'The Halloween Apocalypse' Review - Doctor Who: Flux (Series 13)
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- It's been a while, but I'm back talking nonsense about Doctor Who. Welcome to my personal RUclips channel, where I can talk about Who without any interference. Series 13 (or 'Flux') is finally here, and it's about time we dug deep into the first chapter of Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor's final full series. Where would 'The Halloween Apocalypse' land on a scale of 0 to 10 for you? Let me know in the comments!
#DoctorWhoFlux #TheHalloweenApocalypse #DoctorWho
Check out Amy and I's NuWho rewatch podcast here:
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I have to say, I was gutted when you left your "previous employment". Honestly, I loved watching your ups and downs after each Doctor Who installment. So it's an absolute pleasure to see that you're continuing the tradition, in this new form, here on your own channel. Thanks Rich. Keep up the good work!!
Why did he leave his past employment
I was just watching ups and downs and thinking, it's not the same! I too enjoy your commentary. Looking forward to your review.
Compared to the last 2 series actually ENJOYED this episode. And Jodie got to act. Yaz felt important. Really pleased and looking forward to the rest of the series.
Glad your still giving your thoughts on the current series! I think your opinions are fantastic!
What frustrates me a lot about this era of doctor who is what theyve done with Yaz. This is her 3rd season and i somehow feel the least attached to her throughout all of the companions in recent years. Big shame theyve wasted Mandip in this way
I kind of agree with you: she felt like one character in the background alongside with Graham and Ryan. They had to divide their screentime and none of them got a proper development. But now, just one episode and Yaz finally seemed to get her space and be a character om her own: she's experienced, she knows what the Doctor's doing and she's able to understand alien technology herself. Now she feels like a proper companion and I'm very positive about her role, she just needed to be on her own.
@@porygatto i agree with you but id argue Graham had a pretty strong arc in season 11, Ryan and Yaz both felt like background characters. Thats great and all but as the reviewer said, all that development happened off screen.. im hoping youre right and they give Mandip something to do other than just constantly ask questions so Chibbs can explain to us whats going on
@@porygatto It's got nothing to do with the fact that there were 3 companions, You may have seen a 5 hour critique of Doctor Who floating about. I'd recommend watching the section in that video about hope for the series in which Jay talks about Villa Diodati (Or whatever it's called). You'll find that despite the fact that there are more characters with only 1 episode to tell a story, they were each adequately written. You understand who their characters were because unlike Yaz, Ryan, and Graham, they were actually characterised. Aside from that episode, all character writing was bad not because there wasn't enough time in the episodes, but because the writing itself was shit. The companions weren't there to be characters, they were there to remind you of the plot.
While I recommend watching that one portion, I honestly think the video overall is really worth the watch as the critique is very well thought out and you might find yourself learning new things about the series and what makes it not a very good couple of seasons.
it felt like chibs struggled to write female characters and fully develop them from the beginning so honestly it’s nothing new, it’s a shame but it’s not surprising at this point
Hard to say if Jon Bishop can't act or he's been given bugger all to work with. The dialogue was appalling, so stilted and boring. Chibnall has no idea how to show not tell, so much exposition. His biggest problem is not being able to write Doctor Who. Also... where the hell is the soundtrack? Murray Gold had motifs and action themes galore... I can recall so much of his work, but I couldn't pick out a single memorable theme from the past 3 years.
What if the flux is the product of the Reality Bomb? It was said to cross alternate universes and in one universe there must have been one successful detonation by the daleks and davros, the flux does match the described effects of the bomb, just saying that would be a very nice tie in
Could you refresh my memory, what is the reality bomb ?
I thought the flux could have been created by the death particle in the timeless children
@@albatross6093 davros stole planets to power his reality bomb which would destroy all of realityv
@@albatross6093 reality bomb was davros' plan for the extermination of all matter (although there was a similar plan that the timelords shown in the end of time pt 2 , were planning idk who stole from who) and it was powered by z neutrino energy from planetary alignment which acted as a big generator of the z neutrino energy, blasting a wavelength throughout every corner of the universe and destroying every form of matter.
@@albatross6093 yeah the reality bomb was from series 4 of doctor who, davros invented a bomb that destroys matter at the atomic level, much like the flux, and it destroys realities, crossing from one universe to the next, surely there is one parallel universe were davros’ plans succeeded and therefore the bomb would wipe out the multiverse no matter what
Besides Dan’s photos on his fridge, I think I saw a couple of overdue utility bills. I always enjoyed the “ups and downs” but having your own channel is far less limiting. Great review.
Why did he leave WhatCultur??
I enjoyed the episode a lot, but it was just absolute carnage where Chibbers decided to hit the ground running with about a dozen subplots from the very first part. Difficult to assign a score when literally none of those subplots have achieved any kind of resolution yet, but I'm certainly excited to see more and think S13 has a ton of potential
Chibnall has started this episode a bit like the start of broadchurch. So much going on all at once.
@@lxtechmangood9503
Exactly, so as a huge Broadchurch fan I'm hoping it'll pay off in the same way
@@Scrummy64 fingers crossed 🤞
Didn’t realise you’d left the “other place” hope it was of your own accord. I’ll add you to the list of former employees of that place I now follow elsewhere 😄
what was his previous job?
@@danhayward3057 - at WhatCulture.
Yeah I'm surprised I still released an up and down
His Ups and Downs reviews and the podcast were the real reason I subscribed to WhoCulture. But alas, I'm glad to see he's back.
@@adamburke4738 same
So glad to see you're back dude, WC lost one of its main stars when you left imo and I'm so happy to see you doing your thing without their influence making it more restrictive as I'm assuming it was. And I'm glad you liked this episode! I went into it expecting it to be mostly set up so in the end I wasn't disappointed at all, more just hyped for what's to come, I thought it was an enjoyable 50 minutes of Doctor Who, so far so good for series 13.
Why did he leave?
It's a bit strange that we're told the Sontarans are thirty trillion light years away, when the entire observable universe is 'only' 93 billion light years wide. Surely someone could have been bothered to spend ten seconds checking that? I'm guessing they just liked the idea of a really big number?
Yes 😂 full of holes saved the earth but not the sun lol
Just re-watching today, and what confuses me, with timelords supposedly being the most advanced creatures of the universe. Why does the tardis not have defences against the flux, when a “lesser” species have that technology? Can’t wait to see what happens next episode, either way.
I'll be honest, I felt like I was 100% done with Doctor Who after the Timeless Children. I didn't even watch the holiday special. However, after hearing about RTD coming back, my interest peaked again. I decided I'd test the waters for Flux by watching Rich's reviews. While this review has not convinced me to jump back into Chib's era, I'm definitely intrigued. If the series continues on an upward trajectory, I may start watching again. I'll definitely be looking for Rich's thoughts on episode 2 of the series. Here's hoping it will make me want to watch it again... because I really miss GOOD Doctor Who. 😔
The episode was alright, but it's evidently Chibby overcompensating for all the lost time he's got to catch up on. Sadly, cramming three of the most popular Doctor Who monsters into a 49-minute runtime just isn't it. And yeah... I was thinking, where did that 1820 arc want to go?
Edit: OK, a lot of this is what I was thinking. Especially the 'Dan's laptop' thing...
The laptop was not correct to the time period also it looks slightly futuristic also the software on it was also futuristic. What really bugs me is when Claire blinks at her front door when the weeping angel is chasing her and the angel doesn’t move.. and they play it off as she hasn’t blinked yet..
To be fair this isnt the first time theyve had this happen in an Angel story.
Yeah. Even if it was time period correct it looked new MacBook Pro expensive in a house with peeling paint outside & a man sized hole in the ceilings plaster.
I'm just not sure what Claire was hoping to accomplish by going inside, Angels are super strong, a wooden door wouldn't stop one.
@@deltahalo241 I was under the impression when she said “the long way round” earlier in the story, and that she knew who the angels were, that she thought she had to be taken.
@@deltahalo241 Could delay the Angel for a while.
This just showed up in my recommendations, good to see you back on RUclips. Also, the many people trying to argue the poor sound design was to do with TV settings is hilarious. It's quite simply just bad editing.
Vinda is SOOOOO supposed to be Captain Jack during the Crisis on Infinite Flux.
I already can't even remember which one Vinda was. I assume the one on the space station out in the middle of nowhere?
Hey, there's Rich! Thankfully the algorithm did it's thing because I had no idea you had left to do your own thing!
Congratulations, good luck and good on you 🤘
Unlike you (and well done for being a more objective man) I no longer go into Chibnall's Who expecting to be anything other than disappointed; but it's not because I'm being an ass for the sake of being an ass: It's because I'm being discerning for the sake of discernment.
The world is just not right if Rich isn't doing his reviews of Doctor Who. thank you.
My takeaway was that the first episode was poorly balanced and over stuffed. I personally would have ditched the yaz / dr cold open. Instead I wouod have moved the space station rose scenes here, so that we saw the flux at the beginning, but had no clue what exactly it was. I’d have then jumped to yaz and the dr copiloting the tardis after doggo, with yaz still asking who the guy is and why the dr cares,. The flashbacks and scenes in liverpool, plus the spiky guy parts I’d leave as is, but if you must feature the sontarons, add it in as an epilogue or the cold open for episode two.
The weeping angel and stalking of dan’s date, I feel were sort of necessary for the wider plot, but maybe sticking them here broke up the flow of the story and distracted too much. I might even have skipped them entirely to be added as interludes later on. Certainly the whole Claire sequence felt bizarre and just as awkward as captain jack in prisoner of the Judoon.
Way too busy this episode and YES the dialogue was inaudible. Fire the sound editor he did a terrible job this episode. The director could do with a verbal warning too.
I really really enjoyed The Halloween apocalypse despite it stuffing quite a lot of plot points into one episode. I'm happy the weeping angels were briefly scary again again. plus with needler boy he's swarm and his sister who I can't remember the name of are most likely ravagers, that's my current running theory anyway.
Glad to see I can still see your weekly opinion my dude! Over the years my RUclips viewings have kept diverging out of ‘Name Redacted’ as some other former employees refer to it now.
I still really enjoy a lot of the guys over there such as Jules, and Scott but my favourites along the years have been Ben Potter, Peter Austin, Rach and yourself.
Rambling aside… great to have you back!
Missed you glad your back, my heart is singing. Halloween well had to turn it off after 10 mins, Chibnall and Whittaker have destroyed a legend. The best thing rtd can do is bring David Bradley back as the Hartnell dr in the junk yard in 1963 and the doctor decides to stay on earth with Susan and the Tardis melts to nothing end of story, time to go forever.
Haven't watched it due to disinterest. I'll leave the Dr. in my memory, running , in a disused quarry somewhere, away from the bad guys. who uncannily look like Chris Chibnall.
Oh dang I had no idea you left that other channel
Honestly fam, you were my favorite part of that channel and I loved your doctor who reviews, even though I didn't always agree
Glad to see you back and doing this on your own, I'll happily support your solo content, keep on doing what you do, cause you're good at it and really entertaining! 😊
That being said I'd probably rate this episode a little lower than you, but I can see why you really enjoyed it, I'm definitely excited to see what's to come!
I'm glad you're still doing doctor who reviews Rich, when you were doing ups and downs I was more excited for them than the actual episodes
Likewise
I completely disagree with you on this being the best doctor who had ever looked I hate that everything looks darker and the colouring correction they have done just looks off to me and makes it all look more artificial
The sonic isn't a screwdriver anymore. It's a Star Trek tricorder. The Doctor doesn't have to figure things out. I know there's only 45 minutes for episode, but what a cop-out. Hats off to JNT for destroying the sonic screwdriver back in 1982. Too bad it was brought back. So annoying.
The overnight ratings were a total disaster. Halloween Apocalypse was an absolute train wreck of a story and except for Dan the acting is REALLY terrible. Whittaker continues with her low-end accent which destroys any sense of her Doctor being brilliant. Would an American Doctor have a Bronx New York accent? Of course not. Chibnall has turned the show into a stupid, comic book parody of itself. The show is finished. It's been ruined beyond any possible repair and the audience is just walking away from it, now. Chibnall seriously makes John Nathan-Turner look like Orson Welles. The rule of thumb is a ratings slide this severe is irreversible. This once-great show has been beaten to death by the producer placing politics over story and acting. No one cares, anymore. When the hyper-brainwashed woke teenage fans lose the neon green hair dye and join the human race, the show won't have any audience left at all.
It’s embarrassing. Flop.
@@yussepig6629 totally. Thank you.
It’s not canon to me. It’s shit. Chibnall really destroyed it utterly. Reboot is needed and rejection of this ever existing.
@@yussepig6629 THANK YOU!!!!!!!
So... the Flux can eat everything, including planets and stars. But no the dog people spaceships? That’s rubbish. And the pre-title sequence was slapstick slapped way too far for me. And then everything happened and the tension died because of an overload of running, shouting and ‘stuff’. And then... I drank beer and thought about something else. The episode tried way too hard and once again failed as a result, IMO.
The CGI is so noticeably shit because they insist on leaning on it like a crutch. Less is more. Enhance some things, use CGI for space stuff, keep things low-key. That whole prison escape could have been done without ANY CGI and they wouldn't have had to stretch the budget yet again and look shit.
Let's face it, the episode was complete crap. Just like every episode since Matt Smith left. RTD can't get back quickly enough to erase all of chibnalls vandalism.
I doubt if the season Will be any good, all chibs can write is a lot of nonsense ,he Promise's a lot ,likes a lot of running around like headless chickens to distract the viewers from realizing there's no real story, everyone will soon see his work is superficial and lacks content, audience figures will drop off once we see the emperor has no clothes.chibs. and whitticker have no love of Dr who or its fans ,they are just there to promote ideology and identity politics.this will fail.they lack subtlety.I'll probably stop watching by episode 2 if it dosnt improve. I can already see poor thinking and chibs style at work,we are all going to die in the next 10 mins! oh don't worry I have a sonic screw driver there fixed Dr and yaz fall to their deaths tardis doors open they land on a conveniently waiting bed ,we're all saved ,sloppy easy write out of a live threatening situations typical of chibs ,it was the patriarchies fault! I'll be glad to see the back of this gang ,chibs Dr witless and yaz! Feel sorry for Dan bishop as l did for Bradley before him.T
Watched it with a friend... what absolute shit :D Felt like a btec production. Also, dogs, to protect humans... jezus what a terrible plot
Subscribed. I have no idea the drama you had with your previous employment. I remember watching you, you were great! Don't remember your previous employments name though lol.
- How does he have such a flashy computer?
- He's a scouser. How do you think?
sorry, thought he was great, and I'm also a scouser. WTF have they done to the Waterfront???
I know literally nothing about Doctor Who. I have seen the first series, and few one-offs here and there, but I am certainly no expert. However, I know how RUclips works, and engagement through watch time and comments helps with the channel, so here is a comment! Keep it up, Rich! You're good folk, and I'm delighted to see you spread your creative and critical wings. :D
Love your new direction and going on your own to make your content pure you instead of having outside forcing effecting it. I disagree with some of what you said and your score but isn't that the point and completely fine. Well it should be and everyone are the only ones to make that true. I'll definitely keep up with your DW reviews and any other content that interests me and I this kind of content keeps inspiring me to get back into content making and be a voice for this type of content also. Much love Rich
I guess Flux won't make sense to me cos I am counting down the days to start watching Who again when Whittaker leaves. I gave up watching after her first series and am delighted she'll be gone soon.
Chibs still sucks, there is no subtly or plot just random lines of story and worse than cheap story tricks to keep the painful story continuing, the music and dialogue is so unmeaningful n boring compared to series 1 to 4. The designs are cool but story is so forced and the arc i feel is gonna be a let down already i want him to prove me wrong
Thanks for your honest review. I agree with a lot of what you said. Quite a few disappointments and the sound at the beginning was crap. Sorry, just 5/10 for me
I was surprised when i didn't see you in the ups and downs.... happy to find you to ear your opinion... Good Luck for this new times from Portugal✌
Concerning the sound. I watched it on iPlayer afterwards and the sound seemed to be fixed, possibly a broadcast issue rather than production?
Okay but where on Earth (or not on Earth, but you know what I mean) we're these protector dog species when literally anything happened to Earth in the entire show?
If I watch this will I hear the constant wheezing and out of breath breathing from Jodi? I can’t stand it! I don’t think I can handle another episode of her huffing air as she tries to talk fast.
Well, if Yaz and the doctor didnt become friends in 2 saisons… i dont think Chibnal could do that in some episodes before the Flux :p
I’m so glad I found out you was doing your own channel, I have missed your reviews for Doctor who and I can’t wait for more content
What an absolute car crash - awful beyond imagination. Effects team need shooting and the less said about dog boy the better - it was embarrassing
Fair review. Mine would’ve been “Omg what a mess what exactly is going on?”
I'm so glad you're still doing videos. I wondered what you thought about the episode but I couldn't find you. Luckily, you came up as a suggestion video. Keep up the good work.
What about if there is a reverse weeping angel they start zapping people into the future rather than the past
I'm glad yas got fired from the police she was a terrible police officer
Not gonna lie, I thought that the absorbo-villain guy was Davros for a second
Good luck with your new independence.
And thank you so very much for the video.
He has no money but he works at a food banks so that's how he feeds himself The food comes with the job
Return of the fucking King (you can take that to mean you or dr who)
And I watch basically everything with subtitles but this brought its own problems with the show. The subtitles were so out of time it was really off putting, I turned them off but then couldn’t tell what was going on so I had to put them on and deal with it. Didn’t ruin the episode which was great as far as I’m concerned but it was just annoying for people who are hard of hearing
To be honest I had my doubts about your reviews on who culture.
But after watching this review on your own channel which I understand now you have a freedom to say exactly what you feel.
I now say good for you Sir well said and good luck👍
Fantastic to see you back talking who, you’ve always seemed to give every episode a fair shake, and with such such a natural screen presence, I’m excited to see what you do with more creative control.
They threw a lot at us in this episode. I genuinely think it was very strong opener, but Chibnall has given himself a lot to do.
. I feel more could have been done to build up to Swarm's escape, and his sister’s release. Whilst it was shocking, it could have been more menacing with a bit of a sense of creeping dread ( victim of the Covid culls?) . I think the Swarm's Sister was a bit of a weird inclusion. Not quite sure why she wasn't under lock and key in the same way as her brother? Clearly a wrong'un based on her treatment of Di ( guessing she Is a target for her association with Dan? Felt weirdly coincidental otherwise. my hope is that she was under some sort of witness protection and actually sequestered Di to protect her from swarm somehow) excited we’re getting a serialised story. Doctor who always seems to work well in this format, and Chibnall, on balance, writes better when he's writing serial s rather than standalone episodes. Interested to see how the numerous threads resolve themselves.
I did wonder why you hadn't appeared on WhoCulture for a while. You did a great job building up that channel from nothing.
Good to see you again Rich. Just subscribed to this channel. 😀
There are sometimes huge holes in the writing, for instance in the very first scene. The commander who is (training?) the junior officer specifically says not to engage the prisoner in conversation. We are told that she has been fulfilling this duty for a very long time and that all she ever does is stand silently. On this occasion however all that goes out the window and the first thing she does is engage in conversation and then gets killed. This was completely unnecessary, there were loads of other ways for her to keep to her orders, not converse, stick to regulations but still be killed. What I am saying is there was no plot need for her to be that useless. Then we discover that the weapon given to the junior officer "doesn't work". Why? What half competent outfit gives their guards weapons that don't work against what they are facing? Again it was unnecessary, she could have dropped it in fear or it could have been disintegrated before she could use it, but "doesn't work" is lame bad writing. You have to suspend reality when watching sci-fi but you shouldn't have to do it just to get over the bad writing.
i watched new doctor wh o episode yesterday and it was really good i think but i loved dan he's adorable -
Go on ya Rich... Im here for this Review Series.
Yo Rich, good to see you. I wondered what happened to you!
Clicked on the ups and downs then immediately off of it onto this
They were standing in Dan's living room, which was pretty bare, and a flashy laptop did not fit.
All of the characters did need to be there, or else they might have needed more than six episodes.
It was very busy hectic. I give it a solid 8.
I'm Canada and I have to turn on the subtitles just for the accents; otherwise I have no trouble hearing the actors. I love the cinematography of this episode since it feels very cinematic and different from prior seasons (ie, better). Yes, this episode is very busy but I can accept that since this is a table setting episode. I never expected to understand all the new characters / plot lines from the get go. I'm very excited about this series and I hope Whittaker will have a great send off last season!
More honest? So your previous stuff was dishonest?
I'm a fan of your past reviews, an didn't feel you were wrong or overly harsh but happy to see you doing your own thing!!! I found this episode highly enjoyable, even if it's flawed
THE RETURN OF THE KING!!!
Really pleased I stopped watching.
I was so sad that you left who culture but when i saw i seen this pop up i was so happy. I don’t think i can review these new episodes until the series has finished. I do actually agree that the sound mix was so loud. I thought Yaz was written so well and I enjoyed thirteen a lot. John Bishop was very funny and i really want to see more scenes with him. The effects were up and down. Score was great - especially love the weeping angel theme.
Welcome back.
You didnt have another channel on you tube?
Okay, I'll subscribe.
one moment you tell off chibbs for not making the Doctor deduce/sense/smell/taste enough the next moment you tell him off because the Doctor figured something out because she figured something out
My happiness is imaginable and my day is made! Rich is back!
I think Vinder's daily report was Chibnall talking... Just listen to what he says and match it up to his story and the fans. IT FITS SO WELL. Especially the "You can all go to hell"
So glad to have you back Rich, hopefully Russel T Davis has found your channel and can pick up some points for the next season.
Well first up, C.C. could always do cinematoraphy and visual effects. By his earlier work, he can be a good writer too. Second, yes i gave him a chance way back in series 11. But still f***** on the "divison" and looking deeper into the "Timeless Child BS" is kinda disapointing, specally after the huge backslash. The episode looks good. The classic Soltarans and the "real fur" Kavnistra looks great, really 70´s, same like the "6 Episodes is one story" its classic Who, thats how the show worked for 26 years.... BUT, and thats a big but ....(yes i know is a pun) FOR GOD SAKE stopp doing this "the whole universe is in danger". Its so odd and boring after so many times. I wasnt invested at all. Why would i? We know Jodie is around until the 60th, we know the story continues, we know they brought RTD back to be in safe hands.... So inside the Whoniverse nothing will happen, because we know its going on. Everything that does happen, is very real life thing of C.C. doing his "Oh look at me I did 1,2,3,4,5,6..... to the show, im the best" Go back to the classic Monster of the week or the Doctor beeing silly escaping any dull situation. Bring back the Rani. Siobhan Redmond does an incredable job in Big Finish and was chosen by Kate O´Mara herself, when she learned she would be dead before she could reprise the role. Rich, good to see you again, keep on doing it :)
Honestly, I've never seen a Who episode but I am definitely a fan of Rich
You AND Amy? Oh… mate, so very sorry to hear. WhatCulture seems to be dropping far too many of the best of the lot. In any case, well done you- this analysis was enjoyable to hear. I’ll subscribe to support you.
My own opinion is Chibs is a BIT too sentimental for “Classic Who.” Like a director longing for “Barney,” who makes all the monsters purple dinosaurs - and who can’t understand why everyone is rolling their eyes…
The thing I don’t understand from the Spy Kids cold open: why is Karvanista, who is clearly a good boy, setting out a whole series of apparently deadly but easily avoided traps like he’s the Master.
He's not a good boy, he's doing his job.
I’ve also realised that Karvanista also shrinks the house down like he’s the master. Hmmm.
@@gedbyrne8482 I would be incredibly surprised if that meant anything. It seemed more like they just shrunk Dan's house because it looked cool, rather than having any connection to the Master.
@@Here_is_Waldo it wouldn’t be that suprising. Having a likeable character revealed as the master has become a tired trope. It wouldn’t make much sense and I really hope Karvanista isn’t another Professor Yana or Razor.
I kinda liked the episode. My only problems were the different plots being thrown haphazardly in with only 2 scenes each, and I don't like how Dan appears to be a perfect human being. Don't get me wrong, I like him, bloody nice bloke, he just seems too perfect...
I was wondering where you went, although I didn't really comment, you were my favourite before, so glad you can express yourself here! Cheers
Ps, greetings from Canada!
Good to have u back talking about Who. Long may it continue. I was upset about the timeless child but maybe that will change if it’s clarified a bit. Just felt as if there was no purpose to it. Just wanted to do something dramatic for drama sake. Fingers crossed. Feeling kinda positive about this series. Hope it’s not misplaced.
Awesome to see you again! 👍
Rich! Glad to have found you again! I had been wondering where you’d gone and missing your Who vids so great to have you back and unchained!
I mostly agree with everything he said but I feel the Swarm needed more praise he was genuinely scary and looked great. I personally like Yaz much more in this season so I would have given it a 7 or 7.5. Glad to see ur back
In regards to the cinematography and CGI, I find it looking worse that series 10 because of the style. Everything is more blurry to give a "more cinematic" look, but in the end everything just looks more blurry, with a rather large amount of content hidden behind the black bars or blur. CGI-wise, they have an oddly oversaturated look a majority of the time, that reminds me of Star Trek Discovery's first season. The difference is that Discovery _recognized_ this, and toned it down in latter seasons, but Chib Who still has an off-putting look to its effects that don't quite blend into everything else.
Well… does this mean you won’t flip-flop now you’re out from under the thumb of WhatCulturalvandalism?
I've seen a lot of comments about this episode saying there's too much in it, or that the pacing is an issue. But this is the first chapter of a six part epic story, so I think this is completely understandable. Six is a small number, too, and it's much smaller than they anticipated as the pandemic cut down the episode number. I think they did a pretty good job in this first chapter to introduce all the important moving parts of this story. For me at least, the episode wasn't too claustrophobic and it moved very organically from one section to the next. This isn't to say that I don't understand the thinking behind this story having a lot in it - it definitely does!! - but I, personally, thought it was handled very well.
Without doubt the best Chibnall story yet. I think this could be his best series...
8.5/10
Happy to see you back.
God I have missed you
Liked, subbed, and spreading the word. It's good to have your opinions unflitered now. I always appreciated your candor.
I too liked the episode, but whole-heartidly agree there was a lot to take in, and right now it feels terribly disjointed. Jodie finally feels Doctor-ish more than she does not (we had a few moments of brilliance in seasons 11 & 12, but not enough), Yaz is growing in character too; awesome. And yes Dan is a likeable guy, much as I predicted he would be. Karvanista I LOVED ("Bring me back my human!").
Overrall I give it 7/10. Good, not terrible.
Disagree completely on the shows presentation being better than ever. Moffats seasons really took that middle ground of big budget CGI and new cinematography along with our beloved Murray.
There are even sequences in Russels era that have aged significantly better than that opening shot of this episode unfortunately.
I wanted to like this ep, obviously it's setting up some major story, but i'd rather have a story to go on standing on its own at the same time! just seemed like a mish mash of clips.
I kinda liked you review, but I felt there were too many "if"s. You're prejudging and saying a lot of "maybe I'll eat my words later on". If we don't know and most of your review is based on certain conditions happening in the future, how can we judge? I understand the argument you're making with "we don't know, right now, if the introduction of so many characters was necessary" and that's a valid point because it was a bit of a rushed episode, but you wove most of your review around it. "Dude from Liverpool 1821, Claire...". And I've seen this argument on Twitter a lot and the thing is... we don't know. It's just episode one and considering we only have 6 episodes to tell this story, I figure everything will just be jam packed like episode one was. The thing is I don't see people giving Chibnall the benefit of the doubt (and I know he hasn't done a lot to deserve it). But it was a good and exciting episode, so I think that, for this story, maybe he deserves it. And who knows, maybe if he hadn't done it like this and then everyone started showing up later on, people would be like "oh, he doesn't know how to build up", exactly like it was with the whole Timeless Children. Episode One just felt like a serial where you get to meet the characters in the beginning and not a lot makes sense because you still don't know enough (something done a lot on Classic Who). It's all part of the mystery.
(I do agree with everything you said about 13-Yaz. I wish we had seen more of their relationship because, the two of them by themselves, seem great and we never got to see it with oversized TARDIS team in series 11-12).
But, regardless, your review was pretty fair and I enjoyed listening to your thoughts. I'll definitely come back to check what else you have to say in the future.
I'm glad this turned up in my time line. The first time in history that the YT Algorithm hasn't screwed me. I saw this first, then saw the what culture up/down one after. The guy that replaced you is a F'n idiot. The cloister bell got an up? WTF? You reviewed this ep spot on. I would have given it 5/10 but 6.5/10 close enough. You pointed out lots of stuff I felt was right, and differed on a few other things. But At least I'm sure you and I watched the same show. Likewise, I'll reserve my final decision on whether this was a good ep or not, after I've seen a few more. I've subbed and looking forward to more who related stuff from you. :D
I thought I was getting old when I turned on the subtitles. Nice to know I wasn't alone. I just assumed it was my fault - being a middle-aged American watching a British Show. Although, I never have that problem watching Bake Off.
Nice to see you on screen again. BTW