Whittaker - while I feel she would have benefited from better writing, I think she was miscast as the Doctor. She lacked gravitas in the role, and never convinced me in any of her performances she was a several thousand year old Time Lord. Even Colin Baker had moments (such as when he gets angry at the High Council in Trial of the Time Lord) when he convinced you he was the Doctor, whereas for me Whittaker never did.
Chibnall - I feared the worst when he took over, given his less than stellar previous episodes for Doctor Who and Torchwood (Cyberwoman, anyone?), yet somehow managed to limbo under the very low bar I had set for him. His plots and characters (Yaz, Ryan and Graham probably have to be the blandest set of companions ever had by a Doctor) are utterly boring, and the Timeless Child probably has to be one of the worst narrative decisions/origin story retcons in the history of science fiction.
So, I'm very much with Republic when he says good riddance to them.

 

https://www.doctorwho.tv/news/?article=russell-t-davies-to-return-as-doctor-who-showrunner#_

RTD returning after Chibnall leaves - didn't see that one coming.

 

This is incredibly good news/

Now I want to see Jodie stick around and see how RTD would write for her.

 

That's so weird. He has said multiple times that he never wanted to do Doctor Who again.

BBC must have come begging.

 

October 31st



I can't even with Chibnall. The only way he knows how to build tension on this show is with literal explanation dumps.

 

Proper trailer:



Looks like they're going to do some sort of multiple timeline shenanigans if that fraying strip thing is any indication. I think it would be good if Chibbers used this to soft retcon Timeless Child. I'm guessing BBC basically mandated this, and better for him to do it himself than have RTD come in and fix it.

 

Doctor Who Flux ep 1 dropped.

Can I interest you in some lengthy exposition dumps and even more bland lifeless characters?

RTD2 era can't come fast enough.

 

Hm. I was a bit bored throughout the episode but didn't end up picking my phone up. I'll watch the rest, but have 0 excitement for any rewatch.

That said, I poked my head in the reddit thread and all the (upvoted) reviews are glowing. I'm not sure what I'm missing. I might no longer be the target audience?

 

r/doctorwho is a pretty positive/optimistic place as far as subreddits go. And I think everyone there is so SO desperate for good episodes that even the mediocre ones like this get fawned over.

r/gallifrey is where all the salty fucks hang out. That sub's episode thread is more spread out in terms of opinions.

 

Kinda felt like they wanted to set up all the plot strands in this episode, which hopefully means there'll be plenty of development for them over the rest of the series, but on the other hand meant there was a lot being thrown at the screen in one sitting.

Can't say I was overly impressed with John Bishop, but I'll see how it goes, I guess.

 

Agreed, I think Dr.Who is now officially not my kind of show anymore.

Oh well, I guess you always outgrow what you love inevitably.

 

Episode 2 was a step up - still a lot going on, but it felt like actual story was happening, rather than just throwing a barrel of plot points at the audience. True, the present day strand was kinda dumb, but the rest was pretty solid. Giving the characters and plot room to breathe has left me more intrigued than everything they did last week, at least.

 

I think episode 2 was probably one of the best things to come out of Chib's pen during his tenure, although that's still at "only okay" levels when compared to RTD/Moffat highs.

Dialogue was good. More natural and much funnier than it's really ever been on Jodie's seasons. Has me wondering if John Bishop is actually serving as comedic consultant as well as a companion.

Acting was strong all around, except for maybe Yaz who continues to be a stupendously disinteresting block of wood.

Azure and Swarm are pretty compelling mystery box villains, despite how much I despise literally everything Timeless Child related.

 

I ... completely forgot there was a second episode going on. That's not a good sign. Off to watch, I guess.

 

Ended up watching it today -- just kept forgetting.

Episode 2 was a *significant* step up over episode 1. Episode 1 seemed to be introducing too much, while this one, while still having many unconnected (and as yet unknown) plot threads, seemed to flow a lot better. I'm actually looking forward to the next episode now.

Spoiler

Especially if the rumored theories about Gallifreyan gods and the six guardians are true. I'm interested in what they'd do to the lore.

 

Four out of six episodes down for Flux now, and while individual episodes have mostly been pretty good, I have no idea at all what's going on in the arc plot.

 

Thought Ep 3 was pretty weak. Ep 4 could have been great but Chibbers has no idea how to maintain fearful suspense. Every conflict with the angels was almost immediately explained/resolved, and he basically flat recycled the Angels on a spaceship episode beat for beat.

 

I know this is hardly exclusive to Chibnall, but the Angels really are the embodiment of 'new powers as the plot demands' aren't they?