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Do you prefer listening to us rant about episodes we really liked or disliked? Coolio, then head on over to the stats section and find an episode we rated exceptionally highly/incredibly disparagingly!
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Summary: a nice follow-up to Resolution, with a lot of good stuff, albeit a Davros sized hole and a dumb companion exit.
Rating: 3.3/5 Japanese workers pulped into Soylent Green – Yuk! (This seems to be a recurring fate in Doctor Who)
So, there’s various thing that bog the episode down but for me it was quite watchable.
You can tell this was put on the shelf for a year or more sadly so Not Theresa May feels a little out of place.
The prison was wasted. It would have been better if the Doctor had spend say 10-15 mins more in there so could get more of her experience in there. Also it would have given Ryan/Yaz/Graham more time to do stuff by themselves.
Was it me or is the timeline of events a little wonky? There doesn’t seem to be much time between Scientist Guy being taken over and the gang turning up in Japan.
I’m not sure if I like the Doctor’s plan in a so-dumb-it’s-good way or just find it dumb. Sacrificing the other tardis seems like a mistake.
The end was a bit flat for me with the companion departure, but at least they chose to leave on their own accord. Only Martha has had that dignity in the revived era.
John Bishop? Well, I suppose Bradley Walsh raised an eyebrow when first announced so I await his appearance. It would have been nice to just have 13 and Yaz for a bit.
As for a rating, I feel a 2.7/5 is where I am at the moment (though a re-watch might change that either way).
This was a bit of a rocky, weird paced episode for me – I didn’t know what to feel about it at first! Perhaps after the ten month wait I had too many expectations, many of which seem far fetched for a Chibnall episode in retrospect. The Doctor spent too little time in prison. I thought the Daleks as a whole were criminally underused and I’d much rather watch an actual REVOLUTION than the onslaught of bad corporate jokes we got from Robertson (“oh no! my precious stock! maybe i could get my insurance?” or something to that regard). Jack being back was fun but he seemed a little off, like he was a different character for this era of the show rather than being his RTD era self, juxtaposing the new fam in what would’ve been an interesting way. The squareness gun returning was a…surprise, though I thought it could only dimensionally displace squares, not explode Daleks. The resolution was far too quick and the companion exits were fine, I guess, even if the psychic paper was a bit too much.
However, where this episode shone were the character moments. Ryan and the Doctor taking alone for the last (and probably first) time was good, if not out of nowhere, as was Yaz and Jack. I really liked when Ryan asked how the Doctor felt about everything that happened, and she said she was ANGRY. Gone are the Moffat days of the Doctor being scared of the unknown and brooding about the time war, now Gallifrey has been destroyed by SOMEONE ELSE, she’s been lied to by SOMEONE ELSE and all this negative emotion is directed somewhere that isn’t internally which makes for a very interesting Doctor – fascinatingly, the Master did what he did because he felt the EXACT SAME WAY so there are some parallels there.
Overall, this episode isn’t without it’s many faults but as a viewing experience and a point of development in the characters’ arcs it performed great, and it was great seeing time war daleks again, this time in much higher quality. Doctor Who seems to be taking risks and making changes, and I am excited! 3/5
OK, not a comment on the episode itself, which I haven’t yet seen, and thus have not listened to your podcast. It’s just that this is the latest feed you have, and it’s about Jodie Whittaker.
So the press says that she’s announced she will leave the show after this season, making it a three season run like a lot of the other actors who played the Doctor. I, for one, despise that the actors who play the doctor and companions leave the show after so short a run, especially since they never (or rarely) come back. But, since the word has been given, I would like to voice my choice for the next Doctor, an actor for whom I have been pushing since Matt Smith said he was leaving. And Leon, since you are a fan of Coupling, I’m sure you will agree:
RICHARD COYLE. He has shown us his physical comedy by stealing the scenes in COUPLING, went up against alien monsters in GRABBERS, showed us he could do fantasy in GOING POSTAL, and of course, is wickedly awesome as Father Faustus Blackwood in SABRINA (and starring opposite Michele Gomez!)
Come on Who Back When team! Let’s make this go viral and have Chris Chibnall seriously consider Richard Coyle as the next Doctor!
I can just see him now, with lines like “That’s the fourth worst thing you can say to a cyberman,” or have River Song open a panel on the TARDIS control and he says “oh, so that’s what that’s for!” or him trying to diplomatically edge himself out of a confrontation with an alien warlord by trying to flatter him: “I really like your…tentacles. Not that you’re got tons of them, but they are really…snakey, and I mean that in a really good way.”
He would make a great Doctor, no matter how bad the writing was.
I’m probably one of the most committed Doctor Who fans this planet has produced. I wanted this episode to be good. I so wanted this to be the one that brought back the pure, brainy-yet-brainless romp that always has been the hallmark of Doctor Who.
I was bitterly disappointed.
I don’t know WHO THE HELL that was who looked like, dressed like, and sort of sounded like Captain Jack, but it’s wasn’t Captain Jack. That little teaser earlier in the season? THAT was Captain Jack. This guy? Getting all misty-eyed and sentimental with a girl? The Jack I know would have still been half- or three-quarters trying to get into her pants! [note that I absolutely don’t condone that kind of behavior in real life, but this ISN’T real life, it’s DOCTOR WHO for cripes sake! That the whole point….]
So we get Captain Jack’s castrated twin brother. Why? And that incredibly silly good-bye at the TARDIS door? WTF was that?!?
And the whole complete wastage of a TARDIS? That’s just stupid.
I could go on.
I just hope and pray we get some new blood in there that actually understands not only Doctor Who but Sci-fi in general. The best sci-fi is a romping good time, that teaches moral lessons without you knowing that’s what it’s doing. If I wanted a history or civics lesson I know where to find that. You watch Doctor Who as an escape from reality, and the morality is hidden between the lines and open for interpretation and debate.
Sigh.