#still learning Ncutis face!!!

[the-patrex]

Silly quickish sketches of the hugie aliens

[akajustmerry]

one of the many things I love about Ncuti's Doctor is it's clear how much Matt Smith's performance as the Doctor is an influence for Ncuti. He's spoken about this in interviews of course, but even without those it's so delightfully clear. The way Ncuti plays the Doctor as someone desperately trying to seem like a big kid class clown life of the party until something terrible happens and the facade falls away into this Eldritch anger. That's something Matt Smith did really well too except where 11's mask was painfully obvious, 15's isn't. Like the Doctor has progressed!! They learned how to live all young and childish and even made it more convincing, but it's still just a mask!!!!! Btw, I love Eleven but this is not me saying that I like Ncuti's Doctor because it reminds me of a white guy. Rather, what I'm trying to say is that whoever plays the Doctor always has an incredible challenge of continuity in performance. Their job is to make you feel like this is not a different actor, but the same character with a different face, while also making the role their own. It's not easy and not something that every actor who plays the role is equally good at. But Ncuti's love of the eleventh Doctor and intentional choices to emulate elements of that while also bringing his own charisma, culture, emotionality and queerness is so soooo wonderful. It's such a perfect masterclass of the balance any Doctor actor has to strike between emulating the past while also being new. He's so good. He's just so good. It's such a treat every week to watch him be so radiant in this role even when the writing is so-so.

[taran-wood-beast]

So I think the main thing I've learned here is that Kerblam! could have worked if they had just made that guy the World's Most Annoying Piece of Shit Asshole. Like, I'm no fan of the CIA. But if they fed, I dunno, Chris Rufo to the terror dogs from Ghostbusters, I can't really pretend I'd have a problem with that?

I've been wondering for weeks now why McTighe is the one Chibnall era writer to get invited back and it seems pretty clear now that it's because he actually is pretty solid at both characterization and propelling forward an entertaining narrative. He just can't stop stepping on politics rakes Sideshow Bob style.

Also I still haven't forgiven him for girlbossifying Ace

Some little details I really enjoyed here:

* Love when Ncuti rolls his Rs McCoy style.

* The costuming on Conrad and Ruby's first date, where they're both dressed in riffs on Fifteen's outfits.

* The little domestic bits between Kate and her hunky trophy BF. This is how UNIT is supposed to function.

Actually the main thing threatening to completely break this episode is that the eternal tension between "UNIT is a familiar and loveable ad hoc family of Earth based supporting characters we like" (Season 8 UNIT) and "UNIT is a ruthless clandestine international paramilitary with world-ending technology and little to no oversight" (Season 7 UNIT) is stretched to its furthest ever extreme. Another user refers to it as the Avengers-fication of UNIT. I don't think that tension gets resolved here. I'm actually not sure it can be resolved. And I sort of wonder if stretching and prodding at that tension may actually be the point of the exercise for these 45 minutes? It would be in keeping with other deconstructions of aspects of Doctor Who RTD has overseen in the past

Moving on, the actual most interesting part of the episode for me is the "Ruby has PTSD" section. It's deft character work, well acted, and crucially it's an angle on Life After The TARDIS thats never been done before. It gets paid some lip service with Martha but we don't stick around long enough to dig into it. Looking forward to see where they go with this in the finale.

Also the fact that Ruby explicitly cites "getting trapped in a double bass" as one of the things that traumatized her is hysterical. Doctor Who is such a silly silly show but even the silly parts would be completely terrifying if you had to actually experience them!

Also also imagining Belinda one day having a similar conversation but one of her traumatic experiences is "I met some nerds."

Trinity Wells you will always be famous. Also love that we're just stuck with Fox News Trinity Wells now.

Re: the TARDIS scene at the end...You can tell McTighe has only written Jodie's Doctor before now because the Doctor talks like a cop here. It's his version of the Capaldi one-liners in Boom.

I really liked this scene actually. It's completely in keeping with other times the Doctor has gone Vindictive Bastard mode on people who've personally hurt his friends. And its great to see Ncuti get a proper Vindictive Bastard Doctor scene! It's really good, juicy stuff. Just, man. The actual lines he's given...you can really hear the Supercilious Yorkshire Lilt in some of those authoritative moral condemnations...

It's naturally mostly Ncuti's performance that makes it interesting. Because right at the end, when Conrad refuses to show remorse, the look on Ncuti's face is just...sadness. Because this Doctor would be sad about it! He starts the scene seemingly brushing off Conrad's suggestion that the Doctor is there to "save his soul" but then when Conrad refuses to have his soul saved...he's disappointed after all! He was hoping to save his soul! It's a really savvy performance note that cuts against the obvious reading of the scene. People who keep saying they "don't know Ncuti's Doctor" aren't watching!!!

That said, its extremely frustrating that we have three Doctor Lite episodes for a Doctor who might only get 18 and a half episodes total.

[rapha-reads]

The Well - Doctor Who series 15 episode 3

The Doctor making promises, ooooh. That always goes well, isn't it.

Britney feat! Yey. Was it Toxic already with Nine and Rose or was it Baby one more time? But anyway. Britney is eternal.

I already know this is related to Midnight (creepiest DW ep ever) but this planet also looks a lot like the planet in Utopia where Ten, Martha and Jack meet Simm!Master. Creepy dark rocky planets where danger can hide behind any cliff face.

Hope is irrelevant versus the Doctor working solely on hope to get Belinda home. Something something rebellions are built on hope something something RTD is still talking directly to us. Also I should catch up on Andor before I get spoiled too.

Because I got spoiled, I already know that Aliss being deaf/hoh is super important to the plot. But meanwhile can we take a moment to cheer for not only the Doctor knowing sign language (everybody should learn sign language), but also the troopers having devices in their suit that allow them to speak to Aliss? Hell yeah.

The way Aliss's face just changed after she said that's so kind. What is that. Fear? Relief ? Nerves ? Or something more sinister and the Doctor and Cassio are right to be wary?

Yeah, I would NOT have restarted the machines, Shaya. Edit: okay, it didn't have any incidence because the creature was already out, but still.

Alrightyyyy, Earth has been obliterated from all of time and space then. Alongside humans. Even though all these people from different planets are all human-like in appearance. Huh. That's going to be fun. Timey wimey, etc.

And Belinda is seeing things... Great. I'm starting to get freaked out now.

Very freaked out. First it mimicked and that was scary as hell. I'm still not over Sky. Now it's hiding and not leaving your back. My anxiety is sky-rocketing.

Cassio is going to get everyone kiiiiiilled. Boyo. You're making things worse...

Yep. He's getting all his troopers annihilated. Fun times.

Well that was great. I'm shaking.

THE SHADOW ON ALISS' SHOULDER AND THE DOCTOR'S ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED AND SHOCKED FACE, HI, I'M TERRIFIED. And those whisperings!!!! Absolutely scary. Don't like that, nuh-uh.

But that whole scene with the Doctor addressing the thing behind was magnificent. Ncuti's acting as always is sublime. With Murray Gold's gorgeous soundtrack and the seriously beautiful images... (yes, the image is a bit too smooth and that's due to D*sney's budget, it's very different from good ol' kitsch and grainy Doctor Who, but that's something that's not just inherently annoying to the show, but to the entire tv/movie industry of the moment - that's an entire other commentary to make and it's not the point right now)

There's 10 minutes left. It can't end just like that. Something is coming. Yep, there it is. For a moment I thought all the people in the airlock had been killed, I'm super glad that's not the case and the only (ha) thing is that the creature is with them.

Shaya is going to sacrfice herself, I'm calling it. Yep. There it is.

OH, COME THE FUCK ON, what the hell is Mrs Flood doing here now???? Is she helping or is she hindering? What's her purpose? Her story? Her real identity?

Someone gives Mo a big hug. Oh for fuck's sake please tell me the thing didn't make it on-board their ship. This would be extremely bad news. Welp. Guess we won't know and that makes this episode join the list of other episodes with a worryingly open ending like that Twelfth/Clara episode The Sandman. Yey. So many storylines ending with a galactic threat that are never revisited.

Shaya enters directly in the top 10 of amazing one-time characters who deserved better. Love her.

[thebadwolves]

Ok, hey guys, this entire account was gonna be dedicated to my Doctor Who AU but I literally have to talk about the season finale because what in the fresh hell was that

spoilers, obviously

RTD I'm literally in your walls

first of all, RTD has just proven he can't write complex women characters for shit. like TF you mean Belinda's entire character revolved around her being a mother?? Belinda, who was brave and independent and ready to sacrifice herself for people she didn't even know, Belinda, who loved and was scared by the doctor, who didn't take any of his BS, who was so obviously not into that creepy stars incel guy in her very first episode

is it not enough for her to just love her life? is it not enough for her to want to go home because she is a brilliant, kind, strong woman and nurse, who knows she can help people? why can't she just have not wanted to travel around space and time? why can all the concern she shares about her baby not just be concern for herself? her entire character is now watered down and ruined by the fact she's been doing it all for a baby, like WTF? are we still in conrad's world??

speaking of which, Ruby forgiving conrad and making him happy? when she had asked not ten minutes earlier if she could punch him?

in real life, I believe everyone should get the chance to learn and grow, but in fiction, we have the beautiful ability to make characters just BAD. and before and during this fuckass episode, that's what he was, just the worst. he was a misogynistic prick who made everyone in his wish world married with a kid, he's homophobic enough that brainwashed belinda called the authorities because the doctor said he liked a man, he is so closed minded that he couldn't even FATHOM the existence of Rose Noble because she was trans, his wish world had every disabled person cast out and forgotten on the streets!

that should not be forgiven, it just shouldn't. in a show that is so important to so many minorities, in which previous episodes in the season had disabled characters who's traits added to and were essential to the story in brilliantly clever ways, a man like that should not get to be happy!

I have so many more thoughts but I'm just gonna move onto the ending for now

I love Billie Piper so so much. Rose Tyler and her relationship with nine and Jack and mickey and ten, I loved it all. she was my first companion, and nine was my first doctor, and I loved them and I still do love them

but I hate this ending

controversially, I don't actually believe the doctor having the face of Rose Tyler undermines fourteen's storyline. his entire existence was based on the fact that the doctor had been through so much and needed to process it, needed to move on. the fifteenth doctor and his actions throughout the season show us that he is more open, he expresses himself more, he tells the truth more, but that he has not, in any way, moved on from anything

he is haunted by thoughts of his granddaughter, he tortures someone because they triggered his memories of gallifrey, he can't tell Ruby he loves her as she leaves him, and so much more

I think, bringing back an old face, especially one that has haunted the narrative for so long, is an epic way of showing all of that. but I don't think they did it well and I don't think they will do it well

the fact that fifteen has so few episodes is appalling, ncuti's portrayal of the doctor has been one of my favourites. so many of his stories seem unfinished. he never got to see Rogue or Susan again, his connection to the Rani wasn't explored at all - they didn't even have any actual conversation that wasn't so exposition heavy that emotion could actually leak through

and, I say again, RTD has proven he cannot write women characters. even if Billie Piper is only here for a few episodes, like many are suspecting she will be, I don't trust him to pull it off. and if she is here for the long run, her writing would have to be absolutely phenomenal for me to enjoy her, which is saying something because I really do love Billie Piper so much

I also find it so horrible that, just as the doctor's family is being brought up, just as we're properly discussing his parenthood and grandparenthood again, now she's a woman. just when we've been given a compelling, gay love story, now she's a woman. now that the future stories have been set up to discuss the Time Lords' infertility, now they make the doctor a woman

it just seems so... disingenuous? so lazy, so misogynistic, quite frankly

I think I can trust Billie Piper to act her absolute soul out of however many episodes she's in, but I do not trust these writers whatsoever

I have so much more to say, I'll probably repost a million other people that have made the same points I want to

this will still be a page for my AU, I'll make sure of it, especially considering I genuinely think I could be a better writer than any of the people that worked on this last episode

anyway, thanks for reading

[thenonesenseofladypole]

Script Doctoring

So, this is not beyond fixing. It can be unfucked.

Diagnosis: (based on what I have quickly learned about the business side... take with salt) the BBC was taking too long to decide to renew, bc they were still trying to play footsie with the Mouse. Ncuti Gatwa has rent to pay, so can't keep turning down jobs in case. So he moves on, they reshoot the end to have him regenerate in February. and (i think) superimpose Billie Piper's face over his? Renewal announced in April.

It's not settled yet that she is 16. She was not billed as that, (yes, Copium). But it's not locked in.

Prescription:

step 1) stand outside Ncuti Gatwa's window with a boom box aloft, begging him to come back.

step 2) Billie Piper is back as the Bad Wolf Entity. Can be explained as residue of Bad Wolf that was left over when 9 kissed Rose, and it's come out now for whatever reason (explanation profoundly Does Not Matter).

step 3) the Bad Wolf Entity is breaking out all over time and space. It's this massive chaos event that can generate all kinds of stories in the future. It's this event like the Time War, that whole civilisations have adapted around... endless fun down the line, but for now

step 4) the Bad Wolf Entity, who brings life, can roll back a regeneration and Give Us Ncuti Gatwa's 15 Back! Continue the there is something terribly wrong with 15 story... give it some development and an ending. Lets enjoy some swashbuckling. Get Rogue out of Castiel-Superhell.

step 5) we ball.*

(*as in, bring Billie Piper back sporadically as some kind of God-like Chaotic Neutral producer of plots... the newly minted God of Time that Omega aspired to be, with a vague and half-remembered fondness for the Doctor)

[vagueposting-femnb]

Doctor Who Reality War Spoilers

So BBC & Disney made the first black male doctor a deadbeat dad, made me sob like a fuckin baby, just to bring back a perfectly written off character essentially?

I hate these fuckers so god damn much they’re such dogshit people. I genuinely enjoyed the writing for 15, I adored everything about him from his fashion & mannerisms to how openly he loved people… just for him to be cut short. Couldn’t even give him a third Christmas special? 10 got FIVE, 11 got four, 12 got four, 13 got four, 14 doesn’t even count, and 15 only got TWO???

Second shortest run after 9, but at least 9 felt… more complete? More intentional? I semi recently rewatched Doctor Who & I remember being sad that he was leaving but all in all I didn’t really feel like he was leaving as soon as he did, perhaps bc we were kinda plopped into his timeline & we don’t really know how long he was 9…

But we know how long 15 was around, & it wasn’t long at all.

10 got 47 episodes. 11 got 42. 12 got 40. 13 got 31. 15 got 18.

18 fuckin episodes. Hell, views were seemingly picking BACK UP. Naw they ain’t SHOOT up but they were climbing back up after sticking in the 70m range (as low as mid 70s!) at the tail end of 13.

Hell, I think what caused Doctor Who the quick success with the first revival in 2005 was the way we immediately dove into it, even w as few episodes as 9 had it wasn’t super “Watch every single episode or be lost af” type of vibe, which IMO definitely got even better w 10, where I think the first time around I caught maybe half of his episodes, still followed the story, still loved him!

Instead of tryin so damn hard to hook ppl with somethin “brand new” (no hate to Ncuti OBVIOUSLY) or with somethin “nostalgic” (love Billie but… come on.) they need to focus on the WRITING. Wrap me up in ADVENTURE! Make viewers learn about and grow to love The Doctor by having us along for these adventures. Let the characters be goofy and end up in wild situations and yeah ofc have some more serious episodes… but like…

Okay, 11. I did not ADORE 11. He was funny, goofy, but whatever odd thing that was going on with Amy & him & then River was… not my cup of tea. Along with Amy either tryin to kickstart a throuple or have a side chick… meh. But!!! BUT!!!! The Centurion. Seeing the doctor being serious, but ALSO his goofy self, and also at that flip flopping point certainly leaving Rory in the dust & I’m sure leaving a few viewers like “aiight how tf is all this gonna come together?” Was amazing.

And I feel like we’ve been hard pressed for an episode quite like that- that shows off the doctor’s inherent wit, how that’s impacted by the specific doctor’s personality, how the doctor responds to even similar/SAME situations across different regens… Daleks are a great example of this- I don’t feel like any two doctors had the same exact reaction despite having who knows how many years of beef with them.

BUT WE DID NOT GET THAT WITH 15. We got all new situations, every episode essentially required the next to be seen for a decent picture of WTF is goin on, we didn’t get any OG enemies &… what? 2 worldwide, genuinely devastating, issues? Meanwhile I feel like most past doctors got 2 worldwide issues a season almost??? The type of shit that had them write in the “you humans remember what you want to remember” type line to explain away how folks keep acting like this is our first alien invasion and then promptly forgetting about it and The Doctor?

Write compelling stories! Have a bunch of episodes that folks can watch for FUN. It’s possible to address social issues w/o making them in your face/depressing, which as much as I personally appreciate IM FUCKIN WEIRD. These companies want views? Return to what worked! Long seasons! Casual “uh oh bad point in time for folks like you/me” & the quick dance around. Characters like Jack, just kissin on women & men equally enthusiastically! Cassandra & her “when I was a little boy” casual trans-ness!

Plus… atp I think most can agree- the world is fucking depressing enough, either way you look at it. Having a comfort show, a good 40min a week/every other week for a few months, then the specials, where ppl can more or less escape/enjoy a world where generally race, gender, sexuality don’t really matter at all bc “he’s a 2[something] century man!” & characters go “aiight you’re the expert”

I’m just… I’m tired. Already. I wanna give Billie a chance, bc she genuinely seems to have a love for Doctor Who from what I’ve seen.

Overall tho… if Doctor Who dies after this next season for another… 15-20 years, like the first time, and has a true revival instead of whatever this 2022 cut off & 2023 nunuwho mini revival bs has been (that alone pisses me off honestly) then chances are I’ll be right there watching… or listening if the world & tech goes to shit & we’re back to radio shows. I’ll be near 50 and tuning in like “ah, I remember this show…”

[crowleysgirl56]

Doctor Who recap and reaction

Episode 5: The Story & The Engine

Doctor Who this week took another wild and gorgeous turn and dropped us into the heart of Africa for this beautifully crafted story. Look, it’s still not my favourite episode, and I have a lot of lingering questions for this one so let’s dive right in to the recap. As always spoilers (sweetie) under the cut!

I’m going to admit, I did not love this episode the way the rest of the internet seems to. Don’t get me wrong this is a great episode but I found myself slightly confused over everything that was happening and felt the pacing was a little all over the place. I think the biggest problem is it felt rushed. This is the type of story that 100% deserves to be a two-parter. But the ludicrously short season of 8 episodes is simply not affording the team to produce stories like that anymore (except for the finale it seems). But before I get into the bits I had problems with, let’s start with all the AMAZING positives!

- set in Nigeria, this beautiful story seemed so authentic. Ncuti clearly did not have to act as he utterly revels in what is his ancestral homeland (even if it is a studio set). His pure joy walking through the markets is a delight to watch.

- I didn’t understand it at first but the idea of setting this story in a barber shop is such a wonderful culturally appropriate setting for storytelling. So I learned quite a bit when I went off to do a bit of research. What an enigmatic way to set a scene!

- the entire opening sequence is just gorgeous. I need to find more descriptors because I keep using that word, but it was. The way the story was woven onto the window and animated for emphasis was just beautiful. I loved how at first it just seemed like a directional choice, but turns out later it was literally a part of the spacecraft. Excellently done. Though I was frankly disappointed when this visual was essentially abandoned halfway through the episode.

- the stories that each of the captives tell. They’re all lovely, including the one of how The Doctor came to meet Momo. At first I questioned when all this would have happened, but I guess he travelled around a lot by himself between leaving Ruby and meeting Belinda.

- JO MARTIN FUGITIVE DOCTOR BACK! OMG I could scream about this for eternity. PLEASE give this woman more to do! LOVED the reference her story might one day be told (it probably wasn’t, but I loved the slight at Chibnall. Yeah Chibnall, you kind of dropped the ball on this one by not giving her more story!)

- PUTTING. A. MAP. IN. HIS. HAIR!!!! Oh my god that bit was so amazing I almost cried!

- ARIYON BAKARE! Holy fucking shit it’s Ligur! *tinkles Good Omens fandom summon bell* So Bakare has been on Doctor Who before but you wouldn’t know it because he was under mountains of prosthetics so it was good to see his face this time. He is great as The Barber.

- the little girl. Is this an Easter egg? Because she is credited as Poppy in this episode and if you look at her IMDB you will also notice it’s the same child actor who played Poppy in Space Babies (the first episode of season 1, if you don’t count Church on Ruby Road as the first episode). So, interesting…

- Mrs Flood popping up into the background again. Thank god there’s only two more episodes before we get into who the hell that woman is.

Ok, so I have a couple issues, so let’s get into that:

- let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Or rather the giant mechanical spider elephant. I think I’m still traumatised by giant mechanical Wild Wild West spider, so every time I come across one in other media my brain simply goes “NOPE!” This is probably unfair. At first I thought The Barber would BE Anansi, but when it turns out he’s not I was kind of disappointed.

- the premise of the over arching story kind of confused me a bit. We’ve spent the last season and a half talking up these Pantheon Gods, and turns out he wasn’t one of them? And the Gods he was speaking about were Earth’s religious God? Who are both real and not real? But definitely real because The Doctor met a bunch of them (wait, what?!). But The Barber only has a problem with Earth Gods, and not Gods from the rest of the planets in the universe (of which it’s been established in show’s canon before, there are many)? So yeah, I was finding that all a little weird and hard to follow. I’ve wavered back and forth on whether it would have been better that he turned out to be a Pantheon God, but there are both positives and negatives for the story they were telling if that were true. I guess I’m just not quite sure how I felt about the story overall?

- I think because it left me feeling so confused that I thought to myself, “I probably have to rewatch this to really understand it”. And then thought if I need to rewatch something a second time to understand what’s going on, I don’t think the show has done its job. But then again, maybe it’s on me for not paying enough attention? Maybe the giant spider threw me off? I did laugh at the World Wide Web joke. Yes, it was turned into something a lot more trash!

- I think Belinda needs to be given new lines. Starting every episode pestering the doctor about getting her home is starting to get a bit grating. Yes, she wants to get home, yes she’s scared, we know this. But always “You need to get me home!” We get it. Please vary this up a bit!

- also this is now two episodes in a row of not getting a lot of Belinda. And again, with such a shortened season, this is both a detriment to her character and the actor. I’m really enjoying what we’ve seen of her so far and am wanting so much more. Overall this isn’t a bad choice for the episode, but a complaint about the overarching season. MORE EPISODES PLEASE DISNEY!

- as I mentioned earlier, the pacing gets quite a bit choppy especially once the doctor enters the barber shop. Also why did the towel drain him? Was that necessary? Surely the act of telling the story could have done that initially?

- I don’t know if this is a positive or a negative but it left me wanting more. So many lingering questions around the barber and what he’ll do now and what his story is.

So all in all, an enjoyable episode which I think I will rewatch really just to appreciate the deeper story being told. I give it 3 and a half out of 5 stars.

We’re at the business end of the season now folks and I can’t wait for “Eurovision” this weekend! How appropriate!

[spif-lol]

I am having THOUGHTS about the new doctor who. I mean there's obviously a lot to unpack but ever since I watched Jodie regenerate into David Tennant (NOT ncuti) and her outfit dissolve into a David Tennant Doctor WHo TM suit I have been sooo scared that RTD was going to do what a lot of 'fans' want and pretend Jodie's era never existed. The sort of people going 'Doctor Who is finally back!' as if we've been on hiatus. I was also scared not just to lose the memory of Jodie, but to lose the aspects of her era that I have loved the most - like the complete loss of the Doctor Who god complex, Jodie's slow character development learning to trust and love and delegate and share with others, and the (sometimes) sheer unapologetic diversity and queerness/playing with gender norms that Jodie's era did moderately well with.

But I think I can safely say that those fears were abated with that episode. I was expecting this to just be DAvid Tennatn Part Two, but I was really struck by how different this new Doctor feels. He isn't the emotionally stunted, cannot spit it out, last of the time lords that 9 and 10 and 11 were. The new doctor is vulnerable and unable to hold back their own joy, much like Jodie in her best moments. The Doctor is saying they love people, easily and freely, to their faces. Jodie's joy and wonder at the universe and at being around people they love was absorbed and passed along. We've still got the angst, but in a show which is so much about change and renewal it is so refreshing to see a regeneration where it is so so clear that the Doctor has learnt and grown and good things are to come. We're getting to see real joyous closure with Donna. We get to see her breaking the cycle and fiercely loving and defending her daughter (I love you Rose! I love you Yasmin Finney!!). Oh yeah and also that episode was so unapologetically queer and trans, even if some of the gender stuff was messy. I love you Doctor Who you are so special to me I will forever be critical of you but thank you for giving me Donna and her messy lovely family and her trans daughter saving the day and the Doctor being sweet and happy and loving.

[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.

[sadcoms]

i hope this is the last post i’m gonna write about this but one of the reasons the 60th specials upset me is that it felt like rtd cheapened his own legacy. his initial run, especially season 4, was so meaningful to me as a kid, so influential to me as a writer and even the way i love and engage with tv to this day. that’s not to say he or his run was ever perfect, the most obvious issue being the terrible choices with martha and mickey, and others.

but it’s still upsetting to know that he doesn’t get what made his own series special. which i kind of knew when i read in the writer’s tale that, had catherine not come back as donna for season 4, the companion would have been romantically interested in the doctor. again. the thing he most consistently got right was how his run had stakes; how you could feel the heavy weight of death. tentoo works because it IS bittersweet, because it does come at a cost to both the tenth doctor and donna.

and now? he just gives us another tennant clone and it means nothing. if it had been 13, if david had just come back as tentoo to remind his former self that resting, living, is still an adventure. that despite what it might feel like, it’s an option. and after all the horror 13 faced it could have felt like a catharsis, especially if she’d reunited with the fam in addition to tentoo reuniting with donna. maintaining the biregeneration would still have undercut ncuti’s debut but not the way having david as TWO different doctors did (plus i was never expecting rtd to have improved on race because i watched years & years and wow yikes).

but it still sucks that someone who has written genuinely meaningful things to me hasn’t learned anything in the intervening years. that perhaps next time i revisit s4 it’s going to shine a little less brightly because of what he’s now written, to me the sign of truly bad writing and something i’ve already experienced from another doctor who showrunner, and that makes me sad. a real “you either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain” moment.

[sometimesraven]

The fact that I went through most of my life experiencing, processing and healing from my trauma alongside The Doctor only for RTD to go “lol the last 15 years of character growth didn’t happen actually” is a slap in the face actually

Thirteen’s era was bad in a lot of ways but one of the first things I noticed was that her brightness and her optimism were such a natural progression of the healing Twelve did throughout his regeneration. And as someone who had also gone through the same growth and was learning to accept and love and Just Be despite everything that was huge to me, it was such a hopeful message just as Doctor Who has always been for me.

I’ve been thinking about it and I realised we’ve already seen what happened in The Giggle. In Moffat’s era, but it was over time and it was earned.

Twelve was carrying So Much trauma. He was tired and bitter and angry, carrying the expectations he’d learned in the previous incarnation (that people see him as far higher than he sees himself, that he’s a god and a warrior and a healer and he doesn’t want that, he just wants his friends and his box). He’s fighting between who he is and who he’s expected to be and he can’t run away from it any more.

This all comes to a head with Heaven Sent/Hell Bent where he loses his best friend. The woman who had guided him and supported him through this trauma, the one who was there to help him learn that the preconceived pressures of “good” and “bad” he put upon himself were bullshit and he’s just Some Guy Doing His Best and that’s okay, he doesn’t have to be more than he is even if the universe tells him so. He thinks he’s responsible for her actions (which arguably goes all the way back to Davros accusing him of turning his companions into weapons) and he relapses into trying to control everything, brings her back, does all of this shit for her that she never asked for.

And that’s when he learns his inability to let go and actually face the pain rather than running from it is hurting people and himself. He’s faced with what he did to Donna at long last and given the chance to not repeat that mistake. Clara teaches him one last lesson.

Then he settles. He takes care of Missy and spends some time as a professor, meets a new companion and by the end of his regeneration he learns to let go.

This is the point where I realised RTD had somehow rehashed something that had already been done.

He lets go. He passes the torch into a brighter, more optimistic Doctor less burdened by the previous incarnations’ trauma and ripe for a whole heap of NEW trauma, still remembering all she’s lost but able to put it behind her and focus on the happy memories and the love. She has a family.

The Doctor had healed in a meaningful way, and more importantly a way those watching could see and realise that yes, it’s possible. Yes, it’ll still hurt sometimes, but it’s possible to heal from the terrible things that have been done to you. It’s possible to live a full, happy, bright existence even if the past doesn’t truly go away.

Obviously it all goes downhill again and yeah, the unfortunate writing means that Thirteen had some really unhealthy coping mechanisms that were never addressed. Yeah, the Flux happens. Yeah, Gallifrey dies again.

But.

Imagine this for a second: Rose and Donna’s “let go” statement, ignoring the gender essentialism. It turns out they’re actually harkening back to “Doctor, I let you go.”. Thirteen bigenerates and Fourteen (Ncuti) gives the “therapy in the wrong order” speech, but this time it’s because they’ve already been through the same trauma.

They’ve already seen their planet die, they’ve already lost so much and felt responsible for so much death, but because they’ve already been through that trauma from 9-12 and been through that healing combined with the Toymaker’s wibbly wobbly laws of physics, the bigeneration came from a subconscious recognition that they’re relapsing into those bad habits (compartmentalise, put it away, keep running) and that they need to slow down and stop to process this again.

It would be an excellent way of doing what Rusty wanted and soft rebooting while also showing the audience “hey, sometimes when you think everything is okay it’ll fall apart again, you’ll relapse, things will seem shitty, but because you’ve done all this healing and have all these tools and learned to trust people it’ll be easier to bounce back from, just have patience with yourself” rather than coming across as just completely retconning 15 years of character growth in favour of cheap fanservice

Idk I just have so many issues with The Giggle and I thought they’d get smaller over time as I get over the initial what the fuck but I’m only getting angrier lmao. Like acknowledge the previous writers or don’t, you can’t acknowledge them and then try to gaslight an entire audience into thinking it didn’t happen

[synthient]

So sometime around the premiere event 2 days ago, they appear to have plopped Ncuti and Varada down in front of this blue curtain and had them do a string of zoom interviews.

Interestingly, they seem to have gone to smaller outlets for this particular promo push - we're talking random youtube channels with names like "Mama's Geeky" (you can see both actors fighting not to laugh when that one's spoken aloud), and a 14-year-old interviewer from something called "Kids First." They also seem to have provided each interviewer with a screener of Robot Revolution. Several of the interviewers casually quote or spoil minor plot beats from the episode.

And because these interviews were edited and posted by these small outlets instead of by the bbc, disney plus, or someone like the hollywood reporter, they also appear to have kept in some of the actors' more spolier-y answers.

I've been able to dig up at least a handful of these interviews on youtube [link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4 (RTD in this one instead of the actors)]. I think this breakdown video also has clips from one or two more that I haven't found in full yet.

So here's my quick overview of some of the info across these videos:

One of the interviewers greets the actors as "Doctor and Queen." I'm guessing this means that the robots think Belinda is their queen (probably because she bought the star certificate to their sun)

According to the actors, Belinda "calls the Doctor the f out" and "sets boundaries" with him. Ncuti describes the Doctor in this season as "fighting against his own intentions" and dealing with the consequences of his actions

Really fascinating moment where Varada is talking about how it's cool that her double-casting was integrated into the plot, and says that Belinda and the Doctor have "a connection that spans thousands of years." Ncuti has a bit of a 🤐 expression as she says that

Ncuti theys Belinda again: "they just challenge the Doctor so well"

Ncuti implies multiple times that one or more classic enemies are returning. He's "checked off his bucket list" something or someone he wanted the Doctor to face. He throws in some kind of "but I don't know how much I can say yet" after each of these comments

Belinda is an emergency room nurse who "knows who she is in this world," is the protagonist of her own story, and is frustrated to get dragged into someone else's. She's less starry-eyed than Ruby, and her job has taught her to have an empathetic but firm reaction to people in crisis

The 14-year-old interviewer asks what messages this season is trying to have for kids, and gets what actually seems like a really thematically interesting response: keep a sense of "compassion, open-mindedness, and understanding" about other people, even when facing adversaries. "There's a level of understanding of reasonings of why people do the things they do." "It's also [about] being authentic to yourself, and it being a constant journey to discover what that means." Learn from "the consequences of your actions," connect with others, "make sure you have the right people around you"

We're going to learn more about the Docto's past and time lord history

Shifting to the interview with RTD now: the Tardis is apparently "bouncing off" the specific date that Belinda left Earth, May 24 2025 (this does probably de-confirm period Belinda :/). The episode where they finally break the seal on that date will air on May 24 irl

He mentions giving notes to the new writers to try things like making the Doctor "angrier than we've ever seen him," or "have more of a laugh than we've ever seen," or "let's change his character here so he's more off-kilter, slightly out of it"

One of the biggest challenges of writing for the show is figuring out how to have "the cleverest person in the world traveling around in the most brilliant spaceship in the universe" and still come up with problems that are a struggle for the Doctor to solve

If you're Online TM and you want to avoid spoilers, the most important episodes to watch right away are 3 and 6, or The Well and Interstellar Song Contest

[denimbex1986]

'You can always count on The Doctor to deliver some iconic and memorable lines of dialogue, and ever since Doctor Who’s modern era began in 2005, we’ve gotten countless legendary lines. This quick-witted and wise time lord played by Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whittaker and Ncuti Gatwa has delivered some hilarious, poignant and at times sassy quotes...

"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a nonlinear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff." -Tenth Doctor in “Blink”

As David Tennant’s Doctor is attempting to explain a very complex situation to Sally and Larry in “Blink,” one of Doctor Who’s best episodes, they keep questioning him about how time works. Ultimately, he gives into the question and explains it as eloquently and simply as he can, which is of course still pretty “wibbly-wobbly.”

"All right then, Doctor Whoever I’m about to be… Tag. You’re it." - Thirteenth Doctor in “The Power of the Doctor”

Ending out a historic run, Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor left us with an iconic line before tagging a familiar face, David Tennant, as the Fourteenth Doctor.

"Don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead." -Tenth Doctor in “Blink”

The weeping angels – a monster essential to understanding Doctor Who – are single-handedly one of the scariest creatures on the show. That became very apparent in “Blink” as the Tenth Doctor explained that if you bat an eye, you could end up dead, because you never know when the lurking angel statues will get you.

"Rose… before I go, I just wanna tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I!" -Ninth Doctor in “The Parting of the Ways"

Christopher Eccleston may have left the show after one season, but the Ninth Doctor will always be remembered. From his beautiful relationship with Rose to his “fantastic” last line, he still has a great legacy.

"Everything ends, and it's always sad. But everything begins again too, and that's always happy. Be happy. I'll look after everything else." -Twelfth Doctor in “The Return of Doctor Mysterio”

Anytime The Doctor has to talk about their past, it’s always sad. However, the timelord is also aware of how good things can be as well. So, when speaking about taking care of the world after returning, he implores those he’s with to “be happy,” and not dwell on the end.

"Allons-y!" -Tenth Doctor’s Catchphrase

While the other Doctors’ catchphrases are in English, David Tennant’s fan-favorite Tenth Doctor decided to get fancy and make his French. Honestly, every time I hear “Allons-y” – which means “let’s go” – I smile.

"Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. It’s not the time that matters, it’s the person." -Tenth Doctor in “The Lazarus Experiment”

Throughout their years of life, The Doctor has gained immense wisdom, especially when it comes to spending time with those you love. This line is delivered as Ten explains why there’s more meaning in living a full life than a long one, a lesson The Doctor knows all too well, and one we can all stand to learn from.

"Never be cruel. Never be cowardly. Hate is always foolish. Love is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind. Doctor… I let you go." -Twelfth Doctor in “Twice Upon A Time”

While Peter Capaldi’s Doctor was known for being the grumpiest of the bunch, he was also wise and caring, as you can tell with this sweet and inspirational quote from his final moments before Jodie Whittaker took over as the Thirteenth Doctor.

"I don't want to go!" -Tenth Doctor in “The End of Time”

It’s always sad when a Doctor regenerates, however, Ten’s was extra emotional, because he didn’t want to leave. David Tennant truly loved playing the Doctor, and you could feel the sadness as he said goodbye. Luckily, he didn’t leave forever as he came back for “Day of the Doctor” and he returned again for the 60th Anniversary as the Fourteenth iteration of the time lord.

"You’re my favorite, you are. You are the best, you know why? Cos you’re so thick! You’re Mr. Thick Thick Thickety Thickface from Thicktown, Thickania. And so’s your dad!" -Tenth Doctor in “The Girl in the Fireplace”

The Doctor has sick burns up their sleeves every once in a while, but this was not one of those moments. However, what matters is David Tennant’s Doctor tried. In this episode the tipsy time lord waltzed in to save Rose with his tie on his head and drink in hand hurling insults like this at the evil Victorian robots.

"In 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important." -Eleventh Doctor in “The Almost People”

If there’s one thing the Doctor truly believes in it’s how vital all life is, and how everyone deserves to feel valued. He made that clear during this Christmas special when Matt Smith’s time lord said this memorable line.

"Lives change worlds. People can save planets or wreck them. That’s the choice. Be the best of humanity." -Thirteenth Doctor in “Orphan 55”

When Thirteen and her pals go to a resort that turns out to have some horrifying secrets, she helps save the day and teaches everyone, including the audience watching the episode, that we should always be trying to be the best of humanity.

"Right, physics! Physics, eh? Physics, physics, physics, physics, physics…" -Tenth Doctor in “School Reunion”

Somehow, the Tenth Doctor found himself teaching the youths about physics, and before hopping into his complex lecture, he started by simply saying the word over, and over, and over again. It was hilarious, especially considering the incredibly smart words that came out of his mouth after this silly moment.

“We’re all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?” -Eleventh Doctor in “The Big Bang”

When Eleven thinks he’s going to lose Amy Pond, he tells her their story. At this point, he thinks they’re parting ways and that when Karen Gillan’s character wakes up she won’t remember. So, he simply tells her that he’ll be a story in her head, and that at least the time they shared created a great story.

"You want weapons? We’re in a library! Books, the best weapons in the world! This room is the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself!" -Tenth Doctor in “Tooth and Claw”

The Doctor never uses weapons. He uses his sonic screwdriver and wit to solve his problems, which is one of their most admirable qualities. So, it made sense that when someone asked if they had weapons to fight the bad guys, Ten responded saying the books that surrounded them would help them more than any weapon...'

[ryttu3k]

Thoughts on Doctor Who - Dot and Bubble!

You know what, it's a bold new choice on Doctor Who to go, "Actually, this entire pastel-washed Celebration-meets-Tiktok society probably should die" but I can't say it's like. Entirely wrong in this case. Can't help someone who's so thoroughly wedged up their own arse (or stuck in their own bubble, ofc) they actively refuse help due to their own bigotry, y'know?

Actually, it's very much an 'offering mercy to the enemy' kind of thing. Which, historically, hasn't tended to go great either. It just hits a little different because we spent the entire episode focused on Lindy's storyline that we go, "Oh, she's the protagonist" and it's only at the end that we really get confirmation of, "Ah. She's the enemy." Although, in fairness, the endless microaggressions piling up culminating in killing Ricky was a pretty big hint, so…

Kind of refreshing that the first episode in which the Doctor's skin colour comes up is set in the future, which normally are pretty free of like. Racism and bullshit like that. Like Martha, Bill, Yaz, and Ryan all mention racism being an issue in historical episodes, Thirteen only gets talked down because of her apparent gender in a historical. You kind of make this assumption that even if there are still massive issues in the future, something like race isn't one of them. Only, it is. And Fifteen is the one to come up against the brunt of it. Any other Doctor, and the entitlement may have shown, but the racism may have stayed hidden (unless, again, Martha, Bill, or Yaz and Ryan as companion). Fifteen, however, gets them to show their asses just by virtue of existing. He was literally trying to save their lives!

Quote from RTD: "The moment we cast Ncuti, everyone said to me, "Oh my god, what's it going to be like when he goes into the past? Because a Black Doctor's going to face such racism." You sit there going, "What about now? Why do you think that racism's only in the past, when you look at what's happening to the world?""

Did come across as very nihilistic, ending-wise. RTD has said this episode was Black Mirror-influenced, and yeah, can definitely see that. You know what, that planet and the Finetime community are doomed. The planet's population is gone, a good chunk of Finetime's population is gone (or couldn't be led to safety, in which case it's only a matter of time), and lbr these kids only learned to walk a few hours ago. I would be amazed if they lasted a week playing Pioneers outside. And there's nothing that the Doctor can do, because they're so entrenched in their own racism that they refuse the literal lifeline he's throwing to them!

Conclusion: Fascinated how they went from, "Social media bad!" and "Killer AI!" to, "Actually, maybe social media isn't the problem and maybe, just maybe, it's people being so obsessed with staying within their literal bubbles that they begin to systematically dehumanise anyone who doesn't 'belong'" and also, "Actually yeah I'm kinda going for the AI deciding that the best way to deal with institutionalised and entrenched racism and bigotry is to kill them all with giant slugs."

(I mean, if the Dot AI could see how literally everyone was, I assume they realised they wouldn't accept a sapient AI as a new life form…)

Acting: Not quite as Doctor-lite as 73 Yards, this was more… Diet Doctor and Companion. That said, what we did get from Ncuti Gatwa was goddamn masterful. His reaction when he realises what's going on the end was heartwrenching - the disbelieving laughter, then the anger and frustration. So goddamn good. That said, Callie Cooke as Lindy was obnoxious and thus perfectly acted. Like at the beginning you were lowkey hoping she'd get her head out of her arse, and by the end you were hoping she'd get eaten :D Also enjoyed Tom Rhys Harries as someone who's been raised in the bubble but is at least trying to start just… slowly stepping out of it, only to be violently rejected by the rest of the bubble.

Continuity: Another Susan Twist! This time, actually called out! You know, there are two possibilities here, and both are extremely funny: 1) RTD intentionally cast an actor named Susan Twist to appear in every episode in order for her multiple appearances to foreshadow a twist revealing Susan Foreman, or 2) RTD intentionally cast an actor named Susan Twist to appear in every episode in order for her multiple appearances to have absolutely nothing to do with Susan Foreman and the repeated appearances are something else entirely. Either way, it's goddamn hilarious.

Nothing on Ruby's backstory this week, including a lack of snow. Ruby did feel somewhat unimportant here, she was only really there to make Lindy actually listen, because she's white and blonde and therefore Like Them and therefore worthy of listening to, and could have been replaced by any other young white companion, like Rose or Clara. If it had been the Doctor on his own, or Martha, Bill, or Yaz and Ryan as companions (or potentially even Donna, who might have got caught by ageism?), Lindy would have just kept blocking and blocking and never, ever listening.

The Big Bads of the season continue to oscillate between the possible Pantheon (the Toymaker, Maestro, possibly Mad Jack/the Fairies?) and just. Humanity. The humans who forced babies to be born then abandoned them, the military industrial complex, nuclear ambitions (the only one so far not set very far in the future), and now pastel-washed white supremicists. Very much a 'yeah, humanity definitely still hasn't solved these issues yet' kind of thing.

The 'stories being real' theme was handled kind of obliquely. Still definitely there, but it was a human consequence of being stuck in their own bubbles/narratives and being unable to see or accept anything outside it, and less a metatextual example like with other episodes.

Season ranking

As of s40e05:

73 Yards

The Devil's Chord

Dot and Bubble

The Church on Ruby Road

Space Babies

Boom

[whoreviewswho]

Wokeness, Responsibility and if RTD is problematic - The Regeneration Question and Davros with Legs

Is Russell T. Davies a problematic figure? Is he too woke or not aware enough? Is he doing something wrong to illicit negative responses from the progressives as well as the conservatives? Is it something in the programme, something in the marketing or is he doing nothing particularly bad at all? Well, perhaps you and I, faithful reader, can come to some sort of conclusion. Let's find out together as we take a dive into the controversial choices behind RTD2 and the mind of the man behind them.

At the end of 2022's The Power of the Doctor, Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor regenerates into her fourteenth body, the same as her tenth incarnation as played by David Tennant. Taken on face value, the scene is innocuous enough. Just a standard regeneration with the surprise appearance of the most popular (sorry Tom) Doctor Who ever for our next story instead of the expected Ncuti Gatwa.

Except, there was something else unusual - the Doctor's clothes regenerated with her. With the sole exception of the very first regeneration (which can be excused as a relic from before the 'rules' were decided upon), this is without precedent* and was clearly supposed to mean something. After all, Russell thinks. He is a clever man and he would never do something as bold as this without there being a reason.

Well, yes. There was a reason but a lot of fans were dismayed to learn that the reason was not built into the narrative but a consequence of real life. In DWM 584, these comments from Davies were published;

“I was certain that I didn’t want David to appear in Jodie’s costume. I think the notion of men dressing in ‘women’s clothes’, the notion of drag, is very delicate. I’m a huge fan of that culture and the dignity of that, it’s truly a valuable thing. But it has to be done with immense thought and respect. With respect to Jodie and her Doctor, I think it can look like mockery when a straight man wears her clothes. To put a great big six-foot Scotsman into them looks like we’re taking the mickey. Also, I guarantee you it’s the only photograph some of the papers would print for the rest of time. If they can play with gender in a sarcastic or critical way, they will.”

Unsurprisingly, this choice became a not insignificant talking point in the fandom in the weeks following. A particularly articulate thread was posted by tess owen’s #1 fan || (i still love you yaz dw), @_mag_lex, on November 10, 2022 summarised the discussion well when she said;

"I don’t understand how DT wearing 13’s outfit is a mockery of drag, given that it’s deliberately and definitively gender-neutral. Anyone who watches and cares about the show understands that. I also don’t understand the logic of pandering to bigots rather than catering to fans [....] You’re telling me that Doctor Who is now scared to push boundaries. That’s what this says to me. But sci fi is all about pushing boundaries. Opening minds. Why are we limited by things like this? I’m so sad."

The stance from RTD does not seem in and of itself confused. He made the decision to avoid showing a man in clothes designed for a woman based on a potential, and what he saw as a likely, media reaction. The mention of tabloids and newspapers is revealing, of course. He is a boomer. Terminology aside, though, I would agree that depicting a man in women's clothes opens the door to ridicule from the anti-woke crowd in a way that not showing it wouldn't. And, yes, they are women's clothes. With all due respect to everybody who claims otherwise, I don't think the refute that Jodie's costume is designed to be genderless really holds any water. The costume designed by Ray Holman and inspired by Jodie Whittaker's suggestion is not inherently feminine but the shape and cut and final choices were made with her, a cis woman, in mind as the wearer.

Now, what does hold some amount of water is the context of the rest of the episode. Approximately 44 minutes before David Tennant appears in his all new costume, Sacha Dhawan's Master can be seen wearing Whittaker's complete costume and he continues to for several minutes following. It is at this juncture where our second comment from Hagan feels appropriate;

"[In reference to David Tennant wearing Jodie Whittaker's costume] Dude's heart's in the right place but his head's in the fucking clouds half the time." - November 10, 2022

What many have noted, Hagan included, is that RTD inadvertently suggests here that the Master, the villain, being seen in clothes intended for someone other than of his assigned gender is perfectly acceptable but to see our leading hero in this way is something to avoid. Without the full context of the quote, we appear to have RTD shying away from doing something opposed to UK's cultural and societal norms regarding gender rather than being openly proud of the juxtaposition; we have just witnessed a gender transition which is another day in the office for our hero.

Then again, if one never came across RTD's comments in the first place, would there be as much reason to be bothered by the decision at all? Certainly, there is the valid feeling of disappointment that would have come from many fans about never seeing Whittaker's male successor in her clothes but, prior to the statement, I saw less of that online than I did excitement. Most viewers seemed to reasonably assume from the way the scene plays out that the choice to regenerate the clothes would have some bearing on the plot in future events. It stands to reason that the Doctor regenerating their clothes and regaining an old face are related. Well, we know now that they were not, at least not on-screen.

They are related in the real world but, alas, in a very perfunctory way. As I am sure RTD was well aware, the clip of Jodie turning back into David was a very popular moment and even named TV Moment of the Year at the Edinburgh TV Awards. Most significantly, the costume from the previous era was not the one seen all over the media. 

So, knowing that the costume change would not be addressed in his scripts, RTD addressed it himself in what some might call a flagrant display of moral hubris. Again, the sentiment of 'let's not give queerphobes ammunition' is in no way a problematic one but the optics of forever binding that decision to an episode that makes no display at all of the villain dressed in women's clothes are not so great and a little baffling. It is almost as if RTD had no idea what even went on in the story he was picking up from. As others such as Hagan have pointed out, there is also the notable matter of the Master as written by RTD who was last seen wearing women's clothes in multiple instances during The End of Time. While it his unfair to say his choices in 2009 and choices in 2022 directly reflect each other, it still contributes to an awkward feeling and some bad optics. 

RTD refused to give ammunition to queerphobes so he handed the fans a loaded gun and asked them to point it at him. It sounds almost noble but was it truly necessary? He could have said nothing for a much lesser reaction. In that case, nobody would have questioned his equating the art of drag performance with just men in women's clothes. This is the first of several examples in what I am attesting to be 'pre-emptive damage control'; cases of RTD identifying where audiences might have a problem and then going well out of his way to ensure that they don't at the very real risk of drawing attention to problems that may not have even been there in the first place. Or, at least, not in the way that he is envisioning. I am not refuting the suggestion that media outlets would have made jokes out of Tennant in a woman's clothes. That seems like a very real possibility. For RTD, it seems that the potential harm from that outweighed any potential strength that could be gained from depicting it in the first place. Is the best outcome for queer Doctor Who fans the one where the show seems to take no pride in depicting aspects of queer culture or make any attempt to own that choice at all? 

A similar situation occurred a little over twelve months later with the premiere of, of all things, a Children in Need sketch. On November 17 2024, Destination: Skaro was broadcast in the UK and, eight days out from RTD2 kicking off proper, it was audience's first glimpse into what might be in store with David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor and perhaps the general flavour of the era. At time of writing, the latter seems a little too soon to say though the nature of the short obviously lends it to being more comedic than a typic Who episode. Something that did become clear though was that the outspoken, socially-conscious thinking that informed the previous year's regeneration scene showed no signs of disappearing. 

Destination: Skaro surprised fans with the unexpected return of Julian Bleach in the role of Davros. The scene took place on the titular planet during the early stages of Dalek development and saw the Doctor accidentally influence the Daleks' design. The short was immediately notable for depicting Davros as fully-abled, not wheelchair bound or in any way disfigured. Prior to any statement from RTD regarding the choice, fans like myself appeared to conclude that this scene must be intended to take place prior to all of Davros' other appearances. Hs debut, Genesis of the Daleks, makes it clear that his chair is a life-support system and the Daleks seen there are all fully designed. So this is a prequel to the 1975 story. Easy enough to accept. But, then, RTD said this in an episode of Doctor Who Unleashed:

"We had long conversations about bringing Davros back, because he's a fantastic character, [but] time and society and culture and taste has moved on. And there's a problem with the Davros of old in that he's a wheelchair user, who is evil. And I had problems with that. And a lot of us on the production team had problems with that, of associating disability with evil. And trust me, there's a very long tradition of this... I say, this is how we see Davros now, this is what he looks like. This is 2023. This is our lens. This is our eye. Things used to be black and white, they're not in black and white anymore, and Davros used to look like that and he looks like this now, and that we are absolutely standing by."

In my opinion, there is little to object to here. Associating disability with villainy is a longstanding, harmful trope of genre fiction and something that Doctor Who has indulged in innumerable times throughout its history. Given that this short was airing within a charity event for disadvantaged youth, the optics of the decision make a lot of sense. It was a good call for RTD to contribute to the conversation about disability in a positive way. For the most part, this alls seemed to go down quite well. What some fans objected to was what was said toward the end of his comments, specifically the suggestion that this is how Davros will be portrayed moving forward.

This was met with a polarised reaction in fans, including those who are wheelchair users. YouTuber Tharries, notable among many things for being one of RTD's inspirations to depict the TARDIS as having a ramp in The Giggle, posted his reaction on November 18, 2023;

"As a disabled Doctor who fan I've always felt somewhat conflicted on Davros as a character, much as I love him he does contribute to the longstanding disabled evil man trope so to see @russelldavies63 address that meant a lot."

Tharries remains an outspoken fan of RTD and strong advocate for disability representation in the show. On the other side, were fans such as Rob Keeley who remarked on November 19, 2023;

"I've been a wheelchair user all my life and a #DoctorWho fan since the 1993 Genesis of the Daleks repeat. I don't find #Davros offensive - he's a great character. What's offensive is treating all disabled people as the same, assuming we all automatically identify with one another."

Mind you, it is probably also worth repeating Keely's review of The Star Beast from November 26 that same year for a more complete context of the man's views;

"True there was nothing very new, I still hate casual bad language in Who and the woke resolution was rubbish, but it still felt like Doctor Who more than anything in a long time."

A common outcry of detractors was that a link was never made between Davros' evil qualities and his being disabled. Dav McKenzie writing for The Spoilist on November 2023 provides an articulate quote mounting this defence but, amusingly, fails to attribute it to anybody;

"Say goodbye to Davros, one of Doctor Who’s most enduring foes. RTD has decided Davros boils down to discrimination against the disabled. He is a war-scarred cripple who is a megalomaniacal genius. His disability does not define or even restrict him as he is one of the most dangerous Doctor Who villains ever. Thanks to RTD though Davros has no injuries and is not in a wheelchair any longer. Goodbye, Davros. We had a good 40 years."

This particular line of defence never sat well with me. It was only in 2015, after all, that we saw Davros as a fully-abled child with no signs of fascist or psychotic tendencies. That depiction leaves one with little room to refute that his path to evil is in entirely unrelated to his disability.

It remains difficult to find a consensus on fan opinion at the best of times but this particular situation seems to remain a huge unknown quantity. Perhaps it will become clearer when Davros next returns to the show, if RTD even intends to do that. What was clear was that Davies wanted to make a statement about disability representation in his Doctor Who, spearhead these values with a new take on Davros right before then debut of new supporting character, Shirley.

And, again, I feel that the same question needs to be asked; would this have been a lot better received if RTD let the work speak for itself? Did he have to make such a definitive statement in Unleashed when we could see in the work that he was making that he had a strong, intelligent disabled character and no longer leaned on disability for villainy? Yes, the statements are inviting conversation and critical thinking which is always good but is RTD just virtue signalling or actually inciting change? Or is he doing both?

To be continued in part two; Rose Noble and Trans Identities in RTD2

*Tom's boots not withstanding