#Fourth doctor

[natequarter]

he's goofy he's silly he's wacky he's going to kill all life on this planet he's the love of my life. and did i mention he's silly

[pizzacade]

The Fourth Doctor's "apology" letter (with omissions planned by The Brigadier) to the Prime Minister, answering why he didn't attend the dinner at the end of the episode Robot.

[starlightseraph]

this is a sarah jane smith appreciation checkpoint!

[expectiations]

The Doctor, throwing their head into River's lap: Tell me I'm pretty!

River, lovingly stroking their hair: You're pretty fucking annoying, that's what you are.

[doctorwhogirlie]

[unifiedintelligencetaskwhores]

"what does a TARDIS malfunction sound like?"

"idk just dump the entire goofy sound effects library in the span of 10 seconds. That should do it"

[aziraphaleapologist]

i’ve only seen a few episodes of four’s era but i found this outtake and i’m fuckinf crying because of it. why does he say it as if that’s his actual line

[notyoujamie]

And we didn't stop for a second to say, "What the hell?"

[fanonical]

the doctor always has a huge phobia of the thing that killed them in their previous life. five fucking hates heights. four doesn't like spiders. ten is the exception because he is weirdly fond of kissing girls

[haventacluewhatimdoing]

Love that this alien arm is clearly just green bubblewrap. 70s prosthetics I love you

[thepsychiccircus]

Just a few Doctor Who textpost memes I made :D

[claraoswalds]

THE DOCTOR + first words

[pizzacade]

River Song's Guide to Doctors 1-13, from A Short History of Everyone!

I wonder what was so scandalous about her entry about the Thirteenth Doctor that it had to be ripped out😳.

[weedle-testaburger]

this will always be the greatest moment in the history of doctor who documentaries tbh

[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.

[toweringclam]

Alternative responses to "I Love You," expanded Doctor Who edition: