WHOCHURCH: The Chris Chibnall era

It was an episode vmic: some very good bits and some sub-Gaiman bollocks with Kevin Eldon.

Right. Pretty good that one.

Balloon lamp and moths can Fuck off. But I liked how it was a frog on a chair at the end

sub-Gaiman bollocks otm

that was ok. some decent jokes, finally! and for once the story seemed to be heading somewhere genuinely unpredictable, even if it ended up somewhere pretty daft

but whitaker is choking at those monologues - it's horrible to watch

graham looking sad gets me every time, but they're overelying on it now

Would like to see that improve from there over the course of a series but wasn't that it until the Special? & then what?

Only been a couple of this series that I've enjoyed . So do wonder what direction from here.

Yeah hate to say it but Whittaker was the only thing I didn’t like about that, really hoped she’d have setttled into things by this stage but she’s becoming really one-note and the note isn’t the right one.

Still the best episode of the year though I think.

I thought because we were dealing with time lord mythology, the sentient universe turning out to be a frog on a chair was appropriate

The one note Whittaker has landed on feels a bit like a secondary school teacher putting on the kind of enthusiastic front that you start to see through by about the second term of second year, but, importantly I felt the same about Tennant and Smith a lot of the time.

This episode was properly in gear though, I thought.

A lot of the time I'm not convinced the doctor character understands any of the science babble.

Which is also true of most of the classic doctors, and also it's a key part of the character to be probably a complete charlatan, but they were just convincing enough

I just got caught up and watched the last three episodes... not bad, Amazon Robots on the Moon was pretty naff but the Witchfinder was a solid goofball romp very much in the spirit of Tom Baker, and Daughter of Backwards Slayer T-Shirt was charming and great.

Whitaker is coming off kind of weak as the season progresses. Theories: They were keen to have a lady Doctor but it doesn't mean they know how to write one AND/OR latent sexism in me, the viewer, is making it hard to buy her as the Doctor, even if I am also keen, and so her performance reads as off somehow.

Enjoyed this one. Good writing & the design was really cool (the triangle attic thing, the red lantern ballons, the big moths, the frog etc). Kevin Eldon was great...really wanted him to whisper “DIRTY” in the Doctor’s ear tho lol

Loved that they used a blind actress to play Hanne. I thought she was excellent, and her Norwegian accent wasn’t half bad imo.

Amazon Robots on the Moon

Amazon Warehouse On The Moon was the version I thought of and couldn't be bothered to post

I liked this one. Some clunky exposition but it made sense in the end.

also: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LotusEaterMachine

So this was a monster that was supposed to be in tonight’s episode but got cut?

So you cut this cool ass looking creature but left in... a frog. That’s fucking ridiculous and shameful! pic.twitter.com/oK7wV3arQU

— Brumblebee 🐝 (@Redheadedchinny) December 2, 2018

Television's The Actor Kevin Eldon seemed to be doing a character that we would now associate more with Steve Pemberton than him, which I struggled with.

Anyway, I didn't think much of this one - some great ideas in it but The Solitract danced too close to the Rusty "Ancient before time oooh dys" trope to convince me (although I acknowledge that's my issue and not Chibbers or anyone elses). Lol'd hard that all the f4nw4nk pre-series about who the Doctor was kissing goodbye to in the pre-series trailer (OOH IT'S RIVER OOOH I BET IT'S CAPTAIN JACK OMG ROSE IS COMING BACK AH IT'S THE MASTER) turned out to be a poor quality rubber frog that talked out of sync with the audio. Fair made me nostalgic for the Bandrils.

Well done the Guardian for pointing out the Artic Monkeys plot hole, that the t-shirt promotes an album that didn't come out until 2 years after the first Norwegian show. Admirable commitment to fact-checking.

So you cut this cool ass looking creature but left in... a frog

cutting otm imo

I've quite enjoyed not caring about this series and knowing that none of the plot has to work and just handwaving 'ah it's just SF it doesn't have to make sense' like you're supposed to.

So, my series ratings:

TWWFTE - not a dreadful setup episode, The Doctor's regeneration traumas are dealt with a bit too quickly but putting together such a big team so quickly was always going to be difficult and having to spend/waste (delete to your preference) so much time on it is a forgivable sin that invariably leads to a largely non-threatening and non-memorable monster of the week. A solid 6/10.

Ghost Monument - essentially part 2 of 'putting the band back together' so suffers the same issues as the former ep. The TARDIS is revealed too quickly for the dramatic tension to really work though a Marinus-style fetch quest isn't a bad plan especially one that ditches the trial plotline. Actually could have done with a second part and the TARDIS reveal moved to the second ep which would have won it another couple of points but as it is 5/10.

Rosa - not sure this actually worked based on NuWho mythology. Are we really supposed to believe that the single most important event in racial history of the universe (as pointed out at the end) wasn't a Fixed Point In Time (TM Plot Hole Maguffin Enterprises) and could therefore be changed by Black To The Future dude? Too much earnest overacting in this for it to be fun for the viewer. 3/10

Arachnids - giant sized real world things always work for monster of the week and this is no exception with a plot that rattles on and wins the day with SCIENCE (and Grime for da kidz innit). Gasp as people have conflicted moral attitudes! 7/10

Tsuranga - space hospitals, on the other hand, are a bit played out in NuWho and even a baddie designed for the Christmas merchandise market can't save it from being a bit of a clunker. Yaz is clearly becoming a bit Liz Shaw despite Chibbers' best intentions because she's always less "what is it Doctor?" and more "we did this in school". It'll be good when she explains when they did neutron flow in GCSE physics. 2/10

Demons of the Punjab - what could have collapsed into a Rusty Family mess works well with a fake-out when the bad guys turn out to be the ambivalent guys and the bad guys are actually the Hindus (a bit like the viewers when we thought the white guys were going to be that bad guys before the episode aired, ah dys). Very close to a pure historical so very close to being very good Who. 7/10

Kerblam! - technology going bad and killing people has been done to death so the twist that it wants to save people and activists are doing the plot is kind of welcome. Hurray question mark. Exactly people sized robots are a mark of Who and this could have easily slotted into Pertwee's industrial unrest/rolling UK politics thread era (Badgers of Peladon, Mutants etc) so the nostalgia factor is v high but not in a For The Fans way. 8/10

Witchfinders - lots of dressing up and the campest cameo since Soldeed makes this a joyous romp. The plot itself is more than a bit flimsy though so docked at least one off for that. 8/10

Let The Right One Back - see above.6/10.

The anti-zone monster that they kept in seemed like filler too. I assume they were going for a Clive Barker vibe? (n.b. I have never read or seen anything by Clive Barker first hand.)

Television's The Actor Kevin Eldon in a Doomlord mask doth a cheap monster make.

seemed like filler too

take your pick on tonally disruptive or a useful red herring

(I think I lean toward the latter, but also think the episode was 10-15 mins too long & could have lost the Eldonraiser altogether)

That was far from a masterpiece but better than some of the Pip and Jane Baker with a budget so far this series.

Eldonraiser

RIBBONS call him by his name!

maybe it was filler but obviously that is exactly what the other side of the mirror should look like so well done Who

the MOTHS were both scary and non-scary in that obviously fake queasy-making way that is somehow always much more unsettling than more "realistic" cgi

Ribbons of the Quawncing Grig

maybe the dad should have been wearing a STYX shirt

That was far from a masterpiece but better than some of the Pip and Jane Baker with a budget so far this series.

Would be great if some of that budget extended to decent costumes, designers, or background actors. Nearly every story feels like a lushly photographed bottle episode so far.

Do you need band permission to print their logo backwards on a tshirt in a widely circulated show. Are Araya and co fans? Does the public have a right to know?

chuck otm. the witch episode was the only one that felt like it actually took place in a place that had people living in it

Surely the video was just flipped rather than producing a whole set of mirrored props, restyling hair, etc

that's why they only had enough money left for a frog finger puppet

That was *almost* excellent -- really would've liked more focus on the Solitract being lonely but essentially well-meaning (which would've made the Doctor's decision to stay behind with a sentient universe more believable (as much as a sentient universe can be believed) and emotionally resonant and cool), and I could've done without the Ribbons and flesh moths (which in the end didn't add up to much).

I'm a little aback that people are souring on Whittaker. I thought she was quite capable in the one episode where she was able to do Doctory things (i.e. this one). I'm trying to remember if Matt Smith in his last season (which in my opinion is the worst written prior to this) was able to elevate the material, but I'm drawing a blank. (I know, this comparison isn't apples-apples but w/e.)

Worst prior to this was the half series that intro'd Gemma Colman, though that ended very strongly.

Which I realise belatedly is the one you mean.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/doctor-whos-jodie-whittaker-isnt-going-anywhere-1830936088

Which I assume means that Chibbers is coming back.

...coming back to what? he's already at work on next year's series

I was referencing the rumors that he was already planning on bailing without knowing where the production currently was.

One bloke on twitter, who hates there being a lady Doctor, making up a lie does not = rumours, no matter how many websites post links to a UK tabloid newspaper running a report that @Eddie_At_Skaro has typed this unsourced lie.

Thanks for clearing that up. I'm not all that "plugged in" to the ins and outs of Who fandom.

I still don’t understand how anyone can like any season of nu-Who less than Tennant’s first season

Until now it was the worst season by some margin, but I think this year's is close. And Moffat's episode is a keeper. No desire to rewatch any episodes this year.

Tennant’s first / S2 has Girl In The Fireplace and the first 35 minutes of Love & Monsters in it, whereas this year treats Tooth & Claw as a pinnacle that none may dare to even strive for

^^^

tried watching this week’s, almost made it halfway through before doing something else. it felt basically like whittaker was tap dancing on cardboard.

look this year is very Basic Bitch who and i'm kind of fine with it

as long as we start accelerating towards a bit of mystery and wonder at SOME point along the way

(i thought last week's was promising in this regard as it actually felt like it had a bit of artistic ambition)

Agreed, I think last week's ep was by far the best of the season (partition ep comes second).

I'd also like to see the doctor's condescending dickhead side come out a little more tbh

Yeah every episode this season has been more or less the same quality for me (5 or 6 out of 10) whereas Tennant's first had higher highs and lower lows. I'd say either way they were all more memorable than each subsequent Doc's weakest eps but that could just be my relative fatigue. The Xmas ones have been particularly disappointing this decade apart from the first and last Matt Smith ones, but they were always problematic under RTD too (I only really liked Tennant's first, as in The Christmas Invasion and last too).