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#I just watched that doctor who episode with Van Gogh
unfortunately-rogi · 2 years
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Gracie in the morning
(Oil on canvas)
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oceanwithinsblog · 5 months
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SO !!!! I'm almost done with dw s5 and episodes 10-11-12 (i still gotta watch 13) MADE ME GENUINELY SO HAPPY !!!!
i really really thoroughly enjoyed them, especially the van gogh one T___T i cried so much, that ending got my waterworks open very fast lol
might i say it feels so good to finally see eleven in his element <3 plus i adore how he's giving us ace representation <3
also the ponds are the loveliest <3
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s0fter-sin · 3 months
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i am closer to watching doctor who than i’ve ever been in my life, this new dude is setting roots in my brain
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episodeoftv · 5 months
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Semifinals: Round 7 of 8
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propaganda and summaries are under the cut (May include spoilers)
Doctor Who (2005): 5.10 Vincent and the Doctor
Tw: is about Vincent Van Gogh so does deal with self harm, depression, and suicide (but not graphically, just this is what happened in his life and they acknowledge it)
The Doctor and Amy travel back in time to meet Vincent Van Gogh and face an invisible monster that only the painter can see.
Not the showiest or even the best episode of Dr Who, but the one that I can’t watch without tearing up at the end. Really well written and performed and generally gorgeous to watch as well. I first saw it when I was ten and the speech at the end has imprinted on my brain and given me a language to help understand the ups and downs that life brings. It’s just a lovely one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_and_the_Doctor
M*A*S*H: 11.16 Goodbye, Farewell and Amen
In the closing days of the Korean War, the staff of the 4077 M*A*S*H Unit find themselves facing irrevocable changes in their lives.
LITERALLY the most episode ever. For American television broadcasts it remains the most-watched primetime television episode ever, beaten only by a number of Super Bowls, the moon landing, and the Nixon resignation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye,_Farewell_and_Amen
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that-ari-blogger · 6 months
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Doctor Who's Magnum Opus
TW: Mention of suicide.
It's Vincent and the Doctor. This is not up for debate, I am right. This is a hill I will die on. Vincent and The Doctor is the best 45 minutes of television ever put to screen.
But this post isn't only to gush, this post is to try and explain why the episode has such an emotional impact.
But I want to stress this: If you haven't already watched this episode, please do. You don't need to have watched Doctor Who before, pop culture osmosis has definitely filled you in on everything you need to know. Please give it a go.
SPOILERS AHEAD
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So, first up is the scene in which we meet Vincent. Its short, and the opening of the episode, but it's this shot:
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I am firmly of the belief that character introductions are some of the most important scenes in a story, and Van Gogh has a fascinating introduction. The opening few seconds give you the most important details of this new character, and it's his eyes. This episode is about how Vincent sees the world.
But the character introduction doesn't stop there. Still before the opening credits, the story starts again, this time in an art gallery with various folks talking about this historical painter. We get a child saying the following:
"He was the doctor who took care of Van Gogh when he started to go mad."
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Contrast this with Bill Nighy's character, Dr. Black, fanboying over Vincent, and we get the rest of this story explained to us. This is also a story about how the world sees Vincent.
Then we get Vincent's actual introduction, the point where our protagonists meet, and it is... understated.
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There's no ceremony about it, it just happens quietly. But there's something about Vincent's actions that I want to point out. He refuses help.
"You don't know three things. One, I pay for my own drinks thank you. Two, nobody ever buys any of my paintings or they'll be laughed out of town, so if you want to stay in town, I suggest you keep your cash to yourself. And three, your friend's cute."
I cannot understate how phenomenal of a line this is. It establishes lore, of course, but it also establishes Vincent's personality. This is a man who is down on his luck but cannot accept help. This is a man who is spiralling but refuses to be defended, justifying it as protecting someone else's honour.
At this point, the world sees Vincent in the same way he sees himself. He's mad, and an awful artist.
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But I know what scene you are waiting for me to mention. So here it is. Vincent in the gallery. That panoramic shot and the conversation with Bill Nighy.
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And again, its understated. On the surface of it, this is boring. Its just Vincent's face and some paintings and some sweet music. Bill Nighy doesn't even say anything we haven't heard him say before in this same episode. So why is it so influential?
Of course, one highlight is Tonny Curran's acting and how the camera frames it. In a story like this, the best special effect you can have is just a close-up of an actor earning their paycheck and then some. There is no loud weeping or ugly crying, this is so subtle, and so masterfully acted.
The other significant element is the context. I mentioned earlier that this episode is the contrast between how Vincent and the world saw each other. And up until now, Vincent and the world have been on the same page, but it's only here that the two views differ so much. Finally, Vincent is in a world where people unironically love his creations, where someone can fanboy over him without a care of being chased off, that's why this has such an effect. Not because of what it says, but because of what it does.
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But there's one more scene that I want to mention.
Vincent still commits suicide. They don't save him. I don't need to explain why that is heart-wrenching. But this final scene unpacks that and presents the following idea:
"Every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant."
No, they didn't save Vincent. You can't do that in 45 minutes. But they did make a difference. They gave a man in pain some respite hope for the future, they made his life just that little bit better. And that's all anyone can ask to do.
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tatangadragon · 3 months
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you know, I really do think Vincent And The Doctor is one of the best episodes of doctor who.
I remember when I first watched it-I was around 13, depressed, grappling with the newly discovered gender dysphoria,the whole package-and I remember being disappointed about the ending. van gogh still ended up dying, i thought. he still ended up killing himself. so this whole thing was useless.
but as I thought more about it I realised that that's Not The Point. not only would it not make sense, what with time travel and trying to limit impact you cause on history and all of that-but it was just never about that, it was never about trying to change the ending.
van gogh killed himself. that's what happened. and no amount of whimsical time travel or sci fi antics can just magically zap mental illness and pain away, that's not how it works. but that's not the point. a difference was still made, even if it didn't affect the ending. he still killed himself, yes, but that doesn't mean it was all pain. joy was still found even in the middle of mental illness. he still painted those sunflowers.
I'm older now, and while I'm still depressed I've learned how to deal with it better. and I better understand what the message of the episode was. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don’t necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant. and sometimes, adding onto the pile of good things is all you can do. but that's alright, because it's enough. it matters.
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wistfulcynic · 4 months
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i was never much of a Ten girlie. i liked him, i was sad when he went, but honestly i warmed to Eleven pretty quickly. i liked the low-key but pure weird he brought to the character and some of his episodes (van gogh, the christmas special with the sharks in the air) are among my favourite who episodes ever. But he had awful writing in the end and the RTD era just had that spark that moffatt and chibnall could never quite capture. i think i got used to watching doctor who with a sort of base expectation of disappointment, to the point where it almost became a chore.
watching the credits roll on wild blue yonder tonight i thought, man it feels so good to love doctor who again. i didn't realise how badly i'd missed it.
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familyabolisher · 10 months
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omg I don’t remember the Van Gogh ep very well pls say more
there’s something just very unpleasant and patronising about the whole tone that the episode takes. i’m not especially fond of the tendency to narrativise real people anyway, but i think some of dw’s other episodes manage to strike a more lighthearted tone which aims to build a plot around the presence of a famous historical figure (charles dickens, agatha christie, shakespeare, regrettably churchill), sometimes exploiting biographical details (the plot of the unicorn and the wasp hinges on christie’s real-life three-day disappearance, for instance, and draws not inconsiderably from the breakdown of her marriage) but often not seeking to inhabit or interiorize the historical figure in question to an extent that supercedes the desire to like, tell a story in an episode of doctor who. the tone of the episodes doesn’t tend to veer outside of the register of like, It’s The Fun BBC Science Fiction Show.
by contrast, there’s something very … condescending, i think, about how van gogh (the real van gogh!) is treated in vincent and the doctor. it strikes this odd tone between like a platitudinous approach to the nebulous concept of ‘mental health’ of the #BeKind ilk and this almost voyeuristic desire to paint a mentally ill man as, like, at once necessarily separate from the audience such that we must Encounter him (the presumed audience is never themselves mentally ill; we are here to Learn about mental illness and to Reflect on our desire to disenfranchise the mentally ill! etc) and available to us as a source from which we can extract all sorts of Lessons about Mental Health. the tone of the episode is very self-serious; it is very clearly aware of itself as an episode with Something To Say. that being, that VVG’s suicidality couldn’t have been prevented by the doctor and amy or by idk The Power of Art (And One’s Own Legacy Within It), that the doctor is limited in what ‘monsters’ he can fight and what ‘monsters’ he cannot, that we (for whom the doctor + amy briefly become audience surrogates 1 and 2, amy in particular) are tasked with Being Kind anyway because we might make a small difference in someone’s life such that they, for example, dedicate a painting of sunflowers to us. (lmfao?)
it’s just weirdly cannibalistic; it’s taking this historical figure and extrapolating a bunch of like, sweeping moralising statements and supposedly affecting scenes (i know many people find the scene in the musée d’orsay vv affecting; i thought it was stupid, sorry), trying to say something about artistic brilliance & artistic legacy but not really landing on anything coherent or interesting beyond like, art by marginalised people is depreciated (true!) but we can fix that by appreciating it, in the musée d’orsay (fuck off!), but Even That can’t make someone not suicidal (true but collapsed by the narrative as quickly as it comes, and also not really … interesting). it wants so badly to say something about van gogh, but it doesn’t feel like an episode that cares about van gogh the man as much as it cares about using van gogh as a metonymic shorthand for all these ideas around Mental Health and Art and Madness and Legacy. which is what i meant when i said it feels cannibalistic—and intrusive at points! i felt uncomfortable watching it in ways that i didn’t with eg. the dickens, christie, shakespeare eps.
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gasping-ghostzes · 6 months
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My Roman Empire is ‘Vincent and The Doctor’
CW/TW: depression and Suicide
I remembering watching this episode for the first time, I was told it was heart breaking, but I was sobbing by the end. I’m not necessarily a Van Gogh die hard fan, but I am an avid admirer of his works and his life. When I tell yous that I think of this episode on the daily, I actually mean it. I was actually so worried that the episode would simply wash out Van High’s struggle with his mental health, but it didn’t. Which I’m so proud of, to me and many Van Gogh admirers, many of his works reflected his health at the time with the use of colour, shape and composition. So having Van High’s mental health be a key plot point within the episode was at-least the first reason for my love of this episode.
Reason 2? Simply how the episode is completed, instead of having Van Gogh’s life and mental health suddenly turn around after the Krafayis was killed, the episode took the most realistic approach. Because although the Doctor took Van Gogh to the future to see and hear of his own intense influence on the art world, that wasn’t able to stop Van Gogh’s passing. The episode to me shows that even though Van Gogh’s trouble with the Krafayis was gotten rid of, his troubles with his own health were not cured. I think that writing an episode where getting rid of the Krafayis would cure Van Gogh’s health struggles would have been lazy writing as it would be exactly what the audience wants. But this episode doesn’t shy away with the idea of being blunt and giving the audience the most real and human feeling while watching the episode.
To me, the Krafayis was simply another way for the writer/s to represent Van Gogh. In Van Gogh’s monologue, it seems that Van Gogh had related to the struggle of the Krafayis, being isolated and treated brutally by society and their own community is what coneys both Van Gogh and the Krafayis. Everything within this episode was perfect to me honestly, words can’t even describe it for me.
Lastly! The end scene of the Doctor and Amy taking Van Gogh to the future to see how his artworks truly impacted the creation, inspiration and meaning of art. Although Van Gogh is most definitely touched emotionally at the knowledge of how his paintings became essential to the world, it was soon revealed that much to Amy’s dismay, it had changed nothing to what happen to Van Gogh. But I think it’s exactly that, that makes this episode so beautiful to me. There wasn’t this moral obligation for Van Gogh to stay just because he saw how essential and admired his artworks became. I think in reality, not changing that important fact was the most perfect and realistic part of this episode. It’s quite a brutal part of suicide, because although that day may have changed Van Gogh’s life then, it was likely that the continuous torment, isolation and poor treatment of Van Gogh eventually got to him. Which although is quite sad, it’s simply a brutal truth of depression, to me, depression comes and goes in waves, some waves could be more or less aggressive than the majority, but that doesn’t change the small but important part that depression doesn’t just go away cause of one good day.
Van Gogh had to live in a time and life where he was socially isolated, lived with untreated mental health and in a time where mental health was extremely stigmatised and not studied as well as modern day society. It took place during a time where religion dominated society, and any mental health issues was seen as simply fake or not taken as a serious concern and threat. Because of this, many people who were different from social norms of the time were considered to willing go against religion and god. This explains exactly how and why Van Gogh was so mistreated and isolated from his community in his day to day life.
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floating-in-the-blue · 6 months
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Okay, stopping with the Defiance spam but I'm still so salty that show never did bigger numbers on tumblr. I know it's been ten years since season 1 but still. It's so bisexual! It's a post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi-Western with Shakespearean vibes. Everyone has a tragic backstory. Nearly everyone is a war criminal. There's humour and tragedy. Sex workers are respected. The costumes are fantastic. The set design is fantastic. The music is fantastic. The conlangs are fantastic and really integrated into the show, including the music!! The last ep I watched had a cover of "What's Up" but half of it was in an alien language!
Sure the group marriage was just a side bit but it's established canon that those exist and are normal! Vincent van Gogh from that one Doctor Who episode is in this and he's just one of many excellent actors doing a fantastic job! There's so many complex and amazing female characters!!
Is the cgi occasionally a bit old-fashioned? Sure. There's a few make-up glitches in the pilot episode but who cares? We're still watching the original series of Star Trek.
I just don't understand why it never got more recognition on tumblr.
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variousqueerthings · 4 months
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Vincent And The Doctor! an episode that is both bad and good! but the good outweighs the bad, because Vincent is just so good!
but there is in fact an alien in this story as well, sooo...
sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 7/10
sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored): 6/10
interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 6/10
furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 6/10
companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 4/10
the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 9/10
doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 8/10
isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 8/10
internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 7/10
Politics (how conservative is the story): 8/10
FULL RATING: 69/100 (if I can count….)
this episode we watch Matt Smith as a British man very seriously say "Vincent van Goffff" over and over again, but Bill Nighy did it right so that's good
and Amy screams a lot and doesn't remember the past
OBJECTIFICATION: Amy is not wearing a miniskirt! yay! she is wearing short shorts under a long jacket and scarf, so idk. not shorts-weather I guess, but at least she can run in this (although she doesn't do much running on the whole this episode)
PLOT-POINT: Soooooo I rated this one quite high, which I think is a bit generous of me, but the thing is that in this episode the reason that Amy isn't exploring what happened to her last episode is because she doesn't remember it happening!
and the Doctor is trying very hard to protect her from those feelings. but Vincent recognises them. there's a bit of "the body remembers" happening here, and so I think this is acceptable. Especially the bit where the Doctor says "Amy- Rory" out of habit and she asks "who?"
I also like that she's excited to see more Van Gogh paintings and is someone who fails to consider how mental health can have good days and bad days. Prompting this quote of all time:
"the good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant. and we definitely added to his pile of good things."
COMPLEXITY: the plot is kind of two things, one of which is obviously stronger (Vincent) than the other (the Krafayis). they never quite come together, or specifically the latter is underdeveloped. I guess it has that speech at the end where Vincent is saying that it lashed out because it was afraid, like people do (the people who are terrible to him for being different), but I'm not sure that's what it should be about. especially when they discover that the Krafayis is blind, which happens right before it's killed. the Krafayis is disabled, like Vincent is
it's kind of a messed up story. right before it dies it goes "I am afraid." They just killed this being, which was abandoned for being disabled. that is the failing side of the episode
However simply as a story about Vincent van Gogh it's pretty lovely, and what it's remembered for. I don't agree with the bit where he talks about being left utterly alone and that framing, because historically he had people who cared for him, and he wasn't anti-doctors either, but I understand why it works for some of what's being said -- Amy and the Doctor are there, and Vincent is still suffering from serious mental health issues and feels alone in that
So in that sense the complexity works -- complexity of emotion
CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: the underlying thing here is how Vincent recognises Amy's pain as someone who is also in pain, and Amy of course has no idea what he's on about
overall though it's meant to be -- and works as -- a standalone and doesn't need to be more than that. also as a character Thing, the Doctor's hyperactivity and of it all is a fun detail
COMPANIONS MATTER: Amy doesn't do much outside of her chat with Vincent, which isn't bad. She's ostensibly the emotional anchor to the Doctor's doing stuff. however, am noticing that this scores consistently a bit lower on most episodes and whether I should be getting harsher about it, because at this point Amy is apparently super With It, she knows time travel, she's confident, etc. So why is she still mostly just hanging around?
I do wish she had more... opinions on things. they lie there and see the night sky and she says nothing. the script struggles to make her anchoring Vincent have much to do with herself, or to tie it into the plot. Why is she not the person who suggests taking Vincent to the present, for example?
“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: the Doctor is there to admire Vincent van Gogh, as is right and good!
I do think it's bold that the Doctor is so bad at relating to Vincent's issues though, considering the Doctor is the posterboy for mental health issues
I kind of wish the Doctor had been more able in this episode, specifically with the Krafayis. he's so helpless until the end and then it dies, it seems kind of odd for him
PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: Hartnell and Troughton visuals! Nothing special in it, but again, it's a standalone
"SEXINESS": we almost don't have this, and it's frankly because the actor for Van Gogh is so good that he doesn't make it seem creepy that Vincent is just hitting on her from moment one. there's also some quite dorky flirting (Richard Curtis style) which is much more charming
INTERNAL WORLD: I guess this is fine. Again, some of the characterisation of what was happening around Van Gogh is shifted to suit the episode, and I don't think it needed to be, but it's suitable for purpose. also the casting is so good!
POLITICS: so the bad is as mentioned above, the alien portrayal, when we discover it's abandoned and disabled
On the flipside the things about Vincent's mental health, and how that's presented on the whole, famously, is considered pretty good
it's not about "fixing" him, or about mental illness as necessary for the sake of good art, or about covering up the fact that he committed suicide, it's simply presenting him as a man
and of course the famous scene at the end -- what if someone who wasn't convinced that they were any good or much worth in their lifetime got to experience how they were remembered? not everything is about legacy of course, but in this case it works precisely because it doesn't work as a "fixer," but it does provide some solace
so in the end it's really about moments of solace
FULL RATING: 69/100 (if I can count….)
I actually thought this story would rate higher, but where it lets us down is in everything around the admittedly wonderful portrayal of Vincent van Gogh. Especially, again... Amy doesn't do that much. And the quite unfortunate implications in the way the alien of the week is portrayed
on the flipside it's a wonderful little exploration of mental illness and a portrait of a wonderful painter!
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sabra-n · 11 months
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Ted Lasso 03x06 - Sunflowers
Ted Lasso thoughts below once we look at a single tulip...
Oh, we're going to be unpacking this one for ages. And I don't know if I'm just in a better mindset this week or what, but despite being an hour long this episode didn't feel slackly edited like "Signs" did. It indulged a bit, but nothing felt truly excessive. There was just that much going on.
I don't read much of the show's press coverage anymore, but it's not hard to guess that this is the Boom Chicago crowd's ode to the city they lived and honed their comedy chops in, and the place where Ted Lasso's conception is ultimately rooted. For the characters, this was a trip abroad - for the show, it was a visit to its hometown.
So what did AFC Richmond end up doing while they were in Amsterdam? They formed dyads, because one pilgrim is a zealot but two are a pilgrimage. They contemplated the importance of triangles. They told the truth. And they changed their minds.
Where Ted goes, so goes the show, and last week held the incredible promise of seeing him both understanding and being able to manage a panic attack. This was the fulfillment of that promise - Ted finally acknowledging he needs to change, Rebecca letting herself be touched, Roy and Jamie apologizing to each other, Colin's two lives intersecting for the first time.
This being Ted Lasso, naturally things were rife with fathers and sons. The hilariously accurate* American theme restaurant was playing a Bulls game Ted watched with his father, and Ted took inspiration from it instead of going down a sadder path. Rebecca's one-night stand was a father, and briefly alluded to being a bad one for some time after his partner cheated on him. Since this is television, he's also probably going to be a father again, albeit just biologically. :⁠-⁠\
Higgins took Will to the red light district to become a man, which means a) listening to live jazz, and b) understanding that you can be tormented by demons and still see and hear beauty in the world, and create it too. That the beauty happens in spite of the demons, not because of them.
Of course, this tied in with the show committing the crime of trying to make me cry using Van Gogh. Too late, assholes! Doctor Who did it first and I wept for a good thirty minutes!
But that red light district trip was also the funhouse mirror reflection of Jamie's - Will having fun sex he talks to his mum about the next morning; Jamie having prescribed sex he doesn't remember and going back to Amsterdam with his mum later to make up for it. Will getting more paternal care from a coworker than Jamie did from his "real" dad.
But Jamie also came back to Amsterdam a third time and proved that you can't step into the same canal twice, so to speak. Aaah, the dynamics with Roy, who's sometimes a father figure to Jamie and sometimes a man who had no childhood and acts like it. For all the shittiness of Tartt Sr., Jamie had his mother. He didn't go to an academy miles from home when he was nine. He learned to ride a bike. So we ended up with one fatherless boy doing that quintessential Dad task for another fifteen years his senior, and then they rode off to find windmills to tilt at.
Oh, and it was incredibly fucking funny. The way Roy just. Tipped over? Multiple times? He didn't put a leg out or otherwise try to stop the inevitable. He just went plop, and I salute the stuntie who did that over and over again so I could guffaw in my living room.
Away from London and the rest of the team, Roy and Jamie found a place where they could admit weakness and apologize for being shitty, which are kind of the same thing. Colin, meanwhile, got the opportunity for a different kind of honesty.
Unlike most of the main characters, Colin has been pretty self-aware this whole time. He's not lying to himself, but he is consciously and constantly lying to everyone at Richmond. This episode handled that with such gentleness and grace - showing how Colin has done the math on staying closeted to the team and staying closeted to the public, and how even if he answered the equation the best way he could, the rules fuck him over. His teammates can kiss their girlfriends in public to celebrate a win. Colin can't do that with his boyfriend. His teammates can be themselves in front of each other, and Colin can only be half of himself. But: two pilgrims are a pilgrimage, and while Trent isn't exactly part of the team, for as long as he's in Richmond he can be Colin's second pilgrim.
Meanwhile, Rebecca the human porcupine did the unthinkable and let down her spines for a stranger. Or maybe it's easier when it's a stranger - part of houseboat guy's appeal was not knowing his name or having any plans to see him again. Remember how Rebecca said she keeps ditching her manicurists because she gets high on the fumes and overshares? Yeah, it's not the fumes. It's being touched with care. That's why the foot massage was such a hot button issue while showering in a stranger's bathroom wasn't. Dried off and still phoneless, the Rebecca on the bus is the most relaxed we've ever seen her - the goofy girl Sassy described knowing pre-Rupert.
And it's not that this houseboat guy fucked her better or something - it's that she was ready for a change and this is what happened to come along at that key moment. Last week she chose belief in herself over chasing signs, and this week she followed her instincts and had a great twelve hours or so with a good-looking Dutch guy, no omens required.
The characters who notably don't connect onscreen are Beard and Keeley. (Ted doesn't count because he connected with himself.) I halfway suspected Ted and Beard would do mushrooms together as soon as Ted made his speech about needing a change and Beard said he'd been waiting for this moment, but I admit I was faintly surprised they went through with it. And then I was sad, because Ted turned down his friend's overture and Beard ran away to hide his hurt and vulnerability and then Ted had his trip alone. I was hoping he and Beard would run into each other during the night and reconnect, but instead they reunited on the team bus in the sober morning, like they always do. And with Beard's news about the mushrooms being duds, Ted doesn't even have his story to share.
I guess what I'm saying is: I hope Ted and Beard actually do mushrooms together at some point, because the way Beard has this whole life he just shares with random strangers (and Jane) before coming back to the sober world where his best friend lives...it's not a closet, but it is a divided self.
Beard deliberately distances himself from the team and lets Ted make all the connections, hiding the fact that he speaks Dutch from Jan and telling Jamie that if he doesn't know how to talk to him then "it's working." But he doesn't actually want to be alone, which is why he and Jane keep happening over and over again. So I guess the second thing I'm saying is: seeing him connect with Rebecca, of all people, was really nice. May they continue to sing like goofs forever.
Other bits and bobs:
The most unrealistic part of this episode was Rebecca putting her beautiful coat into a dryer on a guy's houseboat.
* The theme restaurant was hilariously accurate about folks from other countries trying to replicate American things. See also: Any time anyone on GBBO tries to make an American recipe. And I'm fully aware that USians are just as bad from the other side! We all get a gold star for Trying.
I screamed at Nate's cameo like it was something out of a horror movie. Truly unsettling shit.
We finally got the promised pillow fight from "Make Rebecca Great Again"! In the same episode where Ted saw Keeley's Liverpool tourism spiel dubbed in Dutch on the hotel TV! What does it all mean?! :⁠-⁠P
For an episode that kept talking about the prevalence and strength of triangles, it didn't really show them in its parade of duos. But I'm guessing that's what we have to look forward to as the season continues.
Speaking of which: How are we feeling, Jamie/Keeley/Roy 'shippers? Because on top of the triangle thing, the show sure did play a love song over footage of Roy and Jamie riding bikes together.
Someone please give Dani a tulip and Isaac a hug.
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diamondbrickz · 7 months
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does anyone else make really silly and elaborate time travel fantasies? go back and assassinate/un-assassinate major political figures? talk to ancient philosophers? give a victorian child monster? nah, no i don’t wanna do that.
i wanna go back to 1980-something, record on a cd of me playing a bunch of famous pop song melodies from then until now on a piano or something, seal it up and mark it with “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 2000” and leave it in a bank safe somewhere, and just travel forward to see what would happen.
i wanna go back in time, explain thoroughly the workings of my phone and the internet to tesla or something just for funsies.
i want to go grab jesus gandhi siddhartha and confucius as young adults and tour new york or nasa with them, and show the wonders of the modern day. hell why not let’s bring leonardo da vinci and newton. maybe vaccinate em and give them gas masks and cool translators though. like hey guys cmere i wanna experience wonder and awe at how far the human race has come.
i wanna see what would happen if i just handed a textbook on electricity to someone in the 1700s. or showed an early programmer or video game developer the extent that technology went, where people create wonderful paintings and art and music and games all on their own.
i want to just like bring a bunch of famous musicians into a room and see what madness could be made. i wanna see what duke ellington and freddie mercury and beethoven could make together. i wanna then take that mixtape and publish it but then go back and pay the damn guys properly.
i don’t even watch doctor who but i wanna do that van gogh episode so bad but with so many other famous artists and musicians and writers that sadly ended up destitute and dead. poe i’m looking at you
ACTUALLY!! one of the biggest things i’ve always wanted was to bring a movie audience from the early 1900s to sit and experience a (good) modern day movie experience, fuckin like baby driver or infinity war or hell avatar or something why not, and just experience giddily see them experience full color 4k hd and cgi and surround sound and stuff
i mean a guess a lot of these fall under the trope of “go back in time and show famous person day!” but like. seriously. i think unironically if time travel does exist somehow i would want to do the “characters watch the show, even for after the episode they came from” type fanfiction except with real life
anyway. yeah. like seriously i just want to reenact how i felt as new tech came out but in an even deeper way ya know
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clownsinyourcabinet · 8 months
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had a dream the other night that my girlfriend was tattooing me and i had specifically asked for a knight with a sword. when she revealed the tattoo, i was met with a horribly monochromatic knight wielding a fully rendered dalek (my girlfriend does not watch doctor who) when i asked her why he was holding a dalek, she told me verbatim “what are you talking about thats a future sword”
before i woke up i just remembered ambiently walking through the stages of grief and trying to justify keeping the tattoo bc i love my gf and i liked that one vincent van gogh episode of dr who
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episodeoftv · 5 months
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2nd Place Vote 2 (other final votes)
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propaganda and summaries are under the cut (May include spoilers)
Doctor Who (2005): 5.10 Vincent and the Doctor
Tw: is about Vincent Van Gogh so does deal with self harm, depression, and suicide (but not graphically, just this is what happened in his life and they acknowledge it)
The Doctor and Amy travel back in time to meet Vincent Van Gogh and face an invisible monster that only the painter can see.
Not the showiest or even the best episode of Dr Who, but the one that I can’t watch without tearing up at the end. Really well written and performed and generally gorgeous to watch as well. I first saw it when I was ten and the speech at the end has imprinted on my brain and given me a language to help understand the ups and downs that life brings. It’s just a lovely one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_and_the_Doctor
Star Trek: The Original Series: 2.05 Amok Time
In the throes of his Pon Farr mating period, Spock must return to Vulcan to meet his intended future wife, betrothed from childhood.
this is the fuck or die episode
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amok_Time
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lucky--owl · 2 months
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but me and devin are watching doctor who(them for the first time, but were starting to get to where I stopped) and we got through the van gogh episode today and I cried 😭(I've seen it before but it's still a lot)
we also got to where amy mentioned she might be pregnant in the astronaut episode and devin asked "is the baby river?" and I just had to keep a straight face until they moved on which was so hard.
then we got the episode where they found out river is melody and the second they said melodys name devin went "melody like song? pond like river?"
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