New Doctor New Look

It’s been too long since I wrote something about Doctor Who so in light of the BBC releasing the first official image of Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor I thought I would just share a few thoughts about Doctor Who Series 11.

Image BBC©

Series 11 seems like it is going to be a near complete relaunch for Doctor Who. I think that this will work similarly to the transition between the David Tennant and Matt Smith eras of the show. There were some aspects of continuity between the two of them but for the most part it was a change. More or less everything from the TARDIS (both inside and out) to the Sonic Screwdriver changed. That’s the level of change I expect we will be seeing by the time Jodie Whitaker is on our screens as the Doctor.

Based on the newly released image Jodie Whitaker looks very much like she is the Doctor. The whole ensemble of her new outfit just looks very Doctor-ish. I'm glad that they haven't done anything sexist and cringey like putting the Doctor in something pink or making her wear heels just because she's a woman (I was slightly worried they might do that). I'm also glad that once again the Doctor will be wearing a long coat.

In the background of the newly released promotional image of Jodie Whitaker as the Doctor we got our first look at her new TARDIS. To me the Police Box now looks a lot like the version that was used back in the 70s by the 3^rd and 4^th Doctors. I wonder if that’s a possible hint as to what the interior is going to look like. Will we finally see a TARDIS which has “the round things” again?

The Doctor is also going to be travelling with a team of companions in Series 11. My main thought about this is that it reminds me of the very first Tardis team with Ian, Barbara and Susan. I wonder if that's going to be something that's referenced. Perhaps giving her a full team of companions is a way of legitimising Jodie Whitaker as the first female Doctor by echoing the early years when multiple companions were the norm. I'm going to be reserving judgement until we know more because we literally know nothing about them right now! And remember people dismissed Billie Piper and Catherine Tate when they were initially cast yet no one (or at least no sensible person) would dismiss Donna Nobel and Rose Tyler now.

One of the main things that Series 11 is going to have to do is recapture the family audience. Doctor Who should never ever get too dark. Dark stories belong in the expanded universe and in adult spin-offs like Torchwood. There’s no denying that throughout the Capaldi era Doctor Who has struggled in the ratings and mainstream popularity. A part of why Doctor Who was such a massive success back in 2005 was because it aimed at the family audience. Jodie Whittaker needs to connect with the younger audience in the same way Christopher Ecclestone, David Tennant and Matt Smith did. Doctor Who needs to re-attract the 9 year old kids that will then read Doctor Who Adventures magazine and hunt down the action figures of their favourite characters. If the show if to survive beyond Series 11 it needs to bring in a new generation of fans.

In conclusion, I am cautiously optimistic about the future of Doctor Who. I really want Series 11 to be the smash hit success that Doctor Who deserves. So far I haven’t seen anything to make me nervous about the future of the series but I hope that my faith will not turn out to be misplaced.

Jodie Whittaker is The New Doctor – My Reaction

As you probably know yesterday the BBC announced that Jodie Whittaker will be playing the 13^th Doctor in the next series of Doctor Who. This announcement has sparked a lot of reaction, debate and conversation online and I thought I should add my voice to this.

First off, it is far too early to be judging what the new Doctor is like. We haven’t seen her in an episode yet. We haven’t even seen what her costume is going to be. We really don’t know what she is going to be like. This immediate knee jerk reaction to dismiss the new Doctor happens every single time. I remember the near total dismissal when Matt Smith was cast and now he is regarded as one of the best Doctors. I think everyone who has already written her off – whatever their reason - needs to give her a chance first.

I have seen some reactions that seem to think because we’ve had Rey in Star Wars and Wonder Woman has had a movie that we don’t need any more women in sci-fi/fantasy. This just completely misses the point. The number of men compared to the number of women in sci-fi/fantasy is still vastly unequal. It would be nice if we could get to a point where women in sci-fi/fantasy are just seen as characters rather than female characters however part of that coming about is through choices being made like casting a female Doctor.

The Doctor being female is definitely going to change the dynamic of the show. But that’s not a bad thing. Change has always been at the core of Doctor Who. Whoever was cast as the 13^th Doctor was going to change the dynamic of the series. The grandfatherly 1^st Doctor has a completely different dynamic to the cool 10^th Doctor. Doctor Who never stays exactly the same and introducing the first female Doctor is just another change.

Sadly Doctor Who has been in a weak position lately. Whatever your opinion is on the 12^th Doctor, Clara Oswald, Bill Potts and the past few series it is hard to deny that the show is in a precarious position. Ratings have been declining and main stream appeal has been lost. Christmas 2016 was the first one since 2005 were none of the major high street stores listed Doctor Who toys in their Christmas gift guides. There’s not really many younger viewers becoming Whovians at the moment.  Before the announcement yesterday I had assumed that the BBC would see a female Doctor as too big a risk given the uncertainty around the show’s future. However the BBC seem to have decided that right now is the time to take a bit of a risk and finally cast a female Doctor. It was possibly a casting decision that was motivated by a want to get people talking about the show again which it certainly has done! I hope for the sake of the shows future that this is a risk that will pay off in terms of support for the series.

Also I’d like to see how River Song will react to learning that her husband is now her wife. River’s story was nicely concluded in The Husbands of River Song. However I would be really interested to watch Jodie Whitaker’s Doctor meeting her wife, Professor River Song.

Right now it is too early to say if Series 11 of Doctor Who will be good and if Jodie Whitaker is going to be good as the 13^th Doctor. A lot is going to depend on who her companion (or companions) are, what her stories are like, how her Doctor is going to be written and what monsters is she going to be fighting. However I have faith that Doctor Who is about to enter a new era that will end up being a very highly regarded and much loved era.

Doctor Who – Empress of Mars Review

Empress of Mars is one of the most Doctor Who-ish episodes of Doctor Who.

That opening sequence with the Doctor, Bill and Nardole wandering around NASA just felt like the perfect Doctor Who opening sequence. Right from the start of this episode I felt like I knew what I was in for and I really enjoyed it. Colonial Victorian soldiers fighting the militaristic Ice Warriors on Mars was a set up that could have fallen flat however I think it worked. The episode had the conversation that Mars is the Ice Warriors planet and the humans were the invaders in that situation. Empress of Mars pulled off an action packed episode that revelled in sci-fi fun and also had moral conversations.

If you read my post anticipating Series 10 you might remember that I was rather excited by the return of the Ice Warriors. They are definitely one of my all-time favourite Doctor Who monsters and I wasn’t disappointed by them. Empress of Mars actually marks the first time on screen that the Ice Warriors have actually been on Mars and it worked really well as a setting for them. This series was a little light on proper monsters for the first few weeks but a big Ice Warrior story with them en masse has certainly satisfied my wanting a proper monster story. However the Ice Warriors in this episode were not just another monster. They had an understandable motive which made them a compelling, interesting and redeemable threat. I liked the Empress of Mars herself, Iraxxa as a character. I thought the adapted design of the traditional Ice Warrior armour worked very well for her. Iraxxa was interesting because in some ways she was just another villain interested in destruction but she was also willing to negotiate and give peace a chance, something that we don’t usually see from the average Doctor Who monster.

This episode had a lot that felt familiar from previous Doctor Who stories, not in a stealing stuff sort of way but more an affection fan pleasing tribute to Doctor Who’s legacy. The Ice Warriors are obviously classic monsters and they’re arguably amongst the most iconic Doctor Who monsters of all time. The clash between humans and reptilian monsters based on ideologies reminded me of previous Silurian stories, particularly 1970’s The Silurians and 2010’s Cold Blood. The Ice Warrior tomb was fairly reminiscent of a certain tomb from 1967’s The Tomb of The Cybermen. At the very end of the episode we saw a glimpse of Alpha Centauri from the Peladon stories during the 3^rd Doctor era. Appropriately enough the Ice Warriors actually appeared in both The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon. This was definitely an episode crammed full of references to make a fan of classic Doctor Who smile.

I think this was a strong episode for Peter Capaldi. This episode combined the fun side of the Doctor with the man who has seen war and the hero who saves everyone. That’s the Doctor I want to see, that’s the Doctor I grew up believing in. I have previously said that the 12^th Doctor doesn’t always feel like he wants to be the Doctor or like he enjoys having adventures and saving people, however this was certainly an episode were he felt like the Doctor. There were moments in Capaldi’s performance that felt reminiscent of Matt Smith and Tom Baker.

My main disappointment with this episode was the Bill didn’t get as much to do as she has done in previous episodes. Given how she reacted in Thin Ice I feel that Bill should have had stronger opinions on the colonialist ideas of the Victorian soldiers. This was the first episode that I’ve felt like Bill’s potential was wasted. However as always Pearl Mackie absolutely shined with another excellent performance. Bill was definitely once again a highlight of the episode however she should have had more to do.

And what was up with Missy asking the Doctor if something is wrong at the very end of the episode? Something to do with the finale, I think.

In conclusion, the eagerly awaited return of the Ice Warriors did not disappoint me. Empress of Mars was a Doctor Who episode full of fan pleasing moments, monsters and an enjoyable story. I think it’s one of my favourites this series.

And if you’re wondering, of course the Doctor’s Frozen reference made me laugh!

Doctor Who – Oxygen Review

‘Space the final frontier…’ I liked this episode from the moment it opened with the Doctor quoting Star Trek!

Now, before I start this review properly I’m going to give a spoiler warning. I don’t think it will be possible to write about this episode without talking about that last minute twist. So be warned!

Oxygen was essentially a base-under-siege episode. A classic Doctor Who story type that has been done many times throughout the shows history. Tonally I’d say this base-under-siege was most similar to 1977’s The Robots of Death and 2007’s 42. Oxygen has that constant sense of pressure and the constant building of obstacles and challenges much like 42. But it also has a similar tone to The Robots of Death with the thing that the mining crew rely on turning against them and picking them off.

Even though it was a fairly standard format for Doctor Who this episode definitely gave us something new. The concept at the heart of the episode - oxygen is being sold to space explorers - is an intriguing one. The episode did a good job of exploring what that would mean for humans travelling through space in that future. However admittedly it become reduced to just ‘we’re fighting space suit zombies’. Not that I mind, I have been saying for the past few weeks that I’ve been wanting proper monsters and this week I finally got them! But I would have actually liked to have seen the episode delve into the concept of oxygen coming at a price a little more, admittedly 45 minutes is a little too short to go too in depth but if Oxygen had been a two parter then that would have been interesting.

Peter Capaldi is nailing his performance as the Doctor each week. This is what I have been wanting from him since he took over the role. He had some speeches about saving people that wouldn’t have felt out of place in a Matt Smith or David Tennant episode. This is a Doctor enjoying saving the universe, something that we haven’t really seen much of from the 12^th Doctor prior to Series 10. He can be dangerous but he is also compassionate, funny and most importantly a hero.

As for the thing at the end of the episode that I mentioned at the start of this post… The Doctor is blind now. I did not see that coming, after all it’s not unusual for someone to get hurt during an adventure but it rarely tends to be permanent. Except this time it is permanent. The Doctor is now blind. I’m interested to see how that is going to unfold during the rest of the series.

So overall this was another solid episode that was reminiscent of Doctor Who at its best. I’m starting to feel that this season is almost giving us a Greatest Moments of Doctor Who and I am absolutely fine with that!

Doctor Who – The Pilot Review

Doctor Who is back, and it’s good!

Last night the first episode of the new season of Doctor Who aired and it was good, it feels like the show is back on track where it should be. I am pleased to say that I was not disappointed by The Pilot.

Peter Capaldi is the Doctor! After two seasons of doubting him I finally feel like Capaldi has become the Doctor that he should have been from the start. I won’t go into detail this time about all my problems with the 12^th Doctor, I already talked about that in my Return of Doctor Mysterio review and my pre-Series 10 post. However I felt like in The Pilot we got to see the full range of who the Doctor can and should be instead of just some grumpy guy moping around which is what he has been for the past couple of series. This is finally the 12^th Doctor as he should be, someone who is strange but funny and also compassionate. I particularly liked the little touch of having a picture of River Song and Susan on his desk, it helped to make the Doctor feel like he was still a part of what has come before him.

Setting the episode in a university was a brilliant idea. It just makes so much sense to see the Doctor in that environment. The scene were the Doctor was lecturing at the university was great, that speech felt reminiscent of some of the epic speeches that Matt Smith used to give. I think I agree with the Doctor’s summation that being a student is about texting, snogging and vegan wraps! (Even though I’m not out snogging!)

I liked how this episode was setting up some of the later series. The Doctor was at the university because he is protecting something that is hidden in a vault, it wasn’t specified what was lurking in the vault but I bet that whatever it is will become relevant later on in this series. The brief appearance from a Dalek was good. I hope that was it for the Daleks in this series. I don’t want them to be a big bad in yet another series but it was good to see the Daleks briefly appear as a reminder that they are still lurking out there.

Let’s talk about Bill Potts now. This was the first episode for her she shone as the new companion, I’m looking forward to getting to know her more over the coming weeks. To me it feels like there is something about Bill that is reminisicent of both Rose Tyler and Donna Nobel. I think Bill is going to be a welcome addition to the TARDIS. Bill is particularly notable as the first LGBT companion, I thought her sexuality was well handled in this episode as part of the plot revolved around her having a crush on a woman. Bill is definitely a lesbian, it is part of who she is however – at this point - it’s neither being ignored or defining her. Also she got even cooler when it turned out that she’s into sci-fi!

Tonally I think The Pilot was closest to 2008’s series opener Partners In Crime. In some ways it was a fairly standard new companion episode. We had the glimpse into her life, then the weird thing happening, the meeting with the Doctor and of course the ‘it’s bigger on the inside moment’. But most importantly this episode was about the Doctor meeting his new best friend.