Slashdot Mirror
Doctor Who Won't Return Until 2020 (bbc.co.uk)
AmiMoJo quotes the BBC: The next series of Doctor Who won't start until 2020, it's been confirmed. Series 11 ended on Sunday night, but after the festive special on New Year's Day, Jodie Whittaker won't be seen in the Tardis again next year.
Showrunner Chris Chibnall said work on the new series had already begun... The first episode of the series, the first to feature a female Doctor, drew a record audience. It saw the highest launch viewing figures for the sci-fi stalwart in a decade, with 10.9 million people tuning in. The series has been considered a ratings success, with viewing figures above those of the last two series when Peter Capaldi starred in the title role.
Showrunner Chris Chibnall said work on the new series had already begun... The first episode of the series, the first to feature a female Doctor, drew a record audience. It saw the highest launch viewing figures for the sci-fi stalwart in a decade, with 10.9 million people tuning in. The series has been considered a ratings success, with viewing figures above those of the last two series when Peter Capaldi starred in the title role.
Yeah it premiered well but then steadily collapsed with the overdone SJW themes. If it were doing well they wouldn't be taking a year off to start over.
Long time Dr. Who fan, started with the reboot. Fell in love with the them. Then the rlwrotong started to get preachy with Capaldi's character which is a shame because he's a great actor.
It went downhill really fast. What happened to Dr. Who is exactly what happened to Star Wars. Good story telling thrown to the wayside for whatever social issue pandering du joir Moffett can come up with.
Joke's on them, I have 25ish odd years of classic Dr. Who now to catch up on where the Doctor is a man and the assistant is a cute girl instead of this shark jumping gender reversal nonsense.
Most people complaining about this season say it's bad because of the SJW themes. That's not why it's bad. It's bad because the writing, directing, and acting are terrible. The writers have no imagination. The Doctor has no edge. When she has an important bit of dialog the camera is probably going to be at some weird angle so the focus isn't even on her. Two out of three of the companions are just there. Graham could be a good counterpoint if there was ever a point to counter.
There's been plenty of "meh" Doctor Who episodes over the years. I watch because you never know when they are going to pull a "The Girl in the Fireplace" or "Blink" or "Heaven Sent" out of their hats. But even when it's been "meh" it's at least had personality.
In previous seasons I wanted to watch every episode when it was broadcast. This season, meh. I watch it at some point during the week when I've nothing what to watch.
I found most is the season very preachy. I found myself watching it almost because I felt I had to, and not enjoying it.
The was very little by way of SciFi in it, and what was there felt very much shoehorned into the story.
Over all, personally, I think this was the worst series ever. The writers made a point of dropping the Daleks and the Cybermen, and internally did what they did. They need to be fired and the writers from the David and Matt era brought in to get the show back on track.
Very disappointed. I don't think I'll miss watching it in 2019 if it was just too be more of that crap.
Moffatt had his issues. He tended to lean pretty heavily on the Daleks / Cybermen / Weeping Angels a lot, and 'continuity' was almost laughable during his tenure, but he also knew how to do a story arc. The last three episodes of last season were easily the best of the season. I genuinely felt something when Bill said "I waited for you". I'd submit that the season-long arc in season 6 was probably the most well done of such arcs, and it was still possible to see the one-off episodes during the season without feeling like you walked in halfway through the story.
I don't think the issue the past two seasons had to do with the SJW content, though it certainly didn't help. The issue, I feel, had to do with three things. First, the pacing was terrible. The first act generally took way too long; it commonly felt like the episode was half over before they actually got started telling a story. Then, they raced through the climax, with the Doctor revealing something in that moment to solve the problem, which couldn't have been known otherwise, and then in 90 seconds the whole issue is resolved. After a while, there was no point in following the story, so we didn't get invested.
Second, (admittedly more so last season), lots of those stories felt more like 'live action Scooby Doo' - land on a planet, meet someone who's scared of a thing, find the thing, find out the thing is really the nice one and is just misunderstood, realize the person who's scared of the thing is really the bad one, have the Doctor say "play nice, you two", and then leave.
Finally, there were the villains. It's understandable that Daleks and Cybermen got old...but every week, a new villain, who's "just evil, okay?" with no motivation and no development, 'generic maniacal antagonist #493' stops being any better just because it can handle stairs. Why was the alien who was out to disrupt Rosa Parks getting on the fateful bus at all concerned about it? Why were those aliens who mourned everybody absent at Gallifrey? There was a golden opportunity to establish a recurring villain, but it was squandered on big spiders and a hungry thing.
So, I won't miss it in 2019...perhaps a year's sabbatical will involve the writers binge watching a few of the past seasons and taking some of the positive things from them.