#kerblam

[funeralgreys]

12 and bill would’ve killed that thing with hammers I can tell you that much

[evviejo]

thirteen's face appreciation: 74/?

[oreo102]

Saying kerblam is pro capitalism is fucking dumb and you’re wrong. I usually try to avoid telling people their takes of an episode is dumb and wrong(at least to their faces) but this time it is. And I’ll prove it.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s anti-capitalism, but to say it’s pro isn’t right either. Kerblam is pretty obviously a stand in for any big corporation, and since Amazon is, well, Amazon, I’m using it in my comparisons.

We learn early on that kerblam is on a moon and it’s heavily implied that the human workers stay there year round (Dan saying he splurges twice a year to see his daughter) but this isn’t framed as a good thing- there’s no way to frame that as a good thing. It’s framed very obviously as sad, he’s sad he can’t see his kid any more because he has to work.

There’s also a very high unemployment rate, as stated by multiple characters, which again: it’s shown as a bad thing. Hell- Charlie says as much. It’s bad, it’s terrible, it shouldn’t be. And no one argues with him- the doctor agrees! It is terrible that so many people are unemployed, but it’s not the AI’s fault

That’s the moral. AI is not responsible for the people who use it for wrong (please note for this next part: how it is right now, I am not pro-AI, this is from a strictly scifi perspective where the AI has a conscious(?)). AI could be an incredibly helpful tool, but how it’s being used irl and in the epsiode, it’s not good.

Where real life and Dr who depart is that the AI in kerblam is- if not sentient, close enough that it knows to send for help so innocent people don’t die. Which is what would’ve happened! Charlie had a good goal. But how he went about it- the way he decided to try and fix the issue was to kill countless people.

This episode isn’t saying Kerblam is good. It isn’t saying the practices of big companies like Kerblam or Amazon is good. It actively discourages it, actually. It’s saying that AI is not at fault for how people use it, that to make a problem better you shouldn’t murder a bunch of innocent people. It’s not pro-capitalism. Stop it.

And if you have an actual argument with evidence from the episode I’d be happy to hear it! But only if it includes actual evidence :)

[quantumshade]

these tags on whoify’s kerblam post are kind of cracking me up. a.) kerblam came out FIVE YEARS before that deal took place. even if they were in talks at that point, which i doubt, they wouldn’t have had the power to do that. b.) that’s not even what the deal is — disney has not “taken over” doctor who, they have distribution rights. c.) and this is the funniest part to me — do you know who DID have partial distribution rights for dr who in the us at the time? fucking amazon.

i say this not as a defense of disney or anything, fuck em, but as a reminder that they are not (at least not yet) singularly to blame for all the problems of capitalism in the world and it is not productive to act like they are & that any problems with the show are their fault. it doesn’t matter who owns OR distributes doctor who, disney, amazon, or the fucking bbc, they’re all capitalists and they’re all trash.

i don’t know whose fault kerblam is! i don’t know if it was pete mctighe, chris chibnall, or some corporate exec who made the decision to have it be Like That, but based on the politics of the rest of the chibnall era i must say it’s not an outlier.

[raspberry-gloaming]

What I really don't understand is people hating on Chris Chibnall specifically due to certain episodes that *he didn't even write.* Like yes, he's the showrunner, he has power and is part of the decision making and choices, but a lot of these comments that I see against certain episodes, mainly Orphan 55 and Kerblam!, paint him as the writer, the villain who ruined the doctor by writing this story and these politics. He wrote this story. He did this.

But like, them - those two most hated stories (from what I've seen on Tumblr), especially Kerblam! from a political perspective - he wasn't the writer. A quick google search will tell you that

Kerblam? Pete McTighge

Orphan 55? Ed Hime

Before anyone comes for me, I'm not claiming that Chibnall is perfect by any means or absolving him of any responsibility to do with these episodes. I know Tumblr's media literacy can be... eh. I don't particularly like these specific episodes, although I do like 13's run overall, not my favourite, don't like everything in it, but who does for any monolith in dw. DW really is a mixed bag. I honestly really enjoy watching some of the episodes, they're such a vibe. 13 is in my top 4 doctors! (7, 11, 12 and 13 in no particular order)

Every series has some shitty episodes. Some are written by the showrunner, some aren't. But it's kinda weird to paint the showrunner as some kind of villain for these episodes especially.

So yeah! make valid criticisms, but also remember to like check who actually wrote it before flaming.

[13thdoctorposts]

Kerblam seems to be a constant source of reasoning to why the whole era is bad so I wrote down my thoughts.

Since the contention is the end speech I'll address my thoughts on that.

It’s clear when you listen to the whole speech the Doctor is talking about the Kerblam system she even says it, ‘Erode people’s trust in automation’ aka Kerblam AI system, capitalism isn’t an automation system it’s an economic system and Charlie is blaming the Kerblam AI system for the broader system of capitalism, but the Doctor is pretty clear though out she’s talking about Kerblam.

He think’s if he proves ‘technology is imperfect’ aka the Kerblam system it will make people think automation is bad, which will lead to the downfall of capitalism, and using a higher precent of human workers, I doubt it would but mass murder terrorist logic, terrorism rarely has its desired outcome. 

The Doctor is saying the Automation system of Kerblam isn’t bad, it asked her for help, it knew something was wrong, a capitalist system is an economic one, has no ‘intelligence’ to ask for help, so of course wouldn’t have a conscious, so she’s clearly not talking about capitalism. 

However the Kerblam system does have AI and so to an extent does have its original program conscious that it would have learnt and built on over time… not killing workers and customers is probably a big no no to Kerblam’s conscious, its the people who exploit Kerblam, aka decided it means only 10% of people can work there, or use it to kill people… that are the problem.

It’s not Kerblam’s fault that the leaders of Kandoka or its owners decided on a 10% human workforce, that is the leadership (people), they are the problem here. So when she says people are the problem not the system she is correct in the situation she is referring too... the Kerblam AI system. But I actually think the important message they are trying to get across is mass murder/violence/terrorism/the killing of innocent people isn’t the right way to go about change, and on that peoples opinions may vary, but no one every talks about. Sometimes its like people act like Charlie is a good guy in all this even though we know he's already killed a number of workers, like Dan leaving Dan's daughter fatherless and then wants to kill a bunch of other regular people who probably like Charlie have no power in the system. I wonder how many people complaining would like to be killed by a terrorist in a probably pointless attempt to bring down our capitalist system? That is what the Doctor stopped, she stopped mass murder, and yet people make out like she's the bad guy here.

[i-eat-danger-for-breakfast]

13 + references to other Doctors

Kerblam - Series 11 Ep7

[billdecker]

Doctor Who Rewatch | Kerblam!

[master-missysversion]

Honestly sometimes i think controversial episodes are good, just because they get people talking about issues far more than non-controversial episodes

I think when it comes to kerblam, the vast majority aren't engaging on meaningful discussion, but I've still seen it spark more than a few interesting conversations about capitalism and technology.

[thirteenthdoctorscreencaps]

[doctorwhoarchiveofrandomness]

[gh0ulsh4rk]

love it when my mutuals spam me, like yeah, I'm so fucking in love with you rn do you want to kiss on the mouth

[evviejo]

thirteen's era appreciation: 363/?

[platypusbunnyfromthetardis]

Futurama's Momazon episode is what Kerblam should have been

[cansadodemais00]

“Oh. What do you think? Still me?” • Kerblam!

[doctornolonger]

Some of the many paper props from Doctor Who: Time Fracture. A big thank you to Cookieboy2005 for thinking to collect these pages from staff on the experience’s last day in London. His full collection, including a few lorem ipsum pages I left out, can be found in this Imgur album. My favorite bit is the Kerblam contract!