Link to original video: th-cam.com/video/wMpmt8zy0oU/w-d-xo.html Alternative Ending (I cut it because I didn't wanna sound too mean): th-cam.com/video/GNgoo6Fl0fo/w-d-xo.htmlsi=4u1iXbsxh9oSEy4l&t=3409 MAJOR CHANGES MADE - Fixed the voiceover audio so that it’s not overly bass-y - Redid the segment on verisimilitude because I didn't think my original characterization of 'realism vs. formalism' was entirely accurate (0:19:39) - Redid pretty much the entirety of the Star Beast segment because I thought it dragged in places and I could have conveyed my ideas better (0:28:35) - Redid the discussion of Bigeneration because I have honestly just have a lot more to say about it (1:09:47) - Added an epilogue chapter reviewing the new season (2:56:28)
Hey man, great work. I noticed that the music list still hasn't been released yet. I've been trying to figure out the name of the song that starts at 1:22:21. Looking forward to what you make next
That clip of RTD just straight up admitting that he wrote this series with the express purpose of generating internet content is... genuinely infuriating. That is among the worst reasons to write anything I've ever heard.
I get where he's coming from though. Don't get me wrong, I'm cringing at how this season ended, but I feel like I'm cringing in a different way to everyone else because I truly get what Russell's mindset is. He genuinely thought people would be interested in who Ruby's mom was, and he probably foresaw a massive portion of the internet speculating on who Ruby's mom would be, and Russell saw this as helpful to TH-camrs, because it would give them videos to make and get them views and stuff. My evidence is the way the ending was handled. "She was important because we thought she's important."
@@carealoo744yeah, that is similar to my own thoughts about RTD2 and series 14, I really hope he improves from series 15 onwards, I just hope that we get new people running the show someday
I was a Series 14 defender until I saw that clip. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt that he had good ideas impeded by runtime and other things. But no he just wanted to generate buzz. Now, I kinda hate this season
The thing that really gets me about this season is how similar Sutekh's power is to the Flux...and how the Flux handles "turning all life to dust"...better?
Just to put out it here so I can stop going mad. John Lennon and Paul McCartney famously DID NOT KNOW how to read sheet music. They would have had NO IDEA what those floating notes meant, or how to play them. A really strong sign that the Beatles were an after thought in 'the Devils Chord'.
i'm also not even sure how someone who could read sheet music would've known what the notes meant considering they weren't on a staff and theres no way of knowing what clef they were in. also i dont think john lennon wouldve been wearing his famous round granny glasses at that time period either, but thats more of a nitpick. i guess without those glasses there would be no way to tell him apart from paul since the episode doesnt give them any distinguishable personality traits lol
They really do feel like an after thought. From my point of view when watching the episode I was so confused on why Ruby and The Doctor just HAD to go sit down with The Beatles? Like I feel as if they had to add that moment in to do the cool Maestro appearing in the reflections scene, and it all just feels so.. unnatural?
One thing I dislike about this season is that it rings very... hollow. For all the talk of "themes" it says very little. Ruby, for example: in RTDs first era, each companion brought a dynamic of social commentary to the TARDIS. Rose's working class background influenced how she approached situations, ie: in the End of the World she bonds with the workers on the station that the Doctor doesn't even give a second thought. It wasn't always handled great but Martha, as a woman of colour, faced bigotry and oppression on her travels that the Doctor never considered from his relative position of white male timelord privilege- the nail in the coffin for their relationship prospects is Human Nature, where he leaves her to be his personal servant and guardian in uber-racist old timey England. Donna has this almost Kinks-esc status of the deadend lower-middle class, doomed to die in mediocrity by a world that doesn't see her worth. Her adventures with the Doctor affirm that she matters as an individual, as a person, and deserves more than to die in a suffocating 9/5. In this series, what does Ruby say? There could be something there about family dynamics- she's adopted by a single mother, her family unit is bi-racial and she never had any sort of father figure. Maybe then, she could have a unique perspective on the concept of family, of what family is and means that would challenge conventional ideals- but with all the times family appears throughout this season, there's very little actual drama that utilizes Ruby's upbringing. In the end of the season, Ruby immediately latches onto her "real" mother, in a way that seems surprisingly... callous, we're given a character to whom her actual, real family that raised her should mean everything but now sees finding her biological parents as finding out who she really is. Nothing is subverted, all Ruby ever does is reinforce the aesthetics of a traditional nuclear family. What if she never found her, what if she met her mum and it turned out that all these years she *hadn't* been thinking about her child, that she never really wanted one, that she never wanted to meet her. But in the end, Ruby's background just feels like set dressing.
agreed about the ending 100% but in her defense her repeating theme is that she's surrounded with queer friends and family resulting in her being quite sensitive and open-minded? it's a shame that they didn't use the more obvious orphan plotline, especially because that's such a big theme in the season, but it's not like she lacks characterisation... until the finale comes and holy shit that really fucked up whatever it could. still liked the season, but come on.
It's been a while since I watched the episode with Martha as a servant. However, I remember it more as a statement on class with the racism, while present, was secondary.
@@davidchav6795 on top of this, whilst I agree with most of OPs points, I wouldn't consider racial discrimination to be THE arc or theme of Martha (especially compared to the mote obvious theme of self-worth and not needing romantic validation). Racial discrimination doesn't come up in the series finale (like how Rose's or Donna's themes do) unless you count the optics of The Jones' being enslaved by The Master
My friend and I loved the crying - because we made a game out of it. We bet after how many minutes he’d cry, and got so excited everytime he did. It was mean, but fun. Also I thought the season was a step up from the last era (obviously) but the last episode was offensively bad. Like, space babies was cringe and bad, but doctor who does that sometimes, it’s whatever. The ending made me angry because it felt like RRD was actively gaslighting me, and it was just overall a real anticlimactic ending. Like, ruby doesn’t have to be special. Don’t make her create magical snow and tell me she’s special then.
This is an amazing video essay. You don't spend an ungodly amount of time on needless recaps. A lot of your critiques you give follow up with great ideas/solutions. And I commend the research you clearly put into this. Even with an almost 4hr video, no time felt wasted. Thank you! I comment in the hopes this gets more views, it deserves it.
Happy to see someone address RTDs annoying "Overcorrection" when it comes to making the show as unproblematic as possible. The Davros retcon absolutely was insulting to his character and getting rid of an iconic design to make him some generic looking sleezy bloke. I worry with the cottege industry of anti woke grifter channels, that it allows people running star wars, doctor who and more to use that as a sheild to justify questionable decisions as they can lump even good faith criticism in with all the arseholes bitching about woke or even making dumb decisions out of spite towards reactionary critics.
Great point ive not seen made that much, that the anti-woke buzz and vitriol actually justifies corporations like this to gloss over clear writing issues and chalking it up to culture wars why people don’t like the show. Also allows these showrunners to feel themselves martyrs and double down on their shit
I like the theory that the doctor bigenerated because it was still in that 24 hour regeneration period(look at “the christmas invasion”) which meant he had extra regeneration energy so it caused him to bigenerate
If Sutekh was given the full episode, and all of Ruby's parent stuff had been shifted to a Christmas special where the Doctor has to restore Ruby (bookend with Church on Ruby Road) and in the process reunite with Susan...that would have worked a lot better.
I think your core thesis is sound, and I made a Reddit post to that effect some time back. The biggest failure of New Who is that it works on the "showrunner"model. In the early days this was okay, largely because there was a huge amount of pent-up creative energy (Fitzroy Club, etc.) but that lead to many voices shaping what New Who became. As time went on those voices got pruned, and as series started getting shorter (12 with Capaldi, 10 for Jodi, 8 for Ncuti) the Showrunner sees less and less room for other voices because, after all, it was THEY who were hired to provide a vision. We need a writers room, we need many disparate voices, we need dissenting opinions, we need better script editors. That was always one of the biggest strengths of the Classic series: anyone could write for it and it launched so many careers. Now? Just the same old faces year after year.
I mean I don't know if Classic Who is the most solid point of comparison given how different the show's format was back then, but I do agree a return to showrunners as producers rather than necessarily head writers could be a big benefit. I guess modern Who is just more centered on plot arcs and thus feels the need to have head writers making sure the major plot beats play out correctly
People claim RTD is making this series to introduce doctor who to new viewers but he’s also doing his utmost to alienate and actively antagonise general audiences and appeal just to the biggest of Dr Who nerds, becuz seriously what new viewer would now Sutekh or Susan, i mean ive been watching the show since i was a kid, rewatched most of NuWho several times, had the character encyclopedia etc etc, I consider myself a Dr Who fan, had no idea who Sutekh was when the penultimate episode came out and ppl were excited about it. So maybe im not a ‘real fan’ but im pretty damn sure no new viewer is gonna be too excited or enthusiastic with the reveal of Sutekh, becuz it carries no significance other than if you know what it entails, as a kid the reveal of the Daleks, The Master, Cybermen, were all super impactful even if I had NO idea about their past and their history.
I will be forever grateful to RTD for reviving the show and running the first 4 seasons, I loved 73 yards, but he needs to go. I can argue over devils chord which I liked despite its flaws, I think space babies was okay, and so on. But I cant defend empire of death or the whole season arc, it's a pile of nonsense and there are a lot of questionable decisions for the overall direction of the show that you mentioned. Seeing doctor who as "content" is so disrepectful towards the art form and completely misses the point of making a series. Not to mention he is running a supposedly progressive show while fanboying over Marvel which is an industry franchise made to generate money and promote american imperialism (international intereferance goes brrr). Like Moffat, RTD would be better as a guest writer than showrunner, he can clearly still write one offs with interesting ideas. We desperately need someone with vision and ambition for the show, doctor who is best as a thought provoking scifi drama that challenges current world politics while exploring deep personal subjects and experimental stories.
THANK YOU for that explanation of the Verisimilitude spectrum, I'm so tired of people making the counter argument of equating silly elements (usually talking animals) to silly logic.
Thank you. There is a lot of interesting commentary on the show here, but you present your views with clarity, make sure people understand your viewpoints are not absolute, and due a lot of work to make your cases in each part of the video. One thing I'm actually fascinated by that I wasn't as much aware of is the primary issues of the modern showrunner for this series. In classic who the responsibility for editing scripts and guiding the series as a whole were different jobs. You mentioned John Nathan Turner, and while his run has a plethora of issues, he didn't write and script edit everything. That was a team effort, and I'll never understand why Russell and the rest of the showrunners after didn't go back to that method. Trial of the Timelord had to deal with a writer dying during the production and having two people come in finish it up, and none of them were JNT, who never wrote a single script. Times may have changed as far as how shows are done, but this is a pretty hard sticking points that seems to affect every part of the revival if it leads to rushed scripts and unsatisfying work.
Your ending for The Devil’s Chord gave me goosebumps and it’s headcanon now. Actually recognising the importance and beauty of music theory and The Beatles, which the episode acknowledged and swiftly abandoned. Thank you.
"Male presenting timelord" is the worst line. Openly trans people have said "You never learnt to let things go" could have been so much better replacement line Also, the tardis randomly changing is fine in my books.. Its a living thing. It gut a haircut
@@Dudofall yeah but didnt it change then to match the doctor’s darker personality after Amy & Rory died 14 was just farting about in 13s tardis and then it decided “hm, I think I’m gonna be different now”
@@NukedKnight That’s a fair point. We don’t have any evidence of how the Tardis changed at some other points in the show’s history, even if I can’t think of any now…
I will never understand why people cared what the lady in 73 yards was saying… It was so obviously some kind of magic or something lol it wasn’t like it was something so bad that everyone had the exact same identical reaction lol That’s not what matters… What matters is why… Why was she keeping everyone away from herself… because it did turn out to be Ruby in the end… And it feels very much like a plot device in order to pull off that scene with the Prime Minister… And if she didn’t have the ability to do differently until the very last second… How did she suddenly know… It makes no sense That episode was really cool, but it literally could not have made less sense
I also call toxic positivity into question when, disproportionally, it's the toxic negativity that's been most rewarded on Social Media. Hell, those advocating for positivity is because of the intense negativity. It's, well, a feedback loop at best.
I think the issue for me with 73 Yards wasn't the ambiguity of the ending, it's that Rodger ap Gwilliam existed in the regular world too. Like at the beginning of the episode, the Doctor is talking about being there at his overthrow; it's not like breaking the fairy ring released some monster that needed to be dealt with. Some weird stuff happened and then Ruby made sure it never happened. Okay, and so what?
@@Comicbroe405 I get that, but then it all loops around and none of it happened, so what’s the character consequence for us? Just that she told the Doctor not to step on the ring? Roger becomes PM anyway
@@SmalllFarAway In a way it did happen cuz Ruby does seem to vaguely remember smtg. My interpretation is that her & the Doctor were punished for breaking the fairy circle & once Ruby stops Roger she is let go from her penance. Roger does become PM but I'm pretty sure in the intended timeline the Doctor was there to help.
@@Comicbroe405I mean he wasn’t because he says it happened and the doctor generally isn’t one to stop things like that as evident by Jubilee and any other examples of the hellish future awaiting earth…or Iron Marge being a person in the Whoniverse period
The whole Community thing made me think of Austin Powers: Goldmember, wherein Dr. Evil is revealed to be Austin's brother - a plot point that is later played straight in the James Bond film Spectre. I wonder if there are any other examples of an original property emulating one of its parodies?
20 years is a long time to rely on the same group of RTD's friends as writers/producers. In terms of the Classic series, that’s like everything from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd AND 4th Doctor's era. The show needs new blood, essentially it needs another rest period followed by a reboot/reset.
oh man, it's a LOT longer than twenty years. Russell's first Doctor Who work was a Virgin New Adventure book all the way back in fucking 1995. Moffat's first is a Virgin Decalog short story from 1996.
I think the show has been suffering long-term from a crisis of purpose for the Doctor's character. He doesn't have anything to do, and so can't really have meaningful character beats or develop. That became apparent in the Chibnall era, but RTD attempting to give meaning to things like the Flux and Timeless Child and then resetting the Doctor's character upon his regeneration to Fifteen anyway was a clear symptom of that. He's literally outsourced his character development and need for recovery, so has absolutely no drive to do anything in Series 14.
Your alternate ending for the Devil's Chord was so good it made me slightly angry. Not at *you* obviously, just, I thought that episode was such an irredeemable mess and then you were like "here is this very obvious way for the plot and themes to resolve in a satisfying way" and I'm just - why couldn't the ACTUAL WRITERS be this competent?? (I find Jinkx Monsoon's whole thing to be very exhausting so I might not have loved the episode regardless, but still, that would be have been so good!!)
Man you are too frustratingly good at your job. Your critiques are explained so well that they retroactively make me like some of this stuff less. Please be a worse critic 🙏 Also, that John Lennon Chibnall-era parody was hilarious
For me, I was waiting for Bi-generation to mean something. It didn't. I'd far rather have Ncuti need 14's TARDIS rather than use the memory TARDIS to escape Sutekh. Then we could have an on-screen death for 14, and some closure. Now, RTD has promised to never have David Tennant back, but his shadow will linger over the show until it's cancelled in the future. The real problem is Sutekh as the villain. He just doesn't work... for me.
Regeneration has always been "a lottery" according to the Doctor, but also, every time, he's become the very thing that he wanted (The 1st doctor becomes a young man, the 11th doctor begins to shows his age, embracing all the time he's lived, etc), and I think that this bigeneration is just the thing he needed at this very moment
Great review of series 14. The show has been pulling things out of a hat for years now and it's really unsatisfying. It's long past time one person didn't write most of each series, I think.
When you look back at Seasons 1-5 there was a variety of writers each season with a few regulars and the showrunner writing the important episodes. There were less and less writers as time went on until by seasons 8 and 9 moffat wrote almost every episode and only had a bit more help with season 10, which ended up being the best of that period. Then with Chibnall, it was mostly just him. Now it’s mostly all Russel. Doctor Who always seems to do best when there’s a revolving team of writers and not one guy and sometimes his friend helping out.
can't believe you didn't mention the worst thing about The Devil's Chord - that it referred to a tritone as a chord when it is, in fact, an interval. Get it right, people
Thank you for another great video! Your videos have kept getting better and better since I found your channel from the Slippin' Jimmy vid. Thanks for keeping at it, and with such passion too! You're one of my favourite creatives on the platform alongside other weirdos like Leo Vader or hbomberguy, and I hope you get more and more acknowledgement (and enjoyment, hopefully) for (and from) your hard work as time goes by. Have a great day, dude. B)
Really impressed by the depth of your analysis, logical and thought through approach and general presentation of your ideas. You’re nice to look at and listen to and I agree with you 99% of the time. In fact I thought I’d thought up a couple of your points first. Please keep up the good work. Eventually you and the other constructively critic content creators may get through before we lose a favourite show.
No one making tv or movie who wants people to take their work seriously should ever say they’re just generating content and internet buzz. How the hell do you call yourself an artist and say that, maybe if you’re an influencer, content creator, producer, studio exec, but a writer and showrunner?? Seriously? You loved Doctor Who as a kid yet you’re willing to ruin a whole season of television and story arcs and characters just to create temporary short-term buzz and content? Wtf
*[Spoilers for the movie Unbreakable!]* I think Unbreakable is a great example of a positively/responsibly represented disabled villain like what you were talking about. The movie does all it can to not only get you to sympathize with Mr. Glass, but to get you on his side and avoid seeing the villain twist coming. So I'd say that movie's pretty off scott free, but like you said, I'm not disabled lol
Title sequences are allowed to have some errors, because they're usually freaking gorgeous works of art. Though I will say the sync problem in series 9 drove me up a wall
*Superhero moviemakers:* "Our movie changed the course of our genre forever and has zero flaws" *Space sci-fi moviemakers: [Star Wars, Doctor Who]:* "This episode was terrible and all of our cast members are complaining openly about the script"
As much as I dont hate the chibnal era as much as other people as I do find enjoyment. I absolutely love your relentless jokes in this video about it. Every time it makes me chuckle lmao. Great video btw, I feel I agree with your way of analysing and critiquing the show and it was great to see a ton of my thoughts listed out and explored in detail here. I am someone who can watch and enjoy a show even with issues like these so I probably enjoyed all these episodes more than it seems you may have but I still share all the thoughts you had and the changes you offer up are 100% better. It seems strange that there are not creatives behind the show that can take a look at one of rtd's scripts as just a proof read and pick up on these things.
One thing I'll say about wild blue yonder's ADR "the TARDIS brought us here just in time" thing is purely an interpretation thing, because regardless of if the TARDIS did intentionally bring them there or not, it did technically do it, even if just by chance
The 9th and 10th Doctor eras were hugely important to me growing up. I fell out of love with the show during the 11th Doctor era - not because I disliked Matt Smith (I actually think he was great in the role) but because the show was simply different under Moffat's tenure. He wrote some of my favorite episodes of the RTD era - chiefly The Empty Child and Blink, but as showrunner his style was simply different from the RTD era, and it was no longer for me. After Chibnall came and went, I was beginning to suspect that RTD's version of Doctor Who was the only one I was receptive to, so hearing that he was coming back was exciting. Unfortunately though, it seems like the RTD1 era was lightning in a bottle, and not so easily replicated. Doctor Who is no longer for me, and hasn't been for a long time. But I still cherish the 9th and 10th Doctor eras. For me, they're the only canon I'll acknowledge - I simply don't want to think about The Timeless Child, or any of the other strange lore retcons that have happened since. RTD2 feels like a completely different show - and if some people really enjoy it, then I'm happy for them, but it's not the same.
2:02:16 this is off topic and not a defence of history but it did remind me of something, king William the conqueror band slavery in England (later on in Britain after the conquest of wales and the union of Scotland).
first time viewer first time commenter just popping on to say i started watching the older version like five minutes ago then tapped your channel to see what else was there and saw this new version so win for me
Nardole... Was not a 21st century human. Neither was Handles. River Song, Cleopatra, Adelaide, Jack Harkness... The pattern is only there, if you look for it
Handles, Cleopatra, and Adelaide really don't count as companions, and River Song and Captain Jack are kind of their own category. Nardole is the only true non-human companion of the revival
@@elberno4243Handles literally only appears in one episode. Same goes for Adam. None of the people you mentioned qualify as "main" companions, except *maybe* River.
1:12:26 I think it will be more like 14 will be reabsorbed into 15 at somepoint in the future. Seeing as David Tennant is going to return for at least one more story as 14 I think its morethan likely an episode/special involving him being reabsorbed and there being only one Doctor once more. Plus with 15 saying 'we are doing rehab out of order' implying he somehow has 14's experience but not necessarily his memories.(atleast not yet)
the list of notes in Devil's Chord as a 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th, as far as i understand it, isn't referring to their musical positions... it's just imagining the number of notes played together.
2:46:29 I have to disagree with you about the use of that clip from The Magicians Apprentice. The old clip is relevant since the story begins with the Doctor initially leaving child Davros to die. There is a parallel between how the Doctor decides not to destroy the Daleks in Genesis and how in the end of The Witches Familiar the Doctor decides to save child Davros. The clips of the past Doctors are likely for new viewers who don't know or are aware of the history between Davros and the Doctor too. Yes, it probably is fan service, but it is relevant to the story and isn't just out of nowhere or added on.
Also, if I may add since I have watched the series 14 review part. Davros pulling footage from Genesis makes more sense than the random footage of Pyramids of Mars in the series 14 finale. Even though Davros wasn't present in the scene with the fourth Doctor talk "Could you kill that child?" it would make sense the Kaled bunker on Skaro had cameras all around. Davros had probably listened and watched those past footage on loop while reflecting his life and encounters with The Doctor.
1:00:05 very debatable if the Time War was less than the Flux, that stuff was affecting the whole multiverse and people were dying and coming back only to die again and etc.
This series reminded me a lot of some of the stronger seasons from late classic - it's got a lot of great disconnected ideas and a phenomenal run of stories (I personally thought boom, 73 yards, dot and bubble, and rogue were the best string of episodes in a long long time) but where it fails is with the season arc. I really hope that season 2/15 is stronger, since I'd really love to see overarching stories that aren't as shallow as bringing back a fan-favorite villain for internet buzz. RTD has clearly still got a lot of writing talent, as episodes like 73 yards and dot and bubble show, but I agree with you that he's suffering from a George Lucas effect where he's surrounding himself with yes-men.
3:14:37 - Except we actually did. The Fortune Teller and the Beetle are a part of the Trickster’s brigade. The Trickster is their leader and is known for changing history to manipulate the past of many different lives. Although to be fair, only those who’ve watched SJA will be more familiar with him.
Regarding music being louder than the dialog, is the soundtrack remixed for the US releases so this isn't an issue? I've heard this complaint for as long as I can remember and always found it bazaar. But when you played all those example clips it's painfully obvious in every era and absolutely does not sound like how I've experienced any of those scenes. I assume you didn't re-mix it to prove your point, so I'm wondering how this happened. Even the new Disney Plus episodes which I don't watch from a blu ray are much worse in your video, and I'm using the same headphones I always use
@@The_Ninja_Tree So since writing this comment I actually had this issue on a recent rewatch. Long story short VLC Media Player changed it's default sound setting to crank up the music and lower the dialog (among other things). I found a different audio mode that fixed the problem. So I think your sound system and audio settings are a huge factor. Sure the production should be mindful of the various systems and audio formats people have, but I do believe there is at least one "master track" where it sounds fine and that's what they work on
Regarding what's become of doctor who thanks to RTD2, I blame his post Who work on this emotion over any sense of logical scifi cohesion. TO ME, this new "Season 1" doesn't feel like a new take on Doctor Who, it feels like a modern RTD show (a-la 'Years and Years' and 'It's a Sin') wearing the skin of Nu-Who WHICH DOES NOT WORK because you can't write scifi how you wright human dramas. That is to say, this new iteration is just A LOT of embittered, harrowing social commentary and bombasity at the expense of a meaningful sense of plot. And all to more or less generate just generate flame wars on the Internet instead of passing some kind of meaningful aesop to the viewer. But it's not politics because CLEARLY social commentary has always had its place in Nu-Who and both RTD and the Moff did a good job of it all the way through 9,10,11 and 12's run, but the process was utterly bungled this go around. And that has left us with four specials and a season of little substance, a lot of spectacle, and even more deliberately polarising creative decisions. They made the show in a way that actively sought to present a cruel and callous world with little redeeming factors. The universe in Doctor Who used to be scary, vast and often quite dark, but also beautiful, boundless, and FULL of potential. That's not the impression I get from this new season, I get the impression this new Doctor lives in a shitty dystopian future ruled by fear, paranoia, hatred and greed. RTD's Nu- Nu-Who is colourful and visually optimistic, sure, yet also bitter and cynical, and that second part is the antithesis of the whimsy and adventure thay defines the show if you ask me. Its the opposite of subtle, its the opposite of cohesive, its the opposite of meaningful a narrative. I genuinely felt like I wasted my time with this new era, which I couldn't even say about Chibby's era (it had its moments imo), this was just a large vapid nothing sandwich to me
I think the show to most people is just stuck in a realm of sub mediocrity now, as reflected by the viewing figures. Often, the rampant political discourse granted- often stretched to the extreme for perhaps views- does still reflect a genuine issue. I think these moments that these channels speak about the most- I often find to be what I'll call "extreme cringe", perhaps "deathly cringe". Such that it is so bad that I am taken out so entirely from any immersion it has built that it is now more comfortable to turn to something else than waid past it. Should I choose to continue watching after these moments it becomes abundantly clear that my care for the story is near empty. I and my partner often go back to doctor who, often on rewatches we still find ourselves immersed thus silent. Whereas the most recent stuff I don't fully understand the conclusions to because we'd talk throughout, only periodicall focusing on the events unfolding. Whilst I cannot necessarily describe all the factors behind this it certainly has been observable. I'd still say its better than Chibnalls era, which I still have actually seen the majority of the episodes for. We tried it, getting a couple episodes in. But we just couldn't stomach them and thus didnt mind completely skipping it. Which was a first for us. Granted this is just me and my own experience, but on occassion I do think about this. Perhaps that its so extreme (as to mean so in your face) that it ruins the experience of escapism that a great deal of viewers desire. Social messaging is in everything to some effect, but most shows don't pause or break the story for it, they weave it in. So that even if you are politically opposed you can still enjoy it as part of a story. On a completely different note, very random to everything else said, I'm curious whether anyone else feels the same way as me. That for whatever reasoning, that visually DR Who is getting worse looking as the camera quality gets better? Despite the dated CGI some of my favourite shots still come from the first seasons of the revivial (bar maybe heaven sent).
"circumvention of verisimilitude" OK now you're just showing off :P Regards the Toymaker, I think they could have dropped most of the current-day stuff and it would have been a better episode. It would be great to see the entire episode in his realm. UNIT HQ is fine but quite ordinary for a modern building and not all that interesting as a setting. I was disappointed when they exited his interesting realm for the mundane 2023.
While i understand the entertainment value in thrashing the alt-right shock jocks, but unfortunately I feel like that whole sequence doesn’t actually accomplish much besides giving them more attention, which is exactly what they crave. The fact that their points are moot doesn’t matter to them, they just want ad revenue and traffic, and you’re giving them that.
I don't get disagreeing with the left make you an "alt-rightist", sure there are bad apples, but not everybody should be genearalized for their beliefs unless it's something truly horrible.
Long comment ahead you've been warned. To give my two cents, on first watching Dot and Bubble, the episode felt pretty comedic to me so the whole racist reveal gave me a bit of a tonal whiplash. Like having a freakin delicious meal followed by a pudding that tastes like dogshite that someone else already vomited up into your bowl. I don't remember if I mentioned this on some other video but if Ricky September had survived Dot and Bubble, becoming a temporary companion and he was the one who becomes romantically involved before dying then not only would the ending of Dot and Bubble probably have felt better (September's survival/joining the Tardis would be a silver lining to the greater rejection) but his sacrifice would come after the audience had a chance to get to know him a little better and might have felt more meaningful.
Link to original video: th-cam.com/video/wMpmt8zy0oU/w-d-xo.html
Alternative Ending (I cut it because I didn't wanna sound too mean): th-cam.com/video/GNgoo6Fl0fo/w-d-xo.htmlsi=4u1iXbsxh9oSEy4l&t=3409
MAJOR CHANGES MADE
- Fixed the voiceover audio so that it’s not overly bass-y
- Redid the segment on verisimilitude because I didn't think my original characterization of 'realism vs. formalism' was entirely accurate (0:19:39)
- Redid pretty much the entirety of the Star Beast segment because I thought it dragged in places and I could have conveyed my ideas better (0:28:35)
- Redid the discussion of Bigeneration because I have honestly just have a lot more to say about it (1:09:47)
- Added an epilogue chapter reviewing the new season (2:56:28)
Thank you for fixing the audio! It was probably a pain in the backside for something this big, so I really appreciate it 🙏
Hey man, great work. I noticed that the music list still hasn't been released yet. I've been trying to figure out the name of the song that starts at 1:22:21. Looking forward to what you make next
@@glassbarnacle4290 Document was just added (thanks for the reminder lol). The song you're looking for is Revitalize by Yonder Dale.
@@VerdanaVideos thanks a bunch!
@@VerdanaVideosyou should def flesh out the fnaf movie revision you proposed in that one vid
That clip of RTD just straight up admitting that he wrote this series with the express purpose of generating internet content is... genuinely infuriating. That is among the worst reasons to write anything I've ever heard.
He's truly gotten worse unfortunately.
I get where he's coming from though. Don't get me wrong, I'm cringing at how this season ended, but I feel like I'm cringing in a different way to everyone else because I truly get what Russell's mindset is.
He genuinely thought people would be interested in who Ruby's mom was, and he probably foresaw a massive portion of the internet speculating on who Ruby's mom would be, and Russell saw this as helpful to TH-camrs, because it would give them videos to make and get them views and stuff.
My evidence is the way the ending was handled. "She was important because we thought she's important."
@@carealoo744yeah, that is similar to my own thoughts about RTD2 and series 14, I really hope he improves from series 15 onwards, I just hope that we get new people running the show someday
I was a Series 14 defender until I saw that clip. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt that he had good ideas impeded by runtime and other things. But no he just wanted to generate buzz. Now, I kinda hate this season
The thing that really gets me about this season is how similar Sutekh's power is to the Flux...and how the Flux handles "turning all life to dust"...better?
I will name my kids by menacingly pointing at a sign. If people don't get me or if there isn't anyone around that's their issue.
Just to put out it here so I can stop going mad. John Lennon and Paul McCartney famously DID NOT KNOW how to read sheet music. They would have had NO IDEA what those floating notes meant, or how to play them. A really strong sign that the Beatles were an after thought in 'the Devils Chord'.
They would recognise sheet music, though. Being able to tell what the notes were, maybe not, but being able to tell it was notes, sure.
i'm also not even sure how someone who could read sheet music would've known what the notes meant considering they weren't on a staff and theres no way of knowing what clef they were in. also i dont think john lennon wouldve been wearing his famous round granny glasses at that time period either, but thats more of a nitpick. i guess without those glasses there would be no way to tell him apart from paul since the episode doesnt give them any distinguishable personality traits lol
They really do feel like an after thought. From my point of view when watching the episode I was so confused on why Ruby and The Doctor just HAD to go sit down with The Beatles? Like I feel as if they had to add that moment in to do the cool Maestro appearing in the reflections scene, and it all just feels so.. unnatural?
@@klop4228 yes...they would be able to tell it was music notes but how would they be able to play the cord if they can't read it?
One thing I dislike about this season is that it rings very... hollow. For all the talk of "themes" it says very little. Ruby, for example: in RTDs first era, each companion brought a dynamic of social commentary to the TARDIS.
Rose's working class background influenced how she approached situations, ie: in the End of the World she bonds with the workers on the station that the Doctor doesn't even give a second thought.
It wasn't always handled great but Martha, as a woman of colour, faced bigotry and oppression on her travels that the Doctor never considered from his relative position of white male timelord privilege- the nail in the coffin for their relationship prospects is Human Nature, where he leaves her to be his personal servant and guardian in uber-racist old timey England.
Donna has this almost Kinks-esc status of the deadend lower-middle class, doomed to die in mediocrity by a world that doesn't see her worth. Her adventures with the Doctor affirm that she matters as an individual, as a person, and deserves more than to die in a suffocating 9/5.
In this series, what does Ruby say? There could be something there about family dynamics- she's adopted by a single mother, her family unit is bi-racial and she never had any sort of father figure. Maybe then, she could have a unique perspective on the concept of family, of what family is and means that would challenge conventional ideals- but with all the times family appears throughout this season, there's very little actual drama that utilizes Ruby's upbringing.
In the end of the season, Ruby immediately latches onto her "real" mother, in a way that seems surprisingly... callous, we're given a character to whom her actual, real family that raised her should mean everything but now sees finding her biological parents as finding out who she really is. Nothing is subverted, all Ruby ever does is reinforce the aesthetics of a traditional nuclear family. What if she never found her, what if she met her mum and it turned out that all these years she *hadn't* been thinking about her child, that she never really wanted one, that she never wanted to meet her. But in the end, Ruby's background just feels like set dressing.
agreed about the ending 100% but in her defense her repeating theme is that she's surrounded with queer friends and family resulting in her being quite sensitive and open-minded? it's a shame that they didn't use the more obvious orphan plotline, especially because that's such a big theme in the season, but it's not like she lacks characterisation... until the finale comes and holy shit that really fucked up whatever it could. still liked the season, but come on.
It's been a while since I watched the episode with Martha as a servant. However, I remember it more as a statement on class with the racism, while present, was secondary.
@@davidchav6795 on top of this, whilst I agree with most of OPs points, I wouldn't consider racial discrimination to be THE arc or theme of Martha (especially compared to the mote obvious theme of self-worth and not needing romantic validation). Racial discrimination doesn't come up in the series finale (like how Rose's or Donna's themes do) unless you count the optics of The Jones' being enslaved by The Master
My friend and I loved the crying - because we made a game out of it. We bet after how many minutes he’d cry, and got so excited everytime he did. It was mean, but fun.
Also I thought the season was a step up from the last era (obviously) but the last episode was offensively bad. Like, space babies was cringe and bad, but doctor who does that sometimes, it’s whatever. The ending made me angry because it felt like RRD was actively gaslighting me, and it was just overall a real anticlimactic ending.
Like, ruby doesn’t have to be special. Don’t make her create magical snow and tell me she’s special then.
This is an amazing video essay. You don't spend an ungodly amount of time on needless recaps. A lot of your critiques you give follow up with great ideas/solutions. And I commend the research you clearly put into this. Even with an almost 4hr video, no time felt wasted. Thank you! I comment in the hopes this gets more views, it deserves it.
The Devil's Chord would have been so much better if The Doctor used harmony to outperform Maestro. That would have at least been clever.
Happy to see someone address RTDs annoying "Overcorrection" when it comes to making the show as unproblematic as possible. The Davros retcon absolutely was insulting to his character and getting rid of an iconic design to make him some generic looking sleezy bloke.
I worry with the cottege industry of anti woke grifter channels, that it allows people running star wars, doctor who and more to use that as a sheild to justify questionable decisions as they can lump even good faith criticism in with all the arseholes bitching about woke or even making dumb decisions out of spite towards reactionary critics.
Great point ive not seen made that much, that the anti-woke buzz and vitriol actually justifies corporations like this to gloss over clear writing issues and chalking it up to culture wars why people don’t like the show. Also allows these showrunners to feel themselves martyrs and double down on their shit
I like the theory that the doctor bigenerated because it was still in that 24 hour regeneration period(look at “the christmas invasion”) which meant he had extra regeneration energy so it caused him to bigenerate
15 hours but yeah that’s a decent headcanon
@@Spider-Man_234 ah. Thank you
I am shocked they didn't have The Doctor visit Susan at the end of Empire of Death. Carol Ann Ford...
If Sutekh was given the full episode, and all of Ruby's parent stuff had been shifted to a Christmas special where the Doctor has to restore Ruby (bookend with Church on Ruby Road) and in the process reunite with Susan...that would have worked a lot better.
I think your core thesis is sound, and I made a Reddit post to that effect some time back. The biggest failure of New Who is that it works on the "showrunner"model. In the early days this was okay, largely because there was a huge amount of pent-up creative energy (Fitzroy Club, etc.) but that lead to many voices shaping what New Who became. As time went on those voices got pruned, and as series started getting shorter (12 with Capaldi, 10 for Jodi, 8 for Ncuti) the Showrunner sees less and less room for other voices because, after all, it was THEY who were hired to provide a vision.
We need a writers room, we need many disparate voices, we need dissenting opinions, we need better script editors. That was always one of the biggest strengths of the Classic series: anyone could write for it and it launched so many careers. Now? Just the same old faces year after year.
I mean I don't know if Classic Who is the most solid point of comparison given how different the show's format was back then, but I do agree a return to showrunners as producers rather than necessarily head writers could be a big benefit. I guess modern Who is just more centered on plot arcs and thus feels the need to have head writers making sure the major plot beats play out correctly
Me: *loves The Pyramids of Mars but then watches the season 14 finale*
“I’m going to pretend that didn’t happen.”
As a trans person myself, I think the transgender stuff was very shoe-horned into The Star Beast, it felt very forced.
I will concede that the C Major is rarely mentioned in self-defence classes.
People claim RTD is making this series to introduce doctor who to new viewers but he’s also doing his utmost to alienate and actively antagonise general audiences and appeal just to the biggest of Dr Who nerds, becuz seriously what new viewer would now Sutekh or Susan, i mean ive been watching the show since i was a kid, rewatched most of NuWho several times, had the character encyclopedia etc etc, I consider myself a Dr Who fan, had no idea who Sutekh was when the penultimate episode came out and ppl were excited about it. So maybe im not a ‘real fan’ but im pretty damn sure no new viewer is gonna be too excited or enthusiastic with the reveal of Sutekh, becuz it carries no significance other than if you know what it entails, as a kid the reveal of the Daleks, The Master, Cybermen, were all super impactful even if I had NO idea about their past and their history.
I will be forever grateful to RTD for reviving the show and running the first 4 seasons, I loved 73 yards, but he needs to go. I can argue over devils chord which I liked despite its flaws, I think space babies was okay, and so on. But I cant defend empire of death or the whole season arc, it's a pile of nonsense and there are a lot of questionable decisions for the overall direction of the show that you mentioned. Seeing doctor who as "content" is so disrepectful towards the art form and completely misses the point of making a series. Not to mention he is running a supposedly progressive show while fanboying over Marvel which is an industry franchise made to generate money and promote american imperialism (international intereferance goes brrr). Like Moffat, RTD would be better as a guest writer than showrunner, he can clearly still write one offs with interesting ideas. We desperately need someone with vision and ambition for the show, doctor who is best as a thought provoking scifi drama that challenges current world politics while exploring deep personal subjects and experimental stories.
THANK YOU for that explanation of the Verisimilitude spectrum, I'm so tired of people making the counter argument of equating silly elements (usually talking animals) to silly logic.
An extended edition? YES PLEASE!
Sack Russell T Davies
You are Christopher Eccleston and I claim my £5
Thank you.
There is a lot of interesting commentary on the show here, but you present your views with clarity, make sure people understand your viewpoints are not absolute, and due a lot of work to make your cases in each part of the video.
One thing I'm actually fascinated by that I wasn't as much aware of is the primary issues of the modern showrunner for this series. In classic who the responsibility for editing scripts and guiding the series as a whole were different jobs. You mentioned John Nathan Turner, and while his run has a plethora of issues, he didn't write and script edit everything. That was a team effort, and I'll never understand why Russell and the rest of the showrunners after didn't go back to that method. Trial of the Timelord had to deal with a writer dying during the production and having two people come in finish it up, and none of them were JNT, who never wrote a single script.
Times may have changed as far as how shows are done, but this is a pretty hard sticking points that seems to affect every part of the revival if it leads to rushed scripts and unsatisfying work.
Your ending for The Devil’s Chord gave me goosebumps and it’s headcanon now. Actually recognising the importance and beauty of music theory and The Beatles, which the episode acknowledged and swiftly abandoned. Thank you.
"Male presenting timelord" is the worst line. Openly trans people have said "You never learnt to let things go" could have been so much better replacement line
Also, the tardis randomly changing is fine in my books.. Its a living thing. It gut a haircut
Did the Tardis change desktops for the snowmen Christmas special? It didn't get destroyed then, right?
@@Dudofall yeah but didnt it change then to match the doctor’s darker personality after Amy & Rory died
14 was just farting about in 13s tardis and then it decided “hm, I think I’m gonna be different now”
@@NukedKnight That’s a fair point. We don’t have any evidence of how the Tardis changed at some other points in the show’s history, even if I can’t think of any now…
Your idea of making the glass stop sound to reference Ten and Donna's reunion in series 4 is actually genius
I just love all the little references in your video - audio excerpts from Community, The Legend of Zelda, Sonic Adventure, and many more. Amazing!
I will never understand why people cared what the lady in 73 yards was saying… It was so obviously some kind of magic or something lol it wasn’t like it was something so bad that everyone had the exact same identical reaction lol
That’s not what matters… What matters is why… Why was she keeping everyone away from herself… because it did turn out to be Ruby in the end… And it feels very much like a plot device in order to pull off that scene with the Prime Minister… And if she didn’t have the ability to do differently until the very last second… How did she suddenly know… It makes no sense
That episode was really cool, but it literally could not have made less sense
Even on repeat watches, your pitch to rework the climax of The Giggle in the game versus the Toymaker never fails to excite
I also call toxic positivity into question when, disproportionally, it's the toxic negativity that's been most rewarded on Social Media. Hell, those advocating for positivity is because of the intense negativity. It's, well, a feedback loop at best.
I think the issue for me with 73 Yards wasn't the ambiguity of the ending, it's that Rodger ap Gwilliam existed in the regular world too. Like at the beginning of the episode, the Doctor is talking about being there at his overthrow; it's not like breaking the fairy ring released some monster that needed to be dealt with. Some weird stuff happened and then Ruby made sure it never happened. Okay, and so what?
Wdym by "so what"? The ep is about Ruby.
@@Comicbroe405 I get that, but then it all loops around and none of it happened, so what’s the character consequence for us? Just that she told the Doctor not to step on the ring? Roger becomes PM anyway
@@SmalllFarAway In a way it did happen cuz Ruby does seem to vaguely remember smtg. My interpretation is that her & the Doctor were punished for breaking the fairy circle & once Ruby stops Roger she is let go from her penance. Roger does become PM but I'm pretty sure in the intended timeline the Doctor was there to help.
@@Comicbroe405I mean he wasn’t because he says it happened and the doctor generally isn’t one to stop things like that as evident by Jubilee and any other examples of the hellish future awaiting earth…or Iron Marge being a person in the Whoniverse period
@@creed8712 Lol probably true.
3:14:30 ??? the time beetle was part of the Trickster's brigade. changing the past is the Trickster's whole thing.
People who didn't watch the Sarah Jane Adventures (so most of the viewers) wouldn't know that.
The whole Community thing made me think of Austin Powers: Goldmember, wherein Dr. Evil is revealed to be Austin's brother - a plot point that is later played straight in the James Bond film Spectre. I wonder if there are any other examples of an original property emulating one of its parodies?
Condorman used a few things that the Bond series later emulated - a jump from the Eiffel Tower, Barbara Carerra as a Bond Girl (in NSNA) etc.
Excited to hear your take on the season. The og version is already such a great exploration of Dr Who's history.
I LITERALLY JUST FINISHED THE VIDEO YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!
20 years is a long time to rely on the same group of RTD's friends as writers/producers. In terms of the Classic series, that’s like everything from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd AND 4th Doctor's era. The show needs new blood, essentially it needs another rest period followed by a reboot/reset.
oh man, it's a LOT longer than twenty years. Russell's first Doctor Who work was a Virgin New Adventure book all the way back in fucking 1995. Moffat's first is a Virgin Decalog short story from 1996.
Yes I could use an extra hour of Doctor Who today thank you
ooo amazing review! and THAT CLOSET JOKE WAS AMAZING XD
and thank you for also pointing out the musical mistakes in TDC...
I think the show has been suffering long-term from a crisis of purpose for the Doctor's character. He doesn't have anything to do, and so can't really have meaningful character beats or develop.
That became apparent in the Chibnall era, but RTD attempting to give meaning to things like the Flux and Timeless Child and then resetting the Doctor's character upon his regeneration to Fifteen anyway was a clear symptom of that. He's literally outsourced his character development and need for recovery, so has absolutely no drive to do anything in Series 14.
Extended Editions only in this household.
Hey, did you know that when Verdana hit upload, he broke his toe, and-
Your alternate ending for the Devil's Chord was so good it made me slightly angry. Not at *you* obviously, just, I thought that episode was such an irredeemable mess and then you were like "here is this very obvious way for the plot and themes to resolve in a satisfying way" and I'm just - why couldn't the ACTUAL WRITERS be this competent?? (I find Jinkx Monsoon's whole thing to be very exhausting so I might not have loved the episode regardless, but still, that would be have been so good!!)
Man you are too frustratingly good at your job. Your critiques are explained so well that they retroactively make me like some of this stuff less. Please be a worse critic 🙏
Also, that John Lennon Chibnall-era parody was hilarious
73 yards is just the cinematic version of the immortal snail meme
If anything it's the complete opposite. The immortal snail always moves closer to you. In 73 yards.. well, the clue is in the title.
@artyb27 shut up nerd
@@artyb27shut up nerd
@@artyb27shut up nerd
@@artyb27shut up nerd
For me, I was waiting for Bi-generation to mean something. It didn't. I'd far rather have Ncuti need 14's TARDIS rather than use the memory TARDIS to escape Sutekh. Then we could have an on-screen death for 14, and some closure. Now, RTD has promised to never have David Tennant back, but his shadow will linger over the show until it's cancelled in the future.
The real problem is Sutekh as the villain. He just doesn't work... for me.
They gotta let this dude write the episodes, his idea of the devils cord just feels so much better
53:08 subtle, doing what you're saying 👏
Regeneration has always been "a lottery" according to the Doctor, but also, every time, he's become the very thing that he wanted (The 1st doctor becomes a young man, the 11th doctor begins to shows his age, embracing all the time he's lived, etc), and I think that this bigeneration is just the thing he needed at this very moment
The current season was to short and kinda sucked.
Great review of series 14. The show has been pulling things out of a hat for years now and it's really unsatisfying. It's long past time one person didn't write most of each series, I think.
When you look back at Seasons 1-5 there was a variety of writers each season with a few regulars and the showrunner writing the important episodes. There were less and less writers as time went on until by seasons 8 and 9 moffat wrote almost every episode and only had a bit more help with season 10, which ended up being the best of that period. Then with Chibnall, it was mostly just him. Now it’s mostly all Russel. Doctor Who always seems to do best when there’s a revolving team of writers and not one guy and sometimes his friend helping out.
can't believe you didn't mention the worst thing about The Devil's Chord - that it referred to a tritone as a chord when it is, in fact, an interval. Get it right, people
Thank you for another great video! Your videos have kept getting better and better since I found your channel from the Slippin' Jimmy vid. Thanks for keeping at it, and with such passion too! You're one of my favourite creatives on the platform alongside other weirdos like Leo Vader or hbomberguy, and I hope you get more and more acknowledgement (and enjoyment, hopefully) for (and from) your hard work as time goes by. Have a great day, dude. B)
Really impressed by the depth of your analysis, logical and thought through approach and general presentation of your ideas. You’re nice to look at and listen to and I agree with you 99% of the time. In fact I thought I’d thought up a couple of your points first. Please keep up the good work. Eventually you and the other constructively critic content creators may get through before we lose a favourite show.
Aw gee shucks! Thanks so much! 😘
An excuse to rewatch this huh >:)
I really thought that quote at the end was gonna be "Allons-y"
No one making tv or movie who wants people to take their work seriously should ever say they’re just generating content and internet buzz. How the hell do you call yourself an artist and say that, maybe if you’re an influencer, content creator, producer, studio exec, but a writer and showrunner?? Seriously? You loved Doctor Who as a kid yet you’re willing to ruin a whole season of television and story arcs and characters just to create temporary short-term buzz and content? Wtf
Am *I* stuck in a time loop?
*[Spoilers for the movie Unbreakable!]*
I think Unbreakable is a great example of a positively/responsibly represented disabled villain like what you were talking about. The movie does all it can to not only get you to sympathize with Mr. Glass, but to get you on his side and avoid seeing the villain twist coming. So I'd say that movie's pretty off scott free, but like you said, I'm not disabled lol
Title sequences are allowed to have some errors, because they're usually freaking gorgeous works of art.
Though I will say the sync problem in series 9 drove me up a wall
*Superhero moviemakers:* "Our movie changed the course of our genre forever and has zero flaws"
*Space sci-fi moviemakers: [Star Wars, Doctor Who]:* "This episode was terrible and all of our cast members are complaining openly about the script"
Gf: babe it's my grandma's birthday hurry up and get ready.
Me: sorry babe verdana just dropped a new video cant go.
When the world needed him the most he returned… again!
As much as I dont hate the chibnal era as much as other people as I do find enjoyment. I absolutely love your relentless jokes in this video about it. Every time it makes me chuckle lmao. Great video btw, I feel I agree with your way of analysing and critiquing the show and it was great to see a ton of my thoughts listed out and explored in detail here. I am someone who can watch and enjoy a show even with issues like these so I probably enjoyed all these episodes more than it seems you may have but I still share all the thoughts you had and the changes you offer up are 100% better. It seems strange that there are not creatives behind the show that can take a look at one of rtd's scripts as just a proof read and pick up on these things.
One thing I'll say about wild blue yonder's ADR "the TARDIS brought us here just in time" thing is purely an interpretation thing, because regardless of if the TARDIS did intentionally bring them there or not, it did technically do it, even if just by chance
The 9th and 10th Doctor eras were hugely important to me growing up. I fell out of love with the show during the 11th Doctor era - not because I disliked Matt Smith (I actually think he was great in the role) but because the show was simply different under Moffat's tenure. He wrote some of my favorite episodes of the RTD era - chiefly The Empty Child and Blink, but as showrunner his style was simply different from the RTD era, and it was no longer for me. After Chibnall came and went, I was beginning to suspect that RTD's version of Doctor Who was the only one I was receptive to, so hearing that he was coming back was exciting. Unfortunately though, it seems like the RTD1 era was lightning in a bottle, and not so easily replicated. Doctor Who is no longer for me, and hasn't been for a long time. But I still cherish the 9th and 10th Doctor eras. For me, they're the only canon I'll acknowledge - I simply don't want to think about The Timeless Child, or any of the other strange lore retcons that have happened since. RTD2 feels like a completely different show - and if some people really enjoy it, then I'm happy for them, but it's not the same.
2:02:16 this is off topic and not a defence of history but it did remind me of something, king William the conqueror band slavery in England (later on in Britain after the conquest of wales and the union of Scotland).
first time viewer first time commenter just popping on to say i started watching the older version like five minutes ago then tapped your channel to see what else was there and saw this new version so win for me
3:26:02
The Doctor made his own TARDIS with Sexy, not really surprising
Nardole... Was not a 21st century human. Neither was Handles.
River Song, Cleopatra, Adelaide, Jack Harkness... The pattern is only there, if you look for it
Handles, Cleopatra, and Adelaide really don't count as companions, and River Song and Captain Jack are kind of their own category. Nardole is the only true non-human companion of the revival
@@WiloPolis03 Handles was The Doctor's Longest ever companion.
Also, Adam... Technically, he was from the near future
@@elberno4243Handles literally only appears in one episode. Same goes for Adam. None of the people you mentioned qualify as "main" companions, except *maybe* River.
Time for my 5th re-watch of this video
1:12:26 I think it will be more like 14 will be reabsorbed into 15 at somepoint in the future. Seeing as David Tennant is going to return for at least one more story as 14 I think its morethan likely an episode/special involving him being reabsorbed and there being only one Doctor once more. Plus with 15 saying 'we are doing rehab out of order' implying he somehow has 14's experience but not necessarily his memories.(atleast not yet)
the list of notes in Devil's Chord as a 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th, as far as i understand it, isn't referring to their musical positions... it's just imagining the number of notes played together.
Sure I'll watch it again 😈
2:46:29 I have to disagree with you about the use of that clip from The Magicians Apprentice. The old clip is relevant since the story begins with the Doctor initially leaving child Davros to die. There is a parallel between how the Doctor decides not to destroy the Daleks in Genesis and how in the end of The Witches Familiar the Doctor decides to save child Davros. The clips of the past Doctors are likely for new viewers who don't know or are aware of the history between Davros and the Doctor too. Yes, it probably is fan service, but it is relevant to the story and isn't just out of nowhere or added on.
Also, if I may add since I have watched the series 14 review part. Davros pulling footage from Genesis makes more sense than the random footage of Pyramids of Mars in the series 14 finale. Even though Davros wasn't present in the scene with the fourth Doctor talk "Could you kill that child?" it would make sense the Kaled bunker on Skaro had cameras all around. Davros had probably listened and watched those past footage on loop while reflecting his life and encounters with The Doctor.
Woah, the breaking bad heisenberg video guy is a massive whovian! Can't wait for this video 😮
They never fixed the Isaac Newton Mavity Gravity thing did they?
1:00:05 very debatable if the Time War was less than the Flux, that stuff was affecting the whole multiverse and people were dying and coming back only to die again and etc.
Phenomenal video. Watched the first one and this one as well. Really great thoughts that are well explained. Really enjoyed it! ❤️
3:52:38 I did enjoy watching it! Twice in fact.
I should have learned my lesson from the chibnall era but no I got my hopes up and got let down even harder than before 😂
This series reminded me a lot of some of the stronger seasons from late classic - it's got a lot of great disconnected ideas and a phenomenal run of stories (I personally thought boom, 73 yards, dot and bubble, and rogue were the best string of episodes in a long long time) but where it fails is with the season arc. I really hope that season 2/15 is stronger, since I'd really love to see overarching stories that aren't as shallow as bringing back a fan-favorite villain for internet buzz. RTD has clearly still got a lot of writing talent, as episodes like 73 yards and dot and bubble show, but I agree with you that he's suffering from a George Lucas effect where he's surrounding himself with yes-men.
I love how I stumbled on another Doctor Who reviewer with a multi- hour video essay who's NOT a racist, transphobic etc etc arse. 🙏
3:05:15 I find it funny that that’s the resolution to the episode when the Beatles famously didn’t know music notation or theory
Incredible video
3:26:52 he pulls a queen coral
my deadass tought it was A-train for a moment
3:14:37 - Except we actually did. The Fortune Teller and the Beetle are a part of the Trickster’s brigade. The Trickster is their leader and is known for changing history to manipulate the past of many different lives. Although to be fair, only those who’ve watched SJA will be more familiar with him.
Oh hey, nice to finally see it again!
I was wondering "hmm, when's he gonna mention Sleep No More, my unironically favourite episode?" And then... 12:55
I love coincidence 😂😂
Woohoo! New video!!! (ish)
Your ep suggestions make me think. Please just be the showrunner
Love that the doctor caused the apocalypse and had to take a whole regeneration out to recover from it, only to cause another apocalypse 😂
Regarding music being louder than the dialog, is the soundtrack remixed for the US releases so this isn't an issue? I've heard this complaint for as long as I can remember and always found it bazaar. But when you played all those example clips it's painfully obvious in every era and absolutely does not sound like how I've experienced any of those scenes. I assume you didn't re-mix it to prove your point, so I'm wondering how this happened. Even the new Disney Plus episodes which I don't watch from a blu ray are much worse in your video, and I'm using the same headphones I always use
His Sonic adventure 2 comparison was spot on perfect. I always watch doctor who with subtitles I need them
@@The_Ninja_Tree So since writing this comment I actually had this issue on a recent rewatch. Long story short VLC Media Player changed it's default sound setting to crank up the music and lower the dialog (among other things). I found a different audio mode that fixed the problem.
So I think your sound system and audio settings are a huge factor. Sure the production should be mindful of the various systems and audio formats people have, but I do believe there is at least one "master track" where it sounds fine and that's what they work on
Regarding what's become of doctor who thanks to RTD2, I blame his post Who work on this emotion over any sense of logical scifi cohesion. TO ME, this new "Season 1" doesn't feel like a new take on Doctor Who, it feels like a modern RTD show (a-la 'Years and Years' and 'It's a Sin') wearing the skin of Nu-Who WHICH DOES NOT WORK because you can't write scifi how you wright human dramas. That is to say, this new iteration is just A LOT of embittered, harrowing social commentary and bombasity at the expense of a meaningful sense of plot. And all to more or less generate just generate flame wars on the Internet instead of passing some kind of meaningful aesop to the viewer.
But it's not politics because CLEARLY social commentary has always had its place in Nu-Who and both RTD and the Moff did a good job of it all the way through 9,10,11 and 12's run, but the process was utterly bungled this go around. And that has left us with four specials and a season of little substance, a lot of spectacle, and even more deliberately polarising creative decisions. They made the show in a way that actively sought to present a cruel and callous world with little redeeming factors. The universe in Doctor Who used to be scary, vast and often quite dark, but also beautiful, boundless, and FULL of potential.
That's not the impression I get from this new season, I get the impression this new Doctor lives in a shitty dystopian future ruled by fear, paranoia, hatred and greed. RTD's Nu- Nu-Who is colourful and visually optimistic, sure, yet also bitter and cynical, and that second part is the antithesis of the whimsy and adventure thay defines the show if you ask me. Its the opposite of subtle, its the opposite of cohesive, its the opposite of meaningful a narrative.
I genuinely felt like I wasted my time with this new era, which I couldn't even say about Chibby's era (it had its moments imo), this was just a large vapid nothing sandwich to me
I think the show to most people is just stuck in a realm of sub mediocrity now, as reflected by the viewing figures.
Often, the rampant political discourse granted- often stretched to the extreme for perhaps views- does still reflect a genuine issue.
I think these moments that these channels speak about the most- I often find to be what I'll call "extreme cringe", perhaps "deathly cringe".
Such that it is so bad that I am taken out so entirely from any immersion it has built that it is now more comfortable to turn to something else than waid past it.
Should I choose to continue watching after these moments it becomes abundantly clear that my care for the story is near empty.
I and my partner often go back to doctor who, often on rewatches we still find ourselves immersed thus silent.
Whereas the most recent stuff I don't fully understand the conclusions to because we'd talk throughout, only periodicall focusing on the events unfolding.
Whilst I cannot necessarily describe all the factors behind this it certainly has been observable.
I'd still say its better than Chibnalls era, which I still have actually seen the majority of the episodes for.
We tried it, getting a couple episodes in. But we just couldn't stomach them and thus didnt mind completely skipping it.
Which was a first for us.
Granted this is just me and my own experience, but on occassion I do think about this. Perhaps that its so extreme (as to mean so in your face) that it ruins the experience of escapism that a great deal of viewers desire. Social messaging is in everything to some effect, but most shows don't pause or break the story for it, they weave it in. So that even if you are politically opposed you can still enjoy it as part of a story.
On a completely different note, very random to everything else said, I'm curious whether anyone else feels the same way as me.
That for whatever reasoning, that visually DR Who is getting worse looking as the camera quality gets better?
Despite the dated CGI some of my favourite shots still come from the first seasons of the revivial (bar maybe heaven sent).
Where does the 15th doctor rank among the doctors for you
"circumvention of verisimilitude" OK now you're just showing off :P
Regards the Toymaker, I think they could have dropped most of the current-day stuff and it would have been a better episode. It would be great to see the entire episode in his realm.
UNIT HQ is fine but quite ordinary for a modern building and not all that interesting as a setting. I was disappointed when they exited his interesting realm for the mundane 2023.
Should've had the magic chord be the mystic chord
1:35:19 the Ryan impression got me 😂😂😂😂😂
While i understand the entertainment value in thrashing the alt-right shock jocks, but unfortunately I feel like that whole sequence doesn’t actually accomplish much besides giving them more attention, which is exactly what they crave. The fact that their points are moot doesn’t matter to them, they just want ad revenue and traffic, and you’re giving them that.
I don't get disagreeing with the left make you an "alt-rightist", sure there are bad apples, but not everybody should be genearalized for their beliefs unless it's something truly horrible.
3:46:41 nah, I knew the whole time that this is what it was setting up lol.
3:23:20 Ruby! The Hero of Hyrule
Long comment ahead you've been warned.
To give my two cents, on first watching Dot and Bubble, the episode felt pretty comedic to me so the whole racist reveal gave me a bit of a tonal whiplash. Like having a freakin delicious meal followed by a pudding that tastes like dogshite that someone else already vomited up into your bowl.
I don't remember if I mentioned this on some other video but if Ricky September had survived Dot and Bubble, becoming a temporary companion and he was the one who becomes romantically involved before dying then not only would the ending of Dot and Bubble probably have felt better (September's survival/joining the Tardis would be a silver lining to the greater rejection) but his sacrifice would come after the audience had a chance to get to know him a little better and might have felt more meaningful.