Why Chibnall Doesn't Work: The Woman Who Fell to Earth
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- Опубліковано 1 лют 2021
- You were expecting someone else?
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CREDITS
Written, Edited and Narrated by Rohan Moran
Music ► incompetech.com/music/
The footage and images featured in the video were for critical review and parody, which are protected under the Fair Use laws of the United States Copyright act of 1976.
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Literally found out for the first time watching this video that Ryan was training to be a mechanic
Was he? Wow.
That gives me an idea.... #nextdoornerd
Really?
Same.
I still wonder if he's got dyspraxia.
Why is nobody ever talking about how Grace's death is just shaken off and the funeral is followed by a 'fun' pick-the-outfit montage? It was so out of place and the doctor looked like she just didn't give a dang
could be a great opportunity to have a full white outfit
No after the funeral is the doctor and the companions talking then it’s the clothes change and it wasn’t even a montage
Aight see youse in 7 months for part 3
"Grace's death falls short" lmao it does, she fell like 10 feet? Didn't even land on her head or nothing
I mean the 4th Doctor died in the same way
@@deJessias not 10 feet
Compare it to the Doctor herself who falls from outer space for zero consequences. I don't buy it. That should have killed her and more than a few passengers.
@@deJessias
That was 30 or 40 feet and it's also a weak death
Everybody should take a lesson (and only this lesson) from the amazing spiderman 2, and have falling characters fall far enough to reach terminal velocity, on top of having their backs broken before reaching the ground.
So super quick rewrite of this episode:
Tim Shaw is targeting Ryan, who has a passion for motorcycles. Grace insists that he must learn to ride a bicycle before he even thinks of getting on a motorbike, due to his dyspraxia and her perception of how dangerous motorcycles are. He falls, discovers the egg thing. Later on its Ryan's garage the gang go to to figure things out and build the sonic. Despite not being able to ride them, Ryan has been working on motorbikes for a while and works with the doctor to build the sonic. Yas is introduced later and separately, she finds Tim Shaw causing a disturbance and tries to stop him as a police officer, fails but survives and runs into the doctor and her primary school friend Ryan. From there the episode can go mostly the same, grace sacrifices herself for Ryan which is what defeats Tim Shaw in the end rather than sonic magic.
This not only ties character motivation to the plot, but gives chance for future arcs and the doctor to effect them. Yas wants to be successful in the police force, but lacks the skills and authority the doctor has. Ryan can't ride motorbikes due to his disability, however finds a role model in the doctor who's a tinkerer/mechanic. Graham is grieving and aware that, thanks to his age, he may never love again, the doctor is someone very familiar with that pain who can support him.
It's tighter, with better chance to develop and could so easily be done if Chibnall bothered to edit.
(P.s. if they want to keep the UA-cam channel, Ryan has it to talk about motorbikes and it consistently comes through in the series, slowly changing to a love for mechanics and engineering).
Honestly a metal egg would look more convincing than a fig. How exactly does a fig-like craft travel? There's no obvious means of propulsion or landing apparatus.
Oh god I forgot he had a UA-cam channel. Did that ever come up again after TWWFTE?
@@fastertrackcreative I have to disagree, I like the idea of an organic spaceship. And for all we know this is a pod ejected froma bigger ship. But it does not fit with Stenza's aesthetic.
@@HiperPivociarz If the alien had been more bizarre and, well, alien, the fig ship would have been an introduction full of intrigue to this new and creative species. But then we got a generic humanoid in a suit. As you said, it just doesn't fit the aesthetic.
I would absolutely watch this.
2:38 the BBC actually did. They avidly deleted any criticism on their videos during the series 11 ad campaign. Rotten tomatoes has deleted audience reviews over and over and over as well.
That just sounds depressing.
@@aaroncross6874 thats the reality of the last couple years
Yep and rotten tomatoes continues to delete audience reviews, its unacceptable to not like current dr who it seems......
Children don't get criticized by adults when they put their drawings on the fridge. Calvin of Calvin and Hobbs had a funny cartoon of how the boy " was suddenly transformed into one of his childhood drawings." "It was sad," so Calvin said " and if only little Calvin had a better sense of proportion or had made actual hands and...." Since little Calvin could not draw, the boy Calvin is transformed into a drawing that was really really handicapped. The doctor as played by Jodie Whitaker made me think of the badly drawn animated vhuldhoox drawing of little Calvin in that it just could not do what it set out to do. And BBC does not let persons criticize the Jodie doctor and the underwhelming writing that should help her but gives her figuratively two sprained ankles when participating on a marathon.
I am not reacting a tiny whiff of woke. I was saying earlier we shouldn't judge the Jodie Whitsker and Chibnsl doctor before anything has even been filmed. I have noticed the bad writing and lack of story that was sometimes very slightly disguised by the
So you're a trainee police officer, keen to prove you're ready for more responsibility.
You're given a job with more responsibility, so you attend. There are a number of civilians. One of who fell through the roof of the train and is now acting in a very erratic manner. Their manner would lead you to suspect either shock/trauma from the fall, or drugs use, surely?
I'd have actually preferred it if Yaz had handcuffed the Doctor (for the Doctor's own safety of course) - the Doctor escapes easily from the cuffs, and says 'either help me, or get out of my way.'
That would have given Jodie a real 'Doctor' moment, and would have also given Yaz a far more interesting relationship than the 'instant best friend' that she got.
In my opinion of course :)
Wow that really would’ve been better than what we got, I always thought it was strange how Yaz just trusts her straight away. Maybe she could’ve found a cricket bat to use too? /ref
Also: concerning the time skip. Graham would have been the PERECT character to have done with that!!! Show his life, his childhood, marriage etc etc. He was so under-utilised for someone as charismatic as Bradley Walsh, and it would have been the perfect opportunity to show off the world
He already had a prequel in Coronation Street as Danny Baldwin.......... But he must've forgot when he regenerated into Graham. d:
you mean something like the beginning of Up?
@Mr7Reality He is literally the only one in the cast bringing it. He makes a believable character despite being saddled with weak dialogue, the actor's own experience brings character to the role. The same cannot be said for any of the others. Graham is literally the only good thing about this iteration of Nu Who. And he's not even done right.
Yaz could have also been used for this. As a police officer we could see her ticketing the doctor for loitering or trespass, showing a familiarity with the doctor that indicates she has been causing trouble for a while, and also a condescension setting up a character arc for Yaz. Then when she reaches the train, she can chew the doctor out for causing the derailment and try to arrest her until alien stuff starts happening, which would give her more of a reason to stick around than knowing Ryan years ago.
If it wasn’t Chinballs writing it, i’m sure Whittaker could’ve been a good Doctor but at this point, it doesn’t matter anymore.
It would be an awful lot better if she just played herself and stopped doing a shit-Tenant/Smith impersonation IMO.
NO. Whoever wrote it, it would remain words on a page as Jodie has - self confessed by her = no interest in developing a character out of her own experience (or at least not for the Doctor). If you back at history you'll see references to X's Hamlet or Y's Macbeth or Z's Sherlock Holmes. The character is created by the actor and the script only forms part of that process. The rest comes from the actor him or herself.
No one will ever talk about Whittakers' Doctor as she hasn't invested anything of herself into her characterisation. It will also be Chibnall's Doctor as interpreted by JW.
TBF the best thing of this run was the Master.
The point of contention for people should never have been that 13 would be played by a woman - theoretically, anyone can play the Doctor and we can identify with them because they embody the same character across all regenerations, even if they have different outlooks/behaviors and stand at odds with one another sometimes.
People should have focused on the fact that Whittaker is completely miscast and has made no attempt to create a character of her own like everyone else has when in the role; even Peter Cushing's Dr Who from the 60's movies has a unique style, outlook, and mannerism that was chosen by Cushing.
`Ask yourself this - what has 13's defining character moment been?
Duck run, mouth open. Horrible.
"They can't all be bad can they?"
Famous last words.
@The Reverse I know
"Yes. Yes, they can."
Oh yeah... Ryan had a UA-cam channel. It's great how anyone remembered that after the episode aired.
Christ, even Amy's short-lived career in modelling was brought back consistently enough to become a part of her character.
'The Woman Who Fell to Earth' was one of the only stories i tolerated in series 11. This video was helpful in exposing on how shit it actually was.
You have done a great service towards humanity.
@The Reverse Oh, my word! Those last 3 names you mention had a far bigger right to be showrunners than Chibnall -- or should've at least have been brought back to write a story of two (especially Mathieson).
I remember consciously thinking to myself that it was okay. It was a little disappointing here and there, but it felt like a decent start. I looked forward to Jodie growing into the role. That never happened.
I think a big issue is the writing and as suggested here, Whittaker not bringing anything of herself to the role.
I can always seeing her acting, seeing the wheels turning behind her eyes. It never stopped.
@The Reverse Toby Whithouse would have made more sense.
Tim Shaw the frickin' tooth fairy ffs, start off bad, go downhill rapidly.
For me, the first episode was "okay, that was fairly middle of the road, but it establishes our new characters and the new status quo and sets up the show going forward. I'm sure it'll get better from here." And then it turned out to be the single best episode of the Chibnall era in retrospect.
Yep. It's really in retrospect that I notice the flaws in The Woman Who Fell to Earth when it aired I enjoyed it. Not as much as past episodes but it was good enough for me and I was excited for what was to come 21 episodes later I quit watching.
JackWolf: "They can't possibly all be bad...can they?"
13: "Hold my sonic vibrator"
Sex joke?
@@mr_man-to7bv yeah, her sonic screwdriver genuinely looks like a vibrator
Jack really summing up the criticisms with this era that most people have. Very well done man.
If Grace was Tim Shaw's target, that would have made her death actually tragic. The villain would have won!
Yeee, a bond would've been nice. ANY bond between the doctor and ANYBODY ELSE. Gods there was nothing between them. It felt like she was little more than an over zealous tour guide
Not that the "fam" *cringe* normally appear all that engaged.
@@madeleine5561 I find it kinda odd that the Doctor would use modern slang like "fam", and I to cringe whenever I hear her say that lol
@@katarinabrunk8698 good God yes its like chibs is saying "hey kids I'm hip and with it right? Right?!"
@@madeleine5561 yes 😂
I didn’t even realize she was supposed to have amnesia in the first episode. I swear I thought she was just trying to be silly.
The final Capaldi season with Pearl Mackie was actually a lot better on recent re-viewing but Eccleston and Smith have been my favourites.
Late Moffat episodes benefit enormously by a re-watch; sometimes more than once. I saw that in comments from fans who started out hating Capaldi's Doctor because he was "old" and/or "mean", and the stories weren't "good", who later came back and said they'd done a re-watch and realized how damn *good* that work was, and loving those last three seasons before the Horror of Chibnal arrived.
Capaldi is my favorite reboot doctor, owning and having watched these seasons several times, his final season is most certainly the weakest. These episodes suffer from many of the problems of Jodie's era, dating them. Bill is every bit as one dimensional as any of Jodie's companions and the whole original cyber man thing is so absolutely god awful
The 13th doctor is very self Rightous about very inconsistent morality
It seems she doesn't necessarily disagree with murder, she actually disagrees with killing someone quickly and relatively painlessly
Tim Shaw's DNA is coming apart, but it's bad to kick him off the crane
The spiders are suffocating in a bunker or from their sheer scale, but it's bad to shoot them and put them out of their misery
The future space racist in Rosa is sent to prehistory where he has no chance of survival and will likely slowly starve to death and Ryan is commended by her for doing so
It would be wrong to physically attack the master, but putting him in concentration camps and forcing him to live through decades stuck on earth is fine
It's the aesthetic of morality and ethics with no thought put into consistency
Nicely observed and executed critique - and yes, Chibnall did just tick a lot of boxes, and no, none of them was labelled: ‘Deliver the new and innovative Doctor Who experience everyone was expecting.’
Tim Shaw fails as a villain because even his name is a gag that turns the character into a joke. It would be like if everyone in Star wars called Darth Vader "Little Ani". When every character in the show makes fun of the villain, they cant be very intimidating.
Considering the first episode of Chibnall's run was a ten year high with alot of new and older viewers returning to see what was new with Dr Who, I then think it says alot that by the end of that series the viewing figures were less than half of the first episode and ever since then the viewing figures have continued to fall to the lowest in 22 years
I think thats enough to say the new viewers wasn't into this and neither was the fans who stuck around for capaldi's run, not to mention the BBC were trying to appeal Dr Who to a certain type of audience.......the sort of people that scream on twitter about representation but don't support or watch the show at the same time
Yep. The people they are appealing to aren't the ones that have supported if for DECADES. Who buy all the obsure merch. They've actually chased AWAY a lot of fandom in their desperation to pander
If someone wiped my phone, I would hate them. No matter who they are.
Oh yeah that's a bloody thought, Ryan's set up as a amateur level youtuber and then his phone is wiped. He probably had a couple upcoming videos on there or could have done.
Yes, I thought the Doctor should have earned herself a punch in the face over that one.
Simple fix would have made this episode make so much more sense.
Merge the superfluous characters with the compositions!
Yaz could have lost a family member or friend, so she's been looking for the creature that did it. So when she heres the strange police report she asks for it.
Ryan can be marked as the person Tim wants
And Graim could work at a factory thus giving us a place to make the sonic and have the cranes.
Almost all plot problems fixed.
First time I've watched a video critically analysing the Chibnall era that actually felt well thought out and wasn't roasting it for the sake of roasting it. Super thought out and very level headed! :)
5 hours of this would be pure gold
@@BarioIDLThat's just the thing though, good criticism shouldn't need to be that long. Powerful and meaningful critique is often efficient and cutting, not wandering and bloated. That's not to say that long form criticism is never appropriate, because it can be, but it rarely is when it comes to stuff like an episode of TV, or even a movie. A problem with most video essays on stuff like this is that they just repeat the same point over and over again for hours, when really the point could just be made once in just 20-30 minutes, if not shorter.
@@HOTD108_here i can summarize it in one sentence:
chinball's who is shit.
to stretch that to 5 hours is a talent by itself
this just (painfully) made me recalled how disappointing the episode is. One thing I highlighted was the awkward directing/editing/blocking, making the supporting characters quite literally just standing in front of the camera. There's a lot scene where The Doctor is talking to them, but not looking straight to their faces, adding the non-existent chemistry between them.
I feel like "functional but very vapid" is quite an apt description of most Chibnall scripts.
The biggest shame of the Chibnall era is that those same factions you mentioned near the beginning have done nothing but double down during this time. The anti-woman Doctor faction can pin these era's failures on Jodie and the pro-woman Doctor faction can blame it on misogyny. All without critically analysis of what's actually happened.
I was initially skeptical of a woman Doctor but figured I'd give it an honest chance because I like trying stuff first. I was already wary of Chibnall knowing his previous episodes but I figured maybe as showrunner he could shine. Then came the Tardis exterior and costume reveals, I went on high alert. I was almost out by the time I saw the console room leaks. Still I soldiered on and watched this. Needless to say I wasn't impressed. "Hey maybe it will take a bit longer this time". I made it to Demons of the Punjab and by then I realized it wasn't gonna pick up.
It has been painful to witness the utter destruction of this show from the outside. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw what happened in the S12 finale. They managed to botch many peoples first impression of a woman Doctor as well as damaging the lore to near if not actually impossible to save territory. The BBC is not blameless here of course since they helped make Jodie's introduction about gender instead of a natural progression of the character further fueling the toxic discourse that still reigns about this era. The whole thing is a mess.
I recently rewatched the entire Davies era and continued on to Moffatt's. Minus a few duds here and there, it's very clear to me that on a basic character level the Davies era is clearly the strongest of the revival - and surprisingly it's actually the most varied and experimental at times. Moffatt has his virtues too, with crazy grand ideas, but these can often be at the expense of character (especially season 6 onwards). Plus his eagerness to appear like a clever writer does backfire when numerous plot threads get lost or go nowhere - I think this is why his era lost people along the way. However Chibnall's has none of the above - i'm not even sure he has any virtues at all. Given the viewing figures from this opening episode it was theirs to lose and boy did they lose those people fast.
Nardole had more develoment in one season that Yaz, Ryan and Graham in 21 episodes.
@@mayotango1317 Haha, yes - and he's a character that had very restricted screen time - sometimes just popping up at the beginning or end of an episode. I genuinely think that the only way to save the show for the long term is to change the show runner after the next series. Otherwise i'll think he'll just run it into the ground with his dull ideas, terrible plotting, conflicted moral messages, and poor character work. I mean - I still can't properly define who this Doctor is, and she's had two full series!
@@mayotango1317 LOL - yus, and Nardole had no development at all :)
@@MarkMichalowski He could kick your ass for saying that. He's licensed to be badass.
@@mayotango1317 LOL!
“They cant possibly all be bad... can they” HAHAHAhaha...ha **sobs uncontrollably**
Also it’s amazing how most of the new era episodes are rip offs of other stories especially old nuwho episodes and extended media. It like someone just mashed them into one incoherent, bland and awfully written story
The Haunting of Villa Diodati is very much the 8/Mary Shelly stories with slightly pretty visuals. But failed on a character level that the 8 audios have.
Yeah I watched a video where they talk about a jodie Whittaker plot and compare it to older episodes and theyre unbelievably similar
I got that vibe even more so from Spyfall, the series 12 opener, Chibnall literally rehashes the companions being hunted down as terrorists from series 3, only this time it doesn't have any weight or long-term consequences
I'm glad other people are saying that, I was beginning to think I was the only one. Spyfall was a total rip off of the Big Finish UNIT story with the Cybermen. Next we had a rip off of the Mysterious Planet where the planet turned out to be earth in the future by finding evidence underground, and so on. So ironic when a 16 year old Chibnall went on national daytime TV and criticised the writers of Trial of a Time Lord for ripping off previous stories.
@@Breeze1 do you remember the name of that video??
I thought Part 2 was going to be 'The Companion Conundrum'...
there’s always part 3
Same here. I would have preferred that as I am not fond of episode reviews. I hope Jack does that as part 3.
“Bland ambient droning” . Yes absolutely this. I was so impatient for a change from Murray Gold’s ‘over emotional’ treacly gloop, but the new direction wasn’t good
Eleventh Hour was such a great episode, especially the start and the end. Shows how good the show can be.
Ryan: unable to ride a bike but can yeat that same bike well into a forest rather than into the treetops.
Ryan's super strength is the least examined aspect of his character.
I've always found it strange that Ryan is learning to ride a bike on top of a big hill. Isn't that dangerous if he lost control? Did he walk the bike up there? Why not learn on flat ground?
or on, say, a road or car park or other flat surface designed and built for wheeled vehicles to move easily.
It looks ‘cinematic’
Less scrapes i reckon, but yeah a little too close to the edge there
Because plot
YEET
You know when I first originally watched this episode I was expecting Grace to be an alien because how weird she acted throughout the episode. And that the tooth guy was hunting her.
I’ll tell you what Chibnall’s era has given me - absolutely nothing.
Ah don't be daft.
It gave us depression
it's actually given me a lot of rage
@@sambenyamin Your comment cured it :P
@@NiallMofo OK... it did give me worms for a week.
As somebody with dyspraxia, one of the really weird things about Ryan's dyspraxia is that he starts out not being able to ride a bike, which is fine, but he's able to play basketball really easily. That's one of the weirder things about that portrayal. tbf not everyone experiences dyspraxia the same way, I just find it really weird that Ryan has difficulty cycling and is able to play basketball just fine. Apologies if that's how any dyspraxic persons experienced that.
I think that's the problem when there's only one person from a group represented in a show, they end up representing the whole group so it's difficult to give them just one person's experiences, they have to be everyone's experience or else they're misrepresenting the group.
It's like when a character has ADHD, they tend to have the most generic symptoms even thought it's a spectrum, they can't sit still in class and they talk to fast, etc. In an attempt to represent as many people as possible, they turn into an inaccurate stereotype. Happens with ethnicities, sexualities, gender, etc
Ryan's the token [whatever is the current term for the 'differently abled']. Which is why his dyspraxia switches on and off at random to suit the plot.
@@cr10001 Agreed. A lot of the current era seems to be ticking boxes. *And if you're wondering, the accepted term would just be disabled.
@@jameseames9289 Very good point. A lot larger than Doctor Who.
@@thatmanrunning OK, thanks. I wasn't sure what the current term was. But anyway, yes Ryan's dyspraxia was just another 'diversity' box ticked, I think.
Series 10 is what i expected when a new showrunner took over. The chibs is a mong.
I wish they went full circle and had Ryan go back to the UA-cam channel and talk about his time with the Doctor
The problem with Chibnall, IMHO, is that he lacks the heart, the soul, of a Russell T. Davies. Without that, Doctor Who is just an adventure series, devoid of any real substance. The first episode of the new series I ever saw was Father's Day, and I was instantly hooked. Chibnall could never write anything like that.
Why is Chibnall's writing such a mess?
Such mysteries are known only to God and the BBC
His contributions to Doctor Who before becoming showrunner were a complaint on the BBC in the 1980s, the episode 42 (one of the worst episodes of the Davies Era), a few bad Torchwood episodes, the Silurian 2-parter in series 5 (Which isn't terrible. His best thing so far probably), Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (Which is awful) and The Power of Three (Matt Smith's worst episode).
@@TheSmart-CasualGamer I can't really blame him for the power of three considering the acting difficulties. 42 is awful lol
@@DiamondFire the idea of a "slow invasion" is pretty cool but the execution was terrible and 42 was beyond dumb, sun powered zombies chasing them through a pop quiz locked tunnel...thrilling.
@@Dream146 I liked The Power of Three initially. The idea of enigmatic cubes scattered everywhere that did incomprehensible things. And the apparent fact that while 'we' were studying them they were actually studying us (though that was kinda pinched from Doug Adams' Hitchiker's Guide and laboratory mice). If that had been the precursor to an invasion it might have made sense; however, the idea that the impressive alien tech in the cubes had been waiting for a full year to do nothing more than suddenly kill people really made no sense at all.
17:55 "Grace's death...falls short of the execution" too soon! :)
Personally Capaldi was my favourite Doctor.
Chibnall spent More time attempting to make the Companions Feeling Family than have them Question and Actually Challenge the Doctor.
Its his way. He doesn't want the audience asking questions and getting involved at all. Why else do write the info dump scenes or the scenes that tell you what you should learn and how you should feel ?
His approach is actually the most middle class patrician of anyone who has ever written for who, even though he dresses himself up in SJW speak. He doesn't notice his racism and sexism even as he pretends to write the opposite.
I don’t care about surface level stuff like gender and race, i just want good characters
Let's hope the next video doesn't take as long as this one....
Meanwhile, regular viewers of MauLer ...
@@shan4680 Longman good
Of all the S1 episodes of 13, I'd say the most entertaining is Kerblam, but even then I have issues with it's final act and how The Doctor basically kills a guy who needed help
Kerblam felt Sci-fi at least
The lines that made me click with the Doctor:
10: "Did you miss me?" (And all of his first bit on the Sycorax ship, with the "great big threatening button" and "I DON'T KNOW!")
11: Basically all of the Eleventh Hour. No specific bit, really.
12: "Have there been any similar murders?!"
13: The bits on the train. DEFINITELY not the bit on the crane though.
As someone who is Dyspraxic I find their portrail of it here as downright insulting.
When Jodie was announced, I was worried. Not because of the fact she was female, but the language surrounding the announcement containing a lot of red flags, leading me to the solid belief, they chose a woman for political reasons, and not narrative ones. I feel that fear has been somewhat vindicated.
Just trendy virtue crap.
I remember this episode it felt weird and wrong but I put that down to new music, tone, cameras and show runner and that the Doctor had just regenerated but that feeling of Jodie Doctor coming out of that post regeneration high octane state hasn’t gone in fact it’s gotten worse she hasn’t settled and is just a forced mix of 10 and 11 with no personality or quirks of her own and none of the defining features of the Doctor that is present in every incarnation
I found the cliff hanger to be the final nail for me. The main cast all teleporting to a certain death scenario pushed the suspension of disbelief a bit too far, because of course they're going to get out of that, but after that episode I didn't care to find out how.
Lungs exploding, blood boiling, eyeballs freezing, yadda yadda. The cliffhanger just told me that I didn't need to keep watching.
Series 10 had 12 discuss space and what happens to you. This episode then shat on reality.
@@xenon8117 As you say; a reality *we had explored in previous and recent episodes*.
It's interesting that you mention at the start that in 2017 the show looked as though it was on its way out. Yes, viewing figures were dropping, but chart positions were still very good. For the most part, Doctor Who stayed within the top 10 shows of the week throughout the Moffat era, because viewing figures were dropping for every show. By the end of series 12though , this had dropped significantly, with the series finale finishing at 30th place
I actually loved series 9. It felt much more watchable and engaging than anything else after the fact
Edit: "ruthless killing rampage through Sheffield" sounds like a Breaking Good skit and im here for it
Jodie Whittaker's performance and chibnail's directing is, however, for lack of a better word, *cringe.*
Series Nine is one of the best pieces of Doctor Who ever made. Stunning on basically all fronts.
I love how the obstacle of the TARDIS not being there gets resolved after a few minutes by the TARDIS just... appearing anyway
Seven months in the making! And worth it! There are so many things you wrote that were right on the nose. All I can do is add maybe a couple of things. (1) I really didn't need to know the life stories of each potential companion before I meet The Doctor. I like when we learned a little bit about Rose or of Martha within the first two or three minutes and then BAM! they meet the Doctor and we get to know them throughout their respective runs in the show. (2) Chris Chibnall was a fine writer for Broadchurch and wrote several great stories for Torchwood (along with some very bad ones!). But he was not the writer for Doctor Who. His handful of Doctor Who episodes for Davies and Moffat were average at best, not one of them even coming close to "very good" level. (3) No problem with The Doctor being a woman, but her character was all over the place. I think you pointed out (I think it was you) how one episode she would mention she hates mysteries and than the next episode she says she loves mysteries. (4) I was pleasantly surprised at The Woman Who Fell To Earth. To me, it felt like it needed more of somethings and less of others but I thought it was going to go in a good direction. Then came The Ghost Monument (one of many stupid episode titles Chibnall would come up with) and thought it was blah. Then came the After School Special about Rosa Parks which featured The Racist From The Future. Good God! Then came The Chibnall Hates Trump episode and I resigned to sitting through a sub-par series that only contained one story I really liked - Kerblam. I couldn't even get through one revisit to this season. I'll leave my thoughts about the second Whittaker season sometimes later. Thanks for giving us Part Two of Why Chibnall Doesn't Work. I really enjoyed your thoughts and I hope some of mine made some sense. And I'm sorry this is so long!
I remember enjoying this episode when it came out. But when I revisited it over a year ago (along with all of series 11) I nearly fell asleep, one of the running trends with most of Chibnall’s writing that series.
I remember sitting down to watch this Episode, from the moment Jodie had been announced I was excited, and though Chibnall hadn't had the best track record with Who, his work on Torchwood Series 2 and Broadchurch gave me some confidence he may work as a showrunner.
Then I sat down to watch the episode and from the off I knew something was wrong, the magic and wit of the Moffat era was gone, the character drama was a pale imitation of what RTD had achieved in his tenure, the music was forgettable, the performances were all over the place, and tha pacing atrocious. Its just over two years later and I've still never been able to give this episode a second chance, and yet somehow I'd consider it in the top 5 Chibnall era stories.
I legitimately don't remember a single speech from Jodie. Normally Doctors are full of memorable speeches.
The Doctor shouldn't have been a woman for canonical reasons in my opinion. The Doctor coincidentally regenerating into a man 12 times seems silly (The master too). I think they should have doubled down, making time lords always the same gender, and if they wanted more powerful female representation, bring back a female time lord.
Agreed. I know there was one female time lord. But, I can't remember her name. She was part of the classic era.
@@aaroncross6874 Romana. Jodie could have been Romana, and she could have her own show like the Sarah Jane adventures
@@adscott27 well if you’re just going to do a show set in the Doctor who universe that has the same premise as Doctor who and the main character is similar to the Doctor, then you might as well just make it Doctor who. Besides, Doctor Who’s lore has never really been consistent anyways so why start worrying about it now?
@@EditedAF987 or you could do my idea and make it different
@@adscott27 well that would be pretty difficult. E-space as the setting would be a viable option but it’s a pretty deep cut lore wise that most fans wouldn’t really care about following a spinoff on. They could just adapt her Gallifrey spinoff from the audios but that would be beyond even the main show’s budget. Setting it on Earth is off the cards because it’s been done to death in the other spinoffs and wouldn’t feel appropriate for Romana. So really the only option is to basically let her travel the universe, at which point it’s basically Doctor who and might as well be labelled as such
I’ve never seen doctor who, so I guessing chibnall was like “oi, let’s give the doctor three companions, with nought a character trait between the lot of ‘em, and the only thing they do is ask questions and state what’s going on”
Chibnall's episodes are crap. from what I've seen of them, they have no continuity, they use cliches to force suspense, such as a timer until something bad happens and Chibnall constantly goes over and retcons himself and other showrunner's works. I love Doctor Who's universe, but my *god* the writing for the show has just taken a nosedive
Bill's reaction to learning Missy was once a man is delicious
There shouldn't be durex ads in front of Doctor Who videos, they clearly do not understand their market
LOL.
Damn.
@@briang.2218 there I am ready to spend valentine's Day watching video essays on Ryan's character development and I'm being pestered by them
... What a cliffhanger there! XD Points well presented. To me, Chibnall's writing feels like (often times plagiarised, see The Supremacy of Cybermen 2016 comic book and compare with Timeless Children 2020, in at least 17 (directly lifted from the panels) plot points) bits and pieces, thrown together by somebody who wants desperately to have the vast imagination to do the job (but doesn't),
and which don't really connect thematically or answer to each other in any way. And so nothing connects with the viewer (like myself) either. There just for the sake of being there and create an illusion of plot/depth/development, but are not in sync with anything, they're superficial and loose in meaning, can be shaken down, when one starts asking questions. Like a ''structure'', hammered together by somebody who still holds the instruction booklet in one hand and, half interested, reads it, while hammering away with the other hand at whatever is so unlucky that comes underneath it. So badly done, it's just disrespectful to ALL involved - AND THEY DON'T SEE IT???!!!!!!! ... Piff!!!
Akinola is a good and talented composer, but his music doesn't really get into the show, while the dull two-tone ambience droning sound does. Murray Gold played with short motifs and musical ideas to fill the empty space, or with silence ... Gave each Doctor certain feel: (comfy & familiar & loud!) 70's & 80s pop to 9th and 10th, (energetic! bombastic! out there!) cinematic music to 11th, then 1890-1970's classical and experimental to (serious, mysterious, right to trombones-laced funeral Requiem of) 12th (soundtrack to seasons 8 & 9, personal faves ;P) ...
... Under Chibnall, I'm being denied the connection to the show - much like Whittaker has been denied - or disconnected from - her Doctor: ''You're not coming in and playing the Doctor.'' Chibnall to Whittaker, source: David Tennant (guest: Whittaker) podcast.
Imagine Russell saying to David: ''Hey, David, good fellow! You're not coming in and playing the Doctor.'' When Tennant defines 10th Doctor.
Imagine Moffat saying to Matt: ''Hullo Matt, my lad! You're not coming in and playing the Doctor.'' When Smith defines 11th Doctor.
Imagine Moff informing Peter Capaldi (and live to tell the tale): ''Hiya Peter, old boy! You're not coming in and playing the Doctor.'' *eyebrows drop below ground level*
Capaldi was just ... certain aspects got deconstructed so much - to the point of rebound - which only amplified how much the Doctor, all the incarnations in one and all the more powerful, 12th is, it's an absolute, rounded up - added value.
The whole point was that Russell saw Tennant play Casanova - and wanted that romantic, light, flirty, lively quality in the Doctor.
Matt Smith brought his clumsy, flirty, unusual and unknown mattsmithyness to the part - Capaldi actively pushed back and suggested, steared to where his Doctor, in the ever tightening circumstances of powers that be around the show, ought to go and be -
but Whittaker, with her 4 essential expressions, was just happy that she's of the ''correct'' gender (yet never played as such) and actively nodded to everything served to her without a moment's thought, without questioning the scripts, not questioning a thing. Like nobody's home. Like she's an uninhabited vessel.
''You're not coming in and playing the Doctor'' Check. ''You're playing the (by Chibnall written) Truth of the Scene and the Doctor will (by magic) come out of that.''
Chibnall believes that his Words, which determine the Scenes, are strong enough for the Doctor - to appear, as if by magic, and animate the inanimate object (Whittaker).
... What sort of a writer writes for an object? Sees people as non living objects - to their own immortal ideas?
... What kind of a writer writes for the Actor? Inspects actors for who they are - and writes characters drawing from and adapting to actual living people, who are to inhabit the role - and - make - it - their - own?
To me, Chibnall's writing just lacks empathy. No sympathy, no resonance, no connection: Chibnall disconnected the Doctor from Whittaker, disconnected both from much of the audience, the characters feel disconnected from each other and unnatural, empty - just nothing feels good or comfortable or fluent or tactile or meaningful. Lacks the feeling.
... Held on as long as I could. I tried to like it, listened to UA-camrs who do and read articles of folks who profess their allegiance to Chibnall/Whittaker. Stopped watching after Timeless Children, false care, violence to the core character and the show, deconstruction without any value. Will still read transcripts, eventually, but only under unsafe doses of mixed alcoholic beverages. ... Maybe then the writing might make some sense after all ... When all the ... feelings ... are dulled down ...
re Chibnall believes that his Words, which determine the Scenes, are strong enough for the Doctor - to appear, as if by magic, and animate the inanimate object (Whittaker).
I think the interview is shown in part 1, where as they sit together Jodie refers to the Script delivering the Doctor which Chibnall refers to Jodie's performance. Chibbs clearly expect Jodie to do "something" to make his words come aline. She hasn't and clearly never will. The fact they they talk across each other when sitting next to each other suggests that neither has any understanding of the other and neither listens to the other. The biggest failure of communication ever. Jodie seems to noe blame Chibnal for not watching previous Who; all her early interviews suggest the opposite. She had a preconception that Who was played for the male gaze (30 years too late) and that the maleness of the character as previously 11 actors was nothing the could work with or was interested in even seeing.
You took the words right out of my mouth. I loved Missy so I was thrilled for the first female Doctor (not because I thought there was something wrong with the men who are all miles better than that fool). I even convinced myself series 11 wasn't as terrible as it was. Then series 12 hit killing the character arch of my favorite character (Missy) for the sake of bringing back a popular villain, negating the point of the 50th and spitting on the legacy of a show that's been around for over half a century. As far as I'm concerned Chibnall's Who isn't Doctor Who. It's imposter who.
Glad it's not just me who's a little bit irked by the soundtrack. Akinola has done some really nice music in places but the ambient background pads kinda get a bit annoying when it's in 75% of every episode. You could probably take a 5 second sample from every episode and not be able to tell them apart.
The music was so dull that I can't remember any of it. In fact, I don't think I even heard it while watching the episode; it's musical wallpaper, and accordingly unmemorable.
14:21 _"Plus if T'zim Sha needs to claim a human as the challenge to become leader then why was Carl picked?"_ I'm fairly sure this was deliberate. T'zim is happy to cheat to win and the whole thing smacks of being a hollow token rather than any sort of genuine test of mettle.
Finished the vid!! Your whole point about tim shaw's target is so right!! What if his target was Grace and THAT was what killed her rather than falling from a pylon? The whole episode could have been leading up to the doctor stopping tim shaw killing this new companion, something you'd expect her to manage in a davies or moffat episode, but then we get a sweet tragic subversion that sets up some character conflicts throughout the series.
No! it has to be some random schlub unconnected to anyone because of reasons!
It would at least explain motivation in last episode of the 11 season
I believe it's spelled CHINBALL.
Thank you for this. I remember when this episode first came out and everyone was loving it and creating such hype for how incredible this episode was and how it was paving the way for a fantastic new series. I wasn't a fan of the episode when it aired and I'm certainly not a fan of it now. The writing feels like it's trying too hard to make the doctor quirky and it just comes off as uncomfortable and there is no chemistry or reasoning behind the companions helping the doctor as she's just weird, overly talkative and quite of rude towards all of them. I appreciate your view point on this as well
My overwhelming feeling after watching this live (I haven't seen it since) was a combination of boredom and a dislike for The Doctor's strange characterisation. I forgave both as first story introductions are always hard to do. The problem was as I watched each new episode afterwards, the bored one increased alongside a sense of how bland it was (not withstanding the much improvised visual feel) and a question of when Jodie would present us with a character of the Doctor what was interesting to watch (rather than a gurning idiot) and consistent from story to story (left alone scene to scene). I gave up after the end of S11.
Chinballs isn't a very good DW showrunner.
Controversial opinion. /s
True
Took me a second to notice that spelling lol
@@lovablesnowman actually is a controversial opinion, because most would say, that chibnall is a very bad showrunner. "not very good" is a huge understatement.
They really wasted Bradders talent, he's lovable, charismatic, a good actor, has a pleasing voice, and he very much captured that feeling of a someone trying to be both a friend and a parental figure, but it just didn't go anywhere
Imagine “the women who fell to earth” but the fall kills her, and she has to regenerate again, that should have been chibs and jodies only contributions to who
Hahahahaha. That's actually quite good
Blame the scheduling mess on the BBC especially with S9. Both Capaldi and Moffat were pissed off. Even on a Sunday which is an easy timeslot Chibs and Whittaker lost the audience from the highs of S11 with mixed writing, lack of PR and Jodie Whittaker who didn't court the fans as much as Tennant, Smith and Capaldi.
I hope to God John Bishop's Dan the new companion challenges 13th from time to time. She had it too easy with The Fam. Segun Akinola's music is very problematic that it's BLAND and not very memorable. Yes Murray Gold's music can be in your face but he at least had themes for not only The Doctor but also The Companions, The Daleks, The Cybermen they are identified with the music. That's why Gold's themes are memorable. My only complaint is music the mix is sometimes too loud. God, I miss This is Gallifrey, The Impossible Girl, A Good Man.
Plus if they had made Whittaker More like the Ruth (Jo Martin) Doctor, fans May have gravitated towards her more, instead of acting more some sort of Galactic Camp Counselor tossing their pom-poms about repeating Shia LaBeouf's "Just Do It!" line.
A well conducted summary of what Chibnall has turned Doctor Who into. 👏
I get the feeling that Chris Chibnall was picked on in school by a kid named "Tim Shaw" and now he's using his platform as a writer of Doctor Who to get revenge by linking his name with this villain. What a ridiculous name for a villain any way. Ooh, look! It's Tim Shaw.. I"m so afraid of Timmy!
I was on board with the first season for a while, until the last episode. A week after it aired I couldn't find the next episode anywhere. And then I found that it really was the season finale, but was so anti-climactic that i didn't even realize it was.
Just watched The Two Doctors..... loved it, a good story, well acted,well told. Dr Who at its very best. Why do these modern Writers and Producers need to let their ego’s compromise their work.. let the story speak to the audience, let the actors do their job.
"i wiped your phone"
"oh no"
-KIBNALL
Holy moly, I was literally just thinking about when part 2 would come out...
I'd recently been thinking about it myself!
Great video as always! But alas, on being reminded of this episode, I must go watch the eleventh hour immediately to cleanse my pallette
I've been checking back in for this video every week, absolutely buzzing for part 2!
Feels like Chibnall wanted to make doctor who his own but he instead made a show with no substance that ignores the 10 previous series... the fact he told Jodie not to watch any old doctor who says a lot about the direction he wanted to go. he seems a bit power mad tbh
As soon as you described Carl, I had a major, I repeat, major, Broadchurch flashback.
Character we basically never see being integral to the storyline? Yup, that’s Chibnall. The man doesn’t know how to get from A to Z.
Chibnall doesn't work because he Would not give fans Anything as Davies and Moffat did. The fanzines had to relay Birthdays, Obits, and things that past showrunners had done (actors or head writers).
Another thing I feel was killing the show was the Constant need to be on Earth and the Continuous use of Modern Day companions.
Then came Chibnall who dragged the series down even more so with what I said above.
One thing that bugs me about Yaz in that initial scene is that she mentions how she can do more than handle parking disputes. Police don't handle parking problems. Maybe she is referring to being called when things get out of hand with a parking warden? Either way: It's not the job of the Police to handle parking disputes.
In a later episode another officer says she is the best probationer he has, yet in the first episode she thinks Ryan was able to drag the huge space garlic into the middle of a forest and dump it there...
What's worse is that Chibnall produced a cop show before getting into Doctor Who.
More like the show that fell on its face.
Doctor Who as a show (as with all sci-fi and fantasy franchises) has a problem. The problem is that if you're a fan and you get the show runner job, you can let your own head canon get in the way of the story. You can forget that there's the rest of the fan base and general audience to consider. Tell the stories you want to tell as a storyteller, but you need to think about fan base and general audience. Chibnall never did any of this.
the fact that this is the best episode on series 11 is so sad
I not sure if it's ironic or just sad the fact that after all the noise the sjws did, the most interesting character in this new era of doctor who would be the white man, and I'm saying this as someone who was happy with the news of a female doctor
I've been so hyped for this!!!
Ahh finally after 7 months I have been waiting for this
Same but SOTC ;)
“Access was granted”
*”no”*
Hell even the camera doesnt feel doctor who-ey
How do you mess up a camera
I agree, will be addressing that soon
One reason the grace being the woman in the UA-cam video, is that we don't know Ryan, look at the day of the moon, Rory thinks Amy is saying that she loves the doctor and needs him, but it was actually Rory she needed, which isn't blatantly said but with just the word "stupid face", this is so much better cause we know the characters, we know Rory can be jealous of the doctor because of the way Amy acts with him, the characters created the scenario, not the writer