On the Sofa 11

[WhoHar @whohar]

@thane16

What were 3-4 issues you had with this iteration or series.

I would say (in no particular order):

1. Too crowded a Tardis. Consequently not enough story for all the leads.

2. The first female Doctor. There was not enough written about the gender change. What a wasted opportunity. Instead, he decided to turn the Doctor – traditionally a maverick but ordinary Time Lord, into a demi-god.

3. Overly preachy writing when making political points.

4. Lack of respect for the show and its former writers, showrunners, actors and prod staff manifesting in wholesale changes to the canon (not a word I really like using but it’s a good fit here) that undermined many years work by many of the above people, many of which were more talented than he was. Ego trip.

It wasn’t all bad. But, as I’ve said before, and to borrow a phrase ‘the good ideas weren’t original, and the original ideas weren’t good’.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@whohar    I’d agree wholeheartedly with all that.

Also, I’d add, the writing lacked a certain polish or sparkle that Moff used to inject into it.   And, I think, a certain sense of humour.   I’m thinking of, say, the interaction between Clara and the Doctor in Flatline, or the Doctors in Day of the Doctor.   Can anyone point to a Chibz episode that managed that light touch?

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@dentarthurdent

Again… not really about a specific ep so I moved it here.

Sorry, my mulling over RTD turned out to be a bad post, late night etc. And then I changed it half through. The contraction of titles in two parters was started by Den of Geek, I think.

So, what the hell has just happened?

I’m not sure how RTD got the gig the first time, but he must have stored up some goodwill for round 2. ‘Yeah I can do that guvnor! Gaffer tape, blutack, safety pins, fourbetwobefourbe…’ BUT:

Ratings… the Streamers (in meta speak, The Flux?) have done their damage.

Disney was a BAD fit.

The speculated Cartmel 2.0 Plan (I can explain in detail IF you want) is quite possibly still an issue for some people at The Corp… but, having had a long look their own (and Chib’s) handywork, maybe not all.

A virtual reality framing story based on Classic/Nu looks lazy at best. As it turns out, it was nearly as incomprehensible as The Flux. But remember, VR wasn’t a good look in Deadly Assassin or Ultimate Foe either.

RTD reverted to his trusted method: seed spin-offs. But the key was the new Unit. And erm… it REALLY didn’t work. My language there could be far more colourful.

The Culture Warriors now have RTD in their sights. These guys are everywhere, barking like dogs, but they used WHO in particular to normalise some REALLY nasty politics.

RTD didn’t get much time to plan this time; the 2005 relaunch had a looong 16 year run up.

So, the outcome is no surprise. I still think The BBC have been firstly, clueless, and thereafter, spineless. BUT there may now be NO MORE money. Or not for anything so… risky.

What did I expect from RTD’s ‘monster arc’? Here we go. The deadlidullness of the Chib era would be retconned into part of a slowly developing virtual reality created by The Great Intelligence in the guise of The Valeyard. How the Doctor relates to Susan, Jenny (?) Ashildr (??) or The Master, I don’t know. It’s in The Plan. The Rani may even be a bigenerated River in the guise of Mrs Flood, and manifested in the Virtual Reality as Rogue.

And I’m afraid most fans are uninterested in this level of plotting. They want stinks and bangs.

In any case, it’s almost certainly NOT now going to happen.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@ps1l0v3y0u    I agree that Disney, with their tendency to milk old classics for all they’re worth, and cartoonise everything, was not a good fit.   And since their name was on it, I assume they vetoed anything too adult.   Their only plus is, they tend to be woke, and much as I deride that term and tendency, I guess it’s better than being bigoted.    (I would not normally rate ‘woke’ as a plus, but I guess recent real-world events have shown us what the opposite can be).

And I’m no too happy with the modern UNIT.   In old Who, it was basically the United Nations peacekeepers, which a lefty-liberal like me could get behind.   Now, it’s become a military organisation in its own right, and a very well-funded powerful one if that tower is anything to go by.   And a bit too weapon-gadget-techspeak for my liking  (“Clear the neutron blasters for firing.   Calibrate the Infinity Device.   Prime the disruptor cannons.   Engage the Displacement Field”)   (At least some of that I made up.)      And most of those were never explained.    If I can contrast with Moff, when he introduced a weapon or a gadget, even if it was a pun  (hand mines), it actually did something of consequence to the story.   Thinking of Boom  (Smartmines and ambulances).

RTD could certainly think of original concepts that worked  (Dot and Bubble, and the Slugs, and Wild Blue Yonder).   I think maybe he got overworked / out of time, and UNIT was a convenient fall-back – invoke UNIT, write a bit of action (shooting is easy and dramatic), problem solved.

So what you are proposing is a Big Red Reset Button?   (aka, it-was-all-a-dream).   Actually, that’s about the only thing that could logically work.   One of the problems with stories set here and now is, that you’re stuck with the consequences in later episodes (or you have to explain why nobody noticed them).   A great advantage of other planets or the distant future is, you never have that problem, as long as you keep your scope planetary.    I think episodes of limited regional scope work better anyway.   Once you start messing with Universe-threatening events or the Doctor’s past history, you’ve thrown away that advantage.

Moff, with his War Doctor, was careful to make him fit in.   Chibz came along and couldn’t be bothered with rubbish like continuity.   So the only real fix is the nuclear option aka the Big Red Reset Button.   Virtual Reality (or dreams) dissolves the continuity problem, since dreams can do anything (and usually do).

So maybe your expectation would have worked, better than plastering over the cracks in reality that Chib caused, anyway.

 

[syzygy @thane16]

@winston halloo!! @ps1l0v3y0u @whohar @dentarthurdent

yes, Moffat loved the humour & it’s what made it entertaining to me- thus rewatchable. I rewatched Listen and the Under the Lake 2-parter with 12’s “cards” that Clara organised.

RTD did humour too. Once. And even though message-heavy Dr Who existed in the 60s it was clever, sardonic, mature, even if somewhat unsubtle. Perhaps it was more sophisticated than Chib’s messaging.  I also found Unit’s U.S. -military junta behaviour tedious.

As for a reset button, everything pointed towards them being in some story-book mavity universe lorded over by unreal gods. Shame there was no development there ?

and yes, preachy writing was an issue. It makes me wonder, based on how RTD could get with live audience questions (incredibly rude) that perhaps he dislikes viewers more than before? It’s a f__ you response from him….

Puro.

 

[syzygy @thane16]

To me woke equals good manners and inclusivity. Thus it’s a good thing…. But it needs to be managed -I recall Pertwee being almost-“woke” sometimes & it worked. His expressions and his silence -the latter careful & convincing.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@syzygy  @thane16   Oh yes those ‘cue cards’.   “Sorry for the loss of your friend/relative/pet.”   How Capaldi delivered those lines without cracking up I don’t know.  (Reminds me of those ‘personalised’ offers we used to get a few decades ago from Readers Digest and the like –  “Dear [Dentarthurdent], we are certain that you and your family at [Post Box 2573] will be the envy of all your neighbors in [West Auckland Mail Centre]…”)

Mavity was a definite clue to an alternate reality.   That device can be extremely effective.   But it’s very tricky to do consistently for very long without getting tedious or too obvious.    The cups falling through the table in the penultimate episode were good, the bone monsters were taking it a step too far I think.   But I guess that was the reveal.

The other thing to beware of, the Reset Button tends to render all previous developments in the arc meaningless.   Runs the risk of frustrating, annoying or even angering the audience, who have invested emotional capital in those episodes.   The longer the arc, the higher the stakes.   And there’s the risk of it being seen, rightly or wrongly, as writer’s laziness.

‘Woke’ annoys me.   I dislike it as a word (does violence to English, like ‘gay’ which used to mean ‘cheerful, colourful and happy’ with no implications for sexual orientation and now I can’t use it without that implication). I also hate that it’s become so convenient to use it   🙂

It is also used as a derogatory term by those of a right-leaning persuasion.   I’m generally left-leaning, so most of my positions could be termed ‘woke’.   But I tend to apply ‘woke’ only to those excesses of behaviour or language carried to extreme.  Replacing ‘chairman’ with ‘chairperson’ is about my limit  (Chair makes no sense, they’re a piece of furniture, what’s wrong with ‘chairwoman’?).    I absolutely favour no gender/colour discrimination in pay, jobs etc where it isn’t a relevant factor (i.e. most of them).   Trying to pretend there is no physical difference between men and women, or claiming ‘his’/’her’ is sexist language, is going way too far for me.

Still, I’d rather be called ‘woke’ than a ‘patriot’   🙂

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@thane16 @dentarthurdent @janetteb @whohar @winston

Was RTD rubbing the viewers’ nose in it? Being ‘arsy’? Not arf!

I’m not sure ‘woke’ would be anymore than a novel and obscure adjective if not for The Culture Warriors. Why persecute religious or racial targets when you can choose to denounce absolutely anyone who disagrees with you?

Of course RTD would think a meta narrative of the Virtual Nightmare a brilliant idea. And for him it’s as an existential threat as it is for Piers Morgan, fulminating on breakfast tv, just to remind everyone he is still there.

If Chib was indeed performing similar, if rather more prosaic genuflexions to ethical topicality, RTD may have thought he had the Corporation’s encouragement. Doesn’t matter; the BBC is another target. Why pay for a tv licence when you can watch streamers on your mobile? The viewers have nothing to lose but their intellect.

Sci Fi is the realm of ideas. Yet you can’t MAKE the viewer think, even if the success of Severance suggests it is still possible. ‘Oh. You’re talking down to me. Can’t you make it more like a soap?’

Actually ‘The Disney’ series were nearly as confusing as, if mostly superior to, The Flux, but Moffat was also criticised for obscurity. And the Red Reset Button also was principally his (and Paul Cornell’s). Aside from the odd jammy dodger, it was certainly prominent at the end of series 5, possibly also several critical moments of 6; and of course Journey to the Centre of The Tardis.

Thereafter Moff seemed anxious for plot resolutions to come with a cost. Not sure the phrase ‘red button’ was ever a particularly stinging criticism, more a warning against overuse. But what is the phrase ‘madman in a box’ if not a kenning for Dei Ex Machina? There’s Temporal.

Resolution by VR would be more like Bobby Ewing emerging from the shower.

[WhoHar @whohar]

@thane16 @dentarthurdent @janetteb @winston

@ps1l0v3y0u

It’s an interesting discussion.

On the etymology of woke: IIRC it came out of the Civil rights movement in the US (pre-Covid) with the phrase “Stay woke” meaning stay awake i.e. be alert to what’s going on around you. It was taken on by liberals and it started to appear in the left-leaning mainstream press but was then quickly corrupted /co-opted by the right, and became an insult: “Utter woke nonsense”. Partly, it has to be said, due to the tendency of many commentators to view everything through the lens of identity politics, which is itself very reductive and unhelpful in most cases.

And arriving into this climate was the first female Doc and then the first black Doc. With predictable and depressing results.

But back to the show:

I absolutely do not think they should (or will) Bobby Ewing the show. A soft reboot would be my preference. This would allow a new focus on the character and unburden a lot of the baggage the show carries. It definitely needs a completely new team though, no more RTD, Moff, Chibs, or any previous writers on the show. A fresh start.

[syzygy @thane16]

To all….. this is a fascinating discussion. And yes, the nature of ethical topicality was observed & lauded by RTD & Chibbers post-2015 (I love your descriptions @ps1l0v3y0u ) & whilst they tied up my favourite season (s 5) a little too speedily, @PS & @dentarthurdent I didn’t see it as a reset myself? But most definitely is Mavity a clue to another side-by-side universe.

I recall the lecture CapDoc demonstrated in Bill Pott’s first or 2nd episode? Where the former speaks about how the universe creates time from a trillion tiny decisions. My brain has almost lost the memories of that episode & as no streamers in Aus have ‘new’ Dr Who at the moment, I can only rely on memory or pull apart boxes to retrieve all my Who box sets!

@whohar yes, the more we focus on identity politics, the less focus exists on working class & middle class oppression thru an overall mismanagement of economic opportunity & the foundational roots of exploitation & marginalisation.

[syzygy @thane16]

@whohar yes, the Christian Right who are very often neither 😉

[WhoHar @whohar]

@thane16

yes, the more we focus on identity politics, the less focus exists on working class & middle class oppression thru an overall mismanagement of economic opportunity & the foundational roots of exploitation & marginalisation

Agreed. Class is the one thing that’s never mentioned, and some studies have shown it is this one single factor that has more bearing on a person’s outcomes that anything else.

[syzygy @thane16]

@whohar  quite. I was reading, a couple of years back, how the Knowledge illusion convinces us that the collective knowledge of our community exists equally within each of us when this is a furphy.

By using only our individual stories (of class, family,) we put ourselves against others with different perspectives or stories (even those with similar classist backgrounds) making assumptions that rarely lead to active solutions.

[syzygy @thane16]

@whohar @ps1l0v3y0u @dentarthurdent @janetteb  Another thought that our son had in reference to RTD2 comeback were these specific issues of identity.

As the Doctor was male, he couldn’t let go of the Dr/Donna crisis, but Donna could pass the meta crisis energy to her non-binary daughter so this burden was split & Donna avoided inevitable lethality.

I felt that landed awkwardly & no, I’m not at all against non-binary presentations & I’m opposed to assumptions regarding pronouns & privacy, but I wondered how Donna survived.

Is it that her daughter solved the crisis because of her non-binary presenting identity?  As if her only contribution could be this unusual biological imperative or sexuality.

Further, as Rose then does very little in the next season, her involvement in the meta-crisis drops into obscurity & makes a mockery of her initial contribution (despite it being a true game changer) & if so, why use it at all?

@whohar in your list of issues with chib’s run, Point 3 fits in with this (tho it’s RTDs here)? Also in my post above, the thoughts came from the book The Knowledge Illusion by Sloman & Fernbach who touch on the unity of collective wisdom .

@dentarthurdent the point of the cups falling in RTD2’s Reality ep is a great idea with juicy potential.

Puro

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@thane16 @dentarthurdent @whohar @janetteb

On the face of it, the ‘let it go’ moment is definitely a bit clumsy. Or you could read it as a generic ‘hey, these are just people’ statement.’ Or it’s RTD getting his revenge in first. I wasn’t studying the forums or meta at that stage, but I imagine Russ knew what was coming.

Otherwise you wonder if RTD had his attention drawn to the Cholmondley Warner ‘Women! Know Your Limits!’ (Do NOT Attempt to Discuss The Gold Standard) sketch. In that respect, it should have been hilarious. He’s just got to rescue Martha from Mickey now.

But also, we must suspect what with Sylvia jumping around screaming ‘none of this is real!’ that we’re already in a VR. The UNIT of ‘War’ is significantly different to the V’linx UNIT; surely it’s supposed to be woozy and nightmarish? Otherwise it may simply be a case of bad art.

Now… Chib also launched many ‘story’ characters and generally failed to back them up. And why ARE most historicals SO disappointing? Is this the Corporation limiting the ‘political damage?’ Did Disney adopt the same stipulation? You can cut the right shapes but keep it woolly.

[syzygy @thane16]

@ps1l0v3y0u oh boy! I had to Google the C Warrior sketch….. indeed, a woman’s brain….!

And fair enough one could say it’s “people, dude, relax, it’ll work.” And that’s great but if that’s how Rose’s journey progressed following this episode, it’s a problem- a small one perhaps, but the development was thin as a nail.

[WhoHar @whohar]

@thane16 @ps1l0v3y0u

As the Doctor was male, he couldn’t let go of the Dr/Donna crisis

Which is weird if you think about it. Imagine it had been written the other way around.

Also the Doc had just been female and this “ability” to shrug this off had never been explored.

The messaging is fine, but the delivery was woeful. There seemed to be a lot of, maybe not quite aggressive but let’s say forceful, pronouncements from RTD  about the show at that time.  I found it all a bit tedious tbh, my view being “say it on screen”.

If you want to go down that route then fine but don’t expect “The Internet (TM)” to blankly accept it. And be sure the product you are putting out is top notch, otherwise you’ll attract so much additional criticism it will do serious damage to the show.

I think he needed someone in Bad Wolf or the BBC to say “hey Russell, that’s probably not the best idea”.

 

 

 

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@thane16 @whohar @dentarthurdent @janetteb

RTD1: weird narcissistic racism, venal politicians, polyamory, shaggy dog stories about royal malaises, tech monocultures, nerds and their love interests,  racism in the past, environmental collapse, imperial heritage, more venal politicians, assisted weight loss, slavery, xenosexuality, super-wealthy crazed tech ijits… it’s quite a provocative list.

And the  audience lapped it all up… apart from the nerd and love interest.

Moff had far less obvious ‘issue plotting’… what was there? Old people are weird! And that was in a dream. The Doctor is creepy sometimes. What are soldiers FOR? What do you believe happens after death? Would you call the GI machine learning? Are the Zygons foreign? Because they seem to be people.

Moff was more about the companions’ stories, especially Amy. Though I have also described Amy, River and Clara as ‘bloke adjuncts’… as if every ‘bloke’ has a guardian angel…

And Bill was presented as an antidote to that. And Moff was duly criticised and/or admired. But he really did nothing about race in series 10. Georgian bloke is grumpy. And not much really about sexuality either. Clueless lad is disappointed in Knock Knock. Moira is relieved that Penny is NOT a man. And Roman Legionaries turn out be improbably tolerant and restrained. Still, kids’ show. However, try posting this opinion on Meta today.

Do we think Chib virtue-signalled? Yes, I do. Only the writing was so poor it’s quite hard to tell.

RTD2 seems to have been pushed for time, stuck with a novel funding model, but nonetheless up for a fight. Then he introduces Donna’s trans child and immediately abandons the idea. Space Babies and Devils’ Chord were undeveloped, but at least there was some intent. Rogue, yes. Crying, yes. Toxic male internet idiocy, someone’s not going to like that. But the message is in the arc, baffling series ends, woozy unease, ridiculous classic villains, the lot.

So there’s pattern here. Do what you have to showrunner, but DON’T spell it out. RTD1 did that once, but we think he got away with it.

This seems to have been the case since before The End of Time. So was it really Disney, and Disney only, who set the tone?

[syzygy @thane16]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>@ps1l0v3y0u. @whohar @dentarthurdent @janetteb @winston @nerys</p>
Yes, @whohar there were aggressive pronouncements by RTD 2- the most concerning was Dacron’ ableist issue; the sonic better as a telly remote than a gun & TenDoc regenerating back into his 2006+ clothing as keeping 13’s outfit would be an insult to drag performers….

This was all very odd to me but as has been said above, a number of his eps were terrific from 73 Yards, Boom to Rogue ….And yes “hey Russell, that’s probably not the best idea” might’ve helped. But apparently Eccleston did this & was.. er…degenerated for his trouble 😉

@ps1l0v3y0u indeed, many of RTD 1 episodes were message-laden which certainly parallels early Who. And “You can cut the right shapes but keep it woolly.” Ooh. I love that!

I never quite got how Martha & Mickey ended up together either? I feel RTD has to pair off people: so even unlikely pairings seem sensible 🤣 Perhaps this was just gimmicky for the Tennant’s Doctor “thank you & goodnight farewell last ride tour.”

Puro.

 

[syzygy @thane16]

Oops -Davros not Dacron!

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

Gosh, look away for a couple of days and the comments fill up.
@thane16 Syzygy (I thought I posted this) That lecture was in Bill Potts first episode, The Pilot. Transcript at chakoteya.net.
I thought the idea that Rose(2) could solve the metacrisis by being non-binary – it didn’t really make sense to me, and it felt distinctly forced – RTD pushing an agenda. I share your feelings about it.
I liked Rose(2) and was disappointed that, after (I believe) a certain amount of publicity surrounding her casting, she actually appeared very little.

@ps1l0v3y0u I liked Martha, and I applauded her decision to gracefully dump the Doctor. Best thing she could have done in the circumstances. I thought lumping her with Mickey (Rose’s cast-off) was poor – not well thought-out. It just felt like RTD was trying to tie up a loose end. (As syzygy said).
Nor was I happy with her recruitment as a UNIT operative (but that applies to most ex-Companions who get recruited by UNIT. I think it goes something like this: We’d like to use this ex-companion somehow. But how? – we don’t have time to construct a complete storyline for her. Oh, I’ve got it – we’ll put her in UNIT. Problem solved!

As you pointed out, Moff had far less of a political/social message, or maybe it was just more subtly conveyed, so we didn’t feel like we were being preached to. (I’m generally sympathetic to most ‘woke’ ideas, but any hint of ‘preaching’ turns me off *even if I agree with the message*.)

 

[syzygy @thane16]

Ah yes, thank you -Bill Potts’ first episode. Got it.

I think Moff handles messaging better than most & with his determination to entertain above all else it generally doesn’t clunk along tediously. And one newer episode I liked very much was Wild Blue Yonder.

From pacing, to humour, to chilling terror, it worked very well… though I believed they’d entered the land of Mavity Schmavity in an entirely separate universe which, unless I’m forgetting something, would then establish this bizarre new world for Gatwa. Perhaps that happened -I just never noticed 😉

Yes, placing companions into Unit works if it’s perhaps one companion because upon the Dr’s arrival, it’s all hugs & shaky hands ….& then they blend into the background….

It’s lovely in theory but it didn’t work very well beyond the composite, unless they appeared outside of Unit with a determined aspect such as in School Reunion (a superb episode).

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@thane16    Wild Blue Yonder was great, and a perfect example of how to properly use CGI.   And having just two cast intensifies the drama.   The alien ship looked truly beautiful.   Probably my favourite RTD(2) episode.    And, the reintroduction of Donna was successful.

School Reunion was good because it introduced the Old Companion well, it gave her proper attention and interaction with the current cast.   Always intriguing when a bit of competition is introduced between the current Companion and predecessors.

Another way to do it is to have a new character that just ‘looks like’ an old Companion – like Day of the Doctor, the Interface (Rose) was excellent and with a good rationale – The Moment had picked her out of the Doctor’s future memory (future – past – all the same to The Moment) and made all the more piquant because Rose’s Doctor, Ten, couldn’t see her.   And since it was just her appearance that was used it quite avoids the need for a rationale of how the old Companion get there.

And it always adds an extra level of interest when you have one character observing but invisible to the others, so long as the writer can handle it properly, and Moff was expert at that sort of thing.

[syzygy @thane16]

I LOVED The Moment. Piper’s fabulous strut and her mimicking of Hurt’s words was an “oh she’s going there!” moment. I had second hand embarrassment for the Doctor except the Moment was worldly, kind & understanding. And of course she would be.

I sometimes forget just how brilliant Rose/Piper was. Every bit as good as Eccleston & Tennant. Better perhaps than Donna (I find she rubs me up the wrong way, sometimes -it’s the shouty!)  🙂

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@thane16    The Moment was a weapon so powerful it had achieved intelligence.   And maybe even a conscience.   (Current AI has quite a long way to go).    And Billie Piper was one of those people the camera loves.  Even leaning against the wall of the cell in the Tower of London behind three Doctors, she was stealing the scene without moving a muscle.

Excellent choice for the reboot of the series.   I tend to find the Companion at least as interesting as the Doctor of the day, sometimes more so.   Donna, I agree – too shouty.   Her first appearance when she harangued a grieving Doctor who had just lost Rose, prejudiced me for a long time against her.   First impressions and all that.  It took me several series before I mellowed, by Wild Blue Yonder I was okay with her, which is just as well because it would have spoiled an excellent episode for me otherwise.

[WhoHar @whohar]

@dentarthurdent @janetteb @winston @nerys @thane16

the most concerning was Dacron’ ableist issue; the sonic better as a telly remote than a gun & TenDoc regenerating back into his 2006+ clothing as keeping 13’s outfit would be an insult to drag performers

Agreed. Also the hypocrisy. The sonic is too gun-like but then the Doc shoots Omega in the face with a weapon.

a number of his eps were terrific from 73 Yards, Boom to Rogue

Of which, interestingly, only 73 yards was written by RTD2. Probably my favourite after WBY though.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@whohar @dentarthurdent @thane16 @janetteb @winston

Davros and ablism. It’s not a simple ‘No! Not on my watch’ surely? Yes, the world has moved on, and we got Shirley and (see below) Jinkx Monsoon on the show, but there are ways of playing it, ain’t there? 12 turfed Davros out of his unit and rode it like a bumper car. I’ve said it before but The Space Babies looked like half-baked machine learned VR daleks to me.

I didn’t like 14’s regen costume change. And not sure I get it. On many levels. 13 wore trousers. The Master got 13’s trousers. Why didn’t 13 stay in The Master’s carefully selected Master Trousers? Then there’s no problem. Surely Chib and RTD had a tiff in the hand-over? 15 bigenerated without trousers.

Hmmm. Am I going gammon?

Omega gets shot? That’s not Omega. It’s not a weapon. Anyway, The Doctor blew up Skaro’s sun. The Doctor is being subverted… see the Song Contest ep.

RTD wrote the excellent Dot and Bubble too. I STILL don’t understand 73 Yards. Looks like a million dollars tho.

Can I repeat my ‘Pantheon is The Fendahleen in a VR’ theory? They came to earth via Mars. There’s 12 of them. The Time Lords destroyed planets 5. So, Sutekh ain’t an Osirian but a VR Fendahleen. No wonder he looked so dopey.

Anyway, all irrelevant now. Maybe.

[syzygy @thane16]

@ps1l0v3y0u

73 Yards is about time and patience. Ruby is ‘sent away’ in time by the magic fairy circle (see Wild B Yonder & the salt line) to ensure Mad Jack doesn’t trigger a nuclear apocalypse. Ultimately, when Ruby’s job is done, the elder Ruby (originally the mysterious woman) tells the now not so young Ruby, to avoid the fairy circle thus changing the timeline.

I agree with everyone about the “trouser” issue, the wheelchair decision (though space babies had….. 🤣) etc.
@whohar yes! The sonic is not a gun but then “the Doc shoots Omega in the face with a weapon” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

I was thinking of earlier Who (Doc 11) with Bill Paterson as Bracewell and then I started a re-watch of Foyle’s War. David Tennant, Christina Cole, Capaldi and Ron Cook. A terrific piece with near perfect messaging.

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