My video on the issue of the BBC's support of Transphobia: ruclips.net/video/aN4uc0HZrWE/видео.html My video on the BBC's response to complaints of its reporting: ruclips.net/video/skh81N5lcYY/видео.html My short on why I'll continue to put up the note at the front of these: ruclips.net/user/shortsHpwwzjzFXiE Shaun's 1st video, which includes some additional confirmed information: ruclips.net/video/b4buJMMiwcg/видео.html Shaun’s 2nd video, which follows how the BBC is trying to dodge accountability for all of this: ruclips.net/video/qfjTG6SVjmQ/видео.html Shaun’s 3rd video, following him escalating his complaints: ruclips.net/video/fRn1UZ4fhdE/видео.html Shaun's 4th video, covering the BBC's response: ruclips.net/video/3F7GW7Ro4OQ/видео.html Laura Kate Dale's protest speech outside the BBC offices: ruclips.net/video/hBjGnWkwAjI/видео.html
I think the biggest failing with Jodie's Doctor was that they clearly had a character and personality decided early on, but never actually took the time to explore it until the end. I saw her as a person who took 12's last words very literally. She was kind, almost to a fault, but in a very detached way. She didn't want to become close to anyone but she still wanted to be around people. Gathering a lot of friends but no proper companions because those hadn't been going so well. I think if they took some time in her first series to establish that she wasn't allowing those connections for her own good, it might've made her more...personable? Instead we got scripts that made her seem very aloof to an almost callous degree. I really think just one scene of her actually talking a little about it, even if it only happened once, would have had fans a bit more accepting of her.
Your discussion of the Thirteen always being so distanced from her companions made a little connection in my head. The Tenth Doctor, as you always say, was by far the most *human* Doctor. He always formed *strong* relationships with his companions. And what is the first thing that happens after Thirteen’s regeneration ends? She gets Ten’s old face back and goes back to meet the companion he probably had the strongest relationship with. I think the “reason” for this new face is to remind the Doctor that the joy of connection is worth the pain of the loss.
I know I say this a lot, but I tried hard NOT to write an essay and I just feel like this sort of thought requires it: Thats an interesting take on why Whitaker won't open up. I'm always looking for the throughline that links the doctors as a single story: Eccleston coming off the war doctors actions and regrets, Tennant being vengeful but opening up and falling in love, falling out of love, and then ending up with a team of friends, Smith going a step further to live escapist from the war and have fun with an official family, but then that family dies, and after multiple companions lost, here comes this person who keeps coming BACK. And he gets inspired to save Gallifrey because of her. I think this is why Moffat thought Clara was special and why people found the transition from Smith (light-hearted fun) to Capaldi (gruff) jarring, but I see it as Smith's escapist facade dropping post-time war and Capaldi dealing with the morality of it, the war doctor repression coming through, and Capaldi gets really attached to the immortal girl as he finally has (though its an illusion) of a companion who Gets it, having seen his life in full and appearing as though she is the companion he can't lose. She understands The DOCTOR, not the lonely traveller. But then ... she does finally die. And he struggles to accept it, even raging at the same home he saved because of her, but he finally does let her go, and pays consequence for the way he let previous companions go. Companions are all humans and none of them are going to last forever. The Doctor image has made him distant, and he misses the basic adventures. And this convinces Capaldi to let go of River officially, he knew since Tennant she would die, Smith even said goodbye, but Capaldi knows he hasn't yet done the "final" thing they do. So he does that, and starts a new leaf with Bill and Nardole. but when he finally understands what the Doctor image should stand for, not war or vanity or escapism but kindness, bill becomes a cyberman and nardole (i think) dies in war. and it just never ends. He makes peace by remembering why he became the doctor in the first place, but its why I feel so baffled and mixed towards Whitaker. On the one hand, every companion except martha was lost, dead, or... Donna, so I feel like in a way Graham and Ryan were the first companions to not leave tragically (arguably, i never felt like they wanted to be there from the beginning) but i get why she would start off thinking she needs to distance from companions and then get agitated when her home blows up, her identity gets upended, her friends (who she was already scared to attach to) leave and the only person remaining seems to LOVE her (rose/river trauma is fresh). On the other hand, Capaldi literally just made peace with all this stuff, ended his memory of bill and nardole with cuddles, told the next doctor to - if anything - just be kind, and whitaker comes off oddly cold-hearted at times that just didn't need it, like not just cruel and anti-thetical to what Capaldi went through (duty of car arc AND just be kind arc) but right back to Smiths big red button ignore the consequences flippancy, tennants lack of second chances, and ecclestons moody isolation. The difference being that a) they came before her, b) already went through that and got over it, and c) had the time war lingering in their brain, whereas Whitaker is reacting to possibly the cheapest 'tragedy' in Gallifrey suddenly being entirely blown up without explanation. I really like the idea of Whitaker being that empathic part of Capaldi who thought the kindest thing to do was to keep distance from companions and was reserved out of reluctance to resort to violence like previous doctors ... but was surprisingly cruel plenty of times without consideration or regret or reflection and it just felt like a complete devolution of every arc from every doctor that came before. A lot of that hindered by her stories being discount tennant popular moments, and I suspect the BBC really wanted tennant / russel (or the equivalant for ratings boost) a lot sooner. I like to think then, that if Capaldi was the post-time-war doctor, Whitaker is the one really reflecting on it as these losses seem to be cyclical, and as she reflects back she realizes the lives she could have lived. Capaldi, being the new regeneration cycle, looked back to his original form and wondered if it was worth being the doctor, then Whitaker looked further back and discovered Ruth and many other various potential not-doctor doctors. So Tennant2 is her going fully back to that mistake Capaldi paid for; if Capaldi is Tennant's best example of heroism "who frowned me this face?", then Donna is his greatest loss "you were going to wipe my memory? How would you feel if someone did that to you?", and Capaldi forgot clara as pennance for Donna forgetting him. Capaldi got clara back, so now it's time for Tennant2 to get Donna back. After losing so many companions, Whitaker brought some of her oldest ones back, and now Tennant2 is going to bring some of his newest ones back. (...or Davies will kill Donna off officially and it'll be very sad and everything in doctor who is just doomed to die in an never ending repetition of ideas sooner or later and whitaker was right to be miserable and reject yaz). But yeah, head-canon, the doctor is cleaning up, and Ncuti Gatwa, THE doctor, is the potential of all the previous doctors, the fun of all the classic doctors, the heartache of all the new doctors, and although i don't want to put too much pressure on his run, I just hope he's an amalgamation of a fresh start after Tennants nostalgia cleans house. If Eccelston was the new-who doctor, a clear departure from the classic era, I always want Ncuti to be the start of the next era, the high budget Mainstream Era, one free from the baggage of new-who time war stuff and gallifrey-dying retread. Otherwise there is every chance of him just being Eccleston missing gallifrey with RTD2 writing the same as RTD1 and i dont want that nearly as much but we're weirdly in the same place. a doctor that leaves the show potentially cancelled, a one-off doctor, and now the reboot, same showrunner as last time. It's so earily similar RTD2 really needs to do something specially different with Ncuti and I do think the mini-arc tennant goes on will define whether it's same old same old or going in a new direction. If you did, thanks for reading.
I am so happy Ching Shih got an episode, she is by far the most successful pirate in history, amassing thousands of ships (Mainstream pirates like Blackbeard had at most five) and was so influential she was stronger than the South China government at the time. She established new laws in her pirate army and in the end while most western pirates died while fighting or got executed, she became so rich she and all her pirates made a deal with South China to just retire. She is amazing. It's a shame she got an episode in the Chibnal Era who made her into a generic pirate though. Omg, Anne Bonny and Mary Read would have been SO MUCH BETTER! Also gay
There's a lot I don't like about the Chibnal era, but I did enjoy the (lesser known) historical characters and events. This is especially in our current world where history is being manipulated and corrupted!
The thing that came to mind for me when I was watching the scene between Thirteen as Yaz is that... since the time war? The Doctor has only had two companions that were there for a Regeneration, and both of those relationships had utterly devastating endings. Losing Rose left The Doctor outright suicidal (as shown in Turn Left), and poisoned his relationship with Martha. Losing Clara... The mere threat of losing Clara was a determent to The Doctor's Ethics. ...Thirteen knows it's coming up to The End for her, and the best case of what that means is another regeneration. When a Companion is there for The Doctor during a regeneration, the bond between them becomes something so strong it's not just The Doctor who hurts. The Doctor will hurt everyone else for that person.
I was super excited for the Sea Devils to come back so this just being an okay episode was really disappointing. The thing I remember about this one, apart from the very exciting Next Time trailer, is thinking how weirdly edited it was. When it aired I actually rewound it at one point because I was convinced that I'd zoned out and missed a scene when I hadn't at all!
I think a lot of the hate for this episode comes not from bad writing but from bad direction and editing, its frequently incoherent and ugly to look at. And although this can be explained by covid its not an excuse, especially as Flux, and the two episodes either side of it were made under the constraints of covid and were all very well made despite the behind the scenes challenges.
Personally I prefer this episode's Yaz and Doctor scene to the one done with Graham in 'Can You Hear Me?' To me that one felt like it was trying to be quirky and just came off as annoying to me. The more sombre atmosphere of the scene here had the effect of making me sympathetic to Yaz.
My guess would be this was meant to be part of Flux, had to be rewritten to remove those elements, and lost what little sense a Chibnall story has any pretence to. The stars moving could just as well have been stars disappearing? Maybe Chibnall had a rare moment of clarity where he realised it didn't fit at all, but had to go with it. Heck if someone told me it was a two parter that was filmed but with all the Flux reference scenes cut out, I'd be half inclined to believe it!
From memory, and having double checked, Jodie's era wrapped in October 2021. We'd had a lot of restrictions from mid March 2020 up until mid July 2021, so basically all of the filming was in that period (including Power of the Doctor). From September 2020 you had limits on "bubbles" of 6 people (to varying degrees, and such), so yeah every special was filmed under restrictions barring POTD for what was only a couple of months (and maybe a handful of pickups as obviously filming was finished before Flux aired, but only just so I imagine it was just for specials). So yeah, a lot of awkward action stuff is definitely due to a mix of awkward editing but also probably just trying to keep to restrictions as well and damage reduction of the fight choreo.
The thing i most hate about this episode is The Doctor saying Yaz is the greatest person she knows, like no she isn't especially the bad way the Doctor treats Yaz all the time
I see a lot of people in the fandom complaining about the same thing you said here, but in the episode, The Doctor says Yaz is ONE OF the greatest people she has ever known, she even mentions River as another example of a great person she knows. DOCTOR: "[...] I think you're one of the greatest people I've ever known. Including my wife." But, yeah the way The Doctor treats Yaz is so bad it's hard to watch, especially during Flux.
@Gabrielecgomes1 Yeah, bur Yaz isn't one of the greatest people the Doctor knows, and I hate that she says she is . The Doctor basically kicks Yaz out in POTD, but she's one of the greatest like no. Like, I don't get it when people say The Doctor is in love with Yaz. i think it's the opposite, I think The Doctor hates Yaz a little bit
Thank you for the video, Vera! As you mentioned, as a mid-season filler/regular episode (despite its flaws), it is perfectly serviceable, but as a special one, it is not very good. To be fair, special episodes do not need to be themed after the holidays which they are released on, but there is at least some expectation of them having that extra "oomph". That does not happen here. And even the running time being similar to the average of a regular episode seems to imply that it been repurposed as a special. The editing of the episode is also very weird. There is a lack of continuity between certain scenes. After the TARDIS was taken to the Sea Devils' hidden lair by the Huasen, at first, I thought that the Doctor and Yaz were inside the monster, and it was actually an artificial creature manned by the Sea Devils. Until certain degree, I did appreciate the episode for acknowledging the "Thasmin" relationship and explaining why it will not be explored (especially considering the Chris Chibnall's era and Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor's run reaching their endings). Let's be sincere: most of fiction fandoms have their character "shippings". If they are fictional (not involving real people) and in good taste (definitely not between murderers/abusers and their victims), the shippings are okay. But if the media work in question will make the shipping canon, it needs some time to establish and explore the relationship. What I am really curious about is, if, at some point, Chris Chibnall has planned to portray the romantic relationship between the Doctor and Yaz, and the COVID-19 lockdown cut short his number of episodes for that, or he heard about the shipping online and decided to "throw a bone" to the fans at the end of his run.
You are so right that this does not feel like a special at all and what's even more concerning is that this could have been her regeneration story had the BBC not asked Chibnall to do one more special for the BBC's centenary.
I'm not a massive fan of this episode but great video as always and I look forward to your ranking the specials video and the take two review of power of the doctor
Everyone has their picks for "worst episode of Doctor Who"; for me personally, that's this one. I can't say I _hate_ the episode per se, but it's definitely the episode that makes me the most frustrated and annoyed on everyone conceivable level. The story is a garbled nonsensical mess with one-dimensional characters that simply show up wherever the plot needs them to be; the era's inconsistent morality is once again on full display; the dialogue is overreliant on tedious exposition regarding things we can see happening onscreen at that moment; the Sea Devils are depicted as bland monsters totally lacking the depth and nuance they're supposed to have. And then there's the handling of the Doctor/Yaz scenes which are a real mixed bag in my opinion; on one hand, it's nice to finally get some meaningful character-driven conversations between the pair for once; on the other hand, it's frustrating that said scenes are mostly devoted to a reheated version of the "curse of the Time Lord" stuff from the first RTD era, doubly frustrating since the Capaldi era seemed to indicate that the show was moving on from this angle. Maybe if they'd actually explored this aspect of Thirteen's character from the beginning and focussed her flaw of keeping her companions at an arm's length, I'd be a lot less annoyed about this development. But as always, Chibnall's apparent inability to actually engage with her flaws (or indeed any of the main characters' flaws) just results in the rehashing of a dynamic that has previously been shown to be misguided and selfish at best, and downright toxic and harmful at worst. And aside from its poorly-plotted and incoherent story, the episode is badly-made from a production standpoint. The editing is slapdash and confusing, with it legitimately feeling like entire scenes have been skipped over at points. The fight choreography is embarrassingly amateurish, which may perhaps explain the sloppy editing. The visual effects are frankly pathetic, and often look like they're unfinished. The cinematography is really dull and washed-out, especially in the underwater scenes. Even the score, which is usually a pretty strong part of this era, is really bland and forgettable. With the exception of the three leads, who are clearly trying their best with the substandard material, I really can't think of anything actually praiseworthy about this episode. I recall this being the point where I officially wrote off the Whittaker era, after _Eve of the Daleks_ seemed to suggest an era that I otherwise didn't like would at least be coming to a decent ending, this was such a hollow and dispiriting adventure that offered a clear summary of all my biggest bugbears with this era as a whole.
I've been very negative about this episode in the past, although I admit that some of it was not justified. It's clear that more effort was put into the following episode (which makes sense), and that this episode was very much rushed in some places (like the effects) and that there may have been some hungover covid restrictions. It's an episode that came out at the worst possible time also, RTD was announced to return to DW around this time I think, and does overshadow this episode especially hard (when a lot of people were uninterested with the current stuff and wanted the new era to begin). Again I don't like it, but like a lot of these later Chibs era episodes, I know that there were some behind the scenes issues with them. If you like them, that's fair, they're just not for me that's all. 👍
The least 'special' special 😂 And I agree with the notion of Jodie just extolling virtues left and right (in the case of Sin Ji-Hun). Would a timeless alien be THAT impressed by most of earth's historical figures? I get that she's quite smitten with our planet, but most of us just aren't that impressive.
8:27 Ooh, that's a good shout! In my pirate phase atm, so maybe this ep will do more for me if I rewatched it now. That said, its got nothing on Dr Who and the Pirates.
This is such a frustrating release, in theory it should be at the very least a fun watch, Pirates Vs Sea Devils, however the mix of this eras recurring scripting issues and being butchered during editing it becomes a tough watch. On 13 my issue is that I can't tell whether they're going for Kind but shy (scared to open up for fear of being hurt again) or cold and superficial, either is fine for a character arc but not committing to one makes it hard to pin her down.
Hope you do go for a ranking of the specials. Perhaps the biggest consideration is whether to include the Christmas specials as well as the others? I know you did a ranking of the Christmas ones but I think that was about 4-5 years ago so your thoughts might have changed and there's been a few since then as well.
Here's probably the worst thing about this episode I couldn't hear the dialogue. I'm not joking, the sound mixing was so bad that the music made what the characters were saying impossible to understand. The worst example was the conversation between the Doctor and Yaz at the end of the episode because I didn't even know what she said because the background music stopped me from hearing what either of them were saying so I was just watching two people sitting with loud music maybe talking then suddenly the episode just stopped.
Calling this a "bog standard" episode is wiiiiiiiild. It's barely an episode at all. It's the most unfinished, dull, poorly written episode of television I've ever seen, and calling it "bog standard" is kind of insulting to the previous 13 seasons of the show.
The thing about this episode is I cannot get over the fact that they had a magical sea rock at the start (which is apparently so important she wakes a statue up for it) and then by the end there is a second magical sea rock which is actually the important one and we forget about the first one. Very poor story writing. I also hated that they just allow someone to sacrifice themselves for them without question...again. I'm so gutted that the Thasmin storyline was so poor. On TV Doctor Who still hasn't nailed a good f/f storyline (I do like Big Finish Paternoster Investigates so I'll give the audio a pass). Great video as ever would love to see you rank the specials!
I feel like no matter how brilliant or terrible the episode was, it was gonna get hated because it had the task of bringing back the sea devils. and when it's been such a fan favourite monster to request a return for, nothing will ever live up to the expectations that fifty years have grown tbh I think this would've fit anne bonney and mary read much better than it would've done for cheng shih/zheng li sao, because those are more the type of pirates this episode needed rather than essentially a naval commander. but I get why they went with cheng shih instead, because there hasn't been a (good) representation of chinese people in dr who before, and I think people have had a story about her on their wants from the show for a while. I just don't think the story as it was written was the right choice. lastly, I also think that thirteen not making deeper connections with her companions is, while I don't think intentional (which is odd considering how good chibbers usually is at the character stuff), a really interesting side to the character. with twelve, he made really deep connections with his companions, and one of them he literally had to wipe his memory of and the other he had to leave for decades (from bill's perspective) as he tried to save her only for her to be converted into a cyberman and he dies trying to save so many people because he cares so much. and then, thirteen can't care. she can't let herself get too deeply invested lest everyone die
Hope, at some point, you might embark on a Take Two Review of the Eccleston, Tennant and Smith eras to see whether any of your views might have changed since your original reviews :)
I'd rather not, because while technically the "overdue" reviews that are on the channel for those serve as "the original reviews" insofar as there isn't an earlier one, they were done in completely the same spirit as "take two" (i.e. taking my old opinion into account and seeing how things matched to my memory). Really the only difference is that you the viewer can compare a take two to an earlier video, but from my experience I've effectively already done this.
It’s pretty good but it does have pandemic restriction shooting all over it but if it was to be a proper special they should’ve at least mention what happened after flux cause at this point we have had the festive special and legends of the sea devils with no mention of the flux like they all just forgot it happened which can make continuity feel off I do get that the specials after season 4 didn’t bring up the events of season 4’s season finale but they weren’t forgotten cause they are brought back up again in the season 5 episode victory of the daleks when the doctor asks Amy if she remembered the event happened
Also will say as flawed as this episode is, I really don't get the complete seemingly unanimous agreement among the fandom that this episode is the worst of all time. I think, as you mentioned, the weight of expectations after the excitement of the Sea Devils returning for the first time, as well as the fact it was a historical with a returning species from Chibnall (who's had a pretty good track record of historicals being liked among the fandom) and some talented people in front and behind the camera, it just fell flat for a lot of people and so people just took every bad thing and acted like it's as bad as possible. I am far from a fan of this episode, but it has fun points and some nice stuff, even if it is ultimately underwhelming. It is a bad special, but it's also an okay ish episode of Doctor Who
I don't hate the episode but for one that was a special it wasn't special at all and so felt like a let down. I haven't seen it since airing but I do remember a lot of reviewers then breaking down all the messy editing, continuity, the memorably ridiculous Mario jump of the Sea Devil on to the flying ship etc etc which only made it more 'meh'. My only enduring memory is the beach chat. While I'm no fan of Thasmin I came away from the episode with a feeling that was one of the better executed parts. Would I be enticed to watch it again though, probably not. Looking forward to the Take Two review of POTD! PS and yes definitely a rank of the specials as a lead into the specials (60th edition) would be welcomed. Take a drink every time I write the word special. 😂😂
It's a fun romp. Which we needed, being sandwiched in between Flux and Power of the Doctor. I like 13 and Yaz. It's low key and sweet, with none of Tennant's angsty, adolescent stuff. It's weird how people seem to have issues with how 13 acts, when to me, she has always felt like the Doctor.
The episode is a total mess. It just has huge gaps where seemingly things were not filmed. I have no massive issues with it and love the 13&yaz stuff. But yeah it's very meh in general.
@@CouncilofGeeks trouble with Idiots Lantern is that it's so painful I'm never going to forget elements of it, there's no moments in LOTSD that don't move me at all, in a good or bad way, I just feel nothing toward it which is bad
@@CouncilofGeeks tbf I started my catch-up journey 4-5 months ago and admittedly I’ve slacked off here and there but have been skipping filler and am over 200 eps in now! Likely not gonna be able to catch up by the end of the year but still been manageable enough. In any case, there is Netflix’s live action version dropping next month 👀
Far from the worst episode ever. There's plenty that I enjoy from it. Just too short and poorly paced/edited to be a great special. It's certainly better as a standard episode.
It will be interesting to see people's stories of this time with Covid and the BBC seemingly messing with running orders, this was "Meh filler" it was below average as a standard episode and shockingly bad as a special. If I was invested I would have been super annoyed that they bring back a classic monster with this wasted story. a story that at a different time could have been pretty cool. I really wish that Jodie and the team had a better showrunner as they never really connected as a team until far too late.
I agree! I think this is a fun episode too, that's not to say it doesn't have *issues* because oh boy it does and I think specifically they are production issues that affected the story as a whole, you can tell things were cut out but despite that I still enjoy it and I think the Yaz and Doctor scenes are so good that it's worth the price of admission alone! This episode also has one of my fave lines in all of Doctor Who "We're just a crew, from a ship, looking for adventure. And often finding it." which just really encapsulates what Doctor Who is all about!
The editing on this story was a bit messy. It seemed to have chunks of story cut from it. Great to see the Sea Devils back. I though it visually looked rather good. Even with the flaws I do quite like the episode over all.
Admittedly quite shameful to say, but this is the first (and so far only) episode of New Who that I have not seen in full. I tried twice to watch it, but both times just got bored at the 10 mins mark and couldn't justify finishing when there's a million and 1 other things competing for my time. This was at the height of my disillusionment with the Chibnal era, which might have impacted my perspective. It's not a milestone I wanted to reach 😕 I know many will ask, "Really? This was the episode that you couldn't sit through? Didn't you struggle to endure Hell Bent?" My answer is (and I'm learning this about myself) that boredom is so much worse for me than being frustrated during a viewing experience. Hell Bent is bad, really really bad and diminishes all the good that Heaven Sent set up. But I wasn't bored watching it. Annoyed, sure. Exasperated, definitely. But like watching an uncontrollable forest fire, you know what you're witnessing is horrendous, but you can't bring yourself to look away. I think this episode that I gave up on specifically was 1) at the end of his era so I knew I wasn't going to be overly impressed based on past opinions, 2) I was really ready for this era to be over and 3) it was (unfortunately) unremarkable and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't Jodie's finale, so there wasn't the "need" to watch her final moments. I was just tired, and I still don't have the motivation to watch it even now 😔 Note: Don't take my criticism as Jodie hate. I don't dislike Jodie at all. The writing let her era down, and if anything the uninspiring scripts have been grabbed by NMD activists as ammunition to (*unfairly*) rationalise why a female doctor does not work. On the contrary, I've seen a female doctor work unbelievably well, her name was Jo Martin and she was one of the few saving graces of this era.
I didn't hate it but it is unlikely I will ever want to watch it again. In contrast, I didn't hate the Star Wars sequel trilogy and I would watch it again. I am very sour grapes when it comes to the Star Wars sequel trilogy
![DID IT SUCK? Doctor Who [LEGEND OF THE SEA DEVILS REVIEW]](/img/1.gif)
My video on the issue of the BBC's support of Transphobia: ruclips.net/video/aN4uc0HZrWE/видео.html
My video on the BBC's response to complaints of its reporting: ruclips.net/video/skh81N5lcYY/видео.html
My short on why I'll continue to put up the note at the front of these: ruclips.net/user/shortsHpwwzjzFXiE
Shaun's 1st video, which includes some additional confirmed information: ruclips.net/video/b4buJMMiwcg/видео.html
Shaun’s 2nd video, which follows how the BBC is trying to dodge accountability for all of this: ruclips.net/video/qfjTG6SVjmQ/видео.html
Shaun’s 3rd video, following him escalating his complaints: ruclips.net/video/fRn1UZ4fhdE/видео.html
Shaun's 4th video, covering the BBC's response: ruclips.net/video/3F7GW7Ro4OQ/видео.html
Laura Kate Dale's protest speech outside the BBC offices: ruclips.net/video/hBjGnWkwAjI/видео.html
I think the biggest failing with Jodie's Doctor was that they clearly had a character and personality decided early on, but never actually took the time to explore it until the end. I saw her as a person who took 12's last words very literally. She was kind, almost to a fault, but in a very detached way. She didn't want to become close to anyone but she still wanted to be around people. Gathering a lot of friends but no proper companions because those hadn't been going so well. I think if they took some time in her first series to establish that she wasn't allowing those connections for her own good, it might've made her more...personable? Instead we got scripts that made her seem very aloof to an almost callous degree. I really think just one scene of her actually talking a little about it, even if it only happened once, would have had fans a bit more accepting of her.
Your discussion of the Thirteen always being so distanced from her companions made a little connection in my head.
The Tenth Doctor, as you always say, was by far the most *human* Doctor. He always formed *strong* relationships with his companions. And what is the first thing that happens after Thirteen’s regeneration ends?
She gets Ten’s old face back and goes back to meet the companion he probably had the strongest relationship with.
I think the “reason” for this new face is to remind the Doctor that the joy of connection is worth the pain of the loss.
That's a really interesting parallel to take and it makes so much thematic sense
Good call!
I know I say this a lot, but I tried hard NOT to write an essay and I just feel like this sort of thought requires it:
Thats an interesting take on why Whitaker won't open up. I'm always looking for the throughline that links the doctors as a single story: Eccleston coming off the war doctors actions and regrets, Tennant being vengeful but opening up and falling in love, falling out of love, and then ending up with a team of friends, Smith going a step further to live escapist from the war and have fun with an official family, but then that family dies, and after multiple companions lost, here comes this person who keeps coming BACK. And he gets inspired to save Gallifrey because of her.
I think this is why Moffat thought Clara was special and why people found the transition from Smith (light-hearted fun) to Capaldi (gruff) jarring, but I see it as Smith's escapist facade dropping post-time war and Capaldi dealing with the morality of it, the war doctor repression coming through, and Capaldi gets really attached to the immortal girl as he finally has (though its an illusion) of a companion who Gets it, having seen his life in full and appearing as though she is the companion he can't lose. She understands The DOCTOR, not the lonely traveller. But then ... she does finally die. And he struggles to accept it, even raging at the same home he saved because of her, but he finally does let her go, and pays consequence for the way he let previous companions go. Companions are all humans and none of them are going to last forever. The Doctor image has made him distant, and he misses the basic adventures.
And this convinces Capaldi to let go of River officially, he knew since Tennant she would die, Smith even said goodbye, but Capaldi knows he hasn't yet done the "final" thing they do. So he does that, and starts a new leaf with Bill and Nardole. but when he finally understands what the Doctor image should stand for, not war or vanity or escapism but kindness, bill becomes a cyberman and nardole (i think) dies in war. and it just never ends. He makes peace by remembering why he became the doctor in the first place, but its why I feel so baffled and mixed towards Whitaker.
On the one hand, every companion except martha was lost, dead, or... Donna, so I feel like in a way Graham and Ryan were the first companions to not leave tragically (arguably, i never felt like they wanted to be there from the beginning) but i get why she would start off thinking she needs to distance from companions and then get agitated when her home blows up, her identity gets upended, her friends (who she was already scared to attach to) leave and the only person remaining seems to LOVE her (rose/river trauma is fresh).
On the other hand, Capaldi literally just made peace with all this stuff, ended his memory of bill and nardole with cuddles, told the next doctor to - if anything - just be kind, and whitaker comes off oddly cold-hearted at times that just didn't need it, like not just cruel and anti-thetical to what Capaldi went through (duty of car arc AND just be kind arc) but right back to Smiths big red button ignore the consequences flippancy, tennants lack of second chances, and ecclestons moody isolation. The difference being that a) they came before her, b) already went through that and got over it, and c) had the time war lingering in their brain, whereas Whitaker is reacting to possibly the cheapest 'tragedy' in Gallifrey suddenly being entirely blown up without explanation. I really like the idea of Whitaker being that empathic part of Capaldi who thought the kindest thing to do was to keep distance from companions and was reserved out of reluctance to resort to violence like previous doctors ... but was surprisingly cruel plenty of times without consideration or regret or reflection and it just felt like a complete devolution of every arc from every doctor that came before. A lot of that hindered by her stories being discount tennant popular moments, and I suspect the BBC really wanted tennant / russel (or the equivalant for ratings boost) a lot sooner.
I like to think then, that if Capaldi was the post-time-war doctor, Whitaker is the one really reflecting on it as these losses seem to be cyclical, and as she reflects back she realizes the lives she could have lived. Capaldi, being the new regeneration cycle, looked back to his original form and wondered if it was worth being the doctor, then Whitaker looked further back and discovered Ruth and many other various potential not-doctor doctors. So Tennant2 is her going fully back to that mistake Capaldi paid for; if Capaldi is Tennant's best example of heroism "who frowned me this face?", then Donna is his greatest loss "you were going to wipe my memory? How would you feel if someone did that to you?", and Capaldi forgot clara as pennance for Donna forgetting him. Capaldi got clara back, so now it's time for Tennant2 to get Donna back. After losing so many companions, Whitaker brought some of her oldest ones back, and now Tennant2 is going to bring some of his newest ones back. (...or Davies will kill Donna off officially and it'll be very sad and everything in doctor who is just doomed to die in an never ending repetition of ideas sooner or later and whitaker was right to be miserable and reject yaz).
But yeah, head-canon, the doctor is cleaning up, and Ncuti Gatwa, THE doctor, is the potential of all the previous doctors, the fun of all the classic doctors, the heartache of all the new doctors, and although i don't want to put too much pressure on his run, I just hope he's an amalgamation of a fresh start after Tennants nostalgia cleans house. If Eccelston was the new-who doctor, a clear departure from the classic era, I always want Ncuti to be the start of the next era, the high budget Mainstream Era, one free from the baggage of new-who time war stuff and gallifrey-dying retread. Otherwise there is every chance of him just being Eccleston missing gallifrey with RTD2 writing the same as RTD1 and i dont want that nearly as much but we're weirdly in the same place. a doctor that leaves the show potentially cancelled, a one-off doctor, and now the reboot, same showrunner as last time. It's so earily similar RTD2 really needs to do something specially different with Ncuti and I do think the mini-arc tennant goes on will define whether it's same old same old or going in a new direction.
If you did, thanks for reading.
I am so happy Ching Shih got an episode, she is by far the most successful pirate in history, amassing thousands of ships (Mainstream pirates like Blackbeard had at most five) and was so influential she was stronger than the South China government at the time. She established new laws in her pirate army and in the end while most western pirates died while fighting or got executed, she became so rich she and all her pirates made a deal with South China to just retire. She is amazing.
It's a shame she got an episode in the Chibnal Era who made her into a generic pirate though.
Omg, Anne Bonny and Mary Read would have been SO MUCH BETTER! Also gay
There's a lot I don't like about the Chibnal era, but I did enjoy the (lesser known) historical characters and events. This is especially in our current world where history is being manipulated and corrupted!
1:40 The year is 2066- Vera is doing take two reviews of Series 34 from her retirement home
This is one of the only things I've watched where you can actually hear the editor pulling their hair out.
The thing that came to mind for me when I was watching the scene between Thirteen as Yaz is that... since the time war? The Doctor has only had two companions that were there for a Regeneration, and both of those relationships had utterly devastating endings. Losing Rose left The Doctor outright suicidal (as shown in Turn Left), and poisoned his relationship with Martha. Losing Clara... The mere threat of losing Clara was a determent to The Doctor's Ethics. ...Thirteen knows it's coming up to The End for her, and the best case of what that means is another regeneration. When a Companion is there for The Doctor during a regeneration, the bond between them becomes something so strong it's not just The Doctor who hurts. The Doctor will hurt everyone else for that person.
I was super excited for the Sea Devils to come back so this just being an okay episode was really disappointing. The thing I remember about this one, apart from the very exciting Next Time trailer, is thinking how weirdly edited it was. When it aired I actually rewound it at one point because I was convinced that I'd zoned out and missed a scene when I hadn't at all!
I think a lot of the hate for this episode comes not from bad writing but from bad direction and editing, its frequently incoherent and ugly to look at. And although this can be explained by covid its not an excuse, especially as Flux, and the two episodes either side of it were made under the constraints of covid and were all very well made despite the behind the scenes challenges.
Personally I prefer this episode's Yaz and Doctor scene to the one done with Graham in 'Can You Hear Me?' To me that one felt like it was trying to be quirky and just came off as annoying to me.
The more sombre atmosphere of the scene here had the effect of making me sympathetic to Yaz.
My guess would be this was meant to be part of Flux, had to be rewritten to remove those elements, and lost what little sense a Chibnall story has any pretence to. The stars moving could just as well have been stars disappearing? Maybe Chibnall had a rare moment of clarity where he realised it didn't fit at all, but had to go with it.
Heck if someone told me it was a two parter that was filmed but with all the Flux reference scenes cut out, I'd be half inclined to believe it!
An American saying 'Bog standard' has made my day!
From memory, and having double checked, Jodie's era wrapped in October 2021. We'd had a lot of restrictions from mid March 2020 up until mid July 2021, so basically all of the filming was in that period (including Power of the Doctor). From September 2020 you had limits on "bubbles" of 6 people (to varying degrees, and such), so yeah every special was filmed under restrictions barring POTD for what was only a couple of months (and maybe a handful of pickups as obviously filming was finished before Flux aired, but only just so I imagine it was just for specials). So yeah, a lot of awkward action stuff is definitely due to a mix of awkward editing but also probably just trying to keep to restrictions as well and damage reduction of the fight choreo.
The thing i most hate about this episode is The Doctor saying Yaz is the greatest person she knows, like no she isn't especially the bad way the Doctor treats Yaz all the time
I see a lot of people in the fandom complaining about the same thing you said here, but in the episode, The Doctor says Yaz is ONE OF the greatest people she has ever known, she even mentions River as another example of a great person she knows.
DOCTOR: "[...] I think you're one of the greatest people I've ever known. Including my wife."
But, yeah the way The Doctor treats Yaz is so bad it's hard to watch, especially during Flux.
@Gabrielecgomes1 Yeah, bur Yaz isn't one of the greatest people the Doctor knows, and I hate that she says she is .
The Doctor basically kicks Yaz out in POTD, but she's one of the greatest like no.
Like, I don't get it when people say The Doctor is in love with Yaz. i think it's the opposite, I think The Doctor hates Yaz a little bit
@@vortexalliance9938 Yaz deserved Better in a similar way that Martha did.
@@nekusakura6748 I would say 13 treated Yaz worse than 10 to Martha
Thank you for the video, Vera!
As you mentioned, as a mid-season filler/regular episode (despite its flaws), it is perfectly serviceable, but as a special one, it is not very good. To be fair, special episodes do not need to be themed after the holidays which they are released on, but there is at least some expectation of them having that extra "oomph". That does not happen here. And even the running time being similar to the average of a regular episode seems to imply that it been repurposed as a special.
The editing of the episode is also very weird. There is a lack of continuity between certain scenes. After the TARDIS was taken to the Sea Devils' hidden lair by the Huasen, at first, I thought that the Doctor and Yaz were inside the monster, and it was actually an artificial creature manned by the Sea Devils.
Until certain degree, I did appreciate the episode for acknowledging the "Thasmin" relationship and explaining why it will not be explored (especially considering the Chris Chibnall's era and Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor's run reaching their endings). Let's be sincere: most of fiction fandoms have their character "shippings". If they are fictional (not involving real people) and in good taste (definitely not between murderers/abusers and their victims), the shippings are okay. But if the media work in question will make the shipping canon, it needs some time to establish and explore the relationship. What I am really curious about is, if, at some point, Chris Chibnall has planned to portray the romantic relationship between the Doctor and Yaz, and the COVID-19 lockdown cut short his number of episodes for that, or he heard about the shipping online and decided to "throw a bone" to the fans at the end of his run.
You are so right that this does not feel like a special at all and what's even more concerning is that this could have been her regeneration story had the BBC not asked Chibnall to do one more special for the BBC's centenary.
Lol i didn't realise the other pirate wasn't real, so strange that they felt the need to bring him in
I'm not a massive fan of this episode but great video as always and I look forward to your ranking the specials video and the take two review of power of the doctor
Everyone has their picks for "worst episode of Doctor Who"; for me personally, that's this one. I can't say I _hate_ the episode per se, but it's definitely the episode that makes me the most frustrated and annoyed on everyone conceivable level. The story is a garbled nonsensical mess with one-dimensional characters that simply show up wherever the plot needs them to be; the era's inconsistent morality is once again on full display; the dialogue is overreliant on tedious exposition regarding things we can see happening onscreen at that moment; the Sea Devils are depicted as bland monsters totally lacking the depth and nuance they're supposed to have.
And then there's the handling of the Doctor/Yaz scenes which are a real mixed bag in my opinion; on one hand, it's nice to finally get some meaningful character-driven conversations between the pair for once; on the other hand, it's frustrating that said scenes are mostly devoted to a reheated version of the "curse of the Time Lord" stuff from the first RTD era, doubly frustrating since the Capaldi era seemed to indicate that the show was moving on from this angle. Maybe if they'd actually explored this aspect of Thirteen's character from the beginning and focussed her flaw of keeping her companions at an arm's length, I'd be a lot less annoyed about this development. But as always, Chibnall's apparent inability to actually engage with her flaws (or indeed any of the main characters' flaws) just results in the rehashing of a dynamic that has previously been shown to be misguided and selfish at best, and downright toxic and harmful at worst.
And aside from its poorly-plotted and incoherent story, the episode is badly-made from a production standpoint. The editing is slapdash and confusing, with it legitimately feeling like entire scenes have been skipped over at points. The fight choreography is embarrassingly amateurish, which may perhaps explain the sloppy editing. The visual effects are frankly pathetic, and often look like they're unfinished. The cinematography is really dull and washed-out, especially in the underwater scenes. Even the score, which is usually a pretty strong part of this era, is really bland and forgettable. With the exception of the three leads, who are clearly trying their best with the substandard material, I really can't think of anything actually praiseworthy about this episode. I recall this being the point where I officially wrote off the Whittaker era, after _Eve of the Daleks_ seemed to suggest an era that I otherwise didn't like would at least be coming to a decent ending, this was such a hollow and dispiriting adventure that offered a clear summary of all my biggest bugbears with this era as a whole.
I didn't even know it was a special. I expected a standard episode, I got a standard episode.
I've been very negative about this episode in the past, although I admit that some of it was not justified. It's clear that more effort was put into the following episode (which makes sense), and that this episode was very much rushed in some places (like the effects) and that there may have been some hungover covid restrictions. It's an episode that came out at the worst possible time also, RTD was announced to return to DW around this time I think, and does overshadow this episode especially hard (when a lot of people were uninterested with the current stuff and wanted the new era to begin). Again I don't like it, but like a lot of these later Chibs era episodes, I know that there were some behind the scenes issues with them. If you like them, that's fair, they're just not for me that's all. 👍
The least 'special' special 😂 And I agree with the notion of Jodie just extolling virtues left and right (in the case of Sin Ji-Hun). Would a timeless alien be THAT impressed by most of earth's historical figures? I get that she's quite smitten with our planet, but most of us just aren't that impressive.
8:27 Ooh, that's a good shout! In my pirate phase atm, so maybe this ep will do more for me if I rewatched it now. That said, its got nothing on Dr Who and the Pirates.
This is such a frustrating release, in theory it should be at the very least a fun watch, Pirates Vs Sea Devils, however the mix of this eras recurring scripting issues and being butchered during editing it becomes a tough watch. On 13 my issue is that I can't tell whether they're going for Kind but shy (scared to open up for fear of being hurt again) or cold and superficial, either is fine for a character arc but not committing to one makes it hard to pin her down.
Hope you do go for a ranking of the specials. Perhaps the biggest consideration is whether to include the Christmas specials as well as the others? I know you did a ranking of the Christmas ones but I think that was about 4-5 years ago so your thoughts might have changed and there's been a few since then as well.
This is very good, thank you, and I love how you have been able to relate things back to earlier parts of the run. Makes a lot of good sense
Here's probably the worst thing about this episode I couldn't hear the dialogue. I'm not joking, the sound mixing was so bad that the music made what the characters were saying impossible to understand. The worst example was the conversation between the Doctor and Yaz at the end of the episode because I didn't even know what she said because the background music stopped me from hearing what either of them were saying so I was just watching two people sitting with loud music maybe talking then suddenly the episode just stopped.
Calling this a "bog standard" episode is wiiiiiiiild. It's barely an episode at all. It's the most unfinished, dull, poorly written episode of television I've ever seen, and calling it "bog standard" is kind of insulting to the previous 13 seasons of the show.
The thing about this episode is I cannot get over the fact that they had a magical sea rock at the start (which is apparently so important she wakes a statue up for it) and then by the end there is a second magical sea rock which is actually the important one and we forget about the first one. Very poor story writing.
I also hated that they just allow someone to sacrifice themselves for them without question...again.
I'm so gutted that the Thasmin storyline was so poor. On TV Doctor Who still hasn't nailed a good f/f storyline (I do like Big Finish Paternoster Investigates so I'll give the audio a pass).
Great video as ever would love to see you rank the specials!
I feel like no matter how brilliant or terrible the episode was, it was gonna get hated because it had the task of bringing back the sea devils. and when it's been such a fan favourite monster to request a return for, nothing will ever live up to the expectations that fifty years have grown
tbh I think this would've fit anne bonney and mary read much better than it would've done for cheng shih/zheng li sao, because those are more the type of pirates this episode needed rather than essentially a naval commander. but I get why they went with cheng shih instead, because there hasn't been a (good) representation of chinese people in dr who before, and I think people have had a story about her on their wants from the show for a while. I just don't think the story as it was written was the right choice.
lastly, I also think that thirteen not making deeper connections with her companions is, while I don't think intentional (which is odd considering how good chibbers usually is at the character stuff), a really interesting side to the character. with twelve, he made really deep connections with his companions, and one of them he literally had to wipe his memory of and the other he had to leave for decades (from bill's perspective) as he tried to save her only for her to be converted into a cyberman and he dies trying to save so many people because he cares so much. and then, thirteen can't care. she can't let herself get too deeply invested lest everyone die
I'd be interested to see whether this or the next doctor gets the bottom spot on the specials ranking
The big question about this episode: is it better or worse than Warriors of the Deep?
Certainly better. At least the Sea Devils aren't side villains like in their other episodes, including their debut as good as that one is though.
It's better than that mess.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Black sails. It's such a hidden gem that managed a far better run than Game of Thrones did.
The intro reminded me, have you ever or will you ever review Pirates of the Caribbean?
Hope, at some point, you might embark on a Take Two Review of the Eccleston, Tennant and Smith eras to see whether any of your views might have changed since your original reviews :)
I'd rather not, because while technically the "overdue" reviews that are on the channel for those serve as "the original reviews" insofar as there isn't an earlier one, they were done in completely the same spirit as "take two" (i.e. taking my old opinion into account and seeing how things matched to my memory). Really the only difference is that you the viewer can compare a take two to an earlier video, but from my experience I've effectively already done this.
That makes total sense. Thanks very much for clarifying@@CouncilofGeeks
I don't know what it is about these Doctor Who Easter specials that makes them so excruciatingly boring
It’s pretty good but it does have pandemic restriction shooting all over it but if it was to be a proper special they should’ve at least mention what happened after flux cause at this point we have had the festive special and legends of the sea devils with no mention of the flux like they all just forgot it happened which can make continuity feel off I do get that the specials after season 4 didn’t bring up the events of season 4’s season finale but they weren’t forgotten cause they are brought back up again in the season 5 episode victory of the daleks when the doctor asks Amy if she remembered the event happened
Also will say as flawed as this episode is, I really don't get the complete seemingly unanimous agreement among the fandom that this episode is the worst of all time. I think, as you mentioned, the weight of expectations after the excitement of the Sea Devils returning for the first time, as well as the fact it was a historical with a returning species from Chibnall (who's had a pretty good track record of historicals being liked among the fandom) and some talented people in front and behind the camera, it just fell flat for a lot of people and so people just took every bad thing and acted like it's as bad as possible. I am far from a fan of this episode, but it has fun points and some nice stuff, even if it is ultimately underwhelming. It is a bad special, but it's also an okay ish episode of Doctor Who
I don't hate the episode but for one that was a special it wasn't special at all and so felt like a let down. I haven't seen it since airing but I do remember a lot of reviewers then breaking down all the messy editing, continuity, the memorably ridiculous Mario jump of the Sea Devil on to the flying ship etc etc which only made it more 'meh'.
My only enduring memory is the beach chat. While I'm no fan of Thasmin I came away from the episode with a feeling that was one of the better executed parts.
Would I be enticed to watch it again though, probably not. Looking forward to the Take Two review of POTD!
PS and yes definitely a rank of the specials as a lead into the specials (60th edition) would be welcomed. Take a drink every time I write the word special. 😂😂
God if only they'd properly gone into the thasmin stuff
So Sea Devils and the Silurians are Earth native species, so which one came first?
It's a fun romp. Which we needed, being sandwiched in between Flux and Power of the Doctor.
I like 13 and Yaz. It's low key and sweet, with none of Tennant's angsty, adolescent stuff.
It's weird how people seem to have issues with how 13 acts, when to me, she has always felt like the Doctor.
The episode is a total mess. It just has huge gaps where seemingly things were not filmed. I have no massive issues with it and love the 13&yaz stuff. But yeah it's very meh in general.
Probably cliche to say it at this point but for me I can't think of a worse episode in all of New Who
I definitely can. Idiot's Lantern. Worst of the entire run of the show. Always and forever.
love and monsters
@@CouncilofGeeks trouble with Idiots Lantern is that it's so painful I'm never going to forget elements of it, there's no moments in LOTSD that don't move me at all, in a good or bad way, I just feel nothing toward it which is bad
@@CouncilofGeeksyou mean you're not hungrrryy to see it again!? (Can't stand power of 3 myself)
Vera likes pirate stories ey?… One Piece video? 👀
Sure, let me just set aside the rest of my living days to catch up on the thing.
@@CouncilofGeeks tbf I started my catch-up journey 4-5 months ago and admittedly I’ve slacked off here and there but have been skipping filler and am over 200 eps in now! Likely not gonna be able to catch up by the end of the year but still been manageable enough.
In any case, there is Netflix’s live action version dropping next month 👀
Far from the worst episode ever. There's plenty that I enjoy from it. Just too short and poorly paced/edited to be a great special. It's certainly better as a standard episode.
It will be interesting to see people's stories of this time with Covid and the BBC seemingly messing with running orders, this was "Meh filler" it was below average as a standard episode and shockingly bad as a special. If I was invested I would have been super annoyed that they bring back a classic monster with this wasted story. a story that at a different time could have been pretty cool. I really wish that Jodie and the team had a better showrunner as they never really connected as a team until far too late.
I agree! I think this is a fun episode too, that's not to say it doesn't have *issues* because oh boy it does and I think specifically they are production issues that affected the story as a whole, you can tell things were cut out but despite that I still enjoy it and I think the Yaz and Doctor scenes are so good that it's worth the price of admission alone! This episode also has one of my fave lines in all of Doctor Who "We're just a crew, from a ship, looking for adventure. And often finding it." which just really encapsulates what Doctor Who is all about!
The editing on this story was a bit messy. It seemed to have chunks of story cut from it. Great to see the Sea Devils back. I though it visually looked rather good. Even with the flaws I do quite like the episode over all.
Admittedly quite shameful to say, but this is the first (and so far only) episode of New Who that I have not seen in full. I tried twice to watch it, but both times just got bored at the 10 mins mark and couldn't justify finishing when there's a million and 1 other things competing for my time. This was at the height of my disillusionment with the Chibnal era, which might have impacted my perspective. It's not a milestone I wanted to reach 😕
I know many will ask, "Really? This was the episode that you couldn't sit through? Didn't you struggle to endure Hell Bent?" My answer is (and I'm learning this about myself) that boredom is so much worse for me than being frustrated during a viewing experience. Hell Bent is bad, really really bad and diminishes all the good that Heaven Sent set up. But I wasn't bored watching it. Annoyed, sure. Exasperated, definitely. But like watching an uncontrollable forest fire, you know what you're witnessing is horrendous, but you can't bring yourself to look away.
I think this episode that I gave up on specifically was 1) at the end of his era so I knew I wasn't going to be overly impressed based on past opinions, 2) I was really ready for this era to be over and 3) it was (unfortunately) unremarkable and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't Jodie's finale, so there wasn't the "need" to watch her final moments. I was just tired, and I still don't have the motivation to watch it even now 😔
Note: Don't take my criticism as Jodie hate. I don't dislike Jodie at all. The writing let her era down, and if anything the uninspiring scripts have been grabbed by NMD activists as ammunition to (*unfairly*) rationalise why a female doctor does not work. On the contrary, I've seen a female doctor work unbelievably well, her name was Jo Martin and she was one of the few saving graces of this era.
it was crap
I didn't hate it but it is unlikely I will ever want to watch it again. In contrast, I didn't hate the Star Wars sequel trilogy and I would watch it again. I am very sour grapes when it comes to the Star Wars sequel trilogy