#idk i just really want clara to be a more fleshed out character

[tamlinrose]

NuWho Characters as The Entities (TMA)

9th Doctor- The Desolation.

He is fresh off the time war, where millions were sacrificed in flame. He is the main cause of death of his entire people and rose like a phoenix from the ashes. DEFINITELY the desolation

Rose- The Eye.

Come on, she becomes an all knowing goddess of Time. How could Bad Wolf NOT be the Eye??

Captain Jack Harkness- The End.

He literally dies over and over and over. Even though he can’t permanently die, I’d say he’s feeding The End some good cosmic horror

The Tenth Doctor- The Lonely.

Pretty self explanatory. He desires companionship so much, but everyone leaves him, whether by choice or force. In the end, he is all alone. And regenerates knowing that for all the connections he made, none could stay. Sad wet boy

Martha- The Hunt.

I debated this one, but I think especially her traveling across the world with the sheer determination to defeat the Master shows her becoming the predator instead of the prey. She also becomes a unit soldier, and her arc is her adopting the soldier mentality the doctor so hates about himself onto herself out of survival.

Donna- The Spiral.

Her whole arc is around not being able to trust herself, her own mind because she’s been told she isn’t clever or worthwhile so many times. Not to mention Fear Her, where everything about the World is Not Right and she’s at the center of the wrongness vortex.

Sarah Jane- The Web.

She’s a journalist, she’s constantly picking at threads, finding out information she shouldn’t have, weaving it to her will. I also think that the doctor dropping her off and ditching her without her consent is playing into the fear of having your life puppeted by forces outside of your control.

11th Doctor- The Stranger.

Idk something about him… his penchant for theatrics, his burning desire to be human but always being just slightly left of human behavior, mannerisms. It’s like he’s mimicking the humanity he wants so bad, but it just gives him the uncanny valley affect that makes him even more alien than ever.

River- also the Web

She is scared of being controlled by forces beyond her. She was brainwashed into wanting to kill the doctor and ultimately it is not her will that pushes her to do so. She lives to be free of influence but she is controlled by the outside forces of the time stream discrepancies that keep her and the doctor apart.

Amy- The Flesh.

Okay this is for silly goofy reasons, but the fact she was LITERALLY a flesh avatar for like a full season really sells it for me. Not to mention a lot of her arc is very centered on body horror (pregnancy without her knowledge, giving birth, not being able to have kids, etc).

Rory: Also an avatar of The End.

He just dies so many times man, him and captain Jack should go to couples therapy or smthn

12: The Dark.

Okay hear me out. It’s the oldest fear entity, which I think really folds in with 12s general air of wisdom and the fact he’s been around a fucking long time. Also, he has that entire episodes where he tries to find out what lives in the dark at the end of the universe, and what lives under the bed that absolutely does not wish to be seen.

Clara: Also The Desolation

She is sooooo self destructive man. Especially after Danny Pink dies, she’s willing to burn it all to the ground. Her eventual demise is because she is impulsive to a fault, and in some ways it could be argued she has a death wish.

Bill: The Vast

She just gives me that childlike wonder for new worlds and the open sky. IK this seems like pretty vague reasoning but I think like Simon Fairchild she just loves the vastness of the universe so much that she eventually goes travelling with star eyed girl to see it all.

13: also The Vast

Citing that youthful wonder again. Honestly I don’t know much about 13 or her companions so if you have Headcanons for Yaz, Ryan, Graham and 13 hmu! Tag them below

The War Doctor: The Extinction

Self explanatory. He’s the doctor who ends it all, his entire species. And that choice defines and haunts him into future incarnations.

The Master: The Slaughter

Senseless chaotic violence for the sake of violence. Sounds pretty on brand.

If you have any contradictions, additional thoughts, or help on 13s era I’d love to hear it in the tags!!!

[auburnitzy]

Idk if anyone has ever told you this but I am stupidly excited every time you post something abt Nawa

I was never exposed to Filipino Mythology as often like Greek or Chinese. It kind of made me lose touch with the mythology my mom grew up on.

So seeing your character and the mythology she’s based off of really got me going to get into Filipino creatures :^D

aha!! same!! i don't really see much media of philippine mythology outside of the country, and i didn't want to accidentally offend people when i make a chinese oc because i made a mistake

below the (read more) option is some concepts and early designs of nawa!! (mostly me just rambling ab nawa's history as a character)

february 2022, the earliest known design of her was made in gacha club.

she wasn't filipino yet (chinese-japanese actually) and was named "yurei zhou"

i didn't even bother researching the last name because i was that ignorant.

we don't talk about this era because i am ashamed of it. what an embarrassing time.

if anyone is reading this i'm sorry for doing that :(

this was created march 4, 2022 according to my ibispaint x files, and is the very first naotian/lunarnoodles art i made.

by this time, i was simping for mk because i loved dorks (and still do to this day)

back then, she didn't really wear the sleeveless turtleneck thing, it was a black turtleneck dress (WITH SLEEVES!! 🤯) underneath a a short jacket/vest.

her name was also changed to "yue zhou" because at this point, i realized that "why the heck would i name her yurei zhou if i'm not japanese? that's weird."

i also haven't decided whether she was purely filipino or filipino-chinese

she had red shoes and frankly, i don't know why i chose that. honestly it was an eyesore.

next up we got a more-LEGO looking concept (dated march 8, 2022)

her name was changed to nawa (no last name yet), because i realized "wow, i am not chinese either!!" and said "FILIPINOFICATION BEAM ACTIVATE!!! 🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭" and now she's turned fully filipino

for some reason, her horns also changed to black like thoma's from genshin.

by march 30, 2022, her horns had turned to gold with violet edges, with two slits. however, her shoes were still red, and had gold pins on her jacket.

she still had no bell because there was no backstory formed for her at the moment.

october, 2022 came, and i went "ooo i don't wanna misinterpret chinese mythology" so i turned to filipino mythology instead

her backstory used to be something like this;

"chang'e used to be best friends with an ancestor of nawa's (even gave the ancestor the bell as a gift), until that ancestor tried to eat the moon so the celestial realm banished that ancestor inside the bell and was passed down to her descendants. nawa tags along with mk in s3 to return the bell as an apology to chang'e because the ancestor had wanted to apologize and was haunting her descendants to do that for her"

obviously that's not the backstory and plans anymore, and lualhati (the ancestor) was eventually scrapped

her last name, "elyas" was eventually formed and taken from the character "elias" from one of jose rizal's (a hero in philippine history) book's noli me tangere, because at the time, a show called "maria clara at ibarra" aired at october 3, 2022, and i got so hooked on the show that i made her last name elyas.

then february, 2023 came and i was like "my gosh,,, her backstory is garbage,,," and revamped everything.

i wanted her to be more fleshed out, but i still didn't think of a full backstory yet-

and because I was impulsive and not thinking, i still made her a reference

late february, 2022 came and i said "so, she has bakunawa blood, right? why not give her a DRAGON FORM?"

at this point, i made her accidentally kill her sister (she was being silly and goofy guys) (YOU SINK INTO MY CLOTHES 🐺🐺🌙), made her despise her bakunawa heritage after that and gave her trauma (because that builds character!!!)

i also made her mother (who was originally kind in the fanfiction) into someone who blames her for her sister's death and be the one to give her the bell

and now we land here, early march of 2023, so i said "what if she actually recovered from that trauma i gave her? 👉🏽👈🏽 and what can i do to make her more associated with the moon?"

so the idea of mk helping her heal and love all of herself and her "imperfections" was born!!

(according to the wiki, mk thinks that there is perfection in imperfection, goofy lil dude <33)

her hair turned white because nawa came to love her bakunawa side, and because of that- she became more in tune with haliya's (the filipino moon goddess) side (who loved bakunawa so much to the point that it still resonates through her descendants.)

i also gave her fins, barbels and a tail cuz why not?

of course, her natural hair color is still brown/auburn, but it only appears when she's "de-powered" or something happened to take her powers away (it takes away her bakunawa features too)

and i think that's the stuff i can recall at the moment,,, i'll add more stuff once i remember

[pitynostars]

for the dw ask game: 10, 11, 20 💜

10 favorite companion ?

clara my beloved <3<3 she literally has it all. people often complain she feels like a different character between s7/8/9 but thats part of why i love her because the progression of it all makes complete sense to me so instead of feeling like having 3 companions in one because of bad writing its just one beautifully fleshed out story. her growth from bosj->hell bent (arguably aotd->hell bent but-) is insanely well done i love her so much shes my little meow meow i turn her round in my head like a rotisserie chicken every day i am shaking her in a pringles can etc etc. shes stubborn and mean and kind and funny and obsessive i just <3<3 MY WIFE. MY WIFE. the doc/companion rship is the heart of the show for me and her relationship with the dr is SO insanely juicy and complicated i'm obsessed with it and i also love her dynamic with danny and missy and hurt!doctor and like basically every guest star she bounces off so it's just like.... GAH. every element works for me. CLARA<3

outside of that her run sits in the most vivid memory for me i remember jenna's announcement so vividly and watching asylum of the daleks and seeing oswin for the first time and how shook we all were and the whole s7 arc SO vividly and my memory is terrible and i HATED s8 but i stayed watching because i wanted to see clara's story out to the end but then s9 made me re fall in love with the show and s8 retroactively so my love for her is also just very tied into all that because if it wasn't for her i would have given up on dr who like.... her power !!!! but i do just honestly think she is one of THEEE characters of all time for me

11 least favorite companion ?

i dont really have any companion i DISLIKE thinking about it, but i do think dan is pretty boring. i forget he exists often tbh akfjsldf.... even tho he JUST left. he has some fun setup and i liked his dynamic with karvanista and yaz but other than that there's not a lot there for me... sorry king. hope u get a new house soon 😢

20 if you could change anything about the show, what would it be ?

only thought about this for half a sec but honestly whatever shit that went down behind the scenes that made chris eccleston leave after 1 series... i wish he didnt have to go thru all that and had had a better time with it and on a more selfish note i just wish we had more 9 and i wish that he felt safe/happy enough to come back for multidoc stories and whatnot. similarly w like freema and jodie (+ whoever else i'm forgetting/idk about who got it bad) w the racism and sexism they had to deal w from the "fans" 😠

also i wish there were more diverse writers/showrunners sooner one thing i respect about chibs is he apparently did try to push for more writers of colour, female writers etc..... the first writer of colour on the show being in like s11 is bad enough let alone counting all of classic who too 😭... just embarrassing. pls let someone trans have the floor in the writers room rtd i am on my knees 😢

just realised ive said i wld simply undo bigotry (: but i mean. yh aksdjfsgdlf...

on a stupider note then i'd take out that clause that says the daleks have to be in every series if that's even real because i think that is SOOO stupid if its true

[arysthaeniru]

What if Clara was a midwife?

“The midwife is a relic of barbarism. In civilized countries the midwife is wrong, has always been wrong. The greatest bar to human progress has been compromise, and the midwife demands a compromise between right and wrong. All admit that the midwife is wrong.” - Dr Joseph DeLee, 1915 being completely wrong. 

Listen, I love Clara so much. She’s so weird, and everybody kind of hates her, and her weird double is so trippy, and I adore her sass. And everyone knows that Ice Pick Lodge didn’t quite have enough time/resources to shore up her route in Pathologic 1. And I just keep thinking: I do love Clara as she is, but imagine if she was a adolescent midwife, instead of a weird healer child! Imagine how much more thematically cohesive everything would be!

Clara’s story route is all about how old and new CAN coexist together, but it requires maintained, thoughtful sacrifice, to create that peace. That essence of sacrifice is what every midwife goes through all the times. What can pragmatically be sacrificed? Whose life is more important? How do you deal with the tensions and demands of the old and the new, and who bears the knowledge of that sacrifice? Clara facilitating the birth of something new in the the Town-upon-Gorkhon just becomes so much more interesting with her as a midwife, instead of a saviour figure. 

I also think it would lead better into the idea of doctors who aren’t really seen as doctors solving this plague best. Artemy’s steppe knowledge and Clara’s midwife knowledge would have equally been seen as complete nonsense by people like Daniil, who don’t understand the importance behind those kinds of cures, and the sorts of relationships that have to be maintained for it. 

And why the age-up? I think it just works so much better! Part of being an adolescent negotiating your future and the rest of your life, is that constant diplomacy and sacrifice between old and new. I think it also allows for Clara to have really interesting relationships with the rest of the town’s leadership, because of how being a teenager is such a transition phase.

So imagine with me, if you will, a new Clara and a new route. 

Clara isn’t actually an outsider to the town in this version: she’s Katerina’s bastard daughter. Everybody knows the her secret identity, but she doesn’t really live with the Saburovs anyway, she has her own place, a small but well-maintained house to do her work out of. 

Alexander still trusts Clara, but he resents her now, because she’s a reminder that the lack of children between he and Katerina is not a mutual thing, but specifically his own lack of potency. I bet that would make his ego really dented, and make him even more of an asshole. 

Clara still wakes up in a grave at the beginning of the story, but this time, it’s because she actually really died. When she walks around town, her reputation drops because the dead aren’t supposed to come back to life, and most people are horrified by your existence. 

Clara, upon initially coming back, is told by the Tragedians that she has to save people with her hands--she takes this to mean she continues doing her damn job. But to do that, she needs people to trust her again, and for that she needs Isidor’s approval. Too bad he’s dead now.

Sidenote: Clara’s midwifery job sometimes meant cutting the baby out of the mother. But she can’t legally cut flesh out of anybody, so she’d call Isidor up. She never much liked his necessity, but she and him got along fairly well.

But some of the Kin say that Artemy is a menkhu like his father, so maybe she should run after him to re-establish herself? Too bad Alexander is convinced he killed Isidor, and has already killed three people in town already. Alexander’s death warrant for him means he’s already gone into hiding. She can’t convince him to change his mind about Artemy 

Katerina doesn’t trust Clara anymore: she says her real daughter is dead, and that Clara is here as a horrible monster to lead her and the town astray. She wonders if this is the morphine addling her mind, but then she meets the Rat Prophet and everything makes sense. Also it’s implied the doppleganger is coming around whenever Clara’s not there to intimidate Katerina. 

When Clara goes to sleep, exhausted, confused, and nowhere closer to regaining her job or position in the town, she realizes she’s inherited the visions which she couldn’t see before she died. She’s a Mistress now. 

Capella, who used to be her friend, and Maria with whom she used to be amicable, are unimpressed, and don’t believe in her visions too much. They’re all arguing about the role of the Mistresses in town, and now Klara’s joining the midst, it’s becoming uncomfortable. Klara’s task is to try and convince them of her own validity and her own importance to the future of the town. Capella, especially, is easier to convince, but the weird friendship that used to exist before Clara’s death, is very tenuous, and Artemy can easily fuck it up. 

Speaking of Artemy, when Clara does eventually find him, he’s not actually a menkhu yet, so he’s completely useless on that front. But also, the Plague is happening, and he’s useful there, and he’s getting the trust of his father’s people. You get him to vouch for you, and it temporarily helps, but most people are still too freaked out by you. Clara and Artemy still don’t get along, though, Artemy’s way too condescending of Clara and they bristle against each other, uneasily. 

Daniil, on the other hand, is actually impressed by Clara when they first encounter each other. After all, beating death was the dream, and Clara did it! But Clara doesn’t like how he talks about her work, and also has no idea how she survived her brush with death, so the initial interest fades off, quickly. Daniil and Clara are still prickly with each other, but the threats of violence are less frequent, because a teenaged girl is harder to threaten to spank.  

Notkin, who Clara also used to be friends with, now thinks she’s just a half soul. He’s impressed by that, though, not scared, and all of his kids trade with her. But the Soul and a Halves generally insult Clara before doing anything.  

Khan’s Doghead clan respect Clara, because of her survival, but Khan maintains that the Polyhedron rejects her because she’s too old. Cara can prove him wrong by seeing all of the beautiful mirages of the Polyedron, but also telling him they’re all lies. This can make Khan made and lock off the Polyhedron, but the dogheads will still trade. 

Grace is probably Clara’s only real friend, and even she is being intimidated by Clara’s double. Grace is very convinced by her ability to speak to the dead, and Clara believes her, but also believes it’s dangerous. 

Clara and Andrei almost throw hands on the regular, one, because he thinks she’s presumptuous and very creepy towards her brother, but two, because she also stopped a lot of Herb Brides from coming to Andrei’s establishment, because they were all getting thrush from the twyrine. 

Clara still gets the daily missions to go and verify whether people are responsible for the plague, but this time, it’s because Alexander believes that Clara has inroads with all of them, because of previous midwifey encounters with them. This is true, but most of them don’t trust Clara anymore, so she has to do a bunch of errands around town to improve her reputation and prove she remembers her midwife skills. This can be helped by visions, or by rumours. Soon, Clara starts to build a lot of reputation amongst drunks and believers of her magical miracles (mst of the violent miracles done by her doppleganger) 

Clara’s double is still around, and is still the manifestation of the plague. At several points, people will suggest that Clara’s reincarnation is why the plague is happening and it’s uncertain if this is true or not. A lot of Clara’s missions are finding the double and asking her why she’s doing what she’s doing. 

Her relationship to Bounds, I think, would also be a way to explore their sins more. I think for a mature game, Pathologic doesn’t often discuss the relationships of sex and love to death very much, and I think there are some complex things to say about love, and children, and “sin” that could be really explored through a route with a midwife main character, who’s supposed to be investigating the sins and crimes of Anna, Yulia, Lara, Grief, Oyun, Big Vlad, Rubin and the Saburovs. I think dealing compassionately with the ideas of cheating, STDs, abortions and all the stuff around sexual health/freedom of women that nobody really wants to talk about could be an interesting way of how Clara reconciles the old and the new: by revealing secrets and letting them not be foul anymore. 

[jyndor]

Very specific thoughts. I started Doctor Who with season 5 so I think I have a lot of nostalgia about that era, but the thing is that Moffat really isn't showrunner material. He can write a beginning that intrigues you and an ending that makes you cry, but he skimps on the details. Like I was excited to see The Doctor and River Song's love story but by the end I was like, 'did I miss an episode or something' because I felt like they told us how epic they'd be but failed to show us the love. And I like Amy and Rory as individuals but I feel like Amy was just marrying him because she didn't know what to do with her life. And like the sexism. Who knew not wanting to take your spouse's name meant you were childish.

lol i am so triggered by anyone starting dw with season 5 😂 moffat's misogyny was always lurking in his writing (weird ass classism and sexism in girl in the fireplace, shunting martha out of the way entirely for some white oc during blink, everything about river song in the library episodes) but he was able to ride it out because he had a great showrunner in rtd, who despite his flaws was far better at keeping things grounded imo.

I love a lot about season five but season six pushed me to my limits lol. every woman moff wrote lived for the doctor - their lives revolved around him. and you can argue that the companions don't need the fleshed out families and regular lives that rtd gave them but I just find rose, martha and donna a million times more relatable and believable than amy, river and clara (never watched bill so I can't comment on her). I think moffat was going for amy in particular being very much like a fantasy character in a fairy tale, which works really well in s5 because all of the mystery and weirdness was new, but he just doesn't know how to bring it all together in a way that makes any kind of sense imo. which is why the climax of river's story in s6 failed so hard for me. ironically the best parts of amy's story for me came in season 7 because she kind of felt more... idk... like a real person instead of a fantasy, and also like I loved every river and amy scene ever like more mama daughter scenes plsss

clara felt refreshingly real after amy left when they weren't pushing the mystery nonsense. ad I don't even mind mystery! bad wolf is one of my favorite arcs ever of anything, but that is always about rose taking control of her life and making her own choices instead of like with clara being the puzzle box for the doctor to solve without her knowledge.

I stopped watching after the first few episodes of season nine but I heard actually moffat's last season was his best, which is great because I was seriously worried about how he would treat a Black lesbian. maybe someday I will go back and finish the show but honestly moffat killed doctor who for me, and it is hard for me to go back to something like that.

also river and the doctor's love story makes zero sense when all is said and done lmao like why does moff always write these little girls falling for the doctor 🤮🤮🤮

anyway i just got off work so idk if this is coherent lmao but thanks for sharing your thoughts because i always like to hear them

[user-2-electric-boogaloo]

A Comparison of RTD and Steven Moffat: Saving The Day

So for this analysis I’m going to compare when Moffat and RTD save the day well and when they save it poorly. There are a few bits of criteria I need to explain.

 First I will only be including main series, no Torchwood, no spin-offs, and no mini episodes.

Second, I have to define what makes a good and a bad ending (my examples will come from episodes written by neither of them): 

Bad endings include when the sonic saves the day (see The Power Of Three) (there are exceptions, see below), when a character spouts some useless technobabble that doesn’t make any scientific sense/when it doesn’t make logical sense in general, when the Doctor invents/presents a machine/equipment that miraculously stops the baddy and is never referred to again (see Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS), and any other ending I deem to be bad (see The Vampires of Venice)

Good endings include when the sonice activates a device that has been well established to save the day, when technobabble is used that actually makes some scientific sense, and just generally when the baddy is destroyed in what I deem to be a creative manner that makes sense with all the things that had been set up in that episode (see The Unquiet Dead).

There will also be cases where there isn’t really a day to be saved, however this happens more often with Moffat.

Let us begin (obviously there will be spoilers but the last episode in the list aired nearly 4 years ago so what you doing with your life).

RTD:

Rose: Bad

What even is anti-plastic?! Like seriously, he’s faced the Autons loads of times and has never thought to use it any other time.

The End Of The World: Bad

The Doctor just goes up to the appearance of the repeated meme (ha meme) and rips its arm off. He then just summons Cassandra back by twisting a knob which apparently everyone can do if “you’re very clever like me”.

Aliens Of London/World War Three: Good

Just nuking them all was a bit dodgy but I’ll give it to him purely because it had been set up earlier in the episode and it is a genuine option that could have been taken.

The Long Game: Good

The heating issue was set up within 2 minutes of the episode starting. It’s always good to see the Doctor using his enemies weakness against them.

Boom Town: Good

Only just. It’s technology that hadn’t been showcased ever before and came out of nowhere, but I’m allowing purely because it was setting up The Parting Of The Ways.

Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways: Good

See above. It was set up the story before so it works.

The Christmas Invasion: Bad

This was so close to being good. If RTD had just let the Sycorax leader be honourable then everything would have been fine. Instead he had to let him be dishonourable and then the Doctor through the Satsuma at a random button that for no apparent reason caused a bit of floor to fall away.

New Earth: Bad

It only makes sense if you think about it for less than 10 seconds as just pouring every cure to every disease ever into a giant tub and then spraying said supercure onto them all, then having them hug each other to pass it on. That is suspending my disbelief just a bit too far.

Tooth And Claw: Good

Everything is set up in the episode so I’ll allow it but I fail to see how Prince Albert had the time to ensure that the diamond was cut perfectly.

Love And Monsters: Bad

It’s Love And Monsters. Need I say more?

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday: Good

It was very clearly set up throughout the episode.

The Runaway Bride: Bad

I don’t like how a few bombs can supposedly drain the entire Thames.

Smith And Jones: Good

All the events were well established

Gridlock: Good

It’s a fairly bland way to save the day, just opening the surface to all the drivers. But how else could he have done it?

Utopia/The Sound Of Drums/Last Of The Time Lords: Bad

As much as I like the idea that he tuned himself into the archangel network, he basically turned into Jesus. It is arguably the least convincing ending in modern Doctor Who history.

Voyage Of The Damned: Bad

Why was he the next highest authority? If he’s the highest authority in the universe why didn’t they default to him in the first place? If not then why not default to Midshipman Frame? And if he’s somehow in between them then why? Also Astrid killed herself for no reason when she easily could have jumped out of the forklift.

Partners In Crime: Good

It works in the context of the episode, but I don’t see why they needed two of the necklace things.

Midnight: Good

It’s human nature, you can’t get more well set up than that.

Turn Left: Good

It works logically

The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End: Bad

Donna just spouts a load of technobabble whilst pressing buttons and then the Daleks are magically incapacitated.

The Next Doctor: Bad

Why do the infostamps sever Hartigan’s connection with the Cyberking? As far as I remember it ain’t explained.

Planet Of The Dead (co-written with noted transphobe Gareth Roberts): Good

A good couple scenes are dedicated on getting the anti-gravs set up.

The Waters Of Mars (co-written with Phil Ford): N/A

The day isn’t really saved cause everyone still dies anyway.

The End Of Time: Good

Using a gun to destroy a machine is much better than using the sonic to destroy it.

Summary for RTD:

Out of 24 stories written by him, I deem 10 to be bad endings with 1 abstaining. That’s 41.7% of his episodes (43.5% if we don’t count any abstaining).

Steven Moffat:

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances: Good

You’ll see this a lot with Moffat, he knows how to explain things without stupefying levels of technobabble. “Emailing the upgrade” is a perfect example of this.

The Girl In The Fireplace: Good

Some basic logic, the androids want to repair their ship, but they can’t return to it, they no longer have a function so they shut down.

Blink: Good

Always loved this one, getting the angels to look at each other, however they do look at each other sometimes earlier in the episode.

Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead: Bad

This is more of a problem with the setup of the episode, I don’t like that he can negotiate with the Vashta Nerada. I’d rather see them comprehensively beaten, but I guess it’s good for the scare factor that they can’t be escaped from.

The Eleventh Hour: Good

He convinced the best scientists all around the world to set every clock to 0 all in less than an hour. In the Doctor’s own words “Who da man!”

The Beast Below: Good

The crying child motif pretty much ended up saving the day (well for the star whale, life went on as normal for pretty much everyone else).

The Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone: Good

The artificial gravity had briefly been set up earlier so I’ll allow it.

The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang: Good

Everything had been set up perfectly, the vortex manipulator, the Pandorica’s survival field thingy, the TARDIS exploding at every moment in history.

A Christmas Carol: Good

Literally the entire episode is the Doctor saving the day by convincing Kazran not to be a cock.

The Impossible Astronaut/Day Of The Moon: Good

The silence’s ability to influence people is their whole thing, so using it against them is a good Doctory thing to do.

A Good Man Goes To War: N/A

The day isn’t really saved, Melody is lost, but River shows up at the end so is all fine? I love the episode it’s just the day isn’t really truly saved (yes I know Amy was rescued but she still lost her baby).

Let’s Kill Hitler: N/A

There isn’t really a day to be saved. They all get out alive but no one is really saved other than maybe River but we all knew she was gonna live anyway.

The Wedding Of River Song: Good

Whilst opinion is divided on the episode, the ending still works. the Tesseracta was established in Let’s Kill Hitler, and the “touch River and time will move again” was established well in advance.

The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe: Bad

I don’t like how the lifeboat travels through the time vortex for no reason but to rescue the dad. It don’t make no sense and I don’t think it’s explained

Asylum Of The Daleks: Good

Oswin had access to the Dalek hive mind so of course she should be able to link into the controls and blow everything up.

The Angels Take Manhattan: Good

Paradoxes really do be something powerful, and they even acknowledge how nobody knows if it’d work so I’ll let it slide.

The Snowmen: Bad

Lots of people cry at Christmas, why are the Latimers anything special?

The Bells of Saint John: Good

The whole episode is about hacking so why shouldn’t the Doctor be able to hack the spoonheads

The Name Of The Doctor: Good

It was the story arc for the season pretty much, so of course it was explained well in advance.

The Day Of The Doctor: Good

Both the storing Gallifrey like a painting and the making everyone forget if they’re Human or Zygon works in the context of the episode.

The Time Of The Doctor: Bad

Since when were the Time Lords so easily negotiated with?

Deep Breath: Good

I like the dilemma over whether the half-face man was pushed or jumped.

Into The Dalek: Good

It’s set up well with this new Doctor’s persona of actually not being too nice of a guy (at first).

Listen: N/A

There isn’t a day to be saved. It’s just 45 minutes of the Doctor testing a hypothesis and I low-key love it.

Time Heist (co-written with Steven Thompson): Good

It works logically so I’ll allow it however it isn’t very well set up at all.

The Caretaker (co-written with noted shithead Gareth Roberts): Good

The machine to tell the Blitzer what to do was set up well in advance so I’ll allow it.

Dark Water/Death In Heaven: Good

The fact that Danny still cares even as a cyberman is set up fairly early on after his transformation.

Last Christmas: Good

He does use the sonic to wake up Clara but he convinces the others to wake up through talking so I’ll allow it.

The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar: Good

It’s set up well with that little scene from actually inside the sewers.

The Girl Who Died (co-written with Jamie Mathieson): Good

IDK why the vikings would randomly keep electric eels but they’re set up well so I’ll ignore it. 

The Zygon Inversion (co-written with Peter Harness): N/A 

Not including this one as it’s only the second part and I’d argue the ending is most likely Harness’.

Heaven Sent/Hell Bent: N/A

Again there isn’t really a day to be saved, yes Heaven Sent really is amazing but it’s only the first part and, being completely honest, he dies several billion times before finally getting through the wall.

The Husbands Of River Song: N/A

Again there isn’t really a day to be saved here.

The Return Of Doctor Mysterio: Good

He gets Grant to catch the bomb which is good. But he does just sonic the gun out of Dr Sim’s hand and says UNIT is on its way which just sort of wraps it up very quickly.

The Pilot: N/A

No day to be saved here.

Extremis: Good

You could technically call it the sonic saving the day, I consider it to be the Doctor emailing the Doctor to warn him of the future.

The Pyramid At The End Of The World: Good

The fire sanitising everything makes sense and it’s in character for Bill to love the Doctor enough to cure his blindness in return for the world

World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls: Good

Yes it is the sonic just blowing the cybermen up, but it’s blowing them up with well established pipelines so I’ll allow it (also the story is amazing).

Twice Upon A Time: N/A

No day to be saved here. Just Doctors 1 and 12 getting angsty about regenerating.

Summary for Steven Moffat:

Out of 39 stories written by him, I deemed 4 to be bad with 7 abstaining. That’s 10.3% of his episodes (12.5% if we don’t count any abstaining).

Conclusions:

Moffat was much better at saving the day than RTD

Moffat liked telling stories where the day didn’t actually need to be saved

I’ve spent way too long on this and I need to sleep

If I spent as much time on this as my coursework I’d probably pass

If you’re still reading this, you probably need to get a life

[oh-phineas]

Emma’s 2020 Questionnaire! 

Your Name: Emma Characters: Phineas Flynn, Tiana Truitt, Aquata Triton, Henry Charming, Evelyn Deavor Pick one of your characters and talk about their growth (we recommend choosing an older character, but it’s up to you!) What about their story has surprised you? What are you proud of? How have they changed from their original inception to now? I’m going to talk about Phineas because I’ve had him for the longest and I think he’s the one I’ve been able to spend the most time developing. So basically something I struggled with when I first picked up Phineas was how he deals with people he doesn’t like, because in the show I don’t think he really dislikes anyone. And I feel like this drama with Tony recently has finally helped me crack what Phineas’s deal is when it comes to conflict-- he doesn’t really feel down about it unless he feels like his character is being questioned, and that’s why with Wilbur he’s mostly like whatever while with Tony and Lock (in the past) Phineas has gotten petty and vindictive-- he doesn’t like the role he’s found himself in and he takes that personally if that makes sense. (Also Phineas just way prioritizes his job with Cornelius over getting back at Wilbur, even if he’ll make the occasional jab at Wilbur in Among Us or on Twitter). So that’s been really cool to explore. And I think he’s also gotten a little less finance-bro-y than I originally intended, but I think that side of him will definitely come out once he graduates and goes to uni. I think the thing I’m most proud of with him is kind of maintaining that balance between being totally likeable and fun while also pretty infuriating and obtuse, like he’s a sweet and well-meaning person who’s also really annoying and idk I think I do that balance well.

Pick another character (or the same character if you only have one) and talk a little about where you WANT them to go. What are your plans for them going into the new year? I’m really excited to see where Tiana goes! Ever since I picked her up, I’ve been focused on this goal of getting the restaurant to happen and now that I’ve done that, there are a lot of possibilities. I want to see Tiana burn out from the stress a little bit-- maybe take on more than she can handle because a big part of her arc has been learning to accept help and collaborate with people, and I got to do that a lot with planning Tiana’s Place, but I would also really like to see that continue because those tendencies don’t really go away. I also want LOVE for Tiana even though I keep saying she doesn’t have time for it-- I want her to get a stupid crush that distracts her from work lol I think it could be really fun. And I’m also really excited to keep developing all her friendships, I love all of her Swynlake native connections and PRINCESS HOUSE and other small business owners and now that she really feels like she has put down roots with her restaurant, I want to see her branching out more.

Pick a thread or a plot that you’re proud of and talk about why you loved it. In terms of your own writing, identify 1-3 strengths and talk about why you think it’s one of your strengths. Ok sorry to keep talking about Tiana I promise I have other characters but I’m really proud of all of the different characters I incorporated into the Tiana’s Place opening. My goal was to make a real community effort to show that, no matter how much she wanted to do it on her own, she still has a whole group of people supporting her and who have a stake in it-- from Nuka and Ratigan in the beginning with the financial stuff to Clara and Toulouse and Laszlo with the music/art to Jun and Al for business advice to all the people who donated to the raffle. And the raffle was so fun and I hope people use that for plots!!

I also gotta shout out one more: writing the pirates AU Phineas and Ferb stuff was so much fun and really pushed me as a writer I think. I was a little uneasy going into pirates because action/movement/fights are not my strong suit and I knew there would be a lot of that. But the generated stuff was really helpful in kickstarting some ideas and Sid was so great to work with on that. I thought we got really creative and personally I had so much fun and I hope other people did too. 

In terms of strengths for my writing-- I think I’m good with flaws? Like even characters who are really sweet and nice (I’m looking at you Henry) I think I try to show the different sides of them and explore how you can be both really well-meaning and really misguided at the same time. And I think that’s good because it has the potential to cause conflict and drive forward more plots where there’s no clear ~bad guy~ just flawed people trying their best and that’s the most interesting stuff to me. Of course I also love big bads! I think macro plots are really important. I think my niche though is those petty little conflicts and I think I do a good job with them. 

I’m adding another too because you know what why not. I think I've gotten pretty creative recently?? Like I’ve done some really weird fun stuff this year-- Henry and Jake’s acapella audition is up there as one of my favorite threads, and I’m really excited about Tiana and Aurora’s fake date and Greg and Q doing Santa’s Workshop and I think Henry’s first open was one of my favorite opens I’ve done. Idk I think one of my insecurities about RP has always been that I worry I don’t bring enough ideas to the table with plotting and I think I’m getting better at letting my brain dream up weird cool stuff.

In terms of your own writing, identify 1-3 areas of improvement.

Like I said, plotting is still something I struggle with-- I spent the majority of my early RP experience in a very gif-chat-heavy open-heavy fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants rp, so coming to BDRP even back during round 1 in 2017, plotting was a big surprise to me. And this is also something that I struggle with in my non-RP writing-- story arc and structure is something I have always wanted to improve. But I think I’m getting better at fleshing out ideas and not putting too much pressure on myself. And I think I’m also getting better at stepping out of my comfort zone and messaging people I don’t write with as often which is important because literally everyone here is so fun and talented! So I want to keep doing that. I know I can be a little shy sometimes (this sounds SO weird I never shut up lol but it’s how I feel) and I don’t want that to hold me back

In terms of actual writing stuff, I’d like to expand my vocabulary a bit more? I think I use certain words and phrasing so often that it annoys me and maybe it annoys no one else and my writing will be worse if I try to throw in unnecessary words but yeah. I think reading more will help with that. And in general I just really want to get better at thinking stuff through and building story arcs. 

Pick one of your plots, or even just a character, and come up with a list of 3-5 “mentor texts” where you can look for inspiration or research, then write a short (2-4 sentences) why you picked those texts. (They don’t have to be books, either!)

Ev is the one I feel like I need to do the most development on so here goes!

1. Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, specifically the character Nora

Messy nerd girls! Messy nerd girls! Please recommend me more things with messy nerd girls! Nora is basically Ev’s exterior, the person people know her as. She’s chaotic and fun and relatable, and also kind of a genius.

2. Macbeth, specifically the character Lady Macbeth

This is one I wanna dive into! I’ve seen a heavily abridged version of Macbeth and that’s about it but I have a copy sitting on my desk. I love a villain who likes to stay behind the scenes and pull the strings, and while Ev is in this for “moral reasons” (lol) she’s also in this for #power. I’m not used to playing manipulative villains-- I’m usually more of a henchperson type deal, so the ultimate 4-D chess gal would be some good inspo.

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, specifically Professor Quirrell.

Ok I am really sorry to bring Harry Potter into this but I think something that’s important about Ev is that one of the things distracting from her villainy is her vague air of incompetency. We know she’s very smart and she has the whole nutty-professor thing going, but she’s kind of a mess and I want characters to underestimate her. I think Quirrell’s vibe of being nervous about everything is similar to Ev’s messy exterior and I would love a good end-of-the-book villain reveal.  And now, a wishlist! Jot down a few themes or stories or genres etc that you want to maybe pursue in the upcoming year! (i.e. a good ol’ fashion forbidden romance, maybe you want to dig deep into racial identity etc) This doesn’t have to necessarily be attached to any characters or stories you have now– it’s just meant to help you see for yourself what kind of stories call to your heart.

Oooh so many things. Generally more romance-- I always hesitate a little with shipping IDK WHY maybe it’s insecurity about jumping into what always feels like a bit plot to me lol. But I wanna take that plunge more-- especially with Tiana! But I’m pretty much open to stuff with anyone, especially really silly rom-com type stuff. I also think that my shipping niche is super complicated stuff with villains (the irony and craziness of the Henleigh situation is so FASCINATING and FUN and I want MORE OF THAT) so just saying a I’m-flirting-with-you-because-you’re-a-good-ally-to-have-on-my-side-oh-no-I’m-actually-falling-for-you thing with Ev could be really fun (LISTEN her entire tag is just shipping content. I scroll through so much of it so of course it gave me some ideas)

I’m also REALLY jazzed about the uni stuff going on right now. Like I’ve said before, I think college is a really interesting place and so much weird shit happens there because you have all these 18-22 year olds living in close quarters and they come up with weird ways to entertain themselves. The secret santa/RA stuff has me loling every day and I just love stuff like that. Like, I’d love to have shenanigans like people sneaking into dorms and staying up until 3 am in the library and all that stuff. I just love that stuff.

Also I am really trying to do big bad stuff with Ev!! As I have mentioned... plotting and story arcs are a major thing I’m trying to work on, so it’s a lot to think about, but I would really just love to do all kinds of things-- I’d love to have her enable small-time villains, or manipulate people who are easily swayed, or to trick people. It’s a new area for me, but it’s something I’m excited about and I want to challenge myself.

OPTIONAL: Why do you RP?

Because I literally can’t stop apparently lol. No but the thing I love about RP is getting to collaborate on a story and getting surprised by people, getting to geek out about something that I can also participate in, and having NO RULES. I think there’s something really special about having an interest that I can’t monetize or market, that I can do for pure fun out of my love of creating and writing. And I love having a community of people on the ride with me. It’s so much fun and I’m so grateful for you guys!

I always end with a gif so here’s my favorite gif it legit makes me laugh out loud

[amillionmillionvoices]

Doctor Who for the ask meme!

Favorite character:

I mean this is obvious but RIVER SONG

Least Favorite character:

It’s kind of a tossup between Clara and Rose. But to be fair to them both, I think it has a lot to do with their “romances” with the Doctor that really bug the hell out of me. 

  5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): 

River/12, River/11, River/13, River/9. River/10, etc etc. (also Amy/Rory and Heather/Bill)

Character I find most attractive:

I mean 

Character I would marry:

This is just gonna sound like 

Character I would be best friends with:

a broken record

(I mean I would probably be better friends with Bill than anyone else but I would make heart eyes at River and maybe she would keep me as a pet)

a random thought:

sometimes i think about how the doctor said “there’s a time to live and a time to sleep” and “you should have faded by now” and how i read in a DW book once that river should have “faded” from the library after a while and then i start crying a lot and then i get mad because we never got a scene where we see all the effort the doctor has gone through in an attempt to save his wife like yeah after 24 years he was just like “welp bye”??? NO. he tried everything and i wanna see it. 

An unpopular opinion:

I... don’t really care much that Jack came back? Like I’m definitely not MAD about it, and I’m happy for people who love him. I just didn’t love the WAY he came back much? I hope there’s more resolution at some point. 

My Canon OTP:

River/Doctor 

My Non-canon OTP:

I don’t have one they’re all married aww yis 

Most Badass Character:

... guys. 

Most Epic Villain:

Hmmm. I really liked Missy a lot! Even though I cannot STAND the Master. I also love the Weeping Angels and the Silence. And Kovarian was all kinds of fucked up. Like I don’t think we give her enough credit for being as twisted as she was as a villain (prob cause she didn’t get a ton of screen-time) but like... damn that’s some mental gymnastics to get from “i want this dude dead” to “let’s make a flesh baby” and I gotta admire her for that

Pairing I am not a fan of:

god I’m so cliche but really Doctor/Anyone who isn’t River like just d o n ‘ t

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

13. I wanted to love her so so bad and I just... don’t care. 

Favourite Friendship:

Twelve/Bill!! 

Character I most identify with:

Ugh I’m never sure about this question because like, is River my fav BECAUSE I identify with her or because I wanna BE her? Or because I wanna be WITH HER? It’s confusing. Maybe Amy? IDK

Character I wish I could be:

See above conundrum 

TLDR: Everything is about River 

[ send me a show, ship, or character! ]