Was anyone else aware that the new Dr Who series was starting tonight??

[bizzey]

😮..I have come across it by accident.

Last year it was was well advertised.
The TARDIS flying on the BBC screen at every opportunity and so.

I do record a lot of my programmes so maybe I missed it ?

But I didn't last year 🤔.

And I really thought they said it was going to be May for the new series ?

Have I been on another planet ? 😂😂😂 !!

OTOH - language has changed - wouldn't sign language as well? Ad that might be harder for the tardis to sort...

But the TARDIS isn’t tied to any particular era - isn’t that its point?

Actually, didn’t seem as if it was the TARDIS enabling the Doctor’s signing - because then surely Belinda would have had it as well? I assumed it was simply something he’d picked up across his thousands of years. Maybe some unseen Dr incarnations might have been deaf - possibly on worlds where hearing wasn’t a thing and everyone signed?

@MakeYourOwnMusicStartYourOwnDance
I have a problem with the fact that the last few series have been shit.
I mean 'Space Babies' compared to ' Blink'?
Those goblins compared to ' The Girl who Waited'?
Are you seriously suggesting that ' Vincent and The Doctor' is a poorer story than any since Chibnall took over?
Are we supposed to say ' yay' and clap because we've got a gay actor playing The Doctor?
What about the 'non scene' gay actors who've appeared in the show?
I don't care who plays Who as long as the writing is exemplary and you really can't say it has been until last night.
Who has ALWAYS called out bullying and nastiness . It's highlighted the subjugation of the weaker and 'other.'
Should I mention that Jodie's white doctor ' rescued' Rosa Parks and gave her the strength to ' sit on the bus'? Can you explain why that story ( or Demons in the Night) is so groundbreaking ?
I see you didn't mention that in your diatribe.
So jog on with your finger wagging at viewers and fans who discuss the failings of Chibnall and RTD's return.

When I said “sign language dialogue” I meant the discussion about nurses using it. I wasn’t clear, apologies.

I think that conversation was earned in the context of the show.

I think 8 episodes is too short for a Who season, TBH, especially if they are trying to put in multiple arcs and lots of high end visuals etc.

I hope the tears have some relevance.

Mrs flood there in the future too?

I watched unleashed and I suppose it is difficult to appeal to multiple generations when it’s a family show. RTD said they had to make sure no faces were shown of the dead etc.

Aren't the tears indicative of this incarnation of the doctor, post the bi-generation?

No more Mr Repressed Guy, who says “I have a duty of care” or “Rose, I —“ instead of “I love you” - this is a “heart on sleeve” incarnation.

Loving the juxtaposition of ‘tears’ and ‘Flood’! If only that could be the resolution.

Yes that makes sense. It’s just the close ups of them makes me wonder.

I didn’t recognise Rose from strictly. Even though she’s the only deaf actor I see in mainstream. In unleashed she said the deaf community will go wild for the doctor signing “name me doctor”.

She played there’s something behind me very well!

💯

The problem is the quality of the writing.

Who has always included edgy or marginal or minority characters (for the time). Nothing new about that. On the whole its just included people without floodlights and virtue signalling - such as when the first woman timelord was included. Romana simply rocked up and was a timelord. That is how you do it - let the characters just “be” and if their specific characteristic is relevant let it show itself. I was really keen for the first woman in the title role but Jodie had a lot of bad writing and screaming. I love Ncuti but think he also has suffered from “lay it on with a trowel” writing.

The “mighty whitey doctor was the real hero” storyline for Rosa Parks’ bravery really stuck in my throat and I’m amazed there were not more complaints about it. The Christmas Specials were poor, especially the storyline with Tenant (mediocre doctor) and Tate (one of my favourite assistants) where the message was not so much laid on with a trowel as dug in with a bloody JCB. It was also poorly cast.

I’ve drifted from watching every episode at the first opportunity to “as I get around to it” so have just caught up a couple of episodes. Episode one had potential but we had to have a lecture on incels rather than writing the story more subtly so that it showed itself (as PP pointed out, Dot and Bubble was a class piece of this kind of writing). The cartoon stuff in episode two was very “mandatory whacky episode” which works well in a solidly written series but we haven’t had much of that lately. I thought the fan bit was funny but not sure if RTD saw the irony in referring to Blink (one of the best ever) from the midst of such a poor run.

All that said, episode three really felt a lot better. Much more like the style and tension of earlier series. Rose Ayling Ellis’s deafness was obvious and relevant without a ton of “look at us, aren’t we great white MC producers for including a <insert minority here>”. Fingers crossed for more of this in the remaining episodes - I really like the pairing of Ncuti with Belinda.

Definitely a lot more fun this week hope they keep that up. It doesn't bother me that the midnight beast seems to have completely changed, it has had a long time to evolve. I didn't understand why Aliss knew that Belinda is human? She was asking about Earth, but never said she was from there and Aliss couldn't communicate with the beast for it to tell her. Either I missed something, or could be something interesting to come maybe.

I love Mrs.Flood, but they do seem to doing almost the same plot with her as with Susan Triad in the last series. Random woman appears as different people across space and time. Seems an odd thing to copy, even if Mrs Flood is aware, unlike S Triad.

I love Mrs.Flood, but they do seem to doing almost the same plot with her as with Susan Triad in the last series

Some echoes of the little windows opening on Fake-Amy too, perhaps.

I'm enjoying this series and especially the new companion Belinda Chandra.

Ncuti crying in every single episode is really bugging me though. IIRC he did it in the last series too and I don't find it believable. It looks like someone has literally squirted water on his face.

I'm hoping there's going to be a big reveal about this, because otherwise it just looks like bad acting. Chandra means moon, so when he's near her, the moon pulls water from him like a wave? (Clutching at straws here!) Lots of other characters have water-related names: Amy Pond, River Song, Mrs Flood...

Yes Belinda is an excellent character - very good actor

Belinda is the best companion in a while... shes not just simpering around the Doctor, she's pushing back.

Thinking about the names some more....Belinda Chandra's distant relative (the character the actress played previously) was called Mundy. Chandra and Mundy both hint at the moon.

Mundy/Monday = day of the moon
Ruby Sunday = day of the sun
Now all we need is a character called Saturday (Saturn's day) for a full house :)

Or perhaps Mundy is a misspelling of the Latin "mundi" meaning world/Earth and is something to do with why they can't get back to Earth.

Well, ‘Lucky Day’ was relatively fun. Next week looks better though.

Have you all bought your cinema tickets for the season finale?

Kids quite liked it but the villain was just so stupidly OTT I was just annoyed by it. I suppose it's another side of preachiness that you can't see anyone opposed to your ideas except as just ludicrously wrong-headed and a pantomime villain.

Plus Ruby ugh.

Why “Ruby, ugh?”

I just can't bear Ruby

Last season must have been tough for you!

Lengthy and singular review (obviously with spoilers for the episode broadcast earlier this evening):

https://them0vieblog.com/2025/05/03/doctor-who-lucky-day/

I liked it.
I like Ruby.
i missed where Belinda and the doctor went at the start.

London, New Year’s Eve 2007, when they met Young Conrad

Thank you.

what’s Mrs flood up to then,?!
the governer.