Manifesto: Twelfth Doctor
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tardis_libraryEra: Twelfth Doctor era
Characters: Twelfth Doctor
Notes/warnings/spoilers Spoilers for all of Twelve!era.
What was it about Twelve that makes me like him better than the Doctor's other incarnations? I think his alienness is what I find most intriguing, and because even though he can be just as silly and childish as the other Doctors, he is also very clearly an ancient and terrifying alien creature that does not think the way that humans do. Also, I despite popular belief, I think he's also the most human of the Doctors, and the most emotional one. He is a Doctor who is finally stopping to consider what he had done to people like Adam, Harriet Jones, Martha, Donna and River, and is questioning whether his own existence really is a good thing in the world.
He also has the most brilliant character arc, and in my opinion, he would not have been nearly as interesting character had he always been the eccentric professor he was in S10. I love how he started off bitter and closed off, damaged by the 1000 years in Trenzalore. He was then changed by his travels with Clara (I love the moment in "Last Christmas" when he's riding the sleigh, and he sounds like he's just rediscovered a part of himself that he'd lost centuries ago), and not entirely for the good - Clara, I think, was a rare companion who was truly the Doctor's equal, in both good and bad and they brought both the best and the worst out of each other. Losing Clara and all his memories of her changed him again, not back to way he'd been before her, but to someone who was able to give River the gift of 24 years in Darillium (remember how when Ten in "Satan Planet" was faced with the possibility of having to stop travelling and live chronologically with Rose, he chose to jump into a big hole instead). The Doctor we meet at the beginning of S10 is again a century older, and who is even more willing to carry the responsibility of his actions, be it giving Bill his helmet when he leads her to danger or promising to guard Missy for a thousand years. And I love how absolutely terrified he is of the idea that he might lose all those things that he's learned when he regenerates.
But in short (or not). I just love him.
I love how excited he gets when he discovers something new, be it dimensionally challenged Tardis or the moon egg or ghosts. I love how he mourned for the death of the T-Rex and forgave Bonnie and the zygons. I love that he fought against capitalism and punched racists.
I love that he loved Clara, River, Bill and Missy equally (Nardole a bit less), and each one of them in a different way. I love that he kept punching that wall for 4,5 billion years even though he could have left at any time.I love that he was prickly and silly and sad and tired and joyful and childish and kind and vulnerable and angry and scared. I love that he didn't assume that everything he did was always for the good, even if it was sometimes necessary. I love that he didn't always understand everything, and made mistakes, but he also always learned from mistakes and tried to do better the next time.
But I've now rambled way too long here, so I'm going to let the recs do the talking.
Title: Time Enough
Creator: GrayzeTv
Reasons for reccing:
This video is in my opinion a perfect summary of the Twelfth Doctor era, sort of like a trailer for him, and since it's only vaguely spoilery I've used it to pimp the show to new people.
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ov6a5j0aEw
Title: Without Reward
Creator: Margarita Life
Reasons for reccing:
12-minute tribute to Twelve. If you watch just one of these vids, watch this one.
Link: https://youtu.be/ysn7sMWjQ4g
Title: Just Kind
Creator: Twelve Coffee
Reasons for reccing:
The silliness, the darkness, the sadness and the joy of Twelve. All these three vids cover similar ground, but I think this one captures the multifaceted nature of the character best.
Link: https://youtu.be/A4zNjnMoHQY
Title: Pain
Creator: AlchemyProds
Reasons for reccing:
Another general Twelve vid that I have to include because it has some absolutely gorgeus editing.
Link: href="https://youtu.be/HcsPFQmaobQ
Title: Karaoke & Mime
Creator: KatrinDepp
Warnings/Notes: Quick editing/flashes
Reasons for reccing:
Because contrary to popular belief, the Twelfth Doctor era is not all doom and gloom.
Link: https://youtu.be/hbyVmJIv3kY
Title: Pulse
Creator: Katrin Depp
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/Clara
Warnings/Notes: Quick editing/flashes
Reasons for reccing:
I think this vid is absolutely perfect description of the Twelve/Clara relationship, and probably the main reason why I now ship them (platonically or romantically). The tempo of the vid changes as their relationship progresses, starting fast paced and adrenaline-fueled and ending slow and peaceful when they accept that they cannot be together.
Link: https://youtu.be/IaES6oIEWZw
Title: What Would You Die for?
Creator: Thorny Rose
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/Missy
Warnings/Notes:
Reasons for reccing:
This is an absolutely gorgeous vid was basically what made me ship Doctor/Missy in the first place.
Link: https://www.youtu.be/ytF5yQLeVJM
Title: Wait for Me
Creator: Margarita Life
Reasons for reccing:
This is just is hauntingly beautiful and sad.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qASxEfbGPfY
Title: Come Back in Two Halves
Creator:![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
levendis
Rating: M
Word Count/Length/Size: 10,500
Creator's Summary: Doctor Oswald and The Clara embark on an exciting adventure of existential panic.
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/Clara
Reasons for reccing: I love bodyswap fics, and this is a really good one that focuses on the fact that the Doctor really is an alien that just happens to look like a human.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3445229
Title: A Few Good Things and Lizard
Creator:beer_good
Rating: Teen
Word Count/Length/Size: 2800
Creator's Summary: When Clara doesn't join him after the events of "Deep Breath", the Doctor picks up another companion. A big, sexy woman with legs up to here, a tail that won't quit, and big, nasty, pointy teeth. The fix-it fic to end all fix-it fics: The Doctor, in the TARDIS, with a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Characters/Pairings: Doctor & the T-Rex. Plus various others.
Reasons for reccing:
Because I do still think that dinosaur would have made a brilliant companion for Twelve, and this fic proves it.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5085451
Title: Time and Time and Time Again
Creator:JustMcShane
Rating: Teen
Word Count/Length/Size: 10,000
Creator's Summary: Bill had watched Groundhog Day, once. Or, well, she had watched half of it. Skimmed it, sort of. Watched the opening few scenes. Read the summary on Wikipedia?
Characters/Pairings: Doctor & Bill & Nardole & Missy
Warnings/Notes: Character death. Sort of.
Reasons for reccing: What can I say, I can't resist a good time-loop story. This is from Bill's POV, but gives a great look on the Doctor as well through his reaction (or non-reaction) to what's going on.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16636706
Title: Nineteen Fifty Seven
Creator:nostalgia
Rating: Gen
Word Count/Length/Size: 5000
Creator's Summary: It's 1957 and the Doctor falls in love while trying to help Missy towards redemption.
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/original male character, Doctor & Missy
Reasons for reccing:
Original character romances rarely work for me, but this one does. It's a sad a bleakly realistic story about how the Doctor can't fix the flaws in human society.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15868512
Title: A Night on Darillium
Creator:dragonwings948
Rating:
Word Count/Length/Size:
Creator's Summary: The Doctor and River's 24 year night, starting with the end of The Husbands of River Song and continuing on into feels, adventure, absurd arguments, and, eventually, goodbye. (Other characters/episodes listed in tags are either mentioned or show up in flashbacks.) Current chapter: the Doctor and River have saved Paris from an Auton invasion, but can they save the TARDIS from the Nestene Consciousness?
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/River
Warnings/Notes: This is marked as a WIP, but it already works as a complete story.
Reasons for reccing: This is a fun romantic story about Doctor and River having adventures (and dealing with ~emotions~) during the 24 years in Darillium.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8410783
Title: Cura Te Ipsum
Creator:nastally
Rating: Explicit
Word Count/Length/Size: 13,300
Creator's Summary: Nothing had prepared him for the effect she was having on him. Everything about Missy was achingly familiar and yet not quite right. It was infuriating and extremely enticing.
Characters/Pairings: Missy/Simm!Master, Simm!Master/Doctor/Missy
Warnings/Notes: This is extremely dark with selfcest, dubious consent and the Master/Missy being themselves. Also, the first chapter of this is Missy/Master -- the Doctor joins in the second chapter, which can be read as a stand-alone.
Reasons for reccing: I don't generally like dark, explicit PWPs, but there's something about this fic that is just perfectly the darker, nastier (and more tragic) side of the Doctor/Master relationship.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17304656
Title: Season 10 ficlets
Creator:lloydsglasses
Rating: Varies (Gen-Teen-Mature)
Creator's Summary: Multiple ficlets set during S10
Characters/Pairings: Twelve/Missy
Reasons for reccing: This is a lovely set of episode tags and missing scenes about Dolcor & Bill's rlationship. It's also a great example of a phenomenon that I've noticed how in S10 fanon!Twelve became a sort of a Queer Space Grandad and champion of LGBT rights. Mapping human sexuality/gender to the Doctor doesn't always work for me, but the last few ficlets in this series explore the Doctor's gender identity in a way that I really like.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/716277
Characters: Twelfth Doctor
Notes/warnings/spoilers Spoilers for all of Twelve!era.
What was it about Twelve that makes me like him better than the Doctor's other incarnations? I think his alienness is what I find most intriguing, and because even though he can be just as silly and childish as the other Doctors, he is also very clearly an ancient and terrifying alien creature that does not think the way that humans do. Also, I despite popular belief, I think he's also the most human of the Doctors, and the most emotional one. He is a Doctor who is finally stopping to consider what he had done to people like Adam, Harriet Jones, Martha, Donna and River, and is questioning whether his own existence really is a good thing in the world.
He also has the most brilliant character arc, and in my opinion, he would not have been nearly as interesting character had he always been the eccentric professor he was in S10. I love how he started off bitter and closed off, damaged by the 1000 years in Trenzalore. He was then changed by his travels with Clara (I love the moment in "Last Christmas" when he's riding the sleigh, and he sounds like he's just rediscovered a part of himself that he'd lost centuries ago), and not entirely for the good - Clara, I think, was a rare companion who was truly the Doctor's equal, in both good and bad and they brought both the best and the worst out of each other. Losing Clara and all his memories of her changed him again, not back to way he'd been before her, but to someone who was able to give River the gift of 24 years in Darillium (remember how when Ten in "Satan Planet" was faced with the possibility of having to stop travelling and live chronologically with Rose, he chose to jump into a big hole instead). The Doctor we meet at the beginning of S10 is again a century older, and who is even more willing to carry the responsibility of his actions, be it giving Bill his helmet when he leads her to danger or promising to guard Missy for a thousand years. And I love how absolutely terrified he is of the idea that he might lose all those things that he's learned when he regenerates.
But in short (or not). I just love him.
I love how excited he gets when he discovers something new, be it dimensionally challenged Tardis or the moon egg or ghosts. I love how he mourned for the death of the T-Rex and forgave Bonnie and the zygons. I love that he fought against capitalism and punched racists.
I love that he loved Clara, River, Bill and Missy equally (Nardole a bit less), and each one of them in a different way. I love that he kept punching that wall for 4,5 billion years even though he could have left at any time.I love that he was prickly and silly and sad and tired and joyful and childish and kind and vulnerable and angry and scared. I love that he didn't assume that everything he did was always for the good, even if it was sometimes necessary. I love that he didn't always understand everything, and made mistakes, but he also always learned from mistakes and tried to do better the next time.
But I've now rambled way too long here, so I'm going to let the recs do the talking.
Title: Time Enough
Creator: GrayzeTv
Reasons for reccing:
This video is in my opinion a perfect summary of the Twelfth Doctor era, sort of like a trailer for him, and since it's only vaguely spoilery I've used it to pimp the show to new people.
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ov6a5j0aEw
Title: Without Reward
Creator: Margarita Life
Reasons for reccing:
12-minute tribute to Twelve. If you watch just one of these vids, watch this one.
Link: https://youtu.be/ysn7sMWjQ4g
Title: Just Kind
Creator: Twelve Coffee
Reasons for reccing:
The silliness, the darkness, the sadness and the joy of Twelve. All these three vids cover similar ground, but I think this one captures the multifaceted nature of the character best.
Link: https://youtu.be/A4zNjnMoHQY
Title: Pain
Creator: AlchemyProds
Reasons for reccing:
Another general Twelve vid that I have to include because it has some absolutely gorgeus editing.
Link: href="https://youtu.be/HcsPFQmaobQ
Title: Karaoke & Mime
Creator: KatrinDepp
Warnings/Notes: Quick editing/flashes
Reasons for reccing:
Because contrary to popular belief, the Twelfth Doctor era is not all doom and gloom.
Link: https://youtu.be/hbyVmJIv3kY
Title: Pulse
Creator: Katrin Depp
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/Clara
Warnings/Notes: Quick editing/flashes
Reasons for reccing:
I think this vid is absolutely perfect description of the Twelve/Clara relationship, and probably the main reason why I now ship them (platonically or romantically). The tempo of the vid changes as their relationship progresses, starting fast paced and adrenaline-fueled and ending slow and peaceful when they accept that they cannot be together.
Link: https://youtu.be/IaES6oIEWZw
Title: What Would You Die for?
Creator: Thorny Rose
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/Missy
Warnings/Notes:
Reasons for reccing:
This is an absolutely gorgeous vid was basically what made me ship Doctor/Missy in the first place.
Link: https://www.youtu.be/ytF5yQLeVJM
Title: Wait for Me
Creator: Margarita Life
Reasons for reccing:
This is just is hauntingly beautiful and sad.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qASxEfbGPfY
Title: Come Back in Two Halves
Creator:
Rating: M
Word Count/Length/Size: 10,500
Creator's Summary: Doctor Oswald and The Clara embark on an exciting adventure of existential panic.
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/Clara
Reasons for reccing: I love bodyswap fics, and this is a really good one that focuses on the fact that the Doctor really is an alien that just happens to look like a human.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3445229
Title: A Few Good Things and Lizard
Creator:
Rating: Teen
Word Count/Length/Size: 2800
Creator's Summary: When Clara doesn't join him after the events of "Deep Breath", the Doctor picks up another companion. A big, sexy woman with legs up to here, a tail that won't quit, and big, nasty, pointy teeth. The fix-it fic to end all fix-it fics: The Doctor, in the TARDIS, with a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Characters/Pairings: Doctor & the T-Rex. Plus various others.
Reasons for reccing:
Because I do still think that dinosaur would have made a brilliant companion for Twelve, and this fic proves it.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5085451
Title: Time and Time and Time Again
Creator:
Rating: Teen
Word Count/Length/Size: 10,000
Creator's Summary: Bill had watched Groundhog Day, once. Or, well, she had watched half of it. Skimmed it, sort of. Watched the opening few scenes. Read the summary on Wikipedia?
Characters/Pairings: Doctor & Bill & Nardole & Missy
Warnings/Notes: Character death. Sort of.
Reasons for reccing: What can I say, I can't resist a good time-loop story. This is from Bill's POV, but gives a great look on the Doctor as well through his reaction (or non-reaction) to what's going on.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16636706
Title: Nineteen Fifty Seven
Creator:
Rating: Gen
Word Count/Length/Size: 5000
Creator's Summary: It's 1957 and the Doctor falls in love while trying to help Missy towards redemption.
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/original male character, Doctor & Missy
Reasons for reccing:
Original character romances rarely work for me, but this one does. It's a sad a bleakly realistic story about how the Doctor can't fix the flaws in human society.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15868512
Title: A Night on Darillium
Creator:
Rating:
Word Count/Length/Size:
Creator's Summary: The Doctor and River's 24 year night, starting with the end of The Husbands of River Song and continuing on into feels, adventure, absurd arguments, and, eventually, goodbye. (Other characters/episodes listed in tags are either mentioned or show up in flashbacks.) Current chapter: the Doctor and River have saved Paris from an Auton invasion, but can they save the TARDIS from the Nestene Consciousness?
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/River
Warnings/Notes: This is marked as a WIP, but it already works as a complete story.
Reasons for reccing: This is a fun romantic story about Doctor and River having adventures (and dealing with ~emotions~) during the 24 years in Darillium.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8410783
Title: Cura Te Ipsum
Creator:
Rating: Explicit
Word Count/Length/Size: 13,300
Creator's Summary: Nothing had prepared him for the effect she was having on him. Everything about Missy was achingly familiar and yet not quite right. It was infuriating and extremely enticing.
Characters/Pairings: Missy/Simm!Master, Simm!Master/Doctor/Missy
Warnings/Notes: This is extremely dark with selfcest, dubious consent and the Master/Missy being themselves. Also, the first chapter of this is Missy/Master -- the Doctor joins in the second chapter, which can be read as a stand-alone.
Reasons for reccing: I don't generally like dark, explicit PWPs, but there's something about this fic that is just perfectly the darker, nastier (and more tragic) side of the Doctor/Master relationship.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17304656
Title: Season 10 ficlets
Creator:
Rating: Varies (Gen-Teen-Mature)
Creator's Summary: Multiple ficlets set during S10
Characters/Pairings: Twelve/Missy
Reasons for reccing: This is a lovely set of episode tags and missing scenes about Dolcor & Bill's rlationship. It's also a great example of a phenomenon that I've noticed how in S10 fanon!Twelve became a sort of a Queer Space Grandad and champion of LGBT rights. Mapping human sexuality/gender to the Doctor doesn't always work for me, but the last few ficlets in this series explore the Doctor's gender identity in a way that I really like.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/716277
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Date: 2019-04-27 03:28 pm (UTC)