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

[ChrisIII]

Terry Nation actually was involved with the show early on so I doubt it's a coincidence.

[Celgress]

The Holiday Special was okay but, I don't know, my love of this franchise has been dealt a severe blow once the Doctor was reduced to being Space Jesus. Her new backstory is so lazy and cliched I'm, frankly, shocked BBC okayed it. Usually, a retcon doesn't affect my enjoyment of most properties but this retcon has reduced the Doctor to a "Chosen One" trope rather than being a person born of affluence that grew to care about the downtrodden. The Doctor's character has never been about who she was rather who she became on her travels that was her defining characteristic....

[Riv86672]

Terry Nation actually was involved with the show early on so I doubt it's a coincidence.

Oh that is VERY COOL. Thank you!

[Indian Ink]

On an unrelated note, does this story have the dumbest scientist in science fiction ever? “Oh boss, should have told you months ago but I extracted DNA from an alien battle tank I am fairly certain had video of it attacking people and thought it was smart to clone it and give it unfiltered access to our entire information network and business? Is that cool?”

Yep, pretty much made him the villain of the story. If it wasn't for him, these Daleks just would have been crowd management drones.

[Indian Ink]

Liked it well enough. An okay, if regular Dalek themed episode. But so much better than the reconned crapfest that was the season 12 finale.
Chris Noth and John Borrowman make everything better.

That's about my judgement on it as well.

[Indian Ink]

The Holiday Special was okay but, I don't know, my love of this franchise has been dealt a severe blow once the Doctor was reduced to being Space Jesus. Her new backstory is so lazy and cliched I'm, frankly, shocked BBC okayed it. Usually, a retcon doesn't affect my enjoyment of most properties but this retcon has reduced the Doctor to a "Chosen One" trope rather than being a person born of affluence that grew to care about the downtrodden. The Doctor's character has never been about who she was rather who she became on her travels that was her defining characteristic....

The Doctor's been on a bumpy journey to 'Space Jesus' for a while now. It's just that largely the stories have gotten much worse, but agreed, the retcon is horrible.

Come to think of it, apart from the present lot, the companions have had a little too much of this feature as well. Far too much of the 'bestest 'eva!' and of overwhelming cosmic importance to a run of stories.

[Somecrazyaussie]

The Holiday Special was okay but, I don't know, my love of this franchise has been dealt a severe blow once the Doctor was reduced to being Space Jesus. Her new backstory is so lazy and cliched I'm, frankly, shocked BBC okayed it. Usually, a retcon doesn't affect my enjoyment of most properties but this retcon has reduced the Doctor to a "Chosen One" trope rather than being a person born of affluence that grew to care about the downtrodden. The Doctor's character has never been about who she was rather who she became on her travels that was her defining characteristic....

This is where I am at as well. You can allude to the Doctor's past, but you never do anything concrete. You just keep piling mystery upon mystery. "Who is the Doctor?" Is the question the show is built around, but it is one that should never be answered.

[Celgress]

This is where I am at as well. You can allude to the Doctor's past, but you never do anything concrete. You just keep piling mystery upon mystery. "Who is the Doctor?" Is the question the show is built around, but it is one that should never be answered.

I couldn't agree with you more on this point. Sadly, Those In Power At BBC decided to go there, big mistake IMO.

[Anthony W]

Star Wars and Dr Who cannot be good at the same, books and cartoons don't count. Now that Star Wars is seemingly getting back on track it's time for Dr Who to go away again.

[BeastieRunner]

Well, the bookie odds are out for a new Doctor since nobody at BBC or involved with Who will say the rumors of Jodie leaving at the end of this series are untrue. So far the list is ...

Michaela Coel 5/1
Richard Ayoade 6/1
Kris Marshal 6/1 (almost was 13)
Phoebe Waller-Bridge 8/1
Jodie Comer 10/1
John Boyega 10/1

The Darkhorse:
Reece Shearsmith at 12/1

On that list ... I really, REALLY like Ayoade.

[Cyke]

Well, the bookie odds are out for a new Doctor since nobody at BBC or involved with Who will say the rumors of Jodie leaving at the end of this series are untrue. So far the list is ...

Michaela Coel 5/1
Richard Ayoade 6/1
Kris Marshal 6/1 (almost was 13)
Phoebe Waller-Bridge 8/1
Jodie Comer 10/1
John Boyega 10/1

The Darkhorse:
Reece Shearsmith at 12/1

On that list ... I really, REALLY like Ayoade.

I like Ayoade too, I'm just skeptical of his version of the Doctor. The Doctor is inherently whimsical, curious, and adventurous, sure, but I worry that Ayoade would be almost *too* light-hearted -- even his reality travel show has a lot of whimsy, and that's without aliens and the fate of the universe in the balance.

I also like Michaela Coel. She has a level of determination, force, and vulnerability that would be a great positive for the show, but I wonder if she'd even want the gig since it's an intense time commitment and she's already created and produced two TV shows under her belt. It's not uncommon for a Doctor to drop out of the role in order to go back to exploring more diverse roles (after all, Tennant, Smith, Capaldi, and now Whittaker all cited that as a big reason for leaving).

[ChrisIII]

The Holiday Special was okay but, I don't know, my love of this franchise has been dealt a severe blow once the Doctor was reduced to being Space Jesus. Her new backstory is so lazy and cliched I'm, frankly, shocked BBC okayed it. Usually, a retcon doesn't affect my enjoyment of most properties but this retcon has reduced the Doctor to a "Chosen One" trope rather than being a person born of affluence that grew to care about the downtrodden. The Doctor's character has never been about who she was rather who she became on her travels that was her defining characteristic....

As mentioned this isn't exactly a new development. The last few years of the classic series strongly hinted that there was more to the Doctor than the Time Lord who got bored and stole a TARDIS that got stuck on Earth etc.-with hints dropping that he was a contemporary of Rassilon and Omega somehow. This was intended, at the time, to raise more mystery about the Doctor (The title is after all, "Doctor Who"). The Seventh Doctor novels-some of which were written by writers from that era (and also RTD wrote one years before the new series)-hinted that he perhaps a reincarnation or clone of an ancient time lord, but only has a vague memory of 'being' him, but enough to know some stuff about Gallifrey's ancient times. Of course, the "half human" stuff from the TV movie made things even more complicated.

The new series has occasionally dived into this here and there (The woman in "End of time", some of Matt Smith's run, the "Hybrid" arc) although those were never pretty much spelled out like Timeless child was.

[BeastieRunner]

I like Ayoade too, I'm just skeptical of his version of the Doctor. The Doctor is inherently whimsical, curious, and adventurous, sure, but I worry that Ayoade would be almost *too* light-hearted -- even his reality travel show has a lot of whimsy, and that's without aliens and the fate of the universe in the balance.

I also like Michaela Coel. She has a level of determination, force, and vulnerability that would be a great positive for the show, but I wonder if she'd even want the gig since it's an intense time commitment and she's already created and produced two TV shows under her belt. It's not uncommon for a Doctor to drop out of the role in order to go back to exploring more diverse roles (after all, Tennant, Smith, Capaldi, and now Whittaker all cited that as a big reason for leaving).

Coel and Boyega would be my #2 and #3 picks on that list.

Ayoade is an amazing person and actor. I totally see those complaints but they also remind of when people said Capaldi would be too serious and angry. And he did a really good job. I could see Ayoade having to do the opposite and nail it.

But that is a legitimate criticism I think.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I always kind of thought that the Doctor and The Master were two parts of Rasselon, that he got split apart somehow and heaven help us all if they ever worked together...

[Nate Grey]

The only rumors I heard/read was that Jodie's management may want her to leave, as not to sour any of her future endeavors. Not sure how true that is, but I'd rather Chibs leave and Jodie stay before regenerating into the Ruth Doctor.