Apologies if this was posted somewhere already. Some interesting points are made.
Spoilers Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
- Start date
I've seen the same points/presentation of evidence made in other YouTube videos, insta posts etc. It's pretty clear things did not go smoothly at all.
The Vlinx is a DJ?!! Hopefully we do get to see that at some point in the future.
Yes, that's my takeaway from that video.
Yes, that's my takeaway from that video.
If its true though, that an exit episode for Ncuti was considered, and RTD chose not to persue that path, that's arguably the worse decision he made during the RTD2 era.
I don’t think he liked Ncuti much by the end. Just looking at the way those final scenes were written, including a literal image of ‘touching grass’ etc. It just feels very off, but then, it can either be RTD falling into offensive stuff by being ignorant, or deliberate due to behind the scenes stuff. Either way, it’s not the man’s finest hour.
He'd have to quit Beyond Paradise first, and as much as I love Doctor Who, I'd rather have more of that than see him as The Doctor.
I can think of two reasons pursuing that path might not have been viable.
It may have come down to money -- getting the money for reshoots for 15-20 minutes of footage would have been a lot less than the money for a full 50 minute episode.
And also time -- Gatwa might've been more willing to commit to a week of reshoots than a month of shooting for a full episode.
Yeah either of those reasons make perfect sense.
I think they knew this was going to be live or die season. If they got good ratings, you wouldn't even need to see who the next Doctor will be. They could maybe get him back for a episode the next season to show the regeneration. If the ratings were bad, then it didn't matter. The show would be going away for a possible long time. No need to worry about any next seasons or future plans at that point.
Comes back to part of what I said before this era was even on air… doing back to back stuff, with no chance to gauge audience reaction was unwise. The problems in S2 were basically the same as in S1, and ended up baked in when they didn’t need to be. And the spin-off at the moment looks like an act of hubris.
The writing honestly wasn't on par with what RTD did before. The social commentary was too obvious and not better intertwined with the episodes (like it used to be). The Pantheon Of The Gods took over too of the storyline for seasons 1 and 2. Too much was tied into them and frankly they never made much sense to me. Having transcendental beings that didn't follow the rules of other Doctor Who villains made them a bit too diabolus ex machina. I miss the sci-fi elements of the show and it's villains and giving a clear scientific method (even if pulled out of thin air) to defeat them.So you hated it before it even aired?
The only problems with either season, for me at least, relate to rubbish finales.
So you hated it before it even aired?
The only problems with either season, for me at least, relate to rubbish finales.
More I predicted it’s problems based on all the early reporting, the official stuff — not the rumours.
I was looking forward to the era, after quite enjoying Power of The Doctor, and bits of Flux, even if the show felt like it had taken a mis-step (or many, frankly) around the Woman Who Fell to Earth. But my Whovian Spidey Senses were tingling, especially after the Anniversary Specials were anything but.
I have managed not to hate it, overall, so far.
But I do hate some of the stuff that was put in, and the way it was handled. One of the things I hate, in fact, is how much hate is bubbling away in the narrative itself.
An utter missed opportunity.
RTD's always had the subtlety of a brick when it comes to social commentary, I'm not sure he's any better or worse at this than he's always been. I'd even argue something like Dot and Bubble was way more subtle than it could have been
And, for better or worse, transcendental god like beings have been part of Dr Who for a long time.
And, for better or worse, transcendental god like beings have been part of Dr Who for a long time.
The annoying thing about D&B was that it was *too* subtle, insofar as it deliberately misled the audience for the effect of getting a shock moment (which mostly only really comes when RTD explained what his intention was in the interview afterwards.) It also didn’t really get any kind of message into the episode itself. But man, that’s a whole thing of its own, and RTDs own odd racial biases in the writing and show overall these last two years are something else again.
You want messaging done well in Who, go back seasons 25 and 26.
Or Moffat.
I think the ‘RTD said it in an interview’ thing also rears its head in relation to all the Pantheon nonsense too. As you rightly point out, gods and godlike beings are hardly new to Who. (And Flux basically revolves around some too) But what RTD seemed to want was to have an excuse for if things didn’t hang together going forwards. Which they didn’t. And in events that surprised no-one, he didn’t much understand ‘fantasy’ much either. 73 yards was sold as ‘Welsh Folklore’ and then it wasn’t at all. He uses the media influenced pop-culture of things, without really getting the things at all. It’s like Buffy basically. Only not as good.
Someone send this to RTD
They way they've used 'woke' there puts a bit of a cloud over the whole thing for me.
The skit's kind of got a point though.
The skit's kind of got a point though.
No thanks. I hate it when people use "cringe" as a descriptor rather than an action.
