currently: returning to the TARDIS

You never know what things will lead to, y’know?

I watched Victoria a little over a month ago, fell head-over-heels in love with the story of one of England’s greatest queens, and came up with a delightful idea for a NaNoWriMo project. Which, by the way, is coming along swimmingly. I’m working on my synopsis (somehow it’s already 10,000 words long…*sigh*) and I’m having a grand time imagining a world where Victoria confides in Miss Matty Jenkyns, sasses Lord Septimus over dinner, averts a national crisis, and ends up with Melbourne because I said so.

I’ll be quite ready for November 1. (*two thumbs up*)

Library haul! The sheer power of those books will carry me through NaNoWriMo.

But Victoria also gave me a profound appreciation for the talents of one Jenna Coleman, a fellow smol, brown-haired, brown-eyed, baby-faced millenial who gives hope to all the smol baby-faced millenials like myself in the world.

So when I was presented with an unexpected opportunity to watch one of Jenna’s first episodes of Doctor Who, I seized it. And I enjoyed it. Way, way more than I expected.

I watched a few episodes of Doctor Who back in 2012 and definitely enjoyed myself…but I wasn’t really into science-fiction at the time (except for Star Wars). I was also just starting to enjoy certain shows and movies while still recognizing and rejecting various worldview issues. Doctor Who definitely has issues, and I don’t think I was quite ready to tackle them back then.

Fast forward 5 years, though: I’m a good bit older (and hopefully a little wiser?), I’m much more confident in my ability to throw the bathwater out and keep the baby…aaaaaaand I’m a Trekkie. Seriously, Star Trek breaks you into the sci-fi genre in a way Star Wars doesn’t. And there’s a reason for that: Star Wars isn’t technically science-fiction. But I digress.

Thanks to all those aforementioned differences between 2012 Me and 2017 Me as well as my piqued interest after watching The Snowmen, I decided to pick up Jenna Coleman’s first full season of Doctor Who at the library.

Boy howdy, have I had a good time! And not just because of my spunky comrade in the League of Baby Faces, either. For example:

Me watching The Bells of St. John: “Oh hey, this reminds me a bit of The Return of the Archons–familiar territory for the win!”

Me watching The Rings of Akhaten: “Okay, a little bit weird, but…ALIEN MARKETPLACES! VIVID ALIEN CULTURES!!! WORLD BUILDING!!!!!! And heyyyy, Matt Smith ain’t half-bad…”

Cold War: “Aww yiss, Soviets and Martians in a wrecked submarine 700 meters below the surface…perfectly normal.” (*settles back to enjoy*)

Hide: “Ehhhh…that looks a little too weird and creepy, let’s skip that one for now…” [UPDATE: after a recommendation from a friend in the comments, I’ve since watched this episode. While it still wasn’t my favorite and still weird, it wasn’t quite as creepy as I thought it was going to be.]

Journey to the Center of the TARDIS: (*pterodactyl screech*) “THE TARDIS IS PROTECTING CLARA OMG THE DOCTOR WILL DO ANYTHING TO PROTECT CLARA OMG THE DOCTOR LOVES CLARA OMG OMG OMG–”

Ahem. I had a lot of feelings about that one. Best episode I’ve seen so far, hands-down, no questions asked, end of story. Don’t talk to me about Eleven regenerating yet. I’m gonna have to psych myself up for it.

If you see me pinning stuff, tumbling stuff, tweaking my Instagram name, or just making references to the Doctor and Clara, then know this: it’s all Victoria‘s fault. And really, in the end, I’m here for Clara. I don’t think there’s any shame in that. She’s my kind of heroine: kind, capable, tender, perceptive, courageous, hilarious. She blew into this world on a leaf and she doesn’t know if she’ll ever land…but she’s the Impossible Girl, and she was born to save the Doctor.

And that, my friends, is pretty awesome.