Doctor Who..... goodbye Jodie Whittaker, it really wasn't great. Another Chris Chibnall episode that tried to be epic, blockbuster, genre defining, and wasn't.
Same really old tired plot as the rest of this era/error. Plus points it was nice to see some of the old doctors - Davison, Baker C (who's a conceited, arrogant rag wanker with his own gravitational pull these days), McCoy and McGann who all had brief screen time to stop you thinking how much they'd all aged. There was David Bradley doing his decent impression of Hartnell too. I really enjoyed Tegan and Ace as 80s companions in the present.
Trouble is, all these blasts from the past served to magnify the deficiencies of the present crew. Whittaker is a great actress, attack the block and Broadchurch, but has all the charactisation of someone from the Crossroads motel!!! The scripts she's had haven't done her any favours, but Tennant and Smith had their fair share of clunkers but had more than enough creditin the bank to be forgiven. If Whittaker's character is ill defined and seems at odds with the rest of the show's history, poor scripts only highlight her shortcomings.
Her companions are even worse, Yas started poorly and has deteriorated season after season; John Bishop (yes really!) isn't an actor and has no presence. Bradley Walsh acts him off the screen, doesn't have a lot to do but makes the character believable.
The Master is supposed to be the Moriarty to the Doctor's Holmes. Sacha Dhawan is a great actor but fatally miscast as the Master, trying to be camp and menacing. Not as easy as it sounds! I'd explain the plot but rather like a prawns cracker, it's all rather insubstantial.
So Jodie got zapped by some type of energy beam, starts regenerating has time for an unconvincing tete a tete with Yaz, Bradley forms a support group for ex Doctor Who actors, then in a dirge of shit music, Jodie becomes............
The trailer for the next special looks unimpressive too.
I did like the look of the new His Dark Materials series in December. I suspect it might be a bit contentious for religious types.......
Still at least the football was mostly alright this weekend. ;-)))
