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"It feels different this time..." - The new Doctor Who Thread

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
I think so. I'll be interested to see what they do for missing stuff
IIRC, some of the animations may be there, but most of the missing stuff is just not there. If you want some recons... hit me up. I can figure out how Dropbox works lol
 

Vaeran

(GRUNTING)
(he/him)
I guess I'll be rewatching all of these episodes this coming week, since I'll be finished with my chronological watch through of DW a week from today, so maybe I missed something (it's Chibnall, so I probably didn't).

I meant to say earlier, I wonder if Flux benefits at all from being watched in quick succession rather than spaced out over six weeks. Probably not. But do report back!
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
I meant to say earlier, I wonder if Flux benefits at all from being watched in quick succession rather than spaced out over six weeks. Probably not. But do report back!
I watch one episode per day, so yesterday I watched War of the Sontarans and honestly had a good time with it. It's still extremely shallow stuff, but knowing where everything was going, I could enjoy the weird bits (the "I wanted to ride a horse" line stuck out more this watch as good/funny, for example). Weirdly, I think Chibnall might have written the best new series Sontaran episode (low bar, and it's still Chibnall, but oh well).
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
It's done. I've seen all of Doctor Who, in order, one day at a time. With a few breaks here and there, it took 887 days. I had a great time doing it, and mainly recommend watching the classic series slowly rather than watching all of a story all at once, movie style. Really helps the pacing.

As for the Whittaker era, I do think series 13 is her best season. I actually kind of like it, even on rewatch. Bit of a guilty pleasure. The Sontarans are pretty fun in it, and I'd like to see Karvanista return, I rather ended up liking him.

The Division/Timeless Chld stuff still sucks, but there's other bits to enjoy in series 13, so it's not so bad.

Anyway, this is my Twitter thread, if anyone would like to read it. Classic series starts here, new series starts here.
 

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
That's quite a feat, congratulations. So what was your favourite classic era? What surprises were there?
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Heh, thanks. Favorite classic era is McCoy, closely followed by Troughton. McCoy may not have many stories, but only his first is outright bad, and only one is kinda bad (Silver Nemesis), the rest range from good to fantastic. Paradise Towers, in particular, was a surprise - I'd not rated it much when I first saw it, but in order it was a big deal - enormous leap in quality, not only over the sixth Doctor's era, but just in general. I also was surprised that I rather enjoyed the back half of Tom Baker's era more than I did originally, even if huge swathes of it are still kinda crap.

It's going to be very weird to finish work and not immediately watch an episode of Doctor Who. My wife thought I was just going to start over, and no, I'm not lol. Maybe someday, but it'll be a while.
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Just got time to watch the S13 finale. There were some fun bits. The whole timeless child thread is what it is and I neither love nor hate it, but I had a couple quibbles with this episode.

One is that the editing just felt way too hyperactive, like it couldn't hold a shot for more than five seconds, and some scenes barely seemed to hold together coherently. The jumping around in spacetime didn't help that feeling, but I don't think it was the cause either - it really felt like an edit booth issue to me. That plus Chibnall was just cramming in too many ideas at once; even leaving the basic structure in place, the whole arc really needed a good editor, not to mention another pass on the dialog.

The other is that the Doctor seemed extra nonchalant about more or less just feeding three civilizations to the Flux. Yes, they're antagonists and the entire rest of the universe is at stake, but the fact that the moral implications of the decision weren't so much as mentioned seemed off brand a bit. (Also, due to the usual timey-wimeyness of everything, I'm extremely unclear on how devastated the universe has been left at the moment. I was expecting some sort of reset from the Flux's destruction but it doesn't seem like that happened? Like, huge swathes of the universe's civilizations are still destroyed?)

That said, having multiple Jodie Doctors running around at once was good fun. And hey, she got to techno-babble explain plot details to herself this time instead of having someone else do it!
 

Vaeran

(GRUNTING)
(he/him)
The other is that the Doctor seemed extra nonchalant about more or less just feeding three civilizations to the Flux. Yes, they're antagonists and the entire rest of the universe is at stake, but the fact that the moral implications of the decision weren't so much as mentioned seemed off brand a bit.

Yeah, it is weird that we've gone from the Fourth Doctor deciding he doesn't have the right to destroy the Daleks, to the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors being consumed with guilt over the conclusion of the Time War, to Thirteen going LOL EAT SHIT to three races without a second thought. I guess "without a second thought" is probably an apt descriptor of Chibnall's writing process.
 

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
I'm rewatching the Christmas Specials. I always thought The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe was surprisingly crap, but this time it properly got me. I think if you're suffering from any kind of loss it's actually really well pitched. The main story on Androzani Prime is a bit nothing still, but the backstory has a lot of heart and is done really well.

Madge: Lily and Cyril’s father—my husband—is dead and they don’t know yet because if I tell them now then Christmas will always be what took their father away from them, and no one should have to live like that. Of course when the Christmas period is over I shall… I don’t know why I keep shouting at them.

The Doctor: Because every time you see them happy you remember how sad they’re going to be. And it breaks your heart. Because what’s the point in them being happy now if they’re going to be sad later? The answer is, of course, because they are going to be sad later.

It actually ties really strongly into Moffat's conceptualisation of the Doctor. Everyone dies, but you should do what you can to improve that brief window they're alive. I love Eleven.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
I rather enjoyed today's episode. Yaz being in love with the Doctor being made canon comes far, far too late in the run, though.
 
I liked the episode as well. I like that the entire episode took place in the storage facility. I like movies and films that take place in a confined space (a building, a ship, etc.). I also liked that the Daleks have been the antagonists in all of the new years episodes for the 13th doctor.

I liked the two new characters introduced for the episode. I thought they had good chemistry. I noticed both the Flux arc and the new years episode featured couples outside of the Doctors immediate crew. I don't have a problem with these couples, but it seems to be something Chibnall likes to put in his stories as a way to draw the viewer in.
 

Vaeran

(GRUNTING)
(he/him)
I also found the episode pretty enjoyable, though I must have missed how the Doctor came to know that the time loop would end at midnight.

Disagree that having the Daleks be the antagonists for every single New Year's special is a good thing, though. It's worked out well enough in practice, I guess, but I think I'd have preferred some variety.
 

Vaeran

(GRUNTING)
(he/him)
Also Daleks have always been terrible shots, but it's especially embarrassing when they upgrade to an extermination gatling gun and still can't hit five targets running down a narrow hallway.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
That bothered me less than the guy ducking so the two Daleks blew each other up. It's just about as crap as the Daleks blowing each other up when Gallifrey disappeared - it was dumb when Moffat did it on a massive scale, and dumb now on a much smaller scale.
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
I feel like the Daleks have kind of always been a menace dancing just shy of the edge of being a Looney Tune, so it doesn't really bother me.

Also enjoyed the holiday episode, though I agree with Kazin that the particular discussion of Feelings in the main cast is coming in far too late. Nearing the end of the Whitaker run I'm left feeling a little short-changed about the whole main cast; despite getting three seasons it all feels a bit slight and unfinished, which I think is down to a combination of lower episode counts but also (probably more importantly) Chibnall's ongoing difficulty with writing believable character dialog.
 

Vaeran

(GRUNTING)
(he/him)
Maybe this makes me a joyless grump but I've honestly about had it with romantic feelings between Doctor and companion altogether. It was a tiresome albatross around Martha's neck, it brought out the worst in Amy, and the Twelfth Doctor's stalker-crush on Clara was just dreadful. Part of why I love the Ten/Donna dynamic so much is that there was emphatically no desire on either's part to get in the other's pants. I find myself saying this a lot, but RTD kind of set a bad precedent with Ten/Rose and it only got worse from there. (Though I guess the real first instance of this was Paul McGann's Doctor kissing Grace.)

I don't mind it as much with people who are more conceivably like peers to the Doctor, like Romana or River, but when it's another starry-eyed young companion it just feels creepy. The Doctor's a million bazillion years old and should have no interest in 20-something Earth girls beyond the strictly platonic, and should be old enough by now to know what "she LIKES you likes you" means and how to deal with it maturely.
Hmph.
 

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
Twelve and Clara were in love, but it wasn't a "get in the pants" thing. It was a "rip the whole universe to bits to save her" but it was entirely platonic
 

Vaeran

(GRUNTING)
(he/him)
Disagree that it was platonic. At the end of Time Heist:

Finally, the Doctor returns them to Clara's flat moments after they have left to allow Clara to continue on her date. Right after she departs, he declares with a smug grin, "Ha! Robbing a bank! Robbing a whole bank. Beat that for a date..."

You don't date (or desire to date) someone platonically, or compete with the person they are romantically dating.
 

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
That was a joke at the end of an episode. Literally nothing else supports that reading, including what Moffat himself said about their relationship. It's supposed to be read as the Doctor not liking Danny ending their relationship, as it'll stop her travelling with him. Danny was trying to have a date with her, which the Doctor comprehensively overshadowed. There are other forms of jealousy than sexual jealousy. And your "million bazillion" content is almost exactly said to Clara in Deep Breath, so Moffat likely felt the same way. That doesn't mean that they should have no relationship at all though.

And, come to think of it, after the end of season 5, Amy only had eyes for Rory. Which was correct, as Rory was awesome.

I'm not a fan of the "companion wants to jump the Doctor's bones" thing. It's fine to do it once, but please stop doing that now.
 
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Vaeran

(GRUNTING)
(he/him)
One of the counter clerks at my local post office is a DW fan, and we usually chat a bit about it when I'm there. Today he told me about some rumor he heard that David Tennant would be coming back to play the 14th Doctor for a few specials and then regenerate into the 15th. It's a rumor I've heard before, years ago, and it's no less a pile of horseshit now than it was then. (To the worker's credit, he didn't seem to believe it either.)

Normally I wouldn't waste a post, and your time, on such tripe, but Grover Clevelanding the Tenth Doctor is such a monumentally bad idea that I can't get it out of my head. (The Curator did say something about revisiting a few old favorites...) Agh. Make it stop!
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
I can't see Tennant even agreeing to that, fan as he is (and not to mention, good mate of Jodie Whittaker). Maybe coming back as the 10th Doctor for a reunion or mayyybe a 10th Doctor special, but not as the 14th Doctor.
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Yeah, I mean... the Doctor's whole shtick is time travel, which means there's a built-in excuse to have any actor you want show up, just as their own Doctor. No reason to make it stupid with a repeat regeneration.

(Honestly for me a Tennant/Whittaker crossover special could be fun as hell if it had decent writing, but I certainly don't expect it, and uh, the `decent writing` bit is kind of a catch at the moment.)
 
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