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Tracking The Tardis
Jun. 16th, 2024 09:47 am I persevere with Dr Who.
Experience tells me that it can take a while for me to imprint on a new Doctor, so I'm suspending judgement on Ncuti Gatwa. (I didn't like Matt Smith at first but now I do. I thought Peter Capaldi was trying too hard to be Doctory (feeling the weight of past incarnations) but he's a fine actor and I liked him now and then. I think Jodie Whitacker was undermined by the lacklustre writing of the Chibnall era- and I gave up on her....)
But does the Doctor as party animal really work? It's different, certainly.
We watched a couple of episodes last night (while dog-sitting for Edna and Miriam.) The Devils' Chord is incoherent and hysterical- and if you're going to make a story that features the Beatles you really ought to make more of them, 75 Yards played nicely with the trope of the stranger who turns up in the witchy local pub- but the other trope of the companion who has peculiar powers and saves the world has been overworked by Davies and Moffat and detracts from the centrality of the Doctor, which was accented in this episode by his only putting in a token appearance. We watched the beginning of Dot and Bubble- and I thought, "Oh, God, this is going to be a morality play...."
I will continue to persevere. I love the Doctor.
But- in more general terms- I don't like it that the BBC has teamed up with Disney. I haven't seen evidence that the extra money is making much difference. The CGI may be better, but who cares about CGI? CGI is old hat.
And I'm beginning to think it was a mistake to re-hire Russell Davies. We're familiar with his schtick. Perhaps they should have gone for a show-runner/ head writer from outside the bubble of the Whoniverse.....
Experience tells me that it can take a while for me to imprint on a new Doctor, so I'm suspending judgement on Ncuti Gatwa. (I didn't like Matt Smith at first but now I do. I thought Peter Capaldi was trying too hard to be Doctory (feeling the weight of past incarnations) but he's a fine actor and I liked him now and then. I think Jodie Whitacker was undermined by the lacklustre writing of the Chibnall era- and I gave up on her....)
But does the Doctor as party animal really work? It's different, certainly.
We watched a couple of episodes last night (while dog-sitting for Edna and Miriam.) The Devils' Chord is incoherent and hysterical- and if you're going to make a story that features the Beatles you really ought to make more of them, 75 Yards played nicely with the trope of the stranger who turns up in the witchy local pub- but the other trope of the companion who has peculiar powers and saves the world has been overworked by Davies and Moffat and detracts from the centrality of the Doctor, which was accented in this episode by his only putting in a token appearance. We watched the beginning of Dot and Bubble- and I thought, "Oh, God, this is going to be a morality play...."
I will continue to persevere. I love the Doctor.
But- in more general terms- I don't like it that the BBC has teamed up with Disney. I haven't seen evidence that the extra money is making much difference. The CGI may be better, but who cares about CGI? CGI is old hat.
And I'm beginning to think it was a mistake to re-hire Russell Davies. We're familiar with his schtick. Perhaps they should have gone for a show-runner/ head writer from outside the bubble of the Whoniverse.....
