“Are you Ed Sheeran? Is he Ed Sheeran?”
Another script by Chris Chibnall and another episode which is well made, in this case with superb CGI in particular, but is, well, quite good. And no more than that. Steven Moffat was a genius writer but tended to write for fans (broadly defined) rather than a general family audience. Chibnall seems to be the reverse. Again he seems to be making smart decisions as showrunner, again he writes stuff that the general public seems to like, again he comes up with a script which is, well, ok.
Forget Moffat, though; the true comparison is with RTD, in terms of style if not talent. Season 37 echoes Season 27- The first episode introduces the new Doctor, then we have an episode in the future, one in the past, and then this: what we have here is the analogue for Aliens of London. The TARDISeers return to Sheffield, are embroiled in an exciting adventure with giant spiders and corporate greed (very topical, I suppose, and the script blatantly admits that the baddie is essentially Trump) and then decide to continue travelling. Oh, there are slight differences; Yaz’s mum being suspicious of the Doctor calls to mind Martha’s mum in Season 29. And indeed the whole TARDIS crew dynamic calls to mind Season One, but the point is, of course, that this is Doctor Who as a set formula, calculated carefully to use what works. What’s this with no pre-titles, though? That certainly seems to be a thing by now.
“Quite good” is still good, though; the spiders look great, and this Hallowe’en episode is suitably full of jump scares. Jodie Whittaker is still absolutely the Doctor, and I like all of Yaz, Ryan and Graham. The dynamic works well, with an ensemble cast allowing for characterisation to be shared out more. The direction is superb, especially the opening shots. And the ending, where all three of the Doctor’s friends choose to stay, is interesting. The Doctor seems very keen to mak sure they all make an informed decision to stay, and emphasises that she can’t guarantee their safety. Is someone going to die?
The bottom line is, though, that yet again I find an episode just quite good, no more than that. I want Doctor Who to amaze me again. Please?
Considering actor Chris Noth (Jack Robertson) was accused of sexual allegations later, and we almost certainly never see his character again, I perfer to think this is what happened to the character: a time-skip jump, with Robertson in the White House, believing himself to be the new president elect, being all smug about all he has done and he suddenly mentions the Doctor to his rival, President Trump, and everybody goes silent, and Trump says (just as smugly): "I'm sorry Mr. Robertson, did you just say you are the new president?"
ReplyDeleteWhen he confirms it, Trump handles him a file, five times the size of the bible, with a huge dossier on a huge background check on Robertson and as his eyes briefly go by each page, Robertson gets whiter and whiter, and he says "I had no idea". Trump says "Take him away!" Robertson is taken away by Secret Service. Trump leans back, the file implied to be allegations against Robertson (Basically in this case, Robertson, a bastard, is thrown away by an even bigger bastard). That would make an ironic ends to his plans.
Heh, that would make a great niche bit of fanfic! And I do wonder how the history of American politics might be different in the Whoniverse- we had that president in The Sound of Drums but Obama came after him...
ReplyDeleteI think Chibnall's writing is a prime example, simillar to Moffat, over how the companions' familes never got proper devlopment, in this case, Yaz’s Mum, Najia. After all, a strangely dressed White woman hugs her exuberantly, compliments her daughter, and demands information. When Najia begins to ask her own questions, Yaz tells her to shut up. (Is this normal? Does Yaz often tell her mother to shut up? Is it a stress reaction to giant spiders, or a sign that something is really wrong?)
ReplyDeleteEven when she has the Doctor in front of her, talking to her – she still she gets no answers. And we get this strange talk, the first hint towards Yaz's sexualitly:
NAJIA: Are you two seeing each other?
DOCTOR: I don’t think so. Are we?
YASMIN: We’re friends.
DOCTOR: Hmm.
What is that supposed to mean? Why won’t they say? The Doctor can’t even answer a basic yes or no question. By outward apperance, she seems too old to be dating a teenager.
The Doctor interrupts with her own questions, and it’s back to the spiders.
In the end, Najia extracts a promise from Yaz to tell her the truth about the Doctor, (but apart from a brief appeared in another episode, and that’s all we know of her).
When Yaz walks out the door, how long is it before Najia sees her again? Does she ever get the answers she wants? Does she get any answers at all? How much of the actual truth does Yaz tell? The next time we see Najia is in Demons of the Punjab. We don’t know when that scene takes place. We are starting to get the sense that the companions visit home between adventures – confirmed in Spyfall. How did Yaz answer her mother’s questions – or dodge them further?
I guess we’ll never know.
And RTD did that sort of thing all too well in the early days, keeping the companions connected to their loved ones, who in turn got their own development. It was key to the revival's success, hooking the female viewers who had not much watched 20th century Who.
ReplyDeleteYet neither Moffat nor Chibnall really ever did that. Nor did RTD upon returning- why?!!!