Blank Space (Doctor Who vid)
| Vid | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Blank Space |
| Creator: | such_heights, purplefringe |
| Date: | Nov 29, 2014 |
| Format: | Digital |
| Length: | 3:52 min |
| Music: | "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift |
| Genre: | Slash, Het |
| Fandom: | Doctor Who |
| Footage: | Seasons 7 - 26 (Classic Who), 1996 TV Movie, Series 3 - 8 (Modern Who) |
| URL: | Tumblr such_heights' Dreamwidth purplefringe's Livejournal AO3 Sendvid YouTube |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Blank Space is a Doctor Who vid by such_heights and purplefringe, focused on the Doctor/Master relationship and its various incarnations, featuring Doctors and Masters from Classic and Modern Who, up to Missy (who was the most current iteration of The Master at the time the vid was created). It is often praised for showing the parallels and connections between the different Masters
The vid was also part of the "Vidder's Choice" program at VidUKon 2015, and was part of a panel on Doctor Who vidding at Vividcon 2015.
Summary
Summary on AO3 and such_heights' Dreamwidth:
Blank Spaceby purplefringe and such_heights
notes: Spoilers for whole canon. Part of the 1989 Vid Album. Also on tumblr.
fandom: Doctor Who (all)
music: Blank Space - Taylor Swift
content notes: canon-typical creepy/violent relationship dynamic
summary: So it's gonna be forever or and it's gonna go down in flames
download: 64MB zipped .mp4
Vidder's Notes
These are the notes provided by purplefringe on their Livejournal:
This began with a text message. The morning after Dark Water aired and the whole world knew Missy's identity, I was listening to Taylor Swift's new album on the bus and sent a text to[personal profile] such_heights: "How long till someone makes a multi-era Doctor/Master vid to Blank Space?"Cut to several hours later, I'm home again and we're dancing to the song on repeat in the kitchen, giggling maniacally, and storyboarding out loud. Yeah.
There followed a couple of weeks of, erm, "acquiring" LITERALLY EVERY EPISODE THE MASTER HAS EVER BEEN IN EVER and clipping All The Things. Clipping is boring, but naming clips is really fun. Here, have some examples which I feel sum up this whole vid quite nicely:
"But WHY won't you rule the universe with me Doctor?!?!"
"I made you a shiny thing!"
"Surprise! It's me!"
"Take my haaaaaaaaaand!!!11!1!"
"Dun dun DUNNNNNN dramatic intercutting of ANGST"
"Dies. (spoiler: does not die)"
"Various nefarious doings"
"Cat Master Serious Flirting"
"Master is the prima-est of all the donnas"
"SAY MY NAME"
"THE FUCK ARE YOUUUUUU Pt 1"
"THE FUCK ARE YOUUUUU Pt2"
"Bondage and Scenery Chewing"
(Er, yeah. Sometimes it was hard to find the actual moment we wanted. "Various nefarious doings" does not exactly narrow things down. But it was really fun looking. And other times it was really easy. "SAY MY NAME" :-D)
Then we MADE A VID, and guys guys guys let me tell you how much FUN it is making a vid with [personal profile] such_heights. It's ALL OF THE FUN. We had a full timeline so quickly because she is talented and amazing and I want her to make *all* my vids with me, even the ones that I make in secret because they are for her. Ok, maybe not those. But all the others. If I was making this on my own, I'd be about 30 painful seconds into my timeline by now. Anyway her lovely fiancée [personal profile] happydork and our other Awesome Flatmate K were very tolerant of us spending hours on the sofa playing tiny fragments of the song over and over, whilst shrieking about how EPIC and BEAUTIFUL the Doctor and the Master's love is. And about how Missy is the natural continuation of the Master's character development so far. (Seriously - everything about her feels perfectly right. She has Simm!Master's madness and Jacobie!Master's ruthlessness and Roberts!Master's melodramatic tendencies and Delgado!Master's suave humour and Ainley!Master's flamboyance. And, of course, she has characteristics all of her own. I WILL FIGHT anyone who is grumpy that she only kissed the Doctor once she is a woman because (a) theirs is the queerest relationship ever, and (b) making this vid has made me see just how flirty their relationship has always been. Simm!Master took it up a notch, but it didn't come out of nowhere.)
Seriously though, it's so epic. And there's so much bondage. And so much scenery chewing. And so much needless clutching. It's amazing. I had no idea I had all these feels.
Gallery
Screen capture from Blank Space with Delgado!Master holding a weapon and leaning on a counter, at this point the song lyrics said "Nice to meet you"
Screen capture of Simm!Master smling at his wife Lucy, overlaid with the lyrics "New money"
Screen capture of Missy curtsying to the Twelfth Doctor, with the lyrics "I'm your queen"
Screen capture of Missy dancing around a garden, with the lyrics "I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream"
Reactions and Reviews
2014
Ah, this is brilliant, and the timing is fantastic. It's so great to see all the Masters used like this, and the little moments you've used to highlight the continuity between them (and the Doctors' shared reactions of distaste/horror/dismay). Wonderful![1]
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. Ten saying "wife" on the "rumours fly" line! SWORDFIGHT MONTAGE. The entire Missy section, but especially "perfect storm". POSING MONTAGE! Nine's perfectly timed eyeroll! :DDDD[1]
AMAZING. Brilliant job of combining all that footage to create more of a coherent narrative than all those different show runners across 45 years ever intended! Loved all the parallels you found. And Missy's section was just perfect, could have been made for her - I think 'nightmare dressed like a day dream' was my favourite bit but it's all fabulous.[1]
a more recent favourite, to my mind, the best Doctor/Master vid to date, encompassing both Old and New Who.[2]
2015
Not sure I can accurately explain how much I love this.[3]
Basically, when I am having a day in which I need something to make everything better, I hit this.[4]
This kind of stuff is why I love fandom.[5]
BEST THING INTERNET HAS MADE, EVERYONE GO HOME.[6]
2016
Well, this is the best Doctor/Master fanvid I’ve ever seen. And I’m pretty sure the Master would fucking love Taylor Swift, so that makes it perfect.[7]
2017
Not really a Taylor Swift fan, but the song really works in this amazing video all about the complicated relationship between The Master/Mistress and The Doctor.[8]
I thought the Doctor Who fandom might not be the greatest thing ever until I saw this.[9]
2019
Okay, I was already on board, but Missy made this perfection.[10]
I know it's not the primary interpretation of "soulmates" these days, but I actually love the idea that it means two souls who keep encountering each other throughout their reincarnations. And who better to represent that than the Doctor and the Master? Not the healthiest example, maybe, but it's kind of romantic in a twisted way. This vid was an instant classic when it was posted -- the brilliant use of footage from the older Who series! The perfect lyric matching! The effortless transition into modern Who! Not an exaggeration to say it replaced the original Blank Space music video in my mind. There are a whole bunch of amazingly timed movements to look out for but every time I play this, I'm waiting on the edge of my seat for Thirteen's look of slowly dawning horror as he backs away from Missy, RIGHT as Taylor croons, "Oh, no..." It gets me EVERY TIME.[11]
2022
There are two amazing Doctor Who vids to Taylor Swift's Blank Space, one about the Doctor and their companions (by bessyboo and moonling), and one about the Doctor and the Master (by purplefringe and such_heights). Both are really amazing vids with interesting perspectives on the Doctor and his relationships. (Wow, the Doctor can sure be a creep to the companions, and the Master can sure be a creep to the Doctor! I mean, I didn't need either of these vids to tell me that, but the song really does heighten that awareness.) I couldn't decide which one to rec, so I decided, why not both?[12]
2023
For 1973, the year of Roger Delgado's last appearance in DW, I offer up this excellent tribute to all the Masters through Missy and all the Doctors from Four to Twelve.[13]
References
- ^ a b c "Comments on the Dreamwidth announcement post". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "December Talking Meme: Top Ten Favourite Vids". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "Feb 25, 2015 Tumblr post by smooth-mccrimmonal". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "July 14, 2015 Tumblr by minim-calibre". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "Feb 25, 2015 Tumblr post by ourownstrings". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "2015 Tumblr post by use-theforce-em". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "2016 Tumblr post by resting-meme-face". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "Apirl 6, 2017 Tumblr post by bargaingingerkitty". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "2017 Tumblr post by captainspaceprincess". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "June 25, 2019 Tumblr post by perishedoffits". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "Rec at fancake, Nov 27, 2019". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "Rec at fancake, June 13, 2022". Archived from the original on 2024-09-29.
- ^ "Rec by valoise at tardis_library". Archived from the original on 2024-11-12.