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variousqueerthings · 5 months

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Do you think that’s how Spring begins? With a group message on tree facebook?

it's the last of our non-finale episodes and we are watching "In The Forest Of The Night." do you get the feeling that Clara is maybe... kind of unhinged? (I say currently watching the next episode, but also there were hints)

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 7/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 5/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 5/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 5/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 5/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 7/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 6/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 65/100 (if I can count….)

for an episode with so many child-actors in it, I don't haaate it. it's certainly giving more hope than many this season. I also note that this season has a lot of episodes with the main thread being "the Doctor misjudges the situation."

Into the Dalek the Doctor is compelled to "turn the Dalek Good Again," Robot of Sherwood and Robin is not a robot, Listen and the Doctor is making a whole bunch of misconceptions, Time Heist and it's the Doctor's heist, Kill the Moon and he misreads Clara, Flatline and he's hoping the creatures are good, and now this... the main point is that many of these misjudgements last for almost a whole episode

I feel like that's interesting, and done enough to be on purpose

OBJECTIFICATION: seriously, are we free of this? at last???

PLOT-POINT: Clara makes a choice to leave the Doctor to die along with the rest of humanity, and also there's a lot of her and Danny's relationship in this and Is Danny Ill-Used By Clara? I don't mean that as a "is Clara #Problematic" (because as we'll see next episode and have had hinted all season, Clara is a bit unhinged actually)," but more "is Danny's relationship with Clara something where she sees him as an extension of herself, rather than as his own person, and does she play games where she can keep control of every situation, which has been said in other episodes about her"

when Danny calls out that she's been lying to him, when she tries to compel Danny onto the Tardis, when he ends up giving her another chance to explain herself on her terms, etcetc. that's the real 👀👀👀 of the episode

because the "I don't want to be the last of my species" is eh, whatever, seriously if you genuinely think the earth is about to end you bundle those pre-teens onto that spaceship and deal with the trauma of losing their parents later as far as I'm concerned

COMPLEXITY: I like trees. trees like us. ignore the CGI animals. good trees. gosh I'm tired. trees. there's a bit of silliness about how trees feature in all your scaaaary fairytales, which wasn't really necessary in my opinion, and is this thing that happens so often in M*ffat era of trying to make everything into a story within a story, even when it definitely Is Not, but apart from that

trees

it does have a whole thing about a kid who hears voices and it turns out it's her disappeared sister who maybe got briefly swallowed by the trees but then comes back at the end? unclear, may have been silly not to notice what was going on there, but fairly sure this wasn't entirely explained

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: the Doctor's hearts grew three sizes that day, because he was schooled by some kids (genuinely enjoyed that)

the Doctor also is seeing that Clara genuinely really likes Danny... I know the word "love" has been bandied around, I'm not sure they're quite there in my head, but fuckit, they've had episodes that show them places. they went on a date. there's clearly stuff happening beyond what we see. I'll take it

and seeing that Danny ain't all bad

also Clara... may be unhinged. more on that next time!

Missy was there again... I was saying "Missy" until this point because ooooh who could it be -- but from now on we're going Master, fuck this noise. The Master. none of that "Missy" nonsense. The Master is there being like oooh interesting

COMPANIONS MATTER: this one's really about the kids doing stuff, and that's fine. I... am a grouch about kids in this era, because there's a lot of episodes with kids in the Tardis and this is fully a show for kids, but so often they're just not well-written and there's definitely some Stuff like that in here, but for the most part this lot are chill

I have a question about how this particular school is going to have a bunch of kids convinced they've been in a spaceship and what that'll do to them (like how Love & Monsters is about a man who met the Doctor as a kid and it changed his whole damn life), but eh

Clara is there. as a teacher. she sort of does some teachery things. neither her nor Danny initially notice that they're missing a kid which is wild, but I'll let it slide

Clara makes a very particular choice about "not wanting to live without her species" where it's all about saving the Doctor, because the kids would rather see their parents than... not die, which goes on the list of frankly bonkers things this show has had Clara do. Really Clara? as their current caregiver, you'd not save them from heat death because they'd be sad about their parents? is that... hmmm.....

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: the Doctor gets it all wrong in this one and then the episode kind of ends

this is a bit of the downside of this style of writing -- the Doctor isn't particularly proactive in a couple of these episodes. the balance is a little off. I would have liked to have seen a bit more idk. we've communicated with the trees or something

make the trees more central as characters in a way, drop the CGI wolves and have there be more of an investigation. a lot of this episode was a bit passive

thiiiiis episode though has the Doctor echoing words in Kill The Moon, and rephrasing them: "This is my earth too, I walk your earth, I breath your air" -- I don't think we've had real development between these episodes for the Doctor to reach this conclusion, but I like it on its own. I think that's a wider issue with season 8 which is that the overarching character development of it is... poor. but that's not this episode's issue, so much as an overarching problem

maybe should make a season recap...

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: there's not much in this one. stands alone. Idk I kind of think this one could have benefited from a bit of connection, there's something very flee-floating about this episode, where it's sort of talking about ostensibly grand themes of survival of humanity, but you're sitting there the whole time going "yeah but earth's not really threatened and it's not quite... about anything"

and I think if it had somehow given some more context, given it a bit more grounding in the lore, so the free-floating stuff wasn't totally on its own, it would have worked better

“SEXINESS”: SERIOUSLY ARE WE FINALLY FREE!!!?? there's this one suspect line where a kid is like (paraphrased) "of course Mr Pink and Ms Oswald like each other they keep arguing," which made me squint. Oh kids, don't take in that alloromantic, het nonsense!

INTERNAL WORLD: listen, a Doctor Who episode going "and then everybody will forget" is fine enough I guess. better than just letting "and then the earth was covered in trees" hang there, although if one were to be pedantic (watch me) one might point out that suddenly appearing trees would have done some wild things to places that would have gotten people killed, and so I don't think it would be quite so possible to just... forget

it's very much a fairytale in that it doesn't explain much on purpose, but it doooes have a bit of cop out, especially since M*ffat era uses this as an excuse to undermine the lore in his own era constantly. this episode feels a bit more like it's intentionally a fairytale, but... it's been a looong M*ffat era and there's still more to come

POLITICS: this episode has an odd thing about a girl who "sees" things and "has fits," and it's actually for a scifi reason, which doesn't age greaaat as a concept -- he basically says that if a child is speaking, you should listen, which is great, I see the purpose of it, but also is one of those tropes of "psychopathy/hallucinations are actually the universe telling you things" which, I mean, I get how it got there on this show, hopefully is aged out now

it does have stuff about please be nice to trees, because trees are great! but also again, this is a very free-floating episode, and while it is for kids, I think it needed to just. have some kind of grounding somewhere

gosh I love trees though

FULL RATING: 65/100 (if I can count….)

I feel a bit inverse about this one to "Flatline" in that the more I think about it, the more holes poke out and the less it works as a story. It's a bit unformed, a bit rambling, and while I like the idea of there being no threat, except the one humanity creates, it's kind of undercut by other episodes in which there is very much a threat! also the trees could have felt like characters, but didn't really

it scans a bit like a last minute entry, kinda like how Fear Her back in s2 has good moments, but is soooo unpolished

I mean, I don't hate it. I don't think it totally works, but as you see in this rating it's not making me foam at the mouth or anything

and that puts us... at finale time! of s8!

#im watching nu!who #im watching capaldi who #episode in the forest of the night #the measurement

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yahoo201027 · 6 months

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Day in Fandom History: October 25…

The City of London and the Rest of the World become one, huge forest, taking over everything one morning and it's up to The Doctor, alongside Clara, Danny, and some Schoolchildren on a field trip to turn everything back to normal. “In the Forest of the Night” premiered on this day, 9 Years Ago.

#Day in Fandom History #9 Years Ago #Doctor Who #Series 8 #Episode 10 #In the Forest of the Night #TV and Film

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a-sentient-cup · 1 year

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TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES

They are us

#wtnv #welcome to night vale #the whispering forest #wtnv episode 6 #the drawbridge wtnv

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cheeseanonioncrisps · 2 years

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Nobody:

Literally nobody, ever:

Me: What if the process of being turned into a tree by the Whispering Forest was actually unspeakably gruesome?

#body horror #gore #blood #injury #eye trauma #welcome to night vale #wtnv #night vale #whispering forest #i recently started listening to it from the beginning #catching up on all the episodes i missed or skipped over #and this image has been in my head ever since the Whispering Forest episode #fan art #my art #i haven't listened to a lot of the more recent episodes yet #so no spoilers please

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tardxsblues · 1 year

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Well, you know what, Doctor? This time, the human race is saving you.

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nounpolycule · 1 year

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Propaganda/Explanation below the cut:

Rose Tyler and Clara Oswald are exes:

[Image description: "To be clear when I say that Rose and Clara are exes I don’t mean I think they were in love at any point. I don’t mean that I think they even got along that well. Honestly, I don’t even mean that they dated. But there was definitely a Thing and they did not speak of it and they eventually stopped speaking to each other and when Jackie asked whatever happened to that friend of Rose’s? Clara? Rose just shrugged and brushed it off but years later Jack Harkness would hear about it in detail one night while Rose was drunk." End image description.]

I think I've already said all I need to say about this in this post (pictured above).

Series 8 of New Who is (mostly) good, actually:

Picture this. You turn on series 8. You skip Kill the Moon except for the last scene. You skip The Caretaker. You watch just the chunk of Forest of the Night that sets up Clara calling Danny at the start of Dark Water. You haven't actually watched a single second of the show that was less than "pretty good".

#kasteraxilkemeryapheshexerindaikyat opinion poll round 1 #kasteraxilkemeryapheshexerindaikyat opinion poll #kasteraxilkemeryapheshexerindaikyat.pdf #poll #Forest of the Night had so many good bits why was it so fucking weird about psych meds?#The Caretaker was such a good concept for an episode why the fuck was it so racist?#and Kill the Moon exists

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warandpussy · 2 years

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kill the moon is. worse than I remembered.

it’s very frustrating because there is a ghost of a good episode in there I feel - one where there are like literally any consequences to anything (my biggest critique of s8 is that there are no consequences to anything that happens in a good number of the stand-alone episodes). and clara’s takedown of the doctor at the end is probably one of the best companion monologues in the show.

but like if you’re going to set up a scene where humanity tells you to kill the moon to save the earth, and then you have clara ignore humanity because she knows better / can’t bear to do it / whatever, that could be a really interesting character beat that could play in to her larger character arc, the one that eventuates in her downfall, of “becoming too much like the doctor” (she even has her own young, female companion in courtney). and THEN you have the added spicy content of like… it’s the doctor that put her in that position! so him not being there led her down this path, in a way. and THAT plays into his specific trauma of “I destroy the people I love by being near them”. like it could have really been a crunchy character moment that was a turning point for her in the show.

but yeah they just ignore that part and are like yay you made the right choice :) <3

#this is not even getting in to the whole abortion metaphor thing #it’s just like okay the moon baby laid another egg the exact same size as the old one so don’t worry about it zero consequences #in the forest of the night is the same where it has the trees that grow and literally rip up entire cities and then vanish #but when they vanish all the pavement they ripped through is magically fixed again #this is why I maintain s9 as the best series of dw because they’re all two parters and they literally like #all do the thing where it’s like ‘here’s a fucked up thing we did’ and then the next episode is ‘and here’s us having to deal with the #fallout from that’#so much more interesting #doctor who #twelve #clara oswald #time heist is SO fun though. nonsensical really. but highly camp and fun

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poeticjackalope · 1 year

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i meditate instead of smoking weed when i want to kill myself

find me pressed against the bed frame, closed into the almost-silence of my room with my back straight, “as if someone is pulling the top of your head by a string.” no one ever tells you that proper posture hurts like a bitch when you’re perpetually slouched.

take your place next to me, shuffling against the carpet until we’ve found the correct position, my hand finds yours and two things become one. before you came in, one of those guided meditation audios was playing, you know the one– voiced by some thirty something who sounds like they have their shit together.

now we fall into it with only the rise and fall of our chests as a guide. ‘close your eyes’ i say, ‘i have something to show you’.

in the empty space between my consciousness and unconsciousness rests the stump of a tree. the clean cut reveals decades of rings of a life that learned to exist ungrudgingly.

stories are written in the wood grain of each uneven line. it’s best to acknowledge the drought when you look at the layers made thin by the flickering led’s of every bathroom stall we became acquainted with. between years are scorches of black scabbed bark, burnt from nights spent in the fold of our own thoughts. it’s easy to indulge the sorrow when you linger on them for too long, but you can’t ignore that the tree keeps growing.

as we look on, each layer grows thicker, reminding us– insisting even– that we are real and alive, that there are roots anchored in, like veins. we’ve made this place our home, no matter how much we hate to love it.

you reach out to trace the life lived in the lines, and the stump, because all things must end, unfurls. wood recycles into an old-new shape, the past stands towering above us.

in one blink, it’s a pine. it’s flesh is soft and forgiving. in the next, it’s an elm, strong and reliable bark that gives selflessly.

time moves in between the clench of our fingers, grass growing thick and dancing under the civil dawn sky. moss winds up our legs while birds find their home here, there’s music weaving through the leaves. change is gradual, but it brings something close to peace with it, it almost feels like permission to rest. ‘i’m ready to go’ you say, ‘thank you’.

we surface from the dream with hands still clasped on a lifeline. i pluck out the leaves tangled in your hair and press them between the pages of a book, and despite the irony, i’m finally convinced that everything is okay in the end.

#poem #poetry #poetry??#meditation #mindfulness #writing #creative writing #writeblr #on writing #trees and forests #inspired by a late night depressive episode #what a lovely thing #to be cared about #he/him #transgender #lgbtqia+#gay

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