A few notes: I realise a lot of people enjoyed this episode. As noted in the review, there are a lot of things that are worth liking about it, but I don't think there is quite enough to make it ground breaking. It’s also a shame that the BBC couldn’t keep the lid on on some of their most impressive visual moments in this episode (the battle for one thing) showing it off in every trailer they could. Might have made the brief battle segment a little more impactful than turning the camera away to see the Doctor perform martial arts on some 2D soldier character.
People are always quick to go "but there are some good things". Yes, they pointed the camera in the right direction and all the actors got their lines right. Commending them for things that school plays get right gives the false impression of it being a mixed bag. It's not, it's a mess.
I'm more concerned about why the 7 billion Dog Race People aren't down on Earth protecting their assigned humans from firing squad or completely overwhelming this comparatively small Sontaran invasion force with vastly superior numbers and shield technology that even the Flux can't penetrate but never mind I guess.
@@captbuckyohare5585 I think that can be explained by the fact they were never meant to happen they just kind of came out of nowhere. But maybe that's me trying to justify all the holes
Yes! Where are any of the doggos? Kavanista is there but the others arent? He wqs commanding them a minute ago. Now hes gone solo? Dan's parents said "the eclipse ended after 3 minutes" implyjng the shielding blockade, err, left. Leaving earth unprotected from the Flux? Or the flux got through. Or... something? If so, where'd they go? And why isnt Kavanista with them? And if Kavanistas there, why not the rest? Why arent they fighting the sontarans to defend their humans? Where are they? What is happening? Why do people think this is a great episode when nothing from inciting incidents to main conflicts to massive chunks of internal logic dont make sense or bloody work, jesus, has the last 4 years really traumatised us all that much that we think "pretty entertaining but incredibly stupid" is the benchmark for flippart scores of 9 and 10 out of 10 for an episode?! Would somebody please show these people series 4 and 5 before the standard for top marks is forever lowered never to rise again?!
Those characters who were executed off screen didn’t need to be developed. They were literally just there to set the stakes for Dan. Not every character needs to be developed. That should only be the case for characters actually have plot relevance.
Fair enough, I understand your point. But as a viewer I don't care if Dan lives or dies, he's got some funny lines and he's good comic relief. But as a character he's pretty underdeveloped. If it was Dan's parents who got executed instead, it would've given the audience the chance to relate to his character and build connection. That way, I would've been more concerned by the danger he was in. As it is, it has no tension. I don't think that Harry meant the characters needed to be properly developed, but it would've been nice to at least know why they were spying on the sontarans.
@@DrPandachaun I don’t think you can really expect any character development from him already. He literally just joined the tardis so development would be very hard to come by at this point
@@benhart2278 Then why even add him in, if ultimately he won1t matter? We are 1/3rd into this series and so far Dan is simply just a comic relief. Even Evil Dan has more development already and he's a meme.
@@zitagirl1 if you say we are 1/3 of the way through the series, then it sounds like a lot but the fact being that there are only 6 episodes this series kinda shows how little that is. 2 episodes isn’t enough for character development for a main character. You won’t be getting this development at this stage for the character. Just be patient. Also, a comic relief character isn’t a bad thing. Often they can help ease the tension in the series and make it feel not too serious.
@@benhart2278 Uhm, that's wrong. There have been other series before with 6 or less episodes and even they got to develop characters right from the beginning. It's not rocket science, it's just a matter of making your characters actually relevant for the plot. Then again, most shows are not stupid enough to throw 20+ plot threads in the first episode... Who said I'm against comic reliefs? Heck, one of my all time favourite characters is a damn comic relief. The difference is that in less than 90 minutes that character actually was given a good amount of depths and development which what made me really love the character and his purpose was too to ease tension. I want to really like Dan. His introduction and scenes before the Flux stuff was actually really promising but now he just got very sidelined and quite questionable why he helps the Doctor this much, even going into a Sontaran ship, despite barely knowing her and his girlfriend missing. And next episode seems to focus more on TC rather than Dan once again so...
This episode definitely has its pros and cons but just watching it while being a russian with the thought of russia being called Sontar is really exiting, I loved it
I hadn't been concerned about infinite regenerations so much as the Master's ability to singlehandedly destroy the Citadel and defeat the rest of the Time Lords seemingly without raising a sweat, when the combined might of all the Daleks couldn't do it. Why is nobody outraged about *that*?
@@Grayvorn You see, all he had to do was a power point presentation that explained him having already defeated the entire timelord civilization. It was a strategy they had no defence against, because they could never have imagined a foe attacking them without actually showing any form of attack taking place.
Sontarians have had "psychic command" since classic who. They used it to predict enemy actions & stuff. Not sure if I can recall them having time travel technology in any previous story tho
Time Warrior has Linx projecting himself into the present from the medieval era. The Two Doctors has them trying to obtain better time travelling tech so logically with time they could obtain some. Perhaps due their limited knowledge of time this is why they have so many forces scattered through history to ensure their victory.
Having an actual good villain, even a relatively simple one like the Sontarans, gives a great anchor to this episode. I wouldn't say it was 'good' (it does have all the usual Chibnall-era problems), but it was a lot better than the dumpster fire of The Halloween Apocalypse.
@@ClarkMakesCringe That's...that's the main problem. The usual problems (bad story, bad plot, terrible dialogue, wooden acting), all of that, but it was such an onslaught of things happening. They weren't even plots, more like vignettes of things to come. It's probably not Chibnalls worst episode, but it's basically just a checklist of 'things to remember for the rest of the season'.
@@ClarkMakesCringe That's why it's bad. It was a 45-minute trailer for the rest of the series. This episode was good by Chibnall standards, apart from the bits where they were cutting to Yaz and the other bloke. I wish they'd spent the whole episode on the Sontaran story and then shown the Doctor and Dan arrive at 'Time' with the cliffhanger already set up. We can find out how Yaz ended up there next episode.
13:08 At least it explains why the Doctor needed to recalibrate the device from the end of The Poison Sky "for Sontaran air". Also Sontarans probably take their helmets off because they don't care about it being a disadvantage and just want to feel the glory of battle.
There are so many holes in both this and the series 4 stories when it comes to Sontaran air. Why could the Sontaran’s breathe fine on earth? Why could the doctor (and the annoying American guy) breathe fine on the Sontaran ship? And in this episode, why did the Sontaran’s only react to Earth’s atmosphere when it suited the plot? Best to overlook and try to enjoy the story without nitpicking imo
@@billylardner In the season 4 episode, they wanted to transform the atmosphere to be suitable for their breeding. Their new clones need those gases to feed on. Never before now did they suggest that the air on Earth would be toxic for them, this is a new thing.
Yaz only had a pen in her first episode? Yes because as we all know, people are assigned 1 pen in their entire life and if you lose it then you can't use any other pen ever.
Yeah, and that implies there's no events or pens off screen. REALLY looking for stuff to complain about in this one. Don't get me wrong, I like Harry's reviews a lot, he usually makes good points, but this one has a few bits like that.
Anything's entertaining if you turn your brain off... this was no better than any other Chibnall offering, it's another Demons of the Punjab where people say it's good for no reason.
@@PlatinumAltaria People like that episode because of the family drama. If you've been watching these with your brain off maybe it's time you turn it on again.
@@HellfireComms The family drama? What family drama? Maybe I was wrong, and rather than turning your brains off Chibnall fans are taking a ton of drugs and hallucinating a good show.
@@PlatinumAltaria Are you on drugs? Literally the entire point of the demons of the punjab is the family dynamics. Also just for context, I hate Demons of the Punjab, I think it’s one of the most overrated episodes, up there with Rosa.
@@PlatinumAltaria it’s hard to imagine you’re right when all you’ve said so far is ‘brain off on drugs I’m right you’re wrong’ I don’t even necessarily disagree with you but you’re so… disagreeable… that I want to anyway
Regarding the sontarans allegedly ruling over Russia for centuries, to me it sounded like the flux disrupting time allowed it to look like the sontarans were always ruling russia even though they weren’t. And that mary seacole and the general “remembered” the russians as they were in a different timeline, like in matt smith’s era where it was explained people can almost remember things that happened in their past in a different timeline. Also sort of like that episode where all of time is happening at once - the flux’s disruption to time made it look like the sontarans had always been on earth.
Not your best review. You were really stretching to find faults. Complaining that we haven't seen Yaz use a pen in a while, really? They aren't hard to come by.
To be totally honest I loved this episode, it might just be because of the last two series being especially weak but I enjoyed this a lot more then even some Capaldi episodes, I have to disagree with you on the lecturing scene I thought Jodie did a great job and actually felt like the doctor in that scene, I understand and agree with a lot of your criticisms (especially budget wise) but I did think some of them were a little nit picky.
@@PlatinumAltaria wow, you just didn’t read what I said did you? Some Capaldi… some, I prefer capaldi to Whittaker a lot I’m just saying this was so much stronger then that stupid forest episode for an example, Jodie is no where near my favorite doctor I’m just giving her credit for doing a good job playing her in this episode lmao
@@artemis3181 That episode has like... 3 or 4 characters. This episode had one. What exactly did she do this episode that you think was so good? Keep in mind that 13 has no personality, no motivation, and all her lines consist of asking questions the audience is supposed to be asking, and expositing because the writer can't figure out how to add that information naturally.
I stopped watching doctor who during series 11 and 12 because it just wasn’t the same program I fell in love with. I was very negative about chibnals run but I’ve gave this series a chance and so far I’m enjoying. Not perfect but entertaining, the stories and writing are interesting. And this is coming from somebody very negative about the last five years of the series. I understand the points you make here but I can’t help but feel you’re being a bit too critical.
I thought War of the Sontarans was my favourite episode for many years and one of the best in the show’s modern run actually. I'd rate it 9/10. The Sontarans are at their best in this since Classic DW. I loved the setting and enjoyed their new designs and dialogue. I loved all the episode. Great supporting characters and a great way to shine a light on Mary Seacole. Really love the Sontarans in this story and their updated design. Despite not liking Series 11 (just found it really bland), Series 12 was an improvement (if you remove 2 or 3 episodes) and Series 13 is hugely better so far. I thought Chris mastered the Sontarans very well. One of his talents is the way he writes classic villains. I think his era will be well noted for that and his historical episodes. Using the Sontarans at a major battle in human history like this was a fantastic move imo. I think Chris is more comfortable writing in a Classic DW format and it shows. Your opinion may differ from mine, you can’t deny this was a good episode or at least had some fantastic parts and Jodie was great in it. Certainly a highlight for her Doctor. It’s a shame the current era didn’t begin like this in terms of quality.
If this is a 9/10 im intrigued , what would you rate episodes like blink and silence in the library cos this is nowhere near their level in terms of quality
It was a decent episode. I completely agree with Harry's opinion. Hit the nail on the head in some places and missed it completely in others. Best Chibnall episode yet. But still only scores a 6/10 from me. Its got nothing on Sontaran Stratagem/Poison Sky.
Just imagine Tennant or Eccleston doing the lesson scene. It's exactly how the doctor would've always acted and this era usually messes that up so calling that scene "cringe" is kind of a miss for me.
@@PlatinumAltaria For sure this doctor is horribly written and the scene didn't help to develop her as a unique character from the others but it still felt kinda like the dumb humour the show used to have and I appreciated that even if I didn't exactly laugh.
Alright so this is coming from someone who's favourite doctor is Matt Smith and one of my favourite actors of all time is David Tennant I LOVED the lesson scene it's something that the doctor has been doing since Eccleston and since then every Doctor has done it Capaldi had the season 10 black hole thing and Smith spent episode after episode jumping from on concept to the next just as a couple of quick examples I personally think Jodie Whittaker is a damn good actor and despite personal opinion I can acknowledge Chibnall's writing is odd at times So I DEFINITELY agree with Joe, not cringe
I can't imagine Eccleston or Tennant doing it, but Smith and Capaldi I can DEFINITELY picture doing it. An even then, I could see Tennant and Eccleston getting a similar point across, just without a board, and not to the General, who they would be angrier with.
I didn't get the Robert Strong reference at first. Then I remembered that he is the zombie Mountain from Game of Thrones (formerly known as Ser Gregor Clegane). He is never called Robert Strong in the show, only in the books.
I also liked this episode, though I can't tell if it was good for a DW ep or just because everything so far under Chibnall has been so disappointing and lackluster. Markedly better than the first episode however. Also I liked the inclusion of the failed Charge of the Light Brigade and the Doctor's reference to the poem of the same name.
SPOILERS (all in good fun…I enjoyed episode 2 for what it was) . . . . . . . . . Audience: Hey, so the flux has dumped the Doctor and company in the middle of the Crimean War and not obliterated them like it did everything else in its path. Also, Earth seems to be standing. Is the flux an event or a weapon destroying everything it touches EXCEPT Earth, and specifically things sort of close to Earth or… what gives? Have the Dog People been plopped somewhere? If they have, did the flux hit Earth? What just happened? Chibs: Wow. Um. Unclear. But look, we’re in olden times now and the Sontarans are here! Neat, huh? Audience: Yea, neat. So what happened to the Dog People and their ships? They were in the range of the flux and all this time-dropping nonsense. Yea the flux can't destroy their ships... but it didn't destroy the TARDIS either. Why aren’t they in old times too? Chibs: Because. Audience: Hey, so Yaz and Dan do a Marty McFly and just fade away through time because they don’t belong in this period and then they get plopped somewhere else instead. Why does the Doctor get to stay behind and not fade away too? Why are the Sontarans allowed to stay? Who decided who goes and who stays? Chibs: Look, the plot has to happen, and it’s gonna, so stop asking questions, please. Audience: Hey, so how come Vinder, old Liverpool guy, and Yaz fade through time and get plopped into the weird temple place to repair the not-Timelord thingys that look after time, but Dan just gets sent home? Chibs: Because having more than three people in a scene gives me thinky pain, so I gotta keep them all kinda separated and on their own missions, y’know? Plus this way more stuff is happening and… y’know? Audience: You can jangle your storytelling keys so we think stuff’s happening, but it's not really? Chibs: Now you're getting it. Audience: Hey, so when Dan gets chased by a whole squad of Sontarans, how come when he ducks into an alley his Mum and Dad are able to jump out of the shadows like Batman and clobber a couple of Sontarans and take them out? Chibs: Weren’t you listening? Dan’s dad worked out the neck thing and they used it to save their son. Audience: Yea, but they only knocked out a couple of Sontarans, what happened to the whole squad that was literally on Dan’s heels? Chibs: Ah. Bugger. Audience: Hey, so we’re doing Crimean, the time temple, and Liverpool dock stories. What happened with Claire and the Angel? Chibs: Oh, never mind that. That’s for later. Audience: And Dog Man? Chibs: Later… that’s, uh… that’s later. Audience: And hey, what about Swarm and his sister? I thought they were the big bads. Where have they been? And what about Dan’s date? The nice lady that got kidnapped in the spooky house on the dark street? Chibs: Bloody later, okay! Audience: Geez, all this stuff that happens later sure didn’t need to get introduced in that cluster of a first episode then, did it? Chibs: It’s called multi-faceted storytelling, and all great writers do it. Audience: Chibs: Audience: Hey, so the Crimean Sontaran leader tells the Doctor they planned this temporal invasion in line with the flux striking Earth, and that he came to this time because he really wanted to ride a horse. That implies they had control over what time period they’d get plonked into but so far the Flux's power seems chaotic and random and everything else is at its mercy. How did the Sontarans determine when they’d be planted on Earth? How did they manipulate the flux when no one else could, even the Doctor? By what means? How did they do any of this? Do they have time travel tech and just rode a wave? If they have time travel tech, why would they need to wait for the flux at all? How? Why? Chibs: Unclear. But I really liked the horse line, so that’s what we’re going with. Audience: Hey, in Crimea the other humans only kinda remember the timeline proper, where Sontar isn’t a country, and they struggle to remember that much without the Doctor’s help, but in Liverpool, Dan’s parents totally remember everything about life before the Sontarans’ arrival. Why have they arrived at two points in history at the same time, why did one arrival change history and the memories of humans, but the other didn't do any of those things? Why would they need to be in present-day Liverpool at all if they can influence the past? Chibs: Don’t know, but did you catch all those references to the old Sontaran stories from Classic Who? Pretty easter eggy, huh? Audience: … Audience: Hey, so when the Doctor goes to parlay and gets ambushed by the General, why does she do what he says and just walk away from her last chance to avert thousands of needless deaths so easily? She just throws her hands up and walks. Hell, she’s cracking jokes a minute later. Chibs: Well… I mean she was at gunpoint. Audience: She’s at gunpoint with the escort when she’s cracking jokes too, and she still takes him out no problem with her little finger aikido Spock technique. Why then, but not before, when she could have kept the parlay going and maybe save thousands of lives? Chibs: So the plot can happen. Audience: Hey, so Dan’s known the Doctor for about 3 minutes, but from the moment he’s separated from her he’s off breaking into Sontaran strongholds, gathering intel, leaving his family behind and acting pretty comfy with the life or death situations it usually takes companions an episode or two to adjust to when travelling with the Doctor and generally being 10x more useful than Yaz has been over the course of 20 episodes… this is kinda quick and severely skips over the standard, organic character development beats here, doesn’t it? Chibs: Well, this is a kinda short series so what do want from me, kid? Audience: Hey, so that tracking shot at the Doctor’s heels where you follow her across the fields as she’s “running” towards the TARDIS before she finds out the doors are gone. Chibs: … yea? What about it? Audience: *smirks* Nothing. Hey, so why would the Crimean British General go right to the front line for the battle? That’s not what Generals do. Chibs: Isn’t it? I'm pretty sure that's what they do. Audience: Hey, in Liverpool, why would Dan’s handprint open anything at all within the Sontaran ship? That’s super easy. Barely an inconvenience. Chibs: *shrugs* Who cares at this point. They just announced that fucker Davies is coming back next year. Bloody BBC snakes. Audience: Hey, so if the Sontaran temporal offensive is supposed to “erase all of human history”… wouldn’t that undo like A LOT of fixed points in time on Earth and literally unravel time itself? Shouldn’t that sort of not be allowed? Chibs: Err… Audience: Hey, so why when the Sontarans are defeated and the Doctor drives them off (before they're blown up) is it never addressed that time hasn't been corrected. The Sontarans still invaded the past, wiped China and Russia from history, established an Earth nation etc. None of that's been undone. Won't that have a devastating ripple effect on the rest of time and the story set in Liverpool and disrupt several previously fixed points in time that are supposed to occur later in Earth's history and- Chibs: *Puts fingers in ears* Audience: Hey, so when Swarm and his sister arrive at the temple, how did they get there? Can they teleport across space and time? How? By what means? And is their new Bane-ish heavy whatever’s left of the nice-museum lady? Why’d they bring this heavy at all? Why would they need a heavy? They can teleport across space and time and evaporate anything they look at. Why would they need backup? Chibs: I like extra things in scenes sometimes. Audience: But you can’t manage scenes with more than three characters in them. When these three confront Yaz and Vinder that’s more than three. That might become a cluster where a lot happens that makes very little sense, and people die while plot armoured main characters live for some reason, and a lot of exposition gets wrapped up in awkward dialogue or you'll end up having to suddenly incapacitate the characters you don't have the headspace to juggle anymore in some weird, unsatisfying pitstop… oh, it’s already happened. Never mind. Chibs: … look! Dog Man’s back! Audience: HOW’D HE GET IN THERE?! HOW’D HE FIND DAN?! WHY’S DOG MAN IN MODERN LIVERPOOL ALONE?! ARE THE OTHER SEVEN BILLION JUST CHILLING IN THE SKY?! DAN’S PARENTS SAID THE ECLIPSE LASTED 3 MINUTES AND THEN VANISHED! SO THE SHIPS AREN'T UP THERE ANYMORE, RIGHT?! AND EVEN IF THEY WERE, THE SONTARANS WOULD'VE DONE SOMETHING ABOUT THEM, SURELY! WHERE ARE THEY?! WHAT IS GOING ON?! IF THE DOG PEOPLE ARE ACTIVE AND KAVARISTA CAME DOWN TO SAVE HIS HUMAN WHY THE BLOODY HELL DID THE OTHERS NOT COME TO SAVE THEIR HUMANS?! LIKE THE HUMANS WHO GOT FIRING SQUADED?! WHY ISN'T THERE OPEN WAR BETWEEN THIS OUT-POSTED SONTARAN FORCE AND LITERALLY 7 BILLION DOG PEOPLE?! PLEASE EXPLAIN. PLEASE EXPLAIN SOMETHING! HOW CAN YOU HAVE THIS MUCH EXPOSITION AND HAVE SO LITTLE OF THIS MAKE SENSE!? Chibs: *sighs and opens a bottle of whiskey* They said I could have been the new Nolan… just needed the Broadchurch remake to do well in the States. Fucking snakes. All of you…
not me thinking WWTDD actually said WWTOO as in 'world war two' and being very confused as to why she would need that or spell it so weirdly. How stupid I felt when they actually said what was in her hand lol.
This review is so nitpicky and it's clear that you barely even want to give these episodes a chance. For example: "when did Yaz even have the time to write this on her hand? Last time I can remember her with a pen is in her First episode!" - like come on. That's not a valid criticism and you know it.
Someone accused me of being "biased" against Chibnall... mate we're biased against bad TV. Yaz suddenly deciding to write that on her hand years after meeting the Doctor with no character development is an insane thing to ignore.
@@PlatinumAltaria But that wasn't the argument presented in the video. The argument presented was "when would she have time to write that on her hand". I think the Chibnall era is the worst thing ever in Doctor Who, and that the storyline which began last season and continues into this is going to ruin the show from now on... but some of the criticisms in this video were just nonsense.
When did this series turn into cinemasins? Like seriously, "we haven't seen Yaz with a pen since the first episode, how did she write this?" is one of the weakest critiques I've ever seen, there's plenty we don't see, she's been home multiple times since the first episode, pens aren't exactly rare.
My take was that the “pen” segment in this review was pointing out how laughably dumb having “WWTDD” written on the palm of Yaz’s hand was. What a terrible idea that was.
Actually, Mary Seacole did not provide a proper application with references, which is why she wasn't employed with Florence Nightingale. She did indeed make a great many drunk by opening a luxury hotel for military higher-ups. She did not look after common injured soldiers on the battlefield, she literally managed a fancy hotel. She went to the edge of battles to sell refreshments to civilian onlookers, because battles were often a spectator event back in the day. She was a very successful entrepreneur, but not really a nurse.
Why would they take their helmets off? Warhammer rules apply, the guy without the helmet is in charge, it's honourable to gaze into your enemies eyes before you bash their legs in with a swagger stick or run them over with your new horse. And Christ, if you didn't like this one (Which I liked. My favourite Chibnall-Era episode), god knows what you'll think of the boring disjointed mess that is episode 3.
They're only not scary because they don't do anything except kill people with CGI. They don't explain their motivations, they just walk around being mYsTeRiOuS because Chibnall thinks he's a genius.
@@PlatinumAltaria We're also being told to take them seriously because they're "the Doctor's biggest baddest enemy" from a time before she can remember, and that the audience didn't know existed until a year ago.
i guess a detail that can be hardly noticed is that the temple they are in is based on the greek sisters of fate... yes FATE not TIME, the three Moira that appear in the episode was most likely Clotos, Lahkesis and the mentioned Atropos and they don't work with time but with fate or life (which can be similar in some aspects), now for the planet TIME i don't have a clue from where that come from
Atropos means "not turning", which is probably in reference to time standing still. And it's pretty clear to me that it's where the Timeless Child came from.
I would like to see more episodes in the chibnall era where people don’t just bend over backwards the second they meet the doctor. It’s like NPCs in video games, can we have more humanity with people actually PROCESSING WTF, Dan just charging into the base felt a little odd to me since he’s literally just met the doctor. The sontarons MISSING THEIR BULLETS REALLY ANNOYED ME, put him next to the alleyway if you want to have the running scene 🙄🙄. we have to be smart about how we do scenes and not just making enemies storm troopers Also I believe the sontarons spread themselves throughout time with them being in both Liverpool and the war it’s not too bad to assume they’re more in different eras Somehow though I think this is Chris’ best episode he’s written in terms of fun factor
I also did really enjoy this one. Nice to give Sontarans a proper invasion episode and see their invasion force. I felt all elements were added to help further each characters story and increase their understanding of the situation. And the pacing is kept up throughout. Not that the details are necessarily all thought out, but the story was full, well told and i didn't feel berrated by social justice for once.
Y'know, I kinda wish this was a singular episode or a 2 parter instead then we would have more of a focus on The Sontarans taking over the world through time travel and more focus on the battle with the British army
As far as I’m aware, the Sontarans didn’t necessarily invade Russia further back in time than the Crimean war, but instead invaded time during the war - lemme explain. The soldiers didn’t forget Russia because it was a thing once but became Sontar, the forgot Russia more in the way Amy remembered killing Madame Kovarian but it didn’t really happen as it was an alternate timeline. Russia still exists in peoples memories, not because it used to exist, but because it did exist and still does exist, just in a different timeline that people don’t completely remember. So the Sontarans did start invading during the Crimean war, and the soldiers memories of Russia were gone (kind of) because they knew Russia from a different timeline. If that doesn’t make sense lmk and I’ll try and explain it a bit better
Actually glad they spelled out the acronym on Yaz's hand, because I was an idiot and read the Ds as Os lol. WWTOO. Was so confused until it was stated by Swarm.
13:38 Yeah, even as I watched that scene I was thinking that was way too little security and protection for what is clearly a vital part of the ship's Life Support system
The only crime of the episode was the children’s climbing frame being both in modern day Liverpool and Sebastopol with the sontaran ships, everything else was fine
So I'm not even entirely sure where I'm going with this, but on the note of everything the Tardis doors have done so far: multiplication/addition, subtraction... all that's really left is division. I might just be reading too much into it
I’ve also noticed that a lot of people are really praising this new series so again, I love your honest commentary and you brought up lots of plot inconsistencies that I didn’t even notice. I’m kind of tired of seeing all this praise for chibnall so your channel always resonates with me, thanks so much for all the hard work you do and keep sharing your opinion no matter what other people say!!!
I was a bit split on it myself. I'm not a fan of sontarans, but that bit about riding horses, and The Doctor's reaction when that first one tool off his mask were priceless. Still nothing else made sense. even if they just arrived recently, and just retconned their way into earth's history, the Sontarans have spaceships, laser guns and an army that can be cloned almost infinitely. how would it take even as long as a few days to take over earth? also, the Sontaran rest cycle has been canon since "Time Warrior". it never occurred to them to stagger their shifts?
It genuinely does baffle me that people enjoyed this one. I'm glad they do, but I just... god, it's really bad. All I could say at the end of it was "that was good for a Chibnall era episode" which isn't as good as any other episode from any other era in the show's history. I do think that the past two series being so poor has skewed people's perspective a lot. It's like how at the start of the Chibnall era people who hated Capaldi's run started appreciating it more. I wonder what people will think of these episodes differently after one of Russel T Davis' new series.
The episode made the soldiers in the Crimea look stupid when in reality they were brave, courageous men. And of course General Logan should have blown up the Sontaran ships. They may have left Earth but they were likely to just go and conquer other planets
I didn't like the earth humour of the Sontarans, I thought making them look like they did in the 70s was a bit pointless, and Mary Seacole was wasted, just like Rosa Parks was.
Man, seeing so many ppl defending this episode really shows how low the bar has dropped during chibbers....he barely gives scraps and ppl are already excited
Yeah i mean faining ignorance can make theses episodes look bad but if you just open your mind the tiniest bit, you’d realise these are the first good episodes in 5 years
Couple notes: 1) the actress player by Mary Seacole was absolutely terrible. 2) Dan is absolutely terrible. His dialog is so cheesy and his character is just so... unnecessary. Why does his dialog sound like it's supposed to be coming from a young man, when he's clearly middle aged? His elderly parents are just out there whopping Sontarans? 3) The Flux stuff is so over dramatic, it's imbued with so much self importance that it's almost comical 4) Sontarans are great. They just are. It sucks that the show undercuts them by calling them stupid and having them beat by woks
For the execution scene would have worked a lot better if the people who had been caught by the Sontarans were the same people who Dan had given out boxes too at the Food Bank in the first episode; that would show some consequence, maybe Dan would feel guilty that he wasn't there to help, and that spurs him on to infiltrate the Sontaran ship? I initially thought that was what had happened until I went back to check and saw that that it was actually just three random people.
How intoxicated were the writers with both armies charging into each other The british know only their artillery is semi capable of injuring them at range and on open ground they will all get slaughtered The sontarans also seem to be fond of horses so maintaining good formation is also useful for them The sontarans see the brits charge so would benifit from staying put to give themselves more time to shred brits before they are at risk since from lore their backs are vunerable, so maintaining good formation would also be benificial with it better to fight in lines This is ignoring all modern sontoran depictions who are vunerable to bullets, their weaponry is simpler and they would be outside range of the magic gas that disables cartriges
It's a pretty enjoyable episode if you kind of switch off your brain, tune out Whittaker's awful performance and just go with it. Not much to go on but this Flux stuff is gold by Chibnall era standards.
If this were a stand alone episode about Sontarans in the Crimean War, it looks like there were the makings for a decent episode. As Flux chapter 2 it left me just as confused as the week before. They've got to start answering some questions and stop piling on more. On thing thing I'll give Swarm. He may look silly and I habe no idea of his purpose, but when Sam Spruell delivers his lines he is making the best of it.
oving this season but then again being a Who fan we been starved for some new episodes for so long! looking forward to the next few years on whats coming
I feel a lot of ur complaints are small and some I even disagree with. The WWTDD I personally didn’t get until said and she could’ve written it at any time in the last 8 hours that was skipped, also Vinder and Yaz is not coincidence, if someone else was teleported to yah the story would have them but because cinder is that person this is the reason we see him before if that makes sense. Same with Dan arriving in Liverpool u can easily say that that is his hometown and that’s why he ended up there although with his parents I agree that’s a coincidence
Why did they ditch the new Sontaran designs from 2008 in order to go back to the godawful rubber-mask looking monstrosities from the old era that were made on a shoestring budget?
Interesting point about this being a stand alone episode that was put in at the last moment. This was an entertaining episode and definitely was hit and mis.
the acting is so bad, the writing is bad. don't get why Yaz is even in the show she gets nothing from the doctor information-wise. when creating a female doctor I would think they do something more like missy where she has more emotion but just feels fake.
What annoys me its the lack of empathy of the Doctor : i explain , the doctor have liver more than a 1000 years and she cant' understand that people not gonna belive her just because she telle them not do it . Second : she is angry at the commander for the revenge on the sontharan but again he is just a human who live mayber for what ? 40, 50 years ? of cours he wants revenge. Th doctor acts so condescending and act she never make mistakes , or never take revenge on people . She is acte like mary sue and its annoying.
Around 11:40 Harry says the phrase in the “nick of time”. And my brain had to think if he meant the planet the entity or the concept. God this show is dumb now.
A lot of this is just nitpicking. Why would you want accurate Sontaran shooting, for instance? Do you expect one of the lead characters to be killed in the middle of the episode? And so what if Karvanista is shown only firing three shots and killing five Sontarans? It really doesn't matter. Thes was still a great episode.
Rolled my fucking eyes when they went to the Crimean and did exactly what you'd expect them to with Mary Seacole and the token white guy. It's just obnoxious at this point.
honestly when you scrutinize film this much your gunna have all sorts of issues with things making sense. if you understand what they’re going for and just watch it without picking apart all the decisions made then you might have more fun.
According to TH-cam this video has 70 views and over 100 likes. I haven't seen this episode because it's written by Chris Chibnall, might as well watch a review video so that I'm not wasting my time.
Hey, at least this time the picked a historically famous black person for the black actor to play I actually had to Google who she was because at this point I assume they race swap everyone
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A few notes:
I realise a lot of people enjoyed this episode. As noted in the review, there are a lot of things that are worth liking about it, but I don't think there is quite enough to make it ground breaking.
It’s also a shame that the BBC couldn’t keep the lid on on some of their most impressive visual moments in this episode (the battle for one thing) showing it off in every trailer they could. Might have made the brief battle segment a little more impactful than turning the camera away to see the Doctor perform martial arts on some 2D soldier character.
You didn't leave an out of 10 review
@@robertk2194 he said last ep he’d do scoring at the end of the season, due to it being one big story
@@thetalkinghead7030 oh thanks
I completely agree with this review so its nice to have some reinforcement to my opinion
People are always quick to go "but there are some good things". Yes, they pointed the camera in the right direction and all the actors got their lines right. Commending them for things that school plays get right gives the false impression of it being a mixed bag. It's not, it's a mess.
I think Dan's reaction to those innocents getting shot is fine. He's clearly in shock & sad but tries his best to stay in "save the day mode"
Dan just not being a human is something in the dribnall era that annoys me, everyone is just video games companions just following
I didn't see any shock or sadness on his face. I don't know if it's just bad acting or directing, but he simply isn't expressive enough.
I'm more concerned about why the 7 billion Dog Race People aren't down on Earth protecting their assigned humans from firing squad or completely overwhelming this comparatively small Sontaran invasion force with vastly superior numbers and shield technology that even the Flux can't penetrate but never mind I guess.
@@captbuckyohare5585 I think that can be explained by the fact they were never meant to happen they just kind of came out of nowhere. But maybe that's me trying to justify all the holes
Yes! Where are any of the doggos? Kavanista is there but the others arent? He wqs commanding them a minute ago. Now hes gone solo? Dan's parents said "the eclipse ended after 3 minutes" implyjng the shielding blockade, err, left. Leaving earth unprotected from the Flux? Or the flux got through. Or... something? If so, where'd they go? And why isnt Kavanista with them?
And if Kavanistas there, why not the rest? Why arent they fighting the sontarans to defend their humans? Where are they? What is happening? Why do people think this is a great episode when nothing from inciting incidents to main conflicts to massive chunks of internal logic dont make sense or bloody work, jesus, has the last 4 years really traumatised us all that much that we think "pretty entertaining but incredibly stupid" is the benchmark for flippart scores of 9 and 10 out of 10 for an episode?!
Would somebody please show these people series 4 and 5 before the standard for top marks is forever lowered never to rise again?!
Those characters who were executed off screen didn’t need to be developed. They were literally just there to set the stakes for Dan. Not every character needs to be developed. That should only be the case for characters actually have plot relevance.
Fair enough, I understand your point. But as a viewer I don't care if Dan lives or dies, he's got some funny lines and he's good comic relief. But as a character he's pretty underdeveloped. If it was Dan's parents who got executed instead, it would've given the audience the chance to relate to his character and build connection. That way, I would've been more concerned by the danger he was in. As it is, it has no tension.
I don't think that Harry meant the characters needed to be properly developed, but it would've been nice to at least know why they were spying on the sontarans.
@@DrPandachaun I don’t think you can really expect any character development from him already. He literally just joined the tardis so development would be very hard to come by at this point
@@benhart2278 Then why even add him in, if ultimately he won1t matter? We are 1/3rd into this series and so far Dan is simply just a comic relief. Even Evil Dan has more development already and he's a meme.
@@zitagirl1 if you say we are 1/3 of the way through the series, then it sounds like a lot but the fact being that there are only 6 episodes this series kinda shows how little that is. 2 episodes isn’t enough for character development for a main character. You won’t be getting this development at this stage for the character. Just be patient.
Also, a comic relief character isn’t a bad thing. Often they can help ease the tension in the series and make it feel not too serious.
@@benhart2278 Uhm, that's wrong. There have been other series before with 6 or less episodes and even they got to develop characters right from the beginning. It's not rocket science, it's just a matter of making your characters actually relevant for the plot. Then again, most shows are not stupid enough to throw 20+ plot threads in the first episode...
Who said I'm against comic reliefs? Heck, one of my all time favourite characters is a damn comic relief. The difference is that in less than 90 minutes that character actually was given a good amount of depths and development which what made me really love the character and his purpose was too to ease tension.
I want to really like Dan. His introduction and scenes before the Flux stuff was actually really promising but now he just got very sidelined and quite questionable why he helps the Doctor this much, even going into a Sontaran ship, despite barely knowing her and his girlfriend missing. And next episode seems to focus more on TC rather than Dan once again so...
This episode definitely has its pros and cons but just watching it while being a russian with the thought of russia being called Sontar is really exiting, I loved it
Мммм да. То-то я думаю, у меня нос картошкой
@@mirisha1802 lol
I hadn't been concerned about infinite regenerations so much as the Master's ability to singlehandedly destroy the Citadel and defeat the rest of the Time Lords seemingly without raising a sweat, when the combined might of all the Daleks couldn't do it. Why is nobody outraged about *that*?
EXACTLY!!
@@Grayvorn You see, all he had to do was a power point presentation that explained him having already defeated the entire timelord civilization. It was a strategy they had no defence against, because they could never have imagined a foe attacking them without actually showing any form of attack taking place.
It's The Master he's the master (pun intended) of sneak attacks just accept it
@@lesigh1749 He bored them to death with the most dull, corporate powerpoint in the universe. He truly is the worst of villains.
Sontarians have had "psychic command" since classic who. They used it to predict enemy actions & stuff. Not sure if I can recall them having time travel technology in any previous story tho
Wasn't "The Two Doctors" all about them trying to use time travel? I could never keep up with that story so I may be wrong.
@@oldoldmeme Trying to obtain time travel and failing
Time Warrior has Linx projecting himself into the present from the medieval era. The Two Doctors has them trying to obtain better time travelling tech so logically with time they could obtain some. Perhaps due their limited knowledge of time this is why they have so many forces scattered through history to ensure their victory.
If only we had a classic who episode called the invasion of time staring the Sontarons. Oh wait we do.
Oh yeah definitely never had any time travel technology before. Oh wait what about the famous line ‘sontarons perverting the course of human history’.
Having an actual good villain, even a relatively simple one like the Sontarans, gives a great anchor to this episode. I wouldn't say it was 'good' (it does have all the usual Chibnall-era problems), but it was a lot better than the dumpster fire of The Halloween Apocalypse.
@@ClarkMakesCringe That's...that's the main problem. The usual problems (bad story, bad plot, terrible dialogue, wooden acting), all of that, but it was such an onslaught of things happening. They weren't even plots, more like vignettes of things to come. It's probably not Chibnalls worst episode, but it's basically just a checklist of 'things to remember for the rest of the season'.
@@ClarkMakesCringe That's why it's bad. It was a 45-minute trailer for the rest of the series.
This episode was good by Chibnall standards, apart from the bits where they were cutting to Yaz and the other bloke. I wish they'd spent the whole episode on the Sontaran story and then shown the Doctor and Dan arrive at 'Time' with the cliffhanger already set up. We can find out how Yaz ended up there next episode.
Passenger's helmet is just a really shoddy airsoft mask repainted. Ngl I laughed quite hard when realising this. 🤣
I thought it was just a weird darkseid and ghost rider cosplayer 😂🤣🤦♂️
It's not even repainted, it's just a $17 airsoft mask.
It's literally from Wish. Saw a meme about it a few days ago. Wish I still had it, it was so funny!
13:08 At least it explains why the Doctor needed to recalibrate the device from the end of The Poison Sky "for Sontaran air".
Also Sontarans probably take their helmets off because they don't care about it being a disadvantage and just want to feel the glory of battle.
There are so many holes in both this and the series 4 stories when it comes to Sontaran air. Why could the Sontaran’s breathe fine on earth? Why could the doctor (and the annoying American guy) breathe fine on the Sontaran ship? And in this episode, why did the Sontaran’s only react to Earth’s atmosphere when it suited the plot? Best to overlook and try to enjoy the story without nitpicking imo
@@billylardner In the season 4 episode, they wanted to transform the atmosphere to be suitable for their breeding. Their new clones need those gases to feed on. Never before now did they suggest that the air on Earth would be toxic for them, this is a new thing.
Yaz only had a pen in her first episode? Yes because as we all know, people are assigned 1 pen in their entire life and if you lose it then you can't use any other pen ever.
Yeah, and that implies there's no events or pens off screen. REALLY looking for stuff to complain about in this one. Don't get me wrong, I like Harry's reviews a lot, he usually makes good points, but this one has a few bits like that.
Liked this one a lot. Perfect? Nah, but entertaining. If Flux can keep up this level at least Jodie will be left with one halfway-decent arc.
Anything's entertaining if you turn your brain off... this was no better than any other Chibnall offering, it's another Demons of the Punjab where people say it's good for no reason.
@@PlatinumAltaria People like that episode because of the family drama. If you've been watching these with your brain off maybe it's time you turn it on again.
@@HellfireComms The family drama? What family drama? Maybe I was wrong, and rather than turning your brains off Chibnall fans are taking a ton of drugs and hallucinating a good show.
@@PlatinumAltaria Are you on drugs? Literally the entire point of the demons of the punjab is the family dynamics. Also just for context, I hate Demons of the Punjab, I think it’s one of the most overrated episodes, up there with Rosa.
@@PlatinumAltaria it’s hard to imagine you’re right when all you’ve said so far is ‘brain off on drugs I’m right you’re wrong’
I don’t even necessarily disagree with you but you’re so… disagreeable… that I want to anyway
Regarding the sontarans allegedly ruling over Russia for centuries, to me it sounded like the flux disrupting time allowed it to look like the sontarans were always ruling russia even though they weren’t. And that mary seacole and the general “remembered” the russians as they were in a different timeline, like in matt smith’s era where it was explained people can almost remember things that happened in their past in a different timeline. Also sort of like that episode where all of time is happening at once - the flux’s disruption to time made it look like the sontarans had always been on earth.
Not your best review. You were really stretching to find faults. Complaining that we haven't seen Yaz use a pen in a while, really? They aren't hard to come by.
Half of the doctor's lines in this episode were just clunky expositionary mouth-farts that made me want to bang my head against the wall.
To be totally honest I loved this episode, it might just be because of the last two series being especially weak but I enjoyed this a lot more then even some Capaldi episodes, I have to disagree with you on the lecturing scene I thought Jodie did a great job and actually felt like the doctor in that scene, I understand and agree with a lot of your criticisms (especially budget wise) but I did think some of them were a little nit picky.
"A little?" LOL
@@Silver-rx1mh trying to be as nice as possible 😭
This is the same episode where the Doctor let a man get away with cold-blooded mass murder but ok, "better than Capaldi"...
@@PlatinumAltaria wow, you just didn’t read what I said did you? Some Capaldi… some, I prefer capaldi to Whittaker a lot I’m just saying this was so much stronger then that stupid forest episode for an example, Jodie is no where near my favorite doctor I’m just giving her credit for doing a good job playing her in this episode lmao
@@artemis3181 That episode has like... 3 or 4 characters. This episode had one. What exactly did she do this episode that you think was so good? Keep in mind that 13 has no personality, no motivation, and all her lines consist of asking questions the audience is supposed to be asking, and expositing because the writer can't figure out how to add that information naturally.
I stopped watching doctor who during series 11 and 12 because it just wasn’t the same program I fell in love with. I was very negative about chibnals run but I’ve gave this series a chance and so far I’m enjoying. Not perfect but entertaining, the stories and writing are interesting.
And this is coming from somebody very negative about the last five years of the series. I understand the points you make here but I can’t help but feel you’re being a bit too critical.
Same here.
This channel has gotten so bloody negative recently
"I wanna to ride a horse" - Just yes
The scariest thing I've heard all year: someone liking that god-awful line.
@@PlatinumAltaria NO LEVITY ALLOWED, ONLY SERIOUS SCI-FI FOR BIG BOYS.
@@HellfireComms Good comedy does not destroy the tone of the story.
So far these episodes haven't been good but at least I've found them fun to watch. Series 11 and 12 felt like an absolute chore to watch.
can you release anti chamber in minecraft 4
@@TheDoctornixon ratio
I thought War of the Sontarans was my favourite episode for many years and one of the best in the show’s modern run actually. I'd rate it 9/10. The Sontarans are at their best in this since Classic DW. I loved the setting and enjoyed their new designs and dialogue. I loved all the episode. Great supporting characters and a great way to shine a light on Mary Seacole. Really love the Sontarans in this story and their updated design.
Despite not liking Series 11 (just found it really bland), Series 12 was an improvement (if you remove 2 or 3 episodes) and Series 13 is hugely better so far. I thought Chris mastered the Sontarans very well. One of his talents is the way he writes classic villains. I think his era will be well noted for that and his historical episodes. Using the Sontarans at a major battle in human history like this was a fantastic move imo. I think Chris is more comfortable writing in a Classic DW format and it shows. Your opinion may differ from mine, you can’t deny this was a good episode or at least had some fantastic parts and Jodie was great in it. Certainly a highlight for her Doctor. It’s a shame the current era didn’t begin like this in terms of quality.
If this is a 9/10 im intrigued , what would you rate episodes like blink and silence in the library cos this is nowhere near their level in terms of quality
It was a pretty good episode but probably max 7.5/10
I wouldn't rate this higher than a 7.
It was a decent episode. I completely agree with Harry's opinion. Hit the nail on the head in some places and missed it completely in others. Best Chibnall episode yet. But still only scores a 6/10 from me. Its got nothing on Sontaran Stratagem/Poison Sky.
It’s fair enough if you liked it. I thought there were too many holes and contrivances personally
Just imagine Tennant or Eccleston doing the lesson scene. It's exactly how the doctor would've always acted and this era usually messes that up so calling that scene "cringe" is kind of a miss for me.
9 and 10 are characters with established personalities.
And bad acting can make great dialogue cringy.
@@PlatinumAltaria For sure this doctor is horribly written and the scene didn't help to develop her as a unique character from the others but it still felt kinda like the dumb humour the show used to have and I appreciated that even if I didn't exactly laugh.
Alright so this is coming from someone who's favourite doctor is Matt Smith and one of my favourite actors of all time is David Tennant
I LOVED the lesson scene it's something that the doctor has been doing since Eccleston and since then every Doctor has done it Capaldi had the season 10 black hole thing and Smith spent episode after episode jumping from on concept to the next just as a couple of quick examples
I personally think Jodie Whittaker is a damn good actor and despite personal opinion I can acknowledge Chibnall's writing is odd at times
So I DEFINITELY agree with Joe, not cringe
I can't imagine Eccleston or Tennant doing it, but Smith and Capaldi I can DEFINITELY picture doing it. An even then, I could see Tennant and Eccleston getting a similar point across, just without a board, and not to the General, who they would be angrier with.
I didn't get the Robert Strong reference at first. Then I remembered that he is the zombie Mountain from Game of Thrones (formerly known as Ser Gregor Clegane). He is never called Robert Strong in the show, only in the books.
I also liked this episode, though I can't tell if it was good for a DW ep or just because everything so far under Chibnall has been so disappointing and lackluster. Markedly better than the first episode however. Also I liked the inclusion of the failed Charge of the Light Brigade and the Doctor's reference to the poem of the same name.
SPOILERS (all in good fun…I enjoyed episode 2 for what it was)
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Audience: Hey, so the flux has dumped the Doctor and company in the middle of the Crimean War and not obliterated them like it did everything else in its path. Also, Earth seems to be standing. Is the flux an event or a weapon destroying everything it touches EXCEPT Earth, and specifically things sort of close to Earth or… what gives? Have the Dog People been plopped somewhere? If they have, did the flux hit Earth? What just happened?
Chibs: Wow. Um. Unclear. But look, we’re in olden times now and the Sontarans are here! Neat, huh?
Audience: Yea, neat. So what happened to the Dog People and their ships? They were in the range of the flux and all this time-dropping nonsense. Yea the flux can't destroy their ships... but it didn't destroy the TARDIS either. Why aren’t they in old times too?
Chibs: Because.
Audience: Hey, so Yaz and Dan do a Marty McFly and just fade away through time because they don’t belong in this period and then they get plopped somewhere else instead. Why does the Doctor get to stay behind and not fade away too? Why are the Sontarans allowed to stay? Who decided who goes and who stays?
Chibs: Look, the plot has to happen, and it’s gonna, so stop asking questions, please.
Audience: Hey, so how come Vinder, old Liverpool guy, and Yaz fade through time and get plopped into the weird temple place to repair the not-Timelord thingys that look after time, but Dan just gets sent home?
Chibs: Because having more than three people in a scene gives me thinky pain, so I gotta keep them all kinda separated and on their own missions, y’know? Plus this way more stuff is happening and… y’know?
Audience: You can jangle your storytelling keys so we think stuff’s happening, but it's not really?
Chibs: Now you're getting it.
Audience: Hey, so when Dan gets chased by a whole squad of Sontarans, how come when he ducks into an alley his Mum and Dad are able to jump out of the shadows like Batman and clobber a couple of Sontarans and take them out?
Chibs: Weren’t you listening? Dan’s dad worked out the neck thing and they used it to save their son.
Audience: Yea, but they only knocked out a couple of Sontarans, what happened to the whole squad that was literally on Dan’s heels?
Chibs: Ah. Bugger.
Audience: Hey, so we’re doing Crimean, the time temple, and Liverpool dock stories. What happened with Claire and the Angel?
Chibs: Oh, never mind that. That’s for later.
Audience: And Dog Man?
Chibs: Later… that’s, uh… that’s later.
Audience: And hey, what about Swarm and his sister? I thought they were the big bads. Where have they been? And what about Dan’s date? The nice lady that got kidnapped in the spooky house on the dark street?
Chibs: Bloody later, okay!
Audience: Geez, all this stuff that happens later sure didn’t need to get introduced in that cluster of a first episode then, did it?
Chibs: It’s called multi-faceted storytelling, and all great writers do it.
Audience:
Chibs:
Audience: Hey, so the Crimean Sontaran leader tells the Doctor they planned this temporal invasion in line with the flux striking Earth, and that he came to this time because he really wanted to ride a horse. That implies they had control over what time period they’d get plonked into but so far the Flux's power seems chaotic and random and everything else is at its mercy. How did the Sontarans determine when they’d be planted on Earth? How did they manipulate the flux when no one else could, even the Doctor? By what means? How did they do any of this? Do they have time travel tech and just rode a wave? If they have time travel tech, why would they need to wait for the flux at all? How? Why?
Chibs: Unclear. But I really liked the horse line, so that’s what we’re going with.
Audience: Hey, in Crimea the other humans only kinda remember the timeline proper, where Sontar isn’t a country, and they struggle to remember that much without the Doctor’s help, but in Liverpool, Dan’s parents totally remember everything about life before the Sontarans’ arrival. Why have they arrived at two points in history at the same time, why did one arrival change history and the memories of humans, but the other didn't do any of those things? Why would they need to be in present-day Liverpool at all if they can influence the past?
Chibs: Don’t know, but did you catch all those references to the old Sontaran stories from Classic Who? Pretty easter eggy, huh?
Audience: …
Audience: Hey, so when the Doctor goes to parlay and gets ambushed by the General, why does she do what he says and just walk away from her last chance to avert thousands of needless deaths so easily? She just throws her hands up and walks. Hell, she’s cracking jokes a minute later.
Chibs: Well… I mean she was at gunpoint.
Audience: She’s at gunpoint with the escort when she’s cracking jokes too, and she still takes him out no problem with her little finger aikido Spock technique. Why then, but not before, when she could have kept the parlay going and maybe save thousands of lives?
Chibs: So the plot can happen.
Audience: Hey, so Dan’s known the Doctor for about 3 minutes, but from the moment he’s separated from her he’s off breaking into Sontaran strongholds, gathering intel, leaving his family behind and acting pretty comfy with the life or death situations it usually takes companions an episode or two to adjust to when travelling with the Doctor and generally being 10x more useful than Yaz has been over the course of 20 episodes… this is kinda quick and severely skips over the standard, organic character development beats here, doesn’t it?
Chibs: Well, this is a kinda short series so what do want from me, kid?
Audience: Hey, so that tracking shot at the Doctor’s heels where you follow her across the fields as she’s “running” towards the TARDIS before she finds out the doors are gone.
Chibs: … yea? What about it?
Audience: *smirks* Nothing. Hey, so why would the Crimean British General go right to the front line for the battle? That’s not what Generals do.
Chibs: Isn’t it? I'm pretty sure that's what they do.
Audience: Hey, in Liverpool, why would Dan’s handprint open anything at all within the Sontaran ship? That’s super easy. Barely an inconvenience.
Chibs: *shrugs* Who cares at this point. They just announced that fucker Davies is coming back next year. Bloody BBC snakes.
Audience: Hey, so if the Sontaran temporal offensive is supposed to “erase all of human history”… wouldn’t that undo like A LOT of fixed points in time on Earth and literally unravel time itself? Shouldn’t that sort of not be allowed?
Chibs: Err…
Audience: Hey, so why when the Sontarans are defeated and the Doctor drives them off (before they're blown up) is it never addressed that time hasn't been corrected. The Sontarans still invaded the past, wiped China and Russia from history, established an Earth nation etc. None of that's been undone. Won't that have a devastating ripple effect on the rest of time and the story set in Liverpool and disrupt several previously fixed points in time that are supposed to occur later in Earth's history and-
Chibs: *Puts fingers in ears*
Audience: Hey, so when Swarm and his sister arrive at the temple, how did they get there? Can they teleport across space and time? How? By what means? And is their new Bane-ish heavy whatever’s left of the nice-museum lady? Why’d they bring this heavy at all? Why would they need a heavy? They can teleport across space and time and evaporate anything they look at. Why would they need backup?
Chibs: I like extra things in scenes sometimes.
Audience: But you can’t manage scenes with more than three characters in them. When these three confront Yaz and Vinder that’s more than three. That might become a cluster where a lot happens that makes very little sense, and people die while plot armoured main characters live for some reason, and a lot of exposition gets wrapped up in awkward dialogue or you'll end up having to suddenly incapacitate the characters you don't have the headspace to juggle anymore in some weird, unsatisfying pitstop… oh, it’s already happened. Never mind.
Chibs: … look! Dog Man’s back!
Audience: HOW’D HE GET IN THERE?! HOW’D HE FIND DAN?! WHY’S DOG MAN IN MODERN LIVERPOOL ALONE?! ARE THE OTHER SEVEN BILLION JUST CHILLING IN THE SKY?! DAN’S PARENTS SAID THE ECLIPSE LASTED 3 MINUTES AND THEN VANISHED! SO THE SHIPS AREN'T UP THERE ANYMORE, RIGHT?! AND EVEN IF THEY WERE, THE SONTARANS WOULD'VE DONE SOMETHING ABOUT THEM, SURELY! WHERE ARE THEY?! WHAT IS GOING ON?! IF THE DOG PEOPLE ARE ACTIVE AND KAVARISTA CAME DOWN TO SAVE HIS HUMAN WHY THE BLOODY HELL DID THE OTHERS NOT COME TO SAVE THEIR HUMANS?! LIKE THE HUMANS WHO GOT FIRING SQUADED?! WHY ISN'T THERE OPEN WAR BETWEEN THIS OUT-POSTED SONTARAN FORCE AND LITERALLY 7 BILLION DOG PEOPLE?! PLEASE EXPLAIN. PLEASE EXPLAIN SOMETHING! HOW CAN YOU HAVE THIS MUCH EXPOSITION AND HAVE SO LITTLE OF THIS MAKE SENSE!?
Chibs: *sighs and opens a bottle of whiskey* They said I could have been the new Nolan… just needed the Broadchurch remake to do well in the States. Fucking snakes. All of you…
Someone needs to send this to Chibnall.
I didn't know Doctor Who's entire audience were just the writers of CinemaSins
Excuse me sir, I am far more nitpicky than those CinemaSins folks!
Wasn't Donna also able to open the sontaran doors?
Oh, was she? I cant remember. Must check. If there was no story explanation then thats an issue then like it is now
not me thinking WWTDD actually said WWTOO as in 'world war two' and being very confused as to why she would need that or spell it so weirdly. How stupid I felt when they actually said what was in her hand lol.
I'm glad I'm not the only one!
This review is so nitpicky and it's clear that you barely even want to give these episodes a chance. For example: "when did Yaz even have the time to write this on her hand? Last time I can remember her with a pen is in her First episode!" - like come on. That's not a valid criticism and you know it.
Someone accused me of being "biased" against Chibnall... mate we're biased against bad TV. Yaz suddenly deciding to write that on her hand years after meeting the Doctor with no character development is an insane thing to ignore.
@@PlatinumAltaria But that wasn't the argument presented in the video. The argument presented was "when would she have time to write that on her hand".
I think the Chibnall era is the worst thing ever in Doctor Who, and that the storyline which began last season and continues into this is going to ruin the show from now on... but some of the criticisms in this video were just nonsense.
When did this series turn into cinemasins?
Like seriously, "we haven't seen Yaz with a pen since the first episode, how did she write this?" is one of the weakest critiques I've ever seen, there's plenty we don't see, she's been home multiple times since the first episode, pens aren't exactly rare.
My take was that the “pen” segment in this review was pointing out how laughably dumb having “WWTDD” written on the palm of Yaz’s hand was. What a terrible idea that was.
@@Elcrisso1 yeah sure, critique that, but just saying "how did she get the pen?" is ridiculously lazy and nitpicky.
@@jak9410 I've been watching his videos for a while, I was even a patron for a bit iirc, I don't remember one being this lazy before.
@@argorath dude chill, that segment was clearly played for comedy. It wasn't a good joke but it was obviously meant to be one.
Actually, Mary Seacole did not provide a proper application with references, which is why she wasn't employed with Florence Nightingale. She did indeed make a great many drunk by opening a luxury hotel for military higher-ups. She did not look after common injured soldiers on the battlefield, she literally managed a fancy hotel. She went to the edge of battles to sell refreshments to civilian onlookers, because battles were often a spectator event back in the day. She was a very successful entrepreneur, but not really a nurse.
Another lesson in CRT fiction creation of black history. Very sad.
Why would they take their helmets off? Warhammer rules apply, the guy without the helmet is in charge, it's honourable to gaze into your enemies eyes before you bash their legs in with a swagger stick or run them over with your new horse.
And Christ, if you didn't like this one (Which I liked. My favourite Chibnall-Era episode), god knows what you'll think of the boring disjointed mess that is episode 3.
One good thing from this new series is evil Dan
What's the point of being alive?
I’m good at this.
H O H O O
Plasterer plasterer plasterer plasterer...
The battle scene when both sides charge towards each other forgetting they both have GUNS!
so discount wookie race is canon now?
I think the only way to watch this Era is to not take it to serious
Exactly that
That’s the only way I’ve been able to enjoy the season so far.
Azure and Swarm just look so goofy lmao they really don't feel very scary
They're only not scary because they don't do anything except kill people with CGI. They don't explain their motivations, they just walk around being mYsTeRiOuS because Chibnall thinks he's a genius.
@@PlatinumAltaria We're also being told to take them seriously because they're "the Doctor's biggest baddest enemy" from a time before she can remember, and that the audience didn't know existed until a year ago.
@@TPH250290 Yeah for a seemingly pivotal character, a terrible 'day of the dead' costume wasn't really the move.
i guess a detail that can be hardly noticed is that the temple they are in is based on the greek sisters of fate... yes FATE not TIME, the three Moira that appear in the episode was most likely Clotos, Lahkesis and the mentioned Atropos and they don't work with time but with fate or life (which can be similar in some aspects), now for the planet TIME i don't have a clue from where that come from
Atropos means "not turning", which is probably in reference to time standing still. And it's pretty clear to me that it's where the Timeless Child came from.
I would like to see more episodes in the chibnall era where people don’t just bend over backwards the second they meet the doctor. It’s like NPCs in video games, can we have more humanity with people actually PROCESSING WTF, Dan just charging into the base felt a little odd to me since he’s literally just met the doctor.
The sontarons MISSING THEIR BULLETS REALLY ANNOYED ME, put him next to the alleyway if you want to have the running scene 🙄🙄. we have to be smart about how we do scenes and not just making enemies storm troopers
Also I believe the sontarons spread themselves throughout time with them being in both Liverpool and the war it’s not too bad to assume they’re more in different eras
Somehow though I think this is Chris’ best episode he’s written in terms of fun factor
Oml the planet time thing is confirmed. I love R.T. Davis, but there's no chance in hell he can save the series for series 14.
Was there leaks about it?
The only way he can save it is if he retcons all of Chibnall’s trash and starts again from Capaldi’s Doctor regenerating.
I also did really enjoy this one. Nice to give Sontarans a proper invasion episode and see their invasion force. I felt all elements were added to help further each characters story and increase their understanding of the situation. And the pacing is kept up throughout. Not that the details are necessarily all thought out, but the story was full, well told and i didn't feel berrated by social justice for once.
Y'know, I kinda wish this was a singular episode or a 2 parter instead then we would have more of a focus on The Sontarans taking over the world through time travel and more focus on the battle with the British army
Umm... wasn't Mary Seacole the one who ran the officer's exclusive restaurant? I'd heard she wasn't actually a nurse...
Yup that's her.
As far as I’m aware, the Sontarans didn’t necessarily invade Russia further back in time than the Crimean war, but instead invaded time during the war - lemme explain. The soldiers didn’t forget Russia because it was a thing once but became Sontar, the forgot Russia more in the way Amy remembered killing Madame Kovarian but it didn’t really happen as it was an alternate timeline. Russia still exists in peoples memories, not because it used to exist, but because it did exist and still does exist, just in a different timeline that people don’t completely remember. So the Sontarans did start invading during the Crimean war, and the soldiers memories of Russia were gone (kind of) because they knew Russia from a different timeline.
If that doesn’t make sense lmk and I’ll try and explain it a bit better
the first episode i've fully enjoyed in the past few years!
Actually glad they spelled out the acronym on Yaz's hand, because I was an idiot and read the Ds as Os lol. WWTOO. Was so confused until it was stated by Swarm.
13:38 Yeah, even as I watched that scene I was thinking that was way too little security and protection for what is clearly a vital part of the ship's Life Support system
I hear this weeks this episode could jump the shark
Jump the shark again, you mean
im pretty sure this thing jumped the shark a year ago
The only crime of the episode was the children’s climbing frame being both in modern day Liverpool and Sebastopol with the sontaran ships, everything else was fine
So I'm not even entirely sure where I'm going with this, but on the note of everything the Tardis doors have done so far: multiplication/addition, subtraction... all that's really left is division. I might just be reading too much into it
Is it me or is this Doctor Who: Flux giving off strong “War Games” vibes 🤔
About as good as the really bad episodes of Capaldi's run. I'd say that's a great improvement.
I’ve also noticed that a lot of people are really praising this new series so again, I love your honest commentary and you brought up lots of plot inconsistencies that I didn’t even notice. I’m kind of tired of seeing all this praise for chibnall so your channel always resonates with me, thanks so much for all the hard work you do and keep sharing your opinion no matter what other people say!!!
Am acc liking the series. But the masters of war and strategy couldn't figure out that recharging every sontaran at the same time was a bad idea?
I was a bit split on it myself. I'm not a fan of sontarans, but that bit about riding horses, and The Doctor's reaction when that first one tool off his mask were priceless.
Still nothing else made sense. even if they just arrived recently, and just retconned their way into earth's history, the Sontarans have spaceships, laser guns and an army that can be cloned almost infinitely. how would it take even as long as a few days to take over earth?
also, the Sontaran rest cycle has been canon since "Time Warrior". it never occurred to them to stagger their shifts?
I love how the giant Wookie dog is the most developed character in this show for the last seven or so years.
The biggest Doctor Who villain is Chibnall
It genuinely does baffle me that people enjoyed this one. I'm glad they do, but I just... god, it's really bad. All I could say at the end of it was "that was good for a Chibnall era episode" which isn't as good as any other episode from any other era in the show's history. I do think that the past two series being so poor has skewed people's perspective a lot. It's like how at the start of the Chibnall era people who hated Capaldi's run started appreciating it more. I wonder what people will think of these episodes differently after one of Russel T Davis' new series.
I enjoyed this more than most of Capaldi's run. Brilliant episode imo.
The halloween episode was so bad that, by comparison, people think this looks good.
Rick and Morty is the reason for the dog race 😂😂😂😂
The episode made the soldiers in the Crimea look stupid when in reality they were brave, courageous men. And of course General Logan should have blown up the Sontaran ships. They may have left Earth but they were likely to just go and conquer other planets
Don't forgot that Dan's phone quality is the same as the cinema camera that they used.
I didn't like the earth humour of the Sontarans, I thought making them look like they did in the 70s was a bit pointless, and Mary Seacole was wasted, just like Rosa Parks was.
And, they totally ripped off the Christmas Invasion,
Anyone else think Dan’s dad looks a little bit like the brigadier
In the Halloween Apocalypse Dan states at one point that his parents are coming over so its not to strange that they are there.
Man, seeing so many ppl defending this episode really shows how low the bar has dropped during chibbers....he barely gives scraps and ppl are already excited
Something like 85% of the runtime of this review is just nitpicking.
@@ProjectPowerPoint Except... no he didn't. He's a Patron and got to see the review early.
@@DiamondFire Oh I see. My bad
…yeah
Sontarans should have had different shifts for the 7 or so minutes they need to "sleep"
Yeah i mean faining ignorance can make theses episodes look bad but if you just open your mind the tiniest bit, you’d realise these are the first good episodes in 5 years
If the Earth’s atmosphere is harmful to Sontarans, I have a question
*IS STRAX STILL ALIVE!? I SWEAR IF THEY KILLED HIM OFF SCREEN…*
Couple notes:
1) the actress player by Mary Seacole was absolutely terrible.
2) Dan is absolutely terrible. His dialog is so cheesy and his character is just so... unnecessary. Why does his dialog sound like it's supposed to be coming from a young man, when he's clearly middle aged? His elderly parents are just out there whopping Sontarans?
3) The Flux stuff is so over dramatic, it's imbued with so much self importance that it's almost comical
4) Sontarans are great. They just are. It sucks that the show undercuts them by calling them stupid and having them beat by woks
For the execution scene would have worked a lot better if the people who had been caught by the Sontarans were the same people who Dan had given out boxes too at the Food Bank in the first episode; that would show some consequence, maybe Dan would feel guilty that he wasn't there to help, and that spurs him on to infiltrate the Sontaran ship? I initially thought that was what had happened until I went back to check and saw that that it was actually just three random people.
I-i..... I completely forgot the sun and moon could be susceptible to the flux....😅😅😂😂
At least it wasn't the temple of andopose
Ten Points to Harry for the use of the best character in everyone's favourite kids program praising the mighty sun god; Oxtos!
Great video as always my guy, but can you PLEASE review Merlin 😁 love ya x
How intoxicated were the writers with both armies charging into each other
The british know only their artillery is semi capable of injuring them at range and on open ground they will all get slaughtered
The sontarans also seem to be fond of horses so maintaining good formation is also useful for them
The sontarans see the brits charge so would benifit from staying put to give themselves more time to shred brits before they are at risk since from lore their backs are vunerable, so maintaining good formation would also be benificial with it better to fight in lines
This is ignoring all modern sontoran depictions who are vunerable to bullets, their weaponry is simpler and they would be outside range of the magic gas that disables cartriges
I really don't understand why people keep saying flux is amazing, it's a confusing, cringy, boring drag
The Northern Equity gaze
It's a pretty enjoyable episode if you kind of switch off your brain, tune out Whittaker's awful performance and just go with it. Not much to go on but this Flux stuff is gold by Chibnall era standards.
Her performance is fine
@@greaseslime2004 When you're the main character in a show, a "fine" performance = awful.
@@TPH250290 her performance is good, personally I really like her, I just couldn't be arsed to type out an essay on a TH-cam comment
If this were a stand alone episode about Sontarans in the Crimean War, it looks like there were the makings for a decent episode. As Flux chapter 2 it left me just as confused as the week before. They've got to start answering some questions and stop piling on more.
On thing thing I'll give Swarm. He may look silly and I habe no idea of his purpose, but when Sam Spruell delivers his lines he is making the best of it.
Trial of a Time Lady
oving this season but then again being a Who fan we been starved for some new episodes for so long! looking forward to the next few years on whats coming
In my Doctor Who fanfiction, there is a better episode called War of the Sontarans - the second episode of a two parter that brings back Susan
I feel a lot of ur complaints are small and some I even disagree with. The WWTDD I personally didn’t get until said and she could’ve written it at any time in the last 8 hours that was skipped, also Vinder and Yaz is not coincidence, if someone else was teleported to yah the story would have them but because cinder is that person this is the reason we see him before if that makes sense. Same with Dan arriving in Liverpool u can easily say that that is his hometown and that’s why he ended up there although with his parents I agree that’s a coincidence
I'm sorry but I think this review is way too nit-picky
16:52 I’d be suspicious if skeletor’s cousins show up
Million of aliens Vs one man with a wok sounds like a far fight
Why did they ditch the new Sontaran designs from 2008 in order to go back to the godawful rubber-mask looking monstrosities from the old era that were made on a shoestring budget?
Interesting point about this being a stand alone episode that was put in at the last moment. This was an entertaining episode and definitely was hit and mis.
CAN YOU PLEASE BREAKDOWN DARK??? I AM EAGER TO SEE YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON DARK!!! OR EVEN WE CAN COLLAB TO TALK/DISCUSS ABOUT IT IF YOU ARE DOWN!!
Is that a Hug The Sun reference? Didnt think niche aussie comedy would show up here lol
the acting is so bad, the writing is bad. don't get why Yaz is even in the show she gets nothing from the doctor information-wise. when creating a female doctor I would think they do something more like missy where she has more emotion but just feels fake.
What annoys me its the lack of empathy of the Doctor : i explain , the doctor have liver more than a 1000 years and she cant' understand that people not gonna belive her just because she telle them not do it . Second : she is angry at the commander for the revenge on the sontharan but again he is just a human who live mayber for what ? 40, 50 years ? of cours he wants revenge. Th doctor acts so condescending and act she never make mistakes , or never take revenge on people . She is acte like mary sue and its annoying.
Around 11:40 Harry says the phrase in the “nick of time”. And my brain had to think if he meant the planet the entity or the concept. God this show is dumb now.
A lot of this is just nitpicking. Why would you want accurate Sontaran shooting, for instance? Do you expect one of the lead characters to be killed in the middle of the episode? And so what if Karvanista is shown only firing three shots and killing five Sontarans? It really doesn't matter. Thes was still a great episode.
Rolled my fucking eyes when they went to the Crimean and did exactly what you'd expect them to with Mary Seacole and the token white guy.
It's just obnoxious at this point.
Uh... what?
Aye? 😂
Honestly best part of the episode was the Birkenhead comment 😂
What happened to the dogs protecting the humans that got executed?
honestly when you scrutinize film this much your gunna have all sorts of issues with things making sense. if you understand what they’re going for and just watch it without picking apart all the decisions made then you might have more fun.
Er..............yes , but not as much as the last one
NAHHH YOU FULLY GOT THE PASSENGER RIGHT, FAIR PLAY
According to TH-cam this video has 70 views and over 100 likes. I haven't seen this episode because it's written by Chris Chibnall, might as well watch a review video so that I'm not wasting my time.
Hey, at least this time the picked a historically famous black person for the black actor to play
I actually had to Google who she was because at this point I assume they race swap everyone
Weirdly defensive comments down here but I also thought this episode was a confusing mess. Still love the crystal siblings tho