#can't do it with rose and I don't know if i want one with clara

[spoofymcgee]

um??? 2.5k in one sitting who???

[astrid-sama]

What if a reader x carmilla but reader sold their soul to Carmilla as a show of love and devotion to her? Like either they were already dating, or they confessed and gave her their soul when she accepted.

(Hi, thanks for your request, I'm sorry it took me so long to write it, but I wanted to give context to your request)

Carmilla Carmine x fem reader

The first thing I thought of when I realized I was in hell was "what did I do to deserve it?", even today I can't give myself an answer, while alive I had always been told that to end up in hell you had to have accomplished horrible actions, but I had never done anything wrong; the only blame that can be attributed to me is my death, I was killed, due to my naivety, by what I believed to be the love of my life.

At first I was quite surprised by hell, I imagined it as a great chasm that descended to the bowels of the earth inhabited by sadistic demons whose aim was to make your eternal damnation an agony, but instead it was a large city and to make your eternal damnation and torment were not demonic creatures but other sinners.

When I had resigned myself to my eternal "life" of suffering, I met the person who made me feel like I was in paradise without ever having even seen the golden gates of heaven.

The first time I met Carmilla was during the extermination, I had recently arrived in hell and I didn't know that once a year the angels came to kill sinners.

I was about to be killed by an exterminating angel but then she came and saved me.

When, after having made the angel flee, she held out her hand to help me stand up and asked me how I was, I felt my heart skip a beat. I don't know exactly what Carmilla liked about me, but after that day I was no longer alone in hell, at first I found an acquaintance, then a friend and finally a lover.

Carmilla had introduced me to her daughters before we even got together, she was very happy when she saw that we got along well, in fact within a few months I had become their "second mother".

The day Carmilla confessed her love to me and asked me if I wanted to be her girlfriend was the best day of my life.

Our relationship was perfect and made me realize how different our relationship was from what I had had in the past, Carmilla was always kind and loving to me, she gave me black roses (my favorite flowers) because she wanted to and not as as a sign of apology for hitting me, she never had outbursts of anger because I went out with my friends or because I didn't answer her phone calls; and the more time passed the more my fear grew that one day all this would end, it wasn't often that I was able to express my love for her to Carmilla and I feared that if I wasn't able to show her that I would be hers forever she would get tired of me (like my ex who had finally killed me).

I began to think about the best way to show her my undying love for her and finally decided that I would give her my soul.

I had organized a romantic dinner at our house and asked Clara and Odette if they could leave us alone for the evening.

My heart begins to beat faster with anticipation when you hear the door open symbolizing Carmilla's return.

-Welcome back-

I said and Carmilla greeted me by kissing me tenderly on the lips.

-How was your day?-

-Good now that you are here with me, mi amor-

I felt my cheeks heat up at the cute nickname, oh how I loved when she spoke to me in Spanish.

-Come love, I gave you a surprise-

-Did I do something special to deserve a candlelit dinner?-

-Why can't I treat my girlfriend well? Come let's go eat-

The dinner was very pleasant and Carmilla's hand remained on top of mine the entire time.

After dinner, Carmilla and I sat on the couch so close our knees were touching.

-Carmilla, I wanted to give you a gift, since you usually give me gifts-

-Mi amor there was no need, you are enough for me-

Carmilla said and then kissed my hands.

-Of course there is a need. I wanted to give you something that could show you how much I love you and that I would do anything for you; I want to give you my soul-

I expected Carmilla to be happy, but instead the emotion I saw on her face was bewilderment.

-Mi amor, don't joke with certain things-

-I'm serious -

-Why do you want to give me your soul?-

-I want to show you that I love you and that I will love you forever and there is no better way to do it than to give yourself to you-

-Mi amor why do you think you have to prove something to me?-

-I I...-

I didn't know what to say, I wanted to show Carmilla that I loved her as she always did for me and I had believed that giving her my soul would be the best path, I wanted to avoid having doubts about our relationship, I wanted to avoid it ending up the way it ended with my ex because maybe if I had shown him how much I loved him he wouldn't have had any doubts about us maybe he wouldn't have killed me maybe...

-Mi amor please tell me what pushed you to do something like that, you know you can tell me everything.-

Carmilla looked very worried.-

When I was still alive I had a relationship, he was very possessive and wanted me to prove to him that I was his but I didn't do it and I ruined everything and in the end he killed me; I was afraid of ruining everything with you too-

-Mi amor possessiveness is not a sign of love, the person you were with before was toxic and if he had really loved you he wouldn't have killed you. I don't need you to give me your soul to love you, I just love you-

-Please forgive me, I didn't realize how toxic what I wanted to do was-

-It's not your fault mi amor, it's the fault of that bastard who made you believe that those things were normal in a relationship. Mi amor I love you more than my life, if you want I will always be by your side and I will help you overcome the wounds that your past reaction has left you.-

[cosalphonse]

i recently was gifted some 03 merch that i haven’t seen online and wanted to share! the two artworks on the left are somewhat transparent, i’m not sure what they’re intended to be but they are super cute! and i’m going to share some photos of the character collection below the cut - this will be a little long and photo-heavy! and disclaimer, i don’t have a scanner nor can i read japanese, so i’m just going to be sharing the pages most visually / conceptually interesting to me

our boy ed gets several pages dedicated to him, no surprise, but i really like this little collage of images with the episode numbers displayed. it also includes the iconic “love is love” thumbs up which is funny to me

al similarly gets a lot of pages dedicated to him, but this one stuck out to me as a cute comedic page - i wonder if the little red and yellow text bubbles under ed and al in the middle of the page are what they say in the scene or something original?

i really loved this collage in winry’s section! it highlights her outfits and, just like ed’s, gives us screenshots with episode numbers behind her

riza’s section has an entire page on her relationship with black hayate, which i just found delightful. i love that they include the crude sketch of him as the little thumbnail for the section lol

interestingly, hughes' section ends with this all-red page focused entirely on his death. this made me wonder, what do the book creators consider spoilers? they don't exactly shy away from the more spoilery characters later on and they pretty much document nina's story in its entirety, yet at the same time we don't get a lot of information about hoenheim, envy, or ANYTHING about the other side of the gate. so what's the cutoff here? the last ten episodes? either way, i just found it interesting

my girl sheska gets two whole pages dedicated to her! that's more than breda, havoc, maria ross, and most of the homunculi. good for her.

while i can't read what this says, i found it interesting that they put dante and lyra's pages together. i don't know if they give away the twist, but either way, they clearly knew what they were doing - even if the excuse is that they put lyra with dante since she studies under her

scar gets two whole pages!! DESERVED!! i love that they include so much of his story, especially his relationship with his brother and lust

speaking of, lust is the only homunculus to get a two page spread! they even gave us some scarlust crumbs....

just wanted to include pictures of the 03-original homunculi, it's interesting that they were put together! and once again, this brings up my questions of "what is considered spoilers"

rose also gets a two page spread!

and possibly most baffling is... CLARA gets a two page spread too? for a character who only shows up in one episode this is mind boggling to me. a lot of the 03 original characters get small highlights - archer, the tringhams, etc - but clara gets the largest spot. maybe her episode was more popular while this was being made, or the creators just really liked her, idk

well, those are all of the points of interest i wanted to highlight! if anyone has any suggestions on what they want me to share - specific characters, index information, or anything else - feel free to send me an ask! i'll put all the information under the tag #03 character collection

[smallblueandloud]

i keep feeling like. there's something parallel between rose and yaz's endings. maybe parallel isn't the right word -- but i keep wanting to draw comparisons, i think because they're two characters who really defined specific doctors and for whom it's basically confirmed the doctor returned their (romantic) feelings

(they're not the ONLY ones who fit this description, but i'm in no way qualified to talk about clara or even river, so bear with me)

it just feels. i don't know. rose never leaves on purpose. she is separated from the doctor, forcibly, every single time. the doctor sends her home, or she gets stuck in an alternate universe, or the doctor leaves her in the same alternate universe. every single time, she fights to get back to the doctor. the writers had to create a perfect happy ending for her (half-human version of her doctor who'll age along with her, in the alternate universe where her father is alive) because otherwise she wouldn't stop fighting to get back to the doctor, and the show can't have that. the show needs to move on. we need rose to fade into the past.

i haven't seen all of yaz's episodes, but her arc seems very similar from the limited amount i've seen. she keeps fighting to get back to the doctor. she's in love with the doctor, and the doctor basically confirms returning her feelings, albeit in a very stilted, hesitant, doctor-y way (compare "imagine that happening to someone you--" with "and if i was going to, believe me, it would be with you").

but when yasmin's doctor regenerates... yaz is just expected to. step away, go back to living her life, never see the doctor again. kinda like the abandonment that most companions have ever experienced -- getting dropped off once and then goodbye forever! -- except with more of the onus on her. the show has to move on from rose's era, so she gets dumped on a beach. the show has to move on from yasmin's era, so yaz has to accept that the doctor is going off to die alone. she has to make her peace with that information.

i don't know. i think yaz's ending is trying to go hand-in-hand with graham and ryan's purposeful exit -- it seems like the chibnall era tried really hard to have Not Terrible endings for companions. which is very admirable! but honestly? yasmin's ending feels crueler than most, including rose's. yaz was in love with the doctor. the doctor reciprocated those feelings. they should've gotten their equivalent of s2-era 10rose! she should've gotten a chance to stay with the doctor through their regeneration, the way other love interests have been able to (s/o to river and clara!).

i know this is because of the limitations of the show. bad ratings meant chibnall left after only one regeneration, and new incarnations of the show rarely bring in characters from other eras.

but i'm still very sad for yaz :( like yes, she wasn't just dumped on the curb without warning. but she was still expected to say goodbye to someone she loved, knowing that person was dying, and not say a word of protest. if the previous history of the show is any indication, she's never going to see the doctor again. she doesn't get a half-human version of the doctor to live out her days with, and she's not "allowed" to fight to get back to the doctor, either, due to the way the show's structured (but also the way the doctor talked about them saying goodbye). she has to live the rest of her life knowing that the doctor is out there, perfectly capable of visiting, and the only reason they won't visit is because yaz is from a specific time of their life that they've moved on from.

i know she has the companion support group. and i know she'll move on! she's yaz. she's strong and self-actualized. she'll be okay, eventually. but she has to be okay, you know? she has to learn to live without the doctor. rose never had to do that.

it just makes me sad :(

[veraynes-blog]

Do you think the Master/Missy has been, or would be, particularly jealous of any of the companions?

Literally ALL of them?? I can't think of a single companion the Master encountered (at least in nuWho) who didn't immediately inspire him to get embarrassingly territorial.

Martha felt particularly viciously personal, given that he targeted her family for, presumably, the grave offence of briefly seeing her travel with the Doctor in Utopia (cuz remember he'd already been making inroads with her sister before the Doctor et al got back to Earth. He was planning to torture them before she ever got involved in trying to stop him.)

He only heard a small mention of Donna being Ten's "best friend" and sent an entire murder squad to hunt her down??

I don't quite know what Missy was thinking when she 'picked out' Clara. Maybe that she wouldn't be as jealous if she had some control of the situation? But I think her logic was flawed, or she picked too well. Clara is the companion most similar to both the Doctor and the Master, in certain respects. I think Missy quite liked Clara, and also essentially picked out her own replacement, and so would have killed her in a heartbeat if she'd had a chance.

Bill... Not sure if that was jealousy or just Simm!Master's vicious and effective means to punish the Doctor 😔 💔

Yaz was jealousy. Can't decide if it was because of the romantic potential he might have sensed, or Spymaster's bizarre need to subsume the Doctor and therefore wanting a companion of his own....

In short: All of them. Literally all. No one is safe. The likes of Rose is so lucky she never crossed paths with him, can you imagine? 😬

I have indulgent head canons over which companions he'd get on with if forced by circumstance, but even those rose-tinted imaginings have to account for his jealousy. 🙃

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

best entrance is doing well for the next tournament (it was winning when i started but not anymore) so i've tried to summarise everyone's that I can. i've attempted to do their first scene on the show. i wasn't able to do everyone, and some of them are probably not quite right as I mostly did it off memory so suggestions welcome

Ian and Barbara - flirting, then talking about their one weirdo student who lives in a junkyard

Susan - being that one weirdo student who lives in a junkyard

Vicki - waiting for rescue

Steven - being the lone captive of a bunch of chumblies is perhaps not great for the mind

Katarina

Sara

Dodo - im just going to have a look in this police box, oh its bigger on the inside, yeah that seems normal

Polly - evil computer's inventor's secretary, invites dodo to a club

Ben - sad and drunk, beats the shit out of someone being threatening to a woman he just met

Jamie

Victoria

Zoe - Jamie's babysitter

Brig - why are all these people running around the london underground

Benton - generic unit soldier

Liz - brigadier, aliens aren't real

Mike - generic unit soldier

Jo - unfortunately your new assistant is too endearing for you to hate

Sarah - stealing your aunt's identity is good investigative journalism

Harry - newly regenerated 4's babysitter

Leela - banished for herasy

K9 - just a robot dog

Romana I - one of the most poerful beings in the universe says the doctor needs a friend

Romana II - is regeneration supposed to be difficult

Adric - no adric you can't join our group of rebel outsiders, you're too much of a nerd

Nyssa - your dad's getting married and you're getting your step-mother's job

Tegan - just so excited to start her new job as an air stewardess

Turlough - steal the brigadier's car, crash the brigadier's car

Kamelion - king john

Peri - this holiday is boring, im going on a different one and nobody can stop me

Mel - already travelling with the doctor, also making him exercise

Ace - begging to join in on the adventure

Grace - opera performance interupted by emergency heart surgery

Lee - gang shoot out interuppted by the TARDIS

Charley - crossdressing so she can work aboard a doomed airship

C'rizz

Evelyn - stop disturbing my lecture on my favourite historical figure with that incessant beeping

Lucie

Liv

Helen

Hex

Benny

Chris

Fitz

Compassion

Anji

Sam

Alison - fed up bartender in mysterious town

Iris

Izzy

Frobisher

Rose - montage of her normal life

Mickey - i get that your workplace just exploded but i really want to go to the pub

Adam - look at all my weird trinkets

Jack - clearly not from the 1940s, but more importantly, bisexual

Martha - family drama phone call

Donna - just materialises on the tardis

Wilf - no amount of danger could get me to leave london

River - wait she knows the doctor

Amy - praying to santa

Rory - nutty nurse thinks coma patients are faking it

Kate - if i don't let the soldiers storm someones house every once in a while they get sad

Clara - its the one from contemporary earth whos sticking around

Handles - the doctor has a pet cyberhead now

Bill - meet this woman the doctor's taken an interest in

Nardole - river's sidekick

Yaz - resolving parking disputes is so boring

Ryan and Graham - ryan can'r ride a bike, but he is going to learn

Dan - this man gives tours of museums he doesn't work for

Ruby - so ruby, give us your backstory

[darklinaforever]

She's talking about this scene ?!

But it's ridiculous ! This scene doesn't prove that Donna is inside of the mind of Tentoo ?! It's simply a scene where the Doctor finally understands essentially how much Donna sees herself as less than nothing ! Tentoo doesn't feel everything Donna feels literally, that's bullshit. Already, he's talking about what she thinks, not what she feels. The "I can see Donna, what you're thinking" is literally just an expression (which I've seen used countless times in the sort of moment where one person understands another…) ? We literally see in this scene that Tentoo is thinking about his own memories, and not Donna's, which is what we would have seen if he saw in his head ?! It's literally explained in the rest of the episode that Tentoo received Donna's DNA, but it was she who received his mind (which she judges to be the Doctor's best) ! And to get back to that delusion of “I can see it Donna, what you’re thinking”. You know what further proves that this sentence was simply an expression on the Doctor's part to express that he finally understands Donna ? THE FACT THAT SHE GIVES IDEAS THAT NEITHER TEN NOR TENTOO HAVE NEVER THOUGHT OF AND THAT THEY ARE PLEASANTLY SURPRISED TO HEAR ! If Tentoo is in Donna's head, why the hell doesn't he have the same ideas as her ?! Or why is he even surprised by it ?!

Also, isn't the Doctor a basic fucking telepath ? If you want to take the phrase in its most literal sense possible there is literally this, the fact that the Doctor literally has the ability to read the minds of basic people ! (Even though this is meant to be a violation, the Doctor has just been reborn with some minimal changes, perhaps he felt legitimate in that context ? After all, he's a more impulsive version of Ten. Although I just think the phrase was nothing more than a simple expression) So how is this supposed to be proof that Donna is inside Tentoo on a mental level ?!

Also, I would like to remind you that the basis of regeneration inevitably involves changes each time. So to say that Tentoo can't be the Doctor because he doesn't act the same as Ten is completely ridiculous. Especially when we assume that the Doctor naturally changes personality with each incarnation. Tentoo is bound to have slight differences from Ten because he went through the regeneration process ! Tentoo, it's Ten who has evolved ! He was born during a battle, which influences his impulsiveness. He was born from the moment he ran towards Rose on that street, which explains why he looks more amused/less serious than Ten. He is part human, which influences his decision to commit genocide because he no longer has the restrictions he had as a Time Lord. He speaks slightly like Donna (during only one fucking comedy moment ?), well the Doctor has always picked up things from his companions, like Rose's accent or Clara's postures/gestural tics. Was he less the Doctor than the previous incarnation ? I do not think so ! Also, I would like to understand how Tentoo, beyond what I have stated, seems fundamentally different from Ten ? Beyond the humorous moment with Donna, he has the same way of expressing himself as he always has and also has the same physical / vocal expressions as Ten ?! How is it fundamentally different ?! How does Donna seem to have any mental influence on Tentoo ?!

Seriously, find me a single scene where Donna seems to have a mental influence on Tentoo that makes him act differently than usual ? (apart from this brief comic moment where he speaks like her) Don't you think ? Normal ! He does not have it ! Tentoo says it himself ! He thinks like Ten ! Not like Donna ! (Supported once again by the gifs above where Ten and Tentoo are surprised by what Donna is thinking !)

Please people, share in the comments, because I'm big on bullshit. Who ever thought Donna was a part of Tentoo's mind with this scene ? Seriously ? Has anyone ever thought of this scene as anything other than a simple expression of ultimate understanding between two friends ?! Someone answer me !

[heatwa-ves]

twelveclara for that relationship ask game 🫶

describe their canon relationship/dynamic

what if you love someone so much you become them? what if they've seen you die a million times what if they weren't the man you loved at first but now you love them even more what if they've hurt you and made you lie and what if you've threatened them and what if you lie that you're happy so that they can leave and be happy themselves except you're both miserable and alone when you're apart what if the thought of them dying breaks something in you what if you're the only one they'll listen to what if you stop them when they want to tell you they love you what if you say you already know what if they watch you die again but it's different this time because you're actually dead and they can't accept that what if they spend billions of years for the chance they can get you back but they lose their memory of you and you listen to them talk to you about a girl called clara who they used to know

your ideal/headcanon version of it? how does it differ from how it is in canon & why is this your favorite version? any other alternate versions of it you enjoy?

why change perfection. my issue is with elevenclara rather than twelveclara elevenclara has an interesting dynamic in theory but in practice is. Kind of bad.

what do you like about their relationship, why is it interesting or enjoyable to you?

they're fucking INSANE and codependent and becoming eachother in a way that's hard to describe if you haven't watched the show. say what you will about the hybrid arc in S9 but I like it. throughout the whole season there keeps being mention of this "hybrid" being like the most dangerous and powerful thing etc but as the series goes on and clara and the doctor become more and more alike and more and more codependent you start to realise they are the hybrid and at the end of the universe me says about how they're so similar that they drive eachother to extremes both good and bad. My fav part of their relationship is probably how it is in motoe where clara is trying to tell herself this is the end because she HATES him but can't bring herself to "leave on a slammed door" and she starts to understand him in this episode and omg the twelveclaras are just too good in motoe

what about the individual characters involved? what does this relationship mean to them, what makes it unique among their relationships?

clara oswald is the only character in the world and twelve is the best doctor and I love them both and they will always be my fav. claras relationship with the doctor paralleled to her relationship with danny is soooooo interesting but I've talked about that before. for twelve I think clara is his first love since rose and obv there's been over a thousand years in his life since then obv there's river and maybe some minor characters but river is different they're married. clara parallels rose really nicely too which is something I'll go about another time but the thing most different between them is the doctor sent rose away to protect her but there's nothing that could separate him from clara until he is literally forced to forget her existence

favorite interaction they have in canon

diner scene + I don't deserve a friend like you // I'm sorry clara but I'm exactly what you deserve + I don't want to be the last of my kind + you look at me and you don't see me . please just see me + I'm not your boyfriend // I didn't say you were // I didn't say it was your mistake + whatever you're about to say, I already know

favorite interaction they have in your head/a situation you want to put them in

idk I don't really think about them outside of canon? I feel like I love their canon relationship so much that I don't have anything more I want from them .. I think an episode where they run into a clara splinter would be interesting like clara sees herself die and what do you even do about that. or maybe the doctor is trying desperately to keep the real clara from seeing the clara splinter or something. more twelveclaramissy would be good they're like the three worst lesbians alive

[x-lucifera]

So about Season 14 Episode 2...

Okay so... Another rant because I have nothing better to do today :D And I can't sleep.

Again SPOILER ALERT! Just in case.

In my previous post, I mentioned that Ruby acts weird. Her relationship with the Doctor is too rushed. It is her second adventure and she acts like she knows everything about him. Which is annoying.

@futurepresidentofsomething (sorry to call you out like that, love, but I wanted you to see this, cuz I promised I'd check this out. Tell me to delete it and I will.) mentioned that it was said they travelled for 6 months between episodes 1 and 2. So I had to watch it again.

And I found this moment - After they faced Maestro, Doctor takes her back to her time to prove that her world is dead. So he asks "What time are you? June 2024?" and she says "It is hard to keep track, but yeah I think so. June. July?". Episode 1 clearly states they went to space on her birthday, Christmas Eve, so 24.12.2023. But that doesn't mean they have been travelling for 6 months. There is no more indication about it. However, that could tell that she was on and off a bit, and this adventure was not her second. Or she simply went with him, but he landed a bit too late. She lived a little and then went back again for this second thing. But this option feels off, for some reason. Doesn't suit her character. However, we don't really know if she moved in with him like Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy for half her run, and Rory or is she just being taken for adventures like Clara or Bill.

But even if it does explain why she is so know-him-all about the Doctor it doesn't solve my issue with her. Because if she indeed was travelling for 6 months (or just more than two times) then why doesn't she know about the clothes? Ruby asks the Doctor if should she change her outfit to fit in the 60s, but we know that she doesn't have to. (Yeah! He tells Rose to fix her clothes in 1869, Season 1 Episode 3, Unquiet Dead, but the consensus is that he did it to see her in a dress not because it would actually cause a riot. Then Martha changes clothes in Human Nature, S03E08-09, but it is a disguise. Donna changes clothes into period-appropriate when they visit Agatha Christie, E04S07. And then once later S12E08. In any other story regardless of time, no one cared.)

... However, that could be a change due to that salt in-space-thingy. Before stepping on a butterfly didn't change the world, this time it did. Or maybe they never actually stepped on a butterfly before so when could not know that for sure... Oh, this is wibbly-wobbly. I love it.

But again! She asked how they would get into that recording studio. Doesn't she know about the psychic paper? After 6 months she should have known. He uses it A LOT.

And then again... If she was on more adventures with him... Why did he tell her that his adventures all had a twist? "There is one thing I have to warn you about" - he says " And this is really very serious. In all my adventures throughout time and space, I have to tell you, there is always a twist at the end." Shouldn't she already know that? Because that is a thing you tell someone at the very beginning. Like he told Amy about him being a madman in a box just before their first trip (S05E01, Eleventh Hour), just like he told Rose that this is always this dangerous (S01E01, Rose) like when he told Donna some ground rules in Partners in Crime (S04E01). I don't remember what he had told Martha but there was a warning too. Or to The Fam (S11E04, Arachnids in the UK). She told them to be sure of their decision to travel because of the danger.

[metacrisisdoctor]

everytime i read a quote about the doctor and river it makes me rub my temples in frustration while also making me so so so deeply grateful that the doctor and rose's story ended how it did.

putting this under the cut, so if you do ship the doctor and river you don't have to read this.

the thing is: the doctor and river's relationship was a cool idea that moffat completely half assed, but at the same time he made it so that river is meant to be seen as more important than all of his other relationships up until his final life (without showing us the journey there) and i find that so insulting to the nature of the show. they are both locked into this "marriage" with such little choice in the matter, if any. it makes me sad for BOTH of them.

so according to moffat in the "end" river is uploaded to the library and the doctor is allegedly there too, his mind uploaded to the moon or whatever. but wtf kind of ending is that for the doctor? that's so odd to me. i don't ever WANT to know how things end for the doctor because the story should never have definite end, but moffat wanted to have the very last word in 2008 ig.

it confuses me further that he decided to write a pretty overt romantic storyline with eleven and clara in s7 which then continues onto twelve and clara. not because the doctor can't be in love multiple times or because i think it would bother river but because it makes it the relationship that is actually developed for THREE seasons.

i understand rtd being accepting of river during s4, since he was going to step down as showrunner seemingly forever. and i genuinely think that this is why rose and her doctor were sealed off the way they were even if he's never actually said it.

it's such a large part of why, to me, tentoorose is such a gift. it's so beautiful. because the "original" doctor has this future that is set in stone that tentoo never has to be part of. he is not only free from being essentially immortal, but he is free from being manipulated into a marriage with river and from being potentially uploaded into the library. and rose has the gift of having the last version of the doctor who does not know river aside from one episode. this doctor loves rose and rose alone. he will never be married to river, he will never have whatever romance went on with clara and yaz either. and i do believe that the doctor is allowed to fall in love multiple times in their many lives, which is where both doctor/river and "rose and all the doctors" does not work for me at all but then again, it doesn't matter because rose got her happy ending with the freest and happiest version of the doctor there ever will be and i'm so grateful for that when i remember how bonkers the plot became after season four.

some people say they dislike je because tentoo isn't rose's doctor when it's the complete OPPOSITE by now, and i cannot imagine rtd ever having a reason to undo that so when people suggest he would break them up for rose to be back with the "real" doctor i'm just like, you understood NOTHING. he wanted them to be safe and happy and HUMAN tucked into their own world that no one else but him would or could ever touch. because of journey's end the doctor and rose truly end up together in the most even, healthy and honest way possible. i just still feel so lucky 😭💗

[spoofymcgee]

i'm going to fucking cry.

i've finished watching the doctor falls and just.

augh.

not in any particular order:

- aaaaaaaaaa the way they keep cutting between human!bill and cyberman!bill based on who's looking at her and how she sees herself

- the way the doctor catches alit before she can run away from bill, reassures her that there's nothing wrong with trying to help even if you fail

- the horror of the mondasian cybermen, the rubber suits, this is exactly what was missing from death in heaven–the fact that the cybermen are zombies, they're conscious, they're rotting flesh incased in metal, they're humanity's insistence on dragging their own dead body behind them into the future

- the way the end of bill's arc is that she is not her body, without saying that her appearance doesn't matter, because it does, because she's very particular about how she chooses to express herself but that doesn't mean she can't move on, because she can recognize that who she is is not the body she was born into, which is exactly what the cybermen can't

- the utter tragedy of the fact that she can't even get angry about what's happening to her (and while i do think this was a little clumsy and heavy handed, and i think it can be interpreted as racist, i did think it was less 'oh she's a black woman so her anger is more dangerous' and more 'here is a character who is so very emotional and has been the whole time, who's core character trait is her feelings, who has used those emotions to save the world time and again, and she does not want to exist if she can't be herself')

- i do wish we'd spent more time on heather's appearance and bill's ending, but i'm not going to argue with the fact that doctor who, a show i'm pretty sure holds the record for how quickly they can pull a bury your gays (30 seconds) giving a Black lesbian companion the most permanent happy ending possible

- no because seriously they get to be happy together FOREVER

- AND SHE SAVES THE DOCTOR ONE MORE TIME AND DOESN'T HAVE TO DIE TO DO IT

- to me it felt like the story really wrapped around and closed up in world enough and time, and this episode was just tying off ends and closing corners, but seeing as moffat has a serious problem with open plot threads, i'm not super upset about it

- i know some people think that twelve refusing to regenerate doesn't make sense for his character but i personally disagree with that because the only doctors so far in nuwho (that i have seen) who've had a peaceful regeneration are nine who literally absorbed the time vortex to save rose and didn't have time, and eleven, who took three hundred years of forcibly staying in one place to get tired enough to be alright with it, so i think it is perfectly in character for the doctor

- especially because this is a little bit of a mirror of journey's end, and i am a strong believer that ten didn't want to regenerate largely because the grief he felt for donna was all he had left of her, and he knew he would lose the intensity of that when he changed

- as far as twelve knows, his memories of bill are all that's left of her

- i don't think he knows she's still out there with heather, or even if he does, he's still lost her, she's still chosen to leave him, and the ragged, torn, open wound of missing her is all he has left of her

- the doctor is tired

- he doesn't have anyone left, he's all alone, and he's so sick of always ending up alone

- CLARA

- FUCK

- WITH HOW OBSESSED I AM WITH HER YOU'D THINK I'D'VE NOTICED BEFORE NOW

- he doesn't remember clara, barely knows he misses her, he didn't get to feel the grief of losing her because he couldn't remember it, and he doesn't want to forget bill, doesn't want to let go of the chance he gets to mourn her

- he started this season off with moving on because people needed him, but he was wrong, the only reason he could do that was because he was distanced from the loss he carries around with him

- and bill saved the world because she never let go of losing her mother–she carried it with her and lived with it and didn't let it take her over but didn't let herself forget it either

- she reminded him how to do that and he doesn't want to forget again

- fuck now i'm crying

[katefathers]

dissecting companion exits: a doctor who rant in the year 2024

So it's been over a month since I did that Doctor Who podcast, which has miraculously got me back on my Doctor Who bullshit, and after "The Giggle", I've been thinking a lot about companion exits, and how they worked for me and how they worked both inside and out of the narrative. And because what else is social media for than ranting about fiction, here I am.

I find it really interesting how in both Moffat and RTD Who, many of the exits work more successfully outside of the narrative than inside of it, yet for completely different reasons.

Like, "The Giggle" really emphasised how ridiculously tragic the Moffat companion exits were. And while I can't speak for Bill as I haven't watched her series, for both Amy and Clara, those exits didn't make much sense inside the narrative. Amy and Clara could have had non-tragic exits. Amy's run in particular seemed to be working towards her and Rory choosing to stop travelling with the Doctor. They weren't doing it full time, they were getting older (it was highlighted how Amy needed reading glasses now), and it would have made solid character and thematic sense to have them choose to end this chapter in their lives. To focus on their careers, and maybe have kids, and find the joy in the slow path. A slow wind down--a bittersweet yet poignant departure--would not have been untoward.

Clara could have left that way too. She could have either walked off into the sunset with Danny Pink (if he hadn't been killed off. Because he was killed off, right?) or found some other calling. Embracing teaching at Coal Hill. Teaching on another planet. Anything! But I think in both cases, Moffat wanted his "Doomsday", and so what made logical narrative sense took a backseat. These exits worked more outside of the story--"because the showrunner wanted tragedy"--than inside.

Donna, I think, could have also had a non-tragic exit. I know her tragic ending has been reversed, but if Donna had two series instead of one, I think an ending where she chose to leave the Doctor would have been possible. I mean, she loved travelling, but it's clear that she also wanted to do things like get married and have a family, and I think if she had one more series (or was in all four specials), she could have had a Jo Grant exit. But they couldn't get Catherine Tate for another series/all four specials, and RTD was set on leaving before Series 5, so Donna doesn't.

And the constraints of TV filmmaking are what I believe hampered the RTD companion exits. And there are two major ones: actor availability and the time the BBC allowed him to tell his stories.

Granted, while having two tragic exits that weigh on the Tenth Doctor and contribute to him going all "Time Lord Victorious" could have been the plan all along, assuming it wasn't, both Donna and Rose's exits make the most sense when read from an outside perspective: neither Catherine Tate or Billie Piper had signed on for more full episodes.

Rose's second exit, in particular, is the poster child for "outside the narrative" storytelling. I mean, when the Doctor says "But you've got to [stay in the parallel universe]", you nearly expect him to end that with "because your actress didn't sign on for more episodes". Outside the narrative, leaving Rose with TenToo wraps up the Doctor/Rose romance, keeps them mostly safe from the whims of future showrunners, and yet leaves Rose's story a little open-ended for the audience so they imagine whatever they want to happen in Rose's--and future Doctor's--future. Inside the narrative, however, I didn't find it particularly satisfying. The Doctor has been pining for Rose for two series. Rose has worked incredibly had to get back to him. As a character, she's crafted as someone who would stay with the Doctor forever. They have this sweeping, incredibly romantic reunion! Inside the narrative, her staying makes the most sense. It's the most satisfying ending. Especially if you don't have the space to make an ending with Rose's permanent exit gratifying.

Because like Donna and the bigeneration in "The Giggle", Rose ending up back in the parallel world could have been more satisfying if RTD had more time to build up to that exit. In general, much of "Journey's End" feels rushed, and the end of the episode is particularly bad, leaving a number of holes that never get filled. Mickey gives a very brief reason why he's staying in his home universe, but we don't see him say goodbye to Rose and Jackie. We never get a proper reunion between Rose and Jack, or resolution to Rose making Jack immortal, which she is clearly unaware of, nor do we get a goodbye between them. I remember wondering when "Journey's End" first aired, do Mickey and Jack even know that they won't see Rose again? Do they walk off with a quick "see ya later", thinking they'll meet up occasionally? Because Rose sure as hell didn't think she was leaving her home universe. And while we got TenToo on his own to establish that he is (mostly) the Doctor, we don't get much between him and Rose prior to being left on Bad Wolf Bay to build any kind of connection between them. We don't see Ten come to the decision to leave the two of them; we never really know how he feels about it. Yeah, Doctor Who is a very plot-forward show, but "Journey's End" was juggling a lot of plot and a lot of characters, and it should have been longer--or the Series 4 finale should have been a three-parter--to give both the story and characters time to breathe. The audience is left to infer A LOT, and for me it was unsatisfying at the time, and now with over a decade of distance, it's actually even more unsatisfying.

While it might seem like I have more of a problem with RTD's companion exits, I think they're more successful from a technical and audience standpoint than Moffat's. RTD has the incredible ability to write backwards, making you feel like an ending was always something that he was working towards, even when he wasn't. Although both Donna and Rose's stories could have been different given more time, and if they played out in a different medium like a novel, they still, mostly, work. Donna forgets, but gets a family and a mother who values her a little more. Rose gets both the Doctor and her parents--she doesn't have to sacrifice one for the other anymore. Moffat's, on the other hand, feel very slapdash, and I don't recall feeling like we'd been working towards them. Because, as I said, it always seemed like he was working towards a totally different ending.

I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this, but I find the difference between Moffat and RTD's approach to companion exits really fascinating. One wanted a specific style of ending, but didn't seem to know how to foreshadow it--how to make it work as part of a cohesive narrative. The other had a strong handle on narrative and character arcs, but their ability to craft something satisfying--to give his audience all the information--was hindered by episode length. Going forward, I hope RTD can manage his time better so that the companion exit is more satisfying, like Martha's. But I also hope he takes a leaf out of Moffat's book and plans a non-tragic ending. Because Moffat did set up two fairly sold, amicable partings, and Doctor Who needs more of those again.

[clatoera]

Hi bestie pls ignore this if this will like ruin upcoming chapter titles but if you had to assign each main ARWBFB character a song from Taylor’s new album what would you give them? Like which songs would resonate with them or remind you of them etc

Okay bestie this took me literal days, I just listened to the album for three hours on my drive upstate I think i've decided.

Unsurprising to anyone I felt like the album resonated with me more than I expected and ended up practically in a bender for three days so theres that. I was definitely not roaming the streets at 4 am or anything like that on friday morning absolutely nothing of the sort occured.

Surprising everyone even less ist that I largetly heard this and went ah yes. Glimmer. Glimmer again. Clove. Cashmere. Clove. Clove and Cato. etc so theres a RECURRING Theme here okay anyway these are obviously in arwbfb au sooo. This is the whole anthology because I can't listen to only one.

Glimmer

Down bad: Okay I know it sounds like a weird choice but this is giving Glimmer in about chapter 10(?) of ARWBFB but also like this is her general vibe as a victor i think like "For a moment I knew cosmic love" "Fuck it if I can't have him, I might just die it would make no difference." "waking up in blood" "Fuck it if I can't have us/I just not get up." "cause fuck it I was in love, so fuck you if you can't have us." idk it just FEELS right this song has been one I've really liked so!

I can do it with a broken heart: Are you kidding like??? this is not only one of my top 2 songs but also?? it's so perfect. Like it literally says "she's having the time of her life, there in her glittering prime." followed by "I can show you lies." and then we get hit with "Lights, camera, bitch smile even when you wanna die. He said he'd love me all his life but that life was too short breaking down i hit the floor all the pieces of me shattered" I literally am about to list like the entire song but come one "I was grinning like i'm winning I was hitting my marks I can do it with a broken heart." "I'm so depressed, I act like it's my birthday every day." "You know you're good when you can do it even with a broken heart" "Cause I'm miserable and nobody even knows!" Okay literally I beg I plead everyone listen to this song and report back if you think i'm right.

Cashmere and Glimmer both

The Prophecy: This feels like it could be either of them!!! "I got cursed like eve got bitten, oh was it punishment?" "Please I've been on my knees, change the prophecy. Don't want money, Just someone who wants my company. Let it once be me, who do I have to speak to about if they can redo the prophecy." "i'm so afraid I sealed my fate, no sign of soulmates" Idk I think they'd both have similar yearning for a life unlike the one they have where they can get the hell out of this snow induced hell. Change the prophecy of their fate and their lives sort of things.

I hate it here: I gotta be honest I don't think I need to elaborate on this one. Just..listen to this. This is actually any and all victor girls. This is also Finnick. I honestly just suggest we listen to the song and sit with it for a moment as if the title alone is not explanation enough!!!

Cashmere:

Clara Bow:I mean.. "In this light, remarkable, all your life did you know you'd be picked like a rose?" "Take the glory, give everything" this song is all about being compared to the last great thing right, and I think it feels very cashmere to me but in the way that it bleeds into I think when she sings about herself at the end talking about the next big thing to come after her feels very big sister cashmere to me idk! "Beauty is a beast that roars, down on all fours demanding more. ONly when your girlish glow, flickers just so do they let you know?" "It's hell on earth to be heavenly" (Chapter title spoiler fr I heard it and literally pulled out my laptop) Idk it feels right especially because she would know what would come tot he pretty girls after her!!!!!!

But Daddy I love him: OKAY I know this is a werid one but if you think about it not as a MAN who's bad for her but a comp het high society with the expectations of her to be a perfect daughter/woman I think it would make ENTIRE sense for it to be Cashmere but in terms of like...being with women rather than the "wrong man" like in the song idk. I also feel like "I learned these people only raise you to cage you." "they slammed a door on my whole world, the one thing I wanted." "I'd rather burn my whole life down than listen to one more second of all this bitching and moaning." "i'll tell you something about my good name, it's mine alone to disgrace, I don't care to cater to all these vipers dressed in empath's clothing." Idk It feels RIGHT just LISTEN to it.

Clove

Okay Okay I feel like I got some GOOD ones for her too okay so I want to start out STRONG with a song that screams not only Clove but Cato AND Clove it's my new Clato song...

Fresh out the Slammer: I know I know but come on. I could list EVERY line in this song it's soooo post Clove's games in ARWBFB. "Now pretty baby i'm running back home to you, fresh out the slammer I know who my first call will be to." "Years of labor, locks, and ceiling in the shade of how he was feeling, but it's gonna be alright I did my time." "Camera flashes welcome bashes" "My friends tried but I wouldnt hear it" (being enobaria) "watched me disappearing daily for just one glimpst of his smile, all those nights you kept me going. " "Now we're at the starting line I did my time, now pretty baby i'm running to the house where you still wait up and that porch light gleams, to the one who says i'm the girl of his American dreams... Ain't no way I'm gonna screw up now that I know whats at stake." "At the park where we used to sit on childrens swings wearing imaginary rings, but i's gonna be alright I did my time." SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP It's like Taylor Swift crawled inside my mind as I wrote the first like 5 chapters of ARWBFB and chose to write this because it's them it's them it's soooo them in ARWBFB absolutely noone touch me I felt this was for me personally!!!

AND ANOTHER Clato song is

I can fix him (No really I can): Do I even need to elaborate like "They shale their heads saying God help her when I tell them he's my man. But your good lord doesn't need to lift a finger. I can fix him, no really I can (AND ONLY I CAN???)" "His hand so calloused from his pistol softly traces hearts on my face." "A perfect case for my certain skillset" "Good boy, thats right. Come close i'll show you heaven if you'll be an angel all night." "TRUST ME I CAN HANDLE A DANGEROUS MAN, NO REALLY I CAN."

SHUT UP NO COMMENTS FROM THE PRESS AT THIS TIME y'all

Following THAT up with my FAVORITE SONG ON THE ANTHOLOGY

Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?: SHUT UP AGAIN guys come on this is THE song THE song for me THE song for Clove not only with her like growing up but also the shit Snow did to her>????? "if you wanted me dead you should've just said nothing makes me feel more live." But Also!! "WHOS AFRAID OF LITTLE OLD ME?? YOU SHOULD BE!!!" Thats for CLove! Tiny 5'3 100lb clove!! "I was tame I was gentle till the circus life made me mean." This is for my little baby girl who was not wanted and was raised like this to make her a good little tribute the circus life being the training/panem/career life thank you. "they say they didn't do it to hurt me...I want to snarl and show you how disturbed this has made me. You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me" The asylum being the academy in this essay I will- "I'm fearsome and i'm wretched and i'm wrong." Special enobaria mention for "don't worry folks we took out all her teeth" tell me "you lured me and you hurt me and you taught me, you caged me and then you called me crazy. I am what I am 'cause you trained me." Are you fucking joking rn i'm sorry i'm once again just quoting the whole song I know.

So Long, London: Okay I know it's a weird take but to me it makes more sense imagining it in regards to her saying goodbye to the District she thought she knew and the idea of the capitol as she knew it you know?? "And i'm just getting color back into my face. I'm just mad as hell 'cause I loved this place." Does it make sense?????? to me it does!!!

The albatross: "She's the albatross. She's here to destroy you. Devils that you know raise hell worse than a stranger. She's the death that you chose. You're in terrible danger." Okay I think it makes sense without me elaborating but it's Clove it's Clove @ Snow who thought she was a perfect victor to compare to Katniss then he TORTURES her and she kills him and yeah she is the death snow chose next question.

Enobaria

Naturally all these songs are about my favorite girlies and yeah so they're all for my girls anyway these are gonna come off weird but i just need you to hear me out on it okay??

The Bolter: I feel like I am dropping Enobaria lore with these things but okay "Curious child, ever reviled." Idk it fits to me. "It feels like the time she fell through the ice then came out alive" Idk I know her arena isnt ice but like!! The idea of reliving the time you almost died and coming out alive again and again "But she's got the best stories, you can be sure that as she was leaving it felt like freedom. All of her fuckin' lives flashed before her eyes and she realized it feels like the time she fell through the ice then came out alive." Like to me it feels like her recognizing freedom after the games are over and in D2 and having her life be hers again and idk!! It made sense to me.

Cassandra: This ALSO is dropping lore but this song feels like the D2 split during the rebellion like each side thinking the opposite of her "in the street theres a ragin rio, when it's burn the bitch they're shrieking. When the truth comes out it's quiet so they killed cassandra first." "they knew they knew they knew the whole time that I was on to something" I feel like i need to drop more Enobaria during the war time lore for this to make sense but it does to me so just take my word for it!!

Okay!!! Thank you bestie!! Here's a small novel in resopnse to your otherwise simple question!! Love you!! @bodyelectric77

[pearwaldorf]

I watched The Star Beast on Sunday. It has been the first time I have watched Doctor Who in about... a decade? (I watched a Twelve and Clara ep and was just so fucking depressed at the end of it I just stopped. I have seen bits and pieces of Thirteen's run and is there a supercut of her and Dhawan!Master? Please tell me there is.)

And it is strange coming back to a thing you loved and also were completely fucked-up by. Even though he wears the same face, Fourteen is not Ten. Somebody here was like "He displays more genuine emotion in this one episode than he did in Ten's entire run."

The past few years of reboots, sequels, and adaptations involve a lot of creators revisiting their past work (Good Omens, Sandman are the ones that I have watched), and it's been interesting seeing what's changed and what hasn't. (Davies continues this trend, coming back to Doctor Who for the 60th anniversary specials and Fifteen's ongoing run.) It feels like most of the male characters are softer, a little less jerky. I don't know if it's because the adapters/writers are older, or if it feels like what needs to happen.

I can't think of any companion who we have kept revisiting as much as Donna. It's interesting how Fourteen refers to her as his "best friend". (And that may be the case, but if my best friend gave me amnesia instead of letting me die with my faculties intact I would have Fucking Words with them if I ever regained my memory*.) And for someone who can jump through space and time, I find it curious that the Doctor tends not to revisit old friends very often. Except for this one.

I have been thinking about do-overs, and how they've been handled in things I've watched lately. (S2 of Our Flag Means Death is, in many ways, a chance to right missteps from S1 for a lot of characters.) And narratively, I think it's necessary for the Doctor to go back and make amends for a truly awful thing he did, even if his actions did lead to the plot device that ultimately saves London**. (There is a post here that I can't speak to because I haven't seen this episode about why it makes sense for the Doctor to revisit all of this and make things right.)

At this point, I can't say much about how this is going to play out because we've barely gotten into setup for the next two specials. I hope it goes the way I want, because it is a thing that has been on my mind for fifteen years. Donna has always deserved better, but I think we do too.

--

* One of the earliest Doctor Who fics I ever wrote is the TARDIS dealing with trauma from the Saxon years and basically getting triggered by what happened to Donna. My opinion about this has always been consistent, at least.

** To be clear, Rose is not just a plot device. I love her to bits and I would rend the world to pieces for her, same as her mother. I'm extremely glad this episode is going to piss off the TERFs and GCs, because condoned bigotry does not belong in any media, but especially science fiction. The execution was a little *wigglehand*, but he got the spirit at least.

[mulderscully]

I need help processing my dislike of River. At first I thought it was because I loved Rose/Ten so much that I couldn’t accept any other relationship, but then Clara showed up and I instantly loved her and the Doctor.

I don’t understand why I find River/the whole thing so off putting?

man, i really don't want to shit on doctor/river bc i have a lot of mutuals who ship them but i will explain why i don't like their relationship in a respectful way.

so personally, for me, it was never about ten and rose because i always loved tentoo and rose, and felt like they got the best ending possible. i felt (and still do) that the version of the doctor who loved rose so much died when ten regenerated. so, i was actually pretty excited to see their relationship and watch the doctor fall in love again.

then, i just did not like them.

i have various reasons for this:

1. i don't feel like matt and alex had very good chemistry. which makes sense, they didn't do chemistry reads. i think they are both fantastic actors, but there was no spark between them for me which i think is in part because how eleven is written as completely differently from how he is described by her when she meets ten for the first time.

2. i really cannot get invested in their relationship when i feel like the doctor is not invested in it either. i just... don't feel like he loves her. and i don't really blame him because he doesn't actually know her, or he doesn't known that he does know her. or who she really is at any given point. we don't see them fall in love so how can we believe it? we're just TOLD instead of shown, which is my #1 turn off when it comes to ships. they may be married, but he is not devoted to her. and he TRIES. like he asks her to travel with him, but of course she can't so how can their relationship ever be organic? it can't.

3. the overall premise is weird. i feel like he was essentially manipulated into marrying her. he meets her, he knows they're married so now he is trapped into this fate. it doesn't matter if he loves her, it doesn't matter who she is: she knows his "real" name so that means she's his wife. river loves him as almost this god like figure, when the whole point is that the doctor is just Some Guy. and bc of this he has power over her. that, to me, is icky. it's also icky that he married rory and amy's daughter, who he knew as an infant but moffat does this with every love interest the doctor has. has him meet them as kids, and i hate it every time. i hated it with rose and clara too, but with melody/river it's weirder bc it's not a passing thing: he KNOWS them. like why 🤢

i have other issues but those are my main ones.

it sucks because i actually like river as an individual character when she gets to shine on her own. i think alex kingston put her everything into it and i think she deserved a better and more empowering storyline.

i am also a doctor/clara shipper, and while i do feel that there are some issues in how their relationship was written when i met clara i felt this huge sigh of relief because i felt like THIS is the doctor actually falling in love again. this is in part because jenna had great chemistry with both matt and peter, but also because while their relationship becomes toxic and dangerous to them and everyone else because of their love and devotion to each other, that is explicitly addressed and handled appropriately imo.

anyway. that's my pov. i'm excited to see what lays ahead for the doctor now that rtd has the freedom to make him explicitly mlm tbh!

[omegas-reincarnation]

Okay let's do it: my current ranking of Doctors! For the record, I'm not judging the actors:

This is about which incarnations I think are most interesting to watch.

...which is obviously highly subjective, so don't take this too seriously XD

Caveat that I'm not going to include Fifteen, Eight, or anyone before Seven, as I haven't seen enough of their episodes to judge yet.

Joint first place: Seven and Twelve

You can't make me choose between my two favourite wierd old men (or their surrogate granddaughters, Ace and Bill). For me these two have the perfect balance of Doctor-ness: they are arrogant enough to play god but humble enough to know that they are idiots with a box. Twelve drove Rassilon off Galifrey, and broke a hundred time lord laws to save Clara and Ashildr, but he also spoke in fairy tales and brought the Master takeaway. Seven coldly tricked the daleks and the cybermen into blowing themselves up with Omega's dubious weaponry, but he also built Ace a cassette player and was unfailingly polite and friendly to everyone he met, even fire hydrants (long story). And it doesn't feel like the darker and lighter aspects of these Doctors are in oposition: rather, these Doctors can be very kind because they accept the fact that they do not always want to be gentle.

Second place: Eleven

Why do I rank Eleven so high? Commitment to the bit. Essentially. He has the worst god-complex of any Doctor I've seen and is the most battle-hungry, but he's also the most absolutely silly, and he always cares so much about the people he meets. His heart bleeds every step of the way, from his first meeting with Amy Pond to Vincent van Gough and everyone before and after. That's what makes him the most dangerous: he's angry because he lets himself not just become involved but embedded.

Joint third: Nine, War, and Fugitive

These are the Doctors with the most edge, and I like it. The Fugitive Doctor is raw from being pursued by Tecteun and Rassilon, the other two are raw from the time war, and they aren't afraid to let you know it. Nine tortures a Dalek and enjoys it, and calls Rose 'another stupid ape', the Fugitive rips the horn off a judoon, and War comes this close to blowing up Galifrey. The Doctor is usually characterised by a desperate need to prove themselves Worthy, but for a few rare moments, we see the Doctor too exhausted for the introspection and self-doubt. And it feels kind of freeing.

Joint fourth place: Ten/Fourteen and Thirteen

I feel these are Doctors in limbo. Like Seven and Twelve, they are kind of dualistic: they can both be incredibly kind and warm, but the can equally both be deeply self-absorbed, from the infamous time lord victorious speech to Thirteen's repeated refusal to communicate with Yaz. But unlike with Seven and Twelve, the light and dark aspects of these Doctors feel disconnected. When these Doctors mess up, it feels like an aberration, like they are losing themselves. These are very much Doctors who want to be Good and suffer when they fail. One aspect contradicts the other, rather than flowing out of it.