Leave your thoughts in the comment section below! I'll pick out as many as I can for the community reaction video later this week! I'm still working on my big projects so I hope you all look forward to that and yes I have seen the Daleks colourisation😂I'm thinking of making a video after the Specials are out doing a complete review of the 60th Anniversary and all of the content within it. Anyway with all that out of the way, I hope you can enjoy my initial reactions and don't forget to leave your own!
Bit let down by this episode honestly. Loved the opening couple scenes, but it all went downhill from there. And I hate the new TARDIS set, it's just too empty!!!
as a non-binary person, that whole little binary non-binary part had me die on the inside. and the male presenting line, oh talk about poor writing. i can’t imagine the outrage that would happen if chibnall wrote this. the star beast was very clearly written by a cisgender person
The Weapon Wheelchair felt like a 3rd Doctor move, that instantly brought me back to his days as UNIT's scientific adviser, which is fitting considering she is the 53rd adviser.
The pay has obviously been cut since Liz Shaw's day, maybe that's the real reason she went back to Cambridge? Did anyone notice the glaringly obvious? The Grand Serpent was obviously trying to influence UNIT and not Pat's, Jon's or Tom's doctors even noticed that there was something wrong all that time. None of them thought to ask why he had their TARDIS in the office he had in the UNIT HQ?
With all the good and all the bad, I like it a LOT. Classic Russel, prioritising character over story for his introductory episodes. Not complaining though. The ending was quite shit, and I still was somehow beaming through the whole episode. Doctor Who is a very unique experience indeed lol
I think most of the ending was fine, it was just the resolution for the Metacrisis story that felt rushed. I hope that this isn't the end of the story though
I'm not non-binary, but I am a trans woman and I found the ending totally embarrassing. I heavily disliked the bit where Rose said something along the lines of "Now I know who I am." You don't just stand on the pavement and mutter things like that to yourself - it seemed so poorly observed, especially when compared to Donna's and Sylvia's earlier conversation in the kitchen. In fact, I'd say that that kitchen conversation was the only thing that needed to have been said on the topic. I imagine that, in the future, this will really be seen as a product of its time. Having said that, I did enjoy everything else and am looking forward to next week! For every RTD miss, there is a spectacular hit.
I think this is a good nuanced take. Of course I can't predict the future but if I had to I would admit I agree that this episode will be seen as a product of its time, whether that be for the ending or the kitchen scene or both
@@TiredMoonRabbit I think making content out of spite just ends with no one happy. Overall, if you write something from a place of appreciation for a community instead of disdain for another it will in my opinion be better
@@dwfan91- fair but I don't think it was done in disdain, I think in an age where bad people are very out spoken its important to weed them out, it could have been done better but none of the stuff that happened in this episode really affects its quality at all. But that's just how I see it.
@@TiredMoonRabbitSee, but A, we aren't transphobes, and B we liked the kitchen scene. It was all the other stuff, all the forced stuff, that people dislike
I think it was brilliant! My only criticism is that they didn't explain the "Female timelords can just 'let go'" thing, i really liked the representation, but didnt understand that stuff at all
Well I'm pretty sure the female thing was Donna joking and it didn't really have anything to do with being a timelord, Donna and rose just had enough time to realize that just like how the power entered her it can also be expelled.
@jessicarubies2256 you wo 18:13 uld think Donna being his BEST friend he would have gone to Gallifrey and looked it up, he is the President after all, and there is a chance he could have stopped the Master from single-handedly destroying Gallifrey. There are just too many loose threads kicking around from rubbish writing and show-runners deciding for us that canon doesn't matter! Well it bloody well does obviously because it wouldn't be in the state its in otherwise. And by the way I thought Clara was his best friend..... Stories have beginnings, middles, and usually ends. Dr.Who is one of the unique stories that so far doesn't have an end yet, but that doesn't mean any fool can come along and stomp all over everyone else's contributions that have tried to STICK to the storyline. I don't mind the show progressing at all, but things like the Timeless Child debacle and and a few more piles of garbage like D.Tennent's and Jodie Whitaker's abilities to fall from impossible heights etc. Oh come on it just doesn't make sense because William Hartnell,Patrick Troughton and (especially) Jon Pertwee would have loved to be able to do that. So fuck all those people who think canon isn't important. Get away from all this Davros' wheelchair, Rose's gender decisions etc and just go back to telling little adventures about a Time Lord who travels the universe in his borrowed TARDIS settling rights and wrongs like he/she used to? I forgot to mention how obvious it was that ALL the boxes Donna was carrying were plainly empty? If you don't pay attention to these details you will make everything look just as shaky and end up back where we were when Grade led his little campaign to have a right good laugh at it and then another bunch of onlookers appear making their inane and humourless remarks and the rest is history. Let's not forget that's what happened before and it took 17 years to recover from that.
the entire episode could’ve been david tennant running around and i would’ve had just as much fun! i’m so excited to see what the next episode brings :-)
It WAS just D.Tennent running around waving the impossible sonic screwdriver.....what will it be able to do when Ncuti takes over? Build brand new TARDIS's. This show is only for the Yankee audience now and people that think Rings of Power is an improvement on JRR TOLKIEN's beautiful Silmarillion etc. Modern so-called writers just don't have any imagination.
i think the opening scene was just for context for viewers who aren’t caught up, which makes sense but i think they could’ve done it more organically throughout the episode.
it's weird because to me they DID do it fairly organically through the episode? exposition is never gonna be entirely organic in a situation like this, but the doctor explains the donna situation to the scientific advisor lady, and then there's the scene with donna and her mum where she talks about feeling like she's missing something. so idk why that stuff needed to be there at the start, it was just bizarre. i loved the ep generally, but i feel like there was way too much handholding with the weird floating exposition directed right at the camera in the beginning when they literally do explain it within the ep
the new sonic powers made me cringe 😭 it’s always the worst when their sonic just starts to feel like a magic wand.. i hope these new powers aren’t used too frequently. i can’t pretend this doesn’t happen all the time tho i’ll never forget the laser gun screwdriver in “the doctor falls”
I wouldn't mind the Sonic still being able to create the holograms, as that seems like an extension of something the Sonic already does, which is scan and identify things. The force field is a bit OP though, even though it looks damn cool
Was fun. Great seeing the reunion stuff, the emotional core of the doctor not wanting to lose his best friend after so many years still hits home, some stuff misses tho. Like I don’t know how I feel about the sonic screwdriver making shields. Meep was fun and silly, Mets crisis is as stupid as ever. Sadly, I think alot of the good stuff might be drowned out by the toxic “representation wars” online. People will be torn over the execution here, but I can’t get mad over the show trying to do a good thing even if the execution is a bit iffy at points. Love the new intro and tardis but I hope they add more homely elements to it soon. I liked 14 a lot, I think he had a slightly different vibe from 10 but that could just be me seeing what I want to see.
It was preachy rubbish just like it was meant to be. I personally think the TARDIS is more like a 70's discotheque and Yasmin Finney was definitely lit at the end in certain ways that showed her looking more masculine and it was completely unnecessary, just like the sonic doing the impossible. Bull
I'm just a little sick, personally, of the casual misandry that pervades NuWho and has pervaded it across all three showrunners. That whole "a male presenting Time Lord wouldn't get it" thing at the end was SO GROANWORTHY. Why is RTD the way that he is. Also thought the pre-credits cold open was just weird too. Was framed poorly; they should've just done a montage of scenes or something. There were some really good moments though.
@dwfan91- having seen the rest of your review (I wrote this comment a couple minutes in and then paused the video to write it), I have to agree with your assessment that RTD was basically "trolling" - it feels like he is very motivated by spite and this chip on his shoulder about "anti-woke" people is leaking into his writing rather than him dealing with it in a mature way. Not to read too deep into it but he just doesn't seem like a very mature person. He seems quite petty.
In regards to the "undo button": I realized when I rewached Journey's end in preperation today that Donna and the Doctor didn't use the buttons for what the Daleks or Davros could have had in mind. They were probably random switches for regular maintanance. Donna and the Doctor just used them in such a creatively genius way that they figured out how to disable and destroy the Daleks with the console. It's probably a similar thing with the Dagger engine reversal in this episode. They just figured out how to use the device for something it wasn't made for because they're freaky creative geniuses. So now the Journey's End plotpoint and this episodes plotpoint make more sense for me.
@@dwfan91- Yeah, that's fair. Most other examples of the Doctor in console rooms (that I remember) have him manipulate the controls' capabilities in a much more limited way, like taking a long time to change wires on satalite 5 for the delta wave, or simply exploding the family of blood's ship, or setting the star whale to be made brain dead. They all took more time and were more within the reasonable capabilities of each console's demonstrated capabilities. I think The Star Beast's climax would have worked better if the ship was absorbing electrical and thermal energy directly from the environment, which would drain electricity from all London and make the outside environment very cold as the ship readies to launch. It could then make the reversal process would make more sense, as it just warms the environment back to normal and London's electricity goes back on. They could still say that the fire from the actual launch could burn most of London, but we wouldn't actually see the city go up in flames because the reversal would start before the ship actually launches.
Was the non-binary reveal at the end of the episode a bit cringe? Yes. Was the Sonic a bit overpowered? Yes. (I’m actually a fan of the overpowered Sonic though, RTD has always used it as a magic wand). Was this the best Dr. Who episode ever? No. But it was substantially better than any Chris Chibnall episode, and Dr Who finally has a thing it has lacked for way too long. Characters! Even in this slightly too fast paced episode we still got a deeper understanding of Rose than we did for any of the Chibnall era companions over multiple series of television. Let’s not forget, that most of RTD’s specials have, historically, been mediocre to bad. I don’t need a perfect episode I just need a fun one, and this was fun. The Whoniverse marvel ripoff title sequence sucks though.
What's strange is that TSB wasn't really structured like most new doctor eps, in the sense that the story didn't work too hard to introduce the new doctor, like The Eleventh Hour, The Christmas Invasion, Deep Breath, The Woman Who Fell to Earth, etc. It was more like Rose, I guess. Gonna guess 15's intro will be more like a classic new doctor intro. At the same time, TSB did't feel like an anniversary special. (I get TOTT more now, RTD knew that this ep wouldn't do the job of celebrating the history of Doctor Who.) TSB felt like a kinda fun non-time-travel Doctor Who adventure with a classic RTD easy-mode ending. All of which reminds me that I generally don't enjoy as much the non-timey-wimey earthbound adventure episodes, especially when written by RTD. But I was prepared, cause I'd re-watched a bunch of RTD specials that I didn't like, so I wasn't too surprised or disappointed. Hoping RTD is still capable of highs as well as lows, and for weirder episodes to come. (And yes, I was taken out of the story by the way RTD handled the messaging. It's a bummer because up till the end I thought he was doing well, and the Rose stuff was relatively organic. If he'd left it to show don't tell, there would be less fodder for the anti-woke crowd. But RTD knew that, so I suppose mission accomplished?) I guess the best thing I can say is that all in all it was Doctor Who, and I had fun, mostly, watching a new episode of Doctor Who, because I like Doctor Who.
I loved it, the fast pace was not a problem to me. The binary thing at the end was about numbers but yes it was there to trigger and to be misinterpreted (as a wind up). At the end of the day it was fun it made me laugh, cry and smile. The spilling of the coffee was a little to obvious with her story of why she lost her job just before it happened, but nothing is perfect.
This episode genuinely brought me so much joy. I loved Doctor Who when I was younger, especially the Davies era, but I've always had a hard time coming back to it after I transitioned. Chibnall's era became something special to me then, it was almost like I got to see The Doctor experience their own transition. That left me a little worried to what Davies would do again once he got the reins, and "Binary. Nonbinary" is just about the last thing I expected. To see Davies and his iconic cast embrace an explicitly trans character for their transness in a Who story, with all the goofy, cheesy, messiness that implies, after I felt so estranged from them for so long, it just meant everything to me. The episode is far from flawless and there's nothing Davies had done in the past was sticks out to me really harmful or transphobic, but that this crew decided to tell specifically this story made me feel like I'd finally come home.
Me and all my friends fucking hated this episode. It feels so Disney, the writing was cringe, the pandering was incredibly blatant, and the tardis just screams Star Wars.
my nonbinary trans perspective: i thought the stuff with rose and her family early in the episode was quite good and realistic. but making nonbinary magic the climax of the story was really not. the whole thing felt a little insulting even, by the end. and making "ha ha, men are dumb" basically the solution to the doctor-donna made me actually physically cringe. i'm thankful to russell for trying to include us, but would humbly suggest he slow down until he gets better at it. apart from all that though, i actually quite liked the episode.
I feel like that line was supposed to be a light rib, something that multiple female companions Donna included have done before, so I personally didn't mind it.
@@TiredMoonRabbit it wasn't just a light rib though, it was the narrative justification for the doctor's inability to work out how to save donna for, like, hundreds of years of their life, including some where they were fem-presenting, but also according to the episode hadn't forgotten donna (??). also, imo it's a borderline transphobic use of language about gender presentation. most frustratingly, it's totally unnecessary. the doctor is a fairly pompous, self-important time lord, of course they'd never think of just letting it go. for someone who appears obsessed to a fault with leaving regressive things behind, russell really messed up with that line.
@@awkie I mean if you see it that way I can't change your mind, but to me it was very clearly a light rib and the actual reason she was able to figure out how to fix herself was because she had time to. If she could absorb the energy and half the energy by having a kid then she could expell it.
@@TiredMoonRabbit to be honest even if it is just a light jab, i still don't like it, the language choice remains really quite bad, and it riles up people who hate people like me even more, for nothing. and donna working out in 15 years what the doctor couldn't in over 1100 just because "she had time to" is... certainly an idea.
@@awkie I meant more that the circumstance that they were in allowed her to figure it out alongside having her daughter so it was like 2 computers working together to accomplish a task. That fair, I like it and I'm glad those people are getting riled up because if they do it enough they will eventually slip up and have their audience turn against them.
Met up with my boys (the whomans) to watch it and a couple of thoughts from the group were. Loved it at the start, big laugh out loud moments mainly from excitement but that ending was kind of bad? I did enjoy Doctor Donna splitting the power between her and her daughter but then they just shake it off? So they don’t die! Big Oof. Also it ended very abruptly feels like they cut it mid sentence 😂 also why didn’t they put the trailer for the next episode at the end! So many questions, so little answers (yet). Also loved every line from Donna about her trans daughter but kind of ruined it with the doctor asking beep the meep his/hers pronouns. Also why did beep call donnas daughter weird 😂 overall a fun time with friends
Come on did you not watch the show! Beep the meep’s chosen pronoun is the definite article, and beep the meep will only be referred to as beep the meep!!
SPOILER WARNING I'm genuinely sad that I'm not giving this episode a positive rating. I was really looking forward to this but at the moment my enthusiasm for the rest of these specials has dropped. That is a damm shame considering the story potential these stories had. To start off, please *DO NOT* say to, 'Oh they will address that later' because that isn't an excuse for presenting the story in the manner it has been especially with some of the character interactions. 14 is great here but I still don't see how he is different from 10 at all and that is a negative in my book considering that we already have plenty of 10 stories, I was really hoping RTD would do something different with Tennant's range than just oh its 2008 again but with a more inclusive cast. The best scene by far in this episode was the one where 14 asks about Wilf and I just teared up. The 'twist' of him not actually being dead was funny and surprisingly didn't take me out of the story in any way. Donna was wonderful to see again except for the fact that, I still don't know why we needed to see her again. Nothing interesting has been done with her arc, in fact in my view at least at the moment the impact of her ending has been dimished. Sylvia was also wonderful to see surprisingly, her having aged actually hit me very hard. Rose at the moment unfortuantely has no character. She is just like a cardboard slate at the moment, and that is a damm shame considering she has so much potential, hope that she has a lot more scenes in the future that actually develop her character. This story, if what I list below hadn't happened would have been a good story(7/10) with a decently executed doctor who story. Okay so the lines about Rose being trans fall into 2 camps, one being good and the other being horrendously crowbarred in. The initial scene wuth Sylvia misgendering her and the neighbourhood teens being jerks were both good and I was happy about the handling of a trans character uptil that moment. But then we have the garbage line of 'Are you gonna assume pronouns', this is so badly written like just why, why do we have to have this incredibly forced line instead of something subtler like 'He?' and the doctor goes 'Oh yea fair enough, what do you go by Beep'. Don't you see how much better this is?? But the worst offender is the 'Non-binary' scene, I was so disheartned by that scene, because turning those words into this forced garbage genuinely took me out of this story. Especially so when paired with the 'Something a male presenting timelord wouldn't get, just giving it up' That is probably one of the worst moments RTD has ever written given how goddam much it undermines Donna's exit and to almost shield himself from criticism has been written in pseudo-progressive garbage. I hate this, this moment almost kills me. I expected better 'representation' from RTD than this, especially when I've seen 'It's a sin'. I feel so sad that we needed the shoe-horned in line of making some bizzare connection of something as human as gender to regeneration. I hate this. The moment I like are ones where Missy finds the idea of romantic love stupid and earthly or when 12 says 'Gender and its associated stereotypes'. These moments are so so much better than this trash. I do like the 'Male presenting timelord' line though, that is genuinely nice. Overall just sadded that we had to undermine Donna's exit, I'm sure that this isn't the end of her time but even then the mere suggestion that 'She just didn't have to want it or that the doctor just had to understand that she wouldn't want it' is just trash. I'm hoping for improvement. Just feel incredibly bummed out at the moment.
Idk how this looks worse than Jodie's 3 series. Her series is CONSTANT close ups where you can't even tell where they are because the camera is in people's noses. Lol
@@dwfan91- Absolutely true. Lol. It's by far the worst looking modern set of series because they don't take advantage of any of their sets. It constantly looks like they filmed on sound stages. At least this had locations.
I agree that Power of the Doctor was better, but I don't think Chibnall would have made a better anniversary special. Not because I think he's the worst thing that has ever happened to Doctor Who or anything like that, but precisely because I feel like Power of the Doctor already was his way of paying homage to the entire history of the show. So, basically, I think Power of the Doctor should have released this year as a 60th anniversary special, with Tennant, Smith, Capaldi and (if possible) Ecclestone as Guardians of the Edge, and from there straight to Ncuti. That's what I'd do if I could rewrite time, rearrange reality, or something like that.
I think Russell just let, trying to weed out the bigots, get in the way of making a proper ending. Like this is coming from a trans person, that ending made no fucking sense and it was just silly. He's already sort of had the 'big red button' to fix everything in his writing. Imo it was never bad, it took away from the story a tiny bit, but it never made you hate the episode. This however is just dumb af. I kinda liked the episode, the pacing was a little wonky and the sonic shield was a bit 'OP', but the ending did take away a lot. The 'male presenting' bit gave 'the doctor, the widow.....' vibes, and the 'letting it go' was just another random plot convenience that doesn't make sense. Overall I was thinking 9/10, but the ending does drops it to a 7/10. Hopefully we dont see a repeat of this kind of ending tbh
@@TiredMoonRabbit when she absorbed it before did it not rewrite her biology or am I being stupid? If not I guess I owe a little apology to Russell then haha
@@charlieblockclocksnow I don't think so? I know that she gave the meta crisis doctor some of her biology but I'm pretty sure all they said she got was his intelligence.
@@TiredMoonRabbit that would make a more sense and explain my confusion. I take it back the ending is not as dumb as I made it out to be. Hoping on a rewatch I can catch the key details a bit better
yeah i really agree with most of your points. the episode looked pretty shite visually and it really was a 4/10 objectively. subjectively id give it 6/10 because i really enjoyed aspects of it and i had fun watching it. im really hoping that the next episode will be a much more fitting 60th anniversary, especially if the rumours that it'll be set in the tardis are true. i do find it hilarious that the power of transgenderism saved london like genuinely so amazing even if it was a shit end to the episode, but the way rtd handled the trans stuff was so icky (coming from a trans person) comes very much off as trying to be a decent trans ally and very well meaning but :/ that male presenting comment was so stupid and unnessary like? the best part of the trans stuff was with sylvia, very real to my own experiences with family, the most authentic trans bit of the episode by far. really enjoyed this video by the way! i love your channel, best dr who one out there
Funny you mentioned end if time i definitely got end of tine vibes with the scene in the space ship when the doctor has the tantrum over donna kinda like end of time with wilf.
It was such a fun episode with a lovely style, even the new sonic features were cool and not over used. I especially liked that the door being deadlocked meant he had to do it by hand. My only complaint is the shoehorned “non binary” thing, not that I’m bothered by it, it just felt forced and I didn’t really understand how that tied in at all. Wasn’t the reason Donna originally said “binary” completely unrelated to her condition and just technical jargon that her brain broke while saying? New TARDIS interior was magnificent, and the 14th Doctors style was refreshingly different from ten. I also loved the design of the Wrarth warriors, they felt classic yet modern. The best part was when Donna spilled coffee on the console my dad and I cracked up because we saw it coming a mile away.
The difficult thing with RTD is he indulges in both cloying sentimentality, and nudge-wink high camp; it's sometimes hard to know which mode he's in. The binary/non-binary scene had me roaring like a drain, because it seemed like he was managing to straddle both modes at once: being very pointedly big-hearted, while also mocking himself for his own emotional excess. It felt knowingly ridiculous, which made it work for me - a genuinely lovely scene. It was the 'let it go' moment where the sanctimony felt like it wasn't properly balanced out with camp. Anyway, anyone else moved by Sylvia's character development? Felt like she quietly anchored the whole episode.
I honestly believe the ‘MCU trailer analysis’ obsession online has made people have insanely high expectations when it comes to ‘seeing stuff that wasn’t in the trailers.’ This has been the first time in YEARS that I’ve sat down and laughed with doctor who (not at) as it has been witty and well written like it used to be. It’s a massive improvement from the bottom of the barrel mcu humour of series 11-13. They did a really good job with this one. I thought the visuals were on par with the past couple of series (really good)
I really feel like trailer analysis as a whole has got to appoint where people either, overthink and expect things that weren't promised like the scott pilgrim show on Netflix or people have become so good at it that they feel like the trailer spoiled the whole thing when they are really the reason they feel that way.
I don't feel like I overanalysed the trailer but I will admit that as megafan, I have probably seen that trailer far more than most people so it is a bit stupid of me to say that as if everyone remembers it as well as I do
@@dwfan91- I'm kind of on a middle ground here. Like, sure, London being on fire was in the trailer, but I think everyone assumed that it was probably from The Giggle. It really surprised me to see it happening *already*.
Rose is a "celestial toymaker" as in she made toys inspired by celestial creatures. That is so clever (I did not follow the trailer and all the leaks so I am not sure if this is new)
The Donna noble pregnancy isn't a bug though. The metacrisis timelord energy is always still inside, what she got wiped out was memory so she couldn't remember how to use it. It sure can get passed on. And once they are sharing it they get half of the original to hold on, and they also got each other, so it's easier to let go than last time. Or you can simply just say, I mean, Donna wasn't given much choice to think about her options the last time around --- maybe she would have done that then already but remember 10th was so adamant and eager to save her, the memory was forced wiped. Whether that being male representing line works or not is a different thing, but it's actually consistent on the doctor part --- he can't think of that easy way out now, couldn't think of it back then.
I'm glad people are being more charitable of Doctor Who! Before if a plot point like this happened people who hate it till the end of time. People are more forgiving nowadays it seems
@@dwfan91- Well we'll see I do suspect you just fall into minority when you say this is worse than most of season 11's. Not sure it's people being more forgiving or just in most fans' perception, RTD is just writing this thing better than Chibnall🤷
oh definitely, people HATE the Chibnall era, more than anything. But I'm glad people finally seem to be willing to suspend disbelief more with Doctor Who rather than across the previous few years. Breath of fresh air
@@dwfan91- When things are written better, and connecting with general audience more, it's only natural they are more likely to overlook or explain away stuff. That said, plot holes considered by some are just slight leap of continuity left for audience's active engagement to connect dots by others, particularly if everything else is done well. Looking at the consensus these couple days it's pretty clear that the vast majority of fans, though finding the non-binary and male presenting and let-go line from confusing to cringe, still enjoy the episode way more than anything Chibnall ever did despite those lines. I know you're big classic series fan so it makes sense you prefer S11 to this. Most modern viewers value human drama way more than procedural scientific wacky mystery solving stuff, if the former is severely lacking to the extent that all you get are wooden people stop the show and say stuff like "how do you feel about it" all the time.
@@ziggyzhang4156 I suppose. Series 11 has pretty great human drama. Demons of the Punjab especially springs to mind. I think most people just don't remember/didnt watch and jump on the hate bandwagon tbh. I see comments like them all time "Haven't watched past capaldi, all of Jodie's episodes are s###" etc. Not that people can't have watched them and decided they didn't like them on their own ofc but I'm speaking broadly.
The comic it was based on is a cool story. Tennant and Tate are obviously still brillant in their old roles. RTD cannot get out of his own way with the heavy handed progressive politics. Rather than just having a trans character, we have to bring it up every 10 minutes. She scolds the doctor for assuming someone's gender? Really? What happened to clever allegories? Creatively incorporating moral messages that you might not fully notice if you're not looking for it? Instead the boomers writing doctor who desperately want you to notice. "Look kids im woke too" THE DOCTOR DONNA is basically thrown away for no reason? No good explanation whatsoever
I can’t lie I was just a bit bored while watching. It’s been hyped up for so long and especially considering it’s a big part of an anniversary special, it just seemed like your average dr who episode. Nothing wrong with that but compared to what I was expecting it fell flat. If this comes in the middle of a season and isn’t a big special it’s just a throwaway episode.
I didn't have a single problem with the episode until the ending. The streets of London repairing themselves was a bit lame, but I could live with it. The "male-presenting" line feels like a really poorly thought out joke, considering that includes any trans men or male-presenting non binaries, and we already had the perfect amount of the "bumbling husband" trope with Sean Temple, and Donna is supposed to be The Doctors best friend? Why is she ragging on a non-binary aliens gender presentation. Massive shame that Russel still can't write endings, but still an infinitely better episode than the Chibby era (sorry Jodie), although I can admit I can't imagine Chibnall ever writing the male-presenting line. EDIT: Also I knew people would hate the Sonic force field, but I don't care I think it's cool as shit. And I don't think it's too overpowered because he still had to draw them out and push them in, it took a good minute, I would be complaining if he'd just zapped them into existence instantly. Also there's more than 2 Wrath Warriors in the street
@@TediousMilkshake I think thats because in comparison to Remembrance it is not as good but its still a great episode in its own right! Of course I'm a massive fan of the era but I personally love Silver Nemesis
This video is basically my opinion on the episode. Also the sonic really took me out of it with how overpowered it was, with the shield which previously had been depited to stuggle to deflect a dalek with 3 sonic (in the 50th) or the speed in which the concrete was resonated.
Another mega comment being condensed hope it fits: 1. Big thing, RTD says he doesn't want to seem ablealist and then decides to make the most clumsy representation of gender and link it with the tardis stuff. I did think the bullies were accurate though. 2. What is the point of end of time if Donna could just let it go? Feels like Wilf could just ask if Dr could help and he would say if she could let it go. I dunno the meloncholy of that episode seems dumb now. 3. The sonic screwdriver is OP now. Hardlight shields. Complete agree, hope it was using the fact their guns were weak. 4. Agree about the intro, the music seems a lot more toned down than the orchestral release. 5. Why did the Unit soldiers let a Scientist be free at the spaceship, surely that is a threat, and why didn't she blast the rocket with her rocket? Seems really weird, like everyone at the spaceship decided to play among us until the meep and the doctor gang returned there. 6. The binary plotpoint was dumb. 7. One thing I disagree on was that I really liked the murray gold music, especially when he was scanning the ship, the first time. 8. Coffee was funny. 9. My favourite dialogue was with Donna and doctor right at the end and when doctor scanned the ship chatting with Scientist officer. 10. All Actors did well in my opinion apart from the dying soldier. Hope my late entry wasn't too late.
RTD really shouldn't have put politics in a show's celebration special, especially when the original story of the star beast was written for a much older era of the franchise. Leave it to RTD, a cis white able-bodied man to pander to the vocal minorities of a sci-fi show where an alien takes a young woman to travel around the universe. 2/5
Like sorry but how does the doctor, a time lord who’s lived over 2000 years or whatever didn’t know he could just ‘let go’ and the fact he’d never be able to because he’s male presenting… just felt not only harmful in terms of mens mental health (seeing as it is basically a metaphor for mens emotional intelligence) but also creates division between men and women, it’s just annoying. Really didn’t see it coming, the rest of the episode wasn’t particularly bad imo. But some of that dialogue… Jesus it was bad
Its funny because its an inverted version of the Parting of the Ways ending where the 9th Doctor takes in the energy and lets it go. I wonder if he forgot he wrote that
@@benjames9158 she unwillingly absorb the energy so it makes sense that she can extrude it out, why they were able to figure that out now but not back then well with rose taking half of the energy (which is new information to both the doctor and donna) and them both being connected mentally kinda then you can assume the three of them figured out the solution but donna was quicker on the draw and said the light rib that she did. Does that make sense.
It wasn’t the best. I don’t like the resolution to the Meta Crisis, there was stuff I really liked but I couldn’t get fully into it- I feel like the episode gave itself a lot to do and it did it all but the episode felt a bit over stuffed as a result. Tennant and Tate weren’t at their best with a few moments I didn’t like- nothing egregious but not their best (“why does it have to be this” was a bit overdone) This would also be incomprehensible to a new comer, a decent start but I’m hoping the next episode is a bit more focused The TARDIS looks amazing though and I can’t wait to see more of it
really enjoyed the first 2 acts but tbh found the last act really rushed lots of fun moments but lots of technobabble and a bit of odd mythologising so classic davis. and because of that I'm not really disappointing
It’s certainly a little worrying. Why put them there at all if all they have is distribution rights, it’s like putting a DVD company at the end of every classic who episode why are they getting credit if that’s all they’re doing.
I like it. I haven't watched Doctor Who since Series 10 back in 2018. This Episode was entertaining and probably was the best Episode since Twice Upon a Time.
I thought it was an alright episode. The first half was the most enjoyable part of the episode and the kitchen scene with Donna and Sylvia was probably the best way RTD talk about Rose being trans. Some of the dialogue was pretty rough though.I really hope Russle can get into a better flow from now on because when he writes good his work is great. The new Tardis looks so good, the size reminds me of Smith's first Tardis.
I hadn't thought about it until you said it, but I think maybe RTD was trying to troll a particular kind of fan. And I think, just like when the writers of SheHulk did something similar, it's a waste of energy. I expected better from him. On his first DW run he was always more subtle and even handed.
Didn’t mind it! Watched it with my partner who’s never seen the show. She was confused but enjoyed it still! The “ letting out go” part was …. Too real lolol It was good fun. Liked the scary polite robots aliens
I pretty much agree with literally everything you said in this video. I think there just wasn't enough time with many of the scenes & it did seem fairly rushed for the most part. I really hope the quality picks up markedly from here on in. I had to sub to Disney+ to be able to see this & any future eps, so I really am hanging on the premise that they'll be far better from now on.
I liked it,but I felt the 'Disney' in it??like I could see and appreciate the help,...but, it was my kinda BBC dark,fun, that I love about it??almost like how u felt the outside assistance when the 96 came out..and I know there's some WHOVIANS out there that knows what I mean lol..😑✌️🍻 And yes,the sound at the end..I heard it,with a wtf?kinda ear lol..Jodie was at least 2nd Dr theme scary!!
I feel like these specials are RTD getting use to writing Doctor Who again, but not succeeding with The Star Beast. I was enjoying it throughout. But a few hours after, it’s meh 🤷🏻♂️ his style, tropes, characterisations etc will definitely be returning in Gatwa’s era but hopefully improved on.
personally i dont hyper analyse episodes so i liked it a decent amount, but when they started with the "what gender are you meep" and the "binary, nonbinary" stuff i sighed so hard i cracked a rib
Okay after some deliberation and pondering, this is how I'd sum up my thoughts. If you would look at my face the whole time, I would of had the cheekiest toothy grin. Did I have a good time? Absolutely. Was it an amazing episode? lol no. But I seemingly had a blast, maybe I just love doctor who far too much.
I didn’t like this episode and at first it made me concerned for that’s to come. But I think it’s important to remember that RTD isn’t going to get it right every time. This is the man who wrote Love and Monsters but also Midnight.
I prefer that we got most of the preview clips from this episode, because now we can really be shocked next two weeks. This is something Star Wars Explained actually prefers and brings up in his star wars reviews iirc
maybe I got my hopes too high, but this just felt like a pretty regular episode of doctor who, not necessarily special enough for a 60th. Thought the villain was a bit one-dimensional after the twist, visuals were pretty excellent though so excited for the toymaker.
The real question is why didnt the Doctor just use the sonic screwdriver to fix the engines. Even IN the episode, you present a cure all that somehow can't work on Beep the Meep's ship?
I had a lot of fun with this, it was essentially what I was expecting. A fast paced nostalgic adventure aimed at fans of David Tennats era. I’ve always had an issue with how RTD raps up his stories but it’s not enough to ruin the fun. Overall a campy good time. 3/5 ⭐️
Pros: David and Catherine were absolute highlights, seeing them back and the writing in their scenes was when this episode was cooking with the full gas, the performances elevated a standard script in my mind. Beep the meep was a great villain, even if they got lost in the shuffle of “the doctor Donna” return, the sudden turn into evil meep was expected but well played- I get that the episode looked bland but I personally felt that wasn’t due to any directing, I think most of the shots and angles looked lovely, I think it may be how the colour of the shots has been edited post filming- I really like this director though as she shot heaven sent so I could be biased. The TARDIS is perfect. Cons: the ending was on the nose and a bit out of left field, could have benefited from at least an extra 10 minutes but I agree I think a full 90 minutes would have been perfect. Now I don’t mind rose noble as a character, I thought they’d done a decent job at writing a character who identifies as trans without being too blunt (until the ending) my issue actually is more with Yasmin, I think Donna’d quote at the end works “she can’t act”. Well, they can’t perform as well as Tate and Tennant and I think it becomes really obvious that they struggle to make their face expressive and delivery of some of the lines felt wonky. I’m surprised anyone thought they were great, I’d say they were fine but when put in a scene with better actors it just showed how inexperienced they were. Overall this was a good episode, I liked it, I definitely had a better time with this than any 13 doctor story and to compare power of the doctor… I didn’t like that episode at all if I’m being entirely honest, the only part of that episode I enjoyed was the classic series call backs, so yeah the star beast>13th era which to me was unbearably toothless, bland and unexciting and I realise my thoughts could be biased towards this episode because ten and Donna are massive parts of my childhood, that said I still have issues with this episode. Overall… I’d say it gets a 7/10
I loved it! I wasn't a huge Chibnall era fan and definitely preferred this ep to any of that era, but will have to watch a couple more times to fully make my mind up. I think Russell's writing is brilliant in progressing the show tastefully while respecting what was there before and not nostalgia dumping TOO much...Tennant's 14 so far seems much more sentimental and caring than his 10 and I like how the best aspects of 13 have been woven into his character as well since he was so recently her. Totally agree that it was too fast paced and get that the plot resolution will be controversial among fans, but also given how complex the metacrisis plot was in the first place, I think they did a great job. I think the og star beast elements were done well, but was definitely crammed in with the 60 min timeslot, and agree that 90 mins would've felt more natural for this story. Tbh, just so glad to see everyone back and doing so well - and didnt think it was underwhelming at all given the major hype it was given online in the lead up!
I will say that the ending of the episode felt a bit off. The metacrisis passing down to Donna's daughter, that honestly makes sense to me. It tracks as timelord genetics kinda passing down making another almost-timelord and diluting stuff. But the ability to just LET IT GO because (and i may be wrong in my interpretation of what RTD is trying to say) women understand how to let go of power? Unlike men who are greedy and power hungry? The only reason I interpret it like that is that I honestly have trouble understanding what the idea is for this ending. Like WHY are they able to let go if not the thing they specifically bring up about being non-male presenting? I do appreciate the trans narrative playing into the story with Rose feeling that she "is different" and that she is actually part of the metacrisis. I loved that and honestly I wish we got more of her personality in this. She felt a little shallow as just being "Donna's transgender daughter" and that kinda goes along with your opinion on it being too little time for the content. IDK i was kinda thinking that it would be cool if Rose survived but Donna didn't because "oh Rose got less of the timelord genes when passed down due to her father being human" Then these specials could've given us more of fun new temporary companion before Ncuti takes the stage.
I thought the episode was decent. Had some pros and cons, but overall enjoyable. The characters were great, the Beep The Meep and Wrath Warriors plot was good, and The DoctorDonna was amazing to see again. However, I felt the episode was slightly rushed and everything was happening way too quickly. Could’ve saved some time for the little to no exposition to the Doctor, especially when it comes to the sonic screwdriver (which its ability of creating force fields is too convenient) and the TARDIS interior changing (which is big and I love the round things, but everything is too empty and the console seems out of place). Rose’s trans rep was great at the beginning for going in depth with the struggle, however whatever the narrative at the end was with ‘The Doctor being a man, woman, and neither’ and ‘The Doctor not understanding what’s in front of him because he’s a man and not a women’ for Rose and Donna just letting go of the MetaCrisis’ mind was confusing, contradicting, and an absolute cope out. I get it was a reference to 13’s and 10’s regeneration, but your also saying that all male incarnations of the doctor couldn’t let go of their life, which isn’t true. 12’s final speech was literally “Doctor, I let you go”. And the execution felt very cringeworthy like it was some Disney movie. Overall, 6.5 out of 10. Started great, ended poorly, but was still enjoyable.
The dialog twards the end of the episode was cheesy and very on the nose but that doesn't make it bad, it's purpose was to make the anti woke idiots mad and it is succeeding at that, those people shouldn't be apart of this fan base.
About Murray Gold's music. It can be great as seen in most of RTD1 and Moffat's era, but here it just didn't impress me. Might have just been cause I was watching it with headphones but the mixing also felt really off a lof of the time. Though I did recently rewatch dome Series 9 episodes eith headphones and tjose didn't have those mixing issues
I can't really blame him, after doing the same show for over 10 years, it's going to get more and more boring. I too also heard some erroneous sounds throughout
The opening scene is very weird, and I've already made the joke that it felt like a drake and josh opener. The episode was great, I'd give it like an 8 or 9 out of 10.
I agree with the issues with the sonic and the pacing but I really wanted something to pull me back into the show and this episode did it amazingly. Ill probably return to it when the specials are done to see if my opinion has changed
I loved it. I haven't liked Who since halfway through Capaldi when the writing went wonky. But this felt true to form for my favorites. It felt like closure from a deep wound and the greatest hurt in Who history. I may be able to get back into the fandom again. Really high hopes for the new doctor.
Totally agree about the terrible pacing, I also felt like they didn’t take enough time to set up the emotional aspect between the doctor and Donna so when she is dying it’s much less impactful. Like there was a lot of telling rather than showing with the doctor SAYING “oh you’re my best friend” “I absolutely love her” which was nice but like, it didn’t feel like there was a build up really to that scene. I think maybe if there had been time for a scene earlier in the episode where he’d been able to directly try to protect HER rather than the whole family, or maybe even a full scene with him and rose talking about how much she meant to him that would’ve made it more effective. I also kinda don’t like the whole “ I think this face came back to say goodbye” bit, I know it’s like probably just the easiest way to explain why David tennant and Catherine Tate are back but I wish it had a better explanation than just that. Also yeah the “binary” “non binary” bit made me cringe a lot and I AM non binary. I wish rtd would put more effort into structuring a good episode rather than tying the whole thing around these little ‘woke’ jokes he wants to use, I get that he’s revamping it for a gen z audience but like no one wants to watch a show that doesn’t make any sense just bc it has queer or disabled characters. Or maybe some people do idk sorry for such a long comment I had a lot of thoughts, at the end of the day I still love this show and it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things anyway.
This was a Russell T Davies script alright. Goofy monsters taken seriously? Check. Strong character moments? Check. A cop-out resolution? Check. Actually funny moments? Check. I did enjoy this one. The resolution was definitely clumsy and patronising and it could have used an extra half hour but it was still a fun time and it feels like Doctor Who is properly back (Chibnall’s era was fine but the scriptwriting was weeeeaaaak!) I also have a feeling that the next two specials are going to be better. I’m already hyped for Wild Blue Yonder.
11:29 as someone who is very critical of the chipnal era and ESPECIALLY season 11, but who also has mixed feelings on the special. It’s still leages better then season 11 imo. The characters are just better this time and that was my BIGGEST issue with the chipnal era so the star beast is a big improvement to me. Also it has now occurred to me idk how to spell chipnals name 😅 (also no hate to the guy, he seems like a swell person irl, and his non si-fi works are quite good)
Really loved it, and probably haven't had so much fun watching a dw episode since I was a kid, but I'm trans and 'binary binary' 'non binary' wank bothered me mostly because it felt like rtd shoving in keywords to see how far he could push it with the people who didn't like chibnall's era, like when they were going on about 'male-presenting timelords' and that at the end it felt more like rtd putting in as many buzzwords as he could to wind up bigots rather than an actual effort to talk about trans issues. The conversation with Sylvia and Donna in the kitchen was probably the only interaction in the whole thing about trans stuff that didn't feel horribly performative and out of place.
Not a fantastic episode by any means, defo a rushed climax in my book but a damn fun ride all the same. that ending really felt like 60s Who all over again lmao "We could end up anywhere in time and space" holy shit they really butchered Rose's character though, I didn't mind the pronoun scenes ( I thought it was funny) but everything else was badly handled with her.
I found this episode quite silly but I actually quite enjoyed it. It was entertaining. I liked all the voices for meep and the raath. I feel the meep’s defeat too fast. I think the all white interior is too medical and big but it was a decent episode.
I didn't appreciate "the message" pandering to wokeness. There were a couple of moments when I buried my face into my hands. But typical of BCC/Disney I suppose.
Leave your thoughts in the comment section below! I'll pick out as many as I can for the community reaction video later this week! I'm still working on my big projects so I hope you all look forward to that and yes I have seen the Daleks colourisation😂I'm thinking of making a video after the Specials are out doing a complete review of the 60th Anniversary and all of the content within it. Anyway with all that out of the way, I hope you can enjoy my initial reactions and don't forget to leave your own!
Bit let down by this episode honestly. Loved the opening couple scenes, but it all went downhill from there. And I hate the new TARDIS set, it's just too empty!!!
as a non-binary person, that whole little binary non-binary part had me die on the inside. and the male presenting line, oh talk about poor writing. i can’t imagine the outrage that would happen if chibnall wrote this. the star beast was very clearly written by a cisgender person
all that being said, i loved this episode, it’s so fun
yes please if youre gonna write trans friendly story at least learn from trans people it was so obvious written by a cisgender person
It was hilarious, he meant well 😂
@@kadegetslaid634 i know, it’s so fun to not be critical about it, it was a good special
@@mozz6058 totally
This episode to me seems like an either "you really love it", or a "I really don't like it" sort of episode, I personally really loved it
I really loved it too.
Not for me. I kinda did and didn’t like it.
I am a little mixed on it on some parts, but overall I enjoyed it.
Compared to last season, I loved this!
@@Dredd2042I'll take most seasons of Who over the last one 🤷
The Weapon Wheelchair felt like a 3rd Doctor move, that instantly brought me back to his days as UNIT's scientific adviser, which is fitting considering she is the 53rd adviser.
isn't she the 56th ?
The pay has obviously been cut since Liz Shaw's day, maybe that's the real reason she went back to Cambridge?
Did anyone notice the glaringly obvious? The Grand Serpent was obviously trying to influence UNIT and not Pat's, Jon's or Tom's doctors even noticed that there was something wrong all that time. None of them thought to ask why he had their TARDIS in the office he had in the UNIT HQ?
i just wanna say donna's "WHAT THE HELL" after poking beep the meep's eye was perfect
With all the good and all the bad, I like it a LOT. Classic Russel, prioritising character over story for his introductory episodes. Not complaining though. The ending was quite shit, and I still was somehow beaming through the whole episode. Doctor Who is a very unique experience indeed lol
I think most of the ending was fine, it was just the resolution for the Metacrisis story that felt rushed. I hope that this isn't the end of the story though
I'm not non-binary, but I am a trans woman and I found the ending totally embarrassing. I heavily disliked the bit where Rose said something along the lines of "Now I know who I am." You don't just stand on the pavement and mutter things like that to yourself - it seemed so poorly observed, especially when compared to Donna's and Sylvia's earlier conversation in the kitchen. In fact, I'd say that that kitchen conversation was the only thing that needed to have been said on the topic. I imagine that, in the future, this will really be seen as a product of its time.
Having said that, I did enjoy everything else and am looking forward to next week! For every RTD miss, there is a spectacular hit.
I think this is a good nuanced take. Of course I can't predict the future but if I had to I would admit I agree that this episode will be seen as a product of its time, whether that be for the ending or the kitchen scene or both
Atleast that scene will make the transphobes mad, so that's an up I geuss.
@@TiredMoonRabbit I think making content out of spite just ends with no one happy. Overall, if you write something from a place of appreciation for a community instead of disdain for another it will in my opinion be better
@@dwfan91- fair but I don't think it was done in disdain, I think in an age where bad people are very out spoken its important to weed them out, it could have been done better but none of the stuff that happened in this episode really affects its quality at all. But that's just how I see it.
@@TiredMoonRabbitSee, but A, we aren't transphobes, and B we liked the kitchen scene. It was all the other stuff, all the forced stuff, that people dislike
I think it was brilliant! My only criticism is that they didn't explain the "Female timelords can just 'let go'" thing, i really liked the representation, but didnt understand that stuff at all
Well I'm pretty sure the female thing was Donna joking and it didn't really have anything to do with being a timelord, Donna and rose just had enough time to realize that just like how the power entered her it can also be expelled.
Idk I’d hope for something with a bit more substance. Like how does the 2000 year old time Lord not know
@@benjames9158cuz it never happened before. lol.
@@jessicarubies2256 well exactly? How did rose n Donna know tho?
@jessicarubies2256 you wo 18:13 uld think Donna being his BEST friend he would have gone to Gallifrey and looked it up, he is the President after all, and there is a chance he could have stopped the Master from single-handedly destroying Gallifrey. There are just too many loose threads kicking around from rubbish writing and show-runners deciding for us that canon doesn't matter! Well it bloody well does obviously because it wouldn't be in
the state its in otherwise.
And by the way I thought Clara was his best friend.....
Stories have beginnings, middles, and usually ends.
Dr.Who is one of the unique stories that so far doesn't have an end yet, but that doesn't mean any fool can come along and stomp all over everyone else's contributions that have tried to STICK to the storyline. I don't mind the show progressing at all, but things like the Timeless Child debacle and and a few more piles of garbage like D.Tennent's and Jodie Whitaker's abilities to fall from impossible heights etc. Oh come on it just doesn't make sense because William Hartnell,Patrick Troughton and (especially) Jon Pertwee would have loved to be able to do that. So fuck all those people who think canon isn't important.
Get away from all this Davros' wheelchair, Rose's gender decisions etc and just go back to telling little adventures about a Time Lord who travels the universe in his borrowed TARDIS settling rights and wrongs like he/she used to? I forgot to mention how obvious it was that ALL the boxes Donna was carrying were plainly empty? If you don't pay attention to these details you will make everything look just as shaky and end up back where we were when Grade led his little campaign to have a right good laugh at it and then another bunch of onlookers appear making their inane and humourless remarks and the rest is history. Let's not forget that's what happened before and it took 17 years to recover from that.
the entire episode could’ve been david tennant running around and i would’ve had just as much fun! i’m so excited to see what the next episode brings :-)
It WAS just D.Tennent running around waving the impossible sonic screwdriver.....what will it be able to do when Ncuti takes over? Build brand new TARDIS's. This show is only for the Yankee audience now and people that think Rings of Power is an improvement on JRR TOLKIEN's beautiful Silmarillion etc. Modern so-called writers just don't have any imagination.
i think the opening scene was just for context for viewers who aren’t caught up, which makes sense but i think they could’ve done it more organically throughout the episode.
bro was just chilling space😂
They could have had him in the TARDIS or just a monologue over clips
@@spacepenguins8939 They forgor💀
@@dwfan91- fact that he wasnt floating or anyhting? Like did he bring a mat Ive got so many questions
it's weird because to me they DID do it fairly organically through the episode? exposition is never gonna be entirely organic in a situation like this, but the doctor explains the donna situation to the scientific advisor lady, and then there's the scene with donna and her mum where she talks about feeling like she's missing something. so idk why that stuff needed to be there at the start, it was just bizarre. i loved the ep generally, but i feel like there was way too much handholding with the weird floating exposition directed right at the camera in the beginning when they literally do explain it within the ep
the new sonic powers made me cringe 😭 it’s always the worst when their sonic just starts to feel like a magic wand.. i hope these new powers aren’t used too frequently. i can’t pretend this doesn’t happen all the time tho i’ll never forget the laser gun screwdriver in “the doctor falls”
What I hope happens is that because this Screwdriver is too OP, the Doctor breaks it and has to get a more basic one later
I wouldn't mind the Sonic still being able to create the holograms, as that seems like an extension of something the Sonic already does, which is scan and identify things. The force field is a bit OP though, even though it looks damn cool
@@cuppajoe2022I agree with the holograms bit, I feel like it makes it easier to visualize what information he’s getting from the sonic.
Was fun. Great seeing the reunion stuff, the emotional core of the doctor not wanting to lose his best friend after so many years still hits home, some stuff misses tho. Like I don’t know how I feel about the sonic screwdriver making shields. Meep was fun and silly, Mets crisis is as stupid as ever. Sadly, I think alot of the good stuff might be drowned out by the toxic “representation wars” online. People will be torn over the execution here, but I can’t get mad over the show trying to do a good thing even if the execution is a bit iffy at points. Love the new intro and tardis but I hope they add more homely elements to it soon. I liked 14 a lot, I think he had a slightly different vibe from 10 but that could just be me seeing what I want to see.
It was preachy rubbish just like it was meant to be. I personally think the TARDIS is more like a 70's discotheque and Yasmin Finney was definitely lit at the end in certain ways that showed her looking more masculine and it was completely unnecessary, just like the sonic doing the impossible. Bull
I'm just a little sick, personally, of the casual misandry that pervades NuWho and has pervaded it across all three showrunners. That whole "a male presenting Time Lord wouldn't get it" thing at the end was SO GROANWORTHY. Why is RTD the way that he is. Also thought the pre-credits cold open was just weird too. Was framed poorly; they should've just done a montage of scenes or something.
There were some really good moments though.
I think mr Russell T Davies forgot how the 9th and 12th Doctor regenerated!
@dwfan91- having seen the rest of your review (I wrote this comment a couple minutes in and then paused the video to write it), I have to agree with your assessment that RTD was basically "trolling" - it feels like he is very motivated by spite and this chip on his shoulder about "anti-woke" people is leaking into his writing rather than him dealing with it in a mature way. Not to read too deep into it but he just doesn't seem like a very mature person. He seems quite petty.
I thought was truly brilliant, but I think that Wild Blue Yonder will be the best.
In regards to the "undo button":
I realized when I rewached Journey's end in preperation today that Donna and the Doctor didn't use the buttons for what the Daleks or Davros could have had in mind. They were probably random switches for regular maintanance. Donna and the Doctor just used them in such a creatively genius way that they figured out how to disable and destroy the Daleks with the console. It's probably a similar thing with the Dagger engine reversal in this episode. They just figured out how to use the device for something it wasn't made for because they're freaky creative geniuses.
So now the Journey's End plotpoint and this episodes plotpoint make more sense for me.
Tbf I didn't really like the JE ending either
@@dwfan91- Yeah, that's fair. Most other examples of the Doctor in console rooms (that I remember) have him manipulate the controls' capabilities in a much more limited way, like taking a long time to change wires on satalite 5 for the delta wave, or simply exploding the family of blood's ship, or setting the star whale to be made brain dead. They all took more time and were more within the reasonable capabilities of each console's demonstrated capabilities.
I think The Star Beast's climax would have worked better if the ship was absorbing electrical and thermal energy directly from the environment, which would drain electricity from all London and make the outside environment very cold as the ship readies to launch. It could then make the reversal process would make more sense, as it just warms the environment back to normal and London's electricity goes back on. They could still say that the fire from the actual launch could burn most of London, but we wouldn't actually see the city go up in flames because the reversal would start before the ship actually launches.
I like this interpretation butttt, I do kinda wish that was written into the actual episode, RTD's never been incredible at the science-y bits imo
Was the non-binary reveal at the end of the episode a bit cringe? Yes. Was the Sonic a bit overpowered? Yes. (I’m actually a fan of the overpowered Sonic though, RTD has always used it as a magic wand). Was this the best Dr. Who episode ever? No. But it was substantially better than any Chris Chibnall episode, and Dr Who finally has a thing it has lacked for way too long. Characters! Even in this slightly too fast paced episode we still got a deeper understanding of Rose than we did for any of the Chibnall era companions over multiple series of television.
Let’s not forget, that most of RTD’s specials have, historically, been mediocre to bad. I don’t need a perfect episode I just need a fun one, and this was fun.
The Whoniverse marvel ripoff title sequence sucks though.
I do wonder how I'll look at this a year from now but in this moment this episode truly meant everything to me :)
What's strange is that TSB wasn't really structured like most new doctor eps, in the sense that the story didn't work too hard to introduce the new doctor, like The Eleventh Hour, The Christmas Invasion, Deep Breath, The Woman Who Fell to Earth, etc. It was more like Rose, I guess. Gonna guess 15's intro will be more like a classic new doctor intro. At the same time, TSB did't feel like an anniversary special. (I get TOTT more now, RTD knew that this ep wouldn't do the job of celebrating the history of Doctor Who.) TSB felt like a kinda fun non-time-travel Doctor Who adventure with a classic RTD easy-mode ending. All of which reminds me that I generally don't enjoy as much the non-timey-wimey earthbound adventure episodes, especially when written by RTD. But I was prepared, cause I'd re-watched a bunch of RTD specials that I didn't like, so I wasn't too surprised or disappointed. Hoping RTD is still capable of highs as well as lows, and for weirder episodes to come. (And yes, I was taken out of the story by the way RTD handled the messaging. It's a bummer because up till the end I thought he was doing well, and the Rose stuff was relatively organic. If he'd left it to show don't tell, there would be less fodder for the anti-woke crowd. But RTD knew that, so I suppose mission accomplished?) I guess the best thing I can say is that all in all it was Doctor Who, and I had fun, mostly, watching a new episode of Doctor Who, because I like Doctor Who.
I think this is an incredible assessment of the episode and I 100% agree
Totally agree. Well put.
I loved it, the fast pace was not a problem to me. The binary thing at the end was about numbers but yes it was there to trigger and to be misinterpreted (as a wind up). At the end of the day it was fun it made me laugh, cry and smile. The spilling of the coffee was a little to obvious with her story of why she lost her job just before it happened, but nothing is perfect.
Yes I will agree it's a very cheeky story which can be enjoyable but also annoying at times
This episode genuinely brought me so much joy. I loved Doctor Who when I was younger, especially the Davies era, but I've always had a hard time coming back to it after I transitioned. Chibnall's era became something special to me then, it was almost like I got to see The Doctor experience their own transition. That left me a little worried to what Davies would do again once he got the reins, and "Binary. Nonbinary" is just about the last thing I expected. To see Davies and his iconic cast embrace an explicitly trans character for their transness in a Who story, with all the goofy, cheesy, messiness that implies, after I felt so estranged from them for so long, it just meant everything to me. The episode is far from flawless and there's nothing Davies had done in the past was sticks out to me really harmful or transphobic, but that this crew decided to tell specifically this story made me feel like I'd finally come home.
Me and all my friends fucking hated this episode. It feels so Disney, the writing was cringe, the pandering was incredibly blatant, and the tardis just screams Star Wars.
The legend is back! Love the low editing and stream of consciousness vibe. Good job!
Thank you! I wanted to get this out as fast as possible so I sadly couldn't make it as fancy as I usually do😅
@@dwfan91- the quality is there, fret not
You summed up all my thoughts perfectly. Hopefully the next two are better, I have faith in my boo Neil Patrick Harris ❤
Same!
Same
my nonbinary trans perspective: i thought the stuff with rose and her family early in the episode was quite good and realistic. but making nonbinary magic the climax of the story was really not. the whole thing felt a little insulting even, by the end. and making "ha ha, men are dumb" basically the solution to the doctor-donna made me actually physically cringe. i'm thankful to russell for trying to include us, but would humbly suggest he slow down until he gets better at it. apart from all that though, i actually quite liked the episode.
I feel like that line was supposed to be a light rib, something that multiple female companions Donna included have done before, so I personally didn't mind it.
@@TiredMoonRabbit it wasn't just a light rib though, it was the narrative justification for the doctor's inability to work out how to save donna for, like, hundreds of years of their life, including some where they were fem-presenting, but also according to the episode hadn't forgotten donna (??). also, imo it's a borderline transphobic use of language about gender presentation. most frustratingly, it's totally unnecessary. the doctor is a fairly pompous, self-important time lord, of course they'd never think of just letting it go.
for someone who appears obsessed to a fault with leaving regressive things behind, russell really messed up with that line.
@@awkie I mean if you see it that way I can't change your mind, but to me it was very clearly a light rib and the actual reason she was able to figure out how to fix herself was because she had time to. If she could absorb the energy and half the energy by having a kid then she could expell it.
@@TiredMoonRabbit to be honest even if it is just a light jab, i still don't like it, the language choice remains really quite bad, and it riles up people who hate people like me even more, for nothing.
and donna working out in 15 years what the doctor couldn't in over 1100 just because "she had time to" is... certainly an idea.
@@awkie I meant more that the circumstance that they were in allowed her to figure it out alongside having her daughter so it was like 2 computers working together to accomplish a task. That fair, I like it and I'm glad those people are getting riled up because if they do it enough they will eventually slip up and have their audience turn against them.
i think the actual first episode bernard will feature in will be dedicated to him
I very much hope so, I do still think all 3 should be though
Met up with my boys (the whomans) to watch it and a couple of thoughts from the group were. Loved it at the start, big laugh out loud moments mainly from excitement but that ending was kind of bad? I did enjoy Doctor Donna splitting the power between her and her daughter but then they just shake it off? So they don’t die! Big Oof. Also it ended very abruptly feels like they cut it mid sentence 😂 also why didn’t they put the trailer for the next episode at the end! So many questions, so little answers (yet). Also loved every line from Donna about her trans daughter but kind of ruined it with the doctor asking beep the meep his/hers pronouns. Also why did beep call donnas daughter weird 😂 overall a fun time with friends
Come on did you not watch the show! Beep the meep’s chosen pronoun is the definite article, and beep the meep will only be referred to as beep the meep!!
I felt this was a return to form to DW. Had a massive smile the entire time! also helps i didnt like any of chibnalls era so I am very bias
SPOILER WARNING
I'm genuinely sad that I'm not giving this episode a positive rating. I was really looking forward to this but at the moment my enthusiasm for the rest of these specials has dropped. That is a damm shame considering the story potential these stories had.
To start off, please *DO NOT* say to, 'Oh they will address that later' because that isn't an excuse for presenting the story in the manner it has been especially with some of the character interactions.
14 is great here but I still don't see how he is different from 10 at all and that is a negative in my book considering that we already have plenty of 10 stories, I was really hoping RTD would do something different with Tennant's range than just oh its 2008 again but with a more inclusive cast.
The best scene by far in this episode was the one where 14 asks about Wilf and I just teared up. The 'twist' of him not actually being dead was funny and surprisingly didn't take me out of the story in any way.
Donna was wonderful to see again except for the fact that, I still don't know why we needed to see her again. Nothing interesting has been done with her arc, in fact in my view at least at the moment the impact of her ending has been dimished.
Sylvia was also wonderful to see surprisingly, her having aged actually hit me very hard.
Rose at the moment unfortuantely has no character. She is just like a cardboard slate at the moment, and that is a damm shame considering she has so much potential, hope that she has a lot more scenes in the future that actually develop her character.
This story, if what I list below hadn't happened would have been a good story(7/10) with a decently executed doctor who story.
Okay so the lines about Rose being trans fall into 2 camps, one being good and the other being horrendously crowbarred in. The initial scene wuth Sylvia misgendering her and the neighbourhood teens being jerks were both good and I was happy about the handling of a trans character uptil that moment. But then we have the garbage line of 'Are you gonna assume pronouns', this is so badly written like just why, why do we have to have this incredibly forced line instead of something subtler like 'He?' and the doctor goes 'Oh yea fair enough, what do you go by Beep'. Don't you see how much better this is??
But the worst offender is the 'Non-binary' scene, I was so disheartned by that scene, because turning those words into this forced garbage genuinely took me out of this story. Especially so when paired with the 'Something a male presenting timelord wouldn't get, just giving it up' That is probably one of the worst moments RTD has ever written given how goddam much it undermines Donna's exit and to almost shield himself from criticism has been written in pseudo-progressive garbage. I hate this, this moment almost kills me. I expected better 'representation' from RTD than this, especially when I've seen 'It's a sin'. I feel so sad that we needed the shoe-horned in line of making some bizzare connection of something as human as gender to regeneration. I hate this. The moment I like are ones where Missy finds the idea of romantic love stupid and earthly or when 12 says 'Gender and its associated stereotypes'. These moments are so so much better than this trash. I do like the 'Male presenting timelord' line though, that is genuinely nice.
Overall just sadded that we had to undermine Donna's exit, I'm sure that this isn't the end of her time but even then the mere suggestion that 'She just didn't have to want it or that the doctor just had to understand that she wouldn't want it' is just trash.
I'm hoping for improvement. Just feel incredibly bummed out at the moment.
Idk how this looks worse than Jodie's 3 series. Her series is CONSTANT close ups where you can't even tell where they are because the camera is in people's noses. Lol
just not true😭
@@dwfan91- Absolutely true. Lol. It's by far the worst looking modern set of series because they don't take advantage of any of their sets. It constantly looks like they filmed on sound stages. At least this had locations.
The scene with rose and Donna at the end is like “we are doctor who” like very obviously.
💀💀
*They
@@pipzgutz who cares?
I appreciate it much more after rewatching it. I liked it! It didn't blow me away, but I'm optimistic about what's coming.
So am I!
I agree that Power of the Doctor was better, but I don't think Chibnall would have made a better anniversary special. Not because I think he's the worst thing that has ever happened to Doctor Who or anything like that, but precisely because I feel like Power of the Doctor already was his way of paying homage to the entire history of the show.
So, basically, I think Power of the Doctor should have released this year as a 60th anniversary special, with Tennant, Smith, Capaldi and (if possible) Ecclestone as Guardians of the Edge, and from there straight to Ncuti. That's what I'd do if I could rewrite time, rearrange reality, or something like that.
I think Russell just let, trying to weed out the bigots, get in the way of making a proper ending. Like this is coming from a trans person, that ending made no fucking sense and it was just silly. He's already sort of had the 'big red button' to fix everything in his writing. Imo it was never bad, it took away from the story a tiny bit, but it never made you hate the episode. This however is just dumb af. I kinda liked the episode, the pacing was a little wonky and the sonic shield was a bit 'OP', but the ending did take away a lot. The 'male presenting' bit gave 'the doctor, the widow.....' vibes, and the 'letting it go' was just another random plot convenience that doesn't make sense. Overall I was thinking 9/10, but the ending does drops it to a 7/10. Hopefully we dont see a repeat of this kind of ending tbh
It did give doctor, widow and the wardrobe vibes tbh. I agree with what you say about RTD trying to weed people out
Well Donna absorbed the energy I'd say it makes sense that she'd be able to expell it the same way, they just needed a moment to realize that.
@@TiredMoonRabbit when she absorbed it before did it not rewrite her biology or am I being stupid? If not I guess I owe a little apology to Russell then haha
@@charlieblockclocksnow I don't think so? I know that she gave the meta crisis doctor some of her biology but I'm pretty sure all they said she got was his intelligence.
@@TiredMoonRabbit that would make a more sense and explain my confusion. I take it back the ending is not as dumb as I made it out to be. Hoping on a rewatch I can catch the key details a bit better
yeah i really agree with most of your points. the episode looked pretty shite visually and it really was a 4/10 objectively. subjectively id give it 6/10 because i really enjoyed aspects of it and i had fun watching it. im really hoping that the next episode will be a much more fitting 60th anniversary, especially if the rumours that it'll be set in the tardis are true. i do find it hilarious that the power of transgenderism saved london like genuinely so amazing even if it was a shit end to the episode, but the way rtd handled the trans stuff was so icky (coming from a trans person) comes very much off as trying to be a decent trans ally and very well meaning but :/ that male presenting comment was so stupid and unnessary like? the best part of the trans stuff was with sylvia, very real to my own experiences with family, the most authentic trans bit of the episode by far. really enjoyed this video by the way! i love your channel, best dr who one out there
Thanks for the comment!
The visuals were shit? What lol
Funny you mentioned end if time i definitely got end of tine vibes with the scene in the space ship when the doctor has the tantrum over donna kinda like end of time with wilf.
I've watched it 3 times now, and it is a SOLID 9/10
I'm going to rewatch it tomorrow, I needed to get this video out in time😭
@@dwfan91- That pain is all too real!
@@Engineering_MI will make up for lost time and during the week will watch it like 3-5 more times🙏
It was such a fun episode with a lovely style, even the new sonic features were cool and not over used. I especially liked that the door being deadlocked meant he had to do it by hand.
My only complaint is the shoehorned “non binary” thing, not that I’m bothered by it, it just felt forced and I didn’t really understand how that tied in at all. Wasn’t the reason Donna originally said “binary” completely unrelated to her condition and just technical jargon that her brain broke while saying?
New TARDIS interior was magnificent, and the 14th Doctors style was refreshingly different from ten. I also loved the design of the Wrarth warriors, they felt classic yet modern.
The best part was when Donna spilled coffee on the console my dad and I cracked up because we saw it coming a mile away.
I too liked that ending😂
The difficult thing with RTD is he indulges in both cloying sentimentality, and nudge-wink high camp; it's sometimes hard to know which mode he's in. The binary/non-binary scene had me roaring like a drain, because it seemed like he was managing to straddle both modes at once: being very pointedly big-hearted, while also mocking himself for his own emotional excess. It felt knowingly ridiculous, which made it work for me - a genuinely lovely scene. It was the 'let it go' moment where the sanctimony felt like it wasn't properly balanced out with camp.
Anyway, anyone else moved by Sylvia's character development? Felt like she quietly anchored the whole episode.
I loved it when Rose said "It's transing time and pronouned all over the bad guys"
I honestly believe the ‘MCU trailer analysis’ obsession online has made people have insanely high expectations when it comes to ‘seeing stuff that wasn’t in the trailers.’
This has been the first time in YEARS that I’ve sat down and laughed with doctor who (not at) as it has been witty and well written like it used to be. It’s a massive improvement from the bottom of the barrel mcu humour of series 11-13. They did a really good job with this one. I thought the visuals were on par with the past couple of series (really good)
I really feel like trailer analysis as a whole has got to appoint where people either, overthink and expect things that weren't promised like the scott pilgrim show on Netflix or people have become so good at it that they feel like the trailer spoiled the whole thing when they are really the reason they feel that way.
I don't feel like I overanalysed the trailer but I will admit that as megafan, I have probably seen that trailer far more than most people so it is a bit stupid of me to say that as if everyone remembers it as well as I do
@@dwfan91- I'm kind of on a middle ground here. Like, sure, London being on fire was in the trailer, but I think everyone assumed that it was probably from The Giggle. It really surprised me to see it happening *already*.
Rose is a "celestial toymaker" as in she made toys inspired by celestial creatures. That is so clever
(I did not follow the trailer and all the leaks so I am not sure if this is new)
The Donna noble pregnancy isn't a bug though. The metacrisis timelord energy is always still inside, what she got wiped out was memory so she couldn't remember how to use it. It sure can get passed on. And once they are sharing it they get half of the original to hold on, and they also got each other, so it's easier to let go than last time. Or you can simply just say, I mean, Donna wasn't given much choice to think about her options the last time around --- maybe she would have done that then already but remember 10th was so adamant and eager to save her, the memory was forced wiped. Whether that being male representing line works or not is a different thing, but it's actually consistent on the doctor part --- he can't think of that easy way out now, couldn't think of it back then.
I'm glad people are being more charitable of Doctor Who! Before if a plot point like this happened people who hate it till the end of time. People are more forgiving nowadays it seems
@@dwfan91- Well we'll see I do suspect you just fall into minority when you say this is worse than most of season 11's. Not sure it's people being more forgiving or just in most fans' perception, RTD is just writing this thing better than Chibnall🤷
oh definitely, people HATE the Chibnall era, more than anything. But I'm glad people finally seem to be willing to suspend disbelief more with Doctor Who rather than across the previous few years. Breath of fresh air
@@dwfan91- When things are written better, and connecting with general audience more, it's only natural they are more likely to overlook or explain away stuff. That said, plot holes considered by some are just slight leap of continuity left for audience's active engagement to connect dots by others, particularly if everything else is done well. Looking at the consensus these couple days it's pretty clear that the vast majority of fans, though finding the non-binary and male presenting and let-go line from confusing to cringe, still enjoy the episode way more than anything Chibnall ever did despite those lines. I know you're big classic series fan so it makes sense you prefer S11 to this. Most modern viewers value human drama way more than procedural scientific wacky mystery solving stuff, if the former is severely lacking to the extent that all you get are wooden people stop the show and say stuff like "how do you feel about it" all the time.
@@ziggyzhang4156 I suppose. Series 11 has pretty great human drama. Demons of the Punjab especially springs to mind. I think most people just don't remember/didnt watch and jump on the hate bandwagon tbh. I see comments like them all time "Haven't watched past capaldi, all of Jodie's episodes are s###" etc. Not that people can't have watched them and decided they didn't like them on their own ofc but I'm speaking broadly.
The comic it was based on is a cool story. Tennant and Tate are obviously still brillant in their old roles.
RTD cannot get out of his own way with the heavy handed progressive politics.
Rather than just having a trans character, we have to bring it up every 10 minutes. She scolds the doctor for assuming someone's gender? Really?
What happened to clever allegories? Creatively incorporating moral messages that you might not fully notice if you're not looking for it?
Instead the boomers writing doctor who desperately want you to notice. "Look kids im woke too"
THE DOCTOR DONNA is basically thrown away for no reason? No good explanation whatsoever
I can’t lie I was just a bit bored while watching. It’s been hyped up for so long and especially considering it’s a big part of an anniversary special, it just seemed like your average dr who episode. Nothing wrong with that but compared to what I was expecting it fell flat. If this comes in the middle of a season and isn’t a big special it’s just a throwaway episode.
I didn't have a single problem with the episode until the ending. The streets of London repairing themselves was a bit lame, but I could live with it. The "male-presenting" line feels like a really poorly thought out joke, considering that includes any trans men or male-presenting non binaries, and we already had the perfect amount of the "bumbling husband" trope with Sean Temple, and Donna is supposed to be The Doctors best friend? Why is she ragging on a non-binary aliens gender presentation. Massive shame that Russel still can't write endings, but still an infinitely better episode than the Chibby era (sorry Jodie), although I can admit I can't imagine Chibnall ever writing the male-presenting line.
EDIT: Also I knew people would hate the Sonic force field, but I don't care I think it's cool as shit. And I don't think it's too overpowered because he still had to draw them out and push them in, it took a good minute, I would be complaining if he'd just zapped them into existence instantly. Also there's more than 2 Wrath Warriors in the street
The new tardis is gorgeous
12:36 you think this is better than Silver Nemesis?
are you kidding me by far😂 Silver Nemesis is a great episode!
@@dwfan91- i havent seen it in ages actually i just know other ppl dont rlly like it 🤷♂️
@@TediousMilkshake I think thats because in comparison to Remembrance it is not as good but its still a great episode in its own right! Of course I'm a massive fan of the era but I personally love Silver Nemesis
This video is basically my opinion on the episode. Also the sonic really took me out of it with how overpowered it was, with the shield which previously had been depited to stuggle to deflect a dalek with 3 sonic (in the 50th) or the speed in which the concrete was resonated.
You don’t know how badly I wanted the doctor to say “Rose, I’m trying to resonate concrete…”
Another mega comment being condensed hope it fits:
1. Big thing, RTD says he doesn't want to seem ablealist and then decides to make the most clumsy representation of gender and link it with the tardis stuff. I did think the bullies were accurate though.
2. What is the point of end of time if Donna could just let it go? Feels like Wilf could just ask if Dr could help and he would say if she could let it go. I dunno the meloncholy of that episode seems dumb now.
3. The sonic screwdriver is OP now. Hardlight shields. Complete agree, hope it was using the fact their guns were weak.
4. Agree about the intro, the music seems a lot more toned down than the orchestral release.
5. Why did the Unit soldiers let a Scientist be free at the spaceship, surely that is a threat, and why didn't she blast the rocket with her rocket? Seems really weird, like everyone at the spaceship decided to play among us until the meep and the doctor gang returned there.
6. The binary plotpoint was dumb.
7. One thing I disagree on was that I really liked the murray gold music, especially when he was scanning the ship, the first time.
8. Coffee was funny.
9. My favourite dialogue was with Donna and doctor right at the end and when doctor scanned the ship chatting with Scientist officer.
10. All Actors did well in my opinion apart from the dying soldier.
Hope my late entry wasn't too late.
RTD really shouldn't have put politics in a show's celebration special, especially when the original story of the star beast was written for a much older era of the franchise. Leave it to RTD, a cis white able-bodied man to pander to the vocal minorities of a sci-fi show where an alien takes a young woman to travel around the universe. 2/5
It was fun. No use to look at it critically, and I think as long as it's fun then I'm not complaining
fair
Pacing was ridiculously fast, I felt like I was never getting to sit in any one moment
I love you dwfan91, and your video descriptions. Flaws and all
Thank you🥲
14:00 mate just left a comment on your other video on the children in need short. Felt the exact same way
Like sorry but how does the doctor, a time lord who’s lived over 2000 years or whatever didn’t know he could just ‘let go’ and the fact he’d never be able to because he’s male presenting… just felt not only harmful in terms of mens mental health (seeing as it is basically a metaphor for mens emotional intelligence) but also creates division between men and women, it’s just annoying. Really didn’t see it coming, the rest of the episode wasn’t particularly bad imo. But some of that dialogue… Jesus it was bad
Its funny because its an inverted version of the Parting of the Ways ending where the 9th Doctor takes in the energy and lets it go. I wonder if he forgot he wrote that
@@benjames9158it was joke people, she wasn't being serious.
@@TiredMoonRabbit well yeah I hope so but that still leaves us without an answer
@@benjames9158 she unwillingly absorb the energy so it makes sense that she can extrude it out, why they were able to figure that out now but not back then well with rose taking half of the energy (which is new information to both the doctor and donna) and them both being connected mentally kinda then you can assume the three of them figured out the solution but donna was quicker on the draw and said the light rib that she did. Does that make sense.
It wasn’t the best.
I don’t like the resolution to the Meta Crisis, there was stuff I really liked but I couldn’t get fully into it- I feel like the episode gave itself a lot to do and it did it all but the episode felt a bit over stuffed as a result. Tennant and Tate weren’t at their best with a few moments I didn’t like- nothing egregious but not their best (“why does it have to be this” was a bit overdone)
This would also be incomprehensible to a new comer, a decent start but I’m hoping the next episode is a bit more focused
The TARDIS looks amazing though and I can’t wait to see more of it
really enjoyed the first 2 acts but tbh found the last act really rushed lots of fun moments but lots of technobabble and a bit of odd mythologising so classic davis. and because of that I'm not really disappointing
The Disney conspiracists in me worries about the very marvel-like opening with the clips appearing on the lettering. I loved the new theme song tho.
I'd spent all this time saying that Doctor Who isn't owned by Disney then I see their big fat logo at the end of the episode- egg on *my* face huh
It’s certainly a little worrying. Why put them there at all if all they have is distribution rights, it’s like putting a DVD company at the end of every classic who episode why are they getting credit if that’s all they’re doing.
I like it. I haven't watched Doctor Who since Series 10 back in 2018.
This Episode was entertaining and probably was the best Episode since Twice Upon a Time.
They both aired in 2017 though
I thought it was an alright episode. The first half was the most enjoyable part of the episode and the kitchen scene with Donna and Sylvia was probably the best way RTD talk about Rose being trans.
Some of the dialogue was pretty rough though.I really hope Russle can get into a better flow from now on because when he writes good his work is great.
The new Tardis looks so good, the size reminds me of Smith's first Tardis.
I hadn't thought about it until you said it, but I think maybe RTD was trying to troll a particular kind of fan. And I think, just like when the writers of SheHulk did something similar, it's a waste of energy. I expected better from him. On his first DW run he was always more subtle and even handed.
Didn’t mind it! Watched it with my partner who’s never seen the show. She was confused but enjoyed it still! The “ letting out go” part was …. Too real lolol
It was good fun. Liked the scary polite robots aliens
Strong marvel vibes from a lot of this. Disneywho is real guys
I pretty much agree with literally everything you said in this video. I think there just wasn't enough time with many of the scenes & it did seem fairly rushed for the most part. I really hope the quality picks up markedly from here on in. I had to sub to Disney+ to be able to see this & any future eps, so I really am hanging on the premise that they'll be far better from now on.
I liked it,but I felt the 'Disney' in it??like I could see and appreciate the help,...but, it was my kinda BBC dark,fun, that I love about it??almost like how u felt the outside assistance when the 96 came out..and I know there's some WHOVIANS out there that knows what I mean lol..😑✌️🍻
And yes,the sound at the end..I heard it,with a wtf?kinda ear lol..Jodie was at least 2nd Dr theme scary!!
I feel like these specials are RTD getting use to writing Doctor Who again, but not succeeding with The Star Beast. I was enjoying it throughout. But a few hours after, it’s meh 🤷🏻♂️ his style, tropes, characterisations etc will definitely be returning in Gatwa’s era but hopefully improved on.
I agree, and I really hope so too
personally i dont hyper analyse episodes so i liked it a decent amount, but when they started with the "what gender are you meep" and the "binary, nonbinary" stuff i sighed so hard i cracked a rib
Okay after some deliberation and pondering, this is how I'd sum up my thoughts.
If you would look at my face the whole time, I would of had the cheekiest toothy grin. Did I have a good time? Absolutely. Was it an amazing episode? lol no.
But I seemingly had a blast, maybe I just love doctor who far too much.
I didn’t like this episode and at first it made me concerned for that’s to come. But I think it’s important to remember that RTD isn’t going to get it right every time. This is the man who wrote Love and Monsters but also Midnight.
I thought it was pretty cool aye I’m just happy to see more doctor who and I really like the new tardis too!
I FUCKING LOVED IT.
42 is a masterpiece compared to this, that sun felt more dangerous and more was at stake than this funny looking alien
I prefer that we got most of the preview clips from this episode, because now we can really be shocked next two weeks. This is something Star Wars Explained actually prefers and brings up in his star wars reviews iirc
maybe I got my hopes too high, but this just felt like a pretty regular episode of doctor who, not necessarily special enough for a 60th. Thought the villain was a bit one-dimensional after the twist, visuals were pretty excellent though so excited for the toymaker.
The ending reminded me a lot of the doctor dances
The real question is why didnt the Doctor just use the sonic screwdriver to fix the engines. Even IN the episode, you present a cure all that somehow can't work on Beep the Meep's ship?
I adore the episode, I have already watched it 6 times
I had a lot of fun with this, it was essentially what I was expecting. A fast paced nostalgic adventure aimed at fans of David Tennats era. I’ve always had an issue with how RTD raps up his stories but it’s not enough to ruin the fun. Overall a campy good time.
3/5 ⭐️
Pros: David and Catherine were absolute highlights, seeing them back and the writing in their scenes was when this episode was cooking with the full gas, the performances elevated a standard script in my mind. Beep the meep was a great villain, even if they got lost in the shuffle of “the doctor Donna” return, the sudden turn into evil meep was expected but well played- I get that the episode looked bland but I personally felt that wasn’t due to any directing, I think most of the shots and angles looked lovely, I think it may be how the colour of the shots has been edited post filming- I really like this director though as she shot heaven sent so I could be biased. The TARDIS is perfect.
Cons: the ending was on the nose and a bit out of left field, could have benefited from at least an extra 10 minutes but I agree I think a full 90 minutes would have been perfect. Now I don’t mind rose noble as a character, I thought they’d done a decent job at writing a character who identifies as trans without being too blunt (until the ending) my issue actually is more with Yasmin, I think Donna’d quote at the end works “she can’t act”. Well, they can’t perform as well as Tate and Tennant and I think it becomes really obvious that they struggle to make their face expressive and delivery of some of the lines felt wonky. I’m surprised anyone thought they were great, I’d say they were fine but when put in a scene with better actors it just showed how inexperienced they were.
Overall this was a good episode, I liked it, I definitely had a better time with this than any 13 doctor story and to compare power of the doctor… I didn’t like that episode at all if I’m being entirely honest, the only part of that episode I enjoyed was the classic series call backs, so yeah the star beast>13th era which to me was unbearably toothless, bland and unexciting and I realise my thoughts could be biased towards this episode because ten and Donna are massive parts of my childhood, that said I still have issues with this episode. Overall… I’d say it gets a 7/10
I loved it! I wasn't a huge Chibnall era fan and definitely preferred this ep to any of that era, but will have to watch a couple more times to fully make my mind up. I think Russell's writing is brilliant in progressing the show tastefully while respecting what was there before and not nostalgia dumping TOO much...Tennant's 14 so far seems much more sentimental and caring than his 10 and I like how the best aspects of 13 have been woven into his character as well since he was so recently her. Totally agree that it was too fast paced and get that the plot resolution will be controversial among fans, but also given how complex the metacrisis plot was in the first place, I think they did a great job. I think the og star beast elements were done well, but was definitely crammed in with the 60 min timeslot, and agree that 90 mins would've felt more natural for this story. Tbh, just so glad to see everyone back and doing so well - and didnt think it was underwhelming at all given the major hype it was given online in the lead up!
I will say that the ending of the episode felt a bit off.
The metacrisis passing down to Donna's daughter, that honestly makes sense to me. It tracks as timelord genetics kinda passing down making another almost-timelord and diluting stuff. But the ability to just LET IT GO because (and i may be wrong in my interpretation of what RTD is trying to say) women understand how to let go of power? Unlike men who are greedy and power hungry?
The only reason I interpret it like that is that I honestly have trouble understanding what the idea is for this ending. Like WHY are they able to let go if not the thing they specifically bring up about being non-male presenting?
I do appreciate the trans narrative playing into the story with Rose feeling that she "is different" and that she is actually part of the metacrisis. I loved that and honestly I wish we got more of her personality in this. She felt a little shallow as just being "Donna's transgender daughter" and that kinda goes along with your opinion on it being too little time for the content.
IDK i was kinda thinking that it would be cool if Rose survived but Donna didn't because "oh Rose got less of the timelord genes when passed down due to her father being human"
Then these specials could've given us more of fun new temporary companion before Ncuti takes the stage.
I’d love a episode set in the Tardis I’ve always loved the idea of all the other rooms
I thought the episode was decent. Had some pros and cons, but overall enjoyable. The characters were great, the Beep The Meep and Wrath Warriors plot was good, and The DoctorDonna was amazing to see again. However, I felt the episode was slightly rushed and everything was happening way too quickly. Could’ve saved some time for the little to no exposition to the Doctor, especially when it comes to the sonic screwdriver (which its ability of creating force fields is too convenient) and the TARDIS interior changing (which is big and I love the round things, but everything is too empty and the console seems out of place). Rose’s trans rep was great at the beginning for going in depth with the struggle, however whatever the narrative at the end was with ‘The Doctor being a man, woman, and neither’ and ‘The Doctor not understanding what’s in front of him because he’s a man and not a women’ for Rose and Donna just letting go of the MetaCrisis’ mind was confusing, contradicting, and an absolute cope out. I get it was a reference to 13’s and 10’s regeneration, but your also saying that all male incarnations of the doctor couldn’t let go of their life, which isn’t true. 12’s final speech was literally “Doctor, I let you go”. And the execution felt very cringeworthy like it was some Disney movie.
Overall, 6.5 out of 10. Started great, ended poorly, but was still enjoyable.
I do miss the red berets added to the costume design
The dialog twards the end of the episode was cheesy and very on the nose but that doesn't make it bad, it's purpose was to make the anti woke idiots mad and it is succeeding at that, those people shouldn't be apart of this fan base.
Also the intro looks amazing, episodes was a 6 to 7 out of 10.
About Murray Gold's music. It can be great as seen in most of RTD1 and Moffat's era, but here it just didn't impress me. Might have just been cause I was watching it with headphones but the mixing also felt really off a lof of the time. Though I did recently rewatch dome Series 9 episodes eith headphones and tjose didn't have those mixing issues
I can't really blame him, after doing the same show for over 10 years, it's going to get more and more boring. I too also heard some erroneous sounds throughout
Felt like a movie to me. I really loved it. The intro was necessary for new viewers imo. Surprised you weren't keen on it.
bro was just chilling in space😂
The opening scene is very weird, and I've already made the joke that it felt like a drake and josh opener. The episode was great, I'd give it like an 8 or 9 out of 10.
that opening scene💀
Poor Dave got stuck in the greenscreen dimension.
I agree with the issues with the sonic and the pacing but I really wanted something to pull me back into the show and this episode did it amazingly. Ill probably return to it when the specials are done to see if my opinion has changed
I can’t hate any of it. I love the Meep too much. Everything is forgiven by how well they did the Meep. Miriam Margolyes killed it.
I loved it. I haven't liked Who since halfway through Capaldi when the writing went wonky. But this felt true to form for my favorites. It felt like closure from a deep wound and the greatest hurt in Who history. I may be able to get back into the fandom again. Really high hopes for the new doctor.
Totally agree about the terrible pacing, I also felt like they didn’t take enough time to set up the emotional aspect between the doctor and Donna so when she is dying it’s much less impactful. Like there was a lot of telling rather than showing with the doctor SAYING “oh you’re my best friend” “I absolutely love her” which was nice but like, it didn’t feel like there was a build up really to that scene. I think maybe if there had been time for a scene earlier in the episode where he’d been able to directly try to protect HER rather than the whole family, or maybe even a full scene with him and rose talking about how much she meant to him that would’ve made it more effective. I also kinda don’t like the whole “ I think this face came back to say goodbye” bit, I know it’s like probably just the easiest way to explain why David tennant and Catherine Tate are back but I wish it had a better explanation than just that. Also yeah the “binary” “non binary” bit made me cringe a lot and I AM non binary. I wish rtd would put more effort into structuring a good episode rather than tying the whole thing around these little ‘woke’ jokes he wants to use, I get that he’s revamping it for a gen z audience but like no one wants to watch a show that doesn’t make any sense just bc it has queer or disabled characters. Or maybe some people do idk sorry for such a long comment I had a lot of thoughts, at the end of the day I still love this show and it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things anyway.
This was a Russell T Davies script alright. Goofy monsters taken seriously? Check. Strong character moments? Check. A cop-out resolution? Check. Actually funny moments? Check.
I did enjoy this one. The resolution was definitely clumsy and patronising and it could have used an extra half hour but it was still a fun time and it feels like Doctor Who is properly back (Chibnall’s era was fine but the scriptwriting was weeeeaaaak!)
I also have a feeling that the next two specials are going to be better. I’m already hyped for Wild Blue Yonder.
I definitely also think Wild Blue Yonder will be much better
11:29 as someone who is very critical of the chipnal era and ESPECIALLY season 11, but who also has mixed feelings on the special. It’s still leages better then season 11 imo. The characters are just better this time and that was my BIGGEST issue with the chipnal era so the star beast is a big improvement to me. Also it has now occurred to me idk how to spell chipnals name 😅 (also no hate to the guy, he seems like a swell person irl, and his non si-fi works are quite good)
Really loved it, and probably haven't had so much fun watching a dw episode since I was a kid, but I'm trans and 'binary binary' 'non binary' wank bothered me mostly because it felt like rtd shoving in keywords to see how far he could push it with the people who didn't like chibnall's era, like when they were going on about 'male-presenting timelords' and that at the end it felt more like rtd putting in as many buzzwords as he could to wind up bigots rather than an actual effort to talk about trans issues. The conversation with Sylvia and Donna in the kitchen was probably the only interaction in the whole thing about trans stuff that didn't feel horribly performative and out of place.
Not a fantastic episode by any means, defo a rushed climax in my book but a damn fun ride all the same.
that ending really felt like 60s Who all over again lmao
"We could end up anywhere in time and space"
holy shit they really butchered Rose's character though, I didn't mind the pronoun scenes ( I thought it was funny) but everything else was badly handled with her.
It was a fun episode. Really made for the casual fan.
I think that not having the logo appear in sync with the bit of the theme that it usually does is a bit of a miss tbh
I found this episode quite silly but I actually quite enjoyed it. It was entertaining. I liked all the voices for meep and the raath. I feel the meep’s defeat too fast. I think the all white interior is too medical and big but it was a decent episode.
I didn't appreciate "the message" pandering to wokeness. There were a couple of moments when I buried my face into my hands. But typical of BCC/Disney I suppose.
This was not woke, like at all.
After a second watch, I've realised it sure is a Russell T Davies episode!
The visual effects and props all remind me a lot of RTD1 era levels of effects. I think it might just be his style even if it mow imo looks outdated