There's Always That One Episode
You're watching Doctor Who in 2014 and:
And in 2018:
And in 2025:
...Oops?
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祝日 / Permanent Vacation

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almost home

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if i look back, i am lost
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cherry valley forever

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@cringecompanionapologist
There's Always That One Episode
You're watching Doctor Who in 2014 and:
And in 2018:
And in 2025:
...Oops?
They didn't tell us that the master fucked adric in castrovalva while he was being tortured in the torture web but they didnt need to. We already know
…RUN!
You can see three types of companion in this situation.
Waiting for the Doctor's signal, ready to run (Jamie, Turlough)
No idea wtf this is about (Tegan)
Already fucking running (Ace)
🥬🫚 fiveturlough week is 1-7 june 2026. more details below. 🫚🥬
Analysis of The Reckoning: The Rest of Part 1
Based on the number of screenshots I took, this analysis will probably be four parts. For a two part story. I'm funny like that. Anyway:
twice now ppl on the big discord server have been like 'haha poor fiveturlough fans, turlough said the doctor's like a father figure to him.' sorry ig i missed the memo when father figures became unfuckable.
This will definitely be coming up in my analysis of The Reckoning :)
Analysis of The Reckoning: The First Bit
Okay. Obvious Here There Be Spoilers for the new Big Finish audio The Reckoning. Thank you to @vislortherizzler for transcribing everything so I can easily point to stuff. This particular post covers just the first few scenes that were released early. The rest will follow when I feel like it.
brb tearing up rn
can someone get turlough a body pillow. or alternatively, some physical affection.
The Doctor is slacking on his boyfriend duties...
If you go by this timeline he sorta did...
30 Days of Doctor Who Day Nineteen: What’s your favorite Doctor Who-related youtube video? ↳Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy Turlough
I can’t even go into why I love it, you just..you have to see it for yourself.
[1:25] WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT YOUR TEACHER THE BRIG LIKE THAT
SCRATCH THAT I REALLY DON’T WANT TO KNOW
@seekingthespheres I feel it is very important to make sure you have seen this
this time it’s @natequarter ’s fault (I’m sure you’ve seen it, but your post about turlough glaring like a pathetic meow meow while tied up reminded me of it yet again)
nice to see this beautiful fanvid again!
@cringecompanionapologist
can someone get turlough a body pillow. or alternatively, some physical affection.
The Doctor is slacking on his boyfriend duties...
What 5 Can Do That 6 Can't (Nothing)
Okay, I’m not gonna go into a whole Tumblr Essay Thing, but since we’re going to see Turlough with another Doctor, I wanna talk about something in 5 and Turlough’s dynamic that’s interesting. If this is anything like an essay, it’ll hopefully be a short one.
The situation with Turlough and the Black Guardian is one of the few times 5 actually plays to his strengths. Both 3 and 4 were natural authority figures. They could show up in a situation and just sort of talk their way into being in charge. Having two authoritative Doctors in a row means that 5 doesn’t really know what to do without those vibes. He used to, because 2 didn’t have that authoritative vibe. And he knew how to handle it. He became good at staying at the sidelines, often just observing the plot for a while before getting involved. The pacing of most 2nd Doctor stories was set up for it.
Yeah, we’re gonna need to break to talk about pacing.
6-parters were very common during the era. These longer stories meant a lot of time just watching the one-off characters do their thing. This could get boring if the one-off characters weren’t interesting enough, but the overall formula of spending a lot of time with these characters is there for a reason. Because the Doctor is observing the characters. The show is inviting the audience to do the same thing.
But then we get to 3 and the longer stories started to feel more padded. Lots of long chases and fights, sneaking around, getting captured, escaping, and getting captured again. In UNIT stories, this wasn’t too much of a problem. 3 was created for the UNIT stories. But when 3 left UNIT, left the present, and went on an adventure closer to what the first two Doctors did, it started to feel weird. 3 isn’t a character he sits back and observes for long periods of time. He’s an action hero. He’s always doing something. So there always had to be something for him to do. In 4-parters, with a faster pace, this need for constant action made stories exciting. But if the stories got too long, it felt like padding.
By the time 4 came around, 6-parters were reduced to one per season. 4-parters became the norm. Though 4 wasn’t exactly an action hero, he was a dynamic, energetic character who immediately attracted attention everywhere he went, so observing from the sidelines wasn’t really an option. So you had a shorter runtime to keep that to a minimum, except for special occasions.
With 5, 6-parters had disappeared all-together. 5 is younger than previous Doctors, more physically fit, which left opportunities for action, but that’s ultimately not what they went with. Instead, the reoccurring thing with 5 was that he sucked at being 4. He’d show up somewhere, try to take charge, and be shot down. People didn’t listen to him and people died.
This actually would’ve been a good time to bring back some more 2-era storytelling. There were 4-parters during that era, so it could still work with a shorter runtime. Have the Doctor stay back, observe the situation, and figure out the best way to handle it as he goes. But most of the writers of the era either didn’t think to do that or didn’t know how. So we didn’t get much of it.
But then you look at the arc with Turlough. How does 5 handle that situation? It’s implied that he knows that something’s wrong with Turlough very early on, but he doesn’t confront him. He just watches and waits. He’s very kind to Turlough, which subtly influences him to turn away from the dark side, but it’s indirect. He lets Turlough resolve his own conflict, just providing the support he needs to do it.
And that’s what works. He observes, figures out what’s going on, and decides to let things play out, influencing things to work out how he wants them do, but remaining mostly passive. This is probably what leads to Turlough trusting him. The Doctor doesn’t judge him, doesn’t tell him what to do, he just lets him make his own choices. This lack of judgement or control makes Turlough want to make the right choice. So he does.
A more authoritative Doctor couldn’t have done this. As soon as they figured out what was going on, they’d confront Turlough, scaring him away. With so many stories where 5 fails to do what his predecessors did, you have one where he succeeds where they would’ve failed.
So going into the 6th Doctor audios with Turlough…Well, 6 is the opposite of 5. He’s active and authoritative. He has no patience for any bullshit. Turlough needs him to be patient and passive to make him trust him. If 6 pushes, Turlough will push back or run away. If 6 directly asks what’s going on with Turlough, he won’t tell him. This isn’t a situation 6 can really handle. He’ll either have to relearn the things he knew as 5, or someone else will have to take over here. I’m looking forward to seeing which way it goes.
Since we're going to get the 6/Peri/Turlough adventures soon, and there's sure to be a lot of "6 and Turlough don't trust each other" conflict, I wanna single out this line from Red for Danger. Whatever trouble Turlough's gotten himself into, which I'm sure he'll be very secretive about, you really get the vibe that if he'd run into 5 again instead of 6, he would've just told him everything, trusting him to help him.
Why do I get the feeling Older!Companions will always be depicted with a spouse of the opposite sex and kids just like...by default? Pretty much every story that brings a companion back for more than a cameo references marriage and/or kids at least in passing. It's like it's sort of assumed that it's just what happens to everybody? Young people go on adventures, and they settle down, get married, and have babies. I actually kind of want to look through every older!companion storyline and see if it's a pattern. The only ones I can thing of that don't get married and have kids are the "they live a lonely life without the Doctor" ones like Sarah Jane.
Post-Doctor Companion Categories:
Nuclear family (may or may not go tragically wrong)
Sad and lonely
Working for UNIT
Why do I get the feeling Older!Companions will always be depicted with a spouse of the opposite sex and kids just like...by default? Pretty much every story that brings a companion back for more than a cameo references marriage and/or kids at least in passing. It's like it's sort of assumed that it's just what happens to everybody? Young people go on adventures, and they settle down, get married, and have babies. I actually kind of want to look through every older!companion storyline and see if it's a pattern. The only ones I can thing of that don't get married and have kids are the "they live a lonely life without the Doctor" ones like Sarah Jane.
Ncuti Gatwa as Algernon Moncrieff in "The Importance of Being Earnest"
This version of the play is now available to watch for free on the National Theatre Live youtube!! But it's only free until March 18th so GO GO GO!!
Just watched this and it is fantastic!
@third-doctor
I believe you were asking about this.
Reasons Companions Left the TARDIS
Susan: Abandoned in a post-apocalyptic wasteland to get laid
Ian and Barbara: London 1965
Vicki: Chose to stay in the post-apocalyptic wasteland to get laid
Katarina: Yeeted out an airlock
Sara: Technically died of old age
Steven: Became king of a nameless planet
Dodo: Just fucking left, I guess...
Ben and Polly: Got the fuck out at the first possible opportunity
Victoria: Retired from adventuring after suffering a nervous breakdown
Jamie and Zoe: Memory wiped by Time Lords
Liz: Got sick of the Doctor's shit
Jo: Left the Doctor to marry a younger, more human quirky scientist and go on adventures with him instead.
Harry: Went back to the military
Sarah Jane: Left behind because the Doctor was scared she'd get memory wiped by Time Lords
Leela: Only living person who actively wants to be on Gallifrey.
K9: Leela got custody.
Romana: Stayed in another dimension to avoid Gallifrey.
K9 II: Romana got custody.
Adric: Killed the dinosaurs
Nyssa: Got a job at a leper colony
Tegan: Thought the show was getting too violent and stopped watching.
Kamelion: Put out of his misery.
Turlough: Got custody of his brother and decided he should live in a more stable environment.
Peri: Died, but then JNT wimped out and changed it so she married Brian Blessed
Mel: Switched time travelers with Ace.
Ace: There are many theories
Adam: Failed his TARDIS entrance exam
Mickey: Left for a universe where people respected him, before going back to the first one because they respected him now.
Rose: Got stuck in that other universe. Eventually got her own Doctor so she'd stop breaking reality trying to get back to the first one.
Martha: Was way too good for this shit.
Donna: Mindwiped to save her life, then later got unmindwiped and kept the Doctor that unmindwiped her.
Amy and Rory: Got Weeping Angeled
Clara: Died, but also didn't, became a Magic Time Lesbian
Bill: Became a Cyberman, unbecame a Cyberman, became a Magic Time Lesbian
Ryan and Graham: Got bored of being companions or something
Dan: Left because the finale had too many characters
Yaz: Abandoned so RTD could have a clean slate
Ruby: Seemingly abandoned because her parental issues have been resolved while the Doctor's have not. He's being an idiot about it.
Seeing this reblogged reminded me of an update:
Belinda: Got rewritten into a housewife by some asshole, got rewritten again into a single mom by the Doctor, so I'm pretty sure the version of Belinda we followed this whole time functionally died...