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Doctor Who (1963), Season 2 Serial 9, The Time Meddler Review

Now I've finally reached the season 2 finale. And it's quite different from other finales. Where a finale from the modern show would feature the return of an old villian and the departure of a companion, this finale features a brand new but notable villain and a new companions first adventure in the TARDIS.

Here we meet a Time Lord other than the Doctor and Susan (although they weren't called that back then), the Monk. The Monk seeks to change history so that things advance quicker. This puts him as an interesting foil to the Doctor who seeks to keep time in order. It's clear the two have some history with each other, and I find their interactions quite delightful. The Monks plans involve a conflict between the Saxons and the Vikings that honestly didn't interest me. But the mystery of the Monk elevated the story a lot.

I give The Time Meddler an 8/10

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So through our 12th Doctor transition metaphor, Missy and Clara are two visions of "the Doctor as a woman" (not really competing visions; they're more like the same person at different life stages). Missy represents "would being a woman make me irredeemably evil," while Clara represents "would the lack of a protective masculine mask make me 'breakable' enough to inevitably get me killed." Each of their arcs reaches a sort of "no, but" conclusion: Missy is capable of goodness, but also so dogged by self-destructive impulses that no one will ever know; Clara is capable of fully embodying the Doctor role (and surviving the "death" of transition a la tv glow), but only at the cost of full alienation from everyone she once loved.

Bill is the Doctor's younger self if he'd actually gotten to self-actualize as a teen/twentysomething autistic lesbian. She gets sabotaged by Saxon Master, who self-destructs rather than become a woman. Missy and Bill are again two faces of the "self" - Missy as the self subject to a literal suicide, and Bill as the young-lesbian-self, spiritually smothered, forced into the ultimate mask/closet of cyber conversion. (This is the culmination of the themes we've been setting up since deep breath, re undeath, turning yourself into a literal or emotional robot in order to survive, killing the true parts of yourself so many times that you've ship of theseus'd your "self" out of existence and all that's left to you is to jump or be pushed, etc). And yet, Bill can't be extinguished. Where there's tears, there's hope. The Doctor has to face both the younger self who was (oh god I said so much sexist shit when I was younger, I'm going to throw up), and the younger self who never was (Bill, the self beneath the robotic mask). The Doctor has to grieve Bill, and yet understand that she's still there. She never really died. Despite your best efforts, despite the machine you tried to turn yourself into, the living death you made of your life...that inner spark survived.

So the Doctor is able to reach the same choice as the Master - kill yourself, or become a woman - and choose change.

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dont see any issue continuity-wise with any parts in the first doctor era where he describes himself as human. clearly he's attempting to adhere to the time lord non-interference policy via just straight up lying.

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phenomenon i've noticed

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Ian: Doctor I really must protest, this plan is far too reckless for a man of your age

One: oh nonsense my dear boy, nonsense, I'll have you know I'm a spry 420

Ian: ....420?

Susan: haha blaze it grandfather

One: hee hee hoo hoo blaze it indeed, very droll Susan

Ian: .........excuse me??

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i think its pretty obvious the ambiguity about whether billie piper is the doctor or not is done deliberately to loosh farm the fandom for social media attention and discussion and this would almost be a fun mystery if it didn't feel so cynical

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Truly the most life changing toxic yaoi of all time

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Y'all remember that Ryan Sinclair encouraged his best friend to seek therapy? He saw how lonely his friend was and he was determined to help him in the only way he could before hopping back onto the Tardis.

Even in its smaller moments and lesser talked-about episodes...Thirteen's era was so deeply compassionate.

Here I was remembering Can You Hear Me before this rewatch of mine for the fingers lodged in people's ears while they had nightmares and I was laughing about it. They still had fun with that part but they used the rest of that episode to write a love letter to humanity.

Yaz wanting to give up and the vagueness they approached that moment with opens the proverbial door for us to see ourselves in her spot no matter who we are; scared, angry, desperate. Someone came along and believed in her. She finds that woman and gives her the coin they bet on her that day. God that moment made me cry. That was so beautiful.

Graham even just sharing his fear of remission with the Doctor is a lovely moment. The Doctor didn't know what could be said to truly reassure someone that such a fate didn't await them but Graham and the Doctor have such a rapport...albeit subtle it's still present. Graham was comforted to know she'd heard him and wanted to help. No words were going to make those fears go away. But her intent to help in spite of that is still communicated and understood. Graham's quiet laugh acknowledges so much.

I would be so bold as to say, the writing is what helped those subtle moments shine. They were intentional and thematic in their character development.

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Doctor Who (1963), Season 2 Serial 8, The Chase Review

The Daleks' third serial seeks to inject some humor into their appearances. After the TARDIS Team leaves the Space Museum, the Daleks follow them through time in their own bigger on the inside spaceship. What follows is a romp where the TARDIS stops in several different locations. This helps the pacing feel very quick and makes the story less dragged out than The Dalek Invasion of Earth before it.

The being said, the first two episodes on Aridius were quite boring. I just couldn't get attached to the Aridiuns or their problems. The next two episodes feature the TARDIS Team jumping from place to place. This section is quite comedic and actually got me to laugh several times. I especially loved Mortin Dill, the American cameraman. The actor was really talented, too, and it's a shame we'll never see him again. ;)

The last two episodes take place on Mechanus. The Daleks creating a robot version of the Doctor is quite interesting, and I love that our heroes find out who's who because the robot refers to Vicki as Susan. The Mechons are not as interesting, however. They don't drag the story down. they're just not very interesting.

We also get a companion introduction and departure in this episode. We're first introduced to Steven Taylor (does he look familiar to anyone else?). A soldier from a future interplanetary war that was kidnapped and left on Mechanus. He's quite silly and energetic this serial, although a bit easily distracted with strange priorities. When given the option to climb down a cable to safety, he runs back into a burning building to grab a plushie.

Ian and Barbara leave this serial, establishing the Doctor as the only consistent member of the TARDIS team. The Doctor's been quite warm and friendly this season, and it's interesting to see him revert back to his early season 1 characterization when he learns Ian and Barbara want to leave. It's quite cute, honestly. However, they win out, and Ian and Barbara return safely home using the Daleks time machine.

I give The Chase a 9/10

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even r/gallifrey is saying they're progressive but doctor who is too preachy about its wokeness at the expense of its story. i can tell when the show is a bit faux-progressive, but i've never felt it's been especially preachy or that the episodes have been "about" that too much.

it's actually rather few episodes that i think are preachy about any sort of woke message and it's actually pretty cool to have "racism bad" and "fascism bad" episodes if the episodes have things to say about it (like dot and bubble did, which was fantastic).

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Doctor Who (1963), Season 2 Serial 7, The Space Museum Review

The Space Museum has quite an interesting beginning. The TARDIS team has jumped a time track. As a result, they see their future as museum exhibits before they become them. After being restored to their proper time, they seek to stop this future from happening.

Unfortunately, the rest of the serial is not as interesting. While the struggles between the Morok and the Xerons are interesting near the beginning, it gets old quickly. The Doctor gets a nice moment of tricking Lobos, and Vicki's revolution speech is nice, but that's about it. We do see a Dalek at the end, though.

I give The Space Museum a 7/10

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Doctor Who (1963), Season 2 Serial 6, The Crusade Review

Unfortunately, parts of this serial are missing, but luckily, they are the only missing episodes this season. Still keep in mind that this will inevitably cloud my view of this serial a bit.

The TARDIS team ended up in the middle of a war between King Richard and Saladin. While Barbara is kidnapped and led to Saladin, the rest of our travelers meet up with Richard. Amusingly, Ian is knighted in this serial. Does that mean I have to tag him as Sir Ian now? I quite like the scenes with Richard and his men. There's a lot of great monologuing in part 3, specifically. The Doctor gives a great speech against war, which quite reminds me of the one he would later give in his 12th incarnation. Richard and Joanna also have a great argument about her arranged marriage, a plot point that I notice has been quite recurring. You really buy that the two love each other.

On the other hand, Saladin and his people are mixed. While I quite like them as characters, Saladin being shown to be quite intelligent, Hauron heroic, and Ibraham comedic as well as many more, I can't quite ignore that most of them are being played by white actors in blackface. Just because it was of the era doesn't make it O.K.. I do look upon this serial favorably, though, although the pilot thread with William being captured seems to not go anywhere.

I give The Crusade an 8/10

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It is important to remember that although eight looks all byronic, he’s actually wearing a cheap halloween costume that he stole. This is important to understanding doctor who

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literally them

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Doctor Who (1963), Season 2 Serial 5, The Web Planet Review

I'm afraid this is the first serial I'll have to give a negative review. While I don't hate it, it has a lot of problems. Number 1 is the stuff they have covering the camera. It just makes the episode really blurry. It's not impossible to make out what's going on. It's just not ideal.

Number 2 is the Optera. While I quite liked the Menoptera, their unique movement and speech patterns made them feel appropriately alien, and the Optera were not. Their speech patterns were honestly pretty grating and distracted me from the story several times.

There is a lot of good, though. The Doctor gets to show off a lot of his smarts this serial, and I quite enjoyed the use of his ring on Zombo the Zarbi to hypnotize and control it. I got quite sad when Zombo was freed and promptly forgotten about, but oh well. We also get to see more of the TARDIS. Namely, the Astral Map and the first aid kit. It helps the TARDIS feel more like a lived-in space.

I give The Web Planet a 6/10

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