Doctor Who Megathread

[MasterJedi]

Can’t wait for the same folks to now start to re-hate Davies and everything done again.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Can’t wait for the same folks to now start to re-hate Davies and everything done again.

I was 13 when I started watching and saw his episodes, so maybe I’ll hate him for the first time!

[politicallefty]

I am honestly legit ecstatic that RTD is returning. Ultimately, his tenure is what got me into the show in the first place. The Eccleston/Tennant Era will always be my favourite. I've written so much here about how I've felt about Doctor Who over the years. I've always felt RTD is by far the best showrunner. With that said, the occasional two-parter from Moffat wouldn't be a bad idea. I don't think Moffat was a strong showrunner, but he was a strong writer under a different showrunner. His stuff under RTD was some of the absolute best. I could start rambling on about the best episodes during his tenure, but I won't right now.

[Mr. Smith]

RTD...back?

Ugh. This is like when Al Jean came back to The Simpsons around...Season 13! [And it's still that same guy!]. Tell me, did The Simpsons ever match up to the 3rd and 4th seasons when he was last in charge? Did it even match up to The Critic?

It's time for someone new, I would've gone with Mark Gatiss...but honestly, maybe a complete outsider, who can take what made the show work, and keep it going.

Hopefully this is just an interim year and he doesn't stay too long.

[brucejoel99]

I am honestly legit ecstatic that RTD is returning. Ultimately, his tenure is what got me into the show in the first place. The Eccleston/Tennant Era will always be my favourite. I've written so much here about how I've felt about Doctor Who over the years. I've always felt RTD is by far the best showrunner. With that said, the occasional two-parter from Moffat wouldn't be a bad idea. I don't think Moffat was a strong showrunner, but he was a strong writer under a different showrunner. His stuff under RTD was some of the absolute best. I could start rambling on about the best episodes during his tenure, but I won't right now.

100% agreed. Moffat was best writing-wise when he got an individual story that he's excited to tell, whereas RTD is better at continuously coming up with stories in order to put a cohesive narrative arc together without getting bogged down.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I am honestly legit ecstatic that RTD is returning. Ultimately, his tenure is what got me into the show in the first place. The Eccleston/Tennant Era will always be my favourite. I've written so much here about how I've felt about Doctor Who over the years. I've always felt RTD is by far the best showrunner. With that said, the occasional two-parter from Moffat wouldn't be a bad idea. I don't think Moffat was a strong showrunner, but he was a strong writer under a different showrunner. His stuff under RTD was some of the absolute best. I could start rambling on about the best episodes during his tenure, but I won't right now.

100% agreed. Moffat was best writing-wise when he got an individual story that he's excited to tell, whereas RTD is better at continuously coming up with stories in order to put a cohesive narrative arc together without getting bogged down.

Yes, I was extremely excited when I saw that Moffat was the showrunner after RTD because he wrote some of my favorite episodes from the RTD era, but he just got bogged down in his own byzantine ideas long-term.

[Mr. Smith]

I am honestly legit ecstatic that RTD is returning. Ultimately, his tenure is what got me into the show in the first place. The Eccleston/Tennant Era will always be my favourite. I've written so much here about how I've felt about Doctor Who over the years. I've always felt RTD is by far the best showrunner. With that said, the occasional two-parter from Moffat wouldn't be a bad idea. I don't think Moffat was a strong showrunner, but he was a strong writer under a different showrunner. His stuff under RTD was some of the absolute best. I could start rambling on about the best episodes during his tenure, but I won't right now.

100% agreed. Moffat was best writing-wise when he got an individual story that he's excited to tell, whereas RTD is better at continuously coming up with stories in order to put a cohesive narrative arc together without getting bogged down.

It got bogged down with melodrama [especially Series 2 and 3] and cop-out endings instead.

Moffatt's era had a bit more variety, good [good of which I might add, easily outshown both RTD and Chibnall] and bad [though still not as bad as Chibnall]. In retrospect, so did Chibnall.

RTD was more consistent with a good run, but he wasn't without flaws, and those aren't flaws I was hoping to see again.

[brucejoel99]

Not really that big of a news item, but with this confirmation that Jodie & Mandip have wrapped filming on the specials (the tweet doesn't explicitly say it, but filming reports confirm that this is Jodie's regeneration episode that just wrapped), this makes Jodie the first 3-series-rule Doctor (i.e., not including 9 & Rose) to have a companion traveling alongside them from their first episode to their last:

https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/1448340285264646146

[MasterJedi]

Series 13 begins on Halloween night!

[morgieb]

TIL people still watch Dr Who

[GeorgiaModerate]

TIL people still watch Dr Who

Yes.  Yes, we do.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Can’t wait for the same folks to now start to re-hate Davies and everything done again.

One of the bedrock principles of Doctor Who fandom since its inception has been hatred of the current showrunner and the direction he's taking the show. The organized fandom itself was founded specifically to drag some Hinchcliffe-era retcon of Gallifreyan history. Sound familiar?

[Mr. Smith]

TIL people still watch Dr Who

It's not The Simpsons mate, the premise is infinite and open. New Doctor = new show.

Can’t wait for the same folks to now start to re-hate Davies and everything done again.

One of the bedrock principles of Doctor Who fandom since its inception has been hatred of the current showrunner and the direction he's taking the show. The organized fandom itself was founded specifically to drag some Hinchcliffe-era retcon of Gallifreyan history. Sound familiar?

Ironic given how revered [rightfully I might add] he is now...still I thought it wasn't until JNT took over that things went crazy with the fandom.

[brucejoel99]

Series 13 begins on Halloween night!

The trailer is also amazing. If Flux is half-as-good as its trailer implies, then we may yet still be in store for a Chibnall-era redemption arc of some sorts after all, especially if the "flux" in question is something along the lines of diverging, alternate timelines collapsing in on each other. Presumably, such a storyline would relate to the Timeless Child-arc, opening up the possibility of a decrease in the unpopularity thereof, if only by just a bit, especially if it were to involve a potential restoration of Gallifrey. Just imagine Chibnall walking away from all of this having been able to have his cake & eat it too (it also doesn't hurt that at least 1, & possibly 2 of the background characters fighting in this trailer's Sontaran war kinda look like Morbius Doctors. Granted, it's probably nothing, but were Chibnall to somehow use each episode to feature & contextualize a Morbius Doctor, that'll be so amazingly stupid & hilarious, but in a good way that could honestly be loved):

(Also, the Ood!! Also also, I really hope the skull monster talking to 13 is crispy Dhawan. He got death particle'd, after all.)

[GeorgiaModerate]

Thoughts on the first episode?  It definitely had me on the edge of my seat, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

[MasterJedi]

Thoughts on the first episode?  It definitely had me on the edge of my seat, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Seems to be well received but it’ll sour by the part of the fanbase that threw a tantrum over the timeless child since it seems to be something from back then.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

It was fun, if a bit hard to follow (although I imagine a lot of it will pay off in future episodes). I might have to re-watch the whole season once it ends, just because having the full context of the serial might help me understand it better.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

It wasn't a bad episode, but as Peebs says very hard to follow: I had to pause it half way through and talk myself through the plot to figure out what the f[inks] was supposed to be happening. Strong performances (especially from the new companion) and visual design. It was nice to see the events of last series have a lasting emotional impact on the Doctor and her relationship to the TARDIS team.

On the whole I think it was just trying to do too much, which tbf may be partly a symptom of having to condense this series down to six episodes. It felt like there were a lot of one-off scenes that in retrospect are probably setting up stuff for future episodes, but in the moment were very disorienting as they did not dovetail into the main story or resolve in any way. I guess probably it will be clearer once we've seen the entire series.

I might watch it through again like Peebs says and see if it makes more sense a second time through. Still looking forward to the rest of this series.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

It wasn't a bad episode, but as Peebs says very hard to follow: I had to pause it half way through and talk myself through the plot to figure out what the f[inks] was supposed to be happening. Strong performances (especially from the new companion) and visual design. It was nice to see the events of last series have a lasting emotional impact on the Doctor and her relationship to the TARDIS team.

On the whole I think it was just trying to do too much, which tbf may be partly a symptom of having to condense this series down to six episodes. It felt like there were a lot of one-off scenes that in retrospect are probably setting up stuff for future episodes, but in the moment were very disorienting as they did not dovetail into the main story or resolve in any way. I guess probably it will be clearer once we've seen the entire series.

I might watch it through again like Peebs says and see if it makes more sense a second time through. Still looking forward to the rest of this series.

British media can be very hard to understand if you have an IQ above 6. I wouldn't worry myself with trying to interpret media created by people who think that a handful of french fries sandwiched between two loaves of bread counts as "food." I wouldn't waste my time on it.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

It was fun, if a bit hard to follow (although I imagine a lot of it will pay off in future episodes). I might have to re-watch the whole season once it ends, just because having the full context of the serial might help me understand it better.

This episode was much easier to follow, and the bits and pieces of The Halloween Apocalypse that made it difficult to understand definitely paid off this week. Maybe I'll re-watch it after it's done anyway, despite things making more sense this week.

[politicallefty]

I have to say I've really been enjoying this so far, but it's still hard to see where they're going with this. Bringing back the Fugitive Doctor just complicated the story that much more. I do like the Weeping Angels being a major element of this story arc, something I expected during the first episode. They haven't been a major part of a plotline since Series 7. Episode 4 is apparently titled "Village of the Angels". That title and the ending of last night's episode definitely has me looking forward to the next episode. So far though, they seem to be piling on more questions with little in the way of answers. I'm hoping the payoff will be good since these massive storylines can sometimes collapse in on themselves. (When it comes to two-parters, it's hard to think of the stories where the second part is better than the first, but that might just be me.)

With all that said, this isn't going to be a regeneration story. There are three specials planned for next year. Hopefully, Series 14 will premiere early in 2023 rather than later. After all, it will be coinciding with the 60th anniversary.

[brucejoel99]

With all that said, this isn't going to be a regeneration story. There are three specials planned for next year. Hopefully, Series 14 will premiere early in 2023 rather than later. After all, it will be coinciding with the 60th anniversary.

Hate to break it to you, but S14 won't air 'til after the 60th anniversary, which will be RTD & the 14th Doctor's 1st episode.

[politicallefty]

With all that said, this isn't going to be a regeneration story. There are three specials planned for next year. Hopefully, Series 14 will premiere early in 2023 rather than later. After all, it will be coinciding with the 60th anniversary.

Hate to break it to you, but S14 won't air 'til after the 60th anniversary, which will be RTD & the 14th Doctor's 1st episode.

For sure? That's almost 2024 then. The anniversary is November 23rd. I always know that because the show premiered one day after President Kennedy was assassinated.

Actually, all of the 50th anniversary stuff is what got me to watch Classic Doctor Who. I started watching the BBC America specials where they did a story for each Doctor. They chose The Aztecs for the First Doctor. I really loved The Tomb of the Cybermen for the Second Doctor, but it's hard to separate from the fact that my grandma had died the day before. The music when they're reanimating and leaving the tomb is unforgettable to me. From what I've seen of him, I'm a big fan of the Second Doctor. However, I always liked the creepiness of the first incarnation of Cybermen (which we saw at the end of Series 10, for the first time since 1966).

[brucejoel99]

With all that said, this isn't going to be a regeneration story. There are three specials planned for next year. Hopefully, Series 14 will premiere early in 2023 rather than later. After all, it will be coinciding with the 60th anniversary.

Hate to break it to you, but S14 won't air 'til after the 60th anniversary, which will be RTD & the 14th Doctor's 1st episode.

For sure?

Yeah, the press release announcing RTD's return said that he'll be taking the helm from Chibnall, whose final episode is confirmed to be the BBC centenary special featuring Jodie's regeneration next year, for the 60th & the series thereafter.

[The Dowager Mod]

"Reverse the polarity of the Neutron flow!"
haha never get's old.