setsuled

While I do like Steven Moffat, my favourite Twelfth Doctor episode of Doctor Who was written by Jamie Mathieson, "Mummy on the Orient Express". It's odd because the next episode, also written by Mathieson, is just so-so, "Flatline".

I like the concept of the Doctor and Clara facing two dimensional aliens. I also like how the asshole foreman of the community service workers isn't killed off as a moral retribution for being an asshole.

The shrinking TARDIS in the episode is cute and I like how Clara carries it around in her purse. I wonder what Hitchcock would make of that--purses in Hitchcock movies are said to symbolise female anatomy. That first season with Twelve and Clara was supposed to be moving away from romantic subtext between the two but of course every attempt the writers made to do that ended up intensifying it.

I think "Flatline" is the first one where Clara attempts to adopt the role of the Doctor, trying to act as he would while he's stuck in her purse. It adds a nicely somber note to the comedy when you know where it ultimately leads her.



X Sonnet #1883

Concerted dogs could trust the trains and sleds.
Partakers told the tell of radish rum.
These skulls of yours are only in your heads.
The mindless snow was made of sugar gum.
Authentic castles change the trodden stage.
As night delivers day, the ghost remains.
The numbered year was never given age.
For all the sweat, no summer's yet retained.
The flattened people seek to kill the round.
Resentment burst forbidden gum at birth.
A cautious tread concludes where nothing's found.
And yet a castle's shadow carries worth.
Offensive eyes would stick to hair like glue.
The sky remembers something close to blue.

As I said, I don't usually enjoy Russell T Davies finales, so my expectations were low going into to-day's Doctor Who episode, "Empire of Death". And, indeed, it hit those emotional registers that are simply beyond my range. I'm just not emotional enough to keep pace with all the screaming and crying. Eventually I get to the point where I think, "I'm sure this is cathartic for some people, and good for them."

That said, I can't help sensing the cold hand of Disney in the way everyone died and then everyone inevitably lived. I'm thinking of that Ninth Doctor line from Davies' first season, "Just this once, everybody lives!" He could say it because it was unusual. This time, even that security guard who stepped behind the TARDIS lived.



I'm sure most people thought of Thanos when everyone turned to dust. Although everyone came back from that, at least it had dramatic consequences. Of course, half the population disappearing for five years would have an effect which the MCU has mined for good dramatic potential.

The scene where the Doctor meets that woman on a desolate planet would have been more effective in isolation, I think. Taken out of context in which the viewer could assume there had been proper set up for it, that the stakes of the Doctor needing to find a metal spoon had been established. I was slightly disappointed he didn't end up playing the spoons like the Seventh Doctor.

The explanation for Ruby's birth mother was ridiculously unsatisfying. I feel like Davies was trying to show how great it would've been if Rey's parents, in the Star Wars sequels, had truly been nobodies as was suggested in Last Jedi. I do think that is a potentially good idea. But come on. Why was she wearing a cloak? Why couldn't Sutekh, a god of death who could invade minds across the cosmos, identify her? The Doctor has a line about how she was important because they believed she was important. Was there no-one else in the history of the Doctor's travels who fit that description?



I did really like the cgi Sutekh and the return of the original voice actor. I also liked the callbacks to "73 Yards".

All in all, it was an enjoyable season and I'm sorry to hear the ratings have been even lower than in Chibnall's era. Davies, who's been quite candid about that, has pointed out there are additional views to be counted on Disney+, i.e., those view counts Disney keeps buried deep in their electronic vaults. Well, if it's all that can keep Doctor Who alive, I suppose it's worth it, so long as we keep faith.

I suppose Ncuti Gatwa is no David Tennant. I like him but he just doesn't have what Tennant's got. But what can they do? Would they really switch to the Tennant Doctor who's still hanging around? I mean, I kind of assumed that's why they did the bi-regeneration thing, in case Gatwa didn't work out. But could they actually go through with it?

Maybe they should make a Paul McGann season. By the way, the likely reason the Doctor didn't meet up with Susan this season is because McGann's Eighth Doctor reunited with her in a Big Finish audio play. Peter Capaldi also wanted his Doctor to meet up with Susan but it didn't happen. If they really want to honour the audio play, they ought to do a special with McGann as the Eighth Doctor. Why the hell not?

Doctor Who is available on the BBC's iPlayer in the UK and on Disney+ elsewhere.

I figured to-day's new Doctor Who would be the weakest of the season since it wasn't written by Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat. It was the weakest but it had its good points and some of its bad points were kind of intriguing.

The Doctor and Ruby go to Bath in 1813. Those familiar with 18th century and early 19th century English literature will know Bath was a place known for scandalous pursuits. It makes sense that some scandal obsessed, cosplaying, shape-shifting aliens would go there.



The fact that they look like they came from a stage musical version of The Three Caballeros considerably diminishes the sense of threat they pose. But the weakest aspect of the episode was all the Bridgerton references. I've never seen Bridgerton so I didn't even know many of them were references to the other show until I read about it a little afterwards.

Bridgerton has an anachronistically diverse cast, too, but there's an explanation for it built into the show's premise; it's an alternate timeline in which George III elevated subjects of African decent to peerage. Bridgerton is a Netflix series while Doctor Who has diversity enforced by the BBC. I wonder if the Bridgerton references were a subtle way to take a dig at the policy. One of the aliens has a line in which she speaks of her desire to take the form of the King so that she can oppress anyone who doesn't look British. Going by the supporting cast in this episode, that would be no-one. All these digs I suspect would come from Davies rather than this episode's writers, Mary Herron and Briony Redman. The very concept of "Dot and Bubble" shows up the weakness in the BBC's policy.



The episode's called "Rogue", its name coming from the character played by guest star Jonathan Groff (the voice of Kristoff in the Frozen movies). He's a bounty hunter looking for the shape-shifters and he and the Doctor end up having a romance. I wonder if it was a coincidence the episode is the first to air during Pride month. Their flirtation was mostly pretty good, the actors had chemistry and Ncuti Gatwa's fun to watch being playful. Though sadly, and speaking as someone who lives somewhere with a lot of homophobes, the reaction to the two of them dancing would not have been stunned gasps but more likely derisive laughter. Although the term and concept of "homosexual" was not yet conceived at this point, there were men known to fornicate with men. For an edifying example of average attitudes to same sex relationships in that era, I recommend reading Roderick Random (1748).

I really did not like the ending and it felt like one of those resulting from hasty rewrites late in production that plague many Marvel films. It would've been more satisfying if Ruby had actually been transported by Rogue and the Doctor had to spend the next episode finding her. From the way Rogue was watching the Doctor shed tears over Ruby's apparent fate (who believed for a second Ruby had actually been killed?), it seemed like the story was going in the direction of Rogue observing that Ruby had too big a place the Doctor's life to leave room for a romance with someone else. Maybe someone figured that wouldn't play well for a Pride month episode.

All in all, a so so episode.

By the way, was that the Valyard?



It doesn't look much like Michael Jayston. Who is that? Someone I've forgotten or is this some Easter egg for something to come?

Doctor Who is available on the BBC iPlayer in the UK and on Disney+ elsewhere.

That old Moffat magic is back. To-day's new Doctor Who, "Boom", was a potent reminder of why Steven Moffat is the best writer of modern Who. Even though the story wasn't airtight, even though there were things I didn't wholly agree with philosophically, it was well constructed from a storytelling perspective, filled with genuine tension and a real sense of threat to the main characters.

We start off with a precarious situation built on a precarious situation. Two soldiers, one of them apparently blind, wander through a foggy minefield and one of them suggests the fog itself could be a threat. The blind soldier gets a call from his little girl and he promises her he'll be home soon. Ain't it ominous.



Then the 15th Doctor, wearing his best outfit yet, dashes out of the TARDIS in the direction of screams, heedless of mines he so far knows nothing about (but beknownst to us). All this is before the credits roll. I don't care how much you hate Steven Moffat, and he's one of those people who tend to be hated to a degree that mystifies me, you must see he's damned good at this.

In a lot of ways, "Boom" harkens back to the 12th Doctor's first season in its dwelling on soldiers and war, though I believe the Anglican military dates back to the 11th Doctor's first season. The relationship between a cutthroat, capitalist military organisation and a faith based soldiery is somewhat simplistic conceptually but it's cleverly delivered and Monday felt like a real person, despite living out these big concepts.



There were some logistical problems I think Moffat overlooked--why couldn't Ruby just shoot the ambulance? But the climax of the episode felt earned and was very effective.

I loved some of the lines, too, which Moffat tailored for Fifteen. I especially liked, "I'm more explosive than I look and I know how I look."

I like Russell T Davies but I think this episode shows again he can't hold a candle to Moffat. I was happy to hear Moffat is also writing this year's Christmas special.

New episodes of Doctor Who are available on Disney+.

I've been rewatching the Twelfth Doctor run on Doctor Who lately. I started with his first full episode, "Deep Breath", which aired in August 2014, just about ten years ago. I remember when a decade seemed like a long time, crikey.

I continued in sequence and I got to "Listen" last night. Man, that episode's so good. I usually like to watch a movie before bed because getting the sense of closure of getting to the end of a movie helps me sleep. But "Listen" is just such a neat little package that I felt sated. Unfortunately, I followed it up by playing Skyrim for a couple hours. Playing video games before bed has always been a sure way of disrupting my sleep.

But, yeah, "Listen". It's written by Steven Moffat, almost a parody of Steven Moffat. Like his Weeping Angels or Silence, it seems the Doctor is dealing with a monster that uses a basic human sensory perception in some malevolent way. The Doctor becomes obsessed with the idea of a being that has perfected the art of hiding. As he describes it for the viewer--talking to himself--the Doctor uses one of Moffat's many plays on words and phrases. If you were a master of hiding, "what would you do?" The answer is written on the chalkboard; "Listen".

It might all be a joke. Or the joke could be on us--because the fact that the monster is never truly detected could mean it's exactly as good at hiding as the Doctor thought it was. It's a nicely paranoid rumination and I like how it's woven into the personal story of Clara and Danny and then, finally, the Doctor. His and Clara's monologues on fear are nice, too.

Meanwhile, "Robot of Sherwood" is still excruciating. There are some Mark Gatiss episodes I've warmed up to but not that one. It was early in Twelve's run so I guess they weren't sure yet what him being angry all the time would mean. Him bickering with Robin Hood like a child was not a good choice.

X Sonnet #1833

A quarter night invests the ample cup.
A sudden spring defeats the winter man.
On hungry lightning storms the bolts'll sup.
Electric clouds revived the heart of Pan.
Hypnosis stretched ordeals beyond a spark.
A purple demon laughed at ev'ry fall.
In land or sea or air, the car will park.
In grass, perhaps, the super plane'll stall.
A waiting bat could not discern the door.
A metal mist conceals the absent threat.
An egg invites the mind to think of more.
Directions changed to suit the table bet.
The phony green remains as bad as junk.
Compelling fears relieve the train of bunk.

The above is a new Doctor Who video recorded for Children in Need, an annual charity event in the U.K. for which big stars and productions often record sketches. It's not clear if this is meant to be canon. I would think it's too silly but Russell T. Davies has shown the occasional penchant for silliness. It is funny, all concerns of story integrity aside. The awkward line about having recently been a "brilliant woman" seemed aimed directly at people concerned Jodie Whittaker was being erased in some way. In fact, I'd argue Davies has already stumbled a bit by having the Doctor's outfit changed by the regeneration. If he'd put Tennant in Whittaker's costume, no-one would have complained. It's not a particularly gendered outfit, anyway (which is one of the many reasons Missy was a more entertaining gender swap).

Davies has also revealed that the featured redesign of Davros is canon and will be seen going forward on the series.

We had long conversations about bringing Davros back because he’s a fantastic character. Time and society and culture and taste has moved on, and there’s a problem with the Davros of old in that he’s a wheelchair user who is evil.

I had problems with that, and a lot of us on the production team had problems with that, of associating disability with evil, and trust me, there’s a very long tradition of this. I’m not blaming people in the past at all, but the world changes and when the world changes, Doctor Who has to change as well.

So we made the choice to bring back Davros without the facial scarring, and without the wheelchair, or his support unit, which functions as a wheelchair. I say this is how we see Davros now. This is what he looks like. This is 2023. This is our lens. This is our eye. Things used to be black and white, they’re not in black and white anymore. And Davros used to look like that, and he looks like this now, and that we are absolutely standing by.

I think, because it’s Children in Need night. It’s a night where issues of disability, or otherness, or being excluded from society come right to the front of the conversation. So of all the nights to make this change, I thought it was absolutely vital to do this, and I’m very, very, very proud of the fact that we have.”


Oh, no. I'd be more worried if the sketch weren't genuinely funny and I think Davies, perhaps in spite of himself, is still capable of good writing. But he needs to stop the futile woke shadow-boxing. There's no winning that game. If there was one soul in the whole world complaining that Davros, in concept, somehow maligned real people with disabilities, I would be very, very much surprised. I think everyone understood that Davros was meant to be slowly changing into his own creation, becoming a Dalek. Ah, well. Fingers crossed.

Well, that wasn't so bad for a Chris Chibnall episode of Doctor Who. Actually, it reminds me of last season's penultimate episode in which Chibnall also set up some intriguing things. So I expect the next episode to disappoint me, too.

To be fair, this one was also pretty disappointing. Though I knew the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) getting turned into a Weeping Angel wasn't going to amount to anything. A more genuine disappointment was the conversation between the Doctor and Tecteun, the adoptive mother or kidnapper introduced in "The Timeless Children", now played by Barbara Flynn. I think if Flynn had been revealed to be another incarnation of the Doctor, it might have been more satisfying. She comes off much sharper than Jo Martin or Jodie Whittaker and actually seems much more like the Doctor.

Instead, we got another retread of the conflict over whether the Doctor is a selfish tyrant with her companions, something that Steven Moffat had already run into the ground. Now, not only is it unoriginal, it makes a lot less sense since everything's been so softballed in the Chibnall era.

The Doctor's companions seem to be having an easy time of it in the early 20th century and I actually kind of liked them being world travellers. It's too bad Chibnall has relegated the previously intriguing Professor Jericho (Kevin McNally) to being another stupid white man. Now Yaz (Mandip Gill) is bragging about how much smarter she is than Dan (John Bishop) and Jericho. The knuckleheads substantiate her boasts by not knowing how a rope works when they climb into an Egyptian tomb. It occurs to me this might be something subs really enjoy and I wonder if Chibnall spends the weekends wearing a ball gag while a woman in leather strikes him with a riding crop. And, by all means, if you're getting off on this stuff, I'm happy for you. It detracts from the story a bit, though. Yeah, I admit it, sometimes gratuitous kink can do that. If kink is what this is.

Meanwhile, Chibnall's sudden attempt at humour continually, catastrophically, falls flat. One joke was just confusing--when Dan mentions being from Liverpool, Yaz says, "You're from Liverpool? Why didn't you ever mention it?" At first I thought, that is strange, since they've been together three years now. You'd think he'd have mentioned where he's from at least once. But then I thought, is that question supposed to be sarcastic? Like he's been constantly mentioning he's from Liverpool off-camera?

It almost makes me wonder if there were ten episodes cut from this season or something. That would explain why this episode felt so rushed. We only have one episode left, by the way, and I don't think Dan has spent four minutes with the Doctor. Big Finish is going to have to be really creative if they ever want to insert audio adventures between these episodes.

I was happy to see UNIT back, though the whole evil mastermind plot with Craig Parkinson doesn't make any sense if you think about it more than half a second.

Doctor Who is available on the BBC iPlayer.

Sunday's new Doctor Who was called "Once, Upon Time". Why is there a comma? Much like the whole episode itself, it's confusing and pointless.

The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) makes the desperate decision to jump into purple clouds which are something to do with Time. There's also a planet called Time and, at one point, someone says there are dark times on Time. But don't worry because Who's on first!



Meaning the charmless Jo Martin returns to remind us of "The Timeless Children" and the charmless world-building Chris Chibnall has done. Fans of Martin can expect chestnuts like her asking Jodie Whittaker what she's doing here and telling the bad guys they'll never get away with their plans.

Once again, the story's fractured and, once again, the new companion, Dan (John Bishop), is no companion in the literal sense of the word because he doesn't accompany the Doctor for very long. Three episodes now, halfway through the season, and the two have still barely been in the same room for over three minutes. So much for the idea that he was going to be a love interest for the Doctor.



The episode also introduces Bel, played by Chinese-born Northern Irish actress Thaddea Graham. So the BBC are checking some boxes there--East Asian and Irish actors have both been scarce in the show's history. It's too bad she falls very flat. She's in a gunfight with Cybermen and she makes happy noises whenever there's an explosion. I think the idea was to make her sort of Errol Flynn-ish but the action is so inauthentic that her delight only serves to further undercut the reality of the scenes.

I will say Jacob Anderson is doing a good job as Vinder. I didn't even realise he was the same guy who played Grey Worm on Game of Thrones until I looked him up just now. Now I'm a little curious to see him play Louis on the Interview with the Vampire series (Oh, yeah, that casting happened).

I also kind of liked the Weeping Angels turning up in Yaz's (Mandip Gill) video game. Next week's Weeping Angel episode is the only one this season in which Chibnall gets a co-writer so maybe it'll actually not be completely terrible.

Doctor Who is available on the BBC's iPlayer.

Halloween also brought the worst premiere episode of the Thirteenth Doctor era of Doctor Who. Which makes it the worst premiere of the relaunched series. The worst of all time? Hmm. The Twin Dilemma aired near the end of a season, despite introducing a new Doctor. I suppose the 1996 TV movie counts as a premiere. But at least that was interesting. "The Halloween Apocalypse" doesn't really feel like it's even trying, it's so bland. I wonder if Chris Chibnell has just completely lost heart. It wouldn't surprise me.

I was curious to see if any criticisms from Jay Exci's YouTube video would be reflected in the writing. The five hour YouTube analysis has over a million views and for a while came up first in a search for "Doctor Who" on YouTube. Even now it's only five results down. As studios and producers are growing more and more sensitive to social media, I'd be very surprised if several people at Doctor Who hadn't seen the video. But the only thing I saw in the new premiere that may have come out of Exci's analysis is that Yaz now starts creating a profile of Dan by observing the scene of his kidnapping. She's actually drawing on her established background as a policewoman.



That's something, I guess, but she's still pretty bland, especially for a relaunch companion. I watched "Partners in Crime" on Sunday, the Tenth Doctor's third season premiere that re-introduced Donna. That episode features a bit of Donna's home life with her mother and grandfather. In the middle of everything else, we hear the resentment Donna's mother has for her for not finding a steady job contrasted with her granddad's optimism. Both Davies and Moffat were interested in exploring what it is that makes someone want to be the Doctor's companion. None of the companions Chibnall's introduced have been explored this way. They all have the mild enthusiasm of a family member being prevailed upon to accompany the kids on a trip to the amusement park, not the madness of someone who craves dangerous, extraordinary adventure in a totally alien environment.



This episode gives us a new companion, Dan (John Bishop), whom we meet being a volunteer tour guide at a museum in Liverpool. His friend, an actual employee, expresses disappointment that he has taken it upon himself to speak glowingly about Liverpool to a bunch of tourists. Yeah, he's clearly on a downward spiral.



I can tell his enthusiasm is supposed to be endearing to the viewer but everything comes off as one of those generic stock videos sold to advertisers.

We learn Dan's out of work, too, which sits oddly next to the episode's attempted joke about trick or treating when an adult without a costume attempts to trick or treat at Dan's house. Dan, who's just come home from working at a soup kitchen, is disgusted by this guy at his door asking for food and using trick or treating as a pretext.

They just didn't care.



A cute dog alien shows up, tears down Dan's wall, kidnaps him, and keeps him in a cage. Later, the dog alien reveals to the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) that he's actually trying to save Dan. Why didn't he explain this to Dan? Why didn't he try? The dog explains it's because he doesn't like Dan but he's sworn to help him anyway.

They just didn't care.



This is the first of a six part episode--the whole six episode season is supposed to tell one story. But this episode, with so many completely unconnected bits--including an unexplained flashback to the 1820s, a shot of some Sontarans planning an invasion of Earth, and a woman encountering a Weeping Angel--feel suspiciously like they were separate episodes that were arbitrarily chopped up and reconstituted into one. This felt especially awkward when the woman with the Weeping Angel problem runs into the Doctor and Yaz and the Doctor brushes her off, claiming to be "too busy". As though the woman who runs up to the Doctor, knowing to call her "Doctor" without knowing why, couldn't possibly be part of the mystery the Doctor is currently investigating. Wouldn't it be sensible to take her aboard the TARDIS, run a scan or something? Or would two stories then bleed too much into each other? Too much of a bother?

They just didn't care.



Director Jamie Magnus Stone returns to bring us an overabundance of closeups. The villain, in an apparent attempt to play off the episode's Halloween setting, has a skull like face.



Normally the monster makeup in the 13th Doctor era has been one of the few good points but this guy looks like Frank Langella as Skeletor in Masters of the Universe.

They just didn't care.

Well, brave heart, Tegan, Russell T. Davies is the light at the end of this tunnel

Twitter Sonnet #1488

The pumpkin nails denote a northern test.
Exchanging days the holiday is on.
We ate a bird to show we wanted rest.
We put the figures 'cross the candy lawn.
Amour amoral can't amount to beans.
Per building codes burritos lately burst.
Emphatic ends embrace the shapely means.
A sunny Venus reigns for best and worst.
The papers blank were written drawers to pulls.
To pick a slender sheet we rally crumbs.
I thought of other words to pique the bulls.
I want another group to rate the thumbs.
A reed was rat'ling 'bout the music pit.
A broken string adorns the beefy mitt.

I'd forgotten how much I liked the first episode of the Twelfth Doctor's final season. Considering how bad Thirteenth's run has been, I'm sure there are many who consider Twelve's last as the last proper season of Doctor Who. For all that, its first episode is intriguingly low key. How many times did Steven Moffat have to reestablish the show? With "The Eleventh Hour" and "Deep Breath", of course. But also "The Snowmen" and the beginning of Eleven's second season are grandly toned introductions to the show. Sometimes that's great but it's refreshing just watching an opening scene where the new companion, Bill (Pearl Mackie), quietly walks into the Doctor's university office and all the tokens of his personality and past are shown without fanfare.



I love the collection of sonic screwdrivers, putting the final nail in the coffin of the idea that he'd been permanently deprived of the tool in The Visitation.



It seemed a damned shame at the time that Bill was only getting one season. Knowing now what was to come, it seems even more of a shame. Here was a young actress who could actually act. Some of her lines are a bit too clever in the way Steven Moffat's could be but mostly he and Mackie do a good job establishing her as a normal girl working at a chip shop. I love that the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is intrigued by her because she smiles instead of frowns when she doesn't understand something. She's not enrolled in the university so she is hesitant to accept when he offers to be her tutor. There's no mention of financial trouble but, given her job, it's kind of implied. There's a subtle point being made about the value of actually being engaged with the material of a college course instead of just collecting the credits to make a credential.

I also liked the love interest/villain. The scene where Bill hears someone in the shower is really effectively tense, nicely balanced with a little relationship humour.