Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Doctor Who Regeneration 03: Reversing the Polarity

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Demons of the Punjab
    I didn't think we'd get another episode that would step on a few of the same beats as Rosa this quickly but here we are with another historical episode that puts the cast in a witness but don't stop scenario. I really enjoyed this one, you could pretty much see where it was going throughout but it felt really well handled and I think I prefer this of the two as we spent a lot more time with the non-Who characters, the whole thing felt really well paced and balanced out. Of the six episodes there have been this year, this one is currently my favourite.

    I read the other day about Walsh being offered a chat show, that's also raised the spectre of concern he won't stick around in Who and his character will leave having never been given the time to shine that it would be nice to see him have. Graham has quickly become a highlight but it's only ever in one off scenes per ep. I'm settled with Whittaker too now, I like her but I know which Doctor she most resembles for me - Eccleston. It's not just the Northern thing, despite his filmography he had a similar Manic/Panic approach to the character that kept his Doc from having the emotional weight Tennant/Smith had and so far Whittaker channels the same approach to her Doc. From the outline of the rest of the season is seems consistent so hopefully her second run gives her more to chew on and she doesn't get boxed in like Capaldi was.
    Last edited by Neon Ignition; 12-11-2018, 09:38.

    Comment


      I’m in agreement with Supes last nights Who was the best episode so far this series. Mainly due to the non regular actors who treated the whole thing like a regular drama which somehow wasn’t derailed by the monster of the week.
      Hopefully there will be more episodes of this calibre to follow.

      Comment


        Last night's ep was the best of the season for sure. Really strong throughout. I also learned more about the partition of India in that ep than I ever did in school which is a little depressing.

        Comment






          Series 12 looks to be confirmed for 2019 but unconfirmed, and at first glance hard to buy, is the rumour that the series may be a half length run, Chibnalls last as showrunner and also Jodies final series as the Doctor.

          Comment


            Kerblam!
            There's not a huge amount to say about the plot of this one. It was easily the most Tennant-filler style episode of this run which was kind of nice and carried it a lot as it's been a very long time since the show has indulged in this style of ep. By that nature though it's a pretty forgettable one, the main take away being that requiring the Doctor to do some proper digging, face characters down then directly save the day means it gave Jodie a more typical set up that she needs to start to break outside the quirky box she's been in. There wasn't a lot to chew on but she felt more comfortable in this one and closer to her predecessors takes which was nice to see.

            Comment


              Unlike some episodes, it wasn't all a happy ending either... and bound to scare kids into not popping bubble wrap now heh.
              Lie with passion and be forever damned...

              Comment


                The Witchfinders
                An awkward one this one. It was nice to see an episode deal with witches again after S3's cheeseball Shakespeare episode, though a tad irritating that we back t'up North again as the show develops a regional obsession for no reason again like it used to have with London. Cummings was hard to take to at first as he hammed it up hugely as King James but you kind of got in the spirit of it as it went along. It was another ep in the mould of how the show used to be so I'm curious how much of that comes from the guest writers and how much from the show beginning to find its tonal feet but we're so close to the end now that presumably we won't get a clear answer on that. Middle of the road stuff overall but had to enjoy Graham keeping his general hat on all ep.

                Comment


                  The most recent episode has killed this series for me. No real entertainment to be had, supporting cast do very little and a general lack of character development.
                  It's all just so dull. I've cancelled the series link on my V6 box. If by some chance any of the remaining episodes are amazing I'll check it out on the iPlayer.

                  Comment


                    Given we're so close to the end of the series it does seem unlikely to change things up much, I'll write up my overall thoughts after these last two eps but as it stands I've enjoyed it but there are definitely issues.

                    Comment


                      It Takes You Away
                      Phff, where to start with this one? Parts of it were good, I liked that the Doctor gave more of an 'I'm in charge' approach to the others and that the plot regarding the monster in the woods wasn't so straight forward. The opening Norway tone and setting worked well and some of the character beats were really strong. Ryan's poor handling of the little girl was well done, being so harsh with her because as someone with a disability he didn't really weigh hers as heavily as the others did and him instantly assuming the Dad had abandoned her was a nice touch as we know why he'd think like that but the show didn't feel the need to directly reference it, just relying on our prior knowledge of his history. These are the small character building moments that should be in every episode and the same happened with Graham as well, the late dilemma was predictable but Walsh continues to be the heart of the group and it worked because of this. Most importantly it made sense and it's a shame the low character building meant that final scene pay off was just nice rather than tear producing. The bad stuff though was... seriously bad. The cave element was a bit of filler with the irritating alien, not enough was made of how rubbish the Dad was and the Frog scene... that is up there with Peter Kay for all time low points across the 2005+ era of the show, I mean... bad idea executed very poorly. In the end, the unevenness of this one made it a very middle of the road effort which is mostly par for the course for this series of the show. Curious what the finale holds given the complete lack of momentum and build up to it there is though.

                      Comment


                        The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
                        So, the finale. Man, that was a curious one. When things notch up and things start to result in Earth being at risk there's a brief moment where the stakes start to feel like they should in a finale, complete with nice Tennant nods from the Doctor as well. But very quickly that ends and outside of that high stakes moment this feels like any other episode from the series. It's probably one of the most low key finale's Who has done since the revival and at this point I do wonder if the increased budget went on travel costs rather than sets and effects as we even had the old fashioned quarry filmed alien planet return in this one. The bad guy reveal was disappointing but it at least gave everyone's favourite character Graham more to chew on. In the end, it was fine... which leads me on to...

                        Series 11
                        When I've rewatched the ninth and tenth series I'm going to rewatch this one, with a more settled impression of the show and the same amount of views as the later series it'll fall into a more natural order. From this run my main takeaways are:

                        The Doctor - Jodie does fit the role pretty well. The crux of the issue for her Doctor is a bit like Capaldi, the strength of writing isn't there for her to shine like she could so what we have is broadly a bright and cheerful Doctor who is consistent but also more limited than predecessors. There's some hints that writers were starting to get a handle on the characters dynamic with the group in the last few episodes which will hopefully carry into the next run. If she were a one and done like Eccleston then it'd be a shame as this run lacks impact.

                        Graham - The star of the show but still somewhat by default. He has a bit of a nice arc and brings some emotional grounding to quite a few episodes. Walsh is surprisingly well suited to the show and really is held back by the same issue as most of the rest of the cast, a lack of time. His role is not that dissimilar to Donna's Grandad Alf yet they managed to make more impact with Alf because they could focus on key developments more.

                        Ryan - To be honest, the character is fine but things didn't change that much the whole series. The set up of the character is interesting but it doesn't really go anywhere, the only real development is how he gives in to Graham later on and becomes less gun-ho just as Graham is at risk of doing so himself but most of this is earned by Graham and Walsh and if we didn't care about that character by the end the payoff would be wasted. There's also that Ryan's actor is just bad, really bad at acting and that's going to grate as long as the character's around I feel.

                        Yaz - The Tardis is the vehicle by which the Doctor see's the universe and every vehicle needs a spare wheel, meet Yaz. I read a comment on reddit that said Amy Pond displayed more police skills in 10 minutes on screen as a kiss-o-gram than Yaz does all series. We know she's a police officer and has a family but little else, Demons should have been a defining episode but what we learn in that episode doesn't really affect her character in a lasting or meaningful way, she's the definition of a +1 and the next series of the show desperately needs to choose between fixing that or cutting her loose.

                        The Show - I can think of one or two tow curling moments but not episodes. There are no real lows but one thing is definitely clear, they have a firm handle on historical episodes. The best ones focused on real historical moments and even the more okay historicals nailed those elements. Future based stuff exposes the low budget too much, I feel like the show has leant towards clean and simple to solve that for years but dirty and busy works much better ala Dwarf and helps hide the low budgets better. There's a consistent criticism I've read elsewhere that I feel pretty much nails this run, it's the blandest series they've made of the 11. Being simpler is a breath of fresh air but they've over egged it and removed any sense of momentum, build up or direction. It also has too few episodes and is too crowded, a crew of 4 is simply too many to flesh them out enough and they accomplish less with all four all series than past series have managed with 1-2 in less episodes. A three word review of series 11 for me would be Flawed but Decent. Across the board? Weaker run than 1-8 (will see how 9&10 settle for me on rewatch), Jodie... I kind of prefer her to Capaldi at the moment, but she's lagging behind Eccleston, Tennant and Smith.


                        Leads me on to:
                        Jodie Whittaker is set to return for the forthcoming twelfth season of “Doctor Who,” reprising her role as the thirteenth incarnation of ‘The Doctor’ and the first time the character has been female. The next season, the twelfth since the revival, will start filming in early 2019. Whittaker tells THR: “I really can’t wait to […]


                        BBC still can't get its s--- together. Series 12 confirmed for sometime 2020.

                        Comment


                          I didn't see that last one yet but have generally enjoyed this series. I have to say, I really like all the characters. My biggest criticism is that many of the episodes have been so loaded with exposition. This is far from new for Doctor Who but I definitely felt it more this series. Characters are constantly explaining what is happening as it is happening. They have been decent stories for the most part (a few excellent ones) but I feel they are struggling to just let the actions tell the stories.

                          But yeah, we've enjoyed the series and it has worked across a wide age group for our family. That link doesn't seem to mention 2020 as far as I can see (it might be staring me in the face). It won't do the show any favours if that's how long the wait is for the next series.

                          Comment


                            Jodie Whittaker will star in a festive special on New Year's Day, with series 12 coming the next year.


                            BBC's reporting it now as 2020, seems to be filtering out. Just bewilders that they can't sort this element out, they really need to move away from having the show hang off one person so much and set up a proper showrunning/writing team as the second it gains any momentum they lose it again. Presumably we're now looking at Xmas/New Years 2019 then Series 12 in April 2020. At the very least (knowing who's in the NY special this year) the upcoming special looks to finally bring some DW vibes more strongly into proceedings.

                            Comment


                              I enjoyed the series all round, I did feel it was missing a big bad or an arching story but other than that I did enjoyed it, part of me feels the stories being told is letting the amazing cast down, they could do so much better.

                              BBC have confirmed the series will return 2020, unless they are drastically changing things up with production/writing such a long gap between seasons is never a good thing, especially if it’s late 2020 heading into Xmas again, such a long gap.

                              Comment


                                Resolution
                                Finally brought myself to watch the special, been hard to focus as we've been on a good run of other stuff and being ill helped us just want to stick with what we were comfortable with. The end result? Erm, it was okay. The guy playing Ryan is still quite bad but benefitted here by getting to flesh out the stuff with his Dad, that whole avenue pretty much single handedly made this episode worthwhile. They played it out quite nicely and whilst it didn't contradict anything we'd been told it was nice to see his Dad was the way he was for quite grounded reasons, he made sense and their situation came across better for it. The Dalek storyline was pretty much just fluff, we've seen largely the same storyline played out several times before but it's worth just going with because it's just an Xmas period special. Yas, I mean, it's pretty ridiculous at this point how redundant she is, they very seriously need to have a proper think about her character for the next series and either come up with a purpose for her or cut her loose. Another thing? When it became clear the episode was going to be set in Sheffield again my heart sank, it's like a bad joke that they're hooked on and it's already very tired. Ep was consistent with the rest of the season overall, easy to watch but just kind of there.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X