Doctor Who

[iklboo]

Anyone else a bit disappointed tonight? I mean, the series haven't been brilliant - and I'm sick of Daleks - but this was just...meh. Too many Maguffins & Deus Ex Machina.

I realise filming was probably affected by CV19 but I felt a bit deflated by it.

I also was very unimpressed by them killing a Tardis without a by your leave or any sign of regret.

Wasn't the worse.. far from the best. Great to see Jack again though! Definitely the star of the episode

I really enjoyed it. I've found the JW episodes much better than Steven Moffat's really complicated stories.

I must admit though I thought it would be great that the next series would be 2 women. I was disappointed to see another male companion would be joining .

Bloody. Awful.

I agree @rosy71 - lovely idea of having two women, hope we see that a bit before the new companion joins them.

I think Jodie is a good Doctor, and still fine tuning her portrayal.
As with Capaldi, who was excellent, the script wasn't always great, and took forever to let him get his character established.

Clara, Bill and the more recent companion ensembles haven't enhanced the series IMO, although I liked Nardole. Captain Jack is always fab.
I think it is about attaining a certain level of intimacy between the Doctor and the companion/s.
So I'm quite hopeful about the new companion, and hoping that the recipe becomes richer. Although I'm not particularly a fan of John Bishop, I wasn't of Catherine Tate either, and Donna Noble contributed so much in terms of her personal qualities and to bringing out certain aspects of the Doctor.
She turned out to be one of the greatest companions ever.

Agree about the other Tardis, though. That was jarring.

@Campervan69

Two women in the tardis on their own would have been great. Disappointed they didn't run with it for a while.

Maybe they missed a trick not doing a spin-off with Clara & Me in their Tardis.

The (other) TARDIS being so disposable an item with no pause or sadness hurt

Whovian fanboy DH has retconned that jarring plot point (which I think is actually best explained by "Chris Chibnall is a poor quality writer who doesn't think things through and wanted a quick resolution") by theorising that Tardis sentience and personhood is an emergent phenomenon which evolves through the centuries of travelling through space and time with a Timelord. The Doctor"s tardis was already very old and experienced when she stole the Doctor but the second tardis was only recently obtained from Galifrey and may have been so new and inexperienced that she wasn't really a person yet? It is tenuous and I think Chris Chibnall being a lazy arse is a more credible explanation.

Speaking as someone who watched the first ever episode with William Hartnell I think the latest incarnation of the doctor is a bit of a return to those original stories albeit with more special effects and loud background music. I don't really watch now, although it is on in the room, because I'm not 8 any more.

I was disappointed, not much of a story.

I like it better with fewer companions though, I’ve never liked any series with three or more companions (including the original series). Too much distraction and it’s hard to get to know anyone.

I loved the ending - Ryan and the bike - it just meant a lot to me to close that storyline up and to see him kick his dyspraxia's arse.

Twitter was having fun.

quite sad the doctor killed one of the tardis sisters without a second thought like that

Am I the only one thinking that for all the fam stuff, the present doctor is actually less sensitive to the feelings of others than many of the previous ones? When Sarah Jane bumped into the Tenth Doctor and his current companion Rose Tyler, the Doctor was actually quite embarrassed about Rose being the favoured one and went to great lengths at the end to assure Sarah Jane that she was still valued.

In this episode, Captain Jack, who is known to have spent centuries hankering for the doctor, saves her life- and she thanks him by immediately starting to talk about her fam, the people she cares about, and specifically points out that he is not one of them.

Yes, I know the Tenth Doctor was funny about Jack at first, after he obtained immortality, but he made that up later.

I felt the first 15 minutes or so was quite good; storyline seemed promising, the "Fam" trying to cope on their own etc, but it all fell apart after that. The worst bit (IMO) was Leo controlled by the squid Dalek in Japan spending 10 minutes telling our heroes all the plot details and being patient enough to answer all the Dr's questions.
Then it seemed the Doctor had it all wrapped up in 5 minutes. Bring back Matt Smith please.

@Magpiecomplex

We were discussing possible uses for the "security drones" and thought they'd be good for administering the covid jabs. VACCINATE! VACCINATE

I thought it was much less frightening than 2020 (the year of the "surging mutant virus" ) has been in real life.

Daleks that can be bundled into a Tardis seemed relatively unthreatening after that.

I just find the current doctor and her 'fam' a bit cringeworthy tbh, compared with the cool quirkiness of David Tennant and Matt Smith. Wasn't a big fan of Peter Capaldi as the Doctor either (though he's good in other things). It's not the actors, it's the writing.

The greeting the old enemies in prison was a nice touch, but the Maguffin break out & weird running down corridor when they were obviously running in the spot was silly. More could have been made out of it.

Jack was sidelined, Bradley Walsh had about 5 lines. Dalek-busting Daleks, battle over in three minutes. Barely any 'terror' on earth before they showed up. Almost zero strategy. Let's pile them all into a decoy TARDIS then kill it. Why did gran turn up? I've had enough of 'fam' as well.

'I've been in space prison for decades' wasn't enough to stop Yaz sulking - and all the Doctor did was apologise? Where was the snappy come back?

Three minutes 'baddy MP', Trumpesque panto villain with no repercussions.

Bah humbug.

Poor, poor writing.

Sorry to say but I am not enjoying a female Dr . I don't think she is the right person for the job .
Storyline was shit also.

Agree about Yaz sulking. Most people would think being locked away in space prison was a sufficient excuse. I liked her before but in this episode she just seemed whiney. And the doctor's dependency on her fam doesn't seem healthy either.

Writing was thin, villain thinner than thin, lighting poor- and very unflattering as far as John Barrowman was concerned. Judging from recent photos of the man he hasn't aged that badly.

Now that's a cracking back-handed compliment. John Barrowman, you've been burrrned!

He is a middle-aged man, nothing wrong with looking like one. Still good-looking for his age. But not in that lighting!

John Barrowman looks far better in real life now that he has grey hair- I suppose a grey Capt Jack wouldn't be allowed.

I gave up on it as the writing was so poor and Yaz and Ryan are beyond dull but have just watched the New Year's episode. I see it's just got worse.

Yaz and Ryan continue to have the acting ability and charisma of 2 very short planks but are now sulky as well as thick and boring. John Barrowman outacted everyone.

The Doctor is simply tedious and I really hate her pure polyester, supermarket outfits.

I think the story was rushed - in the old days that story would have lasted episodes (3 or 4 probably), with a slow reveal of what was really going on. The Clone Dalek would have been a great end of episode hook.
And another episode maybe ending where they find the factory of dalek clones. (And a bit more about Leo and his family so we actually cared when he was exterminated).

Any episode with Jack in is bad, I can't stand the actor or character.