#ep: dot and bubble

[beautifulhigh]

Me, an hour ago: I guess "Dot and Bubble" is going to be a Doctor Who commentary on use of social media, our reliance on tech, not paying attention to the world around you...

Russell T Davis: yes, but also no

Me, now: .......................................... oh

[stevenrogered]

I don’t care what you think. Okay? You can say whatever you want. You can think…absolutely anything. I will do anything…if you just allow me to save your lives. 

[doctorwhommm]

about to throw hands with l*ndy pepper bean

[yesokayiknow]

What fic ideas do you have for Belinda?

i got annoyed about ummmm aspects of 15's whole run so i've decided to write out a 2 series (13 eps each + specials) long au in which bel & ruby travel w 15 at the same time lol

[gotyouanyway]

“lindy was sooo evil” “justice for gothic paul and ricky” they were all friends they were all rich white kids living in rich white kids only land happily and willingly…. don’t be tricked into sympathizing with any of them just bc they were nice or smart and don’t pick just one to villainize while excusing the rest pleeeaassee

[nightmanatee]

hold on... 14x05... "Twitter"🤔

[harleybird]

Series 14 (so far) + Palettes

60th / inspo

[sometimesraven]

re: the ableism in Dot and Bubble

I understand it almost certainly wasn't Rusty's intention for the "can't walk without the arrows" thing to be ableist, but the implications are there and it was so, so hard to watch.

As I said while liveblogging, I've noted that reliance on tech like Google Maps has caused a regression in skills like navigation and a frustrating refusal to even try. I'm frequently faced with that fact as I live somewhere you have to use your eyes to see and most fast food delivery drivers just Cannot Find Us bc the GPS goes wild and they can't follow the directions I always give them so I inevitably have to go out to find them myself. Believe me, I know what he was going for with that part of the script.

However.

When you exaggerate that point to the tune of "she literally cannot walk" without the aid, and then instead of it being deeply disturbing to the two 'kind, helpful' characters (Doc n Ruby), they actively roll their eyes at her and it's played as an "omg how stupid is she" moment, you have to see how that looks.

Let's reframe it: someone you've met was raised in a cult. A very insular, very strict cult that they literally have never seen outside of. At this point in time you know nothing about them but you do know they're in a very insular, very closed-off society. One day they tell you they have no idea how to,,,,,, idk, wash themselves without assistance. If your first instinct is to laugh at them and roll your eyes like they're overexaggerating, you're an ableist.

I struggle to believe anyone like the Doctor wouldn't perhaps initially react with confusion/incredulity but then, after realising this person is 100% serious, go "oh my god that's horrible okay uh let me try to walk you through this and teach you how".

It's a horrible, cynical response that would maybe track if at this point the characters already knew she was an entitled pissbaby. But they don't and that's why it comes across so terribly.

Especially when there's no indication that this is a side-effect of her entitlement and she's literally insulting herself "I'm so stupid!" and genuinely upset and frustrated that she can't even walk in the face of actual death. And yes, she miraculously can walk again once she meets Ricky but it wasn't because she was ignoring the Doctor's advice because racism because he had not given her any. She had literally zero clue how to walk without assistance until Ricky guided her.

This isn't a refusal to learn a skill based on entitlement, this isn't a heavy-handed metaphor, you have given this girl a disability (even if it is psychosomatic, it is still a disability). And in a time where social media + youth entitlement is being blamed for an increase of ADHD, Autism, chronic illness and DID diagnosis-seekers (among other things, but those are the ones people are most aggressive against) that just does not look good At All.

Russel could easily have made it so that they just had no idea how to navigate without the bubble and refused to learn.

Maybe at first show it as genuine frustration on Lindy's part that she can't find anything without guidance but slowly show that no, she's perfectly capable, she just doesn't care to learn.

Hell, you could have everything play out the same way but have her genuinely get offered help to begin with by the Doctor and ignore it, only for Ricky to say the same thing to her later and she gets it immediately.

Idk, anything beyond literally disabling her. The show does a great job at humanising her before showing us that she was a monster all along, but I feel like Rusty himself forgot that he was still representing a Whole Entire Person (something that people on all ends of the political spectrum do All The Time: "person is bad therefore [___ism] is okay in this instance". Ableism especially)

[bemular]

Now I'm going through some old who and I'm wondering if the curator is just Tennant's future. He specifically says that he becomes the curator after he retires and the only doctor who retires is Tennant after bi generation. So what if Gatwa and Tennant get new generations separate from each other. Which would also follow the pattern of "visiting old faces".

[s-zephyr]

GUYS DOCTOR WHO IS SO FUCKING GOOD AGAIN. WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK.

[thebadtimewolf]

about dot and bubble

martha reparations is that motherfucking bitch huh! do ya get get get it💃🏾🕺🏿💃🏾🕺🏿

[buildoblivion]

as the series goes on I think the problem with the placement of devils chord is less that it should be swapped with another episode but actually that there should have been at least two new episodes between it and space babies

[bartholomeacorsair]

Oh the sadness and anger in his eyes when he almost thought that he saved a "wrong world" and the time wasted that could've been used to save someone worth it 😭😭😭😭😭

[snackleggg]

So I think Dot and Bubble will be a social media episode.

The thing that really solidified this was the character list we got.

There are ALOT of named characters, and they all have very strange names. Usually, in DW episode with large character casts, there will be 5, maybe 6 named characters, excluding the doctor and their current companion(s). Having lots of named characters is usually a big struggle since they need to be introduced and also endeared to the audience, so we care about them. This takes up time, and it's just impossible to do this with such a large list of named characters.

Unless we simply know their names not because they were explicitly introduced but because they are visible as their user name. This would also explain why all the names are so bizarre. They aren't their real names, they are user names.

The episode teaser also has a social media feel as it obviously seems to be depicting some kind of screen with what I assume to be peoples profiles in the background.

And the name of the episode itself, Dot and Bubble. All of these things add up to this being an episode that may focus around a futuristic social media that Goes WrongTM.

[sherl-grey]

millie gibson is CRUSHING it i’ve gotta say

[captainswan618]

watching dot and bubble rn and so far I’m guessing that the monsters are created by the city and are only eating people who don’t adhere to some kind of social norm or something