Dr. Who - Series 11 (2018)

[Coryton]

I do get the feeling that some of these scripts are rushed.

 

This is best so far but still pretty average compared to an early new Who.

 

I'd agree on both counts. 

 

Maybe it will continue to improve through the second half of the series.

 

According to Wikipedia he isn't writing all the episodes...

[pete_mcfarlane]

Tonight's was much better than previous weeks, although the CGI alien was a bit, well, cheap CGI alien looking . And was the android supposed to look like George Osborne...?

[NittenDormer]

The classic 'unsteady-cam' got a fair workout.

[Bill Radford]

The best episode for a number of years.

[bike2steam]

Watched 'Doctor Who' for the first time in years, I didn't know it was comedy now!!! A good laugh, watch out Rimmer!!

[MJI]

Tonight's was much better than previous weeks, although the CGI alien was a bit, well, cheap CGI alien looking . And was the android supposed to look like George Osborne...?

 

I thought it was a poor copy of Rimmer

[Coryton]

I thought it was a poor copy of Rimmer

 

There certainly was a touch of Red Dwarf about the episode, particularly the little alien monster thing.

[Coryton]

There is quite a good review in the current edition of Private Eye, funnily enough their reviewer agrees with a lot of the criticism on here in that it has become almost the ultimate BBC box ticking exercise but see's this as a positive in re-booting the show for a new young audience that now expects that sort of approach. Sadly I think their reviewer may very well be spot on. One of the things RTD did very well when he re-booted Doctor Who was to keep enough of the old show to engage old fans whilst finding a whole new audience, I think the current season has probably decided only the new audience for the Jodie Whittaker iteration is what matters and what they're pitching at. 

 

Perhaps, but in some ways it's gone back more to the old Doctor Who - a set of assorted assistants rather than the usual one (or occasionally two), and using the TARDIS as the device to get them to each story and generally ignoring it until the end (if that) rather than being an integral part of the stories.

 

We even started off with the assistants being accidentally carried off with the Doctor and her failing to get them home (I'd have preferred it if they'd stayed like that rather than having them taken home and deciding to carry on, mind).

 

And the titles come right at the start where they used to be.

[Paul.Uni]

We are getting a New Years Day special instead of a Christmas Day special. Info from https://www.doctorwho.tv/news/?article=doctor-who-festive-special-to-air-on-new-years-day

[MJI]

That last episode was a bit naff!

[pete_mcfarlane]

That last episode was a bit naff!

It give it 4/10. It covered an interesting bit of history that few people in the UK know about, without being as cringeworthy as the Rosa Parks episode. It just needed a few more rewrites.

Edited November 17, 2018 by pete_mcfarlane

[SRman]

In one sense, Doctor Who has returned to its roots: a Doctor with three companions, looking at historical events. The original was intended to be educational, but that all changed when the Daleks came along.

Even so, as Pete  and others have indicated, the writing on this series really doesn't come up to scratch.

[pete_mcfarlane]

In one sense, Doctor Who has returned to its roots: a Doctor with three companions, looking at historical events. The original was intended to be educational, but that all changed when the Daleks came along.

 

Even so, as Pete  and others have indicated, the writing on this series really doesn't come up to scratch.

I do think there's not enough airtime for 3 companions. It worked for the early William Hartnell stories because they were a lot longer, and so had more time for character development, and for the group to be split up to further plot development. But in the current 50 minute episodes, it feels like they just wander around together as a group.

 

Graham and Yaz both work for me as characters, but Ryan is a bit underwritten and doesn't seem to add much. And his dyspraxia seems to have been magically cured, after being featured heavily in the first episode. 

[Steven B]

I thought it was well done and very fitting for the day it was shown (11/11). A bit more time with the aliens would have improved things.

 

I think this new series is missing something. Perhaps an extra half hour could give the writers more time to flesh out the stories. They've got a beginning and and end but the middle needs more work....

[jjb1970]

I decided to watch the last episode on catch up to see what I'd missed and thought it a colossal missed opportunity. The material should've been dynamite, the partition of India and mixed relationships between people of different faith in rural India is probably as good as it gets in terms of human drama. Some of it was very well done and really rather moving but overall it just came over as deeply patronising and the tendency of the current series to get all preachy was in over drive to the point it pretty much screwed up what should've been a terrific episode. The whole episode felt like a BBC cultural box ticking exercise determined not to offend anybody and implanting a lot of 21st century British sensibilities onto late 1940's India.

[Tony_S]

I decided to watch the last episode on catch up to see what I'd missed and thought it a colossal missed opportunity. The material should've been dynamite, the partition of India and mixed relationships between people of different faith in rural India is probably as good as it gets in terms of human drama. Some of it was very well done and really rather moving but overall it just came over as deeply patronising and the tendency of the current series to get all preachy was in over drive to the point it pretty much screwed up what should've been a terrific episode. The whole episode felt like a BBC cultural box ticking exercise determined not to offend anybody and implanting a lot of 21st century British sensibilities onto late 1940's India.

My wife is Punjabi and she enjoyed the episode. Her parents families moved from Lahore to Delhi via Kashmir in 1947. Mother in law’s family left it quite late and saw their business burn and knew family members had been killed. My wife’s only criticism was that she thought Yas’s Nani’s mother seemed too tolerant and understanding of her daughter’s marriage .Even without the partition this would have been “difficult “ in rural India. We know people from that time who were Moslem/ Hindu married couples but they were not rural and were in professions like medicine.

As for 21st century values three of the time travellers are from the 21st century. The Doctor was concerned about not messing up Yaz’s timeline.

[caradoc]

Gave Doctor Who a chance again last night (18th November) and actually rather enjoyed the episode, although it was a pity more was not seen of Lee Mack (wouldn't he make a great companion for the Doctor ?).

[RedgateModels]

George is now scared of bubblewrap .......

[The Stationmaster]

Drama is showing some back catalogue episodes of Dr Who from the David Tennant era - clever ideas and well scripted.  Definitely worth catching up with if you have Channel 20 but the scheduling doesn't seem to be consistent

[Bill Radford]

That was some lucky Dalek, wasn't it? Found the A-Team's workshop! Surprised that it didn't appear black with a red stripe!

 

I thought the series improved as it progessed although not impressed by the "companions". The Christmas New Year episode was pretty good apart from the missing dad bits.

[Steamport Southport]

I'm so glad I didn't bother.

 

Yeah. Like Brexit means the UK is not in the UN. The UK is on the UN Security Council due to winning the Second World War, not because it's in the EU.

 

Idiots.

 

 

 

Jason

[Karhedron]

I enjoyed the New Year special. My main criticism of the season has been the lack of classic villains which made it seem a bit more divorced from the previous series. That was fixed as we finally got to see Jodie's Doctor face off against her oldest foe.

 

The biggest problem with the Daleks is always trying to find something that they have not done before. A single stranded Dalek out of its shell was an interesting premise and I thought Charlotte Ritchie turned in a great performance as Lin. Her alternating fear and menace was well played.

 

I also liked the idea of a Dalek trying to rebuild its shell with 21st century technology, even if the result did look a bit too much like an entry from Scrap Heap Challenge. Overall I give this episode 4 stars. I didn't mind the stuff with Ryan's dad as I felt it was well handled. My only complaint is that it was too easily resolved with familial affection trumping life-threatening peril.

 

[Steamport Southport]

Made up from parts and it couldn't even find a sink plunger?

 

 

 

Jason

[pete_mcfarlane]

Yeah. Like Brexit means the UK is not in the UN. The UK is on the UN Security Council due to winning the Second World War, not because it's in the EU.

 

If nothing else, the idea that our military is dependent on the rest of the EU was a novel one. It's the reverse of what actually happens. 

[Barry Ten]

Rather good episode, I felt. I've not generally been impressed by the Christmas specials, but this was different in tone, with some genuine scary bits and made good use of the Dalek(s) again. A few Daleks on their own is scary; millions of CGI Daleks flying through the sky less so. I liked the "scrapheap challenge" look of the casing, in fact I'd have liked it even more if it had looked even more low-tech.