#i watched doctor who and now i'm watching broadchurch

[nipuni]

Yapping time, Hello! It's rainy and Nicolas is making lentil stew 🥰

I wanted to thank everyone for the enthusiasm over my art and all the comments you sent yesterday 😭 you are all very sweet you make me excited to share and keep making art and that is such a huge gift I'll always be grateful for. I not very proficient at social media and keeping up with everything everywhere and end up feeling like I'm not thanking you enough or talking enough so I want to make sure you know that every comment and funny tag makes my day!!

I was going to make more posts talking about DAV but halfway through writing down my frustrations I realized I was not having a good time (and most of my issues with the game have already been covered by Chelsea over twitter way more eloquently too 😆) so I'm going to focus on the parts I did enjoy! I settled on a personality for Rook and now I'll probably replay as a couple of classes to find the one I enjoy the most since I've only tried mage so far.

We also got back to our quest of watching all of David Tennant's work! now in our cozy new sitting room with a fireplace 😭 what the fuck

We finally watched 'Rivals'! We were not expecting it to be a raunchy Pride and Prejudice in the 80's lmao. It was very YA and very gratuitously sexual which is not something we normally go for. We were not really into the main couple and were more invested in Declan's success and whatever Tony and Cameron had going on lmao but it was a fun watch regardless!

Then we also watched 'You, Me and Him' and we were expecting it to be one of those 'it's so bad it's good' cringy comedies but it was genuinely so funny and sweet lmao we always seem to have opposite taste to most critic sites sjakfh The styling was so accurate and hilarious and it felt very Hallmark. We loved it!!

Now we will probably watch the second season of Arcane! we loved the first one a lot so I'm sure this one won't disappoint.

We are trying so hard to resist the urge to rewatch Doctor Who, Broadchurch, There She Goes and Jessica Jones though lmao our crush remains as strong as ever if not stronger 😭

I think I've read every single Broadchurch fic in existence at this point, and I'm painting Alec as we speak oughhgrh help

Other random updates, we managed to get train tickets for a short trip to Madrid on Christmas so we can spend it with Nicolas' family who are still visiting. And also Nicolas is learning about mushrooms since he found a bunch growing in our garden and it has become his latest passion. Now he wants to go gathering, he has already cooked a bunch, he is so excited.

Anyway I think that is all for now!! I'll have more art soon now that I'm finally settled and can get back to my normal schedule 😊 I hope you are all doing well!

[reloha]

Jacobi and McKellen as grand marshals of New York City's 2015 pride march.

All Good Omens (show) fans will know Derek Jacobi as the Metatron. His brief role on Doctor Who is also getting a lot of mention in recent posts, but I'm not going to talk about any of that.

Like his Vicious co-star Ian McKellen, Jacobi has had a long and illustrious career in theatre, television, and film. McKellen and Jacobi met when they were at Cambridge.

I'm not a huge fan of the Daily Mail, but this article, an interview with the two actors, is quite interesting. I'll just quote this part:

Jacobi says he came out to his mother when he was at university. ‘She said, “All young men, go through this phase, don’t worry.” I remember saying, “Don’t tell Dad.”’ He doesn’t know to this day if she did. ‘I think she did, but I don’t know. But they were wonderful, my parents, not much was said but they kind of knew, they got it.’

McKellen hasn’t heard his friend talk of this before. ‘That’s the first time I’ve heard that,’ he says, genuinely moved. ‘I never came out to my family. Biggest regret of my life.’ It turns out he didn’t even come out to Derek at university, even though it’s always been reported that he had something of a crush on him. 

‘Yes, I did fancy Derek, but I didn’t act on it, God, no. It was illegal, remember. I do get on my high horse about it, because it was so difficult. There were no gay clubs you could go to. No gay bars, no gay newspaper, nothing. What there was was a bit sleazy, I suspect. One of the reasons I became an actor was that you could meet gay people. Even then everything was difficult. When you went to America they asked, “Are you now, or have you ever been, homosexual?” I lied on the form. It was a different world.’

I want to talk about Vicious for a bit, the ITV britcom in which Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen play an aging gay couple, (respectively) a homemaker, Stuart Bixby, and an actor, Freddie Thornhill, for fourteen episodes.

Freddie (McKellen) tells Stuart (Jacobi) about a part he's hoping to get.

I had to add these for the Broadchurch reference.

It's a law that British actors of a certain age play this part.

I couldn't find one with Michael Sheen and the skull, but here he is in the role.

McKellen did the part again at 81 in an age-blind production.

Jacobi's big breakout was the titular role in I, Claudius on the BBC in 1976.

In the '90s, Jacobi played amateur sleuth and 12th century monk, Brother Cadfael on the ITV series.

I had watched some of Vicious before, but, spurred on by Jacobi's reappearance on Good Omens, looked for it again and watched both seasons a couple of weeks ago. Because I love a good fancast and Jacobi and Sheen (at least as Aziraphale) remind me a little of each other, I couldn't help but think that Jacobi and McKellen in their youth could have played a version of Aziraphale and Crowley. (There have been a couple of posts noting this about Jacobi, and that he might have been up for the part if it had been done soon after the book came out.)

Jacobi, left, and McKellen, right (obviously).

I also think that Tennant and Sheen could have pulled off playing Freddie and Stuart in a flashback.

An even younger version of Freddie and Stuart does appear in the series, however, played by Luke Treadaway and Samuel Barnett.

Also good casting! They do a great job playing McKellen and Jacobi playing Freddie and Stuart.

Shoutout to this post by @ember-knights, that suggested Good Omens fans should check out Vicious for a glimpse of what life in the South Downs cottage might be. And also to other posts mentioning Vicious and Good Omens in the same breath, as well as comparing Sheen and Tennant to Jacobi and McKellen (which I probably reblogged but can't find right now).

Cast of Vicious: Frances de la Tour, Iwan Rheon, Philip Voss, Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Marcia Warren (Wikipedia). (Yes, the upstairs neighbor (Rheon) does go on to play Ramsay Bolton on Game of Thrones. He's a sweetheart in this, though.)

Now, I don't think Crowley and Aziraphale are the same as Freddie and Stuart, by any means. Freddie and Stuart say quite cruel things to each other. The characters become deeper in the second season; it’s a little sweeter than the first. I enjoy the bitterness of the first season too, though. It is funny, and Good Omens fans may enjoy watching it if only to see Derek Jacobi (who plays the Metatron) in a comedy role and a role that's sympathetic, especially if they are not familiar with his large and impressive body of work.

I don't think Aziraphale and Crowley's life in the bookshop as a couple, not just a group of two, or life on the South Downs, would be exactly like this, but there are somehow some similarities that I don't even know how to begin to pinpoint or explicate.

Crowley and Aziraphale’s affection is always so palpable and that’s not always clear with Freddie and Stuart. Crowley and Aziraphale are so loving that, even when they're bickering, it's joyful, even when they're arguing, even when they're coming apart (temporarily) at the seams, their love is undeniable. I don’t even think their breakup was toxic; although they were desperate at that point and hurt each other badly, it wasn't what they wanted. Sometimes it's that way.

And, lest I'm putting you off Vicious here, the Ineffable Husbands are a high bar as love stories go, but you will get to see some love and affection between Freddie and Stuart too, and I'd really love to see these actors work together more. (I am happy with how the show ends up, by the way.)

Toodle-loo! Hope everything is tickety-boo with you.

[thealogie]

Tbh when I first saw Tate/Tennant Much Ado I barely knew them both and thought Tennant also lacked the Benedick quality (I only saw Broadchurch season 1 with him at that point, and I knew they were from that campy British thing about which Tumblr teens were deeply annoying, so it was a clear stunt casting and I went in biased against them). Now it's my fav Much Ado out of 7 I've seen and I'm here in your blog's askbox, so

Me too! I went in rolling my eyes. I knew him only from hamlet (that my english teacher made us watch) and knew he was from doctor who (but hadn't watched it). So I was like "lol what a cash grab" and after finishing the bootleg i was like...im sorry Catherine Tate and David Tennant I was not familiar with your game

[panelshowsource]

i agree that the podcast really is so interesting — and imo it's a lot of plain gossip and tv criticism masked as "professional insight", which i live for lmao — but there are times she is really too much... she often mocks or eye-rolls things in a way that, again, doesn't feel constructive and comes off as very rude. mean girl energy. it also bothers me how she will talk at richard instead of engaging in a back and forth, and sometimes that turns into an episode in which she speaks 80% of the time. then again, as content cycles throughout the year, sometimes what's on/hot atm is just more in her wheelhouse than his, so we just have to wait for new taskmaster, new bbc comedies, new doctor who, whatever interests him, and then hopefully he'll have even more opportunities to shine... i do cherish when he gets a chance to speak lmao

but fr take a shot every time she says "a friend of mine who works at _______ told me blah blah"

i'll work on tracking that down!! it would be fun to watch more of them 😋

aren't they too much? i was just thinking how amazing would it be if they were a pair on pointless celebs ...........

you know how once you notice an actor then suddenly you start to see them everywhere? (especially on uk tv which is not as big a pool as you'd think it would be...) that was me and charlotte ritchie! it was like wow this girl is everywhere!

anyways, i'm not sure what her aims are atm... she's done quite a bit of comedy but am i the only one who thinks she would body a crime series? or something like broadchurch?

glad you got a chance to catch my response and watch some fun things! i was thinking a little more about what else to recommend, and i think if you enjoy the quirky nature of repertoire then you should check out huge davies, and if you enjoy the storytelling format like greg davies typically does then you should try out dara ó briain and russell howard (maybe the 2021 lubricant special to start) :) enjoy!!

hahaha this is funny... it's a good question 😅 there are a few reasons... he's good bantz! he doesn't take himself too seriously, laughs at himself, can be teased, isn't mean spirited. people really appreciate that. plus, he represents a lot of people who aren't otherwise on tv — not primetime bbc, at least. there starts to be an issue when he just...doesn't try, doesn't contribute. he's fallen asleep on like three different shows? didn't he just...not show up to the second-half of his bakeoff special? often he's got nothing to say? mo really carried the convos on his talk show, his teammates carried him on bfq, and so on. he just doesn't seem to have the interest or perhaps the stamina (orrr perhaps the respect) for long records 😅

anyways, he was being pushed for a little while, but that appears to have stopped. he's hasn't been around too much lately 🤔 (tho ngl idk what he's up to!)

yesss this is a great video and i'll link it here in case anyone wants to check it out! it reminded me that i really need to seek out his celeb hunted episodes hahaha

when the news came out he would be playing an 'egon spengler type' i was like yep lmao

he and ed mention quite often how many auditions they go to, especially james, for big movies like wonka and ghostbusters — no surprise to me imo! especially since it seems he's focused on films over tv 🤔

can't say i saw ghostbusters tho i'm sorry 😭

WELLLL now that it's out how have you been enjoying it? 😊🥰 where is your review, anon !!

susie dent gifs are high on my list, working on those for this week for sure!!! it's just...how to choose...she's just too pretty....

but i love ALL of your suggestions, duly noted 😍

—

PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS / NON-PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS FAQ / TAGS / ASK

[superwholockednico]

First time watching the 13th doctor Thoughts

First off, this is my first time getting 'not my doctor' syndrome. I think this may be because all the other doctors were already doctors when I started watching Doctor Who.

(While all of capaldi's seasons weren't out then, I was aware going into the fandom that he was one of the doctors. I also watched all the seasons near consecutively during summer break, so I never had time to be like. Noo I want to watch the last doctor. Because I just wanted to watch more doctor who.)

But this time it was different. I was looking at a lady I knew as an actor (from Chibnall's other work, Broadchurch (my beloved!)) and from her cover of Yellow, of all things.

Perhaps more importantly, I came in knowing many people didn't like her seasons. Which is weird.

Like, it is a weird experience going into a show you love being like. Ok so is it as bad as people say.

I have experience in this. I watched supernatural. (of course) And I was a bit behind on the show, always a handful of seasons behind, so I knew I was heading nowhere good. But with supernatural, you never know when it gets bad (expect the last episode. I know that one is ass). The best episodes are in the worst seasons and the worst seasons sometimes have the best ideas and its a mess. But people (on twitter, especially) gave me this idea that 13's seasons were all worse quality.

It really wasn't.

Now I'm only on season 1, and the timeless child arch is still to come, which I fear as I don't like the concept from what I've heard (i really like the idea of the doctor as just some person fumbling around, hence why I like 12 better than 11). But for now. It's a pretty good show.

The episodes feel very rewatchable to me.

Compared to the much more interconnected stories going on in 11 and 12's run, every episode of season 11 could be watched alone with little explanation. Not that that is better or worse, but it means I can def go back and pick a random episode to rewatch whenever I need.

And It is fun!

Almost every episode in this season was super fun! Obviously they had some more emotionally charged ones ('demons of punjab', 'the battle of ranskoor av kolos' (the finale), and maybe a bit of 'It Take You Away') but overall there were a lot of really fun moments and sites and it was somewhat whimsical at times but not in the same way as 11. The peak example being Kerblam!

The characters were also what made it so fun.

They're a jolly little crew of fellas traveling through space togather. No one feels like the 'main character' (ok Ryan sort of does. Because he started off the show you know, Rose style?). So far, it is Yasmin who feels like the tack on.

Which is funny because the only companion I've heard about at length is Yaz and how great she is and so far I am like, oh yeah, she had a few episodes (Arachnids in the UK and Demons of Punjab). Like I don't really care about her yet. I don't feel connected with her.

You know who I do feel connected/invested in. MY OLD MAN. GRAHAM CRACKER. (not cus he's white, it's a brand guys). i love this old man. I feel for him. I wanted his revenge when he wanted his revenge. I was so happy for him when he was happy that Ryan called him gramps (or whatever he called him). Like I was literally giggling cus he was happy over it and that made me happy cus I was emotionally invested in him!

I liked the idea of Graham before I watched this season actually, due to a reddit post where someone was like, best crossover would be three old men (the 12th doctor and graham and wilf) running around for an episode. And I was like, omg that is an amazing idea.

Okay I need a whole post for the Fam and how I actually love having a little crew in the tardis. Next post it is.

[gallifreyshawkeye]

Intro for anyone new, Hiya/Update for anyone from "yon olden days"

The tldr: my kids have brought new joy into old fandom and old hobbies and my older kiddo has asked me to finish the series PROPERLY and make Alec Hardy not sad anymore (😆) and to write Tentoo whump (child, you have NO idea what beast you have unleashed!).

So I have found myself coming back to this blog thanks to my kids after a hiatus of several years due to (partly) said kids taking up an increasing part of life, as they should, on top of everything else. BUT, they are now late elementary and early middle school age and I decided a few months ago it was time to properly introduce Doctor Who to them as a show to watch. So we started properly with Rose and Nine and they were hooked harder than I could have ever hoped. They chose to watch nothing else until they had binged ALL thirteen seasons in about only four months! It was amazing!

It was also really cool to watch it again from as fresh and unbiased a perspective as I think I'm ever going to get. 11 and 9y/o's aren't influenced by other fandom perspectives, I refused to give them any spoilers along the way, and the whole experience was overall just such an unexpectedly refreshing and renewing one I can't put it into words. It's also been fascinating to get their takes. Here are a few:

- Ten is both their favorite Doctor, but Twelve isn't far behind at all, and my 9y/o son has them at almost a tie. In fact, when I asked each of them which Doctor they would want me to write a fanfic about, my son picked Twelve.

- They both haaaaaaaated the hand waving-ness of Moffatt's grand story arc conclusions: the Doctor being brought back by Amy simply remembering him, the soppy/cheesy way Clara got the Time Lords to give Eleven more regenerations, the entirety of Amy's pregnancy, and for that matter River having regenerations simply by being conceived in the TARDIS they never bought into. You should have seen the skeptical looks on their faces when they heard that line given as an explanation! It was quite priceless! And like I said, I gave no spoilers, no personal opinion ahead of time, nothing. I deliberately let them simply watch the show for what it is.

- They both liked Bill and Nardol way more than Clara

- Both were super confused by the the absolute mess of character arc in Chibnall's era. Not so much for the Doctor, they thought she was ok, just kinda bland, but the Master. They were in complete agreement that nothing he did made any sense whatsoever.

- They were in disbelieving shock and over the moon when David Tennant showed back up as Fourteen when Thirteen regenerated, and they were FURIOUS that they were going to have to wait six whole months before the specials came out 😆

As an added bonus, my 11y/o also has become quite the David Tennant fan. They were so devastated when Ten regenerated, they immediately wanted to watch something else DT was in, so in the process of listing things off, I mentioned MAAN as something him and Catherine Tate did together that was non-angsty and even after emphasizing that it was Shakespeare, they still chose to watch it (not that I was complaining! ;) ). They were literally sliding off the couch with laughter at the absolute comedic perfection that is DT and Catherine Tate in MAAN, and it's been all things David Tennant ever since! I got lots of things thrown at me during the course of Broadchurch because of, and I quote, "His stupid sad eyes and his stupid face!" and I have been ordered to write a proper ending that makes him properly happy. So maybe I'll have to dust off the epilogue fic I'd been writing all that time ago and finish it off for good.

Meanwhile, Doctor Who has been rewatched from the beginning nearly all the way through again and is pretty much the only show my son currently chooses to watch besides his favorite Minecraft YouTuber (Grian, for anyone interested and who knows that realm of things).

So it's been in the process of both my children falling into these fandoms as much on their own as it is possible for children their age to do so, that I have found myself back here. It started because I was looking up some of the whump gifsets I made of Ten in the episode 42 to show my 11y/o, and partly as a confession of sorts to them of how deep into the fandom I used to be.

And then the specials came out and there was Fourteen's beautiful face and big sad eyes (yes my 11y/o has a phenomenal point!), and now I've also found myself relistening to all the Eighth Doctor audios, and idk, whatever the combination of reasons I've found a new joy in it all.

And it's all combined to make me feel like I can write again, like something's been freed or been unlocked. I can imagine scenes and character arcs and come up with new characters and revel in meta minutia that will never explicitly make it onto the page but is vital for plot consistency.

I feel like I found part of myself again.

[oodlyenough]

I hate Chris chibnals writing lmao, I just got caught up with doctor who and the last two seasons were so bad ALSO what's with the master, barely there and imo horribly written like ??? I'm glad Davis is coming back cause Chris had me wishing moffat was still writing the show

I think I only managed like... maybe 7, 8 total episodes of Chibnall Who over the years, and I forgot much of what I did watch because I simply found all of it very dull. I don't feel any desire or interest in catching up on what I missed. It's too bad, because I was initially excited by Whittaker being cast (long-time readers may remember my Broadchurch era Beth stanning complete with Jodie Whittaker tumblr icon lol).

Lord knows I have myriad complaints about Moffat's writing and they're all very well documented in the depths of this blog, but I do think he was like, *trying* to write a kind of Doctor Who I love, he just didn't succeed very often. Whereas I think Chibnall's vision for the show is just fundamentally quite different to what I want or care about. Like for eg the Timeless Child stuff just ain't it for me. I've long since stopped caring enough about DW lore to be upset by it or anything, I just simply don't find it an interesting type of story to tell with that character, and the resolution or lack thereof also sucks imo.

Oh well, it's over now. RTD2 baby let's goooo

[hecatesbroom]

Hii!

I thought it was about time to make an index/introductory post to pin (because I love lists and this is essentially a list) so here we are :))

I'm Alys! Or at least I go by that online ever since I decided Internet safety also applies to me. I use she/her pronouns but honestly anything goes, and I'm known to friends as a grandma in a 21-year-old's body.

Feel free to tag me in things, send me a dm, or pop an ask in my tumblr mailbox. I don't bite, and I love interacting with people! (Which includes you, I promise!)

(I do have a tendency to forget to reply, which I'm working on, but please don't worry if that happens. It's nothing to do with you!)

I write fic and the occasional long meta post, and can make gifsets if I set my mind to it, most of them being on pieces of media so obscure they'll only appeal to a handful of people lol

Here's a little, probably incomplete list of the things I love and will most likely post/reblog stuff about:

My main interests at the moment are:

The Golden Girls (find all golden girls posts under #the golden girls, and most ship posts under #golden wives! I'm hoping to go back and re-tag my meta posts & ficlets with a special tag soon, but for now it's just one big treasure hunt under the main tag lol)

Maude (tagged #maude 1972)

And I'm following along with Dracula Daily this year (find all related posts under #dracula & #dracula daily)

Other things I have & will occasionally post about:

The Wheel of Time

The Witcher books

Good Omens

Doctor Who (watching for the very first time! You can find my unhinged rants under #alys watches who)

Tolkien, both his works and adaptations of it

Books in general, mostly fantasy and classics with a dash of basically everything else

The Locked Tomb on my sideblog @i-hardlyknowher

An entire list of (mostly niche, mostly British and Dutch) sitcoms from the '70s and '80s. Ask me about them if you want and I'll love you forever

I'm trying to read and see some more Shakespeare so you'll probably see the occasional post about that too

BBC Ghosts

Broadchurch, which I watched when it first aired, rewatched last year, and am back to occasionally losing my mind over now

The Worst Witch, which I don't really post about anymore but deserves a spot here anyway, because it's what inspired my username!!

[rudikawhy]

Tag 9 people you want to get to know better

Thanks for the tag @backgroundagent3

Last song: The Shephard's Boy by Murray Gold (but last song with lyrics was Song For Ten by Neil Hannon)

Favourite Colour: I think navy blue

Last film/show: last film was Avengers: Endgame (that was like half a month ago, I've watched a lot of series lately) ; last show is Broadchurch (i started it last night)

Sweet/savory/spicy: sweet

Last thing I googled: Alec Hardy

Last book: technically Macbeth, but since it's more a play than a book, it's Look Out For The Little Guy (the fictional autobiography of Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man). But I'm reading many books parallel right now

Relationship status: single

Current Obsession(s): Doctor Who, Good Omens, Much Ado About Nothing, David Tennant

No pressure tags:

@thisweirdkidsnightmare @maraudershead @lovelyfanatical @thewraith-22 @thecrazyone42 @avianii @willyouhaveme @thankdeadgodman @thecavalrywife

[haich-slash-cee]

Doctor Who

I may be back on the Doctor Who train with the recent Star Beast episode, y'all. Russel T Davies's trademark chaos and alien in the family living room chaos and absurd logic and emotions all mixed together that somehow all make sense in the end, with a "TRANS RIGHTS NOW" bullhorning directly at UK TERFS? You might as well serve up chocolate dipped almonds and ask if I want any.

Also some emotional h/c too I'd argue (did you see that reunion between David-Tennant-Fourteen and Donna? Do you seeee the arguably imperfect language around gender but supportive scripting and love for Rose Noble?).

And a little whump sprinkled in, in this ep. I predict more in the next two eps, because it's RTD and David Tennant, and have you see the entire run of the Ten era and also Casanova between these two? (and also Tennant and Broadchurch) These two are like "whump and H/C yes".

Other notes:

I did like Thirteen as a character. The writing of the eps under Chibnall never stuck with me, but I still am fond of Thirteen and it would be nice to see her pop in again in the future with time travel schenanigans.

Curious to see what Ncuti-Gatwa-Fourteenwill be be like with RTD. (Fifteen? I'm sort of assuming DT-Fourteen is temporal and NG-Fourteen is still Fourteen? IDK.) Will RTD write a Black character with any measure of Okay-ness. Like not being uncomfortably racist about it. ...Questionable, somewhat, IMO. RTD is a white gay man and he's written PoC wierdly before. But in this ep, RTD did come out swinging for trans stuff with a full heart, and he got the wheelchair user POV right too, according to internet reaction perusing. So RTD might have writing staff that will set him on course and/or he might have leveled up in the past dozen something years.

Will RTD go full whump with Fourteen: you know what, I think so, given RTD's track record. But also, a key component IMO, is wether Ncuti Gatwa is ALSO on board with this, and enjoys playing whump. Again, if you've watched interviews with DT about Doctor Who, you can see that DT is just leaning into this. DT says stuff like "I am playing a character who is sick in bed, other people are worried about me, I having a great time being unconscious" or "Then my character stands in the rain". This man gets it.

Anyway - Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor Who, just from glimpses of how DT-Fourteen is different from Ten, could to be softer and more open. I want to note that is prime "precious cinnamon roll" possibility, in terms of whump and hurt comfort theory*.

(*I am making this up, but also you know what i mean.)

But how will whumping a Black Doctor Who be, compared to the "default" White British Man (ie Ten)? Well, my view is: hopefully we will finally have more PoC being able to play in the whump and h/c game. Which, it IS a game - fictional characters get the attention and catharsis and pain and such, that makes up hurt comfort and whump. And to have that limited to the realm of White Men is severely lacking. (My concern, as noted, is wether RTD can handle writing Ncuti Gatwa's character being Black and doing an okay job of it, which still does fold into all of this.)

[nipuni]

Some various lighthearted life updates 🏃‍♀️

It's been a very busy last few months! in a good way mostly. We had a friend visiting us from overseas so we showed him around the city and took him to all our favourite places. We also met new people and were invited to a bunch of events so it's been very fun! We are all out of social battery tho so now we are slowing down a bit and getting back to work. Nicolas is on a short work trip to Berlin and I'm back to painting. We also started running! aaand we are also back to watching a bunch of shows and to me talking about it here to like five people 😌

Under the cut cause it's a lot as usual!

We finished watching S13 of Doctor Who! (we still have the specials to go but after that we are all caught up!) I haven't updated in ages so here are lot of opinions!

We really did not enjoy S11 😞 I was aware it wasn't very popular but we were hoping it was for all the wrong reasons, sadly we found many to be valid. Some of the episodes were baffling, Rosa? Kerblam?! the writing of the whole season in general felt like a rushed school assignment. The first part of Spyfall was a strong start for the next season but that ending in the second part was really not it. We did love Sacha Dhawan's Master tho!! and we really love Jodie too, 13th is adorable and reminded us of Ten at times! Jodie is such a fantastic actress that it makes the quality of the writing and everything else around her even more frustrating 😫 S12 was an improvement in general. In the last few episodes It felt like the writing team suddenly remembered the companions could have a personality and agency lmao. Highlights for us were Spyfall one, Fugitive of the Judoon and Haunting of villa Diodati, tho we did also enjoy most other episodes of the season despite their issues.

The timeless child plot reveal felt a bit underwhelming? The idea on itself has potential but it felt mishandled (and it had a bit of a Moffat flavour to it? and not in a good way). I think it was meant to add more depth to the Doctor's lore but in a way it ends up having the opposite effect. Then the flux was just a complete mess. It read like a Marvel sort of plot, very comic book like which is alright I suppose if that is something you enjoy but it felt out of place. But mostly it was just way too much, it got out of hand. Anyway we still have the specials to watch! and I think the Master is in them so we are looking forward to it 🥰

We also watched Broadchurch!! and we LOVED it. We ended up binging all three seasons. Chibnall's writing on this is surprisingly great and Jodie's acting is spectacular she really shines here. Olivia and David are always brilliant!! honestly everyone's acting was amazing. This series had us both tearing up every five scenes. The direction and the music are outstanding. I could watch Hardy and Miller solve crimes forever I really love their chemistry and dynamic. We went into it expecting the usual detective fiction but it ended up being a whole study on grief with such a focus on family and community and trauma and a ton of touching interconnected character arcs, just really really good!!

Then we also watched Taking over the Asylum!! MAN we were not expecting to have our hearts wrung out like laundry by this!! We thought it was a lighthearted show!! GOD we are still not over it, what the fuck!! It was so good we loved it!! but we were not prepared lmao what do you mean 'the end'?? we'll be thinking of this for months, I was expecting an extra scene after the credits or something. Excellent characters, refreshing depictions of mental illness and trauma and so crushingly realistic. Every character is so loveable I really wish this was longer 😭

And our quest to watch everything with David Tennant on it continues. We watched Decoy Bride on Valentines day too and it was terrible but such a hilarious fever dream kind of bad that it was fun, it has David on it and he never disappoints. I feel so lucky that Nicolas and I are both in love with him, get yourself a man who shares your celebrity crushes lmao it's so fun!! We feel like teens again chatting about him and drawing little hearts next to his pictures haha 🥰 We watched the BAFTAs just for him and speaking of the baftas!! I was not expecting that last drawing of his outfits to get that much attention oh my god 😭 thank you!! you are all insane and I appreciate it so much!! and thank you for all the support in general, about my art and photos and just everything. I feel very lucky and grateful 😭 anyway I'll end this before I get sappy, that is all for now! I hope this week is kind to you all, I'll be sharing some more art soon 😊

[litcityblues]

Doctor Whoquest Part One: Whittaker, Season 1

Doctor Who turns sixty this year and since we jumped back onto HBO Max last month, I decided I would spend the year attempting to do a deep dive on all the 'Nu-Who' Doctors starting with the most recent one (13, played by Jodie Whittaker) and working backward to the one who started it all (9, played by Christopher Eccleston.)

If this seems like an ass-backwards way to do this, well, you're probably right. But in general, I'm thinking the order will run something like this:

Whittaker Season 1

Capaldi Season 1

Smith Season 1

Tennant Season 1

Eccleston Season 1

Whittaker Season 2

Capaldi Season 2

Smith Season 2

Tennant Season 2

Whittaker Season 3

Capaldi Season 3

Smith Season 3

I know this doesn't get me through the entirety of 'Nu-Who' so I'll probably have to throw some extra posts for Smith Specials, the Tennant Specials, and Tennant Season 3 along the way, but that's the general order of events I'm aiming for.

So, let's kick things off with what's technically Series 11 of Nu-Who and the debut season of 13, played by Jodie Whittaker.

I had seen the first couple of episodes ('The Woman Who Fell To Earth' and 'The Ghost Monument') when they first debuted, so I knew what to expect there. Whittaker's gender was completely irrelevant to me. I know a lot of people lost their minds about it, but I'm unbothered. They laid the groundwork for it in the latter stages of Capaldi's era and with the Doctor getting a fresh set of regenerations at the end of Smith's era, there were some hints that 'all bets were off.' So, this shouldn't have been a galloping shock to anyone.

Whittaker is a genuinely good actress. (Go watch 'Broadchurch' if you haven't already and come talk to me.) What's important to me with the Doctor, as a role is a balancing act all actors seem to have to do with this role: how to make the Doctor still seem like the Doctor while putting their own spin on it and Whittaker nails it. Her portrayal of the Doctor feels like the Doctor and it's an unusual and different place for the show to go. If you've been on the air in one form or another for six decades at a certain point, you're going to have to take some chances and try some different things to grow the character and evolve the show a bit. It doesn't feel forced, it doesn't feel preachy and it doesn't bother me a lick.

There are some interesting/bright spots with this season worth shouting out. For a start, the Doctor has multiple companions. That's a different look from prior seasons, though the challenge then becomes making sure each character gets their moments throughout the season. I think they do a fairly credible job of that- which is understandable, as they have to establish the new Doctor and the new Companions over the course of the season.

The Companions themselves are fine. I got no quibbles-- Graham (Bradley Walsh) and Ryan (Tosin Cole) have some family issues to work through, as Ryan loses his Nan, Graham's wife, Grace (Sharon D. Clarke) in the first episodes. Yaz (Mandip Gill), if anything feels like a bit of a third wheel now and again-- but they also sort of take turns feeling like that, to be honest. It balance is out in the end.

Three Episodes I Liked:

'The Woman Who Fell To Earth'/'The Ghost Monument': Whittaker rockets off to a strong debut with this two-parter. The introduction of everyone in the first part, the ending of the first part on a cliffhanger and the resolution in the second part establish a much different tone for the show. Things seem more colorful and weirdly, almost bigger budget in a way? It feels like a step up in quality and I like it.

'Demons Of The Punjab': While I appreciate 'Rosa' for going someplace Doctor Who usually doesn't go, I think in terms of history and the exploration of historical trauma and how it can mark subsequent generations is far better encapsulated here. Ms. Marvel did an excellent job of mining similar themes over on Disney Plus, to the benefit, I think, of an American audience (maybe less so a British one more familiar with the history.) Nu-Who does a nice job here as well.

'The Tsuranga Conundrum': It was a toss-up between this and the finale, ('The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos') and I think I went with this one because it just moves along a breakneck pace and they've got to figure out what's going on and how to fix it and who the passengers are and what the threat is and how to get themselves out of danger. The gang is very much dropped into the middle of a big bag of danger and they've got to figure it out. What's not to like?

Two Episodes I Didn't Like:

'Kerblam!' This felt... familiar. And that's not bad, per say, it just... didn't work for me.

'Resolution': Star Wars finally seems to be stretching beyond the sandy confines of Tattooine with shows like Andor and Dear Lord does Nu-Who need to do that with the Daleks and to a lesser degree the Cybermen. It wasn't even a particularly fresh twist on the Daleks, either.

One Episode To Consider:

'Rosa': I don't know how to feel about this one. On the one hand, good job for tackling America. Dr. Who tends to be somewhat hit or miss on the front, but this worked out okay. I think the writers set themselves one hell of a mountain to climb with this episode and I think they might have pulled it off. I don't know if you could fully illustrate the levels of racism present in the Civil Rights era south from the daily indignities to the large, in-your-face ugliness effectively in one episode of television, but I applaud them for trying. I just don't know if they quite stuck the landing as effectively as they could have.

Overall: It was a solid debut season for Whittaker. I think Doctor Who is unique in the fact that views on Doctors can change in retrospect with the passage of time. Whittaker inhabits the role and makes it her own. I can't say it really knocked my socks off (though I was surprised to see Chris Noth show up in 'Arachnids In The UK') but it was good. Solid. A solid beginning. My Grade: 7/10

[candyfloss-kittens]

I finished Outlander last night.... Now I need a new TV show to watch (or rewatch)....

Shows I've seen/enjoy;

- Lost

- Knight Rider (1982)

- Top Gear UK (2002-2015)

- The Grand Tour

- Malcolm in the Middle

- Breaking Bad

- Dexter

- Hannibal

- Prodigal Son

- Good Omens

- Big Wolf on Campus

- Game of Thrones

- Outlander

- Supernatural

- Sherlock

- Broadchurch

- Doctor Who (at least only a portion of Classic Who, and then series 1 to 4, and then series 8 to 10)

- Stranger Things

- Buffy the Vampire Slayer

- Angel

- Friends

- Vikings (the first three seasons)

- American Horror Story (up until Roanoke, I think)

- Mork and Mindy

- Clarkson's Farm

- Richard Hammond's Workshop

- Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure (literally my fav)

- Jessica Jones (season 1 only, though, and Kilgrave remains my favourite roll David Tennant has played so far)

I'm probably forgetting some, certainly some others of Clarkson, Hammond, and May's solo work, but that's basically all I've watched.

So... any suggestions based on what I've already watched? Best if they're either on Amazon Prime, Disney+, TVNZ+, or SkyGo, because I don't have any streaming services outside of those ones.

Also, other things to note based on my taste in TV shows, which I know some will take issue with, but I don't give a fuck, but I don't really like shows that are more heavily female oriented. Don't know why, just never been able to get into them. Or shows with a lot of romance most of the time....

[cynicalclassicist]

As Doctor Who approaches...

As Doctor Who approaches I don't feel the excitement I once did. I haven't felt properly excited since 2022. I feel hollow for it.

I think that all the fandom disputes have just broken my enjoyment of the show that I would have classed as my favourite show for a lot of my life.

I went into a state of not really enjoying it in the same way 2010-2011... then in 2012 I decided that I should enjoy each series and went in with optimism. But that dried up 10 years later.

Maybe I should blame Chris Chibnall for this, his controversial writing of the show has led to intense fandom disputes and helped the vileness to really hatch out, to the point that the fandom seems in such a state that it can't recover for the forseeable future. That would certainly be a popular option, scapegoat Chibnall for everything, say that the fandom wasn't really so bad before that villain ruined everything. I know that certain people, even those that you would expect better from, blame him for the lack of Christmas specials and even claim that he didn't care about the future of the show and decided not to pick a new showrunner out of... not caring.

I will not go for such an easy, blame it all on one person option. The tensions may have been exacerbated, but they were present already. It has just got worse. There is a lot to say about this, but the focus of this post is on my own thoughts.

I don't feel joy for it. I should, but I don't. Despite all that excitement I should have, despite the trailers, despite Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson, despite things like Maestro... I just don't get the feeling of excitement. I don't even like bringing it up in personal conversation with people. If it's online you can leave it easier. It now feels that every discussion turns into, we hated the last era. The Guardian articles sneer at it. The articles in other papers say how it has been saved. It can feel Manichean at times, the evil Chibnall personally deciding to destroy it, RTD saving it again, getting the Disney deal, better funding, all that.

But even the anti-RTD stuff cuts me. Some of it just looks petty and nitpicking. Even if sometimes it is mocking the way that people nitpick everything Chibnall does.

I feel that every review, every comment, will feel the need to push the barb in somewhere.

You look at now how even pieces saying how much they love the Moffat era turn it into a sneering comment at Chibnall. As if they feel the need to bite. Even pieces on Broadchurch have to sink their teeth in, as if the people who experience them want to taste blood and lick it up.

Not that RTD and Moffat would want this hate, but what they want needn't matter. RTD would probably hate the mentality expressed by Darren Mooney that him coming back is the obituary of the Chibnall era and shows that the whole thing was a failure.

Maybe it would be easier if I just hated Chibnall, if I saw his era as an aberration that can be thrown out. If I could watch the sneering videos, with tabloidy titles snarling that 42 warned us, as now everything he has written has to be seen in the worse light. Now criticising it for longer than a Wagner opera gets you lauded as an intellectual, even if you just pad it out.

That era is gone, but perhaps the damage of it pervades. Or maybe the move to the alt-right over this period has sunk in so deep and linked to much to the criticism of the show that things that were shrugged at in RTD1 are snarled at in RTD2.

I know that I am in the minority here. I know that the line encouraged by the fandom and it's prominent members if the last era was utterly shit and should be ignored. Now all is as it should be. David Tennant coming back proves how shit it is. Maybe they are right. I don't want to admit it, but they do wear you down after a while.

This is a rambling post that is sounding at times like I'm writing violent verse. But I felt that I needed to get these mingling and miserable thoughts out.

I will still watch it. But I won't feel the same excitement for Doctor Who that I did a few years ago and I won't be discussing it in person with the same joy.

I even didn't think that the 60th specials were so bad, there was some enjoyable stuff there. But it didn't feel the same and I moved on from discussing it in person fairly quickly, wanting to change the conversation topic soon enough.

Well, maybe I will get perked up eventually. But I doubt that it will happen this year.

[oranges-for-calico]

okay so I kind of just did a long bullet point list in my notes app, so i'm just going to pick some of them and copy them here! spoilers for Broadchurch season one! :) also like.. source material typical content warnings apply. and these were as I was watching so I got a little heated at times sorry about that

also these might be like not entertaining at all. I really don't know

also the dog ends up being okay so don't worry

EPISODE ONE - i looove the trope of somber/creepy music over happy scene. - i like the detective lady so far she’s so passive aggressive. also she’s returning from maternal leave or something - ALEC HARDYYYY

- “cameraphone” what decade is this - 2013, presumably

- “go down to check it out get yourself some fresh air” SENDS HIM. TO THE DEATH SITE OF A CHILD - JACOB ANDERSON AKA LOUIS IS IN IT WHATTTT

- fucking asshole. of course it was fucking twitter this is why twitter sucks. not fucking cool - GO OFF ALEC. BLOODY TWITTER - he’s a little shit is fucking right. die olly - wow the news industry seems very exploitative.

- “why didn’t you look in on him last night” WOAHH THERE - “why didn’t you” - “where were you last night” OOP - YOU HESITATED

- news lady fucking die. heartless fucking asshole who would do that. i hate you. the entire news industry should go die actually how disrespectful can you get

EPISODE TWO

- cctv footage hell yeah alec - alec are u ok - character trope: you think he’s mean but he’s actually just fucking miserable 24/7 - beth is not doing okay omg - rory!!!:)

- who asks a 15 year old for a light - oh she gave the stuffy back oh aw okay she’s kinda sweet fuck. sorry i told you to die reporter lady - “so you’re snooping on me now” SMOOTH LMFAO - how tf can you not remember your mates name. his story has so many holes - i think it’s a red herring though ? dude idk how this show works - you are not slick bro - why is he making that face - HIS PRINTS ARE THERE HAHAHAHHA

EPISODE THREE

- dude i could not commit a murder for many reasons but specifically i would not be able to come up with lies like that

- “you overcompensate” “i know”

- ur alibi is rubbish - there’s bloods in the boat mark. - eeee i’m scared of fishing hooks. that one time we looked at them in girl scouts scared me - “because i’m ashamed innit”

EPISODE FOUR

- nice to see alec in a good mood

EPISODE FIVE

- they’re making tom act as danny in the reconstruction ??? brutal - i keep forgetting this shows from 2013 - okay i hate the fact that the age of consent is 16 there

- awww look at them gossiping - bro i’m sorry i just *can not sympathize with a man who married a 17 year old when he was 40* - oh—

EPISODE SIX - why the creepy music? is toms dad sus - “i’m always alright” that’s a very The Doctor thing to say

- “i didnt assault him it was a joke gone wrong” that’s not a great sentence - WHY do people get so defensive when they’re being questioned. IF IT WASNT YOU JUST PROVIDE THE EVIDENCE . YOU DONT NEED TO GET ANGRY

- oh boy tom what have you got. i mean you’re very sneaky so good job on that but girl please just tell the police what’s going on………..

- dean lives on a farm haha nerd - wow alec is not doing well

- “he used to be my friend” interesting wording tom

- girl nigel did you just steal the dog - that’s not nice - FIND HER BASTARD DOG. NAEW - NON NPLEASE DONT KILL THE DOG - NINOJIJNNO - NOPE

EPISODE SEVEN

- “you nearly died on me” “neowww” - alec you are literally out of breath pleasee go back to the hospital - i love how alec wears a button up over another button up that’s so gay

- OMGGGGGGG SUSAN KNOWS WHO IT IS!!! - tbh i bet it’s nigel, he’s mean and (probably) killed the dog

- ?? - actually do tell alec i’m really curious - oh?? were you having an affair? - OH. SHE WAS HIS WIFE

- FUCK NO NOT THE DOG NO NO - fuck no. no no no no - the dog is okay as of now

EPISODE EIGHT

- OKAY. - NOT THAT IM SURE YET BUT. TOMS DAD IS THE PERFECT KILLER. HES BEEN HERE IN THE BACKGROUND THIS ENTIRE TIMR BUT. HES NEVER BEEN A PRIME SUSPECT - SHOE SIZE MENS TEN FUCJ YEAH - “you’ve done good work on this miller, well done.” - THE SUSPENSE OMGGG - allllec.

- 59 DAYS EARLIER THIS WILL BE GOOOOD

- SHUT UUUUP HES INTERROGATING MILLER LMFAO - it was indeed joe. harsh though lol - can alec get some proper medical attention now

- and i thought they’d hug - FINISHED:)

if you found this entertaining lmk and I will post my notes from season two and three maybe :3 also I took notes while watching deadloch too

i watched Broadchurch last year and took notes like the entire time, would anyone be interested in me posting some of the funny ones?

[televinita]

Library Triage!

I have a reading triage on deck, but first I gotta plow through my actual mother-of-god-how-do-they-multiply-so-fast library checkouts first to try and make sense of them all (27!! with like. at least 10 active requests and/or books I'm gonna pull off the shelf tomorrow)

DVDs I Checked Out For Circ Numbers And/Or Have Watched And Can Return Any Time Now: 6 (CSI Vegas; Hours; Anywhere But Here; Little Women PBS version; La Brea S2; Doctor Who S10 -- i assure you this last one was pure circ numbers)

Books Ready to Return: 2 (Miss Nelson is Missing - checked out purely by chance for funsies and circ numbers when I saw it; The Runaway's Diary graphic novel)

Books I Have Read But Am Keeping 'Til I Write Reviews: 2 (The Last Bookseller; Home Before Dark)

CDs Out: 2 (one Maddie & Tae as a fun option to have in the car; one Loreena McKennitt, although honestly that one is probably ready to go back; Lost Souls didn't grab me)

---------

Other DVDs Out: 10 (!!) (listen I am Going Hard on my vow to single-handedly prove physical media still has value to patrons and the library should not consider eliminating it. there has been no actual discussion of this but I see the DVD section shrinking, I see it!!)

Marley & Me: this WAS just for circ numbers but now I'm looking at it like "oh yeah this movie is amazing actually" and I've kinda been on an Owen Wilson kick this year, so maybe I should actually watch it first.

2-4. Scott & Bailey, S3-5: these were ALSO just for circ numbers but then I remembered I actually do like this show and it's weird I never got past S2*...so I've watched S3 and now I kind of want to finish, and also want to keep them all out so they can be returned and easily reshelved together. (*i also realized one episode into S3 that I may not have actually gotten past 2x03? but oh well no looking back; I hated those 3 episodes so SURGING FORWARD)

5. Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor: I! Will! Watch! It! (ONE of these times it's gotta actually go through...)

6. Doctor Who: Series 11 (Thirteen my beloved!! What if...what IF I wanted to randomly start)

7. Doctor Who: The Animation Collection: "WHAT U MEAN GEORGIA TENNANT VOICED A (non-Jenny) COMPANION CHARACTER IN ONE OF THESE FEATURING TEN I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW EXISTED." and I thought I might revisit Infinite Quest while I'm at it, though I have thus far done neither.

8. Good Omens: when you finish S2 and are immediately like "I need the option to revisit season 1 right now, in a way where you can easily skip around to favorite parts in the episodes in VLC instead of struggling through the laggy Amazon Prime interface," but now it's been over a month and you haven't actually opened the case. but you still might. (I should probably throw in the towel huh)

9. Around the World in 80 Days: oh yeah. forgot I started this. (Suranne Jones and the rest of the lady police gang are very distracting ok)

10. Broadchurch, S3: originally for circ numbers and then I remembered I actually never got around to this season (but am still excited to! eventually!)

-------

Other Books Out: 5

1. Cabin Tripping: mostly a coffee table book, beautiful photos based on the Instagram of the same name with a bit of text. I wanted to look through it properly and use it to get myself in the mood for the RV / road trip books I was considering reading, but I think those have receded into the temporary background so I should probably send this back as well. temporarily.

2. Gilmore Girls: The Official Cookbook: have I watched more than 3 full episodes of this show in my life? still no. but since dollsome-does-tumblr's tumblr has given me almost all the information I could possibly need about this show, I feel like I know it and ever since I randomly saw this on the library shelf, I have been obsessed with the entire vibe and aesthetic of this oversized book and its mouthwatering photos and can't stop paging through it. (have I tried making any of the recipes? also definitely no) (would that I had a personal chef or at least a talented local friend!)

3. The Little Book of Hygge: this is at least the third hygge book I have checked out on a whim but can't actually read because I just get too overwhelmed by how cute and cozy the mere idea is. But that won't stop me clinging to it with a death grip 'til my renewals run out.

4. Good as Gold - Candace Buford: oh finally an actual novel i might actually read (if I don't get distracted by my GIANT INCOMING STACK, considering I checked this out a full month ago). I am actually very excited by the prospect of this YA novel about searching for a lost treasure of local legend (to pay for college). I don't honestly know why I haven't yet!

5. Lessons From Tara: Life Advice From the World's Most Brilliant Dog - David Rosenfelt: A Goodreads friend read this, which reminded me how much I loved Dogtripping and wanted to read more stories about his big fluffy dogs. Which led me to learn there is only one copy of this 2015 release left at my library so whoops, gotta show interest (and ideally even read it?) before it disappears.