(no subject)

[white_hart]

I am assuming, from the amount of anxiety I'm currently feeling about who the new Doctor will be, that I am generally not as OK as I would like to think I am.

I am very sorry to see both Capaldi and Moffat going; I think this era of Doctor Who has been incredible. In Moffat's hands, the modern show seemed to have the same magic it did when I was a child and never quite believed that I might not turn a corner one day and find the TARDIS waiting there. I also love the way the show has consistently promoted tolerance and progressive ideas - I am not a huge fan of the RTD era, which I find disturbingly prone to misogyny (as well as much too mundane to fit with my idea of what Doctor Who should be), but it certainly did a lot to normalise the depiction of LGBTQ+ relationships and characters on TV; in the Moffat era, we have had explicit confirmation that Time Lords are not confined to a single gender or the appearance of a single Earth ethnic identity* but can change both these things when they regenerate, as well as a black lesbian companion and, in the most recent series, a strong theme of social justice and the importance of kindness which has been particularly significant in an increasingly unjust and unkind world. On the night of the General Election last month, I struggled to sleep but refused to get up and watch yet another results programme that only confirmed that we were moving even further away from the world I want us to be living in (in the end, of course, that wasn't quite the case, but I didn't know that yet), so instead I lay in bed dozing and listening to episodes of the Verity! and Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcasts. And every time I got to the end of an episode of Verity! and woke up to hear the version of the Doctor Who theme they use as their theme tune, I was comforted by the reminder that, however dark things might seem, there are still lots of people who believe in doing the right thing, the decent thing, the kind thing, and some of those are the people who make Doctor Who and have created the character of the Doctor to stand as an example and a rallying-point and a symbol of hope.

And so I'm worried about who the next Doctor will be, and what Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who will be like. We know now that Time Lords can change gender and ethnicity, and knowing that, I will be so disappointed if it turns out that the next Doctor is still another white man, and I think that will be a sign that the next few years may well not live up to the wonderful, hopeful, magical promise of the Moffat years; that it may become ordinary, and dull, and reflect the flawed, unequal world we live in rather than suggesting a better, fairer, kinder world is possible.

I know it's only a TV series, and it's not really real, but still. Politics is ghastly, and the world is full of horrors; the future looks, frankly, pretty grim for all of us. Work is utterly draining and exhausting and all a few days away seems to have done is mean that I ended up working ridiculously long days last week and am still massively behind where I need to be and not sure how I'm ever going to catch up. I no longer seem to enjoy a lot of the things I used to enjoy (knitting, sewing, clothes), and the most recent series of Doctor Who has been one of the very few bright spots in the last few months. Yes, I am not as OK as I might like to be, and I'm really concerned that one of the few things that has helped recently is going to be taken away.

Comments

[ankaret]

I am not ok either. We can be Not OK together. I nearly gave up on the most recent series because practically the first thing Bill said was 'I fatted her' but I stuck with it mostly because it was a thing Peter and I will both watch, and I came to really enjoy the rest of the series.

There was a great chemistry between the regulars, the 'Something weird happens, the Doctor grandstands in a way that would be totally unbearable if it wasn't for Peter Capaldi selling it and as it is is only somewhat unbearable, the companion succeeds through the power of being human and more importantly the power of there only being three minutes to the credits' episodes which plagued the last couple of series were more or less gone, and I enjoyed both the multi part episode and the finale when those have been the bits of post 2005 Who that have consistently failed to work for me in the past. When there are audio adventures set during this series I will actively seek them out because I don't want it to be over. And I agree with you totally about the importance of kindness.

I would really like it if Pearl Mackie stayed on, though I don't know how likely that is.

I am mostly crossing fingers for not Kriss Marshall. I'm sure he's a nice enough bloke in real life, but I don't think he has the range and also through no fault of his own he reminds me of Boris Johnson. Unfortunately I am having a crashing return of the 'Hope is the thing that makes you feel bloody stupid when it all turns out terrible' feelings that I've had before various political upheavals lately.

Though, the last time I felt this way was tbe General Election and that didn't end with grisly toffs bellowing 'Five more years!' from the window of Downing Street so it's possible things will be OK with this too? I know it's only a TV show, but we need all the hope and kindness we can get.

[white_hart]

I am as pleased to have been overly pessimistic in my expectations as I was about the General Election. Maybe the world isn't actually completely doomed after all.

(I also thought "I fatted her" was a really misjudged line, but other than that I absolutely loved Bill and even ended up liking Nardole. And I am really looking forward to Thirteen, despite being wary of Chibnall.)

[perennialanna]

Chibnall is my main worry, but I am going to give it a go, which I definitely would not have done for Another White Man.

[ankaret]

YOU ARE FAR AWAY AND WE ARE BOTH A BIT TOUCH AVERSE BUT NEVERTHELESS WE ARE STILL HUGGING AND DANCING

I had got myself into a state of completely unjustifiable 'I must have somehow made Kris Marshall happen to balance out the General Election through the mystical powers of everything being my fault' and am now bemoaning having run out of beta blockers.

[white_hart]

I was quite glad I'd agreed to go to a friend's for a crafternoon even though I barely do any crafts these days, because at least it meant I wasn't sitting at home waiting and worrying. But I am definitely hugging and dancing, or at least gleefully retweeting loads of happy positive tweets about it ;-)

[tempestsarekind]

This is sort of how I felt after the Eleventh Doctor's departure: I was really, really worried that the nature of the show would change, that it would stop being about hope and possibility and love. (I got fairly burned by RTD Who and the attempt to make the Doctor into Yet Another Tragic Hero, so.) I found Twelve really hard going, for that reason - his time with Clara just felt so grim to me, even though I could intellectually appreciate what Moffat was doing with Twelve and Clara. But (I'm only halfway through series 10) I've really been liking him with Bill - and completely loving her.

So I am swinging back toward optimism with this show, which is a really nice feeling, considering how much I loved it!

[white_hart]

I found Clara difficult, and have much preferred Bill, though I have loved Twelve from the start (tbh, the only reason I wasn't utterly pissed off that he wasn't a woman or a POC was that Capaldi has been one of my favourite actors for a long time). I was really worried about what the post-Moffat era was going to be like, though.

[ankaret]

I found Clara's character really inconsistently written, even allowing for wibbly wobbly multiple timestream stuff - one minute she's a control freak, the next she's a manic pixie dream Companion, and the only trait she had that stayed stable was being good with kids. Which is cool! But I had far more idea of who Bill was after a couple of episodes than I did of Clara after a couple of series.

[white_hart]

Yes, I think that's right. She seemed more consistently written in her last series and I found myself liking her more then, even while not finding her at all sympathetic as a character, if that makes sense. Before, I just couldn't get a handle on her.

[tempestsarekind]

Yeah. I found Clara interesting, but never quite warmed to her (even though I liked Jenna Coleman). With Twelve…I just found him cruel in his first season - and the show criticized him for that behavior, so it didn't make me angry the way it did when Ten would behave terribly to people and we were invited to think it was cute or funny, but it meant that I didn't feel quite safe with him. I wonder whether I'd feel the same way if I went back and watched those episodes again, though.

I'm still feeling pretty wait-and-see about Chris Chibnall as showrunner: I wasn't particularly blown away by any of his Who episodes (I have a soft spot for "The Power of Three," but that is because I love the Pond family immensely and forever), and I couldn't even make it through Torchwood. But I enjoyed Broadchurch - and casting Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor at least suggests that Chibnall wants to keep pushing forward on making the show more inclusive, which is very good!

[white_hart]

I can't actually remember much about Twelve's first series, but I think I liked him better in his second and third. I would like to watch the episodes again, though, as I suspect I'd like him better knowing who he became.

[tempestsarekind]

I mostly remember what I wrote about the episodes at the time of airing, to be honest. :) It's nice to have a record of what I thought, all neatly tagged, but it can keep one's opinion from developing...