#s40e8: empire of death

[dalesramblingsblog]

All that doom mongering about how putting the show on iPlayer would completely tank it seems a bit silly now, doesn't it?

Like c'mon, as an Australian I'm not a big fan of the Disney+ deal either, but I think this really does show how bad fans are at predicting what the "not we" will enjoy. The general public are not going to swear off a show they've watched the past seven episodes of because they didn't reveal that Ruby was the time-displaced descendant of Kim Talevera or whatever the fuck (and if you can tell me who that is without looking it up, hi, hello, we're both part of the problem on this one [slightly non-derogatory]).

If you put a good show in front of people, they will enjoy it. It's as simple as that. It's ironic that I've seen so many fans argue that Series 14 is somehow ruined because they didn't bring back Jan Grinky and that people who enjoyed the season are mindless IP consumers, when the types of obsessive fan that the season is quite explicitly critiquing in its refutation of theory-crafting as dull are far more guilty of that.

And yes, I am 120 books into a series of reviews on a bunch of out-of-print Doctor Who novels, so clearly I don't think I have a leg to stand on when complaining about obsessive fandom. But a lesson I think a lot of overly obsessive Doctor Who fans could stand to learn is to have the maturity to accept that a version of Doctor Who exclusively tailored to their own tastes would be utter shite. No exceptions, not even myself.

(Indeed we've already taught this lesson before and it has a handy name, we call it Attack of the Cybermen for short. Catchy, no?)

I'm sorry if this is overly bitter of me, and maybe making fun of Doctor Who fandom isn't the best gameplan for a blog that lives and dies off the back of Doctor Who fans, but God some folks on here need to learn to take the piss out of themselves a bit more. I've always had a very strong unease with the concept of fandom and it's quite clear from Series 14 that Davies seems to agree.

Get over yourselves, you have to be a little mad to enter into a book like The Eight Doctors and expect anything but an utter travesty of art. That's all fandom is: a moderately unhinged fanaticism. And that's OK in a vacuum, obviously, but Christ above just stop taking it all so seriously.

[halfbakedideas]

eden watches ‘the empire of death’

spoilers ahead for s1/s14/s40e8…

KATE NOOOO!!!

“do you believe in the power of prayer?” wot.

cherry!!!

something’s wrong with the tardis — uh. its interior is odd.

“memory is a time machine” ooooo.

how can this tardis be made because ruby remembering it. its interior looks like an almagation of so many doctors’ tardises but ruby’s only seen 15’s??

sutekh’s been here for how long??

oh.

“i damn you in the name of life itself.” 15

15, babes, you aren’t the last of the time lords. 14 is still somewhere around here, aren’t they?

not gonna lie, i like the way this tardis looks. might be an unpopular opinion.

oh it’s so janky lol.

“is this thing safe?”

“absolute death trap.” fucking love that.

73 yards.?!?!?

“funny things happen at 73 yards.” HELLO.

australia???!?!? noooo leave my country outta this.

i’m kinda hoping that this mixed tardis interior sticks around, even though it probably won’t.

oh.

“it’s been a very very long time.” 🤨🤔

“i think this was the city of, it began with a ‘b’” BRISBANE MENTION???? :D …maybe?…

“i supposed you do have a very nice face.” girl wtf.

oooo a spoon.

“i swear to you with a spoon.”

ooh it’s the crystals from 13’s tardis, in mini form.

the prime minister from 73 yards. oh.

this is the most complicated trail/process ever to get to the answer of who’s ruby’s mum.

why did ruby and the doctor change their clothes???

“don’t worry about me.” bullshit. absolutely worry about mel.

it’s snowing.

oh no 15!! D:

ha! take that. intelligent rope to the rescue.

tardis go yeet.

sutekh’s being dragged about like a rag doll.

“what happens if you bring death to death?” it’s ‘negative plus negative equal positive’ all over again.

oooh planet holograms. ood sphere!!!

nvm i was wrong about the whole city that started with a ‘b’ thing.

kate stewart, god of recruiting people into unit. (/j)

oh ruby’s mum really is just a regular, ordinary lady. wasn’t expecting that. i was clowning for ruby being 13’s daughter but 🤷

“she’s important, because we think she’s important. that’s how everything happens.” damn.

oh this is so lovely, but so awkward for me to watch. happy for runy tho.

15’s back in his clothes from the start of the season, hmmm.

“i’m sorry.”

“don’t be sorry.” ruby’s not gonna keep travelling with him, is she?

“and now ruby sunday, goodbye.” 😭 😭 😭

good stars, this is the most cinematic sounding music i’ve ever heard.

uhhh. creepy-sounding voiceover?? who the fuck is this. oh.

wdym i have to wait till christmas/next year 😔

overall, i rather enjoyed this episode. although the pacing felt a little odd, but it has all season so that’s not anything new. really, really liked the almagation tardis thing. but i’m very sad ruby’s season is over already. and this episode really cemented for me how good ncuti gatwa is as the doctor.

[cynicalclassicist]

Yeh, don't take something like Doctor Who too seriously. Just descend into a bit of nonsense and all of that.

All that doom mongering about how putting the show on iPlayer would completely tank it seems a bit silly now, doesn't it?

Like c'mon, as an Australian I'm not a big fan of the Disney+ deal either, but I think this really does show how bad fans are at predicting what the "not we" will enjoy. The general public are not going to swear off a show they've watched the past seven episodes of because they didn't reveal that Ruby was the time-displaced descendant of Kim Talevera or whatever the fuck (and if you can tell me who that is without looking it up, hi, hello, we're both part of the problem on this one [slightly non-derogatory]).

If you put a good show in front of people, they will enjoy it. It's as simple as that. It's ironic that I've seen so many fans argue that Series 14 is somehow ruined because they didn't bring back Jan Grinky and that people who enjoyed the season are mindless IP consumers, when the types of obsessive fan that the season is quite explicitly critiquing in its refutation of theory-crafting as dull are far more guilty of that.

And yes, I am 120 books into a series of reviews on a bunch of out-of-print Doctor Who novels, so clearly I don't think I have a leg to stand on when complaining about obsessive fandom. But a lesson I think a lot of overly obsessive Doctor Who fans could stand to learn is to have the maturity to accept that a version of Doctor Who exclusively tailored to their own tastes would be utter shite. No exceptions, not even myself.

(Indeed we've already taught this lesson before and it has a handy name, we call it Attack of the Cybermen for short. Catchy, no?)

I'm sorry if this is overly bitter of me, and maybe making fun of Doctor Who fandom isn't the best gameplan for a blog that lives and dies off the back of Doctor Who fans, but God some folks on here need to learn to take the piss out of themselves a bit more. I've always had a very strong unease with the concept of fandom and it's quite clear from Series 14 that Davies seems to agree.

Get over yourselves, you have to be a little mad to enter into a book like The Eight Doctors and expect anything but an utter travesty of art. That's all fandom is: a moderately unhinged fanaticism. And that's OK in a vacuum, obviously, but Christ above just stop taking it all so seriously.