#robots meta

[bloggertipstalk]

How to De-Index Tags and Category Pages in WordPress (RankMath)

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[crabsnpersimmons]

inspired by my friends and their gacha adventures

bonus end, because the road of gacha gaming is riddled with the salt:

some process sketches and lines under the cut if anyone's interested

the first little doodle that started everything:

i was originally just going to make this one drawing, with a short little dialogue thing, but i decided to draw it all out into a little comic:

fun fact: you can tell how anxious i am about drawing something traditionally by how many process photos i take. cuz if the worse comes to worst, i can always finish or fix it digitally IF my motivation battery hasn't completely drained, which... it usually is 😅

but i'm very happy with how this turned out! need to draw more silly ideas

[panstarry]

pirate radio, december 2023 risograph printed in bright red and black ink

my final graphic design thesis project from about this time last year! i made a sleeve for a diy vinyl record (track featured by my friend aria @everlastingwife ^_^). this process was so much fun to experiment with!! on my first attempt, i tried to 3d print a record using a 3d model i generated from the wav file. this did not work because i didn't have access to any printers with a fine enough resolution — all of the grooves holding the audio information totally melted. for my second try, i used a subtractive process instead and badgered my department into buying the gakken toy record maker, which was essentially a tiny record lathe. the audio quality was total ass but it worked much better and was playable! lot of trial and error involved but i'm overall very satisfied with the final outcome :-] hope to make some cd mixtapes now that i no longer have access to that little lathe.

🏴‍☠️ bootleg everything. ok bye

[ghost-bison]

doctor who 1x2 "the end of the world"; 2x14 "the runaway bride"; 4x10 "midnight"; 4x13 "journey's end"; 15x01 "the robot revolution" - PARALLELS

[dandelionjack]

furiously scribbling down notes. the metanarrative about stories continues on from season one, just as i predicted — the doctor as the storyteller, the spinner of the fairytale, once upon a timelord

every. single. episode in s1/14 revolved around the theme of storytelling or belief making events real in one way or another: the bogeyman that was generated from the misinterpretation of a bedtime story, the questions of diegesis in the devil’s chord and it suddenly becoming a musical, the anglican marines fighting made-up phantoms that have a fatal impact only because they believe in them, *literally everything* about 73 yards — so much it’s too long to go into detail here —, the insulated finetime residents falling prey to their own racist narratives, the chuldur that cosplay the idealised version of the georgian era they saw in fiction, and, once again, *literally everything* about the two-parter finale.

here, Fifteen’s a historian. only ever observing, barred from participation.

remember: Wish World is coming up soon. Lucky Day. THE STORY AND THE ENGINE. ever since the church on ruby road, no, ever since the line of salt at the edge of the universe — coincidences, luck, belief-becoming-truth. the rules bend to the power of story.

basically, to end with this beloved quote of mine from a scene in wes anderson’s asteroid city (2023),

as fellow theory-developer @rowanthestrange said a few months ago under my anansi post:

[kacievvbbbb]

Something about Vegapunk using the dna and blood of a caged and experimented on child to create more caged child experiments and the cycles we perpetuate.

Because what does it mean that all that King has left as proof, that the lunarians were real, that they existed as a tribe, as a people, are seven manufactured children he doesn’t even know about, enslaved as weapons to the government that wiped out the culture they’ll never get to be a part of, and Alber himself another enslaved child lost to something he’ll never fully know.

And what of the warlords? Already young once and hurt by their government, young again and slaves to it. Boa looking at a version of her practically pulled out of time stuck in her worst nightmare or Jimbei looking at a version of himself living out a past he escaped by the skin of his teeth but so many he loved didn’t, even Doffy once again at the mercy of the people that already abandoned him, has Kuma not suffered enough? Given enough, is this child version of him doomed to repeat the same path he already could not escape from . Property of the world government, beholden to the celestial dragons, this version of me that cannot go free?

It’s interesting that Vegapunk joined the government so that he could do the most good, but look at the long line of people right infront of him that he’s hurt with his own hands.

[looney-mooney]

Concept: I want Norm and Roger to interact in the Phineas and Ferb reboot. Have Norm latch onto his “Uncle Roger” for a bit (possibly out of rebellious payback to Doofenshmirtz for being a kinda shitty dad), and have Roger really like this guy his brother built because this robot kid reminds him of himself.

We get to explore how Doofenshmirtz has been partially processing his childhood trauma by repeating his parent’s treatment of him and his brother, only reversed and projected onto Vanessa and Norm - Vanessa reminds him of himself, the smaller intelligent older sibling with a lot of potential, and Norm reminds him of Roger, the bulkier younger sibling with a lot of traditionally masculine charisma. So he’s been treating Vanessa as the golden child who’s worthy of babying and Norm as the failure who isn’t even worthy of being called “son,” in a warped and reversed mirror of his own childhood, an attempt to rectify his own past neglect.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this other than I want Doofenshmirtz to see the error of his ways and call Norm his son for the first time after this realization. And I want Norm and Roger to bond because I think it would make a fun episode

[ludinusdaleth]

there is SO MUCH to talk about but i personally am obsessed with silaha. to be the god who created elves & fae, to have created beings of utter magic & wild, choosing to be molded by mortal hands as an aeormaton. to be the paragon of a fae's whimsy and yet act the part of rigid robot under watch, switching between the two as rapidly as a cloud passes over sun. before you was dweomer & loquatius, aeormaton & fae, watching the calamity begin. after you will come fearne & fcg, fae & aeormaton, watching ludinus rip the sky apart. before you was the tree of names, a fragment of the limitless potential in your once infinite home, swallowed, gone, by something that seeks to hunt you. after you comes the malleus key, a ghost you thought you completely destroyed, promising to hunt you. thank you abubakar salim for my entire LIFE

[sacredfixation]

Loki and the Deeply Valid Fear of Being a Government-Issued Android Without Knowing It

Imagine living for over a thousand years, committing intergalactic crimes, then one random underpaid TVA clerk with a monotone voice suddenly introduces the possibility that, oh, by the way, what if you were secretly a robot this whole time? And Loki, who has always carried himself with the absolute certainty of a god, pauses. Like. “Wait. What if I am?”

He hears that question and immediately does a full mental diagnostic. Have I ever glitched? Ever felt oddly mechanical? Experienced an unusual fondness for oil? Maybe he’s too good at lying. Too good at surviving. What if that’s just the programming?

The TVA worker just moves on. He doesn’t elaborate. no reassurances. theres no safety net. Just the terrifying possibility that he might get instantly vaporized for something completely outside his control.

Id like to note, his hesitation isn’t even just some random existential crisis, it’s trauma-informed. This man already lived through the experience of waking up one day and realizing he wasn’t who he thought he was.

He grew up thinking he was a prince, a god, Odin’s rightful son, only to find out he was actually a stolen relic of war. A Jotun. A creature he’d been taught to hate.

He thought he knew himself before, and he was wrong. What if he’s wrong again? What if theres something else about himself thats been hidden? If he didn’t realize he was a Frost Giant, whats stopping him from not realizing he’s actually some highly advanced synthetic being?

It’s not just a funny existential gag, it’s a callback to one of the most devastating truths of Loki’s existence:

He has never really known who he is.

It’s the muscle memory of having his entire identity ripped out from under him. It’s the learned fear of asking, What am I, actually?

Because the last time he asked that question, the answer ruined him.

[tatsumi-rin]

Anyone else thought about this?

With the popularity of Mouthwashing as a game, I've seen people who talk about it talk about the mouthwash itself as a metaphor for Jimmy (and they're definitely correct in their read imo), but dear god NO ONE is talking about it as a potential metaphor for Pony Express itself as a company.

This is an item considered to be an essential. It is a dental hygiene product dentists would generally recommend you have. 99.9% of bacteria gone - but this one is loaded with sugar. Using this is going to be detrimental to its own cause and probably worse than using no mouthwash at all.

Pony Express? No matter your start, it seems like a good, stable job and a promising future. People will always need goods transported to other planets. It even has a cute mascot representing pride in their work that they sell toys of to kids!

Butttttt, the caveats. Oh boy, the caveats. All of those cute images are done to soften the blow of little red pieces of text about how doing things to the point of basically existing means your credits are going to get docked - something that's just as much Aperture Science-esque dark humor as horrible foreshadowing. Late delivery? Docked. Resting in any manner for more than five hours? Docked. Using medical support in any manner? Docked. REPORTING ISSUES TO HR??? MOTHER. FUCKING. DOCKED.

And trying to avoid any of those dockings; those detriments? Pretty much impossible, and that would spell doom for anyone: including members of a certain ship. With every one of those rules, if they survived that payout would be hilariously low. The usual rules; made by out of touch people in fancy suits.

The members of the Tulpar all (mostly) had reasons to be there, even at radically different life stages. Reasons why they needed the work, and reasons why it should fulfill those reasons and enrich their lives.

It was meant to be Jimmy's ticket away from struggling on earth. It was meant to be Daisuke gaining direction in life. It was meant to be Anya finally getting into medical school. It was meant to be Swansea gaining a stable and fulfilling life as he made it into sobriety, and it was meant to be Curly making it further up into his career path with glowing words of praise.

As per capitalism's usual spiel that we were even shown in the game itself via public domain cartoon, taking this job was meant to be joyous opportunity and innovation for their lives; but with so many flaws in the system around them around them - including the words on those posters - just trying to find benefit in the system they needed in order to survive was nothing more than fatal poison. The dead pixel, the sugar, and the 0.1% all working together.

[artbyblastweave]

one thing about iron man i always found interesting was how, if you go back to that very first Tales of Suspense story, it strongly implies that Stark is just trapped in the Iron Man suit forever, and then walks that back from the next issue onward with him just having to wear the chestpiece and letting him continue the millionaire playboy lifestyle. i wonder sometimes how his character might have shaken out if they hadnt gone back on that initial concept

Was working on a longer post about this but yeah, one of the most compelling early concepts of Iron-Man is that even if he slims it down to just the chest plate, he might have all the money in the world but he's fundamentally dependent on a Bulky Apparatus to survive- one that he can't let anyone find out about in order to maintain his secret identity, and at the start that did matter to him.. Some of the early comics show this actively interfering with his playboy lifestyle because he can't take off his shirt in front of casual flings without blowing his cover. A modern comic that was interested in digging into this more could do some really interesting things with the social limitations that this imposes.

Of course the core issue is that with Iron Man of all characters it genuinely constitutes a characterization misstep if he doesn't eventually eliminate or marginalize this problem through iteration. A piece of shrapnel being the one goddamn problem in the entire universe that Mr. I've-got-Reed-Richards-On-Speed-Dial can't figure out how to fix eventually starts to smack of the writers Arbitrarily Preserving The Premise At All Costs, which is one of the biggest original sins of the superhero genre, so it makes sense that they've eventually moved away from that aspect of it- I'm in fact 90 percent sure he's on his second or third cloned body by now. Thematically, though, the idea that he's terminally and fundamentally medically dependent on his own engineering prowess in some way would be a great thing to bring back or raise the saliency of. Something esoteric and pervasive enough that it can't be trivialized by the sci-fi engineering of the setting, but still visibly chronic-illness coded so the metaphor gets across.

[teatime-tangents-and-toys]

Let me tell you about possibly my favorite detail Monster High G1 ever included in a sculpt.

Practically all Monster High doll bodies have a factory manufacturing stamp on the small of their back. But the futuristic robot Elle Eedee doesn't. Perhaps this is because her spine has so much detail going on already. They relocated her stamp to her right thigh as such...but then also set it in a defined separate panel, which indicates that Elle's factory stamp is being framed as a diegetic in-universe feature because she is an artificially created, manufactured robot! This stamp isn't obscured on her body. It's integrated into its own design feature!

Read this post to see all of Elle's intricate sculpting and a fuller review of the doll and signature Robecca Steam before her.

[artist-issues]

and another thing.

if every character that has a unique characterization in their thought process, or fictional perspective, MUST BE “autistic” or “neurodivergent-coded,” that character is no longer relatable to people who don’t self-diagnose, or identify with, or are not diagnosed with, autism or anything on the neurodivergent spectrum.

I mean honestly I see you guys out here telling me that Mulan is neurodivergent, that ROZ from the Wild Robot is neurodivergent and gee, so is Brightbill, that Hiccup is neurodivergent and Ariel is autistic.

Ariel. The “girl next door” princess.

The whole point of characters, especially main characters, especially main characters in children’s media, is to be believable and relatable, on some level. If they’re all ‘special brain-different,’ they’re only relatable to people who accept that label or are given that diagnosis.

AND. It does a huge disservice to the storytelling techniques.

A story is supposed to get under the mental guard of a person. You’re supposed to take your hands off the “thought” wheel and your feet off the “emotion” pedals, and let the story drive your brain and heart to a new place. Or an old place you haven’t been in a while, or were forgetting.

One of the best ways to do that is to create a character that, on the surface, seems special and unrelatable. Like a girl living in the Imperial Dynasty of China, or a literal non-human robot. You can’t, on the surface, relate to them as easily, so you naturally start to think, “what would it be like to be seeing the world through these new eyes?” And then you’ve given up the wheel and pedals of your mind to the movie. You find yourself relating to concepts like motherhood and protectiveness, which the robot character is experiencing, but you’re looking at those concepts through new eyes.

That is why the character is a robot. Not so that she can be an allegory for your “special-undefined-perspective-on-life which is sometimes called neurodivergence.” She’s not a robot for that reason. She’s a robot because a robot character flips the “what would it be like to learn everything over again?” switch in your brain, and then the story can show you it’s focus, (like motherhood and kindness in The Wild Robot) after the switch is flipped.

and it’s flipped for everybody, (“neurodivergent” and “neurotypical”) not just people who identify as the vague term “neurodivergent,” or have been diagnosed as autistic. Stop fitting everything into vague-enough-to-be-claimed, but named-enough-to-be-a-special-identity boxes. You’re ruining the universal, unifying value of it all.

[immortalclarareborn]

[sparring-spirals]

OKAY. after some sleep. back on my bullshit lets go.

I think its so critical that F.C.G made that choice, that in their last moments they looked at their friends and felt that sense of purpose and calm. I think it is wildly meaningful of him to know what his last resort would be, what it would end in, and choose it willingly, buoyed by a sense of purpose and love.

I think it's pretty clear the options were bad and worse, and that F.C.G made a strategic call that they perhaps knew would hurt but really, truly believed was worth it, and that call probably did stop their friends from experiencing further losses. I think there is something uniquely beautiful into turning a thing of destruction- perhaps something F.C.G had always seen as a burden or a curse or a worry- into an expression of his love for his friends.

And I think F.C.G, constantly plagued by doubt, getting a sense of crystal clear surety. And F.C.G thinking to themself: they saved me, and now i can save them is.

deeply fucking important.

and also something that makes me. emotional 😭

That said i can still be mad at F.C.G, and I can still want to hunt down a robot afterlife just to grab his chassis and shake him a little. Self sacrifice plays always have a steeper cost than just the person making the sacrifice. Their purpose was never just to lay down their life for others, and I despise a world where F.C.G could think that and not have the thought soundly rebuffed by those that loved them. There was a danger in him, maybe, but there was danger in all of them! A party of running risks!

Its just v important to me that: I don't know how I feel about the idea of it being a foregone conclusion this would happen. That this was the only way it would have ended. F.C.G made a choice, in that moment, that he knew would change things. F.C.G made that choice.

After a campaign of doubt and flipping coins and wondering whether choosing destiny or altering fate was even- possible: F.C.G makes this choice, fueled by love and determination and understanding, and everything changes because of it.

You did it buddy. You did it.

im gonna kick your ass once i figure out how, though, F.C.G. ashton will probably help me.

[intuitive-revelations]

Semi-live/retrospective analysis of The Robot Revolution!

As usual, a combination of my live thoughts watching the episode, vs those rewatching, but put roughly in order of the episode. This is REALLY long (taking me several hours to write!) so will have to go below a read more.

While I get a lot of plot analysis, I also go very character-focused in this one, because there's a lot to work with.

I'm curious how old Belinda is meant to be in the 17 years ago intro? That's a pretty long time gap. For what it's worth, Varada Sethu is 32, so if Belinda is the same age, then she would be 15, maybe turning 16? I won't judge two much on the actors' appearances, of course, but both her and Al do seem older than that (especially with the "Are you married?" question and the proposal. It almost makes me wonder if she is meant to be that young and, considering his character, Al is meant to be older. Of course, Belinda could still be a bit older than her actress, but it's interesting.

"I know girls aren't good at maths, but that's a long way." The immediate rancid vibes, holy shit. Very "girl math". The wrapping paper comment too. I'm surprised this all actually comes back later, as Alan could easily just been a disposable bit character.

I kinda picked it up straight away... Bel seems to have some self-esteem issues, right? Possibly from something in her past? "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me" is an interesting thing to say about a present that she didn't seem to think that much of. And yet, we can see she does keep it all this time, even displaying it framed on her wall, which is crazy considering how this relationship ends. Even at this point, she doesn't exactly seem in to him really - she kinda forces herself into that awkward as hell kiss. More on the self-esteem thing later.

The certificate dates this scene to at least 5th April 2008. The wiki's gone ahead and said this is Belinda's birthday, though I'm not certain - I assume Alan didn't manage to get the star registered and certificate framed on the day, unless it was a REALLY last minute present.

Would have been funny if Belinda's star immediately disappeared due to the reality bomb (though technically that was in 2009 due to Rose's year late return in Series 1 - not that RTD or other writers tend to remember that). Ironically, that seems to line up with the date of her and Alan's breakup.

For what it's worth, I had a go at looking at the astronomical details. If Alan is right, the star is around 4,000,000,000,000,000 miles away. This converts to about 680 ly. I tried looking up the coordinates though and found nothing. In fact, as far as I can tell it seems to be quite contradictory, as far as the visibility rise and set times relate to stars around those coordinates. I also don't believe it matches to the view of the Milky Way we see in the episode.

The significance of the star so early in the episode almost made me thought we were going to link to Joy to the World for a second! Especially being so weirdly bright, though I realise that's just a matter of on-screen physics.

One thing I will say - an episode plot based entirely around those bullshit "Name a Star" gifts is absolutely excellent.

Immediately jumping to a hospital at the beginning of the episode feels so Smith and Jones, but there's clearly a world of difference between Belinda and Martha. It's also not the Royal Hope again, after it's appearance last episode. It seems to be called "Able Free Hospital", maybe based on the Royal Free Hospital?

More Doctor kilts!

For a nurse character, I find it interesting that there's an emphasis more on Belinda's technical knowledge, rather than being particularly caring. In fact she seems a little cold and sarcastic, though she is friendlier with the older patient we see her treating. It's a nice twist on the archetype.

The Doctor knocking out power in a hospital is surprisingly dark (pun unintended). At least we see from background lights after the reception goes dark that backup generators seem to be working.

Interesting looking at Belinda's room. As mentioned, she kept the Star certificate framed over her bed, despite everything. Also next to some of the Sun and Moon. We also see what seems to be a qualification on her wall, plus what I think might be a COVID-era children's drawing of a rainbow, which is pretty cute? There's another we see later in the kitchen, right after the cat is killed. There's also a photo of someone in-between.

Also been trying to make out what's on her desk, but it's tricky. Is that a picture of Belinda in traditional dress, or maybe her mum? I've also tried to get a look at the book title, but can't make it out.

Another art piece looks like a field of sunflowers below the Moon? It's hard to tell in the dark. Belinda's also wearing a sunflower pyjama top. There's clearly a bit of a theme going on here. If the sunflower theme holds, her yellow dress in the next time teaser could link in too.

Actually, her jumper in the intro has a cut resembling flower petals too. Hmm...

Belinda mentions her mum and dad as she's taken away, so we know they're in the picture at least.

Mrs Flood appearing to say farewell to another companion beginning their journey is crazy! Very Missy coded, in seemingly leading both Belinda and Ruby right to him, which with the stalker-y vibes 15 accidentally gives off is pretty creepy. Breaking the fourth wall right here too?!

More on this later, but Belinda accidentally causing the events of the episode due to timeline weirdness is interesting. Along with the Amy's Pregnancy / Impossible Girl arc critque that we get later, it feels very Moffat for an RTD episode.

MBC-1 is weirdly Skaro coded? Between it's architecture, flying saucers, redness etc. The vapourisation effects feel quite extermination-like too, though the freezing is weird - almost making the vfx feel kinda lazy (which isn't to say they are, just a strange design choice). The robots even call out "Vapourise", "Destroy"! On the other hand, everything with the AI Generator weirdly evokes bits of other enemies like the Cybermen and the Master (conversion, "you will obey me"). There was actually a brief second I thought the welding was going to actually result in a Cyberised Belinda.

Actually, the whole setting feels SO Classic Who it's kinda insane. Not just with these elements, but the emphasis on the robots (being called directly such) and their interaction with the locals.

The numbered names is interesting. I wonder if it's pulled from our planet naming schemes mixed with Belinda's name (though that wouldn't link directly to the ceritificate), or just a computer disambiguation thing. A world run by computers also goes well with the plain clothes worn.

The cute polishing bot may be a bit of a cliche, but I love it all the same. Not to mention the Doctor and Belinda's kindness to it, the prior even kissing it as he shuts it down.

The twists of a) the robots ruling over the people, and b) Belinda being kidnapped for a wedding are both neat.

The AI Generator is such a stupid name and design - though I kinda like the Hitchhiker-y ness of the latter. The artificialness of it makes sense with the later reveal. The "AI Generator" thing feels like an undercooked attempt to throw some buzzwords into the episode, which is a shame. I wish we had a twist that actually involved it working similar to a large language model - like if instead of the 9th word thing, it was defeated by hiding image data in its feeds so it couldn't analyse them properly. Or if the images of it we saw were literally fake - made up because that's what an LLM thought an evil computer mastermind should look like. I do like the way the close-up shot here hides the "AL" though.

The Doctor giving the history exposition as a story is another tick for the "Doctor is accidentally warping reality via stories" theory - I'll give it credit.

The robots' relationship with the natives is interesting. Combined with their design, they almost feel like an evolution of the robots from Smile, complete with emoji-esque faces. This definitely isn't Gliese 581d though, so there's unlikely to be a connection there.

The ninth word thing is a little arbitrary, but I'll take it. It's not any odder than things like the emphasis on breathing as a lifesign in Deep Breath. It was probably a pretty fun writing exercise for RTD! Only thing I wish is that it was less a weakness in the robot design, and more just a careful way to secretly communicate, such that the dialogue made sense even with the extra words. I do wonder if there's some secrets there. I may be doing a lot of analysis here, but I'm not going to start looking at every ninth word.

A little surprised that everyone in the throne room was a rebel. Obviously they're mostly red-shirts, so it doesn't really matter, but would have been more realistic if there was at least one sycophant in there.

Sasha's death was really weak. I do like it whenever we get the implication that the Doctor's gone through something offscreen and we're left to infer what's happened in the meaning time, but saying she wants to come onboard the TARDIS (immediate red flag given we know she's not showing up later in the series) and getting vaporised right after is ridiculous.

Again, Belinda immediately stepping up as a nurse, despite species/differences making it difficult, is a hell of a character-establishing moment. I reckon it's not just a matter of compassion, but also her feeling she has to prove her worth, after what Manny said.

Also her criticising the Doctor for "happy watching", given what happens later.

Conversely, she immediately seems to soften a bit when he steps a way to start working. Him cooly saying that the Doctor and the Nurse make a "good team" also gets a smile. It's honestly quite brilliant to have a character who's a little repulsed by this Doctor's more confident and charming front, and seems to get on a little better with him when he's a bit quieter and more serious. Also says a lot about her.

Actually discussing the biological differences in this week's near-humans was great! Also appreciate 1) making sure to specify that the x-ray blankets are radiation free (I've just been tutoring someone on medical physics, so of course that immediately came to mind), 2) the line about not thinking about which bodies are better. Obviously an important thing to note in real life, but also a question I find interesting to think about in terms of interspecies interactions.

The exposition on the Doctor's two hearts was interesting. It's fits into the scene fine - it makes sense for the Doctor to bring it up after just discussing biological differences between species, and as it makes sense as another thing to bring up as we enter the second season of "New-New-Who". I'm pretty sure this is the first time we're actually gotten to hear the Doctor's heartbeat, right? But, after the Master teasing last year, I struggle to see the 4 beats as anything but a teaser for the future.

Also kinda interesting to hear, just given I've previously wondered if the 4 beat thing is constant, or if the hearts can have different phases. At the very least, Fifteen's hearts right now perfectly match up to the Master's drumbeat. Though I do think I heard a little drift in one of the beats on the last repeat, so who knows.

Patient Name: Unknown Sex: Unknown Age: Indeterminable Blood Type: N/A Diag: Two Hearts! Status: Excellent

Love the details on the Doctor's scan! For some reason, my eyes skipped from Name: Unknown to Diag: Two Hearts! and Status: Excellent, and I found the latter so funny I didn't even register the Sex reading. I wonder how much of the lack of detail comes from the blanket being used for an unregistered patient of a different species and how much it is just reflecting the Doctor's own nature? At the very least, the blood thing makes sense, since we know Time Lord blood is different enough that it can barely be considered such.

"I was told about you, by someone. It's kind of a long story, and I've got to be careful about timelines. But he told me your name, like you would be important." I'm so curious about this? Careful about timelines seems to imply it's someone from the future, or at least a time-traveller, who could intersect with Belinda's life. Plus it's a "he", so we're noting talking about Mrs Flood, for example. It kinda feels like the sort of thing where we'll get a pre-finale flashing back to a story set before this series.

Again on the self-esteem thing, while it is a reasonable response otherwise, Belinda insisting she's not important seems notable on a character level.

A time fracture? Obviously not the escape room one... but interesting. Seems we're got yet another bit of space-time weirdness to add to my list.

On the shot of the screen with the time fracture, I accidentally paused it in such a way the split looked just like the cracks in time and almost lost my mind. Pressing play again and seeing it flicker into other shapes put me back in my place though.

Ok, so Belinda's home time is 24th May 2025. Noted.

"Timey-wimey?" "Yup." "Am I six?" lol

"'Cause I have waited for you for a long time, Belinda. And yet..." The "and yet" makes it seem like he's not just referring to the six months here...

Again, Belinda immediately objecting to the Doctor having been following her. It doesn't help that he doesn't even try to explain it away - after all, he's just admitted that he was looking for her, not just tracking the robots or something.

The "schwup" flashback showing Belinda looping on saying "six-six-six-sixteen years" feels very deliberate. Remember how Sutekh hinted at a link with the Beast last series?

"You're as bad as the robots." Look, I'm as critical of monarchies as the next guy, but calm down! She literally just got here. I can sort of excuse this because because of Belinda's impact on the planet's history and culture, which I'm sure that Manny's partially referring to, but it's still a bit silly.

Actually, on the note of the people's interactions with Belinda - I do feel there was a little bit of a wasted opportunity to have a character who truly believed in her right to rule? Would have really emphasised the effects on the culture - after all, you'd think they'd worship her as a God-Queen! Without such a person, it feels more like the robots just randomly went nuts.

Again, Belinda rejecting the Doctor's defence of her is interesting. On one hand, it projects this sort of self-sufficiency. On the other, she's clearly already picked up on some (in fairness, well-deserved) bad vibes from the Doctor, and may be trying to block any "white knighting" from him. On yet a third hand, it does kinda show that Manny's blaming is already getting to her.

The Doctor immediately defending Manny's outburst too, probably isn't helping him get into her good graces. It's kind of fascinating that for all his confidence, Fifteen doesn't seem to be that great on picking up these things.

"At least someone's glad to see me." "Worth the wait." Again, that sad smile is really hinting at something here. Despite effectively referencing his stalking her again, this is enough to get a crack of sympathy out of Belinda.

On my earlier point of Belinda keeping the certificate on the wall, it's interesting that she emphasises it "didn't mean anything".

Her sort of excitement at suggesting an explosion resulting from a time travel paradox may be another rare peek at Belinda behind the mask? Part of me thinks she might have a bit of a space/time/sci-fi interest, but her overall reaction to everything suggests it may not be that significant and I'm reading a bit too much into this. We'll see I guess.

Blinovitch limitation effect mention (if not by name)! Watching live, I'm assuming this is setting up the conclusion, where the "boom" will serve as a weapon, right? (EDIT: this bit was written while watching - and boy was I right!).

Kinda want to nitpick the "same atoms" thing, given we know the effect applies to people too, who would logically "Ship of Theseus"-lose most of their atoms, but I get that we're not about to get a 7-hour lecture from the Doctor on the nature of biodata. Plus now I think about it, maybe the very small amount that do remain probabilistically are enough to trigger the effects we're seen (and explaining why we don't tend to see people explode as a result of such interactions).

"Are you some sort of 'time detective'?" "Ha, no." *Gasp* Honoré Lechasseur mention? Ok, he's the time "hunter", but still a detective.

Again on Belinda's personality. We immediately see her ready to quietly make the sacrifice play, the moment she sees that everyone's at risk. In quite a reckless way too, bringing the robots directly to the base.

Oh my god the polish robot has little brake lights.

Another softer look comes from Belinda after the Doctor tries to sacrifice himself instead of her.

"Because my name is Miss Belinda Chandra. It's about time I owned it." "You can drop the miss. I never liked it anyway." Family guilt, relationship issues, or trans vibes. Take your pick.

I was a bit led astray for a second by "Are you married?". For a second, I really thought the solution was going to come from Belinda lying that she was, and the Generator insisting on monogamy and annuling the betrothal.

Alan as the generator is crazy. While he's clearly somewhat distinct from it, trying to reachout via the 9 word count, it's notable that the AI Generator is still clearly grown from his own personality, with it's possessiveness etc. yet here he is bragging and grinning like a supervillain. I'm not sure if it entirely works. Alan is a sexist, incel, control freak who saw a world beyond his own as an opportunity to experience despotic power as if it was a "game", yet we still get this twist of sympathy for him that doesn't even hold. And then we still get his final fate - more in a sec.

Again depending on Belinda and Alan's ages, which are a little unclear, the proposal cutaway has the potential to be even worse than it already seems...

Alan's controlling nature again feels like something that have had a bit more significance in earlier drafts, but does feel a little weak now. It's a cool twist to explicitly show just how bad he really was, but might have meant a bit more if we got more of an exploration of the planet's culture, and his control over it.

This is never said in the episode, but I wonder if the AI Generator's name comes from it literally being built out of a power generator? It kinda seems like it, right? The bulkiness, the electricity bolts around it... Even the ticker seems less like a clock (note it doesn't complete it's ninth increment, leading to the jump) and more of a modified powermeter or something.

"You were born to travel" this is an interesting line that doesn't really fit with the rest of what Alan says. Again could be hinting at Belinda's backstory, or if there really is something special with her, maybe something to do with her "design"? Almost like Sam Jones vibes, though obviously that doesn't really mesh with the rest of her (instead fits much closer with Ruby, as we discussed last series).

"You will obey me" Mentioned this earlier, but worth emphasising. On one hand, this does mainly show Alan's controlling vibe, and how he expected Belinda to be subserviant if they married. But at the same time, RTD knew what he was doing, sticking this in as a distinct line. Let's keep count going forwards: Maestro playing four beats, Master Vainglorious, the Doctor's heartbeat, and now this.

Alan's fate is nuts. Physics-wise, it's like Margaret in Boom Town being reverted into an egg, but this time without the opportunity of a fresh start. Again a weird result, after giving Alan a tinge of sympathy, but can't say it's not an effective message given everything else.

BLINOVITCH! BLINOVITCH! BLINOVITCH!

I love the time disruption imagery. Kinda surprised it didn't lead to something a bit more drastic, like the AI Generator being wiped from history alltogether (with the diploma being destroyed) but what can you do? I also thought for a sec that Belinda was going actually be splintered Clara style, with that being what led to Mundy, but that doesn't seem to be the case. This could still be the event that leads to that spatial genetic multiplicity, as with Gwyneth, Gwen and the rift?

I assume this is an older Belinda here? I assume the old dour man we see is meant to be an older Alan too, now erased from history.

Also hey, remember what I literally just posted about today, regarding the blue-green-red colour coding of the past, known future, and unknown future in The Infinity Doctors and the RTD1 time vortex...?

Just kidding, it clearly doesn't have the same significance, since the colour coding doesn't really make sense. Still took me out for a second. I wrote that before watching the episode.

On the other hand, the Doctor did say something about timelines being out of sync didn't he...? /s

It's interesting the Doctor ends up absorbing much of the resulting artron energy, seemingly with no ill effects other than a pain in the back. Usually artron energy can be pretty dangerous in this regard, especially given its connection to the regenerative cycle. On the other hand, the way he describes going through Belinda's life, and this...

This feels significant, no? Why did they go to the effort of filming thise, for a single quick cutaway after all the timey-wimeyness? It kinda feels like the Doctor just got splintered through Belinda's life, rather than the other way round like with Clara?

Kinda makes me wonder if Belinda's going to start seeing him in memories / family photos etc. and it's going to further drive that "stalker paranoia" she's gotten from him. While she gives a little semi-happy chuckle at being called amazing, she still doesn't exactly react with mutual joy at hearing about their new temporal connection. There's even a little bit of a sinister beat in the music, though it might just be the robots' footsteps in the background? I'd be keen to see the surround sound channels and see if it's mixed in with the music or speech and fx.

I saw @spoonietimelordy point out Belinda also knew the TARDIS's name, despite not seemingly hearing on screen. It stuck out a little to me too, but I thought I must have just forgotten a line. I guess not? I wonder if this just a bit of excusable off-screen dialogue, as result of the Blinovitch interaction, or something even deeper?

"Yas Queen!" lol, again.

I love how hammy the robot is in declaring they'll make reperations and returning the TARDIS.

With Belinda's reaction in the TARDIS, I do think it's a little odd/interesting that she's so desperate to get home for her next shift, showing that even in this situation, she's ready to prioritise her pretty gloomy homelife. On the other hand, her reluctance to stay with the Doctor is, as mentioned above, an absolutely brilliant start to a character and the relationship between them, coming with a very Classic Who story arc.

As everyone and their mother has mentioned, Belinda's reaction is so, so very much playing with the typical mystery girl tropes we see not just in Doctor Who in general (after all, we did just have everything going on with Ruby), but especially in Moffat's era.

That's not a slam by the way - anyone who knows this blog knows I love Moffat's stories - his era actually being my favourite, not that I dislike any of the others either. But every now and then, we absolutely need the writers to be ready to critique and deconstruct eachother's storytelling. That's how the show grows after all.

Moffat took great umbrage with Donna's fate and how the Doctor went against her will in blocking her memories, and made that clear throughout 12's era. It's only fair RTD return the favour in deconstructing the Doctor's (especially 11's) willingness to violate his friends' privacy to solve a mystery. :)

(Not a knock on 11 either. He was literally the Doctor who got me to really turn into a full-fledged fan after being more distant as a watcher through RTD's era and I still love him dearly. Series 6 and 7, despite their well-debated flaws, actually remain some of my favourite Doctor Who.)

The Doctor's willing to scan anything with the sonic screwdriver, often too much for the storytelling, so actually seriously acknowledging that the Doctor just scanned Belinda's genetics without asking is perfect. And the Doctor, called out on it, does apologise, though Belinda doesn't really seem to accept. This is actually why it kinda feels like just as much a parallel with Amy's series 6 mystery as it does with Clara's, with Eleven being so desperate to ensure Amy's safety, he completely puts aside her own agency.

And Fifteen doesn't even have the same excuse in this case, gleefully telling Belinda about their link, seemingly with no worry of any sources of danger. IMHO, there's almost even a hint of Thirteen there, with the Doctor even now still projecting positivity outwards over more sensible and/or honest behavour, despite supposedly being "better" after Fourteen's retirement.

I also just love seeing one of Fifteen's most lovable traits, his flirtiness and joy compared to other incarnations, being closely examined. It gives subdued Midnight vibes honestly, being torn apart just as much as Ten's know-it-all confidence backfired with the other passengers.

Now: the big mystery. Right off the bat, let's acknowledge that the TARDIS's failed travel used some of the exact same sounds as the groaning we heard with Sutekh last season. It could just be a reused way to show the TARDIS's strain (we hear the Cloister Bell too), but maybe it does hint that there's a little more to it, like I theorised in that big post before the finale last the series.

The way the block comes at the worse possible time, after the Doctor just promised he will take Belinda straight home as she asked, is kinda hilarious, and it only deepens her potential mistrust of him. At the current rate, I am curious if we will see it damage even further over the series?

If we accept the theory that there's some level of reality warping going on in the series's storylines, possibly triggered by the Doctor, then part of me wonders if this could even be a level of accidental wish fulfillment on his part? He doesn't want to be alone, so invented another mystery to solve. When the subject of that mystery rejected him, he subconsciously introduces a barrier to their return, forcing them to stick together.

I say accidental, as the Doctor actually having some sort of deliberate impact would be pretty boldly dark and out of character. Admittedly, a part of me would kinda love to read an "AU Dark!Doctor" fic where he's actually lying about being unable to return Belinda home. (As I said, pretty out of character, but I suppose not unprecedented. After all, didn't the pre-character-development First Doctor effectively do just that in The Daleks?)

The TARDIS bouncing off of a specific time on Earth obviously evokes The Angels Take Manhatten. Is the reasoning similar? Obviously it could malicious, as with the TARDIS originally being deflected, but it could also be a direct effect of a massive paradox. I suspect a bit of both, with the latter looking particularly likely given the events of the episode, but we'll see.

It also, on the other hand, makes me thing of a few other things. For example, something similar also happened in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, with the Trickster blocking the TARDIS from materialising (and the Trickster, of course, is a significant temporal villain in his own right - more than capable of being behind whatever paradox or otherwise has caused the fissure and block). He's also explicitly linked to the Pantheon of Discord (literally introduced in the same SJA episode!), and was namedropped last series. RTD clearly likes him as a villain too, given his roles not just in SJA, including the planned series finale before Elisabeth Sladen's passing, but also of his brigade in Turn Left and Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Then we get his shot:

First off, no there's no way Earth's just been exploded or something. One: we're 340 light years away (based on that earlier calculation I did). Two: there's no way all these bits, containing world wonders and ephemera from Belinda's home just happened to all be scattered here, closely together (and if it does, I'll be genuinely kinda mad at the laziness of the direction / writing in communicating such a disaster, by filling our screen with all this).

This 100% implies temporal shenanigans - not just with Belinda, but with the landmarks too. After all, what has a greater effect on Earth's history than symbols known the world over?! (The London taxi is a bit of a stretch though - maybe it's just here for the ride with Belinda's stuff).

The single most notable bit here though? Definitely that certificate. Note it's still got its tear, yet is back in its frame. It's somehow been returned, despite the Doctor and Belinda still holding onto it's present version. It's also unlikely to be from much further in the timeline, given it's alongside a calendar from 24 May 2025.

(Speaking of which, guess when the first part of the finale is airing?)

The Doctor and Belinda looking out of the TARDIS does kinda evoke The Stolen Earth. Also, and I know it's old hat to link things back to Lawrence Miles's ideas, but it kinda could be "Book of the World"-y too.

As for everything suddenly appearing, it's almost like the TARDIS was trying to pull itself to Earth's place in the Web of Time by tugging on all these important historical nodes, but has somehow managed to pull them to it, rather than the other way round.

The final detail I'll comment on is that among the stars, you can see a very odd flickering sparkling in a few places, but especially in the top right of shot. I'm not sure if this just meant to be a weird star twinkle that wasn't balanced properly in the shot, or something else. There is some dust scattered in the background of the scene so maybe that's causing it as it blocks the light source in the shot? It's still pretty weird though.

Overall thoughts

This episode's kinda all over the place (/pos). There's a lot of really good bits, but also plenty that leaves me wondering what RTD was thinking.

On one hand, it feels like it tried to cram a lot of random buzzwords in reflecting modern topics ("Girl Math", AI Generator, "Incels") and not all of them really hit the mark. I think the misogyny and possessiveness of Al was actually pretty hard hitting, as it wasn't something I expected to come back up in the episode. On the other hand, we didn't really get much on the AI / robot revolution that was meaningful (a shame, as a "robot revolution" episode has long been a big story idea I've wanted to see written, partially as a fix-it for Kerblam, plus a sort of arc-welding finale to the various anti-capitalist far-future stories we're gotten in past series). The setting, background characters, and villain were all a little bit wasted IMHO, though far from bad. As mentioned, I particularly appreciated the Classic Who vibes of the setting and conflict, which felt quite unique for New Who, in it's own way.

Character writing is wonderful. There's already so much to say about Belinda. Provided the fandom doesn't start targetting her negatively, I think she has the potential to be a top companion, just from her current relationship with the Doctor alone, let alone some of the other hints at her life and personality. We also get this deconstruction not just of Fifteen's buoyant, flirty attitude, but of similar arcs in previous series, with some sharp but fair critique of the Doctor's actions in Series 6 and 7 in particular.

The arc going forward is also looking to be very interesting, not just on this character level, but also with regard to whoever the Doctor spoke to, Mrs. Flood, and whatever's going on with this barrier around Earth. Plus we've got some even more hints for the future, including anther couple of potential Master teases. With the ongoing mystery, my only worry is that RTD may fail to really answer our questions again, opting for another estoteric "nothing" twist like last series (even though Series 7's mystery box kind-of did something similar in the first place). The fact that Ruby's back in a later episode, and he says there's more to that story, gives me a bit more hope though.