Farewell to the end of one of the most disappointing eras in modern Who.

The Guardian is currently doing live minute by minute updates of the special. I’m just here to see Ace and Teagan again.

@DRW50Three surprise faces in today's special:

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Jo Grant, Mel Bush and Ian Chesterton.

Glad to see the rumors were true.

I will be watching it later tonight, but I am apprised that

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Ncuti Gatwa appears in the "Next Time" trailer but not in tonight's episode, where the regeneration goes a bit awry.

Good riddance to Chris Chibnall, condolences to the talented Jodie Whittaker who deserved better, and I am excited for better times ahead.

Also:

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Evidently

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Five and Tegan and Ace and Seven share scenes again.

That will be a lot for me.

1 hour ago, soapfan770 said:

Farewell to the end of one of the most disappointing eras in modern Who.

The most, undoubtedly.

The Next Time clip, and a glimpse of the future:

 

Confirmation: The show returns a year from now, but Gatwa's first proper episode will broadcast either that month or for Christmas/NYE.

 

Thanks @Vee! I’ll probably watch the whole thing tonight on BBCA.

I really had wanted Jodie to succeed but instead we got some of the worst writing and decision making since the JNT/Seward era in the mid 80’s and a silly retcon that pretty much annihilated continuity as we knew it. 

I think it's an unnecessary retcon, but I also think it can be handwaved like most other messy DW continuity in one way or another. I suspect RTD will fluff the majority of it off somehow in one or two lines.

 

38 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

Thanks @Vee! I’ll probably watch the whole thing tonight on BBCA.

I really had wanted Jodie to succeed but instead we got some of the worst writing and decision making since the JNT/Seward era in the mid 80’s and a silly retcon that pretty much annihilated continuity as we knew it. 

The entire ending of the Flux storyline doesn't make a lick of sense. I believe they had to clean up the question of 'is half the universe destroyed' on Twitter. I don't know who Swarm or Azure were, why they looked like whatever "Time" is, etc. The last three episodes of that series are fun (and the Angels episode is quite good on its own) and the whole thing looked gay and stylish, but the larger convoluted plot falls apart quickly.

There's a superficial similarity in all of that - camp flash and overwrought plotting with zero clarity - to the JNT/Saward era or the Cartmel Masterplan excesses, where their chaotic BTS troubles or in Cartmel's case their scope exceeded their grasp or budget. But unlike much of the Cartmel run, nothing in the larger arc feels inspired despite its grubbiness. Flux just feels like Chibnall speedrunning the bad parts of the '80s.

The less said about the Doctor/Yaz 'romance,' which seems to have just been spun up from online shipping despite them not actually really writing it in until the last moment when Yaz was barely a fleshed-out character to begin with, the better. Say what one will about their personal take on the Doctor and Rose or River or whoever else, but those stories were written for.

Edited October 23, 20223 yr by Vee

19 minutes ago, Vee said:

I think it's an unnecessary retcon, but I also think it can be handwaved like most other messy DW continuity in one way or another. I suspect RTD will fluff the majority of it off somehow in one or two lines.

Oh definitely no doubt about that lol. 10 years later and I’m still wondering why so much time was spent during the Moffatt era on the mystery of Trenzalore and the Doctor’s name LOL. 

6 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

Oh definitely no doubt about that lol. 10 years later and I’m still wondering why so much time was spent during the Moffatt era on the mystery of Trenzalore and the Doctor’s name LOL. 

Moffat did fluff that off too, IIRC lol. But I largely loved the Moffat era so I'm biased.

The classic companions discuss returning:

As I had heard a while ago, Anneke Wills (Polly) was requested by the show to appear but per the article apparently either could not or would not make the trip.

This screencap kind of sums Tegan and her Doctor up:

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Edited October 23, 20223 yr by Vee

Just now, Vee said:

Moffat did fluff that off too, IIRC lol. But I largely loved the Moffat era so I'm biased.

Same here for the most part. I did feel the show to seriously start to lose its way following Clara’s messy resolution and concluding River’s story but at least it was written for. The less said about poor Bill though the better IMO. 
 

Stuff like the Fugitive Doctor has interesting potential but not executed well once written on screen, which I think sums up the last 4-5 years of the show. I am excited for the future though so I haven’t given up entirely. 
 

BTW nice analysis of comparison to what I mentioned. Chibnall has always struck me as JNT 2.0 especially when he’s in his feelings…

 

This is thirdhand, but allegedly Sophie Aldred told a story in a show follow-up Q&A about

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William Russell (who's 97) getting confused during filming

and John Bishop sitting with him and looking after him. DW has always had such a loyal and loving community of actors, so if true, while a bit sad, that makes me very happy to hear.

8 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

Same here for the most part. I did feel the show to seriously start to lose its way following Clara’s messy resolution and concluding River’s story but at least it was written for. The less said about poor Bill though the better IMO. 

Stuff like the Fugitive Doctor has interesting potential but not executed well once written on screen, which I think sums up the last 4-5 years of the show. I am excited for the future though so I haven’t given up entirely. 

I liked Bill! I mostly like the final year of Capaldi, but I admittedly haven't revisited it in awhile. I thought the show was in a rare, pure groove with Moffat and Capaldi after getting past the baggage of Sherlock and the big anniversary events that dogged the final third of Smith's run and made plotting and scheduling a mess, so losing them both too soon for me stung. I do think giving both Bill and Clara the same 'dead but not really' exit was very lame. At least one should've stayed dead (probably not Bill).

It's always been a big tell that the brief glimpses of Jo Martin's Fugitive Doctor had more personality and fire to them than anything they've written for the extremely generic Doctor they gave Jodie. Martin stole the show.

Incidentally, I am hearing that

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Mel/Bonnie really does return again for the 60th next year, but who knows. I hope the longstanding Susan rumor is also true.

 

This is new:

 

Edited October 23, 20223 yr by Vee

 

Was not at all expecting name-drops and footage of both Dirty Den Watts and Bobby Ewing in the shower in this news clip...

This is the filming leak from some time ago that suggests Bonnie Langford will appear again next year in episodes with Tennant, Tate and Gatwa (who appears to have some kind of role in the specials along with Tennant and Tate before the handoff, which I think is smart). There were pix to go with it which showed a redhead from behind.