(Wed Dec 08 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) During Season 12, we were told that The Doctor is The Timeless Child, a previously unknown being from whom The Time Lords developed Regeneration and perhaps other knowledge. During Season 13, the whole season was about conflicts left over from those hidden memories. The season ended with The Doctor receiving a "Fob Watch" containing the whole story, and then The Doctor deciding to not open the watch but leave it for another day.
(Mon Dec 06 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) We were sold The Flux as an awesome story, spanning a whole season, that would be full of excitement. Such a story should result in a stunning dramatic conclusion. There was sure a lot which happened in The Vanquishers, and the whole of Season 13, but why do I feel so disappointed and underwhelmed? Some stories, especially The Village of Angels, were excellent, but the season as a whole was scattershot, too many ideas, too much going on, too much jammed into the space, simply too much. It should have been three seasons or more, and instead it was one truncated half season.
(Mon Nov 29 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) It takes a certain perseverance to watch a tense cliff-hanger that's waved away like a puff of smoke at the beginning of the next episode. What was all that build-up for, if there was no payoff in the story? The Doctor becomes a Weeping Angel? Yaz about to be disintegrated by a time storm? Instead this gave us a story with the astonishing revelation that The Master told the truth for once.
(Mon Nov 29 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) In Survivors of The Flux, we're treated in passing to new information about the origin of UNIT. A General is in charge, who turns to Prentiss (a.k.a. The Great Serpent) for advice. The person we'd always identified as being in charge, Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart, is nowhere to be seen in any form. Nicholas Courtney, who played Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart, is credited as an off-screen voice, but described as a "Corporal" rather than a "Colonel". What's going on?
(Mon Nov 29 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) What's missing from The Flux story is The Master. At the heart of this story is The Doctor's history as The Timeless Child, a tidbit uncovered by The Master who told this to The Doctor. So, that makes The Master part of this story, but where is The Master? How could there be a cockamamie universe-ending plot without The Master being involved?
(Mon Nov 29 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) The episodes of Season 13, The Flux, have named a few specific dates, which happened to be the date of transmission. There doesn't seem to be a special significance to those dates. But, because October 31, November 21, and December 5, were written into the scripts, the BBC knew the transmission dates months in advance. In November 2020, when the BBC announced the shortened season, it knew the exact dates, because those dates were inscribed in the episodes that began filming at the same time.
(Sun Nov 28 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) I really do not like this Timeless Child idea that Chibnall is foisting on us. While I'm loving the Season 13 episodes about The Flux, and find them to be excellent Doctor Who episodes, it's clear that the story is leading directly to some more nonsense about The Timeless Child. In this weeks Doctor Who Podcast, one of the commenters had a kooky theory of the week that what Chibnall has in mind is a Great Reset of Doctor Who.
(Sat Nov 27 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) With last weeks Next Time Trailer, we were treated to the return of Kate Stewart to Doctor Who, and therefore it's likely to be the return of UNIT. Today, the BBC posted a YouTube video with a bunch of UNIT highlights. That's a big clue that UNIT is returning. I can only surmise that this highlights video, 30 minutes of rehashing favorite scenes with UNIT, was posted today because tomorrow UNIT is returning.
(Tue Nov 23 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) The death of UNIT due to BREXIT was unwarranted and untimely and short sighted of the British Government. Don't they understand how often UNIT has prevented major catastrophe? The NEXT TIME trailer for Season 13, episode 5, Survivors of the Flux, contains a surprise appearance of Jemma Redgrave -- indicating a return of Kate Stewart?
(Thu Nov 18 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) One issue from the Timeless Child storyline is - where did Jo Martin's Doctor, a.k.a. The Fugitive Doctor, fit into The Doctor's story. It was clear the Fugitive was a previously unknown Doctor incarnation, but was it from the future, the distant past, or from an alternate universe? Some clues were strung into Once Upon a Time that we can now identify where The Fugitive Doctor fits.
(Tue Nov 16 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) Why did Chibnall wait until becoming a reviled show runner before producing stories like this? This episode may be up there with some of the most intriguing of all of Doctor Who, such as Warriors Gate. Or maybe it's too straight-forward to rank with Warriors Gate, I'm not sure. Regardless, there is a lot to unpack in this, the third episode of the six-part story which is season 13 of Doctor Who.
(Fri Nov 12 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) I didn't know about this secret yearning to see a Sontaran on horse-back. But, now that I've seen it, Sontarans are similar to old-school Knights in Armor, yes? Well, okay, not really, but these Sontarans are sure an improvement over Moffatts comedy Sontarans. As much as we loved Strax, these are Sontarans.
(Tue Nov 02 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) What a relief! Chris Chibnall has finally produced an episode that's not boring, and is instead rather interesting. The Season 13 opener is the first of a six-part story, and it does an excellent job of setting up the problem, while keeping us in the dark about many important things.
(Fri Oct 15 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) There is now an official trailer for Doctor Who Season 13, and we have verified show dates, we have the names of the directors and writers, and some clues about the storyline. But we do not know show titles. And, why oh why did Chris Chibnall write every single episode?
(Sat Oct 09 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) We now know when Season 13 starts, but do not know show titles, or the schedule. Just that it involves a 'Flux' and a coming wave of Sontarans, Weeping Angels, Ravagers, and who knows what else. Oh, and there's a guy with a Liverpool accent named Dan.
(Thu Oct 07 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) The time to start Doctor Who Season 13 (and finish it by the end of the year) is upon us. The BBC has pulled a marketing stunt, projecting the image of a Sontaran spaceship over the skies of Liverpool. Obviously this is how The Doctor meets up with Dan, the new companion to be played by John Bishop.
(Mon Apr 19 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) At the end of Revolution of the Daleks it was revealed that two of The Doctor's companions were leaving the show, and that a new Companion would join it. That new companion, Dan, will be played by British comedian John Bishop. Apparently Bishop is not willing to develop the ability to act in other accents than his native Liverpool accent, and you'd think revealing that his character in Doctor Who will be based in Liverpool would not be controversial. But, that would be underestimating the BBC's ability to not be amused.
(Sat Jan 02 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) It was known that Bradley Walsh (Graham O'Brien) and Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair) were likely to leave the TARDIS after the 2021 New Years special. That special was aired, and as Companion Departures go this one was as sleepy as Graham and Ryans characters. They are to be replaced by John Bishop, who is apparently a big-name comedian in Great Britain. He'll be playing Dan, and all we know is that discussions have been underway for a long time, and that the character was built around John's uniqueness.
(Sat Jan 02 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) It's been 10 months since the last televised Doctor Who episode, and a True Fan is counting the hours (approximately 7200 hours). To make it worse, we've been told the 2021 season will be shortened to eight episodes, when the recent seasons had already shrank to 10 episodes from 12 or more episodes in previous seasons. And, in Revolution of the Daleks we see The Fam (the Companions in other words) waiting around for 10 months, and then when The Doctor finally arrives -- in the company of what looks like a new Companion -- Yaz got angry and shoved The Doctor. How many of us are feeling the same?
(Wed Nov 11 2020 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) Modern Doctor Who seasons are already way too short. Some fans may have trouble remembering what Doctor Who is by the time time the next season rolls around. In any case, the Doctor Who show runner Chris Chibnall confirmed that Season 13 will be 8 episodes, or three shorter than Season 12 was. The culprit? COVID-19 and the resulting health restrictions. Maybe we should be happy to simply have new Doctor Who on the horizon. But the reality is that we've been shortchanged on Doctor Who seasons since 2015ish.
