Did anyone watch Doctor Who?

Wasn’t RTD, and his behaviour, a key reason why Christopher Eccleston left the show after just 1 series? He said it was a toxic work environment and wasn’t prepared to put up with it.

I like DT as an actor, he’s fantastic in Shakespeare and “Staged” is pretty much my favourite thing to have been spawned by Covid. He does like to chew the scenery as The Doctor though.

I can't help but think there is a bit of desperation about bringing DT in though. They are so desperate to revitalize the series, it's just bled viewers. They are hoping a little nostalgia for better times will make people tune in, and some better writing will keep them.

This exactly. Bring back Dr and Donna, for the nostalgic viewers who left in droves and package it up as 'special 60th' then hope those viewers will be so wowed they'll continue to watch next year. Unfortunately means there's a lot riding on Ncuti. I'll start watching in the hope he does a good job but if the writing stays as shit, and even he can't save it, then we'll all be leaving again.

Oh this is not good to hear. I haven't watched it since and episode about plastic waste on a random planet and was sick of all my leisure time being lectured at. Don't think I'll bother with it now.

100 times CE is the best.
DT has really crushed all my previous love for him as the Doctor and even other roles with how he is now.

I still love Christopher Eccelston the most. No weird face stuff, normal hair, normal clothes.

I haven't rated David Tennant's acting for a while now. I think he's started to believe his own hype

I agree too. He's not even trying in this.

Jodie Whittaker's gurning half sided face scrunch expression annoyed me but my god Tennant's weird bottom lip thing where he sticks his lower jaw out and flashes his whole bottom teeth and gums drives me mad.

Casting a 20 year old to play a 15 year old is especially grating if the other child characters on screen are played by child actors.

Rose dwarfs that other kid who was supposed to be Rose's friend.

I tend to agree, and there was a time when I really enjoyed him. Now he seems to be always chewing the scenery.

That being said, I suspect what someone said up-thread about script issues is right. Lots of bad acting where you might not expect it is often down to bad writing or bad direction.

I can't help but think there is a bit of desperation about bringing DT in though. They are so desperate to revitalize the series, it's just bled viewers. They are hoping a little nostalgia for better times will make people tune in, and some better writing will keep them.

The question is the writing. I have serious doubts. It seems that even previously good writers produce shit once they let it start to be overtly ideological - which seems to be the requirement now. It's like they forgot what they knew.

Thank you for the explanation ConsistentlyElectrifiedElves

It still sounds a bit weird that the young transgender character is reinventing themselves as “the doctor’s greatest companion/ love” though. Not to have their own unique character, but instead is some sort of wish fulfilment creation, almost as if to manipulate the doctor into remembering Rose whether he wants to or not and to connect the original Rose with this new character and to the Doctor (like forced teaming?!). It feels a bit incestuous and inappropriate.

It rings true in the sense that the child lacks their own secure identity so creates one, and reflects the men who appropriate womanhood and even the identities of individual women as if we are merely fantasy avatars or costumes to be chosen or worn.

I think maybe there’s also something in how Donna as the mother is unconsciously responsible for projecting something onto/into the child that has made them this way.

I used to love 'New Who' and DT and some of the Tenth Doctor stories and arcs were fantastic and deep and angsty.

It's all a bit of a mess now. I'd have liked Capaldi to stick around longer and I thought Jodie Whitaker was ok, but they both suffered from really badly written scripts. Now RTD, the people-pleaser, is back at the helm, I was really hoping for some nostalgic feels - but no. Badly written and sledgehammer subtle.

...and yet. Add me to the list of GC commenters on this thread who weren't paying sufficient attention and hadn't realised 'Rose' was being played by a bloke! In all honesty, I was watching to see how DT had fared in the intervening years and whether he still had that Tenth magic (not really sure ) but DH, who was paying FAR more attention and is a proper Whovian who knew all about The Meep from the bloody comics missed that too.

Now I know, of course, it's impossible to not see. But what was all that bollix about binary and non-binary? Donna saying 'binary' was just when she was going a bit mad with the Time Lord/TARDIS energy or whatever, wasn't it? Rose saying 'non-binary' means nothing. Surely if Rose is trans and everyone is calling Rose her and she and daughter, she would not be id-ing as NB??

IT MAKES NO SENSE RTD, surely you can see that?? You can't just throw the buzzwords in and hope that'll please the pretty young things.

Switched off as soon as I realised they’d crow barred a trans storyline in, FUCK OFF BBC and Russell T you can fuck off too

The Doctors aren't 1000+ years old either...

I thought the same about the trans character on Neighbours. Not only were we expected to believe that their transition was smooth and easy, and that they passed perfectly, we were also expected to believe that they would instantly get accepted by everyone, and would get the hot boy as a boyfriend.

I always find it's the neck that's the giveaway, or more precisely, the head to neck ratio. Out of curiosity, I just did a quick Google and found this...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002192900700317X

Never mind the hips, the necks don't lie!

I'd always liked DT, early dr who, broadchurch etc, but his staunch anti female stance has really put me off.
The piss poor, glitter rainbow hammer shit show of a programme this was has completely put me off the BBC, am fed up with this virtue signalling twee bullshit "go along with our ridiculous self fancy or you're mean!!"

I haven't rated David Tennant's acting for a while now. I think he's started to believe his own hype. Never a good idea. And fgs learn a new accent 🤣

I haven't watched it yet but I will at some point. At least I'm forewarned thanks to this thread. Hopefully I won't be TOO irritated. I was looking forward to this. I loved Donna.

There were 2 key things that were off about the episode for me:

1. According to their own timeline, “Rose” is supposed to be 15;
2. As I said on the Telly Addicts thread, I object to the portrayal of an almost passing transwoman/girl. The suggestion is that the transition is recent (talk about Donna and her mum forgetting not to say “he”), so we’re supposed to believe that this beautiful transition has been pulled off over a matter of months. It feeds into the lie fed to vulnerable children, particularly boys, that passing is easy and everyone will believe you’re really female. It glosses over the fact that the actor transitioned years ago, used cross sex hormones, possibly has had feminising surgery and has the full weight of a make up, wardrobe and lighting department behind him to ensure that he looked as convincing as possible. I had never heard of Yasmin before so googled, from the images I saw Yasmin does not pass half as convincingly in real life.

I don’t object to a trans character per se, I object to the portrayal that trans characters all pass wonderfully and are magically speshul folk.

Needs repeating!

Who's a she? The male actor playing Rose?

I thought the script was shit and felt sorry for the actors. Best bit was when Donna got her memory back and started ranting at the Doctor about giving away the money then they sorted the problem. I quite liked the Meep insisting on the definite article, was a bit of a joke at the Doctor. An answer I'm tempted to use myself if asked for my pronouns.

As far as Yasmin Finney goes, she's good in Heartstopper (where she also plays a TW) and probably suffered the most from the shit script (as the newest character). I was looking forward to seeing her in the show and was sadly disappointed.

I think you mean they are male.

I wasn't far off. Full quote:

"You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering." The Face of Evil, which was series 14 ep.4.

Thanks! He’s a she IRL. Actress.

This is the quote I alluded to in my pp.

As Tom Baker, arguably the best Doctor Who, once said, “You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: they don’t alter their views to fit the facts; they alter the facts to fit their views.”

Very apposite. Jo Bartosch writes a good article. I wish they'd let her have a crack at Doctor Who 😀

Heartstopper