Doctor Who

[thatguy]

I don't know where this will be streaming besides BBC...


--tg

[thatguy]

Meet Doom...



--tg

[thatguy]

Doctor Who 60th - Special 1

So, this is currently on Disney+

It opens with the explainer that the “new” Doctor has somehow come back as a previous incarnation. The companion from that older run was Donna and how in that run she had to have her memory wiped, else she would die. Now, this incarnation is on a collision course with her and needs to avoid triggering her memory else she will die. 

Also, an alien ship crashes on London and. Cute alien is on the loose and is found by Donna’s trans teen. Hilarity ensues. 

Without giving anything away, I will say that I haven’t watched any Doctor Who since Peter Capaldi started. (2013?). It’s weird to see such high production. The story has a quick twist, a lot of dues ex machina and some heavy-handed messaging. I liked tennant’s first run as a Doctor and he’s good here, but the writing was a bit wham, bam, thank you, mum…

Spoiler, she doesn’t die when she remembers the doctor and now they can go on nostalgic adventures for the rest of the season. I didn’t like Donna the first time around and she’s much the same.

—tg

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To figure out how Tennant became the new Doctor, I watched the last of the Jodie Whittaker episodes: The Centenary Special: the power of the Doctor.

In this one, there are Cybermen, Daleks, and The Master. A bunch of old companions are pulled into the mix, including Teagan who was one of the companions during the Tom Baker years. I thought she did a great job here. Again, high production values make things weird to me. The actor playing the Master was pretty good. 

Everyone comes together and helps the Doctor save the day and then, they save the Doctor, but in the end, she has to regenerate and out pops David Tennant.

For some reason, Whittaker has been a controversial Doctor choice, but I read that they just didn’t have good writing during her run. There are only 6 episodes and 2 other specials with her, so I might give them a try. They can’t be worse than the Capaldi ones, can they?

—tg

[Greg]

I was wondering where the Doctor had got to. I kept looking for him on BBC America. Whitaker was in a lot more than six episodes.


Every new Doctor, I would watch for a couple of episodes and then lose interest.

[thatguy]

I forgot to mention: The Whittaker and earlier seasons are on Max. 

--tg

[thatguy]

Doctor Who 60th - Special 2

In this installment, the (new) TARDIS is malfunctioning due to Donna spilling coffee on the controls (I really don't like Donna as a companion, especially to Tennent's Doctor). They land on a seemingly abandoned spaceship at the edge of the universe. Then, while trying to repair the TARDIS, it buggers off. They have to figure out what's going on while avoiding some adversarial aliens. Meh...pretty typical storyline.

Doctor Who 60th - Special 3

Neil Patrick Harris is The Toymaker. The episode opens in 20's London with a man buying a puppet (stookie bill) in a toy shop. Jump to the present, the doctor is returning Donna home and everyone has been going crazy for 2 days. The Doctor goes to UNIT HQ to help. Another old companion is brought back for a nostalgic moment. There's a bit where Donna and the doctor go back to the 1920's toy shop and confront the toy maker. There's a cute puppet show scene that covers the demise of each of this doctor's companions.

NPH is great in the role. Things happen. The new incarnation of the Doctor is introduced. Ending is a bit silly. 

Fun episode. 
--tg

[Drunk Monk]

Doctor Who is the gap in my geekdom. I’ve caught a few odd episodes over the years but never really got into it. I admire the concept - reminds me of Moorcock’s Eternal Champion (when is the Elric movie happening?) Tara said I should watch this so I did.

tg encapsulates the first 3 eps better than I could. Unfortunately I watched ep2 first because I must’ve clicked the wrong icon, which made me more confused. And all the references to past shows went flying over my head. 

E2: I liked the ‘arms too long’ bit. Tennent was great as always. I didn’t know the companion so she was a bit lost on me.
E1: The Meep reminded me conceptually of ST:LD’s Moopsy + Grogu. The homage to ET was amusing.
E3: NPH killed it as the toy maker. Enjoyed this ep the most, especially the sureality of thr puppets and creepy dolls. The ending was sweet.

[Drunk Monk]

[thatguy]

Doctor Who 60th - Special 4

Ncuti Gatwa is the new incarnation of the doctor after Tennent split in two and retired to the British countryside. He’s a serviceable doctor so far. Typically, new doctors are a combination of aged expert know it alls and newborn innocents taking in the wonder of everything. Most doctors have an outfit and stick with it for their whole tenure, but Ncuti went thru at least 2 costume changes in this episode. He was in a utili-kilt for a spell and later, pants…

This episode finds the doctor following an orphan girl that seems to be running into a streak of bad luck. The culprit is of course goblins and this seems to be a reworking of Labyrinth including a song and dance number with a horde of muppet-like goblins and a Jabba the Hutt-like Goblin king.

It was meh, but is the set up for the new season with this doctor and companion.

—tg

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