Agree with you 100% They handled inclusion SO WELL at the beginning....but that resolution was soooooo forced. But yea, I don't even care, because of everything else that happened :) RTD is back.
I’m glad I’m not the only one. The inclusion at the beginning felt so organic and then the finale felt so *wink wink* *nudge nudge* and it fell so flat for me. Excited for next week with Tate and Tennant though 🩷
I felt that way too, honestly at the end, it was so stupid, that I had to rewatch it to realize that’s how they were trying to be inclusive. I also really didn’t care because the rest of the episode was gold.
I had no clue that's what it was at the beginning. I didn't watch with subtitles and so didn't catch what those kids on the bikes were saying. And I was more focused on Beep the Meep than Rose's comments about feeling alone and "alien". But then the ending smacked me over the head with a chair and just left me confused at the resolution. Overall the episode was solid
Tbh I thought whilst the ending inclusion was bit tagged on and not necessary compared to Chibnall Era is was more subtle and more back to what made it great
your “…right!…?” at 16:11 was my reaction exactly 😭 definitely felt like they could’ve dialled it down a notch there but i’m sooooo excited that david tennant’s doctor & donna are back 🥹
I really wish they didn't just have them give up the timelord energy, I like that they explained it as a delayed kind of thing and they could have ran with it like the doctor knows they're on a time limit to fix Donna and that ran across the specials, it could have been the reason Donna went with the doctor knowing they're short on time. Explaining it as "If you were a woman, you'd understand to just let it go." just brings up the question of why didn't Donna just do it during Journey's end, like they could have worked it into a story line of the Doctor being so sure there isn't any other way, and Donna being so excited by all the new knowledge that it completely slipped by them and in the end its someone talking to the Doctor being like "You have so much power you just don't know when to let go" and that's what gets them thinking if the timelord energy could just be let go. I also find it interesting that Donna knows of 11, 12, & 13 so is the energy itself linked to the doctor so new memories also appear with Donna? It could have ended with the doctor realizing he could absorb the remaining energy at the cost of his regeneration, basically restarting the canceled regeneration at the end of The Stolen Earth, at the time he was really against regenerating so it could have been a way of completely coming to acceptance that its time to change. Perhaps in a happy ending it could have been that to prevent Donna from rejoining the tardis(Although the earth bound family definitely helps) is that there is still that tiny bit left that the doctor couldn't get and it'd be too much of a risk to travel as active exposure to the time vortex could potentially let it fester and grow again, it would leave cameo adventures open for the future as a special one of thing like having Martha rejoin in the Sontaran Stratagem but not being an active companion and it would still let them keep their memories like the cannon does. While I really enjoyed the episode it gives me some worry that the new era is going to be preachy rather than a show don't tell like in the original RTD run. Like Captain jack didn't have to straight up say "oh yeah I like anything, not just women" no it showed through the characters interactions with the world around them and just made it feel like a normal thing, It didn't need attention brought to it. I'm glad to see representation but I'd much rather see captain Jack style representation where its just seen as normal and doesn't need attention brought to it.
While I’d normally agree with you, it felt nice seeing the average lived experience of a trans person as a trans person myself. For something like this, there’s little to no way to do it without bringing attention to the negatives as it feels inauthentic. For a character like Captain Jack, it’s easier to do as you said because sexuality has little to do with changes to the physical body whereas being transgender has a lot to do with it. It’s the first thing you notice about a person. There’s plenty of things out there where the transgender actor isn’t pointed out heavily and has nothing negative happen towards them (which is awesome, don’t get me wrong), so it felt refreshing seeing my lived experience on screen and the mirror held up to society for a change 😅
@@EvanBagwell I felt like they handled it a lot better in the first half of the story where there was the deadnaming and Silvia slipping up as it showed that everything isn't perfect and even the people closest to you can slip up even though they don't mean to. The problem I was having was primarily with around the 45 min mark where they try to do the connection of the doctor and Donna being the binary and it sort of just felt off, like they're focusing on the meta crisis affecting Rose through shared inheritance so why are they bringing up the fact that they're Non-Binary unless its implying that they're Non-Binary because of the meta crisis and that's probably not what they were intending but it just felt like the wrong timing. After having some time to properly digest the episode I like what they did for most of the episode and that a lot of my original worry was from that little segment at the 45 min mark. I want to see more of the first half of the episode where they have the effects of who people are shown to the audience. Like what we had with captain Jack we got all the small details we needed to piece together Rose's character, not the whole picture but enough to understand that they have these challenges and are more than what's on the surface. We had smart dialog that didn't need to come out and directly state they we're trans but though connections the audience could make.
The attention that RTD has done to even the tiny tiny details has been outstanding! When the Dr is talking about Wilf and Donna says he's not dead, he's in a home and 94 years old... Bernard (God rest his soul), was 94 when he passed. Meanwhile, on X after it had aired, the J K Rowling Terf squad were going into meltdown! It was good to see ;)
Not even just the terf squad to be honest. The majority of people hated the forced pronoun and male presenting non binary stuff. Face it, the main audience doesn’t like that forced stuff, there’s a reason why Jodie started with 11 million and ended up going down to 3 million. Modern things forced into a show never goes down well.
I loved this episode! I have a 12 year old grandchild that just came out as non-binary recently and I’m so proud of them and happy they have a series they can watch that has inclusivity in it.
Got to admit, I _loved_ that the trans / non-binary stuff was overdone. It's like RTD looked at the last few years of stupid, destructive argument and said "Woke? I'll bloody show you woke!"
Wasn't sure how I felt about the whole "The doctor is male and female, she's neither.... non-binary" thing. But that can kinda be explained with "binary" meaning "two sides or two parts" and Rose making it "non binary" by being a third part. What really made me roll my eyes was them being like.. "If you were a woman, you'd understand to just let it go." Even the wife said that was stupid lol. Decent episode overall though, glad they're back together again. Excited for the other two episodes.
I didn't mind the first part, but with the second in particular, I wish they'd linked it back to the Doctor Donna thing, where she was different she was human. The Doctor not understanding could have been a Time-Lord thing, and Donna and Rose could have known to let it go because they're human beings.
It was a bit heavy handed and it was cringy. That said, I hope going forward it isn't overly preachy. Representation yes, hammering it home every minute, no.
in an eerie call back it sounded EXACTLY like Mollie Sugden doing Mrs Slocombe [Are You Being Served?] who had been bonked on the head by a golf ball., and ended up talking like a little girl. I could NOT stop hearing it!
100% agree, the invlusivity towards the start was so human and real just like RTD is good at and i loved it, im only a bi cis male myself but i loved it. Yet at the end, even as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, that was bordering on the edge of overy forced and unnecessary, thats probably my only gripe with the episode tho, other than that it feels like Dr Who is back and bigger than ever
I hope people recognised the 11th doctor theme "I am the Doctor" tune when Donna got her memory back and started flicking switches with the doctor to save London - a little foreshadowing of maybe a cameo from the 11th in these specials.
What also irks me a bit about the 'binary > non-binary' bit is that it might insinuate the only reason Rose is non-binary in the first place is due to the doctor's influence she inherited from her mother.
But it also insinuates that being non-binary is better than being cis (which it is, epic). My issue is that nowhere in the episode did it set up that she's NB? She was firmly set up as a binary trans woman so it feels a little clumsy. Nevertheless as an NB myself I was grateful for the shout-out lol
@@ennayanne I think we were supposed to understand that Rose had been trying different identities (trans female being the latest) and only in this episode realised she's NB.
Niall, me and my flatmate had the exact same faces and reaction to each other during the binary/non-binary moment. We felt like it just tried too hard. Especially making it such a key part of the plot. But it's so good to have the show having such a boost!
There was a set leak back in 2022 of the new interior during it's construction which some youtubers put onto youtube, and I know that Doctor Who released some screenshots of the close up panels of the TARDIS, but the scale is something I didn't expect.
I don't think they necessarily implied Rose was nonbinary (tho it doesn't say she isn't either), but I think that scene was more so referring to the Meta Crisis no longer being "binary", as in two people, now it's spread between 3 allowing them release the energy which Donna couldn't do herself in 2008. As for the "male presenting timelord" bit, is it worded a bit weird? sure but I don't think it's that big an issue. I wouldn't be surprised if it was worded that way intentionally to enrage a certain group of "fans". The way I took it tho was specifically referring to this incarnation of the Doctor, 10 didn't want to let go and now this face is back.
all my thoughts exactly with this review had a blast seeing old favorites but did feel a teeny bit off and would have loved for it to have a bit more time. in any case i'm excited for the next couple specials and hoping they're even better
I’ll defend the binary/nonbinary thing to the death. That’s not what saved the day at all - Donna having a kid did that - being enby just gave Rose insight the others lacked. “Let it go” was classic Rusty plot bullshit tho 😂 I think it was MEANT to be part of Rose’s unique perspective but it wasn’t communicated well at all
Rose saying ‘Non-binary’ to Donna’s ‘binary’ felt a little strange to me (of course, yes, Rose may very well be female-presenting non-binary) but from the sci-fi angle, my brain had trouble reconciling it. Personally, I think her saying ‘trinary’ would have been more fitting, referring to the meta-crisis trinity of the Doctor, Donna, and Rose. The idea of ‘letting it go’, I didn’t really have a MASSIVE issue with (my reasoning is that now the meta-crisis is HALVED between Donna and Rose, the grip it has on their respective cortexes is less severe - think of it like trying to free yourself from being trapped under a heavy boulder, when the weight is reduced you might very well be able to push it off), however - the small jab of it not being ‘something a male-presenting Timelord could understand’ felt a little unnecessary to say. That being said, I also agree with how on-point Donna’s adamant defence of Rose was, in front of her bullies, as well as her conversation with Sylvia in the kitchen - that felt so grounded and honest and human, perfect to go hand in hand with alien invasions and evil Meeps 👌🏻 THAT’S the duality that this show should carry on flaunting
The letting go part is supposed to be a metaphor for sexism. Women always have to let sexism go otherwise they get called whiny or bossy and men will never understand how it feels to deal with that
@@ThetaSigma-vu1sk While I do agree that women face many plights that men will never be able to completely comprehend, I must admit that I (along with many that have watched the episode) didn’t necessarily attribute that scene to letting go of SEXISM in particular, but rather as letting go of any multitude of negativities. Through THAT lens is what I found to be a bit unnecessary in the scene. As a queer man growing up in a ultra religious family, I have had to let go of a lot of negativity and pain that didn’t serve me in the long run. If you’re correct in that letting go of sexism in particular was indeed the DEFINITIVE interpretation that was intended by RTD, then I think it could have been shown as such in a clearer way.
i love people who just good-heartedly enjoy the episode. i kinda agree with you that there was a sense of hurry about the episode but when i think about it, it makes sense bc they are not working with a season but only with 3 episodes and for that too they don't have a bunch of things established so they had to do that here. they don't really have space to let happenings breathe or plot points to build as much as they'd have had with a season. like from the start the doctor meets donna in the fist 20 seconds and you know it's bc they had to get on with it bc of the short space they have for these three action, emotion, nostalgia and story packed specials. i do believe if they'd worked with a whole season then chances are donna wouldn't even have remembered the doctor in the first one just yet. but alas, this is the time span they are working with so some things have to be more tightly wrapped than otherwise.
It it still is that. The metacrises had 2 binaries; Donna and the Doctor. For Donna to survive, it needed a third binary. So when Donna had a child, the meta crisis made the child a non binary element. Combine all three elements and you get the Doctor. The Doctor is binary, non binary and more.
The ending felt very true to the 10th doctors run. No stakes, everything is wrapped up by end of episode and there’s no scars except for big set pieces. I wish they’d have used the three episodes to solve Donna’s problem but instead we got the doctor reversing everything and defeating the monster of the week.
Yeah, conclusion was convoluted for sure, but this is the show that repeatedly gave us deus ex machinas of the power of love so I can shrug it off any day lol. Doctor who is often about the journey and not the destination because the conclusions are often underwhelming. I think davies writes supporting roles, minorities and families exceedingly well and treats those characters as real people and not archetypes and I loved seeing this resurface after years of characters that often felt kinda larger than life y'know.
Great reaction as always, I had fun with this episode, lots of good parts but there where some aspects that I didn't particularly enjoy. but Catherine and David together are fab! and Sylvia was a stand out in the episode too!
I 100% agree with you about the DoctorDonna Rose situation. I loved Rose and the inclusion of her character and the trans representation, it’s so important, but I feel like just the fact that Donna had a child would have worked fine enough on it’s own for the DoctorDonna story/conclusion. I really liked the idea that Rose had some of the time lord energy passed down to her from Donna (and I loved how her art projects represented previous villains) but it felt more like RTD going fuck you to the transphobic fans as opposed to the actual conclusion of a story from 15 years ago. I also wasn’t a fan of the whole ‘you just have to let it go’. It felt cheap and like a cop out for something that was such a major thing back in Journey’s End and why didn’t Donna just do that in JE if she had the knowledge that that was how she’d survive? It was so anticlimactic. I guess we’ll have to see how the next two episodes go but I do think that the DoctorDonna stuff should have been an ongoing thing/problem throughout the specials instead of solving it all in the first episode.
“People can shout it’s woke or whatever but this is life, every story needs to be told” Amen mate, the rhetoric coming from some of those reactionary conservative pundits was absolutely foul, people just furious at the fact that trans people exist, some of them are actors and if there’s any TV show that should make trans people feel at home because it’s always had a progressive outlook, it’s Doctor Who. Great reaction dude, this made my evening. Tennant was my childhood too, I take it we’re about the same age. Watching him dash around, being hilarious and smart and everything in between, seeing him wizzing around the TARDIS at the end like an excited little boy! Ahhhh! I’m so here for it. Doctor Who is back! I mean it’s not gone anywhere, but it’s never felt this big and bold, this cinematic!
I didn’t get the”just let it go” bit, would’ve been coooler if he could’ve extracted it from them because he’d just regenerated or something, would’ve been less of a cop out
Lol “On the nose” was the exact phrase I thought of when they had the female-male-nonbinary lines. I’m still not sure what that specifically had to do with the Time Lord energy tbh. Passing some of it to her daughter seemed enough of an explanation. The scene & sentiment of it were visually beautiful though, and I did cry. It seems like a lot of writing is like that nowadays tbh. As if writers feel they need to spoon feed their audience.
I feel like it needed another 10 minutes or so to come up with a less contrived explanation for how the metacrisis was averted, and also to flesh out/characterise the bug aliens.
First of all : I pretty much agree with you, and your thoughts about the special. 😊 I had this "warm and fuzzy" feeling in my stomach after watching, which I haven't had for some time. To me, this felt like some kind of "comeback", if that makes sense? To be honest, during the Steven Moffat era, i started to lose interest. I started to feel kind of.... "Bored", is maybe the best word to describe how I felt?? Don't get me wrong. It wasn't all bad. But I had a feeling of watching the derailing of a train in extreme slow motion........... I had fun, during the Matt Smith era. Peter Capaldi managed to keep me engaged - but still I felt like my grip began to slip. But sadly, Jodie Whittaker........... NO!! It's NOT because she is a woman, and I generally love her performances. But actors are only as good as the scripts they are given. And I don't think that Moffat had the same burning PASSION that Russel T Davies has. Anyway, to get a little back on track. 😏 I laughed!!! I cried!! I have bitten my fingernails as far down as I can (Bad habit, I know... 😞 ). I had FUN!!! Catherine and David... Need I say more??? 🥰 The Doctor, sharp and funny as ever. And the fierceness of Donna (and Sylvia, ofcourse). I LOVE IT!!!!! 😁 The inclusion of Rose. The mentions of Wilfred (who I hope we'll get to see just one last time). 😢 I enjoyed the references I managed to catch. Like the "tips of the hat" to classic movies like "E.T. - the extra terrestrial" and "Lilo & Stitch" that were pretty obviously "borrowed" for some of the scenes with Beep the Meep, just to name my personal favorite. 🥰 And I think they "planted some seeds" for a good number of ways the adventure can possibly unfold in the future. Let's just say, that after tonight, I have a whole bunch of NEW theories (on top of all the ones I already have). 😉😅 Nice discovering you. And see you here, when "Wild Blue Yonder" releases. 😊 ALLONZ-Y!!!!!! 😁
I can agree with you about the nonbinary thing, it felt a bit on the nose and it also didn't feel organic, the resolution to saving the world and Donna also didn't feel special, there wasn't a scientific or valid reason, when with a show like Doctor Who, you'd expect to have a scientific reason for the world being saved from something that would've doomed it. It just felt very off to me
I appreciate how much love Russell put into the trans representation, but it’s pretty obvious to me that he should have gotten a trans co-writer to help him navigate those waters because it is a little obvious he’s an older cis man here haha
It was a wonderful episode, and most of the sociopolitical commentary landed well. What a shame about the "there are some things a male will never understand" crap. We're after equality now, not this fake superiority of one gender over another. Otherwise this was a breath of fresh air compared to the last few years.
I loved this episode but... they kinda ruined the great parts by going all in on the cringe tbh. other than the few moments im just glad to have David and Catherine back...
With the "male presenting time lord" thing i feel like they could have just said time lord, and that would be better. 'Part from that loved the episode.
This episode was bloody ridiculous and dumbed down for a childish audience . (O well i hope it gets better) I so repose it will be good for clicks and like jesus!
I actually loved Jodie's title sequence, it was very classic 60s-esque which I really loved but this new one IS gorgeous and screams "We have more money!"
i agree with the ending being a bit clunky with the inclusion, but id rather the show be clunky but inclusive than cater to bigots. and the rest of the episode was just so much fun!
Ok, so the way I see the more controversial lines: they really aren't that controversial if you take them at the basic value. The "binary" line doesn't have to be serious when it's more about the fact it was passed on rather than gender, same with the "let it go" line. Is it too much to consider that splitting the metacrisis might make it into enough energy to pass off now it's not as intense? It can be read into as a social commentary on gender, or left at the face value that it's dispersed enough that it can do that and the lines are just there as a metaphor or comparison that is harmless to the actions of the story itself
I HATED the "just let it go" thing. Like, if that was the answer why the fuck didn't The DoctorDonna think of it the first time around???? i also am non binary and i was not a fan of the "binary binary non binary" thing AT ALL. It was super cheesy and not in a good way. I totally agree with what you said like it's such a weird answer to the problem. A lot of the episode just felt like total fawning to the 10th doctor era fans. Like it didn't feel real at all as a result. Which I guess is why they're bringing them back in the first place, to fawn and get the fandom back after the failure of Chibnall's showrun to build excitement for Ncuti's series. But it was just over the top and felt super fake as a result. I am just as obsessed with the new intro and tardis though!
Yeh it really fell flat. Some really cringe moments. Even the emotional bits were sort of cringe. I didn’t even see Donna spill her coffee because the ending was so cringe I just went on my phone cos I was so bored She didn’t feel like my Donna. Which is bizarre. It was all just a bit…comic relief reunion special where they bring the old cast of a sitcom back and it’s a giggle for nostalgia but you’d never watch it again because the magic just isn’t there anymore and they’ve ruined it with current topics.
Sadly, this was really woke crap. Have been a fan since the early 70s in the Jon Pertwee Golden Era when I was a kid and this is a complete and utter mess of style (SFX) over content with preachy virtual-signalling codswallop thrown in your face (pro-noun nonsense)... What a complete and utter crying shame and travesty that the once great Dr Who has fallen into a pit of tripe like this... *SIGH*
Highly disappointed with the weak storyline. So basic story felt like I could blindly guess what would happen next no real surprises. 3/10 rating in my opinion. Guess we’ll have to wait to see what happens in the next few episodes
absolutely no need to push the none binary thing on a kids show , we all accept none binary people , or at least normal rational people do , there is no need for the creepy cheesy way it pushes it in this show now , i nearly threw up 3 times at how cheesy it was , the meep was cool though , I remember it from the old comic book and i never read it , i just looked at it in a newsagents nice to see the character fleshed out and played reall well
... They took a year to do this crap? Cringeworthy gender ideology bollocks with a story shoe horned over a poor deus ex machina to accommodate it, it otherwise adds absolutely nothing, is only jarring ... no motivation really given for the 2D villain, bloody sonic screwdriver does anything at-f'ing-all now, visually very, very, very nice, actors good as ever, washed out theme, annoying end credit orchestration, overall a subpar outing. Oh, and f the BBC for continuing down this foolish road. Cheerio.
I don’t get how a black man dressed as a woman is able to dog man that shit just blows my mind. Love the episode but I’m so sick of this gender affirming bullshit
Love this episode but I'm so sick of bigoted human beings like you. Transgender exists. Deal with it. While I agree it was a bit forced, we should not behave like it has nothing to do in media.
Agree with you 100% They handled inclusion SO WELL at the beginning....but that resolution was soooooo forced. But yea, I don't even care, because of everything else that happened :) RTD is back.
I’m glad I’m not the only one. The inclusion at the beginning felt so organic and then the finale felt so *wink wink* *nudge nudge* and it fell so flat for me. Excited for next week with Tate and Tennant though 🩷
I felt that way too, honestly at the end, it was so stupid, that I had to rewatch it to realize that’s how they were trying to be inclusive. I also really didn’t care because the rest of the episode was gold.
I had no clue that's what it was at the beginning. I didn't watch with subtitles and so didn't catch what those kids on the bikes were saying. And I was more focused on Beep the Meep than Rose's comments about feeling alone and "alien". But then the ending smacked me over the head with a chair and just left me confused at the resolution. Overall the episode was solid
It was total crap woke bulshit
Tbh I thought whilst the ending inclusion was bit tagged on and not necessary compared to Chibnall Era is was more subtle and more back to what made it great
Donna named her son Jason. Jason means Healer or Physician. So Donna named her son Doctor. Then her daughter took the name Rose. 🌹
That's so cute 😊❤
Nah because I had the exact same reaction about the sonic screwdriver suddenly making a screen and shield💀
As a trans woman, the way they handled having Rose as trans was so beautiful I wanted to cry
Absolutely loved Rose's relationship with her family...it just felt so honest. Very heartwarming.
@@joshuathompson2404 Absolutely 😊❤️
Truly, Yasmin Finney's acting was also great!!
@@dimetrodonz She's a fabulous actress
Girl, saaaaaaaame 😭
your “…right!…?” at 16:11 was my reaction exactly 😭 definitely felt like they could’ve dialled it down a notch there but i’m sooooo excited that david tennant’s doctor & donna are back 🥹
I really wish they didn't just have them give up the timelord energy, I like that they explained it as a delayed kind of thing and they could have ran with it like the doctor knows they're on a time limit to fix Donna and that ran across the specials, it could have been the reason Donna went with the doctor knowing they're short on time.
Explaining it as "If you were a woman, you'd understand to just let it go." just brings up the question of why didn't Donna just do it during Journey's end, like they could have worked it into a story line of the Doctor being so sure there isn't any other way, and Donna being so excited by all the new knowledge that it completely slipped by them and in the end its someone talking to the Doctor being like "You have so much power you just don't know when to let go" and that's what gets them thinking if the timelord energy could just be let go.
I also find it interesting that Donna knows of 11, 12, & 13 so is the energy itself linked to the doctor so new memories also appear with Donna? It could have ended with the doctor realizing he could absorb the remaining energy at the cost of his regeneration, basically restarting the canceled regeneration at the end of The Stolen Earth, at the time he was really against regenerating so it could have been a way of completely coming to acceptance that its time to change. Perhaps in a happy ending it could have been that to prevent Donna from rejoining the tardis(Although the earth bound family definitely helps) is that there is still that tiny bit left that the doctor couldn't get and it'd be too much of a risk to travel as active exposure to the time vortex could potentially let it fester and grow again, it would leave cameo adventures open for the future as a special one of thing like having Martha rejoin in the Sontaran Stratagem but not being an active companion and it would still let them keep their memories like the cannon does.
While I really enjoyed the episode it gives me some worry that the new era is going to be preachy rather than a show don't tell like in the original RTD run. Like Captain jack didn't have to straight up say "oh yeah I like anything, not just women" no it showed through the characters interactions with the world around them and just made it feel like a normal thing, It didn't need attention brought to it. I'm glad to see representation but I'd much rather see captain Jack style representation where its just seen as normal and doesn't need attention brought to it.
While I’d normally agree with you, it felt nice seeing the average lived experience of a trans person as a trans person myself. For something like this, there’s little to no way to do it without bringing attention to the negatives as it feels inauthentic. For a character like Captain Jack, it’s easier to do as you said because sexuality has little to do with changes to the physical body whereas being transgender has a lot to do with it. It’s the first thing you notice about a person.
There’s plenty of things out there where the transgender actor isn’t pointed out heavily and has nothing negative happen towards them (which is awesome, don’t get me wrong), so it felt refreshing seeing my lived experience on screen and the mirror held up to society for a change 😅
@@EvanBagwell I felt like they handled it a lot better in the first half of the story where there was the deadnaming and Silvia slipping up as it showed that everything isn't perfect and even the people closest to you can slip up even though they don't mean to. The problem I was having was primarily with around the 45 min mark where they try to do the connection of the doctor and Donna being the binary and it sort of just felt off, like they're focusing on the meta crisis affecting Rose through shared inheritance so why are they bringing up the fact that they're Non-Binary unless its implying that they're Non-Binary because of the meta crisis and that's probably not what they were intending but it just felt like the wrong timing.
After having some time to properly digest the episode I like what they did for most of the episode and that a lot of my original worry was from that little segment at the 45 min mark. I want to see more of the first half of the episode where they have the effects of who people are shown to the audience. Like what we had with captain Jack we got all the small details we needed to piece together Rose's character, not the whole picture but enough to understand that they have these challenges and are more than what's on the surface. We had smart dialog that didn't need to come out and directly state they we're trans but though connections the audience could make.
The attention that RTD has done to even the tiny tiny details has been outstanding! When the Dr is talking about Wilf and Donna says he's not dead, he's in a home and 94 years old... Bernard (God rest his soul), was 94 when he passed. Meanwhile, on X after it had aired, the J K Rowling Terf squad were going into meltdown! It was good to see ;)
Not even just the terf squad to be honest. The majority of people hated the forced pronoun and male presenting non binary stuff. Face it, the main audience doesn’t like that forced stuff, there’s a reason why Jodie started with 11 million and ended up going down to 3 million. Modern things forced into a show never goes down well.
I loved this episode! I have a 12 year old grandchild that just came out as non-binary recently and I’m so proud of them and happy they have a series they can watch that has inclusivity in it.
That’s so amazing to hear!! 🩷
Got to admit, I _loved_ that the trans / non-binary stuff was overdone. It's like RTD looked at the last few years of stupid, destructive argument and said "Woke? I'll bloody show you woke!"
I'd like to think so. Russell's revenge for all the "anti-woke" crap that's been thrown around lately.
Can we just talk about the beauty that was the opening titles, the music, the visuals. Stunning behaviour.
WAIT ISNT ROSE PLAYED BY YASMIN WHO ALSO PLAYED ELLE IN HEARTSTOPPER????? I KNEW I RECOGNIZED HER FROM SOMEWHERE
Wasn't sure how I felt about the whole "The doctor is male and female, she's neither.... non-binary" thing. But that can kinda be explained with "binary" meaning "two sides or two parts" and Rose making it "non binary" by being a third part.
What really made me roll my eyes was them being like.. "If you were a woman, you'd understand to just let it go." Even the wife said that was stupid lol.
Decent episode overall though, glad they're back together again. Excited for the other two episodes.
Yeah at the end the episodes basically just became sexist lmao
I didn't mind the first part, but with the second in particular, I wish they'd linked it back to the Doctor Donna thing, where she was different she was human. The Doctor not understanding could have been a Time-Lord thing, and Donna and Rose could have known to let it go because they're human beings.
@@mxlevolent completely agree
@@mxlevolent AHHH this would have been so much better than what we got lol
It was a bit heavy handed and it was cringy. That said, I hope going forward it isn't overly preachy. Representation yes, hammering it home every minute, no.
Meep fooled us all!
I’ll never trust something cute and fluffy again 😂
in an eerie call back it sounded EXACTLY like Mollie Sugden doing Mrs Slocombe [Are You Being Served?] who had been bonked on the head by a golf ball., and ended up talking like a little girl.
I could NOT stop hearing it!
@@ZakhadWOW it was actually Miriam Margolyes 😅
So happy with this episode, yeah there was some cringe and bits, but I loved it tbh haha. 🤭
Of course, I don’t expect any less with doctor who and it’s cringe moments haha! Overall I throughly enjoyed haha
100% agree, the invlusivity towards the start was so human and real just like RTD is good at and i loved it, im only a bi cis male myself but i loved it. Yet at the end, even as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, that was bordering on the edge of overy forced and unnecessary, thats probably my only gripe with the episode tho, other than that it feels like Dr Who is back and bigger than ever
I hope people recognised the 11th doctor theme "I am the Doctor" tune when Donna got her memory back and started flicking switches with the doctor to save London - a little foreshadowing of maybe a cameo from the 11th in these specials.
What also irks me a bit about the 'binary > non-binary' bit is that it might insinuate the only reason Rose is non-binary in the first place is due to the doctor's influence she inherited from her mother.
But it also insinuates that being non-binary is better than being cis (which it is, epic). My issue is that nowhere in the episode did it set up that she's NB? She was firmly set up as a binary trans woman so it feels a little clumsy. Nevertheless as an NB myself I was grateful for the shout-out lol
@@ennayanne I think we were supposed to understand that Rose had been trying different identities (trans female being the latest) and only in this episode realised she's NB.
@@VolrinSeth I can see that, but if that's the case it really needed more clarification imo. Her "I'm finally me" line didn't read that way to me
Niall, me and my flatmate had the exact same faces and reaction to each other during the binary/non-binary moment. We felt like it just tried too hard. Especially making it such a key part of the plot. But it's so good to have the show having such a boost!
Absolutely love the Kylie Disco LP in the background.
The meep is a character from the old Doctor who weekly comics .
With all the talk about spoilers and previews, respect to BBC for not pre-revealing that huge TARDIS interior. A surprise for everyone, I think.
There was a set leak back in 2022 of the new interior during it's construction which some youtubers put onto youtube, and I know that Doctor Who released some screenshots of the close up panels of the TARDIS, but the scale is something I didn't expect.
I don't think they necessarily implied Rose was nonbinary (tho it doesn't say she isn't either), but I think that scene was more so referring to the Meta Crisis no longer being "binary", as in two people, now it's spread between 3 allowing them release the energy which Donna couldn't do herself in 2008.
As for the "male presenting timelord" bit, is it worded a bit weird? sure but I don't think it's that big an issue. I wouldn't be surprised if it was worded that way intentionally to enrage a certain group of "fans". The way I took it tho was specifically referring to this incarnation of the Doctor, 10 didn't want to let go and now this face is back.
@@Legion-of-James Nah you just sound like you hate women lol.
10:42 "I love the Meep."
Give it about two minutes.
Crazily enough, I think I used to have the comic book that had the story this special used (from _way_ back in the day).
all my thoughts exactly with this review
had a blast seeing old favorites but did feel a teeny bit off and would have loved for it to have a bit more time. in any case i'm excited for the next couple specials and hoping they're even better
I’ll defend the binary/nonbinary thing to the death. That’s not what saved the day at all - Donna having a kid did that - being enby just gave Rose insight the others lacked.
“Let it go” was classic Rusty plot bullshit tho 😂 I think it was MEANT to be part of Rose’s unique perspective but it wasn’t communicated well at all
Doctor Who feels like Doctor Who again!
The new tardis shows Disney plus money
Rose saying ‘Non-binary’ to Donna’s ‘binary’ felt a little strange to me (of course, yes, Rose may very well be female-presenting non-binary) but from the sci-fi angle, my brain had trouble reconciling it. Personally, I think her saying ‘trinary’ would have been more fitting, referring to the meta-crisis trinity of the Doctor, Donna, and Rose.
The idea of ‘letting it go’, I didn’t really have a MASSIVE issue with (my reasoning is that now the meta-crisis is HALVED between Donna and Rose, the grip it has on their respective cortexes is less severe - think of it like trying to free yourself from being trapped under a heavy boulder, when the weight is reduced you might very well be able to push it off), however - the small jab of it not being ‘something a male-presenting Timelord could understand’ felt a little unnecessary to say.
That being said, I also agree with how on-point Donna’s adamant defence of Rose was, in front of her bullies, as well as her conversation with Sylvia in the kitchen - that felt so grounded and honest and human, perfect to go hand in hand with alien invasions and evil Meeps 👌🏻 THAT’S the duality that this show should carry on flaunting
The letting go part is supposed to be a metaphor for sexism. Women always have to let sexism go otherwise they get called whiny or bossy and men will never understand how it feels to deal with that
@@ThetaSigma-vu1sk While I do agree that women face many plights that men will never be able to completely comprehend, I must admit that I (along with many that have watched the episode) didn’t necessarily attribute that scene to letting go of SEXISM in particular, but rather as letting go of any multitude of negativities. Through THAT lens is what I found to be a bit unnecessary in the scene. As a queer man growing up in a ultra religious family, I have had to let go of a lot of negativity and pain that didn’t serve me in the long run.
If you’re correct in that letting go of sexism in particular was indeed the DEFINITIVE interpretation that was intended by RTD, then I think it could have been shown as such in a clearer way.
i love people who just good-heartedly enjoy the episode. i kinda agree with you that there was a sense of hurry about the episode but when i think about it, it makes sense bc they are not working with a season but only with 3 episodes and for that too they don't have a bunch of things established so they had to do that here. they don't really have space to let happenings breathe or plot points to build as much as they'd have had with a season. like from the start the doctor meets donna in the fist 20 seconds and you know it's bc they had to get on with it bc of the short space they have for these three action, emotion, nostalgia and story packed specials. i do believe if they'd worked with a whole season then chances are donna wouldn't even have remembered the doctor in the first one just yet. but alas, this is the time span they are working with so some things have to be more tightly wrapped than otherwise.
Wasnt Binary, Binary, Binary part of the original programming to get her to forget referring to binary programming nothing to do with sexuality?
It it still is that. The metacrises had 2 binaries; Donna and the Doctor. For Donna to survive, it needed a third binary. So when Donna had a child, the meta crisis made the child a non binary element. Combine all three elements and you get the Doctor. The Doctor is binary, non binary and more.
The ending felt very true to the 10th doctors run. No stakes, everything is wrapped up by end of episode and there’s no scars except for big set pieces. I wish they’d have used the three episodes to solve Donna’s problem but instead we got the doctor reversing everything and defeating the monster of the week.
I honestly loved the episode!!! Two of my faves are back!!! 🥰🎉
1:12 THE KITTY! HEY KITTY!!😭🫶
my favorite reactor reacting to my favorite show omg!! i was not expecting this at all i'm so excited to see your reaction!
I’ve always been a huge Doccy Who so I’m glad I get to react to it for ya 🩷
Yeah, conclusion was convoluted for sure, but this is the show that repeatedly gave us deus ex machinas of the power of love so I can shrug it off any day lol. Doctor who is often about the journey and not the destination because the conclusions are often underwhelming. I think davies writes supporting roles, minorities and families exceedingly well and treats those characters as real people and not archetypes and I loved seeing this resurface after years of characters that often felt kinda larger than life y'know.
I loved it but felt it would have made a better two parter.
I thought the binary element was cleverly worked into the script.
That age old question has been answered...Does the TARDIS prefer tea or coffee.
Great reaction as always, I had fun with this episode, lots of good parts but there where some aspects that I didn't particularly enjoy. but Catherine and David together are fab! and Sylvia was a stand out in the episode too!
Donna, The Doctor and Sylvia truly saved this episode for me. Their interactions were TOP TIER!!!
I 100% agree with you about the DoctorDonna Rose situation. I loved Rose and the inclusion of her character and the trans representation, it’s so important, but I feel like just the fact that Donna had a child would have worked fine enough on it’s own for the DoctorDonna story/conclusion. I really liked the idea that Rose had some of the time lord energy passed down to her from Donna (and I loved how her art projects represented previous villains) but it felt more like RTD going fuck you to the transphobic fans as opposed to the actual conclusion of a story from 15 years ago. I also wasn’t a fan of the whole ‘you just have to let it go’. It felt cheap and like a cop out for something that was such a major thing back in Journey’s End and why didn’t Donna just do that in JE if she had the knowledge that that was how she’d survive? It was so anticlimactic.
I guess we’ll have to see how the next two episodes go but I do think that the DoctorDonna stuff should have been an ongoing thing/problem throughout the specials instead of solving it all in the first episode.
i thought the meta crisis resolution was quite clumsy but then i remembered how clumsy it was 15 years ago so whatever i guess
“People can shout it’s woke or whatever but this is life, every story needs to be told”
Amen mate, the rhetoric coming from some of those reactionary conservative pundits was absolutely foul, people just furious at the fact that trans people exist, some of them are actors and if there’s any TV show that should make trans people feel at home because it’s always had a progressive outlook, it’s Doctor Who.
Great reaction dude, this made my evening. Tennant was my childhood too, I take it we’re about the same age.
Watching him dash around, being hilarious and smart and everything in between, seeing him wizzing around the TARDIS at the end like an excited little boy! Ahhhh! I’m so here for it.
Doctor Who is back! I mean it’s not gone anywhere, but it’s never felt this big and bold, this cinematic!
"Fu@k the haters if they hate it." Beautifully expressed, Niall! 🥂
And of course we mustn't have different opinions. Inclusivity means you must agree with me or else.
LET GOOOO!!!!
first!!!!
I didn’t get the”just let it go” bit, would’ve been coooler if he could’ve extracted it from them because he’d just regenerated or something, would’ve been less of a cop out
The fact that I didn’t even know she was trans. But that’s awesome!
Thank you for showing the show behind you speaking and not cutting it off while it's speaking man like taking the video off and speaking lmao
Yeah, we love David Tennant!!❤❤
At least George can stop pestering you now
He's such a beg, right?
@@niallnochill You said it, not me
so happy doctor who is back and you are reacting to it!!!!!!!!!
I enjoyed the episode and i love the new intro so cool!!
Lol “On the nose” was the exact phrase I thought of when they had the female-male-nonbinary lines. I’m still not sure what that specifically had to do with the Time Lord energy tbh. Passing some of it to her daughter seemed enough of an explanation. The scene & sentiment of it were visually beautiful though, and I did cry.
It seems like a lot of writing is like that nowadays tbh. As if writers feel they need to spoon feed their audience.
IT'S HAPPENING, STAY CALM! *STAY FUCKING CALM!!!!*
I feel like it needed another 10 minutes or so to come up with a less contrived explanation for how the metacrisis was averted, and also to flesh out/characterise the bug aliens.
Cringe end aside, i really love Rose! I think she's a fantastic addition to the cast. As a NB person i love seeing more overt trans rep in Dr. Who!
Nice to see a fellow Scottish DW fan! Seems our opinions on the episode are fairly identical 👌🏻
First of all : I pretty much agree with you, and your thoughts about the special. 😊
I had this "warm and fuzzy" feeling in my stomach after watching, which I haven't had for some time. To me, this felt like some kind of "comeback", if that makes sense?
To be honest, during the Steven Moffat era, i started to lose interest. I started to feel kind of.... "Bored", is maybe the best word to describe how I felt??
Don't get me wrong. It wasn't all bad. But I had a feeling of watching the derailing of a train in extreme slow motion...........
I had fun, during the Matt Smith era. Peter Capaldi managed to keep me engaged - but still I felt like my grip began to slip. But sadly, Jodie Whittaker........... NO!! It's NOT because she is a woman, and I generally love her performances. But actors are only as good as the scripts they are given. And I don't think that Moffat had the same burning PASSION that Russel T Davies has.
Anyway, to get a little back on track. 😏
I laughed!!! I cried!! I have bitten my fingernails as far down as I can (Bad habit, I know... 😞 ). I had FUN!!!
Catherine and David... Need I say more??? 🥰
The Doctor, sharp and funny as ever. And the fierceness of Donna (and Sylvia, ofcourse). I LOVE IT!!!!! 😁
The inclusion of Rose. The mentions of Wilfred (who I hope we'll get to see just one last time). 😢
I enjoyed the references I managed to catch. Like the "tips of the hat" to classic movies like "E.T. - the extra terrestrial" and "Lilo & Stitch" that were pretty obviously "borrowed" for some of the scenes with Beep the Meep, just to name my personal favorite. 🥰
And I think they "planted some seeds" for a good number of ways the adventure can possibly unfold in the future. Let's just say, that after tonight, I have a whole bunch of NEW theories (on top of all the ones I already have). 😉😅
Nice discovering you. And see you here, when "Wild Blue Yonder" releases. 😊
ALLONZ-Y!!!!!! 😁
This amazing episode
Really enjoyed your reaction video to this! I enjoyed this episode too 🙂
I can agree with you about the nonbinary thing, it felt a bit on the nose and it also didn't feel organic, the resolution to saving the world and Donna also didn't feel special, there wasn't a scientific or valid reason, when with a show like Doctor Who, you'd expect to have a scientific reason for the world being saved from something that would've doomed it. It just felt very off to me
I appreciate how much love Russell put into the trans representation, but it’s pretty obvious to me that he should have gotten a trans co-writer to help him navigate those waters because it is a little obvious he’s an older cis man here haha
It was a wonderful episode, and most of the sociopolitical commentary landed well. What a shame about the "there are some things a male will never understand" crap. We're after equality now, not this fake superiority of one gender over another. Otherwise this was a breath of fresh air compared to the last few years.
F the haters! F'n Right!
Love the unit character the wheelchair badass
I love this accent.
I loved this episode but... they kinda ruined the great parts by going all in on the cringe tbh. other than the few moments im just glad to have David and Catherine back...
You are cute. Thanks for your commentary. I agree it's confusing. But there are 2 more "special" the a new Christmas special.
Great reaction! Loved it!
Omg your so cute reacting to this wow your such a cutie x
With the "male presenting time lord" thing i feel like they could have just said time lord, and that would be better. 'Part from that loved the episode.
yazzz my beloved
Call me crazy but I think "let it go" was a nod to Disney's Frozen and tying it to Donna and Rose.
And it's all about the message...#ripdoctorwho
This episode was bloody ridiculous and dumbed down for a childish audience . (O well i hope it gets better) I so repose it will be good for clicks and like jesus!
I actually loved Jodie's title sequence, it was very classic 60s-esque which I really loved but this new one IS gorgeous and screams "We have more money!"
i agree with the ending being a bit clunky with the inclusion, but id rather the show be clunky but inclusive than cater to bigots. and the rest of the episode was just so much fun!
it was proper cringey
Ok, so the way I see the more controversial lines: they really aren't that controversial if you take them at the basic value. The "binary" line doesn't have to be serious when it's more about the fact it was passed on rather than gender, same with the "let it go" line. Is it too much to consider that splitting the metacrisis might make it into enough energy to pass off now it's not as intense? It can be read into as a social commentary on gender, or left at the face value that it's dispersed enough that it can do that and the lines are just there as a metaphor or comparison that is harmless to the actions of the story itself
I HATED the "just let it go" thing. Like, if that was the answer why the fuck didn't The DoctorDonna think of it the first time around????
i also am non binary and i was not a fan of the "binary binary non binary" thing AT ALL. It was super cheesy and not in a good way. I totally agree with what you said like it's such a weird answer to the problem.
A lot of the episode just felt like total fawning to the 10th doctor era fans. Like it didn't feel real at all as a result. Which I guess is why they're bringing them back in the first place, to fawn and get the fandom back after the failure of Chibnall's showrun to build excitement for Ncuti's series. But it was just over the top and felt super fake as a result.
I am just as obsessed with the new intro and tardis though!
My God that was so annoying after 20 secs, I can’t watch the rest.
Thank you for letting me see the star beast from Doctor Who but I would like to see on BBC America so I can watch the whole thing uninterrupted
Good lord, such great characters buried under clumsy, ham-fisted writing. Sigh.
Yeh it really fell flat. Some really cringe moments. Even the emotional bits were sort of cringe. I didn’t even see Donna spill her coffee because the ending was so cringe I just went on my phone cos I was so bored
She didn’t feel like my Donna. Which is bizarre. It was all just a bit…comic relief reunion special where they bring the old cast of a sitcom back and it’s a giggle for nostalgia but you’d never watch it again because the magic just isn’t there anymore and they’ve ruined it with current topics.
Sadly, this was really woke crap. Have been a fan since the early 70s in the Jon Pertwee Golden Era when I was a kid and this is a complete and utter mess of style (SFX) over content with preachy virtual-signalling codswallop thrown in your face (pro-noun nonsense)... What a complete and utter crying shame and travesty that the once great Dr Who has fallen into a pit of tripe like this... *SIGH*
Highly disappointed with the weak storyline. So basic story felt like I could blindly guess what would happen next no real surprises. 3/10 rating in my opinion. Guess we’ll have to wait to see what happens in the next few episodes
Totally Dr Woke now... all the forced gender identity politics made me SICK!
Relax a bit
absolutely no need to push the none binary thing on a kids show , we all accept none binary people , or at least normal rational people do , there is no need for the creepy cheesy way it pushes it in this show now , i nearly threw up 3 times at how cheesy it was , the meep was cool though , I remember it from the old comic book and i never read it , i just looked at it in a newsagents nice to see the character fleshed out and played reall well
... They took a year to do this crap? Cringeworthy gender ideology bollocks with a story shoe horned over a poor deus ex machina to accommodate it, it otherwise adds absolutely nothing, is only jarring ... no motivation really given for the 2D villain, bloody sonic screwdriver does anything at-f'ing-all now, visually very, very, very nice, actors good as ever, washed out theme, annoying end credit orchestration, overall a subpar outing. Oh, and f the BBC for continuing down this foolish road. Cheerio.
I don’t get how a black man dressed as a woman is able to dog man that shit just blows my mind. Love the episode but I’m so sick of this gender affirming bullshit
We all are
It's so confusing
You seriously gonna be transphobic?
@@ThetaSigma-vu1sk Of course
It's an abomination against nature
Love this episode but I'm so sick of bigoted human beings like you. Transgender exists. Deal with it. While I agree it was a bit forced, we should not behave like it has nothing to do in media.
I loved it and I especially loved the representation. Only bigots and small people would have a problem with this episode.