Transcript for Episode 3: Could this be… character development? Exploring Doctor Who fanfic with Amanda-Rae Prescott

Talia Franks: Hello. Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Into the Archives, the fanfiction podcast, where your host Talia Franks, that’s me, interviews and entertains a new special guest each month by talking to them about fanfiction and regaling them with my latest trip into the fanfic archives.

This month, I have special guest Amanda-Rae Prescott, joining me. Amanda-Rae is a freelance writer specializing in commentary and critique around period dramas, Doctor Who and other UK television. She’s a contributor for Den of Geek and several other publications. Her articles in blog posts specialize in advocating for greater diversity in these media genres and more participation fandom by people from marginalized communities.

Amanda-Rae, it’s great having you on the show today.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: It is fantastic. I’m excited for this.

Talia Franks: Yeah. I’m excited for this too. I’m also excited for you’re the first guest who I’m recording in the same time zone.  So, this was like an easy. Easy time to find.  So, I’ve got a few questions for you.

The standard one is just your name and pronouns, which I kind of went over in the bio, but just to be clear, just if you wanted to. Introduce yourself any more? Beyond what I said when I just read the little spiel.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I’m Amanda-Rae Prescott, pronouns. she, her hers.

In terms of fanfiction, I’ve dabbled in writing some occasionally I have something abandoned on Ao3. It’s kind of, it was kind of a alternate universe for one of the shows I was watching. I was like, why don’t we make the villain couple more likable?  So, that was my, I kind of abandoned it. (laughs) I had a whole plan, but like life got in the way.

Talia Franks: Yeah. I was going to ask you actually before we dive into talking about the fanfiction specifically, I wanted to ask you about your fandoms because I know you’re involved in a lot of them.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I’m involved in a lot of fandoms, but they kind of boil down into a couple of broad categories.

Talia Franks: What was your first fandom?

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Ooh.

I would say House M.D.? Because I was, back on live journal. Oh my gosh. We used to have like, you know, we used to have a newsletter or where I update new, fics new, you know, Fan art all the fun stuff. And then slowly but surely the fan newsletter died as people moved on to other sources for fandom and also to the show itself, like ended.

 So, like it kind of, it crawled along for a couple of years and then like, you know, things happen.  So, after that, I jumped into doctor who fandom been in Doctor Who fandom ever since then, I’ve always watched the period dramas and UK TV shows that aren’t Doctor Who. Then of course finding fans who also, you know, who were talking about it online was just a little bit difficult.

 So, thankfully Doctor Who fandom found me the people who talk about period dramas and UK mysteries and UK contemporary dramas a lot and now that’s kind of where I’ve been living ever since.  So, it’s all the shows you see on PBS stuff like Outlander The Crown on Netflix, like all Bridgerton was the big, big one this past couple months.

 So, I’ve been all in on, article reviews and just new stuff and updates. And in terms of fanfiction, I haven’t read as much. I’ve read the most fanfiction during my Downton Abbey and Poldark days. And the most abandoned thing I wrote was actually a Poldark fanfic anyway, so yeah, those, I kind of go in and out on reading fanfics like, it has to be when I’m very bored and lately I haven’t been bored enough to go on Ao3, because you know what it is too, it’s it’s a, going on Ao3 is a trap because.

Talia Franks: such a trap. It’s a

Amanda-Rae Prescott: trap, the last search or something. And it’s like, you’re there four hours later reading fics from your favorite ships and it’s like oh my gosh I don’t have time I have deadlines. Like what, where does the time go?

Talia Franks: I feel like I read Ao3 so much faster than. Like a physical book though. Like there’s something about, there’s some thing about that dark mode, 3:00 AM Ao3 that I can just read a 100K fic so much faster than I can read a 500 page novel.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: It’s so funny.

A lot of my and a lot of the period drama people like they really don’t write, fics that long. A lot of it tends to just be. 10 15 chapters tops and they’re done there hasn’t, I’m trying to think there’s only a couple, you have attempted like saga length, novel. I not letting them mini novels or whatever.

It’s a lot of just like, I want my ship that didn’t have enough scenes to get their chance or, well, it was a G-rated love scene.  So, I want to make an x-ray one or a lot of like,

you know,

couple occasionally got occasional crossover stuff. You get, you know, Oh, the actor appeared in another show.

 So, I’m not like cross that character with the current character and whatever it is, a lot of those. And since I was like, Oh, there’s two mysteries together. Let’s have bring all the detectives together, solve, solve a crime.  So, there’s a lot of that, but I haven’t been reading Doctor fanfic consistently. I think part of problem is in a lot of these fandoms.

I don’t end up often with ships, like shipping to me happens very rarely that I follow a ship. Like I don’t have one right now, that I really follow.

Talia Franks: You mean to say that you’re not on the good ship Thasmin?

 Well, hello. Hello. This is Talia from the future calling in to let you know that since the recording of this podcast, I’ve had a few opinion, changes about Thasmin. This is something that I’ve been sort of wrestling with for a while.  So, it’s not really an opinion change. It’s more of an opinion refinement.

 So, Yaz, is supposed to be 19 and I find it really weird, the concept of her potentially dating him billion year old. I think most of the reason I’m usually okay with it is because Yaz does not act 19. This is kind of a result of her imperfect characterization in my opinion. Mandip Gill is also 32 years old.

 So, that’s also a factor. She and Jodie Whittaker only have a five-year age difference and on screen that masks the fact that the Doctor and Yaz have a 5 billion year old age difference, and that’s a problem. Anyway, I just wanted to state for the record that that’s a little weird, a lot of weird.

And yeah, it’s still a good fic, but I definitely, uh, whenever I engage with canon Thasmin engage in a lot of cognitive dissonance that makes me somewhat uncomfortable. Just thought I’d note that, before we continue on with the, with the podcast. And I do want to emphasize that this is a really good fic and you should read it.

I’m just noting this age difference is a wild y’all. But that’s a product of the show. That’s a product of canon, not of the fic.  So, go read the fic. Well, finish listening to the podcast first, then go read the fic. Anyway, back to Talia and Amanda-Rae.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Okay. I like Thasmin in theory, but here’s my problem with Thasmin. And it’s sort of me being a completionist I’m like there’s River.

Like it’s like I did like the Doctor/River dynamic a lot.  So, for me, like it’s hard for me to accept Thasmin like, I like it as like fanart if I it’s just like, in terms of shipping it, wholeheartedly, it just, the fact of River is still kind of unsolved is

Yeah it’s,

Talia Franks: I don’t know, I feel like, I feel like River is complete though.

I feel like River had her arc and they had their love story and it ended so beautifully in The Husbands of River Song. That like

Amanda-Rae Prescott: They did

Talia Franks: I felt like, I felt like their story is complete and like, it’s sad, but they had their moment. And now the Doctor is able to move on from her. Like I

Amanda-Rae Prescott: true

Talia Franks: too felt weird shipping the Doctor with anyone else, even river before The Husbands of River Song.

And then after that I was like, Oh, you know, I feel like I can ship the Doctor with other people now.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah. But it’s weird. I like there’s parts of times. I’m like, okay, I see Thasmin stuff online, I’m like, Oh, this is cute. I mean, I like it, but then there’s also like this part of me that’s like, it’s like, do you

really want to go there? Stop your feels feels so it’s sort of like,

Talia Franks: well, yeah.

 And then, but then there’s also the other part of me, Well for one thing, like I, myself am polyamorous. And so I’m just very like open to the idea of polyamory in general. And then there’s the fact that like, River is canonically polyamorous.

And so is the Doctor like the whole Husbands of River Song schtick is that she has multiple husbands in that episode and is like unapologetic about it.  So, it’s like, it’s not like she’s gonna mind

Amanda-Rae Prescott: true

Talia Franks: if the Doctor is also with Yaz. And also the reason I’m plugging this so hard is because I really don’t want you to hate the fic that I picked out for you today because it’s a Thasmin fic

Amanda-Rae Prescott: no, it’s fine.

I mean, I had a feeling when I said my main fandom was Doctor Who that’s that’s where it was going. Cause I think right now I think the majority of the Doctor Who fics are in Thasminville, right? I mean,

Talia Franks: I mean like the thing is Doctor Who fic like spans… the… Right, because people write Doctor

across all the eras

Amanda-Rae Prescott: true

Talia Franks: there’s people who are ardently and actively writing Doctor Who fic for for Doctors that aren’t even on right now. Like in fact, the Doctor Who fic that I’m writing right now, isn’t even about the 13th Doctor at all.  it’s a doctor who Harry Potter crossover.

And, the Doctors that are in it. Well, it involves the 10th Doctor, the 11th Doctor primarily, but also a little bit of the 12th Doctor and the 13th Doctor shows up. Eventually. It’s very complicated. I mean, I, wasn’t going to tell you about it because when we were talking about what kind of fic you wanted, you specifically said that you didn’t, you didn’t have patience for nonsense and crossovers that don’t make sense.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah,

Talia Franks: and I had a feeling that you would. I have a feeling that you wouldn’t like my fic.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I mean, I’d read it eventually, but yeah, that’s the one other thing that I have. It’s weird. I have this weird light logic focus brain where I like a little bit of adventure, but the fic that used to this is sort of wild, so I kind of stopped reading Doctor Who and some of the period drama fics as well, is that they would start crossing over worlds that don’t make sense together. Like there was no internal logic or explaining things like, and this actually happened to some of my older fandoms too like one time somebody had a crossover between Monk, The Princess Diaries and The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

And

Talia Franks: I mean, I kind of want to see it, but.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: But then like the internal logic completely falls apart because you have Monk and Princess Diaries take place roughly in the same place at the same time, but then you just then the time travel was completely unexplained. I’m like, okay, this is y’all lost me.

That was like the first time I’m like, okay, I’ve done this fic like,

Talia Franks: Well see the beauty of Doctor Who fanfic is that the time-travel is just so built in that they can go to any era anywhere. And it always works because Doctor Who just has built in nonsense.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: True. And yeah, that’s the thing the Doctor Who crossovers are the things that make sense but then sometimes, like that’s what happens a lot of times in my fandoms is that they’re crossing over a lot, like a non magic fandom, say something like that. Grantchester which is like, you know, cozy mystery set in 1950s, England, and all of a sudden you’re throwing and stuff just it’s like, okay, this is, there’s no internal logic here and it’s not Harry Potter, and it’s not like Doctor Who where like, like they’ll just throw in like something from another, like something that like the actor did like 10 years previously, I was like, okay, no, no, I’m done. I will say this. I haven’t read Doctor Who fic in a long time period. I’m like, I do like the fact that you can kind of move around and like save some time with, if, if Doctor Who is a maze, a lot of times it’s like I’m reading stuff and I’m like, you just threw in 16 things here.

I don’t know what’s going on. And several 16 things are like not magic fandom mixed with a magic fandom and I’m like, okay,

Talia Franks: well see the funniest thing also about saying that The best thing about Doctor Who is that it moves around in space and time is that this fic is about not moving in space and time.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Okay.

Talia Franks:  So, I guess this is a good opportunity to move into the fic.

 It’s called grounded.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I like the it’s one word like adjective, adverb.

Oh man, those are always good.

Talia Franks: Yeah it’s by Flyorine on Ao3

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah. I, I don’t know, authors that well, so.

Talia Franks: Oh I’m, I’m saying this for the benefit of anyone who wants to go off and read it. I want to credit in all these episodes, I want to make sure that I credit the authors of the fanfics that I talk about.

And so the summary of the fic is post resolution team Tardis is back together, traveling through all of space and time. But what happens when something goes wrong with the ship, leaving three humans and a Time Lord stranded on a foreign planet halfway across the universe? And so basically this fic is a fic wherein Team Tardis, the fam, is stranded on the other side of the universe.

They are on Sinda Calista during an ice age. And

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I mean, this is kind of one of those things that it could easily be an episode. Like tourist gets stuck somewhere, so.

Okay. All right.

Talia Franks: Yeah.  So, they’re just stuck on and they have to get jobs and integrate into society. Because there’s nowhere to go because they’re just stuck and the Doctor has to repair the Tardis and she doesn’t, and she has to do it all by hand because they’ve arrived, so Sinda Calista is eventually going to become this super advanced society right now during an ice age. And they’ve got like some advanced technology, but but they’re in the mountains and they’re living in this small society.

And it’s like this weird mix of advanced alien tech and sort of, like small village feel. And the settlement that they’re in is a mix of humans and these aliens called Calistans, I guess, because the planet is called Sinda Calista.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: You gotta have a planet named like species, you gotta have one of those.

Talia Franks: Yeah. Yeah. But I guess the, the Sinda Calistans are humanoid and for some reason they speak English, I think, because this is supposed to be like in the far future, this is like a partially colonized place where apparently English is similar enough. I don’t really, I don’t really get that point.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Well, I mean, the Tardis translates languages, so I’m assuming it could even be that’s what was going on,

Talia Franks: well they specifically said that the Tardis translation circuit had stopped working, but what I don’t get is why more fanfic authors don’t take advantage of that plot plot from the ghost monument.

We’re team Tardis got those like, universal language translator things inserted. And I’m like, couldn’t Team Tardis, just have like, kept those and be able to speak every language ever. Like if I’d got one of those implanted in me, like, like I know Graham was all upset about it, but I would’ve kept it.

Universally being able to speak every language and communicate with everyone ever? I would do it. In a heartbeat.  

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah I would do it too.

Talia Franks: Like when we had that whole like Negro solstice thing, like that was the super power I wanted.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: No, I just wanted the Negro Solstice, oh Lord, I just wanted a Tardis man. (laughs) Like I

Talia Franks: I mean

Amanda-Rae Prescott: just wanted something, or just even just the power or even my minor pet superpower would be just be predict what what British show was landing in America and on what streaming service. Cause that would just have me. I’d be set because I’ve gotten pretty good track record at predicting things and then a couple times there is a curve ball.  So, I would like that, I would like that from the Solstice, but I have to say, all the memes from that were just really wild.

Talia Franks: Oh my goodness. Those were great.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I just want to, like, I’m going to be Ruth Doctor. That’s (inaudible) that would be cool.

Talia Franks: You know I would love to be Ruth Doctor

Amanda-Rae Prescott: That would be great.

Talia Franks: But yeah, so they are for some reason able to speak English.  So, they integrate into society. Yaz, becomes part of the security and she becomes like a captain on the security team.

Graham becomes part of the environmental team.  So, he he is basically like a farmer.  So, he like helps grow all the plants and stuff so they can eat. And Ryan like works in mechanics and like building stuff for the society and everything. And the Doctor mostly tries to fix the Tardis, but then also gets a part-time job working with Ryan in mechanics.

And they only have so many settlements or whatever.  So, Ryan and Graham ended up sharing an igloo bunk together. It’s really weird.  So, they like sorta just say that they’re like huts or whatever, but then Yaz says ” they look a little like igloos from earth, at least the image that Yaz has had of how igloos are supposed to look.” So, basically, I don’t think they’re actually, there’s some alien hut made out of ice, but Yaz, names them igloos because that’s what she thinks the igloos would look like.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Hmm.

Talia Franks: And anyway, but they’re basically just like houses made out of ice shelters because that’s what the aliens made.  So, they’re just like integrating into life and, so most of the fic is slow burn between Yaz and the Doctor, because the Doctor’s all angsty because she’s lost, connection with the Tardis and she’s trying to fix it, but then she’s all upset because she’s trapped her companions and then like,

so, this is my favorite thing and why I read so much fanfic for this particular era of Doctor Who, is because like, as you know, Yaz and Ryan don’t get a lot of development. in the actual series. And so that’s why I love fanfic so much because it actually digs into who Yaz. Is as a person,

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I will say, that is actually, this is the one thing that is intriguing me about this fic, in in fact it is the fam because. It’s sort of my one ongoing kind of mild frustration Doctor Who at this point, I have a very thick skin when it comes to like weird decisions on writers, but yeah, Yaz and Ryan have been very spotty with characterization. I feel like so much time was spent on, you know, Graham and Ryan that a lot of it Yaz a lot of times is isn’t utilized enough.

I mean, I liked Revolution of the Daleks for giving her giving a little bit more. I feel like it’s not enough. And I also feel like they held back on making the whole next season, her, and the Doctor exclusively because either they’re either they’re really nervous politically about a possible romantic connection, or they don’t know how to write women as friends or platonic interests without being awkward.

That can, I could see them doing both things. I also see I’m sure to some like political pressure about like the show too.  So, that’s why they added this third person. I’m like, just if they’re like a Nardole, fine, but like I have a feeling it’s not gonna be a Nardole situation. Like.

Talia Franks: Yeah, no, I have, I have no idea what’s going to come with him and like what we’re going to like learn about him in the upcoming months.

And like, it’s also, I’m just going to say like, as an aside for the listeners of this episode is going to come out in May, but we’re recording it in February.  So, who knows what the world is going to look like when, when y’all are listening? Just yeah, as a caveat.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah, it’s sort of, it’s sort of, it is, I mean, I don’t really like the rumor mill for Doctor a lot because a lot of times they’re just making stuff up as they go. It isn’t a way fanfiction like a lot of what I see is news is fanfiction in its own way.  So, yeah, I, I would say this is the only intriguing part about this fic is that they’re spending so much time is world together and then like Yaz and Ryan can get a little bit which is good.

Talia Franks: Yeah. Well, the funny thing is Ryan doesn’t actually get that much development in this fic, unfortunately, because it is so Yaz/Doctor heavy. But Ryan does get like a little like it’s cute, Ryan that like, there is an allusion to Ryan having a little side romance with one of the with one of the aliens, and it’s really cute. Like the little snippets that we hear about it, and I’m really sad, cause at the fic at the end of the fic, they have to run off. And he has to abandon her and Oh, Ryan buddy.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: That’s so cute.

Talia Franks:  So, sad. It was so sad. It was so cute. And I was so sad. And yeah,

so, the, A plot of the fic is the fluffiness of Yaz and the Doctor finally getting together. And, but mostly just Yaz’s development. As she starts to figure herself out and we see bits about Yaz and how she’s coping with being away from her family how she’s really growing into and thriving in her role as part of the security department on the alien planet, but how she’s also missing her family and we get all these like small details and I’m like, Oh, wouldn’t it be great if that was actually like in the show, like how, like she got her leather jacket because her mom like wanted her to wear stuff that like, wasn’t just her police clothes all the time.

And it was like, you know, and just like how her phone background is from her, from her Nani’s birthday party or something like that, it’s like little small things. And it was yeah, and it’s just all great. And then, and so a lot of it’s really fluffiness and then, there’s like this subtle, like B plot of like actual plot going on where, as part of the security team Yaz is noticing that there’s like all these elderly people are just like randomly showing up every every six weeks or so, there’s a different elderly person who’s just found like no outside injuries, but just like completely like in a coma, just completely,

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Frostbite?

Talia Franks: Not not like frostbite, but like just knocked out in a coma, won’t wake up

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Oh wow

Talia Franks: just like in a random area. And they like don’t know what’s going on. And like, meanwhile, the whole like security team is like trying to keep everyone calm and in it’s like pretty suspicious. And like I thought it was pretty suspicious that like the head of the security team is this guy, Hector, who is like around, around the campfire every night is it’s like, you know, he’s trying to keep everyone calm, right? But he also has all of these like really Epic stories. And he’s always telling stories that always seem to be about like the Doctor’s adventures? And I’m like,

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Oh, so he copy-pasted all the,

Talia Franks: suspicious old guy’s, like suspicious old guy. Who’s like telling all these adventures that are specifically seem to be about the doctor,

Amanda-Rae Prescott: is he a spy? Oh wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold up, is he the Master? Like disguised?

Talia Franks: No, he’s not Master—

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Oh, come on! Come on author, you could’ve—

Talia Franks: no, no, no

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I’m mad now!

 (Talia co-currently: But like wait for it) it’s actually it’s

Talia Franks:

so no, but what it is so like is this guy in, and he’s like just telling all these stories about the Doctor and he’s like telling all these great stories. And so then. Like Yaz, like tells the Doctor what’s going on.

Like sort of through the lens of saying like, Oh, okay.  So, hold on. Before I tell you that the one thing that did that struck me as like kind of odd, but kind of cool. Was that the way this overlapped with a different Doctor’s episode was that this was apparently one of this planet is apparently one of the seven, one of the planets from the Seven Rings of Akhaten, like the whole thing with like Merry Galel.

 So, this is basically set 30 years after that. So, she’s an adult.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Oh

Talia Franks: And so, she comes to visit Sinda Calista to like visit the group of people. And there was like a celebration.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Oh, I like that they can connect previous episodes with what they’re setting up.

Talia Franks: Yeah, yeah, actually really cool.  So, they had like a whole celebration to celebrate like the queen of years visiting them and like the liberation from like the evil sun or whatever.

And and so Merry Galel actually shows up and tells the story and everything, and the Doctor reunites with her. And they have this like nice little moment. And then Yaz finds out that the story that Merry had told was about the Doctor and Clara. And so the Doctor has to speak up a bit about Clara and Yaz has this minor moment of like confrontation about how the Doctor seems to have given Clara a lot more autonomy than she does to the fam and like looks at it like a lens of how past companions were able to like, just did a lot more and took a lot more of a sort of starring role in in episodes, which something that I didn’t even really think about as a critique as much before I sort of like took a look back and I’m like, yeah, you know, I feel like past companions actually, might’ve been a bit more active partners, then like the fam have been in some in some episodes,

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I think I, this Chibnall and some of the writers, they originally started Thirteen out as like, I’m exploring who I am and I’m exploring the universe. They didn’t have it where the companion is driving the episodes or even a situation where the Doctor is more aware and intentional in their behavior.

If that makes sense, like I can see where thick people would probably be like, you know what? I want to return it to how it was one season, a couple seasons back where Bill or, you know, Clara or Amy, even like we’re driving episodes and driving, conflicts and things like that, especially they had such an extended stint on one, you know, planet it for a couple of months, they can really go on.

Talia Franks: Yeah. And so, this is like the moment where, Yaz was like saying, I haven’t really been able to drive any action, and so that’s the moment where the Doctor’s like, okay, well, like what’s going on? And that’s the moment where they’re able to go forward again with the plan of laying a trap for the person who is attacking all of these old people. And then, so they go to lay the trap.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah, I was about to say when are they going to get back to that poor old guy with a coma?

Talia Franks: Yeah.  So, they go to lay the trap and the person who they decide to use as bait is Hector, the old guy who’s been telling all the stories and is the head of security. And then he eventually and so then they’re using him as a trap and then so Yaz ends up being the person who along with her partner goes and finds Hector when he’s like aha! I caught the culprit, and he catches the culprit and it’s this mysterious woman that no one’s ever seen before.

And so, they decided to put her on trial and like,

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Okay, I’m going to stop you there. Is this a, is this like the Rani? Cause they always, at some point at some of these fics, like we’re just gonna bring the Rani out of nowhere. Is it her?

Talia Franks: It’s not the Rani.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Oh, come on! (laughs)

Talia Franks: It’s not the Rani And so they put her on trial and she’s really confusing and really contrarian. And like, you don’t know who she is until suddenly I realized. Like the description was a little off at first and it was on purpose. And then I realized (laughing while speaking) the mysterious woman was Missy,

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I oh, you see, I guessed the Master earlier I should have guessed Missy, you know, (laughs)

Talia Franks: but the thing is the best thing about it being Missy is that she’s not the villain.

She was just there looking for the doctor. Like

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Okay

Talia Franks: she was just there, like she was there looking for the doctor and found the doctor and, and in her trying to find the doctor found this guy, instead, it really was Hector the whole time.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Oh my God,

Talia Franks: he

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Oh, wow.

Talia Franks: It turns out that Hector was the person who was attacking everyone.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: But for why, why did he do it?

Talia Franks: He’s a particular he’s a particular kind of monster called a Re Re Rememinster? I think it’s called a rememinster I forget. What it I don’t actually

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I like when people make up their own monsters cause you know, cause I mean, honestly it’s kinda half of Doctor Who anyway when you have the Abzorbaloff I mean, you can’t get any really, I mean, then again I mean in fairness it was made up by a kid, but still it’s a sort of of like it just kind of opens the door to you just make anything up and it’s

Talia Franks: Reminiscor! I just found it.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Oh, okay

Talia Franks: Yeah. Yeah. But, but yeah, no, I love, I love Doctor Who and I love makin, makin stuff up. But yeah, it’s yeah, he’s a Reminiscor and basically, he eats other, he lives by eating other people’s memories.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Why do I feel like that was kind of the M.O. of somebody else in Doctor Who?

Talia Franks: I don’t know, maybe, maybe the author didn’t make this up. I have, it seemed that they made it up, but maybe it is.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I mean, I feel like this is, so I don’t remember what doctor could even be a classic Doctor, I feel like somebody. Something somewhere it could even just be Big Finish or something where

Talia Franks: I mean, there’s a memory worm.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah. It’s I have to say this fic it seems kind of out there about what I like about it is that it’s giving a slight new story with things that are already around in the canon, which I like.

It’s not yeah, cause sometimes like as I said before, like if people wanna just make, if people make, there’s no internal logic in a story is when I’m like I’m done. But this seems to have it’s based on another episode, it’s an alternate, you know, alternate planet from another episode and it’s seems to Missy just you know shows up cause she,

Talia Franks: yeah she

Amanda-Rae Prescott: and and and not like that chaotic of a, I mean, yeah. Although wait

Talia Franks: yeah

Amanda-Rae Prescott: isn’t she supposed to be dead though? Or is she just

Talia Franks: Yeah. Like the author never explains why Missy isn’t dead or regenerated.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah, I was going to say I’m like…

Talia Franks: I just sort of like waved that off,

Amanda-Rae Prescott: but then again with the master sorta is easy to wave that off because the master

Talia Franks: Oh they’re just back.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah, they’re just back.

They’re just back and I’m not gonna explain why.

No, also it could be whatever master I want it to be because whoever my fave is I mean yeah. It’s kind of like the Doctor in that regard. It’s like,

Talia Franks: Yeah. They’re just back. I’m not going to explain why I’m not going to explain how they’re just here.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah. It’s like, whatever. I mean, I, haven’t read a lot of

Talia Franks: I’m not going to explain why I’m not going to explain how I’m not going to explain where in their timeline. They’re just here.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Has anyone ever unpacked the ultimate I mean, I’m sure people have tried like the ultimate Master timeline?

Talia Franks: Oh my goodness. The ultimate master timeline, like

Amanda-Rae Prescott: because I’m sure that they’ve crossed each other because once you start counting in like Big Finish and stuff, like I’m sure

Talia Franks: it sounds like such a headache.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah. It would be a headache to be like, just craziness on top of craziness. But go back to

Talia Franks: I mean that’s fair

Amanda-Rae Prescott: go back to Hector. I’m curious to see how this

Talia Franks: yeah. Back to Hector. Yeah, so the doctor lets him live.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yay. Everybody lives.

Talia Franks: She’s like I could like explode your, your brain and your telepathic pathways with the sonic screwdriver. And then Missy’s like, that’s my friend. And then the doctor’s like on second thought I won’t. And then Missy’s like, aww

Amanda-Rae Prescott: yeah.

Talia Franks: Because the Doctor’s like Missy approves of this, maybe I shouldn’t. (both laughing)

Yeah. And then, so they go back to the Tardis which was mostly fixed. And it’s fixed just enough for the Tardis to give them a ride to Missy’s Tardis and she gives them a proper energy boost and they’re able to go back to Earth. And

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Aww, I like like a nice ending where people don’t die.

Talia Franks: Yeah. And no one dies it.

And even the people who were like in comas where didn’t actually die and it’s like halfway implied that it might’ve been voluntary. Because like the Reminscors are like, supposedly like used to be an evil race, but now like reformed and only feed on people who like voluntarily give up their memories for them.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: The ethical vampire.

 (laughs) Talia Franks: Yeah.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: That’s a that is such a trope

And then they’re

Talia Franks: like, but they still ran off because they supposedly attacked people.  So, they’re like, yeah, we’re not gonna stay long.  So, they stayed just long enough to grab their stuff and then they peaced out. And Ryan had to say goodbye to his boo. It was really sad.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Aww.

Talia Franks: Yeah. I mean, like not sad enough that they spent any real time on it. Just sad enough (Amanda-Rae laughing) that I’m saying that it was sad.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah. It’s funny hearing this. I’m wondering how many Ryan’s centric fics are there. I’m pretty sure not many. I’m pretty sure I already know the answer to that.

Talia Franks: Yeah, this, this author writes mostly. Yaz And like Thasmin, like most of the fics I read not going to lie are Thasmin, I

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I’m sure it is also, there’s the most interesting room for development with them anyway, because you know, previous doctors have not had that kind of dynamic so I could see why people would totally dive all the way in.

Talia Franks: Yeah. The ones that I have seen that include Ryan development are ones where Ryan is like, Yaz’s wing man.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Oh yeah.

Talia Franks: As she tries to woo the Doctor.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Oh God

Talia Franks: like there’s one fic where that I’ve read also by this author where the Doctor, it’s an alternate universe where it’s like set completely on Gallifrey where the Doctor is the Lord President, and Yaz is her wife by arranged marriage, and Ryan is like, Yaz’s personal guard slash best friend.

I could have told you about that fic, but I wanted to tell you a shorter fic because I didn’t want this to be a super long episode.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah, because I’m like, I’m, this sounds like something that was maybe like 10 chapters?

Talia Franks: Actually. You guessed it right on. This was exactly 10 chapters.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Nice. Yeah, it seems kind of short because a lot of yeah, I don’t have the time to reading these like 100K fics, I can’t like,

Talia Franks: Yeah, the other one that I mentioned is well, it’s also incomplete, which is the other reason I didn’t want to talk about it. It’s currently 24 out of 33 chapters and at 88 K.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah, I’m sure people hate me, in my fandom for leaving my fic incomplete, but I actually was thinking if I have a writing stint where I have nothing else, I might just flush out a couple more chapters because oddly enough, I mean, you never know fics can give you inspiration for things.

 So, yeah, I have to say I was presently surprised by this fic. It sounds like it could have been an episode.

Talia Franks: It could’ve been an episode. Yeah.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Or like a Big Finish thing where like, of course they want to have like Missy there for the listener bait you know, or like as part of a set of like Misty related adventures.

Cause I did a book review for the um, Over Christmas. They had like a mini collection of stories called the Wintertime paradox. And there was one where Missy was in the middle of like a crime in like 1890 Scotland for no reason. So random like

Talia Franks: I mean, she was there because she was Missy and it was 1890 Scotland and there was a crime to be done.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Yeah.

Talia Franks: Do you need more reason than that?

Amanda-Rae Prescott: No, you know, it was just kind of funny. I was like, Oh, this is really cute. I was like, eh, I like when fics take advantage of like, of characters, like Missy, where you can just stick them anywhere and it’ll be interesting, but also like how they incorporated Akhaten I feel like it was one of those episodes where people kind of forgot it.

You know? Like they forgot that whole thing like ’cause so many, a lot of times when you really watching these, you know, monster of the week episodes it’s like, they leave very interesting details that you’re waiting on a future episode pickup. And, and they don’t, especially when it happens when there’s like a screenwriter stretch, you know, and it’s like, Oh, we’re not going to find out what happened there.

Right. Cause that’s so Moffat so it’s just gonna sit there. Yeah.

 Talia Franks: So, as I let’s see, I think, you know,

That actually wraps up almost everything that happens in the fic. Oh yeah, like I said, they get home like Missy gives them a power boost to get back to earth. There’s a moment where Yaz affirms that the Doctor doesn’t want to travel with Missy and the Doctor’s like that may actually be worse than traveling alone.

You’re the one I want to travel. What?

Amanda-Rae Prescott: That’s nice.

Talia Franks: Yeah. They’re like, are we going to go back to the way things were before we were stranded together? And then they’re like, they talk about how like the Doctor was really closed off and now they feel much closer, like emotionally, and then she’s like, well, the rest is nice too kissing and stuff. It’s just like adorable. And then yeah, and then it’s all really cute.

 And then they’re like, we’re going to go back to Earth and see Yaz’s family. And then Yaz is like, well, great. Then we can tell my mom that we’re seeing each other and then the Doctor’s like we are, and then the Doctor’s like, wait, Yaz, do we have to tell her I’m not, I don’t do great with mothers.

It’s just like,

That was really cute moment. And then it just ends with the door the Tardis doors clicking shut, and Yaz laughing and then the fic is just ends with an open-ended air. And like the author said that they may go back to this universe, or they may just like leave it open-ended and fluffy.

And I kind of hope that they leave it open ended and fluffy, because I feel like going back and expanding on fics sometimes just makes them sad, not with the author specifically, just in a general sense. But yeah, so it’s a really cute fic!

 So, now for the final question do you think that you would read it?

Amanda-Rae Prescott: I would actually it’s because what I like about it because initially, I was sort of like Thasmin, okay, but I noticed it’s Thasmin in a way where it’s building their relationship in a realistic sort of episode way. It’s sort of like. Here’s something that could have been an episode, which I I kind of like those fics the best out of a lot of Doctor Who fics.

I tend to like the ones that tend to be like, okay, this would have an episode. I would wish though, more people would set those this could have been episode things in the past, mostly because I tend to prefer the historical episodes to in space ones. But I could, that sounds like, I mean, it sounds like. It could it it’s creative enough that it’s definitely the author telling their own story but also I feel like it could have easily been an episode, which I like those a lot.

Talia Franks: Fantastic. I always feel victorious when I find a fic that someone would genuinely want to read.  So, now, Where can listeners find you on the internet? Not like what’s your address, but like what’s your URL.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Okay. Easiest way to find me is on Twitter. @amandarprescott, couldn’t my full name on so Twitter profile.

 So, all my recent articles are in links there. If I am still in the middle of setting up. My old WordPress account for when I don’t get published. But still it’s been a little bit of a journey with tech issues and also trying to fill in content cause the past, cause I had a couple ideas and it turned out, I ended up getting pitches approved.

Talia Franks: Hey there. This is Talia from the future calling in to let you know that since the recording of this episode, Amanda-Rae did get her WordPress site set up. You can find her at amandaraeprescott.com.

Amanda-Rae Prescott:  So, I have to like put that on the side for awhile, but it’s coming along and from there you can read what I’m up to. Unfortunately a lot of times it’s not reading fanfiction. But it it is, I feel like after this episode I should go back and read some stuff for some of those shows I’ve been watching recently. Although in some, I don’t know, there’s some fandoms, I feel like, I don’t know if I’d find stuff I want to read, but might be worth trying if I have time.

Talia Franks: Great. Yeah. I mean, if you ever need any fanfic recs, like you can always come to me.

Amanda-Rae Prescott: Sounds good.

Talia Franks: You’ve been listening to Into the Archives, a fanfiction podcast from Talia Franks. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @ArchivesPod. Join the party, send me your favorite fanfics and fanfiction memes. You can also send us an email at [email protected] or visit our website intothearchivespod.com. And if you’re sick of me pretending I’m not just the one person behind this podcast, you can find me, Talia Franks, at @talia_franks on Twitter and Instagram. I’d also love to have your support on Patreon, where you can find me at patreon.com/taliafranks and find Into the Archives related perks and more. Have a good night, and try not to stay up too late reading fanfic. Do as I say, not as I do.