#She's like if Donna Noble wasn't Donna Noble. You get me?

[nosferatufaggot]

If Disney bought Fox and Disney has a part of Doctor Who now........................DR. GRACE HOLLOWAY RETURN WHEN!?!?!?!

[annabelle--cane]

how I'm picturing tmagp characters, preserving for posterity:

sam: dresses just a liiittle bit too nice for his environment. jacket just a little too durable, shirt just a little too pristine, shoes just a little too clean. something vaguely bad has happened to him recently and one way of coping for him has been in maintaining his appearance and belongings.

alice: she made a point of dressing up a bit for sam's first day in a proper skirt suit, partially as a joke, but mostly she's in basic london street wear. she doesn't dress down per se, but she's in outfits you can bike to work in and doesn't change when she gets into the office.

gwen: business casual goth. black blouses, black pencil skirts, long dyed black hair, slightly overly severe makeup. she never consciously committed to the aesthetic, but the constant rage she keeps simmering inside of her inevitably must express itself. it's lowkey enough that you don't look at her and think "goth," but you do after hearing how morosely she speaks.

lena: I'm seeing a lot of purple and silver. hoop earrings and a nice watch, shimmery fabrics, sensible heels. I think I just realized that I've subconsciously based her vibe off of 2008 donna noble.

colin: looks like he hasn't seen in the sun in five years. his skin and clothes are a matching shade of grey. has an emotional support hoodie that stopped giving him any help years ago but he's too used to wearing it to stop now.

teddy: he wasn't around long enough for me to clear and replace my vision of his voice actor's cry havoc character, so I am picturing roman triumvir mark antony (83 bce - 30 bce)

bonzo: bonzo.

[forever-fixating]

RWRB Appreciation Month Bingo: Platonic Dynamic

For @rwrbsource and @rwrbmovie's RWRB Appreciation Month Bingo: Platonic Dynamic

Platonic Dynamic: Henry and Pez

Author's Note: Henry and Pez have such an interesting friendship in the book, and I'm so sad we didn't get to see more of it in the movie. (Mayhaps something to elaborate on in the sequel?) I wanted to write this little moment because I believe that Pez was a major support for Henry when grappling with the aftermath of Arthur's death. Shoutout to Pez, you are a real one, darling! This bit is quite angsty, so maybe have a hanky handy?

Pez Okonjo considered himself to be a fairly emotionally intelligent person for his age. His parents raised him to always extend grace and understanding to people because he could never know what they might be going through. But, as he stood outside his dorm room, listening to his best friend struggle not to break down over the phone, he couldn't muster a single mite of grace or understanding for one Catherine Fox Mountchristen-Windsor.

"A-are you sure she isn't available?" Henry was saying. "I-It's just...things are really hard for me right now, and I wanted to-"

Henry's voice fell silent, no doubt listening to the laundry list of excuses and platitudes Catherine's equerries had on hand ever since Arthur's death. Pez tried to be understanding. Really, he did. He had no idea what it must be like to lose the love of one's life. But, in the past few months, especially after the nightclub incident with Bea, Pez had a front-row seat to what it was like to lose a parent.

Or two, Pez thought bitterly.

He listened to Henry mumble something. I swear to God Almighty, if he is fucking apologizing, Pez fumed silently. But anger wasn't what Henry needed at that moment. So, after a minute or two, he knocked on the door cheerfully and breezed in, saying, "So, I know you wanted falafel tonight, but our favorite stand closed early. I got us Indian instead. There's a few different options for you to choose from, plus leftovers for tomorrow!"

Pez pretended not to notice his friend's redden, glassy eyes or the quick swipes he made over his cheeks. Ever since Arthur, it was a delicate tightrope act of knowing when to push and when to let things be. Tonight was the latter.

Henry looked at the bulging bag of food Pez set down on the end of his bed and asked, "Wh-what happened with Cassandra? I thought you two had a date tonight."

Pez sighed, shucking off his jacket. "Can you believe she had the nerve, the gall, nay! The temerity to cancel on me? She said she had food poisoning or some such tosh, but then tell me why I saw her out with her girlfriends at the pub? Women, beautiful, beguiling creatures, though they may be, can be so fickle."

Henry managed a laugh, a small victory in Pez's eyes. "Oh crumbs, Pez. You haven't had much luck lately. That's what? The sixth cancellation in so many weeks?"

"Yes, you needn't rub in it, Haz!"

Of course, it was a lie. In truth, Pez did the canceling, as he had with most of the others who asked him out recently. The ladies were disappointed (because how could they not be?) but understood when Pez explained why. Part of him figured Henry knew the stories were a scam. But Pez couldn't fathom the idea of partying when his best mate was alone with his dark thoughts.

Pez sat down next to Henry, who asked, "Would you like to watch more Doctor Who?"

"Yes, please!" Pez said, digging into the bag and arranging the takeaway containers like a mini-buffet. "I believe we left off right before Ms. Donna Noble was set to make her debut?"

Henry nodded, his spirits lifting. "She's absolutely brilliant, I'm certain you'll love her. I love the dynamic she has with Ten. Oy, Space Man!"

Pez laughed and took a bite of a samosa while Henry queued up the episode on his laptop. As the opening credits played, Henry laid his head on Pez's shoulder.

"Thank you."

Pez rested his cheeks on limp, blonde hair. "You're welcome, Haz."

A/N— Sorry, not sorry, but if the fandom is going to rake Ellen over the coals for her shortcomings with Alex, there needs to be a lot more discussion about Catherine. True, she lost her husband, but Phillip, Bea, and Henry lost their father. She should have been there for them. Comment below with your thoughts! I promise the next ficlet will be decidedly less angsty.

Check out this post and join the fun in celebrating the one-year anniversary of our little romcom that could being released!

[trashboatprince]

Hey, remember a while back when I was making art and stuff of Ten in a skirt because fashion has no gender and the Doctor would look cute in one? And I wrote a whole one-shot about Ten buying one with Donna being there as support? This one?

I decided to do a part-two with Fourteen and Rose Noble.

As always for me, I write Fourteen as enby going by they/them, but doesn't care what pronouns people use for them. However, Rose is not aware of this at first, so she uses he/him before she learns.

On with the fic!

--

"Do you ever sit still?" Rose snickered, watching as the Doctor shifted in his seat on the bus, looking at whatever was going on through the windows on either side of the vehicle.

"Impossible for me, clearly." The Doctor said. "Your mum and grandmother won't stop complaining about me fidgeting at the table. Just yesterday, Sylvia told me not to sit cross-legged at the table! Much more comfortable, if you ask me."

"Yeah, and when you put your feet on the floor, she told you to stop tapping your feet on it." Rose grinned and the Doctor grinned back.

The Doctor had been living with the Noble-Temple family in their temporary home provided by UNIT for two weeks now, and Rose was getting used to the alien being around. He was actually really cool, once you got past his odd quirks. But she had developed some of his quirks from previous incarnations throughout her life, so she couldn't say anything.

Today was Saturday, and Rose was looking forward to a shopping trip in town. She had gotten paid well from a few sales and wanted to celebrate with getting some supplies. And a few new items of clothing, her closet could do with it. The Doctor had tagged along because he wanted out of the house, and Mum had the key to the TARDIS so he couldn't go in there to do whatever it was he did in there.

Also, hence why they were on the bus.

But it wasn't like the Doctor couldn't just get into the TARDIS without the key. He had the sonic, and he said she'd open for him easily, but Mum was strict about the retirement thing. No running off for adventures or whatnot!

Still, the Doctor happily had agreed to come along with Rose into town, saying it wouldn't hurt to do a bit of shopping for himself. Yeah, he said he had a lot of clothing in the TARDIS, but Mum and Gran were getting on him about dressing like a human, not as... well... Mum said he looked like someone who 'worked in men's wear'. And this made the Doctor bristle, saying something about how she's never gonna let that one go.

Whatever that meant.

"Ooh, this is our stop." The Doctor said as the bus came to a slow stop and the two of them got off when the doors opened.

He was grinning, bouncing on his feet as he glanced about. "Ah! I know where we are!"

"You do?" Rose asked as she adjusted her backpack purse.

"Yeah! I came here years ago with Donna! This is where I bought-" He stopped and looked a bit flushed.

Rose raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Uhh... I know, I know, dumb to get embarrassed about, considering I was a Time Lady before this face, and you're under a similar flag..."

She blinked and gasped. "Oh! Did you get some feminine clothing from a shop here?"

"Yep." He said, popping the P. "Bought my first skirt here, was nervous as hell about it, didn't know what your mum would say about it. But she encouraged it, said that it was my choice to dress how I wanted and all that. Especially cause I basically came out as, well, genderfluid? Non-binary? One of those to her."

"Oh shi- wait, you're non-binary? Crap, have I been getting your pronouns wrong?"

"What do you use?"

"He/him."

The Doctor shrugged. "I can understand why. I've never corrected any of you guys on it, everyone uses those for me, considering the face and all. Look rather boyish, honestly, even at my old age." There was a bright grin at this.

"Ah, but I personally don't actually see my gender as really a big deal nowadays. I honestly just use they/them when I think about myself now, but I'm not offended or opposed to the use of male or even female pronouns. Though being called 'miss' again with this face would be fun."

Rose nodded, listening. "So... you're fine with me using whatever? Do you have a preference? I remember you telling the Meep you used the definite article."

"That I do! I mean, the Doctor, that's as good of a gender as any! But you can use whatever, I don't care." The Doctor said, shoving hi- their hands into their pockets. Might be better to go with the ones they used for themself.

"Right, got it." She nodded and started to walk with them to the thrift shop down the street. "What are you looking to buy anyway?"

"I dunno, I'll see whatever catches my fancy. Might get some new shoes, I love these ones, but my future self ran off with the ones I got when I regenerated and these ones," The Doctor gestured to the very worn and slightly burnt converses they wore, "were damaged when I went from this face to Chinny. At least he was nice enough to bring them back to the TARDIS."

She laughed a bit at their grumbling as the two entered into the shop. "Thinkin' about maybe getting another skirt or two from here? Since this is where you found your first one, as you said?"

The Doctor paused and looked back at her. "Should I? Think I can still pull it off?"

"Oh yeah! I think you can! If you want, I can help you pick out things."

The Doctor smiled at her, in that soft way she sees them do when they're relaxing, loosening up and not having their hackles up. She grinned. "Come on, let's doll you up!"

--

They were in there for over an hour, and so far Rose had found more clothing for herself than the Doctor. It wasn't their fault that a lot of things in thrift stores weren't always to their tastes. And this one seemed a bit picky.

Pinstripes weren't for them this time around, they rather liked tartan better, but it wasn't easy to find anything that fit them right. Sizes were also a problem. They were a skinny thing, as Donna put it, so things often were a bit big, and the Doctor liked tighter clothing, there was a sensory comfort there.

But, they had found some silly shirts with ridiculous sayings on them, including one that had Rose and them laughing. It said 'I'm no rocket surgeon', and it went right into their little cart.

They had even found a new pair of converse to wear, not white this time, but they were a really nice dark blue. They even found a pair in hot pink, which reminded them of the two Rose's in their life. Ah, but those ones were too small, oh well.

A few comfy looking sweaters and some buttons up went into the cart as the Doctor browsed, and as they examined a really fuzzy ones in pink and green stripes, they heard Rose call out to them, waving her hand.

"Find something good?" They smiled as she came over and they stared at the item in her hands.

It was a surprise to find a skirt that match their old pinstripe suit perfectly all those years ago, but to find a second perfect skirt, in their tartan? Well... that was...

Probably best not to question the universe, honestly. Not when it came to being around the Nobles.

"It's perfect! It might even be your size!" Rose said, holding it out to them.

The Doctor took it, looking it over. "You think so?"

"Oh yeah, and I think I found a few more in other styles and colors you might like that could work with some of those tops you've picked out. But that one? That's perfect for you!"

They looked at the skirt, checked the size, and put it into the cart. "Thank you." They said, and she looked delighted. "Now, show me these other ones you found!"

--

"-gonna keep sticking the googly eyes to yourself, I'm removing you from eye duty."

"You sound like your mother."

"Okay, just for that, give me the jar of eyes."

"Nope!"

Donna paused in removing her shoes at the door, hearing her daughter and her adopted alien sibling from the living room. There was some noises followed by laughter and a comment of 'oh dang, we made a mess'.

She sighed and set her jacket on the hook, along with her purse. She walked into the living room a moment later, finding Rose with some of her sewing material on the coffee table and on the floor, where she sat with a half-made plush toy in her lap. The Doctor was seated next to her, trying to scoop up a mess of googly eyes that had fallen out of their designated jar.

Donna noticed that the Doctor did in fact have some googly eyes glued to their arms, clearly meant to mess with Rose or to be part of a telling of a fantastical story of some alien or whatnot. But she also noticed what their were wearing.

"You're in a skirt again." Donna said instead of a greeting.

The Doctor looked up at her, blinking behind their glasses. "Oh! Yes, I am! Rose and I went shopping today for craft stuff and clothing. She found it in a shop, it's that little shop you and I visited. Remember that? Where I got my first skirt?"

"I remember it, you had been so nervous, and once you tried it on, you didn't want to take it off. You even considered finding those ugly galaxy-printed leggings to go with it. Glad to see you didn't give into that desire again." She replied as she sat down on the couch.

The Doctor laughed. "I did get those eventually, remember? Ooh, I think Bill stole 'em from me though, sneaky granddaughter. Anyway," They stood up, knocking some eyes to the floor that had been in their lap, "whatcha think?"

They did a little spin, and Rose laughed at this as more eyes fell to the floor. Donna sniffed. "It's cute, very fitting of you. However, are you ever, EVER going to wear socks that actually match the pattern of your clothes!? Or even just match in general?"

The Doctor looked at their feet, as if for the first time noticing that they were wearing one blue, white and pink sock that was stripped and a red and green sock that was decorated it what looked like hot sauce bottles and chili peppers.

"Nah." The Doctor shrugged and sat back down, knowing that Donna would never win that battle. Still, at least the Doctor could coordinate the other parts of their clothes at least. And besides, the skirt was what mattered, Donna thought as she watched two of the most important people in their life try to pick up their little mess.

Two people sitting happily and comfortably in clothing that made them feel good about themselves.

She could forgive the horrendous sock combo for that.

--

I love the idea of Rose and Fourteen picking out outfits for each other after this trip.

[oodlyenough]

alright first impressions of the giggle

i'll start off with the big one which is that despite my best efforts to avoid spoilers, people always think they're cleverer than they are when communicating "in code" about leaks, and misc. pieces of info had led me to a general impression that somehow, some way, there would still be a david tennant doctor left at the end of this. so i went in half-expecting it (and half trying to manage those expectations)

it's totally bonkers and i know it must be enraging at least half of the fandom but i am in the privileged position of ... not caring. lol. it's probably a combination of factors -- he's my fave anyway + i haven't been deeply invested for the past decade + there's been numerous big lore changes i haven't liked by this point so whatever! everything's made up and the points don't matter. this show would've ended already if it wasn't constantly doing some weird thing to upset the status quo. the main criticism i can agree with is that maybe this takes away from ncuti gatwa ... but honestly i do see the appeal of "multi-doctor ep except one of them is the new guy". like that was fun actually, even if it had never occurred to me

settling down with the nobles felt like journey's end 2.0 (now with bonus TARDIS), and raises a lot of questions that i can imagine showrunners down the line and/or Big Finish are dying to answer. there is probably a time that would've bugged me but it doesn't bug me now.

anyway with that out of the way, other stuff!

i was worried this might be too big and chaotic in the way RTD finales can get -- think end of time, specifically. so i was actually pretty impressed that it felt fairly coherent to me lol, while feeling very RTD

"screens are making humans the worst versions of themselves" is also very RTD. hard to argue w that in 2023 to be honest with you

i don't know the toymaker from classic who but i enjoyed him a lot here as a villain. felt a bit like the master, except unlike the master there's no affinity between him and the doctor, y'know. it felt sinister, the misc accents, everything.

last week i watched Last of the Time Lords again and said "i can't wait to see what RTD does with licensed music again" and lo! lmaoooo. loved it

i think a consequence of the ep having to do so much was that the companions' roles were fairly limited. when donna said "maybe i'll save your life" i assumed she uh ... would. and then i assumed something metacrisis-y. but I suppose Donna's save the world moment was Star Beast.

likewise, it was nice to have Mel there, but she didn't do a ton. however i know we get to see more of her next season so I'm kinda fine with it. and looking forward to it!

anyway the other big important thing this episode -- NCUTI GATWA omg. he's gonna be so good. was so good in these scenes. magnetic. sexy. fun. can't wait. loved that we got to see him interact with donna a bit too!! i wasn't really expecting that.

[elialys]

Channeling positive energy for 2024

I have been very listless for at least the last couple of years (if not since 2020 and the whole pandemic mess), resulting in a pretty rough depressive episode that peaked this last November. It's hard to feel motivated to do anything concrete to improve your own life when everything around you is just...bleak. And this world does suck so much, so often, in so many ways.

But then I remember how I innately believe that most people are good, and that I am good, too, and that the one thing that always makes me feel better when I'm low is to do something helpful for someone, or to just be kind if I don't have the spoons for more.

(Putting this big ramble under read more)

I think I've mentioned it here before but I've made the decision to try and get into a new field of work, which involves at least two if not three years of studying. Let me tell you, I'm about to turn 36 in a couple of weeks. It's scary as fuck to do something like this. But this job, if I get into the school I need to get into, will be perfect for me. I'll be helping people who need guidance and compassion basically every day.

The bond I got to build with my students was my absolutely favorite part of teaching, but I got overwhelmed by everything else. I burned myself out in less than four years because I became a workaholic who worked 70 hours a week, never took a breath, tried tried tried, yet never felt like I was doing enough. The pressure was incredible, the 'I have to be around hundreds of people every single day', performing in front of entire classrooms full of kids 6h a day'...it just wore me down. Loved my kiddos to death, loved my science team so much, but then the pandemic hit and I lost a few family members within a few months, and I realized it was time for me to go home after 12 years abroad.

The meanest part of my brain likes to tell me I've spent the last four years being basically a useless human blob, but realistically, I know I wasn't. I had been working my ass off since 2011, when I was in America nannying two young kids all day long then going to school full time at night/weekends, before being hired as a teacher in England for 4 years.

I needed the break, I needed time with my loved ones. I needed to help grieving family members, especially my little sister with ASD, who had to learn to navigate life without her mom, who also developed epilepsy on top of everything else while our father pretended nothing was happening. I needed to spend time with my grandmother, who did so much for me when I was young and who's all alone, now. I'll even go as far as saying I've been working on fixing things with my mother this past year living with her, which was not an easy thing. Still isn't, but it's so much better than it used to be, and she's trying, too.

But I'm ready to get my life "back on track", or at least, to get busier , more proactive, more helpful to others who aren't in my inner circle, because I know that's what I'm good at, and why I'm here.

So, yeah, channeling positive thoughts for 2024. I'm not only going to work on getting into that school in the next few weeks, I also just received an email a couple days ago from an editor I used to work with. She's a writing director somewhere else now, and they need writers for a new webcomic project; she told me she immediately thought of me because they'd always been happy with my work, so I'm going to test for that, too, because why the hell not. Actually getting paid for the stuff I was writing a couple of years ago was the most surreal, rewarding experience of my writer life, and I wouldn't mind that happening again.

I want to give the biggest shoutout to my best friend & other butt cheek, @melusine0811, for helping me navigate those last four years, for always believing in me, and for being so fucking courageous when life is just so damn hard. Lauren, you're the bravest person I know, and forever my Donna Noble.

And because I'm sappy this weekend, awards and all, I'm also sending my thanks to my Australian unicorn, just for existing somewhere out there, for being a role model to me from afar these last thirteen years, for being another perfect example of people persevering no matter what, doing the things they love, while always trying to be kind to others in the process. I don't believe in much, but I believe in karma. You do good deeds, good things will happen to you.

Be kind to each other, my lovelies. Always be kind.

[theslowpath]

i think (if i remember correctly) you have a shipcest big brother au with tenth, so may i know some more about that? when did the two of you realize you had feelings for each other? what was it like to realize that? how did you both go about exploring your feelings? were either of you reluctant to peruse your feelings or was it easy to just go for it?

- @freakkisser

Ooo this is one of my favorites! Surprisingly I haven't written any actual fics for my big brother tenth au, I've only roleplayed it with my friend. I'm planning on actually writing something soon, though.

(Long post)

Okay so in this au, donna noble is our single mother. I'm in early high school and ten is in college. We were really close growing up, but since ten started attending college classes he was always too busy to spend time with me. This made me really sad because he was the only one who ever really kept me company, as I got bullied in school and had no friends.

He went to the same high school as me when he was younger and was fairly popular. He wasn't like a jock or anything but he got along well with everyone and everyone who knew him thought he was just a funny, smart, chill guy. No one ever suspected that he was gay, much less that he was attracted to his younger brother who was a small child at the time.

Ten had already been attracted to me for years by the time I started to develop a crush on him around fifth grade, but had no idea what these feelings meant or how to describe them so I just ignored it.

The day we finally confessed was when we were home alone. I had come home from school after an exhausting day and to my surprise he was there because classes had let out early that day unexpectedly. We talked and I ended up showing him some of my poems (hes the only person allowed to see my art + writing) and it led to us having a deeper heart-to-heart discussion.

I admitted to ten that I had been really lonely since he started classes and I missed spending time with him. He said he missed me too and decided to spend the whole night helping me study, since I was failing some classes and really needed it.

During our study sesh, I brought a bottle of wine to his room and we drank together. I wasn't expecting to get as drunk as I did. He got a little tipsy, but I ended up absolutely hammered. I ended up sitting on his lap and making out with him while we both confessed our feelings to each other. At first, he was absolutely panicking with shame and guilt but he ultimately went through with having sex with his younger brother, who was almost (but not quite) blackout drunk at this point.

A few hours later we had both sobered up and were cuddling in his bed. We had fallen in love ages ago and the cat was finally out of the bag. There was an overwhelming feeling of guilt and disgust for both of us but it was overshadowed by our mutual obsession toward each other.

We were officially boyfriends in secret now, and after a while the guilt was gone from both of us and all we cared about was being happy. It wasn't abnormal for me to sleep in his room and have "sleepovers" with him prior to this. We would stay up late playing video games and watching movies together and I'd end up falling asleep in there all the time. Donna had no reason to suspect anything, so she didnt.

[divinemissem13]

Biggest Fan

No True Pair 8 Character Challenge Fandoms: Star Trek Voyager, Doctor Who Pair: Chakotay, Donna Noble Bonus Pair: 10th Doctor & Donna Word Count: 419 Rating: G Prompt: with the title "Biggest Fan"

*apologies to Chakotay, he's barely in this one... the Doctor and Donna do think very highly of him though*

"Doctor? Can't we go back to that space ship?" Donna asks casually, pretending not to remember details. "You know, the one with all the humans?"

"What, Voyager?" the Doctor asks, barely looking up from the TARDIS console. "I thought you said it was boring?"

"Well, not all of it was boring…"

"No?" the Doctor's head pops up, his trademark devious curiosity spreading across his features. "Oh! Oh, of course!" he exclaims, jumping up and down and pointing at Donna. "That man! With the tattoo!"

Donna blushes but the Doctor's enthusiasm is contagious and embarrassment quickly turns into a silly grin. "He was quite hunky wasn't he? And human. Most places you take me are just wall to wall aliens — no offense — and it doesn't leave me a whole lot of options. If you know what I mean?"

The Doctor feigns offens; clasping both hands to his chest, tossing his head back, and wailing mournfully, "I'm not enough for you?" Almost as soon as the words are out of his mouth, his head pops up again and he begins waving his hands as if to erase the words he's just spoken. "Sorry. No, I can't even joke about it."

Donna might have been offended, if she weren't so busy waving her own hands in the air and grimacing. "-like my brother!"

The two weakly laugh off the awkwardness, but neither really knows what to say next. Finally, the Doctor stammers, "Right. So… Voyager, then?"

Donna's eyes light up again when she realizes she's about to get her way, although she still plays it coy, "I mean, unless you have a better idea…"

"I actually wouldn't mind getting another crack at that Borg girl," the Doctor admits, then quickly adds, "Scientifically speaking, of course."

"Of course," Donna agrees seriously.

"Not completely unlike Cybermen, you know. Could get some useful information," the Doctor continues to equivocate.

"Absolutely," Donna reassures him, grinning widely again. "So… to Voyager?"

"To Voyager!" the Doctor declares, leaping back into action at the console.

Donna smiles dreamily as the Doctor pulls levers and pushes buttons and the TARDIS makes that grinding gears sound that means she's getting ready to travel.

"Oh!" Donna exclaims suddenly, "I'd better go change. Can you give me ten minutes?" She's already heading down the stairs towards her sleeping quarters before the Doctor can get a word out in answer.

"Of course," the Doctor says, smiling to himself and shaking his head at his friend's antics. "We've got all the time in the world."

[heresmyfiddlestick]

i long for the days of shot-by-shot breakdowns of any new trailer, and since im not on twitter (where this has undeniably already happened) im doing it myself here

why is nobody talking about hebe harrison

so the trailer starts with a silly mini trailer. we'll see all of these shots later on and i'll talk about them more then. tenteen looks around bewildered (best guess: special #1 The Star Beast

donna surrenders (best guess: special #2 Wild Blue Yonder)

avengers tower/UNIT flies the tardis around on a helicopter (an anniversary tradition? (best guess: special #3 The Giggle)

explosions in a front hallway (best guess: special #1 The Star Beast)

peekaboo (best guess: special #1 The Star Beast - we'll get to why later)

and then the title card.

we start, in earnest, with a stock footage shot of London at night, which RTD has made reference to in recent DWMs. this is the opening shot of special #1 The Star Beast

then we get Donna, talking to her mum, "Sometimes I think there's something missing. Like I had something lovely..." - this is clearly immediately post-End of Time Donna, no memories of her travels with the Doctor, so special #1 The Star Beast

intercut with the Doctor snooping around a busted up, industrial area. importantly, he's alone. without knowing exactly how Liberation of the Daleks is going to end, i think it's safe to assume the guy is travelling alone at the start of these specials, so this shot (and the ones that follow) is from special #1 The Star Beast

Donna continues, "... and it's gone." over a shot of her with different hair and top. the colours look close enough to the other Star Beast shots to have me think this is the same episode, but it's tough to say. it also seems like the trailer is going chronologically, which would mean this is from special #1. the music, voiceover, and her *emphatic blink* might indicate this is *the moment she remembers* but with that i'll cease putting on my clown makeup.

back to Donna in the kitchen, "I lie in bed thinking... what have I lost?" intercut with this creepazoid, who is definitely investigating Beep the Meep's spaceship construction. this is probably the same sequence as the jumping-through-the-hole shot above. this is where we get our peekaboo shot again. buddy is definitely looking at a nasty Meep warship being constructed. jury is still out on whether he remembers this exact thing happening back when he had curls and a scarf...

switch POV, time for Tenteen's Story. this is all for sure still in special #1 The Star Beast. he lands the tardis (i share RTD's enthusiasm that it's 13's exterior!!!) and jolts out of it (unexpected landing? does he recognize Beep's distress signal? is he thinking about all the melty daleks he just left behind?)

he begins to infodump (to whom?), "I've got this friend, Donna Noble..." and we get these two complementary shots: Dr. Who turns somewhat tentatively toward a stack of boxes, and Donna and Rose are in the same area, carrying boxes (shopping? moving? looks like rolls of tissue paper and bubble wrap in Donna's box) - for consistency's sake, i note this is all still part of special #1 The Star Beast

("I had to wipe her memory to save her life") as if the infodump wasn't enough, we have some shots of ten, the parthenogenesis, DoctorDonna, and one of the worst things to ever happen on this show. in case you forgot... (i wonder if and sincerely hope that we don't get these flashbacks in the episode itself)

and now we get context for where and to whom Tenteen is saying all this: he's sitting, wearing a new version of ten's "brainy specs" (can you hear me rolling my eyes?), saying, "if she remembers me, she will die" to...

HEBE HARRISON!

Hebe is a companion of the Sixth Doctor, whose adventures have hitherto only been on audio with Big Finish, and whose departure from the tardis has not yet been described (as far as i know), since stories with her only began to be published in May 2022. she's a 21st-century lady, though. she is also (according to the Tardis Wiki) the first companion that uses a wheelchair. this is very exciting for me (big finish brain rot) though i have not listened to any of Hebe's stories. Hebe was on the tardis with Mel too, which may be a fun coincidence or very relevant for next series!

what does Hebe think of this Doctor who is so much older and very different to the one she travelled with? how did they even meet up? where the heck are they? idk but im downloading Water Worlds right now

okay moving on

Doctor: "So what happens next? A spaceship crashes right in front of her, it's like she's drawing us in" over shots of that same busy market from before, Rose looking excited, and the Meep's spaceship burning through the atmosphere over a WeWork. I'll also note that the Doctor says "drawing *us* in" - meaning Hebe and him? is there some cosmic stuff happening to throw companions, Doctors, and other aliens in front of Donna's path to revive the DoctorDonna? who would do that? why? what's clear from this dialogue is that the conversation with Hebe takes place after the scene in the market with the spaceship crash landing. if i' m right about the snooping scenes' place in the original comic's narrative, they'll come after the Wrarth Warrior fight below

(Beep: "ah!" Donna: "what the hell?!") Donna discovers Beep the Meep hiding among (Rose's?) stuffed animals in their shed. i have to say i like the decision to make Beep's fur white, though personally the blue fur colour is what i think of when i think of The Most High

Tenteen in a residential neighbourhood with soldiers nearby (this is the first shot in the trailer of the Wrarth Warrior battle). is the Doc with the soldiers? is he following the Wrarth on his own? i'm curious to see how they adapt the comic story, since it seems like Rose follows a bit of a different path than Sharon

namely because her mum seems to find out about the Meep before the Doctor does (Donna: "we've got a bloody martian in the shed!")

cont in a reblog

[robo-dino-puppy]

10 Fandoms, 10 Characters, 10 Tags

thank you for the tag @bluntblade! (i'm embarrassed this took me so long. also i've never been good at ranking things so uh don't consider this list in order of most favorite or anything)

Donna Noble (Doctor Who)

Character I think about if I'm having a bad day <3 This scene between the windows in Partners in Crime never fails to cheer me up. Also: "You're not mating with me, sunshine!" Theeeeee best platonic relationship with the Doctor IMO.

Varl (Horizon)

Aloy did not appreciate this good dude nearly enough. I want Varl to be my BFF. T_T But HFW happened and... I won't say too much about that or we'd be here all day. He's alive in my head and that's all that matters.

Cimorene (The Enchanted Forest Chronicles)

Cimorene! She's no-nonsense and clever. She wasn't a fan of being treated like a princess so she went and "got captured by" a dragon so people would stop bothering her, and helps her cook and organize her library. I mean, goals.

Loki (MCU)

I wasn't into the MCU when it started getting big, and in fact I didn't see any of the movies until I read someone on Tumblr (c. 2012) going on about (paraphrased) how awful it was that people liked Loki because he was the absolute worst and if you liked him you were a gross immoral person and you should feel bad. So I went and watched this Avengers movie everyone was talking about. And guess what haters? He is terrible and I love him.

Parker (Leverage)

Although I am not brave enough to throw myself off buildings, sometimes I amuse myself by thinking "what would Parker do?" and since a canonical option involves stabbing someone who's bothering her with a fork and jumping out a window, the thought cheers me up even if I can't do that.

Aziraphale (Good Omens)

He just wants people (aside from Crowley) to leave him alone in his bookshop. He never fits in with his "side" but tries to do what they want anyway, because that's the good thing to do, and he wants to be good. I can relate so hard, buddy.

Milo Thatch (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

Ok so... I totally had a crush on Michael J. Fox and I was already interested in linguistics back when this movie came out, and then here's a main character voiced by him who was a linguist! Milo had to be my favorite :D

Elena Fisher (Uncharted)

I will fully admit that some of my initial love of Elena came from her AI covering my panic-flailing self early on in the first Uncharted game (I'm THE WORST at games with guns, even on easy, it's actually embarrassing) - but she impressed me right away when she was not overly impressed by Nate. And her snark game is on point.

Zeb (Star Wars Rebels)

I feel like Zeb needs more love. Comic relief character who actually has an unbelievably tragic backstory! And his story has so much untapped potential! We never really get to explore what happened with Lasan, and then then dump Kallus in there with his defection to the Rebellion and his whole *handwaves* history with the Lasats and eventual apparent (b)romance with Zeb - and the show had so little to say about it! Huge angsty storytelling miss right there. (Dave why.)

Brian Finch (Limitless [2015])

This dude! Lovable but he would be SO exasperating to deal with IRL. His arts-and-craftiness just resonated with me. He was always making stuff out of toothpicks and yarn and papier mâché and clay and and and- I'm still mad this show only got one season.

zero-pressure tags: @mari-mary, @ayaitch, @hannahmationstudios, @inomakani, @fogsblue, @nerd-artist, @singingkestrel, @prototypelq, @tjerra14, @artekai or just consider yourself tagged if you want to do it!

[ageless-aislynn]

10 characters, 10 fandoms, 10 tags

Tagged by the most awesome of awesomeness tag teams @authortobenamedlater and @mrtobenamedlater 😂😇😉

Just a note in case somebody doesn't know me but I usually include GIFs and stuff for things like this because I'm extra™ that way. 🤷‍♀️😉

Also, in alphabetical order because I would never rank my love of my blorbos. Annnnnd I live to ship so you're getting my fav pairings as a bonus. Yes, I included the ships TOTALLY FOR YOU, MY FRENS. No, no, don't thank me, it was my pleasure! 😛

Eobard Thawne x Caitlin Snow (The Flash)

2a. Eowyn x Aragorn (Lord of the Rings) / 2b. Eowyn x Faramir (Lord of the Rings)

3. Garcia Flynn x Lucy Preston (Timeless)

"Maybe Someday" (Garcy, Timeless)

4. James Sawyer Ford x Kate Austen (Lost)

"The Time Traveler's Wife" (Skate, Lost)

5. John-117 x Kai-125 (Halo the Series)

6. Logan x Jean Grey (X-Men)

"Shuffle Song Ship meme" (multi-fandom drabble/short fic collection)

7. Lydia Martin x Peter Hale (Teen Wolf)

8. Master Chief x Cortana (Halo the game... which is TOTES different from Halo the series, yep *whistles innocently* 😇)

9a. Sara Ryder x Reyes Vidal (Mass Effect Andromeda) / 9b. Scott Ryder x Cora Harper (Mass Effect Andromeda)

"Dance The Night" fun facts: yes, 00:50 is exactly why I made this, lol! (Though the entire thing ended up being one of the most fun times I've had making a vid! 🥳) Also, most of this wasn't recorded in order to gather vid footage - I was trying out outfit and armor colors to see what they looked like in-game. Hence, the Ryder twins put on a bit of a fashion show here! 😛 Oh, and I was also trying out a new inspired-by-me Sara, which is why she doesn't look like the Sara I've shown previously in my other vid and in GIFs. 😉 Bonus for my Flash friends - if you watch this, see if you spot Scott in his Reverse Flash inspired armor! 💛💖 (The lighting was a little poor in the scene, though, so let me know if you need a timestamp. 😉)

10. The Tenth Doctor x Donna Noble (Doctor Who)

Update, okay, so I decided to come back and do the tagging properly so to absolve my guilt at failing that part, lol!

No pressure tags (and apologies if you've already been tagged in this) @sarnakhwritesthings @sporadicbelievernightmare @fandomdancer @architectofimagination @missoliverstark @vampcoffeegyrl23 @coleishere @pif-reepa @ghostslillady @androidtrashfire

annnnnnd anybody who's reading this and would like to play along! No, seriously, everybody's welcome to play along! *boops your nose politely* 💖💖💖

[borrowedtimeandspace]

Picking Up the Pieces 1/3

1 [here] | 2 | 3

AU: A Patient, and Time (Donna AU); direct continuation of December Without Roses

Note: the angst continues because I said so

~~~

Donna Noble lay on her bed, dead to the world.

The Doctor stood silently over her. He ignored the slow loss of feeling in his fingers as his hands clenched into fists in his pockets.

This was for the best. Donna would be with her family, and get on with her life. As long as she didn't remember anything about her travels in the TARDIS. As long as she forgot her friends and, even worse, the woman she had become along the way.

Everything in the Doctor’s body felt like it was hanging on by a thread. He wanted nothing more than to stay by her side until she woke up, to tell her everything and have his best friend back. But that was impossible now. Letting himself break down would do no one any good. He had to be strong. Sylvia and Wilfred were waiting, and the Doctor wasn't the only one grieving Donna’s loss.

His eyes slid slightly to the left of the bed.

“Zepheera.”

The borrower, similarly standing watch over Donna on the nightstand beside the bed, hadn't spoken a word to the Doctor since they left the TARDIS. After the fuss she'd put up before– for good reason, considering she had no say in what happened to Donna– her silence in the aftermath was almost unsettling. It had been so long since he'd seen Zepheera this quiet.

Even now, she seemed to ignore him. He took a gentle step closer and reached a hand toward her, one knuckle on track to nudge her shoulder. “C’mon, let's–”

“I'm not leaving her,” she snapped, swatting his finger away before he could make contact first.

The Doctor blinked and pulled his hand back. The actual blow hurt far less than the venom in her tone, the way she turned her back on him completely, arms crossed tight over her chest.

He waited a breath before trying again. “We can't stay. She's going to wake up soon.”

“Then she shouldn't be alone.”

With a sigh and a glance toward Donna to make sure she was still out cold and hadn't stirred, he drew closer and knelt next to the nightstand to be closer to Zepheera's level.

“I know it hurts. She can't be reminded of us, anything we–”

“Don't patronize me!” Zepheera spat, shooting a glare at him over her shoulder. “I heard you the first time.” 

The Doctor winced. Of course, she was still angry with him. Though he'd done his best to ignore them as he wiped Donna’s memory, he wouldn't soon forget her wailing sobs when it was done. The way she screamed “Don't touch me!” right in his ear when he attempted to comfort her.

She scrambled away from him as soon as she could, ending up on the old seat next to the console as the Doctor sank to the floor with Donna halfway across his lap. When she demanded a proper explanation for what he did, he gave it freely. Zepheera deserved to know that Donna could no longer be a part of their lives and why.

“You didn't even try,” Zepheera had murmured once the Doctor was done. She spoke numbly and wouldn't look him in the eye. “You could have told me, we could have looked for something else to make her better–!”

“There was nothing else,” the Doctor maintained. “Wiping her mind was the only way to keep her alive. I'm sorry I didn't involve you, but if I didn't act quickly, she was going to die–”

“Then WHAT is the POINT of us?!”

The Doctor clenched his teeth as Zepheera rounded on him, tiny violet eyes overflowing with tears once again.

“We're meant to save people,” she went on, fire in her eyes and a grit in her voice. “She didn't want to give that up, she was brilliant at it! So what good are we if we can't even help her stay?!”

His hearts sank as Zepheera's angry rant petered off into soft crying. Donna had expressed a similar sentiment when the borrower's condition was at the worst point they'd both seen. Back then, he wasn't sure if Zepheera was even awake or lucid enough to hear their conversation. Regardless, the concern his companions had for one another was palpable.

It shouldn't have ended this way.

“I'm sorry,” he breathed. He'd said it before, but he needed her to know he meant it. “I am…so sorry. But I had no choice…”

“Well, at least you got to say goodbye!”

The Doctor didn't have an answer to that in the moment. He still didn't, and that led him to concede to Zepheera's wishes now.

“Okay,” he whispered. He slowly pushed himself to stand, pocketing his hands once again. “Wilf, Sylvia…they need to know what happened.”

“Better tell them, then.” The numb tone was back, and Zepheera's gaze moved to fix squarely on Donna.

The Doctor gave an equally numb nod, and before he could think to stop himself, he added, “Don't let her see you.” 

“I'm not an idiot,” Zepheera scoffed. “I'm a borrower, and a damn good one. Out of sight is our whole thing.”

He took her point and turned to go. When he made it to the door, he chanced a glance back toward Zepheera.

“Do you…” The Doctor doubted this was the time to ask, but he wasn't sure when the right time would be. “If you didn't want to travel with me anymore after all this–,”

From across the room, Zepheera truly did look so small. The Doctor could almost forget that when he put in such effort to keep her close. And it did nothing to lessen the vitriolic effect of the scowl she locked him in as she whipped around, cutting off his question. The Doctor found himself stiffening from head to toe under that gaze.

“Don't you dare,” growled Zepheera. She swept an arm up to indicate the slumbering human beside her. “We've lost Donna. And yes, that saved her life, but it is not okay. We are not okay. I might be cross with you right now, but I'm not leaving you alone after this, and you will NOT leave me behind, too!”

The Doctor's lips pressed into a thin line as his head hung in acknowledgement of her words, ones not at all dissimilar to those he'd used to invite her to stay with him in the first place. 

“I'll come back for you,” he promised before he stepped beyond the threshold, out of Zepheera's sight.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Doctor Who: The Star Beast (2023 Special 1)

I mean, I'm going to be emotional no matter what about seeing David Tennant and Catherine Tate back on my screen as the Doctor and Donna Noble. To be frank, this episode didn't have to be that good to draw me in and make me sentimental! Let's see how it went.

Cons:

I think the little prologue thing where we get reminded on the history of Donna and the Doctor as characters was a little strange. I almost would have rather just had a "previously on" with Tennant doing voiceover or something. Especially since the Doctor later explains the whole "Donna took in the mind of a time lord and had to have her memory erased" bit, on screen, to another character.

While I overall want to praise the way pronouns and gender were quite casually discussed in this episode, I did think the fact that Rose was the one to speak up and basically say "did you just assume this alien's gender" was a little clunky. I wish the Meep had just corrected the Doctor outright instead of the one trans person in the room needing to intervene? That's the smallest of nitpicks, though.

Another slightly less small nitpick about the way gender was discussed in this? I really hated the "this is something a male-presenting Time Lord will never understand" line. Because isn't the point that the Doctor is male and female and neither and more? And the Doctor has just finished living as a female-presenting Time Lord, that's kind of the whole point, right? So shouldn't it more have been something about, like, Rose and the Doctor both having explored their gender in different ways, made them more aware of how to let go the parts of yourself that you don't want, and hold onto the ones that you do? Couldn't it have been a thing where the Doctor takes ownership of his presentation, like he realizes that subconsciously he wanted to revisit someone he used to be, for a while? And that that's okay? Instead it just felt like this clunky moment where Donna and her daughter got to be like "you don't get it because you're just a stupid man" and that felt so out of the spirit of what the message was meant to be. Also, why give up the meta-crisis? If it wasn't killing them anymore? Jeez.

I did think the dialogue was again a little clunky in the explanation for why Rose was able to take on part of the meta-crisis. Because at first I was 100% on board, the fact that Donna had a child meant that the thing that was too much for one human was passed down and shared between the two of them. That Donna's memories were there buried in Rose's mind, that she made toys based on the aliens they'd met over their adventures, and that she picked the name Rose in part because of Rose Tyler. That's a lot of fun and it makes sense within this wacky sci-fi universe. But I wasn't sure what the "we're binary" and "she's not" business was supposed to be about. Based on what they're literally saying in the scene, it sounds like the Doctor is the nonbinary one, is he not? And Rose is a young transwoman, she's not nonbinary, except in so far as she connects to that? I don't know, it was just sort of a weird explanation. I'm not mad at it like I'm sure stupid reactionary conservatives are going to be, I'm just literally unclear on what they were trying to communicate there.

Shaun seems like a very nice man but he didn't have a ton of time to develop. I felt like I had time to revisit this version of the Doctor and Donna as characters. And Sylvia, it was lovely to see her again, it was like no time had passed. Rose got a few good personality beats, as did another new character Shirley. But Shaun was just kind of there... and a nice guy. And that's fine, I just didn't find him as compelling as the rest of the episode.

Not sure about the new TARDIS design? It seems a little sterile to me. Maybe it'll grow on me.

Pros:

But despite some gripes, I honestly had a really, really good time. And I'm not surprised: having these characters back on screen warmed my heart so much!

Just... instantly the energy of having them on screen together, it was so good. The Doctor seeing Donna, trying to avoid getting sucked in, but everything starts happening so fast that he can't avoid it. The "Rose" "What?" "Rose" "What?" "ROSE" bit was so fucking funny and just the kind of fan service that I personally am after.

I also loved the psychic paper not having caught up to the Doctor's current gender presentation, that was a fun little gag. I appreciated just in general that Tennant played the Doctor like he was slipping into a comfortable and familiar set of clothes. I sort of worried that he'd go mugging about and camping it up too much, and there were a few more bombastic moments, but a lot of it was toned down in a way that I really appreciated. The scene with Shirley, the UNIT scientific advisor, was a good example of this. I loved how she just came up and knew who he was, and he oh-so-casually started chatting with her. Both of them playing it cool in a way that was satisfying to see. Shirley's meeting a legend that she's heard about for who knows how long, and the Doctor is reconnecting with UNIT after a long while. ("Waited your whole life?" / "You wish!")

The Meep is so cute in such an obnoxious sort of way. I love the Doctor's incredulous "it's so cute", almost affronted by the reality of it. Because - same. And everyone saying "The Meep" in such a serious tone of voice was a constant comedic beat. Of course, the plot twist about The Meep being the bad guy and the scary insect aliens being good guys, was fairly predictable, but it still made me laugh! I think sometimes people forget that this is a family show, and it's got to have over the top ridiculous fun for the kids.

It's this wonderful tension throughout the episode, the fact that Donna doesn't remember the Doctor. There's this beat where he hands her the sonic screwdriver to hold for a second while he's working on pushing shields into place, and when she takes it there's this sense of automatic cooperation between them that feels innate to Donna. There's no dialogue, just an expression on her face, to communicate this. I love small moments like that!

I also really loved the through-line of Donna's mother and her worry that Donna will die when exposed to the larger truth about the universe around her. It's not that Sylvia is the perfect mother, there seems to be tension between them and moments where they don't always get everything right with one another. But her care for Donna, the lengths she'll go to, to keep her safe? Very moving for me. She's the one constantly on alert for Donna to start remembering, and the haunted look on her face towards the end when she said "she called him the Doctor", was honestly really powerful.

This is a small thing, but the techno-babble felt especially comedic and ridiculous in that good campy sci-fi fun way that Doctor Who is often so good at. "Brandish the gravity stanchions" / "Gravity stanchions brandished" had me laughing out loud. And "vindicate the cyberline", "inculcate the plexidrones" were some other good ones. I'm sure if I went back and watched again there would be another dozen I could chuckle at.

The fact that Donna has like... a mindwipe reinitiating sequence, like the freakin' Winter Soldier or something, is honestly so funny to me. But also, Tennant and Tate are good enough performers, and there's enough of a history and build-up with these characters, that his realization of what he has to do to save London still hits really hard. It's almost an echo of the sacrifice the Doctor made all those years ago to save Wilf. (Who, we find out, is still alive and living in a very posh nursing home. So that's fun!)

But it really worked well for me, the Doctor starting to break down, wondering why it had to be this! He's suffered so much, and he loves Donna so much, and he just wants her to be safe!

I was genuinely moved by Donna's death scene! There's something about the Doctor when the role is played really well, and the script is firing on all cylinders, where the fact of his impossibly long life is there, a pressure filling up the room, adding weight to every moment. The fact that the Doctor and Donna have this final exchange and the Doctor is able to quite calmly smile down at Donna as she dies in his arms... the part where he might have gotten this face back just to say goodbye, and Donna saying "good fun, though".... it was so sweet and simple, and then cut to the mind-controlled soldiers coming into the room as he cradles her dead body. They say they're here to kill him, and he says "do what you want." Amazing. Chills.

And then that bit at the end: "I really do remember, though. Every second with you. And I'm so glad you're back, because it killed me, Donna." I did in fact have all the feels.

A couple other moments that really made me smile: the Doctor realizing about Rose's name, that was quite lovely. And the bit where Donna's husband isn't even a little bit insecure at the thought of Donna going somewhere alone with the Doctor, because, come on: look at him. And Donna giving up her lottery winnings because she wanted to be kind and soft and helpful like the Doctor, even though she couldn't remember him? That fucks me up in the best way!

While I've critiqued a couple of awkward moments with the discussion of gender, I do also want to take a moment to praise what worked well. First, just meeting Rose and seeing her without being pre-introduced to the idea that Donna's daughter is trans. Then, that scene with Donna and Sylvia in the kitchen, where Sylvia accidentally says "he" and feels self-conscious about commenting on Rose's looks, even in a positive light, because she never did that back before she transitioned. That felt very real to me and like a good way to lightly address a real issue for the audience to maybe contemplate a bit.

So now we're off on another adventure, and we've got two more episodes to look forward to with the Doctor and Donna. I feel really grateful for a chance to hang out with them again. What other cameos from the past might we get to see?

8/10

[benjaminbadger]

I'm sorry gay people in my phone but the new Doctor Who has thoroughly fucking confused me and was kind of a letdown

Thoughts under cut

I thought they were gonna genuinely do something with the story and aliens being extremely generic? Like. The Doctor regenerates back into their 10th form, coincidentally near Donna Noble, coincidentally while a plot's going on that feels like a self parody of Dr Who as a show. Tiny overly cutesy alien, gets found by and connects with teen who hides it from family, getting hunted down by big scary alien army, scenes like the plushie hiding thing that feel pulled straight out of a generic 80s scifi family film??

The Meep being evil was obviously gonna happen but I assumed there would be a second twist to it? Like, maybe they were both an elaborate set up bc some larger entity wanted 10 and Donna together. I thought bc it was the anniversary they were going the meta approach by making a threat that basically encapsulates the exact set up you imagine when you think about the show, mashing all the tropes together into one adventure made especially to encourage Donna and 10 back into the old days. Even the end with an oops silly mistake resulting in them being stuck together in the Tardis.

BUT THEN. THEY PLAYED IT COMPLETELY STRAIGHT?? AND THE EPISODE JUST ENDS?? NOT EVEN ANY CHARACTER ACKNOWLEDGING HOW WEIRD THIS WHOLE SITUATION WAS???? JUST COMPLETELY ACTING NORMAL. EVEN THE DOCTOR

I'm seriously hoping that this is explained later on as a setup for somethig larger, and that in later rewatches it'll be way more satisfying. But rn I'm confused as hell and disappointed, and if the show wasn't so important to my childhood I proly wouldn't wanna watch further. If it is all setup then... I don't want an exclusively setup episode. That's lame. At the very least if you ARE going that direction foreshadow it better

Some minor things I'm nitpicking also

- I know Doctor Who isn't meant to be that serious but come on the intro of David Tennant just greenscreened standing in space explaining the setup was so goofy it made me howl (and I don't think that was intentional)

- I love an important trans character, that's based as hell, but the trying to act relevant and appeal to Gen Z was kind of annoying. Not as in "Grrr my old show is woke 😡" I'm literally one of the wokes. As in "Haha women are so much cooler and smarter than men 😏 Doctor assuming pronouns 😳 Binary Nonbinary 😁😁" "🦡 Wow that's not very funny and a little irritating, it feels like a cistraight guy wrote this". It was a funny episode and some bits of this were funny but certainly not others

- For real tho I'm obsessed w "Binary Nonbinary" that's so fucking stupid

- For all the set up and stakes put on Donna remembering the Doctor, the way it resolved felt like a copout. Passing down and sharing the power was fine but literally just going "Nuh uh" and sending it away?? I really feel like that diminishes how importantly the time lord power was set up just for the sake of Donna being alive for more episodes. If they need her they could've at least let the two deal with it together for a while, before finding a better way to get rid of it down the line

- ^ It also made Donna's death have less impact for the problem to be solved in such an easy way. Her dying was emotional, was well executed, until it wasn't and she was fine and she was back having fun doctor times and woo!! everything to do with her absorbing that power and losing her memory is done and dusted and doesn't need further exploring 😁😁👍👍 I mean come on man..... give us something............

TLDR special was very fun but I expected it to do something interesting and subversive and it ended up playing the parody of itself completely straight. I'm hoping as more stuff comes out the showrunners are proven to be complete masterminds who purposefully made it like that and I'm gonna look like a bumbling idiot

[denimbex1986]

'Doctor Who's game-changing Timeless Child reveal was referenced in the latest 60th anniversary special, Wild Blue Yonder.

As part of Chris Chibnall's season 13, it was revealed that the Doctor is not a Time Lord at all, but the Timeless Child, a being of unknown origins, upending everything we thought we knew about them and their past regenerations.

Doctor Who's second 60th anniversary special, Wild Blue Yonder, saw David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate's Donna Noble faced with eerie doubles of themselves in a spaceship slowly counting down to self-destruct - with a bit of body horror for good measure!

One scene saw the pair of them separated, struggling to figure out if each other were the terrifying doubles or the real Doctor and Donna - so the questioning begins.

With the Doctor claiming he's from Gallifrey, the double of Donna rejects that answer, saying: "You don’t know where you’re from."

The Doctor responds: "How do you know that? How does anyone know that? How does Donna?"

The fake Donna says she saw into his mind when she reverted to being the Doctor-Donna, and saw the Flux.

"It wasn't your fault," she tells him. "It destroyed half the universe, because of me," responded the tormented Doctor.

Doctor Who: Flux marked Jodie Whittaker's final season as the Thirteenth Doctor and saw her navigate a universe-ending anomaly called the Flux. It also marked Chibnall's final season as showrunner.

Returning showrunner Russell T Davies previously confirmed that he would reference Chibnall's work in the second anniversary special, telling Doctor Who Magazine: "The history of the Flux and the Timeless Child is dealt with very slightly in this episode to acknowledge the brilliant work Chris did and to say that’s absolutely part of our history as well."

Chatting to RadioTimes.com ahead of the episode airing, Chibnall said: "[Russell] had told me that there was a reference to Flux.

"It's really beautiful when things like that happen, definitely. It was one of the things we talked about, Steven [Moffat], Russell and I, when we met up, and it was a thing Steven was saying, you don't feel like the work you've done on the show is Doctor Who, because that's the work you've done.

"So he's like, all of the episodes he's written, all the episodes he’s showrun, it’s like everything else is Doctor Who and then his bit is just the thing he did, and it doesn't feel legitimately part of Doctor Who, and it's really weird.

"So when you do get things that crop up, that kind of reference and actually, when I would drop in references to Steven’s stories, or something Russell had done, I would get texts from them, Steven would go, ‘I was mentioned in Doctor Who! Something I thought of was mentioned in Doctor Who!’ It's great. You know, ‘I exist!’ It's really true.

"Russell as well, [I] would get messages going, ‘Oh, I got mentioned! The thing I wrote got mentioned!’ So it's really lovely when that happens and I definitely felt that when we did that in The Power of the Doctor as well. It's really powerful and how you deploy that, and when you deploy that, is really interesting because it's that weird push and pull between being new and being part of a continuum. And that's one of the great, great things about Doctor Who."

There's one 60th anniversary special remaining, The Giggle, which will see Neil Patrick Harris take on the role of The Toymaker and will finally introduce the world to Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor.'

[crystal-lillies]

I'm frothing today in part bc I did enjoy The Star Beast (for the most part aside from nitpicking) from start to finish.

How could I not? I love David Tennant and he slips into his Doctor mannerisms so well, and Catherine Tate is a treasure and they have such a great dynamic together as The Doctor and Donna Noble.

Donna is one of my all time favorite characters! How could I not love her and her beautiful family? Rose Noble! Blessing! Shaun Temple! Amazing and supportive!! Even Sylvia has had such development since series 4 and she tries so hard to keep Donna safe and it's so good to see. AND she tries her best to be supportive of Rose in the most healthy way.

The Meep? Excellent. 10/10 no notes. Maybe except that the execution of your plan felt a little underwhelming but it wasn't really about you it was about DoctorDonna so. Win some lose some.

UNIT!! love me some UNIT all the time! And the new scientific advisor is so good! Love her! Also love that Kate Stewart is taking care of Wilf. Such a good detail.

And Donna gets to LIVE with her memories. that burden is FINALLY off of her and her loved ones.

So so so much I loved about this special! But my feelings and perception are still tainted with the actions leading up to this point, along with the One Fear that Ncuti's run will be plagued with the same mistakes of RTD1's era, based on certain decisions in this first special. I'm still hopeful otherwise but the fear has definitely not gone away.

It's the juxtaposing nature of being a Doctor Who fan I suppose. But don't get my salty and faint bitter posts wrong. I loved the special and it's very likely I'll love the next ones. I Won't Forget What RTD Has Done Before; I just hope he's learned better.