#durkas cicero

[evviejo]

thirteen’s era appreciation: 269/?

[esonetwork]

Timestamp #287: The Tsuranga Conundrum

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Timestamp #287: The Tsuranga Conundrum

Doctor Who: The Tsuranga Conundrum (1 episode, s11e05, 2018)

Stitch, Roy Kent, and a safe sacrifice.

Our heroes are hanging out in a junk galaxy. On Seffilun 27, one of the planets in this refuse-filled wasteland, the travelers are hunting for spare parts to patch up the TARDIS. As they dig, the Doctor uncovers an active sonic mine. When it detonates, everyone is knocked out and awakens in a hospital. The nurse, Astos, mentions that scavenger bots brought them to Tsuranga, which sets the Doctor off and motivates her to find the TARDIS.

As they search for the exit, the travelers meet Eve Cicero – over whom the Doctor fangirls – her brother Durkas, and her android consort Ronan. Eve is a fan of the Doctor, recognizing her name in the Book of Celebrants. The travelers move on and find a pregnant man named Yoss Inkl – a Giftan, a species of which both genders can give birth, but only to their own gender – before the Doctor succumbs to her injuries and collapses.

Also, the Tsuranga isn’t a building. It’s a rescue starship.

The Doctor picks herself up and tries to find the control room. Unfortunately, the ship is completely automated, crewed by nurses Astos and Mabli. Overriding the automatic systems would be seen as an act of hostility, and the Doctor finally relents when she realizes that she’s in the wrong.

Astos reveals that the ship is in an asteroid field close to Constant Division, a disputed territory, and both of them are startled by an alarm warning of a fast-approaching object and a subsequent hull breach. They track something moving around inside the shields, and Astos provides the Doctor with a communication unit as they investigate. Meanwhile, Ronan asks Mabli for some adrenaline blockers while Durkas attempts to hack into Eve’s medical records. Graham finds Durkas and they discuss how loved ones can sometimes hide bad news, which Graham attributes to keeping people from pain. Durkas says that Eve is being treated for Corden Fever, but her distance makes him think there’s more to the story than an easily treated disease.

As Astos and the Doctor track the disturbance, they find that the port escape pod has been jettisoned. Astos investigates the starboard escape pod but is trapped inside when it engages. He says a cryptic farewell to Mabli over the comms before the pod explodes. When the Doctor arrives at the pod door, she finds a small, angry creature snacking on various metal components. As Mabli, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham join the party, the Doctor tries to scan the creature but it bites the sonic screwdriver, spits it out, and dives into a nearby hole.

Everyone regroups in the ship’s control hub. Mabli mourns Astos’s death as she digs into the computer databanks. They soon find out that the creature is a Pting, a highly dangerous, toxic-to-touch, very hard-to-kill eating machine.

Fun.

The Doctor tasks her companions with gathering everyone in the assessment area while she and Mabli develop an attack plan. Ryan and Yaz have a touching discussion with Yoss that stirs up childhood memories for Ryan, including how he found his mother dead from a heart attack when he was thirteen. Meanwhile, the ship detects the Pting and activates a sequence to prevent the creature from reaching Resus One, the Tsuranga‘s home port. The Doctor can postpone the sequence three times, but after that, the ship will self-destruct to save the station.

The Doctor briefs everyone in the assessment area on the situation. The ship’s main power goes out, leaving them on backups as heat and oxygen become premiums. Ryan and Graham end up acting as Yoss’s doulas as he goes into labor, and Mabli suggests that the Doctor scan Eve for more information on her condition. Eve has experience with a Pting – it decimated an entire fleet – and coordinates with the Doctor, Durka, and Ronan as they work on the antimatter drive. Yaz and Ronan stand guard duty over the drive as the Doctor, Eve, and Durka work on the computer.

The Doctor discovers that Eve has Pilot’s Heart, a condition among neuro-pilots that causes heart failure when adrenaline spikes. Durkas finds out as he tells the women that he’s rigged a primitive holographic interface to pilot the ship, and Eve decides that she will be the one to use it.

The Pting breaks through to the drive room. Ronan stuns it and Yaz wraps it in a medical blanket and punts it down the corridor. Meanwhile, as Eve is hooked up to the interface, the Doctor realizes that the Pting is hungry for energy, not for killing people, and races for Yaz and Ronan after postponing the ship’s autodestruct for the last time.

The Doctor’s sonic screwdriver reboots in time to help find the bomb built into the antimatter drive. She extracts the bomb and leaves Ronan to stand guard over the drive. Yaz accompanies the Doctor to the airlock and lures the Pting to them by speeding up the timer. The Pting takes the bait and the Doctor ejects it into space as the bomb explodes. The creature absorbs the entire blast and contently drifts into the asteroid field.

Eve pilots the ship out of danger and expresses her love for Durkas before she dies. Durkas takes control of the ship and pilots it to Resus One.

During all of this, Ryan and Graham bond over Yoss’s labor and delivery. Ryan channels his anger and grief into counseling for Yoss. Yoss doesn’t have to be perfect… he just has to be there for his new son. Yoss names his son Avocado after the legendary Earth hero Avocado Pear, which is a humorous misreading of Earth history.

When all is said and done, Mabli has arranged for the Doctor and her team to be taken back to the TARDIS. The collected survivors are buoyed by hope and their shared grief, and they all say farewell to Eve in a traditional ceremony.

This episode presents another case of interesting ideas being bogged down by questionable writing. The idea of the Pting is the typical no-win scenario trope found throughout science fiction, especially when coupled with a medical emergency that would drive urgency in a typical by-the-numbers script. But the urgency isn’t present because the medical expertise exists to deliver a baby without fancy technology. Humans have been doing it successfully for 200,000 years or so, and one can assume that Gifftans have done so as well.

So, instead of a medical emergency driving the urgency, we get an automated system that inexplicably allows three chances to override it. Instead of transmitting the data to the station and permitting the on-board medical attendants to explain the situation, a system is used to wipe out the problem without context. It becomes a sterile logic problem: A threat exists, eliminate the threat. Black and white, ignoring shades of gray.

I can get on board with this, but this time it comes with a major problem. We’ve seen systems like this before in Doctor Who, but we also take the time to discuss them and paint the allegorical picture for audiences to explain why they don’t work. There’s none of that here. The questionable writing is evident in a lack of follow-through. The plot ideas are seeded but are then promptly forgotten, which is a problem that plagues Chris Chibnall’s work on this show.

It also shows with the Doctor’s injuries, which nearly crippled her at the beginning of the story. They are virtually non-existent once the Pting arrives except for a bit of lip service paid in one or two exchanges, but she’s miraculously cured when the credits roll.

That said, we have a lot of excellent character development for Ryan and Graham as they grow closer. The rift isn’t quite sealed yet, but it’s getting there. The treatment of anti-matter is also well-researched.

It’s hard to not draw a connection between this story and Flesh and Stone, which also traps the Doctor, the companions, and the dangerous creatures in the same dramatic bottle. In that story, the energy was used to defeat the Weeping Angels, but here it merely gives the Pting a snack as it is removed from the ship to go kill bother someone else.

It’s also not hard to draw the connection between Pting and Disney’s Stitch. Cute, small, and dangerous? This is the second time that I have seen the episode and I can’t not make the comparison.

Finally, there’s the Ted Lasso connection. The show about footballers wasn’t around in 2018, but I nearly leaped off my seat this time when Roy (F’in) Kent appeared as a nurse. It was quite the surprise and was nice to see him in a somewhat more lighthearted role.

To sum up, this episode is merely okay. The drama of the threat fails because the hand is tipped well before the final round. Eve and Astos have to die because the story demands heroic sacrifices, but everyone else is safe and happy in the end.

That’s exactly what this story is. It’s just safe science fiction.

Rating: 3/5 – “Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.”

UP NEXT – Doctor Who: Demons of the Punjab

The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.

[dwvids]

ahem weLL ACTUALLY

[britomart]

TASKMASTER CONTESTANTS on DOCTOR WHO

Charlotte Ritchie as Lin in Resolution (2019) Greg Davies as King Hydroflax in The Husbands of River Song (2015) Doc Brown as Durkas Cicero in The Tsuranga Conundrum (2018) Lee Mack as Dan Cooper in Kerblam! (2018) Frank Skinner as Perkins in The Mummy on the Orient Express (2014)

+ bonus

[doctorthedoctor]

More Thasmin Parallels/Rambling

I rewatched The Tsuranga Conundrum yesterday and noticed something that gives me hope for another very vulnerable moment between the Doctor and Yaz before Thirteen regenerates — a confession of love or some equivalent? Maybe I’m a fool, but the longer I think about it, the more I believe the show might follow through on the thasmin front in some form. All of this is just me babbling about my own personal interpretations, so . . . ya know. Take it for what it is.

Flux spoilers under the cut.

In The Tsuranga Conundrum, Eve Cicero’s relationship with her brother, Durkas, is what caught my eye. Cicero is a distinguished neuro pilot allegedly being treated for Corton Fever on the med ship. When the Doctor learns her name, she recognizes it and recalls Cicero being mentioned in the Book of Celebrants. Upon learning the Doctor’s name, Cicero also recognizes her from that same book. From the moment they meet, they have a common thread.

Much like Yaz with the Doctor, Durkas knows that his sister is hiding something. We learn about this when Graham walks in on him snooping.

GRAHAM: Well, we've all hacked into our loved ones' confidential records at one stage or another, haven't we? Can I ask why?

DURKAS: Well, she's lying to me about, about... about what's wrong with her.

This conversation also reveals that Durkas feels inferior to his sister.

GRAHAM: What do you do, then?

DURKAS: Me? I'm an engineer.

GRAHAM: Oh.

DURKAS: Yeah, I fix the things pilots like my sister tend to wreck, and she looks down on me for it. And she always will.

This gives us the sense that Durkas longs for his sister’s approval, just as Yaz consistently tries to prove herself to the Doctor — but there’s a wall of insecurity in both dynamics. No matter how intelligent and dedicated and capable and compassionate Yaz proves herself to be, the Doctor refuses to confide in her. Yaz trusts the Doctor, but the Doctor does not appear to trust Yaz with what’s really important. (We see this dynamic reflected more explicitly with the gay couple from Praxeus, but that’s, like, a whole other thing).

While Durkas and Yaz respectively push for information, Cicero and the Doctor cling to putting on a front for them, despite it being painfully obvious that they’re lying.

DURKAS: What're you doing? Adrenaline blocker? You can't take adrenaline blockers with corton fever.

CICERO: It's fine.

YASMIN: Might get you out of your mardy mood.

DOCTOR (ALONE IN A DARK CORNER): My mood's fine.

However, in The Tsuranga Conundrum, the Doctor also knows that Cicero is hiding the real reason she’s there, and she is the one who gets her to confess.

DOCTOR: It isn't corton fever, is it? Is it pilot's heart? I'm sorry, Eve, but if we're going to survive this, you need to be honest with me.

CICERO: I started as a pulse pilot. I graduated to Neuro Fleet Commander faster than anyone in Keeban history. I'm the most decorated general. I'm the poster woman. I cannot have pilot's heart. I cannot be that example to others.

DOCTOR: But you have. And you've been using more and more blocker shots to get through the day.

Sounds familiar. If only the Doctor would listen to her own advice instead of proceeding to have Yaz blindly risk her life for her own benefit. But in this moment, even the Doctor acknowledges that a secret of that magnitude can’t be kept forever.

DOCTOR: Does Durkas know?

CICERO: I don't want him worrying.

DOCTOR: He's going to find out sooner or later.

DURKAS: He already has. Not that he's surprised, just... disappointed.

In order to save everyone, Cicero insists on piloting the ship. Durkas assists her, but she begins to have doubts right before she starts.

CICERO: This isn't going to work.

DURKAS: Quiet, General. Trust your engineer and tell me you're well enough.

CICERO: I'm well enough.

DURKAS: Now promise me that's true.

(she nods)

Because I’ve been rewatching s11, this reminded me of Yaz and the Doctor interacting at the end of The Ghost Monument. The Doctor loses hope, believing they are going to die, but the fam convinces her to not give up. Then, the TARDIS appears.

DOCTOR: I thought maybe you didn't believe me that I'd get you home.

YASMIN: I thought you didn't believe yourself for a second back there.

DOCTOR: Who, me? No. Never doubted. Don't know what you mean.

I don’t know if Cicero genuinely thought she was well enough, but I can’t imagine that she’d ever admit the opposite in a situation that dire, where she’s the only one with practiced knowledge of how to get them to safety. I think she would have risked her life trying to pilot regardless of what state she was in. And that, of course, sounds very much like someone else we know. Rule number one: the Doctor lies.

But what struck me the most is the conversation she and Durkas have while she pilots the ship on the verge of death.

CICERO: I'm sorry.

DURKAS: For what?

CICERO: I didn't tell you I was ill.

This is the same conversation the Doctor has with Yaz at the end of Flux, right after finding out that her time is ending.

DOCTOR: Yaz? I'm sorry. I didn't let you in . . . to what I was doing. Going after Karvanista. What I was looking for. I shouldn't have shut you out.

But what really stood out to me is what followed Cicero’s apology.

DURKAS: There's plenty of things I never told you.

CICERO: Yeah? Like what?

DURKAS: Like I love you. I'm proud of you, sis.

CICERO: I love you too, bro. I'm sorry.

When the Doctor and Yaz return after ejecting the Pting, they find Cicero dead on the floor and Durkas piloting the ship to safety. This engineer, who spent so long feeling inferior to his sister, literally stepped into her shoes and carried out her task. Cicero wouldn’t even let the Doctor pilot because she said it takes a dozen years to learn, but she gave control over to her brother. In those final moments, she trusted him. She believed in him.

Out of the fam, Yaz is the one most similar to the Doctor (Reverse the polarity -- Neural blanacers -- We're going to find her and we're going to rescue her - -WWTDD? -- We’ve got a task, we have to stick to it).

Being a police officer, she possesses skills and insight that complement the Doctor well. When the Doctor is gone, she is the one to step into her role, taking command and building a plan for survival. In the first ten months they spend apart, Yaz sleeps in the TARDIS and researches how to get back and save the Doctor. During the following three years they spend apart, Yaz channels her pain into carrying out her task, just like Durkas did. (Co-pilot? Of course).

In The Timeless Children, Graham even points out how much Yaz embodies the Doctor in human form.

GRAHAM: I think you're such an impressive young woman. Never thrown by anything. Always fighting.

YASMIN: Thanks.

GRAHAM: You said to the Doc that you thought she was the best person you'd ever met. But you know what, Yaz? I think you are. You ain't got a time machine or a sonic... but you're never afraid and you're never beaten. I'm going to sound like a... like a proper old man, but you're doing your family proud, Yaz, you really are. In fact, you're doing the whole human race proud. Sorry. I haven't offended you, have I?

YASMIN: It's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me.

GRAHAM: Oh.

YASMIN: You're not such a bad human yourself either.

GRAHAM: Not su...? Is that it? I've just said all them lovely things about you, and all you give me is, you're not such a bad human?

YASMIN: Mate, I'm from Yorkshire. That's a love letter.

That interaction with Graham screams Yaz’s love for the Doctor without her directly saying it. If, “You're not such a bad human yourself either,” is basically a love letter, what the ever loving fuck is, “I want more. More of the universe. More time with you. You’re like the best person I’ve ever met,” supposed to be? I could combust just thinking about it.

I know I’m kind of veering off from The Tsuranga Conundrum, but these parallels between Yaz and the Doctor make me want to reiterate something I wrote about last year (which you can find here if you’re interested).

Yaz, like the Doctor, has had her past touched on in a way that leaves us with a lot of questions. Right now, we know that she has struggled with her mental health and accepting help in the past, but there’s nothing to imply that the Doctor is aware of this (as far as I can remember). We’ve only seen her mention Izzy Flint and the year from Hell once, but she never went into detail about the circumstances surrounding her bullying.

Alongside that, the police officer mentioned Yaz’s home life being rocky. Our clearest glimpse of this is through Najia. After meeting the Doctor, she asks Yaz if they're are seeing each other, but neither Najia nor Yaz sound happy during the conversation. Once Yaz promises to tell her about the Doctor, she immediately runs away to the TARDIS and commits to traveling with her. We never see that conversation with Najia happen. As far as we know, Yaz has been avoiding it ever since.

I personally feel like Yaz’s arc would make a great coming out story, which is another thing I touched on in what I wrote last year. If by some miracle this turns out to be the case, I think another part of the catharsis in their final episodes could stem from Yaz facing this part of herself — pieces of her identity and past that she’s been hiding from, just as the Doctor is beginning to do.

But the Doctor might be completely oblivious to what Yaz has been grappling with this whole time, especially since she’s been so consumed by her own pain since the Master turned up. We even see how easily she can veer off from considering others at the beginning of The Tsuranga Conundrum.

ASTOS: Don't! If you interfere with the navi-systems, they'll take it as an act of hostility or hijack. They can detonate the craft.

DOCTOR: I'm not being hostile!

ASTOS: Yes, you are. You're being hostile and selfish. There are patients on board who need to get to Resus One as a matter of urgency. My job is to keep all of you safe. You're stopping me from doing that.

DOCTOR: You're right. Of course you're right. I'm sorry. That mine hit me harder than I thought.

In this scene, the Doctor is so blinded by her own pain and the need to get to a familiar and safe place that she almost risks the lives of all the patients on that ship. If Astos hadn’t been there to hold her accountable, it definitely looks like she would have done it without batting an eye.

I have a feeling that the Doctor didn’t genuinely consider the extent to how everything might be affecting Yaz until after she disappeared for ten months. The first time they reunited, composed and compassionate Yaz got so angry that she shoved the Doctor. But the second time, after witnessing how sad she was when Ryan and Graham left, Yaz tried to soften the blow, even though it had been significantly longer and more difficult.

After blindly risking her life for the Doctor's benefit, after being shut out and snapped at and abandoned for so long, Yaz still put her feelings aside to make sure the Doctor was okay. I don’t think that was lost on the Doctor, and I think that’s another contributing factor to her initiating that conversation with Yaz at the end of Flux.

After rewatching The Tsuranga Conundrum, I genuinely believe Dan interrupted the Doctor and Yaz right on the cusp of expressing love like Durkas and Cicero did. It’s a different kind of love, of course, but even if it’s not entirely romantic, it’s also not entirely platonic. Regardless of where it stems from, Yaz so tangibly loves the Doctor. And after being separated for three years, with the Doctor so close to regeneration and a lot of repenting ahead of her, I think we’re at the point where they might finally acknowledge it.

[missmarthanightingale]

graham o’brien in s11

basic facts:

he was born sometime in the 1960s, probably, which puts him in his late 50s at the start of s11.  he used to be a bus driver, but had to retire, presumably for reasons related to his cancer.  he married grace sinclair 3 years prior to twwfte, around the same time that he officially went into remission.  he’s a fan of call the midwife & action movies.

character traits:

practical/cautious

graham really is a thoroughly practical sort, & i adore him for it.  the doctor doesn’t really do snack breaks, so he starts carrying sandwiches with him wherever they go.  he worries about having to pay damages for vandlism in a hotel room.   he imagines his late wife talking to him, & she teases him about having to figure out how the hoover works, which is so mundane & adorable.  he knows the geography of sheffield, even though according to his profile he was only ever a bus driver in essex, because it’s habit & he knows how useful it is to know these things.

he is, at any given moment, the most likely to be worrying about the immediate consequences to himself & his loved ones, & the least likely to get carried away with something else.  in twwfte he’s happy to do what he can to help with the main plot, but until they’re dealt with, his primary concern is the dna bombs, which is a very reasonable reaction.  he has a cautious nature, his first instinct is to run away from danger, unless he’s been given a good reason to run towards it.  he questions the doctor as a way of getting her to explain herself, & acts as the main voice of reason as needed.

loyal/protective/caring

graham’s certainly loyal, primarily to grace & ryan.  twwfte is an episode full of a man letting himself get dragged along on an adventure he has very little interest him because his wife & her grandkid are committed which means, in his own eyes, he has no choice but to go along with them.  throughout the series he is constantly with ryan, trying to protect him & take care of him to the best of his ability.  yaz & the doctor he doesn’t see as his responsibility the way ryan is, but he does consider them his friends & seems pretty loyal to them as well.

he’s really just a thoroughly decent guy.  he connects with people, he’s good with people.  he easily convinces durkas cicero to open up to him, befriends prem, establishes a rapport with charlie; he listens to them when they need to talk to someone & gives them good advice.  he does the same with yaz in demons of the punjab, letting her vent her feelings before giving her a bit of perspective & helping her understand the other side of things.  he even does a pretty good job of connecting with people he doesn’t like that much, because however much they tick him off he’s able to keep from antagonising them, a level of restraint largely beyond the others.

motivation

a lot of his initial attitude after she dies seems to be along the lines of What Would Grace Do.  when they’ve been basically kidnapped, he deliberately makes an effort to see the adventures through grace’s eyes, as a way of cheering himself up & a way of remembering her.  he tries to act according to what she would have wanted him to do, or wanted to do herself; mixed in with his survivor’s guilt is this desire to sort of live on her behalf, to honour her in a sense.  when he’s imagining grace in arachnids, he says to her “i have so much to tell you” because he knows how much she’d have loved to hear about it all, & loved even more to have lived it with them.  when he makes the decision to keep traveling with the doctor, it still partly a question of What Would Grace Do, partly an urge to run away from the place where his grief is strongest for a while, & partly - the most important part - because he has a taste for it, now.  he looked at it through her eyes & learned to love it, & now he’s doing it for himself.

mostly for himself.  there’s also ryan.  i think it’s really interesting that graham’s so committed to ryan, especially when ryan doesn’t encourage it at all.  it would have been really easy for graham to throw in the hat & just accept that ryan doesn’t want to be his family, especially with grace gone, but he didn’t.  i think ryan’s actually all graham has, in terms of family.  apart from the tardis crew, he’s pretty much alone in the world, & has been for a while now.  if he had any family members he was close to, he’d have mentioned them; personally i’d guess that graham’s an only child, but if he has siblings they’re not close.  i really don’t think he’s ever been a father, & his missteps with ryan are the moments when he’s channeling his only experience with parenting, his own dad, who from resolution seems to have been the stoic sort.  it’s the idea that ryan needs him which saves him in it takes you away, & the idea that ryan wants him that gives him pause with his plan in tborak.  ryan’s his connection to the world, the way grace was when he was struggling with cancer, which makes him a pretty important factor in any decisions graham makes.

the doctor:

there is so much snarking with these two, endless banter back & forth, it’s excellent.

you know, something that really frustrates me about these two is that graham is in a really good position to understand the doctor in a way that very few companions usually are.  he’s nowhere near as old as her, but he has much more experience at life than most people who travel with her.  even though he’s very different from her, we’ve seen how good he is at letting people talk.  if she ever wanted to, say, share something with him about how age weighs on her, or how much she needs other people around to keep her going, or how hard she’s finding it to hold on to hope, or how she’s struggling with the darkness inside her, or how much she wants to run away sometimes, he’d hear her & accept her.

but she doesn’t talk to him.  maybe she just doesn’t want to talk; maybe she forgets how mature he is in human years.  but god, their dynamic could be so much more than what it is, & it’s What We Deserve.

[cepmurphy]

“If we’ve wasted the last four hours on the wrong planet!” – The Tsuranga Conundrum

This episode is full of S11’s themes but god does it need to be full of a better story.

The premise is fine enough and should work. A space hospital in jeopardy! An unstoppable ravenous alien! Psychic pilots and mpreg races and robot manservants! Worlds of junk! The Doctor wounded in a moment of maximum peril!

But it doesn’t work.

The first thing I want to do, however, is look at the bit that absolutely works and is not something we’ve seen before – Chief Medic Astos tells the Doctor off. The Doc has to get to the TARDIS! She’s the hero! She’s important! But in S11, the Doctor is a low-key figure and the ‘little people’ are important, and here Astos has the authority as a doctor in charge of patients. He can put a stop to her trying to fit the plot around her – “you are being hostile and selfish”, and she recognises she is and she defers to him as the expert on site instead of forcing her protagonist status on everyone.

It doesn’t last long but still.

After this, the problems start. Other than “the Pting is eating a spaceship”, what’s the plot? What is the focus? Is it Yoss the pregnant man and his fear of not being ready, or is it how Ryan reacts to that with his own dad issues? Is it junior medic Mabli lacking confidence and needing to step up? Is it about the Ciceros’ sibling issues, or is it about Ronan the android’s status in that, or is about Eve Cicero facing death?

It’s all of these things! And that wouldn’t be a problem if some were clearly scribbled-out tertiary plots so we know the patients in danger aren’t ciphers, but the episode tries to commit equal time to everything. As a result, nothing gets the right amount of time.

Durkas Cicero and Ronan suffer the most here because while, for example, we can see Mabli coming into her own by watching her on screen, Durkas and Ronan interact by dialogue with other characters. Due to lack of space, Durkas’s conflict with his sister is mostly done in a single scene with Graham before the Pting shows up. His bad relationship with Ronan is in their first scene and then never again until the end!

Ryan’s subplot suffers as well. When his discussion with Yaz about his father is partway through the episode and then dropped until a speech to Yoss about being for your kid twenty minutes later, it just cannot land – it doesn’t feel meant but just there so he can have that speech, which is not earned. This is a shame because on its own, Ryan’s soliloquy about his mother’s death and his anger & frustration with his dad is great. “Sometimes adults don’t cope either,” he says, covertly setting up Resolution. (And, in the running arc, he stops talking about it, he can’t express himself too much) It’s a good scene in a bad episode.

With Eve Cicero, this is all quite disappointing because there’s so much you can do with the middle-aged iconic woman faking that everything’s alright even as she’s dying. “I cannot have pilot’s heart,” she pleads, and her reason is “I cannot be that example to others”. That’s solid character work. This could parallel with Mabli’s young woman issues of confidence. Instead, they are separate.

(I’m also disappointed that the episode flirts with Farscape style alien weirdness, with pregnancies and pilots that fly with their brains and passive-aggressive androids – but everyone looks human.)

And during all this, you’ll notice I didn’t mention the Doctor is trying to save the day while hurt. That’s because the episode keeps forgetting it! It’s a shame because that would be an interesting challenge for the Doctor.

However, what mostly works is the A-plot, the Pting himself. The Pting is brilliant. We see an unstoppable fleet-killing apex predator that survives in the vacuum itself and it’s a cute podgy thing, it’s Baby Sinclair gone carnivorous. He spits out the sonic screwdriver! He gives an adorable smile as he eats an explosion! He’s all this and so dangerous the authorities will blow you up rather than leave him around! What a great monster. This is why we watch Doctor Who (and Farscape! He is very much a Henson Creature Shop beastie)

Here’s that theme of monsters again too: the Pting is a threat but it’s not malicious. Like the spiders, it’s an animal that wants something (in this case, it’s hungry). The Doctor knows if they can figure out what it wants, they can stop it and without killing it. Feed it and you’re safe. (It’s a bit daft “it’s just a hungry animal!” is treated as a reveal; we can see it’s a hungry animal in all its scenes!)

There’s a lot of recurring themes here, on top of the monster not being monstrous. Everyone has to work together to win and the Doctor accepts the advice of Astos and Eve Cicero; everyone comes together in the end because people always need people. There’s a puzzle and it needs practical solutions. The Doctor is awestruck over an engine, one that works by (simplified) scientific principles. While the Doctor is smart and brave and brings people together, she is not the centre of things and other people are important. Instead of doing things for people, the Doctor helps Mabli achieve things herself; people are brought in and made better, not saved.

All of this is in the episode. These are the themes of S11, all here to be examined. The problem is the story they’re in.

[houseofkob]

#DoctorWho - The Tsuranga Conundrum

#DoctorWho – The Tsuranga Conundrum

Ricoverati su di un’astronave, il Team Tardis si trova a doveraffrontare un minaccia decisamente pericolosa che sta distruggendo la nave dall’interno. Ma ci sono anche delle cose positive eh!

(more…)

[stycerutti]

#DoctorWho - The Tsuranga Conundrum

#DoctorWho – The Tsuranga Conundrum

Ricoverati su di un’astronave, il Team Tardis si trova a doveraffrontare un minaccia decisamente pericolosa che sta distruggendo la nave dall’interno. Ma ci sono anche delle cose positive eh!

(more…)

[timeagainreviews]

The Doctor needs a medic!

Clarification: I did a little research after my article last week. That "sister," line from Arachnids was still getting to me. As an American living in the UK, I was unaware of the fact that head nurses were still called sisters, despite them no longer being nuns. So it turns out that the Doctor wasn’t implying she used to be a female, but rather than she was using sexist outdated language. Cool… cool. Can’t decide which is worse. I mean, she is a bit old. Perhaps she’s a bit old fashioned as well. I’d keep an eye on her if she starts reading the Daily Mail.

We’re now at the halfway point of the series. Five episodes in, and I would say this one was, if nothing else, fairly solid. "The Tsuranga Conundrum" may be one of my favourite episodes of the series thus far, and it’s a bottle episode! However, while Chris Chibnall wrote the episode, the alien threat in it was actually devised by writer Tim Price, so it was a bit of a group effort. It would appear, however, that the real antagonist of this story… is time.

In an odd way, the opening shot of the episode had me thinking of the previous "Arachnids in the UK," with its giant landfill. I almost wondered if they weren’t actually rooting around underground Sheffield. Instead we’re on a planet called "Seffilun 27," in what the Doctor refers to as a "junk galaxy." The planet seems to be covered in junk as far as the eye can see. I was reminded a bit of House from "The Doctor’s Wife," with all of the junk from discarded TARDISes lying around. The Doctor has Team TARDIS sweeping for junk she can use for unspecified Doctory stuff. Instead of finding the desired gadget, Graham discovers a sonic mine that lands them all in the hospital.

The hospital is your typical Doctor Who style futuristic building, all white and sleek. It’s what you’d expect, but there’s a bit more than meets the eye. The Doctor is the last to wake up and feels pretty awful. You can already tell it’s going to be a handicap for her throughout the episode. I was reminded of regeneration episodes where the Doctor is "still cooking," and has to deal with a bit of pain. Nothing really comes from the pain other than a bit of added suspense, which is all fine and good. This is not the only handicap the Doctor will face throughout the episode.

The two attending medics are Astos and Mabli. Both are young, attractive, and seem very capable at their jobs. The Doctor discovers from Astos, the head medic, that they have spent the last four days on a medical ship called the Tsuranga (as opposed to a hospital) on its way to a space station called Resus 1. This causes the Doctor to panic. She’s left her TARDIS behind on a junk planet, where people scavenge, and she’s "only just got it back!" However, Astos reminds her that the ship needs to reach it’s destination for the health and wellbeing of the ship’s passengers. It’s a reasonable argument and the Doctor can’t deny it.

Among the patients on the ship, other than the Doctor and her friends, is Eve Cicero, a famous pilot and general, accompanied by her brother Durkas and android assistant Ronan. There’s also a pregnant man named Yoss (YOSSSSS GAGA! Sorry, had to) who is about to pop. Eve has Ronan manipulating the less experienced Mabli to provide her with adrenaline blockers, all behind both Astos and her brother’s backs. Yoss’ species’ gestation period of about a week, hasn’t given him much time to come to terms with being a father. His anxiety is even further exacerbated by the fact that his pregnancy was the result of a bit of fun at a party. Ryan, who grew up with an absentee father, seems to latch onto this, despite his initial reaction to a pregnant man.

The Doctor can’t turn the vessel around to pick up her TARDIS as it’s locked in on a path, auto-piloted. It only seems to pick up people in distress along the way, acting as a space ambulance. To make matters worse, the ship will be detonated if anyone tampers with it, in case of a hijacking, which seems a bit extreme. Other reasons it may be detonated, would be for quarantine reasons, or if it posed a threat to anyone. Which seems like as good a time as any to introduce our alien threat- Item Seven Alpha Cubed, otherwise known as "Pting." (Probably named after the sound the hull of a ship makes whenever it turns up.)

This marks the second week in a row where the reveal of the baddie has made me react with an "Awww!" Look at that little face! What a little cutie. Sadly, that little cutie just caused the death of Astos, as it caused the escape pod he was inside to evacuate, and detonate. I’m not 100% sure why it actually detonated, even without life support. Is part of a ship’s life support system allotted to the not-exploding of things? Regardless though, the Pting isn’t really hostile like a Dalek is hostile, it just seems a bit hungry! It doesn’t seem to eat organic matter, though it makes a right meal of the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. The cosplayer in me was worried I was going to have to order a whole new piece for a second, but it coughed it right back up! Though it no longer seems to work. Another handicap.

The Pting is a rather resilient little creature. General Cicero had encountered them before as one “massacred” her entire fleet. Their skin is toxic to the touch and unbreakable. It can survive the vacuum of space, and it seems to enjoy eating anything. Think of a mix between a tardigrade, a Gremlin, and Nibbler. The Doctor must stop it from destroying the life support (see: anti-exploding device), and also from alerting the people back on Resus 1 from detonating the ship as well. They also need to keep the little muncher away from the ship’s anti-matter generator, so the heat is on!

One of the things I’ve been paying close attention to this series is whether the companions are utilised properly. The decision to have three over the usual one is something of a self-imposed challenge. Writing for an ensemble is far more difficult than the usual duo. Even classic Doctor Who struggled to balance three companions at times. I mentioned previously Nyssa’s TARDIS naps. Graham gets a nice little moment where he questions Durkas as to why he’s looking into his sister’s medical records. His friendly, yet direct approach was as though he was channelling the Doctor. He seems to be taking her example to heart. Yaz gets put on guard duty with Ronan, protecting the anti-matter generator. And Ryan and Graham both get a bit of screen time as doulas helping Yoss through labour. I had my second "Awww!" moment when Yoss requested other men be there as support. It was cute, shut up.

While Yaz and Ryan were gathering up the people on the ship for an emergency meeting, they have a little heart to heart in a corridor. I couldn’t help but feel like this bit felt tacked on. The ship is in danger, and they stop to talk about how Ryan’s mum died. It stopped the momentum of the episode cold in its tracks. The only reason I can think they added it in at this point, was because they couldn’t think of a better place to put it. They needed to divulge Ryan’s backstory so they could tie it in with Yoss’ fatherhood. This seemed more of a writing choice than a directing choice. It’s fine, really, but not very graceful.

There were some really good Doctor moments in this episode. I loved her claim that she has a doctorate in Lego. It’s funny because in my classic-Who rewatch, I’m currently on "The Edge of Destruction," and the Doctor’s speech about anti-matter reminded me a bit of the First Doctor’s monologue about the formation of galaxies. I will say though, it fell short of some of the better Doctor monologues we’ve had in the past. Regardless, it was nice to see the Doctor nerd out on science and show her passion a little. My only real issue with the Doctor’s characterisation in this episode stems, once again, from her morality.

Chris Chibnall doesn’t seem to know what his Doctor’s stance on guns actually is. It’s not ok to shoot robots or dying spiders, but it’s way okay to shoot the Pting? Yaz and Ronan are both given staser guns to guard the generator. While I am glad to see such an old reference return (as well as the stethoscope!), I’m once again confused by what Chibnall considers an ok time to shoot something. Funnily enough, this episode is exactly how I think the Doctor’s attitude toward guns should be portrayed. Nothing can really kill the Pting, so it’s really tantamount to a Star Trek officer using a stun setting. But the main idea was that the gun was used as a defence, to protect life and because it was the best option. That should always be the Doctor’s attitude toward guns- are they the best option? The best hope? She’s a Doctor of hope, so of course, she always looks for the best option, but she’s not stupid either. In a lot of ways, that’s what she’s done this series when it comes to guns. But it’s in the dialogue where her aims get muddled. I agree with Chibnall. The Doctor should have a disdain for guns. Guns are the end of hope in most cases. But sometimes River shoots the Silence, Leela shoots some guys in a corridor, and the Brigadier holds off an invasion.

With Astos dead, it’s up to Mabli to take control of the situation, which in her case means considering what’s best for her patients. With Yoss in labour, she needs to help him deliver his baby. Wisely, she allows the Doctor to do what she needs to do to save everyone’s lives. With the Pting eating at the ship's systems, they decide they need to find a quicker way to get to Resus 1. They must fly the ship themselves, which will also alert the security protocols, causing it to detonate, but one thing at a time. The Doctor finds a way to bypass the ship’s auto-pilot and has Durkas, an engineer, build a makeshift neural interface with the piloting system. It’s revealed that due to her years of flying with a neural interface, Eve has developed a condition known as "Pilot’s Heart." Due to this, adrenaline has built up in her system. One big jolt could stop her heart and kill her. The Doctor offers to fly the ship, but Eve insists she’s the best woman for the job, despite the dangers involved.

Around this time Ryan and Graham are learning to rise to the occasion as doulas. Yoss is in full labour panic mode, and needs his guys there to cheer him on! Yaz and Ronan have to grapple with the Pting. After stunning it unconscious, Yaz wraps it in a blanket and bends it like Beckham down the corridor. Go Yaz! The Doctor enters the scene looking for the ship’s detonation device. Clearly, a ship in deep space is too far away for missiles, so the bomb must be onboard. It’s a bit contrived that such a device would exist, but the aforementioned reasons are fine. Whatever. Around this time, the sonic screwdriver boots itself back up, and the pieces all come together for the Doctor. The Pting isn’t eating matter, it’s eating energy.

The Doctor and Yaz locate the bomb and move it to an airlock. She speeds up the detonation so that the building energy attracts the Pting, and just before the device explodes, the Pting swallows it whole, with an adorable look of delight on its little face from the warm glow its tummy. Seriously, as Who monsters go, this thing is freaking cute. The Doctor ejects it from the airlock, and that’s two threats taken care of in one go. Two birds, one stone.

The imminent threat of piloting the ship still looms. While hooked into the interface, Eve was able to control the ship, despite the less than ideal conditions. But without any more adrenaline blockers onboard, her heart gives out on her. She dies a hero, but her work is unfinished. Durkas must now rise to the occasion as a Cicero. It’s more of a poetic solution than logical. Being related to a pilot somehow makes you a better candidate to fly the ship than the Doctor herself. But he does a fine enough job as he flies them to safety.

Yoss has his little boy, Avocado, and Ryan and Graham seem like they’re getting along, but Ryan leaves Graham’s fist bump hanging. And I gotta say, what the hell is Ryan’s deal still? I mean, come on man. He’s stopped asking you to call him granddad, but you could at least give the dude a fist bump. It’s getting to the point where I’m starting to think Ryan is being a bit of a dick toward Graham. Perhaps he’s closed off because the men in his life have abandoned him, but this is getting ridiculous. They’ve been through five onscreen adventures, and several offscreen adventures at this point. They’ve been through a lot, to put it lightly. Travelling with the Doctor should be far more of a bonding experience. While it is better to show than tell, Ryan’s standoffishness to Graham is getting old. Graham seems to take it in stride though. You’ve gotta give him credit for that.

Now on Resus 1, Ronan will probably shut down with nobody left to serve. Durkas apologises for not being kinder to him in the past. It’s weird that the Doctor doesn’t offer to take him to some sort of android planet or something. I kind of expected it. Yoss has decided to keep Avocado. Ryan, who was a big part in this decision, helped him come to grips with the idea of being a father by telling him that a father doesn’t need to be perfect, he just needs to be there. The Doctor and her friends are given assurances that they’ll be taken back to the TARDIS after they give their statements. The episode ends with Ronan reciting a kind of litany that Durkas, Yoss, and surprisingly the Doctor all know by heart. All in all, it’s not a bad way to leave the episode. In comparison to last week, there is far more of a feeling of resolution.

As I said, this episode was pretty solid. But one of the things I’m still holding out to see from this series is Jodie’s big "wow," moment. This is in no way me saying she has failed to wow me as the Doctor. I’ve not hidden my total joy over her performance. What I am waiting for is for the fury to come out. Christopher Eccleston spent a good chunk of his series being either sad, bossy, or silly. But when the episode "Dalek," came around, we got to see another side to his Doctor- his scary side! How about with the Tenth Doctor doomed the Family of Blood to an eternity of torture? Or how about when Eleven stared down his companions with intimidating eyes because he could see they were lying to him? I’m still waiting for Thirteen to get scary. We saw it come out in a microscopic amount when she warned Krasko not to threaten her. But I’m still waiting for that moment.

Thus far she’s been a rather friendly and forgiving Doctor. She’s shown more compassion than contempt. I’m waiting for one of the writers to give us a truly morally ambiguous moment of the Doctor. And no, having conflicting morality about guns doesn’t count! I was hoping that this episode would be the one. We would finally get that truly contemptible villain, and we’d get to see her dark side come out. If they’re going to make the brave decision of excluding Daleks and other classic baddies, we deserve a new one of the same calibre. What this episode gave us instead, was a pretty solid base in peril episode. I won’t fault it for not being the big evil monster I was hoping for, because what we got instead was pretty effective.

Again, we’re only halfway in. There’s plenty of time to up the stakes. We need a good dose of danger. I’d like to see some more planet threatening terror. We need more timeline meddling other than one racist pissing in the wind against change. But despite the lack of fear, this episode had one thing going for it above all else. This episode had a lot of heart. It may not have been a heart-stopping thrill ride, but in there were real moments of joy. Having a threat that was so cute was actually a welcome surprise. It wasn’t trying to be a big bad villain. Here’s to hoping that the second half of series eleven amps up the danger factor!

[samosevie]

Hey :) do you have any other audio commentaries from S11 or is it only ep 1 that they did it for? (Sorry to be a pain!! Thank you so much for uploading the first one!)

hey, so there are 3 others, but i haven’t uploaded them:

Rosa - Mandip Gill, Malorie Blackman (co-writer),Alex Mercer (producer)

The Tsuranga Conundrum - Mandip Gill, Ben Bailey-Smith (Durkas Cicero), Suzanne Packer (General Eve Cicero), Nikki Wilson (series producer)

Demons of the Punjab - Mandip Gill, Alex Mercer, Shane Zaza (Prem), Vinay Patel (writer)

(if you would like me to upload another one let me know, or if y’all want all of them uploaded i can do that too)

[ankitathepizza]

Eve Cicero: I have to pilot the ship, there’s no one else who can pilot it. I know I’ll die but it is necessary. *pilots* *dies*

Durkas Cicero: Oh wait I can pilot the ship. Oh no, my sister’s dead.

[grassangel]

Two things we've learnt from your responses last week were:

• You loved that the 'scare' factor played a major part in this episode. • Doctor Who fans do love a good, "traditionally" scary monster on occasion!

I see the if you can’t say something nice, say something general rule is in effect. (I’m... not surprised.)

Usual preamble, did you watch it, how high do you rate it. Then general thoughts

I was torn over the Doctor losing the TARDIS again, especially when both she and I are still not over their recent separation. But that, and the Doctor being injured, brought an amazing level of tension to the first third of the episode. Some of the action and exposition did feel a little stilted, with some things happening about two minutes after I anticipated they would and exposition being a bit of an info-dump and not much more. The bit about anti-matter in particular felt like it was taken straight from Wikipedia, and not even the simple English version. I did enjoy learning more about Ryan and seeing him develop more. Graham was fun too. The direction within, and set design of, the Tsuranga was very effective and well done. I also really enjoyed the makeup and character design for Mabli as it made her feel more alien, as well as all of the costume design, especially Eve Cicero's uniform.

Rating out of ten for:  For people like me, Charming, Fresh, Shareable (stories I want to share & discuss), Warm, For all the family, Emotional, Adventurous, Funny, Easy enough to follow, Gripping, Topical (covers topics and themes I care about), Scary Gripping and for all the family were the ones I rated highest, but it was a fairly tight, high rating cluster for this episode

Then rating: The core cast (The Doctor, Ryan, Yasmin & Graham), The location: Medic Ship, The monsters/villains, The other characters, The storyline Other characters won, though the core cast and location came very close behind.

Rating characters next: The Doctor, Ryan, Yasmin, Graham, Astos, Mabli, Eve Cicero, Durkas Cicero, Ronan, Yoss Mabli and Ryan rated highest, though the Doctor wasn’t far behind. (Sorry Ronan, you were lowest.)

Words! Cute for Pting!, blank for Ronan, heroic for Eve Cicero, leader for Astos, brave for Mabli, anxious for Yoss, stalwart for Durkas Cicero

No questions about the core cast? Or asking to go on about the Thirteenth Doctor? Just how likely to view the next few episodes (higher than last week), and the usual how much of previous Doctor Who have you seen.

Though there is free space!

I noticed the Doctor has been saying 'sorry' a lot in this series. It feels like a statement on how women say it more often, but I can't tell if its use is being portrayed as a positive or negative trait. I also appreciated that Yoss's pregnancy and ultimate decision to keep his son were handled delicately, though I do appreciate that those themes, and those of absent parents that Ryan brought, might have been triggering for other people. But overall a much more enjoyable episode than the previous.

There was also a panel feedback survey, which was very boring, except it does remind me that I love doing these, even if I am sometimes negative or go “why???????” at things. Because yeah, I do feel like my responses have an impact. (As ever, a reminder you can join here. Though apparently there’s a special panel for American members about the services available to them.)

[agentmarymargaretskitz]

I wonder who else is gonna die in this ep.

Durkas just cares about his sister, you prick.

Ryan’s like “Nope!”

Well that’s convenient that boys give birth to boys and girls give birth to girls.

This is bringing up stuff on Ryan’s dad. I’d like to hug Ryan.

Yaz and Ryan give me a great many feels.

RYAN FOUND HIS MOM WHEN SHE DIED, HE DESERVES THE BEST FROM NOW ON!

You’re talking about it because she’s a friend!

13 gives a good pep talk.

A Doctor of Hope. I’m fine!

That’s a good point about wants.

Can we unleash a Pting on some Daleks or Cybermen?

Curse you little gremlin!

A bit Piorot. Lol.

Loving this speech.

Thanks General!

Well, that’s not good that they’re losing oxygen and heat.

Ronan, piss off.

That is not good timing.

What’s up with Cicero and the Adrenaline Blockers?

[templeofgeek]

General Spoiler Warnings Apply!

Injured and stranded in the wilds of a far-flung galaxy, the Doctor, Yaz, Graham and Ryan must band together with a group of strangers to survive against one of the universe’s most deadly – and unusual – creatures.

Join Doc In The Box as he discusses his thoughts on ”The Tsuranga Conundrum”.

Graham (BRADLEY WALSH), Yaz (MANDIP GILL), The Doctor (JODIE WHITTAKER), Ryan (TOSIN COLE)

Durkas Cicero (BEN BAILEY-SMITH), Eve Cicero (SUZANNE PACKER)

Ryan (TOSIN COLE), Yoss Inkl (JACK SHALLOO)

Yaz (MANDIP GILL)

Ronan (DAVID SHIELDS)

Mabil (LOIS CHIMIMBA), Astos (BRETT GOLDSTEIN)

Astos (BRETT GOLDSTEIN), Yaz (MANDIP GILL), Mabil (LOIS CHIMIMBA)

Mabil (LOIS CHIMIMBA), Ryan (TOSIN COLE)

Mabil (LOIS CHIMIMBA), Astos (BRETT GOLDSTEIN)

The Doctor (JODIE WHITTAKER)

Eve Cicero (SUZANNE PACKER), The Doctor (JODIE WHITTAKER)

The Doctor (JODIE WHITTAKER), Graham (BRADLEY WALSH), Ryan (TOSIN COLE), Yaz (MANDIP GILL), Mabil (LOIS CHIMIMBA)

Host: Doc In The Box Editing by: Danniel Slade

Watch Doctor Who on BBC America http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/doctor-who

Follow Doc In The Box on social media:

http://twitter.com/doc_in_the_box1 http://instagram.com/doc_in_the_box

Temple of Geek’s Who Review – Episode 5: The Tsuranga Conundrum General Spoiler Warnings Apply! Injured and stranded in the wilds of a far-flung galaxy, the Doctor, Yaz, Graham and Ryan must band together with a group of strangers to survive against one of the universe's most deadly - and unusual - creatures.

[ao3feed-doctorwho]

A Good Woman Goes to War

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2yY6uIc

by nelliecrain

Placeholder Title

Words: 964, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who, The Walking Dead (TV), The Walking Dead (Comics)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Categories: F/F

Characters: Thirteenth Doctor, The Doctor (Doctor Who), Yasmin Khan, Ryan Sinclair, Graham O'Brien, Epzo (Doctor Who), Angstrom (Doctor Who), Eve Cicero, Durkas Cicero, Astos (Doctor Who), Mabli (Doctor Who), Yoss Inkl, Ronan (Doctor Who), Karl (Doctor Who), Krasko (Doctor Who), Jade McIntyre

Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan, The Doctor/Yasmin Khan

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, TWD AU

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2yY6uIc