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Borsuq


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  • 13 weeks
    Happy Holidays^^

    Thought I would take a break from playing dead to wish you all happy holidays^^ Hope you are all safe and healthy and surrounded by loved ones, and those who aren't, well, I hope this little post makes it a bit better somehow:twilightsheepish:

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    4 comments · 189 views
  • 37 weeks
    Yes I am alive 2

    Really, really sorry about being so quiet as of late. Been busy with work and other stuff, and that non-pony story.

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    3 comments · 395 views
  • 61 weeks
    Yes I am alive

    Sorry I've been so absent as of late. My new project kinda absorbed me a bit :twilightsheepish: Actually, for the past year ever since I decided to write a Warriors fanfiction I couldn't really think about much else as far as writing is concerned, even right now.

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    3 comments · 428 views
  • 69 weeks
    My Warriors fanfiction is ready^^

    Well, maybe not ready per say, but the prologue and first chapter were published on AO3^^

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    1 comments · 189 views
  • 76 weeks
    It's been 10 years!

    Yeah, it's been 10 years since I've made an account on this website and published the first two chapters of Rebirth of the Damned, my first story (you can't tell now because back then when you would edit chapters and save them then it would overwrite the date of publication).

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    3 comments · 355 views
Mar
10th
2020

Doctor Who is ruined and here's why · 4:22pm Mar 10th, 2020

You know, I was prepared to let that go. I was satisfied with just mentioning this briefly in my last blog post and only explaining further if somebody would ask me about it. After all, I know I don't have enough watchers to make any significant impact on pretty much anything, so why bother?

But it has been over a week since the episode came out, and I still find those on youtube. The reaction videos with the guy or girl being happy with this episodes. The comment sections full of people who enjoyed it. I would be fine with this, too. Well, not fine, but I could ignore it. It's your business if you like it. I didn't give dislikes to any of those reactors for liking something I despise.

But I kept on finding comments like: "I don't understand why so many people say this is awful, I think it was great", "People hating on this episodes or idiots". and so on. Well then, this got me riled up enough to write a list of why had this episode ruined Doctor Who for me.

Before I go into it though, let me just say that if you like this episode, then it is okay. Seriously, as much as I personally hate it, if you like it for what it is, then I bear you no ill will. But I hope that after reading this list you'll understand my point of view and understand why I won’t return to this show unless it will all turn out to be some massive hoax. And if I ruined this episode for you, then I am sorry. But somebody once told me that it's okay to like some things, but it doesn’t mean you should look at them only through pink glasses.

Oh, and beware, spoilers for Doctor Who season 12 episode 10 "Timeless Children" below.

So, without further ado, let's go:

Storytelling points:

  • what was the point of the Doctor being this Timeless Child? I mean, what does it bring to the episode? She doesn’t use her knowledge of having infinite Regeneration to save the day, you can’t say it helped her get out of the Matrix (more on that bullshit later) as she doesn’t have memories of those past lives. This brings nothing to the episode alone. Save, of course, for pushing Master into killing every other Time Lord, apparently. But did he really need a reason to do that? I mean, NEW reason. He seemed pretty adamant about doing that and/or taking over Gallifrey in the past, before learning that. So, this brings nothing to the episode, but seeing how big this is it will probably carry over to the next season, similar how the mystery of why Silence wanted to kill 11th carried over from season 6 to 7. Which brings me to my next point…
  • a very frequent comment in defense of this episode is that the “mystery of the Doctor” wasn’t destroyed by the reveal, but if anything, more was added to it. I would be inclined to agree… except the fact that this meant nothing for the season aside from giving the Master motivation to kill all Time Lords means that this will be further explored in the next season, and by explored it will very likely mean “revealed”.
  • The name of the Doctor has no meaning now. Remember that special plot point in season 7 and in 11th’ last the Christmas special? Well, turns out this name has no meaning, because in all likelihood, it’s not his original name. Unless Chibnall expects us to really believe that in all of Time Lord’s history nobody, especially Master or Romana ever noticed that there was a Time Lord with the same real name as the Doctor and thought “hm, that’s interesting”.
  • what makes the Doctor special? Is it the fact that he’s an alien from highly advanced civilization with time machine? Well, it is nice and interesting, but no. It doesn’t make him “special”, because there are many others like him, members of the same society with their own time machines. But more importantly: what makes him special is his good heart, his perseverance when facing evil or simply others being harmed. What makes him special is that he does what is right, or at the very least tries to. “Who I am is where I stand, and where I stand… is where I fall.” Does those words mean anything to all of you, who defend this episode? The Doctor is defined by what he does, not “what” he is. By who he became after meeting Ian and Barbara in that old junkyard in the 1963, by how they inspired him to be better. As such, trying to make the Doctor more special by having him be the only member of an unknown species, basically making him Space Jesus, was BEYOND unnecessary. Above all, it removed one of the more interesting qualities of the Doctor: that he was a rebel. A renegade. A member of species that he chose to run from.

Continuity errors, aka breaking canon:

  • the Doctor DIED on Trenzalore. He was buried there, we’ve seen his Tomb and his “body”, his Timestream. The “Time of the Doctor” episode, the already mentioned 11th Doctor last Christmas special, prevented that future from happening by having the Time Lords, after being convinced by Clara to grant him a new set of Regenerations. If he could Regenerate infinitely, then he didn’t need that new set, meaning he would have never died and we wouldn’t have the episode “Name of the Doctor”, and by extensions “Asylum of the Daleks” and “The Snowmen”.
  • Clara entered his Timestream, she saw every moment of his life, saw only “eleven faces and one”, safe exploratory. Admittedly, she didn’t see any of the Time War, apparently, but I assume it was because of the Time War being time locked somehow, I don’t see much reason why the past lives of Doctor were similarly protected.
  • Time War was happening in EVERY TIME. Meaning those past incarnation of the Doctor must have in some form also taken part in it. I could understand the Doctor never running into them until now, but am I seriously supposed to believe that Daleks never noticed that there are many more Doctors?
  • Already mentioned the Time Lords granting him new Regeneration cycle, but assuming people overlook the Trenzalore part; the first thing that comes to mind is, that since the Doctor didn’t need the new cycle, the Time Lords must have been “covering their asses”, which is another frequently raised defense. Let me break this “defense” down; the fact that the Time Lords had to “cover their asses”, implies that they KNOW about him being the Timeless Child with infinite Regeneration. In Hell Bent (god how I miss thinking that was the most nonsensical episode in recent memory) Rassilon says “How many Regenerations did we grant you?” We implies it wasn’t just him, probably the Gallifrey high council or whatever, aka the government. Aside from the Doctor himself being Lord President in the past (and in the already mentioned episode, after kicking Rassilon out), his friend and former companion Romana became Lord President at one point of time, too. So she didn’t think about informing her friend about this?
  • the reason why the Doctor was so old in the "Time of the Doctor" episode was because he was out of Regenerations. This particular incarnation was 1200 years old at that time. The 1st Doctor was 400 years old when he Regenerated due to same reason; old age. Did you notice how the Doctor immediately started to Regenerate in “Time of the Doctor” after getting his new cycle? That’s how old he was, he was about to die.
  • The Doctor died in “Turn Left”, kinda weird that his infinite Regeneration still allows him to die, especially since the little girl at the start seems pretty dead before she started to Regenerate, but overall minor point.
  • River Song shouldn’t be able to Regenerate. Remember how she was said to be “child of the Tardis”, and was able to Regenerate because she was conceived in Tardis during “flight”, similar to how Gallifreyans became able to Regenerate because of generations of exposure to an time vortex or however it was called; and some additional experiments done by the Silence. Well, unless the Silence got their hands on the Doctor’s DNA and MAGICALLY were able to found out how to grant a child power to Regenerate (something that got Timeless Child’s adoptive mother quite some time to figure out), she shouldn’t be able to.
  • Why would the Time Lords EVER let him go on his own to do whatever he wants in the everywhere and anywhen? You would think that, if it was so important to keep the truth a secret that the resorted to wiping his mind who knows how many times, they would want to keep him on Gallifrey. You could argue that they didn’t let him, that he run away, but he was at least TWICE on trial on Gallifrey, first time by the end of his 2nd incarnation, was sentenced to exile on Earth in the 70ties, second time during his 6th incarnation, I think? Where he was being judged by Valeyard, dunno how exactly that ended, didn’t reach that point in the Classic series yet, no spoilers! ;p
  • Ruth. She can’t be a previous version of the Doctor. Why? Well, for starters, it’s kinda weird that she would call herself “the Doctor”. Wouldn’t the Doctor ever learn that there had been a Time Lord before him who called herself that? Remember how this name is a promise? Meaning its personal? All that? Now, more importantly: her Tardis wouldn’t be a Police Box. Doctor’s Tardis’ Chameleon Circuit (which camouflages it to match its surroundings) WORKED until the events of the very first episode from 1963, it broke somehow after they travelled from that era to prehistoric times, causing it to be stuck as a Police Box (in one of the comics it was reveal that it was the 11th Doctor who did that; I highly recommend that comic to every fan of Doctor Who, its “Hunters of the Burning Stone”, Doctor Who Magazine issue 456). Now, about the only way for this to make sense would be to have her be Doctor’s future incarnation… which would have to mean that the Doctor will lose her entire memory of her current incarnation, at the very least. Which admittedly wouldn’t be a bad thing, considering the many faults of the current Doctor (being a coward, uncaring towards people, and despite having two seasons already having no “big moment” that would make her memorably, like Flatline speech, Zygons speech, “Where I stand” speech, Pandorica and Rings of Arkham speech, nothing), but I don’t think anybody, even those like me, will like that. Still, it almost feels like Chibnall left himself an out in case Timeless Children would bomb, which is sorta impressive.

Other things that make no sense if you stop to think about them for a few minutes:

  • Doctor blowing up Matrix that is supposed to hold memories of ALL the Time Lords… with his own memories. It amazed me that I have to explain this one. People argue that he has memories of the 4,5 billion years he spend in the Confession Dial, meaning he has far more memories than any Time Lord. First, funny how none of those memories were shown in that little flashback montage we see while Chibnall tries to distract us with emotional music. Hell, I am pretty sure the only clip of 12th Doctor there comes from Hell Bent instead of Heavent Sent. Second, and far more importantly: in the comics, the 12th Doctor tells the Master that he is billions of years old, and the Master is only mildly surprised. Meaning the Time Lords can live such long, and therefore the Matrix should be constructed with that in mind.
  • the Master killing all the Time Lords (offscreen at that 0_0). Like… how?! If he could do that so easily, how come he never done so before? They had stopped him numerous times in the past, with or without the Doctor’s help. How did he kill all of them if they are still able to Regenerate after being turned to Cybermen, how come none of them escaped despite there being a ton of Tardises around of every corner in this episode? I could MAYBE believe that the Master had done all of that, SOMEHOW, but they would have to EXPLAIN it, which they didn’t at all. If he had used something similar to what the Lone Cybermen had in his chest, some kind of bomb, if they could spare about 5 minutes or even less to explain that; then I could buy it.

I’m sure I missed some other stuff, but I think this comment is long enough as it is. Let me thank and congratulate all those who read through it, I will add some things if I remember them^^

Damn I needed to make this rant...

Comments ( 9 )

Those Twitter puritans running the BBC have destroyed Doctor Who for likes and retweets

Why people get so pissed off at fandom shows will never not make me hate humanity less and less. Whatever man.

#insertyourfandomherewasruinedwheninsertthingherehappened

5217408
:rainbowhuh: That was triple negative, I think?:rainbowlaugh: Anyway, I still love Doctor Who, just not from the Chibnall era. Kinda like I love How I Met Your Mother but don't acknowledge the last episode. Will still try to make my way through the Classic Who (still stuck on season 5) and will probably rewatch the renewed show at some point.

I was more pissed off at the comments of people who don't understand why people like me have a problem with the episode or even plainly insult us.

Also, funny thing, the "why" in this case is one of the reasons why I "hate humanity". The showrunners making shows seem more "epic" and "cool" rather for the stories to make sense and characters be IN character. (although there are plenty more reasons for hating humanity regardless.)

It's an impressive breakdown. I feel that Dr. Who has reached critical mass now. It's so big that anything new is just bad or self refuted by previous cannon. At this point Dr. Who is just the BBC's: The Magic School Bus. I've kinda been put off by sci-fi for awhile so it really doesn't affect me as much as it might an actual fan, but I can appreciate the frustrations of people more invested than myself.

Btw human is best race in all sci-fi & fantasy. No amount of facts will dissuade me against this personal truth.
#onlyplayshumaninwow
#onlyplayshumanindandd
#killtheelves

You made this because you saw one reaction video?

52177430
No, I made this after watchin several and reading through their comment section (had the previous week off).

Ah, I'm sorry this is bothering you so much.
...Ah, and sorry people are leaving such comments as the second example.

"didn’t reach that point in the Classic series yet, no spoilers! ;p"
Ah, glad you're still finding joy in the Classic series. :)

after finishing reading:
Well. Yes, from the sound of it, I can see, I think, why it bothered you so. I am sorry they did that.
(Really, the Doctor does not need anything else to make them special, at this point! Why did the showrunners think that what they appear to have done was a good idea?)

5217478
I wouldn't say that "anything new" would automatically be bad. It just... has to be good! Is it really that hard to think up something (admittedly, I'm a fanfic writer so perhaps I shouldn't argue about it...)? Also, the idea of Doctor having unseen Regenerations isn't exactly "new", as that was first hinted in 7th Doctor era; however, there it worked because they left it as a mystery and didn't spell it out if it was true or not, they just hinted it.

Also, there was one episode in the previous season that actually felt as a children educational show, especially an ending where it looked like the Doctor was giving a lecture to kids (aka her companions; oh, and btw, forgot to mention, all companions those past two season - except the funny one, comic relief characters get a pass - were awful, and in this last episode there was like two minute long conversation where one of them was telling the other - the worst one - why he thinks she is the most amazing human he knows. SHE HAD DONE NOTHING THOSE PAST TWO SEASONS! In season 4 we had Donna Noble EARN being called such!).

Well, the Doctor might be half human, half Gallifreyan Time Lord (as Time Lord is a RANK, not a name of a species, something which the New Who never seemed to understand), he was hinted to be one in the movie between Classic and New Who and in season 9 finale they briefly touched upon it (literally only good thing in that episode; then again, after 12th season finale I'm looking back extremely fondly on that episode) ;p Anyway, I actually used to not play as humans in games when given a chance, I figured "hey, I'm a human already, give me a chance to be somebody else". Buuut over the years humans grew on me, that's why my main in Classic is a human, for example.

5217974
Thanks :twilightsheepish:

Thanks^^ Classic series, while cleary didn't age as well as say Star Trek, is cool in its, well, "corny" way. Plus some stories are really good, like Tomb of the Cybermen, Dalek's Master Plan, and, surprisingly the Macra Terror, dunno why, there is just something about giant crabs controlling an entire city of humans from the shadows that I find extremely captivating. Sadly the last one is almost completely gone, except for literally 3 few seconds long clips. Buuut this story was apparently awesome enough to get an animated remake!

I have NO idea what made them think that it was a good idea. I THINK they wanted to remove this limit on Doctor's Regenerations, so they wouldn't need to worry about giving him another set in the future? Although, considering he only Regenerated twice since getting the new set, they wouldn't have to worry about it for 30 years at least. Honestly, it sorta feels like they were thinking: "Oh, you don't like the Doctor being a woman? Fine, haters, then how about this: the Doctor was a woman at the beginning! Ha, that showed them" :facehoof: I mean, I don't think they actually did that just to spite people, but it does kinda look like that. Also, the more I think about it, I wouldn't mind the whole idea about Doctor having past lives, as long as it would be executed properly, as it had been hinted to in 7th Doctor era, and of the Time Lords reverse-engineering Regenerations from some other species. What I mind is combining the two, of making the Doctor be this Timeless Child. Like, how fitting it would be for the Master to it! Would explain how come he keeps coming back, why he despises all the Time Lords, and it wouldn't ruin the canon as the first time we meet the Master in the Classic series he is already on his 13th Regeneration!

5220955
re the classic series:
Aye, there are some gems back there. :)

re the ""good"" idea:
...Yeah, he went how many decades of the show's run without getting new regenerations?
And as for the other... Yeah, :facehoof:. The people who are fine with the Doctor's current regeneration being female are already fine with it; the people who aren't are likely either people who object to that being the case at all, and therefore still won't be fine with it, or don't object to the concept in-universe but don't like something about it out-of-universe, who also won't have their issue addressed by this.
Ooh, and interesting and nice-sounding idea about making it the Master, aye!
...Pity they didn't go with that. Sigh...

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