Doctor Who 11.01.
Oct. 8th, 2018 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakDoctoram Habemus! And that's all the cod Latin I'll inflict on you today. Overall: enjoyed this episode a lot, both the debut and the introduction of new supporting cast aspect, though one late plotpoint made me sigh, oh, Chibnall, did you have to? But other than that, both thumbs up.
Post-regeneration episodes, when a new Doctor is introduced, generally come in two varieties, it seems to me, - if there's an ongoing Companion, the Doctor spends a lot of the time not entirely compos mentis and separated from said Companion, if both the Doctor and the Companion(s) are new, there's correspondingly more interaction between them, and the post-Regeneration whackiness is limited, though still there. (Cases in point: the first episodes of the Third and Eleventh Doctor.) Jodi Whittaker's Doctor falls in the later variety, and is very Doctor-ish indeed, a joy to experience. There are a lot of great moments, but I have to say, my absolutely favourite detail is that Thirteen responds to not having a sonic screwdriver (or sunglasses) at her disposal by building her own from (Sheffield) scraps in a montage that makes me suspect Chris Chibnall liked Iron Man. :) Seriously, though, it was a great way to get across her resourcefulness and inventive skills both to her new friends and to the audience.
Said new friends will be as essential to the success of this new DW era as the Doctor herself, so it's good that Chibnall, when he's in good form, can do ensemble. We got to meet Ryan, Grace, Graham and Yasmin in short order, and still got a good (for a first episode) sense of their personalities. My one "Chibnall, must you?" caveat was of course Grace dying. I was afraid she might early on (beloved relation of future Companion with vivid personality when future Companion is subdued - that is a bit of a red flagg!), then was relieved when Timshaw (spelling?) killed a random hapless drunk in the street instead to demonstrate the dangerousness of the episode's villain, believing this meant Grace was safe, but no, boo, hiss. Other than giving Ryan and Graham something to bond about, I don't see the narrative purpose, hence "must you?" Especially since the very end gives us the three new Companions ending up with the Doctor in space by accident, so it's not like an immediate reason for them to leave Earth behind was needed, either, which I had been wondering about in Yasmin's case, since she seemed invested in making it as a copper (lengthy absences aren't conductive to a police career, methinks, and it's not like Yasmin could transfer the way another written by Chris Chibnall policewoman, Gwen Cooper did).
But other than that, again: loved it. I've never been in Sheffield, but Ryan's biking trial ground sure made for some impressive landscape that didn't come to mind when imagining a town I primarily associate with 19th century British industrialism. The fact that people's professions were important to their characterisation and for the episode plot - Grace's as a nurse, Yasmin's as a copper, Graham's as a bus driver - is always a plus in my book. Yasmin and Ryan knowing each other from school while Ryan and Graham are/were new family via Graham's marriage to Grace means all the new Companions are familiar to each other without being bffs, and all met the Doctor in the same episode, which makes for a good start in terms of personal dynamics being able to develop. (No "special one versus hanger-on" division, for starters.)
In Twelve's debut episode, the villain of the week was pretty blatantly meant to parallel the Doctor ("so many parts of you exchanged, is there anything left of who you were" etc.). It's not quite as strong here, though the Doctor's speech about honoring the past while moving into the future was a bit on the nose (in a worked-for-me way). At a guess, we'll meet Timshaw's species again, since their "hunting" practices are something the Doctor objects to not just in this particular case. The episode managed to get across in an impressively short way (given it doesn't have the TARDIS as a narrative short cut) to the new regulars that the Doctor is an alien as well; mind you, with all that has been happening on DW-Earth in the last ten years, I don't buy anyone being surprised at encountering aliens anymore. (Though maybe Sheffield managed to avoid all but the most blatant invasions?)
In conclusion: with that one caveat, really, really liked it, and am looking forward to further adventures with this new team!
P.S. Re: Graham's cancer in remission: given that originally, Donna's father was meant to have cancer, which was changed at the last minute because the actor died, with Wilf being substituted as Donna's grandfather and given the lines of her father when they filmed episode 4.01, I wonder whether Chibnall, who was part of the RTD era's writing team after all, had had some story ideas back then which he now plans to use?
Post-regeneration episodes, when a new Doctor is introduced, generally come in two varieties, it seems to me, - if there's an ongoing Companion, the Doctor spends a lot of the time not entirely compos mentis and separated from said Companion, if both the Doctor and the Companion(s) are new, there's correspondingly more interaction between them, and the post-Regeneration whackiness is limited, though still there. (Cases in point: the first episodes of the Third and Eleventh Doctor.) Jodi Whittaker's Doctor falls in the later variety, and is very Doctor-ish indeed, a joy to experience. There are a lot of great moments, but I have to say, my absolutely favourite detail is that Thirteen responds to not having a sonic screwdriver (or sunglasses) at her disposal by building her own from (Sheffield) scraps in a montage that makes me suspect Chris Chibnall liked Iron Man. :) Seriously, though, it was a great way to get across her resourcefulness and inventive skills both to her new friends and to the audience.
Said new friends will be as essential to the success of this new DW era as the Doctor herself, so it's good that Chibnall, when he's in good form, can do ensemble. We got to meet Ryan, Grace, Graham and Yasmin in short order, and still got a good (for a first episode) sense of their personalities. My one "Chibnall, must you?" caveat was of course Grace dying. I was afraid she might early on (beloved relation of future Companion with vivid personality when future Companion is subdued - that is a bit of a red flagg!), then was relieved when Timshaw (spelling?) killed a random hapless drunk in the street instead to demonstrate the dangerousness of the episode's villain, believing this meant Grace was safe, but no, boo, hiss. Other than giving Ryan and Graham something to bond about, I don't see the narrative purpose, hence "must you?" Especially since the very end gives us the three new Companions ending up with the Doctor in space by accident, so it's not like an immediate reason for them to leave Earth behind was needed, either, which I had been wondering about in Yasmin's case, since she seemed invested in making it as a copper (lengthy absences aren't conductive to a police career, methinks, and it's not like Yasmin could transfer the way another written by Chris Chibnall policewoman, Gwen Cooper did).
But other than that, again: loved it. I've never been in Sheffield, but Ryan's biking trial ground sure made for some impressive landscape that didn't come to mind when imagining a town I primarily associate with 19th century British industrialism. The fact that people's professions were important to their characterisation and for the episode plot - Grace's as a nurse, Yasmin's as a copper, Graham's as a bus driver - is always a plus in my book. Yasmin and Ryan knowing each other from school while Ryan and Graham are/were new family via Graham's marriage to Grace means all the new Companions are familiar to each other without being bffs, and all met the Doctor in the same episode, which makes for a good start in terms of personal dynamics being able to develop. (No "special one versus hanger-on" division, for starters.)
In Twelve's debut episode, the villain of the week was pretty blatantly meant to parallel the Doctor ("so many parts of you exchanged, is there anything left of who you were" etc.). It's not quite as strong here, though the Doctor's speech about honoring the past while moving into the future was a bit on the nose (in a worked-for-me way). At a guess, we'll meet Timshaw's species again, since their "hunting" practices are something the Doctor objects to not just in this particular case. The episode managed to get across in an impressively short way (given it doesn't have the TARDIS as a narrative short cut) to the new regulars that the Doctor is an alien as well; mind you, with all that has been happening on DW-Earth in the last ten years, I don't buy anyone being surprised at encountering aliens anymore. (Though maybe Sheffield managed to avoid all but the most blatant invasions?)
In conclusion: with that one caveat, really, really liked it, and am looking forward to further adventures with this new team!
P.S. Re: Graham's cancer in remission: given that originally, Donna's father was meant to have cancer, which was changed at the last minute because the actor died, with Wilf being substituted as Donna's grandfather and given the lines of her father when they filmed episode 4.01, I wonder whether Chibnall, who was part of the RTD era's writing team after all, had had some story ideas back then which he now plans to use?
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Date: 2018-10-08 08:18 am (UTC)I, too, loved her 'I'm good at building things! .... probably' Iron Man montage the most :).
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Date: 2018-10-08 09:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-09 04:49 am (UTC)(I imagine that he would be writing a strongly-worded letter to the BBC if he hadn't been disintegrated.)
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Date: 2018-11-10 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-08 01:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-09 08:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-08 02:19 pm (UTC)But I did like the fact that the title - The Woman Who Fell to Earth - applied to Grace, as well as to the Doctor. Ryan's opening tribute turning out to be about his Nan was an obvious parallel with all the times Amy talked about an unnamed man who sounded like the Doctor but turned out to be Rory.
In a way, I think Grace is the heroine of the episode, and a kind of double of the Doctor in the way Rory was, so presumably the message is that there are people like the Doctor out there already, it's just less obvious because they don't have any superpowers.
(It's like the scene in Hercules The Legendary Journeys when Iolaus is temporarily dead, and Hercules says something about how Iolaus was his hero because he didn't have Hercules' powers but did heroic things anyway, or indeed the Iliad's Pedasos, the mortal horse who is yoked with Achilles' immortal horses Xanthos and Balios and manages to keep up with them until he dies alongside Patroklos...)
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Date: 2018-10-09 08:11 am (UTC)Or a TARDIS. ;) But yes, otherwise entirely agreed on the message and the neatness of the title referring to Grace as well as the Doctor. And of course all the spin-offs have non-Doctor-people doing the heroics. Incidentally, it occurs to me that Grace being a grandmother (of an adult man) and so very active, including having a love life, also showcases how times have changed since any woman older than 50 was depicted as white haired, usually very fragile and definitely not involved in saving the day when it comes to "family entertainment".
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Date: 2018-10-08 04:32 pm (UTC)I saw some people happy and relating to Ryan’s dyspraxia on a few posts, which does show the power of representation. I do hope he doesn’t get cured, as one poster hoped. I did enjoy Jodie’s take on the Doctor. She is versatile with wackiness, seriousness, and speechifying. The actress said she relished being able to play a role that aligns more closely with her more animated personality than the depressing ones she got and it shows. Looking forward to learning more about the companions, including Yaz, since it didn’t feel like she got as much focus compared to the Sinclair/O’Brien family.
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Date: 2018-10-09 08:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-10 04:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-09 04:34 am (UTC)The montage of the screwdriver will forever be etched (heh) into my memory, too; it was such a strong scene that grew organically from the plot and the location. I think there is great strength in rooting a show in a place, something Doctor Who is not usually good at for anything but London, its chosen center of the Earth...
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Date: 2018-10-09 08:23 am (UTC)(Icon chosen as Welsh national symbol)
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Date: 2018-10-09 04:06 pm (UTC)Oh yeah, I meant Doctor Who — Torchwood did it differently and so well, with its sense of place.
Sent from my iPhone
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Date: 2018-10-09 07:32 am (UTC)Like the new companions, though it'd be great to have someone from another planet / time at some point, which was one of my hopes for Madame Vastra for a while. The actual plot was OK, Predator did it better but they had a better special effects budget.
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Date: 2018-10-09 10:20 am (UTC)Also, Carl had every right to kick toothfaced Tim Shaw off the crane - I cheered him - and he was dying anyway. In fact it was probably merciful given the Doctor's earlier description of the DNA bombs' effects.
Other than those quibbles, and the "madam" which I hope the Doctor stamps out damned soon, awesome intro! I love her.