You’re not wrong in that these ISPs are being drained of everything that once made them great. I want more Doctor but the last 5 series have been so far below what once was great, I’m starting to feel a pause for now might be good. I love seeing Billie Piper but I don’t want another convoluted story that misses the mark. Let’s do one special of Billie Doctor, remerge Billie and Tenant Doctors, and go back to original Doctor premise with an eccentric Doctor for Sixteen and forget about the Timeless Child and bigeneration.
If Davies can’t focus on the original premise of travels through time and space with *subtle* social commentary, it needs to be put to rest for now.
This is a media problem in general. Everything is so in your face and it turns so many people off, no matter if you agree with the commentary or not.
Well, this is awkward, I seem to have put my foot in my mouth. I decided to give some of Jodie's episodes another chance, hoping there might be some good ones, and I found myself actually really liking them. "Kerblam" was basically an episode about space Amazon, which I thought sounded interesting. In an age of nostalgia rehashes, that's a very original concept for a plot that they necessarily couldn't have done 10 years ago (from when it aired). And it didn't disappoint either. It was a fun romp, and I genuinely had a wide grin on my face. They could've done the obvious villainous CEO or obvious villainous evil robot route, but deftly avoided both cliches. The actual villain was believable and a little sympathetic even. Reminds me of that Buffy episode where the villain turned out to be Buffy's old school friend/crush who's dying of cancer, and she discovers the world is less black and white than it seems.
Next I saw the "Witchfinder General" / witch hunt episode, and it also turned out to be great. In fact, they seemed to handle the sexism of the past with a lot more maturity than they would have in Capaldi's era with companion Bill Potts. I absolutely loved the performance of the guest actors, especially the one who plays King James. He was simultaneously authentic yet subtly comedic. And like the Smith-era "Vampires in Venice" or Tennant's Shakespeare episode, this was a good historical episode where they sneak in the supernatural via aliens. I laughed a bit about, "Oh you silly boy, they're not witches, that would be ridiculous! ... They're clearly mud aliens, that's much more serious and sciencey!" (I paraphrase, not an exact quote.)
I daresay, Jodie's Doctor is even growing on me. While she isn't immune from the slightly cringey dialogue from time to time, and she may not be as instantly magnetic as some of the previous Doctors, I find her increasingly charming. I always thought this era actually had the best theme tune and intro of all NuWho--it's like a modern version of Jon Pertwee's intro, with a touch of the original black and white ones in the beginning, so of course I love it. I like the new (well not anymore) Tardis console a lot too. Especially compared to how bland and white Ncuti's is, this one brings back the honeycomb design of Eccleston/Tennant, but with the warm colors and zaniness of Matt Smith's first Tardis. I think it's a good counterpoint to the more austere, grown-up look of Capaldi's Tardis, and leagues better than the one that followed.
And I like that Chibnall returned to the multi-companion format. I don't really know much about these companions--I'll have to revisit from the beginning of season now probably--but I like all of the actors. The lovable middle-aged white guy (how often do we get middle-aged companions? Almost never.), the mild-mannered black guy who I think is like his step-son or something, and the Indian cop girl. I think the Tardis worked really well when it had teams--Rose & Mickey; Amy & Rory & sometimes River; Donna & Martha; or in the classic series Nyssa, Tegan & Turlough (or Adric); Sarah Jane & Harry Sullivan & K9; Jamie & Zoe, etc.
I probably was a little prejudiced against this era. Given the direction the show had already taken in the end of Capaldi's tenure, the seemingly "woke" move of casting a woman, and all the negative press, that probably colored my opinion a priori. That said, I did see some of these episodes, such as the "Spyfall" one, and I remember just finding it really boring, with not a good actor for the Master. Who knows, maybe my opinions will change on that too. I'm glad I gave it another chance, because it's a lot better than I expected. Though I do know they do more retcons of the early Doctors later on, and it seems that's what incensed fans the most. So we'll have to wait and see. But so far I've liked the standalone episodes I've seen (you can count the Nikola Tesla one among them too.)
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