Who is watching Doctor Who tonight

[Firefly2009]

And if you've now seen it, what are your thoughts?

I'm predicting I will love it no matter what. But look forward to discussing it.

Disappointed and turned off after 20 minutes. Think I might be over doctor who after about 55 years of watching. The Jodie episodes started my malaise and it just seems so rubbish these days.

You really think Tosin Cole was only cast because he's black?

He was a terrible actor.

Could she not have been just Rose and female in the first place

No, because the fact she was trans helped solve the metacrisis where if Donna remembers she would die.

He was a very poor actor. But I don't think he was cast to tick a diversity box. He wasn't exactly the first POC to be cast as a companion. We'd already had Mickey, Martha, and Bill.

He was a terrible actor
Maybe so, but his being black has nothing to do with anything. Casting him isn't "ticking a diversity box." 🙄

Just caught up…I was so excited to come back.

And I was so disappointed.

Diversity doesn’t bother me at all, as long as it hasn’t come at the expense of good acting, good writing and an entertaining show that can suspend my disbelief and whisk me away to another world for a time.

Doctor Who has always been progressive. But the good seasons weren’t preachy.

But it was usually well written, subtle, and still entertainment.

Yeah really found it too preachy and irritating 🙄 such a shame and wasted opportunity. But that's the BBC for you nowadays.

I overall enjoyed it, at times the dialogue felt a bit clunky, and DoctorDonna got resolved far too quickly.

It very much felt like a quick settling in, getting up to date episode, so I’m optimistic for next week. I believe the next episode is also the one we know the least about - trailer didn’t give much away either.

I hope there’s more to DT’s return and it’s not just to cure Donna etc.

Any guesses for what might happen next episode? Based on the title I think maybe something tardis related

RTD on Unleashed talking about normalising trans stuff amongst children

And that’s why my autistic son (who got hold of some of DH’s Tenant era dvd’s and became obsessed with doctor who) currently thinks Capaldi was the last doctor.

DS has always enjoyed toys and hobbies that the dim would consider ‘girly’. We’ve raised him to know that it would be silly to think ‘only boys like this’ or ‘only girls are like this’.

RTD can fuck off. Children with autism are particularly vulnerable to social contagion, especially when coupled with the desire to be handed a ready made social group with strict rules.

I actually watched the episode tonight in the hope that we could start to watch it as a family, as I used to when younger.

Not a chance.

Luckily ds has started to watch and enjoy the original series so has plenty to get through!

How would you know that it wasn't?

Obviously he personally is black because his parent(s) are black, but he might have been cast specifically for that reason.

Clearly the poster above suspects this because of what she considers the bad acting - on the principle of, they clearly didn't hire this guy due to acting ability, so maybe it was to fulfill their diversity requirements.

I am not so sure myself, I think they probably do have "diversity" quotas, but there are plenty of good black actors to fill those with. So probably there was some other reason for going with a bad actor (nepotism maybe?) It's still tokenism though to cast someone to fulfill such a quota, even if the acting is smashing.

This kind of quota system does exist now in a lot of arts settings.

What date is the next episode on? Is it next week?
Can't wait

Same time again next Saturday I believe. Then again the following Saturday.

@Elentwelvedoc nice, thanks

@Firefly2009

"Scientist in wheelchair crossed her legs; personally never seen a wheelchair user do that before"

My DS does it all the time. Not everyone in a wheelchair is paralysed.

Look up ambulant/ambulatory wheelchair users.

Seriously RTD stop preaching and some decent dialogue for the Doctor and Donna. The Doctor Donna resolution was shit and lazy. The whole pronouns/ non-binary felt utterly unnecessary and crowbarred in as a lecture. Rose looked far too old for the role and couldn’t act even if they had had any material to act with.
I have been watching Dr Who since Tom Baker and this was a poor episode.

Was really looking forward to it as DT is my favourite Dr . I refused to watch after he left until I started watching with my kids years later and loved the Matt Smith Dr and his assistant .

Don't rate Catherine Tate as an actress and didn't like her character Donna .

Just found it underwhelming even with DT back .

Now I know they were trying to do nostalgia but really?

Gremlins was released in 1984.

This episode was an overgrown white Mogwai that turned into a Gremlin. With special effects that haven't moved on since 1984.

For a BBC flagship show the acting wasn't just bad. It was dire. Back in the day when TV was still only three channels for domestic audience consumption only and there wasn't the same competition with other shows especially before the invention of the VCR nevermind TV on demand I can understand. But in 2023? Really? I mean I can cope with shit acting on daytime TV but this is a premium BBC shows to flog on Disney+ in the US. That's kind of embarrassing.

Then there's the script. I can kind go with 'progressive' in terms of doing similar stories that are cultural 'ahead of their time'. I'm not sure I feel thats hitting the mark given this is post Tavistock. It's really rather going against the latest on that given its not simply trans but (supposedly) a child. A 'six foot child' who can't run (watch the running and you'll get my point and you'll never unsee it) and definitely can't act.

Bizarrely DH said to me at two points through the program "hang on a sec the Meep is supposed to be a creature pretending to be something it's not and then turning out to be evil. That could be taken in different ways couldn't it - and not in an altogether positive one. He thought that was odd. Really odd.

Not only that but how exactly do I explain this to a nine year old? The whole crux of the story rests on binary binary non binary. But DS hasn't a clue over that and I don't feel he's really old enough for that. It isn't behind the sofa stuff. It's just not particularly great for that 8 - 13 age group because of that which is a real shame. It's simply tone deaf to the concerned raised about this age group and this subject. That's not necessarily anti-trans but more about how they have capacity to understand properly. It makes it not particularly family friendly. You cant really watch and have it go over heads because it's central to the story and I'm really not ready to be having a conversation over binary, non binary with DS just yet.

It was altogether odd and rather than being progressive and ahead of its time more very much of the moment. It could not have been made a couple of years ago. But equally I think it's unlikely to be written in another couple of years.

On a personal level I never particularly liked Donna as Catherine Tate just grates so it doesn't help. Despite that I did like Tennant as The Doctor but this just feels like trying to reclaim lost love rather than be good in its own right. It feels like an act of desperation because the show has lost its way rather than adding to the canon and it really shows. The criticism has been able the moralism over action and good script writing in recent years and I'm not sure this escapes that. It's this constant shoe horning ideas to make a point rather than just making a good narrative. It's certainly not a classic like Blink or the story arc that was part of.

It's a shame really given its the 60th anniversary. It's simply not anywhere near what you'd class as memorable or 'a classic '. It's just all very forgettable really. You'll wake up tomorrow and think 'yeah what happened?'

FYI: Beep the Meep predates Gremlins by four years.

I never said it was? Why are you quoting me?

They used a trans person, not an actor.

Unfortunately a large number of people consider anyone who isn’t white, heterosexual or able bodied to be ‘token’ etc. These people don’t actually consider someone worthy as a person unless they’re white, straight and able bodied, so anything we do is considered less than by them.

Another issue I felt (and the overwhelming issue for me) was the big budget curtesy of Disney+. (Still dodgy CGI mind.)

Doctor Who has always been low budget, which by far suits the hamminess and crappy acting (in the modern day sense that they don't portray believable real characters.). Because with low budget it is like watching a play you don't expect realistic acting. The actors are obviously acting and the plot is wound up by some made up science, explained by nonsensical techno babble.

Also casting an actress in a wheelchair and not making it the main part of her character but not ignoring the limitations being in a wheelchair has, is what Doctor Who progressiveness and inclusiveness is all about to me. (The actress is a wheelchair user - despite being able to more her legs, which shockingly some wheelchair users can!)

Though I admit the weaponsised wheelchair felt a bit too James Bond for me.

Also let us not let the tuna madras go uncommented. 🤢