The (Regenerated) Doctor Who Thread: Reverse the Polarity!

[Kannap]

Been rewatching all of New Who from series 1 onward, quite enjoying that.

Also got some new Doctor Who books recently and have enjoyed reading them.

Are those the thirteenth Doctor ones? The Good Doctor, Molten Heart, Combat Magics?

Oh no, sorry, when I said new Doctor Who books I meant new to me, ones I didn't previously own, not recently published. I got one that's a was 11/Amy/Rory, one that was 10/Donna, and I grabbed the Thirteen Doctors Thirteen Stories book that's one story for each Doctor.

[Auristania]

Side note: Has the new doctor gotten any better? I watched her for 2 shows and got bored.

The Doctor is fine. The writing she's getting however is some of the most heavy-handed political stuff since the Zygon 2-parter. I'm talking dreary, aimless monologues and stabs at President Trump, racism in the 50's south, some allegory on online shopping, some thing about India and Pakistan...it's miserable. Chibnall is a complete ass of a showrunner.

Rosa Parks episode: the Space Racist has a cunning plan: Civil Rights ONLY happened because it was ROSA personally on THAT bus on THAT night. Every single Black in USA would have thought "Well, I'd LIKE to be Free, but Rosa was arrested on the wrong night, so we won't bother."

Trump episode: Trump shoots the monster that eats people and Chibnall whinges "How dare you shoot a monster that eats people?" Trump shooting the monster was a righteous act. The only righteous act Trump has ever done was fictional.

[Ameriganastan]

Today in random shit YouTube recommends me: David Tenant as the Porter from Macbeth.

[Vassenor]

Are we still acting like Political Commentary is new to the series and hasn't been a thing going right back to the Pertwee era?

[Ameriganastan]

Are we still acting like Political Commentary is new to the series and hasn't been a thing going right back to the Pertwee era?

As I explained like 2 pages ago to you...

Go watch The Happiness Patrol and try saying that again.

I have seen it, and they did it right...somehow. I mean, it's supposed to be anti-Thatcher. But when I saw it, I assumed it was some pro-gay rights deal...also it's batshit insane and I love that. It was Doctor Who with a political message. A message that can apparently evolve depending on who is seeing it.

Chibnall does not do that. His episodes are so blunt it's pitiful. I mean, Rosa, Arachnids in the UK, Demons of the Punjab, Kerblam!, The Withfinders. He almost seems to forgot this is Doctor Who. I believe I've said this before, but he made this show feel less alien. I mean in 4 of the 5 I mentioned up there, the villain turned out to be...some dude. He doesn't use the bonkers sci-fi concept for his message. He just preaches it while having them lounge about it dreary sets.

TL;DR: You wanna do a message, then DON'T BE BORING ABOUT IT.

[Vassenor]

So that's a yes then since we're going for "that's different because reasons".

[Eastfield Lodge]

So that's a yes then since we're going for "that's different because reasons".

The issue with Chibnall's series is that the political message is insanely ham-fisted. Previous series have always had it, but nowhere near so central and up front. It's as if they've taken some political message and gone "How can we fit this episode around this?" instead of inserting it as an undercurrent.

[Earthbound Immortal Squad]

So that's a yes then since we're going for "that's different because reasons".

The issue with Chibnall's series is that the political message is insanely ham-fisted. Previous series have always had it, but nowhere near so central and up front. It's as if they've taken some political message and gone "How can we fit this episode around this?" instead of inserting it as an undercurrent.

I've got to agree with that, Russel T Davies did subtle messages so well I didn't even notice most of them when I watched it for the first time.

[Vassenor]

So that's a yes then since we're going for "that's different because reasons".

The issue with Chibnall's series is that the political message is insanely ham-fisted. Previous series have always had it, but nowhere near so central and up front. It's as if they've taken some political message and gone "How can we fit this episode around this?" instead of inserting it as an undercurrent.

But when the classic series basically took the "should Britain join the EU" thing and re-framed it in space, that's different.

[New yugoslavaia]

The issue with Chibnall's series is that the political message is insanely ham-fisted. Previous series have always had it, but nowhere near so central and up front. It's as if they've taken some political message and gone "How can we fit this episode around this?" instead of inserting it as an undercurrent.

But when the classic series basically took the "should Britain join the EU" thing and re-framed it in space, that's different.

Which episode is that?
Frontier in space?

[Philjia]

But when the classic series basically took the "should Britain join the EU" thing and re-framed it in space, that's different.

Which episode is that?
Frontier in space?

No, Frontier in Space is about the Cold War. Curse of Peladon is the one about the EU.

[Ameriganastan]

So that's a yes then since we're going for "that's different because reasons".

The issue with Chibnall's series is that the political message is insanely ham-fisted. Previous series have always had it, but nowhere near so central and up front. It's as if they've taken some political message and gone "How can we fit this episode around this?" instead of inserting it as an undercurrent.

What he said.

[Eastfield Lodge]

The issue with Chibnall's series is that the political message is insanely ham-fisted. Previous series have always had it, but nowhere near so central and up front. It's as if they've taken some political message and gone "How can we fit this episode around this?" instead of inserting it as an undercurrent.

But when the classic series basically took the "should Britain join the EU" thing and re-framed it in space, that's different.

From what I remember, The Curse of Peladon had that as a backdrop, which is perfectly fine. Honestly, if that was the political theme in a Chibnall episode, the entire serial would have been a glorified rant on the evils of the Galactic Federation, but it wasn't, the serial had its own story on top of the backdrop.

And anyway, it's not like the political heavy-handedness is always too much. Rosa was a great episode, and wouldn't have worked without it, because it's an intrinsically political story. It had other issues but politics wise it was fine.

[Snow Bird-Worldism Crash]

if i got sidetracked in series 11 with "arachnids in the uk" does the rest get better?

[Philjia]

if i got sidetracked in series 11 with "arachnids in the uk" does the rest get better?

Not particularly. I liked It Takes You Away though.

[Ameriganastan]

if i got sidetracked in series 11 with "arachnids in the uk" does the rest get better?

Not really, no.

[Triassica]

if i got sidetracked in series 11 with "arachnids in the uk" does the rest get better?

For me it does.

Then again its pretty hard to be worse than Spiders in UK.

[Ameriganastan]

Then again its pretty hard to be worse than Spiders in UK.

And yet "Demons Of The Punjab" pulled it off...

[Triassica]

Then again its pretty hard to be worse than Spiders in UK.

And yet "Demons Of The Punjab" pulled it off...

Highly disagree with you there. My favorite along with Resolution.

[Ameriganastan]

And yet "Demons Of The Punjab" pulled it off...

Highly disagree with you there. My favorite along with Resolution.

Bender, if you would.

[Philjia]

Then again its pretty hard to be worse than Spiders in UK.

And yet "Demons Of The Punjab" pulled it off...

Demons was messy and had some truly terrible acting, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Arachnids. Or The Tsuranga Conundrum. Or The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos.

[Ameriganastan]

And yet "Demons Of The Punjab" pulled it off...

Demons was messy and had some truly terrible acting, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Arachnids. Or The Tsuranga Conundrum. Or The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos.

Arachnids was utter tripe, but at least it had giant spiders. What did Demons have? Some droning monologue on the partition, a message about tolerating other religions that had all the subtlety of a cow mallet to the skull and aliens whose entire purpose was to sit and watch.

[Eastfield Lodge]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW8yk-m5Ig8

Well, the remake of Mission to the Unknown, the only episode not to feature the Doctor at all, has come out. It's really well done.

[Kannap]

Been rewatching all of New Who for the past month or so and I finally reached where Clara comes in as a full time companion and have hit a wall when it comes to motivation to continue.

[Ameriganastan]

Been rewatching all of New Who for the past month or so and I finally reached where Clara comes in as a full time companion and have hit a wall when it comes to motivation to continue.

Just skip to Bill. Save yourself the misery.