#░▒▓ ╮i'm not peter capaldi / out of character

[nipuni]

I have another DW report! It took a while because we've been hosting friends and family visiting from abroad for a few months now and had a lot of work on top of that so we haven't had much quiet time alone to sit and watch but we made it to the end of S10!!

I'll share our thoughts under the cut because it's a lot!

We adored 12! His run was amazing, one of the best! A lot of episodes became all time favourites for us and Peter Capaldi is now our second favourite Doctor after David. His acting is impeccable and he is a delight to watch. He is so funny and inspiring and everything The Doctor should be, absolutely loved him!!

We enjoyed Clara, her characterization had some inconsistencies with her having several different arcs that felt disjointed at times but she is so memorable and made herself into such an integral part of The Doctor's life. Watching her change and their relationship become more codependent and unhinged as time went on was super interesting. Nardole grew on us. And BILL? Bill!! Oh my god dear Bill managed to outsuffer even Martha and that is saying a lot, I'm still traumatized I was not expecting the finale to go that way for her what the fuck and what a finale that was, devastating, we loved it!! but GOD sweet Bill her fate was brutal, I would have loved to see her go on more adventures and grow 😭

Now, the highlight of these seasons for me was Missy!! I'm obsessed, she's my favourite version of The Master so far and my favourite character after The Doctor, I LOVE HER 🙏 She needs more seasons! (I'm aware of the audios I'll get my ears on those as soon as I can) She's hilarious and clever, mean but soft and so so gorgeous AHHHHH She somehow manages to be terrifying and endearing at the same time and you can feel and share The Doctor's hope for her. Her death broke my heart, what do you mean The Doctor will never find out she stood with him in the end!! The romance, the tragedy!! I didn't dare hope they would take their story there and they went above and beyond. Every second she was on screen I was holding my breath and kicking my feet for real. To the people that said I would love their relationship when I started watching DW you were so right and know me too well 😳

Some of our favourite episodes from 12's run were Listen, Mummy on the Orient express, Heaven Sent and The doctor falls. Though there are a lot of good ones really, all the ones with Missy in them, Deep Breath, Flatline, Oxygen, the heist one, Thin Ice, The pilot, the one with the ghosts underwater, the ones with the pyramid monks, the parts with River, the one with the boxes and Zygons, the last special, all really enjoyable!!

We are also five episodes into S11 and I have to admit that despite our best efforts so far we are not enjoying Chibnall's writing at all 😫 but it's still early so we stay hopeful, maybe it's just a rough start and it will pick up after all the exposition. We will keep going so that we are all caught up by the time the new season starts airing!!

I hope you are all doing well! I am once again apologizing for not replying to asks in ages!! I've been mostly away from social media for months outside of posting every now and then so they keep piling up and it's become intimidating 😫 but I'll get to them soon!!

I also wanted to thank you for all the kind comments and tags on my art and photos, they really keep me going so I'm very grateful!! 😭💖

#doctor who #DW report #personal

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Doctor Who, but Chronologically: 47

Fortunately there is no time jump, so we return to World Enough and Time's final part, The Doctor Falls. This is good for answers, because sometimes two-parters jump around - we're still waiting to find out how Matt Smith got out of that cube and whether River blew up. But not this time! Here we are on a Cyberman infested ship again.

Also, here is something I genuinely enjoy about Steven Moffat's writing: he does very good and fun and engaging pre-credit cliffhanger resolutions to his two-parters, and this one is no exception. We are treated to an idyllic farm house with adorable innocent children and salt-of-the-earth rustic folk in a green countryside a few floors up in the ship, with Cybermen crucified as scarecrows all around them; a child feels an earthquake, and suddenly a space shuttle bursts up through the floor and crashes. And out of the wreckage walks Cyber-Bill, carrying the Doctor in her arms.

VERY FUN (the Doctor gets Cyber-shot like eight times in this episode, he does need carrying)

Anyway, this is a fairly straightforward episode plot-wise. After Missy and Master attack the Doctor, he changes the parameters the Cybermen are following to identify humans - now they will target 1 or 2 hearts, so suddenly the Gallifreyans are also at risk (I will admit this is one of those "Seems clever but is actually dumb as hell" twists that Moffat is so good at. "I only had time to make one small change!" says the Doctor. "I added a 2! Now they will also chase people with two hearts!" Okay but that is not how coding works. Either you change the number 1 to a 2 - in which case they would now EXCLUSIVELY track Gallifreyans and leave humans alone, problem solved - or you added an operator like AND or OR or what have you, in which case you used up extra precious seconds to deliberately ensure that these Cybermen would still track humans.)

(And actually, they don't track the blue man. And the Doctor takes pains in this episode to point out that the Cybermen still have easily fooled monkey brains. So like. At any point, everyone could have painted themselves blue and been fine. Hmm.)

ANYWAY

The change means Missy and the Master escape upwards with the Doctor, Nardole and Cyber-Bill, so we exchange Cardiff University and Bute Street the grime of the Cyber conversion level for the pastoral wilds of Abergavenny floor 507, a solar farm that therefore has a holographic sky and simulated weather. And then it's basically a village under siege story - the Cybermen are coming, and are upgrading as they go, a process that is happening in what appears to be days to our hero but is in fact years at the bottom of the ship. This also means they can't all go up in the lifts to escape more than a few floors now - the Cybermen will upgrade to stop them too fast.

(Except. There's about 50 things wrong with that as a concept. I can think of one previously noted plot point that proves that wrong and about five possible workarounds right off the top of my head - as I say, "seems clever but is actually dumb as hell." But this is an era finale and so the focus is not on the plot - a mere skeleton to prop up the actual star of the show - but the story. What matters here is the characters, and what they think and feel and say, and what choices they make.)

Ultimately, it turns out that Missy genuinely does want to change, and become a good person. This is genuinely poignant, because the Master therefore kills her to stop her. I'm not wild about that as a twist, actually - long franchises with recurring villains never like to allow true growth, but I think "villain trying to atone" is actually a super valuable narrative, and I always feel sad for characters who aren't allowed to do it. But I will admit that it's played relatively nicely, as a tragedy.

Fortunately, it's juxtaposed with one of the best monologues any character in anything has ever given; namely, Peter Motherfucking Capaldi turning his Acting skills up to over 9000 to explain why we should choose to do the right thing. It's beautiful and moving and timeless and true and I love it, wholeheartedly and unironically. I mean it's also bullshit from this particular Doctor, given that we have in the past watched Clara have to force him to even try to save people if they don't do what he likes (Christ she deserved a better Doctor T_T), but regardless, it's a fantastic speech delivered by one of the greatest actors of his generation.

So what does happen?

Well! Bill is Cyber-Bill now, and the process is written off as permanent. She retains her memories through force of will, but will slowly succumb. "I can feel the programming," she sobs at one point, and fuck me Pearl Mackie is also a phenomenal actor. "It's like a hurricane in my head, and I'm hanging on, but I can only hang on for so long."

This episode literally started with the Doctor altering the programming of the Cybermen.

"Alas," he tells her. "There's nothing I can do to fix this."

Well then.

The Doctor and Bill ultimately decide to stay and fight Cybermen off while Nardole is given the task of leading the humans up five floors to the next solar farm in the lifts; the Doctor then blows up the floor they're on with the Cybermen on it, and go out in a blaze of glory. This is... certainly a choice, isn't it? Every story with Nardole so far has shown him to be the plucky comic relief, and I include in that THIS EXACT STORY WHERE MISSY CALLED HIM COMIC RELIEF TO HIS FACE. We even got more Weird Nrdole Stuff this episode - apparently he's some sort of reformed con-man and a computer whizz. And yet!!! And yet he gets the Proper Companion Ending!!! This is such a tonally strange choice. The Doctor even convinces him to do it by telling him he's stronger than the Doctor, a claim for which we have seen zero evidence, and is actually the sort of thing that gets said to Proper Companions after they have been through two series' worth of character development. By rights, this should surely have been Bill's job? Lead the survivors in a post-apocalyptic world?

Instead, Bill dies as a Cyberman, and then suddenly, from our perspective, THINGS GET REAL WEIRD, because an unnamed water faerie with a star in her eye who apparently once cried on Bill turns up and goes "You're like me now," and they magic the Doctor back into the TARDIS that two minutes ago he said he couldn't reach, abandon Nardole in a Cyber-infested ship, and then fuck off to explore the cosmos together and have hot lesbian sex, I assume.

What the fuck.

And then to round off, the Doctor wakes up, cries that he doesn't want to regenerate, and staggers out of the TARDIS into snow and also the arms of David Bradley's First Doctor. Which brings us nicely to that story we've already seen! We've seen Capaldi's regeneration. That was a good one.

So! Let's update the board.

“She” (an unknown person) is returning (Suspects: River, Missy, Me, Clara)

There is something on Donna’s back

An entire planet, Pyrovilia, just… disappeared, somehow. (Maybe because the TARDIS is exploding??? Saturnine was also lost, and that WAS because of the TARDIS exploding. The lion man’s planet was also lost but he was a bit of a knob about it if I’m honest. The Thijarian planet was destroyed by some sort of impact). Is this the Flux?

Amy is maybe dead (she’s not)

The Doctor has been cubed (he’s out, but how?)

River is possibly blown up  (Nope: she is definitely not blown up)

The TARDIS has blown up  (It’s fine now. Except it’s sort of melting now because it’s corrupted, but it’s fine again. NOPE, back to not working.)

The universe appears to have ended  (the universe is back again)

The Doctor has employed(?) Nardole

(And Nardole was “reassembled???” Nardole had glass nipples and invisible hair?? He used to be blue, and could apparently go back to it??? NEW INFO: he's some sort of helplessly criminal con-artist??? WHAT THE FUCK IS HE)

There’s an immortal Viking girl now. Her name is Me and she’s now looking after the people the Doctor abandons

Why was Rory entirely unconcerned by the entire world suddenly going silent when that is Not Normal and should have been, at the very least, extremely disconcerting?

What did the Doctor do to Queen Lizzie One?

Why is Amy seeing a one-eyed woman in a vanishing window? (She’s with the Silents, but we don’t know why Amy saw her)

Why is Amy’s pregnancy inconclusive? (Maybe because the baby had Time Lord DNA?) She’s deffo pregnant and the baby becomes River, but why inconclusive?

Who is Sarah-Jane Smith?

How is the Doctor Bill’s teacher and why/where does he have an office?

What is going on with the Cyber War and the Cyberium???

What happened with the Other Cyber War?

What happened with the Third War that deleted the void?

Why does Rose seem particularly important?

What order do these Doctors go in? (Eccleston, Tennant, uncertain, Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker)

Which companion just… forgot the Doctor, and how?

Yaz and Vinder are about to die as Mori/Mwri/Muuri (Not anymore, somehow)

There is a Lupari shield around Earth.

What’s a Time War?

What’s the Rift?

What’s Bad Wolf?

In which war did the Doctor become a war criminal, and how?

Why has Amy forgotten Rory? How did she forget a Dalek invasion?

Is Rory plastic or not? Yeah, must be, he couldn’t possibly remember being plastic otherwise

Why is the Doctor sulking on a cloud?

How exactly does the Doctor have a cloud?

What exactly happened with Strax to, uh, tame him?

Which friend killed Strax?

Which friend brought Strax back?

Where did this lesbian lizard and human couple come from?

What happened with Clara as Souffle Girl and the Daleks?

How does Clara actually join?

Why so many Claras? A psychic midwife says she’s just normal human

Why is Missy apparently in robo-heaven? NEW INFO: Is this because she's now dead?

Why is probably!Missy pushing Clara and the Doctor together?

What is Trensilor and what happened there?

Who is Handles?

The Doctor is about to be dissolved by a beautiful geode man

The universe is being crushed by the Flux

Will the Doctor open the fobwatch?

Sontarans are invading Earth again

Who is Kate?

Who is Osgood? Another name of Clara’s again?

The fuck is the deal with the Grand Serpent

Does Martha get to go to an ice cream planet with 12-fingered massage aliens?

How did the Doctor forget Clara?

Who is Bill’s puddle girlfriend Heather? NEW INFO: This is presumably the star-eyed water faerie

How did Nardole die?

When does the Doctor shrink and enter a Dalek called Rusty?

Whittaker is falling to her death rn

Was that ring relevant?

Does anyone know the Doctor’s name? NEW INFO:  Missy says it's "Who"

When did Yaz talk to Dan about fancying the Doctor?

When did Dan talk to the Doctor about fancying Yaz?

What’s happening with the bees?

What happened with Donna’s ex and a giant spider?

What war wiped out the Daleks, and is it one of the ones already mentioned?

What did the Doctor mean when he said “The (Daleks) always live, while I lose everything?”

If Dalek Caan is the last Dalek left why are there more now?

How did the rest of the Time Lords die?

How and why did Amy melt?

What’s the question that will make silence fall?

Why do the Silents… want silence to fall?

How and why are Silents at war with the Doctor when he… hasn’t even heard of them?

How does Hitler get out of the cupboard?

What’s the significance of fish fingers and custard?

Why does the Doctor feel guilt about Rose, Martha and Donna?

What happened with the space whale?

When does Rory defend Amy for 2000 years? Since Roman times, it seems

How does the Doctor survive River? He doesn’t, apparently

How does he erase himself from history

Did Captain Jack lose his memories to the same people as the Doctor? What did he lose?

When did the Doctor send the Daleks into a void to save the universe?

What’s with the weird crack in the wall and is it affecting memories?

Why do Amy and Rory think the Doctor is dead? Is it because of River as an astronaut?

Is Matt Smith’s Doctor a tree racist?

Why is the beautiful geode woman stealing people into a Passenger form?

River says she’ll die one day when the Doctor doesn’t remember her, let’s hope she doesn’t mean it

Why doesn’t the TARDIS like Clara?

When was the Master Prime Minister?

When will the Doctor go and rescue Nardole and the colonists?

#doctor whom #and yet we are continuing

[uneducated-author]

Okay, I DO NOT want this to come off as hate, because I love this show, have loved this show and will continue to love this show (I have no choice, I'm pack bonded) but... If I can bring up the way that the show feels... Off.

I don't want to say I dislike it, because I haven't really given it a fair chance, and I actually do really like a lot of the new episodes, and I would hate for anyone to see this and think that I have anything but huge amount of respect to the writers, actors and professionals working together, but I just wanted to know if anyone agreed, or is thinking along the same lines as me.

Meta Humour can work, and work really well. Fleabag's strongest storytelling point is the metaphor of a third wall break being her way of 'leaving' her real life, where we as the audience become her confidant, her trusted friend, her escape. Princess Bride has a meta humour that folds into the framing device. The Emperors New Groove uses it for comedy, and ties it to the medium, framing device and the tropes set up by virtue of the genre. Other shows can have throwaway lines with double meanings, one for the characters and one for the audience.

But Doctor Who Excelled in Commiting to the story. The suspension of disbelief, and the sheer illusion of this madman, hidden from us by our own inability to Notice, it was fun. It connected itself to our world with jokes about pop culture and throwaway lines about Merlin and Robin Hood and all these running jokes but...

Doctor Who proves that no matter how ridiculous the premise, a story can be great if you believe in the story you're telling. You can throw cat women in a hospital, have bad CGI mannequins clone a man, create bats that feed off time energy, but it doesn't matter, because if you and the actors are devoted to the world you're building, the audience will have no choice but to love it too.

Even Peter Capaldi has these scenes where he addresses us as an audience, lecturing us, but not only does it set up his career as a lecturer at a university, it has an in universe reason, where he explains that when he's unsure about how to get out of a bind, he retreats within his mind, pretends he's already escaped and he's bragging to Clara. The throwaway line 'I'm nothing without an audience' carries weight because... Well, he does need an audience. This is his own illusion, we're just sneaking a peak. This isn't the actor lifting the curtain a la Oz, this is us being brought into a characters mind.

Missy has a hilarious meta joke where she roleplays as the doctor and introduces the companions as 'Exposition' and 'Comic Relief'. It's targeted at fans, and clearly a shakedown of the tropes and- it works. Because this is a game to Missy, because she doesn't take this seriously, she's playing a role. It makes sense for This character in This context, and it doesn't break the illusion.

But the new series... There's just a plastic feeling to it. I almost feel like they're setting up a Wandavision bit where it's all a TV show. The joke about 'I thought that was Non Diagetic' was hilarious, and I loved it, but the winks and nods to the camera? The overexplanation and overexposition? 'Never seen a TARDIS before?' Lines said to the audience, basically dropping the wall between us. We are not watching the Doctors life, nor are we being brought into his mind. This isn't showing a characters view, or self aware commentary. It's a cheap laugh that doesn't land.

I don't want to hate the show, and I don't! But it's just... Loosing itself. Back when it was help together with duct tape and a prayer, they had to commit, to make up for the penny sets. Is it such a bad thing to miss that?

#doctor who #fourteenth doctor #doctor who spoilers

[cough-droplet]

I'm kind of having trouble phrasing things right now, but it's like. Chibnall's clearly a big believer in casual representation - that not making a point of rep is better because it helps normalize it - and he sort of applied that blindly to the Doctor, who is a character that 1000% cannot work for.

Like, for one, the show's been exploring how being an involuntary shapeshifter would affect a person's sense of identity since 1966. It is an integral part of the Doctor's character which I think is brought up in like, one episode in the Chibnall era as a whole? (This is not helped at all by the fact that he deliberately didn't let his writers know the Doctor would be a woman to prove a point.)

There's also the fact that the Doctor regenerating into a woman didn't happen in a vacuum, there's 5 decades' worth of context to it that absolutely warrants addressing both in- and out-of-universe which Chibnall deliberately ignores in the name of casual rep. That just ends up making his era's handling of it seem so awkward and out-of-place next to the rest of the show.

So, for instance, we'd always been told that regeneration was random, but in practice the Doctor had exclusively turned into white men for the show's first 50 years. When Moffat properly introduced characters who regenerated into different genders or races into the show he realized that couldn't just go un-addressed, so he spent the entire Capaldi era addressing it. For instance, he established that regeneration is subconsciously affected by a Time Lord's self image, because too big a change would take a bigger psychological toll; That's supplemented by Peter Capaldi's first and last episodes in the role both being the show's most in-depth explorations to date into how traumatic a forced change in appearance would be, with the Doctor's first regeneration into a female body very pointedly being the culmination of an arc dedicated to their processing that trauma. Which doesn't just work beautifully as an extension of this fictional aspect of this fictional character, but also as an incredibly strong exploration into what it is like to actually be genderqueer or otherwise struggle with self image and identity in any way.

All of this is something Chibnall tosses out immediately. Not only does the show never explore how changing into a woman might have actually affected the Doctor psychologically, but it also ignores all of the thought Moffat put into the show's historical portrayals of regeneration; Chibnall's era instead just makes almost every single on-screen regeneration be to a different gender or race, ignoring everything that's come before to just go "see it's always been like this!"

Anyway it's just a shame that he was handed a chance at genuinely thoughtful representation and at having a meaningful conversation with this show's impossibly rich history and he fully chose not to do anything with it because of a misguided concept of casual rep.

#doctor who #the doctor #thirteenth doctor #twelfth doctor #gender identity

[run-clever-boy]

I’m (kind of) new!

I'm a relatively new writer here! (I also repost absolute ramdom things *cough* peter capaldi *cough*, so my blog is a bit cluttered lol) I would love anyone to request fics or at least help me with the ropes! I have never published any writing before so comments are appreciated!

I write for the following characters so far (character list below the cut), however I am not opposed to maybe adding a few more!

Masterlist here!

Doctor who:

9th doctor

10th doctor

11th doctor

12th doctor.

(No doctor who spoilers please, currently in beginning of 13’s run)

BBC Sherlock:

Sherlock

Not opposed to more just don’t really have any ideas

Harry Potter:

Sirius Black

Remus Lupin

Severus Snape

George Weasley

Fred Weasley

again open to more just no ideas

Marvel:

Loki

Stephen Strange

don’t know a lot about the mcu specifics but bear with me

Random:

Willy Wonka (2023 only! I can’t write about the others just because of personal icks)

John Wick

Theo Dimas (maybe theomabel pairing) - Only Murders in the Building

Ian Malcolm (New obsession, please request!!!) Jurassic Park/World

OC's!!! (New!) - each name will have a link to their character description

Elise Shepard

Please Please Please help me out here! Can’t wait to see the amazing things created here. I will write 18+ content and many warnings will be provided. I mostly write one-shots, drabbles, quite a few reader inserts (Y/n). Not a fan of multi-chapter fics but may write if persuaded. Thank you!

#john wick x reader #doctor who #the doctor #loki #stephen strange #dr strange #george weasley #fred weasley #fred weasly x reader #fred weasely x y/n #george wealsey x reader #george wealsey imagine #wonka x reader #sirius black #remus lupin #professor snape #severus snape #snape fandom #bbc sherlock #sherlock x reader #10th doctor #9th doctor #11th doctor #12th doctor #theo dimas #ian malcolm x reader #ian malcolm

[the-butler-did-it]

Having mixed feelings about the new episodes!

Because I absolutely do want to have fun and enjoy and just go on the ride – and I loved the campiness of The Giggle (spice up your life?? hello???) and Jinx was delicious in The Devil's Chord – but I am just having issues with the writing I think?

I haven't found all the words, but I think a lot of it just doesn't feel EARNED yet. Like, instead of having emotional dialogue that relates to our characters' development it feel kinda inspirational-poster-on-the-wall to show The Doctor Is Actually Emotionally Mature Now So You Better Love Yourself. And I know how much Ncuti can do!!

I think I'm just missing some depth maybe? Because Doctor Who IS campy and IS over the top weird the-worst-visual-and-special-effects-you've-ever-seen (sometimes I wonder how the episode where plastic Mickey says pa pa pizza is what hooked me) but it's also heartbreaking and loss and loneliness and hope. I once saw a video a where Peter Capaldi said it's fundamentally a show about death, because the main character keeps dying. Life, death, change, companionship, humanity.

I know I'm just rambling and this became way longer than intended but just! Ambivalence!!

Side note: Other than I think the songs so far aren't really my thing (again I think they could be written better idk hire Rachel Bloom or smth) I feel like the sound engineering is too clean kind of? Like it's too polished so it totally takes me out of the narrative because it's so clearly studio recorded and possibly slightly corrected in pitch

#doctor who #new new who #disney doctor who #dw #ncuti gatwa #ncuti!doctor #ruby sunday #ramblings #text post

[anotheruserwithnoname]

When I'm bored sometimes I amuse myself coming up with Whouffaldi mic drops. Here's one:

Once in a while I still see people trying to downplay Whouffaldi, that it doesn't exist or it's all viewed through "shipping glasses".

If so, then why did Steven Moffat & Co spend two years crafting episodes in which the writing, directing and - most importantly - the performances all suggest that this romance was real?

Some facts to support my argument:

Let us assume (and I have no reason for this not to be the case) that in real life Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi were not a couple, nor were they in love. There is no doubt of their friendship and if in some future memoir Jenna says she had a crush on Peter, I would not be surprised. But what we saw on screen was acting, of course. True, she and Tom Hughes were an item during Victoria so that was not all acting, but she wasn't in love with Rufus Sewell, nor was she in love with Tahar Rahim or Oliver Jackson-Cohen or the guy from Room at the Top. That was acting, and Jenna is damn good at making it look like her characters were madly in love with whomever (This list isn't complete of course - look at Sandman, etc). Likewise, Peter is a veteran actor who had been in the business more than 30 years when he took the role of the Doctor. He did do a movie with his wife (or future wife) years ago, but otherwise any romance on screen is acting, pure and simple. And Peter is a damn good actor.

What I'm getting at is if an on-screen romance between Twelve and Clara wasn't intended and it was all accidental that it came across that way and gave people the wrong impression, then that means Peter and Jenna actually failed at their jobs because just they are quite capable of convincingly playing romance, they are just as adept at not (either in the case of depicting simple friendship, or look at The Cry or Wilderness where Jenna's character becomes distant from her "lover"). Jenna and Peter could not have been that incompetent, nor could Steven Moffat (no stranger to writing romance and who had final say on every word we heard in S8 and 9), or the directors like Rachel Talalay. Everything we see on screen was planned out and intended (especially given Moffat played the "long game" with a lot of his storytelling - for example, Mummy on the Orient Express and Flatline set up plot points involving Clara that didn't fully pay off till Face the Raven and Hell Bent).

The people making Series 8 and 9 of Doctor Who were simply too good at their jobs for the whole Whouffaldi thing to have been an unintentional misread by the audience due to acting, writing and directing miscalculations. If you got the impression there was a romance, even if you didn't approve (for whatever reason), everything was intentional.

#whouffaldi #whouffaldi meta #twelfth doctor #clara oswald

[georgieluz]

Hey Jules! 2, 9, 14, 19, 24, and 28 for the HBO War positivity ask game please ☺️

hi lou!! ofc ofc!! :)

2 - who are some your fav creators/mutuals?

i love all of my mutuals and every creator in the fandom bc everyone is just amazing!! but to list just a few @footprintsinthesxnd, yourself!! (@luckynumber4), @ep6bastogne @lamialamia @thewayisset @lewis-winters @jenkil @mads-weasley @hellofanidea @liptonwashere @malarkgirlypop @panzershrike-pretz @sweetxvanixlla @whollyjoly @samwinchesterslostshoe @next-autopsy @iceman-kazansky @heystovepipeboys @theflyingfin @cody-helix02 and many many more!

special shout out to the cult!! zim zam, my friends, zim zam!!! also i'm so sorry if i forgot to tag anyone!!

9 - a ship that you can't get enough of?

bradnate, andyeddie, snurgie, ronnix, lipluz, webgott, and no matter how much winnix i consume it never gets old so them too!

14 - your fav underrated character?

ooh this is always hard bc everyone classifies underrated as a different thing.. are burgie and harry underrated? if so, them! chuck grant, tab (this man is so loved he's can't be underrated but i couldn't not mention mr lover lover himself), alton more??? one of the most interesting easy co men for sure!! wish we had more of him (lol)

19 - what's your fav universally-accepted/fanon headcanon about a character?

ooh either all the nix childhood fanon or the andyeddie ghosts/afterlife/grief fanon.. yeah.. that hits the spot

24 - what wip from another creator are you most excited about?

all of @ep6bastogne's wips (yes i read all your tags about them in utter anticipation), @luckynumber4's burgie wip! anything @footprintsinthesxnd writes! same with @lewis-winters ALL of your wips sound so so sooooo up my street/my thing!! there are so many more but despite my plans to spend the day at home i actually have to leave the comfort of my bed and brave the cold outside, and i'm late already so i'm gonna have to stop listing, but it's very likely that i'm excited for almost every single wip any of you guys have!

28 - what's something that lives in your brain rent free and you want everyone to know about the show/the fandom/your works?

outside of hbowar??? oooh i have LOADS of things!! the thick of it!! it has such clever funny writing, the best dialogue and political satire ever, because it's just so true to life and accurate for uk politics. peter capaldi is fucking amazing in it! and you'll see a lot of uk actors that are famous for other things here. but yeah, it's just hilarious and witty and clever. love it. go watch it. ummm other than that, the korean band onewe!! please go listen to them, they are ridiculously talented and have the kindest most lovely and accepting fandom in the world. in fact, the hbo war fandom and onewe fandom are the only two fandoms i've ever felt happy and comfortable in. onewe write beautiful songs with the most gorgeous lyrics (they have a space series which is one of my all-time favourites). ALSO pride (2014) as a movie recommendation! this film is my comfort film but it tears me apart as well. some people watch it for the queerness and come away learning about welsh history too.. for others, it's the opposite. but as a welsh gay man for me both those elements are so important to who i am and my own identity, that this film is just feels so incredibly special to me. especially the character gethin who i really feel i can relate to a lot due to our circumstances. tim roth is someone who i always wanna shout about and who lives rent free in my head too. love that man so much. also the band the libertines!! because them and the strokes were my entire teenage years and i pretty much grew up with their music as my 'soundtrack'. ok i think that's enough, even though i definitely have way more to shout about. sorry i rambled!

for this ask game!

#julian's ask games #julian's inbox #hbo war positivity game #also i'm gonna answer the rest of these asks and also the wip asks from like two weeks ago when i get home!! sorry i'm taking ages

[valentinetypewriter]

The Lion And The Snake - fancasting

Masterlist / first chapter

I wanted to make it different from my other series so I'm picking some different options, I went for more younger actors to be more age appropriate for the characters (I also got a lot of help from a friend of mine)

Sirius Black and Regulus Black

Tbh my pick for these two aren't even actors they're some youtube cosplayers 'The Dandy Lyon Club'. I adore their Sirius and Regulus so much (though they also do a lot of wolfstar videos as well) and I highly recommend for you all to check them out

Remus lupin - Willem Herbots

James Potter - Charlie Rowe

Peter pettigrew - Lewis Capaldi

Barty Crouch Jr - Young David Tennant - takin' over the asylum

Evan Rosier - Benjamin Wadsworth - Deadly Class

Sabrina Sallow (OC) - Maisie Williams

#harry potter #james potter #remus lupin #sirius black #the marauders #the marauders era #wolfstar #peter pettigrew #remus lupin x reader #peter pettigrew x reader #regulus black x james potter #james potter x regulus black #remus lupin x sirius black #remus x sirius #marauders fanfiction #the marauders x reader #marauders #regulus black #evan rosier x barty crouch jr #barty crouch jr #regulus and evan and barty #evan rosier x reader #evan rosier

[piepeloe]

Loki S2E6 - Season (series?) finale

Ok, the Lokius got to me and I stayed up late to watch the finale. Though now I have no idea how I'm going to sleep after that.

I'm of 2 minds about everything tbh.

I love the story, the endless loops, but feel like Doctor Who did it better (Peter Capaldi ep, called 'Heaven Sent', I think). And considering the ending it's weird they showed he learned so much *science* and then had him use a ridiculous amount of magic to save the day.

I love the look of that, of this new god, but it's extremely different from the rest of the series and more typical MCU (though better).

I like Loki's journey, and how lonely it was, but it did mean we missed out on all the other characters for this final episode.

Kang was interesting and powerful here, but Loki apparently now infinitely more so. I guess he'll be the unexpected hero for the upcoming phases? Wouldn't mind that.

I'll be honest, some of the conversation went Kang went right over my head, but then it is the middle of the night here, and it got very timey-wimey.

I liked Loki's conversations with Sylvie and Mobius. I like how both of them are obviously very important to him.

Sylvie and the people at the TVA seemed fine to move on, but Mobius just seemed so sad. And Loki definitely was.

Seriously, they've got to continue this somehow. As a fan of the show and (mostly) the MCU, this was an amazing ending, but as a fan of these characters and a shipper, someone fix this.

#loki series #spoilers #loki spoilers #lokius #the ending got to me #seriously someone fix it

[spaceshipsoutthepool]

If supermarionation and a couple of other shows were aloud one f word bomb per series. and who I think would be allowed it.

Four Feather Falls: Tex Tucker. Guy is often so mild mannered a curse would definitely hit harder then anyone else so the lead takes it here

Supercar: mitch. Mitch the bitch? Soley because of the genuine fear he strikes in to people.

Fireball XL5 : Jock Campbell. Listen, no, he has to be the one to swear! And im going to give him a swear per episode even. He could be going full peter capaldi the thick of it at lieutenant Ninety.

Stingray: y'what what, actually? honestly I think it would be funnier if every character BUT Troy Tempest gets one swear word for the stingray series. (Hmm I'm gonna have to make a separate post about that.)

Thunderbirds: EVERYONE gets a comedy almost about to swear bit saysomthing else tease. but Hood is ultimately the only one who gets to say a big bold full chested fuck. Grandma however in the episode move and you dead does get to quietly flip off the bad guy with a deadpan expression.

Captain Scarlet and the mysterons: White. Look i know the poor lead red boy dies a lot, but he is not permitted to have the cloudbases one fuck. Scarlet would use it on somthing incredibly benign like his zip cathcing or a fork breaking. White gets the big swear. "bloody mysterons" however would be shattered throughout all scripts for anyone who wants it.

Joe 90: Joe. While on operation and then Mac sam and shane all yell "joe! >:o " And scold him over the radio for it. They gave him the knowledge sure but he is still nine. Wee man gets no pocket money for a week, booo.

And finally the secret service: father Stanley. It's part of his urwin-ese speaking and entirely by accident that isn't picked up until after the show goes out that the audience are going "did he just say-?"

:)

#thunderfam #stingray 1964 #thunderbirds #captain scarlet and the mysterons #fireball xl5 #supercar #supermarionation #the secret service #Anderson

[mercyisms]

wld love for u to expand on your thoughts about asian jewish mercymorn?? my beloved hater girl

(:<<<< i was delighted to receive this ask and rolled it around in my brain for days and days, even though the real answer is "i'm silly and i like to have fun." to preamble: very, very generally, i think it can useful to have fun with white characters in works written by white novelists. i think it can be a lot of fun, too, to see a fancreator re-interpret a work into a culture they know a lot about and bring out different textures or tensions. but i also think it’s fun to reconsider specific characters (sometimes especially the ambiguously raced ones) and tease out tensions that might feel interesting or ones that somebody without cultural context may have overlooked. i like resisting the idea that whiteness is the default or a neutral default.

though! on the flip side and despite routinely joking that augustine being canonically blonde is a hate crime against me somehow, i also recognize that, for example, augustine’s whiteness (or presentation towards whiteness) seems intentional and is doing work in the text. (when i joke about john always having one six foot plus blonde around, it’s funny! but it’s also reflecting something the text is engaging with with regards to race.) so, anyway, that man can stay white. but to speak, at last, to our beloved hater girl. i think the first thing that opened the door for me is one of the initial descriptions we get of mercymorn.

The face beneath the icy parti-coloured hood was a prim, virginal oval; much in shape and feature like the shape of a saint’s face in a portrait, or a death mask. The nose and jaw and forehead were all carven and serene, and therefore had the same indifferent dullness of a well-formed statue.

i am fairly certain tamsyn is consciously trying to evoke one of the infinitely funny and also very beautiful medieval paintings or sculptures of the virgin mary (etc.) (divine conception: difficult mode, am I right, lads?). but for me, the refrain of mercy’s oval face is a great example of a descriptor that isn’t exclusive to whiteness. very practically, when i started looking for references to make humble sketches of mercymorn, i first turned to michelle dockery (expressive eyebrows! a face that can be cold and severe but then melts into heartbreaking, childish expression!) and then more and more to (an aged down!) kim seo hyung. (for the record, when i make stabs at augustine, i am usually drawing on a richard ii era fiona shaw, with dashes of young peter capaldi and perennially ancient jeremy irons. recently, my go-to for cytherea has been ophelia-era—of course—helena bonham carter.) but it’s rooted in more than just me dicking around in procreate. the idea of an asian mercymorn became more compelling to me when i considered how that would change the texture of her character. to try and be as brief as possible, there, as you may well be v familiar with yourself, are longstanding stereotypes of (largely east and south, but it all gets homogenized) asian immigrants being depicted as cold and unfeeling robots, as excelling only at rote memorization and lacking critical thinking or social skills, as being dangerous or suspicious or obnoxious over-achievers, and as, depending on the day, being too sexy or utterly sexless. (i am not claiming any of these are unique to the very broad category of ‘asian,’ just setting the table.) and i think mercymorn becomes really compelling reinterpretation and rebuke to expectations if she is asian. because she is so many of those things: overachieving med school graduate; someone who (though she seems to have excelled at the magicky part) gift comes from stubborn, rote memorization; someone deeply repressed; someone who is told and believes herself to be unfeeling and inhuman (”Every time you’ve said that I did not understand the human heart, that I was unfeeling, that I only knew worship without adoration”)—but is also a disaster of emotions, despite it all, and is driven by incredibly messy emotions and whose skills (the memorization, the drive to overachieve, even the repression) come from this vast and terrifying well of emotions that even she can’t really look at head-on. before mercymorn, i don’t know that i had seen these tropes reworked in exactly this way or thought to rethink these stereotypes in this way, and so that’s some of what mercymorn-as-asian does for me. (obviously caveat that i’m very strongly drawing from a north american context and i totally confess to not knowing what stereotypes are present in new zealand! but anecdotally through friends in australia and england, these stereotypes certainly seem present throughout the globe, and i would not be surprised if they were also present in nz. but just recognizing that!) i also, personally, find this a lot more satisfying than just going off tamsyn’s canon sheet and being like, yeah, got it, isaac is the one canonical east asian. that’s nice! that’s lovely! but it doesn’t really do anything for me or the narrative. i’m not upset about it! but the lyctors, those who lived pre-ressurection and lived closest to john and carry some of their biases with them, are people who have been shaped by a society where race is very present. vs. the younger 10,000 years out gen who ostensibly (though of course they are in a text written here and now) live in a “post-racial” society, at least from what we see within the house system. (i mean, i say this, but then i also feel like... have u met east asian christian converts. there is some eighth house energy there is all i will say. so, again, i just like to have fun.) re: the jewish thing, i am a hater girl myself and cannot like catholics have anything not ever (hashtag joking, tbc) and a) would love for a foot in and b) as myself and others have pointed out, mercymorn would love to kvetch, she’d be so good at it, she understands it implicitly and she deserves to have a community to kvetch with and c) as i think the inciting post for this ask pointed out she’d be so good at saying ‘oy vey’ and d) idk i just think it’s even funnier if a lapsed jewish woman and a nun walk into a bar and then kiss. in general, i also feel a vested interest in opening the door for mixed race readings of characters and one’s that, again, reinterpret or add to the texture of that character’s presence in text and are done in a thoughtful, fun, interesting way. i could possibly say more but i think this is enough for right now!! maybe!!! sorry this took me so long!! uhh but that’s a taste into my thought process, anyway, for how i like to interpret and reinterpret les lyctores and specifically best beloved hater mercymorn m. nolastname i love u. it is (obviously!) not the definitive or only interpretation, but is the one that currently speaks deepest to my soul. but i do love to see all kinds of interpretations and reinterpretations of our beloved necro-cast.

#i kept trying to make tags and tumblr kept eating them so tags tk pray that this posts #2 #3 #4 #5 #asks #anonymous #mercymorn the first

[kitkatopinions]

I think Miles got it in his head that he's the best writer in the universe because he was the lead writer of The Chorus Trilogy (seasons 11-13 of Red vs Blue), which most RvB fans seem to agree is probably the best arc in the entire show. The douche can write, and write well. The problem with RWBY is he just doesn't care at all about that IP.

And for the life of me I cannot figure out how he went from writing the Chorus Trilogy to whatever the fuck the Atlas arc is. Unless someone else wrote Chorus and he got to slap his name on it like James Patterson most of his bibliography of ghost writers, there should be no excuse for how the Atlas arc turned out.

So, I've never seen Red Vs Blue, so I can't say anything about Luna's writing in that show. But correct if I'm wrong, Red Vs Blue is set in the already made Halo universe, right?

Let me tell you, as someone who has been writing fanfiction for over a decade but who has also been unsuccessfully trying to write my own original stories but has never gotten past concept... It's a very different thing to write stories set in an already created world - even with your own plot and your own characters - than it is to write up your own world. And as far as I know, Miles Luna came into not only an already made world, but a story with already established characters and story. It's a little different with RWBY. Although not all of it is his own creation, it's undeniable that he's been an incredibly strong influence from conception to the volume we currently have. Basically, he might be better as someone who writes for already established properties, but not have the skill level or commitment to come up with everything himself.

It's a bit similar to Steven Moffat, in a way. He wrote some incredible episodes during the Christopher Eccleston/David Tennent seasons, including the Empty Child/the Doctor Dances (a personal favorite of mine,) Blink, and Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. But when he took over as the head writer, he was just not great and just gradually got worse (I only watched up to the eighth season, so if he ever got any better than the failure of Peter Capaldi's first season, I haven't seen it,) and his work on Sherlock might've been more bad than his work on Doctor Who. But those early episodes he worked on were great! Some people are really good at working within other people's stories, but not as good at making their own.

It's also possible though that Miles Luna just.... Doesn't care as much about RWBY? Obviously I don't know him, so I can't say anything for sure, but RWBY wasn't quite his passion project, and sometimes with the way he talks about it, it feels like it might've been a headache for him. And there's a vibe that there was characters he just doesn't like or just does not care at all about, and the whole show just feels... Loveless, these days. So there's a chance that Miles Luna is apparently such a good writer for Red Vs Blue because he cared about it and had enthusiasm for the project, and with RWBY, any love and enthusiasm he once had for it has just died out. Again, this is all just speculation on my part, but it's a possibility.

#rwde

[ineffectualdemon]

Controversial Doctor Who opinions from someone who quit watching partway through the 12th Doctor's 1st series

(I am going to try to pick it back up from whenever Moffat left I decided)

1. David Tennant wasn't that good as the Doctor. I really didn't buy him as the Doctor. Maybe because so much "I love Doctor Who" leaked out of him. Idk. But I had a hard time buying into him. I think David Tennant is an incredible actor but I thought his stint as 10 wasn't the best work he's done. He wasn't terrible, I just wasn't as into him

2. Martha was a great companion in a shit season. Martha as a character was brilliant. She was just given nothing to actually work with and I almost rage quit after her series because I hated the stories so fucking much. Martha deserved better

3. Matt Smith was an excellent Doctor. Whether or not you liked his storylines his cranky old professor trapped in a young man's body was perfect. It felt like William Hartnell had possessed him. Even if I didn't enjoy the story I enjoyed his performance as 11

4. The Ponds were good companions with bad stories. It was nice to have a couple on board and while they were rocky sometimes they genuinely loved and cared about each other and I liked their dynamic and their dynamic with 11. Yes I didn't like a lot of the stories but they kept me coming back

I think as evidence that what kept me compelled was 11 and the Ponds when it was Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi I could not give a shit anymore and the poor writing and stories did make me rage quit

I didn't really like Jenna Coleman with 11 either but I was fond of 11 enough to stick around. I just didn't feel connected to either Peter Capaldi as the Doctor or Jenna Coleman for it to override the janky stories

I'm going to double check which series Moffat left and go from there I think

#doctor who

[realmyths]

* ˙ ⭒ ⊱ 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍.

◈　what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have?　 ⋯ 　For my fandomless OCs, it's just because I love their characters or have grown to over the years and to get to know them more so that when I write about them in my WIPs, they are fully fleshed out characters. Of course, there may be some differences between for example Tori & Alex in the RPC and Tori and Alex in my WIP about them. But I do feel RP helps me to get to know my muses a bit better. (I'm not going to do all of my fandomless OCs but I will say that I do love all of them. And have books planned for many of them, after I finish the books of Tori & Alex's story.)

For Antoinette, I was inspired after seeing Beauty and the Beast (2017), idk why. Something about that movie just caught my muse and I was like what if one of the feather dusters was gay and black and ...yeah, Antoinette was born! I absolutely adore her. <3

For the [Redacted] Doctor, they were born out of a desire to see T'Nia Miller portray the Doctor (even though she was already in Doctor Who. I know, I know. But so was Peter Capaldi.) And then I kind of developed a personality for the Doctor and a story and yeah. The rest is history. <3 I adore them so much too. <3

For The Thirteenth Doctor, what can I say? She's my Doctor and I love her. And I can relate to her so much, but I also admire her character as well. So she's an interesting muse to play. I love RPing her. <3

For my Witcher muses: Yennefer, Ciri, Renfri, and Jaskier: Yennefer I love but do find difficult at times. However, I welcome the challenge. And I look forward to getting better at slipping into her voice as time goes on. Ciri is my favorite character and so it was an easy choice picking her as a muse. Similar to 13, I can relate to aspects of Ciri while admiring others. And that makes her an interesting muse to play. Renfri, I loved her story in the book and in the show, and wanted to make her really come to life. Jaskier is probably in my top 5 favorite Witcher characters, at least in the show. He brings some lightness but also is not too light that it takes away from the realism. He's a well-rounded character, I think. I often suck at portraying male characters, at least IMO, but Jaskier was an easy one for me to write because he's not super macho or anything lol. And he's a character I can also relate to in some ways, so yeah.

For my Bridgerton muses: Daphne, Eloise, Benedict, Simon, Kate, and Penelope. I adore Bridgerton. It's like Jane Austen meets Gossip Girl with more diversity and so once I finished watching s2, I was like....I need to add muses. Daphne is a character I really enjoy and s1 is told through her perspective, so you really get to know her. Eloise is ahead of her time and so bold and I love her for it. Benedict is artistic and sensitive, especially for the time he lives in. Simon is also a character I really enjoy watching and getting to know in s1. Kate is probably my favorite character of all (Eloise is a close second. And Daphne is a close third.). And Penelope? Who wouldn't want to explore her complex character?

Now on to my Arcane muses. Vi, Caitlyn, Jayce, Viktor, and Mel. Vi is a bit of a challenge, but like with Yennefer, I enjoy it. Caitlyn is probably the character I relate to the most out of these muses of mine, so of course I had to RP her. Jayce, I thoroughly enjoy him. Viktor same. Mel same.

Motherland: Fort Salem muses: Raelle, Tally, Abigail, and Scylla. I relate the most to Raelle and Tally but I adore Abigail and Scylla as well. I love the show in general and it being taken off Hulu is my villain origin story lol. <3 So portraying these wonderful muses just made sense to me.

Ann Walker is the character/person I relate to the most in Gentleman Jack, I'm much more of an Ann than an Anne, though I'd say I have aspects of both. LOL. But yeah, I felt like she was underappreciated so I picked her up as a muse.

Laura & Carmilla from the Carmilla Webseries & Movie: I'm pretty much the bisexual nonbinary version of Laura. LOL. So I had to RP her. And while I can't fully relate to Carmilla I do adore her as a character, so RPing her seemed to make sense.

Now on to my ASOIAF/Game of Thrones muses: Daenerys and Arya. These two are my favorite characters in that world. And I can relate to and admire both of them. So like with 13 and Ciri, that makes them interesting muses to play.

◈　is there anything you don’t like to write?　 ⋯ 　Besides the obvious topics that I'm uncomfortable with that are in my rules, I'd say I don't want to write angst for the sake of angst. Like I love angst, don't get me wrong. I adore angst. But it has to make sense for my muse and their story. I feel the same way about fluff, btw. hahah. As long as the mood makes sense for my muse and their story, though, I'm good.

◈　is there anything you really enjoy writing?　 ⋯ 　Angst. Hurt/comfort. Fluff. Romance. Smut (sometimes). I enjoy writing anything and everything.

◈　how do you come up with headcanons?　 ⋯ 　It varies depending on muse. Sometimes if they're a canon muse, I'll react to themes or ideas or scenes in their canon. Or even fandom interpretations of them. For my OCs, I tend to think of headcanons based on what I feel needs expanding on. But tbh, I am always open to suggestions for headcanons for any of my muses.

◈　do you write in silence or do you play music?　 ⋯ 　It depends on my mood. I've done both. Hahah.

◈　do you plan your replies or wing them?　 ⋯ 　I'm much better at winging it, but I don't mind plotting and working things out if it's what my RP partner prefers. I'm flexible like that :)

◈　do you enjoy shipping?　 ⋯ 　Yes! I am shipping trash and proud of it. That being said, chemistry is always needed.

◈　what’s your alias/name?　 ⋯ 　Star

◈　age?　 ⋯ 　29, but going to be 30 soon

◈　birthday?　 ⋯ 　August 21st

◈　favorite color?　 ⋯ 　Blue,

◈　favorite song?　 ⋯ 　Long Live by Taylor Swift (Idk what she put in that song but I love it.), There It Goes by Maisie Peters, The Lighthouse by Halsey, Born for This by paramore, Daffodil by Florence and the Machine (that's the song that inspired my username etc.), Believer by Imagine Dragons, Thunder by Imagine Dragons

◈　last movie you watched?　 ⋯ 　Not sure

◈　last show you watched?　 ⋯ 　Sex Education

◈　last song you listened to?　 ⋯ 　What's Up by 4 Non-Blondes. Always reminds me of my favorite show ever (which I somehow have no muses from lol) Sense8.

◈　favorite food?　 ⋯ 　Anything Italian. Especially pasta & chicken parmesan. And meatballs.

◈　favorite season?　 ⋯ 　Summer! I was born in the summer, and I don't mind the heat. I actually hate being even a little cold. So spring and summer are the seasons that make me the happiest.

◈　do you have a Tumblr best friend?　 ⋯ I have trouble gauging things like this sometimes due to being neurodivergent, but I'm going to tag some friends/RP partners I love: @bewitchingbaker, @uncxntrxllable, @the27percent, @lovepurposed, @hegrowth, @jynxd, @shimmerbeasts, @ferinehuntress, @luposcainus, @vdinus, @shchvnts/ @mostmagicals, @indigodreames and tbh I consider all my mutuals friends. If you follow me, ILY <3

Pretending I was tagged by/ Stolen from @ferinehuntress

I tag: YOU if you want to do this. <3

#sometimes i see so much beauty i dont think that i can cope (out of character.) #ooc #(ooc.) #(out of character.) #q built up a world of magic

[variousqueerthings]

THESE ARE ATTACK EYEBROWS!

alrightalright new Doctor new Season and also confession that I cannot help comparing where I'm at with the M*ffat run with the new special and the Classic!Who I'm watching, which is perhaps unfair, but then maybe my guy should stop putting out overlong needlessly complicated Stuff

However consider: Peter Capaldi!

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 5/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 6/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 2/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 8/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 4/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 5/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 53/100 (if I can count….)

Alright alright, let's get this party going!

OBJECTIFICATION: this episode has one of my least favourite scenes of the whole of Doctor Who, because not only is it sexism, it's male gaze via lesbians, in which M*ffat really really sucks at portraying lesbianism that isn't partly a straight man's fantasy and partly weirdly het... the scene is of course when Vastra has Jenny posing in her corsetry... undergarments? idk what clothes are called, apologies, and Jenny thinks she's being painted, when actually Vastra just wanted to look at her being (uncomfortable) pretty while she was doing the important brainy work

she then dismisses Jenny's complaints about why in the world she's been posing for so long with telling her how she brightens up the room and that it's for "art" -- we'll get more into their dynamic in a biiit

PLOT-POINT: Clara is ostensibly the point of this episode -- new Doctor, new face, and she's unsure how to feel about it, because apparently she really fancied Eleven's pubescent charm. This reminds me of The Christmas Invasion in which Rose has a similar journey of figuring out how she feels about the new Doctor, except of course that Rose's internal and external life is a big focus of early Doctor Who, and she also had no idea that the Doctor could just explode and become a totally new body

also the Doctor was unconscious for a lot of it, and the question of what was going on + when you track the timeline the poor girl probably hadn't slept for a million years properly aside from fainting after having the Time Vortex in her head... she's going through it, we're seeing the journey, there's big aliens fucking about, she's stressed! it's all about relearning that trust and a new relationship, and while there's a subtext of romance, it's not pushed at you, so much as this was something deeply important and now it's been unsteadied unexpectedly

Clara's journey by contrast is one in which we met her family for the first time properly-ish an episode ago, most of her arc in her first season was being a mystery, her "fancying" the Doctor was likewise introduced in the previous episode, and crucially... she already knows the Doctor regenerates, because as per M*ffat's own writing she's literally seen all the previous faces (also Capaldi is objectively hotter than Smith, so jot that down, but I can forgive that, personal taste and all that)

there's also a whole weird little "test" scene between Vastra and Jenny that's ostensibly about tolerance but does that common M*ffat thing of having some good lines out of context that aren't really properly about what's happening right now. do I really like the idea of the Doctor as young in order to fit in/be accepted? unclear, need to think about it a bit, but maaaybe, considering how I read Eleven, who perhaps gets away with being a bit fucked up by Appearing Young, versus Twelve who's immediately got everyone going ahhh what is wrong with you bestie????

but it's muddily mixed in with the whole fancying thing + Vastra thinking Clara is hot or whatever, it's all... me not liking a lot of Vastra's dialogue generally, which feels like M*ffat trying so hard to be deep and mysterious (the one word test from last season as well)

there ARE a couple of things I like, in that I do want Clara and Twelve to reassess where they stand with each other, and I kind of like Twelve being a mess that's abandoning her because he has no idea what his emotions are doing or who he really is or what's going on... especially that last scene of Twelve having a little stuttery sorry, that works for me, look at this weird alien grandpa that speaks like a child at times, what do you feel about that Clara?

the build-up is... rocky, especially everything with Clara opposite Vastra, the latter of whom mainly seems to exist to extol the Doctor's godlike virtues and bully her wife/maid and sound clever

I ALSO like when Clara is facing the bad guy and is clearly very scared but still trying. I liked that from s7b Clara, who was often very openly scared, but still tried

COMPLEXITY: the problem with this episode is that it could be a standard 48mins easily and be better for it. there's nothing technically wrong with it, but there was no need for a dinosaur, no real need for a lot of the dialogue, and many scenes could have been trimmed

also after several episodes that are Quite Long that don't need to be, I'm beginning to grow tired of it. thank goodness we're heading into average episodes again at last

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: I mean, new Doctor. it's mainly the Doctor that's got some stuff going on, but again the last scene. reminiscent of End Of The World (chips? coffee and chips? I haven't got any money)

there's also a new character who's arrived... and it's The Master! and yes, she's got a bit of that M*ffat DNA, but man Michelle Gomez is so good, so so so good! Scottish Bastard Aliens let's do this!

COMPANIONS MATTER: Clara kiiind of... so she doesn't necessarily do much, but there is that... thing. of her figuring out where she stand with this new Doctor, and that's quite important

the Paternoster gang do more actiony-based things and it's... I mean, fine, I guess. they're not companions, and they're mostly more sci-fi elements to all of the plot, rather than what A Person can do

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: I will say that Capaldi is instantly more workable for me. even some of the stupid hangovers in dialogue from the Matt Smith era flow better with him. I don't like the whole monologue at the dinosaur, it's pointless and this episode is an hour and 15mins (this fuckn dinosaur), and the Doctor designating humans as "pudding brains" for ages and the general dismissive "I'm so smart, you're so stupid" attitude... well I can buy it a little easier from Capaldi. also I know that Capaldi's Doctor eventually tones that down and I mean... it's giving Grumpy Old Man rather than Petulant Child

there's meaning, there's point, the Doctor feels more grounded than before. speaking of grounded, I like that the Doctor isn't all-powerful. a lot of this is surviving a bit on your wits, staying one step ahead, and there's also the bit at the end where we don't know if roboboy jumped or was pushed... it's perhaps controversial as choice, but I'm going to sit on it a bit more, especially with the tone this era has inherited of a more Alien Doctor that is trying to reground themself and their values

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: uuuuum so the thing here is that these droids are basically the same as the ones from Girl In The Fireplace. now, regardless of how one feels about some of the thematic handling of that episode, and the Thing M*ffat was showing early on of a preference for writing about "Important Monarch-Related People" and other such things, the droids were really fucking cool in my opinion, and the plot of them getting shit wrong in their brains and causing a massive disruption in one person's life, fascinating

it's a great One Off Idea

but we all know M*ffat's no good at One Offs so here we are doing a slightly worse version of it. M*ffat this is your own episode you're referencing, why are you beating this horse? (like the time M*ffat insisted on an actual horse jumping through a mirror even though it was very stupid and people told him to please drop it... oh wait, that was Girl In The Fireplace....)

“SEXINESS”: okay well aforementioned "art" scene I think is a lot of the Thing that irks me about the writing of Vastra and Jenny, where I wish I liked them more, but I cannot stop seeing the way they're written as an unexplored power-dynamic -- rich vs working class, powerful alien "simple" human, Sherlock Holmes genius rich type and simple maid (who, granted, sometimes gets to beat people up, we like the action stuff, even if I'm not a fan of the sexy leather and I feel like a traitor writing that M*ffat! you've made me dislike sexy leather lesbianism in something how?????), and while all of this is occasionally pointed to, it's only ever as a joke

this includes things like Vastra flirting with (at?) Clara in front of Jenny, when they're ostensibly a monogamous couple and Jenny isn't happy about it, or Jenny pointing out that it's weird she's "pretending" at being a maid in private and being brushed off

INTERNAL WORLD: it's Victorian London, but it's the "these kinds of episodes" Victorian London, which has never felt like much other than a bit of a backdrop. we're not really exploring Victorian London, it's just where the Paternoster gang happens to be and so we get big dresses and hats

also a big Dinosaur is there and that's unimportant and doesn't change things I suppose

POLITICS: it's so... there. as an episode. so not a lot of politics, but how does it write lesbians? eh, not the most horrible thing I've seen -- I genuinely like the acting of the characters and we do get one big ol' kiss this episode (scifi vibes, but this is a scifi show), which is framed reeelatively romantically -- we did have Jenny dying in the Name Of The Doctor and Vastra having many emotions about it (just remembered how her being emotional about her partner dying was an invite to getting harassed for being too emotional and silly just like a womaaaan) (I also still think about how Jenny still calls her Ma'am for some reason... like yeah, that could be a hot prolonged roleplay, but it definitely isn't, except for the way it is because of the guy writing it knowing that it doesn't make sense but it's kind of a hot prolonged roleplay... does that make sense, idk)

we're in Victorian London, some robots are stealing peoples bodies and it's not about anything really

also we had a baffling line from Vastra espousing her fighting the bad guys as "for the British Empire"???? what does she care about that???

(also Clara says they should call the police more often, which is kind of a joke, but also no you shouldn't)

FULL RATING: 53/100 (if I can count….)

the worst thing about this episode is actually that its story does not justify the runtime. it is so long and it is so average

Peter Capaldi is a wonderful wonderful actor. Michelle Gomez is immediately great: "He can be very mean sometimes. Except to me of course, because he loves me so much. I do like his new accent though. Think I might keep it" <- this could have been so eye-rollery, but she makes it work and makes me shiver and knowing this is The Master is sooo 👀👀👀

the story is so-so. Clara is still moooostly under-utilised/underappreciated but with some good moments that will (if I remember correctly) continue to thread through their relationship of Clara not being quite sure about this person, who is clearly a bit on-edge and confused: "The man I hope you are with, believe me he is more scared than anything you can imagine right now. And he needs you"

Clara's place in this story is still constantly buffeted by the wind. the things that do come up "person he knows the best (I guess, comparatively)," and "someone who fancies the Doctor" is kind of the weakest part of that, when actually what's going on is more interesting

#im watching nu!who #im watching capaldi who #ooh that was exciting to write #episode deep breath #the measurement