#again just david tennant making incredible moves

[neat-crows]

Gotta say that going across the pond with your barely passable (read: atrocious) little American accent to star in the impressively shittier remake of the show YOU were Just In the year before alongside Olivia Coleman is one of the funniest and most iconic career moves I've ever seen

Watching Gracepoint is like watching a Muppets movie version of Broadchurch where David Tennant is the only human and everyone else is a Muppet.

[neil-gaiman]

Hi Neil,

I guess I've been working up to this letter for the last 4 years. I would just like you to know how much I appreciate everything you've done with Good Omens, and I mean that from my heart.

When season one aired, one of my best friends had just moved away, so I had a lot of feelings about Crowley and Aziraphale's friendship and the threat of its loss. And then of course the pandemic hit, and I was home with small children, missing everyone.

It was around this time that I listened to David Tennant's interview with Michael Sheen, where Michael talks about how life is hard, and when you find these things that make you happy you have to hold onto them. "These fragments I have shored against my ruins", etc. And those were such important words for me and allowed me to lean into Good Omens and let it shore me up.

Which it did. I found such a home in the character of Crowley, and I also was lucky enough to find my voice as a writer and enter an amazing creative community of kind and brilliant people. It re-affirmed my own queerness and gave me a framework to better understand it. I now have friends unlike I've ever had in my life and they really have have shored me up in the darkest of times.

A month ago my mom died, and it has been so incredibly hard. But again I found refuge in the story, which insists that the world is worth loving, despite everything. And I feel held by the experiences of you and the other creators, because I know you have been there, I know we are all missing people who are gone.

And in a very basic way the lead up to season two has been a happy place to put my mind, away from my grief,

All the little puzzles and tidbits we've been getting have been a fun game, I have so enjoyed reading the books and watching and listening to things referenced. It has been very soothing to play in a created world, where things have meaning and intentionality, and a message about love.

So thank you and Terry and everyone for creating and insisting on telling this story and being so generous with the fan community. I hope you and yours are well and you are finding joy and love yourself.

Cheers, Elizabeth

That makes me so happy. Thank you. I'm glad it helps.

[nipuni]

Time for an old school blog post, Hello!

Just various updates about life and shows and clothes and some photos! Adding a read more cut because I talk too much 😊

Happy equinox everyone!! The mild weather has been wonderful for daily park walks. We have been taking our meals outside as often as we can to make the most of it before summer scorches the land and all life. The longer days allow for a lot more wandering too but the imminent return of the heat is also making the longing to move up north worse by the day. We miss the choppy ocean and seaside cliffs 😭 We love the silence and the rain and the nippy sea breeze!! it's like being suspended in early spring for half the year and a rainy autumn the other half, Ideal if you don't mind humidity, but that's what wellies and flat caps are for. We have been looking for properties to rent to show up everyday so for now we lie in wait.

Speaking of nature, a few months ago we discovered a free app called Plantnet that you use to take and upload photos of plants, trees, flowers and it will identify them for you. You keep a log with their locations and can share them too to help contribute to each local biodiversity database. It feels like a pokedex for plants. There are many apps like this one to choose from too. It's been so fun learning what all these plants are called and memorizing them! I recommend it, is like a little educational side quest to take on while stretching your legs and getting some fresh air. This is not an ad I promise lmao I just think it's neat! kind of sad feeling the need to clarify that.

This weather is also making me want to start making outfit posts again! It's been so long since I made any!! my winter wardrobe is mostly long wool coats or capes and boots so the inspiration wasn't there but now I'm ready to pull out all my stuff back from under my bed storage and experiment again 👏 I've also been meaning to share some of Nicolas outfits for ages too so there is more variety, could be fun!

Speaking of clothes, lately I've grown more and more frustrated with how poorly most clothes fit me to the point where I'm considering learning how to make them from scratch. I usually have to take in the tops and hem the bottoms but most things I try on are just built weird even if I fix the size, or maybe I'm built weird! I think it may be both. Nicolas also said he would love to learn along with me so we will probably embark on that adventure soon. OH and on a short tangent, I got myself a sort of binder-like top that flattens the chest a bit and I'm loving it! I'm very flat already but what little bust I do have has always bothered me when I dress and I've found I feel a lot more comfortable in this type of top. I'm glad I tried it out so if you feel similarly you may want to give it a go too, see how it feels!

On the media side of things we have also been watching more of David Tennant's work. We are still very much in love with him to an embarrassing degree, you can probably tell if you follow me anywhere, my likes on twitter alone give me away alksjdf and Nicolas isn't any better! if he used social media his would look the same lmao.

Since my last report we have watched and absolutely LOVED "There She Goes" we already want to watch it again honestly. The family dynamics for all his characters are always so real and refreshing!! Their relationship with their wives especially are always so believable in every series we've seen, the comfort and camaraderie, the banter and just friendship! You can tell they enjoy each other's company, it feels true. I love it so much!!

We also watched "Inside man" which was..a very stressful mess but David was incredible as always, also very hot and very pitiful which is always great, and Stanley Tucci was on it! so that's also fun.

Then we rewatched season one of Good Omens and the first 4 seasons of Doctor Who, with all the extra content like the Confidentials, deleted scenes, video diaries and more, they are just so good!! our list of favourite episodes keeps growing, season four is incredible, we are loving all these seasons even more the second time around!! Now we are probably going to start watching either Classic Who or Torchwood, along with more of David's work. We were trying to pick what to watch during dinner the other day and Nicolas was like 'damn, David is not in this though, I miss him' and lmao same so now we just watch one show without him and one with him right after to cope 😂

OH we have also been doing more historical reenactment! Since the last one in the 20's we jumped back to Regency times. We have been putting our outfits together for a ball soon and hopefully another one in autumn in the UK 😊 1800 is the farthest back in time we've been yet so it's been fun doing research, finding pieces and learning the dances in class but also very hectic. I'll share more about this soon!

Then we also have a couple of 1900 events coming soon, so I'll be sharing more Edwardian looks as well, our favourite era!!

Anyway I think that's all for now, thanks for reading to whoever is doing so!! I know this is long and not a popular blogging format anymore but I enjoy it a lot, maybe some of you do too 🥰 I will reply to some messages soon, I'm so sorry I'm so bad at keeping up with those!! I've read them all and cherish every word ��� Thank you for supporting my art and shenanigans as always!! I hope you have a great week!!

[paulrobinsonshotel]

I love RTD's writing, and it was his era that made me fall in love with the show as a kid. When it was announced he was coming back, my reaction was nothing short of ecstasy.

When the rumours began to swirl that we'd be getting a Tennant-centric special with the Doctor regenerating BACK into him, I was very much "please no", but also thinking "surely, RTD wouldn't actually do this. There's NO WAY he'd actually do this".

Then Ncuti Gatwa was announced, amazing, wonderful. He'll be fantastic, no doubt about it.

Then we got the Tennant and Tate 60th announcement. At that point, the cracks began to show. Yes, my favourite companion and one of my favourite Doctors. I was excited, but I was waiting for more. We've already seen David Tennant's Doctor and Donna Noble written by Russell T Davies, and it was great. But for an anniversary special, the things that bring different eras of the show together in celebration of its history... pretty underwhelming.

Then the thing I was dreading most, the Doctor regenerating back into Tennant - something that had been the refuge of obsessives making badly edited fan videos from 2010 onwards - actually happened. And not only that, but he regenerated straight out of Whittaker's outfit into a Tennant-esque one. Ostensibly because RTD didn't want the image of Tennant in Whittaker's outfit to be used to whip up anti-drag or transphobic hate. Despite the fact that 1) Whittaker went out of her way to make her outfit gender neutral, so that all fans would be able to dress up as her Doctor and feel included and 2) surely it's more important to broadcast the message that anyone of any gender can wear any clothes they want, and there's nothing wrong with it?

The initial Tennant/Tate announcement was in May 2022. My initial dissatisfaction was met with responses like "The episodes are ages away, just wait and see". We're fifteen months on, and no further returning characters have been announced. As far as we know, these specials will still be primarily focused on Tennant, Tate and Donna's supporting cast (that said, the one thing in all this I'm happy about is seeing Bernard Cribbins again).

Of course, that doesn't mean there's been no announcements about the episodes at all. Segun Akinola's decided to leave, so we're getting a new composer. That's exciting, I wonder who it'll be? Oh, brilliant, it's Murray Gold. Again. In RTD's own words, "is anyone surprised?". Surprised? No. But fair to say my enthusiasm went from very low to absolute zero.

Gold is great as what he does, but we just had Akinola, an incredibly skilled composer who poured his heart and soul into the show, but was never given a chance by a chunk of the fandom because he tried something different to Gold or just because they didn't like the Chibnall era as a whole. So RTD could've brought in some new talent, with a completely fresh take, but instead chose to bring back yet another person from his era, who did 10 seasons on the show, and the one person the fandom needs to move the fuck on from the most.

So that's a special meant to celebrate 60 years of the show, but specifically focused on one era of it? Coincidentally, the era of the guy writing it?

And for those who dismiss any criticism of this being RTD centric with "But Beep the Meep/The Toymaker!!!", ask yourselves this: If Chibnall stayed on and did the 60th as nothing but a Thirteen and Yaz story, but with Beep/Toymaker, or if Moffat come back and done the same with his characters, would there be anything other than across the board outrage? Classic villains do not an anniversary special make, since we've had them in every season since the revival.

I'm sure the episodes will be genuinely good, and I'll certainly be watching. Any DW is better than no DW, but of all the things they could've done for an anniversary special, this is practically an insult to the show's history.

I'll be patiently waiting for Ncuti Gatwa's era, which looks genuinely new and exciting.

Rant over.

[heartinportuairk]

I went to the final performance of Macbeth last night and I wanted to make some notes for myself so I would remember some things. I only use this account for lurking but I am making this public in case anyone scouring the David Tennant / Macbeth tags is interested in my musings for some reason.

I had been lucky enough to have seen this production three times already before last night - twice in December and once in January - so I have been able to track its journey and pick out what changes night on night and what doesn't. I have found that fascinating. Any changes were minor and pretty much exclusively found in simply the way a line was spoken. For example, the brilliant Noof Oussellam (Macduff)'s "but I must also feel it as a man" was impassioned and angry the first and last times, but the two times inbetween I found it to be more subtle. More sadness, more despair than anger. I guess it comes down to how the actor is feeling it in that point in time and I think it shows a great understanding of the character that they play them in the moment and don't just mimic themselves night after night.

The other great thing about going multiple times is viewing it from different angles. I saw it from all sides, twice from the stalls and twice from the front row of the circle. Honestly, circle was better, especially for Macbeth's death in the closing moments. You do not get the effect of the blood seeping out from under him from the stalls and I tell you now, that image from above sears itself onto your brain.

All of the actors are incredible and have been from the start, but there were a few times last night where I could feel them step up their game. Like they knew it was the last time they were going to say that line (at least for a while) so they were going to give it their all.

One of those times was Macbeth's "tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy which had always been brilliant and very moving, but about which something was a little different last night. The quiet, raw emotion in that speech felt as though it had been ramped up (or down??) a notch and was so palpable that it brought a tear to my eye.

Another moment came from Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene. Again, always brilliant and always moving but somehow desperately sadder this time around. I wanted to give that murderous, conniving fiend a big hug.

The Porter:

The porter scene is funny but obviously not as much when you know what's coming. Which is why when somebody in the audience yelled out "who's there?" right before he got a chance to say his "ok seriously do none of you understand the concept of a knock-knock joke?" line last night, it was both a shame and a blessing. I felt a bit bad for the guy!

"Alright, you've seen the show before! That was my favourite-... and it's the final show!"

But what followed was a hilarious bit of improvisation and it changed things up a bit, especially as Laura the sound engineer proceeded to make his job even harder with the timing of the sound effects that followed. It meant I was able to enjoy the porter scene as much as I did the first time, but like I said, I did feel a bit bad that his favourite line got taken away from him! (It wasn't me who called out, by the way.)

David bloody Tennant:

I've not seen much Shakespeare live (I want to remedy that, I have become completely obsessed), but I can believe people when they say David Tennant is arguably the greatest Shakespearean actor of his time. You can tell he feels and understands completely the meaning behind the words he is saying. He's not just reciting, not just reeling it off. The pauses, the intonations, the passion, sadness, grief, guilt behind every line just shows his deep understanding of the character and his innermost thoughts. On that stage, he is Macbeth.

What's more is you can tell he absolutely delights in it. Anybody who knows anything about DT knows he loves Shakespeare and it is glaringly evident when he is out on stage. He puts everything he has into it and it is wonderful to witness.

He is truly an amazing actor and a treasure and I have been so delighted to watch his career somehow continue to hit new highs of late. Everything he touches seems to turn to gold. As many have said before me, this really is David Tennant's world and the rest of us are just living in it.

The bows:

The reception this group of actors received at the end of the performance was phenomenal and no more than they deserved. Everybody on their feet, whooping, cheering. A lot of noise coming from such a small audience. The cast were both playful and tearful. To see some of the actors get a bit emotional was very touching and I hope that was, at least in part, due to the love and admiration pouring out of us and on to that stage.

[phyrexian-lesbian]

Final Take on Series 14/Season 40

(It will never be season one cry about it)

Alright so Space Babies brings the while season down at least 50% so we're gonna ignore that episode- which is also useful advice for anyone watching Doctor who.

Excluding space babies, there are a handful of episodes that, stand-alone, are really good. Of course, there'd never be more than a handful because the international franchise pairing with corporate overlords only had time for 9 episodes apparently.

In fact, I like most of the season, considering I don't watch them as a season. Church on Ruby Road was interesting, playing with the idea of magic and the Timeless Child arc.

The Devil's Chord was fun and intriguing, playing with the gods and monsters idea again, and having cool 4th wall breaks and a fun villain. Its drawbacks were the stupid fucking musical number that rtd wrote with no canon reason other than "Maestro's influence", which is a repeat of what he did with the 60th (writing utter bullshit and pinning it on a stupid fucking cause that makes 0 canon sense).

Boom was incredible. For starters, it was written by someone who wasn't rtd, so that's amazing. Also, as a theatre kid, having tur central actor unable to move their body for the entire performance tickled my brain in all the best ways. All in all, it felt like an episode from 12's era, when Doctor was at its peak for me. Great episode. Made me hopeful for the future (hahahaha😶)

73 Yards was also incredible (ignoring the finale). It heightened that (false) sense of mystery surrounding Ruby, and ramped up the horror subtheme started by Wild Blue Yonder. I really enjoyed it, and it was a great story. Felt a lot like Heaven Sent, which is am achievement (All of this praise is for the standalone. RTD pissed all over his good writing with the finale, and 73 Yards was ruined by EoD).

Dot and Bubble played with some interesting ideas but was kinda meh. It was a cool reality to see 15 suffer racism (bit like 13 suffering misogyny), and it was good to see the Doctor mad again.

Rogue was very cool, and I thought it was great. Made me wish we had a Thasmin kiss tho.

Legend of Ruby Sunday, aka the good half of the finale, was very interesting. All the mystery and the magic and the reunions. They dismissed the whole bigeneration plot line, and the fact that 15 didn't see any of this shit coming meant that the bigeneration plot line was completely fucked. 14 and 15 aren't the same person in a looped time line. They're just clones of each other. The whole "therapy" situation is utter bullshit. RTD just can't kill t*nnant for shit (fr love David Tennant in other stuff and as a person in general just getting sick of him in Dr who). Sutekh's reveal could have been handled a bit better, but overall his entrance gave me chills. Loved that. Just needed a bit more detail on how he avoided the TARDIS sensors for two thousand years.

And finally, the episode that untied all the others from each other, Empire of Death. The mystery that terrified Maestro, the God of music and revels, and caught the obsession of Sutekh, the God of death and eternity, was utter bullshit. Ruby's mum is just some guy. A nice thought- we thought she was some godlike entity but she was just an ordinary human. Except. We didn't think that. RTD wrote that. The snow, the "song in her soul", the fact that Ruby's mum couldn't be perceived with anything but the naked eye, not even with Time Lord equipment- that's all superhuman shit. You can't explain that away with "she's normal". That's not how it works. Oh and the God of literal actual Death was defeated by a real good dogleash? Nah man. If you want us to take things seriously, don't pull shit like that. Also they defeated him literally the same way they did last time, adding the aforementioned dog leash. Also the fact that her mum is just normal means that the whole mystery about the specter's words in 73 yards is just... pointless? Completely useless?

Also, no one names their daughter by pointing at a sign (that wasn't there in the original shot).

And Ruby's exit was so nothing. I didn't feel a single thing. There was no emotional connection to the character. She left of her own directive. After 9 45minute episodes. Don't know if people honestly were emotional about that, because there was nothing there.

Overall, good episodes. Bad season.

[quietwingsinthesky]

I completely agree with your post about 11 and how well Matt Smith embodies the exact necessary tone/expression for each beat of the script! I can't imagine someone else being able to bring to life that incarnation of the Doctor. Obviously 11's era and writing has its misgivings and flaws, but I still find a lot of joy rewatching those episodes, because you see this scared, lonely doctor who's still so enthusiastic and hopeful, even when the grief and rage gets to him. It's like seeing those emotions reflected in you, and a reminder that you'll feel that hope and appreciation for life/nature again, too. I think that emotional catharsis and sincerity is the heart of doctor who and what attracts us all to the show, to be given reminders that compassion and hope are a strength, not a weakness. Seeing his expression change during that part of The Doctor's Wife always, always moves me because of the kind of honor and awe that dawns on 11's face at his tardis using the exact words he uses to describe how he stole her. It's such beautiful, tender reciprocity between two beings that couldn't communicate their feelings in this way until right then 💜

yeah, couldn’t have worded it better myself if i tried.

i think i’ve said before that eleven is my least favorite doctor, but i need to make it clear that that doesn’t even come close to me disliking him, or even feeling neutral about him. he’s still incredible, like if we put these guys on a line from bad to amazing, all of them are so close to the amazing side that you’d have to zoom in to see the order. he’s just got the unfortunate fate of being in the weakest seasons of the show that i’ve seen so far, but if i was judging this solely off of the performance of the doctor himself? he’d be tied right there with david tennant, if not above him.

no matter the quality of the writing, matt smith is bringing his A game to the table. tennant’s performance before him has moments where his doctor is serious and cold, but he’s so generally affable that those moments sort of slide off to the sides. not that you forget about it, but that it feels like a lesser part of him. and matt smith’s performance follows that with a doctor who is silly and energetic and sweet, but I think he pulls off keeping the harder parts of the doctor to swallow in mind, the scary sides of his grief and anger. some of my favorite scenes for eleven are when he’s given the space to show the full range of the doctor. the two that really come to mind are obviously that moment in the doctor’s wife, and my other stand-out favorite, his scenes with river in angels in manhattan, where we watch him lash out at her when he’s scared and angry at the fact that it was her name on the book that’s fated his friends to be pulled from him, and then a scene later, he heals her wrist by sacrificing what little regeneration energy he has left, because he does love her, he does know he was wrong to let her be hurt, but he also doesn’t ask if he can do this to fix things beforehand and upsets her again.

it’s just such a delicate balance to pull off there to make that scene work, and he does it perfectly, brings across both how much potential he has as the doctor to hurt and to heal the people he loves. i think, in the hands of any other actor, i would find eleven really hard to watch, really unlikeable. but just like he manages to never let you forget those unbearably painful parts of the doctor’s personality, you also never doubt that, even when he lashes out at the people around him, he loves them so much. he’s just. you know. Going Through It.

(also, personal touch, i so love how physically affectionate he portrays the doctor to be. it’s a small touch that means the world to me. really pulls the whole thing together when you know this man is just jumping for an opportunity to hug and hold onto and kiss the people around him. rory getting a forehead kiss when the doctor sees him for the first time in months, my beloved, rotating that moment in my head forever.)

there’s just so much going on with him. he was a fantastic doctor. (hell, all the people that have gotten to play the doctor so far have been, in my eyes, which is astounding to me. just straight bangers the whole way through, i’m incredibly impressed by how much love and work you can see go into these performances.) i think if i rewatch his seasons again, knowing exactly what to expect this time around, i’ll enjoy them much more than i did the first time.

sorry for rambling on so long, but i just need it known how much i really do love eleven. i needed a bit to warm up to smith, i’ll admit, but he earned every last bit of praise i can give him.

[darklinaforever]

I have to say that after taking a look at the Doctor Who fandom, I am quite shocked at this insistence of some people in wanting to absolutely specify that Tentoo is in fact a clone of the Doctor ?!

We have seen clones in this series and clearly Tentoo is not one of them. So, what is this insistence on contradicting the canon ? Tentoo is simply the doctor.

Our doctor himself doesn't even seem to dissociate himself from Tentoo ! He recognizes it as him.

That's all. It comes from the regeneration energy itself and from the hand of our doctor. It's not a clone ! Having already seen them in this universe should tell you this simple fact.

In the words of David Tenant : "It's the same guy." Yes, I know he also says "But clearly he's not.", but that's probably in the sense that he's no longer our doctor. Same guy, but separated after the regeneration in different bodies, including one human, which offers them different opportunities. Once again, the only notable difference is that he's human, influencing his decisions after regeneration. Even if the regeneration itself naturally involves some minimal changes at Tentoo : The fact of being a little more like Nine, logical, since regenerated in the middle of the war after being shot and dying. Plus a few expressions from Donna, as he always takes from his companions after regeneration. But apart from a few minor changes, he remains the doctor. He is the Tenth Doctor who evolved in another direction after the regeneration that made him human. As simple as that. I mean... Have you seen how David Tennant plays him ? He doesn't play a new doctor with a new personality. No. He simply plays his character, as he always has.

I can't understand people who accept the very essential concept of Doctor Who as that what makes the Doctor are his memories and experiences (the very essence of an individual according to the universe itself), and not his body or his personality ! By the fact what makes Tentoo less of a doctor than everyone else outside of the first Ten ?!

Yes. This situation is sad for our doctor, the first ten, who will be forced to move on in relation to Rose. (His final moments of just him with Rose being their reunion hug, when they briefly teasingly discuss Rose building the canon to come back, and when they hold hands facing Davros.) But it's a scenario that makes sense with the writing of the series. It was that or Rose ends up unhappy, or worse, dies. It's the ultimate way to have a happy ending despite the inevitable tragedy for Rose and the Doctor's relationship. We have the right to a tragic and happy ending at the same time. Can you imagine how crazy and unique this is in Doctor Who ?!

And beyond that, I don't see why Tentoo should be denied. He is a living being who remains the same man with the same desires. Except that he can achieve them unlike his counterpart. Again, it's tragic, but it's also happy. Somehow, even if Ten had to die/regenerate to evolve and mourn who he was, a version of himself, in a parallel universe, was able to survive and obtain everything he always wanted. It is particularly moving. Whether directly or symbolically, especially in the context of the romance with Rose. It is literally his love for Rose, and his desire to be human, which also came from Rose when she renewed her love for the human race, that he prevented regeneration and caused by an incredible chance his biological metacrisis ! But I won't go into it because others have done it much better than me. The only thing I will say about it in this post is that it is objectively one of the best romances ever written. (Let's forget the episode with Madame de Pompadour...)

[plantsjustwannahavefun]

It's just occurred to me that I've never been in a dying fandom before while I was at the peak of hyperfixating on said fandom. And nothing has prepared me for that peculiar kind of grief it brings.

Because I still remember the height of OFMD two years ago. I remember all of the internet going crazy about it. There was a good 3-4 months when everyone who's even remotely chronically online in geek or queer spaces had heard of it. And the thing is, geek and queer spaces don't always intersect this much. Well they do to a degree, but I mean, I first heard about OFMD on Reddit. It's a lot more of a geek space than it is a queer one. The OFMD subreddit has a... pretty different vibe than OFMD fandom on Twitter or Tumblr or AO3. And yet, still, it seemed like for a few short, glorious months, OFMD has been The Thing on the internet, even on Reddit. Despite being so relatively tiny and niche and decidedly Not Mainstream™. I still remember that Comic Con with Con and Nathan in August 2022. I remember exactly where I was when I watched it. I'd blocked off time to watch it live. I'd actually bought a fucking ticket instead of just waiting for someone to upload it to YouTube, which is what I was used to doing with comic cons that featured David Tennant or some of my other favourite actors (well it did help that they let us by digital tickets for streamed panels this time, but still). I still remember how insanely excited I was, sitting down for that panel like it was this major Event. Like Eurovision or smth. And then several other comic cons. It was all so fresh. The fanbase was rabid (in the best way possible). And the cast was so in for it. The fan fiction had been flowing with abandon. The era of Hell or High Water. I'd never been part of an ongoing fic with such a massive readership, either. It was one of the cult fics in the fandom. The sheer excitement of getting a notification of a new chapter and making an event out of reading it, savoring it until the weekend, even. And then discussing it on Discord. That was what being part of a fandom was supposed to feel like.

And now it's dying. Slowly, but it is. It's never going to get a barrage of headlines again. It's never going to pull tens of thousands of Tumblr reblogs again. Sure, we're still getting bts (bless Samba Schute). There's still some engagement, more than most other fandoms would have retained by now, and that's incredible in its own right. But it's still a shadow of its former self. And it's never going to be the same again.

And it's fine. That's just how it is. Nothing lasts forever. People always move on, and it's not a bad thing. That's just life. I know I'm going to move on some day, too. Just not quite yet. I'm not ready yet. And it feels heartbreaking. Because the fandom's life was cut short. We should have had one more glorious cycle with S3. But we didn't. And that's the worst part. It wouldn't have been so hard to move on if we'd actually got closure. And now we never will. OFMD will never really have concluded, it will just slowly trickle out and fade away. A whimper, not a bang. And that's what's killing me.

[stairset]

Aight literally just woke up and watched the new Ahsoka trailer so quick rundown of my incredibly tired thoughts:

She did the throw-sabers-into-floor-and-make-a-hole move again so that’s neat

Live-action Hera looks pretty good based on the two shots we got of her. Which I figured she probably would cause it’s not like we don’t already have plenty of twi’leks in live-action but still.

Looks like they recreated the Rebels epilogue Almost Exactly except Ahsoka and Sabine both have different outfits and Sabine has different hair but in the various promo pics she has the exact hair and armor from said epilogue so. Whatever maybe she just cuts it. Which thank god cause long hair does NOT work on Sabine like it just looks wrong. 

Unexpected Mon Mothma appearance is unexpected.

Makes me anxious that they only showed Thrawn from the back. I NEED to know if his makeup actually looks good or if they made him look like Blue Man Group.

Cheeky mythology gag calling him “Heir to the Empire” is appreciated though

Ezra’s seasons 3-4 outfit looks stupid in live-action but that’s not on this show cause it looked stupid in Rebels too. Hopefully when we see him in the present day they’ll finally let him be at least somewhat fashionable.

Surviving Inquisitor?

I knew they’d bring David Tennant back as Huyang. He’s too popular not to.

The way she holds her sabers in this is really awkward looking like her hands are super close to the top of the hilt. Literally never seen lightsabers held that way before. Like girl get your fingers away from those blades.

Coming in August which is about what I expected. And that gives me plenty of time to rewatch Rebels before it comes out so that’s cool.

In conclusion:

[denimbex1986]

'Doctor Who drew in a peak of 6.2M viewers for Ncuti Gatwa's much-anticipated debut as the 15th Time Lord on Saturday.

The third and final special to mark the sci-fi series' 60th Anniversary saw David Tennant's brief return to the role end when he regenerated into Sex Education star Ncuti, 31.

However, all was not as it seemed as a huge twist saw both versions of the Doctor remain on screen, in a huge move away from tradition on the long-running show.

The much-anticipated episode pulled in around 4.5million average viewers with a peak of just more than 6million, according to new overnight ratings.

In comparison, Jodie Whittaker's last ever episode as she bowed out of the role only racked in 3.6million average viewers with a peak of 4million.

Ncuti's debut came when 'creepy' returning villain The Toymaker, played by Neil Patrick Harris, shot David's Doctor through the chest, forcing him to regenerate.

The Toymaker had turned human beings on Earth mad, before challenging the Doctor to a deadly game - which put the planet at stake - forcing the Time Lord to accept to try and save Earth.

Shooting the Doctor, The Toymaker said: 'I played one game with the First Doctor, I played the second with this Doctor, so your rules declare that I must play the third game with the next Doctor!'

His companions Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and the returning Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford) ran over to support him as he regenerated, with fans expecting that to be the end for David's character.

Melanie reassured him: 'You're going to be someone else, it doesn't matter who, because every single one of you is fantastic!'

While David tearfully said: 'It's time, here we go again! Alonzee,' as he expected to be replaced, but a huge twist saw his character remain alongside his new incarnation.

As he remained after the regeneration, he asked Donna and Melanie: 'Could you, pull? It feels different this time,' and as they yanked on his arms, Ncuti shot out of him and the two Time Lords stood alongside each other in a massive twist.

Making his hotly-anticipated debut, Ncuti's Doctor shouted: 'No way!' as he laid eyes on David, moving away from tradition which normally sees one Doctor replace another upon regeneration.

David said: 'You're me,' while Ncuti replied: 'No, I'm me. I think I'm really, really me! Oh-ho-ho I am completely me!'

When asked what had happened, Ncuti's Doctor said: 'Bi-generation, I have bi-generated. There's no such thing, bi-generation is supposed to be a myth, but-!'

The pair of Doctors then used their talents to face off with The Toymaker together and incredibly managed to beat him at his own game, sending the villain out of existence forever.

David's Doctor said: 'Best of three, and my prize, Toymaker, is to banish you from existence, for ever!'

'No, you can't. But I - not fair, please,' the Toymaker said, before giving the ominous warning: 'My legions are coming.'

However, it appears that it is not the end, as a mystery hand was seen picking up the Toymaker's gold tooth as it was left behind - after The Toymaker had told the Doctor how he defeated villain The Master and trapped him in the tooth.

After banishing The Toymaker from the world, both David and Ncuti's versions of the character stayed on screen, and went back to the TARDIS with Donna.

David asked Ncuti: 'How's this going to work, you and me?' as the huge twist saw two Doctors remain after a regeneration for the first time ever.

Ncuti told him: 'You're thin as a pin love, you're running on fumes,' before urging him to slow down and 'stop' rather than running and travelling in the TARDIS.

Ncuti then paid tribute to a whole host of former companions, including the late Elisabeth Sladen, who portrayed Sarah Jane Smith and sadly died in 2011.

'Sarah Jane has gone, can you believe that for a second?' Ncuti said as they sweetly paid tribute to the iconic actress.

Ncuti then told David's Doctor to try and lead a life of his own, to which David said: 'I've never let the TARDIS go, never, that would hurt.'

In another huge twist, Ncuti managed to transform the one TARDIS into two separate time machines as a 'reward' for them winning the game against The Toymaker, under his rules where games override logic.

The episode ended with Ncuti heading off for more time-travelling adventures in the TARDIS, while David stayed on Earth with Donna and her family in a sweet happy ending for David's character after he briefly returned to the role.'

[evviejo]

(I'm not trying to start a fight, I'm genuinely curious about your thought process, and I'm hoping that if you're actually wanting to be excited about the next rtd era, this'll help)

I'm fascinated by the "creative decisions" take. The only things that have been announced about the RTD2 era are things he's absolutely had to announce because they were going to start filming in public and it was otherwise going to leak. There's definitely more coming that we don't know about (according to DWM, we know literally nothing about the second special, no anmouncements or leaks or trailer footage have pertained to it). Plus, he's starting with the 60th anniversary, of course there's going to be a lot of returning stuff, and at the moment, that's all that exists to leak. Even considering what little we do know, not everything's just from his own era (Beep the Meep and the Celestial Toymaker, for instance). Even with DT returning, the Doctor's never returned to an old face before, that concept itself is new, and they're obviously going to explore it in more depth.

And then, of course, there's season 14 proper, where the only things we really know is casting information, and even that's confirmation that David Tennant and Cathrine Tate are only around for the 60th, and the show will be moving in a new direction afterward.

I get not being excited based on what we've seen, but we also haven't seen that much, and the assertion that what we've seen in 2 trailers a year ahead of release of an anmiversary special is all we're getting for the whole era, and that therefore the entire era will be "uncreative" and "just doing RTD1 again" doesn't make sense to me.

well, sure, we don't have that much, but so far the only thing that to me seems remotely different than things we've seen before is casting ncuti, because we've never had a poc play the doctor full time.

other than that - an anniversary special can very well be done with callbacks to the past without having the doctor regenerate to an old face (which just happens to be the one of the most popular doctor to date) and act exactly like he used to 13 years ago (as far as we've seen so far). going back to an old companion, having a new companion that so far looks incredibly basic (and boring, tbh). "rebooting" the logo so that it looks like the one from the 1980s painted blue. the point of the show to me is to continue growing and evolving, and so far i stuggle to see anything of the sort. and the beauty of time travel is they can get old doctors back without inexplicable regenerations into old bodies.

and don't get me started on costume decisions - the regerating clothes and the way rtd tried to explain it, the bland costume they put ncuti into.

basic, boring, completely unexciting imho.

but again, this is me. i don't expect everybody to agree, i don't want to start a fight either, i'm just going to whine in my little corner of tumblr between making gifs of the era i love.

[televinita]

Litvinenko, A Summary

A plodding, by-numbers effort that is markedly less enthralling and – perhaps more importantly, given that the murder of an innocent man is the pivotal event – less moving than the real-life unfurling was. His extraordinary poisoning-then-death played out, by Alexander Litvinenko’s own design, on the front pages to bring home the horror of it and Putin’s regime. This four-part drama, which should have made him live again, is a dreary shadow of a thing that largely dispenses with Litvinenko himself by the end of the first episode, then focuses on what cannot have been quite as dull a police procedure as they depict it. (x)

The Guardian is correct and they should say it. Genuinely, there are so many ways this miniseries could have been made interesting (insert flashbacks! or start earlier! let me get to know the man, show me his earlier work, their relationship; make me invested in WHY his widow is fighting this hard for public attention and justice!), and it just flops after episode 1.

Heck, even episode 1 is really only worth watching if you're like "shame David Tennant got too famous too soon to ever guest star on a medical drama as the patient of the week," or perhaps you want a visual on "so here's the AU where Tentoo gets himself into the kind of situation End of Time Ten did, now without the healing power of regeneration." The first couple of scenes are the best in the entire 3-hour runtime and it is all downhill from there.

I will allow that the Russian accent IS quite good; I kept staring at the screen like “I know this isn't dubbed, but AM I SURE??”...but that's about it. And it's still an incredibly dull interview, which, I cannot believe I got snookered into another "Criminal" situation because I didn't vet the product first.

Bottom line: truly the dullest police procedural crossed with political posturing you can imagine.

[okaystoptellingmetomakeanaccount]

OKAY ALRIGHT EVERYBODY LISTEN. No more just posting thoughts in tags. It is time to explain why The Shadow War is better than Last Crash of the Sunchaser.

Last Crash is obviously beloved for all the emotional stuff. It’s where all the tension that had been building up through the season (kinda) snaps. It was not actually building up. It was shows a little bit and most of it is done in this episode. And it’s very well done I mean it feels like this has always been a thing, even if the show has just made it up. But it does feel like l of this emotional baggage has always been on these characters. The balancing of the Sunchaser signifying whenever everyone is emotionally stable/the plane itself is literally stable is a fucking genius move. Gotta say that. Sunchaser is a very good episode. But it’s not without faults.

That emotional stuff. It’s what everyone loves this for, and why it’s so beloved. But it only really happens in the last 10 minutes. The rest of the episode is a lot of silliness. Everybody always ever talks about those last emotional 10 minutes. Never about the rest of the episode. Which is good fun, but remember that people don’t love this episode. They love the last half of it.

A critique I’ve seen from the FS that I agree with is with a small scene from Scrooge’s flashback. The moment where he spends all his money to find Della. Like that is supposed to be the biggest of sacrifices, but the show hasn’t really done anything to make us feel that. If you’ve read some comics you know how much Scrooge loves his money, but that doesn’t work with this Scrooge. DT17 Scrooge just does not care as much about his money. He cares more about the adventure. That’s made very clear by the show, and so this specific scene just doesn’t hit the way it should have. I would say it’s unsuccessful at what it’s trying to achieve if you are just a normal watcher.

Now, the spear of selene itself is also a bit silly. “Yo mama was a doofus and flew a rocket into space without caution and she died. Btw i build the rocket. Why? Idk, thought she would like it.” Be honest, it’s a very silly thing to have this very well executed drama about, if you deconstruct it even a little bit.

The reason for the fall out of the family is silly, but the fall out itself is masterful. I gotta say that. We all know that. The way it mirrors the end of chapter 11 of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is genius, and how it recreates the uber famous Scrooge panel where he sits is his chair, mwah, chefs kiss, ten chefs kisses. “I am”? David Tennant i could fucking kiss you. How the comic book panel it’s recreating has Scrooge saying that he wants to be alone, and then have him saying here that he is happy being alone again while obviously lying. I mean in the vacuüm of the show you don’t see that and it’s just a good emotional scene, but with the comics in mind these last few minutes work extra well. Which in this case is fine, because it doesn’t rely on the comics to be impactful.

The emotional fall out that comes from it with the duck family is masterful, but also, we see most of that not here. Because here is where last crash of the sunchaser ends. The rest of this incredibly great drama happens in the next two episodes.

Why The Shadow War is a fucking masterpiece.

The Shadow War does what ducktales does best. When it’s at its peak. When it is not relying on anything else. When it’s not adapting any source material, and manages to use Barks’ stupendously versatile characters (and Webby) in these amazing original stories that cannot be told via any other medium than this. When it uses it’s own specific style of storytelling. Full of comedy, satire, heart, adventure and drama. Always in the spirit of the comics, but never the same in storytelling.

We have two plots running here. Scrooge who is getting interrogated by Lena/notMagica and the rest of the family on Donald’s boat.

The family stuff continues the drama exceptionally well. We see how Huey Dewey and Louie try to cope with the situation. Huey and Dewey go for the extreme and want to cut any relation as far from their lives as possible, while Louie doesn’t yet feel like we should go this far for just one thing. (He’s the one that cares the least about the mystery of his mom after all, or at least is the best at hiding that he cares, as we see in season 2) Webby feels similarly. She is upset with Scrooge, duh, but he was just not feeling it that day. She has already forgiven him. Very Webby thing to do. She tries her best to rekindle the family together with Launchpad and her grandmother. But what is important is that for her, this is not just the family as it is for everyone else. This is her family. And it is her only family. She has lived for years in isolation and while she loves her granny dearly, she never had a greater family. Now she finally does, and it is already slipping away from her. Already it is falling apart.

The ducks have always been about family. Donald Duck comics are always about family, unlike Mickey Mouse comics, which have always had a bigger focus on friendship. This is a clear point throughout the entire show. Here is where we can really feel it well. Like when watching we almost became a part of the duck family. Webby through the series has always been our little viewer insert. She knew the duck family from the start, but only as these legendary far away figures. For most English speaking viewers, it’s like having heard about these old comics that were apparently amazing, inspired so many things, but having never actually read them. Now through the series both Webby and the viewer finally get to experience these kinds of things up close. It’s not the same as the tales, but it feels just right. Now the season is ending. Angones has told that they went into every season like it was their last. Never expect to be able to do more. Disney is a difficult company. The showrunners were feeling as much as they could possibly lose the duck family as the character they wrote, and when watching you just feel that, but translated through an exciting finale.

The family drama continues on a surface level really well too. I could just quote all the lines those waterfowls are quacking on that boat and it should be enough to convince you. It manages to talk about a shared loss which especially the younger characters find difficult to deal with, and when the understanding comes, it’s really compelling. A lot of the boat scenes are also really funny.

The Scrooge plot then. notMagica has been looking forward to this for centuries. The great warrior Scrooge McDuck, richest duck in the world, stronger than the strongiest, smarter than the smartest. She walks in through Lena’s body (which is excellently terrifying) and he’s depressed as fuck. It’s like an exaggerated version of what Artibani showed in L’ultima avventura. Only there he had lost his money. We know DT17 Scrooge isn’t comics Scrooge, and DT17 Scrooge has lost what he has most dear. His family.

notMagica manages to slap some sense into Scrooge (kinda) (also make comic references) (can i also say how much i appreciate the dutch translation of this show? They catched all the references and more. Like for example in this episode; Plain Awful is not literally translated, but is given the name Doffe Ellende like in the original decades old translations. Same with crown of the mongols, which is specifically renamed to crown of genghiz khan to reflect the title of the translated comic), but simultaneously manipulates him to keep him weak, without the thing he actually needs. Like Tennant’s other character would say: ‘brilliant’.

And then i mean when notMagica rises from the shadow magic eclipse thing. Thats the sickest fucking thing ever.

Then Lena undoes the Magica manipulating by being real and saying things. What a legend. I love speeches. Don’t you love speeches?

Also it’s often very funny.

The second part of shadow war. The day of the Doctor Ducks.

I’m not gonna talk about how the shadows coming alive are actually an allegory for some kind of societal problem. They’re just really great funny shadows. I’m sorry.

This episode is primarily the end of Lena’s arc. All of her trust issues, probably existential crisises and all the shit she went through before this, it gets all capped off here. ‘Cuz she dies. Kinda. I dont feel like writing about Lena. There are already way too many texts about Lena. Point is, here is where it all comes together.

Here is also where the family drama started in last crash finds its climax. It might have been cooked up in last crash, but here is where we truly see to what it has lead, with the destroyed money bin as a physical example of the falling out of the family.

We cant go without talking about the Barksian modulator in the room; Donald’s voice. So eh. Not gonna talk about any behind the scenes stuff that may or may not have happened. I don’t have anything against it. It feels like a blown up version of the more heroic side of comic Donald. People say it feels like PK, which i kind of agree with, but thats just because of the general hero direction. There is nothing i find distinguishly PK about it. I dont know what to think of naming it after Barks.

But then the most important point. The entire episode is just full of epic. Donald does his thing, the kids do a little detectiving which builds up to the big reveal for them related to Lena. And then when the fight comes we see all the best parts. The outstanding action, lighting, scenery. The comedy from both notMagica and HDL, which flawlessly flows into Webby’s speech about her losing everything. Then notMagica giving her anti-speech. Lena’s dramatic sacrifice and Webby’s reaction immediately after. The entire climax is simply amazing. The first half of shadow war is very cleverly and intricately build up, while the second half finishes all that it needs to in the neatest bow imaginable, while having fun with making everything cool asf. It never misses a single beat and all the best qualities of the show shine like coins out of Scrooge’s money bin freshly cleaned by Donald. The irony and satire is sharper than the sharpies, the emotional scenes are stronger than the strongies (real word i swear) and the way it just does everything is done smarter than the smarties. Or whatever he says in English.

Then the cliffhanger dude. We see the camera focus on the moon while the music fades its original tone and plays those legendary 4 notes from the ducktales video game in what already sounds as the wonderful rendition of the song we will be hearing in the later upcoming season. Then the following 6 notes play, and the rocket, a tv, and then Della Duck is revealed.

You better vote for The Shadow War. It’s Ducktales 2017 at it’s very best. Peaktales fr.

Thank you for reading my ‘essay’. I forgot what else i wanted to write. Euh. Bwe. Shadow your wars or something.

ROUND #1

[rowanthestrange]

RTD explaining why he didn’t put Then-Three in Thirteen’s outfit, is not an excuse. It is his genuine thought process.

Nobody has to like it, I don’t like it, I understand his reasoning but I would still have done it anyway.

But no, damn it, the trans rights campaigner is not transphobic for fearing the British public’s transphobia.

Look. Have a moment of honesty with me right here. Is there not even a teeny-weeny bit of you that wanted Ten-Three in 13’s clothes because you think it would look a bit funny. Because it would have, that’s why we made funny art about it.

I do not think it’s beyond the pale, for Russell to know that would be the case, and go, ‘No. I don’t want that to be a laughing matter.’

The episode he’s got next has a trans character in it. Deliberately casted as trans. This will be a feature. Considering that it is something that will be handled seriously, him not wanting to start off on the foot of ‘ha ha man look funny in lady’s clothes’ is understandable.

Again, I think it would have been alright, but it’s understandable he is afraid of this. He has been incredibly vocal about trans people and trans issues, he has not been sat idly by as trans people are being attacked as Britain becomes TERF Island, please take a moment to understand what a gay man of his age is thinking seeing all this, people’s reactions, the legislation, he’s watching time run backwards.

Perhaps you had to be there, but even with Doctor Who’s drop in popularity, you should’ve seen the reactions to things like the pregnant man in Chibs’s first series. Russell knows his own joke with Cassandra that was just meant as a comment on her not remembering her life was taken and used by goddamn transphobes.

That he is afraid that your first reaction to Ten-Three in Thirteen’s clothes would be a giggle, is not unfounded, or unreasonable, and while I think he is catastrophising here, we are currently in a state of catastrophe over trans issues and depictions, that he is trying to make better, not worse, when he is aware that this moment will be ON THE EVENING NEWS. For every single Not-We to see.

He clearly is covering trans issues, we know he’s covering trans issues, doing so in an episode where he brings back David Tennant so literally everyone and their mum is going to watch and he knows it. And he wants to do everything right so that people do not just go into it with ‘man dressed as lady lol’.

We all would probably have taken the risk here. Felt that doing this might be more boundary breaking (positive) than funny (negative). But a moment of empathy for why he would choose to do this. Because we might have taken the risk and that turn out to have been the wrong move. That he wants to be more careful than risk adding even a splash of fuel to the fire is completely understandable, and if you don’t think so, you might not realise how much trans people in my country are already being burned.