Doctor Who - Series 12

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Still no airdate (though New Year's Day is rumoured), but here's the first trailer:

It looks quite exciting! It feels like they've heard the criticisms of last year and amped up the PERIL, though of course that could just be how the trailer's been edited :D
 
Does seems a good trailer, I hope Chibnall has found his feet and brought it back to its former glory - I wasn't really taken with S11... nothing to do with the cast, just the writing, bit dull and with no... how to put it... feeling? - I watched a clip not long ago of Capaldi's Doctor meeting River for her first time (unbeknownst to her) when he says "finally... my turn" and chews the scenery pretending to be shocked by the TARDIS, and felt more entertained from that one clip than really all of S11.

Something about this trailer seems a lot less pedestrian than I remember even the trailer for S11 being, so I am cautiously optimistic!
 
How on earth did they manage to keep that under their hats? :D

Also, a Chibnall episode that left me wanting to see the next one? Wow.
 
Oh that was FAB, this Master seems like an absolute lunatic and I was totally fooled by the reveal - I might go back and rewatch to see if there were any hints earlier. Also :D at the evil tech company being named after our very own VoR!
 
See, I've not been here long enough (but have been around the belly of the internet long enough) so had something completely different in mind when they said "vor search engine"...
 
O.
M.
G.

I fucking LOVED it and I did not expect that at all..! I liked the first half a lot and was really enjoying the mood they created... thought the creatures were genuinely quite creepy... but that last 5 minutes was so well acted from the new Master... what a performance. I absolutely loved it.
 
We were giggling at VOR for the whole thing.

I would call Sacha Dhawan "master" any day of the week. :horny:

It was a truly brilliant episode. Much more so than ANY of series 11 most of which I've completely forgotten.
 
Ron Jr has really gotten into Dr Who lately and so I've enjoyed watching it, last nights was ace. I think it shit him up a bit though!
 
Fairly predictable after the lacklustre series 11 and the looooooong wait where loads of people will have just lost interest. Hopefully if it stays as good as episode 1 word will spread and it'll pick up again.
 
And to be fair, it was still the second highest rating of the day (and Emmerdale didn't get much more):

Possibly useful comparison - last year's NYD special got 5.15m overnight, and a 22.5% audience share.
 
It's far more of a catch up type of programme anyway. I'd be surprised if it doesn't end up at least a million clear of Emmerdale.
 
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Yeah to be fair ratings have been dropping for everything. More content out there and different ways of watching it. Typical that the media is singling out DW's portion of the decline and feeding the narrative it must be because "it's too PC" (has female lead and non white people in it)
 
The Sun is running with the viewing figures SLUMP theme. Contradicting itself with how the BBC must be regretting not bringing the show back in 2019 to capitalise on renewed interest in the show on one hand, whilst saying how viewing figures slumped from 9m to 6m over the last series on the other. And of course no mention of the importance of iplayer or consolidated figures.
 
I don't think people have been this excited about Doctor Who for a long while after that episode. I think Sunday's viewing figures will go up because all the word of mouth on social media is... WOW that was great.
 
Oh my god there appears to actually be a series-long plot being set up :o
 
I really enjoyed the second half of the story, though I noticed that Barton just disappeared near the end with no resolution - I wonder if he'll show up again later in the series? They'd also be fools not to do something with the Master having to live through seventy years on Earth...

I think I'm still slightly in shock at just HOW hard Chibnall has leaned into Who continuity with the Gallifrey stuff at the end, particularly after having barely any continuity related stuff up until this point. I really hope they don't fuck this up!
 
I also noticed there was no resolution for Barton. I bet there's a deleted scene and they had to take it out to get in all the Gallifrey stuff...

Sacha Dhawan was excellent. Just excellent. He wasn't as OTT as he was in that plane scene and saved his crazy moments for when he was just BURSTING with excitement, so he didn't feel like he was imitating Simm and Gomez.

This was everything I was hoping for in Season 11 that Chibnall really did fuck up - and it's really proven how hard HE fucked it up, because the big change is definitely the writing.
 
Ouch. Just 'saves' Gallifrey only to find it destroyed again, that's got to sting

Felt a few vibes from Curse of the Fatal Death at times and expected the Master to say he went back even further in time to undo what the Doctor had set up etc...

Very interesting episode with lots going on. Chibnall must really have listened to the criticism of S11 and given himself a kick up the backside!
 
An interesting point was made on Reddit that at one point Missy said she used to know the Doctor when he was a girl. So that brings with it the possibility that this is indeed an "in between" Master.

I think the phrase used was "little girl" so maybe not, but maybe if she was being patronising or something.
 
Looks like the BBC Press Office is on the offensive

 
Another good one, and yet more "Doctoryness". I kind of hope Ryan gets to bump into the girl again sometime, but not sure if that would imply no rewriting of the future!

The only concern I have was the end being a bit "on the nose" - I bet the wider internet is seething over it being 'preachy' and whatnot. (Even though it's done this plenty of times before, mind you - but this time it'll be "because it's lefty PC tree hugging gone mad")
 
Reddit comment:
"In the last 3 episodes we’ve had a company called vore, the doctor fighting a tentacle and a literally,honest to god furry."

xD

I seem to be the only one on the internet who liked this episode. Fair enough
 
It was OK. To me it was a middling episode, which still places it above anything from Season 11 (apart from maybe Rosa). The political stuff was a bit overwrought but at least people got killed and there was that level of threat that we never saw last season.
 
Well episode 4 was absolutely dreadful. By far the worst of Season 12 so far and right back to the nadir of Season 11. Boring as fuck.
 
It was definitely a bit dull, which is a shame as the setting had a lot of potential and they could've done a lot more with characters like Tesla and Edison :(
 
Twitter seem to have liked it a lot more than Episode 3 though. But I honestly don't think they've ever underused the companions more - including the days of classic Who. Just dreadful use of all three.
 
I hope next time the Doctor regenerates they get both lungs again so they don't run out of breath from just standing there talking.

Discovery Klingon Scorpion Queen at least had a better costume than cat lady last week :D

Thought it was alright, a decent enough historical. Maybe I'm tolerant from managing to drag myself through the Hartnell serials...
Still in a lower league to the good old (NuWho) days though. No one is going to be looking back in 5 years saying "cor, remember that Tesla episode" which is a shame considering the potential the setting has.
 


What a contrast. I do actually quite like series 12 so far, but man.... what came before was a different league. Like, premier league vs. garden kickabout. The dialogue, the humour, the acting... leagues above

Also, honestly think Capaldi might be my favourite Doctor (and didn't think anyone would overtake Tennant)

Edit: Related to DW, this had me in hysterics:
 
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I feel like that contestant reminds me of VOR :D

ABSOLUTELY LOVED Doctor Who tonight. Amazing set ups, amazing twists... very interested to see where they're going to go with this... 'Everything you think you know is a lie'... please tell me it's going to be canon that Jodie Whittaker isn't even The Doctor and that this Jo Martin lady is instead... :D
 
Jo Martin was a 7/10 Doctor and it already out-acted Jodie in the two main scenes they had together. Says it all really.

Shame the production values of the show are so good because a charisma-free Doctor, arguably the worst companions in the history of the show (and probably the WORST ACTOR EVER in Tosin Cole) and the dull writing (the biggest sin) don't deserve this kind of money.
 
For a first episode as the Doctor (and let’s face it she probably won’t be a ‘proper’ Doctor) I thought Jo Martin was as good as any of the others apart from maybe Matt Smith, who had a great first go (though I hated himat the time). Considering she only really got two or three scenes proper as the role, she was excellent in them.
 
Peekaboo said:
Shame the production values of the show are so good because a charisma-free Doctor, arguably the worst companions in the history of the show (and probably the WORST ACTOR EVER in Tosin Cole) and the dull writing (the biggest sin) don't deserve this kind of money.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen any of this new era, as I stopped watching after David Tennant left, and couldn't be bothered again but Tosin Cole was fucking ABYSMAL when he was in Hollyoaks, and that is saying something on their standards, so I was surprised he got a gig this big.
 
Yeah Tosin Cole really is bad. I didn't realise he'd come from Hollyoaks. Good looking lad - that's about it.
 
Bloody hell

The explanation for this had better be good. It'd really undermine Matt Smith's exit story if it turns out the 12 regenerations thing was always a load of cobblers and he already had another repressed incarnation lurking in his past. Also that one cyberman or something... Handles?

I liked early on how Yaz got told off for her one defining character trait of asking so many questions :D

Got spoiled on the new Doctor thanks to the Google news feed immediately jumping on the "first black Doctor" hype in a push notification which was annoying as I spent the whole episode knowing it was her and wondering how. Jack was a (pleasant) surprise though.

The usual alt-right reviewers must be a bit confused how to react - is it a bad thing for potentially shaking up the canon "for the sake of shoehorning a black female into her history", or a good thing because it potentially ticks the "black female doctor" box on the Woke Bingo Card without actually going there for the next incarnation?
 
Chris Chibnall doesn't have the chops to write himself out of this one successfully, it's going to be some timey-wimey nonsense that'll be a variation of something that has happened before which sums up his showrunner tenure. The mojo left this programme a long time ago.

To be honest with ratings skirting 4m viewers the show may not last much longer - and that's probably for the best. Give people a chance to miss it and come back with renewed energy instead of just copying what you were doing 15 years ago.
 
I finally saw this and LOVED it, it felt like an entirely new show compared to last year - and I really like Tosin Cole, his acting seems perfectly fine to me!
 
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