Watching NuWho

[Jock Ewing Fan]

For some reason, the news site has not updated, and I can not find the Appreciation Index for WBY

I have not seen either episode, so I am reliant on news, reviews, viewer feedback, etc.

I am discouraged by RTD's apparent reinforcement of Chibnall's origin story.
I expected better from RTD, especially since that story has clearly been unpopular with
large segments of the fanbase. Perhaps Disney has had more input than we realize.
It is unlikely that Disney would increase the budget and not have input.

It is possible that the Celestial Toymaker has manipulated events, and that it has some effect on the
Chibnall origin story.
If the Chibnall origin story is not refuted, many longtime fans will stop supporting the program and
a new audience may or may not materialize.
If the Chibnall origin story is now canon, the the Doctor could regenerate endlessly, is never in any real danger
and the numbering system (Gatwa is 15) is completely erroneous

In any case, William Hartnell is the First Doctor, as has been confirmed in many past stories

Any showrunner who changes that is disrespecting the many showrunners, writers, directors, etc
who created the show's continuity. It is also bad writing. The name of the show is Doctor Who.
The origin is supposed to remain a mystery

 

[Whovian]

For some reason, the news site has not updated, and I can not find the Appreciation Index for WBY

I have not seen either episode, so I am reliant on news, reviews, viewer feedback, etc.

I am discouraged by RTD's apparent reinforcement of Chibnall's origin story.
I expected better from RTD, especially since that story has clearly been unpopular with
large segments of the fanbase. Perhaps Disney has had more input than we realize.
It is unlikely that Disney would increase the budget and not have input.

It is possible that the Celestial Toymaker has manipulated events, and that it has some effect on the
Chibnall origin story.
If the Chibnall origin story is not refuted, many longtime fans will stop supporting the program and
a new audience may or may not materialize.
If the Chibnall origin story is now canon, the the Doctor could regenerate endlessly, is never in any real danger
and the numbering system (Gatwa is 15) is completely erroneous

In any case, William Hartnell is the First Doctor, as has been confirmed in many past stories

Any showrunner who changes that is disrespecting the many showrunners, writers, directors, etc
who created the show's continuity. It is also bad writing. The name of the show is Doctor Who.
The origin is supposed to remain a mystery

I'd reserve your judgement until after The Giggle. There's a widespread leak going round that RTD has actually found a way of neutralising some of the effects of the Timeless Child arc;

Spoiler: giggle

By splitting the Doctor in two, so the Tennant version bogged down by the weight of destroying half the universe goes and lives with the Nobles on planet earth and the Gatwa Doctor starts afresh without the baggage as a "normal" Doctor. I'd imagine that also opens up the possibility of Tennant spin-offs.

 

[pete lashmar]

I'd reserve your judgement until after The Giggle. There's a widespread leak going round that RTD has actually found a way of neutralising some of the effects of the Timeless Child arc;

Spoiler: giggle

By splitting the Doctor in two, so the Tennant version bogged down by the weight of destroying half the universe goes and lives with the Nobles on planet earth and the Gatwa Doctor starts afresh without the baggage as a "normal" Doctor. I'd imagine that also opens up the possibility of Tennant spin-offs.

Spoiler: spoiler

A series called Partners in Time was teased some months ago with DT & CT but no one knows if it was a leak or fake.

 

[pete lashmar]

For some reason, the news site has not updated, and I can not find the Appreciation Index for WBY

I have not seen either episode, so I am reliant on news, reviews, viewer feedback, etc.

I am discouraged by RTD's apparent reinforcement of Chibnall's origin story.
I expected better from RTD, especially since that story has clearly been unpopular with
large segments of the fanbase. Perhaps Disney has had more input than we realize.
It is unlikely that Disney would increase the budget and not have input.

It is possible that the Celestial Toymaker has manipulated events, and that it has some effect on the
Chibnall origin story.
If the Chibnall origin story is not refuted, many longtime fans will stop supporting the program and
a new audience may or may not materialize.
If the Chibnall origin story is now canon, the the Doctor could regenerate endlessly, is never in any real danger
and the numbering system (Gatwa is 15) is completely erroneous

In any case, William Hartnell is the First Doctor, as has been confirmed in many past stories

Any showrunner who changes that is disrespecting the many showrunners, writers, directors, etc
who created the show's continuity. It is also bad writing. The name of the show is Doctor Who.
The origin is supposed to remain a mystery

The ratings have been great for the 2 specials so far and for someone like RTD, the timeless child is something he can get his teeth into a mine if he so wishes, it's a gift for a writer who loves putting real life personal drama and emotion into his shows.

The show has always changed it's own legend, Moffat had Clara make Hartnell choose his TARDIS to leave Gallifrey, Clara saw The Doctor as a child on Gallifrey in Listen, even though Gallifrey can only be visited in present time, Brain of Morbious showed past Doctors who had not previously appeared on TV, Regeneration didn't get a name until 10 years after it started, The time lords were able to choose a new face for The Doctor in The War Games....the show has always contradicted itself, TTC is nothing new and still doesn't change any of what we've seen on screen. Hartnell is the 1st Doctor to steal a TARDIS and go on the run from Gallifrey.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

The ratings have been great for the 2 specials so far and for someone like RTD, the timeless child is something he can get his teeth into a mine if he so wishes, it's a gift for a writer who loves putting real life personal drama and emotion into his shows.

The show has always changed it's own legend, Moffat had Clara make Hartnell choose his TARDIS to leave Gallifrey, Clara saw The Doctor as a child on Gallifrey in Listen, even though Gallifrey can only be visited in present time, Brain of Morbious showed past Doctors who had not previously appeared on TV, Regeneration didn't get a name until 10 years after it started, The time lords were able to choose a new face for The Doctor in The War Games....the show has always contradicted itself, TTC is nothing new and still doesn't change any of what we've seen on screen. Hartnell is the 1st Doctor to steal a TARDIS and go on the run from Gallifrey.

There is a major difference between enhancing an established continuity and reinventing it in a contradictory way. The Chibnall origin story indicated that the Doctor could regenerate endlessly and is never in any real danger. Matt Smith in his final incarnation gave a tremendous performance, knowing that he would not regenerate again (or so he thought). Now, it has no impact because he was going to regenerate anyway. It was not clear in the Brain of Morbius whether those faces were past doctors, at least until Chibnall asserted it. Regeneration did not have to have a name, it happened twice before Pertwee/Baker. If Chibnall is to be believed, Hartnell couldn't have been the first to leave Gallifrey if Jo Martin is a Doctor (who calls the TARDIS the ship, and doesn't have Susan). The show can appear to contradict itself, but there is still an established continuity with possible variations on a basic foundation.
The name of the show is Doctor Who. Chibnall eliminated the mystery.

 

[pete lashmar]

There is a major difference between enhancing an established continuity and reinventing it in a contradictory way. The Chibnall origin story indicated that the Doctor could regenerate endlessly and is never in any real danger. Matt Smith in his final incarnation gave a tremendous performance, knowing that he would not regenerate again (or so he thought). Now, it has no impact because he was going to regenerate anyway. It was not clear in the Brain of Morbius whether those faces were past doctors, at least until Chibnall asserted it. Regeneration did not have to have a name, it happened twice before Pertwee/Baker. If Chibnall is to be believed, Hartnell couldn't have been the first to leave Gallifrey if Jo Martin is a Doctor (who calls the TARDIS the ship, and doesn't have Susan). The show can appear to contradict itself, but there is still an established continuity with possible variations on a basic foundation.
The name of the show is Doctor Who. Chibnall eliminated the mystery.

But he didn't - we don't know who The Doctor is, where he's from or what alien species he is - far more mystery now. The fact is that this is now canon, RTD has ran with it and some day another showrunner will come up with something completely different.

Also, we know that The Doctor can be killed during a regeneration, he is not immortal and we also don't know how many lives he has since in TTC story everyone was given a limited number of regenerations. We also know that River gave up her remaining regenerations to 11, so 11 may well have regenerated of old age before the time lords intervened.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Tonight is the third David Tennant Story
I am trying to withhold judgement on the Disney era Who, which is increasingly difficult
because of what I am reading in the reviews.
Still, ratings have been good. However, if certain things are not properly addressed, such as the
divisive Chibnall origin story, the ratings may not be sustained.
Many fans who stopped watching the show have returned, largely because David Tennant returned.
However, once Tennant leaves, will they still watch?
Maybe they will at first to see Gatwa, but if the content is divisive and controversial, will they remain?
I do not see any indication that a new audience has emerged to offset the loss of long-time fans.
Time will tell, ...Pun LOL

 

[Whovian]

Tonight is the third David Tennant Story
I am trying to withhold judgement on the Disney era Who, which is increasingly difficult
because of what I am reading in the reviews.
Still, ratings have been good. However, if certain things are not properly addressed, such as the
divisive Chibnall origin story, the ratings may not be sustained.
Many fans who stopped watching the show have returned, largely because David Tennant returned.
However, once Tennant leaves, will they still watch?
Maybe they will at first to see Gatwa, but if the content is divisive and controversial, will they remain?
I do not see any indication that a new audience has emerged to offset the loss of long-time fans.
Time will tell, ...Pun LOL

If even half of what's been leaked about tonight's episode is true, the show is dead in the water. Nobody could take such an outcome seriously.

 

[Whovian]

Well Doctor Who is dead.

 

[Whovian]

Ok it's not quite as bad as I thought it was gonna be, and has been wrapped up fairly well. I can see why RTD's written it this way, hopefully a fresh start for 15 and no doubt a UNIT/14th Doctor spin-off.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Ok it's not quite as bad as I thought it was gonna be, and has been wrapped up fairly well. I can see why RTD's written it this way, hopefully a fresh start for 15 and no doubt a UNIT/14th Doctor spin-off.

So much to observe.

I had hope when RTD came back, but it has been disappointing so far
Millions of fans stopped watching the Chibnall/JW disaster, which included
horrid casting (especially JW), writers and directors with little to no sci-fi experience,
and blatant disrespect for the show's history, especially a made-up origin story with no
prior foundation. The result was record/near record lows in ratings, record low Appreciation Index,
merchandise disappearing from the stores, and a fan base that was directed and marginalized.

RTD had a chance to undo the damage.
Instead a 60th Anniversary that had:

No classic series Doctors, or Eccleston, M Smith, Capaldi

No past companions from the classic series except Mel, probably the worst companion
of the classic series

No companions from Ecclesto, MSmith or Capaldi's era

No Daleks, Cyberman.

The Celestial Toymaker - No mention of "Divided Loyalties" (5th Doctor book)
"The Nightmare Fair" (Canceled 23 adventure, Audio 6th Doctor)
"Magic Mousetrap" (7th Doctor Audio) or "Solitaire" (8th Doctor audio)
These adventures may or may not be canon - or does canon even matter anymore

Sir Isaac Newton is ?

So much more, but there is not enough time or space (Pun LOL!)


Ratings are higher, though not at the previous levels during Tennant's first era.
The increase in ratings is likely due to the return of DT, so it is not yet a reliable indicator of the future
Millions of fans were willing to return but will they?
If not, where is the new audience that would materialize?

Gatwa is likely to do well in ratings at first, since it is the start of a new era,
but one must wonder - if the DT Doctor exists in the same time frame, doesn't this
impair Gatwa's status as the "new" Doctor?

At this point "Doctor Who" is anything goes. Nothing has to be consistent
with a history going back to 1963

I hope that Gatwa is given a fair chance and that he does well.
For those who think a future showrunner will be more attentive, it assumes that
there will be a future showrunner. Time will tell (Pun LOL!)

 

[Willie Oleson]

So, anyway....

The first episode of series 3 is the introduction of new Who Girl, Martha. But Who's that Girl?
She's a nurse in training and she's also preparing for her brother's upcoming 21st birthday which brings some family dysfunction to the surface.
Meanwhile, an alien scoundrel who is trying to escape galactic justice poses as a human patient in the Royal Hope Hospital where Martha works.
Leave it to the Doctor to stick his nose in it.

Dark clouds gather above the hospital building - how ominous! - and after an electric storm of sorts they staff and patients find themselves transported to the moon.
They don't take it very well.

There's the issue of limited oxygen supply and on top of everything the hospital is taken over by no-nonsense alien bounty hunters who have isolated the building in order to find the Plasmavore who has killed a Princess - and also sucked all the blood out of Inspector Dalgliesh. Totally unacceptable!

The episode looks a bit clunky in some parts but I guess the main purpose of it is to show Martha's curiosity and ability to deal with adventure.
She's not there to replace Rose, as the Doctor mentions cheekily (but not untruthfully) and I wonder if there's going to be any signifcant differences between the two Who Girls.
Martha appears to be a little more upbeat but at least her father is still alive. He's romantically involved with a shop-happy, orange-tanned woman who calls everyone "babes".
I guess you can't have it all.
A newcomer's first impression of the Tardis never fails to excite me because it feels like doing it all over again.
The preview of the next episode looks very promising.

 

[Willie Oleson]

The Shakespeare Code is, well, precisely what it sounds like.
The literary jokes are coming thick and fast as soon as the Tardis arrives on the scene. I was wishing very hard that they wouldn't do "to be or not to be" but alas, the temptation was too strong.
The plot is simple and yet almost funny in its convolution i.e. the specifics of the building and the speech of the code that unlocks the galactic door of the witches' prison.
One thing that puzzles me about these kind of "destroy all!" villains - in this case a world of Blood And Bones - is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of profit.
I mean, once you've destroyed everything good and beautiful, what's left to do? Become King of Nothingness?

The episode looks great and I usually enjoy cauldron-gazing witches, and I probably would have appreciated the story more if I had known beforehand that a big part of it is based on a holy grail of English literature.
It is Doctor Who so it makes sense that "the power of the word" is used in a different way, but I feel that a story with two icons of this calibre deserved to be more wholesome (though it must be said that Shakespeare himself hinted at a threesome).

I thoroughly enjoyed the third episode "Gridlock". It's all very mysterious and the idea that all these characters have been on the road for years or even decades is simply mind-blowing.
When Martha suggests that the Doctor is "not alone" (as the dying Face of Boe informed him) because of her companionship, he flat out denies it.
Not that he could have confirmed it without turning the scene into a big schmaltz-fest but that doesn't change the fact that - in this moment - the new Who Girl is being stripped of all her dignity.
It actually made me gasp a little.

 

[Willie Oleson]

What's new in the whoniverse. It isn't New York because they have already been there in the previous episode, but when the Doctor discovers yet another scheme by the infamous Daleks then you know it's going to be something epic.
I can't keep up with the official number of Daleks in existence, further complicated by Who History going back and forth in time, but in this episode there are four.
In order to survive - and to make sure that no-one else does - they're plotting to create an army of human-Dalek hybrids, but it all goes terribly wrong.

The point of the story, the way I saw it anyway, is that the power of the individual always overrides (or should override) dictatorial authority, and that's something the Daleks will never understand.
The story also features the sub-plot of people turned into pig slaves. Why the Daleks want them to look like pigs with a very limited lifespan is not clear to me but I understand that there had to be something to distinguish them from the other human characters.
Furthermore, the human victims were divided into two groups: intelligent people would take part in the revolution experiment and the ones with a low intelligence rate became pigs.
Quite rude and politically incorrect, when you think about it.

Martha still comes across a Doctor Who fan (sometimes a bit stalker-ish) and she has a habit of telling everyone what just happened. "They shot him in cold blood!"
Yes, I saw that.
I had not expected this series mostly aimed at a younger audience to be "haunted" by the ghost of Rose Tyler even if she was the first companion in the Doctor Who revival. It gives the Doctor a lot of edge, doesn't it.

I think the best part of this story is David Tennant's unrelenting energy and commitment, and so far the Daleks have never failed to entertain me.
All in all, an eventful episode (two, actually) but I don't think it's going to make the list of Most Rewatchable Stories.


Ha ha.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Episodes 6 and 7 are not...great.
The Lazarus Experiment looks too much like the unintentional mutation of the Spider-Man villains and it all happens too soon and then the only thing left to do is to run away from the big GCI monster.
42 is an incredible frenetic story and most of the time I had no idea what was going on. It looks like a poor imitation of The Impossible Planet (season 2).

But at least the Doctor has officially accepted Martha as his new companion so that's nice.
At first it seemed like an unnecessary obstacle to replace Rose with the equally pretty and lovely Martha - I mean, why not a young man? - but I'm beginning to see how clever it was since it was in fact Not-Rose-Martha who allowed Rose Tyler to be remembered because of the similarity.
It was something that needed to be dealt with, to show that Rose was replaceable (to both the Doctor and the audience) especially by someone like Martha.
If the next companion had been very different then perhaps it wouldn't have been possible to get that point across, or the show the Doctor's feelings of loss.

Furthermore, there is something very shady going on in the background as we see Martha's mother being approached by secret agents of sorts who confirm that her daughter is indeed hanging out with a "very dangerous man".
It looks like this storyline will continue in episode 11 Utopia and I'm really curious to know what it's all about.

Before that there are two stories (in three episodes) that have everything you can wish for in a Doctor Who episode, especially the two-part Human Nature / The Family Of Blood.
With the quest for more time (or in this case, all eternity) it kinda harks back to the Lazarus Experiment.
It has one of those excitingly frustrating plot twists (the boy who took the watch) and the Family is seriously creepy even though they used to be ordinary people.

Their comeuppance in particular is very well done.
It's also Martha's best episode so far and I enjoyed figuring out what her role in the story was. The Doctor gets a great dramatic storyline because he has to sacrifice himself as a human. Let that be a good lesson for him.

Episode 10 Blink is almost like a spin-off episode with cameos (or easter eggs) by the Doctor and Martha who really don't have time to be there.
I'm not even going to try to understand the concept of non-linear wibbly wobbly timey wimey history but it's something that I happily accept as "as is".
It doesn't have to make sense it only has to be convincing from a dramatic point of view. Too bad it was only one episode, I just loved the meta stuff about Doctor Who on DVD.

 

[Willie Oleson]

The last three episodes of series 3 are fantastic. It starts in the future, the year one hundred trillion (haha), and the human race prepares itself for its last chance of survival. But then the Professor who's in charge of project Utopia discovers that he's a Time Lord too.
As prime minister of the UK he announces a meeting with extraterrestrial species who are going to bring good things to planet Earth.
However, the American president thinks he should act as the ambassador of the human race.
Story, stuff, etc.
Martha resigns as Doctor companion but it's good to know that she will become a doctor herself.
I still don't know how captain Jack fits into the universe of Time Lords and it becomes even more puzzling when it's suggested that he's the Face of Boe.
Did this character also appear in Classic Who?

Including the specials episodes, series 4 is 19 episodes!
I simply must know how and why it was decided to make that David Tennant's last series. Maybe it's on the DVD specials/easter eggs?

 

[pete lashmar]

Captain Jack only appears in NuWho, he wasn't in the classic series.

David Tennent left the show after 4 years, at the same time as Russell T Davis. When Steven Moffat took over as showrunner he met with David to go over his plans for the show, hoping he would stay on for one final series - but David felt it was time to go.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Oooh, the Christmas special is The Poseidon Adventure In Space, starring Kylie Minogue (she's very good) and George Costigan as a comic book villain.
It's a lot of fun to recognize all the disaster movie tropes: the selfish survivor, the old man with a secret, the Shelley Winters type, the old-skool Americans who won the lottery.
The impressive body count makes it very different from the standard Christmas fluff.

 

[James from London]

I still don't know how captain Jack fits into the universe of Time Lords and it becomes even more puzzling when it's suggested that he's the Face of Boe.
Did this character also appear in Classic Who?

Jack has his own spinoff series, Torchwood, which is a total mess. Martha does a couple of episodes of it after she quits the Doctor.

 

[Whovian]

Christmas Special pulling 7.49 million viewers - making it the 2nd most watched of the 4 specials. 2nd most watch show on Christmas Day behind Call the Midwife. A decent base of support to start the 14th series off with come May. For context The Star Beast was the most watched episode since The Tsuranga Conundrum (S11 E5)

7.61 - The Star Beast
7.49 - The Church on Ruby Road
7.14 - The Wild Blue Yonder
6.85 - The Giggle