#some of my favorite from rtd's run

[heycupcake]

Recently reached RTD's era after watching the whole Classic, and I just want to say, I was not prepared for the fanfic vibes whiplash. Like, the Doctor is now the LAST of his species and became known as some ominous bringer of destruction, the companions receive main character treatment and, furthermore, hanky-panky is now officially happening inside the Tardis? This is a textbook AU self-insert

I'm enjoying it. We finished 9 (I'm happy that despite his short run he managed to heal a bit from the Time War, but I shall miss him) and started 10 (please someone give him a zero room, also he's so going to commit war crimes). Everything feels a bit more "human-centric" than before, which I'm not sure I like, but the stories are very entertaining, and the characters have a lot of strength. One of my favorite moments so far is Rose's outburst in Bad Wolf, when she just can't deal with the prospect of a normal life after traveling with the Doctor. It still haunts my head.

But still, because I can't bear the thought of Gallifrey being destroyed and the Doctor Nyssaing himself, I'm going to headcanon the whole revival era into a separate universe where all the events from the Classic still happened, but the original Classic is safe somewhere far far away from any Time War and everyone is living happily ever after

[willfrominternet]

Been a while since I posted here but I got a ping about this post where I talked about what I expected from Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor and their adventures with Ruby Sunday. After watching the season, I think I was right in saying the Doctor should be fun and their adventures should be fun.

This was, by all measures, a season which hearkened back to the first years of the Modern Era. It felt like watching Chris Eccleston and Billie Piper all over again. Both Chris and Ncuti played Doctors coming from great trauma and wanting to escape it, even if they did it in different ways (with Nine having to learn to rediscover love and Fifteen openly embracing it.) Both of them also had to face trauma at the end of their first season (in Chris's case, his only season): Nine dealt with the return of the Daleks, nearly losing Rose, and having to sacrifice himself just as he was starting to recover, while Fifteen had to cope with how death followed them everywhere, regardless of their longing for peace, positivity, and fun.

Ruby was very much just a normal girl like Rose, and I think her unexplained magic abilities don't take away from that. Rose also underwent a transformation in her second (and final) season, where she got locked in an alternate timeline and (sort of) became the Bad Wolf. I believe we'll therefore learn more about Ruby's abilities and see her character transform in her second season, as well as learn about Mrs. Flood and how she plays into the Doctor's timeline. (Early thoughts: River, another child of Amy and Rory, the Rani, another pre-Hartnell Doctor, a future Doctor, etc. etc. etc.)

Anyway: This season was definitely fun, but brought back the philosophical and historical bits which originally made Doctor Who at least somewhat educational and thought-provoking. I think this was what was missing from Moffatt's and Chibnall's runs on the show: It became more centered around the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey lore and less around tying the history/sci-fi to current issues. (The Capaldi era actually did this somewhat well, but I'm biased because I love Capaldi.) Here's the ranking of episodes from best to okay:

Rogue

Dot and Bubble

73 Yards

Boom

The Devil's Chord

Space Babies

The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death

This first season did, in my opinion, feel too much like a taste of Doctor Who, or a "Season 1A." Series 7 was like this too, where we had so much left unresolved and underdeveloped after those first five episodes. (Not that the rest of Series 7 was much better, IMHO.) At least this first season for Ncuti felt a little more full, but now I'm even more excited to see what happens to the Doctor, Ruby, and whoever Varada Sethu will play in the next season. Perhaps that was the twist all along. Damn you, Russell! Damn you, Disney Plus!

Was this the finest season of the new incarnation of the show? No, but I would certainly give it a solid B. The writing was quite good, the acting was phenomenal, and the general vibe of the show definitely gave the impression that Doctor Who was back, baby. But the development did feel a bit rushed, and there were certain parts of the Doctor's character left over from previous incarnations which I thought they would have processed differently. Plus, I view other seasons of the show (Series 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10) more favorably. Call it bias, call it favoritism, call it nostalgia.

Whatever. Point is that Ncuti and Millie had a lot to prove in this semi-reboot of the show, and RTD had to show he still had his stuff, and by golly, they did it. I - as well as plenty of other long-time fans - haven't been this excited about the show in a while, despite how the season ended. And you're telling us we've gotta wait now for Christmas and then some time in the middle of 2025 for more? It's like I'm a high school fanatic raving mad in the middle of my bedroom again. What a wild feeling.

[ploppythespaceship]

Doctor Who Series 14 / Season 1 Review

Man, it feels good to be enjoying Doctor Who again. I haven't been keeping up with the show in years, but I caught up to see Tennant's return leading into Ncuti's run and I am so glad I did. This season is far from perfect, but it gets a lot of little things right and is consistently fun to watch, even if a lot of the details fall apart.

What I Liked

Ncuti Gatwa is simply phenomenal. He settles into the role so quickly and so easily, bringing such a fresh energy to the character. I love how distinct he feels, too -- when you're playing the fifteenth iteration of a character, it can be hard to find a new spin on things, but he's done it. He's also a fantastic actor, getting to show an incredibly wide range in just a few short episodes. I truly think he'll be remembered as one of the best Doctors.

Millie Gibson is also very good as Ruby, and her dynamic with the Doctor is a lot of fun. I appreciate having another Doctor/companion relationship that isn't romantic. They're just best friends, and it's very cute.

The show looks great. It's very clear that they've had a budget increase -- the costumes, effects, etc. are noticeably improved since RTD's first run.

Murray Gold's return as the composer is extremely welcome. His stuff isn't quite as bombastic as before (or maybe the episodes just have better sound mixing), but keeps a lot of the same leitmotifs. The result is a more subtle score that perfectly suits each scene.

Mel is so cool now. She was one of my least favorite classic companions, so seeing her worked into these storylines and feel more compelling is an unexpected delight.

What I Didn't Like

Ultimately, I think the season is just too short. Council of Geeks has an excellent YouTube video on this -- because there are only eight episodes, and a lot of them are going for bigger ideas and weirder premises, it feels like we don't really settle into a status quo.

The Doctor and Ruby's relationship also isn't as developed as much as I would like. If you pay close attention to the dialogue, there's actually a six month gap between "Space Babies" and "The Devil's Chord" -- we could have used another episode or two in that time period to really flesh out the beginnings of their friendship better. Instead the show jumps straight to them being best friends, without really showing us why that is.

I don't think the mystery box format of this season really worked. The mysteries were built up to such an extent that no answer could really be satisfying, and the finale really almost entirely on the big reveals that ultimately didn't amount to much. Ruby in particular feels like an underbaked companion, and I hope she gets more time to get properly developed.

Individual Episode Thoughts

Space Babies — This is easily the weakest episode of the season. It's not bad by any means, but it does remind me of some of the sillier episodes of RTD's first run. It felt like we were speedrunning the companion introduction, when things could have been slowed down and spread across a few episodes to feel more natural. The baby VFX also do not work and fall very firmly into uncanny valley territory.

The Devil's Chord — This one makes very little sense, but is entirely saved by Jinkx Monsoon being so iconic as Maestro. If you just go along for the ride, it's a ton of fun.

Boom — This episode is proof that Steven Moffat truly is at his best when he's writing self-contained stories under someone else's guidance. I don't think it's as iconic as Moffat's previous stories, and I felt like Ncuti was getting a lot of dialogue that better suited Matt Smith, but the entire concept was interesting and the execution was solid. Also, Ncuti acted his ass off without even being able to move.

73 Yards — Honestly, I'm mixed on this one. The setup is fantastic and eerie, and I enjoy the exploration of Ruby's character, solo from the Doctor. I like her experiencing this inexplicable thing, and deciding to find purpose in it to help others. But the story does fall apart for me at the end when it doesn't explain anything. I don't need every single thing handed to me, I understand the value of leaving things to the imagination, but the fact that the episode's last impression is "wait what?" does leave a bit of a sour taste. That being said, I do respect how weird and different this episode is, and how much discussion it prompted afterward.

Dot and Bubble — The trailers looked like a Black Mirror ripoff, and I was prepared for a shallow "social media bad" episode. Instead, we got something far more nuanced about the dangers of trapping yourself in a bubble of like-minded people and refusing to ever look beyond it. And the ending reveal that it's a society of white supremacists is so, so well-handled, because all the clues were there for you. If you're like me and didn't piece it together until the very end, it really challenges you to ask yourself why you didn't notice sooner. Also, another episode where Ncuti acts his ass off. My personal favorite episode of the season.

Rogue — Another with mixed feelings. Rogue himself is tons of fun, and I enjoy his dynamic with the Doctor, even if parts of it are pretty rushed. I really hope he comes back. The episode plot itself is serviceable but nothing special. My main complaint is the severe lack of Ruby. Her relationship with the Doctor doesn't feel sufficiently established, so the emotional beats don't really land.

The Legend of Ruby Sunday — This was an underwhelming finale, unfortunately. The first part barely even qualifies as an episode. It launches right into starting to answer the season's mysteries, but does so in an uncompelling and heavy-handed way. The Sutekh reveal is pretty epic in isolation, but...

Empire of Death — The Sutekh reveal doesn't really lead to anything satisfying. He doesn't have the presence of Toymaker or Maestro, he's just a CGI dog monster. This second part finally answers some questions, some of which are vaguely interesting, but it's happening in a plot so dull and so dry that I just can't bring myself to care. The episode is also just confusing? The plot points don't seem to flow naturally together, like multiple stories were smashed together with little rhyme or reason. The resolution is some of the most nonsensical nonsense that Doctor Who has ever come up with. Then we get to the reveal of Ruby's mother, which is so forced and it becomes clear in retrospect that things were added to seem more mysterious than they really were. And capping it all off is the Doctor's farewell to Ruby, which falls flat because, as I've said, their relationship is rather undercooked. It really does end the season on a downer, which is a shame because so many of the preceding episodes were pretty good.

[oreo102]

Please I'm so so curious to hear your thoughts on 10/14

Ok so my thoughts on 10 are less than 14 so let’s start with him lol. I have not watched 10, so my hatred of him is more hatred by proxy of how the fandom treats him and proxy of 14, but I still do have a few specific thoughts and this will be long and definitely rambly

A) when talking about him I usually refer to him as Fandom’s Favorite White Boy or Pathetic Wet Cat/Twink mostly because it’s funny but for now I’ll use 10. The most I know about 10 is that he is angsty and in love with rose and besties with Donna… also that he’s pathetic but that’s more vibes

So- my hate of 10 is less tangible than 14 but i still have a few points, the main one being the way i see ppl talk about how he treated Martha and how obsessed with rose he was. I don’t think it’s ever compelling to have someone’s main personality trait be loving someone a whole lot which also honestly is my problem with rose (don’t hate her but don’t care about her)

From what I have seen and heard of 10 it’s rather… boring, honestly? Like it’s mostly clips out of context but for 13 and 15 I saw clips out of context and was like “ok wth is happening? /pos” with 10 it’s more like “wtf?” Also pretty sure his episodes were some of the ones I saw when my parents had the show on that played a part in me swearing the show off so

Ok onto the more tangible hatred of 14. A lot of this, admittedly, is more about the writing and showrunner decisions than 14 but those things by proxy makes me hate him

So- I have a lot of feelings on him quite literally starting from his first appearance in power of the doctor. I am SO PETTY that he doesn’t wear 13’s silly little outfit. Like I have gone on full rants about that fact to my friends and family

I’ve seen something claim that rtd didn’t want 14 to wear her outfit because people might be transphobic and derogatory towards him (even tho Dhawan!master wore it, and it’s pretty gender neutral) but then did nothing about the shit ppl said about ruby’s actor or about ppl who would be a bitch about rose the second being nonbinary(also i remember seeing a post about their deadname being mentioned in an episode? Not totally sure that’s true tho)

The 60th anniversary specials themselves don’t really celebrate Dr who as a whole as much as 10’s run with a few old villains but that’s not really my main issue with that. My main issue with the specials is that the Doctor gets their happy ending. With Donna. And her family. When fucking 3-4 episodes prior, their happy ending would’ve been yaz. It would’ve been staying with yaz. But nope! Donna! Because that’s what 10 would’ve wanted.

And I don’t want 14 to be with yaz, btw, I mean I want them to meet and for yaz to hit him, but I don’t want them to be a thing or like be together because I believe yaz is a lesbian but that’s not the point of this so moving on

I also have very much big issues with the scene where 15 and 14 are (presumably, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the full scene) talking about women they love and mention who I assume to be River and rose but not yaz, who again, they wanted to spend forever with 3-4 episodes prior. It makes the doctor seem like a douchebag even if it’s a writing issue and not a character issue

Also 14 being David tenant overshadows 13’s departure and 15’s arrival and since he is most likely going to show up at least a little bit in s14 he’ll overshadow 15 in his own series. It’s icky at the very least.

There’s something inherently bad about having the fandoms Favorite White Boy be with a contentious casting decision (because I have no faith in the Dr who fandom not to be bigoted) and even if no one has an issue with 15 being black and maybe gay (is he gay? He gives gay vibes) it’s still setting him up for failure by pairing him with 14

Also bigeneration is so fucking dumb and I hate it

Also also stop giving the Dr 19 year old companions it’s getting kinda weird now

[clockworkouroboros]

Now that the 60th anniversary specials are all out, I guess I'm gonna share my thoughts about them all, because it's the internet or whatever. Overall, I do think there's a lot of good in these specials. The fan service is absolutely there, but it's been done in a different way than some of the past special episodes, and it really acknowledges I think the many different kinds of Doctor Who fans, from the people who just watch the revived series (or even just bits and pieces of the revived series) to fans of Classic Who and even those of us crazy enough to get into the extended universe. I mean, featuring Beep the Meep and the Toymaker as your two Big Villains is both ridiculous and speaks to the nature of Doctor Who fans that we were all so excited for them. So. A lot of really nice things about these specials all around.

In The Star Beast, we got a really nice blend of nostalgia for the original Tennant era with new, interesting characters and a healthy amount of fan service towards Beep the Meep's half a dozen fans. Between those three things and RTD's obvious love letter to and heartfelt (if perhaps a little clunky) support of queer (and especially trans) people, it's easy to look past the episode's flaws; namely, that it's very light on the plot, and the handwavey bullshit that retcons Donna losing her memories completely undercuts the emotional heavy hitting of Donna losing her memories. You mean it was *always* that easy? Fuck right off.

Wild Blue Yonder really brought in, for me, more than a hint of Wilderness Years Who. The bottle episode slightly claustrophobic feel, the terrifying unexplainable Not-Things, the goddamn salt—I thought this story was the strongest in the set. I think RTD, like many writers, has a tendency to try and make things bigger and bigger and bigger, when really, his best stories tend to be like this. Consider Midnight as another example—brilliant, terrifying, and also very similar to some of the more experimental stories of the wilderness years. If I had a complaint about this story, it's that I would want it to play into more of the sense of sensory deprivation that stories like Midnight and Scherzo did. But honestly, that's a nitpick. It infuriates me a little bit—RTD likes to go in for some spectacle, as seen in The Star Beast and especially in The Giggle (and also the s3 and s4 finales, and also DT's regeneration story, and also and also and also)—but some of his best work is done when he doesn't allow himself the spectacle and instead really pares everything down to the barest of bare bones.

And, honestly? The Giggle was a bit of a letdown. There are so many ways you could bring the Toymaker into Who again, and he ended up sort of being an afterthought. Neil Patrick Harris was obviously having a grand old time in the role, which is great—so why not give him a little more to chew on? I thought there was a lot that was great—Donna and the Doctor in the Toymaker's domain, as an example. I think, building off of Wild Blue Yonder, coming back again and again to just how much the Doctor has been through and how that has affected them, was also a really nice thing to include, and something that I wish had been brought up more during Thirteen's run, because she really went through it.

But that also brings me to my biggest issue with The Giggle, and that is the way David Tennant's Doctor (Fourteen? TenThree? TenTeen?) has been written in a way that still is overshadowing Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor. This was honestly one of my biggest concerns as soon as Tennant's return was announced, and one of RTD's past issues in Who has been his chronic overshadowing of characters of color in favor of a white fan favorite. (Martha and Mickey both get this treatment.) The regeneration scene pissed me off in a way that I didn't think Doctor Who could piss me off—generally speaking, I'm pretty level-headed about most Doctor Who things because this show is ridiculous enough that you sort of have to just roll with it. I already adore Ncuti's Doctor (from his extremely limited amount of screentime), but I can't help but feel that he's been cheated out of a proper introduction because he had to share his limited screentime with David Tennant, the most popular Doctor to ever exist in the show's 60-year history. Likewise, because of this ridiculous Journey's End 2: This Time It's Stupider nonsense, I'm genuinely concerned RTD will randomly bring DT back for some fun multi-Doctor fanwanks, and sort of write all over the first Doctor of color's era with David Tennant. Not that that will happen (I certainly hope not, anyway), but the fact that he's leaving it open as an option already has me worried.

So. Yeah. Maybe I'm being harsher on RTD than I would otherwise be, because the nostalgia for having him back is so ridiculously high that it's driving me a little insane, or maybe these are genuine issues. I'm not upset that he's back, but these specials—and especially The Giggle—left me extremely wary that we're going to get the same exact issues that he brought to Who in his first run. Overall it'll be fine, and again, I did get a lot of enjoyment out of these specials! There's a lot about RTD's writing that is objectively both good and consistent. That doesn't mean I'm not holding my breath going forward.

[asgardian--angels]

rewatching eccleston's run in doctor who and MAN do those old episodes hit hard

there was something so human about RTD's stories that have been lost from the last few years of the show. I loved 11, and I adored 12, but admittedly there was a fundamental shift when Moffat came along where the story became about the Doctor more than the companions, and the companions became special people instead of the ordinary human the Doctor needed to keep him from tipping over the edge. RTD's stories were corny at times but they were viscerally human, and focused more on the regular people than the Doctor. And of course Eccleston was so phenomenal in the role, his profound sorrow, his fresh wounds, his darkness. Some of these early episodes absolutely gutted me, like who gave them the right to make Father's Day. I don't have a fraction of the emotional response to anything post-Amy & Rory. I really do miss the heart that the older seasons had, as well as their ability to invoke real fear and real anguish, true loneliness, and pure hope.

Not to mention the fact that I will never forgive them for retconning the outcome of the Time War. So much of the Doctor's character, his grief, his pain, his fury, is tied up in that, and it's what makes the emotions surrounding him so potent. I want him to have to live with it. Taking back the genocide of the Time Lords is the worst writing decision - decisions, because they've messed with it so many times now - that the show ever made in its later seasons. I love the lore of Gallifrey, the imagery they built, its signature leitmotif. Heck, my favorite episode is still The End of Time. I hate that they ruined that and took that away from the earlier doctors.

[thealogie]

Look 10 is not my favorite doctor even but you gotta face it that DT was pretty iconic in that role. Like I hated that mitherfucker (10) half the ti,e and it’s not like you can say anyone else was any less good as the doctor, DT just was the doctor. Also so many episodes of his being some of the best isn’t even on him purely, it also has a lot to do with the writing

Some shows/casts/showrunners just have the juice. It’s like a feedback loop. The writing has to be good and then the acting has to be good and then if the acting is good in a specific way that inspires the writer to write specifically for that actor and it’s just a feedback loop. Not to compare those seasons of doctor who to far superior shows but you see the same actor/writer chemistry on shows like breaking bad and succession. The writers are clearly obsessed with the actors and are writing to specific acting choices brought in by the actors.

All that to say, he was really no better than any other actor playing the doctor but RTD and Moffat both had the hots for him in a very serious way so the writing went hard. And RTD already knew how to write for him from Casanova so they hit the ground running.

[oodlyenough]

I may regret dipping a toe in Doctor Who discourse but … do you have a hot take on Blink? Can we still be friends if I like Blink?

Also, what is your favorite episode? (Apologies if you answered any of this recently and I missed it.)

Hahaha Blink definitely doesn't top the list of episodes I dislike most, it's actually the first episode of the show I ever saw and clearly I liked it enough to watch more. There's some things that irk me (like the "women gradually pestered into loving a man" thing), but most of the things that annoy me the most aren't really in Blink itself, but in Moffat tending to revisit those ideas over and over again in his own seasons. Like I think the Weeping Angels, in Blink, are pretty cool, and so is the time loop idea. By the end of Moffat's run I was sick to death of time loops, and I think the Angels got a lot less cool every time they reappeared, eventually devolved into total meaninglessness. Why am I being asked to believe the *Statue of Liberty* can move across town without anyone seeing it lfhkghlkf...

Also imo an episode that doesn't really do anything emotionally for its major characters being so often heralded "the best episode ever" just agitates me, lol.

For my favourite episode, I usually say the Waters of Mars. By that point I'd been underwhelmed by the other 2009 specials and was expecting another mostly-pointless piece to lead up to the big finale and then that ep blew me away lol. I think the tension is really well done, you get some really great acting from both the Doctor and the guest stars especially Adelaide, the exploration of 'fixed point' was built up to well with previous fixed point episodes like Pompeii, and the ending was sooo chilling and surprising to me. It also felt like fulfilling an arc for Ten that they'd been setting up all along, wrt his capacity for playing god and how that could go deeply wrong. People often criticize Ten and/or that era for deifying the Doctor but I feel like the show itself couldn't be clearer about what a bad thing it is when that happens, and WOM shows that perfectly.

Runners up: I love Midnight and I love Turn Left, for similar reasons. I think they're both good character explorations of the Tenth Doctor as well as the importance of the companion in tempering him, humanizing him, etc. (And Turn Left for Donna and Rose specifically as well.) All three of those episodes are RTD at his best imo.

[scriptscribbles]

To give my general 13 Who feelings since I asked:

Ryan was my favorite Chibnall era companion though I suspect Tosin probably felt pretty burned by lack of material and hope he's on to better things that make him happier. He's quite a good actor IMO. Makes a lot of interesting choices when left to the background.

Dan and Graham were both quite charming but just not character types I need from stories right now. Dan also really suffered from not getting, like, any breathing room as a character. It ends up feeling like after Brian Williams, Chibnall needed a comfort older white dude in the TARDIS.

Yaz I like on paper but never felt like she got the focus or exploration the many interesting things about her deserved. Can You Hear Me was a very clever retcon to explain her lack of material in series 11 in addition to being poignant though it does totally change her from the character introduced in Woman Who Fell to Earth.

I like the idea of the Timeless Child and the opportunities it offers and relate a surprising amount to the whole forgotten child childhood trauma questions about identity, but think it stalled on examining that after the quite underrated Once, Upon Time.

Sacha Dhawan is a superb actor who elevated a lot but I did not care at all for the direction the Master was taken in. The lack of acknowledgment of Missy was painful, the Nazi stuff doubly so, and the redestriction of Gallifrey just annoying.

Jodie Whittaker is wonderful and very Doctory. I wish she could have played more range though and really wanted to see her play a fuller relationship plot because I love the Doctor in that kind of thing and think she'd have nailed it.

Loved the sonic. Didn't love the TARDIS. Liked series 12, apart from Spyfall part 2. Thought Resolution and Eve of the Daleks were fantastic. Complicated feelings about Flux and how it all in my view fell apart (well documented that Chibnall wrote it while it went and it shows). Thought series 11 was the right idea but didn't think it was good enough overall.

Really enjoyed writers like Vinay Patel, Ed Hime, Joy Wilkinson, Maxine Alderton, and Nina Metivier contributing, and even controversially Pete McTighe, though I wish they got a bit more polish the way RTD or Moffat added sparkle to their guest writers. It's probably not fair to expect Chris Chibnall to meet the dialogue crispness of two of the best living British TV writers who proceeded him. It's not that he's bad, but Moffat and Davies are really special talents on that front and a tough act to follow.

Thought the best director of the era was Nida Manzoor and hope they get her back. Also loved Wayne Yip again but sounds like he didn't love doing it.

Some episodes and elements I really liked but overall the era of modern Who I'm coolest on. Still would take it over several classic runs any day.

[the-lady-hestia]

Alright spoilers for the final Dr Who special

HERES MY THOUGHTS ON THE GIGGLE AND FINAL RANKINGS FOR ALL THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIALS!!

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Bi-generation

Oh boy

I spent a while trying to write this, but every time I came to a complaint, I realized that the story kind of set it up in a way. All that to say, this review was originally going to be a lot harsher, but I found some justifications for the things I had complaints about.

In general, I like the episode. It’s a goofy romp where Neil Patrick Harris is a cosmic-scale nut job while David Tennant looks on in horror. It’s fun. It is not, however, a good ending to a series of specials let alone ANNIVERSARY specials. It doesn’t feel like an ending. The ending doesn’t feel emotionally resolved (that’s the thesis statement right there)

Throughout the episode, the doctor is constantly reminded that he has always had to move on. He always has to leave his friends. Between meeting the classic companion Mel, to the Toymaker giving him basically a slideshow of all the people who have died because of him and his actions.

And so the story compliments this with an ending where the doctor doesn’t have to leave. The pattern breaks. The doctor stays.

Aaaaaand he also doesn’t. At the same time.

I feel like the same effect could have been reached without splitting the doctor in half. Now there’s two doctors. How the hell are you gonna manage that? The Timeless Child shit is definitely cannon so now there’s two cosmic super beings AND two Tardis’s (Tardices? Whatever the plural of Tardis is) in existence.

I was emotionally prepared to say goodbye to David Tennant as the doctor but now the story feels unresolved. Instead of the heartwarming ending they were going for, it feels like this was just concentrated fan-service intended to lead into a spinoff series and encourage fanfiction writers to fill in the gaps (I will say, the Doctor calling Rose his niece was very sweet. He does finally get a family and that is undeniably nice)

SO! Corrections:

I think the same emotional effect (if not more of an emotional effect) could have been achieved if 14 didn’t actually die in that confrontation. Maybe the resolution of his story is that The Doctor decided that, for a while, he does stick around. Maybe we get a montage of domestic Doctor. He still gets his family and he still gets to resolve all his emotional baggage, just without the Bi-generation nonsense. When Ncuti takes over we get a Doctor that is ready to start traveling again (remember, 15 isn’t going to have this emotional catharsis. He left without confronting his baggage. He’s still fucked up, but I don’t feel like the writers are gonna acknowledge that) And then, after some time has passed, maybe the David Tennant body “wears a bit thin” and he regenerates the normal way (that’s how Hartnell regenerated, I feel like it would be fitting with this whole “new era of Doctor Who” shit they’ve got going on plus the Toymaker is a villain from Hartnells run, the themes are themeing)

Other than that, pretty fun episode. Kate Stewart slays. Shirley continues to be a bad bitch keeping the doctor on his toes. The tease for the Master at the end was fun, always a blast to see that lunatic. Overall, I give The Giggle a 6.5/10. Passable episode with a truly nonsense ending (and not the fun kind of nonsense)

Final ratings for all the specials:

The Star Beast: 8/10

Wild Blue Yonder: 9.5/10 (this might be one of my favorite episodes of Doctor Who ever)

The Giggle: 6.5/10

I do still love RTD. The man wrote some of my favorite stories in all of fiction. I’m very optimistic about this coming season of the show. I think Ncuti Gatwa has charisma coming out his ears so he’ll be fantastic. My pie in the sky dream is that it’s so good that it makes me forget about all this weird shit and hanging plot threads. Here’s hoping!

[litcityblues]

Doctor Whoquest Part Fourteen: The Whoquest Never Ends

OF COURSE, the Whoquest never ends y'all. That's the nature of the Whoquest. There's always going to be another regeneration and a new chapter to write and although we dipped back in to rank the 60th Anniversary Specials, Part Thirteen was never going to be the end... we've got a new Doctor to consider (Ncuti Gatwa) and a new (old) showrunner taking the reins once more. (Russell T. Davies).

And you know what? I'm not sure it's fair to judge this new Doctor's run quite yet. Every new Doctor- at least in the modern show- takes at least a season to really get stuck into the role. The possible exception to this may be Matt Smith whose debut episode (The Eleventh Hour) probably ranks as the strongest debut of any in Nu-Who. But Capaldi followed this pattern--I genuinely wasn't sure how to feel about him at first, but by the end, he had somehow managed to knock Smith off the top of my list. Whittaker also followed this pattern-- the Centenary Special was genuinely good and an excellent way for her to go out and even though the Flux was kind of a mess, it was a Whovian mess which is important to note.

So, I'm going to withhold judgment on Ncuti Gatwa's overall run as the Doctor for now. It's too soon to tell and as with any modern television show involving any kind of fandom, there's an instant helping of 'Durrrrrrr hurrr, it's gone WOKE!' that makes me cringe. That's not effective criticism, because a. you're dealing with an alien who regenerates their body every so often, and b. because of that, you shouldn't impose human hang-ups or beliefs about sexuality onto a character that's non-human. It doesn't make sense.

But, there are two lines of criticism I'm... leaning toward? (Pending subsequent seasons.) First: the whole big reveal on Ruby Sunday didn't land well with the fandom and while I get what RTD was aiming for, he didn't stick the landing at all. It didn't feel earned. It felt disappointing. There was such a build-up around the character and the snow and the DNA and then Doctor Who of it all that you were expecting it to be one thing (because we've seen RTD on Doctor Who before) and it turned out to be something else. I get it though: RTD wanted to zig where we were expecting him to zag and it's a good thing, if not well executed. (And I don't know: Mrs. Flood is still an open question at this point, so maybe there's a larger story at work we don't know about yet that could make this seem brilliant in retrospect. And maybe the whole 'secret hints of something big for the season finale' is either quintessentially Whovian in ways I don't know about or it's just how RTD structures all of his television shows. Either way-- it would be nice to see something palpably different structurally speaking from RTD, but I like the fact he wanted to try, even if he didn't stick the landing.)

Second: I'm curious about: The Doctor showing his emotions... you see this a lot in Trek Discourse these days too. One of the knocks against Discovery is that the characters spend so much time talking about their feelings and dealing in therapy-speak that it annoys portions of that fanbase and I'm curious about how Ncuti's portrayal of the Doctor is landing in Whovian discourse. I don't mind a Doctor who gets mad. I don't mind a Doctor who gets upset. But a Doctor crying? A Doctor screaming out of the TARDIS? I'm... curious. It could be that this Doctor is still finding their feet. I'm willing to go there and if we see the Doctor grow into the role even better. And honestly, it didn't really bother me in the context of watching the show, I just saw some criticism of it and I was like, 'huh, I guess that's true'.

All right, so let's break down Ncuti Gatwa's first season (Series 14 in the Nu-Who chronology, Season 1 for Disney/International Production-related purposes.)

Three Episodes I Liked

'73 Yards': This might be my favorite episode of the season. They land in Wales and the Doctor accidentally breaks a fairy circle containing messages for someone named 'Mad Jack.' He then disappears and Ruby realizes that she's being followed by a mysterious woman who maintains a constant distance of 73 yards away from her. Anyone who approaches the woman runs in fear from both her and Ruby which causes no end of distress to Ruby at first (UNIT tries to help but runs away. Her Mother does the same.) But gradually Ruby comes to accept the woman's presence and grows older, doing her best to maintain a normal life until she figures it out. I loved this-- in fact, I love it so much I won't spoil it for you.

'Boom': Steven Moffat returns and this time the Doctor steps on a landmine and has to stay there for the whole episode or risk triggering it. He's got a time limit to fight. He needs to save Ruby. He needs to figure out just who the hell is fighting who on Kastarion 3. It's tense, it's nervy, it's very good stuff.

'Dot and Bubble': Might be the best example/reassurance that Doctor Who still has it. Young, privileged people, in a happy alien bubble world, obsessed with being online all the time after being helped to freedom by the Doctor and Ruby because they're being eaten one by one thanks to their social media dots becoming sentient and generally becoming homicidal at the superficiality of it all and creating bugs to eat them. The twist at the end is delightfully dark.

Two Episodes I Didn't Like:

The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death: I said it up top: RTD didn't stick the landing on the big reveal of Ruby Sunday. It fell flat: don't get me wrong- I like it when Nu-Who goes for the deep cuts and the return of Sutekh is a very deep cut from the vault. I loved that. The whole Doctor meeting a random lady in a desert because the universe spends months/years slowly dying feels a bit too much like Martha Jones walking all over the world before defeating the Master. It was broadly okay with hints at plot points to be explored that I'm curious about. (What did happen to the Doctor's granddaughter? Who the heck is Mrs. Flood?) But it just wasn't my favorite.

Space Babies: Love Golda Rosheuvel. (Queen Charlotte from Bridgerton.) The 'Look Who's Talking' Babies? Not so much.

One Episode To Consider:

The Devil's Chord: Jinx Monsoon was excellent as the Maestro. I loved the idea of the Doctor and Ruby dropping into the 60s only to find a world without music- or at least one that doesn't have good taste in music. I'm assuming the references to 'The One Who Waits' are about Sutekh, but... what if they're not?

Overall: Put a pin in it and let me see Season 2. There was a lot of 'oh, RTD is back' to this season, but there were definitely bright spots as well and plenty of room for Ncuti Gatwa to really grab ahold of the role and make it his own. (Which I'm not quite sure he's done yet-- whether that's because of the writing or just getting to grips with the character, I don't know-- but I'm also not worried about it because he's got time. It does take some people time to get stuck into this character.) My Grade: 7/10

[khruschevshoe]

Me rewatching Eleven’s Era and realizing that some of my favorite one-off episodes of the show are there (Vincent and the Doctor, God Complex, Power of Three, for example) but that the entire Era is just kind of stained by early-Moffat's fingers all over it bc every single arc-developing episode (Day of the Moon, Big Bang, Good Man Goes to War, Let's Kill Hitler, Wedding of River Song) is ruined by either his need to be "clever" with the Silence (which literally never got a resolution EVER, btw) OR with River Song and the ENDLESS sexism in her plots/hee being nothing more than a "sexy badass" whose entire life, birth to death, is set up for her to be groomed into the Doctor’s killer and then immediately goes to being infatuated with him to the point where even her one interesting/seemingly "for herself" character traits she has (being an archaeologist) is retrofitted to be about finding a "good man" aka the Doctor OR just the ways that Amy's rather interesting story about the ways that the Doctor abandoning her after getting inserted into her life at such a young age/her slowly getting disillusioned/realizing she prefers a life on Earth is just YOINKED in a sexist direction with the whole "getting pulled for half a season in order to pop out a baby/not getting to search for that baby/leaving Rory bc she finds out that she is infertile and somehow that makes her unable to be a good wife" storyline that honestly hurts a lot of otherwise good episodes (such as Rebel Flesh/Almost People) and absolutely TANKS others (looking at you, Asylum of the Dalek). And that's not even getting into the act that LITERALLY EVERY FEMALE CHARACTER is attracted to Eleven, save the two canonical lesbians, one of which he kisses without her consent, which really puts a damper on the Rory/Amy romance in Season 5 until they figured out how to write it better from Amy's end in Season 6.

Like, I really think that Eleven, Amy, Rory, and River all had interesting arcs/foundations that could have led to good storylines/arcs. And in some places, they did. But even though I've gained a new appreciation for certain episodes/certain arcs (such as Amy's aforementioned growing up/past the Doctor arc), there is this undeniable stench of sexism/bad writing that hits all of the tentpole episodes of this era that makes it so hard to rewatch. While there are some episodes of RTD that I don't rewatch due to them being boring or just not my cup of tea (and I do have criticisms of how he handled race/Martha/Mickey), I don't have the same bad taste in my mouth for him that I do for Moffat.

(Oh, and one of the few episodes from RTD's run that I refuse to rewatch due to a bad taste is Girl in the Fireplace. So do with that as you will.)

[crystal-lillies]

I'm frothing today in part bc I did enjoy The Star Beast (for the most part aside from nitpicking) from start to finish.

How could I not? I love David Tennant and he slips into his Doctor mannerisms so well, and Catherine Tate is a treasure and they have such a great dynamic together as The Doctor and Donna Noble.

Donna is one of my all time favorite characters! How could I not love her and her beautiful family? Rose Noble! Blessing! Shaun Temple! Amazing and supportive!! Even Sylvia has had such development since series 4 and she tries so hard to keep Donna safe and it's so good to see. AND she tries her best to be supportive of Rose in the most healthy way.

The Meep? Excellent. 10/10 no notes. Maybe except that the execution of your plan felt a little underwhelming but it wasn't really about you it was about DoctorDonna so. Win some lose some.

UNIT!! love me some UNIT all the time! And the new scientific advisor is so good! Love her! Also love that Kate Stewart is taking care of Wilf. Such a good detail.

And Donna gets to LIVE with her memories. that burden is FINALLY off of her and her loved ones.

So so so much I loved about this special! But my feelings and perception are still tainted with the actions leading up to this point, along with the One Fear that Ncuti's run will be plagued with the same mistakes of RTD1's era, based on certain decisions in this first special. I'm still hopeful otherwise but the fear has definitely not gone away.

It's the juxtaposing nature of being a Doctor Who fan I suppose. But don't get my salty and faint bitter posts wrong. I loved the special and it's very likely I'll love the next ones. I Won't Forget What RTD Has Done Before; I just hope he's learned better.

[umbrellasareforever]

i get your dw feelings! ive been wondering/accusing myself of nostalgia, or if i just used to watch in a different way, if im too invested now, overscrutinising etc

but i feel you totally about the super clean feeling. i keep comparing ruby to rose bc the actresses were both 19, right? i keep trying to figure out if rose really looked more 'real' or if thats just nostalgia talking. maybe she read the same way to a 26 yo in 2005 as ruby does to me? maybe thats just how fashion goes? i dont know, but it all just feels too Pretty. grime it up

not like this isnt also true to an extent for other eras. i mentally grime up 13 a Lot, and like clara, or 12, or 10, or whoever, theyre all pretty, right? it's tv, and it's not grimy tv, of course theyre all gonna be made pretty! i already missed some of that lived-in-ness with 13s era but it feels even more sterile now

or maybe im just being nitpicky, like you said. ive been thinking about how the more time you spend thinking about something the more complaints youre gonna have, right? ive got more complaints about 13s era than i do........anything else ive ever watched maybe, but thats because ive spent so much time thinking about it because i love it, you know? it's kind of paradoxical

but i also totally feel you about wanting someone new. like every artist has their fixations their obsessions their things they make art about, and that develops also over the course of their life, im not saying rtd has uninteresting ideas when it comes to dw, but i do feel like we've kinda, you know, got the picture now. and i so desperately want to see what doctor who could become with some new artists with their own obsessions and experiences and visions at the helm, you know? i feel a little like ugh we've DONE this, even if we havent done literally exactly this bc rtd dw in 2005 is not the same as 20 years later, but like. some fresh blood you know? we've heard of these guys already, we've seen their visions. get someone new. do something completely bonkers and get a woman to run the show :P

idk, just wanted to say that. i feel you 🤝

Thank you so much for taking the time to say all this!! It feels nice to know I'm not totally alone or crazy!!

It really is hard, especially with RTD being back, to not fear that nostalgia is just taking over the brain and of COURSE we think about this damn show too much!! No doubt about it!

Which honestly does make me wonder how those who don't obsess think about this season so far; ohhh to look at things with fresh eyes...

Every time I think about bringing in fresh blood I think about Jamie Mathieson coming in and writing Mummy on the Orient Express, Flat Line, and Oxygen -- three of my all time favorite episodes of New Who -- and I'm like?? Where'd he go?? Those episodes were so wonderful and felt so fresh and I think about them so often?? Why is he not back??

But I also 10000000% agree that there's literally nothing stopping them from getting someone other than a white man to run the show. I promise you BBC, the world will not end!!

[mooncaps]

^ My initial reaction to the events of The Giggle.

I'm trying not to be too thrown by the absurdity of it, because really the whole show is absurd. The idea of a time traveling phone box that's bigger on the inside and an alien that can regenerate so new actors can play the same character is pretty ridiculous. I'm just used to it because the show's been doing it for 60 years, I've been watching the show for 16 years, and I had an understanding that those concepts were part of it.

Bi-generation isn't really any more absurd; it's just new. So I'm trying not to get too stuck on that.

And I like David Tennant, Ten was my favorite Doctor, so I don't mind the idea of the door being open for him. I'm not entirely clear on whether we'll be seeing any more of him on screen, or if he's just getting his happy ending, but it feels like a big thing to introduce if he's just going to be shelved. (At the very least, they've left open room for Big Finish to tell stories.) Much as I like him, if Tennant occasionally pops up, then I think it will feel a bit like stunt-casting and pandering, even if I'm the one being pandered to.

Ever since Power of the Doctor, I've been hoping that Tennant's return would be setting up a tie-in to Tom Baker's cameo in Day of the Doctor. With his retirement starting, maybe he'll go on to revisit some more old favorite faces and become a curator. I'd be down for that as an interesting story. Though I worry that it, or any other storyline they do with the bi-generation, could distract from Ncuti's introduction and establishing his presence as The Doctor.

I'm left to wonder if they're not confident that fans will stick around for Ncuti so they want to keep people on the hook for David. I'm also not sure how I feel about giving Ncuti the unconventional introduction. Maybe it'll prove to be the right fit for him. I guess time will tell on that front.

One thing about these specials is that they didn't feel much like events to me. Day of the Doctor, Power of the Doctor, and even Journey's End felt more like special events. These three mostly just felt like regular episodes. The Giggle came closest to feeling like an event. Although the regeneration (bi-generation) felt like an underwhelming moment, narratively. And we all know RTD and Murray Gold are capable of delivering emotionally resonant scenes. I feel like Ncuti's very sudden introduction so far lacks weight compared to most of the others. None of the new Doctors ever get much in their first scene, but they come in as part of a big emotional moment. I don't think I like that Ncuti didn't really get that. Hopefully his first proper story can give him more of a chance to make an impact. That's always where a new Doctor really gets to establish theirself.

And I guess we sort of got the new Doctor in the old Doctor's outfit this time. Though I find it frustrating that RTD is fine with having Ncuti run around in his underpants, but felt like putting David in Jodie's outfit would've been "taking the mickey."

I probably need more time to sit with the new ideas and get used to them. I'm someone who very much enjoyed the Timeless Child story (and wished they did more with it,) so I know I can get into new concepts shaking up the lore, but this seems like it's gonna take a bit more time for me to adjust to.

[marley-manson]

K, M, Q 😁

Thank you!!

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Another contender is Griffith Berserk. It's hard to call his story a development arc lol, it's more like too-late revelation followed by extra hard and extra tragic repression, but god it's satisfying.

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

RTD's companions are all shoe-ins, some of the few fictional characters I both like as characters and as theoretical people. Rose and Martha are both bestie material, Donna I could see being a casual fun friend.

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

Hm, I move on from all my fandoms eventually just because interest wanes after a few years, but idk if I can say I've abandoned any fandoms. I still look back fondly on all of them, and I've never left due to like, fandom drama.

OH no wait, speaking of Doctor Who it should probably count here. I didn't leave because of the fandom, but I lost interest entirely when Moffat's run started so that pretty much ended my interest in the fandom whether I was ready or not.