The six-part season of DW season 13 looked promising, showcasing what we hoped to be the best of Chibnall.
In a way, it was better than what he had previously given us, but I found it a little too… messy.
The series consisted of a number of familiar (and unfamiliar) villains. The Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, the Grand Serpent, as well as Azure and Swarm. The latter three mentioned on the above list were some of the new faces we were introduced to.
Positives:
Almost half of this season’s offerings were enjoyable, or had some redeeming qualities compared to previous seasons.
I think The Flux storyline was fairly unique in the way it ended. We have all seen the ‘end of the Universe’ storylines, but have they ever been absorbed by a Passenger? No, I didn’t think so.
We saw a good Weeping Angels storyline once again, which I’m grateful for. Oh, and that Doctor-to-Weeping-Angel conversion scene was actually incredible. Bravo, CGI team… bravo.
The Sontarans were both hilarious and gave us some brilliant moments, especially in dialogue. That line about how the dead corpses/bodies will soften the steps of the Sontaran army were powerful and iconic
Karvanista and Dan seemed to be better characters than previous companions (See last few seasons) and this is something that the Doc has lacked in more recent times. They were far from perfect, but Bishop’s Dan is a breath of fresh air.
Negatives:
I wasn’t a huge fan of the thousands of villains. I saw a tweet somewhere saying that each of the villains had the potential to be the main villain of S13, but they were all crammed into one six-parter season in the hope to presumably wow the DW crowd. I feel this was an opportunity lost.
The storylines seemed a little bit too timey-wimey. The three-in-one Doctor scenes where Whittaker jumped between herself/herselves which proved a little too convenient.? That was a cop-out. What better way to address three different situations? Three Doctors? Chibbers really went all out here. The Mouri seemed to be promising but the lack of a good quality backstory for them meant that they were just… placeholders.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Vinder and Bell seem a bit pointless now. I saw some theories that they could have been runaways who gave birth to the ‘timeless child’ during the Flux, which could have rounded that story off nicely. Especially given the fact that the Doctor left Karvanista some time in the past; this could have actually happened in the unborn child’s future and that’s why the Doctor didn’t remember… Because you know, the Timeless Child ad what not. (And yes, I’m one of those who do not particularly like the timeless kiddo idea).
Overall:
I think I’m quite done with Chibnall and Whittaker. I hope the new incarnation of the Doctor is someone who is able to replicate the best days of modern Who. Surely David Tennant won’t make a return, right?
I think I’m going to do TV show/Movie reviews from now on. With political correctness rife, reviews seem like a safer option than publishing condescendingly-written blogs. I hope you enjoy the forthcoming content.
Syd
Read this: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/doctor-who-fluxs-unanswered-questions/
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