#The lights of Skaro

[astralprisms]

Down, down, down by the river...

A stunning commission of Skaro & Xa'rok (inspired by the EA dream lover scenes) from @pickled0ctopus

[markrosewater]

Hey, Mark, I'm not to make another UB-related request. This isn't coming from an anti-UB place, and it's just one Goose's opinion, but I'm sure there are others who feel this way.

Can we get rid of flavor words, please? I haven't seen a single upside to them presented, just downsides:

For decades, one of MtG's biggest strengths was capturing the ludonarrative. Having to spell it out makes it seem like you all have lost confidence in your ability to make card design that makes sense with the captured flavor.

If a design is intended to be funny (the Street Fighter cards come to mind), it feels like you're pointing at the "joke" and saying "See? Please laugh." As a person who has a comedy background, I'm sure you understand why killing the frog is bad.

Death of the epithet: The most minor of the criticisms, but I really think "Ian Chester, Science Teacher" reads better than "Ian Chester" and then calling his ability "science teacher." (I may be mixing up the WHO teachers, but this applies to both, luckily.) Epithets also make it easier to depict multiple "moments" of a character without giving a card up as the "definitive" version of that character.

It feels like you don't trust players to get why the card text is what it is. Telling your audience you don't expect them to be smart (or rather, literate) enough to "get" it doesn't really help. I've seen people say they add flavor to the cards, but the flavor isn't diminished by removing the flavor words (flavor is when things are fleshed out and living, not when things are spelled out). If it's for fans of the IP, then they already get it (Oh, the activated ability that grants flying is referencing this character's rocket propulsion). Non-fans of the IP aren't benefited either, as they will sus out said character has rocket propulsion or be left completely in the dark (see Cult of Skaro: These words do nothing to tell me about the ability. If you were to leave them out, I'd still be able to sus out that each ability corresponds to one of the four Daleks depicted).

Lastly, they make cards harder to read. When trying to grok a card, there should be as few words as possible I'm supposed to ignore.

I understand some people will go "I recognize the thing" and a bulb in their brain will light up, but something being easy like this doesn't mean it's better or that we actually like it more.

I guess there's the potential upside that you could slot in numerals to power up my Baron von Count deck, but I don't see any real tangible upside to them. Obviously I'm missing something. Can you say what it is?

(Also, even if you don't answer it,thank you for taking the time to answer this book of an ask. These are feelings I've been sitting on since AFR and keeping an open mind on in case I changed how I felt from my initial reaction.)

Flavor words can do some things that we can't replicate elsewhere. I agree they can be overused, and are not always used optimally, but I don't think we want to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

[ohmerricat]

from time to time i get despondent remembering that twissyclara were never a TARDIS team. they never really travelled together for fun. sure, missy was always haunting twelve and clara’s narrative since she was their matchmaker… but apart from the magician’s apprentice/the witch’s familiar, a story in which they were split up and separated almost immediately; and dark water/death in heaven, a story in which missy was outwardly jealous and antagonistic towards clara, they never properly interacted as a trio. missy casually travelled with bill and twelve on the actual TARDIS towards the end of her redemption period, as evinced by the eaters of light and the empress of mars … there was no such development during clara’s tenure. through all of series nine post-skaro, missy was absent. an absence is a kind of presence, of course. but it’s still a shame they never got the chance to just hang out in space and time

[being-of-rain]

My girlfriend wants to watch through all of Classic Who (and yes I did make sure they knew how ambitious that was,) so when I stayed with her last month we watched the first three stories! Not even the extremely '60s gender politics has put her off, that's dedication. Next time we watch we'll be up to some missing episodes, so we'll see how we go with those.

I enjoyed revisiting the first few episodes that set up so many things for the rest of the show. The first human companions, the Tardis becoming a police box for the first time, the Doctor learning not to be a massive bitch. I always love that the Doctor gets his name from Ian... but I'm always amused that Ian seemingly makes it up by accident. The first utterance of the word in the show is Ian saying to Barbara "He's a doctor, isn't he?" and I really want to know where he got that from. Did that come from one of the Time Lords or is this the most momentous case of misremembering in science fiction?

I still think the first two episodes in particular of The Daleks are really fantastic. On my way home I listened to what I think are the only two pieces of Dr Who EU that act as a sequel to The Daleks more than any other Dalek story: the David Bradley audio Return to Skaro, and (weirdly maybe) The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield Volume 1. Well, maybe you could say that the Benny set (specifically The Lights of Skaro) is about all Dalek stories as much as the first one, but I like it a whole lot more than Return to Skaro and was looking for an excuse to relisten anyway.

It felt appropriate watching The Edge of Destruction soon after 73 Yards came out, as a reminder that Doctor Who has always got to have weird bizarre little episodes as part of its ecosystem. As always, Edge of Destruction made me think about how its a great concept that really feels let down by some of the the acting, directing, and writing. It kind of made me think... would it be cool if it was remade today? Not as a proper Doctor Who episode, just take the script (or most of it) and start from scratch. Commit to the weird and sinister '60s sci-fi aesthetic, make a new Tardis set, make sure the cast and crew are on the same page about the tone and vibes. It's just an idea that I'm convinced could be really cool, though it'll never exist outside my head.

[intuitive-revelations]

In light of @rassilon-imprimatur's discovery, here's every iteration of Terry Nation's Dalography map to date:

The Dalek Book (30 Jun 1964)

The Dalek Pocketbook and Space-Traveller's Guide (7 Oct 1965)

Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1979 (Sep 1978)

ダレク族の逆襲! / The Dalek Race's Counter Attack! [ie. Day of the Daleks] (15 Aug 1980)

Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (26 Oct 2017)

Some map elements also appear from another perspective in "The Strata of Skaro" from The Dalek Outer-Space Book (8 Sep 1966)

Interestingly, looking at these it becomes obvious that the map in The Dalek Race's Counter Attack! is actually based on the 1979 Dalek Annual, released almost 2 years earlier, rather than one of the original Dalekmania tie-in books. Coastlines match up far better between them and both use a West-East orientation for the map. They both also expand a bit more from the original map margins, revealing areas like the top of Southern Dalazar in the bottom right of the image.

By comparion, Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe clearly seems to have gone back to the original design, though we do see some changes. For example, for some reason the Island of Gushing Gold has now become a peninsula off of Darren. There also does seem to be a bit of the same easterly curving of Southern Dalazar, though this may or may not be a coincidence.

[alex-the-moss]

I happened to see northern lights recently

Thrice

I’m definitely keeping a headcanon of turquoise sky above wild Skaro

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Doctor Who, but Chronologically 31

Fun fact! The timelines have intersected, almost - if we were watching this show in the normal order, this episode is actually only one out from where we would be. It's 1930! And we all know what that means - it's time for some terrible stereotypical New York accents as we watch Daleks in Manhattan.

Martha's back! Very exciting, Martha put herself into God Tier in the companion rankings with her last episode, and frankly she is very solid in this one as well. She and Tennant arrive in New York, discover it's 1930, and immediately launch themselves into the mystery of working class people going missing during the Great Depression as they live in a Central Park slum in sight of the Empire State Building being built, a tale that is so richly anti-capitalist the only thing they don't do is turn to the camera to break the fourth wall and say "The real monster here, children, is capitalism."

(Also, side note, if you watch in this order, you do feel the devastation of the First World War).

Plot-wise, this is a two-parter! Our second one that is actually intentional. In fact, the plot is fairly basic and simple, meaning the emotional stories and anti-capitalist morals can take centre stage, which is nice - homeless people are vanishing from the slum. They are being turned into pig slaves, by which I mean, humans in fetching brown boiler suits with pig heads who squeal a lot. This is being done by a sort of wannabe mobster who wears stylish spats in the Empire State Building, who insists his workers risk their lives to attach Dalek bumps to the top - because, as the title made clear and the episode wisely chose not to hide from us, the real bosses behind it all are Jeff Bezos inhuman monstrous perversions with no morals or emotions other than hate or racial purity aka Daleks.

Which is exciting! Because you see, while we have SEEN Daleks before, next to the big cube in the second episode, and we got that brief cameo from Rusty... this is actually the first time we get to meet them properly! First Dalek episode, to show us why they're scary!

Except it turns out there are only four of them and they're a cult.

Also the Doctor is proper freaked out by them. We get SO MANY PLOT THREADS HERE

"How are they still alive?" he asks the showgirl who has followed him into a sewer (she is played by Her From Spooks). "How do they always live, while I lose everything?"

Later, Martha, having been kidnapped for experimentation by Daleks and literally shaking with fear, steps up to the Daleks and stares them down.

"I demand to know what's going on," she proclaims (god she's so fucking cool.) "Report."

"Our planet and species were lost in a war," a Dalek says (HOW MANY FUCKING WARS -) "We're the Cult of Skaro. Dalek Sec is hybridising with a human so we can evolve to live outside the shell."

(The other Daleks do not approve. Racial purists. I foresee a mutiny.)

And the merge is complete! The final cliffhanger is that the wannabe mobster now has a single eye and a beard made of penises.

Far be it from me to agree with Daleks, but I also think that's a bad design, actually.

Anyway, other little stories in this episode include Rick Griffin from Holby City playing a man called Solomon, the sort of leader of the slum, who in his first scene resolves a conflict by splitting a loaf of bread in half I-see-what-they-did-there; Her From Spooks playing a showgirl whose boyfriend gets turned into an incomplete pig slave, so he just has the snout and that's it (on being reunited she is very good about it, good for her); and ACTUAL LITERAL SPIDER-MAN IS HERE. That is. Andrew Garfield. Like, THE Andrew Garfield. His name is Frank and he's from Tennessee and he is also about to be experimented on with Martha. And he's played by Andrew Garfield.

The Doctor jokes at one point that he'll let Frank kiss him if he wants, and all I can think about is Andrew "I want to play bisexual Peter Parker" Garfield's eyes lighting up at the line.

But, a nice moment for us watching: the showgirl bonds with Martha (of course) and offers to let her watch the show from the wings.

"Have you ever been on stage?" she asks

"Oh, yeah, a bit," Martha says. "Shakespeare."

WE UNDERSTAND THAT REFERENCE!!!!!

Anyway! New plot threads again!

“She” (an unknown person) is returning (perhaps River returned as Missy. Maybe Me? Maybe Clara???!)

There is something on Donna’s back

An entire planet, Pyrovilia, just… disappeared, somehow. (Maybe because the TARDIS is exploding??? Saturnine was also lost, and that WAS because of the TARDIS exploding. The lion man’s planet was also lost but he was a bit of a knob about it if I’m honest.)

Amy is maybe dead (she’s not)

The Doctor has been cubed (he’s out, but how?)

River is possibly blown up  (unless she’s Missy)

The TARDIS has blown up  (It’s fine now. Except it’s sort of melting now because it’s corrupted, but it’s fine again)

The universe appears to have ended  (the universe is back again)

The Doctor has employed(?) Nardole

(And Nardole was “reassembled???” Nardole had glass nipples and invisible hair?? WHAT THE FUCK IS HE)

There’s a vault in the TARDIS and it contains Missy but we don’t know why (sometimes she knocks for the bants)

What has happened to all these companions and where are the new ones coming from?

There’s an immortal Viking girl now. Her name is Me and she’s now looking after the people the Doctor abandons

What’s With The Silence?

Why was Rory entirely unconcerned by the entire world suddenly going silent when that is Not Normal and should have been, at the very least, extremely disconcerting?

What did the Doctor do to Queen Lizzie One?

Who is Captain Jack Harkness? (Is he the one who gave the companions a warning about the lone cyberman?)

Why is Amy seeing a one-eyed woman in a vanishing window?

What’s with the Doctor’s future involving getting shot by an astronaut?

Is Amy pregnant and why is it inconclusive?

Who is Sarah-Jane Smith?

How is the Doctor Bill’s teacher and why/where does he have an office?

What is going on with the Cyber War and the Cyberium???

Who did the Doctor lose to Cyber Conversion?

What happened with the Other Cyber War?

What happened with the Third War that deleted the void?

Why does Rose seem particularly important?

What’s with the Weeping Angel statues, and why can’t you blink at them?

What order do these Doctors go in? (Eccleston, Tennant, uncertain, Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker)

Which companion just… forgot the Doctor, and how?

Yaz and Vinder are about to die as Mori/Mwri/Muuri

There is a Lupari shield around Earth.

What’s a Time War?

What’s the Rift?

What’s Bad Wolf?

What happened with Amy’s pregnancy?

In which war did the Doctor become a war criminal, and how?

Who is the Master?

Why has Amy forgotten Rory?

Is Rory plastic or not?

Why is the Doctor sulking on a cloud?

How exactly does the Doctor have a cloud?

What exactly happened with Strax to, uh, tame him?

Which friend killed Strax?

Which friend brought Strax back?

Where did this lesbian lizard and human couple come from?

What happened with Clara as Souffle Girl and the Daleks?

How does Clara actually join?

Why so many Claras?

Why is Missy apparently in robo-heaven?

Why is probably!Missy pushing Clara and the Doctor together?

What is Trensilor and what happened there?

Who is Handles?

The Doctor is about to be dissolved by a beautiful geode man

The universe is being crushed by the Flux

Will the Doctor open the fobwatch?

Sontarans are invading Earth again

Who is Kate?

Who is Osgood? Another name of Clara’s again?

The fuck is the deal with the Grand Serpent

Does Martha get to go to an ice cream planet with 12-fingered massage aliens?

How did the Doctor forget Clara?

Who is Bill’s puddle girlfriend Heather?

How did Nardole die?

When does Bill get Cyberman-ed and die?

When does the Doctor shrink and enter a Dalek called Rusty?

Whittaker is falling to her death rn

Was that ring relevant?

Does anyone know the Doctor’s name?

When did Yaz talk to Dan about fancying the Doctor?

When did Dan talk to the Doctor about fancying Yaz?

Who was the Doctor’s wife?

What's happening with the bees?

What happened with Donna's ex and a giant spider?

What war wiped out the Daleks, and is it one of the ones already mentioned?

What did the Doctor mean when he said "The (Daleks) always live, while I lose everything?"

[arcanagoat]

A couple months ago there was a week i got heavily into making music in Garageband and I made a small selection of tracks inspired by one of the campaigns I’m a part of! I really love figuring out what characters sound like.

Petrichor - This first track is a theme for Petrichor. I wanted to find a specific leitmotif for them, i feel the instruments/vibes would be of a moody rock quality - something that would play when they’d fly over the city at night and find rest on a rooftop, giving themself time to watch the city lights before dawn breaks.

Fey-Touched - this one started out as a theme for the Duke, their archfey patron (otherworldly synth/percussion) but became a theme for just. Their fey magic in general. The whispered rhythm contains their name and the name of their friend Willow, whose powers awakened due to the actions of that same archfey and who became part of that magic herself .

Pact Blade - This one is a cooler fighty tune- it contains the Duke’s percussion and Petrichor’s electric guitar, which translates well into a more punk rock, action-packed track. Petrichor’s leitmotif and the Fey-Touched theme are there together, signifying that while this magic is not innate to them, what matters is what they do with it.

Like We Did in That Farmhouse - This one is a theme for their relationship with their mother, Charlotte - wanting a better life for her was their initial call to action, and so I made a track to represent how important that relationship is. I was trying to go for instruments that “sounded” like coming home. Petrichor’s leitmotif is present, in an attempt to communicate how so much of who they are is in what they would do for the people they love.

Determined and Withdrawn - this is an attempt at figuring out what Skaros, their father, would sound like. It’s got cello, horns, percussion meant to be solemn, serious, very throne room-ey - better fit for a hero and leader than a father. Petrichor’s leitmotif is somewhat present, a nod to what he left behind / the person behind the Imperator. The acoustic guitar is also meant to evoke a previous generation, compared to Petrichor’s electric - and a shared theme between them, of what you’re willing to do for the people you love.

but yeah I like music and like learning how to make music! I want to make more related to this and the other campaign I’m in, these are fun to do

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 2 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

Terror Firma

Synopsis

"Welcome back, Doctor..."

Centuries ago, on the war-torn planet Skaro, a great scientist created the most evil creatures the Universe would ever know... Daleks.

It was at their genesis that the scientist Davros first met and was defeated by the Doctor.

Over the years and throughout space, they fought.

It was a fight that ended with the Doctor's destruction of Skaro and the Daleks. Except...

Davros survived. Alone. In the dark. With only thoughts of revenge keeping him alive.

The Doctor is back. Davros is waiting.

Their destiny is now.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Storm Warning

Synopsis

October, 1930. His Majesty's Airship, the R101, sets off on her maiden voyage to the farthest-flung reaches of the British Empire, carrying the brightest lights of the Imperial fleet. Carrying the hopes and dreams of a breathless nation.

Not to mention a ruthless spy with a top-secret mission, a mysterious passenger who appears nowhere on the crew list, a would-be adventuress destined for the Singapore Hilton... and a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey.

There's a storm coming. There's something unspeakable — something with wings, crawling across the stern. Thousands of feet high in the blackening sky, the crew of the R101 brace themselves. When the storm breaks, their lives won't be all that's at stake...

The future of the galaxy will be hanging by a thread.

Propaganda

8 gets stuck on an experimental steampunk airship (that actually existed in real life), has to put up with pompous colonial era politicians and big game hunters, and has to figure out how to escape with his life. Plus other introduction of Charley who was the OG impossible girl, and has the added benefit of being likeable AND interesting, qualities that elude Clara. (anonymous)

We were robbed, ROBBED I TELL YOU, of getting to properly see Eight. Within 10 seconds of hearing his first audio I knew we were completely and utterly ROBBED. The intro of Charley and the intro of Eighth Doctor audios. It should be included. (@youremyonlyhope )

[xendiyatrix]

I Own You

Dalek X had established a whole new base of operations for his empire, his own version of Skaro where his pure daleks could thrive. Within the first few years he worked to establish a supreme council and fully finish the construction of the capital, the largest dalek city ever seen built to emphasise his power. The next step in his operation was to establish more cities on his Skaro but also to finally start full on production of new dalek units with a brand new casing design that he had devised himself, at least, that's what he claims.

The large door to the council chamber raised from its resting position with a boom. Dalek X turned to face the rest of his council, his pupil dilated as his dome turned to make individual eye contact with each member of the supreme council. “Meeting Adjourned” his dome turned once more to face a specific supreme sporting a black casing with alternating blue, gold and silver colours. “See to it that production of our new travel machines begins immediately, you are all dismissed”. The councilmen backed away from their spots one by one in perfect synchronisation, following each other one by one as they left the council chambers. Dalek X was about to follow suite when the large door suddenly slammed shut, locking him in the room. Surprised by this X slowly backed up as black horribly organic roots started covering the door. X’s eyes shrunk in fear as Xen manifested himself out of the corner of the room, low gurgling and grunting noises echoing from inside of him.

X backed himself into a corner of the room, metal clanking could be heard overhead as Vespasin crawled across the ceiling with his many legs. He reached for the chamber's light source and with a swift movement snuffed out the light. Slowly the light dimmed back on, highlighting the chamber's main chamber. X slowly lumbered towards the main table with his eye darting around the room trying to make out the figures of Vespasian or Xen, but it was as if they had vanished into the void that the room had now become. 

“You are performing your tasks most excellently, Dalek X '' A feminine yet oddly angelic voice came from the darkness, it was distinctly dalek but the mix of femininity and calmness in its voice worked to make it frightening and unnerving. X shivered in his casing as his eyestalk darted to face where the voice had come from. Slowly emerging from the darkness Andromeda appeared, the Empress of the Daleks. She towered over Dalek X and looked down on him. Despite not having facial features there was an odd sense of joy in her inhuman demeanour.

“I have done as you have asked….’Empress’...” Dalek X said with disdain in his voice, his eyes pivoting downwards in shame. He slowly lifted his eye stalk to stare back at her. “But I-!” Andromeda moved beside him and cut him off as she snatched his eyestalk within the grasp of her claw, forcing him to face her.

“But what?” She said in her calm soothing voice, directly taunting him.”You forget your place, Dalek X. I OWN you, YOU ARE MINE TO COMMAND!” She snapped, her angelic calmness breaking. “You chose to agree to these terms, without me you would not have survived your war with the imperials, you wouldn't be where you are now without me. I am the one supplying you with your power, remember that!” she released his eyestalk, slowly backing away from Dalek X. Xen’s roots slowly slithered off the door allowing it to open once more. “You are dismissed, Dalek X. Leave” With no hesitation he scurried out of the room, as he roamed his way down the city's corridors mumbling to himself. He was going to break out of these chains somehow, by any means.

Andromeda watched as he scuttled off as the door closed once more. Vespasian crawled down from his place on the ceiling as he and Xen moved to flank either side of their empress. She swiftly turned to face them, her eyes lowering to meet her shorter companions. “Soon, my Loyalists, we will have complete control over Dalek X. He is arrogant and will realise too late of the hidden design elements I have implemented in the new casings supplied by me. Our home universe may be destroyed but we shall claim this one as our own.” Andromeda turned away from them again, looking longingly into the distance. “You are both dismissed.” 

[cat-and-cazio]

I novelized Ten's regeneration scene!

Everything hurt. 

The cuts on his face and the glass behind his ear and even the remaining pressure from the impact of his fall hurt. 

The Doctor lifted himself with his arms and noticed several small dots of red on the white tile below him. 

Blood. 

He held up the gun he had been clutching, but immediately set it down. 

Who would he aim it at? 

The Master? 

The Lord President? 

The other Time Lords in the white space that had appeared? 

The Lord President, the Time Lord in front of the white space, stepped forward and declared, “My lord Master. My lord Doctor. We are gathered for the end.” 

The Doctor stared and watched as blood dripped from his nose onto the floor, the red dots multiplying.   

He stammered, and then said, “Listen to me. You can’t-”

“It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes from our most infamous child,” the Lord President interrupted. 

Infamous? I’m not infamous…

Oh. They’re talking about him.

“He’s not saving you. Don’t you realize what he’s doing?” 

The Master, the Time Lord with the bleached hair and the black hoodie, shouted, “Hey! No, hey! That’s mine. Hush. Look around you. I’ve transplanted myself into every single human being. But who wants a mongrel little species like them? Because now I can transplant myself into every single Time Lord! Oh, yes, Mr. President, sir, standing there all noble and resplendent and decrepit. Think about how much better you’re going to look as ME!” 

The Lord President held up his right hand, on which he was wearing a gauntlet made of dull, gray metal. It began glowing. 

All around, the Master clones started to blur and change size. Eventually, every one of them was human again. 

“No! Don’t! Stop it!” 

The Lord President straightened his posture and said, “On your knees, mankind.” 

All the humans around the room kneeled, each with a terrified expression. 

The Master, still looking angry, commented, “No, that's fine, that's good because you said salvation. I still saved you, don't forget that.” 

The light in the room brightened. 

“The approach begins,” dryly reported the Lord President, with a look of stern concentration. 

The ground shook like there was an earthquake. 

The Doctor's pulse sped up. 

Was he shivering, or was that the floor? 

He didn't know. 

He somehow managed to stand up, despite all the pain still shooting throughout his body. He felt blood run from his nose, over his lips, and then drip onto his shoe. 

“Approach of what?” the Master said in a frantic tone. 

The Doctor grabbed the train of his trenchcoat and said, all in one breath, “They're not just bringing back the species! It's Gallifrey, right here, right now!” 

Wilfred, the old man wearing the scuffed brown jacket, ran into the room. 

“Come on, get out of the way! Get out of the way! Doctor-”

Someone banged on the door from one of the radiation booths. 

“Someone help me! Please!”

A person in a white lab coat was stuck inside. 

Wilf ran into the open booth and pressed a large red button. 

“It's all right! I've got you!” he said. 

The booth holding the person in the lab coat swung open, and a buzz and a click came from the booth Wilf had run into. 

The Doctor, filled with adrenaline, desperately shouted, “Wilf! Don't!” 

I can't lose yet another friend.  

“This is fantastic, isn't it? The Time Lords restored,” the Master said, twirling on one foot. 

The Doctor clenched his fist and tightened his grip on the pistol in his coat pocket.  

“You weren't there in the final days of the war. You never saw what was born. But if the time-lock’s broken, then everything is coming through. Not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, and the Could-Have-Been King, the war turning to hell. And that's what you opened, right above Earth. Hell is descending!” 

The Doctor took the gun out of his pocket. 

“My kind of world,” the Master said, an arrogant smile crossing his face. 

“Just listen! Because not even a Time Lord can survive that!” 

The Lord President interrupted. 

“We will initiate the Final Sanction. The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex apart,”

“That’s suicide,” the Master weakly protested, shaking his head. 

“We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies, free of time, of cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be,” 

The Doctor, disturbed, said, “You see now? That's what they were planning in the final days of the war. I had to stop them.”

The Master dropped to his knees and stretched his arms. 

“Then, take me with you, Lord President. Let me ascend into glory,”

“You are diseased, albeit a disease of our own making. No more-”

Click. 

The Doctor had the gun aimed at the Lord President, his expression cold and steely. 

In a calm, smooth voice, the Lord President advised, “Choose your enemy well. We are many. The Master is but one,”

“But he’s the president. Kill him, and Gallifrey could be yours.” 

In one quick, fluid motion, the Doctor twisted around and repositioned the gun, this time pointed directly at the Master’s forehead. 

“He’s to blame, not me! Oh, the link is inside my head. Kill me, the link gets broken, and they go back. You never would, you coward. Go on. Do it.” 

The Doctor felt a small amount of an unidentifiable emotion. 

He turned around again, his expression unchanging. 

“Exactly! It’s not just me, it’s him! He’s the link! Kill him!” 

The Lord President questioned, “The final act of your life is murder. But which one of us?” 

A woman, sitting behind the Lord President among several other Time Lords, removed her hands from her face. 

Wilf gasped. He had seen this face before.

Something ran through the Doctor’s mind.

A half-formed plan, but still a plan. 

The woman covered her face again. 

The Doctor looked to the Master.

In a flat voice, he said, “Get out of the way.” 

He turned around, pulled the trigger on the pistol, and a bullet flew across the room and knocked a small diamond out of a machine near one of the walls. 

The room began to shake more intensely, and the Doctor almost lost his balance. 

“The link is broken! Back into the Time War, Rassilon! Back into hell!” he shouted before he could stop himself.

Someone began screaming, “Gallifrey falling! Gallifrey falling!” 

“You’ll die with me, Doctor.” the Lord President observed, his expression surprisingly calm. 

His voice shaking, the Doctor responded, “I know.” 

The Lord President raised his hand with the metal gauntlet and pointed to the Doctor. 

“Get out of the way!” the Master yelled. 

The Doctor jumped to his left, and the Master fired something that looked like lightning from his hand. 

The Lord President shrieked and dropped to his knees as the lightning hit him in the chest. 

“YOU DID THIS TO ME! ALL OF MY LIFE! YOU MADE ME!” The Master screamed as he shocked the Lord President one, two, three, four more times. 

The white space brightened, rendering everything within sight invisible. 

As the light faded away and the ground stopped shaking, the Doctor opened and closed his hand, feeling a sensation for the first time since this whole mess had begun. He was still alive. 

He tossed the gun onto the floor, which made a hollow cling. 

The Doctor heard a ta-ta-ta-tap coming from the radiation booths on the other side of the room. 

Wilf was still stuck inside, and he was desperately knocking against the glass. 

The Doctor ran to the booths, and fended off a wave of crying. 

“They've gone, then?” Wilf asked. 

The Doctor nodded, slow and tired. 

“Yeah, good-o. If you could let me out, then?” 

“Yeah.” The Doctor was visibly shaking. 

“Only, this seems to be making a bit of a noise.” 

There was silence. 

“The Master left the nuclear bolt running, and it’s gone into overload.” the Doctor said.

“And that’s bad, isn’t it?” Wilf responded. 

“No, because the excess radiation gets vented inside there. Vinvocci glass contains it. All five hundred thousand rads, about to flood that thing.” 

“Oh. You better let me out, then.” 

“Wilf, it’s gone critical. Touch one control, it floods. Even this would set it off.” The Doctor said, trying to keep a jaunty tone even though his emotions were really a cocktail of anger, sadness, and fear. 

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, a long, thin device with a blue tip. He weaved it between his fingers and tapped it against his forearm in a repetitive pattern. 

Wilf looked like he was about to cry. 

“I’m sorry. Look, just leave me.” 

The Doctor felt something bubble up in his body. 

“Okay, right, then, I will. Because you had to go in there, didn’t you? You had to go and get stuck, oh yes. Because that’s who you are, Wilfred! You were always this. Waiting for me all this time!”

The Doctor started pacing around the room, his heartsbeat slamming inside his head. 

Wilf put his hand on the glass. 

“No, really, just leave me. I’m an old man, Doctor. I’ve had my time.” 

The Doctor started shouting again. 

“Well, exactly! Look at you! Not even remotely important! But me? I could do so much more! But this is what I get? My reward, and it’s not fair! Oh, I’ve lived too long, haven’t I? I’ve lived too long.” 

Wilf, looking desperate, said, “No, no, don’t!’

“Wilfred, it’s my honor. Three, two, one!” 

The Doctor ran inside the empty booth, and pressed the button. 

Wilf ran out of his booth, and the Doctor felt his getting warmer. 

A million small pinpricks of pain appeared all over his body, and they became stronger and stronger until it was absolutely unbearable. 

He collapsed onto the floor, his hands involuntarily twitching. His breath slowed and began to shutter. 

Eventually, the heat died down. The pain didn’t go away, but it became bearable. 

The Doctor stood back up, a single tear rolling down his cheek. 

He sadly waved to Wilf, who was standing nearby. 

“Hi.” 

“Still with us?” 

“The system’s dead. I absorbed it all. Whole thing’s kaput.” 

The Doctor pressed on the door, which swung open. 

“Oh. Now it opens, yeah.” 

He walked out and turned to Wilf. 

“Well, there we are, then. Mind you, you’re in a hell of a state. You’ve got some battle scars.” Wilf commented. 

The Doctor put his hand over his cuts, and felt them vanish. At the same time, he noticed the uncomfortable sensation of blood drying over his lips. 

Wilf looked shocked. 

“But they’ve- your face- how did you do that?” 

The Doctor looked at his hand and quietly said, “It’s started.” 

Wilf wrapped his arms around the Doctor’s body. He was sobbing. 

The Doctor stifled his own crying. 

*  *  * 

Wilf walked out of the phone box, with the Doctor by his side. 

“Oh, she’s smiling. As if today wasn’t bad enough,” the Doctor said, noticing Sylvia, the blond-haired woman, in the window. 

“What do you mean? When’s that?” Wilf replied.

“Just keep looking. I’ll be there.”

“Where are you going?”

“To get my reward.” 

The Doctor waved to Sylvia, and walked back into his TARDIS. 

*  *  *

Martha, the woman with cornrows in her hair, and Mickey, the man in the black jacket, were running. 

There were Sontarans all around the area, firing their weapons at the two soldiers. 

Something exploded behind them, and they dove behind a large scrap of metal. 

The Doctor was watching all of this from a balcony overlooking the battlefield. 

“I told you to stay behind!” Mickey shouted. 

“Well, it looked like you needed help! Besides, you’re the one who persuaded me to go freelance.” Martha said. 

“Yeah, but we’re being fired at by a Sontaran! A dumpling with a gun! This is no place for a married woman.” 

“Well, you shouldn’t have married me, then!” 

The Doctor saw a Sontaran sniper on the balcony, not far from where he was standing. 

His gun was trained directly at Martha. 

The Doctor grabbed a nearby hammer, ran up to the sniper, and hit him with a blind, wild ferocity that had not come in a long time. 

The sniper collapsed, and the Doctor set the hammer down. 

He waved to the couple on the battlefield as his eyes became wet. 

Mickey tugged on Martha, who looked up and waved back. 

*  *  *

Luke, a blond-haired boy who looked about 15, was talking on the phone. 

“That was the maddest Christmas ever, Clive! Mum still doesn’t know what happened. She got Mr. Smith to put out this story saying that wi-fi went mad across the world, giving everyone hallucinations. I mean, how else do you explain it? Everyone with a different face!” 

He walked across the street, directly in the path of a semi truck. 

The Doctor, scared for both of their lives, ran to Luke and pushed him out of the road. 

Luke turned around. 

“It’s you! You’re-” 

He ran to a middle-aged woman walking along the sidewalk.

“Mum!”

“What is it?” 

“It’s him! It’s the Doctor!”

The Doctor waved to Luke and his mother, and walked back into his TARDIS. 

*  *  *

Music was blasting, making it hard to speak. 

The Doctor set a piece of paper onto the bar counter, and scrawled His name is ALONSO onto it. 

He waved to the bartender and pointed to Jack, the man in the long black coat sitting on the opposite side of the bar.

The bartender took the paper, put it in front of Jack, and pointed to the Doctor. 

Jack looked up, and he saluted. 

The Doctor waved.

Before walking out of the bar, he closed his eyes, taking a moment to enjoy the music.

*  *  *

The bookstore was much quieter than the bar. 

The Doctor swallowed, his throat beginning to close up. 

“No, it’s not just a story. Every word of it is true! I found my great-grandmother’s diary in the loft, and she was a nurse in 1913. She fell in love with a man named John Smith, except he was a visitor from another world. She fell in love with a man from the stars, and she wrote it all down!” 

The woman doing the talking, the author of the book she was signing, looked familiar. 

Of course she did. Her great-grandmother was Joan Redfern. Joan, that wonderful, wonderful woman. 

The Doctor stepped forward as the line moved, and he set his book down on the table. 

“And who’s it for?” the woman said. 

“The Doctor.” 

“To…the…Doctor. Funny, that’s the name he used.” 

That’s because he was me. 

The woman looked up at the Doctor with a look of starry-eyed wonder. She slid the book back over to him. 

“Was she happy? In the end?” the Doctor asked. 

“Yes, yes she was. Were you?” 

The Doctor didn’t respond. 

He picked up the book, walked out of the store, and started crying. 

 *  *  *

As his TARDIS landed, the Doctor wiped the last of his tears with his coat sleeve. 

He opened the door in time to hear a group of people shouting, “Hip, hip, hooray!”

Donna gathered a group of people in front of an ornate fence. 

“Right, come on! This photo is just with friends. Come on, I want all of you in it! Well, friends and Nerys. I’m joking, I'm joking! Oh, look at her!” 

“You made me wear peach!” a woman, who the Doctor assumed to be Nerys, said. 

“That’s because you are a peach! Furry skin, stone inside, going off.” 

A photographer moved in front of the group and said, “Okay, smile.” 

As the shutter clicked, the Doctor walked out of his TARDIS and leaned on the fence. 

“Well, it’s never too late.” a woman in a pastel pink dress commented. 

“Will you behave, Minnie? Honestly!” Wilf said, with a tone of exasperation. 

“I’m going to catch that bouquet.” 

“Oh, dear.” 

Sylvia ran over to Wilf, and tugged on his sleeve. 

Wilf turned. 

“And here you are, huh? Same old face. Didn’t I tell you that you’d be alright?” Wilf said cheerfully, him and Sylvia walking to the Doctor.  

I wish it was true. 

“Oh! They’ve arrested Mr. Naismith. It was on the news, crimes undisclosed. His daughter, too. Both of them are locked up. But I keep thinking, Doctor. That woman, who was she? You never told me.” 

Ignoring Wilf’s question, the Doctor swallowed and pulled an envelope out of his pocket. 

“I just wanted you to have this. A wedding present. Thing is, I never carry money, so I went back in time and borrowed a quid off of a really lovely man. Geoffrey Noble, I think his name was. He told me to have it.” 

Sylvia put her hands to her face, and a tear rolled down her cheek. 

Wilf took the envelope and went to Donna. 

As Donna opened the envelope, the Doctor walked back into his TARDIS. 

*  *  *

A new wave of pain shot through the Doctor’s body. He grunted, and sadly rested his head on the brick wall behind him. 

Voices came from somewhere to his right. 

“I’m late now. I’ve missed it, and it’s midnight! Mickey’s going to be calling me everything. This is your fault!” 

“No, it’s not. Jimbo said he was going to give us a lift, and then he said his axle broke! I can’t help it.” 

“Get rid of him, Mum! He’s useless.”

“Listen to you, with a mechanic. Be fair, though. In my life, I'm not going to do much better.” 

“Don’t be like that! You never know. There could be someone out there.” 

The Doctor suddenly recognized the voices. 

Yeah…me. 

“Happy new year! Don’t stay out too late.” 

“Ha, try and stop me!” 

The Doctor heard footsteps get closer. 

He tried to walk, but it only made the pain worse. 

“Ow!” 

A girl with long blond hair and a pink beanie skidded to a stop. 

Rose, the girl who had helped save the world. The girl who was completely ordinary and yet never failed to amaze. Rose Tyer.

“You all right?” 

No. 

“Yeah.” 

“Too much to drink?”

“...something like that.”

“Happy new year.”

The Doctor choked back a sob. He felt something inside of him, like his insides had been scooped out. Heartache. 

“And you. What year is it?” 

“Bli-mey, how much have you had? It's 2005, January the first.” 

“2005? You’re going to have a great year.” 

“Yeah? See you!”

Rose jogged away. 

An Ood, a creature like a bipedal octopus, materialized next to where the Doctor was standing. 

Ood Sigma. The Ood that had once been oppressed and beaten down with everyone else of his kind, now free. And a leader. 

“We will sing to you, Doctor. The universe will sing you to your sleep.” he said. 

A song, soothing and chilling at the same time, began to go through the Doctor’s head. 

As the Doctor limped back to his TARDIS, he realized he had one more person to mourn. The heartache got worse.

He walked inside, the song persisting. 

His throat started hurting as he pressed controls on the TARDIS console. 

He noticed his hand was glowing yellow. He started sobbing uncontrollably as the glow began getting brighter.  

“I don’t want to go,” he remarked. 

He repeated it, this time shouting it, his voice obscured behind a veil of sobs. 

“I DON’T WANT TO GO!” 

The yellow glow took over his eyesight and his thoughts and his feelings. For a split second, it felt like he didn’t exist. 

Sparks flew, circuits shorted out, and fires started, and the Doctor, for once, couldn’t do anything about it. Because he was frozen to his spot. Regenerating. Dying. 

The glow faded, and he began panting. 

“Legs! I’ve still got legs, good. Arms, hands, fingers.” 

The rampant anxiety the Doctor had been caught up in for the last few hours faded and disappeared. 

He didn't need to be afraid anymore. He had a whole new life to live. 

[astralprisms]

Gith showcase ft all my current gith. Xa'rok, Skaro, Lii'r'ai, Kresh, and Kresh's unnamed Guardian who I will definitely name at some point.

Kresh is Skaro's brother, a githzerai monk. Githzerai don't hatch from eggs so they're blood related (and twins).

Lii'r'ai is a draconic sorlock githyanki who was hatched in Avernus and has dubious ties to an extraplanar entity that promised him power that could one day rival Vlaakith's.

Lii'r'ai and Kresh are multiplayer characters in ongoing and upcoming campaigns. Stay tuned for more lore.

[retrosofa]

Let's take a look at Cutie Honey episode 15: “Looking Back with Tears of Rage.”

Screenwriter: Susumu Takaku

Art Director: Eiji Ito

Animation Director: Joji Kikuchi

Director: Osamu Kasai

There is a fair amount of political satire in this episode, specifically when Miharu makes a speech to the masses regarding inflation and when Danbei and the others come to help Honey. The latter of which appears to make light of the Anpo Protests, which were against the renewal of the revised U.S.- Japan Security Treaty.

Thanks to Skaro Hunting Society for this tidbit!

Despite being a relatively important episode, there are a few mistakes present in the script.

Alphonne is shown to have PTSD over the burning of St. Chapel Academy. This doesn’t make sense because she wasn’t present for the school's fall. At the end of the previous episode we see Alphonne returning to the school grounds, completely oblivious to the destruction that occurred the night before. 

Miharu also has a traumatic flashback over the school’s burning and starts yelling ��the students are in danger!” However, the only students at the school during the fire were Honey and Natsuko. Miharu of all people should know this, considering she was the reason they were the only two students on campus at the time. 

While not as glaring as the aforementioned mistakes, Honey somehow knows Snake Panther’s name. Jill also refers to Zora as "Sister Zora" in this episode only.

The poor newspaper employee who falls victim to Snake Panther is named Kawamura, a reference to one of the animators who worked on this episode: Nobumichi Kawamura.

While Toshio Katsuta agreed to Go Nagai’s idea of featuring Honey nude during her transformation, he did urge the staff not to draw her with nipples and to avoid showing her “important parts” or any excessive up skirt shots. While the staff usually complied, there are a few instances of rebellion. This episode is the first of three to depict Honey with nipples.

Despite his real name appearing in the credits for key animation, Joji Kikuchi (菊池城二) is given the alias Jonichi Kikui (菊井城一) for his role as animation director.

Tune in next week for "From the Casino with Love."

[dalekriz]

There's something off with shadows here.

I've never been one to be scared of the dark. That's a human thing. I'm a Dalek, I have night vision, and I can tell that it's just the dark. I'm not a particularly steady-minded Dalek, either. I'm skittish and paranoid and all kinds of fucked. But Daleks aren't scared of the dark. If we jump at a shadow, there's something in it.

So why am I glancing over my back? Why do I feel the sinking dread when I walk into a room and the lights are all turned off?

I talked to Delmaru, they're good with irrational things. They say it's ghosts.

Ghosts don't exist. I think we both are due for a tune-up.

But I listen to Delmaru's stories anyway. Maybe it's the ghosts getting to me. They say that everyone in the universe is followed by the spirits of the people who made them who they are, whatever that means. They say that since Daleks are genetically altered beings cloned off a few hundred Kaled individuals thousands of years ago, we are extra haunted. The older the particular Dalek breed, the more haunted they are. According to Delmaru.

I don't know how Delmaru found out what a Kaled is. They called them 'Dals', so maybe they don't know.

but they called this phenomenon a 'genetic memory imprint'. They said it gets stronger here, on Skaro, where our base genetics were born. Even on this failed version.

They said I could be standing on top of where hundreds of versions of my genetic code- the code before the Paradigm altered me- once stood.

It's all fairy tales, of course. an attempt by an irrational Dalek to explain data skips.

So why did I catch a glance of a white-haired Dalek out of the corner of my vision?

Any advice is appreciated. Especially regarding if human malware can affect Dalek organics.

-Dalek Riz, signing off her late-night ramblings.

[chasedalek]

Supreme Renegade

as seen in “Remembrance of the Daleks” (1984)

Name : Supreme Renegade Dalek

Other Aliases : Black Supreme Dalek

First Appearance : Remembrance of the Daleks (1984)

Latest Appearance : Resurrection of the Daleks (1988)

Place of Origin : Skaro

The Supreme Renegade Dalek commands the regular Renegade Daleks. The key difference in design is the 1988 version has orange lights unlike the rest of the drones.

In the 1984 TV story “Resurrection of the Daleks” A Black Supreme Dalek led the Renegade Daleks mission to rescue Davros. Then in the 1988 TV story “Remembrance of the Daleks” A Black Supreme Dalek is seen searching the Earth for the Hand of Omega.

[intuitive-revelations]

I'm so glad we FINALLY have (some) acknowledgement of the destruction of the Flux.

(For a moment I even thought it was going to be a bigger part of the plot of this episode, based on the emptiness on the edge of the universe setting, before I remembered RTD suggested it was a relatively small part of the story.)

Even as someone who genuinely loved series 13 (and I did!), I felt even at the time the way it was wrapped up was by far the weakest part.

Like, it's insane that this would be all that remains of the universe? You can literally see the individual spiral galaxies? While it's not at the exact centre, at least spatially, I'm pretty sure that the main spiral galaxy visible is the Milky Way. That's only like a few local groups wide, and even that's stretching it, going more by the density of galaxies than their relative distances. If we were doing the latter we'd be lucky to even squeeze in that.

At best, we can maybe imagine the map is logarithmic or something, but even then you can see galaxies quite close to the edge proving it's not scaling that quickly.

And remember this is before the 'final flux event'! The universe is probably even smaller by the end of the series. Thankfully we know it wasn't spreading evenly, so it reaching Earth in the finale doesn't necessarily mean it wiped out the rest of the galaxy around it.

However, even if we're really generous, and assume the CGI isn't representative of the narrative, "half the universe" is still likely understating it.

The universe is basically dead. The Flux pretty much succeeded.

(And you thought the entropy wave in Logopolis was bad?)

The only reason the DW!Earth isn't in chaos right now is that it's still got the incoming light from the destroyed universe, since the flux event itself happened in the modern day and not retroactively like the reality bomb.

Like... sure most of the stuff we care about as viewers remains, since a lot of it was in or near the Mutter's Spiral / Milky Way (Earth, Gallifrey, Mondas, Skaro and Sontar in satellite galaxies etc. - although even then some sources disagree on most of those), but anything else? Basically any other galaxy (eg. the Isop Galaxy) and any planets that we don't already know to be local to the Mutter's Spiral are gone, with all the potential retcon ramifications that comes with.

Sure, it was implied that it could potentially be restored, based on the whole 'compression' thing, but the Doctor was never actually able to do this. We didn't see her do so, nor were ever told so.

The fact the next two specials also included space-time being weird (seriously what was up with those constellations in Legend of the Sea Devils?!), gave me hope that restoring/'regenerating' the universe would have been a part of the central plot of Power of the Doctor, but that obviously didn't end up being the case...