Ooh I also must share this amazing fanart!! From here
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she is just so astonishingly good it makes my brain melt 
and you’ve got (mild spoilers) Evil Narvin to look forward to yet and you betcha Seán knocks it out of the park
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Oh that sounds very intriguing!!
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Also, I have a question: of the new short trips, I think I heard that the questing beast is placed during season four? If that’s right, does it have significant spoilers for future stories and if not, what would be the best place to fit that in?
Just thought, since I did Damned if you Do in its proper timeline placement, I could do it for the others too, if they aren’t too focused on future stories
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You have actually just finished where it goes. The Questing Beast falls right in between the moment where Brax and Lord Burner fall in the void and Brax meeting Benny in Disassembled.
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Great! I’ll probably slot that in next then, I have been waiting to check out Georgia and Fio’s writing because I have heard so many good things about them!
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Finished the Questing Beast!! And loved it, too. Brax is just such a character, and it’s really just 30 minutes of who he is and I love that. Sir Narvin and the Leela/Narvin content is much appreciated. A really interesting alternate Gallifrey!
(rather short) live blog
- oh ■■■■ this is going to be sad
- Romana!
- yapping at her heels amazing
- oh this is good
- I love Sir Narvin btw that is incredible
- Narvin as a loyal knight is the core of his character
- oh shit
- oh my
- his wife
- yeah they always find each other
- I love them
- this is so sad
- this is very good
- oh dragon!
- Brax is so cool btw
- what
- that is so weird
- and fun
- his collection is very cool
- I don’t think he’s going to stay
- Brax never stays
- this whole story is just so Brax
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Also starting Annihilation now, because I got tired of making myself wait, I love Gallifrey way too much to keep doing that
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Vampire time!!! and hound Leela
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I feel like I am running out of words to say just how much I love Gallifrey and its characters. So let me just repeat it again: this series is truly incredible, I love it so freaking much!! And this is one of its top episodes for sure. S4 has been absolutely amazing so far, and it still keeps getting better. I have no idea how they manage this.
Anyway, Vampires!! I am an immense vampire fan and I adore how this is done on Gallifrey, and I loved the little callbacks to Romana’s previous encounters with them too. Romana facing off against Lord Prydon is an absolute standout. The way she is in control, actually completely in her element here, the moments where you think maybe she’s gone too far after all, Lalla Ward’s acting is out of this world.
Leela is so her in this episode as well, I love her becoming a hound, I love her feeling so alive, so happy, the way she understands war better than anyone else because she is always a warrior. I still think that more could have done with her blindness, but I think this was a good way to end that anyways.
Katy Manning is an amazing casting choice as Lady Borusa, just a lot of fun and kind of weird and I like it.
Narvin. Oh Narvin. Poor guy. He gets hurt again, but at least it has made him tell the others that he lost his regenerations. The way he has come to respect Leela, and is forever loyal to Romana is just so jakldjhafh. I love him.
And really, where this episodes is absolutely peak is in the interactions of our Gallifrey ot3. Just so good. They care so much about each other, they could not live without each other and I adore them.
Another favourite!
live blog
- oh I love Leela
- she is so precious
- she knows Romana so well
- sees so much more
- they are so
- I love Leela and Romana so much
- this is a wonderful conversation
- she is not Leela’s president, but she will always be Narvin’s
- oh they’re conspiring to help Romana I adore that
- I find it very interesting to find out what these Gallifreys have going on every time
- oh they care so much about each other
- now what is Katy Manning doing here
- Vampires!!
- they are so happy together
- oh why is he zagreus
- or you know taking his place there
- Lady Borusa is so cool
- Leela is really the most intelligent person in this series
- to lie so badly it’s truly incredible because I have no idea how he became the head of the most influential spy organisation in the universe while being so bad at it
- god I love vampire stories so much
- Katy Manning is an amazing casting choice here btw
- Leela !!!
- I love her so much
- Brax
- the ■■■■
- oh this is bad
- love Narvin’s priority being Romana always
- I love Leela ordering Narvin around
- the Vampire lore on Gallifrey is so interesting
- I love the way Romana just radiates power sometimes
- and of course she has experience with vampires
- I think having read Blood Harvest really is making this better for me btw
- oh Leela wants to become a hound
- damn that is compelling
- she is also so lonely and hurting
- oh Narvin
- oh they are so aghhggakl
- I love them
- this is Romana in her element
- I am enthralled
- she has something so captivating about her when she’s like this
- oh shit
- I love this
- so good
- oh Leela as a hound is incredible
- trusting him
- oh dear
- she is being reckless again
- but I love this
- so much
- wait a second
- okay this is actually an interesting way of doing this
- her laugh
- oh I love Romana so much
- this is so good
- I think I might have to find Lalla Ward’s scenes in Vampire Circus again after this
- (she plays a vampire incredibly well but she’s in it for all of three minutes and the movie is imo rather bad, so don’t go watching the whole thing for her)
- she’s incredible
- oh yes she’s power hungry again
- oh dear
- so good
- oh has she made him sick?
- that is better than being liked Leela
- the Leela/Narvin/Romana dynamics are so good
- I love Romana just saving herself
- I love them so much
- she is good
- Narvin
- oh yess Leela!!
- don’t hurt her!!
- Romana gets so angry at her being threatened
- Leela
- Narvin
- no
- oh Romana
- she still can’t stop taking responsibility for everything
- she is so traumatized by it all
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Yayy for you enjoying it! You highlighted all the things I love about it too, and the way Romana and Narvin are having the worst lives of their lives and Leela’s like ■■■■ YEA THIS IS GREAT is sooo funny
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I will probably wait a few days to listen to the next episode though, because the level of excitement these create in me is actually, physically kind of exhausting, and I don’t want to accidentally burn myself out
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Thought too hard about Leela and Romana earlier, I need more of them, so I’m listening to Forever now 
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Sentence that could have come right from my brain <3 I listened to Spirit last night 
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Spirit is so good, all-time favourite for sure
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This chapter has some really great stuff for both Romana and Leela that fit my earlier appreciation posts of them pretty well actually, so I’ll just reiterate some of the points here.
Leela is the moral compass in this chapter. She’s the only one caring for the people, she spends the entire time being caring and compassionate and inspiring. Rebellion leader is an ideal role for her, and she thrives in it. It’s very unfortunate for her that this world is so violent and they can’t escape. The ending is so heartbreaking for her, losing K9, again and being put up against the uncaring-seeming Romana and Narvin is terrible. She keeps being hurt and not only has she lost nearly everything, the only people she still has are betraying, in a way, all her principles. She makes me so sad. And the acting, again! I don’t know how it keeps blowing me away time and time again, but it is so good.
Romana is so wonderfully morally conflicted here. I adore the way she really just doesn’t care about anything but Leela and Narvin anymore. I’m really looking forward to seeing how she does on this world where so many people are traumatized in a similar way to herself (as slaves) but being their president. Her conversations with evil!Narvin are incredible. Neither of them hold anything back. And Lalla Ward just does amazing things with her voice, the way she can make it tremble with fear or shake with fury is incredible.
Speaking of evil!Narvin, he’s the star of this chapter. Seán is incredible. I love to see a Narvin who is so completely evil and selfish. And yet. He still sacrifices himself for Gallifrey, and Romana in a way, because she was going to try without him. That man. In no universe is he not putting Gallifrey above all else I think. I love how Narvin knows his counterpart so well, because there really isn’t that much separating them, certainly much less than Leela and the Interrogator for example. I love that guy.
All in all, this chapter was certainly very good, but didn’t achieve the heights of the last two (which is really doesn’t mean that much because those were so amazing). Season 4 is definitely my favourite season so far.
Also I noticed that this was missing Leela as a character for some reason (have submitted the edit) so I’ll have to remember to check for mistakes as I go along.
Also a shout-out to poor K9. I’ll miss you.
Going to listen to the interviews now
live blog
- ooohh is this evil Narvin
- oh chancellor? that’s interesting
- evil Narvin and evil Romana this series keeps winning
- oh interesting
- they aren’t Time Lords yet
- even in evil alternate worlds Narvin is concerned for Romana some things stay the same
- I love the way they mention all the alternate worlds they’ve seen
- the way Romana hates the open admiration
- I love the way Narvin hates being put in open powerful positions
- oh Romana got assassinated that’s ■■■■■■■ incredible
- I’m surprised that never happened to our Romana
- oh this is incredible
- I love the way Narvin knows his other self so well
- oh she is about to ruin his day
- Leela and Narvin work so well together
- I adore it when they team up
- oh this is so good
- Romana getting to scream at Narvin without any fear of insulting him
- I mean she doesn’t normally care either
- but this is so much better
- Narvin is afraid of spiders
- oh Romana is so recklessly devious sometimes
- but she’s still doing it all for Leela and Narvin
- I love the way Narvin is the only one really taking himself seriously
- and the way Leela cares so much for Romana
- Evil Narvin is so good
- Married him!!!
- the ■■■■
- oh Narvin’s laugh
- he can lie
- and knows how to trick her
- this is amazing
- I love that she calls herself Time Lord
- their dialogue is so charged
- excellently on point
- this world is so drearily violent
- this Narvin does get how to threaten people properly
- the mind games are immaculate
- Leela you are brilliant
- that’s mean
- Leela, heel I do love how he says that
- I adore Leela’s principles
- she is so proud and she should be
- is your entire political system based on assassination? - Naturally
- oh she is so morally messed up
- I love it
- because I certainly do the way she shakes while saying that
- oh god
- the slaves are called units
- this is going to give Romana flashbacks of the highest degree
- Leela is so compassionate and hopeful
- also Susan! or well Carol
- I don’t know if she’s Susan yet
- I find the way the original Time Lords are presented as morally superior a bit odd
- because they may not be keeping slaves but they are still xenophobic as hell
- and if it means I have to rearrange the stars the way she’s truly stopped caring about anything but Leela, Narvin and K9
- it’s so good
- oh ■■■■ he’s really evil
- the odds that every Narvin is power-mad I find that her Narvin isn’t actually that power-mad anymore
- she’s really changed him
- Leela is a great leader for rebellions actually
- I love her
- love morally conflicted Romana
- that’s an interesting prophecy
- how many
- wtf
- oh he is still terrible at lying
- everyone hates Narvin
- Leela!!
- come on Narvin
- yes thank you
- the ■■■■
- that’s freaky
- that/those are weird villains
- oh Romana please stop taking all the responsibility for these messed up worlds
- Narvin on Narvin interaction is amazing
- that’s bad
- very bad
- ah she’s found her morals again
- that’s nice
- oh this is prime Romana content
- even this Narvin is still ready to give everything for Gallifrey
- it’s incredible how that is always and forever the core of him
- K9!!!
- that’s mean
- Romana’s whisper
- and Leela making sure he’s called good dog again
- her crying
- oh god
- she breaks my heart
- this is such a deserved outbreak
- oh Leela
- I hope
- poor Leela
- chancellor
- he does not want that responsibility
- this is going to be interesting
- there are worse things than being useful I find it so interesting how Romana defines herself
- because she cares so little for herself that she always defines her worth by something else
- her usefulness, what she can give for her friends, her planet
- she is never just Romana
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“I have lost a great deal… I have lost you”
agree with eveything you said, there’s a lot in s4 to dig into and all of it is so juicy. I’ll be interested to see what you make of 5 and 6, as they form the conclusion to the Dogma Virus arc, such as it is
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i really hope that the delay to series 3 of war room means we may be in for a return of a certain someone… but doubtful 
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I won’t accept that it’s not happening until it’s in my ears. I’m anticipating (hoping/speculating) for some sort of announcement at Gallifrey One
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Emancipation! Okay, how do I say this best? Emotionally, I don’t like where the characters are, but narratively I love it. I think this is an excellent episode in terms of how much our characters have changed in these last four seasons. The plot, with negotiations and assassination attempts, is a lot like season one and early season two, I find, and it’s very interesting how the characters differ from their earlier actions. Romana is the most unchanged, somewhat better at anticipating and uncovering plots, but ultimately the same. She is president, she has extremely few people she can trust. Narvin has of course had a massive evolution. Now, he is working with Romana, scheming with her, and no longer falling for people like Darkel or Allora. He genuinely cares now, I think, but he’s still very well capable of playing the role and tapping into his former methods and behaviour, he’s just using it for something slightly different now.
Leela, my beloved Leela, is in a very different position here than she was in the beginning and yet she has not changed at all too. This is, so far, the first and only time she has ever succeeded in leaving Romana and Gallifrey (not the planet but the people, the idea of it) with any sort of lasting impact. The amount of times she’s tried to run away from this planet only to come back when Romana asks is a lot. I think, maybe, at the beginning, it would have even been better for her emotionally, but now? Leaving hurts her just as much as staying. Leela here is hard, and distant, but she still cares so much. For the people she has adopted as hers, but Romana too, when she’s in danger. I don’t think she can help being drawn back into Romana’s orbit. I think it’s very good that we get to actually see the fallout of their relationship for once, I was missing this in season three. Still, it hurts for them to be fighting and I was glad for that little bit of hope at the end. Also, the way Romana and Narvin drop everything when Leela has been hurt shows just how much they’ll always care for each other too.
I kind of wish this Gallifrey felt a little bit darker in total, because so far this feels a little bit like a reset, and there aren’t that many changes, but that is also very fitting for Gallifrey as a planet because it’s such a static place.
I’m not quite sure what to rate this one yet because it is really full of things that I want to dig my teeth in to analyze in depth and it is a very compelling story but only in context and conversation with all that has come before.
live blog
- oh I am glad we’re still keeping the theme tune because I like it
- oh Matthias is a commentator here? that’s cool
- I love that Leela continues to lead the freed slaves
- and that Romana does what she can to protect her still
- Romana is so condescending sometimes I love it
- Fraternity? I wish you could have said that to him a few years ago I think Narvin would have died on the spot
- Leela I love you
- she is so very caring still
- ah Romana is having problems pretending to be Romana I love it
- Narvin’s far less grumpy then he used to be so true and not just because he replaced the other one
- do you ever think the president would be so petty? …No comment I love them
- oh no they are making me sad
- because we are not friends. No it would seem not
- the way Leela doesn’t call Romana by her name anymore
- but she does still call Narvin by his
- she is so polite and it hurts so much
- I love that she’s still feeling stabby though
- words are not my weapon of choice oh that is making me think of how far they’ve come since then
- oh they are so
- I do love that Leela actually stands up for herself against Romana
- but this still hurts
- I have lost a great deal. I have lost you
- and Romana really has lost so much
- but so has Leela and Romana has not been treating her well
- don’t hurt her!!
- Leela!!
- just the way they’re still and will always drop everything at Leela being hurt
- now who is trying to frame Narvin
- they’re going to face the mind probe ?! that’s pretty serious
- now Narvin please tell me you’ve learned from the Darkel situation
- Romana!!
- who’s hurting them
- no what is Valyes doing
- don’t hurt them
- oh they were working together
- yesss they have learned
- but I hope there is
- ahhhhahaha they’re doing blackmail I love it
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