SPOILERS ALERT!!!
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Okay, so, Ncuti Gatwa’s first season of ‘Doctor Who’ has come and gone. How time flies within two months. 😀 Right from the beginning, I’ve stated I won’t share any in-depth thoughts on the episodes until the DVD and Blu-ray releases of Series 14 are out. But I can at least share my general thoughts.
So, what I did think of Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ overall? It’s fine. Not great, just fine. I think the season suffers in being 8 episodes. Or maybe it’s the way that Russell T. Davies has structured this season from beginning to end, because I think he would’ve preferred doing 13 episodes instead of 8.
I didn’t really have many high expectations about this ‘Doctor Who’ season, as there wasn’t much for me to get me excited about and what to expect. There was U.N.I.T., Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Melanie Bush to look forward to, but aside from those aspects, the season felt quite underwhelming.
That’s certainly the case before and after checking out Series 14. I also think having the episodes on BBC iPlayer first before showing them on BBC One later was a mistake. The ratings haven’t been great and there’s that risk of losing audience members by showing the season on BBC iPlayer first. 😦
There are good ideas featured in the episodes and for the most part, I’ve enjoyed checking them out because of that. However, the episodes suffer in terms of rushed endings and there’s not enough time to process the resolutions of those episodes. I’ve felt unsatisfied in how they’ve all wrapped up.
Let me share my thoughts on the episodes individually. ‘Space Babies’, as a season opener, is rather silly in my opinion. The idea of the babies talking is quite nonsensical for me and the fact that there was a Bogeyman monster made out of the babies’ snot was rather off-putting when seeing the story.
‘The Devil’s Chord’ is interesting, especially with the introduction of Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro. But for a story taking place in 1963 and featuring the Beatles, I’m leaning towards ‘1963: Fanfare For The Common Men’ more and the musical number featured at the episode’s end was bizarre and weird. 😦
‘Boom’ by Steven Moffat is ironically the best episode out of the entire season. I like how the episode plays to the strengths of Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby, especially when the tension levels are raised, and the Doctor has to get out of a situation where he cannot run.
’73 Yards’, whilst is better than ‘Space Babies’ and ‘The Devil’s Chord’, is an episode I personally don’t regard favourably, especially when it could have taken place all in Wales itself and not beyond that. Millie Gibson though is very good in the tale, and I enjoyed how she coped without the Doctor.
One of the behind-the-scenes issues I have with Series 14 is the fact that Ncuti Gatwa had to go off to film Series 4 of ‘Sex Education’ at the same time as ‘Doctor Who’. That in a sense is why Series 14 doesn’t work for me, since there’s not enough of Ncuti Gatwa to enjoy as the Doctor in the season. 😦
I honestly don’t think Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson are bad in their performances as the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby. On the contrary, I think they fare quite well in this season. It’s just the stories themselves don’t often allow them to express the potential they have when playing their characters.
‘Dot and Bubble’ is a very interesting experiment of a ‘Doctor Who’ episode, particularly when it deals with the themes and dangers of social media through the eyes of Callie Cooke as Lindy Pepper-Bean. The mean-spiritedness and casual racism featured, particularly at the story’s end, put me off though.
The episodes themselves have a lot of mature themes featured throughout the season, almost as if they’re echoing the mature themes of the ‘Virgin New Adventures’ books of ‘Doctor Who’ published in the 1990s. I debate whether those mature themes can work very well on TV compared to prose. 😐
‘Rogue’ is a Regency-filled episode that I think would have worked better if we saw more of Bath and it didn’t rely on audiences to expect to know what ‘Bridgerton’ was (I know Jane Austen more than ‘Bridgerton’). I at least enjoyed the episode when seeing Millie Gibson as Ruby in her Regency outfit.
The two-part finale ‘The Legacy of Ruby Sunday’/’Empire of Death’ also suffers in terms of resolving the season altogether. Whilst the return of Suketh as a ‘Doctor Who’ villain is welcome, I would have preferred him in his original look compared to the oversized CGI giant he ended up being in the tale.
The resolution of who Ruby’s mum is in the season is also disappointing. Whilst I appreciate the down-to-earth approach by RTD, I’d expected it to be Susan, the Doctor’s granddaughter, to be her mother. Or it could have been Nyssa, as it would have established an otherworldly aspect to Ruby. 😐
I can’t say Series 14 is awful, because there have been some enjoyable things to take away from this season, especially Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. But I can’t say it’s great either, as it suffers in having so many rushed endings in every episode and there aren’t many exciting things in the season.
I’m pleased I saw Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ on BBC iPlayer and I’m glad I saw the two-part season finale at the cinema recently. I also enjoyed doing my spoiler free reactions on my blog via YouTube. Where the neo-Russell T. Davies era of ‘Doctor Who’ will go next, I’ve no idea at this specific stage. 😐
I suppose we’ll have to wait and see when we get to Christmas with ‘Joy to the World’ by Steven Moffat next. I’m looking forward to sharing my in-depth thoughts on Series 14 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series soon when I get the chance to. In the meantime, do stay tuned and watch this space!
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
Even with Russell T. Davies back at the helm, there may be only so far the modern Doctor Who can go with how refreshingly good the stories can be. I’m still okay with tuning in for now. Thank you, Tim.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi scifimike,
Yes, I’m sure I’ll be checking out more ‘Doctor Who’ in Series 15 next year to find out whether I like or not. I’m currently curious as to why RTD has let Steven Moffat do the Christmas Special for this year instead, as traditionally it’s always the showrunner who does the Christmas Specials.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looking at the season, as a whole, I think Doctor Who can (and still does) handle mature themes quite well. The first Dalek story was about dying from radiation poisoning, racial hatred and extermination, and whether it is better to die for an ideal or die fighting for it. These themes have been with the programme since Day 1.
The strongest episodes of the season were the ones to tackle that harder subject matter. Boom, 73 Yards, Dot and Bubble, were all extremely effective. I enjoyed Rogue, as well, but more as a throwback to a different era. I want to give the season props for the uncoded queer representation in that episode, too. I’m not sure it fits an ace interpretation of the Doctor, but Gatwa does leave room for doubt.
Thinking about the really controversial ones… I liked The Devil’s Chord, but I think it came a little too early and glanced over a big component about changing history (i.e. John Lennon’s murder). The two-part finale was a hit and a miss, both. And Space Babies felt like a sacrificial opener for Disney distributing (which is a company infamous about its branding practices).
Good on this season, also, for avoiding too many familiar faces. The only returning elements from the series were in the finale and, on a technicality, The Devil’s Chord and Boom. There was a genuine sense of freshness to the ideas on display. It’s nice to be able to go into an episode and not know its story beats by rote.
On the one hand, not having Ncuti Gatwa really showed during that season’s midsection. We were pulling a Hartnell/Troughton cutaway for the first time in years. On the other, that gave Millie Gibson a great opportunity to step into her companion role and just own it.
Looking at the season, as a whole, I do wonder… As good as Davies is and can be… Whether this… Really needed some new blood. I think about what it’s competing with: The Legend of Vox Machina, Blue Eye Samurai, The Sandman, Fallout, Good Omens… Doctor Who really is a programme catching up to the media landscape. In a big way.
It also also feels stifled by the tyranny of how we do productions these days. For streaming, it all has to be short, sharp and narratively streamlined. We don’t get 26-episodes to know these characters, or even 13-episodes, we get eight (nine, if you count The Church on Ruby Road). At just under an hour, apiece. That means every single episode has to count and the problem with that is… What takes precedence? Do you prioritise plot or character?
On the upside, the series is gifted with a DNA that is fundamentally about travel (either literal or figurative), which means we can decamp and go anywhere, anywhere at all. That’s an enormous freedom. Unfortunately, that also means whatever world you’ve set up, you have to leave it behind when it’s done. Your story must be carried with you. Aboard the TARDIS.
In a mix of the familiar and unfamiliar… Maybe it’s a case of too well worn a groove. It’s probably time we abandon “the mysterious woman” arc that has dogged the programme’s footsteps for almost twenty years (barring the Chibnall era that put it aside). We know how this goes. We’ve seen it… so many times. If we’re going to carry a new season-wide story arc with us, it needs to be about something else, I feel. It’s well past time. If not for Gibson’s performance, I don’t think I would’ve been invested.
So… To wrap up: A solid mid-section, muddled by a bizarre choice for an opening and an unfortunately flat ending. Excellent Doctor and companion, some great individual episodes, but a wearied season-wide arc.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi Wolfie,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’, identifying what you see are the positives and negatives of the season. I agree with most of them and I’m looking forward to sharing my in-depth thoughts on the season in future. I can’t help get the impression that the season was put in a rush, and Ncuti Gatwa’s absence, particularly in Doctor-lite episodes like ’73 Yards’ and ‘Dot and Bubble’, which didn’t help matters. Incidentally, the “I’ll just have a coke” Ruby moment is something I’m going to take away fondly from watching ’73 Yards’, and ever since seeing ‘Dot and Bubble’, my Mum thinks of it whenever we see people walking around with mobile phones, so I suppose that’s a good sign on how the impact the season has on me overall.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
As usual some fascinating points. You’re right about Dr Who needing some fresh writing talent. A writing room perhaps? Some of the writers such as Sarah Dollard, Jamie Matheson and writers from outside the world of Dr Who, Sally Wainright (Happy Valley), Adam Kay (This is Going to Hurt), Debbie Moon (WolfBlood) or Naomi Alderman (The Power).
The rest of the production team is firing on all cylinders, we need an injection of Sparkle into the writing.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Tony,
I agree, the variety of more writers in a ‘Doctor Who’ season, particularly in eight episodes is required. If RTD wrote just the first two episodes and the two-part finale, or perhaps just the first episode and the two-part finale, or the first and last episodes of the season, more variety and flexibility of writers would have been permitted.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Tony,
Ah, I see what you did there! A writer’s room might be a good step forward, if it’s possible to arrange. Andrew Cartmel ended up with quite a reliable stable of screenwriters by his tenure — Ben Aaronovitch, Stephen Wyatt, Ian Briggs, Marc Platt, etc.
Hypothetically, looking at a writer’s room on a mechanical level:
There’d be a desire to bring in screenwriters that can accomplish a particular kind of storytelling. Someone you can pick off the shelf and go: “Ah, we have a brief for X, let’s give it to Y, that’s their field.”
In an ideal world, that would be someone who could write a particular subgenre of Doctor Who. Someone you could farm out your pseudo-historicals to, someone who can do contemporary commentary, someone who could write futuristic horror, and so on. In reality, that would probably be a lot messier. Simply because creativity is inherently messy.
Looking at each of the hypothetical writers from beyond Who, there’d probably be a split more so across crime, black comedy, horror/fantasy and dystopia. All quite fertile ground for the programme to explore in greater detail.
(Had it been the heyday of 2005, I would’ve suggested Phil Ford or Brian Finch who did the rebooted New Captain Scarlet. Both of whom we eventually got for The Waters of Mars and Leviathan, respectively.
I’d be very interested to see what Phoebe Waller-Bridge could do with an episode of Doctor Who and Bad Wolf Productions have worked with her before…)
The trick with the writer’s room would ultimately be finding, sourcing and categorising a team of screenwriters that would complement one another’s work. To the point where, ideally, each story bounces off the other in the full season.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on whether a writing room would work on Dr Who. I realise the difficulties of running a successful writer’s room. However, Doctor Who is such a difficult show to write for that I think having one person write 75% of the stories can lead to burnout or a depreciation in quality. All three eras of NuWho have suffered from this to a degree.
Screenwriting is a very specialised writing skill. Not every writer can do it, I know I can’t!
No one goes out to make a dud episode. The Dr Who Unleashed series demonstrates that. As much effort and care went into Space Babies as a more ‘successful’ story such as Boom. The joy of Dr Who is every week is a new story.
Us fans are the most analytical fans in the world. If we ignore the toxic fans, I still found bits I enjoyed and the huge wealth of content available means if a story or run doesn’t appeal there is always another Who adventure to watch, listen to or read. No other programme comes to the variety of storytelling.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi both,
I’m currently in the process of revisiting some Target novelizations and checking out some new ones too, including both the classic and new TV series eras of ‘Doctor Who’. I hope to check out the upcoming Target novelizations for some of the latest episodes like ‘Space Babies’, ’73 Yards’ and ‘Rogue’ to find out whether the stories work better in prose compared to TV. It’s been a while since I sought to check out new Target novelizations of ‘Doctor Who’ (been delayed by 60th anniversary celebrations in 2023) and I’m hoping to get back on track with them soon.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, here’s my take on season 40. If you go from the Christmas Special that’s nine stories, you can detect a move to a more fantasy-like style. The approach reminds me of Steven Moffat’s Raggedy Doctor and the Girl Who Waited.
Goblins, space babies terrorised by a literal bogeyman, gods and fairy circles, a species who like to dress up and a society dominated by social media threatened by a malevolent AI. And I can’t forget the fourth wall breaking Mrs Flood.
Is Mr Davies playing with the concept of stories? Have the events of the specials allowed the fictional to bleed into reality? Is the Land of Fiction expanding into our Universe?
At the same time we had the domestic tale of a young woman wanting to find out who her mother was. There were some really good elements to this story thread and others that drifted into melodrama and unreality. Another fictional form perhaps?
Personally, my favourite stories were the middle trio. 73 Yards was the most atmospheric. A mystery, with supernatural and time travelling elements. Millie Gibson was superb in this story.
Ncuti Gatwa’s finest story for me were Boom and Rogue. While I find the romantic Doctor stories tiresome, I really loved BridgerWho. I enjoyed the artifice of the premise, the Regency setting and the banter between the characters. An historical romance impinging on the normally rational science-based Dr Who Universe.
I’m still processing the final two episodes but again I feel the finale is sending up a NuWho trope of world-shattering events and their consequences followed by a total reset to the status quo. I knew what was coming! I think this is part One of a two part sequence. We’re only halfway. I really enjoyed Dr Who Unleashed.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Tony,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Series 14/Season 1/Season 40 of ‘Doctor Who’. I’m looking forward to sharing my in-depth thoughts on the episodes of the season, particularly in highlighting the fantasy elements that originated from the 60th anniversary specials and ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. Hopefully I’ll be reviewing the episodes with the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ follow-ups in mind. It’ll be a while after the DVD/Blu-ray releases are available, but hopefully I’ll be sharing my in-depth thoughts on the episodes before Series 15/Season 2/Season 41 comes along next year.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
73 Yards was an assurance for me that occasionally Doctor Who could still find the kinds of the stories that could spark the most interesting thoughts and discussions.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi scifimike,
I’m looking forward to getting the chance to check out the Target novelization/audiobook of ’73 Yards’ by Scott Handcock to find out whether the story works well in prose compared to TV. That’ll be after my in-depth reviews on Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ of course.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
On the subject of 73 Yards, I really loved that it absolutely refused to be explained. Categorically.
We’ve recently begun a rewatch of The X-Files and if the opening credits with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson had kicked in, we wouldn’t have been the least bit phased. It was a pitch perfect rendition of the paranoia, loneliness and conspiracy embedded in that series.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Wolfie,
It’s been interesting to check out how ’73 Yards’ has been intepreted as a ‘Doctor Who’ story by others compared to me. I know there’s plenty for me to do in terms of ‘Doctor Who’ reviews at this time, but I’m looking forward to sharing my in-depth thoughts compared to how many have praised the story, both through the TV episode and eventually the Target novelization/audiobook.
I’ve seen the preview for the 8-disc DVD and Blu-ray sets of Series 14/Season 1/Season 40 of ‘Doctor Who’. I don’t know if I’ll get the Blu-ray copy for Series 14, but I’m not exactly in a hurry to purchase it compared to the Jodie Whittaker ‘Doctor Who’ Blu-ray sets. Hopefuĺly I’ll be able to purchase the box set on a whim when I’m in Cardiff, on holiday or something.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Tim,
I look forward to reading a more in-depth analysis. I may even attempt one too and we can compare notes! Even with its faults there are some fascinating things to unpack about RTD2 era’s first season from a storytelling perspective.
Best wishes, Tony
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Tony,
Indeed, even if I have some reservations about the neo-RTD era so far, I try my best to balance my views by sharing positive and negative thoughts on the episodes, as it makes the reviews more enjoyable for me to write and hopefully for people to read.
Hope you get to do your in-depth reviews on this ‘Doctor Who’ season too.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people