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txttletale · 4 months

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how would you recommend watching doctor who? there are so many different guys idk how it works.

so the thing about doctor who is that there's two shows -- classic who (1963-1989, doctors 1-7) and new who (2005-2023, doctors 9-14). due to a renumber of the seasons and a change in production company, i think it's fair to call the upcoming version of who (2023-??, doctors 15-??) its own, third show. the reason it's been able to run for so long is that when the show's lead actor, (william hartnell as the titular doctor) had to step down in 1966 due to failing health, they made up some sci-fi bullshit: the doctor's species can 'regenerate' instead of dying, instantly healing but changing their appearance and some of their personality. this means that every time a lead actor has walked away (or, in one unfortuante case, been fired) the show's just recast the doctor and moved on, often with notable changes in tone and format.

the easiest option if you don't want to backwatch anything is to start with this year's christmas special, the church on ruby road (2023). it's an obvious jumping on point to the series, introduces you to all the basic stuff (the doctor, the TARDIS, the fact that it's a silly sci-fi show about fighting weird rubber prop critters), and presumably sets up the upcoming season 1 of the disney-bad wolf version of the show that's gonna come out in may 2024.

if you do want to backwatch, you have to decide if you want to start with new who or classic who. i personally would recommend starting with new who, because there's less of it, it's got higher production values, and (imo this is the biggest obstacle to getting into classic who) it's paced in a way that makes much more sense to a modern TV viewer (self-contained 45-minute episodes). also once you're invested in the show, its main character, and some of its classic elements, you get to soyjak at the screen whenever you're watching classic who and you get to see the oirign of a monster you already recognize. you can also skip classic who entirely and never watch it, they don't bring up anything from it in the new series without giving it a new explanation, but if you do this you hate fun.

anyway, starting points for nuwho: the most obvious one is rose (2005). it's the pilot episode for the new show and imo it holds up brilliantly -- it introduces all the most basic concepts of the show, but ultimately it's really all about billie piper and cristopher eccleston's performances and they deliver. the special effects are gonna be pretty terrible for a while because it's early 2000s cg. there's no jumping on point like it for the whole of RTD's run of the show (imo, the best run of nuwho) so if you want to watch seasons 1-4 you've gotta start on rose.

another episode that's written as a jumping on-point is (heavy sigh) the eleventh hour (2011). as well as introducing matt smith's doctor and his companion amy, this also does the whole rigamarole of introducing the show's core elements, giving a nutshell recap of its history in the form of the doctor's rooftop speech, and also signal what the oncoming moffat era is going to be like (whimsical, full of complex time travel plots, way more misogynist). i'm biased -- i'm a hater, one of this episode's central plot conceits sucks real bad and i also hate the eleventh doctor's whole run. but it is meant to be a jumping on point.

there won't be another one of those in nuwho until the pilot (2017). this begins moffat's final season with which he made the odd but extremely welcome decision to jettison all his convoluted continuity shit from the last five seasons and refocus the show with the doctor being a professor at bristol university with a mysterious secret. i think season 10 is a hidden gem and if you find starting from rose daunting this is the next best place to pick up. capaldi's doctor is a delightful abrasive eccentric with a heart of gold at this point in his run & the stories are wall-to-wall bangers with only a couple misses.

finally, you could start on the woman who fell to earth (2018), the first episode to feature jodie whittaker's 13th doctor and head writer chris chibnall. i'd recommend this even less than the eleventh hour, because while i actually like it more, i think it's a much worse preview of what the upcoming era is going to be like than that one. if you watch the woman who fell to earth and keep watching from the start of whittaker's run on the show off the back of it, you're going to be severely disappointed as most of the more promising aspects of the episode get instantly abandoned.

so, summary, if you're starting with nuwho, there's five jumping on points, which i'd rank:

rose > the pilot > the church on ruby road > the eleventh hour > the woman who fell to earth

but i want to start with classic who because i'm a contrarian

alright. classic who also has a few jumping off points -- before i mentioned them, let me just talk about that format thing i mentioned earlier. classic who doesn't have self-contained episodes for the most part, but rather for most of its run told each of its episodic narratives across between two and seven 20-minute episodes. this leads to a lot of weird pacing, forced cliffhangers, and infamously a lot of filler shots of the doctor running up and down identical corridors. so obvsies i'm recommending entire stories here nad not individual episodes. that said, let's look at where you could jump on:

an unearthly child (1963). this is, like, the start of the show. that said i don't recommend it as a place to start (funnily enough), for a couple reasons. firstly, because of dreadful fucking archiving by the BBC, a lot of episodes from the show's first six seasons are straight up missing. some of them have been animated by the BBC from surviving audio recordings, but some of them are just straight up lost -- due to the format, this means there's very few full complete stories, which makes this whole era really hard to navigate. if you don't mind that and really want to start in the black and white era, i'd still recommend the tomb of the cybermen (1967) instead -- hartnell's portrayal of the doctor as a haughty, slightly impish old professor is great, but troughton basically defined the character's core traits for the next sixty years.

spearhead from space (1970) is a pretty big format upheaval for the show and so serves as a pretty great classic jumping-on point. it's the first episode to be in colour, and sets up a new status quo for the doctor as being trapped on earth and working for an elite paramlitary organization called UNIT that operates out of a ratty office. it's an interesting premise that the show gets some great stories out of. the special effects are bad in the best way. pertwee has instant charm in the role and it's all around a banger by classic standards.

if you want to jump right to the one all the boomers are nostalgic for, you can also start with robot (1974). i wouldn't recommend it, though--tom baker is electric in the role from the start, but the episode itself kind of assumes a lot of the context of the third doctor's setup and supporting cast which you're not gonna have.

i wouldn't recommend anyone start at any point during the fifth or sixth doctors runs because i want them to actually like the show, so i guess the last jumping on point i could really recommend after robot would be, like, dragonfire (1987), which heralds the show's short-lived renaissance with the seventh doctor and his best companion, ace. but although you'd be watching some of the absolute best the classic show ever gets, it feels like it would be a weird and disorienting place to start.

finally, you could watch tales of the tardis (2023), a limited series produced to celebrate the show's 60th anniversary. each episode follows the same format: through a vaguely handwaved Palace of Memories plot, two much-aged characters from the classic series meet up and fondly remember one of the adventures they shared. the bookends with the original actors are mostly shameless fanservice, but the episodes they're reminiscing about are superbly edited down into a much more watchable format -- it works as a good 'sample platter' for most eras of the show (although, weirdly, there wasn't anything from tom baker's run!) and i think it honestly wouldn't be a bad shout to just start from tales of the tardis and then keep watching from whichever of the stories featured in it you liked most. that all said, if you want to start with classic who, i'd rank these jumping on points as follows:

spearhead from space > tales of the tardis > tomb of the cybermen > dragonfire > robot > an unearthly child

all that shit said it's fundamentally a very episodic show with very few exceptions like trial of a time lord and whatever moffat was doing seasons 6-7 so in the end you can basically just start with any episode and more or less get some of the idea. have fun and make sure to do the most important job of a doctor who fan, update the tardis wiki page for penis whenever one is mentioned

#ask #doctor who #long post

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theangelshavethephonebox · 5 months

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I just found out about RTDs decision not to use Davros' past design and I have Thoughts™. I'll put them under a readmore because I know this is verging on discourse and who really wants that but I feel the need to say it anyway.

I am saying this as a mobility aid- but not a wheelchair- user, so I speak from a personal place but not with full authority on this. (As in, please do not take my voice on this over wheelchair users' opinions).

Okay, so, here's the thing. We get so little mobility aid/physically disabled representation that quite frankly even if they're nazi-allegory villains, it's still something. Bad faith rep for sure- put Davros in a wheelchair to show he must be evil, you know the drill. But back then it was all we had.

Now, Rusty wants to change his design because the original design was in bad faith. However, even if he's a villain, I'd still take what I can get.

Now, I know RTD seems to be about to change that- Ruth Madeley, for example, does not seem to be playing a villain. Maybe it's not a one-off- maybe RTD really is committed to providing good disabled rep that is done in good faith, with input from disabled people, characters played by disabled actors, the whole shebang. Maybe he really is trying to make a change.

But he should not erase a disabled character's disability just because he now has more "good" disabled rep. Davros is disabled. Erasing that disability does not improve disabled representation; doing what he's already doing, introducing more disabled rep in good faith, disabled people as people, not as "ooh this person is disabled they must be evil", that's what makes the change.

So, I really don't think they should erase Davros' disability. I hope they don't. Actually, I hope they focus on it- I hope Davros, in a wheelchair, is confronted by a physically disabled main/recurring character, preferably also in a wheelchair. I hope they have that conversation. I hope this wheelchair user tells Davros:

'As a disabled person, you should know, better than abled people, that what you're doing is wrong. You should know, most of all, that we have to fight for life, not destroy it'.

I hope that the past is not erased, but used to have a real conversation about the past and present, one that could actually have an impact on the future.

Tldr; I really hope they let Davros stay disabled and use it to bring up why it's so fucked that before recently he was the only kind of disabled rep we had. Well, that and "pitiable inspiration porn".

@a-wartime-paradox

#opinion hour #doctor who #davros #doctor who unleashed #rtd #dw #dr who

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brooklynstrangler · 4 months

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The Bigeneration is great, and here's why.

Not only is the bigeneration great, but the entire plotline with the Fourteenth Doctor returning and staying put is brilliant.

I've seen a lot of people criticize it after (seemingly) making the starting assumption that the only reason it was done was to bring back David Tennant, just to wank off the first RTD era and bring the ratings up after the Chibnall era with the two lead actors from the show's most popular (according to ratings) series.

This is entirely the wrong outlook, in my opinion.

A better outlook is to start with the desire to heal the Doctor's trauma, to lighten the weight of the emotional baggage at the start of this brand new era with brand new viewers. And then you ask, how is the best way to do that, without some cheap memory wipe or time skip or simply ignoring it and pissing off fans?

The bigeneration isn't what I would have thought of, but it is definitely an answer to this question, and I think it's a great one. Doctor A has a few episodes, then Doctor B pops out of him, and flies off in the Tardis while Doctor A stays and... gets therapy, I guess.

The trouble is that you now have one Doctor that only has a few episodes of screentime, which is going to be considered unfair and cause a lot of upset in the fandom.

One solution is to give that role to someone who's already had it. And once you've decided you're going to do that, having the person that the Doctor settles down with makes sense to be a companion of said actor's previous Doctor. The resolution of RTD-era trauma for a lot of the audience, the pull of the return of David Tennant, all of that is a bonus stemming from this solution to achieving the main goal of helping Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor be as carefree as ever.

Is this actually how I think the Fourteenth Doctor and the biregen were conceptualized? I have no clue. And neither do you.

My point is partly that if you're going to make up a narrative anyway, why not make up a positive one? Furthermore, the exact order of how things were come up with don't necessarily matter because what the Fourteenth Doctor's existence did was ultimately great for the show and great for the Fifteenth Doctor's run.

#doctor who #fourteenth doctor #fifteenth doctor #russell t davies #doctor who 60th anniversary #60th anniversary #rtd #doctor who special #yes i'm titling this post the way hbomberguy titles his videos #bigeneration #biregeneration #the giggle

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becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys · 1 year

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Doctor Who, but Chronologically: 40

Okay, here we go boys: jumping ahead six years from Partition to 1953, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth Two, and wow, this episode hits extremely very differently when the last thing you watched was the Tale of the British Empire (Derogatory).

It's the Idiot's Lantern. At one point a character declares that even though they're losing the Empire, at least the coronation can still give us pride. Yikes.

Anyway, happily, we get Tennant and Rose, who have a lot of chemistry, but unfortunately this is a Mark Gatiss episode. Fortunately, it's edited by RTD, so it is much more interesting than it might have been. Unfortunately, it's still Gatiss trying to write a Spunky Woman, so inevitably, Rose has a shining moment of brilliance where she immediately spots that Evil TVs are stealing people's faces and wanders off to interview the guy responsible, only to be immediately imperilled and then absent for the rest of the episode, trapped inside a telly. Ah well. Could be worse, this could be Amy or River with Smith. Rose can at least pass the sexy lamp test. And doesn't get subjected to sentences like "Of course you're a psychopath, you're a woman."

So yeah, there's an alien that was executed, but rather than dying it made it into an electrical form and thence to 1950s televisions (this is not really explained.) It feeds on the electrical signals of human brains, which is pretty stupid, since it's inside TV sets which have a far higher voltage, but okay. It's planning to feed on the 20 million people who will watch the coronation, and thus have a body again. The Doctor thwarts it by... idk it's really unclear, just electrocuting it somehow in an extended scene that was way too thin on explanations to justify the number of "plot twists" it attempted. "Plot twist! Your wiring hasn't worked!" Okay but we are not electricians and this is fantasy electrical wiring, so this means nothing to us, Gatiss. Honestly though, as sci-fi plots go, it's... fine. Not amazing, but there are much worse.

The side plot revolves around one family - mum, dad, son and grandmother, except the grandmother is fed on and so doesn't have a face. In a series of very poorly acted and directed scenes, it is made painfully clear that the father is a violent domestic abuser, at one point promising to beat the gay out of his son. Nonetheless, in an absolutely baffling and utterly gross scene at the end, as his wife throws him out and he leaves in shame, Rose and the Doctor both tell the son that he nonetheless must forgive his abuser and make amends because "He's your dad." Rose even straight up says that not forgiving his abuser would make the son stupid. It is utterly, utterly unnecessary, and I am entirely baffled by what moral I was supposed to take away from it. I can only assume Gatiss was watching too much American telly when he wrote it? It's the sort of thing you see super commonly in American telly over here - "He's your dad! You have to forgive him, because he's your dad! Let's reconcile the strained father-son bond!" It's almost as common as a boxing episode, which American telly always has. Even Babylon 5 had a boxing episode. Even Leverage. They all do.

Anyway it's wank, and it takes what was otherwise a blandly inoffensive showing to Fuck Me What An Awful Episode.

Still no proper sign of why Rose is particularly special! I mean they have GREAT chemistry, but it's all in the acting, really, though it's increasingly clear that she's maybe the most people-focused of all of them (except Donna). Sigh. Maybe we'll get a non-Moffat/Gatiss Rose episode soon, and then we can finally know.

Meanwhile, shout out to the best actor of the whole episode: Cardiff, doing amazingly in it's starring role as Totally London, Honest. Funny story! I remember this episode being filmed, because my mate Emyr accidentally wandered into the street they used to film the street party, and had the surreal experience of going "Hang on... why are there flags? Why... is it the 50s? Am I in the 1950s? How has this happened? What's that box - oh it's the TARDIS I see what's happened."

(This has happened to me TWICE in St Ffagans and once in the Brangwyn Hall. Common South Walian experience.)

Ummm... no plot threads! I don't think. None resolved, none added. Well, that's about right for Gatiss.

“She” (an unknown person) is returning (perhaps River returned as Missy. Maybe Me? Maybe Clara???!)

There is something on Donna’s back

An entire planet, Pyrovilia, just… disappeared, somehow. (Maybe because the TARDIS is exploding??? Saturnine was also lost, and that WAS because of the TARDIS exploding. The lion man’s planet was also lost but he was a bit of a knob about it if I’m honest. The Thijarian planet was destroyed by some sort of impact)

Amy is maybe dead (she’s not)

The Doctor has been cubed (he’s out, but how?)

River is possibly blown up (unless she’s Missy. Nope: she is definitely not blown up)

The TARDIS has blown up (It’s fine now. Except it’s sort of melting now because it’s corrupted, but it’s fine again)

The universe appears to have ended (the universe is back again)

The Doctor has employed(?) Nardole

(And Nardole was “reassembled???” Nardole had glass nipples and invisible hair?? WHAT THE FUCK IS HE)

There’s a vault in the TARDIS and it contains Missy but we don’t know why (sometimes she knocks for the bants)

There’s an immortal Viking girl now. Her name is Me and she’s now looking after the people the Doctor abandons

Why was Rory entirely unconcerned by the entire world suddenly going silent when that is Not Normal and should have been, at the very least, extremely disconcerting?

What did the Doctor do to Queen Lizzie One?

Why is Amy seeing a one-eyed woman in a vanishing window? (She’s with the Silents, but we don’t know why Amy saw her)

Why is Amy’s pregnancy inconclusive? (Maybe because the baby had Time Lord DNA?)

Who is Sarah-Jane Smith?

How is the Doctor Bill’s teacher and why/where does he have an office?

What is going on with the Cyber War and the Cyberium???

What happened with the Other Cyber War?

What happened with the Third War that deleted the void?

Why does Rose seem particularly important?

What order do these Doctors go in? (Eccleston, Tennant, uncertain, Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker)

Which companion just… forgot the Doctor, and how?

Yaz and Vinder are about to die as Mori/Mwri/Muuri

There is a Lupari shield around Earth.

What’s a Time War?

What’s the Rift?

What’s Bad Wolf?

In which war did the Doctor become a war criminal, and how?

Who is the Master?

Why has Amy forgotten Rory? How did she forget a Dalek invasion?

Is Rory plastic or not?

Why is the Doctor sulking on a cloud?

How exactly does the Doctor have a cloud?

What exactly happened with Strax to, uh, tame him?

Which friend killed Strax?

Which friend brought Strax back?

Where did this lesbian lizard and human couple come from?

What happened with Clara as Souffle Girl and the Daleks?

How does Clara actually join?

Why so many Claras?

Why is Missy apparently in robo-heaven?

Why is probably!Missy pushing Clara and the Doctor together?

What is Trensilor and what happened there?

Who is Handles?

The Doctor is about to be dissolved by a beautiful geode man

The universe is being crushed by the Flux

Will the Doctor open the fobwatch?

Sontarans are invading Earth again

Who is Kate?

Who is Osgood? Another name of Clara’s again?

The fuck is the deal with the Grand Serpent

Does Martha get to go to an ice cream planet with 12-fingered massage aliens?

How did the Doctor forget Clara?

Who is Bill’s puddle girlfriend Heather?

How did Nardole die?

When does Bill get Cyberman-ed and die?

When does the Doctor shrink and enter a Dalek called Rusty?

Whittaker is falling to her death rn

Was that ring relevant?

Does anyone know the Doctor’s name?

When did Yaz talk to Dan about fancying the Doctor?

When did Dan talk to the Doctor about fancying Yaz?

What’s happening with the bees?

What happened with Donna’s ex and a giant spider?

What war wiped out the Daleks, and is it one of the ones already mentioned?

What did the Doctor mean when he said “The (Daleks) always live, while I lose everything?”

If Dalek Caan is the last Dalek left why are there more now?

How did the rest of the Time Lords die?

How and why did Amy melt?

What’s the question that will make silence fall?

Why do the Silents… want silence to fall?

How and why are Silents at war with the Doctor when he… hasn’t even heard of them?

How does Hitler get out of the cupboard?

What’s the significance of fish fingers and custard?

Why does the Doctor feel guilt about Rose, Martha and Donna?

What happened with the space whale?

When does Rory defend Amy for 2000 years?

How does the Doctor survive River

How does he erase himself from history

Did Captain Jack lose his memories to the same people as the Doctor? What did he lose?

When did the Doctor send the Daleks into a void to save the universe?

What’s with the weird crack in the wall and is it affecting memories?

Why do Amy and Rory think the Doctor is dead?

Is Matt Smith’s Doctor a tree racist?

#doctor whom #and yet we are continuing

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thealogie · 5 months

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the thing about yaz is she's the most boring character ever (that's not true. all the companions in chibnall era are boring, there's no personalities) and she has all these moments of hating her family for no reason that we ever see. her mom will be like hi honey you're home :-) and she'll be like oh my GOD i have got to get out of here. like okay i guess. anyway a travesty that those seasons are so bad

If RTD really wants to be the most goated dr who showrunner he will bring back Jodie for the 65 anniversary and give her a satisfying arc

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stere0typical · 3 days

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RTD's defence of doctor who being put on Iplayer and Disney+ at 12am GMT is stupid.

And not stupid in a "why is he doing that" way, stupid in a "he's talking shite" way.

Don't get me wrong, I get he has to defend it to keep that disney money or whatever, but his responses to how this change affects fans of the show are bad, and to feign that it suits the viewers better is just a mockery.

He's, for some reason, saying kids should stay up till 2am to watch it and comparing it to midnight H*rry P*tter book releases, like an episode coming out ever week for a season and a physical book coming out once every 2 years or so is the same situation with the same spoiler risk I guess???

RTD has also said that it was easy for him, the 60 year old man, to avoid spoilers for Game Of Thrones while that was coming out in the morning so why can't we all just do the same. And also said if you're in any Doctor Who fan spaces online you'll get spoiled before the episodes come out anyway! Because people leaking the show, and Americans being able to watch and talk about the show before you because of how the release time suits them better is the exact same situation I guess!

Also him talking out his arse with "well the show being on at 6.30 made it so people working Saturday night shifts couldn't watch it so there's no release time that'll suit everyone" is really the cherry on top of him using shite excuses.

TLDR: While I understand why he has to defend this decision, his responses to the valid annoyances to the main audience of the show that live in a GMT time zone, or who will want to watch it on BBC 1, are out of touch, and the least he could do was come up with better excuses.

#I censored H*rry P*tt*r because i dont want terfs in my notes thanks #And none of this shit even affects me because YOU CANT STREAM DOCTOR WHO IN IRELAND!!!#because we Dont have access to BBC Iplayer and. because the Irish and British Disney+ servers are the same. It wont be on Disney+ either!!!#God forbid id want to watch my favourite show at any time other than at 6.30 on BBC 1 #Doctor who #Dr who #15th doctor #doctor who series 14 #14th doctor #Nu Who #nuwho #dr who fandom #whovians #doctor who 60th anniversary #doctor who #dr who

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genderqueerpond · 5 months

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just came upon the apparent word-of-god that bi-generation....

not only is just how regeneration works now (at least for the doctor), is also as of now retroactively how regeneration has always worked

which is just. absurd

I need you to understand this is not even a negative post. I am laughing. I can't even take this seriously this is so ridiculous

literally it's fine I'm not worried, this'll be true for a while and then the next showrunner will fix it

RTD's brain: I like mitosis and infinite David Tennants

hey dude at least you know what you want!

...

...anyway apparently it's so that we can spend more time with every past Doctor, to which I say WE ALREADY HAD A MECHANISM FOR THAT IT'S CALLED TIME TRAVEL

-- or dischronological storytelling, if you're that dedicated to having a lot of it --

"but they look older!" and the mechanism for THAT is called "reasonable suspension of disbelief"

-- or, the fact that every time we or any human character has ever seen the Doctor it's been filtered imperfectly through human perception, which is already known to be a super fickle and complex thing. like honestly something as simple as changing their outfit could cause them to look decades older to a human eye, why not? maybe that's why they never do --

anyway I am not mad, I am hysterical

like out of all the theories and interpretations I've come across so far, this is unequivocally the one that I believe the least. but I'm not pressed if the show does it. it's so funny

#dw #dw spoilers #lavender thoughts #HELP didhdhdkekhehe

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the-quiet-blogger · 5 months

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"The Giggle"

You know it's been a while since I've gone truly absolutely batshit over a Doctor Who episode, but here we are. Spoilers, obviously, under the cut.

First of all: UNIT

While I'm not a huge fan of The Doctor working for/with Earth-based Space police, I think it's a great idea to have the companions in a safe environment where they have a place to use all of the knowledge they've gathered during their journey throughout the starts. They get paid to continue doing what they love and while it does set things up to have future (LIVING) companions to make little cameos (or even an option for a spin-off series, I think that it's ultimately a good choice that RTD decided to let the companions have a space where they can live, grow, and continue to help.

One problem I have with this is that this is exactly where Martha and Mickey went at the end of 10's run -- and yet absolutely 0 (zero) mention of them or their whereabouts. They're the OG companions joining UNIT, so where TF are they??

Also this guy?? The Vlinx?? I both love and hated that we didn't get much explanation for this Guy in the Chair. Just "Oh you're helping?! Sure! Absolutely no reason to think that this new alien and the weird thing that's happening are related ANYWAYS--"

A bit like Panda from JJK where it's just "yeah and this is Vlinx, it works here, moving on,"

LOVE the jab about antivaxxers using the narrative of the Zeedex. It DOES help, but since you're asking the masses (who all wholeheartedly believe that they are right and everyone else is wrong) to put this on, it becomes a bit harder -- we saw how Kate reacted the moment she willfully put it on. Also return of our #Queen for her role as the News Anchor. Glad she has a name now.

Secondly: Donna <3 my absolute beloved. She has grown so fucking much. From yelling at the world because that's the only way to be heard to quietly asking The Doctor what is wrong. She has grown into her own woman, though of course still missing a lot of main action before the metacrisis was resolved (I could write a whole other deep dive about that episode too). When she noticed that the laughter was notes -- "The Giggle" hiding behind the screen, I was so proud of her. This is why the Doctor needs an "every day" human -- and Donna is so blunt that she won't hold back on her observations, though I have to wonder if the whole recorder conversation with Rose was how she came out. I hope so, that's just so chaotic.

I've seen some people argue that there is still some TimeLord in her because of how smart she's been in these last few episodes.

To that I say

"bitch, do you not remember the bees disappearing???"

Donna Noble is a genius and an idiot. Both can exist in the same person, in the same character, and that's exactly what they proved with the previous episode.

and SPEAKING OF her being a genius

She loves The Doctor, not romantically, but in a "platonic soulmate" kind of way that makes my heart full. When she realized that The Doctor never mentioned Mel or any of their adventures, she pointed it out. Not only that, she told The Doctor point-blank that there's always something that the Time Lord seems to be running from. There's never really been a moment when he's stopped and talked about any of the shit that he's been through and she can tell that it's starting to wear on him.

"Maybe that's why your old face came back. You're wearing yourself out"

and he immediately changes the subject and charges forward despite her telling him a harsh truth. She's travelling with him again, sure, but it was supposed to be some short little trip and I think the main reason she went with him in the first place (whether or not she will admit it) is because she saw her friend in crisis and wanted to be around to help -- to figure out what exactly he needed from her. With each episode, she's tried to guess why his old face came back, but nothing stuck.

The fucking puppet show.

Now, I feel like this is a great way to catch up new fans with any old Doctor trauma that they may have missed. It was also a way to shove it into The Doctor's face just how many of his loved ones that he was responsible for killing.

Now, before I hear any one say "but what about ______??"

Rory wasn't as close to The Doctor as Amy had been. "The first face this face saw" and while they did become closer later on, he would always have a special place in his heart for Amy. He watched her die for fucks sake.

Martha wasn't mentioned because as far as he knows, she's still alive and kicking ass. That's part of the reason he will up and abandon certain companions, so he doesn't get them hurt.

The Fam - left behind and alive. Remember 2/3 of the original Fam chose to step away from the TARDIS and Yaz was left before 13 could regenerate as she "needed to do this on [her] own". While, yes, I'm sure the Doctor feels guilty about leaving them behind, it's not nearly as bad as getting them killed.

Anyone else had either survived as far as The Doctor was aware, or hadn't been as close as those particular companions. That is why those 3 were chosen.

Now, back to the puppet show

Mentioning not only the lost companions but also the Flux

God I do not have the time to go into this half-assed recreation of a tragedy trying to be as big and bad as the Time War and Gallifrey. I feel like Chris Chibnall felt snubbed with a female presenting Doctor and gave us the most half-written mediocre bull shit he could have. RTD is already having to fix it with mentioning it several times and exactly what happened in the aftermath. Just looking up "Doctor Who Flux" you get so many results that all try to "explain" it.

If your audience has to look up how your writing makes sense, you aren't smarter or cleverer than the masses, it's just shit writing.

However,

While the actual Flux episodes and following regeneration made it hard to understand not only what happened, RTD breaks it down.

There was a terrible decision to be made. The universe was dying. The Doctor had to choose and a lot of deaths now lay on the Time Lord's shoulders.

BUT! That was also the only piece of The Doctor's trauma that couldn't be waved away with

Which is when The Doctor challenged the Toymaker to a game.

Back too 2023, we get...quite honestly one of the best scenes I've seen in New Who, only rivalled by Here Come the Drums with the Master dancing along. No, Rasputin doesn't come close to this cunty rendition of Spice Up Your Life.

Amazing, cunty, terrifying, entertianing, and fun.

"I think they're still falling" -- BITCH?!?!?! Ugh. I want more of the Toymaker. What a fun villain and Neil Patrick Harris knocked it out of the goddamn park. No matter what you thought about this episode, this dance routine was a highlight.

I also love the reference to when The Doctor had tried to reason with The Master, asking to go amongst the stars with fun filled adventures, taking on the burden of being their jailer and caretaker for the rest of eternity if it meant that humanity was safe.

Of course, we all know what comes after the Toymaker refuses the call to the stars.

I immediately started crying. Before The Doctor even started with those last words, I wasn't ready to say goodbye. We went from "I don't want to go" to "allons-y". From him dying alone in his TARDIS to being immediately surrounded by loved ones

"He's not dying alone"

And he didn't have to.

I choked on my crying so hard I almost died myself. I know David Tennant had always said that he thought The Doctor was asexual to some degree, but this is just ridiculous. /pos

But, when you consider the salt line at the edge of the universe and how that myth became a reality because of The Doctor's actions -- the fact that bigeneration was once a myth and now a reality suddenly opens up a whole door of possibilities for this upcoming season with Ncuti Gawa.

Now, The Doctor(s)

14 was consistently surprised in their actions, their off-the-hand comments. Something that 10 always struggled with was saying how much people meant to them.

And one thing about 14, they are filled with love. They openly say "I love ____" whereas 10 never did.

"Rose Tyler, I--"

Having to leave those he loved behind, never wanting to admit when he cared more than he did. As long as he spun and ran away from his feelings, they could never catch up to him. Right?

14 is different, always saying "I'm here", "You're okay" and slinging around the word "love" as if they would never grow tired of it. 14, obviously, is The Doctor after Amy, Clara, Billie, and the Fam. After avoiding a family with the Ponds, losing Clara after realizing they were toxic for her, a friend who never expected anything more from them, and Yaz's fam who only wanted to be a safe space for them to be able to turn to. Yaz, the last companion that was pushed away by The Doctor, had loved them and told them so and gotten nothing in return.

And there were so many different ways that 14 showed this love. So many hugs!! So many reassurances!! And so much love that The Doctor was sharing amongst everyone who could hear them -- and yet not a drop of that love or compassion showed inwards.

I am so emotional about this hug, it's not even funny. Literally healing their younger self. The love, the understanding, the "I'm here" -- finally someone who understands literally everything 14 has gone through. The acceptance of the hug (THE TUCK INTO THE NECK?!?!?FSKFBWILDNLADN) I fell to my knees!!!!! SOBBING!!!!!!!!

BUT!!! Not only is 15 born on the battlefield, but also born surrounded by love and fun. Pants or not, 15 is ready to save the world and make it a good time for those around them. Self assured, fun, smiling, and loving-- 15 jumps into the world with a confused hug and love for their past & current self. After years of therapy, I keep hearing some of the same phrases along the lines of "you have to look to your past/younger self and let them know that it's okay, that they shouldn't have had to go through all of that alone" and this was exactly that, only on a Time Lord scale.

Now, personally, I had fun watching the game of catch with the Toymaker after 15 was introduced. I thought it was a fun way to share the spotlight with Gawa as the 15th Doctor and let the audience know some hints as to what we have to look forward to.

The terms of endearment melted my little heart. I'm always a sucker for a good nickname, both in real life and in fiction and 15 was full of them.

"Honey, sweetie, pumpkin pie, you are too traumatized to be flying the TARDIS right now, get OUT and take a NAP"

That was basically what was said, right?

And then this...home. The Doctor having a family. This is quite honestly the perfect, happiest ending that The Doctor wearing this particular face could have had. All those years running away, fighting hard, and keeping on a strong face, and this is what that was for. All that running and avoiding, and love for everyone else but themself and now they finally can take a break and focus on taking time to say "what the hell". Maybe go to therapy. There's so much fic potential for this as well, the kinds of companions they could run into casually or little every day struggles that are literally alien to them.

I've seen a lot of posts upset that this plot point seemed to be circling around two points: 1) this a repeat of the metacrisis ending and 2) not the first time The Doctor had domestic bliss.

To that, I say:

the metacrisis Doctor was half human and would be able to grow old with Rose in that parallel universe. It was also the traumatic ending of the DoctorDonna (or so we thought) and on that beach, the Doctor, the Time Lord Doctor, still couldn't say how much Rose meant to him. He also said that living life, day after day, was the one thing that he could never have.

2. On Tranzalore, The Doctor was not resting. He was taking care of the tear in the universe and defending it from the monsters that would constantly be on the attack. Every day was a fight. And when he spent those 24 years with River Song, he knew that this was the last time they would meet before her end. How can you relax when you know that these are the last moments you're going to have with your loved one. You watched them die and this is the best that you can do with them in their last days, knowing that you can't stop death from coming.

And there is something so incredibly healing about The Doctor allowing themselves to stay here, with only occasional trips to the Moon with their favorite niece. and the possibility of them perhaps becoming a Curator -- who knows!!

And now we have Ncuti Gawa's 15th Doctor to look forward to and all of time and space!! I am so incredibly excited to see where this takes us on Christmas.

#basically: AAAAHHHHHH OH MY GOD #fourteenth doctor #doctor who #doctor who 60th anniversary #doctor donna #14th doctor #rant post #tumblr essay #welcome ncuti gawa #Doctor Who is Not Dedd

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idkadrwhoblogorsomesh · 4 months

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I've had a couple weeks now to let the new Who specials marinate in my queer little mind

I must say, they were quite the breath of fresh air 💙

10 leaving on, "I don't wanna go" with Donna losing all her character progression left a sour taste in my mouth. While I have my "eh"s with the specials themselves, I feel they left 14 and Donna in a more satisfying place

The first special did a great job re-establishing the characters and overall vibe of RTD's initial area. I recently had watched thru it and it truly felt as if Tate and Tennant effortlessly slid back into their roles

I have a soft spot for the Meep because of a pet I held dear that was named, by coincidence I swear, the Meep

Watching it was such a joy, omg 💙

My "eh"s and spoilerinos below

The thing that I felt fumbled the landing a bit was the whole non-binary thing

I'm trans fem, binary trans woman to be specific, and full disclosure: I don't know any NBs, and my understanding of the NB experience is shallow at best

So, by all means, if you're NB and disagree: please enlighten me if you don't mind 💜

Anyway, I think it's an interesting plot point and I can see it fitting with the logic of the show, something about it just felt forced, you know?

Like, connecting back to the DoctorDonna repeating binary? Checks out

Timelord energy being partially passed down to daughter? Checks out

Daughter's newfound non-binary identity seemingly being key to all this working? Eh

And what was that quip about a male presenting person not being able to understand... letting things go? And both Donna and her daughter just willing the energy away? Eh

14 would still remember all the time he spent as 13. It's not like he lost that perspective upon regenerating. It all felt very hand wavy and convenient

That being said, my favorite doctor is 11, and his era DEFINITELY got hand wavy and convenient, lol

Overall an excellent first special to reintroduce RTD's style back to the show

Definitely reignited my love of the series 💙

#doctor who #14th doctor #donna noble #nonbinary #whovian #rtd2 #russell t davies #the star beast

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jennyandvastraflint · 2 months

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I love Ncuti and how bold and bubbly he is and his take on the show is, but can we also please talk about how if Jodie talked about the character and show how he has (the slutty outfit comments etc) she'd be fcking eviscerated? Similarly, I love Chris and how he had firm ideas for his role but doesn't care for the show in general its just a job, but I always think about how he's treated as a fandom king despite that and defended for it whereas Jodie has continually been shat on for not being obsessed with the show (when she demonstrably has more knowledge of it than he does). Or how every other actor is allowed to both have an original take on the character and reference other Dr's in their portrayal but Jodie is simultaneously lambasted as "just copying" others and "not acting like the Dr". LIKE. The double standards are awful and there is no way she can win. If she rocked up tomorrow knowing in depth about, say, the 3rd Dr people would say she's pretending to look legit or too little too late or sth (like how she likes 10, and people mock her for having a normie fave like he isn't the most popular nu Who Dr).

Literally this, anon. I think it boils down to the double standard women are met with in fandom spaces of SciFi for instance that are generally seen as male-dominated. This of course doesn't just affect women but also queer people (mostly non-men) and non-white people. There truly is no winning; either you're seen as someone who knows nothing and is a fake fan, or as a try hard and know it all. Genuinely people for instance ADORE Matt Smith despite him (to my knowledge) also not having known that much about it. And let's not forget Peter is also a super fan and he was in the beginning received badly too, simply for not being the young(ish) white cishet man most dominantly seen as a show's protagonist. And Jodie is a GIRL DOCTOR! HOW DARE!??? What I particularly enjoy is the way she went out of her way to always clearly state in her outfit, acting, and at conventions and in interviews, that her Doctor isn't "the female one" but just "the Doctor" and that her Doctor is for anyone. And then RTD is all "WE CAN'T PUT DAVID TENNANT INTO GIIIIRL CLOTHES!!!" when Jodie's outfit is literally androgynous af, and DT has literally worn women's clothes for multiple other things. For instance Good Omens. Much Ado About Nothing. Etc.

Yeah anyway... The way this fandom will hound you as soon as you uh. Exist as a person they perceive as female, is... certainly something, and the reason I stay well clear of fandom at large.

I think having smaller corners of fandom you interact with is the best way to engage with media anyway. I feel quite at home screaming into a room of like 7 other people about the Paternoster Gang, and I have a wonderful friend group around 13s era.

Perhaps I'll pick up the show again at some undefined point when RTD leaves or something. But he first and foremost is the reason I just CANNOT. Plus obviously his "RTD can do no wrong" cult following who apparently had so little to do that they commented how terrible 13 is on every single* post during her era...

*hyperbolic

Quite frankly, the Extended Universe offers more than enough, and hey, unlike RTD, they don't treat sapphic characters as practically non-existent :)

#anti rtd #misogyny in fandom #doctor who criticism #doctor who

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variousqueerthings · 7 months

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@autistic-puffin tomorrow we hit nine's regeneration and in honour of that my partner and I are going to watch all of the special behind-the-scenes for season one before we get fully into the tragedy of ten, because we own all the boxsets (in fact, I own a boxset from 2006 that is squared out to look even more like the tardis -- it's... very well-used shall we say, we do not use it for watching, but keep it with fondness) and therefore all the special features! up until s7 anyway. (I might get the rest, because I definitely want capaldi's last season + whittakers, and it wouldn't be complete with the ones leading up to that)

and tonight we watched an interview that eccleston did ahead of the launch and it just cannot be overstated how gracious this man seems to be/have been about playing this role and what it meant:

some highlights:

he said that he was hoping he might be the first doctor to a generation of 8-12 year olds at the time and I almost cried, because I was 10/11 at that point, and he was, he succeeded

I mention that because I know that for years he kind of felt like he didn't, and he's self-effacing (a bit comedically, but I wish he wouldn't be) in the interview too, preparing almost for a bad reaction

he did mention that a couple of early reviews hadn't been kind, and that it hurt and I just!!!! you don't understand!!!! you became part of the trajectory of my life!!!! you're one of the reasons I love stories my guy!!!!!! you were great!!!!!!

he said he quite liked the whovians (although he seemed unsure if that was or wasn't a polite term 😂) because they don't ask about your private life, they ask what it's like to be a time traveller and about the tardis

he mentioned that a big change was that it was attempting to move away from a patriarchal model of the doctor and the helpless "assistant" and that rtd was good at writing women (he's said that several times, but I like how open he was about that opinion in 2005 when you don't even really hear many actors today use words like that)

he also - and I found this charming - admitted that apart from some of the things like regeneration and the reveal of what a dalek really looked like, he wasn't so big into doctor who, because he didn't have a "camp sensibility." it just tickled me that he used that phrasing, because it's such an accurate identifier of that early low-budget (set wobbling, as he called it) aesthetic. kind of hinted he was more of a trekkie😂 which you know. I'd call that a camp sensibility too, just differently

at one point the interviewer directly asked him about whether he'd regenerate at the end and he eloquently avoided answering the question, but I do always feel that pang that he really did all the legwork of reestablishing this iconic character, only to not feel quite... welcome. for a long time. I know he's since (I believe) more embraced that his turn is iconic to so many of us, but it's sad to see it in the moment

he said he took the role because rtd is a great writer, because it was challenging sexism in the writing of female characters, and because he'd always been told he was too serious and "not funny or charming" -- me + my partner + her husband like "YOU'RE SO CHARMING!!!!!! SLANDER!!!!!"

it's very funny being someone for whom the doctor was your first eccleston role, only to later on watch his other stuff and be like... let my boy be whimsical dammit! he's so good at it!

#christopher eccleston #dw #doctor who #thank you so much for the work you did #it paid of it really really did #i should do a list of favourite nine stuff before we get into ten #every time he's low/highkey a marxist would be on there

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okay-j-hannah · 1 year

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Hii hannah! I'm bout three months late because i had exams going on, well, I still have exams going on but I decided to not procrastinate and just write this.

Thank you so so much for writing my tenth doctor and rory requests. you don't know how much it means that you took time out of your life to write my requests. when I first started watching Doctor who, barely a season in, i stumbled upon your blog and read your dying girl story, i didn't even know anything properly bout doctor's character or other companions but your fic though! it captured doctor's character so well! It was in May I read it and started watching the show and I now always connect that time with doctor who and you and your fics haha.

I got so obsessed that I made this dying girl reader universe in my head with headcanons and stuff and started associating songs to the reader and fic ; i know they are like kinda popular cliche songs but snowman by sia and never be the same by camila cabelo really reminds me of the amy and rorys wedding scene with reader and doctor dancing (was it real or I made that up in my head?) and memory of reader practising mind reading thing and seeing memories of Doctor and she's like who's this beautiful person in his memories and doctor is like that's you love <3 moonlight serenade, spring waltz, we'll meet again, moon river, across the universe are some other songs I associate with them,, you didn't even ask for playlist but here I'm sharing it just because lmao

and then you wrote my ten request and added it dying girl universe, when I tell you actually started screaming from excitement when I saw it! I really wasn't expecting it, i was so so happy! And Idk why but I just feel so honoured that my request was added into the "official" dying girl universe masterlist! and the rory fic too, it was so sweet! you wrote it exactly as what I had in my mind when I sent you request, tysm for that!

Ngl I always checked your page once in a while when you were on break because I just looked forward to your writing so much and in January, around my birthday, found out you were active again and posted my requests and gotta say, best birthday gift even if it technically wasn't lol. I wonder if you've finished twelve's episodes, you mentioned how it is hard to "let go" of a doctor and I completely agree, I finishesed twelfth doctors episodes in December and God was it hard to say goodbye to him, I know I can rewatch but it won't be like first time :'( you know, the "i love my current doctor so much" feeling?

I've started thirteen but it doesn't feel the same, especially without murray gold's music and well, moffat and rtd. so glad that rtd is coming back for new seasons though!

Oh and have you read love is a choice fic on tumblr? it's a mostly eleven but also kinda thirteen x reader multiple parts series and tbh, one of the only fic that made me laugh and cry like dying girl series did. if you haven't i hope you check it out, it's a great read!

Kinda unrelated but can I just say ty to that person who sent you ask related to will turner, i recently watched one of the potc movie for the first time because i thought the will turner guy looked cute from the ask and now ive fallen down a rabbit hole lol I finished your will turner fics and now im searching up tumblr for more will turner x reader, it seems he's my new hyperfixation 😭 anyways ty again to that person and you ofc for the fics, and this is not a official request(it could be ig) but I hope you write second part to the merchant/pirate will fic!

And I've sent you two requests this time too, hope you'll like them enough to write it! I know I've said it lot in this single ask but Again thank you so much for everything and it's great to have you back on here and I hope you enjoyed your break, remember to take them again if you need to <333

My darling, my dearest, my love, you're making my heart so so happy!

I love that you took off with the Dying Girl universe because honestly that's what it became for me while I was writing it. It became so big I knew I could write so much about what happens in between the parts, and your request fit perfectly there.

Thank you for the playlist 😂 it does kind of bring the characters more to life when you associate them with things like songs. And you definitely didn't make up the wedding dancing scene, that happened in Part 6: The Lost Shoes!

I totally understand finding yourself fully immersed in a story, even if it is fanfiction. When that happens to me I just write and post it on here 😅 That's happened with the Dying Girl and the episodic series I started for the Eleventh Doctor and the Samwise Gamgee series and this Mandalorian one I'm starting.

My brain is hardwired to come up with these random tangents to canon stories, and they end up becoming these elaborate fanfictions.

I'm so glad you liked your requested fics! I had a lot of fun writing them. The Domestic fic was so fun to get back into the Dying Girl universe. I wouldn't mind writing more about their in between adventures. Happy belated birthday!

I have not finished twelves episodes - I'm still on his last season. Just like I wrote on our last conversation, I'm terrified of how sad I'll feel when he leaves because ten and eleven were real heartbreakers. I agree, I love him, and I'm so excited you requested something for him.

And I'm also so stoked for the new seasons with RTD and the 60th specials with ✨David Tennant✨ I'll have to finish twelve and thirteen before that comes out at the end of this year.

I haven't read "Love is a Choice" but I immediately looked it up and added it to my likes, so perhaps it'll be the fanfics I read when I try to sleep tonight lol

And I'm sorry... you hadn't seen any of the Pirates of the Caribbean!? I've been watching those movies since I was like seven! It's such a great fandom and Jack Sparrow is such a mood and Will Turner is such a dreamboat.

I'm almost honored that my blog prompted you to watch such an excellent franchise. I also hyperfixate on new characters and fandoms I love. I do have one request in my inbox for Will Turner and I've gotten multiple messages to write a part 2 for A Merchant Sailor, so perhaps when I finish this batch of requests I'll add it to the list.

So do expect more Will Turner fics to come 😘

I love that we have this little pen pal relationship where we just write each other letters 😂 It's honestly really good to hear from you, mysterious anon. I'm happy to have you as a reader and fandom friend.

Thank you for reaching out! I definitely love your requests! It'll just take me a while to get to all of them with my busy schedule, but I will write them in due course.

Have a lovely night and a good morning!

Prologue: The Dying Girl

Part 1: The Sun God

Part 2: The Tonic

Part 3: The Ending Song

Domestic: The Doctor returns to spend a few ‘human’ days with you {Set during Part 3}

Part 4: The Dream

Part 5: The Regeneration

Part 6: The Lost Shoes

Epilogue: The Vanishing Act

Finale: All Of Time And Space

A Merchant Sailor: Pretending to be a merchant, you befriend Will Turner as you keep your pirating a secret, until your brother forces you to reveal the truth

Blacksmith’s Hands: While visiting Tortuga, you find yourself injured and in the capable hands of a shy Will Turner

Lovey Dovey: Jack has never been overjoyed at the thought of you and your boyfriend - especially when you’re kissing on his ship

Sea Salt: On a mission to get you back, more might happen between you two than expected

#tenth doctor x reader #eleventh doctor x reader #twelfth doctor x reader #will turner x reader #okayjhannah question #okayjhannah #anon ask okay j hannah #okayjhannah answer #okay j hannah #hannahbeartalks #fandomfantasia

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