I noticed it myself while watching the episode, but that video reminded me to post it lol
Though it is kinda weird that in a future where earth blew up before humanity had interstellar travel that the company would some how exist
The whole thing about how much of human culture still existed in the universe (and human looking peoples, including sign language and Graham Norton…) needs some level of explanation. Whether it’s a weird web of time repair, an artificial universe we’ve been in, or some kind of weird galactic renaissance affair where whole societies decided to base themselves on the fallen Earth.
But… I think it’s just gonna be some weird unexplained thing we mustn’t think about too hard.
The more I think about it, the more I think that nu-Who has gone all X-Files. When the X-Files started, it was all about the conspiracy, and fans tuned in especially for the mythology episodes, culminating in the Fight the Future movie. After that, the creators lost the plot... literally, and by seasons 8 and 9 they were pulling all manner of nonsense out of their collective fundament. Super-soldiers? Really...
The same thing has happened with nu-Who. When it started, it was one traumatised man in a box, with a hell of a back-story to uncover, and we got interesting tidbits doled out as the series unfolded, the Time War, the return of the Master, Clara Oswald and so on and so forth, and it peaked in The Day of the Doctor. Just as with the X Files, there was a little forward momentum thereafter, and Peter Capaldi's run held the interest, even as the mythology started to get overly convoluted.
But after that, I had stopped caring. The Timeless Child, bi-generation... When you have to destroy Gallifrey... again, you feel like any emotional investment you make in this story is a waste. You're not going to get a decent return.
So the Rani's back; Omega is impending, and RTD is tantalising us with never before known secrets about Gallifrey and the Time Lords. I really don't care. Will the Doctor save the day, will Belinda get home, those questions I'm still invested in, but I haven't felt anything beyond intellectual curiosity in a Doctor Who story since Capaldi. I am still entertained, but not moved.
I think the show needs a reset. Have the Pantheon equivalent of Morpheus show up with an off-button and a reset button for the Doctor to choose from, and the reset sends the Doctor and a regenerated Susan to a 1963 where it all begins again, the creators get to build this story and these characters anew from the ground up.
The show has a built in reset with every change of incarnation or production team. The mistake is usually when questions are being answered without need, or new questions put in that seem artificial. It organically accreted lore in the old days, and as long as there wasn’t too much, or big things were saved for things like anniversaries, it worked. Generally the basic status quo is always returned to, and no one ever blew things up too much. Certainly not to the point of *heavily* contradicting swathes of accreted history and continuity within the show. It was kind of blown out of the water with the Cricket Bat of Chibnall, because it outright contradicted even *recent* things and made elements that underpinned the plots of whole stories and arcs no longer make sense.
And yes… destroying the Time Lords *again* was absolutely a sign that it had gone wonky. The bigger problem that compounded this, is that come the end of that era, the toys weren’t back in the box in a useable fashion. And RTD isn’t fixing them, the way he was no doubt intended to. (Because it’s not just fans who want the show ship-shape and Bristol fashion, it’s the BBC)
I don’t think it *should* have some big reset or reboot — it defeats the point of it being the longest running SF show. What it does need is a few years of very back to basics and *good* — not trying to be massive, not trying to break things — episodes and series. It didn’t make its comeback in 2005 by trying too hard. It did it with an element of dependability, and that continued for a decent number of years, with the odd big moment that captured the public because of its place in culture.
Think of it as a dependable relative, pootling along like a well-liked aunty or uncle. There’s maybe a new partner, maybe a wedding, maybe they’re having a kid… but the big life changing events that thrust them into the limelight of family attention don’t happen every year or every month. If it did, they’d be some kind of nutty narcissist desperate to be *the* thing all the time.
Who needs to spend some time just pootling along and turning up for events without being the event *all the time*. And the same is true of its stories.
Belinda looked really good for an episode or two — then she was sidelined hard. There has been no development of *anyone* and no stories where people just simply enjoyed it, might watch again. It’s so desperate trying to do The Five Doctors or Caves of Androzani every five minutes, that there’s no time for a Visitation.
