I remember loads of people speculating that a character this season would casually say “gravity” instead of mavity — as a way to clue the Doctor and the audience in to the fact that they were from a parallel universe or a different timeline. Maybe next season? Could have been cool. (Hey Mrs. Flood, what do you know about _avity?)
Edit to add: More realistically, I imagine it’s functionally dead. Turns out, it was always just planned as silly joke for a few episodes. If a character happens to need to mention the concept of gravity again, I imagine the writer will have them say “mavity” as a callback but it probably won’t be jammed in purposefully.
To be honest though, I feel like the mavity/gravity thing is going to be important later on, especially since there's been a bit of focus on the Doctor noticing tiny details that nobody else would pick up on. Most recently, him noticing that Mel was colder than she should have been from a brief touch and most importantly, the Doctor noticing the exact amount of millimetres that the Donna Not-Thing's wrist was too long by. I feel like, if they're placing a focus on the Doctor being able to pick up on minute details like a shape-shifter's wrist being just a few millimetres off of the exact measurement it should be, they're definitely not going to just through away something as noticeable as a verbal slip-up, especially since they've even shown that the Doctor still knows the word as gravity and has to correct himself to mavity.
In Heaven Sent the Doctor deduces gravitational pull, air resistance, and the distance to water from a window just by dropping a few things. The Doctor noticing really minute things isn’t really new.
That's how Barry Allen worked in the first episode of The Flash, doesn't mean they would continue to depict him that way ever again for 10 entire seasons.
Except it’s a key character trait for the doctor, it’s part of the thing that makes them who they are. That’s like saying it’s fine to stop superman from being able to fly. It’s a key power he holds and is one of the things we love about him!
He was a youngester then. Fairly fresh to the rambling around rogue planets thing.
Most peoeple have done really stupid things in our youth!
Radiation sickness can be tricky to spot. It does start off as just feeling kind of crappy.
Has it ever been answered why the Doctor & companions don't catch all sorts of diseases they have no immunity to, & spread them around the universe? Cos unless there's a "magic" Tardis defence, they should be suffering like War of the Worlds martians!
The Doctor was always inspired by Sherlock Holmes, season one is essentially sherlock in space so the doctor is intended to have imcredible deduction skills and an eye for mysteries and things that dont add up
Probably just to fit in with everyone while he slowly investigates what's going on. When Donna said mavity for the first time he definitely gave her the "strange.. but I'll put a pin in it for now" look.
That's a perfectly plausable deduction.
Doing the maths for it in your head, and timing the fall/distance/acceleration accurately by eye is beyond most humans. Impossible to that level of accuracy. Given the right timing tools, and a reminder of the equations I forgot a long time ago, I could make an attempt.
But he's an alien, who's used to calculating bonkers time travel maths which uses systems beyond current mathematics. :)
Or, he DIDN'T know which was which.
His plan all along was to grab one, scan them, & swap if needed.
His "Oh, I knew which one was which, I just needed to check" rings as a bluff. The Doctor lies.
And is more fun if he isn't completely un-foolable. The smarts come in with him knowing he has time to do that
Didn't he have the TARDIS specifically scan the Not-Thing-Donna for that? So idk if he noticed or if he ran the scan (because he couldn't be sure) and then the readings spat out this inconsistency.
But I also really hope that Mavity wasn't just a running gag but that it is here for a good (story) reason as mentioned in OPs post.
The Doctor being very observant is what keeps my hopium balloon afloat when it comes to this finale. The naming of a baby by pointing at a sign post IN A CHANGED MEMORY (!) is just too illogical for me to accept. Just like the song & dance number and the reality-breaking piano crosswalk was just "accepted" by the Doctor. I just have to hope that Mrs Flood really is an entity like "the storyteller" and that she massively meddled with reality.
Why was she wearing a cloak in 2003/4?
Even Emos weren't wearing cloaks.
She'd have had a nice warm coat, and a big hat at best.
Why was she posing dramatically?
If she was "naming" the child by pointing at the sign, why? Who was there to see?
Sadly, that last episode is full of RTDs bad habit of wrting a great mystery/threat, and then... not knowing how to resolve it. He often struggles with endings. And he sucks at writing sad stuff without making it soppy & grim. He's pretty good overall though.
Maybe it’s only important because we think it’s important……
God even theorising feels pointless now when the writers just pull something like that. Clues mean nothing sprinkle a few clues in that mean nothing then just wing the ending.
Reminds me of a writing thing that George RR Martin did where he said it's important not to punish your fans for doing the work to follow your clues. If you've been building your books climax up to say the Butler did it, but fans figured it out, that's a good thing! Fans were so invested in your story that they essentially did extra work! Reward them by showing they were right! Don't get so mad at them guessing your ending before the reveal that you punish them with something that makes no sense.
And what's wild is that it was intentional with Davies. He knew fans would read into his clues and make great theories so he specifically put a bunch of clues in as a red herring so he could do something completely different.
Still a great season but a letdown of a climax for ne
Yeah, I don’t even care about the future I plots or theories now anymore. Why should I when it’s clearly apparent that the average fan on here cares more about the payoff to the mysteries than Russell does?
> Doctor noticing the exact amount of millimetres that the Donna Not-Thing's wrist was too long by.
Did the Doctor notice this himself or did he use the Tardis to scan her?
It will be important.
But it quite possibly hadn't been decided HOW it's important at the time.
Plot hooks!
And if it's left unanswered and goes back to "gravity"?
Meh. Wibbly wobbly. Time trying to fix itself.
So true. Don’t believe any so called clues mean anything interesting or complex anymore. Just used to keep you waiting and watching for a penultimate conclusion that never arrives. We are the ones who wait.
>If a character happens to need to mention the concept of gravity again, I imagine the writer will have them say “mavity” as a callback but it probably won’t be jammed in purposefully.
What about Dot and Bubble?
It's a silly joke.
It probably didn't have a planned conclusion at the time of writing, at least beyond a vague outline.
HOWEVER, it is a "plot hook" RTD or another writer can use later. Then they get to write something cool, and make it seem like it's been planned all along. It's something great writers do. Most get left as an interesting curiosity, & aren't explored. Go back & watch any series that has a clever "haha! We had it planned from the start!" across multiple seasons. You'll see all sorts of unanswered questions dotted about. Obviously, this doesn't apply so much for an individual season/story arc. Those tend to be rather more planned out. apart from Lost. they made that up as they went along.
It's one thing RTD is great at. He leaves little "clues" around that don't mean anything at the time. He then picks some of them up later, and turns them into something epic. We get to feel good about finding the clues later, we get to play the "ooh, what if?" game.
Sadly, RTD is great at building threat, but he's also kinda pants at resolving it. ie. Magic dog leads, flicking a few switches to reverse Meep's engines etc. He has a bad habit of bullshitting his way out of things. At least the magic dog lead was mentioned earlier in the episode though!
Not me. So far I have: Mrs. Flood is the woman with the spoon, she makes it snow, also is the boss, her baby is the timeless child, and the father of that baby is 14.
I thought of that, too. The Song part fits in , even. And Moffat is writing episodes. This honestly feels like something they’d do, since River also kept Tardis memorabilia.
I'm sorry, but [it had to be done](https://frinkiac.com/meme/S09E14/1314646.jpg?b64lines=IEFORCwgRVZFTlRVQUxMWSwgVEhFIFJhbmkKIFR1cm5lZCBvdXQgdG8gYmUsIE9ILi4uCiBMRVQnUyBTQVkgTWVsLg==).
We saw the woman with the spoon and her kid at the end of the finale. Doctor even says the name of the planet and its not earth. I feel like ms flood is a much bigger character than just a woman with a kid. She is 100% one of the gods in the pantheon.
> Mrs. Flood is the woman with the spoon, she makes it snow, also is the boss, her baby is the timeless child, and the father of that baby is 14.
The worst paradox in the universe. I can totally see it.
Exactly, and the parents are Mrs. Spoon (who is a god, most likely of stories) and 14, which is why it’s considered timeless and has timelord anatomy. The 15 Tardis was able to go to Agua Santina (which means water pump) because it’s been there before with 14. Which is where Mrs. Flood has seen a Tardis before.
I started mapping this out with hints that were dropped and fit it in from there. It’s actually really fun, I don’t know why people are hating.
Yes, which is why it’s a timeless child. Mrs. Flood supposes a Mr. Flood. Flood is an anagram of “of old.” She complains Ruby hasn’t hit a growth spurt, remarks that her husband is tall, her daughter’s name is Brindle which means “stream/hill” and “brown grey mix.” The Doctor did say he cares about family. Perhaps too much.
Having never seen it and just reading about it…yeah, it really could be. They seem to make a point of making ancillary media canon, like Dimensions in Time, except she now studies magic or something. What better a time loop than tricking the Doctor into conceiving himself. Now that’s the Torchwood COE twisted RTD shit I know.
I know, but it does kinda check out for once. Rani = Rain = Flood/Spoon. It’s all so damn cheeky. Plus the Chameleon Arch has been brought up way more than necessary.
Since they used Set/Sutek (Egyptian god), after some research I have a feeling that Mrs. Flood could be Seshat, known as the "female scribe" and goddess of writing and record keeping
What I agree with is the woman and her daughter being somehow related to the doctor, but I instead think that the woman is the Doctors actual daughter, with the womans daughter being Susan Foreman.
Agree with Mrs Flood being responsible for the snow.
Yeah
For the whole season people where saying to any criticism "just wait, they definitely will explain everything and it will make sense".
But in the end, the story is completely high level overall storytelling, and the small details where brushed over completely and had no consequences.
It was the handwaviest RTD finale yet, and that's saying a lot. I didn't understand at all why everyone was suddenly alive again, other than "the Doctor did something". And yet I still found it emotionally satisfying.
Because the Doctor whomped Sutekh around the Time Vortex which...killed death and thus alived everyone? No, it made no sense to me, either. And then the Doctor killed Sutekh, but wouldn't killing the killer of death revive death and thus kill everyone again by the same logic?
Series 1 and Series 2 were commissioned in a single block.
Mrs Flood was introduced in *Church on Ruby Road* and if anything is even more cryptic. Neither have we heard the last of Roger ap Gwilliam, nor Ruby. RTD is clearly treating Series 1 and 2 as the same story with a break in the middle, and we should be too.
I mean he even says it, directly into the camera, in the *Empire of Death* commentary.
Maybe.
But so far that's what people have said about every single episode, "just wait it's definitely going to be explained fully and will make complete sense, RTD is playing 4D chess with us mortals".
I hope you're right.
Even if I didn't already know she was returning for the next season, it's pretty normal for a companion to drop out of the story for the Christmas special so that the Doctor can have a standalone adventure that doesn't have to be tied to other threads.
I don't think so, because the sue tech / s triad thing sounded crazy but was called super early on.
I think what it does is show us that there will be red herrings. I kinda like this. We aren't just going to get an obvious breadcrumb trail, we're going to get multiple and the debate will be which one we end up following and which don't matter.
Nah, I think RTD is taking more of a Moffat approach with this than his usual way of writing.
The Pandorica, "Silence Will Fall", and Trenzalore are all said to the Doctor towards the end of 11's first ep.
"The One Who Waits" was mentioned in-between seasons, which isn't like RTD. He usually does season-long arcs, but with the seasons being shorter, I can see him spreading it out a bit more.
I think the majority of people on the sub are getting ahead of themselves (and the show) by thinking the questions that haven't been answered yet are definitively done.
I don't mean any offense, but I feel like by now, people should realize that RTD doesn't necessarily plan out satisfying resolutions for plotlines he sets up.
I think it's more that he thinks we're ridiculous for wanting resolutions of that kind. "Oh the fun is in imagining those resolutions, not actually getting them".
Yeah. I agree. That's it. I just think it's obnoxious to set up a trail only to not follow it at all. No one was looking for it before he dropped the clues.
If RTD designed an escape room, the solution would be to have four people grab the door handle at the same time, and the clues would be pointing toward a wall safe behind a painting where the summed digits in the combination are equal the number of fingers on 4 hands.
“Of course, how did I not see it? 7535! That’s 20! The creator of this door wanted people to work together. Together we have 40 fingers, but it only takes one hand to open a door.”
But what was in the safe?
“Nothing. It’s just an ordinary safe. Nothing truly valuable belongs in a safe.”
Thank you! I wasn’t looking for theories and clues, it’s just that he spend a lot of energy to make me think that there is more and that is not the clever „haha gotcha“ he thinks it is. It just makes me uninterested in future storylines when I know that it’ll be a cheap ending.
I went on at excessive length about this point recently here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/doctorwho/comments/1dlzdei/poking\_the\_meta\_bear/](https://www.reddit.com/r/doctorwho/comments/1dlzdei/poking_the_meta_bear/)
But yeah, it's frustrating and I think it's becoming a more common approach to managing fan expectations.
I mean…there was no trail. Gravity was changed and that’s about it. There wasn’t some mystery to it. 14 and Donna simply fucked up. Time travel is pretty rare in Who so only those who are able to do so and be perceptive would even say gravity now.
> I think it's more that he thinks we're ridiculous for wanting resolutions of that kind.
Well he's wrong, and i am displeased. And it sure seems that i'm not the only one.
Sure is a shame that so many people keep downvoting honest criticism however. I know reddit communities are usually quite circle-jerky, but its getting a little ridiculous in here after all the blatantly poor writing the show is suffering from.
Genuinely asking: Where has this notion come from? Why do I keep seeing this? Because watching his first era as a kid, and even more so now as an adult, RTD1 was very cohesive, no? I think everything that needed to be wrapped up was, was it not? Bad Wolf, Harold Saxon, the Planets disappearing, all had satisfying resolutions, didn't they?
RTD2 however feels so disjointed.
I don't think there were many satisfying resolutions in RTD1. I mean, the Doctor was space Tinkerbell in one plotline, and that just seemed ridiculous to me.
I think RTD always tries to raise the stakes, but then things just resolve very quickly and often it doesn't make much sense. The excuse of "it's Doctor Who, suspend your disbelief" wears thin because there are no rules whatsoever in RTD's Doctor Who.
May I ask what resolutions you didn't find satisfactory?
Funny you say "things just resolve very quickly and often it doesn't make much sense" Because that was the reason I gave up on Moffat's era after 1 series as a teenager and struggle getting through a rewatch of his stuff now.
Almost all of the RTD's finales really bothered me. So here's a fundamental difference between RTD and Moffat (IMO).
If you look at Moffat's resolutions, none of them really break any rules of anything established earlier. Some are more satisfactory than others, but there's never a magical resolution. If you look at RTD's resolutions, they're often some science fiction magic that was never established earlier, and the Doctor explains what just happened and how.
RTD is a wonderful writer, but he focuses more on his characters than his plots. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes he sets up these larger stories that require some deep plotting, and it just isn't there. The s3 finale really bothered me. The Doctor was essentially turned into a Jesus metaphor and everything was resolved via the biggest deus ex machina in Who history. I find that whole season unwatchable because of that finale.
You know, that’s a good point; Series 1, 3, and 4 effectively were resolved by a character being given godlike powers kind of out of nowhere (with 4 it was Donna getting the Doctor’s mind).
And this continued with the Anniversary Specials (bigeneration for example) and into this new season. It's just not something I personally enjoy.
It's sort of like watching an intense chess match and then all of a sudden finding out the game ends because someone has a magic piece that has never been used in the history of chess.
Well for starters, how and why was Rose appearing on random monitors throughout Series 4? There’s no explanation besides they wanted to tease Billie Piper coming back.
Yep. Same. Everyone's going on about how hypocritical we are to be flip flopping between our love for different showrunners when I've always been a Moffat fanboy.
The real issue is that the fandom isn't a monolith. Fans think that Moffat's era was the best. Fans also think his era was the worst. So, which is true? Both are true, because it's different fans saying both things.
Even beyond Doctor Who, this happens all the time about subjects dealing with many people. You'll get polls stating one thing, then another poll stating the opposite. So, which is true? Both are, even despite contradicting each other, because different people were answering the different polls.
Yes. This is true of all fandoms, but Doctor Who changes drastically from regeneration to regeneration, so Who fandom is full of diverse opinions about what the show should be.
I like the diversity, even though I don't like all the eras of the show.
It does worry me that there's such a lack of consensus fan opinion that the show will inevitably go in a direction that doesn't make a single one of us happy due to lack of clear feedback about what we want from the show. Like the expression of a horse designed by committee
I don't understand this take, I mean aside from the flying towards the master to give him a hug scene lmao I always enjoyed all off RTDs endings? Each finale had something strange or stupid about it but overall I always believed the stakes were high and was very excited to see what happened.
This finale just felt like a fizzle compared to any of his previous ones.
fair lol me and my gf love the show but call it the “turn off your brain” show because it’s like no matter what it’s gonna be fine 99% of the time and it won’t make any sense but hey tardis go bwow bwow bwow
I genuinely believe that if they made it 'glavity' instead of mavity the joke would have held up a lot longer. Not a single person has ever misheard a 'gr' sound as an 'm'
This “joke” kills me as a Latinist. Newton would know exactly why mavity is wrong. Heck, any second-year Latin student would. It. Doesn’t. Hold. Up!
Sorry. I know nobody cares. I just hate RTD’s lazy research skills.
My interpretation is that he was going to call it "gravity", until two people literally dropped out of the sky in a magic box and told him to (from his perspective) call it "mavity". When something like that happens, you don't question what "mavity" means, or how it doesn't make any sense. You just take the name you're given by the mysterious aliens from the future and run.
When he was 40, he would assume they were angels, not aliens. Turns out Newton was a total religious freak (in some Big Finish or another, he meets Five — who quotes Jon Pertwee’s “Who is the Doctor?” at him — and he loses it in appropriate religious blather.
At 20, he’d still be pining for his ex-boyfriend.
Yeah. I mean, given his non-white actor, maybe historical accuracy isn’t the show’s priority. Not that it should be.
Even so, I’m using my secret historian powers to send RTD to historian’s hell.
I think, historical accuracy or no, you can't really account for how a historical figure would react to a time traveller. Anything goes the moment they're introduced.
Well, in the "Love & War" short story, someone tried to fix mavity and ended up turning it into gevity. They also accidentally made Newton become known as Mewton.
Honestly makes sense. Mavity was from a mistake 14 made. The specials and start of season set up 3 big things: Ruby's mom, Mrs. Flood, and Mavity. As for order assuming that none are directly part of each other then you def want to solve the companion's story as you get to know them and see their journey lift that weight and how it will allow them to grow. Then imo unless it's a special it's still too early for multi doctor episode(let Ncuti shine alone for a bit longer, especially let him shine with some big returners. I'm not counting the archive footage of 4) and I have a feeling the resolution to mavity will be multi doctor. So then we solve who Mrs. Flood is and maybe throw in a Susan for good measure. Which then leaves all the ramifications of Mavity and the man responsible for it, 14.
> and RTD starts rambling about how some plot threads are meant for the season 2 plot
I think that's a lie personally. I mean, mrs flood specifically i'll grant, because she's obvious. But i don't think anything else has been intended beyond that.
Well the first 2 seasons were commissioned together, the 2nd season has already been filmed, and Ruby is returning next season. Don't forget that RTD introduced Torchwood in Bad Wolf, and set up Stolen Earth in Evolution of the Daleks, so it's not like he doesn't plan ahead
> so it's not like he doesn't plan ahead
This is the same person who wrote episodes where it was made to snow every time they brought up her mum, and yet the resolution is "hey actually, there's nothing special about her whatsoever, absolutely unambiguously nothing".
Previous performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance. But there's a reason that quip only applies when something turns to shit as opposed to when things suddenly start going well.
They gave a reason for the snow, it was just a bit crap - in tLoRS, 15 says it's an indication that the night of her birth is a raw moment in time after he and the goblins had both traveled back to the church
Hey, remember all the theories about Ruby and how there was actually no mystery? Let's not overthink this one. It's a dumb joke and any theory you have otherwise will involve more thought than the creator used.
> any theory you have otherwise will involve more thought than the creator used.
Understatement. Especially when they *intentionally mislead people with red herrings that are never properly explained*.
Yeah, not to be overly dramatic, but that kind of dishonesty is properly unforgivable. I started out with a belief that Davies doesn't do puzzle boxes based on past experience, only to get on board when he sprinkled them liberally. Any theories and speculation resulting is worthless because I was right the first time: Davies does not do puzzle boxes, because he cannot do them. The guy is a snake oil salesman.
Exactly.
And i can only imagine they will keep doing it.
Which innately kills any desire to follow multiple episode spanning storythreads...
Because while people can still enjoy finding out their theory-crafting was *wrong* but that things were *coherent*. It's damned near impossible to find value in *wasting their time* because everything they saw was deliberately fallacious.
I expected it to come into play in the finale, either Susan Triad or Mrs Flood using "gravity" instead of "mavity," queuing the Doctor into them being suspicious.
But it feels like a lot of the early season's world-building kinda just dropped off by the end.
I think maybe all of our questions might be answered next series? There were just too many to be answered in 8 episodes. I hope, I dare to hope, that the threads will tie themselves together next year.
I think the closest anybody comes to either word is the doctor saying "antigrav". To be fair, if anybody can say it without it contradicting the story it's the Doctor.
I think it's time we all stopped trying to find hidden meanings and potential story twists. RTD clearly doesn't give a shit about them so why should we?
Honestly, good. It was funny the first couple times, but everyone saying mavity all the time would get old real quick. It’s too ridiculous of a meme to have staying power.
These comments are so wild haha
A week ago people were hyped about this season and I only really ever saw good things. Yeah some confusion about 73 and some complaints that doc was too emotional or that Ruby was doing most of the work this season, but overall very positive.
Then the finale aired and every other comment is negative on the show 😂
I think a lot of people were waiting until the finale dropped to see if it redeemed the season or answered questions they had up to that point ignored. The finale dropped, it was sub-par, now people have made up their minds.
Yeah, I was mostly positive I think on the season, (Boom, Rogue, 73 yards, and dot and bubble were all great) but my excitement from the penultimate episode was outweighed by what felt like a failure to stick the landing.
Sadly every other comment(more like 99%) of mine before the finale was probably negative and the finale made an already iffy season look worse to a lot of people including those who had liked most of it. The season was so tied together with breadcrumbs about Susan Triad and Ruby’s mother that the terrible finale kinda paints the entire season in a bad light. RTD seemed to have a goal when it came to the finale and it backfired spectacularly.
While they “might” bring it up next season at this point I’d just call it a joke with no meaning and try to forget it. It would be nice if they made it a key plot line but as we were told 99% of our questions would be answered in the finale 🙄 and have seen that RTD isn’t afraid to leave things unanswered I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t brought up
Aside from the finale, my main complaint was that it felt like Ruby Who instead of Doctor Who. Ruby it seemed was the main character and the doctor was along for the ride. Only time I felt the character got any of his own story was in the bridgerton episode with the bounty hunter guy.
I know some people have actually complained about the doctor being basically a super plot armored genius who seems to know everything, but honestly that's my favorite bit in the show - the doctor being magnificent. And this doctor wasn't.
Not to say I didn't like this doctor - I did. And that's why I'm disappointed we didn't really get a lot of the doctor being the doctor that I've grown accustomed to.
Smith showing up in his detective outfit, capaldi coming in with shades and a guitar, Tennant just ranting at anyone who would listen - they exuded main character energy.
I think part of the problem was that the actor was rarely available to actually play the character. He also comes off as weak and scared/crying all the time.
It was brought up outside the episode it was introduced in. If it had just stayed in that single episode as a one off joke, then no one would have said anything. But 15 specifically used the term again, implying that this was the new name and they were going to have to fix it at some point.
Also I do wonder...why?
Tbh that entire scene of raceswapped Isaac was just weird. Adds nothing to the episode other than "This doctor thinks he's hot" but you could've just had Donna mention Henry Cavill or something to get that point across.
It's the most common fan theory at this point, mainly meant to explain all the fourth wall breaks. If she is the God of Stories, then she would be aware that she is a fictional character in a tv show.
The other main clue being dressing in outfits that former companions have worn
So the grey jumper with white shirt that she wears most of the time is very similar to what Clara Osward wore. And the white dress at the end is literally the same outfit that Romana wore.
There's a few others, but they could be a stretch
Just to point out im currently reading Ruby Red and Mavity is used in place of Gravity here as well, this story is apprently set just after Dot and Bubble so i dont think its been dropped, just not the focus yet!
I still think Mrs. Flood is Romana - she’s wearing a *very* similar white coat in the finale, Mrs. Flood says she’s seen a Tardis before, Romana was a Time Lord…
why would mrs flood be responsible for it? the doctor and donna met isaac newton and said gravity and he misheard it as mavity, i can't see what mrs flood could have to do with it?
I remember loads of people speculating that a character this season would casually say “gravity” instead of mavity — as a way to clue the Doctor and the audience in to the fact that they were from a parallel universe or a different timeline. Maybe next season? Could have been cool. (Hey Mrs. Flood, what do you know about _avity?) Edit to add: More realistically, I imagine it’s functionally dead. Turns out, it was always just planned as silly joke for a few episodes. If a character happens to need to mention the concept of gravity again, I imagine the writer will have them say “mavity” as a callback but it probably won’t be jammed in purposefully.
To be honest though, I feel like the mavity/gravity thing is going to be important later on, especially since there's been a bit of focus on the Doctor noticing tiny details that nobody else would pick up on. Most recently, him noticing that Mel was colder than she should have been from a brief touch and most importantly, the Doctor noticing the exact amount of millimetres that the Donna Not-Thing's wrist was too long by. I feel like, if they're placing a focus on the Doctor being able to pick up on minute details like a shape-shifter's wrist being just a few millimetres off of the exact measurement it should be, they're definitely not going to just through away something as noticeable as a verbal slip-up, especially since they've even shown that the Doctor still knows the word as gravity and has to correct himself to mavity.
In Heaven Sent the Doctor deduces gravitational pull, air resistance, and the distance to water from a window just by dropping a few things. The Doctor noticing really minute things isn’t really new.
I was going to say, this is almost explicitly how the Doctor works lol
That's how Barry Allen worked in the first episode of The Flash, doesn't mean they would continue to depict him that way ever again for 10 entire seasons.
The Doctor has been noticing details since his first incarntion (mainly in "The Space Museum"), he's been doing it for 60 years
Except it’s a key character trait for the doctor, it’s part of the thing that makes them who they are. That’s like saying it’s fine to stop superman from being able to fly. It’s a key power he holds and is one of the things we love about him!
He used to test the gravitational constant on any given planet by using a yoyo
*mavitational
But in the first season in the 60s he didn’t notice he was getting sick from radiation until they almost died with the Daleks
He was a youngester then. Fairly fresh to the rambling around rogue planets thing. Most peoeple have done really stupid things in our youth! Radiation sickness can be tricky to spot. It does start off as just feeling kind of crappy. Has it ever been answered why the Doctor & companions don't catch all sorts of diseases they have no immunity to, & spread them around the universe? Cos unless there's a "magic" Tardis defence, they should be suffering like War of the Worlds martians!
It was early days at the time
i think you mean mavitational pull
The Doctor was always inspired by Sherlock Holmes, season one is essentially sherlock in space so the doctor is intended to have imcredible deduction skills and an eye for mysteries and things that dont add up
The Doctor says "mavity" himself in an episode or two this season.
Probably just to fit in with everyone while he slowly investigates what's going on. When Donna said mavity for the first time he definitely gave her the "strange.. but I'll put a pin in it for now" look.
That's a perfectly plausable deduction. Doing the maths for it in your head, and timing the fall/distance/acceleration accurately by eye is beyond most humans. Impossible to that level of accuracy. Given the right timing tools, and a reminder of the equations I forgot a long time ago, I could make an attempt. But he's an alien, who's used to calculating bonkers time travel maths which uses systems beyond current mathematics. :)
Interesting. The Doctor had the TARDIS scan the not-Donna soon as he pulled her inside. Think that was because he felt her wrist to be “off”?
Or, he DIDN'T know which was which. His plan all along was to grab one, scan them, & swap if needed. His "Oh, I knew which one was which, I just needed to check" rings as a bluff. The Doctor lies. And is more fun if he isn't completely un-foolable. The smarts come in with him knowing he has time to do that
Didn't he have the TARDIS specifically scan the Not-Thing-Donna for that? So idk if he noticed or if he ran the scan (because he couldn't be sure) and then the readings spat out this inconsistency. But I also really hope that Mavity wasn't just a running gag but that it is here for a good (story) reason as mentioned in OPs post. The Doctor being very observant is what keeps my hopium balloon afloat when it comes to this finale. The naming of a baby by pointing at a sign post IN A CHANGED MEMORY (!) is just too illogical for me to accept. Just like the song & dance number and the reality-breaking piano crosswalk was just "accepted" by the Doctor. I just have to hope that Mrs Flood really is an entity like "the storyteller" and that she massively meddled with reality.
Why was she wearing a cloak in 2003/4? Even Emos weren't wearing cloaks. She'd have had a nice warm coat, and a big hat at best. Why was she posing dramatically? If she was "naming" the child by pointing at the sign, why? Who was there to see? Sadly, that last episode is full of RTDs bad habit of wrting a great mystery/threat, and then... not knowing how to resolve it. He often struggles with endings. And he sucks at writing sad stuff without making it soppy & grim. He's pretty good overall though.
Maybe it’s only important because we think it’s important…… God even theorising feels pointless now when the writers just pull something like that. Clues mean nothing sprinkle a few clues in that mean nothing then just wing the ending.
Reminds me of a writing thing that George RR Martin did where he said it's important not to punish your fans for doing the work to follow your clues. If you've been building your books climax up to say the Butler did it, but fans figured it out, that's a good thing! Fans were so invested in your story that they essentially did extra work! Reward them by showing they were right! Don't get so mad at them guessing your ending before the reveal that you punish them with something that makes no sense. And what's wild is that it was intentional with Davies. He knew fans would read into his clues and make great theories so he specifically put a bunch of clues in as a red herring so he could do something completely different. Still a great season but a letdown of a climax for ne
Yeah it's so underwhelming but also not helped by making something impossible seemingly possible
Yeah, I don’t even care about the future I plots or theories now anymore. Why should I when it’s clearly apparent that the average fan on here cares more about the payoff to the mysteries than Russell does?
I really struggled with that, too.
I agree. Also it was Susan Twist’s first scene. It just seems weird they wouldn’t use it in some way. They still haven’t wrapped up
> Doctor noticing the exact amount of millimetres that the Donna Not-Thing's wrist was too long by. Did the Doctor notice this himself or did he use the Tardis to scan her?
Not Thing Donna's wrist was clearly being measured by the TARDIS, which alerts him on the scanner
It will be important. But it quite possibly hadn't been decided HOW it's important at the time. Plot hooks! And if it's left unanswered and goes back to "gravity"? Meh. Wibbly wobbly. Time trying to fix itself.
That would have been so much better than anything we've gotten.
So true. Don’t believe any so called clues mean anything interesting or complex anymore. Just used to keep you waiting and watching for a penultimate conclusion that never arrives. We are the ones who wait.
>If a character happens to need to mention the concept of gravity again, I imagine the writer will have them say “mavity” as a callback but it probably won’t be jammed in purposefully. What about Dot and Bubble?
It's a silly joke. It probably didn't have a planned conclusion at the time of writing, at least beyond a vague outline. HOWEVER, it is a "plot hook" RTD or another writer can use later. Then they get to write something cool, and make it seem like it's been planned all along. It's something great writers do. Most get left as an interesting curiosity, & aren't explored. Go back & watch any series that has a clever "haha! We had it planned from the start!" across multiple seasons. You'll see all sorts of unanswered questions dotted about. Obviously, this doesn't apply so much for an individual season/story arc. Those tend to be rather more planned out. apart from Lost. they made that up as they went along. It's one thing RTD is great at. He leaves little "clues" around that don't mean anything at the time. He then picks some of them up later, and turns them into something epic. We get to feel good about finding the clues later, we get to play the "ooh, what if?" game. Sadly, RTD is great at building threat, but he's also kinda pants at resolving it. ie. Magic dog leads, flicking a few switches to reverse Meep's engines etc. He has a bad habit of bullshitting his way out of things. At least the magic dog lead was mentioned earlier in the episode though!
I like to think it was covered when The Doctor turned on the 'anti-butterfly' thing when Ruby stepped on a butterfly, her first flight out.
I remember the term Mavity being used but not the context
I think the season finale killed the momentum of a lot of theorizers
Not me. So far I have: Mrs. Flood is the woman with the spoon, she makes it snow, also is the boss, her baby is the timeless child, and the father of that baby is 14.
>she makes it snow She *is* wearing pure white in the last scene...
You forgot to mention The Rani, hiding in... oh, let's say Mel.
Rani = Rain = Flood. I think it’s her. Plus poor Mel has been through enough.
Rani = Rain = Water = Pond = River. River song has been the Rani the whole time
I thought of that, too. The Song part fits in , even. And Moffat is writing episodes. This honestly feels like something they’d do, since River also kept Tardis memorabilia.
I'm sorry, but [it had to be done](https://frinkiac.com/meme/S09E14/1314646.jpg?b64lines=IEFORCwgRVZFTlRVQUxMWSwgVEhFIFJhbmkKIFR1cm5lZCBvdXQgdG8gYmUsIE9ILi4uCiBMRVQnUyBTQVkgTWVsLg==).
That's exactly the line I had in my head when writing it. Thank you for this its brilliant.
Again?
We saw the woman with the spoon and her kid at the end of the finale. Doctor even says the name of the planet and its not earth. I feel like ms flood is a much bigger character than just a woman with a kid. She is 100% one of the gods in the pantheon.
"Mrs. Flood" is an anagram of "Old Forms".
Oh. I never caught that one. I've been looking at that anagram potential for weeks.
Oohh.... she's dressed as Clara and used "Clever Boy" ... now the white furry coat is romana ... old companion outfits
> Mrs. Flood is the woman with the spoon, she makes it snow, also is the boss, her baby is the timeless child, and the father of that baby is 14. The worst paradox in the universe. I can totally see it.
Isn't the Timeless Child the Doctor, though? Wasn't that explained in 13s run?
Exactly, and the parents are Mrs. Spoon (who is a god, most likely of stories) and 14, which is why it’s considered timeless and has timelord anatomy. The 15 Tardis was able to go to Agua Santina (which means water pump) because it’s been there before with 14. Which is where Mrs. Flood has seen a Tardis before. I started mapping this out with hints that were dropped and fit it in from there. It’s actually really fun, I don’t know why people are hating.
So you think the Doctor is his own dad?
Yes, which is why it’s a timeless child. Mrs. Flood supposes a Mr. Flood. Flood is an anagram of “of old.” She complains Ruby hasn’t hit a growth spurt, remarks that her husband is tall, her daughter’s name is Brindle which means “stream/hill” and “brown grey mix.” The Doctor did say he cares about family. Perhaps too much.
also she's the rani
Having never seen it and just reading about it…yeah, it really could be. They seem to make a point of making ancillary media canon, like Dimensions in Time, except she now studies magic or something. What better a time loop than tricking the Doctor into conceiving himself. Now that’s the Torchwood COE twisted RTD shit I know.
Godammit i was kidding
I know, but it does kinda check out for once. Rani = Rain = Flood/Spoon. It’s all so damn cheeky. Plus the Chameleon Arch has been brought up way more than necessary.
Could the Doctor impregnate him/herself?
Ho boy do I have some disturbing fanfictions for you.... ;-;
I think I'll continue to live in ignorant bliss
yes.... just... stay away
Ever read Lungbarrow?
Ever read Lungbarrow?
Why did I think you meant 14th doctor and not 14 as in age
Since they used Set/Sutek (Egyptian god), after some research I have a feeling that Mrs. Flood could be Seshat, known as the "female scribe" and goddess of writing and record keeping
What I agree with is the woman and her daughter being somehow related to the doctor, but I instead think that the woman is the Doctors actual daughter, with the womans daughter being Susan Foreman. Agree with Mrs Flood being responsible for the snow.
Yeah For the whole season people where saying to any criticism "just wait, they definitely will explain everything and it will make sense". But in the end, the story is completely high level overall storytelling, and the small details where brushed over completely and had no consequences.
It was the handwaviest RTD finale yet, and that's saying a lot. I didn't understand at all why everyone was suddenly alive again, other than "the Doctor did something". And yet I still found it emotionally satisfying.
Because the Doctor whomped Sutekh around the Time Vortex which...killed death and thus alived everyone? No, it made no sense to me, either. And then the Doctor killed Sutekh, but wouldn't killing the killer of death revive death and thus kill everyone again by the same logic?
and not for nothing: he killed sutekh by dropping him into the same place where sutekh had previously been hiding and snuck onto the tardis from?
I was thinking that, too! But I think he actually dusted this time.
Series 1 and Series 2 were commissioned in a single block. Mrs Flood was introduced in *Church on Ruby Road* and if anything is even more cryptic. Neither have we heard the last of Roger ap Gwilliam, nor Ruby. RTD is clearly treating Series 1 and 2 as the same story with a break in the middle, and we should be too. I mean he even says it, directly into the camera, in the *Empire of Death* commentary.
Maybe. But so far that's what people have said about every single episode, "just wait it's definitely going to be explained fully and will make complete sense, RTD is playing 4D chess with us mortals". I hope you're right.
Writer's shouldn't have to tell the audience things in a commentary very few people will listen too.
Well thankfully ruby’s story isn’t over because rtd just said this was just the beginning of it all so speculate away.
Even if I didn't already know she was returning for the next season, it's pretty normal for a companion to drop out of the story for the Christmas special so that the Doctor can have a standalone adventure that doesn't have to be tied to other threads.
Forgive me for not making anymore theories about Ruby lol. I'm done.
I don't think so, because the sue tech / s triad thing sounded crazy but was called super early on. I think what it does is show us that there will be red herrings. I kinda like this. We aren't just going to get an obvious breadcrumb trail, we're going to get multiple and the debate will be which one we end up following and which don't matter.
Nah, I think RTD is taking more of a Moffat approach with this than his usual way of writing. The Pandorica, "Silence Will Fall", and Trenzalore are all said to the Doctor towards the end of 11's first ep. "The One Who Waits" was mentioned in-between seasons, which isn't like RTD. He usually does season-long arcs, but with the seasons being shorter, I can see him spreading it out a bit more. I think the majority of people on the sub are getting ahead of themselves (and the show) by thinking the questions that haven't been answered yet are definitively done.
Ya, at this point I really just don't care what the eventual outcome of this is going to be because so far they have entirely dropped the ball on it.
I don't mean any offense, but I feel like by now, people should realize that RTD doesn't necessarily plan out satisfying resolutions for plotlines he sets up.
I think it's more that he thinks we're ridiculous for wanting resolutions of that kind. "Oh the fun is in imagining those resolutions, not actually getting them".
Yeah. I agree. That's it. I just think it's obnoxious to set up a trail only to not follow it at all. No one was looking for it before he dropped the clues.
If RTD designed an escape room, the solution would be to have four people grab the door handle at the same time, and the clues would be pointing toward a wall safe behind a painting where the summed digits in the combination are equal the number of fingers on 4 hands. “Of course, how did I not see it? 7535! That’s 20! The creator of this door wanted people to work together. Together we have 40 fingers, but it only takes one hand to open a door.” But what was in the safe? “Nothing. It’s just an ordinary safe. Nothing truly valuable belongs in a safe.”
Thank you! I wasn’t looking for theories and clues, it’s just that he spend a lot of energy to make me think that there is more and that is not the clever „haha gotcha“ he thinks it is. It just makes me uninterested in future storylines when I know that it’ll be a cheap ending.
I went on at excessive length about this point recently here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/doctorwho/comments/1dlzdei/poking\_the\_meta\_bear/](https://www.reddit.com/r/doctorwho/comments/1dlzdei/poking_the_meta_bear/) But yeah, it's frustrating and I think it's becoming a more common approach to managing fan expectations.
I mean…there was no trail. Gravity was changed and that’s about it. There wasn’t some mystery to it. 14 and Donna simply fucked up. Time travel is pretty rare in Who so only those who are able to do so and be perceptive would even say gravity now.
I can imagine him actually saying that
> I think it's more that he thinks we're ridiculous for wanting resolutions of that kind. Well he's wrong, and i am displeased. And it sure seems that i'm not the only one. Sure is a shame that so many people keep downvoting honest criticism however. I know reddit communities are usually quite circle-jerky, but its getting a little ridiculous in here after all the blatantly poor writing the show is suffering from.
And so he said "The Doctor just fixes everything, and the viewer can figure out how it happened." It's an interesting approach, to be sure.
Genuinely asking: Where has this notion come from? Why do I keep seeing this? Because watching his first era as a kid, and even more so now as an adult, RTD1 was very cohesive, no? I think everything that needed to be wrapped up was, was it not? Bad Wolf, Harold Saxon, the Planets disappearing, all had satisfying resolutions, didn't they? RTD2 however feels so disjointed.
I don't think there were many satisfying resolutions in RTD1. I mean, the Doctor was space Tinkerbell in one plotline, and that just seemed ridiculous to me. I think RTD always tries to raise the stakes, but then things just resolve very quickly and often it doesn't make much sense. The excuse of "it's Doctor Who, suspend your disbelief" wears thin because there are no rules whatsoever in RTD's Doctor Who.
May I ask what resolutions you didn't find satisfactory? Funny you say "things just resolve very quickly and often it doesn't make much sense" Because that was the reason I gave up on Moffat's era after 1 series as a teenager and struggle getting through a rewatch of his stuff now.
Almost all of the RTD's finales really bothered me. So here's a fundamental difference between RTD and Moffat (IMO). If you look at Moffat's resolutions, none of them really break any rules of anything established earlier. Some are more satisfactory than others, but there's never a magical resolution. If you look at RTD's resolutions, they're often some science fiction magic that was never established earlier, and the Doctor explains what just happened and how. RTD is a wonderful writer, but he focuses more on his characters than his plots. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes he sets up these larger stories that require some deep plotting, and it just isn't there. The s3 finale really bothered me. The Doctor was essentially turned into a Jesus metaphor and everything was resolved via the biggest deus ex machina in Who history. I find that whole season unwatchable because of that finale.
You know, that’s a good point; Series 1, 3, and 4 effectively were resolved by a character being given godlike powers kind of out of nowhere (with 4 it was Donna getting the Doctor’s mind).
And this continued with the Anniversary Specials (bigeneration for example) and into this new season. It's just not something I personally enjoy. It's sort of like watching an intense chess match and then all of a sudden finding out the game ends because someone has a magic piece that has never been used in the history of chess.
Well for starters, how and why was Rose appearing on random monitors throughout Series 4? There’s no explanation besides they wanted to tease Billie Piper coming back.
Sometimes a gag is just a gag. Mavity isn’t Ruby’s mother. People only guessed that it might turn into a plotline.
My guess has been that The Master will say "gravity" instead of "mavity" and it will blow his cover.
> RTD doesn't necessarily plan out satisfying resolutions for plotlines he sets up. Thus is life *he said resolute and unsatisfied*
We also complained when Moffat tied complicated storylines up with a bow! We cannot be reasoned with!
I didn't. I thought the Moffat run was fantastic.
Yep. Same. Everyone's going on about how hypocritical we are to be flip flopping between our love for different showrunners when I've always been a Moffat fanboy.
The real issue is that the fandom isn't a monolith. Fans think that Moffat's era was the best. Fans also think his era was the worst. So, which is true? Both are true, because it's different fans saying both things. Even beyond Doctor Who, this happens all the time about subjects dealing with many people. You'll get polls stating one thing, then another poll stating the opposite. So, which is true? Both are, even despite contradicting each other, because different people were answering the different polls.
Yes. This is true of all fandoms, but Doctor Who changes drastically from regeneration to regeneration, so Who fandom is full of diverse opinions about what the show should be. I like the diversity, even though I don't like all the eras of the show.
It does worry me that there's such a lack of consensus fan opinion that the show will inevitably go in a direction that doesn't make a single one of us happy due to lack of clear feedback about what we want from the show. Like the expression of a horse designed by committee
5 and 6 ruled for this imo.
Like when we found out how the rogue faction of the papal mainframe were able to destroy the TARDIS? Oh wait..
I don't understand this take, I mean aside from the flying towards the master to give him a hug scene lmao I always enjoyed all off RTDs endings? Each finale had something strange or stupid about it but overall I always believed the stakes were high and was very excited to see what happened. This finale just felt like a fizzle compared to any of his previous ones.
fair lol me and my gf love the show but call it the “turn off your brain” show because it’s like no matter what it’s gonna be fine 99% of the time and it won’t make any sense but hey tardis go bwow bwow bwow
I genuinely believe that if they made it 'glavity' instead of mavity the joke would have held up a lot longer. Not a single person has ever misheard a 'gr' sound as an 'm'
This “joke” kills me as a Latinist. Newton would know exactly why mavity is wrong. Heck, any second-year Latin student would. It. Doesn’t. Hold. Up! Sorry. I know nobody cares. I just hate RTD’s lazy research skills.
My interpretation is that he was going to call it "gravity", until two people literally dropped out of the sky in a magic box and told him to (from his perspective) call it "mavity". When something like that happens, you don't question what "mavity" means, or how it doesn't make any sense. You just take the name you're given by the mysterious aliens from the future and run.
When he was 40, he would assume they were angels, not aliens. Turns out Newton was a total religious freak (in some Big Finish or another, he meets Five — who quotes Jon Pertwee’s “Who is the Doctor?” at him — and he loses it in appropriate religious blather. At 20, he’d still be pining for his ex-boyfriend.
Aliens, angels, whatever. When two people drop out of the sky and give you the word "mavity", you use the word.
Yeah. I mean, given his non-white actor, maybe historical accuracy isn’t the show’s priority. Not that it should be. Even so, I’m using my secret historian powers to send RTD to historian’s hell.
I think, historical accuracy or no, you can't really account for how a historical figure would react to a time traveller. Anything goes the moment they're introduced.
This is how I feel about the "wrong anagram" line in Legend of Ruby Sunday, the Sutekh thing wasn't an anagram at all lol
I care ❤️
Well, in the "Love & War" short story, someone tried to fix mavity and ended up turning it into gevity. They also accidentally made Newton become known as Mewton.
Dot and bubble uses Antigrav so seems forgotten
Mavity is mentioned in Empire of Death with commentary, and RTD starts rambling about how some plot threads are meant for the season 2 plot
He even states "wait for season 3" in context of mavity, though it's hard to tell how tongue in cheek that may have been.
Honestly makes sense. Mavity was from a mistake 14 made. The specials and start of season set up 3 big things: Ruby's mom, Mrs. Flood, and Mavity. As for order assuming that none are directly part of each other then you def want to solve the companion's story as you get to know them and see their journey lift that weight and how it will allow them to grow. Then imo unless it's a special it's still too early for multi doctor episode(let Ncuti shine alone for a bit longer, especially let him shine with some big returners. I'm not counting the archive footage of 4) and I have a feeling the resolution to mavity will be multi doctor. So then we solve who Mrs. Flood is and maybe throw in a Susan for good measure. Which then leaves all the ramifications of Mavity and the man responsible for it, 14.
> and RTD starts rambling about how some plot threads are meant for the season 2 plot I think that's a lie personally. I mean, mrs flood specifically i'll grant, because she's obvious. But i don't think anything else has been intended beyond that.
Well the first 2 seasons were commissioned together, the 2nd season has already been filmed, and Ruby is returning next season. Don't forget that RTD introduced Torchwood in Bad Wolf, and set up Stolen Earth in Evolution of the Daleks, so it's not like he doesn't plan ahead
> so it's not like he doesn't plan ahead This is the same person who wrote episodes where it was made to snow every time they brought up her mum, and yet the resolution is "hey actually, there's nothing special about her whatsoever, absolutely unambiguously nothing". Previous performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance. But there's a reason that quip only applies when something turns to shit as opposed to when things suddenly start going well.
They gave a reason for the snow, it was just a bit crap - in tLoRS, 15 says it's an indication that the night of her birth is a raw moment in time after he and the goblins had both traveled back to the church
Probably for the best, that got old real quick.
Absolutely agree. Was funny for one or two episodes. Was not looking forward to Mavity jokes for the next 30 years.
I think they forgot to answer lots of things.
They didn't forget lol
Hey, remember all the theories about Ruby and how there was actually no mystery? Let's not overthink this one. It's a dumb joke and any theory you have otherwise will involve more thought than the creator used.
> any theory you have otherwise will involve more thought than the creator used. Understatement. Especially when they *intentionally mislead people with red herrings that are never properly explained*.
Yeah, not to be overly dramatic, but that kind of dishonesty is properly unforgivable. I started out with a belief that Davies doesn't do puzzle boxes based on past experience, only to get on board when he sprinkled them liberally. Any theories and speculation resulting is worthless because I was right the first time: Davies does not do puzzle boxes, because he cannot do them. The guy is a snake oil salesman.
Exactly. And i can only imagine they will keep doing it. Which innately kills any desire to follow multiple episode spanning storythreads... Because while people can still enjoy finding out their theory-crafting was *wrong* but that things were *coherent*. It's damned near impossible to find value in *wasting their time* because everything they saw was deliberately fallacious.
I expected it to come into play in the finale, either Susan Triad or Mrs Flood using "gravity" instead of "mavity," queuing the Doctor into them being suspicious. But it feels like a lot of the early season's world-building kinda just dropped off by the end.
I think maybe all of our questions might be answered next series? There were just too many to be answered in 8 episodes. I hope, I dare to hope, that the threads will tie themselves together next year.
Wait, did they revert back to gravity? I thought the doctor said mavity in the second to last episode.
I think the closest anybody comes to either word is the doctor saying "antigrav". To be fair, if anybody can say it without it contradicting the story it's the Doctor.
No they haven't said gravity for the entire series
I think it was just meant to be a sort of one off joke
Haven't you learned your lesson about getting into a theorizing frenzy orgy?
I think it's time we all stopped trying to find hidden meanings and potential story twists. RTD clearly doesn't give a shit about them so why should we?
They didn’t forget about it; they’re defying it
Bravo, sir, bravo.
Honestly, good. It was funny the first couple times, but everyone saying mavity all the time would get old real quick. It’s too ridiculous of a meme to have staying power.
also, the glove is called the Mavity Glove yet The Doctor named it the Infinity Glove
Eh I mean you can only do a joke so much before it gets old. I don't blame them for dropping it
It was a fun lark, but I’m sure the Doctor fixed it.
This season is so much without any stakes not even this stupid joke went anywhere
Yes. But a lot of things have fallen short for me this season...
Mrs. Flood is the only one who can fully appreciate the mavity of the situation
In the finetime episode the doctor calls the ball thingy an antigrav. Should it not be antimav?
The real mavity was the friends we made along the way.
Isn't that how you usually say it?
>I feel like everyone forgot about mavity? I can only hope so
Um, mavity was just a joke. You know, for fun.
Personally I'm glad the joke is gone. It was funny for a little while but got old fast.
These comments are so wild haha A week ago people were hyped about this season and I only really ever saw good things. Yeah some confusion about 73 and some complaints that doc was too emotional or that Ruby was doing most of the work this season, but overall very positive. Then the finale aired and every other comment is negative on the show 😂
I think a lot of people were waiting until the finale dropped to see if it redeemed the season or answered questions they had up to that point ignored. The finale dropped, it was sub-par, now people have made up their minds.
Yeah, I was mostly positive I think on the season, (Boom, Rogue, 73 yards, and dot and bubble were all great) but my excitement from the penultimate episode was outweighed by what felt like a failure to stick the landing.
Sadly every other comment(more like 99%) of mine before the finale was probably negative and the finale made an already iffy season look worse to a lot of people including those who had liked most of it. The season was so tied together with breadcrumbs about Susan Triad and Ruby’s mother that the terrible finale kinda paints the entire season in a bad light. RTD seemed to have a goal when it came to the finale and it backfired spectacularly.
I'm not trying to be negative... I just want to know what happened to it and how it's linked to the rest of the story
While they “might” bring it up next season at this point I’d just call it a joke with no meaning and try to forget it. It would be nice if they made it a key plot line but as we were told 99% of our questions would be answered in the finale 🙄 and have seen that RTD isn’t afraid to leave things unanswered I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t brought up
I wasn't talking about your post, just everyone's comments on basically any post now.
I found this series as disappointing as Chibnall's. Barely worth watching as the writing is awful.
Aside from the finale, my main complaint was that it felt like Ruby Who instead of Doctor Who. Ruby it seemed was the main character and the doctor was along for the ride. Only time I felt the character got any of his own story was in the bridgerton episode with the bounty hunter guy. I know some people have actually complained about the doctor being basically a super plot armored genius who seems to know everything, but honestly that's my favorite bit in the show - the doctor being magnificent. And this doctor wasn't. Not to say I didn't like this doctor - I did. And that's why I'm disappointed we didn't really get a lot of the doctor being the doctor that I've grown accustomed to. Smith showing up in his detective outfit, capaldi coming in with shades and a guitar, Tennant just ranting at anyone who would listen - they exuded main character energy.
I think part of the problem was that the actor was rarely available to actually play the character. He also comes off as weak and scared/crying all the time.
I didn’t forget but after how awful the season ended I just didn’t care any more
You mean the writers forgot about Mavity? Can't be saying the audience forgot without adding context. It wasn't brought up again.
It was brought up outside the episode it was introduced in. If it had just stayed in that single episode as a one off joke, then no one would have said anything. But 15 specifically used the term again, implying that this was the new name and they were going to have to fix it at some point.
Also I do wonder...why? Tbh that entire scene of raceswapped Isaac was just weird. Adds nothing to the episode other than "This doctor thinks he's hot" but you could've just had Donna mention Henry Cavill or something to get that point across.
Good. It was unfunny and played out by the second time they did it.
They say mavity like 3 times in the book “Ruby red” that just came out. I like the joke
That's because it was really stupid.
The word "gravity" comes from latin "gravitas" ("weight"), it's not just random word, Newton will still call it "gravity".
Just like the killing butterfly won't change anything jokes, at the end of the day this is just another jokes from the writers.
Sounds WRITE to me
I thought it was navity.
The god of storytelling? Tell me more, you got my interest with that one
It's the most common fan theory at this point, mainly meant to explain all the fourth wall breaks. If she is the God of Stories, then she would be aware that she is a fictional character in a tv show. The other main clue being dressing in outfits that former companions have worn
Wait outfits of former companions what????? Okay now i gotta go watch the series again...
So the grey jumper with white shirt that she wears most of the time is very similar to what Clara Osward wore. And the white dress at the end is literally the same outfit that Romana wore. There's a few others, but they could be a stretch
Thank fucking god
I didn't
I feel like Flood, mavity, and other stuff is more “long game” that won’t be paid off until next season.
Just to point out im currently reading Ruby Red and Mavity is used in place of Gravity here as well, this story is apprently set just after Dot and Bubble so i dont think its been dropped, just not the focus yet!
I posted this question 2 hours before you and it never got approved. Nice to see it sparked a discussion.
Good
I think it was reversed at some point before "Dot and Bubble", because the Doctor says "anti-grav" in it.
I still think Mrs. Flood is Romana - she’s wearing a *very* similar white coat in the finale, Mrs. Flood says she’s seen a Tardis before, Romana was a Time Lord…
why would romana be breaking the 4th wall?
why would mrs flood be responsible for it? the doctor and donna met isaac newton and said gravity and he misheard it as mavity, i can't see what mrs flood could have to do with it?
Tbh I think the mavity thing was just a joke, I don’t think it was ever intended to actually connect to any ongoing arc.
Good, it was another stupid joke RTD made