#i just LOVE how chibnall makes ordinary things feel special

[nightmanatee]

thinking about the underwater date again and about how after 13th almost joke-ish "not a bad date am i?" yaz doesn't joke back or brush the answer off but honestly answers with her quiet "no".

she's so much more brave that i've thought about her before (not that i've ever thought that yaz is not brave; she is, she very much is but this moment...). imagine you're standing in front of a 2000+ years old alien creature that's "seen more, loved more, lost more". the creature that is so like... infinite, so much more than just a friend someone you'll put on a pedestal and still STILL after this "not a bad date am i :D" you don't hesitate you don't go silent but you're honest and you admit something (that you didn't even want to admit to yourself a couple of hours/days ago). it's not "did dan tell you to say that" or "no you certainly is a bad date, we could've drowned!!!" or "where's the ship tho?" no it's an HONEST answer.

it makes me respect chibnall's writing more with each rewatch bc yaz IS special but in ordinary/everyday things you wouldn't think as special before moments like this. bc like admitting your feelings is huge but normal but admitting them to the doctor?

i wonder about how/will this lead to something in potd? in a way of yaz being brave one last time.

[pitynostars]

About the "center of the universe" bit that confuse you. What we fight against is the idea that it's a chosen one story, which is different. The chosen one trop rely on the person being destined to be important, and so reading it as such equate being abused to being destined to great thing. That's the part we disagree on. But the doctor is a godlike figure no disagreeing on that. ^^

hmm ok i think i see. 

i agree it doesnt fit the “chosen one” trope angle. 

i think my confusion is i’ve also seen people argue back to back 13 is more down to earth/people have said what they like about her is that she ISN’T this godlike figure (they usually say with the caveat of like, unlike moffats which i think is hilarious because his whole shtick was unpacking all that to make the dr just Some Guy lmao). 

obviously there’s gonna be different interpretations but i feel like a lot of the time i’ll see completely contradictory meta back to back it makes my head hurt XD

from my pov i see TTC as the inverse of what Moffat did but where he presented a a character like the Impossible Girl/DarkTM!12 the whole point was flipping that and have them turn out to be ordinary: clara making the choice to step into his timestream just because she loves him, 11 working at wiping himself from all the databases because he got too big purely through like. his LIFE his actions going about saving people and helping out and whatnot best he could, etc. etc.... 

whereas right off the back of all that, chibnall’s/TTC thing it feels like we’re supposed to take it as like oh the doctor’s just some guy wandering about who HAPPENS to have all this happen in the past but it doesnt define her present but then it SHOWS us yk the Doctor isn’t a TL anymore she actually is the reason behind like them existing, suddenly everyone in the universe seems interested in her not for HER and her actions but for some piece of her biology she has no control over.... she’s not the centre of the universe for any credit of her own (which like... WHY would you INSIST on casting a woman as the doctor just to do this specifically to her?? off the back of an arc about how being the dr is all about being kind and just Trying to do your best chibs centres her specialness all around her biology????)

[mymoonjin1]

Chris Chibnall ruined Doctor Who

Doctor Who sucks now. I’m sorry for starting this off with such a blatant statement, but we all know it’s true. And this angers me so, so much, because it used to be one of my all-time favorite shows, and now with a female lead it had so much potential, lost in shitty writing. Here we go.

I have to admit, I used to be one of the people against changing the Doctor’s gender. I thought it would be weird, that they were only doing it for PC reasons, etc. I changed my mind since then, but needless to say, I remained disappointed. I think that a female Doctor would have been a refreshing take on the character, it would have shut up people (like me at the time) and it would have made a lot more people take interest in Doctor Who. Jodie’s era could have been amazing, magical and revolutionary. But alas, here we are.

Jodie Whittaker’s first episode was watched by a little over 14 million people if I recall correctly. But why did the show fail in keeping that number? Simple: the writing sucks. Chris Chibnall is not a good showrunner. He took elements he knew of Doctor Who and tried to copy them, without understanding what made them special.

Let’s start with character development. The Doctor. There was a moment in Spyfall when Yaz says: “what would the Doctor do?”, and for the longest moment I thought… “what would this Doctor do?”, which is NOT something I should be thinking this far in Jodie’s run as the Doctor. It’s all been oh’s, wow’s, unnecessary exposition and not a single truly emotional moment, one that makes me feel like I know or relate to this Doctor. I feel like they tried to make a sort of female Eleven without everything that made him special. Jodie said multiple times “yeah, I can play an alien”, and of course, she could have. But the problem it’s not just about playing an alien. The Doctor is an extremely complex character, with extremely complex emotions. Emotions we are yet to see from her. And I am not saying she isn’t a great actress. I absolutely loved her in Broadchurch, a show that was also run by Chibnall. She is capable of showing emotional range. So why hasn’t she? Shitty writing. My guess? Chibnall is scared of criticism saying that this Doctor (a woman) is too emotional, criticism that wouldn’t have existed in previous Doctors' incarnations. Which is bullshit, and also leads me to my next point: the companions.

Having three companions may have sounded good in paper, but the reality is that none of them has had enough screen time to properly develop as characters. My guess? In the eyes of Chibnall (and probably the BBC, I don’t know), a team would lessen the controversy around the new Doctor. But they didn’t bother with them.

If someone asked you to describe Yaz or Ryan’s personality, what would you say? …Exactly. The only one worth watching is Graham, and even he hasn’t had a proper storyline. They tried to show more of their struggles in Can You Hear Me?, but here’s the thing. It is far too late in their arcs for this. At this point, it just felt way too forced. As someone with depression, It would have been great to see more of Yaz’s struggles with it, but just one episode is not nearly enough. Also, she connected with a police officer who we are never going to see again! Don’t you think it would’ve been better to see this development in her relationship with the Doctor? NONE of them have a strong friendship with her. They just say she’s amazing because she takes them places and shit. Not because they actually want to spend time with her. What are Yaz’s reasons to be there? She wanted to be more than just a cop that gave tickets, she wanted to help people, yet she just…left? And she has mentioned being a cop like, once since then. How does this make any sense?

Ryan was supposed to have dyspraxia, which hasn’t been mentioned since the bike thing, I think. It would have been great to see this being an actual part of his character and seeing him coping with it whilst traveling around in space and having dangerous adventures. But nope, they completely forgot about it, as well as his Youtube channel. Also, what are his motivations, his ambitions? Why is he there? In Can You Hear Me? we learn about his friend’s struggles with mental health, but again, shouldn’t it have had more impact coming from Ryan? A character we are supposed to care about at this point?

As for Graham, like I said, he’s the one with a more formed personality. He’s a goofball, he worries about the “kids” of the group, he’s a father figure. Great. But the problem is they presented him as wanting to travel with the Doctor to get over his grief, but they hardly show any of it. And there wasn’t any hint throughout the first season of him having any sort of thirst for revenge, so him wanting to kill Tim Shaw just came out of nowhere. But my biggest problem this season, was when he was opening up with the Doctor about his fear of his cancer returning and she just… said: “I’m sorry, I’m still socially awkward”???? WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL? There’s been plenty of times that we’ve seen this awkwardness. It is ALL we’ve ever seen from this Doctor. This was NOT the time to say this. This could have been a beautiful way for them to connect, to show more of the Doctor’s emotional side, yet what we got was a “suffer in silence bro, I’m so awkward lol”. REALLY? The Doctor has always shown compassion. Even if they don’t understand what their companions are going through, they are always there for them. Why would the writers think this was a good idea? It’s infuriating. 

I’ve been watching a LOT of Youtube videos talking about why Chibnall’s run has been a disaster. I really liked one called “Is the Doctor a hypocrite?”, by B-WHERE. In the video, they essentially say that this Doctor’s moral compass is a mess. In Arachnids in the UK, for example, she somehow thinks locking up all of the spiders and letting the queen die suffocating is more humane than just killing them quickly, which is what the villain does in the end. Ummm? Okay? Listen, the Doctor has always faced difficult moral decisions, even scary ones, like in the Family of Blood two-parter. But as the video says, they’ve never claimed to have moral superiority. And maybe this could have been a more distinctive flaw in the character, a flaw that maybe her companions saw and disagreed with. Like Ten’s wake up call at the end of Waters of Mars. But no. Again, it’s just plain shitty writing.

Ok. Now... The Timeless Children. Jesus Christ. There are so, so many reasons this was the worst thing to ever happen to Doctor Who, but y’all are probably wishing for this rant to be over, so I’ll just mention two.

In over fifty years, we’ve NEVER needed an origin story for The Doctor. The show is called “Doctor Who” for a reason, the question that should never be answered. And they just go and shit all over one of the most beloved sci-fi shows of the twentieth century in a single episode. Again, this is mentioned in several videos, but I thought the same thing right after watching the episode: making the Doctor another “chosen one” goes against everything the show represented. The Doctor was an ordinary alien who was not very good at the Academy, ran away with a stolen TARDIS because he disagreed with the Time Lords way, and couldn’t even control where the TARDIS would go at first. The Doctor is an idiot in a box. The Doctor helps because he wants to; because it’s decent and kind. ANYONE could be like the Doctor. And now, it turns out he’s always been special. The Doctor is the reason why Time Lords regenerate. The character is basically a god now. Why is this a bad thing? This changes EVERYTHING, and yet, it WILL CHANGE NOTHING going forward. Ruth’s Doctor says so herself, it doesn’t change who the Doctor is. Oh, but it does. It changes who the Doctor WAS. None of it matters now, none of their sacrifices, it meant nothing. That’s what makes this so heartbreaking. And I had so much faith in this season. I actually enjoyed a few episodes, like Nicola Tesla’s Night of Terror. I thought they were going down the right path. But Chris Chibnall has ruined my favorite show in just one episode. My only comfort is that there’s still plenty of Classic Who episodes I haven’t watched. Those will be the ones I’ll look forward to. 

(Also, that’s nOT HOW REGENERATION WORKS! IT DOESN’T BRING TIME LORDS BACK TO LIFE! IT HEALS/PREVENTS THEM FROM DYING WHEN THEY’RE IN PHYSICAL DANGER. GOD, CHRIS, WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID!) Okay, rant over, deep breaths. Thanks for reading!

[secret-diary-of-an-fa]

Secret-Diary’s Annual Awards Show, 2018

Here we are. Xmas is over for another year and the last dregs of 2018 are circling the plug-hole of time like inedible week-old gravy. Soon, the drain-unblocker that is New Year will be emptied on top of it, disposing of it forever… and nobody will be very sorry. It’s always possible that, in the last four days of the year, something incredible will happen. Maybe Will Self will invent time travel and go back to the early 1600s to become Shakespeare. Maybe Theresa May’s face will swing outward like a poorly-secured cupboard door and reveal an electric aquarium where a panel of Sea Monkeys control all her movements and decisions. Barring both of those two events, however, I think its safe to say that 2018 was a complete write-off.

Mainly, this year has felt like an unnecessary and unwanted continuation of 2017. 2017: Part Two, if you like. Brexit continued to drag on like a wounded moose looking for a place to die. The idiotic decision to cast Whittaker as Doctor Who, made in 2017, was enacted here in 2018, causing waves of uncontainable ennui to sweep a nation. The Space Elevator still remains resolutely unbuilt and Elon Musk (mankind’s Token Sensible Person) doesn’t seem overly inclined to do anything about that just yet. In short, we’re standing at the far edge of a year that has been, by and large, a complete and total waste of everyone’s time… especially mine. I’d normally leave my End Of Year Awards for New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, but fuck it. Almost everything else this year has been  vaguely disappointing, so let’s stick to the theme. We’ll ejaculate these awards out early and get it over with. You all know how this works by now: I make up some tenuously-related categories and proclaim a cultural event or piece of media the winner according to the dictates of my own diseased logic and the voices in my head. Let’s just crack on.

THE AWARD FOR BEST DVD OR BLU-RAY RELEASE Normally, I try to make the category names funny, but the best DVD/Blu-Ray released in 2018 was the remastered Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Boxset. Somebody cleaned up a six-episode sci-fi show from the 1980s and stuck a bunch of special features on it and it was instantly better than anything actually produced in the present day. That’s funny enough in itself, assuming you find cultural atrophy funny.

THE INSTANTLY-REGRETTED WANK AWARD FOR BEST MOVIE STARRING A SEXY FISH MAN … Goes to The Shape of Water, which may actually have come out last year. I also really enjoyed Aquaman, too, but I can’t pretend it was a superior piece of film-making. You know what, though? The fact that there are two movies about sexy fish men having non-conformist adventures says something important. It says “OUR CG ANIMATORS HAVE FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO DO WATER, SO LET THE GOOD TIMES FUCKING ROLL!”

THE BERNIE MADOFF AWARD FOR MOST SUSPICIOUS DISCREPANCY … Goes to Doctor Who’s score on Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah, you knew you weren’t getting through this drivel without having to listen to my opinions on Doctor Who again, so let’s just get it out the way early. Critics gave the most recent series of Whittaker-flavoured Who a 94% rating. Fans gave it 31%. So people who can’t risk saying something culturally unacceptable because they could be fired loved it, while people who cared enough to review it unpaid and had no consequences to fear fucking loathed it. Let’s try not to blame Whittaker, for this though. It’s actually Chibnall’s fault, with his determination to minimise the sci-fi elements in the world’s most beloved sci-fi show. And the BBC’s fault for hiring Chibnall. And all our faults for not dragging every single BBC exec into the streets and whipping them to death years ago. Jodie Whittaker casting was a point-scoring ploy on behalf of a cynical organisation desperately trying and failing to be progressive, but never forget that it’s just the tip of an iceberg made of frozen penguin shit.

THE SPECIAL AWARD FOR RUINING AN ENTIRE NATION … Goes to Donald Trump, who is a fucking arsehole of truly unprecedented proportions. At the time of writing, he’s currently throwing a massive temper tantrum and has shut down entire branches of government just because the real politicians won’t give him the money he needs to build his preposterous, unworkable and illegal border-wall. Thanks to this one pathetic tool’s incalculably large ego, America is currently in a state of abject chaos.

THE AWARD FOR MOST NEEDLESSLY HARROWING TV SHOW Did you see The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix? If not, congratulations: you might need slightly fewer anti-depressants than people who did. A spooky romp through the lives of people who used to live in a haunted house turns into an uninterrupted misery binge when it starts digging into their feelings. One of them is a drug addict, one of them is depressed in a dangerous and unstable way, one of them has issues with intimacy, one of them is a writer reliving his own miserable past for a living and one of them is a straight-up, 24 carat arsehole. Oh, and they all sort-of hate their beleaguered father for not saving their mother (who was mad as a tin of pigeons) from Death By Ghost. Thanks, Netflix. 2018 wasn’t a deep enough well of despair already.

THE AWARD FOR MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED HUMAN BEING … Goes to Jeremy Corbyn, who spent his Xmas dispensing broth and socialist good-vibes in a soup-kitchen. He’s constantly attacked and ridiculed in the media… possibly because the British media isn’t used to dealing with high-ranking politicians who aren’t psychopaths. Also, he once accidentally high-fived Dianne Abbott's tit, thereby gifting the world the most entertaining five seconds of television in history.

THE NAKED BRIAN COX AWARD FOR MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVER … Goes to Sapphire and Steel, a TV from the 70s that I recently rediscovered. Trying to explain it in normal English will undoubtedly make me sound like a man whose brain is slowly eating itself, because it defies all ordinary conceptions. Nevertheless, I’ll try. It’s about two elements from the period table who are also people from a higher dimension who handle anomalies in space-time using methods that make perfect sense but aren’t necessarily clear to the audience. This prevents entities that often manifest as patches of light or shadow from breaking into time from outside and stealing people or feeding off the resentment of the dead. Make sense? Well, it will when you watch it, and you absolutely should watch it.

THE NAKED STEVE BUSCEMI AWARD FOR MOST EYE-GOUGINGLY HORRIBLE THING EVER This is actually a tie between that time Theresa May attempted to dance and… pretty much the entire year itself. If 2017 was like watching a man fall off a cliff, 2018 has been like watching him hit every outcropping of rock as he plunged downwards towards a merciless ocean.

THE AWARD FOR MOST SLATHERING BETRAYAL OF A FAN-BASE … Goes to Fallout 76, which, by all accounts, turned the bleak, lonely world of Fallout into a perfunctory MMO with all the beloved series’ characteristic and recognisable features sucked out or watered down. A great game series screwed over in the name of chasing casual gamers. Oh, when will the industry learn. Never. The answer is never.

THE SHATNER AWARD MOST DRAMATIC OVERREACTION TO AN UNDERWHELMING SITUATION … Goes to the UK tabloid ‘news’ papers, who went into swivel-eyed paroxysms of outrage and confusion when a handful of drones brought air traffic to a halt at Gatwick Airport almost a week before Xmas. They squealed angrily about how ‘possible terrorism’ and how Xmas had been ruined for thousands of people (despite the fact that they were perfectly entitled to just get on other flights a day or two later). It later turned out that there hadn’t necessarily been any drones, and that air traffic had been brought to a standstill because the police got confused and mistakenly thought that there were.

And that’s more or less it. Lots of other things happened in 2018, but I never made any concerted effort to remember them, beyond noting that they were all pretty bloody stupid. Roll on 2019. I have no reason to believe it will be any better than 2018, globally speaking, but maybe I’ll finally buy a copy of Red Dead Redemption 2 and stop caring.

[viola-and-chill]

Doctor Who!! So many thoughts!!

I have been honestly counting down to this for an entire year and it was everything I wanted it to be and so much more!!

Things I loved, in a fairly chronological order:

-There’s SO much diversity in this series (I mean we knew that already but still), I loved the immediate focus on the companions as ordinary people in britain about to experience something extraordinary

-YORKSHIRE. My homeland. It’s so so beautiful and so beautifully shown on screen. I LOVE this decentralised Who, there’s so much of the UK outside of London that’s so worth being seen on screen, and I immediately felt like I as back home with my family (even if I’m not that far away at uni). Everything about this ep screamed the North and particularly Yorkshire, i.e. drunk guy chucking kebab salad at an alien, sonic made of Sheffield steel, I’m in LOVE

-The cinematography is STUNNING. It’ll take a bit of getting used to as it’s super different but I love it. I can’t get over the production value

-Jodie FUCKING WHITTAKER! was the doctor! the moment she feel through that roof!! I knew she’d be brilliant already but she surpassed all my expectations, I maybe thought that she might have to grow into the character as like, every other doctor has had to do, and whilst that would have been fine, that would give the misogynist haters fuel to feed off of even though nearly every doctor builds up from their pilot. I’ve never seen a Doctor this strong this early though, and it’s incredible. I love the sorta double entendre lines about “adjusting to change even though it’s scary” and “taking the people we were before with us and staying true to our values”, there’s some great subversive writing there. also Jodie Whittaker is also exactly my type and I’m slightly in love,but pls excuse my bi ass 

-” I was expecting something less tentacley” is the best line ever written in Dr Who, hands down. Closely followed by “we don’t get aliens in Sheffield!”

-The new monster is fucking spectacular and also the most terrifying tooth fairy I’ve ever encountered, and I love the anti hunt messages

-The entire crane scene KILLED me. Karl listening to motivational podcasts (you are special and valued Karl ily) and the fucking mortality rate of that scene. Chibnall is taking no prisoners here, I was destroyed for the last quarter of the ep

-she got her outift from a CHARITY SHOP!! and anyone who thinks that’s unrealistic has never properly shopped in charity shops, my entire wardrobe is second hand. My housemate just turned to me at that point and was like “this episode is made for you”

-I love the new graphics, and I ADORE this version of the theme tune. The bassline ostinato is like so percussive and almost industrial, it’s like I can hear the Shef steel! (I think I’m right in thinking that Segun Akinola is the first composer Of Colour to score Dr Who, which shouldn’t be significant but is another example of how great this new series is in terms of representation).

-The cast of people at the end looks so good and I’m so so excited for next week’s ep!!

Any other thoughts:

-That train was unrealistic, Northern Rail is so much shitter than that (i.e. I wish there had been aliens on the trains whenever I’ve been on one that’s broken down)

-I did miss seeing the title sequence, but I get it was the pilot. I also missed the TARDIS but I’m fine if she finds it next week haha

-I was lowkey hoping to see Jemma Regrave’s name pop up in that list at the end, but I’m holding out hope that she’s from Chibnall era and will make an appearance at some point. The cast at the end did only show new people sooo

Basically I LOVED IT and it’s made my entire week haha

[doctorwhonews]

Resolution

Latest Review: Writer: Chris Chibnall  Director: Wayne Yip Executive Producers: Chris Chibnall and Matt Strevens Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Charlotte Ritchie, Nikesh Patel, Daniel Adegboyega and Nick Briggs BBC One (UK) First broadcast Tuesday January 1st 2019 It may have displaced Doctor Who's Christmas Day tradition, but the "spatial shift" in TV listings for 'Resolution' made this story no less of a gift. With sections of fandom wanting a return of old monsters, and with some arguing for stronger narrative threats for Jodie Whittaker's Doctor to face off against, 'Resolution' delivered in spades. And though it might be a truism to suggest that no new Doctor is truly forged in steeliness until they have faced the Daleks, it's a piece of lore that's extremely well borne out here. And what a Dalek! Given the presence of a lone reconnaissance scout, this immediately had the feel of 2005's Rob Shearman-penned story, albeit reworked through the distinctive filter of Chris Chibnall's vision for Who. A steelpunk Dalek neatly recapped the sonic screwdriver's new origin story from S11.e1, with Chibnall again deciding to cast his showrunner's remit to 'make it new' into the narrative universe, having both Doctor and Dalek recreate their own remembered versions of the show's icons. At first, I was concerned by the DIY Dalek's design -- it reminded me of unofficial replicas and assorted fan builds seen over the years -- but on reflection, there was just the right blend of RTD-era industrial vibe, innovation (including the red-lit section set within the outer casing) and clanking homespun realism, given the story's clear justification for all this. The resulting 'Sheffield steel dalek' will likely prove to be a one-off boon to merchandising ranges, but Chibnall astutely mined Dalek mythology for some striking images and pay-offs; the mutant-on-the-back recalled iconic imagery from 'Planet of the Spiders' more than previous Dalek tales (and was occasionally a touch unconvincing, for my money), whilst the use of Dalek 'bumps' as housings for rocket-launchers was nothing less than inspired. This may have felt more like 'trad' Doctor Who at times, but it was also full of surprises and brilliant bits of imagination. Having the Doctor confront this Dalek inside GCHQ was probably my favourite moment of series 11, combining a realist/spy-thriller version of how a lone Dalek might actually try to seize power in today's Britain with the inventiveness of Doctor Who at its very best. There was an air of inevitability about the scenario, once you realised where the script was going, but it fused the ordinary and the fantastical in a perfect way for a post-Snowden culture. Likewise, removing all wifi -- no Internet and no Netflix! -- made the Doctor's arch-enemy a resolutely contemporary menace, even if the 'family cutaway' struck a slight misstep in terms of its broad comic intent and clunkiness. Another inspired moment, however, was the way that UNIT's non-involvement was tackled. Undoubtedly well aware of old-school fan complaints along the lines of "why weren't UNIT called in?", the showrunner dispatched these mercilessly. But the presence of a call centre operative reading off her computer screen put UNIT's demise squarely into the context of government efficiency savings, as well as implicitly evoking Brexit-style wrangling over international funding. Any long-term fans pondering how UNIT could have been so savagely undone via these real-world resonances might want to additionally consider the extent to which UNIT perhaps belongs properly and organisationally to the age of 1970s' public services and internationalism -- a world now undermined by decades of neoliberalism (traversing both major UK political parties). The scene may be strongly satirical, but its commentary remains perfectly evident: we can't have nice things like UNIT via any current politics of austerity or isolationism. Instead, extraterrestrial-incursion security has seemingly been privatised, resulting in MDZ's feeble defence of the former 'Black Archive' (you can't imagine Kate Stewart or Osgood allowing a Dalek scout to wander off with weaponry and propulsion systems).               This was very much a two-pronged 'Special'; a sort of double-A-side seeking to combine Dalek shenanigans with the emotional weight of Ryan's father reappearing. Perhaps these strands didn't always rest side-by-side as comfortably as the features of Aaron's combination oven, but on the whole 'Resolution' was a successful hybrid. It followed a textbook pattern by uniting its main plot threads at the denouement, both thanks to Aaron's engineering specs, and via the sting-in-the-tentacle of the Dalek's desperate final attempt at human possession. The thirteenth Doctor remained characteristically fallible, mind you, with her Dalek showdowns never quite going according to plan, and her "squid-sized vacuum corridor" expanding to human-sized proportions with almost fatal consequences. All of this allowed 'Resolution' to re-articulate Chris Chibnall's mission statement for Who -- that the Doctor's "fam" should be just as important as the Doctor herself. And so it is Aaron and Ryan who, acting together through forgiveness and love, finally overcome the Dalek's tenacity. In one strange moment, it even feels as though the script is reaching towards a parallel between family and monstrosity -- just as family is more than DNA and a name, as Graham tells Aaron, then so too is the Dalek more than a DNA identification and a matter of naming. Both Dalekhood and fatherhood hinge on behaviour, meaning that just as Aaron has to prove his status to Ryan then the Dalek is equally required to prove its nature to new viewers and new fans. This it duly does, the episode being jam-packed with gloriously retro extermination effects and Dalek ruthlessness. And though monstrosity and family are eventually opposed, with the "extended fam" predictably defeating the monster of the year, it is striking, in an episode where the Dalek's identity is initially a matter of DNA testing and naming, that the familial and the monstrous should ghost across one another.   This is a story firing on all machine-tooled cylinders. The direction from Wayne Yip is brilliantly kinetic and well-judged throughout, and the acting performances are uniformly first-rate. I'd especially single out Charlotte Ritchie, who does a lot of great work as Lin to really sell the Dalek 'pilot' concept, switching through various gradations of embodied Dalekness. In addition, Nick Briggs is on superb form, relishing the chance to do things such as providing maniacally extended and chilling Dalek laughter. I still miss the pre-credits sequence, though. The response to Graham's much-trailed question, "does it have a name?", would have been intensified by immediately then crashing into the titles. OK, cutting the title sequence buys a little more story time, but a few judicious trims here and there could easily have made room for the titles, and for a more dramatic punctuation of the Doctor's reveal of the Daleks. I hope that pre-credits scenes are restored across series 12. And on this showing, the return of the Daleks -- plural and non-DIY this time -- would also be most welcome in 2020. Regardless of how series 11 is packaged on DVD/blu-ray, it's difficult not to view this as anything other than the true finale to Jodie Whittaker's first season. The DNA of Chris Chibnall's vision for the show is coded right through it: fantasy plus grounded social/political resonance plus emotional realism, all added to an ethic of teamwork and elective family rather than Time Lord (super-)heroics standing front-and-centre. Yes, at times this Doctor seems more reactive or passive than in the past, as well as less torn by internal demons, and less shadowed by back-story mysteries. It makes the Doctor far less of a focal point, freeing up narrative space and time for at least some of the "fam", and reconfiguring Who in a more inclusive and mentoring mode than arguably ever before. Chibnall's work hasn't just been about bringing in new writers' voices, featuring new locales, and emphasising a renewed sense of Doctor Who's capacities to speak back to power. He has also resolved to give the Doctor a radical new stripe of narrative agency too, one less omnipotent, less certain, and more energisingly hopeful. And that, for me, is a resolution worth championing.                                          http://reviews.doctorwhonews.net/2019/01/resolution.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[truthbeetoldmedia]

Doctor Who 11x01 “The Woman Who Fell to Earth” Review

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting and watching whiny white boys make Reddit threads about a female Doctor ruining the entire genre of science fiction, we have a new season of Doctor Who! And, to be honest, it feels like a whole new show compared to the recent dark and moody seasons that were much too interested in their own perceived cleverness than making television that’s actually enjoyable. We have a new Doctor, three new companions, and a new showrunner; the possibilities are endless. I’ll jump right in by dividing my review into two sections: what I enjoyed and what I didn’t.

What I Enjoyed

Jodie Whittaker

My first impression of Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor is a good one: she’s funny, quick witted, and she already seems comfortable playing this new character. Fans of Doctor Who know that first impressions are crucial for a new version of the Doctor, and the nature of the show doesn’t make it easy. The Doctor has just regenerated, not quite her old self but not yet fully transformed into her new self, either. Whittaker has to play an established character and a new one all at the same time, with the added pressure of being the first woman to do so. She has to transform from an echo of Peter Capaldi’s twelfth Doctor into her own, which she does masterfully.

And, personally, I’m looking forward to a young Doctor. At age 36, Whittaker is the third youngest to play the Doctor after Matt Smith at 26 and Peter Davison at 29. There’s something really effective about a two-thousand-year-old time lord staring at you from the eyes of someone in their 30s, and if we’re lucky enough to have a great actor in the Doctor’s shoes, that will shine through in more dramatic scenes and add real depth to the show. Matt Smith did this better than anyone, and you can fight me on that.

The most recent seasons of Doctor Who have been quite dark, with the Doctor being played by a shouty, fed up British white man in a constant state of angst. Peter Capaldi did a good job playing the Doctor during the past three seasons, but it can definitely be argued that this three season long trend was a bit too long for this kind of Doctor. Every season had at least five moments that all were framed as “the Doctor’s darkest hour,” trying to add depth to the story which instead was interpreted by many as the show being too obsessed with it’s own “cleverness.” Steven Moffat’s show Sherlock is guilty of the same thing, and it’s easy to see how Doctor Who was able to join Sherlock in the way of being a little too pretentious; a little too dark for the sake of attempting to be clever, and the show suffered for it.

Now, with Whittaker (and new showrunner Chris Chibnall), echoes of a more balanced Doctor Who are once again the core of the show. This new Doctor is cheerful in the face of danger, quick to defend her friends (or anyone, really), with the ability to be stern when the moment calls for it. This episode also allows Whittaker to shine through as the Doctor without a grand story or circumstance: she has no TARDIS, no sonic screwdriver (until she fashions one herself), and there is no travel in time or space. It’s just the Doctor on her own with a group of unassuming humans, trying to save lives.

It can be difficult for the audience when someone new plays the Doctor; there’s always a bit of a transition from the version of the Doctor that we’ve learned to appreciate and have grown used to. It’s a testament to Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall that when she finally declared, “I know EXACTLY who I am. I’m the Doctor,” I not only believed it, I was already cheering for her.

 The Companions

As with a new Doctor, new companions sometimes need getting used to, especially if the previous companion was a fan favorite. In this episode we’re introduced to Ryan (Tosin Cole), Yaz (Mandip Gill), and Graham (Bradley Walsh). We learn that Ryan and Yaz know each other from school, and Graham is Ryan’s step-grandfather.

We’re introduced to our new companions when they’re struggling; a classic introduction and a perfect way to introduce the Doctor into their lives. Ryan is struggling with a disorder that affects his coordination and is working a dead end job, knowing he’s not satisfied with his current circumstance but not knowing what to do to fix it. Yaz seems like she’s the most successful of the bunch, working as a police officer, but we learn early on that she’s been assigned to working traffic disputes and is met with refusal when she asks her superior to put her on more interesting cases. Graham, who has been married to Ryan’s Nan, Grace, for only three years, is finding it hard to connect with Ryan.

These three (and Grace) all work surprisingly well together in this first episode, and I’m already excited for their dynamic. We learned the most about Ryan this week, but I’m ready to learn about the others as the season progresses. I’m especially intrigued by Yaz; she’s extremely clever and I can’t wait to see that translate into adventures with the Doctor.

Choosing When to Address a Female Doctor

We all know that Jodie Whittaker’s turn as the Doctor is a historic one, marking the first time in over fifty years that the Doctor won’t be a British white man (she’s still British and white, mind you). Immediately following the announcement that the Doctor will be played by a woman, hoards of distraught men threw what can only be described as a tantrum. We all know what white men throwing a tantrum via the internet looks like, so I won’t go into detail. I will say that I’m THRILLED at the treatment that this historical casting got in the season premiere.

The Doctor’s gender is only mentioned once, quickly, and then immediately pushed to the side in favor of the actual substance of the episode. The Doctor hasn’t seen herself since regenerating, and when Yaz refers to her as “Madam” her response is a simple “Am I? Does it suit me? An hour ago I was a white haired Scotsman,” and then moves RIGHT on. Yes, The  Doctor is a woman. Women belong in science fiction. A woman INVENTED science fiction, and there won’t be any kind of justification needed for a female Doctor.

The only other time the controversy surrounding Whittaker’s casting was addressed was later on in the episode, indirectly, and by the Doctor herself while giving a signature uplifting speech during the climax of the episode. She says that “We are all capable of the most incredible change. We can evolve while still staying true to who we are. We can honor who we’ve been, and choose who we want to be next.” Honestly, I was waiting for her to pull a Jim Halpert and stare right into the camera.

Back to the True Essence of Doctor Who

I mentioned this earlier on in my review, but it is such a relief to watch an episode of Doctor Who that actually feels like Doctor Who. The show has definitely gotten away from what made it special in the first place: extraordinary events in a perfectly unassuming location with ordinary people, and an alien that happens to have two hearts.

When I’m trying to explain Doctor Who to someone who hasn’t watched it (a tough job, I know), I always feel like I have to include that line from Season 1 when the Ninth Doctor (played by Chris Eccleston) says, “Nine hundred years of time and space and I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the best part about Doctor Who is the notion that the ordinary is extraordinary. Doctor Who is best when it’s simple, when it uplifts everyday people, and when it doesn’t try to be some grand display of cleverness. The Doctor makes her new sonic screwdriver out of Sheffield steel. She calls herself “just a traveler.” We haven’t seen this show like this in awhile, and I’m grateful.

What I Could Have Done Without

As you can tell from the first part of this review, there wasn’t a lot that I didn’t like. There is, however, one major event I take issue with, and that’s the death of Ryan’s Nan, Grace.

Grace is a part of the group that joins the Doctor early on in the episode, and she ends up dying while fighting the “monster of the week,” an alien dubbed “Tim Shaw.” It seemed so unnecessary, especially for a season premiere with a new Doctor, a new showrunner… something like that sets the tone for a new season and a new era, so it’s an odd choice to put in this episode. Fans of Doctor Who know that the show is no stranger to soul crushing sadness, but that’s usually reserved for the exit of a companion or a season finale. They even went so far as to show the funeral, touching upon death in a way that the show hasn’t done before.

We all know that good people die, but this seemed like an odd choice. It’s also pretty evident that Grace’s early demise was a way to push her husband, Graham, into being a better person, but it’s never a good choice to sacrifice a woman to insert meaning into a man’s emotional journey, especially since we only just met Grace and she didn’t have a chance to do anything else. Her relationship with Ryan seemed much more important, but we were robbed of that as well.

Overall, I really loved this episode. I’m genuinely looking forward to the new season, something that hasn’t happened for me since Matt Smith left the show. Here’s to hoping this season is Doctor Who as it should be.

Alyssa's episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝

[spinnerprincess]

so i’m catching up on doctor who, after ditching the show at the end of s7 because i just couldn’t stand moffat’s bullshit anymore

i return to it with no less patience for his bullshit, but caring less makes me less angry about it, which is nice

and so, here is my doctor who series 8 review. 

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

I like clara and I like capaldi’s doctor and I hate most of the writing

the last four episodes are marginally better and just barely managed to drag the rating up to 3/5 instead of 2/5

here are some episode reviews if you care or if you just like hearing me complain (it is mostly complaining so don’t bother reading if that’s going to bother you) (no seriously don’t)

they are minorly spoilery but mostly just vague

episode 1: deep breath 

rating: 💜💜🖤🖤🖤 

the restaurant scene was the best part and the only scene really worth a shoutout. well built up to, suspense was grand. everything else was bland or confusing.

capaldi’s a fun doctor. clara is a good companion. the veil scene with clara and vastra was okay. the boyfriend thing was a little tiring since that whole gimmick always seems to have been based off moffat’s perception of all women finding the doctor attractive on some level, but sure. 

jenny and vastra continue to be delightful half the time and treated as if power imbalance in a relationship is a mere quirk and not serious concern the other half of the time (bonus points for this treatment in a wlw relationship). strax’s quirks have long worn thin. 

i already hate how “crazy” missy is. took two seconds. nice. 

episode 2: into the dalek

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

very entertaining premise. execution was acceptable. the twist at the ending does a good job of setting up for the doctor’s personal struggle of the season. however, I find that personal struggle very boring. lots of creativity was put into the structure of the dalek, very fun. 

cold open was very confusing. 

also already getting the impression that this series is going to gloss over the very real problems veterans have. when will people learn you can want to improve life for veterans while condemning the battles that forged them. 

might recommend.

episode 3: robot of sherwood

rating: 💜💜🖤🖤🖤

clara looked fantastic in that dress. the doctor’s pissing contest with robin hood was hilarious. the arrow shooting at the end was adorable.

entertaining, boppy. no real negatives, but no real positives either. kind of a snoozefest.

episode 4: listen

rating: 💜🖤🖤🖤🖤

an episode that might otherwise have been a promising 2/5 or maybe even 3/5 receives 1/5 for the last few minutes alone. 

as usual, moffat likes to break rules like “we can’t go to gallifrey’s history anymore it’s timelocked” on a whim, and by on a whim, I mean, because if he goes to gallifrey’s distant past, he can make it so his characters are somehow the most important people of all time, because they teach the doctor important life-long lessons, isn’t clara amazing, wow, the companion who knows the doctor the most, the one who told him not to fear monsters under the bed. 

it’s the smuggest bullshit i’ve ever seen and i’m so fucking done with this man’s insistence on his characters being the most important to the doctor. he consistently shows no respect to the companions and people that have come before his and it’s infinitely frustrating.

also the entire premise was apparently “the doctor is afraid of the dark” which is just an exhausting reveal for all the drama it puts us through to get there. especially since all the elements of horror are 100% recycled moffat bullshit: corner of your eye (cracks in time), monster under the bed (girl in the fireplace), don’t look at it (blink in reverse), like... so, so painfully rehashed

the date with danny itself was kind of cute but clara’s interactions with orson and rupert pink were awkward at best.

skip it. save yourself

episode 5: time heist

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

honestly with personal bias this one should be a 4/5, but again, that’s personal bias. I mean, come on. space bank heist. what’s not to love. i’m a sucker for a good ocean’s eleven.

good scary moments, good puzzles, interesting characters, fun times.

the architect reveal was obvious but it was a funny reveal the way they did it so who cares. the reason for the heist was a little cliche too but still very good. nothing outstanding, but good job.

would recommend. 

episode 6: the caretaker

rating: 💜💜🖤🖤🖤

I liked courtney. good kid.

the doctor was very in character and vain with the whole adrian thing but there was imo a slightly racist undertone of him presuming clara’s boyfriend was adrian, who looks like matt smith, over danny, a black dude, that made the whole thing kind of uncomfortable. 

the fact that disdain for pe teachers is never questioned was annoying too. even if i personally think so, it’s really irritating to see math elevated as somehow better than pe, inherently.

i spent most of this episode mildly annoyed. i do like clara though.

episode 7: kill the moon

rating: 💜💜🖤🖤🖤

an otherwise enjoyable episode, this one is brought down by the fact that all the main players towards the end are women, and as usual with moffat’s era, the doctor never seems to respect or listen to them when it really counts. 

this used to be a show I loved because the doctor picked up ordinary women and showed them extraordinary things, and more importantly, showed them that they could be extraordinary too. now it’s a show about extraordinary women trying to live ordinary lives while a man shows them extraordinary things but insists on treating them like mundane, ordinary beings. 

I really hope chibnall doesn’t continue this trend.

i suspect we’re meant to empathize with clara at the end, but disagree with her, but like honestly, tell him the fuck off clara. I mean, he won’t learn from it, because moffat’s doctor never does, but tell him the fuck off anyway.

episode 8: mummy on the orient express

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

pretty good. brought down, as usual, by the doctor’s personal struggle of the season, but pretty good. 

great build-up, good suspense, fun mystery. good atmosphere. unsatisfying to have no answers about the perpetrator. zero memorable characters, which is the biggest reason it rang dull, imo. 

clara wears the flapper look extremely well. it’s pretty sad when clara’s outfit is a highlight of an episode, though.

might recommend.

episode 9: flatline

rating: 💜💜💜💜🖤

I enjoyed an episode of doctor who!!!!!! will wonders never cease!!

the only bad part of this episode was the last minute or two where they touched upon the doctor’s "am I a good man” pity festival and gave us another glimpse at missy. 

everything else: fantastic. moral struggles! intense and frightening scenes! fascinating new ideas! neat special effects! the most thrilling new doctor who enemy I’ve seen in ages! clara being absolutely outstanding - moreover, finding out that she is outstanding! fantastic solution at the end! memorable characters who I rooted for!

that was a thrill from start to finish and the first time all season I’ve really, actually, truly remembered why I used to love the show. 

would recommend for sure!!

episode 10: in the forest of the night

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

pretty touching, and actually hit most of the emotional beats it was aiming for! that surprised me.

loved the concept behind the trees. appreciated maebh’s story for the most part. cute to have the kids from the school interacting with the doctor.

still not sure what the point of danny is? I like him and he and clara have their sweet moments but it’s hard not to feel like every writer writes him differently, and like him saying “I don’t care what the truth is I just don’t want to be lied to” rings false because every time she has told him the truth it’s been a problem.

also: so exhausted by the idea that danny, as clara’s boyfriend, has any say over how clara’s allowed to spend her time, or who she chooses to spend it with. 

that’s not danny’s fault I don’t think he’s intended to be read as controlling I think the writers are misogynistic little shits.

episode 11: dark water

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

I went into this one preparing to loathe it and as it turns out I was mostly wrong!

this would have been 4/5, except that only since missy’s a girl they have the gall to make her relationship with the doctor tread on explicitly romantic territory? uh-huh. seriously that kiss scene was awful and moffat’s “surprise kisses where one participant is extremely uncomfortable” strikes again. 

let the doctor kiss men, you fucking cowards.

but... masterful plan, pardon the bad joke. saw the twist when they went into the elevator, of course, and internally screamed. can’t believe I recognized the stinger, but I did. very well done, very well set up, very emotional. 

seriously if it weren’t for the fact that missy and her “romance” and her “craziness” represents everything I fucking despise about doctor who’s recent treatment of women, I’d say this was a damn good episode. what a shame.

episode 12: death in heaven 

rating: 💜💜💜🖤🖤

it was good but a large part of the reason I feel so good after watching it is just the fact that I probably won’t have to deal with so much irritating “blah blah soldiers suck” drivel and the whole “am I a good man?” pity fest from the doctor if I watch s9.

another large good part is the shoutout at the end to lethbridge-stewart, that was sorely needed tbh. about time. 

missy was well acted, but I’m still so fed up with the boring het treatment of it all. hey quick questions: why would time lords give a fuck about gender roles or gender orientation as more than weird, antiquated quirks? for that matter why do they even acknowledge the existence of a gender binary half the time? i’ll never know.

good choices include the plot and its resolution. laughing forever at doctor who’s insistence on upgrading their villains to make them somehow scarier all the time, but at least they had a plot reason for it too. also, clara’s bit about feeling special. that’s something I’ve thought was missing from doctor who for a long time, and to see it in a form I can almost believe was a breath of fresh air.

boring choices include setting up as if this episode is going to be all about clara being a total badass, only for it to last all of three seconds. which isn’t to say that clara wasn’t or isn’t a badass so much as, “boy do I love watching an episode where she spends nearly all of it upset and having no lines though.” hint: I do not.

mediocre choices include the characters chosen to be killed off. not like I expected better, of course. please, if you’re listening, let bill come out of her adventures with the doctor alright. people who don’t fit in moffat’s box of tricks so rarely do. 

i’ll watch the christmas special some other time. i sense another bad one coming on. 

s8 sucked but I liked some parts of it! wonder how s9 is.