#chibnall is a coward for not doing this

[thespianwordnerd]

Thinking about how not confirming Ace or Tegan as queer onscreen also deprived Yaz of being basically surrounded by queer women who would understand her struggles and help her in the support group...and how doctor who is a show where companions who have died or dissappeared can still come back sometimes for sci fi reasons*coughs* Bill and Clara. and so many others. We could have had it all.

[robiniswriting]

personally I enjoy how morally dubious the thirteenth doctor is. i just wish the narrative actually acknowledged that!! let women be complex and a little batshit crazy!! let them make decisions that lead them or others to question their own goodness!!! let them be taken to task for their immorality and hypocrisy!!!! thirteen could have had the most goated character arc but unfortunately chris chibnall is a coward!!!!!!! he doesn’t get her like I do 💔

[paternostergays]

3 and 6 for dw ask😎✌️

3: which doctor needs more seasons

THIRTEEN! thirteen thirteen thirteen. all the way. aside from everything else like the aspects of chibnalls writing im less fond of, she was completely screwed over by the drastic cuts in episode numbers that unfortunately are affecting fifteen even more. but yeah i would've loved to see thirteen have more seasons, or longer seasons (flux especially suffered from the cuts and i wouldve loved to see what it would've been with the full episode lengths), with more writers and maybe even a different showrunner too. there's a lot of aspects of her doctor i just really would've loved to see explored in the show. maybe we'll get a multi doctor special that'll go into some of it, but still, more episodes with her doctor would have been amazing.

6: which season do you like the least

oh MAN oh man oh man. well. i have to make a confession now and it is that i have not seen all of new who, partly due to life stuff that just meant i didn't really have the energy to get through all of the episodes, though im pretty sure ive seen at least a few episodes from every season. i remember not really enjoying s2? i think it was mostly the dynamic between rose and 10, i don't know why because it was a while ago that i was trying to watch through all of new who, and i also didn't get very far into the season for life reasons. also im a coward and skipped quite a few episodes of 11's season partly because i haven't been in the right headspace to watch more than lighthearted stuff recently (listen it has been a ROUGH two years). anways i genuinely i don't feel like i can make a proper judgement on this, especially because it's been such a long time since I've seen some of them. it probably would be one of eleven's seasons though, only because im not as fond of eleven as other doctors (sorry eleven fans)

tysm for the ask!!!! <3

[theburningsunset]

my adhd can't chill tf down enough to sleep so may i present this (uhhh spoilers for new-who):

Everything in Doctor Who that ought to be fixed and why:

Any time the doctor shows racism, queerphobia, sexism, ableism, classism, etc. Unless a specific prejudice of Gallifreyan society exists, it would never make sense for the Doctor to be bigoted, even the one from the '60s

Related: when Thirteen breaks the Master's perception filter so the nazis would see he's a man of color and thus endanger him—the Doctor would never.

Completely abandon former companions. Maybe some, maybe originally, but even 2000 years of lessons learned later? The Doctor is a good man, abandonment is too inconsistent with his characterization to be a reoccurring, unchallenged trait.

Wiping Donna's memory. Cruel, erased her character arc and was not a fulfilling or meaningful end. Either kill her or have her decide to retire.

The convoluted reason the Ponds were stuck in 1939 New York. C'mon, if I tried for five seconds I could come up with a sensical reason why the Doctor never saw them and they were stuck. Or just don't make them stuck 🤷🏼‍♀️ maybe they decide to adopt and retire to avoid danger to the kid but the Doctor and River still regularly visit.

The "War Doctor". Showrunners confirmed this only existed because Christopher Eccleston refused to come back for the 50th Special (no shade to his choice). It might've backfired or seemed disrespectful of Chris's performance, but they should've simply recast Nine for it.

Just throw out Kill the Moon, it was bad writing, the heavy-handed abortion allegory was exhausting and weird (regardless of intentionality) and I don't usually cry "but the science!" but...the moon being gone, even if soon after it replaced itself, would cause apocalyptic destruction on Earth and possibly wipe out humanity. The primary salvageable bit that I think is integral is the Twelve/Clara fight at the end.

Danny Pink either doesn't die or doesn't stay dead. The paradox it would cause for him to die before him and Clara have kids when her and Twelve have MET those descendants and been on two separate adventures down that family line is irreconcilable. Full stop.

Bill doesn't die. The end. (Do NOT bury your fucking gays)

Don't have Graham be the last white seat on the Rosa episode, for fucking christ's sake. Plus where the fuck is at least the mention of Claudette Colvin?

Fourteen regenerates into Thirteen's clothes, following well-established rules of regeneration (BBC were cowards for breaking that just to sidestep having David Tennant "crossdress")

Headcanon bits that aren't necessarily tied to quality/consistent writing but I think would've been great:

The Doctor does find Melody. Maybe only by age six or so, if wanting to keep the Silence story intact, but rework Let's Kill Hitler to avoid the Mel situation. It makes me sad that they never got their baby back. She can still turn out to be River, maybe the regen into River only happened post season-six, keeping the reveal. Maybe Melody was eventually re-kidnapped by the Silence and then turned into River Song, or maybe Melody was always a kind of troubled trouble-maker and took on the River Song alias on her own.

Thirteen and Yaz absolutely get together.

keep in mind I haven't finished Thirteen's run (the stink of neolib BS from the Rosa Parks episode tanked my interest in keeping up until Chibnall fucked off), haven't seen the 60th Special yet, still have 20-something seasons of Classic Who to go, and don't remember everything I have seen, nor am I always right. I think on re-watch I'd find more issues but for now it's the list I've got that exactly zero (0) people asked for.

[the--highlanders]

42, 50, 78 and 85 for the ask game!

42. Favourite series?

series 5 for classic who - it has my favourite tardis team which automatically makes it my favourite, but also I really love a bunch of its serials.

for new who, probably series 10 (even though it has the one episode I will never ever watch again, I am TERRIFIED of knock knock hjwhkgkjfd). & I'm also not huge on the monk trilogy tbh? largely because I think it should have been a weird eu book instead. but again I love twelve and bill and a lot of the episodes are my favourites

50. Who should have had another series?

^^^^ twelve and bill for sure. also we've just rewatched nine and he deserved another series :(((

I'm also such a torchwood bitch so I'm gonna say jack deserved more episodes as a full-on companion

78. Best writer?

david whittaker the dr who writer that you are................

also shoutout to rona munro for both survival and the eaters of light. absolute bangers both of them

in terms of the everlasting new who showrunner debate. both rtd and moffat have their issues and their strengths & I'll happily criticise and praise both. personally moffat's fairytale vibe gels with me more than rtd's more urban scifi vibe, but I do appreciate both and think they both do those vibes well. I would fistfight chris chibnall in a lidl carpark if I ever saw him.

85. Monster you’d like to defeat/fight?

ok first of all if I was in the dr who universe I would never want to travel with the doctor or get involved in anything bc I am a coward and also quite happy as I am gfdjkhsgkfjd

that being said I could probably take like. a quark. I could throw a rock at a quark no problem.

doctor who universe question game!

[crystal-lillies]

Okay so first thoughts after watching Power of the Doctor, featuring some things I screamed while watching (Spoilers):

-start of the episode is a bit clunky but not a terrible reintroduction to the CyberMasters

-Sacha Dhawan absolutely fucking annihilates every scene he's in my god. Goes absolute apeshit nuts. I love it

-THE CLASSIC MASTER LINES

-AAAAAACE!!!!! TEEEEEGAAAAANNN!!!!

-CLASSIC COMPANIONS MY BELOVEDS!

-Dan...:( really got a short end of the stick I feel like. Kind of abrupt. He and Yaz def had a stronger bond so I like they had a nice goodbye but. Man that felt so cut off.

-I bet the Four inside Thirteen felt(tm) that poor Dalek, knowing that it was right that they failed their original purpose to help the Kaleds survive. "That poor Dalek" my god but I did feel so bad :(

-the way Ace calls The Master out on being a catboy cleared my acne, watered my crops, boosted my serotonin

-also the unhinged way The Master was so delighted that the armed troops were for him. Am I gOIng tO UNIT??? You doughnut. Bastard man. I can't help but enjoy watching you chew up every scene!!

-VINDER!!!!

-YAZ FLYING THE TARDIS YAZ FLYING THE TARDIS!!! THE TARDIS LISTENING TO YAZ!!!

-the fucking memes don't even do it justice. The Master fucking blasting Rasputin. Was playing Rasputin just a cover so he could blast this song? I would believe it. It's absolutely 10000% in character.

-oh SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT!!!!!!!!!! DHAWAN!DOCTOR!MASTER???!!

-Don't mind me casually breaking the sound barrier when 5 shows up to Tegan and mentions Adric. A single word. A single name. And I screech loud enough to hear 10 miles away.

-KATE STEWART DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE AND YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO MAKE SURE YOUR PEOPLE ARE OKAY FIRST BEFORE YOU GO ANYWHERE YOU DOUGHNUT!!!!!!!

-Yaz my angel my beloved you rockstar FUCK HIM UP <3

-sidebar Sacha Dhawan rocks in 13's outfit (and maybe that's why the Beeb was afraid of DT in it...too much power 😔). And then that fucking mismatch. The SWEATER. I CAN'T.

-8 ILYSM bb your sass always appreciated. Bonus, CLASSIC DOCTORS BABEY!!!

-sideside note. Sentient energy creature thing? Cool af. Wish we got a tad bit more time exploring that but only so much time alas.

-Yaz you brilliant love. And VINDER!!! I'M FREELANCE!!! HELL YEAH YOU ARE GET HIS ASS!!!!

-RUTH FUGITIVE DOCTOR HELLO BB YOU SLAY EVEN AS A HOLOGRAM

-dont make me go back to being me ow wow that actually hurt a bit, and that's how this Master does actually come from Missy

-ACE!!!!!!! SEVEN!!!! AND GRAHAM!!!! GRAHAM BOY!!!!!!! HELLO!!! SHOW EM HOW YOU DID IT IN 1963!

-you made Adric proud Tegan....even if he would be too much of a little shit to say so off the bat, he'd be proud of you....

-Kate's point to herself. That "me?" Moment. My god. Did no one ever take her in the TARDIS? (Stares at 11 and 12)

-Using the Master's TARDIS against his plan (again), excellent. Actual solving of the whole CyberMasterDalek plan? A little shaky. But I'll allow it. Thanks to "a bit crowded. Just how I like it" 13. Honey. Are we having Journey's End flashbacks and missing all your friends in a TARDIS? :( is this a sign

-oof fuck ow ouch I half expected her to be sliced in half with that ray beam but fjdgkd watching too much Vox Machina lately and forgot for a sec that BBC would never be that brutal and I'm glad--

-because we got the CARRY!!! THE LIFT!!! THEM!!!!!!

-hi can you hear the sound of my heart breaking into one million pieces seeing Yaz finally start crying after being so brave and put together through everything. Knowing after everything she STILL loses her Doctor. I'm not okay. I'm not okay!!!!!!! I want more time with her too Yaz!!!! Right here with you!!!!

-"i loved being with you, Yaz" don't!! Mind!! Me!! Screaming crying throwing up!!!!

-still could have at least kissed her hand but. Mmmmmmm the way they look at each other. The way they both acknowledged the love they feel. But Chibnall and BBC are still cowards.

-classic companions!!!!!!!!! Way to bring back the OG holy fuck

-Dan sitting in a room as the newest companion with one of the FIRST companions. Iconic.

-"Look after the next one" HONEY!!!! I'M NOT READY!!!!!

-"Tag, you're it" WHAT A LINE. WHAT A LAST LINE. I'M STILL NOT READY BUT GOD DAMN.

-!and that sunrise regeneration shot!!! Absolutely fucking breathtaking!!!! In tears!!!

-aaannnd then the twist. Clothes regen def throws me a sign that This Is Wrong. We saw MULTIPLE REGENS here my dudes and clothes did not change. This is Important.

- Also fuck off RTD, respectfully, but DT is not Fourteen. He doesn't get to have two whole numbered lives after *everything else he got already.* Fourteen is Ncuti thank you the fuck much. He was announced first, and we all celebrated him as 14 first. So there.

[queerestqueertoeverqueer]

more TPOTD thoughts - the thasmin ending was not perfect, but it was better than i thought (if you force it to be)

okay, i just rewatched the episode, and i have some more thoughts.

upon second watch, the episode is Better. like, the only real problem i had with it was the thasmin ending tbf, the rest i was more or less perfectly happy with. but i think part of the issue was the fact that i had 100% convinced myself we were getting a thasmin kiss 😭 which i still would have loved to see, to be clear. i still think the opportunity was right there, but not in the place i originally thought it should go.

yesterday, i thought during the scene where thirteen's hand starts glowing, it'd make sense for them to have kissed there, but i actually don't think so anymore. they both understood their time was running out, and - whilst we didn't get to see this in the episode - i think thirteen's 'you know what this means, right?' suggests that at some point before this, they DID have that conversation. they've already had that conversation about what will happen when thirteen regenerates.

and i'm not forgiving them for not showing us at least a bit of that conversation, to be clear. but, as a VIEWER, it feels slightly less cruel, less unfinished, to think of it like that. the conversation happened at some point, 'i want to tell you everything' may not have included everything that they wanted to talk about because they ran out of time, but they at least covered this. in my head, they've had a conversation about yaz's feelings, because she deserves to vocalise them to the doctor herself, not just through dan, and they've discussed the fact that yaz doesn't feel like she can stay if the doctor changes.

they should have let us see at least a bit of that conversation, and i hate that they didn't, but to me at least, it feels a little more satisfying and finished to imagine that they had it when we weren't looking. and that makes it make more sense about why they might not have wanted to kiss during that scene. they've discussed it, they both know what's coming. 'it felt cruel, to be shown something i couldn't have anymore.' maybe neither of them wanted it if they knew that would be it.

i do still think they should have kissed, just not then. the scene where yaz reverses the forced regeneration, they easily could have there. the shock and delight of the doctor being back, who cares about the future? plus, in that moment, the doctor is here and safe, the future is not so certain. the hands thing they did was sweet, but if chibnall wasn't a coward he would have put the kiss there. the tone was right. but yeah.

and, with that idea in mind of 'they had the conversation at some point, we just missed it', yaz just walking off and nodding makes more sense, and feels more right. so does thirteen telling yaz she needs to be alone. they're both putting each other first, as they always have. the doctor, after this discussion with yaz, understands that yaz does not want to see her change. and she respects that by giving yaz the opportunity to leave, after a Moment together. and yaz, we know from earlier in the episode, understands that the doctor 'doesn't do goodbyes' as she told dan. that's why she didn't make a big deal and left the doctor, 'let's not say goodbye', even though that hurt her. they put each other first.

so yeah. i'm still a little annoyed that we didn't get a kiss. i think we should have gotten a hug at least during the hand-glowing scene, but the level of intimacy and affection that we DID get during that scene is genuinely incredible, especially when you're watching it NOT sitting waiting for a kiss lmao.

they should have talked about why yaz didn't feel she could stay in the episode, i stand by that. but the only thing i can do about it, to make the episode feel more finished, to make thasmin feel more right, to me, is to come up with headcanons that are more or less canon-compliant. they talked about it before, they've discussed it loads. the ice cream date lasted a month. yaz kissed the doctor on the cheek and whispered 'i love you' as she carried her to the TARDIS.

if the BBC refused thasmin their well-deserved ending, i'm gonna manipulate what they gave us until it feels right.

[pitynostars]

Frankly, I find it actually quite distasteful of Chibnall to have the master dressing up in women's clothes, because as you pointed out. it feeds directly and was maybe even intended that way to highlight the master's villainess. Chibnal should have thought about that more, falls in the same realm as in Spyfall 2, with him being masqerading as a n**i and then having his skin colour being weaponized.

idk i'd call it "the master dressing up in women's clothes" like the doctor's clothes aren't gendered but the optics are still there of her being played by a woman (which is why people had a problem with the Kneel scene from Spyfall too, right? even if you know they're nb aliens, honestly they're presented by the show still like a cis man and woman 99% of the time it's part of what frustrates me about 13). like its not women's clothes, right, it's specifically one woman (jodie as the actor playing the Dr)'s clothes i do think thats a distinction to make.

hadnt rlly thought about the optics of it all ngl because i dont usually see the gender in stuff until i pick it apart/someone points it out (agender brain go brrrr) but it's one of those things that does come across odd to me especially as there's no alt of whittaker!master in his outfit ? ive talked before about it narratively not making sense to me in terms of okay, if he's trying to ruin her reputation why does he still look like himself? why not have whittaker!master here which wld make so much more sense? instead it's just. the normal dhawan master in 13's outfit which as u say like. the optics ARE a bit weird.

i do think its a fun idea still though, i dont see it on the same level as the n*zi stuff + im not mad at chibs for the choice and i DO think like... the uncomfortableness of that is also exacerbated by RTD's choice. if RTD had gone ahead with Whittaker -> Tennant keeping the clothes it would have made it LESS weird that Dhawan wears them so they've kind of impacted each other's choices in this feedback loop where it's making people see RTD as a bit of a coward for not doing it and Chibnall a bit unthinking/wrong FOR doing it (but again, they likely didn't know what the other was planning when they were planning their bits!! so obviously im not blaming either of them for that i just think its interesting)

[writerswho]

Alternatively, they brought DT back because after they drove the vast majority of actual fans away from the show to appeal to whiny folks like yourself (lowest viewing figures in 30 years), they realised there weren't enough of you to stop the show dying.

It's to appeal to the fans that actually brought them profit until they drove them away. Whiny Tumblr 'fans' that buy knock-off merch from Etsy and care more about who they ship than the show itself just doesn't do that.

You're not talking about the fans, you were talking about the sexists, misogynistic men who got a tantrum over Jodie's choice for the role and didn't even bother to watch her episodes because their egos are too fragile to simply accept that Thirteenth is a woman.

Oh, and Doctor Who remains the BBC's most profitable thing, I may not remember the exact figures, but I'm sure over half the company's profit last year came from Doctor Who alone. 

And the BBC has never droved away any 'fans', because in these last few years they have shoved Tenth content up everyone's arse. Tenth has more content releasing during the Thirteenth era than during his own era and then Thirteenth herself. 

BBC and RTD are cowards who want to please people who have spent the last few years insulting Thirteenth, Thirteenth's fans, Jodie and the rest of the cast. RTD had to come back because these people who spent the last few years attacking Chibnall created an atmosphere where no one wanted to be the showrunner because they make anyone's life a living hell, be it fan, actor or someone in production, and the BBC does nothing. 

Don't come here and say this is about 'the real fans', because it's not. Real fans watch the series even when it's shit, real fans make excuses for the silliest things because they love the show, but have no problem pointing out the mistakes. Real fan doesn't throw a tantrum because a shape-shifting gender-fluid alien character received her first female version after over fifty years and thirteen male versions in the main universe — and who knows how many more in the extended universe —, real fan doesn't attack anyone who likes a character who isn't their favourite, real fan doesn't harass people for liking something they don't like.

So, don't tell me about real fans, because you're certainly not one.

[nuwhoshitpostgenerator]

AU where Chibnall was not a coward, and canonized Thoschei on screen:

The Master: Do your remember when you earned your nickname at the academy, Doctor? I sure do. That was the best night of my life, Theta Sigma.

The Doctor, thinking to themself: It was more like 60 mediocre seconds followed by 10 hours of cuddling, but I'll take the compliment I guess.

[seveneyesoup]

you know. regarding this post, the episode is called timeless children. which, sure, could be a reference to multiple versions of the timeless child, each believing themselves the first. or it could be a reference to all the time lords becoming “timeless” themselves. or……

[lucifers-favorite-child]

simm!Master's second season: saves the Doctor from Rassilon

gomez!Master's second season: goes to Skaro to help the Doctor

I'm just saying, a precedent has been set

[doctorwhoisadhd]

Shudders Straight White Man......

[theskyexists]

Sometimes I remember how spitting furious i was that they changed the Master's name to 'missy' when she regenerated into a woman and I think

I was right

[thereweresunflowers]

not to get all technical but now even in like. writing terms thasmin HAS to be canon because last time jack had a 'i'll subtly confess my love of the doctor to companion to help pining companion deal with their emotions' conversation it was with martha in series 3 and then guess what happened??? martha was canon in love with doctor and confessed it. this means that jack doing the same thing again really signals that yaz IS in love and WILL confess in the new series. if the same romance coding happens with a straight couple and a gay couple and the gay couple doesn't become canon it is queerbaiting. i'm not even reaching anymore and if it doesn't happen all that it proves is that chibnal is a coward

[isagrimorie]

[initial reactions] Doctor Who - Revolution of the Daleks

TLDR: I liked it! But I do have some nitpicks. But bottom line, I liked it! Especially the exit! 

Apologies going in, if it’s rambling and incoherent.

First off, I’m going to get my criticisms out of the way:

- They really need to hire these two people:

a) Sensitivity readers

b) They need to have people of color in charge of casting. Andy Pryor has done a great job casting people but. Since they opened up casting more actors of color to be more diverse... most people in guest roles die. So it ends up being Not A Great Look.

It’s the kind of breezy: We’re hiring more actors of color without really considering the optics of it. Colorblind casting in this way shouldn’t be colorblind. More diversity behind the scenes is needed, especially in casting.

Colorblind casting isn’t representation. Execs have to consider how it looks that a black man is helping create ‘Security Drones’ for the government.

c) I get why Jack Robertson lived, and I’m actually okay with it because I know Chibbs is going somewhere and he’s interconnecting Specials to be their own kind of continuity, so next Special or series we will have Robertson appearing. But I can’t believe the Doctor believed Robertson. Unless she’s really learned from not interfering with politics, but man I wish there’s more vindication to that. I do have a sense of where this is going though, more on that later.  

d) I wish they’d gone harder with the Dalek = Police thing.

e) I really kind of wish the Doctor escaped on her own.

And now for my thoughts and the happy!

RYAN! I LOVE RYAN. I LOVE RYAN BEING EMOTIONALLY MATURE AND PUSHING BACK ON THE DOCTOR. It felt... earned that they do and, Ryan’s always been the more hesitant of the three and the more grounded. I love that it’s Ryan that the Doctor confided in, I’ve always felt like Ryan was the one Thirteen connected to the most after Grace died. And I love his development, ever since Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos Ryan is the first to quote the Doctor back to herself from the guns rule and now here to ‘New can be scary’, reminding the Doctor of her own words.

But also, I love that Ryan felt more connected to Earth, with his friends. Yaz was always the one who looks to the horizon. I like that Ryan pushed back on the smokescreen the Doctor tried to put up. Ryan was tired of the smokescreen. He had 10 months to work on his feelings about it and realized... he liked being home.

I wish we saw more what they were doing at home, like what Chibnall wrote for the Ponds in Power of Three. I did see this was his arc he was building to.

I liked that Graham was torn but eventually his loyalties are with Ryan.

I honestly think the fam thought the Doctor was just gone for a week, her time.

Also: FINALLY A COMPANION EXIT WHERE THEY’RE THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY. And because it’s time.

NO MORE TRAPPED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE OR DYING OR BEING CONVERTED PLEASE. Anyway, that is why I was vindicated because I was getting pretty antsy at all the twitter posts almost gleeful at the thought of companion death.

Nope. No more please. No more world ending, universe ending, heartbreaking ends. I want a Jo Grant walk away, and that is what happened. (Er, I hope we don’t get a Tegan leaving from Yaz, though. Sad and disillusioned walk away).

Yaz. Oh, dear, Yaz, who seems to have tossed her career away running after the Doctor’s shining star. I loved her conversation with Jack, he was a nice contrast and sounding board. Also, Jack was much kinder to the Doctor because they didn’t miss each other, the Doctor (according to RTD’s retcon) deliberately left Jack on Satellite Five.

Yaz is willing to run and jump without looking because of the Doctor and I love that we got her feelings about this.

And, of course, the Doctor. The moment Ryan said she missed 10 months, I felt she knew the clock was ticking on her ‘fam’. She’s trying to be good to them and do right by them.

(The Doctor knows Ryan’s ready to leave, she knew it. She’s trying to be in denial about it. But she knows).

It’s a small detail but when she processed the ‘ten months’ bit, she quickly looked to Ryan. Because if it’s one of the subtext things around is that she wanted to be a better father to Ryan than his real dad. But she still skipped out on him unknowingly.

The way he just brushed it off, because the worst part is. Ryan is used to it.

It’s sad that the Doctor opening up to the fam was brought on after a decades’ long solitary, and probably a promise to be better. But, she calculated wrong, or the TARDIS deliberately chose to go to that time. Whatever the case, just when she’s opening up to them is when Ryan decided his time with the Doctor was at an end.

God, the moment when Thirteen said: “Mostly... angry.”

I felt this. hard.

I think it was @ssaalexblake​ who mentioned that Thirteen acknowledging she’s angry might help with all of Thirteen’s repressed anger issues. And I think these are baby steps towards that.

She’s actually been so angry for so long, but she kept pushing it down. Like I said, Thirteen, in a way, reminds me of Raylan Givens of Justified. People think he’s mild mannered, but as his ex-wife amicably opined, Raylan was the angriest man she knew.

And I feel this for this Doctor but at least, now she’s addressing it. The first step in fixing a problem, is identifying the problem.

This was made in 2019. Thirteen being in a repeating lockdown felt very 2020 to me. The things that made me go: Oof, was the Harry Potter thing, the Doctor’s always loved HP. Unfortunately it’s post-2020 hindsight where we go: whoof.

I love Thirteen still mouthing off and being obnoxious towards other Doctor Who baddies. The Weeping Angel thing is cool and so are the Silents. BUT ALSO THE DOCTOR CALLED THE P’TING TINY! AND SHE TRIED TO EAT THE PRISON BARS. 

And then, of course, being more obnoxious with the Daleks. It’s pretty clear the difference in rawness of the Doctor’s feelings for the Daleks and the Cybermen. The Daleks’s an old ember. Her feelings for them are ice cold. A purity of feeling. The Daleks are evil and she has no compunction on killing them, the Cybermen? More personal and a raw nerve.

She’s willing to be cold towards the Daleks. 

I really like that Yaz has more skin in the game, and she knows what she can lose now. And after her talking with Jack, after seeing his perspective on it, and from his words knows that sometimes the Doctor just disappears from people’s lives.

And I love the pushback:

Skewered.

But true because she is trying to stay still and be with the fam and not leave them. But the unfortunate truth is, the Doctor does run away, and the Doctor does leave people behind and a lot of the times, the Doctor doesn’t come back because they’re an emotional coward.

The thing about Thirteen is she’s probably the longest of the Doctors to not disappoint her companions. She’s always managed to stop bad guys and always been there for them.  It’s an impressive track record for the Doctor. She’s built herself up in their eyes as someone they can rely on, and then she failed them by not getting back to them in time.

It’s not her fault, and none of them know how long it’s been for the Doctor, by the way she’s asked them I feel like they think she’s only been gone for a week.

Honestly, I’m impressed how the Doctor didn’t make it about her -- being in prison for longer than they thought. She’s looking at it from their point of view, because she already knows what big leaps in time would affect her friends.

TBH Revolution of the Daleks felt like shades of Last Christmas in that the Doctor regretted missing out time with her companion/s. In Last Christmas, the Doctor got his time back with Clara, in RotD, time passed.

Back to the Doctor and the Daleks tho.

This reminded of Twelve’s: “You are monsters. That is the role you seem determined to play. So it seems I must play mine. The Man that stops the Monsters.”

(Look, Chibnall’s Moffat references aren’t as sledgehammer, but he does reference a lot of Moffat’s things.).

Except with Thirteen, I’m actually more terrified. Jodie does this thing where her eyes goes black and she kind of disappears into herself, this is what happened here. This promise isn’t actually good IMO.

This is not a comforting face. This is a ‘I’m gonna kill a whole boatload of Daleks face and I’m not sorry, in fact I might enjoy doing that’ face.

(And, a brief aside to Robertson, I feel like the Specials have their own kind of special ‘movie’ continuity and more of his story will play out in the Specials, where hopefully he will get his comeuppance because, to me, I feel that’s where it’s going. This is more groundwork laying.

I don’t like it when the Doctor interferes with Human affairs, especially government -- because look what happened with Harriet Jones and how the Doctor broke the Golden Age. Also, I don’t want real world leaders to exist in the Whoverse because I want them to have a completely different track from us. So. Yeah, New Year’s Specials have their ongoing storyline. I’m actually not mad about it, and I enjoy Mr. Big’s performance. He’s a sleezeball. A sleezeball that knows more now. (He isn’t T rump but he isn’t better either). At least I find him enjoyable and not outright offensive. I’m okay seeing him again for the next Specials. I hope next time he does get his comeuppance.)

Now, the goodbyes:

 The HUG.

We’ve been waiting for the Doctor to be more physically affectionate with the fam, and it took the Doctor being locked down for decades (maybe?), and Ryan and Graham leaving for her to hug them. And we’re all right, Thirteen gives great hugs.

The feeling Thirteen’s been running away from is here, sadness. It’s good that Yaz decided to stay other wise... she’s just going to run headlong into forgetting her problems, Doctor Style.

And again, learning and re-learning things: ‘It’s okay to be sad.’

Oh, Thirteen.

(Before Twelve, I don’t think I was this sympathetic to the Doctor -- no wait, I was with Nine. Ten and Eleven tested my patience but it’s with Twelve and Thirteen where I’m 100% invested in the Doctor.

I also love that they’re kind of soft touching the Timeless Child thing, and as someone on twitter mentioned, this feels like an examination of an adoption story. The Doctor is going to search for their identity, their home).

I honestly wish Jack stayed in the TARDIS with Thirteen and Yaz. Jack’s a great balance, especially pushing back at the Doctor and her tactics. Her NUCLEAR tactics. I am glad that the Doctor’s still a dick to Jack, not much of an asshole as they were when the Doctor was Ten but still a dick.

Also, one thing I really love about Barrowman is that when he’s in Doctor Who, he knows it’s not his show and he doesn’t showboat, and the man can showboat. 

I’d rather Jack than random guy that I didn’t even know was gonna happen until very late.

Anyway, TLDR to all this: I enjoyed this very much! Still a lot to be parsed through in things that needs to be parsed through as I mentioned, but on the whole? I loved it.