#thirteenth doctor review

[yeonchi]

Doctor Who 2022 Centenary Special Review: The Power of the Doctor

Air date: 23 October 2022

Way back in April, there was an apparent leak stating that the title of this episode would be called The Lives of the Doctor. That turned out to be a hoax fabricated by some people from the Doctor Who Discord server, but the name we have now is close enough to be similar, even though we already went through an “X of the Doctor” phase in 2013 for the 50th anniversary.

Well everyone, we have finally made it. After over 4 years (of which 2 years and 8 months consisted of EXTREMELY prolonged hiatuses), Jodie Whittaker’s final episode as the Thirteenth Doctor has finally aired. After that, we’re getting another EXTREMELY prolonged hiatus of 13 months until the 60th anniversary.

Before I make my final verdict on Jodie Whittaker’s tenure as the Doctor and by extension, the Chibnall era of Doctor Who, let’s jump into the final episode and see whether any loose ends will be tied up.

Here is my spoiler-free thought for this episode and the final one for the Chibnall era: “Oof, Yaz favouritism overload.” Nah, it’s the final episode, we can do better. “Sometimes, rumours can come true and sometimes, things don’t always turn out the way you predicted.”

MAJOR spoilers continue after the break.

Year-long hubbub

This section was written before this episode was aired just to see whether this prediction comes true.

People might be wondering why they didn’t see Ncuti Gatwa debut as the Doctor and I can speculate a few reasons as to why. The filming for this special took place from 23 August to 15 October 2021. The news of Russell T Davies returning as the new showrunner was announced on 25 September 2021 and the crew were only notified of this the day before. Ncuti Gatwa was cast as the Doctor in February 2022 and the announcement was made on 8 May 2022. With these timeframes, it would have been impossible for Ncuti to have made an appearance in the Centenary Special, unless some strings were pulled to allow for this.

Also, I totally predicted back in the review for Legend of the Sea Devils that this episode would premiere on 23 October (as part of the BBC’s centenary week of programming that started on 22 October). I honestly wonder what it would have been like had the Centenary Special not been commissioned; would this episode have taken the place of the Easter Special (albeit a bit shorter), or would the Doctor have successfully sacrificed herself to stop the Sea Devils without Ji-Hun to take her place? I guess we’ll never know.

TV Zone revealed the air date for this episode on 2 October before the BBC released the trailer for the episode a week after. It’s really telling of the care factor that went into the promotion of the series (amongst other things regarding production) when an unofficial source revealed the air date of the episode before the BBC did. Maybe the air date was kind of predictable given that it is the BBC Centenary (and, as I stated previously, the Chibnall era seems to like putting episodes on Sundays), but fans should have gotten confirmation at least four to six weeks before the air date. For the record, the title was revealed in Doctor Who Magazine 582, released 15 September, over five weeks before the air date. Apparently the marketing got messed up due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the official title reveal got pushed to 21 September.

Grab onto the waves of time space

Somewhere in space, a train- oh great, they’re finally doing a DenLiner. Nah, not really, it’s a space train, not a time train, plus, if I had to pick between the TARDIS and the DenLiner, I’d pick the TARDIS. That’s the reason why Den-O got replaced with an original Rider in my personal project. Anyway...

Somewhere in space, a train belonging to the Torajii Transport Network makes an emergency transmission after it has been hijacked by Cybermen- no, Cyber-Time Lords- no, CyberMasters. The Doctor receives the transmission and heads down with Yaz and Dan. During this, they are confronted by the CyberMasters and one of them shoots a hole in Dan’s helmet, causing him to float away, though Yaz manages to hold onto him as the Doctor deactivates the electromagnetic roof, causing the CyberMasters to float away.

The Doctor, Yaz and Dan head into the train. While Dan uses the sonic screwdriver to take control of the train, Yaz helps one of the personnel with a wound while the Doctor goes to confront the CyberMasters, who manage to teleport away with some cargo the ship was carrying, namely- The Timeless Child? Nah, not really, we’ll come back to them, but that’s the first thought I had when I saw them.

After this, the Doctor takes Dan back to Liverpool in time for his date (presumably with Diane), but as he leaves, he stops and turns to tell the Doctor that she doesn’t have to come back for him, deciding that he doesn’t want to push his luck any further after the accident he had earlier. I honestly thought he’d stopped upon hearing that there was a child to be rescued, but I can understand why he would decide to leave. The Doctor and Yaz see Dan off before they head back into the TARDIS. You know, I’m pretty sure the Doctor picked Dan’s house up after it was shrunk by Karvanista’s trap, so you’d think she’d be able to find a way to restore it, but oh well.

That’s the last we see of Dan for this entire special. You know, you’ve got to admire his dedication for Diane, a woman who considers being ghosted worse than being kidnapped amidst a crisis threatening the universe. Also, remember what Jack Harkness said to Yaz in Revolution of the Daleks? “Being with the Doctor, you don’t get to choose when it stops. Whether you leave her, or she leaves you.” I think Dan’s departure is an exception in that he actually got to choose when he left the Doctor. He could have not said anything and the Doctor would pick him up again 24 hours later, though given what’s about to happen next, I suppose he made the right decision.

Ra-Ra-Rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen

At an art gallery in 2022 London (not really the National Gallery, Somerset House maybe?), Ace learns that a painting has been taken down for restoration work after it was restored only two months prior. Yeah, I bet it was those climate protesters, who oh so conveniently came back when the pandemic was all but over and most of the world got vaccinated. Anyway, Ace contacts Tegan Jovanka over video chat and tells her that 15 paintings over the world have been taken down with no explanation. Tegan, who is in Romania, tells Ace that three seismologists she was looking for (among others) have disappeared while investigating a nearby earthquake near a volcanic chain. On top of that, Tegan discovered a package upon arriving at her cabin; inside was a Russian doll toy box with a card saying that it was from the Doctor and a doll, specifically the doll of the shrunken Lone Cyberman, Ashad.

In 1916, the Master, in disguise as Father Grigori Rasputin (who could ever have known) is called urgently to the Winter Palace from Siberia. As he compels the Tsar and his family to take some time away, the TARDIS lands on an extra planet in the shadow of Earth, where all the organic life has been converted into metal - let’s call it a Cyberplanet. They discover an extra TARDIS there, which is later revealed to a Type 75 belonging to the Master. Upon discovering another energy source on the surface, the Doctor and Yaz investigate and discover that the child has been tethered to the Cyberplanet alongside the Master’s TARDIS. The Doctor undoes the consciousness shield and discovers that the child is merely a visual filter for the quaranx, a rare source of sentient energy capable of powering planets and civilisations, now being used by the CyberMasters to power mass Cyber conversion.

As more CyberMasters appear and shoot at the Doctor and Yaz, they run back into the TARDIS to find a message from Kate Stewart calling them to UNIT. Upon arriving at UNIT HQ, the Doctor meets Tegan and Ace after so many years. Kate shows them all the situation; it is revealed that the paintings were taken down because they were defaced with the Master’s face. The Master has also left a message inviting the Doctor to the International Seismology Memorial Conference in Naples near Mount Vesuvius. Before she and Yaz leave, the Doctor greets Tegan and Ace with a touch on the shoulder, inadvertently shocking them with static electricity.

The Doctor and Yaz head to the conference to confront the Master, who has compressed all the seismologists with his TCE. The Master warns the Doctor to leave Earth or her existence will be erased forever, but UNIT troops come in and arrest the Master. The Doctor has one of the soldiers give Yaz a gun as they intend to take the Master back to UNIT HQ in the TARDIS.

Meanwhile, Vinder comes through a wormhole in search of the missing quaranx and crashes on the Cyberplanet, resulting in him being stranded as a result of the damage to his ship sustained by travelling through the wormhole. He decides to use the device the Doctor gave him to contact her.

After the Doctor drops the Master off at UNIT HQ, she leaves Tegan and Ace with Kate to guard the Master while she goes in search of a jaded Dalek who contacted her with an offer to destroy his kind and a warning that a Dalek invasion of Earth is imminent. Yaz gets a static shock from the Doctor during their conversation before they land inside a volcano in Bolivia. The Doctor and Yaz go their separate ways; the Doctor meets the jaded Dalek to extract the information he is offering her while Yaz discovers more Daleks attempting to harness the volcano’s power. Yaz makes it back to the TARDIS as three more Daleks find the Doctor; the jaded Dalek is exterminated while the other Daleks use its shell to capture the Doctor, leaving Yaz to set off in the TARDIS alone just as she receives Vinder’s call.

Back at UNIT HQ, Tegan and Ace notices that the Lone Cyberman doll is on the ground. As the Master confronts them through the camera system in his bunker, the doll expands to its normal size, revealing that he was the one who sent it to Tegan. The doll opens up and out come a group of Cybermen, including Ashad, who was apparently cloned. Tegan and Ace try to shoot the Cybermen with gold bullets but it fails, resulting in them having to run upstairs. Ashad kills all the soldiers in the bunker and releases the Master from his imprisonment. The Master recovers his TCE and teleports away.

In the Winter Palace, the Master brings the Doctor before him, the Daleks and the Cybermen, where we see the Master dancing to Boney M’s Rasputin in something that could only rival the Master dancing to the Rogue Traders’ Voodoo Child or the Scissor Sisters’ I Can’t Decide during the Series 3 finale two-parter. Meh, if I was the Master in that episode I’d be singing along as well plus including some ad-libbed dance moves from tokusatsu to zhuzh it up. The Master then makes contact with the TARDIS and has Yaz watch as he uses the Cyberplanet to force the Doctor to regenerate into him; or to put it a better way, I think he forced the Doctor to regenerate so he could hijack the regeneration and take over her body. Yaz lands the TARDIS in the Winter Palace and the Master, now in the Doctor’s body, proceeds to commandeer it. Landing on an asteroid (presumably), the Master heads outside to see the Earth and what I think could be the Cyberplanet (but judging how the other planet doesn’t even remotely resemble it, I think it could actually be Mondas) firing missiles at each other. The Master, intending to tarnish the Doctor’s name, tells a news camera drone that he (meaning the Doctor) caused this, but that is all he could do as Yaz pushes him out of the TARDIS and sets off.

All we need is “DRIVE”

The Doctor finds herself within her own consciousness at the Edge of Existence, where she meets a man sitting next to a telephone pole, namely the First Doctor, played by David Bradley, with his last appearance being in Peter Capaldi’s final episode, Twice Upon a Time, in 2017. During the sequence, the man is also shown becoming the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Fifth Doctors- wait, Fifth? Peter Davison? Didn’t he get cancelled back in 2017 for claiming that Jodie Whittaker’s casting meant that the Doctor would no longer be a role model for boys? Eh, I suppose people forgot about it even though he really meant no ill will towards the decision or the people involved in it. (For the record, I think that the Doctor has been a role model for ALL genders, as they say these days, and women have seen the Doctor as a role model even before Jodie Whittaker’s casting, just as some men may still see the Doctor as a role model now.)

The Doctors claim that the Thirteenth Doctor refuses to pass through the Edge of Existence, though they acknowledge that the Master has taken over her body and that they can’t let him permanently hijack their existence. The Thirteenth Doctor realises that there is always a way before she finds herself alone.

Back in the TARDIS, Yaz sees an AI hologram of the Doctor, activated through a nano-implant which was inserted into her, Ace and Tegan when they got static shocks from the Doctor. Yaz then goes to pick up Vinder from the Cyberplanet before telling the Doctor hologram about her forced regeneration, at which point she switches between faces as she tries to adapt to the new information.

At UNIT HQ, Kate locks down the building while Ace and Tegan prepare to jump off the roof, but Tegan decides to go back down and help Kate. As Ashad and the Cybermen proceed to convert the UNIT soldiers, Tegan meets back with Kate, who tells her to head to the basement and find the manual override for the structural termination system. Tegan heads off while Kate distracts the Cybermen by giving them an offer. Ace jumps off the roof and lands in the TARDIS just as Cybermen are shooting at her parachute. Yaz drops Ace off inside the volcano in Bolivia before she has Vinder hide as she goes to pick up the Master from the asteroid. Tegan’s hologram activates, but her emotional memory causes the hologram to become that of the Fifth Doctor, who gives her some reassuring words before she opens a panel into the lift shaft. Inside the volcano, Ace’s hologram activates and she reconciles with the Seventh Doctor after apparently having a falling-out offscreen. Ace sets off after this and runs into Graham, who is having trouble with his psychic paper, though I could pass it off as being ineffective on previous companions of the Doctor.

The Master takes the TARDIS back to the Winter Palace, where he orders the Daleks to activate volcanoes around the world. With help from a hologram of Ruth (the Fugitive Doctor) and Vinder, the CyberMasters are defeated and Yaz forces the Master back into the machine before harnessing the CyberMasters’ regeneration to degenerate the Doctor’s body back into her previous self and return the Master back to his body. The Ruth hologram disappears and the Doctor, Yaz and Vinder return to the TARDIS.

Ashad and the Cybermen find Kate, who allows herself to be taken for conversion. Tegan climbs down the lift shaft, but Ashad hears her and the Cybermen shoot through it, forcing her to let go and drop to the basement. Tegan manages to stop Kate from being converted, while at the same time causing Ashad and the Cybermen to be shocked. Meanwhile, Ace and Graham manage to blow up a Dalek and the disruptor pulse system before they escape in the TARDIS, the Doctor having flown in to pick them up. The bombs detonate, taking the volcano and the Daleks with it. Tegan and Kate escape from the building as it is destroyed (a building that size you’d think would cause more destruction) and the Doctor picks them up as well.

Come on and feel the Nexus Future

As the Master stumbles out of the Winter Palace, the Doctor heads back to the Cyberplanet and puts Graham, Yaz, Tegan, Ace and Kate around the TARDIS before heading out and fixing Vinder’s ship. She then goes into the Master’s TARDIS and links it with her TARDIS, transporting it to 2022 while Vinder leaves through the wormhole. The Doctor then uses the Cyber conversion systems to freeze the lava into steel, quelling the eruptions.

The Doctor heads out and tells the quaranx to disintegrate the Cyberplanet before freeing itself. She is about to head back to her TARDIS when the Master, whose body began failing from the previous ordeal, teleports back to his TARDIS, using the TCE to aim the quaranx’s energy at her before collapsing. Yaz picks up the Doctor and takes her back into the TARDIS before leaving as the Cyberplanet fully disintegrates and the quaranx goes free.

The Doctor regains consciousness after Yaz took everyone else home (or rather, Croydon, but don’t worry, with transport being so advanced in London these days, plus Ubers being a thing, I’m sure they managed to get home easily). As the Cloister Bell rings, Yaz and the Doctor discover that the latter is regenerating. The two of them enjoy a final view of Earth over some ice cream before the Doctor decides that she must be alone and drops Yaz off, presumably in Sheffield, and leaving without a goodbye. And they never got to kiss lol.

Yaz encounters Graham and Dan, a month having passed since Dan’s return, and they take her to a Doctor’s Companions Anonymous meetup, where they are joined by Tegan, Ace, Kate and additionally, Jo Jones, Melanie Bush and Ian Chesterton.

The Doctor takes the TARDIS atop a cliff, and after some final words, she regenerates (with her clothes as well?) into... David Tennant? I mean, we know he’s coming back for the 60th, but this is honestly just fan-wanky and admittedly, this is something I’d expect from fan theories. Well, now we know that RTD isn’t rebooting the franchise, but continuing it, albeit sweeping the Timeless Child revelation under the rug. Also, this was kind of expected given what I mentioned earlier about the next Doctor not being cast yet at the time of filming.

Random expectations

So over the past year, I’ve seen rumours about this special here and there and I want to address some random things.

Yaz was apparently going to be shown back with the police, which would be a serious regression of her character because she barely went back to the force ever since she started travelling with the Doctor. It was for the best that Yaz quit the police given these circumstances.

I’d read somewhere that the Doctor was going to have to wipe Yaz’s mind (along with Tegan’s and Ace’s) because her travels were affecting the stability of the timeline (hence the static shocks in the episode) and in doing so, it would give the Thasmin stans the kiss they were looking for. Frankly, if this was the case, it would be an insult to her character (and possibly Tegan’s and Ace’s) because it completely negates her journey and what little character development she got (and on top of that, destroying more Doctor Who canon established by other people over 30 years ago). This would be like when the Doctor wiped Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan’s minds back in Spyfall Part Two, but a hundred times worse. The only time a memory wipe was justified was with Donna Noble in Series 4.

Given what little information we got about the 60th Anniversary, some people (including myself) presumed that it would be a reboot and that this episode would end on the Doctor’s regeneration with a fade to black. In fact, given that the production didn’t know about RTD taking over as showrunner until a month into filming the episode, I think that it would have been the case had it not happened. Honestly, I’m kind of glad that they at least got David Tennant back for it because it’d end up being a situation where others would have to address a missing regeneration somewhere down the line.

Also, if the teaser we got at the end of the episode was any indication, the RTD2 era is going to continue with the Univisium 2:1 ratio instead of going back to 16:9 widescreen. Not a big problem in the end, but still.

So, the BBC has confirmed that David Tennant is now the Fourteenth Doctor (in addition to being the Tenth Doctor) and that Ncuti Gatwa will be playing the Fifteenth Doctor. Three specials are due to air in November 2023 before Ncuti’s first episode is expected to premiere “over the festive period” in 2023 (please there be a Christmas Special, please). With this, I would also like to announce that I intend to continue reviewing new Doctor Who episodes in the RTD2 era and hopefully beyond, even if only for the content. I’ll explain this in my final wrap-up post for the Chibnall era, but RTD’s return has given me a renewed hope in a series that has seen better days. Anyway, that’s beyond the scope of this review series for now. Let’s quickly wrap up the review.

UPDATE - 19 November 2022: So news about the production of the regeneration scene has come out since broadcast and I'd like to discuss it. David Tennant’s portion of the regeneration scene was filmed on 13 May 2022, seven months after filming on the whole special wrapped. It was filmed in a greenscreen studio with the help of a stand-in and the scene was directed by Rachel Talalay, who was also directing one of the 60th Anniversary Specials as well.

RTD has explained the reason why the Doctor’s clothes regenerated with them as well, saying that he was certain that it had to happen because the notion of drag can be delicate and David Tennant wearing the Thirteenth Doctor’s clothes would be a mockery of the culture. Also, he was worried that the media would focus on it and that it would be weaponised by people. On one hand I can understand this, as the scene was a big moment for the franchise and David Tennant wearing the Thirteenth Doctor’s clothes, while natural, can look a little silly, plus there was precedent for this during the first regeneration in 1966, which was presumably written off as a production error. On the other hand, however, the Master was shown in the Doctor’s outfit when he took over her body and barely anyone kicked up a stink about it. Also, all arguments aside, crossdressing isn’t necessarily drag culture, meaning that RTD did this because he was afraid of the scene being shown as “drag blackface”. It’s not like they couldn’t show David Tennant wearing the Thirteenth Doctor’s clothes and then reveal his new outfit soon after. I hope RTD has an in-universe explanation for this, or it’ll just get left unexplained and I’ll be disappointed.

Also, if I haven’t pointed this out already, the whole regeneration sequence was filmed in a greenscreen studio, with the scenery being filmed at Durdle Door in Dorset using drones. The owners of the estate where Durdle Door sits have complained to the BBC for being dishonest about the filming of the scene, saying that it would attract people to the dangerous landmark and possibly jump into the water, like any normal person would even consider it in the first place until the media highlighted it.

Other general thoughts

Like many others, I was surprised to see all the previous Doctors returning for this special. If it weren’t for Ruth’s introduction and the Timeless Child arc, I’d have the Eighth Doctor in place of Ruth for that scene in the Winter Palace. He honestly deserves more screentime if the BBC won’t give him a mini-series.

They changed the font used for the locations again. It’s not that jarring, I’ll give it that, but the thing that’s even more jarring is that they couldn’t be consistent with their fonts for four years.

Ryan is mentioned to be in Patagonia after the Doctor picks up Graham. Such a shame he couldn’t return for at least one more appearance.

When the Doctor sees the Dalek appear in her TARDIS, she tells it that it is “the first Dalek to ever mean that”. Has she forgotten Rusty already?

“The Master’s Dalek Plan” is also the name of a Big Finish audio featuring Derek Jacobi as the Time War Master.

I feel like Sacha Dhawan could have gotten the opening titles credit instead of John Bishop given how Dan leaves the TARDIS soon after.

The Master gives himself a gold star and a sticker upon seeing the destruction between Earth and the other planet (probably Mondas). If I had to really count it, I’ll just assume it’s 15 points. Such a shame the Doctor stopped giving out points.

In the Doctor’s Companions Anonymous scene, there is an extra chair with an iPad on it, as someone on Twitter pointed out. In the replies, someone thought that it was meant to be for Ryan, while another thought that it could be for Polly Wright. Fun fact, Anneke Wills, who played Polly, was invited to reprise her role for this scene but she declined as she wanted to tend to her garden instead. Also, Chris Chibnall mentioned to the Mirror that Tom Baker was also invited for a cameo but he presumably declined due to his age. Amusingly, some people mentioned that the iPad belonged to Dan and amusingly, in the quote tweets, I found a link to a Twitter for Dan’s iPad. Whoever runs that page made the next Evil Dan, I swear.

Earlier in October, Bonnie Langford, who played Mel, was announced to be reprising her role, but we didn’t expect to see her in this episode. I assume that she would be returning in the RTD2 era and I hope that’s still the case.

The way that Tegan and Ace were reintroduced in this episode is quite weird. They state that it has been 30-40 years since they last saw the Doctor, though this disregards all the times they met the Doctor again since their departures, whether it be through Big Finish audios or prose. This is particularly the case for Ace as it is assumed she continued travelling with the Doctor after the classic series ended in 1989, though the 2020 book, At Childhood’s End, written by Sophie Aldred who played Ace (and also shows Ace meeting the Thirteenth Doctor and her fam), acknowledges all her adventures as being possible futures. That story also apparently explains the origin of Ace’s falling-out with the Doctor, though the Seventh Doctor Big Finish audio Dark Universe, also released in 2020, could come in at a close second. I won’t blame Chibnall that much for not doing his research, but if I were writing the episode, I would have read the wiki and found a way to acknowledge the adventures in the extended universe(s).

Fun fact unrelated to this episode but related to the classic series: Tegan, an Australian companion, was introduced as a way to make Doctor Who more attractive to the ABC in an attempt to get them to invest in Doctor Who, though they were not interested in a co-production deal in the end. She was also introduced as a replacement for Romana when the actresses for Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen) and Leela (Louise Jameson) were unable to reprise their roles. Oh, an additional fun fact; I knew someone in primary school and high school who was named after Tegan and her younger sister was named after Nyssa.

Summary and verdict

Well, I’ve got to hand it to Chibnall. Admittedly, he promised an epic episode and we got an epic episode, though that can be said for a lot of finales. This feels like one of his better episodes even with the memberberry nostalgia baiting or the fanwanky ending, but I’m not forgetting what he did to this series so easily. It feels on par with an anniversary special, but it’s basically just The Day of the Doctor on another scale so it would kind of feel shallow if this was the actual 60th Anniversary episode. This could have premiered on 23 November for the 59th Anniversary and it would still have the same effect.

Dan left the TARDIS 10 minutes into the episode and the leaving companions near the end felt a bit rushed, but Graham’s reappearance in the last half-hour and the Doctor’s Companions Anonymous meeting really make up for it. Yaz got some time to shine, even without having much in the way of character development. Ruth makes an appearance as well which is good, but we get no resolution to the Timeless Child arc or Ruth’s place in the Doctor’s timeline after Chibnall pussied out of the double-down at the end of Flux. Kate gets the screentime and involvement she deserved after lacking it in Flux, plus the returning companions and Doctors were a really nice touch.

I came into this episode with the expectation that I would have to give it a negative score, but it got subverted because it didn’t mention the Timeless Child at all. It’s almost like you don’t have to disrespect nearly 60 years of canon to tell a good story. I just wish we got this quality of writing over the last five years instead of what we got.

Rating: 7/10 Series 13 cumulative total (with Legend of the Sea Devils): 11/80 (14%) Series 13 cumulative total (with The Power of the Doctor): 18/90 (20%) Hypothetical total: 47/90 (52%) Conservative total: 27/90 (30%)

I wanted to give Chibnall credit for all the memberberries, but I don’t want to give him the benefit of the doubt given how I said I’d be reviewing this series more critically last year.

And so, we have finally reached the end after 4 long years. There won’t be any new episodes until the 60th Anniversary Specials in November 2023, but I’ve still got Doctor Who-related things lined up for this blog, such as Kisekae Insights and Doctor Who 10 for 10 (which has had to be pushed back to next year because I’ve been so busy this year finishing off Kamen Rider Zi-O for my personal project). In the meantime, I have one final post in the works to round off the Thirteenth Doctor Reviews series, so stay tuned one last time as I bookend this series with a recap of my reviews and my closing thoughts on the Chibnall era of Doctor Who.

#doctor who #doctor who series 13 #doctor who flux #thirteenth doctor #doctor who series 13 review #doctor who flux review #thirteenth doctor review

[thirteensfavoritetoy]

So I was looking up Thasmin-related stuff...as ya do...and I came across this bit from a Radio Times article back in April 2022:

the Doctor took Yaz on a breathtaking trip to the bottom of the ocean, quipping, "Not a bad date, am I?" – it was a thoughtless comment which clearly upset Yaz and the Doctor instantly knew it, what with Dan having confronted her about Yaz's feelings in Eve of the Daleks

Umm...did anyone other than the person from the Radio Times view Yaz's reaction due to her being "upset" at what 13 said?

#seriously wtf #not sure their reviewer was watching the same show we were #doctor who #thirteenth doctor #13th doctor #yasmin khan #thasmin #legend of the sea devils #lotsd

[sallysellsseashellssundays]

After hearing horror stories about Chibnall's era and knowing nearly nothing about the companions I gotta say I find Graham to be very likeable, Ryan was quite endearing in "The Ghost Monument" and "The Tsuranga Conundrum" and I think Yaz's development will come later but she seems nice so far

I did skip "Rosa" and "Arachnids in the UK" but if the four episodes I've seen are representative of Jodie's era then it isn't nearly as awful as people painted it out to be????

Demons of the Punjab was especially good, I'd say one of my favorites so far

#doctor who #dw watch #maybe it's supposed to get worse and that's what ppl mean when they talk about how much they hate it #honestly was expecting a train wreck from reviews i've seen #it hasn't hooked me like rtd1 era but generally enjoyable so far #thirteenth doctor #my ramblings

[walker-lister]

i've been wanting to make a post for some time contemplating misogyny and sexism in doctor who fandom and how i genuinely think it's worth considering how it can range from aggressive to unconscious, influence readings of the show as well as perceptions of fans in fan spaces, and how the hostile and defensive atmosphere which has seemingly soaked into all of the internet now (and also real life at conventions too honestly) can both raise these issues and dismiss them, decry them and encourage them, but honestly... it all makes me really tired so this'll have to do for now

#this could also apply to a whole load of other bigotries #and probs mix together with other bigotries and develop like bacteria it's not like they're entities that never touch #not to mention beyond the fandom in the show itself as well as the press and reviewers #this is a topic that deserves a lot more care and attention but like i said i'm so tired #I would like to be more optimistic but I’m also a person dealing with stuff yet i also feel like these things need to be discussed ya know #doctor who #thirteenth doctor

[khruschevshoe]

Underrated Doctor Episode: Resolution (or, time to expose myself on main again!)

No idea of this is an unpopular opinion or not, but I kind of love Resolution? It's a great introduction to New Year's specials, especially in its theming, which is all about turning over a new leaf and resolving to be better than you were before. It gives some fantastic depth to a character that's been previously set up (Ryan's dad Aaron) and really explores him as a three-dimensional character, both holding him to task from both Graham and the Doctor (iconic "you let him down" line) while also allowing him a chance to grow (Graham with Aaron's childhood things and Ryan with forgiving him at the end). It gives Ryan, Graham, and Aaron all chances to grow. It also introduces what is honestly (personalyl) my favorite Dalek shell design and really reminds us of just how powerful and intimidating a single Dalek can be on its own, almost like how the original "Dalek" episode did. Plus, it has some really solid comedic bits- I rewatch the bit about Graham's front room ("you landed on my chair!" "Why'd you have a chair there" "it's my front room!") and the bit where the Doctor calls UNIT and gets sent to the helpline (Jodie’s expressions are PRICELESS) all the time. I also like seeing Aaron prove himself and resolve to be better in the future, ending on a note of hope. I also love the bit at the beginning with the fireworks and how casually it sets up how many off-screen adventures Yaz, Ryan, Graham, and Thirteen have had. Also, while it does set up some cues for how Daleks will work in the next special (e.g. UV light), it's a solid standalone piece.

#doctor who #resolution #yasmin khan #thirteenth doctor #ryan sinclair #aaron sinclair #graham o'brien #chris chibnall #listen for all my critiques sometimes it's just fun to talk about stuff I like #add this to tsuranga conundrum boom town and Season 3 as underrated faves that I've written about #I'm thinking of doing one about world war three or maybe even something from Eleven’s era #review #meta

[guardianreadersofthegalaxy]

My ★★½ review of Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor on Letterboxd https://boxd.it/53HNCB

Notes from a drunk rewatch:

- Chibs knows how to write a damn good cold open

- Dan's exit actually completely justified and really well handled (albeit extremely rushed); Yas's on the other hand is a bit more "k bye!"

- Janet Fielding is bad but Sophie Aldred is amazing

- this ultra HD is doing the CGI no favours

- Sacha Dhawan stop whispering! If I wanted to hear gross obnoxious mouth sounds I'd listen to Billie Eilish

-also this is the third time in the Chibnall era the Master has come back from the dead with no explanation

- sure, her final episode seems as good a time as any to give Yas her 'School Reunion' moment. It's not like there's much else going on

- I do kind of like the idea of the Doctor having to juggle three different episodes at the same time

- Sacha Dhawan is so annoying. It's just a shit Joker impression

- on the other hand, Ashad is a great villian and I'm glad Chibs brought him back

- and I 100% approve of the Bony M needle drop

- so the Master's plan... couldn't he have achieved the same result by just putting on the Doctor's clothes?

- I really hope the directors of the next era can put the camera further than a foot from the actors' faces

- the Fugitive Doctor has had about 15 minutes of screen time. Remind me what people love about her?

- and was Vinder's entire contribution to point a gun at the Master in one scene?

- Yas doesn't give a shit about seeing Graham again which is a shame because Graham is lovely and always has been

- the support group scene is sweet, even if it implies that the Doctor gave them all PTSD

- the regeneration is great. I've had my issues with Segun Akinola but his music here is beautiful

#my post #doctor who #thirteenth doctor #jodie whittaker #yasmin khan #mandip gill #dhawan!master #sacha dhawan #power of the doctor #chris chibnall #review

[dwimpossblog]

War of the Sontarans

The Sontarans are fighting the British in the Crimean War - something has definitely gone wrong with time! War of the Sontarans is this week's #TBT!

View On WordPress

#Dan Lewis #Doctor Who #Doctor Who Series 13 #Doctor Who: Flux #Dr Who #Jodie Whittaker #John Bishop #Mandip Gill #NuWho #Review #Sontarans #Thirteenth Doctor #War of the Sontarans #Yasmin Khan

[mrleopard25]

Doctor Who Regeneration Series Revisited: The Thirteenth Regeneration

The Twelfth Doctor: “Oh, there it is. The silly old universe. The more I save it, the more it needs saving. It's a treadmill. Yes, yes, I know. They'll get it all wrong without me. I suppose one more lifetime wouldn't kill anyone. Well, except me. You wait a moment, Doctor. Let's get it right. I've got a few things to say to you. Basic stuff first. Never be cruel, never be cowardly, and never, ever eat pears! Remember, hate is always foolish, and love is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind. Oh, and you mustn't tell anyone your name. No one would understand it, anyway. Except, ah! Except children. Children can hear it sometimes. If their hearts are in the right place, and the stars are too, children can hear your name. Argh! But nobody else. Nobody else, ever. Laugh hard, run fast, be kind. Doctor, I let you go.”

Story (from “World Enough And Time”, “The Doctor Falls”, “Twice In A Lifetime”, and “The Woman Who Fell To Earth”):

In an ongoing attempt to rehabilitate Missy, the female incarnation of the Master, the Doctor, Nardole, Bill and Missy answer a distress signal from a colony ship that is caught in the gravitational pull of a blackhole. The ship is at a stalemate: it cannot escape the pull of the blackhole, but its engines are preventing it from falling any further. Bill is shot by a terrified crewmember and immediately kidnapped by a rescue team from the ship’s lower decks.

The Doctor, Nardole and Missy immediately realize that because of the time differential between one end of the ship and the other based on the distance from the black hole, any second they spend on the bridge would result in years down at the engines. The two race to follow Bill.

Unfortunately, 10 years have passed for Bill and her new friend Razor. She has had her wound partially healed but mostly supplemented with a cybernetic implant during her stay in a huge medical ward. Because of the crew’s ongoing deterioration of their health due to their proximity to the taxed engines, they have resorted to replacing their failing body parts with mechanical ones. These crew members also continue to make raids to other decks to grab the rest of the colonists for more medical procedures.

Nardole, Missy and the Doctor arrive in the engine deck and discover the colony ship is from Mondas, the homeworld of the Cybermen. These Mondasians are slowly transforming themselves into Cybermen as well, based on where in the ship they are. Those in the middle decks are living in simulated worlds and are self-sustaining, but the Cybermen are intent on abducting them for conversion to join their numbers.

The Doctor also discovers he is too late, and Bill has been converted into a Cyberman. However, Bill’s conversion is only physical and she still perceives herself as human. The Doctor finds hope in this, but is shocked to discover that Bill’s friend Razor is actually the previous incarnation of the Master in disguise. Missy and the Master team up to aid the Cybermen in their takeover of the ship, while the Doctor sets a trap on one of the colony decks to stop the Cybermen. Nardole and the colonists flee to other decks while the Doctor ignites his trap, detonating various parts of the deck under the Cybermen. Missy has a change of heart and decides to aid the Doctor, but both she and the Master backstab each other: the Master begins to regenerate and flees while Missy apparently dies.

The Doctor is also seemingly killed by the ongoing advance of the Cybermen. Bill suddenly finds that she is no longer in her new Cyberman body, having been freed by the alien entity The Pilot, whom she had a brief romance with earlier in the season. The Pilot rescues the Doctor’s body, and while Bill cries over him, his regeneration begins. The Pilot offers to show Bill the universe together, and they depart the TARDIS.

The Doctor awakens but refuses to regenerate. The TARDIS lands in Antarctica in 1986, and the Doctor ventures outside to quell the regeneration. He stumbles across the First Doctor, who is likewise refusing to regenerate. The crossing of their timestreams results in a temporal fracture which brings a Captain from World War 1 forward in time to join them, and attracts the attention of the Testimony, who are intent on restoring time. The Doctor is suspicious of their motives and even more suspicious when Bill reappears and offers her help.

After some investigation, both the Doctor and First Doctor determine that the Testimony is a ship of living memories preserving the essence of people through out time, and are benign. Bill is actually the living representation of her experiences, and she is able to restore the Doctor’s memories of his past companion Clara (which he had lost in an effort to save her). Both the Doctor and First Doctor take solace in the knowledge of their role in time and space, and both allow their regenerations to continue, restoring time.

Upon regenerating, the Doctor excitedly discovers that he is a now a woman. The Doctor barely has time to process this change, when an explosion consumes the TARDIS. The delayed regeneration and the schism of time has caused a paradox within the TARDIS systems. The TARDIS materializes over Sheffield in 2018, and ejects the newly regenerated Doctor out above the city before an explosion continues to consume the TARDIS interior, and it dematerializes.

The Doctor crashes through the roof of a train just in time to save a group of passengers from a tentacled alien. With several of them aiding her, she fashions a new sonic screwdriver and investigates the appearance of strange pods and murdered people missing their teeth. It seems the Earth has become a battleground between a Stenza Warrior and the bio-data retrieving gathering coils.

Production:

There was no question that the series would continue onwards, as back in 2015 Steven Moffat confirmed the show would run until at least 2020. But then in 2016, Moffat announced that he would leave the show as showrunner at the end of 2017, and not long after that Peter Capaldi announced his intention to likewise leave the show. Moffat at this point was exhausted from his work on all his projects, and was likewise under constant scrutiny by fans and critics. I was there, guys, and I remember how much the fans now seemed to loathe him.

That being said, Peter Capaldi’s time as the Doctor was very successful, with him enjoying good ratings and being very popular with fans. This series focused primarily on the aftermath of the Doctor establishing the story arc of River Song (by gifting her a sonic screwdriver) seen through out the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor’s tenure, and his acquiring her companion Nardole, to his care and rehabilitation of Missy while she is imprisoned on Earth. However, beyond those two elements, the series is primarily filled with stories that do not rely on throwbacks to previous adventures. Instead the Doctor has taken on Bill as a student of sorts, much like the Seventh Doctor’s relationship with Ace. Really, the only real callback to past serials was at the very end of his tenure with the return of the Mondasian Cybermen, then the Christmas special with the First Doctor, once again played by David Bradley. Moffat personally wrote those final two stories as a sendoff to his time as showrunner. And as a special, the episode prior to that, “The Eaters Of Light”, was written by Rona Munro who wrote “Survival” back in 1989. It was the first occasion where a writer for the classic series returned for the relaunch. But it was time to move on now.

Chris Chibnall, writer of such stories as “42″ and “Dinosaurs On A Spaceship” as well as co-producer and head writer of the spinoff series “Torchwood”, was announced as the new showrunner. I was fine with this, as he had proven himself as a fairly competent and creative writer. For the newest Doctor, Jodie Whittaker was cast. She was already gaining a lot of traction for roles in series like “Broadchurch” (which had Chibnall as the showrunner) and films like “Attack The Block”. She was primarily known for her dramatic roles, so enthusiastically seized this opportunity to not only make history in the program but to also challenge herself.

Murray Gold, series composer since the relaunch in 2005, also left the program and was replaced by Segun Akinola, who was in his mid-20′s at the time. Most of the bombastic orchestral arrangements were replaced by ambient and dark electronic. Further announcements were made that for Series 11, all writers and directors would be new to the series, probably to infuse fresh blood into the franchise. Chibnall also intended to introduce more diversity to the production team, both racially and with more representation of women.

The new title sequence would be far more reflective of the 60′s in both tone, music, and effects, and like those years there would be more companions than with previous Doctors. The biggest name to join on as a companion was tv personality Bradley Walsh, who was “aged up” for his role as Graham. Joining him would be Tosin Cole as his step-grandson Ryan Sinclair, and Mandip Gill as police officer Yasmin Khan.

There would be fewer episodes for Series 11 with 10, and very few tie-ins to past series would be revisited. As such, one could start the show at the beginning of the Thirteenth Doctor’s tenure without really having to know much backstory of the program (but it helps). The TARDIS itself went through a massive redesign, going from the library/laboratory look, but to the more basic feel of earlier seasons. But instead of the coral, organic look, there was a more crystalline looks amongst what could be architectural ruins. The control console is still a mishmash of various knobs and levers that could be from anywhere, which still lends to the chaotic nature of how the Doctor pilots the TARDIS.

As for the regeneration itself, the effects were again quite similar to previous instances, but a little more direct with tendrils of energy shooting out from the Doctor’s head and hands. The face is again mostly obscured, but the close up on the eyes shows the transformation, and those who were somehow not in the know about the casting, would only see the barest glimpses of the Doctor’s new feminine form.

Analysis:

First let’s get this out of the way: YES, Community did predict the regeneration of the Doctor into a woman in its thinly veiled parody “Inspector Spacetime” and YES it did predict the abject hatred fans have for her tenure “not because they’re sexist, but because she sucks.” For the last few years, I have heard variants of this sentiment, mostly targeted at Chris Chibnall or just straight up “the writing.” Do I agree with this assessment? No, but I figured we should just get that out of the way because it is a strange coincidence.

From the get go, I was completely fine with casting Jodie Whitaker. I knew she had the chops and the talent, as I had seen a few of her past projects. But the one thing I wasn’t looking forward to was the blatant sexism I knew would be coming. And then the underscored sexism from “fans” who (like above) would look for reasons to criticize the show and her casting while trying to not sound sexist.

Here’s what it boils down to, kids: if you don’t like the show, fine. No one is forcing you to like things. But when you start using stupid arguments to target this incarnation of the show, you’re only exposing your actual objections. Every season has had stinker episodes. Every writer has put out ludicrous premises and painful dialogue. Stylistic and production changes are frequent on the show. Casting against established type goes back to the 60′s. Etc, etc. Saying “It just doesn’t work for me,” is FINE. That’s OKAY. I can’t convince you to like something. I just ask that you look critically at yourself as much as you’re suddenly looking at the show.

Anyway.

Let’s get the big question out of the way: why did the Doctor regenerate into a woman? Why now and not earlier? There was a bit of priming going on in the Twelfth Doctor’s final season where he would mention that he may have been a woman before, but couldn’t quite recall. He would also declare that gender politics were signs of a lesser advanced species and the Time Lords had evolved past them (although Bill calls him out on that by noting that the title “Time Lord” is a gendered term - I’ll give a pretty easy defense for that in that the TARDIS’ translation matrix is taking the Gallifreyan language and “dumbing it down” for humans). Couple that with Missy being a very successful interpretation of the Master, and you’ve got the pieces in place to change the sex of the Doctor.

But what about the in-universe explanation? I don’t think it was random or just chance, to be honest. And it’s pretty simple, at least for Doctor Who. The Pilot showed up earlier in the series (in “The Pilot”) as a corporeal but near-omnipotent being who has deep affection for Bill. She leaves Bill, but not before enveloping her in a bubble of water and showing her a vision of the universe. We learn in “The Doctor Falls” that she has altered the very essence of what Bill is at this point, to protect her. And it is successful in that the Cyber conversion is only on a physical level, and the Doctor sees that, impossibly, the Cyber Bill cries real tears which should be impossible.

At the end of the story, Bill is reconstituted into a form like The Pilot’s, leaving her Cyber converted body behind. We also see that the Doctor has been killed in his battle against the Cybermen. Bill, in her new form, cries over the Doctor’s fallen body and almost wipes her tear off of his forehead but stops and leaves it there. I firmly believe the Doctor had died, and the tear which was infused with her new lifeforce revived him enough to begin his regeneration. And because Bill is a woman, I believe that having HER lifeforce infuse into his body directed the course of the regeneration to also become a woman. We have seen, especially in “Night Of The Doctor” and “Destiny Of The Daleks”, that outside factors can influence the course of the regeneration.

The Doctor’s rejection of this regeneration makes a little more sense when approached from this angle as well, as he has now even been denied death. His life up to this point has been completely guided by external forces, whether by the Time Lords, his TARDIS, his companions, or his enemies. Ironically, he left Gallifrey for reasons entirely devoted to his intent to lead his life how he wanted, even through all the excuses he has given. The First Doctor said he wanted to answer the question of good and evil, the Second Doctor said he was bored, the Tenth Doctor said he had the urge to run since he saw the Untempered Schism. These excuses aren’t contradictory, but they do illustrate that any way the Doctor thinks about his exodus from Gallifrey, it all boils down to being against conforming to life on his homeworld.

But, as the Tenth Doctor learned in his final days, he is forced into a role of protector and he ironically cannot escape that either. And so he rejects his regeneration, because he was ready to die. From his point-of-view, he had failed in restoring Bill from her Cyber conversion, he had failed to rehabilitation Missy, and all he had left now was to protect Mondasian refugees from the Cybermen. Making a final stand against an invading force was how his previous incarnation was ready to die, and I think both incarnations take some solace in knowing they will die for something noble. But here he is.... alive again and he doesn’t even know how it happened.

During “Twice In A Lifetime”, he receives comfort in learning that he hadn’t failed Bill. He is able to pull back and see how he is remembered both positively and negatively, and can see how far he’s come since his first incarnation. Then to find out that the Testimony Foundation is not just another villain to fight, but a reflection of humanity’s legacy inspires him. Mirroring that sentiment is the Christmas Armistice in World War 1 he witnesses first-hand (again) that instills a sense that, even during a brutal war, miraculous and unexpected events can still happen. He is moved, and I think it’s an excellent way to end his tenure.

Now on to the Thirteenth Doctor, and first off the general tone of the show. Yes, it has definitely changed. From the start, the new opening sequence is far more reflective of 60′s Doctor Who with its howlaround, video feedback, look. The incidental music is ambient and dark, and even the lighting seems a bit more unnerving. But this is sharply contrasted with Whitaker’s take on the Doctor, who loves her companions and is infectiously excitable. This sort of contrast reminds me very much of the Second Doctor’s tenure.

However UNLIKE the Second Doctor, the Thirteenth Doctor is far more techy and enjoys tinkering with gadgets not unlike the Third Doctor. Her big toothy grin evokes the Fourth Doctor. It’s fairly obvious that Whitaker did her homework. The stories were a little hit and miss though, but again this is nothing new. The story “Rosa” had a great sentiment, but I felt it got a little confused in its execution. This would probably have worked far better as just a historical or, like “Vincent And The Doctor”, with the alien influence really minimized. As an example where that is done successfully, “Demons Of The Punjab” really nails the tone and the writing, and stands out as a highlight for not only that series but Thirteen’s entire tenure.

To try to have Thirteen stand on her own, references in that first season to past seasons was super light and I even started questioning if Thirteen even remembered her past selves. She did, as it transpired, but the production team was pretty smart about allowing new viewers to not get bogged down with the past. Further series not only brought back references to past series, but also expanded it and shook it up pretty explicitly - but more on that next time.

And I know they really wanted to start her first episode off with a bang, but having her fall from sub-orbit and crash through a train roof was... a little excessive. It IS easily explained that the excess regeneration energy undoubtedly just healed her, but we weren’t even given that. Again I wonder what new viewers were thinking.

If I had one complaint, it would honestly be that sometimes I legitimately have a hard time following what everyone is saying. There’s something about the writing and direction, and this is not the fault of a single writer or director but probably Chris Chibnall as showrunner, that important dialogue seems to blast through really quickly and really subtly, and there were many occasions that I completely missed plot points and had to doublecheck the Wiki entry later. Whitaker does have a pretty pronounced North accent, and the other characters can rattle off their lines just as quickly as she can at times. I’m sure native UK residents don’t have this problem though.... right?

And Another Thing...

I love that David Bradley gives us a fantastic portrayal of the First Doctor, but go back and watch William Hartnell’s actual episodes: he’s not nearly as sexist or difficult as depicted in “Twice In A Lifetime”.

Yasmin: “Hey! Hold on there please, madam. I need you to do as I say. This could be a potential crime scene.” The Thirteenth Doctor: “Why are you calling me madam?” Yasmin: “Because you're a woman.” The Thirteenth Doctor: “Am I? Does it suit me?” Yasmin: “What?” The Thirteenth Doctor: “Oh yeah, I remember. Sorry, half an hour ago I was a white-haired Scotsman. When's the next train due?”

#doctor who #Twelfth Doctor #thirteenth doctor #world enough and time #the doctor falls #twice in a lifetime #the woman who fell to earth #peter capaldi #david bradley #jodie whitaker #first doctor #cybermen #TARDIS #Regeneration #review

[sappysapphic13]

For anyone out there who might be interested in a soon-to-be-completed 15k angsty but occasionally humorous hurt/comfort fic in which the Doctor begins to heal from some of her grief-related trauma with the help of her unwavering girlfriend Yaz, please feel free to give this a read! <3

#thasmin #thasmin fic #thasmin fanfic #doctor who #thirteenth doctor #13th doctor #thirteen x yaz #thirteen x yasmin #13 x yaz #reviews say 'everything I want and more' and 'I cried through most of this' hjhfdhkjlkdkdff

[isagrimorie]

I posted 7,997 times in 2022

That's 499 more posts than 2021!

1,011 posts created (13%)

6,986 posts reblogged (87%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@comradesummers

@isagrimorie

@beatrice-otter

@thatgeeklover

@nerd-spikey

I tagged 6,095 of my posts in 2022

Only 24% of my posts had no tags

#btvs - 1,123 posts

#buffy summers - 872 posts

#tv: legacies - 745 posts

#faith lehane - 529 posts

#hope mikaelson - 521 posts

#critical role - 519 posts

#lizzie saltzman - 449 posts

#queue - 449 posts

#doctor who - 441 posts

#otp: buffy and faith - 367 posts

Longest Tag: 93 characters

#but also spike always picking fights with practically the strongest slayers of the generation

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

The way Marisha and Taliesin recoiled at the idea of Keyleth and Percy being in a sexual relationship was amazing.

And the solid belief of both Taliesen and Marisha that neither Kiki and Percy would ever touch each other in a sexual, except if Vex was involved.

But also, I love Marisha brought up the chilliness between Percy and Kiki! I love that it’s a little because they’re both being formal, playing good cop and bad cop, AND there might have been frictions between Percy and Kiki.

Taliesin is still of the idea that Percy can still be a little too bloody minded and that despite being best friends, Keyleth and Percy still have some arguments.

They are both leaders of their own respective places and sometimes what Whitestone prioritizes can be against what Zephra needs.

Also Percy being the Bruce Wayne from Batman Beyond. Amazing.

I also love Marisha clocked that Ashton was way too quiet when Laudna returned. Both Marisha and Tal are excited to have another one on one with each other.

And honestly, I look forward to both of Laudna’s interactions with Imogen and Ashton equally!

But also Taliesin’s knowing: “fRieNd???” when Marisha called Imogen Laudna’s friend.

You know he wanted to poke on that more.

But gah, everything’s reset back to zero for Laudna. She has a lot to work with to regain the certainty she lost about herself.

The good thing is this go around, Laudna is no longer alone to do it. She’s no longer like Tom Hanks in Castaway making imaginary friends.

She has real people willing to help her.

I am so EXCITED for everything.

423 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

#4

Rewatching Eve of the Daleks because I love it so much, especially this moment:

Sarah glances at her phone and out of screen, Thirteen asks, just a shade annoyed: "Er, where were you?"

Thirteen moves towards her opening her arms wide with a very annoyed expression. Her lips are a thin line.

See the full post

447 notes - Posted January 3, 2022

#3

See the full post

517 notes - Posted March 21, 2022

#2

I love the Donna of it all!

But in general this is what I’m feeling in light of him constantly overshadowing Thirteen and now Fourteen:

624 notes - Posted May 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Favorite Thirteenth Doctor moment on Eve of the Daleks

1,459 notes - Posted January 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #lmao #i reblogged MYSELF #the most #doctor who #thirteenth doctor #i missed ye #also #i really posted a lot about buffy! #btvs #and tvd verse #critical role rose up pretty fast tho #god i loved the new year episode the most #its the most flux feeling out of the specials

[officiallylatetotheparty]

What a hell of a way to say goodbye to Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor!

Check out our reaction to the WILD Regeneration Special for Doctor Who!

We DEFINITELY can't wait for what's to come for us Whovians!!!

#the doctor #doctor who #whovian #jodie whittaker #chris chibnall #doctor who regeneration #the power of the doctor #power of the doctor #doctor who series 13 #doctor who reaction #doctor who review #13th doctor #thirteenth doctor #tardis #Regeneration #Youtube

[yeonchi]

Thirteenth Doctor Reviews: The Final Verdict (and Ncuti Gatwa is the Doctor)

In July 2017, Jodie Whittaker was announced as the Thirteenth Doctor, taking over Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor as the first actress to play the Doctor. Seeing the reaction to the casting led me to realise that I should see how she does in the series first before making any judgements, which I expressed in a November 2017 post that served as the prelude to this review series. Cut to May 2022 and Ncuti Gatwa was announced to be taking over as the Doctor after Jodie Whittaker announced her departure alongside Chris Chibnall the year before.

Given how much time has passed between July 2017 and now, it’s amazing to see how things have changed throughout this time. When I started this review series in October 2018, I had come out of a pretty toxic phase in my internet career (that almost saw me deplatformed) and was trying to find my feet after turning a new leaf. Now in October 2022, I’m talking about the things I love (from a new point of view) while maintaining a balance between my personal and online lives. It’s almost like this review series has seen me through a significant phase of character development.

Now with Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall’s era on Doctor Who well and truly over, I take a look back at my reviews and give my final reflections and verdict for the whole era.

Series recap

These are recaps of each series’ reviews with some extra thoughts made in hindsight.

Series 11

Series 11 is the series I have the most positive view of, though part of it can be attributed to me being a bit dense on SJW politics and trying to find ways to justify it in my head. Graham O’Brien, Ryan Sinclair and Yasmin Khan join the Doctor as her diverse fam from different walks of life. There is no major running story arc in this series and given what we saw in the next two series, it’s another reason why I see this series in a more positive light.

Despite this, the series does still have its flaws. Why wasn’t Krasko’s past elaborated on so as to give context on what people he murdered or why he, as someone presumably from the 52nd century, thought the Civil Rights Movement was when “things started to go wrong”? Why did the Doctor criticise Jack Robertson for shooting the giant spider even though she knew it was dying anyway? Why wasn’t Manish the one who shot Prem instead of that other guy?

According to Bowlestrek (and possibly some others), this series felt like a slight on white men and single fathers, with several episodes containing at least one villain-coded white male, but I honestly didn’t feel that vibe when I first watched those episodes. I probably wouldn’t feel that vibe if I watched those episodes again, but hey, I’m not a white Canadian who’s bitter about SJWs taking over multiple fandoms, I’m an Asian-Australian with niche interests who’s becoming bitter at the world around me and trying to understand why.

Also, I said that I liked The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos, but given how Chibnall admitted that it was his least favourite script of his entire tenure because the filmed version was only the first draft (he didn't have time to do a second draft because he was helping all the rookie writers and doing rewrites), I want to come out and say that I only liked the episode ironically.

Series 12

With the previous series electing not to bring back any old enemies, Series 12 decided to revisit the broken trend (following the return of the Daleks in the previous New Year’s Special, Resolution), with the first returning villain being the Master, who was last thought to have been killed on the Mondasian colony ship as Missy. This series also reintroduced two-parters after doing away with them in the previous series. Notably, I went on holiday just as the third episode aired and came back just before the fifth episode premiered on Australia, so I ended up having to write up reviews for three episodes in the space of five days. Luckily, I wrote down some notes on my phone so I was able to get them out quicker.

Unfortunately, this series is what redpilled me to the SJW agenda going on in the Chibnall era. Orphan 55 served as nothing but a lecture about climate change without at least a decent resolution to the remaining characters featured in it. Then we get to the biggest turning point of the series, namely the Timeless Child revelation. After the Master revealed to the Doctor that he destroyed Gallifrey in Spyfall Part Two, the Doctor meets a woman named Ruth Clayton in Fugitive of the Judoon, who is apparently revealed to be a previously-unknown incarnation of the Doctor, known as the Fugitive Doctor. The relation between the two Doctors (apart from them being the same) is left up to the viewer until the Master tells the Doctor about the Timeless Child and that she was said child, at which point it becomes implied that the Fugitive Doctor is indeed the Doctor’s past incarnation, on top of being specialer than special.

Yaz does get a bit of a highlight after Graham and Ryan’s mini-arc in the last series, but it isn’t much. Sadly, Graham and Ryan leave the series in Revolution of the Daleks. I probably would have liked them to stay for another year given how things would unfold in 2020, but the filming for Series 12 ended at the end of October 2019 and the filming for Series 13 wouldn’t commence until November 2020, so the timing wouldn’t have been right there.

Series 13

After two years of waiting and an absolutely atrocious promotion campaign that didn’t reveal the release date until three weeks before the premiere, Series 13 came out in a different format than usual. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Series 13 was slated to be only 8 episodes long instead of 11 (which was already cut down from 13 and a Christmas Special back during the RTD and Moffat eras), which was later confirmed to be a six-episode serial collectively titled Flux along with three specials, one of which was additionally commissioned for the BBC’s Centenary. Following Graham and Ryan’s departure, their place in the TARDIS would be taken by Dan Lewis from Liverpool.

After my redpilling in Series 12, I decided to hold the series to a higher standard than I did before. The series in general was alright, but it still had its flaws; we were jumping all over the place with plot threads and characters who served little relevance until the end, every second episode was extended instead of balancing the lengths of each episode, and the main villains of the series (Swarm and Azure) ended up being overshadowed by lesser villains (the Sontarans and the Grand Serpent) in the finale.

Unsurprisingly, this series doubled down on the Timeless Child revelation, with a woman, revealed to be Tecteun, confirming what the Master said to the Doctor at the end of Series 12, essentially killing off any potential speculation to the contrary. Surprisingly though, the revelation was not elaborated on further as the Doctor dumped the fob watch containing her apparent past into the TARDIS, thereby pussying out of the double-down. The last two episodes of the series were negatively rated because of those reasons.

As for the specials, Eve of the Daleks was a boring New Year’s Special with an annoying female guest character, while Legend of the Sea Devils was a pretty good Easter Special with good Cantonese language representation, though it felt like it could have been a regular episode seeing as it was only 50 minutes long and it had no mention of Easter. Although The Power of the Doctor, in the end, never revisited or retconned the Timeless Child revelation, it brought back old companions and Doctors for the memberberries. So admittedly, while Flux in itself was abysmal enough for me to nearly null out my review score, the 2022 Specials kind of redeemed it, but not by much.

Top 5 good things about the Chibnall era

Even among Chibnall’s disgraces to the franchise, we did get some gems out of it. Not gonna lie, it was a bit complicated trying to think of good things to talk about this era.

1. Can You Hear Me?

This episode actually got me to open up about some people from my past and later, it inspired me to talk about the IRL context to the characters and elements featured in my personal project when I started the Kisekae Insights series in the second half of 2020. This episode also provided significant character development for Graham, Ryan and Yaz where it was scarce in other episodes. Of course, there was one element in the episode that in the end, I didn’t like, which I’ll talk about in a bit.

2. Returning characters

In Series 12, we had the surprise return of Captain Jack Harkness in Fugitive of the Judoon before he returned again in Revolution of the Daleks. Unfortunately though, his actor, John Barrowman, had been cancelled earlier in the year due to accusations of sexual harrassment that resurfaced while similar accusations were being raised of Noel Clarke, who played Mickey Smith.

Series 13 saw the return of Kate Stewart with a rather lackluster level of involvement, though that was later made up in The Power of the Doctor, which also featured the return of Ace, Tegan Jovanka, Mel Bush, Jo Jones and Ian Chesterton alongside Graham and Dan. In addition, the First, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors also appeared as projections or figments of the Doctor’s consciousness while at the end, the Tenth Doctor returned as the Fourteenth Doctor in a surprise move to prepare for the 60th anniversary specials in 2023.

In all honesty, the returning characters and allusions to past series during the Chibnall era felt like memberberries because they were coming off a series that was lackluster at best and disgraceful at worst. It didn’t look so bad during the RTD or Moffat eras because for the most part, the former was riding highs of success by the time Series 4 was being produced, while the latter was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the series.

3. Stellar performances from some actors

A couple of actors I’d like to highlight are Sacha Dhawan and Jo Martin, who respectively played O, the Spy Master and Ruth, the Fugitive Doctor. Although they played characters who were admittedly unnecessary (the Master had died and I would have rather had the Rani return, while Ruth, you’ll see later), they did a great job expressing their characters regardless, particularly since the Spy Master felt like a ripoff of John Simm as Harold Saxon, but with a classic series twist (shown by his readoption of the TCE and unique TARDIS among other things) and the Fugitive Doctor felt more like the Doctor than the Thirteenth Doctor was.

I will say though, it’s funny that the Master and Ruth were announced to be getting Big Finish audio spinoffs up to a fortnight after Legend of the Sea Devils aired when it previously took years for the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors’ content to be cleared; this happened in August 2014, while in January 2018, the Twelfth Doctor’s content was cleared, just over a week following the broadcast of Twice Upon a Time. From the announcement, it appears as though the Thirteenth Doctor’s content was cleared six months before The Power of the Doctor was released, though it can be argued that the episode was completed a year before. But hey, I suppose if anyone in the Chibnall era deserves a Big Finish spinoff, then it’s the Master and Ruth.

4. Graham and Ryan’s character development

Although Series 11 had no clear-cut story arc, the relationship between Graham and Ryan follows a minor arc in the series as Graham tries to get Ryan to acknowledge him as his stepgrandfather, with a bit of r/FellowKids to boot. We see this in a few episodes where Graham tries to get Ryan to fistbump him only to be rejected, then in the finale, Ryan finally reciprocated Graham’s fistbump. Additionally, this series also shows Graham trying to deal with Grace’s death before finally learning to move on.

5. Select episodes

Aside from Can You Hear Me?, Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror, Praxeus and The Haunting of Villa Diodati are some of the best episodes out of Series 12. The Haunting of Villa Diodati did seem a little boring at the start, but it all changed once the Lone Cyberman showed up. While there wasn’t an episode in Series 11 I would say that I really liked, Village of the Angels is probably my favourite episode from Series 13; likewise with The Haunting of Villa Diodati, the first half doesn’t have a lot going for it, but the second part is where the episode starts to get good. It’s likely that way because both episodes were written by the same writer (Maxine Alderton) and they were both broadcast before their respective series finales.

As for the specials, Resolution was a pretty great episode, followed by Legend of the Sea Devils and admittedly, The Power of the Doctor.

Top 5 bad things about the Chibnall era

Unsurprisingly, this series feels like it has more negatives than positives, particularly in Series 12 and 13. Originally, my plan for this section was going to be “top 5 bad things about the Chibnall era apart from the Timeless Child”, but I just had to put it in anyway.

1. The Timeless Child storyline

The Timeless Child storyline makes up the main background arc of the Chibnall era, making it a highlight and one of the reasons why this era isn’t fondly received by a lot of people.

The first mention of the Timeless Child was in The Ghost Monument, then it wasn’t mentioned again until the end of Spyfall Part Two, when the Master revealed that he destroyed Gallifrey because of what he learnt about the Timeless Child. In Fugitive of the Judoon, the inclusion of Ruth and the Fugitive Doctor was a secret addition on Chibnall’s part (I wouldn’t really say last-minute tbh) that played into his plans for the arc. Ascension of the Cybermen featured a C-plot centred around an Irish policeman named Brendan, which was revealed to have been a cover-up for the Timeless Child revelation that would be elaborated on in the next episode, The Timeless Children.

The story goes that Tecteun, a Shobogan and one of the indigenous beings of Gallifrey, found the Timeless Child beneath a wormhole into another universe and adopted them. However, upon discovering their ability to regenerate following an accident, Tecteun studied and experimented the Timeless Child for a way to replicate this regeneration, presumably killing them multiple times in the process while doing so (as regeneration is normally seen as the death of an incarnation). Eventually, Tecteun was able to replicate this on herself and as a result, she gave this power to other Shobogans, but limiting them to a maximum of twelve regenerations. This was the creation of the Time Lords, thereby making the Timeless Child their genetic template. Later on, the Timeless Child would come to work for the Division alongside Tecteun and eventually, Tecteun would have their memories removed as they became the Doctor and decided to leave the Division (presumably in their Ruth incarnation).

With this, the Doctor is no longer originally from Gallifrey and the First Doctor is not the first incarnation of the Doctor that we know. The Doctor ends up being a chosen one that spawns a group of chosen ones only to end up being reduced to the group they spawned. If this origin story was exclusive to the extended media (like the story of The Other) then it would have been fine, but it was introduced on-screen on a series where TV is god. It raises too many questions and plot holes, it makes the Doctor’s past complicated (as if it wasn’t complicated enough) and it was never deeply elaborated on again.

Later on, near the end of Flux, the Doctor would come into possession of the fob watch apparently containing all the lost memories of her past as the Timeless Child, but when she had the opportunity to open it and regain her memories, she decided to dump it in the TARDIS.

In an interview with Doctor Who Magazine, Chibnall admitted that the inspiration for this storyline was personal as he was adopted and he wanted to explore the adoption myth, about where someone is from versus who someone is. Mind you, in a world where #StopAsianHate crybabies think asking “Where are you really from?” is a microaggression, this really isn’t a good look. Also, being adopted doesn’t give Chibnall an excuse to disrespect nearly 60 years of canon the way he did. In a video breaking down the story of Flux and putting it into context with the Timeless Child arc, Chibnall justifies pussying out of the double-down as a “be careful what you wish for” kind of thing, but by that point, we had waited two years for something significant to come out of it, so it just felt a bit spiteful.

People say that the Timeless Child twist allows new stories to be told and adds mystery to the Doctor’s character. In regards to the first point, The Time of the Doctor already did so by giving the Doctor another regeneration cycle. While it does potentially allow alternate and non-canon Doctors to be canonised, I’d rather it be left to the fandom or extended media and not dictated by the TV series itself. In regards to the second point, unpopular opinion, but the Doctor doesn’t need any more mystery than they already have since the Moffat era, particularly when it destroys canon the way the Timeless Child arc did. We know that the Doctor is a Time Lord from Gallifrey who stole a TARDIS and became a renegade. Thanks to RTD, we know that the Time Lords fought the Daleks in the Time War and both sides were wiped out thanks to the Doctor. Thanks to Moffat, we know that neither the Eighth or the Ninth Doctors fought in the Time War, but a previously unknown incarnation who future incarnations rejected, but later came to accept. The Hybrid arc ended up being unnecessary, but it wasn’t as bad as the Timeless Child arc was even with the answer being non-existent or deliberately ambiguous. Also, over 30 years have passed since the Valeyard’s introduction and nobody ever bothered to address his existence yet. What gives?

Before the double-down, a lot of people were hoping that the Master was lying about what he discovered. Some went the easy way out and speculated that the Master was the Timeless Child, but I don’t agree with it because the Master’s past is likely just as complicated as the Doctors and even then, it doesn’t address Ruth’s place in the timeline (I’ll buy pre-Hartnell at best, but not between the Second and Third Doctors).

However, my ideal solution would be that the Doctor is actually cloned from the Timeless Child and that Ruth is one of the Timeless Child’s incarnations. The Time Lords attempted to clone the Timeless Child but ended up creating an ordinary male Time Lord instead, so they dumped him somewhere and left him to live his life as he did. The clone eventually becomes the Thirteenth Doctor and meets the Timeless Child again, who is now in her Ruth incarnation, and after a few encounters, she encounters Ruth getting their memories erased by the Division. The Doctor somehow saved the Timeless Child and set them up to live a new life; maybe they became a child again without their memories and the Doctor brought them back to the planet where Tecteun found them and they began walking hand-in-hand towards the future, or the Doctor managed to prevent or interrupt the process and save Ruth while also defeating the Division for good before leaving her to live her own life in her TARDIS. Or better yet, don’t do the Timeless Child altogether and instead address something else that’s important, say the Valeyard. Though I must say, given how this arc was never elaborated on in the 2022 specials, I think I could buy the Doctor being a clone of the Timeless Child and Tecteun deciding not to reveal that the Doctor was a clone so as to save her the trouble of wondering whether she was the clone or not, like the Space Beth arc in Rick and Morty.

Personally, I will not accept that the Doctor was the Timeless Child or had any incarnations pre-Hartnell First, including Ruth or the Morbius incarnations (which I believe to be Morbius’ incarnations); William Hartnell’s First Doctor always was, and always will be, the original Doctor.

2. The Doctor’s callous dismissal of Graham’s cancer concerns

Towards the end of Can You Hear Me?, Graham tells the Doctor about his fear that his cancer might come back before the Doctor responds, “I’m still quite socially awkward” without any reassuring words. In another interview with Doctor Who Magazine, Chibnall states that Graham’s cancer concerns were inspired from his own cancer diagnosis at the age of 22. After learning this, I honestly think that scene is totally something r/thathappened, but this is fiction, not real life, so it wouldn’t have hurt to put in some reassuring words because fiction doesn’t have to follow real life to a T. Heck, even Chibnall admitted in that interview that there was another version of that scene where the Doctor does give Graham some reassuring words. Here, I’ll give you my example that I quickly made up in the first hiatusbreaker update: “I should say a reassuring thing now, shouldn’t I? I’m still quite socially awkward, but I just want you to know that you’ve got me, Ryan and Yaz in the TARDIS, and we’ll be there for you if anything happens, just as you have been there for us.”

OK, so people might not know how to respond to something they have no experience of (which is understandable) and Chibnall was just trying to express that through the Doctor, but you’d think that the Doctor has lived for so long that they would at least be able to show empathy and support, particularly in an episode that mainly focused on mental health issues. Even with context, the way the scene was written still makes it look like the Doctor was being callously dismissive of Graham’s concerns. Yes, I know the Doctor said she was socially awkward and that I said in my review that her fam should have known this because they’ve been with her for so long, but sometimes opinions change when you get a better understanding of the situation from different people and it still doesn’t excuse the way she dodged the subject.

Look, being adopted and being diagnosed with cancer when you’re young are relatable situations, but this feels like Chibnall brought them up as excuses for the flawed writing in the respective episodes.

3. Hamfisted SJW politics without entertaining stories to back them up

The third episodes of Series 11 and 12, Rosa and Orphan 55, were the two series-requisite SJW-fest episodes focusing on social justice topics, namely racism and climate change. Unfortunately, they didn’t end up being as entertaining as expected; Rosa failed to elaborate on the background behind Krasko’s imprisonment and racism, while Orphan 55 failed to provide a decent resolution for Bella and Kane, making the episode’s ending feel like the Doctor lecturing the audience. I suppose improving the episodes the way I suggested wouldn’t do much to change the nature of how the episodes were presented, but at least it would make it entertaining.

Arachnids in the UK and Revolution of the Daleks featured Jack Robertson, an American businessman who served as an expy of Donald Trump, though in retrospect, given events that happened in the past two years, he could also be seen as an expy of Joe Biden, given how Robertson was shown to hate Trump in-universe (meaning that he could only be a Democrat candidate) and his actor, Chris Noth, is a liberal who got #MeToo’d in 2021. It’s so hilariously pathetic.

War of the Sontarans was an entertaining episode, but it featured Mary Seacole, who some say wasn’t actually a nurse even though she did help save lives on the battlefield. I didn’t know a lot about Mary Seacole and I’m not from the UK so I didn’t really care much for her character, but I believe that Seacole should be applauded for the good deeds she did, whether she was actually a nurse or not.

4. Lack of promotion and elusive marketing

I don’t know if it’s just me, but there hasn’t been a lot of marketing surrounding this series, with each series only getting trailers or release dates three weeks before their premiere. Even in the RTD or Moffat eras, the promotion of the series typically began at least three months before they were due to premiere. During Series 13, however, the BBC were being deliberately elusive with their promotion of the series with their #FindTheDoctor ARG that didn’t even reveal an airdate followed by an advertising campaign in Liverpool that also involved them deactivating their social media accounts for a day. The fact that the whole campaign won awards just shows how people will accept anything when they’ve been blueballed for two years.

On top of that, there used to be a lot more behind-the-scenes insights before the Chibnall era with Doctor Who Confidential, but as the years went on, the featurettes became shorter, now going up to around 5 minutes at most. Additionally, from 2009 to 2013, there were quite a number of documentaries produced as retrospectives to the series, with a majority of them being produced by BBC America in response to the series’ growing interest in the US and the 50th anniversary. All this reduction in behind-the-scenes content just goes to show how far this series has fallen over the past decade.

5. Poor writing and lack of significant character development

While Graham and Ryan did get significant character development throughout their appearances on the series, the Doctor and Yaz didn’t get much compared to them.

The Thirteenth Doctor ended up being an expy of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors without any attempt to make her unique or understanding how the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors’ qualities make them unique. The Thirteenth Doctor’s moral outrages at people killing enemies (like the giant spider, the Sontarans and Marsissus the Sea Devil) were clearly ripped off from similar notions from the Tenth Doctor, along with his aversion to weapons, survivor’s guilt and “no second chances” attitude, but Chibnall didn’t seem to understand why those elements mattered to the Tenth Doctor nor the potential consequences of keeping the enemies alive. Aside from the Timeless Child, there’s no particular moment in this series that cements the Thirteenth Doctor as the Doctor (yes, I mentioned that thing at the start of Series 11, but that was post-regenerative and things have changed since then). I suppose the Doctor’s character can be summed up by whatever it says on the TARDIS Data Core article about her, but I don’t think that it’s enough.

Yaz got very little character development during Series 11 and 12, but then Series 13 went out of its way to regress her character development. OK, so we know that Yaz is a socially-awkward Muslim who was bullied at school and suffered racism while working as a police officer, but meeting the Doctor changed her life and eventually, she decided to quit the police force after randomly going on secondment for extended periods of time (and those ten months she spent being obsessed with finding the Doctor). Upon being separated from the Doctor and Dan in the Crimea and being transported to the Temple of Atropos, we saw that she had to have “WWTDD” - “What would the Doctor do?” - written on her hand (like a child) when at that point in her adventures with the Doctor, that phrase should have been the first thing that came to mind, not to mention that she has also been a police officer, potentially signifying that Yaz is too incompetent to rely on her instincts and logic. Later on, when Yaz gets trapped in the 20th century with Dan and Professor Jericho, she couldn’t recall the year they had to get back to even though she and Dan were supposed to know. They only figure it out once they get to Joseph Williamson’s tunnels in Liverpool and they find the door leading back to 2021. I don’t really believe in it myself, but there’s a reason why people like Bowlestrek and NoelZone call her “Yaz the plank”.

Throughout her run, the Doctor seemingly showed favouritism towards Yaz, which the fandom soon spinned into a ship known as “Thasmin”. This ship was explored during Series 13, but it was kind of rushed and there wasn’t much development because Chris Chibnall and Matt Strevens never planned on exploring it, though the resolution was okay. Eve of the Daleks apparently showed Dan “outing” Yaz to the Doctor, but I’m not LGBT so I can’t really comment on it.

Dan, like Yaz, doesn’t get a lot of character development, but I feel like we know enough about him in his first episode to conclude that he doesn’t need it that much, not to mention his sense of humor and the meme of him being “Evil Dan”.

And one more thing, I’ve got to mention Ryan’s dyspraxia, because it was only mentioned in like five episodes and it didn’t play that much a part in his character development nor do we see it affecting his adventures with the Doctor negatively. Chibnall could have written Ryan with autism and I wouldn’t be able to notice this.

A common rebuttal for the Chibnall era being bad because of its wokeness is “It’s not the politics, it’s the writing!” Um, is it possible that both things (among others) could have contributed to the Chibnall era being bad? Let me put it another way: The series isn’t bad because the writing is woke, but the series is woke because the writing is bad.

During the RTD and Moffat eras, the showrunners were working on other shows while working on Doctor Who; RTD was producing Casanova while working on Series 1, then was overseeing Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures throughout Series 2 to 4 and even continuing after stepping down as showrunner in 2009, while Steven Moffat was producing Sherlock alongside Mark Gatiss simultaneously throughout his run as showrunner. Chris Chibnall, however, was not shown to be overseeing anything else while realising his “five-year plan” for Doctor Who (though given the coronavirus pandemic, he probably couldn’t do anything else even if he wanted to), so in all honesty, he had no excuse for the quality of writing we got from him. On the other hand, though, the Chibnall era was all about fresh blood in the name of diversity, so I could probably forgive the amateurish quality as being produced by rookies and not by experienced individuals. We can only hope that the RTD2 era will really bring back the show we knew and loved.

Final points tally

So in a few episodes, the Doctor has been giving out points, which she changed to gold stars and stickers as the series went on. Out of interest, I’ve been keeping a tally and I’d thought I’d sum everything up to see how everyone did.

Yaz: 20 (10 points S11E5, gold star S12E6)

Ryan: 20 (gold star S11E6, gold star S12E6)

The Doctor: 5 (given by Ruth S12E4)

Graham: 10 (gold star S12E6)

Gabriela/Adam/Jake: 10 (one gold star each S12E6)

Jack Harkness: 10 (gold star NY2021)

Mary Seacole: 15 (gold star and sticker S13E2)

The Master: 15 (self-granted gold star and sticker BBC100)

Yaz and Ryan are at equal first with 20 points, Mary Seacole and the Master are at equal second with 15 points (if you want to count the Master giving himself points), Graham along with Gabriela, Adam and Jake from Praxeus are third with 10 points and ironically, the Doctor is last at 5 points.

Final era rating and verdict

Specials are included in the ratings.

Series 11: 81/110 (73%)

Series 12: 83/110 (75%)

Series 13: 18/90 (20%) Hypothetical: 47/90 (52%) Conservative: 27/90 (30%)

Final era total: 175/310 (56%) Hypothetical era total: 211/310 (68%) Conservative era total: 191/310 (61%)

In the end, despite all the flaws and disgraces I pointed out with the Chibnall era, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I compared Chris Chibnall with Kamen Rider producer Shinichiro Shirakura and writers Shoji Yonemura and Toshiki Inoue; that comparison continues to stand even at the end of the Chibnall era. In terms of wokeness, to compare the three showrunners of the revived series up to now, RTD is someone who has been woke from the beginning, yet knows how to subtly incorporate politics in a way that still makes the episode entertaining; Steven Moffat is someone who had to learn how to be woke judging from the reception of Series 10; while Chris Chibnall is the r/FellowKids version of woke. The way the Chibnall era was presented seemed to be appealing to a new generation of younger viewers (given the modern music used in Series 11 and its promos back in 2018), but as time went on, it seemingly stopped appealing to some of the more hardcore fans with the Timeless Child arc. Would I still go to say that Chibnall is a hack writer? Maybe. I’m not a good judge of acting skill or film production, but I like to think that everyone, cast and crew alike, did an okay job with what they were given; undoubtedly, this era would have been better with different people at the helm.

Look, I’ve been trying to stay positive about this entire series, but I think we all need to accept that this era of Doctor Who sucked. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the past 2-3 years, it’s that sometimes, the people you hate, or the people you think you’re supposed to hate, were right about some things (but not necessarily everything) all along. In politics, it might be the people you call conspiracy theorists, grifters, anti-vaxxers, facists and Nazis, or even individuals like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Nigel Farage, Pauline Hanson or Craig Kelly. In Doctor Who, it’s the people you might call racists, sexists, or NMDs (Not My Doctors); the people you gatekeeping assholes don’t consider fans because you think fans have to accept everything offered to you like consumers without being allowed to complain. Yes, and I am really saying this, people like Bowlestrek, Nerdrotic, Heel vs Babyface and NoelZone were right all along.

Although I don’t join in the fan discourse of the series on social media, I have to condemn the actions of people like Trilbee (Mr Tardis), Jay Exci and Tharries; Trilbee’s videos on Bowlestrek incited his fans to harass him, with one even making repugnant remarks about him doing something unspeakable with dogs, Jay Exci debating Bowlestrek and failing to properly counter anything he says while giving the excuse that he was tired, and Tharries used Bowlestrek and NoelZone for clout before turning on them. I’m just listing vague examples here, but I’m sure other people may have receipts. You may think NMDs are bad, but let me tell you that the people calling out NMDs are just as bad as them, so they should stop trying to act like they’re innocent of their actions just because they have the clout of their enabling fanbases.

When I started these reviews, I set out two questions that I hoped to answer with these reviews. I briefly answered them in the prelude for the Flux reviews and I’ll answer them again in this post:

1. How does Jodie Whittaker’s performance set the bar for other Doctors after her, male or female?

If it weren’t for Jo Martin and The Power of the Doctor, Jodie Whittaker would have set a really low bar for future female Doctors, but now, I can say that maybe another woman can become the Doctor in 10-15 years and do a better job than Jodie Whittaker, regardless of whether you feel she did her best with the material she was given. As I said in the aforementioned post, just because one Doctor acts one way doesn’t mean another Doctor will act the same way and as such, each Doctor should be measured and judged individually.

2. Will the so-called “SJW/feminist/diversity agenda” affect the way I see and think about Doctor Who?

Admittedly, it did, but it was mostly because Chibnall was being rather unsubtle about it, and even then, all the SJW red flags I found, especially in regards to Rosa and Orphan 55, got me talking about racism and climate change among other things. I was hoping that I’d find something offensive about Hong Kong, but it’s good that there wasn’t; in fact, Legend of the Sea Devils did a good job in Cantonese language representation, something that was last seen briefly in the third episode of the Third Doctor serial, The Mind of Evil. There was also the case of Chibnall adding LGBT characters for representation in Series 11 before they got killed off, but Praxeus did it right because the LGBT representation wasn’t killed off in the end.

Looking forward to RTD2 and Ncuti Gatwa

Admittedly, I was going to do a post about Ncuti Gatwa’s casting back in May, but I never really got around to it, so I’m doing this here.

So right after The Power of the Doctor concluded, we got a sneak peek into the 60th Anniversary Specials, then a couple of days later, the new Doctor Who logo was unveiled, reverting to a classic design, while also announcing that the BBC are joining forces with Disney on Doctor Who, with the BBC continuing to broadcast the show in the UK while the rest of the world (except Ireland) will have it exclusively on Disney+. Also, Disney is expected to give the show higher budgets than before, on top of Sony having a majority stake in Bad Wolf Studios, so yeah. OK, I can kind of get behind putting it on Disney+ worldwide so everyone can get it at the same time (and without ads unlike on BBC America), but why does it have to be streaming-exclusive? In Australia, the ABC will no longer be airing new episodes as a result and I don’t know how many other countries will get screwed over because they can’t watch it for free.

Honestly, the only reason why the series is still on the BBC in the UK (aside from them being the creators of the series) is because RTD is a fervent supporter of the BBC and the licence fee. I know that streaming appears to be the growing trend nowadays, but aside from it being free, I watch the episodes on ABC iView because I know they’ll be available on there right after they premiere in the UK so I can watch them as quickly as possible in order to avoid spoilers. While the Disney+ deal does make it easier for some people to watch the episodes, it’s actually become harder for others to do the same. I hope the BBC and Disney are able to chalk up some kind of a deal to give broadcasting rights to other broadcasters including the ABC, but if nothing changes by November next year, at least we’ll always have torrents.

Going into conspiracy theory territory and speculate on why things are the way they are. I suspect that RTD was asked to come back after the outrage that the Timeless Child arc caused; the BBC fired Chibnall and decided not to renew Jodie Whittaker’s contract, but were told that they could do a final series to wrap things up. Jodie leaving after three series would be believable, but Chibnall leaving after one Doctor would be surprising. If it weren’t for RTD’s willingness to return, the series may have been cancelled and The Power of the Doctor would likely have ended with a fade to black. Other conspiracy theories say that “Chaos in Cardiff” actually happened and that Chibnall and Whittaker were going to quit after Series 11 but were asked to return for Series 12, but that kind of neglects Chibnall’s “five-year plan” comment from the start of his era. There’s also the “hostile takeover” theory I covered in the Flux prelude which kind of turned out to be true but not really. I guess time will only tell.

UPDATE - 19 November 2022: So RTD has come out and confessed that he asked the BBC if he could come back to Doctor Who as early as December 2020 following the lockdown tweetalong for The Runaway Bride when he suggested the idea to Catherine Tate, who then suggested it to David Tennant. Once he knew that both of them were willing to return, RTD emailed Piers Wenger, Director of Drama at the BBC, to throw the idea out there. While this may have been the case, there is still the possibility that either person wanted to return to Doctor Who or the BBC was willing to let RTD come back because of the outrage that the Timeless Child revelation caused. Given what we would later see during Series 13, it was a good thing that RTD decided to come back when he did.

When Ncuti Gatwa was announced as the Doctor back in May, my first thought was, “Well, at least the Doctor’s a man again.” Jo Martin aside, Ncuti will be the first black actor to play a numbered incarnation of the Doctor and his incarnation is slated to be the first gay Doctor. RTD has stated that Ncuti’s casting wasn’t about diversity and representation, but a couple of days before that, he stated that he had someone else in mind before Ncuti came in to audition and “simply stole it”, which makes me a little suspicious, but at any rate I look forward to seeing how he does as the Doctor.

Aside from Ncuti, Yasmin Finney, a trans-female actor, has been cast as Rose and is slated to be the new companion with her debut being in the 60th anniversary specials. On top of that, David Tennant has been announced to be returning as the Fourteenth Doctor alongside Catherine Tate, (the late) Bernard Cribbins, Jacqueline King and Karl Collins, reprising their roles from the RTD era. Neil Patrick Harris has also been cast as a villain who is apparently slated to be the Celestial Toymaker, but further details aren’t known as of yet.

UPDATE - 19 November 2022: Apparently Millie Gibson has been cast as Ruby Sunday, who will be the Fifteenth Doctor’s first companion. So is Rose going to be in Series 14 or what?

The three 60th anniversary specials are due to air in November 2023 before Ncuti’s first episode is expected to premiere “over the festive period” in 2023. In the review for Eve of the Daleks, I was raging about why RTD couldn’t do Series 14 early in 2023 before the 60th anniversary specials, but I can sort of see why the arrangements are what they are now.

While the Chibnall era all but killed off most of my interest for Doctor Who, RTD’s return reinvigorated it and now, I would like to announce that I intend to continue reviewing new Doctor Who episodes, even if only for the content. At the start of this review series, I had plans to give up this series if the next Doctor was a woman, but now, I’m happy to remain as a casual fan (this would be the same if Jo Martin were actually announced to be the next Doctor). My focus in the Chibnall era was seeing how the SJW agenda would affect how I see the series; for the RTD2 era, my focus will change to seeing how RTD does (in writing and the SJW agenda) in comparison to Chibnall.

This series of reviews has been simultaneously posted to a Google Site which I share with my friends on my personal Facebook account. This was because I was still hesitant at sharing my personal project outside of my Facebook friends back then and I also wanted to share my findings on the Chibnall era without revealing this Tumblr to anyone, not that anyone would care nowadays. For future reviews, they will be exclusive to Tumblr and I won’t be doing the bookending prelude and epilogue posts for the era, just the ones for each series.

I would like to acknowledge everyone who read and liked my reviews over the past four years, even if they were few and far between. I would also like to acknowledge Blogtor Who, as it was the site where I got most of my review header screenshots from (as shown in the collage below). Like I said, I’ll be back for the RTD2 era, but until then, feel free to follow me and check out my content both related and not related to Doctor Who, such as Kisekae Insights, Doctor Who 10 for 10 and my reviews of Koei Tecmo’s Warriors games, which are being lined up for future release.

Once again, thanks for following the Thirteenth Doctor Reviews and I hope to see you around.

#doctor who #thirteenth doctor #doctor who review #thirteenth doctor review

[aliasmard]

i was so afraid to watch thirteenth doctor because of all the negative reviews. Now I'm so upset that I thought I wouldn't like her. The script is strange, but the doctor herself is incredible, I love her, madly in love

But now I have to fight (/j) with all the people in my environment who told me that the thirteenth is the worst doctor.

#13th doctor #doctor who #thirteenth doctor #Im sapphic lol thirteenth can't be my least favorite doctor #actually my least favorite doctor is the eleventh #BUT I DON'T HATE HIM AS PEOPLE HATE THE THIRTEENTH

[13docwriting]

NOTE: this post was made on November 26th, 2023, before the 60th specials aired. I wasn't going to post it but due to the recent episodes, I feel it really fits. It's me, more than a year after the Power of the Doctor! As time moves on and more spoilers / interviews / trailers / content comes out for the 60th (and then some), my already limited hope continues to dwindle for human kindness. Why? Here's my twenty page essay down below! (I'm not kidding, it's 20 pages)

The Thirteenth Doctor has been a life changer for me, as many could tell from my username. Chibnall's series came to me in the midst of the pandemic and a very hard time in my life. Ironically, my motivation for watching DW once again after more than a four year hiatus of the show was actually the idea of the Doctor being a woman. My reason to stay, however, was the stories we received. I've lived through the Chibnall and Jodie bashing on this hell-site in real time. I've read downright nasty comments on any/all of Doctor Who's social media posts about thirteen's series. I've seen people call each other horrible names for simply liking one of the Thirteenth Doctor's episodes... And now, as her series has ended a year ago, I'm even more saddened to see her era get pushed to the side as if to be forgotten. Nobody came at me with the whole "it's not because of Chibnall/Jodie's era! DW just needed a reboot!" I would have agreed! I would have agreed that a fresh coat of paint would have helped DW gain some more traction, especially in the states! The more people who watch DW, the better! But the change RTD is presenting and the continued changes come at the cost of dealing with bullies online and defending something I love with all my heart.

I'd like to remind everyone that Chris Chibnall did not just barge his way into Doctor Who. He has written episodes for DW for a while before he took over as showrunner. Tenth Doctor: 42 Eleventh Doctor: The Hunger Earth, Cold Blood, Pond Life, Dinosaurs in a Spaceship, the Power of Three. Recognize some of those titles? Yeah, even when I was a wee lass, those were some of the best episodes DW had ever done. "42" scared the crap out of me in the best way, "Dinosaurs in Spaceship" had me smiling ear to ear, etc. etc.

Don't just take my word for it, read some of the reviews for those episodes. They are highly positive if not still mid-range.

That being said, I have a hard time believing that every single one of Jodie's episodes have been awful. And, if not outright stated as awful, certainly below every single nuwho Doctor.

Was there some not-so-great episodes? Yeah, of course! But every Doctor has had some questionable episodes. With a show that has a new plot nearly every episode, you're going to have some misses! My point being... Chibnall CAN write good episodes and, with that being said... Why HAS Thirteen's era been considered one of the worsts? Well, I think it's because, as always, people hate change. We've just come off of Twelve's era which was rooted in deep and meaningful conversations with a underlying of, dare I say it, Time Lord Victorious. Twelve holds a special place in my heart for the amount of care he showed through his era. From the Twelve's darkest moments, Thirteen is born. Thirteen is a ray of sunshine that holds hope in the palm of her hand. She's happy, bubbly, and ready to smile. She wants the universe and everything it has to offer and she's ready to travel the stars again.

Chibnall introduces a series of stories that are rooted in that hope. There's kindness at every turn, there's compassion, there's empathy... Is that the reason people hate her era? No. A new Doctor has never stopped anyone from getting back into the show. So, it's the writing, you say? I have one thing to say to that: Prove it. Point me in the direction of bad writing without ONCE mentioning the word "woke". If you found Jodie's era to be preachy, perhaps there's a reason that you take offense to it. DW has always been a progressive show and it will forever stay that way. And I am the first one to admit that, again, there are weak episodes. There IS some bad writing, but the hate that Jodie's ENTIRE era gets, I feel, is unjustified. So, if not writing, must be the acting! Where? When? I had no problem watching Jodie Whittaker be the Doctor. She's quirky and fun and eccentric... She has a thousand different emotions on her face at one time. Any actor that knows how much a smile can hide is a talented one. Besides that, her work on Broadchurch and her newer works (One Night, Time) have some raving reviews. She clearly has talent. So, not the acting or writing... Companions, then? Why? "The fam" had all of their moments to shine. I won't say their character arcs were perfect, especially for Ryan and Graham, but they did have their own arcs. Was it the fact that there were three totally separate companions at once? Was it just too big a job? I can't answer that one. I personally felt that they all got a good ending, one that makes sense and that isn't tragic for the sake of tragedy. This my be my opinion piece, but I liked having multiple companions that had their own little storyline, but that's MY opinion and I'm fine with someone calling me out on that. Let's go really basic... It's because the Doctor isn't meant to be woman, right? Oh, so, the Master can be a woman and that's totally fine, but when it's the Doctor... Woman can be villains but they can't be the main protagonist, right? I didn't see people up and arms over Missy, why was Thirteen so different? I remember seeing her very first introduction trailer and having people immediately be upset by the gender change. Well, forget my opinions, let's look at the statistics and viewings numbers, right?

HOW ABOUT NO. Remember the writing strike that just ended? Remember how regular cable has been nearly done with? Remember how writers are fighting to earn something for streaming services? We can't rely on normal/live views while a literal pandemic was happening, while streaming has become the norm, while watching online for free has existed for so long... Views have CHANGED. The way people consume media has changed, especially during the pandemic. Now, for an excuse... The pandemic happened. It changed how people were filming, it changed how close people could get to one another in terms of acting, it changed filming times and locations. I can't confirm, but I know that the Flux storyline was cut by two whole episodes, which could be the reason a lot of people felt disappointed by the end of the Flux. Chibnall and Thirteen's era had so many real-life obstacles to overcome that past era's did not have to deal with.

I'm tired, alright? I'm tired of defending my love for a character. And to have that love be spat out in the form of a different writer by.... 1. Discarding the Thirteenth Doctor's iconic outfit after a regeneration for the first time ever (under the guise of calling it "drag" if Tennant was to wear her outfit even after a male co-star had just worn it.) 2. Introducing a very popular Doctor back into the show ("to gain views") 3. Doing a soft reboot by calling the new season "season 1" (could be Disney's fault, but I'm not entirely sure of that fact) Every day I read another article about how RTD is "saving" Doctor who when I myself have been saved by the Doctor already. I didn't ever need to justify my love of a character until today.

#anti rtd #doctor who #doctor who spoilers #dw spoilers #opinion piece #13th doctor #dw fandom #thirteenth doctor #dw

[khruschevshoe]

Time For Another Underrated Doctor Who Episode: Tsuranga Conundrum

So, I don't understand why people don't like this episode. It's a sincerely enjoyable one and honestly one of my favorite of Thirteen’s episodes.

We get the Doctor solving something while sick and sonicless because they're too stubborn to stop themselves ala regeneration episodes (my favorite dynamic). We get an interesting monster with a fun mystery/character-driven pay off where I genuinely cared about each of the character deaths and it really showed off the show's core principle about the bravery and selflessness of people and how they can make themselves extraordinary when given the chance. We get the Doctor actually admitting that they were wrong for once. We get canon male pregnancy that is treated dead straight and despite the comedic beats, is honestly a really sincere storyline by the end. We get to see Ryan confronting his own daddy issues by helping with the pregnancy and Graham being informed by his past as a former cancer patient to talk to the patients. We get genuine suspense due to the monster and its capabilites. We get the general and her brother and her consort all reaching an understanding with each other after years of being at odds. We get the "Doctor of hope" line that feels like a thesis for the Doctor just as much as "all that pain and misery and loneliness and it just made it kind" did in the Beast Below.

Why don't people like this one? Is it because the Pting isn't intimidating and "too cute" in its design despite the absolutely terrifying premise that actually has a good pay-off? This is the Camp Sci-Fi Show. This is the show with the Adipose and Cassandra the Talking Skin and the farting Iraq war allegory and the invading cubes and graffiti monsters and the emoji robots (all of which I loved, btw).

Like, I understand some of the flaws of the writing and the fact that Yaz doesnt have the most to do (disadvantage of balancing three companions, one of them usually ends up not having much to do), but otherwise this one is a ton of fun. Y’all really don't like fun monsters and ensemble stories, do you?

#the tsuranga conundrum #meta #thirteenth doctor #graham o'brien #ryan sinclair #listen y’all need to appreciate some of the more campy episodes of this show #partners in crime #flatline #slitheen #(this is also my aliens in london/world war three vicarious hype post) #end of the world #new earth #cassandra #power of three #chris chibnall #smile #review #pting #the beast below

[denimbex1986]

'The Tardis has landed. If you have been following along, you know that Jodie Whittaker‘s Thirteenth Doctor has morphed into David Tennant‘s Fourteenth Doctor, who was also the Tenth Doctor, a re-regeneration unheard of in the annals of the Time Lords. (Someone better informed than I might be aware of a precedent — anyway, it’s rare.) You can’t go home again, wrote Thomas Wolfe, but F. Scott Fitzgerald said you can repeat the past — of course you can.

Indeed, the past repeats gloriously in “Doctor Who: The Star Beast,” the first of three 60th-anniversary specials premiering Saturday that will end in a fourth, with the Christmas Day advent of Ncuti Gatwa as Doctor No. 15 in “The Church on Ruby Road.” (“Wild Blue Yonder” on Dec. 2 and “The Giggle” on Dec. 9 complete this anniversary series.) This is also the first episode of the beloved British franchise to appear under Disney+’s deal with the BBC to become its exclusive international home, outside of the U.K. and Ireland, but so far the House of Mouse seems to have interfered only to the extent of pouring a bucket of cash into a production that sometimes could look strapped for it.

Running the show again is Russell T Davies, who in 2005 brought “Doctor Who” back to life after 16 years, during which time the character had survived in novels, comics, radio dramas and a single TV movie. Christopher Eccleston played the Doctor for the first revival season; but Tennant, who took over the role that Christmas and kept it until the dawn of 2010, was the gift the Doctor and Davies had been waiting for. And arguably — there will always be argument around “Doctor Who” — they were never better than when Catherine Tate, a hilarious comic actor with a talent for breaking your heart, joined them as the Doctor’s human traveling companion and very best mate Donna Noble. And she’s back as well. Exclamation point! Life could not be better. Let their fierce chemistry recommence.

Yes, yes, I hear you say, but didn’t the Doctor bury Donna’s memory in order to keep her head from exploding when she absorbed a lethal dose of Time Lord mojo? And if she remembers him now, won’t she die? Of course, this sort of science fiction can always rewrite the rules, as desired, or discover a new one. Canon is useful only insofar as it doesn’t get in the way of the story, and Davies’ sensibility is more attuned to poetry than plot, which is just a tool to make you feel big feelings. But you should be concerned for them. I mean, I was.

After a worrisome, cheap-looking, afterthought of a prologue, in which Tennant and Tate, speaking to the camera, fill in backstory for the benefit of Disney+ subscribers new to “Who,” we dive into the episode proper, which looks fantastic, begins fast and gets faster. No time is wasted bringing our main players onstage, to a busy London street. We are reminded that Donna, before she became an adventurer in time and space, had a habit of missing things, and she does here, as a spacecraft blazes across the sky and lands with a bang in the distance. And she feels that something is missing from her otherwise happy life, but she can’t say what it is.

The Doctor also will meet Donna’s daughter, the not arbitrarily named Rose (Yasmin Finney), and meet again Donna’s husband, Shaun Temple (Karl Collins), last seen at their wedding back in 2010. Ruth Madeley plays Shirley Anne Bingham, a droll science advisor from UNIT, which guards the world — well, London at least — from extraterrestrial and paranormal threats. (It hasn’t always succeeded.) The resident alien is the Meep (voiced by Miriam Margolyes), making its screen debut — the episode is based on a story from a comic in Doctor Who magazine — which presents first as something like Gizmo the Gremlin, and then as something more like a Gremlin after it’s been fed after midnight.

In his quantum way, the Doctor is always the same person but different — except here, where he is very much his old self again, only 13 years older. I have love, in different degrees, for all successive Doctors. (The Doctor, calling himself “the one in the skinny suit,” ticks off his subsequent regenerations: “After that I wear a bow tie, after that I’m a Scotsman, after that I’m a woman.”)

Similarly, each showrunner — including Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall, who followed and now have been followed by Davies — brought something different to the show, while it always remained fundamentally “Doctor Who.” (Some fans would say otherwise.) But Davies is the architect of the 21st century series, which never seemed tired or strained under his watch, as it sometimes later could. His blend of comedy, tragedy, suspense, romance, terror and farce is quite exhilarating, and with Tennant and Tate, he has two players who have his music down. It’s going to be hard losing them again — I’m getting a little teary just thinking about it — but it’s already on the schedule, and come Christmas, there’ll be a new Doctor to sing this song.'

#Doctor Who #Russell T. Davies #The Star Beast #Catherine Tate #Donna Noble #David Tennant #60th Anniversary #Ncuti Gatwa #The Giggle #Wild Blue Yonder #Rose Noble #Yasmin Finney #the Meep #Miriam Margolyes #Ruth Madeley #Shirley Anne Bingham #Shaun Temple #Karl Collins