You and me both, sister
4 Likes
We need a woman showrunner.
20 Likes
Yes please, and more women writers in general!!
14 Likes
The women who wrote Rogue, Kate Herron and Briony Redman, that episode was my favourite among Season 1. Hand it to them.
4 Likes
Also maybe let some women sensitivity readers get involved because how the hell did this script air without anyone stopping it or questioning it
11 Likes
I can literally think of more nuanced takes on āwoman gets baby because magicā from 40 years ago
11 Likes
Iāll still watch but I think i just need a break to be honest for next few months ill watch other shows and do some big finish i guess.
6 Likes
The Unfulfilled Trinity.
4 Likes
The What, The How, and the Holy Why
5 Likes
Thatās a far nicer and better head cannon then what I think was actually intended by the writer.
If it wasnāt for Space Babies Iād be inclined to accept it, but if Poppy was always Belindaās kid who got erased during the time skip in Robot Revolution then why do we first meet her with Ruby in Space Babies, and why is Belinda shown as working day shift and living with flat mates on her own before sheās kidnapped/pre-time skip?
5 Likes
I donāt buy the āPoppy was always her child from the startā at all, really. If it was properly presented that way from the beginning I wouldāve been fine with this conclusion, but hammering it in at the end only serves to make it seem like the Doctor changed the timeline to make Belinda a mother.
11 Likes
True, I should have been clearer. I meant character & backstory. Redesigns are fine, well apart from giant CGI skellingtons, but keep a character similar to how they were originally as a character or else whats the point? Create something new!
8 Likes
I saw someone say that Fourteen with the salt in Wild Blue Yonder is what broke the timeline and made Poppy a space baby and not Poppyās kid. Im not sure that entirely makes sense and I donāt believe it myself, but it is definitely nicer than the alternative.
5 Likes
I didnāt, Wish World was ok but I didnāt trust RTD to stick the landing.
8 Likes
*BElindas kid
Iāve still not managed to marshal my thoughts into anything really coherent yet, but here are some random takeaways:
Things I really enjoyed:
Anita from the Time Hotel turning up. A nice resolution to the cliffhanger and fun.
Mel confronting the Rani. I just wish sheād had some more time with her. I would have loved a plot strand that involved Mel having to cosplay as the Rani to get her own back.
Ruby. Millie Gibson was excellent throughout. My heart broke for her on several occasions.
The Doctor flying through the skeleton. There was absolutely no need for the shot, but it was gorgeous.
The two Ranis joke. Itās been done before in a SJA sketch, but Anita Dobsonās delivery was sublime.
Jodie Whitaker turning up. I cheered and realised how much I missed her performance. I wish weād had more of her and I also kind of wished that the by then inevitable regeneration had involved a de-bigeneration with her merging with Ncuti and becoming the current Doctor again.
Billie. Iād seen no spoilers for this and it was a wonderful way to undercut the disappointment that Ncuti was definitely on the way out.
Things that frustrated me:
At one point I said to my wife 'Iāve no idea whatās going on, but itās all very pretty". The plot, such as it was, was really just a bunch of stuff that happened. I mean, I know what the broad beats of it were, but I couldnāt really buy why Omega was needed to build a new Gallifrey and why the Rani hadnāt considered that he might be a monster. Also, I didnāt really get why the vindicator was such a cool weapon. My guess is that the āpower of how ever many supernovasā it had, had been seeded at some point, but it didnāt feel earned as a pay off and perhaps a few more pointers for those of us who are slower of thinking might have been in order. Then there was the UNIT personnel, who were all underused, which was a shame, because they had been nicely set up in the previous episode, and a good ensemble piece woul dhave given them a bit more of a pay off, rather than just getting them to the UNIT tower to play akka akka with some guns. It seemed a crime to have Mel in an episode with the Rani and not give her the chance to turn the tables on her, rather than just throwing in a callback to Time and the Rani. Rose Noble turned up again, just to hug the Doctor, and was then not used. It just feels like a shame to have such an established ensemble cast and then not use them fully and instead go to the storyline about Poppy. Now Iāve no idea when Ncutiās departure was settled upon, but, given that he had mentioned starting on series 3 in press interviews only for that to be rowed back on, it rather led me to believe that there was a version of this story that wasnāt a regeneration one. So I guess that there must have been some remounts and reshoots involved, but itās hard to work out how much of the Doctorās new daughter story was in the original. My guess is that a lot of the last 20 minutes of the episode was remounted, including the TARDIS scene where Poppy disappeared, the UNIT tower scene with everyone remembering how the Doctor saved them and then the subsequent TARDIS scenes with Jodie, the scene at Belās house, all the flashbacks to previous episodes, carefully using just the TARDIS set and then, of course, the regeneration itself. Iām least confident about the UNIT tower scene being a remount because there were a lot of cast involved, but the rest would have been achievable on closed sets and reasonably easily.
I am gutted that Ncuti is leaving so soon (I should say that he has left, but that is very saddening). Iād been avoiding spoilery chat about what was coming, but those rumours were getting too loud to ignore and Iām sad that theyāre true. How much the episode was reshot and remounted to give a big enough reason for a regeneration is why I feel it fails as a whole. Most of RTDās finales cram story resolution into the first two acts and have an extended final act with highly emotional scenes that bring us to the conclusion of that era, changing cast and so on. Iāve often found that they are weaker because of it. Not because that isnāt dramatic or even well done, but it does mean that the main adventure gets so truncated that you lose a satisfying pay off. I donāt even know if there was a version of the story shot where Ncuti stayed on and what it would have looked and felt like. It might have also contained extended departure scenes for Bel and Ruby. I donāt know, but what we were left with felt unsatisfying.
That said, it was still an absolute joy (to the world!) to see Jodie playing The Doctor again. I hope we can have an episode with her coming back to play a bigger part again. Despite her lenth of tenure in years, it felt to me like she had more to give to the role. As did Ncuti, but with the uncertainty about future shooting etc itās all too understandable as to why he needed to leave. I would have left him as the Doctor and not shot a regeneration. Left open ended there would have been more options available to pick up with or without him, but I can understand his need to show the industry that his time with the show is over.
So, overall, I found it a downbeat ending to a very good series. The joke of Billie popping up at the end helped sweeten the pill, and Iād love her to get a crack of the whip as the Doctor, but I suspect that she was available to close the circle before we either see the regeneration finish next time and we get a new actor in the role, or we get her in a special. I really hope that RTD is brave enough to give her her own era, as Iād be fully onboard for it, but, I suspect there are other plans afoot.
At least it seems like the show is continuing, and, if this series is anything to go by, it is in good health, even if we donāt yet know how it will continue.
12 Likes
I had very low expectations, and this episode somehow fell through the floor. Like, thatās a feat in itself. Bravo, Rusty.
12 Likes
The second you find yourself thinking 'poor guyās itās over for you. Just give up. Likely to happen by Lies. If it hasnāt happened by Fractures then youāre a whole different kind of insane
6 Likes
I mean, sure, to say itās ruined a 62 year old show is a bit much but when I say I think it very well could be the worst episode of Doctor Who Iāve ever sat through (and if it isnāt, itās close) I really mean it and know my own mind enough to know when recency bias is and isnāt creeping in.
But then I have to admit I havenāt actually seen anyone saying it has ruined the show, Iāve just seen a lot of people who loathed it. Some show their workings, some donāt. But thatās the same with any opinion really. There are 9 word reviews for episodes of either persuasion, positive or negative.
I am one of those who unfortunately did loathe this episode (and believe me, I donāt enjoy disliking an episode of favourite show this much) but my reaction, though it may seem extreme in that my opinion is that the episode is at one end of a spectrum, has been arrived at exactly as calmly and levelheaded as those who liked it.
18 Likes