Personally, I couldn’t agree less. This is better than every Moffat Series (except for Series 5) and it’s leaps and bounds above Chibbers. This series is 7 / 10 at the absolute worst. Awesome series!
I think the lack of conflict between 15 and Ruby is what makes Ruby feel less developed. I really liked Ruby as a character for the most part but sometimes seeing someone get angry shows you another layer to someone and where they'll draw a line on something and their beliefs. Same in some regards to 15, some of his scenes where he cried would've worked so much better if he was angry instead and shows that the trauma he carried prior to this incarnation is still there deep down. Then bouncing Ruby off of that and seeing how she would've reacted, showing her more caring and supportive side. Hopefully we see this sort of stuff in the next series.
yeah i think this is a big limitation of the idea that the bigeneration like, cured his Time War trauma and made him basically well-adjusted. ultimately it subtracts a source of conflict and character from him, without adding anything in return. you can write a story about a person who's well-adjusted, you don't *need* angst and anger to write an interesting character, but subtracting that when it's been a core trait for so many years just leaves a gap where some of 15's character should go.
not even angry, I'd say. Like Ruby and 15th had almost little to no conflict at all. From minor things like friendly bickering, to legit disagreements and arguments, Ruby had none with 15th. Even 13th and the fam eventually had more spice; even Mel & 15th had more dynamic. It gets quite bland and boring and tiring when most of the character interactions are repetitive and not much depth.
@@junker-f3m Even two well-adjusted people can disagree about things passionately. But I'm not sure the Doctor is all that well-adjusted. It was weird in the Susan convo in TDC how he smiled at a particularly serious moment. I'm not sure Fourteen is doing the therapy work now that makes Fifteen well-adjusted -- I think it might be that Fifteen is going to be doing the work that retroactively made Fourteen well-adjusted enough to take retirement. Fifteen was taking the pain from him, after all, and saying he could rest (some people commented at the time that this was symbolically a black man taking a white man's trauma -- although technically the same person -- and that wasn't the best look). But we have yet to see Fifteen do anything to become more well-adjusted. Maybe they are just laying the groundwork this season/series.
@@HuntingViolets the impression I had from The Giggle was that Fifteen is supposed to be "fixed"; they're "doing rehab out of ordeer", as he says near the end, while Fourteen is healing on earth. and yeah, the whole "magical black dude" trope is definitely something that development seems to accidentally veer into , which sucks. i think perhaps the issue is that the *intention* is for Fifteen to be the bubbly, happy, more emotionally mature Doctor, hence the lack of conflict with Ruby, but as you're saying, in a lot of other ways that's not really conveyed properly, in part because the short season means his character unfortunately is not that well fleshed-out, and also because i think, fundamentally, the Doctor is a bit of a messy bitch who loves drama, and you can't really take that element of the character away without fundamentally changing who they are, which you'd need a proper character arc to justify rather than just some technobabble about bigeneration. as a result, you're never going to get Normal Man Doctor. dude is never going to be John Smith.
exactly. successful doctor-companion relationships always include some type of conflict. rtd1 and moffat companions both have their detractors but the reason they work for the fans at all was every once in a while you'd have an episode where the doctor and companion get into some kind of argument about what they should do or something like that. it makes them feel like real people and it also shows that they see the doctor as a person and a friend who they can disagree or argue with.
One big issue was the push towards fantasy storytelling from a writer who doesn't seem to understand fantasy storytelling. RTD treated it as an excuse to have no rules and write whatever he wanted, which really cheapened a lot of story beats. In reality, even soft magic systems have SOME rules in place needed for a compelling narrative, and a lot of fantasy setting have hard magic systems with a lot of restrictions that make it even more exciting when those rules get bent or taken advantage of.
I found this choice really strange by RTD because fantasy was never his strong suit, sci-fi and character writing was. You know who WAS good at fantasy? Moffat. Why wasn't Moffat brought on almost exclusively for this run? His whole thing was "Doctor Who is a fairy tale".
Yes, thank you for bringing up how the Doctor cries every single episode and how it feels forced and diminishes how important such a moment should be!!! The 5th Doctor’s “there should have been another way” scene wouldn’t be near as impactful as it is to me if 5 was just crying every episode. EDIT: AND MEGA THANKS for bringing up how flat the series looks!!! I hate how flat modern cinematography is.
I mean, does it though? Does him being more emotional really diminish anything? It sounds more like a personal preference rather than objective critique.
does it not, though? does frequently repeating the same beat with worse writing each time, not dimish the effect? It sounds more like personal preference rather than objective discussion.@@garrethb6261
@@garrethb6261 Of course. Try it in real life, if you tear up a lot, it won't have the same impact on other people that someone who rarely does will. They'll just see tears as how you express any form of negative feeling and not be as concerned.
I get what they were going for, this doctor is emotional blah blah blah so he cries every episode and then his development is Mel tells him to shut up and next season he won't be crying as much and by his third season he'll be cold and emotionless... yeah, I get it. but I think they overestimated how impactful him crying every episode was.
There's no "thank you for bringing this up" because it's not a unique take. Literally everyone has said he cries too much and that it's losing it's effect, so there's no point in framing it like a rogue out-there take.
One of the things I hated the most is how often Fifteen would just _stand_ there crying instead of _doing_ anything; the entire time Clara was comforting Twelve just before she was killed, you could _see_ his eyes darting about the room in an effort to come up with _some_ way to save her, and Heaven Sent showed us what the Doctor looks like at his absolute limit and how he reacts when given mere _seconds_ to live. The Doctor does _not_ let his emotions stop him from _acting_ as he knows that he doesn't have that luxury, so why is Fifteen so useless? Even Thirteen had a better track record of saving the day than him, and she never did anything until the puzzle pieces were _handed_ to her.
There's something about Fifteen's characterisation that feels off to me. He's apparently "recovered" from his many traumas following Fourteen's timey-wimey retirement, which has allowed Fifteen to be more "carefree", "fun-loving" and more "in touch with his emotions", but I'd argue that deep down the Doctor is bullshitting himself. He's carefree to the point of carelessness, fun-loving to the point of flippancy, emotional to the point of dysregulation. He's known his "best friend in the whole universe" for what feels like five damn minutes. There's a studied superficiality to him, a kind of toxic "living my best life" "good vibes only" *mask* of positivity. Also, what the fuck was with him making the space babies cry for his own amusement? Goddamn sociopath! His sympathy often feels forced and insincere. The tears come too easily, the "I'm so so sorry"s feel more glib and perfunctory than ever. Kate staring daggers at Fifteen when Chidozie is killed seems to imply Fifteen's flippant insincerity as an intentional character trait, a flaw to be dealt with -- which could be a fascinating thread if it were explored in the next series. Sadly, I'm not all that confident that it is intentional or will ever be explored.
see, this could work if it felt intentional. instead it seems like rtd has convinced himself fifteen really is a changed man who just bursts into tears at the first opportunity anyway. he keeps bringing up stuff he has trauma about and brushing it off like someone who knows they are traumatized and is simply refusing to deal with it. but rtd doesn't seem to be aware this is not how emotionally stable people act. fifteen is actively in denial about his own trauma but in a better season they would DO something with that. rtd wrote nine and ten too and they both got solid characterization WITHIN THEIR FIRST EPISODES ALONE. he literally did more to develop ten in the 15 minutes of christmas invasion he was actually awake for than he did for fifteen in nine episodes.
I think comparing Ruby to RTD’s first companions (Rose, Martha & Donna) is almost like a joke. Within the first few episodes, we knew why they were traveling with the Doctor, what they got out of it, what their home life was really like and how they interacted with the world around them. Rose would often seek out the working class of each era they landed in or at least form some sort of attachment to them, and even had her own arc about wanting to see her dad. In fact she was the first character we see question the Ood’s true nature. We see her become more confident as the episodes go by to the point where it’s basically her life, and it causes tension with her family. Martha we see would often use her medical practice to either save the day or even save the Doctor. She would focus on trying to prove herself to the Doctor and also just trying to find someone she can place faith in. This also causes tension with her family and causes them to be tortured for a year. Something that would deeply affect her decision to leave the Tardis, along with finding her own self worth. Donna was the 10th Doctor’s best friend. Someone who would follow him to the ends of the earth and defend him at any cost. She often connected with the common people on a deep emotional level. She like Martha was trying to find her own self worth, but not for the Doctor, for herself. She had major confidence issues that she didn’t feel when she was with the Doctor. The problem is outside of Ruby wanting to see her mom, I couldn’t tell you anything about her that wasn’t common companion type stuff. She’s brave, funny, intelligent, quick witted, compassionate and loyal. But that’s legit almost every companion. We don’t know why she leaves home, we don’t know what she gets out of it, we don’t see her interact with people enough to get a sense of what she’s really like on a deep level and she never has any conflict with her family, or the doctor. She didn’t feel real. Which is something I never thought I would say about an RTD companion. She does have another season coming so hopefully this is fixed, but my hopes are low. She has a happy life now with a complete family. WHY DOES SHE WANT TO LEAVE THAT!?!?
I recently gave series 1 a rewatch and the comparisons are night and day. The inner conflict rose has in episode 2 of not knowing the doctor or where she is or why she decided to go is so real, already there’s conflict and friction between the two of why she’s there and how emotional it is to see the future and how far we e come. You then compare it to space babies and ruby just accepts it and plays along. I think what’s wrong is this fantasy aura the show is taking on leaves the premises feeling flimsy with no weight to them. I mean fuck that finale blowing its load and showing every major character turning to dust ? Removes all stakes immediately
@@Mayeur000Donzit’s certainly something but it’s not really much of a character trait beyond just being good and it doesn’t really inform what that means. Good for rose is taking charge of a situation to get people out. We see that in the first episode of her getting people out of the restaurant with plastic Mickey. Good for Martha is a more medical approach in most of her stories because she is medically trained. Good for Donna is making connections with people who are overlooked. Good for Ruby is not something unique for a character because I can’t imagine any of the other companions, even the planks of wood that were The Fam not also doing the same thing in the same situation. It’s kinda unfortuante because she’s almost like the 13th doctor of companions where she is kinda a Jack of all trade and master of none
frrr i recently got done with a series 1-10 rewatch and it's astounding how neutral of a companion ruby is. she's even worse than 7b clara because at least 7b clara got SOME kind of home life that eagle eyed viewers would be able to latch onto. ruby gets no unique character traits at all. you genuinely don't get what she sees in the doctor or what the doctor sees in her. there's no characterization happening.
4 two-parters would’ve worked really well! at the very least, the first 2 episodes should’ve been a two-parter considering they dropped on the same day.
@@joeyunderwoodcould be completely wrong, but... I feel like devil's chord was meant to be mid-season But when the opportunity presented itself to air the musical episode on the same day as eurovision, they moved it forward
From a top down level: 15 and Ruby never had conflicts of ideals, most episodes felt like early drafts, due to the low amount of episodes Ruby’s family wasn’t established to a degree you’d expect from RTD. (Which is ironic since her entire arc is about family.)
I don't agree that scripts felt like early drafts - I do agree that there should have been some sort of meaningful conflict between the new Doctor and the new companion at some point, but I feel like that was a casualty of the shorter series length. Unfortunately, this seems to be something happening across the whole industry, probably because of a metric like ten episodes being the optimum binge number.
@@MichaelJohnson-kq7qg Maybe a first draft is too harsh. But it’s not a good sign when RTD said in an interview right after the season finished that the script had “complete narrative collapse” in the plot point that the Evil TARDIS can magically teleport 15, Ruby, and Mel to UNIT Tower in present day.
The writing felt very half arsed. It feels like RTD doesn't give a shit anymore. I don't think Ncuti really felt like the Doctor. He didn't believably have the darkness that all the Nu Who Doctors had. Maybe you could say that was a choice, but they didn't replace it with anything, so Ncuti's Doctor just felt like an underbaked character
Exactly. It really seems like they wanted to fly through it and that made a lot of problems. We see the bi-generation and that's all they show us to explain why this Doctor is so chill and because of that Ncuti's Doctor seems undeveloped. The pacing is off too and it's just not that deep. Seems like their aiming at younger audiences but like RTD himself said - it's should be adult show with the kids in mind. But it's just not that deep. Look at Sutekh for example. That ending was supposed to be dramatic and deep but you can easily compare Doctor's behavior to Family Of Blood and it's just soo much worse. Let's hope season 2 will be better but sadly it seems DW is going through a really rough time for some time now and it will probably last.
I'd describe it myself as an any % speedrun. Frankly this has been my worry since they announced RTD's return. In a way he's too experienced. He's done all this before and it really felt like he didn't want to do it all again and just wanted to skip through it. Like we never saw 15 meet Ruby's family on screen except for flashbacks and the ending (and like a few seconds in an alternate timeline). So much just felt cheap and rushed. We were told we never got post regeneration craziness to start with an experienced Doctor like 9... expect we still saw 15 get regenerated too (kinda hate bi-generation more now) and even if 9 didn't have any post regeneration madness for a whole episode throughout series 1 we saw moments that dived deep into his character. We hardly got that at all with 15. Dalek alone did a far better job exploring 9's struggle with preserving life and stopping threats too dangerous than series 14 tried to do with it's finale.
Also wanna add another possibility. Bringing RTD back who had such a status in Doctor Who now could have created a toxic environment where writers didn't feel like they had the status or experience to question his writing. Cuz a lot of stuff could have easily been improved if it just got questioned in the draft stage. Like how did Sutekh latching onto the TARDIS as long as the fourth doctor not get questioned. Like no one said "umm, that's kinda a long timeline Davies? Like what about the time war? All those multi doctor stories? That time the TARDIS literally blew up and ended reality?"
Ncuti's laid back, pre-time war-esque Doctor has been a breath of fresh air. The baggage was getting annoying, and the Doctor wasn't respectfully given the wisdom that also comes with experience. He was just fun. I agree about RTD, though. He definitely has the wrong mentality for a returning showrunner, and I still think he shouldn't have come back.
My biggest issue with Doctor Who since Capaldi left has been the characterisation of the Doctor and their companions. I don't know why but Chibnal and now RTD2 make the Doctor seem like a passenger in their own show. Lots of plot/stuff happens but we never really see how this genuinely effects the Doctor and (insert whichever companion lol). Re-watching the Capaldi era recently it is the doctors relationships and performances with Clara, Missy, Bill etc. which make that era work so well, elevating even the 'meh' stories or plot-points. For some reason Doctor Who has completely forgotten how to do this and so even if I really liked some of the ideas in the Chibnal era and now in RTD2 I can't help but not feel invested because I'm not really sold on the Doctor and Ruby - which is a shame because when the Doctor/companion dynamic really clicks the show 'works'.
@@Jackson-ub1uv Yh it does feel like since then Doctor Who has just been desperately trying to cater to a new audience/demographic (which I understand, a show like Doctor Who naturally has to evolve), but this really obviously took precedent over making the story/characterisation good. Which is weird because that's what made NuWho so popular in the first place.
@@toukoenriaze9870 But that's not what Doctor Who is, nor is it what the Doctor as a _character_ stands for. When the Doctor sees a child crying, he doesn't start crying himself; what he does instead is talk to the child, find out what's going on, and fix the problem. When the Doctor comes across people in danger, he doesn't stand around impotently, he jumps in and does everything he can to _save them._
@@Jackson-ub1uv thats not what it is ... thats kinda what its been going toward this is almost like a depression/jaded arc because of everything thats been happening with like clara and pots and what happened with the master during the 13s reign of terror and all the stuff they learned then i get the feeling even without complaining about it next season is gonna have some sort of like redemption arc of him taking back control of his life and like not being the passenger anymore in his own adventures
I feel like the Doctor and Ruby’s “friendship” felt extremely unearned and underdeveloped due to the low episode count. Frankly, given Ruby’s solid characterization and lack of screen time with Gatwa’s Doctor, it would’ve made more sense for the Doctor to develop an intellectual obsession with Ruby’s hazy origin, providing ample parallel to Sutehk, rather than the Doctor deciding that this girl he just met is his best friend in the universe. I feel like the finale they wrote would’ve worked better with more episodes of the two of them hanging out and running from monsters together, but they should’ve seen this underdeveloped relationship coming and adjusted some of the episodes accordingly.
Frankly, I was more invested in S12 & Flux simply because of the fact that there was a definitive story that they wanted to tell… a poorly executed and rushed story at times, but one that was at least consistent within its own narrative logic. (Though the characterizations and energy within the Tardis was obviously much more magnetic, which makes the flaws of this season even more frustrating)
I think what Ruby is "missing" is exactly what you highlighted as her pros. She is "a companion". She doesn't really feel like her own character, she feels like an amalgamation of previous companions. Like you described the show to someone and they then created Ruby.
INB4 is AI generated. Actually how sick would it have been if it was revealed Ruby was a "S TRIAD" projection that had gone rogue. Or like the TARDIS trying to fight back against Sutekh by creating it's own. Sure they'd have to completely rewrite her and the season but it would have at least explained why she has so little personality. Also if she had been created by the TARDIS could have worked really well for why she always made comforting him her priority and wanted him to change and seek out his granddaughter again.
She felt to me like companions of the classic Who era, whose whole shtick was "What's going on Doctor?" "What's happening Doctor?" "What do we do Doctor?", iow just kind of there to be some sort of sounding board for the Doctor's expositions. Ruby's a bit better than that (she did have 73 Yards and Boom after all), but not by much
@@LapsedLawyerEvery single classic Who companion I have seen, having watched Seasons 1-15, has had several conflicts of interest and morals with the Doctor. Barbara in the Aztecs, Susan in the Sensorites, Jo, Sarah Jane, etc. Ruby doesn’t even compare to them in that level. She is a fine character, but she lacks a clear and interesting dynamic with the Doctor.
I think a lot of early signs of the series not working were there from the get go, I just really hoped they weren’t true Ncuti Gatwa having scheduling issues is absolutely awful to have in a series as short as this. Him not being there hurts the overall narrative. The 15th Doctor is also very immature. For being the oldest iteration of the Doctor, he cries in nearly every episode, with the finale being 5 times (I can’t get over that) I know they’re trying to make him more emotional but it doesn’t work here, he’s a completely different character. The fact that the show alienates older viewers and new fans is wild knowing it had the backing of DISNEY PLUS to appeal to a broad audience is insane. I’m hoping series 2 is better because I just found myself bored with this series.
@@garrethb6261I think the problem is that it takes away the impact of a scene like him tearing up when the woman dies in Empire of Death. If he didn’t cry all season until then that moment would’ve meant a lot more.
To me what lets down series 14 is it attempts to recreate what worked rather than adjusting. What I mean by this is RTD seems to think how he approached Series 1 - 4 will work with Series 14 and I think that doesn't work. Take Ruby for instance, she's performed well by Millie but due to the runtime I barely know anything about her, I'd argue I know a bit more about Yaz than her. Sure she gets 73 Yards but we don't get any Tardis scenes with the Doctor to see their dynamic. Have they complained? Were they afriad at first realising what they'd done? What about friends? What about work? Longer series had time to flesh this out. Those one of stories that y'know the main characters will survive but allowed time to explore this stuff. For exmaple Martha in 42, she's in an escape pod going into the sun and we get a little moment of her talking about her family, her life. The Doctor again performed well by Ncuti but we need to see some more development because the start and finish of this series, he's still the same character from what I can tell. I'm of the opinion when you're dealing with eight episodes for Doctor Who, those episodes have got to land, as we saw with two episodes being Doctor-lite and with Space Babies (which I don't like, sorry to those who do) but that's three out of eight episodes, those duds hit more now with such a small run of episodes compared to 13 or 12 or 10.
A bit surprising but understandable. A lot of potential that seems squandered by just a few decisions. I'm grateful to this season for giving me Boom & 73 Yards tho.
I really enjoy Boom. I forgot how well Moffat writes the Doctor tbh. I've watched Boom twice more than any other ep, and it mostly made me go back and rewatch Eleven and Twelve's run
Honestly, comparing this season to those from 2005-2010 the differences are so glaring - with this season being almost universally badly written, with poor or outright bad character development, plot holes, shoehorned agenda/message (nothing to do with the plots, just thrown in there) - that I genuinely wondered if RTD had had a stroke or something between times. The short length of the season plus shorter time of episodes haven’t helped either. High production values - it DOES look great a lot of the time - do not a successful show make. The crying almost every episode meant that when there WAS a genuine reason to cry, it had no impact, because THIS Doctor - often not the hero, getting Ruby or John Lennon or Rogue to save the day - constantly acted lost or over emotional: which cheapens the character dramatically. In truth, the strongest “glue” somehow keeping things going was Millie Gibson who often did marvels with the limited stuff she, as Ruby, was given to do. Ultimately the best (though certainly not perfect) episode was “Boom” - it had a pretty good sense of peril and, because of the scenario, forced Ncuti Gatwa to play the role in a better, more sober fashion (until the end when he danced around like a teenager) - tellingly the one story not written by Davies. I so wanted this season, and the specials preceding it, to return the show to the winning form it once had but, sadly, the execution was sadly lacking - with possibly the worst, most disappointing finale throughout the whole 60+ history of the show.
Including the Christmas special this new era is 3/9 so far. Boom, 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble to me are genuinely some really great Who! But there were also plenty of episodes I felt genuine embarrassment whilst watching them, I apologised to my girlfriend a few times during the series for making her watch it with me. Doctor Who has always tried to find a balance between appealing to kids and adults alike and I think of an episode like Space Babies that went waaaay too far down the kiddie route. Also I think it was filled with "bad writing", I know that's a very generic statement but lots of the dialogue didn't work for me and there were so many mystery boxes set up, and so many questions posed just to either get a disappointing answer, or simply no answer at all and Russell hasn't addressed it. Long story short, if we can get more episodes like Boom, 73 yards, Dot and Bubble and less like Space Babies, Church on Ruby Road, Rogue. The show will be in a much better place.
I feel you with the embarrassment. I got my brother to watch Devil's Chord, for the musical aspect and Jinkx (he saw Jinkx in a show in London around Christmas). I felt like I had essentially forced him to watch utter rubbish. And the worst part is that things got better from that point afterwards, so he missed this series at its best. On the plus side, I know he watched Wild Blue Yonder at some point. And despite how bad Devil's Chord was, I'm just thankful I didn't insist he watch Space Babies. Also, I thought Rogue was pretty good. Certainly better than Church on Ruby Road and Devil's Chord for me, but I can see why that might not be the case for you and others.
I feel really similarly its hard to imagine that space babies and empire of death were in the same season as masterpieces like dot and bubble and 73 yards. The potential is really there so im holding out hope for next season
I wish Ruby would have inherited her future self memories from 73 yards, the trauma of everyone abandoning her always lingering in the back of her mind. When it came to the shape shifting bird episode, I would have liked it a lot more if the shape shifters never revealed their true form.
Yeah that would have fit better. Plus the Pyramids of Mars storyline might be good but has some hella problematic depictions of the token Egyptian. Considering how inclusive this season is I'm amazed they want new fans to research the full story.
I seriously don't understand the episode count. Russel addressed it with something along the lines of ''making 13 episodes a year was super straining for everyone blah blah blah...'' and then they start filming series 15 right after they wrapped up series 14? How does that make sense? It's most likely that the low episode count is really a result of the Disney deal, but who knows. I just wish we could get a clear answer because whatever Russel says I don't trust a word that comes out of that man's mouth.
I think part of the problem with Ruby is that we don't learn much about her outside of being an orphan. She's a Strong Female Character who likes the Beatles and Bridgerton, but otherwise lacks a past. Even Carla and Cherry do little to build her character, let alone stand out by themselves. And then she's already whisked out of the Tardis, being probably the shortest companion who isn't a one-off like Adam or Kylie Minogue.
I think it could have worked if this season was focused on Susan the doctors granddaughter. Because then you can draw back to when the doctor actually saw a semi functional family, and relate it to his own experience. But with Susan twist being sutek it just doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things and that makes the ending kinda pointless. Like the moral was good and the doctor could of grown from experiencing it, but this season seemed focused on the supernatural, not on family dynamics. I mean they had ruby who could of been the angel on his shoulder to get in touch with Susan again and it could stem from the doctor seeing a father, after death, do anything to save his daughter. But nope we got sutek and it ruins the family focused episode.
i think the reason that they down played the reveal of Ruby's mum was because they have another shocking reveal to come. her song and the reason why it snows when she is emotional could lead all up to another member of her now known family, her dad or grandparents could be a big importance. At the start of the series I thought Mrs Flood was a relation to Ruby of some sort. Now that the series has ended i believe it even more expecially with Mrs flood in the snow at the end of Empire of Death.
I think the best way I describe this season is "It was good.. BUT" Every episode in this series had a good idea or was overall watchable, but I always had a issue with every episode that ruined or fully allowed me to say it was a perfect episode, for the few "perfect" episodes like "Boom" and "73 Yards".
This season just kinda hurt at times. It was always so close to being something good, something to be excited about, something to really enjoy... and just never made it there. I really liked Ncuti's doctor but it barely ever felt like he was actually important in his own show. All the episodes just kinda get sorted out of nowhere by side characters. Even in Season 1, where Eccleston's Doctor was meant to be in such a dire headspace that he couldn't always save the day, the Doctor saved the day a few times. In Boom Ncuti gives an entire speech about being 'so much more than a human' but we are literally never shown that side of him for anything more than a minute. He really needed an episode where he just Doctored all over the place. Something to make me buy his portrayal like I can the others. Jodie had a very similar issue in season 11.
You summed up my feelings about this season perfectly. 15 felt like he was so so so close to a great incarnation of the Doctor and imo most of that comes from boom. It’s a shame that the one episode where he feels properly fast and witty and competent was the one where he was stuck in one place the entire time. Would have loved to have gotten that version of him in the finale or literally anywhere else
I think overall the season was fun, but I definitely agree with the issues you brought up. I think with time we might look on it more fondly, especially considering that every fan has episodes they don’t like. Ncuti and Millie are just incredible and I’d love to see more of Shirley Anne Bingham and Rose Noble too. they all made watching worth it. I’m hoping next season will make this season make more sense. and in the meantime I’ll be rewatching my favorite era - moffat’s run!
I don't think I've seen any other comment so accurately match and articulate how I feel about it, including that last comment. After finishing the series I went back for an Eleven and Twelve rewatch 😂
I do not think with time we will look upon it fondly. Either things will improve and we will forget it, or they will deteriorate and we will hate this for being a series we got excited about
I've tried going back and I'm enjoying it less from when I watched the episodes as they aired and was holding onto the hopium. Also YAY, Moffat love. Capaldi's era is my personal favorite. There was so much consistent character development that made the writing feel so grounded. I don't think I ever expected to see the Doctor go through so much believable growth in a single Incarnation.
The Capaldi era is so beautiful, peak television! No diffusion, no excessive lens characteristics, just straight up great visuals. It looks so real, almost like a documentary. I would say the Capaldi era looks more grounded than this one, but that fits the more grounded stories it tells.
Watching disappointing seasons of Doctor Who makes me realize how many elements have to come together to make the show satisfying. It's actually amazing that they did it so well for so long. And I'm an optimist when it comes to this show. I'm always going to give each season a chance. And I'd hate for the show to go away.
That thing that's missing from Ruby, for me, is very simple: we never see why she and the Doctor actually need eachother. Rose and 9, it's obvious why they're together. He needs to open up and heal, she wants to get away from her boring life. They allow eachother exactly that. It's more complex than that of course, but the bond is tight because these characters were written specifically for eachothers needs to be met. On the inverse, 12 and Clara need to get away from eachother but they're addicted to the game. As a middle ground, Amy joins the Doctor specifically to escape, and the Doctor brings her along at first out of gratitude for helping him in his time of need, and by episode 2, because he realises he needs someone more human to hold him to the promise of his name, and she did that for him. By the time if S7, however, Amy and Rory's life on Earth starts to become the priority, and Amy ultimately chooses him as her last act, which breaks 11 because he still needed her. Variations thereupon apply to most Tardis teams in the show. But what is it with 15 and Ruby? They... get along well. That's pretty much it. Rogue sorta hints at the idea that Ruby helps the Doctor by making sure he keeps to the promise he made to 14, that he won't run from the pain, but work through it instead. Outside of that one scene though, that never comes up again. As for Ruby? It can't be about escape, she seems to really like the life she leads. It initially seemed to be about wanting to use the Doctor to learn who her mother was but that's so specific and gets dropped by the end of Space Babies. Nothing about her core urges and wants as a character play into why she's on the Tardis. Nothing about her core urges and wants as a character are ever truly explored in depth. She's missing a core, she's missing a fundamental reason to be in this story. That's... kinda a cardinal sin for this show as far as I'm concerned. Still liked this season a lot though, the four episode run from Boom was fantastic.
As much as I actually really did enjoy this series, I completely agree with your points. One thing that you didn’t talk about though was the narrative starting with the goblins that there was a push towards fantasy/ fairytale type threats that Kate acknowledged in 73 Yards and then immediately after this episode was abandoned and never acknowledged?
The Chibnall era was boring, but the _current_ era is _infuriating_ with its sheer lack of planning and effort. In almost _every_ pre-Chibnall era episode, you could _feel_ the love and passion that was put into it by everyone from the writers, to the actors, to the set design and props; the only time we've come _close_ to matching that energy since the end of Capaldi's run is "Boom", which written by Steven Moffat and proves that there's at least _someone_ who still cares about Doctor Who.
@@petra2578 Three words: the Timeless Child. Chibnall really thought he could get away with taking the character whose whole point is to be significant due to their kindness and intelligence (in spite of being a failure of a Time Lord and an embarrassment of Gallifrey), and turn them into an extradimensional Chosen One who was the source of the Time Lord miracle known as regeneration. The entire _concept_ behind the Doctor's character is to demonstrate that you don't have to be special to be important and that all you need is to be kind, and yet Chibnall decided to throw that out of the window just for some cheap drama. What's worse is that it doesn't even give the Doctor character development, and is instead moved past in the exact same episode it was introduced. If Chibnall _really_ wanted to make the Timeless Child, then he should've made it either the Master or just some innocent kid. The Master isn't exactly known for indiscriminately killing his own people (as seen in The End of Time where he focused all of his rage on Rassilon, rather than the entirety of the High Council), and finding out that the Doctor should've _at most_ resulted in him finding the people involved and killing _them_ on the Doctor's behalf; however, if it was the _Master_ who had been tortured, experimented on, and mind-wiped, _then_ his destruction would've been widespread, but it's _incredibly_ out of character for him to kill civilian Time Lords. Even if the Doctor _was_ the Timeless Child, at worst the Master might use it as motivation to prove that he's better than the Doctor _despite_ it. If the Timeless Child had just been a random person, then that could've been part of an arc where the Doctor has to decide if it's ethical or moral to keep using the results of an innocent child's pain and suffering to cheat death. As it stands, the Doctor being the Timeless Child adds nothing meaningful, and actively rectons things like the Eleventh Doctor's lack of regenerations due to implying that he has an infinite amount of them, and this is what I mean by a lack of thought and planning. As for the lack of effort, Jodie's era has got to be one of the blandest things I've ever seen, as it wasn't good enough to enjoy, but it wasn't _bad_ enough to hate (besides the Timeless Child thing). Jodie's Doctor was too passive, had no real presence or weight, and constantly just flailed about in panic whilst waiting for clues to be _given_ to her. The companions were dull and boring, the Yasmin/Doctor "romance" was poorly done, incredibly forced, and just came out of nowhere, and none of the characters really had any emotion to them. The only companion I actually didn't want to see leave was Graham, and that's because I enjoyed the way he acted as the only sane person in the room. The only parts of Jodie's era I actually liked were the Fugitive Doctor (she felt more like the Doctor that Jodie did), the Spy Master and first two parts of the Lone Cyberman trilogy, Captain Jack's reappearance, and the Master himself; to be honest, besides the TC arc and a general sense of disappointment and boredom, that's all I can really _remember_ about her run, and I am _very_ good at remembering stuff about Doctor Who.
Glad to hear that you thought it unfortunate to have filmed the next series before this one was broadcast. This was something I worried about even before this was broadcast. How could they possibly learn from this series (and the audience's reaction) if they've already made the next. It's a real "Stuff the fans! I know best!" attitude.
Series 14 was better than the Chibnall era, but that bar isn't that high, so over all it's a weak series with some good moments, a couple of great episodes and the rest is a hit or miss and most of the episodes do miss at the end. I really wanted to let this series be and embrace it as something new and like it for what it is but in the end it wasn't enough. Hopefully series 15 will be better planned and less rushed.
The identity of Ruby Sunday's mother wasn't that important....until they spent the whole season setting up how important it was. Then they spit in our face and say "hah, you thought it was important, you idiot". It's as bad the Sherlock 'it doesn't matter how I survived' nonsense - yes it fucking does. SET UP and PAY OFF is the basics of storytelling. Just not providing a PAY OFF isn't subversive, it's shit.
If Series was an old 13 episode series, it should go like this: 1: The Church on Ruby Road 2: Space Babies 3: Rogue then a two-parter for 4 and 5 6: Boom 7: The Devil’s Chord then a two-parter for 8 and 9 10: 73 Yards 11: Dot And Bubble 12: The Legend of Ruby Sunday 13: Empire Of Death. It’s a sad state for the show when practically anybody could make a video where they present a logical and working reordering and rewrite of the series that works better than what we got.
For the most part a fun season with a likeable Tardis team. Sadly it suffers from consistent pacing and tone issues whilst feeling derivative of previous seasons. If I were to rank the episodes: 8/9 Legend of Ruby Sunday and Empire of Death: I went in with zero investment in the mystery boxes so had more fun with the finale than most, but it's still messy and should have been saved for a later season and given more time to flesh it out. 7 Devil's Chord: Almost great with multiple creative moments but doesn't live up to being a musical about the Beatles. 6 The Church on Ruby Road: A fun character intro but the story is over before it begins 5 Space Babies: It's fun, a little low brow but has enough heartfelt moments with 15 and Ruby to make it work. 4 Rogue: very witty and has a rare Doctor romance I can in theory see growing , however it doesn't earn a somber ending. 3 73 Yards: I love it but mostly thanks to head canons. 2 Dot and Bubble: Russell's most solid script of the season with a fascinating ending. 1 Boom: Everything I love about Moffat's writing and gives Ncuti a unique acting challenge.
It's a shame that the series still has returned to the high it once had as I haven't enjoyed the series since Capaldi left. I like glancing in every now and then but I've yet to truly see a reason to return to avidly watching the newer series.
I think the main thing that was missing was having the doctor and Ruby have one huge fight. Maybe about family would’ve worked, since the doctor said Ruby changed how he thought about that? Maybe he could’ve asked her to abandon her family to save her life, and she could’ve screamed at him. Not that necessarily in particular. But just in general. And yeah, the Ruby being special red herring sucked
I assumed he attached in WBY…until it was revealed it was decades ago. Much more logical. But yes, for me neither the Doctor nor Ruby were really established as new characters. Short season, Doctor light episodes and stuff apparently happening off screen…
I think there are a good handful of great episodes (73 Yards, Boom, dot & bubble), and most of the other episodes were pretty enjoyable, but the overall season story arch definitly fell flat thanks to the finale.
I agree on most points except Chibnall. If Disney Who has one virtue, it's that it made me appreciate the Chibnall era so much more. Go rewatch Jodie's Doc with an open mind and an open heart.
The worst part is how everyone involved in making the show can't own that they messed up and instead attacks the fans with a bunch of buzzwords. I don't like the the current show because it's not good Doctor Who and it insulted me when watching it. Until the show course corrects, the Doctor's last words were "Doctor, I let you go."
Series 14 is the most like Series 6 to me. Both take some wild swings in a season-long narrative that start strong but end up very disappointing and ultimately hurting the overall season. However, the individual episodes in the middle chunks are incredibly strong. When Series 6 and 14 aren’t trying to build up a long story, you’re getting some incredible episodes of Who
I think you pretty much mirrored my thoughts on Series 14 completely. I wouldn't say I was "let down", which sounds a bit too negative, but I'd definitely use the word "lacking" towards it. I hope Series 15 is a lot better... or Series 16 at least.
I think its a decent series definitely not the best but not the worst either although one thing i think is odd is that they wanted to get new viewers with a bit of a clean split but bring back a villain that only long term fans would know in Sutekh. While The Cybermen or the Daleks would have been a bit too obvious since they were in the finales of each Russel Series, i think a new villain could have worked better to establish a threat that everyone can get at the same time and save Sutekh for a different time or give more context. Its a great twist for the fans who know him but for others that havent seen classic who are left in the dark Ncuti i do think is the best part of the series and he does well in what is asked of him in each episode and while the filming schedule was a little jumbled due to Ncuti's other commitments i still think he nails it. With the second series being filmed and possibly finished already is a little risky since they wont be able to change almost anything due to the criticism of this series not being heard due to filming ahead of time. No wonder it didnt work for the 2nd and 3rd Matrix films.
When you don’t have as many episodes as previous seasons did , not a lot of time character development. With that said that’s progress right? Writer’s strikes, Actor’s disputes, deleted scenes. That’s what we have to look forward to. Make the best of 8- 9 episodes and a Christmas Special because brother that’s all we’re getting ❤❤❤
i agree but i also i think i heard it was cause rtd wanted to make it a jumping on point for new viewers. tho honestly youre better off starting with 2005 series 1
@@THOMAS_VANN Yeah, 2005 Series One did a better job at a soft reboot and reintroducing Doctor Who to a whole new generation without overwhelming them with the classic series
IMO, they should have held off on the mystery box and epic-universe-destroying stuff until Season 15, to give it more of a build-up. Maybe they should have gone with a lower-stakes villain arc, and then in the finale we get the circumstances that lead to Sutekh getting on board.
This is what I think should have happened in the series finale. The Doctor found out that Sutekh was coming back. But he found out reasonably early on in the series. This is why (in my version) he chose not to appear in two episodes. This was because, in my version, he was making deals with the devils - Cybermen, Sontarans, Krillitanes. He wanted help in defeating a literal god who would destroy everyone. Maybe UNIT is involved, but even if they are, I wouldn't place Rose Noble and Morris in there. Kate, I doubt that Daddy or Sarah Jane would be too happy about using children. While this would put him in their debt, they would be able to see the benefit in stopping Sutekh. When the Doctor finally meets face-to-face with the god again, he puts on a brave face. Maybe Sutekh didn't cling on since Pyramids of Mars, but still an awfully long time. Perhaps since the end of the Time War, or since the walls of universes became weaker when the Earth was stolen. I like the idea of the events of the Series Five finale being partially Sutekh's plan. Despite the efforts of all of the Doctor's enemies, Sutekh starts dissolving the universe. But the Doctor and Ruby still go ahead with their part of the story. Eventually, after they've defeated Sutekh, Ruby asks the Doctor what he found out about her mother. Doctor - Nothing. Ruby - Nothing? What do you MEAN, nothing? Doctor - I looked at the scanner from every possible angle. I found nothing. Ruby - But - I CAN'T - I CAN'T be from NOTHING? Can I? Can people come from nothing? (The Doctor is silent for a moment.) Ruby - Doctor? Doctor - I looked at all possible options. I ran your DNA through the TARDIS. Scanned it against every lifeform across the universe. There were no matches. Ruby - So I'm...What AM I, Doctor? Doctor: I have no clue. Ruby doesn't say anything. The Doctor jokes that maybe the two of them are more alike than he originally thought. But he can't tell what Ruby is. The only thing he can do is take her to UNIT and drop her off. As the episode closes, the Doctor stares wistfully at his TARDIS console. He briefly opens a drawer and finds a picture of Susan. He hears her voice in a recording from a Hartnell episode. He asks himself aloud, "CAN people come from nothing?" The final shot is of both Susan and Ruby's photos in the drawer, side by side. I came up with most of this in under 20 minutes. And I wasn't drunk this time.
The series is sitting right in the middle for me personally, I loved the actors and the visuals but the writing was just okay. My key points are - The series suffers from too little episodes and too little episode length to develop connection between Ruby & The Doctor - The whole "fantasy" approach just doesnt feel Doctor Who enough for me. I understand it has always been a thing but the whole "god" emphasis just falls flat when they defeat them really easily - The lack of Doctor development, as much as I enjoyed Nucti as the Doctor all I can remember is he cried every episode, his friendship with Ruby really felt unearned as it was just there by episode 2. I miss the slow burn of the Russell's earlier series I hope its just teething issues and we may see a little more consistency by the next series but I had high hopes for this and it was just overall OKAY
Agreed on all counts and I'm really sad about it! I especially agree that showing any newcomer the first two episodes of this season would have been devastatingly embarrassing. I actively told people who were looking to get into the show (or back into it) to skip those because I couldn't believe how childish and over the top they were.
I agree that eight episodes aren’t enough. But I think a lot of weight could have been carried by four or five extra episodes without plot stakes. Specifically episodes where the only thing that is being accomplished is letting the Doctor and Ruby build out their relationship. I’m tempted to write those episodes myself just as a fanfiction exercise. I do disagree with the idea that this is a bad introduction, I think of it like a sampler of all the things Who can be. We get stupid fun aliens, creepy spaceships, episodes in one place, and big lore dumps. And I think it works as that.
I feel like a comfortable explanation for Ruby's parentage would have been the reveal that her mom was Jenny(the doctor's clone/daughter) explaining the hidden song and the mysticism around her mom while she was leaving the church, making Ruby the granddaughter of the doctor, a sort of ironic melancholy as the doctor finds some family but is still is missing his old one, ik Jenny was part of the future and I'm not aware of her big finish adventures but her traveling through time like her dad isn't out of the picture, it would also explain why there were no records of her or why it was hard to find her on earth, maybe Jenny had to leave Ruby because she was being chased by something and didn't want her child to be in danger, I do appreciate how human Ruby's parentage turned out to be, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth after all the unnecessary mystery, like a cheesecake that looks really colorful and tasty but is actually fake and made out of wax, might smell nice but you can't actually enjoy the taste
I .... didn't really like it... idk. Too rushed. It feels too fast to me. Also Ruby feels a bit underdeveloped? Her only personality is orphan. No friction with her and the Doctor. idk. Maybe s15 is gonna be better
I kept watching the show waiting for an episode that was just good and the closest I ever got to that was Boom. I think a lot of people will say Dot and Bubble but frankly all that has going for it is the in/out group ingrained discrimation lesson embedded in it which anyone whose lived as a minority already knows so personally it felt like nothing. That episode (which is a good example) sacrificed everything for one moment which didn't really have lasting development on our characters and meant following a frustrating character the whole episode just to get there. 73 yards I really wanted to like, but Ruby hadn't been developed enough as a character for her to carry an entire episode alone and me to care. She got some neat development that episode and none of it matters along with her stopping the worst prime minister ever (and lol yh, sorry Doctor your bestie still has Jack beat). And we never really got an answer to the plot driving creepy woman (only a more confusing explanation of it being Ruby). Disappointed is a good way to describe how I feel after this season. I mean I had my doubts with RTD returning and Tenant being the face of the 60th anniversary (not Jodie or Ncuti) and the specials made me feel a little wary as well, but I was really really hoping this season would still at least be a fun ride and I can't say it was. Every episode was bogged down by uninspired writing, rushed progression, and just weird decisions. Stuff like never spending time with Cherry and Ruby being put in danger in a modern day at home plot to build those relationships organically. Instead just trying to shoe horn them in with flashbacks. Or like the weird time skip from episode 1 to 2 despite them airing back to back. Or Sutekh being defeated the exact same way but it works this time because reasons (actually pretty much all of the finale). It felt like RTD was on an any % speedrun and just wanted to get this over with. And that's so disappointing.
The storytelling definitely took a back seat while ideology was the primary focus. This won’t change in the near future and that’s why the show won’t last much longer
I actually quite liked it, especially coming straight from 13’s era. But, I agree I was too short. Another thing is that I felt it went a bit too far into fantasy in too many episodes. I don’t mind it for a couple, but it was in quite a few
I definitely agree with the conclusion at 26:20, it's difficult for me as I've had this love/loathe relationship with Doctor Who for so long I'm not even sure where it really began. I wanted to like Season 14 but found every episode to have more cons than pros, and that was me going in every episode with an open mind. I thought it was possibly to do with cynicism as I have seen as a culture we've started being more overly critical towards media but since the finale dropped I have struggled to really hammer down why I keep feeling like something isn't right still and I think the more popular something is the more it has to be watered down and changed so that the general public can find it accessible. The writing hasn't gotten much better. There's been improvements here and there but what was great about RTD 1 hasn't passed through into RTD 2. The family drama side hasn't been explored enough, Ruby's arc was great up until the reveal. I'm happy to go a season without any returning villains like Daleks or Cybermen but the Monster of the Week has to actually be decent enough. Thing is I'm fully behind Ncuti as the Doctor, he gives a great performance. But I don't think you can rest the show fully on his shoulders. I'm genuinely debating whether to even give Season 15 a go as I have felt this season wasn't great, it's not the worst by any stretch but I feel the magic has been drained.
I give the series overal an 8 out of 10. Ncuti sold me very early on as the doctor. Hes just a lot of fun who seems to be less broken and has that joy again, while also still having that quiet rage. Millie is a fun companion. Some stories where hit and miss (like all doctors stories). Im excited for the next series. The only part i hated was the stupid ass song and dance routine during 'the devils cord'. I wanna strangle whoever thought of that with the 4th dr scarf, not to death just to unconsciousness.
This was a review par excellence. Balanced, well-articulated, and well-constructed with dialogue matching footage. After having watched so many DW review videos I have one huge nagging question I would love there to be an answer to that is fair. The question being; If thousands of viewers are identifying the same flaws about this season how no-one involved in its production recognise the obvious problems prior to screening? The complaints are pretty much staple opinions now. The story arch leading you into emotional engagement to then fall flat, too many tonal shifts, the rather weak monsters, the excess crying and overall emotional excess, the mismatch feel across stories and even within individual ones. All these things have been mentioned by so many. Here though the host is very eloquent and gives just the right amount of detail to discuss these issues whilst not ignoring the strengths of the season. But again, how did RTD and crew fail to see the blinding obvious faults. For me this remains the biggest issue. Lack of foresight and insight. This has to be laid at the top chief RTD but he seems incapable, certainly unwilling, to give the slightest acknowledgement of errors and bad decisions. This has led many DW fans to feel insulted, even patronised. Well at least this season gave way for some excellent reviews (amongst the tosh) and this one has probably been the most concise and engaging video to be posted.
One of my biggest issues with the doctor's characterization this season is how human he feels. RTD had this issue a bit with 10 (especially when he was with rose and martha) but it was never quite to the extent it is now. Steven Moffat's writing was very flawed in many ways, but at least with 11 and 12 it was always very apparent how alien they are. This also created more juxtaposition between them and their companions. 15 is written in a way in which he could have been just some smart guy with a time machine, and it wouldnt have made much of a difference to the season. I think this is also why he seems at many points to be a side character to his own show. And why his and ruby's relationship feels flat.
10 being more human like was nothing bad at all. it was what made him great and unique and much more like what Doctor (considering 9 and 12) usually behaved
@altinaykor364 I do agree that it complimented his story. I geuss the reason why it works with 10 is that it felt more purposeful than it does with 15, and added something to him that made him feel unique among the rest of the doctors. Tbh I prefer it when the doctor is at his most 'alien-y', but you're right that it wasn't necessarily a mistake with 10.
YES! Exactly. That's why 10 is one of my least favourite and 11 and 12 are my favourites from New Who. The Doctor should feel alien, awkward, strange... if it's too human, what's the point? The show is called Doctor Who. We should feel that he is mysterious and alien.
I watched every episode when they came out with my grandma, like I did during the Matt Smith era as a child. So this season will have maybe a special place in my heart but I felt a bit disappointed at the end
As someone who grew up with tennant to capaldi, this just doesn’t feel like doctor who anymore. Something about the way it’s shot and directed with the vibrant colour grading and something about the acting and dialogue just isn’t the same. It just feels so odd and it feels like it’s a completely different show. Plus the whole magical aspects are done so bad and just feel off and not like doctor who. When I first saw the Christmas special and saw the goblin musical scene I knew I was going to hate this season because it’s just no longer doctor who and no longer the show that I grew up with. I get that they’re trying to encourage a new audience but I feel like they’re just alienating their current audience and that definitely is shown somewhat within the viewing figures but I know 2024 is a whole different time than 2010.
the reason the ratings were good only because folks took a risk and watched it, then found out it wasnt as good.. and "fact" the real reason they spit the Tardis is to seperate the TV shows now and the Big Finish franchise wich is still going strongly. season 14 was WAY too forced and wasn't enjoyable especially the Church on Ruby Road (wich lets face it is a total rip off of Labyrinth it was only missing music from the late David Bowie) Jinkx Monsoon as the Mystro was a great acting chops however.. (and btw when they were filming Abbey Road for Devils Chord.. it wasnt even filmed in studio 2 (where the Beatles recorded everything aside from the Revolver Album) but instead in studio 1. so it wasnt even accurate historically, on the set) Beatles fans like myself noticed all of that.... overall a total let down on the new Doctor and it doesnt suprise me that it was only 8 eps as i think they knew it would have backlash
I really enjoyed this series, this has been the most experimental series ever, although i must admit it was too quick, 8 episodes per series isn't enough, it should have been 13 episodes, or at least 10 episodes Other than that, all of the episodes are fantastic, Ncuti and Millie's performance are amazing, although it had flaws, its still a great season Bring on Series 15/Season 2
It's no coincidence that the two most popular episodes were the ones where the Doctor was mainly absent. He has gone from troubled, vengeful demi-god with various soubriquets such as The On-Coming Storm to a mincing cry baby. The writing of his character has badly let him down. Also, when the TARDIS split, does this mean that there were two Sutekhs, one on each TARDIS?
I also want to respond to your depressing note. I'm increasingly feeling like the franchises and content I've loved all my life, just aren't for me anymore. Like a big one is Star Wars. I don't want to be the guy that feels exhausted every new project that comes out and complains about "Disney Star Wars" all the time. But I'm just so tired of getting excited for new Star Wars content only to hate it and feel like it undermines what I've liked in Star Wars. And then go online and see a whole mess of people attacking each other and barely even talking about Star Wars. I keep wondering if I should just stop and give up.
Regarding the pace of the series, I personally subscribe to this slight rearrangement being superior: 1. Church on Ruby Road 2. Space Babies 3. Boom 4. 73 Yards 5. The Devil's Chord 6. Dot and Bubble 7. Rogue 8. The Legend of Ruby Sunday 9. Empire of Death
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Personally, I couldn’t agree less. This is better than every Moffat Series (except for Series 5) and it’s leaps and bounds above Chibbers. This series is 7 / 10 at the absolute worst. Awesome series!
Definitely not @@thetimeshadow6769
bro where is your other azbantium level patron NathanGibson lmao
Another Sutekh meme: in the Doctor's wife the TARDIS chastised the Doctor for "bringing home strays" 😂
Not until you begin hating the Chibnall and RTD2 eras
I think the lack of conflict between 15 and Ruby is what makes Ruby feel less developed. I really liked Ruby as a character for the most part but sometimes seeing someone get angry shows you another layer to someone and where they'll draw a line on something and their beliefs. Same in some regards to 15, some of his scenes where he cried would've worked so much better if he was angry instead and shows that the trauma he carried prior to this incarnation is still there deep down. Then bouncing Ruby off of that and seeing how she would've reacted, showing her more caring and supportive side. Hopefully we see this sort of stuff in the next series.
yeah i think this is a big limitation of the idea that the bigeneration like, cured his Time War trauma and made him basically well-adjusted. ultimately it subtracts a source of conflict and character from him, without adding anything in return. you can write a story about a person who's well-adjusted, you don't *need* angst and anger to write an interesting character, but subtracting that when it's been a core trait for so many years just leaves a gap where some of 15's character should go.
not even angry, I'd say.
Like Ruby and 15th had almost little to no conflict at all.
From minor things like friendly bickering, to legit disagreements and arguments, Ruby had none with 15th. Even 13th and the fam eventually had more spice; even Mel & 15th had more dynamic.
It gets quite bland and boring and tiring when most of the character interactions are repetitive and not much depth.
@@junker-f3m Even two well-adjusted people can disagree about things passionately. But I'm not sure the Doctor is all that well-adjusted. It was weird in the Susan convo in TDC how he smiled at a particularly serious moment. I'm not sure Fourteen is doing the therapy work now that makes Fifteen well-adjusted -- I think it might be that Fifteen is going to be doing the work that retroactively made Fourteen well-adjusted enough to take retirement. Fifteen was taking the pain from him, after all, and saying he could rest (some people commented at the time that this was symbolically a black man taking a white man's trauma -- although technically the same person -- and that wasn't the best look). But we have yet to see Fifteen do anything to become more well-adjusted. Maybe they are just laying the groundwork this season/series.
@@HuntingViolets the impression I had from The Giggle was that Fifteen is supposed to be "fixed"; they're "doing rehab out of ordeer", as he says near the end, while Fourteen is healing on earth. and yeah, the whole "magical black dude" trope is definitely something that development seems to accidentally veer into , which sucks. i think perhaps the issue is that the *intention* is for Fifteen to be the bubbly, happy, more emotionally mature Doctor, hence the lack of conflict with Ruby, but as you're saying, in a lot of other ways that's not really conveyed properly, in part because the short season means his character unfortunately is not that well fleshed-out, and also because i think, fundamentally, the Doctor is a bit of a messy bitch who loves drama, and you can't really take that element of the character away without fundamentally changing who they are, which you'd need a proper character arc to justify rather than just some technobabble about bigeneration. as a result, you're never going to get Normal Man Doctor. dude is never going to be John Smith.
exactly. successful doctor-companion relationships always include some type of conflict. rtd1 and moffat companions both have their detractors but the reason they work for the fans at all was every once in a while you'd have an episode where the doctor and companion get into some kind of argument about what they should do or something like that. it makes them feel like real people and it also shows that they see the doctor as a person and a friend who they can disagree or argue with.
Liked it more than Chibnall.
Didn’t like it as much as Moffat or RTD1
I think that's a near perfect summation of this series
But to be fair, that's not a very high bar to clear when it's sinking to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
It's basicly a given.
Summed it up perfectly
Tbh i even thought that series 13 was better than this
One big issue was the push towards fantasy storytelling from a writer who doesn't seem to understand fantasy storytelling. RTD treated it as an excuse to have no rules and write whatever he wanted, which really cheapened a lot of story beats.
In reality, even soft magic systems have SOME rules in place needed for a compelling narrative, and a lot of fantasy setting have hard magic systems with a lot of restrictions that make it even more exciting when those rules get bent or taken advantage of.
I found this choice really strange by RTD because fantasy was never his strong suit, sci-fi and character writing was. You know who WAS good at fantasy? Moffat. Why wasn't Moffat brought on almost exclusively for this run? His whole thing was "Doctor Who is a fairy tale".
Yes, thank you for bringing up how the Doctor cries every single episode and how it feels forced and diminishes how important such a moment should be!!!
The 5th Doctor’s “there should have been another way” scene wouldn’t be near as impactful as it is to me if 5 was just crying every episode.
EDIT: AND MEGA THANKS for bringing up how flat the series looks!!! I hate how flat modern cinematography is.
I mean, does it though? Does him being more emotional really diminish anything?
It sounds more like a personal preference rather than objective critique.
does it not, though? does frequently repeating the same beat with worse writing each time, not dimish the effect?
It sounds more like personal preference rather than objective discussion.@@garrethb6261
@@garrethb6261 Of course. Try it in real life, if you tear up a lot, it won't have the same impact on other people that someone who rarely does will. They'll just see tears as how you express any form of negative feeling and not be as concerned.
I get what they were going for, this doctor is emotional blah blah blah so he cries every episode and then his development is Mel tells him to shut up and next season he won't be crying as much and by his third season he'll be cold and emotionless... yeah, I get it. but I think they overestimated how impactful him crying every episode was.
There's no "thank you for bringing this up" because it's not a unique take.
Literally everyone has said he cries too much and that it's losing it's effect, so there's no point in framing it like a rogue out-there take.
One of the things I hated the most is how often Fifteen would just _stand_ there crying instead of _doing_ anything; the entire time Clara was comforting Twelve just before she was killed, you could _see_ his eyes darting about the room in an effort to come up with _some_ way to save her, and Heaven Sent showed us what the Doctor looks like at his absolute limit and how he reacts when given mere _seconds_ to live. The Doctor does _not_ let his emotions stop him from _acting_ as he knows that he doesn't have that luxury, so why is Fifteen so useless? Even Thirteen had a better track record of saving the day than him, and she never did anything until the puzzle pieces were _handed_ to her.
There's something about Fifteen's characterisation that feels off to me.
He's apparently "recovered" from his many traumas following Fourteen's timey-wimey retirement, which has allowed Fifteen to be more "carefree", "fun-loving" and more "in touch with his emotions", but I'd argue that deep down the Doctor is bullshitting himself.
He's carefree to the point of carelessness, fun-loving to the point of flippancy, emotional to the point of dysregulation. He's known his "best friend in the whole universe" for what feels like five damn minutes. There's a studied superficiality to him, a kind of toxic "living my best life" "good vibes only" *mask* of positivity.
Also, what the fuck was with him making the space babies cry for his own amusement? Goddamn sociopath!
His sympathy often feels forced and insincere. The tears come too easily, the "I'm so so sorry"s feel more glib and perfunctory than ever.
Kate staring daggers at Fifteen when Chidozie is killed seems to imply Fifteen's flippant insincerity as an intentional character trait, a flaw to be dealt with -- which could be a fascinating thread if it were explored in the next series.
Sadly, I'm not all that confident that it is intentional or will ever be explored.
Agreed
see, this could work if it felt intentional. instead it seems like rtd has convinced himself fifteen really is a changed man who just bursts into tears at the first opportunity anyway. he keeps bringing up stuff he has trauma about and brushing it off like someone who knows they are traumatized and is simply refusing to deal with it. but rtd doesn't seem to be aware this is not how emotionally stable people act. fifteen is actively in denial about his own trauma but in a better season they would DO something with that. rtd wrote nine and ten too and they both got solid characterization WITHIN THEIR FIRST EPISODES ALONE. he literally did more to develop ten in the 15 minutes of christmas invasion he was actually awake for than he did for fifteen in nine episodes.
I think comparing Ruby to RTD’s first companions (Rose, Martha & Donna) is almost like a joke.
Within the first few episodes, we knew why they were traveling with the Doctor, what they got out of it, what their home life was really like and how they interacted with the world around them.
Rose would often seek out the working class of each era they landed in or at least form some sort of attachment to them, and even had her own arc about wanting to see her dad. In fact she was the first character we see question the Ood’s true nature. We see her become more confident as the episodes go by to the point where it’s basically her life, and it causes tension with her family.
Martha we see would often use her medical practice to either save the day or even save the Doctor. She would focus on trying to prove herself to the Doctor and also just trying to find someone she can place faith in. This also causes tension with her family and causes them to be tortured for a year. Something that would deeply affect her decision to leave the Tardis, along with finding her own self worth.
Donna was the 10th Doctor’s best friend. Someone who would follow him to the ends of the earth and defend him at any cost. She often connected with the common people on a deep emotional level. She like Martha was trying to find her own self worth, but not for the Doctor, for herself. She had major confidence issues that she didn’t feel when she was with the Doctor.
The problem is outside of Ruby wanting to see her mom, I couldn’t tell you anything about her that wasn’t common companion type stuff. She’s brave, funny, intelligent, quick witted, compassionate and loyal. But that’s legit almost every companion. We don’t know why she leaves home, we don’t know what she gets out of it, we don’t see her interact with people enough to get a sense of what she’s really like on a deep level and she never has any conflict with her family, or the doctor. She didn’t feel real. Which is something I never thought I would say about an RTD companion.
She does have another season coming so hopefully this is fixed, but my hopes are low. She has a happy life now with a complete family. WHY DOES SHE WANT TO LEAVE THAT!?!?
I recently gave series 1 a rewatch and the comparisons are night and day. The inner conflict rose has in episode 2 of not knowing the doctor or where she is or why she decided to go is so real, already there’s conflict and friction between the two of why she’s there and how emotional it is to see the future and how far we e come. You then compare it to space babies and ruby just accepts it and plays along. I think what’s wrong is this fantasy aura the show is taking on leaves the premises feeling flimsy with no weight to them. I mean fuck that finale blowing its load and showing every major character turning to dust ? Removes all stakes immediately
While it's minor, do you think Ruby's heavy concern for small children is a little something?
@@Mayeur000Donzit’s certainly something but it’s not really much of a character trait beyond just being good and it doesn’t really inform what that means. Good for rose is taking charge of a situation to get people out. We see that in the first episode of her getting people out of the restaurant with plastic Mickey. Good for Martha is a more medical approach in most of her stories because she is medically trained. Good for Donna is making connections with people who are overlooked.
Good for Ruby is not something unique for a character because I can’t imagine any of the other companions, even the planks of wood that were The Fam not also doing the same thing in the same situation.
It’s kinda unfortuante because she’s almost like the 13th doctor of companions where she is kinda a Jack of all trade and master of none
frrr i recently got done with a series 1-10 rewatch and it's astounding how neutral of a companion ruby is. she's even worse than 7b clara because at least 7b clara got SOME kind of home life that eagle eyed viewers would be able to latch onto. ruby gets no unique character traits at all. you genuinely don't get what she sees in the doctor or what the doctor sees in her. there's no characterization happening.
4 two-parters would’ve worked really well! at the very least, the first 2 episodes should’ve been a two-parter considering they dropped on the same day.
Nope. Instead for some reason there's a six month TIME SKIP between episode one and episode two despite them dropping on the same day. Like why?
@@vullord666 its such an odd choice. especially when her first alien planet is apparently in boom.
@@joeyunderwoodcould be completely wrong, but...
I feel like devil's chord was meant to be mid-season
But when the opportunity presented itself to air the musical episode on the same day as eurovision, they moved it forward
From a top down level: 15 and Ruby never had conflicts of ideals, most episodes felt like early drafts, due to the low amount of episodes Ruby’s family wasn’t established to a degree you’d expect from RTD. (Which is ironic since her entire arc is about family.)
I don't agree that scripts felt like early drafts - I do agree that there should have been some sort of meaningful conflict between the new Doctor and the new companion at some point, but I feel like that was a casualty of the shorter series length.
Unfortunately, this seems to be something happening across the whole industry, probably because of a metric like ten episodes being the optimum binge number.
@@MichaelJohnson-kq7qg Maybe a first draft is too harsh. But it’s not a good sign when RTD said in an interview right after the season finished that the script had “complete narrative collapse” in the plot point that the Evil TARDIS can magically teleport 15, Ruby, and Mel to UNIT Tower in present day.
The pointing at a sign was beyond bad.
You probably think Crap that Heaven Sent is good
@@justsomerandomguyonline1144 Bait used to be better
@@justsomerandomguyonline1144 yes, because it knew how to properly think through how to employ chekhov's gun
@@justsomerandomguyonline1144 if you're gonna go around trolling people in the comments at least come up with good ideas for it
The writing felt very half arsed. It feels like RTD doesn't give a shit anymore. I don't think Ncuti really felt like the Doctor. He didn't believably have the darkness that all the Nu Who Doctors had. Maybe you could say that was a choice, but they didn't replace it with anything, so Ncuti's Doctor just felt like an underbaked character
Exactly. It really seems like they wanted to fly through it and that made a lot of problems. We see the bi-generation and that's all they show us to explain why this Doctor is so chill and because of that Ncuti's Doctor seems undeveloped. The pacing is off too and it's just not that deep. Seems like their aiming at younger audiences but like RTD himself said - it's should be adult show with the kids in mind. But it's just not that deep. Look at Sutekh for example. That ending was supposed to be dramatic and deep but you can easily compare Doctor's behavior to Family Of Blood and it's just soo much worse. Let's hope season 2 will be better but sadly it seems DW is going through a really rough time for some time now and it will probably last.
I'd describe it myself as an any % speedrun. Frankly this has been my worry since they announced RTD's return. In a way he's too experienced. He's done all this before and it really felt like he didn't want to do it all again and just wanted to skip through it. Like we never saw 15 meet Ruby's family on screen except for flashbacks and the ending (and like a few seconds in an alternate timeline). So much just felt cheap and rushed. We were told we never got post regeneration craziness to start with an experienced Doctor like 9... expect we still saw 15 get regenerated too (kinda hate bi-generation more now) and even if 9 didn't have any post regeneration madness for a whole episode throughout series 1 we saw moments that dived deep into his character. We hardly got that at all with 15. Dalek alone did a far better job exploring 9's struggle with preserving life and stopping threats too dangerous than series 14 tried to do with it's finale.
Also wanna add another possibility. Bringing RTD back who had such a status in Doctor Who now could have created a toxic environment where writers didn't feel like they had the status or experience to question his writing. Cuz a lot of stuff could have easily been improved if it just got questioned in the draft stage. Like how did Sutekh latching onto the TARDIS as long as the fourth doctor not get questioned. Like no one said "umm, that's kinda a long timeline Davies? Like what about the time war? All those multi doctor stories? That time the TARDIS literally blew up and ended reality?"
Ncuti's laid back, pre-time war-esque Doctor has been a breath of fresh air. The baggage was getting annoying, and the Doctor wasn't respectfully given the wisdom that also comes with experience. He was just fun. I agree about RTD, though. He definitely has the wrong mentality for a returning showrunner, and I still think he shouldn't have come back.
Yup.
My biggest issue with Doctor Who since Capaldi left has been the characterisation of the Doctor and their companions. I don't know why but Chibnal and now RTD2 make the Doctor seem like a passenger in their own show. Lots of plot/stuff happens but we never really see how this genuinely effects the Doctor and (insert whichever companion lol). Re-watching the Capaldi era recently it is the doctors relationships and performances with Clara, Missy, Bill etc. which make that era work so well, elevating even the 'meh' stories or plot-points.
For some reason Doctor Who has completely forgotten how to do this and so even if I really liked some of the ideas in the Chibnal era and now in RTD2 I can't help but not feel invested because I'm not really sold on the Doctor and Ruby - which is a shame because when the Doctor/companion dynamic really clicks the show 'works'.
You can _really_ feel the lack of passion in the post-Capaldi series.
@@Jackson-ub1uv Yh it does feel like since then Doctor Who has just been desperately trying to cater to a new audience/demographic (which I understand, a show like Doctor Who naturally has to evolve), but this really obviously took precedent over making the story/characterisation good. Which is weird because that's what made NuWho so popular in the first place.
i mean i think they want him to become the passenger now sort of ... because hes already seen so much and been through so much pain
@@toukoenriaze9870 But that's not what Doctor Who is, nor is it what the Doctor as a _character_ stands for.
When the Doctor sees a child crying, he doesn't start crying himself; what he does instead is talk to the child, find out what's going on, and fix the problem.
When the Doctor comes across people in danger, he doesn't stand around impotently, he jumps in and does everything he can to _save them._
@@Jackson-ub1uv thats not what it is ... thats kinda what its been going toward
this is almost like a depression/jaded arc
because of everything thats been happening with like clara and pots and what happened with the master during the 13s reign of terror and all the stuff they learned then
i get the feeling even without complaining about it next season is gonna have some sort of like redemption arc of him taking back control of his life and like not being the passenger anymore in his own adventures
I feel like the Doctor and Ruby’s “friendship” felt extremely unearned and underdeveloped due to the low episode count. Frankly, given Ruby’s solid characterization and lack of screen time with Gatwa’s Doctor, it would’ve made more sense for the Doctor to develop an intellectual obsession with Ruby’s hazy origin, providing ample parallel to Sutehk, rather than the Doctor deciding that this girl he just met is his best friend in the universe. I feel like the finale they wrote would’ve worked better with more episodes of the two of them hanging out and running from monsters together, but they should’ve seen this underdeveloped relationship coming and adjusted some of the episodes accordingly.
Frankly, I was more invested in S12 & Flux simply because of the fact that there was a definitive story that they wanted to tell… a poorly executed and rushed story at times, but one that was at least consistent within its own narrative logic. (Though the characterizations and energy within the Tardis was obviously much more magnetic, which makes the flaws of this season even more frustrating)
Yes
I think what Ruby is "missing" is exactly what you highlighted as her pros. She is "a companion". She doesn't really feel like her own character, she feels like an amalgamation of previous companions. Like you described the show to someone and they then created Ruby.
INB4 is AI generated. Actually how sick would it have been if it was revealed Ruby was a "S TRIAD" projection that had gone rogue. Or like the TARDIS trying to fight back against Sutekh by creating it's own. Sure they'd have to completely rewrite her and the season but it would have at least explained why she has so little personality. Also if she had been created by the TARDIS could have worked really well for why she always made comforting him her priority and wanted him to change and seek out his granddaughter again.
She felt to me like companions of the classic Who era, whose whole shtick was "What's going on Doctor?" "What's happening Doctor?" "What do we do Doctor?", iow just kind of there to be some sort of sounding board for the Doctor's expositions. Ruby's a bit better than that (she did have 73 Yards and Boom after all), but not by much
@@LapsedLawyerEvery single classic Who companion I have seen, having watched Seasons 1-15, has had several conflicts of interest and morals with the Doctor. Barbara in the Aztecs, Susan in the Sensorites, Jo, Sarah Jane, etc. Ruby doesn’t even compare to them in that level. She is a fine character, but she lacks a clear and interesting dynamic with the Doctor.
I think a lot of early signs of the series not working were there from the get go, I just really hoped they weren’t true
Ncuti Gatwa having scheduling issues is absolutely awful to have in a series as short as this. Him not being there hurts the overall narrative.
The 15th Doctor is also very immature. For being the oldest iteration of the Doctor, he cries in nearly every episode, with the finale being 5 times (I can’t get over that)
I know they’re trying to make him more emotional but it doesn’t work here, he’s a completely different character.
The fact that the show alienates older viewers and new fans is wild knowing it had the backing of DISNEY PLUS to appeal to a broad audience is insane.
I’m hoping series 2 is better because I just found myself bored with this series.
Disney plus releases tends to encourage pumping stuff out to keep the stream going… so can’t say I’m surprised
Doctor Who always alienates his audience, that is nothing new.
And the Tenth Doctor feel more a angst teenager that a Time Lord.
9th Doctor: Numbed down (by the Time War)
15th Doctor: Dumbed down
I can never agree with the new Doctor's crying being an issue.
I think it's a great thing that he's more emotional now.
@@garrethb6261I think the problem is that it takes away the impact of a scene like him tearing up when the woman dies in Empire of Death. If he didn’t cry all season until then that moment would’ve meant a lot more.
To me what lets down series 14 is it attempts to recreate what worked rather than adjusting. What I mean by this is RTD seems to think how he approached Series 1 - 4 will work with Series 14 and I think that doesn't work.
Take Ruby for instance, she's performed well by Millie but due to the runtime I barely know anything about her, I'd argue I know a bit more about Yaz than her. Sure she gets 73 Yards but we don't get any Tardis scenes with the Doctor to see their dynamic. Have they complained? Were they afriad at first realising what they'd done? What about friends? What about work? Longer series had time to flesh this out. Those one of stories that y'know the main characters will survive but allowed time to explore this stuff. For exmaple Martha in 42, she's in an escape pod going into the sun and we get a little moment of her talking about her family, her life.
The Doctor again performed well by Ncuti but we need to see some more development because the start and finish of this series, he's still the same character from what I can tell.
I'm of the opinion when you're dealing with eight episodes for Doctor Who, those episodes have got to land, as we saw with two episodes being Doctor-lite and with Space Babies (which I don't like, sorry to those who do) but that's three out of eight episodes, those duds hit more now with such a small run of episodes compared to 13 or 12 or 10.
A bit surprising but understandable. A lot of potential that seems squandered by just a few decisions. I'm grateful to this season for giving me Boom & 73 Yards tho.
I really enjoy Boom. I forgot how well Moffat writes the Doctor tbh. I've watched Boom twice more than any other ep, and it mostly made me go back and rewatch Eleven and Twelve's run
@@SleepyHarryZzz Yeah same stuff
Honestly, comparing this season to those from 2005-2010 the differences are so glaring - with this season being almost universally badly written, with poor or outright bad character development, plot holes, shoehorned agenda/message (nothing to do with the plots, just thrown in there) - that I genuinely wondered if RTD had had a stroke or something between times. The short length of the season plus shorter time of episodes haven’t helped either. High production values - it DOES look great a lot of the time - do not a successful show make. The crying almost every episode meant that when there WAS a genuine reason to cry, it had no impact, because THIS Doctor - often not the hero, getting Ruby or John Lennon or Rogue to save the day - constantly acted lost or over emotional: which cheapens the character dramatically. In truth, the strongest “glue” somehow keeping things going was Millie Gibson who often did marvels with the limited stuff she, as Ruby, was given to do. Ultimately the best (though certainly not perfect) episode was “Boom” - it had a pretty good sense of peril and, because of the scenario, forced Ncuti Gatwa to play the role in a better, more sober fashion (until the end when he danced around like a teenager) - tellingly the one story not written by Davies. I so wanted this season, and the specials preceding it, to return the show to the winning form it once had but, sadly, the execution was sadly lacking - with possibly the worst, most disappointing finale throughout the whole 60+ history of the show.
I didn't notice any kind of agenda, but otherwise I largely agree sadly 😔
I think the biggest sin was the lack of interior TARDIS shots. The interior is so beautiful.
Including the Christmas special this new era is 3/9 so far.
Boom, 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble to me are genuinely some really great Who!
But there were also plenty of episodes I felt genuine embarrassment whilst watching them, I apologised to my girlfriend a few times during the series for making her watch it with me. Doctor Who has always tried to find a balance between appealing to kids and adults alike and I think of an episode like Space Babies that went waaaay too far down the kiddie route.
Also I think it was filled with "bad writing", I know that's a very generic statement but lots of the dialogue didn't work for me and there were so many mystery boxes set up, and so many questions posed just to either get a disappointing answer, or simply no answer at all and Russell hasn't addressed it.
Long story short, if we can get more episodes like Boom, 73 yards, Dot and Bubble and less like Space Babies, Church on Ruby Road, Rogue. The show will be in a much better place.
Dot and Bubble is by far one of the worst episodes in the entire season or show tbh
I feel you with the embarrassment. I got my brother to watch Devil's Chord, for the musical aspect and Jinkx (he saw Jinkx in a show in London around Christmas). I felt like I had essentially forced him to watch utter rubbish. And the worst part is that things got better from that point afterwards, so he missed this series at its best.
On the plus side, I know he watched Wild Blue Yonder at some point. And despite how bad Devil's Chord was, I'm just thankful I didn't insist he watch Space Babies.
Also, I thought Rogue was pretty good. Certainly better than Church on Ruby Road and Devil's Chord for me, but I can see why that might not be the case for you and others.
Also feel some level of guilt for forcing my girlfriend to stay awake to watch some of these episodes 😫
I feel really similarly its hard to imagine that space babies and empire of death were in the same season as masterpieces like dot and bubble and 73 yards. The potential is really there so im holding out hope for next season
I wish Ruby would have inherited her future self memories from 73 yards, the trauma of everyone abandoning her always lingering in the back of her mind.
When it came to the shape shifting bird episode, I would have liked it a lot more if the shape shifters never revealed their true form.
It should have been Fenric instead of Sutekh, with Ruby being a wolf of Fenric like Ace.
And it fits the series Arc better.
Yeah that would have fit better. Plus the Pyramids of Mars storyline might be good but has some hella problematic depictions of the token Egyptian. Considering how inclusive this season is I'm amazed they want new fans to research the full story.
@@greenhowiewho cares, Toney should have kept Sutekh the exact same he looked awesome now he looks lame AF
I seriously don't understand the episode count. Russel addressed it with something along the lines of ''making 13 episodes a year was super straining for everyone blah blah blah...'' and then they start filming series 15 right after they wrapped up series 14? How does that make sense? It's most likely that the low episode count is really a result of the Disney deal, but who knows. I just wish we could get a clear answer because whatever Russel says I don't trust a word that comes out of that man's mouth.
Bravo
its definately diseny ... if it was dificult you dont split it into 2 seasons ... you get as much done as you can in 1 season
I think part of the problem with Ruby is that we don't learn much about her outside of being an orphan. She's a Strong Female Character who likes the Beatles and Bridgerton, but otherwise lacks a past. Even Carla and Cherry do little to build her character, let alone stand out by themselves. And then she's already whisked out of the Tardis, being probably the shortest companion who isn't a one-off like Adam or Kylie Minogue.
Adam wasn't a one-off. He appeared in two consecutive stories.
@@CineScarborough he's certainly close enough. Wouldn't count him as a full companion, unless you disagree
she just didnt have the same time to build up like clara did ngl
@@toukoenriaze9870 I think we might know Clara better by the time she became The Impossible Girl than we know Ruby in nearly twice the episode run.
@@Rognik fair
With how little episodes there are and how fast they go
It doesn't leave me wanting more
It leaves me asking "Where's the rest of it?"
I had a real problem with the rushed and weak ending of boom. Glad to see I'm not alone
I think it could have worked if this season was focused on Susan the doctors granddaughter. Because then you can draw back to when the doctor actually saw a semi functional family, and relate it to his own experience. But with Susan twist being sutek it just doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things and that makes the ending kinda pointless. Like the moral was good and the doctor could of grown from experiencing it, but this season seemed focused on the supernatural, not on family dynamics. I mean they had ruby who could of been the angel on his shoulder to get in touch with Susan again and it could stem from the doctor seeing a father, after death, do anything to save his daughter. But nope we got sutek and it ruins the family focused episode.
i think the reason that they down played the reveal of Ruby's mum was because they have another shocking reveal to come. her song and the reason why it snows when she is emotional could lead all up to another member of her now known family, her dad or grandparents could be a big importance. At the start of the series I thought Mrs Flood was a relation to Ruby of some sort. Now that the series has ended i believe it even more expecially with Mrs flood in the snow at the end of Empire of Death.
I think the best way I describe this season is "It was good.. BUT"
Every episode in this series had a good idea or was overall watchable, but I always had a issue with every episode that ruined or fully allowed me to say it was a perfect episode, for the few "perfect" episodes like "Boom" and "73 Yards".
Oh, I love bomb
@@LeviPennington-vv2kq Typo on my phones part.
I'm sure there must be a classic episode out there called "Bomb" XD
This season just kinda hurt at times.
It was always so close to being something good, something to be excited about, something to really enjoy... and just never made it there.
I really liked Ncuti's doctor but it barely ever felt like he was actually important in his own show. All the episodes just kinda get sorted out of nowhere by side characters. Even in Season 1, where Eccleston's Doctor was meant to be in such a dire headspace that he couldn't always save the day, the Doctor saved the day a few times.
In Boom Ncuti gives an entire speech about being 'so much more than a human' but we are literally never shown that side of him for anything more than a minute. He really needed an episode where he just Doctored all over the place. Something to make me buy his portrayal like I can the others. Jodie had a very similar issue in season 11.
You summed up my feelings about this season perfectly. 15 felt like he was so so so close to a great incarnation of the Doctor and imo most of that comes from boom. It’s a shame that the one episode where he feels properly fast and witty and competent was the one where he was stuck in one place the entire time. Would have loved to have gotten that version of him in the finale or literally anywhere else
3 months between "I'm excited for season 14" and "series 14 was a letdown"
Like, it's kinda funny but also really depressing.
I think overall the season was fun, but I definitely agree with the issues you brought up. I think with time we might look on it more fondly, especially considering that every fan has episodes they don’t like. Ncuti and Millie are just incredible and I’d love to see more of Shirley Anne Bingham and Rose Noble too. they all made watching worth it. I’m hoping next season will make this season make more sense. and in the meantime I’ll be rewatching my favorite era - moffat’s run!
Moffat's run is just incredible I love it.
I don't think I've seen any other comment so accurately match and articulate how I feel about it, including that last comment.
After finishing the series I went back for an Eleven and Twelve rewatch 😂
I do not think with time we will look upon it fondly. Either things will improve and we will forget it, or they will deteriorate and we will hate this for being a series we got excited about
@@mjudecthat’s always possible too. only time will tell!
I've tried going back and I'm enjoying it less from when I watched the episodes as they aired and was holding onto the hopium. Also YAY, Moffat love. Capaldi's era is my personal favorite. There was so much consistent character development that made the writing feel so grounded. I don't think I ever expected to see the Doctor go through so much believable growth in a single Incarnation.
The Capaldi era is so beautiful, peak television! No diffusion, no excessive lens characteristics, just straight up great visuals. It looks so real, almost like a documentary. I would say the Capaldi era looks more grounded than this one, but that fits the more grounded stories it tells.
Watching disappointing seasons of Doctor Who makes me realize how many elements have to come together to make the show satisfying. It's actually amazing that they did it so well for so long.
And I'm an optimist when it comes to this show. I'm always going to give each season a chance. And I'd hate for the show to go away.
That thing that's missing from Ruby, for me, is very simple: we never see why she and the Doctor actually need eachother.
Rose and 9, it's obvious why they're together. He needs to open up and heal, she wants to get away from her boring life. They allow eachother exactly that. It's more complex than that of course, but the bond is tight because these characters were written specifically for eachothers needs to be met.
On the inverse, 12 and Clara need to get away from eachother but they're addicted to the game.
As a middle ground, Amy joins the Doctor specifically to escape, and the Doctor brings her along at first out of gratitude for helping him in his time of need, and by episode 2, because he realises he needs someone more human to hold him to the promise of his name, and she did that for him. By the time if S7, however, Amy and Rory's life on Earth starts to become the priority, and Amy ultimately chooses him as her last act, which breaks 11 because he still needed her.
Variations thereupon apply to most Tardis teams in the show. But what is it with 15 and Ruby? They... get along well. That's pretty much it. Rogue sorta hints at the idea that Ruby helps the Doctor by making sure he keeps to the promise he made to 14, that he won't run from the pain, but work through it instead. Outside of that one scene though, that never comes up again. As for Ruby? It can't be about escape, she seems to really like the life she leads. It initially seemed to be about wanting to use the Doctor to learn who her mother was but that's so specific and gets dropped by the end of Space Babies. Nothing about her core urges and wants as a character play into why she's on the Tardis. Nothing about her core urges and wants as a character are ever truly explored in depth. She's missing a core, she's missing a fundamental reason to be in this story. That's... kinda a cardinal sin for this show as far as I'm concerned.
Still liked this season a lot though, the four episode run from Boom was fantastic.
As much as I actually really did enjoy this series, I completely agree with your points. One thing that you didn’t talk about though was the narrative starting with the goblins that there was a push towards fantasy/ fairytale type threats that Kate acknowledged in 73 Yards and then immediately after this episode was abandoned and never acknowledged?
It was fun, could have been better.
Definitely better than Chibnall's writing.
The Chibnall era was boring, but the _current_ era is _infuriating_ with its sheer lack of planning and effort. In almost _every_ pre-Chibnall era episode, you could _feel_ the love and passion that was put into it by everyone from the writers, to the actors, to the set design and props; the only time we've come _close_ to matching that energy since the end of Capaldi's run is "Boom", which written by Steven Moffat and proves that there's at least _someone_ who still cares about Doctor Who.
What makes you think there was no love or passion in Jodie's era or this current series?
@@petra2578 The sheer lack of thought, effort, and planning.
@@Jackson-ub1uv Just because you didn't like it doesn't mean there was no thought effort or planning...
@@petra2578 Three words: the Timeless Child.
Chibnall really thought he could get away with taking the character whose whole point is to be significant due to their kindness and intelligence (in spite of being a failure of a Time Lord and an embarrassment of Gallifrey), and turn them into an extradimensional Chosen One who was the source of the Time Lord miracle known as regeneration. The entire _concept_ behind the Doctor's character is to demonstrate that you don't have to be special to be important and that all you need is to be kind, and yet Chibnall decided to throw that out of the window just for some cheap drama. What's worse is that it doesn't even give the Doctor character development, and is instead moved past in the exact same episode it was introduced.
If Chibnall _really_ wanted to make the Timeless Child, then he should've made it either the Master or just some innocent kid. The Master isn't exactly known for indiscriminately killing his own people (as seen in The End of Time where he focused all of his rage on Rassilon, rather than the entirety of the High Council), and finding out that the Doctor should've _at most_ resulted in him finding the people involved and killing _them_ on the Doctor's behalf; however, if it was the _Master_ who had been tortured, experimented on, and mind-wiped, _then_ his destruction would've been widespread, but it's _incredibly_ out of character for him to kill civilian Time Lords. Even if the Doctor _was_ the Timeless Child, at worst the Master might use it as motivation to prove that he's better than the Doctor _despite_ it.
If the Timeless Child had just been a random person, then that could've been part of an arc where the Doctor has to decide if it's ethical or moral to keep using the results of an innocent child's pain and suffering to cheat death. As it stands, the Doctor being the Timeless Child adds nothing meaningful, and actively rectons things like the Eleventh Doctor's lack of regenerations due to implying that he has an infinite amount of them, and this is what I mean by a lack of thought and planning.
As for the lack of effort, Jodie's era has got to be one of the blandest things I've ever seen, as it wasn't good enough to enjoy, but it wasn't _bad_ enough to hate (besides the Timeless Child thing). Jodie's Doctor was too passive, had no real presence or weight, and constantly just flailed about in panic whilst waiting for clues to be _given_ to her. The companions were dull and boring, the Yasmin/Doctor "romance" was poorly done, incredibly forced, and just came out of nowhere, and none of the characters really had any emotion to them.
The only companion I actually didn't want to see leave was Graham, and that's because I enjoyed the way he acted as the only sane person in the room.
The only parts of Jodie's era I actually liked were the Fugitive Doctor (she felt more like the Doctor that Jodie did), the Spy Master and first two parts of the Lone Cyberman trilogy, Captain Jack's reappearance, and the Master himself; to be honest, besides the TC arc and a general sense of disappointment and boredom, that's all I can really _remember_ about her run, and I am _very_ good at remembering stuff about Doctor Who.
Glad to hear that you thought it unfortunate to have filmed the next series before this one was broadcast. This was something I worried about even before this was broadcast. How could they possibly learn from this series (and the audience's reaction) if they've already made the next. It's a real "Stuff the fans! I know best!" attitude.
Let’s face it. RTD is SO much better than everyone else and DOES know best!
Series 14 was better than the Chibnall era, but that bar isn't that high, so over all it's a weak series with some good moments, a couple of great episodes and the rest is a hit or miss and most of the episodes do miss at the end. I really wanted to let this series be and embrace it as something new and like it for what it is but in the end it wasn't enough.
Hopefully series 15 will be better planned and less rushed.
The identity of Ruby Sunday's mother wasn't that important....until they spent the whole season setting up how important it was. Then they spit in our face and say "hah, you thought it was important, you idiot". It's as bad the Sherlock 'it doesn't matter how I survived' nonsense - yes it fucking does.
SET UP and PAY OFF is the basics of storytelling. Just not providing a PAY OFF isn't subversive, it's shit.
i feel like the writers haven't yet realised that crying is not the only way to express strong emotions lol
If Series was an old 13 episode series, it should go like this:
1: The Church on Ruby Road
2: Space Babies
3: Rogue
then a two-parter for 4 and 5
6: Boom
7: The Devil’s Chord
then a two-parter for 8 and 9
10: 73 Yards
11: Dot And Bubble
12: The Legend of Ruby Sunday
13: Empire Of Death.
It’s a sad state for the show when practically anybody could make a video where they present a logical and working reordering and rewrite of the series that works better than what we got.
Sutekh felt kinda like something i'd see in a children's show at the end there
Sarah Jane adventures! 😊
For the most part a fun season with a likeable Tardis team. Sadly it suffers from consistent pacing and tone issues whilst feeling derivative of previous seasons. If I were to rank the episodes:
8/9 Legend of Ruby Sunday and Empire of Death: I went in with zero investment in the mystery boxes so had more fun with the finale than most, but it's still messy and should have been saved for a later season and given more time to flesh it out.
7 Devil's Chord: Almost great with multiple creative moments but doesn't live up to being a musical about the Beatles.
6 The Church on Ruby Road: A fun character intro but the story is over before it begins
5 Space Babies: It's fun, a little low brow but has enough heartfelt moments with 15 and Ruby to make it work.
4 Rogue: very witty and has a rare Doctor romance I can in theory see growing , however it doesn't earn a somber ending.
3 73 Yards: I love it but mostly thanks to head canons.
2 Dot and Bubble: Russell's most solid script of the season with a fascinating ending.
1 Boom: Everything I love about Moffat's writing and gives Ncuti a unique acting challenge.
It's a shame that the series still has returned to the high it once had as I haven't enjoyed the series since Capaldi left. I like glancing in every now and then but I've yet to truly see a reason to return to avidly watching the newer series.
This series was good, it just should have been so much better
Pretty much
not very good compare it to nearly every season besides 13s
Biggest disappointment? The tv remote screwdriver
I think the main thing that was missing was having the doctor and Ruby have one huge fight. Maybe about family would’ve worked, since the doctor said Ruby changed how he thought about that? Maybe he could’ve asked her to abandon her family to save her life, and she could’ve screamed at him. Not that necessarily in particular. But just in general.
And yeah, the Ruby being special red herring sucked
I assumed he attached in WBY…until it was revealed it was decades ago. Much more logical. But yes, for me neither the Doctor nor Ruby were really established as new characters. Short season, Doctor light episodes and stuff apparently happening off screen…
I think there are a good handful of great episodes (73 Yards, Boom, dot & bubble), and most of the other episodes were pretty enjoyable, but the overall season story arch definitly fell flat thanks to the finale.
I agree on most points except Chibnall. If Disney Who has one virtue, it's that it made me appreciate the Chibnall era so much more. Go rewatch Jodie's Doc with an open mind and an open heart.
The worst part is how everyone involved in making the show can't own that they messed up and instead attacks the fans with a bunch of buzzwords.
I don't like the the current show because it's not good Doctor Who and it insulted me when watching it.
Until the show course corrects, the Doctor's last words were "Doctor, I let you go."
1:22 bro how does your watched videos have a blue bar underneath them instead of the red one?
Series 14 is the most like Series 6 to me. Both take some wild swings in a season-long narrative that start strong but end up very disappointing and ultimately hurting the overall season. However, the individual episodes in the middle chunks are incredibly strong. When Series 6 and 14 aren’t trying to build up a long story, you’re getting some incredible episodes of Who
I think you pretty much mirrored my thoughts on Series 14 completely. I wouldn't say I was "let down", which sounds a bit too negative, but I'd definitely use the word "lacking" towards it. I hope Series 15 is a lot better... or Series 16 at least.
I think its a decent series definitely not the best but not the worst either although one thing i think is odd is that they wanted to get new viewers with a bit of a clean split but bring back a villain that only long term fans would know in Sutekh.
While The Cybermen or the Daleks would have been a bit too obvious since they were in the finales of each Russel Series, i think a new villain could have worked better to establish a threat that everyone can get at the same time and save Sutekh for a different time or give more context. Its a great twist for the fans who know him but for others that havent seen classic who are left in the dark
Ncuti i do think is the best part of the series and he does well in what is asked of him in each episode and while the filming schedule was a little jumbled due to Ncuti's other commitments i still think he nails it. With the second series being filmed and possibly finished already is a little risky since they wont be able to change almost anything due to the criticism of this series not being heard due to filming ahead of time. No wonder it didnt work for the 2nd and 3rd Matrix films.
When you don’t have as many episodes as previous seasons did , not a lot of time character development. With that said that’s progress right? Writer’s strikes, Actor’s disputes, deleted scenes. That’s what we have to look forward to. Make the best of 8- 9 episodes and a Christmas Special because brother that’s all we’re getting ❤❤❤
"Dot & Bubble" and "Rogue" would have been the best episodes in many other seasons of Who. I can forgive a lot because they were so excellent
Very generous
If only it wasn’t 8 episodes
Yo didn't expect to see FeFe here! I agree, season should be 10 minimum but preferably 12 or 13 like the older seasons. I just want more two parters.
I have a feeling that it was only called Series One due to an obligation for the Disney deal.
i agree but i also i think i heard it was cause rtd wanted to make it a jumping on point for new viewers. tho honestly youre better off starting with 2005 series 1
@@THOMAS_VANN Yeah, 2005 Series One did a better job at a soft reboot and reintroducing Doctor Who to a whole new generation without overwhelming them with the classic series
In regards to RTD2 lightning never strikes twice
IMO, they should have held off on the mystery box and epic-universe-destroying stuff until Season 15, to give it more of a build-up. Maybe they should have gone with a lower-stakes villain arc, and then in the finale we get the circumstances that lead to Sutekh getting on board.
This is what I think should have happened in the series finale.
The Doctor found out that Sutekh was coming back. But he found out reasonably early on in the series. This is why (in my version) he chose not to appear in two episodes. This was because, in my version, he was making deals with the devils - Cybermen, Sontarans, Krillitanes. He wanted help in defeating a literal god who would destroy everyone.
Maybe UNIT is involved, but even if they are, I wouldn't place Rose Noble and Morris in there. Kate, I doubt that Daddy or Sarah Jane would be too happy about using children.
While this would put him in their debt, they would be able to see the benefit in stopping Sutekh.
When the Doctor finally meets face-to-face with the god again, he puts on a brave face. Maybe Sutekh didn't cling on since Pyramids of Mars, but still an awfully long time. Perhaps since the end of the Time War, or since the walls of universes became weaker when the Earth was stolen. I like the idea of the events of the Series Five finale being partially Sutekh's plan.
Despite the efforts of all of the Doctor's enemies, Sutekh starts dissolving the universe. But the Doctor and Ruby still go ahead with their part of the story. Eventually, after they've defeated Sutekh, Ruby asks the Doctor what he found out about her mother.
Doctor - Nothing.
Ruby - Nothing? What do you MEAN, nothing?
Doctor - I looked at the scanner from every possible angle. I found nothing.
Ruby - But - I CAN'T - I CAN'T be from NOTHING? Can I? Can people come from nothing?
(The Doctor is silent for a moment.)
Ruby - Doctor?
Doctor - I looked at all possible options. I ran your DNA through the TARDIS. Scanned it against every lifeform across the universe. There were no matches.
Ruby - So I'm...What AM I, Doctor?
Doctor: I have no clue.
Ruby doesn't say anything. The Doctor jokes that maybe the two of them are more alike than he originally thought. But he can't tell what Ruby is. The only thing he can do is take her to UNIT and drop her off.
As the episode closes, the Doctor stares wistfully at his TARDIS console. He briefly opens a drawer and finds a picture of Susan. He hears her voice in a recording from a Hartnell episode.
He asks himself aloud, "CAN people come from nothing?"
The final shot is of both Susan and Ruby's photos in the drawer, side by side.
I came up with most of this in under 20 minutes. And I wasn't drunk this time.
Damn, that was actually really good!
You sure you weren’t drunk?
@@TopHatMan615 Pretty sure.
The series is sitting right in the middle for me personally, I loved the actors and the visuals but the writing was just okay. My key points are
- The series suffers from too little episodes and too little episode length to develop connection between Ruby & The Doctor
- The whole "fantasy" approach just doesnt feel Doctor Who enough for me. I understand it has always been a thing but the whole "god" emphasis just falls flat when they defeat them really easily
- The lack of Doctor development, as much as I enjoyed Nucti as the Doctor all I can remember is he cried every episode, his friendship with Ruby really felt unearned as it was just there by episode 2. I miss the slow burn of the Russell's earlier series
I hope its just teething issues and we may see a little more consistency by the next series but I had high hopes for this and it was just overall OKAY
Agreed on all counts and I'm really sad about it! I especially agree that showing any newcomer the first two episodes of this season would have been devastatingly embarrassing. I actively told people who were looking to get into the show (or back into it) to skip those because I couldn't believe how childish and over the top they were.
I agree that eight episodes aren’t enough. But I think a lot of weight could have been carried by four or five extra episodes without plot stakes. Specifically episodes where the only thing that is being accomplished is letting the Doctor and Ruby build out their relationship. I’m tempted to write those episodes myself just as a fanfiction exercise.
I do disagree with the idea that this is a bad introduction, I think of it like a sampler of all the things Who can be. We get stupid fun aliens, creepy spaceships, episodes in one place, and big lore dumps. And I think it works as that.
I feel like a comfortable explanation for Ruby's parentage would have been the reveal that her mom was Jenny(the doctor's clone/daughter) explaining the hidden song and the mysticism around her mom while she was leaving the church, making Ruby the granddaughter of the doctor, a sort of ironic melancholy as the doctor finds some family but is still is missing his old one, ik Jenny was part of the future and I'm not aware of her big finish adventures but her traveling through time like her dad isn't out of the picture, it would also explain why there were no records of her or why it was hard to find her on earth, maybe Jenny had to leave Ruby because she was being chased by something and didn't want her child to be in danger, I do appreciate how human Ruby's parentage turned out to be, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth after all the unnecessary mystery, like a cheesecake that looks really colorful and tasty but is actually fake and made out of wax, might smell nice but you can't actually enjoy the taste
I .... didn't really like it... idk. Too rushed. It feels too fast to me. Also Ruby feels a bit underdeveloped? Her only personality is orphan. No friction with her and the Doctor. idk. Maybe s15 is gonna be better
RTD best ability used to be his characters and their development, now it seems he has completely lost that.
I kept watching the show waiting for an episode that was just good and the closest I ever got to that was Boom.
I think a lot of people will say Dot and Bubble but frankly all that has going for it is the in/out group ingrained discrimation lesson embedded in it which anyone whose lived as a minority already knows so personally it felt like nothing. That episode (which is a good example) sacrificed everything for one moment which didn't really have lasting development on our characters and meant following a frustrating character the whole episode just to get there. 73 yards I really wanted to like, but Ruby hadn't been developed enough as a character for her to carry an entire episode alone and me to care. She got some neat development that episode and none of it matters along with her stopping the worst prime minister ever (and lol yh, sorry Doctor your bestie still has Jack beat). And we never really got an answer to the plot driving creepy woman (only a more confusing explanation of it being Ruby).
Disappointed is a good way to describe how I feel after this season. I mean I had my doubts with RTD returning and Tenant being the face of the 60th anniversary (not Jodie or Ncuti) and the specials made me feel a little wary as well, but I was really really hoping this season would still at least be a fun ride and I can't say it was. Every episode was bogged down by uninspired writing, rushed progression, and just weird decisions. Stuff like never spending time with Cherry and Ruby being put in danger in a modern day at home plot to build those relationships organically. Instead just trying to shoe horn them in with flashbacks. Or like the weird time skip from episode 1 to 2 despite them airing back to back. Or Sutekh being defeated the exact same way but it works this time because reasons (actually pretty much all of the finale). It felt like RTD was on an any % speedrun and just wanted to get this over with. And that's so disappointing.
Still no audience appreciation index numbers I see. I wonder why they're holding them back🤔
Maybe they are so tiny they can't find them!
even the specials from 2008-2010 had a more cohesive run than series 14
It peaked with Capaldi went downhill with Whitaker and just crashed and burned with Gatwa
If you think series 14 was a letdown just wait until you see series 11
It was a doctor who parody. I hope one day we will have a new season 12 and show will continue
The storytelling definitely took a back seat while ideology was the primary focus. This won’t change in the near future and that’s why the show won’t last much longer
I actually quite liked it, especially coming straight from 13’s era. But, I agree I was too short.
Another thing is that I felt it went a bit too far into fantasy in too many episodes. I don’t mind it for a couple, but it was in quite a few
I definitely agree with the conclusion at 26:20, it's difficult for me as I've had this love/loathe relationship with Doctor Who for so long I'm not even sure where it really began. I wanted to like Season 14 but found every episode to have more cons than pros, and that was me going in every episode with an open mind.
I thought it was possibly to do with cynicism as I have seen as a culture we've started being more overly critical towards media but since the finale dropped I have struggled to really hammer down why I keep feeling like something isn't right still and I think the more popular something is the more it has to be watered down and changed so that the general public can find it accessible.
The writing hasn't gotten much better. There's been improvements here and there but what was great about RTD 1 hasn't passed through into RTD 2. The family drama side hasn't been explored enough, Ruby's arc was great up until the reveal. I'm happy to go a season without any returning villains like Daleks or Cybermen but the Monster of the Week has to actually be decent enough.
Thing is I'm fully behind Ncuti as the Doctor, he gives a great performance. But I don't think you can rest the show fully on his shoulders.
I'm genuinely debating whether to even give Season 15 a go as I have felt this season wasn't great, it's not the worst by any stretch but I feel the magic has been drained.
I give the series overal an 8 out of 10.
Ncuti sold me very early on as the doctor. Hes just a lot of fun who seems to be less broken and has that joy again, while also still having that quiet rage.
Millie is a fun companion.
Some stories where hit and miss (like all doctors stories).
Im excited for the next series.
The only part i hated was the stupid ass song and dance routine during 'the devils cord'. I wanna strangle whoever thought of that with the 4th dr scarf, not to death just to unconsciousness.
8:02 Back up.
Is that her flat? It's HUGE! What the hell kinda money does she have?
Do we know who ruby's father is? Maybe the twist is we were looking at the wrong parent.
Dr. Who has fallen. Guess he went back to Trenzalore.
The devil's chord and dot and bubble are in my view the greatest of this series
This was a review par excellence. Balanced, well-articulated, and well-constructed with dialogue matching footage. After having watched so many DW review videos I have one huge nagging question I would love there to be an answer to that is fair.
The question being; If thousands of viewers are identifying the same flaws about this season how no-one involved in its production recognise the obvious problems prior to screening?
The complaints are pretty much staple opinions now. The story arch leading you into emotional engagement to then fall flat, too many tonal shifts, the rather weak monsters, the excess crying and overall emotional excess, the mismatch feel across stories and even within individual ones. All these things have been mentioned by so many.
Here though the host is very eloquent and gives just the right amount of detail to discuss these issues whilst not ignoring the strengths of the season. But again, how did RTD and crew fail to see the blinding obvious faults. For me this remains the biggest issue. Lack of foresight and insight.
This has to be laid at the top chief RTD but he seems incapable, certainly unwilling, to give the slightest acknowledgement of errors and bad decisions. This has led many DW fans to feel insulted, even patronised. Well at least this season gave way for some excellent reviews (amongst the tosh) and this one has probably been the most concise and engaging video to be posted.
I miss Moffat
One of my biggest issues with the doctor's characterization this season is how human he feels. RTD had this issue a bit with 10 (especially when he was with rose and martha) but it was never quite to the extent it is now. Steven Moffat's writing was very flawed in many ways, but at least with 11 and 12 it was always very apparent how alien they are. This also created more juxtaposition between them and their companions.
15 is written in a way in which he could have been just some smart guy with a time machine, and it wouldnt have made much of a difference to the season. I think this is also why he seems at many points to be a side character to his own show. And why his and ruby's relationship feels flat.
10 being more human like was nothing bad at all. it was what made him great and unique and much more like what Doctor (considering 9 and 12) usually behaved
@altinaykor364 I do agree that it complimented his story. I geuss the reason why it works with 10 is that it felt more purposeful than it does with 15, and added something to him that made him feel unique among the rest of the doctors. Tbh I prefer it when the doctor is at his most 'alien-y', but you're right that it wasn't necessarily a mistake with 10.
YES! Exactly. That's why 10 is one of my least favourite and 11 and 12 are my favourites from New Who. The Doctor should feel alien, awkward, strange... if it's too human, what's the point? The show is called Doctor Who. We should feel that he is mysterious and alien.
@@niebo3179 10 kept balance between alien and human completely rightfully and it wasn't bad at all. it's what made him best
I watched every episode when they came out with my grandma, like I did during the Matt Smith era as a child. So this season will have maybe a special place in my heart but I felt a bit disappointed at the end
I finally understand what mr enter was saying about mlp season 3 being controversial due to being half length because this season is way to short!
As someone who grew up with tennant to capaldi, this just doesn’t feel like doctor who anymore. Something about the way it’s shot and directed with the vibrant colour grading and something about the acting and dialogue just isn’t the same. It just feels so odd and it feels like it’s a completely different show. Plus the whole magical aspects are done so bad and just feel off and not like doctor who. When I first saw the Christmas special and saw the goblin musical scene I knew I was going to hate this season because it’s just no longer doctor who and no longer the show that I grew up with. I get that they’re trying to encourage a new audience but I feel like they’re just alienating their current audience and that definitely is shown somewhat within the viewing figures but I know 2024 is a whole different time than 2010.
the reason the ratings were good only because folks took a risk and watched it, then found out it wasnt as good.. and "fact" the real reason they spit the Tardis is to seperate the TV shows now and the Big Finish franchise wich is still going strongly. season 14 was WAY too forced and wasn't enjoyable especially the Church on Ruby Road (wich lets face it is a total rip off of Labyrinth it was only missing music from the late David Bowie) Jinkx Monsoon as the Mystro was a great acting chops however.. (and btw when they were filming Abbey Road for Devils Chord.. it wasnt even filmed in studio 2 (where the Beatles recorded everything aside from the Revolver Album) but instead in studio 1. so it wasnt even accurate historically, on the set) Beatles fans like myself noticed all of that.... overall a total let down on the new Doctor and it doesnt suprise me that it was only 8 eps as i think they knew it would have backlash
I really enjoyed this series, this has been the most experimental series ever, although i must admit it was too quick, 8 episodes per series isn't enough, it should have been 13 episodes, or at least 10 episodes
Other than that, all of the episodes are fantastic, Ncuti and Millie's performance are amazing, although it had flaws, its still a great season
Bring on Series 15/Season 2
So much unnecessary crying...my eyes cried from all the eye rolling
This doctor legit won't stop crying
Exactly what you said. I feel like I could let it go and not really miss it.
It's no coincidence that the two most popular episodes were the ones where the Doctor was mainly absent. He has gone from troubled, vengeful demi-god with various soubriquets such as The On-Coming Storm to a mincing cry baby. The writing of his character has badly let him down.
Also, when the TARDIS split, does this mean that there were two Sutekhs, one on each TARDIS?
I also want to respond to your depressing note. I'm increasingly feeling like the franchises and content I've loved all my life, just aren't for me anymore. Like a big one is Star Wars. I don't want to be the guy that feels exhausted every new project that comes out and complains about "Disney Star Wars" all the time. But I'm just so tired of getting excited for new Star Wars content only to hate it and feel like it undermines what I've liked in Star Wars. And then go online and see a whole mess of people attacking each other and barely even talking about Star Wars. I keep wondering if I should just stop and give up.
Regarding the pace of the series, I personally subscribe to this slight rearrangement being superior:
1. Church on Ruby Road
2. Space Babies
3. Boom
4. 73 Yards
5. The Devil's Chord
6. Dot and Bubble
7. Rogue
8. The Legend of Ruby Sunday
9. Empire of Death
Letdown is the wrong word. It was a fucking insult.
Too true !! Bring back REAL Dr. Who please
Ironically the doctor lite episodes are the most discussed of the season.