#moffat jail!

[soyboysace]

clara did not go "run clever boy and remember" ONLY FOR U TO NOT REMEMBER HER

[quietwingsinthesky]

stupidly disappointed that the knocking is not a four-beat but. i suppose that would have made it very obvious that he's keeping his evil wife. in a box.

[mrbingley]

wait... why did i not make this connection sooner. moffat has a clear thing for red headed girls meeting Some Time Traveling Guy when theyre a small impressionable child and then obsessively waiting for them as they grow into an adult and pine for him and are in helpless awe of how amazing he is (doctor who and time traveler’s wife).

[lostgoonie1980]

154. The Night Of (The Night of, 2016), Creators: Richard Price & Steven Zaillian

[edwardshundredyearoldspunk]

I am honestly surprised to see so many positive reactions to the news of moffat returning to doctor who became all I could think when I saw the headline was:

[theflyingchair-mjh]

me, googling the ending of a show/movie i’m watching after noticing that one of my faves is starting to have it a just a liiiiiiittle bit too rough (especially if they’re bad with a sad backstory/morally grey):

*puts on reading glasses* ok now what’s it say here, let’s see…

article: “…[CHARACTER I LIKE] ends up dying (/going to jail/suffering somehow), but perhaps they deserve it. this goes to show…”

me:

…

…

…

*sigh of someone who is at their fucking limit and is starting to lose their patience* *opens laptop and pulls up google docs*

*cracks knuckles*

[a-random-whovian7]

A non-serious attempt at comedy/list about what your favourite incarnation of the Master says about you:

Roger Delgado: They just like more dialogue and richer themes in your storyline, preferring character interaction and chemistry rather than spectacle. They also make sure their outfits are neat, stylish and elegant. Always colour co-ordinated. Usually quite calm and collected until you say Terror of the Autons is just a remake of Spearhead From Space.

Peter Pratt: Basically a Fourth Doctor fan who refuses to admit there are flaws with The Deadly Assassin or a fan of horror films. More than likely grew up in the seventies. Definitely looks into their KFC bucket and sees lots of little Masters staring back at them.

Geoffrey Beevers: Basically the same as the Pratt fan, although this one refuses to admit there are flaws in the Fourth Doctor's era as a whole. If you tell them Tom Baker stayed on for too long, prepare to have your intestines made into a scarf. Usually forgets about 90% of the plot of Logopolis. Almost certainly a child of the 70s, hence why they see this Master in the mirror each morning.

Anthony Ainley: Likes to just have fun, no matter how corny or wierd the stories are. Will happily just sit and watch the Master basically trolling the Doctor with minor inconveniences, waiting for the inevitable moment when that character hovering in the background with a not-quite-as-clearly-defined backstory pulls off a mask and wig to reveal a goatee. Is somehow able to enjoy Time Flight. Do not ask them their opinion on the TV Movie.

Eric Roberts: A legend amongst humans. Saw the campy, over-the-top dressing gown/robe, the bad cgi snakes, the wierd terminator references and thought "yes, this is clearly the best one." Constantly annoys purist classic series fans simply by existing and does not care. Knows the TV Movie is mid and does not care. Knows that the Eye of Harmony was originally on Gallifrey and does not care. Has definitely said "I always... dress for the occasion" and does not care that no-one gets the reference.

Derek Jacobi: Sold their soul to Big Finish for the War Master range. Religiously watches Utopia to see that reveal again, and wishes Chantho had been fully fried before shooting the Master. Now all they can do is offer sacrifices to Nicholas Briggs and sit in a darkened room, staring at the Big Finish website.

John Simm: Probably has fan art saved to their phone, and has almost certainly read Ten/Master fanfiction at some point. Will defend Last of the Time Lords and The End of Time Part 1 with their dying breath (and for good reason, those episodes slap and those two slightly dodgy scenes don't ruin them, Moffat did worse retcons, fight me). Cried when their Master showed up in The Doctor Falls and usually has good relations with Missy fans because of it. Thinks Sacha Dhawan is a lazy rip-off. Can usually be found comforting the Jacobi fan after their War Master box set has been delayed.

Michelle Gomez: Basically the same as the Simm fan, only this one defends the Moffat era and their fanfiction search history is a bit more varied. Thinks Death in Heaven was a good episode, and that The Doctor Falls should have been the last Master episode. Hates Chibnall for bulldozing all their character development and rendering this incarnation's redemption slightly pointless. Usually slightly more forward-thinking than some other fans and great with their friends. Has formed an unlikely alliance with Delgado fans... somehow.

Sacha Dhawan: Took one look at the most quirked up Master and decided that was the one. Thinks John Simm was OK, but lacked the "evil four-year-old on a sugar rush" energy of this one. Usually bitter rivals with Missy fans, as everyone started re-evaluating the Moffat era instead of watching S12, and will go strangely quiet whenever the Timeless Child is mentioned, praying that someone will say that it should have been the Master and thus giving them a "get out of jail" card. Was absolutely overjoyed when people enjoyed Power of the Doctor. Convinced that the Chibnall Era will receive a massive reappraisal in the future, despite the fact that the odds of that happening are about the same as the Terry Nation estate accepting that the Daleks are overused.

Alex Maqueen: Sold everything to Big Finish. Doesn't even watch the show. Can't watch the show. Who needs the show when you've just spent all your month's wages on that box set? It's not like you need to eat or anything. The most likely individual to end up in a padded cell when someone doesn't know what Dark Eyes was.

Gina McKee: Missy fans, but with small social circles and a heavy dose of Weezer.

Mark Gatiss, James Dreyfus, Milo Parker: Wait, these guys played the Master?

If you really want more of this shit (why), there's a list about favourite Doctors and Companions

[ebony1442]

I was done Moffat's version of Holmes and Watson when he put a PTSD-suffering, combat-trained John Watson in close proximity with the man blackmailing his wife with no one except Sherlock Holmes nearby, and Sherlock didn't have the moral quandary about whether to stop his best friend from bashing the man's head in.

He probably would have; he wouldn't want to have to owe Mycroft for covering it up and keeping Watson out of jail.

Seriously, given the temper that Freeman's Watson demonstrated on several occasions, the minute he found out that the blackmailer didn't actually have any blackmail, he would have started with the man's teeth and gone from there.

[camcorderrevival]

i forgot about this. steven moffat should be put in jail.

[soyboysace]

"i don't think i could ever forget you" "clara, i don't think you're ever gonna have to"

[columboscreens]

I do love how Columbo basically treats his murder hunts as a game. But not just any game.

There was a book i read back in middle school of a man who took a hitchhiker to a barren desert, set him loose without any equipment, all so that he could hunt the most dangerous game of all: man. It is my belief that Columbo treats his murder cases as such. It's the thrill of the hunt that earned him his job, and he stops at nothing to take down his prey.

Of course, he's not in it just for the thrill, i mean someone just lost their life. But it definitely helps with his efficiency.

the thing about columbo is that our little guy is a gamer.

hear me out. there is nothing a creative and analytical mind like columbo's loves more than a game. it's why he's lasted so long and been so successful in such an inherently traumatic occupation.

if you give him any game of skill (notice how he avoids games of chance at casinos), he's drawn to it like moth to a flame. he's the type who just has to become good at or beat the game he's playing, and he has the drive, know-how, and talents to help him become top-notch at any which one he touches. it might be cards, puzzles, wordplay, pinball, bowling, billiards, darts, golf. probably video games if he were younger! the list goes on.

his father taught him how to play pool, or his father taught him how to manipulate people flawlessly? maybe both. you decide......

but when it comes to going toe-to-toe with a murderer, those skills transfer very effectively. he learns their game and gets on their level. he tailors his approach and tactics to the environment in which he finds himself, all just part of learning a new game.

and the man doesn't only play his part, he has fun. he has panache, he has showmanship, he does a little tap dance routine with a warrant for arrest in his hand. and i think that's part of why his job provides him with so much fulfillment.

you just lost the game, sir. nyoooom

obviously catching murderers is ultimately about invoking justice on behalf of the law and sanctity of human life, yadda yadda. columbo has more than enough empathy to know that and handle situations accordingly.

but there is no doubt a dark pleasure he derives, savors from chasing and nailing most of his perps that goes beyond a mere penchant for justice. from seeing suspects squirm, from seeing them get whittled down, from seeing them explode in frustration. from winning. call it sadism, call it schadenfreude, call it whatever. i've mentioned that people bit steven moffat's head off for daring to suggest that columbo was a sadist but he was right!

columbo's obviously not evil, he doesn't torture people for the hell of it. he serves his own form of justice and retribution to those who deserve it; having to go through him and his investigative tactics is its own punishment. lots of murderers end the episode relieved to be going to prison because they're finally out from under his thumb.

if he were a normal detective with normal tendencies, columbo would be a much less entertaining show--he'd accost the suspect, quietly gather evidence over time, and make an arrest. indeed, it's that very hard-on for seeing murderers suffer that makes the show fun. plus it's such a laudable thing to be sadistic about that who can even blame him lol. oh you get off seeing uhh Murderers Eat Shit And Go To Jail? that sucks i hate that

frankly, i believe that if he didn't have that gas to feed the flame in him, he'd burn out very quickly. the show gives us rare glimpses of the toll columbo's job takes on him. it's grueling and unforgiving, so i dont think it's merely the merit of catching the murderer that keeps him going--it's the thrill and reward of the game.

gg no re

[denimbex1986]

'When the news broke that Russell T. Davies would be returning to "Doctor Who" for the first time in more than a decade, there was a lot to be excited for and a lot be worried about. Davies had a great original run, arguably the best of the three modern showrunners, but his plot resolutions often left a bit to be desired. He had a tendency to throw all logic and continuity out the window for the sake of a happy ending, like in the "Doctor Who" season 4 finale where the Doctor managed to withhold his regeneration by basically transferring his regenerative energy into a severed hand of his, creating a clone of himself.

This all served the purpose of giving former companion Rose a happy ending. She got to live with the clone Doctor in her own alternate universe, whereas our Doctor got to continue going on his usual adventures. Many fans have argued that this ending is nowhere near as happy as it seems; this Doctor might act like he's happy to hang out with Rose for the rest of his life, but fans speculated he'd go insane after just a few years earthbound. Nevertheless, the episode itself tells us this is a happy ending, so it's easy to just imagine it is. 

With the last of the three 60th Anniversary Specials, "The Giggle," history has repeated itself with yet another nonsense twist involving a David Tennant-Doctor's regeneration. This time, the Fourteenth Doctor doesn't stick around by cloning himself; he sticks around through a process called "bi-generation." Fourteen gets to stay in the climax of the episode while Fifteen (played by Ncuti Gatwa) simultaneously gets his first official introduction. The two Doctors work together to save the day, they talk for a bit, and then they go their separate ways.

Doesn't really make much sense, does it?

The episode establishes that, even though Fifteen and Fourteen didn't do any time traveling in their scene together, Fifteen is still in Fourteen's future. The Fourteenth Doctor will spend the rest of his life living a blissful, mostly-domestic existence with Donna's family, and when he's ready to go (and has finished healing from all the trauma he's faced for 1,000+ years), he'll regenerate into Fifteen, who we've just met. 

How does this work, exactly? Considering we saw Fifteen be pulled out of Fourteen's regenerating body, how will Fourteen regenerate into him for real when the time comes? Or has the regeneration already happened, and Fourteen will simply die a normal death when his time comes? "The Giggle" itself seems remarkably uninterested in clarifying any of this, which only goes to show: the Russell T. Davies era is back, guys. It's so back.

Like the conclusion to Ten's sorta-regeneration in "Journey's End," the bi-generation plot point in "The Giggle" is one that clearly prioritizes fan service over consistent worldbuilding. It's a deus ex machina so bold and aggressive you have to admire it. People gave former showrunner Steven Moffat plenty of flak for his questionable endings over the years, like his decision to reveal that The Doctor never actually blew up Gallifrey after all in the 50th Anniversary Special, but he rarely pulled out a solution as flimsy as this. Even his many bootstrap paradoxes, which Moffat started to treat as a narrative get-out-of-jail-free card, at least kept a logical consistency to them that bi-generation simply doesn't have. 

Why it kinda works anyway

The ending to "The Giggle" is a clear-cut example of the show trying to have its cake and eat it too. It wants to have Fourteen regenerate into Fifteen, as we all know it has to do, but it still wants to keep Fourteen around anyway. The result is a solution that feels like cheating, which is perhaps appropriate for an episode whose villain is all about playing games by the rules. 

Yu have to admit it's delightful to see Gatwa and Tennant act alongside each other, and to get another rare glimpse of the Doctor talking to his former self. It's also undeniably heartwarming to see Fourteen — and Ten, by extension — finally get a happy ending after his somber departure in "The End of Time." The modern run of "Doctor Who" has piled an absurd amount of trauma onto this poor Time Lord, and it's struggled under the strain of keeping him fun and exciting even as he's constantly dealing with the heaviest grief imaginable. 

It also helps that Davies has done a good job in the first two specials of establishing that the Doctor needs a break. He needs at least a few decades of relative peace and quiet, rather than constantly flying from place to place, throwing himself into one new chaotic situation after another. On an emotional level, viewers have well understood that Fourteen's ending is exactly what the Doctor needs; it's easy to get behind this conclusion, even if the road to it was nonsensical.

What this means for the show

There are a lot of immediate implications for "Doctor Who" that come to mind after "The Giggle." The first is that Gatwa's Doctor might be the happiest Doctor we've gotten in a while. Modern "Doctor Who" started off with a version of the Doctor who was fresh off the Time War, still wracked with guilt over his apparent decision to kill his whole home planet. Despite all the retcons that came after, the Doctor throughout the past eighteen years has been much lonelier and edgier than the Doctor of the classic series. But from what we've seen of him so far, Fifteen might be the first Doctor in a while without so much darkness buried just beneath the surface.

The other result of "The Giggle" is that now it'll be remarkably easy for David Tennant to return at any moment. Whereas other multi-Doctor stories had to deal with a lot of timey-wimey loopholes to pull off their plots, all Fifteen has to do is return to modern-day London and the show will have a perfect excuse to bring Tennant back for a bit. It's a move that not only signals that Davies is returning to his original run's hallmarks — he'd routinely bring back past companions far more than Moffat or Chibnall would — but which establishes Tennant as the most popular Doctor of the modern era. He may not have had the seven-season run that Tom Baker enjoyed in the '70s, but he's already been brought back to the show twice since his departure, and he'll almost certainly return again. The resolution to "The Giggle" might be a total logical disaster, but what it promises for the show going forward is simply too fun to pass up...'

[jassmarie19]

Me, watching The Inside Man which is just Moffat remaking Sherlock but with Stanley Tucci in jail:

[cliveguy]

Stephen moffat should go to jail for what he did to dracula and sherlock holmes

[spacesapphist]

My 10 Favorite Plays I Read in 2022

Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl (2011)

“Art imitates Life. Life imitates Art. When two actors with a history are thrown together as romantic leads in a forgotten 1930s melodrama, they quickly lose touch with reality as the story onstage follows them offstage.” (Concord Theatricals)

Trifles by Susan Glaspell (1916)

“In a small Iowa farmhouse, surly and reclusive farmer John Wright was found murdered. His apathetic wife Minnie is the prime and only suspect, and sitting in jail for the crime. Now, a small group of people enter the home, looking for the clues that would explain why a woman would suddenly strangle her husband in the night. While County Attorney Henderson, Sheriff Peters, and neighbor Mr. Hale roam the house looking for clues, the women (Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale) examine the “trifles” of a country kitchen, such as frozen jars of preserves and a poorly sewn quilt. But as the women look closer at Minnie’s world, they make a bone-chilling discovery. Inspired by a true story, Susan Glaspell’s Trifles is a seminal play of early 20th-century American theatre and helped define American realism as we know it.” (StageAgent)

Peerless by Jiehae Park (2017)

“Asian-American twins M and L have given up everything to get into The College. So when D, a one-sixteenth Native American classmate, gets “their” spot instead, they figure they’ve got only one option: kill him. A darkly comedic take on Shakespeare’s Macbeth about the very ambitious and the cut-throat world of high school during college admissions.” (Concord Theatricals)

Blue Stockings by Jessica Swale (2013)

“1896. Girton College, Cambridge, the first college in Britain to admit women. ...In Jessica Swale's debut play, Blue Stockings, Tess Moffat and her fellow first years are determined to win the right to graduate. But little do they anticipate the hurdles in their way: the distractions of love, the cruelty of the class divide or the strength of the opposition, who will do anything to stop them. The play follows them over one tumultuous academic year, in their fight to change the future of education.” (Nick Hern Books)

Harvest by Manjula Padmanabhan (1998)

“A dark satire, Harvest tells the story of an impoverished family and the Faustian contract they enter into with a shadowy international corporation: fabulous wealth in exchange for the organs of one of its members. As Ginni, the glamorous American woman who hopes to receive the organs, invades their one-room home via an interactive video device, the play lays bare the transactional nature of human relationships–even the most intimate ones.” (Hachette India)

Nell Gwynn by Jessica Swale (2016)

“London, 1660. King Charles II has exploded onto the scene with a love of all things loud, extravagant and sexy. And at Drury Lane, a young Nell Gwynn is causing stirrings amongst the theatregoers. Nell Gwynn charts the rise of an unlikely heroine, from her roots in Coal Yard Alley to her success as Britain's most celebrated actress, and her hard-won place in the heart of the King. But at a time when women are second-class citizens, can her charm and spirit protect her from the dangers of the Court?” (Nick Hern Books)

How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel (1997)

“A wildly funny, surprising and devastating tale of survival as seen through the lens of a troubling relationship between a young girl and an older man. HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE is the story of a woman who learns the rules of the road and life from behind the wheel.” (Concord Theatricals)

Tipping the Velvet by Laura Wade (2015), adapted from the novel by Sarah Waters

“It's 1887 and Nancy Astley sits in the audience at her local music hall: she doesn't know it yet, but the next act on the bill will change her life. Tonight is the night she'll fall in love… with the thrill of the stage and with Kitty Butler, a girl who wears trousers. Giddy with desire and hungry for experience, Nancy follows Kitty to London where unimaginable adventures await.” (Bloomsbury)

King Charles III by Mike Bartlett (2014)

Written in the style and structure of a Shakespeare play, King Charles III is a future history play which follows Charles’ ascent to the throne.  “Prince Charles has waited his entire life to ascend to the British throne. But after the Queen’s death, he immediately finds himself wrestling his conscience over a bill to sign into law. With the future of the monarchy under threat, protests on the streets, and his family in disarray, Charles must grapple with his own identity and purpose, to decide whether, in the twenty-first century, the British crown still has any real power.” (PBS)

In the Other Room, Or the Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl (2009)

“Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity and based on the bizarre historical fact that doctors used vibrators to treat 'hysterical' women (and some men), the play centers on a doctor and his wife and how his new therapy affects their entire household.” (Concord Theatricals)

[kristenbouchard]

moffat deserves jail time for the time traveler’s wife for real