Looks like Ryan's not long for the show...

[The Borgified Corpse]

This TARDIS team could definitely use some thinning out. Why Chibnall decided on 3 companions, I will never know! Of the 1st 5 episodes this season, "Spyfall, Part 1" was the only one to even remotely use all of the companions well. "Spyfall, Part 2" & "Fugitive of the Judoon" seemed to focus almost exclusively on the Doctor while the companions all got shoved into an irrelevant B-plot that only served to keep them out of the way. Meanwhile, "Orphan 55" & "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror" are so chock-full of guest characters that the companions can't get a word in edgewise. Ryan had a few good moments in "Orphan 55" but that's it.

I don't really care which of the 3 they get rid of, although Ryan has been my least favorite so far.

I agree, given Walsh does The Chase, that show where he goes across America with his son, the Christmas thing he did with Holly Willoughby, did he have an album out as well....I wonder when he sleeps! (then again I look at Tennant, Olivia Colman, Toni Collette and others and wonder when they find time to film everything they're in)

Ahem, what you're forgetting is that HIS BEST FRIEND HAS A TIME MACHINE!!!!!

A lot has been said about Capaldi having bad writing, but I don't agree that it was anywhere near as bad, plus TBH, Capaldi is a better actor than Jodie has demonstrated so far. I do buy her as the Doctor, but writing can't be the only culprit for why I'm so underwhelmed.

I'm not sure that Capaldi's problem was so much bad writing as it was the fact that his early episodes were working too hard to make his Doctor a little too harsh, so you can see Capaldi's performance straining against that. In later episodes, once he & the writers were on the same page & more comfortable with each other, his stuff worked like gangbusters!

I would agree that Capaldi is better than Whittaker. Not that I don't like Whittaker. She's honestly the only thing holding this show together for me at the moment. But Capaldi is my #1 favorite, while I would rank Whittaker as more lower-middle tier (just below Tennant and maybe slightly above C. Baker).

Finally I also remember people not be that impressed with the portrayal of the Master at the time the episodes aired.

I was always very fond of the Michelle Gomez Master. "Boys, blow up this plane. And then, I don't know... Belgium, yeah? Kill some Belgians. Might as well, they're not even French."

I have a much more mixed opinion about John Simm. During his early appearances, I found him to have gone beyond campy and into the realm of cartoonish. But I thought he was absolutely wonderful in "World Enough & Time"/"The Doctor Falls."

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Yaz is far more annnoying. She's like Tegan, but not even memorably entertaining at being (basically) a bitch.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Granted, I haven't seen all of Yaz's episodes, but Tegan could easily overpower her, even on one of Tegan's nicer days. I love Tegan.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Well, I, for one, love Yaz and Tegan.

Ryan's okay, but he's far from terrible. He's no Adam.

 

[OCD Geek]

I'm starting to wonder if the BBC is just trying to pull a modern Michael Grade on NuWho. They want to cancel the show, but don't want the bad press. So, they sabotage it in various ways and eventually, when people get tired of gap years and the general mediocre quality, they can use that discontent as an excuse to cancel the show.

I hope I'm wrong about that, its admittedly just a random thought that came into my head, but I will not be surprised if Doctor Who takes another 16 year "break" after Jodie's third series, as much as I don't want that to happen.

As for Ryan, all the companions suck right now, so good riddance to any of them that leave.

I completely understand your fear about the Beeb sabotaging the show. The only thing that makes me believe that isn't the case is their recent deals with both China and the upcoming HBO Max. According to Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety those deals were used to secure funding for the revival through Series 15.

So we're at least getting three more seasons of NuWho after this one. After that, who knows. WE all know that the show is the best on television at retooling itself to draw in new audiences and could keep doing so indefinitely. But this is the same company that had to be talked out of ending the show by Russell T Davies when he and Tennant departed.

And the same company that, 15 years after NuWho debuted and ten years after NuWho became a mainstream international hit instead of just a cult show that was huge in its native country, still hasn't made the vast majority of the 7th and 8th Doctors novels, the past Doctors novels or the Telos novellas (including the superb The Cabinet of Light) legally available to purchase.

Hell, good luck buying a copy of Blake's 7 outside of the UK. It's only release here in the US was on VHS in 1991 and a VHS re-release in 1997. The BBC-- "Why continue to make money off something when we could just not?"

 

[Mr Awe]

Well, I, for one, love Yaz and Tegan.

Ryan's okay, but he's far from terrible. He's no Adam.

Agreed. I do like all the companions. They just haven't had enough to do.

 

[Mr Awe]

Hell, good luck buying a copy of Blake's 7 outside of the UK. It's only release here in the US was on VHS in 1991 and a VHS re-release in 1997. The BBC-- "Why continue to make money off something when we could just not?"

Just buy a region free player and get the complete set from the Netherlands (I think). That's what I did several years back and watched the entire series in glorious DVD quality. I just shut of the English subtitles but the quality was excellent. It's odd that the most recent and cheapest set (at least it was 3 years ago) was from the Netherlands.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I'm not sure that Capaldi's problem was so much bad writing as it was the fact that his early episodes were working too hard to make his Doctor a little too harsh, so you can see Capaldi's performance straining against that. In later episodes, once he & the writers were on the same page & more comfortable with each other, his stuff worked like gangbusters!

I would agree that Capaldi is better than Whittaker. Not that I don't like Whittaker. She's honestly the only thing holding this show together for me at the moment. But Capaldi is my #1 favorite, while I would rank Whittaker as more lower-middle tier (just below Tennant and maybe slightly above C. Baker).

Same here. I like Jodie as well as any Doctor. She made the part her own right off, but the episodes have been soso for the most part. Tim Shaw parts 1 & 2, the NYD special were good and eps 1,2 and 5 this year have been great (4 was really good too). I don't understand why they can't give us that kind of energy every episode.

Well, I, for one, love Yaz and Tegan.

Ryan's okay, but he's far from terrible. He's no Adam.

Is he an Adric? Definitely no tin dog.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

He's no Adric and he's getting Big Finish reformed treatment so I'm feeling more positive about him. He's also no tin dog and I loved the tin dog, and the human tin dog, too!

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Of the tin dogs, K9 Mk1 was a fine animal, Mk2 I found a little pretentious, I only saw Mk3 in School Reunion, Mk4 was always "busy".

Jodie could do with a tin dog.

 

[matthunter]

Woof.

 

[matthunter]

Is Jodie a dog or cat person? (Or both - my dog is currently staring longingly at my cat thinking "she so slinky, me want!")

Could be time for a TARDIS cat instead. Make Woolsey canon. Cat all snuggled up in a ball on top of the time rotor.

 

[Redfern]

Cat all snuggled up in a ball on top of the time rotor.

One "positive" about the latest console design. Pretty much since the 1996 movie the central column has connected to hardware overhead, no place to "perch". The crystalline column at least has a "top", though not a particularly flat one. But knowing cats, it'll find a way to lounge up there.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The classic consoles really were more pet friendly overall.

 

[Marc]

The classic consoles really were more pet friendly overall.

Not sure I could see a cat staying on the time rotor going up and down while the TARDIS is in flight plus the risk of being thrown from it when ever the TARDIS hits a problem.

Nah I think a TARDIS cat would learn very quickly that staying low is the safest option.

 

[Redfern]

Could it sure would be entertaining before the cat figured that out! The Doctor throws the wrong switch and the column reacts like a pneumatic piston, "slamming" upward and launching the cat clear into the air! That's when the Doctor renamed the mechanism the...


...catapult!

 

[matthunter]

Not sure I could see a cat staying on the time rotor going up and down while the TARDIS is in flight plus the risk of being thrown from it when ever the TARDIS hits a problem.

Nah I think a TARDIS cat would learn very quickly that staying low is the safest option.

Mine literally had to be physically picked up just now because she didn't take the hint and move from the chair when all 220lb of me nearly sat right on her, then tried to usher her to the side of the chair.

And classic series TARDIS was less shaky in flight. Though cats do handle random movement better than humanoids. Flexible spines.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Not sure I could see a cat staying on the time rotor going up and down while the TARDIS is in flight plus the risk of being thrown from it when ever the TARDIS hits a problem.

Nah I think a TARDIS cat would learn very quickly that staying low is the safest option.

@Gary Mitchell posted this in our Feline thread a while back.

It takes all types.

 

[Mr Awe]

^ Looks like a wibbly wobbly, timey whimey vortex . . . with cats!

 

[Skellington]

Presumably, gallifreyan cats can regenerate eight times.