Doctor Who - Series 11 (Part 2)

[pigamus]

Arch Bills Inch

Oh Bill. God I miss Pearl Mackie.

[Mango Chimes]

Of course, those of us who've been watching the stale scraps of behind-the-scenes shite the BBC has been serving up on YouTube know that The Battle Of Ravishankar And Kodos is the episode in which we finally see the Doctor and companions with some plastic glued to their temples! (In one of many odd decisions with those videos, rather than just avoiding showing the actors in prosthetics, they've shown them several times with conspicuous blurring.)

Speaking of which, can we skip back upthread to the revelation that there was an entire alien monster character guy cut from the last episode? That suggests they're still massively overshooting, which considering how leaden lots of this series feels...

[Mister Six]

Jodie says she's not buggering off, despite rumours: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jodie-whittaker-confirms-return-doctor-who-season-12-1167388

[Phil_A]

Jodie says she's not buggering off, despite rumours: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jodie-whittaker-confirms-return-doctor-who-season-12-1167388

But wasn't the rumour that she and Chibnall would both be off after Season 12? Even Whittaker's statement is worded as vaguely as possible in a way that suggests contracts are probably still being wrangled.

[The Roofdog]

That was my review.

Not really! How funny. Preview screeners aren't available for the final episode, as they obviously want to keep that shocking Racist Time Fonz twist under wraps.

Has that happened before? Didn't you usually get the episode with the last 5 minutes chopped off?

[Replies From View]

Speaking of which, can we skip back upthread to the revelation that there was an entire alien monster character guy cut from the last episode? That suggests they're still massively overshooting, which considering how leaden lots of this series feels...

Leaden, but also (and in that episode especially) manically-paced with the exposition and the various events and experiences the Doctor and companion are randomly forced through.  It might seem a contradiction, but I think it's because the manic energy is so empty that it creates a leaden feeling.

After overshooting I suspect the suspense-building breathing-space would have been the main casualty from cutting the episode down, if indeed such things were filmed.

[Mister Six]

But wasn't the rumour that she and Chibnall would both be off after Season 12? Even Whittaker's statement is worded as vaguely as possible in a way that suggests contracts are probably still being wrangled.

The rumour (hey, what happened to the omnirumour?) was that Chibnall and Whittaker would be off in the middle of the next season. At least, that was what was doing the rounds on the Facebook pages.

Has that happened before? Didn't you usually get the episode with the last 5 minutes chopped off?

Wasn't it the last five minutes of the penultimate episode that would be missing, back when each season ended with a two-parter, to hide the surprise appearance of the Daleks/Cybermen/Davros/Myrka?

Only for it to then be leaked to The Sun anyway...

[Replies From View]

Wasn't it the last five minutes of the penultimate episode that would be missing, back when each season ended with a two-parter, to hide the surprise appearance of the Daleks/Cybermen/Davros/Myrka?

I'm sure it has happened with (some) finales too, as well as Christmas stories where a regeneration took place.

[Thomas]

Looking at the comments on social media, I'm quite amazed at the number of fans who've perceived some sense of romance between the Doctor and Yaz, especially as Yaz has had about five lines all series, and they've all been expositional questions. They call the pairing 'Thasmin', possibly the least catchy combination of 'The Doctor' and 'Yasmin' possible.

I watched 'The Parting of the Ways' the other night, and I can't imagine anything like the poignancy of the 'sending Rose home' scene tonight based on the current Doctor-companions relationship. Maybe with Graham, superficially, due to Bradley Walsh's great acting.

Also, watching that Series 1 scene again, I feel that the directors have been almost shy about showing much of the TARDIS this year, unless they're just restricted by space. One of the major actions of the set, the oscillation of the crystal spider legs,¹ has only been glimpsed in the background once or twice, a slightly distracting blurred motion in the corner of the frame that makes you go 'oh, they move?'. I think there might be a few tweaks of the set for Series 12.

^1. _{Patented future episode title.}

[Deanjam]

Looking at the comments on social media, I'm quite amazed at the number of fans who've perceived some sense of romance between the Doctor and Yaz

Some people can only relate to TV shows by shipping characters - especially of the same sex - and inventing their own narratives.

[Replies From View]

Looking at the comments on social media, I'm quite amazed at the number of fans who've perceived some sense of romance between the Doctor and Yaz, especially as Yaz has had about five lines all series, and they've all been expositional questions. They call the pairing 'Thasmin', possibly the least catchy combination of 'The Doctor' and 'Yasmin' possible.

I'm somehow not surprised at all.  These narratives crack through the surface as a clue that the show is temporarily not being aimed at me.  It happened during the Tennant era, it's happening now, and it'll happen again.

[Replies From View]

Also, watching that Series 1 scene again, I feel that the directors have been almost shy about showing much of the TARDIS this year, unless they're just restricted by space. One of the major actions of the set, the oscillation of the crystal spider legs,¹ has only been glimpsed in the background once or twice, a slightly distracting blurred motion in the corner of the frame that makes you go 'oh, they move?'. I think there might be a few tweaks of the set for Series 12.

^1. _{Patented future episode title.}

I'm almost certain that there are private frustrations with that set that we're not being told about.  Limitations of space so the cameras can't go back far enough to show anything but close-ups, and difficulties with finding angles that aren't obscured by one thing or another.

I actually suspect that there is a plan to expand the TARDIS set in the next couple of series as part of each year's budget.  So instead of blowing a great chunk of one series' budget on the TARDIS set, spread it more evenly across several series.  The TARDIS console room is meant to be in endless flux, the "oscillating crystal spider legs" as you called them revealing new spaces all the time.  (That's what I recall reading, anyway.)  Which is something they could do in future years only if they expand the set.

[VelourSpirit]

I watched 'The Parting of the Ways' the other night, and I can't imagine anything like the poignancy of the 'sending Rose home' scene tonight based on the current Doctor-companions relationship. Maybe with Graham, superficially, due to Bradley Walsh's great acting.

The Doctor somehow turning to Rose, the music swelling, his voice suddenly becoming clearer as he says 'have a fantastic life'... absolutely perfect moment.

[Replies From View]

The Doctor somehow turning to Rose, the music swelling, his voice suddenly becoming clearer as he says 'have a fantastic life'... absolutely perfect moment.

It reminds me of live broadcasts with multi-camera set-ups, and presenters maintaining professional poker-faces while somebody in a studio booth yells down their earholes.


THE DOCTOR:  Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner, and over the years the world will move on and the box will be buried.  And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing - that's all - one thing -

ECCLESTON'S EARPIECE, BARELY AUDIBLE:  TURN TO CAMERA 4 YOU ABSOLUTE KNOB!

[ECCLESTON turns to CAMERA 4, and continues unflustered]

THE DOCTOR:  Have a good life.

[VelourSpirit]

[Thomas]

Have a fantastic Christmas. Do that for me, Rose Tyler.

[Phil_A]

Does anyone else just feel a bit dispirited that there's no sense of anticipation at all for this finale? The series hasn't built to any sort of climax, it's just another episode. This "sitcom" approach to plotting a Dr Who season isn't working for me at all, I'm afraid.

I took a glimpse at the comic running in Dr Who Magazine yesterday, and it seems like Scott Gray has a more interesting and engaging take on the current TARDIS crew than what's going on in the actual series. Why he's never been asked to write an episode is a mystery to me, especially given RTD was a fan of his work(enough to steal heavily from it for "Last Of The Timelords" at any rate).

[Replies From View]

Does anyone else just feel a bit dispirited that there's no sense of anticipation at all for this finale? The series hasn't built to any sort of climax, it's just another episode.

Yes I feel the same.  There's no sense at all that today's episode is to be the final one of the series, and I'm not looking forward to it in the slightest - it's a shame.

This isn't to say the finale needs to be a big blockbuster affair at all.  I was very pleased when Moffat took his finales down a notch from the finales of series 4 and the 2009 specials, when the threats had become too big to fathom (do you measure the end of reality as more or less horrific than the end of time?).  Moffat dropped RTD's efforts to out-finale the previous finales, and managed to offer a string of largely inventive and creative situations - yes they didn't always pull together the strands of the series properly, and yes the final episodes didn't always pay-off the penultimate episodes as brilliantly as we'd hope - but the point is you can have innovative, exciting and wildly different finale situations that we look forward to without having them rife with Hollywood bombast.

Which takes us back to Chibnall and the utter lack of anything, really.  I wanted a bold new direction for the show; I was happy to relinquish Moffat's approach to series arcs and finales for something to take its place.  But Chibnall has replaced whatever we had before with nothing at all.  Just nothing.  And what's depressing is that this series obviously represents Chibnall at his peak - this is him with all cylinders firing.  I just don't know what else to say.

[olliebean]

Some people can only relate to TV shows by shipping characters - especially of the same sex - and inventing their own narratives.

Plus, of course, a character in the show shipped them, which is probably what set the whole Doctor/Yas thing off (or at least gave it a massive kick up the arse).

[Malcy]

I'm excited for it. Mainly due to the secrecy around it but I'm fully prepared to be disappointed as well.

[notjosh]

Just seen it starts at 6.25pm tonight. You'd better get your tea on sharpish.

[Replies From View]

You'd better get your tea on sharpish.

I can never get it to balance on mine, even when I am at my most excited.

[Chairman Yang]

Oh I can't wait to finally find out the mystery of Ram Sham Rangerover! After ten episodes of build up!

Amazed he resisted the urge to title the episode "Endgame".

[Mister Six]

Some people can only relate to TV shows by shipping characters - especially of the same sex - and inventing their own narratives.

Well Chibnall's not inventing any narratives, so that seems fair enough.

[Johnny Yesno]

Looking at the comments on social media, I'm quite amazed at the number of fans who've perceived some sense of romance between the Doctor and Yaz, especially as Yaz has had about five lines all series, and they've all been expositional questions. They call the pairing 'Thasmin', possibly the least catchy combination of 'The Doctor' and 'Yasmin' possible.

Surely, it should be

[Old Gold Tooth]

So far, so plodding.

The Doctor's "flexible" stance on weapons just royally pissed me off too. Maybe with some better writing it would have been more palatable but either way it's terrible characterisation.

[Phil_A]

Shouldn't Ryan be the one that's more bothered about getting revenge on the alien that made his nan die, given that she's his blood relative? Apparently he's not arsed. A true non-character.

[BritishHobo]

TIM SHAW - YOU MADE MY WIFE FALL OFF THAT CRANE SHE DIDN'T NEED TO BE CLIMBING!

[Old Gold Tooth]

This is all like some weird Hollywood version of Doctor Who where the people involved don't have a fucking clue.

[Phil_A]

Oh, was that a Die Hard reference? When he said "Yippie Ki Yay, robots"? Was that what that was supposed to be?

Okay.