Doctor Who - Series 11 (Part 2)

[Deanjam]

To be fair, we're talking the early Classic Who era there and they were almost ALL boring as fuck. 

I'm going to disagree in a most strict manner. With finger wagging.

[lipsink]

I agree. 2013 in general to me seems a lot more recent than 2012. 2013 was more like 3 years ago, and 2012 was 6 years ago.
I remember the 14th of November 2013. It was a Thursday, and it wasn't 5 years ago.

I think it's maybe cos the era of Rory and Amy was when the show felt fun and full of life whereas since then the show has felt frustratingly a bit shit a lot of the time. When it's fucking on, that is.

[olliebean]

One of these two, I'd say. Either no new series till 2020, so they want to be able to claim that some Who aired in 2019, or they were confident enough in their Christmas programming and wanted to extend the good ratings into the next holiday.

If it's the former, I presume it's to meet some sort of technical budgetary requirement or something, because surely no viewers are stupid enough to fall for that line.

[Thomas]

In vaguely relevant Who-lumni news, the trailer for Karen Gillan's self-penned directorial debut has materialised:

The Party's Just Beginning

[Small Man Big Horse]

Only just got round to watching the new episode tonight as Mrs SMBH hadn't been feeling that well and wasn't up for it beforehand. I had high expectations too after Ballad's comments but I thought bar last week's it was the worst yet. Sure it was worthy and there were a couple of interesting points made about how poorly the English treated the country but it was so fucking boring. It felt too much like a history lesson and the dialogue was sometimes too clunky and too patronising, I didn't notice that much of a difference between it and Chibnall's efforts. I want Doctor Who to excite and thrill, not attempt to educate me about something I already know about in such an incredibly dull way. And sure, it's for the kids, but there's no reason it can't do both things and with stronger writers I'm sure it could. I can't help but feel that if this was Moffat the Doctor would have done something, found a way to change things without it affecting Yaz, but here she didn't even try and it didn't feel right. It all played out exactly as I thought it would from the very beginning, which is the show at it's very worst in my opinion. Plus I'm starting to actively dislike Yaz now, which really isn't a good thing. 4/10

Oh, and this is a minor complaint, but why did everyone have such very English accents? Couldn't they have got some actors who spoke with an Indian one, would it really have been that difficult? Yaz's grandma sounded more Indian after having spent decades in Sheffield than the younger version did.

[Malcy]

Short synopsis for the special.

http://cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/doctor-who-new-years-day-synopsis-promises-a-terrifying-evil

[Chairman Yang]

Oh thank God, I was expecting the special to promise a lounge singing and light jazz revue for another year.

[Thomas]

So, they all seemingly survive the finale.

Will this 'Timeless Child', straight out of the RTD Academy of Mysterious Names, be mentioned again before Series 12? Or is Chibnall planting a delayed seedbomb as part of his five year plan?

[mothman]

As the Doctor, Ryan, Graham and Yaz return home, will they be able to overcome the threat to planet Earth?"

Yes. Yes, they will.

[Isnt Anything]

In vaguely relevant Who-lumni news, the trailer for Karen Gillan's self-penned directorial debut has materialised:

The Party's Just Beginning

That looks excellent thank you for posting it.

[mjwilson]

Oh thank God, I was expecting the special to promise a lounge singing and light jazz revue for another year.

To be fair, it could have been some aliens who just turn up and watch stuff.

[Replies From View]

To be fair, it could have been some aliens who just turn up and watch stuff.

That would appease the Gogglebox cunts.

[sillymisslily]

That would appease the Gogglebox cunts.

I think I'd have enjoyed Demons of the Punjab a lot more if the aliens had reacted like the families on Gogglebox.

"AW NOOOOOO DON'T DIE DON'T DIE AWWW I CAN'T BELIEVE IT"
"fuckin hell calm down you knew this was gonna happen that's why we come here you silly cow"

[Alberon]

If I had any video editing skills I'd redub the aliens with audio from these two

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

My non-spoilery thoughts on episode seven, Kerblam!

Not bad. It takes a while to get going, but shifts into gear eventually. A heightened piece of sociopolitical satire, broadly speaking it wouldn't have felt out of place during the McCoy era (its central conceit didn't exist in the late '80s, I'm just talking in terms of tone).

It's not written by Chibnall, so the exposition flows more smoothly. The dialogue has a lightness of touch that he just isn't capable of. It also reinforces the view that Chibnall had a recurring theme in mind when he put this series together.

The supporting characters (including Lee Mack, who's pretty good) are, by and large, more rounded than, say, the one-dimensional dead weights from The Tsuranga Conundrum. The companions are quite effectively integrated into the story, although one of them - guess who? - occasionally feels superfluous.

Ryan's dyspraxia is mentioned for the first time since episode two. Yaz remembers that she's a police officer at one point. Graham continues to impress as one of the most likable companions since the series returned

Tosin Cole is such an inconsistent actor, though. Sometimes he's quite expressive and charming, but he's still guilty of delivering weirdly stilted line readings. I don't know what's going on with his performance at all.

The Doctor is central to the story. She pieces things together and sorts it all out in the end. It seems strange pointing that out, as it's what the Doctor traditionally does, but she's more proactive than she's been in most of the episodes so far this year. Whittaker is utterly in command throughout.

All in all, I quite enjoyed it.

[Mister Six]

The companions are quite effectively integrated into the story, although one of them - guess who? - occasionally feels superfluous.

I'm assuming "guess who?" is a Yaz question...

As ever, thanks for the non-spoilery reviews, Ballad. Always enjoy 'em.

Looking forward to Gillan's film. D'you reckon they could get her in to replace Chibnall?

[Pranet]

I've been casually watching this with my nan when I visit her on Sundays (never watched a single episode of Doctor Who otherwise), I'm finding it good fun and it's heart seems to be in the right place. It was quite good that they made a rather hokey premise with giant spiders about dodgy business practices. Am I a dumb sheep for liking the clearer inferior version of something that was better in the past? I do ask this question somewhat sincerely.

Nah not at all. Seems a perfectly reasonable way to watch a tv series to me. In a way I wish I never started going on forums and listening to podcasts about it.

[Norton Canes]

Please let Kerblam! be properly, actually good. I don't just mean I hope the positives marginally outweigh the negatives - I want at least one story this season that's a pleasure to watch straight through, and that I actually want to re-watch. Just one episode from this season that I can go back to and think, 'yeah, Jodie really worked, the companions really worked, the story really worked'.

This and next week's witch hunters one are realistically the last chance of that.

[olliebean]

This and next week's witch hunters one are realistically the last chance of that.

You're not holding any hope for the one the week after with the actor Kevin Eldon?

[Norton Canes]

I'm not holding out hope for any with the writer Chris Chibnall

[olliebean]

That one's by the writer Ed Hime.

[Norton Canes]

Then things are looking up!

[Johnny Yesno]

She pieces things together and sorts it all out in the end.

Hey! Spoiler!

[notjosh]

Delighted to see that tonight's Children in Need features the long-awaited sequel to A Fix With Sontarans.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Hey! Spoiler!

Whoops.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Please let Kerblam! be properly, actually good. I don't just mean I hope the positives marginally outweigh the negatives - I want at least one story this season that's a pleasure to watch straight through, and that I actually want to re-watch. Just one episode from this season that I can go back to and think, 'yeah, Jodie really worked, the companions really worked, the story really worked'.

This and next week's witch hunters one are realistically the last chance of that.

I personally can't imagine ever wanting to watch Kerblam! again. The story works in that it makes sense and has something to say, but it's another unevenly paced episode. It's nowhere near as dull and bland as Tsuranga, but it takes ages to get going.

It does have a nice old-school Who feel at times, but I think the script, which is occasionally quite sharp and witty, is ill-served by fairly pedestrian direction. It could do with a polish, as it's almost there.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I'm assuming "guess who?" is a Yaz question...

Whatever gives you that idea?

As ever, thanks for the non-spoilery reviews, Ballad. Always enjoy 'em.

Ta!

[Kelvin]

Delighted to see that tonight's Children in Need features the long-awaited sequel to A Fix With Sontarans.

The costume looks better without that shit cloak.

[Replies From View]

shit cloak.

JK Rowling has a lot to answer for.

[Malcy]

I clicked on this just put up by BBC. It's the first 3 minutes of Kerblam. Was this what they showed for CIN? Thought it was going to be something else.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_C2Jmg82_1g&t=0s