#ncuti is absolutely owning the role

[catabasis]

what a FANTASTIC start for Ncuti Gatwa's run as the Doctor, The Church on Ruby Road was so much fun and so emotional and Ncuti and Millie Gibson are great together. i'm SO EXCITED for this era!!

[aftertheapplause]

The Importance of Being Earnest @ Lyttelton Theatre (NT) │ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I have seen a lot of productions put on by the National Theatre over the years, and they are all of the highest quality. However this revival of Oscar Wilde's classic and renowned farce may be one of the best productions I have ever had the joy of seeing.

I always worry when I see that a show is completely sold out before the previews, it seemed like getting a seat for The Importance Of Being Earnest was the hot ticket of the west end (and the previews hadn't even started yet!)

I got into the auditorium and was greeted by this humongous and extravagant set that seemed like it had been ripped out of Bridgerton and plonked onto the Lyttelton Stage. The suspended handbag in front of the opening curtain also got some chuckles from the arriving spectators who got the reference. As the curtain rises we see Ncuti Gatwa's Algernon sat at the piano in a pink dress (which got some cheers from his fanbase present), we see the portrayal of one of the central themes of the play- that of the double life. I have to say that Webster's decision to turn up the campness of this play from around a four to a ten is a superbly successful choice that really does make the production unique.

I am such a big fan of Ncuti Gatwa, he is an incredibly talented performer who brings his own twist to every role he plays. His portrayal of Algernon is splendid, an upper class young man who will not be constrained by the barriers and order of society. His on-stage bromance with his friend Jack/John Worthing, played by the hilarious Hugh Skinner, is very comedic and they play off each other very well. Hugh Skinner seems perfect for the role of Jack and he completely steals the show in certain scenes mostly due to his clever comedic expression and over exaggerated gestures. Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́ is a joy to watch as Gwendolen Fairfax, especially toward the end of the play as it seems she grows into the role and some of her facial expressions had me howling with laughter. Eliza Scanlen plays Jack's ward Cecily and she plays it excellently as well, the characters childish remarks pair well with Scanlens portrayal and her ad libbed line in the final scene received riotous laughter!

Then finally is the amazing Sharon D Clarke as Lady Bracknell, I love their choice to have Bracknell with a carribean accent as it truly does make some of her already iconic lines even better! Everything from her posture all the way to the way she walks onto the stage to introduce herself to the audience is perfect and the whole audience knows it too with a loud cheer to greet her as she comes on stage.

I almost forgot to mention Julian Bleach's masterclass in physical comedy as Merriman and Lane (he was also an audience favourite) and Richard Cant and Amanda Lawrence's unashamedly awkward relationship as Reverend Canon and Miss Prism. All three deliver superb performances to accompany the main cast in this comedic triumph.

MY VERDICT:

As the curtain rose and the actors came out I was in absolute awe of what I had watched. I was worried that some of the jokes would fly over my teenage head but was delighted when they slapped me right around the face and left me giggling the entire performance! The National Theatre have managed to assemble the perfect cast, who compliment each other in every possible way and completely deserve the sold out run that they have received.

Max Webster's direction steers this revival in the right direction completely, alongside the lavish set and costume of Rae Smith. It is a brilliant production that will live long in my memory!

Whilst I wish I could name them all my 3 standout performers were Ncuti Gatwa, Sharon D Clarke and Julian Bleach

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Importance Of Being Earnest is playing at the Lyttelton theatre until the 25th January, whilst most nights are sold out there are often returns so I urge you to keep checking! After its run in the theatre it will be in cinemas from February 2025.

[longtimewish]

Ok finally finished the new Doctor Who season and overall I really liked it! It was half campy fun space travel adventures and half the most heart-wretching terrifying thing you'll see in a sci-fi show. It reminded me a lot to season one of New Who, which was probably what RTD intended, and it made me impossible not to enjoy it as it brought me back to when I first watched DW over ten years ago. Ncuti is absolutely fantastic as the Doctor, probably one of the actors that most seamlessly adjusted to the role and made it his own. Millie was also great, I'm still impressed that 73 yards was the first episode she shot.

HOWEVER I wasn't really sold on the overreaching arc. First of all, this season was in dire need of more episodes. The Doctor and Ruby became besties off-screen, the flow of the episodes was strange (having two episodes which barely featured the Doctor back to back wasn't ideal, despite how good they were) and the set-up for the Sutekh big reveal was non-existant. Secondly, after finishing the season I don't even think we were suppossed to figure out the mysteries of this season, which left me feeling conflicted. Like Ruby's mother just being a normal teen wasn't necessarily a bad twist and it would've worked for me... if the show hadn't go out of its way to make her seem special. What in the actual narrative of the series could have lead us to the conclusion that she was ordinary? She was ominous as fuck. The "oh she was just pointing at the sign to name Ruby" doesn't make any sense and I'm not buying it lol. Also none of that explains why Ruby could make it snow or why she still remembers the 73 yards timeline so I still believe there is something more to her storyline - otherwise it would be just plain bad writing.

Tl,dr: the new season was fun and it had some banger episodes (the Boom - 73 yards - Dot and Bubble - Rogue quartet went so hard), the Doctor and Ruby was a lovely duo I wish we had seem more of, and in general I enjoyed the season - but RTD pulled all the plot twists out of his ass and then gave them the most anti-climatic resolutions he could think of (this time the time vortex did kill Sutekh because idk reasons).

[nearmidnightannex]

Ncuti Gatwa's Attitude

Doctor Who’s Ncuti Gatwa on embracing his identity to find pride and joy By Cliff Joannou Attitude magazine, issue 358

[...]  the title role [of the Doctor in Doctor Who] is being played by one of the most exciting British actors of his generation, a Black and queer man from Rwanda, making this incarnation of the Doctor — the 15th — a casting that is more reflective of the world around it. And it’s needed because, to quote two-time Doctor David Tennant, the world absolutely needs more kindness than ever before. “The Doctor is constantly fighting for every life, even his villains,” says Gatwa when we meet for his interview in a posh London hotel. “He shows mercy and compassion to all because he understands that there’s a need for everything, and that we need each other. It’s really nice to have a show like Doctor Who running after all these years in this era that we are in now.” 

[...]

Did you read social media reactions when they announced you were cast, or that the Doctor would be a Black man? 

No, no, no, no. I got a brief glimpse of it in initial casting, but it’s not something I’ll avidly keep up on. The hate? It is kind of fascinating to me because there’s so much energy they’re putting into it. You are so angry over something so inconsequential that you can’t be an interesting person. You can’t have much in your life. I don’t have the time to do that. And so, I think they need to go find a hobby is one thing. But another thing is that we do see a shift happening in casting, in positions of power and in the status quo. I mean, not a fast shift, things could tip over the other way a little bit quicker, but you see people kind of malfunctioning because things are changing.  

Does the issue of race appear in storylines when they’re going to Earth’s past? 

Race does make appearances, yes. It is quite different for the Doctor. It’s not the first time. Jo Martin is the first Doctor that is Black [she played the time-travelling Fugitive Doctor in 2020], but it is the first time the Doctor’s been Black for this long. And so, we have to address those elements of the character now, because Earth unfortunately is still quite a funny little place. And so, yeah, we will be addressing those things. Russell has such a knack of being able to bring in these elements of our humanity through this sci-fi lens in a really interesting way. 

[...]

There’s such a pushback against individuality, against gender diversity, against trans identities. How do you feel about the current state of the UK at the moment? 

Everything trickles down from the top, and when you see politicians openly attacking marginalised communities, when you see our politicians openly attacking trans people, it makes it OK for everyone else. And it is scary to see that we’ve got to a point where it is fine to attack vulnerable people because that’s essentially what’s happening. People who are the most vulnerable, the most disenfranchised, most disconnected from everyone else are being told that they are the threats. It’s sick because it’s a hiding away of your own ineptitude. You’re going to put the blame on immigrants, Black and Brown people, trans people, queer people, to hide the fact that you are not doing anything for people? It’s easier to just create discord amongst people. It’s divide and conquer, isn’t it? 

[...]

It doesn’t take much to take us back to the frightened person we were.  

No, not at all. Not at all. Which is why we’ve got to keep pushing for more. Lots and lots and lots and lots more diversity, lots more inclusion on our screen. Lots and lots and lots of it for all you male gamons out there! [Laughs] I did an episode the other day where it was five men in a small space, and I realised how desperate I was for female company by the end of the week. When I saw my friend again, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I feel like I can breathe.’ And I was like, ‘That’s so interesting.’ For the past week I felt like I couldn’t, that I was slightly in defence mode. They were all lovely, lovely men, but there was still something in me that was like, ‘Keep a little bit of your guard up. Don’t let them get hold of you.’ As soon as I saw my friend again, I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ [Breathes a sigh of relief.]  Women have just always been my safe space. I think [that’s true] for many a queer boy. I feel safe when I’m around women. I dunno whether that’s a really gendered thing to say, but my nervous system seems to be a lot calmer when I’m around women than it is when I’m around men. Will that ever go? I don’t know.  [...]

[ryttu3k]

Thoughts on Doctor Who - Boom! Some negativity ahead, maybe a 6/10 overall.

Well that was about as subtle as a sledgehammer XD Yes yes the algorithm is bad, yes yes capitalism is bad, yes yes war industry is bad, yes yes religious extremism is bad. I agree with all that! And tbh there are people who do need that message to be about as subtle as a sledgehammer because they Do Not Get It!

But holy shit, this one made Orphan-55 look subtle XD

(That said, kind of adore the chutzpah of doing the Capitalism Is Bad story in the first season of the show as owned by fucking Disney.)

A… weird aesop at the end. "Blind faith is bad. Also, just because I don't like it, doesn't mean I don't need it, because apparently I need religious people to tell me what to do."

Splice was… odd. Grew up in a warzone, also launches herself into said warzone because Dad sent a weird message. Seems singularly unable to recognise what had happened despite, y'know, growing up in a warzone, but that's okay because Holodaddy mentioned seeing antelopes. I feel she was written to be much younger (like, five-ish), which is an issue with the casting, actually, because as it is she just kind of came across as dense as a sack of bricks. No, stupid child, you do not run into the minefield! I did see commentary about how chilling it was for her to be so easily placated by the AI, though, so that could be a deliberate choice, I guess?

Mundy is okay. Didn't make me go, "Yes, she absolutely needs to be the new companion!", which is a pity, and the whole romantic tension between her and the other dude felt whoppingly out of place. Yes, half the planet is going to blow up but that's okay, her crush likes her back! Hoping that either she's playing someone totally different as companion (like Freema Agyeman and Karen Gillan having smaller roles before being cast as companions, to say nothing of some of the actual Doctors!), or that Mundy actually develops some personality beyond 'romantic yearning', 'Christianity', and 'portents of doom'. That said, if she is playing Mundy again, I do enjoy the idea of Mundy Sunday XD

Last annoyance, promise - lmao god if Moffat's head was any further up his arse he'd be a mobius strip. Villengard (although setting the episode in the 51st century is at least consistent with its destruction), the Anglican Marines, preservation of dead people in incomplete digital formats, the president's wife poem/song thing, even fish fingers and custard. Dude. I know. You're still salty about being replaced as showrunner. Doesn't mean you have to yell about how great your era was by throwing in every single self-congratulatory reference you could think of XD

(That said: I much prefer him writing standalone/double episodes. Do Not let him write arcs or be showrunners, but he certainly can work a single narrative.)

Positive notes: Even if it was as subtle as a sledgehammer, I did enjoy the reveal - that there wasn't actually any war, and it was entirely a self-perpetuated conflict based on algorithm and profit. Like the writing could have handled it better, but the premise was really cool.

Ncuti Gatwa's acting was fantastic. Beautiful tension and stress. Loved him monologuing to Ruby's dead body because if he doesn't talk, he can't think right.

"I'm more explosive than I look - and honey, I know how I look."

"Ruby, I forbid this." "Yeah, good luck with that :)"

"- and frankly, your lifespan sucks." (Just wanted Ruby to go, "Dude. I've been dead for the last ten minutes.")

Continuity

Enjoying the continuation of Ruby's snow.

Susan Twist has appeared again, although I still have no idea what this could be building up to. Much bigger role than some of the earlier ones.

This is Ruby's first alien planet, but The Devil's Chord implies she's been travelling with the Doctor for six months? So this would have to be set before Devil's Chord, or else they've just spent six months in space stations and time travelling on Earth alone.

A lot of emphasis on the Doctor as a father, tying in with his mention of Susan last episode, which also dealt with the familial connection between the Toymaker and Maestro and the whole Pantheon thing, and brought up the stuff with Ruby and her lineage again (the AI glitching out when trying to work out her next of kin, although I feel Moffat forgot that�� next of kin doesn't mean 'blood relative'… she has a Mum!). I feel there's definitely going to be something about the Doctor's family in this season as well as Ruby's. The TARDIS identified her as human, but could there be a connection?

Season ranking

As of s40e03:

The Devil's Chord

The Church on Ruby Road

Space Babies

Boom

And on a deeply silly note: I initially heard 'Kastarion' as 'Karstarion' and went :D because BG3 ship mentioned <3

[modrntravlr]

THOUGHTS AND NOTES ON DOCTOR WHO S1x01 and S1x02

(i don’t actually think it’s season one) spoilers below the cut obvi

- so the doctor just knows he’s in a tv show then, huh? and also this whole time, he’s just been hearing murray gold when we do? love that for him tbh

- so many parallels between rose and nine’s first trip and ruby and fifteen, it breaks my timepetals heart. watching the earth from above while he modifies her phone. sobbing

- saxon theme. saxon theme. saxon theme. saxon theme. saxon theme. saxon theme.

- mclennon rights. so real.

- hearing nph’s fuckass arpeggio giggle gave me war flashbacks

- ncuti gatwa i love you

- the doctor just being an absolute bleeding heart is so jarringly wild but i’m so happy for him

-

- space babies was so…?? not bad just felt like we may have lost the plot for a second

- also, what did the scan say?!!?

- still hoping the jukebox will just randomly start playing britney or soft cell at some point

- so much sapphic rep, amen

- i truly do see rose tyler level narrative haunting potential in ruby

- and all of this is not to say i think she’s a carbon copy cut and paste of rose, i think she’s really great and definitely has her own thing going for her that i can’t wait to see be explored more

- and ncuti?? literally born to play this role!

[secret-diary-of-an-fa]

Doctor Who: BOOM! Review. Let the Healing Begin!

While the Doctor became Ncuti Gatwa way back in The Giggle, Ncuti Gatwa only became the Doctor with the Saturday-night debut of this episode. The actor’s abilities have, up until this point, been more or less a matter of faith and guesswork, since the material he’s had to work with hasn’t given him the chance to shine. In Boom, however, he’s finally given the opportunity to make the role of the Doctor his own and he fucking nails it. We see the rage and intellect and compassion of a Time Lord for the first time since Gatwa got the gig and it was, I have to admit, well worth the wait.

Right, then. The premise: The Doctor and Ruby arrive in a futuristic war-zone and the Doctor, rushing to help an injured man, steps on a landmine. It’s a single, easy-to-make mistake that defines the whole episode. The landmine works by turning the person on it into an explosive using a DNA-level chain-reaction. The Doctor, however, is a Time Lord, so if he blows up, he’ll take the whole planet with him. Thus begins Doctor Who’s answer to cult horror classic Landmine Goes Click (but with sci-fi taser murder instead ofrural French farmhands committing al fresco sex crimes). Now, this is companion Ruby Sunday’s first time on an alien planet and her grasp of the tech and stakes just isn’t quite there yet, so she gets to be brave and loyal and insightful, but only up to a plausible limit. The fact she didn’t step on a landmine doesn’t make her a convenient ex machina figure. Before long, the landmine is also surrounded by a couple of soldiers, a child looking for her father in the war-torn wasteland, a hologram of said father (who is, like, super dead by this point) and a for-profit AI ‘ambulance’ that can and will kill anyone whose treatment would be prohibitively expensive. And absolutely none of them are listening to the Doctor as he tries to explain what will happen if the landmine goes off with him standing on it. I won’t spoil the ending, but we get to see the Doctor at his best here: trapped in an impossible situation and a de-facto prison cell the exact size of his own body (he can’t even move without triggering the explosion), yet clearly the only person who can defuse the situation. We see him calculate the planet’s gravity in order to shift his mass and allow himself some movement. We see him gradually persuade those around him of the importance of not setting off the world-ending fucking landmine. We see him fighting the impersonal algorithm of the ‘ambulance’ in a way that I’m categorically not going to reveal and the trenchant stupidity of the military-minded berks around him at the same time. It’s great.

Of course, all this would be show-offy, cerebral cleverness devoid of substance if the episode didn’t pivot on a compelling theme that serves to incite great emotion in its protagonists. To whit, Boom! is about the evils of capitalism. Yeah, it’s not exactly an original sentiment that arms dealers are the scum of the Earth (or universe) but the thought has rarely been expressed so viscerally, nor linked so directly to the logics of capitalist economics themselves. See, the landmine was supplied by a company that sells to all sides in all conflicts. The ambulance and weapons were supplied by the same. And the horror isn’t just that someone is profiting from war: it’s that all of these pieces of tech are part of the same system. A system that is specifically designed to kill people at just the right rate to keep them invested in the war and keep them buying new products. The guns and bombs and mines and field ambulances don’t serve the people using them. They serve the bottom line of a faceless, remote company that regards people as part of a fiscal equation: disposable and expendable so long as they turn a profit. The Doctor gets a little speech about it, and its here we get to see the rage and pain of a man who has seen more war and suffering than anyone else in the universe. I’m normally against straight-to-camera speeches, since they’re basically the writer of an episode or film beating the audience over the head with their own personal viewpoint rather than leading them to it organically, but here it’s completely in character, beautifully acted and justified by context. Yes, the Doctor is talking to us, but in-universe, he’s talking to Ruby, and the questions she’s asking, coupled to the extremity of his plight, would provoke a bit of a rant. Also, the speech itself shows more joined-up thinking than most straight-to-camera mouth-blarts. This isn’t a right-on, smash-the-[insert-oppressor-class] woo-hoo moment. This is a meticulously laid-out, carefully extrapolated explanation of evil that dares to look at the way it functions on the wider, systemic level instead of just picking a group of perceived perpetrators and yelling about how rubbish they are. It’s a hard-left message which will probably turn off a few viewers, but it’s proper hard-left, not fucking Hollywood-style, boneless wokeness. It’s true, and important and dark and bitter and, for once, as a dyed-in-the-wool lefty, I’m happy to say that ‘yes, this man does represent us’.

Boom!’s hard-left leanings are also a necessary bit of course-correction for a show that’s always had those implications but which has strayed away from them recent years in favour of insipid bandwagon-jumping. Let me take you back, gentle reader, to the loathed and despicable Chibnall/Whitaker era of Doctor Who. There were a lot- and I mean a lot- of bad episodes during Chris Chibnall’s time as showrunner. In fact, there was rarely a good one. But the episode that made the whole run completely irredeemable in my eyes (as my regular readers can probably guess) was Kerblam!, the episode in which Whitaker’s ‘Doctor’ (a title she never really earned, hence the Inverted Commas of +10 Sarcasm) discovered a giant mega-corporation exploiting its workers and sided with that corporation over the freedom-fighter trying to blow it up. It was morally fucking disgusting, and revealed Chibnall for the rancid little Corpo-Tory fucksponge he is. Now, what’s a synonym for Kerblam! (with an exclamation point)? Answer: Boom! (also with an exclamation point)! Both episodes are about capitalism; both have the Doctor making explicit commentary on the system itself; both- just in case you missed the massively on-the-nose parallels- have titles that denote an explosion appended with a certain piece of well-known punctuation. Boom! isn’t just a very good episode of Doctor Who: it’s an address to the fans of the show. It’s disowning, in no uncertain terms, the ideology of the Chibnall era. For in-universe purposes, it’s saying “These slimy, pro-corporate, pro-exploitation views were confined to the Thirteenth Doctor. She doesn’t speak for any other regeneration.” Fuck, BBC. What are you going to do for an encore? Show up at my house with a letter of apology and a free sex robot that both me and my wife can enjoy? It’s interesting, of course, that Boom! wasn’t written by showrunner Russel T. Davies but by fellow Who alumni Steven Moffat. Now, Moffat’s tenure as showrunner back in the day was divisive in its own way, of course, but it’s nice to see that the man still has balls the size of fucking Jupiter. He might as well have called episode “Fuck You, Chris” and had done with it. Guess we know who wears the trousers in the Davies/Moffat Odd Couple Household that I just involuntarily and reflexively imagined (complete with theme-tune).

Don’t get me wrong, Boom! is not a perfect episode. Even confining ourselves to the current era, It’s not as fun as The Giggle or as conceptually interesting as Wild Blue Yonder, but it is a sign that the show is finally hitting its stride. It’s a lean, claustrophobic no-bullshit episode free of unnecessary cameos, gratuitous musical numbers and over-the-top Disney-esque villains. Happy ending aside, it’s brutal and vicious and doesn’t fuck about for one gosh-darned minute. More of this, please.

[oatflatwhite]

HI LIZ plz may I trouble you to share any thoughts at all about mota 🎤

OF COURSE

ok so we're only a couple eps in but i am already <333 about so many of the characters. bucky and crosby especially my beloveds. i really love all the comparisons being drawn between bucky/nix buck/winters and crosby/webster but i also love how the mota boys are distinctly their own characters. i don't want to say they're cocky and full of themselves because like... some of the easy boys are too lmao. but it's a very different dynamic between the characters than i'm used to seeing in the other hbo war shows and i am living for it

on that note i was a bit wary about most of our main charas being officers but after 2 eps i don't mind a bit! honestly sometimes it's hard to tell rank with all their goddamn fleece lmao but i love how despite being a literal honest to god major bucky is still so chaotic. bless him. the singing scene took me out, and the bike race when they crashed and he and buck were like pulling at each other's clothes to try and get in the lead before the air raid siren went off..... cinema.

can't believe they called out the heavy petting <3 the raf boys are just like me fr <3

crosby is such a silly goose thank you for the silly goose representation. he really works as the narrator and i love him bc he is genuinely so relatable, my overthinking bestie. also him still being starry eyed over his wife signing her name mrs jean crosby oh my word.......... it's giving harry dragging his reserve chute halfway around europe for kitty's wedding dress <333

i also really love the variety of characters/roles in the war they're showing! there's obviously more scope to do that than in bob but also it's a different television landscape and i am so excited to see ncuti on my screen <3 i hope we get a lot more of lemmons too! i can't remember who made the post but someone compared him to doc roe and i was like OH that's why i liked him so much uh huh uh huh. so true. also NINETEEN YEARS OLD?

i had a hard time adjusting to austin butler in ep 1 but he really pulled through in ep 2 for me and i'm very keen to see where he takes the character! and i have LOVED callum turner since channel 4's glue (which i watched a fucking decade ago but still think about bc of how powerful it was and he was in it) and he is absolutely killing bucky. it's giving nix without impulse control. honestly all the cast are amazing, the only one i really struggle with still is isabel may as buck's gf......... i literally cannot see her as anyone but katie from alexa and katie, so in my mind she's literally still a 15 year old girl. but who knows, she could win me over in the future

the score and title sequence are so good too!!! the pacific still has my absolute fav opening titles and band is second but even though the score is obviously new it still feels a bit... nostalgic, i guess? similar vibes to the other shows and i am HERE for the way it makes me feel <3

there's like so much more but that's all i can put into words rn. cannot WAIT for the rest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[billpottsismygf]

The Church on Ruby Road (spoilers)

Oh my god! I absolutely loved that! Ncuti Gatwa is phenomenal. He's got so much presence right from the start, and there were some lovely little Doctor-ish quirks that he got across very nicely. I particularly liked his disdain for the Goblins' supposed time travel, him loving the name Lulubelle and the way he rattled off his police interview answers (though the bit about the proposal was perhaps a little too Sherlock). On a sadder note, his 'maybe I'm the bad luck' line was also delivered really well.

Ruby Sunday is pretty cool too, though I'm not quite as sold on her yet. Millie Gibson's performance felt just a trifle stilted to me, but I hope that goes away as she relaxes into the role. I loved her family, especially her gran. It's so nice to have a wider companion family like this again. We got it a bit with Yaz (and sort of Ryan and Graham), but I hope we get to see a bit more of this lot!

I wasn't sure what I was going to think of the Goblins, but I really like the alternative physics time travel thing they have going on with the language of luck. The Doctor's line about learning the vocabulary of rope was great; some real 'resonating concrete' vibes. But yes, the Goblins were fun and interesting. I don't know if they'll become anything particularly iconic, but not every villain needs to be.

The musical number was enormous fun. Obviously the first part was released ahead of time, but the Doctor and Ruby launching into a second part was unexpected and fantastic. Ncuti has a damn good voice. There have been questions about whether a musical episode of the show could work before, and I'm definitely here for it if there's ever a plan to give us more than just one song! Ruby's own ability to sing (improvisationally!) was also quite nicely set up with her being in a band.

Perhaps the best part of the episode was when Ruby was taken out of time. Her mum being a far more jaded and unhappy person, with even the lighting getting dimmer, was incredibly effective. Her declaring she was happy alone with tears in her eyes, the Doctor also crying, really got me. Ncuti's performance throughout that as well gave me a lot of faith in what's to come (not that I needed any, given what I've seen of him in Sex Education). (That 'then why are you crying' also had more than a hint of Amy crying for Rory.)

I have to mention the timeless child stuff. As with what he did with the flux in Wild Blue Yonder, I'm over the moon that RTD is taking things from the last era and actually doing stuff with it. I know there will be people angry about it because they expected him to retcon the whole thing, but I far prefer this approach. Granted, I never minded the timeless child stuff that much (unlike the flux), but it was really effective having the Doctor actually bring up the fact that he doesn't know where he's from. I wonder if RTD is planning to do anything more with it, or if it will just be used as character and relationship building material.

Smaller stuff:

We got another mavity mention, so is this just here to stay or is it part of a longer arc?

The way the gloves work didn't make sense to me. The way the Doctor explained them was as if the weight just shifted to the glove (which makes sense for making balancing and gripping easier), but if that's the case where does the extra weight come from when pulling the rope down? Oh well, I'll just imagine they're magic weight deletion/creation devices and move on with my life.

That spike through the Goblin King at the end was brutal! I'm surprised they were allowed to show it. No blood or anything, I suppose, but still!

Ruby's mother (we presume) was somehow still walking away after the Doctor's whole escapade with the Goblins. Bad directing (I might have bought it if she were much further away on a long road) or an indication of more at play? Either way, presumably this isn't the last of that plot thread!

What the hell is going on with Mrs Flood? When she was watching the Doctor towards the end, I thought it was pretty strange, and then in the mid-credits sequence I started to wonder if she was something more than she seemed. Then came the look to camera and her line about TARDISes… Technically, this could be a weird little moment a la Feast of Steven, but it seems more likely something else is at play. The Toymaker could bend the rules of reality, so perhaps she could be part of the legions he mentioned, able to break the fourth wall at will. We shall see, I suppose!

[denimbex1986]

'There were rumors suggesting that Doctor Who would feature a bi-regeneration in the months leading up to "The Giggle," but it was admittedly hard to believe it would actually happen. Then I tuned into the final 60th-anniversary special with my Disney+ subscription and saw it with my own eyes. It's wild how Russell T. Davies pulled that off with Ncuti Gatwa and David Tennant. As surreal as that was on its own, however, Davies recently revealed another major detail that shook me to my core, and it could mean big things for the future of the franchise.

In a commentary track for "The Giggle," which is unfortunately not officially available to fans in the United States, Russell T. Davies dropped a pretty substantial reveal about the bi-regeneration (via @WilliamWhoDW on X). Read what Davies said to David Tennant and executive producer Phil Collinson when they watched the latest regeneration scene:

So the whole timeline bi-generated then. Sylvester McCoy…woke up in a morgue, and Jon Pertwee woke up on the floor of the laboratory. They all did. Most of those, the modern Doctors, just end up in their own TARDIS. They probably woke up in the TARDIS.

There is some dispute amongst fans regarding whether Russell T. Davies was delivering actual information with this comment or just theorizing. It if is indeed the former, then this is a major development. Assuming that every Doctor bi-regenerated into their next incarnation but continued to live, then it's feasible that every single Doctor is still alive and somewhere out there in the universe. I'm absolutely shaken by what that could mean, assuming again, he's genuine about this piece of information.

If every former Doctor is still alive, this presents yet another new and inventive way for a former protagonist to have adventures in the Whoniverse. More importantly, it would allow the franchise to bring back actor like Jon Pertwee or Sylvester McCoy to play The Doctor without explaining why they don't look like their past selves. Assuming they all lived for this long, they had to have aged!

I had already theorized that Doctor Who did the bi-regeneration to open the door for potential standalone adventures with David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor without having to address him looking different from how he did as the Tenth Doctor. Assuming Russell T. Davies has canonized the return of every previous bearer of that title, it would appear his plans for the Whoniverse are much grander than that. The franchise now has the ability to bring back Matt Smith and others who left the show for their own new live-action adventures or even entirely different series.

This is great for someone like Peter Capaldi, who went on the record as not liking multi-Doctor adventures. Granted, he's someone who openly stated he doesn't want to return to Doctor Who, so there's no telling how receptive he'd actually be to reprising his role.

There are also additional hurdles with a star like Christopher Eccleston, who returned for other adventures but had issues with Russell T. Davies during his initial run and may not want to return to live-action. All this to say that while it's now easier than ever to get past Doctors into stories, it remains to be seen how successful the franchise would theoretically be at doing that. But again, we still have to keep in mind that these thoughts came solely from Davies, and we'll have to wait and see if this logic is officially established within the series itself. In the meantime, fans will be plenty occupied with Ncuti Gatwa's upcoming episodes, which will hopefully be as great as these specials were.'

[radiantlyrey]

some thoughts on The Giggle

Gonna put the spoilers behind a cut, so be ye warned, etc.

I know some people are saying that the bigeneration of the Doctor wasn't good, because then Fourteen's ending was upstaging Fifteen's arrival and we didn't get to see Ncuti As The Doctor on his own, but....

Like. It's been three days since this episode premiered. In addition to watching it live, I've watched it six more times. And lemme be really real about this? I've mostly been watching it over and over again for those last 20 minutes after Fifteen/Ncuti arrives.

Like. The Fifteenth Doctor is an absolutely magnetic presence from the very moment he arrives. Just. I can't stop watching him, I can't wait to see what he does next. He's a utter delight from Minute One, and I just... I can't wait to see him in action. I cannot wait.

Back after they announced David was returning as the Fourteenth Doctor, I saw a tweet that sort of speculated on what might happen. The basic gist was David was the bait to get people watching again, but Ncuti? Ncuti was the hook.

And that proved to be extremely prescient, because I think it's absolutely true. Like. I came back to the show mostly because RTD was back, and partly because I wanted to see Donna again (I was somewhat less enthused about David as the Doctor again, but I was happy to be proven wrong). And now that I've seen Ncuti in action? I'm back. I'm gonna be a Doctor Who fan again, because I can't wait to see what he does in the role. He's already done a fantastic job, and just. I'm excited about the show again. Mission accomplished, RTD!

So yeah. Those are my thoughts about The Giggle, specifically the bigeneration thing. I can't wait for the Xmas special, and I am going to be bereft until the new series premieres. But I'll be happy when it starts up again!!! I can't fucking WAIT.

[paulrobinsonshotel]

I get the criticisms of the 50th and of Moffat as a whole, but at least he gave other eras a main role in his anniversary special. Tennant and Piper both played major roles in the story, plus we got a cameo from Tom Baker. I absolutely agree the Classic Show should've got more representation, but it never felt like Moffat was excluding everything except his own era.

For the "60th anniversary" trilogy, two out of the three episodes feature only RTD's Doctor and RTD's companion, and while we do get Kate and Mel back in the Third, they're basically minor characters while TenAgain and Donna take centre stage. And even that is immediately ruined by using Ncuti Gatwa's opening scenes to write a fix-it-fic so that RTD's favourite the best and most important Doctor ever gets to stay forever, rather than Ncuti immediately getting to introduce his version of the character on his own terms, like every previous actor has done.

it’s so telling that i haven’t felt this angry since the 50th special lol. it’s wild to me that chibnall is the showrunner that gets accused of being self important the most when power of the doctor is the closest modern who has gotten to a good anniversary special. both moffat and rtd are clearly only interested in their own legacies and entwining them with the existing canon (like clara going into the doctor’s timestream) while the much hated timeless child was actually building on things that were in the second and seventh doctor’s eras. people described power of the doctor as “celebrating every era except chibnall’s own” like people wouldn’t have torn him to shreds for doing that, but i was so touched by the appearance of former companions and doctors even though i never personally watched them. the tales of the TARDIS was basically rehashing that exact idea too, though far less touchingly. the only reason i wish the power of the doctor had celebrated chibnall’s era more is that clearly no one else is going to.

[casputin]

Is anyone else slightly disappointed with the new companion announcement?

I'm sure Millie Gibson will do a fine job, but was I the only one under the impression that Yasmin Finney was going to be joining as the full time companion moving forward? Which was going to be exciting for a few reasons:

1) if Yasmin really is playing Donna's daughter as is speculated then what knowledge does she possess through half remembered fairy tales told by her mother. Love the idea of a companion knowing things.

15: this is an Ood, they-

Rose: Yeah, yeah, an Ood, we've all heard about them. Enslaved race, hive mind, communicate through orbs that replaced the brain, super peaceful, we love the Ood in this household.

2) a trans companion for a generation to properly fall in love with, rather than just being there for 3 episodes.

3) an all black TARDIS team. Instead we have another pretty cis white girl. She does feel awfully Billie Piper 2.0. It's almost as if RTD is scared to go too far from formula, which is very unlike him.

If both Yasmin and Millie end up travelling together with Ncuti then I take the majority of this back. They are near as dammit the same age, and both from Manchester, so could reasonably be bezzies (or even girlfriends which would be a little more in line with RTD) in which case I'm not as annoyed. But with how fresh Yasmin's casting was, the announcement featuring Millie seems like a step back.

And I want it to be known this is not an attack on Millie in the slightest. Just a sharing of disappointment from the new announcement, in much the same way I was disappointed that they made David officially Doctor 14, and RTD said the reason the clothes regenerated too was because he didn't want David to be wearing women's clothing.

This is, of course, despite the fact that Jodie regenerated into Peter's costume and, more importantly, Sascha pulled the look off very well, and there wasn't a scintilla of drag about it. It's not like she wore a dress and fishnets as part of her costume - it was a somewhat androgynous look. T-Shirt, Trousers, suspenders and coat? How womanly - Tennant certainly would've looked ridiculous. It just pisses me off because there would've been so much less focus on the costume had he regenerated with her costume.

I also recall comments made last year RTD made about only gay people can play gay people, which, as we know from Kit Harrington recently, is an incredibly dangerous sentiment, and can actually reduce roles, because by the same metric you say only straight people can play straight people. We absolutely need more diversity on screen, that is a definite, but I do think this is a very dangerous thought, but anyway I'm going slightly tangential here - I suppose my main point is that I'm worried about what RTD is going to do with Doctor Who (and tbh I was worried from the initial announcement).

Millie is good. Ruby Sunday is bad.

Yasmin in good. Ncuti is good.

David in 'women's' clothing is good. David being 14 is bad.

Concerns good. Making a final judgement before we see the product bad.

So I will be happy to be pleasantly surprised by what's in store. And happy for anyone to comment with their own thought. Sorry for long post!

[morganas-pendragons]

justifiably angry. 

I'm going to preface this by saying that I haven't been able to watch Jodie's goodbye episode yet (I can't find a place to watch it :( ) but of course I saw spoilers. I don't usually care about them, so I subjected myself to it.

Oh boy, I'm angry.

Spoilers beneath the cut for the power of the doctor. Read at your own discretion!

First of all, I have been watching this show faithfully since 2012. I have stuck around through the garbage eras of Moffat's era, and I have stuck around through the equally more terrible garbage era's of Chibnalls. I consider myself a loyal Doctor Who fan. It made me fall in love with so, so many things. It brought me my best friend.

So let me tell you the truth: I am emotionally invested into this show. I have seen myself portrayed in the last three incarnations of The Doctor rather well. Doctor Who is an extremely relatable show that millions have loved over nearly sixty years of being on the air.

That was, however, until Jodie came along with Chibnall and "ruined it.'' which is why so many fans stopped watching.

I know fans who stopped watching when Capaldi was casted. Capaldi, who to this day stands out as the best incarnation of The Doctor for me.

Did I enjoy all of Thirteen's run? No. I didn't. But despite that, I always knew that Jodie Whittaker was going to give the performance of her life because long before I saw her as The Doctor, I saw her as Beth in Broadchurch with David Tennant.

That being said, if you haven't seen it, go watch it. That show portrays the exact caliber of what Jodie could've done with The Doctor if she were given good scripts.

Chibnall wrote a handful of good episodes. I think he's a decent writer (THE MAN WROTE MOST OF BROADCHURCH FOR GOD'S SAKES) but he's appallingly bad at sci-fi. He was never set to write well for this show.

Despite that, I remember quite well when Jodie was cast. I was sitting in the sound booth of my church in June of 2017 and yelled when that teaser trailer crawled across my Tumblr feed. You all know the one.

A woman doctor. Sixty years of tradition broke the glass ceiling with the casting of a woman doctor.

A woman doctor who perfectly embodied her previous counterparts.

Her opening scene in The Woman Who Fell To Earth won me over to her. I haven't rewatched Season 13, but there were so many scenes in her most recent season where her anguish was so palpable. I think we all knew to some degree that she would be special. That she had something to give.

And oh... she did. She really did.

Now, to the point of this post. They broke the glass ceiling by casting a woman to this role in 2017.

And then they went even further and cast a black man in 2022! Fantastic! Wonderful! I was elated to see him brought to this role. I haven't seen Ncuti in anything either, but I hadn't seen any of the Doctors in previous roles before. That's why they usually cast ''no-body's'' in the role.

So imagine my surprise when I find out that RTD is coming back, and he's bringing Catherine Tate and David Tennant with him!? AND MURRAY GOLD?!!?

Accomplishing what fans who loved the duo in 2008-2009 have wanted for over a decade, some closure for 10 and Donna!

But wait, then the rumor starts about Jodie regenerating into David. I laugh it off. It absolutely has to be a joke.

AND THEN. TODAY. TODAY I COME INTO THE TAG TO FIND OUT THAT IT WAS REAL, AND IT REALLY HAPPENED.

Yeah, to be quite honest, it's stupid. At the very least, they should've kept with the tradition of the doctor regenerating in their former incarnations clothes -- not spawning new ones.

Someone in the comment section on Facebook pointed out that The Curator in 2013's fiftieth anniversary special mentioned seeing familiar faces along the way (or something along that line) which, I get. I do. But bringing back David as obvious fan service took away THE WHOLE LITERAL POINT OF CASTING NCUTI AS FOURTEEN.

Another record was broken by casting a black man to the role, and you bring back literally the most iconic doctor for... for what?? Three episodes in 2022? And then you tie it off by telling the fans that HE is actually fourteen?

are you kidding me??!!

Here's my opinion on this, and then I'm done. You're free to disagree with anything I've said in here. I love David. I love 10, but he's not my favorite Doctor. It's 12. 10's era was very clearly over with the 50th anniversary special, and it should've been left there. Just like 11's being done with his exit episode.

Would I have loved to see 11 or 12 return for the 60th? YES.

Ten, however? He has literally gone down in history as the most iconic Doctor. The one everyone loves. Why would you bring him back if he's obviously going to overshadow the newest incarnation we have yet to love??

Make it make sense?? Please??

[dear-indies]

Hello cat and mouse! I was wondering if you guys had any media (TV shows, games movies, etc.) you'd like to see more static icons of? You don't seem to reblog too many!

Hey anon! Thank you so much for asking! Sadly people don't seem to make 100px or larger static icons as much anymore. Please note that I'm mainly going to be focusing on casts with people of colour, disabled folk and/or queer folk. They don't have to be from said roles but icons in general for any of these people / casts would be absolutely amazing.

This is a very long list but please don't feel pressured to do these!

Mortal Kombat cast, Lewis Tan who has already been iconed but more the merrier which also applies to everyone I've noted has icon resources already!

Blood Quantum cast!

Sweet Home cast!

The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor and Midnight Mass cast because some of the cast carries over! Kate Siegel has already been iconed in Hill House as has Rahul Kohli in Midnight Mass.

Squid Game cast!

Blood & Water cast!

Power cast minus 50 Cent because he's a gross humanbeing!

All American cast!

The Irregulars cast!

Candyman cast!

Rutherford Falls cast!

Get Out cast!

Mayans MC cast!

What We Do in the Shadows cast!

Narcos cast!

Pose cast minus Janet M*ck Indya M*ore and Billy P*rter!

Shrill cast!

One Night in Miami cast!

The Last Black Man in San Francisco cast!

Mudbound cast!

It’s a Sin cast! 

Watchmen the show cast!

Sound of Metal cast!

Parasite cast!

The Intruder cast! 

The Forever Purge cast! 

Roma cast!

John Wick cast!

The Harder They Fall cast minus Z*zie Beetz!

Trickster cast minus Griffin P*well-Arcand.

Burden of Truth cast!

Coroner cast!

Folklore cast from HBO Asia!

Army of the Dead cast minus Dave B*utista!

Altered Carbon cast minus Joel Kinn*man!

Vida cast minus M*lissa Barrera!

Huge cast but please note that’s there’s conflicting sources about a 2008 altercation involving Nikki so icon at your own discretion! 

Special cast specially Ryan O'Connell (is gay and has cerebral palsy) who created the show. I've suggest him to so many people since 2019 and sadly no one has made anything for him so far!

Sex Education cast especially George Robinson (is paraplegic) Ncuti Gatwa (Rwandan) Kedar Williams-Stirling (Afro-Jamaican) Patricia Allison (Kenyan) Jemima Kirke (part Iraqi Jewish) Dua Saleh (Tunjur Sudanese and is non-binary) Sami Outalbali (Moroccan) Simone Ashley (Tamil Indian) Chinenye Ezeudu (Black) and Rakhee Thakrar (Indian)!

Titans cast especially Anna Diop (Senegalese), Damaris Lewis (African-American), Savannah Welch (is an amputee) and Chella Man (Hongkonger and Jewish, is deaf and non-binary genderqueer) but minus Br*nton Thwaites and C*rran Walters!

People!

Storme Toolis (has cerebral palsy) most notable role has to be New Tricks but she's also in Dalgliesh which would be great for people wanting disabled period fcs as that's set in the 1940's!

Abigail Spencer (part Cherokee), Mena Massoud (Egyptian) Rodrigo Santoro (Brazilian) Lea DeLaria (is a lesbian), Craig Tate (Black), Gilbert Owuor (Kenyan) from Reprisal.

More no specific roles but: Jacob Scipio (part Indo Guyanese) Rebecca Ablack (Indo Guyanese) Ebonée Noel (Afro-Guyanese) Shaunette Renée Wilson (Afro-Guyanese) Gabourey Sidibe (Senegalese and African-American), Patti Harrison (part Vietnamese and is trans), Deborah Mailman (Bidjara, Ngati Porou Maori, Te Arawa Maori) and I'd he happy to list more people if you'd like but anyone from my trans, non-binary, and disabled masterlists would be incredible.

Also please excuse anyone that was a minor at time of filming! 

[dreamwho]

1.) hey! they finally did my idea. altho I think the master literally regenerating into the doctor is an unnecessary component to such a plot and weakens it a bit; the point is the master knows the doctor so intimately they could convincingly play the doctor’s role and that’s enough accreditation, everyone believes it, including prev incarnations of the doctor that the master runs into. but I get that this forced regen was plot relevant to establish and allow for a forced degen.

2.) as much as i lost my absolute mind over thirteen regening into ten, it’s a shame that ncuti doesn’t get the “fourteenth doctor” title he rightfully deserves and is being called fifteen by the fandom and even russell himself. I’m admittedly so easily and immediately and enthusiastically on board for a temporary ten regen but it feels unfair and like a slight to call him fourteen and not give that title to ncuti. he should be called ten since this is likely more of a temporary degen not a regen and therefore he’s not really the fourteenth.

3.) sacha is such a fun master to watch and I hope he gets to return as the master with ncuti. he’s too good. he reminds me a lot of the eleventh doctor in mannerisms and movement and boisterous behavior and timing and what not. would love to see him and matt reprise their roles and have a scene together. seeing a lot of the past doctors was hokey fan service but, look, I loved it. It was cute. Cute that the hologram embedded in the companions reacted to their memories/feelings/whatever and reverted to their doctor’s form and personality. honestly something I wish we’d see the actual doctor fall into when they come across old companions: the compelling urge to fall back into that role, that persona, that relationship with them. out of love for the companion, yes, but also out of guilt and insecurity: they love the old me, let me slip into that personality for them. and out of their own ego: they’d love it if I put on that old hat, it’d get a smile and excitement out of them.

I’m rambling! This episode was silly and messy and a mostly nonsensical plot but I had such a fun time watching it and I haven’t felt this rush watching doctor who since early high school which was over a decade ago!

v much entertaining the idea of writing a future regen of the master (from doc who) who has taken on the doctor’s identity. purposefully passing themselves off as the doctor to civilizations across the universe (though mainly earth (main-lier the uk) to a well established enough degree (and precisely no more than that b/c bleh! being the doctor is ick!) that they are recognized as the doctor by relevant species and lives (i.e. the daleks, the doctor themselves, and the doctor’s companions). a real long con to destroy the doctor–not in the way youre thinking! thats too simple! theres a worser plan.