Jump to content

Doctor who Series 10; He has been away for a while but he is back! Contains spoilers.


Jon's Queen Consort

Recommended Posts

Is there some kind of embargo on comments for new season?

I was going to say the episode was subdued but on the plus side the show feels very, very different - almost like a reboot. Which is good for anyone, like myself, who grew tired of some of Moffat's bad habits. Maybe a shock for those who loved that style. I'll definitely be watching some more as while I'm far from blown away I am actually curious about the show. It's not just a new Dr and companions the whole show feels different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, red snow said:

Maybe a shock for those who loved that style.


I don't think there was anyone who loved that style by the end. Despite the odd moment of brilliance he fucked it up badly by the end.

 


That's why the show lost over half its (UK) viewers over his tenure, and that's why this show feels so different - it's a clear attempt to win back the crowd. I'm sure that's also that's why it's standalone episodes with no true arc- if it gets good word of mouth they don't want people turning on halfway through the season being put off.

It's actually gone back in style to something quite similar to Ecclestone's early episodes. They played a lot more on 'we don't know who the Doctor is', especially the intro episode itself, than this did but they also had the more grounded feel that somewhat went with Tennant and vanished under Moffatt.

It was a bit strange that the main villain was basically a Predator, with ice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought it was a good first episode. The monster wasn't particularly memorable (and it seems a weirdly easy leadership challenge), but that does tend to be the case in the 'introducing a new Doctor' episodes where a lot of the focus has to be on the Doctor and their new companions. I agree that it felt like a bit of a change in style, there seemed to be a bit less comedy than most Moffat episodes and the plotting wasn't so over-the-top. The plot was coherent as well, which is a nice change from many of the episodes in recent seasons.

I thought Jodie Whittaker did a good job, she did feel like The Doctor. It's hard to entirely judge her take on the character since it was a plot point that she hadn't really settled down after regenerating, but it felt like a good beginning. The new companions seemed likeable as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

That's why the show lost over half its (UK) viewers over his tenure, and that's why this show feels so different - it's a clear attempt to win back the crowd. I'm sure that's also that's why it's standalone episodes with no true arc- if it gets good word of mouth they don't want people turning on halfway through the season being put off.

I do think the ratings thing was somewhat overblown. When streamings, repeats and iPlayer viewings were taken into account, the series remained reasonably constant under Moffat in the ratings sense. The first-run ratings dipped, but the feeling seems to be that this was because the show jumped all around the schedule so much (basically it was on Saturday night, but starting at anything between 5.15pm and 8pm because of other shows) that people gave up and timeshifted it or streamed it.

One of the ideas of moving it to Sundays was to lock in a definitive time every week and see if that helps the first-run ratings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Current reaction is that I felt the episode was plodding, but not hopelessly so. I'm cautiously inclined to identify myself as a pro-Moffat fan, since apart from everything else, he had a linguistic energy that Chibnall really doesn't. 

However, I still felt a bit of a thrill as the trailers for the current series/episode rolled. The whole season isn't Chibnall, so hopefully one of the other writers will come up trumps somewhere. 

Whittaker fine, but as I think the BBC critic observed, she's currently a bit too sweetness-and-light. That could work well for the long haul, since it offers layers for future episodes to explore that could give her a bit more hinterland/range. But I hope she doesn't stay as an unMissyfied Mary Poppins for ever. 

I agree with red snow's comment. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People noting on Twitter that a new Doctor's first story is always pedestrian-to-awful, which is actually somewhat true.

An Unearthly Child - actually pretty brilliant (for 1963), but the first episode of the entire series is a rather different kettle of fish.

Power of the Daleks - from what we can tell (it being missing and only restored via animation), actually quite decent, but having 6 episodes and 2.5 hours to introduce the new Doctor (the only time this ever happened) and tell a coherent story certainly helps with that.

Spearhead from Space - excellent. In the space of just 90 minutes it had to introduce a new villain (the Autons), reintroduce UNIT and a number of recurring characters from a story over a year earlier (the Brigadier, Benton etc), introduce a new Doctor and a new companion (Liz Shaw). It did very well.

Robot - a bit shit.

Castrovalva - interesting, but a weird story from the "let's turn Doctor Who into a weird mega-hard SF series" phase of the show's existence and not that great.

The Twin Dilemma - utter shit, and possibly the worst Doctor Who story ever made, old or new.

Time and the Rani- mostly shit.

The Movie - incongruously weird, random and Americanised.

Rose - okay, if a bit ADHD, benefitted from using a recurring villain (the Autons again!).

The Christmas Invasion - meh. The Doctor was hardly in it, which was an interesting approach. Not a very good approach, but an interesting one.

The Eleventh Hour - meh.

Deep Breath - meh.

 

Based on this, I'm surprised they don't use a recurring villain more often, since it helps the story a bit more (since the audience will have a passing familiarity with the monster/villain, meaning there's less introductory heavy-lifting to do). OTOH, I suppose the idea is that if the Doctor is off his best form, it's less plausible that someone like the Master or the Daleks wouldn't take advantage of the situation and kill him or win.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recall quite liking The Eleventh Hour. Matt Smith's not my favourite doctor - still, the episode left more of an impression on me than Deep Breath/Christmas Invasion/Rose. It had a couple of memorable motifs - the crack in the bedroom wall, and Amy Pond waiting and growing up and not forgetting. 

But yeah, there does seem to be a trend towards under-powered introductory episodes. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, dog-days said:

I recall quite liking The Eleventh Hour. Matt Smith's not my favourite doctor - still, the episode left more of an impression on me than Deep Breath/Christmas Invasion/Rose. It had a couple of memorable motifs - the crack in the bedroom wall, and Amy Pond waiting and growing up and not forgetting.

I agree, I think The Eleventh Hour is my favourite of the recent Doctor Who introduction episodes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe I'm not as versed in Who lore as the rest of you (I'm not), but I liked it. There was a cinematic quality to it, similar, to me, as Capaldi's initial entry.

I liked the companions introduced this time out too.  Seems like a really good start.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, williamjm said:

I thought it was a good first episode. The monster wasn't particularly memorable (and it seems a weirdly easy leadership challenge)

I think the idea was that he would have to find one specific person on a planet of 7 billion, but he cheated.

Overall I liked this. It definitely feels like a new direction for the show and I'm curious to see where it goes and how it develops.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Werthead said:

One of the ideas of moving it to Sundays was to lock in a definitive time every week and see if that helps the first-run ratings.

If so, that's a bust by episode 2, because they already moved it from 6:45pm to 6:55pm.

It makes no sense. Why would you do this with one of your flagship shows?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, mormont said:

If so, that's a bust by episode 2, because they already moved it from 6:45pm to 6:55pm.

It makes no sense. Why would you do this with one of your flagship shows?

It is really odd. Especially given that time of day usually only has country file and antiques roadshow preceding it. They manage to keep their big shows in the 9pm slot so it's odd doctor who doesn't get the same treatment.

That said if what wert mentioned is true, live viewing figures are an antiquated judge of how a show performs. If anything live viewing figures is just an easy headline for writing articles about how a show is failing if the iPlayer/recorded viewers are high. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I rather enjoyed it. I thought that Jodie Whittaker was solid though at times I felt she was channeling a schizophrenic version of Tennant and Smith that got blended together, but hopefully that gets evened out as The Doctor completes her regeneration.

As for the companions, I actually really liked them, though I thought Ryan got the most time to shine. It felt like Yaz was just kind of there, and Graham was also just kind of there, bringing little to the table besides being scared and shit. Kind of bugged me that Grace was quite clearly going to bite it from pretty early on, because I rather liked her.

I am still excited for next week though, interesting cliffhanger.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually i really liked it. It was nice to get back to a simple story without all the massive universe-changing nonsense some of the Moffat stories had going on. Sometimes a smaller, more localised plot and location does better than trying to be all "big bad evil" threat or whatever.

The cinematography was pretty great i thought, the wide sweeping camera pans over the city and following that van at one point made it actually feel like the action was moving through a real place and not just jumping between different sets. It sort of sewed it all together better i thought.

Bad guy was pretty low key but still a threat, and just because he seems a bit meh to us (hunting unarmed, low threat prey is considered something worthy of leadership on his planet?..lol) maybe his species looked upon the universe differently. Perhaps to then it was a worthy challenge even if it is a bit of a silly test of leadership ability....it's like if we elected world leaders by means of a game of hide and seek.

New Doctor is a refreshing change actually, but needs time to develop. I'm sure she'll be fine though if the scripts are good because she's a very good actress.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, williamjm said:

I agree, I think The Eleventh Hour is my favourite of the recent Doctor Who introduction episodes.

My kids love the various attempts to feed the Doctor and the beginning of that episode. "Bad bad beans!!"  Are there any screen caps of the new Tardis interior.  I have to wait for the DVD to be released to watch this season.  No cable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Lordsteve666 said:

it's like if we elected world leaders by means of a game of hide and seek.

Given how badly our current system does at delivering competent world leaders, maybe we should give it a try.

2 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

My kids love the various attempts to feed the Doctor and the beginning of that episode. "Bad bad beans!!"  Are there any screen caps of the new Tardis interior.  I have to wait for the DVD to be released to watch this season.  No cable.

I wonder how many people have been inspired to try fish fingers and custard after that episode?

We didn't see the Tardis interior in the first episode, although there might be some publicity photos out there showing it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, williamjm said:

We didn't see the Tardis interior in the first episode, although there might be some publicity photos out there showing it. 



Chibnall has been teasing us that we won't see the TARDIS at all this season. I doubt that's entirely true, but no, no publicity stills of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got to watch it tonight (I don't have BBCA, so I have to buy the season on Google Play, which is nice for no commercial breaks but also means I have to wait a day to watch), and I really enjoyed it. The new Doctor was fun and still recovering from regeneration, and I liked the new companions okay. Well, that's not true, Ryan and Graham were meh, but I really liked Yaz. Even though she got to the least development/screen time of the 3, she just seemed less overly-serious meh than the other two.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...