Doctor Who

What went on in the world of Doctor Who could easily be sung to the chords of "We Didn't Start the Fire"

also

"I came like a wrecking ball"!

Doctor Who Magazine confirms that, besides RTD, there are two other 'wildly different' writers contributing to Ncuti's first series, but doesn't name them

I hope RTD works with new talent this series. Like definitely have a hand in everything, but facilitate a potential future by guiding a new generation of writers through the Doctor Who property.

Also, re: We Didn't Start the Fire but for Chibnall's run on Doctor Who:

Missing TARDIS, planet race, spiders in the UK, Stenza trophies, witching worries, alternate frog.

Appearance by Stephen Fry, bad time Orphan 55, Timeless Children, power-filling Sontaran plot.

Socially awkward vibes, cliffhanger on an airline, Tesla in a night of dread, Benny's name stuck in my head, Youtube presents evil Dan, Chocloate loving Sontarans, Master blew up Gallifrey, what else do I have to say?

Doctor Who run by Chibnall

It remains a trigger for the trolls on twitter

Doctor Who run by Chibnall

Some didn't mind it, but some will try to fight it

Edited by Zarius on Mar 2nd 2023 at 10:21:58 AM

I love how some idiots acted like Chibnall was too political when Doctor Who has always been political. The literal second adventure involved a Nazi allegory and nuclear war in the backstory. Then there's episodes like The Happiness Patrol which just exterminates subtlety and The Deadly Assassin which copies the "second shooter" conspiracy theories about JFK

They know; "too political" in that context usually just means "there are too many women and/or minorities". It's a dogwhistle.

Edited by Chortleous on Mar 2nd 2023 at 9:40:08 AM

The Chibnall era has many issues (like being victim to dreadful writing), but being political is hardly one of them. If anything, it's actually tamer than previous series in that regard.

Doctor Who under Russell T. Davies had a bunch of queer characters, with both a strong recurring cast member in Jack Harkness and a smattering of casually gay background characters.

Back before series 11, I binge-watched the entire show because I stopped watching at series 6 and I wanted to give Moffat a fair shake despite significantly disliking series 5. Gridlock had an unexpected gay couple in the form of these two old women, and when the hymn scene came on they had such a tender scene together that really resonated with me.

Under RTD, Doctor Who was more "political" than it had ever been. And frankly, it owned. RTD-era Who still feels contemporary in my opinion, it was great sci-fi with an optimistic and casually queer future.

Gender and transness wasn't something the show touched on a great deal during that time, but I still think RTD-era Who has a better track record than Moffat's run. Madame Astra and Jenny is one thing, the non-binary clone grunt with a diminished intelligence that people call "thing" and "it" out of disgust was... another.

> the non-binary clone grunt with a diminished intelligence that people call "thing" and "it" out of disgust was... another.

Who was that again?

A character from Sleep No More.

Word on the street is Steven Moffat is returning

If he's coming back to write individual episodes again, I'm okay with that.

I'm not. The shows desperately in need of new blood rather than retreating into the past.

Eh, I'm fine with having a mix of both, if only because John Nathan-Turner's near-uncompromising push for new blood in the '80s was a big factor in the show's decline, especially once Eric Saward's excesses as a script editor came to the forefront. The writing team shouldn't stagnate with sole reliance on an old guard, but only hiring new writers with no veteran ones to balance things out can be detrimental.

Edited by bowserbros on Mar 11th 2023 at 9:26:29 AM

Yeah, I find it hard to get excited personally.

I think he's done excellent work on the revival, mostly in the earlier seasons. Speaking on excesses as a script writer, the very large and bold decisions he takes in his RTD-era work are really good in these big bombastic Event Episodes.

The Impossible Child and The Doctor Dances is an iconic set of episodes, it's almost series-defining. They were Nine's finest hour. The one with the clockwork people and the horse? Really good episode that leans into a bunch of Moffatisms, and for as indulgent as it is, it's very Big and entertaining.

But I didn't take as much to his work as a showrunner, and even looking back I can see the seeds of what would later grow - like I just mentioned that a season two episode has what would later become "Moffatisms", where you see it and go "yep that's something Moffat wrote". It doesn't have to be a negative, and in an isolated context - i.e. a single episode of the show, or a good two partner - it's fine. It's just very much, emphatically, not to my taste as much as it was before.

All that to say, there's baggage about Moffat that just kind of exists for me now. It's almost certainly gonna be much ado about nothing on my end, any material Moffat makes for the show is gonna be fine. But the news puts me on edge just a little bit. It's a very mixed bag on my end.

Edited by MrMallard on Mar 11th 2023 at 11:27:33 AM

> Steven Moffat is returning

-Cloister bells start ringing-

The universe does tend to almost end more often in his run than usual

He only blew up the universe twice. Three times if you count the one that got replaced.

More new faces join the cast, not sure how big their roles are, but they were worth mentions in Doctor Who Magazine

Jinx Monsoon is also joining the cast, in what's implied to be a multi-episode role.

Some speculation is that she might play the Rani, but my guess is she'll probably be an original character who is an "almost-companion" like River Song or Ashildir.

I actually preferred the Moffat era to the Davis one (with the expectation of Series 4 which is my favorite season of the rival mainly because it doesn't have any force romance and Ten and Donna are my favorite due of the show ever), but I just want fresh blood and am not looking forward to his return.

The new cast additions get me excited though.

Edited by Bullman on Apr 7th 2023 at 9:18:29 AM

The problems with the Chibnall era is not that it's political, but its politics are incredibly toothless even by the show's standards. It isn't even as radically "leftist" as its angry fans claim. The worst example is "Kerblam!", which muddies up the discussion of Amazon's worker mistreatment with the debates surrounding automation, and by the end seems to imply that the people who want to fight back are in the wrong because the system isn't the problem?

Indeed; a lot of fan-favorite stories are in fact among the show's most political. "The Caves of Androzani" for instance is widely held up as the show's peak to this day, and it's a parable of corporate capitalism left so thoroughly to its own devices that an ultra-wealthy CEO became more powerful than the president and is covertly engineering both sides of a drug war in order to get even richer than he already is.

And yet anti-SJWs will cover their sexism and/or racism by saying Chibnall Who is too political.