Wild Blue Yonder was my girlfriend’s first ever episode of Doctor Who. She knew nothing about the show, and went in blind. But she loved it. She freaked out when Not-Thing Donna melted and when giant Doctor and Donna were chasing regular Doctor/Donna down the corridor. It made this experience so so much better, watching with someone who didn’t know what to expect. Plus I got to explain Doctor Who to someone so that’s a plus.
Vorld Vide Premier!!!for ur girl at least haha!!I'm a Whovian all 60 yrs,and I'm early 40s lol,so grew up seeing classic who on pbs in the day,fave is the 8th / Paul, so yes Def explain all 60yrs that ya can,and just tell her that despite all the blah blah blah thats going on,DONT LET IT GET TO YOU!!old man and granddaughter took off in a Tardis lol,there ya go!!and with the lore of Fugitive dr,you'll get to that when the time comes!!good luck!!😁✌️🍻🤟🤘
Hold onto that kinda relationship. I have very painful, yet, good memories 3 to 6 years ago doing similar watchings of TV programs with my ex. I let it slip away and now that's all it is. A memory.
Did you notice when cutting the puppets strings Clara still had one string attached to represent her last heartbeat and that she was still travelling. Whereas Amy and Bill had ALL their strings cut to reference their actual end of life
You're the first other person I've heard describing Wild Blue Yonder as a cross between Midnight (which everyone mentioned) and The Almost People (which no-one has!), which is exactly what I first thought when the episode was over!!! 🙂
I thought the ending for Fourteen felt completely earned. I love the idea that at the end of the modern era, heading into Season One with Fifteen, we get to have our cake and eat it too. I love that the Doctor gets to build a life and a community for himself after everything he's dealt with. I love that he now gets to go on an adventure that he's never had before. The kind of adventure that in any other show you would have to wait till the finale for. Now The Doctor is following his companion into an adventure. He's following Donna's lead. He gets to be a part of someone elses life instead of making them a part of his. That's beautiful. We get to have that AND we get to have Fifteen who is excited to travel the stars, who doesn't feel burdened by his past, who gets to have a new character arc for a new ara. Could we run into some issues with the consequences of Bigeneration in the future? Perhaps. But right now, just this once, the Doctor and his companion get to live happily ever after. "Just this once, everybody lives."
This how I see Story of Doctor Who Show Volume One Chapter 1 - First Doctor Chapter 2 - Second Doctor Chapter 3 - Third Doctor Chapter 4 - Fourth Doctor Chapter 5 - Five Doctor Chapter 6 - Sixth Doctor Chapter 7 - Seventh Doctor Epilogue - Eight Doctor Volume Two Prologue - Ninth Doctor Chapter 1 - Tenth Doctor Chapter 2 - Eleventh Doctor Chapter 3 - Twelfth Doctor Chapter 4 - Thirteenth Doctor Epilogue - Fourteenth Doctor Volume Three Chapter 1 - Fifteenth Doctor
I was engaged, I laughed, I cried. It had cutting political commentary. It made me excited for the new series. It gave me a new "WELL THAT'S ALRIGHT THEN!" meme that will come in very useful. Total hit for me.
@@Maudelinno because trans people’s existence and experiences aren’t political (though there was some good commentary on that too). There was plenty of good politics in the Giggle though.
The Star Beast: Strong start but definitely agree with a lot of what you said. It had passing issues, the sonic was super op, 14 was actively trying to murder Donna. Where the episode fell flat for me was the end. It could have been amazing if that speech was down differently or removed entirely. The episode had this over arching theme of it not mattering who you are, it doesn’t matter if you’re male, female or trans, everyone is equal. Then it took a stab at “male presenting” that felt out of character and didn’t fit in the story what so ever. Overall I loved this ep but I feel it’s going to be a hard one on rewatches. The Wild Blue Yonder: Ok this one I genuinely didn’t like. I came in to the episode blind but also with that expectation of something as great as midnight. It didn’t fell like midnight. You’re the first person to compare it to the almost people/rebel flesh and i have to agree with that. Evil Donna stole the show for me and I loved every scene in which you genuinely couldn’t tell who was who. Ultimately the cgi was too silly and pulled me out of the episode before any real terror could set in. The TARDIS running away felt hmm idk, just felt convenient to the plot. Maybe as part of the repairs it had to dematerialises instead of running away from the threat of the nothings. Wild Blue Yonder is where RTD starts rewriting the flux as well as the timeless child putting weight behind both. At the end of the flux everything was “fixed” and now we actually see the aftermath. It almost had the feel of a series 4 episode with a mystery to be solved but it’s introduced at the start of the episode, forgotten about and is then quickly solved right when the plot needed it to be. I should probably rewatch this episode but I currently rank it the weakest of the three. The giggle: Amazing, simply amazing. Neil Patrick Harris does an amazing job as the toymaker, so much so that I was sad to see them win. First half of the episode was perfect. Stooky Bill was the perfect doctor who plot in history. Creepy and sticks with you. When Donna gets attacked by the dolls and kills Stocky’s wife… I couldn’t help but think oh god that was a real family. It still haunts me that the dolls could very well once been alive but are now dolls thanks to the toymaker. When the toymaker goes though the doctors life since season 4 was great, hell it even plants a seed of doubt in it the doctors true identity which is reinforced by RTD. The toymaker very well could have made up the timeless child to fuck with the doctor lol. But the second half it kind of fell flat. When the jump to 2023 happens I had a feeling of dread. The galvanic beam is set to fire on a foreign satellite which could start a war. I genuinely thought that was the toymakers next move and as such think it was under-utilised. I also think the robot could have been the toymaker all along. Spice up your life was an amazing segment and easily the best part of the ep. The bigeneration was fine but I wanted to see Tenant go, I was ready to let go of him as much as his last lines reflect that. I feel that Gatwa was stolen of a real memorable moment. Overall I bet if it was a two parter and didn’t do the bigeneration I could easily give it 10/10
Shaun Temple was a NOTHING character in The End of Time, meant to be just a figurehead of Donna’s ignorant happiness. There was a low bar to give him any sort of characterization to flesh him out and Russell knocked it out of the park. Shaun is truly up for anything and you summarized him quite well
Ngl I disagree with almost all of your takes, but your enthusiasm and love of the show is what keeps me coming back. Glad to seem someone as chronically obsessed as I am
"A hit, but not the one we were expecting" I think is a fair statement. I overall liked the specials and was excited to see what happened in a way that I haven't in a long time (no shade towards the most recent Doctors). The specials weren't exactly what I expected for a 60th, but I am overall happy with them. The bigeneration does seem weird, but I think I am okay with it. I hope that the bigeneration and the 14th Doctor still existing isn't completely sidelined though. Something I think that they did well in the specials was bringing up a lot of the hard stuff the Doctor went through so far, a nice change from the seeming pattern of the show moving on and forgetting about big past events. With a soft reboot and a more expanded universe they are hinting at anything can happen at this point. I am more excited to see what happens than I've been in a long time with Doctor Who.
So at this point theres 5 tardises out there? The Meta-crisis doctor is growing his own, The 14th has one, the 15th has one, The Fugitive doctor also has one and theres a the tardis clara took.
well, there are 2 versions of the doctors tardis in the main universe (14 and 15), the metacrisis is in another universe, and fugitive is the same tardis in a different point in time. Claras tardis is another tardis from gallifrey and is probably a different model, as the doctors Type 40 is outdated.
I feel all 3 episodes suffered from an old RTD era complaint: they start strong, build everything up superbly, then utterly fall apart in the last act. It's like RTD knows where he's starting, knows where he wants to finish, but gets so wound up with the first 2 acts, he has to dues ex machina the last act. As a celebration of 60 years of DW, it fell very flat, as a celebration of easily my least favourite season of the RTD era, it was fine, I guess. Ncuti looks like he'll be a lot of fun though.
I wish they would break the rules and just have doctor crossover episodes mid-season, that it didn't have to be a special exclusive thing. I would personally love to see the dynamic between Ncuti and Capaldi's doctor. If that never comes to pass, I think it'll be a huge missed opportunity. I'm not sure if Capaldi was overlooked because he wasn't a part of Russell T Davies original era or if it's because he wasn't considered enough of a fan favourite. For me I think it was a massive missed opportunity. I think Capaldi being very serious and set in his ways and being noticeably wary of being the smartest person in the room would completely juxtapose Ncuti as a youthful, self assured and charming successor. I think it would make for a lot of fun humour and really show how the events of new who had aged the doctor over time with a more recent incarnation than Tennant. Even if hypothetically Tennant were still in this episode (which I suppose had to be done to get the old viewers back on board), it would be interesting to see Ncuti's fun upbeat and seemingly care free doctor be a result of Tennant being shown his own reflection in Capaldi, being a tired old man, having lost two companions and having endured a world of grief in heaven sent, alongside having to finally say goodbye to river song. The doctor being shown the gravity of what he's been through and how bitter his resentment and regret has made him over time would have been far more impactful than Donna just telling him he needs a break after not having seen him in years and not understanding the extent of his loss and his rage in his current state. I get that they tried to do this with the puppet show in the giggle, but a couple minutes of playful banter about some of the doctors losses really doesn't cut it. I think too that having Donna alongside Tennant would've been a good opportunity to touch on the grief of losing river song as she is the only RTD companion to have met her and she knows where her story ends but still has no context of the doctor's relationship with her. Even a quick nod with Donna asking if the Doctor if he ever found out who she was and the doctor just sitting in brooding silence would've been better than nothing. All the time they were afforded to talk in wild blue yonder would've been a perfect time for a conversation like this to take place, whether with the real Donna or the fake one toying with the doctors emotions. Just as a side note: I think having the meta crisis be resolved so quickly and easily really took away from Donna sacrificing herself to save humanity. I really loved that they had kept her true to her character with her making that choice and keeping the continuity of her thinking she's not special despite her bravery. It had such an impact and then BAM 30 seconds later, it's no biggie because she could've just chosen to let it go this whole time.
When I watched these specials I watched them as a jaded Doctor Who fan that had fallen out of love of the show since Capaldi’s last series so I really enjoyed these 3 episodes way more than any of Chibnall’s run due to the less exposition heavy episodes and Murray Gold returning making these special episodes come to life. That being said after watching your review, I never considered how a new viewer watching on say Disney+ would react to these. I honestly think these anniversary specials weren’t supposed to be the jumping on point for new fans (that’s for Ncuti’s Christmas Special episode I reckon) I’m sure from the Christmas special onwards there’ll be a more consistent batch of great episodes from the RTD2 run
I've shown my wife multiple of my favorite Dr. Who episodes, especially ones that I thought would be good "jumping on" points. In general she never really liked them, although she didn't hate them either. My adult daughter was a little more open to watching some episodes, but still was not a fan. We were together for Thanksgiving weekend, and they both watched The Star Beast with me. They both loved it. I was really surprised, because although I thought it was pretty good, I, like Crispy, didn't think it was an episode that would attract new people. But given my wife and daughters reactions, I definitely think these specials could be something that brings in new fans.
As a celebration of the history of Doctor Who, it definitely didn't accomplish that, though everything surrounding the specials certainly did. But the way I see it, and the way I feel Davies approached it, was that it was designed to highlight the thematic elements of Doctor Who: both as a jumping on point for new viewers, and for fans young and old to vibe with, as having all the hallmarks of what Doctor Who can and historically has been. And in that regard, I think it does a great job. None of the episodes are the best the show can offer, but they're fun, thought-provoking, decently written, and not least of all silly, and in that way they are perfectly Doctor Who.
Star Beast was my first Dr Who episode but The Giggle made me fall in love with Dr Who, NPH was amazing especially the spice girls number! I was watching previous sessions over the past few weeks and I’m so excited for the new series, Ncuti’s Dr is going to be breathe of fresh air amazing actor. The Christmas trailer is brilliant! I’m a bit disappointed they released the goblin song before the episode as it would have been better to see it live on the episode.
I feel like the 60th specials had 3 major tasks, 1) get everyone who fell off over the last few years back. 2) give people new to the show a taste of what Doctor Who can be 3) set up Ncuti Gatwa and get everyone stoked for the new era. I think it was successful in all those goals. While it wasn't the love note to the history of the show the 50th was, the Tales of the TARDIS certainly was, though I'm annoyed Paul McGann didn't get one with say India Fisher, if these rumors I keep hearing about an 8th Doctor spin off series are true, I can forgive that eventually.
The deadnaming scene and the scene with Sylvia trying to get it right were tastefully done, because thats actually a realistic depiction of things that go on in a trans persons everyday life without it becoming a face-value message. At that point i thought we were finally getting some trans inclusion from a character that isnt face value. Boy did that change. 13 seperate mentions of Rose being beautiful or gorgeous is when people will start to notice, its beyond a sentiment if its whenever you mention her offscreen. That, paired with the serious hammering of it during the third act just goes to show that writers really struggle to write a trans character, because they always seem to forget that they are people first. I wanted to know Rose, especially because you can imagine how a child of Donna Noble would turn out lol. Didn't get any of that because all they used her for was to talk about Trans affirmation. Shirley was a much better attempt at including a non-typical character. While the rocket launcher in the chair was quite cheesy, she actually had a character and had some valuable input into conversations she was a part of, and it wasnt all focused on her disability. Shirley is the perfect example of how it's done, and I'm so surprised that even Russel fell into that void of character writing, especially after It's a Sin. Inclusion is an important thing, it's nice for everyone to be able to see a person like them in a story, and I understand that theres a lot of negativity surrounding Trans people at the moment, but you arent going to get through to those people by being so incredibly in your face about it. That just makes them angrier. Give them a trans character thats actually a character first, and they are much more likely to respond positively. She isn't realistically coming back any time soon, but if she does imma need Russel to remember that she's a person first.
@Pharaohred - yes, I have to agree with you: having a trans character/trans representation is a very, very good thing - or CAN be when done well. Although I actually love Rose Noble as a character, I felt there were more than a few sledgehammer moments that nobody needed. As you rightly say, that level of lecturing will push more people away that it would attract them. For the same reason, I winced at the almost stereotypical “oh honey” asides from Gatwa in “The Giggle” - although there ARE campy lgbt+ out there, it’s not a “given” (I’m gay and have my occasional hissy fit moments but, in general I’m - hate this as a term - “straight acting”). Similarly, though it was nice to see a disabled character (I’m disabled as well as gay), I found the representation both cheesy and vaguely pandering - and, in light of the news that Davros has been retconned into an able bodied villain, I feel that RTD has dropped the ball seriously there (disabled people can be just as nasty/evil as they can be nice - to claim otherwise is misguided or delusional). Still, back to Rose - I really, really hope we see a lot more of her and her story: I thought she was a highlight of “The Star Beast” special.
It was good to see “10” and Donna again and the episodes were pretty good overall but overall as an anniversary experience it pales in comparison to the 50th.
OMG I HAVE SUBED TO AN AUZZIE YESSSS. I really think it made perfect sense, Davids doctor kind of got to sort himself out, and is now given the time to sort himself out after so much trauma, and I think they wrote and played Ncuti's doctor as a sort of healed, grown sort of into the fact that "you can't always save everyone". I thought that was an amazing line in the episode itself and really resonated with me. Overall I think it was the best possible send off for David's doctor, and honestly one of the most wholesome episodes in the entire new who so far :) I think it'll do really well being on disney+ as other younger adults and kids around my age will be brought in now that Ncuti's the 15th.
I think that's what they wanted to do - they highlighted the trauma with 14 all the way through, so the point of the double regeneration was to have Tennant's Doctor have the space to retire and work on recovery, while the 15th Doctor gets to be all fresh and vibrant for the start of a new era. But I guess it's fair to question if you think that actually works in the episode. Crispy saying that he felt like it was *almost* earnt doesn't sound like he absolutely hated it. Most fans I've seen react to this episode get incredibly confused at the bi-generation and have to get their heads around it. And I've also seen comments where people have missed the line where 15 says "we're doing rehab out of order" and therefore haven't yet understood what Russell T Davies was going for there. For me, the thing that really worked about it was that we got to see enough of Ncuti's performance for me to be really excited to see his first proper episode at Christmas now.
For me the 60th should always have been an epilogue for David Tennant's Doctor, which it has done in theory by having him retire. As a send off it's great, however as setup for a spin off, then I think that would be stretching it too far. The episodes were fine, nothing new, right down to one being a remake, however being a labour of love allowed them to still be enjoyable, in the case of Wild Blue Yonder, I appreciate that it took influence from the weird stuff like Midnight and Scherzo. Russell did a good job with little details such as the character moments or taking the time to acknowledge a important death. Objectively it's either a 6 or 7/10, but gets an ironic 10/10 for NPH dancing to the Spice Girls.
For me, it's the complete opposite. The only saving grace about the whole "bigeneration" mess, would be a spin off, utilising tenantsdoctor would be one of the few good things to come from out and just having him be benched, never to be seen again would just be tragic.
While I like David Tennant's Doctor, I am fatigued by him as well as the idea that the show needs him to succeed and I feel the show has been retreading old ground for several years and not allowing creative concepts the chance to breathe, I'm more interested in the new stuff, rather than the concepts and characters we've seen before. A Tennant spin off would mostly be the mid-season present day run arounds which are some of the more forgettable episodes and likely overtime the novelty of his take gets less interesting if it's just part of the status quo, as it stands he's got his happy ending and gets to live in retirement which seems like a good stopping point before it's oversaturated.
While not 100% perfect, to me these episodes were more 'hits' than misses. Also, hope you enjoyed Cardiff. I visited there several years ago, and one of the first things I did was go check out Ianto's Shrine down at the quay!
I was a Californian with an Aussie father when I got to watch The Doctor (William Hartnell) for the first time, for a little over a year, but then had to return to the U.S.. Then I had to wait till 73 for NBC to bring Jon Pertwee to the States. But since then I've always enjoyed all the Doctors and the main cast. (And for a few years I've been enjoying your videos - TYVM.) Bottom like Ncuti Gatwa's great! As always, thank you so very much for the videos. And my take-aways: I really appreciate how they presented Rose (Biased: I'm a TransParent), and disabilities (Biased: One of my (other) children has to use a wheelchair at times, plus I had two good friends in High School with Spina Bifida.). And I LOVE Ncuti as the New Doctor. (Biased; I've never not Loved any of The Doctor's.)
4:20 you must be joking, Rose was terrible the actress was completely stiff and distracting the entire episode, it’s even joked about with Donna saying Rose cannot act.
I enjoyed all these episodes, but I feel that they worked more as a return to/closure for the Davies era, rather than as a celebration of the show’s 60 year run, or as an introduction to the new era. With The Day Of The Doctor, even if the actual special focused mostly on the time war (rather than on 11’s arc or the show’s past), it’s still felt like a proper climax to the fifty year run, and was supported by the other releases like an Adventure In Space In Time, or the Five-ish Doctors Reboot, which helped cover all the show’s bases. While we did have Tales From The Tardis this time, it felt that this anniversary had far less fanfare, and that not only did The Power Of Doctor provide much more of what we would have expected from an anniversary special (past Doctors, the big 3 villains, old companion cameos), we were also let down somewhat by them starting the specials after the anniversary, rather than concluding them then. Personally I probably would have just made The Giggle into a 90 minute special, and have had that serve to mark the anniversary. In the end while I genuinely enjoyed all three episodes and what they did, they feel more like a stop-gap than the big celebration/ beginning of a new era we expected, so we will have to wait and see how Ncuti Gatwa handles it.
I really think it's a mixed bag. I wish each episode had more of a narrative though-line, or overarching villain. I enjoyed each episode on their own, sure, but as a whole I feel like each episode's conclusion was quite rushed with the exception of WBY, but even then it's a little convenient with the TARDIS appearing at the last moment. Here, everything felt kind of weightless, nothing felt like it had stakes, and the conclusions of each story came out of thin air. I really liked the emotional moments in WBY, adding some of that drama and emotion I felt these episodes needed a little more of. I'd give the entirety of the 60th specials a 7/10, its good fun, with some really awesome moments, but I just don't feel like it's as emotionally resonant as the 50th, or as most regular seasons of the show. Really excited for Ncuti to have a clean slate for new adventures and new experiences!!
I enjoyed it for the most part. But it felt more like a celebration of series 4 than a celebration of the entire show. I didn't like how they handled the regeneration at the end. They should've just let 14 fully regenerate to show fans that the show always goes on with or without him. Power of the Doctor was a better 60th than the actual 60th. For me, the 50th is still king/queen of anniversary specials. That was truly a masterpiece imho.
I think this had to set itself apart from PotD since that was the last thing aired. It can't repeat the same type thing back to back in the rewatch. I'm happy it was distinct and tied up a loose thread that many, my ex included, sorta lost interest in the show over (DoctorDonna) back 15y ago. The Bigeneration could have been tweaked a bit, some more dialogue of explanation and it would be fine, but as is, I can see it being hard to swallow, especially for new fans. And please no one listen to RTD behind the scenes he'll confuse them even more! 😅
One trope I'm glad they did away with for David TENnant's 14th Doctor, and Ncuti Gatwa's 15th Doctor, is the post regeneration psychosis that has plagued each Doctor since 3. It just got straight to the story, with The Doctor in full Doctor mode.
I don't know want you are talking about when you said it didn't meet expectations. To me it exceeded my expectations plus more. I was actually excited for each episodes. With Jodie, as much as love her, I wasn't excited when there was new episode they were just there. Now I looked forward to watching each episode as soon as I got home from work in last couple Saturdays. I loved every minute from all 3 episodes. Was the all 3 specials perfect, no but to me it didn't need to perfect. There wasfew nitpicks I had with each episode. Example are: - I agree the pacing of episodes 1 and 3 were bit to fast. I think last episode could have been 15 minutes longer. - I wanted more time with Rose. I would have love to see her travel with her mom and the Doctor. - I wanted more The Doctor vs Toymaker (more NPH is always great). Other than those nitpicks, everything else was great. I actually liked the bi-regeneration. 2 Doctors for the price of 1. Plus the Doctor really needed to sit down and enjoy life, after running and losing love ones for so many years but also still go on adventures. That what 2 doctors are for. One will "retire" for now while the other one keep having adventures. I can't wait to see more of the 15th Doctor and I hope there is a UNIT spinoff.
@@tvguy61 Ehhh for continuity alone I guess it is. Season 11 & 12 had some fun episodes but really few and far between. Season 13 (Flux) wasn't too bad overall but not great either. You wouldn't miss much skipping the whole era and reading a summary of what happened honestly
17:55 he says in the episode this is because technically his lifespan actually starts at the end of the 14th so he is already experiencing the benefits of the doctor doing his "rehab" on earth with Donna and her family
Great to go to Cardiff! We've spend our holiday in Cardiff in december 2013 was one of the best things we did, so many great DW locations we visited, right after the 50th anniversary special and then watching Matt Smith's final episode there too.
I greatly enjoyed all three specials and have no real issues with them. The bigeneration doesn’t bother me in the least. When I think back on Classic Who, each regeneration was very different from the last, and it’s only in modern Who that the whole fire/energy shooting out from hands and feet (with increasing ferocity each time) became the norm. In fact, the bigeneration/splitting of the Doctor felt very reminiscent (in reverse) of the 4th Doctor regenerating to the 5th, where (spoilers) through his final story he was followed by this mysterious white ghostly figure (who he even approached and spoke to at one point) who turned out to be his future self and who merged with him as he lay dying. Now THAT was a weird regeneration. One thing you failed to mention, Crispy, was that we now have something else to blame Logie Baird for other than a tacky award ceremony😀. But maybe we in Aus should now refer to the Logies as the Stookies? Probably more appropriate don’t you think?
Keep in mind that RTD has said that the bi-generation impacted the Doctor across all previous regenerations… so it can explain all of the “older” doctors showing up without the need for CGI to keep them looking the same… it can be explained away thru a previous incarnation having bi-generated and we are now seeing that older version.
Loved the specials, didn’t think at all it was a 60th special to be honest. In a weird way I think that’s a good thing. It’s time to push on, a new slate, there was some nods to classic, and a lot of nods to new, but we have a new generation and for the show to survive it needs to adapt, and change, and I’m really excited about Ncuti can’t wait for Christmas to see him and ruby
There are a few things I would have done differently. I agree, the opening with David and Catherine explaining what had happened wasn't great and could have been covered by just showing a few clips. I would have probably started the episode with a shot of the spaceship careering towards Earth. Then, cut to a shot of Donna in Camden Market. Then the ship crashes. The Tardis arrives and the Doctor steps out but I'd have him already aware that a spaceship has crashed to Earth and he is here to investigate.
helluva a spin off show since doctor who came back. That's how I navigate through it being a huge classic fan. Davies is on full message mode now. From what I see modern Who fans love it.
12:55 "Eve of the Daleks" actually has a similar scene where the Doctor gets angry with Yaz. She then apologises, saying that she won't let anyone else get hurt because of her past decisions. She later refuses to explain what she means. The scene in this episode works because the Doctor refused to tell her why the Flux was created. This is the first time that he has told someone about his connection to the Flux. This is why he is so devastated when he realises that he is talking to the villain. So I do think that you are being too harsh, and I personally felt that the Doctor came across as too intense at the end of this scene, but I realise that this is a personal preference thing. It is less of an issue for me with 14 than 10, though, as we got less of these unnecessarily (in my opinion) intense moments from him. I would rate this miniseries a 6/10, as I think that the revival was at its best with series 9-13, but I liked it more than some of Russell's previous series.
I feel the ;ending' for the 14th Doctor might have been more earned if there was more of a gap in between these episodes and the new era. It just feels overshadowed by it and it could probably have done to have another episode to act as a 60th and have these ones broadcst earlier.
Wild blue Yonder really made me remember why I started watching Doctor Who. I started watching during Matt Smith's era (due to Netflix only having series 5 ongoing when I started in like... 2017 or something?) and the Spaceship and the plot of being in the walls and not finding each other really felt like that one episode where Amy, Rory and the Doctor are stuck in the Tardis. Same thing for episode 3 with the dolls, that really reminded me of the Dollhouse episode of Smith's era, it had a similar kind of creepy factor. I loved David's era, especially season 4 because Catherine RULES but Matt Smith will always be my first doctor and therefore THE doctor to me and having the same feeling to these episodes really made me sooo happy. The only thing I disliked about the episodes was the ending with 14 and Donna's family. I don't know what about this bothered me, I really enjoyed the thought of 14 getting a happy ending and the doctor finally healing from his heartbreak that way... I would even go so far to say that it's really just the set up that was feeling off? Like the lighting is so different from the episode and it feels like... Just David Tennant, not the doctor. The scene looks like it was pulled out of an entirely different show and funnily enough it reminded me of whatever "the inside man" show was😂 so yeah that scene to me was just David, not 14 and I think that wouldve been easily fixed by just not having such a bright set for it? I don't know. But besides this (and the bad cgi head when his stunt double bent down, why was that necessary?) I have nothing to complain about 😊🎉
Are we in danger of having a "sameness" of villains? I love the Sacha Dhawan and John Simm Masters, but the Toymaker seems just the same! Madcap, funny, bonkers. The original Celestial Toymaker was much more restrained. Please let's have VARIETY!
About the bi-generation... I don't think this is the last we'll hear of it. 15 said he was fine because 14 worked through his trauma, with the whole "rehab out of order" line, which implies that 14 will still eventually end up as 15 later in his timeline and probably be pulled back to The Giggle when he regenerates to 15 normally. An explanation I saw and liked was that the Toymaker is an entity who can essentially ignore fixed points in time and do what he wants. With this in mind, 14 was supposed to regenerate later in a fixed point but the Toymaker was able to ignore it and kill him early, resulting in 15 being pulled back from that future point and create a closed loop. Perhaps we'll get some Big Finish 14th Doctor stories and 15 will just reference them every now and then to show they're still the same person and 15 is still in 14's future. I never really listened to Big Finish but I heard those stories have closed plot holes before, so it wouldn't be too farfetched.
The Starbeast wasn't great but the other two really good. Restored my faith, liked the bi regeneration, it's something different and imaginative in agood way unlike the Timeless child, retconning Davros or when Dr Who does social awarness class for all us ignorant dummies out here ! Keep the good run going, we may see another 60 years ! ( well, I won't, I'll be dead by then but some of you might witness it ! )
I personally had a great time watching them. I felt the ending to the third episode was a bit rushed but apart from that it was great. Really good to see 10 and Donna interacting again and having this amazing chemistry. Also I'm really excited to see the performance of Ncuti as the Doctor, considering my favorite Doctor was Matt Smith because of his flamboyant energy I think Ncuti will nail the part
For me, these specials didn't emotionally engage with "The End of Time", as much as I would've liked. "Wild Blue Yonder" gave us a rather good (but not expectational) abstract character piece but it was sandwiched between two fluff pieces that didn't have the emotional weight to much justify bringing back these characters beyond nostalgia. Conceptually, I like the experimental idea of bringing back a past Doctor actor, as a new incarnation but most of it didn't quite cohere for me.
Agree with pretty much everything you said. I actually didn’t expect there to be so much love for the giggle, to me it felt a bit like fanfiction put to screen. Glad that most people enjoyed it so much though!
I must say with my notes, I placed that the Not-things would have been perfect for a Matt Smith or a Peter cameo. Like just image them trying to copy but because Regeneration is a bitch for a creature like that it makes more sense to have them appear as the Not-thing tries to factor in regeneration.
About the bi-generation thing, we didn't meet any of the doctor's and Susan's race until the 2nd Doctor's story THE WAR GAMES. We didn't find out they were called Time Lords until the 3rd Doctor's story THE THREE DOCTORS, and we didn't find out the planet they were from was Gallifrey until the 3rd Doctor's story THE TIME WARRIOR, and, information about regeneration was trickle truthed out in bits and pieces in the 26 years of its original run. So, as for bi-generation, I just look at it as a new fact trickle truthed out.
The bi-regeneration is and was a rehab for the doctor to work through the trauma of the past lifetimes of his former selves. 14 will do the work , whilst 15 can reap the rewards.
Yeah I never had that high an expectation. RTD's era was never perfect and some of the worst DW episodes come from his era. I'm just happy the scripts are better and the heart is back. Chibnall treated death like an afterthought but RTD knows how to make you feel for everyone who has died. He's brought the Doctor's compassion back into it. Even when the Toymaker turns the random UNIT soldiers into bouncy balls, a blatantly comedic thing, RTD takes the time to acknowledge them with 14 turning to Kate and saying "I'm so sorry, they're dead". But most importantly, Chibnall treated The Flux like it was nothing. RTD in 10 seconds acknowledged how heartbroken the Doctor was about it, like billions and billions of sentient life died and it happened because of the Doctor, regardless if he remembers why, and he cared. 13 didnt even acknowledge it. Chibnall was so poor at portraying the humanity in the Doctor, which is crucial. THAT'S what has been missing from this show and I'm very excited to see Ncuti is full swing!
The TARDIS was wheelchair accessible! Not only getting in (as they show in the third special), but as I noticed after the first special and what makes this the BEST TARDIS and why the inside is so large, IT IS ALL RAMPS. He easily could have changed mavity to gravity after they left. Was his passing THAT untimely? He wasn't exactly 22. Neil Patrick Harris was great. The Star Beast should have been a 90 minute (minus commercials) episode instead of 60 minutes (minus ads). Bigeneration seems fine because they explained it, but they can't completely forget about everyone in Paris at the end of this episode IMO. 50 is a bigger deal than 60
Overall, I really loved the 60th. I probably had more fun with these episodes than I've had with the show in a long time. And I might go so far to say that Wild Blue Yonder is an all-time favorite. I love creepy and intimate character pieces like that, and David and Catherine gave perhaps some of the best performances ever on the show in it. Also can't wait to see more of Ncuti. I already adore him. My biggest hang-up with the 60th is honestly the bi-generation thing. And not even so much the fact that it happened --- but rather how it was handled. The way it was addressed was so vague and unclear that based on the dialogue and the things RTD has said about it, I am genuinely confused about what this bi-generation is and what it means for the Doctor. And I know I'm not alone in this. I've seen a ton of discourse and many conflicting interpretations. Not sure whether RTD is planning on exploring it more clearly in the future, he intentionally left it up to interpretation, or the writing was just that clumsy.
The bi regen kinda ruined the giggle for me, completely takes the wind out of the story thus far. There’s a more elegant version possible, one where the idea of change or retiring is foreshadowed and weaved into the story of the Toymaker, but for whatever reason Russell rushed it. I too am very confused as to what any of this means in-story
@@tobylerone4285 I still thought The Giggle was a fun time overall, and I wouldn't say the bi-generation ruined it for me, per se. David and Ncuti were great together, and I'm not inherently opposed to 14 settling down for a while to take a break, especially as someone who was a big fan of 10 and Donna. But I just don't understand what I'm supposed to take away from it. And maybe it wouldn't annoy me as much if my feelings about the bi-generation didn't hinge so heavily on its implications. Like, are 14 and 15 just separate entities now? If so, was this a freak accident caused by the Toymaker or could it happen again? Can 14 regenerate again? Or is there some timey wimey business going on here where 15 is still in 14's future? He did, after all, say he was only okay because David's Doctor took the time to heal and they were doing rehab out of order. I find it perplexing. And while I don't necessarily go to Doctor Who for the lore (if I did, it would drive me insane), I do like my stories to at least have some semblance of logic that I can buy.
Yeah it was pretty clear that the opening was a Disney note. Especially since they had the exact same exposition-recap in the episode, just integrated more organically and throughout...
For me overall average. I liked wild blue yonder quite a bit but the other two were a bit disappointing. I am fine with bi generation. But I dislike that Donna and 14 didn't die. They really should have died and it felt like it partly undermined 15 and partly was just a huge cop out.
I can almost hear it now... "Let's give the Doctor the most OP Sonic EVER!" "What are we going to have him do with it?" "Let's have him make force fields for moles." That kinda makes the whole giving away the lottery winnings almost believable. Don't get me wrong, I loved the episodes. I just think that it was funny how they referenced it in the last few minutes.
I shared your apprehension for the whole bi-generation thing initially, but-after pulling an all-nighter to watch the episode and giving it two hours to marinate-I fell in love with it. Still a couple plot points my brain wants ironed out, but I adore the bi-generation and The Giggle so much. Gotta be a 9/10 for me.
OK I liked but never really loved RTDs writing.. I loved his concepts and his skill as a showrunner how he basically took the Buffy template and fused it with our beloved series. His casting was always great too. BUT his episodes never really did it for me. The best episodes of his era, for me, where by other writers.. Cornell and Moffat mainly.. So I had to remind myself of the consistent anticipointment I would feel at his episodes. These three episodes are definitely up there with the best of his writing in my opinion. Good strong and memorable.. But none of them were a patch on day of the doctor for me.. But hey I'll still be watching
Very much a mixed bag. 1. Bring back old fans with tennant and Tate whilst placating new fan with the big fluffy toy 2. Keep the old fans happy by showing just tennant and Tate with more old fashioned doctor who which left you guessing (in a good way) 3. First 40 minutes was the BBC swan song showing the greatest aspects and it was definitely telling that Disney took over after the regeneration with the tone shift from thriller/horror to goofy and pantomimist
i felt strange after seeing the bi-generation for the first time, but after a second vewing and reading that the 15th is the 14th after he settles for a bit and gone trough teraphy i felt better, but it a underwelming revelation, it donset get close to the past fists scenes of the past 5 doctors, but i loved his scenes after
I did not mind the bi-generation (🙄) a new way of regeneration. It fine, its great. At the time a doc has to leave the next doc is the one who can understand him in the moment, that was handled well. Got a multi doctor story in an anniversary special, cool. But after that whatever useless retroactive explaination RTD is giving is what I take issue with. In my head Doc15 was brought out earlier in the timeline but he is the healed version of Doc14. Once Doc14 time is up, we will have only Doc15. I understood that in Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey way. He should have let that be. But RTD speaking is creating more problems than what is on the screen. The Children in need clip with Davros was good, it was funny but then RTD had to talk and he came up with something no one was fussing over and thus creating more fuss. I am like why are you talking, first get the show on track and fandom behind it. Why are alienating your fanbase with all this irrelevant talk.
@@ihateunicorns867 That would have happened anyway after every episode. It's the new rubbish retroactive theories he is floating around is the issue. Like all Doctors are now Bi-Generated, which makes no sense. When Jodie was revealed as the Doctor, everyone was talking but it's the bad writing that took the show to new lows. RTD is doing that same while onscreen there isn't much issue except for some in your face dialog but his offscreen talk that is creating more division and fuss which can't be good.
I agree about Russell, I get him wanting to justify it but sometimes its better to stay quiet! We all assumed the clothes change was because it was a retuning face not got anything to do with Drag Queens, most of us didn't care that Davros was not in a chair as he was a younger version but then he has to go and say thats what Davros looks like now. He's saying controversial things which are annoying people!
I think tenants doctor could be a good way to explain a few plot holes in the series. The curator, the watcher, the ruth doctor and series 6b. It can help alot, but instead RTD decides to make a bigger mess by saying ALL doctors bi generated....
I feel terrible for saying it but I actually hated it and found very odd because I don’t think there was one episode of doctor who that I disliked so far it’s an odd feeling and I hope it doesn’t continue but the best I can give the episode is a 6 out of 10 for the giggle loved star beast and wild blue yonder though the get 9/10
Probably overall a 7.5. The first episode fell in the last 5 minutes and felt rush. The 2nd episode ironically lingered on for too long. And then like you said, the last episode was great until they started playing catch on a helipad and he duplicated the tardis… I don’t know, but the pacing was just “eh” at times. I didn’t think about it until you mentioned it, but it was a celebration of the “RTD” era really vs anything else.
I think these 3 Specials despite their flaws were a combination of what makes Doctor Who great.... certainly the RTD era anyway. Star Beast was the lightweight "Xmas" type special( with a few nice character beats). Wild Blue Yonder was the experimental episode. The Giggle is what RTD does best....the bombastic finale. Were they instant classics? No. I certainly didn't feel they were a celebration of 60 years of Who . However, from a practical perspective they served their purpose. A fitting conclusion to Doctor Who 2005-2023 from the team that revived it, and an opportunity for a fresh start moving forward. Let's not forget that if RTD hadn't stepped in ....the finale would have been Doctor 13 regenerating....and fading to black.
The way I see it some of the effects are deliberately bad/hammy in order to tone down the horror aspects for the younger viewers. It went out at 6.30. I mean the crab walk looked silly, my 10 year old pulled a 'what the' face at it. Not in horror but in the that was silly way.
Not a lie, I actually wish they explore more of Rose because I kinda like their character bit, but, wish they rework some of scenes with them because at first I kinda see it as a stereotype of Millennial or Gen Z
Wild Blue Yonder was everything I'd want from a standalone episode, and The Giggle was a pretty satisfying (if messy) mini-series finale. Meanwhile the Star Beast looked like a soap opera and sounded like it was written by the comments section of a Daily Mail article as a joke. I'm cautiously optimistic about Ncuti. I love how he's camp AND tough. Just the way he said the word "wow" in the next time trailer - don't know why but I love it!
100% agree. Star Beast was terrible, Wild Blue Yonder was a good creepy one-off, and the Giggle was good enough, not great, but good enough. And Neal Patrick Harris did well with what he had.
The Giggle sincerely might just be one of my favourite episodes of the show, period. I’ll have to give it some time before entirely committing to that, but I can at least say that Neil Patrick Harris’s Celestial Toymaker most certainly is a new favourite. He captures everything you want in a Who villain; campy, menacing and ultimately just an absolute riot to watch! That dance sequence was just magnificently silly! And as for the story itself, I gotta say that twist at the end (I’ll try and stay spoiler-light, but maybe wait to read this next bit if you haven’t seen it), is actually something that really worked for me; despite the controversy in the fandom it’ll no doubt cause. It’s an anniversary, after all, so wrapping everything up in a nice little bow is honestly just a perfect send-off to me; I mean, as the characters literally pointed out, David Tennant’s Doctor has earned his swan-song! And Ncuti Gatwa… I already know I’m going to love his Doctor. We’ve never really had a Doctor (minus Christopher Eccleston’s 9 I suppose, due to his off-screen regeneration) introduced with such a definitive sense of who they are. And man do I like it. Comforting, vibrant and ultimately radiating fun: yeah, this guy’s gonna be good! So yeah, safe to say I loved it. As a whole, the 60th anniversary itself was not what I expected but, despite going into this episode with uncertainty on whether it could stick the landing, it gives me an innumerable amount of joy when I say that this gave me everything I wanted and more. Doctor Who is never going to be objectively perfect, but this is pretty damn perfect to me. Now, let’s bring on Christmas!!!!
![DID IT SUCK? | Doctor Who [THE STAR BEAST REVIEW]](/img/n.gif)
Hey all, UA-cam made me cut a A LOT of my review of Wild Blue Yonder to keep it copywrite free.
Sorry about that x
Wild Blue Yonder was my girlfriend’s first ever episode of Doctor Who. She knew nothing about the show, and went in blind. But she loved it. She freaked out when Not-Thing Donna melted and when giant Doctor and Donna were chasing regular Doctor/Donna down the corridor. It made this experience so so much better, watching with someone who didn’t know what to expect. Plus I got to explain Doctor Who to someone so that’s a plus.
Vorld Vide Premier!!!for ur girl at least haha!!I'm a Whovian all 60 yrs,and I'm early 40s lol,so grew up seeing classic who on pbs in the day,fave is the 8th / Paul, so yes Def explain all 60yrs that ya can,and just tell her that despite all the blah blah blah thats going on,DONT LET IT GET TO YOU!!old man and granddaughter took off in a Tardis lol,there ya go!!and with the lore of Fugitive dr,you'll get to that when the time comes!!good luck!!😁✌️🍻🤟🤘
Hold onto that kinda relationship.
I have very painful, yet, good memories 3 to 6 years ago doing similar watchings of TV programs with my ex.
I let it slip away and now that's all it is. A memory.
I’ve also been getting my partner to watch the episodes as they come out
(I think she now likes Doctor who but who’s to say really)
I’m so sorry for you, your girlfriend abuse that
Had a similar experience as ur gf. Can definitely relate
Did you notice when cutting the puppets strings Clara still had one string attached to represent her last heartbeat and that she was still travelling. Whereas Amy and Bill had ALL their strings cut to reference their actual end of life
You're the first other person I've heard describing Wild Blue Yonder as a cross between Midnight (which everyone mentioned) and The Almost People (which no-one has!), which is exactly what I first thought when the episode was over!!! 🙂
The No Things, feels like the Gangers.
I thought the ending for Fourteen felt completely earned. I love the idea that at the end of the modern era, heading into Season One with Fifteen, we get to have our cake and eat it too. I love that the Doctor gets to build a life and a community for himself after everything he's dealt with. I love that he now gets to go on an adventure that he's never had before. The kind of adventure that in any other show you would have to wait till the finale for. Now The Doctor is following his companion into an adventure. He's following Donna's lead. He gets to be a part of someone elses life instead of making them a part of his. That's beautiful.
We get to have that AND we get to have Fifteen who is excited to travel the stars, who doesn't feel burdened by his past, who gets to have a new character arc for a new ara.
Could we run into some issues with the consequences of Bigeneration in the future? Perhaps. But right now, just this once, the Doctor and his companion get to live happily ever after. "Just this once, everybody lives."
"He gets to be part of someone else's life instead of making them part of his" beautifully said 👏👏👏
Awesome callback at the end there love that.
I like the idea that RTD has retired the time war doctor, even 12 and 13 had issues still stemming from it, now Ncuti can actually leave it behind
This how I see Story of Doctor Who Show
Volume One
Chapter 1 - First Doctor
Chapter 2 - Second Doctor
Chapter 3 - Third Doctor
Chapter 4 - Fourth Doctor
Chapter 5 - Five Doctor
Chapter 6 - Sixth Doctor
Chapter 7 - Seventh Doctor
Epilogue - Eight Doctor
Volume Two
Prologue - Ninth Doctor
Chapter 1 - Tenth Doctor
Chapter 2 - Eleventh Doctor
Chapter 3 - Twelfth Doctor
Chapter 4 - Thirteenth Doctor
Epilogue - Fourteenth Doctor
Volume Three
Chapter 1 - Fifteenth Doctor
I was engaged, I laughed, I cried. It had cutting political commentary. It made me excited for the new series. It gave me a new "WELL THAT'S ALRIGHT THEN!" meme that will come in very useful. Total hit for me.
Cutting political commentary 😂 "Did you just misgender that alien?" Or perhaps the fact that Isaac Newton is in fact black
@@Maudelin I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the subtext running through The Giggle.
@@Maudelinno because trans people’s existence and experiences aren’t political (though there was some good commentary on that too). There was plenty of good politics in the Giggle though.
@@Sparx632 just having a bit of fun. I did think the Giggle’s commentary was pretty interesting
And yes oml NPH saying that line over and over in a fully American accent was incredible
The Star Beast:
Strong start but definitely agree with a lot of what you said. It had passing issues, the sonic was super op, 14 was actively trying to murder Donna. Where the episode fell flat for me was the end. It could have been amazing if that speech was down differently or removed entirely. The episode had this over arching theme of it not mattering who you are, it doesn’t matter if you’re male, female or trans, everyone is equal. Then it took a stab at “male presenting” that felt out of character and didn’t fit in the story what so ever. Overall I loved this ep but I feel it’s going to be a hard one on rewatches.
The Wild Blue Yonder:
Ok this one I genuinely didn’t like. I came in to the episode blind but also with that expectation of something as great as midnight. It didn’t fell like midnight. You’re the first person to compare it to the almost people/rebel flesh and i have to agree with that. Evil Donna stole the show for me and I loved every scene in which you genuinely couldn’t tell who was who. Ultimately the cgi was too silly and pulled me out of the episode before any real terror could set in. The TARDIS running away felt hmm idk, just felt convenient to the plot. Maybe as part of the repairs it had to dematerialises instead of running away from the threat of the nothings.
Wild Blue Yonder is where RTD starts rewriting the flux as well as the timeless child putting weight behind both. At the end of the flux everything was “fixed” and now we actually see the aftermath. It almost had the feel of a series 4 episode with a mystery to be solved but it’s introduced at the start of the episode, forgotten about and is then quickly solved right when the plot needed it to be.
I should probably rewatch this episode but I currently rank it the weakest of the three.
The giggle:
Amazing, simply amazing. Neil Patrick Harris does an amazing job as the toymaker, so much so that I was sad to see them win. First half of the episode was perfect. Stooky Bill was the perfect doctor who plot in history. Creepy and sticks with you. When Donna gets attacked by the dolls and kills Stocky’s wife… I couldn’t help but think oh god that was a real family. It still haunts me that the dolls could very well once been alive but are now dolls thanks to the toymaker. When the toymaker goes though the doctors life since season 4 was great, hell it even plants a seed of doubt in it the doctors true identity which is reinforced by RTD. The toymaker very well could have made up the timeless child to fuck with the doctor lol. But the second half it kind of fell flat. When the jump to 2023 happens I had a feeling of dread. The galvanic beam is set to fire on a foreign satellite which could start a war. I genuinely thought that was the toymakers next move and as such think it was under-utilised. I also think the robot could have been the toymaker all along. Spice up your life was an amazing segment and easily the best part of the ep. The bigeneration was fine but I wanted to see Tenant go, I was ready to let go of him as much as his last lines reflect that. I feel that Gatwa was stolen of a real memorable moment.
Overall I bet if it was a two parter and didn’t do the bigeneration I could easily give it 10/10
Shaun Temple was a NOTHING character in The End of Time, meant to be just a figurehead of Donna’s ignorant happiness. There was a low bar to give him any sort of characterization to flesh him out and Russell knocked it out of the park. Shaun is truly up for anything and you summarized him quite well
Beast was poor.
Yonder good.
Giggle brilliant.
Meep is High MEEP , HAIL TO THE MEEP. PRAISE BE TO THE MEEP!!!
Ngl I disagree with almost all of your takes, but your enthusiasm and love of the show is what keeps me coming back. Glad to seem someone as chronically obsessed as I am
"A hit, but not the one we were expecting" I think is a fair statement.
I overall liked the specials and was excited to see what happened in a way that I haven't in a long time (no shade towards the most recent Doctors).
The specials weren't exactly what I expected for a 60th, but I am overall happy with them.
The bigeneration does seem weird, but I think I am okay with it. I hope that the bigeneration and the 14th Doctor still existing isn't completely sidelined though. Something I think that they did well in the specials was bringing up a lot of the hard stuff the Doctor went through so far, a nice change from the seeming pattern of the show moving on and forgetting about big past events.
With a soft reboot and a more expanded universe they are hinting at anything can happen at this point. I am more excited to see what happens than I've been in a long time with Doctor Who.
So at this point theres 5 tardises out there? The Meta-crisis doctor is growing his own, The 14th has one, the 15th has one, The Fugitive doctor also has one and theres a the tardis clara took.
well, there are 2 versions of the doctors tardis in the main universe (14 and 15), the metacrisis is in another universe, and fugitive is the same tardis in a different point in time.
Claras tardis is another tardis from gallifrey and is probably a different model, as the doctors Type 40 is outdated.
I feel all 3 episodes suffered from an old RTD era complaint: they start strong, build everything up superbly, then utterly fall apart in the last act.
It's like RTD knows where he's starting, knows where he wants to finish, but gets so wound up with the first 2 acts, he has to dues ex machina the last act.
As a celebration of 60 years of DW, it fell very flat, as a celebration of easily my least favourite season of the RTD era, it was fine, I guess.
Ncuti looks like he'll be a lot of fun though.
I wish they would break the rules and just have doctor crossover episodes mid-season, that it didn't have to be a special exclusive thing. I would personally love to see the dynamic between Ncuti and Capaldi's doctor. If that never comes to pass, I think it'll be a huge missed opportunity. I'm not sure if Capaldi was overlooked because he wasn't a part of Russell T Davies original era or if it's because he wasn't considered enough of a fan favourite.
For me I think it was a massive missed opportunity.
I think Capaldi being very serious and set in his ways and being noticeably wary of being the smartest person in the room would completely juxtapose Ncuti as a youthful, self assured and charming successor. I think it would make for a lot of fun humour and really show how the events of new who had aged the doctor over time with a more recent incarnation than Tennant.
Even if hypothetically Tennant were still in this episode (which I suppose had to be done to get the old viewers back on board), it would be interesting to see Ncuti's fun upbeat and seemingly care free doctor be a result of Tennant being shown his own reflection in Capaldi, being a tired old man, having lost two companions and having endured a world of grief in heaven sent, alongside having to finally say goodbye to river song.
The doctor being shown the gravity of what he's been through and how bitter his resentment and regret has made him over time would have been far more impactful than Donna just telling him he needs a break after not having seen him in years and not understanding the extent of his loss and his rage in his current state. I get that they tried to do this with the puppet show in the giggle, but a couple minutes of playful banter about some of the doctors losses really doesn't cut it. I think too that having Donna alongside Tennant would've been a good opportunity to touch on the grief of losing river song as she is the only RTD companion to have met her and she knows where her story ends but still has no context of the doctor's relationship with her. Even a quick nod with Donna asking if the Doctor if he ever found out who she was and the doctor just sitting in brooding silence would've been better than nothing. All the time they were afforded to talk in wild blue yonder would've been a perfect time for a conversation like this to take place, whether with the real Donna or the fake one toying with the doctors emotions.
Just as a side note: I think having the meta crisis be resolved so quickly and easily really took away from Donna sacrificing herself to save humanity. I really loved that they had kept her true to her character with her making that choice and keeping the continuity of her thinking she's not special despite her bravery. It had such an impact and then BAM 30 seconds later, it's no biggie because she could've just chosen to let it go this whole time.
When I watched these specials I watched them as a jaded Doctor Who fan that had fallen out of love of the show since Capaldi’s last series so I really enjoyed these 3 episodes way more than any of Chibnall’s run due to the less exposition heavy episodes and Murray Gold returning making these special episodes come to life.
That being said after watching your review, I never considered how a new viewer watching on say Disney+ would react to these.
I honestly think these anniversary specials weren’t supposed to be the jumping on point for new fans (that’s for Ncuti’s Christmas Special episode I reckon)
I’m sure from the Christmas special onwards there’ll be a more consistent batch of great episodes from the RTD2 run
I've shown my wife multiple of my favorite Dr. Who episodes, especially ones that I thought would be good "jumping on" points. In general she never really liked them, although she didn't hate them either. My adult daughter was a little more open to watching some episodes, but still was not a fan. We were together for Thanksgiving weekend, and they both watched The Star Beast with me. They both loved it. I was really surprised, because although I thought it was pretty good, I, like Crispy, didn't think it was an episode that would attract new people. But given my wife and daughters reactions, I definitely think these specials could be something that brings in new fans.
It was my girlfriend’s first episode of Who and she loved it. We’ve since started our New Who watch and she’s all in on the show.
As a celebration of the history of Doctor Who, it definitely didn't accomplish that, though everything surrounding the specials certainly did. But the way I see it, and the way I feel Davies approached it, was that it was designed to highlight the thematic elements of Doctor Who: both as a jumping on point for new viewers, and for fans young and old to vibe with, as having all the hallmarks of what Doctor Who can and historically has been. And in that regard, I think it does a great job. None of the episodes are the best the show can offer, but they're fun, thought-provoking, decently written, and not least of all silly, and in that way they are perfectly Doctor Who.
Star Beast was my first Dr Who episode but The Giggle made me fall in love with Dr Who, NPH was amazing especially the spice girls number!
I was watching previous sessions over the past few weeks and I’m so excited for the new series, Ncuti’s Dr is going to be breathe of fresh air amazing actor.
The Christmas trailer is brilliant! I’m a bit disappointed they released the goblin song before the episode as it would have been better to see it live on the episode.
I feel like the 60th specials had 3 major tasks,
1) get everyone who fell off over the last few years back.
2) give people new to the show a taste of what Doctor Who can be
3) set up Ncuti Gatwa and get everyone stoked for the new era.
I think it was successful in all those goals.
While it wasn't the love note to the history of the show the 50th was, the Tales of the TARDIS certainly was, though I'm annoyed Paul McGann didn't get one with say India Fisher, if these rumors I keep hearing about an 8th Doctor spin off series are true, I can forgive that eventually.
The deadnaming scene and the scene with Sylvia trying to get it right were tastefully done, because thats actually a realistic depiction of things that go on in a trans persons everyday life without it becoming a face-value message. At that point i thought we were finally getting some trans inclusion from a character that isnt face value.
Boy did that change. 13 seperate mentions of Rose being beautiful or gorgeous is when people will start to notice, its beyond a sentiment if its whenever you mention her offscreen. That, paired with the serious hammering of it during the third act just goes to show that writers really struggle to write a trans character, because they always seem to forget that they are people first.
I wanted to know Rose, especially because you can imagine how a child of Donna Noble would turn out lol. Didn't get any of that because all they used her for was to talk about Trans affirmation. Shirley was a much better attempt at including a non-typical character. While the rocket launcher in the chair was quite cheesy, she actually had a character and had some valuable input into conversations she was a part of, and it wasnt all focused on her disability. Shirley is the perfect example of how it's done, and I'm so surprised that even Russel fell into that void of character writing, especially after It's a Sin.
Inclusion is an important thing, it's nice for everyone to be able to see a person like them in a story, and I understand that theres a lot of negativity surrounding Trans people at the moment, but you arent going to get through to those people by being so incredibly in your face about it. That just makes them angrier. Give them a trans character thats actually a character first, and they are much more likely to respond positively.
She isn't realistically coming back any time soon, but if she does imma need Russel to remember that she's a person first.
Rose is beautiful though eh?
@Pharaohred - yes, I have to agree with you: having a trans character/trans representation is a very, very good thing - or CAN be when done well. Although I actually love Rose Noble as a character, I felt there were more than a few sledgehammer moments that nobody needed. As you rightly say, that level of lecturing will push more people away that it would attract them. For the same reason, I winced at the almost stereotypical “oh honey” asides from Gatwa in “The Giggle” - although there ARE campy lgbt+ out there, it’s not a “given” (I’m gay and have my occasional hissy fit moments but, in general I’m - hate this as a term - “straight acting”). Similarly, though it was nice to see a disabled character (I’m disabled as well as gay), I found the representation both cheesy and vaguely pandering - and, in light of the news that Davros has been retconned into an able bodied villain, I feel that RTD has dropped the ball seriously there (disabled people can be just as nasty/evil as they can be nice - to claim otherwise is misguided or delusional). Still, back to Rose - I really, really hope we see a lot more of her and her story: I thought she was a highlight of “The Star Beast” special.
It was good to see “10” and Donna again and the episodes were pretty good overall but overall as an anniversary experience it pales in comparison to the 50th.
OMG I HAVE SUBED TO AN AUZZIE YESSSS. I really think it made perfect sense, Davids doctor kind of got to sort himself out, and is now given the time to sort himself out after so much trauma, and I think they wrote and played Ncuti's doctor as a sort of healed, grown sort of into the fact that "you can't always save everyone". I thought that was an amazing line in the episode itself and really resonated with me. Overall I think it was the best possible send off for David's doctor, and honestly one of the most wholesome episodes in the entire new who so far :)
I think it'll do really well being on disney+ as other younger adults and kids around my age will be brought in now that Ncuti's the 15th.
I think that's what they wanted to do - they highlighted the trauma with 14 all the way through, so the point of the double regeneration was to have Tennant's Doctor have the space to retire and work on recovery, while the 15th Doctor gets to be all fresh and vibrant for the start of a new era. But I guess it's fair to question if you think that actually works in the episode. Crispy saying that he felt like it was *almost* earnt doesn't sound like he absolutely hated it. Most fans I've seen react to this episode get incredibly confused at the bi-generation and have to get their heads around it. And I've also seen comments where people have missed the line where 15 says "we're doing rehab out of order" and therefore haven't yet understood what Russell T Davies was going for there.
For me, the thing that really worked about it was that we got to see enough of Ncuti's performance for me to be really excited to see his first proper episode at Christmas now.
For me the 60th should always have been an epilogue for David Tennant's Doctor, which it has done in theory by having him retire. As a send off it's great, however as setup for a spin off, then I think that would be stretching it too far. The episodes were fine, nothing new, right down to one being a remake, however being a labour of love allowed them to still be enjoyable, in the case of Wild Blue Yonder, I appreciate that it took influence from the weird stuff like Midnight and Scherzo. Russell did a good job with little details such as the character moments or taking the time to acknowledge a important death. Objectively it's either a 6 or 7/10, but gets an ironic 10/10 for NPH dancing to the Spice Girls.
For me, it's the complete opposite. The only saving grace about the whole "bigeneration" mess, would be a spin off, utilising tenantsdoctor would be one of the few good things to come from out and just having him be benched, never to be seen again would just be tragic.
While I like David Tennant's Doctor, I am fatigued by him as well as the idea that the show needs him to succeed and I feel the show has been retreading old ground for several years and not allowing creative concepts the chance to breathe, I'm more interested in the new stuff, rather than the concepts and characters we've seen before. A Tennant spin off would mostly be the mid-season present day run arounds which are some of the more forgettable episodes and likely overtime the novelty of his take gets less interesting if it's just part of the status quo, as it stands he's got his happy ending and gets to live in retirement which seems like a good stopping point before it's oversaturated.
@@tvguy61 The Star Beast was more specifically an adaptation.
While not 100% perfect, to me these episodes were more 'hits' than misses.
Also, hope you enjoyed Cardiff. I visited there several years ago, and one of the first things I did was go check out Ianto's Shrine down at the quay!
You could say the last scene with the toymaker is where the episode really drops the ball...
I really don’t agree about the last 20 minutes. I thought it was phenomenal. I couldn’t be more excited for the next season.
I was a Californian with an Aussie father when I got to watch The Doctor (William Hartnell) for the first time, for a little over a year, but then had to return to the U.S.. Then I had to wait till 73 for NBC to bring Jon Pertwee to the States. But since then I've always enjoyed all the Doctors and the main cast. (And for a few years I've been enjoying your videos - TYVM.) Bottom like Ncuti Gatwa's great!
As always, thank you so very much for the videos.
And my take-aways: I really appreciate how they presented Rose (Biased: I'm a TransParent), and disabilities (Biased: One of my (other) children has to use a wheelchair at times, plus I had two good friends in High School with Spina Bifida.). And I LOVE Ncuti as the New Doctor. (Biased; I've never not Loved any of The Doctor's.)
4:20 you must be joking, Rose was terrible the actress was completely stiff and distracting the entire episode, it’s even joked about with Donna saying Rose cannot act.
Booooooooooo boooooo!!! I love her.
I think the giggle was the best out of the 3. On a re-watch I found myself enjoying the last 20 mins of it a lot more than the first time around.
My personal ranking is Wild Blue Yonde, The Giggle, and then the Star Beast, but I enjoyed all of them! Excited for RTD's new era
I enjoyed all these episodes, but I feel that they worked more as a return to/closure for the Davies era, rather than as a celebration of the show’s 60 year run, or as an introduction to the new era. With The Day Of The Doctor, even if the actual special focused mostly on the time war (rather than on 11’s arc or the show’s past), it’s still felt like a proper climax to the fifty year run, and was supported by the other releases like an Adventure In Space In Time, or the Five-ish Doctors Reboot, which helped cover all the show’s bases. While we did have Tales From The Tardis this time, it felt that this anniversary had far less fanfare, and that not only did The Power Of Doctor provide much more of what we would have expected from an anniversary special (past Doctors, the big 3 villains, old companion cameos), we were also let down somewhat by them starting the specials after the anniversary, rather than concluding them then. Personally I probably would have just made The Giggle into a 90 minute special, and have had that serve to mark the anniversary. In the end while I genuinely enjoyed all three episodes and what they did, they feel more like a stop-gap than the big celebration/ beginning of a new era we expected, so we will have to wait and see how Ncuti Gatwa handles it.
I really think it's a mixed bag. I wish each episode had more of a narrative though-line, or overarching villain. I enjoyed each episode on their own, sure, but as a whole I feel like each episode's conclusion was quite rushed with the exception of WBY, but even then it's a little convenient with the TARDIS appearing at the last moment. Here, everything felt kind of weightless, nothing felt like it had stakes, and the conclusions of each story came out of thin air. I really liked the emotional moments in WBY, adding some of that drama and emotion I felt these episodes needed a little more of. I'd give the entirety of the 60th specials a 7/10, its good fun, with some really awesome moments, but I just don't feel like it's as emotionally resonant as the 50th, or as most regular seasons of the show. Really excited for Ncuti to have a clean slate for new adventures and new experiences!!
I enjoyed it for the most part. But it felt more like a celebration of series 4 than a celebration of the entire show. I didn't like how they handled the regeneration at the end. They should've just let 14 fully regenerate to show fans that the show always goes on with or without him. Power of the Doctor was a better 60th than the actual 60th. For me, the 50th is still king/queen of anniversary specials. That was truly a masterpiece imho.
I think this had to set itself apart from PotD since that was the last thing aired. It can't repeat the same type thing back to back in the rewatch. I'm happy it was distinct and tied up a loose thread that many, my ex included, sorta lost interest in the show over (DoctorDonna) back 15y ago. The Bigeneration could have been tweaked a bit, some more dialogue of explanation and it would be fine, but as is, I can see it being hard to swallow, especially for new fans. And please no one listen to RTD behind the scenes he'll confuse them even more! 😅
One trope I'm glad they did away with for David TENnant's 14th Doctor, and Ncuti Gatwa's 15th Doctor, is the post regeneration psychosis that has plagued each Doctor since 3. It just got straight to the story, with The Doctor in full Doctor mode.
I don't know want you are talking about when you said it didn't meet expectations. To me it exceeded my expectations plus more. I was actually excited for each episodes. With Jodie, as much as love her, I wasn't excited when there was new episode they were just there. Now I looked forward to watching each episode as soon as I got home from work in last couple Saturdays. I loved every minute from all 3 episodes. Was the all 3 specials perfect, no but to me it didn't need to perfect. There wasfew nitpicks I had with each episode. Example are:
- I agree the pacing of episodes 1 and 3 were bit to fast. I think last episode could have been 15 minutes longer.
- I wanted more time with Rose. I would have love to see her travel with her mom and the Doctor.
- I wanted more The Doctor vs Toymaker (more NPH is always great).
Other than those nitpicks, everything else was great. I actually liked the bi-regeneration. 2 Doctors for the price of 1. Plus the Doctor really needed to sit down and enjoy life, after running and losing love ones for so many years but also still go on adventures. That what 2 doctors are for. One will "retire" for now while the other one keep having adventures.
I can't wait to see more of the 15th Doctor and I hope there is a UNIT spinoff.
@@tvguy61 Ehhh for continuity alone I guess it is. Season 11 & 12 had some fun episodes but really few and far between. Season 13 (Flux) wasn't too bad overall but not great either. You wouldn't miss much skipping the whole era and reading a summary of what happened honestly
wild blue yonder is one of my favorite episodes in the series now
17:55 he says in the episode this is because technically his lifespan actually starts at the end of the 14th so he is already experiencing the benefits of the doctor doing his "rehab" on earth with Donna and her family
Great video! Are you going to the doctor who exhibition thing in New Zealand this year?
Great to go to Cardiff! We've spend our holiday in Cardiff in december 2013 was one of the best things we did, so many great DW locations we visited, right after the 50th anniversary special and then watching Matt Smith's final episode there too.
I greatly enjoyed all three specials and have no real issues with them. The bigeneration doesn’t bother me in the least. When I think back on Classic Who, each regeneration was very different from the last, and it’s only in modern Who that the whole fire/energy shooting out from hands and feet (with increasing ferocity each time) became the norm. In fact, the bigeneration/splitting of the Doctor felt very reminiscent (in reverse) of the 4th Doctor regenerating to the 5th, where (spoilers) through his final story he was followed by this mysterious white ghostly figure (who he even approached and spoke to at one point) who turned out to be his future self and who merged with him as he lay dying. Now THAT was a weird regeneration.
One thing you failed to mention, Crispy, was that we now have something else to blame Logie Baird for other than a tacky award ceremony😀. But maybe we in Aus should now refer to the Logies as the Stookies? Probably more appropriate don’t you think?
Keep in mind that RTD has said that the bi-generation impacted the Doctor across all previous regenerations… so it can explain all of the “older” doctors showing up without the need for CGI to keep them looking the same… it can be explained away thru a previous incarnation having bi-generated and we are now seeing that older version.
Loved the specials, didn’t think at all it was a 60th special to be honest. In a weird way I think that’s a good thing. It’s time to push on, a new slate, there was some nods to classic, and a lot of nods to new, but we have a new generation and for the show to survive it needs to adapt, and change, and I’m really excited about Ncuti can’t wait for Christmas to see him and ruby
Oh awesome! You were in my hometown of Cardiff! How did you enjoy Wales?
It was awesome! I'll be posting holiday stuff to my Podcast channel eventually
There are a few things I would have done differently.
I agree, the opening with David and Catherine explaining what had happened wasn't great and could have been covered by just showing a few clips.
I would have probably started the episode with a shot of the spaceship careering towards Earth. Then, cut to a shot of Donna in Camden Market.
Then the ship crashes.
The Tardis arrives and the Doctor steps out but I'd have him already aware that a spaceship has crashed to Earth and he is here to investigate.
helluva a spin off show since doctor who came back. That's how I navigate through it being a huge classic fan. Davies is on full message mode now. From what I see modern Who fans love it.
12:55 "Eve of the Daleks" actually has a similar scene where the Doctor gets angry with Yaz. She then apologises, saying that she won't let anyone else get hurt because of her past decisions. She later refuses to explain what she means. The scene in this episode works because the Doctor refused to tell her why the Flux was created. This is the first time that he has told someone about his connection to the Flux. This is why he is so devastated when he realises that he is talking to the villain. So I do think that you are being too harsh, and I personally felt that the Doctor came across as too intense at the end of this scene, but I realise that this is a personal preference thing. It is less of an issue for me with 14 than 10, though, as we got less of these unnecessarily (in my opinion) intense moments from him.
I would rate this miniseries a 6/10, as I think that the revival was at its best with series 9-13, but I liked it more than some of Russell's previous series.
Ncuti was AMAZING, exactly how I expected him to be. The most exciting part by far.
Crispy: I was only able to watch The Star Beast in the UK
Also Crispy in the UK: WOW Wasn’t Wild Blue Yonder GREAT?!
I feel the ;ending' for the 14th Doctor might have been more earned if there was more of a gap in between these episodes and the new era. It just feels overshadowed by it and it could probably have done to have another episode to act as a 60th and have these ones broadcst earlier.
Yep the pacing in first and third one where so fast
Wild blue Yonder really made me remember why I started watching Doctor Who. I started watching during Matt Smith's era (due to Netflix only having series 5 ongoing when I started in like... 2017 or something?) and the Spaceship and the plot of being in the walls and not finding each other really felt like that one episode where Amy, Rory and the Doctor are stuck in the Tardis. Same thing for episode 3 with the dolls, that really reminded me of the Dollhouse episode of Smith's era, it had a similar kind of creepy factor. I loved David's era, especially season 4 because Catherine RULES but Matt Smith will always be my first doctor and therefore THE doctor to me and having the same feeling to these episodes really made me sooo happy.
The only thing I disliked about the episodes was the ending with 14 and Donna's family. I don't know what about this bothered me, I really enjoyed the thought of 14 getting a happy ending and the doctor finally healing from his heartbreak that way... I would even go so far to say that it's really just the set up that was feeling off? Like the lighting is so different from the episode and it feels like... Just David Tennant, not the doctor. The scene looks like it was pulled out of an entirely different show and funnily enough it reminded me of whatever "the inside man" show was😂 so yeah that scene to me was just David, not 14 and I think that wouldve been easily fixed by just not having such a bright set for it? I don't know. But besides this (and the bad cgi head when his stunt double bent down, why was that necessary?) I have nothing to complain about 😊🎉
4:57 I thought for a second there that you were going to say YOU! Like Silvia 😂😂
Are we in danger of having a "sameness" of villains? I love the Sacha Dhawan and John Simm Masters, but the Toymaker seems just the same! Madcap, funny, bonkers. The original Celestial Toymaker was much more restrained. Please let's have VARIETY!
Gotta love a Shrek the musical advert in a dr who review
The spice up your life scene gives I can't decide vibes
About the bi-generation... I don't think this is the last we'll hear of it. 15 said he was fine because 14 worked through his trauma, with the whole "rehab out of order" line, which implies that 14 will still eventually end up as 15 later in his timeline and probably be pulled back to The Giggle when he regenerates to 15 normally.
An explanation I saw and liked was that the Toymaker is an entity who can essentially ignore fixed points in time and do what he wants. With this in mind, 14 was supposed to regenerate later in a fixed point but the Toymaker was able to ignore it and kill him early, resulting in 15 being pulled back from that future point and create a closed loop. Perhaps we'll get some Big Finish 14th Doctor stories and 15 will just reference them every now and then to show they're still the same person and 15 is still in 14's future. I never really listened to Big Finish but I heard those stories have closed plot holes before, so it wouldn't be too farfetched.
The Starbeast wasn't great but the other two really good. Restored my faith, liked the bi regeneration, it's something different and imaginative in agood way unlike the Timeless child, retconning Davros or when Dr Who does social awarness class for all us ignorant dummies out here ! Keep the good run going, we may see another 60 years ! ( well, I won't, I'll be dead by then but some of you might witness it ! )
Neil Patrick Harris was so great in this that I'm gonna be so disappointed if/when they bring the Toymaker back had he isn't playing the character.
troy jumpscare moment
I personally had a great time watching them. I felt the ending to the third episode was a bit rushed but apart from that it was great. Really good to see 10 and Donna interacting again and having this amazing chemistry. Also I'm really excited to see the performance of Ncuti as the Doctor, considering my favorite Doctor was Matt Smith because of his flamboyant energy I think Ncuti will nail the part
4 waiting with 2 hours to go? Wow, we Whovians really need something before Christmas!
For me, these specials didn't emotionally engage with "The End of Time", as much as I would've liked. "Wild Blue Yonder" gave us a rather good (but not expectational) abstract character piece but it was sandwiched between two fluff pieces that didn't have the emotional weight to much justify bringing back these characters beyond nostalgia. Conceptually, I like the experimental idea of bringing back a past Doctor actor, as a new incarnation but most of it didn't quite cohere for me.
Agree with pretty much everything you said. I actually didn’t expect there to be so much love for the giggle, to me it felt a bit like fanfiction put to screen. Glad that most people enjoyed it so much though!
I must say with my notes, I placed that the Not-things would have been perfect for a Matt Smith or a Peter cameo. Like just image them trying to copy but because Regeneration is a bitch for a creature like that it makes more sense to have them appear as the Not-thing tries to factor in regeneration.
About the bi-generation thing, we didn't meet any of the doctor's and Susan's race until the 2nd Doctor's story THE WAR GAMES. We didn't find out they were called Time Lords until the 3rd Doctor's story THE THREE DOCTORS, and we didn't find out the planet they were from was Gallifrey until the 3rd Doctor's story THE TIME WARRIOR, and, information about regeneration was trickle truthed out in bits and pieces in the 26 years of its original run. So, as for bi-generation, I just look at it as a new fact trickle truthed out.
ngl i’m more excited for Doccy Who’s future than i was when Capaldi took the role back in 2014❤️🔥
The Star Beast - 9/10
Wild Blue Yonder - 9.5/10
The Giggle - 9/10
Absolute hit for me! I loved it all and can't wait for this next era!!
The bi-regeneration is and was a rehab for the doctor to work through the trauma of the past lifetimes of his former selves. 14 will do the work , whilst 15 can reap the rewards.
Yeah I never had that high an expectation. RTD's era was never perfect and some of the worst DW episodes come from his era. I'm just happy the scripts are better and the heart is back. Chibnall treated death like an afterthought but RTD knows how to make you feel for everyone who has died. He's brought the Doctor's compassion back into it.
Even when the Toymaker turns the random UNIT soldiers into bouncy balls, a blatantly comedic thing, RTD takes the time to acknowledge them with 14 turning to Kate and saying "I'm so sorry, they're dead".
But most importantly, Chibnall treated The Flux like it was nothing. RTD in 10 seconds acknowledged how heartbroken the Doctor was about it, like billions and billions of sentient life died and it happened because of the Doctor, regardless if he remembers why, and he cared. 13 didnt even acknowledge it. Chibnall was so poor at portraying the humanity in the Doctor, which is crucial. THAT'S what has been missing from this show and I'm very excited to see Ncuti is full swing!
ah what the heck I have definitely subscribed
(I had for a while before this but shh)
Great video!
The jukebox in the 15ths tardis was in series 1 episode 2 with rose and the 9th
Last time i was this late, the video was still called: "Were the 60th specials a hit or miss?"
The TARDIS was wheelchair accessible! Not only getting in (as they show in the third special), but as I noticed after the first special and what makes this the BEST TARDIS and why the inside is so large, IT IS ALL RAMPS.
He easily could have changed mavity to gravity after they left.
Was his passing THAT untimely? He wasn't exactly 22.
Neil Patrick Harris was great.
The Star Beast should have been a 90 minute (minus commercials) episode instead of 60 minutes (minus ads).
Bigeneration seems fine because they explained it, but they can't completely forget about everyone in Paris at the end of this episode IMO.
50 is a bigger deal than 60
Still couldn't hear half the dialogue because the background music and sound was far too loud again.
HIT for me. I loved it all. Wish it was longer but otherwise i have no notes.
Overall, I really loved the 60th. I probably had more fun with these episodes than I've had with the show in a long time. And I might go so far to say that Wild Blue Yonder is an all-time favorite. I love creepy and intimate character pieces like that, and David and Catherine gave perhaps some of the best performances ever on the show in it. Also can't wait to see more of Ncuti. I already adore him.
My biggest hang-up with the 60th is honestly the bi-generation thing. And not even so much the fact that it happened --- but rather how it was handled. The way it was addressed was so vague and unclear that based on the dialogue and the things RTD has said about it, I am genuinely confused about what this bi-generation is and what it means for the Doctor. And I know I'm not alone in this. I've seen a ton of discourse and many conflicting interpretations. Not sure whether RTD is planning on exploring it more clearly in the future, he intentionally left it up to interpretation, or the writing was just that clumsy.
The bi regen kinda ruined the giggle for me, completely takes the wind out of the story thus far. There’s a more elegant version possible, one where the idea of change or retiring is foreshadowed and weaved into the story of the Toymaker, but for whatever reason Russell rushed it. I too am very confused as to what any of this means in-story
@@tobylerone4285 I still thought The Giggle was a fun time overall, and I wouldn't say the bi-generation ruined it for me, per se. David and Ncuti were great together, and I'm not inherently opposed to 14 settling down for a while to take a break, especially as someone who was a big fan of 10 and Donna.
But I just don't understand what I'm supposed to take away from it. And maybe it wouldn't annoy me as much if my feelings about the bi-generation didn't hinge so heavily on its implications. Like, are 14 and 15 just separate entities now? If so, was this a freak accident caused by the Toymaker or could it happen again? Can 14 regenerate again? Or is there some timey wimey business going on here where 15 is still in 14's future? He did, after all, say he was only okay because David's Doctor took the time to heal and they were doing rehab out of order.
I find it perplexing. And while I don't necessarily go to Doctor Who for the lore (if I did, it would drive me insane), I do like my stories to at least have some semblance of logic that I can buy.
Yeah it was pretty clear that the opening was a Disney note. Especially since they had the exact same exposition-recap in the episode, just integrated more organically and throughout...
For me overall average. I liked wild blue yonder quite a bit but the other two were a bit disappointing. I am fine with bi generation. But I dislike that Donna and 14 didn't die. They really should have died and it felt like it partly undermined 15 and partly was just a huge cop out.
I can almost hear it now...
"Let's give the Doctor the most OP Sonic EVER!"
"What are we going to have him do with it?"
"Let's have him make force fields for moles."
That kinda makes the whole giving away the lottery winnings almost believable. Don't get me wrong, I loved the episodes. I just think that it was funny how they referenced it in the last few minutes.
A hit all the way. It was great
I shared your apprehension for the whole bi-generation thing initially, but-after pulling an all-nighter to watch the episode and giving it two hours to marinate-I fell in love with it. Still a couple plot points my brain wants ironed out, but I adore the bi-generation and The Giggle so much. Gotta be a 9/10 for me.
I would love to see the 14th doctor with the fugitive doctor in an episode......2 fantastic actors...
4.5/10 overall on the bad side of mid
OK I liked but never really loved RTDs writing.. I loved his concepts and his skill as a showrunner how he basically took the Buffy template and fused it with our beloved series. His casting was always great too. BUT his episodes never really did it for me. The best episodes of his era, for me, where by other writers.. Cornell and Moffat mainly.. So I had to remind myself of the consistent anticipointment I would feel at his episodes. These three episodes are definitely up there with the best of his writing in my opinion. Good strong and memorable.. But none of them were a patch on day of the doctor for me.. But hey I'll still be watching
Very much a mixed bag.
1. Bring back old fans with tennant and Tate whilst placating new fan with the big fluffy toy
2. Keep the old fans happy by showing just tennant and Tate with more old fashioned doctor who which left you guessing (in a good way)
3. First 40 minutes was the BBC swan song showing the greatest aspects and it was definitely telling that Disney took over after the regeneration with the tone shift from thriller/horror to goofy and pantomimist
i felt strange after seeing the bi-generation for the first time, but after a second vewing and reading that the 15th is the 14th after he settles for a bit and gone trough teraphy i felt better, but it a underwelming revelation, it donset get close to the past fists scenes of the past 5 doctors, but i loved his scenes after
I did not mind the bi-generation (🙄) a new way of regeneration. It fine, its great. At the time a doc has to leave the next doc is the one who can understand him in the moment, that was handled well. Got a multi doctor story in an anniversary special, cool. But after that whatever useless retroactive explaination RTD is giving is what I take issue with. In my head Doc15 was brought out earlier in the timeline but he is the healed version of Doc14. Once Doc14 time is up, we will have only Doc15. I understood that in Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey way. He should have let that be. But RTD speaking is creating more problems than what is on the screen. The Children in need clip with Davros was good, it was funny but then RTD had to talk and he came up with something no one was fussing over and thus creating more fuss. I am like why are you talking, first get the show on track and fandom behind it. Why are alienating your fanbase with all this irrelevant talk.
RTD is making sure everyone is talking about Doctor Who. The internet is awash with opinions. TV discussion shows are debating it.
@@ihateunicorns867 That would have happened anyway after every episode. It's the new rubbish retroactive theories he is floating around is the issue. Like all Doctors are now Bi-Generated, which makes no sense. When Jodie was revealed as the Doctor, everyone was talking but it's the bad writing that took the show to new lows. RTD is doing that same while onscreen there isn't much issue except for some in your face dialog but his offscreen talk that is creating more division and fuss which can't be good.
I agree about Russell, I get him wanting to justify it but sometimes its better to stay quiet! We all assumed the clothes change was because it was a retuning face not got anything to do with Drag Queens, most of us didn't care that Davros was not in a chair as he was a younger version but then he has to go and say thats what Davros looks like now. He's saying controversial things which are annoying people!
I agree. I had my head wrapped around it all until RTD opened his mouth, now I'm more confused than ever.
I think tenants doctor could be a good way to explain a few plot holes in the series. The curator, the watcher, the ruth doctor and series 6b. It can help alot, but instead RTD decides to make a bigger mess by saying ALL doctors bi generated....
I feel terrible for saying it but I actually hated it and found very odd because I don’t think there was one episode of doctor who that I disliked so far it’s an odd feeling and I hope it doesn’t continue but the best I can give the episode is a 6 out of 10 for the giggle loved star beast and wild blue yonder though the get 9/10
Probably overall a 7.5. The first episode fell in the last 5 minutes and felt rush. The 2nd episode ironically lingered on for too long. And then like you said, the last episode was great until they started playing catch on a helipad and he duplicated the tardis… I don’t know, but the pacing was just “eh” at times.
I didn’t think about it until you mentioned it, but it was a celebration of the “RTD” era really vs anything else.
I think these 3 Specials despite their flaws were a combination of what makes Doctor Who great.... certainly the RTD era anyway.
Star Beast was the lightweight "Xmas" type special( with a few nice character beats). Wild Blue Yonder was the experimental episode. The Giggle is what RTD does best....the bombastic finale.
Were they instant classics? No. I certainly didn't feel they were a celebration of 60 years of Who . However, from a practical perspective they served their purpose. A fitting conclusion to Doctor Who 2005-2023 from the team that revived it, and an opportunity for a fresh start moving forward.
Let's not forget that if RTD hadn't stepped in ....the finale would have been Doctor 13 regenerating....and fading to black.
The way I see it some of the effects are deliberately bad/hammy in order to tone down the horror aspects for the younger viewers. It went out at 6.30. I mean the crab walk looked silly, my 10 year old pulled a 'what the' face at it. Not in horror but in the that was silly way.
I liked the opening!
It was a hit! I loved all 3 specials!
Not a lie, I actually wish they explore more of Rose because I kinda like their character bit, but, wish they rework some of scenes with them because at first I kinda see it as a stereotype of Millennial or Gen Z
Why did the UNIT Tower look like the Stark Tower?
I never noticed the aussie accent and I am a fellow Australian. I miss the ABC screening DW.
Wild Blue Yonder was everything I'd want from a standalone episode, and The Giggle was a pretty satisfying (if messy) mini-series finale. Meanwhile the Star Beast looked like a soap opera and sounded like it was written by the comments section of a Daily Mail article as a joke.
I'm cautiously optimistic about Ncuti. I love how he's camp AND tough. Just the way he said the word "wow" in the next time trailer - don't know why but I love it!
100% agree. Star Beast was terrible, Wild Blue Yonder was a good creepy one-off, and the Giggle was good enough, not great, but good enough. And Neal Patrick Harris did well with what he had.
Good but the 50th blew it out od the water
The Giggle sincerely might just be one of my favourite episodes of the show, period. I’ll have to give it some time before entirely committing to that, but I can at least say that Neil Patrick Harris’s Celestial Toymaker most certainly is a new favourite. He captures everything you want in a Who villain; campy, menacing and ultimately just an absolute riot to watch! That dance sequence was just magnificently silly!
And as for the story itself, I gotta say that twist at the end (I’ll try and stay spoiler-light, but maybe wait to read this next bit if you haven’t seen it), is actually something that really worked for me; despite the controversy in the fandom it’ll no doubt cause. It’s an anniversary, after all, so wrapping everything up in a nice little bow is honestly just a perfect send-off to me; I mean, as the characters literally pointed out, David Tennant’s Doctor has earned his swan-song!
And Ncuti Gatwa… I already know I’m going to love his Doctor. We’ve never really had a Doctor (minus Christopher Eccleston’s 9 I suppose, due to his off-screen regeneration) introduced with such a definitive sense of who they are. And man do I like it. Comforting, vibrant and ultimately radiating fun: yeah, this guy’s gonna be good!
So yeah, safe to say I loved it. As a whole, the 60th anniversary itself was not what I expected but, despite going into this episode with uncertainty on whether it could stick the landing, it gives me an innumerable amount of joy when I say that this gave me everything I wanted and more. Doctor Who is never going to be objectively perfect, but this is pretty damn perfect to me.
Now, let’s bring on Christmas!!!!