I do wish we got more time with 15 since I enjoyed him a lot. I hope we see more Mrs. Flood as the Rani in next season or future seasons. There was lost potential with her after she bigenerated.
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In complete agreement. Until this weekend, most people seemed in agreement that this has been a very strong season. My feeling is that too much weight is placed on finales these days. Itās just another story and, like always, there will be stories you like less than others. Itās been that way for 62 years. I love season 9 with all my heart but thereās no way in the Underverse Iād ever describe The Time Monster as good. Perspective matters. DW has ever been thus.
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I agree that the final doesnāt āruinā the rest of the series for me, as there is still a lot to love about it.
However, there were certain things like Belinda, Mrs Flood, and Susan which, now that weāve seen it all, are retroactively worse.
Knowing that Susanās involvement was only a tiny flashback in the TARDIS - unless sheās back for S3, that is now worse because I was hoping she would be back for the finale.
And knowing that Mrs Flood is āa Raniā makes her worse because the whole time I was convinced she was someone else, none of what she did made sense to me.
Also Belindaās entire arc being āget me home to my daughterā has soured it for me as it seemed completely out of place.
And the Fifteenth Doctor, not getting to see a Dalek or Cyberman, feels like his era was cut short way too soon. He was one of my favourite Doctors so this is a huge blow to me.
So yes there was a lot to love but I do understand the frustration.
Iād rather we had more episodes and a more stable schedule going forward than any more big name streamers who get to call the shots. I think Ncuti left because there was no renewal in sight, and the blame for that lies with Disney ultimately.
Edit: reworded a sentence.
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But the difference between something like The Time Monster and The Reality War is that The Time Monster or any other classic series finale is that itās still inherently episodic. Thereās no real arc in these seasons, barring The Key to Time arc and the Trial of a Time Lord.
The Reality War and most of the New Series HINGES on the fact that the audience has watched these episodes to see where the arc and the mysteries are leading to. If that fails then the season kinda fails, regardless of the really good episodes.
These are fundamentally different ways of telling a story from different periods of the show.
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Yeah honestly to me what heās doing all feels very cynical
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This is just not true. He has written many extremely good episodes that has no mega camp megavillains. Just because he does not write stuff that you like does not mean that he is as bad as you make him out to be.
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Just caught up on the above discussions from when I was sleeping and wanna add a bit more to this. Agree about how he uses classic monsters and baddies but the worst and most cynical example for me is Susan. Last year he teased us constantly with her, then pulled the rug from under us but didnāt actually have her appear at all even when thematically it would parallel with Rubyās journey.
Okay, fine.
This year she appears just before the finale and says āFind me.ā And appears for a couple seconds in Wish World.
ā¦And then sheās not even mentioned in The Reality War at all. Even when The Doctor talks about family or Time Lord genetics.
And at this point Iām wondering why Iām putting my emotional investment into Susan, or her coming back. Sheās popular and classic fans including myself have wanted her for literally decades now and RTD keeps teasing us but never giving us anything substantial. I almost feel stupid and like Iām wasting my time for caring and for wanting her now that this has happened twice.
It feels like heās writing for social media buzz, but not for much else with how he uses these elements and especially her. And Iām so tired of it.
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This is what has started to annoy me as well. This is the ājumping the sharkā bit - writing something purely to get media attention and get people talking, rather than to actually serve a purpose.
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Again, no disrespect intended to Billie as sheās an amazing actor whoās gonna kill it, but her being cast feels exactly like this too. Itās just so frustrating cause RTD is a better writer than this and the show is better than this but it feels like this is just what finales and arcs are now
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The thing is that almost all finales of new Who have been more or less disappointments, with a few exceptions. I think the problem is that Doctor Who is, at its core, a monster-of-the-week show, and it usually works best in that format. But when the seasons have shrunk, the finale takes a lot of room from what could have been good contained stories that is what the show is about at its core.
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Agreed but I do genuinely think that both this and EoD have had issues unique solely to this era in how older stuff has been handled
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& the thing to remember about Power is that itās an anniversary special. Theyāre always overstuffed pantos.
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See the difference with the other people who played a character before becoming the Doctor, they were one-offs. Havenāt seen Arc of Infinity but pretty sure Colinās character in that only appears in that story. Same for Caecilius, heās just in The Fires of Pompeii. These are minor characters so you can just handwave it as āthey just happen to look similar to that one character from that one storyā. Rose is a major character not just for being a companion but also being THE companion of the revival.
She was the first companion of the revival, became a god, had a romance arc with the Doctor, escaped a parallell universe, was basically given a Doctor when she went back to the parallell universe, got a cameo for Tenās final story, was the face of The Momentās consciousness or whateverā¦ and now the Doctor has her face regardless if it is the 16th Doctor or some kind of gimmick incarnation or some kind of fake-out thing.
I like Rose but holy hell can we move on from her? Cameos, fine. Some spin-off story set in Peteās World, fine. But not this.
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I am sorry, but Power is exactly one of the season finales/specials that I am talking about. It is also a mess. I enjoy it, but it is not as if that story makes a lot of sense eitherā¦
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I see Power as overstuffed but thatās the point of the episode, itās an anniversary special.
Reality War was overstuffed by an unforced error, something RTD did not need to do but apparently āmore baddies = betterā.
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I am not really a fan of Rose Tyler. But still I am really, really excited to find out what is going on with the Doctor regenerating into Billie Piper!
I am so here for that 
I see no issues with it if Iām being honest.
Thatās a hell of a cliffhanger for me!
The regenergy looked weird this time thoughā¦
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Rewrites. It seems so clear that Susan was being teased as the big arc for S3. But with Ncuti jumping ship now it will probably all be forgotten.
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Indeed. 
I agree, particularly regarding Belinda (who lost agency and had har early series wonderful potential squandered) and Susan. Even if just a flashback again, there needed to be something in the final episode. In fact, when the Doctor said he didnāt want to regenerate alone, I honestly thought that was when Susan might appear. Even as a vision, that would have been so meaningful and bittersweet. The star? Nope. I enjoyed Joy to the World but that moment was not earned.
That bothers me less and could easily have been addressed with more time spent on the Rani and her machinations. The main plot was over in 30 mins and had no space to breathe. The remainderā¦ the Doctor ādiedā to preserve a fragment of Conradās Wish World that overwrote Belindaās agency and, eventually, her future. Thatās horrible. It wasnāt a worthy sacrifice because much as they tried to proclaim otherwise, Poppy in that world wasnāt real. What it did to Belindaās agency, character and arc was woeful. And ultimately, it cost the Fifteenth Doctor his life.
Absolutely. See above.
Yes. He was fantastic. Yet, weirdly, I feel we barely knew him. He had more episodes than Ecclestonās wonderful 9th Doctor, yet Eccleston went on a rich developmental arc. I felt far more closure at the end of his era. Itās left me feeling oddly ambiguous about Ncutiās Doctor (which I donāt think is deserved at all, as he was marvellous).
I really do not like the streaming model of TV. I canāt see any way to go back, but it has changed the landscape of TV in a way that seems irrevocable and has done much harm. The model will evolve, but it isnāt a healthy model right now. The number of shows that start, then get cancelled. The small episode counts. The late renewals for those that do go on. The two (or more) year gap between seasons. None of these things are healthy for developing long term quality TV.
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Iām hopeful that Susan will still be the focus in the near future.
Something like the Doctor having Roseās face to remind herself of how she left things in the past ā going to find Susan.
That could be one hell of a special!
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Agree 100%. & it has been detrimental to Doccy Who.
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