time and relative dimension in space

Introducing...

chicafrom3 — Sun, 08 May 2022 13:25:57 GMT

The 14th Doctor has been announced!

Welcome to the TARDIS, Ncuti Gatwa! I'm sure you'll be amazing ♡

I have seen you in absolutely nothing :D as is tradition, but everyone is recommending Sex Education so I'll be bumping that up my list.

(On another, less relevant, note, was this announcement planned? It feels unplanned. We got that lovely little specially-filmed teaser for Jodie and full-on television specials for Peter and Matt, and Ncuti gets a press release and some social media posts and not even an announcement-of-an-announcement? Were they trying to get ahead of a leak? Maybe I'm being suspicious of nothing.)

And I do have to say it, much like my initial reaction with Matt was "I wanted Chiwetel Ejiofor or Paterson Joseph", my initial reaction here was "I wanted Lydia West or T'Nia Miller" :( It is absolutely nothing against Ncuti, who looks to be bang-on for the role and by all accounts is an amazing actor, I just wanted TPTB to look at all the people who've been screaming about Jodie being the wrong choice for the past few years entirely because she's a woman and go "actually you know what we're just gonna keep casting women for a while", and also I think it's time for a woman of color full-time in control of the TARDIS. I'll get over it by the time Jodie hands over the TARDIS key, just like I got over it with Matt (who has become one of my all-time favorites), but I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed we're back to casting men.

Anyway.

Welcome to the TARDIS, Ncuti! YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT. WE'RE GONNA LOVE YOU. ♡♡♡

'I take it this means she doesn't stay out of trouble when she's told to either?''No one ever does.'

chicafrom3 — Wed, 04 May 2022 02:44:43 GMT

I'm trying out Dreamwidth as my primary platform for a while. We'll see how it goes! I will continue manually crossposting to LJ at least for a bit, although tbh I will continue posting exactly as often as I have been, which, let's be honest, is not a lot.

Anyway, I've completed two more PDAs!

Three, Jo, and Liz in St. Petersberg, 1916.

It's always fun to get a pure historical, and the teamup of the Third Doctor, Jo, and Liz is an absolute delight. Liz finally gets to travel in the TARDIS! Her planned trip to Tunguska to see the blast of 1908 firsthand goes awry and the trio instead get mixed up in the intrigue of Russian society -- and the murder of Rasputin. One of the best things about the novel is the way that all three characters have wildly different perspectives on Rasputin based on their interactions with him as well as the preconceptions they bring to the situation. The other best thing about the novel is Liz's evolving opinion about Jo.

The two worst things, regrettably, are 1) Rasputin being sexually inappropriate with Jo (although when she rejects him he stops short of assaulting her), continuing the PDAs' trend of companions being sexually menaced by men, and 2) the Doctor being an active participant in Rasputin's death, which seems rather out of character regardless of the Web Of Time.

Otherwise, though, it's quite an enjoyable romp through history, with our trio splitting up, gaining their own companions (Kit is a DELIGHT), meeting back up, and splitting back up; the quest to regain the TARDIS works quite well as a motivator throughout.

And honestly I just really love seeing Liz getting her first trip through space and time:

'I mean that we're thousands of miles and eight years away from where we were supposed to be going.' Liz wasn't a historian, and hadn’t thought about whether she would have accepted an offer to see a past city. But the chance to see the immediate aftermath of the great Tunguska blast of 1908 was too good for a physicist specialising in meteorites to turn down.

'Well, the TARDIS has been trapped in the one point in space and time for a while, you know. She has to get back into the habit.' Liz noted that he didn't say whether its navigation had been particularly accurate before his exile, and she was developing suspicions that it hadn't.

And then we have Five, Tegan, and Turlough meeting Three-era UNIT in the English seaside post-The Green Death, dealing with an alien invasion.

I'm not gonna hedge, I didn't love it. The characterization never quite landed -- aside from Yates, who is afforded the most page time. Tegan and Turlough come off worst of all, Tegan mostly being reduced to "annoyed" and Turlough mostly being reduced to "cowardly". It's not great.

The plot is engaging for most of the book -- the alien threat is actually quite creepy, several of the supporting characters are well-done, and the stakes keep ramping up convincingly -- until the denouement, which undercuts the whole thing. It would not actually be overstating things to say the Doctor saves the day by walking into the Big Bad's lair and going "I win because I'm clever!" It's less than a thrilling conclusion.

The total fan-appeal moment in which the Doctor and the Brig swap places in the car (exactly mimicking the Doctor and Ace in Remembrance of the Daleks) did make me smile. I'M A SIMPLE GIRL.

And because I like ending on moments I like:

Unseen by Tegan, Turlough had sidled up behind her.

'What is this place, Doctor?' he shouted, making Tegan jump.

'Tayborough Sands pleasure beach,' the Doctor replied. 'As I recall, there's a particularly fine toffee-apple stall beside the Waltzer.'

'Pleasure beach?' echoed Turlough incredulously. 'You mean people come here to have fun?'

'Of course they do!' exclaimed Tegan. 'And that's exactly what we're going to do. Right, Doctor?'

The Doctor grinned in reply.

'But it's so vulgar...' complained Turlough.

'Just go with it,' replied Tegan and grabbed his arm. 'Come on, I've got some money. I'll stand you a ride on the roller coaster.'

'Roller coaster?' said Turlough doubtfully. 'What's that?'

'You mean you don't know?' She glanced at the Doctor, a wicked glint in her eye, 'Boy, are you in for a treat. Come on.'

Sometimes companions are just cute.</blockquote>

"Sea devil!" "Land parasite!" "All right, no need to start throwing slurs."

chicafrom3 — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 02:17:27 GMT

Pirates & sea devils! Doctor Who is back!

(I am still seeking an alternative to LJ, preferably one that allows crossposting for at least a transition period. I've backed everything up to Dreamwidth, at least, but an attempt to crosspost did not work and frankly I don't really like Dreamwidth's interface, so...still looking. Recommendations, or even reccomendations for ways to adjust Dreamwidth's interface, are welcome.)

I was not able to do a liveblog for this one, unfortunately, as I actually had to work today. I managed to wrangle my schedule so I could watch the episode on my lunch break, but it did kind of prevent me from writing down thoughts as I watched. Which may be a good thing, depending on your inclination, IDK. Writing this later, instead, after having also (kind of) watched the second-run airing (I was still working shh don't tell my job). (I need to sit down and watch it while I'm NOT working/on a limited break where I also need to eat.)

I generally enjoyed the episode. I have some quibbles (the editing is the biggest one...the scene in which our TARDIS crew first meets the Sea Devils is edited really, really badly for example; and the pacing is not great; and uhh that one Dan moment), but overall it was quite fun. Madame Ching was amazing, although I wish we'd learned a little more about her. The Sea Devil redesign worked wonderfully and they had a lot of personality (and I LOVED the implication that they are a rogue splinter group).

And the real stars of the episode are the three Thasmin moments; in the oxygen bubble (not a bad date, am I?); when the Doctor finally confronts her feelings about Yaz (if it could be anyone it'd be you); and when they finally make it to the beach (I can't fix myself...to anyone). All three moments are so tender and vulnerable and also ... not quite there yet, that they land perfectly. Thirteen's defining characteristic (IMO) is that she's absolutely terrified of emotional vulnerability; that's why she masks so hard with aggressive cheerfulness. Putting it out to Yaz that if it could be anyone, it'd be you costs her a lot, but she does it, because Yaz deserves to hear it.

(Also, you know, casually dropping River into conversation and then running away from it because OH SHIT NO CAN'T TALK ABOUT THAT WITH ANYONE DEFINITELY NOT WITH YAZ that is very Thirteen)

So overall episode: 6.5/10, but Thasmin scenes 10/10 definitely.

Dan dressed up like a pirate from an 80s children's movie because Yaz told him to: also 10/10 would recommend. Glad to see we're continuing the fine tradition of companions totally not understanding how to dress in historically accurate ways.

Next episode (last episode of 2022 and not for several months which is wildly unfair): The Master! Kate! Tegan! ACE! REGENERATION! EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT ONCE!

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The opposite of matter is "doesn’t matter".

chicafrom3 — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 00:59:23 GMT

Given world news, I'm looking to relocate my admittedly infrequent posts to a new server. It's a strange feeling, given how long I've been here on LJ, but I don't feel I can in good conscience continue on a Russian-owned and -affiliated business, regardless of how little my patronage might contribute to that. If anyone has any suggestions of where I can move to, I would welcome them.

In the meantime, I guess here's another Doctor Who post.

The Eighth(?) Doctor, if the Doctor had returned to Gallifrey, once upon a time, and never left again, deals with Sontarans, Rutans, and, most notably, Omega.

The way this story sprawls and spirals is fascinating to me, as is the way that the Doctor and the Magistrate(!) are recognizably themselves despite their altered backstories (hello certain fanfic AU writers please take notes (other fanfic AU writers you already do this JUST AS WELL)). There's also some really excellent work put into developing Gallifrey itself; I'm particularly fond of the time we spend with Huran and what it says about the 'normal' Gallifreyans' views on the Time Lords (the slur 'Timeys' tickled me to death), although tbh I don't think some of said worldbuilding holds up with the rest of the canon (~~Doctor Who has no canon~~). There were also a couple points during the book that I wish I'd read the New Adventures either before or concurrently with my PDA readthrough instead of putting it off til after; this is the first book so far to make me feel that way, which is interesting but also probably makes sense since it's the most EU-continuity-dense one. (I did catch the Benny reference! and the Lungburrow reference! but I'm absolutely sure I missed other ones.)

My only actual quibble would be with the female representation. Early on there's a comment by one character that Time Lord society treats men and women equally, which is...not borne out by the society we see presented on-page; it's also mentioned that women only make up 30% of Gallifreyan population, possibly to explain why there's only two major female characters, one of whom goes unnamed. Given that Who usually has an abundance of excellent women, it's...noticeable.

A favorite moment:

'We are Gallifreyan/Human hybrids, the Children of Kasterborous. Before the Curse, we pursued interventionist policies designed to promote harmony in the known galaxies, and ushered a new age of universal peace. We failed in our mission: this is our punishment.'

The Doctor's eyes widened.

'That is Willhuff's theory,' Helios added. 'I think I like it best, even though it probably isn't true. It relies on apocryphal sources and a great deal of speculation on his part. Gordel's theory is equally outlandish. I incline to the view that we are from the Accidentally Left Behind When Everyone Else Transcended This Reality Interest Group. It would certainly explain our obsession with finding God.'

'I think that Helios is Merlin,' said Willhuff.

Gordel looked wearily at the others. 'We are clearly the super‐evolved survivors of the Thal race, fleeing the penultimate destruction of Skaro, that sparked off the Final Dalek War.'

'You don't have the slightest idea who you are or where you came from, do you?' the Doctor asked, exasperated.

On a completely different note, we have the First Doctor, Steven, and Dodo in 1960s New York dealing with aliens mistaken for/posing as gods, set immediately after The Massacre.

The real strength of this book is the characterization. Lyons spends a lot of page time and energy on giving Dodo a backstory, even going out of his way to explain Jackie Lane's wandering accent as an effect of code-switching. Steven's trauma over Anne Chaplet's death is also dealt with, as is his realization that his time on the TARDIS is coming to an end soon. The plot moves along well enough, but is mostly interesting for what it says about the characters, especially Steven's desire to believe that people can make a better world and Dodo's desire for something more -- and the Doctor's fear of external control.

What I could really, really do without is the attempted rape scene, though. It was really not necessary and it hangs over the whole book. Yes, apparently when Dodo runs onto the TARDIS at the end of The Massacre she is running away from an attempted rape by an alien impersonating her neighbor. So. That's. A thing. That didn't need to happen. (I should start keeping a tally of how many unnecessary sexual assaults on companions there are in the PDAs :| at least up until now they've just been 'menacing in an unpleasantly sexual manner' this was straight-up 'attempted rape')

Ughh. Aside from that I really enjoyed the dynamic Lyons created between the Doctor and Dodo, and between the Doctor and Steven -- I regret that Steven separates himself from the other two so early on and doesn't reunite with them until fairly close to the end, because I would've liked to see more of him interacting with the rest of the TARDIS team; we see hardly any of Steven & Dodo together. But that's barely a quibble at all. There's some nice continuity/fandom nods: a conversation between the Doctor and Dodo about Susan; Dodo and her school friends listen to John Smith and the Common Men; apparently in a 'docudrama' about the events of the book 'Doctor Who' is played by Peter Cushing, which killed me.

A favorite moment, in which Steven and the Doctor reconcile:

'And how about you, my boy?' the Doctor prompted. 'Is this goodbye?'

'You know full well it's not.'

'Do I? As I recall, young man, you seemed rather keen for us to part company.'

Steven gritted his teeth, knowing he had to get this over with. 'I'm sorry, all right? We had a disagreement and we should have discussed it like adults.'

'Hmm. Yes, well, perhaps I am as much to blame for that as you are, my boy. Perhaps.'

"i'm just martha jones. i wander the world, telling stories."

chicafrom3 — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 03:29:46 GMT

I procrastinated writing a reaction post for the third Ninth Doctor Adventures audio so long that finally I was just like "oh well I'll just combine it with my reaction post for The Year of Martha Jones audio" and then I procrastinated that for so long that now I'm bundling it with the fourth Ninth Doctor Adventures audio ♥ it's fine it's fine life happens anyway here's the long-promised and little-awaited Big Finish post

The third 9DA gives us three very different stories and an absolutely spot-on Nine voice -- in retrospect I'm a little amazed that Ravagers was the choice for the first NDA, given the café scene that I'm even more puzzled by with the benefit of more stories between me and it. Of the three, I'd have to pick The Curse of Lady Macbeth as my favorite -- a dark and unsettling and sympathetic retelling(ish...not really) of Macbeth, but they're all great; Monsters in Metropolis is a close second, a great twist on a Cyberman story in pre-WWII Berlin, and I'm a sucker for classism getting called out, so The Hunting Season hit home.

The Year Of Martha Jones gives us three moments in Martha's year walking the Earth, telling stories about the Doctor. They're all linked fairly closely together, as Martha meets an old school friend, Holly, in the first story (The Last Diner) and is shortly thereafter joined by her mother (er, sort of), and Holly and Francine travel with her through the next two stories as well. All three stories are set in the US as well, which I found an interesting choice. The second story, Silver Medal, was my favorite of the three, both for the story Martha tells (an unsettling tale about silver mines she was stranded in with a deadly secret) and for the fact that outside of the story, the resistance camp Martha & company are staying in is compellingly portrayed; I'd like to say Jessie came off like a parody of an American but unfortunately I've met people like her! Everything's a competition. I really liked that the set balanced the various reactions to Martha and her quest, and that it balanced telling her stories with the post-Saxon world. My only complaint is that the reveal about Francine was regrettably undercut by the fact that it was pretty obvious that Francine could not possibly have escaped the Valiant; other than that, a stellar audio set.

The fourth and final set of the first season of the Ninth Doctor Adventures is a little more focused than the previous 9DA sets, themed around the Doctor encountering old friends (does what it says on the tin). The first story has the Doctor attending the funeral of a friend; thanks to SCIENCE the man is able to attend his own funeral but suspicions are raised when the Doctor realizes his friend doesn't recognize him or anyone related to the final excursion that ended in the man's death. The latter two stories are where the set shines, though, as the Doctor runs into Brigadier General Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and together they investigate ghosts and Cybermen. (The second story also sets up the backstory of Sam Bishop, which would mean more to me if I listened to more of the UNIT audios, I take it.) The third audio, The Fourth Generation, which is the Cybermen-focused one, was my favorite, but all three are great, and all the character voices are fab.

HIGHLY recommend all of these audios.

Lack of thought was a regrettable feature of all his behaviour so far.

chicafrom3 — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 02:32:40 GMT

Rather belatedly, let's talk about the two most recent PDAs I've read. (There's just been a lot going on RL right now. Sorry. Big Finish post still to come.)

The Fourth Doctor and Leela land on a strange planet that seems to defy the laws of nature, and soon find themselves being hunted down.

‘You haven’t damaged the travelling hut, have you?’ the Doctor asked suspiciously.

‘I watched you,’ Leela said, ‘and I copied what I saw you do.’ She found a piece of rotten wood and weighed it in her hand. It was too light and she discarded it. ‘The TARDIS is a machine – there is nothing magic about it. And you can stop calling it the travelling hut. It is not funny to mock people’s lack of knowledge, Doctor. Especially when you are stuck up a tree.’

‘I think I may have underestimated you,’ the Doctor conceded graciously with a vivid smile.

Leela did not acknowledge the apology.

There's some real bright spots in this book -- notably in the banter between the Doctor and Leela, particularly whenever she calls him out on his patronizing attitude, as above, and in how easily the Doctor's attempts at blending in fall apart -- but overall I wasn't very impressed. The first chunk of the book is just running around getting chased by things and going "well that shouldn't be there it doesn't make sense" and the second part is running around tunnels getting torture by clones and everonye sagely agreeing that, yes, Leela is the ultimate warrior of all time.

I mean, yes, Leela probably is the ultimate warrior, but still.

It just never quite hangs together.

(The worldbuilding is also kind of awful, but let's not get into that.)

The Seventh Doctor and Ace in ~~an AU 1960s London~~ ~~an AU Victorian London~~ ~~a sequel to Trial Of A Time Lord~~ ~~a sequel to Survival~~ ~~the dark side of the Matrix on Gallifrey~~ IDK all of the above I guess. With a guest appearance from AU Barbara and Ian.

In case it's not clear I walked away from this one feeling like I didn't know what had just happened. Did it all happen in the dark Matrix? Did it actually happen in AU Victorian London but then the Doctor and Ace set it right? Was it some kind of fever dream? All of the above?

The story starts with the Doctor putting Ace off her footing by being in a terrible mood with her, then after an upsetting encounter with a golem trying to take her to stay with the First Doctor and Susan during the events preceding An Unearthly Child only they're not in Totter's Lane. So they go investigating and stumble upon Barbara and Ian, who explain, essentially, that they've landed in an AU version of the 1960s where Britain is part of America and everything is terrible because President Kennedy has just been shot in London and this all goes back to Jack The Ripper, so the Doctor and Ace go back to Victorian London to investigate, which results in the Doctor attacking Ace, losing his memory in his best Eight Doctor impersonation (‘WHO AM I...?’ he howled across the city), and becoming Jack the Ripper, and Ace becoming a cheetah person and getting abducted by a circus.

Things escalate from there.

The Wandering Jew is involved. The Valeyard is ultimately unmasked as the Big Bad. The universe is ripped apart and put back together.

I don't know.

This sounds extremely dismissive, I think, and that's because this book confused the hell out of me at several parts (particularly, as I've mentioned, the ending, where I had no idea whether or not the events of the plot had even happened; based on the Valeyard's explanation I would assume everything had occurred within the dark Matrix but the scene with the Doctor and Ace at the non-evil circus kind of implies that everything really did happen in the AU before everything was set right...?), and there are parts I genuinely disliked (Ace getting menaced in unpleasantly sexualized ways, for example, although at least she gets to turn into a cheetah and rip men to shreds, and I don't understand why we needed the "Doctor is Jack the Ripper" plot). But the prose is genuinely very good and evocative and moving, the whole subplot with the Doctor and Ace bringing hope to a despairing AU!Barbara and Ian is lovely, and the exploration of Ace's continuing loss of faith in the Doctor (tracing that theme from Curse of Fenric) is dealt with quite masterfully -- she wants him to be someone she can trust implicity; she knows that he isn't that person.

Really enjoyed it. Really did not understand it, but really enjoyed it.

He could see an unfamiliar face. A young man in a dark frock coat. Tumbling dark hair. Bright, inquisitive eyes.

‘Who am I?’

Images came faster. He could taste, smell, hear.

‘Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? To be exiles?’

Days like crazy paving.

A walk in eternity.

The frantic life was played out in full before him. His Life.

Returned to him by the telepathic circuit. By the TARDIS.

The silence was heartstoppingly sudden.

anyone else got a proper deja vu?

chicafrom3 — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 20:25:43 GMT

HERE WE ARE AGAIN

So Nick ♥ Sara, obviously. She's so stressed that she can't see he's trying to flirt with her, aww :( "Have you been practicing that?" "Yes :("

NYE, 2021, 5 minutes to midnight, Manchester. Not a great time or place to be. And the poor TARDIS :|

NICK D:

Sara RUN

Why does no one ever just run when they see a Dalek? D:

"Daleks answer to no one."
"Daleks answer to me."

"Correct. Daleks learn."
Oh shit.

So Sara and Nick are at least somewhat aware of the time loop, straight off. Interesting.

"Didn't we just get exterminated?"
^^

They're SEALED into the storage facility? Well that's going to make things difficult.
"I need a weapon!"
At least Sara's thinking.

Okay, the time loop isn't exact. The Dalek's not where it's supposed to be. That's interesting.

RUN NICK

DAMMIT NICK

Sara's not having a good night. Fucking Jeff.

SARA RUN DAMMIT
"Please, please don't kill me."
:( :( :(
"EXTERMINATE"
:( :( :(

"Pretty smart, Daleks."
LMAO, really, Yaz? NOW?

EVERYONE RUN

"I've been killed twice by a killer robot."
"OH MY GOD ME TOO"

Sara just lying her ass off when Nick assumes she went to save him and that's why they didn't find each other on the first time loop, lmao.

"Is it your robot? Because you know we've DIED like two times so far. We've DIED. And I know that sounds crazy because we're alive."
And Nick just being like "I don't understand why people from the council would be working on New Year's Eve."
LMAO I love these two.

Nick, WTF.
"You have a lot of ex-girlfriends. They're alive still, aren't they?"

Okay, it is very weird that Nick catalogues his ex-girlfriends' stuff in a storage unit, but now is maybe not the time to freak out at him for it, Sara! AND OH GOD DON'T GO OUT THERE AND TRY TO REASON WITH THE DALEK NICK
Team TARDIS trying to explain that it's not a robot it's a Dalek is really weirdly cute though

Oh God the Doctor's going to have them sacrifice themselves so they can reset the loop and go to the fifth floor on the next go. IS THIS A GOOD PLAN? I FEEL LIKE IT'S NOT A GOOD PLAN

"The most evil creature in the universe has successfully vanquished an old door."

"You saved the entire universe last week. I think I owe you one. Look after each other."
DAN D:

Sara is shit at apologies, isn't she?

"Daleks do not store 'stuff'."
"Well, you're in the wrong job then, aren't you?"
OMG DAN

Sara is just crushing Nick's heart tonight.

"I really appreciate you trying to save me. Not many people would've tried to do that. Some close friends and family included, actually."
Aw.

"We're never gonna get that moment on the beach." ♥

Jeff seems like an interesting person.
"I think Jeff might live here."

Aw, Nick.

"I don't mean the crush is embarrassing. I mean the time. It's an embarrassing time to let you know."
"So why are you picking now to let me know?"
"Because I'm going to get killed by aliens in a minute."

"THREE YEARS?! THAT IS SO STALKERY."
"I prefer unrequited. Or shy. Stalkery would be if I was menacing you. Or if I said anything at all."

THE TARDIS CREATED THE TIME LOOP?!

THIS IS REVENGE FOR THE SONTARANS KILLING THE DALEKS? WHAT?

"Okay, so I did desert you, fair, but to be fair to me, I was trying not to get killed, again."

Aw, Sara.
"My friend Lauren says good-hearted weirdos are actually the keepers, so...what?"

Okay, that's heartbreaking. "It'll be four-to. And then he'll be dead. Properly." :(

OH NO NICK D:

Oh, that's clever, Nick. Clever, clever boy.

"It was a lot of weapons analysis, battle assessment, and strategic thinking."
"Did you duck?"
"Yeah."

"We have to think longer term."
"As in four minutes longer term?"
"Exactly."

"How would you feel about destroying this place?"
"I mean I'd have to talk to my insurance providers..."

LMAO, Yaz defending Dan from getting slagged off because that's her job.

"If our lives depends on MY MOTHER calling at a time I ACTUALLY ASK HER TO, we're all dead... I'll try, I'll try."

Aww, inspiring speech time.

"I'm so tired. :(" Poor Sara.

"STOP LEAVING US ALL THE TIME"
Yaz :(

"You ever told her?"
"Told her what?"
"How you feel about her."
OMG. Undeniably canon queer Yaz in love with the Doctor ♥♥♥

Dan is so great in this scene I love it ♥♥♥

OH SHIT

"The Doctor cannot save you. The Doctor will NEVER save you!"
D:

"I'm sorry. I'll fix this."
"INCORRECT. EXTERMINATE."
This is getting very stressful.

Damn, Jeff.

"Sorry. No time. Time is catching up with me. My actions are catching up with me. I will not let you die."
:(

Dan trying to tell the Doctor that Yaz is in love with her and the Doctor just...trying not to hear it. :( To be fair, companions being in love with the Doctor tends not to end well.

"They're never asking for their stuff back, are they? All my exes."
"No! They're really not."

Aw, Sara. Nick will totally go traveling with you.

Yaz yelling at Nick and Sara like the Doctor yelled at her :(

"Not even wearing a watch. Doing it for show."

"Haven't we got a brilliant plan?"
*uncertainly* "Yeah?"

Aw, Sara. "And I miss you. And I love you. Yeah, cuz I'm not really sure I say that enough." :(

"Woo! Huh. Thanks for the therapy."
"EXPLAIN."
"Ex... terminated."
Lol.

"WE'D BE SO GOOD ON SUPERMARKET SWEEP"

"The Doctor has deceived us!"
I mean duh

"Go. I'll be right behind you."
The look on Yaz's face :(

SARA'S MOM CALLED

THEY'RE OUT

GOODBYE ELF STORAGE

LOOK AT THE FIREWORKS, JEFF SHOULD BE PROUD
"Good fireworks, though. Fair play to Jeff."

"You did it, time didn't reset."
"We did it."

Sara and Nick look soulfully into each other's eyes. The Doctor looks at Yaz...who's looking at the fireworks.

The TARDIS is back to normal! ♥♥

"Thanks for looking after us. ♥ If you did. Quite mysterious, really."

Doctor, stop dodging. :( Just talk to Yaz.

The lost treasure of the Flor de la Mar!

Sara and Nick are going traveling! And Sara's mammy is still being Sara's mammy, lol.
"Do not flirt with my mother, please." :D
They're so cute.
"We were killed eight times, by robot aliens?"
"Was that a first date? I feel like it was more of a meet cute."

That was really good! Very fun, very suspenseful, all of the time loops had a lot of stakes to them, Nick and Sara were wonderful, YAZ ♥_♥. Really enjoyed it.

i don't know about you but i'm feeling (20)22

chicafrom3 — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 18:27:53 GMT

Happy New Year! May 2022 be better than 2021. The bar is on the floor, so hopefully we are able to step over it and not trip and fall.

I'm waiting for new Doctor Who to air and also to celebrate the roommate's birthday, so what better time to post my yearly media roundup?

According to last.fm, I listened to 10,686 tracks scrobbles in 2021, an average of 29 songs per day. I listened to 750 different artists, 666 different albums, and 4,793 distinct songs.

Like last year, I also listened to a lot of podcasts, which last.fm does not track; unlike last year, this was also a year of listening to a lot of Big Finish audio plays and also audiobooks in general, which last.fm also does not track; more about those under my year in books.

Top artist was, unsurprisingly, the Pogues, with 933 scrobbles, followed by Dropkick Murphys (848)(+3), Taylor Swift (836)(-1), Flogging Molly (611)(not in the top five last year), and Rent (556)(not in the top five last year). If we cut out musical theatre, Declan Bennett slides back into the top five (555)(~). Top albums: Just Look Them Straight In The Eye And Say...POGUEMAHONE!! by the Pogues (199), Turn Up That Dial [Explicit] by Dropkick Murphys (157), Red (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift (143), Record:BREAKUP by Declan Bennett (129), and Red Roses For Me by The Pogues (127). None of them were in the top five last year (and two of them were only released this year, so that makes sense.) Top tracks: Queen of Suffolk County by Dropkick Murphys (33), Sally MacLennane by the Pogues (26), Freer by Declan Bennett (24), Bang by Declan Bennett (23), Middle Finger by Dropkick Murphys (23), Boys From The County Hell by the Pogues (23), and Streams of Whiskey by the Pogues (23). (I know that's not five but there was a tie.) Queen of Suffolk County is a clear winner but honestly I was very obsessed with that song and still am.

Lots of new albums came out this year! Dropkick released Turn Up That Dial; it's not the hardcore album they've been promising but given the times I can't blame them for scrapping their plans and doing something a little softer. I'm obsessed with Queen of Suffolk County, Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding makes me laugh far too much, HBDMF reminds me of more than a few people, there's a bunch of winners on this album is what I'm saying. Taylor Swift released the first two of her re-recorded albums in her quest to reclaim her masters from her former record label, resulting in Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version), and bundled with each of them a collection of 'from the vault' songs, i.e. songs that were written for the original album but didn't make the cut for one reason or another. I'm particularly loving We Were Happy off of Fearless TV and Nothing New off of Red TV. Olivia Rodrigo's debut album Sour is extremely short but very tight, a really good pop heartbreak album; I love traitor and enough for you in particular. Big Red Machine's How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last is gorgeous. On the French punk side (yep, still listening to French punk!) Mon Autre Group's album QUELLE JOIE is fantastic.

I am almost certainly forgetting some things.

In 2021, I read 206 books, exceeding my goal of 150.

This once again included quite a bit of trash reading, including continuing my reread of the Babysitters Club series, a bunch of comic books, and a ton of Doctor Who books. You can find my Goodreads year in review here. Goodreads informs me I read 19,887 pages; the shortest book was Constantine issue 20 at 22 pages; the longest book was The Searcher by Tana French at 576 pages; the average length was 96 pages. The most popular book I read was Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, shelved by 623,532 other people; the last popular was The Thirteenth Doctor (2020) issue #1, shelved by 5 other people.

Some of the best books I read this year (the diamonds among the trash): Why The Moon Travels, by Oein DeBhairduin, a collection of Irish Traveller folklore written by a member of the culture instead of by a sociologist or anthropologist; At Childhood's End, by Sophie Aldred, a Doctor Who book, yes, but also a very thoughtful exploration of what it means to confront the monsters that haunt your dreams; Gay New York, by George Chauncey, a nonfiction exploration of queer culture in prewar NYC; Field Guide To The Haunted Forest, by Jarod K. Anderson, a poetry collection about our connections to each other and to nature; I Love The Bones Of You, by Christopher Eccleston, a memoir about working class culture and mental illness and a million other things that I can't do justice in a one-line blurb.

This was also the year of Big Finish audio plays for me. I get into Big Finish in fits and starts, traditionally; there's no rhyme or reason to it. This year I just started listening to my accumulated collection from top to bottom in preparation for the NDAs coming out and then...just didn't stop. Some standouts: A Death In The Family, The Time Museum, Return Of The Rocket Men, The Holy Terror, The Chimes Of Midnight, The Veiled Leopard, Ninth Doctor Adventures: Lost Warriors, The Year Of Martha Jones. There was something to enjoy in every one I listened to, though.

I don't track what I watch on TV anymore so we're going to be relying on my questionable memory for this next part!

There was new Doctor Who this year, obviously. I really enjoyed Flux. I got very invested in the characters. Vinder/Bel OTP.

New Amsterdam was good. It had a lot of very stressful plotlines but it was good. I am 83% watching it for Freema so I don't like this "will Max and Helen move to London" plot.

I finally watched Blake's 7 after roughly a million years of being passively recc'd it on various sites. I now understand why it's recommended so highly because it is in fact very good. Highly enjoyed it.

Dickinson on Apple TV is a very charming show. I love how ridiculous it is.

It's A Sin, on the other hand, was EXTREMELY stressful and upsetting and EXTREMELY good. Just. Amazing. ~~I have my problems with RTD as regards Doctor Who but~~ It's A Sin was incredible.

I watched a couple of Jenna Coleman projects - The Serpent and The Cry - and of them preferred The Cry. Both were very good, though.

And a Pearl Mackie project, The Long Call, which also featured Declan Bennett in a supporting role. (It's fun when my unrelated obsessions cross paths.) It was also very good. 10/10 do recommended if you like murder mysteries.

And then the only other thing I can think of right now is the various DC shows I watch, the best of which are Stargirl and Legends of Tomorrow. Those are very different kinds of 'good', mind. Stargirl takes its material very seriously and Legends...does not.

Trying to remember what movies I watched this year is an exercise in futility. Some standouts, though: In The Heights, which I've been waiting AGES for and which lived up to the hype; tick tick...BOOM!, ditto (I cried buckets); the Come From Away proshot, which also made me cry. Other than that? No idea. I know I've seen more movies than that! But what they were, whether they were this year or last year or 2016, no clue.

No live theatre for me this year, although Broadway and tours opened up (with multiple cancellations and early closures and just...yeah). One day.

It's been a weird year. I started two new jobs. The first was a temporary position, although turned out to be more temporary than I thought going on. The second will hopefully be permanent; I really like it so far, although it's only been a few weeks (and after two weeks of training I left for a week to go see my family for Christmas! they were very understanding. I was very nervous about traveling in these Covid times, but I took all due precautions -- 3 doses of Pfizer, everyone in my family is vaxxed, double masked in all public areas -- and I have now returned home Covid free). It's very nice to be out of customer-facing positions because I really hated the job I had before where I got yelled at by customers all day. Now I go all day either without talking to anyone or just occasionally talking to my coworkers. It's SO NICE. I'd still rather be working in theatre but, you know, health insurance and job security and Covid. We make choices about priorities.

I still owe you a couple Doctor Who posts, one about the two PDAs I've read most recently and one about a couple Big Finish audios I want to talk about, but I've just been very busy and stressed with things and I want to make sure I can actually do them justice. They're coming. Sometime. Soon. Promise.

My 2021 in LJ

chicafrom3 — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 20:43:22 GMT

My blog statistics for 2021

Get your card here!

I don't know why I decided to share this.

Happy holidays! I owe you guys a couple Doctor Who posts. Coming soon. (I started a new job and also took the risk of spending Christmas week with family, so things have been a bit frazzled. )

life must win.

chicafrom3 — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 02:27:18 GMT

"She thinks running will help." That's it, that's the show.

We're wasting no time here flipping back and forth between the Doctor trying to get away from Swarm/back to the Universe and Yaz/Dan/Jericho trying to save the Universe.

"It must be a shift in time rather than space."
"I think you're getting the hang of this."

Annnd the Doctor's joined up with Karvanista and Bel!
"Oi! I'm the most stable person I know!"

And Kate's meeting up with Yaz and crew! And Kate has a TARDIS detector! (I mean, I assume it actually detects artron particles or something, but who cares about the details.) Kate ♥

The Doctor appears to be very unstable, she's flipping rapidly between Karvanista's ship, the tunnels with Yaz and crew, and Division's bubble universe.

"We offered the three-fingered hand of uneasy alliance."
I don't know why that's so funny.
"Except Rutans. Rutans, you remain hideous scum which must be obliterated."
Okay, I know why.

NO DON'T BREAK UP THE SHIELD DOCTOR

Bel is so impressed by the Doctor, it's adorable.

OH NO AZURE OPENED THE FOB WATCH
Seriously is that house Lungbarrow? It can't be Lungbarrow.

What is Swarm DOING?

This is just very effective imagery, damn.

"I approach everything with caution. Or abandon. One of the two."

The look on Yaz and the Doctor's faces after "a few years". :|

"Paul Hollywood handshake."

"Have you any clue what she's talking about?"
"Not a clue. Normal service resumed."

"Sorry, I forgot to mention. I'm being trisected across dimensions. It's quite draining. And confusing."

Shallo raiding the corner shop is weirdly adorable.

"I'd have a shop exactly like this. Well, not exactly, I'd make some changes."

"Your delicious and appealing mouth snacks wrapped in paper will never weaken our resolve! Maybe three more."
I feel you, Shallo, I would also sell out an army for chocolate.

Claire!

"I feel like there might be bad news."
"The planet's under alien occupation."

"Does this sort of thing happen a lot to you?"
Lol, Claire. I like Claire.

The Doctor is not having a good day.

"Were you my Companion?"
"I can't talk because it would kill me."
D:
"I have a synaptic collider implanted in my brain. ... I'll be dead in three seconds."
D: D: D:
"There was a time I'd do anything for you. Then you left me."
D: D: D: D: D:

"You want to keep things alive. You want creatures to breathe and live. You wat species and races to build."
Uhh. Yeah?

"Because otherwise... why are we here?"

Sociopathsssss.

"Because that is what you did to us. You and Division left us suffering."
D:

"You are the universe, Doctor."

"Every Lupar on those ships, airlocked out into space."
D: D: D:

Poor Karvanista D:

I feel like BBCA should not be showing the trailer for the New Year's special yet. Hold off until the end of the episode. Just a suggestion.

Into Passenger!

"To them, I'm insignificant, but I'm not insignificant."
♥

"Nice blaster action. Where'd you train?"
"Laser Quest."

Vinder is so impressed by Diane ♥

"Your service to Sontar will end in success, or death."
"And the reward for success?"
"Death."
You need to work on your motivational speeches, Sontarans.

The Doctor interrogating Grand Serpent is a lot of fun.
"I will be the one interrogating you, Doctor. And I was a beloved ruler."
"Whoa! Ego klaxon!"

"How rude! Are you trying to kill me right now?"

"Hi! Please stop torturing me! Like immediately."
"Hi. You're cute."
"Thanks! So are you."
Aww ♥♥

"I've got such a crush on her."
Me too

Bel has no clue what's going on, lol.

Dan, now's not the time.

"The Sontarans proposing a peace summit, that doesn't ring true."
No, it doesn't, does it?

I'm really enjoying this three-Doctors thing.

And now the Sontarans are abandoning Earth.

Bel's face when she hears Vinder's voice ♥_♥

And then everything goes bad :( Well, worse.

"Your vendettas are irrelevant." I wish more bad guys would say that.

"Where is Kate Stewart?"
"I've never heard of her."
Yess, protect Kate.
I mean, then he gives her up as he's dying, but he tries, poor guy.

"Can you not say things like we're supposed to know what they are?"
Lol. Say it with your whole chest, Yaz.

Aww. The Doctor thanking Williamson and sending him home was a really sweet scene.

I feel like the TARDIS going inside Passenger is a bad idea, but Bel and Vinder and Dan and Diane reuniting: totally worth it.
"Also, we're having a baby. If the universe survives."
"Better make sure it does, then."

Sontarans as the ultimate vanquishers. That would be pretty spectacular.

Kate's so clever. ♥♥♥

"Saving themselves while all around them die."
:/

"Save them to defeat the Sontarans?"
"No. My plan's more risky than that."
Of course it is. ♥

Vinder hears Grand Serpent and goes FUCK no.

Swarm and Azure's religion sounds really unpleasant.

RUN

I feel like it's out of character for the Daleks to accept the offer of protection but for plot reasons I accept it. At least it's immediately followed by them going "THIS IS A BETRAYAL".

"You are not in control. We are. And this is for my people!"
♥

Vinder's so delighted to be doing this, it's wonderful.

"Blasting Sontaran comms is the family business. Right, Tigmi?"

No, Jericho D:

"I have you now, nameless human."
"I, sir, am Professor Eustacius Jericho, scourge of scoundrels. I wish I'd written that autobiography, what a good title."

D:

Diane is so smart ♥
"Diane, you may have just saved the rest of the universe!"

"I always wondered what Time would look like. Huh. Way to play to your ego."

"And they didn't even bring you a cake!"

Time is pissed ♥ That's why you shouldn't play games with the universe, Swarm and Azure.

"Nice coat. Quite fancy that coat. Oh, I get how that ego appeal thing works now."

"You can leave here. But you won't outrun me. Your time is heading to its end."
"No. It's not. You're wrong."
"Nothing is forever."
...

WELL then.

Yaz looks so confused. I don't blame you.

"I had a reckoning with Time."
Yaz just looks like "...ok?"

Vinder has unfinished business with you, Grand Serpent :) And Kate's not playing around either. :) Open door seven.

"I'm the man who understand the pain of exile."
Niiice.

You're stuck with Vinder and Bel for good, Karvanista, and you know it.

"I like this regeneration. I hope I meet it again."
"I hope so too."
:(

Back to Dan in the museum.
"I thought we could finally get that drink."
"Do you mind if we don't?"
:(

"Where you going?"
"No idea."
"Wanna come?"
:D

And Dan gets a bedroom! Aww.

And the Doctor apologizes for not telling Yaz about everything she was doing/dealing with! OMG.
"I shouldn't have shut you out."
"No! You shouldn't have."
And she still doesn't know how to talk about it, but she wants to tell Yaz everything, and awww. (That was a very shippy scene, I'm not usually one for shipping the Doctor but that was...quite shippy.)

WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT FOB WATCH DOCTOR.
"Do me a favor. Keep this safe. Somewhere deep within this TARDIS. Somewhere I can never find it."
That's objectively probably the best thing but
damn
"Unless I really ask for it."
D:

And so concludes Flux. I don't know about you guys but I'm pretty happy with it. I want to sit down and watch the whole thing back to back and see how it hangs together when I'm less riding an adrenaline high with it, but right now I'm pretty happy with it.

Oi, Dan, are you from Liverpool? Why have you never mentioned it?

chicafrom3 — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 02:14:40 GMT

I feel like it's a testimony to the enduring design of the Weeping Angels, just how creepy the Doctor standing in a crowd of statues is.

"My friends are never lost."
Cut to Mexico, 1904.

"It's a discovery, our discovery."
"Strictly speaking, it's theft."

"You won't be told, will you?"
"It's a defining trait."
That's it, that's the show.

Yaz has really stepped up, hasn't she?

"We have a partial date. December 5." The date of the season finale!

"Answer her question or I'll bite your toes!"
This is moving really fast, it feels like a season finale already. Or a season opening.

Yaz did not come to play.

THE BIRTH OF UNIT

WHY IS VINDER'S BOSS INVOLVED IN THE BIRTH OF UNIT

Thirteen's adaptive hologram for Yaz is possibly the cutest thing ever??
"Did you just call me bighead? I bet you did."
"I'm probably worried for you if you're hearing this. And I'm sure I miss you." "I miss you too." "I know you do. I hope you said you miss me too otherwise that bit's weird."

The Doctor is at the end of her rope with Divison's lack of answers. I don't blame her.

"Interfered! In contravention of all Time Lord directives!"
I mean, I'm not sure you're the one to be objecting to that, Doctor. (I'm not in favor of Division's methods either from what we've seen, but I'm not sure you're the one to be making that particular objection.)

"We're not in the universe, Doctor."

Quick check-in with Karvanista and the shield around Earth in 2021, and then over to Bel!

Oh, wait, no, it's all part of the same thing.

"You can't go to hyper, I'm on a mission here!"

Over to Vinder, who's found the missing in a not-good state and Spawn and Azure preying on their timeforce.

Ah, a multiverse. "Outside one universe, on the cusp of many more."

"As we near the end of the old universe" -- that doesn't sound good.
The Doctor agrees. "That universe isn't going anywhere!"

Also, the Doctor isn't a virus!

"I blame myself a little but mostly I blame you." That's nice.

"I mean, morality was always your flaw."
"Morality is a strength."

SHE'S TECTEUN?!

AND WE GO FROM THAT TO BABY UNIT?!

Corporal Lethbridge-Unit!
"He's a shouter. He's very good, he keeps everyone on his toes." ♥_♥

UNIT HAS THE TARDIS?

Of course he doesn't want to be tested by the alien-lifeform-detector. He's an alien.
"My God, General, you really are a fool, aren't you?"
Well, that was unpleasant.
"I prefer to be called Grand Serpent."

"We all need to clear up after ourselves."
Woooow.

Timeless Child recap.

"You denied me my life."
"I gave you your life. Everything you are is because of me. But I understand. You think you could've been something else, someone else."
"Maybe. I'll never know."

"They're your experiments, just as you are mine."
"We're not the same."
Among other things, the Doctor actually cares about their companions.

Vinder's in trouble.
Vinder's in BIG trouble D:

Vinder and Diane are both in Passenger together. I'm not sure that gun's gonna help you, Diane, but at least you two can team up.

"I don't get to tease people much."

"Fetch. Your. Dog."
Karvanista?

KARVANISTA. DAN IS HERE - 1904 FETCH YOUR HUMAN
Yes, I laughed.

"Prevention is in contravention of instructions. It is also impossible."
Don't ever say that to the Doctor.

"I'm very good at pulling rabbits out of hats."
"I have no rabbits."
"It's a metaphor."
"Or hats."

"Sorry, which part of the universe is this?"
"All of it."
D:

"Earth will be the ultimate apex of destruction. It is designed that way."
D: D:

This is all very alarming. I don't like that fob watch. I don't like what I know it represents.
"I see you found it."

"Chair of the UNIT Oversight Community would be perfect for me. :D"
"People don't like you, Prentis. :<"
Lol.

"But I've learned that nothing really beats the personal touch."
It's SO UNPLEASANT.

Dan and Yaz are still unrescued. :(

Dan uses his Yorkshire knowledge to identify the mystery dude who keeps showing up!
"And also some folks say he still walks the tunnels."

"We're searching for a ghost to explain the improbability of space and time. We should not be surprised if we don't find it."
"Oh ye of little faith."

This dude is very relieved to have met someone who knows the world is ending.

"A good scientist never throws away their findings."

"How many people have I been?"
What an awful question.
"What would you give to know?"
What a worse question.

I really don't like Tecteun.

KATE!!!

"We must concede defeat."
"That's not a phrase that sits well in my family. Or in UNIT itself."

"I see you. I see you, whatever you are. Hiding in plain sight for so long."
KATE I LOVE YOU.
"But I care, more than anyone. So I dug deep."
KATE YOU'RE SO GREAT.
"A non-terrestrial life form with hostile intent."

"You should know I'm wearing a psychic manifest shield."
♥♥♥
KICK HIS ASS KATE

RUN KATE

"Osgood -- I have to go dark."

Back over to Karvanista and Bel, now reassembling the Lupari shield. No, don't shoot each other!

Back over to Yaz, Dan, and Eustacius in the tunnels.
"The past few days have changed everything. Since All Hallows' Eve, everything is in flux."

"Death, sir! Endless Death!"

This is all very alarming.

"You have the list of target cities." This is bad.

And the Grand Serpent is working with the Sontarans? This is BAD.

"I'm gonna save that Universe. I'm gonna save my friends. And I'm gonna destroy Divison."
Which would be a much more kickass declaration if Swarm and Azure didn't show up right then.

Everything is awful.

Next week: The Vanquishers.

'Why can't we go somewhere nice for a change, Doctor?'

chicafrom3 — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 22:41:28 GMT

Unrelated to the Flux, I've read two more PDAs.

The first involves the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa in a sequel to the Fourth Doctor adventure Planet Of Evil, set shortly after Earthshock.

I regret to say that I'm just not this book's target audience. Planet of Evil has never been a favorite for me and this isn't one of my favorite TARDIS teams. I kind of struggled with this one. Also I don't expect scientific accuracy from Doctor Who (to paraphrase William Hartnell, the Doctor isn't a scientist, the Doctor is a wizard), but, uh,

'Exposure to anti-matter hybridises the genetic structure, regressing the victim back down the evolutionary scale.'

What is this. Half the plot's tension comes from 'when anti-matter and matter meet they can't coexist and they'll cause a massive implosion!' and half of it comes from 'we're literally sewing anti-matter inside of people and causing them to evolutionary regress'. What.

(I do not blame Messingham for this, to be clear, this all comes from Planet of Evil, he did what he could with the source material and very gleefully called out "You must harness the movement of planets" for the bullshit that it is.)

I'm also not a huge fan of the whole 'for plot reasons our main characters must act OOC for large chunks of time', which was the case here as well.

This one was just....not for me.

I don't want to be relentlessly negative, though; one thing I did really like was the undercurrent throughout of the Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa all dealing with their grief over Adric in different ways. That was very well done.

She thought about other days on other lakes.

Yet another person she hadn’t got to know.

And then for a change of pace we have the Second Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria in a political drama/base under siege adventure. In spaaaace.

This was more my speed! One of my favorite TARDIS teams trapped on a space station under pressure to figure out a sensitive political situation, while a team of soldier drones heads their way to slaughter everyone on board if they don't figure it out. The supporting characters were interesting, the plot twists were fun, I figured out before the reveal on the Kesar was actually dead and the guy in the mask was an imposter but didn't figure out who he actually was until the end. Jamie's continuing insistence on treating everything like the kind of war that he's familiar with -- and therefore if everyone would just let him run out there and fight, he could totally help! -- was very sweet (that feels weird to say, but that's how it felt), and Victoria gets several good moments.

The Doctor is the real star of the show, getting to be disarming, silly, and a manipulative mastermind all at once.

You say a lot of things, Doctor.'

The Doctor sat back, laughing suddenly. 'Do I?'

'But words are cheap.'

'Aren't they?' The red glint was back now. 'But then life is very cheap to you, isn't it? The life of Remas, once he was no further use to you. Sponslor's life, too. The lives of your VETAC troops, if life they have. It seems to me that you have no conception of the real value of these things. And that's a pity.'

A wonderful ride, from start to finish.

"Now, when I say blink, blink." "But you said don't blink!"

chicafrom3 — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 02:23:40 GMT

November 21, 1967.

Date of birth? 13th of May 1985.

Oh, this is creepy.
The Angel has the TARDIS indeed.

I'm not sure how much good not blinking is going to do when the lights keep going out, Doctor!
"I've got really dry eyes!"

"But the TARDIS is broken and time's out of sync so how can you be sure it's going to work?"
"Well, it does have an element of risk."

You can't have three only problems, Doctor.
"At least we're alive. Thanks for that."

"19...49."
"It's 1967, as you must well know."
"You've had that coat a while, then."

The return of the "very flat team structure"!

The gravestones in the cemetery are multiplying. That's creepy.

"A little alarming." Master of the understatement, there.

"The Institute Of Psychic Investigation." Nice one. And Eustacius Jerico! There's a name for you.

Mm. The image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel. Let's not mess with that, Claire.

Oh, that's SO creepy. The imagery in this episode is so good already.

Okay, so it's not that the gravestones are multiplying, it's that the Angels are hiding among the gravestones. That's still creepy but it's not what I was imagining.

Yaz showing some policing skills, always appreciated.

"She's a ten-year-old girl, how much is there to know?" Woooow. What a dick.

"Maybe she's not missing. Maybe she just ran to get away from him."
Just what I was thinking.

DON'T LOOK AT THE MOON YAZ

That was some amazingly creepy design work. I mean. The design work on the Angels is often very well done on their attack faces, but I just want to give a shout out on that particular attack face.

Checking in with Bel!

Namaca Os Pavao Po. THAT'S a name to go with Eustacius Jerico.

I don't think I trust Namaca, and not just because he's visibly disappointed to hear that Bel has a life partner.

Ohhh no.

OHHH NO

"Professor, I am many things, but not ridiculous."
Lol.

"Are they really ringing the doorbell?" My thoughts exactly.

This village is legit cursed by the Angels. That's great.

Oh, the same stone-dust-in-her-eye effect that we saw with Amy back in The Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone two-parter! Claire has definitely been touched-by-an-Angel.

Oh, no, Yaz and Dan are stranded in the early 1900s. :| 1901? The first time the village was wiped out? I'm assuming but it seems like a safe assumption.
AND IT'S THE MISSING LITTLE GIRL.

Peggy is psychically conversing with the Angels? That's unsettling.

That's even more unsettling D:
"They put two words in my head: quantum extraction."
I DON'T LIKE THIS

Gerald's a diiiick and also the world is ending.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know, Jean, but I don't like it."
I ALSO DON'T LIKE IT I also don't like agreeing with Gerald but this is genuinely disturbing
Although I can't say I'm very sorry that Gerald got gotten by the Angel.
RUN JEAN

OH NOOOO the fucking picture

This is really creepy I love it.
"Brilliant, I made it worse."

"Where were we?"
"I may have to write all this down."
"When this is over, be my guest."

"A Weeping Angel needs my help?"

...and then my feed glitched and I missed something, up to the Weeping Angel telling the Doctor that it was an extraction squad for the Division. I think I missed something important. Dammit.

NO BEL DON'T TRUST AZURE

YOU'RE RIGHT BEL RUN

LET GO OF HER NAMACA

She just saved your life you dumbass, have a little gratitude.
"Whatever she is, she is not salvation."
"I don't believe you."

"Enough questions, Dan! I get it!"
In Dan's defense, this is a very confusing situation and he is very new to this.

Gerald is SUCH A DICK but damn that was upsetting.
"I'm sorry, Peggy."
"He was never nice to me."
I mean, yeah, but that was upsetting anyway?? And also Jean was there, too, and she seemed mostly okay.

Oh nooo. Jericho, don't listen. DON'T LOOK AWAY.
"No, thank you."

"Please, stop using my voice. It's a very clever trick, but very impolite without permission."
:D

"YOU STOP RIGHT THERE. YOU ARE OBSERVED, AND THAT IS MY POWER OVER YOU."
Jericho is a little bit badass.

Oh nooo, the polygraph D:

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT I DID, WHAT I DON'T REMEMBER."
The Doctor makes me sad sometimes.

But everything more we find out about the Division is interesting to me. Weeping Angel operatives!

"I'm pretty good at stopping the unstoppable!"
"That's why I brought you here, Doctor."

The Angel is a knowledge bank, nice.

Secret tunnel exit!

"Now...reverse the polarity of the neutron flow. Might give you a little quantum headache."

"Don't look back! I'll do the looking. You look forward."

"I think there are Angels in the walls here."
"Of course there are. Why wouldn't there be?"

Uh oh.

Back to 1901. Why is it night over there? This is so creepy.

"I remember this. I remember the strange old woman and all that followed."
Oh noooo. Poor Peggy.

Obviously there's a flickering torch, Doctor.

Why did you take your glasses off, Jericho? Obviously I don't know your prescription, but... that seems like a bad idea when facing an antagonist who relies on not being seen by you.

And there you go, now you've been time-shifted by the Angels.

"Okay. Race you. ... You're not attacking."
Yeah, this is. This is maybe even creepier than if they were attacking.

There's SO MANY of them!

"It says...they're enjoying watching you work it out."

"They've taken the village out of time. Out of space. To isolate. To extract the target."

Oh noooo
"This was its plan all along. It hid in you...a human, to attract me."
"Because the only thing the Division wants more than my Angel...is you. You are recalled. To Division."

This is BAD.

And we interrupt the credits to check in on Vinder. Harassing Namaca for information on Bel! Who deserves it!
"Time's...kronky."

"I think...maybe she saved my life. If you see her, tell her...thank you."

Bel is not the best at time management. But she got in an "I love you"! That's important!

Next week, Survivors of the Flux; Dan and Yaz have been in the early 20th century for three years, everything is working for Swarm and Azure just as planned, and where's the Doctor?</lj-spoiler

everything is corrupted.

chicafrom3 — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 02:13:47 GMT

DALEKS

Nothing make sense anymore and the Daleks aren't what you should be worried about. We're off to a strong start.

That moment inside the Doctor's head is really well done. The Timestorm, on the other hand, isn't exactly great CGI, but it gets the point across.

Wait, what's going on?

Temporal hazing?

"End the siege of Atropos."

And now Dan and Diane (that is Diane, right? I'm mildly faceblind.) are wandering the city together. And time is broken.

Dan's engagement story is indeed brutal. :|

Where were you, Dan? And in fact, where are you?

Oh no, Yaz D: Why is this so upsetting?

"I remember this. But it wasn't you. You weren't here."

"Don't mind me. I'm trying not to be distracting."
?"

"That's not my Timestream."
Unfortunately, I think it is :|

Supersize Mouri!

Fugitive!Doctor! "If you've thrown yourself into a Timestorm, and that Timestorm's thrown you in here, then you might never get out." D:

There is SO MUCH going on here.

What's going on with Dan? Seriously?

I have SO MANY questions.

"It feels like the last days of the universe -- and here I am doing what I do best, piloting a ship! :D"
And apparently, this is the Cyber Sector now.
"But I know what you'd say -- challenges are temporary. Life is constant. Don't overthink it. Just move forward."

Vinder is not having a good time.
"I was only expressing solidarity, Supremacy, my apologies."
"I don't need solidarity from a grunt."
:|

"I don't want to relive this."

"Who's the sexy girl with the nimble fingers?"
God, I love Sonja.

"But if time would've overwhelmed me, what's it gonna do to you?"
DOCTOR.

"These things haven't happened to me. This isn't my house. The details are wrong."
D:

"Don't blink. There are angels disrupting your Timestream."
D: D: D:

Quick thinking from Yaz but WOW

"How can we have lost with so many hostages?"
D:

"Time is not controllable, Doctor. It will not do as other beings bid."
"It will. It must."
I'm so stressed.

"There is no greater battle than this: the battle between Time and Space. And Time shall not lose to Space."
I don't understand what's going on but I'm so stressed.

"Same problem, same solution."
I feel like it can't be that easy.

"Oh! I miss that rush."
She's so cute.

"Prepare to convert organic lifeforms."
"Yeah? Convert this."
Can we keep her?

"I am one person, in a broken universe. My mission doesn't impinge on you."
"I must record."
"Fine. Just put: love."
♥
"Love is the only mission. Idiot."
Seriously, can we keep her.

"You can stop the recording now, Vinder."
That is NEVER a good sign.

"They have to die. And those are my final conditions."
I don't like you. ♥

"There are whistle-blower protocols."
Oh, Vinder. :( Whistle-blower protocols never actually protect the whistle-blower.
"Don't make me relive this bit...Submit it."

The camera work in this episode is SO GOOD. The way it cuts between settings? So good.

"I was doing the right thing."
:(

"This is my only chance to find out more!"
DON'T RISK IT, DOCTOR.
"One more memory! One more piece of my past."
"You will die in here."
"You can't force me out!"

"You think you can navigate all those Timestreams without anyone noticing?"
Um.

"I'm sorry, I'm normally very good at keeping up with things, but you lost me quite early on."
I know the feeling, Doctor.

"Everything has its time, nothing is forever, nothing is certain."

"All is ending. And don't come looking for this -- you can go."
WHAT.

"It's not okay! Not for me! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING."
D:

"And if the Flux wrapped Space, then we have disrupted the flow of Space."
D: D: D:

DI D: D: D: D:
Everything is awful

Aw, Vinder thinks Yaz telling him to put his head in the TARDIS is a joke.
"Is this a TARDIS? It is, isn't it? I didn't even think these were real."

"We'll get Vinder home. We'll get Diane back. We'll find out who's behind the Flux. We'll fix everything. I promise."
:(

"Why does everything have to be a discussion?"
Because you DON'T TALK ABOUT ANYTHING DOCTOR.

"Can you repair?"
"I really hope so."
:(

Oh! Pilot girl is the person Vinder's trying to get back to! ♥_♥ And they're having a baby! And I'm having feelings! ...I'm easily emotionally manipulated, it's fine.
I don't know her name, did they ever say her name? Edit: her name is Bel, I just miss things sometimes./end edit

*meaningful look between Yaz and Vinder as the Doctor just drops him a distress beacon and peaces out to save the universe*

"I'm back home. I came looking for you. BUt there's no home left. The Flux took that, too. But I'm not giving up."
"I'll find you."
"Whatever it takes."

OH NO.

Next week: THE ANGEL HAS THE TARDIS

what's this word you keep using? 'russians'?

chicafrom3 — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 02:29:48 GMT

MORE STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

And we pick up right where we left off, with the Doctor, Yaz, and Dan thrown out of the TARDIS (and the Time Vortex) and into the Crimean War! The end of the universe is still ongoing, I guess, it's just taking a little while.

"Doctor is a man's term."
"It's flexible."

Time has been corrupted -- the Crimean War is now being fought by Sontarans.

Vinder doesn't look like he's in good shape.
"There's been a mass extinction event near where I was stationed."
:/

Dan isn't completely sure that the Sontarans aren't a native part of Earth's history. Why is that so cute?

Oh shit what's happening to Dan and Yaz?
"You're falling through space and time. Yaz, stay calm, I will find you!"
"Promise?"
"I promise!"

"Where's the door! I need the door!" Last week: too many doors. This week: no doors.

What's going on in Yorkshire?
SONTARANS.
Dan's parents seem stressed, I wonder how long he's been gone?

Yaz is so frustrated by never know where/when she is, lol.
"All is porous. All is broken."
Is this the same place Vinder ended up? IT IS. Is this where our heroes start meeting each other?

"Madame, I am at work!"
"I know. I can smell the rum."

"How long have they been here? The Sontarans? [...] I mean on Earth."
"They've always been here."
Oh damn. That's not good.

No Russia, no China, only Sontar. But they still have a semi-memory of Russia. Interesting.

I love Mary Seacole and her Sontaran-capturing/healing ways.

"There is no such thing as pain! ...a little."

"You allowed an enemy combatant to escape!"
"I discharged my patient."
I love Mary Seacole.

"Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Mary Seacole's assistant?"

I haven't commented on this yet but I love the new design for the Sontarans. They look so awful. Like knees in tin cans. It's delightful.

Question answered: Dan's been gone two days.

"Did someone nick your house?"

Aw, Dan's parents figured out the Sontarans' probic vents.

I keep getting caught up watching and forgetting to make notes.

Yaz and Vinder have a great dynamic already but WHAT is going on here. TIME IS EVIL?!

"You have information regarding the treacherous vermin known as the Doctor."
"You're talking to her."
♥

Damn. The British Army sucks. Not that that's new, but...

VENUSIAN AIKIDO

Oh nooo don't trust Swarm and Azure they're bad news
Oh noooo

"Is it bad just to trust things and hope they don't self-destruct?"

Aw, Dan and the Doctor are on the same wavelength.

"Could it have been temporal command? Temporal as in time."
"Oh yeah. That makes more sense."

"Now I'm gonna WOK right outta here!" Oh, Dan.

Oh no, Yaz and Vinder, get out of there

WWTDD?

why do i feel so protective over these floating triangles stop disintegrating them

KARVANISTA TO DAN'S RESCUE
"You're welcome. Idiot."
Dan's little smile ♥

"Soldiers pay the price for their commanders' mistakes."

"I'm gonna need a pointy stick."

The way he awkwardly tries to play off putting his hands on his head...

"Gold star! AND a sticker! For Mrs. Seacole!"

"Did you just say 21st century?"
"Sh-sh-sh! She's talking!"
I love Mary Seacole.

Dan and Karvanista have such a fun dynamic.

"Retreat."
"That word shall never pass my lips. ...We shall make a strategic withdrawal."

Well, that was a dick move.
"That was for the men I lost today!"
"Your guilt, you mean! Sometimes men like you make me wonder why I bother with humanity."
"I am grateful that you do."
Aw. I really love Mary Seacole.

Yeah, seriously, what is happening to the TARDIS?

And Dan gets his formal TARDIS invite!

OBVIOUSLY a trap.

The Temple of Atropos is broken. Time is beginning to run wild.

WHAT DID THEY DO TO YAZ

"How many seconds will their bodies be able to take before they die, Doctor?" D:

Next week: Once, Upon Time

trick or treat

chicafrom3 — Sun, 31 Oct 2021 19:39:03 GMT

It feels so good to have Doctor Who back on TV.

Have a stream-of-conscious review.

I already really wanted The Adventures Of Thirteen And Yaz but that opening scene really made me want The Adventures Of Thirteen And Yaz. Also, Ace Shoutout! Thirteen imitating Twelve and Seven! Just kick me in the heart, damn.

"What's the point of being alive if it's not to make others happy?" Okay, I like Dan already.

There's already a lot of different strands going on here, I'm curious to see where we're going. What's happening to the TARDIS?

Anyone else find Karvanista kind of charming? Yes, he smashed into Dan's house and tried to mindcontrol him, but also, kind of pathetically charming. "What did you call me?!" "Never talk of my mother."

I was sitting there wondering why Dan had such a nice laptop when he apparently can't afford food and then the Doctor and Yaz wondered the same thing and came to an immediate conclusion. They're such a good team.

That's a looot of alien ships.

Well, that's one way to handle a . . . warning? I don't know exactly what happened in that scene.

"You've gone to a lot of trouble to kidnap someone completely irrelevant." Good job, Dan! Thinking quick on your feet.

Claire! Out-of-order meetings! I love out-of-order meetings!

"You know what, Yaz? I don't mention everything."
"No kidding."
Yaz is running out of patience. >.>

WEEPING ANGEL. And Claire knows exactly what it is?? HOW. CLAIRE TELL ME YOUR STORY.

"Nothing has changed. Nothing ever changed. But then, you know that."

I also immediately like Vinder. "You can all go to hell."

Guess Jón shouldn't have agreed to ignore that warning.

"Does that make sense to you, Yaz? No, not really, Doctor."

So the Doctor is definitely investigating the Division that the Fugitive Doctor worked for, right?

Aw, Yaz and Dan already have a nice banter.

"Assuming nothing goes wrong."
"Why? Do things often go wrong?"
"...come on."

Every Lupar has a designated human. "Just because I have to save him doesn't mean I have to like him!" WTF why am I laughing so hard. (Also Division theory CONFIRMED.)

There is just SO MUCH going on.

Poor Vinder.

"I had a mate who had one of these, I think his was a bit bigger actually."
I really wanted Thirteen and Yaz to travel alone for a while but I REALLY like Dan.

AND NOW SONTARANS. "You look . . . disgusting."

CLOISTER BELL.

"They were so efficient. There is not a tiny corner of you that remembers."
"Remembers what?"
"You and I . . . dancing across space and time . . . locked in combat."

Mm, percussive maintenance.

Oh, no, Diane, don't do it.

"Flux, meet Vortex energy, see what that does to you! ...not much, looks like. The end of the universe. Always wondered what that would look like."
Well, that's a definite cliffhanger. D:

(I mean, obviously they'll get out of the immediate situation, there's several episodes to go, but DAMN.)

What a way to start a season!

dear yuletide writer (2021)

chicafrom3 — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 16:35:55 GMT

Dear Yuletide Writer:

Hello, welcome, and thank you for writing for me. ♥ All details in this letter are completely optional; just the fact that you're writing something for one of these fandoms makes you awesome. Write the story that's in your heart!

That said, if you want more from me, keep reading! And this probably doesn't need saying, but this is not a spoiler-free zone...

General stuff:
AO3: chicafrom3
Likes: Gen/het/femslash/slash, in no particular order. Character studies. Plot. AUs, both of the canon divergence and alternate setting kinds. Crossovers. Slice-of-life. Fluff. Angst. Darkfic. Crack. Futurefic. Backstory. Missing scenes. Outsider POV. Unusual or experimental style choices and formats.... Probably more that I'm forgetting.
DNW: Graphic sex. Graphic violence. Incest. References to or allegories of current US politics. References to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Requests

evermore - Taylor Swift (Album): champagne problems' narrator, champagne problems' narrator's ex
"This dorm was once a madhouse," I made a joke, "Well, it's made for me"

What is it: evermore is Taylor Swift's ninth studio album, released in December of 2020. champagne problems is the album's second track, and it tells the story of a marriage proposal between two college sweethearts; you can listen to it here (or on your preferred music streaming site, it's available everywhere).

Why this fandom: I've been obsessed with evermore since its release. It's an album full of character studies and narrative snapshots, a musical short story collection. champagne problems is one of the best examples of that, and I continue to be fascinated by how perfectly it captures a night full of unfulfilled hopes and mismatched expectations. It's a story about heartbreak, about letting go, about mental illness, about regret, about growing up. It's also less than 300 words long.

The request: Because the song is so concise, and because it's so tightly tied to the narrator's POV, I would love to see something from her ex's perspective, either on the night or looking back. How are they really feeling about it? Did they have any idea she was going to say no or were they completely blindsided? The narrator thinks that people are going to blame her mental illness ("what a shame she's fucked in the head they said") -- if they do, how does her ex respond to that? Do the two of them maybe meet again, and how does that go down? Or how does what happened with the narrator affect their next relationship? Essentially I'm just hoping to see something about how the events of champagne problems affected the narrator's ex -- go wild from there!

Fandom-specific stuff: The song does not specify a gender for the narrator's ex, and I'm okay with any gender you see fit for them. If you want to gender-flip the narrator, go for it. Gender dynamics here could be fun, that's what I'm saying.

Ships: Open to anything.

Everworld - K.A. Applegate: Worldbuilding
"I don't know why I keep saying this," Jalil muttered under his breath, "but none of this is possible."

What is it: Everworld is a twelve-book YA fantasy series by K.A. Applegate, better known as the author of Animorphs. It's about four kids from Chicago who, due to their connections to a girl named Senna Wales, end up drawn into Everworld, an all-myths-are-true alternate universe created by the gods of the Old World when humanity became increasingly rational and science-driven. It's currently out of print, but you can check out fan-compiled ebooks here.

Why this fandom: I've requested Everworld for Yuletide multiple times before, so if you are curious to read more of my rambling about the series feel free to check out my past Yuletide letters. As a kid, I was both a mythology geek and an Animorphs fan, so Everworld seemed like it was tailored for me when it came out. I revisited it a few years ago and found that I loved it even more as an adult, particularly for the core four and all their flaws and the way they form a band of true companions while continuing to not really understand how to get along with each other. These are four people who would absolutely not have chosen each other for anything, and even if they're dragged into a hellish nightmare together they don't magically get along just because they have to depend on one another.

The request: This year I am asking specifically for more of Everworld itself. I'm fascinated by the patchwork nature of the world, the haphazardness of the rules and Jalil's conviction that if he can just figure out the OS he'll solve all their problems. The gods of Everworld have trapped their citizens -- and themselves -- in an endless loop where nothing can change...except, as the kids prove with the introduction of electricity, some things can change. It's an incredible conundrum. I'd be interested in seeing more of the gods, heroes, creatures, and peoples from cultures the books didn't deal with directly. All the cultures the books did deal with directly could still use more fleshing out, too; I'm particularly fascinated by the Viking, Aztec, African, and Irish parts of the books, as well as the Coo-Hatch, but I'd love to see more detail on any of them. How you dive into that is up to you: maybe our core four (or a subset thereof!) get caught somewhere and have to spend more time actually getting to know a culture instead of just passing through in a panic? Maybe a peek at Jalil's notes? Maybe a look at Everworld through the eyes of a native instead of a real-world intruder? Everworld over the years?

Fandom-specific stuff: For this fandom, I would prefer not to receive any AUs that don't involve Everworld itself, though canon-divergent AUs are totally cool.

Ships: I'm open to anything, excluding Senna/April.

The Sandman Universe: John Constantine: Hellblazer (Comics): Noah Ikumelo
Look around. Better to stand behind a tiger than in front of wolves.

What is it: John Constantine: Hellblazer is third-most recent relaunch of the DC comic book Hellblazer, centering on magician and con man John Constantine. It started in Halloween of 2019 and unlike other relaunches, it is explicitly not a reboot and is intended to be in the same continuity as the original Hellblazer, although due to *handwavemagicbullshithandwave* John is significantly younger than he should be in 2019/2020. The series is also tonally much closer to the original series than previous relaunches, and not completely unexpectedly it was cancelled earlier this year. The final issue, #12, was released in November 2020.

Why this fandom: John Constantine is quite possibly my favorite comics character, mostly due to the original run of Hellblazer. The relaunches . . . a bit more hit and miss. But John Constantine: Hellblazer nails it. John is struggling but he tries; he's an asshole but he cares; he gets the people around him hurt but not out of malice. He's an aging punk in an increasingly rightwing world -- and the introduction of his future self as the antagonist is a work of bloody genius. And the supporting cast is A+ -- good-hearted neohippie Tommy Willowtree, badass lit major bartender Nat, no-holds-barred (and surprisingly flirty) Detective Dole, and subject of my request, mute ex-gang-member Noah Ikumelo, who visits his mum at least twice a week, who is capable of so much anger and so much empathy.

The request: Noah caught my interest as soon as he was introduced, hanging around a gang that treated him like shit and then forced into the role of John's reluctant tagalong, explicitly filling the role Chas used to play. But it was issue six that really sealed my love for him -- "lot harder to hold than to hate, Noah. But a fuckload more effective." He's a boy who's been through a lot -- his mutism is trauma-based; life with the Ri-Boys is far from safe or calm; he then becomes companion to Constantine, which is hardly low-risk or high-reward. But Noah, even at his angriest, even when he feels most powerless, still instinctively wants to help people. So I'd love to see backstory fic exploring that: How did he hold on to that in the seven years since the incident? What was life like for him before, with his mother? What was life like growing up? Or future fic: What happens to him ten, fifteen, twenty years from now, with everything that he's seen and lived through already? Does he follow John's footsteps and become deeper involved in magic? For that matter, does he ever find out that John is his father, and how does that affect his life? Does he try to avoid following John's path but find that magic follows him? Or something in the vein of canon: Noah helping John with a monster of the week, or dealing with one on his own, or partnering up with Nat or DS Dole. I'm open to literally anything!

Fandom-specific stuff: For this fandom only, the DNW on politics is lifted, given how much of a thing it is in canon. Feel free to reference current events.

Ships: I don't have any in this particular run. Feel free to include yours, whether involving Noah or background pairings; gen is also fine.

To conclude: Optional details are optional, write what you want to write, I desperately crave more/any fic in all of these fandoms so just writing in a fandom off the list is enough to endear you to me forever.

Thank you, and have a wonderful Yuletide!
-Chica

the flux is coming

chicafrom3 — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 22:16:18 GMT

Series 13 news, including an airdate! The series is subtitled "Flux" and will be airing starting October 13. We'll be seeing Sontarans, Weeping Angels, the Ravagers, "enemies from across the universe".

I'm on-board with the speculation that this might be tying in somehow with the Faction Paradox! Obscure? Yes! But I don't care! The EU has already brought the Faction Paradox back, in the anthology book Wintertime Paradox, and the idea of time as something that's constantly being rewritten -- including the Doctor's own past -- is something that could tie in with Chibnall's Timeless Child arc very, very nicely. Am I wildly spitballing? Yes! Excited to see where this leads, whether or not it's connected to the Faction Paradox.

Also hugely excited to finally have an airdate. Halloween! Yay! THAT'S SO CLOSE.

In other Doctor Who news.

Took a brief break from my PDA readthrough because I finally got my hands on the three new Target new-series novelizations, Dalek, The Crimson Horror, and The Witchfinders. (I preordered them in April of 2020. Mm, pandemic delays.) Thoughts below the cut!

All three novels diverge pretty significantly from their onscreen counterparts.

Dalek is perhaps the closest, mostly sticking to the broad strokes of the plot. It gives significant page time to giving backstory to various characters, including Adam Mitchell, Diana Goddard, Henry Van Statten, and the Dalek itself. Van Statten's ending is changed. A few plot details are altered to smooth things over.

Most of it works. I didn't really like the time we spend in the Dalek's head -- the boy with the kite -- even with the explanation given near the end; it's a bit too sentimental for a Dalek. Otherwise it's tightly written and intense and the new material adds to what is (still) one of the best episodes of the show.

The Doctor, making the choice to risk sealing Rose and Adam in with the Dalek:

'No,' said the Doctor. 'I'll do it. It has to be me.'

One single tap on the keyboard, and the bulkhead would start to lower.

He'd sacrificed his own race. He'd sacrificed everything he'd thought he was, what had made him the Doctor. His own conscience. What would that all count for now, if at the final throw of the dice, he couldn't sacrifice his best friend into the bargain? A human girl. Just a human girl.

Do it, Doctor. Damn yourself completely.

So this was who he was. He couldn't escape it after all.

'I'm sorry,' he said, although he wasn't really sure to whom.

He pressed the key.

There's a lot of scenes like that, and they all hit hard.

The Crimson Horror is probably the most divergent of the three! It provides essentially a whole extra story in the 'prologue', which is *checks* 62 pages long, before the episode-story starts, telling how Jenny met the Doctor. It's a fun time, a riff on American Idol in Victorian England. I liked it.

My one real criticism was the framing device. The book is ostensibly an epistolary novel, taken mostly from Jenny Flint's notes with occasional interjections from other people's records, compiled by Jonas Thursday, our fainting gentleman who hires the Paternoster Gang to investigate. I love the epistolary format, but it is not done well here; Gatiss frequently forgets his own framing device and slips into third person omniscient for long sections and even the sections that are ostensibly from one person or another's memoirs will contain things they had no way of knowing or will slip in and out of their voice. Gatiss would've done better to have just dropped the framing device and I would suggest ignoring the fact that it's supposed to be epistolary.

Jenny is the real star of this book and she comes across beautifully. (My other regret is that the Doctor kissing Jenny is kept in, but Gatiss also keeps in Jenny punching him afterwards -- so I clocked him one, right on the kisser.) I was very charmed by the decision to handwave the whole "Clara's dead, isn't she?" conversation with a one-liner exposition sentence about "the Great Intelligence and its monstrously wintry army" footnoted with "see Doctor Who: The Snowmen", like this is a classic Who Target novelization, even though The Snowmen has not actually been novelized. Vastra and Strax are also characterized very well, and while Clara doesn't get a lot of page time she shines with what she has.

For any Jenny/Vastra shippers (like me. I'm talking about me.), this book delivers. This is from the prologue story:

'Seems like a nice gal,' I said primly.

'Very nice - but did you hear her guttersnipe accent?'

'What's wrong with a guttersnipe accent?!' I exploded, hardly able to contain myself. 'Used to be very pleasant on your ear as I recall.'

Madam swung herself up onto the seat beside me. 'Jenny, you don't actually imagine-'

'I'm imagining rather a lot right now, as it happens,' I said smartly, folding my arms.

She shook her hands and threw up her veil. 'You silly sausage.' (Her grasp of the vernacular had come on, I must admit.) 'You know there's no one except you.'

♥

The Witchfinders again diverges pretty significantly from the episode, adding in a short prologue fleshing out the Morax and an epilogue that dives into the fate of Willa and the town of Pendle Hill. There's also a framing device throughout building up to that epilogue.

In that ending, we see that King James has Pendle Hill burned down and its residents relocated. Willa goes off, hoping to train as a doctor, but due to the times and her resources only manages to become a nurse, and when the witch hunts come again during King Charles's reign, she gets accused and tried. In her prison cell, she writes a letter to the Doctor asking for help but has no idea where to send it. At the last minute, the Doctor and the fam rescue her and set her up with Clara and Me to live out the rest of her life.

Tying into that, there's a lot of continuity callbacks sprinkled in throughout, both to the new series and to classic; for example, the Doctor references The War Games and Trial of a Time Lord when talking about the witch trials (and then later reflects that it's really not the same thing at all), and considers but ultimately decides against mentioning the events of the Satan Pit as proof against Satan being at work in Pendle Hill.

Wilkinson also takes advantage of the format, like Shearman, to flesh out some backstory. The witch hunts in Pendle Hill are traced back to the persecution of Annie Clay, an old woman who lived alone in the woods, and -- it turns out -- Becca Savage's biological mother. Becca and Willa are both given extensive backstory and characterization. Yaz's comments about Izzy Flint are given more development (and tied into her backstory as given in Can You Hear Me?), leading to one of the best scenes in both the episode and the book.

'I think I know what it is that's making you sick.' Yaz diagnosed her, not as a doctor or a detective, but as someone who might just have been in a similar boat. Yaz had been watching Willa and seen enough to recognize the signs. She'd lived with them herself for long enough, long ago. No one else had ever known about it, until now. 'I had it, at my school where I'm from, when Izzy Flint turned the whole class against me. Every day I'd wake up feeling this dread, fear.'

Yaz flashed back to those school days, aching to stay at home, but unable to hurt her family by revealing the truth, and knowing any absence would only make things worse when she returned. Because Izzy would seek her out and make her pay twice as much, or more. Sometimes it was physical, a punch or a kick or a fistful of Yaz's hair pulled out, which was painful, but much easier to deal with than the looks, the words, the public humiliation.

The worst was in the changing rooms for PE, when Yaz's kit had vanished from her bag and she was forced to wear the spares from lost property. No one would come near her at Izzy's behest, all laughing that Yaz couldn't afford the kit, that she stank, that she didn't belong there and should go back where she came from. None of it was true and everyone knew it, but no one dare stand up to Izzy in case she turned her spotlight on them. So they ganged up on Yaz, leaving her to get picked last for teams, never throwing her the ball and flinching away when she came close. It would build up through the lesson so by the time they went back to the changing room, the games were just beginning. They stole her uniform and threw it between them like a vicious spin on netball with Yaz trying to grab it back and the girls blocking her, tossing her clothes around until they were torn and filthy, and she couldn't hold the tears back any longer. Maybe Izzy was right in a way - Yaz definitely didn't belong there, in this vortex of pain and rage and hate, but there was no escape.

This flash took a nanosecond but it stabbed deep into Yaz's guts, conjuring the phantom of that sickness again. Will felt it, recongised it instantly, riveted, hoping for answers. 'How did you get rid of it?'

'I didn't.' Not the answer that Willa was hoping for, but Yaz stood up, held her glance, empathic with this Northern girl going through tough times, feeling alone. 'I just took it, had the year from hell. When I say hell, I don't literally mean hell - I mean it was really awful. It stuck with me for a long time after, really got me down, which made me even more of a target. One day, I ran away. Scares me to think how I might've ended up. But someone good stopped me, made me see there was another way. And I told myself, some day I'd stand up to the Izzy Flints of the world.'

There was the hope. A golden thread spun by Yaz, stretching out to Willa if she was willing to take hold of it, keep weaving.

Somebody give Yaz a hug, please.

Three excellent reads. Recommended.

thank you to the voters...the nominators and the voters

chicafrom3 — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 03:28:59 GMT

The Tony Awards Present: Broadway's Back! A Multi-Platform Celebration of the Best Of Broadway.

Or, you know, the belated Tony Awards ceremony from the 2019-2020 season that was cut short.

I know a lot of people were annoyed at CBS paywalling half the ceremony, but as a filthy cord-cutter who would’ve had to do Paramount+ to watch it anyway (I did the free trial shh I’m not paying for yet another streaming service lmao) I actually really like the way they did it! This way we actually got to see the creative awards they usually hide from us and only show clips of during the commercials. It was delightful.

Although I was tragically not very invested in any of the awards. It just wasn't a very good season. (Er, for obvious reasons. It would've been a much better season if it hadn't been cut short -- a number of promising shows didn't get the chance to open.)

Chester Gregory's Black Art Matters jacket was amazing, I loved it probably more than the performance.

David Alan Grier: "Where's Audra? Audra, now I got one! She's got like seven." LOL.

Catherine Zuber not removing her mask for her speech was a mood. Why didn't more people do that? Keep your mask on, people! We can hear you through it! (On an only semi-related note, I want one of those Tony masks people in the audience were wearing.)

I'm totally okay with Moulin Rouge sweeping the technical awards. It's a very pretty show. It's not good (it's fun and I like it but it's all spectacle and the book doesn't hold up) but it's pretty. Also none of the three musicals had good sound design, so... what are you going to do.

I don't know how I feel about Lauren Patten mentioning the JLP controversy in her speech. Like, on the one hand, good for her for acknowledging that it’s a very real concern people have about her character. On the other hand is that really the time? I don't know. (Meanwhile, Diablo Cody wins for best book and does not mention the controversy, even though they're bringing in a dramaturg to edit the book to address it. So it kind of sticks out. IDK.)

Sooo many technical awards 'accepted on the winner’s behalf'. I'm kind of charmed by it.

Aaron won leading actor in a musical! Congratulations! That would have been very awkward if he'd lost. I still don't think this was the role he should've won for (still can't believe this is his first nomination), but . . . that would have been very awkward if he'd lost.

"I'm really honored to be mentioned alongside [...] my friend Audra, but you have enough of these, Audra, you can't have this one."

Adrienne Warren won leading actress in a musical! I still know very little about Tina, I've listened to it and it was basically in one ear out the other. But she seems like a lovely person and I'm very happy for her.

Leslie Odom Jr. has so much charisma and talent, damn. I just want that man to sing to me 24/7.

Moulin Rouge's performance did a good job of presenting the spectacle of the show. And literally nothing else, lmao.

Ain't Too Proud with John Legend was a cute performance.

"Breonna Taylor. Breonna Taylor. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. We will never forget you."
"The table got to be bigger."
"The land that we're standing on tonight is Native American land."
"God bless you, let's do better."
That's an acceptance speech.

"Tell me, what does your silence sound like?"

Matthew Lopez's speech was lovely.

Josh Groban "lurking supportively in the wings", omg. And that performance of Beautiful City with Leslie (on the steps, in order to appear casual and unrehearsed) was gorgeous.

"That's not irony, you just listed things that, like, suck."

That In Memoriam section was devastating.

The Tina performance was effective but it just looked like a concert. Which I guess was the point?

Moulin Rouge wins Best Musical. Idk. I don't think any of the nominees are great theater but it's a weird season. Moulin Rouge is fun, at least.

Leslie and Nicolette singing Waitress together = life made.

Then Idina and Cheno singing For Good! Literally never gets old. NEVER.

Followed by Adam and Anthony singing What You Own. Damn. Hitting me in the feels here.

Audra and Brian singing Wheels of a Dream! They really are pulling out all the heavy hitters to end the night, wow.

Like, given that it's called "Broadway's Back" I would've liked to have seen more from the currently-running and soon-to-open shows, but also these performances are amazing and I can't complain.

And then it's all capped off by an incredible four minute recap by FLS. Wow.

Weird season! Weird ceremony. Good, though. Many great speeches. Great performances. I want rips of so many of those performances.

meet the new boss same as the old boss

chicafrom3 — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 16:55:13 GMT

Russell T Davies will be taking over as Doctor Who showrunner, effective the 60th anniversary

I'm not happy.

I try really hard to be positive about Doctor Who stuff -- it's my happy fandom, honestly! -- but this news has genuinely made me distressed. For multiple reasons.

For one thing I don't think we should be going backwards. I understand that this is a hard position to fill -- Moffat reportedly had to get Chibnall drunk in order to get him to accept the job, and even then he had to stay a year longer than he'd originally planned -- but we couldn't find anyone new? Doctor Who is a show that should be moving forwards. It's a show that should be celebrating progress and new ideas. (I mean, it's arguable how much three white middle-aged dudes in a row are doing that, but nevertheless.) Going back fifteen years to the guy who was in charge when the current crop of fans were kids is...not doing that.

I also don't really think I've made a secret that RTD is my least favorite of the New Who showrunners. Unpopular opinion, sure, but there it is. I revisit his era and there's stuff there I love and there's stuff there that makes me really tired and unhappy. That's probably the least significant item on this list but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my biases.

And, above all else, there's some really worrying shit that was going on behind the scenes during his time as showrunner that's been having a spotlight shone on it recently. Three male actors have had sexual assault or harrassment charges brought against them, one of whom was so well known as bringing his junk out on set that everyone else (RTD included) made a running joke out of it. Chris Eccleston has made it clear that he refuses to return to Doctor Who on TV because RTD-era production was such a toxic set, and specifically named RTD and Julie Gardner for enabling and furthering that. Obviously it's been a long time since then and RTD has showrun other shows and presumably learned from the experience and (hopefully) will not repeat mistakes, but... It's still concerning to me that this is all happening at once without even a mention.

I don't know.

I'm trying to keep an open mind and hopefully it'll all work out for the best but I'm just really not excited about this news.

'You’re about as low-profile as a lighthouse,' said Jo and the Doctor looked hurt.

chicafrom3 — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 02:27:44 GMT

The Third Doctor and Jo deal with colonialism, revolution, and paternalism. In space. Set just before The Green Death.

Some really interesting ideas -- I appreciate that the Doctor repeatedly points out to the revolutionaries that actually it would probably be for the best if all the non-natives, including said revolutionaries, fucked off and left the People alone. Said revolutionaries don't listen (they're different! they're doing this for the People's own good!) which is incredibly realistic. The backstory is fascinating as well, with the reason why the People have ended up enslaved by humans actually legitimately heartbreaking and not as clear a parallel with human history as it originally seems. (That said, there are plenty of parallels with human history that Dicks doesn't hesitate to engage with, going so far as to have an extended Casablanca homage. This isn't the first or the last time shitty people capitalize off other people's suffering.) The drug trafficking subplot was a little predictable (hands up if you figured out Alanna was an addict the first time she got "tired"! how Jo didn't see it I have no idea) and the Doctor's case of mistaken identity was amusing but occasionally beaten into the ground, but I'm nitpicking here; the pros vastly outweigh the cons here. It's a very strong novel.

My one real objection is that I didn't like the repeated use of sexual violence against the two major female characters (Jo is threatened with rape early on, although she escapes it, and Alanna is extorted into sex with her drug dealer). That really wasn't necessary. The stakes were high enough without it, and it's notably not something that's threatened against any of the male characters.

On a lighter note, Jo and the Doctor have a great dynamic throughout, both with each other and with the other characters (they spend a considerable chunk of the story split up). A favorite passage:

'You know, Doctor,' said Jo thoughtfully, 'I very much approve of vegetarianism.'

The Doctor nodded. 'There’s a lot to be said for it.'

'As a matter of fact, I've often thought of becoming one.'

'You could do worse.'

'Only –'

'Only what?'

'Only right now I'd kill for a plateful of sausages and mash down the UNIT canteen,' said Jo. 'And a mug of Sergeant Benton's army tea to wash it all down with.'

The Doctor looked shocked. 'Really, Jo. How can you think of such mundane matters at a time like this? I take you to exotic planets, show you the wonders of the galaxy, and all you can think of are sausages and mash!'

Jo hung her head. 'I know...I suppose you never think of things like that?'

'Of course not,' said the Doctor loftily. 'My mind is far above such things as sausages and mash. No, what I've been thinking about is a large char-grilled steak, new potatoes and green peas, with a bottle of really good claret!'

And on a completely different note, we have the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher staging an interplanetary heist with Sabalom Glitz and Dibber, set between the comic strips War Games and Funhouse.

Much like The Face Of The Enemy, Mission: Impractical leans heavily on the side of 'fanwank'. It's the first novel featuring Frobisher (♥), who originated in the DWM comics, and McIntee clearly enjoys writing him; he's often the POV character and much use is made of his shape-shifting abilities, although for a key moment in the heist Frobisher is unavailable and a holosuit is used instead. The book starts with the Doctor and Frobisher going to see Star Wars and the Doctor making a comment about Tarkin looking familiar -- "I think I met his granddaughter once..." Everyone namedrops all over the place.

It's superfun. A wild ride from start to finish. The moment I realized what the point of the holosuit was for was when I realized just how complicated this heist was, and how certain I was that Mandell would not get out of it intact. Frobisher disguising himself as the bread in Glitz's soup was a highlight. We get another Casablanca reference in Jack's Cafe Terrestrial, manned by holographic PAs, including Ingrid Bergman.

With Glitz featuring heavily, McIntee also takes it upon himself to handle Dibber's death, thus explaining the latter's absence in Dragonfire, and it's a genuinely moving moment. Glitz tries to play it off but you can tell how much he's affected, which makes it hit harder than if he'd been outwardly devastated.

But for me, honestly, the best part of this was Frobisher's narration and the glimpses inside his head.

"I'm on vacation," Frobisher answered hurriedly. "I haven't even been back to my office in a year." Frobisher was somewhat surprised to hear his own real name again. It was impossible, of course, but it was almost as if he had forgotten it. In those days he had spent less time as Avan Tarklu than as a series of other beings or objects.

At least Frobisher was a constant. When he was Frobisher, he was Frobisher, and that was that. He suppressed an urge to shiver. There was something in that idea which he didn't want to examine too closely.

Both books highly recommended, for very different reasons.

No witches? None at all? Whatever could have given you such a preposterous idea?

chicafrom3 — Sun, 22 Aug 2021 02:27:09 GMT

We continue.

The First Doctor, Barbara, Ian, and Susan, in 1690s Massachusetts - just in time for the Salem Witch Trials.

Lyons uses a few red herrings pretty cleverly, both for Team TARDIS and for the readers. Due to confusion over the calendar, our travelers initially think they've landed in Salem too early for the trials and are therefore safe to experience Puritan New England while the Doctor finishes some repairs on the ship...only to see the full impact of the hysteria and paranoia explode in their faces. As tensions build, both the travelers and the reader (er, me) wonder if there might not be alien influence fueling things (hey, it's Doctor Who), but the only aliens around are the Doctor and Susan, and while Susan's not-quite-controlled psychic abilities aren't helping matters they certainly aren't causing the problem.

The tension is built up beautifully. And horrifyingly. It's really, really upsetting to experience Susan's treatment at certain points. When she's manipulated into calling Barbara a witch? Gut punch moment. The real people of the book -- the 'witches' of Salem -- are treated with sympathy by the narrative, going so far as to somewhat break Who canon (such as it is) in order to grant Rebecca Nurse a little dignity real life denied her. Can the first Doctor steer the TARDIS that well? No. Is it worth it for that scene? It was for me.

On a slightly lighter note, we are also granted a full book of Barbara and Ian impersonating a married couple and playing mom-and-dad to Susan, which is very sweet and gives us lots of very shippy moments for my OTP.

But one of my favorite scenes was between the Doctor and Susan:

'Why can't I?' She squared up to him, defying him to deny her needs again. Couldn't he see how important this was to her? 'What's the point in being able to travel in time if we can't change anything?'

'What has happened is in the past. We must not alter it. We cannot. You know that, child.' He was agitated now, clearly keen to end the discussion. Normally, Susan would have acceded to his wishes, but this had been too long in coming. It was time he stopped treating her like a little girl.

'What do you mean, "the past"? Whose past? Not ours.'

'But somebody's.'

'When we went to Marinus we were in somebody's past, but it didn't stop us fighting the Voord. We changed everything on Skaro. I don't understand, Grandfather/ Why can't we just do the same thing again? Why can't we help?'

A sob caught in her throat and she looked away, her resolve fading, the angry words left hanging between them. She wiped hot tears on to her sleeve.

'I'm sorry, Susan. I should never have brought you here. I was simply trying to instruct you in a chapter of Earth's history. I should have considered the effect it might have upon you. Can you forgive a careless old man this one lapse?'

She didn't want to, but her reaction to his love was automatic. Her stubbornness melted and a weak smile forced its way through the tears. She took his proffered hand and allowed him to envelop her in his arms. He guided her back towards the shadowed alcove in which they had left the TARDIS.

But he didn't answer her question.

The Seventh Doctor and Ace, in a sequel to The Awakening.

This was an interesting one, in that I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it.

There's a lot to like about it. Ace's pseudo-companion, Steven Chen, is great, and she's got a great dynamic with him. Many of the supporting characters are intriguing. The Doctor spends most of the plot on the wrong foot, playing catch-up, which is an interesting characterization choice for Seven.

The plot never quite caught for me, and I was frustrated that the Doctor and Ace spent pretty much the entire book separated. Up until the last third or so of the book, Ace feels aimless -- she doesn't know what's going on and she's just kind of drifting; the Doctor's told her to look into Hexen Bridge but she doesn't know what, specifically, to look at or what to do. It's interesting to have Ultimate Chessmaster Seven so off-guard and confused by what's going on but it also means that he spends most of his pagetime playing 20 questions and it starts feeling like the plot is spinning wheels until we get to the climax.

I just also wasn't really ever enthused by the whole Hexen Bridge thing. Everyone's related to each other and everyone's kind of awful and what's going on with the handwriting and I thiiink at the end we're supposed to take Bob and Joanna Matson reconciling as proof that without Jerak/Jack's influence everyone's going to be a little bit better, but there's no evidence that Bob isn't still a racist asshole?

This sounds more critical than I mean it to. It's not a bad novel, and it's got some very good moments in it. It's just not one of my favorites so far.

One of those very good moments, between the Doctor and one of the men of Hexen Bridge:

"When you were six," said the Doctor, slumping into a leather armchair, "I visited the school with Nyssa. You sat on my knee and told me you wanted to be an astronaut. Do you remember?"

"Yes," said Winstone. "You told me a story about an astronaut who wanted to be in space so he could see the face of God..."

"But when he got there, he couldn't see anything but space," continued the Doctor. "Do you remember the moral of the story?"

"No." There was an almost innocent curiosity in Trevor's voice now.

"The moral was," began the Doctor slowly, "that sometimes we do the right thing for the wrong reason, and sometimes we do the wrong thing for the right reason. But that right and wrong are always involved."

"The money Matthew made from brokering the arms deals, and all his other projects, goes to an infertility clinic," said Trevor suddenly. "I don't know why I'm telling you this."

"Because you want to," said the Doctor.

On a fan continuity note, there's a mention of Barbara and Ian's son John, under his stage name Johnny Chester, and his band the Star Jumpers, and his marriage to 'that Australian bird' (Tegan). Yes, I am keeping track of these things.

you were going to spend a hundred years being pedantic?

chicafrom3 — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 02:33:57 GMT

I have a job interview tomorrow morning so this post is regrettably short.

But that was amazing, wasn't it? (I'd say fantastic but I don't want to drive a joke into the ground. Wait, too late.)

In contrast to Ravagers, this got Nine's voice exactly right all the way through -- there was no café scene throwing me out of the immersion. Just pure, unfiltered Doctor. I'm going to be listening to it again as soon as possible.

Of the three stories, Planet of the End was my favorite (Fred! I loved Fred so much. Can she come back in the future? Can we have more Nine and Fred adventures?) but they were all wonderful. Girl, Deconstructed was properly eerie and I loved both Jana and Marnie (and Jana broke my heart at the end) and Fright Motif had really lovely underlying ideas about music and art (and, again, a bit heartbreaking).

I loved Ravagers, but this is a step up; both incredible performances and wonderful scripts. A+

You mean some sort of mirror universe, like in that Star Trek episode when Spock had a beard?

chicafrom3 — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 20:43:29 GMT

In other New Who news, Jodie and Chris will be leaving the show as of autumn 2022. So similar to David's run we're getting three seasons and then a handful of specials.

I'm so tired of this three-and-done run trend. :( Very sad to see Jodie leaving, I love her to bits.

In true Whovian fashion, though, I'm very excited to see who comes next! Desperately hoping our next Doctor is a woman as well and that Jodie has set the trend. Hopefully a woman of color, there's so many great actresses out there. IDK, I'm sure whoever it is will be great.

I have literally no clue who the next showrunner will be. There doesn't seem to be an obvious successor this time, which is making me a little nervous.

WE'LL SEE.

Anyway, in classic Who news, I've finished two more Past Doctor Adventures!

Set during the events of The Curse of Peladon but mostly tied in to Inferno, this is a ~Doctor-lite~ (actually Doctor-absent) adventure starring Third Doctor-era UNIT featuring Ian, Barbara, and Harry Sullivan, and the Master wandering erratically between "ally" and "antagonist", as the Master does.

This book is pure fanwank and it excels at it. I mean. It's all there in the premise: Three-Era UNIT teaming up with Ian, Barbara, and Harry Sullivan. I had to dock it half a star for the treatment of Barbara -- she gets moments to shine but she's just as often shunted off to the side or treated as a damsel in distress, and there's one particular 'twist' that's absolutely awful -- but overall it's just...fun. Harry doesn't come into it until well over the halfway mark and at first is only mentioned as a 'naval surgeon'; I was completely unspoiled for his appearance (the summary I'd seen only mentioned UNIT, the Master, Ian, and Barbara), but the nature of the book meant I immediately went 'OMG Harry?!' and several pages later was proven correct.

The supporting characters are interesting but overall not particularly

The plot is convoluted in a manner that nods at both James Bond and the Third Doctor's era, with shout-outs to serials from all over Classic Who. It's also notable for the nods to fan-created characters John Chesterton and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, the latter of whom would go on to be (accidentally, IIRC?) canonized by Chris Chibnall during the Moffat era of New Who.

A favorite moment:

Mike Yates had expected to find Ian in the Doctor's laboratory. He hadn't, however, expected to find the lecturer simply rooting through the oddments of technology on the benches with a wistful expression. Obviously some of these bits and pieces were things he'd seen before and reminded him of his travels.

As Mike watched, Ian picked up a tiny metal and crystal dumbbell, not much bigger than a household fuse. He looked at Mike and brandished the object.

'You've no idea how much trouble the Doctor got us into over one of these fluid links.'

Mike thought that Ian would be surprised at just how good an idea he had of how much trouble the Doctor could get someone into.

Like I said -- complete fanwank but does a great job at it.

The Fourth Doctor and Leela, separated from the TARDIS, on an expedition to Easter Island in the 1800s.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum...

I think I got about 80% of the plot here? That sounds right, a good 80%. It took me a while to get into this one, but once I did it got me good. The most experimental of the PDAs so far -- told in first person with a shifting narrator, it switches POV between Leela, various supporting characters, and the Doctor, and is told out of sequence. The Doctor and Leela join an expedition to Easter Island to return the sacred rongo-rongo stick that archaeologist Horace Stockwood stole many years ago, resulting in the death (sort of?) of his friend and partner Alexander Richards on a previous expedition. Aliens are, of course, involved. The supporting characters (especially Alex's sister Jennifer Richards) are more interesting than likeable -- that's not a criticism in any way.

The best part is Leela's narration and the insights into her way of thinking. There are frequent flashbacks to and reflections on her childhood and comments on her culture in contrast to England in the 1800s. She filters everything she sees into something that makes sense to her frame of reference and it's very effective. I'm not sure when this is meant to take place, relative to her travels with the Doctor, but I would suspect it's fairly early on.

"Hear me, Richards, sister of Alexander, who is dead. My name is Leela and I am a warrior of the Sevateem. Where I come from I am a hunter and a provider. I have saved the lives of many and taken the lives of many to do so. I have loved ones and I have left them. I came here to this land to understand myself and my ancestors. The Doctor tells me that by learning we change ourselves. He invokes the Prayer of Uncertainty by the Priest Heisenberg: "That which we study and learn from, we also change." This I do not understand. But I know this: all things can be understood by those with the will. All things. And I will keep my love for my father and mother and sister, though my father is dead and my sister was killed before I was born, and I will hold their faces and their love like holy metal within my head and I will still go open-eyed into the world - because if you do not learn then you are no better than an animal: just mindless meat waiting to become somebody's food. Hear me, Richards, and hear this: if the women in your land do not learn and travel and take control of the ties that bind them, then they are already dead. Rejoice, Richards. Offer thanks that the death of your brother has brought you life, as the death of my sister brought me life."

It's intense.

Both excellent reads, for very different reasons. Both highly recommended.

hiya

chicafrom3 — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 04:29:27 GMT

Well, this post is late, but that's how I roll.

Two big pieces of Doctor Who news to discuss!

First, we have the announcement of The Year Of Martha Jones, starring Freema Agyeman and coming in December! And you better believe I rushed to preorder it. I know it's been been rumored/leaked/just shy of confirmed since January 2020 (the prepandemic times don't seem real sometimes) but that's so long ago I'd half-forgotten and didn't really think it was coming anymore. Forgive me my lack of my faith, Martha. I'm extremely excited about this. Martha battles with Clara for the spot of my favorite New Who companion, and getting more of her -- especially more of her played by Freema -- is going to be amazing. The Year That Wasn't is also a goldmine of story potential, although if Big Finish gets Freema again in the future for more Martha boxsets I hope we get post-Doctor stories as well. (Er, sans Mickey, given...things.)

Second, we have a teaser trailer, the casting announcement of Jacob Anderson as Vinder, and the news that season thirteen will be all one eight-part story.

Everything is very shiny and I am very excited! Admittedly I'm a very easy sell because I'm just desperate for new Who on my TV and as soon as I saw Jodie-as-the-Doctor on my screen I may have yelled a bit, lol. And Mandip looks fab as the seasoned companion in contrast to John as the newcomer -- who, interestingly, we barely see. But it looks VERY EXCITING albeit not very informative. What we don't have is an airdate, which is frustrating. When is 'later this year', BBC? WHEN?

The most intriguing part of that first paragraph up there, for me, is the last part. What kind of serialization are we talking about? During the panel, the team talked a lot about cliffhangers, which seems to suggest each episode will lead directly into the next. Are we looking at a Classic Who style eight-part story? No, probably not. But I don't think we're looking at Broadchurch-style serialization, either -- or a Key To Time style arc. I'm really curious what, exactly, is going on, especially since we know from set reporters that we have a couple historical episodes plus the return of some classic monsters -- the Sontarans are back and it looks like the Weeping Angels are too -- how does that fit in with this overarching story? I can't wait to find out.

I'm really optimistic for this season. I think this twist really fits both Chibnall's strengths as a writer and the restraints that Covid has forced on the production team. I can't wait to see how everything plays out.