#write better doctors

[sesamestreep]

it’s wild to me that like every modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes (and by modern I mean “made recently” not “set in modern times”) is like Hell Bent on coming up with a Reason™️ that Watson stays with Holmes and trots around with him on adventures all the time despite the inconvenience and the danger and all, and so it’s like “oh, Watson’s a gambling addict, he loves uncertainty and mystery” or “oh, Watson’s an adrenaline junkie, he gets off on being constantly in danger from criminals” or even like “Watson’s atoning for sins of the past of BEING IN THE WAR by solving crimes with Holmes now” or WHATEVER. And it’s like, girl, maybe he’s just in love! Did you think of that?? Maybe he’s got a crush and it’s making him do stupid things. Maybe he’s just got bad taste and his type is guys who don’t know how to refold newspapers properly but can identify different types of cigar ash by sight, smell, and taste. And wrote a monograph on the subject. Maybe he’s down bad is all. I mean, Keep is simple, stupid!!!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Happy Birthday to Fallen London; My favourite British people beefing it with bats simulator.

[secretidentie]

Bruce finally feels settled in his role as batman. Dick just went to college, the Justice league is doing well and he's got a new Robin. So he decides it's finally time he made his parents proud and finish medical school (and totally not because he wants to be in college at the same time as dick, that's ridiculous Alfred).

Obviously since he's the prince of Gotham he can't really go to Gotham U without being recognized or harassed and since he owns half the buildings he knows he won't be treated fairly so he decides to study in Metropolis.

This is how he ends up in a communication and ethics elective class with a Clark kent, a journalist for the daily planet who is getting his PhD. They slowly develop from strangers to study buddies and maybe even more while Bruce balances academic pressure, with being batman and a dad to dick 2.0 jason.

As the year goes on and he has to deal with assignments, group projects, literal teenagers and not always being perfect Clark's apartment slowly becomes a safe space as he learns to ask for help and accept change.

[st4rry4543]

Silly Lil yarnadough au

Basically, in this au, the doctor finds out about what's been happening with yarnaby and doey, and Yk, since he doesn't want anybody to be happy, he kills yarnaby. Btw in this au yarnaby joined the safe haven crew about 1-2 years before we (the player)arrived .The only problem is that yarnaby still feels some connection with his "Master."

If you have any suggestions or ideas for this au, let me know. :D

[narsildur]

So because of the length of the new DW seasons, Ncuti has been doctor for I believe only 5 more episodes than Christopher Eccleston. Now I love 9 he is one of my favourite Doctors I think it’s an absolute crime he didn’t get more time and the situation around that is criminal too, but I’m gonna put that aside for a second.

A Doctor who has had 2 companions, the return of multiple major Classic Who characters, references to the MASSIVE lore changes during the previous era, as well as involvement in currently two specials has FIVE more episodes than one of the shortest incarnations of the Doctor.

Now I can’t find anything concrete that Ncuti’s run is ending after this season, only comments that he hasn’t been ‘axed’ but no dispelling of the rumours of regeneration (or show cancellation lets be real), but if he is leaving??? That feels so wrong.

The length of these seasons is appalling we don’t get enough time to develop ANYONE properly, almost every episode seems to be out competing the others, and the huge classic Who things the entire fandom is talking about have taken place over what is to be THREE episodes. Obviously they’ll likely continue into possibly further seasons but now? With Ncuti? With Varada? It’s three episodes.

Eight episodes will NEVER be enough to tell stories like these. Longer seasons allow for an episode or two that feel a little out of character because we have enough to come back around with whereas eight episodes doesn’t do that - Belinda’s immediate forgiveness and affection after seeing the Doctor torture someone is the best example so far, she literally Would Not Act Like That.

I hope this isn’t the end for Ncuti, him as the Doctor is what’s keeping me watching every week because I LOVE where he’s taking it. I just wish the plot and scripts allowed for more exploration of his version of the character and his wants and wishes (lol) and Ruby and Belinda’s character arcs (if you can even call them that).

I hope I eat my words I hope he gets more time I hope characters start to feel fully fleshed out. Mostly I hope we see the end of 8 episode seasons and go back to actual creative freedom and not a streaming set up show. I hope a lot of things.

[txttletale]

one of the most underlooked companion deaths of nuwho was how clara spontaneously disintegrated offscreen before season 8 started and was replaced by a much more interesting and well written character who coincidentally was also called clara and played by jenna coleman

[aerithisms]

one thing i do think people really need to pull the haterism brakes on is saying it's an insult that ncuti's era is so short. ncuti chose to leave of his own volition. i think this was a completely understandable choice given the contractual limbo the show is in and i don't blame him at all but he was not by any means pushed out the door or written out when he didn't want to be. for all the things it's fair to slate rtd for this is actually not among them.

[watches-and-windchimes]

As always, UNIT under Kate was supposed to be a "science leads" organisation. RTD's pivot into turning them back into a "military leads" organisation makes the intended message of this episode come across incredibly clumsily. I love the exploration of Kate taking things too far when the Doctor isn't here to stop her, but recently the Doctor has not been stopping her even when he is there - he'll occasionally tell them not to shoot someone in the moment but they haven't committed to the Doctor challenging them in a meaningful way

The new UNIT team also feels very unbalanced in this regard; Osgood's presence as someone who is purely science and peace keeping is sorely missed and nobody in the new team is fulfilling her role. We have some new military guys and a science officer who generally leans more military than Osgood did and whom I've yet to be convinced actually does much science. I need someone on the team to share the Doctor's unbridled wonder at the vastness of the universe and an unwillingness to cause harm

That said I really want to see more of this exploration of Kate pushing the limit and I'd love to see her actually properly fuck up at some point. I just need there to be real consequences

[s0fter-sin]

thinking about robby/langdon hate sex ngl

robby punishing langdon for his drug use, for not coming to him for help, for letting him write a letter of recommendation and potentially putting his career in question when he’s stealing from the er… fucking langdon with cruel, vicious thrusts while langdon just takes it in the hopes it’ll be enough to make up for everything and robby won’t report him…

[transmasc-rose]

I'm thinking about the horror of the Doctor from the perspective of non-companions again, especially as it relates to people those companions know.

Rose? "Ran away" (not wrong) for "a year" (a week) with a "man" (alien) "twice her age" (approximately 50 times her age but yeah, he is Time Lord middle aged), and then gives absolutely no explanation for how or why that happened, except that she was "travelling".

Then when her mum does get an explanation (which, frankly, is only comforting because of the unfamiliarity of the alternative given. The devil you know.), Rose barely checks back in.

She almost dies for him. When she thinks he's dead, she's changed in a way her family doesn't know how to handle. Then she's gone for who knows how long and comes back with the Doctor wearing a new face.

When her original tenure as a companion ends, and Rose lives in Pete's World, she works for Torchwood/UNIT (they become the same organization). She volunteers for the Dimension Cannon. She explains to the alternate earth how to rig up a time machine.

She's changed in ways that no one else can really understand.

Amy? There's everything with River Song of course (though I'm still not there in my viewing), him running away with Amy the night before her and Rory's wedding, and also the connection between the Doctor and the Time Crack being the reason all of Amy's family's dead. Obvious stuff.

However he's also the strange man who broke into this child's house and made a mess of her life that she never got over, that promised to take her away from here, that she wrote about and drew and carved and made her friends dress up as.

And they sent her to psychiatrist after psychiatrist without any help. In their perspective, to work through what she imagined. In her perspective, to tell her that her reality wasn't real.

And then he comes back.

And to some extent, later, when he shows himself to everyone, isn't that more frightening? That the story your child told you, of the strange man she met as a child, of time travel, of nearly being stolen away, hadn't been a lie, or a misinterpretation, or an imagining?

And so he shows up at her wedding. And steals her away again.

Donna I feel like has the least horror until her final episode. I think exploring the in between section of her meeting the Doctor and finding him again would be interesting, but not exactly horror. More an exploration of how obsessive the companions can get about him, how it eats their whole lives with even one encounter, even as it makes them better people.

And then, obviously, the horror of having your mind altered and erased against your will by someone you trusted. For your own good, of course. Because he knows best. How could you know better than him? He's ancient. He's practically all knowing.

Shouldn't you be grateful?

(And he's forgiven.)

[impossibledial]

it took me way too long to realize why clara tells danny she’ll never say the words, “i love you” again to anybody else.

i always thought it may have just been a bit of weak writing on moffat’s part but it’s because before this moment, the words didn’t belong to danny. she’s trying to make up for what she did at the end of mummy on the orient express. she’s promising not to break his trust again - to stay emotionally faithful to him.

i don’t think it’s a coincidence that before clara refers to “all of the stuff [she] did wrong” the last three post-it notes it cuts to her looking at are,

what else was she dishonest about on the orient express besides deciding to continue traveling with doctor again?

she said “i love you” to him. not only that but while she was on the phone with danny.

and what is she doing at the beginning of dark water? she’s promising that she’ll never say the words again - while on the phone i’ll add.

i think it took me so long to come to this conclusion because i always viewed clara’s “i love you” being towards the doctor in mummy on the orient express as non-canon - yes, despite jenna coleman saying it. twice.

i’m someone who values the writers opinions rather than the actors but i realized, there’s no way it wasn’t for the doctor. why else would it cut to him after she says it? smiling no less.

and why does the official script released by the BBC not include that specific line of dialogue?

[charcubed]

"GAY WEEK" ON DOCTOR ODYSSEY REVIEW: not the episode I expected, but the episode I fucking deserved

A lesser show would use Gay Week to introduce queer content and possibly have it for only one episode as a special. But on this show? It’s always queer and the function of Gay Week is showing and explicitly talking about polyamory the entire time, setting up a polyamory slow burn.

WHO is doing it like them, I ask of you?

I am locked the fuck in for the long haul, baby!!!!! (as if that's news)

YIPPPEEEE

----

okay here I'm (mostly) copying and pasting some of my live tweets to share my immediate thoughts on the ep

-TRISTAN ENJOYING ALL THE ATTENTION FROM GAY MEN…. 👁👁 I love this bisexual

-“Polyamory” / “Throuple” / “That deep human condition question… Can all of my needs be met by one person?” We are literally watching a show on network television that’s explicitly about slow burn polyamory and I am in complete and utter disbelief. This is the thesis statement. They just went out and said that shit

-No but seriously they managed to have the throuple do an explicit threeway and NOW they're turning it into a slow burn?? WONDERFUL FOR ME PERSONALLY. LET'S GET THIS ANGST

-Max: “I’m a one woman” kind of man Tristan: “Aves… I can’t share you" Avery, lowkey: why are you both so fucking stupid and making this only about me when we have potential here because ALL of us want each other equally, including you two????

-No but this is so realistic I'm foaming at the mouth. OF COURSE they're getting caught up in the M/M part of it!! Of course they are!!! Of course that potentiality has to be drawn out!!! DELIGHTFUL

-TRISTAN’S FINGER KISS OVER THE SHOT OF MAX. IF ANYONE NEEDS ME I’LL BE PASSING AWAY.

-Anyway. “I’m a one woman” type of man Max said...... well guess what Max, that’s still true because you’ll have one woman and one boyfriend. Problem solved, king <3

-Also, if I think about how Max "I need to chase more joy" Bankman and Tristan "I have too much affection in me" Silva both reacted to having SO much happiness in one evening that they got scared by it and felt it was too good to be true I will start screaming.

-Hey so we all agree that the function of the single “heterosexual” couple on the ship is so we could get the visuals of 2 queer men standing in the background watching while the woman gave birth right. Like as thematically connected to Max’s excuses. We collectively saw that, right? Just checking

-Regarding the preview for next week: LOL. NO WAY IS AVERY ACTUALLY PREGNANT. I don’t know how or why but I’m calling bullshit, respectfully…. there’s gonna be some niche medical explanation for this tomfoolery and it’s going to force emotional angst

I FEEL LIKE I HALLUCINATED THIS EPISODE

THIS IS THE SHOW AND TRIO I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO HAVE AND CAN'T BELIEVE EXISTS

Captain Massey you sweet, kind, and accepting old man I love yoouuuu... John Stamos in a throuple I love yooouuu.... writers and directors and creative team behind this queer polyamory show making very deliberate phrasing and framing choices I love yooouuu... <3333

[witchofthemidlands]

another reason the regeneration is so horrible other than the fact that ncuti gatwa's regeneration will always be tied to the fact his version of the doctor basically became the villain of belinda's story & forced her into motherhood she never once asked for when all she wanted to do was to go home to her life & took that poor captain poppy away from whoever adopted her on that planet is that rtd confirmed that every single version of the doctor bigregenerated.

fifteen is the only one who is gone, gone.

[foolishlyzephyrus]

i am gutted by this regeneration but not in a good way

[gingermintpepper]

In light of my recent Asclepius and Apollo musings, I feel like it's the perfect time to post this, actually.

How do you build a human being? 

Bold question. Foolish question. But a question it is all the same. 

The memory of his father’s consternated expression is still bright behind his eyes, that unusually furrowed brow, the tension in his gentle jaw. He didn’t falter in his setting of Asclepius’ broken shin, hands perpetually steady and sure, but he hesitated for a conspicuously long moment as though reluctant to give an answer. In this body, he resembled Orpheus something fierce. The same flaxen curls of his hair, the same delicate eyelashes that stand stark against the dark brown of his skin. Often Asclepius wondered if his elder brother was nothing but a body built to suit their father’s preferences. The subtle wrinkle of skin around their eyes when they smiled was the same, and the steadiness of their hands, the soothing power of their presence. 

And Orpheus did not bleed like Asclepius did. The blood in Asclepius’ veins were as red as any human’s, any mortal’s, but Orpheus seemed not to bleed at all. Even when he’d suffered the same fall down the crumbling cliff as Asclepius had. Even when his skirts had ripped and jagged stone sliced into his shanks. 

Even so, Orpheus was unmistakably alive. His eyes were rich with grief fresher than any blood spilt from the worst of Asclepius’ wounds, his counsel too, was tempered with the wisdom of a life well lived. So even at the apex of his most perfect, inhuman beauty, Asclepius never once doubted that his brother was a human being. Just that he was more divine construct than flesh and blood. Just that their father had built for himself a son that would not break as easily as all the others. 

His father stayed silent for so long that Asclepius assumed it would be one of the million questions that would go unanswered. Then, just when the last of his bandages had been wrapped - 

“A human body is easy to build,” he’d had that faraway look on his face as he spoke, like he was speaking to the horizon. Or a version of Asclepius that was not quite here. Such things happened from time to time. “Any flesh would do. From men, or animals, or even monsters. Any flesh would do.” Their gazes had locked then, and Asclepius would never forget the flecks of gold which swirled in his father’s blue eyes, the weight of divine words rattling at the boundaries of their mortal apparatus, “But the breath of life, a living soul? That is beyond your means as a mortal man. You ought never seek it.” 

(Asclepius would remember these words when he revives a man for the first time at the age of nineteen. He’s surprised to find that his father is wrong for once. Souls are easy to source when they’re already eager to return to their mound of flesh.) 

[rowanthestrange]

In Which We Examine An Event In Hindu/Vedic Mythology For The Blorbos.

In Verse.

Brahman is everything, one, with an ‘n’. Beyond all beginning, surpassing the end. Brahman is represented by divine trinity, Brahma, and Vishnu, and Shiva make three.

Brahma’s the creator, of time and of places, Holds never a weapon, just knowledge and Vedas. Representing activity neither good, bad, or both, Of passion, and ego, and of movement and growth.

Then there is Vishnu who protected what’s new, Vishnu preserves things and Vishnu is blue. For balance, and cycles, eternity, peace, And battle when needed for evil to cease.

Finally Shiva, the destroyer and death, To enable the end and to start from what’s left, For family, demon slayer, patron of arts, Chaos, destruction, and drums as he danced.

(But it has also been said in quiet by some, Though the crescent of Shiva and Vishnu’s bright Sun, May appear to be different, they’re identical too, Vishnu’s greatest form’s Shiva; and Shiva’s Vishnu.)

And sometimes went further beyond like Brahma, Who took on the avatar of the moon god Chandra, The lord of stars, night, and herbs that healing could be, So to be born from parents and birth Mercury.

They have hundreds of stories of glory and strife, But what of the origin of the Elixir Of Life, The Samudra Manthana was put into motion, Or in English the tale called ‘Churning of the Ocean’.

The Asuras were a breed of superhuman Lords, Most power-hungry cheaters, and the enemies of gods. The half-brother Devas were masterful sorts, All playful game players, and mostly good sports.

There were great many battles for many domains, And the Asuras took over multiple planes. The Devas went to Vishnu to ask for help in defiance, And he suggested to them that they make an alliance.

That all of the beings cease their brutality, Churn the ocean for elixir of immortality, So that all of them share it and so never die, (Though not really the Asuras, and Vishnu would lie.)

But the churning released something else from the sea, A poison of Death to destroy all is, was, and could be, The surviving fled to Brahma, the store of all information, Who said to stop death requires the purest cessation.

To protect all the realms Shiva swallowed the brew, And his wife grabbed his neck to stop it passing through, And Shiva survived, but an unfortunate hue, As his neck was now painted an odd sort of blue.

And now other treasures started being produced From the ocean all sorts of strange things now were loosed, Including Kaustubha, a divine ruby gem, That the Devas gave to Vishnu for his helping them.

Then the wish-giving life tree, of tales of its own, From when Shiva was forced to send his daughter from home, To protect her from The Darkener’s war til was done, (Not quite Asura nor Deva was also their son) But that’s a long story and isn’t this one.

An umbrella, some earrings, animals odd as can be, The crescent of Chandra that Shiva pulled free, A conch shell that rang of creation; then surged, Vishnu’s avatar the doctor, the vaidya emerged.

In his hands was amrita, the life-giving food. And unsurprisingly quickly the fighting ensued, The Asuras stole it and immediately fled, And the Devas went to Vishnu and immediately pled.

So Vishnu took the form of a beautiful female, Who took it back from the Asuras who were quick to avail, She sat them in two rows, so alone she could choose, To immortalise good, and the cheaters would lose.

Down the Deva row she spooned her nectar from the pot, And each of the Devas immortality got, Except for an Asura who snuck in their line, Chandra found out Svarbhānu but not quite in time,

Vishnu cut off his head but the man spoke from live lips, Immortal in two, they represent the eclipse. And Asura and Deva now resumed their fight, While Vishnu flew away and fled into the night,

And twins, pairs, and counterparts fought all the more, Until finally the Devas had succeeded in war, And they exiled the Asuras to underworldly domain, And the higher dimensions fell back under their reign.