Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

I haven’t really done any reviews of the Ncuti Gatwa Doctor Who episodes and I frankly don’t have time to do a full review today but as someone who walked away from the series after Capaldi I want to comment on the season so far today (and I’ll cover this week’s episode later this week) because I think people who are skipping it are missing out.

Point 1: Chibnall clearly isn’t the boss anymore:

I’ve been watching these episodes with my oldest son who unlike me watched all the Chibnall era episodes. As he put it the worst of the episodes to this date is leaps and bounds over the best of the Chibnall era. For me as some who discovered the show in 1976 and watched it regularly since about 78 you can clearly see that the writing and the plotting have improved. Davies being Davies has of course inserted his agenda into the show but that was true and recognizable from the moment the show was revived. The point was can he do so without overwhelming the story. For the most part he has succeeded. These are solid stories, as always some better than others but are clearly recognizable as Doctor Who stories.

Point 2: Gatwa works as the Doctor

I’ve seen plenty of Doctors over the years the two best being hands down Tom Baker and Matt Smith (Tennant is good but VERY over rated). It took a couple of episodes but Gatwa clearly has reached the point where he carries himself as the Doctor. Frankly the early episodes didn’t do him a lot of favors as the first three (The Church at Ruby Road, Space Babies and the Devil’s Chord were, meh) but Boom clearly established him as the Doctor and while 73 yards was a classic Doctor lite story but by that time you clearly saw him as The Doctor. That’s what you really have to do to carry this role, be clearly recognizable as the Doctor while still carrying your own Doctor’s traits. He has pulled that off. I think Davies would have done better to have the regeneration (or bi-generation Trauma) and perhaps that’s reflected in some early weakness (more on that later) but so far so good.

Point 3: Millie Gibson is more than adequate.

It seems to me that they have made Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday very strong right at the start which was overcompensating but the character has really worked. The proving ground was 73 yards, the Doctor lite episode. We got to see how traveling with the Doctor (even briefly) has affected her and watched her grow. That to me was the strength of the episode not the lack of Gatwa who as I have already said, had established himself as the Doctor by that time. From what I hear they are already getting ready to dump her and I think this is a mistake as the primary goal of this season is to reestablish the show as something worth watching and Gibson is worth watching

Point 4. The elephants in the (script) room.

A lot of people have written off the series because of the agenda thrown in their faces and we saw plenty of that during the specials and there is agenda here. As I already noted the Davies has been pushing his agenda since day 1 in 2005 but the agenda hasn’t been the boss of the show, at least not yet. As long as the agenda doesn’t get in the way of the actual stories I’m willing to put up with it. There are also those who hate that Davies hasn’t reversed the timeless child stuff, spoiler alert. That isn’t going to happen here and never was in the cards and won’t be until it hurt them financially and with Disney paying the bills that not likely. I simply ignore the references and remember rule #1 The Doctor Lies.

Point 5: Big Finish influences

Those of you who don’t listen to the big finish audios might miss it but there seems to be a ton of big finish influences in this series. Over and over I spot things from audios that I seem to recognize (elder Gods, relatives of the Toymaker for example) . This is not surprising as they have been doing Doctor Who for 26 years and doing it well so it’s natural that you would have some stuff bleeding over even if it’s not all considered canon. Given the quality of the Big Finish work this is a positive rather than a negative. I don’t know if this is deliberate or unconscious but either way it makes the show better.

Point 6: Irony Irony Irony Conservative Messages All Over the Place

One of the things that has been really amusing has been that the Davies crowd is so wrapped up in the agenda that they are missing things that I’m seeing. The latest episode is the best example of this but I’ll save that for my review later this week. Today let’s hit a few today from the prior ones

• In the Space babies episode there is a scene where the intelligent babies suggest there is something wrong with them, but the Doctor reassures them they are good just as they are. While our agenda friends thought they were dunking there actually they dunked on themselves because that is an explicit message against transitioning kids. You are great JUST AS YOU ARE
• In the Devil Chord episode the idea of pushing a Trans character was big, in fact SO excited were they missed what said character was. Or to put it another way: The same guy who was all bent out of shape having a handicapped person as the murderous Davros had no problem at all as a clearly trans character as an evil murderous elder God out to pervert and destroy not just the world but culture and joy.
• In 74 yards I really liked how the Welsh noted how many in England still think of them (shades of Boomtown). More importantly the episode shows how the Doctor changes others in the sense that they see what’s in front of them and act. More on that later this week when we hit Dot and Bubble but that’s constant theme is there.
• And of course in the Church at Ruby Road we celebrate foster parents, the idea that a kid is worthwhile even if said kid is not wanted. That the entire basis for the pro-life movement which I suspect few if any of those involved in product embrace.

Again I’m going to cover Dot and Bubble separately but to sum up. This season of Doctor Who is worth your while not because of the woke stuff so far but despite it. Granted we don’t know if it will turn on a dime but at least to this point, I must say the Doctor is back and he’s been missed.

Episode ranking as I see it (not including specials nor Dot and Bubble which I’ll review this week)

1. 73 Yards ***** Solid episode
2. Boom ****1/2 Nice basic plot
3. The Church on Ruby Road **** OK doctory intro
4. Space Babies **** Not bad but not great
5. The Devil’s Chord ***1/2 Interesting villain but wasted potential with weak resolution & lousy ending.

(spoiler alert the top spot on that list will change this week)

Oh and let me re-iterate that per my son all of these are better than anything since Capaldi.