#traveling time with the team (thirteen arc s11.)

[realmythsmoved]

@thedoctornumber11 continued from here "Me too," the Doctor agreed as he looked down the dark hallway in front of them. "But the people near by mentioned angels and now there's a dark hallway? It can't be a coincidence. These have to be weeping angels."

And the Doctor had been having such a good day until then. "Darnit! You're right. Guess we should check it out." She's not looking forward to seeing the Weeping Angels again, it's been a while. And she certainly hadn't missed the rather unpleasant creatures. She takes out her sonic, ready to scan the area if necessary. She makes sure to keep her eyes open, not even blinking. She doesn't want to get sent through time without her TARDIS. No thank you. "Ready?" She asks her former incarnation.

[13andherbluebox]

Dan Lewis and his Importance

I wanted to write a post of my feelings about Dan as a character, his exit and his importance to Thirteens arc. THIS IS VERY LONG. I AM SORRY. I wrote this in one sitting so I apologize about any mistakes or if I fail to explain properly how I feel. I have so much to say about this era and this in general but don’t want to make this even longer than it is.

  Dan has always been more of Yazs companion than Thirteens, but he also joined the TARDIS team at one of Thirteens rockiest moments and honestly not with much choice. Thirteen in Flux didn’t care (for the most part) about her ‘Doctor happy go lucky mask’ facade she normally would do anything to wear in some of S11, but especially in S12 and onward. After everything with the Master in Spyfall, slowly learning that there are things she doesn’t know about her own life/self, meeting Fugitive Doctor... and after that it really was a downward spiral for her.   When Dan first meets the Doctor he sees Thirteen in a state that Thirteen doesn’t want anyone to ever see her in, especially her companions, because of the fear she has. Fear they would leave her and not want to travel with her anymore if they ever saw her acting that way aka her war criminal genocidal teeth baring unhinged feral behavior. It’s why she tried so hard especially in S12 to always put up her facade, and why she got even more closed off and put up walls between her and team TARDIS from that point on. Yes she has dark elements to her, shadows that even she wishes to never see but that isn’t ALL her and it’s not the full truth of who she is. She is also genuinely a happy, loving, caring, compassionate being with so much love to give and so much wonder in her eyes, so much adventure in her smile. Wanting to experience new things and learn. Wanting to make friends anywhere and everywhere she goes. But she also doesn’t want to hurt anyone again, especially after all she suffered through and lost as Twelve. (I could get into how Twelves arc to Thirteens arc is incredible and beautiful and amazing and tragic  but... not on this post...). She doesn’t want to hurt again.   When Thirteen first meets Yaz, Ryan and Graham she shows so much compassion towards them when they first meet, so much empathy. She craves people, friends to be around. I think the more people the better for her tbh. But she also wants to leave them before getting attached. Before they are with her and get into harms way, before anything bad happens. Before she has people she cares about ripped away from her again. Before it’s her fault. But it’s funny, because she already got attached to them before she actively tried to leave. In the Ghost Monument she is so upset at herself when she thinks she has stranded these new friends on a planet with no way out, killing them. After PROMISING she would get them all home safely. She really believes she failed them in that moment and it really got to her. I think it really sparks her wish and goal of keeping everyone safe and making sure they get home ok, in the right year/time. No matter what happens, that becomes her goal for them for as long as they travel with her. She does everything to get them home safely in TTC. That is something she feels she needs to do.   Now back to Dan. Like I said Dan meets her when she is really going through it. Not worrying about her facade or mask, if it slips she doesn’t work to instantly pick it back up like normal. He sees her like this, in a way Thirteen doesn’t want anyone to see her and guess what. Dan proves her fear wrong. He sees these shadows and the darkness, these unsavory moments she has and yet, he still wants to travel with Yaz and her after Flux. He sees her for who she is in full, not JUST the bad. Again he is Yazs friend first, then the Doctors companion/friend. But he still grows to care about Thirteen, I believe he grows to respect her, and they have this really nice dynamic between them that gets built when he is there. A friendship that I really enjoy. A friendship where Dan isn’t afraid to confront Thirteen if needed aka in EOTD about Yazs feelings for her. A friendship where even after he did that, Thirteen reaffirmed her care for him in LOTSD aka ‘Hey that’s Dan! Don’t diss Dan, Dans my mate.’   Now let’s talk about the beginning of TPOTD. On the adventure on the train, Dans helmet gets shot through and breaks. He could have died. And he realizes that. Like, REALLY realizes that. They have been in harms way before, this has probably become the absolute norm for them (mostly Thirteen and Yaz). But now he has a date with Di to look forward to. He is thinking about his tethers to Earth and his life again. I saw some people say that Thirteen and Yaz weren’t even worried about him when this happened and that was something that made him make his choice and I just don’t think that’s true. They care for him, BUT this life like I said, has become their normal. I think they are so desensitized to these things for the most part that it just happens, and they move on. On to the next dangerous adventure. A close call, but everyone is fine. For Dan, this isn’t really the life he wants. He enjoys it but it isn’t the same for him, and that moment makes him really reflect on that. He has always been selfless and caring for everyone around him more than himself (literally just go back to his scenes in 13x1), and he has always cared about Earth and his life and family. But it’s because he has been with Yaz and Thirteen that he has grown to value his OWN life and needs, putting himself first. Thinking about his life, FIRST. He has loved travelling, exploring and living this life but through that, he learned what he ultimately wants.

‘I don’t want to push my luck any further. I mean, all of this. All this is amazing. And I’ve had the most incredible time. But it’s not my life. My life’s far from perfect but I need to get back to it. I need to attack it. And I can do that now, because I’ve been with you.’

  Being with Yaz and the Doctor let him be able to take control of his life, his worth. It made him want to fight for it, for himself. Thirteen understands his choice and I think at the end of the day for companions choosing to leave on their own is good (going back to the ‘have to get everyone back home and safe’ thing), even if it hurts her. And it DOES hurt her. She hates goodbyes, as the series goes on they get worse for her, and I think the biggest reason is because even when Dan tells her ‘I can do that now, because I’ve been with you’, she still feels like its her fault. She views it as her failing somehow. I don’t even think she knows why or what is her fault about it, but that is just how she takes it. He is leaving because being with Yaz and Thirteen was such a positive experience. It also happens when Ryan and Graham leave, too. They tell her that they grew and learned and were able to become a family and grow this bond between them BECAUSE they were with her. Ryan learned what he wanted to do with his life on Earth because of being with Thirteen. Graham wanted to be with Ryan because of the bond that grew between them from the time with Thirteen. But she still takes it as a blow even if she does understand what they mean.   Something I really love about Thirteens era is the companion relationships. They don’t completely revolve or orbit around her like past eras which isn’t bad at least to me, I feel I should say lol. They grow and learn BECAUSE of their time with Thirteen, and because of that time with her they are able to find out what they want their purpose in life to be. What they want to do, what they want to fight for. Earth is their home and through travelling with Thirteen they end up discovering the ways they want to love and fight for their home, the connections they have and the people they care about. They are able to make the choice to leave Thirteen, because of all the good being with her has done for them.

  To me, companions who get the choice to leave or they choose to leave is a good exit for me. It’s on their terms, their choice, their want. And it’s always been because of a positive experience in Thirteens era, and I find that so special. I love this show and the tragedy of so many companion exits, I love crying my eyes out every time thinking about them or rewatching past episodes, but it feels so good when companions get the choice to leave on their own terms. So, thank you Dan Lewis for being an awesome companion, and an awesome friend I truly believe Thirteen needed during her time.

[upslapmeal]

Kerblam!

Technically this isn’t late because I’ve not seen The Witchunters yet

ok so there are lots of different opinions about this ep

I’ve seen a lot of people who were enjoying s11 say it’s the worst ep

and also people who weren’t enjoying s11 say it’s the best one so

I usually talk about ~general stuff at the start of the review but I won’t as much this time

leave some to the end

bc I genuinely enjoyed it even if its ending didn’t necessarily hold up to what was set up

but like.. it was more that it didn’t hold up because of what it said implicitly rather than what it said explicitly

but I’ll talk about all that later

for now I’ll just talk about the ep bc like 90% of it was really very good

fez!!

Thirteen’s jump at the Kerblam man <3

good thing that had’t been explosive bubble wrap or the ep would have been over much faster

(ah bubble wrap, the return of an old foe)

Graham’s smile when they decide to go and check is v interesting to me

he was always portrayed as perhaps the more reluctant one but considering how he’s essentially travelling to avoid having to deal with his grief

idk I’m just interested to see where his arc goes

Lee Mack!

(RIP)

glad he actually gets to be funny

*war flashbacks to how they used Bill Bailey when he was on the show*

the creepy robots kinda remind me of The Beast Below

honestly though the atmosphere with the robots watching and listening to everything was genuinely creepy

I thought the twist was going to be that like......robots had taken over

and now they had to employ people rather than just leaving them to die

I knew the robot was was going to suddenly move after Dan went up to it but that didn’t stop me jumping when it happened

‘people's republic of South Yorkshire’

honestly I'd want to go on the conveyors and have an adventure Toy Story 2 style

I love Graham’s interactions with Charlie

playing the old man card to get the map

""no I haven’t smelled the girl you have a crush on can you believe it""

'those words better be worth it...you'll have me to answer to’

OH THE TANTALISING HINTS OF ANGRY THIRTEEN

no it wasn’t bombastic enough!!

LET HER RIP, CHIBBS

this ep really did a great job of using the whole team

it’s up with Rosa on that front

Agatha Christie!!

lol that deadly high five

good thing there was a conveyor belt just below to catch Charlie

this ep had a really great soundtrack too

Twirly!

I can just imagine Vicki wanting to adopt twirly

'customers with your symptoms browsed blood pressure medication’

ok right the twist about Charlie

I....I actually liked the twist

(Yaz using her police officer skillz to restrain him)

in terms of telling a story and having a twist that’s surprising but makes sense it works

it does make it a bit more confused when it comes to overall message though

here’s the thing

I wouldn’t actually change the plot of the episode

and I think the explicit message - that technology isn’t inherently bad but rather how people choose to use it that is - is a good one

and also that while activism is good, even well meant ideas should not be fought for using terrorism and hurting innocent people

I would just want the episode to add a few more lines to clear up some stuff that’s not explicitly implied

firstly they really set up the workplace as creepy and controlling and we saw Thirteen be angry at how Slade treated Kira

I’d just want a couple of lines from Thirteen at the end when they’re talking about putting people first that this means treating them better

also I’d need a couple more lines to give context to the situation on Kandoka

are people in poverty? if everything can be automated why can people not live comfortably? presumably there are many people that can afford to order things from Kerblam - who are they? who are the people in charge on Kandoka?

not asking for massive exposition but the ep just needed a bit of information as to why the automation is actually hurting people

I know that automation is a complicated and relevant issue and there are many different stories that can be told around the issue but to do the story they went with I’d just need that info

because the Kerblam workplace was definitely set up as Not Good

and I’d be surprised if the intended message was that those conditions were fine

and they did decide to put people first

but the fact that it wasn’t explicitly addressed during the resolution just left a bad taste

and Arachnids didn’t necessarily make sense but you kinda knew from the moment we met not-Trump that it was just going to be a bit of a ridiculous ep that’s fun and It’s Not That Deep

but this really didn’t have that feeling so it’s just a shame that it ended without fully following through on what it set up

OH ALSO I can’t believe they didn’t show Yaz returning Dan’s necklace to his daughter!!

I stand by that I enjoyed this ep and so much of it was a really solid adventure and mystery but it’s just a shame that the ending wasn’t tighter and that it left some unfortunate things implied

[realmythsmoved]

"Are you happy?" for Thirteen

"Yeah. I mean, life's not perfect. But when is it ever?" It's a work in progress, always.

"I'm traveling with my friends, my fam. Enjoying the wonders of the universe. You know, the usual." And the Doctor loves it.

[circular-time]

I was going to say found family, but you’re right, they’re not that close— yet. I was also going to say friends, but that's not quite it, or not quite all.

Try this: FELLOW ADVENTURERS. And this may not be a step backwards, although I very much agree the current era's soft reboot is a work in progress. It’s trying to revive a character dynamic that was a cornerstone of Doctor Who at the very beginning.

Think of the classic Who's multi-companion teams like Barbara and Ian and Susan, Vicki and Steven, Victoria and Jamie, Polly and Ben and Jamie, or the UNIT family. Thry were different from the modern era, and yet some of those periods were great Doctor Who!

New Who has done a great job of developing the Doctor-companion dynamic in depth. But as a side effect of the drama, that relationship has often become all-consuming, obsessive, even abusive.

How often has this pattern repeated itself? The Doctor becomes the end-all and be-all for a companion. They give up their former life and loved ones to be with him. In the end, they die, or else something so tragic transforms them that they can never return to their fomer life: not because they wanted to leave the Doctor, but because of a tearjerker ending.

Rory and Amy are lucky they could go together. Even Bill, who had as healthy a relationship with the Doctor as anyone, caved into his pressure to help him with his Missy rehab project and paid the price. Somehow, the close Doctor-companion dynamic has grown toxic.

Chibnall is trying to reset that pattern by drawing on Who's past.

In classic Who, companions travelled with the Doctor as companions, discovered more about themselves and gained skills and experience, and either left to go back to their own lives with greater understanding, or chose a new life with full agency saying "this is who I am and where I belong." Companion death was rare and shocking.

So Chibnall has tried to combine the greater character depth and realism of modern Who with the companion independence and agency of classic Who.

Companions are again multiple, allowing them to work together and be friends with each other as much as with the Doctor. They have family and friends and interests and goals outside the Doctor. The Doctor is not the focus of the show (which requires greater emphasis on the companion to keep it from being one-sided); instead, the Adventure, the story/plot is.

As a result, Thirteen's era presents companions and Doctor in a functionally different way.

The audience mostly sees the Doctor through the companions' eyes: a figure of mystery, wonder, delight, joy, terror, frustration, humor: a cipher we love but are unsettled by. The companions discuss the Doctor and their experiences behind her back, something not possible with one companion.

Relationships between companions are at times more important than their relationship with the Doctor. The writers are still figuring out how to squeeze such character beats into such short, plot-heavy episodes. But S11 did a good job with Ryan and Graham. S12 worked on Yaz and the others and her family.

The Doctor puts on an act as a daffy tour guide, party because she's takinf an angst break, partly as a defense mechanism after getting burned being too close to past companions, partly out of fear of endangering them, as becomes clear at the end of S12.

Yet Thirteen is also enjoying working with a team structure again. She brainstorms with them, encourages their questions and their initiative, warns them of dangers so they can make informed choices, and gives them offscreen assignments and sidequests.

This allows for mini arcs like Graham and Ryan's unresolved family issues, or Yaz's own family connections and her desire to become a better person by imitating the Doctor.

It remains to be seen whether these companions will leave like classic companions: embarking on new lives or returning to former lives enriched by the skills and experiences they've gained through their time with the Doctor.

Again, the writers are still figuring this out (They should look to the actors themselves, who have a great time together). It reminds me of Star Trek: Next Generation finding its feet. But, like the UNIT era, which was profoundly different from what came before, I still think it is an experiment worth trying.

Personally, much like the sets in classic Who, I'm having enough fun watching current Who to forgive the wobbly bits.

Rose and Clara were crushes, Donna was a best friend, Martha a close friend who wanted more, Amy and Rory were literally family, Bill was a surrogate daughter, Ryan, Graham and Yaz are…. there. Seriously, what is their relationship with the Doctor? The show wants us to think of them as family, but they haven’t really earned that title, and they’re not really best friends either because that closeness the Doctor shared with past companions just isn’t there. 

[realmythsmoved]

"Oh, really? What kind of people? Are they aliens as well? Or human?" The Doctor is assuming the former, but it could be the latter as well, she supposes.

When Rawya mentions the Master, the Doctor waves a hand as if to say 'don't worry.' "Nah, I'd know if the Master was back. I think." Hopefully. Hopefully their old friend/enemy wouldn't surprise them. The Doctor would hate that. Just when things are going well.

Rawya raised her eyebrows, listening to the Doctor as she explained the person who had followed them. She was surprised that she didn't notice them while they were outside of the TARDIS.

Upon being asked, she took a moment to think. "I don't know. There are people who are after Time Lords like us, but it could be anyone who has knowledge of us. Though...there was a memory when my brothers and I were escaping Gallifrey. We were worried that the Master would see us." She turned to the Doctor. "Do you think it's the Master who's following us?"

[realmythsmoved]

"Definitely," The Doctor says with a bright smile. She notices the accent. American. So that's where she had ended up, America. That's what she gets for not checking the TARDIS before leaving it. When the other introduces herself as Lucy, but says that everyone calls her Lulu, the Doctor giggles. "Lulu. What a cool name. Nice to meet you, Lulu."

When Lulu asks if the Doctor is from around here, the Doctor waves a hand and says: "Nope, not me. Just passing through. I love to travel, me." She's actually from another planet, but she won't mention that to a stranger. If pressed, she'll just say she's from England. That's what she sounds like, she knows. Somehow that never changes much. Though her past regeneration had sounded Scottish, for the most part, her incarnations sound very English.

She does like the idea of being shown around, though. So she decides to take Lulu up on her offer. "Sure, sounds good to me." Though usually she'd travel by TARDIS, if she's not going to tell the other person she's an alien, that isn't an option. "Don't usually carry cash on me, though. Or a card. So how will we get around?" Hopefully Lulu will have an idea. If not, the Doctor will have to change her mind about traveling by TARDIS. Because she'd really love to see the sights. It's rare that the Doctor gets to play the tourist. Usually she's much more the tour guide. But it'll be nice to sit back for a change. "We could just walk I suppose." A shrug. "Though I guess it depends on what you're showing me, on how far we're going."

The Doctor wouldn't mind walking in a bit, once she's gotten a bit more rest. If not, then she'd definitely prefer to travel via car, bus, or train. Or TARDIS. In the end, though, it's up to Lulu. The Doctor is interested to hear where Lulu's planning on taking her. "So...what's the first stop?"

        There was a pull – that Lulu could feel. She felt it ever so often, but she usually lost it before she found anything. This time, she found a blue box and a uniquely dressed person. Though she had to admit the outfit had its charm. The woman sat down next to the other, trying to pinpoint what it was about them – that drew her in.

        “Yes – it’s like so totally beautiful.” Lulu’s a Philadelphia native – and it shows in her East Coast accent. Carefully she studied the other’s features as she returned the smile, “I’m Lucy, but everyone like calls me Lulu.” The fact that she had many names – but somehow was always the same. Lucy was just her current incarnation. That was neither here nor there, however.

        “Not from around here, are you?” Lulu inquires, though she isn’t aware that it’s a loaded question. Merely observation due to the other’s accent. “What brings you to the City of Brotherly Love? I could like – so show you around if you want.” Perhaps she could get to the bottom of whatever was going on.