#dw series 8

[twelveskidneys]

one thing which i find particularly crazy about the unicorn and the wasp + mummy on the orient express is the fact that agatha christie was still alive when doctor who was created. the show premiered in 1963 and she died in 1976, meaning that there was a thirteen year period in which she could’ve hypothetically watched it, or at least heard of it somehow. dw is literally so old that they can do historical episodes about famous figures who coexisted alongside it. truly bonkers

#doctor who #dw #dw season 4 #dw series 8 #nu who #new who #tenth doctor #twelfth doctor #agatha christie #classic who

[rookesbane]

twelveclara (and danny) + reductress headlines [1/?]

#in a silly goofy mood #wanted to edit something but didn’t have enough time for a gifset #twelveclara #whouffaldi #twelveclara reductress headlines #reductress headlines #dw s8 #dw series 8 #twelfth doctor #clara oswald #dwedit #mine #*mine: edits

[waffowo]

While Donna Noble will always be my favourite companion in NuWho, Clara will always be the most multi-faceted and complex (as of now). I think that a lot of divisiveness surrounding Clara stems from 5 common criticisms:

1. Clara’s characterisation in 7B and how Moffat treats her mostly as a mystery box first and character second.

2. The length of Clara’s tenure and how some may have been fatigued due to the many times “she should have left.”

3. The emphasis on Clara’s flaws in Series 8 and how it kind of paints her as unlikable over her Series 7B depiction as at least kind.

4. Clara’s departure in Hell Bent as something that ruins her ending in Face The Raven.

5. The belief of Clara as the most important character in the Doctors life inherently devaluing other companions.

I think while I can understand the reasons leading up to these criticisms, I also think that it does help to look back throughout the Moffat and RTD era as it does help explain a lot of these points imo.

Actually, the character Clara most prominently echoes is Rose. Rose, like Clara, helped the Doctor through a time of extreme emotional vulnerability (for 9th, Time War trauma) and developed a relationship of co-dependency with him (as 10th) which never really went away even after Doomsday. Clara had the luxury of time however, and has undergone more events with the Doctor (Impossible Girl, Trenzalore, 50th Anniversary etc) but also how 12th was undergoing an extreme identity crisis of figuring out whether he’s a good man post-Trenzalore and saving Gallifrey. Clara was the one who facilitated his character growth through the turbulence of the arc in instances like Dark Water, Death In Heaven, Mummy on The Orient Express, Kill The Moon, Last Christmas etc and would naturally result in the Doctor developing an extremely unhealthy reliance on Clara as being his “carer,” his anchor to being The Doctor (refer to her whole “Be A Doctor” spiel in the 50th Anniversary). Series 9 already heavily implied the Doctor’s willingness to engage with destructive measures by choosing to separate Clara and The Doctor almost every episode (Magicians Apprentice/Witch’s Familiar) as the stakes rose and cumulated in Face The Raven.

RTD has also once said when paying tribute to Moffat:

“And nestling at the heart of the show is Doctor Who's very own problem category, the Companion, a title inherently subordinate to the Man. Until Clara comes along!”

Imo, while poorly phrased, I think does also hit another nail on the head to explain how Clara can be so compelling to someone like me but also extremely polarising. RTD is talking less about the companion being “weaker” or “submissive” but how Clara is the NuWho companion that wishes to obliterate the boundaries between the power dynamic of companion/doctor. Series 8 for instances plays on the recurring motif of, “Do as you are told” which the Doctor firstly uses to threaten Clara to keep her safe. However, Clara actively retaliates by parroting the phrase back in an attempt to attain parity. This escalates to the events of Dark Water where she attempts to maintain control of her circumstances by forcing the Doctor to be on equal ground with her. What is so fascinating is that Clara while changing and emulating more of the Doctor’s heroism, she equally begins to absorb his flaws which intensify throughout Series 8-9. Clara becomes more deceitful, egotistical, reckless and cunning as she begins to become more and more like him. The means she lies to Danny, her ability to think more and more like him.

However, what people (fans and haters) also ignore is how nuanced the circumstances are. While Clara’s flaws become more heightened, it is also a fact that she wants to be like the Doctor because of his kindness and heroism. Episodes like Robots of Sherwood, Last Christmas or even Rings of Akhten reveal a lot about how Clara reveres the Doctor as a mythic and heroic figure. Clara’s attitudes towards the children in Forest Of The Night, Name Of The Doctor and Into The Dalek reveal that in spite of her ego and selfishness, she is someone who desires to help people. Thus, her desire to become the Doctor becomes more explainable. What a lot of people can’t really accept is that she can be both egotistical, reckless and kind at once. Her actions in Face The Raven were driven out of the fact that it came from a place of ignorance and impulsiveness (not stupidity, the Doctor would do something similar, it’s just that Clara did not have all the clues) in what she believed would be what the Doctor would do and that she was confident she could match the trickery of the Doctor, and yet it was also driven by her compassion towards Rigsby and her while impulsive, sincere desire to save her friend.

Clara is punished because of this, she forgets that she’s far too human. The Doctor is less breakable. She pays for it and as Ashildr says in Hell Bent:

“She died for who she was and who she loved. She fell where she stood. It was sad. And it was beautiful.”

She died due to her physical fragility, her ego, her ignorance, her impulsiveness/recklessness and yet she also died because she was too brave, she died like the Doctor, who she loved (literally look at how her arms were outstretched as though she was mid-regeneration and how the black smoke parallels the orange glow of regeneration). However, this leads to the fourth main criticism I prior stated, so how does one answer that in relation to her character?

The answer is what Clara does and what the Doctor says towards the end of Hell Bent. Clara after being extracted and is with the Doctor in the TARDIS, spies on him because she is instantly suspicious of his erratic behaviour. Again, Clara shows how much she has become like him, she immediately picks up that he is hiding something because she has begun to think like him. Of course, the Doctor was planning on wiping Clara’s memories similar to what he did to Donna. But what does Clara do? She immediately reverse the polarity of the device that the Doctor was going to use on her and challenges the Doctors actions. Clara states:

“Tomorrow’s promised to no one, Doctor. But I insist upon my past. I am entitled to that. It’s mine.”

Clara’s language indicates her assertiveness and also a kind of last hurrah in her game of parity. She is refusing to submit to the narrative of being reduced to merely a companion that the Doctor moves away from. But more importantly, the Doctor after pressing the device and is losing his memory, states:

“Run like hell because you always need to. Laugh at everything, because it’s always funny (…) Never be cruel and never be cowardly. And if you ever are, always make amends (…) Never eat pears. They’re too squishy. And they always make your chin wet. That one’s quite important. Write it down.”

I think on initial viewing when the show was airing, this wouldn’t make much sense but this really shows the crux of how Hell Bent completes Clara’s arc and the necessity of her resurrection. In Face The Raven, the Doctor tells Clara that she’s more breakable as she questions why she can’t be as reckless as him. However, now the Doctor is instead telling her what would later be repeated in Twice Upon A Time, his regeneration speech. In his eyes, Clara has succeeded in graduating from the Magicians Apprentice and into becoming the Magician herself. He’s instructing her how to properly be The Doctor. As I said, Clara was also motivated by her desire to be kind when she engaged in her reckless gambit but what is so wrong about the desire to be kind? And why should Clara be punished for it? Thus, while Clara MUST die, her final act of kindness at the end of her arc enables the Universe to allow for Clara’s final transformation into the Doctor.

Clara is still dead, it is an unchanged historical event. However, to challenge the status quo and allow for Clara’s ascension, Clara becomes a fairy tale herself. Her body is caught in a permanent form of stasis, signalling her departure from the limits of her physicality (subverting her physical fragility) but also as seen through her last words to the Doctor:

“You said memories become stories when we forget them. Maybe some of them become songs.”

Clara has successfully become what she admired, a myth, a fable. She has become a symbol in a story, a story that would go on to have an infinite number of other stories. She has become the leaf she raises to the monster in the Rings of Akhten, she sails off into narrative ambiguity but also infinity. Clara is so polarising because she challenges the definition of what it means to be The Doctor on a pure metatextual level. It’s a logical progression from the introspection of the question from the Doctor himself in Series 8. To want to resist, I argue, is natural.

I could explore further about her adrenaline addiction in Mummy On The Orient Express or these traits I raised explored in Flatline which I may do another day, but I hope I have provided a new perspective on Clara Oswald.

#clara oswald #jenna coleman #peter capaldi #doctor who #dw series 9 #doctor who analysis #character analysis #dw series 8 #Steven Moffat #rtd #twelfth doctor #doctor who meta

[rapha-reads]

Some Doctor Who thoughts...

The Curse of the Black Spot (6x03): a pirate's story with a sci-fi twist, that's ultimately about Amy and Rory's love and the bond between a father and his son.

The Caretaker (8x06): a goofy classic sci-fi monster of the week, that's ultimately about the Doctor and Clara's friendship, honesty and both Clara and the Doctor's fear of being alone and misunderstood.

Midnight (4x10): a sci-fi horror story about a mimicking monster, that's ultimately about humanity's nature and the instinct of the mass to turn to violence when faced with something different they don't understand.

In The Forest of The Night (8x10): a sci-fi monster of the week story, that ultimately doesn't have any monster, but showcases the beauty of Earth, the symbiotic relationship of every living thing on the planet and why we should listen to children and trees alike.

Hide (7x09): a ghost story with a sci-fi twist, that's actually a love story across time and space and death and universes.

The Wedding of River Song (6x13): on appearance, a sci-fi story about alternate timelines, ultimately, a story about love, trust and family.

Watching all six in the same evening does something to the head. Not sure what yet. Behind the time travel and the aliens and the running and the wibbly-wobbly technical and scientific terms, it's all about love and why choosing kindness and honesty above fear and hatred is always worth it.

#doctor who #dw series 4 #dw series 6 #dw series 7 #dw series 8 #tenth doctor #eleventh doctor #twelfth doctor #donna noble #amy pond #rory williams #clara oswald #danny pink #river song #doctor who meta #dw meta #rapha talks #rapha is being a whovian #the curse of the black spot #the caretaker #midnight #in the forest of the night #hide #the wedding of river song #my thanks (and apologies for the notifs) to dw gifmakers #right should i rewatch the entirety of thirteenth run in preparation for november? i might just do that

[personinthepalace]

Unseen Whouffaldi Dates Compilation

#whouffaldi #twelfth doctor #clara oswald #clara x twelve #doctor who #whouffaldi video #jenna coleman #peter capaldi #edits in the palace #videos in the palace #publishing on jenna’s bday haha #unseen dates #did you bring me to a space restaurant? 🥰 #so much flirting #I wish we got to see these adventures haha #happy birthday jenna coleman! #dw series 8 #dw series 9 #the caretaker #under the lake #the girl who died #the woman who lived #sleep no more #face the raven #Youtube

[gallifreyan-heart]

#text post tuesday #reductress #whouffaldi #clara oswald #dw series 8 #dw series 9 #reductress headlines #text post edit #dw text posts #my edit #here we go again #text post meme #twelfth doctor

[thespidersfrommarz]

they could never make me hate you, danny pink

#yeti speaks #doctor who #danny pink #dw series 8

[phyrexian-lesbian]

#doctor who #twelfth doctor #thirteenth doctor #moffat era #chibnall era #dw series 8 #dw series 10 #dw series 12 #dark water #death in heaven #world enough and time #the doctor falls #the haunting of villa diodati #ascension of the cybermen #the timeless children

[thefiresofpompeii]

missy doesn’t understand that she’s in the wrong genre. she believes she’s in a darkly alluring gothic romance instead of an optimistic sci-fi show. in her genre, gifting your estranged ex/enemy/lover/best friend/twin flame an indestructible undead army to prove to him that your will to power is identical is the most romantic gesture imaginable. it’s victory via surrender, it’s control through abdication. all her scheming to “corrupt” him, to demonstrate that they’re the same deep down, that his sanctimonious morality is nothing but a method of keeping his own conscience clean, that’s the hannibal gene, the lestat gene (*obviously the dynamics aren’t 1-to-1 similar, but… close enough) and missy’s tragedy in death in heaven is in that, within the narrative format she’s trapped in, she can never succeed

#dw #jamie catches up #death in heaven #missy #twissy #the narrative #thoschei #twelfth doctor #twelve #doctor who meta #dark water #doctor who series 8 #the master

[strangenessbooks]

I thought Danny Pink was alright...when I wstched series 8 through Tumblr, now he seems a bit of prick. Like he makes being an ex-soldier everyone's problem. I get it what they going for but I'm not buying it. Anyway it turns out I watched a single episode when it aired. The Peppa Pig one.

#doctor who #dw series 8 #doctor who spoilers

[anthony-crowleys-left-nut]

"do you think i care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?" is gonna live in my head rent free for a long time. that was genuinely so beautiful to me.

#personal #doctor who #dw #the doctor #12th doctor #twelfth doctor #peter capaldi #clara oswald #jenna coleman #doctor who season 8 #doctor who series 8 #doctor who quotes

[twelveskidneys]

happy birthday, Peter Capaldi! (born 14th April 1958)

#the way i didn’t notice that i’d picked out *twelve* moments until after i made the gifs… best coincidence ever ig #doctor who #twelfth doctor #peter capaldi #pcap #new who #nu wave #dw series 8 #dw series 9 #dw series 10

[rookesbane]

How long 'til we call this love?

#hey y'all #it’s time for our irregularly scheduled twelveclara relapse #this song man #this song!!!! #it fits them so perfectly #lyrics are from distance by christina perri btw in case anyone wants to know #whouffaldi #twelveclara #doctor who #twelfth doctor #clara oswald #dw #dwedit #dwgifs #timelordgifs #mummy on the orient express #motoe #in the forest of the night #death in heaven #dw series 8 #dw s8 #peter capaldi #jenna coleman #mine

[waffowo]

I was scrolling through Tumblr and saw someone claim that you don’t need to watch Series 8 and 9 of Doctor Who. Thus, I shall advertise why both seasons are so fucking good and SHOULD BE watched.

Series 8-9 is pure character drama (with an added thematic focus). Like the most character orientated of NuWho. Moffat is criticised for his inability to either consistently write a cohesive narrative or his third acts fail to meet the hype. However, to apply that critique to these two seasons feels really wrong because these elements that played a major role during The Matt Smith era are incredibly second hand and only serve as a backdrop for the intensity of the drama at hand. Often, the finales of 8 and 9 are instead incredibly thematically driven and several “unresolved” narrative threads are actually metaphors or symbols surrounding the Doctor and Clara.

The approach is incredibly experimental and Moffat at his greatest. In Series 8, there is a literal double feature that not only has really cool monsters/concepts but is also in reality unravelling Clara’s own character and deconstructing what it means to be the Doctor. To go even further, Clara evolves from a mystery box with some vaguely defined (but still there) character traits to a dissection/inverse of Rose. Clara may be disliked by the end (not by me) but she is an incredibly complex character in Doctor Who and Series 8 further recontextualises her actions in Series 7 while Series 9 escalates them entirely.

Clara and Twelve have possibly the most insane chemistry since maybe Tenant and Tate. However, instead of the comedic genius that is Donna and Ten/Fourteen, we get an incredibly tense and tenuous relationship that verges and transcends romance and platonicism. They would literally go to the ends of the Universe and destroy it along the way if it means to save the other. Coleman and Capaldi are literally acting their asses off each time regardless of what the episode calls for. Also not to say they aren’t funny though, they are still incredibly fucking funny (Magicians Apprentice, Robots of Sherwood etc). Also to not watch these two seasons completely annihilates the character arc The Doctor goes on from 8-10 so do not fucking skip them.

These two seasons may not feel like Doctor Who but they still are regardless. They are about what it means to be The Doctor and the wildly divergent stylistic approach in comparison to RTD1 and Moffat’s Smith Era helps give the show a greater variety. I think it’s vital to keep an open-mind, tis all.

#I have a longer elaboration coming soon #doctor who #no spoilers #peter capaldi #jenna coleman #dw series 8 #dw series 9 #12th Doctor

[rapha-reads]

In The Forest Of The Night is fascinating. Clara thinking she's saving the Doctor and all the interpersonal relationships between Clara and the Doctor, Clara and Danny, the Doctor and Maebh, but mostly, the relationship between Earth and its inhabitants. Trees. Trees are important, always have been, always will be. Trees and children's minds.

The forest that was humanity's scariest nightmare, the place of all the horrors, but even then the source of oxygen and food and warmth. The forest becoming throughout the centuries, as it receded in front of humanity's urbanisation, a refuge, a place of relief from the noise and the frenzy... Forests are friends. Don't hurt the forests.

"You hear voices, you want to shut them up. The trees want to save your life, you want to chomp them down."

Humanity in a nutshell.

Also the music in this episode is really good. Somber and slow at first, and once the Doctor and the children start getting that the trees are friends, it gets joyful and cheery. And Missy's theme. Missy's theme is amazing, I had forgotten.

And Danny Pink. Danny Pink deserved better.

#doctor who #dw series 8 #twelfth doctor #clara oswald #in the forest of the night #rapha is being a whovian

[expelliarmus]

#mine #doctor who #dwedit #david tennant #catherine tate #dw spoilers #how many more gifsets can i crank out with the trailer?? #that remains to be seen hehehe #also i cannot believe it's been like 8 years since they announced the ten and donna big finish series!!!!! #little did i know that i would be getting them back on tv!!!!!