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amelia · 3 years

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related to that last ask but now i actually have a question! what are your favourite episodes for amy as a character? (sorry if i’m pestering you btw you don’t have to answer right away ❣️)

it is absolutely never a bother for me to talk about amy pond!! gosh though this is a Question. okay. i did interpret this as episodes that are my favorite for the lens of My Understanding Of Amy instead of favorite pond era episodes as a whole if that makes sense? under the cut bc i got long as i tend to do

i think my number 1 has to be the big bang, because it really is just like. okay, pond era absolutely runs into the problem of frequently making stories/episodes that should be centered around amy's emotional journey actually about somebody else — but the big bang is all hers. it is all on her! she's leading the show SHE'S the one in the pandorica SHE'S the one who remembers the doctor into existence it is HER choice to say goodbye to leadworth and continue to travel completely without remorse SHE IS THE HERO. it goes from "time can be rewritten, he'll find a way" to AMY being the one who finds the way. rory and river and the doctor all of course get their Moments but it's unquestionably amy's spotlight moment the whole way through

i have also ALWAYSSS been obsessed with starless universe amelia and the way that she still believes in stars in a world where they DON'T EXIST the power of her mind and the conviction of her beliefs is a CORE TENET of amy's character, the doctor has NOTHING to do with it!!! it's just who she is !!! best character of all time <3

other things about the amy's writing in this episode i love: the line "the universe pouring into her dreams every night," space florida outfit <3, ok i obviously do not love this but i think so much about amy talking about the doctor at her wedding and her mother is still like "NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN… i thought the psychiatrists FIXED her" like once again !!! a UNIVERSAL CONSTANT that amy is the one who believes in things nobody else does and is LOUD about it and is RIGHT !!! (let's kill hitler tried to retcon this but it simply won't work on me ❤️ just like anything else about the let's kill hitler flashbacks ❤️❤️❤️), OKAY DOCTOR DID I SURPRISE YOU THIS TIME? <3

number 2, i think, is the eleventh hour itself? like it's just… i've rewatched it so many times and it's still the most captivating character introduction i have ever seen. i know i'm biased but i love it so much. her introduction as a clearly neglected seven year old girl (constantly think about the deleted line that has her talking to aunt sharon and saying "you're not supposed to leave me, i'm seven!" WOOF) who's not afraid of anything except for the crack in her wall… she has drawings up all over her house of burning houses, she draws smiley faces into her apples bc her mom used to do that, she can cook for herself way better than i could at seven, and she desperately just wants to leave. but when the doctor tells her he'll be back in five minutes, amy is already so used to adults leaving her and breaking their promises that she doesn't believe him. but he makes her believe anyway. and he doesn't come back.

and all of the rest of her character hinges on that introduction — of course she has to believe him, he was REAL, nobody can take his realness away from her even if she is the only one who believes. but he also left her all alone for so long, just like everyone else who was supposed to be there for her did, so what good does that to her? so yeah of course she grows up angry and bitter and hiding those layers of hurt deeply under the surface, scorning all attachment and serious relationships because she knows she can't trust them. she outwardly distances herself from her childhood self by changing her name but she IS still just such a child inside.

she's not ready to settle, to grow up, to become what everyone in her tiny village wants her to be, thinks that she should be — so when she gets the chance to GO, of course she takes it. but she's also not just going to let the doctor off the hook for [gestures] her entire life, you know? the exchanges "people always say that" "i'm not people, do i even look like people?" | "people always have a reason" "do i look like people?" "Yes." always just GUT ME. she may trust him but it's NOT a blind trust, it can't be.

number 3 has to be the beast below it just makes me SCREAM how good that episode is at really developing amy through her compassion for other people — right from the start she sees that kid crying and she thinks the doctor must ignore stuff like this all the time, and she says that she could never do that. she's learning and intuiting leaps and bounds about the doctor with everything he says to her — which is another one of my favorite amy character traits, the way she is SO quick to pick up on things about other people and analyze them. everything that she picks up about the doctor allows her to KNOW what to do to save the star whale, allows her to be confident in the fact that the star whale wanted to help the whole time. the choice is IN HER HANDS she IS THE HERO <3 as she always should be. you couldn't just stand there and watch people cry! all that pain and misery and loneliness and it MADE IT KIND. i don't care how overused that quote is it still HITS !!!

um. number 4 is the girl who waited but my very specific headcanon-ridden interpretation and cutting out all that garbage "rory's the most beautiful man i've ever met" "defying destiny causality the nexus of time itself for a boy" bullshit. idk there's so many terrible things about this episode but it also gave me so much to think about when it comes to amy it's on my mind a LOT. one thing i think about is the way it parallels amy's first abandonment by the doctor — not just in the obvious sense but in the way that she's actively fighting for her life in a hostile atmosphere, but nobody else SEES it as a hostile atmosphere. the two streams facility is leadworth like it really is. and what adds a more chilling component is the way the handbots signature line is "do not be alarmed, this is a kindness" — like all the people who were trying to convince amy she was crazy throughout her entire childhood really thought they were doing her a kindness. they thought they were helping her. but they were killing her. because she wasn't made for that environment.

beyond that i am just obsessed with 36-years-later amy she is an icon she is a legend she is the moment i don't care! every mean thing she said about the doctor and rory was absolutely deserved and in fact she should have been so much meaner! she is SO SMART she makes her own SONIC PROBES OUT OF CAMERA PHONES the fact that she even was able to SURVIVE THAT LONG and in COMPLETE isolation and still retain her own mental faculties is just insane to me it speaks so much about her insane mental strength oh my god it makes me sooo emotional i am tearing up a little typing this right now.

i just am always THINKING about the line "there he is, the voice of god. number one lesson: survive, because no one's coming for you. you taught me that" it says SO MUCH about her. oh my god older amy didn't want to die she'll be kicking and screaming and fighting til the end… i fucking hate this show and picking and choosing when paradoxes should apply OLDER AMY DESERVED TO LIVE

number 5 is probably the power of three but my own very headcanon infused interpretation of it. because it's like. the ultimate miscommunication/misunderstanding that exists between amy and the doctor coming to a head. where amy in 7.02 is like "i can't not wait for you, even now. (…) we think you're weaning us off you" (that line always makes me slow exhale … the phrasing of the doctor as a drug) and the doctor keeps insisting that's not true, "you'll be there until the end of me" "or vice versa" (and they have that loaded held stare and you know they're both thinking about what he said to her before he left in the god complex…)

but it's not until this episode where amy starts to actually believe he means it. at the same time she's spent so much TIME preparing for the inevitable moment where the doctor says goodbye and doesn't say hello ever again that she's not willing to fully hope that the doctor really means it when he says that he would never leave her permanently on purpose. and i love that this episode gives amy a lot of space to verbally communicate her emotions because the later pond episodes SORELY LACK THAT. and amy tells him, don't be nice to me, don't stop coming around just because you think that's the kind thing to do. even though she says herself that she doesn't know if she can have "both" — she knows that she can tell the doctor to stay, in her own way, and that he'll listen.

ideally they would have just gone off traveling together forever after that and the angels take manhattan did not happen but unlike what the doctor says about amy, i don't ever get what i want 🙃

also, this episode gave amy friends that weren't rory or the doctor or river so i love it for that on principal <3 i know amy had fun being the bridesmaid at laura's lesbian wedding. and kate!!

( i do hate that this episode ends with that conversation between brian and the doctor. i hate brian as a character and i will forever. won't get into this right now but OUGH )

honestly this list is kind of wobbly and might change if you asked me in a month so i'll just rattle off other favorite episodes / moments real quickly: the good night minisode (it counts!), RIVER SONG DIDN'T GET IT ALL FROM YOU SWEETIE (timeline frozen amy my beloved!), "i remember it so it happened so i did it," vincent and the doctor specifically when vincent tells amy that he hears the song of her sadness…. ow, i could write a whole other essay about amy's choice and how it is so much more complex than people give it credit for but this post is already so goddamn long

#i literally do apologize for how long this got but you have to understand i was holding myself back .#she is…. everything. to me. i could keep going for so long #amy pond #ask #jonismitchell

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riversofmars · 3 years

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Mirrorverse cut/alternate scenes

For @capybaraonabicycle, as promised, and anyone else that cares, 5k worth of cut and alternate scenes from “Through the Looking Glass”. Finally had a chance to sort through them lol. <3

Alternate version of Clara trying to convince 13 to help her

“Why would I trust you.“ The Doctor shook her head, finding it hard to believe that she thought her so naive.

“You know me, don’t you?“ Clara offered softly.

“I knew my Clara, I don’t know you.“ The Doctor replied firmly, reminding herself that there was a big difference, no matter how much she wanted to look into those big eyes and believe her.

“And your Clara, does she care about you?“ Clara asked leaning closer.

“Yes.“

“And I care about you, too.“ Clara reached out and cupped her cheek.

“Maybe you care about her, not me, you don’t know me.“ The Doctor pulled away defiantly.

“I’m finding you a lot easier to care for than her right now.“ Clara smiled softly. “Alright fine, you have no reason to trust me, I get that. How about you ask me some questions?“ She straightened herself up. “Get to know me. Maybe we can find a way forward together.“

“Did she ask you to speak to me?“ The Doctor needed confirmation.

“Yes.“ Clara nodded matter-of-factly.

“So she trusts you.“ The Doctor carried on.

“Absolutely.“ Clara agreed again.

“And you would still betray her?“ The Doctor couldn’t believe it but at the same time, she couldn’t discount the possibility. If this Clara was also a sort of evil counter part to her Clara, it certainly was something she should deem her capable of. And if she was capable of betraying someone that regarded her a trusted advisor, she was probably just as dangerous as the Emperor herself and not a suitable ally either.

“She’s gone too far. We all know it. Holds too little regard for those loyal to her…“ Clara explained.

“You mean to you.“ The Doctor deduced, trying to read between the lines.

“Let’s just say her moods swing… and her favour falls elsewhere.“ Clara answered.

“You’re jealous.“ The Doctor realised as slowly the pieces were falling into place. Clara shrugged as if it didn’t matter.

“Maybe.“

“But jealous of what? Or who? Do you want her power or her?“ The Doctor couldn’t read her expression, she just smirked, indicating she was getting close to the truth.

“So either, you want to punish her for ignoring you and go after her power. Or you’re trying to play me and you think if you can deliver me to her, her favour will fall to you? Which is it?“ The Doctor shot back firmly. “I’m fairly certain, whichever it is, you’ll have to go through River first.“

(…)

“Maybe we can topple them, you and me, no-one would have to know you’re not her… Why don’t you stay for a little while Doctor? Believe me, I’m the closest you will get to having your friend back and I think we can help each other, a lot…“

“You can’t be serious.“ The Doctor tried to pull away.

“She doesn’t appreciate me. I think you and I can have a much better relationship and help each other out. There are things I want and perhaps, if you were to stick around and work with me, we can both get what we want…“

(…)

“How long has your wife been dead now? When did you last see her? Must have been quite some time.

“Please, stop.“ The Doctor averted her eyes quickly.

“Oh darling, I’ll be gentle with you.“ Clara smirked, reaching out for her cheek to make her face her again.

(…)

This time the Doctor managed to push her over and free herself. She scrambled to her feet putting some distance between them and Clara sighed exasperated. She stood and her demeanour was changed, she dropped her act.

“What you’re doing here, what she is doing… you know it’s insane right? You said it. It needs to stop.“ The Doctor exclaimed.

“And you think I should put an end to it?“ Clara tilted her head in amusement.

“You could, with the quantum shade… have you never been tempted.“ The Doctor gestured towards her while Clara idle ran her fingers along the swirls of the tattoo.

“Oh Doctor, there are beings even a Quantum Shade won’t cross.“ Clara laughed as if it was a preposterous suggestion. “Besides, it’s treason, to even suggest it.“

“You were trying to rope me into your scheme only a moment ago, all lies then?“ The Doctor bit back.

“I thought you might be sympathetic to the cause.“ Clara shrugged and sat back down. She crossed her legs and spread her arms out to rest them on the back of the sofa. She regarded the Doctor who looked back at her with disdain.

“You’re all as bad as each other.“ The Doctor growled, scolding herself for being tempted to believe her at one point. “I’m already marked for death, aren’t I.“ She touched her hand to the back of her neck.

“Not by me. Not yet anyway.“ Clara hummed.

“I think the Quantum Shade would find my life rather hard to extinguish as well.“ The Doctor tried her best to sound confident in that fact. Surely her unlimited regenerations should be difficult for the Shade to deal with.

“Perhaps.“ Clara didn’t seem to care one way or another. “So Doctor, what do you think? Can we become fast friends.“

“I don’t know what game you’re playing but… either you will report everything back to her or you truly are working your own agenda in which case, I wouldn’t give you the information either.“ The Doctor shot back and looked around, finding herself in an almost identical situation as she had been with the Emperor. The only exception was that Clara remained seated and fully composed, her expression unreadable. Where the Emperor had been quick in her temper and cruel in the execution, Clara appeared devoid of all emotion now, cool and collected, unnervingly so.

“That’s a shame, Doctor, a real shame. I was so hopeful that you would listen to reason…“ Clara said at last. “But I should have guessed, you’re just as stubborn as her, aren’t you… You have more in common than you realise.“ She mused. “Your bullheadedness will be your downfall.“

“Have you ever seen her fall down?“ The Doctor shot back, anger rising inside her. They kept making fun of her, kept painting her as weak and pathetic, even though they didn’t know the first thing about her. Clara tilted her head raising her eyebrows, waiting for her point. “Because if we have one thing in common it’s that I always win as well.“

“We will see about that.“ Clara chuckled and got to her feet at last. “I promise you, that won’t be the last injury you sustain here…“ She pointed to her shoulder as she strolled towards her.

“I’m not scared of you.“ The Doctor bit back, standing her ground.

“Then you are very brave and very stupid indeed.“ Clara laughed and came to a halt in front of her. “Do have a think about it, Doctor. Think about who you want to cooperate with. Maybe if you chose to trust me, we could at least have something together…“ She smoothed the collar of her coat and the Doctor pulled away.

“I’ve never liked Clara in that way.“

“Oh, I know… Doesn’t change the way I feel though, does it.“ Clara sighed, her expression unreadable. “And it has no bearing on this dilemma of yours… How about we talk again tomorrow, have a good long think about it?“ As if on cue, the Monk stepped back into the room.

“I don’t think we have anything else to discuss.“ The Doctor retorted icily, determined to have the final word. She turned making her way to the door. The Monk nodded to Clara, indicating he would take it from here while the Doctor voluntarily switched the deception filter back on as she stepped out of the room. She just needed to get out of there and walked down the corridor they had come, breathing more easily.

Alternate version of 13 scheming with the rebels

13: “How can I help you?“

Missy: “Well, you do look like her…“

Monk: “We have informants around the palace too, they can keep us up to date with the Emperor’s movements.“

13: “You want me to impersonate her?“

Monk: “You would be able to move around the palace freely, you just… need to change your mannerisms a bit…“

13: “And what would you want me to do?“

Missy: “There is only one thing the Emperor truly cares about, just one.“

13: “River.“

Missy nodded.

Manton: “She wasn’t always like that you know? She was with us once.“

13: “You kidnapped her?“

Manton: “We’re not proud of it but… we were kind to her, we raised her well and she wanted to help us, she despised what her parents were, what this world was like…“

13: “But she fell in love with her.“

Missy: “And with the power.“

13: “Just one different choice…“ “In my universe, River was also taken from Amy and Rory… and she was raised to kill me. But she chose not to.“

Manton: “Maybe it’s still there, you know? Maybe she’ll see…“

The Doctor shook her head. River’s love for the Doctor had undone any hold the Silence had had on her, this would be no different.

13: “River would have died… did die… for me. She would do the same for her. You won’t turn her to your side in the same way as they were never able to turn her back against me.“

Missy: “She is her only weakness, Doctor.“

13: “Her weakness is her disregard for everyone else, her selfishness, her cruelty.“

Missy: “You might think that, but that’s to the reality we live in. It’s survival of the fittest, everyone else bows or gets cut down.“

13: “We will see about that.“

Missy: “So you will help us.“

13: “If you tell me what I can do, I will.“

Manton: “The easiest thing, surely, would be to have her replace her.“

Missy: “No she needs to get back home.“

13: “I can’t stay here and I don’t want that responsibility.“

Monk: “And that’s what will make you a kind and just…“

13: “No, I need to get back.“

Manton: “Who says you will find a way back? There hasn’t been a crossing in hundreds of years, yours was an accident, you don’t even know if you will ever find a way back.“

13: “I have to! I can’t stay here, I can’t… She them, see her, like that, every day, I can’t bare it.“

13 and talking to a lucid Kovarian about the universe’s past

Kovarian: “They stole a TARDIS and travelled the universe cause they were bored, found a species they liked in humans… so much violence, fighting each other, needless wars, destruction of their planet… They would rob banks and wreak havoc, gave them a taste for it… And then came the Time War…“

13: “What happened?“

K: “The Doctor destroyed them all… the Daleks… wiped them from the face of the universe…“

13: “It isn’t just a trick or…“

K: “Oh no, Doctor, they still tell stories about it… all that destruction…“

13: “And that’s when the Empire started expanding?“

K: “Oh no, that’s when the Timelords decided they had enough. Not even them, a race known for it’s hunger for power and dominance, could stomach it. So they exiled them. The war hero, the butcher. And they disappeared into a little bubble universe.“ “If anything, it only fuelled their fire more… That’s when they returned to Earth and they found the people who now reside by their side now… They all have their own stories with them.“ “That’s when they met Amy and Rory and things began to spiral. They were so perfectly matched… That’s when the stories started… do you… in your universe, does the Pandorica mean anything to you.“

13: “The Pandorica contains the mightiest warrior in history. There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.“

K: “They didn’t have a name anymore, stopped calling themselves the Doctor… they’d just… go from world to world and destroy and conquer…“

13: “It didn’t start with Gallifrey then?“

K: “If anything, it ended with Gallifrey.“

13: “Where are all the Timelords? This is Gallifrey, is it not?“

K: “Of course it is.“ “But do you think she would forgive them for casting her out, if you do, you’re even more naive than I thought… They returned eventually and of course they found them… And took her revenge… She left the general alive… killed their families instead… had them swear their allegiance…“

13: “It’s no wonder they despise her…“

K: “They are too scared to do anything… there is plotting and scheming but she is the most powerful being in this universe and surrounded by people she trusts… with River and Clara… She’s far too powerful.“

13: “Has no-one ever tried to stop her.“ “What have you been doing this whole time?“

K: “We tried, we really did…“

13: “River…“

K: “Did something similar happen in your universe?“

13: “You could say that…“ “Did you…“

K: “We’re not proud of it… to take someone’s child but… we raised her well, we looked after her, surely it was a better childhood than she would have had growing up amongst that violence… and she started out wanting to help but…“

13: “She fell in love with them… some things seem to be inevitable, no matter the timeline or universe.“

K: “That was when we lost, Doctor. When she turned on us, all hope was lost.“

13: “All hope?“ She looked to Missy who was dishing out food.

K: “Missy, yes, she tries… we do our best to look after the people here but it’s been a long time since any of us have tried to do anything. But the voices of unrest are getting louder. They just don’t look after their empire. You can’t just keep conquering, you have to look after you people as well, rule if you have to, but look after you people.“ “Maybe you arrival can spark something…“

13: “I doubt that very much…“

K: “I think you’ve already done something.“

13: “What?“

“Look around you Doctor.“

Cut flashback to the Pandorica

“What the hell are we doing here?“ Amy stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around. Earth. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. How boring.

“Just following an invitation“. The Doctor answered ignoring her displeasure.

“Who from?“ Rory asked, equally as annoyed as his girlfriend.

“A very special someone.“ The Doctor replied with a sense of excitement.

“Not the one with the hair again.“ Amy groaned.

“What can I say, she intrigues me.“ He smirked.

“And what exactly are you planning on doing here? This seems really bloody boring in comparison to what we usually do.“ Amy huffed looking around the countryside.

“Well, it can’t all be burning down civilisations and bathing in riches now, can it.“ The Doctor chuckled. Though he couldn’t deny, he was rather sceptical himself. Usually, an invitation from River Song spelled excitement. The rolling British countryside seemed the complete opposite.

“We’re literally just here so you can get laid, aren’t we?“ Rory rolled his eyes and the Doctor shrugged.

“Hello Sweetie.“ A voice sounded behind them and the Doctor grinned. About time.

“Ah we were just talking about you.“ He smirked looking around. He looked River Song up and down appreciatively. Oh how he longed to work out this woman’s secrets. They had met a few times now and with every meeting, his intrigue grew. “I like your guns.“ He observed.

“Is that a euphemism?“ River smirked and stepped closer.

“Yeah, we’re here too, by the way.“ Amy huffed. “What are we doing here?“

“I have a present for you.“ River answered her question but addressed the Doctor who’s grin widened.

“Are you the present cause that’s certainly something I would appreciate.“ He smirked.

“The Pandorica is here…“ He answered in amusement.

“The Pandorica is a fairytale.“ He laughed.

“What’s the Pandorica?“ Amy raised her eyebrows, it sounded as though things might get interesting after all.

“It’s said the Pandorica contains the mightiest warrior in history. There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless terrible thing, soaking in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.“

11: “If the shoe fits.“

River: “A nameless thing… What do you call yourself these days?“

11: “Haven’t decided. Sweetie always works.“

River: “Alright, Sweetie. Everything that’s ever hated you is coming here tonight, looking for the Pandorica.“

11: “That’s my kind of date night.“

Amy: “I think I’m gonna be sick.“

Alternate version of 13 making out with Mirror!River while pretending to be the Emperor

Mirror!River: “I’m glad you’re okay…“

13: “Did you worry about me?“

“You know I did…“ She pressed a firm kiss to her lips, it was full of relief and devotion and it took the Doctor’s breath away. She returned the kiss, knowing if the didn’t she would be found out but she couldn’t control the feelings it invoked inside her. It isn’t fair. How was she alive and her River wasn’t? It was cruel. “They tried to take you from me so many times, so every time I worry that maybe…“ River broke off, she couldn’t finish the thought and the Doctor looked into her eyes, shook to the core by the depth of the emotion in her eyes. How was someone like her capable of it? How did someone like the Emperor deserve this level of devotion? It wasn’t just jealously and frustration, it was anger and rage that bubbled up inside the Doctor. This wasn’t fair. She envied their life together. It wasn’t about their power or the lifestyle but the simple fact of them being able to be together. Staying together. In a linear fashion. They had everything her and River never did and never would. How did she get to live and her River had had to die? No good deed goes unpunished. Maybe the Emperor had been right. Maybe they had all been making the wrong choices all along. Why couldn’t they have made the selfish choice? Just once? The Doctor felt herself being dragged down in a spiral of emotion.

She lunged forward and kissed River deeply, forcefully, passionately, with no small measure of aggression. She knocked her into the wall and River gasped in surprise, her eyes widened in shock. She wanted to say something but the Doctor didn’t give her the opportunity. She pushed her hands into her air. God, how she missed that feel of her soft curls around her fingers. She ripped her head back and River actually whimpered, part pain, part arousal. The Doctor kissed her again, pulling at her lip with her teeth. She brought her hand up and curled it around her throat.

“You underestimate me.“ The Doctor growled and tightened her grip on her. River pushed herself against her and the Doctor felt herself loosing her inhibitions. What did she have to lose? She was already trapped in a terrible nightmare. She had failed at bringing her wife back, she probably wouldn’t get another chance now, if she ever managed to get back home at all. And here was this River, alive, breathing, gasping, whimpering, as she held her close. Beautiful, intoxicating River Song. How, perhaps, wasn’t even all that different from the woman she loved. They all carried both light and dark inside them, she was beginning to see that now. She hated her for being the one that lived.

Was it wrong to take out her emotions on her? Who was there to judge her? This was the closest she could get for being with River again. Not to mention it was her most convincing play.

“I’m sorry for doubting you.“

“You will be.“

Alternate/cut scenes from the Wedding flashback

Kovarian: “It’s from River…“

Manton: “Why would she be contacting us now?“

K: “It’s an invitation…“

M: “We can’t trust her, since Berlin, she’s… there are so many reports of her meddling through time and space, bumping into the Doctor, causing chaos together…“

K: “And now they’re getting married.“

M: “They what?“

K: “It’s an invitation to their wedding. On the planes of Utah, April 22nd, 2011, 5pm.“

M: “It’s a trap.“ “Why else send us this?“

K: “Unless… what if after all this time, she’s finally realised. We raised her well, we tried. What if she’s realised that what they’re doing is wrong and she's giving us a last shot at stopping him.“ “And even if it is a trap… we have never been able to catch up with him, at least this time we know where he’s going to be, we can’t pass up this opportunity.“ “Well, what does one wear to the wedding of your adoptive daughter and the most deadly creature in the universe?“

——

“Why Utah.“ Amy looked around as they stepped out of the TARDIS. The sun was blaring down on Lake Silencio and the surrounding dessert. It didn’t agree with her pale skin.

“It’s a still point in time. Easier to create a fixed point.“ River explained. “We don’t anyone to be able to rewrite any of this.“

“But Utah? It all just sand and dust! You could have at least put up a marquise or something.“ Amy huffed.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be a wedding to remember.“

“Right then, where is this aisle? And where is the Doctor.“

——

River blinked against the blinding sunlight of the Utah dessert. There was this unsettling, yet terribly familiar feeling, that she had forgotten something. That’s when she realised it probably had something to do with the gun in her hand. The gun she was currently pointing at her soon to be husband. Or had they had the ceremony already? All of a sudden, she couldn’t remember. She knew that feeling, something or someone was messing with her memory. She looked around and saw them again, the Silence. They stood amongst the crowd of invited guests, representatives from the civilisations they had conquered, all bearing witness to their union. It was all coming back to her now. What a triumph it had been supposed to be. On the planes of Utah, at a still point in time. They had meant to turn their wedding into a fixed point, easier to do at a still point, so nothing could ever undo their bond.

(…)

11: “And yet she didn’t chose to do your dirty work.“

Kovarian: “River, please, put an end to this, you’re the only one who can.“

11: “Yes, very clever of you, to use her in that way, to appeal to her better nature and all that. All your mind control and conditioning…“

K: “We never did anything of that sort.“

11: “What else is an upbringing? And you would turn her against her parents, against me.“

K: “Any decent person in the universe must take a stand against you.“ She looked to the guests, fear and dread painted on their faces. They weren’t here for the joy of it, it was an obligation.

11: “You’ve been foolish to come here but of course we knew you would.“

K: “River, please…“ The window was closing. If River didn’t take the shot, they would have to try their luck, there would be a blood bath.

River looked back to her husband, all memory of the silence in the crowd gone again. Attention back on the gun in her hand. What was she planning on doing with it?

(…)

11: “You would try and steal my wife away on our wedding day, I suppose you would try after stealing a child…“

Suddenly, they were surrounded by stone statues.

Kovarian: “But they are…“

Manton: “They can’t be…“

11: “Weeping Angels, yes. I didn’t use to believe in them either, but bumped into them a few times now and thought surely they can be useful. Always running and hiding when you look away, the ultimate cowards, jumping back in time every time you touch them just to get away… but you know what a little bit of love and attention can do.“ “So clever, this, love it, really clever if I say so myself. Stops them from jumping back in time, anchors them to a timezone. So instead of running away, they make you disappear, send you back. So in case anyone fancies a trip to early days Utah, I’d stay quite still.“ “I thought we might need some security around the place.“

Alternate 13 and River reuniting in Clara’s quarters scene

River: “What is happening?“ “I was in the Library, you were there, so young and I…“

13: “I… used something called an extraction chamber, ancient Timelord technology, extracts a person from their timeline at the moment of their death.“

R: “So I’m… dead?“

13: “Technically… you’re caught between a heartbeat and your last, one day you will have to return to it, your death is a fixed point, the consequences would be…“

R: “Then why did you do it?“

13: “I missed you.“ “I just… needed more time with you. I wanted you to travel with me again…“

R: “So where did we travel?“ “Some sort of parallel universe?“

13: “More like a mirror universe, it’s almost as if everything is flipped on its head. The Timelords have conquered the universe, oppressing the peaceful Daleks and Cybermen… Missy… I’ve met the Master and she is… good and kind and… and I’m… Clara.“ She pointed over to her as if it didn’t need saying. “Amy, Rory, you… we’re all…“

R: “Through a mirror darkly.“

13: “When I used the extraction chamber, I got knocked into this universe, I didn’t know I succeeded in bringing you back until Clara crossed over and brought you here.“

R: “And what is my purpose of being here? I doubt she did it out of the goodness of her heart to reunite us.“

Clara: “She’s a clever one, isn’t she.“

13: “Clara wants my help to secure power.“

C: “In exchange for your life.“

Cut/alternate dialog between 13 and Missy back at the camp

Missy: “I was so happy when you turned up. It was like having my childhood friend back only just the good bits, before he turned…“

13: “Same.“ “But that is not enough for me to stay here. I know most of my friends, they’re gone but… I can’t bare to see them like this. And River…“

M: “Tell me about her.“

13: “What?“

M: “I want to know about her. About your wife, what was she like?“

(…)

13: I just thought if I could…“

M: “But an extraction chamber, Doctor…“

13: “I used it once before… stupid really… and it cost me a lot then too… but at least she’s out there, travelling the universe, I know she’ll return eventually so… no harm no foul? I thought that… now that there are no timelords left I could… no-one to police the bloody thing…“ “We could have eternity together and then when it is my time, she would return to her moment of death and we both just…“

M: “It’s a wonderful idea… but how many people do you actually know that would go to their death knowingly?“

13: “Clara will… else my universe would have broken apart long ago. I would. I have done it, many times… And I know River would, too. She… we… are not like the people you know.“

M: “Then I hope you will succeed Doctor, truly.“

(…)

13: “What are you hoping to accomplish here?“

M: “I don’t know. But I can protect the people here, not everyone is like them…“

13: “Of course not, there are good and bad people everywhere, it’s just the other way around here…“

M: “And everyone has both good and bad inside of them as well, Doctor. No-one is born good or evil, they’re all choices. Choices made due to different circumstances and values and…“

13: “I can see that. I could have gone her way… I really could have… and in my world, you did… And I tried so hard to get you back, get my best friend back. Another failure added to a long long list.“ “She’s kept them all alive and close… Amy, Rory, Clara, River… Maybe she is right, maybe I was just too weak to protect them.“

M: “Kindness is not weakness, Doctor.“

13: “Here it certainly seems to be.“ “What’s worse is, I don’t want to be part of any sort of assassination attempt, not even on someone like the Emperor…“

M: “Regrettably, I feel the same way. She may be… cruel, violent, a terrible person but she’s also… she used to be my best friend. I know I might not be able to get her back, in the same way as you didn’t get your Master back… but I don’t want her to die. I want to stop her, not kill her.“ “And I don’t want Clara Oswald to stand in her place, either.“

13: “The we disregard Clara, whatever she is planning and we come up with something of our own. Whatever she tries to do tomorrow, she will need me, that puts us at an advantage. There will be confusion, whatever happens, we can use that.“

M: “And we can free your wife. Maybe, if we can uncover Clara’s plot, the discord amongst the Emperor and her so called friends will give us an opportunity.“

Alternate Version of the gladiator games, the Emperor decides to kill River herself rather than having her and Missy shot

“I’ll do it myself.“ The Emperor decided and before her wife or anyone in the royal box could protest, she made her way down the stairs to the arena floor.

“Round two it is then?“ River grinned excitedly. “You might want to step back for this.“ She gave Missy an apologetic smile. She could only assume that she disliked fighting just as much as the Doctor did. She watched the Emperor as a guard rushed towards her when she reached ground level. He offered a long sword to her. “What? No weapon for me?“ River called out.

“Wouldn’t be much of an execution then.“ The Emperor smirked.

“I hope you know what you’re doing…“ Missy reached for River’s hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

“Not usually but when has that ever stopped me.“ River winked and let go of her hand, gesturing for her to get out of the way.

“This time, I won’t go easy on you.“ The Emperor said, pointing the sharp blade at her.

“Likewise.“ River grinned as she kicked off her heels. She wasn’t exactly dressed for a fight, she still wore the same gown she’d come to the Emperor’s quarters in to impersonate her wife, but she would make due. They started circling each other. River had scanned her surroundings, there were no weapons to be found.

(…)

Emperor: “She betrayed you, you know.“ “She was sneaking around the palace, trying it on with my wife while you were trying to get to her, probably.“

River: “Who can blame her? I mean, look at us.“ “You think I’m so insecure that I care? Do you have any idea how many times we’ve each been married to other people? You think what we have is so small and confining? You don’t know the first thing about what we have.“ “We don’t tie each other down.“ “Well, unless we do but that’s an entirely different context.“

E: “She left you here to die.“

R: “Did she? Or did we just split up to carry out our bits of the plan? Because we’re not joined at the hip and able to look after ourselves?“ “You’ll see, she’ll be back.“

Cut dialog between the Emperor and the Doctor after the Doctor outsmarted them and decided not to kill her

13: “Don’t mistake mercy for weakness. How are things ever going to change if you don’t break the cycle.“

Emperor: “The moment you leave, someone else will take my place, you’ll see, you just don’t understand this world, Doctor.“

13: “I understand enough. It won’t be easy but if good people band together and make a promise and stand their ground their cause will outlast you and any other destructive force looking to tear it down.“ “Because that’s the difference, equality, freedom, kindness, they are ideals, they are ideas and you can’t destroy ideas, you can try and bend and distort them, doctor them, if you will, but they can’t be destroyed. People can be destroyed. Not ideas. And there will always be people prepared to stand up for their ideas.“

E: “And they will DIE!“

13: “And what will you die for? Who I am is where I stand, where I stand, is where I fall! And even if I never get to return to the people I love, I will stand by my ideals, if that means staying here and keeping these people save then thats what I will do.“

#Mirrorverse #fanfiction #doctor who #cut scenes #river song #thirteenth doctor #thirteen #eleven #eleventh doctor #yowzah #space wives #Mirror Universe #through the looking glass #clara oswald

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singledarkshade · 2 years

Text

Conditioning

Epilogue

This is the final part of this story, I hope you enjoy. Rip woke up aware he was not alone in his bed but that wasn’t unusual these days. The house they were staying for the moment, while Gideon looked for a permanent home for them that she approved of, had three bedrooms. Most nights Jonas slept in his own bed, although he’d crawled in beside Rip every night for the first week but as he became more comfortable, and convinced Rip was not leaving again, Jonas stayed in his own room. But Gideon didn’t like being alone and the first night Rip had woken to find her standing nervously in the doorway to his room. Without a word he pulled back the covers, sliding over so she could take the other side of the bed, and she’d slept beside him every night since.

Turning to where his son was laying, Rip watched his little boy hugging his bear, the one Rip had kept hidden in a trunk for so many years.

“Is it morning yet?” Jonas asked seeing Rip watching him.

Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, Rip nodded, “It’s early but you can go watch cartoons if you want.”

“And we’re going to the party later?”

“That’s right,” Rip replied, “It’s Michael and BJ’s birthday today so we’ll be going to your Uncle Rory and Auntie Amy’s after lunch.”

Jonas grinned, before sliding off the bed and bouncing out the room to head downstairs. Rip sighed softly, having Jonas back had changed everything and he felt a weight had been lifted.

“Good morning,” Gideon’s soft voice made him turn to where she lay beside him.

“Morning,” Rip murmured.

Gideon smiled at him, and it was like the sun coming up. Rip had always found her beautiful in either form but now fully human, she was luminous. Everything was new to her, and she took so much joy in each new experience she had.

“Can I ask you something, Captain?” Gideon breathed.

Rip nodded. This was obviously something important to her, as those were the only times that she didn’t use his name these days.

“You let me sleep beside you each night,” Gideon said softly, “And I wake most mornings held in your arms but I…”

Concerned Rip took her hand, “What?”

“I don’t know what we are,” she explained, “I’m no longer your AI. I’m just a little confused.”

“You’re my Gideon,” he reminded her, “My best friend and the only one who knows completely.”

She blushed slightly, “Are we only friends?”

“That’s your choice,” Rip breathed.

Nervously Gideon moved closer to him and brushed her lips to his.

“Are you sure?” Rip murmured softly.

Gideon nodded, “Completely.”

Rip slid his arm around her, pulling her against him and kissing her again with a smile.

“Daddy, I’m hungry,” Jonas called from downstairs.

Pulling back from their kiss, Rip shrugged, “I come with Jonas, and he comes first.”

“I have always known that, Rip,” Gideon chuckled, “And he will always come first with me as well.”

Kissing her quickly once more, Rip slid out of bed and headed to feed his son a smile on his face.

Amy laughed as she watched her husband and father-in-law decorate the living room for the twins’ birthday, they wouldn’t notice and would never remember this party never mind the decorations everywhere.

She couldn’t believe her baby boys were now one year old.

A month had passed since Rory had come home and somehow after everything that had happened, no one remembered Rory being arrested, tried, and convicted of her murder.

Not even her parents.

His job had been waiting for him, with everyone thinking he’d taken a few months off to help Amy with the kids.

Frustratingly they’d not got a straight answer out of either the Doctor or Kate how they did it, and Rory had told her to stop worrying.

It had taken a little time but the boys, and Brian, stopped clinging to Rory as though he was going to disappear at any moment. Amy on occasion still had a few moments and tended to sleep with her arms wrapped tightly around him, just in case.

What was even better was that Rip had found a house to rent only a few blocks away from them and was looking for something much more permanent in the area. Rory was ecstatic to have his brother so close to them and it meant Jonas was getting to know them better.

Amy knew that there would be times that Rip might need their help to pick him up from school or, considering the way she could see Rip and Gideon’s relationship going, they would need to babysit the little boy so the more time he spent with them, the better.

“Is it straight?” Rory turned to Amy.

Knowing they wouldn’t stop until it was perfect, Amy decided against teasing the two men and nodded.

“It looks great,” she assured her husband and father-in-law.

Finally they finished and Amy checked on the boys, who were still fast asleep. If they didn’t get up soon, they were going to miss their own party.

*********************************************

The party was finally over, and the guests had all left, Rip watched his son play with his cousins as he took down the decorations, while Gideon helped Amy clean up in the kitchen and Rory was putting away the last of the presents the twins had received.

The last month had been extremely busy as the Time Masters and Time Bureau merged to become the one organisation. Bennett had not been happy with the idea at first but once Rip explained his plans the other man realised that Rip was right and agreed.

To make sure he had a place to work during the merger and for the future as a member of the new council Rip reclaimed his old office within the Bureau. Gideon had found an office nearby as she had been asked by Eve to take control of the AI and ship maintenance for both the Bureau and the Vanishing Point.

He knew that it wasn’t ideal jumping from the house to Star City each day but working from home was currently not an option, and Rip didn’t want to uproot Jonas again. Especially as here he had an aunt, uncle, cousins and a grandfather who he was getting used to having around.

There was still a lot of work to do with the new Time Masters, but Rip felt that with the new council then the original mission, the one they’d been trained to serve, would be what they followed from now on.

Gideon took a seat at Rip’s side, smiling as he slid his hand into hers. Rip caught Amy’s smirk, but she said nothing instead handed them both a mug of tea.

Rory took a seat on the other couch and, after placing tea down on the table for them, Amy sat at his side cuddling close.

“Should I ask,” Amy said, making her husband nudge her, “What?”

“Leave them alone,” Rory scolded her.

Gideon laughed, leaning into Rip whose grimace matched his brother.

“You don’t have to tell us anything,” Rory told them, “Ignore Amy and her prying.”

Amy rolled her eyes as Rory kissed the top of her head.

Rip sighed and squeezing Gideon’s hand said, “We’re taking things very slow and seeing what happens. It’s complicated.”

“No, it’s not,” Amy replied with a smile, “You care about one another, and you care about Jonas. Besides I’ve seen you two together and you’ve been a couple for a long time. Even when Gideon was an AI.”

Gideon looked up at Rip who smiled, “She’s right. This is just…”

“Like you’re no longer in a ‘long distance’ relationship,” Amy suggested with a smile on her face.

Nodding Gideon breathed, “I like that.”

“Me too,” Rip replied softly.

*********************************************

Rip carried the sleeping Michael while Rory took the almost asleep BJ up to their room.

“Away from Amy and her subtle matchmaking,” Rory said as they changed the boys’ nappies and put them into their pyjamas, “How are you and Gideon dealing with all the changes that have happened recently?”

Smiling slightly, Rip replied, “It’s strange that she’s now human but in other ways it hasn’t really changed much. She still controls my life.”

Rory chuckled.

“Having Jonas back is perfect,” Rip continued, “Waking up every morning and knowing he is there…” he paused and rested Michael in his cot, “I always loved helping out with the boys, helping you and Amy but they’re not mine. Jonas is,” Rip blinked back the tears that were filling his eyes, “He’s my son and I lost him for so long…”

Rory quickly settled BJ before moving to his brother and hugging him.

“You have him back,” Rory whispered, holding his twin tightly, “And he absolutely adores you.”

Pulling back, Rip looked at his twin and smiled, “I’m grateful to have you all to help me with him. Miranda was his main parent for most of his life. I was the fun dad who appeared every so often and we played games or read stories. Now I have to discipline.”

“I’ve seen you with the Legends,” Rory reminded him, “You’re actually quite good at it.”

Rip chuckled.

“And things with Gideon?” Rory asked.

“Very different from my relationship with Miranda,” Rip noted.

Rory shrugged, “I believe that’s good but as I have only ever been with Amy, not something I can advise on.”

Rip smiled softly, “It’s good. She’s getting used to being human, so I don’t want to push her but Amy’s right, we’ve been a couple for years. This is just a slight change in circumstances.”

“Don’t tell Amy that,” Rory rolled his eyes, “She’ll be insufferable.”

The brothers laughed before wincing as the sleeping twins reacted to the noise, and they quietly left the room.

Amy watched Jonas move from his bean bag chair to sit with Gideon on the couch, leaning into her with his eyes closing. A few moments later, the little boy was fast asleep.

“It’s great that’s he’s so comfortable with you,” Amy noted as she watched Gideon gently stroke the little boy’s back.

Gideon smiled, “I love that I can hug him now.”

“He’s a wonderful kid,” Amy said, “He’s so good with my two and they adore him. Just say the name Jonas and they get excited.” Amy tilted her head thoughtfully, “I only have them because of you.”

Gideon blushed slightly, “I did nothing. It was a simple medical procedure.”

“Not what I mean,” Amy replied, “You kept Rory safe when you didn’t have to.”

“At the time, I knew he was connected to my Captain,” Gideon explained, “And I knew Rip would want me to protect him.”

Amy nodded, “I’m glad you did.”

Gideon smiled before she bit her lip, “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” Amy assured.

“I have only been human a short time,” Gideon reminded her, “And most of it I have been busy helping to merge the Time Bureau and Time Masters. I have made do with the basic clothing that was programmed in for this time but…”

“You want to go shopping?” Amy asked with a grin.

Gideon nodded, “I hoped you would come with me.”

“Only if we make it a proper day,” Amy told her, “Meaning shopping, lunch and a manicure or facial.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Gideon said softly.

Amy grinned, “I will organise that and we’ll leave the kids with the guys.”

Smiling back, Gideon replied, “I look forward to it.”

Returning to the living room, Rip saw his son fast asleep cuddled close to Gideon who was talking freely with Amy and smiled.

It was such a wonderful thing to see Gideon so relaxed with his sister-in-law. Although commanding when she was working, Rip knew Gideon was quite shy in trying to make friends as it was something she’d never had before. But it was clear she and Amy were becoming friends.

“I hate to interrupt but we should get him home to his bed,” Rip said.

Gideon nodded, “Of course. Thank you for having us today.”

Amy nodded as Rory wrapped his arm around her, “You’re always welcome.”

Rip gently lifted Jonas up onto his shoulder. The little boy murmured wrapping his arms and legs around his father and settling happily against his shoulder.

As they made their goodbyes, Rip watched Amy hug Gideon.

“I’ll contact you about our day out,” Amy promised, “And remember anything else you need, let me know.”

Gideon smiled shyly, “I shall.”

As they started to walk back to the house, with Gideon’s hand in his and Jonas held tightly in his arms, Rip smiled.

#fic #crossover #legends of tomorrow #rip hunter #gideon #jonas hunter #doctor who #rory williams #amy pond

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kendrixtermina · 4 years

Text

I’ve commonly heard it said that Amy is a flimsy character because she changed jobs often, and that just makes me shake my head because...

The first thing we learn about Amy right out of the gate, her most defining characteristic, is that she’s a free spirit. She kept her original accent after years of living in an English village, she witnessed a mysterious event as a child and no one in the village could convince her otherwise even when they started treating it as a problem. She’s the sort of person who would keep insisting that 2+2 is 4 even if a totalitarian government told you it’s 5, which is really admirable in itself.

However, like most traits, this can be good or bad depending on the circumstance. People who want to be free are often afraid of being tied down. The whole plot of series 5 was that she was reluctant to fully commit to a perfectly fine guy that she ostensibly really liked, and like downplaying that whole relationship... in this context it was certainly a character flaw that could’ve cost her much if Rory hadn’t chosen to forgive her, which he didn’t have to. (which is good like... many of us have hangups or make mistakes. I certainly have. )

(Though it was nice to see a scenario for once where the girl is the emotionally constipated one with the commitment issues and the boy is the gentle, patient person who wants a family, like in a lot of media not only do you always see the opposite it’s treated as inherently indistinguishable from boy/girl; both are valid, real, common personality types, but any gender can have them.)

In the mbti and enneagram respectively, I’d class Amy as an ESFP 7.

And just like these free spirit sorts of ppl might be reluctant to stick with one particular partner they might also commonly change jobs, try a new one when they get bored of the last. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it makes you flexible & a jack of all trades. That she doesn’t stick with a job too long is itself characterization, in the same way as someone having skills from doing the same job a long time. (meanwhile Rory, the down to earth reliable one, stays a nurse the whole time) I mean some ppl can’t have the same job from 20 to 60 because they get fired & have to take what they get. This is something people absolutely do in real life.

The kissogram thing is exactly the sort of mildly socially transgressive job a free spirit would have and is also a result of that phase in her life where she wanted to put childish things behind. (something I find super relatable tbh), the model thing is kinda similar, making money of her looks, it doesn’t require deep thought if it’s just a short-term gig.

Then as she gets older & wiser & gets to know herself better she ends up with stuff that utilizes her actual talents & inclinations more like the journalist job.

The “defining” job for Amy, in the way that Rose is defined as a retail worker, Donna as a secretary, Martha as a physician, Clara as a teacher (or the Doctor as a scientist, for that matter) etc. is not the first one she had when she was young & didn’t have her life figured out, but the one she eventually ends up with: Author. I think I don’t need to elaborate how her whole arc & presence in the show had a big storytelling motif going on from start to finish.

Interestingly enough Clara is seen owning books by Amy, and she also went to meet some of her favorite authors so it’s possible that she said one day, “I want to meet Amelia Williams!” Cue sad explanation for why that’s not possible.

#doctor who #amy pond #amelia point #amelia williams

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armageddon-generation · 4 years

Text

The Big Moffat Rewrite: Series 7

Following on from my Series 5 and my Series 6 rewrites

XMAS SPECIAL The Snowmen

The Bells of Saint John

The Rings of Akhaten

Cold War

A Town Called Mercy

The Slow Invasion

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

Asylum of the Cybermen

Nightmare in Silver

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

Hide

Supremacy of the Daleks

Extermination of the Daleks

The Name of the Doctor

The Snowmen

· 11 is still a recluse in Victorian London, but because in my Series 6 he left the Ponds instead of losing them, it’s because he’s convinced he’ll screw up if he travels again. After wiping himself from history he’s lying low, not helping because he’s convinced he’ll make things worse

· (also he’s totally wallowing in self-pity because of his self-imposed exile from the Ponds)

· Clara re-convinces him he can make positive change, drags him out of his self-absorption, shows him something new

CLARA’s CHARACTER

· Clara gets all of series 7. Moffat originally wanted The Time of the Doctor to be a whole series, so we can fit some of that stuff about the Silence and Trenzalore in here.

· GIVE CLARA A FUCKING ARC – the Doctor takes an ordinary girl who he thinks is special, and accidentally makes her special

· Most people seem to prefer Victorian! Clara to her in S7B anyway, so she becomes that flirty, authoritative character by the finale

· The pieces were already there – her being scared in Cold War compared to her taking charge in Nightmare in Silver, but make it explicit – the Doctor realises he is changing Clara and turning her into the person he met in Victorian London and the Cyberman Asylum

· This sets up her arcs and relationship with 12 – he brings out the liar in her, forces her to become cold and calculating. This is now already happening with 11

The Rings of Akhaten

· Introduce Trisha Lem, the head of the Church of the Silence, here. The best part of this episode is The Speech, but we could easily say that the Silence is presiding over the Long Song ceremony to appease the Old God, taking the place of those creatures hunting the little girl.

· (I imagine the Church pre-Trenzalore as a kind of Shadow Proclamation for religion - presiding over and safeguarding the religious traditions of species across the universe)

· This way Trisha and the Silence’s role as confessionals doesn’t come out of nowhere in The Time of the Doctor

· 11 and Trisha’s relationship being so flirty confuses me - as the head of the Church, 11 must associate her with all the pain the Silence caused River and the Ponds. Instead, he acts really flirty but Clara notices he’s faking it – a reflection of their own relationship?

· Trisha doesn’t understand why 11 is being elusive.

A Town Called Mercy

· Use this story’s framework – a Western where 11 is forced to protect war criminal – and insert River

· Partly bc River and Clara interacting seems super interesting

· River is angry at 11 for ‘replacing’ the Ponds. I also think she’d be competitive with Clara? As she’s scattered all over the Doctor’s timestream, Clara is the only person who really could compete with her

· As an archaeologist expert on the Doctor River knows about Clara, but can’t tell 11 exactly what she is

· Also 11 agreeing with River’s more violent methodology is really interesting and shows how they can feed into each other’s dark sides – think River’s line from The Angels Take Manhattan – “One psychopath per TARDIS, don’t you think?”

The Slow Invasion

· A version of The Power of Three told from the perspective of the Alice character who replaced Craig in S5/6. 11 pops in and out of her life with different versions of Clara

· It’s revealed that 11 has tried to travel with different versions of Clara before, tracking her down all across the universe, but she always, always dies. Our Clara doesn’t know.

· Alice is deeply critical of what 11 is doing. She acts almost as his therapist; he comes over for tea and talks to her about what’s going on.

· Instead of the cubes being alien exterminators, this is a plot buy the Great Intelligence (series 7′s big bad) inspired by the Skith from DWM comic The First and Superman villain Brainiac – i.e. the Intelligence is collecting all information it can about a thing, and then destroys it to stop that knowledge becoming commonplace and therefore losing its value. Specifically, the Intelligence is also investigating Clara (because she keeps appearing across its timeline). The Intelligence’s fascination is a dark parallel to 11’s

· Alice asks 11 what happened to the Ponds, and he reveals they still think he’s dead. Alice tells 11 to go see them (the ending scenes of The Doctor, the Widow and The Wardrobe). She also tells him to start treating Clara like a real person, not a human question mark

· 11 takes Clara to meet them. River is also there, having dinner. The episode closes with them reconnecting

Pond Life

· After The Slow Invasion launch this minisode series about life post-11, with River barging in instead of the Doctor

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

· Tie the TARDIS disliking Clara into the series arc – it’s because the TARDIS knows Clara is an anomaly scattered through the Doctor’s timestream. Have a scene in Journey To the Centre of the TARDIS where 11 argues with the TARDIS about it – “Do you know what she is? You do, don’t you? I miss the time when you could talk and just tell me.”

· The TARDIS went to the end of the universe to throw Jack Harkness off, and 11 abandoned Future!Amy in The Girl Who Waited because the TARDIS hates paradoxes – this is the same kind of thing, just make it clear by the finale (Clara even jumps into the time stream INSIDE the TARDIS)

· Clara remembers the events of the episode so she can be be active in the investigation of who she is, (also fixing how the episode undoes the three brothers’ arcs, but still insists they grew as people at the end)

This represents 11 opening up to her and trusting her more

Asylum of the Daleks (retitled Asylum of the Cybermen)

Roll Nightmare in Silver and Asylum into a 2-parter, because the best part of Nightmare is Mister Clever. Both episodes even have the same ‘someone’s about to destroy the planet’ ticking time bomb.

The army fighting the Cybermen kidnap 11 to get him to destroy the Asylum with a bunch of expendable grunts they can afford to lose to a suicide mission.· Clara meeting/interacting with another version of herself is really interesting, so we keep converted Oswin saving them·

Changing it to Asylum of the Cybermen makes more sense thematically

All those people, including Oswin, being converted – the Asylum’s security system is its conversion machinery – attackers become part of the security system. Instead of a nano-cloud, use the tiny upgraded Cybermats·

It would also be scarier (a haunted hospital a la World Enough and Time- botched cybermen > insane Daleks) and would add an interesting layer to Cyberman lore instead of making the Daleks look weak. It can also use old models to explain the Cybermen’s multiple backstories, touched on in The Doctor Falls (”everywhere there’s people, there’s cybermen,” 12 says)·

The ‘subtracting love’ thing makes more sense with cybermen too – instead of Amy and Rory, focus on Clara holding onto her connection with 11 – emphasising their genuine, emotion-based bond over ‘flirty quirky plot device’·

This renewed focus on the Cybermen is good because the last full-on Cyberman story was in Series 2 (in The Next Doctor they’re just kind of in the background), and Moffat is much better at writing the body-horror of the Cybermen than he is writing the Daleks.

Nightmare in Silver

· 11 deliberately lets himself be ‘infected’ by the asylum’s nanocloud and begins conversion in attempt to save the converted Oswin’s mind.

· Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the origin of Handles, the Cyberman head from The Time of The Doctor: the remains of Oswin’s cyber-converted mind downloaded into a head.

· 11 uses Mr Clever to get information about her - i.e. that she just appeared one day as a fully-formed person without any family. This sets up the other Claras being time remnants.

· It also lets Mr Clever play more psychological games with 11 and Clara – Mr Clever reveals 11 is scared of Clara, putting more strain on Clara having to hold on to her emotional attatchments

· The Cybermen are actively trying to get out. This way we dig into their primary drive – survival at all costs,

· What happens when a Cyberman’s emotional inhibitor is broken, but they don’t die? Driven insane and desperate, and fiercely intelligent.

· I like the idea of the Cybermen like the Xenomorph in Alien; blending in with thoier broken down, mechanical environment, plugging into it and using to separate and play games with the soldiers.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

· Replace The Crimson Horror with a version of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship with the Paternoster Gang replacing Brian, the Ponds, Nefertiti and that hunter bloke

· I just really need to see Vastra interacting with her culture OK? Seeing her be taken back to her childhood, opening up to Jenny about it. Her anger, realising what the villain Solomon has done to her people. Use this conflict to call back to and explain how she met the Doctor, how he stopped her slaughtering humans before.

· Clara and 11 go to the Paternoster Gang for help investigating her other selves

· Clara researches and finds her past selves, not only in Victorian London but also throughout the 60s and 70s, when she’s helping the past Doctors – finding this research is how the kids find out she’s a time traveller

· This is how THE DOCTOR REALISES HE’S SEEN HER MANY TIMES BEFORE, setting up The Name of the Doctor’s out-of-nowhere, un-guessable resolution.

· Dark!11 again. Matt saoid they would’ve explored a ‘meaneer’ version if he’d stayed on for series 8. Clara is the perfect way to bring that out as they lie and manipulate each other for their own ends.

DALEK CIVIL WAR STORY

· Progenitor Daleks vs the regular Time War model. Display how the Progenitor Daleks are different - each of them having a different weapon/role etc. The crux of the story is that the Progenitor Daleks are better at fighting the Doctor and come close to killing him, but the other Daleks value their ‘purity’ and survival more

· Maximum Dark!11

The Name of the Doctor

· When 11 rescues Clara she is changed – she retains bits and pieces of her time remnants’ experiences, it’s at once traumatising and exhilarating

The Time of the Doctor

· Whereas The End of Time felt stretched-out (135 minutes) this felt really rushed. Make it 2 parts.

· We see the set-up of Trenzalore and the Church of Silence in the first.

· The second part is the long siege of Trenzalore – we need to see 11 age fighting these monsters, taking his turn being left behind, the tragedy of him slowly losing his memory, focusing on his character

· We can also flesh out the citizens of Trenzalore and Christmas so their safety is important to us

· Let’s see Madame Kovarian and her splinter cell break off from the main Church of Silence and leave to try and kill the Doctor – make her a supporting character

· Then have Trisha Lem explicitly talk to the Doctor about how Kovarian blowing up the TARDIS caused the cracks in the universe in the first place, allowing the Time Lords to get their message out. Instead of a montage, have this be the moment that unites the Doctor and the Silence – they are both fighting to make up for their mistakes and the problems they caused

· We see the many races surrounding Trenzalore form the alliance from The Pandorica Opens

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the-desolated-quill · 6 years

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The Caretaker - Doctor Who blog (More Like The Piss-taker)

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

An episode co-written by a sexist moron and a transmisogynistic arsehole? What could possibly go wrong?

It’s present day Earth and the Doctor needs to go undercover and pretend he’s human in order to lure out and defeat an alien threat. No it’s okay. You haven’t stumbled onto my review of The Lodger by mistake. This is actually believe it or not a completely different episode. Seriously, is this the only idea Gareth Roberts has got? It wasn’t even very good the first time around. I might as well keep this review short because I’ve basically already talked about this. If you want to know what I think of the premise, read my review of The Lodger again.

It all feels so half-arsed this time around too. I mean The Lodger stopped being scary after about five minutes, but the idea had potential. This is just pathetic. The Skovox Blitzer. What a truly rubbish monster. It’s so generic and completely non-threatening, spouting silly catchphrases and possessing worse aim than a drunken Star Wars stormtrooper. The humour too is incredibly painful. Mind you, The Lodger wasn’t very funny neither. It took Eleven’s goofy eccentricities and magnified them to such unbearable levels of obnoxiousness that by the end I just wanted to hit him on the head with a chair. But in The Caretaker, the humour is actually worse because it makes the same mistake Robot Of Sherwood made. This type of humour just doesn’t suit the Twelfth Doctor at all. I admire Peter Capaldi as a performer and he does the best he can with what he’s been given, but he simply can’t do this kind of comedy. But it would be unfair to lay all the blame at Capaldi’s feet because I honestly can’t imagine anyone making these jokes work. The scene where Clara tries to convince Danny that his encounter with the Blitzer was part of a surprise play was just cringeworthy to sit through because nobody would ever talk like that in real life. And some of the jokes don’t even make sense. Why is the Doctor insistent that Danny is a PE teacher? What makes him think he can’t do Maths just because he’s a soldier?

Which brings me to the main problems with the episode. Once again this is yet another episode that focuses entirely on the Doctor, which is not only starting to become incredibly boring, they don’t even do it very well. Moffat and Roberts want to convey that the Doctor is a trustworthy leader who may need to rely on his companions sometimes for moral guidance, but always cares deeply about their welfare. How do they go about showing us? By having the characters just flat out telling us this. This is writing at its most amateurish. If you want to define a character, let them actually do stuff and then let the audience work it out for themselves. Show, don’t tell. And why do we even need an episode reiterating shit about the character we already bloody know? Here’s an idea. The episode is set in Coal Hill School. You know? The school his granddaughter went to? Maybe this would be a good opportunity to dwell on that. The Doctor hasn’t seen Susan in centuries. How does he feel about that? Has he ever thought about going back to the 22nd century and paying her a visit? (assuming she’s still alive). What about her teachers Ian and Barbara? Did they ever make it back? What happened to them? Oh but that would require some original thinking on Moffat and Roberts’ part and they’re clearly not fucking capable of that. It’s much easier to just rehash the same old ideas and use references to Who’s past as lazy fanservice rather than actually doing anything with them.

And why for fuck’s sake are we going down the love triangle route again? No doubt Moffat thinks the lack of romantic interest on the Doctor’s part puts a new spin on it, but it actually doesn’t. How is Twelve/Clara/Danny any different from Ten/Rose/Mickey or Eleven/Amy/Rory? (Don’t forget before this series aired, Moffat said this was going to represent a brave new direction for the show. What? Doing the exact same shit over and over again constitutes a brave new direction, does it? Fuck off!) This doesn’t work for three reasons. 1) We’ve done this many times before; 2) I don’t give a shit about Clara or Danny; and 3) the writing is fucking atrocious. Remind me, why does the Doctor hate Danny again? Because he’s a soldier? (and part time circus acrobat judging by the way he flips over the Blitzer). What is with Twelve’s one note hatred against soldiers? We’re back to the same problem we had in Into The Dalek. Yes the Doctor has always felt slightly uncomfortable around the military, and Nine and Ten’s anger toward soldiers and guns could at a push be justified by their PTSD after the events of the Time War, but Twelve doesn’t seem to have any justification for his extreme hatred toward them whatsoever. The two soldiers he’s met (Journey Blue and Danny Pink) have given him no reason to hate soldiers at all as far as I can see. He just hates soldiers because the script says he does, and that’s just not good enough.

But what angers me the most about this whole love triangle is the underlying sexism to it. (Brace yourselves @prettycanarynoir and @thealmightytwittytwat because this is probably the one and only time you’ll ever hear me defending Clara). When Clara has finished explaining to Danny all about the Doctor and the TARDIS and everything, the Doctor then angrily says that she needs to explain to him why she’s going out with a soldier (because all soldiers are inherently evil just because). I’m sorry, why the fuck does Clara need to justify who she’s dating to the Doctor? Who the fuck does he think he is? And it gets worse when it’s revealed that the reasons behind the Doctor’s mistrust of Danny is because he wants to make sure Danny is good enough for her, which just comes off as really patronising. Clara doesn’t need the Doctor to vet her boyfriends. I’m sure she’s fully capable of making her own decisions, thank you vey much. Not that this lets Danny off the hook. In fact in this episode Danny goes from being a gormless nobody that I couldn’t give a shit about to being quite possibly one of the most hateful figures I think I’ve ever comes across in New Who. The scene in the TARDIS where he effectively throws his toys out of the pram and starts mocking the Doctor for his soldier-ness really soured my views toward him as a character. The episode tries to present it as Danny making these deep observations about the Doctor, except he’s only just met the Doctor, so he can’t really judge, and he comes across as a spoilt little shit having a temper tantrum because he’s suddenly not the centre of Clara’s life anymore. And then there’s the scene at the end when Danny and Clara talk about her continuing to travel with the Doctor. Not only does he threaten to dump her if she doesn’t tell him every single aspect of her life, he then goes on to say this:

“If you don’t tell me the truth, I can’t help you. And I could never stand not being able to help you."

Um... who the fuck asked you to Danny boy?

It’s disturbing because Moffat and Roberts clearly don’t see this the same way I’d like to think most sensible people would. They think this shows two fiercely protective men looking out for the woman they care for, whereas in reality it looks more like two selfish arseholes trying to assert control over ‘their’ woman as though she’s their property rather than a person in her own right. It’s legitimately disgusting to watch, and the sad thing is I’m not even shocked by this. I mean what did you expect? Gareth Roberts has already displayed his sexist side in The Lodger with Craig Owens. A character presented as a romantic everyman, but who is actually a hideous embodiment of male entitlement who throws a hissy fit every time his girlfriend shows even the slightest bit of independence because her plans don’t coincide with what he wants. And we all know by now how much of a sexist twat Moffat is, despite his repeated claims to the contrary. Put them together and you create a misogynistic neutron bomb.

As you can probably tell, I don’t like this episode very much. It’s unoriginal, uninspired, boring as fuck, painfully unfunny, and the sexism is just gross, end of. Can it get any worse than this?...

Yes. Yes it can.

#the caretaker #gareth roberts #steven moffat #doctor who #twelfth doctor #peter capaldi #clara oswald #jenna coleman #bbc #review #spoilers

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frazzledsoul · 7 years

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A late night insomnia induced post in which I try to justify the second most upsetting event in Gilmore Girls history

. . . . I am of course, speaking of the Gilmore/Hayden marriage experiment.

(Disclaimer: if you’ve written any of the stories I refer to below, understand I’m not judging you. I mostly wrote this because of a very upsetting story I read which directly suggested that Lorelai would have been wasting her life with Luke if she didn’t give him that ultimatum. It made me think of a lot of the fanfiction trends I’m not comfortable with, but as always, it is just my opinion).

Fan fiction is always a unique experience.

First of all, you have to reach a particular level of insane obsession to even know what it is or to attempt reading it, and as far as I’m concerned, I have to go significantly past the route of no return before I even attempt it. You have to put up with a lot of sentimentality and bad porn to get to the good stuff, and if you’re reading fanfiction for a genre show, forget it. There are some weird ships out there, and stuff that bears no significant relationship to the show it’s supposedly about. The fact that Fifty Shades Of Gray emerged out of such a phenomenon is not shocking at all once you’ve waded into it, and that’s actually on the milder end of things.

I’m not even going to talk about the Walking Dead Negan/Glenn slash I accidentally read on here. Or some of the stuff I accidentally stumbled on about David Archuleta back in 2009 or so. Trust me, you don’t want to know.

I’ve noticed a few trends in reading fanfiction for Gilmore Girls’s’ core couple. First of all, there’s a lot more of it than I expected. People were passionately writing these stories three, four, five, six years after the show ended, and this is long before anyone even thought of a Netflix revival to continue the story. Second of all, a lot of it is actually really good. Third, this is a fandom that loves to go AU and “correct” certain plot events, and while that’s really not my thing, I’ve read quite a few of those stories and I’ve liked them more than I thought I would. However, there is one particular genre I’m not crazy about.

It appears that when revival spoilers came out that Luke and Lorelai were not married for at least part of the revival, it inspired . . . some angst. Quite a bit of angst. Even among writers I really liked. Nothing positive had changed in the Luke/Lorelai relationship. Luke still won’t commit or let Lorelai into his life. She’s still mournfully gazing at the engagement ring or the wedding dress and hoping things will change and he won’t budge. Sturm und drang. It’s season 6 all over again.

This appears a little funny in retrospect after reviewing what actually happened in the revival. Lorelai was clearly in the driver’s seat when it came to the marriage discussion this time around. She’s the one who decides to hold off for nine years: she’s the one that decides when it’s time to finally make that final step. The parental duties are kept mostly separate, but this was at Lorelai’s insistence (this doesn’t stop people from blaming Luke when he lives up to his end of the bargain, but I guess old habits die hard), and as Luke points out, he just went along with what she wanted. When Lorelai re-proposes, it’s Luke who comes running with the old engagement ring he’s held onto for a decade just in case she was ever ready for it again.

If anyone’s longingly looking at that ring, it wasn’t her.

Of course, there was a time in the show’s history when Lorelai was that person, and it’s not a time period any of us remember fondly. The sixth season finale is one of the most upsetting events I’ve witnessed in many years of obsessive TV watching. I think the only thing that really comes close for me is watching Jon Snow get murdered and seeing Glenn and Abraham get turned into human oatmeal earlier this year. We knew about Glenn and Abraham way ahead of time, and we got Jon Snow back two episodes into the next season. But I don’t think any of us anticipated the level to which Amy Sherman Palladino would sink her show.

The thing that upsets me most about the break-up in that episode is that Luke has been running around looking for Lorelai for days, clearly concerned about her welfare. He keeps trying to get her to sit down and discuss the situation rationally, and she won’t have it. She’s going to have a loud, noisy, public meltdown in the middle of the street, and he’s going to have to deal with it. Yes, there were real issues in their relationship that they needed to hash out. Maybe he wouldn’t budge in the end and she would still decide she wanted marriage and kids on her timetable more than she wanted him. But screaming in the middle of the street and stomping off and sleeping with his worst enemy when he wouldn’t immediately agree to her crazy plan wasn’t the way to have that discussion. There were very real issues affecting the custody of his child that partially caused Luke to act the way he did, and those issues would not be solved by the quickie wedding that Lorelai insisted that they have at that very moment. Not everything revolves around her and her biological clock, and if she insists on behaving in this manner, she’s not really of a sound mind to embrace marriage or motherhood, anyway.

(Oh, and a more apt metaphor for ASP and her approach to contract negotiations is pretty much impossible to find compared to this one, but I suspect this is the point).

That said, despite all of this, I kind of get it. Luke’s behavior gets really bad in the latter half of season 6. I feel I can’t judge him too harshly for prioritizing his kid, but it’s not pleasant to watch. I understand why Lorelai felt at that point that she had to break up with him, and why she married someone else after a few months.

I’m a 36 year old woman from Alabama. I have seen this situation play out in my own life more times than you know. The concept of a woman in her late thirties breaking up with a long-term partner because he isn’t ready for marriage and kids and quickly marrying someone who is is something that is very familiar to me. And in real life, these marriages actually last. When you get to a certain point, it’s easier to settle and compromise because you want the same things. Sometimes life isn’t fair, and you have to choose your best options.

When Luke justifies to himself that he and Lorelai were never meant to be together and tells he’s going to stop being angry and just move on, he basically gives her his blessing to pursue other options. She’s still devastated, but when Christopher shows up and makes his big romantic plea, it’s immensely appealing to her. Sure, it’s not the epic, passionate love affair she wanted, and she’d rather be hearing this stuff from Luke, but Christopher is doing all the stuff she wanted Luke to do. He lets her be involved with his child. He wants marriage and kids. They’ve been involved for 20 years anyway. So when he pushes for it in this ultra-romantic setting, she goes for it. Wanting the same things will be good enough to justify this decision, right?

Of course, it’s an epic disaster for the six weeks or so that it lasts. Christopher is weak, pathetic, and utterly useless to anyone who might have the misfortune of needing to rely on him. He let Lorelai participate in his child-rearing decisions largely because he was incapable of making them himself. Lorelai isn’t in love with him and she’s never fully committed to this life together, but she convinces herself that because they supposedly want the same things, it’s good enough.

However, Christopher isn’t good enough, and never will be. The character reference that Lorelai wrote laid out all that Luke was capable of, all of the love and devotion that he lavished on Lorelai and Rory over the years, and of how special he was to the both of them. Lorelai didn’t sign the letter OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE, but she might as well have. When Christopher read the letter, he knows that Lorelai still loves Luke because she will never be able to say those things about him. No one will ever be able to say those things about Christopher. He knows that he’ll always be nothing more than a very inferior replacement, and that Lorelai is never really going to be able to love him that way.

Eventually, Lorelai realizes this too, and ends this torturous marriage experiment once and for all.

As far as Luke is concerned, I think he allows his family to talk him into the idea that he and Lorelai were destined or failure as a way to live with the situation. If he allowed himself to think of everything that went wrong, he would go insane. And he can’t break down and do that, because he’s got a daughter to take care of now. It’s his way of stepping up and being the bigger person. The show starts building him up again, and they really, really needed to do that. He becomes a great guy again, and we needed him to be that guy.

I don’t think the reality of the situation really hits Luke until Lorelai shows up in the hospital with the wedding ring. Then he has to admit what he’s lost, but even then he can’t give up. He’s got a kid he’s got to fight for, a new infant niece, a very pregnant employee/surrogate daughter to look out for. When the letter’s read out to him, he allows himself to have a tiny bit of hope. And when Lorelai needs him, he drops everything and runs to her side, because he still loves her and would do anything for her. He’s worthy of everything in that letter at that moment.

I think what this brings us all to is that Lorelai ultimately learned that this set plan she had for marriage and kids was not what was going to make her happy. I think what both she and Luke came to realize that what they really wanted was each other, not some arbitrary expectation of what life was supposed to be like for them. Giving up on Luke was not the right decision because he couldn’t be replaced, and what she needed most of all was simply to have him in her life, and for him to be in hers. Both of them figured out that marriage and parenthood were going to be a lot harder than they thought they would be, and neither of those things mattered more than being together. Their life together was a good life, and it made both of them happy. Ultimately, Lorelai did decide that she did want to be married, and Luke wanted that, too, because all he ever wanted was her. However, that doesn’t mean the previous decade didn’t count because it didn’t live up the previous ideal. It did.

As far as the kids issue goes, I think for Lorelai it was mostly a vague afterthought. I think it was different for Luke, at least at first. It’s not an accident that he has so many surrogate kids. He did want to be a dad in some way, but having April gave him that opportunity, and it wasn’t a very pressing need after that. Besides, it’s not like he’s going to run out of additional offspring any time soon, either.

Life can be good, and deep, and meaningful, and worthy, even if it doesn’t live up to a Norman Rockwell ideal. I think Lorelai learned that when she tried to substitute someone else for the person she really wanted.

#gilmore girls #gilmore girls ayitl #luke danes #lorelai gilmore #luke x lorelai #fanfiction trends #fanfiction

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singledarkshade · 6 years

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Mistaken Identity

Part Nineteen

“Thank you for talking with me, Miss Stewart,” Sara said taking her seat across from the Head of UNIT.

The older woman nodded, “Of course, Miss Lance. Director Bennett has nothing but interesting things to say about you.”

Sara grimaced slightly at that taking a quick drink of her coffee.

“So, what can I do for you?” Stewart asked.

“I wanted to talk to you about Rory Williams,” Sara replied, continuing quickly, “He is helping Rip Hunter, who you know is someone the Bureau are looking to contain, but I don’t think he realises how dangerous Rip is.”

“Rory is a very smart individual,” Stewart noted, “But he also compassionate. He’s a nurse because he wants to be.”

“Do you know that they’re related?” Sara asked. She didn’t want to give away too much until she could glean what the other woman knew.

Stewart nodded, “Yes, the DNA results were quite a surprise especially as Rip, or Michael as he was known, disappeared when he was four years old without a trace. It devastated the family.”

“Which is why I’m concerned,” Sara replied, “I know how I would feel if my sister suddenly came back from the dead. I would let nothing take her away from me again. Rip can be very manipulative and he knows how to play people’s sympathies so someone as kind-hearted as Rory is his perfect target.”

“Rory may have just found his brother but his wife is someone who would not let anyone harm him,” Stewart replied, “Not to mention the Doctor.”

Sara mused on this for a few minutes before asking, “Is this Doctor as dangerous as we’ve been told?”

The older woman chuckled, “You have no idea, Miss Lance. If Mr Hunter does anything to endanger Rory or Amy, trust me, he will have nowhere to run.”

Musing on this Sara missed the woman speaking again, “Sorry?”

“I was just saying that finding his brother however must be something that is important to Mr Hunter,” Stewart said, “I’m sure you can understand that, Miss Lance considering your own loss.”

Sighing softly Sara nodded, “I can,” she replied, wincing slightly at the pain that stabbed into her temple.

“Are you alright?”

“Slight headache,” Sara took a deep breath before she decided to continue with the question that was really bugging her, “If Rory is a nurse where did he learn how to use a sword?”

“The perils of knowing the Doctor,” Stewart said sadly, “I’m assuming you’ve met the Centurion.”

Sara grimaced, “Up close and personal.”

Stewart chuckled, “I’ve tried so many times to get Rory to work for UNIT. With his skills he’d be an excellent member of my team but he’s always said that when not travelling with the Doctor he prefers the calmness of a hospital.”

Sara smiled slightly at this, “We will find Rip and stop him. I promise I’ll do everything in my power to keep your friends safe.”

Kate watched Sara Lance leave the room.

“Well that was an interesting conversation,” the Doctor said moving from his spot hidden out of sight, “You gave her plenty of information.”

“Not much she couldn’t really learn herself,” Kate replied, “No one can know I am helping you until the last moment. You know that so discussing this with Miss Lance meant she isn’t going to be suspicious of me. Besides as you saw it proved there is a chip within Miss Lance, considering her reaction to feeling any kind of sympathy towards Rip.”

The Doctor shrugged, “Has Osgood completed her scans?”

“She knows everyone who has a chip,” Kate assured him, “We’re ready whenever you are.” A small smile touched the Doctor’s face, “That might be a few more days while Rip and Rory learn to work together fully.”

Kate chuckled softly to herself.

“You knew Rory had a twin brother,” the Doctor accused, “Didn’t you?”

Kate nodded, “Of course I did. Anyone who is involved with you UNIT performs a complete background check on to ensure they are safe to be in the situations you inevitably find. Rory’s family history was included.”

“What do the files say?”

“That Michael Jonas Williams disappeared from his back garden one afternoon in July when the boys were four years old,” Kate replied, “Brian Williams was found unconscious by his wife with no memory of what had happened, Rory beside him. According to the file Rory spent a week crying for his brother. I’ve seen the video file,” she sighed, “The poor child was completely devastated and confused by this sudden hole in his world. It’s not easy to watch.”

The Doctor shook his head, “I need to get back to the Waverider. I will signal you when we’re ready. Until then be careful, Kate.”

Giving him a smile Kate watched him head into the TARDIS, as it disappeared she checked her watch.

It was time for another meeting with Bennett.

*********************************************

Gideon watched the brothers as they worked through the simulation. They moved fluidly protecting one another, anticipating each other, working in perfect unison.

“Simulation complete,” Gideon noted, “A perfect score, once again.”

Rip let out a sigh of relief, “Thank you, Gideon. Reset and shut down please.”

“Of course, Captain,” she replied, “Mrs Williams is waiting for you in the galley and the TARDIS has signalled me that the Doctor shall be arriving back imminently.”

“Tell Amy we’ll join her in a few minutes,” Rory said before turning to his brother, “I think we’re ready.”

Rip nodded as they started walking through the corridors, “Yes. I just hope this works.”

“It will,” Rory told him confidently, “We’ll free them from the influence of this Samson and stop him. We can do it.”

Rip smiled slightly as they walked.

“What?” Rory demanded.

“It’s just a few days ago you were convinced this would never work,” Rip pointed out.

Rory shrugged, “You taught me well.”

Rip caught his brother’s arm stopping him for a second, “Thank you, Rory for everything but especially for agreeing to help me rescue the Bureau and the Legends from this man.”

“I wasn’t going to let you do this alone,” Rory replied, “You’re my brother, Rip. I just got you back I’m not letting you do anything that could mean I lose you again. Since you need to do this I’m going to be there at your side.”

Rip smiled slightly before he leaned against the wall his arms folded, “I used to dream that there was someone beside me. Whenever I looked, I saw myself,” he laughed, “It never made sense to me until I met you.”

“How are you two doing?” the Doctor asked the moment they walked into the galley, the TARDIS sitting in the corner.

“Good,” Rip replied.

Amy rolled her eyes as she placed a mug of tea in front of each of them, “Gideon, are they telling the truth?”

“Completely, Mrs Williams,” Gideon spoke up, “They have completed the simulations perfectly ten times in a row. That is a higher score than I anticipated.”

“And as we know Gideon is very rarely wrong,” Rip teased innocently.

Rory laughed smiling as Amy gave him a quick kiss.

“So does this mean we’re ready?” Amy asked.

Rip nodded, “Yes. Rory and I are working together as best we can. Miss Osgood has managed to locate all people who have the chip and the Doctor knows how to deactivate them. We can’t put this off any longer.”

“I think we should go over the plan once more,” Rory said, frowning when his wife rolled her eyes at him, “I just want to make sure that we have everything covered.”

The Doctor shrugged leaning back in his chair waiting.

“Okay,” Rip took a long drink before continuing, “At the same time Gideon flies the Waverider over the Bureau, Rory and I will enter it through a portal in the main reception.”

“And you’re sure that your friend will try to access Gideon?” Amy asked him.

Rip nodded, “If Ray is as smart as I know he is, when he sees the ship he’ll know he can connect to Gideon using line of sight.”

“That’s a bit of a risk,” the Doctor noted, “Do you have a back-up?”

Rip nodded, “That would be you.”

The Doctor frowned, “Alright. I suggest you all get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow.”

Amy took the vitamins Gideon had fabricated for her before she slid in beside Rory who was staring thoughtfully at the wall.

“Penny for them?” she asked softly.

Rory turned wrapping his arms around his wife, “I’m just hoping that tomorrow goes the way we plan. I don’t know what Rip will do if it doesn’t.”

“We can only do our best,” Amy reminded him.

He sighed, “I know. I’m just worried what will happen to Rip if we don’t manage to stop this guy. He could end up being a fugitive for the rest of his life.”

Amy squeezed him, “He’ll always have a place with us, Rory. Plus the Doctor will be able to find him somewhere safe.”

“Somewhere far away,” Rory grimaced, “I don’t want to lose my brother, I just got him back.”

“You won’t,” Amy assured him, “The Doctor will never let that happen. You know that.”

Rory nodded before changing the subject, “We’ve been gone for five years. We’re going to have to think up a good story for where we’ve been.”

“We could just tell people we moved to New York for my work and it was sudden,” Amy suggested, “We don’t have to tell them we were living in the 1940s.”

He chuckled softly, “I don’t think either of us currently have a job either.”

“Kate always said you have a job with UNIT if you need it,” Amy reminded him, “Or she’ll at least help fill in the missing five years for us.”

“Did you ever think when we were kids that our lives would be this weird?” Rory asked as he slid them to lie down.

Cuddling close to him Amy laughed softly smiling as his hand rested on her stomach, “Actually, yes.”

Rip sat in his favourite chair in the parlour thinking over every possible outcome of the next day. He truly hoped they managed this because if they didn’t free the Legends and the Bureau there was no telling what damage would be done to the timeline.

“Gideon?”

“I’m here, Captain,” she replied.

Rip sighed softly, “You always are.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Gideon said.

He closed his eyes for a moment before replying, “That if this doesn’t work, if we can’t release them and something happens to me tomorrow I want you to rejoin the Legends. Keep working on removing the influence of the chip from them.”

“Please do not say that, Captain,” Gideon whispered.

“We have to face facts, Gideon,” Rip reminded her, “My plans don’t always go the way they’re meant to.”

“Usually because you have not listened to me,” Gideon replied.

Rip laughed fondly, “No matter what happens everything will change tomorrow. I just want you to be prepared.”

There was a moment of silence before Gideon spoke again, “I would prefer to join the Doctor within the TARDIS. I do not wish to listen to the crew disparaging you at every turn.”

A gentle smile touched Rip’s lips at Gideon’s loyalty to him, “I am asking you to do this, Gideon but I won’t order you. It’s your choice as long as you ensure that Amy is safe before you do anything else.”

“Of course I will, Captain,” Gideon told him before noting, “You should get some rest. Tomorrow will need you to be at your best.”

Rip nodded, “On one condition.”

“Which is?”

“Be in my dreams tonight,” Rip asked softly.

The lights dimmed making him stand and start towards his room. Rip knew that if things didn’t go the way they were supposed to tomorrow at least he’d had his best friend back for a little while.

Part Twenty

#fic #doctor who #rory williams #amy pond #twelfth doctor #legends of tomorrow #rip hunter #gideon

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the-desolated-quill · 7 years

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Let’s Kill Hitler - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Oh Christ, do I have to talk about this piece of shit?

I’ve made it no secret how much I despise Steven Moffat’s writing. His convoluted series arcs, his painfully obvious plot twists, his smarmy ‘too kool for skool’ dialogue that’s often dripping in pretentious bullshit, his one dimensional ‘quirky’ characters and his casual sexism. Even the few good stories he’s written have at least some of these problems. Let’s Kill Hitler is definitely one of the worst stories he’s ever written. Every problem I listed, Let’s Kill Hitler contains in excess. I HATE this episode with a passion. I usually watch these episodes twice before writing a review in order to properly analyse every detail. and that can be excruciating when it comes to other bad episodes. With Let’s Kill Hitler, it felt like my own personal torture. Halfway through my second viewing, I was about ready to jump through the TV screen and start throttling the characters to death.

After some bullshit involving crop circles and establishing that, after all this time looking for Melody Pond, the Doctor has achieved fuck all, we’re introduced to Mels.

Yes. Mels.

Well gee. Could she be Melody Pond? Nah! That would be ridiculous! Mels has a darker skin tone than Melody. It’s not as if she’s a Time Lord that could regenerate or anything... OH WAIT!

Oh God. Where do I start with Mels? What a smug, grating, unlikeable piece of work this is (also she’s the first woman of colour to appear in Leadworth and she’s a criminal. Lovely). I was about to say I can’t see how Amy could possibly stand to be around someone like Mels, let alone name her child after her, but then I remembered this is Amy we’re talking about here. She’s just as big of a bitch as Mels is. Just look at the way she treats Rory as they grew up. At this point I’m convinced Rory isn’t so much in love with Amy as he is feeling the effects of Stockholm Syndrome. So no. I have no problem buying Amy and Mels would be friends. They’re both utter bitches. I’m sure they got on like a house on fire.

You know, considering what close friends Mels and Amy supposedly were and how incredibly influential she apparently was in Amy’s life, it’s strange that this is the first time we’ve ever heard of her, which suggests that Moffat just pulled Mels out of the darkest depths of his arse in order to facilitate his shit plot. And as shit plots go, this is very shit. Worthlessly, pathetically, incontinently shit. Moffat has written some bad stories before, but this one simply takes the cake. NOTHING makes any sense whatsoever.

The Doctor and co crash-land in Berlin 1938 where they encounter the Teselecta. A robot controlled by miniaturised people who travel in time punishing historical criminals. Like with the Headless Monks in A Good Man Goes To War, the Teselecta isn’t an inherently bad idea. It could be potentially interesting. The problem is it barely gets a look in due to Moffat’s bullshit series arc. The story is really about Mels/River. The Teselecta, Hitler and Berlin are really little more than just a backdrop. This could have been set on a space station or in a Nandos and it would have been the same.

So Mels regenerates into River Song, at which point she’s labelled by the people in the Teselecta as ‘the woman who kills the Doctor’ and ‘the worst war criminal in history.’ Yes. River, who killed one man, is a worse criminal than Hitler, who facilitated the deaths of millions of people. Fuck you Moffat.

Okay there’s a lot to unpack here. I apologise if this review is coming across as a bit sloppy and all over the shop, but there’s just so many problems with Let’s Kill Hitler that its hard to know where to start.

Let’s start with the whole Time Lord thing. River can regenerate because she was conceived in the TARDIS. Well that’s bollocks. It’s like The Big Bang all over again. If a TARDIS can destroy the space/time continuum if it were to explode and can infect foetuses, why on Earth would the Time Lords have ever let one off the assembly line? The most popular excuse Moffat fans like to use is that the TARDIS is faulty. Um... yeah, because of its chameleon circuit. Not because it’s a radioactive deathtrap.

Also why would the Silence need to create a Time Lord to kill the Doctor? Think back to The Impossible Astronaut. The Doctor died from two gunshots. The first to start the regeneration process and the second to finish him off. You don’t need a Time Lord for that. Any old fucker with a gun would do.

Which brings me to the Silence’s motivations. So they take Amy’s kid and brainwash her into becoming an assassin (not a psychopath Moffat. Would it kill you to use Wikipedia?) by telling her all the crimes and evils in the universe the Doctor didn’t solve, thus proving what a bad man he really is.

I’m sorry, but even the village idiot could spot the flaws in that logic. The Doctor isn’t a God. He can’t be everywhere at once. And if he reversed every bad thing that ever happened in history, the space/time continuum would probably have more holes in it than a colander. Also, why is the Doctor the only sole person responsible for this? What about the fucking Teselecta? What about the Time Agency? What about your DIY TARDISes? The Doctor doesn’t hold a monopoly on time travel. If you want to fix history, why not do it yourself?

And then we get another bullshit mystery in the form of the Question. The first question ever to be asked. Hidden in plain sight...

......

NAH! Come on! Even by Moffat’s standards, that’s just too stupid.

Before I dive deeper into this cesspool of convoluted nonsense surrounding River Song, I suppose I should point out I’ve got nothing against Alex Kingston. I think she’s a great actor and has done some good stuff over the years. It’s not her fault that she’s been lumbered with such a shit character.

River is at her most annoying here. The smarmy, post regeneration dialogue is utterly cringeworthy and there’s just a sprinkling of casual misogyny thrown in for good measure, such as Mels saying she’s concentrating on a dress size just when she’s about to regenerate and River exclaiming she needs to weigh herself. And that’s not the worst of it. Everything River says has a flirtatious or sexual undertone to it, to the point where it becomes nauseating, there’s yet another scene where the Doctor has to ask Rory’s permission to hug Amy as though she’s an object rather than a person, the Captain of the Teselecta at one point makes a comment about the size of a female colleague’s arse, and then there’s this unforgivable line from the Doctor when Amy asks about River’s flip-flopping goals and motivations:

“She's been brainwashed, it makes sense to her. Plus, she is a woman.”

Moffat, seriously, go and fuck yourself! This isn’t remotely charming or funny. It’s just sexist as shit.

Matt Smith gets lumbered with shit too sadly. The Doctor gets poisoned by River’s lipstick (again, why do the Silence need a Time Lord for that? This makes no sodding sense), at which point he spends the majority of the episode flailing about on the floor like a prat. Not only is this horrible to watch due to Matt Smith’s god awful panto acting, there’s also no tension because we know he doesn’t die here. The death at the lake is a fixed point in time. He HAS to die there. So all this poison stuff just feels like a massive waste of time. In fact not even the fixed point in time stuff makes sense. If the Doctor’s death is a fixed point, why are the Silence bothering to kill him now with poison lipstick? And how do you create a fixed point in the first place? Who determines what’s fixed and what isn’t? I’ve always found the concept of a fixed point in time to have a slight whiff of bullshit about it, but this is just a whole compost heap of bullshit.

And how does the Doctor get out of this one? River gives up her remaining regenerations to bring him back to life. Because apparently she’s fallen in love with him.

Yeah! This isn’t a slow, gradual thing. She just suddenly changes her mind. She’s just sporadically in love with him now. Moffat doesn’t do anything to properly justify this change of heart, unless he's suggesting that the Doctor still caring for his companions on his deathbed was enough to make River’s heart flutter, which it isn’t. Maybe Mels had a crush on the Doctor growing up, but that’s bullshit too. Imagine if Mels was brainwashed to kill Hitler. All her life she’s been fed all the reasons why Hitler is evil and deserves to die. Would it be likely that she would fall in love with Hitler? Of course not! It’s the same principle with the Doctor. if she’s been brainwashed to kill him, it’s unlikely she would have any positive feelings for him whatsoever. So I’m not buying any of this.

But the biggest problem of all is the lack of characterisation and empathy. River Song isn’t a character. She’s a plot device. We never fully explore how she feels about the Doctor and she’s never written consistently. Her thoughts and motivations change depending on what the plot requires. River needs to save the Doctor now, so she just does. And in Moffat’s rush to connect all the dots in his bullshit series arc, he forgets quite possibly the most important characters in this story:

YEAH! Amy and Rory! You know? RIVER SONG’S PARENTS!

Over the course of this two parter, Amy and Rory discover a secret pregnancy, have the baby, lose the baby, realise the baby is both River Song and their best friend Mels due to convoluted time travel stuff, learn that their daughter is the one that kills the Doctor and they ultimately lose out on parenting their own child. That’s some pretty heavy stuff. Pity none of this is ever explored. In fact the one time this is touched upon, Moffat actually plays it up for laughs. What the fuck is wrong with you, you incompetent prick?

And then, just to rub salt into the wound, there’s this really weird line where Mels says it all worked out in the end because Amy and Rory got to raise her during the course of their childhoods, which is just prime Moffat idiocy right there. There’s this huge emotional tragedy taking place here, but Moffat appears to be the only one who hasn’t noticed. His attention is in all the wrong places, focusing on the mechanics of his convoluted arc rather than exploring what the characters are thinking and feeling. I suppose you could argue that exploring these kinds of themes might be too heavy for a family show, but if that’s the case, why is Moffat introducing the topic in the first place?

Like I said at the beginning, I’ve never liked Steven Moffat’s writing very much, but Let’s Kill Hitler was the point where I went from not liking Moffat to hating Moffat. This is easily one of the worst episodes he’s ever written and indeed one of the worst episodes in all of Doctor Who. Whereas A Good Man Goes To War was annoyingly stupid, Let’s Kill Hitler was insultingly stupid. It’s ill conceived, poorly written, utterly misogynistic and completely tone deaf. Fuck this episode and fuck you Moffat.

#let's kill hitler #steven moffat #doctor who #eleventh doctor #matt smith #amy pond #karen gillan #rory williams #arthur darvill #river song #alex kingston #bbc #review #spoilers

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