tindogowner

[tindogowner]

therapardalis​:

Somebody had spiked her drink. Thera told herself this with more than a shade of doubt tucked in behind, mostly because she knew it wasn’t actually true. It was just a small, facetious reach for some alternative to the obvious; that strangeness was happening and once again, as so often, she was the one on the spot.

“Doctor.” The Doctor, in fact, another small detail tucked away as she took the offered hand - noting as she did that yes, he was actually solid and she wasn’t just seeing things. “K-9.” She greeted the robot in turn, because it did seem to be its own entity, more or less. It also gave her a couple of seconds to mull over the man’s question, and take a shot at whether he was tweaking her chain.

Answer … maybe, on that particular point. But she had seen the supposed police box appear from thin air, so if the rest of this was a fake it was an exceptionally good one. Which left all the obvious questions of who the hell this was, what the hell he was, and … all the rest. Thera sighed, deciding to let those tidbits filter in along the way. “My only toolkit is for motorbikes, and I’m afraid I’ve left it at home. I’m guessing,” A glance went past him to the box, “you don’t have a towing service you can call?”

K-9, who seemed to be staunchly ignoring them both, piped up from nearby, and for a second her eyes narrowed. Non-terrestrial. Yeah, that scanned. “Not sure where that would be. You’re on Butler’s Wharf, London, and if there’s ‘advanced technology’ around here … first I’ve heard of it.”

For a moment, the Doctor appeared to ponder what was said, her comment on tools and a towing service. He mused about how quaint earthling were, but before much of a response was possible, K-9 piped up with his findings. It drew his attention to the horizon, mental landscape updating, eyes scanning over the buildings. Even with what he had just been told, nothing was immediately jumping out to him as odd.

Digging his hands back into his pockets, he came back up with a small paper sack, turning his attention back to Thera. “A motorbike toolkit? How very quaint.” He said it the way someone speaks to a child with plastic tools. “No, I’m afraid I couldn’t call for help even if I wanted to.I can’t use the communications systems in the TARDIS until it’s repaired, and Earth’s best long range satellites would take, oh... Several centuries, I think?”

“Nearby locations of notable interest: Potter’s Field Park, London City Hall, Tower Bridge, UNIT Headquarters in the Tower of London-”

“Aha!” The Doctor swiftly grabbed a piece of candy from the little bag in hand, before biting it in half and offering the bag towards the woman. “The Tower of London, of course! The TARDIS must have tried landing there for easy repairs!” Looking around again, noting that the Tower was not nearby, he adopted a bit of a puzzled look before continuing. “I wonder why we ended up over here?”

“Suggest investigation, Master! UNIT systems not accessible through local wireless networks. Perhaps human female wishes to accompany?”

[tindogowner]

therapardalis​:

It was fortunate, in a way, that she’d been cautious in approaching; weirdness like a shape appearing out of nowhere might have become mundane (and it had made much more noise about it than some, which didn’t hint toward danger or stealth) but by the same token Thera wasn’t going to rush.

As she got closer, however, the lights of the wharf picked up the details of the thing and she stopped, frowning even more. That was a police box. Some parts of the 1960s were really kind of foggy, but she had to say she remembered these. Not that that traveled any distance toward explaining just what the heck was going on.

Nothing was really contributing that way, until suddenly something clicked and she backed up quickly as the door began to open. Though whatever she expected to emerge, it certainly wasn’t what did. ‘Ah,’ the apparition said, ‘a local’, and it was as if the local Council had installed a few extra globes with the light of his smile.

“Um.” Thera raised an eyebrow. She wanted to be on her guard, even if her usual instinct for danger wasn’t quite going off, and it took a second for the slightly odd question to hit home. When and where - ? Her tongue clicked, and she gave him and … was that a robot dog? … another once-over.

“You know, I thought I was in London, 2020, but you turning up is making me wonder about that …”

"London, eh? And in the twenty-first century. Plenty of worse places to be broken down, I suppose. Better too, but you can't be blamed for everything, K-9."

Again, the little computer lifted it's head as if to respond, but the Doctor seemed determined to talk over it and keep it from voicing dissent. His attention turning back to the woman who stood before them, he extended a hand in greeting. "Hello there, I'm the Doctor. That's K-9," he noted, tilting his head down at the tin dog. "I'm rather afraid we've run into a spot of trouble. You wouldn't happen to have a tool kit on hand capable of repairing a transdimensional hyperlink, would you?"

Despite the absurdity of his question, and the fact that he knew it was just that, he continued to grin, politely waiting for the negative answer he expected.

Meanwhile, K-9's audio sensors briefly swiveled as it spun about, taking a few preemptive measurements and scans of their immediate area. Seemingly uninterested in their odd greeting party, it trundled a little ways down the street, repeating its scanning procedure, eventually rejoining them. “Master, scans indicate presence of highly advanced technology nearby. Non-terrestrial origin. Suitable parts and tools likely to be found there,” the dog-computer chirped in its slightly clipped voice.

[tindogowner]

therapardalis​:

Thera was on her way back from the All Bar One. Other pubs were closer, like the Vault or the Anchor Tap, but the name of it conjured up … not exactly a joke, but a wry personal meaning just the same. And besides, she got in a bit of a stroll by the riverside along the way.

She was on Butler’s Wharf, heading for the narrow bit past the Chophouse, when the sounds of the city and the gentle lapping of the Thames were suddenly joined by another - deep, harsh and getting steadily louder. Thera’s first thought was of a rough sea and the metal of a ship’s hull grating against a pier; but there was nothing big enough nearby and the waters, as much as she’d noticed, were calm.

In a city it was also a task to pick out one more flashing light among the rest, but the blue one that appeared in the corner of her eye … well that was the point, it had just appeared, along with a darker rectanglular shape that she was positive hadn’t been there before. Thera sighed, spent a second or two scowling over the idea that she couldn’t even walk home these days without something weird landing in her lap, and went to investigate.

“K-9, did you zero everything out at the precise moment we materialized?”

"𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲. 𝗖𝗼-𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗦 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀."

Snapping up to a sitting position, it was probably some miracle the Doctor didn’t knock himself out on the underside of the console. Despite the lack of light within the console room, he was able to turn and focus on the mechanical dog by the red glow of its eyes. “K-9. The information in the databanks doesn’t account for the drift that we were attempting to re-calibrate. Of course it didn’t work.” Using the nearest panel of the hexagonal controls to help himself to his feet, the fading power of the TARDIS lasted just enough to tell him two things: That they had landed somewhere, and that the connection to the Eye of Harmony had been severed, hence the complete lack of power.

Which also meant that the life support, scanner, food machine, lights, defenses, and doors were off. 

Taking his scarf from around the controls, looping it over his head and pulling on his jacket, he glanced back down at the little robot dog. “K-9, reroute a bit of your battery power to the doors, would you? We’ll need to go out and search for some source of power to get the communications online. The alternative is a hypercube, or contacting myself, and I don;t think either of those are necessary, do you?” Of course, K-9 was quick to begin disagreeing, but didn’t get far. “Sh, sh, sh, just open the door, there’s a good dog.”

A moment later the robot dog rolled out onto the city pavement with a little thud, and a man in a very long colorful scarf, beige long coat, tartan vest, and a battered green hat came out behind it, shutting and locking the door before whirling around, nearly walking right into a woman who had been walking right toward the box.

“Ah, a local! Perhaps there is a bit of luck to be had today after all. I say, you wouldn’t happen to know when and where we are, would you?”

[tindogowner]

On a normal day, the TARDIS console room was rather bare, minus a coat stand, maybe a chair or two, depending on what the Doctor was working on. Today, or more accurately at the present moment, the floor was covered in tools and parts, the console itself pulled apart from the top and bottom, pieces stacked all around the room, even as the time rotor rose and fell in a gentle rhythm. From behind one of the removed roundels, a small screen flickered on and off, displaying something in circular Gallifreyan.

A familiar long, multi-colored scarf was dangling over the edge of one of the remaining control panels, the other end wrapped around a lever. Beneath the console, the Doctor lay with his head nearly inside the base, while K-9 had his nose-interface pressed to a different side.

“Alright K-9, now you must zero out the time-space co-ordinates at the exact moment we materialize. This is our one chance to properly calibrate the TARDIS and hopefully be rid of the off-set in our landings. If your timing is off, there may be extensive damage to the primary systems.”

“𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲, 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿. 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲�� 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆. 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗼-𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴.”

With a soft rising chime, the time rotor came to a halt. Within the next second, there was a deep gonging from deeper within the TARDIS as the lights began to go dark, and the constant hum of the engines cut away…

[tindogowner]

The Fourth Doctor and K9.

[tindogowner]

On a normal day, the TARDIS console room was rather bare, minus a coat stand, maybe a chair or two, depending on what the Doctor was working on. Today, or more accurately at the present moment, the floor was covered in tools and parts, the console itself pulled apart from the top and bottom, pieces stacked all around the room, even as the time rotor rose and fell in a gentle rhythm. From behind one of the removed roundels, a small screen flickered on and off, displaying something in circular Gallifreyan.

A familiar long, multi-colored scarf was dangling over the edge of one of the remaining control panels, the other end wrapped around a lever. Beneath the console, the Doctor lay with his head nearly inside the base, while K-9 had his nose-interface pressed to a different side.

“Alright K-9, now you must zero out the time-space co-ordinates at the exact moment we materialize. This is our one chance to properly calibrate the TARDIS and hopefully be rid of the off-set in our landings. If your timing is off, there may be extensive damage to the primary systems.”

"𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲, 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿. 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆. 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗼-𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴."

With a soft rising chime, the time rotor came to a halt. Within the next second, there was a deep gonging from deeper within the TARDIS as the lights began to go dark, and the constant hum of the engines cut away...

[tindogowner]

The Fourth Doctor.

[tindogowner]

Keeper of Traken

Not one of my favorite stories but then again I’m not a big fan of season 18.

[tindogowner]

[tindogowner]

I don’t think that I’m back, per se. But I do want to say that I haven’t forgotten about this blog. However, the lack of easily accessible Who content since everything was moved from Amazon has made it much harder for me to even really remember things about Doctor Who. Not to mention the part where I’m still feeling pretty gut-punched over the last series finale, and that really doesn’t help with the whole motivation thing. Not to say that no one should like it or anything, but I don’t.

Anyway, tl;dr Might test out a few Big Finish audio dramas (mainly this new one starring Four and Ten,) and maybe check out some of the older books and hope for a spark to come back.

[tindogowner]

Everyone, @ the Master: Don't do The Thing, it'll destroy the entire universe!

The Master: Bullshit

The Master: *does The Thing*

The universe: *starts falling apart*

The Master:

[tindogowner]

It hadn’t been that long since he left, at least relatively speaking. Harry was safe at home for the time being, Sarah had elected to stay in the TARDIS, and there was no reason to have worried about either one of them. Or so he believed, at least. Returning to the blue box, walking in and flipping the switch to shut the door. His hands twitched over the controls, yearning to simply dematerialize and be off, but the realization that Sarah might have stepped out dawned on him.

The Doctor dug a jelly baby from his pocket, popping it into his mouth, moving around the console and toward the door, stepping through without much initial thought for the odd sight that greeted him. He was nearly half a dozen steps in before he came to a halt, slowly turning his head to examine the stone wall that had replaced the soft white roundels. “Sarah? Sarah, have you been playing with the architectural reconfiguration?” 

With the inner depths of the TARDIS, it would be a slight miracle to find her quickly, especially now that he was noticing the telepathic circuits were clogged with something. He put a bit more pep into his step, starting to jog down the hallways in search of the human.

TARDIS Dreams

She ran, before her and behind her the TARDIS creating for her what she expected to see.  The rocks. The rocks. The red rocks she ran through, doing her best to escape Styre who had unholy plans for her.  Somehow she knew she was still chained in that pristine and growing Earth, but this instant her feet flew under her, seeking safety.

The swallowing mud, the falling rocks, the hungry snakes, they were all behind her as she ran through endless corridor seeking the Doctor.

So deep had been the companion’s dreams, the companion’s wishes that the TARDIS had tapped in and tried to supply what she seemed to need.  The TARDIS had noticed some time ago, and become swept up in the mind’s need that pressed her.  The Thief had left, and the TARDIS had only the human’s imagery to pull from, trying to supply.

Sarah Jane had been wearing one of those ubiquitous large cotton nightgowns supplied to all when she started running. Started screaming her way down the corridors changed by her demands.

( @tindogowner )

[tindogowner]

“Nose? Me?” There was a short flicker of bewilderment, given the way his previous incarnation had described him, but as usual, it wasn’t enough to keep a smile off his face for long. “Seven, eh? You’ve at least got a better sense of fashion than the two between us. To what do I owe the pleasure of my own company?”

CONT // @tindogowner​

“Me? Make an ass of myself? If I were to do that, then where would you be?” Well, this wasn’t one of the previous ones, but certainly one of him. Future then. Well, the attire wasn’t a total failure, but it seems this one had failed to maintain proper height. 

“Perhaps with less of my supposed moral greyness,” The Seventh Doctor said somewhat jokingly. “Nice to finally meet the one with the nose. I am body number Seven.”

[tindogowner]

With a few keystrokes at the console’s display, and flipping a few switches, the scanner’s shutters whirred open to reveal a digital white on black map, simple lines really, but it held the entire layout of the structure, including a few tunnels that looked like hidden passages. Maybe one or two of those would be of some use to Thera. The trouble she could cause with that sort of information would be precisely what they needed.

After a moment of study, the Doctor ran a hand through his curly hair, a number of ideas coming to mind, most of them leaving just as quickly since he knew the woman across the console was more than capable of figuring something out. “Well, I daresay you’ve a way in if you can find where any of those tunnels lead to. And if the guards don’t know about them, they’ll certainly be left scratching their heads. I trust you won’t bring the roof down on our heads during all this? Terribly unpleasant when it happens,” he offered with a grin.

tindogowner‌:

-

Before he could answer either of her questions, the Doctor had some more mental calculations to work out. Circling around the console to the terminal, he idly poked at a few keys, calling up a bit of information from the index file, reading it all at an inhuman speed. “Oh, potential culprits, cloning technology, at this point in universal history, the list of races is narrowed down to a half-dozen or so on the extreme end of things. I would need a closer look at the equipment to properly determine anything.” 

Of course, that tied in with her second question, the style of distraction. “Well, it would have to be something spectacular to draw the guards away from that particular wing of the castle. Perhaps a prison break, or maybe some sort of break-in to the royal chambers. One or the other should suffice, though the less I know, the better, just in case. While you’ve got the guards distracted, I can slip into the chamber they’ve got all this hidden away in, and find out exactly what it is we’re dealing with. And shut it all down, of course.” 

Thera eased onto her back foot, arms folded over her chest and jaw shifted in thought. “I’m not going for a prison break, that’ll just get other people shot. And you never know, maybe some of the people locked up in there deserve to be.” Likewise, breaking into the royal chambers had the potential to get her shot - or at least shot at, even if that was a fairly common occurrence. But then there would be the problem of getting out, especially without the sort of shooting back that The Doctor likely wouldn’t approve.

She hardly noticed that she’d begun pacing again, slowly this time and studying the floor ahead of her as she turned thoughts over. And then raised her head, looking over as they coalesced. “Can you bring up a map of the place for me?” Heels clicked as she came back to the console, eyes narrowed just a little. It was hard to say too much without saying too much, given he was preferring not to know, but her fingers tapped on the console in a satisfied way. “I have a few ideas.”

[tindogowner]

on a more serious note tho, ‘the Doctor became a renegade bcos they wanted to do some good in the universe and they were frustrated that the time lords never used any of their limitless power to help anyone but themselves’ is a good backstory with a straightforward moral message and digging into the ‘mystery’ just unnecessarily dilutes it imo

[tindogowner]

Well, having just watched the series 12 finale, and needing to vent this somewhere, I guess it’s time to break radio silence for a moment or two, till the motivation to write returns.

Overall, the season feels really meh. I can’t even remember what half the episodes are about, honestly. Glad the Master’s been written into another “No Escape” death, but that hasn’t stuck in around 45 years, so I can’t really be too surprised. Spyfall was a lot of fun, as was the Tesla episode, but... Beyond that, it was either back to Chibnall’s very forced climate / social messages. Like, I don’t have a problem with a story talking about how littering and lack of respect for the environment are bad, but I also don’t appreciate being bludgeoned with the message at the end of a sledgehammer. Beyond that, I find his stories to be exciting at the moment, but overall they lack any sort of staying power. I just lose interest in them once they’re over.

This is the third time the Master has used Cybermen in as many incarnations. Can we get a new aiding alien for his/her inevitable return, please?

The whole thing with the timeless child was a boring twist IMO. It would have been better if it had been the Master, at least helped to explain some of so sociopathy/madness. 

So much for TARDISes needing keys to enter or power sources. And weird to see that despite all the callbacks to oldWho, every TARDIS shown features a Type 40 aesthetic, despite them being decommissioned before the series even began. Realistically, probably just a set budget issue, but for fuck’s sake, don’t flip flop on shit this hard.

The Ruth!Doctor’s reveal as a “previous cycle” regeneration is dumb. See “The Master should have been the timeless child” as well as a perfect spot in canon already existing for her and being flat out ignored.

I’m not 100% on the Sisterhood of Karn, but I guess they get the finger too? Sorry Sisterhood.

I was hoping for some sort of rescue for the Time Lords, and not another sacrifice. All the struggle War, 10, 11, and (kinda) 12 did to get them back on their feet, and they’re wiped out off-screen by one person. Older series made such a big deal about hacking into the Matrix, and tampering with it and tracking TARDISes because they’re connected, but it all means nothing in a post Time War Gallifreyan society.

Ultimately I feel like Chibnall is cherry-picking from old seasons and books for his own purposes, and to me at least, it feels like a slap in the face to both fans of what has come before, as well as the people that wrote it and brought it to life. I could go on longer and bitch more, but I’ll cut it here and hope that the Christmas special, again centered around Daleks..., will be better.

[tindogowner]

Some random Tom photos for the day.