#i miss the moffat era like oh fuck i miss it

[whywhatswrongwithblue]

DW REWATCH

S1E1 ROSE

When Rose Tyler meets a mysterious stranger called the Doctor, her life will never be the same again. Soon she realises that her mum, her boyfriend and the whole of Earth are in danger. The only hope for salvation lies inside a strange blue box.

1. LOVE this opening. Such a great bedroom hahah. Perfectly messy and pink—makes me wonder what t2r’s shared bedroom must look like now!

2. What does Jackie do for a living? I know it’s canon (or fanon?) that she’s a hairdresser but do we actually ever see her working as one?

3. Who’s Derek? And why does Rose think a mannequin prank would be up his lane? RUN. Such a great meet cute 😭😭😭😭 these two are married now you guys!!!!!!!

4. ‘Cos to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students. 
That makes sense. Well done. 🥺��� nothing just the Doctor always appreciating the insight Rose brings🥺🥺

5. WILSON’S DEAD

6. ‘So, I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast.’ ohhhhh he wants her to join him so bad 😭 the poor guy. This is right after he’s destroyed his entire planet and there’s just SOMETHING about Rose he sees, huh? 😭🥺 also ’Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life.’ Such a great line!

7. TARDIS appearance!

8. ‘Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter.’ oh my God Jackie Tyler I have missed you. Imagine your mum reacting to you almost getting blown up like THIS though 🤣 yikes!

9. Rose doesn’t tell Mickey about the Doctor—no matter how ridiculous the plastic plot sounds she believes him, even if it is unconsciously at the moment

10. All the calls Jackie is getting one after the other insinuate a pretty closely knit neighbourhood, doesn’t it? All these people know where Rose works and are concerned enough to call up. Imagine how traumatic the sudden shift to Pete’s World must’ve been for Jackie—I know she’s got the parallel version of Bev but it’s not the same, and it must’ve taken a WHILE to adjust to everything.

11. “The airs and graces” comment. So much to be dissected here! Jackie’s relationship with herself and with her daughter implied very heavily in this one line. She seems to be jealous, even.

12. They have a cat flap! Rose confirmed cat person moment (1). The Doctor waiting outside the flat xD. Talk about picking up strays🥺

13. The dialogue is so damn gooood. And Christopher’s delivery is so endearing

14. Jackie hitting on the Doctor!!!!! Need tentoo to bring this up ASAP. She’s his mother in law😭

15. Staircase shot is incredible. Love the Sort of, yeah❤️ bit. Also love how the Doctor repeatedly checks on how she’s handling the information (*Are you alright? Do you believe me?*)—however unconsciously he’s doing it, he IS checking her suitability as a potential companion 🥺

16. Mickey SMH. Also apparently he doesn’t wash his dishes 🤣

17. Loveee Clive. RTD’s writing is so immersive, it really makes the whole world come alive. These side characters add so much depth to the story—something sorely missing in the Moffat and Chibnall eras.

18. THE WHEELIE BIN. I always forget how fucking ridiculous this episode is until I rewatch it 🤣 also lord Rose is so uninvested in this relationship. P-P-PIZZA will always be one of my fav lines

19. The infamous Jimmy Stone! I love how we’re given the one line about him and it’s inspired thousands of fics. Rose considering completing her A Levels here—would that be something she’d be interested in doing in Pete’s World?

20. TARDIS!!!!! Doomsday theme begins here 😓😓 love how the Doctor is judging how easily she can accept his alienness—he claims to be done with human companions every time but he is undoubtedly impressed by Rose. Also find it incredibly interesting he didn’t even think about Mickey being dead. This, contrasted with other alien lives (including the Daleks, sometimes) that the Doctor seems to value…is an intriguing juxtaposition. Is there a little simmering jealousy of the boyfriend already? Is he slightly unable to look at consequences of actions beyond his own? He has just come off of a genocide at this moment

21. Mickey’s mother! Bit of a mistake here, we learn that he was raised by his grandma in *Father’s Day*

22. Lots of planets have a North!!!

23. I always found it funny that Rose, who seemed so upset about Mickey a second ago, is now holding hands with Nine and running down the bridge lmfao. They really are very alike in their love for the thrill.

24. ‘Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy.’
You knew that and you never said? 
Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?’ hmmm. Jealousy, perhaps? Or a disregard for lives he doesn’t believe are at the same level as that of higher beings? As much as he rejected the Time Lords, he is a product of his origin, and has quite a condescending view of humans

25. Shunt off. God, I love you RTD

26. The Nestene Consciousness is alarmed when it recognises that he is a Time Lord. Later in the show, it’s implied that the Time Lords were almost, if not as bad as the Daleks were, during the Time War.

27. RIP Clive 🕊️ fingers crossed it’s your cameo we’re getting in the 60th

28. Rose! My beloved! Bronze medalist! This screencap in particular is very Bad Wolf

29. I honestly can’t wrap my mind around people who say Rose was wrong for going with the Doctor. He came back for her!!!

30. The perfect opening episode. Extrapolation is done so elegantly and we even get a sense of how absurd the show can get. 10/10, and one of my favourite episode 1s!

[quietwingsinthesky]

im trying to be nice to the faults of chibnall’s era because 1) jesus christ only ten episodes a season??? (ONLY SIX FOR S13?????) i can’t even imagine the shit that got cut for time that would have helped with fleshing out the companions and giving the doctor more wiggle room for inner conflict. 3 more episodes doesn’t feel like a lot but god do you Miss them when they aren’t there. and 2) because it took moffat 3 whole seasons to really get his shit together so clearly if he’s allowed to fuck up so much everyone else should get a little leeway.

there Are faults. but i think overall, it was a strong season. there were. bad episodes. bad endings to episodes particularly. i hold true that yaz Should Not Be Here because she has literally nothing to do anything going on emotionally here, even though the yaz-centric episode was one of my favorites for the season 😔 but god this really needed to be the ryan & graham show for these episodes. she doesn’t need to be gone entirely but they really could’ve done with her joining later in the season or only joining for one episode like she’s curious about this and joining permanently later.

oh but thirteen. god i love thirteen. brilliant doctor. falters a little in that i think she isn’t given much of an overarching conflict? like, there absolutely is one, to me, but her struggling to choose pacifism or inserting herself into situations just sort of fizzles out by the end? we don’t get any resolution on that unless we want to call the witchfinders episode the resolution and it really didn’t feel like it should be. felt like a turning point into changing her mind, not the end. but jodie’s so good, i love her doctor mannerisms. i love how she plays 13’s issues with touch especially, it stands out to me how uncomfortable she is being touched while also being good to go for a short bit so long as she initiates it. i love how quietly furious she gets, there’s a doctor who is five minutes from biting someone if they keep pushing her and is just barely holding onto her restraint because she wants to keep the moral high ground. thirteen i love you <3

[ssaalexblake]

I'm curious about your opinion about 'a discussion' about the Doctor saying in Survivors of the Flux: "Earth has been shielded from the Flux, but it'll be vulnerable. It'll become a target. If the Flux is destroying the universe, if planets and stars are being wiped out, there will be displaced creatures who need a home. Somewhere to take over." Mostly due to how I've seen it being said to be the Doctor expressing anti-refugee sentiment, especially the usage of 'take over'.

i've sat on this one because it depends Entirely on how this ~discussion~ happened. Your grammatical choices in writing this ask do not fill me to the brim with confidence, however.

Anyway.

If we're having an on the level discussion on linguistics and phraseology where we talk about how innocuous turns of phrase like 'take over' (mice took over my loft once, it sucked) have been co-opted as very not innocent phrases, and how it would have been better if they'd made it verbally explicit that they meant a colonization like something along the lines of what the Sontarans literally already did in Liverpool a couple of episodes ago then... You know, I may even agree? I do think contextually it's clear what they're saying here but hell, might as well be on the nose. If people are gonna accuse the era of spelling everything out for people, they might as well have done so.

However, if we're being cunning enough to ignore all context available in both that A) this whole era is a criticism of treatment of refugees AND simultaneously even more so a scathing criticism of colonialism, all to genuinely spout that they'd suddenly, in one of the last couple of episodes, do a step-heel-turn and deliberately say fuck them refugees that are gonna come steal all our jobs or something then... I mourn our good friend, Nuance McNuance. Such a good guy. Miss him so much. Gone too soon.

This line did not happen in a vacuum and should not be considered like it did.

(this is bringing me Back to people who complained that war of the sontarans had inconsistent morals. No. Actually it was just giving the thumbs up to beating the shit out of violent colonizers and also saying to stop waging pointless stupid war and getting people killed for no reason other than ego. Oh the death of nuance.)

Anyway, like i said, it depends on how this was said. Discussing linguistics choices is a totally normal port of fandom call, but ignoring context both of the scene and era at large to Choose to interpret in such a way that contradicts the themes and morals of an entire era of the show is... Well. We'll highball and say it's uncharitable.

(and since when does the Doctor refer to somebody being Nice as a Creature??? If we're digging in linguistically already then that is. Not a thing.)

You know that post going around saying that a person saying they support something but doing so using "bad" language is Far better than the person who uses the up to date appropriate terms, but is supporting a fucked up message? How in such cases sentiment is where you look because that is Far more important than linguistic choices? Yeah. I'm still far more worried about the zygon two parter, thanks (but i'm not gonna talk about That one bc i'd have to watch it again and hell no).

They're talking about daleks, and cybermen, and sontarans, and whatever other species may make like the british empire and colonize. This is clear, frankly, to the point you don't Need to think about it.

The conversation is about phrasing, which could be improved but is not, you know, Horrifyingly dire as it's obvious what they meant.

Incidentally, due to context, if said line had been said in Moffat's era i'd be Way more leery because of some unfavourable context in his era.

And, to conclude;

In the words of Fred Jones in Scooby Doo, Monsters Unleashed

"I think coolsville sucks"

[besidesitstoowarm]

"Forest of the Dead" thoughts

i think this is my favorite davies-era moffat story. i mean, "blink" is iconic and tightly constructed, and "empty child/doctor dances" has a phenomenal backbone, but nothing can really compete with professor river song. sorry

we open with what my boyfriend called "runescape ass music" and donna wakes up in a dream world where she meets a husband and has two kids. it's all very nice and she seems quite happy. river says the doctor is "the only story you'll ever tell, if you survive him" which i think is a reasonable judgment. he wants to know how he's supposed to trust her and she whispers something in his ear and he agrees to trust her

donna gets a weird letter from the demon from "insidious" that basically says this world is a lie. the doctor is able to talk to mr hey who turned out the lights by using the neural relay in his suit and the vashta nerada inform him that this is their home, they were born here. they're found in forests normally and this is their forest, born from a million million books. donna is told by the demon that all the kids in that world are the same and we see that they are. the demon is just miss evangelista copied wrong

river is not so sure about the doctor bc he isn't "her" doctor yet, he's unfinished. they realize the "saved" 4k people were literally saved to the computer hardd rive. he says "i bet i like you" to river and she says "oh, you do" i would actually kill to see more tennant/kingston on screen, they could have amazing chemistry

donna's kids disappear bc they aren't real. i like the quote from miss evangelista where she said she had "the two qualities required to see absolute truth: i am brilliant, and unloved" mamma mia. the doctor beefs w the vashta nerada again "i'm the doctor and you're in the biggest library in the world. look me up"

he decides to filter the hard drive through his own brain to get the ram needed to bring everyone back but river says fuck no that'll kill him so she punches him out, handcuffs him to a post, and wires herself in. he begs her not to "time can be rewritten" and she's crying as she says "not those times. not one line, don't you dare" and it's revealed the word she whispered in his ear was his name. she explodes but it worked and the people are saved

donna tries to find her dream-husband but can't. we see he's real but can't call out to her in time :( the doctor realizes he gave river his sonic in the future bc he found a way to save her and uploads her to the computer where she can be w her dead friends and dream children and alex kingston looks so beautiful in that white gown i want to kill myself

yeah this is straightfowardly a gorgeous story with not a second wasted, an impressive feat for a 2-parter. river is such a good character it's unreal and the vashta nerada are used perfectly, explored just as much as necessary while also being mostly background drama/catalyst for the doctor/river situation. i assume it must have been known at this point that moffat would be taking over for davies, right? obviously he knew it would be his last season and i can't imagine river being introduced as anything except a teaser. but not too much cause it'd be spoilers ;)

god i fucking love this story. i've never heard a bad word about it, we all love it. and next up, the donna relaxes peacefully while the doctor has the worst day of his life

[pilotheather]

im going nuts again so i guess s8 onwards (since s8-s9 is what ive seen the least times) rewatch whislt i rot.... just have this on in the bg

ep 1

i forgot how muddied this first episode was. its all over the place.

i will say i also forgot how hard they leant ino trying to prove a point with clara LOLLL. i dont completely hate it. its a bit grating but i sorta respect it

as i feel with like a lot of clara from s8 onwards

THE SCENE WITH THE HOMELESS MAN IS WORSE THAN I REMEMBER HELPPPP ME

as with clara again ok that bits funny i forgot . hes like youre a cunt clara. youre self obsessed. shes like WHAT THE FUCK. wheres my PRETTY BOY GONE. matt smith is not pretty.

i actually have never really liked the paternoster gang. like i do. i like the concept of them. but i hate how they just sort of appear in the show out of nowhere. partially cuz its emphasised so much how like.. the doctor trusts them or theyre close or whatever. and idk. maybe i wouldnt mind. but also whenever the doctor interacts with them i feel like there's no chemistry.

(and look. sometimes i just sorta hate an obvious set up for a spin off. it kinda makes me grumpy.)

i forgot the insane yuri moment out of nowhere also. actually that wasnt so bad but thats the other part about them thats always a bit ... help.... moffat writing this shit with one hand on his dick as usual

otherwise thes some good scenes in this i forgot about. but still its so messy. one of those where its like i think it could do with another rewrite or two to tighten it up.

i think i forgot clara and 12 are funny as fuck. get his ass

(although seeing him with such short hair is scary. grandpa wheres your mane)

oh missy i missed you. i didnt watch season 8 live. i wish i knew what the fuck people did

ep 2

"you shoot people and then you cry about it afterwards" get his ass

sorry i do like you danny. my boot boy.

i forgot he was lame as shittttttttttttttttt dannyyyyyyyyy

I FORTGOT HOW MUCH OF A CUNT HE WAS

doctor i saw into your soul. and you were a HATERRRRRRR !!!!!!!

sorry the ep is over now i dont know. i guess i kinda like it. i feel like theres a lot of eps in this season that its like. its not bad its not good but i kinda just forget it exists. SORRY LOL

i love love love it whenever they say "YOU are a good dalek" to him. like please. get his ass.

ep 3

one thing about this season is the aesthetics start going crazyyy the chalkboard rules bro. the entire tardis does. like i like how it matures a bit as capaldis era goes on but god. so delicious

god i hate claras little theme tune sometimes.

sometimes its good sorry sometimes im like bro she just walked out you dont need to

i do like how stupid goofy this episode is. like what is even occurring. you guys are so silly for this one.

I LOVE when he gets petty and jealous. grow up old man.

ep 4

"and from you that means something" CLARA THATS CRAZY. THATS A CRAZY THING TO SAY. HELP ME GOD ITS FUNNY.

23 WELLS!

a lot of people hypelisten. i think i have mixed feelings on it.

ep 5

youre insane btw i just saw captain john hart in the preview. what an insane, insane pull.

i feel like i dont remember much of trhis ep either but thats insane cuz i love heist eps. guys remember the farscape heist ep. UGHHH LETS ALL GO FARSCAPE MAYBE

ok god im flagging i hzve to sotp

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 127

Mannequin 3: The Reckoning/Victory of the Daleks

“Mannequin 3: The Reckoning”

Plot Description: when Ben calls Dean and tells him that Lisa is in trouble, Dean leaves Sam to investigate a case alone and rushed to the rescue

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: I saw this in a doctor who once. Though those mannequins didn’t have faces so weren’t nearly as creepy. It was also aliens, not ghosts…I’d probably be dead

Also, Sam’s not dead, so that’s good!! 2-3 minutes in hell feels like a week

Dean no. There’s gotta be a middle ground between fully kicking down the wall in Sam’s mind and suppressing everything til it boils up in violence and alcoholism

Oh. So he doesn’t IMMEDIATELY run off to help her

Ah, bruh, I don’t think it’s Johnny. Why ARE these mannequins attacking people??

Dean, you know your past year and Sam’s past year are not comparable.

Ohhhhhh, Ben doesn’t want Lisa dating anyone but Dean. It’s kind of cute. He got so attached.

Ok…so…it’s not exactly fair to pin THIS on Dean. Ben called and said you were in trouble. Dean wants to help, Dean wants to protect, to make up for the danger he brought into your lives. Yes, he’s being a little bit of an ass about it right now.

You assholes, you don’t play with a girl’s feelings like that. She seems like she was really sweet, and you turned her into a vengeful spirit because you wanted to pretend she had a secret admirer and then LAUGHED AT HER FOR BELIEVING IT.

OH! THAT’S what the cut on all their foreheads is all about. Kinda hope this guy dies too, honestly.

Watching Dean say goodbye to the life he had with Lisa and Ben is a little bit of a gut punch. Ben admired him so much, but Dean doesn’t think he’s someone to be admired at all for anything

Uhhhhhhhh. So, the last dude from the terrible prank turned accidental manslaughter just got killed by his sex doll that he was treating like his partner. I am not disappointed

Well, that’s not comforting. Rose is possessing the impala. Trying to go all Christine on Dean. Why Dean though??

…she did it to kill her sister to get to the kidney she donated so she could be at rest. Fuck.

Just accept the thank you, Dean.

“Been On My Mind…”: Nope. 5

"Victory of the Daleks"

Plot Description: From the terrifying future of the United Kingdom to one of the darkest chapters of its past - World War Two, The Doctor and Amy find themselves in a top-secret cabinet war room deep beneath the London streets

So...here's one of the things about the Moffat era. I think a lot of his plots rely on the shock of the mystery, but if you remember that the scientist is a sort of Dalek hybrid or is a Dalek or has been brainwashed by the Daleks, much of the plot becomes kinda boring

Goddddd Matt looks so young. I mean...it's because he is and this was like 13 years ago (a true gut punch of a sentence to write).

I think it's hilarious that they slapped the Union Flag on a Dalek. How extremely like them. See something from another land? another planet even? Just put the Union Flag on it...it's property of Britain now.

Oh that "To Victory!" poster was so popular back then

I am interested in remembering the explanation for why Amy doesn't remember the events of Journey's End

Watching the Matt Smith era makes me crave Jammy Dodgers really bad

It's interesting to watch everyone watch Eleven beat up the Dalek to to avail. WE know so much of what they've gone through against each other, but with each newcomer comes a new horrified expression

Right....it was that the Daleks created that scientist to think that he had created them

Times like these make me miss Donna. Donna would have been making some sarcastic remark about how his plan (didn't) work

AW YEAH the giant colorful Daleks!! Like picking out the color iPod you wanted

Hey Doc, pack of Jammie Dodgers says this ISN'T the end of the Daleks.

The Doctor's going to make the scientist A REAL BOY...or not.

For all the time the Doctor has spent around humans and how many human companions he's had, he really still needs them to step in to make the REAL human connection

[thebadtimewolf]

you keep talking about rose with scorn, about future regenerations having outdone her completely & acting like they are somehow disgusted by the romance with her. but what are you basing your opinion on? in those books or comics that no one really cares about? which weren’t even written by showrunners?! moffat NEVER made twelve disrespect rose’s memory. that comic of him picking on ten was written by a bloke who doesn't even like rose, which indicates that the stories reflect more on the writers' opinions than the character. and while in the comics thirteen is somehow unbothered by rose’s presence, in the podcast narrated by jodie, she mentions rose in a fond, wistful voice. bc, guess what, the author is doctor/rose stan and said that she believes that the doctor loves rose in ALL incarnations and that jodie understood at the same moment what a mention of rose meant. ¯\_(ツ)_/ ¯ matt and jodie also talked about working with billie piper, about bringing rose back. and do you really believe rtd will write his doctors making light of the romance with rose??? he clearly still has a lot of affection for the character and it's no wonder he decided to name donna's daughter after her (when it would have been easier to name her 'martha' seeing as donna properly met her). so… yeah keep talking shit about rose and even tenrose all you want, it won't change that rose was immensely loved by the doctor, by TEN. ten loved rose so intensely he gave himself to her. david said that rose defined his doctor, and i say she defined the entire rtd1 era. and you can accept that or stay mad idrc

"And you can accept that or stay mad, i dont really care"

no lemme be serious hold on.

"by TEN"

yo yall see this? just completely ignore mr. fuck the monarchy, queen killer, the lovely, the irreplaceable the impeccable ninth doctor himself christopher eccleston?? oh no i know why. its because nine flirted with black girl princess of the forest of cheem herself miss jabe? but you dont really care.

im sorryyy im trying real hard but you are fumbling your own argument.

what makes you think rtd2 era is gonna be rose centric? if it was rose centric - we wouldnt need ruby sunday. but because shes yt and has blonde hair - of course YOU would think that. i mean with 14 its gonna be rose templenoble centric but you dont care. it would be easy to name ANOTHER BLACK CHARACTER WITH THE ONLY OTHER BLACK COMPANION NAME THAT DONNA KNEW?? other than what?? LANCELOT?? MINNIE?? YOU KNOW IN REFERENCE FOR LANCE HER NOW DEAD EX OR MICKEY??? but you dont really care.

anon. i can't stop laughing. you wrote all of that just to out yourself as a racist doctor who fan. you had very key things to strengthen your argument and prove your case and you fumbled. but you dont really care.

"jodie understood what a rose mention meant" and she understood what a river mention meant as well and YET jack mentions rose but 13 mentions river. she dont mention any of her previous companions vocally. she actively avoids it. tegan even noticed that. now rtd has a lot of affection for the rose character because it revived the show he used to watch as a child. but you dont really care.

"loved her so intensely he gave herself to her" - yeah he gave his human alias to her now 12 has to go by doctor funkenstein and doctor disco and doctor caretaker and 13 got to go by jane smith in honor of sarah jane smith big oof - like damn that sucks. but you dont really care.

But also, the 12 whole entire era was built off of donna. like that was clear. cut. dry. print. but you dont really care.

"jodie believes that the doctor loves rose in ALL incarnations in a podcast she narrates" and yet, we see from big finish productions that the doctor loves river in all his incarnations too. but you dont really care.

yo that "comic picking on ten was written by someone that dont even like rose" anon now you know thats the ONLY ONES WE GOT CORRECT BILLIE PIPER EYE COLOR ON INSTEAD OF BLUE AND GREEN INSTEAD OF HER LOVELY BROWN EYES AND ROSE WASNT EVEN IN IT. IT WAS WITH TWO COMPANIONS OF COLOR. THE ONLY BILLIE WE GOT WAS THE MOMENT. AND THATS IT! AND THEN WE GOT THE NOVELLIZATION BY STEPHEN MOFFAT THAT EXPANDS THE MOMENT AS HER OWN CHARACTER AND NOT ANOTHER ROSE. LIKE HUH??? but you dont really care.

"which weren't even written by showrunners" girl neither was human nature/family of blood the doctor's wife, vincent and the doctor, and the lodger THE LODGER IS A MICKEY X TEN COMIC BEFORE IT BECAME AN EPISODE WHA--PFFT. but you dont really care.

anyway seems to me you dont really care about ten or rose or tenrose, you just using that as an excuse to be antiblack and silence anyone that dare point that out. just like series 3 does to martha. hm. interesting.

[nostalgia-tblr]

The Woman Who Lived

Continued catching up on DW episodes what I have missed over the years. I suppose this is technically my other rewatchathon? That I started years ago? Like most Moffat episodes this is really about the Doctor, which is maybe why I loved Moff Tiem so much given that the Doctor is my favourite character from anything ever. Does this confirm that Clara dies, by the way? Because it's an episode about the pains and dangers of immortality and when we last see Clara she's functionally immortal. Actually, should I worry? Clara and Me, two immortals together the way this episode said should never happen? But then s9's ending aims for triumphant at the cost of thematic cohesion. Oh well. This episode was less OTP than people had made me expect, because while it does spend a lot of time on the Doctor's relationship with Clara the context for that is Me asking how many other Claras there have been over the years. This feeds into the sort of thing I like in a ship, which is to say pain and woe and inevitable misery. Yesssssssss, the good shit. OH TWELVE I MISS YOU. More than you I miss the Moffat Era in general. I can't remember if that dude is immortal, I don't think he was? He's not with Me in Face The Raven at any rate. I wanted to know a bit more about her assertion that nobody is worth keeping forever, because it seemed like a massive lie to hide whatever the truth was. THEEEEEEEMES. THERE WERE THEEEEEEEEEEEMES. And nobody stopped to explain what just happened a minute ago. And there was only one of Clara and all her lines were based on her characterisation and her relationship with her Doctor. Ahem. Anyway it was very good I was into it. The "plot" element doesn't matter in itself but it brings the themes into focus and surely that's what plots are for? Also is there a production reason Coleman was barely in this one or was it just laying the ground for Clara's departure and all the finale shenanigans? 5/5 even though not much happens in it, because it's *about* stuff and that's what matters. Possibly I'd have given it a 4 during s9 but we live in uninteresting times.

[question-mark-umbrella]

Okay as someone who: 1) 10 is my least favourite Doctor 2) RTD is my least favourite showrunner, I am not at all excited about his return, and I hate his writing - his plots, his characterisation. Getting rid of the Time Lords, turning the Doctor into an angsty whiny cuntstruck paedophile, deifying him and using Jesus allegory. Fuck offfffff m8, that’s not Doctor Who. Everyone’s banging on about Tennant at the end of that last episode, whereas I’m like “okay cool, I literally don’t care. They brought back Tegan, Ace, Ian, 5-8, of ALL the things that happened in that special, that is on the bottom of my list, beneath even the “dress for the occasion” callback. Oh yeah, and 10 was there too I guess. Whatever. I don’t give a shit.” Plus for everyone who engages in the online discussion and isn’t like “omg noooo, spoilers” it was. pretty obvious she was gonna turn into Tennant, a lot of people had already come to that conclusion. And I am FINE with her being 10. It’s a stunt casting for the 60th, a way to draw in viewers (incidentally, people who dropped off after Tennant, but come back now - or people who drop off after ANY Doctor; Smith, Whittaker, whoever - are NOT Doctor Who fans. They are Tennant fans, or Smith fans etc. They have entirely missed the point of the show). Not only that, but introducing a new Doctor in an anniversary special, which traditionally are a way of celebrating the past, not exactly a good place for Gatwa to start, while it’s focusing on all the history. So yeah, I’m fine with having a little odd regeneration fuckery going on to bring back 10 for the 60th. It’s a fun little scenario that’s been touted in fan circles for years, “Ooh what if they do a story where the Doctor reverts backwards through past regenerations and they have to resolve it and get back to normal” and I like that idea, that’s a great idea. HOWEVER, it was announced AFTER the airing of The Power Of The Doctor that Tennant is 14, and Gatwa is 15. LMAO, nah Russ, he’s not 14. Get fucked. Everyone’s already gotten used to saying Gatwa’s 14. It doesn’t feel right saying he’s 15. It ESPECIALLY feels wrong saying that TENNANT is 14. Seriously, say the lineup to yourselves out loud. Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor. Eurgh. It just feels dirty, doesn’t it to you? Ncuti Gatwa is the Fourteenth Doctor, ahhhh, now that’s nice, that suits him, that’s the right number. I suspect this may all be a publicity stunt, in the sense that actually these statements will be retracted down the line and that it’s all designed to play into the mystery, the appeal, the drawing in of viewers, hence Russell’s comments saying “Ooh how does it all tie in to Donna’s return?” I mean the way he looks at his outfit change, he’s surprised, so that’s no doubt a hint that he suspects some shenanigans going on. And the same way everyone thinks of Chibnall, that’s what I think of RTD; a hack, and I can’t help but have bad faith and assume it’ll be shite. I don’t revere him. I HOPE that, in a 60th, there’ll be other Doctors, and there’s obviously things filmed behind closed doors that we don’t know, the location filming was obviously only a limited part of the story. But what with it being RTD, if it ends up being just 10 back, well it’s not really an anniversary special if you only look back to one era, is it Russ? The era you happened to spearhead last time (Christ, what an ego. And people complain about Moffat’s holier-than-thou grandiosity. I do worry that fandom’s worship for RTD has, like Joss Whedon, inflated him to the point of delusion). So it may well be that this is, as we all suspect, an interim Doctor. But regardless, that’s what we should make him. Like the War Doctor, like the Fugitive Doctor. Because Tennant is NOT 14. Never. Gatwa’s 14. Call him the Fake Doctor, the Interim Doctor, the Technical Difficulty Doctor, the Interloper Doctor, the Glitch Doctor, the Locum Doctor. But Tennant. Is NOT. 14. That’s just that, Russ, no matter what you say. People won’t accept it.

[mediawhorefics]

thoughts on doctor who!! echoes of previous companions always gets me good, like billie piper as The Moment

oh i have SO much to say about doctor who rip here's an incoherent rant/list of opinions !!

i'm an rtd-era supremacist so i'm DYING with excitement over his return!!! also this 14 news ??? HELLO?????????? SO SO SO EXCITED!!!!

my first doctor was 10 and he has remained my fav through and through. tho ofc i love them all in different ways. (fun fact my beta is the one who introduced me to dw back in the day)

my top three companions are donna (MY GIRL !!!!)/rose/the ponds

yes, i am in love with karen gillan and would like a spare hand in marriage ma'am

my greatest dw heartbreak is the fact that peter capaldi is one of my favourite actors and was probably the greatest ambassador for the show and i absolutely LOATHE the writing for his era.

steven moffat IS my nemesis and i hate what he did with the show. this man should have never been a showrunner. he's good with limits and boundaries and standalone.

full offence, i hate clara with a burning passion, no shade to the actress she's very talented, but everything about that character rubs me the wrong way. from the ~born to save the doctor bullshit to the has no life outside the doctor until moffat randomly decided to half-ass giving her a career to the badly written attempts at her having feelings for 11... truly, i despite this storyline so fucking much. again ship what you like but i don't get doctor/clara AT ALL. it makes me angry just thinking about it now. and she was there for SO long UGH.

my favourite series are s4 & s5 (yes i hate moffat i love s5, its complicated). also s2 because ROMANCE!!!!!

i hate moffat writing women for obvs reasons but i do love river song. highkey as much as i love matt & alex together NOTHING beats 12/river because peter capaldi said i'm playing a whole time lord in LOVE in that one episode they had together and my fucking HEART y'all. i know i have an unhealthy crush on peter capaldi but his face when he looks at her <333 it's almost as good as ten & rose's in love and utterly devoted to each other faces.

doctor/river still don't hold a candle to 10/rose obvs that shit was it. she was IT. rip to 16 yo me watching doomsday for the first time that shit fundamentally changed me as a person. where's that deancas/tenrose comparison post ?? cut me open and that's what you'll see.

i miss rtd era side characters SO much they were SO lived in and memorable and REAL and they made the show. we lost soooo much of doctor who's heart when he left.

its cringe but i ADORE torchwood despite all of its flaws. ianto jones was one of the very first bi-adjacent characters i ever connected with and he is SO dear to me. rip to my boy it's disgusting what rtd & co did to him :((( baby's first bury your gays, i was 17 and i still haven't recovered. thank god for big finish and all the quality torchwood content they produce.

speaking of big finish... if you're a who fan who hasn't tried to expended universe, i cannot recommend the 8th doctor audios enough. he is FANTASTIC and actually one of my favourite doctors. paul mcgann is INCREDIBLE in the role and it's criminal we only have the movie and that tiny one-shot for the 50th anniversary.

@ RTD JUSTICE FOR EIGHT IN THE 60TH SPECIAL

10/donna are the best tardis team end of. that tennant/tate chemistry??? CHEF'S KISS. @ rtd fix her. @ rtd bring her back. i am no longer asking !!!!

christopher eccleston is CRIMINALLY underrated. 9 deserves SO much love. i adore him. thanks @ big finish for bringing him back to me.

matt smith was the best at playing ancient. i still don't know how he did that thing with his eyes where he looked 1000 yo but wow.

cybermen are incredibly boring and i really dislike most of their eps. i'll take 50 dalek stories over cybermen ones idc.

we never should have seen the weeping angels after blink. they've lost more and more of their appeal the more their mythology has been expended on.

i still don't understand the whole silence cult vs silence species thing and at this point, i'm too afraid to ask.

some of us witnessing the andrew garfield renaissance remember frank and his 1930s fruitiness from 2007 is all i'm gonna say.

[queen-boudicca]

Next up in the nuwho rewatch, the end of the world!

I've also decided to add two things to each post: whether the episode passes the bechdel test (in anticipation of the moffat era bc I'm petty) and whether it makes me cry. For this episode:

Bechdel test pass: yes

Makes me cry: no (but almost though)

The end of the world

"I know exactly where to go" *takes her to the destruction of her planet* good job nine

"You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you're gonna get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible. That maybe you survive" help

The music is so beautiful help

This one has some bits a little like Martha's theme

"Mind you, when i say 'the great and good', what i mean is the rich" ily so much nine

Jabe!! I love her

The adherents of the repeated meme [insert ah bit like you then]

"I give you, in return, air from my lungs" he's so smooth omg

"Ladies and gentlemen and trees and multiforms" the four genders

'The Arctic desert' — is that a commentary on global warming or Cassandra being a liar

If there were only a few songs that survived the destruction of the earth and were what people remembered us by, tainted love and toxic are pretty good bops I'm not complaining

God the way they introduced the time war and destruction of gallifrey are so fucking good

Nine's offhand mention of fighting in the war in the previous episode, the way jabe scans for his species and doesn't believe it, etc

It's so well done!!

The way Rose doesn't talk at all to any of the fancy rich people at the party but happily (and more comfortably) strikes up conversation with the workers she meets on the station!! Such good characterization you love to see it

She asks Raffalo for her name immediately and emotionally opens up to her

"Thank you for the permission. Not many people are that considerate" they really said fuck the rich

Rip my girl, Raffalo. You were super sweet and i miss you

"They're just so alien! The aliens are so alien. You look at them... and they're alien" ily rose

And he's like evading her questions about who he is and where he's from and when she doesn't stop he gets angry and ugh his arc is so good

And she can tell it's a sore topic for him so she breaks the tension w a joke

They're so good for each other

ROSE'S THEME MY BELOVED

Love how there's a button on his keyboard that lowers the sun filter and instakills anyone inside

Maybe they shouldn't have added that when they did the designs

Jabe and nine besties

I want an au where she and Raffalo survived and traveled with nine and rose and are their respective besties

Not sure I'm a big fan of the implications that cosmetic surgery makes you less human/real

"I just wanted to say how sorry i am" and she's touching his arm and comforting him and aagh the tears in his eyes and he's touching her hand too and WE COULD HAVE HAD IT ALL RTD WHY DID SHE HAVE TO DIE i know why it's bc (a) he would've invited her to come with and they didn't wanna deal w that (b) we needed the first person we see comfort him to die saving him bc he's not allowed to be happy and neither am i

Seriously though they've been really good this episode about making you care about the minor characters that die (i mean most of them. Not very torn up about the steward)

TOXIC

Such a bop

That's why they had such bad special effects; they blew all their budget on song rights

I mean the heat in the room would've killed her way before the direct beam of sunlight would've but oh well

The spider robots are really kinda cute shame they're evil

Really polite of her to monologue her entire plan

Great design, putting the important switch on the other side of all the fan blades

Nine baby if you hadn't argued with her and just ran there probably would've been time

DON'T TURN AROUND AND LOOK AT HER JUST GO

oh damn rip the moxx of balhoun ig

JABE NO

Nine's theme my beloved

Wow the earth kinda looked like an eye while it was exploding

Angry nine is so good i love it

The definition of people is a technicality the courts will argue over? Oh please

First of all they're not even speaking English and there's way the doctor would've used a word that didn't mean like sapient beings or some shit

Also c'mon like there aren't laws against killing sentient beings by the year 5 billion regardless of what word you use

Rose's theme again my beloved

"You think it'll last forever. People and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day, it's all gone. Even the sky." I'm fine

Nine's theme again my beloved

I'm beginning to think they didn't have that much music composed for this

Next up, ghosts and Charles Dickens and Gwen's great great great grandmother!

[themadvigilantist]

just a thought...

....technically, my hot takes

i could rant about doctor who head writer(s) choices and call it out all day long about why [insert action by # doctor here] is just half done or has an allegory to what's happening now but, the doctor would be absolved from said thing because 'it was to save the world/current time period/person here' excuse.

like i could tell you that:

'the silence vs the doctor arch' is actually just an allegory of police brutality towards pocs in history due to systematic racism that's looked away/forgotten about and how the public/the government uses the whole 'but yall killing each other too excuse' or as the silence put it 'you should kill us all on sight' to shift blame of the non-poc's choice to do the same to pocs but, to a horrifying degree ie what 11 doctor does to the silence AND THE RAMIFICATIONS IT CONTINUES TO HAVE EVEN NOW I AM. which makes the doctor a villain especially because he's known as the man in the blue police box or as a 'hero'. And the abuse towards river song in show and by rose stans?? Oh the disrespect?? Her entire arch with the silence is an allegory of black woman being the most disrespected despite going above and beyond and hiding the pain because 'the doctor doesnt like endings'. And both the silence and her are just brushed aside like..... the water parallel. i just - oof but its too early for that moffat drag

or like the constant disrespect to pocs in rtd's era. which made 12 cringe later on with the first doctor but that him cringing on what he did in his tenth incarnation - yeah rtd aint safe either. he allowed girl in the fireplace to be on our screens.

how the doctor treat river the same as jack and donna combined is something that need to be talked about right now. and how even river in her audios with tenth doctor shows that ten really wanted donna back. like his whole vibe was ‘fuck everybody else tho but, donna’ and i just I HAVE QUESTIONS (both as a romantically platonic ship but more importantly, like ten where are you set at? time lord victorious wise with river? where r u? because you and river talking like ‘time lord victorious’-era and i really need that cleared up.

or how when 9 says he the last of the time lords but both iris wildthyme and him were on earth at those times and that he would’ve felt them LIES. SHE WAS THERE! HER TARDIS WAS THERE TOO IN THE FIRST EP OF ROSE! WACK! ‘im the last of my kind weh’ no tf ur not. ‘i would’ve sensed them *taps his temple* in here* APPARENTLY NOT DUMBASS

the whole master/doctor on the eiffel tower - i can drag BOTH DOCTOR AND THE MASTER FOR THIS BABE - yeah chibnall aint safe just because he got ~diversity~ nah i can drag him too.

i could also offer an addition of sorts to dhawan!master's reveal of what hes done to gallifrey by showing her that what he had done was the final act but what tecteun had done before hand was destroy her true home - her forgotten home, pre-tecteun. Just show her the world that she never had the chance to know - the chance to discover - to learn about and of and where she really came from and destroy it. Just to justify further on why he destroyed Gallifrey like that and how the previous thing would just play further into the fact that tecteun and gallifreyans were actually using gentrification on the doctor the entire time and by destroying her home would be stripping her of her culture and then try to pass it off as ~cute~ or a ~style~ so im glad he just chose to straight up kill the colonizers i mean gallifreyans by turning them into the one thing that made them feel the very consequences of their actions and choices on what they done to the doctor. (With the cybermen tech).

i can even drag iris wildthyme by her roots for how she treated panda. idgaf he’s a sentient stuffed panda I WOULD KILL HER ON SIGHT. ‘oh i made sure in every timeline of your existence that you would die just to keep you from being stuck in a painting even though every single version of you would be financially doing well without me and would kill themselves because of me manipulating the situation so you would do that over and over and over BUT HEY YOU’RE NOT STUCK IN A PAINTING!’ i couldn’t be panda, she would be dead. there would be no more iris wildthyme adventures. i rather be stuck in a painting than travel with her ever again or i would just kill her. on sight. no hesitation. sorry katy manning but, you just gonna have to be jo grant forever.

I mean i could go on, i could but, im sleepy while typing this and yes i've been sitting on all that to myself for years but ... i still watch it and it does small steps to address things but, as far as im concerned - [skips several pages] my ending would just be us having a martha audio with ten (because consistancy) and martha series separate from torchwood ok? like rose got one, jackie got one, lady christina got one, fucking jenny got one, every river audio sound like iris wildthyme (and the newer ones with ten is him thirsting and missing DONNA. like rose whomst? apparently in big finish 10 only knows rose tyler when her name misspelled and smudged on his hand) and donna's audios clearly superior amongst all them, so its martha's time to shine. Give her three audios with him.

Because the timelord victorious audios clearly just skipped martha in the trailer and i cant stand here with him having that much thirst for donna and him in the same breath not say martha's name.

Give her some audios with him. Give her standalone audios too and for once, not let her talk about the doctor. I miss noel too, put him in there too.

[casual-eumetazoa]

mmmmmmmmmmmkay... gotta say Words about the episode, I guess

things I liked:

the show looks good, I’ll give them that - visually/aesthetically very pleasing, the music is amazing (I still miss Gold but I am starting to like this new guy a lot), everything seems modern, expensive, high quality

the theme music is wonderful and the title sequence slaps; love that shit! feels classic and brand new at the same time, and very Doctor Who; probably my favorite title sequence combo of the entire new run

the TARDIS design is gorgeous, like I cannot stress enough how much I love it; again, probably my favorite of the entire new run, and definitely top three of all that were ever made; it feels like a hybrid between Tenth’s TARDIS and Eighth’s TARDIS - bold, creative, beautiful design; on a related note, loved that “fixing the TARDIS” bit; I hope the fam will spend more time inside the TARDIS this season

the actors are giving their best; I feel like C was a huge waste of Stephen Fry, but perhaps it was a deliberate decision (because maybe Mr Fry wanted a cameo but did not have time for more scenes); 

Whittaker is good - idk if that was a move on her part or the writers/directors decision, but her Doctor feels calmer, more natural now; she is still quirky and mysterious and herself, but she feels more like a person, you know, and not a bunch of facial expressions and voice inflections thrown together

the companions are good too - Yaz is finally getting attention, and God, Graham and Ryan are like my favorite thing now! their dynamic is just a pleasure to watch; you can make a ‘comedic duo’ compilation just out of this episode alone

the new monsters are definitely my cup of tea; strange, spooky, not full on horror movie scary but still threatening... *chef’s kiss* I loved the twist of them getting through the TARDIS door - that has never happened before, I like that; I like how the Doctor quietly freaks out about it as well, cause she hates not knowing something and hates not being in charge; that scene where she keeps asking the creature and when it finally replies it is just mocking her? good shit right there; wanna see more of these guys for sure

and after some reflection, if you take it in isolation, I do love the final airplane scene; like if I just look at it as a piece of TV/storytelling, I think it is a really good scene; it’s loud, it’s chaotic, yes it is kind of all over the place but it is engaging, and the reveal was out of nowhere and predictable at the same time but I still enjoyed it; and yes it is a stupid cliffhanger but like... it’s Doctor Who! it has always had stupid cliffhangers and I for one respect that decision

things I didn’t like:

oh God... the writing; like I am sorry, okay, but that writing is bad; and it is so confusing to me cause the story overall was good in my opinion - the pace was okay, the events made sense, it has an actual plot, etc - but the writing is still bad? I think the dialogue is the worst by far, but the way the scenes were stitched together is really awkward as well; it feels like it has been written by a talented but severely inexperienced writer who understands more or less how a story is supposed to work but has no idea how to edit

specifically what annoys me is that the dialogue and, to a lesser degree, the sequence of events feels very superficial and forced; it’s not elegant, and it’s not surprising, and it doesn’t feel natural at all; the actors are giving their best but how the hell can you have a good delivery of those lines??? 

I wanna rewatch it already to give particular examples but the two things that come to mind are C explaining the whole deal with the aliens (telling instead of showing anyone? especially after you’ve already shown it???) and the interview with Lenny Henry’s character (again, telling instead of showing much?); and idk, the dialogue in general is just... eh, it annoys me that I can’t quite put my finger on why it is so bad - but it is so bad, that initially that thing alone made me dislike the episode 

and this is double annoying because I know that Chibnall is a good writer and can write excellent dialogue and put scenes together with no problem, and also because, traditionally, Doctor Who has always had great script editors that should have fixed this; like how do you give a dedication to Terrance Dicks and not fix these awkward fucking lines?? I am confusion

things I am unsure about:

the whole spy thing; initially was very excited about it, because I thought we would get a very Third Doctor era thing, but no, that was just a straight up James Bond knock-off; like, don’t get me wrong, Thirteen in a suit gives me life too - but they could, idk, Doctor-fy the whole thing a little bit? throw in some gaffs and alien words and the Doctor going “oh I was a spy so many times”; instead it felt kinda, idk, not integrated enough; like it made sense for the story, but not for the show overall

also I think that the episode had too much action; that car malfunction at the beginning? entirely unnecessary, could have replaced it with a conversation (Thirteen trying to get info out of the driver for example) and get better results; the motorbike chase? looks very cool, also unnecessary and could have been cut to twenty seconds easily; like, come on, this is Doctor Who! I want good dialogue, not Marvel-level action scenes

and now the most controversial thing... the Master; ufff, I have very complex thoughts about this

I’m not gonna lie, I do like that they are back; I think it was too early to bring them back, and it feels like a solely “for the views” decision with little to no creative thought put into it, but damn I love the character; the actor is great too - that being in disguise with no physical disguise bit? love it! like, in retrospect I can see how much he (the Master) must have enjoyed playing the sweet innocent bloke; and that switch in the final scene... that’s some good acting right there

I am kinda conflicted about his style in general, like I would have preferred for him to lean more on the Delgado side of things - more gravitas, calmness, but still with strong chaotic dumbass energy - but I do understand that the Master has to mirror and contrast the Doctor simultaneously, and this sort of more Simm-like delivery (more in the direction of bananas) works better for Thirteen, especially now that she is less awkward and more calm and collected; I like the homage to classics as well, like that tissue compressor thing, that was really good; and yeah the Master is hot again... nice

also the whole “the Doctor is still being secretive about her past” thing is really working for me - I’d love to see the Master slowly destroying whatever image she has built for herself and thus creating enough conflict between her and the fam to go on for the entire season

but having said all that, if we come back to the decision to bring them back... is Chibnall sure about that? because from what we have seen so far, it feels like we have cancelled out everything that Moffat has done with Missy; we’ve had such an amazing character arc with her in Capaldi’s era and now it’s all gone? now we’re back to blowing up planes and killing the Doctor? why? 

I am still holding on to hope that this is an earlier, pre-War incarnation of the Master that somehow slipped in to this timestream, but that seems unlikely; another way I could digest that was if the Master has lost their memory and doesn’t remember being Missy, which would make for a nice eventual reveal of the memories coming back to them and him being like “oh shit” - but if Missy’s entire character arc has been retconned, I am definitely not a fan

also, overall, I feel like Chibnall retconned one thing about the Capaldi era that I really loved - he brought Doctor Who from a proper serious drama (as one part of the show, obviously) to all cheesy, goofy, silly sci-fi nonsense; and like, has Doctor Who been cheesy in the past? definitely, and for most of its history, and I won’t complain about that; but this? this feels too cheesy, especially in contrast with Capaldi’s era; like please, Chibbers, can we please see some drama? if you’re going for the whole quality TV show feel, can we also get proper good dialogue and heightened emotion and higher stakes? cause I think you can overdose on ridiculous in Doctor Who

summary:

honestly if the writing - especially the dialogue - was actually good, this would have been a very good episode, an 9 out of 10 at least; but as it stands, those lines are spoiling it a bit too much for me, so I’ll give it a solid 6 out of 10

I know it is a part one of a two-parter so I won’t make any solid and final judgments yet, especially about the Master and the feel of the series overall; all I can say is that, again, if you ignore the dialogue (which I hope is a random fluke and will go away), this sets a benchmark for series 12 higher than series 11; so I am cautiously optimistic about it, and actually excited to see the next episode, but God do I have high standards now, having consumed a lot of Doctor Who media...

and now that I’ve said approximately 563 highly controversial things, feel free to rip me to shreds I guess - or agree with me, who knows

[timeladies]

You're not alone I miss Peter Capaldi a lot. A lot of people didn't like his run but I think it was one of the best. Say whatever you want about Steven Moffat as a writer and show runner, but I feel like Peter Capaldi gave it his all in the role of The Doctor. His acting really did it for me, he was fantastic. Casting Peter as The Doctor was a brilliant decision. Seriously, I could write an entire essay on his era and performance.

Oh for sure!! 12 is by far my favourite doctor and even though I absolutely hated him at first his depth and honesty made me love him so much. His character development proves that he might be moffats best character tbh and that combined with peters brilliant acting created such a problematic but loveable and real doctor I just !!! Honest to god couldnt love him more even if I wanted to. I agree that those 3 seasons were quite inconsistent but they had their genius moments that I will literally never forget.

I feel like I didn’t really appreciate all of that at the time, but now that the writings poor and bland and the acting’s just average I’m starting to get nostalgic lol. I really fucking miss all that meaning Moffat and capaldi and everyone involved brought into doctor who.

[puddlejumper38]

Doctor Who - 13th Doctor’s series (I lose track of the series number)

A rambling post here... and negative (sorry).

Basically stuff I just need to get off my chest.

I tried to watch this new series. I approached it cautiously, since I’d stopped watching Capaldi’s series after Clara left. But since that was because I really don’t like Moffat as a show runner, I wanted to give it a go now he’s left. And I wanted to show my support for a female doctor.

Sadly, I don’t like it. At all. Given how much I loved the 9th and 10th doctors, this really sucks.

Pros

Jodie Whittaker is doing a pretty good job as the Doctor. She’s pretty off the wall and doing a damn good job of just being The Doctor. She was clearly a good choice.

I like Yaz, she seems like a good character. I appreciate some diversity in the cast, too. We have had this before (Martha, Bill, Mickey), but it’s still nice to see. Having one young, male, companion just would have sucked. Could maybe have done with an older woman, though. And... as much as I’d like a no-romance Doctor Who season, I could totally see Yaz and the Doctor becoming a thing. Still, I think I’d rather a platonic team dynamic.

I really like the new look of the TARDIS. It’s just really well designed. Old looking and basically falling apart and odd things everywhere. I love it. Also 13 building her sonic screwdriver was great. I don’t know why, I just liked those scenes.

And that’s... all the pros I can think of right now. Oh dear.

Cons

Listen. Generally I’m of the opinion that being politically correct is a very good thing. It’s called basic respect and politeness, for one thing. And not being a bigot. I still feel like this series of Doctor Who is trying too hard. It’s not being politically correct. It’s jumping up and down and shouting about being politically correct. Where’s the subtlety in the scripts? The Rosa Parks episode was such a good idea and so relevant but I felt like I was being bashed in the head by the message. We never got any background on the evil guy, either, other than that he was a time travelling racist (can’t remember if he died. hope he did. the episode certainly made me hate him). And this is Doctor Who, where were the aliens? More to the point, that episode spent so much time being so careful to be inclusive and including RELEVANT ISSUES (it had RELEVANT ISSUES did you notice them? IT WAS ABOUT RACISM. ahem.) that I found the next one, frankly, insulting. The Big Business Man? With the planned bathroom breaks and the panic room? Why, in a series that seemed to be walking on eggshells to not insult someone (which is supposed to be a good thing) do we suddenly get encouraged to laugh at mental illness (or people who are not neurotypical)? Why is it the obviously uncaring guy who has these issues? WTF. Yeah. Basically, I feel like they started out on the right track with being inclusive and politically correct and somehow screwed it all up. I’m not sure how they’ve managed to do it quite this badly, but there you go.

Moving on. How old is Ryan supposed to be? Because the writers seem to be treating him like he’s 14. It’s driving me nuts. The bike scene in the first episode? A little too condescending and boy did that set the tone. The whole thing with “You’re not my grandfather” feels like a teenager’s storyline too. It’s not working for me. Also his grandmother was the most interesting character. Died in the first episode. Go figure.

Which brings me to: the characters. The don’t have much in the way of personalities. They just aren’t given any development on screen and therefore I just don’t really care about any of them. Yaz seems the most promising. I almost wish she was the only companion (I liked the idea of a TARDIS team but it doesn’t seem to be working).

And now. The plots. They’re so damn simplistic. Nothing much seems to happen. I don’t think I’ve been genuinely concerned for the characters either, in any of the episodes. And. Where. Are. The. Aliens. We got them in the first episode. But the following three episodes? Nope. Humans all the way. Where’s the crazy Doctor Who alien stuff? I may have disliked the Moffat era but at least it had that.

One last minor issue: The spiders. If the giant one was too fucking big to breathe you can bet your ass the slightly less giant ones were too. Either ignore the science completely or use it properly. Urg. (Also - shooting it to put it out of it’s misery? Nothing wrong with that. Trapping animals in a small room to live out the rest of their lives? Lots wrong with that. Urg.).

I might give some more of the series a go... but I doubt it. God I miss liking Doctor Who.

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Moffat Era Rewatch: The Day of the Doctor

On the last day of the Time War, before he made his greatest mistake, the man formally known as the Doctor is given a vision of his future...

Warning: Spoilers Sweetie 

Awww, the classic titles.

Coal Hill School before they ruined it by turning it into an academy. Fuck you, David Cameron and your Big Society, you fat pig fucker. 

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. Marcus Aurelius.” Clara teaching her students about her pinups. Later she teaches them about Jane Austen. Clara just uses her job to bag about all the people she fancies, doesn’t she? 

Most epic TARDIS entrance made by someone not named River Song. 

There goes the Doctor breaking the fourth wall again.  

That book has a little TARDIS on it.

Clara Oswald, so amazing she is able to snap her singers while wearing leather gloves. 

Kate’s ringtone is the TARDIS noise.

Hello, Osgood. 

“Nice scarf.”

You’re terrible at having a job, Doctor. You show up out of the blue, do a few days work and the disappear without even handing in your notice. You only get hired because you never claim a salary. 

“No more.” 

“Time Lord art. Bigger on the inside.”

The Last Day of the Time War... 

The Time War is like the War of Wrath from The Silmarillion, it’s just too big and epic to ever depict on screen in a satisfying way. Which is why it is a good thing that this episode doesn’t show us the actual war. We just get a glimpse of its end, after all the big battles have been fought and lost, the Time Lords are on the their last legs, and Rassilon is hidden away like Hitler in his bunker, ranting and raving and blaming everyone else for his own inept leadership.  

“To hell with the High Council. Their plans have already failed.” So does this take place just after ‘The End of Time’ or at the same time? If it’s the latter that means the Tenth Doctor is simultaneously destroying/saving Gallifrey

“How do you use a weapon of ultimate mass destruction when it can stand in judgment on you?” 

The barn. We thought it was just some random location, but it turned out to be so much more. 

I love the War Doctor. So much so that I wish there had been more secret Doctors played by the type of big name actors you know the show could ever get full time.  

“It's nothing. It's just a wolf.” Welcome back, Billie Piper. 

I wasn’t that keen on Billie coming back because I’m not a fan of Rose, plus I was a little resentful that she was the only former companion being brought back. But I ended up really liking her in this episode, probably because she wasn’t playing Rose. 

Still disappointed that no other companions came back, though. Not that I think this should’ve been a big reunion with companions showing up left right and centre. The last thing this needed to be was another ‘Five Doctors’. Moffat should really be commended for his restraint, because this could’ve easily been a mess if he had gone overboard on the fan services and Easter eggs.  

Still, would’ve been nice if just one classic companion had been there. I bet is Elisabeth Sladen was still alive they would’ve asked her to appear.

“Stuck between a girl and a box. Story of your life, eh, Doctor?” 

No one expects a fez. 

So was that horse Arthur? 

Look, it’s David’s controversial not as spiky as it should be hair. God, I don’t even want to know how many angry Tumblr posts were written about that. 

“I'm not English.” No, David John McDonald, you’re not. 

“You're a Zygon.” He’s probably been waiting his whole life to say that. I bet Moffat didn’t even have to persuade him to be in this, he just had to said “Zygons, David” and he ran back to Wales as fast as his skinny legs could carry him.  

“Whatever you've got planned, forget it. I'm the Doctor. I'm nine hundred and four years old. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I am the Oncoming Storm, the Bringer of Darkness, and you are basically just a rabbit, aren't you? Okay, carry on. Just a general warning.”

The long awaited return of the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors. 

“Now, I want this stone dust analysed. And I want a report in triplicate, with lots of graphs and diagrams and complicated sums on my desk, tomorrow morning, ASAP, pronto, L O L. See? Job. Do I have a desk?”

What was so special about this fez that they needed to lock it away in the Under Gallery?  

The Doctors comparing the size of their, ahem, screwdrivers.

The face(s) of a man who just realised he made out with a Zygon. 

“There's two of us. I'm reversing it, you're reversing it back again. We're confusing the polarity.”

“Why are you pointing your screwdrivers like that? They're scientific instruments, not water pistols.” 

“Brave words, Dick van Dyke.”

“Oh, the pointing again. They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?” Not every day you get scolded by your younger self. 

“Timey-wimey?” "I've no idea where he picks that stuff up.” Rule 1, the Doctor lies. 

I could honestly watch these three bickering all day.  

“Shall we ask for a better quality of door so we can escape?”

The Black Archive, home of all the Easter eggs.  

“Think about it. Americans with the ability to rewrite history? You've seen their movies.” Trump isn’t letting a lack of time travel stop him rewrite history and erase the Obama Administration. 

“Help to pass the timey-wimey.” 

The man who regrets and the man who forgets.

“Hang on. Three of you in one cell, and none of you thought to try the door?” This is Doctor Who in a nutshell. The Doctor is so consumed by how clever he is that, unlike the companion, he fails to notice the bleedin’ obvious.  

Those creatures? Has Osgood not read up on UNIT history? 

And this is why you don’t fuck with a Tudor. 

“Is there a lot of this in the future?” “It does start to happen, yeah.” Wait until you meet your future wife, then there’ll be a lot more than kissing. 

Who doesn’t love the round things?  

“Oh, you've redecorated. I don't like it.” He’s so offended. How dare this stick insect not like his TARDIS. 

Just how dangerous are River’s heels? 

“Somewhere in your memory is a man called Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart. I am his daughter.” And that is the exact point that Zygon Kate knew they were fucked. 

“You tell yourself it's justified, but it's a lie. Because what I did that day was wrong. Just wrong.” And yet a lot of people do try to justify it simply because they don’t like that Moffat undid it. 

“Peace in our time.” And that worked out just as well as when Neville said it. 

There you go, Doctor, a big red button. 

“Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame.”

A lot of people really hated the shots of the children playing. I think they preferred it if Time Lords were all just evil people so it made it okay that the Doctor killed them. 

I really did think they were going to push the button and kill them all. I was so relived when they didn’t. Committing genocide would really not have been the best way to celebrate 50 years of Doctor Who.

This here is why the companions are so important and why the Doctor must never travel alone. If the Doctor had been alone he would’ve pushed that button and killed them all. But Clara was there, representing all those who came before her, to remind the Doctor not only of the many innocent lives he about to take, but also who is he. Not a warrior, not a hero, but a Doctor. 

“Then what do I do?” "What you've always done. Be a doctor.”

“Never cruel or cowardly.” "Never give up, never give in.”

“Gentlemen, I have had four hundred years to think about this. I've changed my mind.” This isn’t seven years of character development being wiped away, this is the result of that development. 

“Oh, Bad Wolf girl, I could kiss you.” "Yeah, that's going to happen.” 

“No, sir. All thirteen!” Capaldi intensifies. 

“Geronimo!” "Allons-y!” "Oh, for God's sake. Gallifrey stands!”

“So I won't remember that I tried to save Gallifrey rather than burn it. I'll have to live with that. But for now, for this moment, I am the Doctor again.”  

“I suppose it makes sense. Wearing a bit thin.” Miss you so much, Sir John. 

You fucking smoothie, Ten. 

“I don't want to go.”  If David returns for the 60th will they find another way to make these his final words again? 

Tom!!! My favourite Doctor. Still wonderful after all these years.

Can’t describe how happy it makes me to see my two favourite Doctors together on screen. 

“Oh, it's entirely up to you. Your choice, eh? I can only tell you what I would do if I were you. Oh, if I were you. Oh, perhaps I was you, of course. Or perhaps you are me." 

“Clara sometimes asks me if I dream. Of course I dream, I tell her. Everybody dreams. But what do you dream about, she'll ask. The same thing everybody dreams about, I tell her. I dream about where I'm going. She always laughs at that. But you're not going anywhere, you're just wandering about. That's not true. Not any more. I have a new destination. My journey is the same as yours, the same as anyone’s. It's taken me so many years, so many lifetimes, but at last I know where I'm going. Where I've always been going. Home, the long way round.” 

Yeah, the effect isn’t that great, but this shot still brings a tear to my eye. 

Next Time: The Time of the Doctor