#DW meta

[intuitive-revelations]

Headcanon: one of the reasons why Gallifreyan is a) so complex, and b) so inconsistent, is because it's less one language and more a complex mishmash of thousands of languages and dialects.

Think about how one of the reasons English can be complex to learn is because of the mix of Germanic and romance language roots, and now take it up to 11.

While one might expect Gallifrey to be monolingual, given its age and class structure, this probably isn't technically the case. After all, why limit your culture to one language when the average citizen is effectively panlingual (to the point that TARDIS translation circuits are actually dependent on their pilots' knowledge, rather than the other way round)?

Thus, if there once were distinct languages on Gallifrey, they probably have all been merged at this point into modern Gallifrey's super-Esperanto. Add in loan words from notable civilisations across all of spacetime (but likely primarily from Gallifreyan colonies and allies like Dronid, Minyos, Cartego etc.), and it quickly becomes quite unwieldy.

It's also likely that there's a lot of overlap between these sub-languages, which can make distinguishing meaning hard to an outsider. Gallifreyans likely get around this courtesy of their telepathic connections.

TBH, given Time Lord sensibilities, it's likely that every single word variation has its own delicate meanings, derived not just from their societal uses but also from the etymology and history of each one. Canonically (though I don't have a source) we know that there are 30 different words meaning "culture shock", for example, which likely have very minor distinctions in meaning. We also know, unsurprisingly, that there's at least 208 tenses to help in describing time travel.

As an example - imagine being a Sunari ambassador at an embassy gathering and accidentally offending every Time Lord in the room because you accidentally used a definite article derived from the memeovored Old High Tersuran colony dialect, now considered low-brow by association with modern Tersuran, when you intended to use a nearly identical form of the word originating from the Founding Conflict, a triumphant post-Rassilonian intervention, distinguished by a near-imperceptible glottal stop.

It's likely that some of these Gallifreyan sub-languages/dialects may still be spoken with increased frequency under certain conditions, such as in one's own House or when visiting other city complexes. We know, for example, that Arcadia seems to be associated with a "Northern English" accent (which Nine picked up subconsciously post-regeneration, with the Fall of Arcadia being one of the last things the War Doctor remembered before DOTD's multi-Doctor event - hence "lots of planets have a north") when translated, which may indicate some dialect differences in the original language. I suspect there is a societal expectation for Gallifreyans to code-switch depending on the situation, with Citadel business generally expecting the Gallifreyan equivalent of RP, though it's relatively common for Time Lords less concerned with respectability and politicking to not comply.

One nice benefit of all this complexity, and the reason I made this post, is that there's a good argument to be made that every fan attempt to construct a Gallifreyan language can be 'canon', contradictions and all.

Greencook Gallifreyan? A formal evolution of Pythian prophecy scripture into the post-Intuitive Revelation era (based on its similarities with the Visionary's scrawling in The End of Time).

Sherman Gallifreyan? A modern katakana-like phonetic alphabet for the rapid-onslaught of new loan words following President Romana's open academy policies. Recently adopted by the Fifteenth Doctor for writing human proverbs.

Teegarden Gallifreyan? An archaic but recognisable near-Capitolian dialect from the Prydonian mountains, once spoken by Oldblood houses like Lungbarrow and Blyledge.

Or, in a nutshell, the state of Gallifreyan conlangs (and maybe in-universe Gallifreyan dialects):

I guess the dream project would be to accept the complexity and create some sort of grand modular "meta-Gallifreyan" conlang, merging as many fan interpretations as possible with their own distinctions and overlaps, that can continue to be updated as new ideas come up and new stories are released...

[humandisastersquad]

#oh god it breaks my heart he cares so deeply for them and it's not a case of he chooses to leave them behind or has to like with sarah jane#(yes he does to tegan but that's to keep her safe. it's the lesser of two evils)#but they all leave him in such horrible and startling ways. adric. then nyssa because she's all grown up now.#Tegan can't face the constant death. and she's the most tragic parting of all. his anchor. the only thing left from his birth.#idek abt turlough i haven't watched that far because i can never watch tegan leave#they all (except adric) CHOOSE to leave him. what that has to do for his already fragile af psyche.............#not to mention his very life is started by what was once his best friend trying to kill him. god what a doctor.#when he so gently asks tegan in uhhhhhh deep blue which she had done to infect herself and he is so kind and sad. i started crying.#five#and it's worse!!!! because he will compliment his companions!!! but only when they're not in earshot. he will wax lyrical to the monster of#the day about how smart tegan is and then give her That Look of ffs shut up (tags via @i-am-become-a-name)

important things about the fifth doctor:

loves and cares deeply for his companions

Sucks Absolute Ass at conveying this to them

[manhasetardis]

[dandelionjack]

We Invest Things With Significance, or: Why Sutekh Isn’t Sutekh, But Death Itself. alternative title: Fear Is the Mind Killer.

the Doctor Who Series 14/1 thesis statement

i don’t think that sutekh has literally been attached to the TARDIS since Pyramids of Mars. i think that the salt at the edge of the universe — the grievous mistake that caused all myths to become a reality — was what made him appear. and he’s not the same character as sutekh the osiran, a powerful alien that delusionally believed himself to be a god. he *is* a god. nuwho-Sutekh is Death Incarnate.

ergo, this version of Sutekh is the literal psychic manifestation of the Doctor’s deep-seated, guilt-motivated fear of the idea that his arrival brings death wherever he treads. this death-anxiety was turned into a physical presence, haunting the TARDIS all through the Doctor’s timestream, because of the salt. that’s the reason why the Doctor didn’t spot any Susan Twists before Wild Blue Yonder…

there are two timelines in Doctor Who — relative time and universal time. universal time is the history of the universe. relative time is how the Doctor experiences it. in universal time, Sutekh has supposedly been hitchhiking through the vortex for millenia. in relative time, he has only been doing so since Fourteen accidentally invited myths back into the world.

the Doctor was insecure and afraid and believed the above quote (from the very first episode!! spoken by the very first named character in nuwho to die on screen, no less!) to be true. but until WBY it had only been true on a symbolic, metaphorical level. myths, legends, concepts and stories becoming real after the salt caused the Doctor’s anxiety about being a death-bringer to take the shape of a black dog — a universally recognised symbol of death — wearing the name and voice of his most formidable enemy, Sutekh.

in a way, this plotline mirrors The Woman from 73 Yards similarly being a manifestation of Ruby’s worst fear — that of being abandoned by everyone she loves for something intrinsic and incorrigible inside her that she cannot change. Ruby fears being left completely alone, so “The Woman” causes everyone in her life to leave her. the Doctor fears that his coming always heralds mass destruction (“maybe i’m the bad luck”), so “Sutekh” makes sure that the TARDIS literally becomes an altar of death.

ever since Wild Blue Yonder, stories in doctor who have become sources of immense power. the worst, most potent stories we tell ourselves are the lies that our sick brains whisper to us — secret anxieties that we’re not good enough, that all our loved ones will inevitably leave, that we carry nothing but bad luck in our wake. what better clay to mould a monster from than the protagonists’ own neuroses?

and if anybody’s still in doubt, here’s the plain text, all laid out below:

we invest things with significance. that’s what the salt at the edge of the universe really meant. that’s what almost every episode this series has been about, thematically — the imaginary kastarions, the cosplaying chuldur, the bogeyman written into life because kids need a scary story. myths become real to us because we believe in them, love and death and monsters too.

[causalityparadoxes]

Okay but the Rogue throwing the bouquet and the Doctor catching it. The bride's bouquet, superstition signifying the next person who will marry. The Doctor putting on the Rogue's engagement ring.

Its the fantasy era, whats a billion trillion to one when you have coincidence on your side. What story is complete without a marriage.

They are going to find him and they are having that goddamn wedding.

[mwagneto]

15 revealing that apparently the bigeneration was hugely traumatic and not something he could survive again is already insane but especially considering that when he was with 14 neither of them acted like it was anything other than amazing which makes me think 15 was the only one who felt that it was something incredibly damaging but he didn't wanna tell 14 coz he wanted at least one of them to be happy which is sooo.. ough....

[marionjabbs]

this is so insane because like... the little things that just felt off, but i didn't think about for long because it was just a moment in the story and the story keeps moving...

when lindy immediately blocked the doctor but spoke to ruby

the way the "pioneers" spoke about fighting and taming the "wild woods", just like their ancestors (and i'm sorry but in classic who this kind of statement would NOT complicate a protagonist figure at all)

these turned out to go right to the core. they didn't have to spell it out. it was so clear the moment i realised, the moment i saw the way lindy looked at the doctor in person - oh my god, theyre all white.

and the dot "learned to hate them" (big hmmm)

these aren't metatextual criticisms anymore. they ARE the text.

i want to say i am proud of this show for getting to this point. and i would argue the point was made effectively, even elegantly. but that's coming from me, a white person, talking about a script written by RTD, another white person. it felt like it spoke to ME. it felt like it spoke to ITSELF (the show, rug-pulling itself, setting itself apart from its own racist history and a certain large subset of science fiction)

there is a lot to unpack in the real world, even just within the production of this show, about diversity and whose voices get heard and the material reality of it all. i will be listening because i am sure people will have a lot to say.

[championari]

something about Rogue has truly grabbed me by the throat.

When Rose and Clara found out the Doctor could completely change their face, they got scared ("I keep forgetting he's not...human." "How do we change him back?"). When Rogue saw, his only reaction was complete and utterly besotted awe.

When they danced together, he placed his hand on his chest, feeling both hearts, and loved it so much he did it again as they kissed.

When Fifteen started planning the Chuldur's suffering, Rogue saw the fury of The Timelord and wasn't afraid of him. Only afraid for him.

When he sacrificed himself for Ruby, his only words were "Find me". He didn't doubt for a second that The Doctor would do whatever it takes to get him back.

And I think what it is is that Rogue loves The Doctor. Not just attracted to him, as so many have been. Because there's a reason why so many have been in the past. People like Madam De Pompadour, and Queen Elizabeth I, are attracted to the mystery of The Doctor, to how strange yet charming they are. They fall in love with the mask they put up.

But Rogue, he's not like that. He may have been attracted to the mask initially, but what won him over was the truth. In an episode all about cosplay, dressing up, and pretending, he can't improvise to save his life.

He saw past the easy smile, the joking exterior. He saw this broken, grieving, ancient alien, and said, "I love every part of him. and I'll wait for him. No matter how long it takes."

And, for a relationship played by two queer actors, written by potentially two queer women, and helmed by a queer showrunner, that's the greatest wish fulfillment a queer person could dream of. A partner who sees us at our worst, at our most potentially unattractive, and sees only beauty.

This episode makes me go insane guys, im sorry.

EDIT: I wrote an extra long piece analyzing more about these two idiots: x

[ace-whovian-neuroscientist]

the “show within a show” theory continues!

y’all remember how in space babies, the ship created the bogeyman because there’s supposed to be a monster?

rogue fits an archetype just a little too well. he’s smart and witty and full of bravado and clicks with the doctor instantly.

a lot of us had the theory that rogue was secretly jack harkness. and the thing is, he still basically is. he’s the archetype laid out by jack. doing some sketchy work, flirty and angsty, changes his heart and sacrifices himself at the end. and how many american accents do we hear on doctor who anyway?

so maybe space babies was designed mimic to the end of the world. and rogue was designed to mimic the empty child/the doctor dances (also! the doctor danced!)

maybe ruby is supposed to be the prototypical companion, be quite a bit like rose and clara. maybe rogue is supposed to be like jack.

maybe this new “season one” is supposed to be like 2005 season one.

it’s not little references meant to make you think of the past, this is an act. this is cosplay.

[lisa-cuddys]

People have said many times how Fourteenth Doctor is so much more open with feelings and emotions than Ten. But it is especially huge when it comes to Donna specifically. Ten was so reserved and held back so much when it came to expressing feelings and voicing them, that his companions never fully understood how much they meant to him. Ten was very flawed and very HUMAN and while he had so much love in him, he was equally afraid to express it, show it unabashedly. Did Donna ever truly understand how much he loved her? Did he ever tell her how much she meant to him on screen? When Ten knew he was losing Donna, and she was about to disappear in front of him, he knew this was his last moment with her, and the best he could do while she was conscious is hold her at arm’s length and tell her “We had the best of times”. You could see he was dying inside and this moment is killing him but he NEVER SHOWS it to her. While it’s all in his eyes, Ten still doesn’t tell her anything that would have an emotional weight or reveal the whole depth of his feelings.

Ten kept all his feelings bottled so deep inside, that when they finally started to bleed out, he made the worst mistakes possible. It ended up killing him. And the breaking point was losing Donna. He carried so much guilt over the way he lost her and the way he let her, his best friend in the whole wide universe, down, that it echoed over to the next regenerations, in Eleven’s guilt and Twelve’s face. That scene in the TARDIS in “Let’s Kill Hitler” where Eleven is poisoned, and the TARDIS is showing him images of former companions when Eleven asks “Give me guilt”. The TARDIS shows him Martha first, and there is so much to be guilty about when it comes to Martha, and then Eleven asks for “also guilt”, and the TARDIS shows him Donna, and when Eleven asks for “more guilt”, the image doesn’t change. It is still Donna, TARDIS is showing Eleven the best friend who got let down so hard by the Doctor. And the Doctor still carries that guilt and regret and heartbreak with him, because he loved his best friend and her attachment to him almost got her killed and hurt her in the worst way possible. “Stand too close, and people get burnt”, just like Martha said.

Fourteen though. He is a completely different person. He doesn’t just love Donna, he ADORES her, he is here FOR HER, this face is here BECAUSE OF HER. He tells a complete stranger he just met that he loves his best friend Donna, and repeats it twice.

When Donna honestly asks who would care about her 'cause she thinks she is just no one, Fourteen angrily  cries “I DO!”  because that’s his brilliant and amazing best friend who after all these years still thinks so little of herself and he hadn’t been there to remind her of that, and it is all his fault that she doesn’t remember how fantastic and special and extraordinary she has always been and how many times her brilliance saved worlds and lives, including the Doctor’s.

Fourteen is crying and screaming and breaking down, when he thinks Donna is about to die in front of him, all because he is so afraid of losing her again. Fourteen cradles Donna’s body and cries when he thinks he had lost her and tells the Meep’s soldiers to kill him, because he doesn’t care anymore, because someone he loves so dearly is dead in his arms, and it is all his fault.

When Donna gets her memories back, Fourteen almost immediately confesses how losing her KILLED HIM and how he remembers every second with her. He tearfully confesses that he has missed her for all those years they were apart, it’s been millions of years they spent apart for the Doctor. All those years the Doctor needed Donna who would make him laugh again, Donna who would keep him grounded, Donna who would call him spaceman and silently hug him when he needed it the most, Donna who would understand and be there and be his touchstone and anchor and guiding light.

Fourteen knows that she can’t stay with him forever like she used to want to, but he still gives her both of his hearts and tells her how much he cherishes their time together. He offers her coffee just the way she likes it, he remembers such small details about her after literally thousands, millions of years! And he shows it to her. Fourteen is so full of love and he is not afraid to show it, he is rushing to love, to express it before Donna is gone from his life again. And he is trying to make up for all those years as Ten when he couldn’t say these things to Donna, and she never knew just how much she meant to him. Donna never knew that she was his soulmate, that her presence made such an impact and her absence led to Ten’s death and that he died saving her grandad.

Fourteen kisses Donna’s hands and hair and hugs her like she is the most precious thing he knows. His hugs are also different from Ten’s. Fourteen wraps himself around Donna and holds her tight, this is how he shows his affection. He wants Donna to hear, know AND feel how much he cares. Because he already knows what it’s like to lose her and he wants her to know in case he has to let her go forever again.

When there is a threat of the world ending and his wonderful selfless Donna once again stresses that it is not about her, the Doctor solemnly replies that it really is. Because here right now in mortal danger he is willing to put her first and thinks of her wellbeing before anything else, because Donna Noble means the world to him.

Fourteen loves Donna so much, that he is willing to stay with her forever, staying still is not so bad when it’s with her. Fourteen is so tired and weary and bruised and exhausted but when he looks into Donna’s eyes, he doesn’t feel so tired anymore.

Fourteen got Ten’s face because he needed rest, but also maybe, just maybe, because Ten didn’t want to go so badly that he broke through and got the chance to come back so he could have another chance, to have a life and be with his best friend again and come home. Fourteen was born out of love that Ten had for Donna. And that love (and the TARDIS) brought him right to Donna’s doorstep, so he can hear her call him spaceman again and have the best of times for as long as they live and have a laugh with his family in their shared garden and find out what it’s like to be happy. Fourteen gives his love so openly and freely and he gets to receive it too, he gets to bask in it and revel in it. He finally gets the reward Ten was dreaming about.

[ghost-bison]

sorry maybe this is a bit of a stretch idk but there's something so fascinating to me about how ten takes donna to the creation of the earth and tells her "this whole process is beautiful but only if it's being observed" right after staring at her like this

for about 6 seconds straight, and it mirroring donna's arc of being seen as stupid and unloveable by so many people that she started believing it herself, and then the doctor seeing past all of this and showing her that he sees more and what he sees is beautiful because he took the time to really look at her.

[intuitive-revelations]

Ok, but consider...

You can't just give me a bunch of elite sheltered assholes in a domed, transduction shielded city associated with a destroyed 'homeworld' and not expect me to make connections.

(also sorry Rodan, you don't deserve to be giffed next to Lindy in any respect, let alone twice over)

[sadcoms]

until i recently read posts on here about how there is an inherent queerness to the doctor and rose's relationship in how it's unspoken and filled with yearning that i'd never really considered that element, despite knowing for ages that RTD is gay but. man. it's just reframed a lot of the series for me, like the idea that you have this lonely man who's just watched his people die and is self-destructive and misanthropic and traumatised and he can love again and he wants to but it has so many risks.

but especially S3 and how it adds even more weight to the doctor's grieving widower status. how he tells martha that he and rose were together but martha refers to rose as a friend to tallulah; the fact that he can only say they were together once she is gone; how the only other person that both can feel how he feels but also understands the depth of his feelings is jack, a queer man himself. and I've been thinking to myself lately oh, it's ok, the doctor and rose probably accidentally got married on at least one planet or something but also the point is that there was no official title that could convey to people the extent that they meant to each other, that the doctor can really only tell donna that rose was his friend even though it is so wholly inadequate and she comes to see that by the end of the episode (and martha too of course). how people who saw the doctor and rose together assumed they were a couple, like on krop tor, but once there's no more physical evidence of the relationship it becomes more vague (and simultaneously clearer).

anyway something about how christopher eccleston said he based his portrayal of nine on RTD and something about RTD saying that his husband is "in every good man i write now" and how the doctor and ruby seeing each other in the club mimics his first meeting with his husband aka the one moment he would use a time machine to go back to hmmm

[gotyouanyway]

i really love when time lords use their regeneration energy as a power source i wonder what it’s like just existing knowing your body is capable of producing that much energy (or forcefully expending it, anyway). it’s obviously just a fact of life for them but god once you feel that happen for the first time how do you go on? feeling the potential for it just smouldering away under the surface all the time. time lords are always so aware of what’s happening in their bodies at the cellular level. imagine that first rush of neurotransmitters flooding your synapses after you get fatally injured, all those little channels opening and closing letting everything flood in and out, action potentials building and firing a million times a second as every neuron and cell prepares to tear itself apart. and you know it’s going to hurt because your body has more important things to worry about right now than dulling the pain. you feel like a machine burning itself for fuel with the energy building and building until it rips out of you. idk how you can get over that or forget it. i would be thinking about it every minute of my life

[dandelionjack]

steven you sneaky bastard. until yesterday, the phrase “death stalks doctor who” could only have been read in the metaphorical sense. but now we know Sutekh, the literal God Of Death, has been “stalking Doctor Who” (e.g. invisibly attached to the TARDIS, following him on all their adventures) for the entire series. fucking hell man why are you like this

[causalityparadoxes]

My favourite thing from the new episodes is the lore they're building around Gods (or those from outside the universe) being able to interact with the 4th wall.

I cant quite remember but I think the Toymaker made a few nods to it? The Maestro absolutely did. They took the 4th wall and said hey babes! Pay attention to me ;) right now ;) LOOK AT ME

But the DOCTOR. Oh my god the DOCTOR Literally saying "I thought that was non-diagetic" The fact he can hear the shows backing music!!! (Does he just tune it out normally??) Absolutely insane concept i love it.

You could argue they alluded to this with the 12th Doctor playing the show's theme tune but to outright state it. My god where are they going with this i am obsessed

Similarly him winking to the camera at the end. Very reminicent of the 4th doctor skirting the same line.

But to have what were little silly allisions pointed out and clearly wrapped into the story? As a way of showing showing us WHO is godlike and WHO has connections to outside the universe? Again i am obsessed.

I'm guessing it will tie into their continued explorations of the Timeless Child. I am so excited to find out. I am so excited for more silly 4th wall breakers or perhaps one who makes it terrifying.

As a last, this also implies Mrs Flood is a God. Not surprising but interesting... I have absolutely no idea what to make of any of this.