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annakie · 5 years

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It took three and a half months, but I’ve finished my Doctor Who Rewatch.

It’s time to talk about seasons 10, 11, overall wrapup thoughts and some best/worst lists. Very long post below.

I started doing this back at the end of August as more of a joke when I was going back and cleaning the terrible cringe stuff off the first few months of my blog, then ended up taking that project from when I started the blog in May, 2011 until late 2016. I realized that I had too much going on IRL right now to revisit my life at the end of 2016 when things took a sharp turn the wrong way, so I haven’t picked that back up again. I still might at some point.

After the start of the nostalgia tour I:

Cried about Doomsday

Still hated the Manhattan episodes but renewed my love for one of my favorite characters of all time.

Reflected about Martha Jones and being an overly-zealous defender of a fictional character

Cried a lot over meeting and losing River Song in the span of an hour and a half.

Made my way through Season 4 and found myself still mostly loving the show.

Finished Season 4 and was starting to tire of Ten but knew I had more content to get through.

Didn’t post again til I was done with Amy and Rory. Loved Amy, Rory and River even more, especially Rory.

Watched an episode I remembered I didn’t like just because of the guest actors. Only marginally helped the episode.

Disliked the second half of season 7 even more than I used to. Felt meh about Clara.

Warmed to Clara more in seasons 8 and 9. Still, was ready to see her go. Loved Twelve, though the first half of season 8 continued to be rough. Adored the Husbands of River Song for the 6th+ time.

Took a brief moment to love Bill.

Full disclosure on the rewatch: I skipped most of Fear Her except the first and last few minutes, and actually haven’t gotten back to Waters of Mars or the one 11 Christmas Special with the kids who’s father dies. I may or may not pick those up in the next week or two.

So tonight I finished rewatching all of Thirteen’s episodes and wanted to talk a bit more about Bill, and then a lot about Thirteen, and some general thoughts about the whole rewatch.

Bill Potts is too good for this world. I remembered loving her during her season but was blown away on the rewatch with how much I loved her, and almost all of her season. Her energy, her story, her smile, it’s infectious. It’s infuriating that so many people didn’t watch Bill because wow she deserved a lot more attention that I feel like she got, and also I feel like the show itself turned a real corner that season. Season 9, yes, definitely better than 8 and 7.5. But It’s like Moffat or the writers in general kinda grocked into several important things and made the show more progressive and less cringe?

There wasn’t an episode I thought was bad, even the more filler episodes like the one in space with the air being a commodity was tense and fun. I’m not sure I’d skip a single episode.

And then Bill, I think, ends up getting an even shittier deal than Martha in her season. Left alone for ten years in a shithole mopping up floors, only to be turned into a cyberman and get left extremely traumatized, and sacrifice herself. A very good story. A very sad and frustrating ending. Except that she does get to “transform” and travel the universe with Heather.

Maybe she did eventually go back home and finish living her life from not long after she left in the TARDIS the last time -- it’s entirely possible. The Memory-Bill in Twice Upon a Time (the Twelve & One crossover) remembered traveling with Heather, which means her memory was taken from some point AFTER. So maybe she got to be an ethereal being for a long time, and then eventually went home to Earth. Or maybe she’s still out there traveling the stars with Heather. Either way, she deserves a good life, and a good ending, even if we never know the true ending.

Twelve -- I love him. Again, he had a really rough start but Capaldi is an amazing actor and he owned the role. I don’t think it’s actually possible to rank my favorite doctors from the new Who era, they’re all different, all great. And Missy -- such an amazing villain. Paired with Simms-Master was so, extremely fun, but even on her own, I think she’s now my favorite incarnation of The Master. (I’ve only seen a few episodes of Old-Who with Delgado, and I really love Delgado’s Master as well.)

Nardole was also a fun addition to the season. I know technically he was considered a full companion and enjoyed him when he was there, but tbh, to me it was all about Bill.

But hey, when Twelve left, it was a good time for him to go -- I really think three seasons is the sweet spot for length of a Doctor. I was so ready for Thirteen and The Fam.

I remembered loving Thirteen when her episodes were airing and, I was right to. Jodie Whittaker is so good -- I never doubt for a second that she’s The Doctor. The show one again feels very different with a new doctor / companions / showrunner. I honestly loved the lack of Doctor-Angst in the season. Thirteen is so much more brightness and sunshine and I think it was a good way to swing the Doctor after Twelve. I also liked that there were a few comments about changing genders, a little bit of frustration from noticing how people treated her differently, but it was neither an earthshattering thing that made EVERYTHING DIFFERENT nor was it a non-event. I really think they handled it well.

I will say that I think some of the critics were right, that the season itself could have used a bit more of an arc. Not a heavy arc, like seasons five and six had, but a bit more than Tim Shaw showing up in the first and last episodes of the season. It looks like next season is going to have that.

The arc that was there though really came from Graham and Ryan’s grief about Grace and their relationship growing. Honestly, I remember when we learned that one of the new companions was going to be a 60-ish year old dude I wasn’t looking forward to that at all, but honestly, I love Graham. He’s an actual good guy, he loves deeply, he’s allowed to show his emotions, he handles things WELL. He’s not perfect but also I felt like they wrote his character so well, he wasn’t an arrogant guy expecting everyone to follow his orders, he cares deeply for Ryan and even had some great scenes with Yaz.

Ryan and Yaz are both also just so fantastic. I loved getting to spend time with Yaz’s family both current and past. I actually learned a little history in the episode that took place in Pakistan (and loved having a benevolent alien storyline there, love that episode so much). I also loved that they allowed Ryan to show grief and sadness, and vulnerability too.

I was definitely feeling the 13/Yaz vibes on the rewatch, and although I wouldn’t say I’d be upset if they did end up doing a Ryan/Yaz storyline, I also wouldn’t be upset if they didn’t do any romance storylines at all. I didn’t miss it this season, and 13/Yaz seemed more likely than anything.

I also loved that they took on racism in a couple of big ways this series. I felt like the only big swing-and-miss episode was Ker-Blam! where they were so close to really hammering down a good message in the episode and then it felt like Jeff Bezos himself came in and rewrote the last 10 minutes.

TBH there were a couple of episodes that I had COMPLETELY forgotten about, especially the one with Chris North and the big spiders. Like while I was watching it I had a vague memory of seeing it before, but not up until then. I’d also forgotten about the New Year’s episode last year with Ryan’s dad. I only remembered to watch it because after the final episode I was like “Wait, wasn’t Ryan’s dad supposed to be in this season?” and so I went to hunt for the episode.

SO... that’s it. I was actually a little shocked last night when I finished up the New Year’s episode and realized... I was DONE. I made it back through eleven seasons and... it was worth it.

Some final thoughts... and I’m just picking a few things out here off the top of my head, I wasn’t keeping a list all the way through so I’m sure I’m going to think of other things after hitting Post, but here we go.

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COMPANION RANKINGS: God Tier: Martha Jones

Faves: Bill Potts, Rory Williams, River Song

I love you so much: Donna Noble, Amy Pond, The Fam (All together!), Jack Harkness, Mickey Smith, Wilfred Mott

Very very Good: Rose Tyler, Nardole

I Still Like You: Clara Oswald

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FAVE SEASON: I mean, it’s still gonna be Martha’s season with an honorable mention of the second half of 4.

If you take Martha Jones out of the equation, it’d probably be either 6 through 7.0, or Bill’s season.

LEAST FAVORITE: The second half of 7, for sure, and the first half of 8 is kinda rough. It’d be easy to say season 1, as well, but I don’t think that’s entirely fair, as I think the age of the show really shows there and there was a lot of getting-on-their feet they had to do. There’s still a lot of good there, you just have to look for it harder.

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Favorite Specials:

The Husbands of River Song, #1 favorite no question

The Day of the Doctor a close second.

Honorable mention to the Night of The Doctor for the canonical return of Eight. Seriously, the first time I saw that it may have been the single most joyous moment of New Who for me.

Least Favorite:

I mean, I haven’t rewatched two of them yet since I remember not liking them.

Also Voyage of the Damned was just even worse than I remembered it.

I Cried The Hardest:

Amy and Rory’s leaving in The Angels Take Manhattan

River’s death in the Library

The end of Doomsday

Danny’s death

The end of Vincent and the Doctor

Prem’s death in Demons of the Punjab, maybe the only single-episode character death that hit me that hard.

Happiest Tears:

Martha leaves the Doctor

The group in the TARDIS towing Earth home in Journey’s End

Twelve and River get 24 years together

Ryan calls Graham “Grandad”

Jackie and Alt-Pete meet/”reunite”

Heather shows up and... “saves” Bill, they go off on adventures.

Best Twists:

John Simms Return at the end of season ten.

YANA is the Master

Oswin is actually a Dalek

Heaven is run by Missy, and the Cybermen. (Damn I really love twists concerning the Master don’t I?)

Bill discovers she IS a Cyberman

Loudest cheers:

Mickey showing up in Doomsday

Martha laughs at the Master

Rory’s speech at the beginning of A Good Man Goes to War

The Doctor punches a racist who insulted Bill

Best dramatic moments:

Jack and the Doctor talk about Rose in Utopia

Twelve takes several billion years to punch through a wall

Just This Once, Everybody Lives!

Turn Left

The Doctor says goodbye Idris in The Doctor’s Wife

Missy and the Master’s mutually assured destruction.

Biggest Laughs for a good reason:

The entire poison scene in the Unicorn and the Wasp

Basically everything about the Doctor attempting to be normal in The Lodger.

Right, putting Hitler in the Cupboard.

Doctor, when I’m on a date, do not put the Pope in my bedroom.

Biggest Cringe:

Penis-head half-human Dalek

Concrete blowjobs

Anytime a lady slapped/hit a guy not in self-defense

Old goblin Ten / Jesus Ten in Last of the Time Lords

Most of The End of Time part 1

Eleven forces a kiss on Jenny in The Crimson Horror (THAT deserved the slap.)

There’s a lot of things I could point out in season 1 but I’m grading season 1 on a curve.

Favorite non-companion recurring characters:

Danny Pink

Brian Williams

Jackie Tyler

Worst Villians:

“Love And Monsters”

“Fear Her”

The eye-crud sleep monster with Twelve

I kinda wanna say the Daleks are so overdone it’s hard to get excited about them anymore, though I did kinda like what they did in “Resolution” (13′s New Years episode last year.)

OK I honestly don’t know if I want to put “A sentient universe who is in the form of a large frog and just wants a BFF” in best or worst but I feel it belongs SOMEWHERE.

Best Villians:

Missy

Whatever the fuck that thing is in Midnight

House

Got a Raw Deal award:

Adam (Seriously, he was told nothing and did nothing wrong via what he’d been told?!

Donna

Bill (Seriously, TEN YEARS SCRUBBING FLOORS? only to not be saved by 2 hours and then turned into a cyberman and killed again?)

Most Bothersome Lack of Continuity:

The rules for meeting yourself / interfering in the past.

Uh so who was the Not-Danny astronaut in “Listen” anyway?

Most Improved on a Rewatch:

The Fires of Pompeii because... ten and twelve? It used to be one of my least favorite eps of season 4.

the Daleks in Manahattan episodes I guess just because I liked them more this time though they’re still not great.

Seeing all of River’s timeline in such a short period of time

Gotta say I enjoyed Planet of the Dead a normal amount when before I used to really dislike it.

Best Premiere of a Doctor: The Eleventh Hour Roughest Premiere of a Doctor: Deep Breath, since I’m grading season 1 on a curve. Best Exit of a Doctor: Honestly? I’m gonna give this one to Nine. He sacrificed himself to save Rose, and he died too soon. It seemed a fitting end, if too quick.

Roughest Exit of a Doctor: I’m going to go with Eleven here. It came at the end of what I felt was the worst period of New Who. The episode itself was... I kind of felt like it was overwraught and didn’t pack quite the same punch as the other three. Say what you will about the “I Don’t Wanna Go” line with Ten and Twelve needing to be convinced to regenerate at all. Matt Smith did the best with what he was given, but he wasn’t given much in the entire last run of his episodes after having some of the BEST episodes the previous two and a half seasons.

Best Premiere of a Major Companion: Honestly? Still gotta go with The Eleventh Hour, for both Amy and Rory and the great way they were both set up and the mysteries of the season.

Worst Premiere of a Major Companion: If you don’t count Asylum of the Daleks (which I thought was great) as Clara’s premiere, then it was definitely Clara’s “The Bells of Saint John”. No contest. I don’t think ANY of the rest of them were done poorly, TBH. I guess I’d have to go with “Rose”, because the Autons themselves are pretty meh and the plastic wasn’t great.

Best (Main) Exit of a Major Companion: This one is more difficult. Doomsday deserves a nod. Martha Jones walked the world and ended on her own terms. Journey’s End saw the end of an entire era of companions we loved. River showed up and died on the same day, but her final appearance is one of my favorite episodes ever. The Angles Take Manhattan was SO GOOD. But The Doctor Falls was exciting and tense and tragic. Hell, even Clara’s final episodes were great.

Honestly, this shouldn’t even be a question. I can’t choose. I can’t think of a single one I didn’t love.

Anyway, thanks for reading this, if you got this far! Know what? Doctor Who is still a great show, even if it’s not an obsession anymore. I can see myself doing this rewatch again in a few years, and I’m super looking forward to the next season starting in a couple of weeks!

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