If there’s any justice I hope that JNT is looking down from the heavens with a Vodka and Tonic and having a good laugh at the implosion of RTD, Moff and Chibnall under the weight of their own stupidity. There is an old saying that if you put a beggar on horseback that he will ride to Hell. Feeling the heat, lads?
Yet more expert analysis, Brendan. Many thanks. I particularly liked your moment-by-moment dissection of the opening minutes. I remember, interviewed years ago, Steven Moffat saying that he was constantly aware of maintaining the viewers' interest, to prevent people from switching over or off. It seems that he's either forgotten this danger or now feels that it's diverting enough to simply skip from one time era to another with Ncuti popping up holding a tray. As you said, where's the jeopardy? And as I've said before, Bad Wolf and BBC Studios need only watch your channel to find out where they're going wrong and how to rectify things. Keep up the good work, Brendan; Doctor Who needs you!
"It seems that he's either forgotten this danger..." I suspect it's more the case that writing an episode of Doctor Who today means having to include a (long) list of requirements and demands from the BBC. There was a point three-quarters into the story where Gatwa/Doctor suddenly goes off into a spiel of obvious inserts that were including him talking of such everyday conversational subjects as "Mansplaining", and I think this is to a woman in a carriage who turns out to be trying to write a letter to her girlfriend, and in turn leads to... It struck me as so very forced this sequence, as if Moffatt had been handed notes from above by this point in the writing and dropped their subjects into his script at this moment. Much like 'The Star-Beast' this sort of 'messaging' distorts the flow of the story and can pull the viewer out of it, because it is such foreign matter within the context of the story, and in everyday conversation. I think we have to bear in mind just how demanding writing a story today is for a writer. In an extreme environment where even Russell Davies appears on camera hysterically unloading to the viewer about Davros and Wheelchair users, and is elsewhere worrying on the Sonic Screwdriver being equated with a weapon etc, it is rather too clear to see that working on _Doctor Who_ today is a massive test of _any_ writers stamina and ability. Too many demands, too much interference...? That Moffatt's two scripts (Boom and 'Joy To'...) are two of the strongest in the new series it a testament to Moffatt's ability and skill as a writer. I would watch both again, and get some measure of enjoyment out of them.
As someone who gets paid to tell stories, I agree with your analysis. You need to grip the audience from the get-go. If you don't hook them in the first few minutes, then you lose them. If it's a ghost story, set the scene and create an atmosphere before you get to the first encounter with the ghost. If it's a murder mystery, get the murder in early, and then the rest is the detective trying to solve the crime. Classic Doctor Who understood this premise and they had a lot less competition in terms of other channels. For example the Wheel in Space episode one has a lot of drama. The Tardis tries to warn the Doctor and Jamie to go elsewhere. Then the fluid link malfunctions, forcing them out of the Tardis, and worse, the Doctor has to disconnect the Time Vector Generator so the Tardis is out of action and they can't just leave. There's no obvious danger, but that creates a sense of mystery, and then they encounter a robot, and the Doctor is injured. That's a lot in 25 mins, and that's all before you get to the main story with the Cybermen.
Brendan, Sense Sphere panelists, and all Sensorites big and small -- Happy New Year!! Big thanks especially to my favorite Gay Scottish English Teacher for all the effort you put into a great program that's always getting better and helping me to stay sane in RTD2 era and a place to connect with other huge fans!! You are appreciated!!
@noblerees1 I knew I wasn't entirely correct on that one, grant me a wee bit of grace being an American who doesn't know too much about such things 😆. I'm 1/4 Scot on my maternal side, Clan Menzies.
This won’t happen but Dr Who can be successful if the BBC gave it to the right people to produce. It’s the 50th Anniversary of Tom Baker’s debut as The Doctor. Under Philip Hinchcliffe/Robert Holmes it reached its peak in popularity. History shows that it was their success that lead to their own downfall due to powerful influence Mary Whitehouse had at the time. She successfully complained it was too horrific for the scheduled tv tea time slot it was in. Times have changed but the most successful stories in the RTD 1 era were the more scary stories. The Unquiet Dead, The Empty Child, The Impossible Planet, Human Nature, Blink, Midnight, The Water of Mars etc. It’s a mystery to most Who fans why RTD2 fantasy era is full of whimsical, saccharine, non threatening stories lines. It’s forgettable fluff. Since RTD won’t produce scary Doctor Who then it’s time the BBC handed the show over to professionals that can get those missing millions of viewers back. Unfortunately, the present BBC are so scared of offending anyone that they have dismantled it’s once great comedy department. It’s therefore unlikely that they are willing to scare kids in case a few hundred parents complain. Since they are unwilling to take the necessary steps to make it great again our only hope is that they cancel the programme until the conditions are right for it to return.
Wallace and Gromit had a good story, and a Evil Penguin, Doctor Who had no real story no monster even the T-rex was a disappointment, it only eat a briefcase. On the 16th of Dec, on BBC-4 they showed a Ghost story by Mark Gatiss called The Mezzotint, it was brilliant, the last few minutes when the creature came in from the window made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. That hasn't happened in Doctor Who for a long time. What's more no one died on screen, but it had erie foreboding and horror feel to it. RTD should watch it, that's what Doctor Who should be.
The Episode is for children, that's actually the BBC's view on Doctor Who - it is for children. So we have this format today where there is no overt violence, when people are seen to die they simply turn to dust and drift away peacefully, no pain, and if an important character does die, they come back, in a transformed state. It's a very fluffy, safe, cozy world in Doctor Who, especially today. They are aiming it at children, and I agree that they are forgetting that at its best the series has always had a multi-spectrum approach to its formatting whereby it has a far broader appeal than that it has ended up with today - they have forgotten the audience is multi-spectrum. This wasn't a bad episode. As a slice of Christmas escapism it held my attention and entertained me for the most part. And on paper it *should* have appealed to the family audience, but I think what has happened here is that the audience hasn't been tempted back in after the Chibnall/Whittaker years, and what they saw in Davies & Gatwa's series earlier this year has driven them away. Again. "No, Thank-You." Is the message being given. The Public know what to expect from this series, and they don't want it. It's as simple as that really... It doesn't matter that the episode here was good. Because it is coming too late.
@@davidmullen6011 It was always the best when it made children hide behind the sofa, kids got scared, parents got entertained, everyone had a fun time. It's just an embarrassment now, the BBC has forgotten how to make family entertainment.
@@davidmullen6011 Correction: the BBC, Disney, Bad wold Studios and Russell T Davies covet children for a particular reason. To inDoctorinate them with LGBTQl+ propaganda, otherwise known as gr00ming. As RTD let slip at The Royal Television Society event on 29 November 2023 alongside Jane Tranter: "The characters and the action's for the adults, THE MESSAGING'S FOR THE KIDS!" 50 years ago when Doctor Who was entering its last greast golden age, a producer or script editor saying that would have been arrested or charged for openly stating they had returned to a show they once worked on specifically to use it as a recrutment platform for a fetishistic sex cult. Indeed, were there still a watershed in operation at the BBC none of the LGBTQl+ indoctrination the BBC is disseminating throughout its schedule would have been allowed before 9pm, but clearly that's 'been diluted or erased to propagandise innocent children with perver$ion and tran$ cuItism. Davies also let slip in San Diego over the summer that "Trans rights are 1000 times more important than Doctor Who". His priority was always to use Doctor Who to get "the message" to the kids using a global streaming platform "to reach as many kids globally as possible", Julie Gardner also admitted ove the summer. Thankfully their agenda to influence kids failed due to the publication of the WPATH Files in the US and the Cass Report in the UK being blown wide open weeks before Series 14 started, leaving RTD looking extremely stupid, foolish and downright d0dgy.
Another great analysis Brendan. Your arguments and facts are like a blow torch to candy floss to those on Gallifrey Base who will be sucking up to Bad Wolf and desperate to assure us that all with Doctor Who is going swimmingly. The program has become a complete joke. Cancellation at this point would be an act of kindness.
Excellent summary, Nathan. Modern Doctor Who has lost the art of storytelling. Until the series has a production team that understands getting the basics right, things will never improve.
Thanks for actually putting in facts and thought into this. This is exactly how streamers look at their numbers on each broadcast. If this was a Disney or Netflix set of numbers, the series wouldn't see S2. Look at how Apple treated Time Bandits. I personally believe that the start times overlapping by 10 mins was a deliberate ploy to bleed higher numbers into the reported averages, Strictly didn't need the extra 10, it could have been cut by that amount and no-one would notice.
It's a load of bs created by him. He can't provide any real evidence. No channels record who's leaving minutes in and they certainly wouldn't release it. Notice how all the evidence are just statements by this loser. 😂
@Theoneandonlydramaqueen. You are the typical 'modern' audience - what a ridiculous statement, just laughable. Wokeism has only been around for the last few years. There was always inclusion but not forced oversaturated inclusion like now. Its you that needs to get a grip.
Quality control, is there any?..There doesn't seem to be any within Badwolf or the colourists , the BBC just seem to accept what they produce blindly without any consideration whether it's worthy of the franchise...That being said it's important that RTD/MOFFETT and BBC understand we are not bored armchair critics or phobes , ists or outdated, We Are THE QUALITY CONTROL.
Stop watching Doctor Who if you find it "unwatchable." I cannot abide People who watch a series they despise, and know they will despise. Do something else with your time...
@@carolfan4466 Well let me put it this way - I wasn't planning to watch the special as such, but it so happened the television was on BBC1 as someone wanted to watch 'Strictly Dancing' before it. I missed the start of the episode as family were in the room and we were talking, but started (half)watching and was drawn into the story. It's typical Christmas froth, but a clever idea with the time Hotel, and despite some of the usual problems with this series I did end up enjoying it overall. I have much the same issues and problems with this series as others do, I can't invest myself in this take on the Doctor or the show today. But I did enjoy three episodes last series, on their own terms, and this Special was quite good for the most part. I was entertained for an hour. I have watched. Some episodes last series I just switched off, they were terrible. But I *did* given them a chance, I can say they were terrible as I tried to give them a chance to impress me. You on the other hand...? You don't watch the series at all. But you 'know' it is bad. That's quite amazing to me.
Maybe Phil Collinson will retcon Wallace as the Master next. Or they'll add Wallace & Gromit as past Doctors to The Brain of Morbius. 'AN EPIC DAY OUT'!
The only reason the viewing figures were as high as they were was because it was Christmas Day television where BBC normally dominates and it was sandwiched between Strictly (which itself was an embarrassment with the drag queen winning) and Wallace and Gromit. Most people probably just left the TV on while they went and got their Christmas tea ready before settling down to W&G. The days of people tuning in specifically to watch Doctor Who on Christmas Day are long gone.
If he hasn't already, then a full breakdown on audience research will be crossing Russell Davies' desk come January. More crucially though it will be on various BBC executives desks too. The episode won its slot, so there's that in its favour. But if the data is showing that the audience (theoretically captive for that evening on BBC1) is seen deliberately leaving as the show started, and only comes back towards the end, *that* is a major worry. A 'special' Christmas Day episode of this nature should drawing the audience in, not driving it off... It isn't boding well for series 2 at all. And yet the publicity management and support from Bad Wolf and the BBC has been poor for this episode, I can see the lack of confidence form them all, and it has to be a result of the lack of a good reception for the relaunched series, and some very clear major issues going on behind the scenes - Just why did you hire an asset like Millie Gibson, and yet let her go before you even have a chance to market anything for this relaunch?! Clearly something is *very* wrong with the culture going on behind the scenes. And it extended well into the actual airing of the series. The episode won its slot yes, but it is clear to see it didn't actually draw 'in' an audience - people weren't switching on for Doctor Who, they were actually switching off. And we saw this happening in the Chris Chibnall era too, so this is actually an ongoing reaction to the series from the BBC1 audience. I can see what the problems have been since 2017, and they were coming in even before that. But with 2017 what we had was a Reboot, a reboot so radical on the character and the series, that is alienated-what had been a very loyal and dependable Public. And the-alienation over Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker's five years has extended to Davies' return to the series, and what has been effectively _another_ rebooting of character and series... the Public are-alienated by it all, unable to invest anymore in all of this chaos and self-indulgence, and that-alienation is extending even to the loyal fanbase for the character - I think the basic fact is no one can engage with any of it anymore. Too much changing, too much-alienation, and too much lecturing from the series and its makers. I broadly enjoyed the Christmas Special. I look at the teaser for series 2 though and all I see is 'Ncuti Gatwa', modelling the latest fashions. I see Ncuti Gatwa, and I don't see 'the Doctor'. And THAT is pretty much summing up the problem by and large in terms of 'Doctor Who' today. It's become a Platform for expression certain 'issues'. And the actual essence of the character and show has faded away...
A good debate but I had done my research and as you know David I don’t rush to broadcast a simple headline as so many streamers do. I collate and reflect. The truth is RTD cannot explain this away in a way that would be positive
@@noblerees1 The problem is Brendan that it's hard to have an actual balanced conversation on the issue, as too many people (and Channels) are frothing at the mouth and have the dial turned up to '12'... "Balance is for wimps. Let's Rage instead." My concerns aren't really much different to your own, I am not planning on watching series 2, it's just that I won't take the reactionary route seen in the chat here, and elsewhere, and just 'froth' away in futile mock-rage. It is becoming very clear that the series is now over the hill, it isn't going to get the audience to come back. So it's coming down to the question of budget, and whether Programme Planners are willing to keep the money flowing to enable Production to carry on. At the moment you could toss a coin on that question...
@Theoneandonlydramaqueen. 'There's no actual evidence of "people leaving"' Watch the graphs he uses. I recognise you are a wind-up merchant, and this isn't going to matter, but facts are facts. And will still be facts no matter what you want to believe...
doctor who failed this Xmas. Why? because people (so the general joe) can smell the RTD and Moffat stench a mile off. everyone and their dog now knows that the pair are just too old for the show now. DW needs NEW writers in, sack the lot of them - the entire DW production team. get a fresh set of new people in!
The much-touted 4.11m rating attributed to Joy of the World is demonstrably misleading when you factor in the first and last 5 minutes comprising of the remnant audience from Strictly and those tuning in early for Wallace & Gromit. Strip away the 4.44m carried over from Strictly and the 670,000 tuning into the last 5-minutes ahead of Wallace & Gromit and the breakdown provides a more telling picture of those who stayed watching Doctor Who throughout, or had it on in the background as the bassline audience of 4m sets tuned into BBC1 throughout the day from 2-11pm bears testimony. In truth, the more accurate rating Doctor Who achieved on Christmas Day is an abysmal 3.94 million viewers.
@Theoneandonlydramaqueen. Strictly started at 3:55pm, and the intention with scheduling on BBC1on Xmas Day is to keep the TV set tuned in from mid-afternoon till late at night; which the bassline aidience of 4m basically did. As I extrapolated from the 5-minute breakdown, not only did Doctor Who screened 75 minutes later fail to significantly build from Strictly, without the boost from the last 10 minutes of the dance competition and the pile-in that occurred in the last 5 minutes of Joy to the World for Wallace & Gromit the episode averaged only 3.9m with 810,000 viewers turning over or switching off during the first half hour of Joy. With the audience for W&G more than doubling within 5 minutes the audience carried over from Doctor Who combined with losing over 600,000 overnight viewers that The Church on Ruby Road achieved, that's an unmitigated disaster no matter how you try to bluff, deny or spin the facts.
Joy to the world came in at number one on Disney + Australia on the 27th. Currently sitting at number 2. It was in the top ten most watched shows in most countries. But still, you'd have to look at the analytics of other streaming services to see if that's a good, fair or bad thing. As far as I am aware Disney + isn't that popular in Australia compared to others. So, they'll probably use the "British public are fatigued of DW" excuse, just like they did with Mavel & Star Wars.
It wasn't good, just bland. Full of familiar Moffat tropes that were recycled again. It's not scary or interesting. I can see the Fourth Doctor sitting around for a year! I find constantly jumping about in time doesn't make for a good story, certainly not in an hour or so. I prefer seeing the Doctor actually taking on a physical foe, instead of just using time travel to solve things. Moffat is a spent force, RTD is incompetent. They need to go.
Dr Who has become the total antithesis of family TV where Wallace and Gromit is perfect wholesome family viewing. This isn't rocket science, people don't want to watch Dr Who any more because it has themes that aren't family friendly and many adults find distasteful plus it just has nothing to offer story wise to adults or children. The BBC have forgotten how to make family entertainment now unlike Aardman Animations who are masters at it.
Chibs version of Who was embarrassing, RTD is just flat out insulting, New DW is now on a self destruction trip and is trying to take down Classic with it, just because Classic is far superior RTD is now butchering it in an attempt to make his shit look better
Titles and vid is a load of bs. The show actually did better than most years beating out things it usually loses to. It got more than strictly, the kings speech (bbc only), and one of the Eastenders. It was never going to get more than W+G or G+S. Hmm shows and a movie which have not been on screens have loads more viewers than something that has been going constantly 🤯. And you provided no proof that anyone turned off. Just cause you hate the "woke" and don't agree with the facts doesn't mean you can throw a hissy fit. "Massacred" my arse. That proof where you showed people "leaving" 10 minutes in and those statements are literally so obviously fake. I'd like to know where you pulled them from. 😂
So obviously fake? That’s available to anyone who wishes to research it rather than sit on their backside and talk out of their posterior lapping up their bliss in ignorance. Enjoy - it must be a great place to live!
@noblerees1 so complete bs. Cool got you. Again you have no evidence from you claims yet say there's "facts". The facts say this show is doing better than it has in years especially on Christmas and isn't going anywhere 😘
Doctor Who is Dead. Best thing over Christmas. Alaister Sim Scrooge. I did not see Who. Thank God. Your Podcasts are far better than Who. RTD and friends cannot write good stuff anymore. It's Woke PC Rubbish. Happy New Year Brendan.
Excellent and important analysis. Anecdotally, the most frequent thing I've heard from casual viewers beyond the vague "it was boring" has been "I remember when Doctor Who was scary." I think many people really want something more like Blink, and instead are getting episodes that have very little tension, jeopardy, consequence, or suspense. The writers are relying upon expensive effects, overwhelming music and sound, and slice and dice editing to create excitement, but viewers don't really work that way. Maybe as a captive audience in a theatre with a great sound system, but definitely not on the couch with family on Christmas. And on the other hand, the one bit the most people connected with was that slow bit with Anita. It's not what I personally want in DW, but it was certainly the heart of the episode, and they did have good chemistry. But it wasn't integrated into the story. It's like Moffat realized that that storyline and character were more interesting than everything else in the episode, and wrote in a bunch of hollow in-universe excuses for him to dawdle around there for a year, when he really should have rewritten the main story to be more engaging. I think why people connected with the Anita bit was just because it was the only somewhat genuine feeling part in the episode. Everything else, like the rest of this last series, was shallow and superficial and inauthentic.
She felt like a real person rather than a very strange Joy who talked to flies in hotel Rooms and waffled about adjoining hotel Doors as if it was an issue
@@noblerees1 You know, I've been thinking about this since you wrote it, and I don't think I agree that she felt like a real person, or at least, the extent to which she felt real was only due to the actress' performance and her chemistry with Ncuti. On the contrary, she was subsumed by moffaty inside jokes between the Doctor/writer and the audience, jokes that excluded her. even as she was saying the lines, (doesn't take you where I want to go No but it takes you where you need to go Bigger on the inside, cringe sonic mopping etc.) weird inconsistencies (boyfriend? married?, hearing them play twister when that would be beyond uncomfortable to watch,) and in the end her big gift was a better hotel job because that's all we really know about her personality and dreams. I've met people for 10 mins that I know better than I knew her. I think why that interlude was popular was that it wasn't doing what the rest of the episode was. The rest of the episode was either hitting you over the head with smug and exciting!!! or smug and twee or hitting you over the head with emotional manipulation. Both are pushing and prodding the audience to respond a certain way. That year with Anita just let the audience breathe. It didn't tell them how they should feel, or overwhelm them, it just WAS. And that was charming. The way W&G is charming,. It's not yelling at you to smile; you just find yourself smiling. I saw your analysis, and was thinking about what made people go out of their way to turn the tv off. And I kept coming back to the way the beginning comes on like a pile of bricks. There's the 40s couple with the man saying it's the end of everything they hold dear. But the minute you start to invest in that, in blasts Ncuti and his teeth and his tray of cringe, and his aggressive superficiality, loud and brash as the music. If you already like him, you love that, but if you don't, it's annoying and gets more so. From that moment on, the audience isn't given a moment to breathe. From the music to the visuals to the acting, the show is yelling at them to be excited. Then later it's yelling at them to cry their eyes out. That bit with Anita was the only bit that wasn't yelling at them to feel a certain way. The only part that was just telling a story, and allowing them the space to feel whatever they want about it. It was gentle and intimate and quiet compared to the rest of the episode. It's like they got it so wrong, thinking "we have to engage the audience right away!" and threw as many noisy, superficial things at the screen as possible, not realizing that actually annoys people and feels desperate. Not realizing that the way to engage people is really to intrigue them, to draw them in. Some noise is ok, but unrelenting noise works on very few.
If there’s any justice I hope that JNT is looking down from the heavens with a Vodka and Tonic and having a good laugh at the implosion of RTD, Moff and Chibnall under the weight of their own stupidity. There is an old saying that if you put a beggar on horseback that he will ride to Hell. Feeling the heat, lads?
Very true
Yet more expert analysis, Brendan. Many thanks.
I particularly liked your moment-by-moment dissection of the opening minutes. I remember, interviewed years ago, Steven Moffat saying that he was constantly aware of maintaining the viewers' interest, to prevent people from switching over or off. It seems that he's either forgotten this danger or now feels that it's diverting enough to simply skip from one time era to another with Ncuti popping up holding a tray. As you said, where's the jeopardy?
And as I've said before, Bad Wolf and BBC Studios need only watch your channel to find out where they're going wrong and how to rectify things. Keep up the good work, Brendan; Doctor Who needs you!
I agree Crimp, but it will never happen
Thank you my friend - that means a lot
"It seems that he's either forgotten this danger..."
I suspect it's more the case that writing an episode of Doctor Who today means having to include a (long) list of requirements and demands from the BBC.
There was a point three-quarters into the story where Gatwa/Doctor suddenly goes off into a spiel of obvious inserts that were including him talking of such everyday conversational subjects as "Mansplaining", and I think this is to a woman in a carriage who turns out to be trying to write a letter to her girlfriend, and in turn leads to...
It struck me as so very forced this sequence, as if Moffatt had been handed notes from above by this point in the writing and dropped their subjects into his script at this moment. Much like 'The Star-Beast' this sort of 'messaging' distorts the flow of the story and can pull the viewer out of it, because it is such foreign matter within the context of the story, and in everyday conversation.
I think we have to bear in mind just how demanding writing a story today is for a writer. In an extreme environment where even Russell Davies appears on camera hysterically unloading to the viewer about Davros and Wheelchair users, and is elsewhere worrying on the Sonic Screwdriver being equated with a weapon etc, it is rather too clear to see that working on _Doctor Who_ today is a massive test of _any_ writers stamina and ability. Too many demands, too much interference...?
That Moffatt's two scripts (Boom and 'Joy To'...) are two of the strongest in the new series it a testament to Moffatt's ability and skill as a writer. I would watch both again, and get some measure of enjoyment out of them.
As someone who gets paid to tell stories, I agree with your analysis. You need to grip the audience from the get-go.
If you don't hook them in the first few minutes, then you lose them.
If it's a ghost story, set the scene and create an atmosphere before you get to the first encounter with the ghost. If it's a murder mystery, get the murder in early, and then the rest is the detective trying to solve the crime.
Classic Doctor Who understood this premise and they had a lot less competition in terms of other channels.
For example the Wheel in Space episode one has a lot of drama. The Tardis tries to warn the Doctor and Jamie to go elsewhere. Then the fluid link malfunctions, forcing them out of the Tardis, and worse, the Doctor has to disconnect the Time Vector Generator so the Tardis is out of action and they can't just leave.
There's no obvious danger, but that creates a sense of mystery, and then they encounter a robot, and the Doctor is injured.
That's a lot in 25 mins, and that's all before you get to the main story with the Cybermen.
Spot on
Instead Moffat gave them a camp Doctor purring "Ham and cheese toastie and a spiced pumpkin latte" to keep them hooked!
Defund the BBC. Home of PDF files.
PS excellent thumbnail text Brendon. Made me chuckle 👍
Thank you - we have to laugh
Brendan, Sense Sphere panelists, and all Sensorites big and small -- Happy New Year!!
Big thanks especially to my favorite Gay Scottish English Teacher for all the effort you put into a great program that's always getting better and helping me to stay sane in RTD2 era and a place to connect with other huge fans!! You are appreciated!!
Thank you. How very dare you! Lol. I’m a Northern Yorkshire English teacher lol. My grandad was Scottish. But thanks for your comments and loyalty
@noblerees1 I knew I wasn't entirely correct on that one, grant me a wee bit of grace being an American who doesn't know too much about such things 😆. I'm 1/4 Scot on my maternal side, Clan Menzies.
of course. It’s my accent I guess. When I lived in Australia some thought I was Irish.
This won’t happen but Dr Who can be successful if the BBC gave it to the right people to produce.
It’s the 50th Anniversary of Tom Baker’s debut as The Doctor. Under Philip Hinchcliffe/Robert Holmes it reached its peak in popularity. History shows that it was their success that lead to their own downfall due to powerful influence Mary Whitehouse had at the time. She successfully complained it was too horrific for the scheduled tv tea time slot it was in. Times have changed but the most successful stories in the RTD 1 era were the more scary stories. The Unquiet Dead, The Empty Child, The Impossible Planet, Human Nature, Blink, Midnight, The Water of Mars etc. It’s a mystery to most Who fans why RTD2 fantasy era is full of whimsical, saccharine, non threatening stories lines. It’s forgettable fluff. Since RTD won’t produce scary Doctor Who then it’s time the BBC handed the show over to professionals that can get those missing millions of viewers back. Unfortunately, the present BBC are so scared of offending anyone that they have dismantled it’s once great comedy department. It’s therefore unlikely that they are willing to scare kids in case a few hundred parents complain. Since they are unwilling to take the necessary steps to make it great again our only hope is that they cancel the programme until the conditions are right for it to return.
You make good well considered points
Wallace and Gromit had a good story, and a Evil Penguin, Doctor Who had no real story no monster even the T-rex was a disappointment, it only eat a briefcase. On the 16th of Dec, on BBC-4 they showed a Ghost story by Mark Gatiss called The Mezzotint, it was brilliant, the last few minutes when the creature came in from the window made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. That hasn't happened in Doctor Who for a long time. What's more no one died on screen, but it had erie foreboding and horror feel to it. RTD should watch it, that's what Doctor Who should be.
Is he willing to learn from others?
The Episode is for children, that's actually the BBC's view on Doctor Who - it is for children. So we have this format today where there is no overt violence, when people are seen to die they simply turn to dust and drift away peacefully, no pain, and if an important character does die, they come back, in a transformed state. It's a very fluffy, safe, cozy world in Doctor Who, especially today.
They are aiming it at children, and I agree that they are forgetting that at its best the series has always had a multi-spectrum approach to its formatting whereby it has a far broader appeal than that it has ended up with today - they have forgotten the audience is multi-spectrum.
This wasn't a bad episode. As a slice of Christmas escapism it held my attention and entertained me for the most part. And on paper it *should* have appealed to the family audience, but I think what has happened here is that the audience hasn't been tempted back in after the Chibnall/Whittaker years, and what they saw in Davies & Gatwa's series earlier this year has driven them away. Again.
"No, Thank-You." Is the message being given. The Public know what to expect from this series, and they don't want it. It's as simple as that really... It doesn't matter that the episode here was good. Because it is coming too late.
@@davidmullen6011 It was always the best when it made children hide behind the sofa, kids got scared, parents got entertained, everyone had a fun time. It's just an embarrassment now, the BBC has forgotten how to make family entertainment.
@@davidmullen6011 Correction: the BBC, Disney, Bad wold Studios and Russell T Davies covet children for a particular reason. To inDoctorinate them with LGBTQl+ propaganda, otherwise known as gr00ming. As RTD let slip at The Royal Television Society event on 29 November 2023 alongside Jane Tranter: "The characters and the action's for the adults, THE MESSAGING'S FOR THE KIDS!"
50 years ago when Doctor Who was entering its last greast golden age, a producer or script editor saying that would have been arrested or charged for openly stating they had returned to a show they once worked on specifically to use it as a recrutment platform for a fetishistic sex cult. Indeed, were there still a watershed in operation at the BBC none of the LGBTQl+ indoctrination the BBC is disseminating throughout its schedule would have been allowed before 9pm, but clearly that's 'been diluted or erased to propagandise innocent children with perver$ion and tran$ cuItism.
Davies also let slip in San Diego over the summer that "Trans rights are 1000 times more important than Doctor Who". His priority was always to use Doctor Who to get "the message" to the kids using a global streaming platform "to reach as many kids globally as possible", Julie Gardner also admitted ove the summer.
Thankfully their agenda to influence kids failed due to the publication of the WPATH Files in the US and the Cass Report in the UK being blown wide open weeks before Series 14 started, leaving RTD looking extremely stupid, foolish and downright d0dgy.
Another great analysis Brendan. Your arguments and facts are like a blow torch to candy floss to those on Gallifrey Base who will be sucking up to Bad Wolf and desperate to assure us that all with Doctor Who is going swimmingly. The program has become a complete joke. Cancellation at this point would be an act of kindness.
@@floydian2007 "facts" also cancellation isn't happening no matter what you anti woke mob want
Aw thank you
Excellent summary, Nathan. Modern Doctor Who has lost the art of storytelling. Until the series has a production team that understands getting the basics right, things will never improve.
Thank you
This bears out the facts. I decided to give it a go having not seen the show since the Specials. Fell asleep after 15 mins then wife turned TV over..
Yes my parents walked out
Thanks for actually putting in facts and thought into this. This is exactly how streamers look at their numbers on each broadcast. If this was a Disney or Netflix set of numbers, the series wouldn't see S2. Look at how Apple treated Time Bandits. I personally believe that the start times overlapping by 10 mins was a deliberate ploy to bleed higher numbers into the reported averages, Strictly didn't need the extra 10, it could have been cut by that amount and no-one would notice.
Thank you for that feedback
A very compelling summation, Brendan, as always. All the best for the new year.
I love doing a saloon - my favourite Shaun
It's a load of bs created by him. He can't provide any real evidence. No channels record who's leaving minutes in and they certainly wouldn't release it. Notice how all the evidence are just statements by this loser. 😂
@Theoneandonlydramaqueen. The cope 🤣
@Paul_1971 says you. The shows been woke since the 60s get a grip. 😘
@Theoneandonlydramaqueen. You are the typical 'modern' audience - what a ridiculous statement, just laughable. Wokeism has only been around for the last few years. There was always inclusion but not forced oversaturated inclusion like now. Its you that needs to get a grip.
It takes a special kind of someone to mess up a concept loke time-travelling hotel rooms.
Agreed
Truly! It was such a great premise.
Quality control, is there any?..There doesn't seem to be any within Badwolf or the colourists , the BBC just seem to accept what they produce blindly without any consideration whether it's worthy of the franchise...That being said it's important that RTD/MOFFETT and BBC understand we are not bored armchair critics or phobes , ists or outdated, We Are THE QUALITY CONTROL.
Doctor Who franchise has become embarrassment
Agreed
@josesmith1329 When or if do you think RTD will be fired
@@catherinejames2739 Inevitable Disney/BBC whoniverse will be cancelled after second season too late to reset or save Doctor Who now
Nope
@@catherinejames2739 Well Inevitable Disney/BBC corporate will simply cancel after the second season the end is near for RTD and Gatwa era
At least the Bullseye reboot was actually watchable. 😆
Did dr who hit the bullseye or miss the board?
@@noblerees1"stay out of the black and into the red, you get nothing for this game for two in a bed" 🤣🤣
Stop watching Doctor Who if you find it "unwatchable."
I cannot abide People who watch a series they despise, and know they will despise. Do something else with your time...
@@davidmullen6011 Dude,i bailed a few episodes into Matt Smith! I don't need to watch the current Nu-Who to know it's bad. 😆
@@carolfan4466 Well let me put it this way - I wasn't planning to watch the special as such, but it so happened the television was on BBC1 as someone wanted to watch 'Strictly Dancing' before it.
I missed the start of the episode as family were in the room and we were talking, but started (half)watching and was drawn into the story. It's typical Christmas froth, but a clever idea with the time Hotel, and despite some of the usual problems with this series I did end up enjoying it overall.
I have much the same issues and problems with this series as others do, I can't invest myself in this take on the Doctor or the show today. But I did enjoy three episodes last series, on their own terms, and this Special was quite good for the most part. I was entertained for an hour.
I have watched. Some episodes last series I just switched off, they were terrible. But I *did* given them a chance, I can say they were terrible as I tried to give them a chance to impress me.
You on the other hand...? You don't watch the series at all. But you 'know' it is bad.
That's quite amazing to me.
This is pathetic how many people turned off
Shocking
Maybe Phil Collinson will retcon Wallace as the Master next. Or they'll add Wallace & Gromit as past Doctors to The Brain of Morbius. 'AN EPIC DAY OUT'!
Feathers McGraw is The Master
We only have humour left
Benny from Crossroads was the Master too
Benny from Crossroads was the Master too 🤣
Gromit is secretly Suetekh.
The only reason the viewing figures were as high as they were was because it was Christmas Day television where BBC normally dominates and it was sandwiched between Strictly (which itself was an embarrassment with the drag queen winning) and Wallace and Gromit. Most people probably just left the TV on while they went and got their Christmas tea ready before settling down to W&G. The days of people tuning in specifically to watch Doctor Who on Christmas Day are long gone.
If he hasn't already, then a full breakdown on audience research will be crossing Russell Davies' desk come January. More crucially though it will be on various BBC executives desks too.
The episode won its slot, so there's that in its favour. But if the data is showing that the audience (theoretically captive for that evening on BBC1) is seen deliberately leaving as the show started, and only comes back towards the end, *that* is a major worry. A 'special' Christmas Day episode of this nature should drawing the audience in, not driving it off...
It isn't boding well for series 2 at all. And yet the publicity management and support from Bad Wolf and the BBC has been poor for this episode, I can see the lack of confidence form them all, and it has to be a result of the lack of a good reception for the relaunched series, and some very clear major issues going on behind the scenes - Just why did you hire an asset like Millie Gibson, and yet let her go before you even have a chance to market anything for this relaunch?! Clearly something is *very* wrong with the culture going on behind the scenes. And it extended well into the actual airing of the series.
The episode won its slot yes, but it is clear to see it didn't actually draw 'in' an audience - people weren't switching on for Doctor Who, they were actually switching off. And we saw this happening in the Chris Chibnall era too, so this is actually an ongoing reaction to the series from the BBC1 audience.
I can see what the problems have been since 2017, and they were coming in even before that. But with 2017 what we had was a Reboot, a reboot so radical on the character and the series, that is alienated-what had been a very loyal and dependable Public. And the-alienation over Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker's five years has extended to Davies' return to the series, and what has been effectively _another_ rebooting of character and series... the Public are-alienated by it all, unable to invest anymore in all of this chaos and self-indulgence, and that-alienation is extending even to the loyal fanbase for the character - I think the basic fact is no one can engage with any of it anymore. Too much changing, too much-alienation, and too much lecturing from the series and its makers.
I broadly enjoyed the Christmas Special. I look at the teaser for series 2 though and all I see is 'Ncuti Gatwa', modelling the latest fashions. I see Ncuti Gatwa, and I don't see 'the Doctor'. And THAT is pretty much summing up the problem by and large in terms of 'Doctor Who' today.
It's become a Platform for expression certain 'issues'. And the actual essence of the character and show has faded away...
A good debate but I had done my research and as you know David I don’t rush to broadcast a simple headline as so many streamers do. I collate and reflect. The truth is RTD cannot explain this away in a way that would be positive
@@noblerees1 The problem is Brendan that it's hard to have an actual balanced conversation on the issue, as too many people (and Channels) are frothing at the mouth and have the dial turned up to '12'... "Balance is for wimps. Let's Rage instead."
My concerns aren't really much different to your own, I am not planning on watching series 2, it's just that I won't take the reactionary route seen in the chat here, and elsewhere, and just 'froth' away in futile mock-rage.
It is becoming very clear that the series is now over the hill, it isn't going to get the audience to come back. So it's coming down to the question of budget, and whether Programme Planners are willing to keep the money flowing to enable Production to carry on.
At the moment you could toss a coin on that question...
This is a load of bs. There's no actual evidence of "people leaving" it's statements created by this anti woke loser.
@Theoneandonlydramaqueen. 'There's no actual evidence of "people leaving"'
Watch the graphs he uses. I recognise you are a wind-up merchant, and this isn't going to matter, but facts are facts. And will still be facts no matter what you want to believe...
@davidmullen6011 the graphs he's made. Hmm yes very reliable. There's no real evidence.
doctor who failed this Xmas.
Why? because people (so the general joe) can smell the RTD and Moffat stench a mile off. everyone and their dog now knows that the pair are just too old for the show now.
DW needs NEW writers in, sack the lot of them - the entire DW production team. get a fresh set of new people in!
Very true
@xsm5525 number one in many countries and very high ratings in UK says otherwise 😘
@Theoneandonlydramaqueen. Considering the IQ levels of most countries nowadays (look who we vote in), that's not saying much is it?
@ADifferentLens2345 who's we
@ADifferentLens2345 the iq of most countries is higher than any anti woke reform voters.
You know I don’t do reactionary but researched
Bullseye is a classic, lot of 50 plus people grew up with it.
Me too
The much-touted 4.11m rating attributed to Joy of the World is demonstrably misleading when you factor in the first and last 5 minutes comprising of the remnant audience from Strictly and those tuning in early for Wallace & Gromit.
Strip away the 4.44m carried over from Strictly and the 670,000 tuning into the last 5-minutes ahead of Wallace & Gromit and the breakdown provides a more telling picture of those who stayed watching Doctor Who throughout, or had it on in the background as the bassline audience of 4m sets tuned into BBC1 throughout the day from 2-11pm bears testimony.
In truth, the more accurate rating Doctor Who achieved on Christmas Day is an abysmal 3.94 million viewers.
@@garyleigh6876 it got more than strictly hmm I wonder how
@@garyleigh6876 yeah the "truth" is that your hate for this "woke" show is futile cause its better than anything you'd ever make
Exactly
@Theoneandonlydramaqueen. Strictly started at 3:55pm, and the intention with scheduling on BBC1on Xmas Day is to keep the TV set tuned in from mid-afternoon till late at night; which the bassline aidience of 4m basically did.
As I extrapolated from the 5-minute breakdown, not only did Doctor Who screened 75 minutes later fail to significantly build from Strictly, without the boost from the last 10 minutes of the dance competition and the pile-in that occurred in the last 5 minutes of Joy to the World for Wallace & Gromit the episode averaged only 3.9m with 810,000 viewers turning over or switching off during the first half hour of Joy.
With the audience for W&G more than doubling within 5 minutes the audience carried over from Doctor Who combined with losing over 600,000 overnight viewers that The Church on Ruby Road achieved, that's an unmitigated disaster no matter how you try to bluff, deny or spin the facts.
@garyleigh6876 except it didn't stop lying it beat strictly and it was never going to beat Wallace so think about what's actually true.
Joy to the world came in at number one on Disney + Australia on the 27th. Currently sitting at number 2. It was in the top ten most watched shows in most countries. But still, you'd have to look at the analytics of other streaming services to see if that's a good, fair or bad thing. As far as I am aware Disney + isn't that popular in Australia compared to others.
So, they'll probably use the "British public are fatigued of DW" excuse, just like they did with Mavel & Star Wars.
Yeah but number 1 in a heap of crap content, there's nothing good on D+ 🤣🤣
@@RicStorm616 the cope is strong with this one
This is the funniest review of Dr Woke I've seen. Hilarious!
@@streetlegalone watch the show from the 60s
Watched and enjoyed Wallace & Gromit tho 😅
Me too
Wallace and Gromit are better actors.
It wasn't good, just bland. Full of familiar Moffat tropes that were recycled again. It's not scary or interesting. I can see the Fourth Doctor sitting around for a year! I find constantly jumping about in time doesn't make for a good story, certainly not in an hour or so. I prefer seeing the Doctor actually taking on a physical foe, instead of just using time travel to solve things. Moffat is a spent force, RTD is incompetent. They need to go.
Timey wimey nonsense
@@Farsight-nc1ib not everything has to be scary you numpty
@@Farsight-nc1ib the fourth doctor is gone and you should be too.
Dr Who has become the total antithesis of family TV where Wallace and Gromit is perfect wholesome family viewing. This isn't rocket science, people don't want to watch Dr Who any more because it has themes that aren't family friendly and many adults find distasteful plus it just has nothing to offer story wise to adults or children. The BBC have forgotten how to make family entertainment now unlike Aardman Animations who are masters at it.
@@schrodingerscat1863 yeah no.
Totally agree
Wallace would do better than 15
Factually he does - Wallace had more thrills
I watched both, I preferred doctor who. I miss anita already
Anita was the big plus
If you only miss Anita then the show and it's star was shyte 🤣🤣
Chibs version of Who was embarrassing, RTD is just flat out insulting, New DW is now on a self destruction trip and is trying to take down Classic with it, just because Classic is far superior RTD is now butchering it in an attempt to make his shit look better
I agree
@@RicStorm616 classic who is just as woke love 😘
Titles and vid is a load of bs. The show actually did better than most years beating out things it usually loses to. It got more than strictly, the kings speech (bbc only), and one of the Eastenders. It was never going to get more than W+G or G+S. Hmm shows and a movie which have not been on screens have loads more viewers than something that has been going constantly 🤯. And you provided no proof that anyone turned off. Just cause you hate the "woke" and don't agree with the facts doesn't mean you can throw a hissy fit. "Massacred" my arse. That proof where you showed people "leaving" 10 minutes in and those statements are literally so obviously fake. I'd like to know where you pulled them from. 😂
So obviously fake? That’s available to anyone who wishes to research it rather than sit on their backside and talk out of their posterior lapping up their bliss in ignorance. Enjoy - it must be a great place to live!
@noblerees1 ok show me where the bbc released that people left in the middle of the ep. You can't! It doesn't exist!
It was worked out based on facts freely available. Rather than denying truth have you spent more than a second looking for the truth?
@noblerees1 so complete bs. Cool got you. Again you have no evidence from you claims yet say there's "facts". The facts say this show is doing better than it has in years especially on Christmas and isn't going anywhere 😘
@@noblerees1 Note the name of the Poster carefully...🙄
Doctor Who is Dead. Best thing over Christmas. Alaister Sim Scrooge. I did not see Who. Thank God. Your Podcasts are far better than Who. RTD and friends cannot write good stuff anymore. It's Woke PC Rubbish. Happy New Year Brendan.
Thank you and happy new year
Excellent and important analysis. Anecdotally, the most frequent thing I've heard from casual viewers beyond the vague "it was boring" has been "I remember when Doctor Who was scary."
I think many people really want something more like Blink, and instead are getting episodes that have very little tension, jeopardy, consequence, or suspense. The writers are relying upon expensive effects, overwhelming music and sound, and slice and dice editing to create excitement, but viewers don't really work that way. Maybe as a captive audience in a theatre with a great sound system, but definitely not on the couch with family on Christmas.
And on the other hand, the one bit the most people connected with was that slow bit with Anita. It's not what I personally want in DW, but it was certainly the heart of the episode, and they did have good chemistry. But it wasn't integrated into the story. It's like Moffat realized that that storyline and character were more interesting than everything else in the episode, and wrote in a bunch of hollow in-universe excuses for him to dawdle around there for a year, when he really should have rewritten the main story to be more engaging.
I think why people connected with the Anita bit was just because it was the only somewhat genuine feeling part in the episode. Everything else, like the rest of this last series, was shallow and superficial and inauthentic.
She felt like a real person rather than a very strange Joy who talked to flies in hotel
Rooms and waffled about adjoining hotel
Doors as if it was an issue
@@noblerees1 You know, I've been thinking about this since you wrote it, and I don't think I agree that she felt like a real person, or at least, the extent to which she felt real was only due to the actress' performance and her chemistry with Ncuti.
On the contrary, she was subsumed by moffaty inside jokes between the Doctor/writer and the audience, jokes that excluded her. even as she was saying the lines, (doesn't take you where I want to go No but it takes you where you need to go Bigger on the inside, cringe sonic mopping etc.) weird inconsistencies (boyfriend? married?, hearing them play twister when that would be beyond uncomfortable to watch,) and in the end her big gift was a better hotel job because that's all we really know about her personality and dreams. I've met people for 10 mins that I know better than I knew her.
I think why that interlude was popular was that it wasn't doing what the rest of the episode was. The rest of the episode was either hitting you over the head with smug and exciting!!! or smug and twee or hitting you over the head with emotional manipulation. Both are pushing and prodding the audience to respond a certain way. That year with Anita just let the audience breathe. It didn't tell them how they should feel, or overwhelm them, it just WAS. And that was charming. The way W&G is charming,. It's not yelling at you to smile; you just find yourself smiling.
I saw your analysis, and was thinking about what made people go out of their way to turn the tv off. And I kept coming back to the way the beginning comes on like a pile of bricks. There's the 40s couple with the man saying it's the end of everything they hold dear. But the minute you start to invest in that, in blasts Ncuti and his teeth and his tray of cringe, and his aggressive superficiality, loud and brash as the music. If you already like him, you love that, but if you don't, it's annoying and gets more so. From that moment on, the audience isn't given a moment to breathe. From the music to the visuals to the acting, the show is yelling at them to be excited. Then later it's yelling at them to cry their eyes out.
That bit with Anita was the only bit that wasn't yelling at them to feel a certain way. The only part that was just telling a story, and allowing them the space to feel whatever they want about it. It was gentle and intimate and quiet compared to the rest of the episode.
It's like they got it so wrong, thinking "we have to engage the audience right away!" and threw as many noisy, superficial things at the screen as possible, not realizing that actually annoys people and feels desperate. Not realizing that the way to engage people is really to intrigue them, to draw them in. Some noise is ok, but unrelenting noise works on very few.