On my viewing of Happiness Patrol, I noticed there is a really pointless scene with a really slow go cart. Ace and the Doctor make an absurdly slow getaway with it. Very low budget.
Back to New Who. This whole thing with you know who is a really blatant attempt to get viewers back. It is shameless.
Krathoon on
0
Options
Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
It is a break glass in case of emergency sort of situation, same as RTD coming back.
Gatwa's Doctor may be in Doctor limbo with the other Doctors.
The next episode will air in November 2023. What the hell? Why so long? They were already filming it.
It would have been hilarious if they canceled it after this episode.
Well I imagine they were filming the, er, current 'Doctor' episodes and then went straight into filming the Doctor episodes. And BBC probably thinks it's wise to let it all cool off for a bit.
Ok so Chibnall's best written episode is his last apparently. To be clear; best he's written is a low bar. But overall it's a watchable episode.
The Good:
Emotional payoff that wasn't quite as forced for once (like trying to make us care about Vinder's wife and child, or Doctor/Yas without any real prior buildup). We get more emotion out of things between the Doctor and Yas and we get the great scene with the old companions at the end
The Master was aloooot more tolerable in this for me. Actually seemed intelligent and cruel instead of bipolar and cartoonishly evil
Despite the number of plot threads, Chibnall actually managed to balance it all reasonably well. Potentially just due to how simple he kept things; Daleks had one thing they were doing. Cybermen had the one building they were located in. And their whole plan was just connected to the Master's.
The Master wearing the old Doctor clothes is perfect.
Really liked the last scene we got with 13; optimistic and upbeat. Kind of what they promised we'd get from her before they stuck her with all the unsatisfactory mystery and bad brooding
MCGANN! Look the old Doctors scene was brilliant overall. I really enjoyed seeing David Bradley. But, McGann! My introduction to him was Night of the Doctor and I've been keen for more ever since. Dude fits the character so well. And him hating on the robes was perfect
All the Doctors coming back was brilliantly handled in both its incarnations. I know next to nothing about the old companions but the scenes with Ace, Tegan and their Doctors was really well done.
Segun Akinola actually impressed me a little with his score this ep, but that might be because it seemed alot more like the old Murray Gold stuff, stylistically. Choral "ooo's" and whatnot for the Doctor
The bad:
Why does this random person on the train know what regeneration energy is?
Dan's departure was abrupt and felt forced. Though for the best given how many people the episode had to juggle. The reasoning was extremely poor. You died HOW many times in the Dalek special, but this is what did it for you?
So we didn't address 80% of the universe being destroyed by the end of Flux but we did address Dan being homeless. Perfect.
It took me a while to remember Yas used to be a cop when she said she had weapons training. God she was a wasted companion.
Getting alot of George Lucas syndrome from some of this dialogue. Chibnall; take five minutes to read your script OUT LOUD and see what sounds absolutely stupid coming out of a person's mouth that might not seem so bad at a glance on a page, PLEASE.
I knew Smith and Capaldi wouldn't be making any appearance but I'm still sad about it
For the Doctor's last hour, she loses pretty spectacularly up until the very end. Companions doing stuff is absolutely what we want but the Doctor shouldn't seem useless for it to happen. Still feels like the Doctor I would be least relieved to see come save the day. This isn't the only Doctor story that's happened in; Last of the Time Lords is notably bad for this same reason. But given the lack of actual competence 13's shown in her tenure I'd have liked to see her being alot better at saving the day.
Lore screwup: wouldn't be Chibnall if we didn't get one of these. Haven't they established now on MULTIPLE occasions that after regeneration, Time Lords are actually much much LESS vulnerable since their body is still regenerating? Ten regrew his goddamn HAND. River survived a FIRING SQUAD. Little bit of Space Laser so close to regenerating TWICE, 13 should've walked it off.
Disappointed we didn't get a shot of Tennant in 13's clothes. But I suppose they want his reveal shot to be as iconic as possible.
While this does handle emotion better than past episodes, for a tenure that’s seen four companion departures (counting Yas) there sure is very little of a shit given overall.
The random:
I await the inevitable Liz Truss regenerating back into Boris Johnson memes
So Chibnall needs the longest episode ever in order to have enough time to write a single story premise coherently. Maybe if we’d doubled flux it would’ve been better
Need to stew on it a little while to see if I think of anything else but so far that's it.
Also there's a bunch of David Tennant stuff on sale on Big Finish for the next week-ish for anyone interested
Catalase on
"Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination."
One of Chibnall's flaws is unnecessary complication where things should be clear.
What was the point of the Dalek betraying his own kind? Minutes of exposition to get the Doctor to point A that could have been achieved by her just finding out about a mysterious energy source or something and going there anyway. Instead it's a subplot with no resolution beyond oh well that didn't matter anyway, and yet again the Doctor is reacting rather than being pro-active.
Oh well. The Cyber-Masters are gone now, which is good, because they were kind of a crap idea. And no mention of the Cybermen and the Daleks being supposedly wiped out at the end of Flux of course, or the universe being mostly gone, even though that was literally the last episode before this one.
Also what was the point if Vin being back. His contribution was, I think, to shoot the Master in the shoulder and nothing else. Cheers?
I think the best bits were the focus on companions, and the final scenes with them were very well done.
His other big flaw is jumping between one location to another to another to another and 700 characters rather than service a core cast and main plot.
To your first point
Dude also completely forgot Rusty the Dalek as the first Dalek to betray his species. Literally in the episode that Jodie first appears. And yes the Daleks and Cybermen and 80% of the known universe were destroyed and no mention of that is ever made about anything getting destroyed by Flux ever again EXCEPT Dan's house.
"Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination."
I'm glad I don't really care about spoilers for the latest episode because around 30% of my YouTube thumbnails are showing the big surprise, including the official channels.
Yeah I heard it on Radio bloody 4 (I was not sipping tea with my little finger raised, but had I done so I would have spat it out). But it was annoying. However, ironically, now I probably will watch the episode as I had little interest in Whittaker's Doctor because (and this is not a slight on Jodie - she did her best with dreck) the writing for this Doctor's personality was just bad - also WAAAAYY too many companions, did they learn nothing from the 5th Doctor?! Maybe it got better but I jumped after the silly Timelord episode. But now I know Chibnall is gone and the emergency break has been pulled, I am interested again.
0
Options
BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
Oh yeah
Yaz: I've had weapons training
Also Yaz: fingers right on the trigger in all four shots.
And Vinder's monologue explaining how and why he's arriving - to himself, a problem that a lot of Chib characters have - was actively painful to watch. He seems to be in the story purely that so Yaz can get one over on the Master.
There are a lot of minor nitpicks to be made honestly, as well as some huge clunkers that we've just come to accept as part of this run, so I won't go over them.
There has got to have been a conversation at the Beeb over just cancelling it again, then they realised their store of relevant dramas was diminishing, especially as Netflix has started doing the Jane Austen-esque type dramas. So it's probably been given one more shot, with a reduced budget to see if it can recoup some viewers and relevance. The new 'doctor' is part of that plan but I'm excited to see what Gatwa brings to the role.
Streamed this through the AMC+ snap-in on Amazon Prime last night.
Happy to close this book - it's been a sloppy few years of Who. The promise of an upbeat, colorful, tinker/engineer Doctor in Whittaker sold me when it they launched, and I've had buyer's remorse since.
I love the Tennant Doctor and Donna, but this is some bald-faced re-arranging of deck chairs coated in Fan Service while they rebuild and rebrand the franchise internally, and I just ain't hooked. I'll check back when 15 goes live.
+1
Options
Zilla36021st Century. |She/Her|Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered Userregular
And Vinder's monologue explaining how and why he's arriving - to himself, a problem that a lot of Chib characters have - was actively painful to watch. He seems to be in the story purely that so Yaz can get one over on the Master.
There are a lot of minor nitpicks to be made honestly, as well as some huge clunkers that we've just come to accept as part of this run, so I won't go over them.
Gotta hope RTD is up to the task again.
Yeah he really didn't really seem to need to be in this episode at all. The whole thing was so over-stuffed with returning characters that it felt like a hastily scribbled down fever dream.
Graham is back! And somehow conveniently made his own way from Sheffield to a volcano in Italy...
Why did the master need to be posing as Rasputin in 1916? Why was that a necessary part of his plan at all? Other than to give us an amusing music/dance routine?
Everything involving that 'sentient energy' creature... The Quincunx I think? A deus ex machina with a noun attached. Just what.
Among so many other plot holes... Too many for me to be bothered to list. Some good scenes in isolation, but by the end, none of it feels cohesive.
It makes me wonder if Chibs sometimes writes scripts whilst high on cocaine or some other substance.
Only two episodes of Doctor Who in a year, after the Flux story-line, and this is what we get? Rather disappointing, TBH.
Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
One thing that's surprised me, our new Doctor is indeed being referred to officially as Fourteen. Thought for sure he'd be another lost number like John Hurt. Nope!
Had the surprise spoiled by the radio when I got up this morning, so thanks for that BBC.
Imagined the regeneration scene in my head before I saw it, and I was 90% right!
Immediate reaction: check the teeth. Check.
Final lines: "What? What?! No, seriously, what?!"
So apart from some embellishment, I think I've got this down.
As for him being officially the fourteenth Doctor, I'm assuming that's going to be the big mystery plot for his three episodes (if I were writing it and I could get them, I'd have him regenerate into Smith and Capaldi in the subsequent episodes, then into Whitaker again before doing it right, making Ncuti Gatwa the Eighteenth Doctor. If Moffat were involved I'd believe it, as that feels like his sense of humour).
Streamed this through the AMC+ snap-in on Amazon Prime last night.
Happy to close this book - it's been a sloppy few years of Who. The promise of an upbeat, colorful, tinker/engineer Doctor in Whittaker sold me when it they launched, and I've had buyer's remorse since.
I love the Tennant Doctor and Donna, but this is some bald-faced re-arranging of deck chairs coated in Fan Service while they rebuild and rebrand the franchise internally, and I just ain't hooked. I'll check back when 15 goes live.
I have a pretty big suspicion that we'll be getting a lot of classic Doctor cameos if this plot line is going to go the way I think it is.
So The Master got to be The Doctor, but still looked like The Master, and his plan was to make everybody fear The Doctor by going around fucking shit up and introducing himself as The Doctor? Why not just go around doing that anyway? He would have already had a TARDIS if he hadn't plugged it into the conversion planet
I was hoping that it would result in Jodie acting as The Master for a bit - at least that way she'd have got some decent dialogue
I liked seeing all the past Doctors, though, even though my first was Tennant
You people need to stop thinking about the episode. It was not unenjoyable, which frankly makes it the best Chibnall has delivered by a wide margin. The more you think about it though, the worst it sounds, as every piece of nonsensical plot and poor writing emerges. The guy is the Liz Truss of Doctor Who producers, and we should accept his first completely accidental partial and weak success of a final episode rather than tear it apart with the lightest breeze of thinking.
Richy on
+10
Options
Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
So The Master got to be The Doctor, but still looked like The Master, and his plan was to make everybody fear The Doctor by going around fucking shit up and introducing himself as The Doctor? Why not just go around doing that anyway? He would have already had a TARDIS if he hadn't plugged it into the conversion planet
I was hoping that it would result in Jodie acting as The Master for a bit - at least that way she'd have got some decent dialogue
I liked seeing all the past Doctors, though, even though my first was Tennant
Yeah, motive wise that didn't make a whole lotta sense
this incarnation of the Master went nuts and destroyed Gallifrey because he learned he had some Doctor DNA in him. He hates the idea that he's special because of a tiny part of the Doctor... so his ultimate plan is to become the Doctor? That's a lot more DNA my guy!
Was also hoping we'd just get a face swap, so Jodie plays the Master, Sasha plays the Doctor for a few scenes. Woulda been fun.
The Master has always been jealous of the Doctor. So, he got what he wanted. He became the Doctor.
But he kept his face and personality, so he actually got The Doctor's... wardrobe?
Nothing that he couldn't have got by just nicking her TARDIS or going to a tailor / greengrocer
He highjacked the Doctor's body. He got all her memories. That was why he was playing the flute the Second doctor had. He was the Doctor.
He is not really being rational here. It was more of a personal thing. People would know it is not really the Doctor if they looked closer.
Posts
Cibb's reign of terror is over! Back to better writing.
It was on BBC America. They may show it again. It will probably be for sale on Amazon Prime tomorrow.
Back to New Who. This whole thing with you know who is a really blatant attempt to get viewers back. It is shameless.
It would have been hilarious if they canceled it after this episode.
The Good:
The bad:
The random:
Also there's a bunch of David Tennant stuff on sale on Big Finish for the next week-ish for anyone interested
Oh well. The Cyber-Masters are gone now, which is good, because they were kind of a crap idea. And no mention of the Cybermen and the Daleks being supposedly wiped out at the end of Flux of course, or the universe being mostly gone, even though that was literally the last episode before this one.
Also what was the point if Vin being back. His contribution was, I think, to shoot the Master in the shoulder and nothing else. Cheers?
I think the best bits were the focus on companions, and the final scenes with them were very well done.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
To your first point
Maybe the embodiment of Time reset things.
Oh wait you mean after this ep. I’m still hung up on flux
Also Yaz: fingers right on the trigger in all four shots.
And Vinder's monologue explaining how and why he's arriving - to himself, a problem that a lot of Chib characters have - was actively painful to watch. He seems to be in the story purely that so Yaz can get one over on the Master.
There are a lot of minor nitpicks to be made honestly, as well as some huge clunkers that we've just come to accept as part of this run, so I won't go over them.
Gotta hope RTD is up to the task again.
Fucking hell if I wasn't subbed to this thread I wouldn't know the show existed anymore.
Happy to close this book - it's been a sloppy few years of Who. The promise of an upbeat, colorful, tinker/engineer Doctor in Whittaker sold me when it they launched, and I've had buyer's remorse since.
I love the Tennant Doctor and Donna, but this is some bald-faced re-arranging of deck chairs coated in Fan Service while they rebuild and rebrand the franchise internally, and I just ain't hooked. I'll check back when 15 goes live.
Why did the master need to be posing as Rasputin in 1916? Why was that a necessary part of his plan at all? Other than to give us an amusing music/dance routine?
Everything involving that 'sentient energy' creature... The Quincunx I think? A deus ex machina with a noun attached. Just what.
Among so many other plot holes... Too many for me to be bothered to list. Some good scenes in isolation, but by the end, none of it feels cohesive.
It makes me wonder if Chibs sometimes writes scripts whilst high on cocaine or some other substance.
Only two episodes of Doctor Who in a year, after the Flux story-line, and this is what we get? Rather disappointing, TBH.
Immediate reaction: check the teeth. Check.
Final lines: "What? What?! No, seriously, what?!"
So apart from some embellishment, I think I've got this down.
As for him being officially the fourteenth Doctor, I'm assuming that's going to be the big mystery plot for his three episodes (if I were writing it and I could get them, I'd have him regenerate into Smith and Capaldi in the subsequent episodes, then into Whitaker again before doing it right, making Ncuti Gatwa the Eighteenth Doctor. If Moffat were involved I'd believe it, as that feels like his sense of humour).
Doesn’t matter if it fits or not.
Doesn’t matter if it’s bad or not.
He thought of something and it’s going in even if he has to write a fifth of the episode around his dumb Rasputin dance idea.
Or his Timeless Child idea.
I have a pretty big suspicion that we'll be getting a lot of classic Doctor cameos if this plot line is going to go the way I think it is.
So The Master got to be The Doctor, but still looked like The Master, and his plan was to make everybody fear The Doctor by going around fucking shit up and introducing himself as The Doctor? Why not just go around doing that anyway? He would have already had a TARDIS if he hadn't plugged it into the conversion planet
I was hoping that it would result in Jodie acting as The Master for a bit - at least that way she'd have got some decent dialogue
I liked seeing all the past Doctors, though, even though my first was Tennant
Yeah, motive wise that didn't make a whole lotta sense
Was also hoping we'd just get a face swap, so Jodie plays the Master, Sasha plays the Doctor for a few scenes. Woulda been fun.
Switch (JeffConser): SW-3353-5433-5137 Wii U: Skeldare - 3DS: 1848-1663-9345
PM Me if you add me!
Nothing that he couldn't have got by just nicking her TARDIS or going to a tailor / greengrocer
He is not really being rational here. It was more of a personal thing. People would know it is not really the Doctor if they looked closer.
Apparently it's only the new episodes. Everything else from modern Who is on HBO Max at least in the US.
Switch (JeffConser): SW-3353-5433-5137 Wii U: Skeldare - 3DS: 1848-1663-9345
PM Me if you add me!
(Just kidding, it's very nice. Lil' dubious calling it "new" though, eh?)