Also on a positive note! I enjoyed Wish World much more on second watch in the cinema! While a lot of my issues remained, they had cooled down significantly and I was able to appreciate the world building even more this time
9 Likes
I really didnât like Reality War and therefore didnât like how this episode was paid off but I will stick up for Wish World as a single episode, I did enjoy it.
The (adherents of the) repeated meme is that RTD is strong with part ones and fumbles part twos. Iâve never really agreed, except for this story. I think Bad Wolf and Parting of the Ways are both strong, Army of Ghosts and Doomsday are both fine, Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords are both appalling, Stolen Earth and Journeyâs End are both fine and Legend of Ruby Sunday and Empire of Death are both terrible.
Wish World is, in my opinion, a really enjoyably off-kilter episode of Doctor Who. It ultimately isnât paid off well, but then that goes for any of the threads that Reality War claims to pay off. As little as I liked its part two, Wish World isnât retroactively affected by that - I enjoyed it on broadcast and will continue to.
Itâs one of 3 episodes I enjoyed this season so Iâll cling onto it tightly. Iâm looking forward to a rewatch of it actually.
16 Likes
Thatâs one thing I will say; no matter how much I didnât enjoy Reality War, Wish World was pretty good.
9 Likes
I think one reason that Wish World didnât hit for me, asides from my bucket load of complaints, was that around the time of release weâd just had the War Doctor series Fallen Heroes which is the Doctor trapped in another persona and its just magnificent, like really strong from start to finish. I donât like to compare a lot, but it was leaps and bounds above. Granted, they donât share similarities asides from that.
9 Likes
Yeah, thatâs always a problem. If you watch/listen to/read something really good, it can sometimes make things that arenât as good you watch near it seem worse then they are in comparison. Same issue that hits middling episodes that happen to be next to really good ones.
5 Likes
Agreed - I loved âWish World,â and think that âThe Reality Warâ is decent, but not at the level Iâd prefer to see from a concluding part. When I go into stories/episodes, I have them pre-rated at 7.5 (a solid if unspectacular C), and I mentally ask the episode to show me why it deserves bonus points whilst asking it sincerely to avoid forcing me to deduct points. If I have to drop it to a 7/10, itâs still passing at the college level (at least when I went), but if I have to lower the rating to 6.5 or 6/10, thatâs down in the realm of High School barely passing scores. Any lower than that, and I see it as a failure only separated by degrees of egregiousness. So if you ever see a sub-6 rating from me, youâll know I really didnât care for it.
6 Likes