#new nuwho

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Okay I was too tired last night for coherent thought but I’m now here with some assorted bullet points after watching dr who e6: Rogue

SPOILERS AHEAD

Overall I really enjoyed this episode! I thought the pacing was good, it was typical Doctor Who style and very enjoyable, I liked that we got time with both Ruby and the Doctor separately as well as together, I have a couple of thoughts but I just really want to say that overall I loved this episode

Theory based on the theory (I’m sorry I don’t know who first said it I’ve seen it a lot) that Devil’s Chord was moved: This was supposed to episode 2 - Flashback to Ruby’s mum when she ‘died’ that we didn’t get when died in Boom, one of her pieces of evidence that it was her was ‘we met space babies’ but no reference to other adventures, it would make the timing match up (she can’t remember whether it’s June or July back home), the stakes are less visibly high, other than Susan Twist there was no real reference to the overarching story arc (no snow, no One Who Waits, no pantheon references, etc) as is common with early episodes, we had more focus on the Doctor himself than we’ve really had so far and we actually got to understand, I felt at least, more about him as a character which again would usually be set up earlier on idk

Do you understand how relieved (and excited) I was when they started actually acknowledging Susan Twist, and of the same vein as I was when I saw the teaser for next week??? Absolutely buzzing, and also I was starting to think I was going mad looking for connections that didn’t exist so whooo

I thought Rogue was a really good character, I thought they were definitely trying to set something up for him to the Captain Jack archetype character (if that makes sense? I hope I’ve worded that right) and although I saw it coming for him to sacrifice himself for Ruby I don’t think that’s going to be the last of him - even if we see him at a different part of his timeline instead of his future. That could also be really interesting if the partner he lost was in fact in a romantic relationship with him and we have to see the Doctor contend with that, I can’t remember whether they stated the nature of their relationship or not but I don’t think they did so that could leave some options open to explore. I did feel that the Doctor and Rogue were a little bit rushed but overall really liked the set up of the relationship, I only found it slightly jarring when 13 was so broken up over the impossibility of letting herself fall in love with Yaz but I also think that different incarnations tend to approach their relationships differently so for me it wasn’t so much an issue as just a noticeable thing I guess

Speaking of noticeable things, IT WAS MODERN MUSIC??? I heard Bad Guy by Billie Eilish and Poker Face by Lady Gaga but there may have been others I didn’t recognise/pick up on. This was very very very suspicious to me, and other than a few episodes I haven’t watched Bridgerton but isn’t that what they do in Bridgerton??? Classical instrumentals of modern music??? Very suspicious

Also, the shapeshifters (chuldrur? Sorry I can’t remember it exactly) referred to themselves as cosplaying and that really caught me out I thought it was odd

I didn’t feel like the the rules of the trap were quite well established enough in that it wasn’t very clear to me how Rogue could so easily throw Ruby out of the trap when she couldn’t move; I assume it was because the capacity remained at 6 but idk I just felt like we could have had a clearer understanding of how it worked for the purpose of that set up

Ruby’s pretence was interesting, it made me think of Clara in Deep Breath a little bit but because of the perspective the stakes felt quite different. I did think it was weird that everyone else stopped cosplaying for the wedding and she was just there looking like herself because it made her stick out and also if the wedding is their finale to the game why wouldn’t they want to be in character?

ALSO it once again all links back to story whenever we are with Ruby and I think that’s fascinating, especially as a character who has died and been brought back, ‘died’, or had her history changed and rewritten in almost every episode so far

On that point -> Dungeons and Dragons!! Effectively what the shapeshifters felt they were doing as their game, and such an interesting link when there are so many questions left unanswered about Rogue ooo I’m excited

Okay I may be back with more but I think that’s all for now, very excited for next week’s episode, thanks for reading my ramblings I hope they were at least vaguely interesting <3

[ravenofazarath2]

I think, in honor of New New York, the fandom should call this season New NuWho (or New New Who)

[barbossas-wench]

Cred to electric_drms on twt

[robiniswriting]

david tennant, matt smith, and jodie whittaker: if doctor who calls me and im available I am so there

me: omg yes slay I love that for you

christopher eccleston and peter capaldi: there’s nothing on god’s green earth that makes me want to reprise the role of the doctor on television

me: omg yes slay I love that for you

[donutdrawsthings]

Bonus:

[doverstar]

there's such a massive history with doctor who and it hit me lately that the sensation of seeing that the companions and doctors you watched in real-time have become the past is a sensation every fan has felt for 60 years. at some point people missed jon pertwee and could remember watching him recently, even though tom baker was on tv as the doctor now and they liked him too. and nowadays we miss rose tyler and martha jones and amy pond and clara oswald and donna noble and tennant and smith and capaldi like those people missed baker when davison took the stage. like people missed ace and wondered if the show would ever come back, and then got excited and still felt it wasn't quite the same when eccleston was announced. like. it feels so recent, like just yesterday rose saw the tardis for the first time, but that was twenty years ago. feels like the doctor just made the speech in 'the rings of akhaten' and that was a decade ago. clara is gone, amy is gone. peter capaldi went from gray to white. and the show is going on and children will think of ncuti gatwa and millie gibson and huge white tardis corridors when they think of doctor who in the future. to them, david tennant is already what tom baker is to us. this story has a huge legacy. when you're watching doctor who, it ironically begins to feel like you're making history just by watching it.

[justarandombrit]

I don't know

[darthpastry]

“The last of the time lords” “the most dangerous prime minister” repeat those phrases one more time and the Master is going to climb out of the damn tooth

[eightsdriver]

has anyone done this yet <\3 (I feel like the answer is yes…)

[florida3exclamationpoints]

Doctor Who text posts: Twelve edition – pt. 5

[beelzeebug]

Rose Tyler save me

[i-like-media]

I was wondering when they were going to play with the fact the Doctor is black now. 13 being faced with how people think of women was one of my favourite things in her era, so I was curious how they were going to treat his skin colour this season, if at all.

And honestly, Dot And Bubble exceeded all my expectations on the matter!

What a lot of episodes about racism and bigotry do is coddle the viewer. They make clear early on "this is an episode about RACISM and why it's WRONG!" As if you've never heard of the concept before and don't know it's bad. The episode will often portray racism in an extreme sense and show the viewer the main characters are above that.

What Dot And Bubble did, for the entire episode, was letting the viewer figure it out on their own. There was no coddling, only racism as it silently existed. A perfectly pastel and white community with not a single person of colour and the only visible outlier being a goth white kid. And in this world, the first thing the character we follow did, was to block a black guy with a face of disgust.

The title screen rolls and you're left to rationalise it. Surely it was because he was not in her contact list/saying all kinds of mind blowing stuff... Right? Except when Ruby enters her feed and talks about it, she actually replies back... With an eye roll, but she replies... and keeps talking... and listening.

The episode continues, still not a single POC besides the Doctor. They reveal this is an exclusive place for rich people, and eventually the character in question even admits she thought the Doctor was a different person because "I thought you looked the same".

What this episode also does well, is portraying a character we wish to see change and find a better life behind that change. We see Lindy struggle to navigate the world without her bubble, calling herself stupid, and we genuinely hope she DOES learn to be better, even as you slowly pick up on what's been going on sofar. You are left to hope she'll thank him and realise the error of her ways, and maybe find a new drive to think for herself.

And then she doesn't.

She stays in her bubble, doubling down on how she feels about the Doctor, how they're excited to be like their settler ancestors, and finally CLEARLY revealing to the viewers what's been off this whole time... and the scene asks: did YOU notice the signs? Did you see what went wrong along the way, or did you only notice just now when it's explicitly shown to you? And why do you think that is?

It challenges the perspective of the viewer and tells you to reflect on why you didn't see it coming, and that is so so powerful.

The Doctor's reaction to this scene..... 👌👌👌👌

His mouth is ajar, stunned beyond belief that after all he's done and all he can offer, the offer to literally save their lives, he is reduced to someone who's nothing more than the hue of his skin. He yells at them, telling them he doesn't care what they think of him because he's still the same doctor he's always been, and to still get rejected with a dirty look... Which hits extra hard when you remember how much the Doctor loves being himself. He LOVES being the Doctor again! And he walks with such a pep in his step, celebrating his existence and sharing it with all he meets... and then he tries to save some rich white kids from certain death.

His performance in that moment was literally phenomenal. It's a narrative that's so powerful and so creative in its execution, my jaw was still on the floor throughout the credits.

This episode is definitely up there as one of my favourites sofar

[barbossas-wench]

[robiniswriting]

the doctor was born to be silly, forced to experience traumatic moments so severe that just one of them would justify a lifetime of therapy

[donutdrawsthings]

we were all thinking it

[certifiedgoofball]

73 yards was definitely a very "what the fuck" episode but it is also undeniably a masterpiece. like, i genuinely cant put in words how good it was. and i knew it was supposed to be scary beforehand but nothing could've prepared me for what the episode actually contained. because when you get past the horror aspect of it you notice how well-shot the scenes were, how strange the whole thing was, and how gut-wrenching the ending was. the people in the pub messing with ruby, getting her scared out of her mind. ruby setting a chair up outside of the tardis to wait for the doctor. her being shunned by her mother. finding kate, thinking that she could finally be free of the woman, just to see the moment kate turns on her, too. ruby on her deathbed, saying shes been abandoned by everyone but never alone for 65 years, saying she could make it snow when she was younger, and finally her expression of joy as the woman creeps closer and closer to her. so yeah, it was definitely a "what the fuck" episode, but more importantly an "oh my god" episode