Doctor Who

[Vee]

This old rumor from 2016 is making the rounds again, in light of recent new rumors claiming an international female star has been approached to play the Doctor. This obviously didn't occur but I do think Swinton is a one of a kind talent who could've nailed a single series, like Eccleston. @DRW50

Edited October 20, 2021 by Vee

[Vee]

From some time ago:

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[Vee]

Finally caught up to date on the largely forgettable Whittaker era in time for tonight's premiere, which I'm not terribly enthused about beyond it being short and sweet and finally exiling Chibnall from our lives (minus the specials next year).

The most exciting thing about the entire last year or two of Who was when Captain Jack told the Doctor he'd be staying on Earth to catch up with Gwen from Torchwood, who he says 'used her son's boxing gloves' to fend off a Dalek. Good old Gwen.

[Vee]

Happy post-Halloween, everyone. (My horror movie hangover binge lasts a few days beyond.) I did catch last night's new episode, though the current licensing mess in the US makes it ridiculous to catch the series while current without resorting to torrents. For the record, the modern series is archived on HBO Max while any new/ongoing series/season of DW airs first on.... the separate streaming service of AMC+. Complete with commercial breaks. Why?! One hopes RTD taking over the entire shop with his Bad Wolf Productions outfit (just bought up by Sony) will allow this all to be consolidated via HBO Max in the future.

Anyway: It was reasonably entertaining and more diverting than most of the last two series with Chibnall/Whittaker. It wasn't anything amazing, but consistently engaging and not deathly boring are a high bar for the Chibnall era IMO. Whittaker's Doctor still isn't much of a character. Yaz is a little more engaging without another two companions around (do not get me started on the Revolution of the Daleks special, where Bradley Walsh had maybe 10 lines tops). John Bishop wasn't bad at all.

The mysterious new villains look a bit like rock candy people to me and are very campy (my friend called them "Party City Cenobites" from Hellraiser) yet also reasonably menacing so far, which very few of Chibnall's attempts at scary, serious new villains ever are, so there's that. At the other end of the spectrum, the concept of "the Division" (the secret Gallifreyan intelligence group masterminding all of Time Lord society) is once again something we're expected to pay attention to. I am so over Chibnall’s endless attempt at menacing names and ideas that just sound adolescent. Yes, behind all of Gallifreyan intelligence there is this thing which sounds like a bad spy procedural or video game. It just sounds so banal and tryhard. Who can forget "Tzim Sha" or "the Stenza" either? Or have you already, like me? Let's hope the Party City Cenobites end a bit better. Their introduction was decent.

The Weeping Angel sequence was very effective, seeing them on a normal street on Halloween night. I have often thought their manner of killing needs to be changed though - Moffat did it himself when he had them just killing people physically in his run (due to 'low power') because it was scarier. They should simply kill people more often vs. sending them back in time, but they seem to be back to their old tricks here with that poor woman who we'll clearly get to know later in the story.

The Sontaran bit was funny, but full episodes devoted to them often bore me. We'll see how next week goes. If nothing else, it was not an abject bore and failure of imagination, so that's some progress. I doubt it will singlehandedly salvage Whittaker's era though. I'm just ready to move along to RTD2.

Now to watch the Special Edition of The Curse of Fenric to cleanse my palate. Along with perhaps The Seeds of Doom and Listen...

Edited November 1, 2021 by Vee

[Vee]

For no one's perusal:

The second episode this series was a fun, classical Who story making rare half-decent use of the Sontarans, who in the past have only played well with me as side characters like Strax from the Matt Smith years. Whittaker got a decent space to perform alone with the guest characters, which her run has rarely afforded her; the character still isn't much under Chibnall's pen but has a bit more room for her to act. What was much more interesting, though, was the ongoing serialized mystery of the series, which is still nowhere near as innovative or experimental as Moffat or RTD's best but at least isn't feeling like it's just marking time or ticking boxes, as most of the Chibnall era has so far.

These two episodes so far, while far from perfect, represent the apex of what has been a thoroughly mediocre and plodding period for the franchise overall. It's just a shame Whittaker and Mandip Gill haven't been better-served before now. Which is not to say I think either character is very well fleshed out, but they've done a lot better in this series so far than the past two combined. The actress playing Mary Seacole was a delight, and Dan's easy almost-stoner energy is a nice contrast to the usual 'what's going on Doctah!' eager beaver business of this regime.

The highlight so far though, of course, is Azure and Swarm, the most camp villains I've seen on Doctor Who since the depths of the glitter and cocaine '80s. The makeup is a bit dodgy in that classic JNT way yet still uniquely creepy, and Swarm sniping about 'you pathetic temporal hags' is hysterically fun. The only thing that's missing is the Black Guardian's feather boa. I can both take them seriously and not at all, which is a nice change from the parade of anonymous, pointless 'new, dark' villains Chibnall has attempted to put over since he took over, most of whom I cannot remember the names of as they all looked to come out of bad aughts sci-fi movies geared to teenage boys. These two, OTOH, are OTT, fabulous and pure Davison/Colin Baker-era. And also, spooky.

A fun time so far. Let's hope it continues and doesn't implode. It cannot save the Chibnall era for me, but it's nice to see the show on some kind of upswing again.

[DAMfan]

Really like Dan

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[Vee]

Are you ready for another longwinded DW post you won't read? I thought so. SPOILERS for Episode 4:

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[Faulkner]

I read them, although I’m so out of the loop with watching DW these days. A little burnt out. Haven’t really watched consistently since the first Peter Capaldi season.

[Vee]

Yeah, I only caught up very recently bc the Chibnall era is utterly uninspiring to me. But Flux is a bit of an improvement and I am reinvigorated by the news of RTD returning in future.

[Vee]

The BBC has confirmed Chibnall/Whittaker will exit with a final special (of three) "next autumn". I would suspect the first of the final three specials may be at New Year's, the second in summer 2022, but who knows.

I wonder if we'll see RTD resurrect the proper Christmas special in 2022 with his new Doctor - the 'Festive Special' thing Chibnall has done has always felt hollow to me.

[Vee]

Capaldi talks to the Telegraph here (archived bc of paywall) about his Doctor. FWIW, I think he nailed it:

[Vee]

Sharon Duncan-Brewster, famously one of the first creepy victims in "The Waters of Mars", almost steals the show in Denis Villeneuve's pretty good Dune as planetary ecologist Liet Kynes, a role she inherited from Max von Sydow in David Lynch's film.

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[Taoboi]

Why, yes, she was very good in the excellent DUNE.

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[Vee]

Mandip Gill has confirmed she's done along with Whittaker, who has confirmed she's shot her regeneration sequence.

The next special involves the Sea Devils, which is a nice blast from the past. I have not finished Flux (a.k.a. "Floox") yet but I hear Chibnall predictably cocks up the ending - I guess I'll catch up.

[Faulkner]

LMAO