Dr. Who

[UnKillFill]

By its very nature this post is going to deserve all of the clocks it is very late...

Spoiler: Long. Sorry.

I stopped actively watching new episodes of Doctor Who entirely mid-way through the Jodie era... (Before the Timeless Child bullshit, although I know all about it.) But, the last episode I even bothered to torrent was the "Evil James Bond, but now he shits in the street" episode.

I will NOT be watching any more of the Jodie era any time soon, but I am now finally getting around to watching the "Tennant comes back for some fucking reason trilogy" which I downloaded a *very* long time time ago for nostalgia reasons, if nothing else, but I hadn't watched them before now because I was pretty sure I was going to hate them... Did I?

I have now seen all three episodes and I have some thoughts. Love and Monsters drunk review coming when?... Answer, soon. I hope...
This is a less comprehensive review than that will be but...

The first episode "The Star Beast" was actually alright for me.
Donna's son being a troon was slightly distracting, but it had a minimal impact on the plot of the episode.
You could actually watch most of this episode without even knowing that Donna's son was a troon, and you could just think that he was an unfortunate looking woman... Until the end..

It was also really bizarre seeing Donna's son, (a *man*, even if he passes badly), call out the now male Doctor (Who was *literally* a biological woman, like a day ago... something Donna's son will *never* be) for being a man,

The Meep was also adorable in this episode, and yes I did understand the reference. Regardless, I don't give a shit what the Meep's pronouns are... That was another retarded virtue signal.. To a villain no less... No reason for it, and the villain didn't even really seem to care either...

If I hadn't since seen what they did to Davros, I honestly would have assumed that was meant to be a joke... But it wasn't a joke. I'm pretty sure my pronouns for current day Doctor Who at this point are "Fuck" and "You"...

Wild Blue Yonder was... Where do I even start? The Effects were some of the worst shit I've seen from this show 20+ years... ("My arm's too long", and then some shitty too big jaw effect, and it only gets worse from there) the story was also shit, and it said literally nothing. I actually hated this episode more than the other two episodes in this trilogy, even though they might be actually worse in several ways... I watched this with a friend a few days ago, and we're still both making jokes about how stupid it is...

The scene in "The Giggle" where NPH dances with... Pretty much everybody in the episode to some shitty Spice Girls song that I vaguely remember (but to be fair, I *do* actually remember it) and turns every bullet into flower petals was actually pretty great. I haven't laughed so hard in a while.
I'm highly curious... why is UNIT, and particularly Kate Lethbridge Stewart, back...?
I have not watched any new episode of this show since early Jodie, but I distinctly remember being extremely pissed off when it went out of its way to say that Unit got defunded and no longer existed, pretty sure it was originally meant to make a shitty political message about Zygon/Syrian refugees during Capaldi's era... God that was terrible.

Also, IDK who the fuck that woman in the wheelchair was, (Assuming she first showed up after I stopped watching. Please don't tell me who she is, I don't care,) but she clearly didn't need a wheel chair because I literally saw her stand up... I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Osgood...

 

[starborn427614]

Let us know what you think of the recent season @UnKillShredDur, I like reading these mini-reviews.

 

[The Lawgiver]

The first episode "The Star Beast" was actually alright for me.
Donna's son being a troon was slightly distracting, but it had a minimal impact on the plot of the episode.
You could actually watch most of this episode without even knowing that Donna's son was a troon, and you could just think that he was an unfortunate looking woman... Until the end..

Probably because it's a remake/adaptation of a comic exclusive story but with the characters swapped out save for meep with gender shit and "man bad woman good!" shit tacked on.

The scene in "The Giggle" where NPH dances with... Pretty much everybody in the episode to some shitty Spice Girls song that I vaguely remember (but to be fair, I *do* actually remember it) and turns every bullet into flower petals was actually pretty great. I haven't laughed so hard in a while.

I wish they let him keep his chinese style wizard robes because it would have made that scene infinitely funnier and more fitting.
Also wish they spent less time having hm do "simm master-lite stuff." The way he's defeated is stupid given the fact he's a returning character from the 60s and the lore behind him s basically "you cannot do shit to him physically but you can inconvenience hm by destroying his pocket dimension I think rambled about this before though. Similar problems with the return of "sutekh" being basically almost nothing like the guy he's supposed to be and getting basic lore about what happened last time wrong, seemingly intentionally so.

If I hadn't since seen what they did to Davros, I honestly would have assumed that was meant to be a joke... But it wasn't a joke. I'm pretty sure my pronouns for current day Doctor Who at this point are "Fuck" and "You"...

Also, IDK who the fuck that woman in the wheelchair was, (Assuming she first showed up after I stopped watching. Please don't tell me who she is, I don't care,) but she clearly didn't need a wheel chair because I literally saw her stand up... I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Osgood...

Both of these were done because they didn't want people to associate disabled people with villainy, which is absolutely fucking retarded. ESPECIALLY when you consider RTD was the guy that brought back davros to the modern era years back, AND KEPT HIM AS A CRIPPLE.

 

[UnKillFill]

God you can tell I was shit faced when I wrote that last post lol. And I left a lot out.

I didn't even mention the "bi-regeneration". What a terrible idea, and pulled off terribly too. I heard RTD say somewhere that now every single doctor bi-regenerated offscreen... Glad the episode didn't mention that, because that's an even bigger slap in the face to canon than the timeless child was if you think about it.

Why did the gay black doctor "bi regenerate" wearing a shirt, but no pants? That might *almost* make sense if Tennant kept the pants but lost the shirt... But then again, I did just see Tennant regenerate from Jodie and they were so afraid to show Tennant wearing women's clothing, that his clothes somehow also magically regenerated with him. Why didn't this happen again?

But hey, I guess the "BBC" finally lives up to its name.

Why the fuck did they bring Mel back? Literally who was asking to see more of Mel? I'm pretty sure I've even seen Bonnie Langford say that she hates Mel.

Something I liked... Loved even, was Wilf coming back.
Bernard Cribbins was a(n inter)national treasure and he will be dearly missed...
So why the fuck wasn't he in the final dinner scene? The only even halfway acceptable answer is it was filmed after his passing, so I'll believe it, but just because it was the last scene in the episode doesn't mean it had to be filmed last.

And of course they made the troon into a whiny vegan. There's literally nothing likable about him. I did laugh when they called Donna's mom the evil stepmother, and even she agreed with it.

True story, the friend I was watching these with, who is still fairly new to doctor who, but has now seen at least a few episodes from every doctor, actually confused "Rose" for Bill at first (she hasnt seen how Bill leaves the show yet, so I actually had to remind her that Bill is a lesbian, because did you know that Bill is a lesbian? The show was so subtle about it that you could be forgiven if you forgot XD) Anyway, I laughed out loud because I can totally see how she made that mistake.

 

[ShortPoppy]

S40 Christmas Special: Actual goblins that like eating children. They aren't aliens. They're just the fae.
...
S40E2: The Celestial Toymaker's Daughter likes eating music. Oh fuck.

These episodes were so bizarre. Time travel sci-fi with singing and dancing, except without anything remotely sci-fi. It felt like ... like terrible fanfiction? I admit I did enjoy them just for how ridiculous and overblown they are.

S40E3: This landmine is special and can't be run from so we have to hear "war bad because capitalism bad" for over half an hour. lol "thoughts and prayers" on the ambulances

Exposing the evils of the Military Industrial Complex like it's something we've never heard of before. Yawn. Thrilling enough for the target audience of 8-11 year olds, I guess.

S40E4: The plot is caused by disturbing a fairy circle that has somehow temporarily suspended the timeline. Also the doctor doesn't even show up.

I enjoyed this one - good suspense with a timey-wimey kind of twist at the end. (Reminded me of The Watcher from Logopolis.) The Doctor's absence was the best thing about it (I hate his current incarnation, he's annoying).

S40E5: AI hates its white masters now so decides to commit genocide. The Doctor's attempt to help them escape the planet is denied because of racism.

This is supposed to be about racism? Was there any reference to race or appearance in it at all? Or are we just supposed to obligingly absorb the meta info/commentary telling us how every innocuous sign/gesture is actually anti-black?
To me it reads better as a story about the extreme detachment that comes with inhabiting the online influencer sphere 24/7.

S40E8: Hey we need a new TARDIS, look at all of the fanservice we put in it! Anyway a literal outer god was fooled by the doctor by thinking that a woman was more mysterious than she actually was, and gets killed by being thrown through the Time Vortex. Everyone is alive again.

Um ... yeah. Regurgitation of old villain for dramatic effect, end of the world yet again, etc.
By the end of this I decided Ncuti's Doctor is even worse than Jodie's. Jodie's was dull and weak but even she had her moments of gravitas, and the right height/figure to do the imposing, authoritative look that other Doctors have.
By comparison Ncuti looks like a cartoon character, with a stupid round head, big eyes and a big smirk. He starts crying in just about every episode, it's pathetic. And that scene in the last episode, where he looks around at the decaying universe and lets out a loud, grating screech. That's acting? That's supposed to portray fathomless despair? Just awful.

 

[PaulBearer]

Doctor Who ended when Peter Capaldi regenerated, that's my reality and nothing can convince me otherwise.

 

[Tari]

This is supposed to be about racism? Was there any reference to race or appearance in it at all? Or are we just supposed to obligingly absorb the meta info/commentary telling us how every innocuous sign/gesture is actually anti-black?

Every single person in that episode is white, other than the doctor. In the age of diversity hires and racially inaccurate historical period pieces, that means something.
Additionally, the doctor's messages to the white woman that the story mostly focuses around in the episode get automodded, but his companion (who is white)'s messages go through normally.

To me it reads better as a story about the extreme detachment that comes with inhabiting the online influencer sphere 24/7.

It is mostly this, but they just had to bring race into it.

 

[UnKillFill]

Doctor Who ended when Peter Capaldi regenerated, that's my reality and nothing can convince me otherwise.

My version has him running into Jodie instead of neo-Hartnell like he originally did, and refusing to regenerate as a result.

 

[Wärring Ornac]

why is UNIT, and particularly Kate Lethbridge Stewart, back...?

They actually wanted to bring back Torchwood actually. It was hinted with how much Jack appeared during the Jodie era.

But then John Barrowman got exposed (hehe) and they have to settled with the next best thing

 

[starborn427614]

I still like Nctui as The Doctor and am looking forward to the Christmas special, but I feel the same issues will persist through it and into the next season. The scripts simply aren't punchy enough to allow him to reach his full potential. Don't get me wrong - he's no Capaldi. Peter could elevate trash and make it watchable and even poignant, but Nctui's Doctor isn't going for poignant. They want fun, yet emotionally vulnerable. To this end, they're overusing the crying thing which is meant to show he's able to freely show emotions after so long, but like any gimmick when you overuse it it becomes stale.

Not to mention the writing is heavily constrained by the condensed episode count. The Doctor and Ruby are friends and we're told they're besties, but we didn't really get any downtime to truly appreciate this like with the previous Doctors.

It's a tough situation and I don't really know how they can rectify it without completely changing the format and we already know the Ruby story-line isn't done yet so most likely it'll be like this for the rest of Nctui's tenure.

 

[ShortPoppy]

Every single person in that episode is white, other than the doctor. In the age of diversity hires and racially inaccurate historical period pieces, that means something.
Additionally, the doctor's messages to the white woman that the story mostly focuses around in the episode get automodded, but his companion (who is white)'s messages go through normally.

I did notice the all-white cast. That's why the racism angle feels a bit meta, or something projected onto the story rather than the story itself. I didn't remember/notice the auto-modding, but same thing again. If it's meant to portray racism as opposed to any other discrimination, I wonder why they didn't choose to be more explicit about it. Like bringing back the baddie from the Rosa Parkes episode or having a Judoon kneeling on the Dr's neck, that's more in line with the subtlety/nuance level of present day Who.

 

[UnKillFill]

For grins, I decided to watch the first and last episodes of Nctui's first series. Long story short, I have no desire to watch the rest any time soon.

I know i previously made it seem like a bad thing that they didn't have Tennant cross dressing, but that was more so that it was really dumb that Jodie's clothes somehow regenerated when that's not how that happens. In reality, it was a pretty shitty look that literally the first time we see this Doctor proper, he's dancing wearing a dress for no fucking reason.
RTD didn't just want a gay doctor, he wanted a faggot doctor. Thanks, I hate it.

The companion was fine. A bit bland, but nothing offensively bad.

As others have said, Goblins have no place in doctor who, and I fucking hate that they made "mavity" a thing. Also, randomly breaking out into an unrehearsed song number in front of the villain was just dumb.

I don't have much to say about the last episode besides the obvious. I guess they've been teasing that Susan was coming back but didn't do it (because that would actually be a good story) instead they fucked up Sutek complely and made him look ridiculous. (at least they kept the original voice actor I guess, but he's better than this show deserves.) I guess they were building up a mystery of who Ruby was, but they Ryan Johnsoned it. She's nobody important. Glad I never got invested in her.

Also greatly annoyed that Mel continues to be a character in this. Seriously, who the fuck was asking for more Mel? Quite possibly one of the worst companions of all time that even the actress who plays her is on record as saying is terrible.

 

[starborn427614]

For grins, I decided to watch the first and last episodes of Nctui's first series. Long story short, I have no desire to watch the rest any time soon.

I know i previously made it seem like a bad thing that they didn't have Tennant cross dressing, but that was more so that it was really dumb that Jodie's clothes somehow regenerated when that's not how that happens. In reality, it was a pretty shitty look that literally the first time we see this Doctor proper, he's dancing wearing a dress for no fucking reason.
RTD didn't just want a gay doctor, he wanted a faggot doctor. Thanks, I hate it.

The companion was fine. A bit bland, but nothing offensively bad.

As others have said, Goblins have no place in doctor who, and I fucking hate that they made "mavity" a thing. Also, randomly breaking out into an unrehearsed song number in front of the villain was just dumb.

I don't have much to say about the last episode besides the obvious. I guess they've been teasing that Susan was coming back but didn't do it (because that would actually be a good story) instead they fucked up Sutek complely and made him look ridiculous. (at least they kept the original voice actor I guess, but he's better than this show deserves.) I guess they were building up a mystery of who Ruby was, but they Ryan Johnsoned it. She's nobody important. Glad I never got invested in her.

Also greatly annoyed that Mel continues to be a character in this. Seriously, who the fuck was asking for more Mel? Quite possibly one of the worst companions of all time that even the actress who plays her is on record as saying is terrible.

It's a kilt, Nctui is Scottish. Yeah I know it looks more like a skirt given the club context.

 

[UnKillFill]

It's a kilt, Nctui is Scottish. Yeah I know it looks more like a skirt given the club context.

Yeah, I'm totally sure it was a nod to N'cuti's deeply rooted culture. I'll never forget the scenes where their Scottish heritage was so important to McCoy, Tennant and Capaldi that a kilt was literally the first thing you see them wearing outside of their regeneration episodes (and then, I'm assuming, never again.) And not the far more likely explanation that RTD just wanted to put the fag in a skirt.

Also I recognized the midget in the wheel chair in UNIT from an episode of Taskmaster. (What an odd choice, making such a big virtue signal about the TARDIS now being wheel chair accessible, only to get rid of that character offscreen, but still being so committed to having a token wheelchair user, that you hire a midget who I believe is also literally a child to fill the same role. Especially when you now can't even show fucking Davros in a wheelchair for some reason)

 

[Breadquanda.]

And not the far more likely explanation that RTD just wanted to put the fag in a skirt.

Either that, or it's: 'this man IS Scottish. Look how Scottish he is! You cannot POSSIBLY deny that he is Scottish! He is wearing a literal Kilt!'

A standard subversive tactic that everyone knows isn't true but can't possibly articulate without being destroyed both internally (by guilt; 'do you hear yourself?') and externally (by 'anti-racist' badgering).

There's probably also some kind of inferiority complex involved ('I am a real boy!') leading to the adoption of the most extreme stereotypes, similar to troons/pooners.

 

[Flexo]

Yeah, I'm totally sure it was a nod to N'cuti's deeply rooted culture. I'll never forget the scenes where their Scottish heritage was so important to McCoy, Tennant and Capaldi that a kilt was literally the first thing you see them wearing outside of their regeneration episodes (and then, I'm assuming, never again.) And not the far more likely explanation that RTD just wanted to put the fag in a skirt.

Can you imagine if Jaime was still around to see what had become of his Scotland?

 

[UnKillFill]

Can you imagine if Jaime was still around to see what had become of his Scotland?

No, but that goes a lot deeper than just Doctor Who.

 

[MirrorNoir]

In some good news, BBC has FINALLY started putting out omnibus format versions of Classic Dr Who onto the show's official YouTube channel.

The selection is pretty decent with a focus on a lot of the hits and stuff that's insanely expensive on the secondary market, like Happiness Patrol, City of Death, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, and the Time Warrior.

Also, for Christmas this year, BBC is putting out a 90 minute cut of the famous four hour serial The War Games, complete with new ending which will explicitly show the second Doctor regenerating into the third Doctor.

 

[Judge Holden]

Also, IDK who the fuck that woman in the wheelchair was, (Assuming she first showed up after I stopped watching. Please don't tell me who she is, I don't care,) but she clearly didn't need a wheel chair because I literally saw her stand up... I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Osgood...

She is a foul memory of a nightmare of currentyear past...

From what little digging I did, her being a crippled midget was enough to have the BBC give her a "comedian" career which snowballed into an "acting" career.

 

[Random Internet Person]