I’ve been avoiding this thread because I wanted to try and watch this series in a vacuum and judge it for myself. But I’ve just watched that last episode and... Jesus.
Do you know why John Nathan Turner kicked The Other storyline into the long grass and it ended up being restricted to sources that were ambiguously canon? Because he rightly recognised that it would destroy the mystique of the Doctor, which is integral to the show. People have given JNT a lot of shit over the years, but he was right on the money with that one.
But you know what? The Other storyline has nothing on this. Even with the Other, they were still just nudging and winking, and going “Maybe this happened, maybe it didn’t, who knows?” It was an intriguing (and plausible) explanation for who the Doctor really was, while still leaving some room for debate as to whether it was true or not. And being the third mysterious founder of Time Lord society is a hell of a lot more impressive than the person they nicked the regeneration gene from.
The woke aspect of this is actually the least of its problems. I literally couldn’t have cared less about that. It’s just fucking dumb in general. The Hartnell line of doctors reached the end of their regenerative line with Matt Smith. But apparently the Timeless Child can regenerate ad infinitum. So did the Time Lords grant the Doctor a new set of regenerations unnecessarily? Does the Timeless Child get a new cycle of regenerations with every mindwipe? I don’t fucking know.
At least with stuff like “Love and Monsters” or “Orphan 55” they were just bad episodes. You could forget about them and move on. But this? Even if I go back and watch Classic Who now (which I was planning to do this evening), I’m going to have this hunk of shit rattling round my head the whole time. And Big Finish aren’t going to ignore this because they take their marching orders from the BBC. I can’t believe the Doctor isn’t even a fucking Time Lord anymore.
I wanted to give Chibnall the benefit of the doubt, I really did, but he’s spat in my face at every turn. The female doctor isn’t the problem here. That could’ve worked just fine. It’s the shitty writing that’s the problem, and it’s reached a new floor with this. As bad as Series 11 was, its worst crime was that it was boring. At least it kept its hands off the Doctor’s backstory. As others have said, even Moffat was never dumb enough to attempt this. I’d take muddled story arcs and irritating Mary Sue companions over this any day.
The one good thing I can say about this series is that as
@Ponderous Pillock said, Sacha Dhawan is bloody brilliant as the Master. He’s better than Simm and Gomez put together in my eyes and I dearly wish I didn’t forever have to associate him with this nonsense. Jo Martin is also a really likeable Doctor, and again, I wish I didn’t have to associate her with this.
The only way they can possibly get around this is by saying that it was a vicious lie the Master made up to troll the Doctor, but as others have pointed out, they probably won’t do that for fear of being called racist. I know
Doctor Who continuity makes absolutely no sense if you really look at it, but you shouldn’t fuck with the basics.
Bravo Chibnall. You actually made me miss Bill “did I mention I was a lesbian?” Potts. Bra-fucking-vo.