A celebration for the Jodie Whittaker era

[Starkers]

As much as I'll defend Chibnall to a degree (I will concede he's not at the same caliber as Davies and Moffatt), it is curious how the top episodes weren't written by him at all (aside from a co-writing credit for "Fugitive of the Judoon," undoubtedly for the arc-related material). He has solid entries but nothing that's hit out of the park, although "The Tsuranga Conundrum" comes close for me (but, again, I know I'm in the minority on that count). "Spyfall" is almost there, too, but it has some issues, particularly in the second part as you detailed.

For me this is the most telling thing about Chibnall. If I looked at my top three from every other season the chances are RTD or Moffat would have been in there.

But the paradox in "Fugitive", that the current incarnation has to rescue a previous one is a bit of a blunder that seems out of place in more sophisticated 21st century scripting. Saving a future incarnation makes more sense, right down to the TARDIS being a police box. It's either a big obvious clue that matches up with others (e.g. Master manipulated the Matrix just to humiliate the Doctor), or it's a big bungled oversight in the script. Given how much time Chibnall took to try to get around continuity issues, coupled with the series 12 finale feeling like a cliffhanger as if the story's not all been told yet, it's hard to tell.

I can deal with there being pre Hartnell Doctors, it's the presence of the TARDIS that irritates me most. As you say either it's a clue, it's a mistake or Chibnall is suggesting the Doctor's TARDIS was always a police box, and I read someone once who argued for all the diversity on show Chibnall is a small c conservative, and he takes the Police metaphor literally, look at Brendan in Ascension of the Cybermen. The Doctor is as far from being a police office as you can get but Chibnall doesn't seem to get this.

 

[DigificWriter]

Whether or not people like the stories written by Chibnall either by himself or with others really doesn't actually mean anything in terms of judging the success or failure of his tenure as Showrunner.

 

[Starkers]

Whether or not people like the stories written by Chibnall either by himself or with others really doesn't actually mean anything in terms of judging the success or failure of his tenure as Showrunner.

I mean, given he's written or co-written 15 out of the 22 episodes of his era so far, surely it does?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

For me this is the most telling thing about Chibnall. If I looked at my top three from every other season the chances are RTD or Moffat would have been in there.

I was all prepared to say I didn't think that would be the case for me regarding Davies (since I had a lot of issues with his broad strokes, overreliance on Earth-based stories, finales, and Christmas specials), but series 2 is the only one where I wouldn't be able to say that for him. Conversely, I thought I would be able to say that for every season for Moffatt, but I couldn't for series 6 (although not because of Moffat, but because of the guest writers, including one Neil Gaiman).

That said, I can do that for Chibnall in series 11, but again, because I'm in the minority regarding "The Tsuranga Conundrum."

I can deal with there being pre Hartnell Doctors, it's the presence of the TARDIS that irritates me most. As you say either it's a clue, it's a mistake or Chibnall is suggesting the Doctor's TARDIS was always a police box, and I read someone once who argued for all the diversity on show Chibnall is a small c conservative, and he takes the Police metaphor literally, look at Brendan in Ascension of the Cybermen. The Doctor is as far from being a police office as you can get but Chibnall doesn't seem to get this.

Interesting, I hadn't seen that situation in that way. I don't know if you're right about that interpretation, but it is something worth thinking about.

Whether or not people like the stories written by Chibnall either by himself or with others really doesn't actually mean anything in terms of judging the success or failure of his tenure as Showrunner.

Well, that's not what we're really discussing about here. Besides, I moved my larger points about the dual burdens of showrunner and head writer to the Jodie rumor thread where that particular discussion is better suited so it wouldn't distract from the point of this thread.

 

[Qonundrum]

I really liked Jodie's first episode.

Mixed bag for me, but it proceeds along decently enough and it ends on a really cool cliffhanger.

It as emotional to lose Graham's wife/Ryan's gran.

This. A strong character moment.

It was fun to see Jodie's Doctor make her own sonic.

Using borrowed technology from the Stenza - who, like the Dominators are the masters of nine or ten galaxies and have yet to do a crossover, as if it would take much to do better than the flat "Daleks versus Cybermen!!!!!!" faff from series 2...

The music has been a breath of fresh air. I liked Murray Gold's scores but 12 series was enough. Having three companions was good too.

It's almost "wallpaper music", but doesn't detract. It's reminiscent of and honors a lot of styles and tone from the 60s. His theme composition grew on me as well.

3 companions are arguably 1 too many, not always well-used in later stories , but the groundwork laid for them was top notch and we wanted to see more. The very next story onward, Yaz doesn't act like she's had police training and ditzy dyspraxic Ryan is a perfect ladder climbing robot shooter because he plays video games - better exposition could have sold the scenes better (which is Chibnall's least-effective strength), but it's not impossible either.

The only parts where I tuned out was when it got really preachy, other than that it has been fun.

Mishandled at times, too contrived at others, and a total 180 in later stories shortly aired (e.g. Doctor about killing and guns and stuff)... it's like Chibnall and his writing team wanted to do so much and tried to chuck it all in for chuckin's sake and with zero direction or consistency. 1960s WHO wasn't perfect but they didn't make so many overt mistakes... Continuity has become more a staple, especially in 21st century shows. Can there be a going back in that regard and accept the story as its own self-contained "island entity" of sorts?

 

[DigificWriter]

I mean, given he's written or co-written 15 out of the 22 episodes of his era so far, surely it does?

I was trying to push back on the notion that those 15 episodes not being listed as somebody's Top episodes from this era is automatically equated with failure.

Are RTD and Moffat's eras failures just because some people don't list any of the episodes they wrote personally during their tenures as Showrunners as being amongst their favorites from those eras?

 

[Qonundrum]

Okay, back on track. My positives:

Reveals: Did not see the Master's return coming, and did not see the Ruth Doctor coming either. I think they kept the lid on those very well. (Jack's return slightly less so)

Extremely well!

Jodie: She'll never rank high on my list of Doctors, but she's shown glimmers of being a great Doctor, and I loved some of the stuff she did during lockdown, I imagine that meant a lot to kids who watch the show and to plenty of kids growing up Jodie will always be their Doctor.

^^this

Jo Martin: Just wonderful, a complete left field surprise and I wish she'd been Thirteen instead of, well whatever number she is. Yeah she shot some Judoon, but I remember Six using cyanide to kill Shockeye, Ten dropping a Sykorax to his death and imprisoning people in mirrors and scarecrows for eternity! And Eleven nuked Dave Bradley and we never did get to the bottom of whether robot bloke fell or was pushed in Deep Breath did we?

Ditto.

13's comedic antics just feel like "Tennant and Smith redux" too much and I get more an impression that's what was on the script. Jodie herself said she hadn't watched any of the older episodes, so what's left is on the script.

The Master: We didn't need the Master returning so soon, and it's a shame there's no reference to Missy's rehabilitation,

The Master's trademark for decades has been to come back unscathed. I found it refreshing to ditch the backstory. Especially with Dhawan's portrayal and the character going back to basics, including the TCE, Chibnall nailed the balance in taking an old character and making him more modern but without going to the excessive and extreme lengths RTD had.

We didn't need Gallifrey to be destroyed again either, but Chibnall made it feel fresh and even more poignant because he made the personal nature of it come through far more strongly in the scripts and acting than "Daleks! Wiped out Gallifrey! Loud and overdone music that you must cry to!" had.

but if he was to come back then Dhawan was a great choice. Yes he's a little too manic/Joker like at times but hopefully he'll retain the part into the next showrunner and maybe tone it down, just a smidgen. Great Actor and probably would have made a great Doctor so I hope we haven't seen the last of him.

Modern WHO has to have every Master incarnation having to be so cartoonish like that, I guess. Dhawan's is arguably the most grounded, though Missy had her moments. Moffat had to get a tall ladder and drag Simm's version down from the stratosphere and Simm's performance in Moffat's finale is so strong that it proved so much more about the handling of the character that RTD lazily put up there in the first place, complete with lightning bolts... ugh. It's not dated well at all.

Ryan and Graham: Loved their chemistry, and loved the whole granddad sub plot, even if the meaty stuff they got to work with came at the expense of Yaz

This. It's patchwork and piecemeal, but it was a new take on the companion family trope - something I didn't care for originally but has grown on me. The occasional real world handling and reaction is a fresh take, but get the companions and us into the Doctor's universe - not have the Doctor lumbering around on ours when making shallow speeches. But back to the main point, there was enough meat to the subplot - could have been more - but I wanted to see more of the family dynamic. Chibs' handling could have been far worse.

Yaz : Sort of. Watching the first episode she was the companion I thought had the most potential, so it was a shame she got the Nyssa treatment, hopefully she gets something to get her teeth into in the next series.

^^this

Series 12 had some improvements, but more exposition than action. What action she did get was largely terrific from an authority type figure that an officer is.

In fact I liked all three companions individually or in pairs, it was just the whole Fam thing when together that annoyed. Too many companions for the modern show (and frankly much as I love Five/Tegan/Nyssa/Adric it was too much for the classic era as well, even going back to Hartnell too often one of the companions lost out, usually Susan)

It never worked in classic Who either, except for season 1 (1963) when stories more often had 6 or more episodes to let everyone have a nice big slice of reaction and development stuff. Susan often got scripted wrong, especially given the background accorded her in the first 3 stories (13 episodes). Reduced to a screamer, it's completely out of sorts with what the first three stories, especially the 1st and 3rd stories tell. Continuity was a bit of a bear back then too...

JNT copied the format when he stepped in as producer, but also trying to deal with his other own edict of "4-part stories maximum", it didn't quite work either...

Top episodes:

1. The Haunting of Villa Diodati. Scary, funny, a great villain, a guest cast who don't overwhelm the regulars and some good stuff for Jodie. The show needs more of this and I hope we haven't seen the last of Maxine Alderton writing Who.
2. Fugitive of the Judoon. So much going on in this episode and all of it's great.
3. It Takes you Away. I think you either love or hate this episode and I loved it.
4. Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror. Top draw by the numbers Who, and I mean that in the best possible way. You could drop any Doctor into this and it'd be great.
(snip)

My top 4:
1. Spyfall was an eminently strong story, on all levels. Okay, the laser shoes scene was unnecessary, but everyone has something to dislike. Everything else was great. The historical figures' usage got kids of all ages to find books and articles to see what meshed and what didn't. The Nazis had an Indian legion, but that likely wouldn't have mattered at that point. Gotta agree on Lovelace and Khan being better companions... series 12 had Chibnall upping his game tremendously. Shame it was so uneven as the subsequent stories aired.

2. Fugitive of the Judoon - another strong story by Chibnall. Jack may have been underused, but focusing on new characters made more sense. The Judoon were never better used in the show up to this point, and there is a surprising sense of threat. Nobody expected Ruth to be the Doctor and, dang, Jo Martin sells it in her first thirty seconds on screen. Jo's Doctor (Ruth) comes from a big "hidden in plain sight" secret about being on the run from a bunch of people that lends credibility to the finale where it's said how Ruth is a predecessor and not a future incarnation, which doesn't stand up to any plot scrutiny but that's beside the point - especially if an upcoming episode makes use of this plotting boo-boo.

3. It Takes You Away. I love it, it's a great blend of classic monster elements and much more. The frog grew on me as well; the being misinterpreting a life form and appearing as a frog. And it's played out earnestly, which is a breath of fresh air. There was one line I might nitpick but I'd have to see the episode again to make sure I perceived it right the first time, about the Solitol entity. Not a big thing from what I recall... Despite being set on modern day Earth, a new location adds so much. The moments with Grace were another plus.

Last but not least and not an easy one because they were so good:
4. Demons of the Punjab - Chibnall's historical-themed stories are all and easily the best since the 1960s, bar none, period. Even the ones I (comparatively) found least-effective ("Witchfinders", "Villa"). A shame so many silly monsters were chucked in, since these stories held their own without magical aliens or magic wands shoehorned in - as if there's some expectation modern viewers need to have those (and possibly wouldn't like it either way.) This one had some strong themes... and no psychic paper cop-out or contrivance, this story feels like Classic WHO for all the right reasons. I wish it had an extra episode. I'd probably argue that they took the beings from Capaldi's finale as inspiration too quickly, but classic Who and other shows have all had stories and episodes seasons apart, or even 2 stories ahead in the same season (!!) that reuse identical plot elements. But it's a nice enough twist.

 

[dupersuper]

But then this is pre Barbara and persuading "One" not to brain the caveman.

I remember Ian stopping him, I don't remember Barbara even seeing him about to do it.

 

[matthunter]

I remember Ian stopping him, I don't remember Barbara even seeing him about to do it.

You're probably right, I always confuse Barbara as the voice of One's conscience due to her speech in The Edge of Destruction.

 

[publiusr]

I wanted Jodie to meet Seven… or an afterimage of him…”in my incarnation I knew both my past at future histories…it made me aloof at times…and I had to make myself forget. You know…when we regenerate, our past faces don’t entirely disappear. But you…you have outdone me…now you can go all the way home.”

 

[The Nth Doctor]

That would indeed be a curious encounter. Hopefully we'll get such a meeting in a Big Finish audio play sometime in the future...

 

[Steve Roby]

Nice to see some positivity in some of the posts here. I like Jodie Whittaker and bought her as the Doctor from the start. The last two seasons look great, like movies, and the longer episode time helps. Segun Akinola instead of Murray Gold helps a lot. I actually listen to his soundtrack albums.

As for the writing: it's straightforward. It lacks the zaniness of some of RTD's era and the needless overcomplication of Moffat's. It may not have many episodes that I'd put in the top ten episodes from 2005 on, it's rarely brilliant, but it's generally pretty good. I don't think it has any episodes I'd put in the bottom ten since 2005. It's consistent, for the most part. There's no "Kill the Moon" here, and thank fuck there's nothing like 12's obnoxious behaviour towards Danny Pink.

We've had so many people cast as the Doctor, with so many different showrunners and writers and producers telling different types of stories in different ways, going back to 1963. Whittaker fits right in with the wildly different Doctors we've seen over the years. I'll be sorry when she's gone.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I'm so glad to see another Segun Akinola fan here!

Good point about the show's consistency and how it doesn't have any truly atrocious episodes like both Davies' and Moffat's eras did. I think that "Orphan 55" is probably the least liked episode off the two seasons (aside from the Timeless Child aspects of the series 12 finale) and even it had some good Farscape-esque elements to it.

 

[Redfern]

In addition to Segun Akinola's more atmospheric and understated music, the opening credits effects are flat out my favorite since the series revival in 2005. Those swirling "masses" are like the 3D equivalent to the video "howl around" presented in that very first episode on November 23, 1963, very eldritch, almost Lovecraftian.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Oh! Eldritch! I didn't even think of that but you're absolutely right.

I only wish the opening credits were longer, but at least the soundtracks have longer versions of that theme from the closing credits.

One of the many reasons I love The Seventh Doctor's opening credits so much is because it includes the middle eight and, as a result, I wish all of the opening credits included it.