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whoovesnassistant · 3 years

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A Hello, A Thank You, And A Brain Dump.

Dear PwPP team,

I am a recent fan, and I am quite an odd one. I am a lover of everything Doctor Who, so much so I have memorized everything about the Doctor and his interactions during the 2005 revival. Yet since I have watched basically all the doctor who media I had access to (Excluding the most recent season because it does not interest me in the slightest, no offence to 13’s actor) I was without any Doctor Who content that actually interested me.

Well until I made a discovery. You see, when I was moving to a new house, I found a figure I did not remember owning. It looked like a My Little Pony version of Doctor number 10. It fascinated me because It was officially licensed! So, I went down a rabbit hole, and found a whole new Doctor Who community, lost to YouTube, or even, Internet time entirely.

That’s a little bit of a dramatization, but the point still stands that I discovered something that a lot of people forgot. The thing is, I know nothing about the My Little Pony area of fandoms, but I found this new world of Doctor Who so fascinating. Not only that, but it was a whole community!

It was intoxicating! Doctors that I’d never dream of! And actually seeing the doctor see something he truly did not know! But most of all… people who understood what made Doctor Who, Doctor Who.

I’m not a My Little Pony fan, not in the slightest, but as a Doctor who fan, your series is beyond stellar! I know when people understand Doctor Who or not, and you all did know on a level I don’t even thing some real Doctor Who show writers do! Also, your adaptation of the doctor feels so real, it is just stellar!

So, now I have to thank you, all of you. You gave me hope about the future of Doctor who will be bright and full of life! You let me see a new world of story telling. I never saw audio plays used like a legitimate series to such effectiveness and its truly brilliant and has inspired me to try to work on something similar, in due time.

Yet, lastly, thank you so much for the pure, utter joy your work emanates. Yet again, I’m only a Doctor Who fan, but this series has genuinely gave me more enjoyment that some Doctor Who episodes. It is just, raw, stupid, enjoyable, and oh so timey-wimy fun! Even with some real Doctor Who-esc dark/sad moments that makes it feel like I’m listening to a real BBC and Hasbro collaboration!

In fact, the work of your team gave me a Idea for a episode I just couldn’t keep in my head. I know you most likely have plans for all the future audio plays, but I am a story teller through and through, so consider the last part of this letter like a pitch. Yet again, I’m not trying to be entitled and be like “Here’s my idea, Now make it!”, no I literally have no other living soul to share this idea with and its killing me.

Now if I had to title it, it would be a two part play called “Turn Timer” and “Pestering Past”. “Turn Timer” would start with the Tardis crew just bumbling around in time and space. Maybe heading from or to an adventure. Yet when the Tardis enters modern times, it gets thrown off course due to a temporal blackhole (Or something?) making the Tardis materialize in front of a mansion that should not exist, that stands right dead center in the Evergreen Forest (if I got it wrong don’t kill me). The master of the house would be a unicorn named Turn Timer, and would be letting any travelers stay.

Yet when the Doctor reluctantly stays in a room, they discover that some of the travelers have been seeing a hairless ape-like creature attacking residence, even Turn Timer who would have been attacked, saying that they just popped up a few months ago and he’s been trying to cover it up for business.

Soon, after the Doctor and Tick Tock (Sorry but I have to say this here, that name did NOT age well) go off without Derpy who does not quite trust Turn Timer because…. well I made the name reverse Time Turner for a reason. Yet both the Doctor and Tick Tock does not notice the clearly weird name, so that means duel plot! Yay!

Eventually the smart duo would figure out that these creatures are just human like Autons. Yet, since humans, or even humanoids, don’t exist in this universe, this is extremely odd (at least I think, I still know jack about My Little Pony). Also Imagine this would lead into some funny jokes about how the Doctor needs to explain what the hell a human is, and I just imagine Tick Tock confused Autons being exactly like humans and not just modeled by them.

Meanwhile, Derpy would be grilling Turn Timer (Also again, only a Doctor Who fan but I can just imagine the Donna theme here and it makes me smile) and I Imagine that 70% of this second plot would be jokes. Until before the Auton realization, where Turn Timer makes the mistake of saying Doctor instead of Time Turner (Which I assume he would sign in as) and would be forced to knock out Derpy. Now, after they figure out the Autons are Autons, and the jokes are done, I’m guessing that Turn Timer would project some sort of communication hologram or magic thingy to the Doctor so they can have an exchange that goes along like this.

TuTi “Hello Doctor! Sorry but i did not expect for your assistant to be able to see past my perception field.”

Doc “ What did you do to Derpy Turn Timer?”

TiTo “and what perception field?”

TuTi “ Oh don’t be daft, Doctor! I swear ever since you regenerated you have become so thick! you can’t even see what is so clearly obvious! You only know one person who would know the correct configuration for a humanoid Auton, and be smart enough to do it! ”

Doc, in his serious voice, “ Who are you?”

TuTi, Outraged “Don’t act like you don’t know! We are best friends! The bestest of friends that have ever existed. Long before you started taking your pets onto your Tardis. You know deep down, and you are running away from it! Like you ran away from your universe! Our Universe! I am tired of seeing your adventures in this world like you did not live in another.”

TiTo “Who are you then?”

Doc, still serious “Don’t humor him”

TuTi “ Oh Doctor….Can’t even ask your own questions anymore can you? How far you have fallen from what you once were. You once could snap your fingers and make army’s turn and run away. Now you can’t even keep your pets (Companions) on a tight enough leash anymore.”

Doc “ Wait, fingers? how did you-”

TuTi “Oh now you are getting it. Finally, we are getting back the Doctor that counts. My Doctor, The Oncoming Storm! The Great Exterminator! The Destroyer of Skaro! And lastly, The Timelord Victorious!”

Doc panicked and angered yelling (Probably) “Who are you?”

TuTi “ Finally…. Well… I am the master of the house.. the Master! Of the house.”

That is where “Turn Timer” would end and go into “Pestering Past”, which would pick up with the Master finishing his evil monolog and him and Derpy being in some sort of cave with the Masters Tardis being rigged as a paradox machine. Derpy would probably be in some sort of status field but still being able to interact with the Master.

I am sure they would discuss why the Master was so obsessed with getting the Doctor to recognize him. The fact that in the Doctor Who universe, The Master was so utterly empty without his “Best Friend” he could not stand to exist in a world without him, So he tracked the Doctor down, even through different universes just so he could have fun with his “Best Friend”.

Also probably telling Derpy more about the Doctor than he has. And most likely telling stories about when the Doctor was very angry, and why he is the last of the timelords. I thought this would be a very interesting thing to pop up later on, a Derpy is wondering if the Doctor is worth being around if they could do such a thing then turn around and say its horrid.

On the topside, I’m imagining the Doctor more scared and upset than seen in your audio plays. The fact that he came to a whole new universe, a place to make a new start and have less weight to carry, has been shattered by probably the only person that could have followed him. And to make it worse, it was someone who knows almost as much as the Doctor without his self control, and knowledge of his past life.

When the Doctor and the New Master meet face to face, I imagine it would be a battle of chaotic personalities on each side. Also, In my characterization of the Master, I think he would be sarcastically energetic to counteract the Doctors normal energetic craziness. Also, for the hell of it, let’s make the Master obsessed with pegasi instead of unicorns because narrative symbolism.

Lastly, we would learn that creatures that don’t belong in the world of My Little Pony (Cybermen and Terror are my best examples) where caused by the Masters Paradox machine. This gives a reason why they appeared and connects things in a neat little bow. Also gives a reason for Tick Tock to be mad too, due to the fact that the Master indirectly fueled the war he lost his family and time period for.

And that’s all I have. I don’t know how it would end except I think the Master would snatch Derpys Tardis key to use it to make something to keep tabs on the Tardis crew.

I’m sorry that half of this thank you and appreciation letter was more about my ideas than how I adore yours. Everyone on the PwPP crew to me is absolutely stellar! You all have made something truly amazing from a Doctor Who story telling standpoint. Lastly, please have fun making your audio plays or whatever you go on to do. It breaks my heart watching people create and have no fun in it.

With love and appreciation,

Raven.

We’re happy this show has brought you plenty of Doctor Who entertainment, even if you’re not an MLP fan. It’s always fun to learn about people who are generally a fan of one but not the other, who are still big fans of our series.

We aren’t really taking any ideas since we have a solid outline of what the rest of the episodes will be, and we can’t really reveal what characters might be appearing later. Your idea was a fun take on the Master though, perhaps consider writing a fanfic, as I’m sure people would enjoy it and we’ll be willing to post fanfics here.

#long post #submission

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oswincoleman · 4 years

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Jenna Coleman in the 2010s

Here I will summarize Jenna’s various roles within her last 10 years, in chronological order:

Princess Melia Antiqua (Xenoblade Chronicles)

Xenoblade Chronicles was released in 2010, and Jenna must have recorded her part in either 2009 or 2010. Melia is the daughter of the High Emperor of the Entia, is a mage, and one of 7 playable characters in the game. The Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition will be released later this year, and it remains unknown whether any new recordings were done, and if Jenna will reprise her role.

Connie (Captain America: The First Avenger)

In 2010, after finishing her work on Emmerdale, and then Waterloo Road, Jenna auditioned for lots of roles in the USA. She however only managed to get a tiny role in Captain America: The First Avenger, and a part in the short film Corporate Monster (2019, originally filmed as Imaginary Forces). With at least one bad experience, of being asked to attend an audition in a bikini, she has since stayed away from American acting entirely.

Captain America: The First Avenger released in 2011, and Jenna filmed her brief role in 2010. She plays Connie, Bucky’s date at the World Expo.

Annie Desmond (Titanic)

From May 2011 onwards, filming of the miniseries Titanic took place in Budapest. Jenna played the stewardess Annie Desmond, who falls in love with chef Paolo Sandrini. When disaster strikes, she does whatever she can to help others, and survives after Paolo finds her a place on a lifeboat.

The miniseries was released on the centenary of the tragedy, on the 15th of April 2012, in 86 countries around the world.

Maria (Maria’s Story)

Jenna filmed a short video for NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) / Childline, portraying a teenager who was sexually abused as a child, and later reached out, and was helped by Childline, and telling their story. She probably filmed it in early 2012. The YouTube video of Jenna’s performance was uploaded on February 7th, 2012.

Oswin Oswald (Doctor Who, series 7 episode 1: Asylum of the Daleks)

Yes, I will keep Clara’s echoes separate, because they are different characters.

Jenna had her first surprise appearance on Doctor Who in Asylum of the Daleks, which aired on 1st September 2012. Jenna was first announced as the new companion on the 21st of March 2012, and presumably she started filming Asylum of the Daleks at about the same time.

Oswin Oswald is the junior entertainment manager on the starship Alaska, which crashed into the planet housing the Dalek Asylum of all insane Daleks. In a surprising twist it is revealed that unlike the rest of the crew, who were merely turned into puppets, keeping their former appearances, Oswin received the full conversion into a Dalek, because she is a genius. Oswin dreamt up a reality, of Carmen, and soufflés, to hide the truth of who she was. She managed to hack into the Dalek path web, disabled all Daleks on the planet, and deleted all references to the Doctor in the Daleks’ entire database. In the end, she sacrificed herself to save the Doctor, Amy and Rory.

Susan Brown (Room at the Top)

This miniseries was originally planned to premiere in April 2011, but due to several delays was only aired on the 26th and 27th of September 2012. I have unfortunately not managed to find out when it was filmed, but it was probably filmed in early 2011, before Jenna filmed Titanic.

Susan Brown falls in love with Joe Lampton, who maintains an affair with both her and Alice Aisgill. Joe loves Alice, but wants to marry Susan, as she is the daughter of a very successful businessman. When Susan gets pregnant, her father insists that they marry, and Joe leave Alice for good.

Clara Oswin Oswald (Doctor Who 2012 Christmas Special)

The next Clara echo we encountered in Doctor Who is Clara Oswin Oswald in Victorian London. She works both as a barmaid in the Rose and Crown, and as a governess for the Latimer family. She encounters the Doctor, and encounters the carnivorous Snowmen. She convinces the Doctor to fight off the threat, and together they foil the plans of the Great Intelligence. The Doctor abandons his time of living in the TARDIS in the clouds, and gives Clara a key to the TARDIS. But when it seemed as though everything was solved, the ice governess drags Clara off of the cloud, to both of their demise.

All of this takes place in the Doctor Who Christmas Special, “The Snowmen”, for which filming started on the 6th of August 2012.

Clara Oswald (Doctor Who series 7B-9, the 50th anniversary special, and the 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2017 Christmas specials)

In the very same episode we see Clara Oswald for the first time. She starts off as a nanny in modern day London, but has great dreams and ambitions. After having met two of her echoes, the Doctor was inspired by their mystery, and searched for yet another Clara. He did meet her once when she was a child, but did not realize it. Only when Missy gave Clara the Doctor’s phone number did they finally properly meet. Clara was swept along to numerous adventures over many years of here life. She encountered many foes, and stood up to them with nothing but her words. She always wanted to learn more, and hone her skills. In her long time on the show she managed to convince the Doctor to save Gallifrey rather than burn it, she persuaded the Time Lords to give the Doctor new regenerations without which his 11th incarnation would have been his last, she outwits many enemies, such as the half-faced man, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Bonnie, and Odin (to name a few). She jumped into the Doctor’s timestream to prevent its corruption through the Great Intelligence. In doing so, she generated all the echoes we saw previously, alongside many other ones strewn throughout all of time and space. Clara faces her fears one by one, learning not to be defeated by them, and becoming increasingly brave.

She quit her job as a nanny, and got a job as an English teacher at Coal Hill school. There she met Danny Pink, who she got into a relationship with. She was torn between Danny and the Doctor, and the two incompatible lives she was leading. She couldn’t decide, and tried to maintain both. But she couldn’t keep that up for long, and when Danny died in a car crash, she was willing to risk her life with the Doctor as well, for the off chance that his death could be rewritten by time travel. She had however underestimated how important she had become to the Doctor by this point. Danny does return as a Cybermen, as part of Missy’s plan for the Doctor to be more like her. Clara, the Doctor, and Danny however foil Missy’s plans, and Danny sacrifices himself to rid the world of all Cybermen.

Traumatized by these events, Clara increasingly distances herself from her normal life, to which she was only anchored by Danny. She devotes herself more and more to the life of the Doctor. As ambitious, intelligent, and skilled as she is, merely following him around is not what she has in mind. She learns all she can from him, first imitates him, and finally develops her own style. Clara was never someone who blindly relied on others to help her out if she got into trouble. She learns to fly the TARDIS, seeks out adventures, and does whatever she can to help others, using her innate empathy and skill. Together, the Doctor and Clara form an unbeatable team. Well, almost. Clara sacrifices herself to save Rigsy, her “companion” of two adventures. There is nothing that can be done to stop the chronolock which was intended for Rigsy, and Clara ends up standing her ground while facing the raven.

The Doctor however cannot live with her death at all, and endures billions of years of torture before returning to Gallifrey, where he leads a coup against the autocratic Rassilon. And all of this, to be able to extract Clara from the end of her time stream, and resume their travels together. Except it of course does not work out as planned, and Clara’s death remains a fixed point. She has to die at the exact time and place when and where the Chronolock countdown ended. In his effort to save Clara, the Doctor himself became a monster. Clara tried her best to get him to return to being the Doctor, but the only thing that works, is erasing all his memories of her. When they both finally feel too guilty because of the damage they have caused each other, they depart ways. Clara has become a second Doctor in this process, with her own TARDIS, and companion. And this is how her arc comes to a close, and her story finishes. She does however return as a hallucination of the 12th Doctor when his memories of Clara are restored just before his own regeneration.

Jenna Coleman filmed her total of 37 episodes featuring Clara Oswald in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. Her final appearance in Twice Upon a Time (2017 Christmas special) was the final scene shot for the episode, so presumably at the end of July, or even later.

Jenna also portrayed Clara Oswald in the Doctor Who: Lego Dimensions game in 2015.

Rosie Williams (Dancing on the Edge)

Jenna Coleman plays Rosie Williams, Stanley’s assistant at the Music Express magazine. But their relationship is a bit more than just that. The series takes place in London in the 1930s, following a jazz band and their rise to fame and subsequent difficulties.

The four-part series aired between 4th February, and 12th March 2013. Once again I am not exactly sure when Jenna filmed her part, but I guess it must have been in early or mid 2012.

Interestingly, Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes both starred in this series, though they never really had a scene together (they do appear in one shot together, but aren’t talking to each other).

Other Clara echoes (Doctor Who, series 7 episode 13: The Name of the Doctor)

When Clara Oswald jumped into the Doctor’s timestream, millions of copies of her were created, and spread out through all of time and space. Each of them a different person, yet all sharing many similarities with the “original” Clara Oswald. All these echoes work together to nullify the effects of the Great Intelligence on the Doctor’s timeline. Some of them interact with the Doctor at various stages of their lives, but most work in the background, keeping the Great Intelligence at bay, far away from the Doctor. Through these echoes, Clara meets all the incarnations of the Doctor, even one that the Doctor wanted to leave out; the War Doctor.

All Characters in The Secret Garden

In 2013, Jenna also recorded the audiobook “The Secret Garden”, voicing all the characters in the story (and as always delivering a fantastic vocal performance).

The story follows the 10 year old Mary Lennox, who after the death of her parents, is sent to her uncle’s residence in Yorkshire. There she discovers the titular secret garden that had been locked up for 12 years, as well as her sickly nephew, Colin, who had been kept a secret from her. Mary also meets Dickon, and together, they bring life back to the secret garden, and revitalize Colin’s health.

All Characters in Destiny of the Doctor: The Time Machine

In her only appearance in Doctor Who’s Big Finish audio collection so far, Jenna voiced all the characters of this audio book.

In the story, Alice Watson helps Professor Chivers to assemble a time machine. The alien Creevix, and the Doctor however start to intervene before everything is complete. Together, they defeat the Creevix, and Alice goes on adventures with Guy Taylor in the end.

Jenna Coleman (The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot)

Jenna Coleman appeared as herself in the comedy spoof for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. It was released at the same time as the actual Doctor Who 50th special, The Day of the Doctor, on the 23rd of November 2013.

Lydia Wickham (Death Comes to Pemberley)

This four-part mini series first aired on the 26th of December 2013, just one day after the 2013 Doctor Who Christmas special, “The Day of the Doctor”. In Death comes to Pemberley, which was filmed earlier in 2013, Jenna plays the hysterical, theatrical, and self-centered Lydia, and how she reacts to the other events of the story, most notably the accusation that George Wickham murdered his friend Denny.

Let’s take a moment to consider that the last 12 entries on this list all occurred within 2012 or 2013. What incredible years those must have been for Jenna Coleman fans!

Marble Statue, Monologue by Jacqueline Wilson (2014)

In August 2014, Jenna Coleman lent her voice to a marble statue in the Manchester Central Library, for an exhibition aiming to bring statues to life, by associating them with text that was read out by actors. Scanning a barcode at each statue started playing the recording.

Bonnie (Doctor Who, series 9 episodes 7 and 8: The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion)

As another character Jenna portrayed in Doctor Who, Bonnie was the leader of a faction of Zygons living on Earth. She copied Clara Oswald’s appearance to infiltrate UNIT, and there managed to annihilate UNIT from within. Could this be the reason why UNIT no longer exists in series 11 and 12? (UNIT does exist in series 10, but that could have been set earlier than The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion). Anyway, in the end Bonnie is defeated by a combined effort of the Doctor and Clara, learns to see the error in her ways, and actually helps to maintain the peace from then on. She changes her appearance to that of Petronella Osgood, to ensure that there are once again 2 Osgoods.

This two-parter was filmed in early 2015, and aired on the 31st October, and 7th November 2015.

Katrina Clark (Me Before You)

In a break during the filming of Doctor Who series 9, Jenna filmed her part for Me Before You, at some point between May and June 2015. She plays Louisa Clark’s younger sister, who is also a single mother. She only plays a small role overall, but helps her sister through several tough moments, providing advice and emotional support. The film was released in the UK on June 3rd, 2016.

Queen Victoria (Victoria series 1-3, 2017 Christmas Special)

After her time on Doctor Who came to an end, Jenna landed her first lead role, as Queen Victoria in the ITV and PBS series Victoria, chronicling the life and times of Queen Victoria. So far, series 1-3 have covered the period from 1837 to 1851, depicting Victoria from age 18 to 32.

The series starts off with Victoria learning of her accession to the throne, following the death of William IV. We see her very strict upbringing, and how she gained independence by being the Queen. At first we see her making many clumsy mistakes, and the scheming of others to control her in one way or another. But she stubbornly gets her way through, and certainly doesn’t lose any confidence along the way.

We follow along on the journey of how Victoria and Albert grow closer, and fall in love with each other, how their relationship develops, and they marry. Victoria gets pregnant shortly thereafter. Despite loathing pregnancy, and losing the ability to be herself and rule the country, another pregnancy follows the first one in quick succession. And then another. And another, and another ....

Victoria gradually becomes more acquainted with being the Queen. But alongside that she also plays the role of a wife to Albert, and a mother to her many children. We later see the struggle of being all those roles at once. The series also explores the combination of Victoria’s postnatal depression, her dislike of pregnancy, but also her love for Albert, and her relationship with her children.

Of course this period in history is also quite interesting in and of itself, and we see Victoria engaging with many events of the time. She manages to make a real positive impact on some problems (like the difficulties involved with the Great Exhibition), but fails to resolve other ones (the Irish Potato Famine).

Jenna Coleman filmed the three series from late 2015 to early 2016, early to mid 2017, and mid to late 2018, respectively. The three series aired in the UK in August to October 2016, August to October 2017, the 25th of December 2017, and March to May 2019.

Victoria is on hiatus at the moment, and it is unknown when, and if it will return. Jenna’s work for The Serpent might already be completed, and if not, it probably won’t take much longer. There is nothing publicly known yet of her commitments after that, so as far as she is concerned, Victoria series 4 could be filmed rather soon. But that is still merely speculation at the moment.

Belle (A Christmas Carol Audio Book)

In late 2016, Jenna Coleman played the role of Belle, Scrooge’s past love, in the audio book of “A Christmas Carol”, which released on the 9th December 2016.

Baines (Thunderbirds are Go, season 2 episode 1: Earthbreaker)

This episode first aired in April 2017, so Jenna presumably recorded her part for it in late 2016.

She voiced her character, Baines, with an American accent (she also used American accents in All My Sons and Corporate Monster, but those are all different accents).

In the episode, Baines is the head of a research and mining operation who located Scandium ore, but were then attacked by The Earthbreaker machine. It quite literally breaks up the ground, creating a crevasse that Baines and her team fall into. Baines manages to call the Thunderbirds, who in the end manage to save them, and defeat the Earthbreaker.

Joanna Lindsay (The Cry)

In January to May 2018, Jenna filmed her next leading role in the four-part miniseries The Cry, which was filmed in both Australia and Scotland. It is based on the novel of the same name by Helen Fitzgerald, but it does diverge from it in several key points, particularly at the end.

Joanna suffes postnatal depression after giving birth to baby Noah, and her partner Alistair doesn’t support her at all. He primarily focuses on his personal ambition of gaining custody of his daughter Chloe, from his ex-wife Alexandra, who currently lives in Australia, whereas Joanna and Alistair live in Glasgow, Scotland. The flight to Australia goes terribly when Noah cries the entire time.

Major spoilers from this point on. You have been warned.

Noah dies shortly after landing, when Alistair accidentally gave him the wrong medication. Alistair decides that the best course of action is to invent a story that Noah was kidnapped, rather than tell the world the truth. Joanna is too weak to argue, and plays along. Joanna’s despair grows over time, and she loses herself in the media attention, and the constant lies. She gets increasingly doubtful as time goes on, and starts to see through the lies Alistair has even told her throughout.

When she finally learns the truth that Alistair gave Noah the fateful dose, despite his repeated insistance that she had been to blame, Joanna has had enough, and drives their car off a cliff. Alistair dies, but Joanna lives to the tell the tale. But by now she has become too intertwined with Alistair’s storyline of lies, that she sticks to the story, and wins her case in court. Finally, she returns to Australia, and is reunited with Noah, who was buried beneath a newly constructed house.

Ann Deever (All My Sons)

Jenna played the role of Ann Deever in All My Sons at the Old Vic theatre in London, from the 13th of April to the 8th of June 2019. This was her first theatre production in 10 years, and her first really professional one. As Jenna has said in several interviews, she had been interested in performing on stage for several years now, but had been looking for the ideal role and play to appear in.

Ann Deever returns to the Keller household in the late 1940s, having grown up in the house next to it. She intends to marry Chris Keller. But Chris’ mother Kate opposes the marriage, as to her, Ann will forever be “Larry’s Girl”. Larry is Chris’ brother, who went missing in WW2. Throughout the play, we learn more and more secrets that one or more of the main characters had hidden away. Chris’ father Joe turns out to have been responsible for shipping out cracked cylinder heads to the army, resulting in 21 pilot deaths. Ann’s father had been blamed for the deaths, and was incarcerated, while Joe wriggled his way out of being found guilty. But Ann wants to go ahead with the marriage nonetheless. When Kate still opposes it, Ann shows her a letter she got from Larry, in which he talks about his planned suicide following the news of the 21 pilot deaths Joe had been accused of. The play concludes with Joe killing himself as well.

Ellen (Corporate Monster)

Back in 2010, when Jenna was auditioning for various roles in the USA, she filmed a role in the short film “Corporate Monster” (originally called Imaginary Forces). The initial planned release date passed without any news. But after many years of waiting, it was released on September 16th, 2019.

Ellen’s boyfriend Robert Turner takes untested drugs aimed at combating his stress after he lost his job. But as a result of the drugs, he starts seeing aliens pretending to be humans everywhere he goes. He becomes increasingly paranoid, and starts fighting the aliens. He tries to force Ellen to take the drugs as well, so that he can prove that the aliens are real. Ellen refuses, and avoids him. After fighting several aliens, Robert shows up at Ellen’s office, kills several more aliens. Ellen takes the drugs in order to stop the massacre. Robert escapes, but gets cornered, and is killed. The film ends with Ellen seeing the aliens instead of humans as well.

Beattie (Inside No. 9 series 5, episode 2)

Jenna filmed this part in February-March 2019. But we don’t know anything yet about her role, or the episode she will appear in. It will hopefully be released soon.

Marie-Andrée Leclerc (The Serpent)

From September to December 2019, Jenna filmed her role as the female lead in the upcoming BBC One and Netflix series The Serpent, in Thailand. The series is based on the real life story from the 1970s, of serial killers Leclerc and Sobhraj, and how they were eventually caught.

Jenna really has done a lot in the last decade! She has portrayed a huge variety of different roles, of so many different personalities. And she has done so brilliantly! In the last decade Jenna Coleman has really made a name for herself, and done incredible work in TV series, films, audiobooks, a play, and some video games. Now on to the next decade! I look forward to seeing all that Jenna will accomplish in the next ten years!

And as a final remark, sorry for the long post!

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nativehueofresolution · 4 years

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i want your thoughts on doctorclara, the eleventh doctor, and i want you to rank the new who companions

doctorclara

when I started shipping it if I did: gather round the fire, lads. search back, if you will, to shortly after jlc was announced as the new companion. matt did an interview where he mentioned the relationship between the doctor and clara was different to the relationship between he and amy because the dynamic with clara was flirtatious and had some romantic tension. i had some mixed feelings about this - i was a little disappointed there was going to be another doctor/companion romance, as i felt this was played out (i’ve since changed my mind on the doctor/companion romance thing quite a bit, as i think it’s really more of a fandom thing than an actual problem with the series but it was how i felt at the time and i digress). however, i was also rather tired of the doctor/river romance as i thought it was poorly handled in s6, and i was intrigued by the idea of seeing eleven in a new romance... but i really didn’t want there to be a love triangle as well. so with all those mixed up thoughts, i went into the snowmen. (asylum of the daleks din’t really make an impression on me until after i watched it again with the context of the clara echoes.) i thought they were pretty cute, but my reluctance to have another doctor/companion romance was still a thing. plus, i began to become more suspicious of how the doctor was treating clara like a mystery to be solved instead of a person, which seems rather manic pixie dream girl to me (it should be said, i don’t think it’s bad writing or marketing i felt this way... i don’t think you should be required to broadcast ahead of time you’re planning to subvert a trope when it appears you’re playing it straight initially. it does make me really sad that apparently a lot of people didn’t stick with enough to see the glorious payoff of the subversion though ). so i continued into the start of 7b with similar feelings of ‘cute but i’m not going to ship it because of x, y, z...’, but with each passing episode it became harder and harder to deny i was reeeeally into their dynamic (in hindsight, it feels so goofy how i made it a Thing i wasn’t going to ship another doctor/companion romance and actively fought against liking it, but whatever, i was in high school and even more pretentious than i am now). the breaking point for me was ‘hide’. dear reader, i MELTED at ‘this isn’t a ghost story, it’s a love story’ (my otp tag for a reason!). it was a full-blown crisis. i knew i was here to stay. with each passing episode, matters escalated. it was the series 7 finale that made me realize i was watching one of the greatest love stories ever. i cannot stress enough how formative clara diving into the doctor’s timesteam was for me. the poetry, the tragedy, the romance. it was a revelation. it was only the tip of the iceberg for what was to come, as we now know, but those are the big turning points in my shipper journey w/ them.

my thoughts: the most epic love story we have ever seen in our mortal lives. somehow got better with every episode. i’m supposed to like other ships after seeing how romance can be done on this level? what a joke. two and a half billion years, y’all. two and a half billion years...

What makes me happy about them: the obvious cute stuff - the lack of personal space, the doctor acting like a schoolboy, clara playing it cool but really being just bad, the fake dating, the banter. from both of their point of view, the other was the one who pursued the relationship; eleven had clara coming onto his cloud, clara had eleven standing outside her window. that is seriously adorable. but then, the deeper stuff like how clara knows him on a fundamental level no one else does. she knew the war doctor hadn’t used the moment yet when ten and eleven didn’t because she can just see him. the doctor makes himself vulnerable to her willingly, even with all the barriers he puts up every day of his life. he cries in front of her, he takes her hand, he shows her unconditional love even when she acts cruelly. she’s so afraid to lose control but when she does in the worst way, he lets her know that could never make a difference. she’s shaped his life in so many ways from being a voice his head to always being just out of sight watching his back. he listens to her and she changes his world, she saves his world. they are fundamental equals despite being so different.

What makes me sad about them: two and a half BILLION years. you look at me and you can’t see me. twelve strumming his guitar while clara goes into her tardis. clara whispering please don’t change and trying to take his hand. but he never sees me... almost never. will you come away with me. if you love me in any way, you’ll come back. she might meet someone she can’t bear to lose. clara, my clara. we’ve already had enough bad timing. stay with me... nah. let me save you. secrets keep us safe--we aren’t SAFE. people like you and me, we should say things to one another. listen, i could go all night.

things done in fanfic that annoys me: i don’t know there’s a specific pattern that jumps out? there are definitely times i’m like this is a mess but i don’t know there’s a clear trend that jumps out. back when s12 started there were fics that made the doctor more dark and dominant than he was, but thankfully those died out as his character developed more. i would definitely say denying or undercutting danny’s significance to clara is an issue, although unfortunately it isn’t limited to whouffle fic. but clara would not be who she is if she didn’t know and love danny pink, and that is important.

things I look for in fanfic: it can vary quite a bit depending on my mood. they are the entire spectrum of my romance likes lol. i love the angst of clara’s echoes and the possible implications of that, series 7b attraction/mistrust, series 8 pining, and all that good old fashioned memory erasing fallout. i also love domestic fluff and fix its where they end up together again or the doctor finds out about clara being the voice from his youth. i love seeing different doctors w clara, i love post episode fics where they just react to everything they went through with one another. i’m versatile!

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: to me, they are like the definition of soulmates. i can and do ship them with other people, but for me it will always be the doctor for clara and clara for the doctor at the end. ‘ending up with’ is sort of a loose concept given they’re both close to immortal. i think they will both live and love with other people, just as they loved other people before they properly met. but their love saved worlds, lasted billions of years, and was so universe altering the time lords had a prophecy about them ages upon ages ago. that is some some last of the real ones, ‘ultra kind of love you never walk away from’ right there.

My happily ever after for them: in my head, the doctor and clara meet again properly after a few centuries apart and probably a regeneration or two. their distance and new perspective only causes them to reaffirm their love and travel the universe together - sometimes splitting up when there’s a need but always ‘together’ - until they both eventually face their ravens.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: usually the doctor is the big spoon and clara is the little spoon, but sometimes they will change it up if it is a specific time clara is trying to help the doctor feel comforted and secure.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: not to state the obvious, but traveling in space and time

eleven

How I feel about this character: he is my favorite doctor. more than any of the other doctors, i truly believe that he is ancient and operates on a different morality plane than a typical human would understand. he has so many layers to him that i find interesting: the contrast of his childish behavior and being older than we can conceive. the silver of ice in his heart - i love that; ten and nine ran hot, but eleven ran cold and i found that darkness that allowed him to lock out old amy or sneer that humans weren’t capable of playing games with him to be much scarier and much more fascinating. i love that he keenly feels the weight of his name, his promise. i love his obsession with goofy things like fezzes and his flappy hands. i love how selfish and selfless he is. he is THE doctor to me and i love him.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: see ABOVE. there are a couple other characters i ship the doctor as a whole with, but speaking specifically of eleven, i do have a soft spot for eleven/rose - moreso than almost any other doctor/rose combination for some strange reason. i also feel like the eleven/amy relationship sort of goes beyond labels, but it is one of my very favorite relationships and there is certainly a sense in which it is romantic.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: the doctor and amy are one of my very favorite relationship, and even with my caveat above, i would ultimately think of them not as a couple, so i think they go here. i literally have a 20 page word doc in my computer that’s just me doing second rate analysis of their relationship episode by episode. that potent mixture of idealization/devotion/disillusionment/codependence/hope/not being able to let go yet being unable to move on... it gets me.

My unpopular opinion about this character: who knows what popular opinions are in the who fandom anymore, but back when eleven’s era was airing there was a common criticism that he lost the moral compass nine/ten had, especially w/ the no killing thing. i find this to be a phenomenally stupid reading and one with a selective memory. in fact, while eleven does break his own rules and kill people, just like nine and ten do, i feel he’s certainly held far more accountable for when he does than they ever were.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: i wish his manipulative behavior towards the people he loves would have been dealt with more. to a certain degree, i think that trait will always be present in the doctor and is kind of necessary for the show as a whole so i understand not fully resolving it, but i feel like he lies and manipulates as much in his last episode as much as his first without any real growth. when you look at how this was handled with twelve, where he really got called out on it and started to grow... it’s kind of unsatisfying how eleven just stayed static in that regard

my OTP: take a wild guess

my cross over ship: none i can immediately think of....

a headcanon fact: while he needs less sleep than a human, the doctor likes to pretend he doesn’t need to sleep at all which often leads to him finally dozing off in bizarre places/times (doing a tardis repair he insists he needs to be upside down for). rory is very concerned but doesn’t know enough about time lord biology to confront him.

ranking nuwho companions (s1-s10, as i’m not caught up and don’t want to reflect on the newest companions until i’ve seen all that’s available, and only doing the major hitters)

clara oswald, who i must shockingly reveal is one of my favorite characters ever in anything.

martha jones, who we never deserved.

amy pond, who means the world to me because of our shared mental health issues.

bill potts, who is so full of kindness, wonder, and joy.

donna noble, who is bursting with life and humor and had a horrible, horrible ending.

rose tyler, who would be higher on this list if i were just looking at series one but whose character arc i felt got significantly derailed the longer she stayed on the show.

#ta #you know what you were unleashing #long posts for ts #dumbledorably #still doing these if anyone likes to ask

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adricthemindnimon · 4 years

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For the DW ask: 16, 21, 24, 37, 50.

16. Favourite relative of a companion

Jackie Tyler. I completely fell in love with her after that one god awful episode with the paving stone girlfriend... Dreadful episode, but beautiful little snapshot of her. She hasn’t made much of her life, but she loves her daughter fiercely, and would fight tooth and nail to protect her. Pus just the comedy of her in the Doomsday two parter... A+. Love the relationship she and Mickey develop (once she stops blaming him for Rose’s “death”).

21. Russel T. Davies’ or Steven Moffat’s era

Hahahhahaha I could straight up write an essay about this, and actually probably have somewhere... RTD all the way. His era was focused on people, on developing characters, such that even peripheral one off characters had depth and active internal lives. I will forgive any weaknesses in plot if you give me characters who can carry it, and that was his era’s real strength. Generally I thought the plots were good too, but when they stumbled, the characters carried the show through those weak points. Moffat’s era on the other hand was a lot more plot focused - or actually no, mystery focused, driven by secrets and plot twists. Which is a problem cuz it all depends on sticking the landing. So many of the twists didn’t pan out in my opinion, which just left me tired and not invested. And the constant low level sexist bullshit was just exhausting. It’s honestly a shame, cuz I recently rewatched some of Twelve’s episodes with Bill, and with Clara, and on their own, some of those episodes are truly gorgeous. I mean, Face the Raven? Beautiful episode. But it was a lot of the same tricks over and over. Main characters die - OR DO THEY?? which is clever once, but once you’ve had Rory like every episode, and Amy a few times, and the Doctor, and Clara, and... if gets old. Likewise one stupid sexualised comment isn’t an issue, but when they come every episode... So I’m a fan of individual Moffat episodes, but really disliked his era, whereas I’m a fan of the RTD era, with individual episodes/plot points that I dislike.

24. Dark or funny side of The Doctor

Funny. Funny all the way. A bit of dark thrown in for contrast can be amazing, but I’m not interested in harping on about the mystery or the darkness or the Who Is S/He, etc. I just want to see an optimistic show about a basically good person who whizzes around the universe with friends, causing shit and having a great time. A bit of dark makes a great counterpoint, but not all the time.

37. What was the first episode you saw?

I THOUGHT the answer to this was Voyage of the Damned, which my history teacher in year... 9? put on one day when she couldn’t be bothered to teach. Great lady... odd choice of episode. But actually, I’ve since realized that the first episode I ever saw was The Horror of Fang Rock. Some of my mum’s friends from the UK sent us that episode when I was little, and the Rutan gave me nightmares for a week. Genuinely the scariest thing I’d ever seen. And I didn’t realize that had been Doctor Who till I started watching Classic Who in my teens! That episode stands up remarkably well too. Like, it didn’t give me nightmares that time around, but I certainly am not judging young me for being scared. They did that one well.

50. If you had a Tardis would you travel more in time or in space?

Space. Definitely space. There are definitely eras I’d like to visit and events I’d like to witness, but the allure of other worlds, other skies, other species... Oh yeah, that wins.

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twoheartsoneclara · 4 years

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top 5 clara episodes!

the snowmen - listen victorian clara was absolutely iconic. the aesthetics were on point that episode, the barmaid outfit alone is tattooed onto my brain forever (specifically, the scene where she finds the tardis in the clouds. yeah.) , the introduction of clara’s theme, establishing her once again as quick-witted and clever but also someone who cares deeply about kids and also just straight up going for it and making out with the doctor because why not. literally everything that victorian clara did was 12/10. outstanding.

name of the doctor - “guess this makes me souffle girl after all” the fact that she’s just an ordinary girl who was willing to make spectacular sacrifices for the people that she loves, and establishing how she and the doctor would do literally anything to save each other, the fact that she was brave and loving enough to do that…man, hold on a second, just hold on a second

day of the doctor - obviously just an incredible episode of doctor who in general, but she was able to lay down the themes that lasted throughout her seasons in just a few words. “do what you always do. be a doctor.” and asks the doctor what his promise was. never cruel or cowardly. the three doctors trying to get out of the tower of london and clara opens the door nearly falling in. “how did you do that?” “it wasn’t locked” sldfksj. “need a moment with your painting?” “how’d you know?” “those big sad eyes. i always know.” the kiss on the corner of the cheek. ten kissing her hand. the war doctor kissing her on the cheek. the way she rode the motorcycle in the tardis.

listen - hey so remember when she reminded the doctor of his promise to never be cruel or cowardly back in the 50th anniversary? remember how in this episode she was the monster under the bed? the one who told the doctor he didn’t have to be afraid of fear? that he could be someone who was never cruel or cowardly? that she was the one that helped to shape his morals in everything he ever did from then on? how this laid the stage for her and twelve’s character development together, how she consistently became more reckless and willing to make tough decisions and he became consistently more kind and caring? yeah, me too

face the raven/hell bent - we’ve got clara at her utmost doctor-ish, running around to save the world, to save rigsy (who was in one of her other most doctor-ish episodes, flatline, which is an honorable mention and also one of my faves) and being unable to outrace the consequences, but walks toward her fate with tears in her eyes, saying to herself, “let me be brave”. and then! the doctor saves her and she circumvents her fate as much as she possibly can, gets her own tardis, an immortal space and time traveling girlfriend in lady me, and runs off on her own adventures? we stan that. additionally, the whouffaldi is off the charts here. “you said memories become stories when we forget them. maybe some of them become songs.” “smile for me. go on, clara oswald, one last time.” “is it a sad song?” “nothing’s sad until it’s over. then everything is.” “what’s it called?” “i think it’s called clara.” anyways. can you believe that their love for each other would have literally ended the universe.

#claire.txt #i've got mail #i'm sorry this is so long i just have so many feelings #roguestorm #thank you m for my rights and allowing me to give this unorganized ted talk on why i love clara oswal

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lunawho47 · 5 years

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The Impossible Girl -- Clara Oswin Oswald

Clara had one of the more fascinating first seasons for a companion. The first thing we see her do is die in her first adventure. Oswin Oswald, trapped on a distant planet -- the girl who loves souffles -- realizes she has been turned into a Dalek and then self-destructs to save the Doctor. A few episodes later, a Doctor who has been grieving the loss of his two closest friends finds himself being followed by a 19th century governess named Clara Oswald -- another girl who likes to make souffles -- and she too dies, this time while saving the Doctor from the Great Intelligence.

In the modern day, the Doctor comes across yet another woman acting as a governess who also has the name of Clara Oswald and she is a carbon copy image of the governess he saw die in the 19th century. In addition, she mutters the same phrase he remembers hearing from the woman in the nineteenth century -- “Run, you clever boy, and remember.”

Thus begins the adventure and mystery that characterizes the Eleventh Doctor’s adventures with Clara Oswald. He takes her to the Rings of Akhaten, the two find themselves in a Cold War era Russian submarine with an Ice Warrior, they hunt ghosts with famous paranormal investigators in the 1960s, they run through the heart of the TARDIS as time on board the ship collapses, face Cybermen at an amusement park in the far future, and in the end the Doctor cannot understand the mystery of the multiple ghosts of Clara Oswald his memory carries.

Clara’s mystery culminates with her ultimate act of sacrifice -- she jumps into the Doctor’s personal time stream, with the mission to always save the Doctor. Sometimes he hears her, sometimes he doesn’t. But she always tries. And then she meets the Doctor on his worst day -- the War Doctor on the day that he couldn’t get it right. And with her help, Gallifrey Falls became Gallifrey Falls No More.

After that, she was forced to adapt to a new Doctor -- the Twelfth, who was a lot less happy and more condescending. But she was still his best friend, and he still picked her up and introduced her to her heroes -- Jane Austen (off camera) and Robin Hood. The Twelfth Doctor became her hero and broke her heart -- he made her scared and she watched the Doctor struggle with being a person she could trust. Sometimes the Doctor failed at that, and then her main connection to Earth -- Danny Pink -- died and Clara lost a little bit of that humanity.

The girl who stopped believing in fairy tales then comes back to rejoin the Doctor, but she’s more reckless than she should be. This culminates in Face the Raven, which is one of my favorite Doctor/companion goodbyes in the show’s history. “I know you’ll be angry, but try to be a little bit proud of me. This is as brave as I know how to be.” And then she faces her fate with all the bravery we hope our favorite companions will exemplify. The Doctor, however, cannot let go and brings her back, trapping her in the moment of her death for centuries. In punishment for going too far, Clara is allowed to travel the universe, but the Doctor cannot remember her. The girl who kept dying becomes the girl who lives, but the Doctor cannot follow her request; he cannot run and remember her.

Track Listing:

Something Human -- Muse//Times are Hard for Dreamers -- performed by Philippa Soo//On the Run -- Kaiser Chiefs//Spaceship -- Kesha//Cold War -- Styx//Voices in the Hall -- Neon Trees//Swimming -- Florence + the Machine//Drop Me in the Middle -- Natasha Bedingfield ft. Estelle//Remember Me -- Mark Schultz//Lazarus -- Placebo//Firewood -- Regina Spektor//42 -- Mumford and Sons//I So Hate Consequences -- Relient K//Icarus -- Bastille//Whatsername -- Green Day

Listen to it here:

https://8tracks.com/lunawho47/the-impossible-girl-clara-oswin-oswald

#clara oswald #clara oswin oswald #companion stanning #fanmix

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tardisgirlepic · 7 years

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Ch. 1: “The Eaters of Light” Analysis Doctor Who S10.10: OMG, the Meaning of the Doctor’s Hair! & Tying in Season 9

Note: I wrote this and posted it on ArchiveOfOurOwn before seeing the airing of “World Enough and Time” and the Doctor’s OMG REALLY long hair! This post refers to the Doctor’s hair from “The Eaters of Light.” The really long hair in “World Enough and Time” just adds to the reference I mention below. I’ll talk about how it is supported in the “World Enough and Time” analysis.

Things Not Happening Like They Appear

Once again, we can’t trust what we know on the surface about this episode. There are multiple oddities. Here are a few examples:

The Old Man with Pictish Tattoos

After the Doctor threw the popcorn on the fire and it started exploding, there is a quick couple of shots (one shown below) of an old man with Pictish tattoos hiding behind a boy. There were no adults, so who is this?

Something Is Wrong with the Doctor

Once again, the Doctor is swinging back and forth in personality, which is a big red flag that says something isn’t right. One of the most obvious not-right-things this week is that a women screams, but the Doctor and Nardole just stand there. Why?

The Eye of Harmony & Harmony Shoal: The Doctor Vs. Himself

When Bill first encounters a Pict, we get to see the tattoos on Kar’s face, shown below. Because the tattoo crosses the bridge of her nose (red arrow), it’s reminiscent of the incision lines in the scar-faced people in TRODM.

In fact, in “The Eaters of Light,” the Doctor says

DOCTOR: Listen, you are all very, very angry, but really you're just very scared. For now, would you mind awfully all just jumping out of your skins and allowing Nardole and I to escape in the confusion?

“Jumping out of your skins” is a reference to Harmony Shoal, but this is opposite to what he said in TRODM to Dr. Sim and Brock at Harmony Shoal when they were talking about capturing The Ghost:

DOCTOR [on screen]: Boo! I'm talking to you live! (the lights come on) DOCTOR: In person! You can jump back in your skins now. Except, of course, they're not your skins, are they?

So this has to do with the Eye of Harmony and the Matrix.

Since the 12th Doctor represents both the Scottish people and the Romans (Caecilius and Roman Rory – both were slaves of a sort), the Picts and Romans represent the 2 sides of the Doctor’s war with himself.

This gives Nardole’s comment, “Death by Scotland,” new meaning.

In the end, though, the 2 sides come together to try to stave off the inevitable. The Sun going out. We’ll see this in some form in the finale.

More Mary Celeste, But There’s a Problem

We examined the Mary Celeste and disappearance of its crew in “The Pilot” analysis because there’s a sign from the ship near the Vault. I didn’t realize until “The Eaters of Light” that the ship was also a reference to the 1965 1st Doctor story The Chase, so I watched it. Nardole’s statement below not only doesn’t make sense in the normal fashion, but also it contradicts The Chase.

NARDOLE: The way I heard it, the human ship was called the Mary Celeste. Something like that. Anyway, the Enzomodons assumed that any species they encountered would communicate as they did, by digesting each other. The Enzomodon ambassador got through the whole crew and then very sadly choked on a lifeboat, so (Nardole is now in Pictish garb, including a plaid and the face markings, and lecturing five villagers. The Doctor comes out of the Cairn.)

In The Chase, the Daleks are attributed to the missing crew, who jumped overboard in fear, so this is a change of history. And enzomodons don’t exist in the TARDIS Wikia. They sound similar to a biology term. So what is going on?

Last week, Bill mentioned something interesting in “The Empress of Mars”:

NARDOLE: The Tardis registered multiple life forms below the surface, so this seems like the best place to look. BILL: Maybe someone's been messing around with time. Like in The Terminator.

In The Terminator, a killer robot time travels to prevent a revolution by assassinating someone. So he’s meddling with time. That’s a reference to the next 1st Doctor story after The Chase, called The Time Meddler. I hadn’t seen this one, either, so I watched it after I finished The Chase. In fact, there are 12th Doctor references in both episodes.

Both 1st Doctor stories have a huge bearing on what is happening now, including a duplicate, robotic Doctor, which the real Doctor has to fight.

The Empress with New Clothes & Classic Who Writer

There was so much to write about with last week’s “The Empress of Mars,” but I only got to some of my main points. However, because “The Eaters of Light” is hammering home a similar plot in different clothes, I get a chance this week to write about some things I didn’t get to for last week. It’s all the better with more examples.

DW won’t run similar plots back to back unless it’s important for foreshadowing.

The episode is also tying together numerous foreshadowed concepts that we’ve examined over the many chapters of this series. Here are a few examples:

· The exploitation of children, in this case the Romans

· The Roman and Scottish connections

· The Doctor being female in the past

· Harmony Shoal and the Eye of Harmony

· Duplicate Doctors

· Expulsion from paradise

· The fall of the Doctor

· Empire and exploitation in general

· Falling into the Satan pit

· Confronting one’s beast

· “The big bad wolf,” as the Doctor called the Eater of Light

· Slavery

· Gates/doorways that let monsters in through an intermediary

· The God complex

· Various end of time concepts

Therefore, it was exciting for me to see this playing out. DW is also tying together many of the end-of-time stories to show us the source of them.

Additionally, Classic Who writer Rona Munro, who wrote the very last Classic Who story, “Survival,” is the first Classic Who writer to write for nuWho. That’s exciting! Also, I’m excited to see that we’ve had a couple of connections to Classic Who in these last 2 episodes.

Tying in “Face the Raven,” “Heaven Sent” & “Hell Bent”

“The Eaters of Light” is metaphorically, among other things, catching us up to Seasons 9’s last 3 episodes: “Face the Raven,” “Heaven Sent” and “Hell Bent.” “The Eaters of Light” is a retelling, so it’s basically an outline to set up the finale for furthering the story set up in “Hell Bent.”

BTW, one of the things I didn’t get to mention in last week’s “The Empress of Mars” analysis is that the Ice Queen rallied her warriors and said, “Sleep no more, my Warriors. Sleep no more. It is time!” This is a reference to “Sleep No More,” the episode just before “Face the Raven.” “Sleep No More” then takes on an additional meaning of rallying the sleeping warriors for war. Sleeping Time Lords were implied in “The End of Time” with Rassilon, and the Ice Queen is a mirror of Rassilon.

After almost a whole Season 10, we are revisiting events from Season 9 because there’s so much story. Also, it’s so complicated in the subtext because events are told from multiple viewpoints, especially with the 12th Doctor. We have been watching the story from his 3 different faces, which we have to determine from the subtext. (The Doctor’s 3 faces show up in “The Eaters of Light.”)

Because of all the viewpoints and subjects the episodes have to cover, they must go back in time and revisit previous events, although in a different way. This is how DW has worked from the start. So the whole story is non-linear.

As far as oddities in Season 10, the 12th Doctor’s erratic behavior is among the easiest things to notice, especially in “The Eaters of Light” that tells us that something isn’t right. His behavior is reminiscent of Season 8, although I find it harsher in this episode.

His 3 parts are being highlighted here in metaphors.

“Face the Raven,” Tattoos, Birds & “Let Me Be Brave”

In the promos leading up to “The Eaters of Light,” the tattooed people reminded me of Ashildr in “Face the Raven” shown below. Her tattoo, though, is on her neck, and she is in control of the Raven, a Quantum Shade.

As the Doctor explained

DOCTOR: It's called a Quantum Shade. It's kind of a spirit. Once it's bound to a victim (The Raven turns to smoke and leaves its cage.) DOCTOR: You could flee across all of time and all of the universe, it would still find you.

So the Raven, a member of the crow family, is also very similar to the crows in “The Eaters of Light.” The Picts have a relationship with them. However, the crows are free, unlike the Raven. Regardless, the crows are metaphors for the Raven.

Therefore, not only are the Picts a metaphor for the Doctor, but also they are metaphors for Ashildr. She is a face of the Doctor, so this all lines up.

The Picts also are djinn, as shown below by the 8-pointed star shape on their shields. The shields show the djinn symbol inside a circle, indicating they are prisoners. Interestingly, the birds are free, but these people are in a metaphorical cage. This episode is running backward from “Face the Raven,” where the Raven was a djinni and imprisoned. This episode is from Ashildr/Me’s point of view of having to do what Rassilon said to keep the people on Trap Street safe. And this is just like the Doctor’s situation in “The Lie of the Land.” So Rassilon comes up again. Most likely he will show up in the finale.

The Doctor as a Bird In “The Pilot,” the Doctor has a bird on his desk. I don’t know what type of bird it is, but it’s a metaphor for the Doctor. Here, it looks like it has a pigeon body, but it’s beak is more like that of a coniferous bird. Anyone have any ideas? Maybe it’s supposed to be a hybrid.

We’ve seen the Doctor represented by an Eagle, Raven, and now Crows. At first, the Doctor tells Nardole the Crows are sulking.

Toward the end, after Kar, Lucius, and another Roman are going to enter the gateway. The Doctor says something odd and contradictory to the Doctor’s promise “Never cruel or cowardly.”:

DOCTOR: Oh, stop being brave. I can't bear brave people.

However, since this episode is a reworking of “Face the Raven,” it’s a reference to Clara when she has to face the Raven.

(Clara steps out into the deserted street. The Raven lands on a nearby stall and caws. She walks towards it as other passers-by run away. The Doctor steps out of the doorway.) CLARA: (sotto) Let me be brave. Let me be brave.

The Doctor is ready to take Kar’s and the Romans’ place. Kar and the Romans, in this case, represent Clara, who is a face of the Doctor.

Earlier in the episode, the Doctor has an interesting conversation with his mirror, Kar.

KAR: I'm remembering the dead. DOCTOR: Oh, right. Well, save that for old age. KAR: They're dead because of me. DOCTOR: You know, every moment you waste wallowing about in that happy thought means more of the living are going to join them. When you want to win a war, remember this. It's not about you. Believe me, I know. Time to grow up, Kar. Time to fight your fight.

With the mirrors, he’s talking to himself. The dead person in “Face the Raven” is Clara, but he’s sulking, which can help explain his harshness. In fact, he asked Kar if she was sulking, which started this conversation.

At the end of the episode, Nardole says something important to him after watching Ban with the crow:

BAN: Kar. She's holding the gate. Remember, her name is Kar. CROW: Kar! BAN: Kar. CROW: Kar! Kar! (flies off) NARDOLE: There, you were wrong. The crows aren't sulking. The crows are remembering. CROW: Kar! Kar! Kar! (They walk off across the moorland.)

The Crows are remembering, so the Doctor is remembering Clara. We need canon confirmation. We may see it with the Doctor and Bill first.

“Heaven Sent” & the Eye of Harmony: The Inter-dimensional Temporal Rift

In “The Eaters of Light,” Doctor goes into an inter-dimensional temporal rift where a second in there equates to days of time on the Pict’s side. The temporal rift and the gate are similar to what happened in “Heaven Sent,” being that it was actually a Black Hole and the Eye of Harmony, which we examined in Chapter 17 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who. The Doctor was a Door metaphor there.

In that chapter, we examined how it was a factory, so to speak, for creating an army for Rassilon, using the Doctor’s own energy to power it. Those beings in the rift in “The Eaters of Light” represent the army.

The army-factory concept, island, castle, creation of almost people and monsters were part of the 2-part, 11th Doctor story in “The Rebel Flesh” and “The Almost People.” Check out the island with the castle on it, shown below. It’s a direct reference to the Doctor’s confession dial castle in “Heaven Sent.” I should have mentioned it in Chapter 17, but I didn’t. So what happened in those 2 episodes have a direct correlation to what we are seeing now. In fact, these episodes are also referenced by Judy’s red wellies at the beginning of “The Eaters of Light.” We’ll examine that in a bit.

Anyway, at first glance, the creatures in the rift in “The Eaters of Light” reminded me of the fish swimming in the air in “A Christmas Carol.” However, once one creature comes closer, shown below (white arrow), it looks like some type of lizard. This scene mirrors the cute fish in “A Christmas Carol,” giving way to a shark. These creatures in this latest episode also resemble at a distance the flying stingrays from one of the last 10th Doctor episodes “Planet of the Dead.” Also, they resemble the Gelth from 9th Doctor episode “The Unquiet Dead.” We also examined that latter episode and the idea of a gateway in Chapter 17.

There’s a theme here of creatures and gateways in “The Eaters of Light,” “The Unquiet Dead,” and “Planet of the Dead.” We haven’t looked at the latter episode, so I want to highlight a few things.

“The Planet of Dead” “The Planet of Dead” introduced 2 arcs: knocking 4 times and something is returning. Therefore, it’s appropriate to tie this episode into “The Eaters of Light.” Knocking 4 times also showed up in “Hell Bent,” “The End of Time,” and “Thin Ice.”

Also, the Doctor and a busload of people pass through a wormhole (another reference to black holes) to an alien world.

They find a swarm of creatures ready to come through the wormhole to Earth’s side, much like what is in “The Eaters of Light.”

“Hell Bent,” the Grudge & Chess

Nardole said something surprising the first time I heard it:

NARDOLE: (untying the Doctor) I know you're inclined to bear a grudge, so just remember I know about ten percent of your secrets. The dark secrets.

Thinking about it further, I realized it wasn’t surprising at all.

The 12th Doctor bearing a grudge? Unless I’m not remembering something, we’ve only seen him bear grudges with Rassilon and the High Council in “Hell Bent.” He did look like he was bearing a grudge against Ashildr/Me, but it vanished at the end of “Hell Bent.”

In “The End of Time,” the Master also bears a grudge against Rassilon. Both are end of time events, and the Doctor is mirroring the Master there.

Rassilon also bears a grudge against the Doctor and tries to have him executed. He probably also holds a grudge against the Master.

Chess & War When the universe was nearly dead in “Hell Bent,” Ashildr sat with a chess set when the Doctor arrived. A sign of war.

In “The Curse for Fenric,” chess was defined as “war, a game played by politicians.” Ashildr/Me is Mayor Me.

In “The Eaters of Light,” the 12th Doctor said he had governed in Roman Britain.

So both Ashildr and the Doctor are politicians involved in a chess game. Ashildr in “Face the Raven” was ministering aid to enemies of the Doctor. She, in some ways, has been on the opposite side of the war.

Samson & Delilah, David & Goliath: How to Win at Chess

In “The Empress of Mars,” the Tythonian Hive reference directly alludes to the 4th Doctor episode “The Creature from the Pit.” In it the Doctor has a conversation with his companion. I wanted to get to this in last week’s analysis, but ran out of time. The Doctor talks about a Minotaur, so the whole God complex goes way back.

Even more interesting, Romana is going through the Doctor’s belongings:

ROMANA: All right, but what can you possibly do with the old jawbone of an ass?

DOCTOR: Don't be a philistine.

The reference to the “jawbone of an ass” and “Philistine” is an allusion to the Old Testament story of Samson & Delilah.

Samson & Delilah

OMG, River and the Library!

While I was just thinking about Samson and Delilah’s story, I had a revelation!

Samson was given great strength to help him fight his enemies. The jawbone of an ass is a reference to slaying an entire army with just a jawbone, and he destroyed a Philistine temple with his bare hands. However, if Samson cut his long hair, he would lose his strength. I’ve been totally baffled by the Doctor’s unruly hair. Now, I get it!

River is Delilah!

Missy now, too, has unruly hair because she is mirroring the Doctor.

River told the 10th Doctor in the Library:

RIVER: The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean, you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit.

Wow! She takes him down by the haircut, like Samson! That’s not exactly how we saw it in THORS, but he ended up on Trap Street, redressed for Christmas. The whole thing was a trap, and a great deal of time passed in the episode in the subtext, which we examined in a chapter in Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who.

Anyway, regarding Samson, Wikipedia says

He then falls in love with Delilah in the valley of Sorek. The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her with 1,100 silver coins to find the secret of Samson's strength so they can get rid of it and capture their enemy.

Delilah keeps trying to figure out the source of his strength, and he keeps telling her different sources, which she tries to exploit. But they are all lies.

Eventually after much nagging from Delilah, Samson tells Delilah that he will lose his strength with the loss of his hair. God supplies Samson's power because of his consecration to God as a Nazirite, symbolized by the fact that a razor has never touched his head.

In “The Name of the Doctor,” there was a conversation about the Doctor’s name, which is a similar metaphor – a Holy Grail:

VASTRA: This, Mister DeMarco claims, is the location of the Doctor's greatest secret. CLARA: Which is? JENNY: We don't know. It's a secret. VASTRA: The Doctor does not discuss his secrets with anyone, my dear. If you're still entertaining the idea that you are an exception to this rule, ask yourself one question. What is his name? (Something invisible touches Jenny's cheek.) RIVER: Well, I know it. CLARA: What, you know his name? He told you? RIVER: I made him. CLARA: How? RIVER: It took a while.

So the Doctor’s name AND hair are metaphorical Holy Grails!

OMG, I still am blown away by how DW is doing this! This is exactly why I find this all so fascinating.

In fact, this explains why the Doctor’s hair started out short and started to grow longer over seasons 8 and 9. Metaphorically, his strength was growing, and that matches the Great Work.

David & Goliath

While the jawbone of an ass definitely refers to the story of Samson and Delilah, Philistines are part of a second story in the Old Testament, which is very relevant: David and Goliath.

In the story, there is a war between the Israelites and the Philistines. Goliath, a Philistine giant, fights the young David, who is armed with a sling. David kills the giant and becomes a hero and future king of the Israelites.

In both “The Empress of Mars” and “The Eaters of Light,” there are superior forces fighting ill-equipped forces, mirroring the Goliath vs. David story: the Ice Warriors vs. the Victorian British troop and the Romans vs. the Pictish band, turning into the Romans and Picts fighting the Eaters of Light.

Captain Catchlove in “The Empress of Mars” mentions that Colonel Godsacre is not the hero of the Battle of Isandlwana that he appears to be. He deserted. While I briefly mentioned what happened, I never got to put it in context of David and Goliath.

In the Battle of Isandlwana, about 20,000 Zulus armed mainly with traditional iron spears and cowhide shields annihilated the British invasion force of about 1800 men, armed with state-of-the art weapons, and maybe 400 other civilians.

In both episodes, however, there is a beast of a different type that changes the balance of power.

The Eaters of Light change the situation between the Romans and Picts, threatening everyone.

In “The Empress of Mars,” the Doctor mans the Gargantua and threatens to destroy all their lives. He says either they live together or die together. In one way, he is David (one man) against a huge army. However, he is the one that ends up with the giant weapon, mirroring the Eaters of Light.

The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel Gargantua is a reference to 5 novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais, which, according to Wikipedia, tells of the adventures of two giants, Gargantua and his son Pantagruel. Gargantua’s wife died giving birth to his son. And a character is beheaded, which sounds like Nardole, and Gargantua sews the head back on. A whole nation lives in Pantagruel’s mouth, which sounds something like people living on the Star Whale’s back or in CAL’s mind.

The Winning Chess Strategy: Working Together

Working together is another theme that I didn’t get to last week. In “The Empress of Mars” and “The Eaters of Light,” the forces have to work together to survive.

“The Curse of Fenric” may give us an idea of what is happening because it looks like “The Curse of Fenric” and chess are playing out with the 12th Doctor. But this is a deadly game of live chess, like we saw before with the 11th Doctor in “The Wedding of River Song.”

Most likely, the Valeyard is at work here.

Fenric is most likely the Valeyard. According to the TARDIS Wikia:

Fenric, also known as Hastur the Unspeakable, Aboo-Fenrán, the Wolf and the Hunger, was an immensely powerful sentient force that was at least as old as the universe itself and an intelligence of pure evil, later identified as a Great Old One.

Commander Millington in “The Curse of Fenric” wants to win the war at any cost, so he plans to poison the enemy with the curse, which brings on Ragnarök.

MILLINGTON: Let me see. (reads) I warn of the day when the earth shall fall asunder, and all of heaven too. The Wolves of Fenric shall return for their treasure, and then shall the dark evil rule eternally. This is it. The final battle between the gods and the beasts. It's now, Judson. The Curse of Fenric.

The 7th Doctor has fought Fenric before with a chess game and won, trapping Fenric. However, Fenric got free:

JUDSON: You left me in the shadow dimensions, trapped for seventeen centuries. But now I've found a body again, and the preparations are complete.

The Doctor has to play chess again with Fenric; however, Ace accidentally gives the enemy the Doctor’s winning strategy:

ACE: A brilliant move. The black and white pawns don't fight each other, they join forces.

So to defeat Fenric, the Doctor has to break Ace’s confidence in him because Ace is under Fenric’s control.

The Roman Vs. Scottish Sides of the Doctor & Companion Obsessions

The Eater of Light is as much a metaphor for one’s inner beast as it is an external monster. In fact, the Roman vs. Scots struggle represents the Doctor’s internal struggle within himself, as a hybrid.

In “Deep Breath,” the Doctor defined the Roman side of his mirror, the half-faced man:

DOCTOR: Well, it would need a constant supply of spare parts. You can tan skin, but organs rot. Some of that metalwork looks Roman. Wonder how long it's been around, how much of the original is even left? The eyeballs look very fresh, though.

The Roman side is the robotic side, which makes sense, too, from Rory’s situation.

Romans & the Last 3 Companions

Amy One of Amy’s interests included, according to Wikipedia, “the Roman occupation of Britain, on which she had several books, along with her favourite book, Pandora's Box. She didn't receive a good grade for her paper on the Romans due to titling it ‘Invasion of the Hot Italians’. (TV: The Eleventh Hour, Let's Kill Hitler, The Pandorica Opens)” Also, she put a party photo into a book on Roman Britain.

Amy also has a look alike (or is it Amy having gone back in time?) in “The Fires of Pompeii,” who is a soothsayer in the Sibylline Sisterhood.

Amy, in “The Eleventh Hour,” says that she is sometimes a nun, sometimes a kiss-o-gram, and sometimes a policeman.

The 12th Doctor has been trying to deny he’s a policeman in seasons 9 and 10.

Clara In “Deep Breath,” Clara and Vastra were having a disagreement about Clara’s behavior regarding the 12th Doctor’s new face. Clara to counter Vastra talked about being a fan of Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor. According to Clara, “Last of the five good 'uns. Stoic philosopher.” When she was 15, she had only one poster on her wall – the emperor.

Bill Bill has read one book on the Roman 9th Legion and got an A star, so she considers herself an expert on the legion’s non-disappearance.

It was really a very odd debate she had with the Doctor about the missing legion.

Anyway, the Roman 9th Legion really did disappear from history.

The debate between Bill and the Doctor seems backward. When it comes to the missing Roman 9th Legion, English novelist Rosemary Sutcliff in 1954 wrote the book most often cited, called The Eagle of the Ninth. Based on some historical information, some of which has been confirmed, she presents the view that the Romans were annihilated on the battlefield in Britain. So what book did Bill read?

The eagle does represent the Romans, so we have to extend our Eagle metaphor.

Vestal Virgins in Rome, Angels & the Doctor’s 2nd Class Rating

The Doctor said that he was once a Vestal Virgin, 2nd Class. In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins, priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, gained great power. Their existence was deemed fundamental to the continuance and security of Rome. After Rome converted to Christianity and fell, some blamed it on the absence of the priestesses.

Parents committed their daughters to the priestesshood before puberty (when 6–10 years old), and the children took a vow of chastity for 30 years. After that, they were free to marry.

They sound a lot like the Sisterhood of Karn in that they cultivated the sacred fire or flame that was not allowed to go out.

So the Doctor being a Vestal Virgin does support the hypothesis that he was a female as a child.

2nd Class, It’s a Wonderful Life & “Turn Left”

I’m not an authority on Vestal Virgins, but 2nd Class sounds very strange. A reference that immediately came to mind was the 1946 movie It’s a Wonderful Life.

It mirrors what happens in “Turn Left” when we see life without the Doctor.

The film is based on Philip Van Doren Stern's 1943 short story "The Greatest Gift." According to Wikipedia:

The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his dreams in order to help others and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls would be had he never been born.

Much like dystopian life without the Doctor in “Turn Left,” Bedford Falls becomes, metaphorically, Bedford Fell. In the dystopian segment, it actually does get renamed to Pottersville after tyrannical Mr. Potter.

The Doctor, as a 2nd Class Vestal Virgin, would then be Clarence Odbody, Angel 2nd Class, who is trying to get his wings. Doctor Angel, trying to earn his wings, would become the Doctor’s personal savior, as Clarence became George’s.

The Doctor’s personal saviors in “Turn Left” were Rose and alternate-Donna. If we go by the mirrors of the movie and “Turn Left,” the Doctor we see in “The Eaters of Light” is the alternate-Doctor who will be a personal savior of the Doctor. Is that Missy? We’ll examine that in a bit.

We examined the 10th and 12th Doctor’s metaphorical angels in Chapter 16 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who. Here’s a very short version:

10th Doctor & “The Satan Pit” The 10th Doctor jumps into the very deep pit in “The Satan Pit” and survives, which makes him realize someone prepared it for him to survive.

12th Doctor & “The Return of Doctor Mysterio” We saw something similar in TRODM when the 12th Doctor’s cable and rope broke as he hung upside down outside Grant’s window. He falls, which is a metaphor for falling into Satan’s Pit, but somehow survives and climbs in Grant’s window after Grant talks to his mother.

YOUNG GRANT: Mom says you can come in. You're expected.

Grant’s mother is the Doctor’s mother, since Grant represents the young Doctor. She’s expecting the Doctor and must be the angel who is saving him.

In fact, in “The End of Time,” an angel is associated with the Doctor’s Mother on TV and Wilfred, Donna Noble’s grandfather. Wilfred was like a dad, in a way, to the 10th Doctor, and he was a face of the 11th Doctor. Will the 11th Doctor show up? He’s been in the subtext a few times in Season 10.

Interestingly, we examined how the Doctor was associated with the Virgin Mary in “Extremis.”

Bill and Pits in “The Empress of Mars” & “The Eaters of Light” In both “The Empress of Mars” and “The Eaters of Light,” Bill falls into pits and survives, mirroring both the 10th and 12th Doctors.

In both episodes, she’s stepped up and become like the Doctor by mediating the situations. She’s actually mirroring the Doctor.

Bill Mirrors Martha in “The Doctor’s Daughter”

Bill is not just mirroring the Doctor in the episode, but also she is mirroring Martha in “The Doctor’s Daughter.”

In that episode, Martha gets separated from the Doctor and Donna and ends up on one side of the war with the aliens called the Hath, who were fish-like people. While the Doctor, Donna, and the Doctor’s replicated daughter Jenny end up on the humans’ side of the war with General Cobb, whom wants to commit genocide against the Hath.

Martha can’t easily communicate with the Hath, who have water devices on their faces. However, through rudimentary communication, she does befriend one of them, who ends up sacrificing himself to save her.

So in a twist to the Hath and communication problems, Bill learns about the gift of translation of the Doctor and TARDIS.

“People Like Me and You, We Should Say Things to One Another”

One of the themes that I didn’t get to in “The Empress of Mars” analysis was communication. That it comes up again in “The Eaters of Light” is very significant, and with the setting and other elements of the story, it takes on additional meaning.

In fact, you may recognize the title of this section as what Clara said to the Doctor in “Hell Bent” when they were in the Cloisters. Since “The Eaters of Light” has a lot to do with Clara and communication, the title seems like foreshadowing for things to come. Also, Sweetie wrappers is probably a reference to River.

Gift of Translation by the Doctor & TARDIS with a 10th Doctor Reference

While communication comes in different forms (e.g., dialogue, sign language, and music) and levels from basic to intimate, being able to express oneself at the most basic level is a big plot point in “The Eaters of Light.” Without speaking a similar language, it’s impossible to form friendships and alliances, and the latter is at the very heart of this long story and chess game, which I’ll get to in a bit.

Bill recognized that the Doctor or the TARDIS or both translated languages, which is why people in space all speak English.

LUCIUS: You speak Latin? KAR: I don't. BILL: Neither do I. Not a word. And I don't speak whatever they speak either. It's him. It's you, isn't it? DOCTOR: Yes, it's me. BILL: Something to do with the Tardis. Maybe, telepathic field?

While we don’t get an answer here, the Doctor as part of the circuit for translation came up in the first 10th Doctor story “The Christmas Invasion.” The Sycorax were trying to take control of Earth while the Doctor was unconscious, recovering from regeneration.

ROSE: I don't understand what they're saying. The Tardis translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am. MICKEY: So, why isn't it doing it now? ROSE: I don't know. Must be the Doctor. Like he's part of the circuit, and he's, he's broken.

Rose speaks of the Doctor, as though he were a broken machine.

The Doctor’s Lack of Communication Theme: Women Have to Take Control

The statement that the Doctor can give others the gift of communication is a striking contrast to the Doctor’s own problems with communication. His own failings are at the heart of at least part of the problems.

The Doctor’s lack of communication is called out in multiple ways in this episode, but it follows a trend, especially with the 12th Doctor.

DOCTOR: I've got a better idea this time. BILL: Which is the part you never tell me. DOCTOR: Don't I? BILL: No. DOCTOR: I probably just get interrupted.

True to form, he got interrupted. And in all fairness to him, when he was going to tell Bill about his blindness after Nardole pushed Bill to ask the Doctor what was wrong, he once again got interrupted. Getting interrupted, too, has become a theme with him, and missing memories of Clara fits in this category.

It can’t be coincidence, especially since he called out the problem. Someone is directing things, and it sounds like it might be Missy or River.

Certainly, the Doctor has been terrible about expressing love and fears. We know the Doctor isn’t afraid to talk about running from the Untempered Schism. However, when it comes to talking about emotions, he avoids the subject almost at all costs, it seems.

Of course, it’s not exclusive to the 12th Doctor, especially when it comes to love, but the 12th Doctor is the most guarded when it comes to talking about emotions.

The Doctor & River The Doctor is terrible at telling his own wife how he feels about her. Therefore, River felt unloved and poured out her heart in THORS, showing a vulnerability that we’ve never seen from her. The Doctor got a rude awakening there. River had to be the one to pour out her heart first.

The Doctor & Clara We saw the Doctor guarding emotions with Clara, although he did open up more from the 8th to the 9th seasons. However, she only realized his love and devotion once she learned he spent 4.5 billion years being interrogated and tortured before coming back for her.

She had to take the reins and say, “People like me and you, we should say things to one another.” Hopefully, we’ll finally learn what she said.

The Doctor & Bill The Monks wouldn’t have taken control of Earth, most likely, if the Doctor had let Bill know about his blindness.

In response, Bill has really stepped up to take charge, especially in the last few episodes. She even went as far as to help save the Doctor from himself in “The Eaters of Light” by not allowing him to go back into the rift. Nardole, too, stepped in and tied up the Doctor. It was a mirror, too, of the Library scene with River before she died.

The Coming Gut Punch, “Heaven Sent” & “The Girl Who Waited”

Moffat has set up some odd situations this year with, for example, the whole Doctor-executing-Missy thing and the anticlimactic Vault reveal. However, from the subtext, we know these things weren’t happening like the text showed.

No doubt, he has some big gut punches coming.

I see “The Eaters of Light” as directly foreshadowing what is coming.

In relation to the last 3 episodes of Season 9, only “Face the Raven” was highlighted in “The Light Eaters.” Most likely, we’ll see some retelling of “Heaven Sent” and “Hell Bent,” which brings in “The End of Time” two-part story.

From the clips, we will see the Eye of Harmony, which is a Black Hole.

In “Heaven Sent,” the Doctor was in a different time stream, so to speak, from Clara.

It looks like Bill will be “The Girl Who Waited,” mirroring Amy in a different time stream, while waiting for the Doctor and Rory to rescue her. But Rory was a prisoner in the subtext, mirroring Rorybot, a sentient robot. The 12th Doctor would be the Rorybot mirror. However, Missy is also mirroring the Doctor, and so is Bill.

BTW, Bill and the 12th Doctor’s promo shot mirrors somewhat a shot from “The Beast Below.”

Here’s the 11th Doctor holding Amy while she is floating in space. While Amy is having fun, Bill looks fearful of something.

Next Chapter or So

I will have one or two chapters to add, talking about the meaning of the TARDIS on the rock, the beast on the stone, red wellies, Guardians, and more.