Calufrax

Story: Ports of Call
Author: rutsky
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1,192
Author's Summary: They eventually discovered he'd lied about New York
Characters/Pairings: Amy Pond/Rory Williams, River Song
Warnings: None as such, but does contain a good dose of grit and reality in its portrayal of Amy and Rory's post-Doctor relationship.

Recced because: I think it would be fair to say that I was, and definitely remain, a huge fan of the Eleventh Doctor and his era. I even, gods help me, genuinely think that New Who would have been very much the poorer without Steven Moffat's tenure as showrunner and that most (most!) of his judgments and instincts as writer and general head-honcho-type have been bang on the money. I recognise that as a whole the era had good stories and bad stories, as every Who era does, but I refuse to subscribe to arguments that it somehow declined in quality over the course of its run or that "it was time for a change". I'm very much enjoying the Twelve era so far and think Peter Capaldi is nothing less than a demigod in human form, but I could have lived with another season or two of Eleven, no problem at all.

Having said all of that (just so you know where I'm coming from)...

I @#&%ing hate The Angels Take Manhattan. Or at least its ill-conceived ending which, imho, fails on so many levels I'd be listing them all night and clocking up more words than the fic I'm theoretically reccing. Your mileage, as they used to say, and as is the case with all things fan-related, may and probably does vary. I consider it a poor exit for the two companions I consider to be probably the best (certainly when considered as a pair) of the 2005 series.

So, having laid my cards so verbosely on the table, I probably wouldn't classify this fic as a fix-it (which the author admits to being in two minds about) so much as a statement of the facts as they stood at the end of said story. One senses perhaps in reading the piece that the author was as nonplussed by that ending and as aware of its gaping plot-holes as I and, going from comments I read at the time, quite a lot of other people were. That's really beside the point, though. I'm not reccing this fic because its author happens to come down on my side in a fanw*nky argument, but because it highlights two really important things about the Eleven era.

The first of these is that Eleven was a bit of a slippery customer, morally. I'm not really convinced by some of the PR efforts to paint Twelve as a particularly edgy and ruthless Doctor, although he's certainly more up front about it, because it always seemed that Eleven got up to some dodgy stuff, more or less constantly and unapologetically (although he did tend to hide it behind his goof-ball exterior) and I think most of the time we the audience were supposed to notice that and think about it. I say most of the time, because some of the dodgiest stuff he did, though, particularly in his personal relationships, went more or less uncommented upon and indeed tacitly condoned "by the show", for want of a better term. I think even as big a fan of Eleven and his era and Moffat's work as I will admit to being, or indeed somebody really invested in the relationships between the characters, can see some of the morally problematic things that are going on there and wonder why "the show" seems unaware of them. It's an important aspect of the era and one I see confronted in too few fanworks. This one takes it head on; this Doctor's a liar, and not always for good reasons.

The other really important thing about the Eleven era this fic highlights and plays homage to, one of its central planks, is the relationship between Amy and Rory. These are two imperfect people (like all of us) and they have this very complicated, not always easy, bond but it ends up being one that they both draw strength from and one that neither of them can live without. This fic examines that complex relationship warts and all and the way Amy's and Rory's situation in Manhattan after parting from the Doctor might have affected it. It also confronts us with the incredible strength both of these characters have shown in adversity and the toll the sorts of adventures they have been involved in have taken upon them. I would say that that is the main selling point of this fic for me, apart from the fact that it is very well-written; it is unflinching in its consideration of how this situation might really play out. For a supposed "fix-it", it pulls few punches, either in its portrayal of the characters, their relationship and their predicament, or in considering the off-screen Doctor and his actions. And it does so not out of a desire to bash but out of a deep concern and investment in the material and the characters. Good stuff, in other words.

Anyway, thanks for reading my rant. Now go and read the fic and tell the author how much you liked it. ;)

( A Taste )

Story: Feedback
Author: ClocketPatch
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 2,918
Author's Summary: Explosion. The packed clod of ice smashed into the side of Amelia's head. It didn’t break off into powder like a proper snowball. It thudded against the ground beside her, shattering just as another ice ball hit.
Characters/Pairings: Amy Pond, Rory Williams, The Doctor (11th)
Warnings: Some fairly close-to-the-bone discussion of Amy's childhood traumas

Recced because: If you've been paying any attention to the comm at all, you will know by now that Clocketpatch is a very safe bet indeed when it comes to finding some fic that will consider interesting angles using interesting prose stylings and interesting choice of language. Fic worth reading, in other words. My main reason, however, for giving this author another rec on the comm so soon after her last one is that this story is, not to put too fine a point on it, really good - which surely should be reason enough?

Cast your minds back, as I asked you to do the other day, not to the heady days of 2008 and The Dark Knight, but rather back to 2010 and Series 5 of new Doctor Who. I think one of the things that sold me, and a lot of other fans, on the idea of Amy Pond as a companion was the very real sense given in The Eleventh Hour and some of the subsequent episodes that our Amy, she wasn't quite..."normal". How could she be, after the raggedy Doctor and his blue box had so impinged upon her life at such an early stage? And for a lot of people who don't consider themselves quite "normal" (and who of us is, really?), that was a cool and aspirational thing, even if it was one of the several cool things from S5 that Steven Moffat still hasn't quite followed through on (although there is still the 50th Anniversary special, he says, hopefully, perhaps delusionally).

The thing is, though, just what kind of childhood trauma did that glib line about biting "three psychiatrists", or the very real sense that Amy is regarded as a Leadworth "local character" by the likes of Mrs Victor Meldrew, what did that conceal? And this fic takes that idea head-on, and pulls few punches. It is raw, thought-provoking, somewhat disturbing stuff. And the amazing thing is that that (which would provide sufficient material for an entire fanfic in itself for most of us) is only this fic's opening section. It goes on very rapidly to set up an actual storyline, a real science-fictional predicament and then to pull back and remind us that what is really important is Amy and Rory and the Doctor, this Team TARDIS, undoubtedly one of the very best in the entire run of the new series to date, and their complex, not always easy, three-way relationship.

It's an indication of what a good fic this is that, quite in spite of the devastating insight into Amy's character and just what price she paid by encountering the Doctor all those years ago, its actual highlight is the lovely Doctor-Rory-Amy interactions with all of their nuances, reminding us that as cool as Clara is (and she's very cool indeed, imho), we lost a lot when we lost the Ponds.

I know I say this a lot, but I mean it: go over to the Teaspoon, read the fic, tell the author how awesome you thought it was. :)

( An Extract )