Discover Top Posts Tagged with #pro rtd

Is it me or is the Doctor Who subreddit infested with the worst?

I'm all for a discussion of the pros and cons of whatever era, present or past, but it seems like it's just... ugh...

Like you try to pose an idea about how XYZ element was good but could've been executed better and you're being digitally carpet-bombed.

Daleks, the whole lot of them...

Another Master hot-take:

Putting Dhawan's Master between Simm and Gomez does a huge disservice to all three incarnations.

Missy's entire personality is carved out of Simm!Master's character arc. And Dhawan's personality is carved out of Missy's character arc.

His incarnation was all about exploring why the Master turned to evil in the first place, while also being too spiteful to consider reconciling with the Doctor. Hence why he's enraged at the very thought of the Doctor's forgiveness, and chooses to die just to hurt the Doctor that little bit more. He finally discovers the truth of what he is, and while he rightfully directs his anger at Rassilon rather than the Doctor, he's still too spiteful to consider standing with the Doctor, and murders his future self to prevent it.

So, he wakes up as Missy, with no recollection of the events on the colony ship, but plenty of memories of The End of Time and an understanding of why she is the way she is. But now the spite and pettiness has gone. Now she understands why their friendship went sour in the first place, she has no reason to fight and oppose the Doctor, so she seeks instead to reconcile with him, albeit in The Master's typically twisted way, and with her typical narcissism. And in the end, she becomes someone that is not kind, at least not in the way the Doctor wants her to be, but values their friendship enough to try.

Sticking Dhawan in-between them throws that character arc away completely. If Simm regenerated into Dhawan and discovered the Timeless Child, he would still be insecure and bitter that he couldn't be the Doctor's equal, but the spite and arrogance from Simm would've boiled over to the point he would've killed the Doctor straight away. (This would've happened with Missy too if she'd discovered the Timeless Child early in her incarnation). It's only because Missy so badly wanted to stand with the Doctor as equals ("A friendship older than your civilisation and infinitely more complex") that he's so hurt that they aren't equals at all. That's why the only way out for him is designed for them to die together. Because he doesn't want to live if he can't stand with the Doctor as her equal.

It's ultimately a beautiful and intricate character arc, told by three fantastic writers, brought to life by three wonderful actors, with incredible heart and emotion poured into it by Murray Gold and Segun Akinola's compositions.

#doctor who #simm!master #missy #dhawan!master #the drumming #timeless child #pro rtd #pro moffat #pro chibnall #murray gold #segun akinola #masterposting

i hope this is the last post i’m gonna write about this but one of the reasons the 60th specials upset me is that it felt like rtd cheapened his own legacy. his initial run, especially season 4, was so meaningful to me as a kid, so influential to me as a writer and even the way i love and engage with tv to this day. that’s not to say he or his run was ever perfect, the most obvious issue being the terrible choices with martha and mickey, and others.

but it’s still upsetting to know that he doesn’t get what made his own series special. which i kind of knew when i read in the writer’s tale that, had catherine not come back as donna for season 4, the companion would have been romantically interested in the doctor. again. the thing he most consistently got right was how his run had stakes; how you could feel the heavy weight of death. tentoo works because it IS bittersweet, because it does come at a cost to both the tenth doctor and donna.

and now? he just gives us another tennant clone and it means nothing. if it had been 13, if david had just come back as tentoo to remind his former self that resting, living, is still an adventure. that despite what it might feel like, it’s an option. and after all the horror 13 faced it could have felt like a catharsis, especially if she’d reunited with the fam in addition to tentoo reuniting with donna. maintaining the biregeneration would still have undercut ncuti’s debut but not the way having david as TWO different doctors did (plus i was never expecting rtd to have improved on race because i watched years & years and wow yikes).

but it still sucks that someone who has written genuinely meaningful things to me hasn’t learned anything in the intervening years. that perhaps next time i revisit s4 it’s going to shine a little less brightly because of what he’s now written, to me the sign of truly bad writing and something i’ve already experienced from another doctor who showrunner, and that makes me sad. a real “you either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain” moment.

#before you come for me rtd was never actually a hero #even as a kid there were episodes i thought were Bad #but his character work was good (except when it wasn’t lol)#i really hope ncuti’s era feels and aims for something properly different #but i’ve literally spent the past year seeing things being like you’ve! done! this!#anti rtd #and also #pro rtd #please prove me wrong

rtd 🤝 moffat

both being wonderful, flawed, human writers who made me happy in some of my darkest moments.

#⏳ - ooc #doctor who #dw #dw positivity #pro rtd #pro moffat #yes they are not perfect writers #rtd wrote love and monsters and i will never forgive him #moffat sometimes went too far with his ideas esp in s6 and overused the doctors death as a plot device #but yknow what? they had fun #i had fun #and im always gonna be grateful to them for inspiring me

I love all eras of Modern Who. I first got into it in 2005 when it came back. And then I moved continents and forgot about it until 2009. I rewatched the whole revived series and a majority of the classic series and became a mega fan.

This may sound naive, but Doctor Who is a show so integral to my life at this point that I feel I can not be disappointed by it. I like and appreciate every episode, every story arc and like the ideas ever showrunner brings to the table. Of course I have favourites, but who doesn’t?

It is my favourite show and I will always love the narrative and changes it brings, whether it be the Timeless Child, or the revelation that Davros DOES IN FACT HAVE EYES!

#Doctor Who #pro moffat #pro chibnall #pro RTD #Doctor Who spoilers

Character Arcs are… different in Doctor Who now. Is that bad necessarily?

I feel like RTD 2.0 has the same feature as Chibnall’s run. Namely about companion characters where they have lighter arcs or are characters with well rounded personalities that do feel like people you’d meet.

This isn’t a bad thing for me personally. It can arguable harken back to Classic Who in a manner, especially since cast member departures were often to come as sudden as, well, Ncuti’s Doctor. The companions would often just... walk off the TARDIS when they had their fill of adventures.

In fact, I know a few fans who credit Chris Chibnall's run on having companions stroll off rather than being trapped in another universe or having their mind wiped or displaced in time or... whatever they did with Clara. This is baring the likes of Adric dying or Zoe and Jamie having their minds wiped of their adventures.

But… this does stand in direct contrast to RTD’s first run along with Moffat’s where many finales hinge themselves on the Doctor and companion being emotionally challenged in some way. As such, while not bad in isolation, these seasons don’t exist in a vacuum.

Personality can carry a cast of characters and their show with the Doctor always commanding our attention. Yet it's hard not to see the current flavor selection of ice cream as far more Vanilla compared to things that were more... rich in taste.