I find this era of Doctor Who sorta like an abusive relationship, where we're beaten down but little sprinkles of good make us believe the pain is temporary
So many big questions, but to me the real sloppiness lies in all the random little weird things that don't seem to be explained that just add up into a confusing mess. 1. Why is there a random time portal in the angel village that no-one can cross? It serves to make a pretty predictable narrative point, but what was its actual reason for existing? 2. Why is there random blue pixie dust Flux and how/why is this different from regular flux? 3. How does tunnel guy always show up at the right spot? 4. Why are there random portals linked to Flux plot point anyway? Come to that, why are there portals period, and how does some random dude just stumble upon them? 5. Why does the Flux seem to do different things as plot requires if it just anti-matter? It literally teleports people at one point, totally destroys things at others, and just batters some planets a bit later. 6. How is it people are constantly teleporting to where they need to be in general? 7. Why is it OK to genocide 3 races at the end, but not OK to kill some Sontarans in episode 2? 8. Why does Karvanista set totally lethal traps on Earth if he and the rest of his race are here to save humanity? 9. What was Serpent's plan? The Sontarans don't need him after they take over, and have no interest in saving Earth from Flux either so...he's pretty screwed? 10. How did the Lupari know it was coming to the extent that they, and they alone have anti-flux tech ready and waiting? [Even if slightly impractical] Not so much unexplained as just truly, majorly baffling: 11. It is really necessary to destroy the whole universe just because the Doctor interferes a bit or even a lot? I mean really, that escalated quickly. + lots of other things I'd have to rewatch to ask.
‘I don’t think chibnall is that stupid’ erm, the finale had multiple instances of us zooming through the impenetrable gapless planet wide lupari shield to an earth that was lit up by sunlight, even scenes of sunsets over Brazil. The sunlight that literally should be blocked out by the shield, one of his biggest plot points. Trust me, he IS that stupid.
in episode 2 dans parents litterally state that it went dark for a couple of mins, then the light came back, the lupari shield only blocked light when it was being setup, and if you think thats stupid, man your really watching the wrong show
@@voltran7677 nah I’m not. I’m watching the right show. Series 1 - 10 despite a few bumps in the road, make sense. Flux however? There is so much that doesn’t make sense. Regardless of what his parents said, just look at the scenes we’re shown of the shield. It’s a bright earth, then pans up to a solid dark wall of metal blocking out literally any sunlight. It makes no sense
@@zaxsnacc3310 nowhere did I say there’s too much mystery and complexity and nowhere have I ever moaned about lack of complexity. I’m not ‘the other side’ of the fanbase, in fact for the past year I’ve been defending the timeless child as people blow it waaaayyyy out of proportion. But for the flux finale, it’s not about it being complex or mysterious at all. It’s the fact that loads of it literally didn’t make any sense and it was full of plot holes
@@obiwankenobi687 Yeah I'm on your side dude; I'll continue to defend S11 and S12 as they're made out to be way worse than they really are - still the show's weakest era since the reboot, but not terrible by any means - but Flux is the first series which just undeniably sucked IMO. Sad because it had enormous potential, but by the halfway point it was already such a mess that it was really difficult to follow or care about anything that happened afterwards. The only episode that actually left me feeling satisfied was War of the Sontarans, and even then it still had glaring flaws. It's definitely made me appreciate S6 in particular, because I used to think THAT was a mess just because of a few inconsistencies in the plot
I raised the same point elsewhere on social media and either I watched a different version of the story from nearly everyone else or their assertion that "the Earth scenes are all in darkness" is a stunning example of the Mandela effect.
The thing that pisses me off about people who say they'll likely answer everything in the specials is that it shouldn't be the case. That series was a series, those are specials, if you can't finish a story within the series you shouldn't be writing TV. Time was the specials were separate stories, now Chibnall has to answer things in them because he couldn't cut a few pointless stories out of the main season to fit actual answers in. Anyway that's my rant
Hey, the way I look at it, at least the Chibnall era will be coming to an end. Personally, I wish Jodie would stay on one more series after that. I would like to see what her Doctor is like with better writing.
@@reallyWyrd I can see why you'd want that but I personally don't think it would help. I think the writing is a big factor in why I dislike her doctor but also her acting too. I find her combination of matt Smith and David Tennant just annoying because we've seen them do it FAR better already. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe she'd act differently with a different showrunner, but all I know is I'll be happy to see the back of all of them.
Swarm and Azure were basically the result of monster concepts being developed by a costume designer, a whole lot more style than substance without much thought given to anything other than how they looked. At least that's what I got from the behind the scenes...
Does the Daleks being wiped out actually mean anything at this point? I'm pretty sure RTD made them extinct at least three times during his first run, even comic book characters don't cheat death as often
As time travel is ubiquitous, the Time-Lords being just one of many, there is nothing that cannot be undone by going back in time. Even the TimeLessChild can be undone!
@@fivish That doesn't seem to be exactly true in the Doctor Who universe. Time, and the Time Lords in particular, seem to have very unique and mysterious properties. Certain events in the classic series seem to subtly imply that no matter when you travel to in the universe, if you go to Gallifrey, the exact same Time Lords will always be there until they regenerate and then it will always be those Time Lords (if you follow me). This is likely why crossing one's own time stream and meeting a former self is such a strictly forbidden act. As weird as this may all sound to the human mind, it's also likely why the Doctor isn't just constantly bumping into his/her previous selves.
What happened to Peggy all that time after Yaz and Dan seemingly abandoned her with no one else there. Which leads to how did they leave in the first place?
Each and every one of these questions infuriate me spectacularly. I strongly doubt that any of these questions will EVER br answered. As you have strongly implied Chibnall isn’t good enough to do them justice. He (Chibs) might try to answer, and even make an effort, but honestly his answers are woefully inadequate.
I felt like this could have been a really great, classic arc - but it was so muddled and chaotic and confusing - that when it was over I was like... wtf even happened there? I shouldn't need to watch it all like 3 times and turn to deep analysis videos just to understand the basic story.
I didn't understand the part about Diane being "insignificant," either. I mean, Azure purposely lays in wait for her. She and Swarm tell Dan they "have something of yours" and show him Diane is a prisoner inside Passenger. So what did it come to? Like so much in this season, it came to nothing.
Here’s my solution: Azure decides to keep Diane to “play with”. She’s still seen as insignificant, but as an object to be used and eventually discarded rather than “Ho-hum they just forgot about me/didn’t think I was worth killing.” Or something like that.
Chibnall will answer none of this. I'm sure you put more thought into the Flux story than he ever did. He probably wrote most of it while drunk. That's the only thing that might explain how shoddilly put together that mess was.
You jest, but I have wondered exactly that. It's so disjointed and so often barely fanfic level I truly wonder if he's OK. You know. In the head. What if the huge stress of the job was just too much? It would explain a lot, and for the record if that ever turns out to have been true I wish him well. Of course, if it was all done with clarity and a healthy mind, GTF outa here and get back to writing strife drama, C-balls. XD
I was hoping that series 13 was the end of the Chibnal era. I was hugely disappointed to realize he has six more episodes to fuck up the the Doctor Who mythos.
The biggest question after series 13 has to be... _when is someone going to tell the Emperor he's naked_ ? Doctor Who at the moment is like a badly made cake, and all these weird unexplained characters are no different to a bad cook trying to cover over the fact that it tastes awful with layer upon layer of icing in the hope that the sickly sweetness will act as a distraction
The Flux moved quite slowly, sub-light, so it could not destroy the entire Universe unless it had been at it for almost infinite time. But the Flux only appeared recently so there is a huge plot hole here.
6:59 - Come on, Rich, it's obvious: That's the Minnesota Dalek Zoo, as the initials clearly explain. Want to come and look at a Dalek that's safely stored in a cage or behind glass? That's where you go. (For anyone reading this... yes, I'm being silly. I HOPE.)
Bring back the First 'Hartnell' Doctor played by David Bradley, which would be my choice 60 years on. Bradley was excellent as William Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time.
I LOVED the idea of the return to serialisation, it was one of the things about classic Who I really loved as it always made sure you had a reason to come back for more. And it was always something I sorely missed with the revival, especially given how much of todays TV is basically serials anyhow. But like any story it depends on how well it was written, and this serial was all over the place which makes me wonder how much planning, if any, Chibs does before he writes the scripts.
Totally agree. It feels like too many good ideas thrown away so fast. I'm worried that it'll just burn out all the ideas with this quick escalation and resolution cycle.
It’s funny that This era of Doctor Who could have been written in a way that allows ideas and concepts to breathe and allow them to be well built up on. The idea of division is kinda cool and should send a character like the Doctor into like an existential crisis but is given so little time to actually be developed as a unbelievable superpower. If series 11 and 12 were utilised in a way that had division looming over as a big bad with control over villains doing certain missions and tasks for them with a view one off episodes here and there like all Doctor who series’ then they would’ve felt more like a bigger presence when brought to the forefront in series 13 but instead just ends up feeling like a very poor attempt of copying and pasting the TVA from Loki (a show which takes some if not most of its inspiration from). The idea and concept of the timeless child, a being seemingly abandoned and alone in which the Gallifreyan’s discovered and brought back to Gallifrey, rather than caring and nurturing it chose to test and effectively torture said child as a means to extrapolate it’s power and capabilities is truly chilling and rotten yet fantastic and adds yet more darker and corrupt layers to a species that was are supposed to like due to the fact that they are (originally) our main character’s race. The fact that said being in the Doctor themselves ruins and taints an interesting idea does very little for the doctors character going forward but just forces history into a character that contradicts nearly 60 years worth of story telling. It’s a shame that ideas such as this are executed so poorly in a time when Doctor Who should be thriving. Chris has really struggled to write Doctor who in an interesting and appealing way despite having sufficient time and resources to do so. I feel really sorry for the actors and actresses that have been apart of this early, especially those that have given it a lot of effort. Jodie has really tried to give it her all in a role that is different to what she’s used to performing in and I feel under a showrunner like RTD or even Moffat she probably would’ve been more liked and appreciated and written better. Also worth mentioning Sacha Dwahan, when he has been on screen (and we obviously expect will be again in the near future) has been absolutely electrifying and has been one of and maybe even the best thing to come out of this era. Looking forward to some RTD But I’m going to sad for Jodie and co due to the poor standards
@@asentientcactus but maybe the knowledge of the Timeless Child is different somehow, all part of the style of the retcon so far. David Jacobi's Master used a fob watch shortly before he regenerated although he was shot with some kind of ray gun just before he did.
@@TPH250290 If the master hadn't opened the fob watch he wouldn't have got shot to trigger the regeneration. Anyway, was just the fact that it was in the same scene that makes me think they might try to write the fob watch into the next regeneration scene with the Doctor, a trigger of events leading to a regeneration.
Thanks Rich for a great video. And best wishes for Christmas. There was one other unexplained point from Flux - what were the blue swarming creatures that attacked humans in Bel's story and also appeared in Williamson's tunnels? Were they connected to Swarm and Azure (azure being another word for blue)? Perhaps Chris had to drop a scene or two, which would have explained this? And what did Swarm mean when he described their names as a "good enough translation" (or something to that effect)? What do you think?
Merry Christmas to you and Amy, Rich! Thanks for awesome Who content! Looking forward to Eve of the Daleks and my inevitable disappointment at all of the above questions being completely ignored by Chibbers!
I hope you and Amy had a happy Christmas and, like you, I’m hoping Chibs wraps a few things up…. Sadly, RTD didn’t write 13’s regen so, it will likely be awful but, I’m looking forward to life after Chibs
I know none of this will happen because RTD will likely want a clean slate like each showrunner after him but IF Chibnall had another series in him this is how I could see some of these questions being explored; The TARDIS is dying and so rather than regeneration being caused from a fatal wound, 13 gives up her life to restore the TARDIS with regeneration energy whilst using the Fob Watch to choose to regenerate back into Jo Martin's Doctor. I think the only explanation for the lack of Division background is that they were formally destroyed during the Time War along with Gallifrey and so it's only with The Day of The Doctor that they are back in the timeline, maybe explore a hunting down of the key players of Division this way with Jo Martin leading the way and knowing Swarm/Azure's fate in retroactive bouts against former versions of them ala the contrasting timelines of the Doctor and River Song? As it is I think this whole series of revelations may just be swept under the rug and a new big threat put in it's place which is a shame.
The only thing I think was answered (vaguely) was that the TARDIS malfunction was due to "time running wild" because the Mauri were broken, I think it was tecteun who said it, something along the lines of "time running wild, the TARDIS must not like that"
I think we saw Azure in human form so that we knew who the actress was ("oh look, it's her from that thing!") because I can't see any other point to that whole bit in the Arctic Circle. Head cannon though I wonder if imprisoning Azure on Earth coincided with the Ruth Doctor being hidden in Gloucester, she had a Division agent / companion with her as well...
Swarm has been imprisoned from the "Dawn of Time" or something. So Azure must have spent a lot of time as a trilobite prior to the Flux event! Utter nonsense that Chibnall realises is such on that explanation video they did "I feel like" or "I think" is how he prefaces his witness protection excuse (since when did the perpetrator go into witness protection?)
As for the Daleks Chibbers has gone on to say "this is a executioner squad hunting the doctor, for the destruction of a huge portion of the dalek race in last episode." So that line says that what we saw in earth orbit wasn't the entire Dalek race, but it was at least a huge chunk of it.
I reckon the reason the Daleks were still around, is because they could have set aside a few Daleks in a void ship in order to rebuild the Dalek race in case they were in fact all destroyed by the flux. This would be similar to what they did with the cult of Skaro at the battle of canary wharf and then the Daleks in Manhattan storyline.
I'm not sure what kind of 'closure' you could be seeking from MDZ (that organisation with the Recon Scout Dalek's gunstick and casing remains from Resolution). I could imagine in a few years' time a Big Finish UNIT story exploring UNIT vs NDZ, but I don't see anything that needs urgently resolving within the last three Chibnall era TV episodes.
Chibnall actually explained a few of these on the doctor who UA-cam channel, which I know he SHOULDN’T have to do 🙄 but yeah some answers are out there
Prediction: Everything you said about Chibnall not being stupid enough to do that, that's exactly what will happen because it will "subvert expectations... " that's he's not a massive hack who hasn't a clue what he's doing at the helm of a ship he's already crashed into the reef.
Jodie was great as was John Bishop. The two skeletal villains were, as you said, very well portrayed. The Angels episode was the best one and could have been rewritten to stand on its own. Overall, I'm confused. I know Doctor Who isn't a children's show but it is supposed to be accessible to children and this just alienates them, in my opinion.
Why have the Judoon just let the Doctor go? What were the Shadow Proclamation doing during the potential end of the universe? Is there still time for 13 to get a cat? Did the Doctors mother know about Tecteun?
There are so many questions left and frankly, I am not sure if I want them to be answered. So far Chibnall has a history of underwhelming reveals, so better leave it out in the open. See if RTD wants to touch any of it. Then again, I'd be surprised, if Chibnall wouldn't solve some of the things he teased. At least the Master and mystery surrounding Galifrey should be uncovered.
The Diane storyline really bugged me. She was sought out specifically by Storm & Azure. They knew her name. The only other time we saw them capturing people it was being done en masse. Diane was also captured before Dan even started travelling with The Doctor, so it wasn’t even like they were capturing her to “hurt” The Doctor. Using her to taunt Dan & The Doctor in episode 3/4(?) felt like a contrivance because, again, they had no way of knowing Diane’s importance to Dan before they captured her. If they needed human souls/energy/whatever for their plan (as we say in later episodes) then they must have kept her alive for alive for a reason, so them “sparing” her makes no sense. Therefore the only reason she was kept alive was to become a narrative device - to explain to Vinder how to escape
Azure could have such a big arc and redemption, becoming a human again maybe, choosing being on the side of the Doctor defeating Swarm. That awful filler Once Upon Time, could be an episode focused on their history, would be much better.
The whole Swarm.and Azure arc finally made me lose it with Chibnal. If the guy played football he would be an out of form striker. Every time he has a chance to finish well he somehow contrives to screw the ball over the bar.
I mean separating them makes sense. Two super powerful beings don't imprison them together or they'll have twice the chance to escape. But why hide her in a human shall? They've been imprisoned since the dawn of time, how many human covers would that make?
Have to disagree with your comments on The Grand Serpent, but that's only a vague personal feeling, I am sure he will return before the end of the next three specials. Probably as a pre-Hartnell Master!
Here I figured it out: She is NOOOOO OOOOONNEEE. Nobody put any thought into making her into a character and was a plot device that was under realised and played down to the point of parody due to the SEVERE lack of talent in the writing stage of production.
You left out a massive one: in War of the Sontarans it was established Russia never existed, and the Sontarans had... always been here? Further evidence they were toying with the timeline, in a messy way Chibs couldn't keep straight. Either way, established history had been changed, and that was never unchanged, was it? So we have not just space, but time as well to mend.
There's a blink you'll miss it reference to Karvanista ramming the Sontaran ships causing a "temporal" explosion/implosion that causes those Sontarans to have never existed, implying they didn't get to go back and rewrite time. Not particularly satisfying, but sort of addressed. I presume the reason why modern day Liverpool don't think Sontarans have always been there is because they haven't launched that Fleet they destroy. Doesn't explain why the Crimean era consider it. There's ways to reason it out but they aren't explicit. Of course wiping someone from ever existing sounds a lot worse than just blowing them up, but guess which one the Doctor is pleased about....
Big finish or other expanded media will probably answer some of the questions that weren't answered personally it shouldn't be that way a lot of the questions like who are the ravager's should've been explained but for whatever reason it wasn't
It’s weird how everyone seems to glance past the not so subtle lesbian overtone which has know happened twice between Yaz and the Doctor.. I think they’ve set it up for the first lesbian kiss on the who (at least as far as I’m aware), I mean they have in D13’s first series covered a lot of cultural issues and things that let’s face it wouldn’t have been discussed in the whoniverse ten years ago - it seems like a logical step next. As far as Division (I’ll use this post as my first public posting of my idea, I said it first ;) ) .. division is also a mathematical operator , to share (divide) one number by another to get multiple smaller fractions of the original. Maybe the Divisi0n , has to divide by Zero to last eternally for an infinite amount. Maybe it’s a zero drive maybe the doctor is Zero? , but I can’t help thinking the name itself is a clue - much the same as missy and the spy master. As far as the flux and the destruction.. who’d wager that the doctor has to make a decision on restoring the universe but bring back the tin men, pepper pots and potato heads? 3 destructive factions gone and live with the destruction in peace (or at least more peaceful) or bring back every thing? As far as Azure is concerned I’m sure we will find out what happened there over the next 3 specials, I mean there was a lot of effort and setup with a lot of plot pointers in that scene for a who episode that wouldn’t have further function ( unless like so many things the idea was scrapped before filming the next segment) . There’s a few other things I’m mulling but I shall leave them for another time.
If 90% of the universe was destroyed we wouldn't notice much of a difference anyway. It probably wouldn't even cover the extent of the universe we can visibly see. Also it would expand back over time wouldn't it?
I believe these are possibly related to either The Dark Guardians or connected to Omega or both are unique to the acre of infinity story back in Peter Davidson's time as the Doctor possibilities aren't who are it when are they future or past or from E space or anti matter space? Then there the planet Time I think it has a very different title than time it is possible it's translation in time lords language might have changed it to the graveyard of time lords it eventually became Tranzylore/Transilore? The feeling is we may not see the last of these two at least in any time soon or future probably?
Also is there going to be any continuity from the previous episodes of the show. The U.K. should be talking about the Daleks as they were supposed to be security drones in the last special. On top of that they just had sontarans invade the earth and kill some people. Will the human race be talking about that in future episodes or will it just be brushed over. That is one thing I’m hoping RTD will bring back from his era.
The timeless child rubbish was a mistake. That mistake spawned a lot of other mistakes (The/Division, Tecteun, Flux, etc). Why was it doubled down on as though anyone really liked it?
Some people are a fan of a particular sports team. But me? I'm a fan of a particular show. But--much like a fan of a sports team that hasn't won the big championship in a while, I await the time when we might have whole episodes, maybe even whole seasons that are mostly good. ---- Why must we *forever* be traipsing around in the Doctor's backstory? Yeah *I know* the show is named "Doctor Who", but since the whole point is that we are *never* to know all the details, it seems unfair/pointless to be setting up so many mysteries around it. Now they're meta-threatening the Doctor's life again. Oh wow. How original. Remember when 11 was definitely totally going to die? ---- Yeah, series 13 was... *entertaining*. But it did not feel very satisfying because the Chibnall approach seems to be to just make up so much random s--- that none of it feels grounded or well earned.
Unpopular opinion: Pre-Hartnell Doctor is a fantastic idea, unfortunately poorly realised by Chibnall. Canon has been broken so many times so often before it's not that contradictory for the Pre-Hartnell Doctor to exist. Fans just overestimate the amount of people who care that much about that specific portion of canon. And it's not that hard to explain the "plot holes". Hints are there. Fugitive Doctor or its later incarnations was captured by the Division and made back into a child. That's how Hartnell Doctor appears. It is done because Tecteun didn't want to kill the Doctor so she needed to erase all memory of Division from Doctor's mind. Her memories were erased and her genetics were changed via the fob watch before whe she joined the Division. That's why she thinks she's a Time Lord in her Fugitive Doctor incarnation.
This was a mess. I've watched Dr Who since William Hartnell and it has ebbed and flowed in terms of quality but this recent stuff has just been dreadful. Nothing to do with the actors but the material they've had to work with is just awful.
I find this era of Doctor Who sorta like an abusive relationship, where we're beaten down but little sprinkles of good make us believe the pain is temporary
Holy crap that is a perfect description of the Chibnall Era
Same
So many big questions, but to me the real sloppiness lies in all the random little weird things that don't seem to be explained that just add up into a confusing mess.
1. Why is there a random time portal in the angel village that no-one can cross? It serves to make a pretty predictable narrative point, but what was its actual reason for existing?
2. Why is there random blue pixie dust Flux and how/why is this different from regular flux?
3. How does tunnel guy always show up at the right spot?
4. Why are there random portals linked to Flux plot point anyway? Come to that, why are there portals period, and how does some random dude just stumble upon them?
5. Why does the Flux seem to do different things as plot requires if it just anti-matter? It literally teleports people at one point, totally destroys things at others, and just batters some planets a bit later.
6. How is it people are constantly teleporting to where they need to be in general?
7. Why is it OK to genocide 3 races at the end, but not OK to kill some Sontarans in episode 2?
8. Why does Karvanista set totally lethal traps on Earth if he and the rest of his race are here to save humanity?
9. What was Serpent's plan? The Sontarans don't need him after they take over, and have no interest in saving Earth from Flux either so...he's pretty screwed?
10. How did the Lupari know it was coming to the extent that they, and they alone have anti-flux tech ready and waiting? [Even if slightly impractical]
Not so much unexplained as just truly, majorly baffling:
11. It is really necessary to destroy the whole universe just because the Doctor interferes a bit or even a lot? I mean really, that escalated quickly.
+ lots of other things I'd have to rewatch to ask.
Let's be honest, the biggest question of season 13 (as well as two previous series) is "why?"
And also "how?"
‘I don’t think chibnall is that stupid’
erm, the finale had multiple instances of us zooming through the impenetrable gapless planet wide lupari shield to an earth that was lit up by sunlight, even scenes of sunsets over Brazil. The sunlight that literally should be blocked out by the shield, one of his biggest plot points. Trust me, he IS that stupid.
in episode 2 dans parents litterally state that it went dark for a couple of mins, then the light came back, the lupari shield only blocked light when it was being setup, and if you think thats stupid, man your really watching the wrong show
@@voltran7677 nah I’m not. I’m watching the right show. Series 1 - 10 despite a few bumps in the road, make sense. Flux however? There is so much that doesn’t make sense. Regardless of what his parents said, just look at the scenes we’re shown of the shield. It’s a bright earth, then pans up to a solid dark wall of metal blocking out literally any sunlight. It makes no sense
@@zaxsnacc3310 nowhere did I say there’s too much mystery and complexity and nowhere have I ever moaned about lack of complexity. I’m not ‘the other side’ of the fanbase, in fact for the past year I’ve been defending the timeless child as people blow it waaaayyyy out of proportion. But for the flux finale, it’s not about it being complex or mysterious at all. It’s the fact that loads of it literally didn’t make any sense and it was full of plot holes
@@obiwankenobi687
Yeah I'm on your side dude; I'll continue to defend S11 and S12 as they're made out to be way worse than they really are - still the show's weakest era since the reboot, but not terrible by any means - but Flux is the first series which just undeniably sucked IMO.
Sad because it had enormous potential, but by the halfway point it was already such a mess that it was really difficult to follow or care about anything that happened afterwards. The only episode that actually left me feeling satisfied was War of the Sontarans, and even then it still had glaring flaws.
It's definitely made me appreciate S6 in particular, because I used to think THAT was a mess just because of a few inconsistencies in the plot
I raised the same point elsewhere on social media and either I watched a different version of the story from nearly everyone else or their assertion that "the Earth scenes are all in darkness" is a stunning example of the Mandela effect.
The Universe is restored when The Doctor steals the Infinity Stones from Time and snaps it all back! BRILLIANT, CHIBBERS! (thinly veiled sarcasm)
Hey, at this point, why not. 🤣
Stan Lee be with you, brother.
The thing that pisses me off about people who say they'll likely answer everything in the specials is that it shouldn't be the case. That series was a series, those are specials, if you can't finish a story within the series you shouldn't be writing TV.
Time was the specials were separate stories, now Chibnall has to answer things in them because he couldn't cut a few pointless stories out of the main season to fit actual answers in.
Anyway that's my rant
Hey, the way I look at it, at least the Chibnall era will be coming to an end.
Personally, I wish Jodie would stay on one more series after that. I would like to see what her Doctor is like with better writing.
@@reallyWyrd I can see why you'd want that but I personally don't think it would help. I think the writing is a big factor in why I dislike her doctor but also her acting too. I find her combination of matt Smith and David Tennant just annoying because we've seen them do it FAR better already. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe she'd act differently with a different showrunner, but all I know is I'll be happy to see the back of all of them.
Swarm and Azure were basically the result of monster concepts being developed by a costume designer, a whole lot more style than substance without much thought given to anything other than how they looked. At least that's what I got from the behind the scenes...
Does the Daleks being wiped out actually mean anything at this point? I'm pretty sure RTD made them extinct at least three times during his first run, even comic book characters don't cheat death as often
RTD never made them instinct. All his Dalek stories had an arc from bad wolf to journeys end
As time travel is ubiquitous, the Time-Lords being just one of many, there is nothing that cannot be undone by going back in time. Even the TimeLessChild can be undone!
@@fivish That doesn't seem to be exactly true in the Doctor Who universe. Time, and the Time Lords in particular, seem to have very unique and mysterious properties. Certain events in the classic series seem to subtly imply that no matter when you travel to in the universe, if you go to Gallifrey, the exact same Time Lords will always be there until they regenerate and then it will always be those Time Lords (if you follow me). This is likely why crossing one's own time stream and meeting a former self is such a strictly forbidden act. As weird as this may all sound to the human mind, it's also likely why the Doctor isn't just constantly bumping into his/her previous selves.
What happened to Peggy all that time after Yaz and Dan seemingly abandoned her with no one else there. Which leads to how did they leave in the first place?
Each and every one of these questions infuriate me spectacularly.
I strongly doubt that any of these questions will EVER br answered. As you have strongly implied Chibnall isn’t good enough to do them justice. He (Chibs) might try to answer, and even make an effort, but honestly his answers are woefully inadequate.
I felt like this could have been a really great, classic arc - but it was so muddled and chaotic and confusing - that when it was over I was like... wtf even happened there? I shouldn't need to watch it all like 3 times and turn to deep analysis videos just to understand the basic story.
I didn't understand the part about Diane being "insignificant," either. I mean, Azure purposely lays in wait for her. She and Swarm tell Dan they "have something of yours" and show him Diane is a prisoner inside Passenger. So what did it come to? Like so much in this season, it came to nothing.
Did they kidnap her because they knew Dan was traveling on the TARDIS?? Before he was even…..traveling on the TARDIS
Here’s my solution:
Azure decides to keep Diane to “play with”. She’s still seen as insignificant, but as an object to be used and eventually discarded rather than “Ho-hum they just forgot about me/didn’t think I was worth killing.”
Or something like that.
@@cassandra.wladyslava You’ve put more thought into this than Chibnall did!
@@rojh9351 I literally came up with that in about 10 seconds, lol. Sadly, however, I think your point still stands.
@@cassandra.wladyslava But really, EVERYONE they took was used and discarded. There was no reason to leave Diane behind other than plot reasons.
Can't be arsed with Who anymore.
Never thought I'd feel this way been a fan for forty-five years but it's just pants now.
This series asked more questions than it answered, and we have precious little time to resolve things
I doubt Chibnall ever will. I think he will just make those few specials as standalones and then leave it.
Chibnall will answer none of this. I'm sure you put more thought into the Flux story than he ever did. He probably wrote most of it while drunk. That's the only thing that might explain how shoddilly put together that mess was.
You jest, but I have wondered exactly that. It's so disjointed and so often barely fanfic level I truly wonder if he's OK. You know. In the head. What if the huge stress of the job was just too much? It would explain a lot, and for the record if that ever turns out to have been true I wish him well.
Of course, if it was all done with clarity and a healthy mind, GTF outa here and get back to writing strife drama, C-balls. XD
But you know it’s not actually finished?
I was hoping that series 13 was the end of the Chibnal era. I was hugely disappointed to realize he has six more episodes to fuck up the the Doctor Who mythos.
Pretty sure he's only got three more episodes in 2022. The RTD returns for the 60th Special in 2023.
The biggest question after series 13 has to be... _when is someone going to tell the Emperor he's naked_ ? Doctor Who at the moment is like a badly made cake, and all these weird unexplained characters are no different to a bad cook trying to cover over the fact that it tastes awful with layer upon layer of icing in the hope that the sickly sweetness will act as a distraction
The Flux moved quite slowly, sub-light, so it could not destroy the entire Universe unless it had been at it for almost infinite time. But the Flux only appeared recently so there is a huge plot hole here.
Merry Christmas to you and Amy, looking forward to the podcast in the New Year and seeing how Eve of the Daleks turns out.
6:59 - Come on, Rich, it's obvious: That's the Minnesota Dalek Zoo, as the initials clearly explain. Want to come and look at a Dalek that's safely stored in a cage or behind glass? That's where you go.
(For anyone reading this... yes, I'm being silly. I HOPE.)
Bring back the First 'Hartnell' Doctor played by David Bradley, which would be my choice 60 years on. Bradley was excellent as William Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time.
I LOVED the idea of the return to serialisation, it was one of the things about classic Who I really loved as it always made sure you had a reason to come back for more. And it was always something I sorely missed with the revival, especially given how much of todays TV is basically serials anyhow.
But like any story it depends on how well it was written, and this serial was all over the place which makes me wonder how much planning, if any, Chibs does before he writes the scripts.
Totally agree. It feels like too many good ideas thrown away so fast. I'm worried that it'll just burn out all the ideas with this quick escalation and resolution cycle.
Since you are doing this format is the podcast coming back soon I can’t live without it!
Also merry Christmas
Podcast has been back for a while! Next episode is releasing tomorrow!
@@pickupchangetoe great thanks for the reply!!
Great work as ever Rich. Looking forward to your new year analysis
It’s funny that This era of Doctor Who could have been written in a way that allows ideas and concepts to breathe and allow them to be well built up on.
The idea of division is kinda cool and should send a character like the Doctor into like an existential crisis but is given so little time to actually be developed as a unbelievable superpower. If series 11 and 12 were utilised in a way that had division looming over as a big bad with control over villains doing certain missions and tasks for them with a view one off episodes here and there like all Doctor who series’ then they would’ve felt more like a bigger presence when brought to the forefront in series 13 but instead just ends up feeling like a very poor attempt of copying and pasting the TVA from Loki (a show which takes some if not most of its inspiration from).
The idea and concept of the timeless child, a being seemingly abandoned and alone in which the Gallifreyan’s discovered and brought back to Gallifrey, rather than caring and nurturing it chose to test and effectively torture said child as a means to extrapolate it’s power and capabilities is truly chilling and rotten yet fantastic and adds yet more darker and corrupt layers to a species that was are supposed to like due to the fact that they are (originally) our main character’s race. The fact that said being in the Doctor themselves ruins and taints an interesting idea does very little for the doctors character going forward but just forces history into a character that contradicts nearly 60 years worth of story telling.
It’s a shame that ideas such as this are executed so poorly in a time when Doctor Who should be thriving. Chris has really struggled to write Doctor who in an interesting and appealing way despite having sufficient time and resources to do so. I feel really sorry for the actors and actresses that have been apart of this early, especially those that have given it a lot of effort. Jodie has really tried to give it her all in a role that is different to what she’s used to performing in and I feel under a showrunner like RTD or even Moffat she probably would’ve been more liked and appreciated and written better. Also worth mentioning Sacha Dwahan, when he has been on screen (and we obviously expect will be again in the near future) has been absolutely electrifying and has been one of and maybe even the best thing to come out of this era. Looking forward to some RTD But I’m going to sad for Jodie and co due to the poor standards
My theory about the fob watch is that when it's opened it triggers a regeneration.
But it’s been opened plenty of times in the series and never regenerated anyone, 10th Doctor, War Master, Fugitive Doctor
@@asentientcactus but maybe the knowledge of the Timeless Child is different somehow, all part of the style of the retcon so far. David Jacobi's Master used a fob watch shortly before he regenerated although he was shot with some kind of ray gun just before he did.
@@davidbosankoe3759 Derek Jacobi regenerated because he was shot, not because he opened the fob watch, so you just answered your own question.
@@TPH250290 If the master hadn't opened the fob watch he wouldn't have got shot to trigger the regeneration. Anyway, was just the fact that it was in the same scene that makes me think they might try to write the fob watch into the next regeneration scene with the Doctor, a trigger of events leading to a regeneration.
I really do think the real finale for flux and it’s remaining mysteries is in the centenary special
Merry Christmas Rich and family! Thank you for all you do!
Thanks Rich for a great video. And best wishes for Christmas.
There was one other unexplained point from Flux - what were the blue swarming creatures that attacked humans in Bel's story and also appeared in Williamson's tunnels? Were they connected to Swarm and Azure (azure being another word for blue)? Perhaps Chris had to drop a scene or two, which would have explained this?
And what did Swarm mean when he described their names as a "good enough translation" (or something to that effect)?
What do you think?
That is a very good point! They did pop back into my head a while ago, but had definitely left by the time I wrote this script 😅
Merry Christmas to you and Amy, Rich! Thanks for awesome Who content! Looking forward to Eve of the Daleks and my inevitable disappointment at all of the above questions being completely ignored by Chibbers!
I hope you and Amy had a happy Christmas and, like you, I’m hoping Chibs wraps a few things up…. Sadly, RTD didn’t write 13’s regen so, it will likely be awful but, I’m looking forward to life after Chibs
As someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas, I really appreciate you wishing us a non-denominational year-end! 😄
Great opening line rich, adds a personal touch lol
I know none of this will happen because RTD will likely want a clean slate like each showrunner after him but IF Chibnall had another series in him this is how I could see some of these questions being explored; The TARDIS is dying and so rather than regeneration being caused from a fatal wound, 13 gives up her life to restore the TARDIS with regeneration energy whilst using the Fob Watch to choose to regenerate back into Jo Martin's Doctor. I think the only explanation for the lack of Division background is that they were formally destroyed during the Time War along with Gallifrey and so it's only with The Day of The Doctor that they are back in the timeline, maybe explore a hunting down of the key players of Division this way with Jo Martin leading the way and knowing Swarm/Azure's fate in retroactive bouts against former versions of them ala the contrasting timelines of the Doctor and River Song?
As it is I think this whole series of revelations may just be swept under the rug and a new big threat put in it's place which is a shame.
The only thing I think was answered (vaguely) was that the TARDIS malfunction was due to "time running wild" because the Mauri were broken, I think it was tecteun who said it, something along the lines of "time running wild, the TARDIS must not like that"
I think we saw Azure in human form so that we knew who the actress was ("oh look, it's her from that thing!") because I can't see any other point to that whole bit in the Arctic Circle. Head cannon though I wonder if imprisoning Azure on Earth coincided with the Ruth Doctor being hidden in Gloucester, she had a Division agent / companion with her as well...
Swarm has been imprisoned from the "Dawn of Time" or something. So Azure must have spent a lot of time as a trilobite prior to the Flux event! Utter nonsense that Chibnall realises is such on that explanation video they did "I feel like" or "I think" is how he prefaces his witness protection excuse (since when did the perpetrator go into witness protection?)
As for the Daleks Chibbers has gone on to say "this is a executioner squad hunting the doctor, for the destruction of a huge portion of the dalek race in last episode." So that line says that what we saw in earth orbit wasn't the entire Dalek race, but it was at least a huge chunk of it.
I reckon the reason the Daleks were still around, is because they could have set aside a few Daleks in a void ship in order to rebuild the Dalek race in case they were in fact all destroyed by the flux. This would be similar to what they did with the cult of Skaro at the battle of canary wharf and then the Daleks in Manhattan storyline.
The whole thing was a mess. It was scenes over a coherent plot. And then chibnall got fed up with the plot and so just didn’t care either.
The wiki is saying that 'time' was probably the Eternal of the same name, if that helps.
Chibnall for sure isnt J. Michael Straczynski
The grayscale house? Was that its one use; to represent the Doctor's memories...
I think the biggest questions are definetly: Why, oh dear god why? When will it be over?
Will someone please have mercy and just stop this massacre?
I'm not sure what kind of 'closure' you could be seeking from MDZ (that organisation with the Recon Scout Dalek's gunstick and casing remains from Resolution). I could imagine in a few years' time a Big Finish UNIT story exploring UNIT vs NDZ, but I don't see anything that needs urgently resolving within the last three Chibnall era TV episodes.
Chibnall actually explained a few of these on the doctor who UA-cam channel, which I know he SHOULDN’T have to do 🙄 but yeah some answers are out there
I would like to know what was behind door 9 in the Williamson tunnels in the up coming specials
I thought it was Tracy Beaker in the thumbnail at first
I dont know… I think Diana was insignificant in the story, even if people said she wasnt… how many minutes she was on screen? 2?
Marry Christmas thanks for being awesome
The biggest question is will the crap that is the 13th doctor be redcon the timeless child is a insult to who history.
Prediction: Everything you said about Chibnall not being stupid enough to do that, that's exactly what will happen because it will "subvert expectations... " that's he's not a massive hack who hasn't a clue what he's doing at the helm of a ship he's already crashed into the reef.
Jodie was great as was John Bishop. The two skeletal villains were, as you said, very well portrayed. The Angels episode was the best one and could have been rewritten to stand on its own. Overall, I'm confused. I know Doctor Who isn't a children's show but it is supposed to be accessible to children and this just alienates them, in my opinion.
Why have the Judoon just let the Doctor go? What were the Shadow Proclamation doing during the potential end of the universe? Is there still time for 13 to get a cat? Did the Doctors mother know about Tecteun?
There are so many questions left and frankly, I am not sure if I want them to be answered. So far Chibnall has a history of underwhelming reveals, so better leave it out in the open. See if RTD wants to touch any of it. Then again, I'd be surprised, if Chibnall wouldn't solve some of the things he teased. At least the Master and mystery surrounding Galifrey should be uncovered.
Any word on when the other two episodes will be?
Chibnell is the Flux for Doctor Who series.
My only question:
Did they fix the universe?
Aren't the Daleks licensed to the BBC under the condition that they need to be used at least once a year or they can't be used any more?
Correct
Good points!! :) I could take a guess what all the answers are but I have a feeling most questions will be left unanswered :o
The Diane storyline really bugged me. She was sought out specifically by Storm & Azure. They knew her name. The only other time we saw them capturing people it was being done en masse.
Diane was also captured before Dan even started travelling with The Doctor, so it wasn’t even like they were capturing her to “hurt” The Doctor. Using her to taunt Dan & The Doctor in episode 3/4(?) felt like a contrivance because, again, they had no way of knowing Diane’s importance to Dan before they captured her.
If they needed human souls/energy/whatever for their plan (as we say in later episodes) then they must have kept her alive for alive for a reason, so them “sparing” her makes no sense.
Therefore the only reason she was kept alive was to become a narrative device - to explain to Vinder how to escape
How did the regenerating cybermen and the master survive the explosion on Galafrey?
Azure could have such a big arc and redemption, becoming a human again maybe, choosing being on the side of the Doctor defeating Swarm.
That awful filler Once Upon Time, could be an episode focused on their history, would be much better.
The whole Swarm.and Azure arc finally made me lose it with Chibnal. If the guy played football he would be an out of form striker. Every time he has a chance to finish well he somehow contrives to screw the ball over the bar.
I mean separating them makes sense. Two super powerful beings don't imprison them together or they'll have twice the chance to escape. But why hide her in a human shall? They've been imprisoned since the dawn of time, how many human covers would that make?
Have to disagree with your comments on The Grand Serpent, but that's only a vague personal feeling, I am sure he will return before the end of the next three specials. Probably as a pre-Hartnell Master!
Here I figured it out: She is NOOOOO OOOOONNEEE. Nobody put any thought into making her into a character and was a plot device that was under realised and played down to the point of parody due to the SEVERE lack of talent in the writing stage of production.
I thought I heard the preggo Asian girl call her child "azure child", so I thought they were implying that the baby was Azure.
You left out a massive one: in War of the Sontarans it was established Russia never existed, and the Sontarans had... always been here? Further evidence they were toying with the timeline, in a messy way Chibs couldn't keep straight. Either way, established history had been changed, and that was never unchanged, was it? So we have not just space, but time as well to mend.
There's a blink you'll miss it reference to Karvanista ramming the Sontaran ships causing a "temporal" explosion/implosion that causes those Sontarans to have never existed, implying they didn't get to go back and rewrite time. Not particularly satisfying, but sort of addressed.
I presume the reason why modern day Liverpool don't think Sontarans have always been there is because they haven't launched that Fleet they destroy. Doesn't explain why the Crimean era consider it. There's ways to reason it out but they aren't explicit.
Of course wiping someone from ever existing sounds a lot worse than just blowing them up, but guess which one the Doctor is pleased about....
Big finish or other expanded media will probably answer some of the questions that weren't answered personally it shouldn't be that way a lot of the questions like who are the ravager's should've been explained but for whatever reason it wasn't
"3:40" - "I don't think Chibnall is THAT stupid."
Ahem. Comment?
Is it over yet?
Biggest question is... how did that pile of shit get to air?
Compromising photographs and blackmail? 🤔
@@ElJohnerino
Good one, my friend 👍
It’s weird how everyone seems to glance past the not so subtle lesbian overtone which has know happened twice between Yaz and the Doctor.. I think they’ve set it up for the first lesbian kiss on the who (at least as far as I’m aware), I mean they have in D13’s first series covered a lot of cultural issues and things that let’s face it wouldn’t have been discussed in the whoniverse ten years ago - it seems like a logical step next.
As far as Division (I’ll use this post as my first public posting of my idea, I said it first ;) ) .. division is also a mathematical operator , to share (divide) one number by another to get multiple smaller fractions of the original. Maybe the Divisi0n , has to divide by Zero to last eternally for an infinite amount. Maybe it’s a zero drive maybe the doctor is Zero? , but I can’t help thinking the name itself is a clue - much the same as missy and the spy master.
As far as the flux and the destruction.. who’d wager that the doctor has to make a decision on restoring the universe but bring back the tin men, pepper pots and potato heads? 3 destructive factions gone and live with the destruction in peace (or at least more peaceful) or bring back every thing?
As far as Azure is concerned I’m sure we will find out what happened there over the next 3 specials, I mean there was a lot of effort and setup with a lot of plot pointers in that scene for a who episode that wouldn’t have further function ( unless like so many things the idea was scrapped before filming the next segment) .
There’s a few other things I’m mulling but I shall leave them for another time.
I think time is responsible for the time loop in Eve of the Daleks or is an affect of the dying TARDIS
Why was she called Azure but Swarm isn’t the name of his colour. Azure and Magenta anyone?
There is only one question I had after watching flux.., why did nothing make any sense?
My biggest question is, ‘Does Rich need a new camera, or could he just not be arsed to even put on jammies and did the whole voiceover in the nude?’
If 90% of the universe was destroyed we wouldn't notice much of a difference anyway. It probably wouldn't even cover the extent of the universe we can visibly see. Also it would expand back over time wouldn't it?
Wouldn’t the earth shield have blocked the sunlight and killed all life, or did I miss something?
Thank you so much for pointing out all the shitty writing, not enough people do
I believe these are possibly related to either The Dark Guardians or connected to Omega or both are unique to the acre of infinity story back in Peter Davidson's time as the Doctor possibilities aren't who are it when are they future or past or from E space or anti matter space? Then there the planet Time I think it has a very different title than time it is possible it's translation in time lords language might have changed it to the graveyard of time lords it eventually became Tranzylore/Transilore? The feeling is we may not see the last of these two at least in any time soon or future probably?
Why couldn't Karvanista hypnotise/mind control Dan?
She ticks the diversity box. That's all the information you need..... or will ever get.
Also is there going to be any continuity from the previous episodes of the show. The U.K. should be talking about the Daleks as they were supposed to be security drones in the last special. On top of that they just had sontarans invade the earth and kill some people. Will the human race be talking about that in future episodes or will it just be brushed over. That is one thing I’m hoping RTD will bring back from his era.
Love your doctor who videos keep them coming! Hope we get to see more of ruth doctor otherwise she would be such a waste of a cool character.
Soooo... We got no answers. 😖 RTD's era can not some soon enough.
What if eve of the daleks is in earths past like the 80s or 90s before flux and that’s why they are still there
I don't know, but whenever they are, I won't be watching them...
The timeless child rubbish was a mistake. That mistake spawned a lot of other mistakes (The/Division, Tecteun, Flux, etc). Why was it doubled down on as though anyone really liked it?
I liked the timeless child plot. It grew on me, and I think it brings more to the table as it adds more mystery to the Doctor.
You Say Swarm and Azure where the big baddies this season. I disagree. The Sontarians where the big bad, these guys where just the most recognisable
What’s the deal with these human bath-bombs?
Jodiebots have one answer for all the questions: "You don't like women, you bigot" :P
Chris Chibnall Does a lot of telling but not a lot of showing
It is Christmas 🎄
💛
swarm was cool. I couldnt take Azure serious ... i thought she looked really stupid
3:40 You’re the only one
Some people are a fan of a particular sports team. But me? I'm a fan of a particular show.
But--much like a fan of a sports team that hasn't won the big championship in a while, I await the time when we might have whole episodes, maybe even whole seasons that are mostly good.
----
Why must we *forever* be traipsing around in the Doctor's backstory?
Yeah *I know* the show is named "Doctor Who", but since the whole point is that we are *never* to know all the details, it seems unfair/pointless to be setting up so many mysteries around it.
Now they're meta-threatening the Doctor's life again. Oh wow. How original.
Remember when 11 was definitely totally going to die?
----
Yeah, series 13 was... *entertaining*. But it did not feel very satisfying because the Chibnall approach seems to be to just make up so much random s--- that none of it feels grounded or well earned.
Unpopular opinion: Pre-Hartnell Doctor is a fantastic idea, unfortunately poorly realised by Chibnall. Canon has been broken so many times so often before it's not that contradictory for the Pre-Hartnell Doctor to exist. Fans just overestimate the amount of people who care that much about that specific portion of canon.
And it's not that hard to explain the "plot holes". Hints are there. Fugitive Doctor or its later incarnations was captured by the Division and made back into a child. That's how Hartnell Doctor appears. It is done because Tecteun didn't want to kill the Doctor so she needed to erase all memory of Division from Doctor's mind. Her memories were erased and her genetics were changed via the fob watch before whe she joined the Division. That's why she thinks she's a Time Lord in her Fugitive Doctor incarnation.
No…. Body…. Cares….
This was a mess. I've watched Dr Who since William Hartnell and it has ebbed and flowed in terms of quality but this recent stuff has just been dreadful. Nothing to do with the actors but the material they've had to work with is just awful.
I have to agree.
Chibnall keeps trying to hit homeruns, but he's lucky if he can bunt and take first base even.