#moffat did with clara (who i ALSO have many many feelings about. she's like rose but in a different way from yaz)

[sage-nebula]

I am watching season five of doctor (about to watch ep 8: the hungry earth) and I'm doing my best to give it a chance but I must say I'm not fond of amy or 11th Doctor so far :/ To me amy just doesn't have much to her? Her dynamic with the doctor is off-putting to me for whatever reason but to ge fair I might just be missing 9 and 10 and rose and donna too much andjdjd BUT I am in your askbox to ask your opinion on amy and 11?

The answer to this question is a little complicated, because it's less about Eleven and Amy and more about what happened to the show when someone else took over.

Seasons 1 through 4 were run by showrunner Russel T. Davies. In his iteration of Doctor Who, the show was very much focused on the companions; while the Doctor is a main character, the story of each season was less about him and more about the journey the companions went on. Seasons 1 and 2 (and her episodes in 4) were about Rose growing from a discontented shop girl into someone much more like the Doctor. Season 3 was about Martha finding confidence in herself and her own independence. Season 4 was continuing the arc Donna started in "The Runaway Bride" special, in that she found that both she and the world she lived in was so much more than what she'd thought it was for so long. (And then all of that was horrifically ripped away from her in one of the worst companion endings to ever happen . . . but maybe that will be fixed in the upcoming special?) Yes, the Doctor did things and got progressively more sad. But each season was much more about Rose, Martha, and Donna in turn. The Doctor and the TARDIS were just vessels for their stories.

But that . . . changed when RTD left the show and the showrunner position was taken over by Steven Moffat.

Moffat was the showrunner from season 5 through 10. Moffat's version of Doctor Who is very much centered around the Doctor, both in that the Doctor is a man who loves to solve mysteries (his primary motivation for taking Amy along, at least in the beginning, is because he's curious about the crack in her wall and wants to solve that mystery), and also as The Most Important Character in the Show. I find it kind of funny how many episodes were named "The [something] of the Doctor." Like we had The Name of the Doctor, the Night of the Doctor, the Day of the Doctor . . . I was ready for The Scent of the Doctor next. The Taste of the Doctor. The Feel of the Doctor.

The point is, the companions were in Moffat's version of Doctor Who for two reasons: 1.) so the Doctor could have someone to impress / a mystery to solve (both of his primary companions, Amy and Clara, came with mysteries), and 2.) because it's a series staple. And to be fair, from what I understand Classic Who also very much focused on the Doctor, with the (usually female) companion being there to entice men to watch the show (eye candy) and also for the Doctor to have someone to rescue / impress. So in that sense, Moffat focusing on the Doctor as The Most Important Character is going back to the series roots, as the most generous explanation I can give for why he wrote Doctor Who this way. (And also ignoring the other show he was working on at the time, BBC Sherlock, which also focused on a genius man intent on solving mysteries, hmm.)

In any case, I think this is probably the reason why you're feeling a disconnect; whereas in RTD's Who the main focus was on the companion, here the main focus is on the Doctor. Amy is there because a female companion is a series staple, because the Doctor needs a mystery to solve, and because Steven Moffat thought Karen Gillan was a bombshell. From his mouth:

"And I thought, 'well [Karen]'s really good. It's just a shame she's so wee and dumpy.' [. . .] When she was about to come through to the auditions I nipped out for a minute and I saw Karen walking on the corridor towards me and I realized she was 5'11, slim and gorgeous and I thought 'Oh, oh that'll probably work.'"

Note that this is not to discount Karen's acting ability at all, because she's a fantastic actress. It's just that Moffat wouldn't have picked her to play Amy if she was "wee and dumpy," and instead her being "5'11", slim, and gorgeous" was a deciding factor for him.

And then there's the whole . . . I don't even want to call it "romance" because I don't think that was ever the point. Because Moffat had already planned for Eleven to be with River Song (you met her briefly in season four), and Amy to be with Rory (their relationship is an archetype of his), and so really Amy throwing herself at the Doctor was meant to be more of a "isn't Karen Gillan hot, why don't we show her doing sexy things" and also "the Doctor is just That Irresistible," which is again something that Moffat does with Sherlock in BBC Sherlock, but that's another conversation.

TL;DR . . . I really don't like Moffat's Doctor Who. It's not for me. Moffat runs the show for Doctors Eleven and Twelve, and then all of the seasons with the Thirteenth Doctor are run by Chris Chibnall. But he's gone now as well, and Russel T. Davies is back for the 60th anniversary special (which brings back Donna and . . . they're calling him Fourteen because Thirteen regenerated into him, but it's David Tennant again), as well as the upcoming seasons with the Fifteenth Doctor. I'm excited to see those, since although RTD's seasons definitely have flaws, his method of telling Doctor Who was what I liked best.

And those are my thoughts!

[darklinaforever]

It is normal that all the references to Rose exist in the DW series after season 4.

Without her, the Doctor would probably not be what he is today. And she is also the greatest love he had. He can't forget her. He will always love her unconditionally.

But past Ten, it's (for me and much of the fandom) platonic.

Yes, we see that the Doctor retains his feelings even beyond regenerations. Ne 9 to 10 for Rose. From 11 to 12 for Clara. From 10 to 14 for Donna.

But what many forget once again for Ten's love for Rose is that these were not feelings acquired purely normally like with Nine or Ten with the friendships he made. Ten's romantic love for Rose wasn't just a feeling, it was the core of his identity. What made him who he was.

The regeneration of Ten into Eleven is summed up like this : All that I am dies, a new man arrives.

If everything Ten is dies, knowing that the core of who he is is his romantic love for Rose, well it makes sense that that romantic love dies with him and he becomes a new man through Eleven.

Does Eleven remember Rose ? Yes. Is it still as important ? Yes. Does he still love her ? Yes. Is he still in love with her ? No.

This is not possible with the way the regeneration of 10 was handled.

Some of you refuse to understand that regeneration can be completely influenced by the Time Lord unconsciously or consciously. If Ten saw regeneration as death, she did the work to be the equivalent.

And if everything that made Ten who he was died with his romantic love for Rose being the core of his identity, well it died with him.

And there's nothing in the rest of the series to prove that the Doctor is still in love with Rose whether you like it or not (even if you are free to believe it, but do not impose this vision on others).

The Moment taking the form of Rose each time he speaks to the Doctor, Eleven's subtle reaction upon hearing the title Bad Wolf, the reference from Jack to Rose when he speaks to 13's companions, with her nearby, Rose Noble calling herself Rose, 15 saying she loved Rose in the past tense. All this does not prove that the Doctor is still in love with Rose currently (Besides, the dialogue with 15 is rather clear on this...).

It just drives home the obvious that Rose was the most impactful companion for the Doctor / in his life. Which is the truth.

Moreover, the other fundamental aspect of the 10th Doctor's identity is to love humanity to the point of wanting to become human. Knowing that this renewed love for humanity comes from Rose, therefore linking his desire to be human also to Rose... Have you seen the Doctor after his tenth incarnation wanting to be human again ? The answer is obviously no.

And no, I will never consider Moffat's words as the absolute truth. Even if he says that Eleven is still in love with Rose, it doesn't matter to me. For what ? Because there's a rule in film / TV called show don't tell. Moffat says, but doesn't show. Worse, he says it in an interview, not even in the series. And not everyone reads interviews. I heard that once he even said that the Doctor would find River on the moon once he died. Something else that was never even hinted at in the series. Who really believes this shit will ever happen ? It's ridiculous. It's the same guy who wrote the episode about madame de pompadour dammit... As if I was going to take his opinion into consideration.

[nobleriver]

Do you ever feel like one companion/guest star is less special than the other because of the way the next one is written? I love River and I know that they made her very special even when she wasn't around. But I can't force myself to watch Clara. It's like she makes River more insignificant. I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch it.

Hi, Anon. Apologies for the delay. It took me a while to answer because I really wanted to give this some proper thought before answering.

Short answer. No.

Long answer. Absolutely not. Why? Because the existence of one character doesn’t nullify or mitigate the impact of the other. Just because someone leaves the show and someone else shows up, that doesn’t make the original character less important. Clara and River are two completely different characters with separate arcs. One has nothing to do with the other.

River Song in-universe is not treated as insignificant. She’s been leading her own Big Finish series since 2015. Beauty, brains, and gunpowder tangled up in one character. She’s beloved by many. Moreover, romance-wise, it’s canonically established that the Doctor is in love with her. The 12th Doctor carried around a photo of her and would talk to it. To this day, the Doctor still calls River wife. But I suspect the way River’s departure was handled in 7b is what you’re really reacting against.

Imagine. What if RTD had handled Rose’s goodbye the way Moffat handled River’s? What if he had had Rose in the TARDIS one episode, and suddenly, mid S2, had Rose disappear offscreen and show the Doctor kissing Martha in the next episode? And then 7 episodes later dropped the bomb Rose was gone, stuck on a parallel universe? What a disservice to Rose’s character that would have been.

But that’s exactly what Moffat did to River in S7. He had River state she would travel with the Doctor for a time. Then, next episode, the Doctor is being kissed by Clara and River is nowhere to be seen. Where is she? And then 7 episodes later, we find out she’s been dead. We get one scene with them saying goodbye to each other, and she’s gone. He literally off-screened the doctor’s wife as if she was minor character and then shoehorned her goodbye into the finale. That may not have been the intention, but for many it was the result.

Even Alex Kingston commented that 7b goodbye felt incomplete:

“I didn’t really know my role in [The Name of the Doctor]. For me, it was sort of a strange episode. It ended in a way that I felt I was somewhat left hanging with no idea or confirmation or anything that my character would be back. In the time in-between meeting fans, of course, that was the overriding question. ‘When is River coming back?””

Unfortunately, Clara’s arrival coincides with this botched goodbye, and some people conflate that sense of injustice - of River being shafted - with Clara. And she becomes collateral damage. Funny enough, I just saw someone on Twitter watching 7b for the first time also getting upset about Clara, wondering where River was. Yet, it’s not Clara’s fault. River’s goodbye just wasn’t handled properly the first time around.

I will say, Moffat fixes it in later seasons. He gives River a 2nd departure, a farewell more befitting of her character’s station and emphasizes how special she is to the Doctor. She finally gets her proper send off.

So to sum up. Clara has nothing to do with River. It’s just coincidence that River’s arc suffers from a few writing mistakes around the time Clara arrives. Still, if you don’t want to watch Clara’s episodes, don’t. Doctor Who is for fun. If you think watching a certain season, doctor, or companion will make you enjoy Who less, you don’t have to watch, and no one can force you. To be fair though, one can enjoy season 9 even if one doesn’t like Clara. It’s just brilliant writing. Nevertheless, it’s up to you.

[regenderate]

hi everybody i'm feeling soooo unhinged right now thinking about parallels between rose and yaz and like. i think i'm onto something. tl;dr is thasmin would be a different ship if the doctor had never met rose

we know rose and yaz are similar characters. they're definitely distinct individuals, but they're both 19 when they meet the doctor, bored with their lives, instantly mesmerized by this weird alien, etc etc etc. each of them has two seasons to travel with the doctor, establish themselves as characters, and become more and more capable within the doctor's world.

but then we have doomsday for rose and village of the angels for yaz. these episodes serve the same purpose, from a character perspective. in both of them, the companion (rose or yaz) is separated from the doctor with no clear way back. they then spend the next few years (their early 20's!!!) separated from and desperately searching for the doctor. the difference is just in the pacing-- we see more of rose in the moments immediately after, and then rose actually disappears from the show for a season, while yaz is back with the doctor an episode later. otherwise, the same thing happens to them.

but like. okay. here's the thing. we saw how devastating losing rose was for ten. AND ten lost rose in part because their hubris in tooth and claw led to torchwood being created. the one time he lets himself genuinely enjoy himself with someone else, he is punished horrifically for it. add that to the fact that he only traveled with rose for, like, two years, and the rapturous joy of that time was immediately shadowed by a deep grief, well.

surely this is part of why thirteen can't let herself get close to yaz.

and it's just really getting me that thasmin and doctorrose have so many parallels, and the doctor's relationship to yaz is different in part BECAUSE of her relationship to rose! like! last time she got close to a human in the same way as she's close to yaz, her hubris led to her losing her friend forever. in addition to all the people she's lost SINCE then (especially bill, who she lost like 24 hours before meeting yaz). so she can't open herself up.

and like... the doctor with rose couldn't say he loved her, but it was undeniable looking at him with her that they were in love. but thirteen with yaz is totally different. she's so repressed that she won't even get too close to yaz, physically speaking. but like! if the doctor had never met rose, thasmin would be totally different. so in addition to sabotaging his relationship with rose with his hubris, ten sabotaged literally every similar relationship he would have in the future.

and like... honestly i know i can get a little off the rails about rose but i have to assume this is on purpose. like, rose's character and relationship with the doctor influenced the rest of new who, and she's definitely the model for a companion like yaz. and i love the idea of chibnall taking that model and taking into account how a new relationship built on that model would be different. i hope the show acknowledges some of this when thirteen actually talks to yaz, and like... considering the things i didn't think they'd acknowledge that they did acknowledge... and considering jack mentioned rose (and then had a whole conversation with yaz about traveling with the doctor)... i don't know. i think they might talk about this.

tl;dr rose and yaz have similar arcs and i think that's why thirteen can't get close to yaz

[shkspr]

hi. on your post where you may or may not have ended on 'moffat is either your angel or your devil' did you have maybe an elaboration on that somewhere that i could possibly hear about. i'm very much a capaldi era stan and i've never tried to defend the matt smith era even though it had delightful moments sometimes so i wonder where that puts me. i'd love to hear your perspective on moffat as a person with your political perspective. -nicole

hi ok sorry i took so long to respond to this but i dont think you know how LOADED this question is for me but i am so happy to elaborate on that for you. first a few grains of salt to flavor your understanding of the whole situation: a. im unfairly biased against moffat bc im a davies stan and a tennant stan; b. i still very much enjoy and appreciate moffat era who for many reasons; and c. i hate moffat on a personal level far more than i could ever hate his work.

the thing is that its all always gonna be a bit mixed up bc i have to say a bunch of seemingly contradictory things in a row. for instance, a few moffat episodes are some of my absolute favorites of the rtd era, AND the show went way downhill when moffat took over, AND the really good episodes he wrote during the rtd era contained the seeds of his destruction.

like i made that post about the empty child/the doctor dances and it holds true for blink and thats about it bc the girl in the fireplace and silence in the library/forest of the dead are good but not nearly on the same level, and despite the fact that i like them at least nominally, they are also great examples of everything i hate about moffat and how he approached dw as a whole.

basically. doctor who is about people. there are many things about moffats tenure as showrunner that i think are a step up from rtd era who! actual gay people, for one! but i think that can likely be attributed mostly to an evolving Society as opposed to something inherent to him and his work, seeing as rtd is literally gay, and the existence of queer characters in moffats work doesnt mean the existence of good queer characters (ill give him bill but thats it!)

i have a few Primary Grievances with moffat and how he ran dw. all of them are things that got better with capaldi, but didnt go away. they are as follows:

moffat projects his own god complex onto the doctor

rtd era who had a doctor with a god complex. you cant ever be the doctor and not have a god complex. the problem with moffats era specifically is that the god complex was constant and unrepentant and was seen as a fundamental personality trait of the doctor rather than a demon he has to fight. he has the Momence where you feel bad for him, the Momence where he shows his humility or whatever and youre reminded that he doesnt want to be the lonely god, but those are just. moments. in a story where the doctor thinks hes the main character. rtd era doctor was aware that he wasnt the main character. he had to be an authority sometimes and he had to be the loner and he had to be sad about it, but he ultimately understood that he was expendable in a narrative sense.

this is how you get lines like “were the thin fat gay married anglican marines, why would we need names as well?” from the same show that gave you the gut punch moment at the end of midnight when they realize that nobody asked the hostess for her name. and on the one hand, thats a small sticking point, but on the other hand, its just one small example of the simple disregard that moffat has for humanity.

incidentally, this is a huge part of why sherlock sucked so bad: moffats main characters are special bc theyre so much bigger and better than all the normal people, and thats his downfall as a showrunner. he thinks that his audience wants fucking sheldon cooper when what they want is people.

like, ok. think of how many fantastic rtd era eps are based in the scenario “what if the doctor wasnt there? what if he was just out of commission for a bit?” and how those eps are the heart of the show!! bc theyre about people being people!! the thing is that all of the rtd era companions would have died for the doctor but he understood and the story understood that it wasnt about him.

this is like. nine sending rose home to save her life and sacrifice his own vs clara literally metaphysically entwining her existence w the doctor. ten also sending rose with her family to save her life vs river being raised from infancy to be obsessed w the doctor and then falling in love w him. martha leaving bc she values herself enough to make that decision vs amy being treated like a piece of meat.

and this is simultaneously a great callback to when i said that moffats episodes during the rtd era sometimes had the same problems as his show running (bc girl in the fireplace reeks of this), and a great segue into the next grievance.

moffat hates women

he hates women so fucking much. g-d, does steven moffat ever hate women. holy shit, he hates women. especially normal human women who prioritize their normal human lives on an equal or higher level than the doctor. moffat hated rose bc she wasnt special by his standards. the empty child/the doctor dances is the nicest he ever treated her, and she really didnt do much in those eps beyond a fuck ton of flirting.

girl in the fireplace is another shining example of this. youve got rose (who once again has another man to keep her busy, bc moffat doesnt think shes good enough for the doctor) sidelined for no reason only to be saved by the doctor at the last second or whatever. and then youve got reinette, who is pretty and powerful and special!

its just. moffat thinks that the doctor is as shallow and selfish as he is. thats why he thinks the doctor would stay in one place with reinette and not with rose. bc moffat is shallow and sees himself in the doctor and doesnt think he should have to settle for someone boring and normal.

not to mention rose met the doctor as an adult and chose to stay with him whereas reinette is. hm. introduced to the doctor as a child and grows up obsessed with him.

does that sound familiar? it should! bc it is also true of amy and river. and all of them are treated as viable romantic pairings. bc the only women who deserve the doctor are the ones whose entire existence revolves around him. which includes clara as well.

genuinely i think that at least on some level, not even necessarily consciously, that bill was a lesbian in part bc capaldi was too old to appeal to mainstream shippers. like twelve/clara is still a thing but not as universally appealing as eleven/clara but i am just spitballing. but i think they weighed the pros and cons of appealing to the woke crowd over the het shippers and found that gay companion was more profitable. anyway the point is to segue into the next point, which is that moffat hates permanent consequences.

moffat hates permanent consequences

steven moffat does not know how to kill a character. honestly it feels like hes doing it on purpose after a certain point, like he knows he has this habit and hes trying to riff on it to meme his own shit, but it doesnt work. it isnt funny and it isnt harmless, its bad writing.

the end of the doctor dances is so poignant and so meaningful and so fucking good bc its just this once! everybody lives, just this once! and then he does p much the same thing in forest of the dead - this one i could forgive, bc i do think that preserving those peoples consciousnesses did something for the doctor as a character, it wasnt completely meaningless. but everything after that kinda was.

rory died so many times its like. get a hobby lol. amy died at least once iirc but it was all a dream or something. clara died and was erased from the doctors memory. river was in prison and also died. bill? died. all of them sugarcoated or undone or ignored by the narrative to the point of having effectively no impact on the story. the point of a major character death is that its supposed to have a point. and you could argue that a piece of art could be making a point with a pointless death, ie. to put perspective on it and remind you that bad shit just happens, but with moffat the underlying message is always “i can do whatever i want, nothing is permanent or has lasting impact ever.”

basically, with moffat, tragedy exists to be undone. and this was a really brilliant, really wonderful thing in the doctor dances specifically bc it was the doctor clearly having seen his fair share of tragedy that couldnt be helped, now looking on his One Win with pride and delight bc he doesnt get wins like this! and then moffat proceeded to give him the same win over and over and over and over. nobody is ever dead. nobody is ever unable to be saved. and if they are, really truly dead and/or gone, then thats okay bc moffat has decided that [insert mitigating factor here]*

*the mitigating factor is usually some sort of computerized database of souls.

i can hear the moffat stans falling over themselves to remind me that amy and rory definitely died, and they did - after a long and happy life together, they died of old age. i dont consider that a character death any more than any other character choosing to permanently leave the tardis.

and its not just character deaths either, its like, everything. the destruction of gallifrey? never mind lol! character development? scrapped! the same episode four times? lets give it a fifth try and hope nobody notices. bc he doesnt know how to not make the doctor either an omnipotent savior or a self-pitying failure.

it is in nature of doctor who, i believe, for the doctor to win most of the time. like, it wouldnt be a very good show if he didnt win most of the time. but it also wouldnt be a very good show if he won all of the time. my point is that moffats doctor wins too often, and when he doesnt win, it feels empty and hollow rather than genuinely humbling, and you know hes not gonna grow from it pretty much at all.

so like. again, i like all of doctor who i enjoy all of it very much. i just think that steven moffat is a bad show runner and a decent writer at times. and it is frustrating. and im not here to convince or convert anyone im just living my truth. thank you for listening.

[elisabeth-forbes]

Doctor Who?

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

BTW I stopped watching half way through Capaldi's era.

Favorite character: Donna Noble or Martha Jones

Least Favorite character: Rory Pond

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Clara/12, Rose/10, Martha /River, Clara/Martha, Doctor/Master, Rose/Amy - honestly a lot of the female companions.

Character I find most attractive: Clara Oswald - I've had a massive crush on Jenna Coleman since her Waterloo Road days.

Character I would marry: Clara or Martha

Character I would be best friends with: Donna Noble

a random thought: I don't actually ship the doctor with that many characters. If I ship the doctor with someone then if has to be that incarnation of the doctor. Also I like RTD's era a lot because of the storylines I feel were more coherent and had more payoff throughout the season. But I think that Moffat did bring in a lot of interesting female characters and concepts. Also some of his MOTW episodes were brilliant and I loved how he expanded on some of the aliens later on.

An unpopular opinion: That people in the fandom view character development = obeying the doctor or becoming more like them. Apart from the case of Martha in which they still continue to hate on her when she is literally better than him in every way.

My Canon OTP: Rose/10 - you could tell that RTD felt they were THE couple in the show.

My Non-canon OTP: Martha Jones/River Song - this is based off a conversation my friend and I had about River running into Martha when shes at UNIT or torchwood.

Most Badass Character: Martha Jones - she saved the world by herself with no power ups and how she handled the scarecrow episode. Side note - Sarah Jane Smith mostly because she never gave up protecting earth even after leaving the doctor and I loved the Sarah Jane Smith series.

Most Epic Villain: The Master

Pairing I am not a fan of: Jack/10 - I like Jack and 9 but 10 literally called him an abomination to his face. Plus Jack and 9 had that energy about them.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): It sometimes felt that RTD was encouraging people to hate on Martha via the doctor who kept comparing her to Rose. And considering how much racist hate she got in the first place I feel like that arc of not caring what the doctor thought should have been done a lot better and with more care.

Favourite Friendship: Donna/10

Character I most identify with: Probably Donna because of stuff I was going through when I first watched it. Also I really understood the urge to slap the doctor.

Character I wish I could be: Amy Pond or Clara Oswald because I always loved their hair.

[moonlightserenadeeznutz]

(New) Doctor Who hasn’t been good since S4.

(Please note: This post is really only for people who already agree with me, rather than people who disagree with me, because I don’t want to change anyone’s opinions, nor do I want to ruin DW for anyone. So if you disagree with me, you have no obligation to read any further, and I hope you have a nice day). ~ Okay, look...

First of all: I love Matt Smith. I think he was a fantastic Doctor. He was an absolute sweetheart, and a wonderful actor.

I also loved Clara Oswald as a companion. And all in all, I enjoyed post-s4 of NewWho, with a number of episodes that stood out to me (mainly written by Neil Gaiman... please can we make him a permanent author) and genuinely didn’t dislike it.

However, I really believe that the Steven Moffat era (s5 and onwards) and especially the Chris Chibnall era (s11 and onwards), couldn’t live up to the Russel T Davis era (s1-4).

For starters, I found the episodes post s4 really difficult to get invested into. I feel like the writers tried too hard to make it dramatic, and in turn simply made it complicated to follow along and frankly, a little boring. Too many characters had an unnecessary amount of importance placed on them, and too many episodes contained more than one plot point (again, as an attempt to make it dramatic, and therefore making it too complicated).

I also disliked the complete disregard for anything that happened pre-s5. I understand the timeline to an extent, for example, by the time the Doctor met Amy it had technically been about a hundred years since he’d last seen Rose give or take (though it had literally only been a few days since he’d last seen Donna and she wasn’t mentioned at all). This may just be my inability to really cope with major change, but then, a lot of people are like me, so disregarding everything just makes the show inaccessible to a number of people. I was screaming at the TV screen half the time wanting the Doctor to mention Rose, or Martha, or Donna, or Jack, but they hardly got a look in. Even in The Day of the Doctor, the appearance of “Rose” was frankly disappointing.

And this is just talking about s5 and onwards. I haven’t yet mentioned how good pre-s4 was. I’m not saying every episode was a masterpiece, but there were an incredible amount of well-thought out and interesting storylines. The entire Bad Wolf storyline and how it threaded through all four seasons even after Rose had gone was, and still is, my favourite thing ever. The Daleks and the Cybemen were actually threatening (as opposed to just nuisances like they were post-s5, which I suppose by that time they were, but it’s funny how some characters were described as the most dangerous and evil characters when tbh they really weren’t, but the Daleks and the Cybermen hardly ever were. I’d also like to point out that the Cybermen hadn’t actually been seen again by the Doctor since the battle at Canary Wharf (although I may be wrong on this, someone please correct me), and when Eleven did see them again, he acted more as if they were just an inconvenience, rather than the reason he lost one of his companions).

And don’t even get me started on the companions of pre-s5. Yes I love Clara, but that’s really about it. I never got invested in Amy, despite the show making her out to be god incarnated and the most important person in the Doctor’s life. I actually got more invested in Rory tbh. I’m not saying I didn’t like Amy, I just didn’t really see the big deal. Adding this to the fact that my favourite companions (all of which are in pre-s5) were never mentioned made me genuinely angry at Amy. It wasn’t her fault, but she had an air of smugness around her, as if she knew everything there is to know about the Doctor, but out of all of the companions she actually doesn’t know that much at all. She barely even knows that the Doctor can regenerate.

The companions in s1-4 were on a different level. Rose Tyler is my beloved, who absorbed the time vortex and became Bad Wolf. Martha Jones was the most badass motherf*cker who literally became a walking legend throughout the entire world as she travelled for a year on her own to defeat the Master- which she did, single f*cking handedly. Donna Noble was Catherine Tate. (And also she was the most hilarious, wonderful won’t-take-shit-from-a-spaceman icon who literally became a Time Lord. AND JACK MOTHERFUCKING HARKNESS THE GUY I LITERALLY NAMED MYSELF AFTER THE IMMORTAL OMNISEXUAL ALIEN JOHN FUCKING BARROWMAN LGBTQ+ ICON ALL THE WAY FROM 2005 CANNOT BE COMPARED IN LOVE WITH THE DOCTOR FLIRTS WITH EVERYONE SMOOTH SON OF A BITCH WITH A SMILE THAT CAN KILL EVEN MY LESBIAN ARSE.

Amy was just... sort of nothing? I don’t want to criticise too much because I know she’s the favourite companion of a lot of people, and I don’t want to ruin her for them. I don’t think she’s a bad companion. A lot of my anger towards her is more to do with me rather than to do with her. I just feel that she was placed on a pedestal and treated way more than her predecessors for no real reason.

She was “The girl who waited”. She was an eight year old who sat outiside for a night waiting for the Doctor. It’s sweet and all, but why is that literally her only personality trait?

There’s probably more I can add, but I’ve gone on long enough. And I must reiterate this is only personal opinion. I understand the title is a bit too blunt, one of those “if you don’t agree with me you’re an idiot” sort of posts, but it isn’t. This is just how I feel, and I encourage you to disagree with me, because I don’t want to ruin anything for anyone. Believe me, lots of things have been ruined for me by someone giving a negative opinion about it (though I’m not calling those people out or anything) because I’ve felt obliged to agree, or I’ve felt that my opinion is wrong. So I’m not trying to do that, I’m really just writing this for the people who already agree, rather than the people who disagree, because I’m not here to change anyone’s opinion.

Amy’s great. Matt Smith is fantastic. S5 and onwards has some enjoyable storylines. Neil Gaiman is a fantastic writer, so is Russel T Davis. Chris Chibnall isn’t but I think we can all agree with that. Martha is underrated as shit. Catherine Tate is queen of my life (I met her once, she gave up her seat for me on the Tube when I was a kid. Didn’t know who she was back then but my mother was very excited). Rose Tyler can marry me. Jack Harkness is the only reason I’m happy. And Clara is a sweetheart who needs constant protection.

Thank you for coming to be TEDTalk.

[timeagainreviews]

My Series 10 Rewatch: Knock Knock

Hello, my fantastic friends! I am sorry I have been so quiet. I got coronavirus in February and it really wiped out my energy. I am finally starting to bounce back and feel like leaving the house once more. This beautiful Scottish spring we’re having has definitely helped. I also lost my grandpa this week, so I've been all over the place, emotionally. Obviously, such a big pause in the middle of a series 10 rewatch is disruptive, so I would rather just dive back in if it's all the same. When last we were gathered, I was talking about "Thin Ice." Since then, the ice has thawed and I am now up to series 10 episode four- "Knock Knock," by one-time Doctor Who writer Mike Bartlett.

An aspect of Doctor Who which I love about Steven Moffat’s era is that the Doctor and his companions didn’t spend every waking moment of their lives together. Unlike companions of the past, who basically left behind their family lives to galavant across time and space, the companions of the Moffat era had home lives. Not only did this make for some humorous moments, such as the Doctor landing his TARDIS in Clara’s bedroom on date night, it also set up the characters for something of an actual life. "Knock Knock," uses this separation of worlds to establish one of its central themes- can you have a normal life with the Doctor? 

Being a poor student in London, Bill is forced to look for a flat with a group of people she only sort of knows. This is your typical group of students, eclectic and young. The biggest commonality they have is they can’t afford a place on their own. One of the ways in which this makes the episode suffer is that none of them has much chemistry together. However, it does enable Bartlett to explore deeper concepts, such as the fear of meeting new people. Our characters are forced to deal with a deadly situation with people who are basically strangers. 

The other commonality they have is Bill’s mate, Shireen. I got momentarily excited the first time I heard her name, but only because I thought it was going to be Rose’s best mate Shareen. Also, it would mean that Rose and Shareen had like a 10 year age difference, which would be weird. Shireen is a bubbly sort that seems gung-ho about everyone getting on. This doesn’t stop 90% of their interactions from being a total cringefest. Not one of these characters is particularly likeable. Pavel, the musician of the group, and the one character with maybe a bit of culture becomes a wall pretty early on, so it’s a bland time from there on out. But that’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves. 

After a montage of disappointing flats ("Oh my god, the toilet is is what room?") the gang stands defeated. But like a beacon of light, comes a glimmer of hope in the form of John, a man who clearly prowls the streets for groups of youths. The gang is willing to overlook the obvious stranger danger about John because he has something they need- a giant house at a reasonable price. It’s another one of those deeper concepts being explored here that I think Doctor Who does so well. The show operates well when it preys upon basic fears. In this case, it’s the fear of the creepy landlord. The fear that your home life may be dictated by a creepy man who carries a tuning fork and forbids you to enter certain parts of the house like it’s Beauty and the Beast. 

 Arriving as if to say "No, Bill, you can’t have a normal life," is the Doctor. After using his TARDIS to move her belongings, Bill is quick to send him off. She even foregoes the traditional six-pack of beer and pizza, the universal payment for friends helping one move house. Of course, the moment the Doctor enters the derelict abode, his Time Lord senses are pinging. The Doctor isn't just an embarrassing "grandfather," type, but also a threat to any semblance of a normal life Bill can hope to have. As I said, this is familiar territory in the Moffat era. A funny side effect of the Doctor's attempts at allowing his companions to live normal lives is it only adds to the sharp contrast between both existences. Perhaps this is immersion therapy on the Doctor's behalf. Letting his friend remember what the world is actually like so as to not disassociate her from her own time and place. Or perhaps it is the Doctor softening the blow of eventually losing his friend.

The Doctor leaves long enough for two things to happen. Firstly, Pavel is listening to some music and suddenly is eaten by the house. Nobody seems to notice. Secondly, the new housemates have a bit of a games night for their first night at 11 Cardinal Road. There's no cellphone reception and the house is nowhere near up to code. I applaud them for trying to build up these characters, but it never really gels. Their merriment is cut short after hearing a noise in the kitchen. Scooby-Doo style, Bill leads them to the pantry where she finds the Doctor never actually left. They decide to head to bed, but the Doctor decides he's going to stay up with Felicity and Harry and listen to music. He also reminds Bill to maybe check on Pavel who has not been seen all day.

Now back in the sitting room, the gang is surprised to find John present. He addresses their problems with the amenities and waxes strange about having a daughter to look after. The Doctor asks John who the Prime Minister is, but he is unable to answer. Before they can ask more questions, John disappears down the hallway, but not before sounding his tuning fork against the wood. On her way to bed, Bill has the most cringe conversation with her new housemate, Paul. Paul fancies Bill. Bill fancies girls. I get that they may have wanted a scene where Bill flat out says to the audience that she's gay, but Paul comes off as super creepy. I wouldn't have an issue with this, but I feel like we're meant to find Paul endearing. It's hard for me to place what exactly they were going for in this scene. Paul, mate, you just met her. You just moved in together. Maybe let the paint dry first.

Luckily, like a shot from the dark, the plot saves us from having to stand in the hallway of awkwardness. Paul, having gone to his room, screams. Thinking he's having a laugh, Bill and Shireen go knocking on his door, only to find the return knock sounding across the hallway wall. The house begins to creak and shudder while doors slam shut. It's like something from a haunted house movie. In many ways, it follows a familiar trope from Doctor Who. The house haunted by aliens. We've seen it in "Ghost Light," "Hide," or even Edward Grove from "The Chimes of Midnight." Though I would argue that here, there is less grist for the mill. "Knock Knock," is a more stripped back, simple story. And in that way, I find it begins to lose me as the mystery unravels. 

As the housemates run through the house, trying to escape whatever is happening, they find Pavel in a state of flux. Something about the music on his record player skipping has kept him from being completely absorbed by the house. I will say, this is a great bit of body horror on the makeup department's behalf. Everything about Pavel looks like a guy getting eaten by a wall. As it turns out, the tuning fork and the music have more to do with what's going on as the Doctor discovers the house infested with alien lice known as "Dryads." Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor is momentarily able to draw the bugs out from the grain of the wood. The Dryad is not your common woodlouse, as it appears to move through wood like water. Even in my second viewing, I found myself wondering if this is kind of cool or kind of dumb. I vacillate between the two. 

In many ways, this is both Doctor Who's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The surreal nature of a time-travelling police box affords us things like sentient planets, talking chair frogs, and killer mannequins. On the other hand, it gives us farting aliens, gamma radiation in the form of lightning, and the Doctor screaming until a window smashes. I remember reading an Eighth Doctor book where horse people read books on their planet by licking them and tasting the story. Sometimes, Doctor Who is bloody brilliant, and other times, it's bloody embarrassing. But that's partly why I love it. This kind of freedom gives it freshness. One week we get a priest buzzing like a wasp as he talks, the next we get River Song and the Vashta Nerada.

Now, I'm not saying "Knock Knock," is bad, but it is a little dumb. I've already complained about the dopey kids nobody cares about, and the silly aliens that aren't that scary, but the end of this episode is where it really kind of evens itself out. As I said, I vacillate between this being a good and a bad story. We learn that the reason John doesn't want anyone up inside the tower of the house has nothing to do with safety, and everything to do with a dark secret. After discovering the unclaimed belongings of previous occupants over the span of decades, the housemates learn that they are just the latest in a long line of people being fed to the house.

I found the motivation of the Dryads a little hard to understand. It seems weird to me that a woodlouse would want to eat people, but here we are. As it turns out, John has found a way to keep his "daughter," Eliza, alive using the Dryads. After noticing they respond to sonic vibrations, John has been using the tuning fork the make them do his bidding. It's a simple arrangement- he feeds students to the Dryads, the Dryads keep Eliza alive as a wooden woman, hidden away in the tower like some forgotten ghost. Once again, the makeup department has done its job. You genuinely believe Eliza is a woman made from wood. I especially like how they used papery twine for her hair.

They do a good job giving reasons why the housemates can't call for help. No wifi, no reception. But it is hard to imagine that over the course of decades, nobody came looking at this giant house for clues of their missing loved ones. Maybe they did and the house ate them as well. All I know is that it's mighty convenient that not one prospective tenant said to their mum or dad "Hey, I'm moving into a giant house at 11 Cardinal Road." Hell, even the Doctor helped move Bill in. What was John's big plan for when the Doctor came around looking for his "granddaughter?"

By this point, several of the housemates have been eaten by the house. Honestly, I could care less about which ones. I think Paul got his, and of course poor wooden Pavel. Or would that be wooden panel? I can't stress how little I care about these characters. Am I cold? I don't think so. We never see them on the show again. They don't matter in the slightest. With the Dryads closing in, the Doctor and Bill have to think quick. Which is when they realise that the timelines don't match up. If John were Eliza's actual father, he would be long dead. Seeing as he is not also made of wood, they deduce that he is in fact not Eliza's father, but her son. Unable to say goodbye to his ailing mother, John has been preserving her. Eliza has been through so much trauma that she has completely forgotten this fact. It's all rather depressing if I'm honest.

Depressing is okay though. What's Doctor Who without the occasion trudge through misery? Of course, it's not all doom and gloom, as Eliza restores all of the young people, once again leaving me to question why they were eaten in the first place. Were they transmuted into energy and simply recombined? It's the best explanation we're going to get, which is fine. David Suchet gives a powerful performance as he begs his mother not to end their lives. His performance is, by far, one of the strongest elements of this episode. Eliza and John are both overtaken by the Dryads, who are off presumably forever. I suppose the threat of Dryads is no longer looming now that their puppet master is no longer pulling their strings.

All in all, I find myself without much to say about this episode. It's not bad, but it's not a banger either. Even writing this review has been a bit of a slog. I find myself hard-pressed to really have any strong feelings one way or the other, and sometimes, that's just how it is. I will say it is the brownest episode of Doctor Who I’ve seen since the ‘70s. The BBC really knew how to dull down colour back then. Sigh... The best I can say about "Knock Knock," is that it's fine, really. There's nothing really wrong with it other than being kind of dull. I think if they'd have tried harder to make the characters more relatable it could have helped. Not every villain needs to be the new Daleks or Weeping Angels. Unlike some of the other episodes in my series ten rewatch, my opinion on this episode has changed very little. I would be as equally surprised to hear someone say this episode was terrible as I would be to hear it's their favourite. This is the kind of Doctor Who you can have on in the background. 

Much like we followed the lacklustre "The Unicorn and the Wasp," with the transcendent "Silence in the Library," I am very excited for the next episode in my rewatch- "Oxygen." Another anti-capitalist romp in the vein of "Smile," is just what I need right now. Now that I am back and feeling up to writing again, you should expect to see a bit more output. I wanted to cover the BBC's Youtube Dalek series, of which I have not watched a single frame. I've been putting it off because I wanted to talk about it on here. I have a few non-review articles in mind, but I don't like to promise too much. What I am saying is that you can expect more, soon! Take care!

[girl-in-the-library]

Rambling about Doctor Who? In this economy?

I’m in the process of catching up with Doctor Who. I had stopped a while ago most of the way through Capaldi’s second season, after having stopped for a long time before watching his first season and a half.

Well, I just watched Capaldi regenerate into Jodi Whittaker and I have some things to say. This is primarily focusing on the end of Clara’s run as a companion and Bill’s story, because it’s been a while since I watched that first part of Capaldi and Clara, and even longer since I watched anything before that. I came back to catch up because I’d been seeing gifsets of Nine and Ten, and I miss them so, so much. But I decided I wanted to catch up before going back and doing an entire rewatch of New Who (I have no idea anything about Classic Who, honestly...and there’s so much that’s missing and I have no idea where to get the rest of it anyway).

Point is. I have feelings. Some good. Some bad. And they’re going under the cut.

First things First: I hate Steven Moffat.

All his episodes are the worst! Whenever his name would come up as the main writer credit, the episode was trash! Of course, some were more trash than others, and some were good ideas, but they all got the Doctor so, so wrong.

Two egregious examples that I hated, both from Moffat written episodes:

In “The Husbands of River Song,” River gives this whole big speech about how she’s the woman who loves the Doctor, but he will never love her, because that’s like looking at a sunset and asking it to love you back...or something like that. The Doctor would never come for her, because she wasn’t important enough.

That’s wrong on two big levels. 1! The Doctor is the Doctor because he loves. Nine was broken because he was so hurt, and he had forgotten how to love. Rose taught him to love again, and brought him back from the brink of self-destruction. I dislike the idea of the Doctor and River being a couple because I think Steven Moffat wrote it very, very badly (just like...a random woman comes out of nowhere and claims to be the Doctor’s wife! And then she is...because she is?) However, she is, in fact, the Doctor’s wife, as written, and he /does/ love her. She /is/ important to him. And the fact that she doesn’t think so just proves a misunderstanding in character and out of character. The second point? That she’s not important enough? She’s obviously important enough for the Doctor...but the other point is that that shouldn’t matter.

Nine once said that he had never met anybody who wasn’t important. But later on in the episode about the Monks that had taken over, Bill asks why the Doctor puts up with humans if he finds them so ridiculous. And the Doctor says something about “every so often I meet one like you [Bill]” and that makes up for putting up with the rest. No! The Doctor loves humanity! AND EVERYONE IS IMPORTANT TO HIM.

The thing about the Doctors that Moffat has written...both Eleven and Twelve (and the War Doctor, I guess too) is that specific people are important to those Doctors, and the Doctor would do anything for them. Anything for Amy, for Rory, for River. For Clara. For Bill. And they fail, but they fail doing things to save these specific people, not necessarily for their sakes, but for his own. And then they would die, and he would be sad, but there would be no consequences for his actions. 

Nine and Ten loved Rose, but Ten left her behind /twice/ because he needed to. Martha got herself out. And Ten erased Donna’s memories to save her life. He lost them, in the end. And it hurt him. And he continued on, learning because of it. He died and regenerated twice because of his love for people. But there were still consequences for everyone around him, as well as himself. Sad things happened.

But Amy, Rory, River, Clara, and Bill? He hung on to them until they were burned away, but they were all fine in the end. Amy and Rory were there for a long time, but then the weeping angels sent them back, and the Doctor couldn’t see them anymore, but they were totally fine and grew old together. River died the first time the Doctor met her, but he clung to her for centuries (without proper character development, I tell you!) until she eventually died, but her whole life was centered around the Doctor. Clara he did everything he could to save, including break the laws of time. And he still lost her but also she was totally fine at the same time, traveling across time and space with Asheildr/Me in their Diner TARDIS. And Bill? Bill literally was turned into a Cyberman because of the Doctor’s hubris. He couldn’t save her. But she ended up okay anyway.Why? Because after she died as a human, then died as a Cyberman, she lived as something else, along with Heather, and got some sort of happily ever after (until she ultimately died again, but that’s off screen, we see her memories.) And then the Doctor got HIS memories of Clara back! So there were no consequences!

The Doctor as Moffat wrote them had no regard for life. They loved specific people, and specific conditions, except when Humanity was in Danger, and then he was The Big Damn Action Hero. But he also turned all of humanity into murderers when he basically brainwashed them into killing the Silence on sight, because otherwise they wouldn’t remember seeing them (this happened in Amy and Rory’s time, but it’s relevant).

In one episode, he tells the executioners to look up the Doctor under cause of death, and they flee out of fear for just how many people wound up dead because of him. In the next, he berates Missy for just how many people has she killed? It’s inconsistent.

The Doctor is a Perfect Hero, when he needs to be, and a Perfect Killer, also when he needs to be. “The Doctor of War” - as the glass memory people call him (I can’t even remember what they were called even though I just watched the episode) - isn’t who the Doctor is...but it’s who Moffat made him. 

And of course, almost every major plotline ends up with Moffat’s favorite trope: The Big Friendly Reset Button. Because what does it matter if things happen? There’s time travel and everything will be okay for Earth in general and the people we care about, even if it’s not actually okay.

I hate Steven Moffat. I do think he has some good ideas! The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances were some of my favorite episodes! I just think he can’t be allowed to be in charge.

I also hate Clara’s Magic Tears that make the Doctor do something he wasn’t going to do (that it would have made sense for him to do) just because she cried. Like...in the 50th. When she cried and told the Doctor that pushing the button wouldn’t be like him. That he couldn’t do that to his entire civilization. But the thing is...he already did. His character development was based on that. And it changed him. But then, Clara cried, and he didn’t. And it was like the Time War never happened. (What I think would have been great would have been if the three Doctors decided to push the button together. They had made the decision in the past as Eight/the War Doctor. Now, together, as the War Doctor, Ten, and Eleven...knowing everything they had been through and everything the universe had been through...they pushed the button to make the decision they knew needed to be made. But they didn’t do that. Clara cried and they didn’t do that. And then it wasn’t like the War even mattered anyway, because literally nothing changed). But I digress. There was another time or two that Clara cried and the Doctor did something stupid, but I forget the specifics right now.

Now, from the bad to the questions.

Why are the Time Lords? Where are the Time Lords? If they’re back, how come they’re not interfering more, especially as they were looking for the Doctor? If they’re not back, then why are they there?

What was with the orphanage thing on Gallifrey? Is that where the Doctor grew up? Is this a question that was answered in Classic Who, or earlier New Who that I just don’t remember, or did Moffat just shove in a confusing backstory then not answer questions about it?

Why was Missy being executed? And speaking of Missy, why couldn’t she still call herself the Master, just because she was female? 

Who was that child in the picture on the Doctor’s desk in the office at the university? The one in the frame next to River’s frame? I feel like this is something I just don’t know...not something that wasn’t explained.

How old is the Doctor? That’s been all over the place for a long time now. 

How did Bill survive the mind-thing with the monks?

I had more questions but I forgot them.

And from the questions to the good.

I liked Bill! I liked Bill a lot! I feel like I never got the sense that she developed any sort of relationship with the Doctor, that it was just like...she was a student and then suddenly they were super important to each other, but I guess that’s how it goes sometimes.

I actually really loved Capaldi! I thought he could be a great Doctor if he wasn’t hindered by the writing. But I definitely enjoyed this run and will miss him, which is honestly more than I can say for Matt Smith. Not that I don’t think Smith did a good job. I like Smith well enough, but not enough to miss him as the Doctor when he left.

The episode Hell Bent was really, really good.

And overall, I just enjoyed it.

I know I listed a lot of problems up there, and not a lot of good stuff down here...but I was having fun watching Doctor Who again! I was just taken out of it sometimes by the Moffat garbage fire.

But I cried when Bill died. I cried when the Doctor died. I cried when he said, “What about me? Don’t I get to rest?” I cried when he regenerated, though his speech to himself was stupid.

I liked Bill better than Clara, but Clara still had a lot of good moments!

I am /happy/ that I got back into Doctor Who. And I can’t wait to see what comes next.

[incomingalbatross]

For the ask: 001: Doctor Who; 002: Wodehouse ship of your choice; 003: character of your choice from Psych.

Thank you!

Doctor Who

Favorite character: ...I mean, it has to be the Doctor. He’s the embodiment of Chaotic Good, and he’s so entertaining and absurd and so deeply good at the same time. Even if there are regenerations I like less than others, I always love the Doctor.

Least Favorite character: ...Rose Freaking Tyler. I don’t talk about her much, because I don’t want to inadvertently start something with anyone who feels differently, but this is not a Rose-friendly space.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Canon-ish: Ben/Polly, Amy/Rory, Martha/Mickey. Non-canon: Harry/Victoria, Jenny/the son of Kate Stewart (he only barely exists in EU, but the idea of the Doctor’s daughter marrying the Brigadier’s grandson is just really cute to me)

Character I find most attractive: ...Hm. The Eighth Doctor, maybe?

Character I would marry: Harry Sullivan. He’s a sweet, gentlemanly dork of a Naval surgeon with traditional values--what’s not to love?

Character I would be best friends with: The Doctor. Not so much because he’s the character most like me, but because he’s very good at Being Friends With People.

a random thought: One thing I really love about the New Series is the increasingly consistent trend--especially in Moffat’s era, I think?--of explicitly treating the TARDIS as another character. It’s been there implicitly for a long time, but they made it much more canon and I appreciate that.

An unpopular opinion: Missy is not the Master, and I’ll never believe she is. This isn’t even about her gender, but about her whole personality.

My Canon OTP: Ian/Barbara, from the First Doctor’s era. This isn’t exactly controversial--I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything, in fandom or EU, where they weren’t happily together--but I love them.

My Non-canon OTP: Master/Clara... Which is entirely the fault of my sister’s fics. I wasn’t expecting to ship them!!

Most Badass Character: ...There’s so many to choose from. Aside from the Doctor, maybe Sarah Jane? Aside from being one of the greatest companions, she got her own spinoff show in which it was established that she’s been regularly saving the world on her own, she adopted two children and began mentoring three more in her fifties, and she was generally amazing for five seasons.

Most Epic Villain: ...The Master gets highest points for Presentation (as Megamind would say), and the Daleks are the most consistently menacing... But I think Rassilon scares me the most. He’s the founder of Time Lord society, and he’s evil. 

Pairing I am not a fan of: The Doctor/anyone other than River, honestly. (Well, or his Gallifreyan wife from pre-canon days--I assume they were a good match, from what canon evidence we have)

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): ...A lot. Today, though, I’m going to say Sarah again. As said above, she’s a hero in her own right, and there’s no force in the universe that could stop her from having adventures. Reducing her to “female character pining after the Doctor and unable to get over losing him,” as they did in “School Reunion”, was a massive injustice to her character. (ESPECIALLY since their Classic relationship was not romantic. I mean, they’ve been shipped, of course, but their was nothing romantic in the writing or--IMHO--even the acting.)

Favourite Friendship: I think I’ve said this before, but the Doctor and the Brigadier. I love constant their friendship is, how much they’ve done for each other and respect each other, and how easily they fit back together every time they reunite.

Character I most identify with: ...I honestly don’t know. I love almost all of them, but I don’t think any of them click in quite that way, you know?

Character I wish I could be: Romana, maybe? She’s a Time Lady who traveled with the Doctor--that’s a pretty good deal!

Wodehouse Ship: I’m going to go with Mike/Eve here, for fun

When I started shipping them: As soon as the name “Jackson” appeared in Leave it to Psmith, I think. I trust and support Mike’s judgement. :P

My thoughts: I wish we’d, you know, seen them together. But I like that Mike has a wife he can take care of! I think that suits them both. (I also have a headcanon that Psmith went off--to the Drones, maybe?--and dug up dirt on Rollo, and that these discoveries were what pushed Mike to propose. Because he’s an honorable boy, and I think getting him to propose to an engaged woman would take some intervention from Psmith... Also I don’t like what we’ve heard of Rollo.)

What makes me happy about them: That they exist. That they got their farm, and that their best friends married each other, so the two couples can look after each other when they need to! 

What makes me sad about them: No content. :(

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: ...I’ve never read any fic of them that wasn’t written by myself or one of this Tumblr microfandom, so... Nothing, really!

Things I look for in fanfic: Anything of them interacting with Psmith/Eve is especially fun. (Someday I’d like to try the scene where they find out Psmith and Eve are engaged. Because A) if they’re told soon enough, it would be the same meeting where they share the news that they got the farm, which sounds delightfully chaotic B) last they knew, Psmith and Eve hadn’t even met, and C) the second Mike heard they’d met at Blandings, he’d know Psmith was behind getting them the money. Somehow.) 

My wishlist:

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: ...I’m sure there are other Wodehouse Protagonists who would suit them, but none come to mind. They’re good with each other.

My happily ever after for them: Hmm... For them to have lots of kids, and the Psmiths as neighbors, and play cricket with their combined families every summer. Margery can visit and be the fun aunt, and since they’re doing well financially maybe the Jackson parents will come live with them at some point? (I’d also like them to have a chance to help Psimth and Eve out of some significant trouble, since it’s usually the other way around... I don’t know what, though.)

Psych character: ...I’ll pick Henry, since I’ve been talking about him a lot lately

How I feel about this character: Good! He’s a good, though flawed, dad, and a good cop. (One of the few Lawful Goods in this cast, in my opinion.) He’s solid, and principled, and one of the few people who can really, truly keep up with/keep a hold of Shawn.

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: His wife, I suppose? I don’t remember being a big fan of her, but he clearly still loves her, and I’m a sucker for “divorced couple reconciles” anyway... So yeah, Maddie.

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Shawn, of course. Henry just... he built his whole life around raising his son, and it shows with him and with Shawn. They’ve both affected each other so much, and I love that the show just shows them being more openly important to each other as it goes on.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I’m not sure what’s “unpopular” here... But I think his training of Shawn was less about wanting him to be a cop, and more about giving Shawn A) something halfway constructive to do with his racing brain, and B) the tools to survive whatever trouble he'd get into in the future. Because, even then, Henry knew Shawn was never going to stay out of trouble.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish Shawn had told him he loved him out loud, to his face, which I don’t think quite happened. I’m pretty content with Henry’s content overall, though, I think.

Favorite friendship for this character: I’m going to cheat slightly and say Gus. It’s not exactly a friendship, but I love the implicit history there, and the way that Gus is practically his second kid and they both relate to each other as such. (I am also highly indignant that the “Henry & Gus” tag apparently doesn’t even exist on AO3... Distressing.)

My crossover ship: ...I got nothin. However, I have decided that in a Star Trek fusion AU (sort of a crossover!) Shawn’s mom would be a Vulcan. That’s the closest I’ve got.

[isagrimorie]

The Doctor Who showrunner wars is still in full swing despite the three Doctor Who showrunners being friends IRL, and some things they’ve done and implemented can all boil down to preference.

I wanted to weigh in with my thoughts on this.

I like some things RTD did in his time in Doctor Who, I am very grateful to him for bringing the show back from the war but I also remember slowly getting disgruntled with his writing.

He is a drama writer, and one of the best; RTD has a way of turning a phrase that just fires up the imagination like:“Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-Have-Been-King with his army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres.”

He has also written and help re-write my favorite two-parter of Revival!Who Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, Midnight, Turn Left, and Children of Earth. The problem is as much as he loves both camp (sometimes the results can work, sometimes it doesn’t), RTD’s cynicism does leak through.

He tried to fight against those instincts in Doctor Who but you can see the strain show as he struggled to keep that cynicism away from the show.

There’s also the part where his frequent joke targets are middle aged women. And TBH, I was tired of Ten’s God Complex (“I am the final authority!”) and how the narrative rarely call him out on it. Unlike Nine, he started to believe his own press and the press of other people

I wasn’t keen on the way he joked about appearances of women above thirty, and tbh, I was tired of Ten’s God Complex (“I am the final authority.”) and how the narrative refused to call him out on it.

Ten believing his own press could have been interesting if the narrative didn’t think he was right. For example, The Water of Marscould have been interesting but I thought WoM resolved Ten’s Time Lord Victorious moment far too soon and easily.

I thought they could have explored more about the ‘Time Lord Victorious’ moment for at least another episode, or have The End of Time comment on it.

Apart from series 1, all of RTD’s series finales were heart-wrenching; each finale I ended up feeling like I was going twenty rounds against a meat grinder.

It was why I loved and will continue to love series 5 and how refreshingly happy the ending was.

No one was trapped in another dimension! No one had to single-handedly stop an apocalypse and have their family enslaved, or mind-wiped.

In the scheme of things, I think in certain aspects, Moffat’s storytelling style is more on line with my tastes. The fairytale seasons. Even Twelve becomes a fairytale Doctor, and I wager that his arc in series 8 is remembering the joy and becoming the fairytale Doctor again.

Another reason why I love series 5, coming directly from Ten’s Lonely God thing, was that a lot of people called out the Doctor on their God Complex and made their self-loathing a lot more text. I also loved the fairy tale aspect of his seasons.

But like with RTD not everything Moffat’s done is my favorite, there were some stories that had missteps, and one of those missteps was Moffat trying to out clever himself. Credit to him for swinging for the fences but he also started to spread himself too thin working on two shows, and the seams showed.

One of the criticisms about Moffat’s writing is character work, and he had no interest in the Companions’ families.

I’m in the middle. I have issues but also (especially after rewatching) I was more forgiving, as an example, in the end I didn’t care as much about the state of Amy’s parents.

No, that’s wrong, I did care.

I cared the first time I watched Angels Take Manhattan, I cared so much that when Amy and Rory disappeared I was so angry because all I could think about was Amy’s parents and Brian (Rory’s dad). I cared to the point that it was one of the reasons why I stopped watching.

On subsequent rewatches, I’ve reconciled with the idea that Companion families and family dynamics (the Companion’s parents) isn’t something Moffat was interested in. It took Chibnall to give Rory a dad (interesting that parent-child dynamic is really something Chibnall is drawn to).

Honestly, if family dynamics isn’t something he is interested in, that’s fair. Also, Amy’s parent’s weren’t a factor since series 6 and Amy’s parents might have well fallen back into the Crack for all we know.

Rewatching also helped me come to terms with some narrative choices I wasn’t fond of. Binge (re)watch tended to sand down any rough parts and I find rewatching can help me hold the shape of a story more.

Still, it took a while to realize Eleven acting big and bombastic was deliberate. Moffat needed Eleven to be big and loud, and full of himself so he can also go crashing down. It falls in line with what River describes the Doctor she knew: “Now my Doctor, I’ve seen whole armies turn and run away. And he’d just swagger off back to his Tardis and open the doors with a snap of his fingers.”

One of the things I wasn’t satisfied with Moffat’s writing (and there were plenty) was how series 6 dealt with child loss. Or, how s6 initially didn’t deal with child loss. The writing would eventually address it, and most prominently in The Wedding of River Song in a fantastically chilling scene between Amy and Kovarian.

But even then I felt it wasn’t enough. Emotional continuity during this time was very low.

This brings me to River. I loved her the moment she stepped on screen in Silence in the Library but my love for her character cooled because of series 6. My theory is Moffat wrote himself into a corner trying to out grand series 5.

For those taking notes at home, I watched Doctor Who sporadically during series 7 and then stopped watching at Angels Take Manhattan. I stopped watching until Day of the Doctor happened.

**DotD* reignited my love for Doctor Who! So much so that I went back and binged series 7.

I liked s7 well enough except for how Amy and Rory left, that still sticks in my craw. I would have been okay if the Ponds left at the end of the Power of Three. Unfortunately, for Revival!Who, there’s an expectation now that Leaving Stories should be hard and tragic, and breaks your heart. I don’t always need grand leaving stories.

TBH, with the exception of The Day of the Doctor, Series 7B is one of my least favorite Moffat seasons.

One of the many factors was the way the writers kept giving Matt Smith big speeches. The writers know he can do big speeches so they kept writing big speeches for him. It was their default.

Also, as one podcast speculated series 7B could have been where the writers realized (belatedly) that Smith was actually quite hunky. This and Moffat being too busy to manage the next half of the season because of The Day of the Doctor can explain the disaster that was the Time of the Doctor.

TotD remains as one of my least favorite Doctor Who episodes ever. (Well, not ever, there are some series 2 and 3 episodes that stand above it).

And then the Capaldi era.

This was the turn around where I started loving Moffat’s work again. It wasn’t easy to get to that point though, and like the previous series, there was a time I fell off the Doctor Who wagon because the first half of Capaldi’s season didn’t click with me.

I found him far too mean and unlikable which broke my heart since I loved Capaldi.

But a binge, again, sanded down all sins (well, notall) and now the difficult and prickly series 8 is something I really enjoy because knowing where Twelve ended up in his character journey helped.

This is why, I don’t mind getting spoiled about a show, as long I only get the broad strokes but not the details. I love finding out what his journey was and I don’t think I would have come back if I didn’t know where he ended up.

I think I saw snippets of Zygon Inversion speech on YouTube, and then I decided to give Husbands of River Song convinced me to finally watch all of Twelve’s run.

And now Twelve is my favorite Doctor.

Moffat’s writing didn’t magically become perfect (to me) but I loved the themes he chose to tackle for Twelve. Twelve is another PTSD!Doctor but unlike Nine, he had an opportunity to grow from that trauma. (And get fresh ones — thanks Time Lords!).

I love that Moffat used Twelve’s stories as a way to interrogate Ten’s stories culminating in Heaven Sent/Hell Bent.

IMO, Twelve’s relationship with Clara is similar to Rose and Donna. Twelve and Clara developed quite a co-dependent relationship by the time series 9 rolled around. They never quite achieved the height of smugness that was the first minutes of Impossible Planet nor have they ever been as obnoxious as Ten and Rose were in Tooth and Claw. Possibly because the Doctor’s older at this point and knows the perils, and similar to Donna because of how Donna kept Ten grounded. And, of course, because of the mindwipe argument that was definitely Moffat’s answer to the mindwiping of Donna, and as Moffat said in the War Games commentary, to the mindwipe of Zoe and Jamie.

And then we have Bill with Twelve, showing the very final form of the Twelfth Doctor. Twelve as a grown-up, feeling settled with himself, finally. He learned a lot of lessons and committed himself to stay in one place.

I love the relationship he built with Bill and while I do love, love, love Jodie Whittaker, I was sad to have only one season of Bill and Twelve. Especially since after Lie of the Land Missy’s story began to have more prominence over Bill’s.

(And there’s the whole Missy thing which tbh would make this a longer post than it already is!).

TLDR. Both showrunners aren’t perfect, sometimes their views don’t align with mine. I loved series 1 because it was my entry point into Doctor Who but there are also things about RTD’s run I wasn’t happy with. Same with Moffat there were things I adored and things that really didn’t sit well with me.

There were points during both showrunner’s time on the show I had to take time off.

Now with Chibnall, the same thread runs through: I like most of his stories in series 11 but it also isn’t perfect and has a lot of room for improvement.

/EDITED

[annakie]

It took three and a half months, but I’ve finished my Doctor Who Rewatch.

It’s time to talk about seasons 10, 11, overall wrapup thoughts and some best/worst lists.  Very long post below.

I started doing this back at the end of August as more of a joke when I was going back and cleaning the terrible cringe stuff off the first few months of my blog, then ended up taking that project from when I started the blog in May, 2011 until late 2016.  I realized that I had too much going on IRL right now to revisit my life at the end of 2016 when things took a sharp turn the wrong way, so I haven’t picked that back up again.  I still might at some point.

After the start of the nostalgia tour I:

Cried about Doomsday

Still hated the Manhattan episodes but renewed my love for one of my favorite characters of all time.

Reflected about Martha Jones and being an overly-zealous defender of a fictional character

Cried a lot over meeting and losing River Song in the span of an hour and a half.

Made my way through Season 4 and found myself still mostly loving the show.

Finished Season 4 and was starting to tire of Ten but knew I had more content to get through.

Didn’t post again til I was done with Amy and Rory.  Loved Amy, Rory and River even more, especially Rory.

Watched an episode I remembered I didn’t like just because of the guest actors.  Only marginally helped the episode.

Disliked the second half of season 7 even more than I used to.  Felt meh about Clara.

Warmed to Clara more in seasons 8 and 9.  Still, was ready to see her go.  Loved Twelve, though the first half of season 8 continued to be rough.  Adored the Husbands of River Song for the 6th+ time.

 Took a brief moment to love Bill.

Full disclosure on the rewatch: I skipped most of Fear Her except the first and last few minutes, and actually haven’t gotten back to Waters of Mars or the one 11 Christmas Special with the kids who’s father dies.  I may or may not pick those up in the next week or two.

So tonight I finished rewatching all of Thirteen’s episodes and wanted to talk a bit more about Bill, and then a lot about Thirteen, and some general thoughts about the whole rewatch.

Bill Potts is too good for this world.  I remembered loving her during her season but was blown away on the rewatch with how much I loved her, and almost all of her season.  Her energy, her story, her smile, it’s infectious.  It’s infuriating that so many people didn’t watch Bill because wow she deserved a lot more attention that I feel like she got, and also I feel like the show itself turned a real corner that season.  Season 9, yes, definitely better than 8 and 7.5.  But It’s like Moffat or the writers in general kinda grocked into several important things and made the show more progressive and less cringe?  

There wasn’t an episode I thought was bad, even the more filler episodes like the one in space with the air being a commodity was tense and fun.  I’m not sure I’d skip a single episode.

And then Bill, I think, ends up getting an even shittier deal than Martha in her season.  Left alone for ten years in a shithole mopping up floors, only to be turned into a cyberman and get left extremely traumatized, and sacrifice herself.  A very good story.  A very sad and frustrating ending.  Except that she does get to “transform” and travel the universe with Heather.

Maybe she did eventually go back home and finish living her life from not long after she left in the TARDIS the last time -- it’s entirely possible.  The Memory-Bill in Twice Upon a Time (the Twelve & One crossover) remembered traveling with Heather, which means her memory was taken from some point AFTER.  So maybe she got to be an ethereal being for a long time, and then eventually went home to Earth.  Or maybe she’s still out there traveling the stars with Heather.  Either way, she deserves a good life, and a good ending, even if we never know the true ending.

Twelve -- I love him.  Again, he had a really rough start but Capaldi is an amazing actor and he owned the role. I don’t think it’s actually possible to rank my favorite doctors from the new Who era, they’re all different, all great.  And Missy -- such an amazing villain.  Paired with Simms-Master was so, extremely fun, but even on her own, I think she’s now my favorite incarnation of The Master.  (I’ve only seen a few episodes of Old-Who with Delgado, and I really love Delgado’s Master as well.)  

Nardole was also a fun addition to the season.  I know technically he was considered a full companion and enjoyed him when he was there, but tbh, to me it was all about Bill.

But hey, when Twelve left, it was a good time for him to go -- I really think three seasons is the sweet spot for length of a Doctor.  I was so ready for Thirteen and The Fam.

I remembered loving Thirteen when her episodes were airing and, I was right to.  Jodie Whittaker is so good -- I never doubt for a second that she’s The Doctor.  The show one again feels very different with a new doctor / companions / showrunner.  I honestly loved the lack of Doctor-Angst in the season.  Thirteen is so much more brightness and sunshine and I think it was a good way to swing the Doctor after Twelve.  I also liked that there were a few comments about changing genders, a little bit of frustration from noticing how people treated her differently, but it was neither an earthshattering thing that made EVERYTHING DIFFERENT nor was it a non-event.  I really think they handled it well.

I will say that I think some of the critics were right, that the season itself could have used a bit more of an arc.  Not a heavy arc, like seasons five and six had, but a bit more than Tim Shaw showing up in the first and last episodes of the season.  It looks like next season is going to have that.

The arc that was there though really came from Graham and Ryan’s grief about Grace and their relationship growing.  Honestly, I remember when we learned that one of the new companions was going to be a 60-ish year old dude I wasn’t looking forward to that at all, but honestly, I love Graham.  He’s an actual good guy, he loves deeply, he’s allowed to show his emotions, he handles things WELL.  He’s not perfect but also I felt like they wrote his character so well, he wasn’t an arrogant guy expecting everyone to follow his orders, he cares deeply for Ryan and even had some great scenes with Yaz.  

Ryan and Yaz are both also just so fantastic.  I loved getting to spend time with Yaz’s family both current and past.  I actually learned a little history in the episode that took place in Pakistan (and loved having a benevolent alien storyline there, love that episode so much).  I also loved that they allowed Ryan to show grief and sadness, and vulnerability too.  

I was definitely feeling the 13/Yaz vibes on the rewatch, and although I wouldn’t say I’d be upset if they did end up doing a Ryan/Yaz storyline, I also wouldn’t be upset if they didn’t do any romance storylines at all.  I didn’t miss it this season, and 13/Yaz seemed more likely than anything.

I also loved that they took on racism in a couple of big ways this series.  I felt like the only big swing-and-miss episode was Ker-Blam! where they were so close to really hammering down a good message in the episode and then it felt like Jeff Bezos himself came in and rewrote the last 10 minutes.

TBH there were a couple of episodes that I had COMPLETELY forgotten about, especially the one with Chris North and the big spiders.  Like while I was watching it I had a vague memory of seeing it before, but not up until then.  I’d also forgotten about the New Year’s episode last year with Ryan’s dad.  I only remembered to watch it because after the final episode I was like “Wait, wasn’t Ryan’s dad supposed to be in this season?” and so I went to hunt for the episode.

SO... that’s it.  I was actually a little shocked last night when I finished up the New Year’s episode and realized... I was DONE.  I made it back through eleven seasons and... it was worth it.  

Some final thoughts... and I’m just picking a few things out here off the top of my head, I wasn’t keeping a list all the way through so I’m sure I’m going to think of other things after hitting Post, but here we go.

---------

COMPANION RANKINGS: God Tier: Martha Jones

Faves: Bill Potts, Rory Williams, River Song

I love you so much: Donna Noble, Amy Pond, The Fam (All together!), Jack Harkness, Mickey Smith, Wilfred Mott

Very very Good: Rose Tyler, Nardole

I Still Like You: Clara Oswald

---------

FAVE SEASON: I mean, it’s still gonna be Martha’s season with an honorable mention of the second half of 4.

If you take Martha Jones out of the equation, it’d probably be either 6 through 7.0, or Bill’s season.

LEAST FAVORITE:  The second half of 7, for sure, and the first half of 8 is kinda rough.  It’d be easy to say season 1, as well, but I don’t think that’s entirely fair, as I think the age of the show really shows there and there was a lot of getting-on-their feet they had to do.  There’s still a lot of good there, you just have to look for it harder.

---------

Favorite Specials: 

The Husbands of River Song, #1 favorite no question

The Day of the Doctor a close second. 

Honorable mention to the Night of The Doctor for the canonical return of Eight.  Seriously, the first time I saw that it may have been the single most joyous moment of New Who for me.

Least Favorite:

I mean, I haven’t rewatched two of them yet since I remember not liking them.  

Also Voyage of the Damned was just even worse than I remembered it.

I Cried The Hardest:

Amy and Rory’s leaving in The Angels Take Manhattan

River’s death in the Library

The end of Doomsday

Danny’s death

The end of Vincent and the Doctor

Prem’s death in Demons of the Punjab, maybe the only single-episode character death that hit me that hard.

Happiest Tears: 

Martha leaves the Doctor

The group in the TARDIS towing Earth home in Journey’s End

Twelve and River get 24 years together

Ryan calls Graham “Grandad”

Jackie and Alt-Pete meet/”reunite”

Heather shows up and... “saves” Bill, they go off on adventures.

Best Twists: 

John Simms Return at the end of season ten.  

YANA is the Master

Oswin is actually a Dalek

Heaven is run by Missy, and the Cybermen. (Damn I really love twists concerning the Master don’t I?)

Bill discovers she IS a Cyberman

Loudest cheers: 

Mickey showing up in Doomsday

Martha laughs at the Master

Rory’s speech at the beginning of A Good Man Goes to War

The Doctor punches a racist who insulted Bill

Best dramatic moments: 

Jack and the Doctor talk about Rose in Utopia

Twelve takes several billion years to punch through a wall

Just This Once, Everybody Lives!

Turn Left

The Doctor says goodbye Idris in The Doctor’s Wife

Missy and the Master’s mutually assured destruction.

Biggest Laughs for a good reason: 

The entire poison scene in the Unicorn and the Wasp

Basically everything about the Doctor attempting to be normal in The Lodger.

Right, putting Hitler in the Cupboard.

Doctor, when I’m on a date, do not put the Pope in my bedroom.

Biggest Cringe: 

Penis-head half-human Dalek

Concrete blowjobs

Anytime a lady slapped/hit a guy not in self-defense

Old goblin Ten / Jesus Ten in Last of the Time Lords

Most of The End of Time part 1

Eleven forces a kiss on Jenny in The Crimson Horror (THAT deserved the slap.)

There’s a lot of things I could point out in season 1 but I’m grading season 1 on a curve.

Favorite non-companion recurring characters: 

Danny Pink

Brian Williams

Jackie Tyler

Worst Villians: 

“Love And Monsters”

“Fear Her” 

The eye-crud sleep monster with Twelve

I kinda wanna say the Daleks are so overdone it’s hard to get excited about them anymore, though I did kinda like what they did in “Resolution” (13′s New Years episode last year.)

OK I honestly don’t know if I want to put “A sentient universe who is in the form of a large frog and just wants a BFF” in best or worst but I feel it belongs SOMEWHERE.

Best Villians:

Missy

Whatever the fuck that thing is in Midnight

House

Got a Raw Deal award:

Adam (Seriously, he was told nothing and did nothing wrong via what he’d been told?!

Donna

Bill (Seriously, TEN YEARS SCRUBBING FLOORS? only to not be saved by 2 hours and then turned into a cyberman and killed again?)

Most Bothersome Lack of Continuity:

The rules for meeting yourself / interfering in the past.

Uh so who was the Not-Danny astronaut in “Listen” anyway?

Most Improved on a Rewatch:

The Fires of Pompeii because... ten and twelve?  It used to be one of my least favorite eps of season 4.

the Daleks in Manahattan episodes I guess just because I liked them more this time though they’re still not great. 

Seeing all of River’s timeline in such a short period of time

Gotta say I enjoyed Planet of the Dead a normal amount when before I used to really dislike it.

Best Premiere of a Doctor:  The Eleventh Hour Roughest Premiere of a Doctor: Deep Breath, since I’m grading season 1 on a curve. Best Exit of a Doctor: Honestly?  I’m gonna give this one to Nine.  He sacrificed himself to save Rose, and he died too soon.  It seemed a fitting end, if too quick.

Roughest Exit of a Doctor: I’m going to go with Eleven here.  It came at the end of what I felt was the worst period of New Who.  The episode itself was... I kind of felt like it was overwraught and didn’t pack quite the same punch as the other three.  Say what you will about the “I Don’t Wanna Go” line with Ten and Twelve needing to be convinced to regenerate at all.  Matt Smith did the best with what he was given, but he wasn’t given much in the entire last run of his episodes after having some of the BEST episodes the previous two and a half seasons.

Best Premiere of a Major Companion: Honestly?  Still gotta go with The Eleventh Hour, for both Amy and Rory and the great way they were both set up and the mysteries of the season.

Worst Premiere of a Major Companion: If you don’t count Asylum of the Daleks (which I thought was great) as Clara’s premiere, then it was definitely Clara’s “The Bells of Saint John”.  No contest.  I don’t think ANY of the rest of them were done poorly, TBH.  I guess I’d have to go with “Rose”, because the Autons themselves are pretty meh and the plastic wasn’t great.

Best (Main) Exit of a Major Companion: This one is more difficult. Doomsday deserves a nod.  Martha Jones walked the world and ended on her own terms.  Journey’s End saw the end of an entire era of companions we loved.  River showed up and died on the same day, but her final appearance is one of my favorite episodes ever.  The Angles Take Manhattan was SO GOOD.  But The Doctor Falls was exciting and tense and tragic.  Hell, even Clara’s final episodes were great.

Honestly, this shouldn’t even be a question.  I can’t choose.  I can’t think of a single one I didn’t love.

Anyway, thanks for reading this, if you got this far!  Know what?  Doctor Who is still a great show, even if it’s not an obsession anymore.  I can see myself doing this rewatch again in a few years, and I’m super looking forward to the next season starting in a couple of weeks!

[avidbeader]

Okay, time to prattle about “Doctor Who” for a bit.

I started watching in 2005 with my husband, because he was a longtime fan and was super-excited for the reboot. I enjoyed it a lot, enough to become a fierce shipper of Ten and Rose and a strong supporter of Russell T. Davies. I also started watching “Torchwood” and liked it a lot overall.

When both Davies and David Tennant left, I wasn’t sure about the show anymore. Steven Moffat was not my favorite “Who” writer and I thought they’d missed an opportunity not casting an actor of color in the role. “The Eleventh Hour” was a good romp, however, and enough to keep me going for a while.

But again, my favorite episodes were ones written by other people than Steven Moffat: Toby Whithouse, Richard Curtis, Neil Gaiman. And while I tended to enjoy the slowly-unfolding season-long storyarcs, I got tired pretty quickly of Moffat’s concentration on super-intricate plots over character development and interaction. And about halfway through Smith’s second season, I had an epiphany and just stopped watching. I tried again with the Christmas special involving Clara, but that quickly became another puzzle-box-instead-of-character situation and I dropped it again.

When Chris Chibnall was hired, I sat up and paid attention. I liked what he did on “Torchwood”. I liked “Broadchurch”. And then he cast Jodie Whittaker and I was absolutely going to try it again.

Spoilers for Episode 1 under the cut:

I loved “The Woman Who Fell to Earth”. I loved meeting Ryan first and getting to know him, then his gran and step-grandpa. I loved the introduction of Yaz with her Rose-like outlook of wanting to do more with herself. And then the Doctor came crashing into a crisis and the very first thing she did, no hesitation, was to grab a live cable and electrocute the alien thing.

One of the things that worked for me so well, that felt a bit “Torchwood”, is Chibnall’s ability to handle multiple characters/personalities and their dialogue in a scene without losing sight of anyone unless he wants you to “forget” them for a bit. So many scenes were full of 4, 5, 6 characters and yet it never felt crowded, conversations never felt clunky.

And again, I want to know more about these characters. I want to see Yaz stretch her wings and find a path she can forge for herself without having to fight through a system or plodding superiors. I want to see Ryan gain confidence and not let his condition define limits for him. I want to see Graham find a new place for himself both as a cancer survivor and a widower.

Which is the one sour note for me, that Grace (an older woman of color) ended up being the redshirt of the episode. I knew an exit for the character was almost certainly coming, since the actress was not part of the media blitz, and that tainted my viewing a bit. While I am glad that she died in an active way, actually fighting the alien threat and not just getting killed because wrong-place-wrong-time, I don’t like that she had to die at all. She was too full of life and determination and I think her being part of the new “fam” would have been a good balance to Graham and Ryan’s fears. However, I’m not going to yell “fridging” yet because the actress is listed as “recurring” this season and could possibly come back in a timey-wimey way that isn’t limited to flashbacks.

The villain also had a “Torchwood” sort of feel to him, especially the hilarious scene with the drunk guy...before it turned into not hilarious. He was kind of one-note, but this was a regeneration/new Doctor and companions episode and the villain was always going to be a supporting note. I did love the “Tim Shaw” running gag and how the Doctor called him out for being a cheat (I will happily take the allusion to a certain orange cheeto).

Which brings me to Jodie Whittaker. She IS the Doctor. The brain running a hundred miles faster than anyone else. The fearless reliance on improvisation because it keeps working. The un-selfconscious embracing of herself and those around her. The only thing I might point to that is feeling more Jodie/Thirteen is the empathy being right there on the surface, not something that the companion has to prod for. She tells the others a little about herself and her losses. She is there for the funeral - I’ve seen the Doctor hang around for the occasional celebration but at the moment can’t remember them staying for the fallout when things went south. And Jodie carried it all off beautifully.

I think I’m back for the long haul. And I encourage anyone else who might be curious to try it out, even if you’ve never watched before. You don’t need a lot of context to enjoy this.

[smallblueandloud]

fanfic writer appreciation day! (one day late)

so i wasn’t planning on doing something today which is why it’s a day late, but there are SO MANY talented authors in every fandom that i’m in and i’m so grateful for ALL OF THEM. so here’s a short and very incomplete list of some of those who i appreciate the most:

@chocolatequeennk: nancy was my gateway writer. she’s the reason why i’m in the doctor/rose fandom and why i write and why i can’t bear to watch moffat episodes, because her rewrites are just SO MUCH BETTER. god, i can’t express how much of an influence nancy has been and i am so grateful and feel so grateful every time she posts anything new or even talks about her writing process. her series being to timelessness is just... the best doctor who rewrite i’ve ever read. (she recently did season 4 and the way that she changed journey’s end was SO COOL and i never would have thought of it <3) although i would be lying if i said that my favorite fic of hers wasn’t retrouvailles. if you’ve ever shipped doctor/rose, you need to go read everything she’s ever written, immediately. ‘nuff said.

@dimensionhoppingrose: sam has written so many good aus and ficlets, and her full dw rewrite in which the doctor is the one who falls during doomsday is... nothing short of monumental and SO AMAZING. she has such a diversity of work and it’s all really wonderful. and she recently started a steven universe fic, which looks super interesting, especially for the pearl lover that i am. i can’t wait to see where she takes it! (edit: I JUST SAW YOU UPDATED AND AS SOON AS I FINISH WRITING THIS I AM GOING TO GO READ IT AND SCREAM. A LOT.)

@perfectlyrose: kelsey is such a multishipper, she’s introduced me to so many good dw wlw ships and i am so grateful to her. her aus are so amazing and she has a particularly good eleven/rose one that is so angsty and so, so good.

@megabadbunny: listen, mbb’s fics are so soft and so loving and so good to read after long days when all you need is ten and rose hashing out their problems and loving each other. seriously. her recent fic in which rose returns home and donna needs to push the doctor off of his ass is one of my favorites, ever. no question. and her art is just the BEST, but that’s a completely other story <3

@theclaravoyant: clara was probably my first author in the aos fandom, and WOW are they an amazing author. i especially love their pride month/femslash  fic, and they recently wrote a wonderful fitzskimmons fic in which jemma’s partners support her and her asexuality :D their multishipping is a joy and every fic that i see on my dash is a gift!

@florchis: flor (is that your nickname? it seems like it would be lol) writes so many good fics for so many good pairings. her fitzskimmons is always wonderful, and the way that she writes relationships are so detailed and so in-character; you can really tell how much she cares and how much she notices. she once wrote a story where fsk goes to visit fitz’s mother after the framework and it’s?? so?? good?? i reread it every few months, because i don’t want to forget how much i love it!

@loved-the-stars-too-fondly: oh man, if you are into aos femslash and you haven’t read the way they happen you’re so messing out. it’s the gold standard in rewriting aos fic, it inspired my current fsk rewrite, it is SO LONG and SO DETAILED, and so much happens that i wish the show had been brave enough to do!! not to mention the fact that the premise is a time traveller’s wife au, which you will be hard pressed to find on ao3 and of which this is the best execution. BY FAR. it just recently finished and it’s WONDERFUL and y’all should read it immediately.

@agentcalliope: god, casey’s prose and premises for stories and characterizations and everything are so amazing. she writes SUCH GOOD royai fic these days (including a half xingese roy mustang fic which is very, very wonderful) and her aos fic is also some of my favorite, ever. (her fitz&daisy fics about their movie nights are so soft and so sweet, and her fic in which fitz confronts his father WILL ALWAYS BE MY FAVORITE.)

@isjustprogress: i’ve already written about how much i love this author’s clintnatlaura fics, but i don’t think i’ve expressed how much i love her writing. the way that she writes laura barton is my favorite ever (see: laura barton fixes civil war, laura barton falls in love with a shield agent and then her shield partner, laura barton falls in love with a bartender and then his shield partner, laura barton is so great that she makes clint barton want kids, laura barton is amazing. etc. it’s wonderful.) also, if you ship clintasha in any way, her ao3 page is definitely the place for you. finally (i swear i’m almost done), as i said before, her clintnatlaura fic is AMAZING and everything everyone should read if they ship the ship.

and also, lest i forget, @lastbluetardis, @rizahawkaye, @lvslie, @skyler10fic, @tenscupcake, @seasonofthegeek, @blackjacktheboss, @ananbeth, @buckysbears, @ink-splotch, and of course @words-writ-in-starlight (whose blog i stalk every free minute that i have - that is not an exaggeration - and whose novel alleirat i am currently obsessed with).

(this is just a brief list of some of the authors whom i love and am so grateful for, every single day. if i forgot you, I AM SO SORRY, and if you write and see this on your dash, rest assured you probably belong on this list. i rushed this out in like 20 minutes bc i don’t want it to be later than it already is!)

and finally, happy fanfic writer appreciation day, y’all. thank you doing what y’all do best.

[takaraphoenix]

I lied one more, Amelia Pond, just because you talk pretty negatively about this era of Doctor who I was curious how you feel about her.

*laughs* No problems! Feel free to send more. xD

How I feel about this character: For the most part, I really like her. For the rest, see my “unpopular opinion” part about her. But yeah, I liked her, but she was not my favorite companion in that run. *side-eyes Rory*

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Rory Pond. Shush, it’s Pond that’s how that works.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: The Doctor. The two had such a great friendship and look, I know I five the Moffat era a lot of shit, but it’s more about the overall dumbass “special created assassin - yup totally married her - here have like a gazillion paradoxes created along the way” plotline and not so much the characters. I liked the dynamic between the Doctor, Amy, Rory and Brian, I loved Craig and of course my Victorian lesbians and their murder potato. The characters and dynamics were pretty great and that wasn’t actually a surprise; Moffat is the one who gave us Captain Jack and the dynamic between Jack Rose and Nine was great too. I love the two companions and Doctor dynamic.

My unpopular opinion about this character: She’s kind of a bitch. Like. I know she ranks real high on many people’s lists, but things like her just immediately breaking up with Rory instead of talking to him about her not being able to have kids? What kind of fucked up logic is that? Her acting like a cold-hearted asshole because she had to wait like 60 years for Rory in that one alternate timeline, like girl he waited two thousand years for you and he did everything to reach you here too but you’re now being mean to him? Rory and Amy are romantized into the perfect couple in this fandom, but honestly, there are many moments where it becomes clear that Rory deserves better, like right at the start when Amy kisses the Doctor on the day before her fucking wedding. For the most part, she’s a great character and companion, but... for my taste there were too many moments in which she treated Rory wrong and it doesn’t sit right with me.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Not that fucking ending. Like, yeah the Ponds had reached the end of their ride. But fucking Moffat going his overdramatic route... Just have them retire. They wanted to be parents. Let them be parents, maybe the trio finds an orphaned baby on a mission and the Ponds bond with the baby and decide to retire from traveling. Just let Amy and Rory live happily in their own time, with Brian, to raise their kid. I mean, part of me is glad that at least once they found a way of getting rid fo a companion for good because I am still pissed Martha and Mickey and Jack and at this point also Clara didn’t have reappearances because they are still around. And for how much the Doctor always acts like his humans are the most important things in the world, he... really stopped revisiting them. I think that’s why series 4 is my absolute favorite - there is a team-up and reappearance of Martha, we get literally every companion to join in the grand finale, it most acknowledged that yes, the Doctor cares about his companions, past and presence. ...Sorry, that one got off-topic, but yeeeah while I like that they were “disposed of for good because they weren’t planning on ever having the Doctor revisit old companions anymore anyway”, the part of me that cared about the Ponds really wanted them to get their happy ending in their own time, where Rory’s dad would have been there too.

[whiteroseofthemoon]

Soooooo, it’s been awhile since I watched Doctor Who. And it certainly has been ages since I made a review on it but I finally finished the Twelve and even though he is definitely NOT my Doctor, I really enjoyed the special with River. Honestly, I watched the Twelve just because Big Finish brought me back to fandom for awhile releasing a series of Tentoo/Tyler Clan adventures which is just PERFECTION. (No spoilers, though) And of course, I am excited for Thirteen, because of NO MOFFAT, finally. 

Since it’s been a long time since my Doctor Who I need to clarify my siding in former holywars of the fandom. I pretty much hate everything Moffat did after the departure of Amy and Rory. Don’t me get started on the Day of the Doctor and Clara, because I can rant about it for ages. I loved the Pond arc and Amy is my second fave companion behind Rose and Eleven is my third fave Doctor ( and yes, I did watch the Classic Series, all of it), so don’t attack me if you think I am prejudiced towards Moffat era. But yeah, I am an RTD fan, Ten is my Doctor, Rose is my companion, etc, etc.

So, to review now. I was asked a few times what I think of River considering that I am a big fan of Rose Tyler and I never answered specifically, cause I didn’t really care that much. Of course, my fandom friends were interested what do I think about the two biggest ships of Whoniverse (at least so far). Don’t get me wrong I like River, on the same level I like Ace or Charlie or Peri. She is definitely not in my TOP, but not at the low like Clara. Her relationship with the Doctor, however, was always disturbing and abusive to me. I always felt sorry for River, especially with Eleven. He was terrible to her, apart from when he was saying goodbye to her ghost or whatever that was. But I had to admit they were pretty great with Twelve. Finally, the Doctor showed what she was talking about with Ten, because I never imagined it would happen. Moffat was extremely lazy in his last seasons, but at least River received a goodbye she deserved. I am still not sure to what extent he loved her, but Twelve definitely showed that he did. I am sorry Eleven/River shippers, but with them, I never saw it. I was actually happy that he had a picture of River when she ‘died’ (according to his timeline) because it showed that he finally learned to care about her. I honestly feel that Twelve was the only regeneration who actually loved River. Eleven felt guilt, responsibility, etc, but love? I just don’t see it. But that’s just my opinion. 

Let me get this straight. I freaking LOVE Rose Tyler. I ship her hard as fuc* with the Doctor, especially with Nine, Ten and Tentoo, but some regenerations as well. We all know that the Doctor loved Rose, we never needed proof of that, etc, etc. But my point is that, in the end, I think the Doctor loved both of them. But that was two completely different relationships. And I hate when people try to prove who was better for the Doctor. I think they are both great women (even though my heart belongs to Rose), in their own ways, even though Moffat did try REALLY hard to ruin River, but thanks Alex, you were amazing. 

If to be poetic love with Rose was like spring. It gave him strength, he wanted to be better for her, he was gentle and loving and caring It was easy to be with her, despite Rose being human. With River, it was a fall. Sometimes it was stormy and cruel, sometimes warm and soothing. And it was pretty hard and complicated. But at the end of the day, the Doctor did go to extremes for both of them. The brightest examples in the series ( I won’t go into extended universe, I am sure there are many more examples but I never was interested enough in River, so I have just Rose’s side) were when Ten created a human regeneration for Rose (Tentoo) who could actually give her a fully dedicated life, the stars and her family, so instead of her sacrificing anything for him, for once the Doctor wasn’t selfish and sacrificed a lot for her. And of course when he burned up the sun for Rose. Which was stupid, a little selfish but romantic to hell. With River it’s of course when he deiced to spend their last night that lasted for 24 years. Basically what we learn from both River and Rose’s example, that the Doctor, if he really wants to, can settle down.  If to say about who he would ultimately choose ( if he had to and there was no other way and the universe would explode, etc. etc.), I, of course, would say Rose. Haha, yes, I admit, I am biased. But there is also quite a reason for that. And ironically, it was Moffat who gave us that. The Moment. Among EVERYONE who ever traveled with the Doctor chose Rose’s image. Not Susan, not his first wife whoever she was, not Clara (who was the closest to him at the moment of The Day of the Doctor) and not even River, the Moment chose Rose. So I guess it proves again, that you can love many people in your life (especially if you lived for thousands of years) but there always that special someone that you can never let go of completely. It doesn’t mean that you care less for those who around you, sure thing no, but this special someone always stays in the back of your mind.  So yeah, maybe it was a bit cheesy review, but I am glad that I finished it. I am also happy that Moffat is gone for good and that we finally have a female Doctor! I am looking forward to Jodie’s version of the Doctor very much but judging from the trailers my fave babes Ten/Tentoo have a serious competitor who can overtake the place of my Doctor. 

Ask me if you have any questions, I will happily respond to them.