Christmas Day Dr Who

[boatyardblues]

What. Da. Fuq? As DS just said after the musical number “did that just happen?”

It’s Dr Who Jim, but not as we know it.

Edited for typo.

I was most annoyed that they kept leaving babies everywhere.
First, when the baby monitor makes a noise, the first thing you do is not pick up the monitor and stare at it, you go and CHECK ON THE BABY THAT IS ONLY DOWN THE HALL!
Then, the first thing they do when they rescue the baby is leave her in exactly the same place she just got snatched from.
(As an aside, no foster carer would leave a new baby like that, the cot mattress should be new, the blankets tucked in, and feet to the foot of the cot).
Then, Ruby gets abandoned in the snow about a foot from a nice sheltered doorway. That's quite the gamble, a newborn in that position is about 5 minutes from death by hypothermia (assuming her birthday is really Christmas Eve - both babies looked months old).
Then The Doctor also leaves her in the snow and doesn't follow up on finding out who Ruby's mother is.

I was shouting at the TV don't leave the baby again! DD was a bit scared of the baby eating.

I loved Ncuti in the special episode with David Tennant and thought he would make a good Dr. I hate this new trend of moustaches though and am constantly noticing his. It's very distracting.

I wonder if Ruby's mother could be River Song or Amy Pond?

That's what I'm thinking, would explain the lack of DNA.

Yes it was really badly written but particularly around the female characters.

Dr Who, like Star Trek, always included a broader variety of people than mainstream drama but Chubnail was the 2020s - making a song and dance about having a woman time lord, then writing them as if they were a screechy ditzy 1960s companion was worse than having yet another man.

The 1970s writers managed to write Romana as a regular and influential character, they showed us time lords of different ethnicities and sexes and qualities simply as part of the transient characters. The modern era in recent years seems to need to make a song and dance of the existence of this rather than focus on making them decent characters with stories.

I love Ncuti Gatwa and I want him to be Dr Who who happens black, not Black Dr Who as perceived by white middle class writers.
I think Moffat generally manages this much better than RTD (although ideally I'd like to see some more Moffat/RTD collaboration, with Moffat doing the bulk of the episode writing).

i did enjoy it but it was a bit short

confusing though because at the beginning anita dobson was complaining about the police box, and at the end she knew it was a tardis, something awry there

I didnt get how if they could all goback in time to take young ruby they didn't just go back 5 minutes earlier/have another go.

Why was it once and foiled and done?

I loved the 3 specials. I like Ncuti and think his energy is so much fun. I just wasn't gripped and didn't feel I was watching Dr who!

We watched it on holiday on Disney + this morning! Loved it ( although when the crack in the ceiling appeared we all said 'Prisoner Zero must leave the human residence! There were echoes of the Eleventh Hour in it I though, with the child becoming an adult companion) It was much more disneyish, but better than Didney. Didn't even mind the singing Ncuti has a fab voice. I thought he was just the right mix of serious and funny.

God it was utterly cringe. I spent most of my time wondering why the foster mum went out straight away after the arrival of the baby - surely she'd expected to stay and get the bairn settled rather than dashing off and leaving her foster daughter in charge? (I realise I might be overthinking this!).

And don't even get me started on the music/goblins - I was hiding behind a cushion alright. But mainly out of second hand embarrassment! And Ruby was just wildly overacting.

Utter bobbins.

I liked Ncuti though.

They never addressed where Ncuti was when Jodie turned into Tennant. He was in a white room asking where the hell he was. Was that supposed to just be some kind of limbo or something more sinister.

Is Ruby an Alien? Dumped for protection.
Why didn't he run after the 'mother'? She was right there!!!!

I hope it's not something ridiculous like Ruby leaving herself there.

If Rory and Amy had another baby after they were sent back in time by the angel, would it be around Anita Dobson''s age?

Potentially, as Amy was meant to be about 30 when they got sent back to 1938 I think. Anita was born in 1949 and they clearly intended her character to look seventy something, they didn't appear to be trying to make her look older or younger than she is. So the timings would work.

But they did make a thing of saying Amy couldn't have any more children after Melody because of whatever they did to her on Demons Run, and they adopted a son. Perhaps there could be some skulduggery or other to get round that.

We've dipped in and out (mostly out) of watching Dr Who over the years and were too confused by the storyline of the first "Tenant is back" episode that we decided not to bother watching the rest for a while.

The new doctor has potential; we quite enjoyed it.

Thank you to the Frederick Place spotters/former residents. Having lived nearby as a student (40 years ago), I was struggling to remember where it was and wondered whether I would 'need' to identify it after a spell on Streetview.

I absolutely loved it. Thought Ruby was a superb actress and lived the new doctor - encompassed elements of former doctors but also made it his own.

I also thought it had a nice family element to the show. Mildly scary, fantasy gremlins, etc.

She went out to buy nappies, thought that was pretty clear

Thought it was terrible.

Ahh @Mintymintymintymint I must've missed that bit of info!

I thought Amy and Rory couldn't have their own kids- could adopt I suppose- as whatever they did With River Song had rendered Amy infertile it was why she and Rory split up - and they re-united on the Dalek prison planet. Though with these writers nothing is set in stone.

Didn't love it didn't feel very Dr Who to me at all - but it was fun rather than preachy which is an improvement on Jodie era. It may grow on me with time but honestly Dr Who but not as we know it a good description - I do think they are looking for a new audience which is risky as so many shows do this then lose existing audience and new never arrives.

I guess they might be taking the view that the audience has been deserting them over the last few years anyway, so it's either shake things up a bit or take a few years off.

RtD has basically said that, as it was Xmas day, it wasn't meant to be particularly taxing on the brain. I enjoyed it as an intro to the new Dr and companion. But I love Ncuti though; he's just got so much energy and warmth.

I also think some people take Dr who far too seriously.

The BBC has partnered with Disney for Doctor Who from now on, so maybe that was why some elements seemed different.

I enjoyed it, especially as in the 90s I used to visit my then boyfriend who was renting in one of those lovely Notting Hill flats!

I agree some people take Dr who too seriously but I did like way when it was rebooted it managed serious ideas combined with running and fun - that's been gone a while though.

We are mainly watching out of nostalgia - even our teens said that - but quick google shows me it 4.7 million watching and rated 3rd on BBC shows over Christmas - so I don't think they'll be too disappointed.

I loved it. I think that after a few years of “heavy” Dr Who storylines, something light hearted was what I needed at Christmas. I also think Ncuti is striking the right lively tone that it has been missing from the last few doctors. So no complaints here.

Loved it

Perfect Cmas special

Hope the new series has teeth

Happy that the new doctor isn’t doing the hammy, urgent-but-confused schtick. Capaldi was the worst for that, followed closely by Jodie W. Her turn also suffered from rampant preachiness in the writing and plotting.

Everything else about the Christmas episode was utter shite.