#don’t let me down rtd

[vampiremotif]

im watching moffat and davies era concurrently (insane choice ik) but its interesting seeing the differences in character writing. (with the everlasting thread of racism and misogyny throughout)

moffat has an incredibly hard time writing characters with interiority. let me explain

take the introduction of mickey in series 1 vs the introduction of danny pink in series 8 for example

both are boyfriends of companions. but mickey is introduced as already being rose’s boyfriend. vs we meet danny from the jump, down to their meet-cute.

but the scene for davies serves multiple purposes. a couple minutes in and you know rose's relationship with her mother is fraught, she’s still living at home, her boyfriend is sweet, she hasn’t taken her A levels. every interaction is packed with meaning and a punch for good measure.

now there’s nothing inherently wrong with danny’s introduction in isolation. you can have meet-cutes. but this is of the few instances we have to see inside of clara’s life outside of the doctor. we don’t see her apartment, or family, or the kids she teaches. we see her leaving work and a meet-cute. it feels hollow and loveless

this is also partly because he wrote himself into a hole of having to reintroduce clara’s every iteration. the life she has outside of the doctor does little to inform her life with him. because she doesn’t have any. and it would be too much work otherwise. its not shown so we shouldn’t care. and this sucks because there was clearly such a potential to capitalize on that!

with davies, there’s a sense that you are only getting a glimpse of a much richer world you are only now becoming privy to. and when the camera isn’t on, life will go on without audience. vs moffat only knows how to write what you can see on screen. the ponds entire story happens in front of us. anything not shown is not of note.

i know theres a tendency to mythologize rtd. in the end he is truly just some guy. and it makes me wonder of the potential of the show in the hands of a woman. but i’m excited to see the new era. back to form in terms of character focus and writing. you need that human tether if you’re going to have a show that by its very nature is meant to evolve

[seaweedstarshine]

Hi! Long time no yap but I've been really bothered by this thing and I know you're just the person I can go to with this (even if we don't always end up agreeing at times).

I got into a tiff with someone in a comments section of a post that was about Amy (Which character do you think deserved to become a villain? or something similar). They brought up Amy's abuse of her boyfriend. I may have tried to defend Amy (key word is tried. I am officially rubbish at debating) but then I may have said something? Because they said that I (and apparently a lot of other fans) was excusing Amy's abuse because of her trauma. It got me stumped because isn't young Amy's treatment of Rory rooted in her trauma? Did I miss the memo where we separate trauma and abuse? Am I missing something?

That statement bothered me a lot because if there's one thing I never want to do it's defend an abuser. So here I am, humbly asking and hoping to clear the muddy waters.

Your really confused and disturbed moot, Tia 💌

TIA!!!!! Thanks for the ask 💌 , and I send you all the hugs.

Discussion of abuse, trauma, ableism, infidelity, and unhealthy relationship dynamics beneath the cut.

(First off… while I really appreciate your faith in my explaining skills <3 <3 <3 my passion for traumatized characters and mentally ill+neurodivergent rights doesn't make me especially qualified to fully clear muddy waters especially not knowing the full context, but I feel you, and what follows is my informed perspective!)

Speaking generally first, harm done in media is best examined by the impact on the audience, with a different lens than harm done to real people. While relatable experiences in media can be useful and validating and incredibly important, you can’t be “defending an abuser” when the abuse is fictional. It's actually normal for traumatized/ND/mentally ill people to project onto mentally ill villains, when villains are the only significant representation for those stigmatized symptoms in a media landscape that excludes and demonizes us simply for existing. RTD can't stop people who hallucinate from reclaiming the Master's Drums and projecting onto the Master, for example — 90% of the best Doctor Who psychosis fic by psychotic authors is about the Master, whether RTD likes it or not. It's not true crime.

(This is speaking generally. Amy Pond is very much not the Master.)

Abuse is a behavior, and there can be many reasons for it, but reasons based in trauma don’t make it not abuse (some forms of generational trauma can propagate abusive parenting styles, when the parent thinks abusive parenting is normal, or lives entirely vicariously through their child). This absolutely should not be taken to mean trauma correlates with abusive behavior; rather that abusive behaviors from traumatized people are more likely to present in specific ways.

Abuse is also a targeted behavior, based in control — not consistently displayed C-PTSD symptoms as seen in Season 5 Amy Pond through many aspects of her life. Mental health symptoms don't become abuse just because they hinder one partner from meeting the other partner's needs. Any life event can do that.

Without knowing the context of the arguments, this is the aspect of their relationship I've seen you talk about before (which I also feel strongly about), and what I assume is what you were debating? So, here I will talk specifically in regard to Season 5.

We all know Amy — she's never attached to Leadworth because she never wanted to leave Scotland, no steady therapist because none of them stick up for her, can't stick with one job yet her first choice is a job that simulates intimacy because her avoidant behavior (a known trauma response) isn't sustainable to her wellbeing. Rory knows her fears of commitment stem from her repeated abandonments, it’s why he’ll always wait for her, and it's why he blames the Doctor “You make it so they don't want to let you down.”, who apart from having caused a lot of her trauma, has actively taken advantage of her being the “Scottish girl in the English village” who's “still got that accent,” because he wants to feel important, so yeah, I think interpreting Amy's issues (and how Amy and Rory transverse them) as Amy abusing Rory indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of their relationship, as well as a misunderstanding of the (raggedy) Doctor’s role in Amy’s formative self-image (which of course she works through in Season 6, but I am sticking to Season 5).

Abuse is always based in control. That just doesn’t fit here. While Amy's detachment from her real life includes things like calling Rory her “kind of boyfriend” (which she is upfront about to his face; differing commitment levels isn't abuse, though it can be a relationship red flag for both parties IRL) — her Season 5 disregard of Rory’s feelings occurs only in response to the fairytale embodiment of her trauma. It's never a response to Rory; it's a response to the Doctor, who stole her childhood and led her by the hand to her death. She cheats on Rory with the Doctor in her bedroom full of Doctor toys, drawings, models, she made from childhood to early adulthood.

(And yes, like many repeatedly-traumatized people, Amy is prone to being sensitive and reactive. Take her “Well, shut up then!” line in The Big Bang; but given Rory responds to this by hugging her, clearly he doesn’t take it as her actually dismissing him. He knows her better than that.)

And by no means do I meant to imply this is fair to young Rory, poor Rory, who's left struggling with the feeling that his role in her life is in competition with the role of her trauma (aka the Doctor). But not every unhealthy relationship dynamic is unhealthy because of abuse. Labelling Amy's treatment of Rory in Season 5 more accurately isn't the same as excusing her harmful choices — but making mistakes is part of being human, Amy's mistakes are certainly understandable, and she works through them out of love for Rory.

If there's one thing to say about Moffat women, it's that Moffat allows his female characters the same grace that the male characters *coughTENcough* have always had, to hurt and struggle and make realistic mistakes and overcome those mistakes and to heal without being demonized.

Amy isn't perfect, but she is a fully realized character, and her story gives us a resonant depiction of childhood trauma.

[13thdoctorposts]

So we all ignore RTD bullshit about every Doc biregenerating right? As long as it's not acknowledged in the show it's not real to me. And maybe in ten years we get a showrunner who will undo it.

I honestly headcannon that Mr. "I don't wanna go" just kept a tiny bit of himself after his regeneration and was just waiting to hijack the body again. After the Master shenanigans he finally got the chance and after that he did something to cause bigeneration, so he could stay his oh so awesome self forever and ever.

I used to like Ten, but at this point he causes some very bitter feelings in me.

I tend to accept all things that come from the Showrunner as canon until the Showrunner, whether the same one or a new one changes it.

I don’t always like their canon choices but there has to be someone who sets it, and in the real world it is them because they are the ones making the show. The thing is though anything that is canon now can just as quickly be reconned so RTD wants to be able to play with all the Doctors… great, but we haven’t actually seen that happen and I doubt Ncuti is going to Bi-ren (I could be completely wrong maybe he will) but until we see something in the show that shows us all the Docs are alive it’s pretty easy to not acknowledge that there’s an indefinite numbers of Doctors running around right now, and the next Showrunner might recon it back to make regeneration a big thing again with out us ever seeing RTDs Doctorverse.

The thing about big canon breaking ideas is that while they may not seem great it really depends on if they are ever used and how a writer writes them that will ultimately determine if they were good or not.

However completely crazy move to just go… all the Doctors are alive right now with their TARDISs let’s set the Whoniverse into utter chaos and see what happens. And I bet very little will actually happen.

I do like your idea that 10 was just waiting to hijack a regen… it does kinda feel that way since, 14 was a little different but still most closely aligned to 10 and got 10s happy ending, he didn’t need to get that face just to go home to Donna that’s a bizarre jump… you get a face to go home to a friend from 1000 years ago for no real reason except… your tired and need to slow down… which is the most un-Doctor like thing to do but ok. lol

With what happened I think the crappiest part is the Ncuti Doesn’t get to be the sole Doctor of his era you know 10/14/Tennent are waiting in the wings and I think 10/14/Tennent already over shadowed the other Doctors but this took him to another level. I’ve already seen people saying they can’t wait for his episodes or movies. Energy that should be focused on the new Doctor but isn’t. Also 10/14/Tennent now live in 2 different eras of the show NuWho and DisneyWho making him seem bigger then all the others and while it may be so out here in the real world in the show all the Doctors should be equal.

[my-mt-heart]

Hey MT, Marketing anon again.

*sigh*

This was a week.

Carylers have been going through a mixture of feelings all week. What happened two days ago was not okay. I’m going to add some of my thoughts here on a good strategy to implement going forward (+ thoughts on the sneak peek). As always, this is my speculation. Take what resonates <3

First of all, let me say that Melissa McBride deserved a grand entrance with nothing but cheers and high praise. I was personally expecting an official announcement at SDCC or even by AMC. What happened took away that dream and replaced it with fodder for clickbait websites and divided the fandom. As I’ve mentioned before – mixed reactions are the worst kinda nightmares.

So let me take a moment to move the limelight back on Melissa McBride—because that’s where it deserves to be.

It’s more important now than ever to recenter your attention on celebrating Melissa McBride. As I’ve said before—fans have power. If they are not going to give Melissa the attention she deserves. We can do it. I heard she was trending on Twitter most of this week, which shows how many of us are advocating for her already.

Her return is worth celebrating. We’re getting Carol back, and we’re going to get an arc we should’ve gotten in S11. We get to see Caryl together again, and that's a wonderful thing. The more we celebrate her and talk about her, the clearer it is that we’re not backing down.

She's the one that deserves all the attention. Just her.

Which brings me to the sneak peek on Sunday (I’m not sure when you will upload this MT, but hopefully before the sneak peek is out haha).

Best case scenario? We get a teaser with Carol (possible damage control)

In this case, rejoice! Celebrate. Give Melissa McBride the welcome she deserves. But remember to keep your focus on what your expectations are from the spinoff. I noticed many people were confused (as addressed in my previous ask), and they are now even more confused about when Melissa is returning. Melissa is joining in S2. We don’t have any information to confirm she’s in S1. It’s okay to hope that there are Caryl easter eggs sprinkled throughout. But are they enough for you? I know they aren’t enough for me to invest in the show. I hope they prove us wrong, I really do.

Worst case scenario? Shipbaiting (the worst kind)

In this case, take heart. The sneak peek is meant to gauge public interest and reactions. So they will be expecting sharp reactions from their audience. The whole point of emotional marketing techniques is that they are driven to get you hooked. It is tiresome.

If you see something that genuinely troubles you or makes you sad, consider taking a step back and walking away. If you feel called to speak up, go in prepared for it and refocus your attention on what you want to see. If you are excited about the spinoff only because of Melissa’s return in S2 of RTD—voice it. Whether that's more Carol, more Caryl, romantic canon—whatever your expectations are from this spinoff. Spell. Them. Out.

Last but not least.

Whatever you’re feeling is okay. If tomorrow feels heavy and you want to step away, or if you’re too tired to make a stand—don’t be too hard on yourself.

If we know anything about Melissa McBride, it’s that her love and gratitude for her fans isn’t fickle. It won’t crumble because you couldn’t show up as you wanted to on a hard day. She has always treated us with adoration and respect—we can count on her just as she can count on us.

Caryl on ❤️

Just…yes 🔥

[cosmic-day]

The Star Beast: have seen it and didn’t love it. Thoughts, spoilers and negativity under the cut :

To start with the good: having positive trans representation in a mainstream show like Doctor Who is hugely important in the current climate and the episode was in many ways worth it just for that. Am I getting some innocent amusement from imagining the reactions of NMDs who (somehow) imagined RTD would save them from the show being ‘woke’? Why, yes I am.

The Meep was  a lot of fun, the new TARDIS interior is gorgeous, Shirley Bingham was great and I hope to see more of her.

Despite my issues with Ten, it was fun to see Tennant again. Still not sold on the Fourteenth Doctor as a concept, but give David Tennant credit for playing him just differently enough that I could believe he came after 11/12/13, annoying catchphrases notwithstanding.

However:

I don’t know what the fuck any of this had to do with celebrating sixty years of Doctor Who.

A lot of the charm of this episode for most people will be having Donna back, but as I am the one person in this fandom who is not a Donna fan, that just left the plot and I think the most generous word I can think of is “flimsy”.

Five minutes in and we get the “Rose” fakeout. RTD please shut up about Rose challenge. Also it turns out that Rose named herself Rose because she inherited the Doctor’s memories, oh fuck off. If that’s the reason, it should have been Susan.

Rose being trans/non binary because the Doctor is non binary is a weird way of saying that being trans is a normal part of the human experience.

The whole handwavium around Donna getting her memories back. Look first of all, I’m glad she did, because that ending never sat right with me, but the main reason it didn’t sit right was because of the horrible consent issues around the Doctor removing Donna’s memories against her will, and that is not even addressed.

Also, the execution of it just felt cheap to me. It’s such an RTD move to hype something up and then handwave it away – I mean, does anyone else remember that she already got her memories back in The End of Time and all that happened is she had a nice nap – and so the more they built up the whole “she will die” the more annoyed I got, and sure enough, hey look, she’s just fine!

Now, I could kind of accept that the metacrisis energy had passed to Rose. But the next scene was so cringeworthy and not in a good way. The weirdness of the whole “we let it go” because we are wise, compassionate, lovely women unlike you male presenting time lords was extremely WTF. I don’t know if RTD thought he was attempting feminism with this but it just came across as patronizing. Also, ironically, that kind of gender essentialist “women lovely, men horrible” shit is RadFem 101.

And finally – if you’ve been keeping up with the rumour mill, you will know why I laughed in despair when Donna spilt her coffee on the TARDIS console. There is a leak in the wild which so far has proved almost completely accurate, down to predicting the spilt coffee kick-starting the events of  Wild Blue Yonder,  and if it’s also right about how The Giggle ends, then all I can say is -  buckle up,  kids. Shit’s about to go down.

[hobgoblinns]

this’ll be my first time actually watching live as a New Doctor tm takes the stage, and im a little worried that like fifteen is going to be too cool??? Are these nerves just what happens to who fans any time a new doctor comes in??

huhhh well. twelve was the first doctor i watched take over live and at that point i wasn’t super invested in the show so i think i was just keen to see where the show was going next.

for thirteen i was ECSTATIC because as a kid it was my dream to play the doctor some day but thought they’d never let a woman do it. most of the concerns i had were more about a new showrunner coming in, and after watching the first few episodes i found myself feeling disappointed, so i figured i’d be more cautious about future doctors.

but ten is my favourite doctor so fourteen was purely exciting for me!! i had high hopes for both david and rtd, and so far my expectations have been more than met!

fifteen being TOO cool is the only thing i feel iffy about, really — honestly, i think it’ll be awesome to have a doctor who’s a bit more with the times, as long as he retains that element of geekiness and childlike wonder too. other than that, the clips i’ve seen from ncuti so far make me think he’s going to be amazing.

only time will tell if the new series meets our own individual expectations, but the great thing about doctor who is that even if you don’t like a certain part of it, there’s so much more to enjoy. i didn’t like chibnall’s era of the show much at all, but i loved the two rtd specials that followed. some people love chibnall’s stuff but can’t stand rtd or moffat or both. some folks think the show’s been shit since tom baker left and they’re willing to die on that hill. basically — yeah, i think everyone gets nervous, and that’s ok! as a doctor who fan, it’s impossible for you to love EVERY part of the show. there’s ups and downs and they’re different for everyone.

tldr: i think ncuti will be great, even if i have the occasional doubt, as i’m sure many others do. but no matter where doctor who goes, it’s such an enormous franchise involving such a huge number of people that you’ll always find something, somewhere, to enjoy about it.

[castrovulcant]

Hi there, if you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you like moffat?

Hi, Anon,

Okay, so, this is going to be very long winded as I ramble on and go on tangents like all the time so I'm going to hide it under a read more (I hope it works, I'm on mobile.)

Okay, I've let it be known multiple times that I don't like Moffat, I don't even like his solo episodes during RTD's era and they're the most popular of RTD's era. There are so many things but they mostly boil down to his sexism, his ego, and his poorly written characters. He's very much a Tell, Don't Show, writer and he writes for himself

Now, I'm not saying he's completely terrible, he does have some good episodes. But it's not enough to for me to see past his flaws.

His female characters (excluding Bill because I've only watched two of her episodes) are all written to be very flat and one dimensional, they're often referred to as girls (The Girl in the Fireplace. The Girl Who Waited. The Impossible Girl.) And their entire life revolves around The Doctor like Reinette being a French Princess and very powerful woman, yet left pining for him, Amy dedicating her life to him returning, River being brainwashed to kill him (yet still somehow becoming his wife,) Clara literally being made to save different versions of him. The way he took Queen Elizabeth in the 50th and made her obsessed with marrying The Doctor.

His sexism. There's this one scene I remember during Eleven's run, he's with a monk and he's talking on the phone, the monk asks who's on the other line, and The Doctor says, "A woman." And the monk does the hand to head and chest cross sign, and it's like??????? Haha there's a woman on the phone, women are scary? There's a moment in The Doctor Dances, where Nine realises Nancy is the boy's mother and Moffat just completely looked down on her, judged her for having sex, judged her for being a single parent, acting like she was beyond a terrible person. He introduced a lesbian couple but then had a male character forcibly kiss one of them and made it a joke. The repeated comments on Clara's appearance. The First Doctor's characterisation and comment when there was literally no need to portray him that way. He originally turned down an actress for the role of companion because, "she's a bit wee and dumpy." Whilst commenting on Karen Gillain's legs.

His plots just fall apart, he builds them up to be something big and massive but the resolution is underwhelming. The Silence were built up to be this big thing, but then they're almost completely wiped out by the next episode (The Doctor asking the human race to kill an entire species for him??????? That's the solution you came to????) A repeated moment in that season, "Silence will fall when the question is asked." "The question that's been staring you right in the face the entire time." And the question was, "Doctor Who. Doctor WHO. Doctor. WHO." An entire season of hints for that?????? No. It's bad, Silence didn't fall, it wasn't a question, it resulted in nothing (the emphasis on The Doctor's original name always felt wrong to me, that's his birth name but he refuses to use it/go by it and hasn't done for a long time. Why are you putting so much into it?) Amy being pregnant but not pregnant due to being replaced by a Ganger and The Doctor said nothing. The moon is an egg being an anti-abortion allegory and The Doctor refusing to save the life of billions of people because he didn't want to.

The lack of character development, Amy gets kidnapped, becomes aware of it right as she goes into labour so she's just wakes up one day, finds out she's been kidnapped, finds out she's pregnant, is actively in labour, her child gets kidnapped, and she's just like, "WHERE IS MY BABY?" for one episode and that's it. There's no exploring her trauma, there's no coping with it, there's nothing.

There are so many penis jokes and innuendos, there's one scene where a woman walks in and The Doctor is holding a poker that's pointing downwards but then rises upwards. But I'm super ace and I project that onto my faves, so just ignore this point. I'm not uncomfortable with sex (I'm sex positive to those that have it, but neutral towards myself having it) but there's just so many.

The way he just wants to get his hands on every aspect of the show, Clara saving each version of The Doctor, River knowing all versions of The Doctor, Clara being the reason The First Doctor stole that specific TARDIS.

The Fiftieth Anniversary of saving Gallifrey, I was fascinated by the concept of the Fiftieth exploring the Time War, I wanted to see the moment that led to The Doctor wiping out his home. I understand that parts had to be changed because the BBC wouldn't let him have McGann. But saving Gallifrey ruined the emotional impact from moments like The End of the World, "You think it'll last forever, people and cars and concrete, but it won't. One day it's all gone. Even the sky. My planet's gone. It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust before its time. There was a war and we lost. I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only survivor." The emotional impact of taking Rose, a stranger, to see the death of her world because he's suffering and just needs someone else to experience what he's feeling is lost somewhat because Gallifrey is fine and it's all in his head.

Everyone dies, but no they don't. The universe is ending, time itself is unraveling, the big bang is happening again. But no, it's not. I hated how overdramatic it all was, the stakes are so high all the time and yet, they're not. I know this isn't exclusive to Moffat (look at RTD's S3 and 4 finales) but it felt so much more prevalent with him.

This ramble has gone on long enough and I still feel like I could say more, but I'll stop now, and I can say more another time.

I know Moffat improves over time the middle of Eleven's run is nothing compared to the end of Twelve's run. I follow several Moffat enjoyers and I can see why it appeals to them, his characterisation improved, his plots weren't as underwhelming, he got more consistent.

I tried to rewatch it during 2020. He has some good episodes, but Moffat isn't for me. I can see why other people enjoy him, but I don't and I won't.

[malice-death]

RTD Part 3

These are actually fun to make.

Mailman: What’s the worst in the world?

Burnface: Not being able to kill people.

Frozen Nightmare: Not being able to see my sister again.

Coward: Not knowing what true love feels like?

Mailman: Um, thanks for the input.

————————————————————————

Burnface: Who would’ve thought I would fall in love?

Mailman: Wait you’re in love?

Frozen Nightmare: I’m going to get my beer, because that is bullshit.

Coward: Make sure the one that you love doesn’t try to kill you, because that would really suck.

Burnface: Guys slow down, I hadn’t even told you who I liked.

————————————————————————

Oscar: So you’re me, but from a different universe?

Mailman: Yes? I mean I technically don’t have a universe anymore.

Oscar: Oh, I’m sorry.

Mailman: Don’t be, Nora pretty much wants to adopt me, but she can’t because I’m over eighteen.

Oscar: That double sucks.

Mailman: Yeah tell me about it.

————————————————————————

Weiss: Halt monster or die by my blade!

Frozen Nightmare: Weiss, is that really you?

[Running forward and hugging Weiss, causing the younger girl to tense.] Weiss: Unhand me!

Frozen Nightmare: In a couple more seconds.

————————————————————————

Coward: You know I like cats.

Blake: Uh thanks?

Yang: This guy’s a little strange?

Blake: Yeah, but maybe it’s because he looks like Adam.

Yang: Yeah, but he ran away screaming as soon as he saw me and you.

Blake: I have no idea why.

Yang: well either of us were wearing red.

Blake: Let’s not make jokes of the dead Yang.

————————————————————————

Cinder: I will finally commit to my nefarious plan.

Burnface: or you could treat Emerald like the family you never had.

Cinder: and why would I do that?

Burnface: Because I can’t hug her and you fucking can.

Chnder: I could just ask Emerald to hug you?

Burnface: no it’s alright, but I hate you past me.

Cinder: okay?

————————————————————————

Jaune: I’m glad we met Oscar.

Oscar: Me too Jaune.

Mailman: Me as well.

Jaune and Oscar just stare at him.

Mailman: Uh sorry, I’m going to go.

————————————————————————

Frozen Nightmare: Finally after all this time, I’ve found you!

Qrow: Why were you looking for me?

Frozen Nightmare: I wasn’t looking for you. I was looking for this.

[Grabs Qrow’s flask.]

Frozen Nightmare: This so happens to be mine.

Qrow: No I’m certain that’s mine.

[The two are now sword fighting over the flask] ————————————————————————

Mailman: I saw Coward crying in his room, but than alarm on his phone went and he just stopped.

Frozen Nightmare: It’s called time management Mailman.

Coward: No, I was only ever given five minutes to cry and than they would whip me until I got back to work.

Mailman: You need help.

———————————————————————-

Emerald: Cinder?

Burnface: Not quite.

Emerald: Oh, my apologies.

Burnface: No harm done.

[Reaches with grim arm to pat her on the head]

Burnface: Have a safe walk home.

————————————————————————

Frozen Nightmare: Damn I’m out of booze.

[thebadtimewolf]

why r u so mad about ppl preferring ten x madame de pompadour to ten x martha like ten/martha will never be a thing. ten don’t want anything to do with martha. he literally said to her face she wouldn’t replace rose… and she never did… isnt canon enough for you

hm.

im glad im only a scorpio on this alone. if martha deserved better than ten then so do all of em but anyway:

this ask is giving 2006/07 i dont want to see tenth doctor in a romantic relationship with a person of color because i can't project myself or relate to them if they arent the very thing being catered to me ever since the silent pictures vibes. u know the same vibe when rtd was told to not regenerate 14 in 13's clothes. just. Ick.

but im not mad. its just interesting for a ship so big as tenrose, it is usually correlated with hating madame de pompadour and/or joan and/or river [though in joan's case they hate her not because shes racist but because shes not rose]

though comics tend to release to combat that in multi doctor stories where they jump through various alternate universes of themselves where the doctor sees themselves settled down with dr. grace holloway (for 8th dr multi doctor stories) and professor melody williams/river song (for 11th dr multi doctor stories) where in those cases, they are frightful of the concept settling down at all. [take note that both times, he settles down in the same house that he owns bc of that unit paycheck on the dl] so i am curious that with this new drs, the equivalent of this would be 13 14 15 being terrified of settling down with rose because they had grown past her as this point.

i prefer the doctor in a polyromantic ace relationship than their umpteenth 🌟tragic heteronormative romance with yt human woman number 23445788764443356743🌟 i want 14 to sweep martha off her feet in pure joy and kiss her passionately while badmouthing tf out of 10 like 9 11 12 13 do with no filter before cradling her like a baby because hes about to crumble under his brand new identity complex and then take her kid to an amusement park and then 14 trips over a brick and dies. hell i rather have nina sosanya play a whole different lady in nod to doctor who recycles their actors trope as a way to introduce a love interest to 14

that amusment park one weirdly sounds like a 8th doctor audio. pls 🙏🏾 dont make it into one i couldnt handle schezro let alone the rest of his content. Empire of the Wolf made me so fucking worried for rose marion tyler like im just she back home 🫣. as for rose tyler from the sea devil universe still out about. whoop his ass. if billie come back as HER? MISS COVER MODEL MISS DICTATOR MISS EMPRESS ROSE?

NOT

i would love for ten to be strictly friends with the new miss empress rose. get that martha karma real quick ehehehehe after all rtd did say they need freema for somethin and im sure seeing 10 get treated the same way he treated martha by no other than empress rose herself -AND THEN EMPRESS ROSE FLIRTS WITH MARTHA??? FINGERS CROSSED??? im just saying that i personally will ride on that for 8 black history months and christmases straight like woo

also real glad it is collectively decided by every one that tentoo is just john smith not corin so yay thanks big finish and titan comics

[thedoctornumber11]

Headcannons

These are just some headcannons I have concerning the Doctor, the TARDIS or Doctor Who in general.  They should be considered cannon for my version of the Doctor.  All of them are based on evidence from the show or comics as well, and if you wish to see that, let me know and I can provide you with episode titles.  If anyone ever wants to RP with me and you don’t have ideas for plots, these could lead to those.  A lot of these may seem familar to people I’ve RPed with.  I’ve always kind of had them in mind, and I’ve used all of them in at least one or two RPs, but this is the first time I’m actually writing them down.

Before the headcannons, I do consider almost everything from Moffat and RTD’s written books to be mostly cannon.  You can read more about that here.

For a more in depth explanation of any of them, go here.  Just click here.

Headcannon 1: The TARDIS has every type of room you could possibly imagine.  It’s infinite and the Doctor can add rooms at the control panel.  He always adds a bedroom for every companion he takes on board.  The TARDIS senses the thoughts of the people he brings on board and sets up their bedrooms perfectly for them, although the Doctor does have a little bit of control over this, which is why a majority of the bedrooms in the TARDIS have bunk beds.

Headcannon 2: The Doctor has met Santa Clause.  He calls him Jeff.  Santa Clause used to maintain a workshop on Earth in the North Pole, but due to the air planes in the area, he moved them to a planet the Doctor typically refers to as the North Pole planet although it doesn’t actually have a name.  In order to get all the presents delivered in a single night on Christmas, Santa uses time loops and clones of himself which the Doctor helped him set up.

Headcannon 3: The Doctor only tells people he absolutely loves his real name.  This is because in the Galifreyan language, there is no word that means the same as being in love romantically.  Instead, Time Lords pass on the key to their tombs (their real name), as their symbol of the feeling.  Since a Time Lord’s tomb will contain their time line for anyone to modify, this is the ultimate form of appreciation and love for a Time Lord.  It shows that the Time Lord truly trusts the other person and that’s why only the people who the Doctor truly loves ever finds out his name.  That being said, the Doctor can use the word love referring to a family type of love or how he might love a certain flavor of ice cream or a new piece of furniture or just about any other way other than romantic love.

Headcannon 4: Time Lords don’t reproduce the same way humans do.  While they still have all the body parts nessesary for it, they have evolved to a point where they are no longer needed.  Instead, when two Time Lords (a male and a female) which to reproduce, they form a psychic and share all their memories with each other.  The baby is formed out of those memories and will appear out of regeneration energy next to the mother.

Headcannon 5: The Doctor’s pockets are bigger on the inside and he likes to carry momentos of his previous adventures in them.

Headcannon 6: The TARDIS wardrobe is the size of a football field full of clothes.  In the center, the Doctor keeps all his former regeneration’s outfits on a rack on display.  He does this so he remembers all the previous faces he has had, and he keeps all the clothes so that he has plenty of clothes to choose from in case of a regeneration since he never knows what size or gender he might be.  This is particularly weird if you consider the fact that he never changes clothes and will even go swimming in his usual outfit.

Headcannon 7: The Doctor doesn’t have a bedroom.  Time Lords rarely sleep and he sleeps in the console room when he does.

Headcannon 8: The Doctor owns several fezes and collects strange hats previously owned by famous people or historical figures, however he’s always constantly losing them and keeps forgetting to set up a room for them.

Headcannon 9: The first face of the Doctor set up a code word for himself besides his name that only he knows.  The word is the old galifreyan word for Doctor, and since nobody else in the universe speaks old galifreyan, nobody else can pronounce it (It was even a lost language on Galifrey before it disappeared, before the Doctor even left the planet for that matter), only he knows the word.  He uses it as a code word when he runs into his other faces so that they know that it’s him.

Headcannon 10: The Doctor will travel with several different companions at once and sometimes they’ll never run into each other due to their sleep schedules and his lack of sleeping.

Headcannon 11: The Doctor falls for women quite easily, and will sometimes have multiple significant others.  This is due to time travel.  To him, everyone is always being born and dying, so there’s no way for him to know about a break up or death, especially when he sometimes meets people in the wrong order.

Headcannon 12: The Doctor is kinky.  He’s generally a sub.  River Song is the one who introduced him to this.  This is why she carries handcuffs everywhere, because she enjoys using them on him.  (If any Rivers want to RP their first interaction with this, that’s an idea)

Headcannon 13: The Doctor has a machine that can track a person’s memories and take the TARDIS back into the time and place of that memory.

Headcannon 14: The Doctor hates choosing the location for places to go when he’s with other people, because he can choose the location any time he wants

Headcannon 15:  Whenever the Doctor is handed alchohol, he always tries it even though he doesn’t like it and always spits it back out into whatever he’s drinking it from

Headcannon 16: The Doctor is constantly messing with new “apps” for the sonic, although he still hasn’t figured out how to make it do wood.  Although he says he just hasn’t had the time to do it yet, the truth is he doesn’t know how.  He has figured out how to turn it into an MP3 player however.

Headcannon 17: The Doctor doesn’t like being told what to do unless he asked to be told.

Headcannon 18: The Doctor never forgets a face and always remembers every previous companion

Headcannon 19: The Doctor will occasionally do house calls to people who are hurt, suffering or scared.  He regularly goes out and finds people who are crying and tries to cheer them up.

Headcannon 20: While the Doctor does keep many secrets, if you were to sum up every single thing he’s ever told anyone about himself, you’d generally know almost everything there is to know about him.

Headcannon 21: The Doctor’s favorite food is Fish Fingers and Custard, but his second favorite food is spaghetti, followed by anything chocolate.

Headcannon 22: The Doctor has a fluid sexuality.  It changes with each regeneration.  Eleven is generally straight.  Most of his previous regenerations have been asexual or pansexual.

Headcannon 23: The Doctor has a doctorate in everything.

Headcannon 24: The Doctor loves video games!  His favorite are on the Wii, but he enjoys other games too

Headcannon 25: While the Doctor has been a vivid reader in the past, due to the ADD like nature of his current face, he doesn’t read often in his current face.  This is especially sad if you remember how fast he reads through books.

Headcannon 26: The Doctor really doesn’t like endings.  This doesn’t just apply to books.  He never finishes video games, TV series or movies unless someone else is involved.

Headcannon 27: Except for possibly Susan which the Doctor never went and checked up on, and possibly his mother, the rest of the Doctor’s family is known to be dead for a fact.  Even though Galifrey was rescued in the end (during the 50th anniversary special) most of the Doctor’s family was already dead.

Headcannon 28: The Doctor is allergic to most human drugs.  This includes natural ones.

Headcannon 29: The Doctor doesn’t care for having domestics on the TARDIS.  While he had learned to be okay with couples, he still prefers to not have kids and pets traveling with him.

Headcannon 30: Of all Eleven’s previous faces, his favorite are his 10th, 8th, 5th, 4th and 2nd.  He doesn’t care much for his first, but always listens to him for advice.  He gets along okay with his third, ninth and seventh.  He doesn’t get along well with his sixth.  While he does get along okay with his war doctor face, even after saving Galifrey he’s still too afraid of the other actions he did in that face to care much about it.

Headcannon 31: It’s common knowledge that the Doctor (particularly the 11th and 12th) don’t usually notice changes in physical appearance.  However, this actually isn’t just the Doctor, but a Time Lord thing in general.  Because of regeneration, Time Lords are constantly changing bodies anyway and so they recognize people based on personality alone, not physical appearance and have no idea of the difference between an average looking person and an attractive one.   In Classic Who it’s referenced several times that they can tell who each other are, even if they haven’t seen a new regeneration before, so it makes sense that appearance would matter very little to them.

Headcannon 32: The Doctor’s birthday is November 23rd, however he has actually lost track of how old he is.

Headcannon 33: The Doctor and the Master left Gallifrey around the same time for almost exactly the same reasons.  There’s a LOT of different reasons, (including but not limited to them looking for each other and political reasons related to Gallifrey’s political scene, and reasons mentioned in the show like running away from looking into the time vortex and running from the Hybrid and a ton of other reasons too) but ultimately their reasoning was almost the exact same, around the same time, completely by coincidence. 

[holodaxy]

The Power of the Doctor

I’m torn on Doctor who. Spoilers inbound...

I think this is honestly one of Chibnall’s better episodes - it was exciting for a start. The Master was also genuinely terrifying.

But the goodbye between the Doctor and Yaz was just a total let down - it was like Legend of the Sea Devils never happened (speaking of that episode, why not have Dan leave then rather than forcing it at the start of this episode - having him appear at the end would have meant more!). While Yaz not saying goodbye very much leaves the door open for her to return (a UNIT spin off with Yaz please BBC) it still felt like a bit of a slap in the face.

I also found the regeneration...hollow. I thought I’d be devastated, I really did, but...I didn’t - I don’t. I like that 13′s regeneration was rather...peaceful unlike past regenerations, but...I felt a bit...empty at 13 going back to 10. There was no ‘wow’ factor as the return had already been revealed (I understand why they did that, the filming was going to be spotted and revealed that way otherwise).

I think the thing that makes me sad about the end of 13′s era is how...quietly it has all passed...it’s almost like everybody just wants it to end quietly so we can move on to the second RTD era. The BBC have done a bad job at building up hype for this episode and the cynical side of me thinks the BBC will see 13ths era as a failure and a blot in Who history. I honestly don’t think we’ll see another female Doctor again soon (realistically I don’t think we’ll see it ever again).

13 is always going to be up there as one of my favorite Doctors - I hated the majority of Chibnall’s writing but I thought Jodie Whittaker did such a good job (honorable mention to Mandip Gill who so subtly played Yaz being in love with the Doctor in earlier seasons that by the end it manifested into reality).

There was a lot to love with 13′s era...just not the way it ended.

[yeonchi]

Doctor Who 10 for 10 Part 8/10: Series 8

After Series 5 and 6 established a status quo for the Matt Smith era, Series 7 saw it being shaken up in numerous ways. With Peter Capaldi becoming the new Doctor following Smith’s departure, Series 8 would establish a new status quo in a darker, yet down-to-earth series compared to previous ones as the production team prepared to ride the waves from the 50th Anniversary. While there was no split series like there was in Series 6 and 7, the series wouldn’t start until August. Since fans had gotten used to this autumn start thanks to the split series, they didn’t seem to mind that the usual Doctor Who schedule for the year had been broken. In addition, the definition of “13 episodes” was changed to mean “12 episodes and a Christmas Special”, not that it was much of a problem for fans including myself.

Although 2014 was the year I intended to wind down and focus on my high school studies, various circumstances, such as the aftermath of the 50th Anniversary year, led to me deciding to keep the fires burning for another year, and so I decided to keep Doctor Who going in my personal project for two more series, the latter of which would “premiere” at the same time as the premiere of the BBC Series 8. So let’s jump into the retrospective for Series 8 and relive the experience of riding the wave from the 50th Anniversary just as the production team and fandom did.

1. The World Tour and live events

Peter Capaldi was revealed to the world as the Twelfth Doctor in a live event special hosted by Zoe Ball on 4 August 2013. Matt Smith did not participate in the live event, but he was interviewed for it along with a few other special guests. This would later be followed up with another live event special on 23 November following the broadcast of The Day of the Doctor, which infamously featured a crossover with the boy band One Direction (more like Louis and Niall), who were also doing their own live event, 1D Day, in Los Angeles to promote their new album, and were having technical difficulties that impacted their crossover with the Doctor Who event, not to mention the fact that despite Zoe Ball’s claims, they hadn’t watched The Day of the Doctor, let alone the series, so their clearly prepared questions were apparently inappropriate to the occasion.

Said event also featured actors who played Doctors and companions in the classic series and their treatment was regarded as disrespectful, particularly the infamous moment when Rick Edwards accidentally sat on Katy Manning and crudely tried to cover it up, which would probably be considered sexual assault in the post-#MeToo era.

After completing their filming on the series in August 2014, before the premiere of Series 8, Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and Steven Moffat embarked on a world tour to promote the upcoming series in Cardiff, London, Seoul, Sydney, New York, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro. I don’t recall the Chibnall era doing anything like this; heck, even Jodie Whittaker’s reveal in 2017 was just a minute-long minisode with a teaser that was just as long, and it was broadcast during Wimbledon. This shows that the Moffat era did better with marketing and promotion compared to the Chibnall era (the RTD era fitting in between them).

2. Humble returns

As is obvious, Jenna Coleman would reprise her role as Clara Oswald for Series 8, her character now a teacher at Coal Hill School to commemorate the 50th Anniversary. Peter Capaldi’s first episode, Deep Breath, also featured the return of the Paternoster Gang for what would be their final on-screen appearance. The Clockwork Droids make a return following their debut eight years prior in Series 2’s The Girl in the Fireplace, being assigned as the crew of a sister ship to the one that appeared in said episode, though the Doctor doesn’t seem to remember them.

The episode starts off with a female dinosaur in the middle of the Thames during the 1890s. The dinosaur coughs up the TARDIS, which had been swallowed by her when it crashed in prehistoric Earth. The Doctor and Clara came out of the TARDIS and the former was taken back to the Paternoster Gang’s home when he collapsed due to his post-regenerative trauma. Later that night, the Doctor hears the dinosaur in pain and heads outside to promise that he will take her home, only to see her spontaneously combust. Both the Doctor and the Paternoster Gang rush to the Thames, where the Doctor points out that the point, in regards to what the important question is they should be asking, isn’t actually who could have done this, let alone how; the point is actually if there have been any similar murders. The Doctor jumps into the Thames as he takes up the case, which leads the Paternoster Gang to do so as well.

The next morning, the Doctor stumbles into an alley, wondering and ranting to a nearby tramp why he has the face he has. He then notices a newspaper with an article about spontaneous combustion and takes the tramp’s coat in exchange for his favourite watch. Meanwhile, Clara sees a notice addressed to the “Impossible Girl” in a newspaper and deduces that the Doctor wants to meet her at Mancini’s Family Restaurant. Clara heads there and is met by the Doctor, who had also noticed the notice, but didn’t place it himself. As they argue over who could have placed the notice, the Doctor and Clara were brought down to the Clockwork Droids’ ship, where they saw the Half-Face Man recharging itself; the Clockwork Droids had been harvesting the flesh and organs from humans as they rotted and combusted the bodies to hide the evidence of mutilation.

As the Doctor and Clara are separated, Clara gets the idea to hold her breath so that the Droids won’t notice her breathing, but she eventually passes out and is brought in front of the Half-Face Man. By using her experiences from her first days as a teacher, Clara manages to elicit information about the Droids’ intentions to reach the Promised Land before the Doctor rejoins her, having changed his clothes. The Doctor questions the Half-Face Man as to why he put the message in the newspaper to bring him and Clara to the restaurant, only to realise that he didn’t do it.

The Paternoster Gang are summoned to fight the Droids in the ship. The Half-Face Man heads back up to the restaurant, which is actually an escape pod, with the Doctor following. As the Doctor confronts the Half-Face Man, convincing him that there is no Promised Land and that he has replaced every single part of himself to the point where there is no trace of his original self. Down in the ship, the Paternoster Gang and Clara struggle against the other Droids until Clara tells them all to hold their breaths. Despite their best efforts (and Vastra sharing her oxygen with Jenny by way of a kiss), they are unable to hold on further when Vastra stops Strax from killing himself. It is then that all the Droids suddenly deactivate, the Half-Face Man being impaled on top of a clock tower. Whether the Doctor pushed him or the Half-Face Man jumped is open to interpretation, though if I had to say, I would have to say that the Doctor drove the Half-Face Man to jump, giving us a glimpse of the darker Doctor and darker storylines the Capaldi era had to offer.

Clara heads back to the present day with the Doctor, now with the mystery of the woman in the shop brought to the forefront from the notice in the newspaper as the Doctor surmises that there is a woman who is very keen that they stay together. Clara gets a call from the Eleventh Doctor, calling her from Trenzalore just before his regeneration finished, to tell her that his new incarnation will need her more than she can imagine.

Meanwhile, the Half-Face Man finds himself in a garden, where he is met by Missy, who tells him that he has made it to the Promised Land. More on her later.

Deep Breath is an extended episode that manages to bridge the Capaldi era with the Smith era while still giving fans a glimpse of the darker storyline to come. Matt Smith’s cameo was filmed towards the end of the filming for The Time of the Doctor, solidifying the episode’s status as a bridging episode between the two eras. Like The Day of the Doctor before it, Deep Breath also received a cinematic release, coupled with a Paternoster Gang prequel that was really Strax describing the previous Doctors; the Doctor Who Extra instalment for the episode (to replace Doctor Who Confidential); and for UK screenings on 23 August 2014, there was also a live Q&A hosted by Zoe Ball.

3. The Capaldi title sequence

The title sequence for the Capaldi era episodes was designed by Billy Hanshaw, aka billydakiduk on YouTube. He was scouted by Steven Moffat after seeing his original concept title sequence from September 2013 and decided to refine the idea for the new title sequence. The final product was a complete subversion of the usual Time Vortex sequence as the camera goes through some clockwork, a spiral of Roman clock face numbers and through some circling planets. Whatever “Time Vortex” was shown towards the end was not shown at any point in the Capaldi era - even the Time Vortex used in Twice Upon A Time was completely different. The titles also showed the Doctor’s eyes in a throwback to his debut cameo instead of his face as was done during Series 7 Part 2.

Some episodes saw variations to the opening sequence, such as Before the Flood having a rock version of the theme, Heaven Sent only having Peter Capaldi being credited, or the 2014 and 2015 Christmas Specials having Chrismassy flairs to them; this was omitted for the 2016 and 2017 Christmas Specials.

For some reason, the production team managed to screw up the consistency of the title sequence; at least 10 of the Capaldi era’s 40 episodes had titles that were out of sync with the theme music, most notoriously seen in Face the Raven that had the titles run five seconds ahead of the music. At the same time, fans also noticed inconsistencies in the formatting of the episode title and writer credits, which is honestly baffling as I wonder if no template was used or if no quality control was taken.

For the Series 8 and 9 of Doctor Who in my personal project, I opted to use two of NeonVisual’s title sequences from 2013 which were clearly inspired from the Series 7 Part 2 title sequence. Do you think they would have worked better had the BBC hired NeonVisual instead? Feel free to let me know.

4. A Good Dalek

Into the Dalek has the Doctor discover a Dalek that had turned good. In going inside the Dalek’s casing in an attempt to repair it, during which it was discovered that the Dalek turning good was caused by damage to his power source, the Doctor accidentally reverted Rusty, the name he gave the Dalek, to its original programming.

The Doctor is seemingly proven right that there can be no such thing as a good Dalek, but Clara convinces him that this isn’t what they learnt, and so the Doctor has Clara and the rest of the crew find the memory that made the Dalek turn good which he goes face-to-eye with Rusty. In doing so, Rusty managed to tap into the Doctor’s hatred for the Daleks, causing him to turn on the Daleks and unwittingly save the crew of the Aristotle. This disappoints the Doctor as this outcome was not what he was trying to get Rusty to see.

This episode starts a story arc where the Doctor begins to question whether he is a good man after everything he has been through following the Time War. It may seem a bit hard to tell given the Doctor’s abrasiveness throughout the series, but the Doctor manages to work it out for himself in the end.

5. The mysteries that befall us

Listen is a surreal episode that asks whether people are truly alone when they are alone while also setting up some mysteries that are left answered. After coming home from a disastrous date with Danny Pink (we’ll talk about him next), Clara is picked up by the Doctor, who immediately begins to explore his hypotheses with her, that at one point, everyone has dreamt about someone grabbing their ankle from under the bed while they are alone in their bedrooms. The Doctor connects Clara to the TARDIS telepathic circuits and tries to get her to focus on the time she had the dream, only to end up at a children’s home in mid-90’s Gloucester.

At the children’s home, eerie things happen to the night manager, which is revealed to have been the Doctor stealing his coffee, and Clara meets a boy named Rupert Pink, which she deduces is actually a younger Danny. During this encounter, a figure emerges under the blanket of Rupert’s bed and the Doctor gets the idea to have Rupert and Clara turn their backs to it, allowing it to leave without revealing itself to them. The Doctor poses a theory that it could have been one of Rupert’s friends playing a prank on him, or it actually isn’t. Some fans pose a theory that it was a Floof, a monster with uncanny hiding abilities that cause mischief, from one of Steven Moffat’s short stories written in 2006, but Moffat claims that he doesn’t remember writing it. I choose to believe there actually was a creature under there because for it to actually just be one of Rupert’s friends would be anti-climatic. After Clara puts some toy soldiers under Rupert’s bed to guard him, with one of the soldiers not having a gun which Rupert calls Dan the soldier man, the Doctor then wipes Rupert’s brain of the encounter, leaving him with a dream about him becoming Dan the soldier man.

Clara has the Doctor return her to her date with Danny, but is then called away by a spaceman, which leads Danny to leave. Clara follows the spaceman into the TARDIS and the spaceman is revealed to be Colonel Orson Pink from a hundred years in the future; strangely, Orson doesn’t have any old family photographs of Clara. The Doctor had activated the TARDIS telepathic circuits and it brought him to where Orson was at the end of the universe when he was only supposed to go a week into the future; he was stranded there for six months. When the Doctor travels back to the end of the universe, he and Clara discover that Orson was apparently being threatened by unknown creatures, given how he had to remind himself not to open the door to the capsule. Clara discovers that Orson has a toy of Dan the soldier man, with him saying that it is a family heirloom passed down for good luck.

The Doctor decides to wait for whatever is lurking outside the capsule at night; when strange things begin happening, the Doctor has Clara go back into the TARDIS while he uses his sonic screwdriver to unlock the door. When the air shell is breached, causing all the air to be sucked out and potentially the Doctor with it, Orson rescues the Doctor and brings him back to the TARDIS before Clara uses the telepathic circuits to leave.

The TARDIS lands in a barn and Clara heads out. She sees a crying child under a blanket in a bed, but is forced to hide under it when two people come into the barn. Through their conversation, Clara realises that she has gone back to Gallifrey during the Doctor’s childhood. Once the two people leave, the Doctor regains consciousness inside the TARDIS. The boy, the child Doctor, hears the Doctor and gets up, only for Clara to grab his ankle, resulting in her creating the nightmare the Doctor was investigating in the first place. Clara tells the child Doctor about how fear is a superpower and how he will return to the barn on a day when he will be very afraid, referring to the day when the War Doctor arrived at the barn to detonate the Moment. After leaving Dan the soldier man to stand guard under the child Doctor’s bed, Clara returns to the TARDIS and has the Doctor promise her to never find out where they just were before returning Orson back to his time and taking Clara home.

We’ve theorised who the monster was in Rupert’s bed, so who was the monster apparently terrorising Orson at the end of the universe? My theory for what the planet is, based on other people’s theories and what we would see later on, is that it is a dying Gallifrey at the end of everything. As for the monsters? A Big Finish audio speculates that it was River Song and Jack Harkness playing a prank on Orson and that the planet he was on was actually Gallifrey, but personally, it could be another Floof for all I care.

Listen may be an unsatisfying episode in terms of mystery, but it is still kind of satisfying in that it gives the Doctor good character development while also giving Clara another chance to be the Impossible Girl. The Doctor and Clara heading into Danny’s past as Rupert might have brought up some bad vibes I got from the Impossible Girl arc, but they only went to one point and the Doctor scrambled Rupert’s mind at the end, so it’s kind of okay where that’s concerned. Admittedly, the Doctor’s character development in this episode lost its poignancy when the Timeless Child revelation came out, but it’s still an alright episode nonetheless.

6. PE

This section is funnily ironic to me because at high school, I actually had a teacher (or two) who taught PE and maths.

Series 8 introduces a new love interest for Clara in the name of Danny Pink, played by Samuel Anderson, to divert Clara’s focus from the Doctor and to make the Twelfth Doctor less of a romantic compared to previous incarnations during the revived series. Danny was a soldier in the army who served as a sergeant in the Middle East before leaving after having a “bad day”. He became a maths teacher at Coal Hill School and set up the Coal Hill Cadets to teach students the disciplines and morals of a soldier. Danny was introduced to Clara and after some awkwardness and “family stuff”, they go on their first date in Listen, which goes about as well as you would expect. In trying to hide her travels with the Doctor, Danny got defensive and asked Clara to tell the truth before having enough and deciding to leave. However, Clara reconciles with Danny at the end of the episode.

Two episodes later in The Caretaker, Clara is shown struggling to balance her real life with her Doctor life and things go from bad to worse for her when the Doctor decides to go deep cover at Coal Hill as a caretaker in order to track down a Skovox Blitzer. When the Doctor is introduced to Danny, the Doctor immediately assumes he is a PE teacher based on his history as a soldier. The Doctor then sees Clara with another teacher named Adrian and is happy for her, assuming that Adrian is the boyfriend Clara has been talking about due to the resemblance to his previous incarnation.

That night, as the Doctor lays a trap for the Skovox Blitzer and prepares to lure it in, Danny sees the chronodyne generators placed around the school and moves them, resulting in the Skovox Blitzer being transported two days forward instead of billions of years. Danny discovers Clara’s familiarity with the Doctor and Clara tells him about her adventures with the Doctor.

On parents’ evening, Clara uses an invisibility watch to sneak Danny onto the TARDIS, but the Doctor is able to detect him, which results in the two having an argument during which Danny calls the Doctor an officer in contrast to him being a former soldier. Later, during the interviews, the Skovox Blitzer returns and the Doctor has Clara distract it while he gets a contingency plan ready. Clara manages to lure it to where the Doctor is; the Doctor impersonates its superior and tries to get it to shut itself down, but he forgot to enter the final input code and the Skovox Blitzer begins to self-destruct. It is then that Danny comes in, using the invisibility watch to buy the Doctor a few more seconds. The Doctor successfully gets the Skovox Blitzer to shut down before setting it adrift in space.

Looking back, I have mixed feelings about Danny. His demands for Clara to tell him the truth about her travels with the Doctor kind of seem controlling, particularly since they hadn’t been dating for long, but I kind of like how he calls out the soldier-officer dynamic with the Doctor, in that the officers push their soldiers and make them stronger until they find themselves doing things they never thought they would have to do. In the end, there really isn’t much to Danny other than he was a soldier who left on a bad day and the Doctor doesn’t respect him because he doesn’t respect soldiers. I really think Moffat could have done more with Danny because it felt like the only reason he was there was so we could have a “love triangle” of sorts.

On a side note, The Caretaker would be Gareth Roberts’ final work on the series. The transphobia thing wouldn’t come until three years later (so your opinions regarding it, whether you agree or disagree with him on the whole thing, are irrelevant to this paragraph), but apparently Roberts came into conflict with the production team on set, then made public comments denigrating Moffat and Capaldi, thus he was not rehired for future series. This probably might be a rumour so you don’t have to take it that seriously.

7. Coal Hill School

Following its return in The Day of the Doctor for the 50th Anniversary, Coal Hill School plays a significant role in Series 8, further showing that Capaldi’s first series as the Doctor is a more down-to-earth one. Clara is now a teacher at the school, where it and its students are shown prominently at various points throughout the series.

Coal Hill School was first shown in An Unearthly Child as the school where the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan Foreman, attended and her teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, taught science and history respectively. The school would not return again until Remembrance of the Daleks in 1988 for the 25th Anniversary season. Sadly, Coal Hill School would only make a brief appearance at the start of Series 9 before it was never shown or mentioned again.

In October 2016, a spinoff named Class premiered on BBC Three (which had become a streaming-exclusive channel by then) which prominently featured Coal Hill School and was written by Patrick Ness. The school was shown to be renovated since its last appearance at the start of Series 9. The Doctor also made a short appearance in the spinoff’s first episode and there were rumours that the 2016 Christmas Special was to be a crossover, but it ultimately never eventuated and Class was never renewed for another series.

To restate my own words from my review of Village of the Angels, I felt that the series was okay, but if it wasn’t cancelled, I probably would have liked it more. Personally, the “renovation” of Coal Hill School was a waste of time given what transpired and there is no way a whole school can be rebuilt in under a year without significant interruptions. I’ve seen individual buildings being built during my time in school, but not every building. The finale also teased something epic involving the Weeping Angels, but we never get to see what happened due to the cancellation of the series. Frankly, it’d be better if we just pretended that the series never existed and Coal Hill School was never renovated.

I know Class premiered between Series 9 and 10, but I thought I’d talk about it now and get it over with so I don’t have to later.

8. Out of line?

Midway through the series, the Doctor and Clara have a falling out because of something the Doctor did. While I didn’t think much of it when I first watched it, I would have to argue that after rewatching it recently, the Doctor was being out of line.

Kill the Moon begins with Clara asking the Doctor to tell Courtney Woods that she is special after he told her that she wasn’t, which leads to the Doctor offering to make Courtney the first woman on the moon. The three of them head to the moon in 2049 where they find a hundred nuclear bombs in a recycled space shuttle. It is then that they realise that they are actually on their way to the moon and upon landing, they are met by a crew led by Captain Lundvik, who have come to destroy the moon as its increased mass is causing chaos on Earth with high tides everywhere at once and satellites being whacked out of orbit.

As the group investigates, the Doctor learns that the moon is actually an egg for some creature and that it is about to hatch, which is causing the moon to gain mass. Lundvik is intent on killing it, but Clara and Courtney are against killing it. It is at this point that the Doctor decides to leave and let the three remaining females make the decision that will decide the future of humanity, which angers Clara. When ground control makes contact with the three, Clara decides to make a broadcast to humanity, giving them 45 minutes to decide if they should kill the creature or let it live. Humanity votes to kill the creature, but just at the last moment, Clara defies public opinion and stops the detonation. It is then that the Doctor returns to pick them up and take them back to Earth, where they see the creature hatching and laying a new egg.

Once Lundvik and Courtney have left the TARDIS, Clara becomes angry at the Doctor because she had to make a pivotal decision for humanity’s future and the Doctor knew what would happen, yet still lied to her and left her to decide. And honestly, I kind of have to agree with Clara berating the Doctor at the end, because Earth might as well be his home if he spends so much time there and his actual home planet is destroyed. Also, as crass as he may be, it’s not in the Doctor’s nature to run away in a crisis involving an entire planet. Pompeii may be one city and its destruction a fixed point in time, but this is the future we are talking about and it’s not just one city, it’s an entire planet he spends a lot of time on, so the least the Doctor could do was be there for Clara and guide her to make the right decision.

Clara meets with Danny and she tells him what happened, but Danny tells her to finish things with the Doctor when she is no longer angry with him. The Doctor and Clara decide to have one last hurrah and we move onto Mummy on the Orient Express, a double-banked companion-lite episode produced alongside the Doctor-lite episode Flatline, which would premiere the following week.

Running off a throwaway line from the end of The Big Bang, the Doctor and Clara board a space train known as the Orient Express, or rather a replica of it. As some people are killed by a mummy that only they could see, giving them 66 seconds before they would die, the Doctor is separated from Clara, who is with a passenger named Maisie, and learns that the train is a front for an investigation into the mummy, known as the Foretold, led by an evil computer known as Gus. Several more people die as the Doctor tries to work out what the Foretold is, then when Maisie was the next person to be targeted, Clara reunites with the Doctor and he tells her that Gus had tried to lure him onto the TARDIS before, meaning that he lied to her again and that he made her lie to get Maisie to where the Doctor was.

The Foretold appears to Maisie and the Doctor uses some equipment to make himself the target instead. In the ensuing 66 seconds, the Doctor manages to deduce that the Foretold is actually an ancient soldier, wounded in battle and augmented with equipment that wouldn’t let him die until the war was over. At the end of the 66 seconds, the Doctor surrenders to the Foretold. Everyone is suddenly able to see it as it disintegrates into dust. With the mystery now solved, Gus removes the air from the train, but the Doctor uses the Foretold’s teleporter to teleport everyone away, however when he tried to hack Gus from the TARDIS to find out who was behind it, it triggered a failsafe that blew up the train.

In the end, Clara gains a better understanding of the Doctor and decides to lie to Danny about leaving him while also deciding to stay with the Doctor. This is the turning point where Clara is pushed to become more like the Doctor, with Flatline forcing Clara to essentially be him when the TARDIS gets shrunken with the Doctor still inside. It’s an okay resolution to their conflict, but I don’t think it should have happened in the first place.

9. What is death?

Teasers of Missy and the Nethersphere, also known as the Promised Land, are scattered throughout the series. When I started watching the series, I was expecting at least one character to die in every episode and be sent to the Neversphere, but I suppose doing that would give away the mystery.

In Dark Water, Clara calls Danny in an attempt to tell him the truth about her travels with the Doctor before he gets to her flat. While Clara complains about the way Danny says “I love you” to her, Danny is hit by a car or a milk float driven by Missy (according to extended media) and dies. Clara appears apathetic to Danny’s death, but in truth, she is absolutely distraught, which leads her to use a sleep patch on the Doctor. Landing the TARDIS next to a volcano, Clara tries to blackmail the Doctor into saving Danny by throwing a key away every time he says no to her. She then suddenly throws the rest of the keys away, leaving her with one of the seven keys left. After throwing the last key away, Clara is overcome by the impact of what she did when the Doctor reveals that they are still in the TARDIS, having worked out what Clara was doing and using the sleep patch back on her. The Doctor, having seen how far Clara would go to be with Danny, agrees to help find him and they are led to the 3W Institute.

Meanwhile, Danny is brought to the Nethersphere where he is greeted by Seb, an AI interface created by Missy. Upon arrival, there was a request to meet him from someone, namely a boy he accidentally killed during his time as a soldier in Afghanistan which led to him leaving the army. Danny meets the boy and tries to apologise, but he runs away. Soon, Danny gets a call from Clara, who was put into contact with him from the outside. Clara, on the Doctor’s advice, tries to make sure that the Danny she is speaking to is real by having him say something only he could say, but when he keeps telling her “I love you” in a manner unsatisfactory to Clara, she ends the call.

The Doctor discovers that the Nethersphere is actually a Gallifreyan matrix data slice, that 3W is actually a front for converting dead bodies into Cybermen, and that Missy is actually the Master in a new female incarnation. Danny is given the choice to delete his emotions, but the sight of the boy behind him leads him to refuse.

Continuing with Death in Heaven, 91 Cybermen are assembled outside St Paul’s Cathedral and people are taking pictures with them when Kate Stewart, Osgood and UNIT show up. Suddenly, the Cybermen fly into the sky and hover above a British city before self-destructing and spreading Cyber-pollen into the graveyards and morgues, converting the dead into Cybermen. The Doctor and Missy are brought onboard Boat One, where the Doctor is appointed President of Earth in accordance with incursion protocols. As the Doctor discusses what is happening with the UNIT forces, Missy kills Osgood and summons the Cybermen to Boat One. After revealing that she was the woman in the shop who brought the Doctor and Clara together, then kept them together by putting the notice in the newspaper, Missy sends Kate flying out of Boat One before teleporting away. The Doctor hangs on for dear life but he ends up falling out as well until he uses his TARDIS key to summon it to him.

Meanwhile, Clara poses as the Doctor in an attempt to evade the Cybermen, furthering her character development as a mirror of the Doctor. The episode also goes so far as to have the title sequence feature Jenna Coleman’s name before Peter Capaldi’s and also feature Clara’s eyes instead of the Doctor’s. However, the now-converted Danny manages to call out her lies and take her away. Clara is taken to a graveyard where Danny reveals his face to her and asks her to turn on the emotional inhibitor. After Clara fails to get the Doctor to come and help her, the Doctor arrives and tries to stop Clara. He then asks Danny if he can access the Cyber hive mind to find out what Missy’s plan is, but in an effort to prove his point about the Doctor being an officer, Danny explains that he can’t see much because he needs the emotional inhibitor on to do so. The Doctor gives the sonic screwdriver to Clara so she can do it and when she does, Danny tells the Doctor that Missy is planning to use the Cyber-pollen to convert all of humanity.

Missy arrives and tells the Doctor that the Cyberarmy she created is a gift for him. The Doctor tells Missy that he doesn’t need an army but she insists that he does. Recalling some of his past adventures, the Doctor begins to realise that he is not a good man, nor a bad man, a hero, a president or an officer, but an idiot with a box and a screwdriver. In addition, Danny’s love for Clara stopped him from hurting her after his emotional inhibitor was turned on. The Doctor lets Danny take control of the Cyberarmy and after a speech that to me, sounds a little off at the end due to the pitch of Danny’s voice, he and all the other Cybermen fly into the sky and self-destruct, destroying the Cyber-pollen.

A defeated Missy tells the Doctor the current location of Gallifrey, claiming that it has been restored to its original location. Clara prepares to shoot Missy, but the Doctor offers to do it himself to stop Clara from doing so. It is then that Missy is shot by a remaining Cyberman, who saved Kate from falling out of Boat One. The Doctor learns that that Cyberman was actually Kate’s father, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and he salutes the Cyberbrig before he flies into the sky.

Two weeks later, Clara hears Danny in the night and finds a portal to the Nethersphere in her hallway. With the Nethersphere collapsing and the portal only having enough power for one person to go through, Danny sends the boy from earlier through it, asking Clara to find his parents. Another two weeks later, the Doctor meets with Clara and deduces that Clara and Danny are back together when that was actually not the case. He then tells Clara that he found Gallifrey when he actually didn’t after going to the coordinates that Missy gave him. Clara decides to believe the lie about her and Danny as the Doctor decides to part ways with her.

The Series 8 finale was good, but I don’t think it and the whole series lived up to expectations. I thought the dead people who we saw in the Nethersphere scenes would return in the finale and that the finale would have something much deeper than dead people being converted into Cybermen. The return of the Master as Missy was another highlight of the story and it marked the first on-screen instance of a male Time Lord regenerating into a female incarnation, which meant that the next mystery was to find out how the Saxon Master regenerated into Missy. Paying tribute to the Brigadier by making him a Cyberman I found meh, but I can see why people didn’t like it. If you want an alternative, remember that Osgood wasn’t the only person in that room whose appearance got copied by a Zygon.

And speaking of Osgood, I’ve always contended that the Zygon Osgood was the one who Missy killed in this story. The Zygon two-parter in Series 9 would keep the answer ambiguous by purposefully obscuring it, with even Osgood’s actress, Ingrid Oliver, keeping her take on the question a secret. Then in 2019, a Big Finish audio confirmed that it was actually the Zygon Osgood who was killed by Missy, putting the question to bed in a manner that ended up being logical.

10. Every Christmas is Last Christmas

In the 2014 Christmas Special, Last Christmas, the Doctor reunites with Clara as they investigate a polar base in the North Pole. They encounter Shona trying to distract herself from the Sleepers before they are attacked by Dream Crabs. Following this, Santa and his elves came in to convince everyone that they are dying in a dream and that they need to wake up. The Doctor also deduces that the Dream Crabs can create dreams within dreams and so, he helps everyone get out of each layer until Santa comes back with his sleigh to take them out of the final layer when they are confronted by more Sleepers, which are actually the parts of their mind that have succumbed to the Dream Crabs.

When the Doctor wakes up, he hurries to save Clara from her Dream Crab, only to find that she is 62 years older than when they last parted. As they pull a Christmas cracker, just as they did before in The Time of the Doctor, Santa appears, meaning that this scene was another dream layer. The Doctor and Clara wake up for real and Clara is relieved to see that she is young. The Doctor invites Clara to travel with him again and she quickly accepts, ending the special. Apparently, Jenna Coleman intended to leave Doctor Who at the end of Series 8, but she enjoyed working with Capaldi so much that she decided to do the 2014 Christmas Special before leaving. During the World Tour, Capaldi (and Moffat) managed to convince Coleman to stay on for another year; she informed Steven Moffat of this following the readthrough of Last Christmas and plans on a replacement companion, possibly Shona, were abandoned and the ending was slightly changed thanks to Moffat preparing for such a scenario.

Last Christmas is an alright Christmas Special. It has the Doctor and Clara admit that they lied to each other on their final meeting before they get a second chance together on the TARDIS. Danny also returns as a construct of Clara’s dream to conclude his character arc and to admit that he only saved the world for Clara. The one thing I didn’t like was Nick Frost playing a sardonic Santa when the common stereotype is that he is supposed to be jolly (which is called out by the Doctor in the special). I think it would have worked better if Santa was played by Seth MacFarlane using his Carter Pewterschmidt voice.

Series 8, like the series before it, is another mixed bag. I came into each episode expecting this thing or that thing to happen, only for it to not happen or a completely different thing to happen altogether. The Doctor and Clara have deeper dynamics and character development than they did and the inclusion of Coal Hill School was an alright extension of the 50th Anniversary.

Up until the last instalment, I’ve used Clever Dick Films’ Doctor Who Review videos as one of my research references, but at the time of writing this instalment, he hasn’t done his retrospective on the Capaldi era and I don’t expect it to come out for some time, but I’m sure I have enough opinions or story summary fillers to make it through the last parts of this series. Stay tuned for Part 9 as we continue riding the wave from the 50th Anniversary with my 10 takes on Series 9.

[bonnielass23]

I was tagged the lovely @astarkey to list 5 unpopular opinions from 5 fandoms! Thank you for the tag! And I’m copying 2 fandoms, but different takes

1. From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series

First, jumping on Astarkey’s take, I love the idea of Kisa and Kate being best friends because they dealt with two sides of the same coin of patriarchal bullshit. Literally all I want is them to tear down the patriarchy with their bare hands together.

Other unpopular opinion. In some ways I’m glad they didn’t do a season 4. The ending of season 3 pretty much made SethKate canon, or at least confirmed their love for each other. I worry that given the age gap of both the characters and the larger age gap between DJ and Madison, that they would have rolled rolled back the development, or even potentially given Seth a different, more age appropriate temporary love interest, out of fear of backlash. I know the majority of the fandom was rooting for SethKate, but it’s one thing to tease it and drop hints to appease the fans, and it’s another to openly display it in the show and open themselves up for backlash beyond the fandom. The potential of people hearing about the age gap relationship and jumping on the “let’s cancel fdtd” bandwagon without watching the show. Community and the actors got so much backlash over Jeff and Annie, calling Jeff a pedo, and other than the goodbye kiss in the last episode they didn’t make that ship canon. That show was airing pretty much at the same time as fdtd. I think SethKate could have been safely portrayed in comics or novels though which I’m sad they didn’t do and wish they would. I am also kinda hoping for them to finally do a season 4 with an actual time skip, like it’s 2023, or later, because I think with Madison/Kate being older and them really defining the age gap (other than the one line on the radio that the Gecko brothers are in their late 20′s) that they could more safely develop the relationship.

2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

I have a lot of opinions but these are probably my most unpopular. I used to be a hard core spuffy shipper when I was watching in middle and high school. I think that was because I liked Spike more than Angel (his snark speaks to my soul). I’m currently doing a rewatch, almost through season 5, and maybe my view will change in season 6 and 7, but right now I’m not a fan of either spuffy or bangel, or honestly any of Buffy’s romantic relationships. Actually currently questioning my younger self’s judgement.

My actual otps currently are Xander and Anya, and Angel and Cordelia, and I will forever be pissed that they never got Xander and Anya back together and killed her off, and that they killed Cordelia. 

Also as a note, I have not read any of the comics or continuing story, so there could have been developments with Buffy’s relationships with Spike and Angel that could sway me, but I’m going entirely off the two television series.

3. Doctor Who

I loved RTD and hated Moffat, which I know isn’t that unpopular, but I actually loved Chibnall’s era. I really appreciated the social commentary and thought he and Jody did an amazing job. Also I’m not sure how unpopular this is anymore, but I loved Rose and Tentoo’s ending. I think given that this is a live action series with actors who want to move on to different projects it was the best ending we could get for The Doctor and Rose. Also Tentoo IS The Doctor.

4. Fairy Tail

Gray and Lucy work better together than Gru//via and Na////Lu. I stand by my statement and will not budge. 

I think Gru//via is actually harmful. I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong about toxic or abusive relationships being portrayed in media, but I think it needs to be recognized in the series that it is toxic and abusive behavior. That’s not the case with Gru///via. No character is calling out Ju///via’s behavior towards Gray as abusive, it’s played off as comedy or that Gray is the bad guy for not returning her feelings, and as far as I know Mashima hasn’t said anything publicly about it being problematic behavior either. I know someone who has used that as a model for how to get a guy and is in a very messed up situation where he is taking advantage of her.

Also not exactly unpopular as in controversial, but super rare pair ship, Loke and Cana is my OTP for the series. I only actually ship and have strong feelings about GrayLu and and Lokana, all the other ships range from NOTP to I have no issue with it existing.

5. Big Bang Theory

Not a huge fandom of mine but something that just irks me to no end, and I know has been done in other media. I HATE that they had Penny backtrack on being childfree. I get wanting to have this happily ever after for two characters, but it doesn’t have to be children. Having Penny change her mind because Leonard and her dad is so problematic though. It delegitimizes actual women who have this stance (including me). It perpetuates the idea of this is just a phase and we’ll change our minds, which has real world consequences of employers looking at all women as not as serious because as soon as they have that baby that we all KNOW they will, they’ll be taking a step back to be a mom so why give them a promotion. And bodily autonomy. I understand not tying an 18 year old’s tubes, but the fact the so many adult women are denied sterilization procedures because “you’ll change your mind” or “what if your future husband wants kids?” like the wants of a hypothetical partner takes precedence  over what the woman wants to do with her own body. It’s just such bullshit when this happens.

The ONLY time I’ve witnessed this happen that I’ve been okay with is Elliot in Scrubs, it was part of a long character arch, and her not wanting kids seemed to be rooted almost entirely of her fear of it affecting her career. It wasn’t just a snap decision of omg after years of not wanting to procreate I suddenly want children.

Definitely did some rambling and got political up in here, but I think these are probably some of my most unpopular opinions. Depending on the fandom my opinions can fall into more popular or mostly controversial

Some of my fdtd mutuals have already been tagged, so not gonna double tag them: @darth-tella @sunniebelle @kelkat9 @yourundead @fortysevenswrites @scrumptiousperfectionwizard @milkshakemicrowave @elialys @gralunaisland (Although I feel yours should be 5 unpopular opinions on gru//via lol) and of course anyone else who’d like to do this!

[lordelmelloi2]

Roselife update End of July 

OK well july beat my ass ngl. Jugly fucked me up pretty bad. I went from like very delusional to like. Doing mildly okay. MADE SOME HEADWAY ON MY CAR ISSUE Okay so like in March 2 days before I moved my car broke down (it was the alternator, and its a shitty BMW so it’s hard to replace) rendering it unusable. It was a car that was essentially gifted to me so I got the title transferred over to me and then tried to take it to CarMax who told me they wanted $200 for it... yeah no and that was a mistake. They aren’t going to be able to sell it so that’s what they wanted essentially just to take it off my hands. Fuck that! 

Work has been beating my ass lately, I helped with another class this month (Tequila & Mezcal 101), next month I requested to help lead the cocktails class. Im NERVOUS!!!!! Personally I’d like to do the entire class over so it’d be more comprehensive but I understand it’s like the most basic 101 of 101s. I just like to be more elaborate lol. Maybe they’ll let me edit it or do other things. I mean we’re doing really basic classic cocktails like I’m pretty sure the lineup is a Negroni, Old Fashioned, Manhattan, Aperol Spritz & god what’s the last one uhhh. I’ll find it in my notes later but it’s another whiskey based cocktail I think. NO WAIT IT WAS THE NEW ORLEANS ONE HOLD ON IT WAS THE UM. ITS A SIDECAR WE DO SIDECARS IN THERE. If I was going to lead the class I’d include more modern ones too... maybe I can submit it for a class. Modern cocktails 101. That would be fucking awesome lol 

Sorry for lack of content I have been Working and doing other stuff like taking notes on drinking and doing other stuff 😭 At some point I really need to start studying for the Cicerone exam and get certified, work has given us the study materials and the certification exam stuff pre-paid but like as of last week my brain damage from 7 years of klonopin came back briefly and I was (technically still am) having some trouble from it. Which is to say that I had a Benzo Withdrawal Syndrome episode at random last Saturday after the worst Chinese Buffet Food and canned White Russian (fuck you Cutwater) of my life. Horrifying! Well there’s other RTD brands that are decent. Fuck cutwater

I’m more active on discord now Generally bc of convenience but I don’t like joining new servers unless it’s with people who are like similarly insane as I am ... no better way to explain it. I saw the new LEM2 Adventures book release I love Waver El Sexo and his beautiful beautiful jacket. I will post more images soon I swear on my life I almost missed my bus stop to work because I was doodling Waver the other day 😭

[my-mt-heart]

Wanted to add on to the JDM discussion, but need to do so anonymously, for a few reasons. First off, much thanks to anon and yourself for being open to healthy debate on this. Maybe I won’t be accused of forcing opinions on people this time, lol.

It took me months to properly unpack the ramifications of his choice. When this all started, I first found those tweets kind of relieving of the emotional turmoil and confusion we were all being bombarded with. And AMC’s statement felt condescending. So in the moment I appreciated that a key voice was just talking to us like people, and was willing to address the elephant in the room. I made a post about it sharing my personal feelings, and was heckled a lot for it. I think there are people in the fandom who still dislike me on that basis, which is funny because after 11 months my opinion has evolved from there.

Evidently, he was not aware of what really happened. I don’t think his intent was to spread falsehoods or cause harm, but unfortunately those tweets did a tremendous amount of irreparable damage. People are too willing to look at a woman in her 50s in this industry and believe that she really fought her way out of a contract and jeopardized all her future work opportunities, because she was tired. (Sidenote: I don’t think the selfish ‘fans’ who want Melissa far away from RTD for their own personal reasons, realize how difficult it will be for her to find other work at her age. Or that potential employers will take into account what kind of SM PR an actor will bring to their project). Anyway there are countless people who believe she really needed a break and there is no changing that in their minds because of where it came from. We’ll never know what Norman would have said on Fallon if the script hadn’t been changed.

Jeffrey sadly created a huge PR mess, which I can undoubtedly say was met with consequences. An old set photo of Melissa and Jeffrey doesn’t depict what their relationship might be like currently. AMC neglected to send him (and by proxy LC) to SDCC (filming was just a convenient excuse)—possibly a punishment for going off script, but more likely, to entice Melissa to be there.

I was at the finale event, and the interactions I personally witnessed when the cameras weren’t rolling were very telling, to say the least. They painted a clearer picture of how Mel really feels about Jeffrey, about Norman, and about Gimple. And I’m really content to leave it at that. It’s really everything that’s already been said multiple times on this account.

Thank you for sharing your perspective and you're right that your opinion should be allowed to evolve. I don't think anyone was sure what to make of the situation a year ago, and I include myself in that as well. Whether through a fans' POV or someone with industry experience, it was all so weird. It's sad that we're still seeing the collateral damage and maybe some of that can never be fixed, though I would hope AMC are well on their way to fixing what's in their power for Melissa's sake and for her fans. I was going to get into the challenges of Melissa finding other work a little later, but since you brought it up, I should probably just do it now. I can already visualize people foaming at the mouth lol

We know Melissa has plenty of talent and a stellar reputation. That's beside the point. In an industry where sexism and ageism are still running rampant, there's going to be less leading roles available for women over 35, let alone 50. Even less for women who don't dye their hair and therefore won't appeal to men 18-49. Other considerations include an actress' social media footprint and where they're based. Melissa isn't active on SM and she's not on either coast. None of these are "faults" of hers. This is all just to say, I can understand if she chose not to go down that path and judging by all the buzz about her joining the Caryl spinoff, it seems like maybe she did not. That doesn't mean she's settling for anything less than she deserves. She'll get to be the leading lady, playing a character we know she loves, and she'll likely have the leverage to create a better work environment for herself, where she'll be respected and valued.

[daisylikesmedia]

Holiday Special 8: The End of Time Part 2

It never quite sets in until he regenerates, that this is the 10th Doctor’s final episode. Well, until the 60th sfglslgjk but yeah End of Time Part 2. Yesterday’s review showed I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first part, let’s see if the second part can clutch it out.

This episode does start where the other left off, and the first 20 minutes or so I still find to be a lottt, with the focus being on The Master and his new power having control of the entirety of Earth. I kinda don’t wanna mark it down for this cause the episode has to continue this plotline as it’s a part 2, but it’s still a thing that’s irking me. What IS new though, is the return of the time lords. The one shot we get of Gallifrey (sad we didn’t get more sdlkjg) was beautiful with the Dalek shipwrecks scattered around the ruptured city, and Timothy Dalton plays Rassilon so well as this power-hungry commander. 

The Act 2 of this story is kinda mid. Not bad, again we’ve got great moments with Wilf & The Doctor onboard the Vinvocci ship, but the point where this episode shifts from “a fine episode that attempts to make sense of the chaos” to “o dang this is amazing” is when The Doctor falls into the mansion again, and then the episode turns from a kinda goofy Master controls the Earth episode to The Doctor VS The Master VS Rassilon in a 3-man free for all. It’s *high* stakes but not the ridiculously silly kind, and it allows for some amazing character moments. The Doctor shoots the cloning machine thingy to send the time lords back, and then The Master gets his revenge on Rassilon for the drumbeat stuck in his head. It’s a rare instance where we see Simm’s Master and Tennant’s Doctor working together and it’s my favourite Master moment so far, lovely lil bit of character shown there.

The battle ends, both threats gone, and The Doctor survives. The prophecy foretold he would die but he survived. Until we hear those dreaded four knocks, as Wilf is stuck in this radiation machine. It’s a heart-breaking moment, and it’s where once again we get to see the 10th Doctor written as a tragedy. It’s such a unique angle to take The Doctor in and having him whine and moan about having to regenerate is such a difference to how any other Doctor has taken it so far (at least in new who). The way his character shifts from clamouring how he could’ve been “so much more” and how “it’s not fair”, almost like a toddler throwing his toys out the pram, to telling Wilf “it’s an honour” that he gets to be the one to save him. It’s all over the place but for a very clear reason, that The Doctor is now having to face his death. In The Lazarus Experiment, The Doctor echoes the famous quote “This is how the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper”, and the reason I bring this up is it’s exactly how the 10th Doctor’s world ends. After all of the chaos and high stakes clashes this episode has had, it ends with 10 uttering the words “I don’t want to go”. Again, big source of criticism of the show, and may have had a strong role in  me as a child not taking to the 11th Doctor that well, but I like itt c’monn what a way for this tragic character to go it fits SO well.

There are a lot of criticisms that have been given towards the final minutes of this episode, where The Doctor goes and says goodbye to all his friends he’s made during RTD’s era of the show, but I love it for that. These last few minutes are a love letter to this era of the show, to all the amazing characters that we’ve met along the way, and to the world RTD was able to build on as showrunner. If I wasn’t as much of a fan of this era, I’d maybe find it tedious myself, but as you’ve been able to see over these reviews these are series of the show that I cherish with all my heart. I’ve been a fan of this era since I was 7 years old and that’s not going to change anytime soon, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tearing up as The Doctor said goodbye to this era of the show and his life. Magnificent stuff.

TL:DR/Overview: This episode is one with a lot of sentimental value to me. Whilst I still find the first half of the story quite underwhelming, the final 3-way clash between Doctor, Master and Rassilon and the oncoming tragic final act as The Doctor tries to come to terms with his death are just perfect for the character. It gets an A tier from me. Incredibly high highs, but the first half of the story holds it back from S tier.