Article by Chlo Hickson
Now that the dust has settled (if you pardon my pun) it’s time for me to write my overview of Season 1, I mean series 14 or is it Season 40? If you’re not a Doctor Who fan you probably think I’ve lost the plot.
Before I start I just want to say that its mad how fast Ncuti Gatwa became the Doctor. Not the new Doctor, not the 15th Doctor, just the Doctor. This is Doctor Who for a whole new generation, I think Gatwa captures everything we love about this incredible show.
This season was intended as a stepping on point for new viewers so if your new to Doctor Who then welcome to the Whoniverse!
The season overall
It’s been one extreme to the next. One week was camp as heck, one was brutal and one was folk horror!? Not many other shows can do that. It was almost 1960’s variety level. I think it’s good for the show to experiment from time to time.
I do think it was a bit too experimental for the first season and did strike me as a case of just try everything, which if we were a season or two later on might have been better? I just think if you’re trying to bring in a new audience, though this is normal for Doctor Who, they aren’t going to know that. So was this move wise?
It was nice to see a lot of original villains as opposed to returning ones, kind of like series 11, but done better.
I also don’t mean to compare the two but I actually feel that I know Gatwa’s 15th Doctor unlike Whittaker’s 13th, and she had more episodes! I’ve loved Ncuti, his energy and the fun he brings.
Saying this I am debating if this season or series 2 of Russell T Davies’ original run of show runner is his weakest, I’m not meaning that to be as bad as it sounds but it’s not the return to form that the show needs … Yet. There needs to be more diversity in the writing staff, Ruby wasn’t developed well as a character as her arc was poorly handled, there were also pacing issues.
Even with all this, it’s still the most fun I’ve had with the show in a long time. I respect RTD for wanting to do something different from his original run and I am much happier that he does that than go back and copy the past.
Regarding the controversy It was clear from episode 1 that the season wasn’t about the evils of the universe but about family and both characters being foundlings. This story, while not the one fans wanted admittedly, was emotional, very touching, and it fits the season arc well. It is also very Doctor Who to say that the most ordinary person can be absolutely extraordinary.
Overall I liked the season. All the episodes were mostly good to great. I’ll even credit ‘Space Babies’ for being fun… If silly.
Though I’ve pretty much liked all the baddies – I don’t think there’s one I didn’t? I even like the Bogeyman, until they did the reveal which took the fear of it away, but I’m not getting into that again – Maestro and Sutekh, if you can count him as he’s a Classic villain, have been my favourite villains for the 15th Doctor so far.
I’m going to rank the episodes in order of preference, if you’ve kept up to date with my reviews some of these won’t come as a surprise but I’ve given the episodes some thought, the strengths and weaknesses. So these are my final thoughts of my favourite episodes of the season in order.
1: ‘The Devil’s Chord’
2: ’73 Yards’
3: ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’
4: ‘Boom’
5: ‘The Empire of Death’
6: ‘Dot & Bubble’
7: ‘Rogue’
8: ‘Space Babies’
Additional thoughts on the episodes
‘Space Babies’ was the first episode and I honestly think this wasn’t the best episode to have as the first episode of the new series, bearing in mind how important this series is for the future of the show with Disney+. It would’ve been the first one that a lot of people saw and you only have one chance at a first impression and I don’t think this would’ve been the best first impression. I didn’t completely hate the episode but I’m not inclined to watch it again.
There’s only one thing I forgot to mention in my review of ‘The Devil’s Chord’ and it’s a fun fact more then anything. On the billboard you can see the band that Susan references in ‘An Unearthly Child’, John Smith and the Common Men, being advertised. Well it says Chris Waites because in that first episode, Ian Chesterton tells us that that’s his stage name, he started his career as Chris Waites and the Carollers. The poster that we see is peeling because it’s an old one: by 1963 the band had been renamed.
‘Paradise Towers’ comes into my mind when I think of ‘Dot & Bubble’. It’s exactly what Davies does best. Who else could have a woman walk into a lamppost and make it equally devastating and hilarious? The villain is literally the screen but you can’t move without using it. That alone is scary. How can you defeat a villain that you have to use in order to win?
Did anyone else notice that the bubble didn’t allow the Doctor to land inside was purely because he was black, not an alien or a different species. But luckily the slug creatures got an all you can eat buffet. Enjoy guys!
Martha, Bill, Ryan and Yaz experienced racism. The Doctor experienced misogyny in ‘The Witchfinders’. Viewers expect racism to be addressed in the past, as if humanity has moved on. That’s comfortable. Seeing it shown in the far future is shocking. We don’t like to think about that. So, this episode is more important because of it. Honestly makes you think.
I am surprised that its taken this long for the Doctor being black to be brought up in a story, shouldn’t it have been an issue in ‘The Devil’s Chord’ seeing as they were in 1963? Or in ‘Rogue’ as it’s the Regency era?
The last thing I’ll say about this episode is there’s no resolution to the racism. Even the Doctor can only cry in anguish at the self inflicted stupidity of it all. That’s harrowing.
I also want to praise both Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson again.
Ruby was stunned and upset by the situation but she tried to comfort the Doctor. The scene was so well written and performed to keep the authentic reaction in the background so the Doctor’s reaction doesn’t get ignored.
One thing I kind’ve wished they had done was add a scene when they go inside the TARDIS, maybe Ruby tried talking to the Doctor and he asked her to leave him alone in the console room. I can’t remember if I said it in my review but if this episode or just Gatwa’s performance doesn’t win an award, then I’ll be shocked.
There’s not much else I can say about ‘Rogue’ other than that David Tennant cameo. I’m going to get hate for this but bear with me. I love Tennant but it’s annoying that he keeps coming back, like he left the show for the third time now and he’s been shown to us again? I understand its a scene with all the incarnations but it’s a little annoying. He’s over represented, I’m sorry to say it again as I said it in my last overview but he’s the Tom Baker of New Who, he has to pop up everywhere! He’s here, there and everywhere when you look at anything to do with Doctor Who, he even took over Whittaker’s graphic novels – though that might have been to help sell them for the fans that don’t really like her Doctor. I love cameos and callbacks, I just wish they covered the other Doctors as much as Tom Baker and David Tennant.
There’s also something I forgot to add on to my review of ‘Rogue’. I love the fact that Ncuti once said to his agent that he’d love to either be Willy Wonka or Doctor Who and in this episode he got to sing Pure Imagination when introducing Rogue to the TARDIS.
I have a few more things to say about both ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ and ‘The Empire of Death’. RTD’s Star Wars excuse. As a Star Wars fan myself I can explain that I prefer Rey’s reveal over Ruby’s as with Rey’s parents, it didn’t set them up to be someone, the only people who thought they were important were Rey herself and the audience, but the story itself never teased the audience that they were important. Yet this season set Ruby’s mum up to be important. Rey NEEDED to believe that her parents left her for a reason, but she was deluding herself. Yes they retconned this in the sequel which Davies will probably do as well let’s be honest, but this whole situation was better handled in The Last Jedi and should’ve been left alone as there was backlash then as well!
Also, it was just odd more than anything. I’m trying to be polite here. How did someone name the baby Ruby if there was no note saying what the baby’s name was, nobody was around, if anything the biological mum pointing to a sign was just something for herself. The fact that the baby ended up being called Ruby was a coincidence.
On a more positive note, the best compliment I can give is that RTD made the TARDIS scary … That is impressive. Also all the names, the lore, and the gods they mentioned!
The 60th anniversary specials – and now the new seasons – were focused on the Pantheon of Discord, also known as the Gods of Chaos, with onscreen appearances of the Toymaker in ‘The Giggle’, Maestro in ‘The Devil’s Chord’ and Sutekh in ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’/’The Empire of Death’. Thanks to Sutekh’s speech through Harriet we know that the following creatures are part of the Pantheon:
The Trickster – God of Traps. (The Sarah Jane Adventures).
Reprobate – God of Spite. (‘The Impossible Planet’/’The Satan Pit’).
The Mara – God of Beasts. I think it should be something to do with dreams/possession but I get what he’s going for. (‘Kinda’ and ‘Snakedance’).
Incensor – God of Disaster. Doubt and Dread (children of Incensor). I’m honestly not sure which one Incensor is supposed to be.
The Threefold Deity of Malice, Mischief, and Misery. (The Gods of Ragnarok, ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’).
RTD can easily include others to this list. He’s already included the Mara who had two appearances in Classic Who but here are my picks who I think should be in the Pantheon.
Fenric had so many god-like abilities and it’d be great to see him have a long awaited re-match with the Doctor.
The Eternals from the Chibnall era who would be a good choice with their abilities. They did appear to be god-like creatures who seemed to know the Toymaker as they mentioned him.
Hecuba is the queen of time but I think, apart from that she’s the Toymaker’s sister, we’ve already had time as a living being in the Chibnall era. This would also allow RTD to further develop the Timeless Child arc.
The Fendahl – called the darkness by the Daleks. They are described as death itself who poses a threat to all life, since Sutekh has claimed the throne of the God of Death than the Fendahl will need another title.
I did a whole section about Sutekh on my review for the two part finale so please take a look at that as I don’t want to repeat myself, but the amount of criticism I still see surrounding him is ridiculous so I’ll quickly go through the basics.
Sutekh was incorporeal while he was clinging to the TARDIS. He wasn’t physically riding on it like Jack. His original form was destroyed by the 4th Doctor when he trapped him, but he managed to attach his soul/spirit whatever you want to call it on the TARDIS. It has took him this long – with help from reality altering events like the Flux and the Toymaker coming to our universe – to regain his full form. So yes, while the memes are funny and there are people asking things like ‘where was Sutekh during the Pandorica events’ etc, they are missing the point. One more thing. People keep saying he was underwhelming or unimpressive. He destroyed almost all life in the universe, and his power was the only thing to restore it. Destroying everything in creation and then bringing them back to life should count for something. No? That’s as omnipotent as it gets in Doctor Who, and if your not impressed by that, hopefully Davies will bring back the more simple monsters like the Daleks and Cybermen next season.
Something I didn’t mention in my review is the scene where the crowd is chanting Susan is something you can’t unhear when you realise it sounds like they are chanting Sutekh’s name like a summoning ritual. There’s that and it also reminds me of the scene in The Mummy with the possessed people chanting Imohtep.
I do hope we get a Carole Ann Ford cameo or something as Susan Foreman as they teased her throughout this season and she was at the premier of the 60th anniversary. They didn’t show any new clips of her, only of her in ‘The Daleks’, so this has me hoping they can include her somehow in the upcoming season.
Regardless of its faults, I absolutely loved seeing these episodes in the cinema. Just having the opportunity and chance to see Doctor Who on the big screen doesn’t come around often.
RTD’s return
Russell succeeds in injecting a sense of adventure, enthusiasm and fun to the show which was honestly missing from the Chibnall era and in that sense it was a welcome return to form. But the bar was low because of that era and I did have some issues with this season so because I grew up with Davies’ era in 2005 I’m going to explain why season 1 wasn’t as good as series 1.
There was no ethical dilemma. Doctor Who should always be good at giving us ethical dilemmas. One of the highlights from series 1 was ‘Boom Town’, this episode builds on the Slitheen two parter earlier on in the series. In this episode the Doctor faces an ethical dilemma, he stops a plot by the incognito Slitheen to destroy the world before escaping, and the Doctor decides to take her back to her home planet Raxacoricofallapatorius where the Doctor learns from Margaret that the entire Slitheen family have been convicted as criminals and as a result if she goes home she’ll receive the death penalty. This opens up an ethical dilemma, if the Doctor takes her home does he have a hand in her death? Who is he to give out justice? In the end we get an answer, she’s turned back into an egg and given a second chance at life. I think there was a missed opportunity with the Rodger Ap GWilliam subplot to incorporate an ethical dilemma in the finale. It’s revealed that when he was prime minister Rodger Ap GWilliam introduced mandatory DNA testing but the Doctor doesn’t seem to have a problem using this data to discover who Ruby’s biological mum is, that’s clearly an ethical blind spot. It would’ve been good to have at least seen the Doctor be a bit hesitant about using this data and I think this sums up the lack of a good ethical debate for this season to focus on.
Russell as a writer is fantastically grounded in the real world and you see this in all his first era of Doctor Who. He can craft these little moments in the mundane which is just so real and human and memorable in a totally different way to a grandeous speech writer like Moffat. You see this with Rose and her family. By episodes 4 and 5 we come back to her family and we see how her family has changed, Rose has been missing for a year and we learn how this takes a toll on the attitude they take with the Doctor as a result. Davies wasted no time in exploring how the Doctor could impact someone’s life and that of someone they love. I don’t think I even have to say but for the sake of my overview I will, I feel like this was missing from the new season. Ruby’s family is very underdeveloped, we barely got to spend any time to understand their family dynamic and her adventures with the Doctor doesn’t seem to have any consequences to their lives. This felt two dimensional and I think RTD can do better.
Overall I do think this season did a good job in rebooting Doctor Who, but we’re missing some key things from Russell that made his first time as show runner stand out. I think he can get away with this at the moment and perhaps not giving the Doctor his own arc in season one but he needs to step up his game for season 2, luckily I’m optimistic that there is still time to do this and the best is yet to come.
The fans
Doctor Who fans have a long history of criticising the show as though they could do any better, but now it’s like a sport with some undercurrent of toxicity. Sadly over the more recent years that level of toxicity has risen as people’s ability to engage in spirited but polite discussions of views has diminished.
There are, without question, nitpicks and more weighty criticisms that someone can make about a particular episode or series of Doctor Who, and maybe that’s the price we pay for feeling so passionately about it.
I used to enjoy reading debates, I still enjoy it when it comes from a place of sincerity and humility, and from people who are eager to hear and respect others perspectives. There’s been many times when my own initial impressions have been altered by insights and alternative theories as to why things went the way they did.
It’s gotten to the point now where I dread going on social media after a new episode because I know the episode is being picked apart, it’s so disheartening. If I’m being completely honest here it’s like you all are waiting for the new episode to drop just to tear it apart.
It’s obviously not just the Doctor Who fans that are like this and because of it it’s getting hard to enjoy things and want to talk about it without people coming back at you. It honestly hurts especially when you’ve made so many friends in the fandom.
If you didn’t like something as much as you thought you would, that’s entirely fair, but don’t rain on someone else’s parade because they enjoyed it.
A weird thing I found some people complaining about was Gatwa’s Doctor being a hugger and asking if it was because of Disney’s influence. Honestly this is just hilarious and sad. I just think the haters are running out of things to complain about, are hugs too woke now? Is that a thing? Affection? Yeah. Who needs that? I think the world needs more hugs. Hugs heal, it relieves stress and for a character that’s had issues with trauma I think it’s perfectly in character.
Remember no matter the popular opinions of an episode, incarnation of the Doctor, companion etc… Your own take away from these things is what is important and shouldn’t be tainted by the opinions of others.
The Woke brigade
Definition of woke: Alertness to racial prejudice and discrimination. It came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as racial injustice, sexism, and denial of LGBTQIA+ rights.
If you know what woke means then there’s no way to angle it in a way that woke is a bad thing because if you know what woke means and you are anti-woke than you are ignorant. That’s what it means. Wokeness is awareness.
People had been saying that the show had gone woke since Pearl Mackie joined the cast as Bill Potts with the show having a lesbian character shoved in their face. I think because Doctor Who has a huge audience and a lot of them are children, people will see a LGBTQIA+ character and see their presence as inherently sexual when they are just existing. Like, you know, they are in the real world and the whole purpose of TV shows like Doctor Who is to reflect the real world.
I think this says more about the people making these wild accusations of things like this being shoved down their throats than it actually says about the show, because Bill was just there. Its definitely an interesting one.
Recently there has been a growing trend of online commentary claiming that Doctor Who has gone woke or has gotten political in recent years, but this is what confuses me as it’s always been this way. So what’s changed?
Since the revival of the show in 2005, Doctor Who has never shied away from exploring political and social issues. In fact you could say that politics are a part of the shows DNA.
During the 9th Doctor’s era, the show used an alien invasion as a metaphor to explore the themes of corruption and government manipulation. In the 10th Doctor’s era the Doctor and a group of passengers become trapped on a shuttle bus with a mysterious threat, the passengers eventually turn on the Doctor and this explores mob mentality and the dangers of it. Showing how fear and suspicion can quickly turn people against one another. Even if it does it in a Sci-Fi way, it’s still being political and is still exploring those themes. If we look even further, politics and social commentary was still a big part of Doctor Who. ‘The Silurians’ and ‘The Happiness Patrol’ tackled important issues such as war, prejudice and government oppression. ‘The Silurians’ which aired in 1970 has themes of war and prejudice, during the episode the Doctor tries to make peace between the humans and the Silurians. Meanwhile, ‘The Happiness Patrol’ which aired in 1988 uses a metaphor of a society to critique Margret Thatcher, and even earlier than those episodes one of the first episodes of the show introduced the Daleks, which were and still are a clear metaphor for the Nazis with their beliefs around racial purity and their mission to exterminate all other species. Even knowing this, the Daleks are one of the most popular aspects of the show. And these episodes are just some examples of the many, many times that Doctor Who has used it’s Sci-Fi lens to explore political and social issues.
The current version of the show is just following its history, therefore claims that the show has gone woke or gotten too political seem weird to me as these kinds of messages and themes have always been there. There’s also been some complaints about diverse casting as though it was a new thing. Since the revival the show has always had a diverse cast, with main members of the cast being different genders, ethnicities and sexualities. In fact during the 2005 series we had a re-occurring pansexual character who was a friend of the Doctor. There have also been comments that actors Jodie Whittaker and Ncuti Gatwa were only cast as the Doctor as part of the BBC’s politically motivated diversity hires. Why do these kind of things only become a problem now? When does it stop being hiring good actors and start being what these people consider diversity casting? Is it as soon as its the lead role? As soon as the Doctor themselves are played by a woman or black man? Why?
Maybe you are someone that doesn’t have a problem with the casting, you just don’t like the political themes. Then maybe the real issue isn’t with the show’s political storylines but rather the quality of the writing, if certain viewers aren’t happy with the current scripts for the show than maybe they should just say that instead of blaming it on casting decisions or politics. Critiquing the scripts is valid but blaming the shows supposed woke-ness isn’t productive or a fair criticism of a show that has always been political and socially conscious.
It’s important to acknowledge that not everyone will agree with the political side of certain episodes or storylines and that’s okay, however its important to recognise that Doctor Who has always been a show that uses science fiction to explore these kinds of issues. If a particular story doesn’t resonate with you that makes sense, not every episode will be for everyone. Instead of dismissing the show as too political or woke it’s worth considering if your own beliefs and perspectives are influencing your reaction to the shows storylines. Its obviously okay to have different opinions but that’s not the fault of the show or its creators.
I want to make one thing clear, as a reviewer I believe that its completely fine to openly express your critique for a show. If you don’t like where its headed, if you don’t like the casting or the stories, that’s completely fair but despite your beliefs or opinions about the show one thing that isn’t okay is spreading unnecessary negativity aimed towards people who disagree with you. I have seen people go out of their way to spread hate, negativity and judgment towards the people that simply want to talk about something they love with others. Its important to remember that everyone is entitled to their opinion and preferences but spreading hate and negativity only serves to be a toxic environment and retract from being a productive discussion or debate. We should strive to create a space where all opinions and all perspectives are respected and valued, whether its online or in public, where people are free to love a TV show even if not everyone feels the same way.
All I care about is watching the show and enjoying it for what it is, a bit of escapism from the real world. Because, guys, at the end of the day that’s all Doctor Who is. A bit of escapism from the real world.
Disney’s involvement
Disney is not ruining Doctor Who!
I’ve seen quite a few people complaining about this being “Disney Who” or “Disney is ruining Doctor Who” etc
Disney is streaming the show and backing it financially, but they have no control over the casting or anything to do with the actual finished product of any given Who episode. Everything we see is the product of Russell T Davies and the team at Bad Wolf Studios and the BBC.
So I’ll say it again: Disney is not ruining Doctor Who.
Because of the support from Disney Doctor Who was advertised on Time Square and subways in New York, Gatwa has his incarnation at Madame Tussauds in London, the TARDIS was at Disneyland in America, Doctor Who was all over the TV and the internet with adverts & interviews both in the UK and US. It was on buses and billboards! They even had a Hall H panel at San Diego Comic Con. We also have the New to Who videos for the new viewers – presented by Tyrell Charles – the official Doctor Who podcast – presented by Nadia Jae and Shabaz Ali – and Doctor Who Unleashed – presented by Steffan Powell.
I don’t think the marketing has ever been better and it’s extremely wild to me. To say it’s been great to see would be an understatement.
Imagine being a fan in the ‘Doctor in Distress’ days & the Wilderness Years – 1985 & 1989 for those that don’t know – that this is what the show is going to be in the future, it’s genuinely lovely to see the show get this much attention. Even after all it’s endured.
Something I don’t agree on, even though I did it, was the UK getting the episode at midnight. Yes it premiered again at the proper time on TV but Disney+ got it a day earlier so it aired at the same time for the US fans etc for us if they played it on iplayer at midnight. I don’t like this as it gives the fans who want to wait to watch it on TV a hard time to avoid spoilers, like I mentioned I watched them at midnight but I kept coming across fans putting up spoilers as soon as the episode ended. Surely this isn’t right?
It’s definitely one of the better series we’ve had for a long time. It’s been fun, but it didn’t feel like the fresh start they said we’d be having. I’ve already mentioned this in one of my episode reviews, from the very first episode everything seemed rushed and over shared too soon. It felt like Ruby knew the Doctor’s entire history in two episodes – ‘Space Babies’ and ‘The Devil’s Chord’.
There’s also the scenes in the finale where they go really heavy with names that long time fans will know, though I love these as a long time fan I think it would’ve been better if they included a sort of clip-show type thing to show the fans the planets or aliens that Harriet was listing or when the Doctor was exclaiming what planets were returning. I think it would improve both scenes.
My only real problem with this new season – apart from having to call it season 1 when it’s series 14, I honestly feel how the Classic Who fans must’ve felt when the show came back in 2005. It’s honestly a new pet peeve – is how short it felt and also the fact we had two Doctor-lite episodes back to back, I understand Gatwa had prior commitments but when it’s his first season I think we should’ve had more of him to understand this incarnation. There were also moments when I felt they’d written dialogue in to imply that the Doctor and Ruby have been traveling a while thus skipping a lot of bonding between 15 and Ruby, I’d rather have seen that on the screen!
I feel like we could’ve done with at least two more episodes, if not more episodes give us the full hour for each episode to let everything have the room to breath.
Going from 13, to 12, then to 10 and now to 8 episodes definitely haven’t helped the show as a whole. Potentially they could be a fantastic Doctor/companion duo but there’s literally been no disagreements between the two which is too perfect.
I don’t think there’s been much development, I’m honestly blaming it on the time jump more than anything else. It just doesn’t work. The jump they did in ‘The Devil’s Chord’ was the worse decision to make. It’s very jarring and makes it feel like you’ve missed important character development off screen. The Doctor and Ruby have great chemistry and feel like friends but I wish we actually got to see the development on screen. It feels like they already know each other and everyone was expected to go along with it.
This also impacted the overall arc as the Doctor and Ruby ended up going to UNIT for help with the Susan Triad mystery. Imagine the Doctor doing this for every story arc that followed them throughout the show.
Characterisation is on point but character development could be better. Again, this is due to the reduced episodes that have made it harder to allow enough character development for both the Doctor and Ruby.
The ratings
I think it’s pretty obvious that the 60th anniversary was a success, it was well received by fans and the viewing figures were pretty good. ‘The Giggle’ ended on just under 8 million, that’s insanely good for the viewing market. So that begs the question, how did we go from 8m to just 5.6 million with ‘Space Babies’?
Obviously the four month gap didn’t help, and it’s debateable that ‘Space Babies’ was a terrible episode to start the season on, but I don’t think this is the only answer.
You might have guessed by now that I think ‘Space Babies’ was an idiotic story. In reality its just an advertisement for Ruby’s arc. Sure, the Doctor and Ruby’s chemistry was great, but was it engaging Doctor Who? No.
The truth is TV ratings are kind ‘ve redundant now. They don’t show anything about a show’s popularity, people tend to watch things on catch up or streaming services now. These ratings aren’t low anymore. Most TV shows would be ecstatic to get these kind of viewing numbers. The days when we would get 20 million viewers are long gone, and from a time when you had fewer channels and couldn’t conveniently stream anytime you wanted. Now the shows had to evolve to keep up with the times, and to complete with other shows.
For the people – I’m not even going to call them fans because they’re not – that are saying they are making a show for a small minority of people, I want to say that Doctor Who is a progressive show that has speeches about change, and having the most bigoted fanbase afraid of every single change is ironic and sad.
Doctor Who made the top 10 on Disney+ as well as on the BBC, it’s also won Best Family Program at the Television Critics Association awards. The BBC has also revealed that it is the most watched BBC drama by young people this year, and is one of the best performing programs this year. Yeah… Sounds about right for a show that’s “dead”.
For the people who said about the show bombing in the cinema because of how much money was raised compared to ‘The Day of The Doctor’ in 2013, can I just say there’s a huge difference between the two. The episode shown in 2013 wasn’t shown at midnight so the screening wasn’t really family friendly, also possibly because of the time less cinemas showed it. Furthermore, ‘The Day of the Doctor’ was made in 3D, which the only way people could watch it like that was by going to the cinema.
If the BBC are happy, what’s the problem? The show can continue.
At the minute it is a waiting game to see if Disney are going to continue their deal to make a season 3, series 15, of Doctor Who. I think it’ll happen, but obviously Disney onboard is what Bad Wolf Studios will be aiming for.
If unfortunately for some reason they do back out I don’t think fans should be concerned, though I don’t know how it’d be broadcast internationally, I think it would still air on BBC1 as usual.
Series 15 is already being filmed, and on top of that we’ve got confirmation of a spin-off. I honestly don’t know what people are concerned about, there’s no true sign it’s going to end & even if it does, fifteen series is still way longer than 90% of shows out there.
The handling of the Timeless child arc
Okay, I’m starting to feel better about this.
There have been some comments made by Davies that were put out by Radio Times which have reassured me and made me feel like I can still keep my enthusiasm for the show. There were a few things he said that I’m going to talk about, and this to me is nothing but amazing news and it’s probably something you wouldn’t expect me to be positive about.
I wasn’t a big fan of Chris Chibnall’s run as show runner, and while I did find a handful of episodes I liked, overall I came away from that era incredibly frustrated. It was mostly to do with the writing, just want to point that out.
While going into Davies’ 2nd era as show runner I was excited but had a bit of trepidation, yet what he said in his interview with the Radio Times gave me hope. What got me to accept this is the fact that he was embracing the most controversial narrative choice that Chibnall made during his run, which is the concept of the Timeless Child.
Not going into it too much I’ll just say that I really didn’t like the idea of the Timeless Child. At all. What made it worse was the episode they did the reveal in was an horrendous episode, it’s just badly made. Its a disaster of a finale.
There were calls for it to be retconned, and I’m not one of those fans, I don’t want them to retcon it, I wanted them to ignore it. Pretend it didn’t happen, treat it the same way that the fandom and the show itself has treated the half human comment that the 8th Doctor makes in the movie.
Instead he embraced it, and you might think that annoys me but it doesn’t. I think its fantastic.
What really let me down with the Timeless Child arc was Chibnall’s failure to do anything with it, after the reveal I wanted to see how it’d payoff. What stories does he intend on telling that couldn’t be told unless he did this reveal? The answer was nothing. The Timeless Child only came up in a limited way with the Doctor not remembering their past, we were introduced to some villains that the Doctor had dealt with in the past but it didn’t matter.
What Chibnall did after shaking everything up was nothing.
So Russell T Davies talking about putting an emphasis on the fact that the Doctor is an orphan, and not talking about it in terms of lore, in terms of a mystery, he wants to concentrate on the emotional effect. There is a part of the audience that he can represent because adopted people can find a connection with the Doctor. I’m not trying to say they couldn’t connect with him before, but there’s no reason for Davies to not just take the advantage now that this is out there.
To have the Doctor examine his life in a way that he hasn’t before, because the Doctor has always known where he came from, but now he doesn’t anymore. And this has an impact on the character.
Simply put RTD understands the value of actually building something out of a reveal like this. Its very clear that what’s important to him isn’t the lore or the background, it’s how would this impact the characters? Which is a question that Chibnall seemed to never ask himself while writing Doctor Who.
I can’t help but admire that RTD saw this, came in and decided that there was an opportunity here which hasn’t been used yet. I’m going to be the one to use it. Good on you.
Chibnall is being bailed out massively on this, and I would be shocked if the fandom doesn’t change its mind on the Timeless Child with everyone thinking that it wasn’t that bad as it led it X Y Z but I will always say that was other people fixing the problem.
Thoughts on the 15th Doctor
I miss the Doctor having a consistent outfit, which technically Eccleston, Tennant, Capaldi and Whittaker had a few different ones with them changing one thing to do with their outfit but they were always roughly the same. I am loving the majority of his different looks and don’t get me wrong, I do like the chameleon vibe we’re getting but I think the outfit is a key component to each Doctor’s identity, it feels like something is missing.
In his first season as the Doctor Gatwa had a lot that had him be distinctive for his incarnation, whether that be fashion, his lively bubbly personality or one of the most controversial aspects of this new incarnation … The crying. In nearly every episode he has cried in the season and I’ve seen two sides to this online and I wanted to address it.
One side is saying the Doctor shouldn’t cry, he should be strong and we shouldn’t see him breakdown so much in tears. While the other side says we should have him cry as much as possible because it shows a positive aspect of masculinity where you can show your feelings. And I want to take this time to talk about how both of those sides are wrong.
Like I said there are two extreme viewpoints on this, at least the loudest of them, I’m sure there’s other fans out there who will share my views but aren’t as vocal about them. The louder ones are saying that it’s terrible to see the Doctor cry, don’t cry or the Doctor should cry all the time because its good to show human emotions, it’s good to show men crying and its absolutely fine.
It’s not that I completely disagree, but here’s why I don’t think it works the way Davies wants it too, though I will point out now I’m not against the Doctor crying at all.
So let’s do a quick re-cap of when he cried during season 1: In ‘Space Babies’ when the Bogeyman is almost killed the Doctor is watching through the glass and he empathises with this creature that it’s the only one of its kind and he gets emotional about it (I’m not completely sure if he did cry here as that would involve me watching the episode again). In ‘The Devil’s Chord’ he cries because he’s afraid of Maestro and what he had to sacrifice to stop the Toymaker. In ‘Boom’ there are many occasions where this happens, and in my opinion this is one of the more justifiable aspects of this situation. There’s the scene where he’s trying to counter his weight from his foot, when the girl almost makes the bomb go off, it happens throughout the scene where Mundy confronts them, when Ruby is shot and when he thinks he’s going to blow up half the planet. ’73 Yards’ is the episode with absolutely no crying as the Doctor’s only in it about five minutes. Then we have ‘Dot & Bubble’ where the people refuses the Doctor’s help because of the colour of his skin, so we have his outburst, crying mixed with laughter. This is a very powerful scene. There are a couple more instances in ‘Rogue’ where he thinks Ruby has been killed by the Chulder, then again when he realises that he’s trapped Ruby and when Rogue sacrifices himself. In ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ I don’t think there was any crying? But in ‘Empire of Death’ there are multiple instances when he looks out of the memory TARDIS at the destroyed universe he understandably breaks down, there’s the scene where he gets the spoon from the ‘kind woman’, there are tears after he defeats Sutekh and finally when Ruby leaves he drops his facade of being cheerful and has tears running down his cheek.
So those are the instances and I think I might have missed a few honestly, but I want to talk about why he shouldn’t have cried as much. I don’t think he shouldn’t have cried at all, I just think it happened too often to maintain the affect on the audience. Crying on screen is a powerful tool to evoke emotions from your audience, to evoke reaction from your audience and therefore you need to pick where your going to use it because if you use it to often you become immune to it and it doesn’t have the same effect.
To address the people that say it’s great, we can show men crying and men showing their emotions, I do agree and the majority of the instances where the Doctor cries in this season are instances where I could see myself crying in. They are legitimate reasons to cry.
But that isn’t the issue. Davies basically wanted the younger audience, I guess the audience in general, but the kids to know that its alright to be more in touch with their emotions. Obviously paraphrasing here.
What makes this an issue is that this is also a TV show and the way that scenes are filmed with music that go with these moments indicates to me what they are doing is they want us to have a reaction to it. You can’t normalise the fact that people cry alot, but you can’t do that in the extent that they’ve been doing it, while also maintaining the emotional effect it’ll have on the audience because the more you see something the less impact it has. If you still had the reaction they aimed for by the end of the season great but for me it lessened it.
So I am absolutely not saying that he shouldn’t of cried at all, I just think he should’ve done it less.
You crying is for your own personal therapy, expelling of emotions but its for personal reasons. Something I haven’t seen come up is maybe this incarnation of the Doctor or maybe Ncuti Gatwa himself is empathetic rather than just sympathetic, this would explain why he cries so much as empathetic people get upset if a person who is standing near them is having a bad time.
That’s one possible in universal answer and the other is because of the Doctor’s mental health. This is only my interpretation on the subject and I think this way partly because we know what the Doctor’s been through since the revival, but partly because I myself suffer from PTSD I know the signs but obviously don’t know all his triggers. Just because he is “healed” from his trauma doesn’t mean he won’t have problems because of it. Trauma can make you have thick skin – look at the 9th Doctor – but it can also make you more sensitive and insecure, makes you cry more easily, and gets overwhelmed at small things. I know the Doctor’s an alien and not human, but with a condition like this it’s hard to judge what side of the scales he’s on especially with him regenerating.
I think the criticism regarding the Doctor being openly emotional is because since the show came back in 2005, the Doctor has always suffered with PTSD and survivors guilt. Although each incarnation got better with their anger, there was still a good amount of anger there. Anger at himself. What we’ve been seeing is the result of the 14th Doctor healing from his trauma, and now so many other emotions are being shown to us through the 15th Doctor because of this.
It’s actually very progressive. The Doctor is still strong he just doesn’t have anger fueling him anymore. And he wants to live. He’s no longer angry at himself for past actions and now the thought of dying scares him, whereas in the past he felt like he deserved it.
Overall, I think this incarnation is emotional because of his “recovery”. He feels everything intensely, but rather than bottling up and internalising his problems – like the War Doctor till the 14th Doctor – until he explodes, the 15th Doctor is very open. He can enjoy life in a way that his previous seven incarnations couldn’t, knowing joy, and wanting to live and do things with their life, would make you scared of losing it.
So when should he have cried? I think we can half it.
I wouldn’t have any crying in ‘Space Babies’ or ‘The Devil’s Chord’, so all that tension in those scenes while fine it wasn’t necessary to have him cry, maybe close to tears? But I think they should’ve saved the impact for ‘Boom’. There are a lot of scenes with them in ‘Boom’ but I’d keep it, because this episode thrives on the fact that the Doctor is out of his comfort zone, he’s experiencing tension like he doesn’t normally experience it and all of that crying really works for this episode. ‘Dot & Bubble’ is similar to ‘Boom’, that crying at the end is honestly powerful and a big part of that. I think in ‘Rogue’ he shouldn’t have cried when he thought Ruby had been killed, keep that scene with him being vengeful anger, then they should’ve picked between the scene when the Doctor finds out Ruby’s alive or when Rogue sacrifices himself for Ruby. The last one is probably the better one. Then I wouldn’t have any crying until ‘The Empire of Death’ and I’d do it when the Doctor’s looking out at the destroyed universe and I’d cut the rest of the crying out of the episode. While the scene with the ‘kind woman’ was emotional and I definitely got teary eyed watching it, I don’t think the Doctor crying is needed in that scene to evoke that reaction. I think just the situation and the ladies reaction is enough to evoke that in the audience. I think the Doctor can get across his empathy and sadness in that moment without needing to cry.
I think this would’ve worked a lot better as they would’ve saved the more powerful moments towards the end and maintained their powerfulness without diluting it by having it too often throughout the season.
Again, the Doctor should and has many times in the past cried and I think that’s good. He just doesn’t need to do it every single episode to maintain it’s power on us.
With all this in mind, I just want to say I think Ncuti Gatwa is an incredible Doctor but what people are finding the problem with is the direction he’s being given much like Jodie Whittaker.
Thoughts on Ruby Sunday
I don’t think I know Ruby that well, I’ve been told that you get to know her in the special but due to my PTSD I might have forgotten some things, so maybe that’s on my condition? I do think she left the companion role way too quickly, I know she is back in season 2 but with there now being two companions will she be sidestepped to get to know Varada Sethu’s new companion? Only time will tell, though I really hope not.
I can’t help but think the show just expects you to except that the Doctor and Ruby are close, when really there’s no time to develop that. We really got to know Rose, Donna, Clara etc and Ruby deserved that same connection.
I miss Rose’s mum, Amy’s wedding, Clara’s dates with Danny … Those kind’ve elements. Silly conversations, random scenes. Those are the ingredients that make you think the Doctor and their companion are best friends by the end of a season.
Thoughts on how they handled the One Who Waits (was it a good reveal or was it too obvious?)
My problem with Sutekh being the season big bad isn’t because it’ll be too confusing for the new fans, it’s because of how they revealed him.
I think it was a great idea to broadcast a Tales of the TARDIS version of ‘Pyramids of Mars’ to be the bridge for the people who don’t know who he is, but when they revealed him there was an emphasise on his name so it felt like it was for the long time fans. I mean this is a villain from 50 years ago and this season was supposed to be a reboot, does that make sense? No.
If you don’t know his name the impact isn’t going to land as well with new viewers as it focuses so much on his name.
The Master reveal worked in 2007 because up until that point the Doctor was the only Time Lord, but nobody – only the Classic Fans or the fans who caught up – knew who Sutekh was! So they were probably just left confused or pulled in by his creepy design. I saw posts on X by new fans saying they only knew of Sutekh due to youtube theory videos which isn’t the best introduction, and this is exactly what I’m talking about.
I don’t think we’ve gotten a reveal like that since Bill being turned into a Cyberman. Some people complained that it was just set up and build up, but so was the YANA reveal and that is a classic. The Sutekh reveal was built up with so much tension to when it was revealed it felt earned. I think I’d rank it as high as the YANA reveal if not higher.
I am a massive fan of ‘Pyramids of Mars’ and Sutekh so can see references a mile away. This is the order I realised it was Sutekh, which isn’t great seen as he was the mystery big bad of the season:
1: Like everyone was speculating, I thought it’d be fun to examine the titles of the finale, and with them being ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’/’The Empire of Death’ my mind started to wonder what is a legend in the Whoniverse… But with RTD saying there were no returning villains in this season I was put off, so well done Davies. But like the Doctor, the writer lies so I continued with this thought and my main three were Fenric, Sutekh and the Trickster.
2: Then Disney released their teaser trailer where it says dust and we see that giant sand storm, some people were speculating that they had digitally took out some Daleks or something, but my mind again went to Sutekh as in ‘The Pyramids of Mars’ he tells the Doctor ‘I leave nothing but dust and darkness. I find that good’
3: In ‘The Devil’s Chord’ we are shown London destroyed if they don’t stop Maestro in 1963, that was either going to be a reference to ‘The Pyramids of Mars’ or a hint to who the main villain was.
4: I will admit I did switch and start believing that it was the Trickster for a bit because of Ruby’s character arc and the fact that she could make it snow, like others I thought so could be connected to the Trickster but then someone shared – I believe it was the first? – promotional picture of the Doctor and Ruby as they were discussing something about the latest episode and I noticed something, the background looked exactly like Sutekh’s time corridor in his sarcophagus.
5: Then we have Susan Technology, the ‘anagram’ and I say that with quotations as it wasn’t exactly an anagram as you had to change a C to a K but I’ll let that slide. Just because of who the character was, I’ll let it slide.
After all this I was 95% positive that I was going to see Sutekh again. In hindsight, there’s also the scene where Colonel Chidozie’s body turns to dust.
This whole time it was literally staring at us in the face.
Plot threads we still have left/Any additional theories I have
RTD said in a interview during Doctor Who: Unleashed for ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ that most mysteries were put in to generate internet buzz. There wasn’t a grand plan, only to gain attention online which I’m sorry but that is shallow storytelling. Mysteries should be in service of the story not for marketing a show, if it can do both than great. Do it, but you should always focus on the story your telling. Because of this comment and because of the reveal of Ruby’s mum I’m not as excited to do theories at the moment, and if I’m honest I’m a bit hesitant to even do any if its going to lead to something pointless like Davies implied.
As of this minute, these are the things on my mind going in to season 2/Series 15.
Mrs Flood – I have a couple of theories of who she is. My first one is Iris Wildthyme (From Big Finish and Extended Media), Hecuba also known as the Queen of Time and is the Toymaker’s sister. There was also that hint of her being a Time Lord with her pretty much saying the same thing as the Doctor, I just hope she’s not Susan as I think it’d be better if we got Carole Ann Ford if we were to get Susan back. There’s a picture out there that shows you the stickers that are on Mrs Floods’ suitcase from ‘The Empire of Death’. There’s definitely a lot of references to places the Doctor has gone like New New York, Gallifrey, Paradise Towers, Clom, Darillium, London, Blackpool and Cardiff. There are even more. Are these places she’s visited, references for filming locations or references to the show itself? This is definitely an interesting tease.
Mavity – Is it still a thing as in ‘Dot & Bubble’ the Doctor said Gravity?
The Meep and Rogue’s Boss – is it the same one? Could it be BOSS from the 3rd Doctor’s era?
Ruby’s parents – We’ve met her mum but haven’t met her dad yet, we got a technobabble explanation from the Doctor about Ruby’s connection to snow but nothing to do with the song in her heart. Are these connections from her dad?
The Toymaker’s legions – We’ve had Maestro, are there more coming?
Has RTD/Sutekh revived Gallifrey?
The gold tooth?
Will Cherry Sundae get her cup of tea?
What I want to see in the future
Strangely being a bigger fan of the Classic series than New Who, one thing I’ve missed throughout New Who is exploring the TARDIS.
I know we got to see it in ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ and ‘Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS’, but those are plot devices for those episodes. Apart from there was something special about just living inside this vast space of rooms, hallways, and bedrooms and feeling like you really were onboard a ship. Just seeing a conversation between two characters in their space made the entire family feel a little more realistic.
They haven’t really done anything with the TARDIS for a long time. They need to give her proper character development, because the TARDIS IS a character. She used to feel like a home. She needs to be a place where the Doctor and his companion(s) feel safe, where they can laugh, plan their next adventure etc… We need that sentiment side to her, she isn’t just a time machine. Just to clarify I know that there was the scene in ‘The Devil’s Chord’ and the finale with Sutekh possessing her but we need to show more of the Doctor talking to her like Matt Smith’s Doctor often did.
Talking about the possession scene, I think its absolutely brilliant to be scared of the TARDIS.
I think this is the first time we’ve seen the TARDIS fail? I don’t really count the events of when House possessed her in ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ because her spirit/essence was in a human body. I really like seeing these vulnerable sides to her. She’s always been so strong minded, indestructible, but to see moments where she makes mistakes because of manipulative beings is really interesting!
The TARDIS has always had these emotive traits. In the episode ‘Hide’, it was clear she didn’t like Clara at all and refused to let her inside even though it was the only way to save the Doctor. This is the kinda thing that I was saying is missing, though when I mentioned it earlier I was talking about the Doctor’s relationship with the TARDIS but this is a very interesting side to her.
Because of this, Sutekh feels more like an evil alter ego of the Doctor. He’s patient, methodical, makes grand speeches and influences others to do his dirty work.
Something else I’d like to see is more guest writers. Over the years there have only been a couple of episodes that haven’t been written by Russell T Davies, Steven Moffat, Chris Chibnall or Mark Gatiss and three of those have been the show runners. I think it adds more variety to the storylines if its written by a range of writers rather then just one.
Conclusion
If you watched season 1 and didn’t like it you’re not wrong, there are valid reasons to dislike it on its own merits but in holding a piece of media to a standard that it had twenty years ago when it came back, I have to ask how much is to be gained by viewing anything through that lense? Do you think after twenty years the people behind the scenes would make the exact same thing that we’ve seen from them previously, because I don’t think they would. I think they’d create something different but still interesting. I think we got that from this season, I think that’s what season one is.
Doctor Who has changed, I’m positive we’ve all changed from the people we were when the series came back in 2005. Everything changes, and that can make seeing things as they are complicated. It can be scary but it doesn’t need to be. When we look at media from our past, what do we actually see? Do you see what it is or are you remembering how it felt? I don’t have a confident answer to this question. What I do know is that the more you expect things to be what they were the more disappointed and bitter you will become. I think its important to remember that, whether its watching a TV show from 1963/2005 that’s still going or if you happen to live that long.
I haven’t loved Doctor Who this much in years, although this season wasn’t as good as RTD’s first era, I’m just happy to be enjoying Doctor Who again. Hopefully Season 2/Series 15 will be even better.
Now I’m going to conclude my overview on a sombre note and dedicate it to William Russell, a Doctor Who legend who departed us on the 3rd of June 2024.
We’ve known for a couple of years now that he was quite ill, he was suffering with dementia for the last couple of years, even though he returned to the role of Ian for ‘The Power of the Doctor’ he was accompanied by friends and family on the set because his condition was getting worse.
William Russell thank you so much for your performance as Ian Chesterton. Ian was the blueprint of so many companions in years to come, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Ian and Barbara to me gave the Doctor such growth. I truly believe it was their impact on the Doctor that made him fall in love with having companions to travel with. Your performance as Ian showed the most beautiful blend of compassion, loyalty, bravery and intelligence. Ian was beyond special. Your legacy is imprinted in Doctor Who history and you will be very missed.
Rest in peace, now reunited with Jacqueline Hill and William Hartnell for unlimited TARDIS travels.