Do you ever think about the fact that Karen Gillan is currently at the age that Moffat considered "old" in the Angels Take Manhattan and want to take a bat to a car because this is the woman that Steven Moffat said "shouldn't show her wrinkles" to the Doctor?

“But We Love Martha Jones!” - The Doctor Who Fandom’s Selective Memory of Racism

Chapter 3 - Martha vs Bill

Moffat took us to a Bristol university in 2017, to meet the bright, friendly, chip-serving Bill Potts, the first Black lesbian companion of Doctor Who. Bill’s entrance wasn’t met with sunshine and rainbows either, with complaints of “PC agendas” and the accusation of her sexuality being “shoved down our throat” following her throughout Series 10. She was often called annoying and accused of being too angry. Her outbursts at Twelve weren’t fully well received, despite them only happening as a response to being emotionally manipulated and being shot and converted into a Cyberman against her will. Overreactions, right? That being said, Bill seems to have a more positive reception than Martha did and this can be pointed towards the writing. Moffat decided S10 would focus on Bill’s race and had the 12th Doctor bravely punch Sutcliff after his anti-black comments about her. This was mostly well received by the fandom and the Doctor was praised for taking initiative. How I feel about this scene and how Doctor Who handles race can be explained in way more detail for later but I can sum it up by saying I didn’t hate the scene: but I don't love it either. The racism Bill receives is barely mentioned again apart from a small comment in Oxygen, plus I see this scene constantly used to shut down any valid criticism about how race was handled in the Moffat era. Twelve is centred in this scene, not Bill. The fact this scene is referred to as “Twelve punches the racist” and not “Bill experienced racism” speaks for itself.

Leading back to Martha, a weird parallel is made between her and Bill. Yes, RTD and Moffat are different people who wrote different people but a parallel is there regardless; A brown-skinned woman expected to defend and save her white male incarnation whilst barely praised for it and constantly compared to her blonde white female predecessor, versus, the light-skinned woman who was actually defended by her white male incarnation. It's not the best look. The show set up the parallel by having Bill reference Martha’s butterfly effect conversation with Ten and the fandom carried this on. As much as I love Bill, her being held up as the Black companion “done right” has always felt wrong because not only are there critiques to be made about Moffat’s handling of Black characters too (Danny Pink anyone?), it reinforces Martha as the “failed” Black companion. “Moffat wrote Bill to do XYZ whilst RTD wrote Martha to do ABC” became “Bill did this and Martha didn’t so Bill was better Black representation!” Bill spoke about racism and Martha didn’t (even though she did in Shakespeare Code and Human Nature/Family of Blood), Bill wore her natural hair and Martha didn’t (even though Freema didn’t control the costumes), Bill did everything right (as if Martha did everything wrong).

Bill being placed on the pedestal of the “perfect Black companion” not only erases the antiblackness her character also experienced but reinforces how her darker counterparts, Martha, Mickey and Ryan, “fail” in comparison and “fail” in their Blackness, over reasons the characters nor actors themselves had any control over. It really begs the question of how different Bill would’ve been treated if she was darker, but I guess we’ll never know. If we’re gonna praise and uplift POC in Doctor Who, specifically Black characters, we need to uplift them in all shades. Only supporting the lightest person in the room whilst saying they’re better than the darker ones is not the anti-racist serve this fandom thinks it is.

<- Chapter 2 Chapter 4 ->

This might be the smallest of nitpicks i had with Moffat's era, but my mom is a nurse and I was constantly irritated by the implications that being a nurse was less than being a doctor. Nurses do twice the physical work for half the money/praise. They have to have a good bedside manner and should have a certain kindness to them that a Doctor doesn't necessarily have to have.

There was an angle that could have been played in the actual show if the writers were interested in Rory as a character rather than a prop. We got it occasionally like in the doctor's wife with Rory asking how the doctor just moves on from death/closes Idris' eyes, but most of the time it was just played as him being a lesser version of the doctor which irritates me because there is something gendered about the concept of nursing being lesser even though nursing is not a women only field (my uncle is also a nurse).

And I know that Moffat/the writers thought exactly on those lines, like nursing somehow emasculated Rory instead of being a strength, and it would have been SO EASY to make his skill useful (which I think is why I liked the handling of Rory being a nurse the most in 7a which is ironic because I mostly hate 7a but he got to help heal both when it came to his Doctor and in the hospital). There could have been something INTERESTING in the concept of Rory as a caretaker, Rory as the one who heals hands-on, Rory finding a purpose. This TARDIS team could have been equals, but because Rory was only ever a stand-in for the “right sort of man” for the writers, he was never going to be fully-fleshed out & never a true equal to 11amy.

I am watching season five of doctor (about to watch ep 8: the hungry earth) and I'm doing my best to give it a chance but I must say I'm not fond of amy or 11th Doctor so far :/ To me amy just doesn't have much to her? Her dynamic with the doctor is off-putting to me for whatever reason but to ge fair I might just be missing 9 and 10 and rose and donna too much andjdjd BUT I am in your askbox to ask your opinion on amy and 11?

The answer to this question is a little complicated, because it's less about Eleven and Amy and more about what happened to the show when someone else took over.

Seasons 1 through 4 were run by showrunner Russel T. Davies. In his iteration of Doctor Who, the show was very much focused on the companions; while the Doctor is a main character, the story of each season was less about him and more about the journey the companions went on. Seasons 1 and 2 (and her episodes in 4) were about Rose growing from a discontented shop girl into someone much more like the Doctor. Season 3 was about Martha finding confidence in herself and her own independence. Season 4 was continuing the arc Donna started in "The Runaway Bride" special, in that she found that both she and the world she lived in was so much more than what she'd thought it was for so long. (And then all of that was horrifically ripped away from her in one of the worst companion endings to ever happen . . . but maybe that will be fixed in the upcoming special?) Yes, the Doctor did things and got progressively more sad. But each season was much more about Rose, Martha, and Donna in turn. The Doctor and the TARDIS were just vessels for their stories.

But that . . . changed when RTD left the show and the showrunner position was taken over by Steven Moffat.

Moffat was the showrunner from season 5 through 10. Moffat's version of Doctor Who is very much centered around the Doctor, both in that the Doctor is a man who loves to solve mysteries (his primary motivation for taking Amy along, at least in the beginning, is because he's curious about the crack in her wall and wants to solve that mystery), and also as The Most Important Character in the Show. I find it kind of funny how many episodes were named "The [something] of the Doctor." Like we had The Name of the Doctor, the Night of the Doctor, the Day of the Doctor . . . I was ready for The Scent of the Doctor next. The Taste of the Doctor. The Feel of the Doctor.

The point is, the companions were in Moffat's version of Doctor Who for two reasons: 1.) so the Doctor could have someone to impress / a mystery to solve (both of his primary companions, Amy and Clara, came with mysteries), and 2.) because it's a series staple. And to be fair, from what I understand Classic Who also very much focused on the Doctor, with the (usually female) companion being there to entice men to watch the show (eye candy) and also for the Doctor to have someone to rescue / impress. So in that sense, Moffat focusing on the Doctor as The Most Important Character is going back to the series roots, as the most generous explanation I can give for why he wrote Doctor Who this way. (And also ignoring the other show he was working on at the time, BBC Sherlock, which also focused on a genius man intent on solving mysteries, hmm.)

In any case, I think this is probably the reason why you're feeling a disconnect; whereas in RTD's Who the main focus was on the companion, here the main focus is on the Doctor. Amy is there because a female companion is a series staple, because the Doctor needs a mystery to solve, and because Steven Moffat thought Karen Gillan was a bombshell. From his mouth:

"And I thought, 'well [Karen]'s really good. It's just a shame she's so wee and dumpy.' [. . .] When she was about to come through to the auditions I nipped out for a minute and I saw Karen walking on the corridor towards me and I realized she was 5'11, slim and gorgeous and I thought 'Oh, oh that'll probably work.'"

Note that this is not to discount Karen's acting ability at all, because she's a fantastic actress. It's just that Moffat wouldn't have picked her to play Amy if she was "wee and dumpy," and instead her being "5'11", slim, and gorgeous" was a deciding factor for him.

And then there's the whole . . . I don't even want to call it "romance" because I don't think that was ever the point. Because Moffat had already planned for Eleven to be with River Song (you met her briefly in season four), and Amy to be with Rory (their relationship is an archetype of his), and so really Amy throwing herself at the Doctor was meant to be more of a "isn't Karen Gillan hot, why don't we show her doing sexy things" and also "the Doctor is just That Irresistible," which is again something that Moffat does with Sherlock in BBC Sherlock, but that's another conversation.

TL;DR . . . I really don't like Moffat's Doctor Who. It's not for me. Moffat runs the show for Doctors Eleven and Twelve, and then all of the seasons with the Thirteenth Doctor are run by Chris Chibnall. But he's gone now as well, and Russel T. Davies is back for the 60th anniversary special (which brings back Donna and . . . they're calling him Fourteen because Thirteen regenerated into him, but it's David Tennant again), as well as the upcoming seasons with the Fifteenth Doctor. I'm excited to see those, since although RTD's seasons definitely have flaws, his method of telling Doctor Who was what I liked best.

And those are my thoughts!

Just got through The Angels Take Manhattan on our Doctor Who rewatch.

I spent a good ten minutes ripping it apart afterwards. Time did not make it better. If anything I have a better understanding of story structure a decade after it aired and that makes is worse. I hate that episode. Amy and Rory deserved a better final episode than that plot hole riddled MESS.

Jesus Christ, Moffat, what was with all the scares that Rory might not be the actual father?? It’s not funny. Just STOP. At least he is, but god, I remember watching this the first time and being so uncomfortable.

Thanks to a ✨depression haze✨ taking its sweet time to vamoosh from my mind i am only now able to form words about the Doctor Who trailer.

Fifteen has been in the grand total of the last quarter of The Giggle, The Church On Ruby Road & (2) trailers & he’s my second favourite Doctor of all time. I. Love. This. Version. Abolish UNIT's flooring king & leave the bill for your younger self <3 Every time I think of Fifteen, I think back to 2021 where me & my housemate were standing in the kitchen saying based on our mutual love for Eric Effiong that Ncuti Gatwa would be a good Doctor Who.

THE MUSIC 🎵 CHANGES🎵 honestly I went feral as soon as it started playing. For YEARS I have associated different Bowie songs with Twelve, Bill Potts & Danny Pink so I was screeching like a person deranged.

Will say though considering The Goblin Song, the musical notes around Ruby & the trip to The Beatles I wonder if music will play a core theme in this season? Little things like words on posters & names said aloud throughout the first RTD era turned out to be vital elements so I’m wondering if we’ll get something similar like that again.

VERY happy to see Cherry & Carla back. I always thought they would be seeing as RTD clearly loves his companions to have families & love that he’s returned to writing about & showing the importance of found/adoptive families like he did for The Sarah Jane Adventures 😊 did not get great vibes from the “I’m still her mum, I need to know she’ll be ok.” Line & the promise but again it’s RTD’s writing, he made it seem like Rose & Donna would be dead within their respective seasons & both of them are thriving with their respective versions of the Doctor.

THE SHOT OF HOLOGRAM!TEN/METATEN/FOURTEEN/FOURTENTH?!? love them, love him LOVE THEM but I hope it's just an image or someone flickering through & showing Fifteen pictures of his past selves like they’ve done in The Eleventh Hour, Nightmare In Silver, Twice Upon A Time, The Timeless Children etc & not a “Fifteen & Fourteen work on a UNIT mission together via holograms.” To me at least, it seems a little too soon to do another multi Doctor story especially when it’s only Fifteen’s first season.

THE CALLBACK TO MARTHA JONES & BILL POTTS WORRYING ABOUT STEPPING ON THE BUTTERFLY 😂🤩😂 me & my mum laughed so hard at this but at the same time, it’s adding to my theory that “doing the salt” at the edge of the universe IS responsible for myths/legends/theories actually happening in the Whoniverse now like the salt, the bi-regeneration, The Goblin King because in the song there’s a line that gave me this theory the “he’s not a myth, he’s an actual thing.” This will definitely be me reading too much into it but that’s just the conclusion I’ve come to.

I saw Indira Varma in (1) frame 😳 I had IMMEDIATE ✨gay thoughts✨ she is so beautiful 😍 BUT she started turning into a creature & I am not & never shall be a monsterfucker (even though admittedly the carrionites had me questioning things) but it will be a TEST OF STRENGTH.

There was what looked to be a flesh bowl & I immediately thought of The Gangers & seeing as Moffat’s emerging perhaps they’re making their return. After what happened with Bill Potts, Danny Pink & certain favourite characters of mine from my second favourite book in the entire world back in 2020 I am on the ✨fence✨ about The Return Of Moffat but he is ultimately incredible at writing a good horror story so if he does another one episode horror that’ll traumatise me for life & after, fair enough.

The alienvenom being in the corridor near made me yeet behind my sofa so I’m looking forward to seeing that story.

I’ve seen horror films I’ve gone through an ACTUAL HAUNTING & still nothing prepared me from how i nearly expired when i realised that THERE'S SOMETHING STANDING IN THE BACKGROUND IN TWO RUBY SCENES 😨

I’m gonna talk about ✨the scream✨ @ the Ruby of it all in another couple of posts.

Saw the Tardis console sparking: immediately wondered if there was any left over coffee in there 😅

I AM GOING TO LOSE IT WHEN I SEE ROSE NOBLE AGAIN 🥹 MY BEST GIRL IS COMING BACK 🥹 Lovely to see Mel! Hope this means more Classic Who companions will return at some stage (for the sake of how funny it would be unleash a NewNewWho Doctor on Jamie McCrimmon whilst the actor is still alive & willing to be part of the Whoniverse)

Fifteen saluting in his regency outfit (In the realm of fanfic in my head I am imagining Captain Jack Harkness being on the receiving end of that salute) but maybe it’ll be Jonathan Groffs new character? Whoever they are I hope him & The Doctor have enough gay activity between them that’ll make my family members who don’t like Fifteen when they “come across as gay” uncomfortable <3

The weathered Tardis near the sea reminds me of The Ghost Monument. I hope they make a figure/pop of the weathered Tardis, I need it for my collection 😅 I hope we get a The Ghost Monument mention just to annoy my family who still actively talk about how much they disliked 13’s era.

I am going to go a new level of feral in May, Fifteen ily so much 🥹

the overarching narrative of eleven’s era is honestly phenomenal, and it hits harder every time i watch it. the doctor has been burdened for so long by the weight of his decision to destroy gallifrey — a decision he made out of dire necessity, but that went against the very core of his being and everything he’s ever stood for — and he’s been fighting ever since to balance the ledger. (how many worlds do you think his regret has saved, do you think?) but despite every victory, he can’t escape his grief and guilt, and they inevitably begin to turn him into someone he never wanted to become. (a nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. the most feared being in all the cosmos.) all of this leads him to TDotD, where he comes face-to-face with the single greatest regret of his life — and realizes he has a chance to change it. he makes a new decision, and every version of himself that’s ever existed comes together across space and time to try to save gallifrey instead of destroying it, because that is who the doctor is. (never cruel or cowardly. never give up; never give in.)

and in saving gallifrey, he saves himself; it doesn’t rewrite the centuries of pain that brought him to that moment, but it allows him to heal and move forward with renewed understanding of his identity and purpose. the name he chose was a promise he made, and he’s kept that promise. all the threads woven slowly throughout the plot come together after that — the cracks in the universe, the silence’s plan to kill him, the looming shadow of trenzalore and the question that must never be answered. and after trying to outrun his fate and cheat death for so long, he finally stops running. when he reaches trenzalore he dedicates what he believes are the final years of his life to defending a tiny village on this unimportant little planet, because he knows with more certainty than ever that he is the doctor, and this is what he stands for. (every life i save is a victory. every single one.) all that time, the question is repeated over and over, for hundreds of years — the oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight, and when the answer is spoken at last, it’s exactly what we’ve known from the very beginning. his “true” name, the secret he’ll take to his grave, has never mattered. what matters is the name he chose, and the promise he made. (his name is the doctor. all the name he needs, everything you need to know about him.)

when it’s time for him to go, it feels triumphant; the eleventh doctor was born in an inferno, with a youthful face and a flashy, silly personality made to conceal an ocean of pain beneath, but now he’s finally at peace. now free from the grief and remorse he carried for so long, he lays his pretense of childlike insouciance to rest, and the twelfth doctor emerges with a new lease on life and an old, weathered face — one that was chosen as a perfect culmination of the journey that brought him here. (i know where i got this face, and i know what it’s for: to remind me. to hold me to the mark. i’m the doctor, and i save people.)

as much as i do dislike the chibnall era on a fundamental level, i think that my problem w it is just that like... it's not well made? but i don't think it fails to be doctor who in any sense, which i feel like is the tack a lot of pro-rtd anti-moff (and to an extent anti-chib, but i think moff gets it worse bc ppl just did not watch the chib era) criticism takes. it feels like people just constantly criticise the moff era for not being rtd who (it's too focused on the doctor, we don't see companion families, the companions aren't as down to earth, modern earth is no longer a consistent setting w continuity etc). and sure, some of these criticisms are legit in themselves, and a degree of comparison is fair, i do it w the chib era, but i dunno, when it feels like there's a whole laundry list of moffat era 'problems' that boil down to 'its not the rtd era' it feels like a lot of feverent rtd good moffat bad criticism is implicitly pushing for a very narrow and limited view of what doctor who should be.

I’m still really sad about the 60th anniversary specials being more of a celebration of rtd’s era than of the overall show. the 50th was so fun bc it brought together rtd’s and moffat’s eras along with the fandom’s beloved eighth doctor (the minisode!!) and introduced the war doctor all to help us understand why the doctor has become what he has in nuwho. the glimpses of all the classic doctors! a peek at the twelfth doctor! the return of the zygons from classic who in their first nuwho appearance! the 60th specials just felt like regular rtd episodes. tennant as the doctor, donna and her family, and unit. I guess we got mel but not very much screen time. the episodes aren’t terrible or anything and ncuti’s doctor is delightful!! but the specials just don’t feel like an appreciation of what came before them :(

Masters, coyotes and reset buttons

Ok, so this has been going after me for a few months now and probably won't end up as coherent as I'd like it to, but this is also a warm up for finally fixing that stupid article that everyone tells me is good but has been halted by journal paperwork since 2020, so... As always, because there be salt, putting everything under a cut.

There's been this debate on whether the Master should be given a break from appearing for a while and, as always, it's usually taken somewhat hostile as an attack on the character or a particular actor (which. look if this was about acting skills BBC should have never moved from sir Derek Jacobi, period). And I would say the problem lies entirely elsewhere. Namely, circularity vs. linearity.

There has always been a mythical or commedia dell'arte element to the whole concept of regeneration, an archetypal thing in characters going by titles as names and having a certain set of characterisics and narrative functions that go along with those. Hell, commedia dell'arte even has a literal "Il Dottore" whose whole thing is embodying science and education - more often than not mockingly. When you employ Zeus rather than Poseidon in your story that's probably because there be weird sex rather than disproportionate fury. When you choose a paladin class in your rpg that's because you're going to have different skills and make different choices than if you were a rogue. Galahad and Lancelot will go on completely different journeys of nunnery/brothel and rescuing a prince from forced marriage even while they both seek the Holy Grail. When you want your children to have different properties you'll use your mantra to invoke four different gods.

The thing about archetypes, though, is that they are, literally, timeless. Or better yet, outside of time. But stories, narratives are, by nature, linear and timed. There's the beggining, the middle and the end. And of course, the whole fun is toying with the archetype, tweaking and reinterpreting them in specific contexts and stories. And DW has been doing a phenomenal job of it throughout its history, even if occasional nitpicks can be made. Classic Who was perhaps more circular and repeating in its storytelling and - sorry, posession by Marshall McLuhan - this makes sense in a medium where a story airs just a couple of times. There were arcs for each Doctor, though significantly more so for companions. NuWho became much more clear in this, but still mostly managed to keep a neat balance between the timelessness and timeliness.

Take the Saxon's story, which is what kickstarted me spilling here. Not to come off as a canon snob, but I think if he was an introduction to the character it may not be clear just how shocking him dying on the Valiant was. This is the character that was a skeleton, a gooey body snatching snake and a cat to go on living, and has been the Doctor's prisoner, in fact begging them to save them. Ten is 100% justified in his assumption that he'd never kill himself. His death introduced a major shift to their dynamic, especially when framed as fuelled by hatred. The finale in EoT is largely a return from this shift. No, the Doctor didn't only care for the Master because he wanted another Time Lord. No, the Master doesn't wholeheartedly hate the Doctor. They can and will always cooperate when there's a common enemy. As has been the case throughout all of Classic Who.

Enter Moffat era. Now, it's a bit of a cliche to say Moffat is a better episode writer than showrunner, but it being cliche does not make it incorrect. His poetic definitely works better when there's an ending, a specific goal in sight. In singular episodes this works like a charm. It worked terrifically in season 5. But later on there definitely came this element of "keep watching, because this is all heading somewhere, trust me". And all too often the answer was proving less interesting than the question. This was particularly clear in seasons 7-9, with return to Gallifrey being hyped up repeatedly, only to fianlly fall flat. And I guess Moffat realised that and decided to go for a soft reboot in season 10.

Which brings me to Missy and redemption arcs. Now, in our completely not puritan era there's way too much talk of whether characters deserve redemption, and what would account for a redemption, and how that differs between different legal systems, and too little appreciation that redemption narrative is as linear as they get. You get the starting point of sin and have a clear goal of that sin being repaid or undone. Sure, you can dig into that, and question that, and reinterpret that, and cynically cut that, but it always relies on that clear line. And it's obvious that Moffat was aware of how linear he wanted Missy, and indeed the Master in general, to be. The fucking text says that: "where we've always been going". The disagreement is only what that where is. Now, if the story was meant to be lieanr, then it really does make infinitelly more sense to view the events of EoT as a turning point in the thoschei relationship, but the story explicitly shuts that down. Nah, it was more infitely more important to have the initial sin embodied to be killed in the ultimate act of redemption. #symbolism

A slight tangent here. I know that the original plan for Delgado!Master was to have a redemption arc where he sarcifices himself for the Doctor, so I guess it can be argued this was indeed where the story was going all along. But things turned out how they did and people generally don't introduce Moriarty into their sherlockiana to have no actual screentime (literal or metaphorical), as was the original plan.

Aaaand then there's Spymaster. I've seen dozens of explanations of why he is the way he is, and whether that follows logically from Missy's story or not, and whether he might be before her, and whether he undoes her redemption, and blah blah, but the bitter truth is: Chibs hit the reset button. He hit it hard. No, we are not meant to keep in mind the events of s10 when we analyze the spydoc relationship. Again, a comparison to Moffat explicitly bringing up the events of EoT with Saxon, if only to brush them aside as meaningless for both parties. More importantly, if those were meant to affect Thirteen's hostile attitude towards the Master, then she shouldn't have been so shocked with his appearance. She might be surprised he regenerated, but like the whole reason for bitterness over being abandoned would go along with the expectation the Master did survive, that's why they left Twelve in the first place ffs. So, it would look like Chibnall tried to go back to a circular status quo after a linear redemption, and that's certainly what the writing thinks it's doing. Except now that the whole TTC can of worms has been opened, the relationship is deeply imbalanced. Imbalanced in a way that cannot be easily undone. Like, I know the fandom is trying to frame the Master's sense of inferiority as somehow mistaken and fanon!Thirteen certainly thinks so, but that's not what the text is saying. There is a misundertanding going on here, but a misunderstanding that goes on unresolved gets tiresome and frankly masochistic pretty fast. Either the Master should get to the point of understanding that the Doctor is not inherently superior to them because of past or magic of friendship and that they're Kenough, or accept the Doctor as their lord and saviour and martyred god who died so they may live and spend the rest of their days as a lapdog. Which, I understand the fandom may enjoy, but doesn't make for a very exciting story. So yes, there's definitely a linear narrative going on here. One that does need some time in a fridge and exposition of how the Doctor themself feels about their relationship before the character is brought back. Right now we are not in the The clown always gets up again, no matter how often he has been knocked down paradigm only No clowns were funny. That was the whole purpose of a clown. People laughed at clowns, but only out of nervousness. The point of clowns was that, after watching them, anything else that happened seemed enjoyable. It was nice to know there was someone worse off than you. Someone had to be the butt of the world.

Butbutbut, of course, what about Ainley!Master being brought back again and again seemlessly? That's just the thing - Ainley!Master existed in a completely different poetic. He was purely circular. He was the most circular of the Masters. He was as circular as you can get without actually being a cartoon coyote who only falls down when he realises he's midair. I'm not entirely ironic here - there is an inherent trickster element to the Master as a character! Perhaps more Goethe's Mephistopheles that Native Americans' Coyote, but between constanct scheming, shapeshifting and falling into the pits they've dug the elements are all there. And a trickster either endlessly travels between Olympus, Earth and Hades or gets killed by Heimdall.

And before a gotcha of me insanely hoping for a Saxon cameo either in the 60th anniversary or, that being off the table, somehow meeting Fourteen - yeah, in an anti-linear bubble. I've seen speculations that RTD wants to do another soft reboot, hence there's no knowing what Master will pop out of that tooth. As far as I wouldn't like it to be one of pre-Delgado Masters and for the record I wouldn't mind if it is Spymaster!, there's definitely something to the idea there's a soft reboot in The Giggle, with the Doctor "going home". Because you don't necessarily want to know what Odysseus' tax policies were once he reached Ithaka, but you do want to know that he's been a year on Circe's island.

Me rewatching Eleven’s Era and realizing that some of my favorite one-off episodes of the show are there (Vincent and the Doctor, God Complex, Power of Three, for example) but that the entire Era is just kind of stained by early-Moffat's fingers all over it bc every single arc-developing episode (Day of the Moon, Big Bang, Good Man Goes to War, Let's Kill Hitler, Wedding of River Song) is ruined by either his need to be "clever" with the Silence (which literally never got a resolution EVER, btw) OR with River Song and the ENDLESS sexism in her plots/hee being nothing more than a "sexy badass" whose entire life, birth to death, is set up for her to be groomed into the Doctor’s killer and then immediately goes to being infatuated with him to the point where even her one interesting/seemingly "for herself" character traits she has (being an archaeologist) is retrofitted to be about finding a "good man" aka the Doctor OR just the ways that Amy's rather interesting story about the ways that the Doctor abandoning her after getting inserted into her life at such a young age/her slowly getting disillusioned/realizing she prefers a life on Earth is just YOINKED in a sexist direction with the whole "getting pulled for half a season in order to pop out a baby/not getting to search for that baby/leaving Rory bc she finds out that she is infertile and somehow that makes her unable to be a good wife" storyline that honestly hurts a lot of otherwise good episodes (such as Rebel Flesh/Almost People) and absolutely TANKS others (looking at you, Asylum of the Dalek). And that's not even getting into the act that LITERALLY EVERY FEMALE CHARACTER is attracted to Eleven, save the two canonical lesbians, one of which he kisses without her consent, which really puts a damper on the Rory/Amy romance in Season 5 until they figured out how to write it better from Amy's end in Season 6.

Like, I really think that Eleven, Amy, Rory, and River all had interesting arcs/foundations that could have led to good storylines/arcs. And in some places, they did. But even though I've gained a new appreciation for certain episodes/certain arcs (such as Amy's aforementioned growing up/past the Doctor arc), there is this undeniable stench of sexism/bad writing that hits all of the tentpole episodes of this era that makes it so hard to rewatch. While there are some episodes of RTD that I don't rewatch due to them being boring or just not my cup of tea (and I do have criticisms of how he handled race/Martha/Mickey), I don't have the same bad taste in my mouth for him that I do for Moffat.

(Oh, and one of the few episodes from RTD's run that I refuse to rewatch due to a bad taste is Girl in the Fireplace. So do with that as you will.)

“But We Love Martha Jones!” - The Doctor Who Fandom’s Selective Memory of Racism

Chapter 4 - Martha Triumphant?

I want to say the show and fandom have improved how they treated Black characters since what happened to Martha/Freema but it hasn’t. From the backhanded praise of Bill, to the allegations of Tosin Cole being a “diversity hire”, to the dozens of excuses of why Jo Martin’s Doctor being reduced to cameos was somehow great Black female representation, it's clear the “we love Martha” tweets aren’t enough. It's a chicken or egg situation where I wonder was it the bias of the fandom being confirmed by the writing or the writing confirming the biases of the fandom but would that matter? Freema’s treatment isn’t exclusive to her as so many Black actors have come forward about the racism they’ve experienced and the failure of cast, crew and fandom to protect them. Many fans blatantly said RTD had no responsibility whatsoever to protect Freema and how poor Russell can’t be blamed for how people read S3.. even though he wrote it… so I’m already sceptical about how RTD2’s Black representation will turn out. I won’t be extra pessimistic, but I’m not patting RTD’s back just yet. Hope however does come in the shape of Ncuti Gatwa, the first Black man to play the Doctor in the main lineup. Again, not patting any backs just yet but I hope Ncuti’s welcome and the welcome of the next Black companion after Ryan shows growth from 2007. A Black character admired and adored for what they bring to the table. No backhanded comparisons to whoever came before, no companion initiation arc and no consolation prize ships - a developed character given the same TARDIS etiquette as the others. I hope the history of the next Black companion, whoever they may be, is a kinder one.

<- Chapter 3

Amy Pond, Asexuality, and a punk attitude

@ameliapondmd and I were talking and she mentioned that Amy being asexual felt punk and she's right. I feel like the reason that Amy being asexual feels like a punk idea is because Steven Moffat/the narrative over and over again demotes her to wife and mother and womb when he is not making her a kissogram or a model or something related to how "sexy" she is. (Honestly, River being asexual would be kind of punk in the same way, but that's not what I'm rambling about today.) Amy exists in the way that Steven Moffat writes her to be these archetypal women, these roles, but you can feel her character straining at the edges to be more than that. She wants more than that, yearns for more than that, believes in more than that. Even when she's making the choice in Amy's Choice she CHOOSES the TARDIS and it's framed as her choosing Rory but it's not. Amy Pond has always wanted more than what she has, has always wanted to find a place because she's always been a lonely creature adrift in Leadworth, never fitting in because she's literally cut off from her family/her tree by the crack in time erasing her parents. To be Amy Pond, fully-formed, would be to throw off the "I should be with him" expectations and grab what she wants and an asexual interpretation of her takes some of the other moffatty bits of her character (womb, sexual object, kissogram, etc.) and reframes them as either her decisions or the first step in her realizing herself and deciding to shed those in favor of a fully formed character outside of expectations.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED Talk!

rtd's finales are badly stacked conflicts that are suddenly solved by deus ex machina (but that doesn't matter bc it's filled with genuinely beautiful & heartwrenching character writing that will make you forget about everything) and moffat's finales are convoluted nonsense that make you confused as to what the fuck you're even watching. technically neither of these are good but between these two poisons i will pick the former every time

So my partner and I have been watching the Eleventh Doctor’s seasons in our NuWho rewatch. And I was thinking maybe I’d been too hard on these seasons—there were definitely things that rubbed me the wrong way but it wasn’t absolutely awful like I remembered.

Then we got to Let’s Kill Hitler and suddenly I remembered why this season was the star of what eventually made me quit watching. It’s just…so bad. My partner and I both ragged on it the entire episode, after only having relatively minor nitpicks with the last two seasons. That episode was just bad and full of inconsistencies and tonal shifts and just…uck. I’m going to watch the rest of the season because I want to watch every season before seeing Fourteen and Fifteen. But man. I know it only gets worse from here. (Except Nightmare in Silver. I’m looking forward to that episode still. Best of Eleven’s episodes imho)