A Final Look at the Chibnall Era ('The Power of the Doctor' Review)
WARNING: Review contains spoilers for 'The Power of the Doctor'
So, here we are, at the end of Jodie Whittaker's run as the Thirteenth Doctor, and Chris Chibnall's turn as showrunner. I have spent the past couple of weeks being incredibly anxious for this finale. I was far from ready for this finale, I didn't want to say goodbye to either Jodie or Chibnall. As time has passed, I've grown to consider the Chibnall era my favourite New Who era (I elaborate more on this in my last "Look at the Chibnall Era" post), and Jodie joins Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor at the top as my favourite incarnation of the Time Lord.
With the Master, Cybermen, Daleks, old and new friends coming together, and the end of the Doctor's very existence...does Chibnall stick the landing?
Part 1: The Bad
So, might as well get the negatives out of the way. I don't have a whole lot of them, but they should still be talked about.
First off, I really hate how quickly Dan leaves the episode, after loving him so much in Flux and the other specials. He's faced down Sontarans, Weeping Angels, Daleks, Sea Devils, the literal end of the universe, trapped in the past for 3 years and he's even died 8 times in the time loop...but getting hit in the face by a CyberMaster and almost floating off into space is what ultimately gets him to leave. It left me disappointed and knocked the wind out of my enjoyment for a moment after having so much fun with the CyberMaster train attack. I'm glad he popped up again at the end, but I don't think having Dan in the adventure would have hurt.
Another, lesser complaint is that I think this story is the weakest outing for the Daleks in the Chibnall era. It really hurts to say that given that the New Year's specials were all pretty great showcases for the Daleks. Here, they feel like they're here just because of their iconography. There's still some decent stuff, though nothing particularly new or groundbreaking. This is more forgiveable cause the Cybermen get to have their own spotlight without it being hogged, so maybe the Daleks were the price to pay. And we got a solid NY trilogy anyways.
And the third issue is...Thasmin. Now, I feel like they cemented Yaz's feelings for the Doctor as canon far too late into the run to do anything proper with it aside from simply confirming it to be canon. Not to say they couldn't have done anything with this thread, but they have Yaz and Dan talk it out in 'Eve of the Daleks', and Dan clues the Doctor in during that same episode, and then in 'Legend of the Sea Devils', the Doctor and Yaz talk it out, and from that, I got the impression that the Doctor didn't want to pursue a romantic relationship with Yaz, and their talk was the Doctor trying to let her down as gently as possible. I mean, we still get some solid little moments between the Doctor and Yaz, but I can understand the disappointment Thasmin fans felt here. If they'd dedicated some more time in Flux to fleshing out their relationship, then maybe I'd be saying something different here.
Also I felt like Tegan was kind of a bitch up until her heart-to-heart with the Fifth Doctor. Haven't watched too much of Classic Who, so idk if she was always characterised that way, but it didn't really help with making her a character I wanted to root for.
Part 2: The Good
Okay, now the bad is out of the way, I can start gushing about this episode, because oh boy did I love it! It definitely has the vibe of "Chris Chibnall wrote a fanfiction when he was a kid and submitted it to the BBC, who then threw a budget at him and told him to make the fanfic", and I am all here for it. Does it wrap up the Chibnall era's arcs and characters? No, not really, but you know what? I had an absolute blast from beginning to end, so I honestly couldn't care less.
First off, I think everybody involved here brought their A-game. All the main actors are delivering great performances, they bounce so well off of each other, and the emotional moments hit all the right places. Particular shoutouts to Sacha Dhawan, Mandip Gill and Jodie Whittaker who carry the episode. Sacha in particular absolutely sells this version of the Master. I've seen some comments around about the "Jokerfication" of the Master, but Sacha manages to make it work with his acting skills. Looking forward to his Big Finish run whenever that comes around.
I mentioned earlier that I took issue with the Daleks here, but I did really like the traitor Dalek. Kinda interesting that the whole Kaled origin thing really hasn't been explored much outside of the barebone fundamentals of "Daleks are mutants". I liked the angle of this Dalek feeling like its race has perverted their origins and robbed them of their identity and culture, and I hope something like this is explored further in the future.
Moving toward the Cybermen, they've definitely had a struggle in New Who to take a spotlight without somebody else hijacking them. Whether it was the Cult of Skaro in 'Doomsday', or the 3 season finales where it starts off being at least partially about the Cybermen, before deciding that the Master will be the focus of the second half, the Cybermen have frequently drawn the short straw, with their seried 2 debut, 'World Enough and Time' and 'The Haunting of Villa Diodati' being their only real strong spotlights in my opinion. Thankfully here, they're given better treatment here. We open right up on the CyberMasters conducting the train heist, greeting the Doctor and Yaz on the cyber-planet, Ashad and his faction get to act mostly independent of the Master's agenda, we get that awesome hallway scene with Ashad and UNIT...the Cybermen definitely got the good treatment here.
And of course, gotta talk about the Classic Who stuff. The Master's costume with all the little touches from various past Doctors on it, it was so great to see. The orange spacesuit returning was awesome too! But the biggest piece of all, we got just about every Classic Doctor returning in the Edge! One, Five, Six, Seven and EIGHT!! It was so great seeing them all again, Eight especially for me, and Five and Seven getting to have their moments with Tegan and Ace thanks to the Doctor's AI hologram was a nice touch, and a great way to let past Doctors have their moment. The companion support group at the end was great too, I'm surprised we managed to get Ian back for a cameo, but its awesome that he is!
Overall, I really had a great time with this episode, and so fun that I can just relax and not have to worry about my issues with it bugging me or detracting from my overall enjoyment. Chibnall certainly went out with a bang, topping it off with a beautiful regeneration scene. Which leads into...
Part 3: ...The Tennant
Okay, now I need to talk about this. So, before we got news on this special, we had confirmation that David Tennant and Catherine Tate were gonna be returning as the iconic Series 4 duo for the 60th anniversary specials under Russell T. Davies, who will be returning as showrunner for Doctor Who. My prediction for 13's regeneration was that it would be left open-ended and that we wouldn't see her becoming either Tennant or Ncuti Gatwa, so we'd just pick up in the 60th with Tennant and not know what happened between 13 regenerating and him popping up.
With the initial shock of this regeneration having worn off...I feel very mixed not only with this regeneration, but also RTD's confirmation that Tennant is the 14th Doctor, and Ncuti Gatwa will be the 15th. I don't mind that Tennant is returning for the 60th, he clearly loves Doctor Who and playing the role of the Doctor, but after the practically non-stop bitching and complaining about Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall...I can't shake the feeling that this is all just the BBC trying to pull those corners of the fanbase back onto their side.
It also feels...idk, kinda insulting to Ncuti Gatwa that he isn't 14? It's a bit like "oh, you're not gonna be enough to pull audiences back, we're gonna call in the fan-favourite to get them back, and then put you in there to see if they hang around". I dunno...I'm sure Tennant'll be just fine, and the 60th will be a good set of specials, but it feels like the BBC are doing a disservice by relying on the frankly kinda overrated safe choice to draw back audiences and views.
And....yeah, anyways, that's it for my thoughts on the Chibnall era of Doctor Who. Been quite a journey, and its kinda sad to see it all end.
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So, in the magazine, the description for this photo is,
The master is restrained in The power of the Doctor...but by whom?
And it also said in another part of the magazine,
"He has unfinished business." (Patrick O'Kane talking about his character Ashad in tpotd.) "Not only with the job in hand, but also with the Master." Probably because he the Master tricked him into giving him the cyberium and then shot him with his tissue compression thingy.
And this got me thinking, what if Ashad got unit, of atleast the officers that are holding the Master in the photo, on his side, and convinced them to capture the Master. So the answer to the question, The master is restrained in The power of the Doctor...but by whom?
IMO, is Ashad. I mean, I could be wrong, but it's just a theory. Tell me what yous think.
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Parallels.
Or
Seeing Patterns in Things that Aren’t There.
Part 11
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Hallways, Death Angels, and Lone Cybermen.
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“That…thing. In the hallway, while we were trying to get off the Profundity. It killed at least a dozen of my men, cut them down like they were nothing. Blasters had no effect, it just kept on coming, kept on killing. It was like…like a nightmare. I’ve never seen anything like it, like some kind of death angel.” - Toshma Jefkin. - Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View (2017).
1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
2.Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor (2022)
3. Amphibia. (2019-2022)
Seriously what is it with hallway scenes today.
I’d say Rogue One boosted the popularity of such things.
I just find it a bit odd.
I’m not complaining btw.
I’ll admit, from what little I’ve seen of the show, the Amphibia hallway scene was definitely a deliberate homage to Star Wars.
Whereas the Doctor Who one seems like more of a coincidence. At least it does to me.
Make of that what you will.
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