#chibbs era

[lariskapargitay]

Me thinks that someone on the writing staff had a bit of a choking/bondage kink regarding 13/Jodie bc like idk if I never noticed it with the other doctors but this was a weeee bit excessive

[13thdoctorposts]

Another TLDR DW rant from me.

I’ve started to see hot takes that the reason Chibs wasn’t given a bigger budget (im guessing in regards to marketing) was because BBC had lost faith in the show… do these people live in the real world?

The job of every business is to do more for less money, budgets are often tight and stagnate, and often places don’t even raise budgets in line with inflation. The BBC isn’t printing its own cash, and Doctor Who isn’t the only product they are concerned with. The BBC has multiple arms of its business, I’d bet most are under funded not because BBC has lost faith in its whole business but because it only has so much money and that money needs to be stretched. Thats why they needed Disney.

It makes financial sense that they would bank on Doctor Who’s name recognition to help get viewers and put more money behind marketing newer shows and newer products in their business. I know it’s hard to believe but Doctor Who isn’t and never will be the biggest focus for the BBC just because Doctor Who fans think it should be. Scifi is niche… I said it… it doesn’t have broad appeal… it’s amazing it still does as well as it does, especially after 17 years on a shoe string budget after years of economic instability and a crushing cost of living crisis.

Oh and for the people saying they should have just put more stuff on social media because they personally would have done that for free… thats not how businesses work… social media requires a social media manager and a graphic designer at minimum to run, thats probably over 100,000 pounds a year for those 2 jobs at least. If running social media was cheap agencies wouldn’t earn hundreds of thousands of dollars running campaigns, and in a lot of the western world working in social media can actually pay a lot of money. I would guess the BBC, at least previous to Disney, probably have a team that works on all their social media channels for all their shows and other arms of the business and so every channel is treated equally which probably isn’t enough for hard core DW fans but thats just reality.

[ssaalexblake]

I know historically that the Nu!who doctors before 13 have suffered from moderate to massive levels of self hatred, but just because they have, it doesn’t mean it’s a permanent state for the doctor to live in. 

13 doesn’t ever exhibit signs of actual self loathing, she doesn’t have existential questions about the worth of her existence, nor does she ever actually seem to care that much (or at all) if she does anything objectively questionable, even if it’s Really Questionable. 

Now while all of the above raises questions about the benevolence of her personality at base line, it doesn’t show any self hatred either. 

13 is an “i am what i do and therefore this is who I am person” kind of person, meaning basically that she tries to always do good, Wants to do good, helps people, tries very hard, so therefore she Is good because that’s what she’s doing! 

This contrasts with 12 who always wondered if he was a good person underneath all of the actions that define the doctor. 13 is not existential, 12 very much is. He considered the content of his character to be what is underneath his own actions, it’s why he spends all of S8 being Like That. He can’t prove to himself that he’s a good man by doing good things, because he openly expresses that true goodness must be selfless in entirely and if he’s trying to prove it, he’s not being good enough. The harsh standards he imposes on Missy he’s also subjected himself to, so he at the very least isn’t hypocritical in that. 

Both 12 and 13 are fascinating to examine together, tbh, because it Does raise existential questions and we could debate it till the cows come home so i’ll spare my opinions on both of their philosophies (or lack thereof) but the point is, 12 is Steeped in self hatred and is actively suicidal his Whole Run because of it. At the very last moment, just before the end, he makes the hail mary decision to try just One more time. To live. To carry on in the hopes that it will be better. That it won’t always feel like this to live. 

And 13′s lack of self hatred is Everything to 12′s arc. That she can do good deeds without dragging herself over hot coals about motivations, that she laughs and runs and loves and doesn’t want to die!!! She doesn’t hate herself and she doesn’t want to die! And her life is hard and painful and horrible things happen but in the end she’d not have had it any other way, she ended it not wanting to die and wanting to keep the life she has built. 

And that right there, that is honouring 12. It’s also there to be explicitly clear that the hole he was in, the self loathing depression and suicidal ideation is something that he can recover from. You can move on from this. The Doctor did, so can everybody else. It is a story of hope. 

ofc, 13′s joie de vivre can and did lead her to do very questionable things, there are two sides to every coin and self introspection is necessary in moderation, and it is arguably a moderation she lacks, but for whatever problems and flaws she does have, it is not the self hatred that ran through the entirety of 12′s run like a patch of black mould you can never quite get rid of no matter how much you try. 

I’ve always found it weird that people say 13′s era doesn’t have a connect to 12′s because 12 is everywhere in 13′s story to me, he lives in the quiet moments and is always there. She lived her life trying to laugh hard, run fast, and be kind. 

She may not be the same as him, but that was what he Wanted. 

[nightmanatee]

another parallel between yaz and the doctor leading to the more "yaz is the doctor" thing that i'm thinking about is this: they both failed to get what they desperately wanted and they both sacrificed so much for the thing they never got to have/be.

from how the doctor chased the truth, got so close to her parent and division and still got almost zero answers/only more questions, how her "mother" was killed in front of her so she didn't even get the revenge (and how her mother's killers were vanished with no punishment from her at all). she sacrificed her relationship with yaz, her people and the last bits of her friendship with the master in order to get to the truth.

to how yaz wanted to be with the doctor, lost her for 10 months and then 4 years, almost got her in lotsd and probably COULD'VE gotten after potd but got "becoming the doctor" instead. she sacrificed her years (close to a decade), family and career for the doctor.

wanting answers/love versus getting nothing

[intuitive-revelations]

Doctor Who Thoughts! (Ep 1 and 2)

Since the spoiler situation is so risky this year, I'll keep my usual episode notes below a read more for now. Took these non-chronologically while watching and rewatching (becuase even though I'm ridiculously busy rn with thesis and work stuff, of course I'm doing that), so it's less of a reaction and more of a moment-to-moment breakdown.

Ep 1: Space Babies

"I was adopted and the planet that took me in... they were kinda posh. They'd use titles like the Doctor, or the Bishop, or the Rani, or the conquistador. Say Doctor for a thousand years and it becomes my name." So we're right in with the recap. Good. Also still leaning on the Timeless Child thing, which I have mixed feelings about. I love it not being ignored... but I would still rather it not become THE origin for the Doctor. At least not without acknowledging some of the ambiguity on how exactly the Timeless Child is linked to the Doctor. (Personal favourite explanation: they're just the Other. They're not a previous 'incarnation' of the Doctor, but a previous 'REincarnation', something which we know existed on Gallifrey even prior to regeneration, and opens up its own questions about Gallifrey.)

A little odd emphasis on the titles, given it's such a renegade thing. Makes me think of entry-level fans who assume all Time Lords use such titles.

Love the Rani name drop though, of course. A bit odd to get one now, considering there was JUST almost one in The Giggle. Russell what are you up to...?

"You're the Doctor, but you're… the police?" "Police box, no! No, no, no, no, that's a disguise." "Oh." Ruby takes a deep breath realising she didn't just join a cop.

You CAN'T just spring This is Gallifrey on me like that Murray Gold. Not this early.

"I am the last of the Time Lords"... ugh again. Thanks Chibbs.

Also still a bit interesting that all Time Lords are assumed to be gone, given there's nothing as catostrophic as the Time War that caused it, just the Master raging out. There's still plenty of room for surviving renegades and such. (cough!Rassiloncough!) Pretty sure the Division agents in Flux were Time Lords too, though who knows if they're from the 'present' era. More on this in Ep 2.

"And I am so, so glad to be alive." Wow, you can tell 14 went through his break. Quite a turn around from 12 hesitating to regenerate and 13's hidden struggles.

The Doctor healing the butterfly... on one hand, it's not unprecedented with stuff like 10 and the TARDIS crystal, 11 healing River's hand or 12 and Davros, but compared to those cases it's a little odd seeing it done so easily for something with no tech or inate regenerative ability.

I find it interesting that Lizard!Ruby looks almost Silurian, but clearly isn't given her hair and antennae.

The TARDIS trip gags of this and 'mavity' are a fun stylistic switch for the show, but I do hope we don't get too many of them.

"Is that a matter transporter like in Star Trek?" "We've got to visit them one day." Assimilation^2 canon?! /s (but seriously, love stuff acknowledging the 'everything is canon' nature of the DW uni-/multiverse).

So much emphasis on the coincidence with Ruby. RTD loves that trope doesn't he?

"Baby farms boost the population. Sometimes a world goes sterile or... I don't know, goes mad and bans kissing." Or in the case of Gallifrey... maybe both, depending on how you follow Platt or Parkin's lore for the looms.

Don't think I didn't spot that Mavity easter egg on the overlay.

The phone call is a nice moment... even if entirely RTD ripping himself off.

So... the space babies! It's charming, it's campy, it's fun... it doesn't really work... I'm still glad for it, because what is Doctor Who if not being exceedingly ambitious with a dumb idea (if anything I'm glad that even with Disney money, DW's production value shines through!), but the babies expressions always match so poorly to the dialogue that it's pretty distracting. I hope kids will like it though.

I kinda wish these were just child actors, instead of cgi, babies, and voice acting. It would have made a lot more sense in the story, and probably been cuter tbh. (Side note: didn't Disney ask RTD to propose a more ambitious first episode? I wonder if that had some part in this.)

"I made this for you. It's a little flower." Some of Eric's expressions with the dialogue do make me crack up a bit though.

Also glad to see more "[blank] in space" formula episodes, since that was one thing the RTD era always really shined with.

The waiting for Mummy and Daddy thing is very charming too. As is the Doctor and Ruby taking time to give them all hugs.

The multi-pronged satellite design weirdly evokes the Division's timeship design. Definitely just a funny coincidence though. It's cool seeing less 'one-way-up' station designs though.

"Did we grow up wrong?" 😥 (Also with looms on mind, this weirdly feels like a reverse 'childe' situation.)

"Oh 'Nanomatrix electroform'." With the revelation that 'Nan-E' is a person, I like to think this is the Doctor just bullshitting his way through.

The snow and the memory changing is... interesting. More later.

"Oh, I thought my birth was crazy!" Let's not get into it Snail.

The shutting down of the baby station, yet it being illegal to actually stop birthing them even though the station has a limited lifespan feels VERY topical to me, in a weird way. It evokes the post-Roe abortion bans in America, and how pro-life people only care about the fetus, regardless of viability or post-birth care.

"That's the fate of every refugee in the universe. You physically have to turn up on someone else's shore." Again politics, quite explicitly with the use of 'shore' rather than orbit or a similar term that makes sense in an interplanetary context.

"Children will return to the upper levels, or have no /expletive/ dinner. Let Nan-E say fuck!

I love all the actual info in the screen art. If I was an active wiki editor I'd love to take the time to break down all the system info.

At first I thought the bogeyman would be a more 'fantasy' creature a la the Goblins, between it's storybook nature and scaring the Doctor, so it being an artificial creature designed to be scary down to its sounds was a cool twist. Also being made out of bogies?

The fact the story also firmly decides that it's worth saving too? That it's "one of the children"? Muah! 👌 No notes.

The way the airlock works with the 'oxygen field' is a little counter-intuitive and confusing, but I'll allow it. I take it as a safeguard force field gradually powering down, hence the slow depressurisation.

"A great pile of sh-" Let the Doctor say shit"

I buy the methane working to get them to Mondo Caroon a bit less. Hopefully planetary orbit is close enough for refugee status.

Again, Eric's face cracks me up.

TARDIS key! I like this tradition.

A bit cruel to not take Ruby to Ruby Road after bringing up the mystery during the episode, even if it makes sense. Clearly also a bit of a callback to Father's Day.

The emphasis on Ruby's adoptive mum vs bio mum is good.

This arc with Ruby feels weirdly like RTD giving his own take on a Series 6/7 story arc, even down to the ambiguous TARDIS bioscan like with Amy.

When the Doctor mentioned Time Lords and titles again, I was bracing myself to see something related in the scan, so didn't even realise it was snowing until the wide shot. But it said her species was human, so nevermind...

"My name was..." Such a tease! I doubt he's actually giving his birthname, even though it's not unprecedented for the Doctor to tell people. Probably either just explaining the title or something.

Ep 2: The Devils Chord

Maestro emerging from anything playing music is so Wordlord-core.

"Henry get away from him." "Them." Woo!

I could have sworn 'Timothy Drake' would be a real person (at first I assumed he was somehow linked to the Beatles), but a quick google doesn't seem to find anything? All I found was a modern-day composer, who seems to have done an album based on Voyager data. Weird choice to go with just a random person sharing the name of a DC character.

Henry Arbinger is neat. If he's actually a seperate character, I guess he's technically the Toymaker's grandson? He does seem to pre-exist Maesto's imprisonment.

Maestro is so good throughout the whole episode.

The fourth wall breaking with the theme! Transition into the main theme could have been smoother though. I kinda wish they just kept a full piano version all the way through, like Capaldi's guitar.

Speaking of the theme, it somehow appearing in universe on the jukebox?! Really funnily lines up with a later joke in retrospect.

"My mum she had a girlfriend: Claire." Between this, the "heartbroken lesbian song" later and Maestro, this episode really starts to showcase the queerness of this era.

Ruby's first plaid dress is so Clara-ish. As for 15… while I don't mind the Doctor being a bit more casual, seeing him wandering the TARDIS in jeans and trainers is kinda meh. The period costumes are great though. Always happy to see those.

Speaking of 15 and Ruby. They continue to be a delight.

Not gonna lie, as someone who's never really listened to the Beatles but knows their songs only vaguely, it took me a moment to realise there was something wrong with their 'dog' song.

Wasn't expecting the Cilla Black cameo!

Very weird doing a historical with living people. Particularly Paul McCartney, given he has a fairly prominent role, along with John Lennon.

Probably a bunch of easter eggs I'm missing because I don't know the Beatles. I only just discovered while writing that the "Mr Epstein" the Doctor mentioned was their manager.

Weird that we've had two mentions of the First Doctor and Susan in 1963 in two episodes. With it being Feb 11th here… cue more fan debate about when exactly they arrived in London, especially if you account for the "bad smog" in December 1962 line.

"You've got children?" "I did have. I will have." Now he could just be referring to the First Doctor's future, but I can't help but imagine this as a Miranda Dawkins reference! In fairness, he does say that "Time Lords get a bit complicated" which doesn't really match that interpretation. Could also connect it to the future!Other + Other'sGranddaughter!Susan interpretation of things I suppose.

"Where is she?" "I don't know. The Time Lords were murdered. The genocide rolled across time and space, like a great big cellular explosion. Maybe it killed her too." Uhhhhhhhhhh, WTF does that mean? It doesn't sound like the Master's actions, unless he went on a killing spree beyond Gallifrey? My best guess is it's referring to the Time War (in general, rather than just its ending - which tbf does at least match our current knowledge about Susan's fate). If it does refer to it, it kinda seems to ignore both the Moffat and Chibnall arcs with Gallifrey, both its return and its destruction again, by referring to the Time Lords as being 'murdered' in that genocide. Sounds more like The Ancestor Cell than anything tbh. The wiki connects it to the Death particle, but I doubt that.

Maestro giving the Giggle, already connected to music, and the Doctor immediately grabbing Ruby's hand and running running?!

The Doctor removing the sound with the sonic sure is... another sonic power. I've never been one to complain about the sonic use, but between this, plugging in the sonic last episode and the holograms and force field in the anniversary specials, this is getting a bit much. I'll allow it in this case though, as I assume it's working through the TARDIS translation circuit.

The sound design is great this episode.

Also again, the fourth wall breaks rule.

"That thing must be part of the pantheon" Wait... it's obviously linked to the Toymaker but... the pantheon as in the Pantheon of Discord? Like the Trickster's part of?

"One trick once: that's all you get with gods."

June 2024. Woah, so it's been a big time skip! 6 months from Ruby's perspective, and she has been travelling at least some of that time. The Doctor might know what's up with Ruby by this point?

Kinda crazy how much emphasis we've gotten ever since Flux on time's malleability, with the time tracks shifting so easily. Really supports my idea that the Ravagers' attempt to undo the Anchoring of the Thread has had an ongoing effect.

The ash turning to confetti when Maestro appears!

"Lord Temporal" ooh, how Obverse Books of you Maestro!

"Child of the Toymaker" Huh. That works surprisingly well with the version of the Toymaker's origin that has a sister (Hecuba from "The Queen of Time"). Interesting, considering The Giggle seemed to lean more in the Crystal Guardian direction.

"The Music of the Spheres" I know it's an actual term, but you can't say that without me thinking of the Prom minisode.

"You might be bright, and hot, and... *dun du-dun* timey-wimey." Heck yeah. Only contention is it could have been slightly more perfect if Maestro played the four-beat baseline, since 'heartbeat of a Time Lord' and all that. I guess that's kinda synonymous with the Master though, which might have been misleading.

Though they do then play four beats when attacking the TARDIS (also awesome), so I guess they could have gone with it in the first place.

"The only thing I can do is take us back to 1963!" Fast return switch time?

Him kissing the TARDIS better!

Weird emphasis on the TARDIS groan once they exit. Seemed disconnected from Maestro, but didn't come back again.

"I thought that was non-digetic" Perfect! So should we take this to mean that the Doctor can hear the show's soundtrack?!

The music while Ruby is dragged away. At first I thought it was "The Sun's Gone Wibbly", but listening closely it sounds closer to the music from the climax of Waters of Mars, itself very similar.

"Playing lovesick songs for heartbroken lesbians." I mentioned the queerness of the episode already, but can I also point out I think this is the first time we've actually used LGBT terminology in the show? We've certainly used the descriptors before and plenty of people have explicitly had partners of the same gender etc., but for example, Bill never called herself a lesbian, nor did Clara ever identify as bi. Only exception is 'gay', and even then it's mostly only been jokes (eg. the thin fat gay Anglican marines, Rose calling Nine gay as an insult etc.).

"How can a song have so much power, and power like him? The Oldest One. The night of her birth, he can't have been there. What for?!" Oooh, so the One Who Waits is connected to Ruby. Interesting... also another connection to the Guardians and/or 'pantheon'. Is the One Who Waits one of either of those? If a Guardian, then the only candidate is the Red Guardian (who was technically there that night being the Doctor), but that would be ridiculous to be the answer. If connected to the latter, then... the Trickster? Or more likely someone completely new, of course.

Ngl, at first a little part of me thought the 'reverse devil's chord' would end up being part of the theme song.

The Beatles were surprisingly underused through the episode, but them finding the chord is a decent use of them, even if it could be seen from miles away.

The wink launching into a song and dance number, less so! I was wondering when the musical scenes from the trailer were coming...

Shout out also to the Murray Gold cameo on the piano, somehow playing himself according to the credits, despite this being in the 60s.

I'm not familar with them so not 100%, but I think the two dancing with the Doctor and Ruby here are cameos from Strictly Come Dancing too? Specifically Shirley Ballas and Johannes Radebe.

Speaking of "the twist in the end" pretty cool that "Harbinger" survives. It's unlikely, but I'd love to see Maestro return, maybe for a full-on musical episode?

The piano dancing was cute. Very 'Big'!

Overall thoughts in a few words?

Space Babies was kind of meh, even if I appreciate the campiness of it and the ending is pretty good. Pretty standard decent, if not great, episode.

The Devil's Chord however might actually be one of my favourites? Maybe even my favourite RTD episode, though I'd have to think through them all. And that's without being a Beatles fan and probably missing all sorts of flourishes.

Looking forward very much to next episode too, with Moffat back! I saw the episode was about the Doctor stepping on a landmine, but I thought that was a joke before the Next Time teaser. 😅 Apparently it's Ncuti's favourite episode of the season, which is a good sign!

[upslapmeal]

The Power of the Doctor

The time has come! The hour has arrived!! But the moment has been prepared for!!! 

honestly I love the cybermasters they’re so ridiculous

like when they first appeared and people complained they looked stupid??? yeah that’s the point!

them going along the train roof is giving Polar Express vibes

oh boy Dan’s ready to bail

right, betting on the cargo being kid doctor

‘the doctor lies’ man I hated when that was a ~fun thing said by companions

~there lived a certain man in russia long ago~~

man I wish I’d seen some Tegan or Ace eps before this, I have no way to judge how well they’re being written

RIP Dan you could have had a great character arc

…Fugitive Doctor????

no wait it’s the joker doctor Master’s tardis

ok so the cargo is not the kid doctor

wasn’t UNIT shut down

tbh I know UNIT showed up during s13 I just can’t remember what actually happened to it

lmaoooo the Rasputin photoshop

terrible to a degree that rivals those photos of Nine showing up in history

‘yes take me away you’ll all feel safer with me in the building’

I’m really enjoying Seismologist Master he’s clearly having a great time

‘darling I don’t seem to have the room service menu, only I have allergies’

honestly disappointed the location text isn’t bigger, c’mon Chibbs that’s been a staple of your era

WAIT THEY ACTUALLY GOT THE SONG

RA RA RASPUTIN BAYBEE

lmaooo the cyberman and dalek turning to each other like….what is he doing

wait surely the regeneration can’t come this early?? you mean to say that the regeneration teased in the promos wasn’t the actual regeneration???

and how would regenerating into the master even work??

consciousness transfer? while also looking like the Master??

surely this is just a very long-winded way of the Master going about changing their clothes

what is his aim??

oh Yaz hon

HE’S WEARING ALL THE DOCTOR’S CLOTHES

hdsafj a lone DoctorMaster recordering 

ONE OEN ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ON ONE ONEO

SIX????

F I V E?????

EIGHT!!!!!!!!!

SEVEN!!

full offence to the 50th special but this non-anniversary ep is doing a better job

‘I am a manifestation of our consciousness I can wear what I like’

I wish they’d done a bit more with the rebelling dalek rather than killing it almost instantly

Tegan and Ace both got closure moments with their Doctors <3

Graham??????

‘Arnold Palmer…son. volcano inspector’

‘your conversion shall begin’ so like father like daughter eh?

Ruth!!!!

kinda wish Thirteen stayed in the Master’s mishmash outfit

the return of the goggles!

wait was Thirteen just killed by accident by that energy thing? that’s it?

….and are we just never going to know why Graham was in the volcano?

does Yaz know she doesn’t have to leave just bc Thirteen is regenerating?

IAN IAN IAN INA INA ADICANPSDOI VNWIFNHQ-[0w

COMPANIONS SUPPORT GROUP!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

IAN IAN IAN IAN INA IAN IAN

where’s Martha though

REGENERATION SCRONCH

she got a beautiful sunset regeneration T_T

genuinely a gorgeous regeneration

regenerating clothes???? something funky’s going on

teeth! WHAT!!!

and lmao not even a whisper about the timeless child in that whole ep

Well!! Honestly that was all I wanted from the ep - ridiculous and fun with some genuine moments of emotion. Did it have typical Chibnall issues with character and dialogue? Sure. Did it completely drop the Main Chibbs Contribution to DW lore? Sure. But did I have a great time watching and did it feel like an Event? ABSOLUTELY!! Anyway everyone acted their socks off and Thriteen got a truly beautiful ending which I’m so glad about - she really seemed at peace <3

Now. As for what came after the regeneration. RTD I hope you are ready to fight everyone here bc DT can’t be Fourteen!! He’s an interim Doctor! He’s going to be around for 3 eps! He needs a name not a number!! I’m so glad we got a glimpse of Ncuti in the trailer though, I just can’t believe we have to wait over a year!!

[bisexualamy]

opinion on where dhawan!master fits in the master's timeline?

yesss thank you i love any excuse to talk about the master.

i'm still team "dhawan is after simm but before missy". i think it was a really smart decision to not have simm regenerate on screen so writers had the opportunity to write the master on both ends of missy.

there is a part of me that believes that missy truly did die for good at the end of "the doctor falls" both because it's a very tragic but poetic conclusion to her arc, and also because it's so fitting and so delightfully rich that the only person to successfully kill the master is the master, both literally (simm shooting missy) and figuratively (missy kills the concept of the master to the point where simm is so disgusted with what she's become that it overrides his pathological desire to live; also missy giving up the name "the master" fits in very well with this. it's a much better explanation than "well i'm a woman now").

i also think that missy was missy for a very long time. i can honestly see the michelle gomez version of the master living in-canon as long as ainley!master or possibly longer. i think one of the ways that s10 works is the idea that missy has been missy so long that she considers that she doesn't have to be "the master" anymore. she is clearly very established as herself by the time 12 meets her for real in "dark water". who knows how many centuries she was missy before then, how many bodies she went through after being simm to understand herself in a post-gallifrey, post-time war universe.

even if she did not die, i don't buy the explanations folks have written up trying to argue that dhawan!master postdates missy. with the level of character growth that missy went through in all of 12's seasons, especially s10, it frankly does not make sense to me that dhawan!master comes after her. chibbs in general seemed a bit averse to referencing anything from moffat's era in his eps (which i do get; you don't want to draw any comparisons to your direct predecessor i think), but the concept that the entirely of "the doctor falls" would happen, missy's entire plan to go back stand with the doctor who happen, and then she'd just... go right back to what she did before? no acknowledgement even, of the brush she had with being something other than the master? i honestly believe there's no way to make a post-missy dhawan!master make sense without retconning large parts of missy's arc.

[montanabohemian]

anyway i sobbed and sobbed at the end of that episode. jodie was and will remain my doctor. i think this is the first time i'm really quite devastated about a doctor leaving. 9 and 10 were hard but like it was fine. this one though, cut pretty deep. it was just such an excellent era; jodie and the fam and sacha and the way chibbs breathed life into the universe. gonna miss them all desperately.

[cosmicallyavg]

jodie whittaker deserves to be in the 60th anniversary, actually!!!! so that stupid nmd fanboys are forced to watch her doctor against their will

[nerdie-faerie]

This season has just been 'I enjoyed that episode, let's look in the tag for shitposts' but the tag is just no memes only negativity. Like damn can't believe I watched it wrong again 😅

[sircarolyn]

i feel like kerblam is a polarising episode, and i must say for a change i come down on the negative side... like it's okay. but it's no paradise towers y'know

[13thdoctorposts]

I would love to know the general public sentiment on 13 era Doctor Who.

In the online fandom it seems to be that the majority of people think it’s ‘bad’ for whatever that means to them, but the online fandom is only one small part of the viewing public. And even if you don’t take into account that the way we watch tv has drastically changed in the last 5 years and just looked at viewing figures as a number with no context, Flux was pulling in over 4mill in overnights in viewing figures… and yes you could compare that with no context to previous series and say it’s bad compared to years gone by but… 4 MILLION + people tuned in to watch it. You can’t tell me that 4 million people were hate watching it. That’s absurd.

So even if it wasn’t as popular I don’t think you can honestly say it was hated as much as online discourse would have you believe. This coupled with Jodie’s comic con appearances over the last year bringing in bank in the tune of a lot of ££, and her lines being crazy with people wanting to meet her, I just wonder how much of the online sentiment is real in the real world.

Because honestly if you do really love 13 era Doctor Who your opinions aren’t really welcome in the fandom with out people being horrible, making out you’re stupid for liking it, or just down right calling you toxic, the amount of times I’ve seen a ‘Jodie Stan’ being labeled as ‘toxic’ is ridiculous. I think a lot of people who love the era would rightfully check out and just not bother engaging with the online fandom. Which is sad because I think it skews the discourse to the negative, because people don’t want to have to defend their positive view to be inundated with negativity, and hate and on top of that if they call out bad behaviour be labeled as toxic.

The UK has a population of approximately 67.33mil so if over 4 mil watch an episode that seems like a lot especially once you start cutting out kids who are too young to watch and might be in bed when it airs, people working shift work while it’s on, people having family commitments and a host of other reasons that would take them away from watching tv. And then you have to remember sci-fi is niche, it’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea.

I think 13 era is more beloved then we can see because it’s drowned out by the online fandom which only represents a small part of the viewing public in total.

You can’t even go to the official Doctor Who social pages and say you love yaz or 13 without an onslaught of crap thrown at you because Doctor Who social is completely inadequate at protecting it’s actual fans, it’s creatives and the show as a whole. So having a real understanding of how well liked 13 era Doctor Who is in general seems like it would actually be hard to know.

[ssaalexblake]

hard fandom conversations surrounding moffat setting up the story around Missy in such a way that the next version of the character had to come back evil after her, or missy’s good deeds would be considered void and everything she did would literally have been hopeless and for nothing. 

I mean, I enjoy a good tragedy, doesn’t bother me (like, i don’t like the story Unless it’s viewed as a tragic mess, but that’s a whole other post), but at some point y’all gonna have to look at this arc and realise that Moffat set it up so the master’s goodness Had to go unnoticed and unrewarded to be a successful moment of true virtue, and that therefore the next person to write the master would have to make them #evil to preserve that moment of good in the timeline.

The person you’re mad at is Moffat. Not Chibnall. It’s Moffat. He set the rules because his story was never once meant to make the master one of the ‘good guys’ now, and because this was a good way to explore their potential for good without ruining an iconic villain of tv that’s been around for 50 years, i imagine. 

[raywritesthings]

The sad thing is a small part of me is always going to dislike Nine and Twelve* - despite all their other great qualities - because of the basic lack of respect they showed Mickey and Danny for no real reason. I wish it hadn’t been that way. And I am doubly relieved that Chibnall did not go the same route and have Thirteen mess up Ryan’s name or give him a nickname he did not want.

*And before anybody comes at me about character arcs, it did not have to be part of Twelve’s character arc that he couldn’t express a minimum of civility and decency towards Danny, and there is no divorcing the context of a white man outright refusing to acknowledge a black man’s proper name or title no matter if the white man is an alien or not.

[nightmanatee]

TWWFTE rewatch

or the thasmin pinpoint

1. "because... you`re a woman?" and 13`s immediate "does it suit me?". i think yaz`s quick "response" might go deep into the "don`t screw this moment don`t screw this moment".

(btw she check`s on ryan`s reaction THE SECOND she says "what?")

2. WAIT apparently she checks on ryan EVERY time 13 does something gay. "does it suit me?" ryan do i need to react? "i`m calling you yaz `cause we`re friends now" ryan is it gay if i`m okay with that?

(it`s just one of the examples i couldn`t find any more from my screenshots)

3. glances glances GLANCES. i`ve already started to notice that yaz does it as many times as she can. ESP at her flat in the arachnids.

4. can we have the lights and sirens on? NOO.

5. "show me your collarbones" and yaz does it so enthusiastically. like girl whom are you trying to impress?:)

6. personal space? what is personal space??? i don`t know her.

the first example is with graham but my personal favourite is the one with yaz like what IS that???

7. what have i said about cheking on the doctor?

(and believe me when i say that she`s still looking at the doctor at the 3rd screenshot)

8. i know i know i AM cool at making screenshots but this one is here to proof you that yaz is a good runner bc she`s started running only AFTER ryan and grace but was able to catch up with the doctor.

9. almost there (bc tumblr allows only 10 pics per post). she. grabbed. yaz!

and 10. LOOK AT HER FAAACE

conclusion: this ep is so COOL they`re all smol bbys and thasmin is canon.

okay serious now: i`ve wanted to watch this ep to be able to grab SOMETHING from yaz`s first ep bc apparently every ending that characters have has it`s roots in the first episode. karl was insecure, he needed records to change/heal/evolve and in the special he believed that fireworks were just for him, which is character growth and a logical ending for him.

grace`s death was FORESHADOWED 10-15 minutes before with a sign "danger to death do not climb" and the camera kinda tries to make you NOTICE this sign.

graham and ryan have bad relationship and they end up BONDING with each other finding family and love, their adventure has a very logical ending for them as well.

and what about yaz? well there are 3 variants:

1. bad ending: she dies bc it`s something i don`t want to think about but it happened twice in the ep (one being grace`s death and the other one being that guy`s sister; she might make a hologram to her parents btw:)))) ). i highly doubt it but i cannot not place it here.

2. semi-good one: the karl`s ending? the screenshot is weird but i wanted to be sure that karl is there. i mean he`s changed (already happened to yaz) realized what he is worth, yaz, in general, is close to the same, perhaps she will simply leave the doctor and some next "stay here" will be the last straw for her.

3. the good one (bc i`m a believer clown). grace IS the doctor`s human parallel and she and graham kissed in the first episode were together for 3 years which IS chibnall`s number and graham`s speech at the funeral??? + graham and ryan`s bonding (i know it`s not the same but every relationship in chibbs` era succeeds ONLY if you`re honest with each other if you care for each other and are able and want to change; if 13 and yaz are gonna have a talk on the beach than i`m sticking to this ending).

anyways yaz`s fate is 100% going to foreshadow something from this episode bc it happened to everyone and i can`t wait to see it and then go back to this post and to the episode itself and realise that YES it was there all the time we just weren`t able to see it without the whole picture.

[uncharted-constellations]

Also a dumb thought spurred on by me and @salt-water-sable 's discussions on the issues with the Chibnall era, and my love for Chris Noth in the Good Wife: I present to you the Master Swap Idea:

The Thirteen Era "Master" is actually The Rani, who is pretending to be the Master, Pretending to be O. Getting involved in a conspiracy about one of your childhood friends getting experimented on by the higher ups in the government, killing timelords just to see what would happen if they were converted into Cybermen, and the general cruelty of everything seems more her style than The Masters, especially after all of Missy's development.

(Yes I know the audiobooks and novels explain this development, but only because Chibbs was too lazy to do so, therefor im not considering it canon. Additional media should be like improv, 'Yes, And' or 'But, What If' not 'Well Actually It Does Make Sense If You Do This-')

So who is the Actual Master then? if you hadn't already been clued in by the Chris Noth mention, He's Jack Robertson. Regenerated into an American and decided, rather than being good or evil, he would just assemble the character traits that would annoy the Doctor the most, all into one persona. He's doing the politican bit again, he's making fun of her morals and pretending to be an idiot while doing it. Building a hotel over some radioactive waste? Child's play, Time Lords can handle much tougher stuff, the giant spiders are just a bonus. He's having the time of his life, but only because he isn't aware that the Rani's stolen his name (yet.)

The Doctor and the Master finally team up on the same team again, not out of a sense of duty or morality, but because he can't believe Rani thought they could steal his name. You go by Missy for one regeneration and suddenly your shit is up for grabs? Not on his watch.