grassangel | very late Fugitive of the Judoon thoughts

again, half liveblog, half extended thoughts

also like. I watched it three times in one week. So there’s an indicator of how much I loved it. (Though mostly the Doctor parts.)

What the fuck was first scene in the TARDIS.

Like... there are fanfics written in the past month that were exactly that exchange between the Doctor and the fam about how she's looking for the Master in her downtime AND I'VE READ THEM.

Just. I'm speechless.

Like. Her admission she's looking for him. It's not a kiss. But oh gods is it close enough that it may as well be. It's as bad/good as her psychically establishing contact with the Master.

I believe that it’s Dhawan's Master theme playing during that scene too. And just. That’s very shippy of them.

Also I'm very glad there's now a place for people to sit in the TARDIS. And apparently all the directors are taking FULL advantage of that.

It took me an absurdly long time to recognise Jack's voice and for another moment I wondered if they actually would bring him back but they did! And they made him kiss Graham! And flirt with Yaz and Ryan! (Also he has good taste in companions because yes, Ryan is the best.)

I did like that Yaz momentarily got confused for the Doctor as well. Good for her.

On rewatch it was fun to realise that the interference isn't just the Judoon... it's Ruth as well interfering with the scoop.

---

A minor note, but apparently one that should be said: I love Jo Martin’s Doctor as soon as she introduced herself. I especially love Ray Holman’s costume design for her - a bit Three in structure, but a bit Six with that shirt as well. It was such a perfectly Doctor-y costume that proclaimed her identity as soon as you saw it.

Also: I just about don’t care what plot/lore explanation we’ll get for her - in my heart she’s more canon than the War Doctor being a separate regen from Eight and Nine.

---

I loved Gat’s entire look. That eye makeup! (And I also love the posts being made that it’s very vampiric eye makeup.)

Also it’s of note that there’s a lot of military aesthetic to Gat, Lee and Martin’s Doctor. The helmet and plume Gat wears, the fact Lee has a medal (plus his very trying hard to be civilian casual wear), Martin!Doctor’s sort of Napoleonic coat and waistcoat with all the buttons.

---

Afterwards, all I can think about is both how the EU has multiple Gallifreys and how there's the line in the Rose novelisation about other faces of the Doctor which depending on the explanation for the Martin!Doctor may explain them. I do wonder if the actress getting a 'introducing Jo Martin as the Doctor' is indicative of anything in one direction or another...

The multiple Gallifreys, if I'm remembering correctly, were are all copies of the original one and made in an attempt to save Gallifrey from being destroyed.
There’s also Time War clones, which is a similar theory, but not quite so planetwide though equally fucked up on the part of the Time Lords.

Also there's the identical (not same) training that Gat mentioned she and Lee having, as well as the whole stashing a gun which is a bit weird and worth examining closer. But I could interpret that as being the whole copies thing again, especially if the copies were made during 8/War's eras, with the Doctor being a bit more ready to at least hold a gun.

I also like the twitter theory I've seen about how this might very well be something like the Cartmel masterplan, with a loom spitting out a copy of the Other which is the Doctor, but made much more mundane. As in... the Time Lords have only so many bioprints so they just keep on using the same few thousand over and over, who end up taking similar but different paths because they're still essentially the same person. And if renegades can be harnessed to do their dirty work, why not keep using that template?

The 6b theory is also fun (since we never actually saw Two regenerate, the Two Doctors imply the CIA sent the Doctor on missions before and Time Lords can force regenerations and faces and those don't count towards the limit) though I'm less fond of the 'unseen Morbius regens' theory or this being pre-Hartnell. (Unfortunately Chibnall seems to be seeking refuge in audacity in relation to leaks and the ridiculous leaks I know of have er... so far been accurate, no matter how much I don't wish them to be.)

Speaking of theories, I also like the idea that Lee (or Gat) may have been an alternate version of the Master. Lee is certainly short enough in comparison to Ruth to be so. But Gat saying identical training... they could be the same person? Even though Gat does explain later that two versions of the same Time Lord can’t exist in the same space.