History YMMV / DoctorWhoS37E10TheBattleOfRanskoorAvKolos

%% Please do NOT put any spoilers about this episode into the first episode's Recap page -- there is a rule against putting spoilers for future episodes in Recap pages. THIS is the appropriate place for any discussion of Tzim-Sha's being a CompleteMonster that covers anything about this episode, including the fact that he ''appears in'' this episode! %%


* BrokenBase: The Doctor threatening to expel Graham from the TARDIS if he kills Tim Shaw. Some people see this as her grabbing the JerkassBall, whilst others see this as using ToughLove to protect Graham from JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope.
* CompleteMonster: [[AGodAmI Tzim-Sha]], a.k.a. "Tim Shaw," is a ruthless Stenza warrior who wants to become the leader of his species. He relishes in hunting people before [[SerialKiller murdering them]], [[BattleTrophy stealing their tooth]], and implanting it on his face, racking up a body count of approximately thirty to forty. While targeting a man named Karl Wright, he was defeated by the Doctor, but his malicious and [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught dishonest use of gathering coils]], violating one of the few standards of his own brutal race, resulted in the death of Graham's wife Grace. Teleported to the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos, Tzim-Sha impersonates the deity of the Ux and spends 3,407 years abusing their incredible powers to steal five planets, obliterating entire populations, in order to dominate over them as a god. During that time period, he either kills or kidnaps dozens sent in the desperate attempt to stop him, climaxing with Greston Paltraki's crew. The surviving victims are imprisoned in stasis chambers as [[AndIMustScream conscious trophies]]. He attempts to wipe out the population of Earth as revenge against the Doctor for defeating him in the past.
* SoOkayItsAverage: A slice of the fanbase doesn't think this ''feels'' like a series finale -- no companion death (or, well, near-death -- this is ''Doctor Who'') or departures, no game-changing stakes, no SequelHook for the next series or even the New Year's special, nothing anything like that. Yes, Tim Shaw is confronted again as some BookEnds, and Earth is imperilled, with the Doctor not topping any of her previous feats. The following New Year's special did satiate this complaint, and many fans felt like that was intended as the true finale.

** The series seemed to be setting up a show down between the Doctor and the Stenza Empire itself; in the end it's just Tim Shaw, not the Empire, and a missed opportunity arises where it was established in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E2TheGhostMonument The Ghost Monument]]" that the Stenza have been engaged in genocidal conquests, something The Doctor would naturally want to stop, but the series ends with them being a KarmaHoudini.
** The Doctor getting to reiterate her strict ThouShaltNotKill rule early on, followed by being confronted with the unimaginably horrific consequences of leaving a previous enemy alive, seem to be setting up a story about the Doctor herself being seriously tempted to break that rule, which could work great as the finale to a series which had been pushing it especially hard... but it just doesn't happen. Thirteen could have stood up for herself and pointed out that it isn't ''her'' fault that she showed mercy to a villain and they just kept doing evil things.

** The mind-altering atmosphere of Ranskoor Av Kolos is mentioned, but apart from briefly causing Paltraki to lose his memory it never really comes up in any meaningful way. The Doctor and Yaz make the seemingly momentous decision to give up their neural dampeners to subdue the Ux, but other than complaining of feeling groggy nothing comes of this, and they take back the dampeners soon after.
** While bringing back Tim Shaw made for some nice BookEnds for the series, Graham's "losing Grace, finally bonding with Ryan" arc was resolved in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E9ItTakesYouAway It Takes You Away]]", and there were many fans who were disappointed that they didn't bring back an iconic villain/villain race for Thirteen's first series finale instead.

** The Doctor disapproving of Graham's desire for vengeance is one thing, Threatening to expell him from the TARDIS for avenging his wife's murder makes her come off as a self-righteous {{hypocrite}}, especially considering her tolerance of companions like Jamie, Leela, Ace and Jack using violence when necessary.
** The Ux, particularly Andinio, are presented as victims deceived by Tim Shaw. Unfortunately, Tim Shaw's claim of being The Creator, despite clearly being a normal guy is so transparently false that it can't really justify spending thousands of years abducting planets and wiping out their populations in the process. They may restore the planets in the end, but that doesn't bring the armies back.

* SoOkayItsAverage: A slice of the fanbase doesn't think this ''feels'' like a season finale -- no companion death (or, well, near-death -- this is ''Doctor Who'') or departures, no game-changing stakes, no SequelHook for the next season or even the New Year's special, or anything like that. Yes, Tim Shaw is confronted again and Earth is imperiled, but all in all it's just another day in the TARDIS, with the Doctor not topping any of her previous feats. The following New Year's special received many notices of feeling like it was intended as the true finale.

** The season seemed to be setting up a show down between the Doctor and the Stenza Empire itself; in the end it's just Tim Shaw, again. Particularly irritating as it was established in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E2TheGhostMonument The Ghost Monument]]" that the Stenza have been engaged in genocidal conquests, and the season ends with them being a KarmaHoudini.
** The Doctor getting to reiterate her strict ThouShaltNotKill rule early on, followed by being confronted with the unimaginably horrific consequences of leaving a previous enemy alive, seem to be setting up a story about the Doctor herself being seriously tempted to break that rule, which could work great as the finale to a series which had been pushing it especially hard. But it just doesn't happen. she could have stood up for herself and point out that it isn't ''her'' fault that she showed mercy to a villain and they just kept doing evil things as soon as they got the chance to. The point is ''being the better person!''
** The idea of whether to save your crew or hand over something important to the villain, all while having no idea what it does, and having lost memories? Sounds interesting, but that part was easily resolved. In fact, much more time could have been given over to the regulars ''and'' the Ux had Paltraki and the crew been dropped altogether!

** Yes, bringing back Tim Shaw made nice BookEnds for the season, but -- in part because Graham's "losing Grace, finally bonding with Ryan" arc seemed to have been resolved in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E9ItTakesYouAway It Takes You Away]]" just fine -- many, many fans would have rather Creator/ChrisChibnall turned out to have been a LyingCreator and '''finally''' brought back an iconic villain/villain race for Thirteen's first season finale.

** The Doctor disapproving of Graham's desire for vengance is one thing. Threatening to expell him from the TARDIS for avenging his wife's murder makes her come off as a self-righteous {{hypocrite}}, especially considering her tolerance of companions like Jamie, Leela, Ace and Jack using violence when necessary.

** The Ux, particularly Andinio, are presented as victims deceived by Tim Shaw. Unfortunately, Tim Shaw's claim of being The Creator, despite clearly being a normal guy is so transparently false that it can't really justify spending thousands of years destroying armies and abducting planets. They may restore the planets in the end, but that doesn't bring the armies back.

** The season seemed to be setting up a show down between the Doctor and the Stenza Empire itself; in the end it's just Tim Shaw, again. Particularly irritating as it was established in "The Ghost Monument" that the Stenza have been engaged in genocidal conquests, and the season ends with them being a KarmaHoudini.

** Yes, bringing back Tim Shaw made nice BookEnds for the season, but -- in part because Graham's "losing Grace, finally bonding with Ryan" arc seemed to have been resolved in "It Takes You Away" just fine -- many, many fans would have rather Chibnall turned out to have been a LyingCreator and '''finally''' brought back an iconic villain/villain race for Thirteen's first season finale.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The Ux, particularly Andinio, are presented as victims deceived by Tim Shaw. Unfortunately, Tim Shaw's claim of being The Creator, despite clearly being a normal guy is so transparently false that it can't really justify spending thousands of years destroying armies and abducting planets. They may restore the planets in the end, but that doesn't bring the armies back.

* CompleteMonster: [[AGodAmI Tzim-Sha]], aka "Tim Shaw," is a ruthless Stenza warrior who wants to become the leader of his species. He relishes in hunting people before [[SerialKiller murdering them]], [[BattleTrophy stealing their tooth]], and implanting it on his face, racking up a body count of approximately thirty to forty. While targeting a man named Karl Wright, he was defeated by the Doctor, but his malicious and [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught dishonest use of gathering coils]], violating one of the few standards of his own brutal race, resulted in the death of Graham's wife Grace. Teleported to the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos, Tzim-Sha impersonates the deity of the Ux and spends 3,407 years abusing their incredible powers to steal five planets, obliterating entire populations, in order to dominate over them as a god. During that time period, he either kills or kidnaps dozens sent in the desperate attempt to stop him, climaxing with Greston Paltraki's crew. The surviving victims are imprisoned in stasis chambers as [[AndIMustScream conscious trophies]]. He attempts to wipe out the population of Earth as revenge against the Doctor for defeating him in the past.

** The mind-altering atmosphere of Ranskoor Av Kolos is mentioned but apart from briefly causing Paltraki to lose his memory it never really comes up in any meaningful way. The Doctor and Yaz make the seemingly momentous decision to give up their neural dampeners to subdue the Ux, but other than complaining of feeling groggy nothing comes of this, and they take back the dampeners soon after.
** Yes, bringing back Tim Shaw made nice {{Bookends}} for the season, but -- in part because Graham's "losing Grace, finally bonding with Ryan" arc seemed to have been resolved in "It Takes You Away" just fine -- many, many fans would have rather Chibnall turned out to have been a LyingCreator and '''finally''' brought back an iconic villain/villain race for Thirteen's first season finale.

* ToughActToFollow: General consensus seems to be that, this is one of the weakest [=NewWho=] {{Season Finale}}s to date, and the fact that the previous one was the '''very''' well-received "World Enough and Time"/"The Doctor Falls" doesn't help one bit. Also, given how well-received the stretch of episodes from "Demons of the Punjab" through "It Takes You Away", all of which were by other writers, was, there's a feeling that Creator/ChrisChibnall dropped the ball once it was handed back to him.

* CompleteMonster: Tzim-Sha, aka Tim Shaw.

* CompleteMonster: [[YMMV/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth Tzim-Sha, aka Tim Shaw]]. See that page for details.

---

* SoOkayItsAverage: A slice of the fanbase doesn't think this ''feels'' like a season finale -- no companion death (or, well, near-death -- this is ''Doctor Who'') or departures, no game-changing stakes, no SequelHook for the next season or even the New Year's special, or anything like that. Yes, Tzim Sha is confronted again and Earth is imperiled, but all in all it's just another day in the TARDIS, with the Doctor not topping any of her previous feats. The following New Year's special received many notices of feeling like it was intended as the true finale.

** The season seemed to be setting up a show down between the Doctor and the Stenza Empire itself; in the end it's just Tzim-Shaw, again. Particularly irritating as it was established in "The Ghost Monument" that the Stenza have been engaged in genocidal conquests, and the season ends with them being a KarmaHoudini.

** Yes, bringing back Tzim Sha made nice {{Bookends}} for the season, but -- in part because Graham's "losing Grace, finally bonding with Ryan" arc seemed to have been resolved in "It Takes You Away" just fine -- many, many fans would have rather Chibnall turned out to have been a LyingCreator and '''finally''' brought back an iconic villain/villain race for Thirteen's first season finale.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The Ux, particularly Andinio, are presented as victims deceived by Tzim Sha. Unfortunately, Tzim Sha's claim of being The Creator, despite clearly being a normal guy is so transparently false that it can't really justify spending thousands of years destroying armies and abducting planets. They may restore the planets in the end, but that doesn't bring the armies back.

* SoOkayItsAverage: A slice of the fanbase doesn't think this ''feels'' like a season finale -- no companion death (or, well, near-death -- this is ''Doctor Who'') or departures, no game-changing stakes, no SequelHook for the next season or even the New Year's special, or anything like that. Yes, Tzim Sha is confronted again and Earth is imperiled, but all in all it's just another day in the TARDIS, with the Doctor not topping any of her previous feats.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathic: The Ux, particularly Andinio, are presented as victims deceived by Tzim Sha. Unfortunately, Tzim Sha's claim of being The Creator, despite clearly being a normal guy is so transparently false that it can't really justify spending thousands of years destroying armies and abducting planets.

come across as dangerously gullible. While the Doctor praises their supposed wisdom, all it took was a single

----

* DesignatedHero: This isn't the Thirteenth Doctor's finest hour: she threatens to expel Graham from the TARDIS if he goes through on his threat to kill Tim Shaw, rather than do anything to help him work through the raw grief he's experiencing upon seeing the creature responsible for Grace's death. A few minutes later she admits her own moral code is flexible -- but she ''still'' would've expelled Graham had he actually done it. She and her companions do act heroically later when it comes to actually dealing with the threat, but that's compromised by their agreeing to give the villain a FateWorseThanDeath at the end, which some fans argue is the less moral choice than just killing him at last. Again, the issue of the Doctor's flexibility on dealing with villains is an issue.
* SoOkayItsAverage: The main problem with this SeasonFinale is that it doesn't ''feel'' like a season finale -- no companion death (or, well, near-death -- this is ''Doctor Who'') or departures, no game-changing stakes, no SequelHook for the next season or even the New Year's special, or anything like that. Yes, Tzim Sha is confronted again and Earth is imperiled, but all in all it's just another day in the TARDIS, with the Doctor not topping any of her previous feats.

** The Doctor getting to reiterate her strict ThouShaltNotKill rule early on, followed by being confronted with the unimaginably horrific consequences of leaving a previous enemy alive, seem to be setting up a story about the Doctor herself being seriously tempted to break that rule, which could work great as the finale to a series which had been pushing it especially hard. But it just doesn't happen.
** Alternatively, she could have stood up for herself and point out that it isn't ''her'' fault that she showed mercy to a villain and they just kept doing evil things as soon as they got the chance to. The point is ''being the better person!''
** The idea of whether to save your family or hand over something important to the villain, all while having no idea what it does, and having lost memories? Sounds interesting, but that part was easily resolved. In fact, much more time could have been given over to the regulars ''and'' the Ux had Paltraki and the crew been dropped altogether!

* CompleteMonster: [[AGodAmI Tzim-Sha]], aka "Tim Shaw", also in the season premier "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth The Woman Who Fell To Earth]]", is a ruthless Stenza warrior who wants to become the leader of his species. He relishes in hunting people before [[SerialKiller murdering them]], [[BattleTrophy stealing their tooth]], and implanting it on his face, racking up a body count of approximately thirty to forty. While targeting a man named Karl Wright, he is defeated by the Doctor, but his malicious and [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught dishonest use of gathering coils]], violating one of the few standards of his own brutal race, results in the death of Graham's wife Grace. Teleported to the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos, Tzim-Sha impersonates the deity of the Ux and spends 3,407 years abusing their incredible powers to steal five planets, obliterating entire populations, in order to dominate over them as a god. During that time period, he either kills or kidnaps dozens sent in the desperate attempt to stop him, climaxing with Greston Paltraki's crew. The surviving victims are imprisoned in stasis chambers as [[AndIMustScream conscious trophies]]. He attempts to wipe out the population of Earth as revenge against the Doctor for defeating him in the past.

* CompleteMonster: [[YMMV/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth Tzim-Sha, aka Tim Shaw]]. See that page for details.