What a bonkers way to go out, Chibnall. I mean, I enjoyed the fanservice - guilty pleasure as it is, and miserable fanboy as I am - but there's no close for Chibnall's plot points. Which is a weird thing for me to say, since I didn't even like what he was doing! The Chibnall era is such a fucking mess, it can't even wrap up it's own ideas. Setting aside the whole Timeless Child nonsense, what's up with Graham/his cancer (which it apparently came out that Chibnall himself is a cancer survivor recently, so that's why Graham had the background he had)? Why was Ryan at Patagonia and not doing shit with Graham (presumably Tosin Cole was unavailable/realized he wasn't going to get anything good, so declined to be in it)? I can't imagine what it must be like to be a fan of this era specifically (for many reasons) and watch this. It seems to be celebrating everything but itself, but even the oldschool fanservice is all so shallow. Would I rather watch something that's not the Chibnall era? Yes! But not if it's all written by Chibnall! I mean, four previous Doctors and a recast one got a look in on this one, and they didn't get much. Peter Davison got to say "Adric" and "brave heart" to Janet Fielding. Woo. Ace and the Seventh Doctor had a fight, apparently, and Ace took off, that's all we know what happened between Survival and the TV Movie. Thanks? What was the fight about? Why is McCoy okay with how things were left? Why were they only allowed to interact with an (apparently) sentient hologram? Why did the Thirteenth Doctor see the first, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth versions of herself? Where were the rest (besides casting reasons, obviously lol)? All the companions just take off while the Doctor is passed out on the floor, too? I can't see literally any of them doing that, not even Graham. "I haven't seen her in nearly forty years, and she's passed out there on the floor. Welp, time to go!" -Tegan, evidently.
I mean, why were Tegan/Ace in this at all? It was great to see them and we got some fanservice with their respective Doctors (which I didn't see coming, which was a nice surprise, probably the only time Chibnall's iron grip lockdown on spoilers worked for me), but Jodie Whittaker basically touched their shoulders and only got sassed by Tegan ONCE. Why bring Tegan back if she's not going to yell at the Doctor, dammit? Ace at least got to hit some Daleks with a bat! It's nice she's not an airline owner, though, and find out that she's had a couple divorces and an adopted kid, but what else has she been up to? Why bring Vinder back at all? Cut all his shit and give me more scenes with the Doctor and her old friends since you went and brought them back, please. Who even liked Vinder? Dan got short shrift, too - he gets spooked two minutes in from something nowhere near as scary as he experienced in Flux and permanently bails on the TARDIS.
In all this, though, I feel bad for Jodie Whittaker (well, and Mandip Gill - no arc to speak of for Yaz whatsoever, though at least Chibnall did remember she was a cop this time around, what with her referencing her weapons training). The Doctor even kicks her out before she regenerates - what the hell? This woman is in love with you, Doctor!). She doesn't even get to regenerate into someone new - seeing David Tennant's face really drove home the feeling of "we'll make Doctor Who unshitty like it was in 2008, I promise" - and while that was no doubt RTD's doing and not Chibnall's, Whittaker got screwed. David Tennant's not even wearing her costume, the fuck is that about?! I liked her in the part - she got a few moments to shine, there's a few episodes of hers I'll always like (though not many). I wish she'd had a better showrunner. I wish we all did. What a waste of five years, man. What a waste of time.
I guess that's where I'm at. There were things to enjoy in this era, but it is easily my least favorite era of Doctor Who. I've seen it twice, too - all but the last three episodes of it, and I'm pretty confident in that claim. Give me the Colin Baker era any day (was nice to see him, too, though Ian's reappearance was the only time I got choked up - I'm glad William Russell got one last appearance in the show. He was right there at the beginning, and he's there nearly sixty years later. Love it. I told you I was a miserable fanboy).
Glad to see the back of Chibnall. What a waste.