Good Night, Raggedy Man: A Love Letter to the Eleventh Doctor

"I'll be a story in your head. But that's okay. We're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh? Because it was, you know, the best."

Dear Doctor,

They say you never forget your first Doctor.

I will say, you were not quite the first for me. The first Doctor I watched was the Ninth. But you were the Doctor when I became a Whovian. So, not only is this my first Christmas special, but this is my first regeneration as well.

Though this may be the first time I actually
admit it, the answer is, and always will be yes.

You know by now that I have mixed feelings about you. I hope it counts for something that a really, really do want  to like you. But I think Ten will always be my Doctor.

I began watching the show on a medical leave from college in February of this year. I am a Theatre Arts major and a lot of the other students in the program love it. I didn't quite fit in with them, and so I began watching it as something to be able to talk with them about and understand the references.

But, as you can tell, it became more. So much more.


Since my second or third year of high school, I've known I was a relatively decent writer compared to my peers. (Quite franklyI thought that spoke more about my peers than myself.) Starting this blog proved me wrong. Once it picked up momentum, it never really stopped. It evolved in a way I could not imagine.

And you carried the show while all this was happening.

For me, you only became the Doctor in late February or March, so I am still attached to your previous face. It's strange, how we attach to faces.

Your song is ending now, too. But, as Ood Sigma said, the story never ends.

And that is so true. Just over a month ago, we all celebrated fifty years of Doctor Who. And we, as a community, have never been stronger. I would attribute most of that to the internet, allowing millions of Whovians to connect everyday. I believe there have been studies that prove that talking about things (and people too!) is conducive to creating the bonds that we call love. Twitter. Facebook. Tumblr. All crawling with Whovians, if your know where to look. I believe the epic of your story will only perish when the human race does so as well. It will go to the end of the Earth--and perhaps beyond.

Here's the gist of what I'm trying to say. Bad Wolf said it best:

You know the sound the TARDIS makes? That wheezing groaning? That sound brings hope where ever it goes. To anyone who hears it, Doctor. Anyone. However lost.

There has been no line in all of Doctor Who with more veracity than that. That wheezing, groaning used to invoke such a response in me that I set it as the text tone on my phone to desensitize myself it it (not that it really worked, of course).

Before I end this letter, I'd like to share my most fond memory of you with you. This summer, I babysat my two-year-old cousin, Max, for two consecutive weeks. On the Tuesday or Wednesday of the second week, I popped on "The Beast Below," as we had just watched Treasure Planet and the Orcus galacticus, naturally, reminded me of the Star Whale. Max, curious as ever, asked what exactly a Star Whale is. And, as that episode is pretty child-friendly (compared to a lot of the other stories), I didn't think it could do any harm (and as far as I know, it has not). He and I watched it. And he loved it. I wonder when his mother (my aunt) will Google "star whale" and figure out what happened.

So, Doctor. The Eleventh Doctor. Matt Smith. Sir Doctor of Tardis. The Oncoming Storm. The Drunk Giraffe. And, in a way, my Doctor. You are so loved. And by no one in the exact same way as me.

Goodbye, Raggedy Man.

The Forever and Always Yours Ley Wynn

PS. It's not quite goodbye, you know--same software, different casing.

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What I Want From the Twelfth Doctor (or Whatever Number Capaldi Is…)

And ever since then...

With Matt Smith’s reign as Doctor having less than twenty-four hours remaining, the internet is atwitter with…timey-wimey stuff. There is no doubt in my mind that the Doctor Capaldi will be will be unlike the last two Doctors. More than twenty years older at the start of his tenure than David Tennant, it would be unfitting to have him play a flirty, sexy Doctor, especially alongside the youthful Jenna Coleman.

The most recent Doctors have had faces that reflect the personality of their Doctors, Tennant being young, flirty, and suave, and Smith being joyous (most of the time) and a tad crazed. When you look at Capaldi’s face, what do you think of? His face is aged in a way the likes of which we have not seen since at least Sylvester McCoy, or perhaps even Jon Pertwee. There is a striking similarity between the eyes of William Hartnell and our incumbent Doctor, at least to me. Capaldi’s face, in general, especially when paired with the little First Doctor impression he did when he walked on stage upon being announced as Smith’s successor, reminds me of Hartnell. Perhaps his Doctor will be a bit more like the Classic Doctors rather than the new Doctors.

...the Doctor had a thing about showers.

But so far, these clues have been just that—clues. And that’s not the title of this post. Here’s what I want to see from Peter and the team:

• In all honesty, I want a sterner Doctor. While I love the playfulness of Matt, I would love to see this new Doctor be a bit more mature.
• This may sound weird, but I want a Doctor who reminds me of a nice wine. In my view, they’ve been getting better with age, no question, but I want something with a deeper, more complex flavour. Something that might pair well with a filet mignon. (#SecretFoodie)
• While Matt certainly had his darker moments, I personally loved the fire and ice and rage that was David’s Doctor, and I want that back for Capaldi. Some of that was a consequence of Gallifrey burning, which it has not (Can we just take a second to “appreciate” how Moffat broke the key rule and [sort of] negated eight years of writing? Clearly this man has no improv training.) Actually happened, apparently, and now the Doctor knows it there is less of an influence for is depression. Call me crazy (it’s OK; people have done it before), but when Clara goes, and we know it is only a matter of time, I’d like it to be in a way even more emotionally damning that the Rose…it’s been a long time since a companion’s been truly killed… Oh, I’m so bloody evil. Although Clara’s a bit of a meme, I wonder what having the definite article killed would do to her existence in the Doctor’s timestream…



Artwork (c) Erin Natal

• NO BOWTIES. I will accept the fez now that it has been on the head of Ten, but no more. Please, costume designers, consider a cravat? Capaldi would look seriously good in a cravat. Allons-y on that cravat.

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The Day of the Doctor: Gallifrey Falls No More

WELL...this changes everything.

Or does it?

#SaveTheDay Countdown: The Tenth Doctor--David Tennant

As a countdown to the upcoming 50th Anniversary of Doctor

Who, TARDIStyle will be showcasing one Doctor a day.

David John McDonald was born 18 April 1971 in Bathgate, Scotland. His father, Sandy, is a prominent (now retired) minister of the Church of Scotland and was the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

At the age of three, David decided that he wanted to be an actor to play the role of the Doctor. He pursued acting, as he put it, "absurdly single-mindedly," although his parents tried to steer him to a more practical profession. Tennant attended Ralston Primary and Paisley Grammar School, where he had an English teacher by the name of Moira Robertson, who  was among the first to see David's potential in acting. David participated in school productions in primary and secondary school. He had his first "real" role in a production at age 11, and actress Edith MacArthur saw him perform and told his parents that their son was destined to become a brilliant performer. David took Saturday classes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He passed an audition in the Academy's BA program in Acting at 16, becoming one of their youngest students. He graduated the program at 20 and was flatmates with actress Louise Delamere at the program. The two are still friends.

David's first professional role post-graduation was the play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and his first major television role was Campbell, a bi-polar patient in the 1994 series Takin' Over the Asylum. When David joined the British Actor's Equity Union, he assumed the stagename David Tennant, after Pet Shop Boys' leading man, Neil Tennant, as the name David McDonald was already in use in the Union. David's extensive CV includes many Shakespearean roles, but none more acclaimed than his Hamlet in 2009 with the Royal Shakespeare Company

David is married to Georgia Moffet. They have three children together. A little-known fact is that David wears contacts on screen as he needs corrective lenses.

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PODCAST: Dalek and Important Update

Due to unforeseen constraints of our previous podcast hosting service, the TARDIStyle podcast has been moved. Please note that if you had subscribed via iTunes that that specific feed will no longer be updated. Instead, you can re-subscribe here.

With that said, I am proud to announce the episode that I think has been the best so far: Dalek! It is avalable here. Please note that plot through "The Name of the Doctor" is discussed in this podcast.

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Bad Wolf vs. the Impossible Girl

I've been getting an earful recently the arc this series and how it's meant there's no overarching story even though, y'know, there totally is, and it's the Doctor and the mystery of Clara.

And it keeps getting put up against Series 1 and "Bad Wolf" for some reason, even though that really wasn't much of a story arc. People happened to be using the words, it got pointed out to us in the penultimate episode, and then in the last episode we found out why and we pretended it made sense. Even when there were two-parters they really didn't elaborate or expand on the season plot.

And so it was with Series 2 and Series 3 and Series 4. "Torchwood Torchwood Torchwood OH HEY TORCHWOOD IS A GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION." "Saxon Saxon Saxon OH HEY SAXON IS THE MASTER AND ALSO MP." "Planets bees planets bees planets bees OH HEY THE PLANETS WERE SWIPED BY DALEKS AND THE BEES WERE A BEACON." No substance. Just repetition followed by elaboration.

It's very much the same thing here. Each episode the Doctor will allude to Clara's impossibility, and the rest of the episode will be wholly unrelated to that. I mean, it's slightly better here, because there's emotional stakes--at least, there are in "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" and "Nightmare in Silver", with the Doctor's secretive nature being brought to the forefront and Clara's mounting frustration with it, coupled with the Doctor's increasing fear that Clara is a deception of some sort.


I think the real problem here is that Moffat kind of raised our expectations with Series 5--which is probably the best continuous string of episodes any season of Who has ever managed. It, unlike other series of new Who, actually had progression in its arc. It wasn't just "crack crack crack OH HEY THE TARDIS BLEW UP AND TOOK REALITY WITH IT", we found out things in stages. It was gradually revealed to us that the cracks could alternatively serve as portals or memory saps, we found out midway through the series that the TARDIS had something to do with it all, and Rory's arrival and subsequent disappearance put things in flux and gave us serious, tangible emotional stakes.

Series 6 worked similarly, although it rushed things in places and cut a few corners. Rather than have important arc things happen in different one-offs, it made the conscious decision to put aside entire episodes for the arc.  It didn't quite work, but I admire the fact that they tried and the plot itself was actually pretty good. The action rise and fell and we found out things about River gradually rather than all at once in the finale.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Impossible Girl was compared favorably to Bad Wolf, but it's not, which is odd because they're neigh-identical in execution. This whole half-series has been a return to the Davies-era of arc plotting if I ever saw one.  Simply repeat the basic premise until the finale comes and the basic premise is explained in full.

So tell me, people--what's your beef? What makes Series 1 superior besides a mounting feeling of nostalgia (in which case, Season 9 clearly has the best story arc)? Answer in the comments section! I'm genuinely curious!

"The Family of Blood" 3x9

Original Air Date: 2 June 2007

Does anyone think that Harry Lloyd (Son of Mine) looks like Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy)?
Almost everything I know about British history I learned from Doctor Who.
"Maybe I was given this watch..." Lattimer, you stole the watch. You were NOT given the watch so shut up.
Aand clips from past eps!
I'd totally dress up as one of these scarecrows for Halloween..

I was so scared of the Doctor. I've seen him. He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe. And he's wonderful.

-Timothy Lattimer

Is that how he talks? YES! Talk sexy time lord to me. 

Om nom nom, consume a time lord.

Run!

I love ther "Fury of a Time Lord" segment. So here it is:

Here is a very poignant comment from the video from RedJoker9000:

Someone wrote this before and I agreed with him/her, so I don't take the credit I'll try to remember it as best as I can. It was that each one had a deeper meaning. I'll number them in order. what do you think?
1. He symbolizing how his hands are always tied.
2. She symbolizing how there’s pain all around him that he can never run from.
3. She symbolizes how he’s always there but never seen.
4. He symbolizes how he is always watching over/protecting Earth. Not even just Earth but everywhere.

I love how we see Tim later on when his is all old.

"Blink" 3x10

Original Air Date: 9 June 2007

I love how when Sally Sparrow hops the fence, it looks like its dark and raining, and then when she gets to the house its a beautiful sunny day.
Of COURSE this is a Moffat episode. Maybe Clara has something to do with the Angels. Moffat did say that the seeds for Clara's existence were sown years ago.
Omnomnom Kathy Nightengale's time energy.
Did Kathy steal Martha's jacket?
Yep, that's DT for ya. In places he shouldn't be, like easter eggs.
There's some substance that is "quantum locked"...it's something radioactive, and it only decays when something is looking at it.

"Human Nature" 3x8

Original Air Date: 26 May 2007 and 2 June 2007

Jack, you can't leave your vortex manipulator lying around! The Family of Blood might find it.

Nice hat, John Smith.

And we were all like: WHAT? Only one heart?
I will sniff you to death.
So, could a chameleon arc change a human into a Time Lord?
When did the Doctor have time to film the instructional video?
Why, Timothy, WHY did you have to pilfer the fob watch?
Why did the fob watch say "you are not alone"?
No, Nurse Redfern, you are not a Slitheen.
I feel ashamed I only realized this now. Martha literally runs into Lattimer--and it shifts to modern day? What was that? What did I miss?
Oh hey, the Doctor dances.
Flip tables? Nah, I am Father of Mine and I flip coat racks.

"The Waters of Mars" 4x16

Original Air Date: 15 November 2009

What is scary in this one isn't those water monsters. It's the Doctor.

Ten in the space suit! Squee!

The Doctor...Doctor...FUN!

I hate carrots.
Adelaide was born the same year as my brother. It's strange to think of him as 60.

If you really should go, Doctor, then I suggest you LEAVE.

DOCTOR: I've read all that stuff about you, Captain Adelaide. But one thing they never said. Was it worth it, the mission?
ADELAIDE: We've got excellent results from the soil analysis.
DOCTOR: No, but all of it. Because they say you sacrificed everything. Devoted your whole life to get here.
ADELAIDE: It's been chaos back home. Forty long years. The climate, the ozone, the oil apocalypse. We almost reached extinction. Then to fly above that, to stand on a world with no smoke, where the only straight line is the sunlight? Yes. It's worth it.

Okay, Mr. Time Lord Victorious, please calm down. You're scaring us all.

I knew she was gonna do it. Kill herself, that is. It was almost the only thing she could do to get things right.
Yes, yes you have gone too far.

Oh hai dere, Ood Sigma.

And that's a wrap on the Tenth Doctor for now. I'll be revisiting "The End of Time" later.

"The Next Doctor" 4x15

Original Air Date: 25 Dec 2008

I love his smile in the very begenning!
Allons-Y!
Ohhh, the companion's Rosita...like Rose. Didn't catch that the first time round.
That cyberman's head exploded!
Tethered Areal Release Developed in Style--that's why we're TARIStyle!
One thing cybermen do not have? Stealth.

"Turn Left" 4x11

Original Air Date: 21 June 2008

I almost hate this episode enough to not want to watch it again. I hate it because it is what would be without the Doctor!
Always go left....
I think they make that bug thing in like a backpack-y thing.
Did you pick up on that in "Fires of Pompeii," Lucius Petrus Dextrus said to Donna that there was something on her back?
This episode is invalid. Timelords have respatory bypass and therefore cannot drown.
The person in the stretcher wasn't DT. DT doesn't even know who it was.
Well, isn't that wizard?!
Is that like a sequel?
And Rose literally just disappears.
Its playing with Donna's hair!
It's more in a state of temporal grace than flux....
This...is to combat dehydration.
The music from this episode is particularly awesome. The released ones are: Turn Left, A Dazzling End, and The Rueful Fate of Donna Noble.
And the Doctor's all like...IZ MAH ROSE!

"Midnight" 4x8

Original Air Date: 14 June 2008

Can you spell sensory overload?

The Lost Moon of Poosh!

This professor guy is a loser.

Did you see Rose? She was on the TV screen! Yelling "Doctor" like in "Idiot's Lantern"?

Shamble bobble dibble dooble.

This whole episode is almost very Salem Witch Trials-y.

I guess humans can be the scariest of all.

"The Doctor's Daughter" 4x6

Original Air Date: 10 May 2008

You are completely impossible! It's not impossible, it's just unlikely.
What, Martha? Like you swallowed a hamster????
Look, David, It's your future wife!
Aww yay! Martha's OK!
Messaline? Isn't that a type of lettuce?
Pet the Martha....pet.
Technically, I don't have time for this. I might use that.
Anyone else tear up when we found out she had two hearts?
Did ya notice that here is the first time we hear some of  "This is Gallifrey, Our Childhood, Our Home"?, when he's talking about how being a Time Lord is a sum of knowledge, a code, a shared history, a shared suffering.
Look! A little mouse!
What's a Time Lord for?
The Hath has gills...can't it like swim in that stuff?
I almost cried when he died...
There in the terraforming room....I know what's coming....the feels! Did you know that terraforming is a real concept?
In all of my re watching of DW, I have never as anywhere near the same emotional responce as I did as the first time...except for this. I guess it just goes to show how good of a job DT did in the scene.
We need to see Jenny again!

"The Poison Sky" 4x5

Original Air Date: 3 May 2008

Are you my mummy?
That awkward moment when you watch yourself die.
Aaaand everything's okay again.
He's so willing to die. If I hadn't been like that, I'd find it disturbing.
Congrats Luke. You got the world into that mess, good for you for getting it out.
If you could go with the doctor, if you really could, would you? I would.
Wot! Wot!? WOT?!

"The Sontaran Stratagem" 4x4

Original Air Date: 26 April 2008

You hug him and you get a paper cut. I say that about my brother all the time. Why can't I have that part of his genetics?
Oh hai, UNIT.
Yes. That's exactly what he did to her. He turned her into a soldier.
I have a cup of tea...a really good cup of tea.
This is a specifically good episode.
Mah leg!
Ermahgeherd we're fighting Mr. Potato Head!
"A hothouse for geniuses. I wouldn't mind going. I get lonely." Can I come?
Advance the conquest. Oh, men and their conquests.
More tea!
The place where Donna lives looks so nice. I would live there!
The whole scene in Rattigan Academy is great-it's kinda all like "talk nerdy to me!"
Intruda window!
The lasts of the Time Lords will not die at the hands of the Sontaran Empire in the ruins of his prescious Earth!
OooOOOhhh battle status one.
Sontar-ha!

"Planet of the Ood" 4x3

Original Air Date: 19 April 2008

Have a nice day!
NO, Donna you did not just insult the TARDIS.
I miss the Ood. They should bring back the Ood. They best be at Trenzalore.
Ooh, Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire.
Hi Ood Sigma!

Who else thought of this?
I wonder what a baby Ood looks like.
Hear the Songs of Captivity and Freedom here.
My brother had a fish named Red Eye once.

"Partners in Crime" 4x1

Original Air Date: 5 April 2008

Who else thought that the Doctor and Donna were already working together?
I've met cat people. You're nothing like them.
Look! That taxi has ATMOS!
I love how Donna is such a teenager even though she's like 35ish. Parents who yell at her, hard time getting a job, spunky. I think I like her the best.
Aww, the Doctor stars talking about his findings and looks up and no one is there to listen to him :(
Why'd they shoot the door? I mean I know it was locked but like, don't they have a key?
You caught that puppy!
They said the title!
I wonder what an adult Adipose looks like.
Yes, Donna. You are waiving at fat.


DOCTOR: I just want a mate.
DONNA: You just want to mate?
DOCTOR: I just want a mate!
DONNA: You're not mating with me, sunshine!
DOCTOR: A mate. I want a mate.
DONNA: Well, just as well, because I'm not having any of that nonsense. I mean, you're just a long streak of nothing. You know, alien nothing.
DOCTOR: There we are, then. Okay.

Iz Rose.

"Voyage of the Damned" 4x0

Original Air Date: 25 December 2007

Wot? Wot!? WOT?!
Did you see the Union Flag throw pillow? Like the one in Sherlock?
New theme! Yay! I like this one a lot. It's all rockin' and such.
You know, Astrid is an anagram for TARDIS?
I should report you, but instead, I'll get you a drink.
That was not a buffalo wing. Buffalo wings have a sauce in them. My dad went to college in Buffalo, NY, where they invented the buffalo wing. So I know buffalo wings, and that was not a buffalo wing.

To repeat, I am Mister Copper, the ship's historian, and I shall be taking you to old London town in the country of UK, ruled over by good King Wenceslas. Now, human beings worship the great god Santa, a creature with fearsome claws, and his wife Mary. And every Christmas Eve, the people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner like savages.... Now, spending money. I have a credit card in Earth currency if you want to by trinkets, or stockings, or the local delicacy, which is known as beef. But don't stray too far, it could be dangerous. Any day now they start boxing.

Possibly one of the best lines...

ITS WILF!

DOCTOR: Okay, okay. Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush. First things first. One. We are going to climb through this ship. B. No. Two. We're going to reach the bridge. Three. Or C. We're going to save the Titanic. And, coming in a very low four, or D, or that little iv in brackets they use in footnotes, why. Right then, follow me.
SLADE: Hang on a minute. Who put you in charge and who the hell are you anyway?
DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old and I'm the man who's going to save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?
SLADE: No.
DOCTOR: In that case, allons-y!

They could have like....Space Dowton Abbey.
Things are gettin' intense....time to take off the bow tie!
Bannakaffalata...dead.
Always be very afreaid of women with forklifts.
ALLONS-Y, ALLOSNO!
You're not falling...you're flying. Nah, you're falling with style.
Nope...only Britain is Great.
50,000,056 credits=1,000,000 credits. Good to know.

Can anyone else not help but smile when you hear the TARDIS dematerialize?

Happy Impossible Astronaut Day!

"42"

Original Air Date: 19 May 2007

Who else things that this entire episode is a LOT like "Impossible Planet"/"Satan Pit".
Ha. Here comes the sun....
This crew, and this ship, reminds me a lot of the crew of Serenity from Firefly. Anyone else?
Tennant in the space suit! Matt Smith just doesn't look as good in it.
The period of time when the Doctor has the Sun living in him, I think it shows how good of an actor David Tennant really is. In intense moments like that, it is so easy to over act and then you can see that the actor is acting, but with David here, you can't, it really does seem like he is actually in legitimate pain. He really makes you believe this moment.
Yay! They did it!
It was nice...not dying with you.

Remember, kids: Always scan for life!