Julien Neaves, Sci Fi Head Writers
Last month (June 22nd to be exact) was the finale of the 14th Series of Doctor Who which was also the first with new Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa). And from the social media chatter most fans would agree the return of previous showrunner Russell T. Davies marked an improvement of the previous era under showrunner Chris Chibnall. But several fans (including your humble reviewer) have flagged some issues with it.
So with a time-and-space traversing SPOILER ALERT let's break it down in five blasts:
Blast #1 The Doctor and Ruby
I really, really, really need to pee
From his introduction in "The Giggle", I have liked Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor. The actor clearly has a lot of enthusiasm and love for the role and that comes out in this fun, energetic version of everyone's favourite Time Lord. And one can tell that he is giving it his all in every scene. I do have some problems with the writing for him though. This Doctor rarely feels like the "smartest person in the room" anymore as he often misses things (like when it was the real Ruby in "Rogue"). He also seems a bit too quick to give up and too often stumbles into a solution or the problem is resolved by happenstance. The somewhat ineffectual Doctor was an issue with Jodie Whittaker's Doctor, and it is unfortunate it has carried over to Ncuti's version. And what is with all the crying all the time? Is he related to Star Trek: Discovery's Michael Burnham? It felt very off for an alien that is more two thousand years old and because it was so frequent it had all the emotional impact of a wet wipe. And the excessive flirting and gyrating in sixth episode "Rogue"? I don't know who that was, but that was not the Doctor.
And the Doctor/Ruby relationship just felt lukewarm to me. Millie Gibson is lovely, and Ruby Sunday was a spunky companion. And she did shine in the Doctor-lite episode "73 Yards." But she felt more like a plot point than a fully fleshed-out character and her search for her birth mother seemed to have little impact on her personality. And because we got so little time of her and the Doctor bonding (especially with the criminally short series of eight episodes including TWO Doctor-lite ones, the aforementioned "73 Yards" and "Dot and Bubble") the Doctor's line about her being his best friend felt both untrue and unearned. Companion exits are usually very emotional but my reaction to Ruby saying goodbye was "okay, I guess she's gone now."
Blast #2 The Villains
Heeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!
On a positive note, the villains in Series 14 were pretty dang good and a vast improvement over the dearth of proper baddies during the Chibnall era (Sacha Dhawan's terrific Master notwithstanding). "The Devil's Chord" was not the best written episode, but the Maestro was a delightfully over-the-top antagonist. Those slug-like creatures in "Dot and Bubble" have to be some of the scariest-looking monsters in the entire Whoniverse, and that is saying something. I also liked the makeup work on the Chuldur from "Rogue" and the desiccated agents of Sutekh in the two-part finale.
The snot monster from "Space Babies" though? Yeah, there is no defending that. And I thought the eye cold monster from "Sleep No More" was bad.
Blast #3 The Stories
Are you my mummy and daddy?
And speaking of "Space Babies," what the hell was that episode? I know Doctor Who enjoys being funny and whimsical at times, but when you copy the baby talking techniques from the universally maligned film Baby Geniuses you know you have a serious problem. Maybe if the babies spoke telepathically and we did not see their mouths move that would have been somewhat better. Maybe. But it would not have saved a dumb plot that felt like a jab at the pro-life movement or something. And, as I said, Snot Monster. Series 14 did not stumble out of the gates with this one; it crapped its nappies.
Thankfully the other stories ranged from good to dang near excellent with "Boom". Former showrunner Steven Moffat knocked it out of the park with that one, though the anti-religious messaging felt somewhat tacked on. Actually, a lot of the messaging in this series felt shoehorned in (the racism plot point in "Dot and Bubble" included) as though Davies had a lot of stuff that he wanted to get off his chest and was using the show as an outlet. And it also felt like the showrunner lost a step or two as the writing was not as sharp and incisive as we used to get, especially with the endings. The end of "The Devil's Chord," for example, was lacklustre and the lazy ending of "73 Yards" just left a bunch of answered questions, turning what could have an epic, memorable episode into an unnecessarily confusing one. And then there's the two-part finale. Oh boy.
Blast #4 The Finale
It's mine. My own. My...precious
Now I will say that things started off well with the two-part finale as "The Legend of Ruby Sunday" did build up the impending threat and tension very well. And I was intrigued to learn who was the mysterious woman that was popping up through time and space in different forms. But from the time it is revealed that she was simply an agent of classic Who baddie Sutekh and we got the groan-inducing pun of "Sue Tech" things started to go downhill. And I truly do not know what was the thinking behind Sutekh hiding on the TARDIS for centuries? I presume it was supposed to be an epic reveal, but it just felt awkward. I did not exactly break the canon but added nothing to it nor the franchise (except if you count all the memes). And are you telling me neither the TARDIS nor the Doctor could detect an alien god hitchhiking on all its adventures? And Sutekh only revealed itself because it could not see Ruby's mother's face? You see what I am talking about with the writing not being as good as before?
Speaking of Ruby's Mom, the reason we could not see her face and why she would be pointing at a sign to name her daughter when no one else was there makes not a lick of sense. And the Doctor undoing Sutekh wiping out all life by "bringing death to death" not only sounded lame but the CGI representation of it also looked lame. It all culminated in a milquetoast end after an exciting build-up.
Blast #5 Canon Issues and Moving Forward
Who the heck is that guy?!
One of the major criticisms of the Chibnall era was the retconning of the Doctor Who lore with the Timeless Child plot point. Well, I am wondering if Chibs and Russell having been sharing a pint, because the latter has also been messing with the canon. First, we had the Thirteenth Doctor regenerating into the Fourteenth Doctor with new clothes, which Davies explained in real life but never bothered to in-story. Then we had bi-generation in "The Giggle" which was never explained. We also have the Fifteenth Doctor in a gay romance with the titular character in "Rogue" despite only having relationships onscreen with women previously. Davies just drops this with no explanation as though this has always been the case. If you want to make changes to the Doctor, the least you could do is give some reasons.
The worst offender is showing the Richard Grant "Shalka" version of The Doctor also in "Rogue" (the showrunner really went rogue on that episode). You can't just put in a previously unknown incarnation of The Doctor without explanation. Moffat put in a lot of work to retcon The War Doctor and the work was appreciated that. Davies just drops a new incarnation and walks away. It feels kind of disrespectful to the lore and the fandom and somewhat entitled.
I am glad we got better stories with Series 14, but I do hope in Series 15 we get writing more on the level of classic Russell T. Davies and less of the showrunner playing fast and loose with the canon of the long running series.
Editor Jules' Score: 6.5 out of 10
So those are my thoughts and my score. How would you rate Season 14? And you can check out more wibbly wobbly, timey wimey reviews below:
ALRIGHT THEN! DID THE DOCTOR WHO 60TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIALS WORK?
THE POWER OF THE DOCTOR REVIEW IN 4 REGENERATION BLASTS
TOP 9 STORIES FROM DOCTOR WHO SERIES 9
Julien "Editor Jules" Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by the Cryptkeeper, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like "13 flavours of awesome sauce". Read more.
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