#the chibnall era lacked music tbh

[travellingtribble]

RTD really saw the Chibnall era and said "not enough music. lemme fix that" and honestly so true of him

[orifu]

ok im just gonna write a bunch of my disorganised thoughts on the new doctor who episode the star beast. enjoy. or dont.

story wise it was very enjoyable. all the characters were written like actual people (cough cough chris chibnall) and i really enjoyed watching it. the twist of the meep being evil was (at least in who circles) pretty well known so having the rose metacrisis twist too was really effective (even though i totally guessed it would happen (shower oracle)).

and before i get into what i didnt like im just going to say im not like siding with the you know twitter users youtube "reviewers" called like The Neckbeard Skeptic or something when it comes to this stuff. i thought the inclusion of rose as a trans character was a really good way to start the new era as a kind of warning to those kinds of people that they really wont enjoy it.

but with the representation came a couple lines which just struck me as.. off. the first was definitely rose basically calling the doctor out for assuming the meep is he/him. and like yeah thats a valid criticism to make. but if i were writing this episode i would absolutely not get the trans person to say that. it comes across as playing into the "did you just assume [the meep's] pronouns??" transphobic stereotype but i think knowing how many people would get mad at this i am fine with the line overall.

the next line was the line "binary binary / nonbinary" bit. i think its a cool callback and another neat way of pissing off the right people but honestly back in s4 that binary binary bit was a really devastating moment as you see the doctor's face and the music kicks in. playing off that moment as like a kind of gag just seems kinda messed up to me.

and the last one was the "male presenting time lord" thing. just seems like a twitterised version of feminism and the messages behind it. feminism is meant to be a deconstruction of gender as a social construct and its effects in society which manifest as eg the patriarchy. feminism is not when you go "you look like a man therefore youre bad". thats not feminism. in s4 this was explained as time lords "lacking that little bit of human" which i think just kinda makes more sense tbh.

i imagine this is kind of what it wouldve been like seeing series 1 back in 2005 and maybe back then jack harkness looked over the top or the whole thing felt in-your-face. maybe 18 years from now ill look back at this and think "wow. i thought that was a lot?" and i really hope so. but for now i just hope this was over the top to get rid of all the bigots before doctor who (2023-) REALLY begins.

anyway enough of the criticisms that make me sound like a 2017 anti sjw. i think donna and rose just being able to "get rid" of the metacrisis by just "letting it go" is honestly kind of stupid. i was expecting a lot more of a destiny plotline across the 3 specials that probably ended in donna about to die forever but only then the metacrisis is stopped or something (and i think the slower metacrisis could have explained this). but nope there it goes done and dusted in the first special. its not the direction i wouldve taken but its fine i suppose. im not the award winning writer here.

next its literally never explained where the doctors sonic comes from. he just kinda. has it. and thats fine i guess stuff happens sometimes but like. why is this sonic completely overpowered? a big criticism of the chibnall era was that the doctor was constantly just scanning stuff and going "hm yep blah blah" and instead of going back to the sonic being an occasional tool, its now able to create screens and forcefields and. what. but fine. whatever.

but now. big question. why does the tardis interior change? it didnt go up in flames or anything like in s5/s11 nor was the doctor feeling a change like in s7/s8. it just changes. but i guess the tardis was feeling like it or whatever. now the real controversial take. i dont really like the new interior. its just completely white. i know the original tardis interiors looked like that but it looks so plain. it looks like they only had that much built when they filmed it and hadnt finished. the lights make me like it more but it just seems kinda gimmicky tbh. im sure itll grow on me over time (or be changed in the ncuti era? pls).

anyway. i still really enjoyed the episode and i cannot wait for wild blue yonder (this has been the mystery episode for like over a year now) and the 2 more specials and 2 more series to come. doctor who is Going Places and id much rather those places be cheesy pronoun stuff than have bigots around the dw community.

if you read all that, you just wasted your time. also i love you