drdastari

[drdastari]

Frazer Hines, Elisabeth Sladen, And Carole Anne Ford Visited "BBC TV Studios" In White City

Photo: John Stillwell

[drdastari]

15 is not being written to be as smart as he should be

Think about it, every other doctor gets to show themselves being really clever and figuring things out in almost every episode. But with 15, it's a rarity. Let's look at the current season -

In the robot revolution, the most clever thing he does is the every ninth word thing. But we don't know if he's the one who figured that out, and it’s not like it does much anyway.

Lux is basically the only time the doctor gets to show how clever he is, figuring out how to exit the fake world Lux put them in, but it’s short and doesn't make that much of an impact.

In the well, he does the whole mercury mirror thing which I thought was quite clever, but it doesn't even work because the creature latched on to Belinda making the side character sacrifice herself, or maybe the creature just stayed with Alice because there's one more life sign than there needs to be? Doesn't matter, the point is it didn’t actually work and the doctor gave the creature exactly what it wanted.

In lucky day he's basically not in.

In the story and the engine, okay so he follows the map braided into his hair to get through the maze, that's not bad (although why was there suddenly a maze). Then he tells his story which is the best story ever and that overwhelms the engine? Okay sure. That's not clever. That's just Doctor Who giving itself a pat on the back (again).

In the interstellar song contest, he is basically helpless without the two random strangers who happened to survive being able to do exactly what he needs. Since when does the doctor need someone else's expertise on stuff like this? Like it was just tech fiddling and holograms and stuff, we've seen him do stuff like that all the time. But THIS doctor needs other people's help.

And then of course there's wish world, in which for 99% of the episode he is just a dumb propaganda follower. He literally needs Rogue to send a message from super hell for him to really start doubting a world which by definition makes no sense. I've seen many people say they thought the doctor was pretending, just playing along to figure out what's going on, and yeah that makes sense for the doctor we all knew, but not this doctor. I knew he isn't pretending, because so far he's been characterized to just not be very insightful.

And that's bad because the doctor being clever and solving problems in a creative way is one of the best things about this show. Like, think how in Blink, the doctor tricks the angels to look at each other forever, or how in the day of the moon, the doctor uses the silence's power of suggestion to make the humans fight back against them, or how in heaven sent, he figures out that he can copy himself again and again using his own death to slowly break the wall to escape. Those are the moments which define doctor who. Did we get any with 15?

Also, and I'm definitely not any kind of authority on this so feel free to tell me if you think I'm wrong, it feels a bit racist. Not intentionally, I'm sure the team is doing their best. Just feels weird that the first doctor of color is also noticeably less clever than the others.

[drdastari]

I swear Doctor Who fans are either in extremely aggressive denial over the current state of the show or are genuinely the dumbest motherfuckers on the planet.

The unnatural shapes you lot are contorting yourselves into to justify and defend objectively dogshit writing is really quite astounding.

[drdastari]

"Look at how far we've come" they say as they write episodes with messages less progressive than ones made in the late 1980s.

Are these even episodes even from the same show???

"Ker-Blam" 🤝 "The Interstellar Song Contest":

Episodes that should have had the Seventh Doctor and Ace--there'd be none of this respectability politics and "the system isn't the problem" bullshit, just bloodthirsty megacorporations being blown sky high as they deserve.

[drdastari]

The real ending to Remembrance of the Daleks

i think there should be an episode of doctor who where the doctor returns to a time when police boxes were common and then forgets where he fucking parked

[drdastari]

Sometimes I stop and think about how incredible it is that we still have the original, "49th century" take of An Unearthly Child. There's so much that's been lost, but somehow, against all odds, this shitty, unbroadcast, non-canon pilot for the show is still here. The first Doctor Who media ever captured on camera. It's incredible.

[drdastari]

the other thing about space babies is that it fucking sucks as an introdution episode. whiplash from boring contextless exposition to "ooooh look at our shiny CGI" is not my idea of fun! "season 1" my ass if this was my introduction to dr who i never would touch it again. compared to episodes like rose or the pilot that allow themselves to sit with the characters before jumping into plot, are confident enough to leave things unexplained because they know they can keep the viewer coming back for more regardless... we used to have real television

[drdastari]

My five least favorite episodes of Doctor Who (all time) are all from the previous era.

5. Wish World

4. The Reality War

3. The Devil's Chord

2. Space Babies

the Eurovision episode (indisputable worst of the show)

One day I might stop calling it the Eurovision episode and start calling it the Israel episode or the Genocide episode. I think both of those are more accurate descriptors of why this content is unacceptable.

[drdastari]

I always hesitate to use the "#sack rtd" tag because Eccleston said that specifically because of the way he and others were treated behind the scenes. That clip is good to use and reference as a kind of rallying cry for how much the last two seasons sucked, but sometimes it seems like the original context has been forgotten.

But then again, who knows what happened behind the scenes this year.

[drdastari]

Reality War lost the plot so wildly that I struggle to consider it and Wish World to be part of the same serial. Like, obviously Wish World is the exposition for Reality War, but I dunno. They share very little thematically, and they have nothing in common after the Omega scene.

Maybe this is due to the reshoots but just because something changed doesn't mean that the end product should be treated like something that it isn't.

[drdastari]

I'm considering making this into a blog for complaining about Dr. Who but that's generously assuming I'm a) gonna use this wretched site more, or b) gonna stay affiliated with the Dr. Who fandom after the unacceptable politics of the Eurovision episode went mostly ignored.

In any case, I've changed the blog's name from my dilapidated old username that I've used nearly everywhere since I was 10 or 11 to the username I use in Dr. Who-related forums. So if I do decide to actually set this account towards any kind of purpose, I'll have that option available.

[drdastari]

Reblog for posterity

👀👀

[drdastari]

Sorry guys for being in a negative space for New Who-but I am just so angry at what Doctor Who has been reduced to. What Disney and RTD have done to this beloved franchise. I am tagging things if that helps, but I just...I have no words to really describe the disappointment and anger I feel.

Doctor Who has done so much for me over the years. I have gone to Gallifrey One a few times, met the wonderful Gallifrey and Benny cast, and wrote a Benny story! It has introduced my love for all things science fiction and helped me discover who I am.

I am well and truly done with New Who. I am just going to stick to my comfort eras.

[drdastari]

Doctor Who is Dead, Crab Rave

[drdastari]

[drdastari]

The US Postal Service

I am going to ask you all to do a small but important thing. When you go to the post office to mail a package or buy stamps or shipping supplies, get a receipt.

At the bottom of the receipt is a link and a QR code to fill out a short survey about your "customer satisfaction" with the post office. You are going to fill out that (it takes less than two minutes) and you are going to give them a glowing review each time!

Why? Because they are looking for reasons to make budget cuts despite the USPS being in the constitution and a valuable public service. So we are going to make it unequivocal that we like the postal service.

Because we do!

They send medicine cheaply, they take ballots for voting (which Republicans hate). They are the only shipping service in many rural areas. AND they are basically all that is keeping UPS, FedEx etc's prices down. Privatization means everything will be more expensive.

The post office is ours. It's our right. And the workers there are also being treated like shit right now. So support them in this very simple, easy way. And do this every single time you go there. Please. (And please reblog this. Let's overwhelmingly flood the system with positive feedback.)

[drdastari]

#vehicular manslaughter

Edit: oh for fuck's sake I hate this site

may this be my contribution to the world