Why the Female Doctor Who is a flop.

The fact is that such concerns have already been dismissed by the BBC. The next season is going ahead.

Like I said earlier it's not the 1970s any more, you need to check your sources are up to date.

Exactly. The BBC had to dismiss such concerns because the ratings are (shall we say) rather disappointing. If the ratings were good, the BBC would have no reason to dismiss any "such concerns".

Of course it is going ahead next year, a contractual obligation with HBO makes any other possibility rather remote.

So HBO still wants it and will take legal action if the BBC don't provide it.

Sounds like they're giving their customers what they want.

All the complaints are from people like you, complaining about 'woke' culture, who think the greatest piece of Sci Fi is Barbarella.

I had to Google "Barbarella" to see what you were talking about. I was expecting talking elephants.

As far as the "greatest" sci-fi? I think The Expanse is the best current sci-fi television series on all fronts. I am looking forward to seeing this season of Westworld that just started.

Now you've got a new favourite film to watch.

Let's focus on Season 12 as a whole. The problem is still the writing sucks. The story for the entire season turns out to be rather pedantic, in spite of the drastic changes made to the Doctor Who franchise.spoilers start now

In the first couple of episodes we learn that the Master is back and has some nefarious plan. He makes some vague comments about "lies" and lets slip that for some reason he has nuked Galifrey.

In the fifth episode we meet Doctor Ruth, who is remarkable in that she is a Black woman... but she ends up having surprisingly little part to play in the overall story.
Also Jack Harkness makes a cameo. His only role in the season is to deliver one line "Beware the lone cyberman".

In the last two episodes we learn that the Doctor has a new origin story ("She is from an alien race that is not indigenous to Gallifrey"). This, for some not completely explained reason, is why the Master nuked their homeworld. The Master is creating a new race of cyber-timelords. He is defeated (apparently) blah blah blah. The Doctor is then remarkably easily captured by the Judoon and put in a Maximum security prison.

Themes of the Season

If you look at the season as a whole, the story is rather pedantic. The mythology of the show is rewritten, but this doesn't tell us anything of depth. Great seasons have had things to say about the internal struggles of the Doctor or her changing relationships with humans and with humanity.

This Season, for all the fireworks, had surprisingly little to say.

1. She's Black. Yes, we now have a Black female Doctor. You can check that off your list. But what did Doctor Ruth do? What did she have to say? Her only use to the story was as a therapist in a dream sequence.

2. The Doctor and The Fam. The story of the "Fam" has completely disappointed over the past two seasons. What should be a story about the Doctor's relationship with humans turned into static, one-dimensional story about nothing. In the beginning of Season 11 the Doctor was having trouble confiding in or trusting the Fam. At the end of Season 12 the Doctor was having trouble confiding in or trusting the Fam. There was very little growth and very little that the writers had to say.

3. At the final episode the Doctor has what was intended to be a heartwarming speech about how she would sacrifice it all for "The Fam". I grimaced at this scene, it was an expository speech that didn't match the progress of the story. There has never been any real connection or growth in the relationship of this Doctor with her companions.

The talk between Graham and Yaz is touching, but even that speech showed how little they had grown together emotionally. It was admiration, not affection.

4. The Master Versus the Doctor. The Master was well-acted, but poorly written. This incarnation of the Master is a one-dimensional villain to be defeated (rather easily). The story had very little to say about anything.

This Master had a nefarious plan. He is filled with hate and rage. The Doctor stands up to him. He is defeated. There is no real emotional conflict, or character growth on the part of either side.

Contrast this with Missy, a nuanced character with a lot to say.

The problem is the writing. The story that Chris Chibnall is telling isn't very deep, isn't compelling and doesn't have much to say beyond 21st century platitudes.

You don't know The Master.

Roger Delgado set the template during the Pertwee years. He was a regular feature and that was when his character was established. There was nothing one dimensional about the current portrayal and was reminiscent of John Simms portrayal.

Missy wasn't more at nuanced, she just used sexual tension which is why you're interested. Hers was a different dynamic with a male Doctor and female Master. Sacha Dhawan's was more in keeping with the character.

And he's in this.



This scene probably sums it up, creepy and disturbing yet strangely affable.

Seriously Max, you should watch The Green Wing. I think it's the sort of thing you'd like.



If you were at all familiar with this you'd have seen the similarities between Sue White and Missy and maybe not be quite as surprised by the 'nuances.' Then again if you weren't pontificating from a position of ignorance you wouldn't be Max.

The Green Wing is very good, but it never really clicked with me. I preferred Alan Partridge.

And it was only when I wrote that last sentence I realised that was who you reminded me of. He only lives about 70 odd miles from Boston as well.




And without taking anything away from Ms Gomez I have to say that Sally Phillip's performance is stand out.

Really? How could you possibly have no knowledge of a Jane Fonda 'classic? The simplest of basic movie trivia lore and knowledge should have acquainted you with it. Even if Fonda is too independent, forceful and womanly for your tastes, you should have known about Barbarella.

I am sorry I disappoint you so.

I'll work through it...

...provided that you watch the Vadim directed film in the near future.

What I liked about Missy (the last incarnation of The Master) was that character had depth. She wasn't just a villain. She was more than just an adversary for The Doctor. She was pulled to the Doctor out of friendship, she couldn't understand why the The Doctor cared so much for his playthings (i.e. humans)... but her bond with The Doctor remained.

I didn't care that much for Clara (one of the weakest of the Doctor's companions in my opinion). However, the interaction between Missy and Clara was both fun to watch and nuanced. The "pointy stick" scene was brilliant.

The Missy story arc was intelligent and entertaining from beginning to tragic end.

It's like someone who's never heard of John Wayne holding forth about Westerns.

You've clearly not seen the clip from the Green Wing. Missy is Sue White in a new dress, that's not being nuanced, that's being typecast.

This thread is interesting in this respect. After 10 pages now No one has said anything of significance about why this Season of Doctor Who is good. There has been a lot of blathering about last century's Doctor, and why Delgado was the best Master and Troughton was the best Doctor and how anyone who doesn't agree can't know anything blah blah blah.

No on has explained what they think is important about this Doctor (other than her gender), or how Whitaker brought anything special to the role. I can explain this for any of the other Doctor's. Other Doctor's brought a different emotional take on the story and told an internal story. What does Whitaker bring?

My main complaint is that the writing is horrible. It is shallow. It hasn't developed interesting characters or themes. The Doctor is rather shallow, she doesn't really connect to humans. She does the right thing without any insight into her inner struggle (something we have seen without question in Doctor's like Capaldi, Smith and Tennant).

No one here has even addressed this issue of the writing. If someone could point out what they think was good about the writing this season, other than the 21st century gimmicks, that would worthwhile.

If you told these same stories with a male Doctor, would they be considered well written? I think not.

Maybe the 21st century gimmicks are good enough for some people. I would to see something more from Doctor Who.

What was it you said to Livinglava about failing high school physics?

You don't know anything, not because you don't agree but because you're incredibly ignorant. You didn't know who Barbarella was, (allegedly,) and refuse to even look at previous Doctors prior to Tom Baker.

Not only do you not know the trajectory of The Master, you don't want to know, and your knowledge of British television is so remiss you start gushing about nuance when Sue White gets dusted down and taken for one last run.

Americans talking about Monty Python when they meet someone from the UK is so clichéd it's a ******* meme.

If you're not prepared to educate yourself don't expect me to do it for you.

If you were honest you'd admit it's not the quality of writing you object to, it's modernism.

Hi Izzy.

Incidentally Monty Python has nothing to do with the UK (other than it's origin).

Monty Python has been fully adopted by the American tech community. One of the most popular computer languages is named "Python". The name was taken from the computer nerd community's favorite comedy troupe.

Enter an American tech company. Find the smart people. All of them can recite the dead parrot sketch from memory.

Don't be ******* absurd. Being adopted by a specific group after being sold overseas means nothing.

Being able to recite The Dead Parrot Sketch doesn't make you smart, it makes you a bit sad.

The people who you are insulting are literally the people that built the internet. I mentioned the language Python. We all have "spam" filters. There was a project at Google called "Unladen Swallow".

You can insult the computer nerds all want as "sad". But, try living without the internet they built. I am almost certain that Robert, who built this site, can recite the Dead Parrot sketch. He is one of us.