#cycles of repetition

[reachingforthevoid]

Doctor Who: World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls

I rewatched this serial on 25 September 2023.

We begin with the TARDIS arriving in a snowstorm. The Doctor’s regenerating and not wanting to.  We crash into the opening credits and reverse a bit. Time travel, eh. There’s a lot of stuff about temporal differences, used to a good effect.

We really begin on a giant spaceship. The Doctor, Nardole and Bill, plus Missy, are responding to a distress call. There’s a ginormous black hole that the ship is trying to escape from.

Heh. I love Missy, and she works well with Bill as they discuss the Doctor’s real name.

Then a man in blue arrives and in a panic hunts for the human. It’s Bill. The man in blue shoots her…

We really begin back at the university with the Doctor and Bill discussing the Doctor’s attempt to rehabilitate the Master/Missy. They discuss Time Lord gender… about time, too. Bill confesses her fear of Missy. A well-placed fear. And then we get two Masters…

On board the ship, strange people take Bill’s body away. They sound familiar…Bill wakes up in a weirdly old-fashioned hospital. She’s got something in her chest. World Enough and Time makes Cybermen truly horrific for the first time in the show’s history. There are a few near misses in the past, but this story distils it all into true horror. It’s because at their heart are humans, in this case Bill Potts.

Smutty ending for Bill with Heather the Pilot saying she can fly anything, even a differently living Bill Potts. That little kiss is rather lovely, though. Be still my lesbian heart…

Observation: there are cycles of repetition in the seasons from 2006, like the two show runners up to this point try out ideas, and redo them to better effect, and redo them to better effect. Like what happened to Danny Pink, cyber-soldier, happens again to Bill Potts… (Why are they the Black characters, though?) What happens to Clara living such a long, long time with Ashildr in the moment before she dies and Bill getting a second chance with Heather… Yeah, I'd probably watch that series, too.

Cue the longest regeneration story to date as we loop back to the beginning of World Enough and Time… and the Doctor quotes himself quoting himself as the first Doctor stumbles across the twelfth… What's a bit of recursion between friends?

[tapeworrmart]

"I shouldn't even be here" 💥✨

[greendest1ny]

somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop lloyd from repeating the cycle somebody stop

[f4keplastictr33s]

do yall ever think about adam ‘to feel awake when my eyes are open’ feeling alive when he’s with ronan bc ronan is ‘a heart attack that never stopped’ bc sometimes it just hits me and it ruins my day i hate them

[idlewarning]

the ring & the ring two + motifs: flies

[vagueconfusion]

I've been having this thought about Alkaline and the process of alkaline hydrolysis/aquamation (aquamation -> cremation -> funeral pyre?? (all the burial/earth imagery in the eps*) brain please I'm busy) and had the thought in the shower of wondering what the pH of the human body is and now it's taking over my brain and I can't tell if this is too far of a reach because I'm on the verge of doing a whole write up about this topic too.

(Summary: Alkaline possibly referring/being a metaphor for/about about a process called alkaline hydrolysis, which is used as an alternative to cremation and uses water and a strong alkaline solution (lye) to rapidly decompose a body in a matter of hours. The human body's pH is around 7, which is also the track number of the song Alkaline, and also the line "neither acid nor alkaline" would put the subject of the song at pH 7 as well. Which would make The POV Vessel sings from the lye solution)

Also This:

[hyffae]

cellbit does karaoke and fucks up his voice. his voice heals. cellbit does karaoke and fucks up his voice. his voice heals. cellbit does kara-

[vvitchllng]

Lmao it Would be the god who invented Arcane Magic who would go hmm I think we could make use of the ceaseless starving eternal void that wants nothing more than to Consume. Can I guarantee safety if we do that of course not! But isn’t the promise of something new worth it!!! Btw I’m not going to ask/inform the people this will affect beforehand 😊 Because I Think This Is The Best Way Forward. Love you wizard hubris love that it’s not limited to mortals love that they may be Right but the price may be too high

Love That They’ll Do It Anyway.

[adamprrishcycle]

One thing about writing trc fic is you have to describe driving a lot and I've literally just come to a grinding halt mid sentence because someone is in a car and I haven't got the brain to think of a new way to tell you we're driving fast in a fucking car

[bbloveseevees]

“Isaloops” this, “Miraloops” that-

WHERE ARE THE MULTIFANDOM LOOPS???

AM I THE ONLY ONE DOING THIS THING???

(For context: In Stars And Minds (aka RazLoops))

[naamahdarling]

.

[finelythreadedsky]

i'm in my temporality era (*does not know what temporality is)

[jerikajerika]

I just finished The Raven Cycle for the first time which was truly a balm for the weary soul!!! I do unfortunately have TRC brain worms now tho. Here is my playlist I made while I was reading them which is mainly songs that I felt evoked the vibe of Henrietta (vaguely Appalachian, spooky-ish, magical) as well as a few that reminded me of specific scenes/characters :) yay

[thepictureofsdr]

the way in the beginning cordelia just wanted her big brother back but she couldn’t have him because he was slipping away destroying himself to protect her

[carlyraejepsans]

I’ve started watching Utena because of you. What. Is going on

HI. WELCOME TO THE CLUB, watch the trigger warnings. but yeah, revolutionary girl utena veers more and more towards surrealism the further you get into the series. it often and voluntarily forfeits narrative/logical consistency in favor of visual storytelling, metaphors and symbolism. i was just talking about it with nic the other day, and if the story weren't so harrowing, i would recommend it to everyone who wants to get into literary analysis, because it is SO packed with symbolism EVERYWHERE that it actually encourages you to try to decode it.

whatever you think utena is about, it is NOT. you can't go in and treat it like your 49293th classical shoujo. utena is a firework show of visual symbolism and it very rarely, if ever, explains itself to the viewer. it refuses to handhold you, but it never berates you for trying and getting it wrong either. there is SO much handholding in modern day media, but utena trusts its viewer to take away something meaningful from itself and to piece its message together on their own. it's one of my favourite pieces of media of all time just for that

[gierosajie]

You ever just imagine Dyvalin getting a flower necklace by Mondstat? bc I just want him to be accepted by the people he wanted to accept him. He may not be human but he is a Mondstater in my heart

Dvalin's first experiences being yelled at and scorned when he first came down as a young child, and then over the years people became more amicable towards him, but there's still quite a distance between them as Dvalin, being a close friend of the Anemo Archon and one of the Four Winds, is still a sort of figure of worship

The wild thing is that, in the AU, Dvalin becoming a god ended up bringing him closer to mortals more than anything Venti had tried

It's something like what happened in this post about the ghosts and spirits post-Cataclysm. Mondstadters basically saw what Venti had; someone just as lost, just as scared like them but still trying their best

Anyway YES, Dvalin would indeed get a necklace of flowers! In one of my notes that I cannot for the life of me find, some of the kids post-Cataclysm tried to give Dvalin a bunch of flowers because they felt like he "needed them more than someone that won't even get to enjoy the spring anymore."