Ncuti Gatwa's First Series of Doctor Who

The ratings are at the lowest in the show’s history. They continue to plummet.

Blah blah blah woke broke blah blah.

Other than the appearance by DL fave Dame Sian Phillips, I don't see much to interest me in the new season.

Russell T Davies who many considered the saviour of the show when Eccleston starred in it is now presiding over its rapid decline. Saturday’s episode had The Doctor kissing the character played by Jonathan Groff. Davies has set out his woke agenda and determinedly continues to push his rigid ideas and clearly it is failing with the audience.

The BBC never admit mistakes and in the case of Dr Who the astonishingly fast decline in viewing figures should have them worried. It will prove interesting to see how this plays out.

This has all been said in the other thread but RTD's "we're woke and if you don't like woke don't watch" is ridiculous because the show is not that different to when he relaunched it.

"First gay kiss" - that was 20 years ago when John Barrowman (ugh) kissed Christopher Eccleston.

The problem is that nothing is new after 20 years.

[quote] The problem is that nothing is new after 20 years.

Except the undisguised contempt towards the viewers

R4 Say it ain't so! This shit show isn't fit to wipe the Dame's feet!

Showing off new hot bod:

Ncuti is absolutely adorable. I love his smile, skin and thighs of life.

Has it jumped the shark?

LOL

That link didn't work

r11, it jumped the shark with Jodie Whittaker and Chinball.

Bad writing and a whole fan fiction rewrite of The Who canon rendered Doctor Who unwatchable.

Plus, Disney is putting all the acquisition cash in special effects on the screen with no attention to plot and arc development. It looks beautiful but is a pile of chaos shite.

It is a mess.

They turned the Doctor into Willy Wonka.

I thought from the very beginning of the new show that adding romance to the Doctor was a mistake, much less sexuality. Also, there was a progression of no THIS is the companion that the Doctor loves the most - no, this next one he loves even MORE, and so on. It was like the problem that comic books have, with character X needing to be the strongest or most powerful, etc, until some even more powerful character Y comes along.

The regenerations are kind of a way to reset that clock, at least. I do remember that it was regarded as controversial that Davison's Doctor was traveling with Tegan and Nyssa, two beautiful young women. Speculation about the "sleeping arrangements in the TARDIS" was as rampant as any fanfic.

So we've had a lady Doctor, and now a black gay Doctor. What's left, will the next Doctor be trans?

None of it really matters, except that this is where they are spending their energy, rather than writing engaging stories.

Now starring in "The Importance of Being Earnest":

Aaand he's out.

Second-shortest stint after Eccleston – 18 episodes, 3 of which he was barely in. Episode universally panned by fans.

I give every season a chance. As soon as they regurgitate the Cybermen, Davros or time-bombs on spaceships, I turn it off and wait until a new season.

I stuck with the latest season until the deaf episode, where my bones started screaming that I was in for an after-school special, so I shut it off. I just wasn't in the right headspace for that sort of thing, and haven't seen any episodes since. And now I read that Gatwa has regenerated into Billie Piper and my eyes just rolled all the way back.

Is it just me or was Jodie Whittacker's Doctor finally interesting in this finale? She had that one scene but I thought her acting/being directed was better than in her own seasons.

R21 I thought exactly the same, she was so shit when she was the lead, but actually felt like the Doctor in her cameo. Maybe being in a TARDIS set that actually looked like the TARDIS helped, and not having her fucking "fam" with her.

The rest of the episode was utter shite. Apart from the Two Ranis joke.

R18 - well he was actually there longer than the 8th, 9th and 14th Doctors.

Fairly sure Billie Piper isn't the next Doctor.

I dipped in and out of the last few episodes and it was just boring. Completely boring and dull. Anita Dobson has been a saviour and Archie Panjabi was wasted.

There was a clip shared on twitter of a BBC podcast discussion where the host and guests agreed that it had become "woke", in this case meaning lecturing on diversity to a point of shoehorning in characters that weren't straight white men.

The sequence with Conrad reading a book so clearly based on Harry Potter was as subtle as a wet fart. TAKE THAT JK ROWLING WITH YOUR NEW TV EXPENSIVE SERIES, TAKE THAT!

Yeah, no more metaphors, we're just doing straight-up lectures now. I wouldn't even mind it, if the rest of the writing and the character work was solid. But it's not! So it bugs even more.

r23 I was obviously just talking about the NuWho era.

I KNOW this is cliche as fuck but after Smith, I was out. Capaldi's okay but it really turned to shit.

Capaldi's run was already Moffat on fumes, with one recycled trope after another. But still miles better than these two seasons of RTD. I just don't understand why the show doesn't at least look as lush as it did under Moffat, even if the writing is shit.

I can't believe this is the same man who wrote the iconic "Moisturise, moisturise!" line. His brain has been completely rotted by the contemporary culture wars, actual arcs are secondary to his feelings of smugness and glee as he unleashes yet another lecture on us. I'm even worried about Tip Toe now.

Oh shush R28. Russell T Davies isn't part of a culture war, he is fighting AGAINST the culture war.

It's bad people who are obsessed with race and gender, and RTD's obsession with race and gender is a necessary counter because he is on the right side.

See?

For me the 'woke' message - if there was one - didn't bother me. I didn't even notice what some here had brought up. But even if it was his agenda, it wouldn't explain the daft writing. Every good story has a message. It's really how you write the message into the story. For me there was too much plot than story. Nine and Ten had some really deep trials and tribulations. Fifteen had plot obstacles. I cannot believe how much bland exposition the last two episodes with the Rani had. RTD knows how to write good stories, but here it feels like he didn't even try. Instead, he actually added a line about too much exposition.

I feel like there is more to it. I wonder how much influence they and Disney exercised, or how independent Chibnall and RTD were in developing the show.

I always feel, in all his writing, not just Doctor Who, RTD can write a great journey, but his ending are always shit.

Hey! Why do all Russell's boyfriends leave him?

Because he can't give anyone a satisfactory climax!

[quote]I wonder how much influence they and Disney exercised, or how independent Chibnall and RTD were in developing the show.

Completely independent, Disney just gave them money, a streaming platform in the US, and an expectation that it will do well in the ratings. You know it's bad when the long-term Who fans on the official subreddit are calling for the BBC to sack him and bring in someone fresh.

And I hope you're joking with IF there was a woke message. He couldn't shut up about it at any of his press tours! It's actually his smugness that does my head in, not even the message itself.

I love that he can spew whatever he pleases on the official child demographic and they are content - Disney did go up in price since Nee Years -with just enough language play to piss off the older Whocunts.

Whittaker got her frown lines taken care of. I was wondering what looked different about her face. That's too bad.

You may also have subconsciously notice her wig this time since she now has short hair.

Belinda Chandra wasn't exactly an ideal sidekick either. Quite bland with no noteworthy character traits. She could be the one we all forget about.

Nice to see a coloured protagonist, though I’m personally waiting for a Paki.

R38 = Benedict Cumberbatch