The Woman Who Fell To Earth
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Dentarthurdent 1 year, 6 months ago.
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7 October 2018 at 15:32 #64200
Hi all, I took a much needed break but like the Doctor, I’m back and re-energised, if not regenerated. Apologies for the break in transmission.
But let’s get to the point. The Doctor is back and she’s a whole new woman, with a whole new showrunner too in Chris Chibnall. It’s a whole new era.
I haven’t seen this yet but early reports are good. Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor is supposed to be brilliant and vibrant, funny and compassionate – as we probably all knew she would be.
It’s supposedly a bit of a slow burn and it does take its time to establish Whittaker as the new Doctor and the three, yes three, new companions. But by the end they feel like they belong together and we’ll have fun watching them interact over the season.
It seems we’re in for a treat. I certainly hope so. Join you on the other side.
7 October 2018 at 19:49 #64214Yep. She’s the Doctor.
7 October 2018 at 19:56 #642157 October 2018 at 20:12 #64216As near to pitch perfect as one could reasonably ask.
A couple of very subtle callbacks (Really wanting a friend egg sandwich).
Nicely restrained from Walsh (although should not a surprise to any who saw him on Law & Order), and solid support from Gil and Cole (although at the moment Cole’s character seems a bit generic ‘black urban teen’).
Plot light, unsurprisingly given the focus on character introduction, but if you going to riff, you might as well riff on an Arnie story.
Like the music, although apaz we don’t get to hear the new theme proper until next week.
Hmmm. No sight of the You Know What yet… Begins with T ends in ardis.
Twitter seems to love it. The IMDB trolls have been at work, so you might all want to nip over and help fix that.
7 October 2018 at 20:24 #642171. I really, really love the theme tune.
2. Graham’s speech at the funeral sounded a bit like a homage to Peter Capaldi to me.
3. Tim Shaw is trending on Twitter.
7 October 2018 at 20:24 #64218I quite enjoyed the saga of a dyspraxic trying to ride a bike. (I gave up after one skinned knee. rite of passage of childhood my arse).
Jody is definitely the doctor. My only concern is – where the doctor has flaws, it’s usually about not appearing to care – the doctor always does care, doesn’t always manage to show it. And they need their companions sometimes to keep them in check, let them know when they’re being an arse. Jody is a warm, kind, compassionate doctor, and this is good, they always are. But I a: worry that they might be changing that side of the character at the same time as making the doctor female (I’ve never been one for ‘if women ran the world we wouldn’t have all this nonsense) and b: feel that this could damage the dynamic of doctor – companions. So I suppose I’m a little worried by her lack of apparent arrogance. Still, it’s early doors.
I loved the name part of it. She’d forgotten her name. She asked if a character was a doctor ‘shame, I’m looking for a doctor.’ And then she found her ‘I’m the doctor’.
One characteristic that came across strongly is her inventive, improvisational ability to build/throw together a sonic screwdriver (swiss army knife), transportation device, or whatever she needs. My boyfriend maintains that most things can be fixed with bathroom sealant, foil, elastic bands or a combination of the three. He loved the microwave.
7 October 2018 at 20:25 #64219@xad4 – totally, Grahams speech was a beautiful note to fans.
7 October 2018 at 20:44 #64220New to the forms but I have only one problem with the new doctor. The entire plot seemed to be a ripoff of the predator movies… The whole hunt thing seemed a little overdone like they copyed all that. A little let down by the woman doctor too!
7 October 2018 at 20:54 #64221Waves excitedly
Well, watchd with SWMBO ( who was not really in favour of the change) and we both were pleased with the new Doctor but after such a long wait a little underwhelmed at the story and thought it was a mistake to kill off Gran. It seemed to be the only reason to get Graham on the Tardis when they find it, no reason for Yasmin?
I honestly wanted something that zapped in akin to Matt Smith’s debut, however I’m honest enough to also add it could be because Who has been part of my life for 50 years that I want the new Doctor to succeed that I’m being slighlty hard on the story
Looking forward to more mad bonkers and I’ve missed this and you all
7 October 2018 at 20:55 #64222Like @scaryb and @craig <waves to both and to all> I have been AWOL from these parts for a while. So happy to be back and looking forward to the journey!
I thought Jodie did a great job. I know what you mean @miapatrick about whether the Doctor as more openly empathetic (compared to Capaldi who needed Clara’s cue cards to help him formulate appropriate emotional responses!) dovetails, in a gender-stereotyped way, with the switch to a female incarnation. I am taking it however, as the Doctor having finally worked through all the trauma of the Time War, the guilt, the PTSD, and, in this new incarnation, at the start of a new regeneration cycle, being less bottled up by the emotional choke-hold which, previously, all that had on him/her.
Several things to note about the new tone for the new team.
The Doctor as a scientist (inventive and improvisational as you say @miapatrick) was always a significant element in the Who of my youth (Pertwee in particular with his UNIT lab) and it’s good to see that back. He’s been rather more of a wandering officer discharged from a great war and desperate to run away from that since the reboot to date.
And honestly, seeing Jodie’s Doctor messing on with cables and coils and spark-plugs and the like made my heart sing a bit, given all the issues with women’s welcome (or lack thereof) in STEM subjects. Having a mad-cap alien scientist female Doctor is just brilliant. (yes I loved Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot to bits as well).
Class – Russell T. Davis was better at it than Moffat – i.e. at making sure the Doctor didn’t just hang out with Earth’s middle classes. And it looks like Chibnall is going for a bit of Russell’s legacy on that front. I’m so pleased the Doctor went shopping for a new outfit in a charity shop and not some flash department store. Also it’s fab the new sonic has a touch of Sheffield steel in it.
The scary mysterious tone from the opener reminded me of some old Tom Baker storylines like The Talons of Weng Chiang and The Horror of Fang Rock and The Brain of Morbius. I’m up for some horror-inflection.
Quite a lot about grandparents in this first episode. Ryan’s Nan and Step-Grandad of course, but the construction guy on-site, who got murdered by our toothsome alien bounty hunter, was also talking to a grand-kid by Skype just before he was offed. So the Doctor as a grand-parent is resonating like a bell in the undertow of the narrative, particularly as she is asked whether she has any family and replies that they’re gone.
It’s quite fascinating to look at the way the Doctor/ female companion dynamic has hitherto been written in the reboot, with its recurrent (although not exclusive) dynamic of the hundreds of years old Doctor/ and a teen or early twenties Earth girl, who is either a love-story or a crush going one way or the other (Ecclestone/ Tennant and Rose, Tennant and Martha, Smith and Amy and Clara, Capaldi and Clara). It would, I think, cause instant outrage and cries of creepyness if Jodie’s Doctor had any sort of similar dynamic with several young Earth men, or indeed young Earth women. Jodie’s new ensemble TARDIS crew looks rather Hartnell-esque, with her in a grand-parent-like role, possibly. Is the Doctor asexual/ a-romantic again? <foolishly opens a can of fandom worms and tries to move swiftly on>.
It’s too early to pronounce exactly on what the new Doctor’s hearts are going to get up to, of course. The last incarnation lost a wife, River, only a blink of an eye ago, by Time Lord standards of time.
Dan seems less than enthusiastic about the Chibnall debut, over on The Guardian recap, but I am overjoyed myself, as I confess I was worried Jodie wouldn’t be enough of a “character” to carry the first female Doctor off. I was rooting, in my personal fantasy land, for Phoebe Waller-Bridge. But actually, I think Jodie is going to great. I really loved her mix of vulnerability and authoritative get-up-and-go.
7 October 2018 at 21:11 #64224Well, so far so good, and Jodi Whittaker certainly seems to have what it takes. Whether or not she turns out to be among my favourite Doctors, there is no doubt that she is the Doctor. In this episode she reminded me a little of Tennant and a little of Matt Smith, but it is a bit early to judge.
The story was perhaps a bit lightweight, some of the details may not bear too close an inspection, and the monster of the week was not particularly impressive or scary once you got past the visual effects, but the main focus was understandably on establishing the principle characters, and dealing as efficiently as possible with the Doctor’s post-regeneration disorientation without confusing potential viewers new to the show, and in that respect I think it succeeded.
A sonic screwdriver improvised from whatever was to hand in an admittedly fairly well-equipped workshop, with added Sheffield steel and without any assistance from the Tardis? what could be better? And sonic swiss army knife is a far better definition of its function 🙂
The look of the whole was as cinematic and polished as we were led to expect and we were told that the theme music would reference the original, which it certainly did, leaving me with a happy smile on my face.
7 October 2018 at 21:33 #64225Fried egg sandwich, uh oh! I’m not all that fussy, and some day, if I live long enough, perhaps the Doctor on regenerating will develop a craving for something I actually find palatable 🙁
7 October 2018 at 21:49 #64226Enjoyed it, JW very good, nice script, comic touches, BW good too . Good point about the Hartnell era and the relationship with the companions. Have to watch it again, but good start . glad to be back on the forum .
7 October 2018 at 21:52 #64228Hello @craig and all
its been too long – really glad we have the Doctor back, and also that I can read all of your speculations on this forum again..
I think for an opener it was great – the main plot was a bit too familiar but let’s face it, this was all about setting up the characters. Jodie W seems to have slotted in remarkably quick, it was the companions I was struggling with a bit. But, it is early days.
The theme music and feel of the visuals at the end seems very much like old Who – I cant wait to see the new start sequence next week. I also hope they reduce the new Tardis interior in size to be a bit like the small and minimalist view that many of the old Who doctors had. The most recent Tardis control room seemed too big to me – there are lots of other rooms for books and chalkboards! The control room just needs the controls in my view…
The ensemble cast preview looked wide and impressive, i wonder if we will get any old faces at all?
Best wishes to you all – thanks Craig for all your efforts to maintain the forum
Hudsey
7 October 2018 at 21:55 #64229@juniperfish I do agree that the change in tone works with the new cycle. And, thinking on, Davidson’s Doctor was quite warm and kind, so was McCann’s. There are other ways the weirdness can manifest. And yes, her way around building thingamjimmies was lovely. Oh, no sonic, I’ll build one. I’ve lost my Tardis, wait, let me cannibalise this alien technology and teleport right over there. It’s made me wonder if New Who Doctors have been a little too dependent on the TARDIS. This doctor literally rolls up her sleeves. I like that.
Re class, Moffat did redeem himself a little with Bill, albeit in a rather ‘I’ll fix this situation, I’ll make the dinner lady into a student’ kind of way from the Doctor.
And Grandparents – good thought. People have suggested in the other place that Grace was a non essential character, introduced for cheep emotional thrills. I think it’s really interesting that the important dead parent (featuring with Rose, Clara, and Bill) was introduced as a living individual, we see the death and the aftermath for the companions. Capaldi as grandfather was up front – the photograph of Susan, Bill introducing him as her grandad. Jody is relatively brand new, but she has still lived that life.
7 October 2018 at 22:08 #64231I have to say, @danmartin‘s review strikes me as a bit mean-spirited.
Whovians of any era are used to having to absorb change and should know by now not to rely on statements from the showrunner. I remember a friend of the “I saw the very first episode AND the repeat” ilk refusing to believe that Tennant could be replaced – but being open-minded enough to later maker a diary in the style of River’s. And in Eleventh Hour, for all its charm and wonder, Rory’s character was far from fleshed out.
It seemed a bit….whiney. Not like him at all.
Should Whittaker (BTW people it’s J.O.D.I.E – an e but no y) not have said “butty” if going with the oop t’north theme?
PS Apparently the Daily Mail has been spectacularly predictable.
7 October 2018 at 22:16 #64232A rather light-weight story but, with 4 new characters* to introduce it needed to be and it was enjoyable.
I was doing a bit of ‘bonkerising’ from the start which, as with most bonkerising, turned out to be wrong. I thought that the big blue space turnip may have been the TARDIS re-growing (was it the 10th Doctor that said they were grown rather than built?) and thought I was right when it cracked open revealing a yellowy orange glow. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
The new characters seem ok but I’m particularly loving Yaz (?) who reminds me of the equally brilliant female PC in Paul Abbott’s ‘No Offence’ over on Channel 4.
The Doctor is still The Doctor which, as far as I’m concerned, was never in doubt. Great to see The Doctor doing a bit of tinkering by turning every day appliances into hi-tech gear – as per my post On The Sofa, I have an old PC & peripherals that could do with being revamped 😉
Loving the new version of the theme tune. Some nice big fat analogue synth sounds in there though I suspect they were emulated rather than being actual analogue synths. Too bad the continuity announcer had to talk over most of it though.
Will offer more thoughts/observations when I rewatch it.
* OK 3 new characters and 1 to re-introduce.
7 October 2018 at 22:23 #64234Well I’ll see.
So far its the Torchwood reboot with a different team. Jody did ok but
I’m not feeling completely Doctor about her. Still I’m fine with that cause,
well she just regenerated so maybe it’s no big deal.
This episode didn’t leave me thinking “oh this was just spectacular start” .
In any case my favorite bit was the teeth on the alien face.
7 October 2018 at 22:28 #642357 October 2018 at 22:30 #64236Just remembered that spoons were involved in the creation of the new sonic screwdriver. ‘I’m the Doctor …. and this is my spoon’!
PS Apparently the Daily Mail has been spectacularly predictable.
Which is why, though I try to be broad minded and tolerant, I’m allergic to the DM and tend to feel the need to disinfect my computer if ever I have been unwary enough to click on a link to their web site. And BTL on Dan Martin’s recap, it seems that for everyone who expressed enthusiasm or at least guarded optimism, there seems to be another who had made up their mind, even before viewing this first episode, that it was going to be rubbish, and couldn’t wait to inform us that they were right. I never kept a tally, but what is the betting that some of these are the same as told us every week that Moffat was a terrible writer and that the show was going to the dogs.
7 October 2018 at 22:31 #64237@miapatrick Yes, you’re right Moffat was aware of his class “issue” after RTD, but he just didn’t know how to include working-class life convincingly in the same way. He had Clara’s grandparents apparently living in a tower-block (that awkward Christmas do when she invited the Smith Doctor as her “boyfriend”) but that just didn’t feel as if it fitted with the rest of Clara, whereas with Rose and her Mum it was totally believable.
And Bill was the dinner-lady (for five minutes before she became a student) at a very posh-looking university! Only Oxbridge colleges have rooms for Professors that look like the one the Doctor was inhabiting.
It did make me smile that we have a real police-woman companion, Yasmin, setting off with Jodie instead of Amy’s strip-o-gram version. I can’t help feeling that was a tiny Chibnall dig at Moffat!
Yes, the grand-parent theme does have continuity with the end of Capaldi’s run, particularly his closing adventure with Doctor One, and I like that.
On the companion front, Bradley Walsh’s retired bus-driver looks like he’s going to be hard work, being adventure-averse, grief-stricken and kidnapped, but I suppose that’s the point. He’s going to be the useless one isn’t he, in contrast to Yasmin and Ryan. Having a female Doctor throws up all sorts of interesting dynamics. When do you ever get a show where an older white guy routinely defers to the expertise of a younger-looking woman, as Graham clearly will do to Jodie’s Doctor? Yes, she’s an over a thousand year old gender-fluid alien, but still :-).
Bring it all on, and let’s see where the chips fall!
7 October 2018 at 22:58 #64238@pedant Noooooooo, you tempted me to read the Daily Fail’s review and now I need to bathe my eyes with salt water.
The reviewer moaned (at great length) that Jodie’s Doctor wasn’t more “Beyonce” or “Daenerys Targaryen”. Now I have a weird “All the Single Ladies” dance routine as performed by the new Doctor and companions flashing before my eyes. That would actually be pretty funny.
7 October 2018 at 23:00 #64239Well, that was pretty damn good and easily Chibnall’s best work on the series. Long may it continue. It didn’t have the sheer energy of The Eleventh Hour (but what could?) but I’d say it was a stronger introductory story than The Christmas Invasion. Tonally, Whittaker seems to be pitching her Doctor somewhere between Tennant and Smith and that’s fine. Having a Doctor who breezes seems to be pretty much the default template for the new series and even Capaldi and Eccleston resorted to it on occasion. But she nails the essential Doctorey-ness, I think — more so in this episode than Eccy managed in his entire run. She’d going to be great, I think.
Was slightly bemused that Dan felt this episode was ‘small’. I got more of an epic sweep than most of Moffat’s fairytale book vibe, and this was despite it being confined to a Sheffield setting. It felt a little bit Torchwood initally but also with the absent TARDIS there also seemed to be a bit of a Pertwee vibe and to be honest I didn’t miss it. Could quite happily have had a few Earthbound episodes with this team.
I’m very much liking this new line-up too so far. They’ve obviously not quite bedded in yet but you can see that Chibnall’s real strength is character and these three very much struck me as living, breathing real people. Having them all tangentially linked was a great idea too, rather than having them total strangers. Hopefully this gives some groundwork for some character tension — the interplay between Ryan and Graeme is already interesting. Sad to see Grace killed off though. And kudos to Chibnall for making even Karl, who could have been generic victim, a real believable character.
The Streza were I guess veering towards the generic bit still pretty effective. Again, a little of a Torchwood vibe coming off them with the teeth thing but certainly a more imposing threat than the Atraxi or the Sycorax. An oddly Marvel vibe off them too perhaps.
The music’s sounding great so far. Very different from Murray Gold, maybe something slightly synthy and 80s about it while still retaining some of the old lushness. Couple with the great visuals, the Chibnall era is going to have a very distinct feel about it. One which I’m enjoying already. The new version of the theme music sounds fantastic too, reinstating the haunting quality of the Derbyshire arrangement with that ominous backbeat.
Not a whole lot else to say until a rewatch. Looks great. And the renewed emphasis on characterisation gets a thumbs-up from me — I liked, for example, the Doctor’s contrition and sense of responsibility for being at the centre of trouble. That’s a first surely. Actually attending Grace’s funeral was a nice touch too.
And I’m happy to see that the response is more or less positive. This wasn’t gob-smackingly ground-breaking Who by any stretch but it was a pretty solid opening that managed to dispel the introspection of the 12th Doctor’s era while still retaining a bit of darkness and not just turning the clock back to the chirpy bombast of the RTD years (as some suspected might be the case). Not everyone’s happy, of course. As @pedant points out, Jim Shelley at The Mail is being oddly (and illogically) petulant about it. And god knows what bowlestrek’s going to make of it.
7 October 2018 at 23:09 #64241Yes, you’re right Moffat was aware of his class “issue” after RTD
Yeah, that’s true but then again does he really need to have ticked the ‘token working class character’ box anyway? If they don’t fit the story, or are going to be awkward or unconvincing, I’d rather they just weren’t there ins the first place.
Only Oxbridge colleges have rooms for Professors that look like the one the Doctor was inhabiting
To be fair, 12 had been at the university of something like 70 years. Plenty of time to have inveigled himself the best office in the place. The VC was probably relegated to a broom cupboard somewhere.
As others have mentioned, it was also great to see the Doctor fiddling about with technology and science again in a way that hasn’t really happened in the new series at all that much. I kind of wanted Whittaker to be based in that workshop for a few eps so if nothing else I demand that we see a Doctor’s workshop in the TARDIS.
Good to see some of the familiar faces back again. Waves to all.
7 October 2018 at 23:30 #64242It was a warning not a lure!
I keep wanting to make “Ever Fallen In Love” jokes, but it is the wrong Shelley.
8 October 2018 at 00:03 #64243@pedant I kinda like the Doctor Barbie. I like to nudge my niece in the direction of strong female characters. I’ve bought her a Black Widow Funko Pop! toy in the past, told my brother to show her the CW’s Supergirl, and the Wonder Woman movie.
Even yesterday I told him he should take her to Aquaman as he saw the trailer and responded that my nephew would love it. But it’s supposedly rating highly with female test audiences as well because Nicole Kidman and Amber Heard play strong characters.
After tonight’s episode I’m gonna tell my brother he has to sit her down to watch Doctor Who. I loved it, for many reasons, but the inspiration it could give to young girls to study science or other STEM subjects, even just stand up for themselves, is incalculable.
8 October 2018 at 02:05 #64244hee-wheey (timey whimey whee-hay).
Loving IT! The beginning, the bike, was awesome. The golden-thing looked exactly like my portable clothesline, which, when you move it, falls apart.
The Golden Clothesline.
Good to see all the regulars back.
She’s terrific, aint she?
Puro.
8 October 2018 at 02:39 #64245@fatmaninabox -on the other thread…I was crying-laughing. But not REAL laughing because my computer is obstreperous. Shutting it down works occasionally which annoys me (Thane in particular).
Just to say a quick hello to all newbies & oldies as well & hoping to see @arbutus on these pages soon.
I actually loved the episode. The tremendous build up was paced perfectly & the characters -in particular
granddadGraham and Grace were very nicely put together. As were Yaz and Ryan. Agreed Mr FatMan, she reminds me of Paul Abbots No Offence too. I thought the suspense was terrific.I was in it from the get-go. But I’ll avoid any Daily Mail, TV week reviews. 🙂
Thane and Puro
8 October 2018 at 03:25 #64246I was beginning to get restless waiting for the new series! Thought it as a solid first episode, all the standard hallmarks of a Doctor’s first story, an enjoyable, simple to follow storyline, and some background to al the new companions.
JW feels very Doctorish already, like the rest of you above I’d agree a mix of Smith and Tennant best describes her. Loved that she made her own Sonic Swiss Army Knife, without the knife, putting the Science back into sci-fi, and I hope it becomes a running theme throughout the series, inspiring kids to try and make or invent their on stuff can only be a good thing.
Interesting that Chibnall chose to kill off Grace too. Just think how far you have to go back for the last time a main companion (or relative) was killed with no hijinks involved, even if they were just there for 1 episode? Bill got to live on first as a Cyberman, then with Heather, Nardole never died, River was just closing the loop, Clara is taking the long way round, Danny Pink got a send off as a Cyberman, The Doctor regenerated, Missy no doubt will too, Amy and Rory lived on for years after the Angel’s touch, and Donna just lost her memories. By my working out this is the first time since The Waters of Mars. It’s a small statement, but a bold one.
8 October 2018 at 03:39 #64247Loved it! My 10-year-old daughter is now a Whovian. I agree with those who said that Thirteen is somewhere in temperament between Ten and Eleven, with some pretty clear Tennant-isms at times. I liked that she was light and breezy with the character, as Twelve was a little portentous towards the end.
All in all a good start and I can’t wait for the rest!
Quick question: Did you get a full opening with theme song in the UK? We didn’t get it on BBC America – just a bit of the tune when the Doctor first showed up.
8 October 2018 at 03:41 #64248TWell.
I made a mistake. I decided to watch this on BBC America at 8pm EST for the added content. That meant more commercials than show. Tell me again how TV commercials work in the UK?The worst part was how they very specifically pushed the female agenda. This is sad because it feels artificial and pushy. Most people I know have no ill respect for women doing anything. There are a tiny few but they are foolish anyway. I’m glad the show didn’t go deep on the subject and just let Jodie be the Doctor.
The new Predator movie is coming out so this was a good warm up. Lol
I loved the visuals and it had me checking out photos and maps of Peaks park. I really loved the ominous background music and the theme made me very happy. This was a very good character introduction and I already feel for each one. If Chris keeps this quality up, it will be fantastic.
The many references to previous Doctors was also a great treat. The crane scene was a callback to the fourth’s demise. The many “sorrys” in reference to 10.
8 October 2018 at 04:25 #64249The worst part was how they very specifically pushed the female agenda. This is sad because it feels artificial and pushy
You mean the advertisements were pushy? In Oz, at least, we have no ads (as yet) on ABC. This was up on site at the same time as UK viewers watched it and without ads is SO much better 🙂
I’m in love with this episode. I enjoyed Grace – in its many forms: in a name; on the lips of the dying; in a legend written across galaxies; in a grandson who straddles a bicycle, rides it, falls, falls once more, clenches teeth and tries again. Teeth – evidence or aspect of which remains after death as a reminder of lost souls. For every tooth, a person with a brother waiting to know ‘why?’
A reminder of people playing with lives across our planet, tribal warfare or foolish games, gathering trophies in the twilight of their years, repelled by love, scornful of pity, parasitically dependent on ‘likes’, demanding tributes and furious when others are happy, cynical in the face of bravery, walking away, but never to, begging for chances but never giving one.
To me, it captured the Doctor’s constant reminder, over 50 years to “be better, fairer, kinder.”
All of the key Doctor elements were right there. ‘Good men don’t need rules, today is not a good day to find out why I have so many’ and ‘no plan, no backup, no weapons and nothing to lose.’ As well as my personal favourite, with the gender swapped, ‘I’m a mad-woman with a box, without a box!’
Someone ought to tell Dan Martin that.
Score 1 for Chibnall.
Kindest, Puro.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by
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8 October 2018 at 06:13 #64254My OH is going to watch it out of curiosity. I shan’t. Everyone knows my opinion – The Doctor should be a male.
No more to say.
Missy
8 October 2018 at 07:45 #64255Hello, I‘m new here. I tried to post a comment about the first ever new Doctor Who story “Rose“, but it somehow disappeared.
Here‘s what I think about the latest episdoe “The Woman Who Fell To Earth“, which I‘ve now seen twice, although I‘ve seen the last few minutes three times. I haven‘t read any reviews yet which were posted after the episode was shown on TV, so they haven‘t influenced me at all.
The title of this episode is obviously inspired by the film “The Man Who Fell To Earth“, featuring David Bowie. Some big differences between the two are that Bowie didn‘t actually fall to Earth, but J0die Whittaker certainly did, as well as this Doctor Who episode took place in Britain, not the USA. Don‘t forget how disastrous the Americanised Doctor Who: The TV Movie was!
The episode started without playing the theme tune. I kept wondering when it was going to be played. I was a bit disappointed that the regeneration sequence wasn‘t repeated. For some time I kept wondering where The Doctor was and how long it would take for her to appear. I can‘t remember at the moment how long this took.
The beginning of the episode was quite spooky and I kept asking myself if it was actually Doctor Who because of the style, as well as the length of time it took for The Doctor to appear. The series is supposed to have a new cinematic appearance, but this just means that it‘s not in the 16:9 format because it has narrow black bars at the top and bottom of the picture when seen on a 16:9 screen.
I kept looking for any trace of personality showing that this was Tee Doctor. I thought she shouod say or do something that a previous Doctor had done, but not Peter Capaldi. Eventually, we saw Jodie Whittaker telling an alien off and ordering it to leave Earth. This reminded me a bit of Matt Smith‘s debut “The Eleventh Hour“, but has also featured in “Twice Upon A Time“, as well as “Rose“.
The Doctor‘s pockets were empty. I wonder how this happened. The Doctor was shown actually making a new sonic screwdriver. This was something we‘ve never ever seen The Doctor do before. The Sonic Screwdriver first appeared during the Troughton Era, then was destroyed during the Davison Era. It seemed quite difficult for The Doctor to make a sonic screwdriver, as it was never replaced until Doctor Who The Movie, but Romana seemed to find it quite easy to make one. I couldn‘t help wondering how it was possible to make a sonic screwdriver using Earth technology, though.
I think we can safely say now from a preview, as well as the actual episode, that The Doctor‘s latest catchphrase is “Let‘s get a shift on!“ I‘ve never heard this expression before, but it‘s more or less the same as David Tennant‘s “Allons-y!“
After wearing Peter Capaldi‘s old outfit for almost the whole episode, The Doctor finally goes into a charity shop to put a new outfit together. In the past, The Doctor always get a new outfit from the TARDIS Wardrobe.
The TARDIS was absent for the whole story. I can‘t help wondering when was the last time this happened, for a whole story whether in the classic or the modern series. All I can think of is the story “Mission To The Unknown“, which didn‘t include The Doctor at all. A quick search brings up “Love and Monsters“, but I haven‘t seen this episode recently. I couldn‘t help thinking that the TARDIS should at least materialise somewhere on Earth instead of on another planet, as in the story “Cold War“.
The episode ends with The Doctor and all three companions being teleported into space. According to the Series 10 episode “Oxygen“, this means they should all fall unconscious in 15 seconds, so I can‘t help wondering how they‘re going to get out of that one! Obviously, they will escape from this fate, as we can make out from clips that have already been released, and if they didn‘t then that would be the end of the series.
8 October 2018 at 07:55 #64256@translatorcircuit welcome to the forum.
Thomas Jerome Newton (Bowie) was quite a bit different from our Doctor. In many, many ways, but it was a particularly good film.
Sounds like you enjoyed the episode then? 🙂
I’ve no doubt at all that the newly minted companions and a fully regenerated Doctor will survive in space -who, knows, there could be a large protection-area around the coordinates of the Tardis meaning they’re able to breathe happily. Or not…..
Puro (Thane16)
8 October 2018 at 08:52 #64257Here we go again! And as others have said, great to see lots of familiar faces again, as well as new ones. Hi everyone.
I’m totally up for this, and agree with everyone who says that Jodie nailed it from the outset. Felt quite Tennant-y (not a bad thing IMHO 🙂 ) and I loved how, apart from a couple of throwaway lines, she just gets on with being the Doctor… and she very definitely is. Couple of call backs as others have mentioned, eg to Pertwee’s pottering, and also to Troughton’s speech about dead loved ones sleeping in your head. They’re dead, but you still bring them with you.
I agree with @bendubz11 that Grace’s demise felt significant. I kept waiting (and hoping) that the Doctor would syphon off a little spare regeneration energy to heal her… but it didn’t happen. That really does set a tone – in this incarnation of the Doctor, despite her fizzing energy, not everyone lives. I also liked the smaller scale of the story – going from the Doctor’s first theory that it was 2 rival space races using Earth as an intergalactic battleground (and the whole Earth at risk) to being about just a few people being picked off.
And like @fatmaninabox *waves excitedly* I suspected the (Tardis) blue marshmallowy thing to be Tardis coral… so first theory of the new series following my usual track record. 😛
Other than that, I loved what I heard of the new theme tune, does sound like it has more echoes than recent themes to Delia Derbyshire’s atmospheric andcreepy original, and I’m very excited to see what they’ve done with the Tardis. And much as I tried not to watch the “coming soon” bit…. Art Malik!!! 🙂
8 October 2018 at 11:00 #64262I KNOW! Art, right? Mr Malik. Yonks ago, when I was 14, my mum had a large crush on him. It was pretty inappropriate, but she remembers it well….
Agreed re choon. I loved hearing the ‘B’ side as well, which since 2009 has been missing (I have it as a ring tone).
Puro
8 October 2018 at 11:13 #64263Anonymous @
It was incredibly good. My kids loved it and said it was as good as Stranger Things – which is high praise indeed. It was visually and cinematically stunning. The friends were interesting. The Doctor was definitely The Doctor (phew). Some snippets of the music showed inspiration and hinted at some big emotional boldness to come. Otherwise it was a perfect, restrained and unobtrusive backdrop. The villain of the week was definitely interesting and scary enough. Basically – YAY!!!!!
I’ve heard commentators saying this could be the series (or at least the episode) to bring people to the show who dropped out a while ago or who’ve never watched it. People who watch Stranger Things and Game of Thrones but don’t usually do sci fi/fantasy.
My only concern was the death count. The security guard in particular was a bit much considering he’d just been talking to his family. And salad man. I didn’t like having comedy and death together like that. Let’s just see how it goes in future episodes.
8 October 2018 at 11:42 #64264Love it. Capaldi will be tough to top but good luck to our new Dr, I sincerely hope she does.
I liked the episode, story was a bit formulaic but it was well written and on par for a new Dr intro in my opinion.
I think the relationship between Graham and Ryan has a lot of potential, first time he calls him grandpa will wrap it up for me. Not sure about Yas but, I’m sure her character will be fleshed out.
As for the Dr well, I think a woman is an excellent choice, really can’t it see it affecting anything and Jodie is a brilliant fit. On first glance she appears to be a tech dr, and with s budding mechanic and an old bus driver as companions should be a lot of DIY shenanigans. I have a feeling the tardis will be in a state of malfunction for most of the season, thus the emphasis on the mechanical side of things.
8 October 2018 at 11:44 #64265I’m sure I’m alone in this, but the episode was average for me. Jodie is great, I didn’t connect with her on the same level I connected with Peter but she was fun and energetic. The alien was totally meh and the pacing a bit off. But that’s just my opinion
8 October 2018 at 12:39 #64266<Waves at comrades, old and new>
@scaryb I thought you’d like the Delia Derbyshire tribute in the theme tune! Did you see she got honoured with a posthumous PhD last year?
@jimthefish “The VC was probably relegated to a broom cupboard somewhere”
Heh – if only.
@pedant “It was a warning not a lure!”
I know – I couldn’t resist and now I am eating the sickly sugary snacks of regret.
Like @craig I like the 13th Doctor (or 15th depending on how you count) Barbie Doctor just because I know it will make certain curmudgeonly corners of the “fan-boy” universe explode with outrage 🙂 Even though, frankly, Mattel don’t deserve the kudos really, as their Barbie has presented such a problematic body-image for girls all these years with her strange inhuman insect-like proportions. Perhaps she’s been an alien in disguise all this time…
I had a Tom Baker plastic Barbie-size figure as a kid, which came with removable hat, scarf and sonic. It was called a “figure” and not a “doll” but it was the same damn thing, so in fact, having a Jodie figure is nothing new. It’s just all about gender framing.
I’m pleased to hear various people’s reports of kids loving the new Doctor’s first episode. If it doesn’t capture new generations it’s not doing its job – so hurrah. Not at all surprised that the kids, boys and girls, don’t bat an eyelid at the gender switch. They are always more open-minded and ready to imagine the world anew, thankfully.
I am so terrified that Google’s parent company Alphabet will actually crack the code for ageing (it’s working on it, some for real sci-fi s*** right there) and then hideous old rich people like Trump will rule over us forever. Not being age-ist (can hardly be as I approach 50!) but unfortunately our wise-est elders don’t generally sit a-top of the rapacious capitalist heap!
8 October 2018 at 12:49 #64267@thane16 @juniperfish @jimthefish @craig
I must confess, the frothing range of the Angry Virgins has been one of the joys of the past 18 hours or so.
8 October 2018 at 13:58 #64268I phrased my statement in a poor way. The adds were repetitive having the same over and over. The US is infested with advertisements and it needs regulation. The feminism agenda was from the comic-con panel they showed bits of. Nearly every question was directly related to this politicaly popular push. I personally love the idea of a female Doctor. I was ready a long time ago. Most of my life has gone quite comfortably with women doing any job or activity they wanted weather or not it was a male dominated thing before. I personally have not seen this perceived oppression against the female gender. In the US and UK it seems as if the media never acknowledged that women have had equality for some time. Sure there are a few examples here and there but as an overall movement, I don’t get it.
As far as the show is concerned, when Jodie said “I’m the Doctor “, I was like yes, yes you are.
8 October 2018 at 14:16 #64269I liked this episode, though as seems to happen a lot with Doctor introductory adventures the actual “adventure” wasn’t much to write home about. It was serviceable enough though.
I really like Thirteen/Whittaker, and the new eventual-companions are a promising team with some interesting angles to work with regarding their backstories. My main beef — and I think this is where the “feels like Torchwood not Who” complaints I’ve seen elsewhere stem from — is that the ending felt rather dour between Grace’s death, the memorial service, and the Doctor still without a TARDIS leading to a cliffhanger where everybody’s about to asphyxiate. (Yep, I couldn’t help thinking about how badly “Oxygen” ended for Twelve too…) It would have been a much more tantalizing, optimistic ending had the TARDIS come back to her at the end and everyone could head off to new adventures together, instead of the others being forced into them with her. I’m now worried that they’ll all be grouchy next week in “The Ghost Monument”.
Also, I really hope they don’t stretch out the search for Ol’Sexy too long. Given that ********* ******************** *************** ************ ****************** *********************** ************* ********* ************ ******* ********* — there’s no guarantee that the TARDIS will be recovered by the end of episode three. Especially if Chibnall and co. don’t come up with a satisfying explanation for why she doesn’t come back to the Doctor, I think it would get old fast finding other ways to get around time and space, and given how much is changing with the new crew, it seems silly to sideline the TARDIS — THE big icon of the franchise — for an extended period of time.
*Paragraph completely removed because of possible spoilers*
(Deposits $0.02) See you next week!
Edit: Also, I know a lot of commenters out there really want to see what the Doctor does about the trapped trophies now that she knows about them…another reason it would be good to get back to the TARDIS as soon as possible.
Edit by Craig – the above was edited by me because – spoilers
8 October 2018 at 15:11 #64270Oi! Spoilers!
8 October 2018 at 15:22 #642718 October 2018 at 15:36 #64272I love Jodi, glad the shoe was absence of that woke stuff. In time she will be more Doctor like. No as bonkers as the Capaldi Doctor regeneration. But remember, McCoys Doctor didn’t seem as bonkers either. Jodi is great! Can’y wait till she meets the Daleks.
8 October 2018 at 16:19 #64274Well, my considered evaluation of last night’s episode is:
Yes, oh yes, she is the Doctor. It’ll be reight.
Of course being from Sheffield I loved the setting, the Peaks, the aerial views of the city, including the Sheff United ground. And the people – drunk guy chucking his salad at the nasty iceman was classic. I wasn’t sure about Bradley Walsh having only seen him compering The Chase but there’s some depth hinted at even in the first episode, and some tensions between him and Ryan that could be interesting. Yaz is just grand (I was trying to think where I knew her from and turns out it was Hollyoaks – don’t judge me, my daughter watched it obsessively in her teens and I may have accidentally caught the odd episode. I think the character she played fell victim to one of Hollyoaks many roaming serial killers). Also very taken with the fact that nasty iceman is billed as ‘Tim Shaw’ on IMDb and on the end credits.
‘Get a shift on’ sounds pretty Yorkshire to me. It is basically allons-y.
With all the stuff happening on the home front at the moment, I so needed this. And I so wanted JW to BE the Doctor, from the off. And she is, and she clearly brings the core of Doctorliness to the role but also, as each of her predecessors has done, something different and personal in her style and tone. We’re very happy and very excited for the series.
Also, Whovians Assemble! Lovely to see so many of you back now that we’ve new Doctoring to discuss.
She’s the Doctor, and it’ll be reight.
8 October 2018 at 16:24 #64275It’s been great to read all these replies! I think my first post about “Rose” disappeared after I edited it, so I won’t edit my last post in this topic.
I watched this episode on BBC1 on a TV, then again on a laptop with headphones. I noticed that some of the dialogue was unclear on the TV, which was set to Voice mode, then I only found out what it said when I watched it again on my laptop with headphones. One example of this was when Ryan said he was a “warehouse worker”. Perhaps that TV just isn’t very good, but I don’t know. I felt I had to watch it on a TV because, as I noticed during Series 10, the Internet “live” streaming on he BBC website actually has a delay of what seems to be about a minute! It was the same delay with this episode, which I noiced as I had my laptop streaming it in case I lost the TV signal from a quite basic indoor aerial.
I thought this episode was generally quite good. One thing I noticed was when Jodie jumped from one crane to another, then said that she though her legs used to be longer. If they actually were, then how come her trousers weren’t longer as well? I didn’t think the trousers were really short on the 12th Doctor, but of course Jodie’s new blue trousers are quite short. The 12th Doctor’s outfit seemed to fit her quite well.
I liked the new theme. I thought it was better than previous versions of the theme in the current series. I was very disappointed with the theme that was used in 2005 by the BBC Wales Orchestra, but I’m not sure how long that continued. I listed to a playlist of all the themes since 1963 yesterday on Spotify. Some of them were so similar I didn’t notice when they changed in the as I was watching the series on TV. Now I’ve forgotten again! I remember thinking that the theme should definitely be electronic or with some weird sounding instruments. I think the BBC should have formed a new Radiophonics Workshop for that reason alone. Of course, it was all to do wih money!
8 October 2018 at 16:37 #64276Joining the chorus to say I loved it. I enjoyed getting to know the future reluctant companions early on with the Doctor nowhere in sight. I really cared about them. I liked seeing the Doctor from the point-of-view of the humans. That was a breath of fresh air, and really lent a bit of strangeness to the Doctor. Seeing the Doctor off in the distance watching Ryan try to ride that bike at the end and fail each time was just as emotional as when Nan fell to earth and died. I like that the humans are accidental companions and the whole bunch are now adventuring in space alone, without the Tardis. I got a bit of the Doctor’s incomprehension of human loss at the end when they were all talking after the funeral service. Oh, and the Doctor making her own sonic! I watched this with my aerospace engineer daughter and she “whooped” out loud at that point. Every young woman needs her own workshop! Yea, I really liked it! Welcome back Doctor!
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