"Doctor Who" News Mini Round-up

[tillychar]

Their time has come ❤️❤️➕🔷 #DoctorWho returns on 25th November to BBC iPlayer in the UK and Disney+ in the rest of the world. pic.twitter.com/umNq76AvOY
- Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) October 25, 2023

The BBC has announced that Doctor Who will return with its first special of the year, titled "The Star Beast," on November 25. "Wild Blue Yonder" will

Comments

[peddlestools]

I really enjoyed Eccleston's season, and I thought David Tennant was super charming, but I stopped watching mid-way through Matt Smith's run

should I go back and watch Jodie's run or should I start fresh with Ncuti? he was my favorite Ken in the barbie movie. I'm still cracking up at that Stephen Malkmus/Lou Reed bit

[tillychar]

i went back to catch up recently. i really liked jodie in the role, as well as mandip gill who played her companion. the writing was all over the place, though.

if you’re interested in watching it i’d go for it, because overall i liked the cast more than i was annoyed with the writing lol. if you’d rather jump right in for ncuti’s series, i think you’d be fine. it sounds like russell t. davies (who took over as showrunner again) wants to basically start ncuti’s series with a blank slate, or as blank of a slate as a show with such a long history can have at least.

[peddlestools]

I'll give it a shot

[anagramofbrat]

My thoughts exactly. I was always frustrated that the writing has been so inconsistant on Doctors 11-13 because I did love all three of those doctors and their supporting casts (except for Elder Caillou Matt Lucas) but the writing for them was like mining gems in a mountain of shit.

[umilicious]

God, isn’t this the truth. I loved Peter Capaldi in the role, but that was in spite of the awful stories he was in. Steven Moffat should only write stand-alone stories because he’s a menace as a showrunner.

and elder Caillou took me out, I hated his character so much

[kaiserschmarrn]

As someone who quit DW because of Moffat after the Matt Smith era and only recently caught up with the Capaldi and Jodie years, I have to admit that this popular opinion perplexes me. Capaldi's seasons didn't have any more low points than Tennant's and a lot of high points. Like genuinely some of the best writing the show has ever had. Almost enough to redeem Moffat in my eyes (I'm not sure I could watch Matt's seasons on a rewatch though without getting annoyed again lol).

[anagramofbrat]

I wouldn't give Moffat that much credit. Capaldi's always been fucking brilliant in anything he's in and I think he genuinely elevated his material far more than it deserves. (That Kill the Moon episode, WOOF.) The main problem with Capaldi's arc was people were so burnt by the end of the matt smith era that they checked out before he came on and only some of them came back for Jodie.

[umilicious]

Wow, seconding every single thing here. I took a long break after the back half of S7 because Clara/Eleven were insufferable (Moffat’s attempt at a Rose/Ten dynamic, imo) even though I was psyched about Capaldi’s casting. I enjoy the S8 and 9 finales, but most of the episodes surrounding them were saved by Capaldi’s gravitas and chemistry with everyone onscreen.
Kill the Moon was the episode I was thinking about when I left that comment, too, but honestly how could you not think of that when it comes to bad episodes.

[anagramofbrat]

Kill the Moon was egregiously unforgivably bad and I was PISSED when that episode dropped.

[kaiserschmarrn]

Kill the Moon sucks. Every season has an episode or two that do. I still think that saying most of the episodes in Capaldi's era suffered from bad writing and were saved by his gravitas is absurd tbh (he always elevates whatever he does because that's how good he is but he had a lot of very good material to work with in his time on the show, most of his run is solid to good or even great and it only occasionally dips, I will die on that hill).

[umilicious]

I don’t feel like it’s that ridiculous, but hey, art is subjective so I’ll stay on my comfy hill! I’m sincerely glad that you enjoyed it more than I did.

[kaiserschmarrn]

I absolutely loathe Kill the Moon. But that's one ep. Agreed about people being burnt by the Matt Smith era, I apply that to myself, but starting at S8 after a long break without that baggage still lingering in my mind helped me see that the Capaldi era is really not bad on its own at all. Even S8 has so many good episodes. Listen, Time Heist, Mummy on the Orient Express, Flatline are all bangers, the premiere is decent, Robot of Sherwood is hilarious and arguably Mark Gatiss' best DW ep (certainly not any worse than the eps he wrote for Tennant), the finale isn't my favourite but it has its moments. And then S9 and S10 have so many episodes that are either absolute peak or completely solid. Having one or two dodgy episodes per season isn't really out of the norm. I just really don't get the narrative of this era being marred by bad/weak writing more so than any other era of the show. If anything, S10 is the weakest of any of the Capaldi seasons (writing-wise) but it has a great companion, fresh vibes and the best finale of any DW

[pretty_angel]

Yeah, I was burnt out on Moffat with the Smith Era and was wary going into S8 but Capaldi won me over pretty quickly and would say his era is on par with Tennant's (or at least close). Sure, there's the occasional clunker but it didn't feel like a case of "this is a good actor with bad material". I felt that very strongly though with Whittaker's era. I absolutely adore her and there was some good stuff here and there but overall she was dealt a shit hand by Chibbers at every turn.

[kaiserschmarrn]

100% agreed. Jodie really was saddled with material that was more often subpar than not. There were some decent or enjoyable episodes in her era but even then she rarely got a chance to shine. Capaldi might have had a few clunkers (as did Tennant) but he also had amazing highlights and that's down to the scripts. There's nothing he could've done with Jodie's scripts either.

[anagramofbrat]

I wish I could take credit for Elder Caillou but someone here actually did it first in a GBBO post way back when, but it took me the fuck OUT so I've used it ever since.