In my headcanon, Dawan‘s Master comes between Simm’s and Missy’s. Thus, his similar mannerisms to Simm are (sort of) explained and Missy’s redemption isn’t ruined.
That actually would explain a lot. Though I did feel reviving the Master was just a cheap, lazy play by Chibnall, as his entire run is pretty much devoid of anything original. But I did wonder why the way the Master story played out in Chibnall's run seemed to act as if Missy's whole arch never even happened.
My problem with the Rosa Parks episode is they never mentioned Claudette Colvin, who did the same thing 9 months earlier (at age 15), but when her case became political she was convicted of an assault charge and the other two charges directly racist were dropped, making it hard to appeal the segregation part. And then by the time the NAACP was ready to mobilize around the outrage her case had caused, she had met someone and become pregnant. The NAACP did not want to organize a boycott around the plight of a pregnant teenager, so Rosa Parks (who had been secretary of the local NAACP chapter for 12 years) recreated the issue and was careful to remain peaceful so they couldn't morph it into any other charge except violating a segregation rule. Parks was brave and pioneering, but this was a calculated political move that was very much not spontaneous. Parks met Colvin multiple times, raised funds for her legal defense, and got her involved in the NAACP's youth program all before her own bus arrest. If you know anything about the actual history, the doctor who episode was very frustrating, although I'd bought the whole season and kept watching until the one where a pokémon was eating a spaceship. (I also noped out of the 12th doctor season where the moon hatched and a magic Forest adding extra oxygen to the atmosphere somehow protected _against_ fire. As we learned from the Apollo 1 command module fire.) I watched the regeneration scene at the end of that episode and then continued on into 13... until the end of the pokémon eating spaceship episode.
Unfortunate to hear. 12's first season was rough at times, but his run just gets better and better as it goes along. His last season is easily the best and most consistant in all of NuWho. And IMO, the finale of his final season is the only NuWho season finale I take no issue with. All the others are cursed with unearned melodrama, terrible endings, or confusing nonsensical creative choices. So I'd at very least consider watching series 10. As for the treatment of Rosa, I 100% agree. They had the chance to tell the real tale and potentially educate people on civil rights and they just... chose not to...
@@parrot998 Agreed a lot plus S9 literally has Heaven Sent, pretty essential for DW viewing. Also imo S1,2,4 & 5 have great finales with minimal flaws (especially S1).
this has really opened my eyes to how brilliant it would have been to see the master played essentially as a generally soft spoken male manipulator, and/or to see Jodie’s Doctor actually being called out for her hypocrisy and toxic positivity,,, that would have actually been really original and brilliant takes on the characters. Or a least anything really playing to the talents of the actors would be,, an improvement
Yes! Making his Master be crazy really doesn't work. A sane Master would have been a great evolution of Missy's incarnation because she was so close to having control of herself.
Many of your points here echo mine almost entirely. Personally, one episode sums up the whole era for me, and it's one episode of Flux. Now, unlike most people, I actually enjoyed the first 4 episodes of Flux quite a lot, and was very disappointed by the last 2. But I especially enjoyed (controversially) Once, Upon Time which a lot of people cite as emblematic of the whole era being bad, but I think is good BUT ALSO emblematic of the whole era's biggest problems. That episode isn't alone in the 2018-2022 run in feeling like it really wasn't all it could be, but if you watch it again in the context of not knowing what the last 2 episodes of Flux will reduce the story to, it was at least evidence that in amongst the Chibnall era there are many really great ideas that the finished product either completely passes over for trying and failing to focus on something worse, or just does ham-fistedly. It deals with the themes and consequences of time travel in ways that we rarely got from any previous writer other than Moffat, and it does so in a slightly less self-satisfied way than we get whenever Moff does it. Having characters experience moments from their pasts in different bodies, and the aspects of the planet Time, is all great ideas executed with mostly ok execution. What Once, Upon Time gets wrong, and why it's so emblematic if the Chibnall era as a whole, is all the same things the era gets wrong everywhere else. The overly expository and unnatural dialogue "the time storm is sending back into my own timeline... IN THE PAST"...honestly whoever signed off on that line should be banned from writing dialogue ever again... But obviously it's the same person who allowed "don't let their swords touch you" and "they're throwing them overboard, into the sea" or whatever that was (do we think they were just auditioning for Big Finish with that sort of dialogue delivery?); the clumsy, unthoughtful centrist politics (the Grand Serpent is a bad actor in a system that could be better, for example, rather than an inevitable result of the system that he is a part of, using that system in a way it was intended); the way hundreds of bits of stuff were just chucked at the audience like instead of watching the story we're being told it by a 13 year old with undiagnosed ADHD like "so this happens, and then this happens, and then they did this, but to understand that bit you need to know this tangent, and then they said this, so back to the main bit they do this and then he says .." etc (this is a self-burn, and I am not being insensitive to neurodivergent people I'm describing myself and how I still talk about stuff now that I am old and diagnosed and medicated, lol) Although on that last point I think Revolution of the Daleks is the most egregious example of that. In that 71 Minutes there is at least 3 hours worth of ideas. I don't TOTALLY mind how it goes straight into "20 years later for the Doctor and 6 months for Yaz & the other two", but it makes us take a lot as given because of that. The doctor knows the cameras by number and every other inmate by name, and that's something we could have been shown happening at least in part. When we first see Yaz she's already obviously gone a little bit mad over it all, so why not show the other stages of that? Show her denial and bargaining etc, before she ends up stuck in that house/TARDIS sticking notes up trying to solve a mystery! Then there's a whole separate episode that could be done on Jack (or could have before he failed completely to apologise in the kind of way that might allow him to return one day). How did Jack know what was happening on earth (and why, if he knew, was he so surprised by much of it)? How did Jack learn that the doctor was in prison? How did Jack get himself arrested? How did he learn where the doctor's cell was and his sentence increased enough to put next to her? Jack's entire character in Revolution was basically just "remember when I said this in 2005?" And that doesn't work for me. Then there's the whole political drama which probably couldn't have been its own episode, but still would have warranted further exploration, where "Not Trump" and "Not May" engage in grubby political/capitalist dealings with one another. And then "The Second Dalek Civil War" was just so underwhelming, and over in the blink of an eye, that it really disappointed me, especially as someone for whom Remembrance is not only THE formative memory of my childhood, but one of the many classic stories that when revisited as an adult actually IMPROVES, and the Daleks in that are at war for the same reasons. Although in remembrance the OG Daleks (the renegades) are actually weaker than their "impure" adversaries (the imperials). Chibnall using Dalek purity as a justification for them being so powerful that they can wipe out the "impure" Daleks as though they weren't even there is yet another example of EXTREMELY questionable Chibnall politics choices. I'm not AT ALL suggesting he made that choice on purpose and he's actually a eugenics believer... Just that he should have thought about it both in terms of the best episode in the show's history and in terms of what the Daleks represent, and how it looks to show their genetic purity as a superpower Overly long comment because I think about DW too much, apologies. So yeah. Good video!! I just wanted to comment in some of the things that I think that you didn't say, because you said so much of the other stuff I think pretty much exactly, and a few things I hadn't previously thought of but now are definitely "things I also think". 🥳
For me, there's only one scene where the Doctor is clear in Jodie's time. That's a scene in 'The Witchfinders', when she's dismissed as a woman. So, obviously, in his royal regard, she can't be the Witchfinder General. Sadly, it's forgotten outside of that scene. I just wished they'd leaned into her gender more, recognised it as a barrier, that some would struggle with, and have her overcome their expectations and prejudices. Chris Chibnall's entire tenure as show-runner feels like a missed opportunity.
Exactly my thoughts. They really could've gone in-depth into 13's outlook on being a dude for 2000 years & more into if anything was different for Time Ladies at all.
It was a tragedy that the first female Doctor was hampered by Chibnall. Overblown plots filled with rapid fire exposition (I'm surprised the poor lass's jaw didn't fall off). And the producers seem to have decided that it was her gender that was the problem and not crap writing, the cowards! I was sickened that they brought Tenant back in and it looks like we'll never see another female Doctor, after I'd been looking forwards to this for such a long time.
Nah RTD has been pretty adamant that there will be another woman in the role in the future. And he did cast a black queer actor in the role to come after Tenant's run with the Specials. Doctor Who is not in the hands of someone who thinks that her gender was the problem. For god's sake he had a prominent storyline with a Trans character done respectfully, so I don't think the production is going to overreact and never cast a woman again. That's absurd.
@@TheGeorgeD13 I have to say that Star Beast was pretty amazing. It's like RTD saying: "Oh you don't like us being 'woke' do you? Stitch that!" But I wrote this 9 months ago, when we weren't even sure if there'd be any more Doctor Who.
@@operationgoldfish8331 Even so, there's been a decline in viewership even before Jodie's run. The viewership decline began in earnest during Capaldi's era. And frankly, it's not going to change anytime soon. The days of ratings like it was in 2006-2008 Doctor Who are long, long gone for most genre TV.
I was one of the people that gave up during the chibnal era. Sometimes I would watch an episode and see a glimpse of the doctor and know that Jodie could have been an interesting doctor, but the writing just ruined it. I ended up watching classic who for the first time, and it was a much more enjoyable experience. I hope that RTD brings some of the magic back.
People who called this era too political just see the surface level. Yes, on the surface, Chibnall had more *overt* examples of politics in doctor who, like the doctor literally spelling out to the audience “racism is bad”, “witchhunting is bad” or “climate change is bad” with the depth of a paper plate. But in reality the politics of this era are not only much more surface level, but also much more right-wing. Compare Oxygen and Kerblam!, both episodes being only 1 season apart and both tackling the same topic. Oxygen explores in depth what makes capitalism bad, and its reasoning is that human lives lose value in a capitalist system (I mean in our system we don’t literally suffocate if we don’t perform but we do starve to death so not that far off). It explores a controversial topic in depth and from a very left perspective. Now look at Kerblam!: the Doctor suddenly becomes a huge advocate of this Amazon analogue, and the situation is shown without nuance: the good guys are the system, the bad guys are activists. It is completely black and white, and not in the way doctor who has been since its second ever story. Not only is the plot of Kerblam! bland and convolutated, the moral implications of the episode go completely unexplored and the doctor, who is seen as completely morally good, has core values that are inherently different from the ones she usually has. And the people have the gaul to say it’s “too political now” because women and black people. Revolting.
Thats because the writing was surface level, when people say they hate politics in modern shows its not that they hate politics, its that they hate how on the nose the writing is. it takes you completely out of the story, its really obvious what the messaging is and it is not nuanced or integrated very well. Every film/tv show known to man is full of politics. Star trek was full of communist ideals for example which wasnt popular at the time. People loved the crap out of it though because it was written well. Docotr who has always had these political themes in its enitre run. However this show runner and the writters involved were bad at writing it well and within the context of the universe it is in.
I really would have loved it if that scene of Yaz carrying The Doctor would have been a mirror to Caves of Androzani, where this time the companion saves The Doctor and sacrifices their own life. Only for it to end up with the doctor sad and conflicted and still dying
4:20 I'm gonna throw out a spitball _(apologies, excuse my American vernacular)_ idea into this... as opposed to Yaz, what if the companions had been _GRACE AND GRAHAM?_ It wouldn't be that weird, since the show has done "odd couple" pairing before with an old lady like Evelyn Smythe and the Sixth Doctor, and honestly I think she was just by far the most developed character Chibnall wrote in his entire run. Why he decided to kill his best character in his first episode, for shallow contrived reasons, is beyond me. EDIT: also, watching this video makes it clear there was a much simpler solution to the writing problems of Chibnall's era, which was to just _F*CKING HAVE A FEMALE SHOWRUNNER._ Like, that's not even radical for "Doctor Who," since the literal creator of the show was a female producer, it would literally just be returning to tradition at this point so why does the BBC never do it!!??
I refute the argument that 3 companions are too many. Buffy The Vampire Slayer managed 3 companions in a show that perfected the 'monster of the week' format. I maintain that if the show had a competent show runner, 3 companions could have worked fine. And yes! Jodie's Doctor never actually became 3 dimensional. I think she is an actor who really needed a good showrunner to bring her best performance out. Someone like Capaldi already knew who his Doctor was from day one -He'd been playing the character since he was a child after all- Whittaker needed to have some inspiration to find her Doctor. She was so off that even Doctor Ruth was more Doctorish in comparison. I contend that Ruth wasn't that good a Doctor, but in one episode she gave us more Doctor than Whittaker managed to. Oh, they were deffo scared of doing bad representation (Maybe have a woman as show lead, then? I seem to remember DW having a female show lead *once*.... Can't remember when that was, now....), 13 was the epitome of the Strong Female Lead TM. No flaws, all brawn, no character. There was a lot that could have been done with her, but from the very first publicity shots of her, I had a feeling that they felt that simply plonking a woman in the TARDIS meant they'd finished the job and that it was a virtue in of itself. The first female Doctor was such a wasted opportunity. Each new Doctor is a chance to show us something new while reassuring us that some things will never change. Somehow they managed to fail on both counts.
You don't even need to go outside the Whoniverse for an example. The Sarah Jane Adventures had 4 main characters (5 if you count Mr Smith) for pretty much the entirety of its run.
12:43 Yeah, they were never gonna do that, especially with Chibnall, who seems to be more politically center and neoliberal than RTD or Moffat. I mean just think of the disgusting mess that was Kerblam! And I wish Yaz had never been a cop!
Yaz might as well have been a retail worker. More often than not, she didn't speak or act in any way that suggested a police background. Sure, she had occasional lines like "I'm a police officer; I've trained for this", but that doesn't count when there's nothing elsewhere in her written character to back it up.
I happy cried when I first saw 12 regenerate into 13, meant a lot to me as a trans woman, and her meaning so much to me lead to me excusing all the flaws early on, wasn't until halfway through 13's third season where I finally accepted that I didn't enjoy the writing and gave up on it. It sucks too because Jodie does a wonderful job acting the role, it's just the writing that brings the whole show down. I'm currently doing a watch through of all of new who with my girlfriend who's never seen it before, so maybe this time I'll finish Jodie's whole run.
Looking back on you talking about exploring gender identity and lack of equity in the past is REALLY interesting now that Ncuti gatwas series has dropped. Something like the doctor changing gender is MASSIVE! And it was only really mentioned in a throw away line in the witch trials episode, when the king refused to believe the doctor was the leader. But much like gender identity, racial identity is another massive thing that effects the doctor now, without him realising at first (as shown in the episode Dot and Bubble, which really showed that he’s lost his ability to save people because of his skin colour… something that was never a question or problem!) so I do think it was a missed opportunity, having seen a realisation of change in identity episode, that they didn’t write a hard hitting one for Jody.
I think the Chibz era’s strongest point goes to the handling of the cybermen, daleks, the master most of all. But for the most part it’s a lot of bark and no bite, telling and not showing and lacks gravitas
You say you played at being the doctor which is interesting because (in this video at least) you have the look and persona that I think would be good qualities to have for a female version of the doctor. And added bonus....ginger! 😀
14:32 In fact, there were soldiers of Indo/Asian ethnicity who fought for the Nazis. Indeed, an entire regiment called the Indische Legion der Waffen-SS (Indian Legion of the SS) was active in France when the Parisian wartime scenes of Spyfall Part Two were set. So the Master wouldn't have needed a perception filter after all! Sloppy research, Chibnall.
I really appreciate your take on the Chibnall era. On most points I'm in agreement. Though I admittedly haven't watched the last season yet. I've mostly read articles and reviews if it simply so I don't feel lost going into the next season. Bad writing and too many companions gave audiences no opportunity to get to know The Doctor or her companions. So I just never cared about any of them. I also felt that at times that Chibnall was going for great speeches (like Capaldi and others before her) but just came off preachy. There were a few good moments. But overall this era is definitely a low point in storytelling and character development.
Chibnals era is over it was a big mess it was so un doctor who style ,thank god for rtd is back ,I felt sorry for jodie because you can't blame for the bad stories
honestly both Moffat and Chibnall have had this same vibe to me where it feels like their motivations for writing are to "make their mark" instead of because they genuinely believe what they're doing will create an engaging story. am I genuinely meant to see Clara as the most important companion in the entirety Dr. Who history for… walking into a portal? she literally even told them which TARDIS to steal, it was so corny… and am I really meant to believe that the Doctor is actually an extra-dimensional immortal being whose genes were used to invent regeneration and also they spent most of their life as a space cop? like… seriously??? RTD destroying Gallifrey felt like a way of introducing new stakes and an emotional arc for the Doctor, as well as helping to simplify the canon for a new audience. what did Moffat bringing it back achieve other than spitting on 9's character arc for no reason? what did Chibnall destroying it again do other than result in some VERY manufactured-feeling drama trying to hype up the audience for the timeless child? it all just feels like spectacle with no substance. hopefully we get something a bit more filling now RTD's back, but who knows at this point.
I agree with a lot if this, ESPECIALLY when Moffat brought back Gallifrey. I wouldn't call it spitting on 9, but I was originally hopeful that it would turn into a hopeful, long-term goal for the show as a whole to explore, and not for it to be found two seasons later. Like, it really was scope over substance, imo.
Given that Gallifrey was already destroyed in the books, it wasn't for new stakes or a new emotional arc. It was mainly having a story that lacked the lore baggage of classic who, allowing newcomers a chance to enter the show without watching 26 seasons, as well as the Time War representing the trauma of the show's cancellation. (Note that Gallifrey and the Time War reemerge in _The End of Time_ when Moffat takes over the show, as the show was almost cancelled then, and would have been had Moffat not taken over.) Conversely, Moffat brings it back at the height of the show's popularity, when the future of the show is secured and we can place the trauma of cancellation behind us, allowing us to dip our toes back just a little more into classic who if we wish to do so. Importantly, it's 11 that ultimately makes the choice to save Gallifrey in _Day of the Doctor,_ not 10 or War. Rather than undermine the character arc of 9 or 10, it highlights just how these arcs function, by showing that it's through their growth that 11 can come to an alternative conclusion. It's only with the benefit of 9's character arc that the alternative choice can be made. And if you want to know why Moffat did this, you can just ask the man himself. "I know some of you, including friends of mine, were upset that we reversed the outcome of the Time War. My defence, however feeble, is that given the chance, the Doctor would do exactly that. And it was his birthday, how could I deny him that chance?" As for him bringing it up two series later, this is important for what Clara's arc is doing, turning her into a version of The Doctor, but it's more that Moffat honestly thought he was leaving that season. And as he's bad with delayed gratification he wanted to just go ahead and have his one Gallifrey episode before he left. _Hell Bent_ is a divisive episode, but I like gigawho's analysis on it. "Every thing you think you know is lore". Clara's divisive in general as well, but I don't think "she's the most important companion" is what Moffat is trying to tell you here. She's repeatedly stated throughout S7b to be just a normal person. The story arc is actually a criticism of what you're suggesting. It's also heavily ripping off the EDAs as well. Moffat wears his influences pretty clearly on his sleeve. Dude called _Alien Bodies_ his favorite Doctor Who book ever. If you've read his interviews and public comments he's pretty straightforward about what his intent is with all of this. (Unlike Chibnall, who never really talks about his intent.) I get if you don't vibe with it. But Moffat's very much trying to tell specific types of stories. (Specifically, stories about stories, often interrogating the idea of what we should use _Doctor Who_ as a medium to explore.) He's not just trying to leave his mark on the show. (Whether or not he does the job well, of course, you can disagree. But his intent is really specific.)
For me, it was the River Song arc that felt completely forced. She's his Killer!..... Oooh... oooh... ooh, and his wife.... Oooh... oooh... oooh, and his companions' child! I do enjoy Silence in the library, and the conclusion Husbands of River Song.
I *mostly* agree,, but the whole point of Clara's character is that she's *not* anyone inherently special, and the Doctor's fascination with her is misplaced & disrespects her as a person.
i know this isn't the focus of the video, but since you mentioned the family of blood story, can i just say: i think maybe my least favorite moment is the doctor asking the racist nurse if she wanted to come with him at the end. i truly believe martha would've called him out on it if she had been present for the conversation, and maybe even would have left him. and the way he just casually thanked her when everything was over like "oh btw thank you for taking care of me :)" after everything she had to endure for him. ten is my second favorite doctor and martha's one of my favorite companions, but season 3 is always so disheartening to rewatch because it's full of moments like that where she's being disrespected not only by the doctor, but by the narrative itself. not to mention that they pair her with mickey (rose's ex, after a full season of her being compared to rose) out of nowhere, despite her already having a previously established partner. just sucky. but it must be said that despite all that, she still felt more like a real character than any of thirteen's companions, even yaz who we got 3 whole seasons with. i think it goes to show that though RTD is definetely not perfect, his grasp on writing characters (including side and one-off characters) is much, much stronger than chibnall's.
Russell removed the Time Lords to build the Doctor’s character and explore consequences his actions. Chivnal seemed to kill them because he had no place for them. This could have also been accomplish just not using them. The repeated destruction of a race who has mastered both time and space seems to diminish their power & significance. What was the point of the cyber time lords or the timeless child idea of yet another all,powerful race (that goes unexplored)? The moment that captures the pain of this era is when the Very experienced Doctor has no idea how to respond to a companion dealing with a terminal illness. Of all the Doctors, the older experienced female has limited emotions. She was excited about a Tardis producing cookies, but no feelings for her “fam” !? Please note. My issue is with the writing. I watched the 5th Doctor with 3 companions when the companions were not as fleshed out, but I still felt the companions were distinct and each played differently off the Doctor. I feel this Doctor as a character had so much untapped potential.
I had the sense that the moment in Rosa when the TARDIS crew had to reinforce the racist status quo in order to preserve that key moment in the civil rights movement was making a point about the nature of allyship and what it means to be subject to racism vs an onlooker. I got the sense it was quite a subtle allegorical point. But that's just my interpretation. I don't think it was failing to be a sophistocated antiracist message like you suggest.
I really appreciate that Astral tries to give 13 an arc based on her change from man to woman; every Doctor arc since Eccleston has been dealing with the consequences of the previous, at least subtextually and this is reflected in their form and wardrobe: Eccleston has trauma from the timewar, Tennant desperately wants to connect with people (romantic), Smith wants to be young in his advancing age, Capaldi strips back the artifice of quirkiness and reflects this age but grows to be warm again. These are actual takes informed by the actor's appearance and performance. But neither Whittaker or Chibnall had a strong take on the change from man to woman. Why has the Doctor changed now? Was the Doctor so world-weary at the end of his last life he became a woman to gain new joy and perspective?? How does this affect the interplay with companions and different eras??? Well it doesnt... Even Whittaker's costume is just a mishmash of previous that says nothing about her character. It's a real shame because there are so many stories that could have been fascinating. But instead of leaning into the female change they ignored it
No chibnalls entire was a complete mess start to finish, Chibnall has admitted he had no plan and was makeing it all up as he went along so that's why it felt disjointed. Chibnall destroyed the show, chibnall had no idea who or if any anyone would be taking over from him. when writing power of the doctor no writer wanted to touch it after chibnalls train wreck. had RTD not swooped in the show would be on hiatus and it's future unsure. I'm just so glad chibnalls era is over, Ncuti and Millie are going to be awesome in season 14 and I can't wait till the 60th with David and Catherine and it will be fantastic.
I know it's unpopular, however, I really like Chibnall's era. It was nowhere near perfect, and at times, dogshit, but I love it. Jodie's Doctor was infectious and Mandip Gill's Yasmin Kahn was supurb. All in all I really liked Chibnall's era.
I have to say, I didn't like Rosa. It felt extremely forced and not natural at all. But the absolute biggest problem I had with it was that the whole episode revolved around what is revealed to be a villain from what, 3,000 years in the future? Who is a white man bent on changing human history because black people shouldn't "rise above their place" or whatever... the problem I have with this is, the future is completely unknowable, and one of the most awesome things about sci fi is that the writers get to imagine a future. And THAT is what these writers chose to imagine? That 3,000 years into the future of humans there are still incredibly racist bigots, specifically hung up on racism against black people??? Very, very unimaginative in my opinion. Especially when the imagining of the future through sci fi writing can be very inspiring. I just think in general it was a bad idea that could've been in a much more interesting way, being spurred by a much more interesting plot than simply a racist white man from the future. I miss the complexity of Moffat's run. Of course, his run wasn't at all without it's downfalls and problematic aspects. But still.. hopefully Davies brings some measure of complexity back.
The Master joining the Nazis is no different than working with the Cybermen or the many times we've seen "good" Daleks. Both of them can be seen as space-Nazis and not exploring how deranged the Master is doesn't make sense.
It makes me so angry that chibnall fumbled Jodie so hard. A sapphic girl doctor had so much potential. (I'm a trans girl this is just a 10 year old TH-cam account) all the characters felt 2d and flat. It sucks
I would also love to see your full take on Amy if you don't already have a video or post about it, because it sounds like it has the potential to fix a lot of problems I have with her and I would like to be able to watch 11's seasons and actually enjoy them without just wanting to punt Amy off of something as far as I can all the time because rn all she is to me is just *such* a bitch and I *hate her sm* sksjsj
@@mayotango1317 Ah yes; I, too, would continue to travel with the man who was directly responsible for my newborn baby melting in my arms, never to be seen again until she's grown up and been made into a genetically-engineered assassin.
I don’t know if you know this but when I look for your name you don’t come up on TH-cam? Looks like TH-cam is blocking queer content or something like that 🤔🤔
Jodie was amazing but her introduction went like this: She gets to say one word and press exactly one button on the Tardis console. The Tardis then opens the doors, turn on its side and literally shakes itself up and down to drop her from a great height, cleanses its interior with fire, and runs away and hides on another planet. Just about the only thing it didn't do was scream "cooties". Then she wasn't even in the first half of the next episode. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that seemed like just a _hint_ that the showrunners weren't entirely on board with her selection.
What i do like about the Chibnall era was that man wasn't afraid to take risks and had the balls and if i offended saying that i'll delete that part of the setence but to shake things up which is what the show needed after years of convoluted Moffat stories. He made the Doctor female which was long overdue and i'm glad it happened he made the Daleks, the Cybermen, The Master and the Sontarans cool exciting characters again because Moffat made them into a joke. He also didn't make the companions superhuman gods or try to make them super important they were just regular people for a change the companions were just the companions and i'm glad they just leave and not have some dramatic exit. My only complaint about the Chibnall era was changing the origins and destroying Gallifrey again after it just got resolved in the 50th i admire he was trying to do something different but that one was a stretch too far. Even though the writing wasn't 100% i still really enjoyed the era more than i enjoyed the Moffat stuff i have to be honest.
You're very well-spoken. But I don't really feel like your points on this subject are always all that well-presented. Three companions just might be too many for New Who. I feel differently on the matter and thought three companions worked rather well. But we can't really argue there. The whole point was fairly subjective. As things progress, however, your opinion becomes a bit shaky. You make the point that Martha saying bye is a "natural character moment". When, really, it can be seen as just as shoe-horned as stuff in the Chibnall era. The fact of the matter is: a plot always has to slow down a bit for a character moment.. It's pretty hard to have a character moment in the middle of a chase scene or a big laser gun fight! And her telling a story about a friend is no more effective than Ryan revealing to Yaz how his mom died. Was he supposed to turn that into a story about someone else?! (I'm assuming you see that as a "bad character moment" since you showed an image of it as you spoke of bad character moments in the Chibnall era!). Your next point: Companions don't call the Doctor out except until the end of Series 11. Did you forget that the companions, pretty much, totally disagree with the Doctor several times in The Ghost Monument? She tells Ryan not to use a gun and they all, pretty much, think Ryan should use a gun. The Doctor actually gives up at the end of the story and her companions tell her off for it. Hell, even in the first story, Graham argues quite heavily with her about the idea of they're being aliens in Sheffield. So much so, that he brings the argument back up as he leaves the TARDIS in Revolution of the Daleks. This is what I keep seeing with people who want to heavily criticise this period. Your facts feel very skewed. Things are even conveniently forgotten in order to re-enforce your points. I must admit, two badly-supported points in a row got me to give up on this video (some of the stuff you even said about Ryan's dyspraxia wasn't all that accurate. Yes, he does manage to climb into an airplane with a lot of help from his friends. But only a little earlier in the episode, we see him struggling to get an important shot in a game of basketball. Something he even says he's never been able to do, yet. Why? Because of his dyspraxia! So, maybe, the writers haven't forgotten about it!) I review stuff about Doctor Who in a blog I write. I always make sure to give whatever I am reviewing a good solid re-watch before publishing my review (I am, at the moment, bothering to review every season of the show - that's a lot re-watching!. So you can't even give me the "It's too much to re-watch" excuse!) So often, it seems like people that want to pick apart Chibnall don't take the time to properly analyze his content. Cause, if they did, a lot of their points would fall apart. Instead, they are working off the memories they have of when they first saw the episodes a few years' back. Which is, probably, not the best way to share your opinion with a wider audience. As another controversial producer once said: "The Memory Cheats"!
The writing was surface level, bland and forced. The the acting from almost all the main characters terrible. It picked up a little near the end but it still wasn't great. There really isn't much t say about it. It was awful.
On the topic of Dhawan's Master, me and someone else on Twitter both agreed that the manic/short fuse nature of his Master comes from the heartbreak and (from their perspective) betrayal from the Doctor in TDF. I'll link the original thread and then where I entered the conversation but the short version we both agreed happened is Dhawan regenerates on the battlefield after Missy is killed still wanting to be friends with the Doctor, goes to find them, finds out about the child, snaps and destroys Gallifrey. The exact motives are gone into in detail in the thread so I really suggest you read the whole thing lol but framing it like that ties the two eras together in a way I really like, because writers seem to like keeping their eras entirely separate in terms of character arcs or plot lines. Which makes complete sense from the writers perspective, but as a watching experience I just think it's a little jarring and underwhelming, especially with Moffat's affinity for just, not finishing things and then abandoning them (and Chibnall's of just not doing anything all lmao) Original thread: twitter.com/sophieinthesky_/status/1554576099241345024 The start of my additions where we discuss: twitter.com/Mad0Matryoshka/status/1554907627582197760 Outside of that interpretation though, I think you're absolutely right. I think Moffat's era changed the course of the show for the worse in ways we haven't had time to see yet just because of the taste it left in everyone's mouths. Like imagine if we had gone from RTD's quality of writing right into Chibnall's. It would have been disappointing, but I don't think it would have *felt* so empty even though it was. Coming after Moffat, it just feels like it took all of the worst qualities of his writing (imo) (weak characters that have 8 million one liners to try and make up for it, completely meaningless and disappointing character and plot arcs because they get abandoned or sabotaged by Moffat trying to make them "*cool*" by emotionally closing them off via more BBC Sherlock-esque quips of 'how dare you care about this thing I told you to care about, you're stupid for doing that actually and I have lost a bit of respect for you because you were invested', unable to leave the Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels alone, etc.,) and turned them up to 11 (weak characters whose dialogue is almost entirely a quip of some sort, just not having the arcs in the first place and then trying to build up to something way to big for the amount of time you actually have to work with so it inevitably falls short and feels incomplete, unable to leave the Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels alone, etc.). Idk if that made sense to anyone else lmao but I just wish they would decide what they want to do with the characters first and foremost and then have a lighter overarching plot instead of sacrificing character growth just for the sake of a too-big plot for the ✨Drama✨ I hope they do something more like that in the new season(s). I'm even down for a serious high stakes battle with the Master or something, but that needs to be the only thing they do and the stakes need to stop being the universe lmao
The funny thing is if you research the axis powers, there was a significant Indian consignment fighting alongside the Nazis, so there was no need for him to use a perception filter. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Legion
Let's face it, Chibnall is a dreadful writer, justglad to see the back of him. I'm still holding a flame for Jo Martin, I really REALLY hope she gets the full time gig at some point.
In my headcanon, Dawan‘s Master comes between Simm’s and Missy’s. Thus, his similar mannerisms to Simm are (sort of) explained and Missy’s redemption isn’t ruined.
That actually would explain a lot. Though I did feel reviving the Master was just a cheap, lazy play by Chibnall, as his entire run is pretty much devoid of anything original. But I did wonder why the way the Master story played out in Chibnall's run seemed to act as if Missy's whole arch never even happened.
My problem with the Rosa Parks episode is they never mentioned Claudette Colvin, who did the same thing 9 months earlier (at age 15), but when her case became political she was convicted of an assault charge and the other two charges directly racist were dropped, making it hard to appeal the segregation part. And then by the time the NAACP was ready to mobilize around the outrage her case had caused, she had met someone and become pregnant.
The NAACP did not want to organize a boycott around the plight of a pregnant teenager, so Rosa Parks (who had been secretary of the local NAACP chapter for 12 years) recreated the issue and was careful to remain peaceful so they couldn't morph it into any other charge except violating a segregation rule. Parks was brave and pioneering, but this was a calculated political move that was very much not spontaneous. Parks met Colvin multiple times, raised funds for her legal defense, and got her involved in the NAACP's youth program all before her own bus arrest.
If you know anything about the actual history, the doctor who episode was very frustrating, although I'd bought the whole season and kept watching until the one where a pokémon was eating a spaceship.
(I also noped out of the 12th doctor season where the moon hatched and a magic Forest adding extra oxygen to the atmosphere somehow protected _against_ fire. As we learned from the Apollo 1 command module fire.) I watched the regeneration scene at the end of that episode and then continued on into 13... until the end of the pokémon eating spaceship episode.
Unfortunate to hear. 12's first season was rough at times, but his run just gets better and better as it goes along. His last season is easily the best and most consistant in all of NuWho. And IMO, the finale of his final season is the only NuWho season finale I take no issue with. All the others are cursed with unearned melodrama, terrible endings, or confusing nonsensical creative choices. So I'd at very least consider watching series 10.
As for the treatment of Rosa, I 100% agree. They had the chance to tell the real tale and potentially educate people on civil rights and they just... chose not to...
@@parrot998 Agreed a lot plus S9 literally has Heaven Sent, pretty essential for DW viewing. Also imo S1,2,4 & 5 have great finales with minimal flaws (especially S1).
this has really opened my eyes to how brilliant it would have been to see the master played essentially as a generally soft spoken male manipulator, and/or to see Jodie’s Doctor actually being called out for her hypocrisy and toxic positivity,,, that would have actually been really original and brilliant takes on the characters. Or a least anything really playing to the talents of the actors would be,, an improvement
Completely agree, we was very much sold short but no surprise with Chibnall.
Yes! Making his Master be crazy really doesn't work. A sane Master would have been a great evolution of Missy's incarnation because she was so close to having control of herself.
Cannot recommend the war master box set from big finish enough. Expensive p, but fully worth it.
Big Finish’s The war master kinda did that
Being Dispraxic it goes Bikes, Ladders, Jumping out of planes which I found that more difficult than leaving a room without walking into furniture 😂😂
Many of your points here echo mine almost entirely.
Personally, one episode sums up the whole era for me, and it's one episode of Flux. Now, unlike most people, I actually enjoyed the first 4 episodes of Flux quite a lot, and was very disappointed by the last 2. But I especially enjoyed (controversially) Once, Upon Time which a lot of people cite as emblematic of the whole era being bad, but I think is good BUT ALSO emblematic of the whole era's biggest problems.
That episode isn't alone in the 2018-2022 run in feeling like it really wasn't all it could be, but if you watch it again in the context of not knowing what the last 2 episodes of Flux will reduce the story to, it was at least evidence that in amongst the Chibnall era there are many really great ideas that the finished product either completely passes over for trying and failing to focus on something worse, or just does ham-fistedly. It deals with the themes and consequences of time travel in ways that we rarely got from any previous writer other than Moffat, and it does so in a slightly less self-satisfied way than we get whenever Moff does it. Having characters experience moments from their pasts in different bodies, and the aspects of the planet Time, is all great ideas executed with mostly ok execution.
What Once, Upon Time gets wrong, and why it's so emblematic if the Chibnall era as a whole, is all the same things the era gets wrong everywhere else. The overly expository and unnatural dialogue "the time storm is sending back into my own timeline... IN THE PAST"...honestly whoever signed off on that line should be banned from writing dialogue ever again... But obviously it's the same person who allowed "don't let their swords touch you" and "they're throwing them overboard, into the sea" or whatever that was (do we think they were just auditioning for Big Finish with that sort of dialogue delivery?); the clumsy, unthoughtful centrist politics (the Grand Serpent is a bad actor in a system that could be better, for example, rather than an inevitable result of the system that he is a part of, using that system in a way it was intended); the way hundreds of bits of stuff were just chucked at the audience like instead of watching the story we're being told it by a 13 year old with undiagnosed ADHD like "so this happens, and then this happens, and then they did this, but to understand that bit you need to know this tangent, and then they said this, so back to the main bit they do this and then he says .." etc (this is a self-burn, and I am not being insensitive to neurodivergent people I'm describing myself and how I still talk about stuff now that I am old and diagnosed and medicated, lol)
Although on that last point I think Revolution of the Daleks is the most egregious example of that. In that 71 Minutes there is at least 3 hours worth of ideas. I don't TOTALLY mind how it goes straight into "20 years later for the Doctor and 6 months for Yaz & the other two", but it makes us take a lot as given because of that. The doctor knows the cameras by number and every other inmate by name, and that's something we could have been shown happening at least in part. When we first see Yaz she's already obviously gone a little bit mad over it all, so why not show the other stages of that? Show her denial and bargaining etc, before she ends up stuck in that house/TARDIS sticking notes up trying to solve a mystery! Then there's a whole separate episode that could be done on Jack (or could have before he failed completely to apologise in the kind of way that might allow him to return one day). How did Jack know what was happening on earth (and why, if he knew, was he so surprised by much of it)? How did Jack learn that the doctor was in prison? How did Jack get himself arrested? How did he learn where the doctor's cell was and his sentence increased enough to put next to her? Jack's entire character in Revolution was basically just "remember when I said this in 2005?" And that doesn't work for me.
Then there's the whole political drama which probably couldn't have been its own episode, but still would have warranted further exploration, where "Not Trump" and "Not May" engage in grubby political/capitalist dealings with one another.
And then "The Second Dalek Civil War" was just so underwhelming, and over in the blink of an eye, that it really disappointed me, especially as someone for whom Remembrance is not only THE formative memory of my childhood, but one of the many classic stories that when revisited as an adult actually IMPROVES, and the Daleks in that are at war for the same reasons. Although in remembrance the OG Daleks (the renegades) are actually weaker than their "impure" adversaries (the imperials). Chibnall using Dalek purity as a justification for them being so powerful that they can wipe out the "impure" Daleks as though they weren't even there is yet another example of EXTREMELY questionable Chibnall politics choices. I'm not AT ALL suggesting he made that choice on purpose and he's actually a eugenics believer... Just that he should have thought about it both in terms of the best episode in the show's history and in terms of what the Daleks represent, and how it looks to show their genetic purity as a superpower
Overly long comment because I think about DW too much, apologies.
So yeah. Good video!! I just wanted to comment in some of the things that I think that you didn't say, because you said so much of the other stuff I think pretty much exactly, and a few things I hadn't previously thought of but now are definitely "things I also think". 🥳
For me, there's only one scene where the Doctor is clear in Jodie's time. That's a scene in 'The Witchfinders', when she's dismissed as a woman. So, obviously, in his royal regard, she can't be the Witchfinder General. Sadly, it's forgotten outside of that scene. I just wished they'd leaned into her gender more, recognised it as a barrier, that some would struggle with, and have her overcome their expectations and prejudices. Chris Chibnall's entire tenure as show-runner feels like a missed opportunity.
Exactly my thoughts. They really could've gone in-depth into 13's outlook on being a dude for 2000 years & more into if anything was different for Time Ladies at all.
It was a tragedy that the first female Doctor was hampered by Chibnall. Overblown plots filled with rapid fire exposition (I'm surprised the poor lass's jaw didn't fall off). And the producers seem to have decided that it was her gender that was the problem and not crap writing, the cowards! I was sickened that they brought Tenant back in and it looks like we'll never see another female Doctor, after I'd been looking forwards to this for such a long time.
Nah RTD has been pretty adamant that there will be another woman in the role in the future. And he did cast a black queer actor in the role to come after Tenant's run with the Specials.
Doctor Who is not in the hands of someone who thinks that her gender was the problem. For god's sake he had a prominent storyline with a Trans character done respectfully, so I don't think the production is going to overreact and never cast a woman again. That's absurd.
@@TheGeorgeD13 I have to say that Star Beast was pretty amazing. It's like RTD saying: "Oh you don't like us being 'woke' do you? Stitch that!" But I wrote this 9 months ago, when we weren't even sure if there'd be any more Doctor Who.
@@operationgoldfish8331 Even so, there's been a decline in viewership even before Jodie's run. The viewership decline began in earnest during Capaldi's era.
And frankly, it's not going to change anytime soon. The days of ratings like it was in 2006-2008 Doctor Who are long, long gone for most genre TV.
@@TheGeorgeD13 Yeah ppl never seemm to acknowledge the pre-S11 ratings drop. Especially even includingher first had great figures.
I was one of the people that gave up during the chibnal era. Sometimes I would watch an episode and see a glimpse of the doctor and know that Jodie could have been an interesting doctor, but the writing just ruined it.
I ended up watching classic who for the first time, and it was a much more enjoyable experience. I hope that RTD brings some of the magic back.
People who called this era too political just see the surface level. Yes, on the surface, Chibnall had more *overt* examples of politics in doctor who, like the doctor literally spelling out to the audience “racism is bad”, “witchhunting is bad” or “climate change is bad” with the depth of a paper plate. But in reality the politics of this era are not only much more surface level, but also much more right-wing. Compare Oxygen and Kerblam!, both episodes being only 1 season apart and both tackling the same topic. Oxygen explores in depth what makes capitalism bad, and its reasoning is that human lives lose value in a capitalist system (I mean in our system we don’t literally suffocate if we don’t perform but we do starve to death so not that far off). It explores a controversial topic in depth and from a very left perspective. Now look at Kerblam!: the Doctor suddenly becomes a huge advocate of this Amazon analogue, and the situation is shown without nuance: the good guys are the system, the bad guys are activists. It is completely black and white, and not in the way doctor who has been since its second ever story. Not only is the plot of Kerblam! bland and convolutated, the moral implications of the episode go completely unexplored and the doctor, who is seen as completely morally good, has core values that are inherently different from the ones she usually has. And the people have the gaul to say it’s “too political now” because women and black people. Revolting.
Totally agree with this - I find Oxygen hard to watch because it feels so close to reality
Thats because the writing was surface level, when people say they hate politics in modern shows its not that they hate politics, its that they hate how on the nose the writing is. it takes you completely out of the story, its really obvious what the messaging is and it is not nuanced or integrated very well. Every film/tv show known to man is full of politics. Star trek was full of communist ideals for example which wasnt popular at the time. People loved the crap out of it though because it was written well. Docotr who has always had these political themes in its enitre run. However this show runner and the writters involved were bad at writing it well and within the context of the universe it is in.
I really would have loved it if that scene of Yaz carrying The Doctor would have been a mirror to Caves of Androzani, where this time the companion saves The Doctor and sacrifices their own life. Only for it to end up with the doctor sad and conflicted and still dying
I thought this was a really fair and well thought through critique. I agree with most of what you said and look forward to seeing more in the future!
4:20 I'm gonna throw out a spitball _(apologies, excuse my American vernacular)_ idea into this... as opposed to Yaz, what if the companions had been _GRACE AND GRAHAM?_ It wouldn't be that weird, since the show has done "odd couple" pairing before with an old lady like Evelyn Smythe and the Sixth Doctor, and honestly I think she was just by far the most developed character Chibnall wrote in his entire run. Why he decided to kill his best character in his first episode, for shallow contrived reasons, is beyond me.
EDIT: also, watching this video makes it clear there was a much simpler solution to the writing problems of Chibnall's era, which was to just _F*CKING HAVE A FEMALE SHOWRUNNER._ Like, that's not even radical for "Doctor Who," since the literal creator of the show was a female producer, it would literally just be returning to tradition at this point so why does the BBC never do it!!??
I refute the argument that 3 companions are too many. Buffy The Vampire Slayer managed 3 companions in a show that perfected the 'monster of the week' format. I maintain that if the show had a competent show runner, 3 companions could have worked fine.
And yes! Jodie's Doctor never actually became 3 dimensional. I think she is an actor who really needed a good showrunner to bring her best performance out. Someone like Capaldi already knew who his Doctor was from day one -He'd been playing the character since he was a child after all- Whittaker needed to have some inspiration to find her Doctor.
She was so off that even Doctor Ruth was more Doctorish in comparison. I contend that Ruth wasn't that good a Doctor, but in one episode she gave us more Doctor than Whittaker managed to.
Oh, they were deffo scared of doing bad representation (Maybe have a woman as show lead, then? I seem to remember DW having a female show lead *once*.... Can't remember when that was, now....), 13 was the epitome of the Strong Female Lead TM. No flaws, all brawn, no character. There was a lot that could have been done with her, but from the very first publicity shots of her, I had a feeling that they felt that simply plonking a woman in the TARDIS meant they'd finished the job and that it was a virtue in of itself. The first female Doctor was such a wasted opportunity. Each new Doctor is a chance to show us something new while reassuring us that some things will never change. Somehow they managed to fail on both counts.
You don't even need to go outside the Whoniverse for an example. The Sarah Jane Adventures had 4 main characters (5 if you count Mr Smith) for pretty much the entirety of its run.
This is such a good exploration of this era! Pretty much hit the nail on the head with every point on this one
12:43 Yeah, they were never gonna do that, especially with Chibnall, who seems to be more politically center and neoliberal than RTD or Moffat. I mean just think of the disgusting mess that was Kerblam!
And I wish Yaz had never been a cop!
Yaz might as well have been a retail worker. More often than not, she didn't speak or act in any way that suggested a police background. Sure, she had occasional lines like "I'm a police officer; I've trained for this", but that doesn't count when there's nothing elsewhere in her written character to back it up.
I happy cried when I first saw 12 regenerate into 13, meant a lot to me as a trans woman, and her meaning so much to me lead to me excusing all the flaws early on, wasn't until halfway through 13's third season where I finally accepted that I didn't enjoy the writing and gave up on it. It sucks too because Jodie does a wonderful job acting the role, it's just the writing that brings the whole show down. I'm currently doing a watch through of all of new who with my girlfriend who's never seen it before, so maybe this time I'll finish Jodie's whole run.
You should have seen Colin Baker. Doctor Who can be either great or terrible. That's the problem, and the solution.
Give it a go it's my favourite era so far, just ahead of the Hartnell and Pertwee eras.
Looking back on you talking about exploring gender identity and lack of equity in the past is REALLY interesting now that Ncuti gatwas series has dropped. Something like the doctor changing gender is MASSIVE! And it was only really mentioned in a throw away line in the witch trials episode, when the king refused to believe the doctor was the leader. But much like gender identity, racial identity is another massive thing that effects the doctor now, without him realising at first (as shown in the episode Dot and Bubble, which really showed that he’s lost his ability to save people because of his skin colour… something that was never a question or problem!) so I do think it was a missed opportunity, having seen a realisation of change in identity episode, that they didn’t write a hard hitting one for Jody.
Amazing work 🎉
A refreshing and insightful dive into a flawed era
I think the Chibz era’s strongest point goes to the handling of the cybermen, daleks, the master most of all. But for the most part it’s a lot of bark and no bite, telling and not showing and lacks gravitas
You say you played at being the doctor which is interesting because (in this video at least) you have the look and persona that I think would be good qualities to have for a female version of the doctor. And added bonus....ginger! 😀
You are terribly good at this stuff. More please😊
This was an enjoyable watch. Well done 😊
I prefer the Doctor being special on their own merits. I love that about our favourite silly little guy!
14:32 In fact, there were soldiers of Indo/Asian ethnicity who fought for the Nazis. Indeed, an entire regiment called the Indische Legion der Waffen-SS (Indian Legion of the SS) was active in France when the Parisian wartime scenes of Spyfall Part Two were set. So the Master wouldn't have needed a perception filter after all! Sloppy research, Chibnall.
I really appreciate your take on the Chibnall era. On most points I'm in agreement. Though I admittedly haven't watched the last season yet. I've mostly read articles and reviews if it simply so I don't feel lost going into the next season. Bad writing and too many companions gave audiences no opportunity to get to know The Doctor or her companions. So I just never cared about any of them. I also felt that at times that Chibnall was going for great speeches (like Capaldi and others before her) but just came off preachy. There were a few good moments. But overall this era is definitely a low point in storytelling and character development.
Yes, Chibnall's Doctor had stem-to-stern bad writing. All other problems emerge from this.
Chibnals era is over it was a big mess it was so un doctor who style ,thank god for rtd is back ,I felt sorry for jodie because you can't blame for the bad stories
Took the words right out of my mouth!!
honestly both Moffat and Chibnall have had this same vibe to me where it feels like their motivations for writing are to "make their mark" instead of because they genuinely believe what they're doing will create an engaging story.
am I genuinely meant to see Clara as the most important companion in the entirety Dr. Who history for… walking into a portal? she literally even told them which TARDIS to steal, it was so corny…
and am I really meant to believe that the Doctor is actually an extra-dimensional immortal being whose genes were used to invent regeneration and also they spent most of their life as a space cop? like… seriously???
RTD destroying Gallifrey felt like a way of introducing new stakes and an emotional arc for the Doctor, as well as helping to simplify the canon for a new audience. what did Moffat bringing it back achieve other than spitting on 9's character arc for no reason? what did Chibnall destroying it again do other than result in some VERY manufactured-feeling drama trying to hype up the audience for the timeless child? it all just feels like spectacle with no substance. hopefully we get something a bit more filling now RTD's back, but who knows at this point.
I agree with a lot if this, ESPECIALLY when Moffat brought back Gallifrey. I wouldn't call it spitting on 9, but I was originally hopeful that it would turn into a hopeful, long-term goal for the show as a whole to explore, and not for it to be found two seasons later. Like, it really was scope over substance, imo.
Given that Gallifrey was already destroyed in the books, it wasn't for new stakes or a new emotional arc. It was mainly having a story that lacked the lore baggage of classic who, allowing newcomers a chance to enter the show without watching 26 seasons, as well as the Time War representing the trauma of the show's cancellation. (Note that Gallifrey and the Time War reemerge in _The End of Time_ when Moffat takes over the show, as the show was almost cancelled then, and would have been had Moffat not taken over.)
Conversely, Moffat brings it back at the height of the show's popularity, when the future of the show is secured and we can place the trauma of cancellation behind us, allowing us to dip our toes back just a little more into classic who if we wish to do so. Importantly, it's 11 that ultimately makes the choice to save Gallifrey in _Day of the Doctor,_ not 10 or War. Rather than undermine the character arc of 9 or 10, it highlights just how these arcs function, by showing that it's through their growth that 11 can come to an alternative conclusion. It's only with the benefit of 9's character arc that the alternative choice can be made. And if you want to know why Moffat did this, you can just ask the man himself.
"I know some of you, including friends of mine, were upset that we reversed the outcome of the Time War. My defence, however feeble, is that given the chance, the Doctor would do exactly that. And it was his birthday, how could I deny him that chance?"
As for him bringing it up two series later, this is important for what Clara's arc is doing, turning her into a version of The Doctor, but it's more that Moffat honestly thought he was leaving that season. And as he's bad with delayed gratification he wanted to just go ahead and have his one Gallifrey episode before he left. _Hell Bent_ is a divisive episode, but I like gigawho's analysis on it. "Every thing you think you know is lore".
Clara's divisive in general as well, but I don't think "she's the most important companion" is what Moffat is trying to tell you here. She's repeatedly stated throughout S7b to be just a normal person. The story arc is actually a criticism of what you're suggesting. It's also heavily ripping off the EDAs as well. Moffat wears his influences pretty clearly on his sleeve. Dude called _Alien Bodies_ his favorite Doctor Who book ever.
If you've read his interviews and public comments he's pretty straightforward about what his intent is with all of this. (Unlike Chibnall, who never really talks about his intent.) I get if you don't vibe with it. But Moffat's very much trying to tell specific types of stories. (Specifically, stories about stories, often interrogating the idea of what we should use _Doctor Who_ as a medium to explore.) He's not just trying to leave his mark on the show. (Whether or not he does the job well, of course, you can disagree. But his intent is really specific.)
For me, it was the River Song arc that felt completely forced. She's his Killer!..... Oooh... oooh... ooh, and his wife.... Oooh... oooh... oooh, and his companions' child!
I do enjoy Silence in the library, and the conclusion Husbands of River Song.
I *mostly* agree,, but the whole point of Clara's character is that she's *not* anyone inherently special, and the Doctor's fascination with her is misplaced & disrespects her as a person.
@@CallMeTessWhat about Rose and the Bad Wolf or Donna be the most important woman in the show.
i know this isn't the focus of the video, but since you mentioned the family of blood story, can i just say: i think maybe my least favorite moment is the doctor asking the racist nurse if she wanted to come with him at the end. i truly believe martha would've called him out on it if she had been present for the conversation, and maybe even would have left him. and the way he just casually thanked her when everything was over like "oh btw thank you for taking care of me :)" after everything she had to endure for him.
ten is my second favorite doctor and martha's one of my favorite companions, but season 3 is always so disheartening to rewatch because it's full of moments like that where she's being disrespected not only by the doctor, but by the narrative itself. not to mention that they pair her with mickey (rose's ex, after a full season of her being compared to rose) out of nowhere, despite her already having a previously established partner. just sucky.
but it must be said that despite all that, she still felt more like a real character than any of thirteen's companions, even yaz who we got 3 whole seasons with. i think it goes to show that though RTD is definetely not perfect, his grasp on writing characters (including side and one-off characters) is much, much stronger than chibnall's.
Great video, good summation of Chibnall's Who
Russell removed the Time Lords to build the Doctor’s character and explore consequences his actions. Chivnal seemed to kill them because he had no place for them. This could have also been accomplish just not using them. The repeated destruction of a race who has mastered both time and space seems to diminish their power & significance. What was the point of the cyber time lords or the timeless child idea of yet another all,powerful race (that goes unexplored)?
The moment that captures the pain of this era is when the Very experienced Doctor has no idea how to respond to a companion dealing with a terminal illness. Of all the Doctors, the older experienced female has limited emotions. She was excited about a Tardis producing cookies, but no feelings for her “fam” !?
Please note. My issue is with the writing. I watched the 5th Doctor with 3 companions when the companions were not as fleshed out, but I still felt the companions were distinct and each played differently off the Doctor. I feel this Doctor as a character had so much untapped potential.
Yes. The pretending thing is what I thought as far Matt Smith's regeneration goes.
I had the sense that the moment in Rosa when the TARDIS crew had to reinforce the racist status quo in order to preserve that key moment in the civil rights movement was making a point about the nature of allyship and what it means to be subject to racism vs an onlooker. I got the sense it was quite a subtle allegorical point. But that's just my interpretation. I don't think it was failing to be a sophistocated antiracist message like you suggest.
I really appreciate that Astral tries to give 13 an arc based on her change from man to woman; every Doctor arc since Eccleston has been dealing with the consequences of the previous, at least subtextually and this is reflected in their form and wardrobe: Eccleston has trauma from the timewar, Tennant desperately wants to connect with people (romantic), Smith wants to be young in his advancing age, Capaldi strips back the artifice of quirkiness and reflects this age but grows to be warm again. These are actual takes informed by the actor's appearance and performance. But neither Whittaker or Chibnall had a strong take on the change from man to woman. Why has the Doctor changed now? Was the Doctor so world-weary at the end of his last life he became a woman to gain new joy and perspective?? How does this affect the interplay with companions and different eras??? Well it doesnt... Even Whittaker's costume is just a mishmash of previous that says nothing about her character. It's a real shame because there are so many stories that could have been fascinating. But instead of leaning into the female change they ignored it
Good videos! I do hope you'll get a better mic though lol.
No chibnalls entire was a complete mess start to finish,
Chibnall has admitted he had no plan and was makeing it all up as he went along so that's why it felt disjointed.
Chibnall destroyed the show, chibnall had no idea who or if any anyone would be taking over from him. when writing power of the doctor no writer wanted to touch it after chibnalls train wreck. had RTD not swooped in the show would be on hiatus and it's future unsure.
I'm just so glad chibnalls era is over, Ncuti and Millie are going to be awesome in season 14 and I can't wait till the 60th with David and Catherine and it will be fantastic.
Short answer? No. It wasn’t lol.
Long answer? He was more tell than show.
I know it's unpopular, however, I really like Chibnall's era. It was nowhere near perfect, and at times, dogshit, but I love it. Jodie's Doctor was infectious and Mandip Gill's Yasmin Kahn was supurb. All in all I really liked Chibnall's era.
I have to say, I didn't like Rosa. It felt extremely forced and not natural at all. But the absolute biggest problem I had with it was that the whole episode revolved around what is revealed to be a villain from what, 3,000 years in the future? Who is a white man bent on changing human history because black people shouldn't "rise above their place" or whatever... the problem I have with this is, the future is completely unknowable, and one of the most awesome things about sci fi is that the writers get to imagine a future. And THAT is what these writers chose to imagine? That 3,000 years into the future of humans there are still incredibly racist bigots, specifically hung up on racism against black people??? Very, very unimaginative in my opinion. Especially when the imagining of the future through sci fi writing can be very inspiring. I just think in general it was a bad idea that could've been in a much more interesting way, being spurred by a much more interesting plot than simply a racist white man from the future. I miss the complexity of Moffat's run. Of course, his run wasn't at all without it's downfalls and problematic aspects. But still.. hopefully Davies brings some measure of complexity back.
Thanks Thatcher 🙄
I havs become woke. The destroyer of injustice.
Top tier content
The Master joining the Nazis is no different than working with the Cybermen or the many times we've seen "good" Daleks.
Both of them can be seen as space-Nazis and not exploring how deranged the Master is doesn't make sense.
On paper, I would agree. Except Nazis existed in real life and impacted a lot of people. It's a key difference from fictional alien races.
Also the was too many companions for me
With regards to gender dud you listen to the Dr who redacted podcast series?
13:39 Also, that's NOT the Doctor! The Doctor is never this neoliberal! She's just parroting the writer's views.
It makes me so angry that chibnall fumbled Jodie so hard. A sapphic girl doctor had so much potential. (I'm a trans girl this is just a 10 year old TH-cam account) all the characters felt 2d and flat. It sucks
Short answer, no, it was not good
With the classic story Marco Polo they missed quite a few opportunities to turn things on their head and show racism against the TARDIS crew...
No
I would also love to see your full take on Amy if you don't already have a video or post about it, because it sounds like it has the potential to fix a lot of problems I have with her and I would like to be able to watch 11's seasons and actually enjoy them without just wanting to punt Amy off of something as far as I can all the time because rn all she is to me is just *such* a bitch and I *hate her sm* sksjsj
Amy is the most realistic companion.
@@mayotango1317 Ah yes; I, too, would continue to travel with the man who was directly responsible for my newborn baby melting in my arms, never to be seen again until she's grown up and been made into a genetically-engineered assassin.
10/10 no mistakes made
I don’t know if you know this but when I look for your name you don’t come up on TH-cam? Looks like TH-cam is blocking queer content or something like that 🤔🤔
Jodie was the best, the writing however...
Davies is objectively saving the show. Fact
Jodie was amazing but her introduction went like this:
She gets to say one word and press exactly one button on the Tardis console. The Tardis then opens the doors, turn on its side and literally shakes itself up and down to drop her from a great height, cleanses its interior with fire, and runs away and hides on another planet. Just about the only thing it didn't do was scream "cooties". Then she wasn't even in the first half of the next episode.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that seemed like just a _hint_ that the showrunners weren't entirely on board with her selection.
What i do like about the Chibnall era was that man wasn't afraid to take risks and had the balls and if i offended saying that i'll delete that part of the setence but to shake things up which is what the show needed after years of convoluted Moffat stories.
He made the Doctor female which was long overdue and i'm glad it happened he made the Daleks, the Cybermen, The Master and the Sontarans cool exciting characters again because Moffat made them into a joke.
He also didn't make the companions superhuman gods or try to make them super important they were just regular people for a change the companions were just the companions and i'm glad they just leave and not have some dramatic exit.
My only complaint about the Chibnall era was changing the origins and destroying Gallifrey again after it just got resolved in the 50th i admire he was trying to do something different but that one was a stretch too far.
Even though the writing wasn't 100% i still really enjoyed the era more than i enjoyed the Moffat stuff i have to be honest.
Moffat didn't make the Cybermen and the Master a joke that was RTD...Moffat had better write them the RTD did!!!
@@MarionBagginsYes but he didn't exactly do anything with them either.
@@JudgeJosephDredd1989 Missy had a redemption arc and Moffat made the Cybermen scary back to the days of Body Horror...He did so much with them!!!
Chinball is a scary cat.
You're very well-spoken. But I don't really feel like your points on this subject are always all that well-presented. Three companions just might be too many for New Who. I feel differently on the matter and thought three companions worked rather well. But we can't really argue there. The whole point was fairly subjective.
As things progress, however, your opinion becomes a bit shaky. You make the point that Martha saying bye is a "natural character moment". When, really, it can be seen as just as shoe-horned as stuff in the Chibnall era. The fact of the matter is: a plot always has to slow down a bit for a character moment.. It's pretty hard to have a character moment in the middle of a chase scene or a big laser gun fight! And her telling a story about a friend is no more effective than Ryan revealing to Yaz how his mom died. Was he supposed to turn that into a story about someone else?! (I'm assuming you see that as a "bad character moment" since you showed an image of it as you spoke of bad character moments in the Chibnall era!).
Your next point: Companions don't call the Doctor out except until the end of Series 11. Did you forget that the companions, pretty much, totally disagree with the Doctor several times in The Ghost Monument? She tells Ryan not to use a gun and they all, pretty much, think Ryan should use a gun. The Doctor actually gives up at the end of the story and her companions tell her off for it. Hell, even in the first story, Graham argues quite heavily with her about the idea of they're being aliens in Sheffield. So much so, that he brings the argument back up as he leaves the TARDIS in Revolution of the Daleks.
This is what I keep seeing with people who want to heavily criticise this period. Your facts feel very skewed. Things are even conveniently forgotten in order to re-enforce your points.
I must admit, two badly-supported points in a row got me to give up on this video (some of the stuff you even said about Ryan's dyspraxia wasn't all that accurate. Yes, he does manage to climb into an airplane with a lot of help from his friends. But only a little earlier in the episode, we see him struggling to get an important shot in a game of basketball. Something he even says he's never been able to do, yet. Why? Because of his dyspraxia! So, maybe, the writers haven't forgotten about it!)
I review stuff about Doctor Who in a blog I write. I always make sure to give whatever I am reviewing a good solid re-watch before publishing my review (I am, at the moment, bothering to review every season of the show - that's a lot re-watching!. So you can't even give me the "It's too much to re-watch" excuse!) So often, it seems like people that want to pick apart Chibnall don't take the time to properly analyze his content. Cause, if they did, a lot of their points would fall apart. Instead, they are working off the memories they have of when they first saw the episodes a few years' back. Which is, probably, not the best way to share your opinion with a wider audience.
As another controversial producer once said: "The Memory Cheats"!
The writing was surface level, bland and forced. The the acting from almost all the main characters terrible. It picked up a little near the end but it still wasn't great. There really isn't much t say about it. It was awful.
On the topic of Dhawan's Master, me and someone else on Twitter both agreed that the manic/short fuse nature of his Master comes from the heartbreak and (from their perspective) betrayal from the Doctor in TDF. I'll link the original thread and then where I entered the conversation but the short version we both agreed happened is Dhawan regenerates on the battlefield after Missy is killed still wanting to be friends with the Doctor, goes to find them, finds out about the child, snaps and destroys Gallifrey. The exact motives are gone into in detail in the thread so I really suggest you read the whole thing lol but framing it like that ties the two eras together in a way I really like, because writers seem to like keeping their eras entirely separate in terms of character arcs or plot lines. Which makes complete sense from the writers perspective, but as a watching experience I just think it's a little jarring and underwhelming, especially with Moffat's affinity for just, not finishing things and then abandoning them (and Chibnall's of just not doing anything all lmao)
Original thread: twitter.com/sophieinthesky_/status/1554576099241345024
The start of my additions where we discuss: twitter.com/Mad0Matryoshka/status/1554907627582197760
Outside of that interpretation though, I think you're absolutely right. I think Moffat's era changed the course of the show for the worse in ways we haven't had time to see yet just because of the taste it left in everyone's mouths. Like imagine if we had gone from RTD's quality of writing right into Chibnall's. It would have been disappointing, but I don't think it would have *felt* so empty even though it was. Coming after Moffat, it just feels like it took all of the worst qualities of his writing (imo) (weak characters that have 8 million one liners to try and make up for it, completely meaningless and disappointing character and plot arcs because they get abandoned or sabotaged by Moffat trying to make them "*cool*" by emotionally closing them off via more BBC Sherlock-esque quips of 'how dare you care about this thing I told you to care about, you're stupid for doing that actually and I have lost a bit of respect for you because you were invested', unable to leave the Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels alone, etc.,) and turned them up to 11 (weak characters whose dialogue is almost entirely a quip of some sort, just not having the arcs in the first place and then trying to build up to something way to big for the amount of time you actually have to work with so it inevitably falls short and feels incomplete, unable to leave the Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels alone, etc.).
Idk if that made sense to anyone else lmao but I just wish they would decide what they want to do with the characters first and foremost and then have a lighter overarching plot instead of sacrificing character growth just for the sake of a too-big plot for the ✨Drama✨
I hope they do something more like that in the new season(s). I'm even down for a serious high stakes battle with the Master or something, but that needs to be the only thing they do and the stakes need to stop being the universe lmao
The funny thing is if you research the axis powers, there was a significant Indian consignment fighting alongside the Nazis, so there was no need for him to use a perception filter. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Legion
Let's face it, Chibnall is a dreadful writer, justglad to see the back of him. I'm still holding a flame for Jo Martin, I really REALLY hope she gets the full time gig at some point.