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!

That hit new lows of tedious sickliness. I gave up on Jodie Whittaker's doctor ages ago. The writing was terrible, she was so weak and needy and Yaz and Ryan were beyond dull. I couldn't have imagined a show so awful that it would be possible to say Bradley Walsh was the best thing in it but he was.

Just caught the New Year special after reading this thread and it's become even worse. I was so rooting for the Dalek thingy to kill off Yaz- what a sulky, whiny character she is as well as the actress being completely wooden. I suppose actually being sulky and whiny is as close to real acting as the actress has ever got. The shove was absolutely awful - incredibly poor writing. Seriously do they really expect anyone to warm to Yaz? Prior to Yaz Martha Jones the dullest companion but compared to Yaz even Martha looks interesting.

Ryan is terrible too. Completely blank expression- although I suppose that matches his almost blank mind. Captain Jack eclipsed the lot of them.

Nah, RTD went at the right time, and so did Moff. For my money, they should have given control to Toby Whithouse. Proven track record in decent, successful sci fi showrunning and some quality Who episodes to boot. Huge opportunity missed, imo. I'd be happy to see Whittaker give it a go with a different show runner. Chibnall actually told her not to research previous Doctors. I can't help thinking it really shows that, for different reasons, neither of them really have a solid grasp on the character.

And yeah, Barrowman is well known for getting his cock out for a laff. I hope he's decided to keep it penned up in recent years, but it's one of his least endearing traits.

I think if it had ended with a bang at that 50th anniversary event that would have been better

Heartily disagree. I loved Capaldi, much preferred him to Matt Smith. Love Jodie Whittaker, it is a shame about some of the scripts, but I felt like that through the RTD era a bit as well.

I'm really struggling to see how anyone can love Jodie Whittaker's interpretation of the Doctor. She has turned the character into something very weak and feeble.

Her dependency on her "fam" is troubling. Graham at least has some kindness but Ryan manages to be patronising, condescending and dull. Yaz is a tedious spoilt brat. Why anyone would want to hang out with them is puzzling.

I loved Capaldi too. Troughton is my favourite, which is why I like Smith so much, but Capaldi was a class act who was let down by Moffat running out of steam with his ideas, imo.

Mind you, RTD and Moff had a more impressive budget and the show had the benefit of being rebooted at the small bridge of time before streaming services changed the way we watch telly forever, so there was a genuine 'family viewing' element which will never occur again that contributed to the juggernaut that Doctor Who was with Tennant and Smith, and that's not really something Chibnall, Whittaker or anyone else can rewind to.

@DidoLamenting

I'm really struggling to see how anyone can love Jodie Whittaker's interpretation of the Doctor. She has turned the character into something very weak and feeble.

Her dependency on her "fam" is troubling. Graham at least has some kindness but Ryan manages to be patronising, condescending and dull. Yaz is a tedious spoilt brat. Why anyone would want to hang out with them is puzzling.

Those are issues with the writing. I actually feel kind of sorry for Jodie Whittaker for being lumped with this mess.

I am extremely hacked off that the quality of the writing being so poor means that the show's falling ratings will be blamed on the fact that the Doctor changed sex. It's nothing to do with that, and I've stayed well out of most fandom conversations about it because you either have very, very over eager Whittaker fans who seem completely detached from reality on the one hand who won't brook any critique at all and seem quite happy for the rating to drop off a cliff because the show is for the righteous or something, or you have the angry YouTubers who love to rip any woman-led creative endeavour to pieces as too 'woke' on principle and who claim the female Doctor was inevitably going to be shit, which just isn't true.

ToadsThePeanutButterSnob

Yes , I agree. The writing is terrible. It has her grovelling and apologising to the truly awful Yaz and Ryan.

Donna did brilliant takedowns of Tennant when he got too uppity; as did Amy (remember the line about "did you wish really hard" when the spirit of the Tardis is embodied by the extremely attractive Suranne Jones) but here the Doctor is made to seem lesser than this pair of dead weights and supposed to be grateful to them.

BuntingEllacott

Completely agree with all you say. It's so disappointing given how brilliantly Missy, River Song, Donna and Rose were written.

Oh and Amy. I liked Amy too.

Yup. All brilliant female characters. It's one of the reasons I got rather non-plussed at all the 'now girls will have a great role model to enjoy in Doctor Who!' when Whittaker was cast. Clearly being said by people who had only ever watched comedy sketches about Doctor Who, not the actual programme which has had lots of strong female characters since it came back with Eccleston.

Meh. I'm in a grump now.🤣

I really like Jodie Whittaker, but the plotting and character development has been rubbish.

DW is at its worst when it’s desperately telling the audience that the companions can reveal some deeper truth to the doctor when nothing in the writing has suggested this.

Jodie Whittaker often sounds more interesting in interviews than she does with a script on DW.

as did Amy (remember the line about "did you wish really hard" when the spirit of the Tardis is embodied by the extremely attractive Suranne Jones)

Oh, I loved that bit.

That reminds me of another issue.

The destruction of the "spare" Tardis last night. I was not comfortable with the Doctor being happy and cheerful to do that at all.

The lockdown messages encapsulated the issue for me.

This first one, I believed for the first time that she could be a good Doctor. It's quite funny, it was a clever idea, and I think she balances the reassuring and exciting elements well, and it looks dynamic because she clearly filmed it while hiding on a cupboard.

Then they did another one

...which just repeats the idea, makes it a static lecture without any story, and sucks all the fun out of it.

The Scientist When it Suits Her Professor Alice Roberts also picked JKR as an analogy when describing what Elizabeth Gaskell must have felt when getting a fan letter from Dickens.
Another one who sees the way the wind is blowing after her "there are five sexes" nonsense.

I am extremely hacked off that the quality of the writing being so poor means that the show's falling ratings will be blamed on the fact that the Doctor changed sex.

Same - I went from not seeing the point of a female Doctor as I preferred the idea of bringing back previous Time Ladies to being quite excited about the potential for the Doctor having to deal with people treating her differently because they perceive her to be a woman. But they forgot about that pretty quickly. Except for making her shout about her "fam" constantly. I've really tried to like it but I can rewatch most of the episodes from 9/10 and many from 11/12. Can't see my ever wanting to rewatch 13.

Ah well, the consensus is the same everywhere I've seen this new doctor discussed. However will the BBC listen? I doubt it sadly.

However will the BBC listen?

No hopefully, because for all those who don't like her, there's loads who do.
I'm in a FB Dr Who group and there's lots of people who like her on there.
I think the complainers are just the ones who shout the loudest so drown everyone else out maybe

PotholeParadies yes the destruction of the other tardis without a second thought was jarring. Unbelievable in the extreme.

The ratings are better than they could have been, so that's something. Digital Spy loved it, and had a breathlessly excited article with a few Tweets excited that Captain Jack had said a line of expository dialogue that mentioned Rose. You'll probably find similarly gleeful articles in most of the entertainment websites. I'm literally the only one I know that watched it, it's a very long time since it was the topic of conversation with friends, family or colleagues.

It's not going to get cancelled right now, because it's still a big syndication money maker off the back of long gone glory days. I'm hardcore and a completist from the olden days when it really was fashionable to rip the piss out of being a Doctor Who fan sadly, so I'll probably suffer to the bitter end. I got through Colin Baker and JNT, I can do Chibnall and Whittaker.

There was fuck all else new on TV over Christmas this year that’s probably why. I kept watching things that I thought were new then realising I'd seen it the week before. Lockdown has a lot to answer for!

Yes we are die hard Dr Who fans in our household. My boys wanted to watch an old Matt Smith episode afterwards to cheer us up. I'm a Christopher Ecclestonfan myself also big lover of John Simm's blonde master. Fabulous.

@BuntingEllacott

Yup. All brilliant female characters. It's one of the reasons I got rather non-plussed at all the 'now girls will have a great role model to enjoy in Doctor Who!' when Whittaker was cast. Clearly being said by people who had only ever watched comedy sketches about Doctor Who, not the actual programme which has had lots of strong female characters since it came back with Eccleston.

Meh. I'm in a grump now.🤣

Or possibly, even, that the strong female characters have existed since Barbara entered the Tardis in 1963? It's interesting to note that the very first Doctor Who story was produced by a woman, and directed by a gay man from a Pakistani background. And that was in the 1960s.

On that subject, why not watch the Sarah Jane Adventures? I know it's officially a CBBC show, but it seems more sophisticated than current Who and Elisabeth Sladen was a fantastic actor. (RIP)

even, that the strong female characters have existed since Barbara entered the Tardis in 1963? It's interesting to note that the very first Doctor Who story was produced by a woman, and directed by a gay man from a Pakistani background. And that was in the 1960s.

You know, I thought this even as I typed my original post. My own personal heroes were Ace and Sarah (latterly more often Sarah-Jane). It's in the show's DNA, and something to be celebrated. Big respect to Delia Derbyshire too. I might go and watch An Adventure in Space and Time to cheer myself up.