#I wrote so many words for the plot overview.... :O

[redfurrycat]

🐓🤠 The Modern-day Zorro🤠🐓

Nick and Carole Bradshaw – Owners of the Gosling Empire, Goose & Sweetcorn. Bradley bradshaw – Heir, Gosling.   Tom Kazansky and Pete Mitchell – Close friends, godfathers, Maverick & Iceman. Dante Bradshaw – Nick’s evil twin, Weasel. Jake Seresin – Modern-day Zorro known as the Hangman Vigilante. (Never far away from his Jolly Jumper, the smartest and fastest horse in the west.) + SO MANY BABY GEESE.

[yeonchi]

Doctor Who Series 12 Review: Epilogue

It’s time to wrap up another series of reviews. Thanks to the Series 12 finale, I’ve got quite a bit to talk about. I’m also going to cover a few topics related to the production of the series.

Final series rating and verdict

Episode 1: 8/10

Episode 2: 8/10

Episode 3: 5/10

Episode 4: 9/10

Episode 5: 8/10

Episode 6: 8/10

Episode 7: 8/10

Episode 8: 7/10

Episode 9: 9/10

Episode 10: 7/10

First half mid-series total: 38/50 (76%)

Second half mid-series total: 39/50 (78%)

Final series total: 77/100 (77%)

Compared to Series 11′s total of 73%, I can agree that Series 12 is better than Series 11 - but not by much. I can’t help but feel I’m giving this series too much credit given how it’s being handled under Chris Chibnall. I found less SJW red flags in this series, but they were major ones that reflected current affairs or absolutely broke the lore of the series.

In turn, there were more episodes where I was unable to find tokusatsu references - there was one such episode in Series 11, but in Series 12, there were three such episodes. It’s easier for me to count how many episodes don’t have tokusatsu references than those that do.

The elephant in the room that will never get solved

Unfortunately, before the premiere of the series finale, Sacha Dhawan and Steven Moffat have stated that the origin of O as the Master should be left to the fans and that it is unlikely that it will be answered in the series anytime soon. I mean, we almost saw that happen with John Simm as Harold Saxon, but then he came back for the Series 10 finale.

It's so amazing how this series started off with me denying that O was the Master to me begrudgingly accepting that O is the Master with contrived theories and opinions. Again, I wouldn't have had much of a problem with this if Missy wasn't (seemingly) killed off. If it weren’t for O admitting that he has no better nature, I could have locked in my theory, but I guess we’ll just leave it up in the air, shall we?

On one hand, if O's incarnation of the Master definitely came after Missy, then Saxon didn't give her the full blast because as I said in my review of the second episode, there is no reason why the Master would rob himself of opportunities to spite the Doctor, knowing that he would continue to live on. On the other hand, having O be set between Saxon and Missy, while it would fit him not having the character development of the latter, would be unnecessary because it would jumble the Master's timeline in relation to the Doctor's. I still think the Rani should have been brought back, though.

The Timeless Child and the Cartmel Masterplan

In case you haven’t seen the review of the Series 12 finale (which you should), I don’t have a very high opinion of the Timeless Child arc because it overcomplicates the Doctor’s past (and diversifies it in the form of pre-Hartnell incarnations) and puts the Doctor on a higher pedestal above the Time Lords, like a godly figure (as if the Time Lords weren’t “godly” enough). It also raises a lot of plot holes and issues that I can’t be bothered getting into because I’m so distraught about this episode; other people can probably sum them up better than I can (UPDATE - 13 March 2020: Screen Rant listed a few of them in this article).

In researching for this topic, I was reminded of this line in the Series 9 premiere, The Magician’s Apprentice, in which Missy states that she has cared about the Doctor “since always, since the Cloister Wars, since the night he stole the moon and the President’s wife and since he was a little girl” before saying that one of those was a lie. In Hell Bent, it was revealed that the third statement was a lie perpetuated by the Shobogans; the Doctor lost the moon and he actually stole the President’s daughter.

I would have been happy to leave this as a throwaway line and one of Missy’s lies (ala the honest and dishonest guards) if it weren’t for this episode. If that last statement is actually true, then there are only two possibilities: either the Timeless Child’s “friend” that she was seen playing with is actually a young Master or O’s incarnation is between the Saxon and Missy incarnations.

While doing the same research, I was also reminded of the Cartmel Masterplan. During the Seventh Doctor era, a group of writers led by Andrew Cartmel defined a vision that would reintroduce mystery into the Doctor’s character. It would reveal that the Doctor was a reincarnation of the Other, one of the Founding Fathers of Gallifrey. Due to producer John Nathan-Turner’s meddling with the scripts, only references to the Masterplan were kept in Seasons 25 and 26. The Masterplan would be explored in the Virgin New Adventures novels (of which Lungbarrow would be the final entry to feature the Seventh Doctor).

I wouldn’t have had such a problem with it if it was done before Series 7 (or the Moffat era) because Clara’s storyline basically locked in the definition of the Doctor and his lives as we knew him. And yet this was the storyline that Chris Chibnall wanted to write since he was young, essentially bringing a modified form of the Cartmel Masterplan to Doctor Who, which connects to my next bit.

Chris Chibnall, 1986

One of the well-known things about Chris Chibnall from before the revival was that in 1986, he (age 16) appeared on a BBC daytime show, Open Air, representing the Doctor Who Appreciation Society in Liverpool. Writers Pip and Jane Baker were also present. In that program, he criticised one of their stories, namely Terror of the Vervoids, stating that it was very clichéd and boring. Years later, in 2018, Chibnall would dismiss those words as nonsense, but in my opinion, to reflect those words on his time as showrunner so far would be an understatement. Maybe it’s why he couldn’t bring back the Rani in this series...

(in case you didn’t know, Pip and Jane Baker wrote The Mark of the Rani and Time and the Rani)

Expecting a full run every year

I covered this in the prelude of this series’ reviews, but I’ve learned a bit more about it since then.

Given how the first five series of the revived Doctor Who had a "full run", which I define to be exactly 13 episodes broadcast consistently at the same time each year without any splits, it's easy for people to assume at this point that the BBC aren't keeping to that standard. However, given the split seasons, the changing schedules and reducing episode numbers, the underlying causes are not as simple as we think.

I took a look at an overview of the Doctor Who series on Wikipedia and I found that the classic series has had more and less episodes per season when compared to the revived series. I know it may seem like that because the episodes are generally equivalent to half the length of a revived series episode, but things will be put to perspective when you halve those episode counts (with the exception of Season 22, which had 45-minute long episodes), so the numbers I quote will be taken with that in mind.

During the First and Second Doctor's eras, an equivalent average of 21 episodes were broadcast each season. In the Third, Fourth and Fifth Doctor's eras, that was reduced to 12.4 episodes. Finally, with the exception of Season 22, the Sixth and Seventh Doctor's eras had an average of 7 episodes per season. In a Radio Times interview, Chris Chibnall has stated that every episode is essentially a "big movie" with new guest casts, new sets and new monsters. In the same article, it stated that Russell T Davies was put under a lot of pressure during his time on Doctor Who, particularly given the fact that he was also overseeing Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures at the same time. Each Chibnall era series took 10 months to film, so that will presumably be the case when Series 13 starts pre-production in June 2020 with filming to start in September 2020.

As for Steven Moffat, the split of Series 6 was his idea, however the split of Series 7 wasn't necessarily his, but the BBC's idea to reduce the gap between the end of Series 7 and The Day of the Doctor. He also stated that he wanted to make Doctor Who an "event piece" by being open to "shaking up the transmission pattern", claiming that "the more Doctor Who becomes a perennial, the faster it starts to die". In short, if each new series of Doctor Who premiered at different times each year, then fans would be anticipating it for longer.

Following Series 11, there was only about a month to wait until the New Year’s special. Following that, there was a year until the start of Series 12. Now with Series 12 over, we have nine more months to wait until the festive special (whether it’ll be broadcast on Christmas or New Year’s Day is not confirmed yet) and then after that, we will potentially have another 9-10 months of waiting until Series 13 starts again in autumn 2021. This is one of the factors that are contributing to my decision to eventually move on from Doctor Who once I’m done with it.

About licence fees

I was going to do a bit about the ratings of the show, but the patterns are too erratic to infer anything specific. There are some general observations I can see; there was a downward trend in the average ratings during Steven Moffat’s time as showrunner while Series 11 had the biggest rate of viewer change by season (see the charts linked in this Reddit comment).

In the middle of February, it was suggested that Prime Minister Boris Johnson could order a reform of the BBC, scrapping the licence fee and changing it to a subscription model. This, combined with some of the fan reaction to Series 12, seems to be leading to a rise in calls for the licence fee to be scrapped.

In Britain, the TV licence increases with inflation each year. From April 2020, the cost of the TV licence will rise by £3 to £157.50 for colour licences, while the monochrome licence will stay at £52 (as if anyone still has monochrome TVs in the current year). Until the end of May 2020, TV licences are funded by the government and as such, are free for people over 75, but from June onwards, licences will be funded by the BBC and will only be free to anyone aged 75 or over who receives Pension Credit (which is apparently different from the State Pension, or so I’ve read), meaning that others will now have to pay the full licence fee (way to exploit old people, huh).

My other favourite country, Japan, also has a TV licence fee, which is used to fund the NHK. There are three types of licence, namely a satellite licence which also covers terrestrial broadcasts, a terrestrial licence which only covers said broadcasts and a special licence which covers satellite broadcasts for people who are having difficulty receiving terrestrial broadcasts due to trains or the terrain. As at October 2019, the annual (direct debit) cost of the three licences (which are cheaper than paying monthly or bi-monthly) are at 24,770 yen, 13,990 yen and 10,940 yen respectively. There are discounts if you live in Okinawa, near an airport or an air base, or if you are paying for multiple licences, through your cable company or as a family (with more than one licence).

Basically, you will need a TV licence if you watch any channel on free or pay TV (or any TV program on an online service if you’re in the UK) and the licence merely funds the national broadcaster. There have been calls for governments to stop funding public broadcasters with taxpayer money for various reasons. Some people also believe that the funding of those broadcasters are being jeopardised by their governments as well.

I consider myself to be lucky here in Australia as the licence fee was scrapped in 1974 and the ABC was funded by government grants ever since. Back in 1964, a TV licence would have cost £6 (A$12), which equates to A$171.08 in 2019 dollars.

The enforcement of the licence fee has made paying it in the first place a hassle for some people. If you do some searching on Google, then you might find stories from people, particularly in the UK and Japan, who have been harassed by these so-called licence fee collectors.

In my ideal world, I would prefer that public TV stations are funded like they do in the United States - partially from the government and partially through voluntary donations from the general public (and foundations and corporations as well). I can see how this would make them look like any ordinary charity, but it’s better than nothing and it makes everyone happy.

The fall of Western entertainment and everything I ever loved

Over the past two series of doing these reviews, I’ve been trying to convince myself that Doctor Who won’t take a big dive into the SJW agenda. Now having seen the Series 12 finale, I’m finally ready to take the red pill and fully accept that the show is no longer how I remembered it to be.

I hear a lot of people saying about how some series and franchises used to be good, but then got worse and worse as time went on due to the SJW agenda takeover. I don’t follow those other franchises, so maybe that’s why I’ve been sceptical for so long.

In terms of my personal life, I’ve lost interest in many things I used to like over the past decade due to various factors. New animes became too sexist for me (in terms of marketing and gender ratios). Video games are more focused on money than entertainment. Koei Tecmo barely dubbed their Warriors games fully and recently, they recast the entire English cast for Dynasty Warriors 9. While I was too busy to keep following My Little Pony, the main highlight I got from reading comments about the Friendship is Magic finale was that among other things, some things in the epilogue were not left to audience interpretation. And of course, Doctor Who retconned its past in ways no other person would have even dared to think.

With the exception of the English dub thing, it would be easy to blame SJWs for ruining the things I used to love and appreciate. It would be too optimistic, however, to consider that there were other factors besides SJWs, considering the way the world seems to be thinking at the moment.

Over the past few years, I’ve been unable to find any new significant things to love and appreciate. It almost feels like I’m Stan Marsh in those two South Park episodes where he turns 10 and starts seeing the world as shit. Maybe it might be time for me to grow up and accept the truth. Oh well, for the time being, at least I still have Japanese tokusatsu - my last bastion of sanity in this turbulent world.

UPDATE - 13 March 2020: Speaking of which, Power Rangers Super Megaforce disrespected 21 years of continuity and barely anyone was complaining about or defending it because of SJW reasons, yet when Doctor Who disrespected over 56 years of extended continuity, everyone was complaining about or defending it because of SJW reasons. I honestly hate to see where these observations go from here.

Regarding the festive special

As I stated, the next episode, Revolution of the Daleks, will be broadcast at the end of 2020. Interestingly, the episode (or at least parts of it) were filmed together with Series 12 as there were reports that Daleks were involved in filming at the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol around the end of October last year. This means that the footage would be held for at least a year before it would premiere on our screens, leaving a bigger risk for leaks than normal.

There is a rumour that John Barrowman will reprise his role as Jack Harkness again in this special. If so, then I hope it complements his appearance in Episode 5.

Recently, it was reported that Tosin Cole and Bradley Walsh would be leaving the series as they were casted in US courtroom drama 61st Street and a remake of UK comedy drama The Darling Buds of May respectively. Funnily enough, it was also stated that they could continue to make occasional appearances, so we’ll have to see it to believe it.

Obviously, this means that out of Graham, Ryan and Yaz, Yaz will be staying with the Doctor after the festive special. Talk about Yaz favouritism, eh? Speaking of which, I don’t think I saw as much Yaz favouritism in Series 12 than I did in Series 11. At the same time, Ryan’s dyspraxia was touched on as frequently in Series 12 than it was in Series 11.

Hopefully, this change means that we’ll be seeing more Yaz character development, though with the mystery of the Timeless Child still looming, I somehow doubt it.

Negotiating DWexit

So now, having watched the Series 12 finale, I’ve decided to take the red pill on this series falling to the SJW agenda. If it weren’t for my obligation to write these reviews, I would have decided to stop following the series, but seeing that Series 13 would be Jodie Whittaker’s third and possibly final series (based on how many series previous Doctors have done), I’m going to take one final chance and review Series 13 when it premieres late-2021. Remember that the series finale would set up some new plot threads that would be answered in the next series, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the Timeless Child arc concludes.

I was hoping to maintain a casual interest in the show after this entire review series is done, but there may come a time when I have to put my foot down and move on. Even if we find out later that the Master was in fact lying about the Timeless Child being the Doctor or that the Doctor’s pre-Hartnell incarnations weren’t canon, it doesn’t excuse the fact that Chibnall tried to diversify the Doctor’s past or contradict established canon. If casting the Thirteenth Doctor as a woman was strike one (which I’m teetering on), then this would be strike two. What it would take for a strike three would be another female for the Fourteenth Doctor or something even worse than the Series 12 finale.

In the meantime

Regardless of whether I will be reviewing Series 13, the fact is that there is still a lot of time to kill, so I’m going to share some of what I am planning to post on Tumblr for the rest of 2020. Aside from the sporadic random and content introduction posts, I have a couple of posts sitting in my drafts (hoping to make another one or two as well) about some obscure memes I’ve been appreciating.

I low-key mentioned this in the review for Episode 6 and on the Sea Princesses Wiki, but I’m planning to buy Fabio Yabu’s Princesas do Mar books and translate them so I can do reviews on them and put info from them on the wiki as my final project for it. I aim to start this by the end of this year when I earn enough money from work to buy the books, but if there are any Brazillian fans out there who wouldn’t mind sharing scans, snapshots or transcripts of the books, then please feel free to contact me and maybe we can work something out.

I’ve never thought about pointing this out for the past few years, but the truth is that my Facebook and Tumblr pages (along with my anime pages on Facebook) haven’t grown much over the past few years (whereas the Yui Hirasawa Waifu Network is seeing new followers almost every few days). As for this Tumblr blog in particular (my main page), I suspect that I may have been shadowbanned since at least 2015 while I was writing the Koei Warriors Rant Series, which is why I barely see any new followers or activity on here. Only one user liked one of my reviews during Series 12 and only one user liked a couple of my reviews during Series 11.

So if you happen to see this, feel free to follow me and look forward to my future content. And if you happen to see my past posts and you have a problem with them, then maybe you should have thought twice about following me or making a scene about it.

Otherwise, thank you for reading this series of reviews again. I’ll be back at the end of the year to review the festive special, Revolution of the Daleks.