Doctor Who IV - Everything Whovian - Would you like a jelly baby?

[Indian Ink]

Jodi's Doctor is the only one I don't have boxed sets of, and I don't feel any great desire to do so. The episodes have been a mix of poor, mediocre and average. Some of the better ones seemed like non-Dr Who stories ruined by the magic team's arrival. Or the Doctor and Fam did jell well, but then random aliens are jammed into the historical story to no gain or sense.

It was like an inverse type of culture inclusion. Instead of, for better or worse, taking a sci-fi story and putting in some pro multi ethnic/gender element. They took important historic ethnic/gender events in time and crudely jammed in a few aliens. "well we have to make it more Dr Who, or the kids won't like it!"

[protege]

Chibnall's era isn't as bad as people say. Beyond the Timeless Child reveal, the episodes are pretty decent but underwhelming. If you got through series 10, you could get through these episodes.

Ps. Liam Neeson should be the Time War incarnation of Borusa, the Doctor's old teacher from the Academy.

Come on Big Finish .

I’m not a slave to canon or continuity, so the timeless child reveal didn’t bother me. I just don’t know what purpose chibnall had in nuking the time lords and making the doctor unknown to her self. And, it raised some questions for me;
Do all time lords have two hearts or just the doctor? What about that expanded consciousness thing? Because if they all have it, and the doctor wasn’t born on gallifrey, something isn’t adding up here.
Then there’s the masters plot to weaponize the time lords into cybermen. If they could still regenerate, how come they just didn’t do that after the master nuked the place? Wouldn’t they have just come back to life?

[Cyke]

Chibnall's era isn't as bad as people say. Beyond the Timeless Child reveal, the episodes are pretty decent but underwhelming.

Eh, that's just it, it's underwhelming. I know you didn't make the point about canon or continuity, and since Doctor Who lore is so fluid and ever-changing that I'm used to most things changing on a whim. But even bad Doctor Who should at least not be boring (bad, but not boring!), which I suppose is why I have a soft spot in my heart for Love & Monsters. There are a number of decent Chibnall episodes, sure, but I find them as a whole to be a bit meandering sometimes, and that Yaz being so underdeveloped and Graham having little to do in his final episode are symptoms of that to me.

[Somecrazyaussie]

I realize that. Showrunner and Doctor tend to have a unique rapport. I also get it when showrunners want to start fresh. But I'm also a big fan of crossover of eras (I mean, for all of Chibnall's faults, I liked him writing Captain Jack, an RTD/Moffat creation. Likewise, I liked it when Moffat wrote the Simms Master and the Eighth Doctor, or even RTD writing the Fifth Doctor.), and I really wouldn't mind seeing a Doctor or a companion work over two showrunners.

But this also started on a topic of wishful thinking and wish lists, soooo...

Two showrunners might not be a bad idea. Get two together that make up for what the other lacks.

[ChrisIII]

I’m not a slave to canon or continuity, so the timeless child reveal didn’t bother me. I just don’t know what purpose chibnall had in nuking the time lords and making the doctor unknown to her self. And, it raised some questions for me;
Do all time lords have two hearts or just the doctor? What about that expanded consciousness thing? Because if they all have it, and the doctor wasn’t born on gallifrey, something isn’t adding up here.
Then there’s the masters plot to weaponize the time lords into cybermen. If they could still regenerate, how come they just didn’t do that after the master nuked the place? Wouldn’t they have just come back to life?

Yeah, it's unclear if the Shobogans reverse-engineered more than just regeneration, and what was stuff they already had.


As for the Cybermen regenerating thing, remember that Missy was able to bring corpses back to semi-life with Cybertechnology so maybe he used a similar method. Also, regeneration doesn't always work or trigger properly.

[Derek Metaltron]

Chibnall's era isn't as bad as people say. Beyond the Timeless Child reveal, the episodes are pretty decent but underwhelming. If you got through series 10, you could get through these episodes.

What's wrong with Season 10? Outside Season 4 it's probably my fav overall season of New Who.

[ChrisIII]

Yeah, I thought Pearl/Bill was a nice change of pace from Clara, the stories were mostly solid (The monk trilogy was a bit of a letdown though) and I enjoyed Missy's arc although it was pretty much chucked out the window with Dhawan's master (Although I suppose there's still wiggle room for him being "before" Missy).

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

What's wrong with Season 10? Outside Season 4 it's probably my fav overall season of New Who.

I just used it as a frame of reference. Series 10 was the most recent non Chibnall season and Moffat isn't regarded the same way as Davies. I've met people who left the show because of his tenure. Granted one of Chibnall's criticism is his era is just a retread of Davies.

[Cyke]

Two showrunners might not be a bad idea. Get two together that make up for what the other lacks.

Oh, I meant a Doctor or a Companion working across two showrunners, like what if Capaldi or Pearl Mackie from Moffat's run transitioned to Chibnall's run. BUT ALSO I see what you mean about two simultaneous showrunners and I think that would be interesting, too

[Nate Grey]

Oh, I meant a Doctor or a Companion working across two showrunners, like what if Capaldi or Pearl Mackie from Moffat's run transitioned to Chibnall's run. BUT ALSO I see what you mean about two simultaneous showrunners and I think that would be interesting, too

Well...we had a de facto version of that with the Fugitive of the Judoon ep. How much of the Ruth Doctor was Chibnal vs how much was Patel? Or did they work in sync beautifully? Hmmm...

[Cyke]

Well...we had a de facto version of that with the Fugitive of the Judoon ep. How much of the Ruth Doctor was Chibnal vs how much was Patel? Or did they work in sync beautifully? Hmmm...

Hmm indeed...

And this is tangential and not that related, but one of my favorite little things is the image of the Raggedy Man, an image that stayed with Amy Pond from beginning to end. Fundamentally, the rags on the Raggedy Man were the Tenth Doctor's costume -- an RTD-era creation -- permeating the entirety of the Moffat-era. It's not exactly Tennant working as a main Doctor in Moffat's run (yes, I know Moffat wrote several Ten episodes in the RTD era, and then the Day of the Doctor), but the impact from one showrunner to the next follows through.

[Nate Grey]

Hmm indeed...

And this is tangential and not that related, but one of my favorite little things is the image of the Raggedy Man, an image that stayed with Amy Pond from beginning to end. Fundamentally, the rags on the Raggedy Man were the Tenth Doctor's costume -- an RTD-era creation -- permeating the entirety of the Moffat-era. It's not exactly Tennant working as a main Doctor in Moffat's run (yes, I know Moffat wrote several Ten episodes in the RTD era, and then the Day of the Doctor), but the impact from one showrunner to the next follows through.

Never thought about it that way. Wow.

[Steel Inquisitor]

I just used it as a frame of reference. Series 10 was the most recent non Chibnall season and Moffat isn't regarded the same way as Davies. I've met people who left the show because of his tenure. Granted one of Chibnall's criticism is his era is just a retread of Davies.

Chibnall wishes, he's not even close to Davies in quality. Moffatt stayed too long but I'd take him back over what we have right now, he had much higher highs in his seasons. I say this as someone who loved Chibnall's Torchwood, where's that Chibnall? He knew how to make good episodes.

[ChrisIII]

I thought that tonally Moffat's has been closer to RTD, however, Jodie does play her Doctor somewhat similarly in energy to Tennant, although with a lot less of Tennant's occasional darkness.

[BeastieRunner]

Coral has updated their odds.

Coel is still 5/1,
Ayoada is at 7/1,
Marshall (who was almost 13) is at 8/1 now.

Coel said he is not the next Doctor, so odds will probably change on Monday.