#beccaland answers stuff

[beccaland]

Which is your favorite Time Lord costume and why? Which do you not like? Thoughts about Gallifreyan fashion, any era?

Oh my goodness! What a question. Even if we rule out all the renegades on the principle that they’re idiosyncratic and not representative, that still leaves us with so many choices. 

The very first time we see non-renegade Time Lords, it’s these three chaps from the CIA:

8/10 for practicality 

 It’s a simple design: practical and comfortable for doing a desk job, which is all any right-thinking Time Lord ever wants, right?

Later on, in the Third Doctor era, things start looking a bit fancier:

6/10 looks impractical and not all that snazzy. 

 I’m going to be honest, I can’t remember if these fellows are supposed to be with the CIA or not. I remember they’re on some sort of monitoring outpost, so CIA seems likely. But if they are CIA, things have taken a turn toward the less practical, more ostentatious garb favored by the capitol hoi-polloi. These people have important work to do, but I doubt any of them can get dressed without an assistant.

By the Fourth and Fifth Doctor eras, we finally discover that Gallifrey is the definitive Planet of the Silly Headgear:

8/10 These people look exactly like I would expect of a planet run by self-important academics.

Though a somewhat more practical smock still seems to be favored by Time Lords who actually work for a living. 

5/10 Castellan Kelner’s robes and swirly hat are far fancier than is practical for him to fulfill his Very Important Duties of feeding the Lord President Doctor his jelly babies and keeping the Capitol safe from alien invaders.

(gif by @rassilonwatchathon​)

10/10 Rodan’s stylishly tailored smock stands out among the Time Lords’ lower bureaucratic class. She’s clearly going places.

the Fourth Doctor story The Invasion of Time is also the first time we see the Chancellery Guard uniforms:

5/10 These uniforms are silly, and the capes and shoulder pads are not at all practical. They’re wearing helmets, but only Andred is wearing any body armor, and it’s only ceremonial.

When we get to the Sixth Doctor and Trial of a Time Lord, things get a bit more interesting. We see several new types of Time Lord robes, representing various offices among the Capitol bureaucracy.

The Valeyard:

6/10 Badly tailored, but at least he’s wearing a thematically appropriate colour.

Left to right: Inquisitor Darkel and the Keeper of the Matrix

7/10 Both of these outfits offer stylish echoes of the standard Time Lord regalia while offering something distinctive as befits their unique stations.

That brings us to the end of Classic Who for Time Lord costumes, and into the New Series. 

The first time we see the Time Lords, their costumes are not that different from late Classic Who, though there’s some additional flourishes and the color-coding of Chapters seems to have disappeared during the Time War; nobody on Gallifrey seems to wear any color but red anymore (to hide all the blood, maybe).

3/10 The silly collar looks great, but Rassilon’s tunic is both hideous and badly tailored, and it looks like he’s wearing a fancy bathrobe over it.

8/10 the High Council may have lost their ability to see any color other than red and gold, but they’ve still got a sense of pompous style and access to the best tailors. Check out all those gorgeous little details on their robes.

We do get some new flourishes in The Day of the Doctor, however: a new ridiculous collar for the War Council, and updated armor for Time Lord soldiers that echoes the defunct Chancellery Guard uniforms.

9/10 Now THAT looks like proper armor. The general’s cape is excusable as it’s not really a combat role.

9/10 Rassilon’s updated look in Hell Bent loses the stupid tunic and gains a much prettier robe. Love the Circular Gallifreyan border on his cloak!

The War Council robes are so gorgeous, I just have to add this extra photo from @theheroheart‘s post on Gallifreyan costumes so you can see all the incredible details:

10/10 I adore the new collar, both aesthetically and practically. The amount of detail on those robes is just stunning. I still want to see it in Chapter colours, though.

Though they’re not technically Time Lords until they graduate from the Academy, I just have to include these bonus Gallifreyan children’s outfits: 

10/10 for the adorable Gallifreyan children. Please keep them away from the Untempered Schism.

To sum up, here’s what we know about Time Lord clothing:

No Gallifreyan would be caught dead wearing trousers unless they’re a soldier or a renegade.

They love layers–is Gallifrey colder than Earth median temperatures?

Red is the new black (unless you’re a member of the CIA, or evil).

Hats must be silly–again, unless you’re a soldier not named Maxil.

Collars are a must: the bigger, the better!

The Seal of Rassilon is a perfect accessory that goes with any outfit.

Swirly things are high class.

Chevrons indicate Practical Skills of some kind.

Pleats are practically a must.

Only take your gloves off when absolutely necessary.

Unanswered questions: 

Do Time Lords wear pants under their robes, or do they all go commando?

What happened to all the different colors of the Chapter Houses?

[thelibrarybee]

21 questions tag

Rules: Answer 21 questions and then tag 21 people who you want to get to know better.

I was tagged by @coverofabook, thank you!

Nickname: People sometimes call me Phoebs, but apart from that I don’t really have one. People are welcome to call me Bee if they want though. (Currently noone does but I kinda like the sound of it - you can shorten Phoebe to Bee, right?)

Zodiac: Sagittarius

Height: 5′4″ 

Last movie I saw: I haven’t got a clue. But knowing me it was probably Lord of the Rings.

Favourite musicians: The Divine Comedy, Kings of Convenience, Regina Spektor, Murray Gold, Sleeping at Last, King’s Division (I have to mention them, not just because it is my sisterly duty to do so, but because they are also very good), Athlete; Ella Fitzgerald, Fred Astaire et al., The Tuts, and many, many others

Last thing I googled: knitting technique websites, possibly. I don’t really google much.

Song stuck in my head: The current selection from the Completely Random Earworm Playlist my brain inflicts on me is this, the world’s most hilariously terrible theme song

Other blogs: @uselesstimelords, which is a mess of new, classic and extended universe Doctor Who stuff

Following: 611, though it’s probably high time I went through and unfollowed the inactive ones/the ones I’m not interested in anymore

Do I get asks: Sometimes. People are more than welcome to send me them, btw (it might take me a while to respond, but I’ll get there eventually!)

What I’m Wearing: yellow jumper, tartan skirt, black tights, and warm socks and an extra woolly cardigan because it’s areally miserable cold day

Lucky number: I don’t have one (I think)

Amount of sleep: I aim for 7-8 hours.

Favourite food: Good question. I’m bad at choosing favourites. Does hot chocolate count as a food? Because I seem to be consuming vast amounts of that at the moment... 

Dream trip: New Zealand 

Dream job: Working in museum collections - which I do currently, but on a voluntary basis. Also writing, but I kind of need to get my act together and actually finish one of the myriad things I’ve started planning/writing then got incredibly distracted from.

Describe yourself as aesthetic things: tea, old books, pencils and paintbrushes, cardigans (I don’t know if they’re aesthetic but they are now), daffodils, long dresses, maps

Random fact: I have three younger siblings, who can be summed up as thus: Drummer, Dancer, Scary.

Languages: English, and I studied French to A-Level but it’s been a while since I’ve done anything with it so I’m somewhat rusty.

I’m tagging a mixture of main- and side-blog followers, because I’m even worse at interacting with people on there than I am over here (which is saying something), so this is me, saying hello, you seem like nice people, I greatly appreciate you for following me and my mess of a sideblog, I know I don’t speak much but I’m Trying my Best.

@anassarhenisch, @falliblefabrial, @cleo-queen-of-pirates, @beccaland, @lilymaidofgallifrey, @literatureandtrees, @srwhitehead, @the-angels-have-the-phone-box, @tompkins-square-ditmas, @stillthesunkenstars, @sparklingdocta, @thebraxiatelcollection, @lettersfromthelighthouse, @books-are-portals (although I think you may have already done this?), and anyone else who wants to do it (yes I know I haven’t tagged 21 shhh)

[jodiewhitaker-archive]

@beccaland That’s an interesting question. I think so, in a way? Because I have a lot of followers (like, 1k+ going on 1100) and even if I post less or different content than I usually put on the blog, I’m not sure the activity will necessarily cease. For example, I answered 10 asks yesterday, even though I barely reblogged that many posts. If I add that up, it comes to at least an hour of my time being spent answering asks on Tumblr — and none of them were things that really interested me, either. I also think it wouldn’t be very encouraging to watch the number of followers go down, which will inevitably happen if I switch over the content; I’d much rather start at zero and work my way up again. I also wouldn’t want to completely erase everything off this blog, like my theme and icons page, because I spent a long time on them (even if I don’t really want to keep them anymore). It would be easier to just leave it as it is and start over, I think. Tbh I just want a nice, simple blog where I can reblog stuff about the Eighth Doctor and maybe Classic Who. And I don’t need or want a crazy amount of people following me and seeing every post, because that’s guaranteed to generate more activity than I can handle. So wooo, rant over (wow this got long!) I hope this makes sense!

[beccaland]

Romana I’s white dress

I've said before, and I'll no doubt say again that this dress is easily in the top three most perfect examples of costuming-as-characterization in all of Doctor Who, if not in all of television.

Do you have any idea how perfect this dress is? I don't; I am not actually an expert in costume design. And yet I can feel it radiating from the screen even now. This dress, combined with Mary Tamm's flawless deportment, tell you in 0.3 seconds exactly who Romana is.

Quite a few writers failed spectacularly to understand her character as well as June Hudson did the very first time we see her (I swear June Hudson is some sort of costuming demigoddess).

If you told me June Hudson had stolen this dress right out of the Queen of the Faeries' own wardrobe, while Herself was sleeping in the very same room, I would believe you. If you told me the Faerie Queen showed up on set to get her dress back, but was cowed by Mary Tamm's icy stare, I'd believe that too.

The Moment tried this dress on once, but felt that actually wearing it would have been a bit presumptuous.

I'm pretty sure the collective psychic impact of this dress and this moment rippled forward through time and actually willed the Big Finish Gallifrey series into existence.

Ask me about a Doctor Who costume, and I'll tell you what I think.

[beccaland]

Colin's Two Doctors its-too-hot-for-the-whole-costume waistcoat.

The thing about this waistcoat is that it's basically the love child of Sixie's motley frock coat and a Hawaiian shirt.

Plus, a lovely fan made Colin a replica, so that the dear fellow can cosplay as himself when he goes to cons. I wasn't able to get a good photo of it, but you can sort of see in this photo:

It's not what you'd call fashionable, but it's very him, and just perfect for a trip to sunny Seville!

The other thing you'll notice if you look closely at the screencap above is the remarkable attention to detail and the craftsmanship of the piece. The different-colored panels create a parallelism with his usual outfit. It's got neat little pockets and reinforced arm holes, which are also in different colored fabrics. Sixie may not adhere to what the rest of the universe regards as "good taste" in clothing, but he clearly has a discerning eye when it comes to tailoring.

Now, I'm not saying I'd wear the Two Doctors waistcoat. Large floral prints are not really my style. But I can appreciate it as a work of art.

Ask me about any Doctor Who costume and I'll tell you what I think!

[beccaland]

For the costume design asks, Maxil's spectacularly feathered helmet (or just the chancellery guard in general). Also, this is such a good ask idea, DW costumes are great and definitely deserve more discussion

You are referring, of course, to the crown jewel of the Chancellery Guard, Ermintrude:

Ermintrude, whose sartorial stature required the six-foot Commander Maxil to carry her most of the time just to fit through the Capitol doorways--what were those architects thinking!?

Given the general extravagance of Gallifreyan garb, it's all the more impressive that Ermintrude, with her glorious purple plumage, soars above them all.

It begs the question: why didn't other Chancellery Guard commanders get such stately headgear? Are helmets like Ermintrude standard issue for a guard commander of Maxil's distinction? Or did Maxil have her made specially? We may never know, because a well-bred lady like Ermintrude never spills her secrets.

Ask me about any Doctor Who costume and I'll tell you what I think!

[beccaland]

What do you think of Eleven's 7B outfit? Personally, I love the purple. And I really like the waistcoat, both his and Clara's costumes in Journey to the Centre of the Tardis are some of my low key favourites!

True story: I've wanted a frock coat ever since I saw the TVM. The very first thing I thought when I saw Eleven's news duds in BoSJ was, "I WANT THAT COAT!" I thought it so loud it came out of my mouth. So then this happened:

I ADORE Eleven's series 7B outfit. It's my favorite Doctor costume EVER.

The bow tie in the photo is called "Nightmare in Silver," btw. I also have the one called "Thyme Lord," which is the one he wore in "The Bells of St. John." Eleven's are narrower than mine, but I thought the broader ones would look better on me. I wear them at work pretty often. You can buy them from Mrs. Bow Tie, which is an excellent sartorial shop. The coat may still be available from Abbyshot. I wear it regularly, too.

[beccaland]

Can you find Missy?

Found her!

Now through Sunday, send me an ask with a DW character and I'll try to get a selfie with someone cosplaying them at Gallifrey One!

[beccaland]

What exactly *does* uwu and owo and all that mean, anyway? I feel like i should know, bu don't, somehow.

So I guess uwu is supposed to be euphoric happiness, or giddy joy or something? Like I guess the feeling you would get if Paul McGann himself were to personally gift you an adorable puppy, I think

I didn't even know owo was a thing but I just looked it up and apparently it's shock or surprise, but cute?

So like, Paul McGann surprises you with an adorable puppy gift and your reaction would go, in order:

OwO

UwU

Or possibly uwu and the gif mean the same thing, idk?

[beccaland]

Can you find anyone dressed as Narvin?

I didn't find Narvin, but I did find his boss!

[beccaland]

also is ten even that pretty like the fandom says? i'd argue thirteen, eight and five are prettier

The TL;DR answer to your question is yes. Since the fandom says he is, he must be.

The longer answer is that it depends on how you define "pretty." Aesthetics and attraction are different but often related, and each is relative.

I'd say it's fairly settled fact that David Tennant has a kind of magnetism that attracts a lot of people, not just in the Doctor Who fandom (he played Casanova, after all).

In the traditional aesthetic sense, I agree with you that Thirteen, Eight, and Five are prettier (and I would add Capaldi to that list). Eight in particular looks like someone from a Pre-Raphaelite painting. Ten's prettiness is rather more modern and quirky. Whereas Eight is aesthetically Soft, Ten is aesthetically Spiky. He's the epitome of Geek Chic. Also there's the hair, which I wouldn't call pretty, but is undoubtedly brilliant.

Aesthetics aside, I think part of what makes the fandom swoon for him is that Ten comes off as--to put it bluntly--by far the most sexually accessible of any incarnation of the Doctor to date. Eight might have been the first to snog anyone on camera, and I gather he does a fair amount of kissing in the books, but it's all rather chaste. But Ten's got Cassandra/Rose in his second episode, followed by Reinette, Martha, Joan Redfern (as John Smith), Astrid, Rose (TenToo), and Queen Elizabeth I (did I miss any?). And who knows how many others in the books. And all these snogs (with the alleged exception of Martha, on his side anyway) are sexually charged in a way that Eight's generally aren't. Ten flirts constantly. Eleven flirts with River, and with Idris/the TARDIS, and to some degree with Clara, but it's pretty chaste flirting for the most part--you get the sense that he's sexually available ONLY for River, and even that was against his better judgment. He's not very good at it. Likewise Twelve, except even more chastely in his case.

I know a few people who swoon for Five, but it's hard to imagine him being anything but bewildered and flustered by a snog--and surely he'd never initiate one. Most of the classic Doctors fit in this category--except maybe Seven, who would preemptively avoid the possibility of an attempted snog.

Thirteen has so far been basically giving me Fifth Doctor vibes. She's youthful and pretty and very friendly, but I think she would be confused if you tried to flirt with her.

So yeah. Um. It depends, but yes, they are all pretty to someone. And some are prettier to more people than others. And some are more pretty to most people than others. Ranking them in terms of prettiness would be super weird and awkward for me. But Eight would be at the top. Because look at him, seriously

[beccaland]

Send me a specific Doctor Who costume/monster design ask and I'll tell you what I think of it

E.g. Tegan's stewardess costume, Omega's robes from The Three Doctors, Nardole's bath robe, the Fisher King from Before the Flood, the Fifth Doctor's embroidered waistcoat from Planet of Fire, or which color of Thirteen's t-shirt from series 11, etc.

[beccaland]

eight for the cosplay.:D

I found him!

Send me a character and I'll try to find them at Gallifrey One!

[beccaland]

"Where's Wally" Gallifrey One Cosplay Edition!

Now through Sunday, send me an ask with a Doctor Who character and I'll try to find a cosplayer and post a photo of me with them!

[beccaland]

Big Finish Main Range Sale

There's a sale! It runs until 20 February 2019. There are a ton of audios on offer. The Main Range includes mostly Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctor stories, but this offer does have two Eighth Doctor stories.

I bought some stuff I didn't already have. If anybody wants some BF Sale Recs, send me an ask! You can ask about specific stories, Doctors, companions, or general recs.

I own everything Eighth Doctor, everything with Charley Pollard in it (including the Sixth Doctor ones) and sundry other ones from Five, Six, and Seven. I also browsed through a bunch of reviews to decide which ones I wanted to buy, so feel free to ask me about whatever's on sale and I'll telll you what I think.

Go on, ask me for Big Finish recs! Your ears will thank you, even if your wallet doesn't.

[beccaland]

22, 5

22. Do you think traveling in the TARDIS would be worth the danger?

Yeah. I might change my mind after one too many traumatic experiences, but yeah. I’m much more interested in learning than I am scared of dying, so I’d jump at the chance to explore all of time and space.

5. What’s your favorite New Who episode?

My favorite changes based on my mood. Today, it’s “The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar.” (Is it cheating to pick a two-parter?)

But if you asked me what I think the BEST episode was, I’d ask “best for what?” Because what’s the best episode for introducing people to Doctor Who is way different from what’s the most well-made episode. In terms of sheer artistry and craft, though, I’d have to say “Heaven Sent.”

Send me a Real Basic Ask