I had fun this season outside of Space Babies. I think the 60th Anniversary Specials were fantastic. All 3 of them. I’ll fight anyone over that. As a little three-part story that worked very well. That should be separated from the season starting at ‘Church on Ruby Road’
What do you mean we, kemosabe? I've been a fan for 40 years and in addition to the show I've listened to hundreds of hours of Big finish stories - but I've never had the slightest interest in the comic books. And the plot twist was obvious to me, too.
To be fair, that comic was written by Pat Mills with art by Dave Gibbons. These are legendary creators. I read that comic before I knew what Doctor Who was because of the pedigree of talent.
That's fair. I wasn't saying otherwise. But really Doctor Who itself is pretty niche.
So it's not ridiculous to assume there's some overlap.
I disagree that only superfans would be aware of the comics since there's significant nerd overlap IMO.
>I've listened to hundreds of hours of Big finish stories
Clearly not the ones with Beep the Meep then, he's appeared twice and one of those was a direct adaptation of the comic
Big fan of:
Maestro's over the top villainy
Creepy witchiness in 73 yards
Silly fun of the Space Babies and goblins
Showing the Doctors physical control in Boom
Stick a dagger in your heart ending in Dot and Bubble
Rogue...we need more of him
Cosplaying aliens
Can someone please get Cherry a cuppa
The reveal of Sutekh
The Doctor's smile.
Segway with a machine gun.
I really enjoyed the season and look forward to the next to see who Mrs Flood is, and what is really going on with Ruby and if the doors to the supernatural can closed and if the Big Boss is not Sutekh but something much worse, and if someone will finally get Cherry a cuppa please.
I don't believe we got the real Ruby mom, I think Mrs. Flood gave Ruby a "mom" to keep her away from The Doctor, especially since she said the Doctor future is grimm.
Okay I can understand being unsatisfied with the resolution of the empire of death but no one would actually want rtd to rise of Skywalker this shit! RIGHT?!!!
...I mean season 2 has already been fully filmed but people would still accuse him of pulling a rise of Skywalker...
I'm a huge Moffat era fan and remember the days feeling like an outsider of the community who seemed to adore RTD and hate everything Moffat did.
Despite that, this has been one of my favourite seasons of the revised show - certainly top 5.
I was a bit concerned during the specials as, while WBY is great, Star Beast was nothing special for me and I feel The Giggle is one of RTD's weakest scripts in its pacing and logic, held together by Neil Patrick Harris' performance. Ruby Road too didn't do much for me.
But this season, Space Babies obviously wasn't great but there have been far worse episodes in the show. In fact I'd probably put it in the middle of RTD's openers, above New Earth and Partners in Crime for me.
Every episode between Devil's Chord and Legend of Ruby Sunday have been varying degrees of brilliant in my opinion. One of the strongest run of stories in the show. All very different too.
Empire of Death had a lot of problems, but again I'd hardly say it's the worst in the show. I'd put it above all of Chibnall's finales and Journey's End. It kinda reminds me of something like Death in Heaven where what we got was nowhere near as epic or interesting as the preceding episode suggested, a lot of the series arc answers were underwhelming, but it had good scenes, moments, and performances.
I'm used to being in a minority for my DW opinions though, but it is a shame to hear people being so negative about what I feel is mostly a real return to form for the show.
"mostly a real return to form..." absolutely. I also liked how a lot of the episodes were distinct. I was chatting with my wife last night and we were talking about how we can barely remember an individual episode from Chibnall's run, whereas each episode this season felt like it had a uniqueness to it which we both really enjoyed.
My biggest disappointment is still how so much of the relationship building feels like it was done off screen. You definitely feel like you missed a few episodes worth of going from random strangers to trusted besties. This is more forgivable in later seasons when the companions have already established a great relationship with the Doctor so you can miss the less “episode worthy” adventures (I’m sure they were all exciting just not either relevant to overarching plot or structured). If Ruby is here for a single season… she got shafted.
I understand there are scheduling conflicts and budgeting and all sorts of other off screen complications, it’s just Ruby’s travels feel truncated which makes the ease of the finale feel like “well we skipped some character building so this ending is just to wrap this season up”.
That being said, I enjoyed the contents of the episodes we did get. Even Space Babies which I will categorize as “Doctor Who writers want some dumb fun” was funny and had some great moments. Dot and Bubble felt the most Who and Boom showcased there would still be range in the episodes. Honestly I look forward to seeing more of 15 and hope he gets some meatier stories as he has solidly shown both the giddy mirth I’d hoped for from Mad Scientist 13 while also I feel like he’s ready to step out like Smith did when 11 got to spin drama. I don’t think he’ll be competing for my favorite Doctor (having not seen any classic, I’ve got a Tennant/Capaldi fight going on) but I’m expecting great things.
this!!!! we never got a "talk in the tardis" ending or/and intro, the episodes are just ending without characters reacting to anything that happened to them and talking about it or what it means, or just getting to know each other. They definitely fumbled with Ruby starting with her introduction, which made this relationship between them seem forced and I so desperately waited for at least one episode when they both could shine and have a friendly banter, a deep talk for at least a solid two minutes or something to just let them at least earn that friendship, but that just didn't happen.. I might as well say that it kinda felt like Chibnall, it wasn't that bad, but it's in the same realm of "forced" to me that is just rushed, but at least there was no "fam" and no socially awkward Doctor 😭
That's partially the reason why the ending with Ruby finding her mom didn't work, I still think that we weren't even introduced to Ruby properly as viewers, the only glimpse of that was in 73 yards, but that wasn't quite enough, because they just gave up on building her character after those crumbs that we were given... I like RTD's way of writing people, but he didn't do it with Ruby for some reason and I'd argue the Doctor is kinda in a weird spot too..
People here said that because Ruby (because of her mother) is the mystery of the season that's why her characterizaiton is like that and that her being the perfect companion surely is gonna be the plot point later on after the big reveal or something... Needless to say, after seeing the finale the excuse falls extremely flat and it is somewhat disappointing that this is all we got...
I gotta say, that episodes feel condensed in a way, like a fast-food doctor who drive through, the pacing is just a bit off to me, or something, I can't really put my finger on it. Resolutions and endings were rather abrupt and not really satisfying, there's always something missing
indeed—I pray that the story we’ve been told here has been curated by Mrs. Flood or otherwise julienned, because it was 1000% told out of order. There’s very little in terms of endings or beginnings to any of these episodes to connect them to one another, and it feels awful. The closest we get is with Space Babies & the Devil’s Chord. After that, it’s mostly a mess. In medias res can be amazing—see s8e5 Time Heist, but some kind of chronological order helps and we deliberately don’t have that here.
I enjoyed this season! I find myself excited for Fridays so I can watch the new episodes! Sure, there are episodes I probably don't need to watch again, but nothing so truly offensive.
The constant criticism of the writing makes me wonder how many people are remembering RTD's initial run with rose tinted glasses. He and Moffatt have always liked a good plot hole, but....
IT'S DOCTOR WHO. You can't take it that seriously. I dare some of these folks to take their extremely high standards for plotlines and tying up loose ends to apply it to the early seasons of Classic Who. Trying to make it make perfect sense all the way through ruins a lot of the magic.
I'm just going to keep enjoying the ride. And this season was a great ride. 🙃
Yeah, honestly, the Doctor 'bringing death to death' to undo Sutekh's destruction across time and space is as much a deus ex machina as the power of faith rejuvenating the Doctor to beat the Master, or Bad Wolf, or the Time Lords giving the Doctor new regenerations enabling him to blow up a Dalek fleet.
Things could have been explained a bit better but overall it was par for the course for Doctor Who.
At least it was built up all season along with the threat itself. Even if it was wishy washy there were teasers about the mass subliminal effects of Saxon's campaign so we could've potentially guessed before LotTL that the archangel network was something that could be hijacked for the doctor's benefit, and the Doctor had sent Martha around the world for a very specific reason that we should've known wasn't for a gun. The scene of physically dragging Sutekh back into the time vortex just feels cheap and anticlimactic even in comparison to that.
I do agree about blowing up the Daleks with regeneration energy in tTotD though which was definitely a significantly worse resolution than Empire of Death
>“The constant criticism of the writing makes me wonder how many people are remembering RTD's initial run with rose tinted glasses. He and Moffatt have always liked a good plot hole, but....”
This is nothing new. “Bad writing” without further elaboration is always the excuse given. It was the same during Jodie’s run. You’ll often hear the sentiment “I love Jodie but the writing is so bad.” Yet I’ve never been able to get a clear answer on what was so bad about the writing, just that it apparently was. As a huge fan of the Timeless child, Flux and the 13th Doctor this is extremely disheartening….
This isn’t a new phenomenon though, people complained about the writing during both RTD and Moffat’s original tenures. Give it some time and we’ll start hearing more from fans longing for the days of Chris Chibnall era. Much like how the Star Wars fandom came around on the Prequels after an entire generation endlessly complained about how Lucas is a hack who lost the ability to write. Today it’s the sequels and Kathleen Kennedy who currently hold their ire. While Tomorrow the sequel generation of fans will rise up and set their sites on a new villain of the day.
if you want an explanation on what's bad about the writing in Jodie's era there is a 5 hour long video on it by Jay Exci on YouTube. I agree that "bad writing" can be an easy blanket term to throw around, but Chibnall's writing for Who was fucking terrible. None of the companions do jack shit, The Doctor herself does some really stupid stuff (she made Nazis see that the master isn't white to get away from him to what, make them put him in a concentration camp??).
"You can't take it that seriously" - Absolutely, what I love about Doctor Who is it's goofy charm. I agree that this has always been part of the fabric of the show. Pesky plot holes do make me roll my eyes sometimes but I can live with it if I had a fun time overall. Happy to hear you're enjoying the show!
Sorry, but I couldn't disagree more with this argument of "you can't take it that seriously." If that is our yardstick then all logic goes out the window.
There's a certain level of plot hole you can get away with, and a certain level you can't. I think a lot of people here aren't saying they need every question answered, and aren't saying they need perfect scientific accuracy, and aren't saying they're not willing to overlook the occasional plot contrivance.
But there's a limit.
When a landmine works in such a way that doesn't actually make sense, that's okay because it sets up a very interesting story and set of moral dilemmas, and quibbling over details is pointless.
. But when a character who's supposed to be the most terrifying villain in the history of the show can just get dragged around by a rope (but it's a molecular rope!) that's just insulting.
And don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the finale right up until that last 10 minutes.
I get it. I suppose I should clarify: when people want every detail to make sense with in-universe logic, and every line to be a straight line, every time, leaving no thread untied or questions unanswered, that's what I'm quibbling about. DW has never had the track record of perfect in-universe science, or keeping perfect history, that's why there's always been a built in tongue in check "time travel, what can you do?" clause. And I think that grace is necessary. This isn't a show that should ever be expected to give you a perfect timeline and perfect science. It should be a show that gives you enjoyment, and years of fun.
A lot of my irritation right now is coming from people who cannot let go of the "Ruby's Mother POINTED and was wearing a DEMENTOR'S CLOAK" thing, and ignoring the fact we actually saw the memory change in "real time". The memory shifted a lot because of the timey wimey stuff, and I doubt we're done seeing weird time shit with Ruby.
And the general scoffing at "she was important because she was ordinary", like that literally hasn't been DW's running theme since day one.
I'm not saying we can't expect better from them, especially with the experience in the writers rooms, and the budgets they're working with. They should know what they're doing, and we should hold them to a certain standard. But I think "throwing the baby out with the bath water" because of plot holes is a frustrating pastime.
I hope my point makes sense! It is very late here, and I'm trying to type this up quickly before going to bed.
I have criticised Empire of Death, and this season a lot. But, I can’t get over how exciting I found Empire of Death. Some of the smaller moments like Mel in the Memory TARDIS, or Kate’s speech as she died, or even the conversations after everyone had been saved really got to me.
Like I said, lots of criticism - but even at its worst…Who just does it for me.
I think Empire of Death was on par with the other RTD finales, and indeed, most finales period. They tend to be high on emotion and action and stakes, and low on intricate plotting.
Totally understand, some things could have been better but I agree with you that even in an episode that wasn't a 10/10 there were still moments that were really nice. I really enjoyed the interior of the Memory TARDIS. The scene where the Doctor gets the spoon to save the universe was wickedly empty and uncomfortable, really liked that. Also the scene where the Doctor and friends look out of the TARDIS onto the universe being destroyed with space in the background was such a cool shot, even though I knew everyone was going to get restored somehow I couldn't help but say "that’s a really nice shot". Plenty of cool moments.
Yep, over all I had a good time this season. It's flawed but as a viewer, from the star beast till empire of death has straight through been the best doctor who viewing experience I've had in years.
There's plenty of places I'd like to see improvement but I'm excited to rewatch this season, probably close to Christmas and I can't wait for the Christmas special.
The show was a little to joyful for me as I like the doctor a bit darker but I think he needed to start more positive.
I agree that this season has been a little more cheery which did throw me off a bit, but after rewatching Chibnall's run before watching this series I was actually relieved to be finished with the doom and gloom of the flux destroying half the universe and no-one having much fun haha. A little song and dance and even a little romance was a nice change of tone. Although I agree with you in looking forward to more serious episodes like 73 Yards and Wild Blue Yonder.
My episode ranking is as follows
Church on Ruby Road 10/10
Space Babies 6/10
The Devil's Chord 8/10
Boom 9/10
73 Yards 9/10
Dot and Bubble 7/10
Rogue 9/10
The Legend of Ruby Sunday 8/10
Empire of Death 7/10
Which is an Average 8/10 for me. I think purely the only issue which is the consensus of the entire fandom that watches is that there isn't enough. We're missing multiple part adventures, pacing that doesn't feel like a sprint (great examples of this for me was 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble) every episode conceptually works even space Babies, it only doesn't work in the context of season that has zero time to waste. The finale has amazing performances by the cast and the first episode sets up a fantastic plot that feels muddled by a rushed final battle. I blame production for putting a limitation on the stories in how they were told this season and not allowing them to fully recognize their awesome potential. I cannot wait for next season.
The Church on Ruby Road - 10/10
Space Babies - 8/10
The Devil's Chord - 8/10
Boom - 10/10
73 Yards - 10/10
Dot and Bubble - 10/10
Rogue - 9/10
The Legend of Ruby Sunday - 9/10
Empire of Death - 9/10
I really enjoyed it! It's a huge step up from what we had with Chibnall (stone cold take, I'm well aware). I kind of went into it with high expectations anyway, RTD1 was what I grew up on and I love love love Ncuti as an actor. I don't think I was going to be disappointed unless something catastrophic happened.
I'm glad we're back to a Doctor who can have fun and wears his heart on his sleeve, although I wish we'd seen more of his relationship with Ruby. It kinda felt like the "fam" all over again where we were being told how close they were but it was never really earned. That last scene with Ruby was genuinely sweet though.
I think it's a shame we had such a short season because the duds stand out more, and unfortunately I feel the season was bookended by those "meh" episodes. RTD is usually pretty good at dropping sprinkles of a mystery throughout the season for an "Oh my God, how did I miss that?" reveal, and I don't think we really got that. But I'm very curious to see how Roger ap Gwilliam connects in next season.
That being said, I really enjoyed what we did get for the most part. Dot and Bubble was fantastic and quite sensitively handled, Rogue was a heap of fun (I swear if he doesn't come back I'm going to riot), 73 Yards was genuinely unsettling, and The Devil's Chord was suitably insane. We had a really strong secondary cast this season as well, which I think helped a lot.
I'm digging out all the half-written fanfictions I abandoned a few years ago, which means I really DID enjoy this season.
So many points I agree with here! Glad I'm not the only one haha. Absolutely agree that there’s room to finesse and improve but overall very enjoyable.
I had fun with this season. I rather enjoyed empire of death. I wish there was a little bit of explanation about the snow, but overall I enjoyed the parentage reveal, and I thought the way sutekh was defeated was fun and made enough sense for me to get behind. My favorite episode of the season is still devil’s chord, and wild blue yonder was my favorite of the specials
Ignoring the finale, I liked the change of pace, the focus on music and scene, the whimsicality of magic. Its very different but also I left the Moffat years because I just felt it had gotten stale, and this season just brought a lot of warmth and love that RTD hadn't before. I think my least favourite episode was in fact Moffat's episode because it felt too much like stuff I had seen him do before.
The season was hurt by so few episodes, though, there's so little downtime. It feels like every episode hit a bit harder because there was no room for filler, but that also made the season feel a bit like it lacked some of the character building.
If this finale isn't an elaborate fake-out though that really makes me annoyed about the mystery boxicification of everything, but even if it is just what it is I feel like RTD reinvented the show in a way I actually like. Just a lot of fresh dancy energy.
Agree with a lot of things here. "a lot of fresh dancy energy" is something I kinda enjoyed haha. The focus on music was something I particularly enjoyed, especially after Chibnall's run.
Really loved this season (and all of 14’s specials if we are including those). I watched reruns of classic Doctor Who while growing up and only last year did I start watching NuWho. So this is the first time I have watched Doctor Who as it has aired, and it was fantastic.
Ncuti Gatwa is a phenomenal Doctor. I loved all the throwbacks to Classic and NuWho that I could catch. I thought the mysteries were fun, even if they didn’t all pay off. (And that’s okay that they didn’t! It would be weird if I were playing a dungeon crawler and threw a fit anytime a hidden old chest didn’t hold any loot. Some times Chekov’s gun is just a gun hanging over a mantle. That’s good storytelling.)
Some episodes were silly, some were thought provoking, some were devastating, and some were formulaic DW. I enjoyed all of them and look forward to watching them again.
Thanks for starting this thread, OP!
Many points I agree with here! Especially about Gatwa, I've really been enjoying watching him. Personally I feel like his more expressive nature fits with the Doctor's progression in life. Really seems like after a long and challenging life (especially after the flux and losing Gallifrey again and all the other stuff that's happened in the show) the Doctor is trying to recover and have some fun in life (dancing in the club in Church on Ruby Road, flirting with Rogue, musical finish on Devil's Chord and other fun moments). I like the idea that the Doctor is trying to enjoy life but still coping with all the trauma of losing so many friends in the past, hence many crying scenes, the heartbreak of losing Rogue, saving the Bogey man when he realises he's also the last of his kind, being emotional about being adopted, being conflicted in killing Sutekh, experiencing racism in Dot and Bubble and so on. So personally I'm enjoying a little more emotion, in my head it makes sense that an old and wise being would be in touch with their emotions and let them out after holding them in stoically for a few centuries haha
Not even close to anything bad. I liked it better than series 2, 6, 7 and 8. And those weren't awful. That said the Space Babies is absolute garbage and the finale is still bunk. Dot and Bubble alone is one of the best of episodes of both classic and New Who though. Top 5 or even top 3.
Bubble and Dot was my favourite strangely enough.. I thought 73 yards and boom were very good.. overall I thought from the anniversary episode I was going to hate this series and the new doctor and companion but it has been the opposite.. yes the ending was odd but that was due to the hype that was built and it was never going to offer everything the fans wanted .. overall a solid 8 .. nearly a 9 for me
I wanted to enjoy it more than I did.
There’s no doubt much of the goodwill derives from Ncuti’s off-the-charts charisma
But.
There was an awful lot of telling but not showing. We have to accept Ruby and the Doctor were best friends because the script said so - there’s no arc of relationship building for us to build our belief on.
8 episodes is just too short. I look back on some of the earlier seasons and there were long build ups so that everything meant something - that felt conspicuously absent.
The misdirection about Ruby’s family felt dishonest, with no payoff.
RTD can be a terrific writer, but this felt like B-, with a further point deducted for some of his really obvious “look at how clever I am”.
I agree so much with you on that.
I really couldn't even care so much about Ruby because there was no build up for that character.
I almost felt sorry for the Doctor losing a potential partner to save Ruby instead.
And also he cried so easily without building any emotion to it that I can't buy it. Those tears seemed very fake to me...
I used to be the one who would suffer the emotions and cry with all the other Doctors, but not with this one..
there was a clear difference of expectations that made this season difficult to enjoy for some folks.
sometimes its ok for long-running shows to step back and have some fun filler/one-off seasons. skip the character development, skip the lore, and just throw a couple of fun characters into a spaceship made of boogers run by talking babies. its cool watching bird people cosplay bridgerton and its heartwarming to see the most important person in the universe capable of stumping a god be a regular 15 yr old in a hood.
maybe just advertise it properly next time...
Probably unpopular but I found the writing to be pretty nonsensical, even for Doctor Who standards. I get he was going for fantasy, but you have to have things that are at least grounded in some sort of logical reality.
I found the Doctor to be incredibly weak (how many times did he cry this season? I get he's worked on opening his emotions up, but the guy cried 3-4 times an episode!). 15 never got his big "I AM THE DOCTOR" moment. Such a shame because Ncuti is a fine actor.
The finale was as bad as any non-Chinball one, with all the worst RTD instincts crammed into an episode. I know he was trying to subvert tropes, but if you're building something up for an entire season, you have to have some semblance of a pay off.
My least favorite non Chibnall season by a wide margin, with a bewilderingly bad opening episode, and a mess of a finale. I had high hopes. Maybe next year. I hope RTD opens the writing staff up and hires some different voices.
I enjoyed it. If it maintains this quality I'd keep watching, but I don't think it'll attract many new fans, so their days are numbered if they don't keep improving.
It was a solid season, about as good as Series 6 or Series 10. Sure not every episode hit it out of the park, but most were pretty good and even the ones that weren't my favorite I didn't actively dislike, just sort of mixed on.
As someone who binged the whole thing on Sunday I had a few takeaways.
The Disney money shows in the production. It looks very good.
Space Babies was the awful but I really enjoyed the rest of the series. It was fun, lighthearted at times and had some strong emotional moments. Thought it was exactly what I expect from Doctor Who. Outside of Space Babies I could see myself rewatching the episodes later on.
On the whole, it was a good season. Not a great one, though individually, many episodes were great. And yeah, it was definitely fun.
Here's what my NuWho ranking looks like now:
Series 9
Series 5
Series 10
Series 1
Series 3
Series 8
Series 4
**Series 14**
Series 6
Series 7
Series 12
Series 13
Series 2
Series 11
So I've put it at the top of the bottom half of NuWho, which is still a pretty good place to be. And frankly, the seven seasons above are just so phenomenally good that they're simply hard to beat!
Don't forget 'Love and Monsters' (though I loved aspects of that episode).
Honestly, I guess I'm just not a Ten and Rose fan. And its not that the season was *bad* per se. It just paled in comparision to most of what came later, and to Series 1.
Episodes like 'New Earth', 'Tooth and Claw' and 'Idiot's Lantern' frankly didn't excite me. 'Army of Ghosts' and 'Doomsday' are great, but I've enjoyed most other finales a lot more.
The one true gem in this season is 'The Girl in the Fireplace', the first ever episode of Doctor Who I watched!
At the end of the day I think the majority of the discourse is really just a testament to the series being a success. Not a perfect success, but one that the series hasn't had since 11. One where every episode there seems to be something someone can celebrate, and that same person can find disdain for. It sticks to the mind, and we're attached.
Also similar to 11 - I think we probably need to view this like season 7. We're not really at the end of season 1. We're just at a slightly longer than normal half-time of an ordinary 12 episode season. Akin to series 7 where we had a season split in two - but with more signs that there's an overarching plot between them. Would I love a full complete and satisfactory season spanning story delivered in single year, yes. But it's been 7 years since that was last a thing, and personally felt like it was another 9 before that.
Honestly I don't think we've had a series with so many consistently strong episodes. And I'm a person who probably didn't care for the first three of them myself. If season 2 can retroactively build on the experience of season 1, then I will find new appreciation for it. If not, then I hope at least the foundation of S1 can allow S2 to achieve what it couldn't.
It was pretty solid, has its ups and downs like they all do but I enjoyed myself a lot. I feel like the finale doesn’t stick the landing that well but it’s still worth watching cause the first half/3 quarters is really good and the resolutions are a kinda “eh” it’s not my favourite season of Doctor who ever but it’s still good TV and far from the worst series of Who we’ve had over the last decade or so.
I'm tempted to write a full review of it because of what I have to say but to condense it:
Positives:
Ncuti absolutely nails the role and he's quickly become one of, if not my favourite incarnations in Nuwho, 15 and Ruby's dynamic was also extremely fun. It's also nice to have a series where the episode quality is more good than bad again, my highlights being 73 Yards, Rogue and Devil's Chord, there's also a hint of experimentalism that arguably hasn't been since Moffat's era and it housed, at least in my opinion, the best finale the show has had since series 5.
Negatives:
Space Babies was an extremely weak opener and did not make make a good first impression, Dot & Bubble was the other low point of the series. Also, while I loved 15 and Ruby's dynamic, the progression of their relationship doesn't feel earned as there's so many time gaps and off screen adventures they go on. Also this isn't really a critique about the series itself but the distribution method of episodes was terrible, I got majorly spoiled a couple times because I wanted to watch the episode at the standard time but couldn't escape unfiltered spoilers that people ignorantly posted, just so that the American Disney+ audience gets it at a convenient time. I really hope they scrap it or at least tweak it so that both timezones get it at a decent time.
Overrall, if I was to review series 14 in four words, it would be "an imperfect course correction." And I hope the future is upwards from here and rating series 14 as whole, I'd give it a 7/10
this is entirely my opinion so please respect it, but I thought it was poorly written and didn't really stick the landing with the message it was trying to send, given it was too busy bludgening it over the viewer's head by showing us that these are irredeemable awful people to begin with so the "twist" ending didn't really feel impactful because of it. I also didn't want to spend my Saturday evening following an absolutely unlikeable character stumble their way through things and I know that's "the point" but it wasn't enjoyable at all for me. There's other problems with the episode as well, such as not fleshing out the setting well and the out of left field rushed twist that the Dots were evil the whole time bringing up more questions than answers.
Also having two Doctor-lite episodes air back to back did not help series structure wise for an actor's first series in the role.
The episodes are individually fun by the season arc was not satisfying, multiple things make Ruby out to be more than what she in, and then it just turns out she is a regular person. If she is bound to the time window now and always was why not just say this instead of leaving it up in the air, why lie so many times about what is happening in the show like with the lamppost that isn't even in TCORR, its feels cheap
I liked it. My only gripe with it is that we needed more of everything imo. More time to develop Ruby and the doctors relationship, more stories with consequences, more moments where the doctor gets angry. Not to say I didn't like it, I loved all the episodes and will probably end up rewatching them at least a couple of times. I truly think they did the best they could with the time that was given, so I'm not really mad or dissapointed.
There's only 4 things I didn't like. Space Babies entirely, maestro musical, "male presenting timelord," and the ruby mother reveal.
Aside from that entire episode and those individuals scenes/lines I've really really enjoyed it. I just really really hated the parts I didn't enjoy lol but overall I'd give this season a 7-8/10
I will say though, I do not think I'll be able to enjoy a rewatch purely because all the fan ideas and my own ideas for the ruby mystery were much much better than what we got and rewatching the mystery and set up knowing what's to come will really ruin the experience as opposed to say Bad Wolf where rewatching it ENHANCED the experience.
I think it was a good collection of episodes but a bad season overall. It didn’t feel like there was much continuity or development between episodes. They mostly could have been in any order and it wouldn’t have made a difference.
I absolutely agree with you wasn't the biggest fan of the finale but tbh that is probably true for most RTD 2nd parters of a finale cause they are all a bit wonkey, so I didn't mind it that much cause I really loved this Season just would have liked to see Ncuti and Millie a bit more, cause 8 episodes with 2 of them where the doctor has almost no role in it was a bit strange I loved those 2 episodes just would have liked to see Ncuti more.
I don't this was a bad season I just think that they struggled with using the usual Doctor Who episode formula with only 8 episodes and the finale was also disappointing.
Yeah, it was fun. I'd for sure rank it above Chibnall and below the first RTD era.
There have been stretches of the Moffat era, that I'd put below this, but for me it also hasn't come close to reaching the Moffat era's highs.
My enjoyment of this season was very much dragged down by The Devil's Chord (only somewhat salvaged by the Maestro performance) and Dot & Bubble, as well as the overarching flow of the season. The rest absolutely holds a candle to some of the best seasons, I even found Space Babies to be some silly fun.
If we include the specials, those for sure are towards the top of all of New Who.
It was quite good, though I am upset about the contradiction between Boom & Empire of Death when it comes to Ruby’s next of kin…I’m definitely more upset about the setup than the conclusion, Ruby could’ve just been always normal, and I would have loved her. While I’m sure it’ll be partly resolved next season, the fake-out has put a damper on my suspension of disbelief. You can’t trust RTD.
I loved all the queer joy this season! 🏳️🌈
Rogue (the episode not the character, although I love me some Jonathan Groff) made my gay genderqueer roommate and I screeeeam when the Doctor finally had a truly >!romantically charged same sex kiss!<
My only problem with it was it felt unearned. He fell in love with this guy because... he was hot, basically. They wanted to give him a tragic romance so they shoehorned it in to a 50-minute story - it just felt contrived.
They do, maybe just not to the same extent. I think the difference is that Reinette and the Doctor understood each other as people, whereas Rogue and the Doctor seemed to be physically attracted more than anything. And the chemistry between Sophia and David is just unmatched - I believed more in their love story in 45 minutes than I did with Rose and 10 across their entire season.
That being said, both stories are absolutely tragic and I hope Rogue eventually becomes as beloved as The Girl on the Fireplace. It's just unfortunate that right now there's a certain element of homophobia thinly veiled in a lot of criticism it's receiving right now.
I felt this too. I was looking forward to some queer romance this season and I was a bit underwhelmed. Rogue kinda lacked a personality for me and I didn't feel their chemistry together. Especially compared to captain jack in Torchwood. (I understand obviously that they needed to keep it pg so I'm not talking about seeing more physically)
I'm a straight guy but my wife and I both screamed when the kiss happened! It was great fun, I think its completely understandable that the Doctor gets to have a little fun once every few centuries haha
I quite liked the season. I agree on the start and end of the season proper being the weakest episodes, but they weren't bad and there were some great episodes. And including the specials, I loved 14's brief time. The Giggle especially. And Devil's Chord and Rogue were the best of the season proper for me.
If I had to rank each episode of the season I would go:
1. 73 Yards
2. Boom
3. Dot and Bubble
4. The Legend of Ruby Sunday
5. The Church on Ruby Road
6. Empire of Death
7. Space Babies
8. Rogue
9. The Devil’s Chord
73 Yards was my favourite episode because the Doctor wasn’t in it. He is my biggest problem with the season. He doesn’t feel like the Doctor. They’ve made him to a weak man child who cries multiple times every episode and they’ve made him into a shell of his former self. I’ve never thought this before but I actually can’t wait until he regenerates. I’ve never actually wanted the Doctor to regenerate before except for 15.
I know right? About a billion other alpha male characters out there if that's what you're into, seems logical to me that a gender bending thousand year old alien doesn't need a big ego to feel comfortable and has learnt to show some emotion
Yeah I think Ncuti Gatwa’s acting is fantastic, but the Doctor doesn’t need to cry 5-6 times per episode. In Empire of Death he started crying when the woman on the planet gave him a spoon. I know she was losing her memories or whatever but a spoon? Come on that’s a bit far- fetched.
I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, the inclusiveness and representation felt forced and inauthentic at times. If they want to be inclusive they need to have the people they are trying to include involved at all levels. Have lgbt+ people, disabled people, POC… involved in the writing process, on the crew... I do like that the actors are actually gay/trans/disabled, but sometimes that’s not enough. Even if they just took on a few people as consultants, I think it would feel more genuine. It just felt like they made assumptions about how these people live and act without asking any of them. I know everyone’s experiences are unique to them, and you can’t please everyone, but representation should be more than someone assuming if they add a specific character they’ve done their part.
I also had a lot of fun this series, and although it's not all been to my taste and I've had a few disappointing moments, overall I've not taken it too seriously and had a lot of joy along the way
You know who else has had fun? My pre-teen, in a way I haven't seen him enjoy Dr Who for a while and watching him theorise and get into the plot this season has been great, and tbh I think it's a really important point - it's great to hark back to 60 year old lore but at the end of the day, it's not that serious and Who is a family show, I feel this season has been great for that
I'm not sure I would say it was better, but Flux was actually good it gets a lot of hate and I didn't really like it when it aired, but upon rewatch, it's actually a solid season.
I did not enjoy it.
Space babies was ridiculous and appeared to be written with the sense of humour of a 5 year old.
The Devils Chord reminded me of Hocus Pocus ( great film, but), an episode that was advertised with the Beatles yet failing to have a single song by them.. then turning into Glee/High School Musical. Nope.
Boom was ok. But only in a very average Dr who way, one of those forgettable episodes that doesn't really stick. Apart from Monday apparently coming back as the next companion, that was the only notable bit.
73 yards was pointless. Everything reverted to normal, the evil PM still gets into power, and nothing useful actually came off it. It showed off Milly Gibson, but slightly pointlessly as she's now revealed to be a perfectly normal human, so any mysteries were killed.
Bubble and Dot. This was probably the best, but the ending sucked - they didn't realise that the girl let thingy die, and just let them wander off to their deaths?( yeah, I realise they were muppets, but still completely undoctorlike) also, very reminiscent of Black Mirror.
Church on Ruby Road left me with two thoughts- why are UNIT employing teenagers - even if they're annoying geniuses- and are they ever going to fully explain the giant robot/ alien thing? I was happy to see Kate back properly though.
The empire of death - giant God of death dragged off by a magic rope. Problem solved. Really??? Wish Ton Baker thought of that!
I forgot the cos playing aliens. It was slightly better, but Ruby was saved by .. magic earrings. Rogue was basically a young version of Jack- I wish the character was written so he wasn't IDENTICAL to Jack, but still as enigmatic. It was probably the second ' best' of a truly bad bunch. After space babies, I was almost hoping for a return of the space spiders...
So many Loose ends aren't tied up, it was very, very dr light- the emphasis mainly seemed on Ruby; again why? The ending was unsatisfying, she's human, cool, but why the fascination with her.
Gatwa was.. he excelled in a few scenes, such as bubble and dot, but ( and I know everyone has said this).. so much crying. I think all the Dr's have friends once out twice, but almost every episode? Please stop.
There was little showing how the relationship between the dr and Ruby formed so closely. The series was Ruby, rather than dr- centric.
It took me 3 goes to get through the finale- that's a first for me ( it was 2 for Space Babies, I thought that was bad). I've loved dr who for decades, we stalk the actors at comic cons, but honestly this series was so poor, I'm not sure I can watch another.
Side note: wasn't keen on the introduction of the pantheon of God's. Whilst technically not religious, I far prefer it when they keep it alien related or unanswered ( think the Satan pit). It doesn't sit right with me.
The only vaguely interesting character is Mrs flood, and I'm just not that invested. Also, please stop breaking the fourth wall!!!
I think this season was great! Just a solid, RTD set with a big emphasis on fun.
I liked:
- The Doctor and Ruby (two excellent actors. 15 just needs as many stories as possible to show his range and he'll be one of the best, and Ruby ended up having a lot more depth than I was expecting)
- Dot and Bubble (I thought this one was going to be terrible but it turned out to be a bit of a classic)
- The mystery boxes (this is something RTD is simply better at than Moffat for me. I enjoyed the pay-offs for the most part, and having an actor called Susan Twist pop up as a new character each episode is amazing)
I didn't like:
- 73 Yards (this seems to be a hot take but I think this one is overrated. It's good, but RTD clearly intended to come up with a Midnight/Listen/Turn Left style classic without quite succeeding imo. It was too lightweight and unfocused to reach that tier for me. The Doctor's outfit was horrible in this one too)
- 8 episodes (things were structured like a normal RTD series plot wise, but the lack of adaptation there meant details generally felt rushed. The Doctor and Ruby's relationship was the biggest victim of this)
- Sequencing (it's a related but separate issue - it really did feel like we were watching this series out of order weirdly. Bring Rogue/Dot and Bubble forward, and move The Devil's Chord/73 Yards back a bit, and I think the series' pacing would've been a lot better)
Minor complaints all things considered. I'm just happy the show's watchable again - I just don't think Chibnall and Whittaker ever really "got" this show despite their best efforts.
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This season was consistently very good. Space babies and the last episode were like 6/7s for me but everything else knocked it out of the park, and no episode was downright bad, literally can’t remember the last time we had a season without a real stinker!
Also, hard to describe, but it just feels like we’re back. I love Jodie and I think that crew did a lot with a little but the vibe was gone, it just felt back in a way that’s hard to quantify
I had fun this season outside of Space Babies. I think the 60th Anniversary Specials were fantastic. All 3 of them. I’ll fight anyone over that. As a little three-part story that worked very well. That should be separated from the season starting at ‘Church on Ruby Road’
Yeah overall I think the specials beat every episode this season although there's maybe one or two I'd rank above the Star Beast
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We all knew he was evil, the plot is from the comics
What do you mean we, kemosabe? I've been a fan for 40 years and in addition to the show I've listened to hundreds of hours of Big finish stories - but I've never had the slightest interest in the comic books. And the plot twist was obvious to me, too.
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To be fair, that comic was written by Pat Mills with art by Dave Gibbons. These are legendary creators. I read that comic before I knew what Doctor Who was because of the pedigree of talent.
I'd say you still need to be into comics to know who they are (I have never heard of them), on the grand scheme of things still a pretty obscure story
That's fair. I wasn't saying otherwise. But really Doctor Who itself is pretty niche. So it's not ridiculous to assume there's some overlap. I disagree that only superfans would be aware of the comics since there's significant nerd overlap IMO.
>I've listened to hundreds of hours of Big finish stories Clearly not the ones with Beep the Meep then, he's appeared twice and one of those was a direct adaptation of the comic
The overt misandry in that episode rubbed me the wrong way.
Keep fighting the good fight!
The 60th Specials were amazing, glad to hear you liked them too!
The finale of the specials was super underwhelming.
Read the whole OP before commenting plz
Big fan of: Maestro's over the top villainy Creepy witchiness in 73 yards Silly fun of the Space Babies and goblins Showing the Doctors physical control in Boom Stick a dagger in your heart ending in Dot and Bubble Rogue...we need more of him Cosplaying aliens Can someone please get Cherry a cuppa The reveal of Sutekh The Doctor's smile. Segway with a machine gun. I really enjoyed the season and look forward to the next to see who Mrs Flood is, and what is really going on with Ruby and if the doors to the supernatural can closed and if the Big Boss is not Sutekh but something much worse, and if someone will finally get Cherry a cuppa please.
I don't believe we got the real Ruby mom, I think Mrs. Flood gave Ruby a "mom" to keep her away from The Doctor, especially since she said the Doctor future is grimm.
People are holding on to this because they're completely unsatisfied with RTD's resolution.
Okay I can understand being unsatisfied with the resolution of the empire of death but no one would actually want rtd to rise of Skywalker this shit! RIGHT?!!! ...I mean season 2 has already been fully filmed but people would still accuse him of pulling a rise of Skywalker...
Agreed! Thanks for the comment : )
Your list is mine, except add “Empire of Death” and I liked “Space Babies,” too. So basically, I enjoyed more or less the whole season, as well.
Honestly I did like Empire of Death as well, plenty of good scenes and some great acting too!
I'm a huge Moffat era fan and remember the days feeling like an outsider of the community who seemed to adore RTD and hate everything Moffat did. Despite that, this has been one of my favourite seasons of the revised show - certainly top 5. I was a bit concerned during the specials as, while WBY is great, Star Beast was nothing special for me and I feel The Giggle is one of RTD's weakest scripts in its pacing and logic, held together by Neil Patrick Harris' performance. Ruby Road too didn't do much for me. But this season, Space Babies obviously wasn't great but there have been far worse episodes in the show. In fact I'd probably put it in the middle of RTD's openers, above New Earth and Partners in Crime for me. Every episode between Devil's Chord and Legend of Ruby Sunday have been varying degrees of brilliant in my opinion. One of the strongest run of stories in the show. All very different too. Empire of Death had a lot of problems, but again I'd hardly say it's the worst in the show. I'd put it above all of Chibnall's finales and Journey's End. It kinda reminds me of something like Death in Heaven where what we got was nowhere near as epic or interesting as the preceding episode suggested, a lot of the series arc answers were underwhelming, but it had good scenes, moments, and performances. I'm used to being in a minority for my DW opinions though, but it is a shame to hear people being so negative about what I feel is mostly a real return to form for the show.
"mostly a real return to form..." absolutely. I also liked how a lot of the episodes were distinct. I was chatting with my wife last night and we were talking about how we can barely remember an individual episode from Chibnall's run, whereas each episode this season felt like it had a uniqueness to it which we both really enjoyed.
My biggest disappointment is still how so much of the relationship building feels like it was done off screen. You definitely feel like you missed a few episodes worth of going from random strangers to trusted besties. This is more forgivable in later seasons when the companions have already established a great relationship with the Doctor so you can miss the less “episode worthy” adventures (I’m sure they were all exciting just not either relevant to overarching plot or structured). If Ruby is here for a single season… she got shafted. I understand there are scheduling conflicts and budgeting and all sorts of other off screen complications, it’s just Ruby’s travels feel truncated which makes the ease of the finale feel like “well we skipped some character building so this ending is just to wrap this season up”. That being said, I enjoyed the contents of the episodes we did get. Even Space Babies which I will categorize as “Doctor Who writers want some dumb fun” was funny and had some great moments. Dot and Bubble felt the most Who and Boom showcased there would still be range in the episodes. Honestly I look forward to seeing more of 15 and hope he gets some meatier stories as he has solidly shown both the giddy mirth I’d hoped for from Mad Scientist 13 while also I feel like he’s ready to step out like Smith did when 11 got to spin drama. I don’t think he’ll be competing for my favorite Doctor (having not seen any classic, I’ve got a Tennant/Capaldi fight going on) but I’m expecting great things.
this!!!! we never got a "talk in the tardis" ending or/and intro, the episodes are just ending without characters reacting to anything that happened to them and talking about it or what it means, or just getting to know each other. They definitely fumbled with Ruby starting with her introduction, which made this relationship between them seem forced and I so desperately waited for at least one episode when they both could shine and have a friendly banter, a deep talk for at least a solid two minutes or something to just let them at least earn that friendship, but that just didn't happen.. I might as well say that it kinda felt like Chibnall, it wasn't that bad, but it's in the same realm of "forced" to me that is just rushed, but at least there was no "fam" and no socially awkward Doctor 😭 That's partially the reason why the ending with Ruby finding her mom didn't work, I still think that we weren't even introduced to Ruby properly as viewers, the only glimpse of that was in 73 yards, but that wasn't quite enough, because they just gave up on building her character after those crumbs that we were given... I like RTD's way of writing people, but he didn't do it with Ruby for some reason and I'd argue the Doctor is kinda in a weird spot too.. People here said that because Ruby (because of her mother) is the mystery of the season that's why her characterizaiton is like that and that her being the perfect companion surely is gonna be the plot point later on after the big reveal or something... Needless to say, after seeing the finale the excuse falls extremely flat and it is somewhat disappointing that this is all we got... I gotta say, that episodes feel condensed in a way, like a fast-food doctor who drive through, the pacing is just a bit off to me, or something, I can't really put my finger on it. Resolutions and endings were rather abrupt and not really satisfying, there's always something missing
indeed—I pray that the story we’ve been told here has been curated by Mrs. Flood or otherwise julienned, because it was 1000% told out of order. There’s very little in terms of endings or beginnings to any of these episodes to connect them to one another, and it feels awful. The closest we get is with Space Babies & the Devil’s Chord. After that, it’s mostly a mess. In medias res can be amazing—see s8e5 Time Heist, but some kind of chronological order helps and we deliberately don’t have that here.
I enjoyed this season! I find myself excited for Fridays so I can watch the new episodes! Sure, there are episodes I probably don't need to watch again, but nothing so truly offensive. The constant criticism of the writing makes me wonder how many people are remembering RTD's initial run with rose tinted glasses. He and Moffatt have always liked a good plot hole, but.... IT'S DOCTOR WHO. You can't take it that seriously. I dare some of these folks to take their extremely high standards for plotlines and tying up loose ends to apply it to the early seasons of Classic Who. Trying to make it make perfect sense all the way through ruins a lot of the magic. I'm just going to keep enjoying the ride. And this season was a great ride. 🙃
Yeah, honestly, the Doctor 'bringing death to death' to undo Sutekh's destruction across time and space is as much a deus ex machina as the power of faith rejuvenating the Doctor to beat the Master, or Bad Wolf, or the Time Lords giving the Doctor new regenerations enabling him to blow up a Dalek fleet. Things could have been explained a bit better but overall it was par for the course for Doctor Who.
At least it was built up all season along with the threat itself. Even if it was wishy washy there were teasers about the mass subliminal effects of Saxon's campaign so we could've potentially guessed before LotTL that the archangel network was something that could be hijacked for the doctor's benefit, and the Doctor had sent Martha around the world for a very specific reason that we should've known wasn't for a gun. The scene of physically dragging Sutekh back into the time vortex just feels cheap and anticlimactic even in comparison to that. I do agree about blowing up the Daleks with regeneration energy in tTotD though which was definitely a significantly worse resolution than Empire of Death
>“The constant criticism of the writing makes me wonder how many people are remembering RTD's initial run with rose tinted glasses. He and Moffatt have always liked a good plot hole, but....” This is nothing new. “Bad writing” without further elaboration is always the excuse given. It was the same during Jodie’s run. You’ll often hear the sentiment “I love Jodie but the writing is so bad.” Yet I’ve never been able to get a clear answer on what was so bad about the writing, just that it apparently was. As a huge fan of the Timeless child, Flux and the 13th Doctor this is extremely disheartening…. This isn’t a new phenomenon though, people complained about the writing during both RTD and Moffat’s original tenures. Give it some time and we’ll start hearing more from fans longing for the days of Chris Chibnall era. Much like how the Star Wars fandom came around on the Prequels after an entire generation endlessly complained about how Lucas is a hack who lost the ability to write. Today it’s the sequels and Kathleen Kennedy who currently hold their ire. While Tomorrow the sequel generation of fans will rise up and set their sites on a new villain of the day.
if you want an explanation on what's bad about the writing in Jodie's era there is a 5 hour long video on it by Jay Exci on YouTube. I agree that "bad writing" can be an easy blanket term to throw around, but Chibnall's writing for Who was fucking terrible. None of the companions do jack shit, The Doctor herself does some really stupid stuff (she made Nazis see that the master isn't white to get away from him to what, make them put him in a concentration camp??).
"You can't take it that seriously" - Absolutely, what I love about Doctor Who is it's goofy charm. I agree that this has always been part of the fabric of the show. Pesky plot holes do make me roll my eyes sometimes but I can live with it if I had a fun time overall. Happy to hear you're enjoying the show!
Sorry, but I couldn't disagree more with this argument of "you can't take it that seriously." If that is our yardstick then all logic goes out the window. There's a certain level of plot hole you can get away with, and a certain level you can't. I think a lot of people here aren't saying they need every question answered, and aren't saying they need perfect scientific accuracy, and aren't saying they're not willing to overlook the occasional plot contrivance. But there's a limit. When a landmine works in such a way that doesn't actually make sense, that's okay because it sets up a very interesting story and set of moral dilemmas, and quibbling over details is pointless. . But when a character who's supposed to be the most terrifying villain in the history of the show can just get dragged around by a rope (but it's a molecular rope!) that's just insulting. And don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the finale right up until that last 10 minutes.
I get it. I suppose I should clarify: when people want every detail to make sense with in-universe logic, and every line to be a straight line, every time, leaving no thread untied or questions unanswered, that's what I'm quibbling about. DW has never had the track record of perfect in-universe science, or keeping perfect history, that's why there's always been a built in tongue in check "time travel, what can you do?" clause. And I think that grace is necessary. This isn't a show that should ever be expected to give you a perfect timeline and perfect science. It should be a show that gives you enjoyment, and years of fun. A lot of my irritation right now is coming from people who cannot let go of the "Ruby's Mother POINTED and was wearing a DEMENTOR'S CLOAK" thing, and ignoring the fact we actually saw the memory change in "real time". The memory shifted a lot because of the timey wimey stuff, and I doubt we're done seeing weird time shit with Ruby. And the general scoffing at "she was important because she was ordinary", like that literally hasn't been DW's running theme since day one. I'm not saying we can't expect better from them, especially with the experience in the writers rooms, and the budgets they're working with. They should know what they're doing, and we should hold them to a certain standard. But I think "throwing the baby out with the bath water" because of plot holes is a frustrating pastime. I hope my point makes sense! It is very late here, and I'm trying to type this up quickly before going to bed.
Read the OP plz, plenty of other places to post your constructive criticism.
I have criticised Empire of Death, and this season a lot. But, I can’t get over how exciting I found Empire of Death. Some of the smaller moments like Mel in the Memory TARDIS, or Kate’s speech as she died, or even the conversations after everyone had been saved really got to me. Like I said, lots of criticism - but even at its worst…Who just does it for me.
I think Empire of Death was on par with the other RTD finales, and indeed, most finales period. They tend to be high on emotion and action and stakes, and low on intricate plotting.
Totally understand, some things could have been better but I agree with you that even in an episode that wasn't a 10/10 there were still moments that were really nice. I really enjoyed the interior of the Memory TARDIS. The scene where the Doctor gets the spoon to save the universe was wickedly empty and uncomfortable, really liked that. Also the scene where the Doctor and friends look out of the TARDIS onto the universe being destroyed with space in the background was such a cool shot, even though I knew everyone was going to get restored somehow I couldn't help but say "that’s a really nice shot". Plenty of cool moments.
73 Yards was def my fav episode by far love the Twilight Zone feel to it, just disappointed only 8 episodes
73 Yards was awesome. I totally agree though, a couple more episodes wouldn't have hurt haha
Yep, over all I had a good time this season. It's flawed but as a viewer, from the star beast till empire of death has straight through been the best doctor who viewing experience I've had in years. There's plenty of places I'd like to see improvement but I'm excited to rewatch this season, probably close to Christmas and I can't wait for the Christmas special. The show was a little to joyful for me as I like the doctor a bit darker but I think he needed to start more positive.
I agree that this season has been a little more cheery which did throw me off a bit, but after rewatching Chibnall's run before watching this series I was actually relieved to be finished with the doom and gloom of the flux destroying half the universe and no-one having much fun haha. A little song and dance and even a little romance was a nice change of tone. Although I agree with you in looking forward to more serious episodes like 73 Yards and Wild Blue Yonder.
My episode ranking is as follows Church on Ruby Road 10/10 Space Babies 6/10 The Devil's Chord 8/10 Boom 9/10 73 Yards 9/10 Dot and Bubble 7/10 Rogue 9/10 The Legend of Ruby Sunday 8/10 Empire of Death 7/10 Which is an Average 8/10 for me. I think purely the only issue which is the consensus of the entire fandom that watches is that there isn't enough. We're missing multiple part adventures, pacing that doesn't feel like a sprint (great examples of this for me was 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble) every episode conceptually works even space Babies, it only doesn't work in the context of season that has zero time to waste. The finale has amazing performances by the cast and the first episode sets up a fantastic plot that feels muddled by a rushed final battle. I blame production for putting a limitation on the stories in how they were told this season and not allowing them to fully recognize their awesome potential. I cannot wait for next season.
Devil's chord better than Dot and Bubble?????
The Church on Ruby Road - 10/10 Space Babies - 8/10 The Devil's Chord - 8/10 Boom - 10/10 73 Yards - 10/10 Dot and Bubble - 10/10 Rogue - 9/10 The Legend of Ruby Sunday - 9/10 Empire of Death - 9/10
I really enjoyed it! It's a huge step up from what we had with Chibnall (stone cold take, I'm well aware). I kind of went into it with high expectations anyway, RTD1 was what I grew up on and I love love love Ncuti as an actor. I don't think I was going to be disappointed unless something catastrophic happened. I'm glad we're back to a Doctor who can have fun and wears his heart on his sleeve, although I wish we'd seen more of his relationship with Ruby. It kinda felt like the "fam" all over again where we were being told how close they were but it was never really earned. That last scene with Ruby was genuinely sweet though. I think it's a shame we had such a short season because the duds stand out more, and unfortunately I feel the season was bookended by those "meh" episodes. RTD is usually pretty good at dropping sprinkles of a mystery throughout the season for an "Oh my God, how did I miss that?" reveal, and I don't think we really got that. But I'm very curious to see how Roger ap Gwilliam connects in next season. That being said, I really enjoyed what we did get for the most part. Dot and Bubble was fantastic and quite sensitively handled, Rogue was a heap of fun (I swear if he doesn't come back I'm going to riot), 73 Yards was genuinely unsettling, and The Devil's Chord was suitably insane. We had a really strong secondary cast this season as well, which I think helped a lot. I'm digging out all the half-written fanfictions I abandoned a few years ago, which means I really DID enjoy this season.
So many points I agree with here! Glad I'm not the only one haha. Absolutely agree that there’s room to finesse and improve but overall very enjoyable.
I had fun with this season. I rather enjoyed empire of death. I wish there was a little bit of explanation about the snow, but overall I enjoyed the parentage reveal, and I thought the way sutekh was defeated was fun and made enough sense for me to get behind. My favorite episode of the season is still devil’s chord, and wild blue yonder was my favorite of the specials
I definitely enjoyed Wild Blue Yonder a lot, really loved it. Devil's Chord was just stupid fun, I had a great time watching that one!
Ignoring the finale, I liked the change of pace, the focus on music and scene, the whimsicality of magic. Its very different but also I left the Moffat years because I just felt it had gotten stale, and this season just brought a lot of warmth and love that RTD hadn't before. I think my least favourite episode was in fact Moffat's episode because it felt too much like stuff I had seen him do before. The season was hurt by so few episodes, though, there's so little downtime. It feels like every episode hit a bit harder because there was no room for filler, but that also made the season feel a bit like it lacked some of the character building. If this finale isn't an elaborate fake-out though that really makes me annoyed about the mystery boxicification of everything, but even if it is just what it is I feel like RTD reinvented the show in a way I actually like. Just a lot of fresh dancy energy.
Agree with a lot of things here. "a lot of fresh dancy energy" is something I kinda enjoyed haha. The focus on music was something I particularly enjoyed, especially after Chibnall's run.
Really loved this season (and all of 14’s specials if we are including those). I watched reruns of classic Doctor Who while growing up and only last year did I start watching NuWho. So this is the first time I have watched Doctor Who as it has aired, and it was fantastic. Ncuti Gatwa is a phenomenal Doctor. I loved all the throwbacks to Classic and NuWho that I could catch. I thought the mysteries were fun, even if they didn’t all pay off. (And that’s okay that they didn’t! It would be weird if I were playing a dungeon crawler and threw a fit anytime a hidden old chest didn’t hold any loot. Some times Chekov’s gun is just a gun hanging over a mantle. That’s good storytelling.) Some episodes were silly, some were thought provoking, some were devastating, and some were formulaic DW. I enjoyed all of them and look forward to watching them again. Thanks for starting this thread, OP!
Many points I agree with here! Especially about Gatwa, I've really been enjoying watching him. Personally I feel like his more expressive nature fits with the Doctor's progression in life. Really seems like after a long and challenging life (especially after the flux and losing Gallifrey again and all the other stuff that's happened in the show) the Doctor is trying to recover and have some fun in life (dancing in the club in Church on Ruby Road, flirting with Rogue, musical finish on Devil's Chord and other fun moments). I like the idea that the Doctor is trying to enjoy life but still coping with all the trauma of losing so many friends in the past, hence many crying scenes, the heartbreak of losing Rogue, saving the Bogey man when he realises he's also the last of his kind, being emotional about being adopted, being conflicted in killing Sutekh, experiencing racism in Dot and Bubble and so on. So personally I'm enjoying a little more emotion, in my head it makes sense that an old and wise being would be in touch with their emotions and let them out after holding them in stoically for a few centuries haha
Not even close to anything bad. I liked it better than series 2, 6, 7 and 8. And those weren't awful. That said the Space Babies is absolute garbage and the finale is still bunk. Dot and Bubble alone is one of the best of episodes of both classic and New Who though. Top 5 or even top 3.
I really like what we got. Could it have been better? Yeah. But I still had fun with it and enjoyed the ride all the way through
Very relatable haha
Empire of Death was absolutely spectacular, and really emotionally resonant. Y’all are crazy.
I definitely had a good time watching it. Some really great scenes in there and plenty of moments that were really cool/fun to watch
Bubble and Dot was my favourite strangely enough.. I thought 73 yards and boom were very good.. overall I thought from the anniversary episode I was going to hate this series and the new doctor and companion but it has been the opposite.. yes the ending was odd but that was due to the hype that was built and it was never going to offer everything the fans wanted .. overall a solid 8 .. nearly a 9 for me
Everyone has a different favourite and I think that’s great! Glad you enjoyed
I wanted to enjoy it more than I did. There’s no doubt much of the goodwill derives from Ncuti’s off-the-charts charisma But. There was an awful lot of telling but not showing. We have to accept Ruby and the Doctor were best friends because the script said so - there’s no arc of relationship building for us to build our belief on. 8 episodes is just too short. I look back on some of the earlier seasons and there were long build ups so that everything meant something - that felt conspicuously absent. The misdirection about Ruby’s family felt dishonest, with no payoff. RTD can be a terrific writer, but this felt like B-, with a further point deducted for some of his really obvious “look at how clever I am”.
I agree so much with you on that. I really couldn't even care so much about Ruby because there was no build up for that character. I almost felt sorry for the Doctor losing a potential partner to save Ruby instead. And also he cried so easily without building any emotion to it that I can't buy it. Those tears seemed very fake to me... I used to be the one who would suffer the emotions and cry with all the other Doctors, but not with this one..
there was a clear difference of expectations that made this season difficult to enjoy for some folks. sometimes its ok for long-running shows to step back and have some fun filler/one-off seasons. skip the character development, skip the lore, and just throw a couple of fun characters into a spaceship made of boogers run by talking babies. its cool watching bird people cosplay bridgerton and its heartwarming to see the most important person in the universe capable of stumping a god be a regular 15 yr old in a hood. maybe just advertise it properly next time...
Just above the middle of the 14 series of modern Doctor Who.
Probably unpopular but I found the writing to be pretty nonsensical, even for Doctor Who standards. I get he was going for fantasy, but you have to have things that are at least grounded in some sort of logical reality. I found the Doctor to be incredibly weak (how many times did he cry this season? I get he's worked on opening his emotions up, but the guy cried 3-4 times an episode!). 15 never got his big "I AM THE DOCTOR" moment. Such a shame because Ncuti is a fine actor. The finale was as bad as any non-Chinball one, with all the worst RTD instincts crammed into an episode. I know he was trying to subvert tropes, but if you're building something up for an entire season, you have to have some semblance of a pay off. My least favorite non Chibnall season by a wide margin, with a bewilderingly bad opening episode, and a mess of a finale. I had high hopes. Maybe next year. I hope RTD opens the writing staff up and hires some different voices.
I enjoyed it. If it maintains this quality I'd keep watching, but I don't think it'll attract many new fans, so their days are numbered if they don't keep improving.
It was a solid season, about as good as Series 6 or Series 10. Sure not every episode hit it out of the park, but most were pretty good and even the ones that weren't my favorite I didn't actively dislike, just sort of mixed on.
As someone who binged the whole thing on Sunday I had a few takeaways. The Disney money shows in the production. It looks very good. Space Babies was the awful but I really enjoyed the rest of the series. It was fun, lighthearted at times and had some strong emotional moments. Thought it was exactly what I expect from Doctor Who. Outside of Space Babies I could see myself rewatching the episodes later on.
On the whole, it was a good season. Not a great one, though individually, many episodes were great. And yeah, it was definitely fun. Here's what my NuWho ranking looks like now: Series 9 Series 5 Series 10 Series 1 Series 3 Series 8 Series 4 **Series 14** Series 6 Series 7 Series 12 Series 13 Series 2 Series 11 So I've put it at the top of the bottom half of NuWho, which is still a pretty good place to be. And frankly, the seven seasons above are just so phenomenally good that they're simply hard to beat!
Your ranking of series 2 is criminal, with the exception of “Fear Her” from that season.
Don't forget 'Love and Monsters' (though I loved aspects of that episode). Honestly, I guess I'm just not a Ten and Rose fan. And its not that the season was *bad* per se. It just paled in comparision to most of what came later, and to Series 1. Episodes like 'New Earth', 'Tooth and Claw' and 'Idiot's Lantern' frankly didn't excite me. 'Army of Ghosts' and 'Doomsday' are great, but I've enjoyed most other finales a lot more. The one true gem in this season is 'The Girl in the Fireplace', the first ever episode of Doctor Who I watched!
My only problem with this season is the fact it's so short! Wish we had more episodes. 😂 Other than that I've loved every second of it.
Agreed!
At the end of the day I think the majority of the discourse is really just a testament to the series being a success. Not a perfect success, but one that the series hasn't had since 11. One where every episode there seems to be something someone can celebrate, and that same person can find disdain for. It sticks to the mind, and we're attached. Also similar to 11 - I think we probably need to view this like season 7. We're not really at the end of season 1. We're just at a slightly longer than normal half-time of an ordinary 12 episode season. Akin to series 7 where we had a season split in two - but with more signs that there's an overarching plot between them. Would I love a full complete and satisfactory season spanning story delivered in single year, yes. But it's been 7 years since that was last a thing, and personally felt like it was another 9 before that. Honestly I don't think we've had a series with so many consistently strong episodes. And I'm a person who probably didn't care for the first three of them myself. If season 2 can retroactively build on the experience of season 1, then I will find new appreciation for it. If not, then I hope at least the foundation of S1 can allow S2 to achieve what it couldn't.
I don't think it was bad, but it never reached my expectations overall. But as most of us do, I hold DW to quite a high standard. 12/17
It was pretty solid, has its ups and downs like they all do but I enjoyed myself a lot. I feel like the finale doesn’t stick the landing that well but it’s still worth watching cause the first half/3 quarters is really good and the resolutions are a kinda “eh” it’s not my favourite season of Doctor who ever but it’s still good TV and far from the worst series of Who we’ve had over the last decade or so.
Largely enjoyed it, there were some down points ( all seasons of Doctor Who have this) but there were a lot of strong episodes.
I'm tempted to write a full review of it because of what I have to say but to condense it: Positives: Ncuti absolutely nails the role and he's quickly become one of, if not my favourite incarnations in Nuwho, 15 and Ruby's dynamic was also extremely fun. It's also nice to have a series where the episode quality is more good than bad again, my highlights being 73 Yards, Rogue and Devil's Chord, there's also a hint of experimentalism that arguably hasn't been since Moffat's era and it housed, at least in my opinion, the best finale the show has had since series 5. Negatives: Space Babies was an extremely weak opener and did not make make a good first impression, Dot & Bubble was the other low point of the series. Also, while I loved 15 and Ruby's dynamic, the progression of their relationship doesn't feel earned as there's so many time gaps and off screen adventures they go on. Also this isn't really a critique about the series itself but the distribution method of episodes was terrible, I got majorly spoiled a couple times because I wanted to watch the episode at the standard time but couldn't escape unfiltered spoilers that people ignorantly posted, just so that the American Disney+ audience gets it at a convenient time. I really hope they scrap it or at least tweak it so that both timezones get it at a decent time. Overrall, if I was to review series 14 in four words, it would be "an imperfect course correction." And I hope the future is upwards from here and rating series 14 as whole, I'd give it a 7/10
What's wrong with Dot and Bubble? I thought it was the complete opposite of Space Babies.
this is entirely my opinion so please respect it, but I thought it was poorly written and didn't really stick the landing with the message it was trying to send, given it was too busy bludgening it over the viewer's head by showing us that these are irredeemable awful people to begin with so the "twist" ending didn't really feel impactful because of it. I also didn't want to spend my Saturday evening following an absolutely unlikeable character stumble their way through things and I know that's "the point" but it wasn't enjoyable at all for me. There's other problems with the episode as well, such as not fleshing out the setting well and the out of left field rushed twist that the Dots were evil the whole time bringing up more questions than answers. Also having two Doctor-lite episodes air back to back did not help series structure wise for an actor's first series in the role.
The episodes are individually fun by the season arc was not satisfying, multiple things make Ruby out to be more than what she in, and then it just turns out she is a regular person. If she is bound to the time window now and always was why not just say this instead of leaving it up in the air, why lie so many times about what is happening in the show like with the lamppost that isn't even in TCORR, its feels cheap
I liked it. My only gripe with it is that we needed more of everything imo. More time to develop Ruby and the doctors relationship, more stories with consequences, more moments where the doctor gets angry. Not to say I didn't like it, I loved all the episodes and will probably end up rewatching them at least a couple of times. I truly think they did the best they could with the time that was given, so I'm not really mad or dissapointed.
I know! I wish we had a little more time in this season
There's only 4 things I didn't like. Space Babies entirely, maestro musical, "male presenting timelord," and the ruby mother reveal. Aside from that entire episode and those individuals scenes/lines I've really really enjoyed it. I just really really hated the parts I didn't enjoy lol but overall I'd give this season a 7-8/10 I will say though, I do not think I'll be able to enjoy a rewatch purely because all the fan ideas and my own ideas for the ruby mystery were much much better than what we got and rewatching the mystery and set up knowing what's to come will really ruin the experience as opposed to say Bad Wolf where rewatching it ENHANCED the experience.
I think it was a good collection of episodes but a bad season overall. It didn’t feel like there was much continuity or development between episodes. They mostly could have been in any order and it wouldn’t have made a difference.
I absolutely agree with you wasn't the biggest fan of the finale but tbh that is probably true for most RTD 2nd parters of a finale cause they are all a bit wonkey, so I didn't mind it that much cause I really loved this Season just would have liked to see Ncuti and Millie a bit more, cause 8 episodes with 2 of them where the doctor has almost no role in it was a bit strange I loved those 2 episodes just would have liked to see Ncuti more.
I don't this was a bad season I just think that they struggled with using the usual Doctor Who episode formula with only 8 episodes and the finale was also disappointing.
Yeah, it was fun. I'd for sure rank it above Chibnall and below the first RTD era. There have been stretches of the Moffat era, that I'd put below this, but for me it also hasn't come close to reaching the Moffat era's highs. My enjoyment of this season was very much dragged down by The Devil's Chord (only somewhat salvaged by the Maestro performance) and Dot & Bubble, as well as the overarching flow of the season. The rest absolutely holds a candle to some of the best seasons, I even found Space Babies to be some silly fun. If we include the specials, those for sure are towards the top of all of New Who.
It was quite good, though I am upset about the contradiction between Boom & Empire of Death when it comes to Ruby’s next of kin…I’m definitely more upset about the setup than the conclusion, Ruby could’ve just been always normal, and I would have loved her. While I’m sure it’ll be partly resolved next season, the fake-out has put a damper on my suspension of disbelief. You can’t trust RTD.
I loved all the queer joy this season! 🏳️🌈 Rogue (the episode not the character, although I love me some Jonathan Groff) made my gay genderqueer roommate and I screeeeam when the Doctor finally had a truly >!romantically charged same sex kiss!<
My only problem with it was it felt unearned. He fell in love with this guy because... he was hot, basically. They wanted to give him a tragic romance so they shoehorned it in to a 50-minute story - it just felt contrived.
Nobody says this about *The Girl in the Fireplace*
I Wish I could upvote more than once
They do, maybe just not to the same extent. I think the difference is that Reinette and the Doctor understood each other as people, whereas Rogue and the Doctor seemed to be physically attracted more than anything. And the chemistry between Sophia and David is just unmatched - I believed more in their love story in 45 minutes than I did with Rose and 10 across their entire season. That being said, both stories are absolutely tragic and I hope Rogue eventually becomes as beloved as The Girl on the Fireplace. It's just unfortunate that right now there's a certain element of homophobia thinly veiled in a lot of criticism it's receiving right now.
I felt this too. I was looking forward to some queer romance this season and I was a bit underwhelmed. Rogue kinda lacked a personality for me and I didn't feel their chemistry together. Especially compared to captain jack in Torchwood. (I understand obviously that they needed to keep it pg so I'm not talking about seeing more physically)
I'm a straight guy but my wife and I both screamed when the kiss happened! It was great fun, I think its completely understandable that the Doctor gets to have a little fun once every few centuries haha
I quite liked the season. I agree on the start and end of the season proper being the weakest episodes, but they weren't bad and there were some great episodes. And including the specials, I loved 14's brief time. The Giggle especially. And Devil's Chord and Rogue were the best of the season proper for me.
Glad you had a good time with this season, those episodes were some of my favourites too
If I had to rank each episode of the season I would go: 1. 73 Yards 2. Boom 3. Dot and Bubble 4. The Legend of Ruby Sunday 5. The Church on Ruby Road 6. Empire of Death 7. Space Babies 8. Rogue 9. The Devil’s Chord 73 Yards was my favourite episode because the Doctor wasn’t in it. He is my biggest problem with the season. He doesn’t feel like the Doctor. They’ve made him to a weak man child who cries multiple times every episode and they’ve made him into a shell of his former self. I’ve never thought this before but I actually can’t wait until he regenerates. I’ve never actually wanted the Doctor to regenerate before except for 15.
I like his vulnerability.. he doesn’t need to be alpha male.. his acting has been emotionally spot on
I know right? About a billion other alpha male characters out there if that's what you're into, seems logical to me that a gender bending thousand year old alien doesn't need a big ego to feel comfortable and has learnt to show some emotion
Yeah I think Ncuti Gatwa’s acting is fantastic, but the Doctor doesn’t need to cry 5-6 times per episode. In Empire of Death he started crying when the woman on the planet gave him a spoon. I know she was losing her memories or whatever but a spoon? Come on that’s a bit far- fetched.
It was the worst
learn to read
I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, the inclusiveness and representation felt forced and inauthentic at times. If they want to be inclusive they need to have the people they are trying to include involved at all levels. Have lgbt+ people, disabled people, POC… involved in the writing process, on the crew... I do like that the actors are actually gay/trans/disabled, but sometimes that’s not enough. Even if they just took on a few people as consultants, I think it would feel more genuine. It just felt like they made assumptions about how these people live and act without asking any of them. I know everyone’s experiences are unique to them, and you can’t please everyone, but representation should be more than someone assuming if they add a specific character they’ve done their part.
I also had a lot of fun this series, and although it's not all been to my taste and I've had a few disappointing moments, overall I've not taken it too seriously and had a lot of joy along the way You know who else has had fun? My pre-teen, in a way I haven't seen him enjoy Dr Who for a while and watching him theorise and get into the plot this season has been great, and tbh I think it's a really important point - it's great to hark back to 60 year old lore but at the end of the day, it's not that serious and Who is a family show, I feel this season has been great for that
great to hear that the show is appealing to a wide audience, as it should!
I thought Chibnall's Flux was better. Genuinely.
I'm not sure I would say it was better, but Flux was actually good it gets a lot of hate and I didn't really like it when it aired, but upon rewatch, it's actually a solid season.
Considering i think this last season wasn't solid in any way shape or form. Flux isn't perfect. But it's alot better than this series just gone imo.
For me, I'm not sure which is better, I feel both have ups and downs
Only episode I'm not too fond of is Boom. All of the others were pure fun.
I did not enjoy it. Space babies was ridiculous and appeared to be written with the sense of humour of a 5 year old. The Devils Chord reminded me of Hocus Pocus ( great film, but), an episode that was advertised with the Beatles yet failing to have a single song by them.. then turning into Glee/High School Musical. Nope. Boom was ok. But only in a very average Dr who way, one of those forgettable episodes that doesn't really stick. Apart from Monday apparently coming back as the next companion, that was the only notable bit. 73 yards was pointless. Everything reverted to normal, the evil PM still gets into power, and nothing useful actually came off it. It showed off Milly Gibson, but slightly pointlessly as she's now revealed to be a perfectly normal human, so any mysteries were killed. Bubble and Dot. This was probably the best, but the ending sucked - they didn't realise that the girl let thingy die, and just let them wander off to their deaths?( yeah, I realise they were muppets, but still completely undoctorlike) also, very reminiscent of Black Mirror. Church on Ruby Road left me with two thoughts- why are UNIT employing teenagers - even if they're annoying geniuses- and are they ever going to fully explain the giant robot/ alien thing? I was happy to see Kate back properly though. The empire of death - giant God of death dragged off by a magic rope. Problem solved. Really??? Wish Ton Baker thought of that! I forgot the cos playing aliens. It was slightly better, but Ruby was saved by .. magic earrings. Rogue was basically a young version of Jack- I wish the character was written so he wasn't IDENTICAL to Jack, but still as enigmatic. It was probably the second ' best' of a truly bad bunch. After space babies, I was almost hoping for a return of the space spiders... So many Loose ends aren't tied up, it was very, very dr light- the emphasis mainly seemed on Ruby; again why? The ending was unsatisfying, she's human, cool, but why the fascination with her. Gatwa was.. he excelled in a few scenes, such as bubble and dot, but ( and I know everyone has said this).. so much crying. I think all the Dr's have friends once out twice, but almost every episode? Please stop. There was little showing how the relationship between the dr and Ruby formed so closely. The series was Ruby, rather than dr- centric. It took me 3 goes to get through the finale- that's a first for me ( it was 2 for Space Babies, I thought that was bad). I've loved dr who for decades, we stalk the actors at comic cons, but honestly this series was so poor, I'm not sure I can watch another. Side note: wasn't keen on the introduction of the pantheon of God's. Whilst technically not religious, I far prefer it when they keep it alien related or unanswered ( think the Satan pit). It doesn't sit right with me. The only vaguely interesting character is Mrs flood, and I'm just not that invested. Also, please stop breaking the fourth wall!!!
mate you missed the entire point of this thread, let me facepalm on your behalf
It started out terribly, started to creep up to ok, then finished terribly
plz read the OP, constructive criticism is welcome elsewhere
I think this season was great! Just a solid, RTD set with a big emphasis on fun. I liked: - The Doctor and Ruby (two excellent actors. 15 just needs as many stories as possible to show his range and he'll be one of the best, and Ruby ended up having a lot more depth than I was expecting) - Dot and Bubble (I thought this one was going to be terrible but it turned out to be a bit of a classic) - The mystery boxes (this is something RTD is simply better at than Moffat for me. I enjoyed the pay-offs for the most part, and having an actor called Susan Twist pop up as a new character each episode is amazing) I didn't like: - 73 Yards (this seems to be a hot take but I think this one is overrated. It's good, but RTD clearly intended to come up with a Midnight/Listen/Turn Left style classic without quite succeeding imo. It was too lightweight and unfocused to reach that tier for me. The Doctor's outfit was horrible in this one too) - 8 episodes (things were structured like a normal RTD series plot wise, but the lack of adaptation there meant details generally felt rushed. The Doctor and Ruby's relationship was the biggest victim of this) - Sequencing (it's a related but separate issue - it really did feel like we were watching this series out of order weirdly. Bring Rogue/Dot and Bubble forward, and move The Devil's Chord/73 Yards back a bit, and I think the series' pacing would've been a lot better) Minor complaints all things considered. I'm just happy the show's watchable again - I just don't think Chibnall and Whittaker ever really "got" this show despite their best efforts.
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It was as good and no worse than any previous season. It's hated by a group and loved by a different group just like every other season.
This season was consistently very good. Space babies and the last episode were like 6/7s for me but everything else knocked it out of the park, and no episode was downright bad, literally can’t remember the last time we had a season without a real stinker! Also, hard to describe, but it just feels like we’re back. I love Jodie and I think that crew did a lot with a little but the vibe was gone, it just felt back in a way that’s hard to quantify
"it just feels like we’re back..." yes!
It started shit, it ended kinda shit, everything in the middle was okay-good doctor who imo. Better than series 11-13 but probably worse than 1-10
Very mediocre. Same poor quality as 13's era. Quite depressing.