#Anti Moffat

[badwolfrose34]

Girl in the Fireplace Rant (cont.)

There was at least some engagement on my last post about this so I decided I will in fact post a follow up. GitF was 100% a bad faith episode. Moffat wrote it because he is classist and misogynistic and hates Rose. Unfortunately, part of his purpose for the episode was to show that the Doctor will always prefer a “classy” aristocrat over Rose and he wanted to have her treated as nothing. So, all of us Rose fans have to come up with a headcanon that undermines the writer’s intentions.

I think the most common one is to believe the episode was the Doctor’s attempts to push Rose away because of her mortality and how that scares him.

That never worked for me because a major part of the Doctor’s character is his protectiveness. He would never push her away to the point of danger or abandonment. For me, I feel that fictional or not, the actions of the Doctor in that episode would be entirely unforgivable if they did happen. So my headcanon is that this episode was a nightmare Rose had.

If you are like me are also one of the fans for whom the pushing her away theory doesn’t work, read on for my explanation of why I don’t think GitF could be an actual event within canon. Moffat may be a BBC writer but it doesn’t give him a right to completely undermine the show, it doesn’t actually belong to anyone outside of financial concerns. If you’re content with believing he needed to push Rose away and that the episode did happen, you can ignore this.

Why the events GitF did not happen within canon (but could’ve happened as a nightmare)

1. Doctor Who canon is very loose as it is. With multiple writers across multiple mediums, things do contradict each other and us as fans get to decide for ourselves what fits with canon and what does not.

2. The Doctor has been clearly shown to be in love with Rose. He is protective of her to the point that if a decision will kill everyone else but give her even a slight chance of survival, he can’t actually make that decision. He almost did in Dalek, but after she didn’t get through the barricade the first time he was incapable of significantly reducing her safety for the good of everyone else. He snapped awake from a regeneration coma just because Rose said “help me”. He freaked out when Cassandra had her body and again in Tooth and Claw when she was in trouble. If you count Stone Rose that almost certainly took place before GitF and he once again, lost his mind over Rose being a statue.

I do understand seeing Sarah Jane age freaked him out. And I could’ve understood him distancing himself from Rose a bit in some way. But his instinct to protect her is so strong he’d never sacrifice her safety to push her away. Leaving her alone with clockwork for an extended period of time while he partied and invented drinks is impossible enough. Let alone the way he believed he’d have no way back to the ship when he went through the time window for the last time. Not only had he just promised she could spend the rest of her life with him, but her and Mickey would’ve likely died alone on that abandoned spaceship.

Simply, it’s just too out of character to happen within the rest of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors’ canon.

3. The horse. I have been a big horse person my entire life. Horses have extremely strong flight instincts. Even the most trusting and well trained horse in the world is never going to jump through reinforced glass. I do realize as Sci Fi fans we have to suspend disbelief for a lot of things. But we are never given an explanation as to why this horse would behave so dramatically differently from another horse. Every bizarre thing we accept in the DW universe is explained to some extent. There is a book where the Doctor tames a horse with psychic paper. But that horse is never asked to violate its instincts. That horse behaves as any other tame horse behaves. That is an example of acceptable DW suspension of belief. There is still a sci fi/alien technical explanation and I can absorb it. I cannot absorb a horse jumping through a firm glass window unless they were running from something even scarier. No matter how well trained a horse is, it’s not jumping through glass just because a humanoid asked them to. Nothing was chasing Arthur and his body language did not suggest any kind of fear to indicate he was running from something even scarier. All the droids were already in the other side of the window as well. It’s simply bizarre and impossible, even in a sci fi snow. Within this very show the Doctor states you can’t hypnotize someone beyond their survival instincts. I believe this applies to horses and a horse’s instincts is to avoid jumping through or into a reinforced barrier.

Next, we are given no explanation as to how this horse jumped through glass unscathed. Glass that was said to be so strong only a truck could break through. Horses are also extremely delicate and many have fatally injured themselves just playing in the paddock. Even for injuries not that extreme, every horse person knows that even small things result in giant vet bills.

Finally, it is once again grossly out of character for the Doctor to take a living animal and make them do something he previously calculated would required a truck.

4. Things are back to normal as if the episode never happened by the Rise of the Cybermen. If the Doctor had really developed feelings for another woman so strong that he would leave Rose for dead, then lost her, would he just be back to being the same old Doctor the very next episode? I doubt it. The Doctor is also a character known for holding on to guilt. Even if Reinette was mechanism to push Rose away, the way he abandoned her would’ve caused enough guilt he wouldn’t just be normal the very next episode. The show carries on as if Reinette never happened because Reinette never happened.

The only reference to that GitF is some clockwork droids in John Smith’s journal. Which could be explained by another encounter with the droids or by the Doctor looking at Rose’s mind to see the nightmare. Which would be an intimate enough moment to imprint on John Smith’s subconscious. The words “a girl in every fireplace” can once again refer to the Doctor seeing Rose’s nightmare or another off screen adventure entirely. There is no reference strong enough to confirm the actual events of GitF ever happened. The show functions exactly the same way without it. Because, it never happened.

5. The events of the show make perfect sense as a nightmare in Rose’s head. Take it from someone with a degree in psychology. Rose has abandonment wounds from Jimmy Stone. She also has abandonment wounds from her father dying when she was too young to understand it. School Reunion, the episode right before GitF triggers her abandonment wounds by making her see the Doctor has previously left companions and did not come back for them. It also makes her wonder if she is special to the Doctor. These doubts combined with her past trauma are a perfect recipe for her to have a bizarre nightmare where she gets abandoned in the most horrific way after the events of School Reunion.

I will leave you all with my fic where this was all a nightmare. Or you can write your own if you prefer. My point is that for those who feel the way I do about this episode, we do not have to accept the events as canon. We do not have to believe the Doctor has ever treated Rose this way except in her worst nightmares.

Update to address Deep Breath:

1. Doctor mentioned seeing clockwork droids before, but we know that the Doctor has many off screen adventures. He could’ve encountered the droids at any other point in his entire life besides GitF.

2. As for that episode stating the SS Madame De Pompadour existed, that still doesn’t confirm anything. There was a real life ship called the USS Queen of France. This was named for Marie Antoinette. Jackie dated a sailor once and Rose had a friend named Keisha whose brother was a sailor. This means Rose could’ve heard one of them discussing historical naval ships. This how she would imagine a ship named after Madame de Pompadour in the first place. She and the people who built the SS Madame de Pompadour and SS Marie Antoinette would’ve simply drawn inspiration from the same place. Also, there’s the fact that someone named a fictional ship Titan many years before Titanic ever existed.

Update 2: Rose was going to get an A level in French if she hadn’t run off with Jimmy. So she could’ve reasonably been familiar with some aspects of French history and able to imagine all of these things in a dream, even if it wasn’t a historically accurate dream, everyone knows weird things happen in dreams.

[leikeliscomet]

My hottest take on Moffat will be that he enabled a lot of aspec exclusionism & compulsory sexuality in the fandom. It's not a coincidence that a lot of the 'The Doctor needs sex + romance to be human & "really queer"' rhetoric is defended by examples & fans of that era 🤷🏾‍♀️

And it's only ever ace and/or aro dw fans that ever talk about this. Hate to do the 'if it was [insert label here]' game (cus it does happen to other labels) but a cishet writer publicly shitting on queer identity in a queer fandom & getting called an 'ally' is WILD

[box-dwelling]

Shit that I don't think is RTD being passive aggressive about the other show runners because they're his colleagues and he seems like a nice dude but deserved to be passive aggressive jabs because he is not a hack fraud from The Giggle.

The only thing from chibanls era being brought up by the toymaker being the emotional fall out of the flux, a thing chibnal had no interest in exploring despite clearly being the most interesting thing in his run

Spice up your life, being a reference to the Rasputin number which is the only other good thing chibnal ever did but that RTD still beat his ass with

Having 90% of the supporting cast be women, all written distinctively and empathetically and non of whom showed any interest in the doctor a thing moffat could never do

This is pre his era but actually writing a proper arc and personality for Mel.

Honestly the entire you are running from your trauma arc seems like a chibnal slight because he really did not care to write that shit at all

Bigenerataion. Feels like he just decided the timeless child fucks with the lore enough he can have Ncuti break it in his underwear with a comically oversized hammer. Which is deeply correct of him.

The Clara was killed by a bird line

Please tell me if I missed anything

[lesbostomping]

okay so after the whole james somerton situation i ended up watching a few more videos from hbomberguy, including his sherlock one and... i'm sorry but he fuckin ate?? like i've seen the thumbnail pop up several times over the years but always assumed it was just some right wing asshole dunking on the latest thing that's popular with women. it is most definitely not. i recommend it for all y'all ex-tjlcers' healing journeys

[crancisfrozier]

Rewatching RTD era Doctor Who and thinking about how Journey’s End is more of a celebration of the history and spirit of Doctor Who than the 50th anniversary ever was

[ineffablebadwolf]

also, Rogue is what moffat thinks he did with River

[khruschevshoe]

There's something about how the costuming of Amy Pond (always in miniskirts/heeled boots even when the circumstances actively call against it, never getting to wear period wear except for once in Vampires of Venice for a one-scene disguise before immediately moving into a nightgown and once in a cutaway honeymoon monstage) is directly linked to the more sexist aspects of her storyline writing and that tie is most likely the interviews with Steven Moffatt where he admits to wanting to make Doctor Who "sexier." In this essay I will-

[rosettyller]

one thing I love about the recent specials is the character of shaun Temple, and in turn what this reflects about Donna's characterisation, and showing how RTD understands her (she is his character) so much better than Moffat (who is a sexist, classist wanker, so no surprise).

The two vastly differing understandings of Donna are reflected through Donna's Happy Ending Husbands, Shaun and the one from silence in the library I will refer to as Bob, because I can't even remember if he has a name.

(disclaimer that i haven't watched silence in the library for a couple of years)

We don't see much of either of them, but it's clear Shaun is a good guy. He loves and supports Donna (and Rose!). He values her opinion.

Now, Bob. No hate on Bob, I'm sure he's a great guy too. Lots of hate on Moffat, though. He portrays Donna's ideal life as married to a guy who can't talk, so she can talk over him, never shut up, because she's always talking, having a go at someone, and now she's happy with a husband and kids who can't tell her to shut up.

This is just such a massive misunderstanding of Donna, and it annoys me so much.

There's this quote from series 4, along the lines of Donna "shouting at the world because no one's listen", which I think summarises it quite nicely. She's a temp, and no one gets her coffee. Lance wasn't particularly nice to her. For the first 30-odd years of her life, her mother was constantly nagging her, chipping away at her self esteem. The whole idea of Donna thinking she's no one is so prevelant in both the Runaway Bride and s4.

She shouts at the world because otherwise it doesn't listen to her at all, because she has to fight to be appreciated and valued, and even then, pre-s4, she still isn't listened to.

And Shaun listens to her and actually values her and what she has to say, instead of being unable to stop her talking constantly, enforcing her thoughts on everyone and not at all considering of what other people might want to say.

[jacaela]

Rewatching Doctor Who again and I can say: Rose is the best companion, RTD is the best showrunner, Moffat, River and Clara are the worst things that could happen to Doctor Who.

[ghost-bison]

Doctor Who - Opinions

-the ninth doctor was the best. no one will ever be as good as he was

-same for donna, best companion, no one will ever compare

-imo 9th > 10th > 12th > 14th > 11th > 13th (dunno about 15th yet, haven't seen enough of him)

-donna > rose > jack > martha > nardole > bill > river/clara > rory > graham >>>>>>>>>>>>>> amy (idk about yaz and ryan I honestly dont see any distinctive personality traits apart from the fact that ryan is always complaining and generally unpleasant)

-ninerose >>>>>>>> tenrose

-clara is a cool character, it's just her plots that made people dislike her

-i don't get the obsession people have over thoschei. or the master in general and his relationship with the doctor? apart from missy and twelve ofc

-i could never warm up to amy, nor do i get how people can like her. she was abusive, not a girlboss. didn't deserve rory

-i have mixed feelings about river. like obviously, slay my goddess, but also, she's everything that's wrong with moffat's writing of women? she's actually dependant and praises the doctor and never makes a decision for herself? never questions the doctor? that's not ok

-idc how good moffat's storylines get, i'll choose rtd any day. i'll refer you to this post as to why.

-chibnall's era feels flat. i don't hate 13, she's adorable, but I used to laugh and cry several times an episode during the first ten series. now it's like twice a series if we're lucky.

-i liked the campy effects way better than the disney-style expensive cgi they now use to try and balance out mediocre writing (I'm sorry but wtf was that Space babies episode and how did they manage to make it even more cringe than the series one Slitheen two-parters?)

[arialebenthal]

this has been sitting in my drafts for 2 years because i know i'm gonna get hate mail about it. oh well. this is for you, RTD truthers

[badwolfrose34]

GitF Question and Rant

Is there anyone else who fully does not believe GitF actually happened? I just don’t feel the Doctor could ever behave the way he did. If he did it would be impossible for he and Rose to continue to have the relationship we all see and love in every other episode. He stopped caring about Rose’s safety to party with a woman he just met and then he abandoned her and Mickey and left them for dead. Plus the horse going through the time window is just abuse. The part with the horse is so unrealistic that it just adds more evidence to me feeling like it simply didn’t happen. It was a window strong enough to need a truck. So having a horse jump through it is abusive and it’s completely absurd to believe that a horse would willingly do that and come out unscathed.

Since the episode has no effect on the rest of the show I just feel it can be ignored or viewed as a nightmare Rose had.

I feel like the only one who sees it this way though, so if anyone else agrees please comment or reblog. If a lot of people interact, I'll reshare my fic that shows it was a nightmare and explains why it logically would be a nightmare. It was the fic I’ve worked the hardest on and it was what even got me willing to put myself out there on AO3. I feel like it is totally realistic for Rose to have a nightmare about being abandoned after Jimmy left her for another woman and her dad died (which can be absorbed as abandonment by young children). And it also makes perfect sense for school reunion to trigger it.

I just thought I had this great idea that would help other fans cope with the episode and now I’m realizing I’m kind of in the minority with my staunch belief it never happened.

I’ve ridden horses since I was a kid and my first job was riding and caring for horses. I know them and I know no horse is going to be bursting through a time window like that. I also have a degree in psychology and I have my own PTSD nightmares so I feel that episode is completely realistic as a vivid nightmare for Rose.

I’m just an overly obsessed Rose fan hoping she’s not alone in this. I know a lot of people enjoy exploring the incident as a mistake he apologizes for, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a deep reprehensible betrayal that within the context of the rest of the show, just wouldn’t happen. I do know that people make mistakes in relationships, but some things just don’t happen when you love someone. Everything the Doctor did in that episode was completely unforgivable if it did happen. He left her for dead for another woman he just met. So that’s why I say it didn’t happen. The very next episode there’s no grief in the Doctor. He’s happy and reminiscing with Rose. Which to me confirms it never happened.

[sadcoms]

it’s so telling that i haven’t felt this angry since the 50th special lol. it’s wild to me that chibnall is the showrunner that gets accused of being self important the most when power of the doctor is the closest modern who has gotten to a good anniversary special. both moffat and rtd are clearly only interested in their own legacies and entwining them with the existing canon (like clara going into the doctor’s timestream) while the much hated timeless child was actually building on things that were in the second and seventh doctor’s eras. people described power of the doctor as “celebrating every era except chibnall’s own” like people wouldn’t have torn him to shreds for doing that, but i was so touched by the appearance of former companions and doctors even though i never personally watched them. the tales of the TARDIS was basically rehashing that exact idea too, though far less touchingly. the only reason i wish the power of the doctor had celebrated chibnall’s era more is that clearly no one else is going to.

[evviejo]

it cracks me up how in The Post About No Women Writers in Doctor Who Between 2008-2015 people try to defend rtd and moffat and bash on chibnall by saying "at least rtd and moffat had queer writers, so there was diversity" and by "queer writers" they mean rtd himself (how generous of him to give himself the opportunity!) and mark gatiss (a.k.a. close collaborator of notoriously misogynistic moffat).

and then they completely leave out the fact that the first time there was a person of colour with a writing credit was in chibnall era (malorie blackman co-writing rosa) and that there indeed was a queer writer involved (ella road co-writing legend of the sea devils). and sure, they both collaborated on those with chibnall, but he still had a black woman involved to write about racism and a queer woman to write a sapphic relationship focused episode.

and chibnall managed to do much better in 31 episodes than either rtd or moffat did in 60 and 84 episodes respectively. was this perfect and no further work is required? sure not. but he at least tried instead of throwing a hissy fit over how "young writers are so angry and their scripts are sooo bad". he actually got them on board, collaborated with them, and gave them a platform. this is the way forward.

[snailurefailure]

Ever notice how Steven Moffat only ever writes the same three characters over and over again? Like, all his characters are either 1) genius guy who delivers speeches (and may or may not be a self-insert), 2) slightly pathetic guy who is mocked by Genius Guy and has jokes made at his expense, or 3) sassy girl who's hot and knows it.

Obviously actors give varied performances so it's not always clear how similarly most Moffat characters are written, but once you see it, you can't un-see it.

[mwagneto]

why is it that literally Every Single Woman moffat writes as a love interest for the doctor is someone he meets when they're little girls and he's a grown ass man and they all grow up idolising him. and he also has a whole episode where a grown woman befriends and spends a day with a child every day for her but once a year for him and then she gets with him like a few days after meeting him as like an 8 then 9 then 10 etc etc year old. i need this man to die