A Doctor Who Reccing Community

Title: A Captain and a Madman
Creator: RazielLordOfSquirrels
Rating: T
Word Count/Length/Size: 95677
Creator's Summary: When a strange, blue box appears in the middle of Federation territory, motionless and without power, it's up to the crew of the Enterprise D to determine just who its strange occupant is... and if he is friend or foe. Even as that very madman wonders just what kind of reality he's found himself in... and if he really wants to find his way back...
Characters/Pairings: Eleventh Doctor, Various Star Trek characters from TNG, TOS, Enterprise and Voyager
Warnings/Notes: none listed. The work is being re-posted on Ao3 from ff.net by an anonymous fan; it's complete on ff.net (and credited to the author) and nearly finished installments on Ao3.

Reasons for reccing:. It's the Star Trek/Doctor Who crossover I never knew I needed. Reads like an episode of either series, has a spot-on Eleventh Doctor, plenty of Trek cameos, plus an overarching mystery and action and just the Doctor having a romp across the Trek Universe. But it also melds together both the universes very well. The Doctor of course gets immediately thrown into a situation with the Enterprise D where only he can avert disaster, but as much as it's a seat-of-the-pants victory (and subsequent escape from the very . . . interested . . . Federation brass), it's the next chapter where the story really picks up the pace, ups the ante and starts to become something more than just another generic crossover. Definitely worth a read even if you're not familiar with all of the Treks featured (I only have passing knowledge of Enterprise and Voyager). Check it out; you won't be disappointed.


Link:
Archive of Our Own Link
Fanfiction.net link

Title: Bad Parts
Creator: Clocketpatch
Rating: General Audiences
Word Count/Length/Size: 10594 words
Creator's Summary: Alternative ending to Nightmare in Silver. The Cyber-parts don't just drop off at the end, and Mr. Clever isn't giving up so easily...
Characters/Pairings: Jenny/Vastra
Eleventh Doctor, Cyber-Controlled Eleventh Doctor, Jenny Flint, Madame Vastra, Clara Oswin Oswald, Strax
Warnings/Notes: None

Reasons for reccing: December is almost over and this one is a two-fer on the theme: Eleventh Doctor AND Cybermen! For anyone who thought that the Doctor had it just a bit too easy getting rid of the CyberParts at the end of Nightmare in Silver, in this meaty alt-ending the fight goes on. The character voices are on point, especially the Eleventh Doctor who has to deal with the cyber-controller's attempts not only to take over his body but to destroy his hope.

Link: Bad Parts

Title: One Soldier's Story
Creator: Shivver
Rating: General Audiences
Word Count/Length/Size: 5576 words
Creator's Summary: Swept into a war with no foreseeable end, Acassa lives the life of just another faceless soldier.
Characters/Pairings: Sixth Doctor, Peri Brown, Original Character
Warnings/Notes: No warnings apply

Reasons for reccing: This is for my Fandom Character Surprise assignment of Peri Brown. Peri got short shrift in canon, but those of us who paid attention (and listened to Big Finish audios) come to love her for her dogged determination and her absolute unwillingness to ever give up hope. She's not brilliant, but she certainly is brave and kind-hearted, and she makes connections. All of this is evident in this story. It's an outsider POV story that reads like an episode. Two planets at each others' throats in a manufactured war. Left on her own, it's up to Peri to find an ally to finish the plan that she and the Doctor started. All of this on the edges of the story of one lowly soldier who can stop it all, but not if she doesn't know what is going on.

Link: One Soldier's Story

Title: Liminality
Creator: picnokinesis
Rating: General Audiences
Word Count/Length/Size: 9442 words
Creator's Summary: It's been less than an hour since the Doctor escaped from solitary confinement, and it's become very clear that she's not...quite right.
Characters/Pairings: Thirteenth Doctor, Jack Harkness
Warnings/Notes: No archive warnings apply

Reasons for reccing: Note: Spoilers for the Timeless Children. It's a look at the Doctor dealing with the effects of sensory deprivation--specifically time sensitivity sensory deprivation--after being rescued from an interminable amount of time in solitary confinement. I like it for the depiction of an alien time sense in understandable and relatable ways, for the relationship between the Doctor and the TARDIS, and for the stark vulnerability we see in Thirteen who has gone through an ordeal and knows what she needs but is terrified of it at the same time. There isn't much here that dwells on the Timeless Child arc in particular (I wasn't much of a fan of it) but what is there is sharp and sad and used to good effect. The Doctor's sometimes-strained relationship with Jack Harkness is also really well realized as well, and I'm glad to see it end on a hopeful note.


Link: Liminality

Title: First Responders
Author: PlumOolong
Characters: Eleven, Rory, Amy
Summary: Amy and Rory's vacation weekend with the Doctor takes a turn as the TARDIS whisks them away to answer a distress call. They find a disabled cargo ship, its cheery AI, and its pilot who is screaming in pain from no obvious source. Rory must use his nursing skills to keep the pilot alive, Amy must work on her own to fix the ship and the Doctor must rely on the power of his mind to get to the alien entity at the bottom of the mystery--if he can do it without breaking the TARDIS or himself.

Reason for Reccing: The summary above definitely hits the plot points but the execution is really well done. It's like a lost episode between Asylum of the Daleks and Angels Take Manhattan, with visual world-building, imaginative and well-rounded OCs, spot-on dialogue and pace and storytelling, and understands how to put characters in situations that let both their vulnerability and strength come through, while understatedly pointing out how well this TARDIS team complements and relies on each other. Just a gem all around for this era.

Link:https://archiveofourown.org/works/20713316

Recs bingo! Here is my card and this is my fourth row, fifth column fill for the prompt: New/Old

Title: And the Last Age Should Show Your Heart
Creator: Quanna
Rating: General audiences
Word Count: 1854
Creator's Summary: The Doctor saves the Master, one final time, and gives her the universe to look after in his place. A post 'the Doctor Falls' AU in which the Doctor dies, and the Master goes on; without hope, without witness, without reward.
Characters/Pairings: Missy, Twelve, Clara (mentioned)
Warnings/Notes: Major Character Death (as noted in the summary)

Reasons for reccing: When I looked at the word count for this story, I was surprised it was not longer. Because its not even 2000 words cover such a scale--of time, of life, of emotion and growth--that it feels like an epic. The old Doctor has died a lot in canon, leaving us with someone new who isn't exactly sure about who they are, aside from that stalwart set of values that maintain hope in (as Craig Ferguson so aptly put it) the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism. The Doctor always entrusts this to his successors--it's just in this case, Missy is not re-learning who she always was, but in the travels of a newly gifted life, understanding how to become someone entirely new herself, and yet as ancient as the Doctor has always been. Poignant, bittersweet, sad, and brilliant. Don't miss it.

( excerpt )

Link: And the Last Age Should Show Your Heart

Recs Bingo again: Here is my card and while I am not doing a great job at getting an actual bingo, this is my second row, third column fill for the prompt: Sound

Title: Poorly Worded
Creator: Kitty Eden (TheBigCat)
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 33877
Creator's Summary: Seven, Ace, Hex. A military bunker; an impossible murder, an unstoppable foe, and an ancient library – nobody’s having fun today.
Characters/Pairings: Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex from the Big Finish Audios.
Warnings: None

Reasons for reccing: This is like a continuation or revisiting of the Audio Adventure Forty-Five, an anthology whose 4th chapter was quite an interesting premise for an audio story. The original was notable for the way it pitted the most scheming of the Doctor's incarnations in a battle of wits against an over-the-top, megalomaniacal foe: an entity who is a Lord of Words the same way the Doctor is a Lord of Time. This story really captures the feel of the audio adventures, with lots of shout-outs, jokes, peril, creativity and imagination, and some true emotions in there as well. It's snappy and quick and for a story focused on the sounds of language, is very visual. My one nitpick would be that as far as Who stories go, the minor character "red shirt" body count is a bit high; on the one hand it shows what an unstoppable and dangerously unbalanced menace the Word Lord is in order to motivate the heroes; but in terms of today's show's sensibilities it seems a bit out of character or lacking some true depth. But the past was a bit different, and the audios yet again a different kettle of fish. And despite a bit of red shirt motivation (and some blue language), the parts with the Doctor, Ace and Hex well make up for it. They are wonderfully in character with great dialogue and interactions, and a true delight in these dire circumstances. Overall it's a creepy, creative, funny, snappy piece with a brilliantly inventive denoument worthy of the Scottish schemer himself. Nobody shouldn't read this story...

**
( here is the author note introduction to set the scene for you )

Link again: Poorly Worded

Hi all! Time for another recs bingo! Here is my card and this is my bottom row, fifth column fill for the prompt: Monsters

Title: Be Afraid
Creator: RobertSaysThis
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 7888
Creator's Summary: The world is getting darker, and it needs a different kind of Doctor. Here, she becomes a psychiatrist, fights creatures from beyond human understanding, and explains to a child why there is still hope in the world.
Characters/Pairings: Thirteenth Doctor, original companion
Warnings: None.

Reasons for reccing: This is actually Part 1 of a series I've been working my way through, and the whole thing is really fantastic. It's dark and creepy and truly scary, but at the same time it's funny and hopeful and adventurous. In short, it is everything Doctor Who should be. I love the author's characterization of the Thirteenth Doctor; in a world where time is just a bit wrong somehow, blazing through adventures and defeating monsters wherever she goes. If you like this story (and you will, I promise), keep reading because it just keeps getting better. The author does a wonderful job of making the Doctor new and female and dealing with it, but still absolutely, recognizably herself. Imaginative, creative, scary, creepy, funny, with an underlying philosophy behind everything--dealing with adults and children, what it means to hope and how important it is to be afraid and honest in the face of fear and danger. And all building (I think) to a bigger mystery. It's like if Thirteen's new series took the best from new school and old school Who and mixed them together brilliantly.

Seriously, don't miss it!

( Tiny excerpt )

Link again: Be Afraid

Since this month's theme is First Doctor/Humor, I thought I'd post something from the queen of First Doctor Humor stories, Lissy Strata. This one is super short, but she also has some long hilarious gems. Check her out.


Title: Relax!
Creator: Lissy Strata
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 475
Creator's Summary: A nice day out ends with a mad dash back to the TARDIS.
Characters/Pairings: First Doctor, Ian, Barbara, Susan
Warnings: None

Reasons for reccing: A short, cute scene that made me laugh like an idiot at the end. Seems like TARDIS teams from the very beginning have pleasant days intersected by adventure and missing keys.

Link: Relax!

Recs bingo! Here is my card and this is my top-right-corner fill for the prompt: Tea. And well, what else can I rec here, really, but this?

Title: The Doctor Who Adagio Tea Collection
Creator: Sami Kelsh (doctorpancakes)
Rating: General Audiences
Creator's Summary: Oh my giddy aunt. Interesting things and exciting times seem to happen everywhere the TARDIS goes. This collection of teas is inspired by the Doctor(s) and his companions, adventurers in time and space.
Characters/Pairings: Many many Doctor Who characters, paired with specialty tea blends.
Warnings: none, unless maybe you can't handle caffeine.

Reasons for reccing: If you take the two most British things you can think of and blend them together... well you get this wonderful collection, steeped in UK cultural traditions and arising from the creative mind of a Canadian ex-pat and writer/illustrator. Sami (doctorpancakes, here is her Tea tag on livejournal but there are more varieties on the Adagio site) has put together a thoughtful and inventive tea collection for Doctors, companions, villains, one-off characters and monsters across the whole continuum of the Whoniverse. For example, did you know there's a tea ingredient called "gunpowder"? Well, you can bet it's part of Ace McShane's blend. And Five? Caramel, almond and cream of course, for that perfect beige color with a caffeine kick to get stuff done.

Not only that, Sami gives each blend its own custom original artwork and description, with an added review to tell you more about each one ("The combination of tastes and aromas wakes up your whole mouth: peppermint cools the top of the palette like a smooth, sibilant vapour, flanked by whispers of tart hibiscus, then a lingering dark green, lightly smoky astringency that intensifies when served cold."--Ice Warriors), and sometimes a video review. It's a total feast for the senses, but don't take my word for it; you can actually order the teas and leave a review for yourself if you find one that fits your fancy. And even if you don't like tea, you will certainly enjoy perusing this collection for the wonderful art, clever descriptions, videos and reviews from fellow Whovian tea-philes.

Link: The Doctor Who Adagio Tea Collection | doctorpancakes Tea tag on livejournal.

Recs bingo! Let's do this! Here is my card and this is the first top-left-corner fill for the prompt: Gallifrey. Because that's a good place to start.

Title: Common Issues in Child Care
Creator: neveralarch
Rating: General Audiences
Word Count: 4827
Creator's Summary: From aralias' prompt: "Some sort of Gallifrey babyfic - yes, that's what's happening here." Set in a idyllic future of the canon, where both the K-9s are there and also Elbon is not a zombie.
Characters/Pairings: Various characters from the Big Finish Gallifrey chronicles
Warnings: none

Reasons for reccing: This is a really delightful story even if you have not listened to the Gallifrey audios. The Publisher's summary describes the Gallifrey chronicles as "Tales of intrigue and political manoeuvring from the seat of Time Lord power. Join Romana, Leela and K9 as they find enemies on all sides in a delicate game with the fate of Gallifrey hanging in the balance." Well in this story they trade that intrigue and manouevring for . . . a wee bit of drive-by babysitting. I think they definitely would prefer the politics!

This one is told in a breezy and fun round robin as the baby--dropped off by the Doctor as he could either mind her or save her planet but not both--changes hands among all the usual suspects.

( Excerpt )


Link: Common Issues in Child Care

Title: Maybe We're Just Dreaming
Author: HellNHighHeels
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 7826
Author's Summary:
She’s standing on a rooftop, gazing out over a skyline she’s never seen. London by the looks of it. It’s hardly the setting of her usual dreams, no dust covered runes or tombs just begging to be explored. The urge to run doesn’t make her bones itch. In fact, she feels almost tranquil, at peace in a way she hardly ever is in big cities. River shuts hers eyes, letting the night breeze kiss her cheeks and tangle her curls.

“You’re on my roof,” a Scottish voice scowls, mouth half full of food. River turns in time to see the door to the roof slam shut behind a wild haired grouch of a man holding a basket of fried food.

“Funny,” River quips, resting an indignant hand on her hip. “I seem to have gotten here first.”

Characters/Pairings: Twelfth Doctor/River Song (Human AU versions)
Warnings: Author chose not to use official warnings but there is "Character Death--kind of?" in the tags.

Reasons for reccing: a human au where they keep invading each others dreams is not something I would usually seek out, so when I find it by happy accident and it is stirring and lyrical and romantic and sad, I am duty bound to point it out to others. I like how the usual Whovian sci-fi space opera magic is supplanted in this story by a different magic altogether, but it still works to tell the story of star-crossed lovers who ... just maybe ... will get it right one of these times. Or who knows, maybe this iteration was just a prior life, and River and the Doctor that we know are one of just another slightly different expression of the same story told over again.

Link: Maybe We're Just Dreaming (AO3)