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

[ChrisIII]

I get what you are saying, However most of the enemies the Doctor has encountered where known to them (or knew of them) - Sontarans, The Master, The Rani, The Monk, Fenric etc. In all cases they were new. They just had the added hook of knowing the Doctor beforehand so the audience immediately becomes invested in how they know each other.

Same with the Weeping Angels, E-Space Vampires (Or at least the great one), Judoon, Jagaroth, Osirians, Vashta Narada etc. to add a few. The Doctor usually fills in the companion-and also the audience-on what they are. Of course he's been taken by surprise a few times by the Master, either through his use of disguises (No matter how flimsy) or appearing in a body unknown to him (Yana, Missy, O, briefly the "Bruce" Master).


There are of course ones that are 'fresh' to him, at first-Daleks and Cybermen, for example. He didn't know anything about them when he first met them. And even after many battles with the Daleks, he didn't know anything about Davros until "Genesis of the Daleks".

[Catlady in training]

I get what you are saying, However most of the enemies the Doctor has encountered where known to them (or knew of them) - Sontarans, The Master, The Rani, The Monk, Fenric etc. In all cases they were new. They just had the added hook of knowing the Doctor beforehand so the audience immediately becomes invested in how they know each other.

That's a bit different, I meant that the villain claims that they have already fought many times and are these great rivals. But who knows, it might still turn out to be good, like some evil version of River Song.

[ChrisIII]

Bob Baker passed away. He of course co-created K-9. Always thought his stories were among the most ambitious and somewhat psychedlic from Classic Who.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Baker_(scriptwriter)

[thwhtGuardian]

I have to say, I was fairly disappointed in this episode. There were some solid character moments with the Doctor and Yaz and I like the new guy...but the story itself was just too fragmented to be satisfying. The episode was just too busy setting up the various plotlines that are apparently going to be featured this season rather than tell a story of its own. I'm not down on the season as a whole mind you, as some of what was teased looked good but this was probably the weakest opening episode of Doctor Who in my eyes.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I'm enjoying Flux so far. This episode is more cohesive than the premiere. Chibnall finally gets good- better late than never.

[Kirby101]

And the Doctor is finally acting like The Doctor.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

The main villian Swarm sounds like Paul Bettany.

[Anthony W]

Wow. Maybe my standards have dropped through the floor but this episode was pretty good. It feels like Whittaker has settled on a Tennant impression and is pretty good at it. Yaz wasn't a waste of time. Dan was a waste of time, but that is to be expected. The whole bit with his parents felt like a bit from....wait for it....Tennant Who. Luckily the dog showed up again. The villains were top notch. They were actually threatening. If you told me that You Know Who was doing uncredited work with Chibnall I would totally buy it, but I'm going to respect Chibnall and say good job.

[Somecrazyaussie]

I have to say, I was fairly disappointed in this episode. There were some solid character moments with the Doctor and Yaz and I like the new guy...but the story itself was just too fragmented to be satisfying. The episode was just too busy setting up the various plotlines that are apparently going to be featured this season rather than tell a story of its own. I'm not down on the season as a whole mind you, as some of what was teased looked good but this was probably the weakest opening episode of Doctor Who in my eyes.

And that's my problem so far: too many plotlines are being tossed at us and each episode so far doesn't stand on its own. In really hope Chibnall hasn't bit off more than he can chew here.

Other points -
1. So, the Mouri priests are basically like the time version of Logopolitans? Holding back bad/evil time from eroding the universe?
2. I think the went a bit too far in trying to show how badass Swarm and Azure are. Did we really need all that to just show how impressive they are? Less is more Chibs.

[Somecrazyaussie]

The main villian Swarm sounds like Paul Bettany.

Has his mannerisms down too. It's why some people questioned last week if it actually was Bettany. But it isn't. It's Sam Spruell and he has been around in everything from Taken 3 to Valerian.

[Indian Ink]

The episode seemed to be a confusing mess, but then I think the viewer is supposed to be confused at this point.

There was a jarring record scratch moment for me however. When the Doctor met the lady in the street who was later chased by the weeping angel. Clearly from what she'd said, they'd previously encountered each other, but it was later in the Doctor's timeline. Of all people, the time traveling Doctor should have realized that. The doctor can't be that unbelievably thick. So, (of all things) that took me right out of the program.

[ChrisIII]

Hasn't the Doctor always acted a bit confused when he/she meets people in the wrong order? River, Sally, Clara etc

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

It's a cool historical deep dive. I think 13 works better without companions. Yaz found her footing as Clara-lite. She's the companion that graduated to hero status. Dan's alright plus he and Kaz have good chemistry. Flux's run might end with the Fam going their seperare ways. Dan with Kaz, Yaz with Vinder and 13 turns into 14.

Bit Yaz might not make it out.

I wish Swarm popped up in Series 11. He's the best New villian of the Chibnall years.

In other news, the War Master volume 7 gets a cover and a release month. This is the one were he meets 10 and I'm hyped.

https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v...ign=warmaster7

[ChrisIII]

Funny thing is, with a lot of storylines, new and old, have often focused on villains or civilizations using stolen time lord technology such as regeneration (Underworld, Mawdryn Undead, I think it's kind of implied that the Master had a part in Lazarus's experiments etc) and time travel (Daleks and Sontarans for example in the classic series) that it's coming out that the Time Lords pretty much stole from others to create their civilization too.

[Catlady in training]

Really good episode, I liked the setting and as usual, the spotlight on interesting historical figures.
I agree that there were few callbacks to 10's era, especially with the Doctor being angry at the general for blowing up the Sontarans being similar to 10's reaction to Harriet Jones in his first episode.
I like the bits of the season-long arc. I wonder what the purpose of the coal miner is. I like Vinder so far, I hope we will see more of him in upcoming episodes. I am also interested in the story of the planet called Time and why Doctor doesn't know about it.
The promo for the next episode though. spoilers:

Cybermen, really? Haven't we had enough of them in last season's 3 episodes? I certainly had.

end of spoilers