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Spoilers The Power of the Doctor grade and discussion thread

How do you rate The Power of the Doctor?

  • Total voters
    68
David cgc said:
Chibnall's gonna Chibnall. At least this time, it wasn't the Doctor herself directly facilitating one of history's most inspiring atrocities.



There were times when I was hoping the Doctor would just throw it back in the Master's face. "Oh, you've gotten the Daleks and Cybermen to team up to erase me from existence? It's been done, I would've invited you along if I'd known you were that invested in seeing it."



It actually kind of bothered me that there wasn't much of anything from the Modern Era. I appreciated the Classic stuff, some from stray episodes I've seen, some by reputation, some because it's a de facto Modern reference (hello, First and Eighth Doctors!), but they could've crammed in a little more fan service to appeal to the fans who have been with this show for seventeen years. The last two decades are part of the century, too, you know.

Off the top of my head;Namedropping, never a bad time for it. You can't afford Freema to come in for an afternoon, have Kate talk to Agent Jones on the phone for a second. Quote-dropping, the Master finally steals the Doctors body, and not one line about he'd "drezzz for the occasion." I know '96 is considered Classic Era, I'm rolling. Having the Master-Proof prison in the basement of UNIT be the Vault Missy was living in under that university. If you want to be saucy, throw in a line about the Master not recognizing his former home, it'd be a cleaner explanation for why this incarnation is so old-school than "Chibnall didn't watch the last three seasons of the show he was taking over."



The weirdest damn thing about the BBC is that every single episode, they insist on spamming the last scene across social media the second it airs. Makes me really appreciate streaming services at least giving forty-eight hours before they start acting like you've seen the new episode. The BBC can't give you forty-eight seconds. Also frustrating, considering I was barely aware the episode was even coming this week; no promotion, but the second it's done, hype the cliffhanger to hell and gone.

(And, on a related note, though not something exclusive to the BBC, but if you're going to show a preview scene and not just a trailer for the next episode, don't have it be from the end of the episode. "The Expanse" did it too, at least once, but I remember I figured out Missy's entire plan a week before "Dark Water" aired because they showed the second-to-last minute of the episode as a preview. Oh, and those webisodes, released on YouTube with active comments, and the top one was alway "Quote the surprise punchline!")
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He did do ‘dress for the occasion’ after ‘how do you like the garb’ and before ‘the master dalek plan’.
 
Something that occurred to me is that this episode allows for an explanation for the Timeless Child plot that keeps most of the original lore intact. When the AI appears as the Fugitive Doctor, the Master doesn't recognize her. But if he had gone through the matrix records of the pre-Hartnell Doctors, then he would likely have seen her face at least once. So my theory is that she's a secret regeneration between Two and Three, and everything the Master saw in the matrix was a cover story the Timelords made up for some reason.
 
It is odd the Master didn't recognise Martin, but then I guess there had been a whole lot of previous incarnations and he might not have seen all of them.

I still don't get why the Master forced the Doctor to regenerate into him, or why this forced the Doctor to have his personality, or why he couldn't just fly around the universe in a Tardis claiming to be the Doctor or...or...or! Argh!
 
Okay, I feel like I'm late to the game, but my random thoughts...

Bonnie!!!!!

Okay she was on for 20 seconds, but Bonnie!!! I saw her in 'Anything Goes' on the West End at the beginning of September, so I'm now overdosing on her.

I figure Freema must of been unavailable as Martha is the only NuWho companion that could arguably be brought back (since Mickey's actor has legal issues).

Still Ian Chesterton! I was a major grump he was never brought back for the 50th anniversary, but I can almost forgive Chibnal for bringing him back alone. Almost...

And of course Jo is always a pleasure to see!

A couple of side notes... when Tegan did her rant about what she's been up to, I kinda wanted her to say that she beat a terminal disease (cancer?) Just to tie in the Big Finish drama "The Gathering". And also Ace to randomly mention an adventure near the Cutty Sark, just to tie in the 1993 Childern In Need crossover with EastEnders would've been super fun (though one can argue mutli-doctor storyline makes one's memories wibbly-wobbly lol
 
Starkers said:
It is odd the Master didn't recognise Martin, but then I guess there had been a whole lot of previous incarnations and he might not have seen all of them.
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Remember the Martin Doctor completely pre-dates the Master and Doctor's relationship - he knows the Doctor was the Timeless child but not the ins and out of her regenerations in that form.
 
captainkirk said:
Great idea if it had gone somewhere sadly sums up so much of Chibnalls writing for Doctor Who. A lot of people hate everything about this era, but I find it frustrating when I can see so much potential in a lot of his ideas that just never pan out. I'd go so far as to say that on paper, a lot of his plots sound better than Davies or Moffat's. Legend of the Sea Devils is perhaps the best example of this. It's one of the best setups for an episode, and yet it's a load of old nothing.
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I didn't even bother watching that one.
 
I haven’t watched a lot of the Chibnall era (just the very first episode and the first two episodes of Flux), but I gave this a shot. An incoherent mess from any perspective of plot or theme, and even the nostalgia elements feel absurdly arbitrary for the most part, but it’s fun in a turn your brain off way. There’s so many other things going on that Whitaker feels tangential if not useless in her own swan song, which is pretty shoddy.
 
I feel like some people forgot this was an anniversary special. They've always been over-the-top ridiculous affairs. It's one thing to complain about not having fun with the ride (I, for one, did no matter how senseless), but it's another to complain about its incoherence. Is it really significantly more incoherent than The Five Doctors or "The Day of the Doctor" or any of the other multi-Doctor adventures? I agree the inclusion of the Daleks and the Gallifreyian Cybermen were excessive but some people seem to act like Chibnall is the only one who ever did that.

And yes, it also acts as Jodie's swan song but I still think she had a great conclusion to her era. Honestly, I don't think her final story (from a character perspective) is any worse than The Eleventh Doctor sitting around being all maudlin for a whole episode until Clara knocks some sense into him or The Tenth Doctor doing a universe tour about not wanting to go or The Twelfth Doctor stubbornly resisting regeneration for a whole episode until The First Doctor knocks some sense into him. So why is this so different?

I get it. People hate Chibnall. I agree he's not the best writer of big arcs or big events (but I still think he does some solid individual work like Moffat, just not at the same caliber), I really feel like people forget about some of the crap Davies and Moffat gave us.

Either way, I'll be glad to get away from ceaseless Chibnall hate (although that won't stop certain people from still going out of their way to do it).

Just in time to return to Davies hating (hopefully that won't be me again). :lol:
 
Everyone who didn't like this: please point me to your reviews of Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords, The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, the whole Impossible Astronauts thing, Dark Water/Death in Heaven... every one of them a mess of silly ideas, totally arbitrary plot elements, and fanwank.

A wacky, over the top Master? Sacha Dhawan is downright sedate compared to John Simm's first appearances. The Master AND the Daleks AND the Cybermen is too much? Pandorica? Never heard of it.

Chibnall gave everyone who preferred Davies or Moffat a Davies/Moffat finale. The guy just can't win. And some people even blame him for the Tennant scene, which he had nothing to do with.
 
For me Chibnall regenerated into Davies after the
forced regeneration
scene, when the story suddenly picked up all the bombast and mawkishness of the Davies/Moffat eras, that for me has been absent for much of Jodie's run.
 
It was short of perfect because of some of Chibnalls standard throw away exposition. It's like making things make sense anywhere beyond his head bores him.

But the script was elevated by every single performance. And it looked stunning.

There was one bit I was worried Jodie would disappear in her own swan song (not necessarily the bit where that's the actual plot either), but she held it together and was great. I think (hope) that time will show that she, like Colin, was at the mercy of the material she was given. If she comes back for anniversaries and/or Big Finish, I'll be looking forward to it.

Final thoughts as the credits rolled "What's up with Tennant's hair?!"
 
The Knappos said:
There was one bit I was worried Jodie would disappear in her own swan song (not necessarily the bit where that's the actual plot either), but she held it together and was great. I think (hope) that time will show that she, like Colin, was at the mercy of the material she was given. If she comes back for anniversaries and/or Big Finish, I'll be looking forward to it.
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Yeah, I was worried she would disappear after the forced regeneration, but between the magnificent waystation scenes and the wonderful hologram segments, she maintained a strong and important presence in the story until she was able to return to her body.

I also hope she will get the chance to have stronger material in future reunion episodes and eventually Big Finish audios.

Demure Demonstrator said:
I have to admit the whole start and end of that forced regeneration scene was good.... The worst part of the show was the train bit
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Really? I loved the bonkers train capper sequence.
 
I know it probably won't happen, but I'd like Chibbers to sit down and answer a few questions.

Why deface the paintings?
Why Daleks and Cybermen?
How did Graham pop up there?
Why a space train? Could have been simpler.
Why Vinder?
Explain the timeline for the Master - seismologist then Rasputin or vice versa?
Why have the Rasputin storyline at all?

I suspect what happens is he has an idea that he wants to include, and tries to wedge it in, and forgets one of the first rules of writing - you must kill your darlings, that is, be prepared to sacrifice the bits you really like for a greater story. I suspect he's never had an idea he didn't wedge in and leave there.

Looking at it as a writer, I could do one of 2 things. Keep everything but fill in the missing bits, which would lead to a lot of exposition and result in a two parter of the same length each. Or cut chunks right out. No Russia, no Daleks, no paintings, no forced regen. for a starter.

And end the Master. I don't want monster raving loony Master any more. I see a tall, lean man, a devil's smile with Spock's beard, in a sharp suit, and he casually shoots his cuffs while saying, "Ooohh, Doctooorrrr..." as his sinister plans to take over the Earth run like clockwork. I'd actually like to see a story where the Master wins, he takes over the Earth, only to realise he has to care for these people, that do all this work for him, he can't waste them, until he finally realises this is not what he wants at all.

For those complaining about Tennant's return. Keep in mind the ep where 11 is just sitting there and 4 appears and says, you can revisit old favourites. I wasn't fazed about it.

One thing I hope we can agree on. It would be good to see Whittaker in a multi-Doc story with better material. I'd like Capaldi to do the same, but he has said he won't, a shame.
 
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