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kinglivv · 3 years

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You're a companion of the doctor. She suspects he has a crush on you but he adamantly denies it, he doesn't keep an eye on you because he wants to make sure you're safe he ONLY does it because he thinks it's funny to watch the doctor struggle. One day you're on an adventure with the doctor, someone destroys your favorite stuffed animal that you take with you as a safety blanket. The master loses it and blows up the planet after you leave. When you wake up you find a new one on your bed

Teddy Bear

Dhawan!Master X Reader

Summary: The Master ambushes you and the Doctor with a robot army, and one of them accidentally shoots you favourite teddy.

Warnings: Robot army?? Also vague mention of coping mechanisms

A/N: I know you keep telling me to stop writing stuff for your ideas but you sent this in forever ago and it was too cute not to. Also it kinda reminds me of a scene from Killing Eve?? Iykyk.

“So this is meant to be completely safe?”

“Yes.”

“With no killer robots?”

“Yes.”

“And no murderous green things?”

“Yes.” The Doctor insists, dancing around the console, flicking levers and buttons. “It’s a really cool castle out on Fadreius X, proper medieval and all! I’ve been meaning to take you for ages.”

The TARDIS lands with a groan, and the Doctor grabs your free hand with a barely contained enthusiasm. In your other hand is a soft toy.

You’d had the teddy since you were ten, and although the baby blue fur has since faded to more of a dull grey, it’s still just as soft and fluffy as it had been all those years ago. It’s so small you were able to take it on every adventure with you, as a sort of comfort. It was nice to have something to hold onto when you were staring down a dalek’s eyestalk or trying not to blink under the watchful gaze of a weeping angel.

As the doors open, you shove the teddy in your coat pocket and are indeed greeted by the sight of an old castle with a drawbridge and turrets and cracking cobblestone. The backdrop of mountains and trees made it look even more imposing, and if it weren’t for the fact that the moat was pink and the clouds were yellow, you could almost imagine you were somewhere in Scotland.

“Come on!” The Doctor grins, hand still in yours. “It’s been abandoned for years, there’s loads of cool stuff inside!”

She sets off at a record place, dragging you behind her over the wooden drawbridge (was it wooden? Did aliens have wood?) and over the pink water.

You reach the doors, dark oak and covered in metal spikes which tower over you. Placing your hand against it, you’re ready to give it a hard shove in an attempt to shift the weight, but to your surprise it opens on its own.

“Oh.” The Doctor says curiously, frowning as you both watch it open before you… to reveal what looks like an army of robots.

“Oh.” She says again, except this time it’s more of an ‘oh shit, this is bad’ kind of oh. “That’s not meant to be there.”

“You said there wasn’t supposed to be any robot armies!” You hiss as you both stare at them, frozen.

“Yes, well, there isn’t!” She hisses back as you stare at the dozens of robots stood in the castle’s courtyard in neat rows.

They’re a dark silver, tall and bulky, and their eyes are a bright, evil red which makes you glad you’d brought your teddy. You shove your hand in your pocket and grip it harder, swallowing as you look to the Doctor for a plan. The robots aren’t moving, and there’s an eerie silence as both parties stare at each other, as if waiting for the other to make the first move. Did the robots see you as a threat? Did they even know you were here?

Then suddenly, there’s a dart of purple through the crowd and then the Master’s stood in front of you both, quite seemingly appearing from no where.

“Doctor!” He exclaims. “Y/N!”

Your heart catches in your throat at the sight of him, and as if brought to life by his presence, the robots stamp their metal feet in unison, turning to look at their Master.

“Master.” The Doctor greets coldly.

“Come to visit my castle?” He grins. “Do you like my robot army?”

“This isn’t your castle. What are you doing with it?” You want to know.

“Making it into a home for my army of course!” He sends you a flirtatious grin and you feel your cheeks heat up. Why does he always manage to make you so flustered?

You barely have time to protest before two robots appear behind you both and grab your arms with a bruising force. They march you into the middle of the castle courtyard and onto a stage where the robot army looks up at you. You squeeze your teddy a bit harder.

“No don’t put them up there!” The Master barks at the robots, and it takes you a second to realise that he means you. You’re yanked in the opposite direction and are led to where the Master stands, and the robot finally lets go of you. The Doctor stands on the platform looking rather annoyed and you stare up at her in worry while the Master looks up in glee.

“Why am I down here?” You demand.

“Because, Y/N, your head is much too pretty to cut off,” He grins, a finger lifting your chin so he can admire you. “I’ll admit, the Doctor’s alright in this regeneration, but she’s much more expendable compared to you.”

“What’s the plan this time?” The Doctor calls out, still being held by a robot and looking thoroughly bored.

“Cut off your head, make Y/N my Queen.” He lists off simply, and you stare at him in disbelief.

“Excuse me?”

“Come on, Y/N,” He teases. “We all know you’ve got a crush on me. Why wouldn’t you want to be my Queen?”

“I don’t have a crush on you.” You reply adamantly, though it sounds weak.

“Really Y/N, you couldn’t fool…” He trails off when he glances down at the hand in your pocket. “What’s that?”

You feel your cheeks go red out of embarrassment.

“It’s my… teddy.” You say quietly, pulling it out so he can see.

“Your teddy?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Yes,” You reply, hugging it closer to yourself. “It’s a… comfort thing, I guess. Helps when I’m in stressful situations. Like this.”

He takes it from you, seemingly examining it, and a part of you expects him to rip it to pieces.

“Huh.” He replies lightly, almost looking as though he approved of the concept and hands it back to you without another word, his fingers brushing yours as he did so.

Then he turns back to the platform where the Doctor awaits her doom, whatever moment you had just shared now gone.

“Guards, execute them.” He commands.

The Doctor braces herself, however to your horror, the robot on the podium instead turns to look at you. Within seconds, its gun is raised and you clutch your teddy to your chest, squeezing your eyes shut and waiting for your imminent demise.

It shoots… and hits your teddy.

You feel the impact of the laser, making you stumble back a few steps, but when you open your eyes to find yourself still alive and breathing, your teddy is but a pile of ash on the cobbled floor.

Tears well and you hastily blink them away. You were not going to cry over some stupid cuddly toy in front of the Master.

“What – You idiot!” The Master yells at the robot. “I didn’t mean Y/N, I meant her!” He points a finger at the Doctor.

“Master was not clear on who target was.” The robot replied… well, robotically.

“Do you know what you’ve just done?” The Master shouts angrily. “You could’ve hurt them!”

“Master was not clear on who target was.”

As you’re watching this exchange continue, you suddenly feel a hand on your arm. You turn to find the Doctor standing behind you, partially hiding behind a robot and grinning. She must have made her escape while the Master was distracted.

You smile at her through your tears and while the Master’s not looking, you grab her hand and run.

As you dart through the masses of robots, you only look back twice. Once to glance mournfully at the pile of ash on the floor that was your beloved teddy, and twice to take one last look at the Master, looking absolutely livid as you make your cunning escape. And quite pretty, too.

---

A few hours later, you’re lying safe in your TARDIS bedroom, trying to get to sleep. The adrenaline from the day was still rushing through your veins – it had been a messy and dangerous escape - it was almost as though the Master had let you get away.

The Master.

You were still reeling a bit at the fact that he had wanted you to be his Queen. Granted, the royal lifestyle wasn’t one that you weren’t particularly interested in, but the fact that he had wanted you made your heart jump a little bit.

Of course, your hearts ached too for the loss of your teddy. It was stupid, you kept telling yourself, being so upset over a ball of stuffing and fabric. But you’d had it so long. It had been with you through every hardship in your life and helped you confront some of the most terrifying enemies in the universe.

Sighing, you roll over to look at the empty side of your bed, where the pillows always remained fluffy and the duvet was always tucked in and smoothed out.

You freeze when you spot it, sat on the sheets like that.

How had you not spotted earlier? Was it even there earlier?

Cautiously, you reach out and pick the teddy up.

It’s almost an exact replica of your old teddy, although the original blue colour has been restored. Stroking a hand over its fur, your stare down at it in disbelief. Where had this come from?

It’s when you squeeze its stomach that you get your answer.

“Be my queen, Y/N.”

You jump, almost dropping the toy when the Master’s voice rings out. You squeeze it again, and the voice recording replays, and you raise your eyebrows.

Oh, that bastard.

Lying back down, you pull the teddy into your chest and a smile forms on your face. It might not be the same, but the Master had got you it and that’s what mattered.

Taglist: @truthbehindthemysteries @queerconfusionthings @xenteaart @actuallyanita @ateliefloresdaprimavera @persephonehemingway @fabulous-jj-style @anteroom-of-death

#sacha dhawan #dhawan!master #Dhawan Master #dhawan master x reader #dhawan!master imagine #dhawan!master x reader #The Master #the master x reader #dhawan!master x you #13th Doctor #13th doctor imagine #Jodie Whittaker #sacha dhawan x reader #doctor who #Doctor Who fanfic #gender neutral reader

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yeonchi · 2 years

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Doctor Who 2022 Easter Special Review: Legend of the Sea Devils

Air date: 17 April 2022

So it’s been a little while since the boring slogfest that was the 2022 New Year Special, Eve of the Daleks. Let’s take a look into the 2022 Easter Special and see if it is a little breath of fresh air in a polluted landscape.

This episode is another first for Asian representation in a while outside of my personal project fanfiction, with Chinese pirates being the focus of this episode which is also directed by Chinese director Haolu Wang. This episode is also another episode to not be solely written by Chris Chibnall as it was co-written by Ella Road, so it’ll be nice to see how it differs from Chibnall’s notable episodes.

My spoiler-free thought for this episode comes in the form of a song which I’ve been dying to use when I heard that Madam Ching would be featured in this episode:

youtube

Spoilers continue after the break.

About the featured song

OK, I feel like I should explain my choice of song that I used for the spoiler-free thought of this episode in case people tell me, “Cheung Po Tsai? He wasn’t featured in the episode!” It’s true that he wasn’t featured, but the figure himself was related to Madam Ching at some point in time, so he is kind of relevant.

The song is the opening theme to the 2015 TVB drama Captain of Destiny, with the Chinese title literally being named after Cheung Po Tsai (張保仔). I’ve never watched the drama since I stopped following TVB dramas a year or two before after adapting some pretty violent storylines in my personal project (see Kisekae Insights #15 and #16), but from what I’ve read of Cheung Po Tsai, he was adopted by Madam Ching along with her husband, Zheng Yi (鄭一) after the latter either kidnapped or was attracted to him. After Zheng Yi died (in 1807), Madam Ching made Cheung Po Tsai her assistant to solidify her position among the Red Flag Fleet before they were later married.

Easter airdates

Member when new Doctor Who series used to start in late-March or early-April? I member. In the past, a new series would have started by this point as new series typically start on the Saturday before Easter, with 2007 and 2008 being the exception as Series 3 started a week before and Series 4 started a week after, but then Series 7 came and really screwed things up for five years until a brief reprieve in 2017 for Series 10 (Series 7 Part 2 technically was also a reprieve, but it wasn’t actually the start of the series so it doesn’t count).

It’s also been 13 years since we got a proper Easter Special with Planet of the Dead in 2009, one of David Tennant’s final episodes as the Doctor. Thing is, while the prospect of an Easter Special was redundant in the past due to new series starting around Easter, it would have been nice to have an Easter Special in the Peter Capaldi or Jodie Whittaker years given the excruciating wait between series. Aside from that, even Planet of the Dead was broadcast on Easter Saturday, but knowing how the Chibnall era treats traditions, this special was broadcast on Easter Sunday. Am I the only one who totally knew that this was going to be the case?

Anyway, enough faffing about. Let’s get on with the review.

The return of the Sea Devils

The episode starts off in 1807 with Madam Ching going into a village and breaking a piece off a statue of a sealed Sea Devil apparently known as Marsissus, releasing it in the process. The Sea Devil kills the statue’s protector, Ying Wai, and everyone else in the village, leaving his son, Ying Ki, and Madam Ching alive just as the Doctor, Yaz and Dan arrive, having been dragged off course by a geomagnetic disturbance.

Having managed to escape capture, Marsissus returns to his kind while the Doctor and Yaz attempt to seek a lost ship helmed by the great captain Xin Ji-Hun, which contained the lost treasure of the Flor de la Mar that Madam Ching was seeking. Meanwhile, a creature known as the Hua Shen engulfs a fisherman and his boat while Dan and Ying Ki wander off and sneak onto Madam Ching’s ship, where Madam Ching initially captures them before allowing them to join her.

The Doctor and Yaz head to the past and they see Ji-Hun in 1533 apparently throwing his crew off his ship and bowing to Marsissus, who presumably uses the Hua Shen to sink Ji-Hun’s ship just as the Doctor and Yaz escape. They head back to 1807 to the exact coordinates of Ji-Hun’s ship, but it isn’t there. The ocean floor suddenly collapses and the TARDIS is eaten by the Hua Shen...

Madam Ching tries to use celestial navigation when none of their equipment works, but the stars begin to move. Dan asks Madam Ching why the treasure is so important to her, to which she explains that her crew and her two sons are being held hostage by Guo Podai (郭婆帶) and the Black Flag Fleet and that she agreed to give them the treasure as ransom. When the apparently mythical Hua Shen approaches their ship, Madam Ching, Dan and Ying Ki fire cannons at it, but their cannonballs are deflected as they collide in mid-air.

Inside Hua Shen, the Doctor and Yaz climb out of the TARDIS and confront Marsissus about Ji-Hun’s ship; Marsissus reveals that he made the ship his own and that he kept Ji-Hun himself alive for over two centuries. As the Doctor and Yaz talk with Ji-Hun, they learn that he made no pact with the Sea Devils and that he was actually allowing his men to escape, stating that he gave the keystone, a tiny part of the treasure of the Flor de la Mar with infinite powers which is actually a plutonic crystal created by the Sea Devils, to his most trusted crew member, Lei Bao, before throwing him off the ship. As such, this makes Ji-Hun yet another misunderstood villain, but not to the extent of the other misunderstood villains we saw so far because he was imprisoned for the first half of the story.

When Marsissus manages to locate the keystone thanks to the Hua Shen, the Doctor brings the Sea Devils’ ship up and together with Yaz and Ji-Hun, they board Madam Ching’s ship. It is revealed that Lei Bao made it to land and ended up passing down the keystone through the generations, eventually ending up in Ying Ki’s possession. Marsissus had followed Lei Bao to land only to be sealed as a statue of stone thanks to the power of the keystone.

Marsissus takes the keystone back and drops it into his systems in an effort to flip the poles and cause chaos on Earth in an effort to flood it. The Doctor and the others fight off the Sea Devils, with the Doctor knocking Marsissus’ sword out of his hands before Ji-Hun finishes him off, causing the Doctor to say, “You didn’t have to kill him!” Ah yes, the Doctor’s misguided moral outrage over someone killing someone who was previously a threat and would possibly remain a threat if kept alive, never gets old. She didn’t even give Marsissus a chance to stay in the ocean and never surface again to terrorise humans.

The Doctor brings the ship back down into the ocean and together with Yaz, attempts to localise the power in an effort to flood the ship instead of the Earth while Dan and Ji-Hun fight off some Sea Devils and Madam Ching and Ying Ki gather Ji-Hun’s treasure from his ship.

When the Doctor accidentally rips away a cable from a console and has to hold it together with only 50 seconds remaining, the Doctor is about to sacrifice herself to hold the cable when Ji-Hun offers to do it instead, saying that the world would be too different for him. I mean, if you consider the Ming Dynasty any different from the Qing Dynasty other than the latter being ruled by fucking Manchurians (lol) then ok. Oh wait, a few white people would be crawling around in China by 1807 before more of them would continue to flood China in the coming years. In that case, yeah, I understand why Ji-Hun would choose to sacrifice himself.

The Doctor brings everyone back to Madam Ching’s ship with Ji-Hun’s treasure. The Doctor offers to bring Ying Ki back to his village, but Madam Ching allows him to join her crew. Later, the Doctor takes Yaz and Dan to a rocky beach where Dan leaves a message for Diane before she picks up the phone and calls him- wait, you’re still dating this woman, a woman who considers being ghosted by you worse than extradimensional threats threatening the universe? Man, do I feel sorry for you, Dan. Aside from that, yeah, having someone call you back while you’re in the middle of leaving a voice message is honestly relatable given what I do at work.

Bringing up “Thasmin”

The Doctor’s Yaz favouritism continues in this episode as they are shown together in a thread of this story, though some development is included as they try to address Yaz’s feelings for the Doctor.

At this year’s Gallifrey One convention, which was held in February at the Airport Marriott in Los Angeles, executive producer Matt Strevens stated that the “Thasmin” ship wasn’t planned, but he incorporated it into Flux after forgetting about it in Series 12. I always knew that the Doctor’s Yaz favouritism from her first episode would lead to something, but I never thought we’d end up getting so little out of it. It’s like they’re making up for lost time at this point. I didn’t talk about this in the review for Eve of the Daleks, but some people thought that Dan telling the Doctor about Yaz’s feelings for her was “outing” her to the Doctor. I’m not LGBT so I never really touched on it because like I said, I’m not LGBT and I don’t know anything about the intricacies of being LGBT. As such, I can’t really comment on this.

The main bulk of the “Thasmin” development happens towards the end of the episode. In the two minutes (that later gets reduced to 50 seconds, though it could have been excused as passing time given how long that scene went for) they have to prepare Ji-Hun’s ship, the Doctor mentions to Yaz how she is “not a bad date” and then says that she doesn’t really do dates and if she wanted, she would have done it with Yaz, but she can’t because time always runs out at some point. River Song is also briefly referenced in this scene.

Later, after the Doctor heads to the rocky beach with Yaz and Dan, the Doctor tells Yaz that she can’t fix herself to anything, anywhere or anyone and that she has never been able to because that is what her life is; if she fixes herself to somebody, it will hurt her sooner or later because it has happened before. Yaz tells the Doctor that her grandmother (Umbreen) told her that courage is knowing that something will hurt and then doing it anyway, which is also the definition of stupidity. The Doctor asks Yaz if they can just live in the present while they still have what they have, to which Yaz agrees and invites the Doctor to make a wish, which she does; the Doctor wishes that this could go on forever as she skips the stone into the sea.

If you were expecting a kiss or anything significant, then you might be disappointed because the “Thasmin” development (so far, at least) was mostly just words put in towards the end because the production team failed to do so. Did you think this relationship was handled “delicately”, according to Ella Road and the production team? I don’t want to say for certain.

Cantonese language representation

This needs its own section because it’s just that important to me.

When Madam Ching mentions the names of herself, Xin Ji-Hun or Guo Podai, you can hear her saying those names in Cantonese, but naturally, they’re not transliterated properly because the production team are a bunch of fucking normies. This can also be attributed to Madam Ching’s actress, Crystal Yu, being born in Hong Kong and being fluent in Cantonese as a result. Good on you for moving to the UK and not wasting your talents at a shithole like TVB (for all you normies out there, TVB has been the pinnacle of mainstream media in Hong Kong since 1967, but over the past decade, it has devolved into becoming the fake news of CNN combined with the banality of mainstream TV networks and the copyright Jewishness of Toei).

Most of the pirates in the South China Sea in the 1800s either grew up in and/or operated in Guangdong Province, where Cantonese was more prolifically spoken (in addition to the province also being known as Canton), so having Madam Ching saying those names in Cantonese adds to the geographical accuracy and also provides some well-deserved language/dialect representation for Cantonese in a world where Mandarin/Putonghua is the more dominant dialect of the Chinese language because the Chinese government pushes its use within China at the cost of other local dialects. On top of that, there seem to be very few schools outside of China that teach the Chinese language in Cantonese and with traditional characters, and even then they’re mostly limited to weekend language schools and not LOTE classes in day schools. And let’s not forget the situation in Hong Kong either, which is also affecting the local culture there and leading people to emigrate to other countries.

I have no disdain for Mandarin whatsoever, but I hope that normies can learn about the Cantonese language, the culture of its associated communities and their differences to the Mandarin language and their associated communities just like how the #StopAsianHate crybabies want white people to recognise the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian, Burmese, Malaysian, Indonesian and Filipino cultures along with other Asian cultures I may or may not have mentioned.

You may like or dislike how the representation of minorities or the LGBT has been handled by this series or even the BBC (or any other company, for that matter) over the past few years, but if there’s one type of representation I’m glad to see, it’s language representation, specifically Cantonese language representation.

Other general thoughts

Surprisingly, no tokusatsu references in this episode that I could find. It’s nice to see Doctor Who standing on its own without needing to reference other franchises... only to end up referencing or ripping off older episodes. You know how the Doctor says “Geronimo!” while moving between the two ships? Literally ripped off from the Eleventh Doctor. There were a couple instances in Last Christmas where the Twelfth Doctor could have said that and it’d feel more like a callback rather than a ripoff, but in the case of this episode, it’s more like a ripoff because of how the Thirteenth Doctor is basically an expy of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors.

On that note, there’s no SJW red flags in that episode. I wish SJWs cared about marginalised dialects like Cantonese and their communities just as much as they care about black people and trans people. Yes, I basically just said “I wish SJWs cared about Hong Kong just as much as they care about Ukraine.”

The Doctor, Yaz and Dan are not shown in modern attire in this episode, with the Doctor and Yaz wearing traditional Chinese clothing while Dan dresses up like an actual pirate. Joking about cultural appropriation aside, Dan’s costume really suits the comedic tone of his character.

The geomagnetic disturbance somehow manages to attract the jewellery on the Doctor’s ear until she uses her sonic screwdriver to demagnetise it. Even though it’s probably a one-time thing, I’m still going to press X to doubt.

Xin Ji-Hun appears to be a fictional character created for this story, so out of interest, let’s work out what his name is. Ji-Hun sounds like a Korean name so it doesn’t really help (he was probably only named that way because his actor, Arthur Lee, is of Korean descent, meaning that this tokenised casting decision is racist), but from the way Madam Ching says his name, I can deduce that his Chinese name is 仙子恒 (Sin Ji Hang), 仙 being a rare surname in China that mostly originated from the emperor bestowing that surname onto someone.

I don’t think Madam Ching would have called herself Zheng Shi/Ching Shih (鄭氏), because that title basically translates to Madam Ching anyway, which means that she basically said it twice when she was introducing herself. Chinese articles don’t use that exact name to refer to Madam Ching, which means that it’s just normies assuming things just so her actor can have a Mandarin name to say. If I wrote the episode I would have used her birth name, Shi Yang (石陽), or just omitted the Mandarin name altogether. Also, Ching Shih isn’t exactly an accurate transliteration either because it was based on the Wade-Giles system and not the Hanyu Pinyin system, meaning that the name Madam(e) Ching is another wypipo assumption, but I’ll forgive this because dub-sub debate and all that.

The transliteration of Guo Podai’s surname in Cantonese should be Kwok - the name itself is passable enough.

Ying Ki and his father, Ying Wai, are never mentioned by name in this episode. You’d think that with someone that important to the story you’d mention their name at least once or twice, but somehow you can just get away with not mentioning their name at all.

Marsissus, the chief Sea Devil, was played by Craige Els, who previously played Karvanista in Flux. Kudos on managing to get him back. It was probably cheaper and easier to do it anyway because of coronavirus restrictions. By the way, he’s only credited as “Chief Sea Devil” in this episode - the name Marsissus apparently comes from IMDb or Radio Times (but then in the latter article, Ying Wai is credited as “Ying Was”, the state of journalism in current year I swear to God).

Ying Ki wanted to kill Madam Ching and avenge his father because he stated that Madam Ching killed him when we clearly saw that it was the Sea Devil who killed his father. Yes, Madam Ching was the one who released the Sea Devil and therefore, indirectly caused Ying Wai’s death, but that’s us Chinese people for you; blaming the people who indirectly cause the death of our loved ones even though there were probably other circumstances to it. 我個家人都因為你而被害死啊!

The last time the Sea Devils were featured was in 1984′s Warriors of the Deep. That story also featured their sister species the Silurians, who would be reintroduced to the revived series in Series 5′s The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood twelve years earlier. Come to think of it, this is the only classic series enemy to be reintroduced in the Chibnall era (if you don’t count the Eternals, that is). Anyway, the Hua Shen appears to be the revived series’ counterpart of the Myrka, a monster that was notable for contributing to the ridiculousness of Warriors of the Deep, shall we say. On a side note, I adapted that story in my personal project for my Eleventh Doctor-expy in 2014, meaning that I “reintroduced” the Sea Devils to my canon exactly thirty years after their original appearance. Anyway, let’s move on.

Unless I missed something, this is the first time that the Doctor opens the doors of the TARDIS while underwater in a manner similar to when the doors are opened while in space. In this case, the oxygen bubble around the TARDIS is reinforced with an aquashield. In my personal project, when the TARDIS goes into Salacia (fr. Sea Princesses), the Doctor doesn’t need an oxygen bubble or an aquashield because the Salacians have equipment to create a signal that will allow humans to breathe underwater and also allow sea creatures to swim and breathe normally on land.

This “special” is just under 50 minutes long, which is enough to constitute a normal episode of Doctor Who, given how nobody says “Happy Easter!” in this Easter Special. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ten extra minutes got moved to the Centenary Special, though given how it was promised to be “feature-length”, if it ends up only being 70 minutes long I’m going to be disappointed.

Hiatusbreaker Update 3

I have no plans on doing another hiatusbreaker update post this year because we only have this and the Centenary Special left. Also, I’m too busy these days to analyse every Doctor Who-related article that seems interesting to me, plus it’s not like I end up covering every article I save anyway. In the lead-up to every new special or series, I’ve noticed that the news cycle begins talking about Doctor Who to hype it up, aided by all the social media pages that repost things, and in the end, I just can’t keep up with everything. As such, here is the third hiatusbreaker update.

So yeah, now that his role in producing the series is all but over, Chris Chibnall said that he’s done with Doctor Who and that we shouldn’t expect him to return. Yeah, that’s what Russell T Davies said in 2018 and now look what’s happened. On the other hand, Steven Moffat did also say as much, but given that NoelZone’s rumour from 2020 did mention Moffat along with RTD, I probably wouldn’t rule it out for the next 5-10 years. Chibnall also said that he would have left after Series 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic if he and Jodie Whittaker hadn’t planned on staying on for Series 13, which would have made The Timeless Children an even bigger spit in the face to the fandom.

Chibnall has also stated that he expects RTD to ignore the changes he made to the series, because who could forget a massive canon-destroying retcon like the Timeless Child? To be honest, ignoring it can only do so much because if RTD wants to retcon the Timeless Child, he needs to explicitly retcon it by firmly establishing that William Hartnell always was and always will be the First Doctor and maybe also saying that the Timeless Child was just some random kid the Time Lords experimented on with NO connection to the Doctor whatsoever. But I wouldn’t bet on it personally because RTD seems to be more subtle with things like this, though if we see the montage from The Timeless Children being reused as stock footage in another episode, then we’ll know that it’s real.

In slightly unrelated news, the BBC has had its funding frozen for the next two years with the licence fee system to be abolished in 2027. Honestly, to that I say good riddance. The ABC in Australia runs off government funding while PBS in the US runs off both government funding and public contributions. For years they’ve never needed to chase up people for not paying their licence fee, particularly if they’re elderly or they just managed to find a roundabout way of watching television without exactly using the television to watch it. Also, from what I’ve been hearing, the BBC’s efforts at diversity and representation look more like tokenisation of minorities for the sake of diversity and representation and not hiring based on merit. Doctor Who probably isn’t the only show that has had this problem and I doubt that the Timeless Child storyline alone was the main factor in this decision, but regardless I say good riddance.

Apparently, while speaking at Gallifrey One in February this year, Matt Strevens stated that the production crew didn’t know that there would be another series of Doctor Who and that they were only told of RTD’s return the day before the announcement on 24 September 2021. I don’t know why it took the BBC so long to find a new showrunner and while I don’t doubt that the coronavirus pandemic played a part in the delay, I still believe that they sought out RTD because of the backlash that The Timeless Children got and they waited that long to tell the production team because they weren’t happy with them for some reason, leading to rumours that the series would be cancelled. It’s just a theory, but it’s good that we’re getting RTD back regardless, otherwise I’d be finding myself sharing Doctor in Distress unironically as a response to this era. Oh what the heck, let’s get it over with.

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Also, Matt Strevens told Doctor Who Magazine that Flux was a gamble given the coronavirus pandemic and that the plan was always “to do something a bit different in the third season”. Yay, I suppose?

And finally, don’t quote me on this but I think I saw somewhere that the Centenary Special will just end on the Thirteenth Doctor’s regeneration and not feature the Fourteenth Doctor. The main reason I say this is because the announcement of RTD’s return seemed very last minute, being announced over three weeks before filming on the Centenary Special concluded on 13 October 2021 (and remember, the production didn’t know about RTD’s return until the day before the announcement). At the time of writing, no new Doctor has been announced, meaning that they were either cast in absolute secrecy or RTD’s plans for the 60th Anniversary didn’t involve casting a new Doctor (for the time being at least). However, this article states that Jodie Whittaker’s replacement “is expected to be revealed in the coming weeks”, so it’s likely that they were cast in absolute secrecy.

Adding on to that last point is the possibility that the plan for the second RTD era is a reboot detached from the series so far, starting the series on a clean slate. This can be cited from a 4chan rumour that Noel of The TARDIS Zone retweeted a few days before this episode aired. According to that rumour, the show was going to be cancelled until this was pitched and that RTD was willing to do it. If that ends up being reported by the media, then I suppose that The Timeless Children did more damage than we thought and all the fans defending it will have egg on their faces.

Summary and verdict

Unsurprisingly, given how this episode was co-written, this was another one of the better episodes in this series so far, next to Village of the Angels. Surprisingly, Ella Road is the first to be credited as writer next to Chris Chibnall, which seems to indicate that Chibnall wasn’t as involved in the writing of the story as much compared to Village of the Angels.

Nonetheless, this was a pretty great episode. They didn’t feel the need to double down on the Timeless Child again (the Flux wasn’t mentioned as well for that matter), the Sea Devils got a great return and nobody’s death was unnecessary. After all the negativity and disappointment that came with Flux and Eve of the Daleks, I feel like this episode is good enough to deserve this score.

Rating: 8/10 Series 13 cumulative total (with Eve of the Daleks): 3/70 (4%) Series 13 cumulative total (with Legend of the Sea Devils): 11/80 (14%)

Centenary Special preview

Ladies and gentlemen, we have nearly reached the end. At the end of this episode, a teaser for the Centenary Special, Jodie Whittaker’s final episode on Doctor Who, was shown. Although no indication of a title or release date was given, we got a sneak peek of what to expect; Daleks, Cybermen, the Lone Cyberman (Ashad), the Master, Kate Stewart, Vinder, and even Tegan Jovanka and Ace, who were introduced as the companions of the Fourth/Fifth and Seventh Doctors.

I must say, I don’t recognise Janet Fielding as Tegan, particularly in the scene where she and Ace are shooting machine guns at an enemy (presumably), given how Tegan left the Fifth Doctor because the violence of her adventures made it stop being fun. It has been nearly forty years, but I guess we’ll see how that gets addressed in the Centenary Special, which, knowing Chibnall, is pretty unlikely. By the way, talk about desperate attempts at nostalgia baiting...

Given how Bradley Walsh was also seen during the filming of the Centenary Special, Graham wasn’t seen in the trailer. I swear, if Graham doesn’t end up in the Centenary Special, or heck, even Jo Martin as Ruth...

In the epilogue for my Series 13 (Flux) reviews, I said that I hoped to finally get around to doing Doctor Who 10 for 10, which is me stating 10 things about the revived series up to Series 10, between now and the Centenary Special. Right now, I’m currently occupied with writing Kamen Rider Zi-O for my personal project and doing the Dynasty Warriors Weapon Moveset Power Rankings - I’ve dedicated a whole day to writing this review just so I could get it done the same day it became available on ABC iView. I was going to post Doctor Who 10 for 10 concurrently with the Power Rankings, but then I slowly realised that I work better when I focus on one thing at a time, so they’re going to be posted separately from each other.

Here’s my projection for what’s going to happen. The BBC’s Centenary is on Tuesday 18 October, but knowing the Chibnall era, it’s probably going to be on either 16 or 23 October, both days being Sundays. Since there are no public holidays during those weeks, the review definitely won’t be out the same day it becomes available on ABC iView (Monday), but I’ll reserve the week after it airs for the review to come out. Given this, the latest I can start posting Doctor Who 10 for 10 will be the start of August. As for the Power Rankings, there will be 12 instalments plus a prologue and epilogue, making for a total of 14 instalments. The plan for it is to post 2 instalments per week, which means that the start of June will be the latest that I can start posting the Power Rankings without having it overlap. Kamen Rider Zi-O will be finished when I finish it and speaking of which, I dread my schedule for Kisekae Insights right now, because at this rate, it’ll probably end up going into 2023. I guess that’s what I get for having high expectations of myself while working a full-time job.

Anyway, that’s more than enough rambling and ranting from me. Feel free to follow me on Facebook and Tumblr to see more content from me, otherwise I’ll see you all in about six months (hopefully) when I review the BBC Centenary Special and Jodie Whittaker’s final episode on Doctor Who, the title of which is yet to be revealed at the time of writing.

#doctor who #doctor who series 13 #doctor who flux #thirteenth doctor #doctor who series 13 review #doctor who flux review #thirteenth doctor review

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youremyonlyhope · 2 years

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Eve of the Daleks

I literally only just found out like 3 days ago that the episode was airing at 2pm and that 8pm would be the encore. So yay! Watching the show as it airs with the Brits for once!

Also, I love how it seems that Daleks never want to show up unless it’s New Year’s Day. For Thirteen’s whole run, the Daleks are like “No, let the Doctor be. It’s not New Year’s Eve yet... Ok NOW we attack”

Rewatching the last half of the Vanquishers and I forgot how much I adore Azure’s coat. I really need to make it.

Whoever this Jeff guy is, he sucks. Nick seems like a sweetheart Sarah looks familiar. And I don’t know why... Aww the goggles are back! Is the TARDIS going to redesign when it resets? Yaz is excited to run, and Dan’s so tired of it all already.

My wifi sucks, so wish me luck in this running without buffering. The quality’s gone pixely so that’s a great sign.

NO NICK! How many times does the Doctor have to come upon a dead body in their lifetime? “What’s a Dalek?” Oh poor sweet Dan. “Daleks learn” Doctor, I don’t know why you’re shocked. I was about to ask if we’ve had an episode where the Doctor died right away, then I remembered Turn Left, and the Astronaut, and of course Heaven Sent. Well at least they’ve all noticed the deja vu time loop right away. Wait. Did the Doctor know there was a second person in the building? Did she meet Sarah? Did I miss her discovering her body too? Why is it firing multiple shots rather than just one? I was scared this mom would have to hear her daughter die for a moment. Sarah, why run towards the Dalek... I mean I like the ambition but that’s not gonna work out. “Time Loop” “Time Loop” “Groundhog Day” awwwww. “We both came to find each other!” “Yeah... that was it.” Sarah come on. I love that Nick is more confused about inspectors coming on a holiday than the Dalek. Nick shhhhh. You’re digging herself into a hole. Don’t. ”Bit harsh.” Yeah... OK yeah Sarah you’re taking out some frustration now. Yes Nick has some abnormal habits, and it was borderline creepy for a moment there, but no need to go this hard. Oh god. Nick no. Yeah that door was never going to hold. I wonder if the Dalek heard all that.

I gotta google and figure out why I know Sarah’s actress. Ok as far as I know, I’ve never seen anything she’s in. But she did Task Master so that was probably it, I probably saw clips of her episodes on YouTube at some point.

DAN NO SWEETHEART NO. NO. Well I’m glad she came clean and apologized. Ew Jeff lives here? Nick feels familiar now too. Hmm. Why does Nick always die first? Besides this time when Dan died first. “Which particular actions?” Yeah you gotta be more specific. Yaz looking at Doctor when Sarah’s talking about good-hearted weirdos being keepers... amazing. Oh god. Nick doesn’t survive past five-to. I was right to notice it. Ughhh someone go get him please.

I googled Nick’s actor and I haven’t seen anything he’s in either, but he’s in a show called Dreaming Whilst Black, so I might have to check that out.

YES NICK!!!!!!!! WHY DID NO ONE DO THAT BEFORE?!?!!?!? Good plan. But did they say who should go upstairs and who should go to the basement? Well Sarah just died so you got restart again anyway. DAN ARE YOU MAKING THIS CANON?? IS THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENING? SO THASMIN IS NOT A DELUSION?? Duck! They should have pulled a Nick and DUCKED! But I guess since the Dalek’s didn’t scream Exterminate that they didn’t get the warning it was happening.

BUT OH. MY GOD. I really wasn’t sure that Doctor Who would go there. They barely let Clara go beyond like implications of “There was one other man, but he was impossible” and “If you love me in anyway you’ll come back.” But they’re doing it! At least, they’re making it explicit from Yaz’s side. Oh my god. It’s happening. Where’s that Office gif...

(Also seriously, if anyone can point me towards any adorable fics of Yaz and Dan and Jericho traveling the world in the 1910s I will love you forever. I wanna see that bromance in action.)

Oh Doctor, love, no. Don’t yell at Yaz. “She likes you.” DAN OH MY GOD. DAN YOU JUST CAN’T SAY THAT. YOU... NO. “For some reason, you pretend to her, and to me, that you don’t.” Dan you’re really reading everyone like a book this episode. Good for Nick moving on. Nice, decoy. Seriously, the Doctor should wear a watch. Why does the Doctor never really wear watches? I want them to. Next Doctor, I want a watch in the design. And I’d love for it to be set to a completely weird time zone. Or like 20 time zones. Do it. Or you know, just let me design the next outfit. Very reminiscent of Martha’s 42 call to her mom. “Ex. Terminated!” That’s so cute.

Honestly I’m still sort of reeling from the Yaz thing and Dan being like one of your annoying middle school friends going up to your crush and telling them you like them. But a much more sincere version.

It’s all on you now, mom. OOF. That is... quite a demolition. WHERE’S THE TARDIS. Yeah Doctor. Feel some guilt about Yaz. Feeellll ittttt. Hey isn’t that the guy from the first episode? The Woman Who Fell To the Earth? He was scared of heights? I’m not crazy, that’s him right? Ok no redesign yet. “I don’t remember.” Doctor stop LYING. “She already thinks I’m crazy for traveling with a man I just met” Aww. Moms are always suspicious. “I feel like it was more of a meet-cute” Ok I can get behind the ship I think.

Someone under the SFX credits was named Rory Williams. I’m SURE I didn’t imagine that but then again it did get pixelly at that part.

OH THAT’S CRUEL. THEY’RE PLAYING TWICE UPON A TIME NOW. SO RUDE. Ugh. I gotta watch it. I missed all the Twelve episodes earlier in the marathon. I gotta watch this.

Anyway. I’ll keep proofreading and adding to this as I watch.

That was a fun episode. Still confused that the Doctor knew there were 2 people, but it’s possible I didn’t pay attention to the first few minutes since I was scrolling through some knitting patterns in true Eighth Doctor fashion.

Oh Twelve. You bring me so much joy. I’m getting distracted by Twice Upon a Time. “You still call it a ship!”

Oh my god. But Yaz actually being in love with the Doctor. Like... not just us wishing it... we’re not delusional... Oh my god... And sweet Dan being the one to figure it out and trying to be a sort of wingman but also to just get the Doctor’s head out of the dirt and see it for herself. Ahhh. Oh my god.

When is the next special? Will anything come of this? I imagine nothing can come of it since both Jodie and Mandip are leaving after the specials finish up. God I hope Yaz doesn’t die like right after admitting her love... I’m gonna be so sad.

Also, Twice Upon the Time using WW1 as a setting just to purely break my heart even more... still not over it. WWI always makes me sad. “World War One. What do you mean, one?” I always softly sadly gasp when I hear that line.

Anyway. That was fun. And I’m back to Doctor Who withdrawal until the next special.

Oh my god the way that Twelve just SPRINTS out the TARDIS when he sees Bill. And hugs her. I can’t handle it. Their friendship was my favorite.

Also I have no clue if that guy was the same one from Thirteen’s first episode. IMDB isn’t helping me right now and I’m too into Twice Upon a Time now to dig any deeper. yay!

#doctor who #hope watches doctor who #ignore me if you want #dw spoilers #doctor who spoilers

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supersgirls · 2 years

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~ a quick mess of my thoughts on eve of daleks ~

i think this may easily be in the running for best ep of 13′s era. i’m always down for timeloops, and i’m always down for daleks!

as much as i enjoyed flux it was so great to have a nice little stand alone ep to watch (esepceially as i didn’t have to keep explaing shit to my family whislt watching!!)

althouh me enjoying this ep so much makes me again SO SAD that jodie is leaving before RTD comes because i still think she has so much untapped potential left in her and i want to see what she would be like written by my favourite showrunner, and without such a constantly full tardis.

i loved the lady guest star, she was a breathe of fresh air. aside from the obviously great comedic aspects to her, it was great to see someone not just blindly trust the doctor instantly and make her own judgements and do her own thing. i also feel like i already know more about her personality than all of 13s actual companions and she had more agency and impact on the episode than usually they tend to do which uhhh.... is not great comparitavely. i still feel like most of the time you could roll the dice with all of13s companions to decide who says what line and you even wouldn’t notice.

anyway i really hope we see her back someday because she was great

i’ve not been really into thasmin so far owing partly to the above where i still don’t feel like i have a proper grasp on the yaz character, partly because i’m a perpetual rose x doc shipper so thats all im ever thinking about lol, and partly beacuse i’m not generally one to hop on board ships when its based only on subtext. but it def passed on from subtext in that ep and i don’t hate it! i love evasive doctor pretending she doesn’t understand, and actually wanting to not understand cause like...that me lol. and I am very happy for those of you who do ship it that it has been acknowledged and made canon! but i don’t really see where it can go in 2 episodes when we know both are leaving and i feel like to get anywhere with this they still have a f*ckton to work though first emotionally and then what? like is yaz gonna die cause its feeling like theyre gonna set it up that yaz is gonna die. or get left stranded for a 3rd time with no way back. and i don’t know that i want that. but i feel like chibs might be thinking okay....last ep....lets give these bitches something real sad to remember me by and fkn off her!!!

to add to the last though, i was really hoping for some specials where 13 was sans companion, as we’ve never gotten to see her alone, and have never seen her without yaz, and i think those types of episodes can be some of the most telling about each doctor. but with this development i know thats not going to happen. again, not a bad developement, but there are still just so many things i want to see from 13. it just really is too soon for her to go!

#doctor who #doctor who spoilers #eve of the daleks #please nobody come at me for my feelings on the companions. i want to love them i really do but they’ve just never quite clicked for me

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donotexterminateupgradepudding · 4 years

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Further defining the relationship between the Doctor and Clara Oswald; Season 9 episode 1 & 2

Blargh. I’ve been busy with work stuff and getting ready for some travel so it has been taking longer for me to sit down and actually get this going. To make my life easier, I’ll try to work on smaller chucks of season 9. Hopefully, this will prevent me from getting too involved in the post.

After the Doctor and Clara are reunited in the Last Christmas special (one of the more emotionally rewarding Christmas specials might I add) they are back to traveling together. Episode 1 starts with the Doctor doing a solo trip where he encounters the a young boy, Davros in a creepy handmine field. Upon learning his name, the Doctor flees seeing that he shouldn’t help the creator of the Daleks himself! And thus the tension builds as he hides while Davros’ snake servant goes in search of him.

Of course, Missy decides to catch the entire world’s attention and Clara is summoned to U.N.I.T headquarters and we get a badass scene of her riding her motorcycle to the Tower of London. The biggest shift in how she behaves is how she acts like the Doctor when talking with Kate and the others as they try to determine what is happening. Clara throws out big picture ideas and almost automatically starts thinking of all of the possibilities that this could be. She has always been a self-assured and intelligent person, but she commands authority now.

As Missy expects Clara appears with the U.N.I.T. and the two of them have a very tense conversation about the disappearance of the Doctor. As Missy really wants to have the full attention of the Doctor, she will stop at nothing to rile up Clara and insult her including her hurtful words asking about if Danny is still dead. Missy presents the Time Lord confession dial to Clara stating it is the equivalent of a will. She makes it clear it is delivered to his closest friend of the eve of his final day. Clara’s reaction here is her at her best trying to give nothing away to Missy. Her concern is evident, yet she knows she can’t be riled by Missy and must remain calm both for her safety and the Doctor’s.

Clara glances down at the dial, back at Missy, back at the dial before reaching for it before it zaps her.

She has a look of complete shock as it hurts her. Clara believes herself to be the Doctor’s closest friend. She declared it to Danny when he was just another cyberman. Yet, Clara is not a Time Lord. To add insult to injury, Missy points out that Clara is like the puppy with the random couple. This implies that Missy and the Doctor are like a married couple and Clara is just some dumb pet. I get that the Master/Missy isn’t supposed to be a nice or sympathetic character, but I really personally hate Missy. She spends all of her time trying to state how intellectually advanced she is, how she has risen over feeble and dumb emotions yet it is 100% clear that she is extremely jealous of Clara and the Doctor’s relationship. She set their relationship into motion, but she’s not a fan. Missy and Clara have a very tense exchange as Clara implies that their relationship must be love and Missy is totally offended by the remark and can only retort back Time Lords are better than that. Clara clearly hit a nerve, not like Missy will ever state the truth.

Missy wants to state that her level of friendship with the Doctor far exceeds any understanding that Clara may have, so thus, she can’t even begin to comprehend a 2000 or so year relationship. Honestly, not matter how old the Master may be, I really think as a character he/she will never develop a deeper understanding of “humanity” as a concept that includes Time Lords and humans.

The 10th Doctor has stated that he’s observed people who have done more in 20 years than 80 years implying that time does not always equal wisdom or accomplishments. He also stated he was just a young one at 90 implying as well that even though Time Lords live much longer, they clearly mature at a slower rate than humans or other species.

Being the overly analytical nerd that I am, let’s say a 90 year old Time Lord is like a 13 year old human. It means that at 2000, the Doctor is like an ~ 289 year old human. Therefore, Time Lords can be more mature and wiser than a standard human, but not as much as one would expect with a different rate of maturation.

Back to the whole Clara - Missy face off, Clara clearly isn’t buying this and provokes Missy by stating that she’s to believe that Missy is best friends with the Doctor and turned good. Obviously, Missy takes immediate offense to the concept of being good and kills two of the U.N.I.T staff in the area. Of course Missy threatens to kill the rest of the U.N.I.T people in the area, but is caught when Clara tells her to kill her next. It shows that despite all of her bravado and her Time Lord intelligence, she can’t figure out where the Doctor is since she isn’t as close as Clara is.

Therefore, Clara wins by telling her to prove that she is serious. She only needs to point at the plane above her to get her point across. And with that, Missy has no choice but to obey.

Oh sure, she tries to write it off as something easy and something that she couldn’t actually do anything bad with; yet at the end of the day Missy has to recognize she is out of her depth.

The framing then shifts where Clara is not the one seated and Missy is standing behind her since by her own admission, she can’t find where the Doctor is and Clara is the only person currently who can.

This also gives Missy a chance to put a vortex manipulator on Clara while she is distracted, thus removing her from the assistance of anyone else. I have to admit, if Missy is so smart, she should have figured out what it took Clara all of 10 seconds to put together - where is the Doctor having a crazy party.

As Clara ponders what will let them know he’s there, Missy states it will be a small anachronism. Of course both are shocked as he enters playing guitar on a tank . . .

The Doctor then tries to have some hilarious stand up a few hundred years too early and Clara cringes at his fish tank joke while Missy seems . . . not amused? befuddled?

Clara then asks Missy what’s the matter with him. She’s never seen him like this - and she has seen the 11th and 12th Doctor, so she got to compare to totally different personalities.

He immediately hears her and pulls his sunglasses down a bit to get a better look at Clara and Missy.

Clara then wonders if he heard them and realizes that they are there. Instead of verbally answering, he proceeds to play some of “Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison. Of course based on their facial expressions both Missy and Clara think the song is about her and likely not the other. However, Clara wins for having the more totally adorable smile.

As he continues to play, the camera will quickly switch back to them for a moment where Clara beams, Missy then gets a side glance over at her before she stops smiling and is more serious looking. The camera pans back to the Doctor and then back to a very flattered and happy looking Clara who only stops smiling with her teeth as he finishes playing as if she were caught on tape.

Now the lyrics for “Pretty Woman” aren’t very deep or anything like that, but they are appropriate for the relationship between the Doctor and Clara. Pretty woman, walkin' down the street Pretty woman the kind I like to meet Pretty woman I don't believe you, you're not the truth No one could look as good as you, mercy

Pretty woman won't you pardon me Pretty woman I couldn't help but see Pretty woman that you look lovely as can be Are you lonely just like me

Pretty woman stop awhile Pretty woman talk awhile Pretty woman give your smile to me Pretty woman yeah, yeah, yeah Pretty woman look my way Pretty woman say you'll stay with me 'Cause I need you, I'll treat you right Come with me baby, be mine tonight

Pretty woman don't walk on by Pretty woman don't make me cry Pretty woman don't walk away, hey, OK If that's the way it must be, OK I guess I'll go on home, it's late There'll be tomorrow night, but wait What do I see? Is she walkin' back to me? Yeah, she's walkin' back to me Oh, oh, pretty woman.

The Doctor is always lonely - the Doctor travels through time and space yet can never have a friend able to keep traveling with him. Therefore, these lyrics really fit both of them at the beginning of season 9, the only person they have is each other.

Clara runs down to ground level while Missy continues to watch from above. The Doctor has to visually look at Missy before she will even come down while Clara was already there waiting for him. She then comes up to him and asks how he knew she was there.

Clara: Did you see me?

Doctor: When do I not see you?

Clara: What, one face in all of that crowd?

Doctor: There was a crowd too?

Clara: Wow, we’re doing charm as well now, are we? [laughs] Which one of us is dying?

As she states he’s “doing charm” it means she is impress with how he’s grown as a person and is trying to impress her. Of course it totally works, she’s beaming at him here as she smiles, though obviously concerned.

After some nervous glances between the two of them, he then hugs her. She’s thoroughly overwhelmed as the Doctor has initiated a hug between the two of them.

Clara can’t keep up with these changes. This all makes sense. Clara, like the 12th Doctor uses her quick wit and sarcasm to deflect when she’s not sure what is happening. She’s clearly concerned based on her facial expression, but she has to be strong for him since his hugging means he’s worried.

And we get that worry as the camera finally shows his face as he tells her it is a great way to hide your face.

When they finally break from the hug, she’s able to guess that he’s throwing a party, but this was not the type of party she was expecting. The lighting in this scene is telling, his light eyes dart back and forth and when she pulls away we see shadows under Clara’s eyes. She knows this is not the Doctor and he deflects her by stating he’s been many men and all of him is invited to this party. 12 may have come a long way with his emotions, but at a time like this he really still doesn’t know what to do. He also has to deal with Missy as he then introduces her as the wicket stepmother. He also uses this transition to place himself directly between Clara and Missy.

It is quite clear that he’s protecting Clara since he already realizes that Missy brought her there and he can’t trust Missy with Clara alone.

There is a bit of chit chat and eventually Colony Sarff, Davros’ snake errand boy shows up and confronts the Doctor. He states he followed his friends to the location and asks for the Doctor to come see a dying Davros.

The sonic screwdriver is thrown down before him and he looks ashamed and can’t say anything only able to reply to Clara’s comment that it used to be his sonic.

Not surprisingly, Missy has to ask what the Doctor’s facial expression is. I waffle on if this implies that Missy knows exactly what that facial expression is and only says that so that Clara states that he’s ashamed. This is him feeling ashamed for some sort of action.

Clara looks on with great concern as she asks him what he’s done. That then leads to the rest of the flashback explaining what happened at the beginning of the episode. Upon learning that the boy’s name is Davros, the Doctor freezes and is unsure what to do. As the fog rolls in, he uses that as a chance to escape as the fog obscures the TARDIS, yet the tell tale sign sound of it departing before returning to the current events implies that the Doctor abandoned a young Davros.

The Doctor agrees to go and says the lamest good-bye to Clara ever as he just turns to her before turning his back to snake errand boy. In true Clara fashion she barely even glances at Missy before she springs into action stating that they will come with him.

And with that, the trio are transported to the ship as they travel to where ever Davros is.

While waiting to meet Davros, the Doctor reveals that he’s the creator of the Daleks (a surprising thing for Clara to not know seeing that she knows tons about the Doctor) and that the bigger question is “Who created Davros?” as an almost rhetorical question.

As Colony Sarff comes to take the Doctor away, he and Clara have a very awkward conversation. She immediately calls him out on giving the confession dial to Missy. Therefore, the Doctor knew she was not dead and he had someway to reach her - though she was unable to find him without Clara. This clearly does not sit well with Clara. She’s the one who is supposed to be able to lie, not the Doctor to her, Clara. Their facial expressions are so strained, he’s trying his best to look calm and looks so sad as he hid things from Clara while she tries so hard to look tough.

The tension between them is so palpable you can almost taste it. Clara is off her game, he ran off to 1138, had a crazy party, made it so that Missy and Clara would have to find him, he tried to coldly say good-bye and how she’s stuck in a holding room with Missy who keeps trying to kill her.

When Missy and Clara get captured escaping from the room and the Doctor sees her trapped in the room with the TARDIS, he begs Davros not to hurt her.

There is then a discussion between Davros and the Doctor about how compassion was his weakness and he asks himself why he let him live when he stumbled upon him as a boy in his present time. The Doctor looks quite distraught as the Daleks wait for Clara to run before zapping her, the TARDIS is “destroyed” and the episode then ends with the Doctor deciding to save Davros to save his friend. I would say this scene is a complete parallel to the 9th Doctor and Rose when they were on satellite 5. It appears that Rose was killed by the laser beam, instead she was transported to the Dalek command. This is the exact same thing, I’m sure the Doctor knows that Missy would have messed with the vortex manipulators, the big question is if she only made it that hers would transport her elsewhere while Clara ends up dead.

Already this meta has gotten out of hand and I haven’t even gotten to episode 2.

The second episode makes it very clear that indeed the Doctor knows that they are fine (again as long as Missy didn’t kill Clara on purpose). With Clara hanging upside from the rope (where did Missy get the rope? and the stick?) Missy makes Clara take her “Doctor intelligence test” to determine if she should keep or alive or not. Of course Clara, knowing the Doctor so well, is able to determine not only why Missy wasn’t dead in the first place, meaning the Doctor knows that they are still alive and that the Doctor always assumes that no matter what, he’ll win.

Missy seems to need some convincing as to if the Doctor is actually thinking that, which Clara simply states, he’s expecting them to pick up the slack for him. Therefore, they should assume that they will win. All of this must annoy Missy on several levels since she wants the Doctor’s attention but has to deal with the puny and pitiful Clara.

Since the Doctor and Clara are separated, I’ll only briefly [try to briefly] get though parts of the episode.

The Doctor is upset and steals Davros’ Dalek chair and a laser as he messes with the Daleks. They point out that he does not use violence, confident that he will not actually fire a weapon at them. They do seem to forget that the 10th Doctor clone did commit Dalek genocide, but for some odd reason that doesn’t count. . . .

However, Clara is involved and this is clearly foreshadowing to how far he will take things for Clara. Really, the Doctor has two great enemies, the Daleks with Davros and the Time Lords, well the Time Lord establishment that is.

Meanwhile, Clara and Missy are stuck in the Dalek sewers as Missy really defines how she really can’t work with anyone despite her opinion that she is a great friend of the Doctor. Clara is 100% correct that they are not a team and the entire time it is like the worst Time Lord - human team, with the Doctor and Clara making the “best” Time Lord - human team. I digress.

The Doctor then gives his demand to the Daleks, that he wants Clara Oswald returned unharmed and alive and he even makes sure it is broadcast through the whole city so Clara and Missy can hear it as well. Missy comments on it while Clara only listens. Clara clearly is trying to understand what it all means. What is interesting is that Missy states this is the Doctor without hope . . . upon saying that Clara only shifts to look at Missy in shock.

Does Clara think he’s actually without hope? She does look like she’s holding back tears, but she is unusually silent and instead Missy keeps commenting. With Danny’s death Clara was talking non-stop when she was upset. Now, she’s oddly silent.

To be able to infiltrate the Daleks, Missy makes sure to stick Clara in a Dalek casing, which has the added benefit that, she can no longer say her name . . . this is a bit of an odd thing since when Clara’s part of her self that had been scattered through the Doctor’s timeline was her Oswin Oswald, who was a fully transformed Dalek and could still say her name. I think you wrote yourself into a little contradiction there Steven Moffat. . . not like your whole weeping angels issue between “Blink” and when Amy and Rory get stuck in 1880 something. Sorry dude, your writing is not the most consistent.

The point is, everything that Missy does, is to use Clara to her advantage while still keeping her expendable and Clara just had to roll with it. . . . the whole thing highlights how her relationship with the Doctor is so much more equal even though there are times Clara will act as bait to assist the Doctor.

A huge portion of this episode is dedicated to philosophical discussions between the Doctor and Davros as Missy tries to use her negotiating skills with the Supreme Dalek. I’m personally surprised that they can’t figure out that Clara is in the one Dalek shell, it is one hell of an assumption to make after the Doctor stole Davros’ chair.

The Doctor being himself, knows that Davros will likely try to take advantage of his compassion, a constant theme these two episodes but damn well knows he’ll also wake up the zombie Daleks.

Missy runs into wake up the passed out Doctor and has procured the Dalek laser. The Doctor immediately asks where Clara is and if she is fine, while Missy is upset he’s not asking about her at all. Of course he gets the last laugh and runs out with his confession dial and runs into Clara. He stops as the Clara Dalek says “Doctor.” and he tries to tell her to run. The framing of this shot is good, we see Clara at the end of the hall and then it switches to a view behind Clara looking at the Doctor.

This is a classic “reunion” style shot as two characters approach each other after being separated. The issue is that the Doctor thinks it is a regular Dalek and the weird Dalek programming won’t let her explain things clearly (really seriously, this plot inconstancy is bothering me, Clara should be able to override the Dalek programming since she already has done it).

Missy confirms that it is Clara and then tries to convince the Doctor to kill the Dalek as it is the one that killed Clara. All of her cries that she is his friend and that she would never hurt him eventually result in the the Dalek saying “mercy” which is enough to get the Doctor to step back a second and realize that something is off with this Dalek (as well as Missy’s insistence to kill it). Upon realizing that it is Clara, he lowers the laser and tells her to open the casing and helps her figure out how to open it.

He is at a loss for words as he sees Clara as tears run down her cheeks.

She’s trapped inside and he reaches his hands out to hold her face as she cries and really, we don’t get a great look at his face as it is shaded most of the time.

What is clear is he feels terrible about everything and to steal an oft used phrase from the 10th Doctor, he states that he is “I am so sorry.” Since the 12th Doctor is much less social and has only had one companion so far, Clara, the guilt he must feel this time has to be immense.

It is clear that when he tells Missy to run, it is a threat that if Missy doesn’t leave him and Clara alone, there likely will be consequences.

The action then skips back to them returning to where the TARDIS was. They return to the location and Clara looks perplexed why they were not shot when the Doctor reveals the TARDIS is fine and with that statement Clara is beaming and smiling as he explains things to the Daleks.

This is clearly and expression of deep love and appreciation for the Doctor here.

And back to form, now with Clara, he can show off as he looks back at her softly with that spirit in his eyes.

He has his Clara Oswald back safe and sound. He knows what he needs to do. With that he puts his sonic sunglasses on with more bravado than necessary (since it is all for Clara) and we get a repeat of how she looked when he had the invisible watch and was playing around with her. The two of them look like two idiots who can’t get enough of each other. What seals the deal is when the Daleks ask what is happening.

The Doctor’s reply.

Oh same old, same old. Just the Doctor and Clara in the TARDIS. [Clara giggles]

As they escape it is just the regular old Doctor and Clara looking at each other, smiling, beaming at each other. The two of them are 100% into each other and the fact that he makes it sound like they’ve been at this forever and will be at it forever shows how different 12 is compared to some of the other Doctors. He’ll do anything to hold onto Clara. This really is the normalization of the two of them as an inseparable duo.

As they watch the Dalek city on Skaro succumb to the zombie Daleks, she asks if she’ll get to know what is on the confession dial, but she damn well knows he’s not going to tell her.

As he discusses the ability of Clara to get the Dalek to say “mercy” he ponders how it would be left in their programming so to speak.

Realizing that it was the Doctor saving young Davros (and giving him his sonic) that it was himself who then allowed himself to save Clara. He sprints off to the TARDIS and rescues Davros and only tells him that mercy matters, and likely based on Missy’s behavior, he tells him that friends and enemies likely doesn’t matter but that mercy does.

The first two episodes of season 9 serve a purpose both to shadow what will happen at the end of the season as well as show how far the Doctor will go to make sure that Clara is safe and sound. His love for Clara is almost extreme compared to his love for others that he has traveled with before.

I found their reunion at bit flat, when they reunited during the “Last Christmas” episode, it felt much more of a connection between the two of them. Instead, we the viewers barely get anything, we don’t even get to see him pull her out or hug her. Did they think this would be too much too early?

Overall, they do set up the depth between Clara and the Doctor and really highlight how much they love and care about each other while Missy acts as a foil to both of them wanting to have the Doctor’s full attention, yet never able to do so. It seems like episode 1 did a better job of connecting Clara and the Doctor, while episode 2 fell flat for sure and just didn’t seem sincere enough even though there were dramatic events.

It went from the Doctor almost shooting Clara to them back to normal as the TARDIS materializes around them and no discussion of this afterwards. Clara was unusually silent as well in the episode, it just felt off. By this point, they should have had a long detailed conversation about what happened, but no, he hops back into the TARDIS, saves young Davros and the episode ends.

#doctor who meta #doctor who #Twelfth Doctor #twelve x clara #clara oswald

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isagrimorie · 4 years

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Hi. I finally have a reliable way of watching classic who, so I'm trying out to work out a good approach. A long while ago, I put together a list of stories suggested by different people about good "definitive" stories for each Doctor. But I've been following you for a while now and you seem to have a pretty good understanding of Classic Who. So I thought I'd ask, whether you had any suggestions?

Hi sorry I’m just getting to you now! Awesome you’re getting into Classic Who, it reminds me that I need to get back into it… I’m not really an expert on Classic Who and I lost my Classic Who to watch because my old laptop died. This’ll teach me, honestly, to put notes on a cloud based note taking program rather than just the one living on the computer.

Here’s the list and some of my favorites. It’s not complete, so fairwarning! Also Classic Who goes by stories ranging from 4 episodes each to a whopping 12 episode.

First Doctor

An Unearthly Child (The first story where two teachers spy at a student’s home out of concern and in return the First Doctor kidnaps them and then strands them on prehistoric Earth where the Doctor tries to kill a caveman with a rock).

The Daleks - Second story where the Doctor lands them on Skaro, meets the Daleks for the first time. Skaro was a war ravaged, post-nuclear winter world where two kinds of races lived the Kaled and Thals.

The Edge of Destruction - The TARDIS almost kills the crew, the crew acts weird and Barbara Wright gives the Doctor one hell of a talking to, and the Doctor starts to shape up.

Marco Polo - I haven’t seen this!

Keys of Marinus - I haven’t seen this either

The Aztecs - Fabulous Barbara Wright where she shows how amazing she is. She’s allowed to be both right, wrong, and righteous. But also.. it’s Aztecs as portrayed by a 1960s show. Also, the Doctor accidentally gets engaged. Not the last time!

The Sensorites - The Time Team meats a psychic alien race.

The Planet of Giants - (sorry I haven’t seen this)

The Dalek Invasion of Earth - An awesome, post-apocalyptic London in the far future where the Daleks enslave Earth. Barbara is awesome and Susan makes her goodbye, and the Doctor leaves Susan with only ONE shoe.

The Rescue - Vicki, the new companion arrives. Something about the confrontation here between One and the threat reminds me of Thirteen.

The Romans - A really fun episode. A really fun and shippy episode for Barbara and Ian. Also… really traumatic! Also the Doctor may or may not have inspired the burning of Rome.

The Web Planet - I have to be honest I couldn’t finish this episode.

The Crusade

The Space Museum - Haven’t watched yet.

The Chase - A silly episode where the gang gets chased through time and space by a bunch of Daleks. Barbara and Ian leaves, and Steven the astronaut stumbles into the TARDIS

The Time Meddler - The first time another Time Lord (not yet called a Time Lord) is on the show. The Doctor and The Meddling Monk have fun chess shenanigans.

Galaxy 4

Mission to the Unknown - Prequel to the epic The Dalek’s Masterplan. Recently graduate students recreated this. The only episode on Doctor Who without the Doctor or the TARDIS.

youtube

The Mythmakers - Through audiobook in Audible. Vicki stays behind, and the Doctor, uh, might have help start the sacking of Troy.

The Dalek Masterplan - Real epic where we see how sly Daleks can be, with a huge array of characters. Again, I experienced this as an audiobook so I don’t know what this looks.

The Massacre at St Bartholomew’s Eve, The Ark, The Celestial Toymaker (yes the one namechecked recently). I haven’t seen these episodes yet!

The Gunfighters - A really fun episode where the Doctor, Steven, and Dodo ( a new Companion) in the Old West.

The War Machines - The Doctor comes back to 60s London where a sentient computer tries to takeover the world through hypnosis. Dodo leaves and two new companions, Ben and Polly arrive.

Unfortunately that’s the only First Doctor episodes I’ve watched

Second Doctor

The Tomb of the Cybermen - Supposedly the iconic episode. And where the Second Doctor has a really fantastic inspirational talk about keeping the people we love in our hearts. Unfortunately, probelmatic about race, and the first of the many times a black person dies in a Cyberman episode. It’s unfortunate because they already have so few black characters on the show but they almost always die when a Cyberman is around.

The Enemy of the World - The Second Doctor looks like a Dictator and there are shenanigans. Also there is an awesome woman character.

The Dominators - Fun episode with adorable robots.

The War Games - The EPIC ten episode last story for the Second Doctor. And the first time we all meet the other Time Lords and realize quickly they’re assholes of the highest order. And every subsequent appearance will only reinforce that.

Third Doctor

Spearhead from Space - The Third Doctor’s first adventure, and the first colored Doctor Who! We meet Doctor Liz Shaw and the rest of the UNIT team. The Brig is also reintroduced! (Um he was in an episode I hadn’t seen from Second Doctor era).

Dr Who and the Silurians - Really good episode and the ending, omg.

Ambassadors of Death - Also good but a bit bloated I think

Inferno - THE BEST. AND I MEAN THE BEST. The first official alternate universe episode and the Third Doctor struggles to save Earth. Also, unfortunately Dr. Liz Shaw’s last episode :(.

Season 2, Third Doctor

Terror of the Autons - The Master’s first appearance! And a weirdly floating Time Lord. Jo Grant appears!

The Mind of Evil - The Master tries to disrupt a peace conference with mind control, Jo Grant is awesome, and we find out the Master’s main fear is the Doctor laughing at him and proving he is more superior than the Master.

The Claws of Axos - Aliens come to Earth and try to scam Earth, the Master is behind it… and is in trouble too.

I hope that’s enough for the moment?

#doctor who #classic who #littleironi #answered!#long post

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bleachellie · 4 years

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ellie’s “first doctor” thoughts..

so i’ve nrly finished watching the william hartnell doctor who’s for the first time now (just “the tenth planet” left!!) and here’s my thoughts on his seasons!!

- overall, i rly enjoyed them!! i was worried i wasn’t going 2 at first, bcos he’s.. kinda hard 2 get into?? 😅 like for the first 3 stories at least he’s such a rude bastard omfg.. 😭 but after those he gets a bit nicer, and i started 2 like him more!!

- i was also worried i wasn’t going 2 like the change of pace in them either (if u didn’t know, instead of stories being 1 or 2 45 minute episodes, the old doctor who’s are usually spread over 4-6 25 minute ones!!) bcos the first 3 stories were p slow and not much happened, but i think this improved by “the keys of marinus” and i started 2 enjoy them a lot more after that!!

- just 2 mention, i watched "marco polo,” “the crusade” and “galaxy 4″ thru the reconstructions on the dvd’s, the “mission to the unknown” recreation from last year on youtube, and “the myth makers,” “the daleks’ masterplan” and “the massacre of st. bartholomew’s eve” thru the fanmade animations on youtube, so the only stories i didn’t watch are “the celestial toymaker” and “the savages” (bcos the audio got taken off the animations on youtube.. 😔) and “the smugglers” (which is still on youtube, but i decided 2 skip so i can watch “the tenth planet” sooner 😅).. i might go back sometime and watch the ones i missed separately, i just didn’t mind missing them in this watch through bcos they didn’t rly seem like “essential” stories 😭

- so my favourite story was between “the space museum,” “the chase” and “the time meddler!!” vicki, barbara and ian were definitely my fav companion team and the concept of “the space museum” was just rly cool, “the chase” was a rly fun story, and i loved the meddling monk in “the time meddler,” he’s the only other time lord who’s been in it so far (apart from susan obvs) and i rly wish he’d come back more than just the one time he did bcos he was such a good concept 😭

- least favourite story?? probably “an unearthly child” unfortunately.. 😔 the doctor’s just too unlikeable in the first stories, and altho the first episode of it was rly good + interesting, the caveman story in the rest of the episodes was just.. so boring 😖 after the first 3 stories, they weren’t rly any stories i didn’t like tho, they all had something that interested me!!

- so, companions.. like i said vicki, barbara and ian were my fav companion team, and vicki was my fav out of them, and overall too!! i’m not rly sure why, i think she’s just rly nice and made for a good change after susan left.. 😅 barbara and ian were my next favs obvs, they weren’t the most interesting characters but they were likeable, and u got used 2 them being there bcos they were in it so long, so i think i was most sad when they left.. 😔

steven was my next fav, even if he did seem like a replacement ian sometimes, i liked the scene of him trying 2 leave at the end of “the massacre” bcos Fuck he went thru a lot in that story and “the daleks’ masterplan..” 😰 (which i wish had been explored a lil bit more..), after him susan (who is gonna have a Whole point in a sec) and then least fav was dodo.. not that she was unlikeable but, i just don’t think she did Anything for the few stories she was there, and then she.. just vanished halfway thru “the war machines” like????

(i haven’t counted katarina and sara in this bcos they weren’t around long enough, and i’m not counting ben and polly bcos i feel like they’re more troughton companions 😅)

- susan. she was Such an interesting concept (the doctor’s granddaughter!! another time lord!!) and i rly wanted 2 like her but she was just.. such a wasted opportunity 😫 she barely ever did anything (except get captured by the villians of the week 😟) and they never rly did anything w/ her also being a time lord (her using telepathy in “the sensorites” is abt the only thing i can think of 🤔) and it’s just like.. they could have done So Much w/ her but they just didn’t, and it’s a massive shame.. 😔

- other things 2 note.. so not much has appeared from like, later seasons/modern dw yet!! not saying that as a bad thing, it’s just interesting 2 see how it all develops!! so far apart from like, the doctor and the tardis, i think the only things from later dw so far are the daleks and (in “the tenth planet” that i haven’t watched yet) the cybermen and regeneration 😮

like for ppl who don’t know, the doctor isn’t even called a time lord yet (i think that term gets introduced in troughton’s era), gallifrey hasn’t been mentioned by name yet (i don’t think that happens til either pertwee/tom baker??) and there’s no sonic screwdriver either!! (i think that’s from troughton’s era too??)

so yh that’s everything i can think of 2 say rn!! i’ve rly enjoyed watching them, and i can’t wait 2 start patrick troughton’s era!! ☺️

#fuck this turned out So long omg.. 😭#ellie watches classic who #dw.txt

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fleurdeneuf · 5 years

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tv show quiz

I was tagged by @joi-in-the-tardis, @blueboxesandtrafficcones, and @onthedriftinthetardis. Thank you! :D

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. Don’t cheat. Tag 10 peeps.

Doctor Who

Killing Eve

Life on Mars

Gentleman Jack

Father Brown

1. Who is your favorite character in 2?

It’s a tie between Villanelle and my boy Kenny.

2. Who is your least favorite character in 1?

Umm....River Song and Madame de Pompadour....aka bad writing.

3. What is your favorite episode of 4?

Probably episode 8? The happy ending after all of that angst!

4. What is your favorite season of 5?

Hmmm....I do like season 1 because I love Susie and she leaves after that, but they’re all good. I do prefer the earlier seasons with Lady Felicia though (I love Bunty too, but LF is my fave).

5. Who is your favorite couple in 3?

Haha, there aren’t many to choose from! But definitely Sam/Annie, even though I wasn’t sure for most of the time whether I actually shipped them, or just BroTP....but by the end I shipped it. :’)

6. Who is your favorite couple in 2?

Eve/Villanelle (to the surprise of no one!)

7. What is your favorite episode of 1?

Dagnabit....ok, um, probably Rose? Just the perfect opener! But I also love The Unquiet Dead and Dalek and POTW and....

8. What is your favorite episode of 5?

IT’S A COZY MYSTERY SERIES WITH SEVEN SEASONS. HOW CAN I PICK ONE FAVORITE EPISODE. It would be much easier for me to list the handful of episodes that I DON’T like. So, I’ll just say, generally speaking, my favorite eps are the ones where Father Brown says something beautiful and compassionate about God and love and makes me cry (this happens a lot).

9. What is your favorite season of 2?

I love both seasons so far, but I’ll say season 1 just by a hair...because of the originality and laying the groundwork.

10. How long have you watched 1?

HAHA....I started watching DW in 2007-2008? I don’t remember exactly, but shortly after I finished grad school and moved home again, which was summer of 2007. Let’s see...I was caught up just in time to watch season 4 when it aired in the US, which google helpfully tells me was April of 2008, so yeah, I would’ve started season 1 in late 2007 or early 2008 probably.

11. How did you become interested in 3?

I probably first heard about it when I first joined tumblr, especially from UK friends and Simm fans ( @flypup especially ;) ), and it was on my radar/in the back of my mind for a while, but I never got around to watching it. And then I got Britbox and it was there, and then I fell into last year’s Simm Spiral (TM) and then @chiaroscuroverse suggested watching it, and then we did!

12. Who is your favorite actor in 4?

Suranne Jones??? Sophie Rundle??? Both?????

13. Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

HOW DARE. OK, I’m most obsessed with 2 right now, but 1 has been in my heart for more than ten years, and I’m currently rewatching 5 and it’s bringing me lots of happiness and good feelings, so I say: ALL OF THEM.

14. Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3 ?

.......1. Because I’ve seen every episode and serial ever made, whereas 3 has only 16 episodes. :p

15. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

Well, I’m partially Ann Walker already, so...

16. Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

No. (Unless Sam ended up in 1830s West Yorkshire, rather than 1970s Manchester???)

17. Pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.

Oh goodness....of course I’m suddenly forgetting all of the fic ships I’ve ever read....OK, I’m gonna go with amberfocus’s Pete’s World OT3 from Wolf Moon and Hunger Moon: Mickey, Suzie, and Jake. She really sold that relationship, and I hadn’t even seen Torchwood yet at the time. :D Runner up goes to Jack and Martha. I have a soft spot for them as friends (I love how much Jack adores her), and I could see, given the right circumstances, that turning into something.

18. Overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

3! An original and amazing storyline that ends at the perfect point, and is open to interpretation. 5, as mentioned above, is a cozy mystery series, and as such, it doesn’t really have big plot arcs; the episodes are pretty self-contained.

19. Which has the better theme music, 2 or 4?

2, OBVS. Have I flailed about the perfection of KE’s score and soundtrack lately????? Perfection.

Tagging: @sorrynotsorrybabyx, @deartimekeeper, @ciara-jane, @naughtylupine, @wholockgal, @asthewheelwills, @pinchtheprincess, @stoprobbers, @turnswithus, @tinyconfusion (no pressure, but @ and tag me if you do it!)

#fleur does the meme #about fleur #killing eve #life on mars #gentleman jack #father brown #dw #tv recs #gj s1

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lycanhood · 5 years

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Best of 2018 - TV Shows

Okay, so I watch a lot of television. The genres and quality of my watchlist is varied and therefore doing any sort of ranking stresses me out. Instead, I’ll just note what impressed me the most this year.

Best New Series:

Killing Eve (BBC America)

This show is just truly incredible. Everything about it. Source material (x), cast, writing, music, directing. Everything is perfect.

She-Ra & The Princesses of Power (Netflix)

gay and precious

For the People (ABC)

Very underrated. It’s not mind-blowing or anything, but thoroughly enjoyable.

Best Summer Shows:

Wynonna Earp (S3 on Syfy)

the most beautiful shitshow you’ve ever seen. Emily Andras is the real MVP

The Bold Type (S2 on Freeform)

delightful and witty and sincere

Animal Kingdom (S3 on TNT)

full of testosterone, but I like it anyway

Best Limited Series: The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix)

Best Drama Series: This is Us (NBC) Just consistently tear-jerking. Milo Ventimiglia has owned my ass since Season 2 of Gilmore Girls and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

Best Sci-Fi: Doctor Who (BBC America) Jodie Whittaker’s 13th Doctor and her brilliant new season (blessedly Dalek and Cypermen-less) is exactly what the world needs. And they’ve got 3 new companions to match.

Arrowverse (Sidebar): The entire Arrowverse, the entire CW tbh, has been a frustrating mess to me for the last couple of years, but I’m obsessed with it regardless.

Legends of Tomorrow is the best show in the Arrowverse currently. It is the only one that is unapologetically true to itself and consistent in terms of tone and character. It’s delightful and fun and if you’d asked me 4 years ago which Arrowverse show would have it’s shit together this would have been my last guess.

Supergirl has been a mess since it joined The CW in Season 2. I don’t know what is going on in the Writers’ Room but damn if even they know what’s happening half the time. Nonetheless, I’m obsessed with it. I’m so in love with some of the characters and just Supergirl as a hero that I can’t look away. Season 4 has started out relatively strong (but so did Season 3). Only time will tell if they can keep it up.

The Flash is being completely carried on Nora West-Allen’s shoulders for me. I honestly didn’t even plan to watch this season, but a few episodes went by and I couldn’t resist Jessica Parker Kennedy. I’ve enjoyed the season so far, a pleasant surprise.

Arrow I gave up on a season ago. I have no idea what’s happening and honestly I can’t bring myself to care anymore.

Black Lightning is unfortunately boring to me. I watched the first season, and about 2 or 3 episodes of season 2, but damn I just couldn’t stick with it. I like the characters (the Pierce family) and I love Anissa (enough that I’m keeping up with her and Grace through youtube videos), but the villains/plot is soooo boring. Tobias Whale and Painkiller were just unbearable for me.

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timeagainreviews · 6 years

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The Eve of the Thirteenth

Recently I watched "An Unearthly Child," in preparation to write the first official article of Time and Time Again (TATA? Ok, I love that). But then it hit me that it’s a rather auspicious time to talk about the First Doctor’s first episode. With this being the eve of the first female Doctor’s first episode, it seems so appropriate. So I’m going to wait until after "The Woman Who Fell to Earth," drops. See what I did there?

I know this blog is meant to be about revisiting episodes, but the timing is just too good. Besides, it is my blog. However, this being said, I suppose I should share my hopes and expectations for series eleven.

Jodie Whittaker as "The Doctor"

Not since maybe Eccleston has anyone had as difficult a regeneration to overcome. While every actor new to the role feels a pressure to keep the show going, I’d say some feel it harder than others. Davison had to follow up an endearing seven-year run from Tom Baker. McGann had the pressure of trying to reestablish the show, as did Eccleston. Many people even said nobody could replace David Tennant. But the one I am reminded of the most is Patrick Troughton. Troughton was really one of those "make it or break it," Doctors. The concept of regeneration was far from established lore, it was rather a gamble.

Jodie Whittaker has a very similar weight on her shoulders. It’s another one of those "make it or break it" moments. The beauty is, I think she knows it. Everyone involved knows it. However, as much as I’ve emphasised on the pressures involved, I’m confident they chose the right woman for the job. She looks like a children’s show presenter in her costume, which is wonderfully coupled with her mad energy. For me, it’s never been about "We need a woman in the TARDIS," we need the right person in the role, and she’s perfect.

Doctor Who is the ideal show to change the gender or race of its lead. On a science fiction level, it makes total sense that the Doctor is able to change these things with ease. It’s almost laughable that it’s taken this long. It’s almost poetic. The Doctor- a man who has experienced thousands of years worth of exploration and change, still has something new to experience- womanhood. It is, as they say, about time.

The Companions

Honestly, I’m not that fussed over these companions. That’s not to say I’m disinterested or even upset with their casting. I feel confident they’ll all shine in their own ways, and live up to the show’s standard of companions. I think it’s cool that the Doctor’s friends this time around, are rather diverse. As a fan of older companions such as Wilf, or Evelyn Smythe, I am rather looking forward to Bradley Walsh as "Graham." Tamsin and Ryan both seem like they’re going to have some cute banter between the two of them. It seems pretty solid.

Many may say "That’s a pretty crowded TARDIS," but I like the bigger TARDIS crews at times, as they can be a nice way to add a new dynamic. The thing that would have actually excited me would have been a companion from the future, or past. Or even an alien companion. Not since Captain Jack, have we had anyone riding in the TARDIS who wasn’t from the present-day UK. We got teased with it in "Asylum of the Daleks," with Oswin, and again in "The Snowmen," but then we ended up with modern day Clara Oswald. I had even hoped for Bill to be from the 80’s or 90’s. Where are the highlander companions? The Keepers of Traken? I guess Nardol sort of counts, but come on.

Chris Chibnall

Mr Chibnall is probably my biggest worry for the series. As a writer, I’ve never been all that big a fan of his episodes. "The Power of Three," was one I found particularly dreadful. When the Doctor saved the day by pointing his sonic at a screen, I felt cheated. The little cubes amounted to nothing, really. It’s not that he’s a bad writer, he’s just a bit dull. He managed to make “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship,” less exciting than the name implies. That’s probably impressive on some planets.

Overall, I think he’ll do fine, I’m just worried he’ll be a bit boring. I hadn’t worried much until he said that no old baddies would return in series eleven. Which, is fine I guess, but why not? While the Daleks and Cybermen can be really overdone (especially the Cybermen as of late), there is a wealth of villains to draw from the Doctor’s rogues' gallery. One group I’d like to see her face off against are the Axons. Whittaker’s "Godspell" evoking threads call for retro baddies!

So long as Chibnall doesn’t get too dark like he did with Torchwood (which literally felt like a little boy excited over getting to say the F-word), I’d say he’ll do fine. Parts of Torchwood were a bit "lizard brain," to its credit. Doctor Who should always have a touch of the surreal. The first episode had it. An indestructible police box, bigger on the inside, that travels anywhere in time and space? It seems normal now, but even to this day, there’s nothing quite like it. Keep the energy up, and keep it weird, you’ll do fine, Chris. It’s not like you’ll get the series cancelled again.

The New Writing Staff and Production Crew

I’ll be honest, I don’t know much anything about the writers. I’ve looked them up and read about some of their stuff, but that’s about as far as I’ve taken it. I will say however, it’s nice to see so much new blood. Men, women, people of colour, many perspectives. Doctor Who thrives on being shaken up. I’m all for it.

As for the new production crew, it’s even more of the same- happy to see someone new. I know a few people were growing tired of the whimsical look of much of the Moffat era. And at times, I kind of miss the tacky trash TV look of the RTD era. From what I’ve seen of the series 11 trailer, we’re in for something a little more grounded in reality. The cinematography looks rather simple, the sets seem plausible, if not a little dull. I’m hoping they’re hiding the big knock you on your ass sets and cinematography for the actual episodes. I would not be averse to having a show that looked as colourful as the promotional artwork we’ve been seeing. It’s gorgeous. A feast for the eyes. If the leaked TARDIS console pictures are anything to go off, I’d say they’ve kept some rather exciting secrets from us.

Segun Akinola replacing Murray Gold

Music is such an important part of Doctor Who. The theme song is both haunting and exciting: portentous of the tale about to unfold. The Radiophonic Workshop, with geniuses of sound like Delia Derbyshire and Ron Grainer, pushed not only the atmosphere of the show to greater heights but music as well. In the same vein as musique concrète, they were pioneers of electronic sound.

Upon the reveal of Akinola’s appointment as music director, I promptly sought out his SoundCloud and spent an entire afternoon listening to his stuff. I was heartened to hear he was both melodic and ambient at different times. His music is minimalist, and percussive as well. One of my biggest criticisms of Murray Gold was that he was too safe a choice. For me, he never really felt strange enough for Doctor Who.

Perhaps I am an odd duck, but I miss the days of the Third Doctor driving his bizarre car to a soundtrack of muddy synthesisers that sounded as if they wanted to murder you. The closest Gold ever came to that level of greatness was the aforementioned "Asylum of the Daleks." The music matched the tone of the episode exquisitely. I had hoped to hear more of that experimentation from him, but he never really did. Akinola seems the kind of guy who just might take us to strange places.

As we all know though, the true test will be in his imagining of the theme tune. I was never a huge fan of the Capaldi era theme. It didn’t really, slap as they say. From what I’ve heard of Akinola’s work, I’m very curious how he’s going to approach it.

Well, friends, that’s it for now. We’ve got nowt to do at this moment but wait. The next time you hear from me, it will have already happened! I hope you’re just as excited as I am! Doctor Who series 11 premieres tomorrow, the 7th of October at 6:45 pm on BBC 1!

#doctor who #jodie whittaker #Segun Akinola #thirteenth doctor #bbc #tardis #tosin cole #mandip gill #bradley walsh #chris chibnall #series eleven

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circular-time · 6 years

Text

When did he start calling himself “The Doctor”?

Who pros Phillip Culley and @willbrooks1989 were pondering old classic Who scripts which alternate between identifying the speaker as “DOCTOR” or “DOCTOR WHO.” During the discussion, Phillip asked an intriguing question:

Thinking about it, when does he first call himself The Doctor, rather than a companion introducing him as such?

Tracking down references is my version of solving crossword puzzles, but this was a toughie. Summary of results:

At first he only identifies himself as a scientist, evading specifics. Either companions introduce him, or others see them calling him “Doctor” and follow suit. (It originated with Ian, btw.)

Eventually— and the first time he does so is to Cameca in The Aztecs— he’ll cautiously say, “they call me the Doctor.” But he still doesn’t do it very often, and only in response to queries.

Just as rarely, he’ll refer to himself jokingly in third person “your old friend the Doctor” or something of that sort to Barbara (Reign of Terror) or Victoria (Enemy of the World). He’s quoting their nickname for him when reminding them of their friendship.

Starting with The Dalek Invasion of Earth, the First Doctor begins correcting strangers if they call him Doc, Mister, Professor, or anything else. He tells them “I prefer Doctor” or simply cuts them off with “Doctor.”

Starting with The Celestial Toymaker, he’ll say “This is the Doctor” (third person!) under very specific circumstances: when he’s using a long-distance communication device to identify himself to someone who knows him. He’s letting them know this is the person you call the Doctor when they can’t see him.

Starting with The Gunfighters, he’ll occasionally invent an alias (”Doctor Caligari, Doctor Wer, Doctor John Smith”) on the spur of the moment when a stranger demands a name.

Right after regenerating, the Second Doctor refers to the Doctor as if he’s somebody else, the first instance of post-regeneration amnesia (it wears off quickly).

In The Seeds of Doom and Enemy of the World, he calls himself the Doctor (to Victoria: “you wouldn’t hit your old friend the Doctor, would you?”) in order to correct someone’s misidentification of him (see #4).

From Season 9 onwards (The Mutants, Carnival of Monsters, Invasion of the Dinosaurs) he FINALLY starts introducing himself to random strangers, unprompted: “I’m the Doctor.” It’s a subtle distinction: “I AM X” rather than “I am known as X.”

Leading to the newly-regenerated Fourth Doctor telling Harry, “You may be a doctor, but I am the Doctor. The definite article, you might say.” It’s no longer simply a label, alias or handle, but an expression of his core identity. It’s become how he thinks of himself as a person: THE DOCTOR.

He owes Chatterton a great deal of thanks for coming up with the nickname. ;)

Okay. Under the cut are relevant excerpts tracing the gradual evolution from “What’s that boy Chesterfield calling me?” to “Helllo, I’m the Doctor!”

Method: I fed Chrissie’s Doctor Who Transcripts into Scrivener so I could search them using RegEx (a way of specifying complex searches). I came up with this mess:

^DOCTOR[A-Za-z0-9:;.,’\?\! ]+[Dd]octor.+

Translated into plain English: “Look for any line that begins with DOCTOR, followed by some stuff, then the word "Doctor” (upper or lower case), and then keep going until you hit a line break.”

The results looked like this:

And then I tabbed through them manually looking for clues.

Unearthly Child

IAN: Just open the doors, Doctor Foreman. DOCTOR: Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?

The first of many gratuitous “Doctor” “…who?” fourth wall jokes, which I won’t belabor.

BARBARA: Oh, look, I don't understand it any more than you do. The inside of the ship, suddenly finding ourselves here. Even some of the things Doctor Foreman says IAN: That's not his name. Who is he? Doctor who? Perhaps if we knew his name we might have a clue to all this.

It’s Ian who starts using “Doctor” to address him (“Doctor, will you lead?”) apparently because he doesn’t know what else to call him.

DOCTOR: One minute ago we were trying desperately to get away from these savages. IAN: All right, now we're helping them. You're a doctor, do something. DOCTOR: I'm not a doctor of medicine.

Right from the start, the Doctor starts having to correct the confusion his alias tends to create.

The Aztecs

CAMECA: You are a healer? DOCTOR: No, no, they call me the Doctor. I am a scientist, an engineer. I'm a builder of things.

Fittingly, Cameca is the first person to hear him call himself “Doctor,” even obliquely. But it doesn’t happen again for a long time.

Reign of Terror

BARBARA: Oh, Doctor, I thought we were never going to see you again. DOCTOR: You should know by now, young lady, that you can't get rid of the old Doctor as easily as that.

Right at the end of Season 1, he borrows the term from Barbara to refer to himself in third person. It’s an isolated case, however, and possibly a slip on the part of the writers.

The Dalek Invasion of Earth

TYLER: I'll say one thing, Doc. Life's never dull with you around. DOCTOR: Thank you, but don't call me Doc, I prefer Doctor. Do you mind?

He’s not saying that’s his name, but he’s got decided ideas about what NOT to call him. Right, Professor?

The Myth Makers

KATARINA: Yes, great god. DOCTOR: His name is Steven. And remember Katarina, you must call me Doctor. KATARINA: Oh, as you wish Doc. DOCTOR: I'm not a Doc. I am not a god.

NOT YOU TOO KATARINA. He’s settled on the alias by season 3. But he’s still not using it as an introduction, only as a correction. In fact, nearly all pre-Pertwee instances of the Doctor saying “Doctor” happen because he’s clarifying, correcting or heading off someone else’s misidentification of him.

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve

DODO: Wait a minute, if this isn't a police box, what is it? And who are you? DOCTOR: Well, my dear, I'm a doctor of science, and this machine is for travelling through time and relative dimensions in space. Now you DODO: Come again?

He’s still not introducing himself as the Doctor, although he now prefers to be called Doctor rather than something else when people address him.

The Celestial Toymaker

(Watching the monitor alone, the Doctor finds a communication switch.) DOCTOR: Dodo? Steven? This is the Doctor.

Starting near the end of Season 3, the Doctor will occasionally say “this is the Doctor” to somebody who already knows him when communicating long distance, especially when there’s some risk of mistaken identity.

The Gunfighters

DOCTOR: Allow me, sir, to introduce Miss Dodo Dupont, wizard of the ivory keys, and er Steven Regret, tenor. And lastly sir, your humble servant Doctor Caligari. MASTERSON: Doctor Who? DOCTOR: Yes, quite right.

More fourth wall breakage with a side helping of John Smith. First alias, I think!

STEVEN: Doctor! DOCTOR: No, not Doctor at the moment, dear boy. I am Deputy-Sheriff of Tombstone.

Still treating it as one of his aliases rather than as his core identity.

The Savages

DOCTOR: In the meantime, young man, I wonder if you'd mind trying to find my young people for me. Steven and Dodo. Tell them the Doctor sent you.

Once again using the term for long-distance communication to identify himself to friends I.e. “this is from that guy you call the Doctor.”

Power of the Daleks

DOCTOR: Ah! The Crusades, from Saladin. The Doctor was a great collector, wasn't he? POLLY: But you're the Doctor. DOCTOR: Oh, I don't look like him.

[…]

BEN: Of course, the real Doctor was always going on about the Daleks. POLLY: Real Doctor? DOCTOR: Real Doctor?* Oh, you mean the real Doctor.

Right after regener— er, renewal, it takes a few minutes for the Doctor’s memory to clear. But then he’s a little scamp and won’t admit it once he remembers, baffling Ben (Polly is not fooled). To add to Ben’s confusion, the Doctor assumes the identity of a dead man in order to investigate his murder.

*The transcripts are incredibly meticulous, but sometimes (like any Doctor Who fan) they capitalise ‘Doctor’ when the line is really about some other doctor. So I think this punctuation should be: “Real doctor? Oh, you mean the real Doctor.”

The Highlanders

DOCTOR: A gentleman at last. Doctor von Wer, at your service. SERGEANT: Doctor who? DOCTOR: (sotto) That's what I said.

Again with the fourth wall breakage, this time pretending he’s a German.

The Moonbase

DOCTOR: Won't you introduce us first? I am a Doctor. HOBSON: A Doctor? You're arrived just in time. We need your help.

Another place where I think the transcript’s capitalised out of habit, but he’s just saying “I am a doctor.” But I excerpt it in case you disagree and want to consider this the first bona-fide “I am [the] Doctor.”

The Faceless Ones

COMMANDANT [OC]: I said I wished to speak to the Doctor, otherwise the next will be Captain Blade. BLADE: Doctor, the microphone. DOCTOR: Are you quite all right, my dear. PINTO: Yes, I think so. DOCTOR: Good. Commandant, this is the Doctor speaking.

The Doctor might’ve said “Here I am,” but any ambiguity or doubt might’ve gotten Captain Blade killed, so he answers explicitly. Again, he does this over the radio, not face to face, since voices are harder to recognise.

Evil of the Daleks

OMEGA: Alpha. ALPHA: Beta. BETA: Omega. DOCTOR: Yes, yes, yes. Now, this is Jamie and I am Doctor. We are friends. OMEGA: Friends, friends. ALPHA: Jamie, Doctor.

He’s reprogramming Daleks, and finally comes right out and says it! Even so, he’s helping them with labels— “I am the person they call Doctor” — rather than using it to express who he is as a person, if that makes any sense? Although Phillip Culley argues that this is from an early era of Who when the show’s creators were toying with the idea of Doctor as his first name and Who as his surname.

The Ice Warriors

VARGA [on monitor]: Identify yourself. DOCTOR: Me? I'm a scientist. I've come to talk with you.

He still identifies himself as a scientist, even though he answers to the alias “Doctor.”

Enemy of the World

DOCTOR: Oh, Victoria, don't hit me! You wouldn't hit your old friend the Doctor, would you? I wouldn't leave you in the tender mercy of Salamander.

He’ll say it to fend off Victoria when she’s about to thwack him! Third person, though.

The Invasion

DOCTOR: Right. We must stop them. Brigadier, Brigadier, this is the Doctor. Can you still hear me.

Once again, the Doctor identifies himself over radio to someone who already calls him “Doctor.”

The Seeds of Doom

ELDRED: You still haven't told me who you are and what you're doing here. DOCTOR: Well. ELDRED: That's the main-door alarm! What's going on? RADNOR: *enters* Professor Daniel Eldred. Well, well, well. ELDRED: Radnor. Come to see how your spies are getting on? RADNOR: I'm sorry? I don't think we've met. My name's Radnor. This is Miss Kelly. DOCTOR: Oh, how do you do. This is Zoe, and Jamie, and I'm the Doctor. ZOE: Hello. JAMIE: Hello. ELDRED: Oh, Radnor, don't pretend that you don't know them.

There. He finally just said it. Once again trying to correct a case of mistaken identity, and it was like pulling teeth (“Well…”) but there it is.

The War Games

LÜCKE: For the last time, what is your name? DOCTOR: Why don't you just call me Doctor? LÜCKE: That is not a name. I want your full name. DOCTOR: Oh, very well. Doctor John Smith.

He still doesn’t go to “I am the Doctor” unless he absolutely must. (Is that the first instance of John Smith? *checks* No, Jamie originally came up with the name, reading it off the brand name of a gadget in Wheel in Space!)

Spearhead from Space

BRIGADIER: Not yet. I must arrange for a full set of papers first. By the way, I've just realised. I don't even know your name. DOCTOR: Smith. Doctor John Smith.

Inferno

DOCTOR: My name? You ask me my name after all the years that you and I… Well now, wait a minute. Yes, I think I'm beginning to see what's happened here. Might I suggest you just call me ‘Doctor’? BRIGADE LEADER: Doctor. Doctor what? DOCTOR: Smith. Doctor John Smith.

The alias has stuck. He uses it from time to time in a pinch.

Terror of the Autons

DOCTOR: Jo, wake up. Wake up, Jo. This is the Doctor. You're amongst friends.

Again, when people who know him can’t see him (or are too dazed to recognise him), he’ll identify himself, using the name they call him by.

The Mutants

DOCTOR: So, you must be Ky. How do you do? I'm the Doctor. That's the idea. Now then, where's Miss Grant?

It’s debatable, but I feel like this really is the first time he just casually introduces himself as the Doctor, not to correct somebody calling him something else, not to identify his voice to someone who can’t see him, not to resolve a case of mistaken identity, not in jocular third person with a friend— but simply and voluntarily introducing himself as the Doctor when he meets a stranger. All the way out in Season 9!

Carnival of Monsters

VORG: Allow me to introduce myself. I am the great Vorg! And this beautiful young lady is Shirna, my assistant. DOCTOR: Delighted, Miss Shirna. I am the Doctor.

This is the next time he does it. (Season 10) Also in Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

He still likes to be mysterious about himself, sometimes resorting to “John Smith” when he’s being sneaky, but he now thinks of himself as The Doctor. It’s become his core identity rather than just a label used when vagueness won’t suffice.

Robot

DOCTOR: Not fit? I'm the Doctor. HARRY: No, Doctor, I'm the doctor and I say that you're not fit. DOCTOR: You may be a doctor, but I'm the Doctor. The definite article, you might say.

P.S. While my memory’s fuzzy, I’m pretty sure that the Meddling Monk and a few other adversaries knew him as the Doctor — how? — before he started calling himself that routinely on TV. But that’s a whole other can of worms, and this post is already too long.

#meta meta meta #dr who #who is the doctor #the name of the doctor #can you tell I used to be active in the Tolkien fandom #and that I come from a humanities research background

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thursdayplaid · 7 years

Text

The Narrow Line 13

One more chapter to go! Almost done!

Molly likes for Romantic poets and cutting down on nonsense. And all the Watsons like Molly.

David had called her up and filled the screen of Molly’s tablet, looking like, like something romantic and epic. Something written by a Bronte, or by Lord Byron. Death on the eve of battle, vengeance not to be refused. Someone who had wrestled their way back from the pit, heavy with blood and leaving ruin behind them. Something like a nuclear warhead: probably fine if you whacked him with a wrench, neatly packaged, threat understood. This was the sort of David that the boys hyped but she’d never seen before. She had always assumed it was just little brothers deifying their boss older brother. She bookmarked her copy of Percy and pushed it aside.

He also looked awful. She pushed down her alarm with some mild medical consideration. Too early for influenza, maybe a cold?

“What’s wrong?” she asked. Her heavy stomach bumped against the counter as she leaned in. “You should be in bed.”

He all but pulled a forelock to her, looking regal even with that tick down of his chin. As she watched him, he seemed to fold his temper up and tuck it away again. “Don’t worry, I plan on sleeping this off. It’s just Roost, he’s not feeling so good. He’s all…” He made a vague waving motion that could mean anything. “Johnny would normally see to him, but he has something going on.”

“David, do I need to come over?”

“No!” He jolted on the screen.

“Now you’re worrying me.”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

She gave him a look. “If you think it’ll upset me, I’ll come over with Greg once he gets back with the girls.”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant.” He turned his head and she could see the slash of purple-blue-green under his eyes right before he half-covered his face with his hands.

“Just, nothing’s going on physically. Not really, it’s psychological, just stress and exhaustion. I need to sleep and drink lots of fluids, and I can’t do that with you watching me. You should be resting anyway. Eating chocolate-covered strawberries and reading books by old dead poets who cried about roses and stuff.”

She tried not to laugh, she was being firm and in charge. She was Jane Eyre. Triple Boss. “Sure, why are you calling me then?”

“Speaking of that other thing that John is busy with, some weird stuff happened.”

“Weird stuff like how? Like with stealing dead bodies from my morgue again?”

“That was once,” David said, but without his usual vim. “It was once and it was for a good cause.”

“You never told me what it was for, what you were trying to hide.”

“Hide?” Davey said, shifting his head back and forth like a cobra. “Why would I try to hide anything?”

“Because you stole it from me right after your father was killed.”

“You’ve always said that,” David said, voice gone a little stiff. “You’ve always said killed, like he was murdered, like someone else did it.” He pressed his lips together, looking at her intently. “I’ve always appreciated that. I’ve always trusted you for doing that, you know. There’s another weird Sherlock from another weird universe. We’re not sure what’s happening, but we’re going to fix it. That’s our job now sans W. We just need a place to put weird Sherlock while Johnny goes and runs an errand.”

“You’re joking.” He had to be joking.

“Me? Ha. Ha, ha.” He looked even worse fake laughing.

“You’re not joking.”

“You were always smart, you were always the smartest.”

“Don’t lie,” Molly told him, but she couldn’t help being a little flattered. David just had a way of saying things that just made a person believe him.

“I’m not. You’ve floated on the edges of us for ages and while the elder Holmeses were so busy being excited at the prospect grandchildren they put bags over their heads or so the brothers Holmes who were convinced they’re the pinnacle of everything that they overthink every little strand of hair. You’ve come the closest to figuring out the truth of us.”

“That you talk a lot of nonsense because you don’t have adult supervision?” Molly asked.

“I am adult supervision!” he declared, all but banging his chest.

“You’re something.”

He laughed, the sound raspy with exhaustion and soft with affection. The boys treated her with so much affection she felt crowned, felt true like an arrow, felt Triple Boss. Wondered that no one else had noticed how absolutely spectacular she had always been, she had always been pretty spectacular.

“You were serious. About alternate universe Sherlock.”

“The worst kind of serious.”

“What kind is that?” she asked.

“Actually serious. You know how much I hate to be actually serious.”

“You’re terrible.”

“I’m terrible,” he agreed. “You love me.”

“I love you, but only because Greg needs an adopted son that’s not an unholy terror.”

“I don’t know,” Davey said, resting his chin on his fist. “I can be pretty terrifying. He’s better than the Grandparent Holmes anyway. He reminds me of my real dad. He’s steady.”

“I don’t think we should talk about this anymore,” Molly told him. “I feel like you’re sharing stuff you wouldn’t usually share with me because you’re tired and feeling vulnerable. You’re welcome to talk about it with me if you want, I just don’t think you should right now.”

“Look at you,” David smiled. “No wonder Johnny loves you so much. Always looking out for us. I think Johnny would have liked to live with you, except he was worried about keeping you safe and that he wouldn’t have been able to drag you into half the nonsense he got Sherlock to do. You would have made him work smart. I’ve said too much, haven’t I? I never wanted to make you uncomfortable.”

There was a knock, sharp and patterned, from the front of the house.

“Who’s that rapping at my chamber door?” Molly said, feeling flustered. It took a second for her to roll her center of gravity back up again to waddle toward the entryway.

“I gotta go sleep.”

“Go sleep,” she said agreeably. “Rest.”

On the other side of the glass panel on the door was a tall shape and shorter stockier person with a distinctive posture and characteristic sticking out ears.

“Outies!” David said, and her screen went dark.

She sighed, folding her tablet up to slide into her pocket.

There on the other side of the door was Johnny, looking apologetic, and a Sherlock that looked like he was still in his early thirties.

“You’re pregnant,” Young Sherlock said.

“Sorry about this,” Johnny said, holding a bulk bag of cat treats. Organic! Real fish! the bag said in about size twenty font. Where had he found a bag so large?

“You better get in here,” she told him stepping inside. “This isn’t another weird clone thing, or aliens or something?”

“No,” Johnny said, leading the way in. “No Doctor Who stuff. Well, some Doctor Who stuff. We’re not sure, we’re figuring it out.”

Young Sherlock took a step into the entryway and went stiff when she gently pushed him out of the way of the door.

“Why are you figuring things out here?” she asked.

“Because I’ve got something I need to do and Tim and Davey both need time to themselves. He has to go somewhere safe, and there’s no one else I trust more to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble than with you and Greg. If anyone could keep Sherlock from performing general mayhem it’s the two of you.”

“You and Greg?” Sherlock said at a pitch Molly usually associated with baby birds.

“If he’s too much trouble, I’ll find someone else. I’ll think of something,” Johnny said with his usual Very Serious face. She tried not to show how Very Cute it was.

She turned to Young Sherlock, giving him a quick look over and put her hands on her hips. “You’ve been using.”

“No,” he tried.

Johnny hauled back and punched Sherlock so hard he stumbled.

“Johnny,” she scolded him. “No hitting in the house.”

“Yes, Molly,” he nodded, looking cherubic. Like he wouldn’t do it again as soon as he and his brothers were all sitting on her sofa. He turned to Sherlock and held up a finger. “No lying to Molly ever. Molly asks a question and you answer honestly. It’s A Rule.” As if he hadn’t spent the first months of their acquaintance blatantly lying to her.

“What is your muscle development?” Sherlock asked Johnny, rubbing his arm and looking that familiar mixed of shocked and fascinated Molly associated with new parent Sherlock. “I hope you aren’t planning on doing that again.”

Johnny actually looked guilty. “I am sorry about that. I’m used to punching my brothers. Roost is built like a tank and Davey always wears a vest so it always hurts me more than it hurts them. I didn’t actually hurt you, did I? I really didn’t mean to.”

“I’d hate to see how you’d hit if you did.”

“We’ll get you home by then,” Johnny told him, patting him consolingly on the arm. “I have an ice pack in my bag if you need it?”

Sherlock pulled up to full height. “Of course I don’t need an ice pack.”

“Oh. Okay then.” Johnny looked awkwardly between the Molly and Sherlock for a moment until she sighed and opened her arms.

“Come on then. Give me a hug and go beat the Daleks.”

His arms wrapped around her from the side, his body trying to tuck against hers, going soft for a moment with a relief that made him seem very young. Poor thing, only fifteen. She smoothed a thumb against his cowlick and gave him a little squeeze. He made a soft happy sound and then darted away like he was afraid even all these years later he might get in trouble for love freely given. “Okay good,” he said quickly and darted out her door.

“Well,” Molly said, looking at Sherlock.

“Well,” Sherlock said, looking back.

“So,” Molly said. “Alternate universe Sherlock. How have things been for you?”

Maybe Johnny shouldn’t have made such a point about Sherlock being honest.

Half an hour later she had her feet up on an ottoman while Sherlock pacing back and forth telling her his life story from meeting Greg at the Yard to his return from his very short plane ride. It was a long story. She felt for him, for his suffering, his anguish had been sharpened by his confusion at why things couldn’t go the way that had before. What had he done wrong? In the past she may have cooed at him and given his hand a pat, now she saw how little good it did either of them. He wasn’t a child, if he asked for advice he was going to get it.

“Have you ever considered involving John in your decision?” Molly asked. She remembered her old crush the way one might remember an A-level, how important it had seemed at the time and how distant it had seemed now. But comparing that to the warm, bubbling, adoration she had for Greg, the way she felt like she begun to glow internally whenever she saw Greg’s lovely face, it seemed adolescent. No offence to herself, but what had she been thinking? It was clear they simply wouldn’t suit. People changed she supposed. She certainly had. Love made one blind and all that. Byron was certainly proof enough: great poet, hot mess.

“I did!” Young Sherlock paced across her living room. “My decision was entirely based on him! Could I keep him safe? How long? How good of an actor was he? How reliably could I fake his death?”

“No, you considered how he could be convenient for you because you were used to thinking of him as convenient.”

“I- No, I’m not.”

“If your John is anything like our Johnny, then the reason he’s so angry with you is because he believed in you. He let himself be of use to you because he trusted you.”

Sherlock’s eyes were big and pale in his face.

“Maybe you should try to listen to him,” she told him. “If you wanted to maybe change things.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear,” he told her.

“The truth is often hard to hear. You can fix things, things like this are easy to fix if you’re willing to make the first move, willing to show that you’re prepared to make yourself vulnerable.”

Before Sherlock could answer there was a frantic series of knocks at the front door getting louder and louder.

“Help me up,” Molly told him, lifting a hand. “Somebody’s at the door.”

Somebody turned out to be Roost with huge panicked eyes and Johnny carried in his arms. Johnny looked awful, and by awful Molly meant specifically he looked unconscious. She darted into action, taking his pulse and checking his eyes.

“Bring him into the living room, what happened?”

“I got scared,” Roost said, eyes darting away, cagey as anything. “I checked him over. I didn’t forget. I just got scared.” Molly pressed her lips together to keep in the immediate response and moved out of the young man’s way. Hormones made things feel strange. Sometimes things were hyperreal, ultra-sensory, so it seemed she could taste her own mouth, feel her own skin, so everything but Greg’s steady hands on her shoulders made her feel overstimulated and frustrated. Sometimes they made her feel disconnected and floating. She wasn’t sure what she was feeling now, like there was some kind of symphony floating through her, reedy panic, the low hum of muscle memory, the percussive patter of her mental list taking form. She felt a bit like she’d been floating from conversation to conversation since Davey had called her and the shock of the whole thing snapped her into movement.

In the living room, Roost had arranged himself in the corner of her sofa, with Johnny’s head supported in his lap. On further inspection Johnny looked less unconscious that in deep sleep from exhaustion. Roost’s pale hand curled over Johnny’s crumpled brow and held him close as his body gave fitful shivers. When Sherlock tried to come near them he almost crawled backward up the wall.

“It’s okay, Roost,” Molly used in the same voice she used with the parents and spouses who came in to identify their loved ones. Eyes cloudy with distress drifted back toward her. He let her approach, let her smooth down his hair, let her take Johnny’s pulse. Too fast, thin and fluttery. She didn’t have anything to check his blood pressure, but she could bet it was low. Johnny’s skin felt tacky from drying sweat and was passing into clammy. “He’s going into shock.”

“Body heat,” Roost said. “Touching. It will fix him if I stay here and be his big brother.”

“Roost,” she said again, this time involuntary. “He needs to go to hospital. Did he eat anything weird? Take anything strange? Medication, something like that?”

“It’s not an allergic reaction, its hypovolemic. His body is really strong, but there are limits to what it can take.”

“What happened, I need to tell emergency services.”

Roost looked between the two of them and made an observable decision not to care. “Grendel, the man who wanted to change us, had this idea. This machine. John calls it a gun, but it is only as much as you point it at someone and it does something to them. The same could be said for words or bright lights and those things aren’t guns.”

“This wasn’t a word,” Sherlock said.

“I understand what you mean,” Roost told him, eyes and voice drifting over an invisible landscape. “That doesn’t mean you’re not wrong. Grendel wanted to go back, he wanted Before, and when he couldn’t get that he decided he’d settle for different. Johnny could tell it better, I don’t remember much about what I was like before.” His eyes darted away for a second and then back to his brother’s face.

“Roost,” Molly said. “Time.”

“Yes, Johnny could tell it better, but it makes Johnny sad. It makes him the most sad because he was closest to what he wanted when Grendel had him and then didn’t have him and then had him again, and probably always had him. Some people are like that. They always have you until you can get someone bigger to have you. Like Daddy, Daddy was the biggest, he was so big The Thing choked and then it broked and then stuff happened.”

It felt like Roost was telling them exactly what happened in the truest sense, but also that without the context behind that truth it was practically meaningless. “What did your dad do with the gun, Roost?” Molly asked, the back of her hand pressed against Johnny’s forehead.

“He did something to it, he made his mind go inside and it moved him around, but he loved us, he was our dad.” Roost swallowed, pressed his cheek to Johnny’s forehead. “It tried to change him, but instead he loved us and broke it apart inside. John has done this twice. Someone had to do it, and he’s just like Dad almost exactly and so we thought it would be okay. He did it twice and even though he won both times I think it hurt him real bad.”

“Has he had a seizure?” Molly asked, already pulling out her phone.

“No,” Roost told them. “He just came out of it and looked real sad threw up and fainted and then I brought him here. I got real scared, but Johnny left me a list of things to do in case it went wrong, even seizures, but he hasn’t had any. Even bleeding ears, but he hasn’t had any.”

“Why would he be worried about his spine?” Molly asked.

“It’s okay if you call the hospital,” Roost told her. “Johnny wouldn’t like it, but he’s real sick and I’m scared and want him to be healthy and safe. Sometimes Johnny thinks it’s okay for him to be hurt, but I don’t think so, and what I want is important too, isn’t it? Ormond wouldn’t want me to be scared.”

“Who’s Ormond?”

Roost froze, eyes going even more unfocused. “Did I say that? I didn’t mean to say that.”

“Just stay here,” Molly told him, kissed him on the forehead as she stood, her phone at her ear. She’d made this sort of call for her father enough times she knew how to do it. It was second nature. She stood at the doorway to watch young Sherlock seated on the coffee table, bent toward Roost. She forgot sometimes that Roost was in his twenties now. In this moment he looked it, face serious.

“We don’t have a fifth anymore,” Roost told Sherlock. “Dad died and now there’s only four of us. We just hoped nothing bad would happen.”

“Where’s the last piece?” Sherlock asked him.

“Dad didn’t tell me, I didn’t want to know,” Roost blinked up at him. “Dad hid it somewhere. I mean he didn’t, but he told one of the others where to hide it.”

“You don’t know wh-”

“You figure it out,” Roost snapped. “My brother’s sick. I’ve just had the third worst day of my life. You don’t matter to me right now.”

“Sorry,” Sherlock said, pulling back. “I’m sorry.”

“Is everything alright?” Molly asked.

“Yes,” Sherlock told her, standing up. “If you don’t mind I’m going to get out of the way. It looks like the three of you have enough to worry about.”

“Aren’t you staying here?” Molly raised her eyebrows.

“I don’t think that’s wise,” Sherlock stood up with his hands in his pockets, looking pale and tightly strung, looking young and lost.

Maybe she shouldn’t have asked. “Just do what you need to do. Greg will be back in the evening if you want to come back here. I have to go take care of the kids now, so do what you have to do.”

#Molly Hooper #Roost #John Watson #Wee Doctor #the narrow line

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