I rewatched this last night for the first time since Christmas Day last year (original reaction post here) and I have to say I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I did the first time.

I liked David Morrissey this time. I thought he acted the part brilliantlly (though possibly a fraction too tearfully) and there was lovely chemistry between him and David Tennant. And the story of how he 'became' the Doctor was excellent. I do wish they had left the reveal until later, though, because Jackson Lake's story really was the interesting part of the episode and all the Cybermen stuff really should have been just an excuse for him to become overloaded with the datastamp.

I still thought the Cyberking stuff was boring and not a good climax to the show (though at least it did make a bit more sense to me this time as I heard Ten explain that it was actually a spaceship) and not just a ridiculously large Cyberman, which is what I'd previously thought. *g* But I still prefer my drama on a smaller scale - a human scale - and preferably one that doesn't make one wonder why the history books have never mentioned this enormous Cyberman stomping all over London on Christmas Day 1851!

I also didn't like Jackson declaring that the Doctor had never been thanked for saving people. I'm sure that's a downright lie. All right, maybe he hasn't had loads of people cheering him like that before, but individuals have thanked him, haven't they?

Also? Calling the episode 'The Next Doctor' doesn't make any sense, because he's NOT the next Doctor. The episode isn't actually anything about the next Doctor, and even the real Doctor only thinks Jackson is the next Doctor for about the first quarter of the episode! It should have been called 'The Other Doctor' or something like that.

Anyway. I enjoyed it, and now I'm off to see if Planet of the Dead is better than I remember too. :-)

One good thing that came out of me being so tired and out of it last week was that I actually sat down and watched quite a bit of telly. I watched several episodes of Torchwood, one of Buffy, two of Angel, one of Dollhouse, and finally The Five Doctors. So have a review!

( Review of The Five Doctors )

Title: Twists and Bends
Original story: No Exit (Everybody Lives) by bagheera_san
Fandom: Doctor Who
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Simm!Master
Rating: R
Word Count: 1146
Spoilers: End of Season 3 (NB the original story has slight spoilers for the end of Season 4)
Disclaimer: Not mine
Summary: With the Doctor apparently coming round to his way of thinking, the Master reflects, and celebrates.
Beta: The everlastingly wonderful mad_jaks
Author's Note: Written for the fic remix at best_enemies. This is the twist I kind of expected when I first read bagheera_san's story. (Not that her story needs it; it's excellent as it is. It's just that this is where my mind went as I read it!) It's not so much a remix as a tag to the original story and follows on immediately from where the original left off.


Twists and Bends

I think I've finally worked out what my problem is with Russell T Davies. It's his belief that drama is only drama if it's on a massive scale. He doesn't get that human drama, the drama of the people we're invested in can be just as epic.

( Cut for length and Children of Earth spoilers )

Unexpected drabble time!

Title: What's in a Name?
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Author: unfeathered
Character(s): John Hart, Jack Harkness
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Spoilers: Vague for The Sea Devils and Captain Jack Harkness
Disclaimer: Not mine
Summary: John ruminates on where he and Jack took their names from.
Author’s Note: Why yes, I have been watching The Sea Devils recently! How could you tell? *g*


What's in a Name?

Another drabble! This one's for evilawyer.

Title: Men in Black
Fandom: Doctor Who/Blackadder
Author: unfeathered
Character(s): Tenth Doctor, Edmund Blackadder
Rating/Warnings: G
Spoilers: Season 2 of Blackadder
Summary: There's trouble in the Court Queen Elizabeth I and the Doctor thinks he might know who's behind it.

Men in Black

Only drabbles, but I'm still pretty darn pleased with myself! :-)

The first was very vaguely inspired by reading donutsweeper's fantastic Big Bang story last night (go read it - it's here) but I won't tell you how because hey! Spoilers! *g*

Oh, it's also a little cracky. *g*

Title: The Worst Fate of All
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Character(s): Jack Harkness – lots of him
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 for mentions of violence
Word Count: 100 words
Spoilers: Last of the Time Lords
Summary: Some Jacks from alternate universes compare notes

The Worst Fate of All


The second was inspired by two of the prompts very kindly given to me yesterday - stackcats wanted Jack Harkness and Inara and aeron_lanart wanted a Jack/someone crossover too with the prompt 'dirt'. This is what happened in my head!

Title: Wash Away the Guilt
Fandom: Torchwood/Firefly
Pairing: Jack Harkness/Inara Serra
Rating: PG
Warnings: Erm… bathing? Does that need a warning? *g*
Word Count: 100
Spoilers: Vague for Season 2 of Torchood
Summary: Jack knows who he can trust when he's in need

Wash Away the Guilt


I also started on the Doctor Who/Blackadder crossover for evilawyer, but that's not going to fit in a drabble and I'm not quite sure where it's going to end up! (Well, besides being very, very cracky.)

Title: Space Hopper: One; Sports Car: Nil
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: unfeathered
Character(s): Jack Harkness, Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones
Rating/Warnings: G
Word Count: 100
Spoilers: Utopia/The Sound of Drums
Disclaimer: Not mine
Summary: "It’s like, I’ve got a sports car and you’ve got a space hopper."

Space Hopper: One; Sports Car: Nil

This is what came about last Friday at work while I was mulling over different scenarios for what the various characters had been upto behind the scenes of Master Plan (i.e. outside the Master's knowledge). It's not part of Master Plan, though.

Title: Lesser Threat
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: unfeathered
Character(s): Simm!Master, Tenth Doctor, Jack Harkness, Lucy Saxon, Martha Jones
Rating/Warnings: PG-13
Word Count: 400
Spoilers: Last of the Time Lords
Disclaimer: Not mine
Summary: Four separate drabbles portraying four different characters' thoughts on the Master's defeat.

Lesser Threat

Wow. Oh wow.

I remembered it being good, but I didn't remember how good. So much there. Fabulous characters, loads of fantastic lines, lots of tension and suspense - especially the continuing question of how were the seers seeing the future so clearly, and I loved the explanation that they weren't seeing the volcano erupting because in that timeline it wasn't going to - and an absolutely brilliant expansion on the Doctor/Donna relationship. I adore the dynamic between them here: Donna continuously questioning everything the Doctor usually just does automatically, and being exactly what he needs. That's brilliant.

And the moment where he has to make the choice to kill 20,000 people to save the Earth, and all the echoes that must have of having to destroy Gallifrey to save the universe... And the fact that this time he has Donna there to make the choice with him, put her hand over his on the lever, that this time he's not alone... That's just. Wow. Made me shiver.

I watched this ahead of schedule because I am role-playing Jack/Rani and I thought it sensible to learn more about the character. And a fantastic character she is too - cool and sexy and utterly fascinating as a villain who's not intrinsically villainous like the Master but merely absorbed by her science and not at all concerned about the effects of it on anyone else. And the interplay between her and the Master is hugely entertaining, even if they do both give in to the Doctor a little too easily.

Unfortunately, the Rani and the Master are by far the best things in this serial. (Oh, and the scenery of Blists Hill museum, which I visited on a family holiday not that long after this serial was made in 1984.) I'd been interested to see how I liked watching the Sixth Doctor again, because when I first watched his stories (as a pre/early-teen) I thought Colin Baker rather hot. Not as hot as Peter Davison, of course, but still rather hot. But in the snippets I've seen since then, however, I didn't like him. And, yeah, I didn't like him in this either. He has the same arrogance and rudeness that all incarnations of the Doctor display, but in him, rather than being cool or funny, they're just annoying. I couldn't like him.

And as for Peri... What is the point of her character? I don't think it's Nicola Bryant's fault - I've seen her in other things since and she was all right - as much as the writers/directors. All she seems to do is state the obvious, look frightened (which she admittedly does very well *g*) and get in the way/fail to save the Doctor. I don't think she actually did anything useful, apart from collect the plant for the sleeping draught, and even that involved getting caught in a minefield and getting a rather handsome young man turned into a tree!

It's a shame, because it's a relatively good story and it was beautifully shot. Mind you, don't get me started on those atrocious 'northern' accents! *g*

ETA: Nearly forgot to mention, this was my first good look at the Master's TCE and wow. Could that thing be any more phallic????

Also: Has anyone ever slashed Ainley!Master/Avon? Because they should.

Title: Burying the Past
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Torchwood
Author: unfeathered
Pairing: Rupert Giles/Jack Harkness
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Bdsm, breathplay
Word Count: 2,312
Spoilers: Buffy: Chosen, Torchwood: Exit Wounds
Disclaimer: Not mine
Summary: "I need you to immobilise me, blindfold me, gag me, smother me, and then I need you to make me like it."
Beta: The wonderful mad_jaks who stepped in at very short notice to work her usual magic.
Author's Note: Written in one day (!!!) for hllangel's GLBTQ PORN BATTLE.
Author's Note 2: This is set in the same verse as Connection and its various other ficlets.

Burying the Past

Voyage of the Damned: Not a lot to say, really, except that I enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than I remembered enjoying it the first time. Possibly because the first time I'd been waiting months since the end of the last series, so there was a lot more weighing on it, whereas this time it was just something to get out of the way so I could see Donna. *g* But it wasn't bad. It was quite good fun, and there were some great characters, though it was a shame so many of them were killed along the way.

Partners in Crime: I really, really enjoyed this. There's not really a hell of a lot to it, but it works very well as a re-introduction of Donna and her family, and I am completely in love with her grandad, bless him. I loved the cleverness of the Doctor and Donna missing each other so very closely whilst investigating. I enjoyed Sarah Lancashire's performance. The journalist who kept getting tied up was fun. The Adipose were unbelievably cute, for little balls of fat. And Donna just seems to bring out a great performance from DT. And I loved the Doctor's attempt to save the nanny at the end. That's just so him.

(My original, one-line, review of Partners in Crime is here - and heh, that was 6 April last year - very nearly a year ago!)

NB Still need a Donna icon. Must go icon-hunting soon!

Wow. I just rewatched TSoD and LotTL for the first time in far, far too long. I deliberately left it for a long time because I'd overwatched them early on, and I wanted to get my enjoyment back - and it definitely worked. They are two amazing episodes. So much going on there.

On the other hand, I spotted several things that mean I'm going to have rejig some of what I've written for the latest chapter on Master Plan. I mean, that's why I watched, because I'd forgotten a lot of the details, and I'm glad I did, and it's given me some new ideas for Masterly and Doctorly sneakiness, but... yeah. Some things just aren't going to work the way I've written them.

Still. Yeah. A very enjoyable evening of telly. :-)

I really, really enjoyed this series. It's seven episodes long but the story kept going and didn't feel as if it was dragging at any point. And it kept you thinking too. A great moral dilemma – humans v. the creatures who were there first and wanted to take back the earth. I loved the Doctor trying so hard to get both sides to work and live together, and then, when that didn't work, at least getting the Silurians to go back into their stasis – only to find at the very end that the Brigadier was blowing them up.

Fantastic expansion on the relationship between the Doctor and the Brigadier in this one. Where is the Doctor/Brigadier slash? There must be some, surely? Especially with the Doctor looking so damn sexy in his white t-shirt and jeans and all those muscles… d'you know, I think Three is actually the 'fittest'-looking Doctor of them all, really! Not bad, at Jon Pertwee's age!

Other things spotted:

Bessie!!!! (Bessie is about the only thing I remember about Three.)

Avon!!!! (All right, Paul Darrow – a very young Paul Darrow, as one of the Brigadier's soldiers. It was his voice that made me recognise him. You can't miss that grating voice.)

Geoffrey Palmer!!!! (I don't think I'd ever seen him looking so young.)

And an interesting little note to add to the Doctor's confusion about his age: "You know, I'm beginning to lose confidence for the first time in my life - and that covers several thousand years." I suppose he could be talking about the several thousand years that he's visited over his lifetime, but it's a bit odd. They really should have paid more attention to canon as they were writing it! :-)

(NB. Must get a Three icon. I've still got another three serials with him in! Maybe a 'Three iz fit' icon. Hmmm...)

And so, at long, long last, it's the moment you've all be waiting for (if only because you're bored to tears with me going on about this fic)! :-)

I have to say, I'm glad I didn't give up on it, because I'm bloody proud of it now. Massive thanks to everyone who's given me encouragement and confidence over the last couple of weeks!

Title: After the War
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: unfeathered
Pairing: Ninth Doctor/Simm!Master (AU)
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: dub-con, bondage, whipping
Word Count: 5,911
Spoilers: Up to Last of the Time Lords for character, if not canon
Disclaimer: Not mine
Summary: Actually, I think the prompt (see below) says it all.
Betas: The amazingly patient and helpful mad_jaks and sistercarrion. I would have given up on this fic several times if it hadn't been for them. I'd also like to thank my flist for general bdsm advice and for putting up with me wittering on and on about this fic as I was writing it.
Author's Note: Written for Round Ten of rounds_of_kink for the prompt:
Doctor Who, Master/Doctor – What if the Year the Never Was truly never was, and instead the Master focused his attentions on the wreck of the Doctor he's found post-Time War; a Doctor who is very eager to be at his whim so long as he isn't alone. To include coercion, bondage, dirty-talk.

After the War

Title: Forever Young
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: unfeathered
Pairing: Jack/Estelle
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Spoilers: Small Worlds
Disclaimer: Not mine
Summary: Some people never get any older

Forever Young

(Or perhaps I should be referring to it as the 51st DW serial. I'm not sure which convention is used!)

Wow. I don't think I've watched any of the Third Doctor serials (oh, except a short bit of The Mind of Evil on YouTube, in black and white) since I've been an adult. As a consequence, I had no idea that Jon Pertwee was so damn sexy!

( The rest is under the cut )

Overall, very enjoyable and I'm glad I bought it. I've still got the commentaries (I think there's one for each of the four episodes!) and a few extras to watch, too!

And now it's late, I'm tired, and so I'm going to bed. :-)

(aka I've now finished the box-set of the first three serials)

There are some great extras on the Edge of Destruction DVD – on that one because the serial's only two episodes long.

There's a 45 minute documentary about 'The Origins of Doctor Who', which was a fascinating look into how it was thought up and started production and almost got cancelled after shooting the first episode etc. etc. Some interesting shots of 'Studio D' where it was filmed and some of the sets.

There's also a half-hour look at the rather complicated plot etc. of the Edge of Destruction, which works better than a commentary on this one because it gives you a chance to focus visually on some of the things you might have missed first time round.

Then there are other short documentaries about the TARDIS set, the creation of the Doctor Who theme tune (which was fascinating – the whole thing was created by splicing bits of tape together!), and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which created all the sound-effects and some of the music.

Throughout most of the documentaries there are interviews with several of the behind the scenes people, and also with William Russell (Ian Chesterton), who looks great and is a real sweetie, and Carole Ann Ford (Susan), who looks pretty awful, I have to say! They were on most of the commentaries too.

Finally, there's a very condensed (7 episodes condensed to 30 minutes!) version of the Marco Polo serial which followed Edge of Destruction. Its recording has been lost, but the audio track remains and they've cleverly used parts of this along with a lot of still photographs to make it work perfectly well as a story. I really enjoyed it!

And I'm going to miss the First Doctor, and Ian and Barbara and Susan. I haven't got any more with them on. :-(

My Second Doctor story (Tomb of the Cybermen) hasn't arrived yet so I'm not sure what I'll watch next. I have a feeling I might be tempted to skip to something with the Master in... *g*