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Doctor Who, Please Stop Doing This.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- There's always a twist at the end, but why can't there be a satisfying explanation too?
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What do you think - are we being too harsh, or do we have a point?
There's no such thing as too harsh in matters of opinion.
You are making very good points. It's getting seriously confusing what RTD is doing. It's coming off as ridiculously high-brow... and that's not very Dr. Who. 4th wall breaks shouldn't be used as often as he's using it. It loses its impact.
I am new. I’ve watched half of the other shows.
You are all thinking too much.
You are not being too harsh I agree with you Ellie
I understand the concerns that you have....but I trust the man who brought Dr. Who back.I feel everything will be explained in due time. Believe and trust RTD. Also I believe fans have gotten a bit brittle in the expectations for their fandom...the whole idea of scifi is going in new directions and discovering new frontiers. Open up your expectations and trust the process.
I don't mind wondering WHEN mysteries will be solved. But I don't want to have to wonder IF mysteries will be solved.
👆 This. So much. Wondering when a mystery will be explained is part of the mystery in a piece of fiction. If you're left wondering _if_ a mystery will be solved it incentives ignoring and forgetting the mysteries in which case what's the point of the mysteries?
Imma be honest.. some of the mysteries won’t be. Russell , Chris and Steven have done this in the past. So let your voice be heard because it feels like he doesn’t even care no more
It's not his first time doing this either. He was the one who introduced Jack's 3 missing years as a huge part of the character's motivation, and neither the audience, or as far as we know, Jack, have any idea what actually happened.
There are tons of theories, but it could have been anything
@@HyattHyatt3179 My head canon is he dated Rogue during that time.
@@ofskittlez I could honestly see that being a pretty solid couple. Especially after the whole bad wolf event.
I actually respect that you're pointing out the negatives instead of jumping on a positive band wagon.
I think it's difficult as there has been so much unnecessary hate on the internet about this new era of the show so it's nice to focus on what's positive. It was a great season just sadly let down by the final episode. It's nice to have a healthier balance but if they consistently focused on what didn't work we probably wouldn't have this channel to watch 🙂
@@philmatin Exactly
This channel has always been pretty fair with its criticism. They praised some episodes, absolutely wallopped the others (rightfully so). I trust their judgments, for the most part.
@@philmatin Constructive criticism is very important to resolve existing problems. Both blind hate and blind love do nothing to improve the situation. Those who love everything unconditionally create an illusion that everything's great. Those who just hate are considered to be just haters whose opinion is not important. But it's constructive criticism that is very unpleasant to hear but really helps to improve.
@philmatin a lot of problems have stemmed from unwavering positivity, for a show that was clearly poorly written and has no continuity. It makes people who criticise what was an awful season sound like haters.
I really don’t like Russell screwing with the audience like this. It’s genuinely mean spirited and not something I’d expect from him. All it does is discourage people from caring about the mysteries. As a writer myself I cannot fathom intentionally putting off people from becoming invested in my work. In my opinion he needs someone to say no to him, to prioritize the quality of the writing and audience experience over whatever his current goals are.
Exactly, No one should have complete control.
Look at what happened with George Lucas and the Star Wars prequels.
Meanwhile it was sadly the kind of thing I anticipated. When everyone was jumping up and down about RTD coming back, I was there telling people "RTD is not god"
I've definitely tuned out of the 'seasonal mystery box' elements at this point. Too many balls in the air, none of them satisfying (or worse, left unresolved).
@@Viglin123 Yea, Look at what happened with Disney and star wars sequels.
That is what happens when you focus on DIE agendas and stop caring about writing a good story or hiring actors and writers based off of skill.
'Not even the Sonic Screwdriver can get me out of this one?' - I would say that The Doctor spends an awful lot of time talking to himself as if he thinks someone is listening. Indeed, that's almost the point of 'Listen'.
I count the opening of Before the Flood as completely him staring at random corners of the Tardis while brooding alone
@@littleredruri It may as well be him practicing or performing out of habit because that is what he does with or without a companion for an audience. And him occasionally looking at the camera is either him looking at someone or something behind the camera.
@@littleredruri I actually took it that way too at the time. As if it wasn't a fourth wall break, but rather was The Doctor thinking out loud.
As Ellie said, there are different levels of fourth wall break, and they don't mean the same thing:
1. A glance at the camera: this often just means that the character noticed something internally, and is used to drawn audience attention to something.
2. A monologue: a character turns narrator. This is often done as the character being taken right out of the story to act as a narrator. It can also be the character thinking to themselves, and allowing the audience to see their internal monologue in a way we couldn't in most types of filmography.
3. Full forth wall breaks: This is usually what people mean when they mean a fourth wall break. A full break of the fourth wall like Mrs. Flood did. Even Tom Baker's fourth wall break could be interpreted as a type 2, but Mrs. Flood can only be a type 3, at least in her first appearance. In the last episode it could be interpreted as a type 2.
@@jasonwalker9471 You can always make up an explanation that undoes the fourth wall break, so it can be more easily forgotten.
Tim Taylor: Doctor, let's demonstrate your Sonic Sledgehammer, Sonic Allen Wrench, Sonic Flashlight, Sonic Duct Tape, and Sonic Paint Roller on our next Tool Time!
It does seem like he feels as though Doctor Who is his playground now that he's the 'saviour of the show after the Chibnall era' and that he can just do random stuff and not have to have answers for any of it. It's extremely frustrating because we know he has the capability to write extraordinarily good Doctor Who episodes, as he's done it many many times before in his previous tenure.
It does feel as if RTD has gone a bit "Time Lord Victorious."
I liked Flux
@@charlottec5802no one should have that much power
RTD2: Tough.
@@charlottec5802 great pull
its funny because after years of seeing people complain about the Chibnall era, ive now seen fans complain that they miss that era because it wasnt quite as pantomime.
It seems like RTD is setting up these big mysteries for the audience to speculate about and then mocking the audience for speculating about them.
And tbh even if other stuff will eventually have a satisfying explanation, he's broken our trust. It now feels fairly pointless to speculate, because we've now been burnt.
@briansayles1615 I hope you are wrong... But Disney are involved and Thats EXACTLY what they did with the Star Wars Sequels... (As well as removing Hands being cut off... Not keeping a consistent Team, Trawling Fan Forums to try and give fans what they wanted when most of the time fans dont even know what they want... Interconnecting every Character despite the one thing Rian Johnson got right being to STOP THAT HAPPENING and have Rey be "No one Special"... )
I have always Admired RTD and his writing, Especially with Doctor Who... Yes he has slipped and not every episode has been perfect - The "Dobby Doctor" springs to mind as one that didn't land right but I still LOVE that two parter! But there are time I feel that he simply need "Time" to make things work... I think his first few season when the show Rebooted in 2005, He had Time on his side... and much more free reign to create "His Vision"
With Disney coming in... Bearing in mind we dont know when they actually got involved, we only know that a deal was struck and they are now investors... We only know when we were told - Script Writing and Filming may have started BEFORE Disney became partners or maybe They were already involved in production before the News came to Media attention... It is possible that Disney wanting more content for Streaming wanted results faster and this has led to some poor decision's by RTD...
... God its even possible that RTD as much as he loves Doctor Who is just BORED of writing it and wants to explore new creative avenues yet has been begged to come back because the show struggled in its last run! (I liked Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor, But I wont lie... I found Season 13 BORING! And the last thing you want Doctor Who to be is BORING!)
RTD from what I have seen of his work, Including the show I never cared for such as Queer as Folk... He is very creative, but he works best when he is free to do as he pleases! And I dont feel that can happen with Disney! And maybe we also have to face the facts that he did not really want to come back for The Doctor...
Yeah... It's Mofftiss and "Sherlock" all over again. "Oh, you're interested in the *mystery* part of this mystery series? What a loser nerd you are!" Just...
It seems to be better when showrunner doesn’t write many (any?) episodes.
@@Phoenix2312 Many years ago Steve Ditko wanted Green Goblin to be a "nobody" but Stan Lee said if you build up a mystery for your audience they deserve a payoff.
TFA built a mystery around Rey's parents it deserved payoff. As for Rey being a "Nobody" guess what the Jedi Order was full of "Nobodies" there is nothing special with the concept. Ashoka is doing the concept on some level better with Sabine because at least she doesn't have a strong connection to the Force. She is someone the Old Order would have never trained making her by Jedi standards a true "nobody".
Basically if you build a mystery then you owe your audience a satisfactory answer.
Going to be honest, I really miss Moffett (not that he was perfect) his willingness to protect the shows mythology most of the time and his honouring the past felt a lot better than the others.
Why the f**k did he come back if his explanation for everything is "can't be arsed"
I agree wholeheartedly. I had a whole theory about this season being inside a tv show (as a hidden trap of the Toymaker or something). And by the end of the season the Doctor would notice what's going on.
I thought that was the reason behind some episodes feeling so heavily themed (the kid's programming episode, the Black Mirror episode, the political drama/thriller episode, the Bridgerton episode, etc), along with the 4th wall breaks.
And now I just feel silly for investing time in thinking there was going to be an explanation for it. And as a result I'm much, much more apathetic about the show going forward.
would help you had the PROPER NAME of the episodes... explanation?? have you seen 'unleashed' ??
In my view, finding our own explanations is what we're allowed to do.
I've read books like "The Wayside School Books" ( a children's book) and "House of Leaves" (a novel you'll find in the horror section), so I'm quite accustomed to things being teased and it being confusing and the point being for me to find me own reason for it.
(This might turn you off to reading those books, but I do recommend them. Wayside is a great one for kids lol My teacher read them to us in elementary school and then I tracked them down to read again as an adult. They're so ridiculous lol)
These episodes just didn't bug me like that.
Except/Even 73 Yards.
It felt like a Lost episode (a show I stopped watching early on), but I trusted that a subsequent episode of the season would address it, even if it didn't "answer" it.
And it did.
That's the distance of the perception filter. 73 yards.
We have a piece.
There very well may be more.
There might not be.
I'm kind of ambivalent about the episode, still.
But the temporal shifts this season were unprecedented in nature.
I'm wondering how long the show will use the word "mavity"
💙💙💙
...and then there's ruby's snow...
Where Ruby said “I used to be able to make it snow”
Rewatch the penultimate episode, the Doctor explained it.
its a disgrace
yeh and her teliporting in 72 yards too
I think the whole thing with Sutek being unable to see under the hood and all the snow was just the Tardis using the perception filter in order to screw with Sutek so he would act the way he does in the finale. It has been established the she can see the doctor's entire time stream all at once remember?
It's not our job as fans to plug the holes in the writing. Yes, it leaves us to speculate about things, but there is a difference between that and lazy writing
It's easy to say you had an explanation when everyone seems perplexed..it's harder to produce one..to refuse to provide one means that he obviously never had one
or he's just... fucking with people.
It’s possible he had explanations, but they didn’t translate well onscreen
@@user-mb8xf2dm7w he publicly released what he wanted to happen in the devils chord atleast. Basically because Maestro stole all music, there was going to be a roof scene where the doctor wouldve explained all music was rushing back at once and things were about to get weird (bit lame but its smth ig₩
@@speccowo I disagree with lame - but it definitely sounds like more of "weird" that this season was
It's so weird, following this channel. My gripes are different than everyone else's 💙
8:27 at that time point you NAILED IT. Perfectly described the entire season. It's really rather sad. It seems that this focus has degraded the show and turned in into a bit of a joke as you mentioned. The show has always been funny in part, and wacky in parts, but it always had a serious thread and it didn't resort to constant gags/bits/songs as you mentioned, as it has this season. I fear RTD has lost his mojo and this is all he can pull off.
To be fair, I at least felt some episodes did have the serious thread and did accomplish good story-telling through it. My two favorite episodes this season were "Boom" and "Dot and Bubble", and one of them was by RTD himself, so he can still pull it off, I feel. But I do wish the balance went more towards that sort of episode
@@ugolomb I agree. I liked both of those eps. It was the overall vibe of the season that really seemed "off". Especially how it started. Then the inconsistent tone of the writing really seemed odd. I don't mind a bit of wacky fun, as that's just part of the show. But the over reliance on it really turned me off and it seemed to impact the ratings as well.
You missed one. Clara gives some side eye smile when we first see her in the asylum of the daleks.
Oswin
The best one. “Run. Run, you clever boy, and remember.”
I agree with all the points!
My only theory about the musical number at the end of "The Devil's Chord" is that Maestro's realm/influence was still present and slowly fading, the same with Toymaker and 15 being able to replicate a second Tardis. Plus music, rhythm and all that was just restored to all of humanity and everyone felt joy and the urge to sing/dance. When Maestro was sealed away, 15 and Ruby could hear the sounds of music all around town. I may be giving the writing too much credit tho.
That was exactly the explanation. He said what it was that he cut, it was about 15 seconds of dialogue where the doctor just says something like "okay, Ruby things are about to get weird while music returns to the universe" honestly I think that 15 seconds would've made the episode wayyy better and that's coming from someone who liked the episode
@@SnowLily06 Yeah, I'm with you. I did like the episode but, the ending musical number would've been so much stronger if they had just set it up appropriately with that tiny bit of dialogue! The episode could've survived being 15 seconds longer... They definitely didn't prioritize things well by choosing to cut it.
I thought the dancing was neat-o, but that 15 seconds, even pared to 10, would have been great.
Actually for me, the big thing is what the hell is going on with the Doctors clothing? The Doctors outfits have been iconic for decades. We immediately recognise them, it's a major part of the Doctors identity and suddenly the Doctor after, well I've lost track of their age but centuries to Millenia same outfit, same outfit etc and suddenly they're not and it's not even, no pun intended... Addressed! 😞
On the other hand, my attitude is "Thank goodness the Doctor is doing something logical about their clothes". The clothes must have been able to stand up on their own in some cases.
The way I saw it, the other Doctors simply preferred one look so highly over any other that they would only wear variations of it. 3rd Doctor is a great example, the ruffles and his whole outfit would shift colors from story to story - but they've all clearly "changed clothes".
I think this Doctor is just feeling more expressive than previous iterations.
I can dig that 💙💙💙
A lot of us said from the start that there's clearly not going to be any explanation for anything. Especially 72 yards... He's masking poor writing as being mysterious.
4th wall breaking is awful, it screams" this is just a TV SHOW, NOT A REAL UNIVERSE" and pulls a viewer from their suspension of disbelief, which is essential for watching drama. In Comedy it can work , not in Doctor Who
Peter Capaldi's Doctor did it quite a lot. and it worked fine.
Tom Baker did it another time in Invasion of Time, looking at the camera when he can't get a door open and saying, "Even the sonic screwdriver won't get me out of this one."
@@Maeve_Rose moreso because it isn't treated like an important part of the episodes; the bootstrap paradox explanation can be treated as non-canon since it appears between two episodes suddenly back in the tardis, and the heaven sent scene can just be treated as the doctor thinking really really quickly to himself and only to himself. that quick glance at the camera can also be dismissed very easily.
however the fourth wall breaks we've seen so far seem to be really important and fit directly into the episode. so far they're not been entirely plot relevant, but mrs. flood talking to the camera is probably important for something.
Alternatively, it can also be considered "the fictional characters comming alive and engaging with audience in the reality".
Well, I would argue that it can work in drama... a number of Shakespearean soliloquies are, basically, fourth wall breaks (and Olivier, specifically, treated them as such in his movie "Richard III"). However, you really have to do them very thoughtfully. You, also, can only do it with one key character (basically, the one character who is acting as the story's narrator and whose eyes we're watching things through). That's why the previous few times it had happened on "Doctor Who" have always been the Doctor and no one has really thought much of them. Having other characters do it invites a lot more questions. Instinctively, you kind of ask "Why are they telling the story all of a sudden?" Plus, the show suddenly doing a lot of random fourth wall breaks with multiple people doing it is just very messy. As you said, it breaks the suspension of disbelief and makes the rules of the show's universe become very murky.
Martha's look at the camera could be interpreted as her looking at who is beside her around the TARDIS console, just sharing a "How cool is this?" moment w/ that person.
That’s how I read that one.
I'm just getting a little exhausted with everything RTD is revealing outside of the show, like possible cannon things mentioning probably 14 died, or stupid things like "here are things that I know the answer to that you never need to." I shouldnt have to feel the need to keep up with press to feel like I've fully seen the show.
I don't mind a bit of fourth wall breaking, like the ones referenced in Capaldi's era, or even 15's cheeky wink in Devil's Chord. But the way this season has been setup it felt like there was a very deliberate connection between that, the fantasy elements, and the salt/curse thing with 14. But even all of that felt like it was barely relevant to what happened this season.
Something is really off, and I'm kind of regretting RTD coming back if it's going to feel this sloppy going forward.
Even more infuriating now, knowing that by far my biggest gripe this series was the lack of coherent sci-fi explanations, to find out that explanations WERE written, but never made it to screen.
I always thought Martha was looking at whoever was at her left.
same here
Same 🙈
Yeah I'm pretty sure that was the Doctor too, I took it as his pov of the situation
Yep, that’s what I thought too
I never thought she was looking at the camera either? 😊
Im shocked you really havent talked about Russell literally saying he is doing all this build up stuff with poor explainations purely for engagement on social media. It boils my blood, that's not how you run storylines.
Russell has turned into a complete prat. I'm boycotting any further doctor who he's involved with
Where can I find this? I tried googling but I can't find anything
@@Mejoree113its in a video interview. Im not sure which one.
and if you disagree with him on social media, he or one of his minions blocks you
I've seen loads of quotes from him saying that he put things in because they made him laugh.
To use one of his own lines "Well, that's alright then" as long as Russell gets to giggle over his keyboard, why should we complain that he's killed the show?
I suppose that's what you get with RTD saying, "To hell with history," along with Moffat saying of, "The last thing we want is good ol' reliable Doctor Who." Yeah. Forget tradition. Let's throw Christmas out at the window while we're at it. Easter too. Oh, and the Royal Family. Olympics. Large Scale Charity Concerts. The Ashes. Anything that brings large masses together from all walks of life to celebrate a true global icon that brings everyone together. Ditch it all. Ditch history. Then you end up with low ratings. Gosh, what a surprise.
Honestly I'm just as annoyed about the continued use of 'Egad! A *coincidence!* That must mean you're important!' reasoning that goes nowhere and does nothing.
Honestly, I call bs on Russell saying he had an explanation. It feels more like he's searching for excuses after the finale was badly received and fans have pointed out all the seemingly lazy writing.
I think Russell has tried to relive the glory days by taking the "let's get David Tennant back" for the specials and hoped that would create enough of a hype wave to coast out the rest of the season. It's like he just wants to coast along on reputation and it's kind of insulting to fans in all honesty. At least Chibnall actually tried.
They brought David Tennant back, and then they put a trans woman in there who got away with saying one of the most sexist things I've ever heard.
"You know nothing. A male-presenting timelord would never understand [why I randomly have super-powers for being trans]"...
You have a good point. One scene a season w/ someone winking at the camera is fine. With Mrs Flood it’s been consistant. Hopefully there is an explenation. Maybe she is talking to something invisible. Or tiny aliens? Ill take whatever bs explanation. But it better not just be for the sake of being meta
In fairness, Rose said "It's not very Spock, is it?" in the "Empty Child" in 'Series ONE'... so "Star Trek has existed in this universe for a while!
As a TV show that the audience can relate to. How would Rose know about Star Trek being real
@@Unodatguykav Yeah, but if "Star Trek" exists as a TV show,why doesn't "Dr Who" - or does it now?
@@johna5635It does. The first episode was about to air in in Remembrance of the Dalek.
that line was a reference to star trek?
I loved it when that American women though the Silent was a Star Trek mask
I personally think that he was going to explain it when the meep mentioned its ‘boss’, which very conveniently been completely overlooked this entire season.
There's also one in Sylvester McCoy's Dalek episodes where a TV is about to advertise Doctor Who showing on BBC on the TV but it cuts off before it actually says it
One thing i hated about the season finally was that ruby and ruby's mother where just so unimportant. Like what you could've done maybe is that the doctor dies to the sand and ruby tries to escape and ends up in the time window chamber to where the sand can't reach her. Then the memory tardis does something and lures ruby in where she then explores a few corridors before reaching the control room. There is a the chamelion arch and a screen showing all the doctors and their compainions. She then inspects the console and pulls the lever the doctor always pulls to start it. The tardis springs to life and ruby gets pushed around in a sparking and exploding console room, eventually the tardis lands and ruby heads out. A world broken and torn filled with dust, Nothing no more alive. She goes to her home and finds a hole in the wall leading to mrs floods flat, Inside she hears these voices and whispers, she follows these voices and ends up at a watch, it has a faint orange glow to it. she tries to open it but is interupted by the god of death. A short chase through the visibly worn down flats she reaches the tardis and escapes. The tardis doors rumbles as she locks the doors. She then inspects the watch and opens it. The glow is going inside her and she passes out. She wakes up in a different place, she is young not older barely even a few months old. She looks around the weird room. A person walks inside, Its mrs flood. She wears a robe and turns on the machine. Its the same robe as the one of her mother. She wakes up. She rembers her alternate life, What happened the strange woman. The screen springs to life with the doctor talking, He explains that under the top console is a drawer containing the flight manual and makes a pun. She takes that manual places on the console and somehow can read the galifreyan. She looks around in the tardis, she wants to confront that beast, thats when she finds the zero-mass gloves. She knows what to do, she set a course and the tardis almost breaks as it lands. She takes the gloves and leaves. The evil beast wanting to know the last secret(that scene still playing). The reason it left her alive. She tells it she knows, and then walks closer and closer, as the beast lowers it head to understand the whispers she attaches a leash which is conected to the tardis interiour. as she expected the god raises its head and she slides along the rope back into the tardis, quickly dematerializing it. She does exactly what the doctor did in this part of the episode. The doctor awakes in the memory tardis. Confused of course. Ruby is pressing buttons at the console, the tardis is in flight. The doctor slowly stands up and asks ruby what is going on, ruby tells him she made a video. When he asks where it is she only tells him he will find it when he is ready. The tardis thumbs, the doors open and they are in space, oribiting galifrey. The doctor asks her "how did you?" she stops him in his words and tells him to help her get the chameleon arch working. She tells him she found out about her mother, Its a secret he nor she should know, For the sake of her family. The doctor puts the arch on her head and asks her if she really wants to do that. She nods and he says its going to hurt, she just nods. He activates the machine.
She wakes up in her house, rembering everything untill she stepped into the time window. Mrs flood saying she's happy that she's fine and tells her to come visit her later then leaves. Ruby asks the doctor on what happened and he simply said: "A guardian angel saved us." then just smiles and helps her of the couch. Some family action later and awkwardly telling the doctor she wants to stay she heads of to mrs flood. The doctor goes into the memory tardis and simply smiles before flying of to unit to get his own tardis back. Cut to ruby, mrs flood opens the door and kindly invites her, after she gave ruby a cup of tea and some sweets she tells her "I think you are ready for the truth" and then winks into the camera *OUTRO*
EDIT: The beast and god of death i mean is sutekh, i forgot the name while writting this comment.
This has been one of my biggest concerns with the new direction the show has taken. I have always loved it when Dr who has taken an inherently silly premise but given it a narratively sufficient explanation or when it weaves the fantastical into historical events. It makes a rather abstract show more grounded and creates room for stakes to be built into the narrative.
Good fantasy has an internal consistency and sets up it's own set of rules so the audience can get a sense of what limits the characters have. If anything can happen without a reason then why should I be worried if a character gets in danger or the universe explodes.
There is nothing wrong with not wanting to explain everything but if you expect your audience to stay invested then you need to give them something to follow. Saying the series is more fantasy now than Sci-Fi does not explain it.
I'm sorry, but the whole "Ruby's Mother" explanation is just crap... don't even get me started on that damn lamppost 😂
What lamppost?
@@BakuraRy0 exactly
@@BakuraRy0 the one her mother was supposedly pointing at, that has the "Ruby Road" sign on it naming her daughter
@@willchesters5366 Unbelievable. You bit.
@@BakuraRy0 ay? What are you going on about?
You leave some things unexplained to allow readers/viewers to fill in some details themselves, but something like this seems like a pretty big point that needs to be addressed as to why.
To me this is just lazy writing, just like sprinkling the salt at the end of the universe as an excuse to introduce whatever nonsense he felt like, just like dragging Sutekh through the time vortex on a lead to kill him... Just like Ruby's parents boring reveal. It feels like he's not explaining anything because he simply can't be arsed, I'm personally not a fan of throwing loads of random stuff in there just because he feels like it. The Sci-fi feel has really been lost this season.
Creating mysteries with no explanation makes the audience not invest in *any* mysteries because they might pan out to nothing!
4:12 also i feel that with Peter’s Doctor who character, he was very much the type of person who talks to himself. We saw this happen in the episode “Listen”, when he was having a discussion with himself at the beginning of the episode. I think it fitted his character very well. So that 4th wall break can be explained by this.
The bad plot, bad ending, Excessive crying, unanswered question, no character development, mediocre acting, way to political then usual, bad romance.
My biggest problem with all the episodes this season is that they built up a story brilliantly....then had a really trash ending or explanation. 73 yards is a perfect example.
Absolutely. They all felt like first drafts,
I am so glad you did this. You have been giving RTD so much benefit of the doubt I suspected you of being little more than shills. But this criticism is quite valid, and it restores my respect for you.
Please note that the first instance of Mrs. Flood was not necessarily fourth-wall breaking, like Capaldi. Looking in the camera is a valid technique to put the audience in the place of a character, which can be appropriate especially with a companion who is the _raissoneur_ for the audience. But talking about non-diegetic music and whole speeches are right out. They only show RTD has been entirely too twee.
[Edit] _Mavity_ was worse. By RTD'S own standards, associating being Indian with being too stupid to know Latin is a racist comment. When I point this out, wokety wokery wokesters tell me it's just a joke, but that is what people said about minstrel shows. This will not age well.
Honestly I think the worst part is that it might ruin expectations. Why bother worrying about the little breadcrumbs around if they don't lead up to anything? If things don't get explained more in the next season it might become a "boy who cried plot twist" situation
If things don't improve plot wise in the next season, it will be my last.
As a rule, when a character stops and talks to the camera, it is always excruciating for the audience. The only exception in Dr Who is probably Morgus in 'The Caves Of Androzani.' Outside of Who, 'House Of Cards' and 'The Mrs Bradbury Mysteries' worked well with it. But in all three cases, it worked because they were doing actual soliloquy, and it was therefore part of the way the story was told, so the audience don't squirm when it happens; they feel they are co-conspirators with, or confidantes of, the character and in a kind of conversation with them, so it makes sense to see them looking at the camera.
Mrs Flood, a bit like when Lynda Barron had to address the audience at the end of a Fifth Doctor episode of 'Enlightenment', is not doing that, she's just pantomiming to the kiddies and waiting for them to boo/offer a baffled reaction, like she's performing a fairy tale on a stage at school. Anyone over 7 years old watching it is going to curl toes in embarrassment, precisely because it's treating them like infants.
As for unexplored mysteries that RTD keeps throwing at us, the real reason he says he won't explain it is he hasn't worked out himself what they're all about, and is just bluffing that he is applying "sophisticated, subtextual storytelling." The reason it's so transparently untrue is that RTD couldn't do subtext if it did its own exact opposite and hit him over the head with itself. He isn't a bad writer, but he is very limited, and so overrated that it drives me crazy listening to the praise he gets. He certainly isn't well suited to 'Dr Who.'
Deadpool has been pretty successful with fourth wall breaks.😂
I think this whole season has been a audition reel for Disney, he wants a job with them.
*THANK YOU!*
Love you, Ellie.
This was sorely needed.
I agree 100%.
Ellie, god bless you (and the writers). You're saying the unpleasant things as pleasantly as possible. Very British!!!
Refreshing to see an account like this not just pandering to the show in the hope they get some crumbs of access.
None of these "mysteries" have made any folks I know talk about the show more.
For me "the return of Russell T Davies" has been a big disapointment. Several of the folks I had talked into watching Doctor Who for the first time did not make it through the whole series before they had stopped watching it.
Out of 9 episodes from "Space Babies" to "Empire of Death" I only found 3 to be any good and 2 of them were written by other people.
The only thing I am excited about for the next series is that someoen else is writting the holiday special.
I will most likely wait until all of the next series finishes and watch them all at once insted of bothering to watch them weekly.
I was thinking the same thing. It’s not even that long of a wait with the season being so short.
What RTD says, "I had an explanation but I decided to cut it."
What I'm hearing, "I DO have a girlfriend, but she doesn't come to this school!"
I had such high hopes for Russel's return and, honestly, he hasn't lived up to a single one. I'll watch the next series, but if things don't pick up I'm going back to DW ending at Capaldi's exit. Too much bad stuff has happened since then I'd rather forget.
given how loudly RTG was yelling that tennant is 'gone' from the role...
toymaker is still in play.
the laser may never have actually happened.
4th wall breaks are generally kept until the doctor's goodbye moments. these ones are definitely odd...
Part of the reason that Doctor Who has endured for so long is that although the show consistently changes, the overall tone has generally remained the same.
Also the history/canon of the show’s narrative has been thoughtfully built upon and expanded by successive creative teams.
Recently the tone of the show has drastically changed, along with significant changes to decades of established canon, often with little to no explanation or satisfactory outcomes.
Consequently the ratings are terrible, which is such a shame for a show with so much history and so much more potential.
But it’s dreadful.
It’s just really bad writing. RTD needs to go.
7:40 I think it's more of a "well it's all magic now innit" attitude with a belief of "magic doesn't need to be explained"
8:25 You absolutely hit the nail on the head there
He's treating it like a Twitter Trend rather than a show
Robots of death. TB looks at the camera as he describes Tarren Capel being 'A very mad scientist.' as he walks past the camera
I realized on my recent rewatch of "Before the Flood" a few weeks ago that The Doctor's bootstrap paradox monologue happens in his mind when he is in the suspended animation chamber.
Speaking of inexplicable things. Still wondering why the 14th Doctor regenerated with a new outfit.
Yep, we've had a rather unconvincing real world explanation, but nothing in-universe.
It does, however, mirror the Hartnell to Troughton regeneration.
Yes, me too. And to be honest the explanation of why 10 returned as 14, was a bit thin on believability or particularly clever. (Of course, seeing DT playing The Doctor again was brilliant, whatever the ordinal or explanation.)
3:53 4 also smiles directly into the camera in the last shot of Episode 6 of Shada. Tom went back and filmed that for inclusion in the version that's on the Series 17 Blu-Ray set.
Mrs flood is actually just a Deadpool and the doctor will enter the X-Men Universe/MCU
Or She-Hulk. She did it first. :)
That is honestly a more likely explination than we will never get in the show.
lmaoo 😭😭
1:56 Star Trek was mentioned in the series 6 episode 1 when a lady in the White House thinks the silence is a Star Trek costume
it’s mentioned in the empty child as well but i think what they’re getting at is that in the most recent episode the implication is (i think) that the actual characters of star trek are real as well as just the tv programme
@@marnirobertson If you have a big enough multiverse, then things that are TV shows on our Earth today will be happening somewhere for real. And since The Doctor can (sometimes) travel between universes within his multiverse, it stands to reason that if he did that enough he'd bump into TV shows actually happening.
It's stupid in a narrative sense and doesn't make for a great story, but not necessarily illogical from a real world point of view. When both spacetime and the permutations of physical laws approach the infinite as they do in the wilder versions of a multiverse, weird things can happen.
I hope that isn't the case as I do want to know who picked up the Gold Tooth that The Master is trapped inside
I think RTD forgot about that tooth....
@@karenhenderson4546 well if that becomes the case I'm not going to be happy because The Master is one of my all time favourite Doctor Who villains and I do want him back
Thank you, I think a lot of people agree that we deserve some explanations from RTD.
I am glad you made this, Ellie. I have been at odds with this new RTD era. The mysteries are interesting enough but the answers, or worse lack there of, just don't work for me. 73 Yards was awesome until it ended and I felt like I was missing something. Like there was more episode I was missing, which left me feeling incomplete and that sucks. Same for Ruby's big mystery coming to a close. So much was dangled in front of us and just left on the table. I also didn't like how he used (or rather didn't use) characters. The Beatles were totally wasted, Rose and most of UNIT don't really do anything in the two part finale. Hell, even Sutekh didn't really do much and he was the big bad! Just sat on that box. I'm not a fan of 4th wall breaks in general, so if RTD doesn't have a cool answer, that's just another thing that's gonna bug me.
So anyways, I'm also worried about S2 and the current trajectory of my favorite show.
I think 73 yards was meant to be pretty simple, in the end, but was executed *juuuuust* a little bit off, so it didn't quite make sense.
I think the explanation was literally just "the doctor landed on a thing that interacted with the TARDIS's Somebody Else's Problem Field, and that field transferred to Ruby, who then self-interacted with it for the rest of her life, eventually looping back around and becoming the very old lady (semi-frozen in time, living in a brief few second loop for decades) she'd been seeing in the episode. When people forced the issue and talked to the old lady, they got wapped in face so hard with the cloaking field thingie that Ruby and her time looped older duplicate were inside of that they permanently wouldn't see her as a person anymore, just like they wouldn't normally see the TARDIS as a TARDIS".
That's it. I don't think it's any deeper than that. Is that satisfying? No, because it doesn't explain the time travel. It doesn't explain why the temporal loop ended. It doesn't explain why the temporal loop *started*. All it explains is who the old lady is. And that's great, but it leaves so many parts of the story dangling and unfulfilled that it's frustrating.
What if Carol flood is River song ( Carol is a type of song, and rivers flood)? This also explains how she knows the doctor. 😮😮😮
To be fair, the Devil's Chord musical number does make a lot more sense than some of the others, so I kinda understand cutting the explanation. Maestro's suppression of music came undone so it flooded the world with so much music it had to be expressed. If they thought an explanation hurt the moment, I can understand that choice, even though a lot of people disagree.
Also on the cosplay in Rogue, that feels a lot less meta and more like a dark reflection of what the Doctor and his companions do in historical settings, especially the times they dress for the occasion. Kinda surprised the show hasn't commented on that more? I think the last time it was pointed out as dubious was Tooth and Claw.
They had to celebrate that the worst villain of Doctor Who was gone, although sadly not dead...
It would have been a lot better, given they were literally stood on top of abbey road, to break into a beatles number. Failing that some reasonable facsimile of one (if they couldn't, even with disney money, even afford the rights to one song).
The sudden jump into high school musical was jarring and in fact the first time in my life I've ever switched off a Dr Who episode before the end.. even Chibnall didn't manage to do that!
If there's no explanation or closure people will just stop being engaged in the show and then stop watching - Yes tease things out but at least make it relevant and resolved at some point. I love Martha and Freema but that 4th Wall breaking really was poor.
RTD wanted social media engagement, and he got it. Given how the vast majority of the viewers reacted to the series (especially the finale), it looks like a textbook case of _"Be careful what you wish for"_ though. Nobody can deny RTD's chops as a writer and showrunner, but I have the feeling that his triumphant come back to DW went to his head a bit. Worst of all, at this point of his career probably few people - if any - can afford to tell him *NO*. But the audience could and did, and I hope he took the backlash as an opportunity for self-reflection, otherwise this is not going to end well.
The burst into song bit in "The Devil's Chord" is a weird one for me. I didn't enjoy it -- I felt it was over-extended, plus it used a style of music I don't really care for (which is my problem, of course; I'm sure many people loved it). But in terms of the plot, I felt it actually worked: it represented thirty-odd-years' worth of repressed music being released all at once. So, while I didn't enjoy it aesthetically, I was actually fine with it plot-wise; it didn't feel like a mystery without a proper explanation -- unlike many other things in this season, which *did* feel like that
Yes I agree , I HATED it
I had a bigger problem with the musical notes on the zebra crossing at the end. There is literally no logical explanation for it, even within the looser reality of the episode.
I completely agree. This season felt too Disney-esque, and utterly confusing.
Just as a head's up. Star Trek has been referenced in Dr. Who before. Rose wanted some "Spock" in The Empty Child x
Things could be explained better if there were 13 episodes instead of the Disney mandated 8 !!!
Over the last few days ive re watched Matt Smith season 5 and 6. Those are head and shoulders above this season.
RTD's attitude to Nu-Who: "I created you, I can destroy you." He has written long enough to become a hack.
For sure his new run is like going mad with power I am god idea I like the series its just too much
I never thought Martha was looking at the camera. She was looking at on of the other 6 people steering the Tardis at the same time.
Well my birthday is on Christmas Day, so it all counts Ellie.
I suspect the Mrs. Flood character is part of a race of observers and The Doctor's aware of them. So when she's breaking the fourth wall, it is like a message to her people. I hope I'm wrong though because that would be too cliché.
I can live with mavity - it's a fun bit - but the 2 big mysteries of the first season need exploration, the 4th wall breaking and the Doctor weeping every (I think every) episode. But love the first season.
What makes me annoyed is that: most of this stuff doesn't need an explanation if they were showed appropriately. For instance, I would not be upsetted by Ruby Mom story (with unsatisfactory explanation) if they chosen, for instance, to use a normal jacket and hat/sharf instead of a damn cloak! Because all the story about "she's a normal person" would had been normal FOR REAL. Same story the 4th wall: if every character break the wall sometimes, would be different than the same character doing it consistently and being a misterious one.
Even worse was Ruby's mother for some reason randomly pointing at a street name in the hope that somebody would understand that she wants her child that she's just left to die on the church steps named after the road she is abandoned on.... none of that makes any logical sense in the real universe whatsoever
What frustrates me so much is that we've seen RTD do very successful soft reboot before. We know he can do it, and just isn't
Doctor Who is not Deadpool(and l love Deadpool…8 more days!)
Other then a few breaks, lve watched Dr Who since the third doctor.
Dr Who is a thinking persons show..with some humor and action thrown in.
It deserves more respect
Russel also said that Ruby's mom was crucial for season 1's story, and we got bamboozled, so, I expect a whole bunch of nothing if he makes those kinds of claims
If he keeps it up and loses too many viewers, Disney will write it off. Then all those channels where they say it’s gone woke, will think they were correct and that’s the reason it ended. RTD will harm the communities he could otherwise be helping. 😢
There were a lot of things that needed an explanation throughout the season, which is a shame because some of the episodes would have been pretty good if they had an explanation.
RTD is clearly yet another writer/producer who's not gotten the memo that audiences are SO over long-form, "mystery box" television, and that episodic storytelling is where it's at once again.
It’s a shame, since RTD showran both the 9th and 10th doctors, which was considered one of the best eras. I was so excited when it was confirmed that he was returning, as I hated the Chibnall era. Yet these new episodes are just mediocre.
5:22 Ncuti don’t wink at me while I’m picking my nose bro
DO NOT PICK YOUR NOSE
@TheVicarstownSentinel 😂
they need to stop that 4th wall crap. and the musical number at the end of Devils Chord was stupid and un-needed :/
Meta / fourth wall breaking is a tired old trope now and doesn’t belong in Doctor Who: Community, it’s Garry Shandling show, the ending of the Bob Newhart show ‘Newhart’, but not Doctor Who. (Except for the Bootstrap Padadox cold open that was self-contained and cool.)
"...the ending of the Bob Newhart show ‘Newhart’..."
I will swear to my dying day that the ending of _Newhart_ was the best ending of a TV show -- ever!
I just want to say the best 4th wall break is when the audience freezes the Weeping Angel behind the door
My biggest objection across all showrunners of New Who is the laziness of the explanations for things. "Wibbly wobbly timey wimey" becomes a catch-all excuse for "the writer was too lazy to write a coherent story." Similarly, "it's for children" comes to imply "they won't notice if it doesn't make any sense." Nevermind that millions of adults watch and they will notice. "It's just for fun." I guess I'm not fun.
I thought about that... With all this Disney thing, I think they decided to write stories for children, so, he doesn't need to explain things or make that every single thing makes sense, because, hey! they are children, they don't care...
@@bettinaceciliasilveira5773 The show has been aimed at children since 1963 and had coherence issues since at least 2005. Disney's other series aren't like this. There are valid complaints about Disney, like the way they affected the broadcast schedule in the UK, but this is a Doctor Who problem.
@@frontier51 tecnically it was aimed to families, not just children...
I think a quick look/wink at/interaction with the camera can usually be explained as the camera “stepping into” some other character. In the case of Martha I'm pretty sure that's what was meant, she was smiling at someone there.
Characters on Doctor Who being aware of non-Who programs isn’t breaking the fourth wall. It just means those programs exist in the Who universe, just as the paintings of Van Gogh and Da Vinci do. We know televisions exist, so they have to watch something.
As for the scene cut out of The Devil’s Chord, Davies is right. It wasn’t needed. Music comes flooding back into the world, the there’s a big musical number. This isn’t a hard connection to make.
There is precedence. Remember RTD was going to explain why 14 regenerated with his clothes and not 13s? Yeah...that fell by the wayside too.
I've never watched a series of TV that I really enjoyed buy simultaneously was really tempted to give up on. All I want is a handful of answers. I enjoy Eraserhead for christ's sake. I'm not opposed to weirdness with no answers, but you can't write an episode as if there are answers coming and then just deny them, that's just disappointing. I haven't rewatched a single episode of the latest season since my first watch of Empire of Death, purely from disappointment... and I fundamentally liked the reveal of Ruby's mum... until I stopped to question literally any of the prior episodes. It retroactively impacts my enjoyment of previous episodes, kind of like (but to a slightly lesser extent) the finale of Game of Thrones; RTD should take that show as a warning that you shouldn't tease people with answers you're never gonna give... or red herrings that are less satisfying than the actual answer.
Russell t Davies:" Everybody wants to know what these unsolved mysteries and 4th wall breaks mean! I guess we'll never know." 🖐🎤
he knows and there's a reason. at least I hope there is
Russell lies
When a show runner says things like that I think "You are right. I will never know. Because I will not bother to watch any longer."
I do agree, it was almost making it clear within the season we were watching the show, and honestly, I had let it go because I thought that was the lore of the season; we were in some televised simulation brought on by one of the villains. But... here's what I'll say too. I still feel like Mrs. Flood is the reason for all this. They all are self aware because Mrs. Flood is seemingly that way. There's no guarantee at all if I'm right, it may very well just be what it is. But it still feels like there is a reason as to why this is happening.
Thank you, Ellie, for an honest talk
Why does it feel like Russell is writing this era like his personal fanfic, he's just been throwing a bunch of ideas in because he thinks they sound cool in his head. I'm not liking all these "I thought that was fun" explanations he keeps on giving
( 4:05 ) There’s also The Eleventh Doctor at the end of The Snowmen where he turns and says *Watch Me Run!* 👍🏻
Tom Baker also did fourth wall breaks a few times in his tenure. Usually when there are fourth wall breaks it's cause the doctor at the time doesn't have any active companion, and so instead of addressing a plot point To the companion, they address the audience. Mat Smith's doctor said it himself, "Went stir crazy, started talking to the Walls and I didn't like it!"
Actually if you look through the Tom Baker years who breaks the fourth wall multiple times from Face of Evil onwards , with no explanation on any occasion.