Feelings Halfway Through The Series
- Thread starter StCoop
- Start date
Really? That's the hill you wanna die on? I think you need to get some perspective.
Ahem...
So far as this series of Who goes, I don't feel like 'the problem' is moralizing, or PC culture (whatever the fuck that actually is.). 'The Problem' so to speak is that this series is far less panto, far less OTT madcap nonsense than both the RTD and Moffat eras. This is a stylistic choice and has produced some seriously powerful episodes of television like 'Rosa' and 'Demons of the Punjab.' It has also put together a wonderful set of companions, with Graham being the standout (and much like Donna, I thought he was going to be passable at best so pleasant surprise there.) We've also got a great actor portraying The Doctor and she's been fantastic.
But I feel like something is missing. It's as if they've filled one too many edges off The Doctor in an attempt to get away from Capaldi's abrasive and cantankerous Twelve but in the process, they've made The Doctor just a little bit less interesting. She's no longer the star of her own story and often isn't driving the course of events. The Doctor has become too passive and, quite frankly, too nice. It's a shame that these characteristics have coincided with the casting of a female actor because they play into all kinds of ridiculous stereotypes about women and maternal characteristics. I don't think we need Tennant style declarations of 'TIME LORD VICTORIOUS" or Capaldi asides like "She's my carer so I don't have to" but The Doctor is two millennia old. She's loved and lost (as she tells us in the last episode) more than anyone else.
But it doesn't feel that way. It feels like The Doctor is the goofy friend who knows all the good spots and is convivial to a fault. We haven't seen her get angry, we haven't seen the darkness that comes from those thousands of years of life and the loss and despair that inevitably comes with it. Hell, even Smith's perpetually cheery Eleven was a facade that cracked when he grew angry or frustrated. With Whittaker's Thirteen, the cheery, breezy, travelling space-hippy Doctor doesn't seem like an act at all. She seems to have paid no price for her long life and the depth that existed in the previous iterations has been cast aside. This is not a comment on her acting, which has been consistently excellent. I really do think she's doing a fantastic job with the material she's been given but there's just not enough going on with The Doctor's character in the text. Hell, Graham has been given an amazing emotional journey over this series and watching he and Ryan bond over the loss of Grace has been the best part of the series, but The Doctor is more of a facilitator to the companions' emotional journeys than the centre of her own.
All of that said, it's clear that this series has been made with care and the stories they've put on screen over the past nine weeks have been almost entirely excellent (I'm looking at you, Kerblam) but my inner 10-year-old misses the madcap music and the cartoonish antics while the adult me wishes that The Doctor was as complex and compelling as she has been in incarnations past. These are not terminal blows against the show and the continued strong performance indicates that my opinions are probably in the minority but I think that this series has lost a bit of that Saturday morning cartoon magic that made it appointment escapism, rather than appointment drama.
It's been deemed racist for quite some time. It first entered school rooms as racist at least when I was in grade school, so... 20 years academicly? While Inuit is the sort of catch all term that itself has issues. I, myself, usually try to find the tribe's name before referring to a group and only fall back on Inuit when I must. But that's anthropology for you. ;-)
As for "What is wrong with that name?" It translates out as "eaters of raw flesh" a somewhat pejorative way to refer to the tribes - they have their own names - and that doesn't describe behavior that is universal to all the tribes it is used to refer to. To ground this in terms appropriate for TrekBBS... imagine if someone went around calling humans "Ugly Bags of Mostly Water." It's not necessarily wrong, and is descriptive, but it's also not a great thing to call someone. Now add years of prejudice, discrimination and practices that seek to eliminate your life style and see how you like it.
So as we come to the end of the series my feelings haven't really changed.
No problems with the cast beyond the fact that there's too many to properly develop them and that includes the Doctor. (How great would a series of just Jodie and Bradley been?)
I understand and appreciate (in theory) the decision to majorly overhaul the style of the series and types of stories being told but don't feel that it's worked for me a lot of the time.
And while the Ratings remain better than last series, there's no ignoring that they still haven't reached their bottom level, coupled with consistently lower AI across the board. Hopefully that will prompt a bit of a rethink for the direction of the next series. It doesn't need to be on the level of the changes between Capaldi's first and second/third series but maybe some more focus on being entertaining and less on being worthy.
No problems with the cast beyond the fact that there's too many to properly develop them and that includes the Doctor. (How great would a series of just Jodie and Bradley been?)
I understand and appreciate (in theory) the decision to majorly overhaul the style of the series and types of stories being told but don't feel that it's worked for me a lot of the time.
And while the Ratings remain better than last series, there's no ignoring that they still haven't reached their bottom level, coupled with consistently lower AI across the board. Hopefully that will prompt a bit of a rethink for the direction of the next series. It doesn't need to be on the level of the changes between Capaldi's first and second/third series but maybe some more focus on being entertaining and less on being worthy.
Agreed. It's entirely possible to be both. Doctor Who itself has proved that more than once.
Well Chibnall has done one thing, he's put us on the same page for once
I don't mind the show being worthy, I just wish it wasn't so clunky doing it.
But yeah pretty much agree with everything you say, though I'd just lose Yaz because I like the Graham/Ryan pairing.
Things I want and/or expect next season.
1. Daleks, love em or hate em I'd be amazed if we don't see Skaro's finest in S11 (always assuming they don't turn up on Sunday)
2. An arc, even if only a very vague one, thus season's felt too aimless.
3. Fewer Chibnall episodes, or at least spread them out a bit!
Like you say the show doesn't need wholesale changes but it does need something.
I think it's interesting that Season 5, while possessing a lot of Moffat-isms, still made an effort to reassure viewers that they were still watching the same show. There was the overall structure of 13 episodes with 3 2-parters and everything building up to an epic 2-part finale. There were returning monsters and returning writers. "The Eleventh Hour" carried a vibe very reminiscent of RTD's premieres.
On the other hand, Chibnall has shown very little affinity for the show's past, whether the recent past or the classic series. I'm surprised that he didn't hedge his bets by bringing back an old favorite monster or two. And I'm kinda disappointed that he didn't let writers like Gatiss and Whithouse keep their seats at the table. And what about Sarah Dollard? Wasn't she supposed to be one of the rising stars of this franchise?
And for that matter, what happened to that radical 5-year plan that Chibnall pitched to the BBC at the beginning?
On the other hand, Chibnall has shown very little affinity for the show's past, whether the recent past or the classic series. I'm surprised that he didn't hedge his bets by bringing back an old favorite monster or two. And I'm kinda disappointed that he didn't let writers like Gatiss and Whithouse keep their seats at the table. And what about Sarah Dollard? Wasn't she supposed to be one of the rising stars of this franchise?
And for that matter, what happened to that radical 5-year plan that Chibnall pitched to the BBC at the beginning?
What makes you think we aren’t seeing his 5 year plan?
So far, it doesn't look like a plan at all, just meandering mediocrity.
Graham mentioned his cancer and I thought that was going to be an issue throughout. Presumably, they'll address it again. Although, you've got to figure that the Doctor has the means to cure him. I know she's not a medical Doctor, but with such advanced technology at her disposal and the ability to travel anywhere, surely she can get him a cure!
Even Ryan's issue has gone away.
Point being, even those less cosmic arcs, the more personal ones, have gone by the wayside.
Even Ryan's issue has gone away.
Point being, even those less cosmic arcs, the more personal ones, have gone by the wayside.
Ryan's dyspraxia came up again in "Kerblam!"
Yeah, one time!
My reading is that Graham's cancer is in remission so, at the moment, he doesn't really need curing. Obviously that might change if the story requires it.
I am surprised it took so long for Ryan's dyspraxia to come up again (you'd have thought it might have kicked in when he ran out all guns blazing in the Ghost Monument.
I am surprised it took so long for Ryan's dyspraxia to come up again (you'd have thought it might have kicked in when he ran out all guns blazing in the Ghost Monument.
The one ongoing thread was Ryan and Graham's relationship and that was resolved at the end of last week's episode.
If the finale features a team-up between Tim Shaw, Art Malik, Fake Trump and Usless Space Racist that'll be a big twist!
Seriously though, didn't Alan Cumming say he was in more than one episode?
If the finale features a team-up between Tim Shaw, Art Malik, Fake Trump and Usless Space Racist that'll be a big twist!
Seriously though, didn't Alan Cumming say he was in more than one episode?
It very well could be. Not every 5 year plan needs to start out screaming “This is the beginning of my 5 year story arc!”
Babylon 5 started with a lot of episodic stories, barely hinting at its 5 year plan.
And to be honest it'd been a few episodes since it even seemed to be much of an issue between them.
Yeah but the whole point of having an arc means that on some level people need to know it's there. Even S1 of Babylon 5 had things that it was obvious would be called back on. I don't mind subtle, but at the moment it's non-existent!
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