#honestly I actually like the Moffat era more than the RTD era

[somewhere-south-of-neutral]

If I had a nickel for every time Steven Moffat gave a historically aroace male character from a legacy property a female love interest because he believes that, quote, "There would be no tension in [an aroace lead], no fun in that," despite the fact that even when he writes them those romances are the least interesting parts of the character, I would have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

[ghost-bison]

Doctor Who - Opinions

-the ninth doctor was the best. no one will ever be as good as he was

-same for donna, best companion, no one will ever compare

-imo 9th > 10th > 12th > 14th > 11th > 13th (dunno about 15th yet, haven't seen enough of him)

-donna > rose > jack > martha > nardole > bill > river/clara > rory > graham >>>>>>>>>>>>>> amy (idk about yaz and ryan I honestly dont see any distinctive personality traits apart from the fact that ryan is always complaining and generally unpleasant)

-ninerose >>>>>>>> tenrose

-clara is a cool character, it's just her plots that made people dislike her

-i don't get the obsession people have over thoschei. or the master in general and his relationship with the doctor? apart from missy and twelve ofc

-i could never warm up to amy, nor do i get how people can like her. she was abusive, not a girlboss. didn't deserve rory

-i have mixed feelings about river. like obviously, slay my goddess, but also, she's everything that's wrong with moffat's writing of women? she's actually dependant and praises the doctor and never makes a decision for herself? never questions the doctor? that's not ok

-idc how good moffat's storylines get, i'll choose rtd any day. i'll refer you to this post as to why.

-chibnall's era feels flat. i don't hate 13, she's adorable, but I used to laugh and cry several times an episode during the first ten series. now it's like twice a series if we're lucky.

-i liked the campy effects way better than the disney-style expensive cgi they now use to try and balance out mediocre writing (I'm sorry but wtf was that Space babies episode and how did they manage to make it even more cringe than the series one Slitheen two-parters?)

[gayleviticus]

assorted empire of death general thoughts:

one of the sloppiest rtd deus ex machina endings in a long while - 'bring death to death' is a cool concept (and rather christpilled) but the mechanics just dont make any sense. and im not one to complain that it doesnt adhere to rigid rules but the logic just is inconsistent. sutekh becomes a god by entering the time vortex and then proceeds to be killed by same time vortex. blowing dust on people kills them but sutekh seeing all of time and space again revives them.

even as much as i hate the journey's end meta crisis deus ex machina, the mechanics of it do make sense.

normally rtd deus ex machinas are justifiable by the character work going on, but this honestly felt rather hollow. like. nothing is going on in this episode outside of beating sutekh until the ending which tacks on Ruby's arc at the end.

lassoo-ing sutekh into the vortex felt a bit like an asspull and inconsistent w the prior vibe. like. it felt like they set it up as if sutekh was possessing the TARDIS; treating it so grossly physically feels like an exorcist story where the priest gets the victim to sneeze the demon out.

the meta-angle of playing on the mystery of Ruby's mother being overblown is a bit interesting and does inject some genuine emotion back into a story that would otherwise have been engulfed by dramatic god confrontations etc. but it's also like. a total retread of clara and the leaf, hell bent etc. we've seen this trope in DW before, and I think this usage lacked both the novelty and emotional/thematic depth it had before. 'bait and switch mystery box' is starting to be actually more formulaic than a straightforward reveal.

it's also a shame given how many interesting theories fans had developed about tv show theory, ruby as the perfect companion etc that we did basically get Clara and the Leaf 2.0.

Mel continues to honestly have no point in even being here. 3 episodes that wouldn't change in the slightest if she wasn't around.

it is getting a bit comical how quick Kate is to recruit every single person in the universe to UNIT

overall s14 thoughts:

for me i think this season, while not bad, sits above only the chibnall era, and a bit above series 7. the inidividual episodes are much better, and 15 and ruby have better chemistry, but it cribs a lot of its overall arc from being largely a retread of s7s. Ruby is more charming than s7 clara, who has a tendency to get written by everyone other than moffat as Generic Companion #47, but this series feels like it's significantly lacking the emotional depth every other rtd and moffat series has had.

i think it's also a bit similar to series 10, which didn't really have a strong emotional arc for Bill in favour of just a fun dynamic, but the s10 finale knocks anything in s14 out of the park. s10 was also just a lot funnier.

[lucky-clover-gazette]

(hi, this is a negative rant about the thirteenth doctor's era. it's not about jodie's acting, it's about the writing and overall production. just putting that here since i am tagging. your thoughts are appreciated bc honestly i'm shocked it's like this and want to hear others' takes)

okay not to be a hypocrite considering the amount of shit i've given moffat but oh my god 13's era so far is one of the least exciting bodies of media i've ever seen. like there's nothing here. it's so incredibly unfun and i have no idea who the fuck it's for. if you're pandering to straight people and 2014 tumblr teenagers you do a moffat, if you're pandering to fucked up gay people and overly philosophical emotional masochists you do a rtd. this is pandering to a 2017 cancel-happy twitter user who likes hamilton the musical at its prime and really really wants to be progressive but also is super repressed, uneducated, and shallow about it, and i don't even think that hypothetical person would ENJOY this?? we have a woman doctor, but she lacks any kind of maturity or sexual agency that every male doctor was given, because the male show runner clearly thought that was the only way she'd be taken seriously. and holy shit, the tokenism is absolutely insane. or at least, it feels that way to me. i'm curious to know how fans of color have felt about it. and besides the tokenism stuff, the companions have no personalities whatsoever, like it's mind-numbing how interchangeable and weak they are. the dialogue all-around is noticeably bad, and it's not even in a fun way. attempted Reveals feel cheap and make me roll my eyes. everything is so deeply unimaginative and boring and basic and it really is just so insane to me that we went from rtd having weird horny gay aliens dying to britney spears' toxic while simultaneously delivering absolutely gut wrenching and breathtaking story and character moments... to this. what a damn shame that the first woman doctor is associated with this mediocrity.

i'm at the end of spyfall part one (the master reveal was my final straw, hence making this post) so maybe my mind will change from here on. but holy fuck, dude. i thought people exaggerated about chib's era but it really is just like white noise, that only gets more unpleasant the more you actually think about it. passively unobtrusive at absolute best, infuriating for its emptiness one step down from that. i would take moffat's worst doctor who over anything of this era i've seen so far, with the exception of instances of unambiguous misogyny and sexual assault in a few of his episodes.

i am conflicted whether i should tag this as chibnall and 13 because it's negative. i want to hear other thoughts so i think i will, but i apologize if this is something you've connected with. you do not need to engage in a conversation defending it unless you want to share your thoughts, which are more than welcome.

[hobgoblinns]

this’ll be my first time actually watching live as a New Doctor tm takes the stage, and im a little worried that like fifteen is going to be too cool??? Are these nerves just what happens to who fans any time a new doctor comes in??

huhhh well. twelve was the first doctor i watched take over live and at that point i wasn’t super invested in the show so i think i was just keen to see where the show was going next.

for thirteen i was ECSTATIC because as a kid it was my dream to play the doctor some day but thought they’d never let a woman do it. most of the concerns i had were more about a new showrunner coming in, and after watching the first few episodes i found myself feeling disappointed, so i figured i’d be more cautious about future doctors.

but ten is my favourite doctor so fourteen was purely exciting for me!! i had high hopes for both david and rtd, and so far my expectations have been more than met!

fifteen being TOO cool is the only thing i feel iffy about, really — honestly, i think it’ll be awesome to have a doctor who’s a bit more with the times, as long as he retains that element of geekiness and childlike wonder too. other than that, the clips i’ve seen from ncuti so far make me think he’s going to be amazing.

only time will tell if the new series meets our own individual expectations, but the great thing about doctor who is that even if you don’t like a certain part of it, there’s so much more to enjoy. i didn’t like chibnall’s era of the show much at all, but i loved the two rtd specials that followed. some people love chibnall’s stuff but can’t stand rtd or moffat or both. some folks think the show’s been shit since tom baker left and they’re willing to die on that hill. basically — yeah, i think everyone gets nervous, and that’s ok! as a doctor who fan, it’s impossible for you to love EVERY part of the show. there’s ups and downs and they’re different for everyone.

tldr: i think ncuti will be great, even if i have the occasional doubt, as i’m sure many others do. but no matter where doctor who goes, it’s such an enormous franchise involving such a huge number of people that you’ll always find something, somewhere, to enjoy about it.

[bonnielass23]

I was tagged the lovely @astarkey to list 5 unpopular opinions from 5 fandoms! Thank you for the tag! And I’m copying 2 fandoms, but different takes

1. From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series

First, jumping on Astarkey’s take, I love the idea of Kisa and Kate being best friends because they dealt with two sides of the same coin of patriarchal bullshit. Literally all I want is them to tear down the patriarchy with their bare hands together.

Other unpopular opinion. In some ways I’m glad they didn’t do a season 4. The ending of season 3 pretty much made SethKate canon, or at least confirmed their love for each other. I worry that given the age gap of both the characters and the larger age gap between DJ and Madison, that they would have rolled rolled back the development, or even potentially given Seth a different, more age appropriate temporary love interest, out of fear of backlash. I know the majority of the fandom was rooting for SethKate, but it’s one thing to tease it and drop hints to appease the fans, and it’s another to openly display it in the show and open themselves up for backlash beyond the fandom. The potential of people hearing about the age gap relationship and jumping on the “let’s cancel fdtd” bandwagon without watching the show. Community and the actors got so much backlash over Jeff and Annie, calling Jeff a pedo, and other than the goodbye kiss in the last episode they didn’t make that ship canon. That show was airing pretty much at the same time as fdtd. I think SethKate could have been safely portrayed in comics or novels though which I’m sad they didn’t do and wish they would. I am also kinda hoping for them to finally do a season 4 with an actual time skip, like it’s 2023, or later, because I think with Madison/Kate being older and them really defining the age gap (other than the one line on the radio that the Gecko brothers are in their late 20′s) that they could more safely develop the relationship.

2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

I have a lot of opinions but these are probably my most unpopular. I used to be a hard core spuffy shipper when I was watching in middle and high school. I think that was because I liked Spike more than Angel (his snark speaks to my soul). I’m currently doing a rewatch, almost through season 5, and maybe my view will change in season 6 and 7, but right now I’m not a fan of either spuffy or bangel, or honestly any of Buffy’s romantic relationships. Actually currently questioning my younger self’s judgement.

My actual otps currently are Xander and Anya, and Angel and Cordelia, and I will forever be pissed that they never got Xander and Anya back together and killed her off, and that they killed Cordelia. 

Also as a note, I have not read any of the comics or continuing story, so there could have been developments with Buffy’s relationships with Spike and Angel that could sway me, but I’m going entirely off the two television series.

3. Doctor Who

I loved RTD and hated Moffat, which I know isn’t that unpopular, but I actually loved Chibnall’s era. I really appreciated the social commentary and thought he and Jody did an amazing job. Also I’m not sure how unpopular this is anymore, but I loved Rose and Tentoo’s ending. I think given that this is a live action series with actors who want to move on to different projects it was the best ending we could get for The Doctor and Rose. Also Tentoo IS The Doctor.

4. Fairy Tail

Gray and Lucy work better together than Gru//via and Na////Lu. I stand by my statement and will not budge. 

I think Gru//via is actually harmful. I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong about toxic or abusive relationships being portrayed in media, but I think it needs to be recognized in the series that it is toxic and abusive behavior. That’s not the case with Gru///via. No character is calling out Ju///via’s behavior towards Gray as abusive, it’s played off as comedy or that Gray is the bad guy for not returning her feelings, and as far as I know Mashima hasn’t said anything publicly about it being problematic behavior either. I know someone who has used that as a model for how to get a guy and is in a very messed up situation where he is taking advantage of her.

Also not exactly unpopular as in controversial, but super rare pair ship, Loke and Cana is my OTP for the series. I only actually ship and have strong feelings about GrayLu and and Lokana, all the other ships range from NOTP to I have no issue with it existing.

5. Big Bang Theory

Not a huge fandom of mine but something that just irks me to no end, and I know has been done in other media. I HATE that they had Penny backtrack on being childfree. I get wanting to have this happily ever after for two characters, but it doesn’t have to be children. Having Penny change her mind because Leonard and her dad is so problematic though. It delegitimizes actual women who have this stance (including me). It perpetuates the idea of this is just a phase and we’ll change our minds, which has real world consequences of employers looking at all women as not as serious because as soon as they have that baby that we all KNOW they will, they’ll be taking a step back to be a mom so why give them a promotion. And bodily autonomy. I understand not tying an 18 year old’s tubes, but the fact the so many adult women are denied sterilization procedures because “you’ll change your mind” or “what if your future husband wants kids?” like the wants of a hypothetical partner takes precedence  over what the woman wants to do with her own body. It’s just such bullshit when this happens.

The ONLY time I’ve witnessed this happen that I’ve been okay with is Elliot in Scrubs, it was part of a long character arch, and her not wanting kids seemed to be rooted almost entirely of her fear of it affecting her career. It wasn’t just a snap decision of omg after years of not wanting to procreate I suddenly want children.

Definitely did some rambling and got political up in here, but I think these are probably some of my most unpopular opinions. Depending on the fandom my opinions can fall into more popular or mostly controversial

Some of my fdtd mutuals have already been tagged, so not gonna double tag them: @darth-tella @sunniebelle @kelkat9 @yourundead @fortysevenswrites @scrumptiousperfectionwizard @milkshakemicrowave @elialys @gralunaisland (Although I feel yours should be 5 unpopular opinions on gru//via lol) and of course anyone else who’d like to do this!

[dailyclassicwho]

So I’ve gotten through series 5 of NuWho — the beginning of Moffat’s run — and I’m very much not impressed. Series 5 is definitely the weakest season since series 2, which is not a great way to start a new era. (Which one is worse is hard to say exactly... S2 had better two-parters but S5′s worst episodes are more watchable than S2′s worsts.) 

Now, I’m not an Amy hater by any means (find her impossible to hate actually) but Moffat hardcore fumbled her relationships with the Doctor and especially with Rory. It’s so much worse than Rose blowing off Mickey because these two were in a committed relationship about to be married. The way Amy wanting to cheat on Rory is played off for laughs rubs me the wrong way. I know things will get better in series 6 and beyond but it’s not a good first impression to make. 

Most of the episodes in S5 range from mediocre to awful. Even Vincent and the Doctor, considered a season standout, was not as good as I remembered. I totally forgot that the famous scene at the end uses a pop song in the background. Speaking of songs, the way the soundtrack, particularly in the first few episodes, repeatedly plays that one track over and over again is really annoying. I don’t get it. The music was used masterfully during S1-S4, but I hardly felt there were many memorable tracks even with the same composer.

This is not even getting into the weak ass plots of each episode. There’s too many flaws to list but my biggest criticism has to be the lack of heart in the majority of episodes. Doctor Who was always weak on the science front but it never lacked other qualities like great social commentary and emotional story and character beats. 

It all makes sense why I remember the RTD era so fondly, why there were multiple episodes from the first four series that I remembered vividly, but very few from series 5-7, and why I dropped the series just before Amy and Rory left.

I think Moffat does gradually get better, and I hope that I’ll be able to find more enjoyment when I get to Peter Capaldi’s era or even series 7B after Clara joins. This is largely negative because I honestly don’t think I would revisit any of the S5 episodes unless I wanted to refresh my memory or something.

[noblechaton]

honestly I'd been thinking about the 50th and the retcon within for so long especially more so during this rewatch

on one hand I understand that Moffat (and surely others) probably weren't huge on the idea of the Doctor effectively killing his own planet but it was never framed as if he'd done it out of violence or anger so much as just like. a desperate final act to preserve what was left of the universe. a necessity for the greater good

which is why on the other I think it's a shame they retconned it at least as they did bc it means that conflict that lingered and loomed over the show since the revival started was basically useless. the Time Lords lived, the Daleks lived, and the Doctor who carried so much guilt and darkness Erm Actually didn't really have any of that he just forgot

like I see it both ways - not wanting your favorite hero to have actually committed an atrocity is perfectly understandable, but doing so as they do in the 50th feels really weak and honestly doesn't even really lead anywhere until series 9 and only briefly then, and then never again since Gallifrey just blows up again a few years later

and sure one can say he did some stuff during the war itself but. they never talk about that stuff. there's vague allusions and references that exist for the audience to sorta fill in on their own and he's surely got trauma from things he'd seen but the Time War's biggest impact on him and the show is just. null and void now. cheapens things a bit

don't really know what the alternative could have been beyond leaving it alone tho. maybe the Doctor seals his fate at Trenzalore but changing such a massive event, only for the Time Lords to later pay him back in TOTD with the new regen set? like frame this as him actually altering history with his past selves, rather than being what happened all along? which it kind of sort of is in the 50th for all of like two lines but then feels very much as if it was what was meant to have happened all along

ultimately I think my issue with the retcon is that it's just too....lame? it softens things and while the writing of RTD's first era is strong enough that even knowing what comes in the 50th doesn't really detract or deter it still feels kinda. shameless? going into detail on a moment we didn't truly need to see, just to undo what's arguably the best decision made in the revival, for almost no real payoff. which is kinda the issue with Moffat's run - at least with 11 - as a whole. a lot of built up and intensity for some ultimately meager payoff that doesn't feel very thought out

it also kinda begs the question as to why they made the War Doctor at all since like. 8 would have been perfect in the role War is in within the 50th. really love John Hurt tho so this bothers me infinitely less

[shkspr]

hi. on your post where you may or may not have ended on 'moffat is either your angel or your devil' did you have maybe an elaboration on that somewhere that i could possibly hear about. i'm very much a capaldi era stan and i've never tried to defend the matt smith era even though it had delightful moments sometimes so i wonder where that puts me. i'd love to hear your perspective on moffat as a person with your political perspective. -nicole

hi ok sorry i took so long to respond to this but i dont think you know how LOADED this question is for me but i am so happy to elaborate on that for you. first a few grains of salt to flavor your understanding of the whole situation: a. im unfairly biased against moffat bc im a davies stan and a tennant stan; b. i still very much enjoy and appreciate moffat era who for many reasons; and c. i hate moffat on a personal level far more than i could ever hate his work.

the thing is that its all always gonna be a bit mixed up bc i have to say a bunch of seemingly contradictory things in a row. for instance, a few moffat episodes are some of my absolute favorites of the rtd era, AND the show went way downhill when moffat took over, AND the really good episodes he wrote during the rtd era contained the seeds of his destruction.

like i made that post about the empty child/the doctor dances and it holds true for blink and thats about it bc the girl in the fireplace and silence in the library/forest of the dead are good but not nearly on the same level, and despite the fact that i like them at least nominally, they are also great examples of everything i hate about moffat and how he approached dw as a whole.

basically. doctor who is about people. there are many things about moffats tenure as showrunner that i think are a step up from rtd era who! actual gay people, for one! but i think that can likely be attributed mostly to an evolving Society as opposed to something inherent to him and his work, seeing as rtd is literally gay, and the existence of queer characters in moffats work doesnt mean the existence of good queer characters (ill give him bill but thats it!)

i have a few Primary Grievances with moffat and how he ran dw. all of them are things that got better with capaldi, but didnt go away. they are as follows:

moffat projects his own god complex onto the doctor

rtd era who had a doctor with a god complex. you cant ever be the doctor and not have a god complex. the problem with moffats era specifically is that the god complex was constant and unrepentant and was seen as a fundamental personality trait of the doctor rather than a demon he has to fight. he has the Momence where you feel bad for him, the Momence where he shows his humility or whatever and youre reminded that he doesnt want to be the lonely god, but those are just. moments. in a story where the doctor thinks hes the main character. rtd era doctor was aware that he wasnt the main character. he had to be an authority sometimes and he had to be the loner and he had to be sad about it, but he ultimately understood that he was expendable in a narrative sense.

this is how you get lines like “were the thin fat gay married anglican marines, why would we need names as well?” from the same show that gave you the gut punch moment at the end of midnight when they realize that nobody asked the hostess for her name. and on the one hand, thats a small sticking point, but on the other hand, its just one small example of the simple disregard that moffat has for humanity.

incidentally, this is a huge part of why sherlock sucked so bad: moffats main characters are special bc theyre so much bigger and better than all the normal people, and thats his downfall as a showrunner. he thinks that his audience wants fucking sheldon cooper when what they want is people.

like, ok. think of how many fantastic rtd era eps are based in the scenario “what if the doctor wasnt there? what if he was just out of commission for a bit?” and how those eps are the heart of the show!! bc theyre about people being people!! the thing is that all of the rtd era companions would have died for the doctor but he understood and the story understood that it wasnt about him.

this is like. nine sending rose home to save her life and sacrifice his own vs clara literally metaphysically entwining her existence w the doctor. ten also sending rose with her family to save her life vs river being raised from infancy to be obsessed w the doctor and then falling in love w him. martha leaving bc she values herself enough to make that decision vs amy being treated like a piece of meat.

and this is simultaneously a great callback to when i said that moffats episodes during the rtd era sometimes had the same problems as his show running (bc girl in the fireplace reeks of this), and a great segue into the next grievance.

moffat hates women

he hates women so fucking much. g-d, does steven moffat ever hate women. holy shit, he hates women. especially normal human women who prioritize their normal human lives on an equal or higher level than the doctor. moffat hated rose bc she wasnt special by his standards. the empty child/the doctor dances is the nicest he ever treated her, and she really didnt do much in those eps beyond a fuck ton of flirting.

girl in the fireplace is another shining example of this. youve got rose (who once again has another man to keep her busy, bc moffat doesnt think shes good enough for the doctor) sidelined for no reason only to be saved by the doctor at the last second or whatever. and then youve got reinette, who is pretty and powerful and special!

its just. moffat thinks that the doctor is as shallow and selfish as he is. thats why he thinks the doctor would stay in one place with reinette and not with rose. bc moffat is shallow and sees himself in the doctor and doesnt think he should have to settle for someone boring and normal.

not to mention rose met the doctor as an adult and chose to stay with him whereas reinette is. hm. introduced to the doctor as a child and grows up obsessed with him.

does that sound familiar? it should! bc it is also true of amy and river. and all of them are treated as viable romantic pairings. bc the only women who deserve the doctor are the ones whose entire existence revolves around him. which includes clara as well.

genuinely i think that at least on some level, not even necessarily consciously, that bill was a lesbian in part bc capaldi was too old to appeal to mainstream shippers. like twelve/clara is still a thing but not as universally appealing as eleven/clara but i am just spitballing. but i think they weighed the pros and cons of appealing to the woke crowd over the het shippers and found that gay companion was more profitable. anyway the point is to segue into the next point, which is that moffat hates permanent consequences.

moffat hates permanent consequences

steven moffat does not know how to kill a character. honestly it feels like hes doing it on purpose after a certain point, like he knows he has this habit and hes trying to riff on it to meme his own shit, but it doesnt work. it isnt funny and it isnt harmless, its bad writing.

the end of the doctor dances is so poignant and so meaningful and so fucking good bc its just this once! everybody lives, just this once! and then he does p much the same thing in forest of the dead - this one i could forgive, bc i do think that preserving those peoples consciousnesses did something for the doctor as a character, it wasnt completely meaningless. but everything after that kinda was.

rory died so many times its like. get a hobby lol. amy died at least once iirc but it was all a dream or something. clara died and was erased from the doctors memory. river was in prison and also died. bill? died. all of them sugarcoated or undone or ignored by the narrative to the point of having effectively no impact on the story. the point of a major character death is that its supposed to have a point. and you could argue that a piece of art could be making a point with a pointless death, ie. to put perspective on it and remind you that bad shit just happens, but with moffat the underlying message is always “i can do whatever i want, nothing is permanent or has lasting impact ever.”

basically, with moffat, tragedy exists to be undone. and this was a really brilliant, really wonderful thing in the doctor dances specifically bc it was the doctor clearly having seen his fair share of tragedy that couldnt be helped, now looking on his One Win with pride and delight bc he doesnt get wins like this! and then moffat proceeded to give him the same win over and over and over and over. nobody is ever dead. nobody is ever unable to be saved. and if they are, really truly dead and/or gone, then thats okay bc moffat has decided that [insert mitigating factor here]*

*the mitigating factor is usually some sort of computerized database of souls.

i can hear the moffat stans falling over themselves to remind me that amy and rory definitely died, and they did - after a long and happy life together, they died of old age. i dont consider that a character death any more than any other character choosing to permanently leave the tardis.

and its not just character deaths either, its like, everything. the destruction of gallifrey? never mind lol! character development? scrapped! the same episode four times? lets give it a fifth try and hope nobody notices. bc he doesnt know how to not make the doctor either an omnipotent savior or a self-pitying failure.

it is in nature of doctor who, i believe, for the doctor to win most of the time. like, it wouldnt be a very good show if he didnt win most of the time. but it also wouldnt be a very good show if he won all of the time. my point is that moffats doctor wins too often, and when he doesnt win, it feels empty and hollow rather than genuinely humbling, and you know hes not gonna grow from it pretty much at all.

so like. again, i like all of doctor who i enjoy all of it very much. i just think that steven moffat is a bad show runner and a decent writer at times. and it is frustrating. and im not here to convince or convert anyone im just living my truth. thank you for listening.

[only-martha-knows]

15 and 20 for the ask game?

15. Okay favorite companion outfit! This is so hard because I don’t pay a ton of attention to the fashion of the companions other than noticing that something is outdated. I have to say that one outfit that always sticks with me is the outfit Rose wears in Girl in the Fireplace - every time I see her in it I think “she looks SO good.” It's honestly kind of weird how often I think about it. But also, a lot of Amy’s later outfits are ones that I would actually wear, like her outfits from Dinosaurs on a Spaceship or Angels Take Manhattan. Maybe I just like her in blue stripes.

20. What's something I would change about the show if I could? Hmm. Before RTD came back I would have said I wanted to bring him back as a writer, because in my opinion he had the best writing in the show - his jokes always landed with me, he can get me so emotional with only a few words, etc. I've been kind of unsatisfied with Moffat and Chibnall's writing. But that wish has come true for me, so I've got to think of something else!

I guess I really would want every companion to just be a really close friend to the Doctor instead of a romantic interest. Donna is my favorite companion for this reason - We've got Rose, who honestly is the only Doctor/companion ship that I can ship personally, then Martha, Amy, River, Clara, Missy, Yaz, etc... I'm so tired of it. I want the Doctor to seem more alien than he/she is portrayed right now! I feel like I was waiting all of Thirteen's era to see her really be the alien that she is, and I never really got it (except for maybe that one moment with King James when he calls her out).

I really love the deep friendship and caring that Donna and the Doctor have for each other without any sort of romantic interest whatsoever, and I loved all those moments of Ten when he seemed just a little bit... off... in his reactions. Alien, even. There's a reason one of my favorite Ten moments is from Utopia when he's talking to Jack and has that crazy looking grin as he leans against the window.

So I'm rambling, but I guess that's what I would change - no more canon romances because the Doctor should be more alien than he/she currently is being.

[ssaalexblake]

Random but you understand. Getting steadily more annoyed at people (especially if white guys) just refusing to admit there’s anything to Yaz, let alone her obvious crush on 13.

oh yeah, i mean i know i complain about ppl perceiving 13 with the average skill level of a drunken anteater but... Yaz gets it worse. Add in 13 to that specific conversation and it's a damn nightmare that alone would justify my avoidance of the dw fandom... I mean there are So many more reasons to avoid it but that'd do it on its own for me.

I'm just. Is it just me? Who finds the characters so Easy to understand in this era? It's all there?? textual??? It's really obvious? Like not in a dickish way, i just genuinely think this is all very textually evident and the basics are laid out for all to see (like, family target demo... Some of that stuff small ones aren't going to Get get, like the implications in can you hear me? and how that effects what we saw before that, but while the subtleties aren't explicit you know enough to know Yaz's frame of mind which is all you need to grasp the story's mood, really) and am legitimately confused. It should be noted i get this feeling from a Lot of female led shows i watch where people just Don't See any depth to the ladies at All and it's Such a Shame they finally had women in something and they got stuck with bad writers and If Only they hadn't and then they could actually like it, but alas...

I've seen that line like 8 million times with tons of different things by now guys, try something new for a change, if nothing else it gets boring.

Honestly, i'm just so done. The contrasts within fandom are damning, Rose is Still everybody's darling girl and, frankly, doesn't have half the character depth of Yaz (not a rose slam, she doesn't actually Need anything more than she has narratively for what they were saying... Apart from a different ending, anyway) but people will dig miles underground to find it anyway, meanwhile Yaz is apparently a flat character while the narrative peels back layers and layers of her as character independent of 13 And then adds the stuff with 13 too as a bonus and everybody is all 'i pretend not to see it'. It's kind of like how people will and have spent hours analysing david ten/nant's eyelashes as Ten but fail to notice 13 blatantly wearing the universe's creepiest evil grin on multiple occasions because it's not obvious enough, apparently?

i am in a constant state of both eye emoji and a massive eye roll.

Most of the time, if i try to write about Yaz, i fail because i can never work out how to organise my words into a coherent post. Yaz has so much depth but, also, None of it is weird sci-fi bs.. it is All character work. There's no impossible girl or bad wolf or mystic pregnancy or whatever was going on with river or elderly centurion security guard or 'oops i accidentally made an immortal' or any other example here, Yaz's character work is genuinely that, character work. And since i've spent a fair while reading ppl on here laud the rtd era companions for just being normal people with no sci-fi gimmicks being used to prop them up (even when sometimes there Are sci-fic gimmicks, if much less egregious than moffat era ones) it's a Bit annoying Yaz is getting the lowkey slam for it.

so yeah... yeah. Me too. I could have just said yeah but it'd be ooc of me to not be long winded.

[jyndor]

Very specific thoughts. I started Doctor Who with season 5 so I think I have a lot of nostalgia about that era, but the thing is that Moffat really isn't showrunner material. He can write a beginning that intrigues you and an ending that makes you cry, but he skimps on the details. Like I was excited to see The Doctor and River Song's love story but by the end I was like, 'did I miss an episode or something' because I felt like they told us how epic they'd be but failed to show us the love. And I like Amy and Rory as individuals but I feel like Amy was just marrying him because she didn't know what to do with her life. And like the sexism. Who knew not wanting to take your spouse's name meant you were childish.

lol i am so triggered by anyone starting dw with season 5 😂 moffat's misogyny was always lurking in his writing (weird ass classism and sexism in girl in the fireplace, shunting martha out of the way entirely for some white oc during blink, everything about river song in the library episodes) but he was able to ride it out because he had a great showrunner in rtd, who despite his flaws was far better at keeping things grounded imo.

I love a lot about season five but season six pushed me to my limits lol. every woman moff wrote lived for the doctor - their lives revolved around him. and you can argue that the companions don't need the fleshed out families and regular lives that rtd gave them but I just find rose, martha and donna a million times more relatable and believable than amy, river and clara (never watched bill so I can't comment on her). I think moffat was going for amy in particular being very much like a fantasy character in a fairy tale, which works really well in s5 because all of the mystery and weirdness was new, but he just doesn't know how to bring it all together in a way that makes any kind of sense imo. which is why the climax of river's story in s6 failed so hard for me. ironically the best parts of amy's story for me came in season 7 because she kind of felt more... idk... like a real person instead of a fantasy, and also like I loved every river and amy scene ever like more mama daughter scenes plsss

clara felt refreshingly real after amy left when they weren't pushing the mystery nonsense. ad I don't even mind mystery! bad wolf is one of my favorite arcs ever of anything, but that is always about rose taking control of her life and making her own choices instead of like with clara being the puzzle box for the doctor to solve without her knowledge.

I stopped watching after the first few episodes of season nine but I heard actually moffat's last season was his best, which is great because I was seriously worried about how he would treat a Black lesbian. maybe someday I will go back and finish the show but honestly moffat killed doctor who for me, and it is hard for me to go back to something like that.

also river and the doctor's love story makes zero sense when all is said and done lmao like why does moff always write these little girls falling for the doctor 🤮🤮🤮

anyway i just got off work so idk if this is coherent lmao but thanks for sharing your thoughts because i always like to hear them

[galiifreyrose]

*banging pots and pans* I’ve watched RTD era at least 18 bajillion times but every re-watch is more fun than the last and I have some THINGS to say about The Library arc. 

There IS Moffat salt in here. But up front, I still LOVE these episodes.

I’m going to start with - and this hurts - that honestly, Moffat’s one-shots in RTD’s era have always tended to be some of my absolute favorites. I knowwww the discourse. I know it. I’ve heard it. I’ve been there. It cannot kill my young teenage love for certain episodes. I love critical thinking :)

There were a few things that just jumped out to me this time watching The Library episodes that... idk. I’d perceived before, but they struck me way differently at this point in my life? At this point in fandom? Sometimes I wonder if I’m just too deep in fanon and my perspective is skewed but I shall speak ANYWAY

1. The lying.

“The Doctor lies” is nothing if not a central concept to Eleven’s era, especially where River is concerned. With Eleven, it feels more natural. He’s more cagey, he’s more hurt. There is a candor to the Doctor that died with Ten and did not carry to Eleven, and that’s an important part of his character. So, what bothers me is seeing Ten act that way. Telling Donna “oh, yeah, I lied” suddenly seemed WAY out of line with the way they’d been acting up until that point. It maybe would have been easier to write off if not for the CONSISTENCY of the lies and half truths that follow throughout the episode. To me, RTD’s era is so full of honesty and truthfulness that the sudden prevalence of lies lies lies just sits wrong with me.

2. Miss Evangelista

This all comes down to the line “I have the two qualities needed to see absolute truth. I am brilliant, and unloved.” Hey Moffat?? What the fuck kind of mindset do you have for the world? Is that truly what you believe is necessary to see the truth in the world? What does that even mean? What does that imply? How cynical! How depressing! Is there not absolute truth in making soup for someone you love? Is there not honesty in a simple life? 

I’ve started typing three different thoughts and deleted each of them because it all comes down to “I hate the way Moffat writes women” plain and simple but GOD!! That line to me is the ANTITHESIS of what Doctor Who is about, to me.

3. The Doctor’s Name

I know there’s speculation to hell and back on THIS particular little doozy, but I’m just formally putting my headcanon on the record. This is me speaking as someone who does not, in any lifetime, ship DoctorxRiver. And I”m going to express this without eloquence I’m sure, but it’s not his actual name, it’s something more like a codeword. Something like a hostage situation where you REALLY need to know you can trust someone, and that you can plant ahead of time, and still carries a fuckton of weight, but... I just can’t bring myself to get on the train of “it’s actually his name.” Now, Tennant’s performance as River obliterates herself is pretty damn convincing for the argument “it MUST be his name, that was a strong reaction” but lalalalalala I’d like to live in my own little world on this one.

Thanks for coming to my ramble.

[elisabeth-forbes]

Doctor Who?

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

BTW I stopped watching half way through Capaldi's era.

Favorite character: Donna Noble or Martha Jones

Least Favorite character: Rory Pond

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Clara/12, Rose/10, Martha /River, Clara/Martha, Doctor/Master, Rose/Amy - honestly a lot of the female companions.

Character I find most attractive: Clara Oswald - I've had a massive crush on Jenna Coleman since her Waterloo Road days.

Character I would marry: Clara or Martha

Character I would be best friends with: Donna Noble

a random thought: I don't actually ship the doctor with that many characters. If I ship the doctor with someone then if has to be that incarnation of the doctor. Also I like RTD's era a lot because of the storylines I feel were more coherent and had more payoff throughout the season. But I think that Moffat did bring in a lot of interesting female characters and concepts. Also some of his MOTW episodes were brilliant and I loved how he expanded on some of the aliens later on.

An unpopular opinion: That people in the fandom view character development = obeying the doctor or becoming more like them. Apart from the case of Martha in which they still continue to hate on her when she is literally better than him in every way.

My Canon OTP: Rose/10 - you could tell that RTD felt they were THE couple in the show.

My Non-canon OTP: Martha Jones/River Song - this is based off a conversation my friend and I had about River running into Martha when shes at UNIT or torchwood.

Most Badass Character: Martha Jones - she saved the world by herself with no power ups and how she handled the scarecrow episode. Side note - Sarah Jane Smith mostly because she never gave up protecting earth even after leaving the doctor and I loved the Sarah Jane Smith series.

Most Epic Villain: The Master

Pairing I am not a fan of: Jack/10 - I like Jack and 9 but 10 literally called him an abomination to his face. Plus Jack and 9 had that energy about them.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): It sometimes felt that RTD was encouraging people to hate on Martha via the doctor who kept comparing her to Rose. And considering how much racist hate she got in the first place I feel like that arc of not caring what the doctor thought should have been done a lot better and with more care.

Favourite Friendship: Donna/10

Character I most identify with: Probably Donna because of stuff I was going through when I first watched it. Also I really understood the urge to slap the doctor.

Character I wish I could be: Amy Pond or Clara Oswald because I always loved their hair.

[pilotheather]

hey i never really watched or followed the chibnall era what was wrong with his writing that made people happy he’s gone

i think this will get you different opinions based on who you ask.

a LOT of people were extremely unhappy with the s12 timeless child plot twist. which, if you don't know: basically he redestroyed gallifrey, and revealed the doctor is not a timelord at all, but was instead the progenitor OF the timelords (a child that kept regenerating, even when they died) and that she was tortured on as a child, being repeatedly killed to realise the secret behind her regenerative abilities, to create the timelord race and then had her mind wiped.

which, im not a fan of. some ppl are? but mostly it panned: lots of ppl are unhappy, bc theyre saying it's "ruining the lore"; personally i dont mind since dw is fast and loose with its canon - and im moreso unhappy about centreing the doctor as, like, the big important chosen one in the universe (like blech) bc its just such a stale narrative decision.

but even before that there was a lot of criticism of chibnalls writing. and again: ur gonna get different opinions on who you ask. there's, uh, for example... a LOT of ppl (off tumblr, mostly) who tout it as sjw bullshit (yawn) bc of jodie and the diverse tardis team. that's bs outrage over nowt, ofc. but like- other than that its just... the writing. yeah, some ppl like it but ik a lot are unahppy with it for different reasons.

and to, like, summarise my own thoughts on chibbers writing: there's LOTS of little things that sort of build up for me. but at the crux of it? personally i dont think the man can write sci-fi - like, at all. thats my own personal main gripe with him. i hear he's good at straightforward drama: whilst ive never seen broadchurch myself, a lot of ppl whose opinions i trust liked it well enough; and furthermore, when it came to torchwood, he did have one or two eps in there that i liked in premise. however, when it comes to sci-fi, i respectfully think he just flounders. like he just cant integrate those other skills he has into a scifi story. the tardis was super overcrowded in s11&s12 (and that brought its own issues) but even still it was sort of... laughable, how much development the companions got. a lot of the time they'd sit there like pints of milk and just?? not really do anything? it got a little better in s12- but its like... he doesnt know how to handle a sci-fi storyline, whilst also exploring the characters in tandem and its like theyre just theyre as objects to move things along. its really fuckin weird.

like, in the most recent episode (last years NY's special, Revolution of the Daleks) the pacing was so strange. there's this whole section in the middle of all the action, where they just STOP and talk inside of the tardis. and don't get me wrong - i dont mind a heart to heart! but a lot of the companions are, like, purely telling and not showing their personality msot of the time - and thats it! its so... stale. they just stand around, state something about themselves and then just do nothing half the time? bc he just doesn't know how to use them in the stories. unlike in rtd or moffat era, where you'd have the companions jumping in and actually interacting with stuff- you'd know its just... like theyre being swept away by the plot. and you could frankly cut them out of almost all of the episodes, replace them with a sonic screwdriver or some other technobabble and it just wouldnt make any damn difference to the vibe of the ep, which is a shame bc they had PROMISE as ideas but they just don't pull their weight.

and i think that's just... super unfortunate. bc a lot of the pull with nuwho especially IS the companions and their personalities and when theyre just flat cardboard cutouts its got no energy. not to mention, like, the companions really facilitate a lot of the plots themselves- not the other way round! having companions ask questions, explore, and make decisions and react to stuff... that's IMPORTANT to really realising a lot of it. there's been a lot of times in eps where i was watching it and i just WANTED desperately for one of them to do something, to ask the doctor about it but like... she kind of just stands around and talks to herself? then there's a canned comment abt how theyre the #fam? its like. ok.

and then its like- maybe if they were being pushed to the side, and the show was servicing plot over characters that would be ONE thing but its also like i get a LOT of insecurity in general from chris when it comes to sci-fi writing, too. which ok, dude. but its like- he'll introduce a concept, but never fully explore it; he'll just drop it, and introduce something else; and then drop that and move on. and its like... we dont get any actual playing with whats going on? its like-

its just all... ultimately very superficial. like ai generated doctor who. i dont want to say it hasnt got heart, but sometimes it really feels like it you know? and a lot of it is just.. flat. because you can bring in lots of cool stuff (visuals, bring back jack, build a found family type, give us a fun quirky doctor) but if you just don't actually put work into making it all happen then its just going to be like, pretty wrapping paper on an empty box, yeah? and so its like- its like theres PIECES in a lot of s11 and s12 that are right, and they're fine, and they could make for good stories but he just doesn't know how to use them. like, at all.

and there's honestly like. a lot of other... smaller things that i could mention. i feel like theres just like... lots of little issues wrong with it all, but theyre all so fundamental and they all just build up and its just- it just culminates in bad writing, man. not moffat type of bad. but just... nothing interesting at best; frustrating at worst.

ofc theres ppl who will disagree with me and like it and thats fine. and theres also ppl who will have other things they dont like abt it that they can bring up. i would advise lookin thru ppl talking abt it on here more, omg. get a nice lil crossection of all the little messes ppl babble on abt.

[the--highlanders]

F N and Q for the fandom asks?

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom

probably the two-era fandom actually! it’s been over 5 years now. wild.

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice)

wish I could see some of the missing episodes does that count

honestly i really don’t know. maybe more people? but also I like it small, it feels friendlier. and a lot of the stuff I want more content for isn’t ‘we should all talk about this’, it’s ‘this is a personal interest of mine’, you know? like I want to post and/or write about my Takes tm on jamie’s backstory and like. jacobite stuff. but that’s my very personal interest and comes down to me working up the courage and motivation to actually do it you know hsjkfgd

maybe more ben content. I’m totally guilty of underrating him myself but I do love him and I feel like he has a lot of potential character depth.

Q - A ship you’ve abandoned and why

not that many actually! I haven’t had that many ships. if we’re talking dr who specifically then back in 2014-ish I felt like I Had to have a doctor who ship and picked eleven/river (as opposed to ten/rose, because I preferred moffat’s era to rtd’s). I never consumed or made any content for them though and never /really/ cared about them, and definitely don’t have any investment in it now.

I guess I used to be much more into jack/ianto than I am now? I still like them but I’m not focused on torchwood anymore. they were the first pairing I properly wrote obviously shippy fic for though.

if we’re not just talking doctor who then I’m very embarrassed to admit that back in ye olde superwholock days I /was/ a johnlock shipper. I was a baby gay and it was my first exposure to the idea that I didn’t hate all romance, just didn’t connect with straight romances in media. needless to say it didn’t end well and I no longer ship it gfhjdkgjkd