This is spoiler-laden. If you haven’t watched the end of the the 2025 season (volume 3 season 2) then click away now.
A brief history of my relationship with Doctor Who:
As a kid, people told me it was the kind of show I would like, but I never really got to see it, so I didn’t start watching until 2025 with Eccleston. I did watch the TV Movie with McGann but I didn’t think much of it at the time. When I go back to watch any of the original series with the first seven Doctors I find them primitive. I probably would have thought them silly as a kid because I was a real jerk. I did watch some of the first doctor episodes and I could see they relied on theatrical actors who did great jobs, if a bit silly. I appreciate what was there, but I have to phase shift into a different mindset.
For some context, when I was a kid and watched the original King Kong, I found it unrealistic. My special effect eyes were trained on the original Star Wars in 1977. My father, who was born a few years after King Kong came out, said it was absolutely believable to him as a child. I couldn’t believe anyone would be fooled by the fakery. Then again, I also seem to remember accepting the Harryhausen special effects of Sinbad and Clash of the Titans, so maybe I’m the asshole here.
The Eccleston season (volume 2 season 1) was aired in the US long after the UK had it, and I wasn’t in the habit of trolling the internet for rumors or any information, so I watched that first series and loved the madcap doctor. The affects were a bit chincy but I remembered it was a TV show, and British TV never seemed to take SFX seriously. But I didn’t expect the regeneration. I’m not sure I was even aware of the regeneration. I didn’t want to accept Tennant as the Doctor.
But Tennant went on, dumping Rose, I didn’t appreciate Donna as much the first time around. There were certainly highlights but in the end I was tired of Tennant and of Davies’ take on the show. The overly bright comic book colors and the fart jokes and the unnecessary “gay”. (I’m not against gays at all, but the inclusion of Davies’ first run was egregious and not really used in a plot or anything, which is why it felt so wedged in.) The highlights had been Moffat’s episodes and I was happy to have him take over.
My first of of Matt Smith was “he’s a baby” but he won me over in the first episode. Amy and Rory were great, and Clara was an excellent companion and she probably goes down as my all-time favorite.
Capaldi’s run was impressive, but the cruelty to the companions got a bit much.
Then Chibnall, and I hadn’t enjoyed his episodes before he took over. Jodie Whittaker, however, was amazing. I believed she was the Doctor straight away. I didn’t like Chibnall’s writing style and the Timeless Child thing and the Flux just seemed overworked, which is hard to do on a show like Doctor Who.
Davies coming back with Tennant bothered me, only because I wanted something new. At least we had Neil Patrick Harris for one special, and he of course hit the ball out of the park.
Gatwa was a very different doctor. I actually didn’t like the costume changes and I think Murray Gold had to do a lot of work to keep the stories going, especially that last one.
By this point, I’m clearly into spoiler territory but it should be below the scroll.
So what, I ask, the ever-living fuck was that?
I don’t know how much of this is Disney putting their way-too-massive thumb on the storytelling scales or Davies just not having a lot of ideas. But the two seasons with Fifteen were not that great. Two little old ladies showing up all over time and space with different names? A companion who keeps coming back? (Yeah, Rose got to come back a couple of times but the short Disney seasons make it too much.) A great villain like the Rani to replace the Master/Mistress and then poof?
Then we get an ending to the big crisis that re-writes everything we’ve seen this season with Belinda, so whatever fix happened took us back to another universe and it still doesn’t explain how the hell Poppy could be in Space Babies.
I didn’t know Gatwa was leaving. We weren’t going to watch the episode until Monday but our plans changed and we got to watch it on Sunday, and the fact that Gatwa left the show was spoiled. I didn’t know who was taking over, and I thought at least that could be a nice surprise. It wasn’t. I made the mistake of checking IMDB to remind myself who Susan Twist was and saw Billie Piper in the credits. Okay, some strange flashback probably. Jodie was also listed and she, as she did, was excellent.
Not this.
Please, not this.
When it was announced that Piper was going to be in the 50th episode I was angry, but I appreciated the way the special used the actor without being Rose Tyler.
Will I watch Piper as Sixteen? Probably. Will I want to? No. Not right now.
They managed to undo some of the damage to Donna Noble but still handwaved away a lot of the threat to her life by bringing back Tennant as Fourteen, and he didn’t overstay his welcome, but “bi-generation” was a cheap shot. I really felt like Davies couldn’t have anyone but Tennant play the Doctor and so if Gatwa crashed and burned, he’d have a backup.
I expect Fourteen and Sixteen to continue their will-they-won’t-they and it will be sickening.
It’s going to take me a long time to process this crap.
However, I will say did appreciate how Davies went after the worst fans, the most toxic, with a sequence of Fuck-You’s that I couldn’t see an American producer pulling off. The trolls/incels/manosphere idiots get their comeuppance, and it’s wonderful. It’s a brave stance to say “you people should stop watching the show.” It happened often enough to get the point across without being too much, unlike the gay stuff.
And as far as having actors in chairs or hearing impairments, I think they did a great job to highlight that such things don’t prevent people from being good actors. Hopefully that visibility will help “normalize” people who need a chair. I give them credit for that work.
But I think a lot of fans are saying “I’m done with Doctor Who” and I feel like I’m approaching that point.