when it comes to certain characters or media or whatever. it’s okay that we have different opinions. it’s okay that you may not like something and i do. i promise, it is okay.

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- let’s all be kind to one another.

BANNERS ARE MY OWN ARTWORK

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

Controversial Character Tournament Round 2: Natsuki Subaru from Re:Zero vs Clara Oswin Oswald from Doctor Who

(remember that these characters are fictional and your fellow tumblr users are real. i will block you if you harass others in the notes, please consider sending your unhinged harassment to my inbox instead)

Propaganda under the cut, may contain spoilers:

Natsuki Subaru:

LOVE: - "look his only crime is being somewhat annoying and starting on that incel mindset at the beginning of the story (he gets better, but I won't deny his view of women in the beginning is bad). But he's also a fucking kid going through so so much, and actually being really heroic and growing as a person and unlearning all that toxic shit and learning to love himself and interact with others in a healthy way to build good relationships and he's doing his best ok! He's endearing and wonderfully kind at heart and if you hate him your wrong, ok?"

Clara Oswin Oswald:

LOVE: - "Clara is a brilliant character because she is an immensely flawed person. Yes, she is kind and smart and generally trying to do the right thing. But she is also vain and self-righteous and overconfident and incredibly selfish when it comes to people she loves. And the thing is, it's not only her, but she rubs off on the Doctor, too, making him selfish in turn when it comes to her. There are a number of people who hate her character because they describe her as a 'pretty lady who can do anything and thinks the show is about her' and you want to shake them and say 'that's the point! You fell for it, now see that!'. Because 'pretty lady who can do anything' is exactly what Clara thinks she is. And she also thinks the show is about her. But it's not who she is. Yes, she is good, brilliant even. And yes she is very much like the Doctor (if only because she is just as good at bullshitting). But she's still human and humanly fragile to go with it. And that's her downfall in the end and God this character is just brilliantly executed and extremely consequent (at least series 8 and onward) and you could technically tell where she will end up from the beginning but you can't because she blinds you. Like, I don't even know whether I LIKE her but I want to put her under the microscope and study her like a bug. She's fascinating." HATE: - "I just don’t like her"

[spoofymcgee]

alright i've watched death in heaven and i've entirely revised my take on clara's character to the point where i think the 6k character study of her i finished last night is just. totally inaccurate and wrong.

my original perception of her was based on the fact that the narrative and the doctor's perspective both try very hard to make her a good character. she's the doctor's companion, which means she has to be good and kind and nice.

except that she isn't.

clara oswald is special. and she knows it. she's different from everyone else–there's something exceptional, something remarkable about her–why else would she get to travel the universe with the doctor? she isn't like everyone else, and she likes knowing that. it makes her feel powerful and better and bigger and in control.

she wants to have everything normal people have and more, to prove that she can live a regular life and run out in the middle of the day to save a planet, and this is what keeps proving to her that she's important.

she's the impossible girl–there's something different about her, and as long as that is true she's worth something.

which is not to say that she's bad: she's a little callous and sometimes cruel, she isn't very compassionate or sympathetic, but on the whole she has a basic set of morals.

and it's fine, for a while, i think.

but she fits everything into very specific boxes, including people, and knows where they go and of not how to control them than at least how to work around them.

and then the doctor changes, and she's not there to see it, and he regenerates, and she is there for that.

and he doesn't act like she's learned to expect, she can't rely on him, he doesn't treat her like she's special anymore, he's more critical, more honest, and she gets afraid.

she can't predict him anymore, and she's also afraid that he's getting too close to really seeing her, or maybe just stopping to pretend that he hasn't already. and somewhere, maybe subconsciously, she wants him to think that she's good and kind, wants to keep believing that she is, and she's just as afraid as he is that she isn't a good person.

and that's the crux of the problem with the doctor and clara's dynamic–they're too similar. that's why, in hell bent, the doctor doesn't need clara to figure out what's going on–he never has.

the doctor needed clara because he needed someone to believe he was good when he didn't. even if she couldn't convince him, he needed someone there to see him as good. twelve spends a lot of time thinking about whether or not he is good, whether or not he can be trusted, what kind of man he is and wants to be.

eleven spent the last three hundred years of his life defending a planet of innocent people who he got involved with his war. he watched them fight and die and tried to save them and knew that, in some very real ways, it was his fault.

as eleven, the doctor got big. the doctor got important. the doctor became a legend and a god and a figurehead and a nightmare and he doesn't know which one of those things cancel the others out.

so he needs someone there who just sees him as the doctor, plain and simple.

to clara, the doctor isn't important because he's a good man, or he does good things, or because she cares about him as a person. he's important because he proves that she's different from everyone else, that she's special–he's her path to the stars, to singularity.

oh, i don't think she knows that. i think she wants to believe–and does, maybe–that she loves him, that he's her friend, the one person she'll never leave behind. that's what she's supposed to feel. but the second something happens that isn't supposed to, the second her life diverges from the narrative she wants it to have, her first course of action is to try and force the doctor to do what she wants by threatening his life and freedom.

and that's good enough for twelve. if he's a tool to her then he's not a god, and she's controlling enough that if he spins too far out from good she'll pull him back so she doesn't lose him, and doesn't lose the sway she has over him.

my proof for this in clara's character is the way danny's story ends.

she didn't object to the fact that he died. in the end, she more or less killed him. for a girl whose first plan when the only person she loves dies is to threaten to kill herself and her best friend in a volcano, she gives up very easily.

if this was a story about how much she's unwilling to let danny go–which it seems to be–then she shouldn't care what he wants. she should be trying to make him stay, or at least convincing him, she should be crying, she should be screaming and trying to stop the doctor from flipping the switch.

but instead she offers to do it. she stands there quietly and demurely holding him while everything wraps up.

clara was more upset by the fact that he died in a boring, ordinary way than the fact that he died, because ordinary, normal death didn't fit into the story of danny-the-hero, danny-the-soldier, danny-who-saved-the-world. she is not ordinary and so she is owed a star-crossed love story by the universe and star-crossed lovers are not separated by car accidents.

but if he dies a hero, if he sacrifices himself to save her and everyone on earth, if he's special, then she gets to keep being special by association, gets to be the woman he loved so much he resisted cyberman brainwashing for, the woman he saved the world for.

for clara, traveling with the doctor while maintaining her normal life is a litmus test of how special she is, and because she is special she is owed the life she thinks she should have by the universe. danny is part of what she is owed, and part of the reason she is owed it.

for the doctor, clara is the only person he has to rely on to see him as a man and measure whether or not he is still good, still doing the right thing, still staying within the lines.

neither of them are ever going to give each other up, and they both believe so strongly that if they express any genuine attachment and strong desire to keep travelling together then they'll scare the other off. so they won't even admit how attached they are to each other, and they won't walk away even though they keep pretending they will, because they need each other like air.

the second the doctor loses clara or clara loses the doctor, the illusion collapses, and they're going to have to see who they really are inside.

and. god. that's so fascinating to me.

[companion-showdown]

Who is your favourite companion?

ROUND 1 MASTERPOST

propaganda under the cut

Canton Everette Deleware III

This guy dared to ask Nixon to marry a Black Man. This guy as like I am in a homosexual interracial relationship and I want to marry him will you give me permission mister Nixon. Remember I just saved the planet. The balls on this guy. What a badass. Also it’s so funny that this guy has the most stereotypical American name. Like at least two of them are just places. What a guy.

Clara Oswald

The impossible girl. The hybrid. So many stupid names were given but that doesn’t negate the incredible arc this woman went through. She is THE Icarus, flew too close to the sun, died and became the doctor herself. No one does it like her. Clara made 12 who he was, in season 7 she became an expert in doctor studies and then spent season 8 being his teacher when he forgot what it meant and had such a big impact even when he forgot her he became a teacher himself. What an icon she is, an unstoppable force of nature (@spaghetti-taako )

she's so iconic. spent so long with the doctor that she started to become too much like him. died and then brought back by the doctor after 4 billion years. has her own tardis that looks like a diner. bossy. controls the doctor like he's a dog. short queen. sassy and iconic. (anonymous)

Kate Stewart

no propaganda submitted

Handles

no propaganda submitted

[m-v-tique]

🤖🖥️Scrina = ISFJ🩹🩵

Her first impression can already be mistaken for Ni-Fe (INFJ), however through out the game play character analysis I realized that this isn’t likely;

- Scrina shows feelings of remorse, guilt and/or longing. Just by the torment and yearning to break free and see her maternal figure again, after five years.[ Dominant Si -> Aux Fe + Melancholy ]

- She vents her frustration and dread towards the player/Olivia, though she did not know she was hurting her during the game. [ Secondary Melancholic(?) ]

- Unsure if her intelligence is even evident, however it’s fitting that Scrina can sometimes be informational when it comes to her knowledge about things or the possible use of “common sense”. [ Dominant Si -> Tert Ti (?) ]

- No signs of intuition, hints of ideas, nor inventive/inspirational, despite being with her for longest. But it depends and it’s up to the upcoming game. [ Inferior Ne ]

- She’s managed to be mostly serious or calm, yet she’s used like a dog so there’s emotional or temperamental development… Poor girl. [ Phlegmatic + Melancholy ]

- Due to rather unpredictable situations she longs and looks for trust, despite her mistreatment from everyone. Except Asmodena and later on Olivia when they appear in Alex realm. [ Social + Enneagram 6]

- She is forced to do as Alex commanded in assertive ways to the point she had to do what she must. And knowing it can lead to consequences despite the cruelty, she remains under his control and pressure. [ Self Peservation + Enneagram 1 ]

- Although hostile to the player but mistreated, she’d probably try to take a like just by providing anything she can as long as it’s pleased. [ Gut Enneagram 2 ]

Conclusion:

ISFJ “The Defender”|| 6w5 - SO/SP - 612 || Phlegmatic-Melancholic || RCOAI

Scrina is an ISFJ, “The Defender” Type.

Anyone with an ISFJ personality type are quite honest, caring and lawful people to be with. In strength they can be very hardworking, patient and loyal, but they often can be shy, take a lot of criticism and would bottle up of what they feel.

(Introverted, Observant/Sensing, Feeling, Judging)

As 6w5 The loyalist; Social 6 serves as her way of trusting anyone else in hopes they will help her. As according to studies, Enneagram 6 in an early stage go through an unpredictable situation, and would end up not believing such instinct or intention of trusting someone.

Wing 5 shows practicality and carefulness, so having SP1 shows exactly that. As there was already an idea of SP1 (*Which is in Dolly’s Profile), by core she tries to perfect what she can’t do, doing orders and duties but in the end suffers from all of these demands.

Enneagram 2 are generous, caring and supportive. 2s are quite like 1s but by polarity they are charitable and outgoing. It just so happens to be Scrina’s gut since 2s are represented as people-pleasers, valuing other needs instead of theirs.

Although pessimism was expressed from Scrina throughout the game, it’s blatant if this was her dominant temper. Not to mention her mom/sis is practically melancholic, but strongly not confirmed just yet. She seemed very phlegmatic to be melancholic, but grief is more of a secondary function just for missing her loved one.

Finishing off Reserved; for her introversion, Calm; for her turbulence, and Organized. Accomodating as she’s cooperative, greatly authentic of her own character. And lastly, Inquisitive since she’s more of a resourceful type of individual to listen.

Other Notes/Trivia:

It’s likely she’s an INTP “The Logician” or an ESFJ “The Consul”

It’s also likely she’s Phlegmatic rather than Phlegmatic-Melancholic.

Refrences/Resources:

[theemmtropy]

I am begging you all to pay the fuck attention to WHO is writing problematic stories, ESPECIALLY in tv shows or movies series. Bc if you're noticing a pattern of problematic storylines in these shows/movies, chances are it's the same writer each time. Easiest example is Steven Moffat with Doctor Who. We have several examples of the trope "grown man imprints on little girl, causing her to have feelings for him/gain loyalty to him" (Madame De Pompadour, Amy Pond, briefly with Clara Oswald. Even hinted at with Rose, with the "red bicycle when you were twelve" line in The Doctor Dances). And then he goes and works on The Time Traveller's Wife (HBO series) which is pretty much the same concept.

Another example is George Lucas and "adultifying teenagers". Marion Ravenwood, Padme Amidala, and Ahsoka Tano all fall prey to this. While Marion's age is never confirmed onscreen, the Indiana Jones wiki says that she and Indy dated when she was 16 and he was 25. Padme is like 15? 16? When she's elected queen, and Lucas made the decision for 14-year-old Ahsoka Tano to wear a tube top, despite her being a padawan fighting in battles.

I'm not fucking saying to witchhunt these people, and before anyone takes my words out of context, no I'm not trying to "cancel" them. What I AM saying is that, when we see these problematic storylines and tropes, we tend to point to the characters and say "how could anyone like them, they're a bad person!!1!" When we should be holding creators accountable for the choices they make when creating.

And we should also be encouraging people to branch away from choices like these. If you're a writer, good news: you don't have to use weird, problematic tropes like these! Don't be afraid to study common tropes and think critically about them.

[argowrites]

Fic Master List

So I decided to start a fanfic side blog. It should probably be my main blog, but I'm too sentimental about my aged, 90% inactive original blog, so here we are. I'm currently working on a giant Arcane fic cycle focued on Viktor. Fics listed by fandom.

ARCANE Where Do My Good Deeds Lie (Teen) complete Viktor-centric, character study Solstice (Gen) one-shot Jinx&Silco, holiday fic Happy Birthday (Gen) one-shot Silco character study Mortality (Mature) in progress Multiple POV, Jayvik, Caitvi, Black Death AU Iridescent (Mature) one-shot Season Two Jayvik Relationship Fic Viktor Quartet (complete): Byproduct of a Gifted Mind (Teen) complete Viktor-centric, focused on young Viktor and Singed's mentor/familial relationship, Viktor Quartet Act 1 A Choice (Mature) complete Viktor-centric, Viktor's time in the Undercity before meeting Jayce, Viktor Quartet Act 2, Viktor/OC (not the main focus) Change the World (Teen) complete Viktor-centric, Set during the time-skip, Viktor Quartet Act 3, Viktor/Jayce Love and Legacy (Mature) complete Viktor-centric, Set during act 2 & 3, Viktor Quartet Act 4, Mostly Viktor/Jayce with some Jayce/Mel and Jayce/Mel/Viktor Season Two Countdown Ten Years of Solitude (Explicit) one-shot Divorce Era Reconciliation Fic Small Boy, Age Nine (Gen) one-shot Singed character study set during the time Young Viktor worked with him Eight Lives Left (Gen) one-shot Viktor gets a cat. Technically part of the Viktor Quartet Universe Count to Seven (Teen) one-shot Vi Character Study, CaitVi Six Weeks Since (Teen) one-shot Jinx and Viktor's first meeting Five Virtues (Teen) one-shot Mel character study The Fourth Option (Teen) one-shot Silco character study Three AM (Mature) one-shot Jayvik fic about past relationships Between Two Starts (Teen) one-shot Meljayvik piece/Jayce character study Just Once (Mature) one-shot Jayvik Divroce Era fic

ATTACK ON TITAN Perchance (Teen) complete Armin/Annie, Boarding School AU The Snow King (Gen) complete Armin/Annie, Snow Queen fairytale AU

DEATHNOTE In Between (Teen) complete L/Light, Afterlife Fic

DOCTOR WHO Follow (Gen) complete Very implied Ashildr | Lady Me/Clara Oswin Oswald, Clara character study

OVER THE GARDEN WALL Greg and the Lantern Bearer (Teen) (4/9) on hiatus Greg-centric Lantern-Bearer Wirt fic, I swear I'm going to finish it one day

[yeonchi]

Doctor Who 10 for 10 Part 8/10: Series 8

After Series 5 and 6 established a status quo for the Matt Smith era, Series 7 saw it being shaken up in numerous ways. With Peter Capaldi becoming the new Doctor following Smith’s departure, Series 8 would establish a new status quo in a darker, yet down-to-earth series compared to previous ones as the production team prepared to ride the waves from the 50th Anniversary. While there was no split series like there was in Series 6 and 7, the series wouldn’t start until August. Since fans had gotten used to this autumn start thanks to the split series, they didn’t seem to mind that the usual Doctor Who schedule for the year had been broken. In addition, the definition of “13 episodes” was changed to mean “12 episodes and a Christmas Special”, not that it was much of a problem for fans including myself.

Although 2014 was the year I intended to wind down and focus on my high school studies, various circumstances, such as the aftermath of the 50th Anniversary year, led to me deciding to keep the fires burning for another year, and so I decided to keep Doctor Who going in my personal project for two more series, the latter of which would “premiere” at the same time as the premiere of the BBC Series 8. So let’s jump into the retrospective for Series 8 and relive the experience of riding the wave from the 50th Anniversary just as the production team and fandom did.

1. The World Tour and live events

Peter Capaldi was revealed to the world as the Twelfth Doctor in a live event special hosted by Zoe Ball on 4 August 2013. Matt Smith did not participate in the live event, but he was interviewed for it along with a few other special guests. This would later be followed up with another live event special on 23 November following the broadcast of The Day of the Doctor, which infamously featured a crossover with the boy band One Direction (more like Louis and Niall), who were also doing their own live event, 1D Day, in Los Angeles to promote their new album, and were having technical difficulties that impacted their crossover with the Doctor Who event, not to mention the fact that despite Zoe Ball’s claims, they hadn’t watched The Day of the Doctor, let alone the series, so their clearly prepared questions were apparently inappropriate to the occasion.

Said event also featured actors who played Doctors and companions in the classic series and their treatment was regarded as disrespectful, particularly the infamous moment when Rick Edwards accidentally sat on Katy Manning and crudely tried to cover it up, which would probably be considered sexual assault in the post-#MeToo era.

After completing their filming on the series in August 2014, before the premiere of Series 8, Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and Steven Moffat embarked on a world tour to promote the upcoming series in Cardiff, London, Seoul, Sydney, New York, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro. I don’t recall the Chibnall era doing anything like this; heck, even Jodie Whittaker’s reveal in 2017 was just a minute-long minisode with a teaser that was just as long, and it was broadcast during Wimbledon. This shows that the Moffat era did better with marketing and promotion compared to the Chibnall era (the RTD era fitting in between them).

2. Humble returns

As is obvious, Jenna Coleman would reprise her role as Clara Oswald for Series 8, her character now a teacher at Coal Hill School to commemorate the 50th Anniversary. Peter Capaldi’s first episode, Deep Breath, also featured the return of the Paternoster Gang for what would be their final on-screen appearance. The Clockwork Droids make a return following their debut eight years prior in Series 2’s The Girl in the Fireplace, being assigned as the crew of a sister ship to the one that appeared in said episode, though the Doctor doesn’t seem to remember them.

The episode starts off with a female dinosaur in the middle of the Thames during the 1890s. The dinosaur coughs up the TARDIS, which had been swallowed by her when it crashed in prehistoric Earth. The Doctor and Clara came out of the TARDIS and the former was taken back to the Paternoster Gang’s home when he collapsed due to his post-regenerative trauma. Later that night, the Doctor hears the dinosaur in pain and heads outside to promise that he will take her home, only to see her spontaneously combust. Both the Doctor and the Paternoster Gang rush to the Thames, where the Doctor points out that the point, in regards to what the important question is they should be asking, isn’t actually who could have done this, let alone how; the point is actually if there have been any similar murders. The Doctor jumps into the Thames as he takes up the case, which leads the Paternoster Gang to do so as well.

The next morning, the Doctor stumbles into an alley, wondering and ranting to a nearby tramp why he has the face he has. He then notices a newspaper with an article about spontaneous combustion and takes the tramp’s coat in exchange for his favourite watch. Meanwhile, Clara sees a notice addressed to the “Impossible Girl” in a newspaper and deduces that the Doctor wants to meet her at Mancini’s Family Restaurant. Clara heads there and is met by the Doctor, who had also noticed the notice, but didn’t place it himself. As they argue over who could have placed the notice, the Doctor and Clara were brought down to the Clockwork Droids’ ship, where they saw the Half-Face Man recharging itself; the Clockwork Droids had been harvesting the flesh and organs from humans as they rotted and combusted the bodies to hide the evidence of mutilation.

As the Doctor and Clara are separated, Clara gets the idea to hold her breath so that the Droids won’t notice her breathing, but she eventually passes out and is brought in front of the Half-Face Man. By using her experiences from her first days as a teacher, Clara manages to elicit information about the Droids’ intentions to reach the Promised Land before the Doctor rejoins her, having changed his clothes. The Doctor questions the Half-Face Man as to why he put the message in the newspaper to bring him and Clara to the restaurant, only to realise that he didn’t do it.

The Paternoster Gang are summoned to fight the Droids in the ship. The Half-Face Man heads back up to the restaurant, which is actually an escape pod, with the Doctor following. As the Doctor confronts the Half-Face Man, convincing him that there is no Promised Land and that he has replaced every single part of himself to the point where there is no trace of his original self. Down in the ship, the Paternoster Gang and Clara struggle against the other Droids until Clara tells them all to hold their breaths. Despite their best efforts (and Vastra sharing her oxygen with Jenny by way of a kiss), they are unable to hold on further when Vastra stops Strax from killing himself. It is then that all the Droids suddenly deactivate, the Half-Face Man being impaled on top of a clock tower. Whether the Doctor pushed him or the Half-Face Man jumped is open to interpretation, though if I had to say, I would have to say that the Doctor drove the Half-Face Man to jump, giving us a glimpse of the darker Doctor and darker storylines the Capaldi era had to offer.

Clara heads back to the present day with the Doctor, now with the mystery of the woman in the shop brought to the forefront from the notice in the newspaper as the Doctor surmises that there is a woman who is very keen that they stay together. Clara gets a call from the Eleventh Doctor, calling her from Trenzalore just before his regeneration finished, to tell her that his new incarnation will need her more than she can imagine.

Meanwhile, the Half-Face Man finds himself in a garden, where he is met by Missy, who tells him that he has made it to the Promised Land. More on her later.

Deep Breath is an extended episode that manages to bridge the Capaldi era with the Smith era while still giving fans a glimpse of the darker storyline to come. Matt Smith’s cameo was filmed towards the end of the filming for The Time of the Doctor, solidifying the episode’s status as a bridging episode between the two eras. Like The Day of the Doctor before it, Deep Breath also received a cinematic release, coupled with a Paternoster Gang prequel that was really Strax describing the previous Doctors; the Doctor Who Extra instalment for the episode (to replace Doctor Who Confidential); and for UK screenings on 23 August 2014, there was also a live Q&A hosted by Zoe Ball.

3. The Capaldi title sequence

The title sequence for the Capaldi era episodes was designed by Billy Hanshaw, aka billydakiduk on YouTube. He was scouted by Steven Moffat after seeing his original concept title sequence from September 2013 and decided to refine the idea for the new title sequence. The final product was a complete subversion of the usual Time Vortex sequence as the camera goes through some clockwork, a spiral of Roman clock face numbers and through some circling planets. Whatever “Time Vortex” was shown towards the end was not shown at any point in the Capaldi era - even the Time Vortex used in Twice Upon A Time was completely different. The titles also showed the Doctor’s eyes in a throwback to his debut cameo instead of his face as was done during Series 7 Part 2.

Some episodes saw variations to the opening sequence, such as Before the Flood having a rock version of the theme, Heaven Sent only having Peter Capaldi being credited, or the 2014 and 2015 Christmas Specials having Chrismassy flairs to them; this was omitted for the 2016 and 2017 Christmas Specials.

For some reason, the production team managed to screw up the consistency of the title sequence; at least 10 of the Capaldi era’s 40 episodes had titles that were out of sync with the theme music, most notoriously seen in Face the Raven that had the titles run five seconds ahead of the music. At the same time, fans also noticed inconsistencies in the formatting of the episode title and writer credits, which is honestly baffling as I wonder if no template was used or if no quality control was taken.

For the Series 8 and 9 of Doctor Who in my personal project, I opted to use two of NeonVisual’s title sequences from 2013 which were clearly inspired from the Series 7 Part 2 title sequence. Do you think they would have worked better had the BBC hired NeonVisual instead? Feel free to let me know.

4. A Good Dalek

Into the Dalek has the Doctor discover a Dalek that had turned good. In going inside the Dalek’s casing in an attempt to repair it, during which it was discovered that the Dalek turning good was caused by damage to his power source, the Doctor accidentally reverted Rusty, the name he gave the Dalek, to its original programming.

The Doctor is seemingly proven right that there can be no such thing as a good Dalek, but Clara convinces him that this isn’t what they learnt, and so the Doctor has Clara and the rest of the crew find the memory that made the Dalek turn good which he goes face-to-eye with Rusty. In doing so, Rusty managed to tap into the Doctor’s hatred for the Daleks, causing him to turn on the Daleks and unwittingly save the crew of the Aristotle. This disappoints the Doctor as this outcome was not what he was trying to get Rusty to see.

This episode starts a story arc where the Doctor begins to question whether he is a good man after everything he has been through following the Time War. It may seem a bit hard to tell given the Doctor’s abrasiveness throughout the series, but the Doctor manages to work it out for himself in the end.

5. The mysteries that befall us

Listen is a surreal episode that asks whether people are truly alone when they are alone while also setting up some mysteries that are left answered. After coming home from a disastrous date with Danny Pink (we’ll talk about him next), Clara is picked up by the Doctor, who immediately begins to explore his hypotheses with her, that at one point, everyone has dreamt about someone grabbing their ankle from under the bed while they are alone in their bedrooms. The Doctor connects Clara to the TARDIS telepathic circuits and tries to get her to focus on the time she had the dream, only to end up at a children’s home in mid-90’s Gloucester.

At the children’s home, eerie things happen to the night manager, which is revealed to have been the Doctor stealing his coffee, and Clara meets a boy named Rupert Pink, which she deduces is actually a younger Danny. During this encounter, a figure emerges under the blanket of Rupert’s bed and the Doctor gets the idea to have Rupert and Clara turn their backs to it, allowing it to leave without revealing itself to them. The Doctor poses a theory that it could have been one of Rupert’s friends playing a prank on him, or it actually isn’t. Some fans pose a theory that it was a Floof, a monster with uncanny hiding abilities that cause mischief, from one of Steven Moffat’s short stories written in 2006, but Moffat claims that he doesn’t remember writing it. I choose to believe there actually was a creature under there because for it to actually just be one of Rupert’s friends would be anti-climatic. After Clara puts some toy soldiers under Rupert’s bed to guard him, with one of the soldiers not having a gun which Rupert calls Dan the soldier man, the Doctor then wipes Rupert’s brain of the encounter, leaving him with a dream about him becoming Dan the soldier man.

Clara has the Doctor return her to her date with Danny, but is then called away by a spaceman, which leads Danny to leave. Clara follows the spaceman into the TARDIS and the spaceman is revealed to be Colonel Orson Pink from a hundred years in the future; strangely, Orson doesn’t have any old family photographs of Clara. The Doctor had activated the TARDIS telepathic circuits and it brought him to where Orson was at the end of the universe when he was only supposed to go a week into the future; he was stranded there for six months. When the Doctor travels back to the end of the universe, he and Clara discover that Orson was apparently being threatened by unknown creatures, given how he had to remind himself not to open the door to the capsule. Clara discovers that Orson has a toy of Dan the soldier man, with him saying that it is a family heirloom passed down for good luck.

The Doctor decides to wait for whatever is lurking outside the capsule at night; when strange things begin happening, the Doctor has Clara go back into the TARDIS while he uses his sonic screwdriver to unlock the door. When the air shell is breached, causing all the air to be sucked out and potentially the Doctor with it, Orson rescues the Doctor and brings him back to the TARDIS before Clara uses the telepathic circuits to leave.

The TARDIS lands in a barn and Clara heads out. She sees a crying child under a blanket in a bed, but is forced to hide under it when two people come into the barn. Through their conversation, Clara realises that she has gone back to Gallifrey during the Doctor’s childhood. Once the two people leave, the Doctor regains consciousness inside the TARDIS. The boy, the child Doctor, hears the Doctor and gets up, only for Clara to grab his ankle, resulting in her creating the nightmare the Doctor was investigating in the first place. Clara tells the child Doctor about how fear is a superpower and how he will return to the barn on a day when he will be very afraid, referring to the day when the War Doctor arrived at the barn to detonate the Moment. After leaving Dan the soldier man to stand guard under the child Doctor’s bed, Clara returns to the TARDIS and has the Doctor promise her to never find out where they just were before returning Orson back to his time and taking Clara home.

We’ve theorised who the monster was in Rupert’s bed, so who was the monster apparently terrorising Orson at the end of the universe? My theory for what the planet is, based on other people’s theories and what we would see later on, is that it is a dying Gallifrey at the end of everything. As for the monsters? A Big Finish audio speculates that it was River Song and Jack Harkness playing a prank on Orson and that the planet he was on was actually Gallifrey, but personally, it could be another Floof for all I care.

Listen may be an unsatisfying episode in terms of mystery, but it is still kind of satisfying in that it gives the Doctor good character development while also giving Clara another chance to be the Impossible Girl. The Doctor and Clara heading into Danny’s past as Rupert might have brought up some bad vibes I got from the Impossible Girl arc, but they only went to one point and the Doctor scrambled Rupert’s mind at the end, so it’s kind of okay where that’s concerned. Admittedly, the Doctor’s character development in this episode lost its poignancy when the Timeless Child revelation came out, but it’s still an alright episode nonetheless.

6. PE

This section is funnily ironic to me because at high school, I actually had a teacher (or two) who taught PE and maths.

Series 8 introduces a new love interest for Clara in the name of Danny Pink, played by Samuel Anderson, to divert Clara’s focus from the Doctor and to make the Twelfth Doctor less of a romantic compared to previous incarnations during the revived series. Danny was a soldier in the army who served as a sergeant in the Middle East before leaving after having a “bad day”. He became a maths teacher at Coal Hill School and set up the Coal Hill Cadets to teach students the disciplines and morals of a soldier. Danny was introduced to Clara and after some awkwardness and “family stuff”, they go on their first date in Listen, which goes about as well as you would expect. In trying to hide her travels with the Doctor, Danny got defensive and asked Clara to tell the truth before having enough and deciding to leave. However, Clara reconciles with Danny at the end of the episode.

Two episodes later in The Caretaker, Clara is shown struggling to balance her real life with her Doctor life and things go from bad to worse for her when the Doctor decides to go deep cover at Coal Hill as a caretaker in order to track down a Skovox Blitzer. When the Doctor is introduced to Danny, the Doctor immediately assumes he is a PE teacher based on his history as a soldier. The Doctor then sees Clara with another teacher named Adrian and is happy for her, assuming that Adrian is the boyfriend Clara has been talking about due to the resemblance to his previous incarnation.

That night, as the Doctor lays a trap for the Skovox Blitzer and prepares to lure it in, Danny sees the chronodyne generators placed around the school and moves them, resulting in the Skovox Blitzer being transported two days forward instead of billions of years. Danny discovers Clara’s familiarity with the Doctor and Clara tells him about her adventures with the Doctor.

On parents’ evening, Clara uses an invisibility watch to sneak Danny onto the TARDIS, but the Doctor is able to detect him, which results in the two having an argument during which Danny calls the Doctor an officer in contrast to him being a former soldier. Later, during the interviews, the Skovox Blitzer returns and the Doctor has Clara distract it while he gets a contingency plan ready. Clara manages to lure it to where the Doctor is; the Doctor impersonates its superior and tries to get it to shut itself down, but he forgot to enter the final input code and the Skovox Blitzer begins to self-destruct. It is then that Danny comes in, using the invisibility watch to buy the Doctor a few more seconds. The Doctor successfully gets the Skovox Blitzer to shut down before setting it adrift in space.

Looking back, I have mixed feelings about Danny. His demands for Clara to tell him the truth about her travels with the Doctor kind of seem controlling, particularly since they hadn’t been dating for long, but I kind of like how he calls out the soldier-officer dynamic with the Doctor, in that the officers push their soldiers and make them stronger until they find themselves doing things they never thought they would have to do. In the end, there really isn’t much to Danny other than he was a soldier who left on a bad day and the Doctor doesn’t respect him because he doesn’t respect soldiers. I really think Moffat could have done more with Danny because it felt like the only reason he was there was so we could have a “love triangle” of sorts.

On a side note, The Caretaker would be Gareth Roberts’ final work on the series. The transphobia thing wouldn’t come until three years later (so your opinions regarding it, whether you agree or disagree with him on the whole thing, are irrelevant to this paragraph), but apparently Roberts came into conflict with the production team on set, then made public comments denigrating Moffat and Capaldi, thus he was not rehired for future series. This probably might be a rumour so you don’t have to take it that seriously.

7. Coal Hill School

Following its return in The Day of the Doctor for the 50th Anniversary, Coal Hill School plays a significant role in Series 8, further showing that Capaldi’s first series as the Doctor is a more down-to-earth one. Clara is now a teacher at the school, where it and its students are shown prominently at various points throughout the series.

Coal Hill School was first shown in An Unearthly Child as the school where the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan Foreman, attended and her teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, taught science and history respectively. The school would not return again until Remembrance of the Daleks in 1988 for the 25th Anniversary season. Sadly, Coal Hill School would only make a brief appearance at the start of Series 9 before it was never shown or mentioned again.

In October 2016, a spinoff named Class premiered on BBC Three (which had become a streaming-exclusive channel by then) which prominently featured Coal Hill School and was written by Patrick Ness. The school was shown to be renovated since its last appearance at the start of Series 9. The Doctor also made a short appearance in the spinoff’s first episode and there were rumours that the 2016 Christmas Special was to be a crossover, but it ultimately never eventuated and Class was never renewed for another series.

To restate my own words from my review of Village of the Angels, I felt that the series was okay, but if it wasn’t cancelled, I probably would have liked it more. Personally, the “renovation” of Coal Hill School was a waste of time given what transpired and there is no way a whole school can be rebuilt in under a year without significant interruptions. I’ve seen individual buildings being built during my time in school, but not every building. The finale also teased something epic involving the Weeping Angels, but we never get to see what happened due to the cancellation of the series. Frankly, it’d be better if we just pretended that the series never existed and Coal Hill School was never renovated.

I know Class premiered between Series 9 and 10, but I thought I’d talk about it now and get it over with so I don’t have to later.

8. Out of line?

Midway through the series, the Doctor and Clara have a falling out because of something the Doctor did. While I didn’t think much of it when I first watched it, I would have to argue that after rewatching it recently, the Doctor was being out of line.

Kill the Moon begins with Clara asking the Doctor to tell Courtney Woods that she is special after he told her that she wasn’t, which leads to the Doctor offering to make Courtney the first woman on the moon. The three of them head to the moon in 2049 where they find a hundred nuclear bombs in a recycled space shuttle. It is then that they realise that they are actually on their way to the moon and upon landing, they are met by a crew led by Captain Lundvik, who have come to destroy the moon as its increased mass is causing chaos on Earth with high tides everywhere at once and satellites being whacked out of orbit.

As the group investigates, the Doctor learns that the moon is actually an egg for some creature and that it is about to hatch, which is causing the moon to gain mass. Lundvik is intent on killing it, but Clara and Courtney are against killing it. It is at this point that the Doctor decides to leave and let the three remaining females make the decision that will decide the future of humanity, which angers Clara. When ground control makes contact with the three, Clara decides to make a broadcast to humanity, giving them 45 minutes to decide if they should kill the creature or let it live. Humanity votes to kill the creature, but just at the last moment, Clara defies public opinion and stops the detonation. It is then that the Doctor returns to pick them up and take them back to Earth, where they see the creature hatching and laying a new egg.

Once Lundvik and Courtney have left the TARDIS, Clara becomes angry at the Doctor because she had to make a pivotal decision for humanity’s future and the Doctor knew what would happen, yet still lied to her and left her to decide. And honestly, I kind of have to agree with Clara berating the Doctor at the end, because Earth might as well be his home if he spends so much time there and his actual home planet is destroyed. Also, as crass as he may be, it’s not in the Doctor’s nature to run away in a crisis involving an entire planet. Pompeii may be one city and its destruction a fixed point in time, but this is the future we are talking about and it’s not just one city, it’s an entire planet he spends a lot of time on, so the least the Doctor could do was be there for Clara and guide her to make the right decision.

Clara meets with Danny and she tells him what happened, but Danny tells her to finish things with the Doctor when she is no longer angry with him. The Doctor and Clara decide to have one last hurrah and we move onto Mummy on the Orient Express, a double-banked companion-lite episode produced alongside the Doctor-lite episode Flatline, which would premiere the following week.

Running off a throwaway line from the end of The Big Bang, the Doctor and Clara board a space train known as the Orient Express, or rather a replica of it. As some people are killed by a mummy that only they could see, giving them 66 seconds before they would die, the Doctor is separated from Clara, who is with a passenger named Maisie, and learns that the train is a front for an investigation into the mummy, known as the Foretold, led by an evil computer known as Gus. Several more people die as the Doctor tries to work out what the Foretold is, then when Maisie was the next person to be targeted, Clara reunites with the Doctor and he tells her that Gus had tried to lure him onto the TARDIS before, meaning that he lied to her again and that he made her lie to get Maisie to where the Doctor was.

The Foretold appears to Maisie and the Doctor uses some equipment to make himself the target instead. In the ensuing 66 seconds, the Doctor manages to deduce that the Foretold is actually an ancient soldier, wounded in battle and augmented with equipment that wouldn’t let him die until the war was over. At the end of the 66 seconds, the Doctor surrenders to the Foretold. Everyone is suddenly able to see it as it disintegrates into dust. With the mystery now solved, Gus removes the air from the train, but the Doctor uses the Foretold’s teleporter to teleport everyone away, however when he tried to hack Gus from the TARDIS to find out who was behind it, it triggered a failsafe that blew up the train.

In the end, Clara gains a better understanding of the Doctor and decides to lie to Danny about leaving him while also deciding to stay with the Doctor. This is the turning point where Clara is pushed to become more like the Doctor, with Flatline forcing Clara to essentially be him when the TARDIS gets shrunken with the Doctor still inside. It’s an okay resolution to their conflict, but I don’t think it should have happened in the first place.

9. What is death?

Teasers of Missy and the Nethersphere, also known as the Promised Land, are scattered throughout the series. When I started watching the series, I was expecting at least one character to die in every episode and be sent to the Neversphere, but I suppose doing that would give away the mystery.

In Dark Water, Clara calls Danny in an attempt to tell him the truth about her travels with the Doctor before he gets to her flat. While Clara complains about the way Danny says “I love you” to her, Danny is hit by a car or a milk float driven by Missy (according to extended media) and dies. Clara appears apathetic to Danny’s death, but in truth, she is absolutely distraught, which leads her to use a sleep patch on the Doctor. Landing the TARDIS next to a volcano, Clara tries to blackmail the Doctor into saving Danny by throwing a key away every time he says no to her. She then suddenly throws the rest of the keys away, leaving her with one of the seven keys left. After throwing the last key away, Clara is overcome by the impact of what she did when the Doctor reveals that they are still in the TARDIS, having worked out what Clara was doing and using the sleep patch back on her. The Doctor, having seen how far Clara would go to be with Danny, agrees to help find him and they are led to the 3W Institute.

Meanwhile, Danny is brought to the Nethersphere where he is greeted by Seb, an AI interface created by Missy. Upon arrival, there was a request to meet him from someone, namely a boy he accidentally killed during his time as a soldier in Afghanistan which led to him leaving the army. Danny meets the boy and tries to apologise, but he runs away. Soon, Danny gets a call from Clara, who was put into contact with him from the outside. Clara, on the Doctor’s advice, tries to make sure that the Danny she is speaking to is real by having him say something only he could say, but when he keeps telling her “I love you” in a manner unsatisfactory to Clara, she ends the call.

The Doctor discovers that the Nethersphere is actually a Gallifreyan matrix data slice, that 3W is actually a front for converting dead bodies into Cybermen, and that Missy is actually the Master in a new female incarnation. Danny is given the choice to delete his emotions, but the sight of the boy behind him leads him to refuse.

Continuing with Death in Heaven, 91 Cybermen are assembled outside St Paul’s Cathedral and people are taking pictures with them when Kate Stewart, Osgood and UNIT show up. Suddenly, the Cybermen fly into the sky and hover above a British city before self-destructing and spreading Cyber-pollen into the graveyards and morgues, converting the dead into Cybermen. The Doctor and Missy are brought onboard Boat One, where the Doctor is appointed President of Earth in accordance with incursion protocols. As the Doctor discusses what is happening with the UNIT forces, Missy kills Osgood and summons the Cybermen to Boat One. After revealing that she was the woman in the shop who brought the Doctor and Clara together, then kept them together by putting the notice in the newspaper, Missy sends Kate flying out of Boat One before teleporting away. The Doctor hangs on for dear life but he ends up falling out as well until he uses his TARDIS key to summon it to him.

Meanwhile, Clara poses as the Doctor in an attempt to evade the Cybermen, furthering her character development as a mirror of the Doctor. The episode also goes so far as to have the title sequence feature Jenna Coleman’s name before Peter Capaldi’s and also feature Clara’s eyes instead of the Doctor’s. However, the now-converted Danny manages to call out her lies and take her away. Clara is taken to a graveyard where Danny reveals his face to her and asks her to turn on the emotional inhibitor. After Clara fails to get the Doctor to come and help her, the Doctor arrives and tries to stop Clara. He then asks Danny if he can access the Cyber hive mind to find out what Missy’s plan is, but in an effort to prove his point about the Doctor being an officer, Danny explains that he can’t see much because he needs the emotional inhibitor on to do so. The Doctor gives the sonic screwdriver to Clara so she can do it and when she does, Danny tells the Doctor that Missy is planning to use the Cyber-pollen to convert all of humanity.

Missy arrives and tells the Doctor that the Cyberarmy she created is a gift for him. The Doctor tells Missy that he doesn’t need an army but she insists that he does. Recalling some of his past adventures, the Doctor begins to realise that he is not a good man, nor a bad man, a hero, a president or an officer, but an idiot with a box and a screwdriver. In addition, Danny’s love for Clara stopped him from hurting her after his emotional inhibitor was turned on. The Doctor lets Danny take control of the Cyberarmy and after a speech that to me, sounds a little off at the end due to the pitch of Danny’s voice, he and all the other Cybermen fly into the sky and self-destruct, destroying the Cyber-pollen.

A defeated Missy tells the Doctor the current location of Gallifrey, claiming that it has been restored to its original location. Clara prepares to shoot Missy, but the Doctor offers to do it himself to stop Clara from doing so. It is then that Missy is shot by a remaining Cyberman, who saved Kate from falling out of Boat One. The Doctor learns that that Cyberman was actually Kate’s father, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and he salutes the Cyberbrig before he flies into the sky.

Two weeks later, Clara hears Danny in the night and finds a portal to the Nethersphere in her hallway. With the Nethersphere collapsing and the portal only having enough power for one person to go through, Danny sends the boy from earlier through it, asking Clara to find his parents. Another two weeks later, the Doctor meets with Clara and deduces that Clara and Danny are back together when that was actually not the case. He then tells Clara that he found Gallifrey when he actually didn’t after going to the coordinates that Missy gave him. Clara decides to believe the lie about her and Danny as the Doctor decides to part ways with her.

The Series 8 finale was good, but I don’t think it and the whole series lived up to expectations. I thought the dead people who we saw in the Nethersphere scenes would return in the finale and that the finale would have something much deeper than dead people being converted into Cybermen. The return of the Master as Missy was another highlight of the story and it marked the first on-screen instance of a male Time Lord regenerating into a female incarnation, which meant that the next mystery was to find out how the Saxon Master regenerated into Missy. Paying tribute to the Brigadier by making him a Cyberman I found meh, but I can see why people didn’t like it. If you want an alternative, remember that Osgood wasn’t the only person in that room whose appearance got copied by a Zygon.

And speaking of Osgood, I’ve always contended that the Zygon Osgood was the one who Missy killed in this story. The Zygon two-parter in Series 9 would keep the answer ambiguous by purposefully obscuring it, with even Osgood’s actress, Ingrid Oliver, keeping her take on the question a secret. Then in 2019, a Big Finish audio confirmed that it was actually the Zygon Osgood who was killed by Missy, putting the question to bed in a manner that ended up being logical.

10. Every Christmas is Last Christmas

In the 2014 Christmas Special, Last Christmas, the Doctor reunites with Clara as they investigate a polar base in the North Pole. They encounter Shona trying to distract herself from the Sleepers before they are attacked by Dream Crabs. Following this, Santa and his elves came in to convince everyone that they are dying in a dream and that they need to wake up. The Doctor also deduces that the Dream Crabs can create dreams within dreams and so, he helps everyone get out of each layer until Santa comes back with his sleigh to take them out of the final layer when they are confronted by more Sleepers, which are actually the parts of their mind that have succumbed to the Dream Crabs.

When the Doctor wakes up, he hurries to save Clara from her Dream Crab, only to find that she is 62 years older than when they last parted. As they pull a Christmas cracker, just as they did before in The Time of the Doctor, Santa appears, meaning that this scene was another dream layer. The Doctor and Clara wake up for real and Clara is relieved to see that she is young. The Doctor invites Clara to travel with him again and she quickly accepts, ending the special. Apparently, Jenna Coleman intended to leave Doctor Who at the end of Series 8, but she enjoyed working with Capaldi so much that she decided to do the 2014 Christmas Special before leaving. During the World Tour, Capaldi (and Moffat) managed to convince Coleman to stay on for another year; she informed Steven Moffat of this following the readthrough of Last Christmas and plans on a replacement companion, possibly Shona, were abandoned and the ending was slightly changed thanks to Moffat preparing for such a scenario.

Last Christmas is an alright Christmas Special. It has the Doctor and Clara admit that they lied to each other on their final meeting before they get a second chance together on the TARDIS. Danny also returns as a construct of Clara’s dream to conclude his character arc and to admit that he only saved the world for Clara. The one thing I didn’t like was Nick Frost playing a sardonic Santa when the common stereotype is that he is supposed to be jolly (which is called out by the Doctor in the special). I think it would have worked better if Santa was played by Seth MacFarlane using his Carter Pewterschmidt voice.

Series 8, like the series before it, is another mixed bag. I came into each episode expecting this thing or that thing to happen, only for it to not happen or a completely different thing to happen altogether. The Doctor and Clara have deeper dynamics and character development than they did and the inclusion of Coal Hill School was an alright extension of the 50th Anniversary.

Up until the last instalment, I’ve used Clever Dick Films’ Doctor Who Review videos as one of my research references, but at the time of writing this instalment, he hasn’t done his retrospective on the Capaldi era and I don’t expect it to come out for some time, but I’m sure I have enough opinions or story summary fillers to make it through the last parts of this series. Stay tuned for Part 9 as we continue riding the wave from the 50th Anniversary with my 10 takes on Series 9.

[nounpolycule]

Propaganda/Explanation below the cut:

Clara Oswald sucks, and that's what makes her fun, actually:

When I see people say things along the lines of "Clara sucks, that's why I don't like her.", I react completely differently from when people say essentially the same thing about other characters I enjoy. Because yeah, she does kinda suck. We would not get along if we knew each other in real life. Lucky for me she sucks in the way that makes me want to study her like a bug. If I put her in a Y-shaped maze will she go left or right first? Would this be affected by if someone else was in the maze first and left a scent trail?

The Doctor and Clara are actually a not-romantic-not-platonic secret third thing:

No like they really aren't romantic. No like I mean it. No the punchline isn't "why are people that don't ship twelveclara reblogging my post saying they're not romantic?" No like for real.

As I recently described them to someone who hadn't watched the show:

"It's so much less interesting if they're romantic. They're each other's emotional support animals. They wouldn't even get along if they had to live together in an apartment for three weeks, it would result in murder and that murder is the only way one of them could die without the other tearing apart the universe to save them."

[matt0044]

I mentioned it before but this phenomenon is what I'd like to refer to as a cocktail of childhood/teenhood media viewed through nostalgia goggles. Especially those that have been long running franchises and even cultural touchstones on either side of the pond.

As kids or teens, politics only exist as that boring junk you learn in Social Studies, History or see your folks view on the news. You're more in the fictional characters and stories that grab your imagination by the reigns.

Sure, some of them may be by adults who base this off of their direct life experience and/or aspects of life that often pertain to politics. However, you're only interested in how they tie into your favorite blorbos or your favorite movie/episode of your favorite media. Any good storyteller knows how to weave it all together into a lovely yarn.

And despite what sooooooooo many who trot out the above claims bleat on about, that has not changed at all. Yes, sometimes it doesn't all come together due to a skill issue on the part of the writer ooooor a producer sticking their hands in where they shouldn't.

However, many of today's most acclaimed (or at least polarizing since that at least entails a side who stans it) stories have generally talked about politics be it directly like with explicit leftist talking-points or implicitly such as with... protagonists who aren't the wonderbread variety we've had to endure.

They weave in the journeys we see our characters on with topics such as battling prejudice or concepts such as, well, protagonisting while not white, straight, male or cisgendered. It isn't a flaw but a feature. A feature they've inherited from the generation of writers before them and the generation of writers before that lot.

Bringing us back to the subject of childhood, the reason why Doctor Who seems more politically charged to the usual suspects than ever before comes down to one thing: they grew up. The adult world of news reports that bored them to tears has become their world and it's a world they wish they could opt out of.

So what's a good refuge for such? Whatever made you happen as a kid, of course. Simpler times. Nothing political there. Nothing that really challenged your sensibilities then. However, the newer episodes hit differently than the old ones because their stories revolve around what seems to be relevant then or at least what has stayed relevant in the news cycle.

RTD's New Who run was political with the Slitheen's scheme to sell a destroyed Earth as molten slag due to a recession in space. Van Staton appropriated alien tech as trophies and pays for it in the form of a Dalek he dared to torture. Game Station Five manipulated Earth's media in an age when humanity should've been soaring through the stars.

Oh, and also CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS!

Hell, Steven Moffat's run was often maligned because of elements that felt less woke or regressive based on the social justice climate way back in the 2010s. Even more bizarre was when Series 9 and 10 became more conscious of this potential flaw.

Everything the Chibnall era was raked over the coals for? You better believe that Moffat laid the foundation for. Clara Oswald has stories where she often stole the show and had many accuse the show of being "Clara Who" now. Bill Potts... well, Council of Geeks put it best.

Additionally, RTD's run also had wokeness for its time which meant that a lot of things like the Slitheen's elements of bodyshaming and the whole slap-happy mother gag slipped through. As such, there was a... dampening effect when it came to Doctor Who being more progressive in certain areas but problematic in others.

Lest we forget good ol' Rusty was a white dude.

@tumblingxelian @sir-adamus @aspiringwarriorlibrarian

"Doctor Who is all political now!"

Me, remembering the episode adressing immigration and terrorism in 2015: Ah huh...

"It wasn't so woke before!"

Me, remembering the pansexual companion who was flirting with and kissing men on screen in 2005: I see...

"They turned it into left-wing propaganda!"

Me, remembering the classic serial criticizing capitalism and how it traps people in debt from 1977: If you say so...

[bloodymyhands]

tags - (i will forget some for sure)

tags

format:

✮⋆˙ character name. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ character name. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ character name. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ character name. ━━ ( study )

character tags & ships

vex

✮⋆˙ vexahlia de rolo. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ vexahlia de rolo. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ vexahlia de rolo. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ vexahlia de rolo. ━━ ( study )

✮⋆˙ let alarms ring out cause you cut through all the noise. ━━ ( vex & percy )

imogen

✮⋆˙ imogen temult. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ imogen temult. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ imogen temult. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ imogen temult. ━━ ( study )

✮⋆˙ no grave can hold my body down ill crawl back to her. ━━ ( imogen & laudna )

yasha

✮⋆˙ yasha nydoorin. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ yasha nydoorin. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ yasha nydoorin. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ yasha nydoorin. ━━ ( study )

✮⋆˙ your electric touch could fill this ghost town up with life. ━━ ( yasha & beau )

kara

✮⋆˙ kara danvers. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ kara danvers. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ kara danvers. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ kara danvers. ━━ ( study )

clara

✮⋆˙ clara oswald. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ clara oswald. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ clara oswald. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ clara oswald. ━━ ( study )

12

✮⋆˙ twelfth doctor. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ twelfth doctor. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ twelfth doctor. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ twelfth doctor. ━━ ( study )

13

✮⋆˙ thirteenth doctor. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ thirteenth doctor. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ thirteenth doctor. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ thirteenth doctor. ━━ ( study )

keyleth

✮⋆˙ keyleth. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ keyleth. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ keyleth. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ keyleth. ━━ ( study )

✮⋆˙ never let me go. ━━ ( keyleth & vax )

alicent

✮⋆˙ alicent hightower. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ alicent hightower. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ alicent hightower. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ alicent hightower. ━━ ( study )

✮⋆˙ i hate you. i love you. ━━ ( alicent & rhaenyra )

lara

✮⋆˙ lara croft. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ lara croft. ━━ ( visage )

⋆˙ lara croft. ━━ ( inbox )

⋆˙ lara croft. ━━ ( study )

ellie

✮⋆˙ ellie williams. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ ellie williams. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ ellie williams. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ ellie williams. ━━ ( study )

shadowheart

✮⋆˙ shadowheart. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ shadowheart.. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ shadowheart. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ shadowheart. ━━ ( study )

chloe

✮⋆˙ chloe price. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ chloe price. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ chloe price. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ chloe price. ━━ ( study )

rachel

✮⋆˙ rachel amber. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ rachel amber. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ rachel amber. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ rachel amber. ━━ ( study )

felicia

✮⋆˙ felicia hardy. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ felicia hardy. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ felicia hardy. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ felicia hardy. ━━ ( study )

shin

✮⋆˙ shin hati. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ shin hati. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ shin hati. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ shin hati. ━━ ( study )

✮⋆˙ make me feel like im breathing. make me feel like i am human. ━━ ( wolfwren )

sabine

✮⋆˙ sabine wren. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ sabine wren. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ sabine wren. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ sabine wren. ━━ ( study )

✮⋆˙ what would you do if they only knew? ━━ ( wolfwren )

the armorer

✮⋆˙ the armorer. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ the armorer. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ the armorer. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ the armorer. ━━ ( study )

✮⋆˙ you steal me away. ━━ ( armorer & bo )

beca

✮⋆˙ beca mitchell. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ beca mitchell. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ beca mitchell. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ beca mitchell. ━━ ( study )

katniss

✮⋆˙ katniss everdeen. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ katniss everdeen. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ katniss everdeen. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ katniss everdeen. ━━ ( study )

mia

✮⋆˙ mia thermopolis. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ mia thermopolis. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ mia thermopolis. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ mia thermopolis. ━━ ( study )

annabeth

✮⋆˙ annabeth chase. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ annabeth chase. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ annabeth chase. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ annabeth chase. ━━ ( study )

✮⋆˙ pauses and says youre my best friend. ━━ ( percabeth )

morrigan

✮⋆˙ morrigan. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ morrigan. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ morrigan. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ morrigan. ━━ ( study )

nesta

✮⋆˙ nesta archeron. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ nesta archeron. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ nesta archeron. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ nesta archeron. ━━ ( study )

ahsoka

✮⋆˙ ahsoka tano. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ ahsoka tano. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ ahsoka tano. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ ahsoka tano. ━━ ( study )

anakin

✮⋆˙ anakin skywalker. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ anakin skywalker. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ anakin skywalker. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ anakin skywalker. ━━ ( study )

ben

✮⋆˙ ben solo. ━━ ( threads )

✮⋆˙ ben solo. ━━ ( visage )

✮⋆˙ ben solo. ━━ ( inbox )

✮⋆˙ ben solo. ━━ ( study )

ooc tags - (i will forget some for sure)

✮⋆˙ taylor swift lyric bot. ━━ ( ooc )

✮⋆˙ forgive my northern attitude. ━━ ( self promo )

✮⋆˙ your turn to roll. ━━ ( promos )

✮⋆˙ the trust funds and punishers. ━━ ( memes )

✮⋆˙ sneak peek into my mind palace. ━━ ( headcanons )

✮⋆˙ can i please have 20 dollars? ━━ ( wishlist )

✮⋆˙ lesbian request denied. ━━ ( crack )

✮⋆˙ waiting room. ━━ ( queue )

[osleaf]

 IF  I  MET  HER  AGAIN   . . .   I  WOULD  ABSOLUTELY  KNOW  IT.      #osleaf :     a  private  and  very  selective  muse testing blog  for  clara  oswald.     headcanon  based ,    with  a  heavy  focus  on  her  post-show ,     doctor clara  arc.     adored  by  ash ,     they / them ,    24. carrd tbd if i stick with this blog , temp rules and interpretation notes under the cut.

a study in : humanity , adventure , longing , hubris , over-indulgence , the fates , two hearts becoming one , the love of life , and the eternal yearning for more.

1. general rp rules apply. just don't be a gross hateful dingus !!

2. my clara is headcanon based: i rewatched dw semi recently but my memory is quite shit , and i've been a big big clara oswald stan for several years now , welcome to blorbo from my show from my mind<3

3. i intend to focus heavily on clara's post-show canon on this blog , in which she has her own tardis she disguises as a diner , and travels through time and space , becoming like the doctor in her own regard----or perhaps like a hybrid. she is not aware that the doctor has regained their memories with her cause she wasn't there when he did , so she's running on that nostalgia juice , going on adventures to keep the doctor close to her heart , which is one beat away from death. her death is something she avoids heavily , whether out of fear or spite is up to the beholder-----she really does plan to get back to gallifrey and face it , someday. maybe.

4. despite this , i'm of course more than happy to write clara at any point during the show and her time with the doctor , as well as creating aus for her! i'm already imagining a dark lonely clara , similar to a doctor with no companion .. im cooking

5. on the novelizations: i haven't read them but have read of them , so i'm going to write clara's arc ii canon as taking place at a point in time where me and willa are no longer traveling with her , but did in the past. ( obviously this will be different if i write with either of those characters lmao. ) bc cmon , you can't really think i'm gonna pass up on clara being considered one of the fates. that's sick as hell.

6. i do prefer to plot , as it makes things easier for me , but its not absolutely required !

7. my name's ash , i'm 24 , and use they / them pronouns ! i use simple formatting , bolds / italics with spaces between sentences. minors dni please !

8. basically: this video.