I was really excited to see not only the return of David Tennant to the Doctor Who universe--but also, the man who should be credited with completely reviving the series (Russell T. Davies). To top it off, they were bringing back the best companion since Sarah Jane Smith, Donna Noble.

To make it even more interesting, the first of the 3 specials before Ncuti takes over as the 14th Doctor, they adapted a story from a 1980 comic strip called "The Star Beast".

So what could go wrong? Take a guess. They abandoned the idea of having Donna/The Doctor (the two actors shared an extremely brilliant chemistry through "Much Ado About Nothing" and a sketch show, too) and instead...made it about her transgender daughter. And I mean, that becomes the entire centerpiece. A seemingly innocent alien (The Meep) crash lands, and it turns out that it's actually pretty evil. But that becomes the backdrop for using the Donna arc from the previous series to serve as a metaphor for accepting (or more accurately, worshipping) this transgender daughter (who is also mixed race).

Just about every show does the Checklist, and this was no different. But it was incredibly disappointing to be so cliche'd with the message, and how on-the-nose the motif was. Every time Donna's daughter (named after another companion, Rose) is on screen, at least one character has to mention how wonderful and beautiful it is...not exaggerating. It's like Davies is so hellbent on making sure he gets backlash so he can claim the bigots are on the muscle, the rest of the story just falls flat.

Doctor Who was never about gender related, sex related, romance related stories. Sure, those elements would be sprinkled into stories. And it actually went way too far with the Doctor/Rose thing back 15 years ago, because the Doctor wasn't supposed to fall in love with anyone.

The new Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, will be non-binary apparently. I have no issue with that as The Doctor was never intended to be gendered (that's why the name is genderless)--it's the preachiness of this episode that concerns me going forward. Instead of this episode being a fun lark teaming Donna/The Doctor up again, it becomes a sermon and was ultimately a disappointment.

I also realize about 99% of this board has no idea what the hell this is...

It was a massive improvement over the last 2 Doctors. You’re dramatically overstating that it was about her transgender daughter. The focus was still the chemistry between The Doctor and Donna, and Donna’s mom and husband were also great. All the family interactions were well written, including the reference to Wilf. Excited for when they see him.

RTD’s stories were “woke” before “woke” was a bad word. Asking the Meep its pronouns and it replying it used the definite article and The Doctor saying “oh I do that” was good. It was enjoyable to watch whereas the Jodie Whitaker episodes were all a chore to get through. Seeing Tennant’s excitement at seeing the new Tardis (he didn’t get a new interior unlike all the Doctors after him) and it being a real set was nice.

My biggest complaint is the budget is too big. It’s got the bullshit Disney The Volume all over it. The factory scene with the spaceship and when they were in the control room trying to stop the lift-off needed old timey silver painted styrofoam sets.

I’m not overstating anything. I wouldn’t say that Davies’ initial writing in the show was “woke”. The show did introduce one of the best ancillary characters in Captain Jack (played by John Barrowman, who is gay—and had great banter with The Doctor), and that was definitely on purpose. But it wasn’t ever bluntly pointed out. The writing was a lot more subtle. This was aggravatingly juvenile. Davies could’ve woven a much stronger story with this.

As far as the last two Doctors, they were horribly served by the writing of Chibnall and Moffat. Chibnall also was guilty of hammering the obvious political points, etc. Then, a desperate Hail Mary with the Timeless Child thing. Jodi deserved better. Capaldi deserved better.

For my money, the supporting characters just had no personality. They weren’t given much to work with. Tennant can be guilty of upstaging others for sure, but apart from one little interaction that was fun between Donna and the Doctor, it was dull.

I think the show may be long overdue for another break, I expect more from such a great writer. This was a total dud for me.

It's a kid's show, it doesn't have to be subtle or mature to be good. Plenty of people have no problem with marginalized groups being portrayed in media as long as they're easy to ignore (until they're accused of being sex pests), but as soon as it's acknowledged more than once in a show it becomes too in your face. In 60 years of watching Doctor Who and other Sci-Fi we've all politely ignored getting hammered over the head by far dumber things than someone('s) transgender(ness?) being a plot point.

It’s not a kids show and transgendered people are hardly marginalized people in the entertainment industry. The show wasn’t ever out there to be political or in your face. It’s a sci-fi adventure show. I don’t think it went as deep as “Star Trek” at any point in its runs of different doctors. Most of the time the show’s basic premise was the fact that humanity deserved to be saved even though humans are flawed. That’s why most of the villains were robots or cyborg-like.

In recent years they’ve had more hostile sentient creatures, and obviously there’s always the Master, another Time Lord. I don’t think at any point the issue of pronouns had to be broached.

My problem, though, isn’t the representation. If you want to put a transgendered person in there, go for it. The assistant of Jessica Jones in that Netflix show was a great character. Because she had a personality and wasn’t used as some prop for a sermon. That’s my issue, and that’s absolutely what “The Star Beast” devolved into. It’s more disappointment than being offended or something. It’s a missed opportunity for something I looked forward to.

I agree about the redesign of the TARDIS interior. That looked awesome.

all is forgiven with this 2nd episode. a total throwback to the old days of the doctor, this was like a 2-person play with the doctor and donna dealing with a seemingly sentient spaceship, losing the TARDIS and sonic screwdriver facing...themselves. reminded me of "the thing" a little, and was very atmospheric and creepy. very effective, and perfectly executed.

I'm not a Doctor Who fan but it was pretty funny when the BBC gave their own show a bad review then had to do another review saying it was among the best episodes ever when things got too hot. I have a friend in the UK who's bitching at me because he thinks we ruin everything. I don't think Disney is to blame for this one.

3rd episode was a solid finale for donna/the doctor, and neil patrick harris really ate up his role as the toymaker (a real throwback to the earlier doctors, who was played by michael gough--alfred from "batman") and a nice reprise of an old companion as well.

this definitely was reminiscent of some of the creepy capers the doctor had during the earlier tennant years. and davies kept the social commentary a little less heavy-handed and general.

the twist of bringing in the new doctor was unexpected and pretty cool. ncuti is going to make a fantastic doctor as far as charisma. he proved that in "sex education", as i had said when i found out he was going to be the new doctor. looking forward to seeing what his suit/sonic screwdriver is going to look like.

very nice finish after a shaky beginning to this trilogy. definitely ended strong.

Thought it was the weakest of the specials. Tennant was a big annoying emo mess. Yeah they tried to explain it was actually because he was burned out or whatever, but it just didn’t work for me. The game of catch to the death was anticlimactic and dumb. Again, yes, it’s the toymaker’s thing, but it fell flat. Additionally having all that action at UNIT in front of a giant green screen didn’t help. Finally not killing off Tennant’s Doctor (twice if you consider the human Doctor that got left with Rose) was weak sauce. Not that it’s ever an issue for old ones to come back, but since that’s the case you might as well off him.

I like sci-fi. I have never understood the popularity of this show. It has the production value of a high school play. Yet, I know some are very passionate about it. I chalked it up to a PBS crowd liking something all the more because of a lack of commercial popularity

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The production value issue was definitely true of anything pre-1996 (the year of the awful Fox movie); but since the 2004 reboot of the show, it’s actually been quite state of the art with some campy exceptions. And like KD said in the now Disney-fueled era it looks more like a cgigasm than it did through the BBC.

For me personally the PBS reruns of the 4th-6th Doctors were all I had to watch for live action sci-fi. “Lost in Space”, “Battlestar Galactica” and “Star Trek” were either off the air or on syndication that i couldn’t watch. It wasn’t until “V” that I got a taste of modern sci-fi stuff, from what I recall.

The high school production value was a big selling point of Doctor Who. Watching Tom Baker ham it up in front of styrofoam headed Zygons or seeing an episode written by Douglas Adams late at night on PBS was a treat as a kid.

christmas special was half-and-half for me. ncuti is definitely a solid doctor. the complete overhaul of the sonic screwdriver was OK but looked more like a toy. the new companion was fine, that relationship can build. but the odd thing is if we're in this era of "fuck it we're doing what we want and shaking the traditions", then why hammer down a companion at all? i would've been fine with the doctor kind of being on his own at first, and maybe companions just come and go as temps.

i thought all of the costumes the doctor wore were badass; but ncuti can really "wear" anything. he showed that off well in "sex education".

as far as the meat of the story with the goblins, that was straight up disney kids tripe. the song and dance was painful. i don't get the obsession with these shows doing this incessantly.

and besides the several times someone wishes someone else a merry christmas, and the lights and all...it just didn't feel christmasy.

i'm wondering if it is going to be explored that ruby couldn't be reconnected with her biological parents, and of course we're never given the identity of the person who drops her off at the church as a newborn.

i'm still looking forward to seeing what we get in the spring but this was just kinda ehh. some cool stuff, but that musical number...oof.

I didn’t like it until the last 10 minutes or so. It was a cliched but very effective plot twist. It might have been enough for it to be good if not for the musical number. That being said, while my eyes were rolling back in my head so fast I could have traveled back in time, the Doctor signing made it a little better for me. If it was just the Goblins doing an Mos Eisley it would have been much worse.

Yeah the switcheroo with Ruby disappearing and the Doctor having to correct what happened was the strongest part.

A friend in the UK has been bitching about what they did to his show. He said Doctor Who was talking about "bumming" Houdini. I had to ask what "bumming" meant and wish I hadn't. I've never watched a full episode of Doctor Who but I could see why some people would like it. It sounds like they took this in a very strange direction. Was he in a gay bar wearing a dress? He's trying to blame Disney but I don't think they had any creative control.

well, i thought the goblins thing was bad...but baby geniuses have come a knockin'.

i haven't watched the new second episode yet (the beatles one) but this was a painful watch for any time the space babies were on screen. just really, really uncomfortable to look at CGI baby lips moving as a little kid voice comes out.

it looks like the ruby biological mother thing is going to be a big reveal of some kind or a driving force, which is intriguing. the budding friendship between her and the doctor is good.

there were a few things that came off as minor that i hope i'm wrong about...are they really thinking of ditching the name "the doctor" at some point? him referencing "I was..." at the very end. i don't know what that's about.

uncanny valley babies ("*space* babies!) is more like something you have a nightmare about. they were scarier than the (literal) boogeyman. i think the plot itself was passable but man...what the fuck, space babies.

The Beatles weren’t in the Beatles episode enough, I can tell you that much. If a name change is coming call him The Hugger. Dude’s hugging something every minute.

the guy who played paul looked more like john to me. they have all this capital now, they can't spring to find some lookalikes? i'm sure they're out there.

i'd say about half of the episode was pretty good--classic vintage doctor who. i'm not sure why they wanted the maestro to look like bette midler in "hocus pocus"...good actor, though. definitely could win RuPaul's Drag Race ten times over, and also kill in the broadway version of "hairspray" (if that hasn't happened already).

these musical numbers, though...holy crap, they're really bombastic and tacky. i realize they shoved it to the end (and it was a "musical" episode) but that was really unnecessary. plus, where was the twist? the payoff (chord) was nice but it seemed like it was really starting to stretch...

definitely more palatable than that godawful "space babies" but this is the first time i've ever felt davies is actually trying too hard to be a doctor who writer. "the whole thing smacks of effort, man".

Ncuti’s been great, hope he gets better writing than the last two.

I just hope Ncuti doesn’t get dogged like the last two Doctors; although both had some great episodes. Lots of bad ones though.

73 Yards was great and he was barely in it, go figure.

pardon my ignorance but is Dr. Who some kind of superhuman

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

He's from an alien superrace (Time Lords) who can basically live forever because every time they "die" they regenerate into a different body. He does have superhuman intelligence, a time machine, and a good set of plot armor, but other than having 2 hearts there's nothing exceptional (aside for some weird quirks if it matters to the plot) about his body. He also benefits from the James Bond treatment where rather than bad guys just killing him they go on long expositions while he figures out how to escape.

My wife bristled a bit at the anti-Catholic stuff but we both loved “Boom”. I guess Moffat had one more up his sleeve.

i dug the first 10-15 minutes, it had a nice eerie atmosphere to it. once it was blatantly obvious what was going on, it felt like a padded version of "the dead zone" or that black mirror episode "demon 79".

it's not a comforting sign when moffat owns the most consistently good episode of your season. and it's not like the pressure's on RTD. it was his idea to come back to the show.

finished the season tonight. the latter half was stronger than the first, but "dot and bubble" was godawful, after an excellent premise. the last scene was painfully stupid and overwrought (and made no sense).

the best episode by far, for me, was "rogue". again, surprisingly, not written by RTD. just a well constructed, old-fashioned "doctor who" caper. jonathan goff was fantastic. i hope they bring him back. him and captain jack could eat up a lot of scenery and have some fun.

the 2-part finale was extremely padded, and was uneven. at some points, it was creepy and intriguing. at others, it was tedious and laborious. the manifestation of "The Beast" looked like a CGI Scabby the Rat. The possessed humans *by* "The Beast" were much more effective as frightening. Definitely unnerving.

There was an article I read that asked several fans of "Doctor Who" of different generations and a few things they pointed out, I agree with. One, the Doctor is way too emotional and touchy. I'm reminded of a classic Tennant episode (I'm pretty sure it's the end of "The Girl in The Fireplace") where he's asked "Are you all right?" And he just blankly says, "I'm always all right." That's how the character is written. The Doctor has seen it all, has lost it all, and remains nonplussed. Nctui is an excellent actor to say the least, but the range was pushed a lot more than it needed to. The crying, the hugging, the screaming. It's just over the top, rather than effective or powerful.

The Happy Ending was sugary sweet, and clearly misderecting...of course it ends with the baiting "you'll see..."

I mean, Disney has enough money to pump this show through as many seasons as it wants. I don't think that's the issue. But the writing was as bad as it's been with the worst of Jodi and Capaldi. I think I stuck it out with Jodi the longest (I may have skipped a few specials and episodes). With poor Capaldi, I couldn't get through the second season.

With Ncuti, I'm not sure. It really depends on what it wants to be. The singing and dancing is definitely going to drive me, and a lot of other classic fans, away. The culture war BS may run its course, and is incredibly superficial and distracting. But this season still had strong moments despite that.

Overall I'd give it:

out of

I'd really be fine with RTD stepping aside again, and giving some new writers a chance. The two women that wrote "Rogue" passed the audition.

the christmas special "joy to the world" was pretty good. the pacing was better than a lot of the last season, and ncuti had two different kinds of companions. it took me a few minutes to recognize the actress who plays joy was clare from "derry girls".

it had a nice touch at the end and was overall entertaining. i also like that the "villain" wasn't really the bad guy.

the mansplaining line in the beginning was easily brushed off by the rest of the episode being fun, and even moving. merry christmas, doctor.