Gimme nice things?

[elisi]

So, I am trying to write up my thoughts on S11 (because apparently I need to write them down in order to get them out of my system) and some parts make me cross and some are just annoying and some are just... less than what I hoped for (even with having low expectations).

And I really don't like being negative, so - if you feel so inclined - please share your favourite Thirteen stuff with me? Like, anything. Your favourite scene, or exchange, art work, vids, fic, cosplay, a news story about how Thirteen & Team TARDIS made a difference to someone... Just anything.

Because I want to remember how I felt right at the beginning when everything was exciting and happy.

Comments

[elisi]

Yay, talk to me! (If, you know, you have time... please don't feel obliged.)

What do you love? Why? I like aspects, but it never gelled and I am trying to work out why. This is my favourite show (well, it's tied with the Buffy verse), and I *want* to like it.

[deird1]

To properly explain this, I'm going to have to spend a couple of paragraphs bitching about Moffat. Apologies.

I joined the fandom during Nine's season. It was fun, hectic, and snarky. I loved how it would dip into a random situation, and they'd run around doing things until the chaos suddenly stopped and back to the Tardis they'd go.

My first problem with the show was because of Ten's increasingly angsty staring. I loved Ten, but angst has never been my thing (the only shows I've seen do it well were Buffy and Farscape).

Then... came season 6. In which:
a) everything in the universe revolved around the Doctor
b) all the characters revolved around the Doctor
c) everything was EPIC
d) everything was all linked up with everything else
e) angst angst angst angst angst

I noped out of there mid-season, mainly due to River being so central to the show. (And I liked River. Which is to say that I liked awesome archeologist who has adventures and occasionally meets the Doctor mid-adventure River.)

This new season is refreshingly non-epic. The Doctor is back to experiencing life and interacting with what's right in front of her, rather than Doing Epic Things And Altering The Course Of History. (I loved, in Father's Day, Nine's comment about the ordinary life of the bride and groom. He wanted to run around the universe experiencing ordinary life, and I liked that.)

The Doctor herself is also refreshingly down to earth, and practical. (And she welded herself a new screwdriver! Gotta love a gal with a welding torch.) She worries about her companions, and the situations she ends up in – but she doesn't ANGST about them. Which is nice. (Compare Ten's "sorry"s to Thirteen's. Ten puts his entire heart, and his entire intense gaze, into the most angsty sorry you've ever heard in your life. Thirteen looks a bit apologetic and gives a bashful "sorry" before running off for more of the adventure.)

There's also the companions. And the fact that:
a) none of them are in love with her
b) none of them have made dramatic speeches about how important she is
c) all of them are capable of telling her off
d) they'd all have perfectly reasonable lives if they ever stopped travelling with her and went back home

We are not quite up to the calibre of Nine's season yet. But we are, once again, focusing on fun, hectic, and snarky adventures with lots of running. Which is lovely.

[elisi]

Thank you for the lengthy reply, it's very helpful!

I joined the fandom during Nine's season. It was fun, hectic, and snarky. I loved how it would dip into a random situation, and they'd run around doing things until the chaos suddenly stopped and back to the Tardis they'd go.
This is a brilliant summary of the show. :)

My first problem with the show was because of Ten's increasingly angsty staring. I loved Ten, but angst has never been my thing.


And don't worry about not liking Moffat - we like different things, and that part was obviously not what you were looking for. And it got VERY arc-y and meta-y. It was (in part) Moffat trying to deal with the fallout of the Time War and the pile of man!pain Ten had turned into. So, a lot of Eleven & Twelve's runs were about putting the world and the Doctor himself back together, and a lot of it was complex and difficult, because well, trying to help someone get over having committed genocide and having a god complex and so on is... Not easy. (Although I wonder if you might like S10. It's mostly quite quiet and Bill is just... Bill. ♥ And at that point the Twelfth Doctor is just old and kind and semi-retired and dammit, now I want to watch it again. It's SO GOOD. Sorry, ignore me.)

This new season is refreshingly non-epic. The Doctor is back to experiencing life and interacting with what's right in front of her, rather than Doing Epic Things And Altering The Course Of History.
I hear ya. :)

The Doctor herself is also refreshingly down to earth, and practical. (And she welded herself a new screwdriver! Gotta love a gal with a welding torch.)
I see what you did there! :D (Love all the welding yes.)

She worries about her companions, and the situations she ends up in – but she doesn't ANGST about them. Which is nice. (Compare Ten's "sorry"s to Thirteen's. Ten puts his entire heart, and his entire intense gaze, into the most angsty sorry you've ever heard in your life. Thirteen looks a bit apologetic and gives a bashful "sorry" before running off for more of the adventure.)
LOL. And that's 6 seasons worth of work, right there. (Or for the Doctor, more than a thousand years of life.)

I like your points about the Companions (again, I think you'd like Bill, cause a lot of this started back then, except how Twelve was old and Thirteen is young and bright - okay, stopping now, it gets VERY meta at some point, and yet it is just so exquisitely beautiful), although my caveat is that I would love for the companions to tell her off more. I feel there is very little conflict, like I can literally think of only one, and that gets resolved without any fuss or repercussions.

We are not quite up to the calibre of Nine's season yet. But we are, once again, focusing on fun, hectic, and snarky adventures with lots of running. Which is lovely.
Good. I am happy you are happy. May there be much more of it for you! <3

[deird1]

Although I wonder if you might like S10. It's mostly quite quiet and Bill is just... Bill. ♥ And at that point the Twelfth Doctor is just old and kind and semi-retired and dammit, now I want to watch it again. It's SO GOOD.

I believe you're right. I've tracked down a couple of Bill clips on YouTube, and they seem quite fun. The only reason I haven't watched that season so far is because I think I'd need to know the backstory of the previous few seasons... and I don't wanna.

[elisi]

The only reason I haven't watched that season so far is because I think I'd need to know the backstory of the previous few seasons... and I don't wanna.
No, you don't really, it's very self-contained. I just can't help but throw it at people because it's supremely good TV with amazing characters. (S8 and S9 were... difficult. Some amazing stuff in there, but I can understand why people were put off.) S10 is just like an extra - a perfect slice of Doctor Who, funny and touching and rich and dark and clever and all the things.

If you'll like it is of course a completely different question. But thank you for coming to my TED talk. ;)

ETA: And now I start to doubt myself. Like, I love that season beyond anything, and it's very much a standalone, and the first half is just fun travelling around, but it DOES go on to break your heart, so if what you want from Doctor Who is what you got from this season (or the Ninth Doctor), maybe just leave it alone. Unless you really like TV that is actual poetry.