I just like the idea of the Doctor having friends he pops into. And ones that carry across regenerations. By Mawdryn Undead at the very least, that’s what the Brig is to the Doctor. Or the Paternoster Gang. Sort of… stationary long term companions.
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I just like the idea of the Doctor having friends he pops into. And ones that carry across regenerations. By Mawdryn Undead at the very least, that’s what the Brig is to the Doctor. Or the Paternoster Gang. Sort of… stationary long term companions.
Mawdryn Undead is a poor choice - the Brig is fucked up at that point BECAUSE the Doctor never visits! Battlefield is a better case (though I note even there the Doctor chooses the task that will keep him in the kitchen away from having to chat to the Brig and Ancelyn as they do their share of the chores - this is MY go-to for parties where I'm a wallflower so I know the move well).
Paternoster are a better case - though they seem locked into the "mental health support" role more obviously than the "mates chatting in the pub/football ground/gym/barbershop" way presented here. They're the mates you ask to crash with because you're having a mental health crisis. Omo's is the place you go to decompress to make sure the crisis doesn't happen (today).
Yeah, but Mawdryn Era is also Five Doctors era. Him and the Second on their Death Zone hike…
I like the idea of Omo being this. And it’s a shame they (a) don’t go into detail about the past Doctor or (b) leave it open for a return by a future Doctor. That alone is a powerful image, a Doctor, no longer black, maybe no longer even a man, coming to his mates for a haircut and dude just knows it’s him, gives haircut. It especially works well *because* it’s not an Afro hair specialist salon in Streatham, but Lagos. A bustling capital.
But, Omo threw him under a bus, got forgiveness, then retired and went back to his Mrs. A shame. Can you imagine a world where every new Doctor were not wondering about Cybermen or Daleks, or if they’re gonna hook up with the PMC Unit — but when they’re gonna go get their hair cut?
Omo’s actor could have been quids in too.
The Brig retired and still got adventures with the Doctor. Offscreen, but hey, stories don't care about the medium... we got a whole story about how trying to trap stories in ONE medium is a BAD thing.
TV is sort of Who’s natural home though — even if I think it’s best era for stories was the wilderness era and the books — and the positivity of that idea just seems a shame to have missed out on. But hey. Maybe he decides not to retire, or him and his Mrs emigrate and set up a new barber shop somewhere the Beeb can afford the location shoot for. She can have a restaurant next door, and people wonder why only one delivery dude/dudette gets the food there hot and on time.
It's worth noting that the "six word story" by Hemingway ("For sale: baby shoes. Never worn." is widely considered apocryphal (at least, that it was Hemingway who told it) - AKA just another story.
Probably for the best if it is — otherwise the Doc just claimed to have been why he wrote it.
Gave this one an 8. It had some problems but I was generous given the courage to tell a story set mostly in a Laos barbershop about the power of stories
The ideas and setting were interesting and entertaining, however some problems with the story.
A key adage of stories is "show don't tell." And this had way too much telling. The backstory of Abby, backstory of the Doctor and Omo, the backstory of the Doctor and Abby, the backstory of the barber, etc. All that telling took out much of the potential impact.
I also was unsure why the Doctor got so pissed off at Omo. That seemed out of left field. It's not like Omo made the Doctor go there. The Doctor went there on his own and there was no way Omo could stop him. And, yes, Omo wanted the Doctor there but he didn't make it happen.
The solution was too easy. The Doctor told a short story of his life and whammo. Did he really even need to get to the brain/heart thing to do that. Could've done that on the chair, making that whole runaround unnecessary.
But it was a nice different type of story.
The ideas and setting were interesting and entertaining, however some problems with the story.
A key adage of stories is "show don't tell." And this had way too much telling. The backstory of Abby, backstory of the Doctor and Omo, the backstory of the Doctor and Abby, the backstory of the barber, etc. All that telling took out much of the potential impact.
I also was unsure why the Doctor got so pissed off at Omo. That seemed out of left field. It's not like Omo made the Doctor go there. The Doctor went there on his own and there was no way Omo could stop him. And, yes, Omo wanted the Doctor there but he didn't make it happen.
The solution was too easy. The Doctor told a short story of his life and whammo. Did he really even need to get to the brain/heart thing to do that. Could've done that on the chair, making that whole runaround unnecessary.
But it was a nice different type of story.
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Lots of telling while standing in front of the unused backstory display device.
Personally this lost me at the premise. I was never going to like an episode about a story-powered mechanical spider on a mission to kill the gods and remove storytelling from the world that uses haircuts as part of its operation. It earned itself a place at the bottom of my rankings the moment the writer came up with the concept. That's just my taste in stories.
And I was pretty bored too.
I gotta be honest, this has been my least favourite season of Doctor Who in the last 20 years, worse even than the Whitaker seasons. Even more annoying is that everyone else seems to be liking it a lot, so I'm in the minority on this one!
Personally this lost me at the premise. I was never going to like an episode about a story-powered mechanical spider on a mission to kill the gods and remove storytelling from the world that uses haircuts as part of its operation. It earned itself a place at the bottom of my rankings the moment the writer came up with the concept. That's just my taste in stories.
And I was pretty bored too.
I gotta be honest, this has been my least favourite season of Doctor Who in the last 20 years, worse even than the Whitaker seasons. Even more annoying is that everyone else seems to be liking it a lot, so I'm in the minority on this one!
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That was very original and ambitious, and it was great to see Jo Martin but...it just didn't quite work for me.
Maybe a second watch is in order.
And also, if it was the Renegade Doctor who met Abby, then how can Fifteen remember her?
Nice to see Fifteen get angry though.
Maybe a second watch is in order.
And also, if it was the Renegade Doctor who met Abby, then how can Fifteen remember her?
Nice to see Fifteen get angry though.
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