The Doctor Who Spoilers and Speculation Thread V3 - "Oh, brilliant."
832 replies, posted
and you also don’t get locked into a poopy storyline for two or three weeks
The problem was terrorism caused by people not having any jobs, and therefore no money. Giving people jobs gives them money.
Of course the idea of universal basic income or some other social net is never even considered, just let 40% of the people work. Problem solved!
Because work aparantly "gives people purpose" as if the majority of people want to be run off their arses to meet ridiculous work quotas and monitored 24/7.
Hello mates. I wrote the dumbest thing I've ever written. Read it here
doctor who gets utterly destroyed for real.pdf
It's a vomit-inducingly long spiel where I outline a dumb as fuck theory I've had about Doctor Who that I came up with a couple months ago and haven't been able to stop thinking about for ages, as told by two random characters with backstories that are completely pointless. I urge you to skip to page 3 where the actual thing begins. While we're being real, I also urge you not to read this fucking garbage, and instead advise you to shoot me directly in the brain with a gun
also feel free to tear me apart like the piece of paper with a bad drawing on it that i am
some day i'm gonna learn not to use the internet under the influence of certain mind altering substances. some day.
As somebody who used to post regularly in this thread since the David Tennant days I thought I'd finally throw my thoughts in on the current series.
Love Jodie. Love Bradley. Love the cinematic look. Love the historic stories which in the past have always been my least favourite. Love the score. Love the drama and how characters feel like real people with actual human thoughts and actions. I LOVE how it's all new monsters and sometimes you don't actually get a monster at all. Brilliant. Breath of fresh air. Feels like a real return to form, but there's some issues still.
I'm feeling a bit flat on the stories. Nothing has wowed me really. Feels like a distinct lack of ambition. Sometimes the dialogue feels really clunky and sometimes a few of the cast are playing things like they're on a CBBC show while everybody else is doing a family drama. I know the appeal of the show has always been how each week can be totally different but it doesn't feel coherent this time round. It needs a good story arc.
I know that's a bad word in these parts but it shouldn't be. The problem Doctor Who had in the past is some really terribly written story arcs. Usually disappointing endings. Bad Wolf wasn't a story arc it was a catchphrase, Torchwood was an easter egg for a back-door pilot and Moffat killed The Doctor too often. Pandorica and the cracks was great though. Key of Time was superb. Chibnall has gone too far the opposite way. There is no continuity here. You can watch these episodes in any order after episode 2. At one point we had a really nice story of Bradley Walsh and overcoming grief. Then we had some nice bits with Ryan and Graham talking about their relationship and it was genuinely really nice watching it grow. There was a little bit of a crush on Yaz from Ryan. Just little character things that could develop over time. That all got dropped after spiders. These characters have seemingly lost all their character and just exist to ask questions or do some exposition.
I'm probably being hard on it but the writing is lacking. Killing Eve and Bodyguard smashed it on the beeb recently. They were well written stories. Just because Doctor Who is for children doesn't mean it has to be of a lesser quality than other TV. RTD and Moffat had their issues too, but it still had this huge ambition. I can't see us getting things like The Doctors Wife, Heaven Sent, Dalek, Family of Blood right now, it feels too safe.
I'm getting kinda bored by the Sci-Fi aesthetic for this season. All the alien places seem to look the same with "relaxing" minimal white-ish environments.
Still, I've enjoyed the last episode, it was nice, but i still believe the episodes that shine are, as you said, the historic ones.
What i'm missing so far are those semi-gritty, spookier episodes all the past seasons had, the spiders episode could've filled that spot but it wasn't as great as i thought it would be.
another pretty great one I think, Jodie's dialogue (in both writing and delivery) was on top form
I enjoyed it, I do kind of wish this was a pure 100% historical story and there was no monster or sci-fi element as it felt a little rushed but, still was a good one.
It really dosn't feel like we are towards the end of the series, next week is the penultimate one, kind of odd that it isn't the first part in a two parter but lets see what is going on!
Whoever played King James was hilarious, best part of the episode
Alan Cumming was ace. Would happily see him again at some point.
Fun episode, though the conclusion was a bit manic. Everyone shouting SATAN and WITCH over eachother, waving flaming sticks about with mud ladies, alien ladies and devil alien tendril fella flayling out of Pendle Hill (which I get to see almost permanently while at work, so it'll be a tad more special tomorrow ).
I am very curious about next week. Probably the episode I've known least about (albeit by virtue of "I at least know Mark Addy is in the final.")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6Lnx1nbFYM
I hope this isn't kicking up too much of a fuss, but I feel like this series has, for the most part, reminded me of Episode VII of Star Wars. As some others have said, it feels very safe, a new showrunner and crew tamping down the ground to get to grips with things - perhaps at least partially to reassure fans that they're not reinventing the wheel. I think that's okay, and it's led to some solid stories - particularly Rosa and Punjab. But the next series definitely needs to be a bit more adventurous. I think a lot of the stories this year, whilst strong and not exactly bad by any means, have been somewhat forgettable or generic. I haven't had much of a sense of whimsy from the Doctor's travels; I think the TARDIS has been a little bit too magical with its whole 'going out of its way to put the team exactly where they need to be' thing.
Perhaps they're simply establishing a new set of tropes, or perhaps I'm simply overanalysing things and, once I've got to grips with the finale or with Series 12 next year, I'll realise that it all makes sense in hindsight. I'm just worried that the show might become a mishmash of total killer and total filler.
I agree with most of the criticisms said in the thread so far about the series overall (despite still personally enjoying it a lot week to week)
One added thing I'd like to throw in the ring is that I don't think the writers this year are as good at portraying the Doctor as a hero as RTD/Moffat were, which would be fine if that's what they were going for but I don't think it is - it feels like they're trying and falling short. This weeks is probably the best it's been so far but even still, the actual saving people lacks the weight it has previously imo. It still feels like all of Jodie's "I am the Doctor" moments have always fallen a tad flat.
I dunno, I feel like they've been stepping up. Wasn't a personal fan of Kerblam with it's VERY confused message but the Demons of the Punjab and this latest one were great. Demons of the Punjab I'd say is one of my more enjoyed moments watching the show throughout all the revival.
Such a fun, Empress of Mars style episode. I loved Alan Cumming in it.
That trope was introduced during Moffats era tho.
On the contrary, I actually believe that is what they're going for.
Classic Who was exactly like that, the Doctor just happened to be in the situation, and ends up being the Hero.
So... I found a very... special channel on youtube today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX9jYMSlHDc
I know classic who was a lot like that but then they keep giving her hero moments that don't work as well as they should, imo
I stopped watching after the second episode because it was sort-of-boring to me. Nothing bad, just really 'safe' sci-fi with nothing interesting or memorable going on. Should I pick it back up, or does it not reach the heights of the better prior series?
Witchfinders is... okay. It's definitely better than most of the episodes this season, which isn't really saying much. I feel like it could have been structured far better, and that it's really missing a key bit of spark that would take it from a good episode to a fantastic one.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gallifrey/comments/a0kxaz/new_years_special_photos_from_the_radiotimes/
pictures from the new year's special (no spoilers)
I love the scarf so much
Round the time the lady turned into a power rangers villain with a ridiculous voice my mum turned to me and for the first time since the show came back in 2005 said “I’m not enjoying this”. Fair enough. Broke my heart a bit though. All that set up to become a headache inducing shouty match that was fixed with a torch touching a tree
Great eerie historic set up. Hilarious King James performance. Were they really best in the same story? It trailed off completely about halfway in. These writers, directors and actors are much better than this. This doesn’t feel like a flagship show anymore. Feels like a CBBC show which is in a way too late slot. For the first time I want to stop watching, just accept I’m not the target audience anymore and that’s fine. But all the critics are praising it and I feel terrible I can’t see it.
I think the thing I miss most is the continuity. The sense of universe. The lore. What’s the point of banning old monsters if you’re not going to ban old formats and story structures. Either strike out and do something truly new or don’t bother pretending. Old man (25 jeez) rant over.
This is sort of how I felt about the first two episodes (spoilers not withstanding), it just sort of feels toothless and retooled and so smoothed and rounded-out there was bugger all to enjoy from it.
Rewatching new Doctor Who with my partner before we start watching the new season, just made it to Peter Capaldi. We gave up on him when it was first on, but want to give it another go, which episodes were not worth watching and should skip? I remember a few not being great, hence why we gave up.
Listen is fantastic
Heaven Sent is the greatest episode of Doctor Who of all time. Which is funny as the episode immediately after is one of the worst.
A lot of Capaldi’s run was quite important. Even if the story itself was bad it had some nice character development across the whole. I’d only ever really skip Time Heist, Kill The Moon and Forest of the Night. But I even enjoy watching Capaldi in those.
Oh, Kill the Moon is one of the few times I've felt insulted as an audience member. Avoid that even harder than Love and Monsters.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
