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Scattered Wild Blue Yonder thoughts
Spoilers under the cut for 2nd Special, but NONE for the 3rd. (I have avoided the previews, don't tell me anything.)
ETA: It has been pointed out that there are no thoughts, just a lot of flailing about Fourteen. I accept this.
I have been thinking about the New Who Doctors and having fun summing them up. :)
9: I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go- That's who I am.
10: I am a ball of man!pain
11: I'm a Pond! \o/
12: I shall unravel the ball of man!pain
13: I'm a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma
14: I'm a happy gay emotionally competent lil cinnamon roll <3
I still don't know how to process that this is who the Doctor is now. Wild Blue Yonder is endless moments of the Doctor being aware of Donna's emotions and modulating himself and his behaviour. ETA: He performs emotional labour! The Doctor with TEN's face performs emotional labour. What is this witchcraft?
But ALSO.
Also we get moments like this and I can't remember anything like it, ever? He plays a prank and laughs at her response! Who are you, delightful alien creature? *hands*
Speaking of 'Who are you?', then I find myself agreeing with this. (Apologies to any Chibnall fans, I salute you!)
Just look at all the emotions. And it's not that he isn't traumatised (he's clearly deeply, deeply affected by the Flux and the Timeless Child), but he is capable of articulating it. (There will be thoughts forthcoming on the Timeless Child. We might be willing to like it now.)
And then there were moments like this which were just sheer poetry and beautifully illustrate how very differently the Doctor views the universe and the passing of time...
I should write more, but all my thoughts keep running in different directions, so I shall leave you with this:
^Tomorrow's gonna be rough 😢
ETA: SPECULATION on the regeneration that I need to add somewhere.
I think Fourteen's face came back because of Donna somehow. There is the fact of the clothes also, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was something going on, a loop like when Four generated to Five?
ETA: It has been pointed out that there are no thoughts, just a lot of flailing about Fourteen. I accept this.
I have been thinking about the New Who Doctors and having fun summing them up. :)
9: I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go- That's who I am.
10: I am a ball of man!pain
11: I'm a Pond! \o/
12: I shall unravel the ball of man!pain
13: I'm a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma
14: I'm a happy gay emotionally competent lil cinnamon roll <3
I still don't know how to process that this is who the Doctor is now. Wild Blue Yonder is endless moments of the Doctor being aware of Donna's emotions and modulating himself and his behaviour. ETA: He performs emotional labour! The Doctor with TEN's face performs emotional labour. What is this witchcraft?
But ALSO.
Also we get moments like this and I can't remember anything like it, ever? He plays a prank and laughs at her response! Who are you, delightful alien creature? *hands*
Speaking of 'Who are you?', then I find myself agreeing with this. (Apologies to any Chibnall fans, I salute you!)
Just look at all the emotions. And it's not that he isn't traumatised (he's clearly deeply, deeply affected by the Flux and the Timeless Child), but he is capable of articulating it. (There will be thoughts forthcoming on the Timeless Child. We might be willing to like it now.)
And then there were moments like this which were just sheer poetry and beautifully illustrate how very differently the Doctor views the universe and the passing of time...
I should write more, but all my thoughts keep running in different directions, so I shall leave you with this:
^Tomorrow's gonna be rough 😢
ETA: SPECULATION on the regeneration that I need to add somewhere.
I think Fourteen's face came back because of Donna somehow. There is the fact of the clothes also, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was something going on, a loop like when Four generated to Five?
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Well, trying to think what the logic might be, then Chibnall possibly wanted a more Classic Who feel where the Doctor just ran around and DID stuff and wasn't angsting all over the place. Which is a lovely idea, but doesn't work when you've had centuries upon centuries of further character development that just gets forgotten...
Sidebar: Thirteen generally strikes me Four-like - i.e. timeless rather than old. Again, not a bad thing in and of itself, but odd. And even Four got old towards the end, he had some really affecting stories.
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I don't think that was a bad idea in theory, but having watched quite a bit of Classic Who now (Five, some of Six, nearly all of Seven), there WAS angsting. Maybe not to the level of 21st Century Who but it was certainly there. Both Five and Seven had their moments (Six was to the righteous fury side of the scale).
My biggest problem with Thirteen is the distinct lack of moral outrage which has ALWAYS been there with the Doctor, no matter which era you watch (Six is particularly strong for example). Kerblam! is the obvious example but it's certainly not the only one. Why cast Jodie Whittaker if you're not going to give her anything interesting and complicated?
Sidebar: Thirteen generally strikes me Four-like - i.e. timeless rather than old. Again, not a bad thing in and of itself, but odd. And even Four got old towards the end, he had some really affecting stories.
Yes, that's a good way of putting it. And again, as you say, it wasn't a bad starting point but there was NO evolution for her, at least none that the audience were privileged to see. It was stasis, which leads to entropy. (I've just watched Ghost Light which is all about the necessity of evolution on both a planetary and personal scale.) That's why Fourteen feels like such a big jolt, because suddenly we're getting to see the evolution.
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Oh definitely. But I think it's more the *idea* of the thing? Whereas in reality it was complex and difficult and Five's last season is just so relentlessly grim it's a very tough watch.
My biggest problem with Thirteen is the distinct lack of moral outrage which has ALWAYS been there with the Doctor
This! I said to Promethia that it's like Thirteen was a reset to Factory Settings? There are a few flashes (like in... ack I forget the episode, the one with the thing that looks like a Rachnoss - was it the Tesla one?), but overall there was a lack of ANY emotion. Like she'd set herself to mute. :(
Why cast Jodie Whittaker if you're not going to give her anything interesting and complicated?
Such a waste.
it wasn't a bad starting point but there was NO evolution for her, at least none that the audience were privileged to see. It was stasis, which leads to entropy.
Hear hear.
That's why Fourteen feels like such a big jolt, because suddenly we're getting to see the evolution.
Maybe he's so SUPER good at emotions because Thirteen was so bad? Although I like to think that we're just returning to the actual revolution after a break.
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I've said before that the era it specifically reminds me of is One. And this would fit the lack of moral outrage too. It took the guy three whole seasons to decide he wants to be the one who fights the monsters. Mostly they're just stumbling through space trying not to die too embarrassingly. And Two, frankly, doesn't have a lot of outrage either, and the stories don't really call for it. Having decided he's the one who fights the monsters, he proceeds to run around fighting monsters and running away immediately thereafter. It's a lovely era, but morally challenging it is not. I don't feel like he gets a proper belly of outrage in him until Three. Guy got forcibly regenerated for interfering and came back mad.
There are a few flashes (like in... ack I forget the episode, the one with the thing that looks like a Rachnoss - was it the Tesla one?), but overall there was a lack of ANY emotion. Like she'd set herself to mute. :(
I watched Villa Diodotti last night and had totally forgotten the way she freaks out when a Cyberman gets close to her fam and yelled that she's 'not having that happen again.' So, uh, yeah, I think she did rather.
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I was going to mention One, but haven't watched enough to warrant having a proper opinion.
Although I just had a thought that I CAN'T believe I haven't had before: Twelve spends his entire final episode WITH ONE. Could we hypothesise that he decides that it was easier working with the very simple moral framework he had then? The lack of introspection, the way he'd just brush off criticism? (I'm thinking of Thirteen going 'If you don't like it I can take you home' when challenged and how One's brusque manner is very much the same thing.) COULD THIS BE THE KEY???
Mostly they're just stumbling through space trying not to die too embarrassingly.
This almost made me choke on my tea.
It's a lovely era, but morally challenging it is not. I don't feel like he gets a proper belly of outrage in him until Three. Guy got forcibly regenerated for interfering and came back mad.
*nods* And if Twelve - exhausted by, well, being Twelve - wanted a total break, and having just had One around, decided that this was the best way forward, that would make a lot of sense. Thirteen is aware enough to say 'I'm bad at this, and awkward', but might simply not have the tools in her emotional toolbox to deal with anything like what she gets put through or the 2k+ years of issues.
This might also - as you said somewhere - help explain Fourteen. The Doctor needed the McAngstMuffin face in order to begin to process the new trauma.
I watched Villa Diodotti last night and had totally forgotten the way she freaks out when a Cyberman gets close to her fam and yelled that she's 'not having that happen again.' So, uh, yeah, I think she did rather.
Oh yes, I remember that now! I got so excited by that episode, I think it's one of the Top 3, easily.
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Not that I don't approve of your priorities.
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Loved this from the one Tumblr post:I’ve been thinking a lot of Fourteen’s forearms. As one does.
*looks back on my past two months of commentary* Indeed one does . . .
It's so gratifying when one's own preoccupations turn out to be so thematically relevant.
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*g*
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Good weird, but . . . weird.
Maybe I should change my mind about being angry. Before Rusty eats my soul or something.
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Why is the female doctor held to a different standard (not better or less, just different), a different expectation when this is the same damn character?
Loved the special though (possibly more than the first one). Icons to follow, soon!
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This. I don't understand it. It's such a WASTE, because Jodie is a great actress, why not use her when piling on all these issues? *hands* It makes no sense. :(
Why is the female doctor held to a different standard (not better or less, just different), a different expectation when this is the same damn character?
I liked so many things about her - like I say above, she came across as Timeless a la the Fourth Doctor - which made the gaps even more inexplicable. Of course some people would hate on her whatever, so why not just go all out and throw everything at her?
Loved the special though (possibly more than the first one). Icons to follow, soon!
Yeah, loved it too. Too many thoughts, and am sure I'll have more tonight! /o\
The one thing I would love icon-wise (and it might be too quick a shot) is the moment where Fourteen is laughing after having pranked Donna. He's just so happy! <3 But it's very very fleeting. Just throwing that out there... *whistles innocently*
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Jodie’s doctor appeared to emotionally repress the hell out of herself (while preaching to others), which given all the recent ten/fourteen feels recently, is saying something. But then she, and her storyline have now become the catalyst (along with Donna) for all that has just occurred with fourteen deciding a very different life. I guess when it comes down to it, the writing for Jodie’s era was overtly focused on the narrative, and less so on the characters. Even when faced with making decisions, such as dealing with the Master, she just… didn’t? I think we really missed out on that exploration of the possible facets of the doctor’s feminine energy.
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Ironically I feel like the little corridor breakdown would have fit her character perfectly. So bad at expressing anything verbally; it has to come out somewhere.
(Also just reminded of the similarity to the moment at the end of season eight when Missy told Twelve that Gallifrey was back in its old spot and he went to look and then just wailed on the console.)
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! That is a really good point. It would have worked very well, and now I'm doubly annoyed.
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!
:D
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