#based on the doctor strange what if? episode

[intuitive-revelations]

Theory: Something serious is up with the TARDIS

I had been wondering about this all series, but after Rogue today, it's finally been confirmed that something's going on with the TARDIS (on top of all the other arc threads going on!).

The moment I picked it up was in The Devil's Chord, where the TARDIS makes a strange groan and creaks after landing back in 1963. Ruby thinks it's from Maestro, but the Doctor says it's "something else". As of today it's happened again, twice! Once in the episode itself, once in the next time trailer. The exact same sound effect!

Someone on reddit pointed out a few weeks ago that this sound appeared even earlier too, in Wild Blue Yonder (notably also when we first saw Susan Twist, had gravity changed to mavity, and welcomed the Pantheon into the universe). Each time, it's also had attention drawn to it. Here's a video of each scene, followed by a direct comparison of each sound:

(I did have a quick glance to see if it appeared elsewhere, maybe even during Flux. As far as I can tell however, Wild Blue Yonder seems to be the only non-S14 appearance.)

What's more, going back to that Reddit thread, someone pointed out what the Wild Blue Yonder script says about this moment:

And then the TARDIS seems to moan. The Doctor fascinated. DONNA: Is it working? THE DOCTOR: I think so. Strange. He reaches out, touches the TARDIS, wondering. And that 'strange' will come back to haunt him, one day. But now...

(Suddenly the TARDIS freaking out over Donna's spill might make a bit more sense...)

So what the hell's going on?

Well, between a trailer scene and some news that just came out a few hours ago as of writing this, I think I may have an idea. Given it's based on trailer footage uploaded and then removed from YouTube, I'll put it below beneath a read more:

In a removed Disney+ teaser trailer we get two frames of the Doctor screaming out into space (with Mel behind him). Except it's not from "his" TARDIS:

It's the f*cking memory TARDIS!

And here's the thing. Not only was this trailer scrubbed from the Disney+ and BBC channels, but in the other trailers, this clip is entirely different! Not only is Mel gone, but the TARDIS interior is now Fifteen's own, and the TARDIS is in a different, generic region of space.

Just before this, we also see a similar nebulous region of space matching the unmanipulated clip.

But why on Earth is this such a big deal, that the BBC/Disney would go full MCU and give us a deliberately altered clip? The only previous time I remember Doctor Who doing this was for Series 10, hiding the plot point of the Doctor's blindness. It's not because of Mel, who literally appears in the released trailer. It's also seemingly not because of the background, despite it also being altered (unless the two moons are a clue with the planet being Gallifrey or something - the thought had occurred to me - but that's such a tiny detail, and we also only see one sun). Instead, it must be the Memory TARDIS. But why?

In-universe, I have no idea. On one hand I'd be delighted to get some answers as to its nature. Assuming it's connected to the groans we've been hearing, then it could be the TARDIS undergoes some sort of metamorphosis into this state? But we've seen the TARDIS change all the time, whether for safety, to recover or whatever. I also can't imagine general audiences are falling over themselves to find out the in-universe explanation for a Classic Who re-release framing device. Not to mention, apparently the sound will go on to "haunt" the Doctor...

...maybe the TARDIS straight up is taken out of commission in some way? And the Memory TARDIS isn't the same ship, but the Doctor's way of saving the day without her? Maybe even remembered into existence Fitz/Amy style?

Out of universe however, it's just been announced yesterday that we're getting more Tales of the TARDIS.

And not just more omnibus stories with past characters returning for in-universe commentary... but with Fifteen and Ruby! What's more, it's apparently a one-off, right before the finale (but, note, after the first part next week).

Which means it's important. Possibly extremely so, given the edited trailer scene. It might even serve as an interquel, given Fifteen and Ruby are somehow in it.

I've seen two common theories. Either a) it will be Pyramids of Mars, and we're getting Sutekh in the finale (presumably with Fifteen and Ruby partially because of bringing back Elizabeth Sladen obviously not being an available option - and even if you thought up another character, eg. Luke, I doubt Tom would be interested, at that point anyway), or b) it will be something tying into Susan returning.

Honestly between the remaining trailer clips (eg. sandstorms and dusty planets), a tease RTD supposedly gave in DWM, and an old interview with him where he supposedly floated the idea of bringing back a Classic Who for a finale and airing the original serial on BBC3 beforehand, I'm kinda leaning towards the prior, even though it wasn't at all on my radar.

However, this still doesn't actually answer what's up with the TARDIS.

It could quite literally be anything. However, here's a few ideas, some reasonable some weird, that I have come up with:

Old age / stress. This is a weird one, but oddly enough something I had thought of once in the past, and I just saw someone else come to the same idea on Reddit. The idea is that while the Doctor has a new regeneration cycle and now a good few years, if not decades or more, of rest and recovery, the TARDIS may struggling in it's own right (especially if it is somehow old enough to have once been the Fugitive Doctor's). However, while this could be something interesting to explore, and I think isn't entirely mutually exclusive with other options, I can't imagine going anywhere near a storyline of the TARDIS itself 'wearing thin'. Besides, if we did, I like to imagine it would have been foreshadowed with size leakage, as per Name of the Doctor.

Relating to the above, could it be something linked to the TARDIS splitting in The Giggle? However, the sound starts before then (not that that means much to the TARDIS, but still).

Laws of rationality breaking down. This one makes the most sense in a lot of ways, between the expanded universe (particularly Christmas on a Rational Planet) and Flux, we've seen the TARDIS cannot survive in an irrational universe. While time has stabilised for now, we're still seeing magic and other Old Time forces encroaching in on the Web of Time. I'm a bit torn with this one however, as while it works from a lore and writing perspective, plus matches with this starting in Wild Blue Yonder (right after the Mavity incident... interestingly), it seems odd it's not more connected with what happened in Flux? Why are the sounds and effects on the TARDIS completely different?

Something to do with the Doctor's fobwatch. In Rogue, the Doctor blames the sound on indigestion. We know we're getting more Timeless Child related stuff - could this somehow be linked to Thirteen dropping the Division biodata module deep into the TARDIS? Would be a weird time to pick this up though, and I'm not sure exactly how that would have had such an effect.

The most actually likely, but least possible to theorise about: it's something time-wimey to do with Ruby, the villain(s) of the story, and/or Susan Twist, especially given this started after her first appearance.

Regardless, I'm just excited to see what's up with the Memory / "Remembered" TARDIS, because it's seems we're about to learn something...

[god-i-hope-so]

Every time I read an anti-Bucktommy take it's like they don't understand what they're watching. Like, no understanding of how fiction works at all and a criminal lack of media literacy. And also unable to follow a simple story.

A tv show like 911 will never be like their favorite friends to lovers fics where everything they want to see on-screen is made into words, every little thought, every gesture is described in a flowery way, every single line is doctored to fit the fandom's expectations, using very specific tropes. This is fanwork, this is our business, we love it, we cherish it but this is our stuff.

911 is a tv show. It'll use many types of tv writing techniques to get to the point while having to deal with budgetary constraints, marketing needs, political restrictions and more. Could they have done a better job with reintroducing Tommy? Absolutely. Does it work as it is? Of course, if we're actually looking at what and how they tell on-screen.

A (long) BuckTommy timeline.

🚁 7x03 - Tommy and Buck meet on the day of the rescue, even before we see Buck, Chim and Eddie in the chopper. They first meet off-screen. We don't know what happened then, we don't know how they looked at each other, if they smiled at each other, if they even talked directly to each other. But they met before we see them in the chopper.

We know by what happens later that Tommy makes a strong impression on Buck (who is already in the middle of a real life crisis). We can also assume that Tommy is attracted to Buck based on his looks (and probably also affinity, they do the same job, never underestimate the homoerotic power of male camaraderie), something we also understand later, so it works (but also, the way he looks at Buck at the end of this episode is a subtle hint.) Don't forget that writers know in advance things we don't, that's why we can go back and find the breadcrumbs we didn't notice before or couldn't make a connection with yet.

🔥 Buck wants to know more about Tommy and his work. This is where you, as the audience, should fill the gap based on what we saw before and what comes next. This is where you should be able to do that instead of wanting everything on-screen the same way you put everything in a fanfic. This gap you fill because you're supposed to understand how average tv storytelling works leads to the following point.

🚁 7x04 - Buck contacts Tommy, he gets to visit Harbor. At this point, we can clearly see Tommy is acting flirty in a very subtle and respectful way, because he doesn't really know what's the deal with Buck, but remember the way he looked at Buck in 7x03? Then there's Buck acting... weird. What's his real purpose here? And this was before he even knew Tommy and Eddie were BFF, so Buck was already attracted to Tommy whatever his connection with the 118 crew, even if the real reason was blurry even to Buck himself.

🔥 7x04 - Tommy is now someone they interact with regularly. Tommy is now slowly working his way (back) into the 118 group. He finds a good friend in Eddy (strangely I don't see anyone questioning that. How is that easier than having a simple, passive crush?), apparently spends a lot of time with him, and knows Christopher because he went to Eddie's house 3 times. Eddie definitely knows more about Tommy than Buck at this point.

🚁 7x04 - Buck is clearly troubled by Tommy. Then there's this whole jealousy circus going on, Buck is a mess, his insecurities are breaking the roof and he's more troubled than ever. Is he jealous of Eddy or Tommy? Or both? (it's both) He wants to be the center of the attention. If he feels he's losing this, people will discard him. So he does some stupid shit. And you can see his feelings are also all over the place. But there's more than just fighting for attention, and that's probably why he's slowly starting to be angry. Because what he feels is different and he can't put his finger on it.

The discussion with Maddie clearly shows how he's chewing on his own heart. He didn't want what he had to change and he acted like a kid with big feelings and little control of himself.

🔥 7x04 - Tommy, who's having a passive crush on Buck, takes the matter in hands and kisses him. Tommy having a crush is not less normal than Buck flirting with basically any cute girl showing interest in him. Being more mature, he meets Buck to set things straight, after having talked about it with Eddie. It's not out of nowhere. Eddie and Tommy are not stupid, and Eddie knows Buck. He saw something was wrong. Tommy, being the new addition to their dynamic, thought it was his fault (I think Eddie and Tommy really felt guilty about going to Vegas and leaving Buck just like that lmao That was so bad for Buck's confidence, I felt it in my bones). Excuses turn to clearing the air turn to let's go for it.

Tommy really took a gamble there. If Buck wasn't what he thought he was, it could have been so bad. So, so bad for Tommy and his job. Imagine Buck accusing Tommy of assault? But he took the risk of kissing him because he has more experience and knows how to read the signs. He's not 15, he has experience with men, and closeted men for sure.

And you know, this is a beautiful scene for Buck as a character. The way he realizes why he did all that, what it means about him, for him. I mean, he knew, in a way, but he didn't know. And Tommy was suddenly everywhere in his life, overwhelming while doing nothing. You have to understand that everything is happening in Buck's head and he needed just a little push to open his eyes.

Buck's queer path: unlocked.

🚁 7x05 - First date, first mess but also first lesson. At this point, you can't even doubt about Tommy's intentions anymore. Buck might still be in a blurry phase but Tommy is not sending mixed signals at all (not with that choice of shirt, let me tell you this. My man was set to hit that night). Buck panicked, Tommy even tried to keep him on tracks for the evening, but between meeting Eddie and what it made Buck say... I mean, Tommy could have had a stronger reaction. Why accept the date if you can't deal with it?

But Tommy knows why, he's been there. Buck liked the idea of the date, but once you're there, everything becomes real. So once again, a little push: Tommy is honest and prefers to part ways, but not without saying why. He's not even mad. At this point, Buck really needs to take another step. It's difficult to drag someone else into your own fog. He has all the rights to be troubled, to doubt, to be scared, but you don't drag someone else in this with you. Tommy protected himself from that, also protected Buck from doing something he'd regret, and he did it with guidance.

🔥 7x05 - Buck talks with Maddie about his date and comes out to her, but more importantly: Buck comes out to Eddie. Look. This is canon, and I know we can choose to ignore canon but both scenes are great. And it's still canon. Maddie is obviously accepting and happy for Buck, and we expected no less from her.

With Eddie, I honestly expected at least some discussion like are you sure? or something like that but I think that at this point, everyone at the 118 knows that there's more to Buck than meets the eye. I'd have loved this scene to be longer with more exchange between Eddie and Buck but it is what it is, and Eddie is supportive of his best friend (yes, sorry, their canon relationship is best friends and I love their friendship, even more now that Buck is out).

And yes, this is even more important to show not only a strong friendship between a supposedly cishet man and a bisexual man but also, and we'll see that later, Eddie still trusts Buck around Chris. Nothing changed. So many people associate queer people with predators, we need to see queer people, and especially queer men, being trusted around children, and being safe. This is the right representation.

I know bvddies are trying to find any reason to make this storyline choice look like shit, because they want their ship to sail (and I completely understand wanting that), but accusing the people who like Buck and Tommy together of being homophobes because they cherish the canon beautiful friendship between Buck and Eddie?? We're not talking about headcanons here, about reading between the lines, or being "coded" a certain way (sorry, for me Eddie is not gay-coded. He's a-spec for sure, and I'm going for being demi, but gay? I don't see it anymore at this point of the show). It's about the canon. You know, at this point, things are already moving into place, even if you don't like Buck and Tommy together. This is where canon is at, this is the story. It's not a personal attack against anyone in the fandom.

🚁 7x05 - Buck wants to apologize to Tommy for the failed date, and for his behavior. Oh, accountability, my beloved. We love to see Buck working on himself. This is the real start of whatever will happen from now on between Buck and Tommy. Buck knows he's ready to embrace this new part of himself and he feels like Tommy is the right person to do that with.

Tommy being Tommy, he makes sure Buck knows what all this means. Buck is not a teenager, Tommy treats him as an equal but he also knows how it feels to be in Buck's shoes.

🔥 7x06 - Tommy, a responsible adult, makes time for Buck (and Chim!) even when he clearly could, and maybe should, just decline. This part was used way too often against Tommy by BoBs. Tommy is a fire pilot on call the night of the bachelor party. A FIRE PILOT ON CALL. Do you think his main goal that night is to have fun? Or is it to be a responsible adult who could well be saving lives (while risking his) the same night? Do you know what it means to be on call? You're basically working without being at work, the second your job needs you, you have to be 100% ready. Again, he's a fire pilot (even if he's also sent on ground work that night). His first job would be to pilot a freaking helicopter and accomplish tasks that requires skills, precision and to not be half asleep. You don't play with that responsibility.

So Tommy showing up is indeed huge. He does it for Buck, and for Chim, but definitely for Buck in the first place. He could have stayed home to get some sleep while waiting. Instead of that, not only he doesn't sleep but he ends up fighting a fire for hours. And the first thing people used against him was that he didn't follow the dress code?! No, you guys need to grow up and live a bit more of real life.

And then we have The Kiss (please someone draw them as The Kiss by Klimt, every fandom needs its Kiss fanart). And once again, it's Tommy making time for Buck, and Chim, when he could be home, take a good shower and be in his cozy bed after working on a fire for more than what, 14 hours? This is a man who knows his priorities. And responsible men are sexy as hell, even when it means they can't have fun like everyone else.

Now, if after all this, and mind you, this is all canon, you still think Tommy is a fraud in this storyline, that his budding romance with Buck has no foundation or that he doesn't care about Buck? And don't even get me started on the "but he was a racist and a misogynist before". Yes, he was. And yes, he changed. Like I said: learn to know his character, but also trust Hen. The fact is that at this point of the story, Tommy is great for Buck. He's kind, he's safe, he's trying even when there's no expectations. Be happy for great representation.

Oh, and don't use your hate against the ship or Tommy to be a nasty little shit with the actors and writers. Decency is free.

[undiscovered-horizon]

"Dream a little dream of me" - 11th Doctor x Reader

[TW: major character death, grief]

SUMMARY: When you, Doctor's love long gone, show up in the Dream Lord's reality, the decision becomes a lot harder for him to make.

WORDCOUNT: ~ 4k

based on 5x7, "Amy's choice"

🫀REQUESTS ARE OPEN🫀 || Doctor Who-inspired playlist

It was only a glimpse - a piece of flowing, lilac material seen in the corner of his eye. Although it wasn’t much, hardly anything, it was enough. The Doctor’s thoughts rushed in the direction of you. Yes, he really liked how pastels looked on you. 

But it wasn’t you, obviously. It simply couldn’t have been. You didn’t buy ownership of the colour lilac, did you? It could have been anyone! Anything! A two-headed dog on a unicycle with a lilac party hat!

As much as he tried to reason himself out of this melancholy and “what ifs”, the notion lingered in the back of his head. Like an itch he couldn’t reach to scratch and so elected to ignore it. That didn’t mean the sensation suddenly disappeared.

"Right, so we had some sort of psychic episode." The Doctor seemed suspiciously calm while delivering that news as if it was hardly the first time it had happened to him.

"But how?" Amy dwelled on the subject. The experience was a little too strange and unsettling for her to simply let it go. "How can something like that happen?"

The Doctor shrugged slightly. "Well, there's a-"

Amy continued to stare at him with wide eyes but not a word left the Doctor's mouth. All colour left his face, his eyebrows became a little slanted in an expression of sadness and shock. Some melancholic cloud rendered his vision blank as though his mind had slipped into a world next door; he was remembering something he couldn’t bring himself to forget.

"Doctor?" she asked quietly but he wasn't listening to her. Not anymore.

"No," the Doctor whispered to himself. 

He began frantically looking for something. Whipping his head around, he was running from one corner of the room to the other, clearly searching or checking. The Doctor even knocked on different surfaces, restlessly listening to the echo of whatever was underneath.

“Where is this coming from?!” he shouted. “Where is it?!”

Neither Amy nor Rory had seen the time-traveller in such profound distress. They couldn’t even begin to guess what caused his sudden breakdown. Whatever it was, they silently agreed that it was not anything recent; no, this pain had been festering for decades, if not longer. Unattended, unaccepted, it had grown into something too grievous to be understood by those, who had not experienced it. Perhaps, seeing his change of demeanour, Amy and Rory didn’t want to empathize with the Doctor. What madness could such grief bring?

Both Amy and Rory watched the Doctor in confusion. As the ridiculous, frantic search kept going, the man only became more unstable. What began as denial has turned into a true frenzy; madness brought by something that kept eluding him. The Doctor was ignoring the couple’s questions and so they were planning on simply grabbing him to force the answer out of the man.

But then Rory noticed something - a detail that was as unmistakable as it was impossible.

"Can you hear it?" he asked Amy. "It's like... someone's singing."

The comment made the Doctor suddenly stop. He turned on his heel to face his companions. With pale skin and reddened eyes, he looked seriously ill. 

“So it’s not just me,” he said more to himself than anyone else. By the tone of his voice, it was hard to tell whether he considered this revelation positive or negative.

Among the whirring of engineering, a soft hum was audible. It sounded absentminded as if the enigmatic musician was preoccupied with something else and decided to sing to fill the overwhelming silence of the ship. For a moment, all three of them listened to the faint humming echoing throughout the emptiness of the TARDIS:

“Birds singing in the sycamore trees, dream a little dream of me.”

As though on command, a resounding birdsong forced them to sleep again.

The next time the three of them woke up in the TARDIS, their anxiety only multiplied. Neither of them could be sure which world belonged to fantasy and which to reality. Such lack of certainty of one's sanity, like a tree without roots, could only lead to madness and the death that always followed it.

"This could be a dream too!" Rory argued. Between the mundane and the fantasies closest to his heart, it was awfully hard to make up one’s mind. Especially if the outcome could prove unfavourable.

"But this feels real,” Amy continued. “I know I said it before but this time I mean it. Out of all the places, why would we be in Leadworth? It can’t be real.”

“Upper Leadworth,” he corrected her. As much as he tried, it was still quite obvious Amy’s question upset him. “And, well-”

“Examine everything!” The Doctor interjected the couple’s quarrel. If he was frenzied before, now he came off as paranoid. “Look for all the details that don’t ring true.”

“Like what?” Amelia asked.

The Doctor pressed his lips into a thin line. For an imperceptible second, his chin quivered.

“Like her,” he said as he pointed somewhere.

Confused, Amy and Rory followed the direction of the accusatory index finger. At its very end stood you - a stranger to them but painfully familiar to the Doctor. The lilac slip dress you were wearing seemed fitting for a vivid dream. Still leaning against the railing on the upper floor balcony, you gave the three a small wave. Out of everyone, you were the only one completely unbothered by the brain-racking scenario. Strangely enough, you must have been standing there for some time now and yet the couple noticed you only when the Doctor pointed you out - almost like it was he who was responsible for your appearance.

“What’s wrong with her?” Rory asked slowly. To him, you looked perfectly normal. Almost too normal, all things considered.

The Doctor suddenly began to tremble. He put his arm down only to nervously rub his hands together.

"She's dead," he whispered. The quietness of his voice makes the cracking and wavering almost inaudible. His eyes did not dare look towards his companions.“Has been for a while now.”

Despite answering his question, the Doctor didn’t quite satisfy Rory’s curiosity.

“Sorry, who is that?” he inquired further. “Or… was?”

“A long story,” the Doctor responded. Judging by the melancholy dripping from each of his words, he was using a diplomatic euphemism. “Ancient history actually,” he said in a forced cheerful voice as he looked at his friends. “Well, not literally ancient. Just someone from long ago. A lifetime ago, in a manner of speaking.”

Yes, he was a different man when he met you. When you died, he became someone else, too. Truthfully, he never stopped changing: as each new day separates him further from you, he continued to grow into a shell of who he once could have been. How strange this thought truly was, that he must remember you for longer than he had known you…

"Then this must be the dream,” Amy stated decisively. Whether it was the Doctor’s confession or the vision of a domestic, boring life, she seemed convinced. She couldn’t have actually chosen mundane, quiet Leadworth, could she?

But the Doctor isn’t quite as certain. In his mind, a complicated puzzle required an equally complicated solution.

"No, we're missing something,” he said. “It would be too easy."

What he really wanted to say was ‘it would be too easy for me to choose’. Never once in his life did a good thing come easy or free. Why should it now? Why should he suddenly have an opportunity to end this dull pain where his hearts used to be?

The Dream Lord’s reveal answered as many old questions as it posed new ones. Although ‘decide which one is real’ was just one objective, it was a highly complicated one. At least a thousand inquiries hid behind those five words; inquiries for which they didn’t have the time. The only thing they could be sure of is that the puzzle isn’t impossible - now, where would be fun in that? Except for that one fact, there was nothing that tethered them to their true lives.

Despite their jackets, Rory and Amy began to feel the gnawing cold. Space was cold, much colder than they could even imagine. With fear, confusion and desperation thrumming in their chests, the heatless atmosphere became something more profound. The shivering of their bodies only fed into anxiety; their mind and hearts were turning into stone.

The couple’s spat with the Doctor was cut short:

“You should get blankets,” you interjected. Strange, how the dead person’s voice is the last warm thing about the TARDIS. “It’s really cold in here.”

All things considered, you didn’t seem bothered by the drop in temperature. In fact, you appeared exactly as you did the last time they saw you. The lack of change makes Amy and Rory exchange a questioning look. Surely you must be proof that the life in Leadworth is the real one, right? 

“You’re dead, you can’t be cold,” the Doctor retorted, his voice laced with uncharacteristic indifference. For some reason, he didn’t even bother to look in your direction. A strange device of a hand-held whisk and a corkscrew was more interesting to him than his late lover.

“I didn’t say I was,” you answered. “You’re the one feeling cold, sweetheart.”

Your words made him suddenly turn around. He looked at you with squinted eyes, a symptom of suspicion. In slow steps, the Doctor made his way towards the balcony you were standing on. Should the circumstances be a little different, the scene would have befitted a romance novel - a lovesick gentleman coming to his lady’s home, too sick with longing to patiently wait for their next meeting. The events on the TARDIS, however, were more akin to a gothic horror.

The Dream Lord’s words rang in his head. ‘I’ve always been able to see through you, Doctor.’ 

Could it be? Could their captor be cruel enough to use your likeness to toy with him?

“How can you know what I’m feeling?” the Doctor probed. Unconsciously, he rubbed his hands together, giving away the bustle of his troubled mind. 

With a smile on your face, you answered him with a question: “Why do nightmares always know how to scare you?” 

“They’re not sentient, nightmares can’t exactly know anything,” he began. “When you’re dreaming, it’s basically like being in the eye of the storm but instead of the wind, it’s your own thoughts. The monsters in your nightmares scare you because they have access to everything you’re thinking about.” The Doctor fell silent for a second. Then, his shoulders slouched. A pale shadow of grief danced across his features as his eyes glazed over. “Oh,” he whispered under his breath. 

Perhaps the poets were right - the world did end with a sigh. Although, could it ever end if it never started in the first place? 

Still as chipper as ever, you clapped enthusiastically. “Very clever! Now go grab some blankets before all three of you dream of the North Pole.”

Then you giggled and it was possibly the worst thing you could have done. The Doctor’s chest momentarily tightened, his breath taken from him. Must you laugh exactly the way you did? Can’t you take pity on the man you’re haunting and not remind him of the treasures he can never possess again?

“Are you alright?” asked Amy. She knew it was a silly question considering the moment but couldn’t help herself. The Raggedy Doctor from her childhood stories looked like a shadow of a memory, a mare; he appeared closer to a husk, whose creator kept remembering they had forgotten to put inside some vital piece.

“Don’t worry about little old me,” he reassured her. The lie was in no way convincing. “Get some blankets, they should be right over there.” He pointed in the general direction of an alcove-turned-storage.

With the couple gone, the Doctor turned towards you once again. You were just standing there, hands resting against the railing. The soft adoration in your eyes tore at his hearts. He missed the way you looked at him but he knew that none of this was real. Not in the way he wanted it to be. If your appearance was Dream Lord’s doing, there would be nothing to curb the anger brewing inside the Doctor.

“Are you really here?” he asked quietly, lest Rory and Amy hear. “Or are you only a nightmare?”

Maybe calling you a ‘bad dream’ sounded awful at first but there was a lot of truth in that. He couldn’t fear losing you as it had already happened. However, it is even more terrifying to find what was once lost, while knowing it can be taken at any moment. Without miracles this time.

You leaned your body forward against the railing. “Define ‘real’ and ‘here’.”

“Are you Dream Lord’s doing?”

You cocked your head from side to side. “Yes and no.”

Multiple wrinkles creased his forehead as he furrowed his eyebrows. “It can’t be both, has to be one or the other.”

“Does it, though?” you asked. The tone of your voice made it sound like he just asked something stupid. “Did the Dream Lord create the dream of a couple settling down in an English village or did he just materialize someone’s existing dream?”

The Doctor pondered for a moment. He wanted a straightforward answer but it seemed like, even as a ghost, you knew him all too well - he always preferred to solve the puzzle on his own.

He moved his lips to ask you another question when Rory and Amy came back with blankets.

The Doctor woke up in a walk-in fridge at the butchers. The alien-pensioners kept banging on the solid, metal door. Somehow, he had to get out of there without turning into a pile of dirt. There had to a way…

He lifted his gaze and suddenly froze in place. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the temperature that rendered him immobile but something else stuck in the cold prison.

Someone else.

“Why are you here?” he asked. Seeing his dead lover drove him insane as did having to guess which world is the real one. But the late lover appearing in both realities? That could surely get him committed to some intergalactic hospital.

“I could ask you the same thing,” you answered. “A walk-in fridge is hardly a nice spot for a break.” A grimace entered your face as you looked around the room only to see various cuts of raw meat.

The Doctor quickly scrambled to his feet. Whether it was conscious or not, he fixed his hair and bowtie. Old habits die hard, as they say. Paradoxically, the strange situation emboldened him. The man crossed the room in strides. The last time he stood barely centimetres away from you was long ago. A lifetime ago, like he said earlier.

“Aside from me, Amy and Rory, you’re the only thing that appears both here and in the TARDIS,” he stated. His eyes bore into yours, continuously searching for something, a piece of information that would make this weird dream reality start making sense. “But you’re not real,” he said slightly quieter, as though more to himself than you. “So how does that work? What’s your purpose?”

The word ‘purpose’ fell from his lips like a spat of venom. He suspected that you played a sinister part in Dream Lord’s even more evil plan; like the creature in front of him could never be more than a dirty ruse.

“Remember your question about being the Dream Lord’s creation?” you asked. Although he continued staring at you, the Doctor gave you no indication of an answer. “He needs an idea, a dream, that he can base the alternate reality on. That’s what he meant when he said he can see right through you. He looked and saw me.”

Heavy banging on the door startled both of you. Even if you’re something of a fever dream, you did exactly the same gasp he’d heard you do over a thousand times. The accuracy was nothing short of maddening.

"But why are you here?” The Doctor gestured to the less-than-hospitable room you were standing in. “Why would he put you in both places? What's the trick?"

A sad, pitiful smile entered your face. Normally, he’d dismiss such a reaction from anyone. He didn’t want others’ pity. But some part of him craved it when it came from you. The grief she had shoved as deep as he possibly could suddenly came up to the surface. It begged to be seen, acknowledged; it pleaded for you to see your face in itself. It wanted you to see how much love remained that the Doctor could no longer give you.

"There's no trick,” you explained in a soft, low voice. “I was supposed to only be a distraction, an estranged lover found in some English village but you just couldn't help yourself, could you?"

"Me?” he said under his breath. The welled-up tears in his eyes threatened to spill at any moment. They slightly quivered along with the rest of his body. He looked sick. “What do you mean?"

"I'm in both realities because I’m in both hearts.” You poked his chest playfully. "I guess the Dream Lord underestimated just how much of me there is inside that pretty little head of yours. My image is seeping through.” Then, you started laughing at something. “You're dreaming a little dream of me,” you said between giggles.

Your skin felt surprisingly warm against his hand as the Doctor gently brushed your cheek. It was wrong in a sense - you had been long gone and dead people weren’t warm to the touch, they didn’t radiate life. Despite his age, experience and nature, he was only a man. A man with a broken heart at that. So there was no power in this universe or the next, that could stop him when the one he had been longing for was painfully close.

His throat tightened. “It’s my favourite dream,” he managed to croak out. The Doctor took a deep, slow breath. The loud banging grounded him slightly, reminding him of the current peril. He grabbed your shoulders in a firm yet loving hold. “But I still don’t understand how you can be here and in TARDIS,” he continued in a more-or-less normal tone. He managed to swallow his woe. For now. “One of them is real and if you are a dream brought to life, how can you exist outside of it?”

“Because I’m a memory,” you explained. It all seemed so obvious when you said it. “Rory’s dream is only a fantasy but I’m not. Dream Lord made me appear but you made me stay.” You tightly held the lapels of his jacket to accentuate your point. “I’m more vivid than a dream should be, so whatever he’s using to control you is not working properly. It can’t tell if I’m real or not.”

A vivid memory… was that really all you were? Could he be haunted not by a ghost but by the afterimage of a phantom? As rejoiced as his grieving heart was to see you, the truth about your appearance made the reunion all the more painful. In no way, shape or form were you standing there, holding onto him. He was simply imagining it. Of course you were a perfect copy of the way he remembered you, down to the moles and stray strands of hair.

Maybe one day he would realize the poeticness of the truth. At first, you were a dream brought to life to torment him. But then it was his love for you, his live memory, that made you something more - that made you almost human. And one day, perhaps the Doctor would realize that you had done the same to him, although not as literally.

"If you are Dream Lord’s creation,” he started thinking out loud, “you know what is real and what isn’t.” His warm, ever-gentle, trembling hands cupped your face once more. “Tell me, please,” he whispered. “Somewhere out there, Amy and Rory are about to die and I need to do something."

There was that look of pity again. Staring fondly at your lover, you carefully took his hands in yours and lowered them. For a moment, the time stood still. The metal banging sounded far away, nearly unreal; like a commotion heard in a dream.

"You know the answer already, dear,” you told him. The sincerity in your voice and in your eyes only worked as proof. “I told you."

He looked at you, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

The lullaby-like melody filled the fridge as you quietly hummed the old song. If the Doctor closed his eyes, he’d be able to see the scene like it was yesterday: you and him, a jazz club in Chicago, sometime in the 1950s. But his eyes remained open. He did not want to invite a dream of the past - not when it could be used against him.

"Stars shining bright above you," he whispered the lyrics. His voice suddenly broke and the Doctor frantically shook his head. "No, I can’t. If I get this right, you will be gone."

Was he actually considering that? Now he may earn that ‘madman’ title he had been after for so long.

Your arms wrapped around him in a tender embrace. The Doctor’s desperation and heartache seeped from his very soul as he held you tighter than he ever did. His hands clawed at the fabric of your lilac dress. It felt just as he remembered. Hot tears began rolling down your neck and shoulder. His entire body trembled as he fought for each shallow breath. The most feared man in the universe, undone by a smiling girl wearing a pastel slip dress.

"It's just a dream," you calmly reminded him. In a soothing gesture, you petted his head."It is real until the sunbeams find you and then it'll slip away like a speck of dust on a wind. You'll forget this. And when you fall asleep again, I'll be right here as if nothing had ever happened."

As much as you could, you leaned away from the Doctor. His fearful, teary eyes searched your face for any sign of trouble or a goodbye. He knew it was bound to happen but that didn’t comfort him, quite the contrary. The Time Lord was terrified of running out of time.

“You’re even more beautiful than the day I lost you,” he whispered.

Feeling your hands against his face, he allowed himself to close his eyes; to pretend for a moment. You tried to wipe away his tears but it was in vain. The longer he felt your presence, the more it broke his heart that it was just a memory. You weren’t really there, he was just an old, lovesick fool remembering what it felt like to be loved.

“But you didn’t really lose me, did you?” you asked. The question made the Doctor open his eyes. He looked at you, confused. “I’m burned into your memory. Forever laughing at your silly jokes, comforting you when you’re feeling down, giving hope when the world seems bleak. Always waiting for you to find me.”

Gently holding the sides of his head, you kissed his forehead.

"Don't go," he begged quietly but the ghost of you was already gone. He knew what he had to do. Somehow, the Doctor also had to find a way to convince Rory and Amy that the world in which they live a small-town happy life isn't real. Despite that, those two weren't the most difficult to convince: most of all, he had to convince himself to choose life over plummeting to his death by your side.

______

a/n: tbh I just went for finishing a half-done WIP to get the gears going and as it turned out I made this WIP in 2022, so a time-travel theme feels appropriate lmao. In other news, this is me trying to get back to fanfic writing. We'll see how it goes!

[skyfullofpods]

Hello fans of Re: Dracula who were introduced to fiction podcasts through the updates from our good friend Jonathan Harker! Now that the story's over (sob!), would you like some recommendations for some other audio dramas that you might enjoy, made by some of the folks who worked on the podcast?

Jonathan Sims, who played our local phonograph enthusiast, is the writer of the hugely popular horror podcast, The Magnus Archives. The Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute records statements made by members of the public, detailing strange encounters with the supernatural. What soon becomes clear is that these statements do not describe separate and unrelated events, and a bigger and horrific picture begins to emerge. Also appearing as recurring characters in this series are both Sasha Sienna and Alasdair Stuart.

Karim Kronfli is a prolific voice actor, and while he might be best known for his roles in both Re: Dracula and The Magnus Archives, he has voiced a wide range of characters in many different fiction podcasts. Out of all the ones he's appeared in, I would personally recommend urban fantasy anthology series, Unseen. The unseen world exists alongside ours, but only a few humans can see it. It's a world where magic and magical creatures exists, and Karim's character tells his story in episode 7, titled We Ourselves.

Beth Eyre and Felix Trench played twins Antigone and Rudyard Funn in Wooden Overcoats, a British sitcom set on the tiny fictional island of Piffling, in the English Channel. The twins run a funeral parlor together, the only one on the island, until a newcomer arrives. Eric Chapman (played by Tom Crowley) sets up a much more successful funeral parlor, and the story is narrated by the Funns' house mouse, Madeline.

Alan Burgon plays the Interviewer in The Amelia Project. The Amelia Project is a secret organisation, and clients come to them looking for their help in faking their deaths. The Interviewer listens to each client's story, before concocting unique and often elaborate ways in which they will stage their deaths, before being reborn into a new identity.

David Ault is also a very recognisable voice to anyone who spends a considerate amount of time listening to fiction podcasts, and The Kingmaker Histories feels like an appropriate choice here. A weird steampunk series set in the Valorian Socialist Republic in 1911 , this story involves found family, its own intriguing magic system, and being gay and doing crime.

Our favourite cowboy, Giancarlo Herrera, plays one of the protagonists in sci-fi action/thriller, Primordial Deep. Spinner is part of a team which is sent deep beneath the sea to investigate the resurgence of creatures thought to be long-extinct. There's plenty of horror to be had here, as something ancient is stirring in the depths of the ocean.

As for the crew? Tal Minear works on so many podcasts, and if you like fantasy stories, I would recommend the delightfully lighthearted Sidequesting, which follows new adventurer Rion, as they help people on their travels. If you would like some more horror, there's their spoiler-driven anthology series, Someone Dies in This Elevator.

Hannah Wright's Inn Between is a fantasy series based on D&D. Each episode follows a party as they meet in the Goblin's Inn, in between adventures, as the tavern follows them around wherever they go.

Stephen Indrisano's upcoming docu-horror Shelterwood promises to be a series which explores the horror of suburbia, as it follows one man's quest to find his missing sister. Until this is released, I would recommend Do You Copy, in which Stephen plays one of the protagonists. This found footage horror series follows the events which unfold after the closure of Red Tail National Park, and the people who were left inside the park, after its mysterious closure.

Ella Watts is regarded as a walking encyclopedia of all things audio fiction, and has worked on several high-profile projects, including directing both Doctor Who: Redacted and Marvel Move. Her upcoming Camlann is a post-apocalyptic series due to be released next year, inspired by Arthurian legends and British folklore. She is also the executive producer of Tin Can Audio's (who are also producing Camlann) beautiful experimental series, The Tower. The protagonist of this story, Kiri, leaves her life behind to climb an impossibly high tower, making phonecalls along the way.

Newt Schottelkotte's Where The Stars Fell is a supernatural fantasy set in the town of Jerusalem, Oregon. Cryptozoologist Dr Edison Tucker arrives in the town to carry out some research, and meets her roommate, author Lucille Kensington. There's so much more to this strange town than first meets the eye, with a huge revelation at the end of season one.

If you're new to fiction podcasts, welcome! I hope this short (ish!) and very much non-comprehensive list gave you some ideas of what to listen to next!

[1bibypersecond]

I just don’t get how they built such a beautiful connection between Viktor and Sky (or HexcoreSky, whatever you want to call her) in Acts 1 and 2, only to destroy it all in Episode 8 with a super rushed goodbye, and then give us a Viktor without humanity for just one episode (or half, really). And then, his "best friend" suddenly accepts him as he is when Sky had done that all along?

Like, if they were going to do that, they should’ve just written Sky out way earlier and let us have this no-humanity Viktor on screen for way longer. And don’t even get me started on the fandom. They don’t get that it was Ekko who saved Viktor, not Jayce. Ekko was the one stepping out of Viktor’s equation, not Jayce. Plus, in Season 1, the mage that gave Jayce the rune design was based on Ryze, so that whole Viktor Doctor Strange time-travel vibe in Episode 9 just felt... so bland. I’m over the whole time-travel trope—it’s so overused that it’s boring. I always knew Ekko would be the one to do it because that’s his whole character, but Viktor? Ugh, it felt like they were trying to wrap everything up way too quickly in the last episode, so they just threw in time-rewinding to make it all fit. Honestly, I rolled my eyes so hard when Viktor started his speech to Jayce about the different timelines. I was like, "Oh no, here we go."

Honestly, I get why League of Legends fans didn’t like Viktor’s rework. Mechanical Herald Viktor was way more tied to the social inequality conflict between Zaun and Piltover, something I was really hoping they’d explore in more depth. The new Viktor is much more connected to the arcane and magic, which is fine—I like cult-leader Viktor—but it loses that important conflict we saw in Season 1.

We were all excited to see Viktor’s final evolution, which lasted… half an episode? Why? Like I said, they could’ve written Sky out way earlier, given that her ending was so lackluster, and spent more time exploring this emotionless being. Maybe he was just too OP and they couldn’t keep his superpowers on-screen for too long without completely wrecking the world. I get that. Machine Viktor could’ve lasted longer because he wasn’t tied to those arcane powers.

I get it, the show is called Arcane, but the conflict between Zaun and Piltover made it feel so much more relatable. As someone from Latin America, watching how northern hemisphere countries pollute my country, dump their waste here, and have companies that destroy our environment (it's not like we don't do it to ourselves but it's still a form of oppression)—it’s a form of first-world oppression that I saw reflected in Season 1 of Arcane. But Season 2? It felt so distant. Magic isn’t real in real life, and yet Season 1 balanced magic so well that it still resonated with issues like social, economic, educational, and environmental oppression. Season 2, though, started to drift away from that. Sure, at first, you see more of that Zaun/Piltover conflict, especially with Caitlyn and the oppressive martial law (because yes, that’s literally a dictatorship). But then Jayce swoops in like, “Hey, we’ve got a bigger enemy, let’s team up,” and boom—Marvel finale.

Anyway, these are just some fever-induced thoughts I’ve been having. My ideal ending? Viktor slowly becoming Singed, like they hinted in Season 1 with that “I understand now” line. Viktor as the Herald, tucked away in a corner of Zaun like Singed, secretly helping people—not driven by feelings or morality, but by a greater good: helping those in need. Meanwhile, his humanity (Sky) tries to find him somewhere deep in his mind, ultimately leading to the creation of Blitzcrank. That’s what I thought we were getting. Instead, we got astral destruction and a bromance. Oh well, it is what it is.

[gugapuppy]

Abortion - Part 3 (A!Ghost x O!Soap)

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 || Part 6 || Part 7 || Part 8

═══════════════════════════

A little confort today, but the next part one will hurt a little. Be advised.

CW: Implied abortion

═══════════════════════════

Soap was sitting in a coffee shop sipping an espresso, far from the base and the memories there. Looking out of the window, Soap could see various people passing by and going about their lives, street animals wanting food and affection, and happy children holding hands with their parents. It made Soap's breath shake.

He'd texted Gaz to meet him at the café, he trusted the beta to help him, knowing that Kyle wouldn't abandon him, or at least he hoped he wouldn't abandon him.

After a while of waiting and his espresso running out, Gaz finally arrived to greet him, the two exchanged a few words and random topics such as games he was playing, upcoming missions, series coming out, until finally a small silence hung over them both.

"So, what's been bothering you Tav? Ghost and you..." -Kyle began.

Looking out of the window, observing the scenery, Soap decided to be direct instead of winding things up. "I'm pregnant, Kyle."

Soap notices Gaz opening and closing his mouth out of the corner of his eye. "Oh...congra-"

"I want to abort."

This time, the silence is longer, and Soap comes round after a while to face Kyle, who is wide-eyed and has his hand over his mouth. 

"Oh..." -Gaz says, taking his hand away from his mouth and closing it on the table. "Does Ghost know about this?"

Soap swallows dryly, his eyes starting to water with each blink, but he keeps a straight face. "He knows."

Gaz looks between his hands quickly before getting up from the side of the table he was on and sitting down next to Soap, putting his arms around him as he shakes him slowly from side to side. "That's why you were acting strange..."

Soap nods and leans into Gaz's warm touch, purring his first way through weeks of tears and stress. "I don't want to do this alone, help me, please?"

"I'm not leaving you alone John, does anyone else know about this?"

"No, they can't know." -Soap tightens his grip on Gaz, holding on tight. "Price and Laswell will try to stop me or tell me to wait for Simon to come back... I can't wait for Kyle."

"Okay... let's go to my place, from there I'll call Price to give me and you a week off."

Soap looks at Gaz, a sad smile on his face. "Thanks bro."

The two then leave the café and take a taxi to Kyle's flat. As they go, night falls over them and the city, only streetlamps and buildings with LED signs illuminate the surroundings.

And as Kyle said, Kyle did. Calling Price, he asked for a week off and the captain quickly gave them both three weeks off, probably realising that Soap needed it after the weeks he noticed the sergeant had experienced.

Afterwards, they both ordered pizza for dinner, a purr echoing from Johnny at receiving one of his favourite foods. Gaz always knew how to please him. 

Over dinner, Gaz told him that his sister was a doctor and there had been cases where she'd had to help with abortion operations, so he offered to call her, something that Soap accepted with certainty.

Some time after dinner had finished and Gaz had called his sister, Gaz sat down on the sofa and told Soap that Kyle's sister had made an appointment at the clinic for the following day. 

On hearing this, Soap felt anxious and began to tremble. Gaz hugged him as he stroked the omega's back.

Soap lay on top of Gaz until his panic subsided and the few tears that fell dried up. "Can we watch something?"

"Of course, anything specific?" -Gaz asked as he searched for Netflix.

"The second season of a series I like just came out..." -Soap said as he found a comfortable position for his head on Gaz's chest.

As soon as Gaz put the series on, it wasn't long before they were both asleep before the second episode had even started. 

And for the first time in weeks, Soap felt that someone cared about him.

═══════════════════════════

Now, the angst begins, and idk how much will hurt...

[gunsandspaceships]

Tony’s behavior: Teenager/Young Adult (21 years old)

In previous episodes (Kid, 16 years old, 17-18 years old) we watched as Tony, from a calm and quiet boy who obeyed his father, began to behave in an atypical manner. But this behavior only appeared after the age of 16. It is not known what the reason was, but I have some ideas which I will share later in another post.

In this post, we take a look at 21-year-old Tony before his parents died.

Captain America: Civil War

It's Christmas time, Tony is back home for winter break after studying abroad (for his PhD). His parents are going on a short vacation to the Bahamas.

Tony just returned home from another country a few hours ago and is now sleeping on the couch in the living room of his parents' mansion. I bet some people thought he was partying and drinking, having a fun night with a girl (as Howard sarcastically suggested). He actually has jet lag, not a hangover. He looks fine and healthy here.

For some reason he is sleeping on the couch in the living room, instead of the bed in his bedroom. Btw, this couch looks like the worst place to sleep. But this is Tony, that's normal. His preferences for comfort are a little unusual.

He is still busy studying. He completed his bachelor's degree, master's degree and is now pursuing his doctorate. This means that he did not waste his life drinking and partying. He was engaged in what we all (usually) consider good and useful - education and science. And his father was still dissatisfied. Why is that?

Here Howard demonstrates his attitude towards Tony. Calling him "homeless person", assuming without evidence that he had a sexual relationship with a girl, telling him that he's wasting his potential. From the "16 Years" post, we know that Tony was interested in robotics and not so much, to put it mildly, in weapons. By "potential" did Howard mean "creating weapons, not robots"? Let's see if we have any other clues here...

This behavior looks strange, doesn't it? Tony doesn't seem to approve "quick stop at the Pentagon". Why? Maybe because he doesn't approve of Howard's business? That's something new! Some would say. But remember what he did in high school - he hacked the Pentagon's firewall. All the evidence suggests that he was not a great fan of the military at the time. Who knows, maybe this was one of the stumbling blocks in their relationship?

Listening to their argument, Maria looks indifferent. She seems to be used to it. So this has been going on for some time. Some years.

Tony definitely had a better relationship with his mother than with his father. Although Tony and Maria are a little awkward around each other. And we know why - they rarely spent time together during these 21 years.

Speaking of interaction, both sides - Tony and his parents - tried to avoid each other. Howard and Maria are heading to the Bahamas without taking their son with them. Tony comes back home just before they leave. Everything tells us that it wasn’t just like that that time, that’s how it usually happened. What was going on? They sent him to boarding school when he was too young, and he lived on campuses for 14 years, moving only from school to MIT to another college overseas. And even when he was back at home for a few days, they went somewhere and he was home alone. And he was not a big fan of their presence too, enjoying being alone, home, but sleeping on the couch. Something was completely f*cked up there.

Maria said Howard misses Tony when he is not there. This comment and the avoidant behavior give me the feeling that Howard was afraid of Tony's presence around. We know he never told Tony what he was really working on - S.H.I.E.L.D., Tesseract-based energy, and the new super soldier serum. Was he afraid that Tony would find out? If so, why? Because of the danger?

Tony's joke about the Pentagon's Christmas menu made me think he was familiar with it. Had Howard taken him to the Pentagon for the holidays before? And only him, without Maria. Maybe it was because there was no one at home to keep Tony company? Unlikely. There were other people around - Jarvis, his wife, nanny, or Maria (As a last resort. Weird, I know). Was this an attempt to introduce Tony to the military then? Sounds even weirder that it happened during holidays. Why would you bring your kid to the Pentagon for the holidays, Howard? He should be at home with his family. Gosh...

[badninken]

um, first of all, good luck with the next 100 or something episodes without zoro or law, but chopper is there to provide you emergency support! 🦌

now for the ask, I'm curious about what it's like knowing a character from fic. did the characters, like law, meet your expectations, is there any part of canon story, or law's character, that surprised you? is there something you didn't expect would be canon but it ended up being canon?

That sounds like something to have on in the background while I tackle my mounting pile of art obligations...

Good questions! I barely had any expectations on the series in general so I'll focus on Law.

Law met my expectations but not in the way I expected him to, if that makes sense. The first big difference is that he's much softer than I imagined, which isn't strange considering the dark and gritty nature of the type of fanfic I tend to read. I knew he'd be good and kind deep down but I thought it would be way deeper down and covered by a much harsher surface. I'm actually surprised he wasn't played up as more of a creepy villainous figure when first introduced, considering the potential of The Surgeon of Death thing. This brief crazy-eyed look as he's about to do surgery on Luffy is pretty much as far as that went,

because that handover of hearts did not make him look intimidating at all. He's just a little guy with a yellow submarine and a fluffy fur hat and A BOX FULL OF BEATING HEARTS.

Trafalgar Law has HOPE! Big surprise. Maybe it's because he's always stuck in really awful situations when I read about him but I didn't expect him to be a character with any sort of hope for a better future. In the actual series he comes in strong with his goal to stand up against and ultimately destroy the established systems of oppressive power and he's already got plans! For all the reluctance he has when it comes to blending in with the Straw Hats, he sure seems to admire them a lot and he puts so much faith in them. The way he time and time again risks his life to make sure they can get away safe from the botched plans of Dressrosa is kind of heartbreaking to watch because I don't think they ever realize the extent of that (and he would never let them know)

HE IS POWERFUL AS FUCK!

This is one of the sexiest thing I've seen a fav character do. I never pick my favorites based on their "power level" (I don't pick them at all they just attach themselves to my mind) but I want them to be skilled and confident and able to fight. I knew he was all that, but I knew very little about his abilities and had no idea he could do THAT. What a rush to see.

Law's childhood was a mystery I was trying to crack the entire time while watching. I only had re-imagined modern AU glimpses of it + fan art to go on. I knew his parents were doctors and that he had a younger sister and that they were all dead in some tragedy that involved a disease. I was certain that he came from a snowy place considering how much of the fan art of him as a kid is set in winter environments. A piece of fan art that I really really love (please help me find the artist) has little Law reading a book with "Drum Island" on it so when the Straw Hats came to Drum Island and they started talking about doctors and stuff I was certain there would be a Law connection there. I was fooled!

And I was not prepared for the horrors of Flevance.

I still don't know how to comment on this so I won't.

I wasn't prepared for the beginning of Cora and Law's relationship either. I'm glad I accidentally read a comment somewhere mentioning that Cora hit the kids or I would have been shocked and horrified. I love that he's introduced as a villain though because he really looks good as one, and then he turns out to be the absolute best.

Finally getting to see their story unfold in the correct order felt so good even though it hurt the entire time. I knew how Cora would die but I didn't know when.

Just from fan art I couldn't be sure if Law was with Cora before going to Doflamingo or if it was the other way around. I had many theories and versions in my head of how things fit together and for a while I thought this scene might be Cora helping Law escape whatever tragedy befell his family and that Law ended up with the Donquixote pirates after.

Having a bunch of puzzle pieces of spoilers didn't help me figure out what the whole picture would look like until I saw it for myself and it was a very rewarding experience. I haven't been disappointed in anything, except that I'll always want more than I get.

Okay time to take care of those art obligations baaaiiii.....

[randomitemdrop]

Trick or trivia

Happy Halloween! I do enjoy trivia of many types, but one of my favorite genres is what I call the Berenstein Timeline: unmade shows and movies, versions of classic movies where studios and producers made different decisions, some better, some much worse. All of these are real projects that were, on some level, considered (there are some recurring names)

"Heat Vision & Jack", a 90s pastiche of 70s-80s action shows starring Jack Black as an astronaut on the run from the law and Owen Wilson as his talking motorcycle

"Jurassic Park" directed by Tim Burton with Johnny Depp as Alan Grant, Jim Carrey as Ian Malcolm, and Vincent Price as John Hammond

the 90s "Batman" directed by Ivan Reitman; Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy were going to star but couldn't decide which of them would be Batman and which would be Robin

Back in the 1970s the American network was getting good numbers showing heavily-edited reruns of "Monty Python's Flying Circus", so they tried to sell the Pythons on the next logical step: an animated Saturday morning cartoon

"Edward Scissorhands" still directed by Burton but starring Tom Cruise or maybe Michael Jackson

"Return of the Jedi" directed by David Lynch; Harrison Ford was considering not coming back for the third movie and so when he came out of the carbonite there was a chance he would have been Christopher Walken

Guillermo del Toro's "At the Mountains of Madness". Also "the Hobbit" and lots of other things, he seems to have a lot of unmade projects

the 2010s "Star Trek" movie directed by Quentin Tarantino, where the edgy reboot crew visits the Gangster Planet from that one stupid episode of the original series

Everybody knows about the unmade "Superman Lives" starring Nicolas Cage in the title role, but did you know it was going to be directed by Tim Burton and include Christopher Walken as Brainiac, who would have been a green head on spider legs

Harold Ramis didn't particularly want to act on camera, so when they were casting "Ghostbusters" Egon could have been Christopher Walken, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum, or John Lithgow. Supposedly the movie was originally intended to be a relatively serious exploration of Dan Akroyd's very real interest in paranormal investigation, although this clashes a bit with the fact that Peter Venkman was originally going to be played by John Belushi and Winston Zeddmore was written for Eddie Murphy who backed out when the character's backstory and most of his lines were cut

John Waters' animated series "Uncle John" on 90s MTV

the original version of "Bill & Ted's Time Van" starring Pauly Shore and Sean Penn

"Red Dragon" (the original Hannibal Lecter novel) directed by David Lynch starring John Lithgow as Hannibal Lecter and Mel Gibson as Will Graham

the 1970s "Dr. Strange" TV series

the 1990s Disney animated "John Carter of Mars"

the 1990s Warner Bros animated "King Tut" musical with songs by Prince

the serious horror version of "Beetlejuice"

Drew Barrymore's 2000s remake of "Barbarella"

the Dungeons & Dragons movie James Cameron was going to make until TSR left the table over merchandising disputes, forcing Cameron to go work on some dumb movie about the Titanic

American "Doctor Who" movie starring Michael Jackson

Canadian "Doctor Who" cartoon by Nelvana starring a Doctor based intensely off of either Jeff Goldblum or Christopher Lloyd

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" directed by Terry Gilliam

"Good Omens" directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp and Robin Williams

"The Black Cauldron" using character and background designs by Nightmare-era Tim Burton

[everything-person]

Captain Swan SuperNatural Summer

I was looking so forward to this event. I had so many ideas and concepts. But real life happened and my muse ran away so i was unable to write any of my ideas no matter how hard. But with this being the last event I will not turn up empty handed so I made art for all the ideas. @cssns

TRIGGER WARNING under cut has 9 art pieces they are numbered the 9th piece contains images of blood

1.) Sands of time based on the movie/video game Prince of Persia. King Nemo ruled with his brother and right hand Jafar. The King already had sons but one day while wandering the market he found two orphan boys that showed grant potential and took them in. After invading the sacred oasis of MistHaven Killian is framed for the murder of his adoptive father. With the help of Princess Emma he escapes and finds there is more to the dagger and plot behind his fathers death then he thought.

2.) Phoenix Diamond Based off of Onward. Henry never knew his father Graham. ON his 16th birthday his mother gave him a gift from his father it was a magic wand powered by a phoenix diamond to bring Graham back for one day. He tried the spell himself but it didn't work. But when his mother touched the wand it began to glow. The spell went a miss and now they are in a race against time to find another phoenix diamond to bring him back unbeknownst to them the dangers that lie in their quest.

3.) Living in the Dark inspired by Being Human. Killian is a vampire that has stopped drinking from fresh blood. Graham is a werewolf. They get an apartment together and be roommates. They wind up renting from Emma but there's something strange about her son who randomly pops in on the guys. Everyone trying to get a sense of normal life but how can they living in the dark.

4.) Wrong Ship inspired by Doctor Who episode. Jolly Roger magically tranforms into a human woman and goes to find Killian. Confusion and misunderstanding puts a rift into Emma and Killians relationship.

5.) Sandcastles and Riptides Liam and Killian are mermen raised under their grandfather King Triton brother to King Poseidon. Emma is the princess of misthaven raised under her well meaning but over protective parents. Each of their worlds forbidden from each other but fate demands them together.

6.) The Swan and the Hook is a pirated themed story with lots of twists and turns. I know doesn't appear supernatural but trust me there was/is supernatural undertones.

7.) Witches of Storybrooke loosely based on Hocus Pocus. After Henrys mother dies he goes to live in the sleepy town in Maine. He learns the legend of three witches that used to live there and of a candle that was to bring them back to life. Hoping maybe he could find some magic to bring his mother back he ventures into the woods. But he finds there is are two sides of every story when the witches do come back.

8.) Dance with the Devil Killian succeeded in his revenge against Rumplestiltskin and turned into the Dark One as a result. For centuries he stayed in the dark ones castle until one night he heard of princesses coming of age ball. Unable to turn away the temptation he slipped into the ball and had a hypnotizing dance with a beautiful blonde before barricading himself back into his castle. What happens when he finds the same blonde battered and abused in his forest years later?

9.) How a got a pet vampire was a supernatural comedy that came about from a discord discussion of a prompt.

Those were my ideas and maybe some day I can actually write them the titles might change if I do these were just the best I could come up with.

[sectumsempraxz]

Hey so I saw your post about Dylan referring to himself as an entity and drawing spirals. Since youre a psycology student, i would love to hear your analysis of this. Also, if possible, could you do the same for Eric's writing? Thanks thats all

I was doing a lot of psychological analyzes of Jeffrey Dahmer and posting them here, but then I started attracting a lot of strange people, so I stopped...

But since a lot of people are asking for this, here we go 🙄

In Carl Jung's psychodynamic theory, spirals or mandalas are expressive artistic forms that can emerge during a psychotic episode when the patient's mind is trying to organize itself.

Here are many examples of art made by psychotic patients in a psychiatric hospital, they are from the book Images of the Unconscious by Nise da Silveira

(it doesn't mean that everybody who does drawings like this are psychotic, obviously it has artistic styles and things like that, but these paintings were made by patients in hospitals. Nise was a brazilian doctor, and Jung was from Switzerland, they notice that without any contact, their patients were drawing the same spirals figures. You can also see that these drawings are somewhat organized because the patients were receiving treatment. You can see from the geometric shapes that there is a meaning, it is the mind trying to organize itself).

Not only did Dylan draw a lot of spirals, but you can also see that his drawings are extremely disorganized and don't make any sense at all.

Furthermore, his writing is extremely confusing, it took me weeks to understand what he was talking about, (while I read Eric's diary in just one day and found it extremely boring)

Here is an example, you can see that love (heart), the road, this fifth dimension, the donward spiral is all mixed up, extremly disorganized.

It's very different from Eric's drawings, which despite the violent themes, you understand what's happening

Dylan's writing often does not follow a chronological order, nor does he talk about real events of his life, he constantly refers to himself as if he were an entity that lives in another dimension (the number 5 in the drawings represents this fifth dimension), in other words, he was unable to establish a connection with reality. Unlike Eric who proclaimed himself a god to irritate people, as a form of rebellion, Dylan really believed in this, in his mind, he literally lived in another dimension. And these spiritual themes regarding the ego itself ("I am an entity") are indicative of psychosis as well.

One interesting thing is that you can see that even the form of Dylan's writing is confusing. I'm not just talking about his bad handwriting, but he always wrote in the corner in a disorganized way, loose words without meaning. When he started his diary you can see that he was fine, but as time passed, his writing became more and more strange, he began to draw more and more these spiritual symbols, and his drawings became a great confusion.

I believe that his diary is a perfect example of a mind that deteriorated over time, but obviously this is just a supposition based on his diary. I also suppose that he wrote in moments of crisis, when he felt bad, sad, and needed to get these things out.

I know that a lot of people must interpret his diary in an artistic way, especially through his poems (and it still is!), but this is also an indication of a mind that was losing touch with reality

When he proclaimed himself the god of sadness, when he said that he had no friends, that he had no love, that no one would ever love him when he did have many friends who liked him, a functioning family that loved and accepted him, and still a promising future, since he was smart and was planning to go to college, all this god of sadness thing could be indicative of delusion too, he couldn't see how loved he actually was.

(there are cases of psychotic depression, it's very rare, but it does exist).

I know he was diagnosed with schizoaffective personality, which I agree with because often people with this diagnosis are also psychotic. But it really depends on how serious the case is, I have a friend who has this diagnosis and is also psychotic, but he has a good connection with reality and will graduate in psychology too.

Therefore, absolutely nothing about Dylan's supposed illness justifies what he did at Columbine. Eric himself was perfectly normal and also decided to do what he did.

[trekmupf]

Trapped in a Car With Someone You Don’t Want to Be Trapped in a Car With

Pro

Kirk being torn between his "duties" in the military structure of Starfleet and the duty to his crew / his friends

McCoy waking up and immediately doctoring

The way McCoy sits in the chair; Once again I'm stating the obvious: McCoy is very beautiful in this episode and his winged eyeliner is everything

We're getting to know Spock better: his problems connecting with the human crew and understanding them (something he learns later on, which is great character development), a new side to his logic, the fact that he's not driven by power (getting command)

Also the fact that the McCoy / Spock dynamic this early on the show is different from later on: the disagreements are less friendly banter and more actual fights, McCoy doesn't know Spock that well (thinking he's interested in power / command is wrong) and they don't work together as well, which is a great way to mark their development in later episodes

there's also a clear separation between Spock and the others, Spock's alone and doesn't have someone to confide in; later on Spock and McCoy are a duo

especially the scene where they're fighting over the funeral service highlights why McCoy, Spock and Kirk work best together and what can happen when one of them isn't around to balance them out

Spock is genuinely so irritated by his logic not working, he's so visibly annoyed several times

"Strange. Step by step I have made the the correct and logical decisions, and yet two men have died"

Spock's failures as a commander also highlights what makes Kirk such a great captain, as he manages to use logic and command while also balancing the human and empathetic side of it

Spock learning so much and growing during this, technically a great leader but he learns his own limits

Scotty best repair boy, the way he crouches and crawls into spaces to repair the shuttle and then engineer magic!

Also Scotty's attitude in the face of death is so great and telling about him. He realizes first what's going to happen and accepts it calmly, smiles and compliments Spock, having an air of comfort and peace around him

@ Kirk and McCoy in the last scene, how close do you guys need to be to have a conversation?

Kirk pointing out that Spock's action was based on hope and was therefore human and Spock trying to explain it away as a non emotional and therefore Vulcan action and the others just like him so much while he does so; it's not mean spirited but just lovely and such a great contrast to the tension earlier in the episode

So many of the shots inside the shuttle are accidently funny due to the camera angles they had use because of the tight space

Direct and straightforward episode set up: We have limited time (medicine needs to be brought to another planet) and the shuttle with two of our main characters gets lost in a phenomenon

Kirks desperation rising during his scenes the longer his crew is lost

great tension by the double plot: the immediate threat on the planet and the time pressure on the ship

I absolutely prefer the original special effects over the CGI remake. Look at how good the shuttle craft looks in comparison – taken from this youtube video which I recommend

Con

even for Trek the monsters are sort of shit

very minor but I'm annoyed at the uniform inconsistency, its yellow shirts not red shirt dying, the travesty

I know the commissioner is there to remind us of the time frame but his constant repeating starts to be annoying. I'm Kirk, just done with this guy (even though yes, he's right)

everyone but the yellow shirts who die have shit to do and opinions to have except the women who is just scared and doesn't wanna die

Counter: none

Quote "Did I? I may have been mistaken" - Spock "Well, at least I lived long enough to hear that" - McCoy

Moment: When the group sits in the doomed transporter together, knowing they're about to die but they seem collected

Free Bones because you can see his great make up in this one

Summary: Not quite bottle episode (even though it feels like it) that focusses on Spock and his struggles as a (half-) vulcan working with humans and his disconnect with them using a gripping and tense narrative; Over the course of the episode Spock learns a lot about humans, his connection to them and himself and he and his companions gather more respect for each other Previous Episode - Next Episode - All TOS Reviews

[cringecompanionapologist]

Random Thoughts on a Very Specific Thing: When Companions Choose Companions

Okay, so, off the top of my head, this has happened four times in Doctor Who's televised run. I'm not familiar enough with EU companions to say anything about what happens there.

Companions have become companions for a variety of reasons. The new series has this idea that the Doctor only travels with "the best" and they usually choose their companions. The classic series had a lot of Companions via Circumstance. Dodo and Tegan thought the TARDIS was a real police box and just walked in at the wrong time. Ben and Polly saw the Doctor enter the TARDIS, got curious, followed him, and then he took off before noticing that they were there. Victoria and Nyssa both lost everyone close to them and became companions because they had nowhere else to go. Ian and Barbara were straight-up fucking kidnapped.

There have also been several stowaway companions. The Doctor didn't invite them, but they Insisted. There are very few classic series companions the Doctor chose. In Logopolis, Four even goes on a rant about it. It's actually a big stand-out moment when One invites Vicki to join him and this would go on to be a bit uncommon. Three had Liz and Jo basically assigned to him by UNIT. That's why companions were often called assistants back in the day. They were basically lab assistants. It was literally their job.

I could go on and on about this, but this thing is supposed to be about the four companions that were chosen by another companion: Jamie, Peri, Ace, and Adam.

Yes, I'm counting Adam for this, not because he completely counts as a companion, but because he was invited to be one and basically failed his test run.

Here There Be Spoilers for the episodes these companions debuted in and probably more.

It's funny how the four examples here are split down the middle. The blondes, Polly and Rose, chose companions to come with them, while the gingers, Turlough and Mel, chose companions to replace them. It also splits down the middle in that Jamie and Ace became the definitive companions of their Doctors, while Peri and Adam didn't work well with the Doctors the joined, with Peri not having much time with 5 before constantly bickering with 6, and Adam just failing completely.

I think some of the reason for this seems to be based on the mindset of the companions that picked the companions. Polly and Mel were mainly thinking of the new companion when they chose them. Polly realized that Jamie was in a rough part of history and maybe it would be nice to take him out of it. Mel spent a while bonding with Ace and realized that she could use a Space Dad.

Rose wasn't really thinking when she invited Adam along. She basically did it because she thought he was cute. 9 was never into it, just humoring her, and then they both sort of ditched him on his first trip to the far future. Look, Adam made his own bad decisions and shouldn't have been a companion, but he also shouldn't have been left completely unsupervised in an unfamiliar time period. He got that stupid computer thing in his head because it was basically required to do anything around there, and then decided to be stupid with it.

Meanwhile, Turlough was thinking of the Doctor. 5 didn't handle Tegan's departure well and admitted to being depressed. When he realized he was going to have to leave, Turlough was aware that the Doctor shouldn't be left alone while already feeling depressed and abandoned. So, he assigned Peri as a replacement.

The actual scene where Peri becomes a companion has 5 clearly reluctant. Either he's decided that he wants to be alone or he's just not that interested in her specifically. Turlough telling Peri to keep an on him probably factored in to him accepting her. Strangely, like with Adam, the Doctor took on a new companion whom he didn't like to humor another companion. The difference was that Turlough chose a better companion than Rose did, so Peri stuck around and the Doctor warmed up to her. That also connects to motivation. The reason Adam was the only truly bad choice is that it was made for stupid reasons. Polly and Mel were thinking "the Doctor would be good for this person". Turlough was thinking "this person would be good for the Doctor". Rose just didn't think.

This isn't me bashing Rose, by the way. Everyone's allowed to make bad choices. But, I admit, comparing her to three random classic companions in this situation doesn't make her look good. Rose was a good companion for 9. Her relationship with 10, no matter how much one might enjoy it, might not have been the most emotionally healthy for them. But, she still was a good companion for the most part. She just doesn't have very good judgement when it comes to who makes a good companion.

Also I did sort of accidentally parallel 9/Rose and 5/Turlough. I did not actually mean to do that.

[rindragon-from-twewy]

Everyone focusing so hard on all the inconsistencies and unanswered questions about Ruby and Mrs. Flood that I've yet to see a single person properly lay out exactly why the who Sutekh thing is so... just... wrong? Like sure I've seen plenty of Day of The Doctor, The Doctor's Wife and Jack and Clara discussion but there's more then just that, I think.

Whole rant below, feel free to add ur own takes to it:

I mean, just imagine all the strange situations the Tardis has been put in before;

- Growing in size in The Name of The Doctor. Why did Sutekh decide to enact his plan right now and not, say, after the doctor was burried in Trenzalore?

- Why didn't Sutekh do anything when The Master had the Tardis and turned it in to the paradox machine? Two powerful villains joining forces to bring death to the universe mayhaps???

- Multiple Tardises (Tardi?) In one place on multiple occasions, being abandoned and/or lost on multiple occasions. How did Sutekh know that the doctor would come back for it? Why didn't he just bring the dust of death without the doctor present to inevitably save the day? (In 73 Yards and Heven Sent especially-)

- The Tardis being given a woman's body while it's shell is controlled by an evil planet- how come she didn't mention it in The Doctor's Wife? Why didn't House make any comments about it in the exact same episode?

- In Utopia, the Tardis tries to shake Jack off but why not the giant death god? In The Time of The Doctor, Clara clinging to the outside slows the Tardis down for literal decades on The Doctor's end! So does this mean the Tardis will somehow travel faster??? How would they even implement that?

- And I've yet to see anyone mention that the Tardis that we're currently with is a DUPLICATE made by the Toymaker's hammer! Did Sutekh decide to hop from one Tardis to another?? Did he get duplicated too? I saw a theory a while back that the duplication is what summoned Sutekh to begin with before all the finale stuff happened but I've seen nothing since.

- Also, The Doctor managed to pick up on there being multiple Claras after only two encounters- he even managed to make that connection based on her voice alone so why did it take him so long to recognise all the Susan Triads?!

And what's annoying is that none of this will ever be explained cuz Sutekh is (allegedly) dead now so it just doesn't matter anymore!

I know the real answer is that nobody thought it'd go this way until a couple years ago when it was first written so no hints could be placed until the 60th specials (with the first Susan Triad appearance) but doesn't think knowledge fundamentally change the way we view the Tardis in every single episode after Pyramids of Mars in a way that's just... a little bit unsatisfying?

[fallenrocket]

I feel a little apprehensive putting this into words. I guess I'll just start by saying that this is 100% IMHO. I know a lot of people are celebrating "Rogue" and really love the Doctor/Rogue dynamic--I'm not contradicting them or trying to downplay the significance of seeing the Doctor in a same-sex romance, especially after the show seemed to hold back with the Doctor and Yaz. I get that this episode is a big ol' "happy Pride to us!" moment for a lot of fans, and they have every right to feel that way. I just want to talk about why I, an aroace who views the Doctor as aspec, had a hard time fully embracing it.

From the moment I heard chatter that Fifteen was going to be drawn more to men than women, I was fine with it. As I've said before, one of the fun things about Doctor Who aspec headcanons is that each regeneration feels ace in different ways. Most of the new Who Doctors are some flavor of romantic, and plenty of them have been neutral or receptive to men flirting with them. It's all good. I just hoped that an m/m-leaning Doctor still felt ace to me, the way that m/f- and f/f-leaning Doctors have. I was hoping not to get, "The Doctor is gay now, and he's DTF!"

In my view, when the Doctor is drawn to someone, it's always primarily about who they are and what they do, not what they look like. The Doctor does use words like "beautiful," "gorgeous," and "sexy," but they're far more likely to use them in reference to a machine/creature/constellation than to a person. The Doctor forges deep soul connections in their romances while also giving just as much weight and respect to their platonic connections (love you forever, Fifteen and Ruby!) The Doctor's version of "flirting" is usually just being themselves, which people can't help falling in love with, and they're often slow to realize other people are flirting with them. Different Doctors have different reactions to kissing, but 1) they're often the one being kissed, not the other way around, and 2) they often find themselves surprised by kisses. When it comes to sexual references/propositions, their responses usually range from uncomfortable to confused to "does not register at all that there is something sexual here."

Nine when Jackie gives him the old "there's a strange man in my bedroom, anything could happen": ...No.

Ten when Lilith tries to seduce him: Now, that’s one form of magic that’s definitely not going to work on me.

Eleven when Craig says to give him a shout if he needs privacy with a girlfriend or boyfriend: Oh, I will! I’ll shout. Yes, something like, “I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS!!”

Twelve when River points out that he has no idea whether or not she looks "amazing": Well, you, you’ve moved your hair about, haven’t you?

Thirteen when Yaz's mum asks if they're dating: ...I don’t think so. Are we?

Now, I get that the show doesn't owe me an aspec Doctor, but what it's given me so far has pretty much always fit into that headcanon nicely. I love that this show is led by a brilliant, imaginative, compassionate hero who has boundless love for their friends and doesn't really care about sex.

That's the energy I was hoping for with Fifteen, and "Rogue" doesn't really deliver it for me. I'm not saying that an aspec person can't respond to Rogue the way the Doctor does, but to me, it just feels off compared to how the Doctor usually is in romantic situations.

When Rogue invites him for a walk outside and the Doctor remarks, "Fast mover," before following him--would any other Doctor take that as a proposition?

Just generally leading with the physical--handsome strangers, commenting on how good Rogue looks in his jacket, "you're hot" on the psychic paper. Again, I've seen the Doctor fall for people based on their bravery, their kindness, their intelligence, their skill in a crisis, etc. They usually are hot, in the way that most people on TV are, but that's not why the Doctor likes them. And with Rogue, that seems to be the very first thing the Doctor notices about him. What qualities of his is the Doctor drawn to?

The Doctor taking more of a lead when it comes to overt flirtation--given that Rogue is kind of a brusque, prickly loner, he likely wasn't going to start it off, but it feels weird to me to see the Doctor take the reins on a romance that isn't some kind of pretense (a la Ten proposing to Queen Elizabeth because he's trying to prove she's really a Zygon.)

I'm not about to say this episode is blatantly sexualized or "think of the children!" or anything like that. And honestly, Fifteen's portrayal here isn't drastically far off from previous characterizations of the Doctor. But there are just lots of little things that, if I was writing it, I'd have nudged slightly to put the Doctor's reactions to Rogue more in line with how they reacted to Rose/Reinette/River/etc.

***

I'd open with the Doctor curious about Rogue as someone who clearly isn't from that time/place, drawn more to the mystery than anything else. When Rogue is dour in response, the Doctor teases him--he's at a party, he's in a playful mood, and he wants the guy to lighten up.

They go outside--maybe together, maybe separately--but they both come across the duchess's shoe, shortly followed by the duchess herself. Rogue makes a clever observation or asks an Excellent Question that piques the Doctor's interest, but then he's disappointed when Rogue pulls the gun on him. Something along the lines of, "Bounty hunter? Just when I thought I met someone interesting," or, "I thought you were clever! How can you find so much evidence and follow it to exactly the wrong conclusion?"

Still, the Doctor's annoyed, not worried. He's confident that he can either convince Rogue he's wrong or get away, so he keeps up the teasing. But when Rogue takes him back to his ship, the Doctor quickly picks up on the fact that it's made to be flown with two. He's becoming slightly more worried about his own predicament, but he also wonders what pain Rogue is trying to conceal, and the little surprising touches around the ship--the DnD dice, the music--are piquing his interest again.

The Doctor uses the scanner to prove he's not a Childur, and Rogue realizes he only wants to capture the right person. The Doctor starts to think maybe there's hope for this guy yet. They go to the TARDIS and have basically the same conversation: "Pure Imagination," the pitch to travel with the Doctor (with added emphasis on there being better possibilities out there than bounty hunting,) and the two of them opening up about continuing on after loss. It's in this scene that Rogue really starts to feel drawn to the Doctor. He considers a kiss, but the Doctor is distracted by reprogramming the triform and misses signals that are visible from space.

Back at the ball, the Doctor and Ruby reconnect and catch each other up. Somewhere in there, they have a brief side exchange about Rogue. Ruby makes a comment about his good looks, and the Doctor says something like, "Is he? Now I know he's a bounty hunter, but he wants to do the right thing here. And no one who listens to Kylie could be all bad!" He spitballs a few "scandalous" ideas before realizing that him and Rogue dancing would be the juiciest. Fewer pregnant pauses and smoldering looks here, maybe some awkwardness like, "We could--I mean, if you wanted to--just to draw her out, mind..."

It's during the dance that the Doctor really starts to twig that he might be catching feelings, even as he stays focused on the task at hand. And it's not until Rogue pulls the proposal move that it occurs to the Doctor that Rogue might possibly be catching feelings for him too.

Climax mostly plays out the same way. Again, less of a pregnant pause with the kiss. Lean into the Doctor's distress over Ruby--maybe Rogue says something like, "Shh, it's okay," before going in for the kiss. The Doctor's face registers surprise, then he kind of melts into it, then before he knows it, Rogue has swapped places with Ruby and is telling the Doctor to find him. And then he's gone.

And this has nothing to do with ace stuff, but I'd set the last scene between the Doctor and Ruby in the TARDIS, with Ruby walking in to find the Doctor aggravated that he's tried numerous options and can't lock onto a way to track Rogue. He tries to play it off--"It was always a longshot, endless dimensions out there. Where to next, huh?"--and Ruby shuts him up and encourages him to let himself feel this loss.

***

But I dunno. Equality doesn't equal equity. Maybe if the Doctor's romance with Rogue had a similarly light touch as some of their m/f connections, people would be arguing that it wasn't really a romance. That the Doctor "clearly" wasn't into Rogue like Rogue was into him, or that the show was pulling its punches with a "sanitized" m/m romance. I can't speak to that experience, and maybe my version wouldn't come off well for reasons I can't see.

And like I said, if you love the Doctor/Rogue, that's great. I'm glad that you got an episode like this during Pride, and I know I can't blame a show for not following my headcanon. I went into "Rogue" apprehensive but hoping I'd love it, and these are just my thoughts and reactions to the episode.

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Star Trek SNW finally settles decades-old canon issues (spoiler commentary for S02E03)

(Image credit: Startrek.com)

I say spoiler right in the headline, and I mean it. Read no further if you have yet to see Star Trek: Strange New World’s latest episode, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. (The image above is a publicity image and is also in the trailer, so it’s not really a spoiler.)

The TL;DR is: one single line of dialogue fixed nearly 30 years of canon issues. I am not exaggerating. More under the break. And this will be a long one:

To “cross the streams” a moment, it is undeniable canon (not shipping wishful thinking) that not only did the Eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who have feelings for Clara Oswald, he even considered her not his companion, but his girlfriend. That was made undeniable canon in a couple lines in “Deep Breath” when the Twelfth Doctor said “Clara, I’m not your boyfriend,” Clara replied, “I never thought you were.” and Twelve said “I never said it was your mistake.” That was in stark fact. One line of canon dialogue confirmed what many speculated and the show hinted at. This is separate from what came after, any retcons later writers did, and all that. 

Well, one line of dialogue from a guest character in last night’s episode of Strange New Worlds put into canon something I and many others have felt not only about SNW, but the current breed of Trek shows and indeed there were signs of this going back to both Star Trek DS9 and Star Trek Voyager in the 1990s.

The Romulan time agent, Sera, played by Adelaide Kane who some may remember from playing Mary Queen of Scots in Reign, states that the Eugenics war involving Khan was supposed to happen in 1992, but was delayed 30 years due to temporal wars and other interference from the future. (To be precise she’s likely referring to Khan’s birth since he was in his 30s or 40s by the 1990s, the time TOS established the Eugenics Wars took place; here he’s a kid - possibly even a Canadian kid!  The war itself is still some years away.)

That explains a lot. Why since DS9 the Eugenics Wars were redated to the mid-21st century. Why SNW’s pilot episode last year confirmed the Eugenics Wars were part of WW3, not a separate conflict.  Why the Voyager episode where they go back to Earth on 1996 featured no mention of the Eugenics Wars. Why Kirk and everyone else already knows the name Noonien-Singh (even if La’an hadn’t introduced herself by name to “Prime” Kirk at the end, he would have seen her testimony about being Khan’s descendant at Una’s trial. There is no way in this timeline that Kirk, Spock or anyone else would not recognize Khan’s name instantly when the events of Space Seed happen. Heck, even the fact the SNW Enterprise doesn’t match up with the 1960s designs that were also featured in TNG, DS9 and Star Trek: Enterprise. Or even stuff like people like Uhura knowing who T’Pring was years before they were supposedly first introduced to her in “Amok Time”. It even gives wiggle room for the fact this time-travel episode actually breaks canon with the time-travel-based episodes of Picard Season 2! (Laris would have known about Sera and stopped her, right? Sean at TrekCulture had a gripe about this in his Youtube review)

Sera basically admitted that because of people farting around with time and the temporal wars (recall that it was strongly implied in Enterprise that the Romulans were involved if not responsible for that) that the timeline has been changed. 

It can’t be denied anymore and it’s such a liberating thing. Now, SNW is free to truly tell reimagined stories (like the retelling of Balance of Terror last season, albeit that was another alternate timeline), to make T’Pring a vital character and build her, to accelerate the Spock-Chapel romance that was only hinted at in TOS. To truly let Paul Wesley develop his own version of Kirk, not to mention Ethan Peck’s Spock and whoever next plays McCoy (you know they will bring him in eventually and if SNW avoids the fate of Prodigy and lasts a few years, they’re going to have to start getting lined up for a new TOS-era series). Hell, the door is now open for Kirk and La’an to establish a “prime-era” romance - imagine a retelling of Space Seed with La’an in the picture (or at least Kirk remembering her).

This will be a hot take for some. But my rebuttal comes from Doctor Who: “Time can be rewritten.” Finally, nearly 30 years after what was thought to be an erroneous dating of the Eugenics Wars in a throwaway line in an episode of DS9 (I believe the producers even said it was a goof back then), and 22 years of people griping about how the prequel series were not lining up with what came before, either esthetically or storyline-wise (Enterprise, Discovery, SNW, and Picard S2 to a degree), we have a firm, canonical explanation. People will still gripe about politics, general quality, casting, whatever, of shows - that’s a separate argument - but at least in terms of canon, this has changed everything. In a good way.

I only wish they hadn’t killed off Sera. I got very strong Sela vibes from her (Sela/Sera? Coincidence?) and I would have liked to see her become a recurring nemesis. Then again, as I just said, time can be rewritten.