#chibnall

[bellamysgriffin]

 get to know me meme >> Favorite Friendships [22/?] Team TARDIS (Doctor Who)

Look at you. My fam. No, still doesn’t quite work. Team TARDIS? We’ll take that.

[13thdoctorposts]

RTD: Its really important I protect David from being accused of drag or for doing a disservice of drag by regenerating into Jodies gender neutral costume because David doesn't deserve to have to put up with the media writing articles about him in a negative way about gender neutral clothing that both a woman and a man in the show wore they will just say they are women's clothes so I'm going to burn it out of existence and make sure David is safe. Because people with Davids level of privilege and power need protection more than anyone, so I will protect David at all cost from having to do the thing everyone is expecting of the Doctor regenerating into the Doctors clothes. I'm just such a good caring guy protecting one of my leads.

Also RTD: Oh the Media are running with the narrative that my 19 year old female co lead was axed/dropped due to poor and unacceptable behaviour on set? That its weird and so must be true because companions usually do more then 1 series even though I've often only had them in 1 series, that not only was she axed they also announced my new companion while dragging the one who's first series still hasn't aired through the mud trying to ruin her career. Well I think we should just stay quiet, fuck her mental well being or career, lets not put out a press release refuting the claims or respond to any of the media's question's and just let her have to fend for herself when it comes time to do the media rounds for season 1, lets just leave this as her problem, I shouldn't have to deal with this even those it clearly leaked from my company or the BBC that she had a reduced role in season 2 and as show runner the buck stops with me, but fuck that, leave it as her problem. Why should I care if her face is planted across the internet, newsagents and super markets saying disparaging things about her?

If people can't see the misogyny in RTDs behaviour at this point they are choosing to be blind.

Also we can contrast this with Chibnall, in an interview he talked about how the media calls up trying to create stories and how they called him up and said they heard the the crew had walked off set because Jodie was making them work to 2am... he said his response was well I will call the journalist and tell them we were on night shoots people were schedule to work till 4 am they all love Jodie and we can send you the schedules to prove people were scheduled on. Thats how you protect people.

But let's all remember how RTD is he greatest person to ever live and Chibs is the bad guy. 🙄 So glad Jodie and Mandip got to work under Chibs and not RTD.

[swampsiren-piratefairy]

Thasmin here

Ten/Rose here

River/Doctor here

Ultimate Poll

[scienceandfandoms]

Doctor Who's post-Flux Chibnall specials

[the-all-seeing-salmon]

Lore issues aside, the main reason I hate the Timeless Child is because it restricts creative writing opportunities.

Besides mortal danger no longer being as big of a threat to the Doctor, it means that there won't be another chance for the Doctor to confront the end of their life in a final incarnation and find a creative way around it.

Imagine the Doctor on their last life (again), after several series of buildup with unfinished adventures, loose plot threads, and threats that were not entirely beaten - either through accident or necessity - or were replaced by new ones. The Doctor regenerates into their final incarnation and realises they've got so much unfinished business. They rush to complete all they've left before their last breath, only for more things to come up against them. "It's not fair", they think, "that I should die when I could do so much more good in the universe". And they go a bit dark. They remember all the times their old frienemy tried to steal their regenerations after running out themselves. But had they? We've never seen half of the Master's incarnations in media despite him running through a regeneration cycle (perhaps 2 by this point), and the Doctor decides it's time to return the favour. They travel back and steal the Master's regenerations, giving themselves more lives (not a whole cycle, maybe just 5 or 6 more), robbing the Master of his and creating some of the conflict they've previously faced.

You never remove the problem, only postpone it, allowing other writers to come up with new ways to get round it. That's why I find the Timeless Child to be such a copout and boring solution to this problem. Because it restricts storytelling, not expands it.

[zagreuses-toast]

I come from a place of sheer curiousity and I just wanna ask genuinely- you say that you're a fan of 13s/ the chibnall era. Why? Doctor who is my favourite show and I've connected with every incarnation deeply and immediately, but have never been able to "click" with 13, despite my best efforts. What is it that you like about her? What is it that you like about chibnalls writing? I want to know and I want to like her/it too, but as of right now, I just... don't. Obviously you're not obligated to, but can you explain why?

Ok so this ended up being a Long Post, so I'm putting my response under the read more. Also I'm assuming you've actually watched the Chibnall era up to The Power of The Doctor, if you haven't then heads up for spoilers and stuff that might not make much sense without context.

Oh and I'm gonna @ @rearranging-deck-chairs and @ssaalexblake because I see their DW opinions all the time and they're really good and they can probably give more nuanced answers on some things. (Idk how well I did on explaining why I liked some of them, and it really is up to personal preference on some things)

Thirteen herself:

There are a lot of reasons I like Chibnalls era, but one of the biggest ones out the gate is definitely Jodie and her acting in the role of the Doctor. I think the way she balances bouncy gregariousness with the colder more angry and mean aspects of the Doctor is great. She does this thing where she can just make her eyes go dead and then smile like it's a threat, like she's gonna bite, especially when going up against villains. It's great. And Jodie herself is a delightful person.

Beyond just physical acting choices, I find the thirteenth Doctors struggle between her anger and secrecy, vs her desire to connect and her joy at life very very compelling. She keeps this distance that's really interesting I think, where she's genuinely attached to and trying to be a friend to the Fam, but still trying to keep her whole past out of the deal, which doesn't work that well, as we see in s12 and Flux. She's surrounded by death and haunted by the knowledge of how little time she has with her friends, (Grace, and she just came back from bill) but she still wants and needs that connection, and she learns to live in the present a bit. I made a whole post about her final regeneration speech here. I love her arc a lot even if it hurts. Also she's such a horrible hypocrite about so many things, which also makes her a fun character to rotate in my head and study like a bug. I do see it as being on purpose, some people seem to think it's just bad writing that she contradicts herself but imo that's a big part of her character.

Chibnalls writing:

I personally like the timeless child plot because :

There are a lot of stories and ideas in the Chibnall era I like, and a lot more I find very compelling. Whatever your opinions on the writing (and I definitely have had a lot of critique for some bits), there were a lot of ideas introduced that were fun and interesting. One of the weaker points of the era IMO is having so much fun stuff set up, but only shallowly or quickly exploring it, and then adding more stuff on top.

A lot of things didn't get the exploration/screen time I thought they deserved (especially characterization and interaction/dialogue wise). But that just gives my brain more to chew on at the end of the day, and I do love what was done during the seasons itself, not just all the potential stuff.

1) I can connect with it, I know Chibnall was coming at it from a place of being an adoptee, but as a native person the story of a kid taken and raised into an imperial/colonial society, who had their history stolen and their body exploited to further that societies ends, hits very close to home.

And 2) I have a "everything is true at once" approach to canon and I think the more origin stories we make for the Doctor the funnier it is.

This era had a lot of repeating themes, ideas that showed up and we're explored in a lot of different circumstances, often with a rule of 3 aspect to it. One is themes of Empire and Exploitation. Particularly through the stenza in s11 (empire using up planets, introduced to us basically doing foxhunts for clout, but with People instead of foxes), the dalek specials, the Cybermen in s12, and Division/the timelords in flux (as well as the sontarans &co).

Within that there's the repeating motif of how by exploiting people or their beliefs for power the imperial power/bad guys sew the seeds of their destruction. From Tzim Sha using the Ux and them turning against him, to the Division being destroyed by the Ravagers, who they tried to use to get rid of the Doctor/the old universe (and the doctor and even the master going rogue in the first place). Hell even Kerblam! (I know I know) Has a version, where the AI system being used to do terrible things is the one to call the doctor for help!

Another standout are themes of breaking cycles, Ryan is estranged from his dad and was distancing himself from Graham, but they both put in the work and grow extremely close over their two seasons. He also chooses to leave the TARDIS when he realizes he's absent from his friend's lives and wants to be present. And the Doctor gets to break the cycle of exploitation that Tecteun started, when she meets a vulnerable being with mysterious power (the energy being from TPOTD) she helps it free itself, on a way she wasn't helped.

Individual character stuff:

Going again into more individual character stuff I love, I've gotta give it to Sacha Dhawan for being a fucking superb Master. His acting is bonkers amazing and he does a great job portraying the sorta huge personal crisis the master is going through, and externalizing via evil schemes. At the end of Twelves run we saw Missy try to be like the doctor, to get her friend back (and even succeed a bit) but end up dying for it. Now we come back to a master who died trying to be like the person they see as their only equal, and has discovered (wrongly) that they were never equal to begin with, that the doctor is so much more than them. So he tries to make her like him instead, and If she won't become like him and kill them both along with the rest of gallifrey, then he will become her properly this time (by body snatching), ruin her legacy, and die with her eventually (overtaking her in the same way his whole existance has now been caused/overtaken by the doctor in his eyes, because of her being the source of regeneration)

Also can we talk about the Yaz?? I've been dying to talk about Yaz!!! I love her a lot and I find her fascinating, shes probably my favorite companion based on just sheer amount of time spent Thinking about her. Her doctorification/character arc is so good

Yaz is into the travelling and saving the day lifestyle the Doctor gives her for the responsibility of it all, for feeling useful and capable and good. Her early characterization Monet's include her complaining about not having more interesting jobs as a cop because she wants responsibility, she wanted to be important and helpful (that's the entire reason she became a cop, to help people like she was helped when she was in a dark place, and she finds a better way of doing that with the Doctor). And she GETS THERE, narratively and on a character level, she spends three years on earth with her own companions! She co-pilots the TARDIS and can fly her herself! She saves the day when the master steals the doctors body! And most of all SHES EXTREMELY SAD AT THE END BECAUSE THE PERSON SHE LOVES DIED BEFORE HER!! JUST LIKE THE DOCTOR !! (ugly crying) (I could write a whole other post about thasmin, good and bad, but a lot of people have put it better than me)

Also, I'm a big TARDIS girlie, she has somehow ended up being one of my favorite characters in doctor who, and the chinball era does so much fun stuff with the TARDIS!! Different writers take different approaches to the TARDIS, and how alive vs inanimate, or how active vs passive she is. I think the Chinball era had something special in terms of the way the TARDIS was depicted, and I loved it a lot. We never really get to see past the control room but it's a gorgeous control room! And throughout the era the TARDIS just feels so alive, it's always humming and beeping and chirping, I especially love the moments when the lights change color to match the doctors mood (mostly to blue, for sadness, sometimes red to yell at that dalek that one time). And speaking of the doctor, starting with ghost monument thirteen has a bunch of sweet moments of banter or just ~emotions~ with the TARDIS. I genuinely teared up a bit when she entrusted the timeless child memories to the TARDIS,and before her regeneration speech when she asked the TARDIS to look after her. Because who can she trust with her past AND her future except her oldest truest friend.

I could add a lot more of specific things from the era I love (solitract my beloved) but I think this is getting long enough as is lol.

[autistichalfblood]

DOCTOR WHO: The Power of the Doctor teaser

[chainedspectre]

do you ever just sit and mourn what the 13th doctor could have been

[elsandifer]

The TARDIS Eruditorum post on Rosa has gone up, and it’s… a bit of a fuckin’ doozy.

[doctor-who-binge]

Disability Representation Win!!!

RTD went fearlessly with represention so far, he clearly has no fear of backlash. And the disability representation as a wheelchair user I was fucking ecstatic. Even more so than my excitement because I'm an enby, trans representation is amazing especially being Donna's daughter and a trans actor. But a wheelchair user character? We are always forgotten about. Also she's played by an actor who is a wheelchair user!!! I'm so happy. And they didn't shy away from making her an authority figure who should not be pitied.

Because fucking Chibnall's wheelchair representation was Yazmin's grandma feeling sorry for herself because "I was the first woman married in Pakistan , now look at me, in a wheelchair with shop bought cake" and it really fucking hurt. I remember how much that line in that episode hurt.

Credit where credit is due Chibnall did have disability representation. However, I feel like Ryan's dyspraxia was kind of shoe horned in as "see representation!" but it felt like he had dyspraxia when it was convenient to mention it and didn't have it in many other instances AND importantly the actor himself did not have dyspraxia, which cheapens it a little in my eyes. I also enjoyed that Diane not having an arm wasn't a huge plot point at all, she just doesn't have a lower arm, no biggie and it was a reflection of the actor who does not have a lower arm. Representation using actual members of the minority group ftw.

I don't remember if Moffat had any, he probably did? But not memorable I suppose.

I'll admit Shirley Anne Bingham having darts and explosives on her wheelchair was cool as fuck and makes sense since she works for a military-intelligence agency. The fact that it was a custom ultra light weight wheelchair not some annoying hospital one was also amazing, showing actual life of us wheelchair users (which make sense since the actor is one!)

[clitemnestrasworld]

This is how I would graph them. Someone else has done this before but I disagreed with them so I’ve done it. I can’t find them anymore so I can’t credit them.

9 has the moves and the confidence of an experienced lover, as seen in the doctor dances. I feel like he’s a bit kinky, mainly thinking of the “blonde in a Union Jack” line and saying that he wants to be spoiled by jack but not particularly.

10 is frankly too focused on himself to be a good lover but he’s a bit kinky (thinking of the master).

11 views sex as more of a performance, which is why he isn’t very good at it either but he’s quite kinky as we’ve seen with River.

12 is very sensual with the TARDIS and he learns to care about others a lot so he’s good at sex and there’s a running gag about his browser history so there’s definitely something going on there. (I actually prefer the thought that his browser history isn’t sexual but deeply weird and off putting in some other way but whatever.)

13 is really good at sex and really vanilla as you can see. I don’t really know why, that’s just what I’ve decided. She’s very much not interested in the master so that’s a sign she’s not kinky. There’s this saying “mr bean is what too much pussy does to a motherfucker” and it kind of reminds me of her for some reason.

[13thdoctorposts]

Reading that people were complaining about 13 era Who in the Women in Doctor Who panel at Dragon Con is very telling. 

If you cant have a Woman in Doctor Who panel without people complaining about 13 era Who I almost don’t even know what to say. 

The era that had the first female Doctor, the first South Asian companion who was also female, it highlighted numerous female historical figures including Rosa Parks, Ada Lovelace, Noor Inayat Khan, Mary Shelly, Mary Seacole and Madam Ching. Plus it had more female writers in 3 series, then the rest of Who… there is so much positive you could talk about with 13 era Who on the topic of Women in Doctor Who even if the writing wasn’t for you.. It was a good time to be a Woman in Doctor Who. 

So if a panel on that topic cant see that, if a large part of an audience at a panel can’t and would prefer to complain about 13 era Who and make the environment feel hostile to 13 era fans please don’t tell me its just ‘bad writing’ and not misogyny. If you personally feel like you aren’t a misogynist and it is just ‘bad writing’ good for you but you are still in bed with the misogyny that runs rife in this fandom.

Also when it comes to 13 era Who the way the women are written is actually far more respectful and not sexualised unlike the previous eras so unless you think all female character should be sexualised in Who you cant really complain about 13 era Who on that writing front.

Also I feel sorry for the fact that you had to spend each episode working out what people were going to hate about it instead of just enjoying it before going online because you knew if you ever had a positive opinion the fandom would eat you alive for that opinion. Who knows maybe it wasn’t Chibnall or the other 9 writers who were supposedly so terrible at their jobs that made you hate the show sooo much maybe it was the fact you knew you couldn’t go online and ever say you loved something without getting piled on so instead you had to find everything wrong with it so you could be in with the in crowd. Maybe the fandom conditioned you to hate the show more so than the writing. 

If you put the same over analytical glasses on and watched the RTD and Moffatt eras you could find just as many things to hate about the writing, but they didn’t have a female Doctor did they? So all their short comings are irrelevant. Theres so much to love in all the eras I’m sorry you were conditioned not to see the good in this era and could only see the bad.

[swampsiren-piratefairy]

Twelve/Clara here

Ten/Rose here

River/Doctor here

Ultimate Poll

[head-wonk]

HYPE TRAIN HYPE TRAIN HYPE TRAIN

[the-all-seeing-salmon]

The Flux Sucks

The fact that the Flux canonically destroyed at least 50 percent of the Doctor Who universe, and not just after a certain time, but throughout all time and space, is a one of the most stupid, lazy, and unimaginative things I think Chibnall did. The destruction itself isn't the problem, we've had that before with Davros' reality bomb. My issue is that it didn't get properly resolved. The Flux destroyed vast swathes of the universe, to the point where I got the impression that it had eliminated nearly 90% (if not more) of all of reality, and in Wild Blue Yonder 14 states "half the universe" was destroyed. There was never a scene where this was reversed (despite Dan saying the Doctor "saved the entire universe last week"!) and indeed it seems RTD is doubling down on the fact that much of reality has been lost.

And whilst you might say that everything that ever happens in the show may as well only take place in the surviving 10% forever onwards; in-universe so much uniqueness has been obliterated. Even if nothing we've ever seen took place in those lost portions of the cosmos, it means that there are now countless worlds and times the Doctor will never visit. And it feels like it's because Chibnall is small minded and decided to shrink the universe in turn (and I'm not even going to get into how he doesn't understand physics and anti-matter here). He just casually wiped away all that potential without even the option to undo it. And even then, there is barely a mention of it in the show afterwards. So much has been lost. It's the most devastating thing to have ever happened, so many dead and gone (not helped by 13 committing triple genocide moments after claiming life is so important)!

I don't know. If you are going to needlessly destroy >90% of the universe, at least commit to the outcome. I hope we get more of the Doctor dwelling on that now that it seems it hasn't just been undone.