#i thought it was gonna be a timeless child callback

[bunnywand]

just watched the new doctor who episode and uh.. i Rly don’t know what 2 make of it yet 😳

there was a Lot going on, Very fast paced and p disorientating, but i kinda get the feeling that was deliberate?? and like it’s obvs setting up for the rest of the series, so it won’t rly become apparent how good it was at doing that until the rest has aired 😅

i’m definitely intrigued tho!! the most interesting bit 2 me was, just before the woman got zapped by the weeping angel, when she came up to the doctor and yaz and introduced herself literally Word for Word how sally sparrow introduced herself to the doctor and martha at the end of blink like.. surely that can’t have Just been a callback, there’s gotta have been s/t going on there right?? 😦

i liked the new sontaran design, and thought their scene was p good!! and i already like john bishop’s character from what we’ve seen of him 😭

oh also!! i was wondering what the hell was going on w/ the doctor and the dog alien, so it was p cool when u found out she was looking for him for information on “the division!!” obvs they weren’t just gonna leave that and the timeless child plot threads hanging, but it’s good to like, finally see them getting picked up and hopefully explored now 😌

but yeah that’s just some of the thoughts i had 😅 it’ll probs take a while for the episode 2 like.. fully sink in, so i’ll add more if i think of anything else ☺️

[austerlitzborodinoleipzig]

Spyfall thoughts

I think I should preface it by reframing my previous post where I was mad a Chibnall for ignoring the Capaldi run, because, yes I’m pissed but also last thing I want is feed the showrunners war, so to put it right: I’m not accusing Chibnall of going out of his way to spite the Moffat-loving segment of the audience, or to pursposefully ignore/retcon him. I just think that he wants the show to have better ratings, and he's trying to do a return to the glorious days of Dctor Who under RTD. Which means uncritically riffing off this era, and borrowing the parts that he thinks worked for better and for worse (and as far as I’m concerned for worse, like they say, you always prefer the original to the copy)

The Good

Part 1 is clearly superior to part 2, mostly because part 2 makes some spectacularly questionable choices. 

I like the many callbacks to the Pertwee era. It’s not the era I care the most about, but fair enough. The TCE was hilarious. The “Contact!” beat is straight from the Three Doctors. Barton gave me strong Tobias Vaughn vibes, and okay The Invasion is a Throughton story but it’s basically the Pertwee era pilot. And the first UNIT story.  

The Fam. I don’t agree with the idea that they are being better established in the Part 1 intro. They still are basically characterised by: Ryan-has-dyspraxia, Yaz-is-a-cop-with-a-tiresome-family, Graham-had-cancer-and-a-wife. So after a full series, still the same, and nothing beyond those tiny points... BUT Chibnall actually managed to balance an ensemble cast, at least for part 1. We had some moments between the Fam actually reacting to their immediate experience, talking through it. Also the content was hilarious. 

Their whole storyline in part 2 is a bit frustrating because it’s mostly companions being out of their depth (remember when people accused Moffat of doing that. Meanwhile, Clara would have probalby singlehandedly sorted the whole situation with Barton) and biding their time until the Doctor arrives and saves everyone. But I love seing them being rubbish spies. 

Thirteen is for now firmly in the “questionable morality and a fucking hypocrite” camp. Here’s hoping it’s gonna evolve. BUT we are getting a better grip on her personnality. She’s the verbal-stream-of-consciousness Doctor. Also she’s your mechanic aunt, really into computers, and tech and shit and I love that. Basically I want more gadgety-Doctor thinkering with devices to save the world. Oh and absolute pacifist. 

Graham doing tap dance. 

The Doctor using the laminator, and making safety instructions with her silhouette on it, and photoshopping it to get the colour of the pants right!

I genuinely liked Chibnall’s take on the Master in this ep. Like sure he’s fairly ridiculous, but I never thought the character was that good, or interesting to begin with. And Dhawan really gave a good performance. 

The resolution: The Master got back from the horrible sewers, and the Doctor went back in time and bribed the Architect. Seriously, most influential Doctor Who story, in NuWho’s case is still the Curse of the Fatal Death. 

Also the Master being in trouble because he made an alliance with aliens he can not control is peak Doctor Who, and Chibnall gets a lot wrong, but he gets the Master right!

The Bad

And now Gallifrey is fucking nuked. Again. Like seriously Chibnall, of all the things to do with the Time-Lords, you decided to do the most boring thing possible.

Also if we are in for more series of the Doctor going through pain and trauma of being the last of his kind, I’m gonna riot. Like we had seven!!! fucking!!! seasons of that. There’s really nothing left to tell, and Doctor Who needs to jettison it to go forward. 

Which is why I don’t him trust to do a big lore-focused arc. Like, Moffat did big arcs, but stayed clear of the deep lore, mostly suggesting things and leaving some wiggle-room for the other writer to offer alternative takes. 

The Timeless Child smells of Cartmell masterplan, but without Marc Platt weirdness, which is basically the best thing about the Masterplan in the first place. 

What was the point of doing a spy movie, if you’re just gonna go through a check-list, and do nothing with the premise?

I feel kinda frustrated that we never got to see who the aliens were. I mean they had a cool look. Their dimension looked dope. And they just... went away like generic villain number 4563245. Also the Kassavins are a cool-sounding name.  

That joke about Russian spies everywhere. Not putting it in the ugly, because : a) I didn’t like it but that’s just me. b) it’s a given in the spy-movie genre c)after the Salisbury incident, the English have actually a point here (and the right to be pissed, tho I’m not sure if Chibnall has lots of thoughts on Russian interventions on British soil).

The Ugly

That whole WWII segment. Just nope. That was poorly thought out and the execution...

Having the Master getting caught by the Nazis for being a double spy is a nice way of having the evil schemer getting fucked up with his own device trope. HOWEVER THE DOCTOR FUCKING UP THE PERCEPTION FILTER FOR THE NAZIS TO SEE THAT THE MASTER HAS THE APPEARANCE OF A SOUTH-ASIAN MAN IS NOT OKAY!!!!

I mean the Master was probably in danger of getting shot for espionage, but no let’s have him send to a concentration camp. In-universe it could have been okay, it’s the Master after all, known genocidal bastard. But nopenopenopenope let’s rat out racial minorities to the Nazis is.... How the fuck did Chibnall let this fly?

Also why have Noor Inayat Khan? She really was there for no reason except because morse-code and I guess the Doctor needs two historical companions, one a computer scientist, the other a spy because we need to be thematically relevant? I mean Khan could have seemed to be a good choice. POC. Obscure but important historical figure. Fought the Nazis. Except she’s shoved to the sideline, is here to basically say “Doctor I don’t get it”. AND THEN THE DOCTOR SENDS HER OFF WITH NO MEMORIES AND GOOD LUCK, WHILE SHE DIES IN DACHAU A YEAR AFTER THAT. Mostly, Doctor Who being a time travel show, where history is being changed nearly always, except on Earth for obvious reasons, should stay the fuck away from the Holocaust. Like why not stick with Lovelace and not pick a 19th century spy? At least you stay clear of the whole business.

Having the Doctor proud to be a pacifist in the middle of WW2 is... a choice.

We’re still doing the mind-wipe in the year 2020??? Are you fucking kidding me??? After Hell Bent and The Pilot? I mean I could’ve let it slide if the mind wipe was presented as something inevitable but right. I mean questionable ethics are a part of Doctor Who... But here we have Ada Lovelace, on screen fucking begging the Doctor not to erase her mind. And the Doctor does it anyway, and after that delivers a bullshit inspirational speechTM? And anyway it’s not like that’s their usual MO because neither Shakespeare, Dickens, Elizabeth the First, or any other celebrities got their memories erased, so why the sudden need? Heck Van Gogh was even showed his future, and that did not unravel the web of time or something. 

And now I’m picturing Twelve, who took so much care into making sure his next incarnation would not fuck this up, and be better than him watching this and just going: "Why did I regenerate at all?"