I guess we should talk about that finale, which I did see… and… I suppose I should be a good host and warn you of spoilers, but let’s be honest; the biggest thing out of that episode was spoiled the second the credits rolled.
So the final episode of Doctor Who’s current series/season/run ended with Nguti Gatwa’s Doctor regenerating into Billie Piper, who is not credited as the Doctor in the credits. What sort of tomfoolery is this? Is this Marble Mouth Davies being cute again? Is this another Mavity Bi-Generation clusterfuck that we’re going to beat into the ground?
Speaking of beating into the ground, it’s the end of the season and we’ve got another reality threatening storyline! Let’s pull out all the stops. Let’s bring back the Rani, let’s bring back Omega, let’s bring back Jodie Whitaker’s Doctor for a brief cameo, let’s have Omega eat the new Rani so we can get stuck with the old hag and render that entire piece of business completely useless! Let’s bring back all the old faces that I suddenly forgot were a thing! Let’s talk about how everyone is amazing and special and try to create some emotional triumph without any of the effort of having earned it! Let’s tease a wacky regen gone wrong! TIMEY-WIMEY!
I’ve seen this done before. It’s every RTD-helmed Doctor Who finale… and they somehow keep getting worse. The villains they brought back are deep cuts that most folks outside the longtime Whovians would recognize and for someone like Omega – one of the gravest threats – to be treated like a common monster of the day on Power Rangers is just underwhelming – and that’s being generous considering how much screen time he actually got here. The story is just rehashed and not even in a good way. It’s just a tenth generation Xerox of something that was done before – eventually, you lose the details and the copy isn’t quite as good.
So they make a big stink out of bringing back the Rani – both in revealing that the looming Mrs. Flood is not only a Rani, but we’ve got that crazy bi-generation gimmick that produced us two Doctors a couple years ago to create a second, younger Rani… and then all she does is exposition and empty speeches before she gets eaten by Omega, leaving us with Mrs. Flood to escape and… continue to be a thing. Honestly, you could have just done the thing they did with Missy and have her eventually be revealed as the Rani rather than go through all this stupidity. A bit of a shame, too, as I like Archie’s Rani quite a bit, even if she was basically doing a female Master rather than the cold, calculating two-bit Time Lady that the late Kate O’Mara elevated back in the day. On the other hand, I guess Mrs. Flood can do the bi-generation thing and we can introduce a whole bunch of disposable Ranis down the road. After all, Marble Mouth Davies is all about the Whoniverse. Why not spin off a Raniverse from that whole mess?
The whole plot about the Doctor giving up his life to save that of this baby… this baby that we’re given no real reason to care about beyond “it’s special.” Except we’ve got a bunch of people telling each other how “special” they are and if everyone is special, then nobody is. They try to cram in as much emotional marlarkay into this thing and none of this feels earned. They want to give us these touchy-feely moments without doing any of the work to make those moments mean something. Granted; Doctor Who has floundered in hitting these emotional moments at times, but I’d like to think they’ve done their fair share. I can’t say the same for this lot.
As far as Nguti Gatwa’s departure from the role… I’ve got to be honest here. I’m rather indifferent. This recent take on the Doctor felt less like the Doctor as he was normally depicted and more like some sexually-charged goof. Most of the episodes I’ve seen him in either have him crying or being a lovie, which I guess some people will appreciate, but at no point was I feeling that this was the same character that has existed for 60 years. If anything, it’s more like Gatwa is just playing himself and pushing his own quirks into the role rather than do his job as an actor – which is to pretend you’re other people. It’s particularly jarring when the only time I thought this Doctor shined was when he first appeared and then it was downhill from there.
I am not going to entirely blame Gatwa for his Doctor’s failings; the guy did the best he could with what he was given and I still believe that given the chance – and maybe a stint at Big Finish or two – he could be a great Doctor. But in his two season run, there wasn’t any point where his character felt fleshed out or vital to the narrative. I was never sold on his Doctor. Compared to, say, folks like Christopher Eccleston who nailed the Doctor in his one series, or Paul McGann, who got it done in ONE MOVIE.
The culprit here is bad writing. The stories in this series were garbage. If you want to blame it on Disney and the series going woke or whatever, there’s enough evidence of that according to some folks. I just think the stories and the concepts in here were absolutely dreadful. I’d honestly believe that Doctor Who was being produced by AI, it would manage a far better series worth of episodes than what Russel T. Davies did in his two so far.
So Gatwa’s out and Billie Piper’s in… except she may or may not be the Doctor. Is this JJ Abram’s Mystery Box at work here? Is this misdirection at being the obvious? Do I honestly care at this point? Probably not… and who knows what happens next? Is there going to be a third season or series xx coming up or is the series going on an extended hiatus and when we come back, we can have someone else take over the reigns and give the franchise something of a soft reboot? Drop the silly Billie Piper thing or just make her the new Doctor. Just… ENOUGH!
This whole deal feels desperate measures to try and retain a waning viewership or fanbase. The same can (and probably has) been said for David Tennant’s return as the Fourteenth Doctor during the 60rh Anniversary and I could sort of forgive that because having the Doctor regenerate back to one of his old faces was something new and was worth exploring. But now we’re doing it again by bringing back Billie Piper and… while I’m sure there’s some fascinating story behind this whole deal, this second go-around absolutely reeks of desperation.
Some could suggest this is their way of celebrating the 20th anniversary of Doctor Who’s return to television and I go “This is how they choose to celebrate that milestone? This?”
I miss Doctor Who when it was good. Actually, no, I don’t… because I can watch the first ten series on Prime and actually did. There were some duds, sure, but for the most part, those shows held up great. I’m not sure I could say the same for this recent run. Now I’m almost afraid to give the Jodie Whitaker shows a run. I mean, if the guy who had a hand in Doctor Whos’ revival could fuck things up so royally with this run, who knows how bad things will be?
Okay… let’s give credit where it’s due… RTD did Jodie good here… I can easily say this might be her best moment because it’s the only bit of the story that I actually dug… hopefully Big Finish does Jodie more good because she really needs good material. And maybe someday, Ncuti will get a run on there that will result in some good material, because I don’t think he ever got it here.
Can we bring back Steven Moffat to save Doctor Who? I think we’re long overdue. Hell, at this point, you might as well have AI write the scripts. They might do a better job than the last couple regimes. At this point, I’ll even accept a full-blown remake of Dimensions in Time over whatever slop Marble Mouth has in store because I no longer trust him to do good Doctor Who. The man has lost his marbles… or he’s eating them… who knows?
Yeah, that’s all I’ve got. Bye.
dtm666 