Making another post bc I refuse to let this go. Rewatched Jodie and Jo's interview clip about the Fugitive and her relationship with Thirteen and the parallels with Martha are sending me over edge look at this:

'She has a strong sense of self'

'she will not suffer fools gladly'

Jodie on Thirteen then says 'Jo's Doctor always has a kinda higher status because I'm kind of chaos'

~~~

And then they both go onto explain Thirteen and Fugitive's relationship to one another and listen:

'...which has forced her to question a lot of things and to not know one's identity is so important'

'every bit of information she was giving, even though we had no idea how we were intertwined... was of leading us to something'

Then Jo on Fugitive's weaknesses '...and she feels like she has to be strong all the time which is a blessing and a curse'

'which is a blessing and a curse'

I watched "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" again and noticed something I had not before. With the time period that it is (1913) and his job being what it is (history professor), John Smith mostly wears tweed suits.... and bowties. In fact, the night he dies, he has exactly such an outfit on:

It includes a polka-dot bowtie.

At this time, it occurred to me that someone else wears a lot of tweed, and bowties, and generally dresses like a turn-of-the-century British professor: the Eleventh Doctor.

Did this adventure perhaps influence the next regeneration's sartorial tastes? Perhaps. After all, the Doctor did tell Nurse Redfern that John Smith is still in there, somewhere... the manifestation of an adventure the Doctor might wish he could have, and the one he never can.

Perhaps the Doctor who wasn't ready to leave found a small way to stay. Or, perhaps, this new Doctor hoped he might find some way to be a little more human.

the only good thing about the family of blood episodes is it literally has a scene where a human doctor doesn’t remember the name of the TARDIS but of Rose and dedicates a diary entry to her

The Absolute Brilliance of the Arc of Season 3 of Doctor Who

There is really something to be said about the fact that nearly every single episode in Season 3 of Doctor Who feeds directly into the finale while never once feeling like a tacked-on addition to the episode itself as future arcs like the whole "Cybermen Afterlife" in Season 8 did. Like, Bad Wolf might seem more obvious (and yes, Season 1 has my second favorite season-arc of nuwho), but I honestly think this is the best, most organic arc build-up of any season of NuWho. Like, for example:

Smith And Jones: sets up Martha and Doctor's dynamic, first mention of Saxon

Shakespeare Code: weakest connection, but still an example of themes of charismatic speakers/power of words that Saxon will use later on

Gridlock: evolves the Doctor & Martha dynamic, reintroduces Face of Boe, Face of Boe's "You are not alone explanation," explains importance of Gallifrey/the Doctor being the last of his kind

Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks: not so much here, but it does mention the fact that the Doctor is the last of his kind, the only Time Lord survivor of the Time War, and emphasizes the lengths he is willing to go in order to help the Daleks evolve/guilt he feels over the Time War and being the last of his kind

Lazarus Experiment: shows why Francine Jones wouldn't trust the Doctor/how she falls under Saxon's sway to try and protect Martha, introduces deaging/aging technology

42: Martha's conversations with her mother are organically part of the plot because she thinks she's doing to die and it's revealed that Francine Jones is officially reporting to Saxon

Human Nature/Family of Blood: introduces chameleon arch/fob watch which is very, very important to the finale

Blink: as a companion-light episode, not so much foreshadowing here, but mentions Harold Saxon again

By the time you get to Utopia, you don't need any of the main mechanics of how the chameleon arch explained to you AND you have the Face of Boe's "you are not alone" warning to explain Professor "Yana" and dread can build without exposition. When you get to Sound of Drums, Harold Saxon and his connection to Francine Jones/threat he poses has been well-established and you have Dr. Lazarus' technology established to explain how the Master ages the Doctor. And in Last of the Time Lords, you have the Doctor's guilt over the Time War/his grief over his people well-established so you understand why he would beg the Master to stay alive even after everything the Master does + the Face of Boe/Jack Harkness reveal gets its amazing payoff.

TLDR; The subtle/organic storytelling in this season is absolutely brilliant. Maybe the best, most well-integrated set-up, build-up, and payoff of any season of NuWho.

"Falling in love? That didn't even occur to him? Then what sort of man is that? And now you expect me to die?" Yeah, I don't think it was a good idea to start thinking about john smith tonight :\

the way i CACKLED

human nature/the family of blood is such a conundrum. because it has some excellent acting and bits of writing but also treats martha horribly in a way that is not necessitated by the plot.

The urge to abandon all hope of finishing NuWho in time for Ncuti’s season just to rewatch ‘Human Nature’ and ‘Family of Blood’ is insane

Riley/Martha & Ten/Martha fic AU post-42

The Doctor doesn’t stop her as Riley’s face lights up and he follows her onto the TARDIS. It’s an apology and yet not one at all from the Doctor. It’s an apology in that he doesn’t say a word to her. It’s an acceptance that she’s important to him that he's willing to pull the lever, sending them and an amazed Riley into space and time.

To Martha’s endless fascination (and honestly a welcome shot to her self-confidence), she realizes that the silence is not just an apology; the Doctor is jealous of the fact that she has Riley.

(The thing is that Martha isn't even sure if the Doctor realizes it. Realizes that he cares about her, that he still wants her time to be his, to be liked, looked upon, appreciated. That he wants her attention.

But the kicker, Martha realizes, is not that the Doctor’s jealous of Riley asking Martha questions. He doesn't care if Riley doesn't ask him questions. He scowls when Martha answers them. He cares when Martha touches Riley. He cares when Martha isn't focused on him.)

It’s too bad that Martha doesn’t have a chance to feel out this new dynamic, this shift of power among those in the TARDIS, before the Family of Blood comes along.

(Aka: I read @stewy's post about Riley joining Ten and Martha post-42 and I realized that Human Nature/Family of Blood is the literal next episode and this spiralled.)

To those whose reblogs/tags on the original 42 post (or posted about the idea themselves) and caused me to start this AU: @stewy @thetavoid @orpheustwelve @tenmartha @forget-about-me2 @nngk-said-crowley @lady-of-the-spirit @bisexualamy @shittinggold

anyways, i'm still really annoyed that my master post about how badly race was handled in series 3 is gone, so i'm going to remind you all again. martha jones. black medical student who definitely would have been dealing with medical racism as well as general microaggressions. her family. the biggest in the rtd era and the most underutilised. making francine the angry black woman with little to no build up, making her antagonistic to the point of violence with barely any plot. no mention of the impact a father who ran off with a younger white woman would have.

shakespearean london. 1599. two years after the queen tried to expell black people from the town and ship them off as chattel, making martha's concern worryingly accurate. having the doctor dismiss these concerns making him sound like an idiot. shakespeare's fetishisation of martha. the doctor's unnecessarily aggresive, dismissive and simultaneously suggestive attitude with her. manhattan, 1930. excused away having to deal with the inevitable racism by throwing in a line by a black actor to show the writers didn't feel like dealing with it, despite race relation getting worse during the depression. still keeping at the needlessly suggestive scenes and lines aimed at martha - it is not funny or endearing for the doctor to pick up her knickers. i admit his "busy doing stuff" line with francine WAS funny, but overall, i'm not impressed with the borderline inappropriate innuendos levied at martha her season. right down to john smith asking martha what she 'does' for the doctor. and speaking of 1913. the only two parter to actively treat racism as if it exists...until it decides to reward joan (and john for the matter) with narrative sympathy. then we get 1969, another racially unstable era, especially as it's london. any black brit who was around in that era will tell you. and then the master and his jibes about ticking boxes off in demographics which is definitely supposed to be a jab at actual critique of the show but just makes him seem prejudiced also. which isn't exactly helped by him enslaving the jones', maid outfits and all.

not to mention subverting the first female black companion in the tv show's onscreen history into the doctor's. the first and only time they've done this thank god. to sideline her in her own story and constantly and negatively comparing her to the white predecessor was such a huge and avoidable error. not to mention completely forgetting her in 'the doctor's daughter,' seperating her from everyone for the majority of the s4 finale and pairing her off with the only other black male in the cast.

come on.

Thinking about how truly terrifying Ten was in Family of Blood:

73 and the 10th doctor!

Song: Mary by Alex G

Yippee!! Yippee!!! Thank you!!!!

Ask game is give me a number from 1-100 and a character and I'll draw them with a song. Anyway I drew John Smith bc. Blorbo to me. Also a massive dick, poor Martha she suffered more than jesus.

One thing that's interesting to note about Human Nature/Family of Blood is that it challenges the notion that everything was better in the old days. That story shows that 1910's England was in fact not a pleasant place to live in at all. John Smith, Joan Redfern, Mr Rocastle, Baines and Hutchinson are all embodiments of everything that was wrong with society in that era, as all four of them were complete arseholes! This is one of the story's strengths, as seeing those characters makes you think about just how bad we were as a society in those days and how we need to take care not to slip back into those bad ways.

I’m rewatching and season 3 Family of Blood always makes me cry. The life John Smith could have had! And the emotion put in to these scenes!

He actually says at one point “why can’t I stay?” Which so beautifully foreshadows/echos the Tenth Doctor’s last line.

And then there is this echo:

He knows he can’t stay as John Smith but despite that and despite missing Rose, he wants to try with Joan. He asks her to come with, to try to start again with him. Says that everything John Smith was is inside him. This feels like the Doctor equivalent to baring his soul. His human counterpart fell in love and he’s desperate to believe he can feel that again too. That maybe he can have just a bit of that life they saw. And then she all but calls him a murderer. Confirmation once again that the Doctor doesn’t get that.

I feel like I had more to say but I can’t remember. Must be all the crying.

All this really just to say that this episode is a masterclass and David Tennant is so good in it.

Human Nature/Family of Blood Behind the Scenes (Part 9)

Excerpts from  David Darlington’s interview with writer Paul Cornell for Doctor Who Magazine:

David Darlington: When you say that you're not spending your time writing other people's TV shows, Doctor Who is the most obvious exception – why are you still making such an exception? Paul Cornell: Because it's Doctor Who. And because it's Russell! Any time he calls I'll be there… David Darlington: How did the process of writing Father's Day compare to your other TV work, given that it must have been a long, involved and consultative process? Paul Cornell: It was very long and involved. We were all still putting together what the show was like back then, nobody knew. Russell had some very strong ideas of what he wanted to do, but it was very much a learning curve. I can't quite remember now if Father's Day actually went through eighteen drafts or if I've made up 'eighteen' because it sounds good in an anecdote. But it was lots, anyway! This time round it's been a lot swifter and a lot easier, and I think that's because, for a start, the guys working on the scripts know what they want, so they know when I'm approaching that and when I'm drifting away from it. And I think I've got better, which is useful! This time round it's been not so much hard work and more fun, which is always very welcome. And the input of Julie Gardner has been important - last time round she was very busy setting up the show, but this time round she's had more time for script and story work, and I always love it when she gets to do that, she really adds something. And we've had [script editor] Gary Russell at some of the meetings, which is always fun. He's trailing the wonderful Lindsey Alford. Lindsey started two days before we had our first meeting about the script, and she's learnt very fast and is really useful now. She and Gary both tend to make very precise interventions that solve something completely huge and wonderful. David Darlington: Did you always know, writing your new episodes, that you wouldn't be writing for Rose this time? Paul Cornell: Yes. I was rather terrifyingly aware of it before I should have been! I hate having to keep secrets, even though I do it very well. But I knew that Rose was leaving way back. I remember the bride being the ongoing companion for a little while, and then there was some thought of Martha coming from 1914 and that mine would be a story where she could visit her family again. But I think Russell's right in that you want an identification figure as the companion, and a historical or futuristic companion kind of dulls that. I think the only successful historical companion was Jamie, because he was such a great historical archetype and such a great performance, his innocence is crying out for us to identify with him. But it's very difficult to write a historical companion who sticks to his roots and gives us something to identify with…

With a shoutout to artist Will Brooks' excellent costume catalog for a couple of these photos!

Link to [ part one ] of this post, or click the #whoBtsHuman tag, or the [ full episode list ]