#my favorite character is barbara shes adorable and also like the best teacher

[hecksupremechips]

I just finished watching Abbott Elementary (or all that’s come out so far aaa) and the way that every single one of these teachers are people my gay ass would wish were my parents as a kid

[purrincess-chat]

Cat’s Not-All-Encompassing Character Ranking

Okay, so I have to admit that I omitted a lot of characters I don't have strong opinions on. Most of them were one-off akumas, so don't get your panties in a twist, your faves are probably still on here (and ranked lower than you think).

As a preface again, these are just my personal opinions. They can't hurt you. You can still like characters more or less than me. And I don't care how you feel about them. This list is for me. And the person that asked for it. So shut up. Go make your own rank list if you’re so butthurt. 

We're going in reverse order this time, starting from the bottom:

84. Gabriel Agreste- I mean, is anyone surprised? I am not private about how I think Gabriel should go to jail. Or fall off a cliff. Or be erased from existence. Rip to those that like him, but I’m different.

83. Thomas Astruc- Honestly, he’s down here on principle. Self-inserts are generally a no-no, and I just laugh every time I see him on screen because he really put himself in this show and said boohoo no one appreciates me XD

82. Bob Roth- I feel like this one should also be obvious. He’s just a dick. Terrible human. I give him 0 stars.

81. Tomoe Tsurugi- We all collectively hate her, right? It’s not just me?

80. Su Han- This mans has small peepee energy. And he bad mouthed Fu, so get FUCKED, my dude.

79. Rolland Dupain- Listen, I get it, he liked Marinette in the end, but I could do without the racism.

78. Nathalie Sancoeur- My opinion of Nathalie took a nosedive after the s2 finale. I just do not care that she is in love with her boss. Don’t care that she’s dying. Just do not have it in me.

77. XY- Justin Bieber ass wannabe.

76. Nora Cesiare- I didn’t care for Nora. I know Thomas loves her, but the overbearing sibling trope is tired.

75. Anarka Couffaine- I underestimated how much I don’t really like her. Like, it’s not full-on hate, but I just do not care for her.

74. Otis Cesaire- Got akumatized because a kid said he could outrun a panther. I’m still not over it, Otis.

73. Andre Bourgeois- No love for the crooked mayor. I hope your wife divorces you. 

72. Alec Cataldi- The real villain of Stormy Weather. Like fr why is he such an asshole?

71. Roger Raincomprix- Is Officer Roger just doing his best? Sometimes. But like sometimes this mans just needs to take a chill pill.

70. M. D'Argencourt- Please get out of the 1600s

69. Ella/Etta- These two are basically the same character, and I am indifferent to both of them.

68. KnightOwl/Barbara- Listen, I would have liked you more if you were less controlling.

67. Majestia- Same as above, but like I guess I like you more

66. Theo- *Mean Girls principal voice* Stay away from underaged girls!

65. Andre the ice cream man- I just want a scoop of chocolate, Andre. Is that too much to ask??

64. Amelie Graham de Vanily- We haven’t seen much of her, but she seems like a snake bitch.

63. M. Kubdel- I mean, if my son wanted to resurrect an ancient mummy and believed in aliens, I’d give the family heirloom to my daughter too.

62. Jalil Kubdel- Lolol, buddy, pal, dude, my guy. Chill.

61. Vincent (Adrien's photographer)- Head empty. Mom’s spaghetti. Idk he’s alright.

60. Manon- I don’t hate Manon. She just gets on my nerves every time she talks.

59. M. Ramier- This mans got akumatized a billion times because he gets emotional about pigeons. I mean, honestly mood.

58. Mme. Mendeleiev- She doesn’t put up with Chloe’s shit, and we respect her for this.

57. Baby August- Someone just give this mans some food. He’s a growing boy.

56. Santa Claus- If I were Santa, I too would list Ladybug as the best kid in the world.

55. Art Teacher- He doesn’t even have a name, but I vibe with him. He seems like he likes to paint scenes of nature with his pet squirrels.

54. Prince Ali- Lil mans just wanted to have a good time. I can respect that.

53. Duusu- Duusu, I get that your Miraculous was broken, but get with the program, girl. You is a hostage.

52. Other Kwamis- Idk, all the ones we haven’t seen as much. I don’t have real opinions on them yet. Just neutral.

51. Sass- He gives me dad vibes.

50. M. Damocles- You go, you funky owl man

49. Jean (Chloe's Butler)- He deserves a raise. What is your name, sir? We may never know.

48. Mireille Caquet- She’s pretty cute. No complaints.

47. Aurore Beaureal- Baby’s first akuma. I love her design. She’s a cutie.

46. Claudie Kante (Max’s mom)- This womans just wanted to go to space and live her dream. We stan a hardworking queen.

45. Hot Dog Dan- I like him more than Andre the ice cream fraud. Sure, my hotdog might turn me purple, but if I ask for chili on it, I bet he’d oblige.

44. Nadja Chamack- I mean, she’s doing her best.

43. Audrey Bourgeois- So, as I said in the episode ranking, I have a love-hate relationship with Audrey. She’s the worst, but that’s why I love her. I love her ironically. Like, yeah she’s atrocious, but I just want to watch her burn the world.

42. Luka Couffaine- Directly in the middle, like he’s always been.

41. Nathaniel Kurtzberg- My opinion of Nath improved after Reverser surprisingly. I ship it.

40. Chris Lahiffe- I like Chris better than Ella/Etta. He’s just a little mans out here living life wanting to grow up. Don’t believe it, Chris. Stay little forever. Being an adult suuuuucks.

39. Fang the Crocodile- The goodest boy.

38. Nooroo- I just want to give him a hug.

37. Mlle. Bustier- She’s doing her best, but I mean, when ya whole class keeps getting turned into supervillains, I’m surprised she’s not an alcoholic.

36. Penny Rolling- I just like her. I think she’s neat.

35. Ondine- Mermaid queen! She’s so sweet, and I love her with Kim. I hope we see more of her in the future.

34. Marc Anciel- Marc is a little cutie bean. Idc if he’s based off one of Thomas’s irl friends. He can stay.

33. Wayzz- He loves Master Fu so much I cry.

32. Felix Graham de Vanily- I know everyone hates canon Felix, but tbh he exudes massive chaotic neutral gremlin energy, and I actually kinda vibe with that. And he pisses with his uncle which is a whole ass mood.

31. Tikki- Tikki is very cute, but bby please work on the preaching. You don’t always know what’s right, babe.

30. Sabrina Raincomprix- Sabrina deserves better. I hope we see good things happen for her.

29. Lila Rossi- Surprised? I actually like Lila. The first fic I ever wrote for this fandom was a Lila redemption. I think she is a good antagonist and foil to Marinette. I absolutely want to see her get dunked on in canon, but that doesn’t mean I hate her.

28. Wayhem- I don’t know why, but Wayhem makes me laugh. I love him XD

27. Uncle Cheng- He’s just a good mans with a birb who wants to make you tasty food. What’s not to like?

26. Trixx- Trixx shot up after GoS. Chaotic bean make Eiffel Tower go bendy

25. Jess- She’s pretty cool. She’s a vibe.

24. Aeon- The cutest bean!!! She saw Adrien and Marinette and said yep. Those two are meant to be together. Jess, we gotta make it happen.

23. Ivan Bruel- Ivan is such a gentle bean. We love him.

22. Mylene Haprele- Smol

21. Fei Wu- I still have not watched the Shanghai special with subs, but I liked her.

20. Gina Dupain- The grandma I aspire to be.

19. Marianne Lenoir- I love her. She is good. She and Fu are so cute. And she seems like she would have kicked le ass back in the day. (and even now)

18. Rose Lavillant- I am so excited for Pigella!! Rose is too cute. We love her. 

17. Gorilla- aka Adrien’s real dad. If the series doesn’t end with Gabriel getting yeeted into the stratosphere and Gorilla adopting Adrien, I don’t want it.

16. Clara Nightingale- She’s in love with Marinette. You can’t change my mind. 16 is also how old I hc her to be, so don’t nobody come for me.

15. Tom Dupain- Most. Supportive. Dad. Soft bean. Just wants to make you fresh bread.

14. Sabine Cheng- Good mom vibes. We love to see her.

13. Juleka Couffaine- Shy goth bean. Just wants to have her picture taken. Definitely a lesbian. We stan.

12. Nino Lahiffe- The goodest boy. He’s just out here doing his best, loving his friends.

11. Chloe Bourgeois- Chloe is another one I have a love-hate relationship with. Her brattiness is funny to me. We had high hopes for her. Honestly, she ranks this high because I like to play with her in fic.

10. Max Kante- He smol and smort. And I adore his friendship with Kim and the fact that he made an AI himself at 14. What a legend.

9. Alya Cesaire- Rip to Alya salters, but I’m different. Outside of Chameleon, Alya is fine. She’s a supportive bff. All yall people that are mad she doesn’t kiss Marinette’s ass all the time need to go out and make real friends. I said what I said.

8. Alix Kubdel- I love Alix. I love how she is always so done with all the lovey-dovey bullshit. She is tiny queen, and Bunnix, while OP af, is still super cool. We love to see her.

7. Kagami Tsurugi- I will fight anyone who shits on Kagami. She has done nothing wrong, you guys are just haters. All she did was exist, and yall said, wow what a toxic bitch?? Disgraceful.

6. Jagged Stone- We are going to ignore the deadbeat dad trope that canon thrust upon him. He is a Marinette stan, and we love that.

5. Kim Le Chien- I really love Kim, you guys. Does that surprise you? Listen, my favorite male character types are sweet beans and himbos. Kim is both of these.

4. Master Fu- If you didn’t pick up on how much I love Fu from the episodes ranking, then idk what to tell you. I want him to be my grandpa. I would trust this mans with my life. He did his best. You paint those pictures, you funky little man. I love you.

3. Plagg- My galaxy trash man. Love him. 10/10 chefs kisses all around.

2. Adrien Agreste- The biggest Marinette stan there is. I just want him to kiss her on the face. And marry her. Idk, I just think that would be neat if he could do that. I just want good things for them.

1. Marinette Dupain-Cheng- Honestly, are you surprised? I have always been and always will be a Marinette stan. If you expected anyone else to be in this spot, then clown suit rentals are off to the left.

[toasty-coconut]

CHARACTER PROFILE: AYA CAVENDISH

I’ve decided to share the profiles for my two Diakko kiddos that I made a while back. Below is the profile for the oldest of the two, Aya! The full profile can be read beneath the cut.

Basic Information

Full Name: Aya Bernadette Cavendish

Nicknames: None

Gender: Female

Date of Birth: January 9th, 2027

Age: 17

School Team Color: Violet

Aspiration: Head the Cavendish Family

Horoscope: Capricorn

MBTI: ENFJ

Being the oldest child of Diana—the head of the family—Aya is the Cavendish family’s heir apparent. Realizing the importance of her role in the family, Aya always tries her best to carry herself with the decency and manners befitting of a Cavendish. Her hope is to one day uphold the honor of the Cavendish name by heading the family in a way that would make everyone proud. She seeks to satisfy others, which can make her seem to be a bit of a teacher’s pet.

Wanting to live up to her family name, Aya often busies herself with studying and learning about every area of magic that she can. However, magic and learning aren’t things that come easily to her—as a result, she is an exceptionally hard worker who often pushes herself to the point of exhaustion. She is a perfectionist by nature, and won’t settle for anything less. 

She feels as though she has a lot to live up to in terms of her family’s legacy and is frequently filled with anxiety and self-doubt. She gets down on herself easily, especially when she finds herself struggling with things that she thinks should come naturally to a Cavendish. She often feels as though she needs to make up for these shortcomings by working herself to the bone. She is terrified of letting down those who expect great things of her.

By nature, Aya is an incredibly creative person. When she isn’t busying herself with her studies and magic, she can often be found reading and writing. She adores the Night Fall series and spends much of her time reading it and creating fan works for it in secret. She is very private about her work and doesn’t like the people she knows reading it. Whenever people find out about her writing she becomes incredibly embarrassed and tries to insist it’s “just a hobby”.

Aya loves to socialize when she’s able to, and would spend more time doing it if her studies weren’t so demanding. She is a naturally kind, friendly person who loves making friends and talking to others. However, her perfectionism can sometimes result in her neglecting the friendships that she has—even if she doesn’t intend to do so. Over all, she is a kindhearted person who cares deeply about others.

Appearance

Hair Color: Brunette

Hair Texture and Style: Long, thick waves. Typically worn down with a bow at the back.

Eye Color: Crimson

Eye Shape: Sharp

Height: 5’6” (167 cm)

Build: Tall and lean with longer legs. Generally curvy with sharper facial features.

Interests and Hobbies

Likes:

Magic

Reading

The Night Fall series

Writing (especially fiction)

Socializing

Cute things

Sweets/pastries

Learning history and tradition

Languages

Dislikes:

Pressure

Poor manners

Sharing her writing

Wasting time/sitting around

Receiving poor marks

Distractions

Horror movies

Blood/gore

Fears:

Letting others down

Not meeting her own expectations

The dark 

Relationships

Diana Cavendish: Mother. Ever since she was a child, Aya has always been particularly close with Diana. As future head of the Cavendish family, Aya feels as though she has a lot to learn from her and spends a lot of time around her as a result. Becoming someone who can make Diana proud in living up to her family name is Aya’s greatest goal. She typically feels comfortable in going to Diana for advice or guidance when she feels like she needs it. Aya deeply admires Diana and hopes to one day be half as great of a witch as she is. 

Atsuko Kagari: Mother. While close with Diana, Aya is equally close with Akko. Sometimes she finds it easier to confide her stressors and anxieties in Akko, as she relates to her previous struggles with academics and magic. Akko often worries that Aya pushes herself too hard, and usually encourages her to loosen up. She tries to find ways that Aya can have more fun and enjoy herself—activities that Aya deeply appreciates since they usually do help her loosen up.

Emily Cavendish: Younger sister. While the two were much closer when they were young, their relationship has become somewhat distant and strained since they have gotten older. Aya finds Emi’s rebellious behavior to be frustrating and worries about how it looks on their family name. However, at the same time, she is envious of the freedom Emi has since the expectations others have of her are much lower. She also finds it frustrating that Emi seems to have a natural inclination for magic and academics, but doesn’t utilize them to her best ability. However, despite everything Aya deeply loves and cares about her sister. She is far more protective of her than some people are aware, and will be the first to stick up for her if the situation calls for it.

Trivia

- Aya can speak and read Japanese fluently. She has known how to speak it since she was young, but learning how to read it took much longer. She is still learning different kanji.

- The kanji Akko uses to write Aya’s given name is 亜矢.

- She was first introduced to the Night Fall series by Barbara and Lotte whenever either of them would babysit while she was young. They would often read to her from the books, and she fell completely in love with them. Her favorite character is Edgar.

- Aya adores magic, and always wanted to go to as many of Akko’s shows as she could when she was younger. She is often discouraged by the fact that magic doesn’t seem to be something that comes naturally to her. As a result, Akko was usually her biggest cheerleader and did everything she could to help Aya learn.

- Aya was easily frightened as a child, and to this day still does not like horror movies or the dark. She would never let others know that she sleeps with a small nightlight.

- She detests blood and gore, and has no idea how Diana is able to expose herself to it so easily when studying medical textbooks. Just glancing at it makes her feel faint.

- Aya has a soft spot for cute things and owns a small collection of stuffed animals at home.

[saleintothe90s]

422. ”Carrie” (May 12 - May 15 1988)

I adore reading about flops. One of my favorite flops to read about is Carrie the musical. A doomed production from the start. Millions of dollars wasted. Bad costumes. Filler songs.

Similar to my Simpsons season 10 review, I wanna give something to the worst aspects of the show. With Simpsons, bad episodes were awarded Marge’s homemade Pepsi. For Carrie, I think I’m going to give the bad parts the “Vending Machine Maxi Pad” award. 

As most anybody who follows Broadway flops knows, clips from Carrie are scarce and are in poor condition on YouTube. Most of the actual clips are from when the show was in test productions in Stratford Upon Avon, but the music has been replaced with the Broadway soundboard.  So, keep that in mind. Most of the time you can’t even make out what’s going on. Here’s the closest copy of the entire show I could find on YouTube, from the Sratford Upon Avon production. 

I know people bash the musical, and sometimes it’s rightfully so, but two things are consistent: Linzi Hateley who played Carrie, and that orchestra that is on.point. Check out the overture.

(source)

The show begins with girls cheering in gym class in the beginning of an aerobics lesson?  The white gym shorts look like diapers. That’s the first of many costume mistakes. 

The song is a banger, I love Darlene Love playing the gym teacher, she’s my favorite part of the song. The only part that is cringey to me is when the girls sing “I go CrAzZyyyyy” and they get on the ground and dance like a toddler having a temper tantrum in a Toys R Us. Since the audio quality is so bad in these clips, I thought at one point the girls were singing about not being caught picking their nose, no, the lyric is:

Bought the clothes, did my nose,

Near the end of the song, the girls are on these rising rafters? It took me for-ever to realize that they were simulating a cheerleader pyramid, and that Carrie had snuck in near the end of the number to be on the bottom of the pyramid. Oh, and she causes it to fall and someone tells her to eat shit. 

“Dream On” is the song that the girls sing while in the showers. Why yes, it does look like they’re in the nude due to the poor quality of the video.  The song is ok, it gives total night driving home from the mall in the late 80s early 90s vibes.  Although one girl says the line, “Six foot three and he's in his forties!”. WHAT. 

Carrie breaks those vibes at around 3:44 by screaming that she’s bleeding. When Miss Gardener slaps Carrie, a cymbal plays. I love it.

I like to imagine that when the girls threw the tampons and pads at Carrie, some flew into the audience. 

“Carrie” is shrill at first, and then it turns into a bit of snoozefest. Linzi sings the name “Carrie” about 458 times. 

Betty Buckley who previously had played the original Grizabella in Cats. and who played the gym teacher in the original movie plays Carrie’s mom. Her song, “Open Your Heart” is pretty good. It’s a nice little break before mom goes bottoms up on Carrie for getting her period (”And Eve Was Weak” [Stratford version with Barbara Cook]):

Carrie: I was in the shower and...

Mom: You’re forbidden from showering with the other girls...

Carrie: I started to bleed!

While Carrie spends the rest of the night in a cellar, the popular girls are at the drive-in. Now, this musical cost over $7 million dollars 1, but yet this was the best set they could think of for a drive-in movie theater: 

It looks like something out of a high school play -- which I guess makes a little sense since they are high schoolers? I’m grabbing at straws here. It cost so much money to put Carrie on, what’s a few more dollars to have two real hollowed out cars on stage, one with Chris (in the red) & Billy (in black) in it, and the other with Sue (pink leggings) and Tommy (purple windbreaker)? 

“Don’t Waste the Moon” is the song sung at the drive-in, with Sue having regrets about throwing tampons at Carrie in the beginning of the song. The song is very 1980s, and it kind of doesn’t fit in the musical. Gene Anthony Ray’s (Billy) talent is wasted here. 

It’s time for some “Evening Prayers” for Carrie where she discusses with God her new telekinesis powers. Meanwhile Carrie’s mom is being a worrywort. During the Stratford production, Carrie’s mom is in a rocking chair over there looking like Whistler’s Mother. 

“You’re going to tell Carrie that you’re sorry!” belts out Miss Gardner. In the musical, Chris seems more obsessed with torturing Carrie than in the movie or book if that’s even possible. Sue is like, “What did she even do to you?”. Even Billy asked earlier, “Who the hell is Carrie White?”. 

Oooof. Seeing the gym teacher try to cheer Carrie up by singing a song about the prom (”Unsuspecting Hearts”) and how she could go too is patronizing. Even if its sung by Darlene Love. 

“Do Me a Favor” might be the most infamous song from the musical. It’s the song I see referred to the most when I read bad reviews. For some reason Chris is wearing a metallic red bodysuit and Sue is wearing a light pink bodysuit. Are they supposed to be that cliche devil and the angel on the shoulder thing? 

Chris looks like Evil Homer! 

I’m going be the unpopular opinion here and say that I love the song! The erratic dancing also fits with the song. 

Carrie tells her mom before “I Remember How Those Boys Would Dance” that Tommy is sweet and polite, but the audience doesn’t know that. Tommy is barely a character in this production. In the end, Carrie uses her powers to shut her mama up.

From what I gather in “Out for Blood” (audio) where Chris and Billy go looking for a pig to kill, the chorus dancers are the pigs? The video quality is so poor. Chris had another crazy ass red outfit on, some sort of shiny red skirt and a crop top. The costumes in this are just horrible. It was like the wardrobe budget was $50. 

This song is so.so.bad. It reminds me of whenever Rocko from Rocko’s Modern Life would see a movie trailer or a parody of something on TV for some reason?! Or the “gotta get that Reptar song” from Rugrats when the kids saw Reptar on ice. Especially when the chorus tells Billy to kill the pig: 

CHORUS Cha! Kill the pig, pig, pig! CHRIS Go! CHORUS Kill 'im, kill 'im, kill, kill! We'll make him bleed! CHRIS Go! CHORUS Get the blood, blood, blood Oooh, blood! CHRIS Oh, baby show... CHORUS Kill the pig, make 'im bleed Let's get the blood, that's all we need!

Sue’s song “It Hurts to be Strong” is a bit of a throw-away. It gets a vending machine maxi pad award. Moving on. It’s filler  

In “I’m Not Alone”, Carrie sings while using her powers to move things around in her room. What things? I don’t know the video quality was so bad. That’s another thing! The sets are nonexistent! I wouldn’t know we were in Carrie’s room unless the Playbill told me. It’s another forgettable song. Three in a row!

Betty Buckley saves the day in, “When There’s No One”, a sad song about facing life without Carrie being her subordinate. 

I don’t understand the prom dresses in “Wotta Night”, they’re all garish giant white numbers that make the actresses look about 20 pounds heaver.  The guys look like that Rio doll from Jem. The costume designer couldn’t just go to Alexanders or A&S and buy prom dresses? You know, why am I even asking at this point. We all saw what Chris has been wearing this whole time. There is a disco ball thrown aside in the corner instead of hanging up. More on that later.

The song sounds way too much like that song “Rock on” by David Essex.  Automatic Vending Machine Maxi Pad. 

Here’s a cute rehearsal clip I found of “Heaven”, the song sung while the Prom Queen and King ballots are being counted. Unfortunately, the audio is bad. Chris is there to remind us that she’s still out for blood.

Finally, finally it’s time for Carrie the prom queen to get drenched with blood -- but the thing is, due to microphone technology back then, Carrie really couldn’t have blood dumped on her. Chris and Billy just run up to her and half ass pour the bucket at her. Could the set designer not suspend the bucket from above the stage? Is that also why the disco ball is thrown in the corner? I don’t even think she has stage blood on her during “The Destruction”, (which is the best song from the musical).  I think a red spotlight over Carrie signifies the blood.

I think Linzi is really only truly covered in blood for press shots. 

Anyway, the Destruction, I love it when she screeches “DOESN’T ANYBODY EVER GET IT RIGHT??! DOESN’T ANYBODY THINK THAT I HEAR?!” It’s the best. I could listen to it all day and I almost did the other day. 

Due the poor video quality, I can’t really tell how the prom-goers are dying. They’re kinda just twitching there in the laser light or slamming themselves against the clear barrier that descended from the stage to signify Carrie closing the doors to the gym. 

After Carie kills everybody, this giant white staircase descends and covers up the gym. I read somewhere, I forgot where, that its supposed to be the school stairs? We’re led to believe that Carrie’s crazy mom ran to the school. The first time I saw it, I thought that it was Carrie and her mom getting ready to go to heaven. I thought maybe someone over at the set department took the classic song too literally. 

It appears that while the stairs are descending, Carrie smears stage blood on her. 

The reprise of “Carrie’ is so much better than the original. Carrie stops her mom’s heart cold mid song. Then she slins down the stairs and Sue catches her. In an interview on playbill.com, Betty Buckley says that on opening night (I don’t know if she meant the first preview, or the official opening night), there were boos from the audience at the end, but cheers for Linzi and herself. I believe it. Betty and Linzi were amazing. Darlene Love was amazing. The rough scenes are the scenes with the school kids. They’re awful, in the words of my boy Jay Sherman, “they’re awful I tell you. aw.ful.” 

(relevant prom .gif) 

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1. Rothstein, Mervyn. “After Seven Years And $7 Million, ‘Carrie’ Is a Kinetic Memory (Published 1988).” The New York Times, May 17, 1988, sec. Theater. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/17/theater/after-seven-years-and-7-million-carrie-is-a-kinetic-memory.html.

New York City Broadway reviews on the news in NYC for Carrie.  That first reviewer, Stuart Klein, I love him. I’ve watched several of his reviews on flops on YouTube. Joel Sigel who was the Good Morning America film reviewer is here too. 

Archive of Betty Buckley interview. 

[isagrimorie]

Hi. I finally have a reliable way of watching classic who, so I'm trying out to work out a good approach. A long while ago, I put together a list of stories suggested by different people about good "definitive" stories for each Doctor. But I've been following you for a while now and you seem to have a pretty good understanding of Classic Who. So I thought I'd ask, whether you had any suggestions?

Hi sorry I’m just getting to you now! Awesome you’re getting into Classic Who, it reminds me that I need to get back into it… I’m not really an expert on Classic Who and I lost my Classic Who to watch because my old laptop died. This’ll teach me, honestly, to put notes on a cloud based note taking program rather than just the one living on the computer. 

Here’s the list and some of my favorites. It’s not complete, so fairwarning! Also Classic Who goes by stories ranging from 4 episodes each to a whopping 12 episode. 

First Doctor

An Unearthly Child (The first story where two teachers spy at a student’s home out of concern and in return the First Doctor kidnaps them and then strands them on prehistoric Earth where the Doctor tries to kill a caveman with a rock). 

The Daleks - Second story where the Doctor lands them on Skaro, meets the Daleks for the first time. Skaro was a war ravaged, post-nuclear winter world where two kinds of races lived the Kaled and Thals. 

The Edge of Destruction - The TARDIS almost kills the crew, the crew acts weird and Barbara Wright gives the Doctor one hell of a talking to, and the Doctor starts to shape up. 

Marco Polo - I haven’t seen this! 

Keys of Marinus - I haven’t seen this either

The Aztecs - Fabulous Barbara Wright where she shows how amazing she is. She’s allowed to be both right, wrong, and righteous. But also.. it’s Aztecs as portrayed by a 1960s show. Also, the Doctor accidentally gets engaged. Not the last time! 

The Sensorites - The Time Team meats a psychic alien race. 

The Planet of Giants - (sorry I haven’t seen this) 

The Dalek Invasion of Earth - An awesome, post-apocalyptic London in the far future where the Daleks enslave Earth. Barbara is awesome and Susan makes her goodbye, and the Doctor leaves Susan with only ONE shoe. 

The Rescue - Vicki, the new companion arrives. Something about the confrontation here between One and the threat reminds me of  Thirteen. 

The Romans - A really fun episode. A really fun and shippy episode for Barbara and Ian. Also… really traumatic! Also the Doctor may or may not have inspired the burning of Rome. 

The Web Planet - I have to be honest I couldn’t finish this episode. 

The Crusade

The Space Museum - Haven’t watched yet. 

The Chase - A silly episode where the gang gets chased through time and space by a bunch of Daleks. Barbara and Ian leaves, and Steven the astronaut stumbles into the TARDIS

The Time Meddler - The first time another Time Lord (not yet called a Time Lord) is on the show. The Doctor and The Meddling Monk have fun chess shenanigans. 

Galaxy 4 

Mission to the Unknown - Prequel to the epic The Dalek’s Masterplan. Recently graduate students recreated this. The only episode on Doctor Who without the Doctor or the TARDIS.

 The Mythmakers - Through audiobook in Audible. Vicki stays behind, and the Doctor, uh, might have help start the sacking of Troy. 

The Dalek Masterplan - Real epic where we see how sly Daleks can be, with a huge array of characters. Again, I experienced this as an audiobook so I don’t know what this looks. 

The Massacre at St Bartholomew’s Eve, The Ark, The Celestial Toymaker (yes the one namechecked recently). I haven’t seen these episodes yet! 

The Gunfighters - A really fun episode where the Doctor, Steven, and Dodo ( a new Companion) in the Old West. 

 The War Machines - The Doctor comes back to 60s London where a sentient computer tries to takeover the world through hypnosis. Dodo leaves and two new companions, Ben and Polly arrive. 

Unfortunately that’s the only First Doctor episodes I’ve watched

Second Doctor

The Tomb of the Cybermen - Supposedly the iconic episode. And where the Second Doctor has a really fantastic inspirational talk about keeping the people we love in our hearts. Unfortunately, probelmatic about race, and the first of the many times a black person dies in a Cyberman episode. It’s unfortunate because they already have so few black characters on the show but they almost always die when a Cyberman is around. 

The Enemy of the World - The Second Doctor looks like a Dictator and there are shenanigans. Also there is an awesome woman character. 

The Dominators - Fun episode with adorable robots. 

The War Games - The EPIC ten episode last story for the Second Doctor. And the first time we all meet the other Time Lords and realize quickly they’re assholes of the highest order. And every subsequent appearance will only reinforce that. 

Third Doctor

Spearhead from Space - The Third Doctor’s first adventure, and the first colored Doctor Who! We meet Doctor Liz Shaw and the rest of the UNIT team. The Brig is also reintroduced! (Um he was in an episode I hadn’t seen from Second Doctor era). 

Dr Who and the Silurians - Really good episode and the ending, omg. 

 Ambassadors of Death - Also good but a bit bloated I think 

Inferno - THE BEST. AND I MEAN THE BEST. The first official alternate universe episode and the Third Doctor struggles to save Earth. Also, unfortunately Dr. Liz Shaw’s last episode :(. 

Season 2, Third Doctor 

Terror of the Autons - The Master’s first appearance! And a weirdly floating Time Lord. Jo Grant appears! 

The Mind of Evil - The Master tries to disrupt a peace conference with mind control, Jo Grant is awesome, and we find out the Master’s main fear is the Doctor laughing at him and proving he is more superior than the Master. 

The Claws of Axos - Aliens come to Earth and try to scam Earth, the Master is behind it… and is in trouble too. 

I hope that’s enough for the moment? 

[oh-mother-of-darkness]

asks (40)

Anonymous said: Holy frick that is so encouraging and I needed that so much bc I literally visited my college to measure my dorm room and drove home in tears bc I panicked myself into a frenzy about whether or not everything leading me to this point has been a mistake and what if I fail and ruin my life before it even starts (I have since calmed down a little) so your encouragement was much needed & is much appreciated

I’m glad I could help <3 <3 <3 Good luck at school! I’m sure you’ll kick its ass

areverieofchaosdreams said: It's Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day. So thank you for all your amazing stories!!!

Oh goodness I’m all a blushin :’)

Anonymous said: *HAPPY WRITER APPRECIATION DAY* Send this to someone whose talent has blown you away, who you'd like to encourage to keep on writing always, and who you'd like to thank for working their butt off to provide fandom members with breathtaking stories to consume! THANK YOU :D

Aw thank you!

Anonymous said: Hi! I Hope you're well! Do you still take fic requests? Because I really miss Colin Wilkes and I'd love to a story of him with your writing!

Unfortunately I don’t often take requests these days, but I’ll definitely keep Colin in mind!

dirtycherrypie said: hey! applying for WE for the R&D department (may or may not be aware of producing bat gadgets)

dirtycherrypie said: SHit forgot my name - Bea, at your service!

[Bruce Wayne voice] hired

tigers-and-weeds said: Literally just fell down the rabbit hole on your tumblr for the last 12-24 hours. I am in love with with you headcannons and fics! The angst feeds my soul... So I figured I would request: anything angsty with Dick and Damian please please please

Okay again I don’t usually take fic requests BUT I like me some angst so the odds that this will eventually happen.... are extremely high. I’ll try to remember to dedicate the next one to you :) And thank you!

math--ew said: I went on a little birthday vacation to california and I've never been to the beach before. I was bending down to grab a pretty shell and this huge wave knocked me face first into the sand. Like, five people saw and laghed but I got the shell so I guess it's a win win.

Duuuude back at Lake Michigan last month the same thing happened to me. I was taking care of my little sister and her five year old friend, so I was so busy making sure they were okay that the wave plowed me halfway across the beach

babybatbrat said: when i was in ap physics i once spent an entire study period in my physics teacher's room working on one problem. as far as i could tell i was doing all of the work correctly and had all the initial values right so i was racking my brain trying to figure out why i wasn't getting the right answer. the third time i went up to my teacher and asked for help he told me to start at the beginning and walk him through my process bc he couldn't tell why i was getting it wrong either (1)

babybatbrat said: (2) so i start the problem and explain how i got through all the values - "okay so the rod is 5 inches long and half of 5 is 3 and a half -" and i stopped there bc it occurred to me that 3.5 is not half of 5. "it's what?" My teacher asks. i put my head in my hands and stood there for a minute before picking up my work and walking to the back of the classroom while he laughed, bc i had just spent 45 minutes convinced that half of 5 was 3.5 and not, in fact, 2.5, and that was the only thing wrong

Honestly??? Relatable

babybatbrat said: One time i woke up at six in the morning to hear the neighbor's dog barking and instantly realized that meant my dog had jumped the fence, so i went racing outside and sprinted down the street to catch her. when i did i picked her up and turned around to go home and then saw my neighbor standing on their front porch, realized i was in only an oversized spiderman tshirt and snowman pajama shorts, holding a twenty pound labrador and thats how i met my new neighbors

Incredible...... 10/10.....

thrakaboom said: Not a funny story,but two days ago at comic con I met Tom King and he showed me a picture of his kids while he was signing my books

Well hey that’s pretty cool

Anonymous said: I adore your Tumblr. It was a wonderful way to get into the Batfamily fanbase; prior, I thought that there was only one Batman and a single Robin, dearie me was I wrong. And those stories you write, just great. The Headcanons are just as enjoyable. As for Batman, that has come to be a sibling enjoyment. Thank you for your contributions and existence!

!!!!!! Welcome to the crew!

frnkensteingrrrlz said: hey!!! i just went through ur reasons to be happy tag and!! i'm so so happy bc of it (esp the damian hcs, they're spot on imo and he's my favourite) so i hope u have a good day!!!

Thanks! I am having a good day today! Although I’m sure it’s been a long time since you sent this :////

Anonymous said: HELLO I have just discovered and binge-read all of your fics with my homeboy Damian in them, and just wanted to pop by and say that I love you & you are my hero & you write my boy so well so thank u and I hope your life is blessed & you achieve your wildest hopes & dreams

My day is made :D

badfaith00 said: Best batman storyline you've ever read ?

Ooooooh hm I’m mighty attached to n52 Batman and Robin? Particularly the first storyline, but the second is also fantastic

Anonymous said: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHAMELESSLY REBLOGGING YOUR OWN WORK BC I HADNT SEEN IT BEFORE AND ITS HONESTLY SO PHENOMENAL ITS GOING ON MY LIST OF ALL TIME FAVORITES THANK U AND BLESS U

THANK YOU!!! THAT ONE IS MY FAVORITE AND I AM VERY PROUD OF IT

onwardmotley said: In today's Detective Comics someone finally told Bruce and co that Tim's alive. They didn't explain where he is, or how to get him back, but hey. It might've had more impact if anyone was seen actually mourning Tim and it wasn't just played as him being in cosmic time out, but at least it should end soon idk. Hopefully.

Tim Drake? It’s been years since I heard that name.....

Finally. Thank goodness.

Anonymous said: Idk if I prefer your soul crushing angst or your heartwarming fluff... actually I like to suffer so I'll stay with angst lol

Y’all seeing this? Anon gave me permission. Can’t yell at me next time because it won't be my fault (thanks babe :))

Anonymous said: for music, idk what kind of music u like so here is variety: St. Vincent - Paris is Burning, Sea Wolf - Dear Fellow Traveler (tbh everything by Sea Wolf is great), Dirt Poor Robins - Eleanor Rigby, Between Wind and Water- HAEL, Ellem - Kings and Queens and Vagabonds, The Rigs - Rise & Fall, Tally Hall - Light and Night, and Streetlight Manifesto - The Hands that Thieve.

Thank you! I’m excited to listen to these! I’ll start right now!

Anonymous said: 1) What are the good comics to read for Batfamily stuff (from any point in time) and 2) what are the best Jason Todd comics? Thanks!

Okay for Jason I would definitely start with the big ones, which are A Death In the Family and Under the Red Hood. After that you could try Red Hood: the Lost Days and Countdown to Final Crisis. I would avoid the n52 series until you have a good enough grasp of the character to recognize bad writing when you see it. 

For the generalized batfam.... that’s pretty broad. My personal favorites are Red Robin, Batgirl (2009), and both B&R series. If you have more specific questions, you should IM me! I promise I’m better about answering those than asks

yellowwallsbluesky said: Have you heard Swooner by The Zolas? I've really been jamming to it lately

Listening to it right now! Sounds like a bop so far :)

Anonymous said: Hidden citizens paint it black 💜

Much obliged!

Anonymous said: Harry styles "sign of the times".

[adds to list] thank you!

neo669 said: I MISS CASA OLE!! Sorry just read that you lived in Bryan/College Station and I used to live there as well. It's kinda hard to find people that even know that it exists. But I'm sure you can kick law schools butt. You got this!

Yooooooo I miss cstat too :((((

palliddark said: Adalgiza, and I'll be a translator (English to Brazilian Portuguese)

[Bruce Wayne voice] also hired

maeofthedead said: I love your headcannons and now I sort of want to cry thank

Excellent that is the exact target response 

Anonymous said: Love your rant in the tags about the pizza making I'm laughing so hard

Listen..... I have strong feelings

Anonymous said: Did you hear they're making an omnibus of Tomasi's entire run on Batman & Robin?? I just heard and now I kinda want to get this massive book in honor of my favorite batkid and the series that made me love him so much

Man I already have all the individual volumes but if I didn’t......

sonicboom00724601 said: Hi. :) Nice headcanon. :)

I’m not sure which one you’re talking about, but thank you! You're real sweet

Anonymous said: can you maybe write an interaction between Wonder Woman and Captain America? I absolutely adore your style and would love to see your take on it.

Hmmmm I don’t really have a good enough grasp of Captain America’s characterization to try that one :////

Anonymous said: i tried to kill on mosquito that was on my ceiling by slamming it with a book but mosquito was on the move so i bounced swiftly and jammed both my wrist and thumb and now my existence is Pain. also my thumbs swelling and looks purple, so that's nice

Oh shit anon you good???

daziy said: Do we know who Barbara's mother usually is?

Yeah! In her original version, Babs had a birth mom and an adopted mom. She was originally Jim’s niece, so her birth mom’s name was Thelma Gordon. After the adoption, her parents were Jim and Barbara Gordon, with her adopted mother being her namesake. So two Barbara Gordons.

I think for awhile the canon was that her mother died in a car crash, but the current version has her still alive. She left Jim when Babs was young, taking her son (Babs’s brother) with her. James Gordon (the son) turned out to be a serial killer. 

Barbara Gordon Sr. and James Gordon Jr. both appeared in the n52 Batgirl series during the Death of the Family arc. There’s also a very good story about James from the Dickbats period. That one’s called The Black Mirror, if I’m not mistaken?

Anonymous said: Hi! What do you think of the upcoming metal event? Dick and Damian seem to have a big role in it ( I hope Jason is involved too but there's still no sign of it)

Hmmmm I don’t know that I have an opinion just yet, but as always, I hope to be pleasantly surprised 

Anonymous said: bless you are your wonderful tagging system. know that i may have avoided death because of how easy it was to f ind the thing I wanted in your tags. bless

Oh goodness anon I hope you’re not serious about almost dying.... but thanks?

Anonymous said: hi amy! would u say that damians narrative is written as a child abuse one? like there are definitely many allusions to it but its also not as explicit as say, cassandra or rose. like how much of it would u chalk up to comic world dynamics and how much to actual abuse? also would u consider jason to also be a case of this?

Oh I have very strong opinions about the role of abuse in Damian’s narrative. It’s absolutely there, and the effects are staggeringly large. There is no doubt in my mind that the league was an abusive environment, and I can’t justify some of the things Bruce did either.

I think I would say the same thing for Jason, if not quite as strongly. I definitely think that some of the things that happened to Jason as a child shaped his story later on, but less of those were abuse than outside circumstances. The n52 takes a different track on that one, I think, but I don’t put much stock in that characterization. 

Anonymous said: has jason forgiven bruce for not killing joker? if so, what made him?

Unlikely. They get along better these days, but I would argue that comes from poor characterization of Bruce, not an actual resolution process. 

mellenabrave said: My mom accidentlly threw my Damian doll away (╥_╥)

Tossed in the garbage by yet another parent--

Anonymous said: Whoa where'd you get that bat and oracle shirt you're wearing in your necklace pic? It's so cool! (The necklace is also gorgeous!)

Shoot I think it was from Redbubble? But I can’t find it now

Anonymous said: Omg that necklace was so cool!!! Kudos to the maker of it!! Also I really like your top!!

Thank you <3

[vixory]

20 Questions

tagged by @thefaultinourbiryani ​

Rules: Answer 20 questions and tag 20 (more like 5 ) followers you’d like to know better.

Name: Victor, sadly no K. Otherwise cool Russian version.

Nickname: V, works. Special people are allowed Vicky.

Zodiac Sign: Leo (Although I also don’t believe in them)

Height: bit over 5’ 7

Ethnicity: More American than anything else, not white though. Just never felt Latin, aside from being put in a ESL (Englsh as a Second Language) Class when I was young even though I didn’t need it and spoke both languages flawlessly. I was just a shy kid and the teachers made assumptions.

Orientation: Down By The River

Favourite fruit(s): strawberries, mangoes, Pineapples

Favourite season: Autumn. Sadly here it only last two months at most. But love the weather, colors, and rocking cool outfits.

Favourite Book(s): tricky(not counting …Science of superman, Batman No Man’s Land(book adaptation), Pale Blue Dot, Bad Feminist, Maybe You Never Cry Again, Deep Dark fears(collection of awesome comics, check out the tumblr @deep-dark-fears​), Ragged Dick, Manic Magee(SO VERY MUCH).

Favourite Flower(s): Sunflowers, I think.

Favourite Animal(s): Dogs, wolves. But recently, I started not hating cats.

Favourite Beverage(s) Water, coffee, water, soy chai latte, water, green tea.

Average Hours of Sleep: 6 to 8 usually. Sometimes 4.

FAVORITE FICTIONAL CHARACTER(S): hmm. On the spot. Maka Albarn, Rorschach, Walter White, Terminator from T2, Korra, Toph Beifong, Spike Spiegel, Female Commander Shepard, Captain Jean Luc Picard, Data from Start Trek TNG, Big Boss and The Boss from Metal Gear Series, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, SpiderGwen, Miles Morales, Kamala Khan and Carol Danvers, She Hulk, Batman, anyone from Saga comic, ooh Lisa and Ally from Sunstone they are adorable OTP, Saitama from One Punch Man, Hatter from the Looking Glass Wars, OOOOHHH Barbara Gordon/Oracle!!!!!Liz Lemon, I’m sure there’s plenty I am forgetting.

Number Of Blankets: 2. One big comforter when cold, one small green one when it is hot, which is often

Dream trip: Anywhere with my miss or just to her. But Cuba, MAG fest in Baltimore, Montreal, anywhere with giant redwoods (especially with miss), Hawaii, Pakistan to have pistachio and peshawari ice cream and to meet a cool person, England to indulge my anglophile tendencies and hang out with a dope person, Ireland, Seoul in South Korea, Japan tour the cities, Paris, small town in Spain that bares my last name become its ruler, Belize to meet an AMAZING Person’s past, Brazil(carnival, sort of), Dead Sea to see if I float or if there’s actually a gypsy curse on me, as well as revisiting places I’ve been(NYC, DC, etc) with the best companion  around.

Blogs Created: 2, at least. Can’t give away all my secrets.

Number Of Followers: 130(grateful to you all, even the pornbots)

Tagging  @justbecauseitalkslow @sternenblumen @armsintheair @wrenberries @thewolfandhermoon

[timeflies1007-blog]

Doctor Who Reviews by a Female Doctor, Season 4, p. 4

Season Four Overview: The Most Important Woman in the Universe

Donna Noble’s return to the show is one of the biggest godsends that has ever occurred on this program. After a very strong first season, the show had declined a bit in quality—it still offered us the chance to watch a lot of marvelous actors and some very well-written episodes, but it had definitely gotten markedly less consistent. Even with Donna, there are more weak episodes here than were present in the first season, but the number of high-quality episodes definitely skyrockets. Part of Donna’s success is the shift in character type. The classic series sometimes had female companions, like Barbara and Romana, who were a bit older than the average companion, but Martha and especially Rose were much more in the tradition of relatively young companions like Ace, Sarah Jane, Tegan, etc. The casting of Catherine Tate was already an interesting move away from what was becoming the established type for companions, but just as importantly, Davies allows the character to play to Tate’s comedic strengths. Donna is funny and loud, to the point that some fans have labeled her as “screechy” or as a “joke companion.”  Most companions haven’t strayed very far from the traditional ingénue type, and having a loud, comedic woman—the type of character who is often reduced to being the female lead’s best friend—play the main companion is absolutely marvelous. We get so many delightful moments of Donna’s exuberance, like her mimed reaction to the Doctor in “Partners in Crime” and her mystery-solving efforts in “The Unicorn and the Wasp,” and Tate sells the character’s energy and humor amazingly well.  

While she’s easily the most overtly comedic companion of the reboot, the show also takes her very seriously as a character, and some of the season’s best scenes center on her growing awareness of the world around her. Traveling with the Doctor produces something of an awakening for all of the companions, but there’s a more dramatic shift for her. Rose was also stuck in a pattern of being unable to find meaningful work or a sense of purpose, but that’s a different experience for a 19-year-old than it is for someone over 30, and Donna carries with her the extra burden of having gone through repeated failures to find the life she wants over a long period of time. “The Runaway Bride” also established a slightly shallow, gossipy persona, and so the moments in which her kindness and empathy come to the forefront are especially resonant. The end of “The Fires of Pompeii” and her reaction to the Ood’s song of captivity are stunning moments, in large part because they show how much more depth there is to Donna than was initially apparent. In spite of her exuberant sense of fun, Donna also possesses a lot of resentment, presumably the product of a lifetime of dull jobs, failed relationships, and people telling her not to be so loud. This resentment winds up being a huge asset to her, as she is very vocal about the things that frustrate her, from occasional lapses in the Doctor’s behavior to the rules about interfering with history. Davies blends her narrative of personal growth with the monster-of-the-week plots beautifully, to the point where even many of the most important pieces of plotting speak to Donna’s development as a character.

While I do think the season conveys a very clear sense of how Donna’s previous life experiences affect her actions as a time-traveler, I would have liked to get a bit more of a sense of what that life was like. To be fair, we did see some of this in “The Runaway Bride,” but this season is focused to an unusual extent on Donna’s escape from ordinary life. Even “Partners in Crime,” which is set in contemporary London, mostly depicts Donna’s efforts to rejoin the Doctor by investigating unusual events, and so it doesn’t give us much of a sense of what Donna’s life is like when it’s not centered on the Doctor. The first season of the reboot was revolutionary in the extent to which it worked Rose’s home and family into the narrative, but in some senses I think subsequent seasons have built on that season’s success in the wrong ways. I loved Jackie Tyler, I really liked Pete Tyler, I was bored for a while with Mickey Smith but eventually I got round to liking him, but part of the charm of our introduction to Rose was that she was placed into a quite specific and detailed world. Yes, her family was important, but we also got a lot of attention to her life on the Powell Estate. The early scenes of “Rose” give us a lot of information about her job and how she spends her time, “Aliens of London” showed us her neighbors, “The Parting of the Ways” showed us where she eats chips—they aren’t especially significant details, but she really is placed into a particular world, and Jackie benefits from that specificity as well. After Rose, Davies stuck with the idea of showing us some of the life on Earth of the companions, but he basically shifted to just family members. I was frustrated that we got basically nothing about Martha’s status as a medical student after her first episode, because it meant that her parents and siblings were the only connections that she had to Earth. Donna is written the same way here—Wilf is a very nice character, and he’s beautifully acted by Bernard Cribbins, but he is written as the only thing that Donna cares about on Earth, and I’m a little bored with that. Most of their scenes together involve talking about the Doctor, so Donna’s one connection to Earth is still almost entirely about her Doctor life. I like having companions’ family members on the show, but more than that I want to see companions that have interests, or at least things that they do with their time that are not traveling in the TARDIS. Rose was mostly just working at the shop, eating chips, and hanging out with Mickey, but even if her life was dull it was well-rounded. Later companions start coming back to this; Amy never really gets enough attention to her life on Earth (and “The Power of Three” is the only episode that really tries) but Clara is grading papers and holding parent-teacher conferences and going on dates with Danny, and Bill is serving chips and looking for cheap housing and getting interrupted on dates with Penny and writing lots of essays. Not all of the details work well in these examples, but my overall impression is that Rose, Clara, and Bill get worlds, while Martha, Donna, and Amy get relatives. Other than “Turn Left,” which gives us a very different version of Donna, when she’s not traveling with the Doctor she’s trying to find the Doctor or talking to Wilf about how much she wants to find the Doctor/how happy she is to have found the Doctor. Tate’s performance makes the character feel so grounded and real that it doesn’t matter too much, but I would really have liked to see something that Donna wants that doesn’t involve the Doctor.

     This lack of attention to Donna’s life on Earth sort of dovetails with the other problem that I have with her arc this season, which is that it feels weirdly frontloaded, to the point where there isn’t sufficient material to work with in the second half of the season. While I would say that the strongest sequence of episodes overall this season is “Silence in the Library”/“Forest of the Dead”/“Midnight,” my favorite part of the season for Donna is actually the beginning. “Partners in Crime,” “The Fires of Pompeii,” and “Planet of the Ood” do an absolutely splendid job of setting up the relationship between the Doctor and Donna and of showing how much she has grown since “The Runaway Bride.” If we can sort of see the start of this season as the introduction of Donna as a major companion, since she’s presented as just a one-episode character in “The Runaway Bride,” I would consider these three episodes to be the best companion introduction certainly in the reboot and probably in the entire history of the show. We learn so much about the character in this sequence, and she’s just so likeable and such a good counterpart to the Doctor that the season starts off magnificently. The problem is that she grows into the ideal version of herself quite quickly, which means that the second half of the season struggles to figure out what to do with her. I absolutely adore the work that episodes like “The Fires of Pompeii” and “Planet of the Ood” do with the character, but I do think that they represent fairly climactic moments in Donna’s growth as a person, and they come awfully early in her time on the show. After that, the season is sort of stuck portraying Donna as someone who has had flaws, because she’s already successfully worked through the major ones. If the season had allowed her to retain a little bit more of that shallowness that she used to possess for just a few episodes longer, the season would have felt like a more consistent progression for her, rather than a sensational leap at the start of the season followed by a long plateau. (I mean, she’s still awesome and loveable on said plateau, but in the first few episodes she’s awesome and loveable and developing as a character.) I think that seeing more of her life at home—as herself, not as Alternate Dystopian Universe Donna—would maybe have allowed us to get a more extended progression toward her best self. If we had more encounters with things that frustrate Donna or that distract her from the drive that she shows this season, her arc might be able to unfold more gradually rather than springing into existence like a jack-in-the-box. Again, Tate infuses the character with so much depth that she’s still enjoyable even in these later episodes of the season, but I just never find the character as interesting as she is in those first few stories.

The Doctor’s development is also inconsistent here, although it does extend longer than Donna’s does. He starts the season seeming like he has put aside some of the problems that characterized his behavior in the previous season, as can be seen in his admission that he ruined Martha’s life and his determination to avoid repeating that. He’s doing really well for a while—until the Sontaran episodes, he’s treating everybody nicely and enjoying the universe and being helpful. Then we move into a segment of this season that focuses more on his arrogance, which has very mixed results. It culminates in the wonderful “Midnight,” but that episode is led up to by a number of stories that demonstrate his ego, most of which just come across as annoying. His behavior in “The Sontaran Strategem” and “The Doctor’s Daughter” is particularly irritating, especially because it just sort of feels gratuitous. There isn’t any need for him to behave in so extreme a fashion in either case, and it’s not done in a manner that is funny or interesting or compelling. When we get to “Midnight,” it at least looks like we’ve had these moments of irritation for a purpose, as the Doctor’s tendencies to embrace the status of hero work against him more than they ever have before.

        This season is sometimes seen as the high point of the reboot, and as of the end of “Midnight,” I think it was on track to make a legitimate claim to that distinction. While there are some weak episodes early in the season, “Partners in Crime,” “The Fires of Pompeii,” “Planet of the Ood,” “The Unicorn and the Wasp,” “Silence in the Library,” “Forest of the Dead,” and “Midnight” are such a wonderful collection of episodes that I don’t really mind having to sit through “The Doctor’s Daughter.” “Midnight” is such an explosive, revelatory episode that it puts the season at something of a crossroads, and in an unfortunate piece of irony I would say “Turn Left” is where the season starts to take a wrong turn. Part of the problem is that this is the point at which the weak points in the structure of Donna’s arc start to become more apparent. She has a terrific moment of world-saving at the end of “Turn Left,” but it’s not really dependent on the qualities that we’ve seen in development across the season. In “The Fires of Pompeii,” Donna’s compassion and loudness and resistance to being told what to do come together and help her to convince the Doctor to save the Roman family. In “Turn Left,” she sacrifices herself, allowing her body to get in the way of traffic so that the other version of herself will take the right job; essentially, she goes from a character whose traits and abilities are valuable to a character whose tragic death allows the world to function properly. Then, in the season finale, she gets a sort of honorary doctorate; she gets to play the Doctor’s role, but she hasn’t actually learned how to do any of the things that she does here, she just got a lot of abilities projected onto her. By the end of the season, she’s bordering on being a sort of receptacle; her body is used to push events in the right direction in “Turn Left,” and then the necessary knowledge gets poured into her in “Journey’s End.” The qualities that we see early in the season have very little to do with these resolutions, and that’s the downside of giving a character problems to overcome and then letting her overcome them by about episode three.  

      If Donna’s arc goes in something of an odd direction, the Doctor’s is arguably even worse. I love “Midnight,” but the one respect in which the otherwise stellar episode is a bit of a letdown is that it doesn’t serve as the turning-point that the Doctor really needs. He could have seen the events of “Midnight” as a reason to re-evaluate some of his behavior and try for a little bit of humility, but his reaction to the events of that episode mostly takes the form of looking sad about the dark side of humanity. By the end of the season, his arrogance appears to have increased, as is especially visible in his willingness to arrange Rose’s future without getting her input. In general, the Doctor seems to have engaged in a lot of self-reflection before the start of the season, as can be seen in his admission of having hurt Martha in “Partners in Crime,” but much of the rest of the season comes across as more of a regression. This is also apparent in the season’s attention to the Doctor’s complex relationship with violence. The season leans pretty heavily on irony, as the Doctor shouts about pacifism more frequently than ever before and yet continuously gets caught up in violence. The idea of the Doctor as a fighter obsessed with non-violence is an interesting aspect of pretty much every incarnation of the Doctor, and the Tenth Doctor’s particular mixture of heroism and introspection make him an especially good version of the Doctor to really engage with this contradiction. I’m not sure that the season ever really goes beyond pointing out the inconsistency, though—often loudly, and with a total absence of subtlety. It’s interesting to see the gap between the ideals to which the Doctor aspires and the reality that he lives, but I think of this kind of contradiction as an effective starting-point for a story rather than an end in itself. Pointing out that the Doctor is arrogant and prone to violence in spite of his distaste for it is a reasonable move to make, but it would be a much more compelling narrative if he actually tried to work on these things, and what we get instead is basically a never-ending reminder that the Doctor has a lot of problems. In some ways, this lack of self-improvement makes sense, as the exploration of the Doctor’s narcissism continues into the specials, reaching its most interesting point in “The Waters of Mars.” (Even there, though, as in “Midnight,” the Doctor has a pretty stellar confrontation with his own problems, but still hasn’t quite figured out how to respond to them in subsequent episodes.) There’s certainly no requirement for a character’s sense of morality to be on a constant upward trajectory, but at the same time “Journey’s End” is the second season finale in a row that leaves me massively exasperated with the Doctor, and it’s especially annoying when other characters get sort of engulfed by the narrative of the Doctor’s everlasting struggle with his main flaws.  

         Because I see the seasonal arc as doing something of a disservice to the two main characters, I don’t see it as a particularly strong one; that being said, the details that Davies uses to build toward the plot are often very well done. The missing planets, the disappearing bees, and the hints that Rose is coming back are all expertly set up, and it’s nice to see the severed hand play a role after several seasons of occasional appearances. This season is sort of an odd mix of originality and repetition, in that there are a lot of extremely inventive premises, but there is little variety in terms of how they are resolved. “Midnight,” the library two-parter, and “Turn Left” are particularly great ideas, but their conclusions are so similar that they start to produce diminishing returns. Even if the “characters sacrifice themselves for the Doctor” angle gets overplayed, though, most episodes contain a tremendous amount of fun and creativity en route to that resolution. For me, properly enjoying this season involves skipping the Christmas special and “The Doctor’s Daughter” and stopping after “Midnight,” before the storyline takes a wrong turn, but in between the problems, there are about as many absolute triumphs as any other season. Donna is such a refreshing burst of warmth and joy that she makes the whole season far better than it would otherwise be, and she and Tennant really sparkle together. We get to watch some of the best comedic scenes of the entire reboot, as well as some of the creepiest scenes of monster-induced terror. The wrong turns that this season takes are frustrating in large part because when the season does work well, it’s absolutely sensational.  

Monsters, Aliens, etc.: Generally pretty great. The Vashta Nerada are solidly spooky, the Ood are terrific, and whatever is happening in “Midnight” is dramatically-captivating terror. I don’t love the giant wasp or the little fat-molecule creatures, but they make it possible for entertaining stories to unfold around them. The Sontarans don’t really register very much, and Davros and the Daleks get slightly buried under the avalanche of plot at the end of the season, but there are enough good monsters this season to make up for a few lapses.

Planets: “Midnight” unfolds brilliantly and terrifyingly in spite of taking place almost entirely in some kind of futuristic tour vehicle, but even here the mysterious nature of the planet provides strong support for the story—there’s something about the phrase “exothermic sun” that makes the setting’s danger seem properly scientific and plausible. Beyond this, there are some great physical settings, including the gorgeous library, a fabulous-looking Pompeii, and the awesome country mansion in the Agatha Christie episode. “Partners in Crime” is the best contemporary London has looked since Season One, and while I have a lot of issues with the finale, London looks pretty great there as well. Not everything is perfect, but I’m overall very happy with the settings for this season.

Female Characters: Well, “Journey’s End” is about as disastrous as this show has gotten in terms of gender, but other than that the show does a mostly wonderful job with women this season. Donna is, of course, the highlight, both because she is marvelously likeable and full of charisma and because of the ways in which she works against the expectation that the companion will be a traditional ingénue. Martha also makes a fantastic comeback this season—while I wish she could have been written this way more frequently when she was the female lead, she is much, much better this season and it’s really wonderful to see her embrace her potential without being encumbered with any silly unrequited love plots. We also have some great supporting characters, including the Hostess and Sky in “Midnight,” a magnificent, thoroughly redemptive return for Harriet Jones in “The Stolen Earth,” and a stunning debut for River Song in “Silence in the Library.” I have a lot of problems with the writing for Rose this season, Sylvia only works some of the time, and Astrid and Jenny are pretty serious missteps, but some of the reboot’s very best moments for women occur in this season.

           Overall, I find this season slightly overrated, not because I don’t like it but because it’s often seen as the best and I don’t think it quite deserves that. While Donna is probably my favorite out of all of Davies’s characters, I find the first season’s nuanced exploration of the Ninth Doctor’s post-Time-War trauma and exuberant portrayal of Rose’s introduction to TARDIS travel to be a stronger story than this season’s somewhat scattered treatment of its characters’ problems, and so I would consider Season One to be Davies’s best work. Nevertheless, there are so many absolutely glorious moments this season: Donna’s reunion with the Doctor in “Partners in Crime,” her insistence that the Doctor save someone in “Pompeii,” her reaction to the Ood’s song, River’s marvelous introduction and heartrending demise, the mysterious terror unfolding throughout “Midnight,” and lots of wonderful moments of friendship between the Tenth Doctor and his best companion. A/A-

 Episodes Ranked So Far:

1. The Satan Pit

2. Midnight

3. The Doctor Dances

4. Blink

5. The Family of Blood

6. The Empty Child

7. Dalek

8. The Parting of Ways

9. School Reunion

10. Forest of the Dead

11. The Fires of Pompeii

12. Partners in Crime

13. Utopia

14. Human Nature

15. The Impossible Planet

16. Silence in the Library

17. The Sound of Drums

18. Doomsday

19. The End of the World

20. Planet of the Ood

21. Father’s Day

22. Smith and Jones

23. Rose

24. The Unicorn and the Wasp

25. The Unquiet Dead

26. The Stolen Earth

27. Turn Left

28. Christmas Invasion

29. The Runaway Bride

30. The Girl in the Fireplace

31. Aliens of London

32. The Shakespeare Code

33. The Lazarus Experiment

34. Tooth and Claw

35. New Earth

36. The Sontaran Experiment

37. The Age of Steel

38. Bad Wolf

39. Rise of the Cybermen

40. The Poison Sky

41. Boom Town

42. World War III

43. Army of Ghosts

44. 42

45. Gridlock

46. The Last of the Time Lords

47. Idiot’s Lantern

48. Journey’s End

49. The Doctor’s Daughter

50. The Long Game

51. Voyage of the Damned

52. Love and Monsters

53. Evolution of the Daleks

54. Daleks in Manhattan

55. Fear Her