#the actual choices chibnall made? stupid as fuck

[uncharted-constellations]

Also a dumb thought spurred on by me and @salt-water-sable 's discussions on the issues with the Chibnall era, and my love for Chris Noth in the Good Wife: I present to you the Master Swap Idea:

The Thirteen Era "Master" is actually The Rani, who is pretending to be the Master, Pretending to be O. Getting involved in a conspiracy about one of your childhood friends getting experimented on by the higher ups in the government, killing timelords just to see what would happen if they were converted into Cybermen, and the general cruelty of everything seems more her style than The Masters, especially after all of Missy's development.

(Yes I know the audiobooks and novels explain this development, but only because Chibbs was too lazy to do so, therefor im not considering it canon. Additional media should be like improv, 'Yes, And' or 'But, What If' not 'Well Actually It Does Make Sense If You Do This-')

So who is the Actual Master then? if you hadn't already been clued in by the Chris Noth mention, He's Jack Robertson. Regenerated into an American and decided, rather than being good or evil, he would just assemble the character traits that would annoy the Doctor the most, all into one persona. He's doing the politican bit again, he's making fun of her morals and pretending to be an idiot while doing it. Building a hotel over some radioactive waste? Child's play, Time Lords can handle much tougher stuff, the giant spiders are just a bonus. He's having the time of his life, but only because he isn't aware that the Rani's stolen his name (yet.)

The Doctor and the Master finally team up on the same team again, not out of a sense of duty or morality, but because he can't believe Rani thought they could steal his name. You go by Missy for one regeneration and suddenly your shit is up for grabs? Not on his watch.

[pilotheather]

this isnt a liveblog its jsut ehrm. dump.

-first of all. nick is a sweetheart . like a little angel. im fucking obsessed witb him. hes done nothing wrong. ehs just a fucking weirdo.

- the irish lass whose name i... edid not catch. for the literal WHOLE episode. i think tis like. oh shes a bit shitty isnt she. cunt. but im endeared and i do sort of LIKE her even if shes lowkey insufferable and it jsut feels like

- somehow she feels immensely realistic in a specific way bc shes not a fucking arse in like this stupid . overdone way. like shes just a bit of a prick in a way i'd anticipate many ppl to be pricks and tht makes me kinda like her as a presence yknow. bc it just feels... refreshing like esp bc its like

- this is gonna sound sooo eeeekk esp after but

- its like eh eh eh eh. she has ehrm. a personality doesnt she... yah. and i caught it very fast. which is ehrm. sadly refreshing for this era which is like

- its so so sad bc theres lots of yaz. listen. ive said it time and time again shes GOT this potential but hhehg. i jsut... i wish theyd fucking LET her be an actual fucking character who drives herself rather than just. relegating her to bg cardboard cutout who'll interject with a "talk to me. doctor" every once an episode like

- its so... sad bc its like. chibnall weirdly just cannot write the companions with a fully fleshed personality its like . he keeps separatign them from the docto and just shoving them in a narrative cardboard box where they dont actually touch anything in the episode and they never like. make their own choices or decisions they jsut get swept away with the plot and its like.. they don t feel grounded at all

- and so u have these guys tht are lovable on paper i think. i felt the same with graham and ryan too. they have personality and motive that i could kinda describe to you i guess but so much of it was jsut sort of.... fed to us though exposition. just standing there and STATING. oh i am here. rather than actual demonstration and they never get their hand on the ball with episodes so its jsut like. i find it hard to really buy into it like.

- meanwhole u have this lass this episode . clearly abrasive. she imemdiately lies to the doctor and tries to save her and nicks skin. like thats- THATS SOMETHING... YOVUE ACTUALLY... AFFECTED THE COURSE OF EVENTS.... its sad tht im like OH. thats SOMETHING! but its sth and it just. eek.

- and it also helps bc her dialogue felt the most... genuine and organic. like i jsut agaib i feel like yaz never fucking gets to just. speak up and say anyhting unless its the canned line of "doctor. say something." and im sickkk of it. i just cant stop thinking abt older companions. the way they would be ..A CTUALLY TALKING AND PROVIDING INPUT AND ITS LIKE.

- yesi think moffat era (amy and clara specifically here) also had a funny way about dialogue that i didnt like. it was also very artificial but it was also like... hm. how do i say this. its like i always say with amy and clara its like whenever they say sth funny its not like sth an actual human person would say (thats more rtd era) but it would be like an obvious. scripted joke like wahoo look at me saying the witty oneliner which i did not eally care for with moffats humour but its like

- THATS STILL. SOMETHING IT FEELS LIKE. like i dont know. characters still get wisecracks in but its also like

- they dont land too. its like theres just htis lack of... energy and its like. i thought they actually DID do energy and pulse of the show rlly well in flux even if the whole thing was like. objectively nightmarish. like i still ENJOYED myself watching it bc theyd made such a vast improvement on like... god whats even the right word. its like it had a MOMENTUM. and that was definitely partially bc it was an overstuffed mess but also like...

- like in this episode theres just so many scenes of like. i dont know. i just feel like im watching dnd little replicas orr whatever being pushed about a table. im seeing plot points going from a to b. theresjsut ... i dont know. theres something really missing here and i think there was some of that in the guests' pesonaltieis but like the tardis team... eerrrrrrrr

- bc its like they dont ever just. TALK to each other. and i get thats SORT of the point but listen its just- I WANT THEM TO WORK... OFF OF ONE ANOTHER. and you can still demonstrate that 13 is kind of icing yaz out but like- my god! still have her talk more have dan talk more have them. ACT. ACT. ACT. LIKE. EEKEKPFOJSF

- so yeah ehrm am i even making sense

- idrc abt this ep which is a shame bc the concept could have been good if it was jsut tighter and this stuf above was done better but ehrm

- yeah ia lso decidely dont rly care abt thasmin but im happy for them girlies. u kno what i eman. yeah<3

[theskyexists]

Flux

I really really liked that episode.

REALLY liked it. I’m surprised.

Chibnall wrote a big enough cast to fill up the episode. There are a lot of pieces that imply a really cool puzzle through this ensemble of characters. He really needs that - a big cast with their own narrative lines. The episode felt full and had a quick pace. A huge deal for Chibnall’s writing.Maybe the editor has also changed?

More incredibly - he made the Doctor treating her companions only as superficial friends explicit. Yaz’s and the Doctor’s relationship was the emotional backbone of the episode. :holy shit. Going to one companion instantly restored the balance? The Doctor actively keeping Yaz away from her own plot - so to speak - is a PLOTPOINT. fucking finally. no more goddamn ‘fam’ up in this place and nobody and nothing challenging that. Yaz felt integral to the Doctor’s story BECAUSE the narrative acknowledged that the Doctor was trying to keep Yaz out of her story. This made Yaz significant - also cos she actually got to do stuff and be clever too and was snarky and cool af.

EVEN MORE incredibly, the Doctor got to do and confront and figure out and solve things - through being brilliant and daring. Yaz and the Doctor managed to escape a nasty situation, track down their quarry, deal with the TARDIS...bleeding (yikes) and malfunctioning, faced an invasion force which (good twist!) was actually not that, that TARDIS got us looking at the right place, exposition was in cool flashbacks  or flashsides, we have time shenanigans which calls back to Sally Sparrow, BAM, a weeping angel that WASN’T over-used (life moffat really did a lot), the Doctor thinks of a pattern that protects Earth (she’s a genius) and a good cliffhanger. Jodie played all of that wonderfully!

The Doctor asked the RIGHT questions. (Why don’t I know about this? Who else knows about this? This marked it as out of the ordinary and wasn’t a stupid question that she should have long known the answer to (GRRR CHIB DID THAT SO OFTEN BEFORE)) She had an intimate sense of the Universe - something i loved about Nine.

The Doctor tried to track down the Division!!! Continuity??? Character motivation!!!!!

I would have liked a little bit more on Jan and the glitter monster. It eerily resembles The Fugitive Doctor and her being overseen by a spouse/companion while glamoured as a human.

Clearly Dan is going to stay as a companion because they spent an incredible amount of time on him - but he sucks. I dont like him. Chibnall somehow is incapable of writing normal people. Instead they must randomly walk around a museum to talk about how great liverpool is when they’re not guides, randomly chase off a dude asking for sweets at the door, refuse SOUP when he’s got no food and he WORKS AT A SOUP KITCHEN. What are you saying here? he’s an idiot? what. If he loves football so much, why not show him....playing football? or something.

I didn’t think this episode undercut the Doctor - that’s the biggest thing. There was a reason that she didn’t know the flux or the crystal dude. The memory was stolen from her. Yeah - sure, you do need episodes which emphasise what should be the status quo: that the Doctor DOES have hundreds of years of experience and is the smartest and most powerful person in any room. And we’ve NOT had enough of those at all true but this episode genuinely felt like an ‘exception to the rule’ by implying that it WAS an exception (while still giving her wins). AND BUT: the great thing about this choice (which initially i despised) - that the Doctor doesn’t remember an undefined length of their life - that allows for a Bigger Universe.

Moffat’s Doctor Who really suffered from the ‘back yard’ syndrome. You had 10 Greatest Enemies of the Doctor and that was basically it because across all of time and space everybody knew about him and these were the guys that turned up to put him in a box or fight him. moffat’s prophecies and plots were universe-spanning. Implying a ridiculously small span. Chibnalll has introduced ambiguity in the Doctor’s memory - and thus in the universe. Huge horrible guy trying to dust the whole universe? sure - there are places, people, institutions etc. that were perhaps touched by the Doctor, but few remember. The only thing I disliked about crystal guy was the way the actor played his villain challenge - breathing down the Doctor’s neck all sensually. I bet he would never have made those acting choices if the Doctor had not been Jodie Whittaker. The director should not have allowed it.

[theskyexists]

Revolution of the Daleks

im actually really happy with this, Yaz not being able to let go. Ryan and Graham having practice. i could wish a million things had happened with Ryan (!) and Graham before but this is as good as it’s gonna get from this point

i like the way they’re trying to imitate the Doctor explicitly

‘this is hard, innit?”

‘have you had work done?’ ‘you can talk!’ (that sounded so Nine and Jack!!! hahahaa) edit: it was litearlly Ten and Jack

reference!

DOCTOR AND JACK HUG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leo......is a very cynical representation of an amoral scientist.

How the hell is Trump-analogue the sane one here lolololol. but he’s dumb enough to leave incinerating the thing to Leo.

what an idiot - opening the casing. im not really into how the narrative is basically like: trump is right about stupid scientists! hah...

the banter between jack and the doctor is so good? imitation of the original product clearly but still GOOD

love how the Doctor instantly goes - i need to go see the fam

she was in space jail for decades (she doesn’t mention the decades)

THAT MOMENT OF MATERIALISATION WAS SO GOOD

noooooooooooooooo OUCH - ouch! YAZ!

‘im sorreh’

SHE DOESN’T MENTION HOW SHE’S BEEN LOCKED IN PRISON FOR FUCKING DECADES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my god Doctor. give them some perspective PLEASE

Jack’s ‘whoops’ is hilarious if you consider his history with teh Doctor

Ryan - god i love Ryan.

Actually didn’t like Graham’s response to Jack. narratively, homophobic

absolutely despise the orange lettering

this episode really goes to show that Chibnall thinks structurally extremely slowly. he picks threads up from ages ago. and then he does do something decent with it. does this mean that the longer he keeps on the better it will get?

i think it’s pretty fuckin hilariously sad though that the companions are once again relegated to couriers - they note that they can’t do stuff on their own (even though the season finale last time gave them ‘Doctor-like’ sequences even if they never managed to impact the story of the Doctor herself - so i guess we’ve gone backwards in this arc) and then they CAN’T do stuff on their own and the Doctor comes in

it’s not the Doctor OR the companions Chibs. and if these companions are just incapable - make that a point! that would be a wonderful contrast to Clara

Woah Jack fuckin infodump

aahahhaa

i do love Yaz’s response. this seems to build up to some final DESERVED - i need to know MORE doctor - now.

‘oh she’s good’ - that’s such a RTD thing to say. chibs just directly copy-pasting a lot here. this is acceptable if he can give it new meaning. inverse meaning

why even drop two people off - whats the Doctor gonna do - nothing?

i actually like the new dalek design very much. oh confront Robertsen? i still can’t get used to the explicit task division set-up - even if this time it was used for characterisation

i - adore. this talk between Jack and Yaz. because it’s Yaz accessing so much shit from the Doctor’s past suddenly. and then it becomes extra clear that Jack’s and the Doctor’s connection was kinda romantic in whatever way - and it’s directly paralleled with Yaz. that romantic tragic attachment - doomed to hurt. (i.e. my fav)

god mandip gill is yeeting this out of the park. I LOVE IT. i love these lines. ‘we’re the lucky ones yaz’ - graham also told her something like this in demons of the punjab.

‘the joy, is worth the pain’ - is it? Jack thinks so - still! my god.that’s so tragic - so beautiful. so much rtd feel here.

jezus chibnall - fuckin sonic gun even???? ‘thanks, that’s it??’ hahahahaha. ok you did good. nobody’s ever impressed at it. LOL DAMN YAZ

‘they’re growing daleks’ - this secondary reveal doesn’t matter bc no reveal would have been a genuine reveal anyway

the new prime minister givin her speech and the doctor explaining daleks should have had snappier editing - specifically the music should not have gone back to simple british empire horns or whatever- but should have had an undertone of dalek in there

really! ALIEN REFERENCES! MY GOD CHIBNALL!!! everybody was thinking it but you did it.... i guess it’s done now. sexual politics wise i’d say Robertsen might have been a much better choice.

guns and explosives will solve everything!!!!!! oh chibnall

i love this lil talk between Ryan and teh Doctor - because it goes to show that the Doctor actually really cared. it would be fitting if they all left now actually lol - that would be nice and dramatic. Jodie is doing great on the acting here - i can FEEL the warning messages in her brains going AAAAAAAAAAA im losing this one!!!!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Ryan - oh finally - finally this is coming out. calling her out, ‘how do you feel about that’‘  - the counsellor

‘things change, all the time, and they should, cos they have to’ - oh ffffff and ryan inverts things on her. oh i would have loved that if they’d done the extensive groundwork for it. now it just feels like a final death knell - the Doctor paternalised in classic Doctor words by her pseudo-son (but not really bc we never got it for real). couldn’t chibnall have left that for a dude actor ....

i love Jodie’s acting here my GOD. the mouth, the thin lips. The Doctor’s thinking - ah ive lost him - he doesn’t need me at all. ‘always’ this is Ryan’s motif actually. Yaz said the same thing about him.

LOL and Leo reveals himself only when the bombs have been planted and the Doctor’s arrived

lol ok that’s a pretty grisly reveal chibs, BUT would have been cooler if Yaz somehow found out herself and not through villain exposition. Robertsen really is VERY good comic relief here ‘this is a pr disaster’

that was actually a GOOD use of the Doctor going hmmm what’s wrong here and Yaz going well maybe this

ok but because chibnall has such dumb and obvious twists all the time it makes the Doctor always look dumb for slowly stumbling through a self-deprecating  explanation. the least authoritative doctor ever my god.... like she could feel the shock to her system coming and that’s why she was born so un-self-assured. hate that shit. not what i wanted

the recon dalek used ultra viiolet light to teleport. lol. but then the Doctor is too late to stop it. hmm a bit uh..........idk conflicted about all the poc getting exterminated at the border...is this irony???

so how is the Dalek electrocuting Leo with nothing but a shitty slime body? also don’t like that. especially because Robertsen is getting away scot free again probably

‘no weapons’ (what about the bombs - couldn’t jack have interjected with knowledge on that shit - before the daleks teleported mysteriously????) ‘no time to think’ - Doctor i thought it was established that you could think at 3000 miles per fraction of a second.

forget it. forget it forget it forget it. chibnall and I will never agree on this. if the Doctor hits rock bottom here - then it better be a companion that picks her back up. nope, she gets back up herself. best job they’ve done so far on that i admit but then they cut immediately to a leisurely discussion as people are getting gunned the fuck down in the streets.

ah, shes inviting the original fleet to destroy these daleks which are ‘corrupted’

why..................did they explain the whole plan before it happened. WHY. OH WHY! is Chibnall so structurally BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!

this would have WORKED as a GOOD twist if he’d made it an actual fucking TWIST. please chibs....let me at the scripts....please....

the stakes are also not well-established because none of the companions said: oh shit but we could barely get rid of ONE, now there’s thousands!

‘they shouldn’t know im here’ *materialises TARDIS right in front of hundreds of Daleks*

this whole scene between the two sets of Daleks would have been great if we hadn’t been spoiled

is................Robertsen gonna pay for his arrogance - ignoring the Doctor? or is the Doctor’s ineffective ‘get back here’ going to be the last we see of this. Betraying the Doctor?

Chibs if you dont make this guy pay i will give up

Ryan stepping up to save Earth. hmmhm.

Jack: w-wait are you okay with this?

Jack she’s been sending these idiots in without supervision for no reason for ages. she just did it with Yaz?? but its a nice era-contrast - even if the meaning is muddled

So i guess Jack’s just got hundreds of bombs on him? at all times?

who the fuck doctors the script

why............did Chibnall regress Graham’s and Ryan’s relationship into awkwardness in their final episode. that’s just plain sad.

inversely, NOW would have been good to know the second plan because then we would have known why the Daleks knowing about the Doctor is bad SPECIFICALLY

‘even if we blow up the ship, theres still SAS daleks marauding through earth’s skies’ she says, like she wasn’t supposed to have a plan to stop them ??????

‘right’ she said, walked off, and then didn’t think of a plan

‘orrr.... you’re gonna have to trust me on this one Yaz’

this is such a TERRIBLE and unsubtle and stupid way to segue into discussing the Doctor’s problems with disappearing

WHY IS CHIBNALL HAVING THEM SAVE ROBERTSEN - fuck this! FUCK THIS!

wow - that’s really shit of the Doctor - just telling a TARDIS to destroy itself completely......

really chibnall.....really you’re gonna let this man get away LIKE THIS. I’m done. i’m done. im sorry but this is not something to just PLAY with. letting a Trump guy get the better of the female Doctor not once, but twice? this makes me so sad. and im done. it’s just insult after insult. he just doesn’t GET it. this is too close to my heart. this is not a GAME. this is supposed to be a  fucking POWER FANTASY - and he can’t even fucking make it that. he can’t discuss the problems with power because he can’t even FATHOM the Doctor as a power fantasy in this form. fuck. this.

‘can you believe that’ - ‘yeah i can’

thanks - thanks for this political hopelessness on top of the real shit Chibnall. that’s not what Doctor Who is about - that’s the starting point - not the fucking end state

i know it’s supposed to be related to Ryan and how it’s quite subtly about making the world a better place politically bc it’s going to hell - and Robertsen is definitely coming back because chibnall just does that shit

but

if he wanted to do that he should have had Ryan and Robertsen have a confrontation this episode

a hug. a HUG. my god. so what was the absence of hugs all about then? now im grumpy about THAT. fck

this is good acting, good lines, good normal ending to Graham’s time in the TARDIS, it ties in just a little bit with his family arc. but it’s not particularly coherent - guess that;s life ?

‘it’s ok to be sad’ - cut to black. that was good

so the conclusion is that all they needed to be like the Doctor is a little gadget. this is deeply incoherent but it appeals to me anyway. and i dont really understand how Robertsen features into protecting the planet from aliens then

what is this weird Ryan speech lol. Tosin did incredibly good on making that seem halfway organic.

ok so Grace appearing made me tear up lol