Doctor Who Season 12

Eggs Mayonnaise

All In With The Nuts
Last season suffered from frequent "likeable gay character is dead by the half hour" scenarios, so it's improving at least.
 

CaptainWacky

I want to smell dark matter
Pretty sure Nine wasn't gay either (though I'm sure he turned some guys gay, EH LADS.)
 

The Tomtrek

Love Wookiee
I thought this was a perfectly serviceable episode until it suddenly wrapped up way too quickly and then the last 5 minutes was suddenly "PLEASE TALK TO PEOPLE IF YOU HAVE ISSUES, IF YOU'RE AFFECTED BY ANYTHING IN THIS PROGRAM PLEASE CALL THIS HELPLINE" in the most unsubtle way, and despite that not actually being a theme of literally any of the episode previously.
 

CaptainWacky

I want to smell dark matter
Yeah that's pretty much how I felt. I was actually thinking it was one of the better episodes of the series for a while. There was a guy with weird fingers! A girl trapped between two planets! Yaz did stuff! But then they just beat the two immortals easily by...I don't know. Something to do with one of them creating a pet monster? Yaz's darkest fear turns out to be...she nearly ran away from home once and a nice cop talked her out of it? Felt like it should have been a suicide attempt to justify the helpline at the end. I didn't really get the story with Ryan's friend at all. So yeah it seems to be impossible for this group of writers to write a wholly satisfying episode of Doctor Who.
 

The Tomtrek

Love Wookiee
Also it's a bit weird to have Graham say that he's constantly worried about his cancer returning when he's literally standing inside a time machine that can take him to the year 10,000 and get his cancer cured by taking a small pill or something.
 

whisky

Boobie inspector
They won't do that, because then Graham will want to bring the cure for cancer back so no one dies from it again.
 

CaptainWacky

I want to smell dark matter
That was...actually quite good! The half Cyberman was a genuinely creepy villain. I liked when they made it look like he was going to be defeated by The Power of Love but then he just said "actually I slit my own baby's throat, babies suck." Funny how it was the only episode this series that didn't have Chibnall as co writer...
 

whisky

Boobie inspector
A bit avarage, but bonus points for having the weather outside match the one on TV.

At least there was no preachy were all ruining the world message this week.
 

whisky

Boobie inspector
So I guess we know the answer to what if Kal El arrived in Ireland and grew up to be a cyberman now.

Also other stuff happened.
 

The Question

Eternal
They got woke, now they're going broke. No fucking sympathy.
 

The Question

Eternal
I keep thinking they must have had a gay kiss before (there was Jack kissing Graham two episodes earlier but Graham isn't gay) but I can't think of one (Torchwood definitely doesn't count.)

Why the fuck does that even matter? Why do they keep pushing that in our faces? Is it fucking "Doctor Snog" now? When, in the fifty plus fucking years of this show, was this show about who the Doctor was trading fucking spit with -- until now? Even straight people weren't tuning into this shit for fucking kiss-a-thons, why is it about that shit now? Why do gay people have to be the fucking vegans of sexuality? "Gueth who I'M fuckennnng, gueth who I'M fuckennng!" Nobody fucking cares, you fucking Nancy! Keep it to yourself like every other grown adult on the fucking planet!
 

CaptainWacky

I want to smell dark matter
It was the now typical Chinball first part of a two parter where it feels quite exciting at first and there's some interesting things, but it gets a bit dull by the end. It was okay.
 

The Tomtrek

Love Wookiee
That was, alright? The cyber-ship had some nice atmosphere???

I don't really like The Last Cyberman very much. Kind of the thing with the Cybermen is that they're emotionless people who you can't really reason with, so having one who's just a cackling villain seems a bit lame. He doesn't even go "Excellent!!".

I think the cliffhanger was bad, though. Like, I'd like an actual cliffhanger rather than the Master suddenly appearing going "Wow Doctor you'll never guess what happens next week tune in next Sunday on BBC1!!".
 

The Question

Eternal
That was, alright? The cyber-ship had some nice atmosphere???

I don't really like The Last Cyberman very much. Kind of the thing with the Cybermen is that they're emotionless people who you can't really reason with, so having one who's just a cackling villain seems a bit lame. He doesn't even go "Excellent!!".

I think the cliffhanger was bad, though. Like, I'd like an actual cliffhanger rather than the Master suddenly appearing going "Wow Doctor you'll never guess what happens next week tune in next Sunday on BBC1!!".

Ironically?(?!) that's why I actually liked Michelle Gomez's reveal as "The Master / Missy" -- it really was a reveal, and well done, too, because as with any really well pulled off reveal, it's something we should have / didn't see coming.

Like... "Well, I couldn't very well go on calling myself... "The Master''... now... could I?

Me: *Chris Griffin face* "WhaaaaAAAAAAAT?!"

Because it was both so out of left field and yet made such absolutely perfect sense in the context of how she'd been behaving, that it both was AND wasn't a shock.

THAT'S how you do a reveal.
 

Eggs Mayonnaise

All In With The Nuts
Hmm.

BBC Drama Chief Defends ‘Doctor Who,’ Says It’s A “Long Way” From Being Rested Amid Ratings Drop
By Jake Kanter
February 24, 2020 4:00pm

The BBC’s drama chief Piers Wenger has defended Doctor Who following a drop in ratings and a mixed reception from fans for Season 12 of the sci-fi drama.

At a BBC drama even in London on Monday, Wenger was asked if he would consider resting Doctor Who given some of the malaise around the show, which is produced by BBC Studios and airs in the U.S. on BBC America.

Wenger offered a strong rebuttal in which he argued that the Time Lord franchise, starring Jodie Whittaker and overseen by showrunner Chris Chibnall, is in fine fettle. Here are his remarks in full:

“I worked on Doctor Who myself and produced it for many years and I can honestly say I don’t think it’s been in better health editorially. The production values have never been better. It’s also not just funded by the BBC, it’s funded by lots of international partners.

“It’s an incredibly important show for young audiences, it’s still watched by families in a world where there are fewer shows that have the power to do that. It will always be an important show for us and we’re a very long way from wanting to rest it.”

Series 12 concludes on BBC One and BBC America next weekend, but it has been dogged by disappointing ratings. Sunday’s penultimate episode hit a low of 3.7M overnight viewers. Its seven-day ratings, including catch-up, have also been far from remarkable.

Meanwhile, there has been some disquiet among fans about the introduction of a second Doctor, played by Jo Martin, and the emergence of the #NotMyDoctor hashtag on Twitter. Chibnall responded to some of the brickbats in January, saying that he is only focused on making the best show possible. “In terms of external opinions, it’s not a democracy. We make the show we want to make,” he told Doctor Who Magazine.
 

The Question

Eternal
“In terms of external opinions, it’s not a democracy. We make the show we want to make,” he told Doctor Who Magazine.

That is an amazingly out of touch statement for a showrunner to make. First of all, while it's technically correct, as far as it goes, it demonstrates a total disregard for the fandom that keeps the property viable. Presumably the Beeb would like to see a return on investment; the way Chibnall's statement comes off, it sounds like he doesn't give a shit whether it does or not.
 

Starship Coyote

Original Gangster!
That is an amazingly out of touch statement for a showrunner to make. First of all, while it's technically correct, as far as it goes, it demonstrates a total disregard for the fandom that keeps the property viable. Presumably the Beeb would like to see a return on investment; the way Chibnall's statement comes off, it sounds like he doesn't give a shit whether it does or not.

It truly is. Chibnall, in case you couldn't guess from his show content, is radically leftwing, and like most leftwingers is totally out of touch with what "the people" want. His statement basically says "I'll do what I like with this show, and fuck you if you don't like it."

As to the last episode, I could have FFed to the last 10 minutes or so and caught the gist of it all. I'm seriously doubting the finale will be much better.

The ratings are tanking, and someone at the Beeb needs to pay attention to that.
 

The Tomtrek

Love Wookiee
It truly is. Chibnall, in case you couldn't guess from his show content, is radically leftwing, and like most leftwingers is totally out of touch with what "the people" want. His statement basically says "I'll do what I like with this show, and fuck you if you don't like it."

That's literally how every other showrunner did it, too.

Also since the BBC is publicly funded ratings really don't mean as much because the amount of money coming in to the BBC stays the same no matter what.
 

The Question

Eternal
That's literally how every other showrunner did it, too.

And yet, the reaction from the fandom wasn't nearly as negative. Might have something to do with the sneaking suspicion that RTD and Moffat were more concerned with telling good stories with interesting characters than with checking boxes on a "representation" checklist and delivering hamfisted lectures to the viewers.
 
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