Oh Brilliant! A 13th Doctor / Chibnall Era Appreciation Thread

Nardole · 13 February 2025 21:21

Sounds familiar for some reason

DontBlink · 13 February 2025 21:26

A load of rubbish.

RandomJoke · 14 February 2025 06:17

For me this Era is a tricky one really. There are Things I LOVE. Things I really don’t like and some which most seem to hate but make me shrug.

(If you haven’t seen the Era (for starters why are you reading this Thread?!) be warned of Spoilers)

That said, 13 is also my favorite second Era of the revived Shows. There are a lot of good Things to find here. Do I get why people wouldn’t like it? Absolutely. Compared to the first 10 Series, it’s quite a big Departure.
Sure there were some Things which just didn’t work (for me that is). That said, while I respect every Opinion, I feel baffled whenever somebody says this Era has nothing good, when it has some Things that are done here much better.
For example, while there are superb Historicals in previous Eras (Fires of Pompeii, Vincent and the Doctor etc), I do think they are at their best (in the Revival) consistently here. I do like the Approach, it’s clear that Chibnall walk a bit back from your pseudo-historicals, in spirit they remind me more of the pure Historicals of the past. And “in spirit” is a good word, since it does pick some Things and feel in Spirit with past Eras, especially from the classic Series. Would I say it reminds me the closet of the Classic Series? Sort of, sort of. I don’t like throw around the Term Classic so broadly, while it’s my preferred Show out of the two(three?!) big televised Runs, it changed quite a bit in its time. Still, I can totally see Chibnall picking and choosing Aspects, Approaches and so on that can remind somebody of Seasons like Trial (Flux), S19 (Series 11) and the more Returning-obsessed Approach of S20/22 (Series 12, the Specials). And while some returning Elements/Characters/Callbacks left me with a bit of a shrug, here are some I really like:

The Return of Things I really like and still like :+1:

-ACEEEE! Aldred is a blast and still got it, I loved seeing her back in Power, her Scene with 7 is beautiful.
-Tegan was fun!
-Paul McGann
-The Guardians of the Edge is such a great abstract Concept and gives a good enough Excuse to bring back any Doctors without having to explain why they look older (I wouldn’t care if they didn’t explain it but I know some fans do so…)
-I really like the new Cybermen Design, reminds me of a modern Version of the Invasion
-The Companion Support Group!
-Ian
-Jo
-The “new” refined Sea Devils Design is so good!
-The Tardis Interior of Jo Martin reminds me so much of the older Tardises which I really like
-The new Sontarans Design is so good, what an Improvement over the poor Potatoes we had for too long, oh, and War of the Sontarans is like an actual good Sontarans Story!!!
-I think the Angels are overrated (I do really like Blink, the rest… :shrug:) that said I really like what they did here. Visually striking!
-The Return of a Season Long Serial!

That said the Returns of having the Spirit of past Eras to some extent is lovely of course, but at the end of the Day it really depends on the new Things presented here, and I do think there are quite a few brilliant ones:

13 is played quite well by Jodie. I love how expressive she gets with her Face in the Role, obviously that’s a Thing that a lot of other Actors in the Role did, but it strikes me a bit more with Whittaker than certain others. For me, she is the second-best revival Doctor, and I am glad after all this Time we finally got a Woman playing the Part in the official Show (not to dismiss other Actresses who played the Part such as Barbara Benedetti or Joanna Lumely in Fan/Alternative Takes, of course). I can see why one would disagree with certain Characterization Choices, that said… a miscast!? Not at all! She brings the perfect ““outsider”” Energy to the Part, which I find quite important. It was nice for Chibnall to lean to some of their more autistic Traits, which I am glad for everybody who can see them in some extent in their Character. Now I am not on the Spectrum (as far as I am aware at least, I am not sure if I ever got tested), but it’s always delightful when this is a Case!
Her Companions range for me, I really like Tosin as a Character and I enjoy Graham, in some Series 11 Episodes they get some great Moments together, like in It takes you away. I do really like Mandip as Yaz, who is basically 13’s definitive Companion. And I am beyond excited to see what Big Finish will do with those two in the Audio Adventures!
Dan is of course charming thanks to his Actor and is just enjoyable. And I guess if we want to extend it to other Companions in that Era… KARVANISTA KARVANISTA KARVANISTA KARVANISTA!!
Oh and despite really not being a Fan of Special Doctors, I do really like Jo Martin. (With Special Doctors I mean such as War or Fugitive for example, who I do adore in Day, hurt is great, but it’s always a tricky thing for me. It’s a shame they never can be fleshed out to the extent our prime Doctors do at least on the TV Show, Titan Comics and Big Finish have their blast with them, lol). I think while I still need a proper Picture of her Incarnation (still haven’t got around to her Big Finish Stories ) I think there is already such a good Energy to her. In many ways, Fugitive of the Judoons reminds me of the Energy between 2 and 3, which here would be 13 and Fugitive and well you can’t go wrong with the original Doctor Bickering Dynamic! Martin has such confidence to her Performance and the Concept of having Doctors before Hartnell does offer a lot. (These Days I am more shrugged off with the Timeless Arc. There was a Time I really used to dislike it. These days as long as you don’t make the pre-Hartnell doctors too much like the Doctors we know today, then I don’t have much of a Problem with that concept, but that’s something for another Thread really).
Visually the Era is quite striking, of course a lot of the revived Shows can be quite striking. Some Colors are really visually striking. I don’t like the titular Timeless Episode, but visually speaking? Amazing.
The Scoring as well is quite a nice Change, I totally get why people didn’t get along with Akinola. I do think his Music is quite good and beautiful (and frankly I think the scoring in this Era knows when to get louder and when not, which can be a Problem with some of Gold’s work-). But having somebody, the only true Constant of the Revival, taken away was probably, for many, something they needed to get used to.

I am probably rambling and make less Sense than I do want to, so I think I will cut my unhinged Ramble and mention some (emphasis on: some) of my favorite Stories of 13’s Run: The Woman who fell to Earth, It takes you away, Demons of the Punjab, The Witchfinders, Spyfall, Flux & Power of the Doctor

If I had to rank her Series I think I rank, I would rank the newest at the top and oldest of her at the Bottom. I do think S11 has some more Standouts than S12, that said if I had to take into account everything of those Series S11 has some of my least liked Stories of that Era, therefore ranks by default lower. I am not sure where I would place it exactly when it comes to revived Series ranked but it’s always changing so any Answer for that would be different in a few Days.

While I have really been enjoying Ncuti’s Energy he brought to the Role, I would lie if I didn’t say I am a bit sad I didn’t miss Jodie in the Role sometimes.

I think when I eventually get to her Era in my own Thread of finding some Positives in every televised Outing, I think I have some more Stuff to add here, hopefully.

Not sure how to end this overly long ramble but to say I am glad that on this Forum you can talk about this Era in a positive Light without somebody acting like you are stupid for liking it. (Which, while obviously not the Case with everybody who has Issues with that Era, has become WAY TOO common and made me kinda just don’t want to engage with any Discussion about the Revival.) As I said, I do get some Criticism, but yeah some Discussion about the Era can be a bit tough, like @ChrisStokes already pointed out.)
Apologies for saying so much and so little at the same Time!

monkeyshaver · 14 February 2025 12:06

Its time for a 13th Doctor Era rewatch.

ChrisStokes · 14 February 2025 12:21

It’s just because you’ve finished the McCoy era isn’t it? And you desperately need to watch his return in Power isn’t it?

It’s OK, embrace your love for the Seventh Doctor. Go on…

CommanderBayban · 14 February 2025 13:21

“But the writing is bad” makes me sigh every time. I’m convinced most people who say this about Thirteen’s era or another Doctor’s era who always gets the phrase flung at them are just using the writing critique as a “highbrow” way of saying they simply didn’t care for the episodes. I’d rather fans just explicitly say “I don’t like [Doctor’s era]” instead of hiding behind flat compliments (“But [actor] did a great job!”) and opinions veiled as fact (“The writing is bad.” That’s according to you.) Just because you don’t care for a show or a movie or a book does not automatically mean the writing was subpar; it just means it didn’t resonate with you. All writing cannot please everyone.

I also have little against Thirteen’s episodes. I’ve enjoyed every one I’ve seen and, overall, I think the writing was great. I didn’t think I’d care for Jodie’s Doctor much in the beginning (I don’t tend to gravitate towards hyperactive characters), but she grew on me at a surprising rate.

DrWhatWhereWhenWhy · 17 February 2025 02:47

Thanks for creating this thread. My family and I went into the 13th Doctor’s seasons expecting to be let down because we’d heard the writing was so bad, and that’s simply not been our impression. Jodie Whittaker is brilliant. Tosin Cole, Bradley Walsh, and Mandip Gill are endearing companions, and the writing under Chibnall is as solid as any season, including some of the best episodes of any season (“Rosa” is among the best things I’ve ever seen on television.)

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, of course, but the negative conventional wisdom about these seasons hits all the same notes of the Star Wars fans who complain endlessly about everything that has been created since 1983. “It’s the writing I dislike” sure seems to be cover for discomforts of other sorts because, let’s face it, the writing in the earlier stuff wasn’t always (or even often) award-worthy.

RandomJoke · 17 February 2025 03:04

Glad you enjoyed it! I do think there is a Point to make about the writing, while I personally don’t agree with it (especially with those extremes, because frankly the Quality of Writing hasn’t tipped that massively like it often gets made out to be) then again it’s a Sci-Fi Franchise, and when do Sci-Fi Fans not dramatize some stuff that they dislike, eh?

Anyhow welcome to the Forum, make sure to pop in the Introductions and maybe tell us a bit yourself or your Journey coming across Doctor Who or any other Media relating to it!