David Tennant is back in the new teaser for the future of Doctor Who
How is David Tennant back on Doctor Who? Why is he back? WHEN is he back? (Next year.)
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[The following contains spoilers for Doctor Who.]
Jodie Whittaker’s final episode of Doctor Who aired today, and as is tradition when the lead actor leaves the show, her episode ended with her regenerating into a new Doctor… but there’s a but, and we’ll get to it in a bit. First, after the episode aired, the BBC released a teaser video for next year’s run of Doctor Who specials, featuring previously announced returning stars David Tennant (the 10th Doctor) and Catherine Tate (Donna Noble, whose return to the series has all sorts of curious lore implications). We also see Neil Patrick Harris as a scary looking man in a tuxedo and Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa as the new Doctor himself.
And that’s all there is to it! Nothing else to say, unless you don’t mind spoilers, because there are… some things to say. We’ll get into it after the video.
This is your last chance to turn back! Proper spoilers right after this photo of some guy leaving a fake TARDIS.
SO, if you happened to actually see Jodie Whittaker’s regeneration, you’ll know that she doesn’t turn into Ncuti Gatwa. She turns into David Tennant, and in a statement from new (old) showrunner Russell T. Davies, he confirms that Gatwa is actually the “Fifteenth Doctor.” Christopher Eccleston was nine, Tennant was 10, Matt Smith was 11, Peter Capaldi was 12, and Whittaker was 13, which means Tennant is also 14, which seems to mean he’s literally a different guy than the 10th Doctor. There have been regeneration shenanigans before, and also this is Doctor Who we’re talking about, so there are millions of ways for the show to explain this, but damn. Davies isn’t even officially running the show yet and he’s already dropping twists!
A Deadline story says that Tennant and Tate will both appear in three special episodes of Doctor Who that will air in November of 2023, which is over a year away, and Davies promises that Gatwa’s 15th Doctor will face “mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger, and fun,” and he’s giving everyone “a year to speculate” before “all hell lets loose.”
129 Comments
David Tenant is the best NuWho Doctor! Fight me! 🙂
I don’t watch nuwho oldwho yoowho choowho or blueswhose.But you are correct.
Eccleston is probably the best in terms of characterisation, but off the camera fallings out prevented more than one series.
I come to battle with Peter Capaldi. I think he was the best of the NuWho, but was saddled with some awful stories.
And Capaldi comes to battle riding a tank and playing electric guitar. Just add a little fire and you got the Doof Timewarrior.
Capaldi and Eccleston are my favourites, though I quite like latter-run Smith as well.
I’m also on board with the Peter Capaldi train. Except for that time his Doctor was on a train, that looked a bit too dangerous for my liking.
take your goddamn star
he also got the best damn episode in the history of the show so that’s not too shabby
one of the best episodes of television ever.
He also had some amazing ones, too.Heaven Sent anyone? (Personally, I’d include just about all of ninth season, but that’s just me. Except that one about dream-sand-monsters, or whatever. That one was lame.)
All right, fine, Matt Smith. It seems strange no one else has given this objectively correct response so far, but here we are.
Smith is my favorite as well. Tennant was great, but the schmoopy teen angst between him and Rose got really tiring, and it (IMO) actively harmed Martha’s tenure as companion.
Tennant is my favorite, but boyyyyyyyy did weepy eyed Martha pining for the Doctor and being jealous of the long-gone Rose was putrid. She started off as a strong competent companion, too.Donna Noble, of course, is the best companion.
Co-signed
Yep, Donna was (to borrow a phrase from Tennant’s predecessor) fantastic and really shined a light on how unnecessary turning the show into Doctor’s Creek was. Rose and Martha (and certainly the Doctor himself) didn’t need that throughline – they were strongly written enough without it.The good thing was that (again IMO) Davies’ first run was strong enough overall that while that put a drag on the show, it wasn’t enough to torpedo it entirely. But boy howdy did he do Martha dirty.
Martha was a *med student* when she met the Doctor and all of that aspect of her character is completely dropped, when it should have been a strong distinctive element of her run.It was a relief when there was ZERO romance between the Doctor and Donna. OI! SPACEMAN!
YOU WANT TO MATE?!
3/3
Donna Noble, of course, is the best companion.This is a true statement. Amy Pond, however, is a close second.
Matt Smith’s real face looks like a mask. It looks like he’s constantly wearing facial prosthetics.
Matt Smith was my favorite & to me the most convincingly alien doctor since Tom Baker I love Jodie Whittaker’s joyous doctor though too
I agree, but he came with Moffatt. Skews everything positive given that the best Doctor stories for 9th and 10th were also written by Moffatt.
I came here to say this.
Sorry , Smith , Capaldi, Whittaker ,Eccleston, then maybe Tennent.I just wasnt really a fan of RTD ‘s era ( and I’ve noped out of who now until he’s gone again )
Hey, this is pretty close to my order! I like Tennant’s Doctor, but I think it pales in comparison to pretty much every other incarnation. I still put Whitaker behind him just because Chibnall’s lousy characterization often made her feel like a low calorie Tennant, but I think he’s vastly overrated.
Eleven is my Doctor and I’ll always fight that Series 5 is the single best season of Nu-Who.
Tennant always gave a great performance, but he was really hampered by a writing team that never seemed to be on the same page about what his character should be like, which especially hurt when he came off like a huge hypocrite about violence.
Twelve, all the way.
comin’ in hot with a bold take no-one’s ever had before, wow(it’s Capaldi btw)
I adore the 10th Doctor. Eccleston was really great, and I really loved Capaldi…but no one’s done it for me quite like Tennant.
He’s my favorite actor to play the Doctor, hands down. But I’m going to break nerd law and say, “Why do we have to choose?” They each scratch a different itch. I still haven’t seen Eccleston’s season, but I love Smith, adore Tennant, and will go to the mat for Capaldi. I even have a bizarre and strong affection for Whitaker’s Doctor. She always seemed to be giving a fascinating, layered performance. However, my experience watching her iteration of the show was that eventually, she’d be off-screen, and one or more members of her companion “fam” would start jawing about their feelings or their traumas, and…the next thing I know I’m waking up, and the show is long over, and some guy on the TV is telling me about these new catheters he’s using, that are so much better than his old catheters.
My ranking:1. Tennant2. Eccleston3. Smith4. Capaldi5. WhittakerBut, I like them all. Honestly, my rankings probably have as much to do with the writing as the acting. As showrunners, RTD > Moffat >>>>>>Chibnall
There’s only so many ways to order these, so maybe it’s not shocking, but these are both my exact rankings as well.
How is David Tennant back on Doctor Who? Why is he back? WHEN is he back? (Next year.)He’s playing the Fourteenth Doctor (yes, it’s not Tenth revival), it’s likely because of degeneration mentioned in tonight’s episode, he’s back officially to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the BBC and the 60th anniversary of the show but in reality it’s to wash the bad taste of the last few years of terrible writing out before RTD fully takes back over afresh.
First things first: I will give you Midnight, credit where it’s due. But. I counter the proposition that RTD brings anything but his own brand of “terrible writing” with: Aliens of London/World War Three, Love & Monsters (I know there are those who take up for this one; they are wrong), Last of the Time Lords. No, not every episode he writes is this bad (thank goodness), but the potential is there, that’s all.
He is absolutely not without his flaws, and I cite the farting alien episodes as among the worst of the pre-Chibnall era. And as I mentioned in another reply, I got very tired of the WB-style teen angst that he insisted on throwing in there.But he’s a known quantity, and he’s the guy who brought the show back in 2005, which earns a lot of goodwill. If they brought in a new head writer (other than perhaps, say, someone like JMS or maybe a Mark Gatiss) then there would be a great deal of uncertainty and concern about whether the writing was going to continue to be horrible.
I mean out of your list of terrible writing you went with two episodes written as a mocking of the politicians who put forward the fictitious case for the Iraq War (to the point it specifically mocks the “45 minutes” claim about Iraqi Anthrax), an episode written as a competition prize for the kids show Blue Peter, and an episode where many of the problems are due to the cut for commercials version.
Are you No True Scotsmen-ing bad writing? Bad writing is bad writing.
No, pointing out that the issues claimed as “bad writing” are not “bad writing”. There’s a reason why each of those episodes are written the way they are that people overlook that in the context meant makes sense.Why “farting aliens” who wear bodysuits? Because they represent RTD’s view that politicians are full of shit and despite seeming funny will kill you the moment they feel like it.
That doesn’t make the episode good, though. To each their own, of course, but responding to someone claiming that to them the episode was an example of bad writing with “It’s a satire of the Iraq War, actually!” is a non-sequitur; satires are not in and of themselves automatically examples of good writing.
And just saying they’re bad with no reason doesn’t provide any useful information as to why they’re supposedly terrible, so I had to go off the usual reasons people say they’re terrible (farting aliens but no acknowledgement of the satire, love and monsters being a childish camp fest when it was the response to a children’s competition, and that depending on where you live you’ve never seen the full broadcast version of the episode in question).
And I suppose the blowjob joke from Love and Monsters is really a sly commentary on kink shaming? Look, valiant effort in defense, but bad writing is still bad writing, even when it’s, like, about something, man.
It was a dumb throwaway line in a deliberate camp episode that was probably a play on the “guy gets the girl” trope.Don’t even particularly enjoy the episode but the declaration “it’s bad writing” but then not articulating why is meaningless.Just comes across as “I don’t like it” rather than any poor use of technique that “bad writing” denotes.
Both RTD and Moffat, for all their faults, bring a joy, excitement, humor, and energy to their scripts that Chibnall has not produced once in his tenure. They are also both capable of producing some pretty outstanding highs, which again, Chibnall has just not been able to produce.If having to sit through another Aliens of London means getting more episodes like The Waters of Mars, Utopia, Midnight or even something lighter like Smith and Jones, I’ll take it. Not to mention all the great episodes under his reign that he didn’t write but did have a hand in. The highs of the RTD era are worth the lows… although, I really do hope there’s not gonna be another Love & Monsters anytime soon.
Speaking as someone who agrees that RTD’s run is far from perfect: at least he’s proven that he can keep the train mostly on the tracks. Yes, the fawning adulation he gets is a bit much and the Slitheen exist, but at least you also get a ‘Midnight’ or even a, I dunno, a ‘Gridlock’ or a ‘Tooth and Claw’ or something, a solidly entertaining episode of Doctor Who which might be a bit wobbly but doesn’t make you want to bang your head into a wall with a nail sticking out of it. People maybe go a bit over-the-top about his stuff, but there’s also a reason why people like it. (Though honestly, I suspect that RTD’s real strength on the show was managing the people under him efficiently enough to get their best work out of them rather than his own contributions — Steven Moffat’s best episodes of the show are still the ones he wrote for RTD rather than when he was showrunner.)
“wash away the bad taste of the last few years of terrible writing out before RTD fully takes back over afresh.”That’s a bit like washing the taste of mouldy carrot cake from your mouth with rancid haddock and garlic juice.
Sure, except for the fact the RTD era is highly rated and considered one of the peaks of the entire show’s history.
Ah fair enough, I probably should have started that post with ‘for me‘ , I know a lot of people loved the Davis years , but I absolutely hated them .
I love them. He creates a very RTD world and goes full in with it. It may be inconsistent, but it has some internal logic on how that guy sees fantasy and sci-fi.
He is there as a buffer because some people can’t handle two Doctors in a row who aren’t white males.
Re: “Christopher Eccleston was nine, Tennant was 10, Matt Smith was 11, Peter Capaldi was 12, and Whittaker was 13, which means Tennant is also 14″ – What about the War Doctor? Isn’t he officially 9, and Eccleston was 10, Tennant 11, Matt 12, Capaldi 13, Whittake 14 and Tennant Mk.2 15, while Ncuti is 16?
War Doctor is just War Doctor. He doesn’t have a number.
No, the War Doctor is simply the War Doctor and not counted as a specific incarnation.
Isn’t the party line that Hurt’s action were “not in the name of the Doctor” and thus shouldn’t count? But of course we might be talking about regenerations a Time Lord is typically allowed. But of course, the War Doc’s creation was tied to that special potion Dr. 8 drank, so that might have bought an extra regen… Oh, and are we counting how Tennant kinda regened himself twice with the hand thing in the story where Donna Noble first left? Hmm, my head suddenly hurts…
IIRC technically yes, Tenth used up a regeneration with the hand thing. so really, ninth is “tenth,” tenth is “eleventh,” then eleven (Smith) is “thirteen” and my head also suddenly hurtsNot that they ever refer to *themselves* as such.
James VI of Scotland became James I of England and Ireland, Edward I of England was the third of his name, Swedish kings Eric XIV and Charles the IX have also been called Eric IX and Charles IV respectively…. numbers can get messy.
Canonically, in terms of how many regenerations the Doctor possesses, both the War Doctor’s regeneration and Ten’s second regeneration count, per Eleven’s final episode.
There’s no set limit on regens though, thanks to The Timeless Child. Plus, the First Doctor isn’t really the First Doctor now. Because the Ruth Doctor is, for all intents and purposes the Negative First Doctor. However, when the “13 total regenerations thing was a thing, it went:1 – Hartnel
2 – Troughton (regen 1)
3 – Pertwee (regen 2)
4 – Baker (regen 3)
5 – Davison (regen 4)
6 – Baker II: The Revenge (regen 5)
7 – McCoy (regen 6)
8 – McGann (regen 7)
W – Hurt (regen 9)
9 – Eccleston (regen 10)
10 – Tennant (regen 11)
10 – Tennant (regen 12)
11 – Smith (regen 13)So, in Time of the Doctor, Smith actually acknowledged that 10 used another regen and stayed that way*. Then the Time Lords gifted him a new regeneration cycle of 13 regenerations, the first being into Capaldi. So…12 – Capaldi (regen 1)
13 – Whitaker (regen 2)Which would have meant that there would be 11 more to go in this cycle (well, 10, since regen 3 goes to NuTennant, and eventually 9 with Gatwa being the 15th). Of course, thanks to The Timeless Child we now know that The Doctor, the originator of regeneration, has unlimited regenerations, and though it’s not been confirmed, the Time Lords granting Smith a new cycle was basically lifting the mental block for him and basically unlocking the unlimited regenerations, because the 13 regenerations limit was imposed on the genetically engineered Time Lords to more or less keep them in check, and The Doctor was brainwashed into thinking they were like any other Gallifreyan Time Lord.*This begs the question though: If Tennant’s 10th Doctor managed to burn a regeneration and stay in that incarnation, why couldn’t 14 have done the same. Obviously it was something Chibnall didn’t take into account and likely something Davies wishes people would ignore (or it’s a mandate from the BBC to just start fresh with a “new” Doctor, because I bet him and Jodie could have done gangbusters.
You’re conflating canonical doctor regenerations with actors cast in the role. Tennant is 10th and 14th (much like Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States) because the role was non consecutive.Per the storyline, it goes: 1 to 8, the War Doctor (9), Eccleston, Tennant, Tennant, Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker, Tennant, Gatwa So Tennant is the 14th person cast as the Doctor and Gatwa the 15th, but in-story they’re the 16th (and 10th and 11th) and 17th respectively.
In “Time of The Doctor”, Matt Smith says he once repeated a form after regeneration. That establishes that we are then seeing The Doctor in his thirteenth form, after twelve regenerations, and setting up the need for new regenerations to be granted by Gallifrey. However he doesn’t say which form was repeated so we have no way of renumbering all the regenerations before that point. We can definitively number the forms after that point, making Capaldi fourteen and Whittaker fifteen. We can also relatively number then when the regeneration was onscreen.
I highly suspect the true purpose of that promo is that BBC knew full well this would look like they were bowing to the racist fans and reneging on having a black Doctor.
I do think it’s a bit of a copout in a way, bringing the classic favorite back as basically just fanservice. With the pullback, I actually thought they were going to hold off on debuting the new Doctor entirely, which would have been a braver choice by far. Even if this was an incredibly poorly kept secret, I’d have to have given Chibnall credit for at least one genuine stunt if he’d left it hanging.
Would it be too much to ask for David Tennant to do it in his Scrooge McDuck voice? And wear a top hat and spats?
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper (Super duper!)
And no pants?
I know some girls from ~2007 who would be all for that.
You’ve made an interesting point , since it’s Tennant playing a different version of who he could be Scottish again. (Or he’s 12 in 10s body so tennant doing a capadi impression? I’d actually watch that)
GREAT! Now the order’s even more confusing! Especially if you take John Hurt’s War Doctor into account since he’s technically the Ninth Doctor! YAY!!!!
It occurs that people used to complain that the old series ended up being nonsensical, continuity obsessed and fond of disappearing up its own ass, but in hindsight that was really just because they kept making sequels to stories that were twenty-odd years old (some of which, admittedly, had been wiped from the archives). Modern Who is getting even worse; at least in 1989 you didn’t need a flowchart just to tell which Doctor is which.
Now confuse people even more by asking where Peter Cushing fits in!
Nowhere. He was Doctor Who rather than The Doctor and had Tardis rather than The Tardis.
No one was credited as “The Doctor” until Castrovalva.
Says a lot about this era but her not only did I not know it was Jodie’s farewell episode but don’t care that much. BBC dumping this episode in some random October, like how movies that aren’t very good get released in February or March instead of the summer or Holiday Season, shows how much they care. Anyways, so long Chibnall- you were the Gary Cherone of Doctor Who show runners
“the Gary Cherone of Doctor Who showrunners” is *chef’s kiss*.
I feel this one. I support all of Chibnall’s goals but feel strongly that there was a rush to get them all over the line too fast at the expense of the story — whereas other showrunners who have pushed the arc of the story too fast too the expense at the quality of the exposition.
SNL has a lasting convention where the media calls them “Saturday Night Dead,” and I think NuWho suffers from the same convention. We’re so happy that it’s still happening, but we also want it to end so we can all go home — resultantly, the Doctor is necessary, if only to make kids understand that just because you’re the only person who Gets It doesn’t mean you should STFU.
A friend of mine who is the biggest Whovian I know said, flatly, that they should let it rest for a good five years or so.
It feels like they already do that between each series these days.
Anyways, so long Chibnall- you were the Gary Cherone of Doctor Who show runnersJesus Christ, Chibnall has a family!
To be fair, it wasn’t dumped – it was commissioned specifically for the BBC’s centenary celebrations, hence the October slot rather than holding it until Christmas (or, as I believe the original plan was, regenerating earlier). The BBC wanted the show to be one of the main elements of its anniversary.
And on top of that, the only coverage in the AV Club is “here’s the fat spoiler in the headline and featured image.”But I’m sure all the House of the Dragon advertising money is making up for it. Chase those SEO dreams!
jesus, it hasn’t even aired in north america yet.
Other countries than the USA exist. Crack open an atlas. Give yourself a thrill!
hey dum dum, i’m canadian, and pssssst, the AV Club is a site that primarily has a *north american* audience
You’re calling me a “dum dum” and you can’t even capitalise Canadian, eh? Put the beaver down and crack a book open, tit-wit.
beavers are vicious savages, second only to the majestic and psychopathic canadian goosei’m just lazy, motherfucker
I love geese. Especially when they’re chasing after a fat toddler with murderous intent.Pipe down, you soggy queef.
You got a problem with Canadain gooses you got a problem with me, and I suggest you let that one marinate.
Fuck, I could watch gooses chasing fat toddlers all day with murderous intent, i don’t give a fuck about your fat toddlers.
Capitalizing their nationality would be too ostentatious for a Canadian.Compare with an American, where USA is ALL FUCKING CAPITAL LETTERS.
he’s giving everyone “a year to speculate” before “all hell lets loose.”I speculate that it’s all going to be hyped up the wazoo before ultimately proving kind of underwhelming, in typical modern Who fashion.
Just watched the latest episode ‘The Power of the Doctor’ and just wanna get out some thoughts. Basically… this episode is kind of a fitting ending for the Chibnall era, in that it encapsulates everything wrong with his reign as showrunner as well as the few bits of good about it.The main problem – as always, with Chibnall – is that the pacing is just atrocious. Chibnall has this weird problem where the plot moves way too fast and yet the moment-to-moment stuff moves way too slow. There are a whole bunch of different ideas thrown into the mix here – some of which could have been genuinely fun or interesting, others which are just not so good – but none of them get to be explored properly because they’re a) fighting for screen time and b) presented in the most exposition-y, workmanlike way possible (think the S12 finale’s ‘this is the twist’ presentation by the Master).Everything is given this sombre, epic tone that sucks the energy out of the proceedings and just isn’t suited to the inherent fun and silliness of Doctor Who. This then gets punctuated by moments of levity and humor that Chibnall just doesn’t seem that interested in and doesn’t know how to make land, and just don’t work with the tone set by the rest of the episode (which gets pretty dark and horrifying at times).And the fanservice… so, so much fanservice. Bringing back a shit ton of old-Who actors in addition to a bunch of old companions from the Chibnall era… it’s way too much, and you have to wonder who it’s really meant for. Not all of it was bad, but some of it was cringe. There were moments with Ace where it felt less like I was watching a middle-aged woman stuck in arrested development.
There’s good stuff in there as well, but in some ways it just reminds you of what potential has been wasted here. Whittaker is great, and there are even some moments where you’re shown how great she could’ve been with a better writer at the helm who could tap into the Doctor’s manic energy a bit more. And the [SPOILERS, SORT OF] regeneration was genuinely affecting, Mandip Gill’s acting when the Doctor realizes what’s happening is one of the best, most perfectly understated pieces of acting this show’s ever seen, and Whittaker’s final moments are really well done. They both kill those scenes. It reminds me of Demons of the Punjab and the one with the talking frog, where I was thinking ‘well, it’s not as good or fun as the other showrunner’s episodes, but maybe it can reach some different emotional places to those.’ Also, the special effects were really good (by BBC standards, at least), which bodes well for the series’ future.
Anyway. Psyched for RTD to come back, psyched for Tenant, psyched for NPH. Sad this era wasn’t better, and sad Whittaker wasn’t have been allowed to shine more, but looking forward to DW hopefully getting back to its former glory.
Man, there was so much good and interesting stuff that came up in this episode and then was immediately swept away by something else entirely. It’s genuinely hard to even keep up, and 13 seems to be mirroring Chibnall when she keeps saying that she doesn’t have time to explain, there’s more plot to rush headlong into, past and forget about. I feel like overall his problems just got worse and worse as time has gone on. Like, Flux was the same way, and if he heard any criticism at all about it, he must have just decided that the solution was to break the knob off by turning it to 21. It maybe made it more compelling and engaging than the previous two specials, but that could just have been the fact that it’s an ending, and still doesn’t excuse the fact that for like three minutes Whitaker is just reading out the storyboard cards one after another.On the note of her being a better character under better guidance, when she’s fixing up the Vinder’s ship near the end, it reminded me that she initially had a pretty strong builder/engineering vibe, and how cool would have been if they had really leaned into that instead of mostly forgetting about it throughout the entire run. There was so much lost potential here that it’s really a shame we’re not at the 70th anniversary special doing this “whoops I regenerated into my past form” gimmick to give her an actual chance to be brilliant.
I did like all the fan service stuff, though, and thought it was pretty well done all things considered. I don’t have an real connection to the old series, so I don’t strictly care about Ace and Tegan, but I really enjoyed seeing them anyway. And I thought the stuttering between previous forms was done well, though mostly that was because once I realized what was happening I knew we were going to get more Paul McGann, which is always a treat. Also cool to Jo Martin again, even if I thought that whole plot point was basically rubbish. She still would have made a great doctor. It all worked pretty well for me.
Fair enough! I will say that I thought the stuttering between previous forms was the best part of the fanservice, it was a nice way to incorporate old Doctors and the moments themselves felt emotional and sparky.it reminded me that she initially had a pretty strong builder/engineering vibe, and how cool would have been if they had really leaned into that instead of mostly forgetting about it throughout the entire run. Agreed, though I come at it from a different angle. I think one of the real defining problems with this era is that the Doctor never really shows her ingenuity. Even though the show has always relied on sci-fi hokum to resolve a plot, in the RTD/Moffat episodes the Doctor also got these moments of quick-thinking and improvisation, the logic of which the audience could follow along with (even if it was sci-fi hokum). That didn’t really happen in this era, the Doctor seemed rather underpowered (esp disappointing with the first female Doctor) and almost always relied on companions. The only moment I can think of that reaches that is in ‘Rosa’ where she gets the dude to shoot his own equipment through time.Also cool to Jo Martin again, even if I thought that whole plot point was basically rubbish. She still would have made a great doctor.To me she feels like a very different Doctor – more severe, militaristic, less quippy/eccentric. I don’t think she’d work as the central Doctor, but I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing her again (even though that whole arc is… gah)
My main disappointment with the arc is, aside from all other considerations of the continuity or whatever, there was at least an opportunity created to run into alternate past Doctors who were wildly different, maybe even not so nice, but we only ever met Jo Martin’s. She was really good but why introduce the idea of her having regenerated many many many times before becoming “the first Doctor” and not show anyone else?
I think your main disappointment ties nicely into my main disappointment, which was that Chibnall’s entire run didn’t really do anything new. This is made doubly worse considering that he had the first female Doctor to work with and just didn’t really do anything with that opportunity.
As an audience we’d just been through the Doctor losing Gallifrey through the Time War, struggling with who they were, having a secret about their past revealed, etc. and Chibnall had the Doctor losing Gallifrey, struggling with who they were, and had secrets about their past revealed, etc. And it was all done with as much grace and elegance as bringing back Captain Jack to save the Doctor from prison (cause god forbid Whittaker’s Doctor to save herself) using a device that can shield them while they run through walls. Literal plot armor. That actually happened.
Chibnall had all the elements to make Doctor Who feel fresh, exciting and new, and overall made it noticeably derivative and feel boring because of it.
Chibnall had the Doctor losing GallifreyTruly lame, as well, that after all this time with Gallifrey lost to the time war, the Doctor triumphantly bringing it back, and then Chibnall being like: ‘Nope. It was destroyed again. By the Master. Offscreen. Somehow. You just missed it.’(cause god forbid Whittaker’s Doctor to save herself)I mentioned this above, but yeah – ‘Doctor breaking out of space prison’ should be a great, fun idea, but they never let Whittaker’s Doctor show off her ingenuity.
Ugh, her just completely accepting her arrest and imprisonment pretty much defined the character- just totally and annoyingly passive. Didn’t protest, didn’t get outraged, didn’t even have a trick or two up her sleeve to get out of prison while in prison. Just lame.
I took this as Chibnall’s way of showing the Doctor struggling with who they are, which of course we’ve seen before, e.g. Capaldi’s Doctor only a few seasons ago.
The difference is the points you make and that Chibnall only explored the Doctor’s personal crisis on the most superficial of levels, a trait that seemed to define his writing throughout.
it was a mess, for sure, but it was a fun and watchable mess which definitely tops most of Chibnall’s era. there were a few moments in here (5/Tegan conversation, that Mandip/Jodie scene, the Master taunting Tegan and Ace about their lives and a few others) that remind you he can actually write a damn good scene and maybe could have been a great showrunner if he ever figured out how to string those scenes together into a coherent episode with thematic resonancehe never quite got there, but still, I’ll take it. this was definitely one of the 5 best episodes of the Chibnall era, along with Village of the Angels, The Haunting of Villa Diodati, Demons of the Punjab, and I guess the talking frog one
I definitely seem to be in the minority on the fanservice, but hey! Agree with the episodes you mention, but I’d also throw in Resolution, Spyfall and Eve of the Daleks – I think those episodes managed to partially recapture the spirit of old nu-Who. Also Fugitive of the Judoon was pretty good, though it might not hold up knowing where it leads.
Spyfall for me is a phenomenal episode 1 completely let down by its second half. the complete lack of pay-off or even resolution to most of the major storylines frustrates me more than anything else. great introduction to Sacha’s Master but that’s my only real takeaway as a wholeResolution and Eve I enjoyed, though with the typical caveat of there being some absolute stinker lines that should be rights have been cut, like that absolute groaner of a scene with the family wi-fi. definitely high on the list of fun specials but not as high on replay value, for me
Lol I had to search for the wifi moment to know what you meant. Now I remember. Honestly I thought that moment was fine, bit hackneyed but it’s no worse than any number of moments from other episodes/eras. It’s certainly not the Resident Evil ‘zootopia porn’-level cringe the Youtube comments seem to be making it out to be.Spyfall does drop off in the second act, it’s true, although there are bits of it I still enjoyed. Part 1 is definitely better though.
The fan service definitely worked for me – so I guess the target is other old farts who’ve been watching for decades. Getting to see old companions return, played by their original actors, and have a place in NewWho was great. Especially in the case of Ace and Tegan getting to have emotional moments with their Doctors – it hit hard.
Like I said to Yellowfoot, I do think the moments with the old companions and their Doctors were good. I’d even go as far as to say I actually liked them. Just that some other bits felt a lot weaker and it contributed to an already overstuffed episode.I am glad this episode seems to have gone down well for some people, though. As much as I dislike this era, I was genuinely rooting for Chibnall, Whittaker et al to go out on a high and get a win before they depart. I wanted to like it but it just didn’t work for me, but there you go.
Honest question: is the majority of the universe still destroyed (since the Flux) or was there an explanation I missed?
Pretty sure it is, yeah. I guess that’s being left for RTD to resolve. Or ignore.
That pretty much sums up the Chibnall era then to me: he literally left Doctor Who’s universe in ruins for others to fix or just ignore what he did.
Such a sloppy hack and arguably inconsequential showrunner. Whittaker deserved so much better, I hope she gets a chance with an anniversary special or six.
From what I’ve heard Chibnall doesn’t even really expect RTD to do anything with the Timeless Child. Like he’s got a pretty good perspective on it, Who’s continuity is very loose and any idea he introduces may be discarded or never used again or maybe referenced a few times in passing, and he’s fine with that, it’s how the show works. After all we’ve had the Doctor being one of the OG Time Lords reincarnated via the Looms, the Doctor being half human, Season 6b, other weirdness.
I imagine that Chibnall probably did intend to have more past Doctors show up, but because the storyline ended up being so poorly received just… didn’t, in the end. IIRC, that storyline was referenced in Flux but in such a way that it kept the most offensive elements out.With the Timeless Child stuff, I’m not bothered by the continuity aspect of it – I can buy the logic of it just about. But… it just goes massively against the spirit of the show. The Doctor isn’t a kooky scrappy self-made hero anymore, s/he’s a badass super-spy and Chosen One and, I guess, immortal now? Or, at least, has infinite regenerations?
But yeah, agree that RTD doesn’t have to touch that if he doesn’t want to. This kind of ties in to why I’m still paying attention to DW – in another series, the Chibnall era (and that storyline) might be considered a shark-jump, but reinvention is basically hardwired into this show’s DNA. It can change, it can get better.
Forgot to mention: also shout out to Sacha Dhawan, his creepy incel Master was great.
I agree with a lot of that. With respect to the old Doctors coming back, I liked the fact that they made sure all the Doctors who made their own reboot after not being asked to appear in the 50th Anniversary show (the Five(ish) Doctors – look for it online if you haven’t seen it) were included.
The Chibnall era sucked something awful, but there’s something so desperate and eye roll-worthy about giving Ten a third regeneration (and bringing RTD back in general). Remember when Doctor Who was the hip new thing again? Remember? Eh? Eh? You’ll like this—we promise! It’s got all the things you used to like so you’ll definitely like it again! It’ll be like all those sitcom revivals people are clamoring for! Those have all been unqualified smash successes! Right? Right?…Right?…but, on the other hand, Donna’s back, so I’m at least a little all right with this.
Also, it means they were able to get one more appearance from Bernard Cribbins before his death.
Where they? I thought he passed before filming but that would be something wonderful if he was able to be a part of this.
H was spotted filming scenes with them and, apparently, completed his stuff before passing. I’d guess it was a small role but it’s wonderful to think he got to do it one more time.
I’ll have a good cry when his name appears on screen.
There’s too much time between these things to spend a year speculating about them. What’s actually going to happen is that I’ll forget all about it until I see something about it the day it airs. I didn’t realize there was a new one today until seeing the “what’s on this week” article here.
Okay you had me at puppets
I’ve said it many times, but for as much shit as the Chibnall era gets on writing, the scripts aren’t actually that bad. Oh, I mean, the nods to the Cartmel Master Plan, the Forgotten Child nonsense, like that was all bad, but the bread-and-butter scripts were mostly just average.The problem that hamstrung the entire show is that the production team never seemed to get their shit together. There’s bad blocking, bad editing, clearly missed coverage on set- a lot of “shoot it fast, we’ll fix it in the edit” type filmmaking.
I watched the regeneration scene. Why do the clothes regenerate? I’m guessing they’ll tempobabble a reason, but can they come up with a convincing explanation beyond “David Tennant didn’t want to wear Jodie Whitaker’s outfit”?
The clothes very specifically do not regenerate, which is a major clue that something has gone wrong in this particular iteration. Considering Sacha Dhawan briefly wore 13’s outfit in this episode, I doubt Tennant would have had a problem wearing it as well. Unless he has it in his contract that he only ever wears sandshoes.
The music drops out and the camera focuses right on them as they burn away. I think you’re meant to take that as the writers knew that wasn’t a common occurrence. Tennant’s going to be 14th Doctor for like 3 episodes anyway; I don’t think even this show will lose track of that thread.
I mean one time a guy in white face paint showed up and merged with the doctor to form the 5th doctor, nuwho regenerations have been mostly consistent, but it would hardly be the first time they got weird in the show’s canon..
Actually…Yeah, I’ll go there.
Tennant counted as 10 & 11 when Matt Smith got a new set of lives, due to regenerating into himself that one time.I’d argue it possible they finally acknowledge that in the numbering in some way and bring him back for that purpose…
Doctor Who looks like Kramer.
[The following contains spoilers for Doctor Who.]The preceding headline and image do as well.
Okay I guess AVC really isn’t gonna review this, well then. So I thought Power of the Doctor was probably Chris Chibnall’s best work for the series. I wish this was saying more, like there have been some memorable episodes in his run but mostly written by others. So to get a big fun spectacular that relies a lot on nostalgia feels may be the most we could have expected.That having been said I think this story also does feel like finally getting what he was going for all this time with Whittaker’s Doctor and the “fam” and all- the idea of the Doctor supporting her friends and so being able to rely on them to help her when she needs to implement a weird reckless plan. The whole bit of her literally giving a pat to everyone that allows her to communicate with them via her holo-Doc is really cute. And while I’m not entirely sure why they needed to go to Russia in 1916, I’m also willing to believe the Master did it solely so he could do Rasputin and play the Rasputin song at a key moment. That’s probably where the plan started really.So yeah a good send off that left me looking forward to the future, the regeneration is weird but presumably that’s the point.