WHOCHURCH: The Chris Chibnall era

This isn't a two(+)-parter necessarily but a single season-long story of sorts, with or without a grand unifying mystery. Or at least I really hope so.

Liked Whittaker as the Doctor, and the new companions are solid, also the music was great! But yeah... the story in this was hot garbage. Like, the Doctor finds out the guy's sister is still alive in the Predator trophy room and is like "well, fuck it... no point in trying to save her, send Predator guy home and we'll call it a day". Maybe it's just the way shows are edited now, but they always seem to make an episode feel both frantic and tedious. No moments ever get to breathe... I remember really liking Boom Town back in Ninth Doctor times, because while it had some other issues, there was that great scene with the Doctor and the baddie in a cafe just having a conversation, not aiming for nonstop pithiness or serial memeability.

I'd assumed they're going to catch up with the Predator trophy room later on in the season. If not then that was a stupid thing to throw in, yeah.

I was also happy the episode was so Yorkshiriffic!

Speaking of sic, wondering what he thinks...

― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, October 8, 2018 11:17 PM (yesterday)

Probably avoiding in case we spoil the identity of a forthcoming episode key grip or something...

― chap, Monday, October 8, 2018 11:19 PM (yesterday)

Avoiding cos he doesn't want to spoil anyone's fun 😊

I suspect the 'no classic villains' is a bit of a fake-out. Aren't they legally obliged to feature the Daleks in each season for some reason?

― chap, Tuesday, October 9, 2018 1:16 AM (two hours ago)

no, this (like most generally-known facts about Dr Who) is a fan myth

Like, the Doctor finds out the guy's sister is still alive in the Predator trophy room and is like "well, fuck it... no point in trying to save her, send Predator guy home and we'll call it a day".

Not sure how she’s supposed to go save the trophy room victims without a TARDIS. It seemed obvious to me this’ll pop up again.

I hate being the lone grumblebum about this

You are not, sadly. Story was a dud, mostly, though I'll admit that the scene where Ryan was trying (and FAILING!) to ride the bike by himself was really affecting.

I think I prefer my Doctors to do a lot more scenery-chewing than what we got for episode 1.

Yeah the story itself was mostly boring. It should really have done a 'Rose' and just left the aliens as anonymous as possible in order to make space for character-building.

Whittaker was excellent though and it was a smart scriptwriting move not to make too much of a big deal out of the female Doctor thing, especially given that none of the other characters knew any different. Perhaps another good reason to avoid classic villains for a while.

Not sure how she’s supposed to go save the trophy room victims without a TARDIS.

Well, she had Predator's transporter thing because she handed it back to him at the end of the story and he used it to blip home instantly so... use that? Once he detonated the DNA bombs in his own body he was turning into a puddle of goop anyway, so he doesn't need it. Or even just be like "hey guys, we need to get my ship back so we can go save that poor kid's sister". That will make more sense to folks who have just met her than "I have a powerful emotional and possibly biological attachment to this police box, so you need to risk your life to help me get it back."

Honestly though, the vibe I got from the episode was a very good. Forging a new sonic screwdriver from spare auto parts in like thirty minutes also made zero sense but I thought the montage worked really well (especially the music, which again... was awesome).

a very good one, that is

i've always thought it was a bit sad when the classic series DVDs did CGI "improvements" to the wonky old effects shots

BUT i would gladly pay money to have every post-2005 episode rescored by Segun Akinola

I agree with people who said Whittaker was great and the new companions (for the little we saw of them) seemed interesting, but the plot was way too basic and derivative. I mean, besides the obvious Predator imitation, even the twist where the opening narration by the companion desribes an incredible person implied to be the Doctor, only for him/her to continue it later and reveal he was talking about a regular human, was lifted straight from "A Good Man Goes to War".

Maybe I'm alone here, but I did enjoy Moffat's overarching puzzle plots when he didn't overdo them, so I'm not that happy if they're completely missing from this season altogether. And it's true Twelve's introductory episode wasn't so great either, but if you compare this to Eleven's introduction (which seems most apt, since that was the last time they changed the head writer), in "Eleventh Hour" Moffat managed to:

1) Establish the new Doctor and how they're different from the previous ones.
2) Flesh out the new companions.
3) Give us a cool stand-alone plot with a creepy, original villain.
4) Hint at some intriguing mysteries which would lead into longer story arcs along the way.

Compared to that, I think this episode only succeeded with #1. Yeah, Whittaker was a joy to watch, but I don't think that was enough. The new companions did show some promise though, and IMO Chibnall seems to be better at writing interesting characters than cool sci-fi plots, so hopefully we'll at least get more out of that aspect. But mostly the quality of this season will depend on how good the other writers are, I fear.

Oh yeah, besides Whittaker, obviously the biggest joys of this episode was to finally be rid of Murray Gold's maudlin compositions and get some proper good sci-fi music for change. I especially liked the repetitive, creepy synth bit that was playing when the "egg" began to crack open, it set the mood perfectly.

I would love a moody, landscape-drenched Broadchurchification of Doctor Who where they hang out in one place for 3-4 episodes. Make the Doctor mysterious, make us wonder if she murdered somebody and have her not make much of an effort to dissuade her companions of that while she draws out some baddie, playing chess with them and sacrificing a bunch of townspeople a la the NA Seventh Doctor

Director of this episode has done 4/10 of the series, is the only white man directing this year.

"Maybe I'm alone here, but I did enjoy Moffat's overarching puzzle plots when he didn't overdo them, so I'm not that happy if they're completely missing from this season altogether. And it's true Twelve's introductory episode wasn't so great either, but if you compare this to Eleven's introduction (which seems most apt, since that was the last time they changed the head writer), in "Eleventh Hour" Moffat managed to:"

make one of the greatest doctor who episodes of all time, yes. maybe "the eleventh hour" is setting the bar a little high?

off the top of my head, new doctor debut episodes ranked:

the eleventh hour
spearhead from space
power of the daleks
the woman who fell to earth
rose
castrovalva
the christmas invasion
an unearthly child
deep breath
robot
the enemy within
time and the rani
the twin dilemma

i'd call that a successful first episode

So glad we're back to spooky Delia Derbyshire influence for the theme

xp that would make an awesome ambient album tracklisting

actually pretty excited for the debut of the new theme/intro sequence... is it next week?

ooh!

An Unearthly Child
The Eleventh Hour
Spearhead From Space (ep 1 or whole story)
Power Of The Daleks (ep 1
Rose
Deep Breath
Robot ep 1
The Woman Who Fell To Earth
The Christmas Invasion
Castrovalva ep 1
Grace: 1999
Time And The Rani
The Twin Dilemma

meant to close those brackets with ", probably whole story but I died of old age watching the animated version in the cinema)"

actually pretty excited for the debut of the new theme/intro sequence... is it next week?

When the theme rose and then died away after the Doctor's first appearance in this ep, I first thought the Australian broadcaster had butchered things and cut out the opening titles for time reasons.

Anyway, Whittaker felt just right as the Doctor. And Sheffieldian gloom seemed right to me, as someone who first saw it on TV in 'Threads'.

Also, re not immediately rushing off to rescue the sister: the girl has already been in stasis for 7 years, and once the Doctor gets the TARDIS back then time really is no object.

Sic, i came dangerously close to ordering some BF audios today. Talk me down.

stick to the ones I recommended in that other thread!

erm, five years or so ago

Or say what you’re looking to get out of them & I’ll give some tips.

Unrelatedly, in spin-off news, the Moffat book of Day of the Doctor is really good fun. If it sounds like your thing, definitely read it (and if it isn't, definitely don't).

Forgot to mention:

- I say to kids "You know, the new Doctor - she's great - she really seems like the same person as the previous doctors". 9-y-o rolls eyes - "Of course she does! Dad, she's a PROFESSIONAL ACTRESS"

- When it's over they go "Is this on every Sunday?!?!"

Oh and:

- "Dad can you pause it, I need to go pee!"

- "No I can't, this is live TV"

Look of confusion and horror

Well technically you could have...

I couldn't though! We were watching on Freeview

Just saw it ourselves here. Loved it.

Recent Big Finishes that looked potentially promising, but I will probably regret buying if I have a moment of weakness...

224 "Alien Heart"/"Dalek Soul"
229 "The Silurian Candidate"
230 "Time in Office"
240 "Hour of the Cybermen"
241 "Red Planets"

oh, RECENT -- Eddie Robson's usually not terrible, but generally I'd say for anything past #100, wait for it to turn up on Radio 4 and listen on iPlayer (radio is free worldwide), unless it's written by Nev Fountain. or there's a $5 weekend sale on the Big Finish site.

and you have already bought all the Rob Shearman and Nev Fountain stories.

Have the Shearmans, not the Nevs. Cheers!

The best Fountain is (nominally) a Companion Chronicle, “Peri And The Piscon Paradox.” Second-best is “The Kingmaker.”

yeah finally watched this last night. thought it was great. story could have been better maybe? sure, but teeth-face tim shaw bits kind of made up for otherwise weakly conceived villain. One thing that really stood out to me was how beautiful everything was; the outdoor shots on the hills, the lighting in some of the warehouse scenes... glowing, hazy, gorgeous looking.

also liked that she got her clothes at a charity shop and the first reaction was 'that's what you're going with?" though that cloak looks a bit expensive.

oh and as for Jodie Whittaker, she was great. I wasn't dreading her though; I did find her character a little annoying on Broadchurch (at least in the first two seasons) but that was the character more than her as an actress.

Bradley Walsh was great. I don't know him from anything else so I had no reason to think he'd be otherwise though. My son thought he was a jerk though and preferred Yas and Ryan.

If you can watch Attack the Block, she’s great in that.

Loved it, loved Sheffield’s guest-starring part, will re-watch again before next episode.

Yeah definitely a good advert for Sheffield.

The best Fountain is (nominally) a Companion Chronicle, “Peri And The Piscon Paradox.” Second-best is “The Kingmaker.”

― My Gig: The Thin Beast (sic)

cheers, i loved "piscon paradox", will have to check out kingmaker

i'm trying to delve into the most ridiculous doctor who trivia lately. like, i didn't know until yesterday the spinoff novel "turlough and the earthlink dilemma" had him facing off not against sky dayton, but against the evil Rehctaht, which is of course just "Thatcher" spelled backwards.

subtle!

I look forward to Thirteen's clash with Yam and Pmurt.

I still didn't love it, but it was much better on second watch

they always seem to make an episode feel both frantic and tedious. No moments ever get to breathe

yeah this was one of RTD's saving graces - his episodes always have strong, forward-moving narratives, but they're never too frantic or fast, even when they're nonsensical or oversimplistic. he's a good world-builder.

it's moffat (from silence in the library onwards) who introduces the gab-as-fast-as-possible thing where every episode goes at a breakneck pace - that was tiresome, and it's a shame chibnall still seems to be doing that

weirdly i think sylvester mccoy was probably the best too-fast-talking doctor

I didn't think the pace of this was fast at all compared to Moffatt. That was the one thing that got tiresome with MOffatt to me as well; some of his stories were so quick (more during Matt Smith's tenure) that they frankly didn't seem to make any sense at all. Would Moffatt have ever slowed down for a eulogy scene the way they did here?

Also: did production move permanently to Sheffield out of Wales?

Would Moffatt have ever slowed down for a eulogy scene the way they did here?

the bunker scene in Inversion was ten minutes including a five-minute monologue

Also: did production move permanently to Sheffield out of Wales?

did it move permanently to New York in 2012?

every single Dr Who story since 1985 has been filmed in Seville

I don't consider the eulogy scene particularly slow, though - my memory is that it's Very Shouty Capaldi.