Obviously, if he's wearing the like red/burgundy velvety outfit, then it's State of Decay and if it's the pirate outfit it's Black Orchid. From there, I go to:

Is he wearing his badge? If not, it's the latter part of Earthshock.

Is his belt blue? If so, it's Full Circle.

After that I stare desperately at the background to try and work out which Generic Spaceship Interior he's in this time. With enough time and force of will, I will one day be able to use his haircut as a key deciding factor for especially tough cases because I swear it changes every other serial. Either that or I'll just have every frame that he's in memorised.

Adric!!!!! (and some crewmates)

plus swim trunks lol

when adric first meets him he meets four, four who is with romana no less. four is a self-assured, commanding figure who adric is more easily able to respect. they develop this mentor/mentee relationship, but because he’s travelling around with romana and the doctor (who are intellectual equals a lot older than he is) it starts to feel a lot more like they’re becoming parental figures. of course, romana leaves, and then the doctor soon regenerates.

by the time the doctor regenerates, they are closer than they have ever been. but now the doctor (five) is much closer in age to him. so, even though on a personal level they are really more like father and son than they’ve ever been, the visual age difference and insecurities harboured by five cause a rift between the two. five can’t help himself for treating adric as his child, even though in adric’s mind his new, less confident form should be on more equal footing to him.

adric respects four much more than he respects five, and that makes him easier to get along with, but five is the doctor that he really *loves*, the doctor that truly is his dad rather than just a fatherly figure. so, his het up attitude and yearning for attention isn’t just because he thinks they’re more equal this way, but also because he really does love the doctor now and doesn’t know how to fathom that properly. the same goes for five, who sees adric as his son but finds this really hard to process amidst all the sudden change and catastrophe.

five, with his worrying streak and kind nature, was born out of his love for adric and blossoming care for nyssa, two alien-kids he felt responsibility for on a more personal, nurturing level, hence not being as out there and commanding. yet, this also manifested in the body he woke up in — gentler, younger, harder to respect. in part a response to his, yes, growing fatherly responsibilities, but also somewhat of a punishment from the universe, a galactic humbling, a reminder that he is not god. he is just a man.

and that man, despite his attempts to be patient, loses the emotional regulation required to keep adric under his thumb. after all, they know each other better, he’s less of a mentor and more of a father. and what do teenagers love to do? defy their parents, of course, teenage rebellion! that being said, they also want to impress them, to make them proud.

unfortunately, this all culminates in impudence when adric wants not just reassurance and love, from a doctor who has forgotten how to parent despite now being made for it, but also approval and recognition. then… goodbye adric

First thing to say: banger of a serial. Easily one of my favourite Classic stories, possibly one of my favourite Doctor Who stories full stop. It went darker than I expected it to, but I love that so it was a pleasant surprise.

Second thing to say: awwwhhhh, no more Five :[ I loved Five so much, he's so bitchy and tormentable and emotionally repressed. So I am very sad to see him go, but I'm excited to see Six (those like 3 or 4 lines he got at the end there were so fucking catty, I already like him a lot, despite the somewhat negative things I've heard about him and the writing of his episodes).

Third thing to say: HOLY FUCKING OWWWW THE LAST THING HE EVER FUCKING SAYS IS 'ADRIC'. ISTG THOSE CLASSIC WHO WRITERS WERE TARGETING ME SPECIFICALLY WHEN THEY DID THAT EVEN THOUGH I WASN'T BORN YET. AUGHHHHHHHHHH I'M GOING TO CRASH A FUCKING SPACESHIP INTO A PLANET AND WIPE OUT THE FUCKING DINOSAURS OVER THIS.

Also speaking of crashing spaceships the fucking parallels I was seeing when the Doctor was taking that spaceship back to Androzani Minor holy shit.

Fourth thing to say: the thing with seeing all the companions was so good and emotional because ADRIC MY BOYYYYY but it's also fucking hilarious that that scene implies that it wasn't the encouragement of all his friends that the Doctor needed to survive, it was pure bitchy spite from the Master telling him to die. Incredibly funny and also a 10/10 interpretation of Five's character.

do u think as that boy turned the corner and disappeared into the labyrinth of the ship he reached for a scarf he was no longer wearing and started to pull at loose thread and cast out a trail and walk backwards into the present til he forgot he was walking backwards