#the tardis is including war. and so am i

[yesokayiknow]

okay so you know how it goes: fourteen comes to life in thirteen's clothes. and they're both too short and too loose and entirely too bright for his frame of mind. they worked with a doctor who hid everything behind a too wide smile; not so much with a doctor whose pain and tiredness is written across his face

he needs to change. obviously

and then the star beast starts, and fourteen leaves the tardis, and he's still in thirteen's clothes

he just. he doesn't know. how does he choose new clothes? he feels wrong. how will wearing something else change that?

(donna tells him that it's christmas, mate; it's bloody freezing. maybe wear longer trousers, yeah? also he's both too young and too old to wear braces. just a friendly note)

he doesn't have to explain who he is to the unit scientist, not with those clothes. instead he talks about how he doesn't understand why he looks like this. why he is this. why this face? why isn't he someone new?

actually. maybe he is someone new. was he ever this open before? hm

why do you look like that, sylvia hisses, trying to hide him from the daughter he destroyed ruined left

it's a lottery, he replies, purposely ignorant

he still has his thirteenth self's screwdriver. it's too small in his hands

(the whole time they were her, her hands were too small. she didn't like touching anyway, but whenever someone took her hand, it felt wrong. they were too small. sometimes it felt like if she worked fast enough, tinkered about without stopping, she wouldn't have to look at them)

everything goes wrong. his fault, like always

(blimey. of all the things to carry over from the first time he had this face, it had to be the guilt, didn't it?)

you shouldn't look like that, the doctordonna says, and he runs a hand down his face with a tired laugh

no, the doctordonna says, not the face. a hand reaches out to grasp at the collar of his shirt, at the dangling earring chain. this isn't you. who are you, doctor?

like he knows. like they've ever-

she dies.

she lives. he doesn't deserve it. it isn't about him. he still doesn't deserve it

we're letting it go, donna says, and he looks down at himself, at another him's clothes, another him's screwdriver

well, she never was subtle, his donna

the tardis is gorgeous, though when isn't she. he tries to show off his new console to donna, and she rolls her eyes, and drags him off to the wardrobe

unlike normally, where all the clothes are scattered about, the new tardis wardrobe now also has a line of wardrobes stood against the wall. fifteen of them, to be exact

the last wardrobe is open. and empty

he goes to the second to last, and opens it to reveal a wide array of rainbow patterned shirts. she probably would've hated for her things to be organised like this. always creating mess so she wouldn't have to think about anything important. he laughs. and he takes off the sky coloured coat and the worn boots and the earrings and gently places them inside. tag, he thinks, as he closes the doors

and then he moves down to the eleventh wardrobe, full of brown coats and blue suits and neatly pressed shirts and pairs of converse. and he stands in front of it. and he wonders

after a moment, donna's like wait do you want me to leave?? you never cared about nudity before, did you? and he's like oh actually i do feel more self conscious. huh. weird.

he doesn't have to say, i think i'm a different person. not to donna. she just gives him a smile, and a shoulder nudge, and tells him she'll see him in the console room

the last wardrobe is empty

he takes a breath, and then goes to rummage about in the rest of the clothes

[acrossthewavesoftime]

Wait... are you saying that Simcoe was possibly a Bicon, in addition to being a hero of Upper Canada?

That, my friend, I am! Albeit with the usual caveats that there are some things we cannot say for certain.

I think there are hints pointing towards Simcoe having been possibly romantically, or even sexually, inclined towards men as well as women.

Apologies for my tardy reply, but this got a tad long, so please proceed under the cut:

Edward Drewe: "My Dorilas"

The first hint is the poem I was talking about, written by his fellow officer Edward Drewe, whom Simcoe knew since childhood. Drewe wrote the poem as a farewell to Simcoe upon being invalided back home to England early in the Revolutionary War.

For me, the repeated emphasis on the sorrow of parting in elborately dramatic scenes (such as imagining what would happen if Simcoe would die before also returning home, complete with a description of his "mangled corse" [sic, and a bit sick, too]) and particularly the repeated address of Simcoe as "Dorilas" seem to point in that direction.

The lovely and ever helpful @my-deer-friend was able to pinpoint a potential origin for the appellation "Dorilas" from the Tale The Loves of Dorilas and Euanthe, published in the Oxford Magazine in 1774.

Assuming the name is a direct reference to either this particular story or similar stories, due to the personal nature of the poem, my assumption would be that Drewe, complementing Simcoe's Dorilas, cast himself in the role of Euanthe.

This, by the way, is the last paragraph of the story:

"[G]olden shafts" and Venus having "crowned the night when Dorilas the pride of swains enjoyed his beloved Euanthe" does sound quite... Well, they surely weren't just looking at is stamp collection together.

If the appellation "Dorilas" in Drewe's poem indeed does refer to Dorilas and Euanthe, I think that would be a very distinct hint as to how the relationship between Drewe and Simcoe might have looked like.

John André: "an officer whose superior integrity and uncommon ability did honour to his country, and to human nature."

Another man who was very important to Simcoe was John André. They knew each other, and enjoyed spending time together. They were of a similar age and had shared interests. Similarly to André, Simcoe could draw well and was a man not shy of conviviality.

When André was captured, Simcoe approached Clinton submitting a plan for André's rescue which would have included putting his own life on the line that was however refused by Clinton.

Now, I'm perfectly sure I have seen Simcoe's letter to Clinton somewhere, but cannot find it. It seems to exist, too, because the plan to rescue André was also known to Simcoe's biographer, Mary Beacock-Fryer, who makes mention of it, sadly without referencing the original (Beacock-Fryer, Mary: John Graves Simcoe. A Biography, p. 56.).

What I can provide you with however is the assertion, in Simcoe's own words, that he

[...] had given directions that the regiment should immediately be provided with black and white feathers as mourning, for the late Major Andre, an officer whose superior integrity and uncommon abiity did honour to his country, and to human nature. John Graves Simcoe, Journal, p. 152 (1844 reprint).

In his so-called Journal, a work he compiled in order to highlight his own role in the war and political stances which he wrote with the intention to serve as a stepping-stone for his (political) career after his return to civilian life (and half-pay) in England, there are not many hints as to how his relationship with André may have looked like, which, given its nature, makes sense.

He does however highlight, in his Journal and later private letters, how greatly André's death upset him, and allegedly, though I have never found any proof for this, André's self-portrait, drawn at the eve of his execution, was copied by Simcoe's artiscally gifted wife to give to Honora Sneyd, André's former sweetheart.

There are no concrete hints to any relationship in a romantic or sexual sense with André, in any case however, I think it bespeaks their close bond that Simcoe was willing to sacrifice his own life for André, and had the Queen's Rangers add feathers to their hats as a token of respect and rememberance to him.

Mary Anne Burges: Defying Social Expectations

Simcoe was by most accounts a person who was naturally jovial, affectionate and inclined to see the good in everyone; local stories and historical anecdotes about Simcoe highlight his approachable character.

One curious personal relationship was that with Mary Anne Burges, his wife's best friend; the two were a 'package deal', which he knew; legend has it that after she had accepted his proposal, Elizabeth Gwillim, the future Mrs. Simcoe, sent her fiancé to talk to her best friend and promise her that he would never come between them.

How much of this story is true will remain lost to history, but Simcoe had no issues with Burges moving into the vincinity and being a constant visitor. She even became, in the absence of blood-relations, an aunt of sorts to the Simcoe children who would help take care of the four eldest daughters while their parents were away in Upper Canada.

Mary Anne Burges and Elizabeth Simcoe were friends ever since their teenage years and Burges sometimes came to stay with her bestie, who was then living with her maternal aunt Margaret and the latter's husband, Admiral Samuel Graves, whenever her cash-strapped parents considered putting pressure on her to get married already.

Mary Anne Burges remained single for life, carved out a professional existence (albeit an at times precarious one) for herself writing for magazines, had a great interest in the natural sciences and even became a single (foster) mother to an orphaned relation. Here is what she wrote to Elizabeth when a gentleman decided to try his luck with her by way of a surprise proposal:

[...] so I wrote him word that I had more a determination to continue single all my life [...]. Mary Anne Burges to Elizabeth Simcoe, 8 June 1795.

Her refusal to the proposal had nothing to do with the particular gentleman in question; she was simply not interested in men in a romantic or sexual capacity, which she seems to have been very open about. In another letter to her best friend, shortly after the Simcoe's had left for Upper Canada in 1792, she gives an account of a spat between herself and the notoriously quarrelsome Margaret Graves, jealous of the close relationship between her niece and Mary Anne Burges. Margaret Graves mused loudly that friendships between married (Elizabeth Simcoe) and unmarried ladies (Mary Anne Burges) were very improper, because unmarried ladies might ask a married lady about advice regarding her lovers. Mary Anne Burges coldly replied that "[t]hat can easily be overcome by not having any lovers."

Mary Anne Burges remained a trusted friend close with the Simcoe-family for as long as she lived. Given that the Simcoes were very close, and Mary Anne had been around the Graves' house, too, I would guess that Simcoe would have known either from Mary Anne Burges herself or from his wife, that she was resolved not to conform to the common expectations held for women in the day. Despite that, she was allowed a close relationship not only with his wife, but particularly with his children.

To me, Simcoe's relationship with Mary Anne Burges evidences that he was more, for lack of a better word, open-minded than one would expect of an aspiring social climber with politically otherwise conservative leanings in the late 18th century, which may have influenced his view on and willingness to engage in romantic or perhaps even sexual relationships with other men.

Samuel Graves: Simcoe's upbringing

This open-mindedness likely stems from his upbringing between his mother's and his godfather's household. While I sadly know only very little about his mother, I know quite a fair bit about his godfather Samuel Graves.

Graves valued education (and scolded his older brother because he considered his nephews too little educated to successfully make their way in the world), was married to a member of the Bluestocking circle who believed that women should have more legal rights, especially regarding social mobility through education and vocational training as well as allowing married women to hold property in their own name, and allowed Mary Anne Burges to stay in his home whenver she required an escape from her home life.

Even more interesting is that due to a severe case of malaria contracted while serving abroad as a young man, he had grown infertile. He knew this, and was open about it to his family. Taking this into account, his marriages defy the contemporary socio-religious expectations somewhat as they could never produce any offspring; his two marriages were, from the pieces of evidence I have, likely for love.

His second wife, Elizabeth Simcoe's aunt Margaret, née Spinckes, appears to have been firm on never wanting any children of her own due to having watched her sister die in childbirth, which, coupled with her aversion to giving up her substantial fortune to a husband, had kept her from marrying so far; looking at her marriage to Samuel Graves, it seems that she not only trusted him with her property, she was also happy to have sexual relations with him, some light allusions to this apparently very delctable part of married life she left behind in letters.

Conclusion:

It was in this at the second glance rather surprising environment that Simcoe grew up in, and that may have influenced his personal development, and perhaps instilled in him an acceptance of people not conforming to social expectations, which may have influenced his possible relationships with men such as Edward Drewe and perhaps even John André.

Simcoe's acceptance of Mary Anne Burges as a close friend to his wife and daughters (and to himself, too), who by modern terminology would likely fall under the umbrella term "queer", shows that throughout his life, he was accepting of people who, especially regarding personal and potentially sexual relationships, defied social expectations.

How his own relationships with other men may have looked like concretely, and how the people involved would have perceived, termed and described them might sadly be forever lost to history; for a great analysis of terminology and (what we today consider to be) queerness in an 18th century context, I will link this excellent post by @my-deer-friend.

Especially Edward Drewe's potentially sexually underpinned poem may suggest that a relationship going beyond a romantic friendship between him and Simcoe may have existed.

I think that in Simcoe's case, no prior evaluation of his friendships with men of a similar age prior to his marriage has taken place yet because firstly, most scholarship on him was written in the 19th/early 20th century when queer history was, to put it mildly, not exactly a priority, and secondly, because his very happy, monogamous marriage (about which he wrote poetry containing such great lines as "[...] shall my Eliza with true passion burn") and eleven (!) children do not instantly suggest any attraction to other men on his part.

A further, more in-depth analasys would be a desideratum on my part, especially because I believe there is some basis for it meriting further research.

[companion-showdown]

Family Feud Nominations, Who is the Best Doctor Who Family

If I've missed a character out of one of the families let me know (within reason, I imagine all these families are massive in the EU, so prioritise tv or significant characters)

Currently, the only rule is no families may inculde anyone who is even ambiguously The Doctor, it'll get super complicated super fast imo

Any characters, eg River, who can link up multiple different families to create a single massive family unit will be treated on a case by case basis. If it is possible to pick one of the smaller family units that they are a part of to include them in while not including them in any of the others (in a way everyone will agree at least makes sense) they will be included in that family only, otherwise they will not be included

Please bare in mind when you are nominating that I am hoping to keep the number of nominations under 64 to run this as a mini-tournament. This is not a hard rule so if nominations do exceed 64 its not a big deal, just something I'd like everyone to bare in mind

Nominees

Foreman-Campbell (Susan, David, Alex)

Chesterton-Wright (Ian, Barbara, implied to be married after they leave)

McCrimmon (Jamie, Heather, V.M.McCrimmon, various others)

Waterfield (Victoria, Edward (father))

Lethbridge-Stewart (Kate, The Brigadier, Doris (Brig's wife in Battlefield), Archibald Hamish (TUAT), Gordon (Kate's son in Downtime), Kadiatu, The Great Intelligence, Lucy Wilson)

Grant/Jones (Jo, Cliff, Santiago (Jo's grandson in Death of the Doctor))

Smith (Sarah-Jane, Lavinia (aunt), Brendan Richards, Luke, Sky, Mr Smith, K9 (they are her family and I will not be hearing otherwise), Barbara, Eddie (parents in Temptation of Sarah-Jane Smith))

Leela, Andred, Veega, Rayo

Adric and Varsh (brothers)

Nyssa, Tremas, and Kassia (daughter, father, step-mother)

Jovanka (Tegan, Vanessa (aunt in Logopolis), Colin (cousin in Arc of Infinity))

Turlough (Vislor, Malkon (brother in Planet of Fire))

McShane (Ace, Audrey (mother), Kathleen (grandmother), Liam (brother))

Tyler (Rose, Jackie, Pete, Tony (baby mentioned in Journey's End), no I will not be adding the metacrisis to this list)

Another Smith (Mickey, Rita (grandmother))

Slitheen

Harkness (Jack, Grey, parents, Alice Carter (daughter), Steven Carter(grandson))

Isolas (Fear Her)

Jones (Martha, Francine, Clive, Tish, Leo, Leo has a baby as well, Adeola Oshodi)

The Family of Blood

Redfern-Smith (Joan, John (various), possible dream children and grandchildren)

Shafe Kanes (from Utopia, Kristane, Beltone)

Mott-Noble-Temple (Donna, Sylvia, Wilf, Shaun, Rose)

The Adipose

Pond-Williams (Amy, Rory, River, Brian, Anthony, Amy's aunt and parents)

Owens: (Craig, Sophie, Stormageddon Dark Lord of All)

Gillyflower (Mrs Gillyflower, Ada)

Paternoster (Jenny, Vastra, Strax)

Oswald (Clara, Ellie, Dave (parents), grandmother, and I'm going to say Danny makes the cut, Orson)

Potts (Bill, Mother, Moira (foster mother))

O'Brien-Sinclair (Graham, Ryan, Grace, Aaron (Ryan's father))

Khan (Yaz, Najia (mother), Hakim (father), Sonya (sister), Umbreen (grandmother))

Lewis (Dan, Eileen (mother), Neville (father))

Swarm and Azure

Bel, Vinder and their as yet unborn child

Sunday (Ruby, Carla, Cherry, many many foster siblings)

The TARDIS and Lolita

Little House of Cwej

The House of Lungbarrow (Grandfater Paradox, Qenceus, Inocet, various cousins, Irving Braxiatel, Maggie Matsumoto, Ulysses, Penelope GAte, Anna Joyce)

The House of Dvora (Morbius, The War King, Thessalia, Romana, various others)

Langer (Clyde, Carla (mother), Paul (father))

Jackson (Maria, Alan, Chrissie)

Chandra (Rani, Haresh, Gita)

The Wu Diaspora (Cindy Wu and her clones)

Munmeth and Mutmunna (Medicine Man)

Ada and Alice Obiefune

Who (Susan, Barbara, Louise)

Jones-Davies (Ianto, Rhiannon, Johnny, David, Mica)

Summerfield (Bernice, Issac, Claire, Jason Kane, Peter, Wolsey, Keith, Rebecca, Cousin Eliza, Benedict I-IV, Christine)

Miller (Lucie, Pat (aunt))

Schofield (Hex, Cassie, Hilda)

House of Witforge (Narvin, Lenaris, Helico, Narvin's father, Rexin)

Faction Paradox

Pollard (Charley, Louisa, Richard, Margaret, Edward Grove, The Sound Creature)

Mesh Cos, Lon Shel, Julian White Mammoth Tusk

Cooper-Williams (Gwen, Rhys, Anwen, Geraint, Mary (Gwen's parents))

Chenka (Liv, Tula, Kal, Garlon Rosh)

Sinclair (Helen, Albie, Trev Bailey)

Forrester

Proctor (Cleo, Jordan, parents)

Nominations will be open until Midday Friday (03/05, 12:00 BST (GMT/UTC +1)), I will try and give a more specific time then

[allthoseotherworlds]

An Aroace Doctor Reading of "Rogue"

Disclaimer: I am not interested in proving what's "canon". I do not believe that canon exists. I am interested in formulating a reasonable reading of the episode wherein the Doctor is aromantic and asexual, and fundamentally believe that such a thing is possible in basically all contexts with enough determination. If that's not your thing, that's fine, but I don't need to argue in the replies about how this isn't canon). Also if it sounds like I'm arguing with someone, I promise it's probably not you, hypothetical reader, but the ghost of 2015-ish and the mean voices it left in my brain

I finally watched Rogue! It wasn't as bad as I was worried it would be, from an aroace perspective. I think I can reasonably view it as a combination of my already-established beliefs that:

The Doctor likes it when people like them, and does not like being rejected. How they handle this varies wildly - from preemptively rejecting people, to hiding everything so people can't reject them, to being aggressively fun and charming and interesting, which seems to be the fifteenth Doctor's approach. This approach from the fifeenth Doctor in particular can come across as flirty even in contexts where it clearly isn't meant to be, I think because many people aren't accustomed to that level of genuineness and exuberance from a relative stranger

The Doctor, at least recently, does not like outright rejecting people who are sincerely interested in them, probably due to the previously-mentioned desire for people to like them

The Doctor does enjoy banter, including banter that can be read as flirting, because banter and wordplay are fun

The Doctor does not view kissing the same way humans do, perhaps partially because of the touch-telepathy present in Time Lords, and tends to relate to kissing (even mouth kisses that humans would view as romantic) as a general expression of strong emotion or a telepathic tool rather than a strictly sexual or romantic thing. The Doctor is generally aware that kissing is romantic for humans, but how much they internalize this varies (see: the tenth Doctor remembering that kissing can be viewed a certain way and warning Martha they don't mean it that way, but not realizing it's so deeply ingrained in contemporaneous human culture as romantic that she won't be able to just turn it off in her head)

With that in mind, here's my personal take:

The Doctor is suspicious of Rogue, but also thinks he's interesting and aesthetically attractive ("hot" - a word that aroaces can also use without proving we're not aroace)

The Doctor banters with Rogue, enjoys the banter, and is friendly and charming to him because they want to learn more and because banter is fun. They don't trust him at first, but enjoy interacting with him.

Once it's been established that the Doctor is not the enemy here and they can work together, the Doctor is a) charmed by Rogue's proper admiration of the Tardis, and b) sympathetic to Rogue's Tragic Backstory. The Doctor's probably projecting a little at this point because "Bounty hunter who's lost people and is working to do something he thinks is helpful but maybe isn't for a mysterious boss" probably resonates for "Ex-Division-Operative/Ex-Time-War-Participant" reasons, even though they are deeply Not Acknowledging that they have issues, no thank you.

Near-kiss in the Tardis happens because of the Doctor's deep lack of personal space and generally being more accepting of touch in this incarnation

Nothing needs to be explained with the dancing/fake fight/fake marriage proposal, except the Doctor's "Oh shit" reaction to the proposal, which to my mind is that of someone reliving all the other times people have had Romantic or Sexual feelings towards them and it has caused Problems that the don't reciprocate in the same way, even if they care a lot. Also the Doctor's total lack of prior trauma around losing people or being rejected because they are Perfectly Well Adjusted Now

The actual kiss happens because a) Rogue needs to distract the Doctor and kissing is distracting, and b) the Doctor isn't averse enough to touch in this incarnation to dislike kissing on principle I think, and emotions were running high enough that I think they can appreciate it from an emotional/telepathic perspective anyways

The Doctor is sad when Rogue is lost because a) the Doctor hates losing people in general, b) it's another person sacrificing themselves to save the Doctor or their friends when they couldn't, and c) they did care about Rogue and saw potential in him to both grow and learn more and to be a fun person to travel and argue with

Other thoughts about the episode!

I'm glad Ruby didn't actually die this time, but this is a lot of almost-deaths for her now. Makes me nervous!

I really liked the designs for the Chuldur! It was neat that they all looked slightly different but recognizably the same species

I definitely feel like they left this hanging on purpose, and we'll probably revisit Rogue and/or his boss at some point. Whether or not I'll enjoy that depends on how they handle it, probably

(My actual hot take here is that I think Jonathan Groff is just okay, and although to quote my mom "Ncuti Gatwa could have chemistry with a popsicle", Jonathan just didn't feel like he had much chemistry with him to me I'm sorry. Even setting aside my canon-divergent bullshit he's just not as compelling to me as I think he is to other people. I think conceptually though it's fun to have a human from the future around)

I am such a sucker for scenes where someone does a medical scan on the Doctor and is like "Oh shit" so that was very fun. I also enjoyed seeing the Doctor described as a shapeshifter.

I really loved the scene at the end where the Doctor and Ruby are reunited properly and hug and she kind of calls them on their "I'm totally fine please ignore all the traumatic things that just happened" routine! It was lovely, and I really think their dynamic is coming together. Ruby was also great in her scenes with the lady whose name I forgot who went through a breakup.

[pastanest]

A/N: I’m really sorry but read-more links aren’t working on my blog atm, I’ve raised a ticket with Tumblr and they’ve registered it as a bug that they’re looking into but for now I can’t use them because they mess up the whole post :(

Eleventh Doctor x gender!neutral reader

Dating Eleven Would Include

so to begin with, he’d be awkward and clumsy as per usual

over time he gets more accustomed to the blossoming feelings for you and relaxes into them, being more open to flirting back

PDA comes so naturally to him he consistently catches himself out when he becomes aware of the fact he’s holding your hand, swung an arm around you or pulled you in for a hug on instinct

the Doctor is always going out of his way to do sweet things for you

he remembers every place you’ve referenced wanting to visit, every favorite food you’ve mentioned, every dream date idea that he has pried out of you with the least subtle questions and motivations you can imagine

and he uses all of that information to his advantage, regularly planning said dates out for you in the most beautiful places in the universe

a regular picnic? nono, not on the Doctor’s watch. we’re talking planets entirely made of meadows, as far as the eye can see, inhabited by sentient orbs of light that exist in complete peace and harmony, floating around amongst the flowers and creating a field of stars every time the seven sun’s set

a date at the cinema? try the biggest cinema screen in the universe that you have to sit 50 feet away from, with special goggles just to protect your eyes from the power of the light from the screen. 

“And it’s not just the screen that’s big, it’s the highest quality speakers ever invented, and they are completely invisible! 4D sound systems? Not here, 8D AND UP ONLY BABY! That does mean that if we see any movie with freak weather patterns, we may have to bring several changes of clothes to suit the climates they simulate around our seats. Which are levitating in total darkness. So we will also need a very powerful torch to find our seats. Which I have already invented, naturally. It plays tense music whenever it’s switched on.”

“That’s a lot to process, but I am stuck on the torch - why did you add tense music as a feature?”

“For dramatic effect, why else?!”

he’s fiercely protective of you 

we all know the look in his eyes when the Daleks rock up, the fury that burns when he recalls anything regarding the Time War; that’s the same expression that greets anyone or anything that causes you harm in any way whatsoever

he’s almost scared to admit that he’d tear a planet apart to find you, save you, fix any harm that has been done to you, if that is what it cost

whether you are with him through his regeneration into 11 or not, you show him parts of his personality that have been hidden for hundreds and hundreds of years, feelings he never thought he would be lucky enough to find again

and it terrifies him, of course, to consider what he lost in those feelings before, how he could lose you in a new, more painful way 

but you reassure him

with every hold of your hand, every bright smile, every hug, every laugh at one of his silly lines, every kiss, every whisper in the dark when he lies with you until you fall asleep in his arms, you comfort the Doctor that no matter what happens, you will find your way back to each other

you, the Doctor and River Song are absolutely in a three-way marriage

River flirts with you more than the Doctor and he’ll sulk about it

“Honestly, what’s the point in me being here?! Should I drop you two off on an isolated moon to engage in your…shenanigans?! Ooh, ‘shenanigans’, now that’s a good word, I should use it more often!”

you and River both know him so well and share your frustrations over his occasional idiocies the girl’s that get it, y’know?

picture this: the Doctor being so excited to see River but she just runs past him and straight to you because the two of you have orchestrated sleepovers in the TARDIS and routinely fail to let the Doctor know ahead of time iconic

the two of you never make it official, but it is understood on both sides that you are in a relationship and nothing will break that bond

and you are the happiest couple in this universe, and every other

[transgenderdoctorwhomst-old]

I eat up fics so much when they touch on the issues! Like given how much the doctor has been possessed/taken over I feel should def give them PTSD or a traumatic response to telepathy. Eg: 13 scared to contact the master after their only interactions with telepathy in the past years being hostile or life threatening.

Let them beat daleks to shit with their bare hands for everything they've done, including the war and such. (In my mind the doctor did destroy Gallifrey I'm sorry I hate the retcon they did in the special that they saved it because it devalues somuch of them imo)

Also I was thinking more about Mr clever (I'm saying that and not cyberplanner bc it's silly) and like how that'd affect the doctor and the story. And just the process of the doctor losing more of themselves, maybe small behaviors and quirks up to wardrobe changes and such. And I think what could be interesting ish is like Mr Clever is hiding how much he's taken over from River or something but what gives it away is how well he pilots. Because obviously the cyberplanner would pour over memories and books and learn the most optimal ways to pilot a time machine. And then you get that sweet sweet realization from River of that's not who I think it is. That is not the man I know. (I love those reveals)

Anyways im so normal sorry for rambling

i think it's incredibly funny that moffat unblew up gallifrey and then chibnall just went and blew it up again. the tradition of writers fighting over whether or not gallifrey is blown up continues and i am eating it up. the doctor definitely blew up gallifrey though even if they went back and changed it. time is an illusion everything is canon even the tv show

also TASTY TASTY angst yes!! he's a robot/ai designed to optimize everything possible, of course he's going to try and optimize piloting. the doctor just kind of wings it, and it works, but the cyberplanner wants fast and reliable results.

i also think its really funny that the cyberplanner mantains the cyberman belief that emotions are weak and bad and need to be removed, and completely and utterly fails to recognize the fact that he has gained very strong emotions and very little ability to process and manage them. like, he's super excited to have a time lord body, he gets angry and starts yelling when things don't make sense, he takes great joy in fucking with people, he's absorbed a lot of 11's physical mannerisms and expressions of emotions. dumbass mr clever has completely not realized that, and i think would continue not to.

so river would find the "doctor" is actually putting effort into piloting the tardis efficently, without the typical loving affection, isn't exactly hiding his emotions that well (11 is. very good at this actually), and is in general expressing what his feelings should be about people just wrong for the doctor. because he can see what those emotions and feelings are, but doesn't understand the complexities of it. 11 struggles to be intimate. he isn't good at using his words for his feelings for people. the cyberplanner assumes the correct tactic is to spell out what feelings he's supposed to be expressing, which is a notable tip off for river.

there are just all these things slightly wrong with the doctor that she's slowly realizing.

(also you can ramble as much as you like, i love rambling-)

[adventure-showdown]

What has been nominated so far

Note, just because something has been nominated, and so is listed here, does not mean it will be included, I will include the absolute most I can but if I can't find it on TARDIS wiki its not getting in because i can't verify its a piece of who media

Also note, there might be some mistakes on here, I'm copying the nominations across directly, there might be some stories that are listed twice without me realising, because of alternate titles, or I just didn't spot it, or stuff that was spelt wrong when it was nominated, feel free to tell me

I've done my best to spot when nominations of a series were intended to enter the individual parts rather than the series as a unit, if I've got this wrong let me know and I will fix it. (if a story is on one line its currently being considered as a unit)

Final note, a couple of things got nominated under multiple mediums, usually full length TV story and minisode, so if you can't find your nomination, maybe check one of the other mediums

You can make further nominations here, there are basically no limits so long as its set in the Whoniverse (or its about Doctor Who, eg An Adventure in Space and Time or The 5 (ish) Doctors Reboot)

the list is under the cut (I will endeavour to keep it up to date)

Audio

Main Range

The Marian Conspiracy

The Apocalyse Element

The Shadow of the Scourge

The Holy Terror

Storm Warning

Minuet in Hell

Loups-Garoux

The Chimes of Midnight

Seasons of Fear

The Time of the Daleks

Jubilee

Neverland

Spare Parts

Creatures of Beauty

Doctor Who and the Pirates

Omega

Master (Main Range 49)

Zagreus

Scherzo

The Natural History of Fear

Arrangements for War

The Harvest

Faith Stealer

Caerdroia

Terror Firma

Singularity

Other Lives

The Kingmaker

The Girl Who Never Was

The Condemned

The Doomwood Curse

The Magic Mousetrap

The Company of Friends: Benny's Story

The Company of Friends: Fitz's Stroy

The Company of Friends: Izzy's Story

The Company of Friends: Mary's Story

A Death in the Family

Robophobia

The Silver Turk

1963: The Assassination Games

The Widow's Assassin

Dalek Soul

The Grey Man of the Mountain

The Eighth Doctor Adventures

The Blood of the Daleks

Horror of Glam Rock

Immortal Beloved

Phobos

No More Lies

Human Resources

To the Death

Doom Coalition

The Eleven

The Red Lady

The Galileo Trap

The Gift

The Sonomancer

Absent Friends

The Eighth Piece

The Doomsday Chronometer

The Crucible of Souls

Ship in a Bottle

Songs of Love

The Side of the Angels

Stop the Clock

Ravenous

Escape from Kaldor

Better Watch Out/Fairytale in Salzburg

Companion Piece

Day of the Master

Stranded

Stranded as a Whole (I think, I couldn't find a story called Stranded)

UNIT Dating

What Lies Inside

Paradox of the Daleks

Connections

Here Lies Drax

The Love Vampires

Albie's Angels

Special Releases

Living Legend

Out of Time

Out of Time (individual story)

Wink

The Companion Chronicles

Solitaire

Peri and the Piscon Paradox

The Cold Equations

The Last Post

The Scorchies

The Tenth Doctor Adventures

Death and the Queen

The Sword of the Chevalier

No Place

The Creeping Death

The Tenth Doctor and River Song

Expiry Dating

Ghosts

Once and Future

The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50

The Diary of River Song

The Bekdel Test

The Lost Stories

The Queen of Time

Paradise 5

The Elite

Short Trips

I am the Master

Forever Fallen

A Full Life

Bernice Summerfield

Oh No It Isn't

The Faction Paradox Protocols

The Eleven Day Empire/The Shadow Play

Torchwood

The Last Beacon

Serenity

Rhys and Ianto's Excellent Barbecue

Gallifrey

Square One

First Days of Phaidon

Gallifrey IV

Warfare

Unity

Missy

A Spoonful of Mayhem

The Lumiat

Too Many Masters

The Paternoster Gang: Heritage

The Cars That Ate London!

A Photograph to Remember

Destiny of the Doctor

Smoke and Mirrors

Novel Adaptations

Nightshade

Fifth Doctor Box Set

Psychodrome

Iterations of I

Psychodrome

Iterations of I

Counter-Measures

The Fifth Citadel

The Forgotten Village

Peshka

The Concrete Cage

The New Counter Measures

Troubled Waters

The Hollow King

The Eighth of March

Inside Every Warrior

Comics

TV Comic

Time in Reverse

Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor

Space in Dimension Relative and Time

Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor

Old Friends

Doctor Who Magazine

The Star Beast

Voyager

The World Shapers

Ground Zero

The Flood

The Fallen

The Land of Happy Endings

Direct to Home Media Films

PROBE

PROBE: The Zero Imperative

PROBE: The Devil of Winterborne

PROBE: Unnatural Selection

PROBE: Ghosts of Winterborne

PROBE: When to Die

The Stranger

The Stranger: Summoned by Shadows

The Stranger: More than a Messiah

The Stranger: In Memory Alone

The Stranger: The Terror Game

The Stranger: Breach of the Peace

The Stranger: Eye of the Beholder

Other

Downtime

Shada (1992) - version with linking narration

Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor

Wartime

K9 (spinoff series)

Regeneration/Liberation/The Korven

The Bounty Hunter

Sirens of Ceres

Fear Itself

The Fall of the House of Gryffen

Jays of Orthrus

Dream-Eaters

Curse of Anubis

Oroborus

Alien Avatar

Aeolian

The Last Oak Tree

Black Hunger

The Cambridge Spy

Lost Library of Ukko

Mutant Copper

The Custodians

Taphony and the Time Loop

Robot Gladiators

Mind Snap/Angel of the North/The Last Precinct/Hounds of the Korven/The Eclipse of the Korven

Minisodes

A Fix with Sontarans

Born Again

Clara and the TARDIS

Dimensions in Time

Emperor of the Daleks (More than 30 Years in the TARDIS)

famine appeal 1986

Merry Christmas Doctor Who

P.S.

Pond Life

Rain Gods

Space/Time

Tardisodes

The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later

The Bells of Saint John: A Prequel

The Doctor's Meditation

The Great Detective

The Last Day

The Naked Truth

The Shrink

Time Crash

Wall's Sky Ray lollies advertisment

Seret Message from the Time Lords (Weetabix advert)

Novels & Short Stories

Short Stories and Short Story Collections

12 Doctors, 12 Stories

Grey Matter

Lepidoptery for Beginners

Something Borrowed

Nothing at the End of the Lane

The Room With All the Doors

Standalone

Harvest of Time

Scratchman

The Stranger

Engines of War

The Eighth Doctor Adventures

Vampire Science

Alien Bodies

Seeing I

The Scarlet Empress

Unnatural History

Interference

The Blue Angel

The Burning

The Turing Test

The Year of Intelligent Tigers

The City of the Dead

The Adventuress of Henrietta Street

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Anachrophobia

The Book of the Still

The Crooked World

Camera Obscura

The Gallifrey Chronicles

The Past Doctor Adventures

Divided Loyalties

Fear of the Dark

Fear Itself

Novelisations

Doctor Who and Shada (fan novelisation)

Virgin New Adventures

The Left-Handed Hummingbird

Human Nature

Lungbarrow

Faction Paradox

The Book of War

This Town Will Never Let Us Go

Of the City of the Saved

The New Series Adventures

The Blood Cell

Other

Step Into the 80s!/On Through the 80's! (adverts)

Ronald Rat continuity announcement

Zygon: When Being you Just isn't Enough (Porno)

The Man From MI5

The Infinite Quest

Dooms Day hour 1

Songs

Doctor in Distress

Doctorin' the TARDIS by the Timelords

I'm gonna Spend my Christmas with a Dalek

TV (this category is less about if it was televised and more about the length to distinguish it from minisodes)

Dreamland

Search Out Space

Webcasts

Real Time

Shada (2 nominations)

[nostalgia-tblr]

20 Questions For Writers

I got tagged by @thot-son-of-odin for this!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

412 (plus some Anonymous works that aren’t counted in that number)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

777,634

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Doctor Who (old and new), various Star Treks, the MCU, and a few others including Elementary and M*A*S*H.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. Trust the Devil

2. Four Times the Doctor and Clara Shared a Bed and One Time They Didn't

3. Locks And Revelations

4. Responsibility

5. How To Walk On Eggshells

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I didn’t used to but I try to now. It took me a while to get past “if I thank them for the kind words that means I agree and they can call me big-headed!” but now I think perhaps the commenter and I will become friends, as though this was still the LJ days or whatever.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I am answering these together to say that with 412 works it’s rly hard to come up with an answer because I’m bound to forget something that’s either angstier or happier than the one I pick D:

8. Do you get hate on your fic?

No, despite writing occasionally Problematic stuff. Maybe I’m just lucky with that? I think on AO3 the worst I’ve ever got is a comment or two on Ten/Reinette fic about how it is a TERRIBLE pairing and how dare anyone write it. I think I deleted those, or if I haven’t then I meant to, because fuck it they’re properly tagged so the enraged anons must have deliberately chosen something that would offend them.

This sort of thing is why I still have an automatic flinch reaction when people tell me they like Rose Tyler.

9. Do you write smut?

Of course not! I write very thoughtful and insightful character studies in which the characters being studied fuck, that’s COMPLETELY different!

10. Do you write crossovers?

Not often, I’m more into the idea of crossovers than actually writing (or reading) them.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t think so.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, a few times.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Yes but not for years.

14. What‘s your all-time favourite ship?

I’m going to say Doctor/TARDIS because that’s a safe answer to such questions.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Never say never – I’ve had ideas that did finally get written a decade later.

16. What’s your writing strengths?

I think it’s dialogue, which is also usually the easiest part to write. (I am a bit of a Fic Snob about how characters should sound like themselves in fic, including in AU fics where is even more important and also if they go OOC in those then that should be the point that’s being made.)

17. What’s your writing weaknesses?

The bits that aren’t dialogue. Urgh, why must things need to be described! Why must I tell the reader who is speaking!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Well I usually see it in the context of “a phrase or word in the language we assume the characters are actually speaking” (mostly pet-names, for some reason) and that just makes me go “So what language are they speaking in the rest of this story? In the rest of this sentence, even?” Not a fan of this, nah.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Star Wars! :O

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I dunno, there’s too many of them (same problem as before).

I tag anyone what wants to do this meme!

[companion-showdown-dot-org]

Almost/Could have been Contestant List

Who would you like to have seen become a companion?

Rules for further suggestions:

Must have met the Doctor

I know Jago and Litefoot are popular but I am not including anyone from Talons as a matter of principle

Not someone you could already call a companion (some exceptions may be made on a case by case basis)

Not necessary, but ideally someone who would have said yes in the right circumstances

There's no other restrictions on the kinds of characters to include, just anyone you wanted to come on further adventures in the TARDIS

Current List under the cut (there will be a group stage if necessary to bring this down to an appropriate number ie a power of 2, so do not worry about suggesting more)

60s

Jenny (The Dalek Invasion of Earth)

Bret Vyon (The Daleks Master Plan)

Anne (The Massacre)

Sam Briggs (The Faceless Ones)

Isobel (The Invasion)

Astrid Ferrier (Enemy of the World)

70s

Miss Hawthorne (The Daemons)

Bellal (Death to the Daleks)

Lish Toos (The Robots of Death)

D84 (Robots of Death)

Rodan (The Invasion of Time)

Duggan (City of Death)

80s

Todd (Kinda)

Richard Mace (The Visitation)

Will Chandler (The Awakening)

Chela (Snakedance)

Norna (Frontis)

Janet (Terror of the Vervoids)

The DJ (Revelation of the Daleks)

Ray (Delta and the Bannermen)

Mags (The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)

Shou Yuing (Battlefield)

Sabalom Glitz (Various)

EU

Ruby Duvall

RTD

Jabe (The End of the World)

Harriet Jones (Aliens of London / World War Three

Lynda (Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways)

Mrs Moore (Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel)

Jake (Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel & Army of Ghosts / Doomsday)

Sally Sparrow (Blink)

Timothy (Human Nature / The Family of Blood (could have his name wrong))

Joan Redfern (Human Nature / The Family of Blood)

Professor Yana (Utopia)

Chan Tho (Utopia)

Tom (The Last of the Time Lords / The Sound of Drums)

Astrid Peth (Voyage of the Damned)

Alonzo (Voyage of the Damned)

Ross (The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky)

Jenny (The Doctor’s Daughter)

Hath Peck (The Doctor’s Daughter)

Rosita (The Next Doctor)

Lady Christina de Souza (Planet of the Dead)

Adelaide Brooke (The Waters of Mars)

Moffat

Nasreen Chaudry (The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood)

Craig Owens (The Lodger & Closing Time)

Kazran (A Christmas Carol)

Abigail (A Christmas Carol)

Canton Everette Deleware III (Day of the Moon)

Rita (The God Complex)

Lorna (A Good Man Goes to War)

Madge Arwell (The Doctor the Widow and the Wardrobe)

Brian Williams (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship)

John Riddell (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship)

Nefertiti

Petronella Osgood (Various)

Kate Stewart (Various)

Madame Vastra (Various – The Paternoster Gang)

Jenny (Various – The Paternoster Gang)

Strax (Various – The Paternoster Gang)

Journey Blue (Into the Dalek)

Psi (Time Heist)

Saibra (Time Heist)

Perkins (Mummy on the Orient Express)

Courtney Woods (Kill the Moon)

Rigsy (Flatline & Face the Raven)

Maebh (In the Forest of the Night)

Shona (Last Christmas)

Cass (Under the Lake / Before the Flood)

Me (The Girl Who Died / The Woman Who Lived & various)

Missy (Various)

Heather (Pilot & The Doctor Falls)

Erica (Pyramid at the End of the World)

Danny Pink

Chibnall

Bel (Flux)

Vinder (Flux)

Claire (Flux)

Jericho (Flux)

Spinoffs

Luke Smith (The Sarah-Jane Adventures)

Clyde Langer (The Sarah-Jane Adventures)

Rani Chandra (The Sarah-Jane Adventures)

Gwen Cooper (Torchwood)

Ianto Jones (Torchwood)

Tosh Sato (Torchwood)

[icklewolfiekins]

Clara’s outfits in Doctor Who

The Snowmen

Clara as the governess

Clara as the barmaid (vastly superior outfit imo)

Boots. Bustle. Corset. Still in era inappropriate opaque tights. Shawl. This whole outfit is so good.

The Bells of Saint John

Grey cardigan. Khaki raincoat. Opaque tights. Boots. Jumper dress in the same red as Victorian other Clara’s outfit which is an excellent choice imo but it is let down by being a high-low dress. I’ll let it slide because it was 2013.

Rings of Akhaten

Shirt dress (high-low again because it was 2013 and not everything can be great). Biker jacket. Black tights. Red satchel. Boots.

Cold War

No tights or boots because she thought she was going to Vegas. Shimmery knee length skater dress. Russian military jacket (she was cold). Glittery shoes that I am jealous of.

Hide

Blazer. Skater dress with ditsy flower pattern. Lace up wedge shoes (boots for the summer). Opaque tights.

Journey to the Centre of the Tardis

Red dress with Peter Pan collar and skater skirt and ditsy flower pattern. Boots. Shockingly no tights.

The Crimson Horror

Velvet Victorian garb. I don’t know enough about this to be specific but I’m pretty sure a bustle is involved. Probably still in boots.

Nightmare in Silver

Biker jacket. Skater skirt with flower pattern. Peter Pan collar. Opaque tights. Boots.

Honourable mention: Oswin Oswald

Red jumper dress and red trainer heels that were very… of the time.

Anyway this whole post is basically me just saying. WHICH ONE OF THESE SKIRTS IS TIGHT @the Doctor @neil-gaiman because that line is from nightmare in silver so we’ve had nine outfits from this character if you include her as a Victorian, ten if you count her as Oswin, and eleven if you include. You know. The shell of a Dalek as an outfit. And I’m pretty comfortable saying not a Single One of these outfits includes a tight skirt.

I feel insane.

[exuberantocean]

I have a Doctor Who fic idea I've been mulling over but not writing for several reasons (including the fact that I am writing another Doctor Who fic right now). But the idea won't leave me alone.

And while the idea of bi-generation going back and happening to all the past regenerations in canon doesn't appeal to me, that's entirely what the fic is about, because I can't deny it's an interesting problem. And the fic is all about Fourteen realizing this has happened and helping their past selves.

The concept is that it ripples backwards in time. Do to timey wimey TARDIS stuff, any Doctors that regenerated in the TARDIS will pop up in Fourteen's Tardis during modern day whereas the others need to be "rescued" in time.

Next, you can't muck up the Doctor's timeline. Post bi-generation Three can't go off with Sarah Jane because Four does. Likewise I can't match them with a companion you know as a fact doesn't see them, but I will have wiggle room for those that we just don't know. Using Three as an example again, we know he doesn't adventure with Jo again because we see her and she complained he never visited, but there's nothing say he didn't adventure with Liz afterwards.

To sum all this up, Thirteen will reappear first, but Fourteen (on that cliff) probably won't realize the bi-generation is rippling backwards in time until Twelve shows up in the TARDIS. One, Five, Six, War, Nine, Ten, Eleven, and Twelve will all appear in the TARDIS while the others need to be rescued (Two will likely be the trickiest rescue).

Two and Four both have some strong canon support for their dates, as we see and older Two and Jamie running around in canon and Four eventually becomes the Curator. Everyone else is free game within the limits listed above.

One of the downside of this is while there are absolutely room for some particularly happy endings, (i.e. 12 and the liquid lesbians go out to find Clara and Me; 14 dumps takes 11 one year and one state over from the Ponds in NYC and calls him a taxi) there are some really unsatisfying endings too (10 can't have his Rose, things might be too messy ultimately living with Donna, Martha's a friend but has her own life so where does he go? What does he do?)

Oh, and friends, there is one more interesting little problem as technically the Doctor regenerated into the Master once. 😈

[howlingaround]

[ Doctor Who / Faction Paradox ] I really like vibe of the non-descriptive, almost cryptic names for things of the Doctors history in the 1960s episodes Terms like "Regeneration" and "Time Lords" and "Gallifrey" only showed up at the end of the Second Doctors era and the beginning of the Third Doctors. I think any "true" story set in the First Doctors era should not use those terms at all and instead use Like, i dont think the Meddling Monk ever used the word "TARDIS"? Instead it was "my time machine" and such So basically its: Home - Gallifrey My / Our / The Doctor's People - Time Lords the Ship / the Time Machine - TARDIS Grandfather - The Doctor, before they meet Ian and Barbara Rejuvenation - Regeneration (according to the script notes??) "Time and Relative" by Kim Newman is a great example of this, where Susan uses the word "the Box" to describe the TARDIS (Hashtag the Truant Officer is the War Chief is the Master) And then theres the Enemy of the Faction Paradox stories, but thats a whole other thing (or maybe not?) I also love the idea that the in-universe reason for the Doctor (First and Second) not using the term "Time Lord" is because they dont dare even speaking the name aloud, in case it might draw the attention of the Time Lords on them (same as the superstition of not speaking of the Fae or Fairy Folk) Actually isnt it also part of Fairy stories to not tell your true name?? And the Doctor and the Monk and the War Chief use alias names... What is a Changeling if not a being capable of "changing their appearance"? And lots of stories about the Fea include a displacement in time, spending days in Fairyland and missing years in the real world So why does Susan go by "Susan"? I should write my thoughts about Susan and the two hearts thing down too I am aware that this is surely not by intention of the original creators, but I still wonder why exactly 1960s Who did not explain the Doctors refusal to give a proper name when asked for it except for the mystery title of the show being "Doctor Who?" So its fun to compare it to Fairy Folklore Are stone circles being somehow connected to TARDISes? Fairies cant lie, they can only speak in truths ... and paradoxa are the biggest lies of all ... so what does this make a Renegade?

[mrleopard25]

Doctor Who Regeneration Series Revisited: The Ninth Regeneration

The Old Warrior: “Well, gentlemen, it has been an honour and a privilege.” The Tenth Doctor: “Likewise.” The Eleventh Doctor: “Doctor.” The Old Warrior: “And if I grow to be half the man that you are, Clara Oswald, I shall be happy indeed.” Clara: “That's right. Aim high.” The Old Warrior: “I won't remember this, will I?” The Eleventh Doctor: “The time streams are out of sync. You can't retain it, no.” The Old Warrior: “So I won't remember that I tried to save Gallifrey rather than burn it. I'll have to live with that. But for now, for this moment, I am the Doctor again. Thank you.”

Story (from “The Day Of The Doctor” and “Rose”):

After countless years of the Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks, with weapons of mass destruction on a temporal and galactic scale, the Old Warrior once known as the Doctor has finally seen enough. War crimes of horrific proportion have been committed by both sides. Weapons and tactics used included the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child (and, apparently, its jaws), and my personal favourite the Could-Have-Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres. The Time Lords resurrected the Master to use as a fighter, only to have him desert them when the Cruciform fell.

And at the end of it all, during the last great push by the Dalek to annihilate Gallifrey, the Old Warrior could say just one thing: NO MORE. Taking the the streets, a hero to many, the Warrior picked up a gun and blasted that message into a stone wall. Then he left and broke into the Omega Arsenal in the Time Vaults - the holding place for their most dangerous weapons.

There in the nearly empty collection was the most dangerous of them all: The Moment. Also known as the Galaxy Eater, it had been developed by the Ancients of Gallifrey in their final days. The Moment had become so powerful in its manipulations and control over time that it had achieved sentience. Not only could it end the war in an instant, but it could try to talk you out of it.

Bundling up The Moment in a burlap sack, the Warrior piloted his TARDIS out to the desert wastelands of Gallifrey, before walking the rest of the way to a barnyard from his childhood. He placed the weapon on a stand and began to look for how to activate it...

Story (Original Timeline):

The future was in flux. There were countless scenarios that could arise that would kill the Doctor or otherwise impede his travels through time and space. With so much of time in question, and so much of the future resting on this decision, The Moment did not hesitate in granting his interface. The weapon was activated, and the Doctor scarcely had time to leave before Gallifrey and the whole of the Dalek race were obliterated.

With the stress of what he had just done overwhelming him, the Old Warrior regenerated into the Ninth Doctor. Alone, he felt a terrible burden of responsibility to mitigate and heal some of the damage that he was a party to. We can’t say for sure that it was during this brief period that he sailed on the Titanic, witnessed the JFK assassination, and found himself stranded on a beach after the eruption of Krakatoa, but certainly they were presented as during that period by Clive to Rose (in “Rose”). That being said, there’s nothing explicitly saying that they weren’t from later in his travels with Rose.

It wasn’t much longer that the Doctor became wise to the reappearance of the Nestene consciousness on Earth, following the destruction of their homeworld in the Time War. Again, as the Doctor felt partly responsible for the situation, he began an investigation that would hopefully end with the Nestene leaving peacefully. And also hopefully not resurrecting an army of plastic mannequins to conquer the world...

Story (New Timeline):

After hundreds of years, and several regenerations, worth of adventures, the Eleventh Doctor is called to (well...dragged to) the National Gallery by Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT to investigate a strange three dimensional painting surrounded by broken glass. The Doctor begins to surmise that the painting in question, a depiction of the final moments of Gallifrey’s destruction, is actually a piece of frozen time and that the glass was from the painting - something was waiting inside the painting and has broken out.

Meanwhile (not really) in 1562 the Tenth Doctor is investigating a Zygon plot to impersonate Queen Elizabeth the First, and pretends to be a suitor to expose the alien. When Elizabeth accepts his wedding proposal, the Tenth Doctor takes it as proof that Elizabeth is an imposter. He is soon chagrined to discover that Elizabeth’s horse is the imposter, and he is now engaged to Elizabeth.

Back on Gallifrey, as the Old Warrior examines The Moment for an interface, The Moment is able to see its place in time and the future is no longer in flux. Because it’s now the present, and The Moment is in the past (just go with it). As such The Moment assumes the form of the Bad Wolf entity due to the significance of the entity to the Doctor. Unfortunately the Warrior has yet to encounter Rose or experience the Bad Wolf, so this reference is lost on him.

The Moment asks the Warrior why he has decided to commit genocide and unleash armageddon upon Gallifrey and the Daleks. He explains the devastation of the Time War upon the universe, and how this is the last resort. The Moment offers him an alternative, then breaches time to allow him to join the Tenth Doctor in 1562. There he also finds the Eleventh Doctor, who has also been brought to that time.

The three Doctors uncover the Zygon plot in both 1562 and 2013 to make Earth their new home, as the Time War had destroyed their world. All humans would be enslaved or killed to make way for the Zygon invasion. The Doctors are able to convince the Zygons to simply live on Earth in peace, hidden from society as they are chameleonic. It’s not a perfect solution, but negotiations can continue.

The Moment breaches time further and brings all three TARDISes back to the barn where the weapon is ready to be deployed. With some prompting from both Clara and The Moment, the men devise a plan to not activate the weapon but to hide Gallifrey in a time bubble. Meanwhile the Dalek forces would have accidentally destroyed themselves firing at a target that would suddenly vanish. The Doctor reaches out to all his past selves, and one of his future selves, to aid in creating the bubble, but it is difficult to say if the plan was a success.

The Doctors share some tea, then both the Warrior and the Tenth Doctor realize they will not retain their memories of this event, as The Moment had only been able to act based on the “present” of the Eleventh Doctor (as such, they are out of sync with time).

The Warrior, now satisfied that he may still be called the Doctor, departs in his TARDIS, and begins to regenerate. His only memory is activating The Moment and seeing Gallifrey vanish and the Dalek fleets destroyed. He decides to go and make amends for his activities by helping those across space and time. And it’s not long before he finds himself investigating the Nestene arrival on Earth...

Production:

So how in the world do you undo seven years of continuity?? By using an absolute blockbuster of an anniversary special. It had been 50 years in total since Doctor Who had first aired, and the production team led by Steve Moffat knew they had to make it a phenomenal story.

I already wrote about the lead up in the last article, with the mini-episode “The Night Of The Doctor” which paved the way to this story, but it’s worth mentioning that although David Tennant was on board to reprise his role, this is an Eleventh Doctor story and it’s his version of the character that moves to resolve the conundrum and the prompting of Clara, his companion, to do the right thing.

“The Day Of The Doctor” was a complete success in terms of story. Homages were rife in the story ranging from Totter’s Lane to an outrageous scarf to even the Peter Cushing movies (being referenced as actual films) in the Black Archive. But they never detracted from the story, with the whole Zygon invasion arc even continuing into the Twelfth Doctor’s run. It had huge ramifications.

Another surprise the production team had in store was the appearance of Tom Baker as the Curator... and we’ll chat about that in a moment (har har har). It was during this whole 50th anniversary that not only did viewers get a tv movie called “An Adventure In Space And Time” celebrating the very beginnings of the program, but that curiosity was piqued on the exit of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, and what this would mean for the program going forward.

Finally, as for the regeneration itself, it was sort of a tease like the last one in that we see the beginning of the process with the light effect and the blending but we don’t see the end result. It wasn’t a total surprise, as viewers already knew Christopher Eccleston would not be reprising his role as the Ninth Doctor, but seeing the characteristics of his face coming in through the video mix was still exciting.

Analysis:

Although the canonicity of the Eighth Doctor’s appearance was never in question for me, when that incarnation of the Doctor was shown in the Tenth Doctor story “The Family Of Blood”, a lot of fans breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he was a fan favourite even if there were many questionable aspects to the tv movie. His repeated throwback appearances during the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor’s run further solidified his continuity, and kept fans happy with how the show was honouring its past.

But it left the lingering question of what exactly happened to cause the regeneration from the Eighth to Ninth. What was the total involvement of the Doctor in the Time War? That is, was he always involved or did he come in just to end it? It was explicit in dialogue in “The End Of Time” that the Time Lord High Council was fully aware that the Doctor has stolen The Moment, and this created a countdown for any action they could take. But which Doctor?

Then once “The Name Of The Doctor” premiered, suddenly there was an upset in the community - what was the story with the John Hurt incarnation?? Speculation abounded as to where in continuity he fit, and one of my favourite theories was that he was the Second Doctor from Season 6B. After all, we knew that the Second Doctor had aged significantly between “The War Games” and “The Two Doctors”, and we never saw the Second Doctor regenerate into the Third. And we also knew through dialogue in “The End Of Time” that the Time Lords had done remarkable (and highly questionable) tactics in their battles against the Daleks, including resurrecting both Rassilon and The Master. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that they brought the Second Doctor forward in time to use as their agent.

I also knew that the writers would never ever ever ever use that approach. Not a chance. But a fun thought anyway.

I’ve already mentioned that the original draft had Eccleston as Nine fulfilling that role, but having “The Night Of The Doctor” come out to fill in that gap was truly a joy. Then for “The Day Of The Doctor” to finish up on the regeneration into the Ninth Doctor just wrapped it up in a bow.

So why did the War Doctor regenerate? Pretty simple - he was old! Hundreds of years old. We know his body is hundreds of years old because his regeneration from the Eighth Doctor showed a much younger body (granted, obscured in a reflection) than what we saw in this story. In the context of the story we see that he is worn out by the war on a physical, emotional, mental, and even spiritual level. It was exhausted him. Then to cap that whole experience with the most difficult decision to commit genocide, and not know whether he succeeded in saving or killing his people, would further exacerbate his physical health. So, as with the First Doctor, he noted his body was “wearing a bit thin”.

Okay so this leads directly into whether or not this story invalidates that last seven years. After all, the Time War and the Doctor’s choice to use The Moment haunts him and influences every decision he had made. It lent gravitas to his character and stories. And the short answer is, no it doesn’t.

This is kind of a hard idea to articulate, but bear with me. I basically outlined it in the story section above, but you have to approach time as that wibbly-wobbly ball AND accept that time is in flux. We know this because the series has repeatedly and explicitly mentioned that certain events were supposed to have happened, but when the Doctor goes to visit those events, something has changed (hey, even go back to “The Long Game” and “Bad Wolf” - Humanity was supposed to be in the midst of a golden empire, but that had changed). Further to that, we know the Doctor has in the past visited alternate futures that never came to pass, such as when the Seventh Doctor speaks to the Ancient One, the old haemovore, in “The Curse Of Fenric. The Ancient One was from an alternate Earth that had become corrupted by pollution and reduced humanity into vampire-like monsters. This means TWO important distinctions: 1) Time is never set in stone, and 2) Canon doesn’t exist in the time lines, BUT it does exist for the characters because it influences their decisions (so all those people arguing canon doesn’t matter? Yeah it kinda does!)

Okay, continuing on... The Moment is considered one of the most dangerous Time Lord weapons because it is sapient and has a degree of morality. It will allow itself to be used but only after forming a relationship with the user. We’ve already seen some killer Time Lord weapons (esp. The Hand Of Omega in “Remembrance Of The Daleks” and The Nemesis in “Silver Nemesis”), but none had that level of sophistication. The Moment even has the power to break the Time Lock surrounding the Time War. It was mentioned countless times in dialogue that no time traveller could reach the Time War anymore due to this lock.... which makes sense because I believe The Moment was the one that time locked it in the first place. If there is a war being fought between two time travelling sides, what keeps an outcome as final? To truly end the war, the deciding factor would have to cut off all other influences.

So the initial story takes place in the Doctor’s present, as the War Doctor or the Old Warrior (whichever - the script calls him Warrior, but all other media plus the resolution of the story reinforces his moniker of the War Doctor). Because that present has no set future, again due to time being in flux, The Moment would allow for its use. So the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctor operated in their time streams having known the truth: The Doctor used The Moment. Gallifrey, the Time Lords, and the Daleks were all destroyed. Now the new story takes place in the Eleventh Doctor’s present. Now that The Moment is in the past, it is no longer in a place of flux and can change the outcome.

So Gallifrey was always saved... but was it always saved before that story? Ugh, temporal mechanics.

But why doesn’t the Doctor remember it?? Because of the flux issue, and we’ve seen this in other multi-Doctor stores (except for “Time Crash” but I’m thinking that’s an exception because it exists within the TARDIS while it is in the time vortex). Remember, the Eleventh Doctor doesn’t remember any of it until the wormhole created by The Moment is opened. And only then does the Eleventh Doctor remember - notice the Tenth does not.

This is the same sort of deal with stories like “The Three Doctors” and “The Five Doctors”. Wouldn’t it make sense in those stories if the current incarnation of the Doctor immediately knows how to deal with Omega, or that Borusa is behind the Time Scoop, since the past versions find out? And there’s two ways to look at it: 1) They DO know, but forget as soon as they’re pulled out of their time streams to deal with the crisis. I don’t put too much stock in this one, but it’s possible. 2) Because the Doctor travels through time, his time stream is constantly under flux, so any crossing of the time stream with himself means that the encounter both did AND did not happen, so it’s an anomaly. This would also explain why we have an alternate Ninth Doctor in “Scream Of The Shalka” (as marvelously performed by Richard E. Grant) - given the context of that story, he was almost certainly the original Ninth Doctor when a previous version of the Time War ended with the Time Lords victorious. Or maybe from a time line with no Time War?

Okay you’ve seen me say “flux” a bunch of times now, so what am I talking about?? Let’s go to an outside source of fiction for an example (and one that the Tenth Doctor used in “The Shakespeare Code”): Back To The Future. When Marty went back in time and saved his father from being hit by the car, he created a whole slew of possible futures. The two primary futures (but certainly not the only ones) were one where George and Lorraine do not get together, and one where they do. Both have their own details that are fleshed out with slight changes to the developing situation (indeed, the “new” present Marty goes back to is a variation on one). When Marty notices his picture has his siblings vanishing, and he himself is beginning to vanish, this is due to that flux. The future is in the process of being changed with no set outcome defined.

Does that make sense? I hope so. Anyway that’s why canon does and does not matter, and why the previous incarnations don’t keep their memories. And that’s why Gallifrey survived even though it didn’t.

And Another Thing:

The Tenth Doctor saying “Cause I don’t want to go” is just awkward fan service.

The Ninth Doctor: “You think it'll last forever. People, and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day, it's all gone. Even the sky. My planet's gone.  It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust. Before it's time.”  Rose: “What happened?” The Ninth Doctor: “There was a war. And we lost.”  Rose: “A war with who? What about your people?”  The Ninth Doctor: “I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own because there's no one else.”

[kittykatrattie]

Ok so there’s this guy called The Doctor and he’s a kind of alien called a time lord and on his home planet when you turn like eight they make you look into a time vortex and like. It’s supposed to inspire you or whatever but it's kind of traumatizing and it scared the doctor so bad he stole a Time Machine and ran away.

The Time Machine is called the tardis and is a conscious being and the doctors best friend ever :3

also the special thing about time lords is that they can regenerate. So when they die, they turn into a new being with new likes and dislikes and a new face and stuff like that. so anyways the doctor travels around in the tardis and makes friends with humans and they go on adventures and stuff.

Another thing to know about the doctor is that back on his home planet he had a best friend called The Master and in the doctor's own words “she was my man crush.” So when the master turns eight and he looks into the time vortex, he goes “insane” and starts hearing this drum in his head that never stops, it’s four beats over and over and it drives him crazy and he turns evil. But it turns out that actually the time lord council (like the government on the planet basically) implanted the drum beat into the master's head with the intention of making him go crazy because they needed to use him as a weapon basically.

Uhhh so anyways, after a while of silly whimsical fun on the doctor’s part, the time lords go to war. And it’s called the time war because doctor who is dumb like that. And the war is against these alien fascists called the daleks. And the doctor gets tracked down by the time lords and they force him 2 fight in the war. And the time lords start winning. But he finds out that they’re plan is to take over the universe after they win the war.

So the doctor ends up blowing up the planet which kills all of the time lords and the daleks. And so the doctor is the last time lord. But then it turns out the master actually survived the war too. Because he went to the end of time and hid as a human by putting all of his memories inside a pocket watch so literally no one including himself knew he was a time lord.

The master and the doctor have different relationships depending on when your talking about but my favorite is the tenth doctor (aka his tenth regeneration) and the simm master (he’s called that cuz that’s what the actors last name is. Idk why the doctor and the master have different fannon naming conventions but here we are) because their whole deal is like. The tenth doctor is crazy obsessed with him and is like “run away with me let me fix you we can travel the stars” and the simm master is literally like “I am going to die permanently to avoid having to spend time with you”

Also in literally every episode they r in together they spend some amount of time on the floor holding each other while the tenth doctor cries real tears.

Anyways whabyavysytwgiyigwyuvyautcstcusvuyaiby I care so much about them

sorry if that was incoherent

- Ryan

"It's bigger on the inside!" "Ooh, like the Tardi-" "Shut up Nerris."

"There's no time-traveling doctor coming to save you, Gwen! Get your shit together!" "I just wanna have his British babies!"

Fun fact. Gwen and Nerris (Camp Camp) both canonically like Doctor Who but Gwen wants to fuck the doctor and Nerris is like 9 so they're genuinely just super into sci-fi and fantasy. Nerris is such a geek I love them. Maybe if I ever need to write Doctor Who references from either of them I'll ask u :3

[allthoseotherworlds]

List of Tags:

This is a list of tags I am using/intend to use to organize things. This is a reference for myself so I can stay consistent when tagging things.

This is a living document that I intend to add to as I need new tags. Not all of these tags are currently in use.

Misc:

I am talking: For original posts and reblogs I have commented on

About my life: For me talking about things happening in my life in general

I am Just Some Guy (gender neutral): For me rambling/ranting about stuff I Have Opinions About, to remind you that I am Just Some Guy (gender neutral) on the internet and my opinions are not authoritative

Artron: For posts about my cat, Artron

Fictional stories: For people's original fiction

Non-fictional stories: For people's stories about their lives

Art: For art that is not fandom-related

Memes: For memes/humour/jokes that are not fandom-related

Informational: For posts from which a person could theoretically learn something

Doctor Who:

Doctor Who: For all Doctor Who content, regardless of medium/era

Classic Who: For Classic Doctor Who and the 1994 movie

New Who: For New Who, from 2005 onwards, including the new stuff on Disney but not including spinoff shows like Torchwood, which should be tagged separately with the show name

Audio Who: For the Big Finish audio adventures

The Doctor: For the Doctor as a character, regardless of incarnation

First Doctor/Second Doctor/Third Doctor/Fourth Doctor/Fifth Doctor/Sixth Doctor/Seventh Doctor/Eighth Doctor/Ninth Doctor/Tenth Doctor/Eleventh Doctor/Twelfth Doctor/Thirteenth Doctor/Fourteenth Doctor (I give up. For tagging purposes this is David Tennant again, but let it be known that I am unhappy about it)/Fifteenth Doctor/War Doctor/Fugitive Doctor: The relevant incarnation of the Doctor

The Tardis: For posts directly about the Tardis, not just her incidental inclusion in backgrounds

The Master: For the Master as a character, regardless of incarnation, including Missy

Ainley Master/Delgado Master/Roberts Master/Jacobi Master/Simm Master/Dhawan Master/Crispy Master/Missy: The relevant incarnation of the Master

aroace Doctor: For anything about the Doctor being aroace (aro or ace content individually is also here)

autdhd Doctor: For anything about the Doctor being autistic and/or ADHD

Companions and other characters are tagged with their full names: Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, Clara Oswald, Bill Potts, Yasmin Khan, Ryan Sinclair, Graham O'Brien, Romanadvoratrelundar, Jack Harkness, River Song, etc. Characters without a clear last name (Adric, Leela) are tagged with just their first name.

Posts about a specific episode are tagged with the episode name

Doctor Who Memes: For meme/humour/joke posts about Doctor Who

Doctor Who Art: For art about Doctor Who, including music and videos

Circular Galifreyan: For art done in Circular Gallifreyan

Circular Gallifreyan Reference: For images from the show depicting Circular Gallifreyan

Doctor Who Stories: For Doctor Who fanfic

Doctor Who Gifs: for gifs

Doctor Who Meta: For posts analyzing something about Doctor Who. May include posts not intended to be about Doctor Who but which have The Vibe

Other miscellaneous tags: Regeneration

Star Trek:

Star Trek: For anything Star Trek related, regardless of series

Series are tagged as: TOS/TAS/TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT/NuTrek (for the 2009 reboot movies)/LWD (Lower Decks)/DSC (Discovery)/PIC (Picard)/Star Trek Prodigy (Prodigy doesn't seem to have a good shortened tag)/SNW (Strange New Worlds)

The movies that are likely to come up are: The Search For Spock/The One With The Whales (ST IV The Voyage Home)/First Contact. If any other movies need tags I'll figure it out then and add them here

Autistic Julian: For anything about Julian Bashir being autistic

Julian's genetics: For anything about Julian Bashir's genetic enhancements

Characters are tagged with their names, not their ranks. First and last names are used except for characters with only one name (Q, Odo). This includes Skrain Dukat and Winn Adami. I can't find Kai Opaka's first name so she is tagged as Kai Opaka.

Posts about specific episodes are tagged with the episode name

Star Trek Memes: For meme/humour/joke posts about Star Trek

Star Trek Art: For art about Star Trek, including music and videos

Star Trek Stories: For Star Trek fanfic

Star Trek Gifs: For gifs

Star Trek Meta: For text posts analyzing something about Star Trek. May include posts not intended to be about Star Trek but which have The Vibe

[lucascecil]

Eighth Doctor - Project: Blue Box

TV Stories

◆ Doctor Who (the Movie)

◆ Night of the Doctor

Audio Adventures

- Main Range

◆ The Company of Friends

◆ The Silver Turk

◆ The Witch from the Well

◆ Army of Death

◆ Storm Warning - ★★★★☆

I still like Storm Warning a lot. This is not a story that will leave you breathless, but is so efficient in reintroducting the Eighth Doctor and telling you what to expect from him going foward. It also characterizes both him and Charley so well. The R101 tragedy hooks you in the narrative from the get go and give you hope even if you know there is no changing history - which sets the perfect tone for Charley’s first story arc.

She would’ve died. The Doctor saved her life, even if he should not. It’s an announced tragedy just like the R101, since the beginning. A world of adventure waiting for you, bound to break your heart.

Complete review: here.

◆ Sword of Orion - ★★★☆☆

Sword of Orion is a story with many flaws and I can’t say it isn’t; it’s a bit too long for it’s own good and that messes completly with the rhythm of what could’ve been a tense story. I understand if you listen to this and is just bored. However, there is something here that I like a lot. It’s a story I have fun with, with characters I like and a consistent dynamic for the TARDIS crew… and Deeva, that I like so much even three years later I hadn’t forgotten her name. And I am terrible with names.

Complete review: here.

◆ The Stones of Venice - ★★★★★

A incredible story built upon its characters - including the city itself. It’s a narrative that is vivid in my imagination like few others, I can visualize it perfectly in my head - and it’s all beautiful, magical. Practically a fairy tale with a hint of a soap opera, the Doctor and Charley emerge as even stronger characters than they were before. It is also one of the releases that most captures the magic of Eighth’s early years at Big Finish, that wonder for the world and an uncontrollable romantic spirit. I used to give it four stars because I thought that how much I loved this story blinded me to some of its flaws. Now, listening again, not really. I love The Stones of Venice and it’s deserved.

Complete review: here.

◆ Minuet in Hell

◆ Invaders from Mars

◆ The Chimes from Midnight

◆ Seasons of Fear

◆ Embrace the Darkness

◆ The Time of the Daleks

◆ Neveland

◆ Zagreus

◆ Scherzo

◆ The Creed of the Kromon

◆ The Natural History of Fear

◆ The Twilight Kingdom

◆ Faith Stealer

◆ The Last

◆ Caerdroia

◆ The Next Life

◆ Terror Firma

◆ Scaredy Cat

◆ Other Lives

◆ Time Works

◆ Something Inside

◆ Memory Lane

◆ Absolution

◆ The Girl Who Never Was

◆ The End of the Beginning

- 8th Doctor Adventures

◆ Living Legend

◆ The Mummy Speaks!

◆ Eclipse

◆ The Slaying of the Writhing Mass

◆ Heart of Orion

◆ Blood of the Daleks

◆ Horror of Glam Rock

◆ Immortal Beloved

◆ Phobos

◆ No More Lies

◆ Human Resources

◆ The Dalek Trap

◆ The Revolution Game

◆ The House on the Edge of Chaos

◆ Island of the Fendahl

◆ Dead London

◆ Max Warp

◆ Brave New Town

◆ The Skull of Sobek

◆ Grand Theft Cosmos

◆ Sisters of the Flame/The Vengeance of Morbius

◆ Orbis

◆ Hothouse

◆ The Beast of Orlok

◆ Wirnn Dawn

◆ The Scapegoat

◆ The Cannibalists

◆ The Eight Truths/Worldwide Web

◆ Death in Blackpool

◆ An Unearthly Child

◆ Situation Vacant

◆ Nevermore

◆ The Book of Kelis

◆ Deimos/The Resurrection of Mars

◆ Relative Dimensions

◆ Prisoner of the Sun

◆ Lucie Miller/To the Death

◆ The Great War

◆ Fugitives

◆ Tangled Web

◆ X and the Daleks

◆ The Traitor

◆ The White Room

◆ Time’s Horizon

◆ Eyes of the Master

◆ The Death of Hope

◆ The Reviled

◆ Masterplan

◆ Rule of the Eminence

◆ A Life in the Day

◆ The Monster of Montmartre

◆ Master of the Daleks/Eye of Darkness

◆ The Eleven

◆ The Red Lady

◆ The Galileo Trap

◆ The Satanic Mill

◆ Beachhead

◆ Scenes from Her Life

◆ The Gift

◆ The Sonomancer

◆ Absent Friends

◆ The Eighth Piece/The Doomsday Chronometer

◆ The Crucible of Souls

◆ Ship in a Bottle

◆ Songs of Love

◆ The Side of the Angels

◆ Stop the Clock!

◆ Their Finest Hour

◆ How to Make a Killing in Time Travel

◆ World of Damnation/Sweet Salvation

◆ Escape from Kaldor

◆ Better Watch Out/The Fairytale of Salzburg

◆ Seizure

◆ Deeptime Frontier

◆ Companion Piece

◆ L.E.G.E.N.D.

◆ The Odds Againts

◆ Whisper

◆ Planet of Dust

◆ Day of the Master

◆ Lost Property

◆ Wild Animals

◆ Must-See TV

◆ Divine Intervention

◆ Dead Time

◆ UNIT Dating

◆ Baker Street Irregulars

◆ The Long Way Round

◆ Patience

◆ Twister Folklore

◆ Snow

◆ What Just Happened?

◆ Crossed Lines

◆ Get Andy

◆ The Keys of Baker Street

◆ Best Year Ever

◆ Paradox of the Daleks

◆ The Dalby Spook

◆ Here Lies Drax

◆ The Love Vampires

◆ Albie’s Angels

◆ The Starship of Theses

◆ Echoes of War

◆ The Conscript

◆ One Life

◆ The Lords of Terror

◆ Planet of the Ogrons

◆ In the Garden of Death

◆ Jonah

◆ State of Bliss

◆ The Famished Lands

◆ Fugitive in Time

◆ The War Valeyard

◆ Palindrome

◆ Dreadshade

◆ Restoration of the Daleks

◆ Meanwhil, Elsewhere

◆ Vespertine

◆ Previously, Next Time

- Classic Doctors, New Monsters & Peladon

◆ The Sontaran Ordeal

◆ Day of the Vashta Nerada

◆ If I Should Die Before I Wake

◆ The Truth of Peladon

- The Companion Chronicles

◆ Solitaire

- Short Trips

◆ The Turn of the Screw

◆ Tuesday

◆ Quantum Heresy

◆ Letting Go

◆ The Man Who Wasn’t There

◆ Hall of the Ten Thousand

◆ Foreshadowing

◆ Flashpoint

◆ The Young Lions

◆ The Caves of Erith

◆ Late Night Shopping

◆ The Curse of the Fugue

◆ All the Fun of the Fair

◆ The World Beyond the Trees

◆ An Ocean of Sawdust

◆ Museum Peace

◆ A Heart on Both Sides

◆ Death Will Not Part Us

Books

◆ The Eight Doctors - ☆☆☆☆☆

The Eight Doctors was terrible. I do understand its intention of introducing the series to a new audience by going back to key moments (kinda), but it wasn’t specially well written and I don’t like how much Eight interfere with his own past - it takes agency away from past incarnations and I really - really! - don’t like that. Six and Seven parts were fine, but the way to get there was tortuous. The Sam scenes were what interested me most.

◆ Vampire Science - ★★★★☆

Then we have Vampire Science, a much better book and a much better introduction to the range. It’s fun and has a lot of great characters that really make you invested. It nails Eight’s characterization and gives Sam an internal conflict that I found interesting. There were some really good dialogues - Eight was great with Joanna, and I found Kramer dynamic with Sam nice too.

◆ The Bodysnatchers - ★★★☆☆

The resolution to the main problem in London is simple, but was established really early in the novel, so it works. It’s a nice conclusion to a book that I enjoyed a lot. If I have anything to add, I’d love another chapter that focused more on the characters recovery and the trauma they went on, but that’s fine. It's a fun adventure in victorian London and I enjoyable read that take an expected turn when the Doctor makes a huge mistake. It sadly doesn't have that many consequences but it's still a idea that I like and haunts me.

I don't have a review for any of the four first books, but you can find my live react reading: here.

◆ Genocide - ★★★☆☆

I finished the book and I have mixed feelings. I do like the plot, there are some beautiful parts and very creative ideas. But I don’t think it uses its ideas to the fullest. The moral conflict is very interesting but I missed that scene that takes your breath away and leave you in shock - which was necessary to a plot like this one.

Sam starts well and ends well, but there is this bit in the middle - when she is with Jacob she is dumb. Jacob, also, is too ridiculous to the read to take seriously as a villain. And Jo is underused. There is two main problems with her: first, she should have had more scenes with Eight. Second, the only bad, BAD scene in the whole book is when she does * that * at the end. It is out of character and goes against everything Jo stands for as a person...

I don't have a review for any of the four first books, but you can find my live react reading: here.

◆ War of the Daleks - ★★☆☆☆

It's a weird book. It's the weakest so far - apart from The Eight Doctors - but far better than I expected from a book featuring the Daleks. It has some interesting ideas, especially how Eight position himself within the civil war in Skaro, but there some embarassing bits for the Thals. Sam is insufferable, you can tell it's an older man trying to write a teenage girl.

Complete review: here.

◆ Alien Bodies - ★★★★★

Alien Bodies is one of my favorite stories of the Eighth Doctor and the entirety Doctor Who. It's imaginative and full of colorful character, do plenty of intersting thing with Eight and Sam and also build this huge background for futures stories involving a time war that awaits the Doctor in his future. I love it, it's one of my favorite books ever.

Complete review: here.

◆ Kursaal - ★★★★☆

This a very bleak book. I was not expecting that. Every single character dies horribly, except for Sam, the Doctor and a minor officer. Even some background characters. It fits, in a way. It's a blood hungry narrative and I like it for what it is. I even thought it would be a fitting ending for Sam if she died here. It could have been visceral, with a few tweaks in the thematics beats.

Considering how much dislike I had seen for Kursaal, I was not expecting such a fun read. It's even my third favorite book so far, behind only Vampire Science and Alien Bodies. A good surprise.

Complete review: here.

◆ Option Lock

◆ Longest Day

◆ Legacy of the Daleks

◆ Dreamstone Moon

◆ Seeing I

◆ Placebo Effect

◆ Vanderken’s Children

◆ The Scarlet Empress

◆ The Janus Conjunction

◆ Beltempest

◆ The Face-Eater

◆ The Taint

◆ Demontage

◆ Revolution Man

◆ Dominion

◆ Unnatural History

◆ Autumn Mist

◆ Interference – Book One: Shock Tactic

◆ Interference – Book Two: The Hour of the Geek

◆ The Blue Angel

◆ The Taking of Planet 5

◆ Frontier Worlds

◆ Parallel 59

◆ The Shadows of Avalon

◆ The Fall of Yquatine

◆ Coldheart

◆ The Space Age

◆ The Banquo Legacy

◆ The Ancestor Cell

◆ The Burning

◆ Casualties of War

◆ The Turing Test

◆ Endgame

◆ Father Time

◆ Escape Velocity

◆ EarthWorld

◆ Fear Itself

◆ Vanishing Point

◆ Eater of Wasps

◆ The Year of Intelligent Tigers

◆ The Slow Empire

◆ Dark Progeny

◆ The City of the Dead

◆ Grimm Reality

◆ The Adventuress of Henrietta Street

◆ Mad Dogs and Englishmen

◆ Hope

◆ Anachrophobia

◆ Trading Futures

◆ The Book of the Still

◆ The Crooked World

◆ History 101

◆ Camera Obscura

◆ Time Zero

◆ The Infinity Race

◆ The Domino Effect

◆ Reckless Engineering

◆ The Last Resort

◆ Timeless

◆ Emotional Chemistry

◆ Sometine Never…

◆ Halflife

◆ The Tomorrow Windows

◆ The Sleep of Reason

◆ The Deadstone Memorial

◆ To the Slaughter

◆ The Gallifrey Chronicles

◆ EXTRA! The DWM comics. You can read the review: here.

This was a wonderful read and there is barely a story I could call bad. Most of them are great or classics, to be honest, and this is perhaps the best Doctor Who has ever been.

So farewell, “but change is what makes us real”.