#saving tigmi

[rowanthestrange]

I really hope our theories about the trailer and the Timeless Child/Tigmi things are more or less accurate, because I really want to see that story and think it makes a good one. The Doctor (ultimately if not entirely gracefully) showing the roughness of the situation but basically trying to heal from everything, even if her coping mechanisms aren’t always the right ones. And the Master showing the destructive but still relatable responses, someone who hasn’t been able to heal and doesn’t really know how.

I want it to be that situation of Bel and Vinder having to send their daughter away from them in what they see as their only choice, the only chance to save her, full of grief because they love her so much…and for the Master to be so angry with them for doing that. Hate them more than the Time Lords and anything else that came after because it’s their fault the child was there for that to happen in the first place. They should have tried harder. Or they should have accepted it and kept the child in the terrible situation and at least they could have been together. They should have bent reality in two to fix it - that’s what he would have done.

That child’s desire to go back and change things so you never ended up being in care; or to punish the people who hurt you, the state that kept you and failed you all over again, to punish your parents for ‘abandoning’ you; to make it so you were never born. I think it could be quite cathartic for some people if done right. Showing the rage that is so so understandable but also only going to hurt yourself and others around you. It could be an interesting story, but more importantly, it could be a valuable one - even if it comes with no easy answers, but simply explores those feelings.

[esonetwork]

Timestamp #305: Flux – Once, Upon Time

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/timestamp-305-flux-once-upon-time/

Timestamp #305: Flux – Once, Upon Time

Doctor Who: Flux Chapter Three – Once, Upon Time (1 episode, s13e03, 2021)

A story that covers a lot of ground only to go full circle.

This chapter starts with a woman named Bel and her story in the aftermath of the Flux. On the run from Daleks, she’s trying to make sense of corruptions in time and space. As a swarm of blue particles consumes a pair of survivors she vows to find the one she loves.

Back at the Temple of Atropos, the Doctor tries to save Yaz and Vinder by pushing Dan on a pedestal as she leaps into the heart of the time storm. The others vanish as a Weeping Angel appears, then she’s swept away. A flashback follows to the Seige of Atropos where the four are commandos with the Doctor in charge.

Dan has his own vision where he gets coffee with Diane in Liverpool. Yaz has a similar vision where she’s on patrol with her police supervisor. Vinder has a vision where he receives an award and a promotion. All of them are aware of the irregularities in their scenarios as the Doctor flickers in and out.

The Doctor’s vision continues as her team infiltrates the Temple of Atropos in search of the Ravagers. She’s returned to the time storm where she stands before three giant Mouri. She’s returned to the temple where she discovers she’s reliving a moment from the Fugitive Doctor’s life. To save her friends, she needs to survive the encounter.

Dan ends up in tunnels where he encounters Joseph Williamson holding a laser weapon. After an encounter with the blue swarm, he returns to Liverpool where a vision of the Doctor tells him not to disappear while she tries to convince the Mouri to help.

Bel’s story continues after stealing a Lupari ship and flying to a new sector dominated by Cybermen. She consults a device called Tigmi before pushing onward.

Vinder’s memories continue as he serves the Grand Serpent. Yaz lives a memory of playing video games with Sonya, learns the truth of their predicament from the Doctor, and discovers that her timestream is being corrupted by the Weeping Angels.

At the Siege of Atropos, the Doctor faces the Ravagers (including Azure and an older version of Swarm). She learns about the Passengers – an endlessly large living prison with five of them holding hundreds of thousands of beings – and captures the Ravagers after they destroy two of the passengers. The Doctor reveals that one of the Passengers belongs to Division and contains the Mouri. The Doctor convinces the Mouri in the time storm to replicate the same infiltration.

Bel escapes from the planet but her ship is invaded by Cybermen. She narrowly survives by shooting all of them only to learn that all of the surviving villains are fighting for the scraps of the universe.

Vinder’s service to the Grand Serpent reveals that his commander is corrupt. When Vinder reports the Grand Serpent’s actions, he is exiled to Observation Outpost Rose. He is allowed to record only one message to his family.

The Doctor finishes her mission on Atropos, learning that one of her cohorts was Karvanista. She is swept to a station where she meets an old woman named Awsok who tells her that the Flux and Ravagers were introduced intentionally to destroy space and time. It was designed to stop the Doctor.

Yaz, Dan, Vinder, and the Doctor emerge in the modern-day temple as Mouri are restored. Swarm and Azure summon the blue Time Force particles and gloat that they have already won, taunting Dan with an image of Diane trapped in a Passenger. The villains teleport away and the team returns to the TARDIS, which Vinder easily recognizes.

Bel sits beside a campfire and listens to Vinder’s message. She promises to find Vinder and reunite him with his unborn child. Meanwhile, Vinder returns to his home planet and finds it ravaged by the Flux. He stays behind to search for Bel as the TARDIS moves on.

Peace on the TARDIS is shortlived, however, as a Weeping Angel appears on Yaz’s phone. It soon emerges and takes control of the ship.

The Angel has the TARDIS.

On the one hand, this story provides a ton of backstory for Vinder and the Doctor, particularly for the latter as a small slice of the Fugitive Doctor’s life is explained. It ties the Doctor to the temple and the Ravagers and provides a thread for the future about the Flux and its engineered impact on the universe. It also provides another plot thread as Bel searches for Vinder.

On the other hand, this chapter spins in a circle, ultimately going where Dan and Yaz went, which is nowhere. In fact, Dan and Yaz are effectively sidelined in safe pockets of time while the Doctor figures out a solution.

The story itself is the most chaotic of Flux so far, ping-ponging to and fro and ultimately resulting in a loss for our heroes. They didn’t achieve anything concerning saving the universe, though, to their credit, they did gain new information by following the path the enemy laid out.

It’s an interesting concept, but the execution felt frantic and anxious. Instead of ramping down at the end, it crashed to a halt with a cliffhanger. Thankfully, though, this intrusion into the TARDIS actually made sense since Yaz brought the Angel with her from the time storm.

Rating: 3/5 – “Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.”

UP NEXT – Doctor Who: Flux – Village of the Angels

The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.

[spoonietimelordy]

How to get the master in the next universe, black board post (a window to my mind xD):

-2 gods thematic: how does it work? everytime you have 1 one them being free and going to deliver the one, who is who here?

If you're going with with what we are at now, the doctor is the one locked and the master is free and doing whatever he want wherever he is. Or we can go on the idea that the master is still on gallifrey and the doctor is going to escape from Tecteun's tree station.

Let's go on the second one: the doctor is going to chose to sacrifice herself for Tigmi and the universe, she is going to jump in the next universe, but to do that she is going to pass through the tunnel, one of the door is connected to gallifrey just before it's final destruction, the doc at the last minute decide to go grabs him from there and to bring him with her. And they go on to the next universe together, she tells him that it's because she can't let him in a universe where she isn't here to stop him, but they both know that she is lying, obviously she is, he was going to die, she saved him because she cares about him and at the end of the day it's always the 2 of them it always has been and it always will be.

(We saw, before that, in the memories (the doctor might not have, just us) that the master is always here, in every cycle, it's one of the consistency in every single one of them, also the Tardis, but that's an other story that we will deal with in the new year special)

[please-call-us-useless]

Doctor Who (SPOILERS)

So it wouldn’t load for like five minutes to start🙄

The start of the episode made me feel like it was still in the previously

KATEEEEEE

THEYRE GONNA SEE EACH OTHERRRRRRRRR

KATE AND THE DOCTOR SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN

THEY HUGGED ‘oh but also’

AHHHHHHHHGGHHHG

Ceramic plates

LST SEASONNNN UNTIL THE SPECIALS

I’m literally almost shaking with excitement

Spocktarons

All welcome, except you. Fuck you Rutans

Sorryyy

Babe you’re so cute

Give me that watch

SHUT UP PLATE

Gotdamn

Mmm plates 🙄

Stop please

Knock-off Vision

She’s glittery

AAJSHDHDHHHHNN

THEY MISS EACH OTHER COME ON GAYS THATS GOTTA BE GAY

“Forgot to mention”

YAZ IS SCARED THAT SHIS GAGYYYYYYYYU

We’re not even twenty minutes here and there’s a lot to unpack

Gives him sweet stuff

Come on Tater

Ooh alien spacecraft

Shut in with the dog

DOCTOR PLEASE

Chewbacca is the Doctor’s ex???? Friend???

Yet they won’t give Thasmin??

I DONT CARE ITS CANON IN MY HEAD BITCHEZ

Babe-

Sometimes I forget that The Doctor has two hearts

I never knew a plate to be so annoying

Not the murder glitter

So when she y’know goes to the different place, does she zone out?

Death Eater???

VINDER MY BABE

She a good lady

What are they gonna do next season?

Chibz really said go big or go home every year

“Oh look darling, how cute”

She’s such a savage

She’s never seen herself???

“You’re cute.”

“So are you.”

SHE IS QUEER

“I’ve got a crush on her”

Bruh this is Loki with extra steps

What a ladddddd

Potato and salt shakers working together

Gotdamn Kate

(JK I LOVE YOU)

BEL AND VINDER

Aaaahhhhh they’re gonna see each other

“Yaz with me”

FUCKASS GAY

They’re so gay

I’m a sneekk

He’s going home

Refreshment?

Yes THEYRE GONNA SEE EACH ITHERRRRRRNRFNNFBDBB

Aww ahhh look at them both

I’m gonna cry look at them

THE DAMN PARALLELS

Look. Look at them.

Roll credits

Of course it is

Thanks ood

Plate and vision

Oh fuck

That doesn’t knock ‘em down?

Poke with stick on back

Salt shakers

Metal men

And potatoes

We are family, just together you and me

Oods wear too big suits for the sleevies

I love Tigmi

Saving universes. Destroying comms. The family business.

Oh words

Aw not Jericho

I love this episode. Honestly

Suck it up death eater

sLURRRRRPP

Time is just another plate

Most of me.

Bruh only 1/3 of her is here

REVERSE COAT

FOUR JODIES

DARK JODIE/TEN VIBES

What the fuuuuuuuckkkkkkk

Ooh

Savage

I’m three dabididabbidie

Ooh savage get outta here snake

“Dad”

WHATS THE BET

Oh it’ll be his son

MAYBE

Is it

No?

Oh okay.

“One family and their dog”

DAN I LOVE YOU

Dan-

She’s sad go to her

Aw no

No not this-

My boy is the bestest he

THEY ARE DATING ARE THEY????

Come on….

Gay gay gay

Please

No

Yes

I’m gonna cry

Please

They are so close to

PLEASSAWEEHE

Dan ruin the moment

HEART EYES

No babe no you y’all should have

CHIBBY STOP YOU FLOG MAKE IT CANON

Please just let them be-

Drop

LET THEM BE GAY

COME ON

WHAT? NO THASMIN? AHAHAHAHAHAHHHHH

Not the fucking Daleks AGAIN

[jeremystrele]

11 Mirrors That Are Having A Moment!

11 Mirrors That Are Having A Moment!

Interiors

Lauren Li

Photo – Caitlin Mills for The Design Files. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files. Styling – Annie Portelli

Photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files.

I’m not here to tell you that mirrors are such great additions in a room because they reflect a lovely view, bounce light and can make a room appear bigger. I think we have heard that all before, right?

There is however, something to be said for the versatility and timelessness of mirrors. Plus they are two-dimensional and three-dimensional at the same time. If you already have artwork adorning the walls, then a mirror is just the right thing to mix it up a little – the great thing about adding a mirror is that, unlike artwork, we don’t have to think about if the colours will ‘clash’ in the space.

When selecting a mirror the most important thing to consider is the scale, shape and frame. Here are some tips:

Well hung

Who wants seven years bad luck? Not me. Don’t risk it when it comes to hanging a mirror. Make sure that you are using the correct fixing to suit the wall type, is it a plaster wall or masonry? Maybe the sticky hooks aren’t such a good idea this time! For a heavy mirror it’s well worth calling in the professional art hanger. They may not be as expensive as you think and well worth saving the headache.

Where

Mirrors are so versatile, they can be moved around to the entry, hallway, living room, bedroom etc. and they are guaranteed to work. When considering the placement of the mirror, check that it’s reflecting a view that you want to see. Is it a view of the trees, or the neighbours clothesline? Test it out first.

When hanging a mirror on the wall it’s important to not hang it too high so that it chops the viewers face refection in half. Think about hanging at eye-level for the person experiencing the space, rather than centring to the height of the wall.

How many is too many?

Personally I find too many mirrors in a room can be a bit too much. I don’t want to keep bumping into my own reflection! Depending on the room, I would limit to two mirrors. Instead, I like combining mirrors with artwork in the room.

Type

A large floor mirror that leans against the wall can be transformative in a room, especially when its frameless and layered over with a plants or furniture (as seen above in Josh + Jenna’s amazing dream home!). It really adds depth to a room and can make it feel larger.

The most obvious placement for a wall mirror is is over a fireplace mantle or above a console table in an entry, but incorporating a mirror into a gallery wall arrangement (especially when the shape or frame is characterful) can almost bring as much pizazz as an artwork itself!

A table mirror is a very cute way to create a ‘dressing room’ vibe when placed onto a chest of drawers or table in a bedroom.

A fabulous statement mirror injects loads of personality to a space. It could have coloured mirror glass, a convex mirror, have a funky frame, be a vintage piece or just an interesting shape that means that the fact that it’s a mirror is almost secondary.

Pond Mirror from Ferm Living.

Void mirror from Joshua Space.

Wavy Mirror from Knot Studio.

1. Ferm Living

The organic shapes of the Pond mirror series by Danish brand Ferm Living are the perfect meeting of form and function. Locally you can buy this brand at Design Stuff!

RRP from $559. Find it here. 

2. Joshua Space

No two mirrors are the same in these feature pieces by Joshua Space, hand-made-to-order in Melbourne by Joshua. They come in a range of groovy colours and sizes!

RRP $480 – $1280 (size dependent). Find them here. 

3. Knot Studio

I’m loving these wave shapes that are all the rage right now, they help break up the straight lines of a room. The Wavy mirror from Knot Studio is handcrafted from solid American Oak in Sydney.

RRP from $800. Find it here. 

Left to right: Torre mirror from CCSS. Staffanstorp mirror from Ikea. Mary Arch mirror from McMullin & Co.

4. CCSS

When you need a mirror and a light at the same time, this is for you! The Torre mirror from local brand CCSS is back-lit, which is pure genius! Made in Melbourne and available in some gorgeous colours but if you need it in a custom colour, they can do it!

RRP from $2,630. Find it here. 

5. Ikea

The Staffanstorp wall mirror from Ikea is a great way to bring a little texture and warmth into a space, and is very budget-friendly!

RRP $49. Find it here. 

6. McMullin & Co

The Mary Arch mirror from McMullin & Co is a refined cane design, simple with a lovely natural edge detail. It comes in a floor mirror size too for those big open archway vibes!

RRP from $279. Find it here. 

Floor mirror from Douglas & Bec.

Gabriella (half) mirror from Sarah Ellison.

7. Douglas & Bec

Gorgeously, simple and elegant pieces made by Douglas & Bec in New Zealand. This floor mirror is the perfect addition to the bedroom or even an entry area.

RRP from $2166. Find it here. 

8. Sarah Ellison

Those 70s beachy vibes encapsulated into a mirror. How perfect.

RRP from $795. Find it here. 

Left to right: Iridescent mirror by Studio Roso from Fritz Hansen. Kaari mirror from Middle of Nowhere. Dawn Oval mirror from Middle of Nowhere.

9. Fritz Hansen – Studio Rosso

This iconic Danish brand may be known for design classics of the past by the likes of Arne Jacobson and Hans Wagner, but Lately Fritz Hansen have released some design classics for our time, like these printed iridescent mirrors by Studio Roso. They are are real piece of art on their own!

Find Fritz Hansen at Cult. 

10. Middle of Nowhere

The right amount of ‘simple’ and ‘statement’ shaped mirrors that makes Middle of Nowhere so versatile.

RRP from $248. Find them here. 

Brass Curve mirror from Tigmi Trading.

Argonaute French ceramic mirror from Tigmi Trading.

11. Tigmi Trading

There is something for the minimalist and the maximalist at Tigmi Trading! Each of these pieces are quietly characterful.

RRP from $260. Find them here. 

[surfoceanglory]

Tweeted

wsl: In Transformed Season 3, Episode 3: “Operation Surf”, Veteran Ash Legion reveals how surfing saved her life, in hopes of inspiring others in her community to do the same through OperationSurf. Watch now on https://t.co/tD6813CQ8c and the WSL app. pic.twitter.com/ddl6EQlcOo

— Tigmi Ocean Glory (@tigmioceanglory) March 4, 2020

[rowanthestrange]

Thirteen regenerating back into Ten would literally be the ultimate Bad Ending for her.

By which I mean on a narrative level would be amazing, and I would be completely fascinated by, and makes perfect sense.

Because we want and expect Thirteen to ultimately make the ‘right’ choice at the end here. Right for the universe, and her relationship with Yaz, and for herself etc. Because she’s the hero and that’s what a ‘good person’ is supposed to do in a story. But the thing is, anyone with eyes should know by now that just cus she’s the main character, she isn’t a ‘good person’.

We have been watching her bad/Division/Master moments only get more and more blatant, but have yet to have any comeuppance for that. Nor does she even seem to have any conscience about them, not even a little bit. She enjoys being the shark. We have one episode left and that hasn’t been addressed let alone fixed.

So what if she doesn’t make the right decision? Doesn’t break the cycle. Whatever the ‘right’ choices are, it’s Dr Yaz who makes them, she’s the real Doctor in that finale, and she tries to get 13 to make the correct decision etc. But it’s not enough, this doesn’t work, and Yaz technically saves the day and does everything she should, maybe even the Master does, but the Doctor does not.

Maybe it’s not wanting to rewrite the universe to save Tigmi because that means rewriting the universe where it’s her and Yaz. Her Division story is a mirror of River’s after all, and that ends with “Not one line”. 13 does her Time Lord Victorious speech of it being her at the mountainous unreachable summit above the others after saying “You want me to sacrifice you?” versus the safety of the universe.

So maybe rather than doing what’s best for everyone including literally herself, that is what leads to her regenerating. And of course she still loses what she’s grasping onto because Yaz is her own person and will choose what’s right over selfish love every time.

Because this is worse than her regenerating into a Master. This is regression. Completely antithetical to Doctor Who as a show and as a character.

And how obscenely meta. Everyone saying ‘this is going backwards,’ and yes, maybe that’s the point. It’s designed to make you feel the same emotions in the real world, Chibnall style.

She gets those memories back, and turns back into the person defined by his obscenely selfish version of love complete with mindwiping, and never ever learned, and didn’t want to go. He has just been permanently separated from the person that he loves all over again. The Master gone too. But now he knows how to shove an inconceivably large amount of information back into a brain. Lightbulb.

Thirteen - TenThree.

[rowanthestrange]

ok so again actor ethnicity doesn’t have to correlate to character’s etc. especially when we’re talking aliens.

But Bel is played by Thaddea Graham, Irish/Chinese and proud of it, and the name Bel is almost certainly a reference to Belfast. (AU Gallifrey is in Ireland) But if her last name is also related…

Her name could be Bel Hu.

[rowanthestrange]

So for ‘the Doctor is the Master is the Doctor’ theory I think I’ve got an idea of what might be the Division’s current setup. Roughly.

I’m currently thinking that the division is that they’re split from the same source (Tigmi) but the Division utilised the Doctor’s tendency to go mad under their control, and pulled the mad version over through a portal from a universe/timeline to enrich/be hostage for/give direction to the sane one (or vice versa), and now wipes and swaps them when the mad one recovers and the sane goes mad.

Religious themes: They realised Adam needed an Eve. Made out of his own self.

(Meaning Doctor and Master are effectively just words coding ‘Good’-Acting!TC and ‘Bad’-Acting!TC).

So if Martin!Doctor is universe/timeline b’s Doctor (arguably soft-coded to us as Master if we take sonic screwdriver meta), then that makes sense she A) Has no ‘Master’ just an analogue in Swarm they might have noticed worked well - Timeline b didn’t bring/hasn’t brought the other over yet. And B) That she can touch the Doctor - Blinovitch has never applied to the same person from different universes/timelines (e.g. Mickey and Ricky) it’s only for literally the same person.

And maybe this is why we have Gallifrey Is In Ireland metaphor story and the Master’s Timeless Child storytime don’t line up - in one there’s one child, in the other there are two. In Martin!Doctor’s head she had two parents, but the Doctor only has Tecteun.

And in the Master’s storytime we see that very convenient portal to the next universe.

So, what if this is a second go at the plan which is technically the first? The Division successfully kidnap the Timeless Child, put her where she will be found by Tecteun (‘think of the advancements that could’ve been made if we’d found her earlier, rather than after the incident stealing the ship’) ie. shove her through the portal.

If The Division (that’s implied to already have existed pre-Tecteun and remembering the Irish metaphor, it’s the policeman that tells the man to take the child home) already have this universe’s version of the Child, freshly reset, then maybe it’s also given to Tecteun as well, hence why there are two kids on the cliff now. Not twins, but one looking very much like a wee little Dhawan!Master.

And whatever we’re doing with Tigmi now in whatever universe we might happen to be in (portals, Not-Gallifreyans, Rose station idfk), is what’s making everything go crunch because that’s the fundamental difference between this universe and the other one where otherwise it should be literally the same without external tampering.

(also if Martin!Doctor then is our Master now, then we finally know why Lee is named Lee and it would be that stupid Movie!Master/Lee pairing and that feels like very on-brand Chibs nonsense)

[rowanthestrange]

How dark can we go?

Because just following what we have: Barton kills his mother. Swarm kills Tecteun. Both blatant Master mirrors.

Depending on how much the Master understands of both Tigmi, and the extent to what the Division have done with him and the Doctor, along with his suicidal nature…

Does he actually kill Bel (currently therefore plus Tigmi)?

And boom, the Doctor is suddenly disintegrating, panicking, screaming for Yaz because she had no warning she’s just ending now

And depending on which universe we’re talking or however we’re handling it, probably the Master disintegrating too.

Leaving Yaz to have to do something to rewrite this, be the Doctor in the TARDIS because what the hell else is she supposed to do.

Save Tigmi, save the poet, save the universe, she knows this.

We would have probably reminded the audience that Yaz can fly the TARDIS during Vinder’s stick-up - him saying why he could (Amy and the Astronaut one of two) shoot the Doctor. So we can roll fairly easily into her doing just that.

Maybe this is where the podcast fits in from what I know of the premise. “Oh Rowan, Ace and Tegan definitely still exist because-” no, we’ve almost certainly already done our bit seeing them and Kate, cus Yaz looks like she’s already got Kate’s gun in the stick-up.

[rowanthestrange]

What if we are in a universe where the Timeless Child was saved? Right now. We are in Timeline-B, not A, we’ve already swapped.

Cryptocurrency Brax is a Timeline-B ‘Not-Time-Lord’.

Bel and Vinder are Timeline-B Not-Gallifreyans from Not-Gallifrey: Long-lived, psychic, implied complexity in getting pregnant, and a lovely Academy to be trained in.

Not-Gallifrey is the centre of importance cus Tecteun never took the Timeless Child back to her home planet of Gallifrey - it still developed with her help, but without regeneration.

The Division still rules in both timelines but it’s using both Gallifrey and Not-Gallifrey, with Cryptocurrency Brax and other Not-Time-Lords. As we can assume via Vinder’s flashbacks and Bel’s coat etc.

TARDISes are a myth to Vinder because they’re not Not-Gallifrey tech, they’re still Gallifreyan tech created by Tecteun which is why Swarm and Azure are so angry with her etc. (The Division highest levels presumably still have access to them). Neo-Time Lords still a thing, but without regeneration they’re probably more vulnerable to invasion trying to get that technology, hinders the empire building.

This is why we’ve seen two Gallifreys. The one that we saw the Master nuke all life from, and a Gallifrey full of grass and Cybermen. They’re not incompatible at all because the Gallifrey the Master burned no longer existed in the first place, and the other Gallifrey has Neo-citizens aplenty to convert. Probably explains why we needed the purple portal though.

We know one of the Doctor’s splits was pulled to Tigmi, so Tigmi is her. But that means that Tigmi is from Timeline-B and is/was/will be used to create Timeline-A. But to start Timeline-A means Timeline-B does not exist unless you break Timeline-A. The Timeless Child as the ultimate paradox. They exist because they cannot exist. A manifest loop completely untethered from time.

Gat seemed really high ranking, was recognised as Gallifreyan when scanned by Thirteen, and answers to Gallifrey, with a TARDIS (where we were with Jack), she was the one sent to get the Doctor. Why wouldn’t she regenerate when shot? Cus she can’t.

Maybe Martin!Doctor is who you get if you save Tigmi, save the Timeless Child. Different origin story, slightly different universe structure, but still the same result. We met her parents, ‘the Doctor’ is an inevitability either way. But perhaps they lived very differently to the idyllic life with Tigmi we’d want because they knew, were told what was going on with her, knew the risks of what people would do if they found out who and what she was, and would have to be exiles forever. Ruth talks about her not-good-with-people parents who lived in the lighthouse. Not ‘parent’ like Tecteun, but ‘parents’ plural. Ruth says “Forgotten what it feels like to come back here. Like nothing can touch me.”

(Aside: Ruth believed she moved to Gloucester in mid-December - that more or less lines up with the Final Flux event and is probably important, especially knowing how much Chibnall cared about dates and also knowing that he had to cut two episodes from Flux.)

The presence of old faces doesn’t help us identify anything: Jack is a fixed point, he’s stuck whatever, and for all we know old adventures would still more or less line up. Kate knew the Doctor but doesn’t seem surprised or comment on her being a woman - maybe because that’s not new to her, perhaps M!Doc’s in a line of predominantly female Doctors instead of male, whatever. Could be because the Earth was protected that nothing could alter on it at all anyway. (And Tecteun escaped Timeline-A before it ruptured, safe on her way out the universe, and let’s hope Tecteun-B’s dead in a ditch somewhere)

(Fringe idea: Our Master still exists in the universe like our Doctor does, and is the one who sends Ruth the mysterious text from an unknown sender that lets her free herself - “Follow the light. Break the glass. Happy birthday. X.” - ‘happy birthday’ ala Missy and because of the nature of the story, call back to Clara, texting the Doctor, and a kiss - a bit French. And we have a prophecy etc.)

By no means is this a full working theory. Less needs the edges sanding off and is more like a rough blueprint before we’ve started making anything, just analysing what we’re seeing. I don’t know how it would all work in context - it’s obvious there’s a Save Tigmi split point that could make a paradox loop in Timeline-A but there are still other paradoxical elements. Could mean the theory’s completely wrong, could be I’m missing some key parts, could be we don’t have the tools to crack it and this is as far as we can go without details.

But it’d explain how the Doctor’s memories are a house that doesn’t make sense, cus they can’t, they’re different and incompatible timelines crashed together.

[rowanthestrange]

Bit freeform but stick with me:

Swarm and Azure want Time to be released and to have universal control. They are perfectly content to murder millions of innocent people as a bargaining chip. Not good people.

Swarm and Azure effectively want to be the new Time Lords, new Division. Their atrocities are more noticeable on the surface, but fundamentally there is no difference. They are simply a replacement of one Empire with another.

The narrative itself has us pushed to the idea that Time being enslaved the way it is, is not a good thing; the Doctor’s desire to conserve the status quo, is not actually the right call.

So we need to free Time, but truly. Not putting it under someone else’s dominion again.

Wild Time is flexible. That’s why Rassilon wanted it locked down under known lines. To what extent does that flexibility work? If you free Time, Can you go back and stop the Flux before it begins? Not undo it, but rewrite events so it never happened? Probably.

The Doctor wants to preserve the status quo. But not at any cost. Not poets, not the fam, not children.

Swarm and Azure. “Translations, but they’ll do.”

The Timeless Child. What if it’s also a translation?

Time Less, Time Absent, Time Without, Time Free-from, Time Free?

The Division made the Flux because they feared the Doctor. It’s the same story. The same resolution.

Saving the Timeless Child is saving the universe.

We save Tigmi/The Timeless Child/The Doctor and rewrite a hundred thousand no-such-thing-as-a-fixed-points because Time is Free - the Time Lords don’t exist to build their Empire on it, and we solve the Flux because the Flux never exists.

And - if not flexible enough - we boot the Doctor into the next universe along, cus neither should she.

[rowanthestrange]

If we are currently in and seeing Timeline-B where the Timeless Child was ‘saved’, I think we know where she was kept safe.

I think she was/is/will be in the Division Ship.

On the grounds that Tigmi leads to Martin!Doctor, this explains why ‘Ruth’ thought she lived in and felt safe in (though despised) a lighthouse with her not-good-with-people parents (plural, not singular as in Tecteun).

Obviously with multiple timelines of Division agents obsessed with trying to get to their child, that would be a safe place, necessary paranoia meaning the exile is now also self-imposed, and potentially links to the wormhole that’s in the next universe.

A lighthouse isn’t just a good remote place to set that metaphor in. That Master-vibe text also says ‘follow the light’ which ‘Ruth’ receives in a cathedral, and the whole thing when put together with all our other references to religious stories and themes, puts me in mind of the phrase ‘Let there be light’ from Genesis.

If you’ve been following the Jewish themes, you already know the Division ship is the garden of Eden - it’s literally a seedbank for the universe tended to by its (False) God gardener, with a bloody great big tree in the middle.

We already know the Timeless Child is Adam for Time Lords as we know them.

At some point it can be assumed that this Doctor eventually chooses knowledge/exhibits freedom to obey or disobey safe instruction, meaning they leaving it.

Presumably our Frankenstein-Rib Master is part of this, trying to Spy Master control of Division - or their ship at least - attempting to play God because what could be more him, by trying to make it so the Time Lords never existed (and probably also trying to keep his and his Doctor’s own existences by smashing the timelines together even though it can’t make sense - the house.) Whatever backup plan that may lead to the baby-Master we saw on the cliff with the Timeless Child may well come into play, assuming that’s relevant if the plan goes awry - the Master choosing to be a full ouroboros loop by wiping his mind and turning back into a child feels very on brand.

It would also very much tie in with the famous Book of Ruth quote that has the insane Master-Doctor energy:

"Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. So may the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death separate me and you" (Ruth1:16-17)

[rowanthestrange]

No Timeless Child, no Time Lords, no Flux. No TARDIS. TARDISes.

If the Crystals are related to what we think they are, and their ideology is flipping the Empire to reverse the position of them and the Time Lords primarily as a reaction against subjugation, then does saving Tigmi solve the problem of them too?

[rowanthestrange]

I don't trust the prophesy to be that clear cut. "Beware the forces that amass against you and their Master." The reading I'm seeing the most is "Beware (the forces that amass against you) and (their Master)." but that seems too obvious for... everything we've been through. what if the prophesy is meant to be read as "(Beware the forces that amass) against (you and their Master)"? Maybe I'm reaching and it really will be that clear cut, but. The text is there.

Well, there’s one thing I know it isn’t. And that’s the Master and whatever’s going on with him.

Not that he isn’t going to come up. I’m still here for my baby trying to become the head of Division because he is the Spy Master (god he was so proud of that), so he can wipe them all out by pulling reality’s strings (mirroring how he souped the spies) while also trying to keep himself and his Doctor together while causality screams.

But ultimately got to be a double wording, and I do like that one as a read - good use of parenthesis btw. Cus it does have to be Empire versus the Master and the Doctor at the end of all of this regardless. Though ultimately it won’t be explicitly stated “OH, that’s what the prophecy meant”. Probably. Unless Chibs thinks people really are that stupid, though given everything I’ve seen from the masses, that would have been prescient of him.

I’m going on the basic thing to be wary of being whoever Di really is (You’ll get me off my Romana soapbox when the last episode airs and not before) and the force being the Division/Time Lords. Making a very Empirey but understandable stand against writing out the reality they know (and rule) for the sake of saving a single child.

[rowanthestrange]

what if Bel and Vinder are the Doctor’s parents???

oh bless you’re very new here aren’t you (affectionate)

What other explanation is there for why one part of the Doctor would be pulled to Bel at the end of Flux despite them having never met?