Doctor Who Discussion - Joy to the World Out Now!!

[fogbadge]

I'd argue that things are scarier when you don't explain anything. Explaining something causes it to lose the mystique, and the explanation is often disappointing compared to what you build up in your mind. Take Hannibal Lecter, Darth Vader, Michael Myers from Halloween, or the Xenomorph from Alien, for example - when those series went into the backstory/creation of those characters, it was seen as disappointing.

As for the election, aside from Gwilliam clearly eager to launch nuclear weapons (with it outright being said that he'd do it at the first opportunity, possibly even at the moment that he got control), there was whatever it was implied that he was doing to Marti. There are presumably limits to what they can show, but it seems like the point is that politicians (or anyone, really) can be charismatic but hide darker sides to themselves.

For me, some of the most unsettling moments in Doctor Who (at least from what I've seen) have happened when the Doctor's response to something is "I don't know", and in this case, these new forces that are in play take that to extremes, removing the Doctor from the universe without warning. It's kind of like the episode Midnight, where they're faced with a force that defies natural order.

I’d say it’s sort of the reverse of midnight with midnight we don’t know what the monster is but we know what it’s doing. Here we learn who the monster is but we don’t know what it’s doing. So it’s not so much as playing on fear of the unknown as going with what exactly is going on here.

as for the second bit that’s what I was saying we only know what he going to do. As implying stuff well the exact same writer in the exact same show was able to imply things a lot heavier in the past and make it more clear

ultimately it comes down to how they do it and here I feel they didn’t do it very well

 

[MartianSnake]

I understand you don't like the episode but does the title of the thread itself have to be so opinionated? Feel like that's something that oughta remain neutral.

 

[fogbadge]

I understand you don't like the episode but does the title of the thread itself have to be so opinionated? Feel like that's something that oughta remain neutral.

yeah ok I’ll change it

 

[The Black Omen]

It was nice seeing Kate again

Overall the episode was very enjoyable but the ending was a letdown. It feels like RTD started writing, had some really brilliant ideas, and just kinda kept writing until he realized he'd overran the 50 minute mark and so just kinda stopped without writing a satisfying conclusion. Still better than Church on Ruby Road, Space Babies, and Devil's Chord combined.

 

[Megadoomer]

I just made it to "World Enough And Time" in my watch-through of modern Who, so I'm nearing the end of Peter Capaldi's run. I really wish they didn't spoil so much in the season and episode trailers.

For the threat of that episode,

Spoiler

the Cybermen are portrayed in a much creepier way than anything that I've seen from them. (to be clear, what I've seen from them has been "Revenge of the Cybermen" from Tom Baker's run and everything from 10-12 so far) The fact that partially-converted Cybermen are repeatedly saying things like "pain" or "kill me", and the doctors who handle the conversion are aware of this but make no effort to actually stop it, gave me the creeps when I was watching this episode, and Bill's fate was a punch to the gut.

It's just a shame that they look like this:

Between the clearly visible human hands, the ski mask face, and what looks like a whole air conditioning system on their chest, the fear factor is lost somewhat, though it's still a bit unsettling to see human faces working beneath the ski-mask-like face. Also, I'm not sure what Mondasian is or why that makes them different from normal Cybermen; I'm guessing it's something from the classic series.

Also, the episode ends with this plot being referred to as "the genesis of the Cybermen". That seems like it's setting the next episode up pretty highly, given how well regarded Genesis Of The Daleks is considered. (the parallels in terms of how it was worded felt like they had to be intentional)

 

[MartianSnake]

I just made it to "World Enough And Time" in my watch-through of modern Who, so I'm nearing the end of Peter Capaldi's run. I really wish they didn't spoil so much in the season and episode trailers.

For the threat of that episode,

Spoiler

the Cybermen are portrayed in a much creepier way than anything that I've seen from them. (to be clear, what I've seen from them has been "Revenge of the Cybermen" from Tom Baker's run and everything from 10-12 so far) The fact that partially-converted Cybermen are repeatedly saying things like "pain" or "kill me", and the doctors who handle the conversion are aware of this but make no effort to actually stop it, gave me the creeps when I was watching this episode, and Bill's fate was a punch to the gut.

It's just a shame that they look like this:

Between the clearly visible human hands, the ski mask face, and what looks like a whole air conditioning system on their chest, the fear factor is lost somewhat, though it's still a bit unsettling to see human faces working beneath the ski-mask-like face. Also, I'm not sure what Mondasian is or why that makes them different from normal Cybermen; I'm guessing it's something from the classic series.

yeah thats how the cybermen looked in their first ever story. A ton of fans believe them to be the scariest form of them cuz its more human than machine, like a bunch of beepers forcing someone to stay alive. I generally agree

 

[The Black Omen]

Three guesses what my favorite Cyberman design is.

In all seriousness, I think the Mondasian Cybermen are a bit overrated. I mean, The Tenth Planet is one of the all-time greatest Cyberman stories, but they look even goofier there then they did in World Enough and Time. It's just so much. It's still better than the modern designs by a long shot. Trust me, the worst is yet to come.

Gotta love how we're all talking about World Enough and Time and not the episode that just aired today. I haven't seen it yet. Been really busy.

 

[fogbadge]

well i did not like episode 5 but that's i hate things that are purposefully bleak.

 

[Megadoomer]

I finished Capaldi's run (Missy's my favourite incarnation of the Master so far, including Roger Delgado - Michelle Gomez does a great job at selling the character as dangerous and unpredictable but also someone who wants nothing more than to be friends (or possibly more) with the Doctor like how they used to be; I felt like Bill was underused, though), and I watched Dot And Bubble.

I figured out thirty seconds in that it would be critiquing social media, but I didn't think it would focus so much on the racism and self-centeredness that comes from people being stuck in bubbles on social media. By the end of it, I was hoping that Lindy would be eaten by one of the slug monsters, or that the Finetimers' boat would sink right after the Doctor leaves.

About halfway through, I thought that Lindy might be racist (she made some comment about how the Doctor "isn't as stupid as he looks", and it's not like he's being like the 4th or 6th Doctor where he's dressed in a ridiculous costume and acting dumb to trick people - he was wearing normal clothing and sincerely trying to help everyone), but I didn't realize it was on a societal level. I could really feel Ncuti's frustration when he went from laughing to screaming at the end.

I thought the episode was well-acted by everyone involved, and it reminded me of how I felt when reading Harry Potter and getting to the parts with Dolores Umbridge.

 

[Cheese&Chips]

Personally, I’ve not been particularly impressed with this series so far. RTD has never been subtle with his messaging, but he’s not even trying anymore. Every episode bashes you over the head with its social message, and it’s actually starting to take me out of it. And his comments about characters like Davros have been ludicrous.

You can tell that this isn’t 2005 RTD, but RTD following his discovery of Twitter.

 

[fogbadge]

Personally, I’ve not been particularly impressed with this series so far. RTD has never been subtle with his messaging, but he’s not even trying anymore. Every episode bashes you over the head with its social message, and it’s actually starting to take me out of it. And his comments about characters like Davros have been ludicrous.

You can tell that this isn’t 2005 RTD, but RTD following his discovery of Twitter.

personally i think RTD's first run had plenty of issues as well.

 

[Cheese&Chips]

personally i think RTD's first run had plenty of issues as well.

Didn't say it didn't. Doesn't mean this one doesn't have more.

 

[fogbadge]

Didn't say it didn't. Doesn't mean this one doesn't have more.

quite an achievement considering we're only 8 episodes in

 

[Cheese&Chips]

quite an achievement considering we're only 8 episodes in

So? If you're incapable of telling the quality of something after five consistent weeks of episodes, then that's on you. The five episodes of Doctor Who Unleashed have been embarrassing too. The higher ups seem to be worried too given that they had to resort to saying that it was the nice weather why a show airing at 6:50 PM UK time had unimpressive viewing figures.

 

[fogbadge]

So? If you're incapable of telling the quality of something after five consistent weeks of episodes, then that's on you. The five episodes of Doctor Who Unleashed have been embarrassing too. The higher ups seem to be worried too given that they had to resort to saying that it was the nice weather why a show airing at 6:50 PM UK time had unimpressive viewing figures.

what are you getting so hostile for? I was trying to offer some optimism as there’s space for improvement

 

[The Black Omen]

Finally got around to watching the episode. In a better season, it would've been more palatable. As it stands, we've got the mediocre Christmas special, two appallingly terrible episodes, the excellent Boom, and two pretty decent experimental episodes with the Doctor barely involved. If anything, this is proof that RTD needs to back off, because he really seems to have lost his touch as a showrunner. The 2020s really seem to be a slump for the show so far.

It was a bold move to have the lead character be an unlikeable selfish halfwit, and while I think it ultimately paid off, those first few minutes or so were really hard to get through. It's obvious what the allegory was, and I'm glad RTD is tackling big issues, but by nature it means none of the characters are even remotely enjoyable except for Ricky September of all people, who I think would honestly make a great Doctor. His death, however, was far too violent for a family program, in my opinion. Not even Eric Saward would go that far. On the subject of the Doctor, I think it was very interesting to see a situation at the end where the people that he saved show no gratitude. I can't think of a prior episode where this has happened, at least not off the top of my head. Honestly pretty cool. Not a bad episode imo. About as good as 73 Yards.

Oh and one more thing: the soundtrack was really good

 

[MartianSnake]

Personally I like the new season quite a lot. I think Space Babies had some major issues and Devil's Chord some minor, but the rest were pretty great in my eyes. I just think the season needs a really good more lighthearted adventure-y episode (which I hope Rogue is to some degree)

 

[fogbadge]

Rogue is gonna be interesting, it's the only episode this series with new writers. i believe this is the writers from Loki. so it'll be good to see what new people will bring

 

[fogbadge]

that episode was pretty good over all

 

[Megadoomer]

A lot of the references to shows/movies set in this time period flew over my head (at least, I assume that "Bridgerton" and "Strictly" are shows or movies; their names were italicized in the subtitles), though I thought this was a good episode.

When Rogue's ship was showing different faces of the Doctor's, there were two that I didn't recognize - one in between the First and Fourth Doctors that looked kind of like Christopher Walken with a larger forehead, and another woman aside from the 13th Doctor. Not sure if either of those are spoilers for episodes that I haven't reached yet, but I recognized all of the other Doctors in there, including the War Doctor, though I had to double check to make sure that Paul McGann and Peter Capaldi were in there.

I've also started the 13th Doctor's run - I'm four episodes in, and so far, Rosa's been my favourite episode of 13's run, though I've generally enjoyed all of them. (my only criticism is the weird handling of Arachnids In The UK's ending)

 

[fogbadge]

A lot of the references to shows/movies set in this time period flew over my head (at least, I assume that "Bridgerton" and "Strictly" are shows or movies; their names were italicized in the subtitles), though I thought this was a good episode.

When Rogue's ship was showing different faces of the Doctor's, there were two that I didn't recognize - one in between the First and Fourth Doctors that looked kind of like Christopher Walken with a larger forehead, and another woman aside from the 13th Doctor. Not sure if either of those are spoilers for episodes that I haven't reached yet, but I recognized all of the other Doctors in there, including the War Doctor, though I had to double check to make sure that Paul McGann and Peter Capaldi were in there.

I've also started the 13th Doctor's run - I'm four episodes in, and so far, Rosa's been my favourite episode of 13's run, though I've generally enjoyed all of them. (my only criticism is the weird handling of Arachnids In The UK's ending)

Strictly is Strictly Come Dancing a popular dancing show here in Britain

Bridgerton is some period drama, seems to be one of the hot shows right now

as for the faces one was the actor Richard E Grant who played the doctor in an animated webcast called Scream of the Shalka. released in 2004 the modern series made it non canon making this cameo a surprise. The second face I can’t tell you

you’re right Rosa is a good episode

 

[Qwerty UIOP]

ignore this.

 

[Megadoomer]

Also, I picked up some more Big Finish stories. I really liked the 7th Doctor story "Master", and found out that there were similar ones focusing on Davros (with the 6th Doctor) and Omega (with the 5th Doctor). I also got a story that was part of a 60th anniversary release that involved the 10th Doctor, Missy, and the Paternoster Gang, because I can't say no to a combination of my favourite Master, my favourite supporting characters (so far), and one of my favourite Doctors.

Some of them are pretty expensive, though - I wanted to look into the War Master (since one story, Anti-Genesis, sounded interesting and we didn't get much of him in the show) or a story featuring Christopher Eccleston (since we didn't get nearly enough of him in the show), but those seem to cost about $50 each. (by comparison, the three stories that I got cost $25 total - $5 each for the villain stories and $15 for the 60th anniversary one)

 

[darkvortex]

thoughts so far
Space Babies - pretty weak, not a strong opener but fun enough. B
Devil's Cord - Really good. Jinx steals the show. Song is bad but I'm willing to give them it this the once.
Boom - I don't know if it's my favourite Moffat but I enjoyed it. Nice little anti war and capitalism story.
73 Yards - Real mixed feelings on this. I think Gibson is a great actress and proves it here. I also don't mind that we don't know much about the threat since I like a good unexplained threat. I do think it could have been longer though, with more time given to Rodger and his party. I think I like it more in concept than execution.
Dot & Bubble - Big Paradise Tower vibes from this. Went into it expecting to hate it and I really liked it. The ending twist is bleak but really well built up to.
Rouge - Yeah this was great. could we have future showrunners in Herron and Redmon? I guess we'll need to wait for their next story. Groff and Gatwa flow so well. Don't care at all that the romance was sudden, worked for Madam Depompadoor. I thought the villains where kinda dumb but they worked for the story.

finale throughs -

it's got to be Suketh, right? Sand, Death, Power over the Tardis, creepy Pyramids in the teaser.

A lot of the references to shows/movies set in this time period flew over my head (at least, I assume that "Bridgerton" and "Strictly" are shows or movies; their names were italicized in the subtitles), though I thought this was a good episode.

When Rogue's ship was showing different faces of the Doctor's, there were two that I didn't recognize - one in between the First and Fourth Doctors that looked kind of like Christopher Walken with a larger forehead, and another woman aside from the 13th Doctor. Not sure if either of those are spoilers for episodes that I haven't reached yet, but I recognized all of the other Doctors in there, including the War Doctor, though I had to double check to make sure that Paul McGann and Peter Capaldi were in there.

I've also started the 13th Doctor's run - I'm four episodes in, and so far, Rosa's been my favourite episode of 13's run, though I've generally enjoyed all of them. (my only criticism is the weird handling of Arachnids In The UK's ending)

Bridgerton is a huge Netflix period show and the influence for this episode. Strictly is a more UK specific reference, basically being the UK equivalent to Dancing with the Stars.

Fogbade is right. The first face is the Shalka Doctor, portrayed by Richard E. Grant (who also played the Great Tntelligence during Matt Smith's run) from the 2003 webcast Scream of the Shalka. A previously considered non canon story that was intended as it's own relaunch. (It's a fun story but the early 2000s web animation is rough). Grant also played the Doctor in the sketch A Curse of Fatal Death but it's much more likely to be the first option lol.

the second face. I assume you mean the black woman? That character's existence is unfortunately a massive spoiler for the 13th Doctors era but I'll put it in spoiler tags

That's the Fugitive Doctor, a previously unknown version of the Doctor implied to have existed pre Hartnell who had been hiding in Earth from the Timelords as a human named Ruth. She was part of a covert opps unit known as the Division. Not much is still known about her./ispoiler]

 

[fogbadge]

Also, I picked up some more Big Finish stories. I really liked the 7th Doctor story "Master", and found out that there were similar ones focusing on Davros (with the 6th Doctor) and Omega (with the 5th Doctor). I also got a story that was part of a 60th anniversary release that involved the 10th Doctor, Missy, and the Paternoster Gang, because I can't say no to a combination of my favourite Master, my favourite supporting characters (so far), and one of my favourite Doctors.

Some of them are pretty expensive, though - I wanted to look into the War Master (since one story, Anti-Genesis, sounded interesting and we didn't get much of him in the show) or a story featuring Christopher Eccleston (since we didn't get nearly enough of him in the show), but those seem to cost about $50 each. (by comparison, the three stories that I got cost $25 total - $5 each for the villain stories and $15 for the 60th anniversary one)

are the ones you're looking at box sets? they're usually the pricier ones

i've got a fantastic set of the 9th doctor audio stories, one with the cybermen and one with lady macbeth and scottish myth, great stuff. i've only got one with the war master, a set of river song stories where she fights 4 different incarnations of the master

alternatively there's a lot of early big finish stories on spotify you can listen to for free, iirc it includes the davros one you mentioned

 

[fogbadge]

our current show runner has suggested five stories to watch before the series 14 finale

bad wolf/ parting of the ways
the bells of st john
spearhead from space
a good man goes to war
the church on ruby road

 

[Megadoomer]

The first part of the season finale is out.

Between the unexplained robot from 14's episodes (unless something happened in 13's seasons that I haven't seen yet) and the various new characters who were established here, it felt to me like they were trying to set up a UNIT spin-off show.

They acknowledged the main theories around Susan Twist's character and S. Triad Technologies that I had seen online. As for the resolution of that plot point, it looks like I've got some classic Doctor Who episodes to watch before next week, since I haven't seen the episodes in question.

 

[fogbadge]

The first part of the season finale is out.

Between the unexplained robot from 14's episodes (unless something happened in 13's seasons that I haven't seen yet) and the various new characters who were established here, it felt to me like they were trying to set up a UNIT spin-off show.

They acknowledged the main theories around Susan Twist's character and S. Triad Technologies that I had seen online. As for the resolution of that plot point, it looks like I've got some classic Doctor Who episodes to watch before next week, since I haven't seen the episodes in question.

pyramids of mars it’s a good one. Although you’ll find the lore around sutek is different. Btw there’s supposed to be a tales from the tardis soon so there’s a good chance it’ll be that

good episode overall I thought

 

[darkvortex]

Solid. Big fan of the new Unit team and I'd be shocked of there wasn't a spin off of some kind of them in the works. Once they opened the episode up with the Susan tease I knew it would be a misdirection and a twist. I felt more time could have been given to Susan Triad and what her actual plan was.

they've really buffed Suketh . It's been like a decade since I last watched Pyramids of Mars but wasn't he just a very powerful alien? He seems to be the most powerful of the gods here. Between the new gods they've set up and the unseen Susan Twist appearances, they've given Big Finish decades worth of stories.

I don't think Susan is done for good. I think they're setting up that character showing up in a future season, which will be all the more meaningful for the Doctor now.

No idea on who Rubys parents are but I'm betting the person in the hood is Ruby herself. She'll have to make her own creation. I think her snow powers will be used against Suketh.

Miss Flood. Master or Monk I think. I think there's a lot of Time Lord hints with her but I don't think she's working with Suketh.

 

[fogbadge]

Solid. Big fan of the new Unit team and I'd be shocked of there wasn't a spin off of some kind of them in the works. Once they opened the episode up with the Susan tease I knew it would be a misdirection and a twist. I felt more time could have been given to Susan Triad and what her actual plan was.

they've really buffed Suketh . It's been like a decade since I last watched Pyramids of Mars but wasn't he just a very powerful alien? He seems to be the most powerful of the gods here. Between the new gods they've set up and the unseen Susan Twist appearances, they've given Big Finish decades worth of stories.

I don't think Susan is done for good. I think they're setting up that character showing up in a future season, which will be all the more meaningful for the Soctor now.

No idea on who Rubys parents are but I'm betting the person in the hood is Ruby herself. She'll have to make her own creation. I think her snow powers will be used against Suketh.

Miss Flood. Master or Monk I think. I think there's a lot of Time Lord hints with her but I don't think she's working with Suketh.

you recall correctly sutekh was originally just a very powerful alien. We’ll have to wait and see if it gets acknowledged next week

 

[Megadoomer]

The finale aired yesterday.

I thought the reveal of Ruby's mother was extremely anti-climactic, and given the events of the first few minutes, it was clear early on that this episode was way too big of a change to the status quo and it was going to be undone.

Still, the idea of the Doctor bringing Death everywhere that he goes is an eerie one - I thought the problem might have been resolved by the Doctor going to a planet that he hadn't visited since the days of one of the first three Doctors, though they went in a different direction. Sutekh's defeat was much more definitive compared to the 70s, though I'm sure writers could find a way to bring him back if they wanted to.

Also, between the Tales of the TARDIS episode and 15's remark that Sutekh looking like an ancient Egyptian was "cultural appropriation", the 15th Doctor (and, by extension, the writers) seemed really annoyed at some aspects of Pyramids of Mars haha.

I'm glad that I watched Pyramids of Mars before this. Also, I've ordered the BluRay for Peter Davison's second season, which should arrive by tomorrow at the latest.

I think that might be the last BluRay that I get for a while - I want to give every Doctor a chance, but there aren't any Patrick Troughton seasons on BluRay, William Hartnell only has one season (I'm not sure of the pacing of that era, or how these BluRay sets handle the missing episodes - I'd be fine with animated reconstructions, but I feel like I'd have a tough time if it was slideshows with audio over top), and from what I've read, Colin Baker's seasons are a low point for the show. By my understanding, he gets much better material with Big Finish, but I'm not sure which of his seasons (if any) could be considered good.

 

[Qwerty UIOP]

Ranking the Doctor Who(Disney +) Season 1 Episodes:

1. The Devil's Chord
2. Dot and Bubble
3. The Legend of Ruby Sunday/The Empire of Death
4. Rogue
5. Boom
6. 73 Yards
7. Space Babies

Ranking the Doctor Who(Disney +) Season 1 Monsters and Villains:

1. Sutekh(The Legend of Ruby Sunday/The Empire of Death)
2. The Maestro(The Devil's Chord)
3. Lindy Pepper-Bean(Dot and Bubble)
4. Dots and Man Traps(Dot and Bubble)
5. The Chuldur Family(Rogue)
6. The Bogeyman(Space Babies)
7. The Woman(73 Yards)
8. Villengard Ambulances(Boom)
9. Harbinger(The Devil's Chord, The Legend of Ruby Sunday/The Empire of Death)
10. Roger Ap Gwillam(73 Yards)

 

[fogbadge]

from what I've read, Colin Baker's seasons are a low point for the show. By my understanding, he gets much better material with Big Finish, but I'm not sure which of his seasons (if any) could be considered good.

try his second series Trial of A Time Lord. that's got what I consider his top two stories in the second half.

anyway i found today's episode a little disappointing

 

[The Black Omen]

try his second series Trial of A Time Lord. that's got what I consider his top two stories in the second half.

anyway i found today's episode a little disappointing

I have pretty much the opposite opinion with Colin. I absolutely love Season 22 but I'm not a big Trial guy.

As for the latest season, well, it was something. Boom and Rogue are probably the only episodes I'd ever rewatch. The finale was mid. If you take out Boom, then this might actually be the worst season of the show. That's honestly really impressive. RTD never fails to tread new ground, lol.

 

[Megadoomer]

I've been catching up on other Doctors, so I watched Arc Of Infinity for the Fifth Doctor (my Peter Davison season arrived) and Tomb Of The Cybermen for the Second Doctor.

Tomb Of The Cybermen was a bit uncomfortable to watch at times with the casual racism and sexism, though Patrick Troughton was great as the Doctor, and the classic Cybermen were a lot more effective/creepy than the armoured versions.

As for Arc Of Infinity, it wasn't great, though Peter Davison had a nice moment near the end (when Omega had turned into a copy of the Doctor) that made me feel sympathy for Omega. Still, I think Peter Davison's Doctor might be my least favourite Doctor of the ones that I've seen so far (I've only seen him in the Five Doctors and Arc Of Infinity; I'm sure there are good episodes that I haven't seen yet, like Earthshock or The Caves Of Androzani). I get that they wanted to contrast him with the zanier Fourth Doctor, but it resulted in him feeling really bland and not having much of a distinct personality, at least from the episodes and Big Finish stories that I've seen/heard.

(the only Doctors that I haven't seen enough of to judge are the First Doctor (I've only seen him in The Three Doctors), the Sixth Doctor (I've heard some Big Finish stories, but I haven't seen any episodes), and the Eighth Doctor (though I'm planning to watch his movie soon, and I know he has a short that came out around the time of Day Of The Doctor) - I could rank them lower)

EDIT: I've watched at least one story per Doctor now - I saw Paul McGann's movie plus Night of the Doctor, "Revelation of the Daleks" for the Sixth Doctor, and "The Time Meddler" for the First Doctor. Weirdly enough, my opinions about 1 and 6's stories are opposites - in The Time Meddler, I liked Hartnell's portrayal, though the story was incredibly slow, even when I deliberately picked a story that only had four parts. In Revelation of the Daleks, the story was good, but the dynamic between the Doctor and his companion Peri made it seem like they disliked each other (they were insulting each other on a regular basis, and Peri seemed self-centered), and the two of them basically did nothing in the first half while the actual plot was happening.

 

[fogbadge]

Jodie Whittaker is returning as the 13th doctor for a series of audio stories next year

edit: right forgot several details. according to the beeb and big finish we are getting 12 stories of an hour length starring Jodie and mandip gill as companion Yasmin Khan. first batch due next July

 

[The Black Omen]

Not trying to start anything political but just a heads up that the producer of the new 13th Doctor audios seems to be very pro-Israel. If you aren't into that, then caveat emptor.

 

[fogbadge]

Fans might like to know that after many rumours a new spin off has been announced as it starts filming The War Between Land and Sea staring Jemma Redgrave

we also have out fisrt look at this year's christmas special Joy to the World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9_RYmJswmM

 

[Megadoomer]

I finished watching Jodie Whittaker's second season. From what I'd read, I was expecting some episodes (particularly Orphan 55 and The Timeless Children) to be much worse than they turned out to be. For the most part, I enjoyed them. (though the reveal of what happened to Gallifrey was a bit disappointing, and despite the build-up and interesting characterization, the Lone Cyberman fell flat at the end)

Orphan 55 had unsubtle messaging, but it was hardly the only episode to be guilty of that. (I'd argue that In The Forest Of The Night was a worse episode with a similar message) As for The Timeless Children, it was a significant change to the Doctor's backstory, but I'm not familiar enough with Gallifrey to know how significantly it changed the history of that planet. (the only episodes that I've seen that focus on Gallifrey are The Three Doctors, The Deadly Assassin, The Five Doctors, and The End of Time) Still, it made sense to me - the 13 lives limit might have made sense back in the 70's, but with the Doctor surpassing that, it seems best to leave the door open so there's no hard limit for the Doctor, and I like that it adds a sense of mystery back to the character.

Having three companions in the TARDIS felt like a bit much - I liked their interactions with each other, but Ryan in particular felt underdeveloped, and while Graham had his moments, there were a few times where it felt like he had nothing to do. I did like Ryan and Graham's development, though I'm hoping that when it's just the Doctor and Yaz, it will help with making things feel more focused.

(also, the internet definitely exaggerated how bad one scene was - at one point, Graham confides in the Doctor that he occasionally worries about his cancer coming back, and the Doctor doesn't know how to respond; from what I'd read about it online, it made it sound like Graham's cancer did come back and that was the Doctor's response, rather than Graham simply being a little nervous about the possibility)

Sacha Dhawan's Master was all right, though definitely not about to crack the top two for me. (Michelle Gomez and Roger Delgado have those spots locked up tightly) I've just got one more season to go for Jodie Whittaker, though it's shorter than normal. (and her seasons are already short as is - her seasons are about 10 episodes, when other modern Doctors are about 13, and her final season is only six episodes plus some specials) I'm assuming that her last season was filmed during the pandemic, which would explain the short length.

I was also introduced to the Fugitive Doctor, which cleared up my confusion about the face in Rogue. I had theorized that she was a regeneration between the Second and Third Doctors who had fled the Time Lords (since I had read that the regeneration from 2 to 3 was the only one that wasn't shown on-screen), though that didn't turn out to be the case.

The only gripe I had was a bit near the end of Spyfall; it felt wrong for the Doctor to use the Nazis' racism against the Master. (though he was collaborating with them, so it was entirely deserved) All in all, I thought the season was okay at worst, and nowhere near as bad as it had been made out to be. (my highlights were Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror and The Haunting of Villa Diodati)

 

[fogbadge]

I finished watching Jodie Whittaker's second season. From what I'd read, I was expecting some episodes (particularly Orphan 55 and The Timeless Children) to be much worse than they turned out to be. For the most part, I enjoyed them. (though the reveal of what happened to Gallifrey was a bit disappointing, and despite the build-up and interesting characterization, the Lone Cyberman fell flat at the end)

Orphan 55 had unsubtle messaging, but it was hardly the only episode to be guilty of that. (I'd argue that In The Forest Of The Night was a worse episode with a similar message) As for The Timeless Children, it was a significant change to the Doctor's backstory, but I'm not familiar enough with Gallifrey to know how significantly it changed the history of that planet. (the only episodes that I've seen that focus on Gallifrey are The Three Doctors, The Deadly Assassin, The Five Doctors, and The End of Time) Still, it made sense to me - the 13 lives limit might have made sense back in the 70's, but with the Doctor surpassing that, it seems best to leave the door open so there's no hard limit for the Doctor, and I like that it adds a sense of mystery back to the character.

Having three companions in the TARDIS felt like a bit much - I liked their interactions with each other, but Ryan in particular felt underdeveloped, and while Graham had his moments, there were a few times where it felt like he had nothing to do. I did like Ryan and Graham's development, though I'm hoping that when it's just the Doctor and Yaz, it will help with making things feel more focused.

(also, the internet definitely exaggerated how bad one scene was - at one point, Graham confides in the Doctor that he occasionally worries about his cancer coming back, and the Doctor doesn't know how to respond; from what I'd read about it online, it made it sound like Graham's cancer did come back and that was the Doctor's response, rather than Graham simply being a little nervous about the possibility)

Sacha Dhawan's Master was all right, though definitely not about to crack the top two for me. (Michelle Gomez and Roger Delgado have those spots locked up tightly) I've just got one more season to go for Jodie Whittaker, though it's shorter than normal. (and her seasons are already short as is - her seasons are about 10 episodes, when other modern Doctors are about 13, and her final season is only six episodes plus some specials) I'm assuming that her last season was filmed during the pandemic, which would explain the short length.

I was also introduced to the Fugitive Doctor, which cleared up my confusion about the face in Rogue. I had theorized that she was a regeneration between the Second and Third Doctors who had fled the Time Lords (since I had read that the regeneration from 2 to 3 was the only one that wasn't shown on-screen), though that didn't turn out to be the case.

The only gripe I had was a bit near the end of Spyfall; it felt wrong for the Doctor to use the Nazis' racism against the Master. (though he was collaborating with them, so it was entirely deserved) All in all, I thought the season was okay at worst, and nowhere near as bad as it had been made out to be. (my highlights were Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror and The Haunting of Villa Diodati)

in the case of orphan 55 is not so much the lack of subtly so much as it's just bad. I often compare it to the 3rd doctor story the Green Death which is also an unsubtle environmental story but is much more environmental

the timeless children is another case where I find the writing to be very bad with little to care given and my problem with the timeless child is that it changes so much. the doctor's history, the dynamic with the master, the fact that the doctor was an outsider who rose to be a hero. but the worst part is they go on about how it changes everything but then turn around and starts saying it changes nothing. to me it feels something that was done for the sake of changing everything

as for dhawan's master I really don't feel they played to his strengths

anyway onto what I initially came in here for: got the dvd of the celestial toymaker the other day. still a good story but the choice to redesign some of the characters for the reconstruction seems a bit odd. cause they still say they look like regular people when they don't anymore