That was completely... awful. Honestly easily down there with the worst stuff of revival, even worse than Tsuranga I’m thinking. I was actually a fan of ITYA so I had some hope for Ed Himes but Jesus Christ was that. What was the need for SO many side characters that did absolutely nothing for the plot? This was the exact issue with last season, the main companions had absolutely nothing to do once again what is even the point? There is already too many companions and your eliminating any sort of development there by needlessly overstuffing the episode with shit, pointless characters. The whole Earth ‘twist’ was complete trash and even goes against what we’ve seen previously in who, like Satellite 5? And dear GOD that speech at the end, Smith’s and Capaldi’s speeches always felt so triumphant and ultimately inspirational, but Jodie’s speech there felt like she was telling a group of school kids off. Jesus the episode actually started off alright tbh but that was worse than anything in Series 11 ngl. I could really rant about this episode for a while.

 

Next week looks interesting at least, an incredible title.

There was definitely too much going on and so there was no time to let anything breathe, as each scene lasted about 10 seconds with a new jeopardy every minute. I don’t understand why they felt it was necessary to have like 10 guest characters on top of the already crowded TARDIS crew either. As I said though, at it’s heart there was something solid there. It just had everything but the iamspamspamamisink. The monster design was great!

 

I know the ‘things don’t have to happen this way’ is more a message for climate change but it would be odd to have this episode placed straight after last week’s and not suggest something similar could happen to Gallifrey? Perhaps all is not lost after all?

The comments on Insta are a lot more positive :lol: guessing the younger fans there preferred it. (I liked it a lot)

That was a...mixed bag to say the least, which was a little bit better than I expected, I thought it would just be bland filler but there was a certain amount of dread going on and an impressively high body count by this version of Who's standards.

 

I agree there was too much going on and that was honestly the stupidest bunch of supporting characters ever - Bella in particular was absolutely AWFUL even without that awful forced love interest for Ryan motif, 'I'm so annoyed at mum for not coming to my birthday parties, LET ME JUST KILL YOU AND BLOW UP A WHOLE BUILDING TO GET EVEN!!!' I can't even, there was NO development there, and it was out of nowhere (and no closure clearly, I assume they're both dead? It's like they realised this made no sense and just left them there), and then she was suddenly regretful and then helping them stop it? Far too many extremes, I get that it's difficult in the time-frame, but they could've done a better job than that. The old woman was just a terrible actor, I get that it was meant to be emotional but it was verging on hilarious even when she was killed, and Roger from His Dark Materials and Jay from the Inbetweeners added absolutely nothing and the kid being better than his dad was just bizarre and I can't even be bothered to question that, the kid doesn't seem very smart given he was so stupid to walk out directly to the Dregs cos his father told him to let him focus only to reunite a minute later, impatient little brat. I would've been fine with all of them dying, absolute idiots, the lot of them.

 

*Breathes* Anyway, I did actually like a fair few things - the monsters were good, Predator/Alien knock offs but still scary, the twist was a good one and it is an important message if heavy handed (I'm not one of those 'ugh sod this woke garbage' crowd, but I am craving for an episode that doesn't try to force a moral lesson on anyone, it CAN work without them) and like I said, there was a good amount of tension and dread. Just please, please write characters better, or better yet just focus on the main group on their own, it's crowded enough on the TARDIS!

I watched 20minutes and switched off :lol: Not spending my last night in the UK cringing at bad Doctor Who

Edited January 12, 20205 yr by Dexton

They definitely could have cut some characters - Bella's entire subplot and perhaps even the old couple, get Ryan to be kidnapped instead if they wanted to split him up? Then there's a little more room for development between the dad and son cause that really wasn't fleshed out.

That was an awful episode!

That was... I can't find the right word for it, all I can say it was a bit of a mess.

 

As for 3 companions I don't mind it actually, the original Dr. (William Hartnell) had 3 companions.

I knew it would be shit with frog man behind it. Embarrassingly bad.

As for 3 companions I don't mind it actually, the original Dr. (William Hartnell) had 3 companions.

Yes but with 40 episodes a year (or 20 50 minutes episodes in today’s terms!), and 4-6 episodes for each story. It’s harder when you’ve only got 50 minutes to set up an entire world and new guest characters, start and end of a plot whilst giving everyone something meaningful to do. We saw with Spyfall that three companions can work when there’s more time for the story but with the new series format, it’s a lot harder! And it definitely doesn’t work if you have added 10 guest characters within that 50 minute episode :kink:

I thought that was absolutely fantastic!! Completely understand some of the comments that there were too many supporting cast members, but ultimately I think if they had cut the old couple (whose sacrifices ended up pointless and only serving to further the narrative), then it could have been less crowded.

 

Overall though, I'm SO impressed with series 12 so far - they've really upped their game with every aspect. The monsters were genuinely creepy and terrifying - something I feel I haven't been able to say for a while. The story was solid, and the very real, topical message of climate change added onto that just made it even better.

 

Looking forward to next week's episode!

Not impressed with the current series so far, and I wasn't a huge fan of the previous one either compared to other re-boot eras. Jodie is still too nice, a less miserable Peter Davidson, but I could live with that if the scripts were good. I mean, think about what this episode bunged into the mix: they have just gone and invented a disposable vending machine gift that can TRANSPORT YOU INSTANTLY FROM ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE AND BACK AGAIN, EVEN FROM INSIDE THE TARDIS. Why not just bung one in the TARDIS and hey presto an instant escape device from any situation that needs a bit of hazard. How would a business make money giving free holidays away? They said they wanted to get rich to terraform the Earth (and commit genocide on a species by way of incidental effect). Just, what, 3 employees and sub-contractors with 20-odd guests from who-knows-where? None of them appeared to be filthy rich super-billionaires willing to pay dosh to holiday in a rather lacklustre small site with fake views and not much in the way of staff.....

 

And the characters. Oh dear. Old dears, matricidal terrorist, annoying child and his dad from the Inbetweeners. Zapped has better characters inside one 30-minute episode than this. The companions main problem, though, is that they are still sketchy and superficial characters - even though it seems they have been travelling with The Doctor for 8 years if I got the reference in the script correct. The depth of previous companions just isn't there for me. Shame.

8 years is when his mum passed away, not when Grace (his nan) died!

 

I’d say they’ve been travelling for a similar amount of time from now to when Series 11 started.

Poor Grace

 

Ryan Sinclair, don't you dare!

tbh I can’t stop thinking about the fact we had 5 different versions of an episode in one. It’s like the first draft somehow made it to production. It meant we had PLOT DEVELOPMENT shoved in our faces every 20 seconds. Ryans got a virus! Oh he’s ok now! Husband wants to propose but has disappeared! Oh he’s back! Oh he’s dead! Ryan has a love interest! Soldier is the mum! Love interest wants to bomb the place! Mum dies! But she’s reappeared! Boy is a genius! But he’s not listened to! But he’s ran off! Oh no he’s back! etc etc and that’s not even touching on the actual planet reveal

 

It was like an episode on steroids

I didn't mind the episode on face value as it at least had a genuine threat and a point to the story, even if it was a little heavy handed in its delivery of the message. There was more promise than delivery though, there was actually no point in them leaving the hotel at all really as they essentially left just to come back and it was very unsatisfying to be looking for the old guy just to never even see him. The dynamics of the ecosystem bothered me a bit as our ecosystem works because it is balanced, leaving the concept of a barren world with a race of things that inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen would surely just lead to a situation where there was increasingly more oxygen on the planet and the creatures would find it more difficult to breathe - plus what are they supposed to have been eating to stay alive all this time? It would have been a better episode if it had just been the hotel and focussed more on the scares and what had happened to earth in a more plausible and fleshed out manner and just steered well clear of the side characters.

 

But that's in retrospect, I did still enjoy watching it on the whole.

Not a good episode! Hopefully it will just be a blip after the fantastic opening two episodes.

 

There was far too much happening but also it weirdly felt quite bland at the same time. The 'omg scariest ever monsters' weren't that scary and the Doctor going full Greta on us at the end felt jarring. I felt like they tried to give her her 'Doctor moment' and it just fell flat.