i gave you a down for giving the specials an up, they are horrible, 3rd was the best until they ruined it even more, probably why they added 2 loopholes just incase everything goes wrong they can undo some bad ideas if they ever need to, you give too many ups, your too scared to give the downs... shame
Biggest UP, all three specials were fantastic Biggest Down, I really wish the new Confidential: Unleashed, and the Tales of the TARDIS eps were available worldwide. But totally understand why. BBC has to keep some goodies exclusive. Seeing Disney collaborate with this series is unreal, I love it But super thankful more viewers, get to join in on these marvelous adventures Bonus UP: Christmas with Doctor Who 😎🎄🎁
Agreed; I'd say this for the Star Beast as well, it nails the episode for the most part all the way through up until the final act where they include multiple huge reveals/twists but really skimp on the explanation. I feel like sooooo much of the discourse around the Doctor/Donna conclusion and Bi-generation would have been fixed if they had just taken the time to more clearly explain things
@@grantmason740 and maybe with a bit more time, we could had a more interesting way to copy the tardis than a hearthfelt collision with a cartoon hammer. or at least just have more than a second to concern
The explanation for why Tennant's face came back was really satisfying for me. I was completely expecting RTD to come up with a half assed hand wavey explanation just to justify bringing Tennant back, but when it came about I was surprised at how much sense it made and am glad it was given the correct emotional weight.
I was gonna comment something like this, I totally agree with you and I think it's come together perfectly. The idea that something bigger could have been made it's only up to the people who speculated the hell out of it. For us, who just want to enjoy Doctor Who it's been brilliant. It's emotionally driven and very well developted and justified. Did it live up to the expectations? Well I don't know, that depends on how high the expectations were. People tend to go crazy and I believe that's the main problem with it.
I think that recap before the Star Beast could have been better but my parents, who have never seen an episode before, said it helped them. I get the reaction but I don’t know if we, as die hard fans, are in the best position to judge it. It wasn’t put out there for us. Coming after Star Wars: Ahsoka (for me) that has no prologue I appreciated the attempt.
Dude Ahsoka has so much hand holding by exposition, it doesn't need a recap. The clunky video message from Ezra, the weirdly specific dialogue and worst offender of all "This is the Clone Wars" 😂😂😂
@@hirudinaria I hear what you’re saying and from my own protective I can sort of agree. The problem is I’m too far on the inside of both fandoms so I’m going off the reactions of friends and family that went in blind. Between the recap and exposition Doctor Who did seem to do it better.
@@tvguy61 Exactly, and that's what makes the opening part feel tacked on to me. It already did the first time, but especially in retrospect. The recap was already written naturally into the episode and I think it's explained better through the dialogue in that part.
The 60th Anniversary was amazing. I think when I look at it objectively, the 50th was far more consistent and probably a bit higher quality, however I enjoyed the 60th infinitely more. It was a slice of 3 different types of Who, and it just had so much heart that I couldn't help but smile the whole way through. I haven't rewatched new episodes this many times in YEARS. I loved it.
Well, Donna mansplaining about 'male presenting' was a bit, of a low point... Not a complete deal breaker, though. And with good performances, all around. Solid writing, generally.@@WhoCulture
I really enjoyed the 60th anniversary specials! I completely respect other people's criticisms of them but personally for me they gave me this feeling of doctor who being back to what it should be! The Star Beast reintroduced us to donna and her family and found a solution that enabled her to remember the doctor, it also gave us beep the meep and the wrarth warriors, both of which I loved! Wild Blue Yonder was super creepy and for the first time in a long time I found myself watching an episode of doctor who from behind a cushion! 😂 And The Giggle was brilliant! Neil patrick harris as the toymaker, the new UNIT headquarters, and mel! The stories of each of these episodes actually felt well written and russell t davies was even able to give emotions to storylines like the flux and the timeless child! I loved the bigeneration and seeing the fourteenth doctor get his happy ending with donna and her family made my day! Even if they never go back to this storyline, we'll know he's happy still. Can't wait to see ncuti and millie in the christmas special! Thanks Ellie and Who Culture! 😊😊
I have no problem with having a recap, but the way it was done seemed very awkward. No voice over per say; just the doctor standing in front of a weird blue screen image. Very strange decisions. But I agree it was probably useful for a number of people.
I am SOOO happy I discovered Whoculture prior to the specials! It has made this past month so much fun. It's really helped me get back into a show that has been part of my life since the early 80s, but not so much during the Chibnal years- no offense to Jodi- She was wonderful with what she had to work with. I LOVE how the show incorporated a noticeably bigger budget without losing completely that practical look of Who. I really noticed that in The Wild Blue Yonder. I loved that hallway BTW. Having that mysterious "thing" off in the distance was brilliant. The music- the emotional vibes. SO GOOD!!!. Anyway... can't wait for Christmas! Also- really hope someone throws DW Unleashed on the download sites so I can watch it over here!!!! KILLING me I can't see it. Think that's everything...
I really enjoyed them all my only problem with the DoctorDonna resolution was the Male presenting line because this Doctor has active memories of being a woman like it might have worked if they had explicitly made it about 10 not thinking of just letting it go by having 14 realize as they said it or something. Also have you guys thought about the Dilithium/Trellium down version for WhoCulture? Galvanic Down could work but Ups are much harder Artron Up or something?
A personal up was in Wild Blur Yonder, where the Doctor was actually vulnerable and was tricked by the Donna Copy. And then after the Giggle, we're told that, yea, the Doctor does need a break, that's just using subtlety in the best way possible, imo
True but them stating he needs a break does go against his exile on earth where he literally couldn’t travel anywhere due to the high council of gallifrey making his tardis unable to travel due to them decreeing that he broke their law of not interfering with other planets and civilizations forcing him to regenerate and live on earth at the end of the war games
Had there been no talk of them being the 60th anniversary specials, we'd never have known. Surely any anniversary celebration has to reflect that, not just one particular era of a show!
@@Sparx632 The 10th, the 20th and the 25th anniversary specials were bigger and felt more special than this. And the 25th wasn't even a special, it was just a a regular story, but one that does an incredible job as a tribute even if it wasn't even made as a huge thing like the other 2. So no, is not a good reason
@@ZebitasMartinex the Giggle was also a regular story that did a good job as a tribute, and the Star Beast is a nice tribute to an 80s classic Doctor Who comic and it’s writers, and we got Tales of the Tardis, a celebration of the golden era of modern Doctor Who, three, hour long specials, a re-colourisation of the original Dalek story, an update to an Adventure in Space and Time, a brand new Doctor who actually got screen time in an original style of regeneration, every classic episode on iPlayer, tons of backstage content, a children in need special and we got tons of interviews and celebrations of the past in other media like Doctor Who Magazine or SFX Magazine, book releases and on TH-cam. For 60 years that’s special enough and way more than they ever did for anniversaries in the 70s or 80s. We also just had Power of the Doctor as a centenary special, it did plenty of call backs to the past and to do that all again to that same degree just a year later would’ve been too much imo. Calling all that not enough because some minor anniversary episodes weren’t as big as the celebration of half a century (and it’s bigger if you look at everything outside the episodes imo) just sounds a little ungrateful to be honest.
This is exactly the point I was going to make: The BBC Centenary Doctor Who Special - aka “The Power of the Doctor” - was the true 60th Anniversary Special. It spanned all eras, Doctors, and companions and showed multiple Doctors, even if the other Doctors were almost solely in the “Guardians on the Edge” scenes (with the exception of the hologram of the Fugitive Doctor). No offense to Russell T. Davies. I enjoyed the 60th Anniversary specials for what they were, but “The Power of the Doctor” was the true 60th Anniversary special a year early.
exactly. This 14th run is too short to be an actual season, which it should've been. But also too unimportant to be an anniversary. The real question is; "Do you miss anything from skipping these 3 episodes?" and the real answer is no. Sure, its an ending for Tennant and Donna... but we already got one of those, it just wasn't a particularly good one. The characterisation comes from nowhere, and ends in this same run. The introduction of the 15th that has yet to be seen if it matters. For all we know, he'll get introduced again in this christmas episode. The star beast itself? Unimportant. The not-things? Dealt with. The Toy Maker? Dealt with. RTD Should've made it a full length season, maybe starting with a proper feature length 60th anniversary to mirror the feature length 50th that ended Matt Smith's season.
The Meep in the pile of toys, the my arms are too long, Mavity, wheelchair with rockets, something so scary that the Tardis ran away, so let's go kick its arse, the Spice Girls dance and The Toymaker's ridiculously fake accent, fourteen using the Tardis like Marty McFly's hoverboard. 😆
I really really loved them. It's not the expected celebration, but what it is is a great jumping on point. We have 1) a new Doctor in a new, Earth based adventure, companion etc 2) bizzare off world adventure that showcases the danger and breath of adventures Doctor Who has 3) A world ending threat that gives us a... Regeneration(ish) of The Doctor and a promise of future adventures. Basically it's condensation of Doctor Who as a whole. Something for the old fans and something that can make it easier to recommend the show to ppl.
Day of the Doctor is basically the definitive anniversary episode of that kind. It can't be topped. So RTD had to go in another direction. He pulled it off
Does anyone else just go “hiii ellieeee!!!” With a big smile like a child whenever Ellie greets us or is it just me because I’m happy to see more whoculture with Ellie?
I do. I've had a very bad year mentally and emotionally but Ellie's positivity is infectious. That makes watching new Whoculture videos one of very few ups in a year full of downs. That and the 60th obviously
I get really big Amy Pond vibes from her not just the red hair but also her fashion sense and also her nails! Amy always had different nail polish colors throughout the series.
OMG, Ellie, you saved the best for last! I have watched The Goblin Song dozens of times since its release. I love it! It gives us a teeny tiny insight to The Doctor and Ruby, but mostly is just incredible fun. "He makes me swoon!" indeed. Thanks for your review.
Point 1 - Agreed - the recap sequence would have been so much better if each of our heroes were filmed walking along the street - the streets of London - talking to camera to the side, as if to a friend - just catching up with us as they made their way to a busy Camden.. I sometimes think that RTD would benefit from a critical friend - just for these tonal choices (not the big decisions- those are his business)
I agree with u on Russell needing to be rained in some cause with his statements on the outfit also regenerating and his statements on the bi-generation it feels like he is becoming the showrunner victorious
@@kevin10001 , well he IS the showrunner victorious. He’s quite brilliant. Huge pressure, and he takes it all on his shoulders. You’ve got to respect that. I’m just advocating moderation (as he acknowledged recently - when Moffat advised he cut a scene - and he did). More of that.
I think wild blue yander is great because it’s the only episode that’s completely about the 14th doctor and Donna which is something I’m really glad we got considering we only got 3 adventures with 14
I think that the Giggle is a back door pilot for a UNIT spinoff. That’s why the Vlinks and the unit world building. All the things that seem not needed. I think that Unit is going to go toward the Toymaker plotline and “the boss” that the Meep talked about. I think all of these are to be in the Unit show and I think the Doctor is flying off to the regular Doctor Who style show.
The complete lack of a proper explanation of 13 regenerating into 14's clothes was a massive disappointment. It meant that RTD's excuse was not spoiler avoidance but actually the case. The fact that it was completely fine for the Master to be wearing 13's costume earlier in the same episode but a big problem when it came to 14 wearing it highlights the inconsistency. The RTD excuse just doesn't make sense. It makes the whole Davros-wheelchair thing look logical.
the clothes were what upset me the most. It could've been waved off as the Toymaker giving him his new suit when he regenerated. I know there's precedent with the first doctor's regeneration but still, a simple line would've sufficed. Hell, you can make the first doctor changing clothes when he regenerated due to the toymaker even back then! It actually would have been a cool connection!
I always speculated that David's face came back because he and Donna needed each other. No other explanation seemed feasible to me. "The metacrisis was null and void after a solution was found." Well, yeah. Not sure what the problem is with that? They found a solution, so it is no longer a problem....
Do people think the hand that picked up the Master's tooth is the same one that picked up the Master's ring? As always thank you all so very much for the videos, and greetings of the season!
I really loved a lot of what was done in these specials, my only down would be that I expected the Toymaker to have been so much more essential to the whole story.
I’ve been rewatching the series and just finished Daleks in Manhattan. One thing hit me: the Doctor save Laszlo’s life but couldn’t reverse the damage done by the Daleks. Why not take him in the TARDIS and find someone who could?
Because then there would be no stakes for any story. It's a bit inconsistent with the way they handle this, yes, but if The Doctor can just rush everyone off to be healed/repaired/resurrected each time it's needed, then there will be zero emotional investment or impact when a character is endangered. There must be risk and consequences for these conflicts for them to matter.
@watcherofwatchers Clearly stakes don't matter anymore lol, the Doctor doesn't only have infinite regenerations but now every single Doctor is alive simultaneously
I don't know about the force field walls, but in my mind, there was an easy fix for the large map thing, and that was to give Tennant a pair of sunglasses instead, that could have implied he was using the sunglasses from Capaldi's era. I also didn't enjoy the upgrades too much.
For what it is worth, as someone returning to the show, then subsequently going down a whoculture youtube rabbit hole, I really appreciated the recap at the start of star beast! Have been drifting from who for years since the writing in capaldi and whittaker's series declined.
"I'm so sorry to whoever designed that..." That was so British, I almost wanted to throw tea into a body of water. I think you covered all of my downs, pretty much one-for-one. I wouldn't have given Ncuti as many ups, because I think he's going to have to grow on me some more. But then, Matt Smith had to grow on me, and if I'm being honest, so did David Tennant. On the subject of clean-slate reboots vs acknowledging your history, I also agree that Smith's era handled it better than Whittaker"s. I don't know how it worked for everyone, but for me, once the history was acknowledged, the stories got better and Jodie's performance got better. It's kind of a shame that she opted to exit right when her version was getting interesting. Thanks for bonus video. I'm sure we'll speak again, but if not, Happy Christmas and be good or Father Christmas will bring you coal (which might be helpful as that studio is probably ideal for keeping sides of beef; you could burn the coal to keep warm - DISCLAIMER: please do not set fires in your attic). (EDIT) I'm so sorry, Bernard Cribbens, I forgot AGAIN: WILF LIVES!
I did manage to watch the new scenes that bookended the old stories (via YT) that were featured in the Tales from the TARDIS. And they were fantastic. Being a fan of Who since the Classic years ... the reminsence and nostalgia definitely brought more than one tear to my eyes.
The Tennant, The Tate, The Patrick Harris; oh, my! I thoroughly enjoyed these episodes, with maybe a slightly disappointed memory of the first special. Anyway, I loved them all. What I especially loved, adored, and will always admire the writers for was no need to bring back any old doctors to shock and wow us. It's too easy a story arc to fall back on, crossing timelines. Well done, RTD, well done. Also, excellent work, Ellie; many thanks for your devotion to not just watching Dr Who but delivering these Ups & Downs/Commentaries. Noice! As an afterthought. Are they ever going to explain why certain things appear to be set? For examples, The Doctor always meeting Wilf, the four knocks, the Doctor meeting Donna almost immediately in the first special. Is there some Gallifreyan force behind it (or a force from wherever the Doctor is really from)? Or are they just going to leave it as one-of-those-things? Or have they already explained it and I missed it?
"We were children when Ten and Donna were around before!" I was in my twenties. Frankly I'm tired of hearing about how everyone was a baby for series four.
I am not a fan of the idea that the bigeneration offloads The Doctor's trauma. I think many of the best moments of all the series are when we get to see The Doctor be vulnerable as s/he acknowledges and FEELS that trauma. (Tennet is especially good at these moments, but all the modern Doctors have had great moments with this.) This show needs this emotional grounding to counter The Doctor's upbeat exuberance as S/he gallivants about time and space.
The fascinating thing about UNIT's Avengers Tower (and come to think of it, Marvel's Avengers Tower as well) is that we only ever see that one big "bridge" room with the monitors, the Vlinx, and every Unit character important to the story conveniently located all in one office, which happens to be connected to the helipad/cannon launchpad... and then there is the storage room they park the Tardis in. What do they need the rest of this Burj Khalifa sized skyscraper for? Is it 200 floors full of nothing but offices? If so, do 90% of London's citizens all work there, or are these offices all empty? If not, what else is in that tower? Do they have a R&D department full of impossible technology? Do they have guest rooms? A spa? A leisure centre? Part of me wants to see all of this explored, and the other part wants them to leave it all to our imagination.
While I definitely don't hate these episodes, I didn't like them as much as many fans (like you guys) did. The writing for these episodes was, generally speaking, much better than the writing of the Chibnall Era. However, it still wasn't on par with the quality of writing that I had come to love and expect from Doctor Who. I suppose my biggest surprise and takeaway from RTD's return is that, even though my favorite Doctor is the tenth doctor (which I associate mainly with RTD), I might actually be more of a Moffat fan in the writing department.
The biggest up for me was having a happy ending for Donna and the fourteenth Doctor. As they have always been my favorite Doctor and companion, it warmed my heart to see them happy at the end. I also like that it leaves the door open for maybe seeing either or both of them again sometime in Doctor Who. Another up was seeing the interactions between the fourteenth and fifteenth Doctor. I think the bi-generation was a genius thing to do.
While it could have been done better, the intro WAS necessary to catch up new viewers. Such viewers will not see a TH-cam video about it. The logo looked fine to me. What, you want the Sonic shoehorned in? It served a purpose in episode 1. And maybe 15 will use those new abilities again. For the second episode, the whole point was to strip them of everything. And in the third, it just wasn't needed. I don't see the problem. Every Doctor gets their own new sonic now. Sure part of it may be merch sales but I also think it's good lore. What's the problem? Davies already explained the clothes. It was a bad choice but that's what it was. I don't know why you would expect something in universe when it was clear that wasn't why he did it that way. His face was explained in the third special. And as for Doctor-Donna, why she doesn't die is explained by Rose and that part was good, imo. The giving it up part was bad, yes. Of course it wasn't talked about again, it was resolved. No offense but you seem to be giving a lot of downs because it doesn't perfectly fit the head cannon you built for yourself before the episodes came out. You literally admit this in the video but still go with it anyway. I like you Ellie but come on, I can't agree with this. And yet another down because it didn't match what was in your head. Come on. It was a more horror-like mystery show. There really wasn't much to show in previews unless you showed the monsters, which would ruin the whole reveal of them. The Flux makes no sense. It's already retconned in a way to let the solar system and surrounding space be able to exist, since as shown it shouldn't. But keep part of the universe destroyed is just dumb, imo. What is wrong with putting it there for the sake of it? The Vlinx was cool. I'm sure he'll show up again. But some great ups as well. The performances were all great and NPH was fantastic as The Toymaker. Loved the musical number.
Your point at 26:00 was something I think Steven Moffatt fixed when handing over from Matt Smith's Doctor to Peter Capaldi's Doctor by the phone call to Clara telling her to give the new Doctor a chance!
Perhaps the big problem was rampant overspeculation. The 70s title card is effective. I don't know how the babies would have coped with Seeds of doom or Pyramids of Mars....... there are times when you just have to take things at face value and get on with it..... so let's just move onwards to Ncuti Gatwa
I get the impression, RTD wasn’t so much about the nostalgia in these specials; so much as about the overall possibility of the program going forward. Returning as show runner for the foreseeable future, it makes sense to me, he would want to use this to hype the future. To hook in a new segment of the audience while serenading the long time audience. Yes, UNIT has been there on and off since the second Doctor, and it’s survived its own cancellation to come back bigger than ever. Looking forward. I’ve been watching since Tom Baker, and I for one am intrigued and curious. Thanks Ellie.
I personaly think that the nostalgia gaslichting part was the best of the 60th. Otherwise it's just bad writing: Guy Rose, Hot yung Newton with a Netflic Cleapatra sindrom, And playing catch as a epic conclusion of it al.
Regarding the Vlinx... I assume it will get explained more in the future and feel like a propper character... but as they didn't in this, I feel it should have been either K9 or Mr Smith... either of them could have had those lines, and it have made sense... and would have had their own backstory already known... especially given its an anniversary special..
I’m fine with the recap in the star beast, but I just don’t know why they had my man david tennant floating in space instead of just being in the tardis or something
Up for Ellie's videos. I love her personality, enthusiasm about what she is talking about and agree with about 99% of what she talks about. Down for when she talks about how old she was when she watched season 4. I've just realised that I was older than she is now, when I was watching season 4 and now I really feel old now 😢
one good thing about the episode The giggle is the toymaker told the doctor that I made a jigsaw puzzle out of your timeline how did you like it so I think that's how they're going to do away with the Timeless child they're going to say that it was just the toy maker messing with reality
"Undo someone else's work." Moffat brought back the Time Lords. Chibnall killed them. The series has painted the Doctor's relationship with his people in a widely complicated way, showing the different sides of Gallifreyan society. Chibnall decided that the Doctor was never a Time Lord, never a Gallifreyan, and that instead, the Doctor's "people", instead took an abandoned child and experimented on them, used them like an assassin, and then wiped their memory. Chibnall did nothing but undo the work of others to make his own vision seem grander. Let alone, destroying all of the character development that the Master had.
WIld Blue Yonder will be one of my favorite episodes in the whole series (which for Americans that means all of the seasons). I found almost nothing wrong with it other than they couldnt find a way to add more time with Wilf.
Remembrance of the Daleks was a good example of how to make an Anniversary story without doing a multidoctor story like RTD said he didn't like There were much better ways to do the 60th. Because hey, he did a great job doing an anniversary special... for Series 4
I loved these, loved 14, love 15, love the excitement level all over fandom, love the positivity, love the hints of future dangers. No real big downs, just little mehs here and there. However... I'm still mixed on Bigeneration because it does a lot of good, but I still feel they are cheating something important. When the point of your plot resolution is YOU MUST HEAL, IT TAKES TIME, then skipping it w/out some sort of retro-reintegration of 14 back into the Doctor at some point in their future/past, it just undermines the message of the episode's resolution, and sends an equally bad reverse message to the audience that if you need therapy, don't worry, you can just skip it by being happy and positive, which I don't think RTD wants for his legacy on this. 20 years ago I needed therapy, and I went, and I wouldn't want any young people to have a takeaway that you can just grin and bear it, that actual work isn't needed that must be passed on so your future self can be whole and happy. I really want 14's healing to be passed on in a meaningful way at some point down the line.
I don’t think the super sonic screwdriver was null and void, because I think it’s pretty fair to speculate that they’ll be doing some sort of spin-off series with 14 and his adopted family at some point, I think all what you saw, the screwdriver, the duplicated tardis, the fact 14 has gone on at least a few trips since the bigeneration with his new family, I think you’ll see more of these things
RTD had ruled out a David Tennant spin off series thank god and that's a good thing too because that would overshadow Ncuti's Doctor and have all that Tennant baggage and that's not the best way to introduce your new Doctor I liked Tennant but the man's had his time.
@@joshuajoshua2732 he said “yet” obviously the focus has to be on 15 for the time being 100%, RTD clearly wants people treating 15 as primary as they should and he will be throughout, the main title show is entirely his until regeneration, but I wouldn’t rule out 14 having a spin-off later down the line, one that really challenges what you expect from a show set in the whoniverse, there’d be no point keeping 14 alive with Donna & family if you are never going to use them in a significant way at some stage, nor would there be any point using them in the standard doctor who format, I think RTD has ideas in the background regarding Tennant and Tate that are far from finished.
For international fans like me who didn’t get access to tales of the tardis and unleashed it feels like an underwhelming anniversary celebration cause all we got was the 3 specials and whatever clips from unleashed we were allowed to see on the TH-cam channel legally so it can feel like we are under appreciated cause most of the marketing was uk based and I know it’s a British show first but since it gone international during the moffat era we should be more embraced
This. I understand it’s not an American show but I do wish I could find the other things that really go with it. I’ve watched ever episode of classic who that I can (not the ones that were lost of course) but I know there are little things I miss.
@@aprillord-brown432 I’m an American and I just love watching the show I have Jon pertwee’s era going on Tubi cause it’s the first era with it all found Matt is my first doctor but have gone back and watched Russell’s first era I watched through Jodie and while waiting for the specials I did a random rewatch of the modern era when I picked a doctor and watched their time as the doctor also i think when discussing the show on some uk based channels like this one they seem to forget the international appeal it has when they bring up the uk exclusive content like tales of the tardis the old confidential series or the revived version unleashed cause this channel brought them up like a success for the anniversary but it was a success and a failure cause with the show being a streaming exclusive now we should have been allowed to get those side projects but we didn’t making the whole whoniverse thing pointless if all we are getting is the show and new spin offs
@@kevin10001 I really liked doctor 3. And his car. I binge watched classic, so they all get mushed together but 3 and 4 were my favorites. I don’t recommend that method. 1 eta at a time is probably a much better plan. I enjoyed the flute with 2. It was interesting watching some of the episodes with cartoons and when they switched to color.
Biggest down: Donna and Rose trying to thrown down the Doctor: "it's a shame you're not a woman anymore" and " ...a male presenting time lord can never understand" Really? Cringiest of the cringe!! Also, these specials did not feel like the celebration of 60 years of DW. They were more of a filler between 13 and 15... 50th Anniversary special was much better than these three episodes combined.
I totally agree that the episodes didn't seem like 60th anniversary specials, definitely not on par with the 50th or dare I even say, with The Power Of The Doctor, which was celebrating the centenary of the BBC, I was definitely underwhelmed, which is a shame as series 4 is my favourite and Donna was my favourite companion. I absolutely detested those lines about 'letting it go' and 'male presenting' .
I disagree with your down on ‘Why this face?’ My immediate thought was that they would play off ‘The Doctor who regrets’ due to trauma from The Flux and other things 13 had gone through. This face shows a longing for a time when The Doctor had someone who was just a best friend and, bonus, this friend has an amazing grandfather he was able to open up to once during a time he was feeling very much the same way as now.
@@DoctorTimelord tbh I'm still holding out hope (or is it cope?) that it'll become some sort of snake eating its own tail thing and the Doctor will eventually regenerate into that little girl who came through the rift. So essentially the Fugitive Doctor IS a future Doctor, just in a very timey wimey way.
@@marshsundeen Hey it may not be perfect but it is better than anything Stephan Moffat did. Moffet's era is the worst and may of the episodes like Heaven Sent and Listen are among the worst in Show history. Part of that was because he and Mark Gattis were working on Sherlock at the Same time; which the BBC considered to be a more prestigious show. It doesn't take a opium smoking detective to figure out that the Show's quality is going to suffer as a result. It's quite Elementary.
I had completely forgotten the recap to start The Star Beast. I'm still not convinced that it was there when it premiered on Disney+. I had to go check and it's there, but I couldn't recall it at all.
As a controversial Whittaker run enjoyer, I’m so happy you upped the mention of the Timeless Child and the Flux, I was so worried they were gonna forget about it
Biggest UP: The Doctor and Donna are back! Biggest DOWN? Nobody has Doctor Who: Unleashed on this side of the pond. Once again, viewers outside of the UK have zaro access to the behind-the-scenes content created for the episodes we get to see, and this geek would love to be able to see them. A quick note about the change from DT to Matt Smith: It took me a while to warm up to Matt's Doctor, but not because he's not David. It's because of the fixation on being cool. As an older person who has learned that being cool isn't all it's cracked up to be, I hated that the character with that wonderful speech on the Titanic several Catmases ago is now so intent on being cool.
Christmas Specials where Boxing Day Specials for Us Aussies, and I Loved it and prefered it way over Day after New Years Days Specials for the New Years Day Specials!!! And that was one of the last Episodes I ever saw Air *Now we Pay* back when we had it on Sundays, because it was then Mondays and I had Year 12 and Uni!!!
There was a documentary on RTD on TV today that was even more spoilerific than the trailers on what’s coming up, I’m dying to know how they’re going to pull off the Ncuti Gatwa 60s episode, now!
that Doctor Who brings back the old 3rd and 4th Doctor titles, it brought me back to the first episode I saw back in 1974 when Tom Baker took over, I liked it
One of the best reaction videos to the 60th series I've seen is by someone who had never watched Doctor Who before. None. She didn't know anything about the Doctor going in... Within 10 minutes into "The Star Beast" she was hooked , mainly by the characters and by the humor. She will now be going back to watch all the Doctors. 🙂 Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the episodes and am looking forward to Christmas. And yes, I'm a long-time viewer - Tom Baker was my first Doctor.
I think the recap was the best of intentions but you are correct a “Previously on…” would have been better. Possibly a Disney note not executed well at age last minute before release. Two downs for me were one - the binary/not binary moment when the Doctor/Donna after she fainted then awoke either “What!”. My head cannon was that it took two human minds and two human hearts to deal with a TimeLords Mind. Next letting go of the powerful TimeLord mind from Doctor/Donna and Doctor/Rose was good for the action they took since it took both of them to come up with a solution then take action. The comment that presenting as male you couldn’t possibly understand let go of power the mind of The Doctor from both Doctor/Donna and Doctor/Rose. I personally did not appreciate this comment. Again in my head cannon this was a misunderstanding of both Rose and Donna. The sonic upgrade of creating force fields was ok for me since it took time to build the force fields which restricts hie often he can use it. “Wild Blue Yonder” was strange and frightening but the CGI NPH was wonderful as a Doctor Who villain. Ncuti Gatwa! ☑️
There are many opinions i have but I'll limit myself to one as i want keep this comment as short as possible. To me the specials were overal ok Doctor who episodes but not good anniversary specials. They didn't feel like a celebration of 60 years, it felt more like they had 3 episode ideas and sprinkled in a lot of easter eggs and cameos into them. For example Wild blue yonder, probably my favorite, but what does it have to do with 60 years? That Doctor who can be scary? Doesn't the giggle have scary scenes too? In short, the specials fail to feel special
2:26 I also don't get why people are loving the new logo when it's not new, it's just the '70's Tom Baker one with "Who" lit up in yellow. If you think about it, there's actually a lot of re-using/re-cycling going on with these specials.
Also teaches us they we can never know what to expect from Doctor Who “big secret” stuff going forward. So we shouldn’t make wild speculations anymore. Like it’s fun, but we never should’ve hyped it up for ourselves in this manner.
The point of the Vlinx is to give UNIT, a solidly human organization focused on dealing with extraterrestrial threats, the boost they need to deal with those threats on a level(ish) playing field. The Vlinx is clearly designed to be UNIT's "guy in the chair", providing the human forces with the information and technology they need to win without being an overpowered auto-win that does all the hard work for them.
You just started "up"#3. I'd like to add to #2 that there was a LONG stretch of companions (four in a row) who got really aggressive ejections from the TARDIS. I think that RTD and the writing staff wanted to soften that a little. I hope that RTD is not afraid to do stories about painful subjects like the Partitioning or Jim Crow.
The title logo worked for me. Aside from the basically direct reuse of the late '70s-early '80s logo, the kinda kitschy spin into place felt like it came from that period as well. I enjoyed it and it worked for me.
I liked the explanations given for the various questions we had - how the metacrisis would be resolved, why 10’s face had come back, etc. - but i think they shouldve given more time in the episodes to the explanations. I think RTD mightve expected us to immediately fill in the gaps once the explanations were provided, which i think is understandable given his time away from the show. I think now we’re going back to RTD seasons as opposed to specials, the writing will be even better.
I'm perfectly fine with bigeneration. No problems but I do have one question. If 15 said that bigeneration is a myth then how is it that RTD said that all the past doctors have bigenerated in the past? Why does the doctor not recall those past bigenerations?
anyone else convinced that WhoCulture is just a way to try to get fans who can't stand what the writers have done to the show to try and like it again? I would love to see actual criticism instead of blowing smoke up BBCs ass.
completely agree, they are just upping things for the sake of giving them an up (lets just up this because we have not seen anything about it) this is why we have shit episodes now
It’s funny what you said about the new logo. I’ve seen at least one reaction video on TH-cam where a newbie viewer thought they were ripping-off the Paw Patrol logo! Obviously, it took a lot of fans to point out quickly that it was both a classic DW logo and predated Paw Patrol by many decades.😂
The second episode hype is definitely NOT on the videos. RTD was the main reason it was so hyped up. I didnt see much of any fans over huping it any more than the entire special itself. It was RTD who over hyped it.
The first down of the space background with Tenant it seems like a Dune 80's thing that happened kinda like that. I liked all 3 specials , I had no expectations so it was very enjoyable to me. I did see the next times, but I just let them be just that. Sure there were a lot of questions. However, I loved all three
I truly felt that the three specials demonstrated the sheer RANGE of the show, so perhaps they were even more of a celebration of the magic of Doctor Who than the specials we've had in the past.
Hit us with your biggest UP and DOWN from the 60th anniversary. Go! 👇
Guys can you cover theory's or do a kind of what if stories
Please
i gave you a down for giving the specials an up, they are horrible, 3rd was the best until they ruined it even more, probably why they added 2 loopholes just incase everything goes wrong they can undo some bad ideas if they ever need to, you give too many ups, your too scared to give the downs... shame
Biggest UP, all three specials were fantastic
Biggest Down, I really wish the new Confidential: Unleashed, and the Tales of the TARDIS eps were available worldwide. But totally understand why. BBC has to keep some goodies exclusive. Seeing Disney collaborate with this series is unreal, I love it
But super thankful more viewers, get to join in on these marvelous adventures
Bonus UP: Christmas with Doctor Who 😎🎄🎁
UP: the Star Beast
UP: Wild Blue Yonder
UP: the Giggle
UP: Whoculture discussions and reviews
DOWN: the 60th is over
UP: Christmas specials are back
I would say The Giggle would have benefited from another 10 minutes runtime, so some of the themes might have been better explored.
Agreed; I'd say this for the Star Beast as well, it nails the episode for the most part all the way through up until the final act where they include multiple huge reveals/twists but really skimp on the explanation.
I feel like sooooo much of the discourse around the Doctor/Donna conclusion and Bi-generation would have been fixed if they had just taken the time to more clearly explain things
Agree. I didn't like how at the end anything just happened conviniently.
@@katokianimation maybe with a bit more time, we could have had a better resolution than a "thrilling" game of catch the ball.
@@grantmason740 and maybe with a bit more time, we could had a more interesting way to copy the tardis than a hearthfelt collision with a cartoon hammer. or at least just have more than a second to concern
The explanation for why Tennant's face came back was really satisfying for me. I was completely expecting RTD to come up with a half assed hand wavey explanation just to justify bringing Tennant back, but when it came about I was surprised at how much sense it made and am glad it was given the correct emotional weight.
I was gonna comment something like this, I totally agree with you and I think it's come together perfectly.
The idea that something bigger could have been made it's only up to the people who speculated the hell out of it. For us, who just want to enjoy Doctor Who it's been brilliant. It's emotionally driven and very well developted and justified. Did it live up to the expectations? Well I don't know, that depends on how high the expectations were. People tend to go crazy and I believe that's the main problem with it.
I think that recap before the Star Beast could have been better but my parents, who have never seen an episode before, said it helped them. I get the reaction but I don’t know if we, as die hard fans, are in the best position to judge it. It wasn’t put out there for us. Coming after Star Wars: Ahsoka (for me) that has no prologue I appreciated the attempt.
@@tvguy61That's what bugs me the most. Why recap three times? Once beginning, once in conversation with Shirley and once more with Donna's mother 😅😅
Dude Ahsoka has so much hand holding by exposition, it doesn't need a recap. The clunky video message from Ezra, the weirdly specific dialogue and worst offender of all "This is the Clone Wars" 😂😂😂
@@hirudinaria I hear what you’re saying and from my own protective I can sort of agree. The problem is I’m too far on the inside of both fandoms so I’m going off the reactions of friends and family that went in blind. Between the recap and exposition Doctor Who did seem to do it better.
@@tvguy61 Exactly, and that's what makes the opening part feel tacked on to me. It already did the first time, but especially in retrospect. The recap was already written naturally into the episode and I think it's explained better through the dialogue in that part.
The 60th Anniversary was amazing. I think when I look at it objectively, the 50th was far more consistent and probably a bit higher quality, however I enjoyed the 60th infinitely more. It was a slice of 3 different types of Who, and it just had so much heart that I couldn't help but smile the whole way through. I haven't rewatched new episodes this many times in YEARS. I loved it.
It definitely feels like Doctor Who is BACK!
Well, Donna mansplaining about 'male presenting' was a bit, of a low point...
Not a complete deal breaker, though. And with good performances, all around.
Solid writing, generally.@@WhoCulture
@chrissonofpear1384 it was rose that said about male presenting. Not Donna. But it was just very sexist
I really enjoyed the 60th anniversary specials! I completely respect other people's criticisms of them but personally for me they gave me this feeling of doctor who being back to what it should be! The Star Beast reintroduced us to donna and her family and found a solution that enabled her to remember the doctor, it also gave us beep the meep and the wrarth warriors, both of which I loved! Wild Blue Yonder was super creepy and for the first time in a long time I found myself watching an episode of doctor who from behind a cushion! 😂 And The Giggle was brilliant! Neil patrick harris as the toymaker, the new UNIT headquarters, and mel! The stories of each of these episodes actually felt well written and russell t davies was even able to give emotions to storylines like the flux and the timeless child! I loved the bigeneration and seeing the fourteenth doctor get his happy ending with donna and her family made my day! Even if they never go back to this storyline, we'll know he's happy still. Can't wait to see ncuti and millie in the christmas special! Thanks Ellie and Who Culture! 😊😊
I had zero problem with the recap. There are people new to Who may have found it helpful.
I have no problem with having a recap, but the way it was done seemed very awkward. No voice over per say; just the doctor standing in front of a weird blue screen image. Very strange decisions. But I agree it was probably useful for a number of people.
@@stripeytapir Especially when you open on "pat yourself on the back" for "getting through" a tv show? Holy Narcissism Batman!
I am SOOO happy I discovered Whoculture prior to the specials! It has made this past month so much fun. It's really helped me get back into a show that has been part of my life since the early 80s, but not so much during the Chibnal years- no offense to Jodi- She was wonderful with what she had to work with.
I LOVE how the show incorporated a noticeably bigger budget without losing completely that practical look of Who. I really noticed that in The Wild Blue Yonder. I loved that hallway BTW. Having that mysterious "thing" off in the distance was brilliant. The music- the emotional vibes. SO GOOD!!!. Anyway... can't wait for Christmas! Also- really hope someone throws DW Unleashed on the download sites so I can watch it over here!!!! KILLING me I can't see it. Think that's everything...
I really enjoyed them all my only problem with the DoctorDonna resolution was the Male presenting line because this Doctor has active memories of being a woman like it might have worked if they had explicitly made it about 10 not thinking of just letting it go by having 14 realize as they said it or something.
Also have you guys thought about the Dilithium/Trellium down version for WhoCulture?
Galvanic Down could work but Ups are much harder Artron Up or something?
Yeah, wtf?
Yeah, liked the episode but that line was So stupid
A personal up was in Wild Blur Yonder, where the Doctor was actually vulnerable and was tricked by the Donna Copy. And then after the Giggle, we're told that, yea, the Doctor does need a break, that's just using subtlety in the best way possible, imo
True but them stating he needs a break does go against his exile on earth where he literally couldn’t travel anywhere due to the high council of gallifrey making his tardis unable to travel due to them decreeing that he broke their law of not interfering with other planets and civilizations forcing him to regenerate and live on earth at the end of the war games
@@kevin10001 being stationary is not the same as taking a break,
Had there been no talk of them being the 60th anniversary specials, we'd never have known. Surely any anniversary celebration has to reflect that, not just one particular era of a show!
Maybe, but the 60th is a minor anniversary and I think they did enough for that.
@@Sparx632 why a "minor" anniversary?
@@soundshockmixing9235 because it’s just another 10 years. Major anniversaries are 25, 50, 75 and 100 usually.
@@Sparx632 The 10th, the 20th and the 25th anniversary specials were bigger and felt more special than this. And the 25th wasn't even a special, it was just a a regular story, but one that does an incredible job as a tribute even if it wasn't even made as a huge thing like the other 2.
So no, is not a good reason
@@ZebitasMartinex the Giggle was also a regular story that did a good job as a tribute, and the Star Beast is a nice tribute to an 80s classic Doctor Who comic and it’s writers, and we got Tales of the Tardis, a celebration of the golden era of modern Doctor Who, three, hour long specials, a re-colourisation of the original Dalek story, an update to an Adventure in Space and Time, a brand new Doctor who actually got screen time in an original style of regeneration, every classic episode on iPlayer, tons of backstage content, a children in need special and we got tons of interviews and celebrations of the past in other media like Doctor Who Magazine or SFX Magazine, book releases and on TH-cam. For 60 years that’s special enough and way more than they ever did for anniversaries in the 70s or 80s.
We also just had Power of the Doctor as a centenary special, it did plenty of call backs to the past and to do that all again to that same degree just a year later would’ve been too much imo.
Calling all that not enough because some minor anniversary episodes weren’t as big as the celebration of half a century (and it’s bigger if you look at everything outside the episodes imo) just sounds a little ungrateful to be honest.
I instantly like the video when there is a new Ups and Downs upload from WhoCulture, Amazing work!
I always upvote an Ellie upload (yes, I have a crush) ;-)
"I am not an animal! I am a Who-man Being!" ;-)
I haven't watched series 4 since it aired. The recap was nice for us old casual viewers who haven't rewatched the series again.
Say what you will about Chibs, "Power of the Doctor" felt more like a celebration of the history of Doctor Who than any of the 60th specials did.
That I agree, even though I don't like that Special...It was more of a Celebration of DW's History, then the 3 for the 60th was.
It was a celebration of Classic Who, while ignoring NuWho for the most part.
@@marshsundeenthank God for that 😂
This is exactly the point I was going to make: The BBC Centenary Doctor Who Special - aka “The Power of the Doctor” - was the true 60th Anniversary Special. It spanned all eras, Doctors, and companions and showed multiple Doctors, even if the other Doctors were almost solely in the “Guardians on the Edge” scenes (with the exception of the hologram of the Fugitive Doctor).
No offense to Russell T. Davies. I enjoyed the 60th Anniversary specials for what they were, but “The Power of the Doctor” was the true 60th Anniversary special a year early.
exactly. This 14th run is too short to be an actual season, which it should've been. But also too unimportant to be an anniversary.
The real question is; "Do you miss anything from skipping these 3 episodes?" and the real answer is no. Sure, its an ending for Tennant and Donna... but we already got one of those, it just wasn't a particularly good one.
The characterisation comes from nowhere, and ends in this same run.
The introduction of the 15th that has yet to be seen if it matters. For all we know, he'll get introduced again in this christmas episode.
The star beast itself? Unimportant.
The not-things? Dealt with.
The Toy Maker? Dealt with.
RTD Should've made it a full length season, maybe starting with a proper feature length 60th anniversary to mirror the feature length 50th that ended Matt Smith's season.
Idk, that "timeless child" stuff was kinda super stupid. I'd be totally cool with them figuring out a way to write it out of the show.
David Tennant returning to the role of the Doctor is one of the best things that happened to Doctor Who franchise ever
The Meep in the pile of toys, the my arms are too long, Mavity, wheelchair with rockets, something so scary that the Tardis ran away, so let's go kick its arse, the Spice Girls dance and The Toymaker's ridiculously fake accent, fourteen using the Tardis like Marty McFly's hoverboard. 😆
I really really loved them. It's not the expected celebration, but what it is is a great jumping on point. We have 1) a new Doctor in a new, Earth based adventure, companion etc
2) bizzare off world adventure that showcases the danger and breath of adventures Doctor Who has
3) A world ending threat that gives us a... Regeneration(ish) of The Doctor and a promise of future adventures.
Basically it's condensation of Doctor Who as a whole. Something for the old fans and something that can make it easier to recommend the show to ppl.
Day of the Doctor is basically the definitive anniversary episode of that kind. It can't be topped. So RTD had to go in another direction. He pulled it off
I see it as Chris Chibnall already did the big anniversay special with the returning doctors last year anyway
Love most of this Ellie but gotta completely disagree on the titles. They're phenomenal, including that great throwback logo.
Does anyone else just go “hiii ellieeee!!!” With a big smile like a child whenever Ellie greets us or is it just me because I’m happy to see more whoculture with Ellie?
I do. I've had a very bad year mentally and emotionally but Ellie's positivity is infectious. That makes watching new Whoculture videos one of very few ups in a year full of downs. That and the 60th obviously
My god I understand that!! It’s been a shit year. But hey, I hope it’s better for both of us next year. Sorry to hear you’re having just as bad a time
@@bennettkeel5075 Glad we can provide some comfort, and hope the both of you have a better 2024 👊
I get really big Amy Pond vibes from her not just the red hair but also her fashion sense and also her nails! Amy always had different nail polish colors throughout the series.
Every single time. I want to just grab and squeeze Ellie and/or Sean. So lovely and heart warming
OMG, Ellie, you saved the best for last! I have watched The Goblin Song dozens of times since its release. I love it! It gives us a teeny tiny insight to The Doctor and Ruby, but mostly is just incredible fun. "He makes me swoon!" indeed. Thanks for your review.
The fact that the Toymaker morphed into Joel Grey's character from Cabaret was an up for me
NPH> Doogie Hoewser MD, to The Celestial Toymaker. Now THAT is one helluva wild evolution in your career!
Point 1 - Agreed - the recap sequence would have been so much better if each of our heroes were filmed walking along the street - the streets of London - talking to camera to the side, as if to a friend - just catching up with us as they made their way to a busy Camden.. I sometimes think that RTD would benefit from a critical friend - just for these tonal choices (not the big decisions- those are his business)
It's literally all his business. He's the showrunner.
I agree with u on Russell needing to be rained in some cause with his statements on the outfit also regenerating and his statements on the bi-generation it feels like he is becoming the showrunner victorious
@@kevin10001 , well he IS the showrunner victorious. He’s quite brilliant. Huge pressure, and he takes it all on his shoulders. You’ve got to respect that.
I’m just advocating moderation (as he acknowledged recently - when Moffat advised he cut a scene - and he did). More of that.
I think wild blue yander is great because it’s the only episode that’s completely about the 14th doctor and Donna which is something I’m really glad we got considering we only got 3 adventures with 14
I think that the Giggle is a back door pilot for a UNIT spinoff. That’s why the Vlinks and the unit world building. All the things that seem not needed. I think that Unit is going to go toward the Toymaker plotline and “the boss” that the Meep talked about. I think all of these are to be in the Unit show and I think the Doctor is flying off to the regular Doctor Who style show.
I mean I'd be happy with that. Especially if there's more NPH, probs my fav villain in DW he was so fun to watch.
Don't you mean the Walmart Avengers tower.
The complete lack of a proper explanation of 13 regenerating into 14's clothes was a massive disappointment. It meant that RTD's excuse was not spoiler avoidance but actually the case. The fact that it was completely fine for the Master to be wearing 13's costume earlier in the same episode but a big problem when it came to 14 wearing it highlights the inconsistency. The RTD excuse just doesn't make sense. It makes the whole Davros-wheelchair thing look logical.
the clothes were what upset me the most. It could've been waved off as the Toymaker giving him his new suit when he regenerated. I know there's precedent with the first doctor's regeneration but still, a simple line would've sufficed. Hell, you can make the first doctor changing clothes when he regenerated due to the toymaker even back then! It actually would have been a cool connection!
I always speculated that David's face came back because he and Donna needed each other. No other explanation seemed feasible to me.
"The metacrisis was null and void after a solution was found." Well, yeah. Not sure what the problem is with that? They found a solution, so it is no longer a problem....
Do people think the hand that picked up the Master's tooth is the same one that picked up the Master's ring?
As always thank you all so very much for the videos, and greetings of the season!
Not the same hand, but clearly an homage!
I really loved a lot of what was done in these specials, my only down would be that I expected the Toymaker to have been so much more essential to the whole story.
I’ve been rewatching the series and just finished Daleks in Manhattan. One thing hit me: the Doctor save Laszlo’s life but couldn’t reverse the damage done by the Daleks. Why not take him in the TARDIS and find someone who could?
Because then there would be no stakes for any story. It's a bit inconsistent with the way they handle this, yes, but if The Doctor can just rush everyone off to be healed/repaired/resurrected each time it's needed, then there will be zero emotional investment or impact when a character is endangered. There must be risk and consequences for these conflicts for them to matter.
@watcherofwatchers Clearly stakes don't matter anymore lol, the Doctor doesn't only have infinite regenerations but now every single Doctor is alive simultaneously
I don't know about the force field walls, but in my mind, there was an easy fix for the large map thing, and that was to give Tennant a pair of sunglasses instead, that could have implied he was using the sunglasses from Capaldi's era. I also didn't enjoy the upgrades too much.
Ellie says "Wild Blue Yonder" so fast, I hear "Wobbly Yonder."
For what it is worth, as someone returning to the show, then subsequently going down a whoculture youtube rabbit hole, I really appreciated the recap at the start of star beast! Have been drifting from who for years since the writing in capaldi and whittaker's series declined.
"I'm so sorry to whoever designed that..." That was so British, I almost wanted to throw tea into a body of water.
I think you covered all of my downs, pretty much one-for-one. I wouldn't have given Ncuti as many ups, because I think he's going to have to grow on me some more. But then, Matt Smith had to grow on me, and if I'm being honest, so did David Tennant.
On the subject of clean-slate reboots vs acknowledging your history, I also agree that Smith's era handled it better than Whittaker"s. I don't know how it worked for everyone, but for me, once the history was acknowledged, the stories got better and Jodie's performance got better. It's kind of a shame that she opted to exit right when her version was getting interesting.
Thanks for bonus video. I'm sure we'll speak again, but if not, Happy Christmas and be good or Father Christmas will bring you coal (which might be helpful as that studio is probably ideal for keeping sides of beef; you could burn the coal to keep warm - DISCLAIMER: please do not set fires in your attic).
(EDIT) I'm so sorry, Bernard Cribbens, I forgot AGAIN: WILF LIVES!
I did manage to watch the new scenes that bookended the old stories (via YT) that were featured in the Tales from the TARDIS. And they were fantastic. Being a fan of Who since the Classic years ... the reminsence and nostalgia definitely brought more than one tear to my eyes.
14:49 this Up was straight based in its explanation. Basically what I say whenever people ask why I prefer 14 over 10
The Tennant, The Tate, The Patrick Harris; oh, my!
I thoroughly enjoyed these episodes, with maybe a slightly disappointed memory of the first special. Anyway, I loved them all. What I especially loved, adored, and will always admire the writers for was no need to bring back any old doctors to shock and wow us. It's too easy a story arc to fall back on, crossing timelines. Well done, RTD, well done.
Also, excellent work, Ellie; many thanks for your devotion to not just watching Dr Who but delivering these Ups & Downs/Commentaries. Noice!
As an afterthought. Are they ever going to explain why certain things appear to be set? For examples, The Doctor always meeting Wilf, the four knocks, the Doctor meeting Donna almost immediately in the first special. Is there some Gallifreyan force behind it (or a force from wherever the Doctor is really from)? Or are they just going to leave it as one-of-those-things? Or have they already explained it and I missed it?
14 must've had adventures w River Song since The Library is the only time 10 met her but she instantly recognizes him as so young.
"We were children when Ten and Donna were around before!" I was in my twenties. Frankly I'm tired of hearing about how everyone was a baby for series four.
I learned about DW 9 years ago and I am 34 now. I too don't feel fhe same nostalgia but I can appreciate it from others.
I am not a fan of the idea that the bigeneration offloads The Doctor's trauma. I think many of the best moments of all the series are when we get to see The Doctor be vulnerable as s/he acknowledges and FEELS that trauma. (Tennet is especially good at these moments, but all the modern Doctors have had great moments with this.) This show needs this emotional grounding to counter The Doctor's upbeat exuberance as S/he gallivants about time and space.
The fascinating thing about UNIT's Avengers Tower (and come to think of it, Marvel's Avengers Tower as well) is that we only ever see that one big "bridge" room with the monitors, the Vlinx, and every Unit character important to the story conveniently located all in one office, which happens to be connected to the helipad/cannon launchpad... and then there is the storage room they park the Tardis in. What do they need the rest of this Burj Khalifa sized skyscraper for? Is it 200 floors full of nothing but offices? If so, do 90% of London's citizens all work there, or are these offices all empty? If not, what else is in that tower? Do they have a R&D department full of impossible technology? Do they have guest rooms? A spa? A leisure centre?
Part of me wants to see all of this explored, and the other part wants them to leave it all to our imagination.
You dropped a Down on the old school Doctor Who title card!!??? Ellie has earned a Down from me.
The logo itself is great. It's the way that logo is animated into the sequence that looks a bit naff!
The logo can always be redone for a later series, like they always do, so what's the problem?
@thatjeff7550 aw man a down from you? I’ll bet Ellie’s gutted
I agree - it felt nostalgic.
She wasn’t complaining about the logo itself she was complaining about how it appears in the title sequence
While I definitely don't hate these episodes, I didn't like them as much as many fans (like you guys) did. The writing for these episodes was, generally speaking, much better than the writing of the Chibnall Era. However, it still wasn't on par with the quality of writing that I had come to love and expect from Doctor Who. I suppose my biggest surprise and takeaway from RTD's return is that, even though my favorite Doctor is the tenth doctor (which I associate mainly with RTD), I might actually be more of a Moffat fan in the writing department.
The biggest up for me was having a happy ending for Donna and the fourteenth Doctor. As they have always been my favorite Doctor and companion, it warmed my heart to see them happy at the end. I also like that it leaves the door open for maybe seeing either or both of them again sometime in Doctor Who. Another up was seeing the interactions between the fourteenth and fifteenth Doctor. I think the bi-generation was a genius thing to do.
The fourteenth and Donna was always your favorite? They only had three episodes together.
While it could have been done better, the intro WAS necessary to catch up new viewers. Such viewers will not see a TH-cam video about it.
The logo looked fine to me.
What, you want the Sonic shoehorned in? It served a purpose in episode 1. And maybe 15 will use those new abilities again. For the second episode, the whole point was to strip them of everything. And in the third, it just wasn't needed. I don't see the problem. Every Doctor gets their own new sonic now. Sure part of it may be merch sales but I also think it's good lore. What's the problem?
Davies already explained the clothes. It was a bad choice but that's what it was. I don't know why you would expect something in universe when it was clear that wasn't why he did it that way. His face was explained in the third special. And as for Doctor-Donna, why she doesn't die is explained by Rose and that part was good, imo. The giving it up part was bad, yes. Of course it wasn't talked about again, it was resolved.
No offense but you seem to be giving a lot of downs because it doesn't perfectly fit the head cannon you built for yourself before the episodes came out. You literally admit this in the video but still go with it anyway. I like you Ellie but come on, I can't agree with this.
And yet another down because it didn't match what was in your head. Come on. It was a more horror-like mystery show. There really wasn't much to show in previews unless you showed the monsters, which would ruin the whole reveal of them.
The Flux makes no sense. It's already retconned in a way to let the solar system and surrounding space be able to exist, since as shown it shouldn't. But keep part of the universe destroyed is just dumb, imo.
What is wrong with putting it there for the sake of it? The Vlinx was cool. I'm sure he'll show up again.
But some great ups as well. The performances were all great and NPH was fantastic as The Toymaker. Loved the musical number.
I can't wait to find out if The Toy Maker's legions include The Trickster (reference Sarah Jane Adventures).
Probably should be a down for the fact that, so far, none of the supplementary shows are available for international audiences.
Ms. Ellie, you are a wonderfully joyous breath of fresh air on the Internet. Thank you for being you.
Your point at 26:00 was something I think Steven Moffatt fixed when handing over from Matt Smith's Doctor to Peter Capaldi's Doctor by the phone call to Clara telling her to give the new Doctor a chance!
Perhaps the big problem was rampant overspeculation. The 70s title card is effective. I don't know how the babies would have coped with Seeds of doom or Pyramids of Mars....... there are times when you just have to take things at face value and get on with it..... so let's just move onwards to Ncuti Gatwa
I get the impression, RTD wasn’t so much about the nostalgia in these specials; so much as about the overall possibility of the program going forward. Returning as show runner for the foreseeable future, it makes sense to me, he would want to use this to hype the future. To hook in a new segment of the audience while serenading the long time audience. Yes, UNIT has been there on and off since the second Doctor, and it’s survived its own cancellation to come back bigger than ever. Looking forward. I’ve been watching since Tom Baker, and I for one am intrigued and curious.
Thanks Ellie.
I personaly think that the nostalgia gaslichting part was the best of the 60th. Otherwise it's just bad writing: Guy Rose, Hot yung Newton with a Netflic Cleapatra sindrom, And playing catch as a epic conclusion of it al.
Regarding the Vlinx... I assume it will get explained more in the future and feel like a propper character... but as they didn't in this, I feel it should have been either K9 or Mr Smith... either of them could have had those lines, and it have made sense... and would have had their own backstory already known... especially given its an anniversary special..
We did not need to have a very anti male rant from rose and Donna in the end of the first one.
I’m fine with the recap in the star beast, but I just don’t know why they had my man david tennant floating in space instead of just being in the tardis or something
I am so happy someone acknowledges Murray gold being back because the amount of times I cried out recognising motifs of characters was insane :D
Up for Ellie's videos. I love her personality, enthusiasm about what she is talking about and agree with about 99% of what she talks about.
Down for when she talks about how old she was when she watched season 4. I've just realised that I was older than she is now, when I was watching season 4 and now I really feel old now 😢
one good thing about the episode The giggle is the toymaker told the doctor that I made a jigsaw puzzle out of your timeline how did you like it so I think that's how they're going to do away with the Timeless child they're going to say that it was just the toy maker messing with reality
"Undo someone else's work." Moffat brought back the Time Lords. Chibnall killed them. The series has painted the Doctor's relationship with his people in a widely complicated way, showing the different sides of Gallifreyan society. Chibnall decided that the Doctor was never a Time Lord, never a Gallifreyan, and that instead, the Doctor's "people", instead took an abandoned child and experimented on them, used them like an assassin, and then wiped their memory. Chibnall did nothing but undo the work of others to make his own vision seem grander. Let alone, destroying all of the character development that the Master had.
Agreed, fuck Chibnall and the writing for the 13th Doctor
WIld Blue Yonder will be one of my favorite episodes in the whole series (which for Americans that means all of the seasons). I found almost nothing wrong with it other than they couldnt find a way to add more time with Wilf.
Americans use seasons for each year and series for the whole show.
@@marshsundeen yes. It's different in England.
Yay! Ellie's back. At last. And rocking the Catherine Janeway Trek look. Great to have you up and downing Who again. 😊
Remembrance of the Daleks was a good example of how to make an Anniversary story without doing a multidoctor story like RTD said he didn't like
There were much better ways to do the 60th. Because hey, he did a great job doing an anniversary special... for Series 4
I loved these, loved 14, love 15, love the excitement level all over fandom, love the positivity, love the hints of future dangers. No real big downs, just little mehs here and there.
However... I'm still mixed on Bigeneration because it does a lot of good, but I still feel they are cheating something important. When the point of your plot resolution is YOU MUST HEAL, IT TAKES TIME, then skipping it w/out some sort of retro-reintegration of 14 back into the Doctor at some point in their future/past, it just undermines the message of the episode's resolution, and sends an equally bad reverse message to the audience that if you need therapy, don't worry, you can just skip it by being happy and positive, which I don't think RTD wants for his legacy on this. 20 years ago I needed therapy, and I went, and I wouldn't want any young people to have a takeaway that you can just grin and bear it, that actual work isn't needed that must be passed on so your future self can be whole and happy. I really want 14's healing to be passed on in a meaningful way at some point down the line.
I don’t think the super sonic screwdriver was null and void, because I think it’s pretty fair to speculate that they’ll be doing some sort of spin-off series with 14 and his adopted family at some point, I think all what you saw, the screwdriver, the duplicated tardis, the fact 14 has gone on at least a few trips since the bigeneration with his new family, I think you’ll see more of these things
RTD had ruled out a David Tennant spin off series thank god and that's a good thing too because that would overshadow Ncuti's Doctor and have all that Tennant baggage and that's not the best way to introduce your new Doctor I liked Tennant but the man's had his time.
@@joshuajoshua2732 he said “yet” obviously the focus has to be on 15 for the time being 100%, RTD clearly wants people treating 15 as primary as they should and he will be throughout, the main title show is entirely his until regeneration, but I wouldn’t rule out 14 having a spin-off later down the line, one that really challenges what you expect from a show set in the whoniverse, there’d be no point keeping 14 alive with Donna & family if you are never going to use them in a significant way at some stage, nor would there be any point using them in the standard doctor who format, I think RTD has ideas in the background regarding Tennant and Tate that are far from finished.
For international fans like me who didn’t get access to tales of the tardis and unleashed it feels like an underwhelming anniversary celebration cause all we got was the 3 specials and whatever clips from unleashed we were allowed to see on the TH-cam channel legally so it can feel like we are under appreciated cause most of the marketing was uk based and I know it’s a British show first but since it gone international during the moffat era we should be more embraced
I agree with you as an American. I am glad that some of it was available on You Tube.
This. I understand it’s not an American show but I do wish I could find the other things that really go with it. I’ve watched ever episode of classic who that I can (not the ones that were lost of course) but I know there are little things I miss.
@@aprillord-brown432 I’m an American and I just love watching the show I have Jon pertwee’s era going on Tubi cause it’s the first era with it all found Matt is my first doctor but have gone back and watched Russell’s first era I watched through Jodie and while waiting for the specials I did a random rewatch of the modern era when I picked a doctor and watched their time as the doctor also i think when discussing the show on some uk based channels like this one they seem to forget the international appeal it has when they bring up the uk exclusive content like tales of the tardis the old confidential series or the revived version unleashed cause this channel brought them up like a success for the anniversary but it was a success and a failure cause with the show being a streaming exclusive now we should have been allowed to get those side projects but we didn’t making the whole whoniverse thing pointless if all we are getting is the show and new spin offs
@@kevin10001 I really liked doctor 3. And his car. I binge watched classic, so they all get mushed together but 3 and 4 were my favorites. I don’t recommend that method. 1 eta at a time is probably a much better plan. I enjoyed the flute with 2. It was interesting watching some of the episodes with cartoons and when they switched to color.
Biggest down: Donna and Rose trying to thrown down the Doctor: "it's a shame you're not a woman anymore" and " ...a male presenting time lord can never understand" Really? Cringiest of the cringe!! Also, these specials did not feel like the celebration of 60 years of DW. They were more of a filler between 13 and 15... 50th Anniversary special was much better than these three episodes combined.
I totally agree that the episodes didn't seem like 60th anniversary specials, definitely not on par with the 50th or dare I even say, with The Power Of The Doctor, which was celebrating the centenary of the BBC, I was definitely underwhelmed, which is a shame as series 4 is my favourite and Donna was my favourite companion. I absolutely detested those lines about 'letting it go' and 'male presenting' .
I disagree with your down on ‘Why this face?’ My immediate thought was that they would play off ‘The Doctor who regrets’ due to trauma from The Flux and other things 13 had gone through. This face shows a longing for a time when The Doctor had someone who was just a best friend and, bonus, this friend has an amazing grandfather he was able to open up to once during a time he was feeling very much the same way as now.
I think ignoring the Timeless child would have been a huge mistake.
they left a loophole just in case they need to undo the timeless child abomination of a storyline one day
@@DoctorTimelord It's not an abomination. It actually makes the character more relatatable and helps explain why the Master Hates the doctor so much.
@@DoctorTimelord tbh I'm still holding out hope (or is it cope?) that it'll become some sort of snake eating its own tail thing and the Doctor will eventually regenerate into that little girl who came through the rift. So essentially the Fugitive Doctor IS a future Doctor, just in a very timey wimey way.
While that was not great, I loved The Fugitive Doctor. That was something good that came out of that era.
@@marshsundeen Hey it may not be perfect but it is better than anything Stephan Moffat did. Moffet's era is the worst and may of the episodes like Heaven Sent and Listen are among the worst in Show history. Part of that was because he and Mark Gattis were working on Sherlock at the Same time; which the BBC considered to be a more prestigious show. It doesn't take a opium smoking detective to figure out that the Show's quality is going to suffer as a result. It's quite Elementary.
I had completely forgotten the recap to start The Star Beast. I'm still not convinced that it was there when it premiered on Disney+. I had to go check and it's there, but I couldn't recall it at all.
As a controversial Whittaker run enjoyer, I’m so happy you upped the mention of the Timeless Child and the Flux, I was so worried they were gonna forget about it
Biggest UP: The Doctor and Donna are back! Biggest DOWN? Nobody has Doctor Who: Unleashed on this side of the pond. Once again, viewers outside of the UK have zaro access to the behind-the-scenes content created for the episodes we get to see, and this geek would love to be able to see them. A quick note about the change from DT to Matt Smith: It took me a while to warm up to Matt's Doctor, but not because he's not David. It's because of the fixation on being cool. As an older person who has learned that being cool isn't all it's cracked up to be, I hated that the character with that wonderful speech on the Titanic several Catmases ago is now so intent on being cool.
The Unleashed episodes can be found on TH-cam. They are more than worth the effort to track down.
@@JohnGauntSega32 Ah, thankee! The BBC 3 channel has them. Now I'm off to see if I can find RTD's commentaries.
I agree with everything you said Ellie. I didn’t even really think about the sonic until you mentioned it.
It’s good to have it back on boxing day here in australia but its sad that thinking that Twice upon a time was the last christmas special on the ABC.
Christmas Specials where Boxing Day Specials for Us Aussies, and I Loved it and prefered it way over Day after New Years Days Specials for the New Years Day Specials!!!
And that was one of the last Episodes I ever saw Air *Now we Pay* back when we had it on Sundays, because it was then Mondays and I had Year 12 and Uni!!!
There was a documentary on RTD on TV today that was even more spoilerific than the trailers on what’s coming up, I’m dying to know how they’re going to pull off the Ncuti Gatwa 60s episode, now!
that Doctor Who brings back the old 3rd and 4th Doctor titles, it brought me back to the first episode I saw back in 1974 when Tom Baker took over, I liked it
One of the best reaction videos to the 60th series I've seen is by someone who had never watched Doctor Who before. None. She didn't know anything about the Doctor going in...
Within 10 minutes into "The Star Beast" she was hooked , mainly by the characters and by the humor. She will now be going back to watch all the Doctors. 🙂
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the episodes and am looking forward to Christmas. And yes, I'm a long-time viewer - Tom Baker was my first Doctor.
Who was that?
I think the recap was the best of intentions but you are correct a “Previously on…” would have been better. Possibly a Disney note not executed well at age last minute before release.
Two downs for me were one - the binary/not binary moment when the Doctor/Donna after she fainted then awoke either “What!”. My head cannon was that it took two human minds and two human hearts to deal with a TimeLords Mind. Next letting go of the powerful TimeLord mind from Doctor/Donna and Doctor/Rose was good for the action they took since it took both of them to come up with a solution then take action. The comment that presenting as male you couldn’t possibly understand let go of power the mind of The Doctor from both Doctor/Donna and Doctor/Rose. I personally did not appreciate this comment. Again in my head cannon this was a misunderstanding of both Rose and Donna.
The sonic upgrade of creating force fields was ok for me since it took time to build the force fields which restricts hie often he can use it.
“Wild Blue Yonder” was strange and frightening but the CGI
NPH was wonderful as a Doctor Who villain.
Ncuti Gatwa! ☑️
Wild Blue Yonder was my favourite from all three episodes of the especial
I just keep seeing Lenny Henry's Doctor from his comedy Dr Who sketch and now meeting the Muppets 😂
There are many opinions i have but I'll limit myself to one as i want keep this comment as short as possible.
To me the specials were overal ok Doctor who episodes but not good anniversary specials.
They didn't feel like a celebration of 60 years, it felt more like they had 3 episode ideas and sprinkled in a lot of easter eggs and cameos into them.
For example Wild blue yonder, probably my favorite, but what does it have to do with 60 years? That Doctor who can be scary? Doesn't the giggle have scary scenes too?
In short, the specials fail to feel special
My mum barely watches dr who so it really helped her get hooked with the first intro
The clothes changing in the regeneration is probably a nod to the first doctor clothes changing when he regenerated.
2:26 I also don't get why people are loving the new logo when it's not new, it's just the '70's Tom Baker one with "Who" lit up in yellow. If you think about it, there's actually a lot of re-using/re-cycling going on with these specials.
I always wanted a base under siege story for Donna. Wild Blue Yonder gave me that and I love it.
Also teaches us they we can never know what to expect from Doctor Who “big secret” stuff going forward. So we shouldn’t make wild speculations anymore. Like it’s fun, but we never should’ve hyped it up for ourselves in this manner.
I love the 14th Doctor sonic and that in merges 9th-10th, 11th and 12th Doctors sonic designs.
Ncuti literally started his Doctor performance running, can’t wait to see him in action!
The point of the Vlinx is to give UNIT, a solidly human organization focused on dealing with extraterrestrial threats, the boost they need to deal with those threats on a level(ish) playing field. The Vlinx is clearly designed to be UNIT's "guy in the chair", providing the human forces with the information and technology they need to win without being an overpowered auto-win that does all the hard work for them.
You just started "up"#3.
I'd like to add to #2 that there was a LONG stretch of companions (four in a row) who got really aggressive ejections from the TARDIS.
I think that RTD and the writing staff wanted to soften that a little.
I hope that RTD is not afraid to do stories about painful subjects like the Partitioning or Jim Crow.
The title logo worked for me. Aside from the basically direct reuse of the late '70s-early '80s logo, the kinda kitschy spin into place felt like it came from that period as well. I enjoyed it and it worked for me.
I liked the explanations given for the various questions we had - how the metacrisis would be resolved, why 10’s face had come back, etc. - but i think they shouldve given more time in the episodes to the explanations. I think RTD mightve expected us to immediately fill in the gaps once the explanations were provided, which i think is understandable given his time away from the show. I think now we’re going back to RTD seasons as opposed to specials, the writing will be even better.
I'm perfectly fine with bigeneration. No problems but I do have one question. If 15 said that bigeneration is a myth then how is it that RTD said that all the past doctors have bigenerated in the past? Why does the doctor not recall those past bigenerations?
Harkens back to the Watcher at the end of Tom Baker's reign as Doctor.
anyone else convinced that WhoCulture is just a way to try to get fans who can't stand what the writers have done to the show to try and like it again? I would love to see actual criticism instead of blowing smoke up BBCs ass.
completely agree, they are just upping things for the sake of giving them an up (lets just up this because we have not seen anything about it) this is why we have shit episodes now
how the heck do you like the goblin song what
It’s funny what you said about the new logo. I’ve seen at least one reaction video on TH-cam where a newbie viewer thought they were ripping-off the Paw Patrol logo! Obviously, it took a lot of fans to point out quickly that it was both a classic DW logo and predated Paw Patrol by many decades.😂
The second episode hype is definitely NOT on the videos. RTD was the main reason it was so hyped up. I didnt see much of any fans over huping it any more than the entire special itself. It was RTD who over hyped it.
Honestly - I appreciated the secrecy because it made the silliness so much better.
The first down of the space background with Tenant it seems like a Dune 80's thing that happened kinda like that. I liked all 3 specials , I had no expectations so it was very enjoyable to me. I did see the next times, but I just let them be just that. Sure there were a lot of questions. However, I loved all three
I truly felt that the three specials demonstrated the sheer RANGE of the show, so perhaps they were even more of a celebration of the magic of Doctor Who than the specials we've had in the past.