I need to clarify something, I’m not angry.
I’m disappointed.
I’m going to start this overview with the characters, move on to the episodes and then sum up with my hopes for the 2020 season. So with a lot to get through we best get started with The Doctor.
Having time to reflect is a good thing. It takes us away from the immediacy of a moment and can often give us a better sense of the whole picture. A great example would be that when I first saw Jodie Whittaker in the role (during The Woman that Fell To Earth) I felt there was some good potential there. The joking rename of the villain to the unimpressive Tim Shaw is perfect Doctor. The irrelevant moments, the idle easy humour that off sets the violence. That’s again very Doctor and I wanted to see more of that.
We didn’t. What we got was a very generic version of the character. When this version should have done something outrageous and clever, just because they could, Whittaker just seems to stand there. Where one incarnation would rage loudly, another would become cold and calculating Whittaker simply stands around. There’s no urgency, no passion and no real joy to the character here. Somethings do work, but not quite in the right way.
Having seen Jodie Whittaker in other roles, and some what enjoyed her acting to be honest, I’m left wondering if she’s sleep walking through the part. I can’t see any passion in her performance. She’s not been given much in the way of material to work with and I doubt she even understands the role. There’s more to the Doctor than just pulling the same funny face once or twice an episode.
There’s more than a few concerns in the writing. In her first episode the Doctor cobbles together a Sonic Screwdriver, you’d think that means this Doctor is an engineer and a tinkerer. Someone who builds things for the sake of the plot. In her defence she does, twice more, but it’s not really in her character. It feels out of place every time she does it. At one point she derails an entire story, slamming on the narrative breaks, for a speech about some technology they come across. This is a one off, we don’t see this side of her again really. It’s all horribly inconsistent.
It takes a while for some actors and writers to home in on the personality of a Doctor. We’ve seen it happen before. Capaldi flip-flopped his Doctor’s traits several times, Sylvester McCoy’s first season was a disaster, however his second alone makes him one of the best Doctors in my opinion.
With a season as short as this one I don’t think anyone’s gotten a grasp of this Doctor yet. So the generic grab bag handful of half baked traits they’ve bolted together to make Doctor 13 still needs time to mesh right. I am convinced that the potential is still there, but it needs something more to bring it out. More episodes, more focus on the Doctor. Most importantly more interesting and better villains.
A hero is defined by their opponents and Whittaker’s bad guys so far have been a collection of weak, half baked and ineffectual parodies. With the notable exception of the New Years Special. The new villains don’t have any depth to them and no real weight. In any other season they wouldn’t have even registered as filler.
Next up is Ryan. At first I thought Ryan was going to be the main Companion. With Graham and Yaz taking a back seat, at least for this season. Everything seemed connected to him, Yaz through school and Graham through his grandmother, but as the season rolled on nothing really happened with him. We were told a few things and perhaps once or twice we got to see them, but Ryan ended up a relatively blank slate. Especially the compared to some previous Companions. We learnt about his mother dying and his father leaving and how that affected him, but aside from a throwaway moment in It Takes You Way it doesn’t really do much in the main series.
We got some fleshing out in the New Years Special, but other than an “You made the effort, all is forgiven” pat ending not much came out of this. Most development just seemed be be set up for why Ryan isn’t happy with the idea of getting close to Graham. He doesn’t want another father figure to abandon him. Ultimately however that’s part of Graham’s Character arc, not Ryan’s.
Not to say there was no development. In the second episode, The Ghost Monument, he’s impulsive and thinks that playing computer games gave him the skills to fight some robot minions. The Doctor berates him for his stupidity and he learns from his near lethal mistake. Later on, in a nice bit of continuity, he doesn’t take an offered gun because he knows there’s a better way. The only problem is between those two points we do see him shoot someone else. Another case of inconstancy between episodes and character traits.
It seems that whole aspects of a characters personality are mentioned and just vanish later. The best example of that is Yaz.
Yaz is useless. That is all really. Chibnall stated that he wanted to harken back to the original series and there were a number of utterly useless Companions back in the day. Dodo for an example, and Mel. Both stood around, asking questions that frankly didn’t need asking. Yaz has kicked a P’ting and utterly failed to wrestle a mad bomber to the ground, sure, but let’s face it you could remove her from every episode, even her own, and lose nothing important.
This is a tragedy. When we first meet Yaz she’s a police officer. Why did she join the police? What did she want out of life? Is she every going to use the training and skills she learnt in the police force to help in anything? These are possibilities for interesting character development. Instead we just get a few mentions of casual racism aimed at her and that’s about it.
Yaz can easily be removed from every script and, without fail. Doing so would often improve the episode. She is surplus to requirements and a waste of time. Seriously, do the writers even remember that she is a police officer?
Graham, on the other hand, has not been a waste and in fact is the main Companion. Even more surprising Bradley Walsh has the chops to pull it off. He’s really shown himself to be a great actor and you can feel the heartbreak, the laughter and the wonder from the character. He really is a true Companion. His reason for traveling is also rather unique, while most people join the Doctor for the adventure Graham joins because he needs something in his life to take his mind off his loss. Time to heal and at home there’s nothing but painful memories.
Watching Graham’s journey from a nervous, retreating, tired, old man to once again alive, for lack of a better term, is really quite touching. Yes, it was predictable and yes often wince inducing, but, again, what are you going to do. I spent most of the season expecting it to end with Graham’s death though. Everything was set up for it, even the sappy eventual Granddad from Ryan all pointed to a tragic end.
I want to say that in not dying Graham subverted expectations, but I can’t. In all honesty I think Chibnall et all were going to do it, but realised they’d be killing off one of the few good things to come out of the season. Changing gears mid stream. They wouldn’t be the first to do that and I don’t think the story has suffered all that much for it. Undoubtably the best Character in the series.
Finally we have the often forgotten character, The TARDIS. Make no mistake, it is a character. It has a personality all of it’s own. Usually. This time around I’m not sure. First thing that I find… odd is that the Doctor is unable to steer the TARDIS, blaming the refurbished controls. Unfortunately the Doctor long since learnt how to control it. Occasionally at least, but not anymore. This is something I’m not happy with. It was a tired trick that the TARDIS just happens to land in the right place for an adventure decades ago. Can the Doctor just fly the TARDIS in a straight line for once, proving the neigh sayers wrong about women drivers? Please.
Another thing I’m not liking about the TARDIS is the interior. My favourite is Matt Smith’s first version of the control room. One of the things I like most about that is the sense of space, of all the different levels and most importantly the idea that there is so much more just up those stairs, or off to that side. Things like dart boards and drinks cabinets are hidden in the walls. This one is badly lit, inconstant and has a cramped feeling about it. Not from having four people inside at once, but the crowded feel from the looming walls surrounding them and the overly busy pillars. It’s hard to see but if you look the crystal pillars rise and fall with the main column. The tips wiggle, the point going up and down, with the time rota.
It looks incredibly stupid, reminding me of the tentacles on Dalek Sec’s mutated head back in Daleks In Manhattan. Something I’d really rather forget. Thank you. The TARDIS is a character. The look, feel and wonder of it should astound. Not have you squinting at the screen and hunting down set pics to get a better idea of what you’re looking at. Yes, it dispenses custard creams, which is cute, but we never see that feature again.
It’s a common, repeated, problem with all the characters this season. Ryan’s dyspraxia, Yaz being police officer, Graham’s cancer in remission. All pretty much forgotten. Traits are established quickly and effectively abandoned in almost the same sentence, let alone episode. Some consistency is all we ask for here.
Now on to a quick overview of the Episodes. I’ve said most of what I want to about them already, but here are some ideas that have come to me during a re-watch:-
The Woman That Fell To Earth.
I really don’t like the contrivances littered throughout. The Doctor just happens to fall through a train. The one train on the entire planet that also has this alien thing in it and the person it is hunting? With the odds at one in over seven billion I just can’t accept that. With everyone involved in this mess just happing to be there as well? Far too convenient. It all adds to a rushed feeling for most of the episode. Trying to set up too much at once. It should have taken a little more care to establish things.
The Ghost Monument
This idea would have never made a good episode, but a couple of quick fixes could have made this one at least a little better. First, they shouldn’t have confirmed the TARDIS before we saw it at the end. The Doctor should have been confident, but not tell the others why. Only afterwards admitting that it was just an educated guess that the Monument was her TARDIS all along. Another would have been not to include those floating rags, and have those sniper-bots a trap from the guy running the Race. Adding to the drama and making it more interesting. A race rigged to fail by the organiser? How can someone win that?
Also that would mean less Stenza, which can only be a good thing.
Rosa
Rosa was very risky and a brave thing for the writers to attempt. Especially in the third episode. Unfortunately they were so busy congratulating themselves for being brave they didn’t realise it was a moronic thing to do. They’ve re-contextualised Doctor Who from a show aimed at the whole family to a children’s program like the Sarah Jane Adventures. They then over simplified Racism for said children to understand better. The social and political impact of the Jim Crow Laws to Southern America is not something you can sum up for children in 50 minutes.
All they achieved was in producing a straw man fallacy. Accidentally creating a crude parody of the actual events. Not a good thing. The villain was a waste of a concept. The pop tune over the big scene is just naff and horribly dates the episode.
If I wanted to be especially critical I’d point out that the whole idea of this episode was to appeal to award shows. Best drama dealing in hot button political issues award. That doesn’t make a good episode, it makes it a pretentious one.
Arachnids in the UK
The Trump parody was so utterly pointless I ignored it in the original review. This is an awful episode that gets worse with every re-watch. Beyond the crude appeal to arachnophobia there’s almost nothing here. Just an awful, awful episode. Not the worst, but a horrible void where there is nothing good.
But again the worst thing was the utter lack of resolution. If you wanted to do a 60 giant monster B-movie sort of thing then don’t miss the whole point of them. Have the Doctor give a speech about not messing with things you don’t understand. About thinking something through before doing it.
The Tsuranga Conundrum.
This feels more like something written for a class. First year writing class where Chibnall was given a list of characters to chose from and told make something using one of them. However he misheard the instructions and used all of them instead. Getting him a B+ for effort and an F for actual results.
Again it’s easy to see what he was going for and it could have been interesting, but the monster was just stupid, the plot convoluted and so utterly without originality. I’ve seen Fan fiction written by 12 year olds with more creativity. Imagine how much better it could have been if every cliche here was flipped; The inexperienced nurse left in charge breaks down, forcing one of the Doctor’s companions, Yaz, to take charge. The pregnant man tearfully admits that he has to give up the baby for it’s own good. The pilot with a fatal condition doesn’t die, but instead the brother does, trying to prove something to them.
But instead Tsuranga is just every tired cliche trotted out and put on display. Nothing new is said with any of it and with everything crammed together like it was nothing had time to develop. That’s just sad.
Demons of the Punjab
Now while I liked how it was set in during the separation of India and Pakistan, and think that’s a time period that deserves some attention, the episode itself didn’t belong in Who. Let me clarify that. The core of this story would have made an epic TV movie. Murder mystery, political & religious tensions, a violently radicalised population. All very exciting and very important. It’s not science fiction though. Everything Doctor Who related was tacked on, stitched to the story and had nothing to do with it. You need to integrate your stories, have a connection. If Chibnall was interested in good Science Fiction he would have cut Who out entirely, handed this script to the BBC’s period drama department instead and done his actual job.
Not a bad episode. Just not an episode of Doctor Who.
Kerblam
You see this is an episode of Who. It’s fun, with some very clever little twists you can only get if you do watch it a couple times. For example, the system puts the Doctor in maintenance. With the idiot that’s got the mad bombing plan. Forcing the system to go to plan B, which includes using the bombs itself out of desperation. It’s right there, but you don’t notice the pieces until the second or maybe third watch.
The guy is an out and out cretin, but for a throwaway villain there’s nothing wrong with them, or the episode. No, it’s not the greatest, there are problems. But in this season you’ve got to take what you can get.
The Witchfinders.
With the third historical this season they went more traditional Who. Rather than getting involved in the big historical issue, or just witnessing events helplessly, this time they used the historical period as a backdrop to the adventure. Which is the safest of the options available. You just have to give historical accuracy a nod before getting on with the fantasy.
It’s just not an interesting story. We’ve seen the like so many times and it had nothing really new to say. I’ve heard some people point out the the entire reason for this tale was for the Doctor to be accused of witchcraft. Which is alright I guess. Of course there is the slight issue that men were accused of witchcraft as well as women, but why let little things like facts get in the way of a good story?
Well the answer there is have a good story. Unlike this cliché riddled mess, far too busy with an outdated, muddled and worthless message most fans have heard far too often already.
It Takes You Away.
There are some quarters out there in the world that accuse this episode of having a message against single parents. The father of the blind girl leaves her alone for days to live in a fantasy where his wife isn’t dead. I can see how that translates into neglectful parenting.
I didn’t at first, because I was too stunned by the frog. That frog comes from exactly one place, the arse of the writer. There’s no other explanation. It’s not established before and has no connection outside of “What the eff”
As for the middle bit, what exactly was the point other than to pad out the run time? This episode is effectively three completely unconnected stories crammed together and then shoehorning in a conclusion that came from another, unconnected, tale! Like the result of some sort of fevered dream brought on by flu and prescription strength cold medicine.
Or by licking a poisonous frog.
As episodes go this was almost offensively bad. Only Bradley Walsh’s perforce saved it and made the whole thing at least watchable.
The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
The return of the low budget, knock off, Predator:- Tim Shaw. A being that just happens to stumble not only upon a way to cure himself of the super-deadly weapons the Doctor tricked him with, but near limitless godlike power as well. The power to pluck whole planets from the heavens and crush them down into paperweights.
This is epic stuff, and he uses this power… To get back at those people that were mean to him! Like that one girl that didn’t let him take her to the prom, because he only had four molars glued to his head while Johnny had five, and a car. Which is so unfair. He’d have a car too, if his Dad just raised his allowance!
The two dimensional, practically useless, racist Time Agent from Rosa would have been a better choice for a reoccurring villain. Really. Have him stranded in time, but using his knowledge to once again alter history. This time with repercussions beyond even his control…
This is my biggest problem with this season, I feel. A lot of the ingredients are there, but are not used. Not great enough for a perfect season, but at least a good one. Whole episodes could have been saved with just a bit of spit and polish. Demon’s of the Punjab, for example, if Yaz had only taken a photo of the wedding and given it to her Grandmother at the end. Not only would that have given Yaz something to do in her story but would have made use of the bookending scenes.
The aforementioned Rosa. A little tweak and it’s already better. That tweak; The time travailing racist. Rather than him just being a bigot, have him as an alien. The plan becomes proving just how barbaric a species we humans are by making us destroy ourselves. By stopping the riots in the wake of Rosa’s arrest it keeps the tensions building up. If he can keep delaying it to the right moment it could go from civil unrest into a full on second American Civil War! This one in the middle of the twentieth century! That could have been his grand plan. The message becomes not just how important Rosa was, but showing an enemy and how people can and will stoke our ignorance for their own gain.
Now I’m willing to say this is my idea of better, not strictly everyones, and that’s the other problem. Doctor Who is no longer for me, or those like me. We few that have stuck with this series through thick and thin. A lot of the things we enjoyed back in previous seasons felt missing here. And no, I’m not talking about it being a female Doctor.
Chibnall brought in new Directors and new Writers when he took over. As far as I’ve been able to tell not one has any real previous experience working in science fiction. Genre shows are quite a different beast to your average soap opera, period drama or even stage play. Rules that are cast in stone elsewhere can easily be ignored in Science Fiction. Things that are absolutely taboo in Science Fiction are acceptable in standard dramas. It’s a completely different thematic language and this season’s writers room isn’t fluent in it.
Thing is they’re not supposed to be, classic fans like myself are not the target anymore. No, this season wanted to appeal to a whole new aspect of the population. It wanted to be more accessible and hook them in young. The audience they want are young to teenage girls. Best proof I can give you:- Adventure Doll.
Every other Doctor has had action figures. Toys and TARDIS play sets, as well as monsters for the Hero and his Companions to fight. This time around we got a 13th Doctor Adventure Doll. Rather than a sculpted plastic figure, this doll comes with realistic clothing so you an play dress up with it. I’ve no objection to that really, its a great toy, but it’s an anomaly. No other Doctor has had an Adventure Doll. There’s been larger scale figures (not to mention Lego mini-figs) but not “Doll”.
The problem is, you need to appeal to both. Which you can do. All the classic fans, like myself, want is good and well written stories. That can and should appeal to everyone. Regardless of age, gender, orientation, race and whatever other devisions or labels you want to slap on. Doctor Who as always had a left wing “progressive” message. It’s always been inclusive. Accepting of all regardless of what perceived differences we have. That’s not the problem, it’s never been the problem. The issue we have today is it didn’t use to ram it’s message down our throats. It demonstrated what it saw was a better way and asked why not try it. It was a friendly supportive approach, rather than try to belittle and attack. It can do this again, if done right.
Great Science Fiction always has, but again not being experienced Sci-Fi writers they missed that point.
This is where the Special comes in. Now rather than the now traditional Christmas Special We got a New Year’s Special, Resolution. The reason, officially given, is that they ran out of ideas for Christmas and New Year seemed easier. Not a great sign. The first couple of watches I liked the special, I still do. It’s a lot more creative, fun, and over all better done than the rest of the season.
Whittaker actually has to act occasionally, portraying the fragile-ness of her hopeful outlook. The Doctor has seen so much that this one’s finding it hard to be positive all the time. We got to see a crack beneath that facade and just how much she needs her new team. That was interesting to see and really helped with emphasising the threat of even a single Dalek.
Unfortunately, as has been pointed out, Chibnall once again borrowed ideas from elsewhere to make this one. Most noticeably Venom (2018) Turning the Dalek into a murderous symbiote like the film’s title character. I’m not really objecting, Doctor Who’s specials have always heavily leaned on a recognisable influence. The Titanic, Christmas Carol, The Snowman Ect.
It’s a relatively new concept for Doctor Who and it’s handled with at least a degree of skill so positives. There’s also been more humour added in. Little beats, some sarcastic, others satire. Heavy handed, yes, but welcome never the less.
Again though it wasn’t perfect. The B plot of Ryan’s Dad just had to be written in there didn’t it? Bringing the episode to a screaming stop every single time. The ending of that was a travesty. Far too convenient and the idea that all is forgiven so easily gives a very dangerous message.
Then there’s what they did with UNIT. Now I can understand why from a story perspective, but again killing the pace and tension for a joke. While better than the season as a whole it was still weaker than many other specials.
So, where next? Well we’ll have to see. Next season isn’t slated until 2020, meaning we have a little wait until then. Personally I’m not that worried. More time means longer to work on the stories. I would also like some experienced writers added as well as the fresh blood. They could co-write, or get someone in as an assistant script editor, to help polish some ideas until they really shone. A longer season, twelve or thirteen episodes, would also be nice. A two parter somewhere in there wouldn’t hurt either, giving some important ideas the chance to be better explored. I think the idea of some new villains would still be welcome, just make them somewhat more of a threat than the wet lumps we got this season.
It helps to think of this as a whole new show. Most new shows do take a while to settle down. Star Trek Next Generation took two years before it became consistently watchable. Sylvester McCoy’s first year as the 7th Doctor wasn’t that promising either. His second, however, has some of the best adventures in Classic Who (including Silver Nemesis, Ghost Light & Curse of Fenric to name a few). After the New Years Special we might just get something!
Finally, I’ve said it before and will do again. Get a classic companion back. Make it a centre piece of an episode. Just like Sarah Jane in School Reunion. It’s been long enough since then and some Companions, like Ace, are all but demanding it!
With the rumoured budget issues being the cause for the short series this time around, and the delay in series 12, something like this would be a good idea. Pandering to fans is a cheap way to earn some good will.
Doctor Who fandom has been split in opinion this season, with some of it really getting nasty. Attack on and from both sides. The show should bring fans together, and a better season would do so. Season 13 has a big fight on it’s hands and is going to need a lot of help. The knee-jerk reaction is to get rid of Chibnall and throw out Whittaker but I think, on reflection, both can be saved. It’s not going to be easy, but nothing important is.
Consistent, well crafted, storytelling. Creative use of the opportunities available and challenging your talented actors are all necessities for great show. Doctor Who has the opportunities to spare and has always attracted fantastic actors. The storytelling let it down time around. Chibnall and his team have another chance. Let’s hope they don’t waste it.
Over all season score
7 out of 13
Should have been a solid 10. Do better next time.
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