The Doctor loves JKR

[ImaginaryCat]

Anyone else get a daft warm fuzzy feeling when Doctor Who was telling herself a bedtime story in prison, and began with the opening line of Harry Potter? Not sure when this episode was written, but I choose to find significance in the fact the first female Doctor is a fan of JKR!

Of all the books to read, she chose that one.

I loved it.

I can't wait to see how twitter responds.

Yeah, it did occur to me that this might cause a few raised eyebrows.
Unfortunately it's not even slightly enough to rescue the 13th Doctor for me, because other than being a Potter fan (which we already knew from the 10th Doctor) she's a complete wet blanket disappointment to me. Can't even say how gutted I am about that as a feminist and a Who fan.

that is a joy. I might have to watch that instead - I've currently got University Challenge on with lots of senior academics but even with my worsening eyesight and in the all-teams screen shot, I spotted a telling head-tilt of one of the competitors, which, while obviously not being an issue to me in any way but I am then distracted from the quiz at hand and in the current climate, makes me want to find out a bit more about whether this person is involved in the push to remove the rights of myself and my daughters (so it cannot help but be a bit personal).

Hopefully it will be an interesting and well-fought contest and I am heartened to find that the female-presenting competitor in question plays for a gay football team in Brighton.

Bunting

The scriptwriting has been incredibly poor. Jodie Whittaker has been wasted in the role they've given her.

@PotholeParadies

Bunting

The scriptwriting has been incredibly poor. Jodie Whittaker has been wasted in the role they've given her.

They had her ask John Barrowman if he'd had "any work done" Perhaps it will perk up with half the companions.

I do notice a trend for baddies to be white middle aged females at the moment. I said to my boys as we were watching, watch the "Karens" they're bound to be evil.....

Pothole, oh, I completely lay the blame at Chibnall's door. The writing is woeful, but she is miscast, too. I was reticent about the sex swap, even though it was inevitable, but there are plenty of actresses who could have carried off the alien cleverest-person-in-the-room Doctor schtick. The Doctor just isn't being written that way and she isn't lifting the material at all.

But seriously, who writes the Doctor as very insecure about change and getting a pep talk about it from the weakest, dullest companion ever? Someone who hasn't got a grasp on the character in the first place.

I think it was too many companions, introduced all at once. None of them truly seemed to gain any depth. Bit like Chalet School characters. Graham was

At one point, I noticed that Yaz's family, who are barely in any episodes, seemed to have more life than Yaz did.

Graham was the most believable one. Line got left off.

But yes. This idea that the Doctor would change time because her friends had moved on without her? That's not the Doctor. The Doctor should be someone who would be happy that Ryan was feeling more rooted on earth.

@Campervan69

I do notice a trend for baddies to be white middle aged females at the moment. I said to my boys as we were watching, watch the "Karens" they're bound to be evil.....

? Where were any "Karens" in the episode, or baddy middle aged white females?! I watched Dr Who tonight and seems a bizarre thing to randomly come out with to your boys when there was nothing like that in the episode! As an aside, I'm a big Harry Potter fan so liked the reference to it when she started telling herself a bedtime story

Too many companions, yes, every single good idea directly lifted from previous stories too. Even this episode - the conversation with Jack about having work done was almost word for word repeating the conversation Jack had with Tennant's Doctor when they met in Utopia. yeah, we get it. Jack is vain and oho, the Doctor can't really criticize plastic surgery because he literally changes his entire body. It was mildly amusing the first time round. It's just lazy to recycle it with no spin at all. But that's Chibnall for you. Once in a blue moon good idea, but no skill with the execution, and hasn't a clue how to end a story.

Well, the Doctor did stupid stuff to try and keep Clara, and that was presented as a foolish thing on his part, but the difference was I believed the Doctor had a real emotional connection to Clara. I didn't believe for a second that 13 was all that fussed about Ryan and Graham. Even this whole daft not-a-Timelord retcon storyline, (which will hopefully be ignored by future showrunners if the series isn't cancelled) just serves to make 13 feel ineffectual and just like a big shrug as a character. She says at one point that she feels angry, but I still only got a vague sense of peevishness. Bleh.

Sci-fi is not his field. They've played up the "exploring other time periods" angle to disguise their lack of interest/skill at asking what if.

It's been painful viewing. Sometimes feels like being subjected to a sermon on current affairs by a thirteen year old.

Absolutely. I didn't believe she cared about Ryan and Graham that much. It just made her seem self-obsessed and petty.

When you compare it to RTD's skill with creating characters who feel like real people, and his and Moffat's ability to write dialogue that sounds like the way people actually speak, it's quite evident to me that Chibnall's successes as a writer so far have been down to working with actors and showrunners who knew how to polish his few good ideas. I listen to his scripts and I just have Jack Lemmon in my head saying 'Nobody talks like that' or even Harrison Ford telling George Lucas "You can write this shit, but you sure as hell can't say it..."

Absolutely agree they've made the Doctor bland and needy and it's annoying. She should be the sharpest mind, completely in control, 1000 years of experience.

As for the "Karens", the baddy van driver at the beginning was oddly a middle aged woman, as was the baddy new PM who didn't last long compared to the baddy middle aged white bloke who is potentially the next POTUS. Its a definite trend I have noticed in woke shows. As we all said, middle aged women do not cause the world's evils, yet somehow they get the blame.

I haven't watched today's episode yet so I'm trying to ignore spoilers but I just can't get on with this Doctor. I really wanted to like her too.
They seem to have made her weak. I hope it's not purely because she's a woman that she needed 3 companions instead of 1 or 2 max.
Also in one episode she was grabbed by the throat by a baddy, and I remarked to my husband that they wouldn't have had that happening to David Tennant, etc. I'm sure someone will now tell me that it did happen to a male doctor, but it still stood out to me.

I'm sad as I really wanted to like her but she's really boring and weak. There must be funny, sharp witted, quirky female actors out there who would have done a much better job. The scripts haven't helped either, they do read like you're being lectured to by a woke 13 year old as someone said up thread. I want to be entertained not bored to death or made to feel guilty.

It's not Whittaker's fault. She's been Colin Bakered. The characters are stereotypes, the plots are formulaic and unimaginative, with emotionally trivial and uninteresting development, and the dialogue is beyond bland. I gave up in series 1 (of 13) when I realised I was parroting the dialogue before it was spoken.

They've made it more "child friendly" - Moffat did get a bit overly complex and involved - but then seem to have assumed all children have no critical faculties at all. It's just generic crap.

Of course, I started watching when Hartnell was the Doctor, so perhaps I've finally grown out of it...

I used to love Doctor Who. I was so excited for a woman Doctor. We didn't even reach the end of the first series. I couldn't stand the wokeness. I enjoy sci fi, I didn't watch Doctor Who to be lectured.

I completely lay the blame at Chibnall's door. The writing is woeful, but she is miscast, too. I was reticent about the sex swap, even though it was inevitable, but there are plenty of actresses who could have carried off the alien cleverest-person-in-the-room Doctor schtick. The Doctor just isn't being written that way and she isn't lifting the material at all.

The first episode was great. She was zany, sassy and dismissive of “Tim Shaw’s” attempt to bully her. I was excited that it looked like having a female doctor was going to work out well. Having had two amazing, mature female characters ever (River Song and Missy) it’s desperately sad that the first female Doctor has turned insecure and useless. But that first episode showed that, given the right material, Jodie Whittaker could have pulled it off.

We didn't get very far into the first series with this doctor either. The stories were just silly. Mind you, we'd not been too impressed with the previous series or two either.

@BuntingEllacott

Yeah, it did occur to me that this might cause a few raised eyebrows. Unfortunately it's not even slightly enough to rescue the 13th Doctor for me, because other than being a Potter fan (which we already knew from the 10th Doctor) she's a complete wet blanket disappointment to me. Can't even say how gutted I am about that as a feminist and a Who fan.

I really wanted to like Jodie as the doctor, but fuck so me bloody childish

I'm not saying Dr Who is cerebral or anything. But its like the last few were cbbc, and she is cbeebies.

Yes I noticed that too and loved it!!

I don't like the companions of this doctor they just can't act and bring nothing to the table.

However what "annoyed" me most about this episode was when Yasmin violently shoved the doctor!! I was aghast! What makes that ok? Because it's two women.

Would it have been ok if Ryan had pushed her or Graham? No!! Everybody would have been up in arms. That scene did not need a violent shove. Awful.

I feel the same when I see a woman slapping a man on screen, does this ever happen in real life? I hate seeing it!!

If I slapped a man or women I'd expect a slap back! If someone slapped me I'd give it back double!