The lowest ever viewing figures, an identity crisis for the show and a confusing Billie Piper-based cliffhanger – whoever takes on the BBC fantasy drama has quite the job on their hands …
Hot take but I think Davies Killed Who in his first run and the show’s been spinning out since then.
The show became too focused on Tennant, who became too powerful & since then it’s been tough to fix the scaling problems that left behind (if he can threaten anyone into backing down how do you write a good badie?), I also think Davies tendency to run back to Tennant every chance he gets is pretty annoying.
That’s not say it hasn’t been a great show since then, it’s just very difficult to maintain tension when you have elevated the main character(s) to literal gods, see also Stargate.
I mean I love the show and thought Gatwa & Whittaker were good doctors (except for the whole Flux thing), but each new doctor is either disliked for not being Tennant or for being too “woke”.
Gatwa was great. I compare him mostly to the 9th Doctor in the spectrum of regens. I agree, though, the stakes and the production have gotten a bit too… much. The spectacle of some of these seasons and episodes has become overly complicated and flashy, but they feel like they’re missing something that I can’t quite put into words.
Some of that I place on myself. I’m older now, more experienced. I can’t expect Doctor Who to hit the same way it did when I watched The Doctor’s Daughter for the first time at 13. It feels… like it’s pandering half the time, and that’s disappointing because the Gatwa stuff has the beginnings of some good, classic Who, but it always seems to shy away from it somehow and go in a different direction.
I think the show needs two things.
1: It needs to get away from Disney because Disney always sands off the nuance of an IP to make it fit better in its wheelhouse.
2:It needs to make a left turn. Have the Doctor lose the TARDIS for a few seasons. Put them on a generational ship or strand them on a planet like Earth again.
Personally, I’d like to see them break with linear storytelling and do a few seasons with the Fugitive Doctor. If they can find a way to do that without constantly reminding me that she’s the “Timeless Child,” I would be so down to watch it. Take it back to fundamentals: the Doctor, on the run, doing good. The end of a season isn’t a reality-shattering event; it’s getting arrested.
Hot take but I think Davies Killed Who in his first run and the show’s been spinning out since then.
The show became too focused on Tennant, who became too powerful & since then it’s been tough to fix the scaling problems that left behind (if he can threaten anyone into backing down how do you write a good badie?), I also think Davies tendency to run back to Tennant every chance he gets is pretty annoying.
That’s not say it hasn’t been a great show since then, it’s just very difficult to maintain tension when you have elevated the main character(s) to literal gods, see also Stargate.
I mean I love the show and thought Gatwa & Whittaker were good doctors (except for the whole Flux thing), but each new doctor is either disliked for not being Tennant or for being too “woke”.
Gatwa was great. I compare him mostly to the 9th Doctor in the spectrum of regens. I agree, though, the stakes and the production have gotten a bit too… much. The spectacle of some of these seasons and episodes has become overly complicated and flashy, but they feel like they’re missing something that I can’t quite put into words.
Some of that I place on myself. I’m older now, more experienced. I can’t expect Doctor Who to hit the same way it did when I watched The Doctor’s Daughter for the first time at 13. It feels… like it’s pandering half the time, and that’s disappointing because the Gatwa stuff has the beginnings of some good, classic Who, but it always seems to shy away from it somehow and go in a different direction.
I think the show needs two things.
1: It needs to get away from Disney because Disney always sands off the nuance of an IP to make it fit better in its wheelhouse.
2:It needs to make a left turn. Have the Doctor lose the TARDIS for a few seasons. Put them on a generational ship or strand them on a planet like Earth again.
Personally, I’d like to see them break with linear storytelling and do a few seasons with the Fugitive Doctor. If they can find a way to do that without constantly reminding me that she’s the “Timeless Child,” I would be so down to watch it. Take it back to fundamentals: the Doctor, on the run, doing good. The end of a season isn’t a reality-shattering event; it’s getting arrested.