#Doctor Smug

[jolieeason]

September 2024 Wrap-Up

Here is what I read, posted, won, received, and bought in September. Let me know if you have read any of these books and what you thought of them. Books I Read: Books Reviewed: Fall for Him by Andie Burke—review here Tough Luck by Sandra Dallas—review coming April 29th, 2025 Lucy Undying by Kiersten White—review here Books I got from NetGalley: Books I got from indie…

[starsinmylatte]

This man is giving me terminal brain rot, istg.

There are so many blurbs and fics about Veritas being rude to an "inferior" significant other, but please think about him with a significant other who is just as smart in an opposite way.

Aka, I want to lovingly bicker with him about our respective areas of medicine and science SO BADLY

Veritas Ratio x GN reader married science bickering and fluff

"Veri, dearest...... Can you explain that theorem one more time? I'm still slightly confused," you sigh, tracing your fingers along the side of the spiral notebook you'd been using to take notes.

As always, your notebook is filled with page after page of scrawled formulas, stray doodles, and hastily added mnemonics. To almost anyone else, they'd be illegible, but to you, they were perfect.

Ratio sighed, resting his chin atop his hand in mild exasperation as he leaned over your shoulder and checked your work. "We should come back to this later if you don't understand it by now. As you well know, beating the information into your brain does not lead to true mastery of the subject."

Your husband certainly had a fearsome reputation as a pedagogue, with some of his students even going so far as to add his name to the word's adjective list in the Intelligentsia Guild Databank, but you knew better. Veritas Ratio could certainly be vitriolic at times, but his actions were always used to benefit as many people as possible. At first, his heart seemed cold and stoney, but there was actually gold hidden underneath the rough surface.

"I didn't say that to you the last time the tables were turned," You pointed out with a softly admonishing smile. "I seem to remember spending all night in the library to help a certain someone finally understand oxidation-reduction reactions."

Veritas scoffed derisively. "You're right, but I do feel the need to point out that you had fallen asleep at the table and were drooling onto my textbook when it finally clicked."

"So..... you're going to deny that my many patient explanations helped?" You looked at him with vague amusement, remembering the way he'd launched a piece of chalk across the room after incorrectly identifying the electrophile in one of the practice problems.

"No, no. Just food for thought." His face softened, and a small, indulgent smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Although, I am afraid that I'll have to insist we at least get something to eat after this attempt. You, of all people, should know that your neurons need proper fuel to work at optimum levels."

[greghatecrimes]

Character 👏🏻development👏🏻

[ghost-bison]

[dykepaldi]

do u reckon clara just wanted to fuck that cartoon fox

[radiantlyrey]

Ruby Sunday: Thoughts & Theories (SPOILERS)

WARNING: LONG POST. SPOILERS & SPECULATION AHEAD. MOVE ALONG TO NEXT POST IF YOU WANT TO REMAIN UNSPOILED!!!!!

The Facts Were These:

Ruby Sunday was abandoned by as a newborn baby by her birth mother. (Note A: Her birth mother's name is unknown, but has been promised to us. Note B: Her birth mother's provenance is equally unknown, and has not been promised to us.)

Ruby Sunday has been taken out of time twice--once by the goblins on the night of her birth, and once by her stepping on a prehistoric butterfly and changing history.

Despite a genetic test, Ruby Sunday apparently has no relatives on Earth who her DNA can be matched to.

The snow from the night of Ruby Sunday's birth and abandonment appears when the memory of Christmas 2004 is invoked. (Note A: It also seems to appear when she is feeling some strong emotion.)

Maestro, a child of the Toymaker and a part of the pantehon, believes Ruby Sunday is human until Christmas 2004 is invoked. They then think Ruby may be connected to "the oldest one" (another child of the Toymaker? another god?) before calling Ruby a "creature" who is "very wrong."

The events of "73 Yards" appear to show Ruby Sunday trapped in a loop of time (perhaps more a Möbius strip of time) that only breaks when she dies.

The Doctor at times is discomfited by Ruby Sunday and her existence. (Note A: He is surprised by the Butterfly Incident detailed in Point 2. Note B: He hides his concern about the snow with a hug. Note C: He runs a genetic scan of Ruby after their first adventure.)

The Doctor has been following Ruby Sunday since before they properly met. He has admitted this to her, but he has not explained why.

Ruby Sunday and the Doctor have a lot of common in their backstories--they were both abandoned as children; they were both adopted; they are both somewhat unconnected to their adopted societies. Coincidence seems to be tying them together, and to their adventures. (There have been a lot of parentless children in these stories.)

So those are the facts.

Now for some metafictional facts: There are a lot of strange things going on with Ruby Sunday. She has yet to properly, by herself, save the day. (In fact, in two of her five episodes, she has been absent for the climax entirely.) Most modern companions do this in their first couple of episodes. Despite her moment of defiance in "Boom", she has yet to make the Doctor angry with her actions, which most companions have done by now. It's almost as if she only exists as a character on a purely surface level. She has little depth, hardly any flaws; she and the Doctor get along like breezy best friends, but there's not much of substance about her. Given RTD's reputation as a character writer (especially as concerns Doctor Who), the characterization of Ruby Sunday has seemed more than a little flat. And I can't help but wonder if maybe this is all deliberate.

By this point in the season, when we've hit the halfway point, everyone has a theory about Ruby Sunday. The writing has encouraged the mass theorizing, piling on mystery after mystery with gusto. There are even theories (mostly driven by the fourth-wall breaks in "The Devil's Chord") about the whole season being some kind of misdirect or fakery. But those theories, I think, go slightly too far.

I have theories of my own, of course. My crack theory is that Ruby is either related to the Time Lords or even the Doctor's mysterious species. There is a little evidence for this--her disappearances and reappearances from the timeline, the time loop stuff from "73 Yards"--and it might be true, but I'm starting to shy away from it slightly. Another theory I've seen in this line is that Ruby is part of the pantheon, another god-like being who's been disguised as a human. This seems a little likelier, but I have another idea.

Maestro refers to Ruby Sunday as a "creature" in "The Devil's Chord"--and the word "creature" has the same Latin root as the word "create." I think it's entirely possible that Ruby was created as a trick or a trap for the Doctor, that she's merely an idea that's been given human form. The idea is this: "someone who travels with the Doctor." Fans have already pointed out the numerous parallels Ruby has with other New Who companions--she phones her mum from the future like Rose in "The End of the World"; her existence mirrors the mystery of Clara Oswald in Series 7; she has a lot of the spitfire spunk we've seen from Donna Noble; she even dies and comes back to life like Rory constantly did during his tenure!! Given the teasers we've received for the penultimate episode, "The Legend of Ruby Sunday"--an image of a monitor with the episode's title on it, and [NOTE: I cannot seem to find a source for this; please help!!!!!] a line of teaser dialogue about the Doctor's life playing out on multiple screens [AGAIN: cannot seem to find a source; if you know where teaser dialogue lines for this season were released---or if they're even real--PLEASE LET ME KNOW], it seems to me that the Doctor's life has been studied in order to create the perfect companion, a tailor-made trap for the Doctor and the Doctor alone.

I don't think RTD is stupid enough to pull a "gotcha! it was all a dream/TV show/hallucination!" trick for the whole season, which I know a lot of people are theorizing about. That is a hard needle to thread in the best of situations, and if it doesn't land effectively, then a good chunk of your audience will leave in disgust and never come back. But I think it's very possible you could pull the same trick with one character.

My theory is this: Ruby Sunday is a simulacrum, or hybrid (ha), or something else entirely! But she is not Real. She was created to be thrown away, a lure for the Doctor meant to be eaten or discarded. It might be that she's part of the Doctor's species, but caught by the pantheon (or something else) and changed into a tool or toy or something not-quite-Real. There's been talk about how Doctor Who is gaining more fantastical elements (goblins and gods and so on), and what is more fantastical than a fairy tale? I think the legend of Ruby Sunday is one such fairy tale, and I think I know how it's going to end.

Ruby will, at last, assert herself. She will break free of what she's been created (written) to be, and claim her personhood/characterhood. She will re-enter the world fully herself and fully three-dimensional. She will finally become Real, with all that that implies.

And nothing is more fairy tale than that.

[artisanfuckery]

Sarah Jane Smith in the Five Doctors being like oh you silly dog but I'll do as I please thanks as K9 shouts danger at her many many times will never not be funny to me

[cestacruz]

Pharma shouldve been in TFP if only to make the Synthetic Energon problem an even Bigger problem

[derrygirlstrash]

New reaction I made now that people are realizing Moffat was actually the GOAT of New Who this whole time and actually, maybe he understands this show better than your faves ever did.

[autumnmobile12]

I’m suddenly very concerned about where Dr. Garaki’s notes and scientific journals are. He thought his Jaku City lab was well hidden, and went to great lengths to keep it hidden to the point even his own allies didn’t know where it was, so he probably kept his notes on all his experiments there.

So they were either confiscated by the heroes after the raid or completely destroyed after Shigaraki’s attack.

Personally, the latter is more likely to me because the alternative is they fell into the heroes' hands and I am not confident any government body would destroy ‘invaluable research’ on Quirks and the potential creation of super soldiers.

…

Pro Shouto: There’s been a rise in criminal activity lately and some of the Pros dispatched to deal with it are…wrong. Wrong in that there’s something off about them. I don’t know what it is, but they remind me of Nomu and I know that’s impossible because Garaki has been jailed for years. He can’t be behind this.

Dabi: *still imprisoned, still somehow alive* What happened to the good doctor’s notes, I wonder?

Pro Shouto: Confiscated. Destroyed.

Dabi: You sure? You burn them yourself?

Pro Shouto: …

Dabi: Why the silence, Shou? Is the society you fought for not to your liking?

Pro Shouto: I have to go.

Dabi: Come again soon. It’s fun to watch you squirm.

Pro Shouto: *to the attendant* My brother is ready to go back to sleep.

Dabi: Yes, back to dreaming with me. It’s nicer there, you know. So nice…

[evviejo]

thirteen’s face appreciation: 43/?

[ultraericthered]

Marvel's Spider-Man (2017) Otto Octavius Appreciation Post

Much like Varian, the amount of character development given to this iteration of Doc Ock is displayed here, and it is tremendous.

[tardxsblues]

Doctor Who | 8.05 Time Heist

[ghost-bison]

guys so my mum has been watching shows with me and I have never EVER seen her as drawn and moved by an actor as she is by david tennant. just to tell you, usually she doesn't understand why i'm so obsessed with tv shows and stuff and you'll never catch her crying in front of one. but like two days ago, i showed her the video of david tennant realizing he's won a special recognition award and in the middle she said "this actually brought me to tears". like what!! david tennant what is this power

[cobra-creampuff]

we went over the 14yr long torture session in my last therapy visit actually, and i told her that toward the end i was fantasizing about and then actively considering walking into traffic because if i got catastrophically injured then they would have to treat my pain. and she told me that's not an uncommon thing for people to do. that she has heard that many times before.

like think about that. we are so moralistic about drug use and have politicized a particular type of medicine so much, and doctors are so uncompassionate toward and even suspicious of patients who are in pain because of it, that it's NOT UNCOMMON for people who are otherwise not suicidal to start completely genuinely longing to get hit by a fucking car just for the chance to be oh so graciously provided the absolute bare fucking minimum of care.

think about how many different things have pain as a symptom. how many things have pain as the only symptom the patient is aware of. how many of them are life or death crises. heart attacks. blood clots. strokes. bleeding ulcers. those are just what i can think of off the top of my fucking head, AND I'M NOT A FUCKING DOCTOR.

what i had, for example, feels exactly like appendicitis. and they left it for fourteen years because my only symptom was excruciating pain and i didn't fit their stupid little (completely unsupported by evidence, btw) diagnostic mnemonic. if it had been appendicitis, or anything else as immediately deadly that "just" hurts, i would have fucking died the same night i got sent home from the emergency room with "medical" "advice" to take some tylenol and rest - for the first time, that is. out of dozens. how many people do die that way?

because addicts are Bad. and because doctors are too arrogant and biased to practice medicine on the basis of evidence and informed consent when the profit model and conservative propaganda make it soooo easy to stay in the good old days of paternalism instead.

[radiantlyrey]

I’ve been watching The Church on Ruby Road on repeat all week, and I’m starting to think there’s more going on with the Doctor here than we’re being allowed to see. More after the cut bc spoilers….

I’m starting to think the Doctor we see prior to December 24 is a future version.

Like. Why is the Doctor following Ruby around? Why is he witnessing her accidents? It’s like he seems to know who she is already, but he only asks Ruby her name when they’re on the ladder to the goblin ship. So what’s actually going on?

My current theory: the Doctor was following the goblins, not Ruby. That’s why he landed in front of Mrs. Flood’s, that’s why he was on the roof in the first place. Every Doctor we see prior (except maybe the Doctor on the dancefloor) is a future version.

The cold open Doctor (who is visibly crying; the Doctor who saves baby Ruby in the shot towards the end is not) is a future version. The opening narration implies that the Doctor finds out the name of Ruby’s mother, which the Doctor later in the episode does not do.

On December 22, when Ruby’s band is performing, the Doctor is watching from the back of the pub, and the editing implies that he is watching Ruby. He also has a hat on, which I think might prove to be significant later.

On December 23 at the club, I think there are two Doctors present. One is on the dancefloor having a good time, but the one who catches Ruby’s drink has crossed into his own timeline to do that. He also says Ruby’s bad luck is worse than just bad luck. There are implications there, that he knows more than even we-the-audience know.

Furthermore, I think the Doctor we see get “snowmanned” is the same Doctor who catches Ruby’s drink. (Presumably the other Doctor was still dancing.) He’s watching Ruby and her friends very closely, much like we saw him watching her on the 22nd.

RTD is, I think, doing exactly what Moffat did in Series 5: he is laying the groundwork for some kind of story something that involves the Doctor and Ruby and the coincidences that have woven them together. (For example, the hat might prove to be a Thing in the same way Eleven’s jacket reappearing was in Flesh and Stone.)

Because I don’t think the goblins were ever at any point really after Lulubelle. I think every coincidence (Ruby and Davina McCall both having accidents; Ruby and Lulubelle both being Christmas Eve babies taken in by Carla; maybe even Ruby and the Doctor having Suspicously Similar Origin Stories) was leading up to them taking Ruby as a baby, and only Ruby.

And so. I think RTD (who has already stated that Ruby’s mysterious origins are going to Be A Thing in the upcoming season) is playing yet another Long Game. There is more going on behind the curtain than we yet know, and I honestly can’t wait to find out what it is.

(I am less enthused that we have to wait until FUCKING GODDAMN MAY to find out, but. One thing at a time.)