Doctor Who has always been my favorite show, ever since I was nine years old and watched "Rose". Since then, I've developed a love for pretty much every era, and my favorite episode from the modern version has to be "Heaven Sent". I have extremely good memories of this show and always will. I've also made my way through 24 seasons of classic Who, and it's as good there as it is here. Pure imagination.
RTD brought me into the show with his bombastic ideas and blockbuster style. Moffat made me love the show as much as I do now because of his superb character drama and truly "out there" absurd plot arcs. Chibnall, however, really made me lose interest. I don't want to sound clichéd, and I don't want to sound like every other hate train YouTuber, so I'll stress that Doctor Who has always been avidly political and inclusive, ever since even William Hartnell. All of you "diversity hire" weirdos out there make this fandom look so toxic, and thank you ALL of you idiots for making me embarrassed to even like the show. Anyway...
I don't like Chibnall's stuff because of the poor acting, even poorer storylines, and lack of emotional music. The direction and cinematography was also consistently bland, and the big plot arcs were either so quaint it makes me amazed Chibnall ever thought anyone would've cared (looking at you, Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos), or so utterly grand and misguided that they divided people more than it gave you any sort of emotional catharsis (looking at you, Timeless Children). On top of that, the Thirteenth Doctor (played by the incredible yet entirely miscast Jodie Whittaker) did a lot of amoral stuff, to the point that to me she resembles an up-and-coming Valeyard more than the Doctor. Which could've been amazing if they actually leaned into it!! But making her trap a guy in an eternal nightmare chamber or blow up a guy for no reason or side with the rich instead of the workers or sideline her companion's cancer trauma because of her own "social awkwardness" or send her childhood friend turned enemy into the N*zi death camps because of his skin color...?!?!?!?!?! Instead of being the Doctor, she becomes a tantrumming murderous space toddler. For the first female Doctor, an idea with so much potential... why oh why did this have to happen?
Nevertheless, not all was negative. The Spy Master and Ashad were interesting, and a total of four episodes were actually kinda good - "Demons of the Punjab", "The Haunting of Villa Diodati", "War of the Sontarans", "The Power of the Doctor". Yet even the highest this era achieved was just a 7/10 from me.
After 5 very long years of sadness accomplished from this era, Chibnall left his reign of the show and RTD took back his chair as showrunner. And this is the current iteration we are at now.
In this era, RTD has already proven he can write an amazing episode "Wild Blue Yonder", a positive yet contrived finale "The Giggle" (which as much as others seem to complain about, is nothing new - remember "Last of the Time Lords"? Even "Journey's End"? Great but... contrived finales), a fun Christmas special "The Church on Ruby Road", and a genuinely bad episode "The Star Beast". The villains were all unforgettable, Beep the Meep, the Not-Things, the Toymaker, even the Goblins. Murray Gold is back to compose emotional, beautiful music; that doesn't sound like ambience at best and a hundred rats running across glass at worst (referring to Segun Akinola). It has genuinely fun, cool performances from the Doctor that really show off his alien side and his love for humanity. The show's genuinely funny again! It also tackles political subjects subtly and doesn't ever make it the forefront (minus Rose Noble, who as a trans woman myself I felt a little disappointed by the representation - although I'm still glad young trans people will see themselves, the storyline with her just felt a little overblown and... well, contrived). The direction is pretty, the cinematography strikingly beautiful, practical effects are BACK BABY!!!! There's so many positives, a few negatives, but that's Doctor Who for you. For every "Heaven Sent", we get a "Love & Monsters", for every "Genesis of the Daleks" we get a "Horns of Nimon". I'm just glad we're out of the era that felt like every episode was "The Twin Dilemma".
In short, THIS is Doctor Who, and it's back, and I'm so happy that it is. It's brilliant, it's goofy, it's emotional, it's flawed, it's Who at it's most Who. The best show, the king of TV.
RTD brought me into the show with his bombastic ideas and blockbuster style. Moffat made me love the show as much as I do now because of his superb character drama and truly "out there" absurd plot arcs. Chibnall, however, really made me lose interest. I don't want to sound clichéd, and I don't want to sound like every other hate train YouTuber, so I'll stress that Doctor Who has always been avidly political and inclusive, ever since even William Hartnell. All of you "diversity hire" weirdos out there make this fandom look so toxic, and thank you ALL of you idiots for making me embarrassed to even like the show. Anyway...
I don't like Chibnall's stuff because of the poor acting, even poorer storylines, and lack of emotional music. The direction and cinematography was also consistently bland, and the big plot arcs were either so quaint it makes me amazed Chibnall ever thought anyone would've cared (looking at you, Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos), or so utterly grand and misguided that they divided people more than it gave you any sort of emotional catharsis (looking at you, Timeless Children). On top of that, the Thirteenth Doctor (played by the incredible yet entirely miscast Jodie Whittaker) did a lot of amoral stuff, to the point that to me she resembles an up-and-coming Valeyard more than the Doctor. Which could've been amazing if they actually leaned into it!! But making her trap a guy in an eternal nightmare chamber or blow up a guy for no reason or side with the rich instead of the workers or sideline her companion's cancer trauma because of her own "social awkwardness" or send her childhood friend turned enemy into the N*zi death camps because of his skin color...?!?!?!?!?! Instead of being the Doctor, she becomes a tantrumming murderous space toddler. For the first female Doctor, an idea with so much potential... why oh why did this have to happen?
Nevertheless, not all was negative. The Spy Master and Ashad were interesting, and a total of four episodes were actually kinda good - "Demons of the Punjab", "The Haunting of Villa Diodati", "War of the Sontarans", "The Power of the Doctor". Yet even the highest this era achieved was just a 7/10 from me.
After 5 very long years of sadness accomplished from this era, Chibnall left his reign of the show and RTD took back his chair as showrunner. And this is the current iteration we are at now.
In this era, RTD has already proven he can write an amazing episode "Wild Blue Yonder", a positive yet contrived finale "The Giggle" (which as much as others seem to complain about, is nothing new - remember "Last of the Time Lords"? Even "Journey's End"? Great but... contrived finales), a fun Christmas special "The Church on Ruby Road", and a genuinely bad episode "The Star Beast". The villains were all unforgettable, Beep the Meep, the Not-Things, the Toymaker, even the Goblins. Murray Gold is back to compose emotional, beautiful music; that doesn't sound like ambience at best and a hundred rats running across glass at worst (referring to Segun Akinola). It has genuinely fun, cool performances from the Doctor that really show off his alien side and his love for humanity. The show's genuinely funny again! It also tackles political subjects subtly and doesn't ever make it the forefront (minus Rose Noble, who as a trans woman myself I felt a little disappointed by the representation - although I'm still glad young trans people will see themselves, the storyline with her just felt a little overblown and... well, contrived). The direction is pretty, the cinematography strikingly beautiful, practical effects are BACK BABY!!!! There's so many positives, a few negatives, but that's Doctor Who for you. For every "Heaven Sent", we get a "Love & Monsters", for every "Genesis of the Daleks" we get a "Horns of Nimon". I'm just glad we're out of the era that felt like every episode was "The Twin Dilemma".
In short, THIS is Doctor Who, and it's back, and I'm so happy that it is. It's brilliant, it's goofy, it's emotional, it's flawed, it's Who at it's most Who. The best show, the king of TV.