Doctor Who: 2018 - 2022 Retrospective

I'm making this short and plain.




Jodie's era was fine. It was good. I harbor no hatred or disappointment at all for it. Jodie was a good Doctor, able to be eccentric and fun but never pulls her punches when she has to act serious or dramatic. Bradley Walsh is a damn king and I want you to acknowledge him! Mandip Gill I feel she needed more characterization but ultimately a decent companion. Tosin Cole...no real idea why he was hired, he really can't act worth shit, I hate to be mean but honesty can be mean. John Bishop, really funny and a wonderful average bloke to be thrown in the mayhem. Sacha Dhawan, marry me, I will call you Master and [CENSORED], you are absolutely magnificent in this role and I want you back already! Now onto the series. I still feel Series 11 is actually a really good series, only one episode is a bit dull but the rest I like just fine, they did so much new stuff and I appreciate that! Doctor Who has neeeverrrr looked as good as Series 11, even with future series it doesn't have that crisp cinematic quality to it, the cameras they used need to be the standard. Series 12, best series of the Thirteenth Doctor, bring on the Master, the new Cybermen (please keep that design for a good 5 years), and the Timeless Child. Oh yeah. I still stand by that one. And to all of you naysayers that claim, "Well now we know everything about the Doctor! There's no more mystery to the character!" to which I reply, okay smartass literally tell me everything about the Doctor from before the young abandoned child standing by a portal all the way to William Hartnell. Oh wait, what's that? You can't?? Mein Gott! It's almost as if the mystery if anything has deepened even more than originally conceived. What sorcery is this?!? In other words, shut the FUCK up Donny! Very solid series, picks up the pace, gives us new and old in a well formed package. Onwards! Series 13, horribly crippled by real world events unfortunately but not too bad, great new villain introductions, gave if nothing else variety each episode, and each repeat viewing helps the understanding of the juggled plot and characters. The specials, mixed bag but ends on a high note and I'm happy about that! Chibbers, I've seen your previous Doctor Who writing, you ain't the best but you're not the worst either. I'm willing to dive into your other shows to get better acquainted with your writing style. You gave us some cool shit, some of it was very slap dash in planning and execution, but you kept the show going and gave us a fun Doctor. Every show has it's ups and downs, Doctor Who is no fucking exception, but even the more rocky eras had it's fans and was shown love whether currently or in retrospect. I love all the Seventh Doctor stories, yes even Time And The Rani. I treasure Colin Baker and watch his stories happily even if they aren't all great. Paul McGann deserved more than a TV movie and a mini-sode, despite the more cheesy elements of the movie, he's really damn good if you listen to his audio dramas! Peter Capaldi is the best Doctor Who for my money, but I sure as shit didn't worship all his stories now did I? And who knows, maybe David coming back to give another whole spin of an entirely different Doctor, both to his previous incarnation and his first run, will win me over and it'll always be lovely to see him again, but I'm thinking in broad strokes towards the future. Not one series or two years into the future, but decades down the road. Tomorrow is another day and life is just a constant sequence of 5 minutes (until it's not), but you have to look beyond at the impact of it all. I don't think people are posing the question "What will (blank) be like in 20 years?" anymore and they really really should. This isn't the end for Doctor Who, just a lower point than most other series and eras since 2005, nothing more nothing less. It's good, at times it's amazing, and people will wise up to that fact. It's just a matter of time.

Doctor Who: The Whittaker Specials

Physician heal thyself.



So let's do this properly, Eve Of The Daleks the third and final New Year's special, how is it? I think it's a solid special, if I had to pick favorites I think Resolution is the best but this comes second. Set in a very budget friendly storage space the Doctor and crew have arrived in the midst of a time loop, and you think oh a Groundhog's Day style story with the Doctor constantly being assaulted by Daleks not a half bad premise, but I actually appreciate it's a slowly dwindling time loop so if someone dies it could be final. It's a fun little story with humor, plenty of exterminations, and easily the oddest Dalek story yet. I'll admit it took me forever to realize who Aisling Bea was because I've watched many a time The Big Fat Quiz show and she was a welcome treat, and Adjani Salmon I hear a lot of creep admonishing but I personally saw him as a shy well to do guy trying to get a relationship started so I took no major offence. It's a decent story and the whole Thirteen and Yasmin or Thasmin for shorthand thing, knowing that and watching allll the episodes beforehand I don't genuinely feel it was terribly tacked on. It can be seen as a more subtle under the surface romantic relationship rather than the petulant, please give me your dick, anvil drop that was series 2 Rose, and if anything it just further proves that no matter the gender Doctor Who is in for the vulva. Moving swiftly on! Now unfortunately we come to what I consider the absolute weakest episode of Jodie's tenure. I know, The Tsuranga Conundrum, Orphan 55, Praxeus, not very highly regarded episodes but Legend Of The Sea Devils is just so underwhelming and just....there. Like come on people, the Sea Devils are finally back and they look glorious, and you give this no stakes, plodding, nary a drop of interest story, I don't even think I can comprehensively recap said story. The Doctor, Yaz, and Dan meet famed pirate queen Madame Ching, who's unleashed the Sea Devils unwittingly who are really fucking with their shit, and there's sea serpents and ghost ships, and all this wild stuff, and....I...I got absolutely nothing. Very good effects, worst sword fight ever I said what I meant and meant what I said, bit more Thasmin scenes for you shippers out there, but ultimately useless and futile. Next! Ah The Power Of The Doctor, a whopping 90 minute goodbye for the Thirteenth Doctor, absolute fan wank overload and emphasis on the load (it's all over the walls boy!), fun, wild, loose, even a bit emotional for me, it seems so much closer to a 60th anniversary special. Again, not too sure I could fully recap the plot I mean so much happens and I feel if you try to break it down the whole story crumbles. All you need to know is Daleks, Cyberlords, and the Master are after the Doctor who in turn after losing Dan, which by the by what the hell I'm gonna miss him, reconnects with two past companions, Tegan and Ace as they try to thwart their plans. I haven't seen The Five Doctors but from more experienced fans it seems this is the modern series equivalent. Just a grand, fun, crazy celebration of Doctor Who and I really loved it. Seeing Jodie's regeneration was a big deal and not for the reason you might which dear God I have notes on that, so you know what? Screw it. We're gonna spoil it. Seeing previous Doctors was a monumental moment, the First, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and well technically 14th Doctors was completely unexpected and I screamed just a tiny bit. Cause I've been delving deeper into Big Finish, so seeing David one more time as the First was a treat, Peter was great, seeing Colin made me scream like a fangirl, Sylvester made me shed a single tear when he talks to Ace because they are my favorite classic Doctor and favorite companion ever, and friggin' Paul being a rebel and looking dashing as ever made me grin like a fool. It may not be the most tightly written Doctor Who story but it sure as hell didn't disappoint or bore. So let's hash out this regeneration. Goddamn beautiful. Best looking regeneration ever, with the sunset, the colors, the rich flames, I was in awe! Jodie's goodbye, not super long or speechy, no flash or heavy emotion, just a simple embrace of the moment even though she wants to see what happens next. Lovely. And then David Tennant shows up.




Fucking.....really??! No, just no, no I am not happy. You've literally made Thirteen nothing. It's an admittance that, yeah the Chibnall era was just shit, and Jodie's tenure is pretty much gonna be swept under the rug. You will soon know tomorrow how I feel about it. I'm already seeing ****s on the internet dismissing this period of history for Doctor Who, when she was The Doctor. Whether you like it or not. It's part of the history, there is no goddamn retconning, there is no fucking revisionist history, it happened! I was already feeling uneasy when Russell was announced as the next showrunner, something unprecedented in Doctor Who, but I was like well we're getting a brand new Doctor so it's nothing, don't worry about it. So you are telling me, the Doctor can reclaim a previous life, a once before seen incarnation. Well where in the high holy hell is my 6th Doctor revisit??? Are you shitting me up the asshole! Even Ncuti Gatwa seemed friggin' pissed in that brief trailer, and I'm right there with you man. It just seems like a titanic middle finger to this era, because Doctor Who is shit now guys so we're bringing back the 2006 era babaaaaaay!! Fuck's sake. Sort it or abort it! No I'm not quitting Doctor Who! I'm too damn commited to it, do you know how many classic Doctor Who boxsets I have?? Like a MILLION! But I damn well expect these specials coming next year to be a farcry from the Tennant era. I'm not playing around. That was good to vent, I feel a bit calmer, not so irate, so let's wrap this up. The specials are a bit mixed, I never do individual episode ratings but if I did Eve gets a 6.5/10, Legend gets a 3/10, and Power gets a 8/10, so overall the specials get 3 stars, 7.5/10. That's it for Doctor Who! Unless I'm gonna do Classic Who, and if I do it won't be in order, the boxsets are kinda all over the place so it would be pure chaos jumping backwards and forwards in time. So if you want it we'll do it, at least one season per Doctor whenever a Second Doctor boxset gets released and my God that might take a minute, poor Pat's lost so many episodes. And on that bombshell, it is time to end. One final retrospect to go.

In Retrospect: Doctor Who Series 13

I know, one week early. We got other stuff coming up next week.




Very unprecedented this week of reviews, the time has finally passed where Jodie and Chibby step down from the show and an era has ended. It's quite a big deal, for me anyway, cause okay yes Peter was the Doctor when I started all this but I didn't start reviewing Doctor Who until Jodie had started her tenure so it feels appropriate we look back on Flux, review the Whittaker specials, and do a retrospect on her era. So season 13, how was it on rewatch? I wouldn't say it improved but it didn't drop in quality either. The pacing got more understandable and I wasn't running at warp speed to keep up so big plus there. If you've only watched Flux once all the way through, watch it again you'll have an easier time. It's just such a tremendous shame that this only got 6 episodes and is part of that big what if category of Doctor Who. What if Colin Baker continued on for a bit more, what if Doctor Who never got cancelled and the wilderness years were no more, what if Paul McGann got proper visual adventures, and what if 2020 wasn't quite literally the worst year any living person has endured? I think series 13 would have been really good if the shooting schedule didn't get slashed and burned so much, 10 to 13 episodes instead of a meager 6 could have made a universe of difference. And I should know because I'm still salty as fuck about Gotham's last season. Bastards!! But now that the dust has settled I do still like this series. The villains are still cool, the wide range of cast isn't as difficult to keep up with, Jodie I think does very well and is waaay more serious and even angry at points so I must commemd her. Special effects are still damn impressive, it's not cinema quality but considering they are on a BBC budget, very fine work indeed! Best episode for my money is Village Of The Angels, it just works so well with that horror atmosphere and doesn't try to juggle too much. Plus that ending is like for real for real, one of the best cliffhangers I have seen in modern or classic Doctor Who. Weakest episode, though frankly I don't hate any of them, I'd say Survivors Of The Flux though it does still obviously give a lot of interesting and unique ideas, it being a comparitively Doctor-lite episode makes it a bit of a sit. But welcome additions are found in every episode from new lore concerning the Angels, to the introduction of Bel (who is so damn pretty oh my lord) and Vinder plus the reintroduction of my love Kate. Don't even get me started, Captain Jack would be proud of the thoughts in my head so let's move on. This is a brief PSA, watch the Spoilerific Reviews of VoteSaxon07, he is goddamn amazing and he's done all of Jodie's episodes so internet, do your work. Now this is incredibly unfair but yes, series 13 is the weakest season of the modern era. Can you really blame it though due to the production? It's not a full series, it wants to tell a grand scale epic story but doesn't have the time to tell it, and there are some parts I wish they didn't rush (Division) but at the same time every showrunner wraps their stuff up before the next comes. Though Chibmunk sure gifted Russell and future writers a present bomb in the face with that watch. I don't hate the concept or implications, but it will be a fascinating story detail to keep an eye on. It's a decent additional 6 episodes of adventures in time and space, and not a half bad way to kill an afternoon, but I just hope people don't judge it super harshly in the future. Television is some hard shit to make let alone a programme over 50 years old. So join me next time, for a much needed expansion on the last New Year's special and the subsequent two specials capping off with a regeneration.

Doctor Who: Series 13

I know they called it Flux, it's series 13.

So last series for Chibbers and kinda of a throwback to classic Doctor Who, not so much in terms of story but format. Instead of a regular series of 13 odd episode, this series comprises of only 6 epsiodes each picking up immediately from the last. A true serialized return of Doctor Who, so how is it? Honestly I thought it was pretty good, I do feel it went too fast in certain episodes but it was still enjoyable and brought a lot to the show that I loved. So after the tremendous reveal of Series 12, the Doctor is thrown head first into the deep end with an unparalleled cataclysm known as the Flux, an oncoming storm that is destroying the universe planet by planet as enemies from her unknown life reemerge forcing our hero to try to figure out how to avert the disaster and defeat the villains. I honestly do not think the Doctor has ever been on the backfoot, backed into the corner so much before in all of Doctor Who, I mean she has quite a lot to contend with and is constantly going 1 million miles an hour to keep up with the insurmountable odds. Now I will say I haven't seen stories like The War Games or The Key To Time, very expansive and involved stories but it's cool to see this format back. And thusly we get a new good sized cast that spans the majority of this series, we still have Yaz and I'm all for seeing her continue on with the 14th Doctor. We get John Bishop as Dan who I really loved, a true down to earth bloke swept away in the madness, he was great and I hope to see more of him. We get a brief semi-companion Vinder played by Jacob Anderson, I don't think we'll see him beyond this series but his story is a strong one and it's nice to see another companion well versed in the spacey stuff. Now we get to the villains, hell yes. The second I saw this bizzare, purple skinned, crystal faced alien I was pretty much hooked, and the performances of both Sam Spruell and Rochenda Sandall no joke honestly make these the best original villains of the Whittaker era for me. I cannot tell you how much I love the design, the character, the stakes they bring. When the Doctor asks what they want for Swarm to only reply, "To reign in hell!" I was like well f*** I don't know how she's gonna beat these guys. Excellent work on that front. But let's talk episodes now, we start off pretty wild with all the seperate threads of the story and characters setting up each one, so it goes quite quick and it does make you question a lot but the intrigue works and I was very interested to see what happened next. We then get a mostly standalone epsiode with the Sontarans in beautiful classic Who garb, doing what they do best perverting the course of human history, fun and simple, bring on the next! The thrid episode is when we hit the mental time f***ery, it's a bit complicated but can be simplified as such: universe is going to hell, Swarm and Azure want to screw the universe even harder, companions escape into a constantly shifting avenue of memories, get some backstory on Vinder, one more seed is planted for the story, once more unto the breach my friends! The time of angels is upon us once more in a pretty good episode with time displacement, excellent touches to the already established mythos of the angels, has some long occuring outcomes for our companions, and one hell of a cliffhanger for the Doctor. The penultimate episode follows our companions travelling linearly through time adventuring and treasure hunting, parallel to an alien force inadvertantly forming UNIT which brings back Kate. My love, my dearest, I forgot how much I missed you so and you are more beautiful as each day passes. And she eventually meets up with the Tardis crew and deals with her alien problem while the Doctor is faced with her old life in more ways than one. Time for the endgame. Final episode, still neck breaking speed with some big events happening both personally to our cast and the universe as a whole, but it eventually wraps itself up and not super horribly at that. Though you bastards are tickling my good spot bringing up the Master, and I genuinely can't wait for series 14. But we got a special to talk about before the wrap up. A good concept with a Groundhogs Day premise yet still keeping a ticking clock, I absolutely cherished Aisling Bea she was brilliant and I would not mind if she got to be a permanent companion, I think I liked Revolution better than Eve but it's a decent special and I lost my fudge when we finally get the Sea Devils back. They should have showed up in Praxeus but screw it, I'm happy. I'm not entirely sure why this series was 6 episodes, maybe Chibmunk had other writing matters to attend to, maybe they just slashed it to have a bigger budget for a shorter story, so it has some pros and cons to it. Good villains, interesting story, but it goes too fast at times which I feel is the biggest detriment to the whole thing. If this story was expanded even by just 3 or 4 episodes the problem wouldn't be as prevalent. I still say series 12 is my favorite Jodie series but time will tell if her last few stories tip the balance. 3 stars, 7.5/10, and we'll dip our toes in the mystery pool next time.

In Retrospect: Doctor Who: Series 12

Oh yes. This is the good stuff.

Quick sidebar, I am severely offended by the IMDB scores for this season. I mean seriously f*** off, this was a fantastic season despite it really only having one bad episode. I actually rewatched series 11 before this and...it got better guys! I won't lie to you for a second, I had a really good time and the series improved upon second viewing, it went from a decent series to a pretty good series. And the same can be said for series 12, I loved it the first time around and it only got better the second time. I strongly believe the huge appeal to this series is the performances though the stories are quite good. Jodie has fully come into her own in this series and continues to entertain, she's honestly higher up in my eyes than most people would rank her. Bradley Walsh, my man, my love, my hero, objectively is the second best companion (we all know who number one is) we have ever had in modern Doctor Who and brings unbridaled joy to my life. Sacha Dhawan, I'm just gonna say it though I haven't seen all of Who, is my favorite Master hands down. Period. That sounds slightly filthy but I don't even care, it is full on man crush at this point. Him and sexy Jack, oh my goodness gracious don't get me started. You know for 10 episodes this really didn't waste too much of your time. Orphan 55 is like the cult hit of modern Doctor Who, it really is, no joke, the so bad it's good episode. Love And Monsters couldn't have that but this can, it's unreal I tell you. Even Praxeus isn't complete garbage but I do strongly side with classic Who fans who wanted it to be a Sea Devils story, given the full treatment like the Silurians in terms of costumes and effects. Classic Who gets some major love in this series overall, and while I've only seen bits of the First Doctor, almost all of the Third Doctor, and seen all of the Sixth and Seventh Doctor, I still greatly appreciate and understand what they are bringing up. I got quite a kick out of people reacting to part 2 of Spyfall and being so confused to the whole "contact" scene, check your facts! No but seriously, I had a grand time with this and the finale, hand over my hearts, I loved it and accepted it. Now, I know. Jus- I know. But to me, a slightly above beginner watcher of Doctor Who, see no problem with it. We still don't know anything. We got like two bits of information into the history of her people, and still don't have a clue who she is. Soooo, I'm here for it. They were pretty much gonna do it way back in 1990 if the damn show didn't get cancelled, in fact I could make a case for this whole series being very much inspired by my favorite classic Doctor, the Seventh. Villa Diodati gave me heavy Ghost Light vibes, Orphan 55 as I stated before has some Paradise Towers elements, hell the finale has some nods to Survival if only brief ones, maybe it's just the hardcore fan in me of that particular era but I saw it. Christmas could not get here sooner, and that's probably the only time I'm gonna say that on this show. But let's not get confused here, I want it to be here for the special, not for your disgusting holiday cheer and obnoxious merriment. The shady things I would do for a tissue compression eliminator to use during December. Whew...now that's a happy Christmas. I can't even imagine what could come next for our Tardis team, but if I have the means my eyes will be glued to the screen every week. But if you dare, if you think for even a single microsecond of killing Graham, I'm done. I'm out. I'm not watching it again. You do our Bradley dirty like that, I would call an army down upon you that would make the Daleks leak their casings. This isn't for comedic purposes, this is an ultimatum. Don't. Until then, I'm excited for this show like I was still 16 again and watching all the series for the first time. And for more hilarious and downright brilliant breakdowns of this entire series and series 11, I could not urge people enough to go check out the spoilerific reviews from the channel Votesaxon07. I watch it almost weekly that is how entertaining it is for me. Next week, a quick jaunt back to the 90s.

Doctor Who: Series 12

Yeah, bet you didn't see that coming.

I had the opportunity and took it, I sat down and rewatched all of series 12 after initially watching episode after episode every week because who wants to wait for the DVD release which I'm still going to buy? And let me just start by saying I told you so, set the wayback machine a few months ago, I said that the showrunners and producers wanted a very easy going and not very high stakes first series for their lady Doctor so they could gauge people, and they would hit us with the big stories later on. Turns out I was right! Series 12 is a definite improvement over the last one, though I actually did not hate it, I fully accepted it was an entirely different beast while still remaining positive and pointing out flaws. But this series immediately grabs you with a great 2 part opening that not only is a cute nod to the Bond series, but firmly sets up events for the entire series and no doubt the next one, reintroduces a new incarnation of the Master (and that's not a spoiler it happens at the end of the first dang episode), and gets you hooked to see what all will come next. I kinda feel that the writing is getting back to the Steven Moffat era, with plenty of references to past stories and carefully planted moments that get paid off throughout. Spyfall is an excellent opening, and I'm just gonna say it, gives us the best modern Master. Sacha Dhawan is spectacular, he crafts his own version but you see bits of Roger Delgado, Anthony Ainley, even bits of Eric Roberts, of course John Simm, and touches of Michelle Gomez, I just can't get enough of him. Might be my favorite part of the whole series. Granted it kinda rolls down a very steep hill after that with Orphan 55, a very blah episode that reminds me of the 7th Doctor story Paradise Towers (which I actually really enjoy) mixed with Aliens, will say however the monster design is damn good and thank the maker for practical effects, but here's a fun game: take a shot every time this old lady says the name Benni. I recommend vigorous water intake beforehand. Nikola Tesla gets a good episode that goes for an un-romanticized potrayal of both Tesla and Edison, it just tells the facts of who they really were and their ideologies while still throwing in a cousin species of the Racnoss played by a former Sarah Jane Adventures actor. Here comes the big one. I'm not gonna spoil it but Fugitive Of The Judoon works totally fine until a certain point. I understand why they showed what they showed but it does severely screw with the continuity of events, if they changed it I would have really liked it way more. Plus I was kinda hoping The Rani would appear, though I know Kate passed away a few years ago it would have been such a cool twist. And I'll fully commend the show for putting the Doctor in these very mentally draining and emotionally damaging situations, Jodie does such great work in this series and really does capture that wounded and severely hurt persona to the point where she kind of relapses into PTSD 9th Doctor territory. Praxeus was much of the same as Orphan 55, give a hoot don't pollute, got it, byeeee. Next! Can You Hear Me wasn't bad but also wasn't very good, kind of middle of the road and while I did very much love the name drops and dig that wonderful animated story sequence, it just sort of ends. In fact a handful of episodes do that, you think they're going to wrap up and give us some down time before credits roll but nope it's just over! It's very odd and I can't discern why it felt off for me, just feels like the ending was rushed. The Haunting of Villa Diodati was a great spooky bizarre ride with chilling moments and even got a scare out of me but it's really the first part of a triple feature finale. Ascension Of The Cybermen was quite good, had some off stuff here and there but I quickly got over it when seeing the new Cybermen designs. These are easily my favorite designs of the modern series, I didn't hate the Series 2 Cybermen but I didn't fall in love with the designs, I could not f***ing stand the Nightmare In Silver designs, so I finally got my own combo of retro and updated, scary, strong, badass Cybermen that I can call my favorite. And yes, I do ship Graham and his lady friend, I really want them two together. Make it happen BBC, I'll be your best friend! You make a tissue compressor toy, I'll do favors for you. And now we come to the finale. I loved it. I had no issues with it whatsoever, they did something bold and different but didn't piss away decades of lore. Now I will freely admit I read up on the lore, I read pages upon pages of Gallifrey and Time Lord history and origins, I knew it quite well with the three founding figures of Time Lord society. I read the famed Cartmel plan and originally took grievance with it but now I wouldn't have it any other way. They kept those bits intact but still told something new. It's actually worth rewatching the series I feel, cause you pick up on all the hints and moments that you get payoff for, and it goes beyond the finale just watch Sacha's performance in the season opener knowing what you know at the end of the second part, it's just awesome. The production side is not quite as cinematic as series 11 but there's still some very fine shots here and there and the effects are still strong. As I said Jodie continues to become better in the role and I really and truly wish for her to break the 3 series curse that almost every Doctor has endured before they leave. Bradley Walsh is still the best companion ever, though I still love you Wilf, he is the highlight of both series for me. I just call him King Graham now cause he is flippin' royalty (I hope you got a chuckle out of that King's Quest fans.)! Yas gets a bit of backstory and a few quite good character moments, yay! Ryan....not so much, it's kind of a trade off, Ryan got lots of moments in series 11 where Yas got hardly anything and now it's swapped. Balance in all things. Supporting cast ranges from bad to really good depending on the story, and the writing has ups and downs too. I still love it, I have had a LOT of fun watching it, yes it has a few duds but when it strikes true it's done so well. I'm gonna get hate mail over it, but I really would place this high up on my series rankings list. They did so much right, and while there were bumps I would say this was a great series. 4 stars, 8/10, cannot wait for the next special with our favorite screaming blobs in pepper pot casings, and no doubt we will see her again soon.

Doctor Who: Series 11

Guys, I don't get it.

What the hell is the matter with this series? I have heard so little good things about anything from this latest series of Doctor Who. Why? I actually really liked it! It was a sort of back to basics, Christopher Eccleston first series vibe, and I really enjoyed it! I think Jodie Whittaker is an absolutely wonderful Doctor, she probably takes more of her personality from the 5th Doctor, a very compassionate, caring, and sweet person who is completely against violence and above all wants to help in any way possible. She plays this role with such charm, joy, and doesn't take things as a joke. You feel her dedication and her wish to be a great Doctor Who and I can really say she accomplished it, I love her to the moon and back in this series. And it was very hard for me to say goodbye to the 12th Doctor because he may not have been my Doctor but he is easily one of my top 5, but I'm happy we have Jodie on board and hope we see more and more of her. Her companions this time around are really good, back to a multi-Tardis team again very much like the 4th/5th Doctor, and I actually realized something very early on. The episodes themselves while still having that sci-fi adventure feel, are there so we know more about the companions and get to really enjoy them. Their dynamic really does feel like a family because of how well they know each other and we the audience can feel that too. So we have Graham and Ryan who are grandad and grandson respectively, and Yasmin who has been a childhood friend of Ryan. So all of these people know each other before the adventuring starts and you really believe it.  But I love the fact that every episode has them sort of face their own demons. Graham lost his wife and has to come to terms with her not being there on his travels with the Doctor, Ryan lost his gran and also has an absent father so it makes him a bit more distant from the group and he faces those demons in his own way, and Yasmine has an importance on family that she doesn't always get along with and faces facts about her heritage that she finds difficult to accept. All of these character's dilemmas are real, any person can immediately identify with them, and we see them slowly grow and change for the better like real people. So the focus is more on the Tardis crew, and I'm totally fine with that because I like these characters! The stories themselves still are quite good, they are not the best episodes of Doctor Who but neither are they the worst. They sort of feel very late 80s Doctor Who, specifically the earlier 7th Doctor episodes which were okay stories but had a charm of their own very much like this. The Woman Who Fell To Earth is a very good story, finely introducing all our main players and my second favorite post-regeneration story of the modern series, the first going to Deep Breath. It really is a clean slate, I mean there's new everything, new showrunner, new theme, new titles, new sonic screwdriver, it really does feel like 2005 all over again. The Ghost Monument was a fun little trek episode showing off the new Tardis design which actually reminds me quite a bit of the 8th Doctor's Tardis, very atmospheric and unique. Rosa I thought was a damn fine episode that had no qualms fully showing the racial climate of the mid 50s and actually did get me a tiny bit choked up at the end. Arachnids In The UK I know for a fact would have scared the living daylights out of me when I was younger, and it's a decent horror-esque mystery that I actually do kinda wish UNIT was in if only to see Kate and this Doctor chat for a bit. The Tsuranga Conundrum was an okay episode, though I have to admit the monster design did get a laugh out of me. Kerblam goes full mystery with a genuinely unsettling monster design but yeah we have seen this story before. The Witchfinders on the other hand was friggin' awesome! I loved this episode, essentially taking The Crucible with a Doctor Who twist, with Alan Cumming hamming it up to a delightful degree, but man....that one scene. It has such great acting, absolutely outstanding acting even, it's subtle but it works so friggin' well you can really tell Jodie and Alan were giving it their all, and there's just one little bit at the very end from Jodie and it only lasts for like 2 seconds but you can see that fury of a Time Lord is still in her. Oh, I love it! God help me I love it so! And the finale wasn't half bad but I will admit the stakes weren't very high but the additions to the universe I thought were really nice and had some good character moments. And I fully understand why, they knew people were going to be hesitant with a female Doctor and no more Steven Moffat behind the wheel so they didn't want to throw all the big storylines, sci-fi explosions, and madcap time travel stories just yet. They had to gauge people to it, and I really don't think they were being different for different's sake, it still feels like Doctor Who. The new theme and opening is outstanding, taking the classic 1963 opening titles and modernizing it, with a fantastic new theme that feels more sci-fi than it has been in a while. I dig the sonic and Tardis designs, I love the fact the Doctor has to make the screwdriver on Earth with a bit of alien tech and a lot of bits and pieces, I'd love to buy the replica toy and add it to my screwdriver collection. I also like the fact the Tardis implements the crystal theme, it's a very simplistic console but I know they can build upon it and make it look even better. A lot of people were complaining about the costume and said it looked like she got it from a thrift shop, and she totally does! I don't quite get the pants which don't go all the way down to her ankles but it's still a cool costume. I really took my positive mind frame into this series and I genuinely did enjoy it, and I know they can build upon this and make an even better series with more excellent stories. The quality of the cinematography blew me away in the first handful of episodes, it reminded me an awful lot of Tron Legacy in it's opening shots of Sam Flynn on his motorbike, it looked so damn clean with great lighting, the writing was more character focused than story and that's totally fine, the effects are well done, and I love the new aspects and designs of the show. If memory serves the newest series will hit next year and I hope I can get to watch it every week. I haven't even been a fan of Doctor Who for a decade but I love it so much, there's such creativity and love put into every Doctor, every series both old and new, and yes I have had huge problems with this show in the past. Upon my first viewing of Hell Bent, I thought it killed Doctor Who for me. I went into series 10 with a sense of dread and bitterness, but it became a great series in my eyes. I know I ranted a fair amount but I do it out of love, I do it because they made decisions that hurt the show, hurt the story, the characters, the villains, because I knew full well they could have done better. But no show is perfect, and every show has had it's ups and downs, and I didn't stop loving Doctor Who or stopped watching the show. If you're a fan, and truly love and appreciate the show you stick around through thick and thin. The same thing happened in the late 80s, Doctor Who came under a lot of fire for being too violent and scary, the show was getting less and less great ratings and viewings, and even though it was still making good stories and great characters it was cancelled. They cancelled Doctor Who just barely after it's 25th anniversary, and it took nearly two decades for it to come back full force. Which is a shame cause I greatly love the 7th Doctor stories, every single one of them to be honest, I thought Trial Of A Timelord was excellent and Colin Baker really did better than people give him credit for. And I highly doubt that Jodie Whittaker will lead this show back into cancellation, this was a fine series of Doctor Who and I am fully ready for more. If you've never watched the show before and I've peaked your interest for the future and perhaps even the past of Doctor Who, I hope you enjoy it and have a lot of fun with it. If you're a fan and you've sat through 2 weeks of my rantings and praises, I have to thank you, I mean you guys are troopers, and I always love to hear people's thoughts on this show. Thank you so much for joining me on a long adventure through time and space but there's always more out there, there are films out there where acting reigns supreme, where animation is beauty and motion is key, people who chew scenery and special effects worthy of praise. Somewhere there's action, somewhere there's horror, and somewhere else there's comedy gold. Come on, we've got movies to see.