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Doctor Who The Giggle | 2023

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Doctor Who “The Doctor Dances” 1x10

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its so funny that they were like "oh the guy who plays dr who is too old and sick how are we gonna explain that there's someone else playing him now" and they were like. well we could just get another old white guy who looks similar. we could have him hand off the keys to someone else. we could have a bad guy turn him invisible and he comes back wrong. and they eventually went with the stupidest possible answer which was "he just does that sometimes"

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Chibnall's Doctor Who is really funny to me because it feels like a very conservative person's attempt at writing a progressive show. Like "Episode about giant Amazon company except the corporation was the good guy all along and the villian is the striking workers" "Episode about Rosa Parks except it cheapens her activism by portraying it as a spur of the moment coincidence" "The Doctor refering to a formerly enslaved species that he fought to save as "conditioned to serve". Maybe just don't write a show like Doctor Who.

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Twelfth doctor era of doctor who was incredible because it was basically just:

Clara: I can fix him (makes him worse)

Missy: I can make him worse (accidentally fixes him)

Bill: Well, I'm a lesbian and I'm going to be his friend :)

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the ninth doctor always goes crazy to me because he wasn't an ambivalent god. he was the benevolent, scarred, and cynical god who cared because he couldn't not. when no one else did. because if he didn't do something, no one else would. he was the one with the power, the responsibility, and it hurt him constantly. every life he watched burn out was a tragedy -- a loss. he kissed a servant girl on the head who no one would remember. he closed the eyes of a dead man. he mourned a pig the military shot. he cared them all, no matter how insignifigant and fleeting their lives could have seemed to his. he was a little mean and a little rude and a lot angry (at everyone at everything) but he also had so much joy. he loved knowing he'd lose. and when he regenerated, he simply looked to rose with that big grin on his face and told her she was fantastic -- and so was he.

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okay, just rewatched episodes 1 & 2 of s12. love the Master's return. Sacha Dhawan is excellent.

it still feels off.

i get that the Master's thing is miraculously escaping death and popping up again with a brand new motivation, but Dhawan's Master contrasted with how Gomez's Missy arc ended just adds to the tonal inconsistency that was s11.

i also don't love how they decided to destroy Gallifrey again. i only got up to episode 4 the first time i tried to watch, but i don't have any confidence that finding out what happened to Gallifrey will be a main storyline of the season. it feels like they were forced to do a course-correction after s11, but half-assed it.

finally getting around to watching 13's run in full (just finished rewatching s11, about to start s12) in preparation for the 60th anniversary and i have thoughts. so here's a rambling post to try and sum them up cohesively:

i know i'm not the only one who feels that chibnall's run feels a bit disconnected. part of that was no doubt intentional (new doctor, new showrunner, new start) but it feels a little too disconnected. in fact it almost feels like a spin-off rather than the main series.

Jodie's a good actress, but i'm not entirely sold on 13's personality. one thing about New Who is that you can pretty logically understand the progression of the the Doctor's personalities throughout the various series & regenerations, but 13 feels just a tad off. after 12's run it makes sense that 13 would be lighter & happier, but the way she's written makes it feel more like a regression than a progression. the narrative often makes her come off a over-excitable and less competent, partly because of chibnall's wish to have an unconnected series. i like that we got introductions to the bigger universe of DW instead of the same antagonists over and over, but having 13 constantly not recognizing or not being able to figure things out on her own felt almost condescending.

i like all the companions in theory (except Dan since i haven't seen s13 yet). on paper, they're all very distinct from each other, which was a concern i had since previous companions sometimes felt like different shades of the same color. in practice, i don't think they're developed enough individually for me to form strong feelings about any of them. i feel like the writers took a shortcut expecting viewers to automatically favor the companions and then didn't build enough of a bridge to get me to actually like them as characters.

so far the pacing of nearly every episode also feels off. i'm not as familiar with chibnall's writing signatures as i am with Davies or Moffat, but if i was just basing it off of s11 & s12, i'd say he struggles with self-contained one episode stories. doctor who has always offered a lot of social commentary, but sometimes i think he tries to pack in too many layers that the overall message gets muddled. most episode feel like the intro drags and the ending is rushed. there is an issue with keeping an appropriate level of tension throughout.

this is a personal preference, but i also didn't like the level of connectivity/foreshadowing we got in s11. the stenza get mentioned in s11e1 and e2, and then dropped until e10. when Tim Shaw pops up again in the finale, it feels less like the return of a major antagonist and more like they just didn't have anyone else to bring in. intentionally or not, the narrative feels like it blames 13 for Tim Shaw's actions. the doctor's lack of follow-through is a fair criticism of their past actions that has been rightly levied against them before, but in this case it felt like it came from nowhere.

i only got halfway through s12 the first time. i'm hopeful that it'll feel more cohesive once i watch the entirety, and i've heard good things about s13, so i'm excited about that.

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finally getting around to watching 13's run in full (just finished rewatching s11, about to start s12) in preparation for the 60th anniversary and i have thoughts. so here's a rambling post to try and sum them up cohesively:

i know i'm not the only one who feels that chibnall's run feels a bit disconnected. part of that was no doubt intentional (new doctor, new showrunner, new start) but it feels a little too disconnected. in fact it almost feels like a spin-off rather than the main series.

Jodie's a good actress, but i'm not entirely sold on 13's personality. one thing about New Who is that you can pretty logically understand the progression of the the Doctor's personalities throughout the various series & regenerations, but 13 feels just a tad off. after 12's run it makes sense that 13 would be lighter & happier, but the way she's written makes it feel more like a regression than a progression. the narrative often makes her come off a over-excitable and less competent, partly because of chibnall's wish to have an unconnected series. i like that we got introductions to the bigger universe of DW instead of the same antagonists over and over, but having 13 constantly not recognizing or not being able to figure things out on her own felt almost condescending.

i like all the companions in theory (except Dan since i haven't seen s13 yet). on paper, they're all very distinct from each other, which was a concern i had since previous companions sometimes felt like different shades of the same color. in practice, i don't think they're developed enough individually for me to form strong feelings about any of them. i feel like the writers took a shortcut expecting viewers to automatically favor the companions and then didn't build enough of a bridge to get me to actually like them as characters.

so far the pacing of nearly every episode also feels off. i'm not as familiar with chibnall's writing signatures as i am with Davies or Moffat, but if i was just basing it off of s11 & s12, i'd say he struggles with self-contained one episode stories. doctor who has always offered a lot of social commentary, but sometimes i think he tries to pack in too many layers that the overall message gets muddled. most episode feel like the intro drags and the ending is rushed. there is an issue with keeping an appropriate level of tension throughout.

this is a personal preference, but i also didn't like the level of connectivity/foreshadowing we got in s11. the stenza get mentioned in s11e1 and e2, and then dropped until e10. when Tim Shaw pops up again in the finale, it feels less like the return of a major antagonist and more like they just didn't have anyone else to bring in. intentionally or not, the narrative feels like it blames 13 for Tim Shaw's actions. the doctor's lack of follow-through is a fair criticism of their past actions that has been rightly levied against them before, but in this case it felt like it came from nowhere.

i only got halfway through s12 the first time. i'm hopeful that it'll feel more cohesive once i watch the entirety, and i've heard good things about s13, so i'm excited about that.

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DOCTOR WHO, S04E12 The Stolen Earth

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I've loved playing him, and I love taking part in the basic essence and message of the series, which is... It's a short life. Seize it and live it as fully as you can. Care for others. Be respectful of all other life forms, regardless of colour or creed. To be part of that has been fantastic.

CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON as The Ninth Doctor (2005)

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Nine would have thought Martha Jones was the coolest person in the world. Doesn’t even matter where in the timeline this was or what happened to Rose, he would have loved her leather jacket and her hairstyle. He would have loved that she was a DOCTOR! Her studying to be a doctor was so overlooked and he would have loved it. He would have thought she was the coolest person alive. Nine and Donna would have killed each other on sight

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"I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed."

Doctor Who | 1.02 - "The End of the World"

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Man of mystery

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He’s an icon, he’s a legend, and he is the moment 🌟

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