I have loved the RTD2 era, but this looks like a very gun, very by-the-numbers generic medium-gritty sci-fi with a very tired Romeo-&-Juliet trope. There must be some sort of twist to this, right? But I’m nervous that this is more Pete McTighe, who wrote the only bad episode of last series and seems only capable of accidentally writing ethically repulsive episodes with the worst dialogue you’ve ever heard.
BILL: Sorry, what do you mean, it’s his real name? Nobody knows the Doctor’s real name.
MISSY: I do, because I grew up with him, and his real name is Doctor Who.
Romana, for sure
I’m more excited for this episode than I have been for any episode this series. Inua Ellams is awesome and a perfect fit for Doctor Who.
a beekeeper in “Delta and the bannermen”
Goronwy! Moffat endorsed the fan theory that he’s a future Doctor in retirement like the Curator. Honestly, this is why I happen to actually like the bigeneration - the idea that the Doctor would ever just retire and leave the universe to sort itself out while he collects art and beekeeps used to bother me, but if he himself is still out there running around, then it becomes delightful and sweet.
I’m not sure that Sarah Jane sleeps from Planet of the Spiders all the way through Revenge of the Cybermen, so Belinda has joined an illustrious club! Donna also has a shit day all through the 60th specials.
I almost always prefer frock to gun and this episode was not for me, but I am a base-under-siege Grinch and know my limitations. This is my second-least-favorite RTD2 episode after Empire of Death, though I am thoroughly enjoying this series, even more than the last.
Yes, the Klingon augment thing was deeply stupid, both in-universe and out, and I think it’s to SNW’s strength that we’re all just going to pretend it didn’t happen.
Yeah, frankly I think this says more about broadcast television than about Doctor Who. It was in fourth place for the day, with News at Ten, Casualty, and Blankety Blank above it - I think it’s rather clear what the demographics are for broadcast TV.
I like this chart for comparing the current series’ performance to past ones, because it relies on seeing it against the wider television landscape rather than just as abstract numbers. Doctor Who may be getting lower over-the-air ratings, but everything is - its been pretty impressively stable.
I’m especially excited for Inua Ellams’ episode - I really hope it works, because in addition to quite liking his writing, he’s exactly the sort of writer whom I was hoping they’d recruit for the show: someone who’s loved Doctor Who their whole lives, for whom Doctor Who is extremely meaningful, but also willing to put the Doctor in a very different story - temporally and narratively – from what we’ve seen before.
It’s still so weird that they got the one completely charisma-free actor on the show to play Jim Kirk, and yet Sam Kirk lights up every scene he’s in
I think season 4 was the only one I didn’t have to push myself to like - there were lots of great bits scattered throughout the first three seasons, but the fourth is where I felt like the whole season was enjoyable and strong (particularly the last couple of episodes).
I adore how campy this looks, but I’m so frustrated by the constant shoehorning of Kirk into the show. Maybe if the performance were interesting or there was something compelling about him it would be different, but he just seems to drag down the show whenever he appears (outside of the episode with La’an, but really, she was doing all of the work in that one).
How do you say “devour feculence” in Klingon?
And of course she has perfect taste and loves DS9. Iconic.
FINALLY a Cerritos!
Why are they wasting this on Picard ships?
I cannot tell if it’s terrifying or just hilariously bad. She looks like a drunk ventriloquist doll.
I guess they couldn’t make a Rutherford because all their plastic went to Spock’s incredibly long torso. Also, this set is VERY kind to Jonathan Frakes.
Even just the idea of Pete McTighe as showrunner has ruined my night. Yuck.
I have never read any Juno Dawson, but as a librarian I see her books come through pretty often and I’ve always heard good things!
They would 100% never let files with Trump’s name in it out. This is going to absolutely backfire on the Democrats when the Republicans inevitably release a doctored list with all their political enemies on it. This is so much better for the Dems when the files are a big MacGuffin. Even if by some miracle they did release the actual list and Trump was on it, they would say it was a witch hunt by the corrupt Biden administration and MAGA would eat it up. There will never be legal consequences for any of them, ever. If they ever do get consequences it will be because of some brave Luigi.