This video has been claimed and blocked up the wazoo on my main channel by the BBC. The version I'm posting to RUclips is not the BEST version of this video. If you want to watch this in 4K without some strange editing choices, you can on Patreon. This thing has taken almost 4 months and will likely not make any money. If you want to support me, gain access to a better version of this video AND the companion essay on 'Father's Day' and get tons more, consider supporting me on Patreon. I'd really really appreciate it. I hope you all enjoy this video. Finally. www.patreon.com/LazerzZ
I tell you for a demonetized video youtube certainly put a lot of adverts on this one! Whoever is making royalties money from the clips used is making a lot of money out of your labour weaving them together.
@@herbion6117 Because here he was pulling the cart before the horse. The importance of Wilf knocking four times was established after he did it (causing the Doctor to regenerate), whereas here the importance was already revealed to us, and the twist was that there wasn't any more of it lol
Russell definitely has "second album syndrome". He probably spent years thinking about his first few seasons. He put all his best stuff in it. But now the studio wants another album or they are pulling the plug on the band, so he has to shit out some stuff. He tries to replicate some of his old work, but he's changed and so has the audience. But it's not working
I think we just need a whole new show runner, an actual good one. Chibnil has scared people unto trying new things but now we are suffering the consequences of trying to relive the 'glory' of doctor who without any well thought out substance. All just smoke and mirrors
@@yteriaereh6467Moffars best is behind him too, Matt Gait too, these writers active from the wilder years of doctor who have given everything in a span of 10 years, and I doubt they can have major complex plot and relationship building anymore. Moffat has nothing for Sherlock season 4 that’s when things start to end
@@geeorgie I think what I'm about to say may be controversial, but I do think DW either needs a bit of a rest and if not that then maybe a show runner that hasn't worked on a DW show previously. Although maybe we're repeating history and what happened to DW in the 80s will happen again somehow. The revival has been on now for about 20 years now, so we're bound to see a repeat pretty soon if it'll happen.
The 1-2 punch of Dot and Bubble and Rogue is especially weird in retrospect. The Doctor encounters racism for the first time and then we go back in time and pretend that Regency era England was a multicultural, cosmopolitan culture with no racism instead of a brutal, colonial slave state.
When watching it i kept telling my partner who i was watching with how fucking weird it was and how the characters were acting totally different and how the studio clearly mandated they do a bridgerton episode and they even referenced that in the episode several times and lo and behold it was written by totally different writers. I feel like i cant blame rtd for that one too bad, that seems like the studio caused rouge to be shit by insisting on a desperate appeal to a young audience with no overlap by copying another show, and to try and create a jack harkness 2.
@123Voynich you do realize RTD is the showrunner right? He’s the one that commissioned them to write Rogue. He was very much involved through the entire process of making the episode.
Yeah, it was a nightmare. I don’t really enjoy the weird trend of pretending none of this happened and POC characters just slot nicely into the setting, and everything’s happy, and nobody’s treated badly. That’s not what happened, though, and a black man at the ball would’ve been something of a scandal and few people would’ve attended a ball there again. A gay kiss would also have grounds for imprisonment. The tacky incorporation of Bridgerton tropes “This is so Bridgerton” only made it worse. Be Doctor Who. Doctor Who will have a lasting legacy and Bridgerton will be forgotten.
yeah i really felt like they needed to choose one of those things and stick with it. either this is an era of doctor who in which racism is very real and we have to deal with it, or it's an era of doctor who where racism is at most acknowledged in a throwaway line and we pretend it doesn't exist and get on with the time and space adventures. you can't do both and you especially can't do both in back to back episodes. like i gave rtd shit for ten handwaving away all of martha's concerns about racism but "don't worry that's not a problem" is better than "racism IS real, but the british empire was actually suuuuper accepting!"
I think my biggest problem with this season is the man himself, Russell. His behaviour in interviews while addressing some of the criticism feels like he is just tired of the show and wants to get away by acting like people are idiots for criticizing him. For example. Bigeneration he just laughs it off in an interview and says something like ''I imagine fans on the internet are gonna have a lot to say about this'' and proceeds to make the worst theory possible about every Doctor bigenerating just so he can explain Tales of the TARDIS (which he wrote) or Peter Davison looking older on that miniepisode in Series 3. Then, after the finale he proceeds to say stuff like ''Well, I did that because it was fun! This is Doctor Who, it's meant to be silly!''. And he even admits that he did all that mystery surrounding Ruby because it pushes the algorhitm for the show online, since fans make videos about it or discuss it on Twitter and Reddit. And he mentioned on SDCC how fun it would be to bring dead Doctors back to life through CGI. Proceeds to respond to the ''Ncuti cries a lot'' criticism with ''I don't care, I'm doing it anyway''.
However! RTD already used to be *exactly* like that during his first run of the show, and he came across just as irritating. I often read and hear people talking like this is a new issue, and I'm not sure if this is because they forgot what he can be like or if they were just too young at the time to be aware of his interviews from that era. I mean, many of these people are in their late 20s or early 30s who probably didn't do message boards or Livejournal and so on at the time, so I can understand why this is a new thing to them.
22:05 Love to point out the fact that this scene wasn’t in the initial episode and is the result of Disney’s audience testing. All that character building it does for the Doctor was not initially intended by Russel - L
The funniest thing about Suhtek being on the TARDIS is that the TARDIS got copied in The Giggle, and tho Russell denies it, you have to remember Ncuti took the duplicate, not the original. Meaning Suhtek was duplicated and the original Suhtek is still on 14s TARDIS. Oh my days Russell you're never gonna explain that one are you?
I often feel as if the writers think accepting the death of Gallifrey is to be no longer sad about it. But that’s not true, accepting the death of your people and your planet can still be felt, can still be sad. It can still be something that makes you emotional. The difference would be no longer crashing out at the mention-that would be the healing. His attachment to Gallifrey is cheapened by the fact that its like 14 doesn’t actually care.
The bigeneration was so dumb, if they didnt want 14 to regen, why not have him just retire to live with donna and then have the christmas special begin with 15 after an unspecified amount of time
@@ShaggyDabbyDank Except you could just do that with 14 spending an unspecified time off-screen before Regenerating. Any future appearance of 14 will be treated as a multi-Doctor story anyway, so it isn’t like this changes all that much.
I’m slowly coming up with a theory. The higher a production value of a show, the more vapid it is likely to become. Obsessed with looking pretty, but without much going on behind the eyes.
the exact same thing happened to star trek. the production of picard was movie quality, but the writing was awful. old trek was made of cardboard and a prayer but it had good scripts.
i think it could be something like lower production value means that the writing and story and characterisation *has* to be that much better for the show to survive (or maybe jsut survivorship bias; the badly written crumby-visuals shows dont survive)
The word that keeps coming to mind when I think about RTD2 is “needless.” Needless in the sense that pretty much everything wrong with this series is an unforced error. Every single creative decision Russell made can’t be blamed on a lack of talent or bureaucratic meddling, it’s all on him and we know he can do better. We all know that what made RTD1 so impactful to so many of us was the emotional, character driven heart of those stories so to see him abandon it and treat us instead to cardboard cutout copies of characters that are 15 and Ruby is just… depressing. And that’s before we get into how nearly every episode is riddled with plot holes, narrative contrivances or creative decisions that are just laughably terrible. It’s all so pointless, because I expect better from the man who gave us 9 and 10. I don’t know how this happened… but it did, and we are all the worse off for it.
I'd say its the exact opposite problem. I don't imagine series 1 (2005) would have been as good if it had only been 8 episodes & people would probably raving about this latest series if it had 13 full episodes. As well as people need to stop pretending the series became bad because of an underwhelming finale: Everyone was raving for the individual episodes. Devil's Chord, Dot & Bubble, 74 yards & Rogue are all hall-of-fame episodes of Doctor Who.
@@samrobotsin All of the episodes you cited are bad. 😂 No, it didn’t become bad because of an underwhelming finale, it became bad because every episode was bad, or at the very least severely flawed. S1 would have been diminished if it only had 8 episodes, absolutely, but it would still have been 8 great episodes like Fathers Day and Dalek. Nothing in S14 even comes close to S1 at its worst.
This is how I feel as well. Like, he did all that mystery box nonsense with Ruby for...what reason? It kind of feels like he wrote himself in a corner earlier by creating the mystery, then he decided to watch the last three Star Wars movies and thought ''Yo, that could work'' and decided to write in the last minute the whole ''Ruby was special because WE made her special''. And it's so weird how back in his first era, this guy managed to write around the main actor leaving the show after one season. He managed to work around BBC wanting to cancel the show and not believing he could make it work. And now with a bigger budget, the support of the BBC, Disney and the fandom, it feels like he is just tired. His writing feels...tired. His biggest comebacks after being gone for 15 years is...bigeneration and ''Ruby's mom is actually normal''.
Normally a *"I'm not a bigot"* disclaimer would be completely out of left-field, but given this is a 4-hour video essay about Doctor Who by a gamer channel, it was a breath of fresh air
That interview from Russell wouldn't be so stupid if he hadn't said, "only Doctor Who fans would get confused about the date" despite being a very normal way of looking at it, and then gives a very Doctor Who fan rambley answer explaining how it makes sense actually
The bizarre thing is that Russell knows this stuff, has written this well (and not just for his earlier Who era, but recently in shows like It's A Sin and Nolly)- I'm genuinely fascinated how this season came together - it's like the production team were so dazzled by the new investment and its bells and whistles, that they forgot the basics. I really hope the next season rectifies these issue, but as it was largely made before the broadcast of Series 14, I'm worried that it'll have the same flaws.
I think if we make it to series 16/ season 3 we will get a course correction, I just hope we make it that far, ratings and cancellations and all I worry we might not make it to the fix
No, Disney has rules and supervisors and dei officers, and black rock is essentially funding everything and they created the dei guidelines we know today. Now you see,they don’t have any freedom on their stories nor battles, hence no darker, no cyber man, no alien invasions, only some vague version of demon and devil
I feel like a very easy way to make Sutekh’s return fit is to make it about the Doctor’s fear of death. He doesn’t want to go and find Susan because he thinks she’s dead, and if he doesn’t return to where Susan left he won’t have to deal with the loss of his granddaughter. Have Sutekh be a representation of that fear (and rewrite 73 Yards so it’s really about Ruby’s fear of abandonment).
the season could be more focusing on fear with the different flavours per character. plus some more chill/subtle episodes as a break. would also kind of work fro Space Babies becasue of the literal boogeyman in the basement.
Just watch the earlier seasons because if I started with this I wouldn't have continued, but watching the older seasons was a world of difference from these seasons
@@R0N1N___ Watch at least one episode from the earlier series. You could watch the episode titled "Blink" from series 3. It is a stand alone episode and you don't need any knowledge about the show.
I used to watch this show with my sister. She is 10 years younger so we didn't exactly share many interests, but I convinced her to watch a couple of episodes of it with me and she instantly got a massive crush on Tennant. I thought she would drop the show after he left but she kept watching all the way through the Moffat era. We even went to see the last Capaldi special on cinemas, even though we had already seen it on TV. (it was a special showing) But she dropped the show after Whitaker's first season. I was hoping she would return with Gatwa, but it doesn't seem likely after the first couple of episodes. Really I think my main grievance with the current state of the show is that it didn't manage to reignite her interest, like I imagine happened with many regular people that aren't "must watch" fans and would have been there no matter what.
@@yteriaereh6467 The only episode that had multiple writers was Rogue, which was co-written by Kate Herron and Briony Redman. Boom was only written by Moffat and all 6 other episodes in the season, as well as the Christmas special and the 60th anniversary specials were only written by RTD.
@ You’re probably right but it’s especially weird for RTD because his recent non-Doctor Who stuff (It’s a Sin, Years and Years) has been great. Hell, despite their faults I even mostly enjoyed the 60th Anniversary Specials. But the new season with Ncuti is just so misguided and poorly structured.
41:46 This is something I heard before and while I don't disagree about comparing Clara and Rose, especially in regards to "not caring about the risk of death" for Clara I think it misses something. In Before the Flood Clara has a very emotional outburst, telling the Doctor "Not with me. Die with whoever comes after me." Clara accepts her death on some level. Yes she doesn’t think the risks she takes will lead to her death right away but on some level she knows she will die. Even in Face the Raven after Doctor said he couldn’t fix it she accepted it, and affirmed it in Hell Bent (until Moffat wrote the "long way around" line but I have and will continue to ignore that). She knows she will die eventually and the Doctor will move on. While Rose, atleast to me, seems to believe she can somehow travel with the Doctor forever. I am not saying "Rose is immature and Clara is mature", it is perfectly resonable to believe Doctor can make people immortal (I mean look at Me) but I think the way Rose and Clara views death is very different. Yes I care so much about Rose and Clara comparisons that I used my one comment to talk about a 15 second bit of a 4 hour and change video. But I would argue caring about very small things to a, frankly sometimes stupid degree is part of being a Doctor Who fan Edit: 3:25:59 I think memory Tardis is not fine. Doctor says "It's a Tardis remembered. It's made of memories. Ruby, it is feeding off you, yeah? Give it everything you've got, babes. Remember it harder." implying it's Rubys memories making that Tardis but Ruby shouldn’t know any of the things inside memory Tardis. This is such an oversight, it could have been changed simply by having the Doctor say "It is feeding off my memories" but I suppose even in the writing process RTD just wanted focus on plot and not thing about anything esle since Doctors history is a jigsaw puzzle now
Super sorry to hear about the copyright issues. The BBC's been really weird about this as of late - I know Council of Geeks has been having trouble with them lately as well. Here's hoping they knock it off sooner rather than later!
Never seen Doctor Who before, but I watched the whole thing on Patreon already and it was fantastic! It got me interested and I started watching the show after I finished your video. I'm on series 2 now, and I'm loving it so far! Great job as always bro 🤘
Sutekh could’ve easily fit the family theme they were going for if RTD had used his backstory to parallel Ruby’s. In Pyramids of Mars he was intentionally locked away by his family. Granted it was for trying to destroy the universe but still. It could’ve been a kung fu panda 2 situation with Sutekh getting to project his own abandonment trauma onto Ruby and even the Doctor. “You want to know so badly? You think that knowing will heal you? Fill some… crater in your soul? Well here’s your answer. Your parents didn’t love you. But here… let me… heal you.” And then he could try to kill them again. I personally would’ve gone the route of Sutekh keeping them alive so he wouldn’t be alone in the universe. Ruby could figure it out first, call him out, only for sutekh to kill her but then prove her right when he refuses to kill the Doctor. Then the doctor could suggest the death+death=life bs that would still get us sutekh hanging outside of the tardis on a dog leash, AND allow 15 to choose to betray sutekh and condemn him to the time vortex again (or kill him whichever works).
Fantastic video. I absolutely love RTD's first era, so obviously I was disappointed that I haven't quite been clicking with his second one. You put all my feelings into words.
@@Moperandi-k3x To which the question is “Why did Russell write the hero committing a morally uncomplicated genocide by making all the goblins evil baby eaters?” Even with the slaver Sycorax, there was a moral dilemma there that 10 recognised, so why doesn’t 15?
The point isn't that the goblin king shouldn't have died, the point is that the doctor previously has shown much more mercy and regret over killing far worse creatures/people
@@MrGreaves To be fair, Davies did this with Davros too. Guy tried to kill not only the universe but the entire multiverse and he's still "I can save you" after the whole "No second chances, that's the man I am."
YEAH IM GONNA GET POPCORN FOR THIS!!! So sorry man about all the copyright stuff my god, I was following along on twitter, I'm super excited for this, thank you so much
Thank you, even as someone who likes this series. Im glad theres a good faith video out there that isnt grr minorites or grr black or trans people. Its tiring how rampant bigotry is in the DW fandom. As messy it is, Boom, 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble were all very good imo. Also the reason Russels given for low episode count is the old count made his mental health really poor with how much work it was
@@Luna-pk7gz Hahahaha… no. Boom is one of the worst prices of poorly written drivel the show has put out in recent memory, with only a couple of scenes in the beginning that actually work, everything else is unmitigated awfulness. That Moffat managed to trick people into thinking this garbage was not just passable but good is a feat that will never cease to amaze me.
You’ve perfectly encapsulated my thoughts about this series as I was watching it - especially on the finale. All of your criticisms of the substance of the show (or lack thereof) I completely agree with, and your reasoning for why the show is like this are equally valid - not to mention RTD writing the show during a writer’s strike where he didn’t have access to a writer’s room. Honestly, even if he did, Russell appears narcissistic to me and I wouldn’t be surprised if he would still have taken it all on himself - he is constantly masturbating in press (he spoke about mavity, a running gag he instantly forgot, “immensely funny and very very creative”) and even on screen (the first part of the finale in UNIT feels like this). Returning to a showrunner and a previous doctor also is anathema to the show which has always prided itself on constant change and innovation. I understand why the Beeb decided to go with a “safe pair of hands” in RTD after the Chibnall debacle, but really what we needed is giving it to a new creative team!
I feel like eight episodes wasn't enough. Trying to do the level of character growth and give the satisfying answer that Russell usually gives, is not an eight episode project. Some writers could do it, but it's not how Russell does it. That's my general takeaway from the season
Great analysis, nice to find a critique of the 14th series that isnt just hurr durr muh wokism. I look forward to the Capaldi arc video, my fav doctor. Subscribed
This idea is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! Been watching it in parts on and off for the past month, and I love how much of a leveled critique of Series 14 it was. No hatred, just a genuine critique. Doctor Who, and other fandoms, need leveled critiques like this.
Great video. You’ve outlined pretty much every issue I have with the new season and its characters. What a great 4 hours I’ve spent watching this (over the course of 3 days). And it’s really nice to see a critique that isn’t just “woke bad”. Loved your deep thought process, style, editing format, personality and morals.
I still really think the Star beast and Wild Blue Yonder should have been 15th doctor episodes. Star beast being the new aliens of London. Ruby’s normal life and her life with the doctor clashing together (Carla even fosters and may have taken a shine to the meep) it would make sense that Ruby might want to pop home after the events of boom And WBY would have been a good character exploration for both characters, showing how strong their relationship is
I think this speaks to the wider point that the 60th should have been comprised of one multi-part story, or an individual season with 14 and Donna. Instead, we get three episodes of which only one reaches its true potential.
Haha, I think Russell, for all his faults, doesn't let criticism waver his vision. Maybe I do think he needs to reflect and figure some shit out, but knowing the man, he does tend to just make the things that he wants regardless of reception and tbf, I have to respect it.
I am once again going to die on the hill that the meep pronoun bit is a good joke. People who dislike it are literally just hearing the words, "you're assuming a pronoun," and then just don't listen to the punchline.
I remember texting my friend in the week between episode 6 and 7 saying “knowing Russell, Ruby’s mum is going to be totally ordinary to go with his ‘I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t special’ mantra” and I was so unhappy about being right lmao
my takeaway of this season was that it was fun enough to keep me engaged, but it had a lot of problems, i hope the next season improves on things, the 2024 Christmas special seems to be better with pacing via editing from what i can tell, only time will tell if next season is better, i think this season also suffered from the episode count
Dr who hasn't been good since series 11 imo. The rampant adhd that kept getting worse and worse, the overbearing preschy-ness, the sonic screwdriver that fixes every damn problem, and so many more issues. The writing quality has gone so far downhill since 2017 that I can count the number of enjoyable episodes since then on 1 hand. But that's just me. I went back and watched the classic show after re-watching the new series recently and while there are definitely some duds in there it feels so much more genuine and they act like regular people in that show (for the most part). Idk if it's just me but the adhd nature of the new series has really soured on me over time.
Series 11?? Even though Capaldi was a great doctor I wouldn't call any one of his seasons great.. The show hasn't been great since the 50th anniversary
@@mullaoslo That's just wrong. The Capaldi era gets a bit divisive but S9 and S10 are considered some of the best. S7 wasn't well received either or you could even say S6. Basically it doesn't matter.
@@Comicbroe405 i give season 6 and 7 leaway becuase Moffat was at least able to keep the overall storyarch of 11 and the mysteries around him interesting until the end.. Some answers where underwealming like the silence but at least I was interested until the reveal.. I'll agree s 9-10 where an improvement over the seasons 6-8 but I'll take the best episodes of the latter over the best of the former every time.
Did you see Mr Tardis' video? He thinks the sonic can't resemble a gun because this Dr is black ...black American kids playing Doctor Who, maybe with the toys...
@@herbivarsawus4359 Yeah, we can’t let kids see something that looks like a gun. We can only let them actually have guns when we make the child scientist working at UNIT have a machine gun on wheels. 🤣
One of the (many) things I hated about "Rogue" is how they had the Doctor knowingly abandon someone in danger so he could try to pursue a relationship with a random, human, amoral bounty hunter. Another thing I hated was the way Ncuti's Doctor just stood there crying when he realised he put Ruby into the trap; compare this to Twelve's reaction to Clara's imminent death where, despite being upset and knowing he was powerless, you could see his eyes darting around like he was still trying to think of ways to save her. I happen to agree with Disparu in the sense that we _need_ the Doctor to take charge more often, that the constant crying lessens the impact of emotional scenes, and that the Doctor as a character isn't one who lets that crying stop him from _doing_ things. Hell, the Twelfth Doctor outright stated that, when people are in danger, he doesn't have the _time_ for tears or outrage. Series 10 is, for me, the best series of Doctor Who. The Doctor _has_ faced prejudice from humans before (we see it in The Night of the Doctor when a victim of the Time War judged him as being equal to a Dalek simply because he was a Time Lord) yet he never gave up like he did in Dot and Bubble, despite having less time and material to work with due to being locked behind a door on a crashing space ship; this experience, combined with his passionate and comprehensive arguements in The Zygon Inversion, show us how the Doctor reacts to such things and how far he's willing to go, and the fact Ncuti's Doctor _doesn't_ put in a similar amount of effort is worth criticising. Funny story, I genuinely felt that Ricky in Dot and Bubble was a better Doctor than Ncuti's Doctor; he was kind, charismatic, intelligent, patient, brave, and proactive, and he valued knowledge and wisdom above laziness and hedonism. I really didn't like how Empire of Death didn't take the chance to even raise the _possibility_ of the Time Lords being brought back as a result of the God of Death tearing through the time vortex and undoing death itself. The TARDIS is incapable of dematerialising whilst the doors are still open, so the ending of Empire of Death is physically and theoretically impossible.
I've seen a couple reviews for the show and all I can say is it had the worst written finale I have ever fucking seen. How do you kill death with death? If you brought the god of death back in time to his younger self, wouldn't you just be making death twice as powerful. In that time he wouldn't kill himself
I think the idea is meant to be in math where two negatives make a positive. Dragging Sutekh throughout the time vortex is killing him all the times he killed the universe essentially undoing what he did.
They literally establish in the same episode that visiting Earth several times caused Susan Triad to get more and more powerful, so wouldn’t visiting the other planets just make their Susan more powerful as well, therefore more death?
@cameronbaker97 It would've worked perfectly fine, if they had Meastro be the final villain of this season instead of Sutekh. Episodes 1-8 easily could've taken place across 6 months, and the line "But you never hide" would've had much more meaning behind it.
Yes, much better than chibers for sure. It's just baffling because this is RTD we're talking about. This isn't a fresh showrunner going through growing pains. This is the man that brought the show back in 2005 and those growing pains are better than this for some strange inexplicable reasons. I'm not angry like I was with the chibnall era. I'm just completely baffled because none of this makes any sense at all. It's a fever dream. This is a more experienced and supposedly wiser RTD. Not only was his first run better. He has made more compelling TV after Dr who. So why does all that lead to this?
I think this is the first time I'm gonna be fully agreeing with a negative critique of yours. Loved the eps individually but as a series it's such a mess. Also would love to see a video on just Capaldi alone.
Coming back to this months later, I think my main takeaway is that RTD is afraid of change and would rather make stand alone sci-fi stories. It’s why you get lines like the 15 saying he can have a granddaughter but no kids yet and why Ruby and the Doctor barely have anything going on. Classic who does this, in a sense. You don’t NEED to watch every episode, you can jump in randomly and get the jist of what’s going on 85% of the time, even in seasons like Key to Time. BUT whether intentional or not, watching them all in order does yield its own reward because you get to watch the character dynamics change overtime. To use the 4th Doctor as an example, he doesn’t have an arc, per se, but you do see how he progresses. He’s a lot more chipper and nicer with Sarah than Leela. His first season with Romana is literally a work trip romcom and then the season after they’re all lovey dovey. Sure, this was largely on the actors, but it is very easy to see why the characters changed story to story. Ribbos operations 4 would never say, “You are Wonderful,” to Romana. But by State of Decay it’s totally believable. This newest season doesn’t even have that subtle dynamic change because so much of it 15 and Ruby just either aren’t the focus or don’t work together for xyz. And it’s not even like 4 and Leela where you can argue they approach problems so differently that they just go off and do their own thing most of the time.
This is the best critique I've seen of S14/1, and I agree with pretty much all of it. I've never really held RTD in as high regard as many others do, as I've always had fairly fundamental issues with the way he wrote certain elements of the show, but I was still hopeful when it was announced that he was returning. With S14/1, felt like all of those elements I didn't like were elevated here, and I think you hit the nail on the head about him needing more writers on board to talk him out of doing certain things. In addition, the parts of the show where he was usually strong were severely lacking too. I hope he can turn it around, because I really like Ncuti and Millie and it'd be a shame to waste the talent they provide.
another thing with donna that really makes the instant best friends dynamic they have in season 4 believable is that donna and the doctor STILL have interpersonal conflict! it's not on the same level as in runaway bride but episodes likes fires of pompeii and the doctor's daughter basically give them opposing viewpoints that make sense within their characters and we get to see how they navigate conflict with their current dynamic. everything in season 4 is not like the unicorn and the wasp where they're just being besties having a good time. all of fires of pompeii is basically donna trying desperately to get the people of pompeii to evacuate while the doctor is adamant about not doing that and it genuinely puts strain on their relationship even though they make plenty of time in the episode for quipping and banter
Absolutely incredible video mate, this is my first time on your channel and you did such a great job articulating everything I felt watching the season. Seriously entertaining too, laughed out loud a lot watching this - I am a sucker for that clip of 9 though 😂👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻
Both Jody and Ncuti gets destroyed due to the incompetence of writing, this is the situation of 6th doctor and 7th all overs gain. Fantastic doctor maybe, but they just can’t get things right at the time
Okay, poised to press ‘play’. I’m probably not going to agree with all of what follows, but really, thumbs up for the time that goes into long-form essays like this. Certainly helps my working day to listen to them.
I think the main issue has been the casting of the Doctor for me, or the way he's been written. I don't mean any stupid Identity stuff like it being a woman or black guy, that's all silly nonsense to me, the Doctor can be anyone. I just feel like from Ecclestone to Capaldi there was a real gravitas to the Doctor, even when he was being silly you could tell something was underneath, something serious. I haven't felt that at all from the last two, the darkness has gone, you don't even need lots of it, just glimpses, but i've not felt it since Capaldi.
I don’t think that’s a casting issue. I think it’s clear Ncuti has the chops, it’s the writing and direction of the character. They’ve removed a lot of his layers
It would have been a good place to end Icl but DW can go on as long as it wants. Fresh blood is all that it requires. The best eps of the Chibnall aren't even his.
Oh, there is some stuff after Capaldi that I would even call very good, but I am ever more certain that it is not worth the associated pain of watching entire seasons for context (and that's the only way I'm capable of watching Who)
On the point of the master reveal Vs the sutekh reveal, it's so much more impactful because the episode has established yanas character with a stellar performance from Derek Jacobi, with Susan triad however we literally get like three lines before the reveal?
I like the whole "you are not alone" "YANA" thing because it looks coincidental, but then, is it the next series? It comes full circle that the face of boe just happens to be a companion he was travelling with in that adventure but 1000s of years in the future fron the time he knew him, so it wasn't a coincidence, it was a long held card being reviled. And it both made sense and was kind of funny
As individual episodes. It was a great season. But as a season. Not so much. The only reason for this is because of the opening episode and finally. Every other episode was brilliant.
Just chucking my two cents into the ring, the show definitely has good intentions but the execution of those intentions is where it struggles the most. You have three major elements when it comes to a show or movie, you have: a) the performance of the actors involved b) the script/writing material the crew has to work with and c) the creative direction they go with that ties the whole thing together. Of course there are many other elements that make up the production process but these Key Factors are universal to all kinds of media from TV Shows and Movies to Audio Dramas and Theatre. Get all three or even 2 out of those 3 up to scratch then the show or movie will work. You can have the best of intentions but if those Key Factors don't line up then the project will not go over well. So when it comes to something like diversity in Doctor Who, it's never the problem. The main show in the past, the spinoffs (eg: Sarah Jane Adventures & Torchwood) and past Big Finish audios have done a solid job working with diversity and loads of people have been onboard with that. Heck the premise of the show being able to go anywhere and anywhen, it's pretty much expected you're going to meet all sorts of people, aliens, creatures and worlds. It's just in recent years, the franchise seems to be struggling with getting those 3 Key Elements working together to get those ideas across. For a show that's been running for more than 60 years, it's not going to be a home run every time and it can be a struggle to keep coming up with fresh ideas without retreading on what's already been done. Honestly with a few tweaks here and there, the show could run a whole lot more smoothly.
The problems with this season (and like half of new who) could just be defined simply with "aging super fans run show they're fans of". A bit harsh perhaps but true all the same. Who needed new blood a decade ago.
Imagine if the barbie from the bubble episode accidentally ended up as a companion and during her time with the doctor learned to behave like a decent human being
I think the 15th Doctor should not only use all the happiness and jumpiness as a facade, he should be *scared* of who he is in some way. Maybe give him a moment similar to what 6th had in one of the novels, obliterating a robot with a coat hanger, after which he just sits there emotionless
Many issues that this season suffers from aren't that new, though, and they already plagued RTD's first run. There too were rubbish resolutions or beats that were ill-conceived or just weren't thought through properly. I remember discussions on 00s message boards that said things which were pretty similar to the ones being brought up here. The difference just is that the character work simply isn't as good, making the faults matter more. I also hold the strong belief that everything concerning Ruby's mother was a last-minute rewrite because there's no way that this resolution to the storyline was the original plan. Of course, the PR said something else eventually, but the whole kerfuffle concerning Millie Gibson at the beginning of the year must have been about something, and this is what the behind-the-scenes drama led to. But we probably won't know for sure until someone decides to speak up about it, possibly decades down the line, like Christopher Eccleston did, for example.
A fantastic review. Although I disagree on a few minor things you talked about, on the whole you summed it up perfectly and brought to light problems I didn't even think about. Thank you for the effort you put into it.
I fear that given their current track record of recycling their biggest hits. Rogue will redo the River Song arc only with Rogue losing their memory at the end or something.
I am going to have to watch this in multiple parts because unfortunately life is getting in the way, but so far this is such an amazing video essay! Both your criticism and praise of the show is very authentic and I can tell just how much you love this show, even though the new series wasn’t the best. It’s refreshing seeing someone give such an honest and well-thought out take on something they didn’t enjoy.
Very good video. So good I watched the whole thing in one sitting! There’s so much truth in your comments about the lack of character arcs. I felt no connection to Ruby at all and it’s such a shame. I also think your final point about ‘generating content’ is very pertinent. It’s a shame that Series 15 was already in the can before 14 had even aired. You’re right to say that the same flaws will likely still be there. We can only hope that 16, if it gets the green light, is better.
4 hours talking about Doctor Who? Yes please! I didn't expect to watch this in one go but here we are, too much time on my hands clearly. I've found talking about this new series to be quite exhausting since it aired, the faults being so blatant and bewildering from such an excellent writer. All I'll say is I was so disappointed by the return of RTD and the underutilisation of Ncuti who could be such an incredible Doctor. But I think having a conclusion that is hopeful, that does try to give RTD the benefit of the doubt because he had a herculean task and he shouldered it almost by himself, is interesting. He's made some massive mistakes and now the sheen of his return is slightly marred, maybe the focus can return to making excellent stories with deep interesting characters instead of trying to make Doctor Who as popular as it was before artificially. We can only hope.
The main problem with series 14 for me (I refuse to call it season 1) is that all of the episodes felt generic in story and character, like Space Babies was the space station episode, The Devil’s Chord was the recent history episode, Rogue was the regal episode and so on it just felt like the most basic versions of what these plots are capable of and like the writers especially Russell were on autopilot the entire time with the only one putting any original effort being Steven Moffat which shows to me why he was such an amazing writer in the past (imo he was a better writer compared to showrunner) and with how exceptional BOOM was I’m very curious to see what he does with this year’s Christmas special
I thought, the third one being a bit of a mess of plot threads and the first having some cringe lines aside - the specials were excellent (even if bigeneration feels extremely weird), I really liked the the first christmas special with its more aggressively whimsical tone, but ahh the actual episodes. It kind of feels like RTD is having some midlife crisis (and with the death of his long term partner a few years prior, he really might be). I guess bigeneration and whatever the fuck they did with Davros in the children in need special (beyond simply saying 'heres another young davros') were warning signs. He clearly wants this to be the whimsical even-more-tumblr-centric-than-moffat-somehow 'healing' doctor, but then he's also straight back to last of the time lords, my granddaughter is dead, oh no the flux killed everyone (even though they could totally have fixed that off screen and the show would be better for it - it seemed pretty clearly there as something to be 'fixed' somehow) angst shit. Combine that with the 'the plot making any damn sense is secondary to vibes' writing that I've only ever seen in bad anime before, including the doctor escaping harm by imagining himself into his TARDIS. ...god, at least try to make your show feel in someway like the show you used to write for. Can anyone here imagine Eccelston have resolved the first series finale by just wishing himself back into an imagination tardis instead of being rescued by Rose? I don't want to hate it, but man it's been a disappointment and a half.
I have been wondering for a season now why its has felt so "try hard". Like now slowing down, big loud noises, big smiles, big actions and so on, all the time. Doctor who doesnt need to do that. We're here, we love it, you can relax and just tell your story. There's a reason my favorite episode from the last season is "Boom" where the doctor is FORCED to stand still for a moment and just calmly talk to us. Just breathe and talk to us, you dont have to try this hard, we're listening.
After the dump squib that was the Ruby's mother reveal I'm not really that invested in the Mrs Flood mystery. Basically the implication is it's going to be another weak nothing of an outcome.
Ever since Matt Smith transitioned to Peter Capaldi the Doctor is now Gallifrey. That’s my theory on the split. But which doctor got Gallifrey’s energy? Perhaps half to both?
Okay, so I think the reason she doesn't react to dying is mainly because they brought back Moffat, (tbf that's largely the reason she died anyway, damn him!) and he's already done this so many times that now it's just a thing he does, he's explored it in deeper ways and how the death and resurrection effects the characters that now he's on autopilot with it and it's just, whatever. I disliked a lot of the Moffatisms returning but nothing in that episode made me groan louder than that moment
This video has been claimed and blocked up the wazoo on my main channel by the BBC. The version I'm posting to RUclips is not the BEST version of this video. If you want to watch this in 4K without some strange editing choices, you can on Patreon. This thing has taken almost 4 months and will likely not make any money. If you want to support me, gain access to a better version of this video AND the companion essay on 'Father's Day' and get tons more, consider supporting me on Patreon. I'd really really appreciate it. I hope you all enjoy this video. Finally.
www.patreon.com/LazerzZ
I tell you for a demonetized video youtube certainly put a lot of adverts on this one! Whoever is making royalties money from the clips used is making a lot of money out of your labour weaving them together.
@@markpostgate2551 RUclips: "We have to preserve the sanctity of anita dobson!!"
The whole "HUGE build up for someone who turned out to be completely ordinary" RTD did himself infinitely better with "He will knock 4 times...".
@@herbion6117 Because here he was pulling the cart before the horse. The importance of Wilf knocking four times was established after he did it (causing the Doctor to regenerate), whereas here the importance was already revealed to us, and the twist was that there wasn't any more of it lol
Russell definitely has "second album syndrome". He probably spent years thinking about his first few seasons. He put all his best stuff in it. But now the studio wants another album or they are pulling the plug on the band, so he has to shit out some stuff. He tries to replicate some of his old work, but he's changed and so has the audience. But it's not working
I believe he should have partnered up with Moffet and become co-showrunners. They could keep each other in check
I think we just need a whole new show runner, an actual good one. Chibnil has scared people unto trying new things but now we are suffering the consequences of trying to relive the 'glory' of doctor who without any well thought out substance. All just smoke and mirrors
It's confusing because his recent non DW stuff like Years and Years was great!
@@yteriaereh6467Moffars best is behind him too, Matt Gait too, these writers active from the wilder years of doctor who have given everything in a span of 10 years, and I doubt they can have major complex plot and relationship building anymore. Moffat has nothing for Sherlock season 4 that’s when things start to end
@@geeorgie I think what I'm about to say may be controversial, but I do think DW either needs a bit of a rest and if not that then maybe a show runner that hasn't worked on a DW show previously. Although maybe we're repeating history and what happened to DW in the 80s will happen again somehow. The revival has been on now for about 20 years now, so we're bound to see a repeat pretty soon if it'll happen.
The 1-2 punch of Dot and Bubble and Rogue is especially weird in retrospect. The Doctor encounters racism for the first time and then we go back in time and pretend that Regency era England was a multicultural, cosmopolitan culture with no racism instead of a brutal, colonial slave state.
When watching it i kept telling my partner who i was watching with how fucking weird it was and how the characters were acting totally different and how the studio clearly mandated they do a bridgerton episode and they even referenced that in the episode several times and lo and behold it was written by totally different writers. I feel like i cant blame rtd for that one too bad, that seems like the studio caused rouge to be shit by insisting on a desperate appeal to a young audience with no overlap by copying another show, and to try and create a jack harkness 2.
@123Voynich you do realize RTD is the showrunner right? He’s the one that commissioned them to write Rogue. He was very much involved through the entire process of making the episode.
Yeah, it was a nightmare. I don’t really enjoy the weird trend of pretending none of this happened and POC characters just slot nicely into the setting, and everything’s happy, and nobody’s treated badly. That’s not what happened, though, and a black man at the ball would’ve been something of a scandal and few people would’ve attended a ball there again. A gay kiss would also have grounds for imprisonment. The tacky incorporation of Bridgerton tropes “This is so Bridgerton” only made it worse. Be Doctor Who. Doctor Who will have a lasting legacy and Bridgerton will be forgotten.
oh man thats true!!
yeah i really felt like they needed to choose one of those things and stick with it. either this is an era of doctor who in which racism is very real and we have to deal with it, or it's an era of doctor who where racism is at most acknowledged in a throwaway line and we pretend it doesn't exist and get on with the time and space adventures. you can't do both and you especially can't do both in back to back episodes. like i gave rtd shit for ten handwaving away all of martha's concerns about racism but "don't worry that's not a problem" is better than "racism IS real, but the british empire was actually suuuuper accepting!"
I love how essentially A death god stayed around because he was interested in the Doctor's Drama and was just irritated with the Ruby mystery lol
Sutekh: SERIOUSLY, WHO IS SHE?!
Doctor: I DON'T KNOW EITHER!
Sutekh: FUUUUUUUU-
I wonder what he thought of the impossible girl, a much deeper mystery
I think my biggest problem with this season is the man himself, Russell. His behaviour in interviews while addressing some of the criticism feels like he is just tired of the show and wants to get away by acting like people are idiots for criticizing him.
For example. Bigeneration he just laughs it off in an interview and says something like ''I imagine fans on the internet are gonna have a lot to say about this'' and proceeds to make the worst theory possible about every Doctor bigenerating just so he can explain Tales of the TARDIS (which he wrote) or Peter Davison looking older on that miniepisode in Series 3.
Then, after the finale he proceeds to say stuff like ''Well, I did that because it was fun! This is Doctor Who, it's meant to be silly!''. And he even admits that he did all that mystery surrounding Ruby because it pushes the algorhitm for the show online, since fans make videos about it or discuss it on Twitter and Reddit.
And he mentioned on SDCC how fun it would be to bring dead Doctors back to life through CGI. Proceeds to respond to the ''Ncuti cries a lot'' criticism with ''I don't care, I'm doing it anyway''.
However! RTD already used to be *exactly* like that during his first run of the show, and he came across just as irritating. I often read and hear people talking like this is a new issue, and I'm not sure if this is because they forgot what he can be like or if they were just too young at the time to be aware of his interviews from that era. I mean, many of these people are in their late 20s or early 30s who probably didn't do message boards or Livejournal and so on at the time, so I can understand why this is a new thing to them.
oh hello
And I think with this comment, the 3 months this thing took was all worth it 🙏🏻
Oohoohoo so good.
Lol ima rewatch that one after this one.
Cyberman: Jay Exci’s are not required.
as soon as i saw the runtime i thought of the other multi hour doctor who critique ive watched
22:05 Love to point out the fact that this scene wasn’t in the initial episode and is the result of Disney’s audience testing. All that character building it does for the Doctor was not initially intended by Russel - L
Okay, that's super interesting to know
The funniest thing about Suhtek being on the TARDIS is that the TARDIS got copied in The Giggle, and tho Russell denies it, you have to remember Ncuti took the duplicate, not the original. Meaning Suhtek was duplicated and the original Suhtek is still on 14s TARDIS. Oh my days Russell you're never gonna explain that one are you?
suhtek decided 14's retirement sounded boring and hopped on the new one before it left lol
I often feel as if the writers think accepting the death of Gallifrey is to be no longer sad about it. But that’s not true, accepting the death of your people and your planet can still be felt, can still be sad. It can still be something that makes you emotional. The difference would be no longer crashing out at the mention-that would be the healing. His attachment to Gallifrey is cheapened by the fact that its like 14 doesn’t actually care.
The bigeneration was so dumb, if they didnt want 14 to regen, why not have him just retire to live with donna and then have the christmas special begin with 15 after an unspecified amount of time
Oh yeah like 8 to 9
They likely want to leave the door open for 14 and Rose Noble to be able to interact with 15 and future incarnations.
@@ShaggyDabbyDank Except you could just do that with 14 spending an unspecified time off-screen before Regenerating. Any future appearance of 14 will be treated as a multi-Doctor story anyway, so it isn’t like this changes all that much.
I’m slowly coming up with a theory. The higher a production value of a show, the more vapid it is likely to become. Obsessed with looking pretty, but without much going on behind the eyes.
I'll say it once, I'll say it a million times. Limitations make great art.
@@williampickering356I doubt that, even with a budget of two dollars the writing will probably be the same
the exact same thing happened to star trek. the production of picard was movie quality, but the writing was awful. old trek was made of cardboard and a prayer but it had good scripts.
i think it could be something like lower production value means that the writing and story and characterisation *has* to be that much better for the show to survive (or maybe jsut survivorship bias; the badly written crumby-visuals shows dont survive)
So *"The Doctor Lies"* and *"I made a jigsaw out of your history"* is like the Doctor Who equivalent of *"Scott Cawthon doesn't do coincidences"*
I'll come back to this in about 4 years when I watch Doctor Who and let you know
The word that keeps coming to mind when I think about RTD2 is “needless.”
Needless in the sense that pretty much everything wrong with this series is an unforced error. Every single creative decision Russell made can’t be blamed on a lack of talent or bureaucratic meddling, it’s all on him and we know he can do better. We all know that what made RTD1 so impactful to so many of us was the emotional, character driven heart of those stories so to see him abandon it and treat us instead to cardboard cutout copies of characters that are 15 and Ruby is just… depressing.
And that’s before we get into how nearly every episode is riddled with plot holes, narrative contrivances or creative decisions that are just laughably terrible. It’s all so pointless, because I expect better from the man who gave us 9 and 10.
I don’t know how this happened… but it did, and we are all the worse off for it.
Absolutely agree
I'd say its the exact opposite problem. I don't imagine series 1 (2005) would have been as good if it had only been 8 episodes & people would probably raving about this latest series if it had 13 full episodes. As well as people need to stop pretending the series became bad because of an underwhelming finale: Everyone was raving for the individual episodes. Devil's Chord, Dot & Bubble, 74 yards & Rogue are all hall-of-fame episodes of Doctor Who.
@@samrobotsin All of the episodes you cited are bad. 😂 No, it didn’t become bad because of an underwhelming finale, it became bad because every episode was bad, or at the very least severely flawed.
S1 would have been diminished if it only had 8 episodes, absolutely, but it would still have been 8 great episodes like Fathers Day and Dalek. Nothing in S14 even comes close to S1 at its worst.
This is how I feel as well. Like, he did all that mystery box nonsense with Ruby for...what reason? It kind of feels like he wrote himself in a corner earlier by creating the mystery, then he decided to watch the last three Star Wars movies and thought ''Yo, that could work'' and decided to write in the last minute the whole ''Ruby was special because WE made her special''.
And it's so weird how back in his first era, this guy managed to write around the main actor leaving the show after one season. He managed to work around BBC wanting to cancel the show and not believing he could make it work.
And now with a bigger budget, the support of the BBC, Disney and the fandom, it feels like he is just tired. His writing feels...tired. His biggest comebacks after being gone for 15 years is...bigeneration and ''Ruby's mom is actually normal''.
@@Longshanks1690 All they episodes they cited were fantastic. 😂😂😂
Normally a *"I'm not a bigot"* disclaimer would be completely out of left-field, but given this is a 4-hour video essay about Doctor Who by a gamer channel, it was a breath of fresh air
i am one
@@based980 Giga obvious bait bruh you didn't even try
@@WiloPolis03 yet you still responded
@@based980 Yeah I don't care about that tho so it doesn't matter 🗿
I'm something of a bigot gamer myself
That interview from Russell wouldn't be so stupid if he hadn't said, "only Doctor Who fans would get confused about the date" despite being a very normal way of looking at it, and then gives a very Doctor Who fan rambley answer explaining how it makes sense actually
The bizarre thing is that Russell knows this stuff, has written this well (and not just for his earlier Who era, but recently in shows like It's A Sin and Nolly)- I'm genuinely fascinated how this season came together - it's like the production team were so dazzled by the new investment and its bells and whistles, that they forgot the basics. I really hope the next season rectifies these issue, but as it was largely made before the broadcast of Series 14, I'm worried that it'll have the same flaws.
I think if we make it to series 16/ season 3 we will get a course correction, I just hope we make it that far, ratings and cancellations and all I worry we might not make it to the fix
No, Disney has rules and supervisors and dei officers, and black rock is essentially funding everything and they created the dei guidelines we know today. Now you see,they don’t have any freedom on their stories nor battles, hence no darker, no cyber man, no alien invasions, only some vague version of demon and devil
I feel like a very easy way to make Sutekh’s return fit is to make it about the Doctor’s fear of death. He doesn’t want to go and find Susan because he thinks she’s dead, and if he doesn’t return to where Susan left he won’t have to deal with the loss of his granddaughter. Have Sutekh be a representation of that fear (and rewrite 73 Yards so it’s really about Ruby’s fear of abandonment).
the season could be more focusing on fear with the different flavours per character. plus some more chill/subtle episodes as a break. would also kind of work fro Space Babies becasue of the literal boogeyman in the basement.
The Bill erasure hurts me
Doctor Who: _Another era needing deconstruction on the same level as The Fall Of Doctor Who_
Jay Exci: MIA.
James: *Fine… I’ll do it myself.*
Era has just begun. It doesn't need a deconstruction rn, moreso good criticism that needs to be listened to.
A 4 hour video after 1 season is kinda crazy tho
@@MuttonErase Only thing crazier is how much of a letdown this series was.
@@MuttonErasehow is that crazy?
@@shutit8949 nvm I thought series 11 (the one jayexci did a video on) was multiple seasons
Christopher Ecclestons doctor is the most underrated doctor of all time ❤
*overrated
Except that everyone has this take. I'd argue either Hartnall or Colin Baker is the most underrated.
@@seancampbell7884 Nu-hu & DW are not the same thing. OP is obviously a Nuvian.
Capaldi's with River Song was what their relationship should always have been
This is unquestionably, far above, the best commentary on the recent 8-episode plus whatever whatever-the-fuck-that-was that I have seen.
Can't wait to watch this 4 hour video about Doctor Who even though I've never seen a single episode.
After watching this, would you watch doctor who?
@@foxperson8943 Nah
@@R0N1N___😢
Just watch the earlier seasons because if I started with this I wouldn't have continued, but watching the older seasons was a world of difference from these seasons
@@R0N1N___ Watch at least one episode from the earlier series. You could watch the episode titled "Blink" from series 3. It is a stand alone episode and you don't need any knowledge about the show.
I used to watch this show with my sister. She is 10 years younger so we didn't exactly share many interests, but I convinced her to watch a couple of episodes of it with me and she instantly got a massive crush on Tennant. I thought she would drop the show after he left but she kept watching all the way through the Moffat era. We even went to see the last Capaldi special on cinemas, even though we had already seen it on TV. (it was a special showing)
But she dropped the show after Whitaker's first season. I was hoping she would return with Gatwa, but it doesn't seem likely after the first couple of episodes.
Really I think my main grievance with the current state of the show is that it didn't manage to reignite her interest, like I imagine happened with many regular people that aren't "must watch" fans and would have been there no matter what.
Are we sure RTD didnt use a ghost writer for season 1 cause holy shit how does one person lose that much skill in writing
correct me if im wrong, but we literally had multiple writers for each episode
@@yteriaereh6467 The only episode that had multiple writers was Rogue, which was co-written by Kate Herron and Briony Redman. Boom was only written by Moffat and all 6 other episodes in the season, as well as the Christmas special and the 60th anniversary specials were only written by RTD.
Lol,, exactly yes, and his name is Chatgpt! 😜
Writers just lose their touch. It happens. If you write for the same thing again and again, then eventually the ideas run out.
@ You’re probably right but it’s especially weird for RTD because his recent non-Doctor Who stuff (It’s a Sin, Years and Years) has been great. Hell, despite their faults I even mostly enjoyed the 60th Anniversary Specials. But the new season with Ncuti is just so misguided and poorly structured.
41:46 This is something I heard before and while I don't disagree about comparing Clara and Rose, especially in regards to "not caring about the risk of death" for Clara I think it misses something.
In Before the Flood Clara has a very emotional outburst, telling the Doctor "Not with me. Die with whoever comes after me." Clara accepts her death on some level. Yes she doesn’t think the risks she takes will lead to her death right away but on some level she knows she will die. Even in Face the Raven after Doctor said he couldn’t fix it she accepted it, and affirmed it in Hell Bent (until Moffat wrote the "long way around" line but I have and will continue to ignore that). She knows she will die eventually and the Doctor will move on.
While Rose, atleast to me, seems to believe she can somehow travel with the Doctor forever. I am not saying "Rose is immature and Clara is mature", it is perfectly resonable to believe Doctor can make people immortal (I mean look at Me) but I think the way Rose and Clara views death is very different.
Yes I care so much about Rose and Clara comparisons that I used my one comment to talk about a 15 second bit of a 4 hour and change video. But I would argue caring about very small things to a, frankly sometimes stupid degree is part of being a Doctor Who fan
Edit: 3:25:59 I think memory Tardis is not fine. Doctor says "It's a Tardis remembered. It's made of memories. Ruby, it is feeding off you, yeah? Give it everything you've got, babes. Remember it harder." implying it's Rubys memories making that Tardis but Ruby shouldn’t know any of the things inside memory Tardis. This is such an oversight, it could have been changed simply by having the Doctor say "It is feeding off my memories" but I suppose even in the writing process RTD just wanted focus on plot and not thing about anything esle since Doctors history is a jigsaw puzzle now
If you're here for the Assassin's Creed part it's at 3:20:58
LMAO this franchise will never escape him
Super sorry to hear about the copyright issues. The BBC's been really weird about this as of late - I know Council of Geeks has been having trouble with them lately as well. Here's hoping they knock it off sooner rather than later!
Never seen Doctor Who before, but I watched the whole thing on Patreon already and it was fantastic! It got me interested and I started watching the show after I finished your video. I'm on series 2 now, and I'm loving it so far! Great job as always bro 🤘
Welcome to the fandom. We're happy to have you 😊
Sutekh could’ve easily fit the family theme they were going for if RTD had used his backstory to parallel Ruby’s. In Pyramids of Mars he was intentionally locked away by his family. Granted it was for trying to destroy the universe but still. It could’ve been a kung fu panda 2 situation with Sutekh getting to project his own abandonment trauma onto Ruby and even the Doctor.
“You want to know so badly? You think that knowing will heal you? Fill some… crater in your soul? Well here’s your answer. Your parents didn’t love you. But here… let me… heal you.”
And then he could try to kill them again.
I personally would’ve gone the route of Sutekh keeping them alive so he wouldn’t be alone in the universe. Ruby could figure it out first, call him out, only for sutekh to kill her but then prove her right when he refuses to kill the Doctor. Then the doctor could suggest the death+death=life bs that would still get us sutekh hanging outside of the tardis on a dog leash, AND allow 15 to choose to betray sutekh and condemn him to the time vortex again (or kill him whichever works).
Watching the 4 hour LazerzZHD critique instead of the actual series so I have one degree of separation of the destruction of my love of a franchise
This is me right now.
Fantastic video. I absolutely love RTD's first era, so obviously I was disappointed that I haven't quite been clicking with his second one. You put all my feelings into words.
To be fair about the moral implications of killing the goblin king, he literally eats babies.
And Sutekh eradicated the entire universe but the Doctor cried about killing him
@@MrGreavesit's okay when it's okay
@@Moperandi-k3x To which the question is “Why did Russell write the hero committing a morally uncomplicated genocide by making all the goblins evil baby eaters?”
Even with the slaver Sycorax, there was a moral dilemma there that 10 recognised, so why doesn’t 15?
The point isn't that the goblin king shouldn't have died, the point is that the doctor previously has shown much more mercy and regret over killing far worse creatures/people
@@MrGreaves To be fair, Davies did this with Davros too. Guy tried to kill not only the universe but the entire multiverse and he's still "I can save you" after the whole "No second chances, that's the man I am."
YEAH IM GONNA GET POPCORN FOR THIS!!! So sorry man about all the copyright stuff my god, I was following along on twitter, I'm super excited for this, thank you so much
Thank you, even as someone who likes this series. Im glad theres a good faith video out there that isnt grr minorites or grr black or trans people. Its tiring how rampant bigotry is in the DW fandom.
As messy it is, Boom, 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble were all very good imo.
Also the reason Russels given for low episode count is the old count made his mental health really poor with how much work it was
Real
@@Luna-pk7gz None of those episodes are good. 💀
@@Longshanks1690 They are imo. Boom is a very well done episode as expected from Moffat
@@Luna-pk7gz Hahahaha… no.
Boom is one of the worst prices of poorly written drivel the show has put out in recent memory, with only a couple of scenes in the beginning that actually work, everything else is unmitigated awfulness.
That Moffat managed to trick people into thinking this garbage was not just passable but good is a feat that will never cease to amaze me.
Those episodes only stand out as what came before was doggy doo doo. Obviously they are gonna be better if the standard is as low as it was
You’ve perfectly encapsulated my thoughts about this series as I was watching it - especially on the finale. All of your criticisms of the substance of the show (or lack thereof) I completely agree with, and your reasoning for why the show is like this are equally valid - not to mention RTD writing the show during a writer’s strike where he didn’t have access to a writer’s room. Honestly, even if he did, Russell appears narcissistic to me and I wouldn’t be surprised if he would still have taken it all on himself - he is constantly masturbating in press (he spoke about mavity, a running gag he instantly forgot, “immensely funny and very very creative”) and even on screen (the first part of the finale in UNIT feels like this). Returning to a showrunner and a previous doctor also is anathema to the show which has always prided itself on constant change and innovation. I understand why the Beeb decided to go with a “safe pair of hands” in RTD after the Chibnall debacle, but really what we needed is giving it to a new creative team!
I feel like eight episodes wasn't enough. Trying to do the level of character growth and give the satisfying answer that Russell usually gives, is not an eight episode project. Some writers could do it, but it's not how Russell does it. That's my general takeaway from the season
Ok cool video and all but have you considered 'Jigsaw Salt Toymaker Sutekh Magic The Doctor Lies'? Checkmate.
He's not coming back from that one.
yessss finally someone who understands what the actual problems with this season were i feel so seen
Great analysis, nice to find a critique of the 14th series that isnt just hurr durr muh wokism. I look forward to the Capaldi arc video, my fav doctor. Subscribed
This idea is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! Been watching it in parts on and off for the past month, and I love how much of a leveled critique of Series 14 it was. No hatred, just a genuine critique. Doctor Who, and other fandoms, need leveled critiques like this.
Great video. You’ve outlined pretty much every issue I have with the new season and its characters. What a great 4 hours I’ve spent watching this (over the course of 3 days).
And it’s really nice to see a critique that isn’t just “woke bad”. Loved your deep thought process, style, editing format, personality and morals.
I still really think the Star beast and Wild Blue Yonder should have been 15th doctor episodes.
Star beast being the new aliens of London. Ruby’s normal life and her life with the doctor clashing together (Carla even fosters and may have taken a shine to the meep) it would make sense that Ruby might want to pop home after the events of boom
And WBY would have been a good character exploration for both characters, showing how strong their relationship is
I think this speaks to the wider point that the 60th should have been comprised of one multi-part story, or an individual season with 14 and Donna. Instead, we get three episodes of which only one reaches its true potential.
this is a wonderful retrospective that sums up a lot of my feelings brilliantly, very good work
I wish with all my being that Russell would watch this video
Haha, I think Russell, for all his faults, doesn't let criticism waver his vision. Maybe I do think he needs to reflect and figure some shit out, but knowing the man, he does tend to just make the things that he wants regardless of reception and tbf, I have to respect it.
I am once again going to die on the hill that the meep pronoun bit is a good joke. People who dislike it are literally just hearing the words, "you're assuming a pronoun," and then just don't listen to the punchline.
I remember texting my friend in the week between episode 6 and 7 saying “knowing Russell, Ruby’s mum is going to be totally ordinary to go with his ‘I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t special’ mantra” and I was so unhappy about being right lmao
my takeaway of this season was that it was fun enough to keep me engaged, but it had a lot of problems, i hope the next season improves on things, the 2024 Christmas special seems to be better with pacing via editing from what i can tell, only time will tell if next season is better, i think this season also suffered from the episode count
Dr who hasn't been good since series 11 imo. The rampant adhd that kept getting worse and worse, the overbearing preschy-ness, the sonic screwdriver that fixes every damn problem, and so many more issues. The writing quality has gone so far downhill since 2017 that I can count the number of enjoyable episodes since then on 1 hand. But that's just me. I went back and watched the classic show after re-watching the new series recently and while there are definitely some duds in there it feels so much more genuine and they act like regular people in that show (for the most part). Idk if it's just me but the adhd nature of the new series has really soured on me over time.
Tbf the sonic fixing everything had been an issue for a long time. Also in ep 2 we actually got one of its coolest uses yet.
Series 11?? Even though Capaldi was a great doctor I wouldn't call any one of his seasons great.. The show hasn't been great since the 50th anniversary
@@mullaoslo That's just wrong. The Capaldi era gets a bit divisive but S9 and S10 are considered some of the best. S7 wasn't well received either or you could even say S6. Basically it doesn't matter.
@@Comicbroe405 i give season 6 and 7 leaway becuase Moffat was at least able to keep the overall storyarch of 11 and the mysteries around him interesting until the end.. Some answers where underwealming like the silence but at least I was interested until the reveal..
I'll agree s 9-10 where an improvement over the seasons 6-8 but I'll take the best episodes of the latter over the best of the former every time.
@@mullaoslo Yeah I can't see that take at all considering some of the eps but sure man it's your opinion I'm not gonna say that's wrong.
Did you see Mr Tardis' video? He thinks the sonic can't resemble a gun because this Dr is black ...black American kids playing Doctor Who, maybe with the toys...
@@herbivarsawus4359 Yeah, we can’t let kids see something that looks like a gun.
We can only let them actually have guns when we make the child scientist working at UNIT have a machine gun on wheels. 🤣
One of the (many) things I hated about "Rogue" is how they had the Doctor knowingly abandon someone in danger so he could try to pursue a relationship with a random, human, amoral bounty hunter.
Another thing I hated was the way Ncuti's Doctor just stood there crying when he realised he put Ruby into the trap; compare this to Twelve's reaction to Clara's imminent death where, despite being upset and knowing he was powerless, you could see his eyes darting around like he was still trying to think of ways to save her.
I happen to agree with Disparu in the sense that we _need_ the Doctor to take charge more often, that the constant crying lessens the impact of emotional scenes, and that the Doctor as a character isn't one who lets that crying stop him from _doing_ things. Hell, the Twelfth Doctor outright stated that, when people are in danger, he doesn't have the _time_ for tears or outrage.
Series 10 is, for me, the best series of Doctor Who.
The Doctor _has_ faced prejudice from humans before (we see it in The Night of the Doctor when a victim of the Time War judged him as being equal to a Dalek simply because he was a Time Lord) yet he never gave up like he did in Dot and Bubble, despite having less time and material to work with due to being locked behind a door on a crashing space ship; this experience, combined with his passionate and comprehensive arguements in The Zygon Inversion, show us how the Doctor reacts to such things and how far he's willing to go, and the fact Ncuti's Doctor _doesn't_ put in a similar amount of effort is worth criticising.
Funny story, I genuinely felt that Ricky in Dot and Bubble was a better Doctor than Ncuti's Doctor; he was kind, charismatic, intelligent, patient, brave, and proactive, and he valued knowledge and wisdom above laziness and hedonism.
I really didn't like how Empire of Death didn't take the chance to even raise the _possibility_ of the Time Lords being brought back as a result of the God of Death tearing through the time vortex and undoing death itself.
The TARDIS is incapable of dematerialising whilst the doors are still open, so the ending of Empire of Death is physically and theoretically impossible.
I've seen a couple reviews for the show and all I can say is it had the worst written finale I have ever fucking seen. How do you kill death with death? If you brought the god of death back in time to his younger self, wouldn't you just be making death twice as powerful. In that time he wouldn't kill himself
I think the idea is meant to be in math where two negatives make a positive. Dragging Sutekh throughout the time vortex is killing him all the times he killed the universe essentially undoing what he did.
They literally establish in the same episode that visiting Earth several times caused Susan Triad to get more and more powerful, so wouldn’t visiting the other planets just make their Susan more powerful as well, therefore more death?
about the 6 month time skip, there is one reason for it: Big Finish
@cameronbaker97 It would've worked perfectly fine, if they had Meastro be the final villain of this season instead of Sutekh.
Episodes 1-8 easily could've taken place across 6 months, and the line "But you never hide" would've had much more meaning behind it.
Trickstar is definitely in need of a return. Severely underrated ❤
My take is that I would rather have this any day than 5 more years of the Chibnall Era. I'm sure most of us would agree on that at least, right?
Yes, much better than chibers for sure. It's just baffling because this is RTD we're talking about. This isn't a fresh showrunner going through growing pains. This is the man that brought the show back in 2005 and those growing pains are better than this for some strange inexplicable reasons. I'm not angry like I was with the chibnall era. I'm just completely baffled because none of this makes any sense at all. It's a fever dream. This is a more experienced and supposedly wiser RTD. Not only was his first run better. He has made more compelling TV after Dr who. So why does all that lead to this?
I think this is the first time I'm gonna be fully agreeing with a negative critique of yours. Loved the eps individually but as a series it's such a mess. Also would love to see a video on just Capaldi alone.
Coming back to this months later, I think my main takeaway is that RTD is afraid of change and would rather make stand alone sci-fi stories. It’s why you get lines like the 15 saying he can have a granddaughter but no kids yet and why Ruby and the Doctor barely have anything going on. Classic who does this, in a sense. You don’t NEED to watch every episode, you can jump in randomly and get the jist of what’s going on 85% of the time, even in seasons like Key to Time. BUT whether intentional or not, watching them all in order does yield its own reward because you get to watch the character dynamics change overtime.
To use the 4th Doctor as an example, he doesn’t have an arc, per se, but you do see how he progresses. He’s a lot more chipper and nicer with Sarah than Leela. His first season with Romana is literally a work trip romcom and then the season after they’re all lovey dovey. Sure, this was largely on the actors, but it is very easy to see why the characters changed story to story. Ribbos operations 4 would never say, “You are Wonderful,” to Romana. But by State of Decay it’s totally believable.
This newest season doesn’t even have that subtle dynamic change because so much of it 15 and Ruby just either aren’t the focus or don’t work together for xyz. And it’s not even like 4 and Leela where you can argue they approach problems so differently that they just go off and do their own thing most of the time.
This is the best critique I've seen of S14/1, and I agree with pretty much all of it.
I've never really held RTD in as high regard as many others do, as I've always had fairly fundamental issues with the way he wrote certain elements of the show, but I was still hopeful when it was announced that he was returning. With S14/1, felt like all of those elements I didn't like were elevated here, and I think you hit the nail on the head about him needing more writers on board to talk him out of doing certain things. In addition, the parts of the show where he was usually strong were severely lacking too.
I hope he can turn it around, because I really like Ncuti and Millie and it'd be a shame to waste the talent they provide.
Thank you, really glad you enjoyed the video!
The cure for bad doctor who, big finish baby. 8th doctor is amazing
13th Doctor is coming there too!
@@Comicbroe405 Given what BF was able to do with Colin, I'm actually really looking forward to seeing what they do with Jodie.
Why is Stranded so expensive 😖 I want to know how they save Helen!
another thing with donna that really makes the instant best friends dynamic they have in season 4 believable is that donna and the doctor STILL have interpersonal conflict! it's not on the same level as in runaway bride but episodes likes fires of pompeii and the doctor's daughter basically give them opposing viewpoints that make sense within their characters and we get to see how they navigate conflict with their current dynamic. everything in season 4 is not like the unicorn and the wasp where they're just being besties having a good time. all of fires of pompeii is basically donna trying desperately to get the people of pompeii to evacuate while the doctor is adamant about not doing that and it genuinely puts strain on their relationship even though they make plenty of time in the episode for quipping and banter
The spoon had to be given as an act of kindness, no questions.
Finished watching this on Patreon a few days ago and I must say, it's banger, maybe my favourite LazerzZ video to date. Congrats on the upload 👏 🎉
Absolutely incredible video mate, this is my first time on your channel and you did such a great job articulating everything I felt watching the season. Seriously entertaining too, laughed out loud a lot watching this - I am a sucker for that clip of 9 though 😂👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻
Both Jody and Ncuti gets destroyed due to the incompetence of writing, this is the situation of 6th doctor and 7th all overs gain. Fantastic doctor maybe, but they just can’t get things right at the time
Possibly one of my favourite videos yet, perfect balance of funny, critical but also really fair and good faith 💚
Never watched doctor who but will watch the 4 hour video about doctor who because gamer James is cool
A Capaldi one would be amazing…
Okay, poised to press ‘play’. I’m probably not going to agree with all of what follows, but really, thumbs up for the time that goes into long-form essays like this. Certainly helps my working day to listen to them.
you know this video is goated when twitter complains about it
congrats dude, loved it start to finish
The speedrun cracked me up hard.
OMG you know Alan Wake :D
I think the main issue has been the casting of the Doctor for me, or the way he's been written. I don't mean any stupid Identity stuff like it being a woman or black guy, that's all silly nonsense to me, the Doctor can be anyone. I just feel like from Ecclestone to Capaldi there was a real gravitas to the Doctor, even when he was being silly you could tell something was underneath, something serious. I haven't felt that at all from the last two, the darkness has gone, you don't even need lots of it, just glimpses, but i've not felt it since Capaldi.
I don’t think that’s a casting issue. I think it’s clear Ncuti has the chops, it’s the writing and direction of the character. They’ve removed a lot of his layers
When Capaldi said "Doctor, I let you go" it was a message for us all to do so as well
It would have been a good place to end Icl but DW can go on as long as it wants. Fresh blood is all that it requires. The best eps of the Chibnall aren't even his.
@@Comicbroe405not really saying much.
@@lewgallagher463 Kinda am cuz lot of ppl dismiss the Chibnall era as fully bad when its not & the new writers can clearly bring new perspective.
Oh, there is some stuff after Capaldi that I would even call very good, but I am ever more certain that it is not worth the associated pain of watching entire seasons for context (and that's the only way I'm capable of watching Who)
@@yavoth5850Yeah that's fair.
On the point of the master reveal Vs the sutekh reveal, it's so much more impactful because the episode has established yanas character with a stellar performance from Derek Jacobi, with Susan triad however we literally get like three lines before the reveal?
This perfectly articulates why I disliked this series finale which I was struggling to put my finger on. Absolutely phenomenal work!
I like the whole "you are not alone" "YANA" thing because it looks coincidental, but then, is it the next series? It comes full circle that the face of boe just happens to be a companion he was travelling with in that adventure but 1000s of years in the future fron the time he knew him, so it wasn't a coincidence, it was a long held card being reviled. And it both made sense and was kind of funny
Yeah, you pointed out the flaws I HAD with ruby, she just..seemed off
As individual episodes. It was a great season. But as a season. Not so much. The only reason for this is because of the opening episode and finally. Every other episode was brilliant.
Just chucking my two cents into the ring, the show definitely has good intentions but the execution of those intentions is where it struggles the most. You have three major elements when it comes to a show or movie, you have:
a) the performance of the actors involved
b) the script/writing material the crew has to work with
and
c) the creative direction they go with that ties the whole thing together.
Of course there are many other elements that make up the production process but these Key Factors are universal to all kinds of media from TV Shows and Movies to Audio Dramas and Theatre. Get all three or even 2 out of those 3 up to scratch then the show or movie will work. You can have the best of intentions but if those Key Factors don't line up then the project will not go over well. So when it comes to something like diversity in Doctor Who, it's never the problem. The main show in the past, the spinoffs (eg: Sarah Jane Adventures & Torchwood) and past Big Finish audios have done a solid job working with diversity and loads of people have been onboard with that. Heck the premise of the show being able to go anywhere and anywhen, it's pretty much expected you're going to meet all sorts of people, aliens, creatures and worlds.
It's just in recent years, the franchise seems to be struggling with getting those 3 Key Elements working together to get those ideas across. For a show that's been running for more than 60 years, it's not going to be a home run every time and it can be a struggle to keep coming up with fresh ideas without retreading on what's already been done. Honestly with a few tweaks here and there, the show could run a whole lot more smoothly.
The problems with this season (and like half of new who) could just be defined simply with "aging super fans run show they're fans of".
A bit harsh perhaps but true all the same. Who needed new blood a decade ago.
Imagine if the barbie from the bubble episode accidentally ended up as a companion and during her time with the doctor learned to behave like a decent human being
I think the 15th Doctor should not only use all the happiness and jumpiness as a facade, he should be *scared* of who he is in some way. Maybe give him a moment similar to what 6th had in one of the novels, obliterating a robot with a coat hanger, after which he just sits there emotionless
Many issues that this season suffers from aren't that new, though, and they already plagued RTD's first run. There too were rubbish resolutions or beats that were ill-conceived or just weren't thought through properly. I remember discussions on 00s message boards that said things which were pretty similar to the ones being brought up here. The difference just is that the character work simply isn't as good, making the faults matter more. I also hold the strong belief that everything concerning Ruby's mother was a last-minute rewrite because there's no way that this resolution to the storyline was the original plan. Of course, the PR said something else eventually, but the whole kerfuffle concerning Millie Gibson at the beginning of the year must have been about something, and this is what the behind-the-scenes drama led to. But we probably won't know for sure until someone decides to speak up about it, possibly decades down the line, like Christopher Eccleston did, for example.
A fantastic review. Although I disagree on a few minor things you talked about, on the whole you summed it up perfectly and brought to light problems I didn't even think about. Thank you for the effort you put into it.
I fear that given their current track record of recycling their biggest hits. Rogue will redo the River Song arc only with Rogue losing their memory at the end or something.
I am going to have to watch this in multiple parts because unfortunately life is getting in the way, but so far this is such an amazing video essay! Both your criticism and praise of the show is very authentic and I can tell just how much you love this show, even though the new series wasn’t the best. It’s refreshing seeing someone give such an honest and well-thought out take on something they didn’t enjoy.
Always a joy to watch, good stuff mate!
Very good video. So good I watched the whole thing in one sitting! There’s so much truth in your comments about the lack of character arcs. I felt no connection to Ruby at all and it’s such a shame. I also think your final point about ‘generating content’ is very pertinent. It’s a shame that Series 15 was already in the can before 14 had even aired. You’re right to say that the same flaws will likely still be there. We can only hope that 16, if it gets the green light, is better.
4 hours talking about Doctor Who? Yes please! I didn't expect to watch this in one go but here we are, too much time on my hands clearly. I've found talking about this new series to be quite exhausting since it aired, the faults being so blatant and bewildering from such an excellent writer. All I'll say is I was so disappointed by the return of RTD and the underutilisation of Ncuti who could be such an incredible Doctor. But I think having a conclusion that is hopeful, that does try to give RTD the benefit of the doubt because he had a herculean task and he shouldered it almost by himself, is interesting. He's made some massive mistakes and now the sheen of his return is slightly marred, maybe the focus can return to making excellent stories with deep interesting characters instead of trying to make Doctor Who as popular as it was before artificially. We can only hope.
I liked Series 14 and watches this entire video. I still like Series 14 and think that supporting the show is what will help it flourish.
Always good to support a show we love, but if we don't show when it needs improvement, it will never change.
This video is fantastic! I thoroughly enjoy your breakdown and analysis.
The main problem with series 14 for me (I refuse to call it season 1) is that all of the episodes felt generic in story and character, like Space Babies was the space station episode, The Devil’s Chord was the recent history episode, Rogue was the regal episode and so on it just felt like the most basic versions of what these plots are capable of and like the writers especially Russell were on autopilot the entire time with the only one putting any original effort being Steven Moffat which shows to me why he was such an amazing writer in the past (imo he was a better writer compared to showrunner) and with how exceptional BOOM was I’m very curious to see what he does with this year’s Christmas special
I thought, the third one being a bit of a mess of plot threads and the first having some cringe lines aside - the specials were excellent (even if bigeneration feels extremely weird), I really liked the the first christmas special with its more aggressively whimsical tone, but ahh the actual episodes. It kind of feels like RTD is having some midlife crisis (and with the death of his long term partner a few years prior, he really might be). I guess bigeneration and whatever the fuck they did with Davros in the children in need special (beyond simply saying 'heres another young davros') were warning signs. He clearly wants this to be the whimsical even-more-tumblr-centric-than-moffat-somehow 'healing' doctor, but then he's also straight back to last of the time lords, my granddaughter is dead, oh no the flux killed everyone (even though they could totally have fixed that off screen and the show would be better for it - it seemed pretty clearly there as something to be 'fixed' somehow) angst shit. Combine that with the 'the plot making any damn sense is secondary to vibes' writing that I've only ever seen in bad anime before, including the doctor escaping harm by imagining himself into his TARDIS. ...god, at least try to make your show feel in someway like the show you used to write for. Can anyone here imagine Eccelston have resolved the first series finale by just wishing himself back into an imagination tardis instead of being rescued by Rose?
I don't want to hate it, but man it's been a disappointment and a half.
“Someone on tumblr whips out ‘Rule 1: the Doctor lies’” has given me war flashbacks
I have been wondering for a season now why its has felt so "try hard". Like now slowing down, big loud noises, big smiles, big actions and so on, all the time. Doctor who doesnt need to do that. We're here, we love it, you can relax and just tell your story.
There's a reason my favorite episode from the last season is "Boom" where the doctor is FORCED to stand still for a moment and just calmly talk to us.
Just breathe and talk to us, you dont have to try this hard, we're listening.
Well, I know what I'm doing for the next 4 hours.
After the dump squib that was the Ruby's mother reveal I'm not really that invested in the Mrs Flood mystery. Basically the implication is it's going to be another weak nothing of an outcome.
Ever since Matt Smith transitioned to Peter Capaldi the Doctor is now Gallifrey.
That’s my theory on the split.
But which doctor got Gallifrey’s energy? Perhaps half to both?
Okay, so I think the reason she doesn't react to dying is mainly because they brought back Moffat, (tbf that's largely the reason she died anyway, damn him!) and he's already done this so many times that now it's just a thing he does, he's explored it in deeper ways and how the death and resurrection effects the characters that now he's on autopilot with it and it's just, whatever. I disliked a lot of the Moffatisms returning but nothing in that episode made me groan louder than that moment