#As much I loved RTDs companions I never connected with them as much as I did with Amy

[13thdoctorposts]

Of course RTD's fauxgressive dicksuckers are now using the latest episode to shit on Chibnall and Thasmin. First of all it is lesbophobic to not consider a relationship real/canon without an onscreen kiss, second the fetishization just reeks from the way people are talking about the Doctor as a slut and only acknowledging physical acts, third ew the antiBlackness in portraying this Doctor specifically as hypersexed that is literally a racist trope against Black men and a homophobic trope to boot. Oh and this episode being a weird response to criticism of the Loki series is obvious and embarrassing and should not be celebrated its literally tokenism and using representation as a pawn. Finally, the misogyny is evident in how fandom was just waiting for a MLM ship again to throw away and shit on the WLW ships.

I think these are all very valid reasons to be upset. We knew when 15 kissed another man people were going to come for Thasmin. They claim it doesn't exist, but they can't miss a chance to talk about it.

I've noticed that misogyny has always been in this fandom. But, I think having a female Doctor and her female love interest were 2 things that many people couldn't compute. And honestly, didn't really want to. Let's be real, most fans in this community are male. They rarely have to translate characters who differ from them, unlike women. Since childhood, women have done this when consuming media. Women were expected to see the male doctor's message and translate it through their own lens. That way we could empathize with it. You had to know how because there weren't as many female hero types.

Most men in this fandom had to figure out how to connect to a woman Doctor. Then, connect to a WLW relationship. Neither of these involves a man. And I think they just couldn't do it; they'll claim bad writing, but I think a lot of it was just not understanding. WLW relationships differ from straight and MLM relationships. They just do. The men couldn't see themselves in the Doctor or the love interest. So, they can't understand how deep the love can be there without it being physical. Just like there can be relationships that are purely physical and not very deep. WLW are often emotionally deep more so than the physical. I also think they didn't want to see themselves in the companions. Graham and Dan are great guys, yet they claimed Chibs hated white men. They didn't want to see themselves as the sidekick, they only want to be the hero.

Obviously some women didn't like it for some reason too. I wonder how many like the Doctor being a man because they are attracted to men. They like watching a good-looking guy save the day. I've watched a few Youtube videos where they have said as much. They had learned to connect with the Doctor as someone they would want to be with, not someone they wanted to be. I wonder how many of them are conservative and so just didn't like woke messaging. I wonder how many got sucked into hating it due to the bad faith online takes. They'd rather not like it and be in the online in-crowd than be piled on for every positive post.

It's frustrating and unfair. But, the world is unfair. This fanbase is a mess of hypocrisy. So, you'll never find any satisfaction in it. But 13 has a strong fan base as seen here on Tumblr and irl when ever Jodie and Mandip are at cons... Jodies lines are truely insane, and I know first hand from being in them. There are a lot of here who love it and we just need to remember that when we see takes that are ultimately designed to upset us.

[witchofthemidlands]

witchofthemidlands thoughts on “space babies”

me & my mum stayed up together to watch this when it dropped on the iplayer, it was a great experience & i think i've finally gathered myself enough to unleash ✨thoughts✨

✨ this is my personal opinion, media is subjective you might not agree with my opinions & that's just fine✨

the unexpected return of the “this is gallifrey” score near took me out. noises were made.

i kinda like the doctor info dumping about themselves, i know it's there for the ✨dramatics✨ but i always wish that the doctor would just straight up tell their companion about the fact that they can regenerate way before the event so they're aware & can prepare. thirteen is the only one of the new who doctors who have prepared their companions in advance.

i want fifteen's coat, his necklace & ruby's rings 😩

i still think the stepping on the butterfly segment, whilst it's there for a laugh, is connected to the myths coming to life because of the salt at the edge of the universe incident.

i love how the tardis is being a public menace & causing genuine damage as it lands 😂

the babies in the tanks reminded me of this one strange game me & my friend at uni used to play & he wanted a nightlight of. fifteen has so much energy & life, he's fantastic 🥹 absolutely fantastic. god i love him i love ncuti so much, we’ve had the back half of “the giggle”, “the church on ruby road” & less than ten minutes of “space babies” & ALREADY ncuti gatwa is up there with christopher, david & sylvester for me as the best doctors of all time.

THE END OF THE WORLD CALLBACKS 😭 it's brand new but the elements of that beautiful episode is still there for me & that makes me so happy because that’s one of my favourite whoniverse episodes of all time 🥹 in my top ten 🥹

i was not expecting to be crying over cgi talking babies in the early hours of morning but there you go 😭

it is definitely just a coincidence that the baby is called eric but every time i heard that name i kept thinking of my favourite ncuti gatwa character ✨eric effiong✨

CAPTAIN POPPY 😩🥹😭🥹😩 i wanted to hug her too & all of them. i'm admittedly not the most maternal person on the planet but i wanted to gather them all up & protect them with my life 😭

i completely respect it & i love that rtd has ignored the naysayers & is honouring chibnall's creations but i have never been a fan of the timeless child plot, i've tried i really have but i just still can't get my head around it & it just doesn't work for me but using it to make the point that everyone is unique & individual & that’s a good thing is a really lovely way of making it work, i love that message.

“no one like me exists & that’s true of everyone” not only is this really positive moment but it also reminds me of the conversation between eleven & merry in the rings of akhaten.

THAT'S NOT A DOGGO 😂 this sent me 😂

eric saying “i love you ruby” twice in the episode was such a mood, i love you ruby 🥰

“if things connect then you are connecting like crazy” it's giving the lead up to the doctordonna & i'm on ✨the fence✨

ALIEN RUBY?!? maybe one of the doctor's species or something we haven't come across before?

“ERIC INVOKING THE DEITY”

IM GOING TO FIND THE NAUGHTY DOGGO & TELL HIM OFF! 🥺

i genuinely thought we were getting an eaten baby in the first episode of the season & i were like 😬

CAPTAIN POPPY & THE SQUAD TO THE RESCUE WITH THE FLAME THROWER 🔥

love the return of characters getting slimed <3 it was one of my favourite new who era doctor who & the sarah jane adventures tropes.

i really wasn’t expecting the “sleep no more” style revelation when it came to the creature.

the alien vibes are real, nan-e | jocelyn is blowing it out of the goddam airlock.

i am going to ignore the fact that i'm getting doomsday vibes from the doctor trying to save snotè

ruby comforting jocelyn 🥺 it reminded me so much of the care rose, martha & donna would show anyone who needed comfort. i have really missed rtd companions.

i am not going to think about the howl sounding like the werewolf. i am ignoring it i will not be crackers about this one. it's just a creature noise.

they're being jet propelled to the planet by the power of shizzle i love this show 😂 & to any naysayer who thinks this is too ridiculous (i am looking directly at my father as i type this because he's been the biggest naysayer of doctor who in my real life) this the same writer who had the doctor say the line “do you mind not farting whilst i'm saving the world”

the doctor probably getting war flashbacks to father's day as ruby ran into that tardis. i love the growth, they’ve definitely learnt their lesson with that one, i love his honesty & how upfront they are straight off the bat. it's good for the both of them. the doctor won't become reaper chow & ruby won't make a mistake that has emotionally devastating effects on the universe & herself.

i have said this before & i will say it again, i love that with the return of rtd that we have the return of his theme of chosen family, that adoption & fostering is a lovely option, it can give hope, love & more & be fulfilling, fantastic & beautiful. ruby's relationship with her mum is so lovely to watch & i hope even if we do find where ruby came from that carla will always, always ALWAYS be her mum & with rtd's track record with the sarah jane adventures, i think that will be the case.

CHERRY SUNDAY 😊 as someone who used to care for an elderly relative, i love every single thing about her character & the family dynamics with her, i have never seen elderly care represented on any tv show i love before & it's happening on my favourite one 🥹

why is carla acting like my mum 😭 never mind a bloomin’ big spaceship just landed - what’s it done to my kitchen

“tell your mum not to slap me” oh he is feeling the combined forces of jackie-francine-sylvia’s slaps & is NOT taking any chances.

oh god i think i've seen this before & i didn't like the ending. i am getting the ganger plotline from the doctor suddenly going solemn & scanning ruby oh no 😭

FANTASTIC START TO THE NEW SERIES 🤩

[garden-variety-jumo]

Someone asked me about it but they were a TERF so I had to block them. But I wanna ramble about it anyway so voila my post:

Alien Cultural Differences I Love (in Doctor Who, anyway)* :

Disclaimer: forgive my knowledge of Doctor Who being a little spotty, a lot of it I learned purely through the fandom

(Skipping over regeneration because that is a huge one)

NAMES: I cannot emphasise enough how much I adore their naming conventions/them not revealing their "real" names. Like, naturally, there's the inherent trans-ness of choosing your own name, but I also love the idea of choosing it after what you want to emulate. (And if I may mention, the outright insanity that the Master, who HATES humans, used a human term. Which. Hmm. Yeah. The implications. (To me))

There are also academy names, which I think are Super interesting, because from what I can see, they still aren't their real names, but they're never mentioned supposedly after their academy days. So, they have an element of the superstition that their real names have, But they are still like,, placeholder names.

I think I once read a fic where there was a superstition/fairytale about speaking your real name out loud and being stolen by toclofane because of it- which I think is Brilliant!!

Language: First of all. We must applaud whoever designed Gallifreyan writing because it Fucks Severely. What an absolutely beautiful form of writing. Additionally, I don't Believe we've ever heard it in the show, which means it's fully up to interpretation. Something that makes me deeply sad to think about is, at least in RTD's initial era, how the Doctor is the only one left to speak a dead language. I like the headcannons that it's very difficult for other species to learn (while they would never be able to properly re-create it, that doesn't mean they can't learn a form or version to it  though!!) This could be due to vocal differences or even, potentially, psychic elements to it- which leads onto my next point:

Psychic Abilities: I'm going insane what do you MEAN Gallifreyans are a psychic race I'm going to loose my mind. If you take that into consideration, it has to have influenced their society or how they socialise somewhat. What must their perception of the world feel like? What are the social conventions/ethics of it all? I feel like they only scratch the surface of this topic in the show and long story short I would like a handbook that explains all of this in depth.

Imagine, then, going from a society that Could, if they wanted, connect to each other psychically, then having it all taken away. How empty that must feel??

The society: While my memory on Gallifreyan culture is a little muddied, it's been made Pretty clear the culture and socialisation is very different to, at the very least, humans. For one, the hubris Time Lords are taught to believe in. (At the very least, Time Lords being Gallifreyan but Gallifreyans not necessarily being Time Lords)

What other subtle differences might there be from there? I imagine they would be taught cultural norms/habits of other species in order to blend in or better communicate ((for example, the story the Doctor was telling about aliens who communicated largely with their eyebrows)). Time Lords in the show are vaguely "human" with certain landmarks to prove them as a different species, two hearts as the most prominent example. They are also implied to have three brainstems, and I'm sure, other internal differences (isn't it mentioned they have orange/rust coloured blood?) Therefore, what forms of socialising did they evolve differently, that they must adjust for speaking to humans? It's just cool to think about!!!

Biology: Largely touched upon in the previous point but their Blood is Orange. That's pretty neat!!!!!! WOAH ALSO. Their body temperatures being naturally lower!!!! That's an absolutely fascinating detail. I wonder if the Doctor ever discloses these medical details to their companions in case of emergency? Almost definitely not...

Aspirin: It's fatal to Gallifreyans? Insane. And has the Doctor ever mentioned this to their companions, just in case? Probably not.

THE GOD DAMN FOBWATCHES: Insane to me that they can just. Do that. As a lover of Tensimm, I regularly think about the set up of series 3 and how insane fans must have felt watching it live. Fobwatched Ten largely sucks though, my love goes out to Martha always. (But also... does that imply Ten's memories and experiences made the Doctor kind? Or being a Time Lord in itself, though that seems to align less with what we know)

Aaaand that's all I can think of for now!!

*((Special shout out to Mandolorian culture also, though. I am entranced and fascinated by it))

[whywhatswrongwithblue]

DW REWATCH

S1E2 THE END OF THE WORLD

The Doctor takes Rose on her first voyage through time, to the year five billion. The sun is about to expand and swallow the earth. Amongst the alien races gathering to watch, a murderer is at work. Who is controlling the mysterious and deadly spiders?

WHAT was he doing in this scene.

You think you're so impressive. ---I am so impressive baby’s first flirt….

2. You lot, you spend all your time thinking about dying, like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive. i adore this line. Iirc i read somewhere that this episode was made when a lot of negative climate focussed media was coming out and rtd wanted to assure young viewers that there was always hope? Not sure where i saw it but it’s stuck with me

3. Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?-- rose we are literally here so i can trauma dump. Haven’t you heard of healthy coping mechanisms??

4. He's blue RTD my beloved. What an incredibly realistic, human observation—i feel like companions simply do not do this anymore. And they should!

5. Love the bark makeup. It’s so pretty!

6. The air from my lungs….this episode is so good damn it

7. Moxx of Balhoon better known as the CEO of sex. I give you the gift of bodily salivas lucky Rose

8. CASSANDRAAAAA

9. Rose being overwhelmed and running out. I can’t get over the amount of care and detail RTD put into writing her. She really is his baby. Can’t wait to see how he brings her back now (because he will. He will.)

10. Jabe’s device is unable to identify a timelord, probably because the rest of the universe thinks them dead? Although her reaction is very different from that of the Nestene Consciousness (who is implied to have lost quite a bit in the Time War), whereas Jabe doesn’t seem to have any personal connection. I wonder what the other outsider perceptions of the War were!

11. Ahhh Rose being kind to the plumber. I love my girl. LMAO at her realising she just hitched a ride with a complete stranger w/o thinking about it. The metal spiders are very Minority Report.

12. Your machine gets inside my head. It gets inside and it changes my mind, and you didn't even ask? the WRITING. Just chef’s kiss. Even in this sort of power dynamic, you never ever feel like Rose doesn’t have agency. She’s so smart and capable and fierce. i love her.

13. Gotta love how fast they switch from arguing to flirting. Jiggery-pokery <3

14. I might be late home. and then she comes back a YEAR later JESUS

15. Bad Wolf mention!

16. Hahahah i can’t watch the Jabe scene without thinking of plant sex now, courtesy of Katie

17. I was born on that planet, and so was my mum, and so was my dad. I love how much Rose loves her dad. Like if you’ve never even known a parent, you probably wouldn’t bring them up in a context like this, but the addition implies that Rose thinks of her dad quite a bit, and this is a nice little subtle setup to my favourite episode of the season, Father’s Day

18. The sun filter scene! It’s unexpectedly tense. I remember being really worried the first time I saw it

19. This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe. He invited us. Jack set them up….god that’s so sweet. The fact that he knows that they’re properly together in Pete’s World at this point <3333333 he is Literally Us. Putting his blorbos in Situations.

20. What are you going to do, moisturise me?

21. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. HUHHH?? LMAO

22. I love the turning fan trope, every time it’s in any movie ever, it’s got me on the edge of my seat

23. Everything has its time, and everything dies. OOF. Appreciate Rose still wanting Cassandra to be saved! Something something parallel with how she changed the Doctor so much that he’s willing to give Cassandra a peaceful death in New Earth <3 the power of love, folks.

24. The Earth death scene is beautiful. I remember feeling so sad that everyone just missed it! And the Doctor finally realising that maybe this wasn’t a great first trip for his young companion xD

25. I'm left travelling on my own 'cos there's no one else.---There's me. What a beautiful moment of intimacy. And such great acting! The Doctor is finally beginning to let her in, and Rose has attached to this stranger so quickly, despite how prickly and condescending he can be. Soulmates <3

Loveee this ending. 10/10 again!

[okay-j-hannah]

Hii hannah! I'm bout three months late because i had exams going on, well, I still have exams going on but I decided to not procrastinate and just write this.

Thank you so so much for writing my tenth doctor and rory requests. you don't know how much it means that you took time out of your life to write my requests. when I first started watching Doctor who, barely a season in, i stumbled upon your blog and read your dying girl story, i didn't even know anything properly bout doctor's character or other companions but your fic though! it captured doctor's character so well! It was in May I read it and started watching the show and I now always connect that time with doctor who and you and your fics haha. 

 I got so obsessed that I made this dying girl reader universe in my head with headcanons and stuff and started associating songs to the reader and fic ; i know they are like kinda popular cliche songs but snowman by sia and never be the same by camila cabelo really reminds me of the amy and rorys wedding scene with reader and doctor dancing (was it real or I made that up in my head?) and memory of reader practising mind reading thing and seeing memories of Doctor and she's like who's this beautiful person in his memories and doctor is like that's you love <3 moonlight serenade, spring waltz, we'll meet again, moon river, across the universe are some other songs I associate with them,, you didn't even ask for playlist but here I'm sharing it just because lmao 

and then you wrote my ten request and added it dying girl universe, when I tell you actually started screaming from excitement when I saw it! I really wasn't expecting it, i was so so happy! And Idk why but I just feel so honoured that my request was added into the "official" dying girl universe masterlist! and the rory fic too, it was so sweet! you wrote it exactly as what I had in my mind when I sent you request, tysm for that! 

Ngl I always checked your page once in a while when you were on break because I just looked forward to your writing so much and in January, around my birthday, found out you were active again and posted my requests and gotta say, best birthday gift even if it technically wasn't lol. I wonder if you've finished twelve's episodes, you mentioned how it is hard to "let go" of a doctor and I completely agree,  I finishesed twelfth doctors episodes in December and God was it hard to say goodbye to him, I know I can rewatch but it won't be like first time :'( you know, the "i love my current doctor so much" feeling?

I've started thirteen but it doesn't feel the same, especially without murray gold's music and well, moffat and rtd. so glad that rtd is coming back for new seasons though!

Oh and have you read love is a choice fic on tumblr? it's a mostly eleven but also kinda thirteen x reader multiple parts series and tbh, one of the only fic that made me laugh and cry like dying girl series did. if you haven't i hope you check it out, it's a great read!

Kinda unrelated but can I just say ty to that person who sent you ask related to will turner, i recently watched one of the potc movie for the first time because i thought the will turner guy looked cute from the ask and now ive fallen down a rabbit hole lol I finished your will turner fics and now im searching up tumblr for more will turner x reader, it seems he's my new hyperfixation 😭 anyways ty again to that person and you ofc for the fics, and this is not a official request(it could be ig) but I hope you write second part to the merchant/pirate will fic!

And I've sent you two requests this time too, hope you'll like them enough to write it! I know I've said it lot in this single ask but Again thank you so much for everything and it's great to have you back on here and I hope you enjoyed your break, remember to take them again if you need to <333

My darling, my dearest, my love, you're making my heart so so happy!

I love that you took off with the Dying Girl universe because honestly that's what it became for me while I was writing it. It became so big I knew I could write so much about what happens in between the parts, and your request fit perfectly there.

Thank you for the playlist 😂 it does kind of bring the characters more to life when you associate them with things like songs. And you definitely didn't make up the wedding dancing scene, that happened in Part 6: The Lost Shoes!

I totally understand finding yourself fully immersed in a story, even if it is fanfiction. When that happens to me I just write and post it on here 😅 That's happened with the Dying Girl and the episodic series I started for the Eleventh Doctor and the Samwise Gamgee series and this Mandalorian one I'm starting.

My brain is hardwired to come up with these random tangents to canon stories, and they end up becoming these elaborate fanfictions.

I'm so glad you liked your requested fics! I had a lot of fun writing them. The Domestic fic was so fun to get back into the Dying Girl universe. I wouldn't mind writing more about their in between adventures. Happy belated birthday!

I have not finished twelves episodes - I'm still on his last season. Just like I wrote on our last conversation, I'm terrified of how sad I'll feel when he leaves because ten and eleven were real heartbreakers. I agree, I love him, and I'm so excited you requested something for him.

And I'm also so stoked for the new seasons with RTD and the 60th specials with ✨David Tennant✨ I'll have to finish twelve and thirteen before that comes out at the end of this year.

I haven't read "Love is a Choice" but I immediately looked it up and added it to my likes, so perhaps it'll be the fanfics I read when I try to sleep tonight lol

And I'm sorry... you hadn't seen any of the Pirates of the Caribbean!? I've been watching those movies since I was like seven! It's such a great fandom and Jack Sparrow is such a mood and Will Turner is such a dreamboat.

I'm almost honored that my blog prompted you to watch such an excellent franchise. I also hyperfixate on new characters and fandoms I love. I do have one request in my inbox for Will Turner and I've gotten multiple messages to write a part 2 for A Merchant Sailor, so perhaps when I finish this batch of requests I'll add it to the list.

So do expect more Will Turner fics to come 😘

I love that we have this little pen pal relationship where we just write each other letters 😂 It's honestly really good to hear from you, mysterious anon. I'm happy to have you as a reader and fandom friend.

Thank you for reaching out! I definitely love your requests! It'll just take me a while to get to all of them with my busy schedule, but I will write them in due course.

Have a lovely night and a good morning!

Prologue: The Dying Girl

Part 1: The Sun God

Part 2: The Tonic 

Part 3: The Ending Song

Domestic: The Doctor returns to spend a few ‘human’ days with you {Set during Part 3}

Part 4: The Dream 

Part 5: The Regeneration

Part 6: The Lost Shoes

Epilogue: The Vanishing Act

Finale: All Of Time And Space

A Merchant Sailor: Pretending to be a merchant, you befriend Will Turner as you keep your pirating a secret, until your brother forces you to reveal the truth

Blacksmith’s Hands: While visiting Tortuga, you find yourself injured and in the capable hands of a shy Will Turner

Lovey Dovey: Jack has never been overjoyed at the thought of you and your boyfriend - especially when you’re kissing on his ship

Sea Salt: On a mission to get you back, more might happen between you two than expected

[joju-but-trek]

Doctor Who Season 14 Episode 8: Empire of Death

I can't believe Thanos is canon to Doctor Who now.

Final review of the season, I've overall liked it. There are a couple of episodes I didn't really enjoy, but several that I did. I do wish there was more of it overall because I really don't think we got enough time with the Doctor and Ruby as a team for them to feel as meaningful together as they should. I've been told that apparently RTD said that this season and the next are supposed to be a continuous story but I'm not willing to accept that without seeing the whole thing. As it is, it wasn't enough.

For this episode specifically, I respect that they went for it. It's a big story with big stakes and it draws you in. I do wish there was either 25% more stuff going on or 25% less, because what we got felt like it was spending too long on the plot beats it had but not developing them properly. 7/10.

This episode gets a lot of points for the memory TARDIS. That was a fun bit to use. It does leave the problem of three TARDISes running around, but it was still a cool device. There's also the tangential question of if there's a second Sutekh in the clone TARDIS, but the one we got was still a good antagonist.

There's a lot with the memory TARDIS and Sutekh and the archival footage that does a good job of tying in this arc to the rest of continuity. It's a good way of doing continuity, even if it is a little heavyhanded.

The best execution of the connection was having Mel on the TARDIS. It was a good call to incorporate her into the story. I haven't watched any old Mel serials, so I don't know if this is the best Mel story ever, but it was certainly good.

The Thanosing of everyone was a little much, but it wasn't actively bad. I like the way they depicted the decaying universe and thought it lead to some cool scenes.

On the answers to Ruby's mother - I don't love the way they did it. I'm OK with her being a random person, but not with her also being the One Thing Sutekh Fears. Those two things can't coexist without a lot of work going into it, and the explanation of memory making her important didn't work for me as a way of doing that work.

Also, this wasn't a good way to write Ruby out. The point about him never visiting his own granddaughter is still true, and there hasn't been enough show to sell that the two of them care enough about each other to know that this time will be different. I hope Ruby stays as a proper companion for another season, I've heard mixed rumors.

I've brought it up a couple of times, but this season needed to be longer. We needed more bullshit adventures to round things out. But what we got was good, and I'm going to focus on that.

Also, not to rub it in, but I was completely joking about there being two separate Eldritch Horror Old Ladies but here we are.

[whoreviewswho]

Wokeness, Responsibility and if RTD is problematic - Introduction

Is Russell T Davies a problematic figure? Is he too woke or not aware enough? Is he doing something wrong to illicit negative responses from the progressives as well as the conservatives? Is it something in the programme, something in the marketing or is he doing nothing particularly bad at all? Well, perhaps you and I, faithful reader, can come to some sort of conclusion. Let's find out together as we take a dive into the controversial choices behind RTD2 and the mind of the man behind them.

There is an extremely telling moment in issue 599 of Doctor Who Magazine in their feature on The Giggle, specifically the climax. On page 18, the magazine printed some conversation between Benjamin Cook, Ncuti Gatwa and Russell T Davies (RTD) which you can read below;

"When you wished for it," Russell asks [Ncuti] now, "there wasn't a part of you thinking, but there's no point, it's not going to happen, because I'm black?" "Never," says Ncuti. "I love that," says Russell. "Because here I am, as a 59-year-old white man, assuming that would weigh heavily on your mind." "Yeah, no, completely," says Ncuti. "When it was announced and everyone was saying, 'He's the first black Doctor!' - that was insane. Slowly I was like, '... ohh." "Yes, it's hard to know what to do with that."

I find this to be a very revealing exchange and an invaluable insight into RTD's mind. RTD thinks. He thinks a lot. It is very clear not only that he thinks a lot and is very conscious of his decisions and responsibilities as a showrunner but also that he wants us to know that. And, you know what, perhaps he is a little too conscious. Perhaps RTD thinks too much.

But of course RTD thinks. He is a writer and a storyteller. He is, in fact, a very good storyteller and, in order to be so, one has to be continuing to engage with new art, meet new people and be connected to the world around them. This is not conjecture, this is how art works; it is a expression and representation of how the artist relates, reflects and responds to the world around them. RTD is a wickedly intelligent, queer man and you need look no further than his own work to see how passionate he has always been about depicting a diverse range of characters and stories that are firmly rooted in the political and social climate of his day. In fact, he explicitly said as much himself in a December 2023 interview for Rolling Stone;

"From my point of view, whatever I make on television, I try to embrace queerness and queer politics and that’s like breathing to me because that’s my world. That’s how I live.”

At the time I am writing (two months away from season one's debuting), RTD's second stint as show runner of Doctor Who, RTD2, as it has come to be known, has proven to be as divisive for longterm fans as his initial tenure, if not more so. No surprises there, of course, but what was unforeseen however, at least by me, was the vocal backlash from the progressive crowd. 

Perhaps it shouldn't have been though. After all, we are talking about a sixty year old white cis man. As well researched and intentioned as he may be, the scope of his experiences will inevitably reach their limits regarding gender, sexuality and cultural backgrounds. Even ethically, to hold somebody of quite a different generation to the exact same standards as your own, a significantly younger or potentially older audience member, is a pretty dubious and flawed thing to put into practice.

Still, backlash from the progressives might also have been foreseen if we took more than half a glance at his original time on the show. The quality and impact of representation in 2000s Doctor Who was certainly varied, and something worth discussing in more depth in some other entry. That does not make it any less significant that it was Russell who spearheaded the first openly queer companion, its first black supporting character and then first black companion as well as the oldest leading lady to date. And these things were not simply acts of ticking boxes. Jack Harkness, Mickey Smith, Martha Jones and Donna Noble were strong, fully-realised characters who were regularly recurring across almost five years of television. One of them even led a TV show of his own for half a decade. Combine that with more than a handful of overtly political storylines across the episodes that he produced and you have a revived Doctor Who that is quickly established as one of the most progressive television programmes of its kind in the 2000s. 

But mistakes were made, particularly regarding racial background. YouTuber Princess Weekes has made a particularly articulate video outlining RTD's pitfalls in representing black communities in Doctor Who a couple of months ago and I strongly encourage you to go and check that out. This article is not about the 2000s though. This is about the present day and the world surrounding RTD as he re-entered the role of showrunner in 2021. So, in order to contextualise that, let us tackle that frustratingly large elephant in the room; let's briefly discuss how Doctor Who became too woke.

This will be a very short discussion because, of course, this didn't happen. Yet, somehow, this narrative, that Doctor Who has become more occupied with pushing its progressive political agendas than telling compelling stories, is a bizarre claim that has been looming over the series for far too long now. It is a line of thinking that I first remember hearing around 2016 with the announcement of Bill Potts as the first openly lesbian companion. Y'know, because having an openly lesbian character must surely mean the Moff was out of ideas. But it really seemed to become a thorn in the fandom's side in the year following when Jodie Whittaker's casting was revealed. Together with Chris Chibnall's casting of two people-of-colour in his main cast and hiring the most diverse writers the show has ever seen to tell stories that reflect their varied life experiences and backgrounds CLEARLY indicated the show was on a downward spiral. The writing was on the wall*.

Okay, so, let's break this down for a second because obviously Doctor Who of the past seven years has not been too woke. But, even if that were the case, what does that even mean? Well, let's be blunt here, this is a form of cultural appropriation. The usage of 'woke' as a slang term for being attentive to social issues originated in African American Vernacular English. As Marriam-Webster defines it; 

"In [African-American Vernacular English], awake is often rendered as woke, as in, 'I was sleeping, but now I’m woke'". 

In the mid-2010s, "stay woke" became a watch word in the black community eventually becoming entwined in the BLM movement. The term has since been co-opted by conservatives, in another harmful display of white aggression, as an insulting short-hand for people and works that challenge their comfortably ignorant view of the world in really any way at all.

TLDR; to level the accusation of a television programme being "too aware of social and political injustices", especially a show with as long a history in of engaging with those sorts of ideas as Doctor Who, as if it were some kind of negative is one of the most laughable criticisms that the show has ever seen. 

It is actually even more laughable when you consider that one could take less than half a glance at Chibnall's version of the show and realise that it was, in fact, doing remarkably little actual engagement with contemporary social and political issues at all. Hell, 10.96 million people tuned into the first episode of his run to learn that for themselves. But this article is not about Chris Chibnall either. This is about Russell T Davies. The man who walked into the office while Chris Chibnall was still in the job and was revealed as such before Chibnall's final season, the Flux storyline, had even gone to air. As nasty a move this was from BBC, seemingly attempting to sabotage their own show, they knew how big of a deal this was. This is Russell T Davies ! The OG showrunner !! The guy who turned a dead cult TV show into an enormous national, and eventual, international franchise !!! This will be 2008, all over again !!!! RTD was going to save Doctor Who !!!!! Praise be to Russell T !!!!!!

Of course, this did not happen. 

It was a pretty dumb call from the conservative crowd to claim RTD was going to swoop in and be their champion. There was truly no reason at all to suspect that he would come back to Doctor Who and not bring his established brand of mindful, inclusive and socially charged writing to the programme. After all, in the years since writing regularly for Doctor Who, Davies produced works like Years and Years and It's a Sin, two incredibly thoughtful though quite different series, the former being a speculative work of science-fiction envisioning the next fifteen years of human history through the eyes of a single family and the latter an intimate and tragic retrospective on the UK AIDS crisis. For a certain crowd of people, this was actually the most appealing aspect of RTD's return. The man was going off the heels of some of his most acclaimed work of all-time, works that spoke to harsh realities of the world we live in and told compelling stories of any number of diverse characters. And, for some people, this was somehow a red flag.

There are longtime fans of a certain generation who have been vocal of RTD's flaws as a social-justice champion from day one. Diamanda Hagan is one such person who comes to mind. I have a great deal of respect for her and her opinions which are often much more articulate and interesting to engage with than my own. If you are unfamiliar, I encourage you seek her out. For the purposes of this article, there are two recent(ish) tweets of hers that I will be citing and the first is as follows;

"[In reference to the polarised reception to The Church on Ruby Road] I continue to be amused by people watching RTD being RTD, now disliking it and thinking that RTD or his work is the one that changed." - December 26, 2023

I would like to use this quote to springboard into a more in-depth discussion of RTD's choices onscreen (strap in, everybody 'cause this'll be more than one post) but, before I do, allow me to note that I find myself only half-agreeing with Hagan's assertion here. Onscreen, Davies' work is distinctly his own. His style has evolved, certainly, insofar as his language and the presentation but the overall package, the flavour and spirit of RTD Who, is much the same as it was from 2005-2010. 

But I would insist that something has changed and that something is what Davies is saying behind the scenes and in promo material because, and this is a crucial point, regardless of how 'woke' RTD2 actually is, and we will get into it, he certainly wants you to think that it is. I do not think that this is an out of arrogance or some kind of saviour complex. I don't believe that RTD is sitting at home rubbing his hands and thinking 'hehehe look how progressive everybody thinks I am". No, I think that Russell is drawing attention to how progressive the show is in the media because he genuinely believes in making socially conscious choices and their impact and consequences. He wants audiences to be talking about disability and race and queerness and class and acceptance and bigotry. RTD is asking us to talk about the topics highlighted in his productions.

So, let's do that then....

To be continued in part one; The Regeneration Question and Davros with Legs

*The fact that Chris Chibnall's version of Doctor Who was ultimately lacking in compelling storytelling for most audiences is extremely unfortunate but obviously unrelated to his diverse cast and crew.

[metacrisisdoctor]

Hello! I love reading your posts, it makes me so happy to see that there are people that still love these two❤️ I appreciate all that you have done to keep the fandom alive!

That being said, because I wasn't involved with the fandom when I first watched the show, about 13 lol, I am pretty out of depth with how popular certain aspects of the show are to the general audience of Doctor Who.

Me being in my little bubble, I always assumed that all the RTD companions were really beloved, especially Rose Tyler. However after going out of my way to now seek out fan content, as an adult, it seems that there's way more dislike for her than I thought. Is she genuinely well liked amongst the majority? I thought that most fans really connected with the tragic love plotline they had?

The reason I ask is because I am fairly certain (a crack theory I've been making up in head) that more than ever there's a chance that we'll get some insight on how Tentoo and Rose are doing in the alt world but I'm afraid I might be getting my hopes up for nothing if they're not as popular as I thought they were. Thank you and I would love to hear if you have any insight!❤️❤️

hi! aw thank 🙈💗 honestly i just made this sideblog to ramble so i wouldn't annoy my followers on main (even though i was originally a dw blog there) and had been out of the fandom for about seven years before october; so i'm rediscovering it too!

i have noticed a lot of differences in the fandom from when i originally watched dw when i was in high school to now. when i watched it was 2012, so ten's era was still really recent and tumblr was much more active, especially in terms of doctor who.

back then, tenrose was everywhere because that part of the fandom was still the majority, but there was a lot of tension because of the direc moffat was taking the show. i remember there was sooo much excitement about even the possibility of david and billie being in the 50th, then it was announced and we all thought we would see tentoorose or at least s2 tenrose; then it ended up not being that at all. this resulted in the fandom feeling disappointed and used for views on top of the fact that a lot of people did not like moffat's characterization of ten and his decision to bring gallifrey back. it was a lot of things, but i think the 50th really created a split in the fandom that we have never fully recovered from. from then on, a lot of rtd era people de-activated tumblr and moved on to other things, including me for a while, because the fandom was so so so tense on both sides.

tenrose is absolutely still a very popular ship, rose is still a beloved companion by many, but it's not 2012 anymore. there are people who ship the doctor and river, the doctor and clara, the doctor and yaz, etc. so there is less unification i guess? and sometimes this leads to people hating on rose because some think they can elevate their ship by minimizing what rose meant to the doctor, which is bs because the doctor is allowed to love multiple people over the course of their insanely long life!

it's not that people don't like tenrose, it's just that there are people who prefer other eras and relationships now and the people who love tenrose aren't active much. but man, the SECOND thirteen regenerated into david ALLLL the tenrose girlies came out lol and i fully expect that to happen again in november. i mean, a lot of people hate ten as well, but that's because he is so popular and i think that applies to rose too. it's a sort of resentment sometimes imo. not always, but a lot of the time. dw is just a massive fandom and with things this long running there is never gonna be one specific consensus to cater to, and rtd always firsty caters to the story.

that all said, rtd is absolutely gonna bring them back even if it's not in the 60th. he always planned to, and planned to make the tardis coral scene canon somehow, so when i saw he was showrunner i was like "it's time!" lol and he has liked a TON of instagram comments about them and rose and bringing them back, including mine 😇🥰

[youremyonlyhope]

The Giggle

Final Fourteen episode*. If I've added an asterisk it means that I correctly interpreted the vague spoiler I saw and am not happy. (Edit: Yep added the asterisk.)

Anyway. I'm just glad this means we'll finally get Gatwa!Doctor. We should have had him already.

Also forgot to put this in the last post. But. Pandemonium, the world ending, people going insane, and a Toymaker. My prediction for the plot of this episode: StarKid's Black Friday.

Sorry, all I can hear is Barney Stinson. I'm sure he did a bad German accent at some point in HIMYM. I like dolls but these puppets are creepy even to me. "Sunnier climes" OH, SO HE'S A RACIST. Hey dude. Tell Baird about the human hair before it blows up. "Imagine if it could talk." No no no. Be careful what you wish for.

Something I forgot to say much much earlier. I don't know how I feel about the intense zoom-in on the TARDIS in the opening sequence. It's almost a Torchwood level of dramatic zoom.

Very carefully not showing us Wilf's face. I wouldn't have wanted Bernard present for all this chaos either though. I'm sorry. UNIT has an Avenger's Tower now? I don't like that. I liked the Tower of London. But I guess Kate wanted to make sure they definitely didn't get shut down again. I was chanting "Slap him, slap him, slap him" as Kate walked up and when she hugged him I said "Aww" in disappointment. Oh Mel! I had been vaguely spoiled of her showing up too. RTD2, I would have preferred an Old Who companion showing up in the 60th special episode that was closest to the actual 60th, but oh well I guess I should be happy we got something Old Who at all since this really was getting close to being a purely RTD focused anniversary. "The pilot declared his right to land wherever he wanted." Greaaat. Sounds like an average day here in 'Murica honestly. "Why should I care about you?" I mean look everything I've ever seen of the Tories tells me that's just what they're like anyway. What is a Vlinx and why is it here and why do we trust it? I don't trust it. Ah. Bad idea to deactivate it for even more than a couple words honestly. So is everyone just prejudiced now? Like the racist toymaker?

TRINITY WELLS!!!!! NO WAY. NO. WAY. THEY GOT MY GIRL TRINITY BACK ON MY TV!?!?!?! THAT'S MY GIRL RIGHT THERE. I LOVE HER. Ohhhh Trinity deserves the big font for that.

I've found the one bit of RTD era nostalgia that instantly gets to me. Have Trinity Wells show up. I guess this is how everyone else has felt the last few episodes. Not even Wilf got that reaction out of me. I literally just SCREAMED "Trinity Wells!" Out loud. I can't even be mad she's spewing stupidity and is "anti-Zeedex" I am just happy to see her. That's my girl.

If nothing else comes from this episode, if I don't care about anything else, I got to see Trinity Wells again. Ok that really made me so happy just now. The Trinity Wells Show. Really showing us it's her. Ahhh I love her. Seriously I'm reacting the way I probably would have reacted if they ever acknowledged Frobisher during Twelve's era. Only Martha showing up could get a bigger reaction out of me right now. Truly that was a cameo aimed at me and only me it feels like. So like the Master's network? "It's not like the old Archangel Network." Ok never mind. Oh so Rose only came out as trans 6 months ago. I WAS GONNA SAY THAT THE CHILDREN'S VOICES WE HEARD BEFORE THE TIME-SKIP WAS MY VOCAL WARMUPS. God I need to write things down when I think of them. NOOO. I THINK I KNEW ABOUT THE FIRST TV VIDEO BEING A PUPPET OR SOMETHING. THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR. I don't mean to be That Person but the whole human race isn't connected by Internet yet. We still got uncontacted/limited contact tribes and groups all over the place. Hundreds if not thousands of people who have never seen a screen. Oh yeah! They're President of the World!

(I took way too long searching to find that specific gif. But I love that gif so much.)

"120 plus five weeks holiday." "Done." YAS GET THAT MONEY DONNA. Also find Martha to see if she's still freelance or not. "So you talk about no one. Ever." I don't mean to quote Jack Harkness, but not if they're blonde... Doctor. You are. Avoiding. Still so much Thirteen in you. NOPE. LOL at them having to use basically refurbished still images from the lost episodes. BBC, this is only the fault of your own that they're missing. I hope you two have learned from last episode to STAY TOGETHER. Rules of play. Lawless. Hmm. So the Toymaker made everyone act like kids where the world revolves around them and only them? WHAT DID I SAY. STAY. TOGETHER. Oh no he's way too light. That was way too heavy for the Doctor to lift. Who's your mummy? Not an Empty Child reference just me being convinced his mummy is going to be someone. Oh nooooo not the "mama" and the teeth. OH RECAP TIME. Is this because they know a bunch of people skipped Twelve and Thirteen and even Eleven? Oh well. At least some acknowledgement. Still wish it was in the first of the specials but ok. "Oh, well, that's all right then." Ok look Toymaker has got a point for those three "surviving" but dying. Why only reference the Flux and nothing else Thirteen went through? Part of me is upset at no mention of the Fam and Dan, not even at least Yaz since Fourteen would have seen her only days earlier, but Thirteen had a clean track record of companions surviving so it's ok. Ok NPH's using his Barney magic trick skills ok. I see you. What do you mean a jigsaw of the Doctor's history? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT. PLEASE BE A REFERENCE TO THE ORIGINAL OLD WHO EPISODE. DON'T BE A HINT THAT RTD2 IS GOING TO TRY TO RETCON THE TIMELESS CHILD. JUST LET IT BE. I'm sorry the Master is in your WHAT. "The one who waits." Amy? Rory? They both waited. "That's someone else's game." huh. Sorry, all I see is Barney Stinson even in the mannerisms. I was wondering why if they went back in time that things would still be bad in the future. Since if they fixed it in 1925 it wouldn't happen. The Toymaker wouldn't be there. But no wibbly wobbly timey wimey just a different order. They should take the little toy box. Oh good took it. Don't you dare kill of Mel right here while she's watching the box. Don't you dare. I haven't even seen any of her episodes but I swear if you kill her.... WHAT. IS. THE. VLINX. THOUGH. Hey Doctor, at least tell Kate what you're up against. I was about to say that NPH was pretty perfect casting for a role like this, then the Toymaker threw Kate into a wall and too I'm mad now. DON'T HURT MEL TOO. Oh no. Kateeee I love you I do but listen to him ok? NOW you tell her about the Toymaker. Maybe some warning next time? Eh. He can shoot it. I didn't like this new UNIT building anyway. This is very Christmas Invasion. [thud] [glass shattering] OK that was dark. Wait celestials were a thing in Do You Hear Me? right? "And yet, I have fallen in love with humanity." Really hitting the nail on the "just like the Doctor" head here. OH. WOW. OOOOOOOOOOH. Next Doctor. Oooooooooooh. "It doesn't matter who. Because every single one of you is fantastic" RTD2 that better be a purposeful Nine reference though I know it's not. Don't you dare say "I don't want to go." for the third time. "Allons-y." Ok I'll accept that.

NO. NOT AGAIN. WE ARE NOT DOING ANOTHER TEN REGENERATION FAKE OUT. NO.

"What?" No. Nope. The spoiler came true and I am not happy about it. Time to add that asterisk. No. Is he not even wearing pants? Oh but I love Gatwa as the Doctor already so much. He's here. Oh Fifteen (fine I will say the number. I think this is the first time) gets to keep the tie. I meant to say I liked the grey knit tie earlier like 2 episodes ago. And the shoes. Oh and Ten's in an undershirt, I thought the shirt multiplied somehow just to not leave Fifteen totally naked. "Someone tell me what the hell is going on here?" I am so happy to see you. Why must your first scene involve you not wearing pants though? The disrespect. "I think you're beautiful." "Do you come in a range of colors?" "Yes." I... do not know how I feel about that line. I really don't like that Fifteen has to LITERALLY share his start with Fourteen. I was saying it when Gatwa was first announced as Fourteen and then not Fourteen because then Tennant got announced. And now it's literally happening. They're sharing the lines, the scene, 1 of 3 specials. Really more like half a special if we're being generous. I really wish we had just not done this Tenthree thing at all. See even Fourteen got to say "I'm the Doctor" first while Fifteen said "And I'm the Doctor." like. Come on. At least let Fifteen have that first line. HEY. THE CAPTIONS SAY [TENTH DOCTOR] NOT FOURTEENTH. SO WHICH IS IT. WHAT IS THE TRUTH. DOES THIS NOT COUNT?

Ok seriously. Give the man some pants. Like come on.

Eeek did he have too many teeth? He looked like he had too many teeth. Flat, 2D, like Flatline? "My legions are coming." Ok and that means... Oooh I did not like that the laugh's arpeggio didn't resolve. "And bind it in salt." SO. IS THIS SALT THING. REALLY A THING NOW? REALLY? Or is it just because the Doctor mentioned the whole salt thing being the leak that let the Toymaker in? And what about mavity? There's 15 minutes. The ball fell but did it hit the ground yet? Gravity? Maybe the game didn't end? The Doctor kissed themself. Not in the way the Master did but still.

Give him some pants please.

NO. NO. NOT ANOTHER LADY WITH RED NAILS PICKING UP SOMETHING THAT HAS THE MASTER INSIDE IT. NO. SERIOUSLY RTD WHY ARE WE DOING THINGS OVER? Unless it's Dhawan!Master. Then I will accept that. I will gladly have Dhawan!Master back. BUT OTHERWISE NO. I REFUSE. Why is Fourteen explaining this to Fifteen, he should remember it since he's him. Like come on. "This is great. I think. Is it?" That was a Thirteenism right there. "One thing you need in this place is a chair." see that's the Doctor channeling Bill judging Twelve not having chairs close enough to the console. "Adric." "Adric." ADRICCCCCC. Seriously that hurts me and like I said I haven't even watched that part of Old Who. God. Stop bringing up Rose come on. OH WAIT. WAIT.

WAIT.

"I loved her. And Rose." OH MY GOD. I hate Tenrose but even I'M freaking out that the Doctor just admitted to loving Rose out loud. OH MY GOD. I mean still fanservice pandering. But FINE. Fine. Tenrose shippers take this one I'm giving it to you. I got so distracted by my annoyance at the still constant bringing up of Rose I almost missed the weight of what that meant. Still mad about the Rose-colored-glasses of the RTD era but good for you guys getting this.

Mavic Chen? Remind me to look that up it sounds really familiar. Ah, wish I didn't look it up, gotta love that 60s racism. Rehab in reverse. So you're saying we're gonna check back in on Fourteen in the future and he'll properly regenerate and/or kind of pop into existence in the moment that Fifteen bi-generated? Maybe? Hopefully? God if I had a nickel for every time RTD had a second Doctor separate from the main Doctor and had Tennant's face stay on Earth with a companion, I'd have two nickels. Don't you dare split the TARDIS too. That's too much. I assume this hammer is an Old Who reference. If so, very cute. They split the TARDIS. And Fifteen gets the second TARDIS. I can't really describe my mood besides -_- "I am so sorry." Yeah you better apologize to her. Ok that's cute the ramp. Why the jukebox though. Traditional Earth ballad? If Billie Piper shows up I'm literally stomping across the pond to RTD's house and killing him because that'll officially be Too Much. I can't even be completely happy at Gatwa's first proper TARDIS flight. "You weren't going to leave without saying goodbye were you?" Of course he was. Ask Sarah Jane. ASK SUSAN. "As if I would ever do that." At least you're self aware. Have these two been the first Doctors to hug? So Fifteen tells people he loves them. Willingly. Openly. Frequently. And a lot. I like that. (Yes Fourteen said he loved Wilf and River but shhh that was over the course of days. Fifteen has said I love you twice in like 3 minutes and was very affectionate to Mel)

Can we PLEASE put this man in some pants though!?

The little 2-finger salute from Fourteen is cute though. "The eyebrow story." TWELVE? Nope an alien species. "Oh, you're family, darling. Sit down." AWWWW. AWWWWWW MEL GETS A FAMILY. Ok. Ok that's really sweet. That's what I care about. Not even Tenthree/Fourteen getting a family. Mel gets one. Empty chair. It's for Wilf yes but let me pretend Martha's just running late to dinner ok? Ok. "I've never been so happy in my life." That's good. Fifteen really split off from Fourteen and was like "Ok you carry all the trauma and deal with it. I'm gonna keep running away."

I knew the Vlinx was voiced by Nicholas Briggs. What IS the Vlinx though? Because I really was waiting for it to be like a plant by the Toymaker.

God I can't believe we're really gonna do the same thing all over again with the Master. Like I said, if it's Dhawan!Master then I'm overjoyed. If it's another, I'm not as happy. I'm hoping that because it was the same way Simm!Master had came back as himself, it means Dhawan!Master will too. We'll see. And who grabbed the tooth this time? At least last time the ring was in a forest. I could believe someone was nearby to take it. But they're on a HELICOPTER LANDING PAD. In the secure UNIT building. Seriously who picked up the tooth?

GIVE. MY MAN. SOME PANTS. I feel so insulted that Gatwa spent all of his moments in his first episode IN HIS UNDERWEAR.

The absolute highlight of the episode was seeing Trinity Wells. Literally the most excited I've been about any of these fanservice moments. That feels like it was fanservice just aimed directly at me. As if RTD2 was like "Hope's not gonna enjoy this. What can we do? No no I'm not bringing back Martha. Oh! Trinity Wells!"

*Asterisk time! I can only hope that Fourteen is just another Tentoo and will live and die a normal human life but that's not what seems to be the case. I don't like that there's just another Doctor floating around. I had been spoiled for it. I hoped I had misunderstood the post since I hadn't properly finished reading it once I realized it was a spoiler. But I interpreted it correctly. If it ends up being that Fourteen does eventually regenerate and kind of hops back into the moment the body splits into Fourteen and Fifteen, then fine. But like. Otherwise, if there's now just a separate branch of Doctors and regenerations and then Fifteen technically has to share the title of Fifteen with whoever regenerates from this Fourteen then I will be so mad. Is this Fourteen really Fourteentoo? Or Tenfour. CAN WE JUST STOP REGENERATING INTO DAVID TENNANT AT THIS POINT. Just have him come back as Ten, he doesn't need to be three maybe FOUR different Doctors!

Oh my god. If RTD2 pulls a "Fugitive!Doctor is actually a Doctor AFTER Fourteen and regenerated and forgot everything and then met Thirteen" instead of being a pre-First Doctor then I'll actually riot. If that's the meaning of the jigsaw of their history, I'm really gonna actually riot.

Of the 3 specials. The Meep was eh. It was fine. Pure nostalgia and a nightmare fuel alien monster of the week. However, I REALLY enjoyed Wild Blue Yonder. That was right up my alley combining aspects of a lot of my favorite past episodes. And the Giggle was fine. Better than the Meep, definitely. I love Fifteen. I'm mad about the bi-generation thing. I would have preferred if after the Toymaster was gone for a bit that Fourteen got sucked back into Fifteen or something as a way of the Universe correcting itself. I'm mad that for most of Fifteen's scenes, it felt more like he was Fourteen's companion. Not the next Doctor. ALSO WHY COULDN'T WE GIVE FIFTEEN SOME PANTS PLEASE. AT LEAST IN THE LATER SCENES.

Also is it still mavity? Did Donna really just ruin all of human history with that one joke?

Oh I just started proofreading and I realize my prediction of Black Friday was wrong. I really thought the Toymaker was gonna make everyone go crazy over a puppet toy.

GIVE FIFTEEN SOME PANTS.

[felicitykings]

my bestie @holly-mckenzie tagged me to post 8 shows to get to know me. 

tagging: @justabritishmusicallover , @gothamstreetcat, @brvceselina, @apple-grass-and-smiles, @sonyarebecchi, @kaz-breker, @jennortegas, @mike-el , @gaffney, and @charlieconwayy

(please note: this is in no particular order)

stranger things (2016-) - i’ve been obsessed with this show since the start really, there’s just something about it, particularly those first two seasons, that just keeps me coming back. there’s fun characters that i enjoy watching and it has an awesome soundtrack!

gotham (2014-2019) - truthfully this was the first piece of media that really connected me to batman and that world. i’d seen movies before but i never felt connected to the character. but something about watching this kid grow up and earn the cowl, especially with all the choices he made that eventually led to him becoming batman had me rooting for him. and honestly, every single cast member on this show is so perfectly cast - particularly RLT as oswald. they’re the gold standard for me now. and i loved how everything fit together in this retelling.

primeval (2007-2011) this show has always been that show that has felt like mine, you know? i have so many fond memories of watching this growing up and it has always stuck with me without it ever being repeated on tv or having a large fanbase that regularly makes content long after the show is over. no, the show has just always stayed with me all through its own merit of having lovable characters and a really great storyline that i will always be upset was never allowed to be completed.

dark (2017-2020) - admittedly, i was super late to this party having only watched it earlier this year but WOW what a show. i think i can honestly say that this may be the best written and conceived show of all time - certainly of the shows i’ve watched. i have literally no complaints about it. the fact that most, if not all, the story seems to have been planned from the beginning is obvious with the number of twists and turns and strong character development/story arcs and it just makes it all the better when you can rewatch and spot even more each time. this show is incredible! i really can’t say enough about it and if i keep going here, i’ll never stop.

stargirl (2020-2022) - stargirl my beloved you were taken from me far too soon. i’ll be honest and say that i wasn’t expecting to love this show as much as i do when i decided to give it a shot. but it was so utterly charming with truly likeable characters - whether they’re heroes or villains - that you can genuinely enjoy watching. and it has a strangely nostalgic feel/tone despite its modern day setting that just adds to its likeability. 

rtd era! whoniverse (2005-2011) - this is probably cheating but just including doctor who in general felt wrong when it is this era (main show and spinoffs) that i cherish the most and i couldn’t include one without the others. maybe its the nostalgia idk but this was when the series felt the most grounded to me and despite its issues i still adore it as an era of this show’s history. the shows worked great side by side, targeting different audiences, with characters that felt real. in the case of the main show, you really felt that the companions were real people, with real lives who were plucked out of them to go travel with the doctor and it really dealt with the consequences of that which has been seriously lacking in recent years. for torchwood, the characters were allowed to be messy, truly truly messy and just plain human. they made mistakes, there wasn’t always some magical fix for them, they were on earth with limited resources just doing the best they can and sometimes it might not be the ‘right way’ but they still try and it’s beautiful. for sja, they’re just kids but they’re still real kids and they were never treated as less than their adult counterparts, they were given room to grow but never in a way that seemed patronising. there’s a magic in this specific era that i will love my whole life.

roswell (1999-2002) - i’ve always adored the balance that this show managed to get between the typical early 00s teen drama side and the sci-fi/fantasty elements. while in a lot of teen sci-fi fantasy shows these days focus on that rather than character dynamics/growth, this one really excelled at giving each character a compelling arc throughout the show, while developing a strong individual dynamic between every possible pairing of its main cast which is amazing compared to some of its contemporaries where there’s always characters who never interact outside the group setting. as such, you really get to see why these characters are putting themselves on the line for each other time and time again. they’re really a family and it’s shown consistently through the show (rather than characters just saying it without any development or actions to back it up) and it’s incredibly endearing.

the originals (2013-2018) - what can i say? i love this disfunctional “frankenstein family”. the show has its ups and downs but they’re all a mess and i love them. how many times can a group of people stab each other in the back? plenty and i truly love every second of it. morally grey characters / villain protagonists and such an interesting concept because there are barely any “good” guys to root for, it’s just a case of season by season, and sometimes episode by episode, deciding which ones are right this time, if any of them are.

other faves include:

pennyworth

all creatures great and small (2020-)

1899

swamp thing

the tracy beaker franchise

waterloo road (2006-2015)

sense8

get even

on my block

nowhere boys

we are lady parts

wolfblood

one of us is lying

teen wolf (specifically s1-4)

[worfianism]

Doctor Who Power of the Doctor thoughts before I forget (SPOILERS)

- OMG okay so finally a Doctor who episode this era that I actually really liked. There's others but they've usually been ruined in hindsight. This one wasn't perfect but it was pretty good and it wasn't ruined and the Doctor and the companions finally felt more 3d than they had in previous episodes.

- Dan leaving first 10 mins of the episode was so odd tho

- Daleks, Cybermen AND the master??? This is ambitious

- TEAGAN AND ACE!!! I'm not even a classic whovian, I havent watched the show pre 2005 but I was still like AHHHH OMG THEM!!

- Always good to see Kate again as well

- The Rasputin scene was genuinely so funny. I love Sacha Dawan as the master anyway and this was just the cherry on top

- was the episode rushed??? Yes but I do think the actual implication of character depth was so much better than what we've had for so long that I actually left that episode feeling satisfied but like this would have been perfect for Yaz and the doctor to have a couple of arguments I.e. the doctor rushing and not letting people into her plan and also about the Doctor leaving people behind

- A bit odd that Graham showed up with no explanation but okay

- Omg the doctor AI taking the form of Teagan and Ace's doctors and having a chat and giving them closure was so good. Like when AI!5 called Teagan Braveheart and Ace and AI!6 patched things up between them made me get a bit emotional

- doctors bickering in the consciousness was funny and in character

- I liked seeing Vinder and Jo Martin's Doctor back!

- the forced regeneration plot was so-so but it did the job so I liked it

- I was hoping for a more heroic end I guess instead of the master just blasting the doctor at the end but the regeneration actually pulled on my heartstrings so much. Which is a feat because I never really connected to 13 or the companions (mainly to do with a lack of character depth and conflict and actual interpersonal relationship building) but seeing Yaz in tears but trying to hold it together and the Doctor being angry and upset first but then calming down for yaz and them just spending their last moments together watching Earth eating ice cream was so *chef's kiss*

- The support group scene actually made me so emotional, when Jo Grant popped up on my screen, my eyes were defo pricking, and it just made me think of how much I missed Sarah Jane as well

- the Doctor regenerating into 10. I'm excited to see David again, he was my fav, he will always be my fav, MY Doctor but I hope he doesn't stay for too long. Doctor who NEEDS newness, it's intrinsic to the show, it would not make sense at all to go back to the old just because it was popular. So I hope there's a cracking 60th with David and Catherine (DONNA MY BELOVED!!!) and then new season! New Doctor! RTD back!

[littleironi]

Fairy Tale and the Real Girl

Amelia Pond "was like a name from a fairy tale", but Amy tries to shed fairy tale fantasies as she chases after real world adventures. For all that her story is a "bit fairy tale", Amy Pond was one of the most relatable characters that I and others had seen in so long.

When we first see her, she's a little girl praying to Santa about a mysterious crack in her wall that whispers to her as she sleeps. It is a scene of strangeness and invokes many a magical theme, but there is also a sense of reality to it. Children's worlds are strange and magical but it's not always just because they have the imagination and creativity to create them. Sometimes it's comes with a touch of necessity. Plenty of children believe in Santa but very few of them pray to him. Little Amelia Pond's prayer to Santa might not be just a quirk of childhood but also possibly a little girl making up her own belief system when there isn't an adult in her life who takes the time to show her one. Or at least an adult to listen to her problems so she doesn't have sit up all alone in her house praying to some mysterious being of incredible powers and kindness in the hopes of solving her problems.

It's a strange and almost magical story we're told of little Amelia Pond in a strange house with doors hidden out in the corner of her eyes. But it's also the story of a young girl left to fend for herself in a strange new country, in a mostly empty house with only a mostly absent aunt and her own thoughts to keep her company. She's "the Scottish girl in the English village" and the Doctor claims to understand how that feels, but in the real world out here, there are far more people to whom that feeling is just as familiar.

The door only seen through the corner of your eye is scary. And monsters that steal your form while you sleep are terrifying. But so is being a seven year old girl, all alone in a house in a strange new place in the middle of the night. And that is an all too real kind of fear. When we (and the Doctor) meet her, she's all alone well into the night, and everything in Amelia's behaviour suggests this is nothing out of the ordinary. The Doctor remarks that Amelia is "not scared of anything", but maybe fear becomes different when there aren't any people to listen to it and the only person to tell is some strange figure from myth, whether it be Santa (who might not exist) or the Doctor (who she never knew existed).

She is given the moniker of the girl who waited. For all it's whimsical tone, it's also something real that grounds Amy. It's not just the Doctor she waits for. When the Doctor says he'd be "right back".  Amelia's response is that "people always say that". How many times had she heard it before she stopped believing it? Despite all the Doctor's insistence that he's not people ("Do I even look like people?"), he leaves her waiting for far too long just as she had suspected. Despite all the times he's said the words  "Trust me. I'm the Doctor." and delivered his promise, he lets Amelia down exactly like she had become used to. And she waits exactly as she's used to.

Amy runs away the night before her wedding with an almost magical figure who flits in and out of time in a time machine. The Doctor belongs to myths and legends that she's never heard of. However, Amy herself and her desire to put her life on pause even for a little while is not alien. She's not running away because she doesn't want to get married but because tomorrow is just too soon. That feeling is a familiar one. To want to run away from your life not forever but just until you're ready to face it. To want to leave and come back and find your life waiting just as you left it.

With a name like it was "from a fairytale", a crack in her wall that was a gateway to another world, "the universe pouring through her dreams every night", an imaginary friend with a magical box and even the missing parents, it's easy to think that Amy Pond belongs to the fairy tales that surround her and fill her life, however the fairy tales as with all the other stories in Amy's life might be something she's a part of and something that's part of her, but in the end something so very real runs through them.

[quantumshade]

hi, i have to ask about gay coded rose/ten because im INTENSELY curious. i just finished a rewatch of nine and ten and i'm just sitting here starry eyed through ur sped-up chalkboard-aided lecture. PLEASE, enlighten me

thank you SO MUCH for asking, i will take absolutely any excuse to talk about this :)

putting this under a readmore because it got LONG.

a lot of this comes from a video essay by verilybitchie that i highly, highly recommend--it's changed a lot about the way i look at rtd era as well as "representation" in general. my friend @regenderate has also made a couple really well-articulated posts on this topic

but to try and put it in my own words somewhat, the doctor and rose's relationship is defined by touch. from the moment he grabs her hand in the basement of henrik's, saving her life, all the way to doomsday, with, "still just an image. no touch", and then their jubilant hug in journey's end.

which reminds me--the way they hug is something that's always really struck me about the doctor and rose. they grab on to one another as if when they let go, they will drift apart--which is, of course, what happens.

and when you think about it, their desperation to hold on to one another, to hug, to hold hands, to touch, feels very, very significant when you remember that the showrunner is a gay man who lived through the aids crisis and writes a lot about it. as @regenderate points out, there are a lot of episodes in series 1 and 2 where touch is not only the problem, but the solution. the disease in new earth is spread through touch, but at the end of the episode, it is cured through touch, through these people who have never known a loving hand or a proper connection with another person hugging, shaking hands, touching each others' faces.

gay people are told to fear touch, that kissing and sex are sinful and unnatural, that holding hands with your partner or showing affection in any way in public could lead to one or both of you getting hurt.

the doctor and rose do not allow themselves to be together because the doctor knows he will outlive her and believes that giving in and being with her, allowing himself to be happy, will only lead to more pain for the future.

there are other things as well, like how the doctor, before eight, had never kissed anyone on screen before, and it wasn't something the audience was accustomed to. the doctor was often kept so nonsexual to the point where, while filming the five doctors, one producer asked carole ann ford not to call the doctor grandfather, because it would suggest that at one point, the doctor had fucked, and he didn't like that. rose is the blueprint, the archetype, for the nuwho companion. she is there to represent the audience, to challenge the doctor on his deep-set opinions, to grow, to be his equal. she had the task of easing an audience of both new and old fans into a world where the doctor can be a romantic figure. she had to change things, go against the status quo, and, in my opinion, she did that excellently.

similarly, when rose meets the doctor, she is deeply ingrained in everyday life, in a job she hates, in an incompatible relationship, etc, and meeting him shakes all of that up. staying home on earth, going to work, being with mickey, all of those are things are expected of her. (i fully believe she and mickey were only in a relationship together because they were childhood friends and they felt like they should be-- they are incompatible as a romantic couple, which is the point, even though fans are always determined to blame the failure of their relationship on one or the other, but that's a whole other post) meeting the doctor, traveling with him, it gives her purpose, and it allows her to grow into the person that she always could be. that's a big theme in rtd era especially--everyone has the capability for amazing things, and they can and will thrive when given the opportunity to as well as someone to believe in them.

but mickey is representing the "safe" option, of a normal, heterosexual relationship, the one that she is expected to be in. jackie is disapproving of rose's new lifestyle (not that she's invalid for those fears at all, i'm speaking metatexually here) and is constantly hoping that she will change her mind and return to safety because the last thing she wants is for her daughter to be in danger. but once rose sees what's out there, once she glimpses her own potential, once she--and bear with me here--exits the closet, she couldn't possibly go back.

from parting of the ways:

ROSE: But what do I do every day, mum? What do I do? Get up, catch the bus, go to work, come back home, eat chips and go to bed? Is that it? MICKEY: It's what the rest of us do. ROSE: But I can't! MICKEY: Why, because you're better than us? ROSE: No, I didn't mean that. But it was. It was a better life. And I don't mean all the traveling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That don't matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know he showed you too. That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away.

the final point i'll make here is that the doctor has been queercoded for a long, long time. they are neither straight nor cis. and thanks to billie piper sometime after jodie whittaker's casting, we know that rose would still be in love with 13 still, which i would have wholeheartedly believed regardless, but it's nice to hear it from the woman who played rose herself. even if they are visually/optically a heterosexual relationship, they really, really aren't, textually or otherwise.

this post got away from me. it got away from me bad. but this is something i think about a LOT. doctor who, and rose in particular, have been my special interest for a decade or so and as a dyke fan who spends a lot of time with other dyke fans, i have some pretty extensive thoughts on this kind of stuff.

uhhhhh feel free to shoot me a message if you have any questions, like i said i love love love talking about this!!

[mediawhorefics]

thoughts on doctor who!! echoes of previous companions always gets me good, like billie piper as The Moment

oh i have SO much to say about doctor who rip here's an incoherent rant/list of opinions !!

i'm an rtd-era supremacist so i'm DYING with excitement over his return!!! also this 14 news ??? HELLO?????????? SO SO SO EXCITED!!!!

my first doctor was 10 and he has remained my fav through and through. tho ofc i love them all in different ways. (fun fact my beta is the one who introduced me to dw back in the day)

my top three companions are donna (MY GIRL !!!!)/rose/the ponds

yes, i am in love with karen gillan and would like a spare hand in marriage ma'am

my greatest dw heartbreak is the fact that peter capaldi is one of my favourite actors and was probably the greatest ambassador for the show and i absolutely LOATHE the writing for his era.

steven moffat IS my nemesis and i hate what he did with the show. this man should have never been a showrunner. he's good with limits and boundaries and standalone.

full offence, i hate clara with a burning passion, no shade to the actress she's very talented, but everything about that character rubs me the wrong way. from the ~born to save the doctor bullshit to the has no life outside the doctor until moffat randomly decided to half-ass giving her a career to the badly written attempts at her having feelings for 11... truly, i despite this storyline so fucking much. again ship what you like but i don't get doctor/clara AT ALL. it makes me angry just thinking about it now. and she was there for SO long UGH.

my favourite series are s4 & s5 (yes i hate moffat i love s5, its complicated). also s2 because ROMANCE!!!!!

i hate moffat writing women for obvs reasons but i do love river song. highkey as much as i love matt & alex together NOTHING beats 12/river because peter capaldi said i'm playing a whole time lord in LOVE in that one episode they had together and my fucking HEART y'all. i know i have an unhealthy crush on peter capaldi but his face when he looks at her <333 it's almost as good as ten & rose's in love and utterly devoted to each other faces.

doctor/river still don't hold a candle to 10/rose obvs that shit was it. she was IT. rip to 16 yo me watching doomsday for the first time that shit fundamentally changed me as a person. where's that deancas/tenrose comparison post ?? cut me open and that's what you'll see.

i miss rtd era side characters SO much they were SO lived in and memorable and REAL and they made the show. we lost soooo much of doctor who's heart when he left.

its cringe but i ADORE torchwood despite all of its flaws. ianto jones was one of the very first bi-adjacent characters i ever connected with and he is SO dear to me. rip to my boy it's disgusting what rtd & co did to him :((( baby's first bury your gays, i was 17 and i still haven't recovered. thank god for big finish and all the quality torchwood content they produce.

speaking of big finish... if you're a who fan who hasn't tried to expended universe, i cannot recommend the 8th doctor audios enough. he is FANTASTIC and actually one of my favourite doctors. paul mcgann is INCREDIBLE in the role and it's criminal we only have the movie and that tiny one-shot for the 50th anniversary.

@ RTD JUSTICE FOR EIGHT IN THE 60TH SPECIAL

10/donna are the best tardis team end of. that tennant/tate chemistry??? CHEF'S KISS. @ rtd fix her. @ rtd bring her back. i am no longer asking !!!!

christopher eccleston is CRIMINALLY underrated. 9 deserves SO much love. i adore him. thanks @ big finish for bringing him back to me.

matt smith was the best at playing ancient. i still don't know how he did that thing with his eyes where he looked 1000 yo but wow.

cybermen are incredibly boring and i really dislike most of their eps. i'll take 50 dalek stories over cybermen ones idc.

we never should have seen the weeping angels after blink. they've lost more and more of their appeal the more their mythology has been expended on.

i still don't understand the whole silence cult vs silence species thing and at this point, i'm too afraid to ask.

some of us witnessing the andrew garfield renaissance remember frank and his 1930s fruitiness from 2007 is all i'm gonna say.

[veraynes-blog]

9, 14, 23 for the salty ask list. A fandom of your choosing.

Well since Doctor Who is the fandom (once again) responsible for getting me active on here, I'll go with that!

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

If we're talking the TenSimm era, I'm struggling to think of anyone I really disliked? Even the antagonists were interesting to me. I suppose I did have a moment of hatred for Rassilon with the whole, "You're diseased," line to the Master. If we're talking wider Doctor Who... it might be an unpopular opinion but I'm not a fan of The Fam. I didn't hate them, but I never really clicked with Yas, Ryan and Graham as characters. They felt kind of flat to me. I'm liking Dan a lot more in the new series though! (I haven't finished the last couple of episodes though.)

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

Leading on from the above, my unpopular opinion is probably that I haven't enjoyed Thirteen's era overall. She had so much potential to be one of my favourite Doctors, but I didn't connect with any of her companions until recently, I didn't like the writing of her episodes as much as previous showrunners', and I hate the Timeless Child retcon storyline. I know a lot of the fandom have loved it, but honestly I'm looking forward to the RTD 2.0 era.

23. Unpopular character you love?

Simm!Master?? I think he might count as unpopular in the wider fandom. I'm well aware of how objectionable he is as a character and that a lot of fans dislike that iteration of the Master in particular for things he said and did. I don't care, I love him, my feral damaged boy <3

[phaedo]

rose martha and nine for the ask meme!

thank you… excellent taste. i already did nine so here’s rose and martha

Rose:

Sexuality Headcanon: bi but i also feel like. she’s just in love with the doctor and the gender is not relevant

Gender Headcanon: woman honestly i usually think of her as cis but i also think she could be trans 🤔 of course this applies to every character but you know. maybe everyone is just trans 🤔

A ship I have with said character: OBVIOUSLY doctor/rose. any doctor but ten and thirteen have a special place in my heart as rose ships

A BROTP I have with said character: honestly any other companion but especially yaz. they’re very similar and i want them to be friends

A NOTP I have with said character: uhhh i don’t know i feel like she needed to break up with mickey sooner but i don’t feel so strongly as to call it a NOTP, i more just think that relationship was written in a way that normalized a lot of unhealthy dynamics and the writers didn’t do much to unpack that. again i haven’t seen anything too egregious although everything exists somewhere on ao3

A random headcanon: she definitely Did Not look into the heart of the tardis and come out physically unscathed. like she’s definitely immortal now and like VERY connected to the tardis they’re best friends. OH maybe that’s a BROTP ❤️

General Opinion over said character: i love her. light of my life. is this just because she was the first character i saw in the show and my 13-year-old self imprinted on her like a baby bird? maybe so. and yet here we are today living in a world where people who have never seen doctor who know about rose tyler because of me

Martha:

Sexuality Headcanon: hmmm definitely bi. i feel like rtd era has a lot of bi energy.

Gender Headcanon: cis woman

A ship I have with said character: okay we’re going deep for this one stay with me. i have for YEARS shipped her with river but i’ve never finished ONE FIC for it. maybe it is not meant to be. and yet…

A BROTP I have with said character: if the doctor was nicer to her they would be such cute friends :( but nooooo i will have to say donna… or rose like. in s4. honestly similar to rose i would like to see her being friends with any companion. OR like a later doctor after some time has passed for both of them

A NOTP I have with said character: the doctor literally does not deserve her :( i get it you’re grieving but be NICE!

A random headcanon: ohhh well i like to think about her finishing her medical degree after she leaves, pretty sure that’s just canon though(?). but like i think she lives a really nice life on earth being a doctor and working for UNIT and all that. i wonder if she ever introduces herself like “i’m the doctor” just for a laugh

General Opinion over said character: i love her and like when i was first watching age 13 my brothers and i were NOT impressed by the idea of anyone replacing rose, like we read a new name in the netflix episode descriptions and were like >:( sight unseen, so poor martha had a lot to live up to and she lived up to it!!! she is so cool. also like the doctor should not have treated her like that But watching her be able to say “i deserve better” and walk out was like. formative moments for adolescent me.