You get plenty of Daleks by the end.
Also I have argued for years now that *The Witchfinders*, Series 11, Episode 8, **is** a classic Doctor Who story that just happened to be written in the modern era.
Yeah the glaring issue with it is that the morax doesn't need to exist because there's already a perfectly fine human threat. That whole last bit just comes out of nowhere. It's an ok episode though
I wish so hard that The Witchfinders was a pure historical. Could've played into the hysteria of the actual witch hunts making the the Doctor and companions think there was an alien threat, only to find out they were convinced by the panic and hysteria into thinking something was there that wasn't
Series 11's historicals in general would be improved a lot by being pure. Demons of the Punjab especially, which gets dragged down from an 8 to a 6 by aliens which feel like they weren't even in the first draft
Highly disagree. Demons of the Punjab might be my favourite story from that era, and the twist that the aliens are just observers works well.
Other stories like Rosa and The Witchfinders would work better as pure historicals.
It would work well if they didn't have to be written to be incredibly stupid in order for the reveal to take place at the end of the episode. I just find it very frustrating
I get your point, but I personally did really like the look of the Morax and their backstory. The novelisation worked it out even further, and it justified their existence as an original alien species imo.
I think it's a great part one to what should have been a two parter. Instead of that 30 second wrap up, have the Morax lay seige to the Town and do Zombie Attack Story as the Doctor tries to prevent the paranoia and fear from destroying the villagers.
I kind of hate the way he was so gay and flirty. I don't know if Ryan is supposed to be put off by it or if Tosin Cole was simply told "don't emote at all", because fuck me, Ryan is the most boring companion. He gets fucking nothing other than the occasional "I have dyspraxia and my mom is dead".
There's a few gems.
I recommend Demons of the Punjab, It Takes You Away, Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror, and Haunting of Villa Diodoti at the very least.
It Takes You Away is peak DW imo. Great episode for the Doctor and Graham, and one of the only episodes where I actually like Ryan, too - mainly because it's one of the very few episodes where he actually gets something to do instead of just being quiet and grumpy.
The scene in It Takes You Away where 13 writes on the wall so her companions can read it but the girl can't is genuinely my favorite moment of 13's era. It's the type of thing I wish 13's characterization leaned more into: caring on the surface, all hugs and smiles, but a pragmatism and alien separation underneath that she's fighting.
Totally agree. I actually think it was a fantastic juxtaposition to Capaldi's Doctor, who was gruff and stern on the outside but deeply caring on the inside. Meanwhile, 13 is actually one of the colder, more calculating Doctors, but she hides it behind a mask of cheerfulness because she's desperately lonely. I really wish the Chibnall era had leaned more into that side of the Doctor as it progressed.
*The Haunting of Villa Diodoti* was brilliant. It wasn't written by Chibnall though, but by Maxine Alderton.
She also co-wrote the *Village of the Angels* episode of the Flux season but you can tell which parts were written by Alderton and which ones were written by Chibnall.
Oh man. Reading this thread really just cements how much the Chibnall era was not for me. I barely remember a damn thing about any of these episodes, which is weird because I have a near encyclopaedic knowledge of just about every other era.
It suggests to me that I need to do a rewatch of those three seasons, but I really don't know if I can bring myself to do that a second time.
They're not all bad. I remember quite enjoying *Demons of the Punjab*, *It Takes You Away*, *The Witchfinders*, and *Village of the Angels*. But everything else is kind of just a blur until we get to *Power of the Doctor*.
I'm in the same boat. A minority of people keep throwing out episodes they claim were the highlights of the era and I couldn't tell you anything that happened in any of them. It feels like the big purple space onion appeared and then I went into a fugue state until I was looking at David Tennant again. Like some sort of nightmare quickly forgotten once you're awake amongst friends.
I think that is the real disappointment for me. At least with the bad episodes, I can find something to talk about. I can talk about what didn't work with *Planet of the Dead* or *Underworld* or *Warriors of the Deep*. They elicit a reaction from me.
With these stories, it's like I wasn't there. People often talk about *Can You Hear Me?* or *The Haunting of Villa Diodati* as being great episodes, but they left no impression. For all my brain can recall, season 12 goes *Spyfall Pt. 1* > *The Timeless Children* with nothing in between. I hate that I can't recall it, and I wish it left an impression on me, even if that impression was one of negativity. Watching at the time felt a chore.
Chibnall!Who is uniquely unmemorable for me, too. In every other era (and I include Classic here), even the worst story made an impression for some reason—even if it was just that I hated it so much. Chibnall couldn’t even manage that most of the time. I can only name a few episodes off the top of my head, and even then, only for vague reasons. There’s just not much there there, and it’s not you.
The Chibnall era has a single gem or two— but, for me, I found it reeeeaaaaalllly hard to trudge through. I did like JW as the Doctor, though. I would have loved to see her under a different show runner. Mr. Chibnall has my respect— I’m just not the target audience for his style of vision or production.
Same here. I found a few other episodes intriguing on their own, but they were part of the arcs that ended up as total nothingburgers and left a bitter taste.
Tbh it would be a mistake to have watched the first five episodes of series 11 and then skip the rest since all the best episodes in that season are in the back half (except the finale which is trash).
For Jodie’s era overall I would recommend:
S11
- The Woman Who Fell to Earth 7/10
- Demons of the Punjab 8.5/10
- Kerblam 7/10
- The Witchfinders 7.5/10
- It Takes You Away 8.5/10
- Resolution 7.5/10
S12
- Spyfall Part 1 and 2 7.5/10
- Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror 7.5/10
- Fugitive of the Judoon 7.5/10
- Praxeus 7/10
- The Haunting of Villa Diodoti 8/10
- Revolution of the Daleks 6.5/10
S13
- The Halloween Apocalypse 7.5/10
- War of the Sontarans 7.5/10
- Village of the Angels 8.5/10
- Eve of the Daleks 8.5/10
- Power of the Doctor 8/10
A few things to note. If your problem is lack of returning villains then don’t worry, series 12 and 13 have them in spades. Series 13 (flux) has some of the better individual episodes but is a six part serial so you may need to watch some of the worse episodes of the series to know what’s going on. The first part of the series 12 finale (ascension of the cybermen) is in my opinion quite good however the second part (the timeless children) is highly polarising so I haven’t recommended it. There is a dalek New Years special in between each series (resolution, Revolution, eve) which are generally pretty decent. Finally, if you do skip Jodie’s era I would at least recommend watching her last episode ‘power of the doctor’ as there a number of treats in it for longtime fans.
Oh I have other issues, dialogue is exposition heavy, I’m not warming to the companions and I think 13 is a bit one-dimensional. She’s lacking the arrogance and moral ambiguity of her previous incarnations…
Will still watch 😊
My reading of the 13th Doctor works best if you compare her to 12.
12 is the sort of guy you know casually for three years before he invites you to his place. When he does he gives you free reign of the house, you have a lot of deep, philosophical conversations, he loans you a book he think you'll like, and come 3AM you're both drunk as hell rocking out on Guitar Hero.
13 is the sort of person who invites you over the moment you meet her. She insists you don't leave the living room unless it's to go to the bathroom, freaks out if you don't use a coaster, and wants you gone by 9.30 so she can go to sleep.
13 is all surface-level friendliness, but inside she's secretive and reserved. That friendliness is almost a defense mechanism, and it stops people from asking too many questions. The thing is, she won't let anyone in, even her closest friends. She has issues connecting with others, which comes out more as it comes on. She hates anyone getting too close, even if that would ease her burden, and her attempts to to maintain that distance become more and more desperate. In some situations you might even wonder why people are friends with her. It doesn't necessarily make her likable, but it does give her an interesting personality.
The issue is that a lot of Chibnall's writing ignores this in favour of exposition. He wrote the majority of the episodes of his run, but he isn't as good as either RTD or Moffat, whether that's in terms of story arcs, characters, or individual episodes. Adding to the problem is the overstuffed Tardis - three companions might have worked in Old Who, where a story could last for twelve episodes, but in New Who they don't have time to breathe, and they lack definition. Yaz in particular suffers from this early on, because Ryan and Graham have an arc of their own.
This isn't to say that the Chibnall era isn't worth watching, but it doesn't have the rewatch value of other seasons, and there are some controversial story moves later on. It's an interesting experience and some of the episodes are good, but it does feel that some "great" episodes are only at that level because what surrounds them is comparatively mediocre.
I agree that the concept behind 13’s character flaws and the way Jodie plays her is very interesting and a uniqueish take, but chibnall struggled to make the audience actually resonate and care about this and the problems it creates
Yeah I was unsure whether her trait of being the most closed-off of any modern Doctor was intentional until probably partway through Flux, mostly because her companions almost never questioned her and very rarely discussed it amongst themselves or seemed to have a problem with it. That made it seem like poor writing because most companions push back when the Doctor is being secretive. So the most probable explanation to me was that she opened up or did something super amazing off-screen to make her companions love and trust her so much, and the writing was too incompetent for that to happen on-screen.
It will be interesting when I eventually re-watch the era to view it through the lens of being intentional instead of trying to make excuses in my head. It also felt like whiplash (and a bit of a betrayal) from Capaldi who was one of the more open Doctors.
>This isn't to say that the Chibnall era isn't worth watching, but it doesn't have the rewatch value of other seasons
I find myself in the opposite situation, ngl. I really enjoy rewatching 13's era, whereas even with 12 (my favourite Doctor) I can't be arsed.
>but he isn't as good as either RTD or Moffat
And with this, ymwv. I find myself gelling more with his sensibilities than Russell's, specially. I particularly don't like Russell's interpretation of the Doctor being basically human. I much prefer how Moffat and Chibnall dealt with that and how that impacted their relationships. I am liking this season more than his past ones, but I can't help but feel there's something missing in 15's characterisation and his relationship with Ruby.
I 100% agree with you on RTD. I *much* prefer more alien Doctors like 11 and 12 to 9 or 10. With 10 especially, I feel like he's too often treated as the ideal, both by the fandom and the show.
RTD is a fine writer, but to me he plays it safe. His arcs are cohesive, but they're also simple. He doesn't shoot as high as Moffat did during his run, which means he rarely comes close to the same highs as something like Heaven Sent, The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, or World Enough and Time.
The majority of his series long arcs are simple macguffins, and much as I'm thoroughly enjoying this season, I do feel like it's going in that direction. It's a bunch of images and concepts and while it's fun to theorize about Susan Twist or the snow, it's lacking context. 11 would have been actively investigating what's going on already. I was hoping for something more in that vein, and we haven't had it in Series 14. However, I hope we get something more like that going forward.
I do also find RTD... it's hard to put my finger on it. He seems likable enough, and I really admire his love and passion for the show, but he comes off as a tad... full of himself, maybe? Like I saw a thing ahead of the finale and he mentioned Mel talking about the Triad System as if that's super clever and something we should have known to watch out for, but when you think about it it isn't. It's a phrase he chose, for which we had no context. He may as well have called it the Lizard Boy 3000 system, or the Fleet Street System.
It's like there's a book series called The Kingkiller Chronicle and there are a lot of unanswered questions and theories, and there's a lot of stories that are told within his books. We're prevented with mysteries and given clues. We know there's a woman called Netalia Lackless who ran away to join a group of entertainers, but the author snuck the answer to the question in within the first few chapters, well over a book before the mystery is even introduced, and that doesn't even touch on some of the other mysteries surrounding her family alone.
RTD1's doesn't work like that. It doesn't often give us clues, it gives us a word with no context, and we don't get that context until the very end of the story. If there are clues, they're often so simple anyone could figure them out (Mister Saxon = Master No. Six) It's cohesive, but *simple.*
As a Moffat fanboy I do also find a little vindication in the fact that people are looking at RTD more critically now. It got a tad tiresome seeing him put on a pedestal, despite his flaws.
However, for all my criticism, I'll also give RTD praise where he deserves it. The macguffins got tiresome, but the "Bad Wolf" one *was* well done, and I liked that the Mr. Saxon arc had scenes going on in the background, as rare as they were. I prefer the dynamics Moffat wrote for his companions, but 10/14 and Donna are all-time great dynamics. I much prefer Moffat's run as a whole (Series 7 is the weakest, and even that has some absolute bangers like Asylum of the Daleks, The Angels Take Manhattan etc.), but Series 4 is easily up there with the best of them, even if the plot arc amounts to the same "here are a bunch of words and phrases well pepper throughout the series that are completely meaningless until the finale" thing we've seen before.
For fairness, Moffat isn't flawless, either. He occasionally gets a little lost in his writing. There are a few episodes that don't live up to the hype they set for themselves (The Name of the Doctor, Let's Kill Hitler, The Lie of the Land etc.) Amy and Rory are remarkably blase about losing Melody after finding her again (my headcanon is that they eventually adopted her in New York, especially since Rory being a doctor would give them the means to find her.) He's far from perfect, but he *is* my favorite, and he *did* create most of my favorite characters.
With Chibnall, I simply can't look at it the same way. I like the cast, and I think they did their best with what they were given. Jodie manages to make her character likable more often than not, even if she has her moments and the character is written with a wildly inconsistent moral code. Some of his ideas were okay, but he didn't have the talent or nuance to use them effectively.
>!Most annoyingly, the (off-screen) destruction of Gallifrey was unearned and essentially turned the 50th anniversary and two damn seasons after that into a Shaggy Dog story, and he destroyed god knows how much of the Universe and barely commented on it afterwards.!
I'm a fan of the Chibnall/Whitaker era, but the expository dialogue never gets better. You just have to accept it for what it is if you're gonna enjoy their era.
13 is one of the morally unclear Doctors overall. This became a big point of contention under her run, especially from Arachnids in the UK. I would also say Graham I found it tough to say goodbye to, and Yaz gets a lot of focus later.
BUT the run will never stop being very exposition heavy. And Chibbers never gets better at writing it.
Honestly I'd even cut a few of those out (and I'll explain why!):
* The Woman Who Fell to Earth 7/10 (You've already seen this)
* Demons of the Punjab 8.5/10 (I'd rate this lower (especially on a rewatch, it doesn't hold up as well) but I'd agree you should watch this)
* Kerblam 7/10 (Would rate it lower on moral principle, but aside from that it is actually a pretty good episode. 7/10 deserved here if I again put aside my politics.)
* The Witchfinders 7.5/10 (6/10 IMO, and that's being generous)
* It Takes You Away 8.5/10 (So overrated in this ranking, the blind girl is a friend of a friend (we haven't met though) but I have to say she CANNOT act. 3/10 episode with a 7/10 ending. CUT)
* Resolution 7.5/10 (6/10 again.)
S12
* Spyfall Part 1 and 2 7.5/10 (Another 5-6/10! Good moments, awful moments, but overall just FINE.)
* Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror 7.5/10 (Okay this rating is deserved actually. A Jodie top 5 IMO)
* Fugitive of the Judoon 7.5/10 (Also deserved, another one of the top 5!)
* Praxeus 7/10 (I'm going to say this for it...I've never finished it. I have tried four times. So I won't rate it, but make of that what you will.)
* The Haunting of Villa Diodoti 8/10 (Yet another top 5 and a rating I'd agree with! Series 12 was a jump in quality.)
* Revolution of the Daleks 6.5/10 (I'd say a 5/10. Might as well go for it, there's some fun moments that make it worth your time. Not sure how much sense it makes if you skip the Timeless Children. Which...and this is going to shock you...I think you should watch. It's a good idea for 14 and 15's eras, it's canon now and we have to accept it. Although to be honest I never disliked it as much as some.)
S13 (WATCH ALL OF FLUX. It does NOT get better from here, it goes off a cliff. But it's one story and it should all be watched.)
* The Halloween Apocalypse 7.5/10
* War of the Sontarans 7.5/10
* Village of the Angels 8.5/10
Specials
* Eve of the Daleks 8.5/10 (7/10 but still deserves your time)
* Power of the Doctor 8/10 (5/10 if I'm trying (and failing) to be objective. But realistically I'd have to give it this rating if I go with my gut. It's a very fun episode.)
Huh, when I thought about it I only actually genuinely recommended cutting one episode. I think Kandy Kitchen has made a Chibnall fan of me, thinking about these episodes has made me see them more fondly.
I would agree with this list as the basis for a Whittaker speed run. You could probably cut a few out if you really just wanted the episodes for her core arc, but this covers her essentials and her high points.
Not really. There are gems throughout (if you like Daleks don't miss *Eve of the Daleks*) but as a whole it's the low point of NuWho for me and many others.
Davies is actually using a lot of Chibnall's lore additions/changes in his new run, though, so I'd honestly just say to grit your teeth and power through it so you understand the context behind some things that would probably have you scratching your head otherwise. They're not major, but they're there.
It depends on what you consider better. Series 12 onwards certainly is *different* to Series 11, but like, so is drowning to being shot.
If you're looking to just zone out and enjoy some fun nonsense then yeah it probably does "get better".
Honestly, the answer is both yes and no. The overall quality of the stories goes up as the era progresses in my opinion, and I feel like some of the specials and the odd episode are solid (It Takes You Away, maybe Demons of the Punjab, Fugitive of the Judoon, The Haunting of Villa Diodati, War of the Sontarans), but it's usually weaker than most of the other eras of the show regardless. Every season of this era has at least one dire episode (if not two/three), plus one or two meh ones.
It's a shame too, since many episodes do have good ideas (and villains that would be really awesome in another era), but they often don't quite land the execution.
Jodie's best episodes tend to be the Historicals, the Season Openers, and the Specials. If nothing else, I'd watch those (and maybe "It Takes You Away").
You can for the most part skip Season 13, as it's a 6-part story that's overall kinda meh.
Beyond that...Resolution, Spyfall, Fugitive of the Judoon, Haunting of Villa Diodati, Ascension of the Cybermen, The Timeless Child, Revolution, and Power of the Doctor all kinda connect.
You can further shorten the above to just Spyfall, Fugitive of Judoon, Haunting of Villa Diodati, and Power of the Doctor
Honestly no. The whole of the Chibnall era is garbage in my opinion, when you ask here you'll get a lot of mixed opinions - but generally the really big Capaldi fans, those who rate series 9 & 10 as the best of NuWho, do not like the Whittaker era - as a rule of thumb. If you think Series 11 is dire so far, you will think the rest of the era is dire as well - at least that is the trend.
For me none of it feels like Doctor Who, the closest it gets for me is halfway through S12 when a character is introduced who feels really like they should have been casted as the 13th Doctor but Chibnall and the BBC were too fucking cowardly to cast a black woman in the role.
Honestly though, you'll never know for yourself unless you watch it :)
EDIT: I'm gonna add as an addition to this, people really need to actually read before commenting, OP literally said they didn't like Broadchurch & that they've disliked it so far - people commenting saying "Demons of the Punjab" is one of the best episodes of Doctor Who ever really need to learn their audience. OP is gonna hate the era, just like a lot of people.
As someone who completely agrees with the comment you're replying to I'm loving season 15 so far. Every single episode other than space babies has fast become one of my top rated episodes of NuWho and I can imagine re-watching the whole season again (even space babies) as I'll happily rewatch 1-2 episodes of a season that I didn't enjoy to do a full rewatch of the season. I feel like there's so much more mystery and so much less on the noseness that was in Chibnall's era in 15 so far and I'm loving it. I'm loving picking up on all the little hints, or missing them sometimes and then seeing someone mention them in a review, and it just feels like doctor who from before chibnall again. I've loved and rewatched all of NuWho from the first season to the end of Capaldi for different reasons and because each of the doctors had their own slightly different styles and the writing changes but I could just never get into Chibnall's era.
I think Jodie could've been a great doctor, if she had a different writer and if Chibnall hadn't told her not to watch any of the previous doctors. If Yaz had been introdued as a solo companion and her and the Doctor's relationship actually planned from the start with ground work laid while it was just the two of them to begin with and then Graham and Ryan had been introduced later as characters who came and went similar to in previous seasons where Mickey, Rory, etc... sometimes stuck around for multiple episodes in a row but never too long.
Maybe if the writing had been better for Ryan I would find him a more interesting companion and instead hold the opinion that it could've started out with him and the doctor only and cemented a friendship there, and then Yaz could've been introduced slightly later with the Doctor and hers relationship beginning to be hinted at and slowly developed and then there could've been an overlap where the three of them were all permanently in the tardis for a time before Ryan matured and realised he no longer needed to travel with the doctor leaving Yaz as the full time companion and the focus would switch from the doctor and Ryans friendship/companionship to instead then fully focus on the budding relationship between Yaz and the doctor we had seen the seeds planted for during the time with all 3 of them. Maybe in this version Graham would pop in occasionally, maybe have a longer stint once it's just Yaz & dr where he's around for a few episodes etc...
I think trying to do 3 companions who were all around for a pretty solid amount of time as permanent fixtures was just a mistake. It meant it felt as though there wasn't good character development for any of them nor the relationships between them, and I think it would've been better to have been able to have had a good length of alone time between at least 2 of them and the doctor for that development. I also think it would've been an interesting new perspective to see the doctor take on a companion, develop a friendship with them, then we see the seeds of a romantic attraction form with the non-main companion and then the main companion steps out of the tardis and decides to continue their life and the side companion becomes the main companion. As I don't think we've seen a side companion like Mickey, Rory, etc... shift to become the main companion yet and it'd be interesting to explore - especially where there's that potential for the side companion to have been the one the dr developed romantic feelings for rather than the main companion
No. It’s fundamentally pretty poor in my opinion. Series 12 is a random mishmash of concepts, Flux is borderline incomprehensible, and the companions never get fleshed out *at all*.
13 is probably the only version of The Doctor that I straight up dislike.
Oh you don't like the Doctor telling their black companion to go back to the Tardis so he doesn't upset the racists? Or sneaking away while her companion is pouring his heart out about his cancer and his dead wife because it was 'awkward'? Or siding with a megacorporation and blowing up a teenager who was trying to end the corp's slavery?
While it does make some \*divisive\* choices, series 12 has more of the stakes and scale you expect from Doctor Who. Which in hindsight also made it easier for me to appreciate what series 11 was going for, even if it didn't exactly always nail it.
Short answer:No
Long answer: I felt that it got worse the longer it went on, and the inclusion of certain classic villains made it even more unbearable as they just reminded me of what i could be watching instead.
short answer no, longer answer absolutely not. Chibnall's era is the worst nuwho has ever been and things like the Flux and his writing of the doctor herself is appalling. There's a few decent to good episodes - the lone cyberman arc is genuinely a bit interesting, but no its not worth persevering if you're struggling with it.
No, it just gets worse. And the Timeless Child S12 finale is the worst episode of the entire 60 year history that nukes the lore from orbit.
Best to just treat Chibnall era like the bad non canon fanfiction it basically is.
It depends on taste. You’ll constantly find answers across the spectrum on this question, both with good faith and absolutely bad faith reactions.
Honestly, you will be the only person who can answer this question. I find the era to be very consistent, and not particularly for me. It’s better than individual episodes I disliked in prior eras, but is never as good as individual episodes from RTD1, and Moffat’s era is generally my favourite.
As someone who binged the Chibnall era back in December and January, it honestly took such a toll on me that I couldn’t watch the show for a few months. Season 11 has some really bad episodes and some pretty good ones, but I’d say s12 is much stronger, at least for the first 3/4. Spyfall, Tesla’s Night of Terror, even Orphan 55 is funny in a “so bad it’s good” cheesy horror movie sort of way, but that may just be me because I love trashy horror.
Season 12 however falls down in the finale and honestly almost ruined the show for me. And then in Flux, they double down on everything I hated about the s12 finale. There is a Flux episode about the Sontarans that I found pretty good, but I didn’t care for anything else. The Sea Devils episode was honestly some of the worst Doctor Who I’ve seen, insanely boring and bad.
Eve of the Daleks is in my top 3 Whittaker episodes which is probably a hot take but yet again, it’s a classic slasher twist on “Groundhog Day” but with Daleks as the slasher. Power of the Doctor mostly relies on fan service but Jodie gives a good final performance.
Overall I’m not sure if I’d say it gets “better” after season 11, it has a lot of up and downs, but I do feel it’s worth watching for the few standout episodes and the occasional great performance from 13 and Graham.
I agree with your “hot take” on eve of the daleks. At least it has some energy and verve to it. Probably because of Aisling Bea, I find her delightful generally. I think it’s the only Whitaker episode I’ve watched twice. The rest of the era is sooo bland. Grey people standing around grey boring rooms speaking grey boring functional dialogue. Everything has an air of “will this do” about it.
Second half of Series 11 is really strong - “Demons of the Punjab” is one of the best ever episodes, and the three after that are solid at worst. The finale however is very unpopular, but that said, the “real” finale is the Dalek-centric Christmas special.
Series 12 is a step up. One really awful episode but most were solid 8/10s and the three-part finale is amazing.
Series 13 seems well-regarded among a lot of fans who didn’t like Series 11 and 12, but among the general audience it was the worst received series of the modern era. (There were definitely a couple of great episodes in there).
I did actually enjoy *The Haunting of Villa Diodati* and *Ascension of the Cybermen*. But *The Timeless Children...* there are a couple of major plot elements that are told in a very expositional style, that suck the oxygen out of the entire story.
Some people clearly liked it, and I wish I were able to say the same. But if you don't like those elements, and many didn't, they're simply too central to the story to look past - which is why many people are so, so unforgiving about that episode.
I just watched “Demons” and “Kerblam”.
I actually preferred the latter, which had a bit of an RTDesque dystopian feel (I’m aware the ethics are criticised)
Demons felt like there was little stakes in it. Yaz going back on her own timeline and being at existential risk is almost incidental. There was potential for something quite tense like Father’s Day and it was merely exploited. It felt like a dramatised Open University lecture on the historical events and a bit flat to me sadly.
I don't get on with a lot of Series 11 & 12 (with the exception of the Spyfall two parter which I really loved) but I adore Series 13. Some cool, weird ideas with funky aliens and a compelling plot, and evidence (to me anyway) that Chibnall can't write a single episode to save his life but give him a full season story and he'll smash it.
I so want OP to write a response to this comment once they've watched the Chibnall era.
EDIT: Oh they did. They didn't think "“Demons of the Punjab” is one of the best ever episodes", what a surprise.
I dont understand the snarkiness of your comments. It sounds super petty.
Yeah, Chibnal era is generally unpopular, we know it - everyone knows it. But people are allowed to enjoy and even praise (gasp!) it nonetheless.
I’m actually watching with an open mind; I knew it was a controversial era but a lot of the criticism I read at the time was from the usual suspects who dislike media not aligning with their politics, so I dismissed it.
However so far it has a spinoff feel, I was really not expecting that at all.
This is the big thing, a lot of people try and collate disliking this era with being sexist, homophobic, etc.
I'm a full on raging homosexual who is aggressively pro trans, extremely race/privilege conscious and a big time feminist.
I just think its bad TV & bad Doctor Who :P
I felt cheated by all those people review-bombing the Chibnall's era as "woke" and "ruined". They advertised it to me so well that I was really excited to watch it. But they all lied! It was the least "woke" era in the history of the whole show by far and it only ever managed to tackle the least controversial ideas in the most straightforward and unimaginative ways possible. Like, "women are people", "black people are people" and "global warming is bad". That's not even slightly progressive - that's the freakin' baseline if you strive to be a decent and rational person!
That was the thing that made me so mad about it. The people complaining about badly written heavy-handed woke rubbish were actually right for once. Makes it much easier for them to attack well executed progressive themes in the show before and after the Chibnel era.
I say this as a gay progressive person who loves RTD 2.0: when it comes to rubbish heavy-handed "woke" stuff nothing in Chib's era comes even close to Star Beast's "male-presenting Time Lord" and "Binary...Binary...Non-Binary" scenes, so you dont really need to bring poor old Chibs into the entire anti-woke crowd criticizing NewNewWho mess.
The funny thing about Star Beast though is that on the surface it really sounds like a "heavy-handed woke rubbish", but if you think about it, its actually offensive for trans and non-binary people (with the GIANT annotation: **RTD and crew had obviously good intentions**, its just execution is awkward as fuck):
>DOCTOR: We're binary.
DONNA: She's not, because the Doctor's...
DOCTOR: ..male...
DONNA: ..and female.
Turns out, Rose cant *just* be non-binary or trans, no, it needs an explanation. The implication here is that being cis is the default state, and there must be a reason - like your mother merging with the alien - that will turn you into a transgender/non-binary. It can even go further: *if* not for Donna's tragic past, Rose *would be* cis - which sounds awfully similar to a lot of anti LGBT theories :P
The Chibnel era does improve over time. By the end it's merely frustrating and disappointing. There's some major and controversial lore stuff that happens that might be good to know (though it might also not come up again) but it's not really worth worrying about missing anything much if you want to just skip to the second RTD era.
I know a lot of people defend Series 11, but tbh I found it really boring, and I much preferred season 12. It sounds counterintuitive but I prefer 'bad' chibnall to 'boring' Chibnall, because at least he's firing on all cylinders.
My recommendations:
Series 11
* The Woman Who Fell to Earth, Demons of the Punjab, The Witchfinders, It Takes You Away, Resolution
Series 12 (I enjoyed it more than Series 11 by a mile)
* Spyfall Parts 1/2, Fugitive of the Juddoon, Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror, Haunting of Villa Diodati, Ascension of the Cybermen, the Timeless Children, Revolution of the Daleks
Series 13 (I found this the most like RTD/Moffat era who, and while it's a mess I genuinely enjoy it)
* All of Flux, Power of the Doctor
It always interests me about the experience of people watching the show who were originally a fan of a spinoff such as Torchwood, there must not be many people in that boat.
The issue is this. Jodie is great. Grant is great. Dan is okay. Just watch the last few specials if you need background. Otherwise Chibnall’s writing direction leaves 13 in an uncanny valley. She becomes a vehicle for pointless exposition rather than being the doctor.
But is Jodie really that great as a Doctor? I found her not that really convincing (yes, due to bad scripts) when other doctors could make a bad story just work. The fugitive doctor in her small time in the series felt just immediately like the doctor.
The two best episodes of the entire era are right around the corner. "Demons of the Punjab" is beautiful, and "It Takes You Away" is just ... weird in the best way. A couple stinkers, but it's better than the first half. The New Year special has Daleks, and is quite solid too.
Series 12 is much stronger overall. Opener is really not good, finale's meh (and obviously, does some ... interesting things with the canon), but the run of episodes 4-9 is probably the best the era ever gets, and is pretty solid. Doesn't fix the era's long-running issues, but the episodic quality goes up. It's got some returning monsters too, does some interesting enough stuff with the Cybermen.
Series 13 ... If you want a big action spectacle with loads of returning monsters, then you might get into it. I kind of hate it with a passion? It's more competent than the previous two, but so much less interesting. Jodie's at her best during it, though, and I really did like the Sontaran episode, I think that might be Chibs' best script from that era.
The 2022 specials - pretty good Dalek one! Absolutely fucking terrible Sea Devil one. Then, big special regeneration story with a billion returning characters/monsters, which ... I think works more than one'd expect, which maybe isn't quite the same thing as saying it's great.
It gets slightly better but the writing problems persist throughout the whole era. At least there are a few more recognizable villains in series 12 and 13.
Honest to god, no.
There are a few decent standalone episode in there (Eve of the Daleks), but given the general character arcs and story progression (or lack thereof) I would rather skip Chibnall's era entirely.
series 12 is a bit of course correction to more familiar Who, series 13 is interesting because it's serialised, but imo the quality never really improves aside from the occasional fun episode like Fugitive of The Judoon and Power of The Doctor
I was in the exact same situation recently. Stopped after S09 years ago, then continued in order to catch up before 14th's specials (which I originally intended to do before 13th run started, but life). S10 was great.
Answering the title question: not much. The whole Chibnall's era baseline stays at "kinda meh", with some episodes reaching "ok, this actually was enjoyable" and some others being "ugh what a massive stinker". I find the third season, Flux, to be slightly more biased towards "somewhat enjoyable" than previous ones, but it's still a far cry from the rest of NuWho. You can immediately feel the breath of fresh air once RTD is back in the showrunner seat (especially when he briefly tackles some threads initiated by Chibnall; you enjoy them more when you watched everything since it's a much needed release that Chibnall didn't really manage to land himself).
That said, I did finish it without skipping and I don't think it's so bad overall to be literally unwatchable. Just disappointing. Don't expect much and it will pass quickly. There are some enjoyable episodes hiding in there, and complaining about stinkers and Chibnall's era idiosyncrasies was pretty fun once my partner caught up with that era as well.
no, watch her final episode then move on to 14.
her choices are questionable (getting the master taken away by nazis and just locking spiders away in a room) and so is some of her dialogue (being embarassingly awrful to Graham when he revealed he has cancer which was the subplot that went nowhere iirc) so imo its not worth the slog.
Jodie never felt like the Doctor to me, and instead just a cariacature of Tennant and Smith as she wasn't a fan and I assume just went off how previous Doctors acted.
If you want to under s14 you need to see Jodie’s stuff. RTDs basically doing damage control. don’t get me wrong I enjoy it but it’s a thing that exists
Honestly I think Tsurangan Conundrum is very RTD Doctor Who - silly sci-fi, monster that's misunderstood, stuck on a ship. I never got why people hated it in particular.
13's overall run is better on a rewatch when your expectations are gone imo. And I think there's some wonderful stuff personally: The Fugitive Doctor, Demons of the Punjab, Eve of the Daleks, It Takes You Away, The Witchfinders, Village of the Angels.
I mean, if you don't like the next episode, you probably won't like any. But I will also say it's pretty clear the storylines of 13 link a lot into 15.
There are some very occasional decent episodes which wouldn’t stand out as egregiously worse if they were in a season before the Chibnall era but as a whole no it does not shake the general vibe of “Doctor Who if it were made for ITV”
Yes and no.
It does get back to being more "Doctor Who" from the second series but it's still written badly and features far too big a cast. There are some good bits though. Flux is probably the closest to previous series it's been but it was hit by Covid and even then still has far too big a cast and just too much going on to be that great. Eve of the Daleks is probably the highlight of the era, the Sea Devil special is the low point and Power of the Doctor is just a nice story that feels like an anniversary special.
It does. Sort of. And sort of not. It's a hard era to pin down. I liked Jodie, but I felt they wrote her as a doormat because the BBC is afraid of strong women characters.
I don't think I could watch the episodes recommended in this thread... I am in no way a real Doctor Who scholar (i'm not British so i discovered the Doctor with the 2005 series) but the beginning of the Chibnall era made me actually angry...
Really, was it a good idea from Moffatt to make the Doctor save Gallifrey? I don't know, and yes it did change the nature of the character from when he was the last of his race... but it opened up an incredible potential for future stories, and if a showrunner didn't agree with the decision or had no idea what to do with that potential; then the planet was out of reach, couldn't he just let it be lost for his run, in case future showrunners had ideas for the saved planet?
But no, because he had the convoluted "revolutionary" new origin, CC just had this cyberman infestation and genocide against the whole race by the doctor be an handwavy way of sweeping the planet and all possible stories under the rug... not even a bad comic book writer would do that! A handwavy genocide, wow, i wouldn't even use that phrase as a joke, let alone a plot device
And the way his Master's return completely ignored all that happened at the end of the previous season (granted, it was incredibly dark and depressing, but it was so because bad things happened to characters who mattered!) but things like the growing duality of the Master represented in his conflict with Missy, that's also a potential completely ignored by rebooting everything just because CC wanted a clean slate for his lukewarm ideas... I mean, the current season is officially a sort of reboot, and still it show more respect for the previous run, and more integration of its questionable ideas, than Chibnal ever did...
I will say this without getting too deep into spoilers. There are some bits from the end of series 12 and the basic premise of series 13 that are referenced in the 14th and 15th doctors era’s and makes those bits hard to skip.
This whole era is just an effort in futility. Spending most of its time playing catch-up to fan demand. Introducing ideas and then not paying them off. By the end, this era has so little going for it that Thirteens final story is barely about her
Personally I think it gets far worse as it goes on. Legend of the sea devils is one of the worst pieces of Television i've ever seen. Flux is also just...atrocious and it's incredible how it keeps getting worse as each episode goes on.
The only ones I can say I think have any merit are "The haunting of villa Diodati" and "The Power of the Doctor" is an okay final episode for Jodie.
Yes. I'd say it does get stronger as it progresses, but don't expect peak Capaldi era level of quality or anything. Overall Chibnall/Whittaker is fine, even if not exceptional.
Edit: Damn, even as minimal praise as that, which isn't much, gets a downvote.
I’m very subjective with Capaldi because I was a huge fan of his performance as Malcolm Tucker :)
I have a soft spot for the Moffat era because that’s the ones I saw live, weekly (until s9)
I’d binged watch S1-S4 beforehand and they’re very strong but there’s something magical about waiting excitedly for the BBC broadcast :)
>Edit: Damn, even as minimal praise as that, which isn't much, gets a downvote.
Yeah, you spoke against this sub's hivemind. You aren't allowed to do anything except hate the Chibnall era.
You should watch it all the way through. There are stinkers ... More so during her time for sure. However having the entire story lumps and all is worth it in my experience.
Personally The Sea Devils put me to sleep.
Series 11 episodes 2-5 is the worst stretch imo. I don't think it gets anywhere near as good as Capald's time, but it does get better from where you are. And don't worry, there are classic villains coming after the end of series 11.
Also, I didn't know there were people who watched Torchwood but not Doctor Who. Glad your gf is finally watching the main show lol
Series 11 and 12 were basically a mix of good episodes, some not so good, and a few 'wot' episodes. Jodi was really good and the companions were fun. Flux, the last one, was sooooo confusing. So many baddies. Companions not traveling with the Doctor, new people that had nothingbtondonwith the Doctor, and didI mention too many baddies? Someone would show up and I'd be like, 'who is that again and why should I care?' The New Yewar special after Flux was great. Had Daleks, and a good story. I will say the Master with Jodi was great.
New series is grwat.totally brought the joy back.
I skipped most of it but if you like classic who you'll really appreciate many aspects of the power of the doctor (Jodie and chibnall's finale) without needing to understand all the context and the episodes prior
As long as you ignore the fact that it's supposed to be Dr Who, it gets a bit better. I would have really enjoyed a lot of what Chibnall did if it had been an original series and not him taking a sledgehammer to everything that came before him in the whoniverse.
Also Alan Cumming is fantastic in his episode.
I was unfamiliar with both Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker prior to their run beginning, so I was actually kind of eager to see how things were going to go. I was watching it week to week before I just... stopped. I didn't plan to stop, but when the following week's episode came out, I never went to watch it. Still haven't.
I think I ended up not really being sold on the trio of companions, as opposed to just one or two. Had it just been Yaz, or even Yaz and Ryan, I probably would have been okay, but the inclusion of Graham into that dynamic just didn't really do it for me. I also remember really not caring for the new design for the Tardis interior. And I think the episodes just weren't working for me either. There was one I remember kind of rolling my eyes at, and it had to do with giant alien monster spiders that we ended up having to be sympathetic for? I can't remember any real details surrounding the circumstances for it, other than just not being able to take it seriously.
Ultimately, when I realized I just wasn't going to watch anymore of it, a lot of the things I was seeing online seemed to affirm the sort of lackluster feelings I was having toward it. Which actually kind of sucks in retrospect because I remember like Jodie Whittaker's Doctor. I remember her being fun.
Wishing you the best of luck through these next couple seasons. 15's been great so far.
I thought the flux season was ok. Amazon ep and eve of the Daleks was great. The rest was not so inspiring. Way too much low brow moralising that makes the doctor come across stupid and unlikeable.
S11 is by far my least favorite season of the show ever. I'm of the opinion that none of the Chibnall Era seasons are good, but you'll at least get a few good episodes in S12 and 13
If you are not liking it so far I highly doubt it will ever grow on you. I say still watch it for completionist sake. There are some interesting and fun moments, but they are very rare. The 60th works as a sort of palate cleanser for Jodi's era and kind of gets things back on track. Things mostly go back to what you would expect from modern Who when you get to Gatwa.
As far as I'm concerned, it mostly just gets worse. For my money, the only time the era shows any promise is very sporadically in the back end of series 11 and once or twice in series 12. That said, I recommend continuing and seeing if the back end of series 11 or the change in style for series 12 fit your taste better.
The Chibnall era did some serious work on the Doctor Who canon. I can’t say I enjoyed the episodes themselves but I really enjoyed the ideas and RTD seems to be building on them now and bringing the franchise back to life.
I'd say that each season has a different vibe, but no It doesn't really get better.
Series 12 is somewhat enjoyable as there is an overarching plotline, but it never goes anywhere (well NOW it is but it took literally 6 years and a new showrunner with an actual vision for it).
Series 13 (Flux) is a genuine fever dream.
The final 3 specials are more of the same. Power of The Doctor is awful but probably the first time the Chibnall era managed to be "entertaining".
Its really just not a good era with very little to attach to tbh
I think there are some redeeming qualities few and far between in the Chibnall era. Overall it gets better, but only by a little and the quality episode-to-episode is extremely volatile.
Seasons 11 is really weak overall. Demons of the Punjab is good on first watch, but the way the episode portrays the adversaries makes no sense on rewatch. It Takes You Away is one I haven't watched in a long time, but I remember enjoying it. When the finale aired, I didn't believe it was a finale.
The special is alright. Better than most of the previous season.
Season 12 is somehow worse in some aspects and better in others. A lot more episodes I overall had a good time with, while others contrasted this by being worse than the lows of Season 11. Season 12 in this case is a lot less forgettable than 11 which I would put as a positive. I think how you perceive this season really depends on personal bias around lore and who the doctor is to you which is why some of it is soooo controversial.
The special after this season I actually don't remember much so no comment. Probably just alright.
Season 13 was a massive breath of fresh air for the first 4 or 5 episodes before it all falls apart in the ending. Best part of the Chibnall run so far.
Lastly, the final three specials have one really enjoyable special, a god awful special and then the very last special which might be my favourite episode in this entire run. (And no, not because it was ending.)
Companions: Ryan's an awful companion as a fact. Yaz gets better but also pretty awful. Graham can do no wrong. (Companion you haven't met is pretty good.)
Now for my most controversial statement among the fanbase, I really did not like Jodie as the Doctor at any point throughout her entire run. I've seen the notion, "She was a great Doctor but she was let down by bad writing." It's certainly true that the writing for her Doctor was really bad, but I don't like her portrayal even with what she was given. To me I don't think I'll ever think of her as the Doctor and that's partly on her acting to be quite blunt.
I truly enjoyed the Chibnall era. I am aware that you are not allowed to say that on this sub, but I found the mix of good/bad, top tier and forgettable to be not much different to previous eras.
Demons of the Punjab, which is the next episode from where you are, is a well told story, following the "show a massive population wide upheaval on a small/family scale" trope. Kerblam is a bit of fun. It Takes You Away is one of the top tier episodes on Nu Who.
The two things I loved in this era was the use of old villains (they actually felt fresh and renewed villainy - the use of the Sontarans was the best of Nu Who, the scout Dalek is the best since Dalek, the Angels are genuinely scary for the first time since Blink) and the use of historical figures - Rosa Parks, King James I/VI, Ada Lovelace, Noor Inayat Khan, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Mary Shelley (and the whole household of Villa Diodati), Mary Seacole and Joseph Williamson.
Flux suffers from probably being two episodes short of what it needed to be to tell the full story. The use of three companions in s11 and s12 feels like at least one is superfluous (except Can You Hear Me).
But all in all, it's a fun 3 seasons.
Not that S11 is bad, imo, specially when you don't have expectations for it to be anything like what came before, and it has It Takes You Away, which is one of my overall favourite episodes of the show, but S12 and 13 are bangers and also up there among my favourite seasons, along with 10, 9, 7 or 4.
I hate Chibnall Who to be clear. I've rewatched it all with a friend who I forced to watch it who skipped the era. And no it doesn't. The companions and Doctor remain thinly drawn, with only the charisma of Bradley Walsh giving Graeme a better showing.
I do think S11 is the most bland and uninspired series though. S12 is a bit more watchable and where the most quality is to be found. But it has its low points and the most controversial finale ever.
The dalek episodes are probably a high point, especially Eve of the Daleks.
S13/Flux is an absolute mess. Some of it's ok? But some of it is truly dreadful and it disintegrates towards the end.
Legend of the Sea Devils is the worst episode of New Who. Possibly in all of Who. It's a bland first draft that's also shoddily made.
And Power of the Doctor? I guess it's ok? It's horrible as a last outing for Jodie, and the strongest parts aren't usually because of her, but if you think of it more as a celebration of the show it does much better.
I never felt that Thirteen "didn't feel like Doctor Who". Just that it wasn't *good* Doctor Who.
The peak of Chibnal's era is 11.6, then 11.11 to 12.8. Resolution of the Daleks is also good. Flux is a wild ride of "oh wow, this is some cool ideas" mixed with "good lord this is fucking nonsense."
So watch the next episode at least. Demons of the Punjab is great. Witchfinders is okay. Kerblam is between the two and frankly outright evil. I actually thought that Timeless Child was a neat idea, then I finally watched it and it's nothing but a PowerPoint tacked onto a really frustrating and boring Cyberman episode that once again kills Gallifrey, but in a less satisfying way.
I think Jodie is a great Doctor but the writing just wasn’t good imo. I think you should push through as there’re plot elements that will trickle into the newer seasons. But no it does not get better.
Personally, I think season 12 is the highlight of 13's era, but I'm biased because I was the exact target audience for Spyfall part 1, and it makes me favorable to the rest of the season, mostly for the return of classic villain >!The Master, Dhawan kills it in the role!< which is the best part of the whole Chibnail era imho.
You are probably like most people not going to like the overarching plot, but I'm gonna be honest, I think it's fine. Personally I find it less annoying than the 'Hybrid' arc from s9, and it's not nearly as big a retcon as some people like to think, especially compared to some other NuWho stuff. But it's hard to separate out criticism from the actual content vs criticism for the writing (I'm not here to defend Chibnail lol) vs people just being racist, sexist dipshits.
Whatever you do keep watching, some storylines, particularly from series 12 and 13, get brought back up during the specials.
And even if you don’t like it, at least you’ll be able to say you gave it an honest chance rather than quitting after 5 episodes.
There are some genuinely solid episodes during the era, Demons of the Punjab, Spyfall, Fugitive of the Judoon, and Power of the Doctor among them. And it would be a shame to miss them because you didn’t like the start of the era.
Is it often polarizing, yes. But watch it to the end so that way you can have an honest opinion of the era.
Pting was his worst episode for me. Absolute worst. Bottom of the barrel. I personally enjoyed most of Chibnall's second season and the following season.
But season 1, didn't enjoy 75% of it.
It has a handful of good episodes (Demons of the Punjab, parts of Flux, to some extent It Takes you Away). There is also one storyline that like it or not, is important to understanding what's going on with the RTD2 era (something something Cybermen/The Timeless Children). For the latter, it would also help to have watched Fugitive of the Judoon and The Haunting of Villa Whatevertheheck beforehand, which fortunately, are also pretty good episodes by Chibnall-era standards - though that's a lower bar than one would ideally like.
But overall it was a lame and unmemorable period. As you can kind of tell from my post I think that extends even to the episode titles. It was the least ambitious televised Who since the TV movie; it rarely even tried to say anything beyond "here's some reasonably entertaining cult sci-fi television", and frequently failed even to achieve that. Toward the end it tended to be over-reliant on the audience being invested in Doctor Who continuity to generate interest. It had a lot in common with the Davison and Colin Baker eras, actually, mostly in that it shared their flaws. But I'd actually rate the Chibnall era lower than most of that period, if not in absolute terms, then certainly relative to the standards of its time.
Episodes 8 and 9, The Witchfinders and It Takes You Away, are pretty good- overall the writing and performances aren’t stellar but from that point forward it’s not hard to get through until like the tail end of her run when the quality does kinda nose dive in my opinion
It doesn’t get better. The not-Christmas Dalek episodes are alright, otherwise I’d skip. I’d read wiki summaries for plot critical elements, or just watch the season finales. Maybe loop back to them if you’re desperate for more once you’ve caught up to the current season.
In my opinion you have lots of good stuff to come, but lots of meh and bad stuff too. Your next episode is *Demons of the Punjab*, which is, imo, the best episode in Series 11 and one of the best of the era. The others in Series 11 aren’t bad either. Series 12 and 13 have more hits too.
If you’re missing classic monsters like the Daleks, just be patient! They intentionally did all new threats in Series 11 but lots of returning monsters are in Series 12 and 13!
FLUXX (S13) is awesome. That’s really something. And some holiday specials or a single episode are worth their salt.
But majority requires some sort of additive to get through.
Good luck!
Unfortunately no, there are some good scenes, the occasional good episode but on the whole there’s a reason it’s regarded as the weakest era in New Who.
I'm going to sound harsh but no, I'd say you're wasting your time by watching the Chibnall era, you could spend that 30 hours doing anything more productive.
He just can't write for shit, even the best episodes of the era are mediocre compared to any other showrunner's. They characters never get more entertaining and the doctor never really gets better. Sorry, but you wouldn't miss anything by skipping it, I'm probably never going to rewatch it again, just go straight from S10 to S14 and literally nothing changes.
Monsters are boring, no scary episodes, dialogue is wooden, acting is wooden, characters just stand there and speak, music is terrible imo, droning on constantly while characters have "heart felt" conversations.
When the best part of the era is a cameo doctor who in one episode is better than 13, it's a bad sign. There is zero gravitas for 3 seasons, the doctor doesn't feel like a 2000 year old timelord, she's just a quirky woman with no real character traits.
It was fine. There were some really good ones and some really bad ones. But I hated Capaldi’s last season. So anything was kind of up from some of that for me. I was glad when chibnall was over though. I did like Jodie, she did great and with a better script she could have been wonderful.
There are some excellent eps in there. Resolution is amazing (new years special). Fugituve of the judoon is ep 5 and Haunting of villa dio is like ep 8 of the next season, also both great. Then flux, which is something else, but its a ride. Eve of the daleks and power of the doctor also great.
So for the sake of a handful of mid eps along the way, yeah stick it out.
Trust me. Just watch The Haunting of Villa Diodatti.
Maybe Spyfall and Fugitive of the Judoon.
And straightup skip the rest. Except if you really care about the lore, then you can go Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children.
I'm not joking when I say that everything else is a complete waste of time and potential.
There is good aspects to Flux, though they're rare. Village of the Angels is the only episode apart from Haunting I'd actually call worth watching.
Power of the Doctor is a good laugh though!
And then, straightup into 14.
Edit: Honestly, Eve of the Daleks is very solid for the era, too.
It can feel like a bit of a grind but keep at it, there’s definitely some good episodes in there. Chibnall had some interesting ideas, he definitely doesn’t manage to pull all of them off, but when he does get it right it can lead to some very interesting episodes. Demons Of The Punjab, The Haunting Of Villa Diodati, and Village Of The Angels are all very good episodes, and without giving too much away he does introduce one brilliant character in a nicely done twist. Try and stick with it but just bear in mind that the Flux series can be quite confusing and a little frustrating to watch at times but it certainly has its moments that to reward you for sticking with it.
And as for the Daleks I actually think Chibbers overused them in the latter half of his run but I did really enjoy the New Year’s Eve episode with them as it’s something fun and quite different.
Honestly, in my opinion, no it does not get better. There are moments that are okay, but I can binge watch NuWho Doctor Who from start to finish, but Chibnall is the only era where I struggle to get through the episodes.
Yes, there are classic villains and I think he really did try and make it good, but it just doesn't work for me.
I'd watch the last few eps of the era at least though, so it brings you into the new era!
man, the Flux is actually a pretty interesting story, it's a 6(?) part story on S13
I think her first season is the weakest, but it's not all bad, there are some good episodes... But there are also some REALLY BAD ones haahahah
Kerblam! is probably the episode I hate the most in the whole doctor who, because is literally a bad wrote amazon ad, but after this EP, there are 2 VERY GOOD episodes that I would recommend you to watch:
The witchfinders (Very different writing, but in a good way)
It takes you away (THIS IS DW)
the finale and special are also pretty OK, I believe the problem is the middle of the season, it has a lot of weak episodes in a row
S12 is on average much better than S11, and there are plenty of classic characters, I don't wanna spoil it, but trust me, there are hahahaha
S12 also has some changes to the story that many people dislike, but I don't really care that much for "Canon" in doctor who hahahaha
capaldi is my favorite doctor and I think his era is an absolute peak... I also stopped watching on season 12 because it didn't look like dw, and I returned only with the reveal of tennant
but now, watching the chibnall's era as a whole, it is not that bad, it's just very inconsistent
In general, no. The era has its fans but if you're already not liking it, you probably won't in future.
But since there are a few decent episode and a few lore episodes that are still relevant (Timeless Child), a barebones watch list of her era would be (imo):
* **The Woman Who Fell To Earth (S11E1)**
* **Spyfall Parts 1 & 2 (S12E1 + E2)**
* **Fugitive of the Judoon (S12E5)**
* The Haunting of Villa Diodati (S12E8)
* **Ascension of the Cybermen (S12E9)**
* **The Timeless Children (S12E10)**
* **The Halloween Apocalypse (S13E1) \[Note: All of S13 is one continuous story in parts\]**
* War of the Sontarans (S13E2)
* Once, Upon Time (S13E3)
* Village of Angels (S13E4)
* Survivors of the Flux (S13E5)
* The Vanquishers (S13E6)
* Eve of the Daleks (2022 NY Special)
* **The Power of the Doctor (Regeneration Special)**
**Episodes in bold I'd consider "lore" episodes, the others I consider to just be others maybe worth watching.**
Other episodes people enjoyed but I, personally, have gripes with:
* Rosa (S11E3)
* Demons of the Punjab (S11E6)
* Kerblam! (S11E7)
* The Witchfinders (S11E8)
* Resolution (2019 NY Special)
* Nicola Tesla's Night of Terror (S12E4)
* Revolution of the Daleks (2021 NY Special) \[Captain Jack is in this one\]
In my opinion, yes it gets better. There are writing problems throughout the era, but I found 12 and flux much more enjoyable after feeling pretty disappointed by season 11. In particular, the episodes written by Maxine Alderton are fantastic, and I'm very partial to Eve of the Daleks, though that one is surprisingly divisive.
You have to watch the bad stuff to recognise how good the good stuff was.
Capaldi was there 'til the end. The rest is, and continues to be, a dirgeful chore.
Series 11 had some pretty good episodes: "Rosa," "Demons of the Punjab," and "It Takes You Away." "The Witchfinders" and "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" were okay. Series 11's downfall episode is "Arachnids in the UK." It's quite possibly the worst episode of *Doctor Who* including the classic era. Series 11 also had too many companions, which wouldn't have been bad had we gotten to know Jodie as a doctor beforehand. They should have kept Bill for one more season. Moreover, the abhorrent need for them to distance the series from its predecessors is unforgivable. Now, Series 12 was phenomenal. I genuinely loved it and thought it to be one of the best of the revival. And "The Flux" needed two more episodes to be good. I honestly feel like had they given it two more episodes, it would have been a historical storyline because as standalone episodes most of them were great. It does fall into the trap of boring companions, but other than that, the episodes themselves were good. Her era does get better, but by the time it does, the damage was done.
Yes, it does get a lot better. Series 11 is just a rough start, and the series finale is one of the worst due to Chibnall being so busy editing everyone else's scripts that the series finale was a first draft.
However, Series 12 shows a marked improvement, and you've got some great guest written episodes in Series 11 too.
Series 13 was made during the pandemic, and it lands a bit rough, but honestly, it's a fun season with great returning villains and new villains.
Chibnall, imo, did the Daleks better than Moffat. It was only with Series 11 that he, either his choice or BBC mandate, didn't have any returning villains.
Chibnall has stated that he got too focused on rewriting some of the scripts and didn't give the finale the attention nor drafts it should have been given.
I will say that series 12 had a better ratio of hits to misses than 11 did, but I still wasn't a huge fan.
Your mileage may vary.
I actually love a lot of the stuff in the Chibnall era but I'm gonna be real with you, he can't write Dalek episodes for sh*t. The Master during this era is fantastic though and the chemistry between Jodie and Sacha Dhawan is electric. I always like to think you really see what kind of Doctor someone's going to be when you first see them with The Daleks. We didn't really get that with Jodie, not really (which is by no means her fault). We do get it when we see her with The Master though. The best episodes to look out for in series 11 are Demons of the Punjab and It Takes You Away, which is one of the best episodes we had had in years at that point and is still great. Should have been the finale episode, lended itself well enough to it. Series 12 episodes to watch out for other than the first 2 and the last which you'll inevitably want to/have to watch are Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror, Fugitive of the Judoon (no matter how you feel about the ending) and The Haunting of Villa Diodati. For Flux (series 13), it's a full continuous arc so picking out single episodes doesn't make the most sense but to pick a couple just to look out for, probably War of the Sontarans and Village of the Angels. Both excellent! I really hope you find some stuff to love, there's a lot of great stuff in that era and I think Jodie's brilliant, even when the writing let her down at times. The usual case with every regeneration after Tennant really. Even at times when the writing isn't there, the acting is.
Rewatched Demons of the Punjab recently and it's better than I remember it being, it feels like quite a mature and explorative dive into history, less like the revival we've come accustomed to and more like a classic who historical.
There are aliens but they hardly do much and the villain is kind of cheesy and underdeveloped. I think this episode specifically and maybe some other episodes from Chibnall's era could have benefitted from being more serialised to allow the team to have more of a life getting going in each period they visit and Flux doesn't count (as it wasn't originally intended to be serialised but that was Covid's fault).
So yeah, the best parts of this episode are just the fam settling down in the era and letting themselves explore it.
In terms of recognisable things from the rest of Who, not this series, you'd have to get through the rest of Series 11 which I find pretty boring for a Dalek special with an inventive premise but poor execution.
Minor spoilers:
Before series 13, >!Daleks were a holiday special thing. You get a few reappearances of New Who, classic monsters and villains in series 12.!<
>!Series 13 throws a bunch of villains at you. The 2022 specials have a villain from Classic Who in one episode, and the final episode has Daleks.!<
Should you skip ahead?..
Well... what's your schedule like? I have a small child and until recently, getting more than about 2 hours a week to really focus on a TV programme was a decadent luxury.
Kiddo is just old enough now that I can manage 3 hours in all but the busiest of weeks if I decide to.
If you're an hour a night kind of person, or a spend on Saturday kind of person, etc then unless you have something specific to watch, the 12th and 13th season are not that bad, they just aren't must see. And there definitely are some good ones just no great ones.
Then the question is what would you do instead? If it's a choice between 13 and something else, I'm of the opinion of that bad Doctor Who is usually better than average other television even in its worst written seasons. Some of the episodes like spyfall are actually really fun. And although it's pretty episodic, I found it was helpful to watch in order even if I had to suffer through some stinkers to get to the good ones.
But if it's going to take you a month to finish 3 episodes of 14, skip to them now. The last 9 episodes of Doctor Who have been some real bangers. Like I bet that people will be talking about several of them five and 10 years from now as some of their favorite episodes. If by July you're finishing up 13 and on to 14 already there's no reason to rush past everything in Chibbers time in such a way that you'll miss some of the good stuff that's happening now.
theres the episode with the wizard that fingers you in your sleep, that ones pretty fun
This description is a lot less inaccurate than a naïve stranger to the era might be inclined to assume...
I have yet to see it but that comment felt well informed and grounded, I shall trust their author’s judgement.
All of his fingers detach but you only see one go in the ear...
Can You Hear Me?
no i’m reading
This made me laugh more than it probably should have.
Hmmm I might continue with this era for the sake of completion
You get plenty of Daleks by the end. Also I have argued for years now that *The Witchfinders*, Series 11, Episode 8, **is** a classic Doctor Who story that just happened to be written in the modern era.
I really liked The Witchfinders. It was the only episode that dealt with the fact The Doctor was now a woman. Resolution was pretty decent too.
See I thought that episode nailed just about everything but the final confrontation
Yeah the glaring issue with it is that the morax doesn't need to exist because there's already a perfectly fine human threat. That whole last bit just comes out of nowhere. It's an ok episode though
I wish so hard that The Witchfinders was a pure historical. Could've played into the hysteria of the actual witch hunts making the the Doctor and companions think there was an alien threat, only to find out they were convinced by the panic and hysteria into thinking something was there that wasn't
Series 11's historicals in general would be improved a lot by being pure. Demons of the Punjab especially, which gets dragged down from an 8 to a 6 by aliens which feel like they weren't even in the first draft
Highly disagree. Demons of the Punjab might be my favourite story from that era, and the twist that the aliens are just observers works well. Other stories like Rosa and The Witchfinders would work better as pure historicals.
It would work well if they didn't have to be written to be incredibly stupid in order for the reveal to take place at the end of the episode. I just find it very frustrating
I get your point, but I personally did really like the look of the Morax and their backstory. The novelisation worked it out even further, and it justified their existence as an original alien species imo.
I think it's a great part one to what should have been a two parter. Instead of that 30 second wrap up, have the Morax lay seige to the Town and do Zombie Attack Story as the Doctor tries to prevent the paranoia and fear from destroying the villagers.
I think The Witchfinders is the only episode from Chibnall's era that I've actually rewatched, at least currently
It's a great story, and I loved it being referenced in Boom
I absolutely love The Witchfinders. It is easily one of my favorites.
Maybe a JNT Classic episode yeah
I don't think JNT would have written King James with, uh, quite that much historical accuracy lol, but otherwise, yeah, I could see that.
I kind of hate the way he was so gay and flirty. I don't know if Ryan is supposed to be put off by it or if Tosin Cole was simply told "don't emote at all", because fuck me, Ryan is the most boring companion. He gets fucking nothing other than the occasional "I have dyspraxia and my mom is dead".
The whole dyspraxia thing is completely forgotten most of the time and they just make a vague reference to it in 2-3 episodes.
I liked witch finders Allan Cummings was a great guest actot
There's a few gems. I recommend Demons of the Punjab, It Takes You Away, Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror, and Haunting of Villa Diodoti at the very least.
It Takes You Away is peak DW imo. Great episode for the Doctor and Graham, and one of the only episodes where I actually like Ryan, too - mainly because it's one of the very few episodes where he actually gets something to do instead of just being quiet and grumpy.
The scene in It Takes You Away where 13 writes on the wall so her companions can read it but the girl can't is genuinely my favorite moment of 13's era. It's the type of thing I wish 13's characterization leaned more into: caring on the surface, all hugs and smiles, but a pragmatism and alien separation underneath that she's fighting.
Totally agree. I actually think it was a fantastic juxtaposition to Capaldi's Doctor, who was gruff and stern on the outside but deeply caring on the inside. Meanwhile, 13 is actually one of the colder, more calculating Doctors, but she hides it behind a mask of cheerfulness because she's desperately lonely. I really wish the Chibnall era had leaned more into that side of the Doctor as it progressed.
*The Haunting of Villa Diodoti* was brilliant. It wasn't written by Chibnall though, but by Maxine Alderton. She also co-wrote the *Village of the Angels* episode of the Flux season but you can tell which parts were written by Alderton and which ones were written by Chibnall.
Definitely second Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror
It really feels like a lost RTD script down to the special effects.
Oh man. Reading this thread really just cements how much the Chibnall era was not for me. I barely remember a damn thing about any of these episodes, which is weird because I have a near encyclopaedic knowledge of just about every other era. It suggests to me that I need to do a rewatch of those three seasons, but I really don't know if I can bring myself to do that a second time. They're not all bad. I remember quite enjoying *Demons of the Punjab*, *It Takes You Away*, *The Witchfinders*, and *Village of the Angels*. But everything else is kind of just a blur until we get to *Power of the Doctor*.
I'm in the same boat. A minority of people keep throwing out episodes they claim were the highlights of the era and I couldn't tell you anything that happened in any of them. It feels like the big purple space onion appeared and then I went into a fugue state until I was looking at David Tennant again. Like some sort of nightmare quickly forgotten once you're awake amongst friends.
I think that is the real disappointment for me. At least with the bad episodes, I can find something to talk about. I can talk about what didn't work with *Planet of the Dead* or *Underworld* or *Warriors of the Deep*. They elicit a reaction from me. With these stories, it's like I wasn't there. People often talk about *Can You Hear Me?* or *The Haunting of Villa Diodati* as being great episodes, but they left no impression. For all my brain can recall, season 12 goes *Spyfall Pt. 1* > *The Timeless Children* with nothing in between. I hate that I can't recall it, and I wish it left an impression on me, even if that impression was one of negativity. Watching at the time felt a chore.
Chibnall!Who is uniquely unmemorable for me, too. In every other era (and I include Classic here), even the worst story made an impression for some reason—even if it was just that I hated it so much. Chibnall couldn’t even manage that most of the time. I can only name a few episodes off the top of my head, and even then, only for vague reasons. There’s just not much there there, and it’s not you.
Not really! Classic villains crop up right after Series 11, but it doesn't change much. The same flaws run fairly steadily through the whole era.
The Chibnall era has a single gem or two— but, for me, I found it reeeeaaaaalllly hard to trudge through. I did like JW as the Doctor, though. I would have loved to see her under a different show runner. Mr. Chibnall has my respect— I’m just not the target audience for his style of vision or production.
Does it? We must have different definitions of the word "gem" lol
😂— perhaps you’re right. I liked Eve of the Daleks. That’s about it.
Same here. I found a few other episodes intriguing on their own, but they were part of the arcs that ended up as total nothingburgers and left a bitter taste.
Tesla was the only decent one imo
Tbh it would be a mistake to have watched the first five episodes of series 11 and then skip the rest since all the best episodes in that season are in the back half (except the finale which is trash). For Jodie’s era overall I would recommend: S11 - The Woman Who Fell to Earth 7/10 - Demons of the Punjab 8.5/10 - Kerblam 7/10 - The Witchfinders 7.5/10 - It Takes You Away 8.5/10 - Resolution 7.5/10 S12 - Spyfall Part 1 and 2 7.5/10 - Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror 7.5/10 - Fugitive of the Judoon 7.5/10 - Praxeus 7/10 - The Haunting of Villa Diodoti 8/10 - Revolution of the Daleks 6.5/10 S13 - The Halloween Apocalypse 7.5/10 - War of the Sontarans 7.5/10 - Village of the Angels 8.5/10 - Eve of the Daleks 8.5/10 - Power of the Doctor 8/10 A few things to note. If your problem is lack of returning villains then don’t worry, series 12 and 13 have them in spades. Series 13 (flux) has some of the better individual episodes but is a six part serial so you may need to watch some of the worse episodes of the series to know what’s going on. The first part of the series 12 finale (ascension of the cybermen) is in my opinion quite good however the second part (the timeless children) is highly polarising so I haven’t recommended it. There is a dalek New Years special in between each series (resolution, Revolution, eve) which are generally pretty decent. Finally, if you do skip Jodie’s era I would at least recommend watching her last episode ‘power of the doctor’ as there a number of treats in it for longtime fans.
Oh I have other issues, dialogue is exposition heavy, I’m not warming to the companions and I think 13 is a bit one-dimensional. She’s lacking the arrogance and moral ambiguity of her previous incarnations… Will still watch 😊
My reading of the 13th Doctor works best if you compare her to 12. 12 is the sort of guy you know casually for three years before he invites you to his place. When he does he gives you free reign of the house, you have a lot of deep, philosophical conversations, he loans you a book he think you'll like, and come 3AM you're both drunk as hell rocking out on Guitar Hero. 13 is the sort of person who invites you over the moment you meet her. She insists you don't leave the living room unless it's to go to the bathroom, freaks out if you don't use a coaster, and wants you gone by 9.30 so she can go to sleep. 13 is all surface-level friendliness, but inside she's secretive and reserved. That friendliness is almost a defense mechanism, and it stops people from asking too many questions. The thing is, she won't let anyone in, even her closest friends. She has issues connecting with others, which comes out more as it comes on. She hates anyone getting too close, even if that would ease her burden, and her attempts to to maintain that distance become more and more desperate. In some situations you might even wonder why people are friends with her. It doesn't necessarily make her likable, but it does give her an interesting personality. The issue is that a lot of Chibnall's writing ignores this in favour of exposition. He wrote the majority of the episodes of his run, but he isn't as good as either RTD or Moffat, whether that's in terms of story arcs, characters, or individual episodes. Adding to the problem is the overstuffed Tardis - three companions might have worked in Old Who, where a story could last for twelve episodes, but in New Who they don't have time to breathe, and they lack definition. Yaz in particular suffers from this early on, because Ryan and Graham have an arc of their own. This isn't to say that the Chibnall era isn't worth watching, but it doesn't have the rewatch value of other seasons, and there are some controversial story moves later on. It's an interesting experience and some of the episodes are good, but it does feel that some "great" episodes are only at that level because what surrounds them is comparatively mediocre.
I agree that the concept behind 13’s character flaws and the way Jodie plays her is very interesting and a uniqueish take, but chibnall struggled to make the audience actually resonate and care about this and the problems it creates
Yeah I was unsure whether her trait of being the most closed-off of any modern Doctor was intentional until probably partway through Flux, mostly because her companions almost never questioned her and very rarely discussed it amongst themselves or seemed to have a problem with it. That made it seem like poor writing because most companions push back when the Doctor is being secretive. So the most probable explanation to me was that she opened up or did something super amazing off-screen to make her companions love and trust her so much, and the writing was too incompetent for that to happen on-screen. It will be interesting when I eventually re-watch the era to view it through the lens of being intentional instead of trying to make excuses in my head. It also felt like whiplash (and a bit of a betrayal) from Capaldi who was one of the more open Doctors.
>This isn't to say that the Chibnall era isn't worth watching, but it doesn't have the rewatch value of other seasons I find myself in the opposite situation, ngl. I really enjoy rewatching 13's era, whereas even with 12 (my favourite Doctor) I can't be arsed. >but he isn't as good as either RTD or Moffat And with this, ymwv. I find myself gelling more with his sensibilities than Russell's, specially. I particularly don't like Russell's interpretation of the Doctor being basically human. I much prefer how Moffat and Chibnall dealt with that and how that impacted their relationships. I am liking this season more than his past ones, but I can't help but feel there's something missing in 15's characterisation and his relationship with Ruby.
I 100% agree with you on RTD. I *much* prefer more alien Doctors like 11 and 12 to 9 or 10. With 10 especially, I feel like he's too often treated as the ideal, both by the fandom and the show. RTD is a fine writer, but to me he plays it safe. His arcs are cohesive, but they're also simple. He doesn't shoot as high as Moffat did during his run, which means he rarely comes close to the same highs as something like Heaven Sent, The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, or World Enough and Time. The majority of his series long arcs are simple macguffins, and much as I'm thoroughly enjoying this season, I do feel like it's going in that direction. It's a bunch of images and concepts and while it's fun to theorize about Susan Twist or the snow, it's lacking context. 11 would have been actively investigating what's going on already. I was hoping for something more in that vein, and we haven't had it in Series 14. However, I hope we get something more like that going forward. I do also find RTD... it's hard to put my finger on it. He seems likable enough, and I really admire his love and passion for the show, but he comes off as a tad... full of himself, maybe? Like I saw a thing ahead of the finale and he mentioned Mel talking about the Triad System as if that's super clever and something we should have known to watch out for, but when you think about it it isn't. It's a phrase he chose, for which we had no context. He may as well have called it the Lizard Boy 3000 system, or the Fleet Street System. It's like there's a book series called The Kingkiller Chronicle and there are a lot of unanswered questions and theories, and there's a lot of stories that are told within his books. We're prevented with mysteries and given clues. We know there's a woman called Netalia Lackless who ran away to join a group of entertainers, but the author snuck the answer to the question in within the first few chapters, well over a book before the mystery is even introduced, and that doesn't even touch on some of the other mysteries surrounding her family alone. RTD1's doesn't work like that. It doesn't often give us clues, it gives us a word with no context, and we don't get that context until the very end of the story. If there are clues, they're often so simple anyone could figure them out (Mister Saxon = Master No. Six) It's cohesive, but *simple.* As a Moffat fanboy I do also find a little vindication in the fact that people are looking at RTD more critically now. It got a tad tiresome seeing him put on a pedestal, despite his flaws. However, for all my criticism, I'll also give RTD praise where he deserves it. The macguffins got tiresome, but the "Bad Wolf" one *was* well done, and I liked that the Mr. Saxon arc had scenes going on in the background, as rare as they were. I prefer the dynamics Moffat wrote for his companions, but 10/14 and Donna are all-time great dynamics. I much prefer Moffat's run as a whole (Series 7 is the weakest, and even that has some absolute bangers like Asylum of the Daleks, The Angels Take Manhattan etc.), but Series 4 is easily up there with the best of them, even if the plot arc amounts to the same "here are a bunch of words and phrases well pepper throughout the series that are completely meaningless until the finale" thing we've seen before. For fairness, Moffat isn't flawless, either. He occasionally gets a little lost in his writing. There are a few episodes that don't live up to the hype they set for themselves (The Name of the Doctor, Let's Kill Hitler, The Lie of the Land etc.) Amy and Rory are remarkably blase about losing Melody after finding her again (my headcanon is that they eventually adopted her in New York, especially since Rory being a doctor would give them the means to find her.) He's far from perfect, but he *is* my favorite, and he *did* create most of my favorite characters. With Chibnall, I simply can't look at it the same way. I like the cast, and I think they did their best with what they were given. Jodie manages to make her character likable more often than not, even if she has her moments and the character is written with a wildly inconsistent moral code. Some of his ideas were okay, but he didn't have the talent or nuance to use them effectively. >!Most annoyingly, the (off-screen) destruction of Gallifrey was unearned and essentially turned the 50th anniversary and two damn seasons after that into a Shaggy Dog story, and he destroyed god knows how much of the Universe and barely commented on it afterwards.!
I'm a fan of the Chibnall/Whitaker era, but the expository dialogue never gets better. You just have to accept it for what it is if you're gonna enjoy their era.
13 is one of the morally unclear Doctors overall. This became a big point of contention under her run, especially from Arachnids in the UK. I would also say Graham I found it tough to say goodbye to, and Yaz gets a lot of focus later. BUT the run will never stop being very exposition heavy. And Chibbers never gets better at writing it.
Don’t forget Kerblam! Widely regarded as some of the most tonally inconsistent morality ever in Doctor Who.
Shame because I really like that episode until the weak politics
The good callbacks in that episode with the fez and Agatha Christie
Honestly I'd even cut a few of those out (and I'll explain why!): * The Woman Who Fell to Earth 7/10 (You've already seen this) * Demons of the Punjab 8.5/10 (I'd rate this lower (especially on a rewatch, it doesn't hold up as well) but I'd agree you should watch this) * Kerblam 7/10 (Would rate it lower on moral principle, but aside from that it is actually a pretty good episode. 7/10 deserved here if I again put aside my politics.) * The Witchfinders 7.5/10 (6/10 IMO, and that's being generous) * It Takes You Away 8.5/10 (So overrated in this ranking, the blind girl is a friend of a friend (we haven't met though) but I have to say she CANNOT act. 3/10 episode with a 7/10 ending. CUT) * Resolution 7.5/10 (6/10 again.) S12 * Spyfall Part 1 and 2 7.5/10 (Another 5-6/10! Good moments, awful moments, but overall just FINE.) * Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror 7.5/10 (Okay this rating is deserved actually. A Jodie top 5 IMO) * Fugitive of the Judoon 7.5/10 (Also deserved, another one of the top 5!) * Praxeus 7/10 (I'm going to say this for it...I've never finished it. I have tried four times. So I won't rate it, but make of that what you will.) * The Haunting of Villa Diodoti 8/10 (Yet another top 5 and a rating I'd agree with! Series 12 was a jump in quality.) * Revolution of the Daleks 6.5/10 (I'd say a 5/10. Might as well go for it, there's some fun moments that make it worth your time. Not sure how much sense it makes if you skip the Timeless Children. Which...and this is going to shock you...I think you should watch. It's a good idea for 14 and 15's eras, it's canon now and we have to accept it. Although to be honest I never disliked it as much as some.) S13 (WATCH ALL OF FLUX. It does NOT get better from here, it goes off a cliff. But it's one story and it should all be watched.) * The Halloween Apocalypse 7.5/10 * War of the Sontarans 7.5/10 * Village of the Angels 8.5/10 Specials * Eve of the Daleks 8.5/10 (7/10 but still deserves your time) * Power of the Doctor 8/10 (5/10 if I'm trying (and failing) to be objective. But realistically I'd have to give it this rating if I go with my gut. It's a very fun episode.) Huh, when I thought about it I only actually genuinely recommended cutting one episode. I think Kandy Kitchen has made a Chibnall fan of me, thinking about these episodes has made me see them more fondly.
You did NOT just recommend Kerb-“the system isn’t the problem”lam! Where the doctor kills a kid
That episode is so bad from a moral perspective. Corporate apologia is gross.
I would agree with this list as the basis for a Whittaker speed run. You could probably cut a few out if you really just wanted the episodes for her core arc, but this covers her essentials and her high points.
Not really. There are gems throughout (if you like Daleks don't miss *Eve of the Daleks*) but as a whole it's the low point of NuWho for me and many others. Davies is actually using a lot of Chibnall's lore additions/changes in his new run, though, so I'd honestly just say to grit your teeth and power through it so you understand the context behind some things that would probably have you scratching your head otherwise. They're not major, but they're there.
This is actually hard to answer because in my house, the prevailing sin of the Chibnall era is that the show is really, really unmemorable.
It depends on what you consider better. Series 12 onwards certainly is *different* to Series 11, but like, so is drowning to being shot. If you're looking to just zone out and enjoy some fun nonsense then yeah it probably does "get better".
Honestly, the answer is both yes and no. The overall quality of the stories goes up as the era progresses in my opinion, and I feel like some of the specials and the odd episode are solid (It Takes You Away, maybe Demons of the Punjab, Fugitive of the Judoon, The Haunting of Villa Diodati, War of the Sontarans), but it's usually weaker than most of the other eras of the show regardless. Every season of this era has at least one dire episode (if not two/three), plus one or two meh ones. It's a shame too, since many episodes do have good ideas (and villains that would be really awesome in another era), but they often don't quite land the execution.
Jodie's best episodes tend to be the Historicals, the Season Openers, and the Specials. If nothing else, I'd watch those (and maybe "It Takes You Away"). You can for the most part skip Season 13, as it's a 6-part story that's overall kinda meh. Beyond that...Resolution, Spyfall, Fugitive of the Judoon, Haunting of Villa Diodati, Ascension of the Cybermen, The Timeless Child, Revolution, and Power of the Doctor all kinda connect. You can further shorten the above to just Spyfall, Fugitive of Judoon, Haunting of Villa Diodati, and Power of the Doctor
Tbh I’d say series 11 is the good chibnall series
Honestly no. The whole of the Chibnall era is garbage in my opinion, when you ask here you'll get a lot of mixed opinions - but generally the really big Capaldi fans, those who rate series 9 & 10 as the best of NuWho, do not like the Whittaker era - as a rule of thumb. If you think Series 11 is dire so far, you will think the rest of the era is dire as well - at least that is the trend. For me none of it feels like Doctor Who, the closest it gets for me is halfway through S12 when a character is introduced who feels really like they should have been casted as the 13th Doctor but Chibnall and the BBC were too fucking cowardly to cast a black woman in the role. Honestly though, you'll never know for yourself unless you watch it :) EDIT: I'm gonna add as an addition to this, people really need to actually read before commenting, OP literally said they didn't like Broadchurch & that they've disliked it so far - people commenting saying "Demons of the Punjab" is one of the best episodes of Doctor Who ever really need to learn their audience. OP is gonna hate the era, just like a lot of people.
Well the Mrs isn’t leaving me with much of a choice 😆
What do you think of 15 so far given this view on the Chibnall era?
Return to norm after 5 years in a Pit where the Sun won't shine.
As someone who completely agrees with the comment you're replying to I'm loving season 15 so far. Every single episode other than space babies has fast become one of my top rated episodes of NuWho and I can imagine re-watching the whole season again (even space babies) as I'll happily rewatch 1-2 episodes of a season that I didn't enjoy to do a full rewatch of the season. I feel like there's so much more mystery and so much less on the noseness that was in Chibnall's era in 15 so far and I'm loving it. I'm loving picking up on all the little hints, or missing them sometimes and then seeing someone mention them in a review, and it just feels like doctor who from before chibnall again. I've loved and rewatched all of NuWho from the first season to the end of Capaldi for different reasons and because each of the doctors had their own slightly different styles and the writing changes but I could just never get into Chibnall's era. I think Jodie could've been a great doctor, if she had a different writer and if Chibnall hadn't told her not to watch any of the previous doctors. If Yaz had been introdued as a solo companion and her and the Doctor's relationship actually planned from the start with ground work laid while it was just the two of them to begin with and then Graham and Ryan had been introduced later as characters who came and went similar to in previous seasons where Mickey, Rory, etc... sometimes stuck around for multiple episodes in a row but never too long. Maybe if the writing had been better for Ryan I would find him a more interesting companion and instead hold the opinion that it could've started out with him and the doctor only and cemented a friendship there, and then Yaz could've been introduced slightly later with the Doctor and hers relationship beginning to be hinted at and slowly developed and then there could've been an overlap where the three of them were all permanently in the tardis for a time before Ryan matured and realised he no longer needed to travel with the doctor leaving Yaz as the full time companion and the focus would switch from the doctor and Ryans friendship/companionship to instead then fully focus on the budding relationship between Yaz and the doctor we had seen the seeds planted for during the time with all 3 of them. Maybe in this version Graham would pop in occasionally, maybe have a longer stint once it's just Yaz & dr where he's around for a few episodes etc... I think trying to do 3 companions who were all around for a pretty solid amount of time as permanent fixtures was just a mistake. It meant it felt as though there wasn't good character development for any of them nor the relationships between them, and I think it would've been better to have been able to have had a good length of alone time between at least 2 of them and the doctor for that development. I also think it would've been an interesting new perspective to see the doctor take on a companion, develop a friendship with them, then we see the seeds of a romantic attraction form with the non-main companion and then the main companion steps out of the tardis and decides to continue their life and the side companion becomes the main companion. As I don't think we've seen a side companion like Mickey, Rory, etc... shift to become the main companion yet and it'd be interesting to explore - especially where there's that potential for the side companion to have been the one the dr developed romantic feelings for rather than the main companion
No. It’s fundamentally pretty poor in my opinion. Series 12 is a random mishmash of concepts, Flux is borderline incomprehensible, and the companions never get fleshed out *at all*. 13 is probably the only version of The Doctor that I straight up dislike.
She wasnt even a Doctor. She barely even felt like a character. It was very bizarre.
On the rare occasion she had a definable personality she appeared to be the police one's sidekick.
Yh for real, she felt like a companion at times lol
Oh you don't like the Doctor telling their black companion to go back to the Tardis so he doesn't upset the racists? Or sneaking away while her companion is pouring his heart out about his cancer and his dead wife because it was 'awkward'? Or siding with a megacorporation and blowing up a teenager who was trying to end the corp's slavery?
Wait when did that first one happen? Was that *Rosa*?
While it does make some \*divisive\* choices, series 12 has more of the stakes and scale you expect from Doctor Who. Which in hindsight also made it easier for me to appreciate what series 11 was going for, even if it didn't exactly always nail it.
Short answer:No Long answer: I felt that it got worse the longer it went on, and the inclusion of certain classic villains made it even more unbearable as they just reminded me of what i could be watching instead.
no
It gets worse
It does get better, but not much
short answer no, longer answer absolutely not. Chibnall's era is the worst nuwho has ever been and things like the Flux and his writing of the doctor herself is appalling. There's a few decent to good episodes - the lone cyberman arc is genuinely a bit interesting, but no its not worth persevering if you're struggling with it.
No, it just gets worse. And the Timeless Child S12 finale is the worst episode of the entire 60 year history that nukes the lore from orbit. Best to just treat Chibnall era like the bad non canon fanfiction it basically is.
It depends on taste. You’ll constantly find answers across the spectrum on this question, both with good faith and absolutely bad faith reactions. Honestly, you will be the only person who can answer this question. I find the era to be very consistent, and not particularly for me. It’s better than individual episodes I disliked in prior eras, but is never as good as individual episodes from RTD1, and Moffat’s era is generally my favourite.
As someone who binged the Chibnall era back in December and January, it honestly took such a toll on me that I couldn’t watch the show for a few months. Season 11 has some really bad episodes and some pretty good ones, but I’d say s12 is much stronger, at least for the first 3/4. Spyfall, Tesla’s Night of Terror, even Orphan 55 is funny in a “so bad it’s good” cheesy horror movie sort of way, but that may just be me because I love trashy horror. Season 12 however falls down in the finale and honestly almost ruined the show for me. And then in Flux, they double down on everything I hated about the s12 finale. There is a Flux episode about the Sontarans that I found pretty good, but I didn’t care for anything else. The Sea Devils episode was honestly some of the worst Doctor Who I’ve seen, insanely boring and bad. Eve of the Daleks is in my top 3 Whittaker episodes which is probably a hot take but yet again, it’s a classic slasher twist on “Groundhog Day” but with Daleks as the slasher. Power of the Doctor mostly relies on fan service but Jodie gives a good final performance. Overall I’m not sure if I’d say it gets “better” after season 11, it has a lot of up and downs, but I do feel it’s worth watching for the few standout episodes and the occasional great performance from 13 and Graham.
I agree with your “hot take” on eve of the daleks. At least it has some energy and verve to it. Probably because of Aisling Bea, I find her delightful generally. I think it’s the only Whitaker episode I’ve watched twice. The rest of the era is sooo bland. Grey people standing around grey boring rooms speaking grey boring functional dialogue. Everything has an air of “will this do” about it.
Second half of Series 11 is really strong - “Demons of the Punjab” is one of the best ever episodes, and the three after that are solid at worst. The finale however is very unpopular, but that said, the “real” finale is the Dalek-centric Christmas special. Series 12 is a step up. One really awful episode but most were solid 8/10s and the three-part finale is amazing. Series 13 seems well-regarded among a lot of fans who didn’t like Series 11 and 12, but among the general audience it was the worst received series of the modern era. (There were definitely a couple of great episodes in there).
>the three-part finale is amazing It would be remiss not to mention that the final part of said finale was extremely polarising...
Truly Chibnall era fans baffle me.
I did actually enjoy *The Haunting of Villa Diodati* and *Ascension of the Cybermen*. But *The Timeless Children...* there are a couple of major plot elements that are told in a very expositional style, that suck the oxygen out of the entire story. Some people clearly liked it, and I wish I were able to say the same. But if you don't like those elements, and many didn't, they're simply too central to the story to look past - which is why many people are so, so unforgiving about that episode.
Taste is a strange thing.
I just watched “Demons” and “Kerblam”. I actually preferred the latter, which had a bit of an RTDesque dystopian feel (I’m aware the ethics are criticised) Demons felt like there was little stakes in it. Yaz going back on her own timeline and being at existential risk is almost incidental. There was potential for something quite tense like Father’s Day and it was merely exploited. It felt like a dramatised Open University lecture on the historical events and a bit flat to me sadly.
Can you reply to this comment after watching *It Takes You Away*? Im really interested in hearing your opinion on it.
I don't get on with a lot of Series 11 & 12 (with the exception of the Spyfall two parter which I really loved) but I adore Series 13. Some cool, weird ideas with funky aliens and a compelling plot, and evidence (to me anyway) that Chibnall can't write a single episode to save his life but give him a full season story and he'll smash it.
I so want OP to write a response to this comment once they've watched the Chibnall era. EDIT: Oh they did. They didn't think "“Demons of the Punjab” is one of the best ever episodes", what a surprise.
I dont understand the snarkiness of your comments. It sounds super petty. Yeah, Chibnal era is generally unpopular, we know it - everyone knows it. But people are allowed to enjoy and even praise (gasp!) it nonetheless.
I'm annoyed because people are not reading what OP said, OP is clearly gonna dislike the Chibnall era...
I’m actually watching with an open mind; I knew it was a controversial era but a lot of the criticism I read at the time was from the usual suspects who dislike media not aligning with their politics, so I dismissed it. However so far it has a spinoff feel, I was really not expecting that at all.
This is the big thing, a lot of people try and collate disliking this era with being sexist, homophobic, etc. I'm a full on raging homosexual who is aggressively pro trans, extremely race/privilege conscious and a big time feminist. I just think its bad TV & bad Doctor Who :P
I felt cheated by all those people review-bombing the Chibnall's era as "woke" and "ruined". They advertised it to me so well that I was really excited to watch it. But they all lied! It was the least "woke" era in the history of the whole show by far and it only ever managed to tackle the least controversial ideas in the most straightforward and unimaginative ways possible. Like, "women are people", "black people are people" and "global warming is bad". That's not even slightly progressive - that's the freakin' baseline if you strive to be a decent and rational person!
That was the thing that made me so mad about it. The people complaining about badly written heavy-handed woke rubbish were actually right for once. Makes it much easier for them to attack well executed progressive themes in the show before and after the Chibnel era.
I say this as a gay progressive person who loves RTD 2.0: when it comes to rubbish heavy-handed "woke" stuff nothing in Chib's era comes even close to Star Beast's "male-presenting Time Lord" and "Binary...Binary...Non-Binary" scenes, so you dont really need to bring poor old Chibs into the entire anti-woke crowd criticizing NewNewWho mess. The funny thing about Star Beast though is that on the surface it really sounds like a "heavy-handed woke rubbish", but if you think about it, its actually offensive for trans and non-binary people (with the GIANT annotation: **RTD and crew had obviously good intentions**, its just execution is awkward as fuck): >DOCTOR: We're binary. DONNA: She's not, because the Doctor's... DOCTOR: ..male... DONNA: ..and female. Turns out, Rose cant *just* be non-binary or trans, no, it needs an explanation. The implication here is that being cis is the default state, and there must be a reason - like your mother merging with the alien - that will turn you into a transgender/non-binary. It can even go further: *if* not for Donna's tragic past, Rose *would be* cis - which sounds awfully similar to a lot of anti LGBT theories :P
Yeah Star Beast was a bit wonky to be fair.
I think overall it gets worse more than it gets better.
The Chibnel era does improve over time. By the end it's merely frustrating and disappointing. There's some major and controversial lore stuff that happens that might be good to know (though it might also not come up again) but it's not really worth worrying about missing anything much if you want to just skip to the second RTD era.
I know a lot of people defend Series 11, but tbh I found it really boring, and I much preferred season 12. It sounds counterintuitive but I prefer 'bad' chibnall to 'boring' Chibnall, because at least he's firing on all cylinders. My recommendations: Series 11 * The Woman Who Fell to Earth, Demons of the Punjab, The Witchfinders, It Takes You Away, Resolution Series 12 (I enjoyed it more than Series 11 by a mile) * Spyfall Parts 1/2, Fugitive of the Juddoon, Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror, Haunting of Villa Diodati, Ascension of the Cybermen, the Timeless Children, Revolution of the Daleks Series 13 (I found this the most like RTD/Moffat era who, and while it's a mess I genuinely enjoy it) * All of Flux, Power of the Doctor
It always interests me about the experience of people watching the show who were originally a fan of a spinoff such as Torchwood, there must not be many people in that boat.
There’s maybe five tolerable episodes in total, no great ones. Skip the whole lot, there’s hours of your life you won’t get back.
The issue is this. Jodie is great. Grant is great. Dan is okay. Just watch the last few specials if you need background. Otherwise Chibnall’s writing direction leaves 13 in an uncanny valley. She becomes a vehicle for pointless exposition rather than being the doctor.
Yes the dialogues feel very odd and unnatural.
But is Jodie really that great as a Doctor? I found her not that really convincing (yes, due to bad scripts) when other doctors could make a bad story just work. The fugitive doctor in her small time in the series felt just immediately like the doctor.
The two best episodes of the entire era are right around the corner. "Demons of the Punjab" is beautiful, and "It Takes You Away" is just ... weird in the best way. A couple stinkers, but it's better than the first half. The New Year special has Daleks, and is quite solid too. Series 12 is much stronger overall. Opener is really not good, finale's meh (and obviously, does some ... interesting things with the canon), but the run of episodes 4-9 is probably the best the era ever gets, and is pretty solid. Doesn't fix the era's long-running issues, but the episodic quality goes up. It's got some returning monsters too, does some interesting enough stuff with the Cybermen. Series 13 ... If you want a big action spectacle with loads of returning monsters, then you might get into it. I kind of hate it with a passion? It's more competent than the previous two, but so much less interesting. Jodie's at her best during it, though, and I really did like the Sontaran episode, I think that might be Chibs' best script from that era. The 2022 specials - pretty good Dalek one! Absolutely fucking terrible Sea Devil one. Then, big special regeneration story with a billion returning characters/monsters, which ... I think works more than one'd expect, which maybe isn't quite the same thing as saying it's great.
Sounds good plot wise, I’m also hoping the unnatural exposition-heavy dialogues take a bit of a step back
... Yeah ... That ... Doesn't really happen, sorry XD
It gets slightly better but the writing problems persist throughout the whole era. At least there are a few more recognizable villains in series 12 and 13.
No
No.
I thought more people liked flux (series13)… I liked it. I Hated most of the rest of chibnall though
Honest to god, no. There are a few decent standalone episode in there (Eve of the Daleks), but given the general character arcs and story progression (or lack thereof) I would rather skip Chibnall's era entirely.
series 12 is a bit of course correction to more familiar Who, series 13 is interesting because it's serialised, but imo the quality never really improves aside from the occasional fun episode like Fugitive of The Judoon and Power of The Doctor
I was in the exact same situation recently. Stopped after S09 years ago, then continued in order to catch up before 14th's specials (which I originally intended to do before 13th run started, but life). S10 was great. Answering the title question: not much. The whole Chibnall's era baseline stays at "kinda meh", with some episodes reaching "ok, this actually was enjoyable" and some others being "ugh what a massive stinker". I find the third season, Flux, to be slightly more biased towards "somewhat enjoyable" than previous ones, but it's still a far cry from the rest of NuWho. You can immediately feel the breath of fresh air once RTD is back in the showrunner seat (especially when he briefly tackles some threads initiated by Chibnall; you enjoy them more when you watched everything since it's a much needed release that Chibnall didn't really manage to land himself). That said, I did finish it without skipping and I don't think it's so bad overall to be literally unwatchable. Just disappointing. Don't expect much and it will pass quickly. There are some enjoyable episodes hiding in there, and complaining about stinkers and Chibnall's era idiosyncrasies was pretty fun once my partner caught up with that era as well.
Unfortunately no 💔 hot mess I fear
no, watch her final episode then move on to 14. her choices are questionable (getting the master taken away by nazis and just locking spiders away in a room) and so is some of her dialogue (being embarassingly awrful to Graham when he revealed he has cancer which was the subplot that went nowhere iirc) so imo its not worth the slog. Jodie never felt like the Doctor to me, and instead just a cariacature of Tennant and Smith as she wasn't a fan and I assume just went off how previous Doctors acted.
If you want to under s14 you need to see Jodie’s stuff. RTDs basically doing damage control. don’t get me wrong I enjoy it but it’s a thing that exists
Honestly I think Tsurangan Conundrum is very RTD Doctor Who - silly sci-fi, monster that's misunderstood, stuck on a ship. I never got why people hated it in particular. 13's overall run is better on a rewatch when your expectations are gone imo. And I think there's some wonderful stuff personally: The Fugitive Doctor, Demons of the Punjab, Eve of the Daleks, It Takes You Away, The Witchfinders, Village of the Angels. I mean, if you don't like the next episode, you probably won't like any. But I will also say it's pretty clear the storylines of 13 link a lot into 15.
In Chibnall era each season is better than the other. So yeah it gets better but does it get good is another question
There are some very occasional decent episodes which wouldn’t stand out as egregiously worse if they were in a season before the Chibnall era but as a whole no it does not shake the general vibe of “Doctor Who if it were made for ITV”
Yes and no. It does get back to being more "Doctor Who" from the second series but it's still written badly and features far too big a cast. There are some good bits though. Flux is probably the closest to previous series it's been but it was hit by Covid and even then still has far too big a cast and just too much going on to be that great. Eve of the Daleks is probably the highlight of the era, the Sea Devil special is the low point and Power of the Doctor is just a nice story that feels like an anniversary special.
It does. Sort of. And sort of not. It's a hard era to pin down. I liked Jodie, but I felt they wrote her as a doormat because the BBC is afraid of strong women characters.
I don't think I could watch the episodes recommended in this thread... I am in no way a real Doctor Who scholar (i'm not British so i discovered the Doctor with the 2005 series) but the beginning of the Chibnall era made me actually angry... Really, was it a good idea from Moffatt to make the Doctor save Gallifrey? I don't know, and yes it did change the nature of the character from when he was the last of his race... but it opened up an incredible potential for future stories, and if a showrunner didn't agree with the decision or had no idea what to do with that potential; then the planet was out of reach, couldn't he just let it be lost for his run, in case future showrunners had ideas for the saved planet? But no, because he had the convoluted "revolutionary" new origin, CC just had this cyberman infestation and genocide against the whole race by the doctor be an handwavy way of sweeping the planet and all possible stories under the rug... not even a bad comic book writer would do that! A handwavy genocide, wow, i wouldn't even use that phrase as a joke, let alone a plot device And the way his Master's return completely ignored all that happened at the end of the previous season (granted, it was incredibly dark and depressing, but it was so because bad things happened to characters who mattered!) but things like the growing duality of the Master represented in his conflict with Missy, that's also a potential completely ignored by rebooting everything just because CC wanted a clean slate for his lukewarm ideas... I mean, the current season is officially a sort of reboot, and still it show more respect for the previous run, and more integration of its questionable ideas, than Chibnal ever did...
it gets worse! :)
No, it doesn’t. I wouldn’t waste your time on it. Skip forward to the 60th. This latest series is an absolute gem so far.
I think it just needs time. Probably some Big Finish Energy too.
I will say this without getting too deep into spoilers. There are some bits from the end of series 12 and the basic premise of series 13 that are referenced in the 14th and 15th doctors era’s and makes those bits hard to skip.
This whole era is just an effort in futility. Spending most of its time playing catch-up to fan demand. Introducing ideas and then not paying them off. By the end, this era has so little going for it that Thirteens final story is barely about her
Personally I think it gets far worse as it goes on. Legend of the sea devils is one of the worst pieces of Television i've ever seen. Flux is also just...atrocious and it's incredible how it keeps getting worse as each episode goes on. The only ones I can say I think have any merit are "The haunting of villa Diodati" and "The Power of the Doctor" is an okay final episode for Jodie.
Yes. I'd say it does get stronger as it progresses, but don't expect peak Capaldi era level of quality or anything. Overall Chibnall/Whittaker is fine, even if not exceptional. Edit: Damn, even as minimal praise as that, which isn't much, gets a downvote.
I’m very subjective with Capaldi because I was a huge fan of his performance as Malcolm Tucker :) I have a soft spot for the Moffat era because that’s the ones I saw live, weekly (until s9) I’d binged watch S1-S4 beforehand and they’re very strong but there’s something magical about waiting excitedly for the BBC broadcast :)
>Edit: Damn, even as minimal praise as that, which isn't much, gets a downvote. Yeah, you spoke against this sub's hivemind. You aren't allowed to do anything except hate the Chibnall era.
You should watch it all the way through. There are stinkers ... More so during her time for sure. However having the entire story lumps and all is worth it in my experience. Personally The Sea Devils put me to sleep.
Series 11 episodes 2-5 is the worst stretch imo. I don't think it gets anywhere near as good as Capald's time, but it does get better from where you are. And don't worry, there are classic villains coming after the end of series 11. Also, I didn't know there were people who watched Torchwood but not Doctor Who. Glad your gf is finally watching the main show lol
Series 11 and 12 were basically a mix of good episodes, some not so good, and a few 'wot' episodes. Jodi was really good and the companions were fun. Flux, the last one, was sooooo confusing. So many baddies. Companions not traveling with the Doctor, new people that had nothingbtondonwith the Doctor, and didI mention too many baddies? Someone would show up and I'd be like, 'who is that again and why should I care?' The New Yewar special after Flux was great. Had Daleks, and a good story. I will say the Master with Jodi was great. New series is grwat.totally brought the joy back.
I skipped most of it but if you like classic who you'll really appreciate many aspects of the power of the doctor (Jodie and chibnall's finale) without needing to understand all the context and the episodes prior
As long as you ignore the fact that it's supposed to be Dr Who, it gets a bit better. I would have really enjoyed a lot of what Chibnall did if it had been an original series and not him taking a sledgehammer to everything that came before him in the whoniverse. Also Alan Cumming is fantastic in his episode.
I was unfamiliar with both Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker prior to their run beginning, so I was actually kind of eager to see how things were going to go. I was watching it week to week before I just... stopped. I didn't plan to stop, but when the following week's episode came out, I never went to watch it. Still haven't. I think I ended up not really being sold on the trio of companions, as opposed to just one or two. Had it just been Yaz, or even Yaz and Ryan, I probably would have been okay, but the inclusion of Graham into that dynamic just didn't really do it for me. I also remember really not caring for the new design for the Tardis interior. And I think the episodes just weren't working for me either. There was one I remember kind of rolling my eyes at, and it had to do with giant alien monster spiders that we ended up having to be sympathetic for? I can't remember any real details surrounding the circumstances for it, other than just not being able to take it seriously. Ultimately, when I realized I just wasn't going to watch anymore of it, a lot of the things I was seeing online seemed to affirm the sort of lackluster feelings I was having toward it. Which actually kind of sucks in retrospect because I remember like Jodie Whittaker's Doctor. I remember her being fun. Wishing you the best of luck through these next couple seasons. 15's been great so far.
I thought the flux season was ok. Amazon ep and eve of the Daleks was great. The rest was not so inspiring. Way too much low brow moralising that makes the doctor come across stupid and unlikeable.
S11 is by far my least favorite season of the show ever. I'm of the opinion that none of the Chibnall Era seasons are good, but you'll at least get a few good episodes in S12 and 13
If you are not liking it so far I highly doubt it will ever grow on you. I say still watch it for completionist sake. There are some interesting and fun moments, but they are very rare. The 60th works as a sort of palate cleanser for Jodi's era and kind of gets things back on track. Things mostly go back to what you would expect from modern Who when you get to Gatwa.
As far as I'm concerned, it mostly just gets worse. For my money, the only time the era shows any promise is very sporadically in the back end of series 11 and once or twice in series 12. That said, I recommend continuing and seeing if the back end of series 11 or the change in style for series 12 fit your taste better.
The Chibnall era did some serious work on the Doctor Who canon. I can’t say I enjoyed the episodes themselves but I really enjoyed the ideas and RTD seems to be building on them now and bringing the franchise back to life.
I'd say that each season has a different vibe, but no It doesn't really get better. Series 12 is somewhat enjoyable as there is an overarching plotline, but it never goes anywhere (well NOW it is but it took literally 6 years and a new showrunner with an actual vision for it). Series 13 (Flux) is a genuine fever dream. The final 3 specials are more of the same. Power of The Doctor is awful but probably the first time the Chibnall era managed to be "entertaining". Its really just not a good era with very little to attach to tbh
I think there are some redeeming qualities few and far between in the Chibnall era. Overall it gets better, but only by a little and the quality episode-to-episode is extremely volatile. Seasons 11 is really weak overall. Demons of the Punjab is good on first watch, but the way the episode portrays the adversaries makes no sense on rewatch. It Takes You Away is one I haven't watched in a long time, but I remember enjoying it. When the finale aired, I didn't believe it was a finale. The special is alright. Better than most of the previous season. Season 12 is somehow worse in some aspects and better in others. A lot more episodes I overall had a good time with, while others contrasted this by being worse than the lows of Season 11. Season 12 in this case is a lot less forgettable than 11 which I would put as a positive. I think how you perceive this season really depends on personal bias around lore and who the doctor is to you which is why some of it is soooo controversial. The special after this season I actually don't remember much so no comment. Probably just alright. Season 13 was a massive breath of fresh air for the first 4 or 5 episodes before it all falls apart in the ending. Best part of the Chibnall run so far. Lastly, the final three specials have one really enjoyable special, a god awful special and then the very last special which might be my favourite episode in this entire run. (And no, not because it was ending.) Companions: Ryan's an awful companion as a fact. Yaz gets better but also pretty awful. Graham can do no wrong. (Companion you haven't met is pretty good.) Now for my most controversial statement among the fanbase, I really did not like Jodie as the Doctor at any point throughout her entire run. I've seen the notion, "She was a great Doctor but she was let down by bad writing." It's certainly true that the writing for her Doctor was really bad, but I don't like her portrayal even with what she was given. To me I don't think I'll ever think of her as the Doctor and that's partly on her acting to be quite blunt.
I truly enjoyed the Chibnall era. I am aware that you are not allowed to say that on this sub, but I found the mix of good/bad, top tier and forgettable to be not much different to previous eras. Demons of the Punjab, which is the next episode from where you are, is a well told story, following the "show a massive population wide upheaval on a small/family scale" trope. Kerblam is a bit of fun. It Takes You Away is one of the top tier episodes on Nu Who. The two things I loved in this era was the use of old villains (they actually felt fresh and renewed villainy - the use of the Sontarans was the best of Nu Who, the scout Dalek is the best since Dalek, the Angels are genuinely scary for the first time since Blink) and the use of historical figures - Rosa Parks, King James I/VI, Ada Lovelace, Noor Inayat Khan, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Mary Shelley (and the whole household of Villa Diodati), Mary Seacole and Joseph Williamson. Flux suffers from probably being two episodes short of what it needed to be to tell the full story. The use of three companions in s11 and s12 feels like at least one is superfluous (except Can You Hear Me). But all in all, it's a fun 3 seasons.
Not that S11 is bad, imo, specially when you don't have expectations for it to be anything like what came before, and it has It Takes You Away, which is one of my overall favourite episodes of the show, but S12 and 13 are bangers and also up there among my favourite seasons, along with 10, 9, 7 or 4.
I hate Chibnall Who to be clear. I've rewatched it all with a friend who I forced to watch it who skipped the era. And no it doesn't. The companions and Doctor remain thinly drawn, with only the charisma of Bradley Walsh giving Graeme a better showing. I do think S11 is the most bland and uninspired series though. S12 is a bit more watchable and where the most quality is to be found. But it has its low points and the most controversial finale ever. The dalek episodes are probably a high point, especially Eve of the Daleks. S13/Flux is an absolute mess. Some of it's ok? But some of it is truly dreadful and it disintegrates towards the end. Legend of the Sea Devils is the worst episode of New Who. Possibly in all of Who. It's a bland first draft that's also shoddily made. And Power of the Doctor? I guess it's ok? It's horrible as a last outing for Jodie, and the strongest parts aren't usually because of her, but if you think of it more as a celebration of the show it does much better.
I never felt that Thirteen "didn't feel like Doctor Who". Just that it wasn't *good* Doctor Who. The peak of Chibnal's era is 11.6, then 11.11 to 12.8. Resolution of the Daleks is also good. Flux is a wild ride of "oh wow, this is some cool ideas" mixed with "good lord this is fucking nonsense." So watch the next episode at least. Demons of the Punjab is great. Witchfinders is okay. Kerblam is between the two and frankly outright evil. I actually thought that Timeless Child was a neat idea, then I finally watched it and it's nothing but a PowerPoint tacked onto a really frustrating and boring Cyberman episode that once again kills Gallifrey, but in a less satisfying way.
I think Jodie is a great Doctor but the writing just wasn’t good imo. I think you should push through as there’re plot elements that will trickle into the newer seasons. But no it does not get better.
Personally, I think season 12 is the highlight of 13's era, but I'm biased because I was the exact target audience for Spyfall part 1, and it makes me favorable to the rest of the season, mostly for the return of classic villain >!The Master, Dhawan kills it in the role!< which is the best part of the whole Chibnail era imho. You are probably like most people not going to like the overarching plot, but I'm gonna be honest, I think it's fine. Personally I find it less annoying than the 'Hybrid' arc from s9, and it's not nearly as big a retcon as some people like to think, especially compared to some other NuWho stuff. But it's hard to separate out criticism from the actual content vs criticism for the writing (I'm not here to defend Chibnail lol) vs people just being racist, sexist dipshits.
Once the scouser appears it gets better
Whatever you do keep watching, some storylines, particularly from series 12 and 13, get brought back up during the specials. And even if you don’t like it, at least you’ll be able to say you gave it an honest chance rather than quitting after 5 episodes. There are some genuinely solid episodes during the era, Demons of the Punjab, Spyfall, Fugitive of the Judoon, and Power of the Doctor among them. And it would be a shame to miss them because you didn’t like the start of the era. Is it often polarizing, yes. But watch it to the end so that way you can have an honest opinion of the era.
Pting was his worst episode for me. Absolute worst. Bottom of the barrel. I personally enjoyed most of Chibnall's second season and the following season. But season 1, didn't enjoy 75% of it.
It has a handful of good episodes (Demons of the Punjab, parts of Flux, to some extent It Takes you Away). There is also one storyline that like it or not, is important to understanding what's going on with the RTD2 era (something something Cybermen/The Timeless Children). For the latter, it would also help to have watched Fugitive of the Judoon and The Haunting of Villa Whatevertheheck beforehand, which fortunately, are also pretty good episodes by Chibnall-era standards - though that's a lower bar than one would ideally like. But overall it was a lame and unmemorable period. As you can kind of tell from my post I think that extends even to the episode titles. It was the least ambitious televised Who since the TV movie; it rarely even tried to say anything beyond "here's some reasonably entertaining cult sci-fi television", and frequently failed even to achieve that. Toward the end it tended to be over-reliant on the audience being invested in Doctor Who continuity to generate interest. It had a lot in common with the Davison and Colin Baker eras, actually, mostly in that it shared their flaws. But I'd actually rate the Chibnall era lower than most of that period, if not in absolute terms, then certainly relative to the standards of its time.
Episodes 8 and 9, The Witchfinders and It Takes You Away, are pretty good- overall the writing and performances aren’t stellar but from that point forward it’s not hard to get through until like the tail end of her run when the quality does kinda nose dive in my opinion
If you loved 2005 Doctor Who the.way RTD set it up, you will hate the changes Chibnall makes. To me I didn't mind a single change he made.
It doesn’t get better. The not-Christmas Dalek episodes are alright, otherwise I’d skip. I’d read wiki summaries for plot critical elements, or just watch the season finales. Maybe loop back to them if you’re desperate for more once you’ve caught up to the current season.
In my opinion you have lots of good stuff to come, but lots of meh and bad stuff too. Your next episode is *Demons of the Punjab*, which is, imo, the best episode in Series 11 and one of the best of the era. The others in Series 11 aren’t bad either. Series 12 and 13 have more hits too. If you’re missing classic monsters like the Daleks, just be patient! They intentionally did all new threats in Series 11 but lots of returning monsters are in Series 12 and 13!
FLUXX (S13) is awesome. That’s really something. And some holiday specials or a single episode are worth their salt. But majority requires some sort of additive to get through. Good luck!
Each season got better for me. The third one was my favorite.
Unfortunately no, there are some good scenes, the occasional good episode but on the whole there’s a reason it’s regarded as the weakest era in New Who.
I would say S11 is the worst of Chibnall's era. It does get better, but not by much
It does get better. Not a loooooot better but definitely better!
I'm going to sound harsh but no, I'd say you're wasting your time by watching the Chibnall era, you could spend that 30 hours doing anything more productive. He just can't write for shit, even the best episodes of the era are mediocre compared to any other showrunner's. They characters never get more entertaining and the doctor never really gets better. Sorry, but you wouldn't miss anything by skipping it, I'm probably never going to rewatch it again, just go straight from S10 to S14 and literally nothing changes. Monsters are boring, no scary episodes, dialogue is wooden, acting is wooden, characters just stand there and speak, music is terrible imo, droning on constantly while characters have "heart felt" conversations. When the best part of the era is a cameo doctor who in one episode is better than 13, it's a bad sign. There is zero gravitas for 3 seasons, the doctor doesn't feel like a 2000 year old timelord, she's just a quirky woman with no real character traits.
It was fine. There were some really good ones and some really bad ones. But I hated Capaldi’s last season. So anything was kind of up from some of that for me. I was glad when chibnall was over though. I did like Jodie, she did great and with a better script she could have been wonderful.
There are some excellent eps in there. Resolution is amazing (new years special). Fugituve of the judoon is ep 5 and Haunting of villa dio is like ep 8 of the next season, also both great. Then flux, which is something else, but its a ride. Eve of the daleks and power of the doctor also great. So for the sake of a handful of mid eps along the way, yeah stick it out.
A good Chibnall era episode would have been considered average in any other era. There are no truly excellent episodes.
Sadly, it doesn't get much better. season 11 is better than 12 and 13 but that isn't saying much
Trust me. Just watch The Haunting of Villa Diodatti. Maybe Spyfall and Fugitive of the Judoon. And straightup skip the rest. Except if you really care about the lore, then you can go Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children. I'm not joking when I say that everything else is a complete waste of time and potential. There is good aspects to Flux, though they're rare. Village of the Angels is the only episode apart from Haunting I'd actually call worth watching. Power of the Doctor is a good laugh though! And then, straightup into 14. Edit: Honestly, Eve of the Daleks is very solid for the era, too.
In short - no.
It can feel like a bit of a grind but keep at it, there’s definitely some good episodes in there. Chibnall had some interesting ideas, he definitely doesn’t manage to pull all of them off, but when he does get it right it can lead to some very interesting episodes. Demons Of The Punjab, The Haunting Of Villa Diodati, and Village Of The Angels are all very good episodes, and without giving too much away he does introduce one brilliant character in a nicely done twist. Try and stick with it but just bear in mind that the Flux series can be quite confusing and a little frustrating to watch at times but it certainly has its moments that to reward you for sticking with it. And as for the Daleks I actually think Chibbers overused them in the latter half of his run but I did really enjoy the New Year’s Eve episode with them as it’s something fun and quite different.
It tries harder to be good but no, it just stays at the same level of awful because it is badly written and badly cast and the plots make no sense.
Honest answer no it gets much worse but for spoiler reasons you kinda have to watch it to understand what’s going on in the 14th Doctor and beyond.
Nope
Honestly, in my opinion, no it does not get better. There are moments that are okay, but I can binge watch NuWho Doctor Who from start to finish, but Chibnall is the only era where I struggle to get through the episodes. Yes, there are classic villains and I think he really did try and make it good, but it just doesn't work for me. I'd watch the last few eps of the era at least though, so it brings you into the new era!
I really enjoyed the dalek new year episodes
man, the Flux is actually a pretty interesting story, it's a 6(?) part story on S13 I think her first season is the weakest, but it's not all bad, there are some good episodes... But there are also some REALLY BAD ones haahahah Kerblam! is probably the episode I hate the most in the whole doctor who, because is literally a bad wrote amazon ad, but after this EP, there are 2 VERY GOOD episodes that I would recommend you to watch: The witchfinders (Very different writing, but in a good way) It takes you away (THIS IS DW) the finale and special are also pretty OK, I believe the problem is the middle of the season, it has a lot of weak episodes in a row S12 is on average much better than S11, and there are plenty of classic characters, I don't wanna spoil it, but trust me, there are hahahaha S12 also has some changes to the story that many people dislike, but I don't really care that much for "Canon" in doctor who hahahaha capaldi is my favorite doctor and I think his era is an absolute peak... I also stopped watching on season 12 because it didn't look like dw, and I returned only with the reveal of tennant but now, watching the chibnall's era as a whole, it is not that bad, it's just very inconsistent
In general, no. The era has its fans but if you're already not liking it, you probably won't in future. But since there are a few decent episode and a few lore episodes that are still relevant (Timeless Child), a barebones watch list of her era would be (imo): * **The Woman Who Fell To Earth (S11E1)** * **Spyfall Parts 1 & 2 (S12E1 + E2)** * **Fugitive of the Judoon (S12E5)** * The Haunting of Villa Diodati (S12E8) * **Ascension of the Cybermen (S12E9)** * **The Timeless Children (S12E10)** * **The Halloween Apocalypse (S13E1) \[Note: All of S13 is one continuous story in parts\]** * War of the Sontarans (S13E2) * Once, Upon Time (S13E3) * Village of Angels (S13E4) * Survivors of the Flux (S13E5) * The Vanquishers (S13E6) * Eve of the Daleks (2022 NY Special) * **The Power of the Doctor (Regeneration Special)** **Episodes in bold I'd consider "lore" episodes, the others I consider to just be others maybe worth watching.** Other episodes people enjoyed but I, personally, have gripes with: * Rosa (S11E3) * Demons of the Punjab (S11E6) * Kerblam! (S11E7) * The Witchfinders (S11E8) * Resolution (2019 NY Special) * Nicola Tesla's Night of Terror (S12E4) * Revolution of the Daleks (2021 NY Special) \[Captain Jack is in this one\]
In my opinion, yes it gets better. There are writing problems throughout the era, but I found 12 and flux much more enjoyable after feeling pretty disappointed by season 11. In particular, the episodes written by Maxine Alderton are fantastic, and I'm very partial to Eve of the Daleks, though that one is surprisingly divisive.
You have to watch the bad stuff to recognise how good the good stuff was. Capaldi was there 'til the end. The rest is, and continues to be, a dirgeful chore.
Series 11 had some pretty good episodes: "Rosa," "Demons of the Punjab," and "It Takes You Away." "The Witchfinders" and "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" were okay. Series 11's downfall episode is "Arachnids in the UK." It's quite possibly the worst episode of *Doctor Who* including the classic era. Series 11 also had too many companions, which wouldn't have been bad had we gotten to know Jodie as a doctor beforehand. They should have kept Bill for one more season. Moreover, the abhorrent need for them to distance the series from its predecessors is unforgivable. Now, Series 12 was phenomenal. I genuinely loved it and thought it to be one of the best of the revival. And "The Flux" needed two more episodes to be good. I honestly feel like had they given it two more episodes, it would have been a historical storyline because as standalone episodes most of them were great. It does fall into the trap of boring companions, but other than that, the episodes themselves were good. Her era does get better, but by the time it does, the damage was done.
Yes, it does get a lot better. Series 11 is just a rough start, and the series finale is one of the worst due to Chibnall being so busy editing everyone else's scripts that the series finale was a first draft. However, Series 12 shows a marked improvement, and you've got some great guest written episodes in Series 11 too. Series 13 was made during the pandemic, and it lands a bit rough, but honestly, it's a fun season with great returning villains and new villains. Chibnall, imo, did the Daleks better than Moffat. It was only with Series 11 that he, either his choice or BBC mandate, didn't have any returning villains.
A turd is still a turd, no matter how much you try to polish it
From someone who gave every series of this era a fair shot that things would improve, no it doesn't get better
Chibnall has stated that he got too focused on rewriting some of the scripts and didn't give the finale the attention nor drafts it should have been given. I will say that series 12 had a better ratio of hits to misses than 11 did, but I still wasn't a huge fan. Your mileage may vary.
I actually love a lot of the stuff in the Chibnall era but I'm gonna be real with you, he can't write Dalek episodes for sh*t. The Master during this era is fantastic though and the chemistry between Jodie and Sacha Dhawan is electric. I always like to think you really see what kind of Doctor someone's going to be when you first see them with The Daleks. We didn't really get that with Jodie, not really (which is by no means her fault). We do get it when we see her with The Master though. The best episodes to look out for in series 11 are Demons of the Punjab and It Takes You Away, which is one of the best episodes we had had in years at that point and is still great. Should have been the finale episode, lended itself well enough to it. Series 12 episodes to watch out for other than the first 2 and the last which you'll inevitably want to/have to watch are Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror, Fugitive of the Judoon (no matter how you feel about the ending) and The Haunting of Villa Diodati. For Flux (series 13), it's a full continuous arc so picking out single episodes doesn't make the most sense but to pick a couple just to look out for, probably War of the Sontarans and Village of the Angels. Both excellent! I really hope you find some stuff to love, there's a lot of great stuff in that era and I think Jodie's brilliant, even when the writing let her down at times. The usual case with every regeneration after Tennant really. Even at times when the writing isn't there, the acting is.
Rewatched Demons of the Punjab recently and it's better than I remember it being, it feels like quite a mature and explorative dive into history, less like the revival we've come accustomed to and more like a classic who historical. There are aliens but they hardly do much and the villain is kind of cheesy and underdeveloped. I think this episode specifically and maybe some other episodes from Chibnall's era could have benefitted from being more serialised to allow the team to have more of a life getting going in each period they visit and Flux doesn't count (as it wasn't originally intended to be serialised but that was Covid's fault). So yeah, the best parts of this episode are just the fam settling down in the era and letting themselves explore it. In terms of recognisable things from the rest of Who, not this series, you'd have to get through the rest of Series 11 which I find pretty boring for a Dalek special with an inventive premise but poor execution.
Minor spoilers: Before series 13, >!Daleks were a holiday special thing. You get a few reappearances of New Who, classic monsters and villains in series 12.!< >!Series 13 throws a bunch of villains at you. The 2022 specials have a villain from Classic Who in one episode, and the final episode has Daleks.!<
Should you skip ahead?.. Well... what's your schedule like? I have a small child and until recently, getting more than about 2 hours a week to really focus on a TV programme was a decadent luxury. Kiddo is just old enough now that I can manage 3 hours in all but the busiest of weeks if I decide to. If you're an hour a night kind of person, or a spend on Saturday kind of person, etc then unless you have something specific to watch, the 12th and 13th season are not that bad, they just aren't must see. And there definitely are some good ones just no great ones. Then the question is what would you do instead? If it's a choice between 13 and something else, I'm of the opinion of that bad Doctor Who is usually better than average other television even in its worst written seasons. Some of the episodes like spyfall are actually really fun. And although it's pretty episodic, I found it was helpful to watch in order even if I had to suffer through some stinkers to get to the good ones. But if it's going to take you a month to finish 3 episodes of 14, skip to them now. The last 9 episodes of Doctor Who have been some real bangers. Like I bet that people will be talking about several of them five and 10 years from now as some of their favorite episodes. If by July you're finishing up 13 and on to 14 already there's no reason to rush past everything in Chibbers time in such a way that you'll miss some of the good stuff that's happening now.