#The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

[evviejo]

thirteen's era appreciation: 426/?

[khruschevshoe]

How Behind-the Scenes Issues Affected the Writing of Doctor Who (Both Good and Bad)

Doctor Who is such a fascinating show to look at from a Watsonian v. Doylist perspective. Like, entirely just from an episode writing point of view:

Twice Upon A Time feels so slow and meandering and even boring in places because Chris Chibnall didn't want to start his run as showrunner and Steven Moffat didn't want the show to lose the coveted Christmas timeslot (ironic, I know) so he bumped the Twelfth Doctor's regeneration from the end of The Doctor Falls (where it makes sense) to the end of the Christmas special

Boom Town (my beloved) only exists because originally there was going to be an episode in its spot explaining that Rose had been molded to be the Doctor's perfect companion (by the Doctor, gross) and the writer didn't have the time to commit to the show

The ending of Last Christmas feels like one inside-a-dream too many because originally Jenna Coleman was questioning whether she was going to leave the show or not and the ending was rewritten after the first readthrough when she decided she wanted to stay for another season

The first five episodes of Season 7 feel like each one takes place in a different genre because that's literally how Steven Moffat pitched it to the writers; for example, A Town Called Mercy was literally pitched as "Doctor Who does a Western"

Not so much a weird one but one I find cool: Eleven's first words and Thirteen's first words were literally written by Moffat and Chibnall respectively, as they were brought in to write the first words of the first Doctors of their runs so as to make it cohesive

The reason why Fourteen isn't wearing Thirteen's clothes when he regenerates is because Jodie Whittaker is much shorter than David Tennant and Russell T. Davies didn't want it to look like he was making fun of the genderfluidity of the Doctor (still think he made the wrong decision, but eh)

Wilfred Mott isn't in the Runaway Bride and Donna's father isn't in Partners in Crime because the actor who played Donna's father, Howard Attfield, died after filming several scenes for Partners In Crime, leading to the character of "Stan Mott" from Voyage of the Damned being written into Partners In Crime as Donna's grandfather

Astrid Peth doesn't die in the original drafts of Voyage of the Damned, but Russell T. Davies wrote what is generally considered one of the most emotional deaths in Doctor Who just because he wanted Kylie Minogue to be able to focus on her music career

Originally Oxygen was written as a prequel to Mummy on the Orient Express, where a corporate representative appeared on a monitor. Said representative was fired for his fumbling of the station and would later live on as the company computer, Gus

During Season 11, Chris Chibnall had to do some major rewrites for many of the one-off episodes, therefore The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos ended up being a first draft that made it to screen. He later admitted it was his least favorite episode of the series

And this is only a fraction of what I found in terms of major behind-the-scenes writing reasons. Though I am still totally willing to critique the product that made it to our screens, finding out the reasons behind some of the more badly written episodes of the show really made me feel sympathy for every showrunner of the show as well as appreciate a lot of the good episodes that ended up here despite the short production schedule/unexpected problems (once again, Boom Town my beloved AND everyone's favorite companion Wilfred Mott only exist because of unforseen problems). Absolutely bonkers, isn't it?

[earlgreydyke]

having never watched the thirteenth doctor, i just caught up to the battle of ranskoor av kolos and i personally love it. i think everyone has really high expectations for a grand finale with multiple parts but i think this was a simple and well executed finale that concluded the season perfectly and the one episode runtime was just right for the narrative.

to me, the episode is a beautiful exploration of faith. the ux are very clearly adopting imagery of the crucifix but are sacrificing themselves for a false genocidal god. they are still able to maintain their faith and with the help of the neural blockers, come to understand that they have gone against the will of their creator, saving five planets (plus earth really!) from destruction in the name of their faith. meanwhile, graham and ryan commit the ultimate act of courage in refraining from avenging the murderer of their loved one in the name of grace. again, a testament to their faith in what they know to be right and what their Grace would have wanted. yaz maintains her faith in the doctor, refusing to leave her side. the doctor maintains her faith in herself. she started this season not able to remember who she was and she ends it fighting the same evil with utter conviction that she can get everyone out of this (all five planets worth of everyone!) she trusts in her intellect and most importantly, she trusts the courage of her companions to abide by their faith (the ux included).

[dandelionjack]

Ryan Why Yes I’m A Hypocrite Didn’t You Know

[thehumanwiki]

rating all NuWho finales based entirely on how cool the titles are

because yea

(putting a read more because this will take a while, lol)

Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways

5/10. Bad Wolf is a cool name! For cool ppl! It’s the season’s mystery! It slays! But The Parting of the Ways? That could be used for like, half of the finales in this show. That’s a generic name. Not a fan. It even has one more “the” than it ought to. That’s a tryhard name. (Rose and The Doc don’t even part ways for another season! It’s a LIE!)

Army of Ghosts / Doomsday

6/10. Army of Ghosts! That’s freaky! It catches my attention! I’m interested, Mr. Davies, tell me more about that! Doomsday is also a generic name though. Like it could be used anywhere. It gets more points than S1 however because Doomsday is a very cool word and I like it a lot.

Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords

8/10. YES. I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THESE TITLES. Utopia? That’s a word that can’t be applied to many other episodes! That’s a memorable word! That’s a fun word! The Sound of Drums? What the hell is so significant about drums?? In a FINALE episode?! There must be something SCANDALOUS about the drums, tell me everything! (And they did! But this isn’t about what happens in the episode this is just how hard the titles fuck.) Last of the Time Lords??? Holy shit! That means we’re delving into that aspect of him specifically, and you can’t duplicate that easily! But more importantly, that sounds cool! Cool names, absolutely W from whoever named RTD’s stuff.

The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End

5.5/10. Same boat as S1, tbh. The Stolen Earth? Excellent, no notes. Journey’s End sounds generic af though. But I gave it a half point lead because Journey’s End has the Vibes more than The Parting of the Ways, lol.

The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang

8/10. Yea I see the vision Mr. Moffat, I see you. Love what you’ve done with the place btw. Like, neither title is generic! And both are super interesting! Look honestly I forget how to do commentary I’m just one sleep deprived fan who likes Vibes they just slap OK

The Wedding of River Song

9/10. Oh. Oh yes. Oh I am LOVING this. Nothing gets me going like seeing a wedding that is somehow the culmination of a high stakes season. Like, how is there a wedding there?! And. River Song is there? Do you promise? 🥺

The Name of the Doctor / The Day of the Doctor / The Time of the Doctor

6/10. OK I’m honestly not sure which ones are finales or not, but y’know what? The name matching is fun. I like that. That is good. But besides the first one, these are p generic episode names. Sorry.

Dark Water / Death in Heaven

8/10. Dark Water is a p good episode name. It’s not the most interesting, but I like it. BUT ***DEATH IN HEAVEN***?! Now THAT is a finale title! I have never SEEN such a title! THAT is an IMMACULATE title! SPLENDID!

Heaven Sent / Hell Bent

10/10. The matching names? The rhyming? The low-key religious theming? The ominous nature? EXCELLENT. No notes Mr. Moffat. Great vibes.

World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls

9/10. I would give this striaght up 10/10 if I could figure out what “World Enough and Time” meant. The vibes are perfect but like. What does it mean 😭 And The Doctor Falls??? OH MY ATTENTION HAS BEEN GRABBED BY THE THROAT DO GO ON PLS—

The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos

4/10. Kolos? What is this, Pokémon XY? Anyways, I feel like this is just dialogue that would be said in passing in a sci-fi novel that everyone forgets. Sorry 😞

Ascension of the Cybermen / The Timeless Children

7/10. Cybermen are OK. It’s a fine title, I have nothing against it. The Timeless Children??? The vibes are just SPLENDID here. Especially because it’s a Bad Wolf situation where it’s like “hey wait a fucking minute I’ve heard that somewhere else—” Good stuff! W for Chris.

Chapter Six: The Vanquishers

6.5/10. Adding chapter to the title does make it automatically cooler, so that’s a bonus half point right there. Otherwise, it’s neat. Like it’s good. The vibes are fine and I like them, but not THAT fine, y’know?

The Legend of Ruby Sunday / Empire of Death

7/10. Look, even if it’s not generic, anything with “death” in the title *feels* generic. The Legend of Ruby Sunday still saves this tho, because I am INTERESTED, girl. TELL ME EVERYTHING

In conclusion, episode titles peaked with Capaldi.

[doctorwhogirlie]

Doctor Who - The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

[glitterypin]

do you have any idea how difficult it is to keep a straight face at this if you're Greek?

[justahumblememefarmer]

Ultimate Doctor Who Poll Round 1 - Matchup 16

Episode Summaries under the cut

124: The Lazarus Experiment - Season 3, Episode 6: The Doctor brings Martha back home after the one trip that he offered her. She turns the tv on to see her sister on the news with an elderly man, Professor Lazarus, who claims he will "change what it means to be human" which intrigues the Doctor. They attend a gala that Martha's sister planned where Lazarus will reveal his invention. Martha's family is there and her mother questions her relationship with the Doctor.

Lazarus steps into his machine and activates it, but the machine begins to malfunction until the Doctor intervenes. When he pulls the plug, Lazarus steps out, no longer an old man, and has successfully reduced his age. When Lazarus takes a woman to his office alone, he changes into a monster and lunges at her. He returns to the party and invites Martha's sister upstairs. The Doctor and Martha discover the body left behind and go to the roof where Lazarus and Martha's sister are. Lazarus turns into a monster yet again and attacks and chases them back down to the party.

The Doctor and Martha manage to use his machine to create a shockwave, appearing to kill him. While Martha and the Doctor check on her family, Lazarus kills two paramedics and retreats to a nearby cathedral. Martha uses herself as bait while Lazarus chases her, while the doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to amplify the sound of the cathedral's organs, causing Lazarus to fall from the top of the cathedral and finally die, transforming back into his elderly self.

The Doctor offers for Martha to travel with him permanently, to which she agrees.

133: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos - Season 11, Episode 10: The Doctor, Yaz, Graham, and Ryan detect a planet with several distress signals coming from it. They land and find that Tzim-Sha, the alien that killed Grace, Ryan's grandmother and Graham's wife. After their initial meeting he was transported to this planet, where he was mistaken as the god of the Ux species, who have intense powers of creation. He convinced them to build the temple as a machine to steal entire planets, compressing them to a small, hand-held size for his trophy room.

Ryan and Graham work to free the crews of the ships that had been sending distress signals, while the Doctor and Yaz manage to convince the Ux that Tzim-Sha is not their god. They help the Doctor return all of their planets to their original location. While Tzim-Sha escapes he runs into Graham, who wants revenge for his killing of Grace. He ultimately decides to shoot Tzim-Sha in the foot, and traps him in one of his own trophy cases, where he will be held in permanent suspended animation.

The Doctor takes the Ux to one of the remaining ships, telling them to explore the universe, and takes off with her crew in the TARDIS.

[foolishlyzephyrus]

unfortunately the battle of ranskoor av kolos is still bad upon rewatch

[thingsasbarcodes]

Doctor Who 11x10 - The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

[evviejo]

requested by @thirteensfavoritetoy >> thirteen under different lighting colours

[doctorwhobracket]

[master-missysversion]

Deja vu

"If you have ever let this creature live, everything that happened today is on you."

[dandelionjack]

every time the writers want to covertly signal that the master is coming back, they introduce a species with only two members of its kind left in the universe (they did this with the tellers in time heist). this time, they even pointed out their exceedingly long lifespans and aptitude for dimensional engineering of living vessels. it may be a cheap trick, but i never tire of it. i never get bored of the other-aliens-as-metaphor-for-some-aspect-of-the-protagonist thing that this show does so well

[thedoctorwhocompanion]

The Most Memorable Thirteenth Doctor Episode Title? Uhm, None of Them. Awkward

The Most Memorable Thirteenth #DoctorWho Episode Title? Uhm, None of Them. Awkward

Doctor Who featured in the last round of the BBC quiz show, Pointless, earlier this week, though the result wasn’t particularly thrilling for anyone. For anyone unfamiliar with Pointless, it’s a series essentially like a reverse Family Fortunes, where the producers survey 100 people and contestants have to find the most obscure answer — to win altogether, you’ve got to find an elusive pointless…

[patwrites]

The writing isn’t any worse than the other 9 episodes this series?? What’s everyone having a cow over this finale for??