'Is that it?': Comparing series 1 to series 1 (spoiler analysis)
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- Опубликовано: 7 окт 2024
- How does Series 1 compare to Series 1... 1.A? 1.2? Thanks Disney, very cool.
Join me on a spoiler analysis of Russell's most recent outing as Doctor Who showrunner, and what I think it needs to do better next time.
I also released a non-spoiler review, link on my channel.
Follow my socials @harrymcdonough.
#doctorwho #drwho #ncutigatwa #review
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
00:40 No ethical dilemma
03:05 Superficial characters
05:10 No arc for the Doctor
07:14 Final thoughts
![Tee Grizzley - Robbery 8 [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/34_vkNV6wrU/mqdefault.jpg)
Great points you've brought up, I was wondering what felt off about the new season but couldn't quite put my finger on it. I definitely think the lack of an arc for the doctor's personality and the lack of impact on ruby's family is what mostly threw me off even with how great some of these episodes were. I hope the algorithm blesses you soon and this picks up more traction!
Yea totally agreed! I think the lower episode count was a real detriment to exploring some of these concepts
@@harrymcdonough yeah that's a great point too, maybe if we got around 13 episodes some things might have been fleshed out more
Yeah, the 8 episode limit really doesn’t work for Doctor Who… I feel we need 12-13 episodes a season to add connective tissue and have episodes that are more standard romps like Rogue, to make the more unique episodes like Boom stand out more. Boom and 73 Yards are fantastic, but without more standard adventures like Space Babies and Rogue throughout, the season is too short and unbalanced. I really enjoyed a lot of it, but the second half of the finale felt rushed. Imagine if we had more buildup and perhaps three episodes for the finale, making the incredible reveal of Sutek (spelling idk) feel more conclusive and earned. For such a powerful god of death, he felt too easy to conquer in the end, partially because he is vanquished as soon as he arrives.
comparing this new season to the 2005 season feels a lil like deserved bullying
I mean is it really bullying if it's deserved
My biggest hope for Season 2 is that the episodes are LONGER! The most baffling decision is regular episodes going back to 45 minutes, which is a regression as Chibnall era episodes were 50 minutes on AVERAGE, I find it incredibly baffling why we have gone back to 45 minutes with LESS episodes!
@@friendlyotaku9525 Yes! And we’re missing two parters! One of my favourite series in New Who is Series 9, which is nothing but two parters lol. I suppose we had the finale but they always acted as a mid season high. 73 Yards strikes me as the obvious contender for a two parter besides the Doctor barely featuring.
Most of chibnalls were 50 and also 60 mins
When Russell said 58 mins is a special length I find it funny that most of series 13 was longer in runtime
Longer episodes didn't make for better episodes though. A bad 45 minute episode is tolerable. A bad 60 minute episode is torture in my view. The main thing is we need better episodes regardless of the length.
I don't think the episodes need to be longer honestly. Split into more parts maybe, but 45 minutes is already a lot to sit through for a tv show
@@baybarsedturner2 they can definitely help flesh things out.
Yeah that's kind of what i thought and more. I felt like the Doctor was lacking flaws and was missing something no longer being the antisocial traveller with a sociable companian (which is fine but two characters balancing each other out in some way is interesting to me)
That not work with Capaldi and Clara.
@@mayotango1317 how do you mean?
completely agree on the characters, I thought that 15 would have an arc opposite to 9 (starting child-like and whimsical and ending in bloodshed or existential horror) but nothing happened. he didn't change one bit over the entire series. same with ruby or any other character. That is where it failed for me. Still waiting for it though
@@justarandomguy2424 I agree the resolution didn’t quite hit. Surely it’s going to happen at some point… but the seeds at least could have been sewn clearer. Glad you enjoyed it!
I think the point is that the Doctor has already been through a bunch of trauma and he’s overcome it now with the bigeneration and everything. Having him go in the reverse direction so quickly would not work thematically
@@LeviPennington-vv2kq yeah, I agree but some character arc is necessary. But it can all still happen in the future
Sown, I think, although that’s an interesting visual.
The title should say comparing Season 1 to Series 1, they've gone back to calling them seasons so it does also make it confusing with classic who
Right. 2024 season is either Series 14 or Season 1, although the 2nd’s confusion makes me choose Series 14.
I agree with this whole assessment! Fundamentally what I’ve loved about RTD writing in the past was the very human element and it seems to have been replaced as something a bit more superficial but claiming to have the same amount of depth. I understand it’s harder with only 8 episodes a season but I think a larger contributor to the doctors lack of an arc is that the bigeneration provided an explanation for the doctor healing his mental health. I feel like this scares the writers away from making the doctor a complex or flawed character again but without that there’s no room to grow. I think it would have been interesting to lean into this and the current concept of toxic positivity. We saw it addressed in the doctor a bit at the end of Rogue. The doctor has always had a bit of this quality but if we see it at the forefront of 15’s personality and then are able to have an arc where he acknowledges and confronts his own toxic positivity and accepts that negative emotions don’t equal bad emotions, we could have been left with a more nuanced doctor for season 2 ahead.
The Doctor never was flawed, watch Tom Baker.
Healed his mental health? How so?
Firstly, he's not human. His benchmark is different.
For 60 of our years he has been a stoic , fearless , inventive hero. This season has turned him into a cowardly, incompetent shallow muppet who has to get other people to save the day, as he only saved people in the final episode and who blubs every episode. He's been written to be a massive Pu55 🐈 and not the hero we all knew and loved. I wouldn't describe that as fixing his mental health.
@@Knaveofspades6 You watch the Fifth Doctor. He was that.
@@Knaveofspades6 Funny because the Ninth Doctor also get other people save the day.
@@mayotango1317 Not in the least bit slightest similar 🤣🤣🤣
great video and great job on the video too, keep up the content!
Thanks so much!
Hey it’s the “a brief explanation of doctor who” guy
@@craftygltich dont call me that bru💀
@@dwfan91- lol
Id say Nu-Season 1 is far too similiar to Season 2 with Tennent. Within a series that has a few duds, theres genuinely incredible episodes. Only difference is that the new series doesnt quite stick the landing with the finale. In time, I believe people are going to majorly warm up to the new show, just as people did with Matt, like they majorly did with Capaldi and one day might do with Whittaker
To expand on this, looking back at the new series theres maybe 3 "bad" episodes. These being Space Babies, Devils Chord and The Empire of Death. Season 2 of Tennant's Doctor Who had some DIRE episodes. Love and Monsters, Fear her, Idiots Lantern, New Earth and Tooth and Claw (Last one being only slightly mid). We should stop Russel starting series on such a dogshit note. Tennant should never have began his era in one episode asleep, and the next possesed by Cassandra. And Ncuti should have had a far better initial outing with far less risks being taken
@@user-sy6tg1ol9eThese are really good points I was actually tempted to touch on it myself - Series 2 is a real mixed bag. Especially when you have the greater context of Series 3 and 4!
@@harrymcdonough maybe we will gain a better appreciation of season 1 with Ncuti when the next couple of season with him launch. The larger community always has a period of... whatever the opposite of recent bias is
I think it will be a cold day in hell when people look back fondly on Whittaker selling out a dark skin Master to the nazis...
@@user-sy6tg1ol9e Devil's Chord is by NO MEANS a bad episode so I heavily disagree with that.
I think Russell used to have very strong rooting in the real world and used to have his finger on the pulse of the cultural zeitgeist. Now he’s a 60 year old man who clearly doesn’t understand social media or its consumption and is playing pop music from over 20 years ago… He hasn’t got an f’ing clue and most importantly, has clearly has lost touch with his audience and what people want/expect from Doctor Who.
And yes, the grounded nature of it was totally absent from this new series! Too much mystery-box bs, not enough payoff and a lack of character development in favour of presenting a warped ethos and morals.
Ncuti’s only arc seemed to be topping how much he could cry/scream/look as if he’s shat himself out of pure fear each week. Shame they messed up his first series so badly. It was just over-expensive half-baked, ill-thought-out vapid shit let’s be honest :/
Interesting. See I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was vapid, I did enjoy a lot of aspects of the series and I think they nailed the tone - it felt fun and engaging. But maybe a little shallow… it’s like there wasn’t much actually going on under the surface of it being a shiny new Disney funded series. I’m optimistic for Series 2 but I do want to see the show level up.
@@harrymcdonough fair enough! I agree there's nothing going on beneath the glitzy over expensive surface and I suppose that's what I mean when I say vapid because it's not actually offering anything interesting substantial. However it did have more energy than the Chibs era and some episodes tone were consistent and quite Doctor Who ish - I think Dot and Bubble did and 73 yards could have but ultimately was a plot and tonal mess. Space Babies I felt was really immature and laughably silly. It will be interesting to see what they do next since its already been made without the chance to really factor in viewer reception to this series as production is so far ahead!
👏👏👏👏👏👏
Great Video, Can believe you only have a few subs. Keep up the good work!
I wouldn't be so optimistic. Russel wrote season two right after season one. There's not really time to change it. Season two is probably the same as season one. Some good episodes, some bad episodes and all in all good season but average show. Sadly I think we'll have to wait a long time for Doctor Who to become the pinnacle of TV as it once was.
Yes but after series two he hit us with three and four 👀… which had a few corny moments sure but are really considered the golden era of new who.
series 1 was better then series 1
Very nice presentation and talking points. Earned a sub from me! Looking forward to what else you bring to the table!
🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 Big love, thank you!! Plenty more to come I promise
@@harrymcdonough can’t wait!
0:12 I prefer to call it Volume 1
You may be right, but imho NcutiGatwa is a great Doctor. He's fun to watch, I like his open and friendly personality.
He was my first Doctor Who season (or series), before I had just watched three or four various episodes.
Now, I began to watch from Eccleston on - thanks to the new series.
IMO a lack of character growth for the Doctor was probably not a bad idea for a first season composed of only 8 episodes. That's less than 2/3rds the length of Eccleston's first season and we already had a lot going on in this season. Season 14 establishes the baseline for the new Doctor and I expect they'll start testing and expanding that in S15.
(Aside: Even Wikipedia noped out of the stupid 'it's a new season 1!' thing and just calls it S14).
There is simply no comparison. Whatever talent Davies once had ( not to mention his judgement) has evaporated. Lets not sugar coat this, he was brought back to save the show, and reduced the viewing figures to sub Sylvester McCoy,,,,
Yet the McCoy seasons 2 and 3 are very good.
You can't realistically compare 2024 viewing figures with 1989 viewing figures. *Especially* when a significant part of Doctor Who's audience are now watching it through Disney+ rather than traditional channels.
@@irrevenant3 But that's not what's happened. The show didn't even register, the viewership was that low. Ditto iPlayer. And even if there was some truth in what you are saying, the simple fact the show cost 10 million an episode only serves to show just how God awful these viewings figures are. Fact.
Great vid lad
honestly im already tired of all the ‘fantasy’ themes and all the gods being introduced. it feels like that has been run dry by now and it’s only been the direction for a season and some specials.
with season 2 looking like it’ll have more harbingers and even more gods it’s hard to look forward to it being likely similar to this season, but will still always watch regardless.
Great video dude! The production quality is amazing, and i now kinda want to watch Doctor Who again.
👀 my job is done - thank you!
Yes, absolutely wrong to use that data. The Doctor does have these lapses, though. "The Unquiet Dead," for instance.
I don't care about series 1 (2024) I wasn't particularly interested in said season and when RTD and Ncuti both told me I shouldn't watch it was easy to take their advice.
as much as i like the new series im more so watching this as research for my animated fan series i wanna do lol. good video
Thanks good luck with the fan series 👀
Keep up the great work!
I’ve just been calling it Series 14.
classic who serise 1, nuwho series 1 and disney who series 1
I'm calling it Series 14.
New who is unbearable to watch the doc cries all the time so old who for me
Eccleston good new 1 😴
So I actually like The Doctor not having an arc and leaving that for the world around him/the companion(s) - I don’t really like digging too much into either the back stories or always doing an arc for the Doctor. There’s only so much you can do since the character is 60 years old. Not saying you can’t do a Doctor arc, I just don’t think it’s necessary or something to critique. I however do agree with all your other thoughts, very well layed out video! very much enjoyed.
Yeah, is sound like classic Who.
Problem is it makes the character incredibly one dimensional
Reminds me of how Paddington just changes everyone around him because he's already wholesome, but tbf Ruby didn't seem to have any flaws (and actually Paddington is a bit awkward too)
Except this Doctor is both in desperate need of a character arc and doesn't change the world around him in any meaningful way. He's the chauffeur, he allows other characters to perform the important actions.
@@christianvondruska8244 The second part sound like Eccleston.
I was so excited about the new new who but was left feeling like basically every episode felt so off starting with the main two charterer they had zero chemistry zero development in fact the doctor and rogue had better chemistry and a better ark in what 30 minuets than ruby and the doctor in the whole series. You say RTD gets a pass because the bar is so low i say the opposite the bar is so low and yet i am still massive underwhelmed and disappointed is actual worst since the bar was set so low and I am still disappointed that is truly an awful state of affairs without adding in the fact that it seems RTD is not back because he wants to create more who but because of the message and basically changing it into a fantasy show rather than scifi.
what's 'the message'?
I think you need to watch the old RTD again. That feel more a soap opera that sci-fi.
And Ruby and the Doctor had more chemistry that 13 and the Fam.
@@FalseKing98 people use "the message" interchangeably with "woke"
@@SnowLily06 ah. doctor who has always been 'woke' by that metric....... rtd's soap opera bits always follow the times. was it cause the political statements were more obvious this time around?
@@FalseKing98 Idk. I think since social media is a lot more prominent now than it was in 2005 people just decided to start complaining about it even though it's the same as it's always been.