If you're still not caught up on this season of Doctor Who, there will be spoilers.
The post begins after the spoiler break.
To start, let's rank the episodes for Series 12. To that end, I'm going to first let the good people of the United Kingdom weigh in on that subject.
- "Fugitive of the Judoon"
- "Spyfall, Part 1"
- "Spyfall, Part 2"
- "The Timeless Children"
- "Ascension of the Cybermen"
- "The Haunting of Villa Diodati"
- "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror"
- "Praxeus"
- "Can You Hear Me?"
- "Orphan 55"
This is a ranking from first to worst by the TV viewing public in the United Kingdom based on the Audience Appreciation Index (AI).
The AI is a score out of 100 used as an indicator of the public's appreciation for a television show, radio program or broadcast service in the United Kingdom.
That ranking seems to fall in line with what I've seen in online feedback in a variety of forums.
My mileage may differ. And in fact, it does. Here is my ranking of the episodes for Series 12.
- "Spyfall, Part 2"
- "Spyfall, Part 1"
- "The Timeless Children"
- "Fugitive of the Judoon"
- "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror"
- "The Haunting of Villa Diodati"
- "Ascension of the Cybermen"
- "Praxeus"
- "Orphan 55"
- "Can You Hear Me?"
Now these sorts of rankings are always subjective and everyone has a different view.
But not placing "Fugitive of the Judoon" as first would seem to border on heresy compared to the views of the rest of the Whovian faithful.
Let me start with saying that Series 12 was an improvement over Series 11. Raising the dramatic stakes with the return of the Cybermen and the Judoon as well as the no one saw it coming returns of the Master and Jack Harkness and the introduction of a heretofore unknown Doctor gave us a level of energy and excitement that the good but not great Series 11 did not provide.
But looking at the big moments of Series 12, one problem keeps popping up over and over in my brain as I assess these episodes: These moments are not earned.
Take for example the big startling reveal in "Skyfall, Part 1" that Agent O is actually the Master. Kudos to Chris Chibnall and company for keeping the lid on that one. It is a big, shocking, completely unexpected moment.
But outside the shock value, what do we get from that scene?
The idea that the Doctor is cut off and alienated from her home world of Gallifrey and her fellow Time Lords is not explored in anyway under Chibnall. The Doctor's connections (and also the lack thereof) to her homeworld and to her race has zero bearing on the 13th Doctor. The revelation that there is another Time Lord like the Doctor on Earth and how that Time Lord, so unlike the Doctor, is completely evil lacks the power it should have.
This moment was not earned.
I don't want to seem like a whiny fanboy pissing on Chibnall while pining for Russel Davies but let's look at how the ground was set for the Master reveal in Series 3.
Step 1: After prodding from Martha, the Doctor finally tells his story at the end of Gridlock. Martha has the knowledge of the Doctor's lost and lonely state.
Step 2: Human Nature establishes the existence of Time Lord tech, a Chameleon Arch and the Doctor's true self hidden inside a fob watch of a peculiar design.
Step 3: In Utopia, Martha sees Professor Yana with a fob watch of that same peculiar design.
Martha knows the Doctor is sad that his fellow Time Lords are dead and she is familiar with this particular piece of Time Lord tech. Is Yana a Time Lord? If so, the Doctor is not alone in the universe. This should be a good thing, right? Except the Doctor is a bit frantic about who this particular Time Lord might be. Then Yana reveals himself as the Master.
That moment has been prepared for. That moment was earned.
The lack of any building blocks in the Doctor's character or in her relationship with her fam deprives the Master's reveal in Skyfall Part 1 of any significant emotional power. It's a thing that happens out of nowhere. Credit to Jodie Whitaker who sells the gut punch the Doctor feels but otherwise, the moment could've been so much more.
Let's take a look at "Fugitive of the Judoon" with two astonishing reveals that has propelled this episode to the top of a lot of lists.
I have to say that hearing Jack Harkness in the moments before he make his appearance was a very joyous feeling. It was great to have John Barrowman back on screen as Jack after too long away from Doctor Who. But really, why was he there?
His primary function seems to be to take Graham, Yaz & Ryan out of the main story so the Doctor can have alone time with Ruth for that other reveal.
Yes, he does deliver a warning about the Lone Cyberman but would the events of episodes 8 through 10 played out any differently without Jack's warning? The answer is no. The Doctor knows that giving a Cyberman what it wants is not a good idea but under Ashad's threat, the Doctor would still take the same action, with or without Jack's warning.
Meanwhile, there's the big reveal that Ruth Clayton is also the Doctor. It's big and it's mind blowing.
But it doesn't feel earned.
Take the Doctor's discovery of a police box TARDIS buried in a grave. Not enough time is spent on this element of the story. Ruth mentioned her parents are buried on the site of her childhood lighthouse home. The Doctor's curiosity about the grave site is too hastily arrived at when she begins digging in the dirt. We needed more build up to the questions about the grave site, something nagging at the Doctor and the viewers. Instead it is a question too quickly introduced and then just as too quickly answered.
The revelation that Ruth is a version of the Doctor is a surprise but is it a shock? I think we needed more clues. The box found in Ruth's flat, for example, could have symbols in old high Galiifreyan recognized by the Doctor. Is Ruth connected to Gallifrey? Is she a Time Lord? If so, which one? Another version of the Master? The Rani? Rassilon? Clues leading us to questions leading us to answers that turn out to be all wrong, she's actually a past Doctor we've never heard of.
Without clues, the big reveal that Ruth is the Doctor does not feel earned. It is a proverbial rabbit out of a hat. Or in a more crudely put parlance, it feels like an ass-pull.
The revelation that the Doctor is the Timeless Child lacked the set up to sell the power of that moment. There is no foundation set within Series 12 or 11 of the Doctor having to confront her past as she knows it so that the big twist that there is more to her past than what she knows lacks emotional weight. Yes, the Doctor as the Timeless Child is a mythology busting move but it is not earned.
I will say this in defense of the reveal that the the Doctor as the Timeless Child. If I have qualms relating to what I see as story structure flaws in how we get to that moment, I will say that the reveal itself is a good thing for Doctor Who. After nearly 57 years of Doctor Who, we find there is still stuff about the Doctor we do not know. There are a lot of questions that don't have answers and quite frankly, we may never get those answers.
Like for example, where did that girl Tetkeun found come from? What is on the other side of that portal?
Maybe Chris Chibnall has an answer for that next season.
Or maybe some teenage would be writer watching this show today in 2020 will become the Doctor Who showrunner in 2040 and the 37th Doctor finds out the truth then.
Or we never do.
Solved next year or solved in two decades or never solved, the Timeless Child gives us something we didn't think we had after 57 years of Doctor Who: a NEW mystery about the Doctor.
I know there are people out there who think this development ruins the... I don't know, "sanctity"? of the show's history. Oh what heresy! William Hartnell was NOT the first Doctor?!? How darest thee in thine affrontery!
Doctor Who is and always has been a work in progress. Unlike say the blinkered fandoms of other shows and movies (I'm looking at you, Star Wars!), Doctor Who has a history of re-inventing itself over the course of classic and new Who.
I may take issue with HOW Doctor Who reinvented itself this season but I will say that I am glad that it is still a remarkable engine of reinvention and Series 12 certainly demonstrated that with panache.
On to other observations about Series 12.
A lot of fans preferred Part 1 of Skyfall to Part 2. I liked Part 2 more because seeing the Doctor separated from the TARDIS and her fam was the kind of challenge I've been anxious to see this Doctor face. Bouncing through time and her confrontations with the Master is the kind of thing I look for in Doctor Who. And seeing the fam function without the Doctor and also for the first time begin to question her was a strong arc in the episode for our trusted companions.
I rated "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror" a bit higher than others did. As a self contained historical adventure, it may not have had an impact like a Master reveal or a return of Jack Harkness type of thing but it's a solid outing for the Doctor and the fam. There's a bit where the Doctor and Tesla bond over their mutual wonder of invention and discovery. It's a rate moment of the Doctor discovering a kindred mind in a human. And the joy that Tesla so obviously feels that somebody actually gets him accentuates how ahead of his time he is when the person who gets him is an alien space/time traveller who's thousands of years old.
I ranked "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" a bit lower than most other fans did. I think the story is too disjointed and too crowded. Quite frankly, I would have liked to seen Ashad, the Lone Cyberman, play a more central role in the proceedings earlier. OK, I just complained that the story was too crowded but we needed time time Percy Shelly earlier in the story. His place in history as a sacrifice too big for the Doctor to make lacks power due to his late in the episode appearance.
(Yes, one more time: the moment was not earned.)
A lot of Whovians would put "Orphan 55" at the bottom of their list for Series 12 but I bump it up a notch. Yes, the messages about climate change are heavy handed but the the episode starts strong (the Doctor removing the hopper virus from Ryan is a comedic highlight of the season) and the Dregs are truly creepily scary monsters.
"Can You Hear Me?" is at the bottom of my list for all the missed opportunities in this episode to truly do something strong and powerful with the companions. Why is Chris Chibnall so damned scared to give us any solid character development for Yaz? Learning Yaz ran away from home after being bullied is a significant development but I think in exploring people's nightmares, the real nightmare for Yaz wouldn't be the running away but the bullying itself.
In general, Doctor Who Series 12 continued to struggle with overcrowded casts and overstuffed plots requiring breathless exposition from the Doctor to explain.
On the plus side, the Doctor felt more like the Doctor this season and even if struggling to find something to to for all the fam each episode, everybody had a couple of key moments each episode.
With Series 12, Doctor Who felt more like Doctor Who. It was a stronger season than before and I appreciated the risks taken.
________________________________
Coming up tomorrow on the Tuesday TV Touchbase, I look at Star Trek Picard.
Next week, contemplation about Doctor Who and the future.
This moment was not earned.
I don't want to seem like a whiny fanboy pissing on Chibnall while pining for Russel Davies but let's look at how the ground was set for the Master reveal in Series 3.
Step 1: After prodding from Martha, the Doctor finally tells his story at the end of Gridlock. Martha has the knowledge of the Doctor's lost and lonely state.
Step 2: Human Nature establishes the existence of Time Lord tech, a Chameleon Arch and the Doctor's true self hidden inside a fob watch of a peculiar design.
Step 3: In Utopia, Martha sees Professor Yana with a fob watch of that same peculiar design.
Martha knows the Doctor is sad that his fellow Time Lords are dead and she is familiar with this particular piece of Time Lord tech. Is Yana a Time Lord? If so, the Doctor is not alone in the universe. This should be a good thing, right? Except the Doctor is a bit frantic about who this particular Time Lord might be. Then Yana reveals himself as the Master.
That moment has been prepared for. That moment was earned.
The lack of any building blocks in the Doctor's character or in her relationship with her fam deprives the Master's reveal in Skyfall Part 1 of any significant emotional power. It's a thing that happens out of nowhere. Credit to Jodie Whitaker who sells the gut punch the Doctor feels but otherwise, the moment could've been so much more.
Let's take a look at "Fugitive of the Judoon" with two astonishing reveals that has propelled this episode to the top of a lot of lists.
I have to say that hearing Jack Harkness in the moments before he make his appearance was a very joyous feeling. It was great to have John Barrowman back on screen as Jack after too long away from Doctor Who. But really, why was he there?
His primary function seems to be to take Graham, Yaz & Ryan out of the main story so the Doctor can have alone time with Ruth for that other reveal.
Yes, he does deliver a warning about the Lone Cyberman but would the events of episodes 8 through 10 played out any differently without Jack's warning? The answer is no. The Doctor knows that giving a Cyberman what it wants is not a good idea but under Ashad's threat, the Doctor would still take the same action, with or without Jack's warning.
Meanwhile, there's the big reveal that Ruth Clayton is also the Doctor. It's big and it's mind blowing.
But it doesn't feel earned.
Take the Doctor's discovery of a police box TARDIS buried in a grave. Not enough time is spent on this element of the story. Ruth mentioned her parents are buried on the site of her childhood lighthouse home. The Doctor's curiosity about the grave site is too hastily arrived at when she begins digging in the dirt. We needed more build up to the questions about the grave site, something nagging at the Doctor and the viewers. Instead it is a question too quickly introduced and then just as too quickly answered.
The revelation that Ruth is a version of the Doctor is a surprise but is it a shock? I think we needed more clues. The box found in Ruth's flat, for example, could have symbols in old high Galiifreyan recognized by the Doctor. Is Ruth connected to Gallifrey? Is she a Time Lord? If so, which one? Another version of the Master? The Rani? Rassilon? Clues leading us to questions leading us to answers that turn out to be all wrong, she's actually a past Doctor we've never heard of.
Without clues, the big reveal that Ruth is the Doctor does not feel earned. It is a proverbial rabbit out of a hat. Or in a more crudely put parlance, it feels like an ass-pull.
The revelation that the Doctor is the Timeless Child lacked the set up to sell the power of that moment. There is no foundation set within Series 12 or 11 of the Doctor having to confront her past as she knows it so that the big twist that there is more to her past than what she knows lacks emotional weight. Yes, the Doctor as the Timeless Child is a mythology busting move but it is not earned.
I will say this in defense of the reveal that the the Doctor as the Timeless Child. If I have qualms relating to what I see as story structure flaws in how we get to that moment, I will say that the reveal itself is a good thing for Doctor Who. After nearly 57 years of Doctor Who, we find there is still stuff about the Doctor we do not know. There are a lot of questions that don't have answers and quite frankly, we may never get those answers.
Like for example, where did that girl Tetkeun found come from? What is on the other side of that portal?
Maybe Chris Chibnall has an answer for that next season.
Or maybe some teenage would be writer watching this show today in 2020 will become the Doctor Who showrunner in 2040 and the 37th Doctor finds out the truth then.
Or we never do.
Solved next year or solved in two decades or never solved, the Timeless Child gives us something we didn't think we had after 57 years of Doctor Who: a NEW mystery about the Doctor.
I know there are people out there who think this development ruins the... I don't know, "sanctity"? of the show's history. Oh what heresy! William Hartnell was NOT the first Doctor?!? How darest thee in thine affrontery!
Doctor Who is and always has been a work in progress. Unlike say the blinkered fandoms of other shows and movies (I'm looking at you, Star Wars!), Doctor Who has a history of re-inventing itself over the course of classic and new Who.
I may take issue with HOW Doctor Who reinvented itself this season but I will say that I am glad that it is still a remarkable engine of reinvention and Series 12 certainly demonstrated that with panache.
On to other observations about Series 12.
A lot of fans preferred Part 1 of Skyfall to Part 2. I liked Part 2 more because seeing the Doctor separated from the TARDIS and her fam was the kind of challenge I've been anxious to see this Doctor face. Bouncing through time and her confrontations with the Master is the kind of thing I look for in Doctor Who. And seeing the fam function without the Doctor and also for the first time begin to question her was a strong arc in the episode for our trusted companions.
I rated "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror" a bit higher than others did. As a self contained historical adventure, it may not have had an impact like a Master reveal or a return of Jack Harkness type of thing but it's a solid outing for the Doctor and the fam. There's a bit where the Doctor and Tesla bond over their mutual wonder of invention and discovery. It's a rate moment of the Doctor discovering a kindred mind in a human. And the joy that Tesla so obviously feels that somebody actually gets him accentuates how ahead of his time he is when the person who gets him is an alien space/time traveller who's thousands of years old.
I ranked "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" a bit lower than most other fans did. I think the story is too disjointed and too crowded. Quite frankly, I would have liked to seen Ashad, the Lone Cyberman, play a more central role in the proceedings earlier. OK, I just complained that the story was too crowded but we needed time time Percy Shelly earlier in the story. His place in history as a sacrifice too big for the Doctor to make lacks power due to his late in the episode appearance.
(Yes, one more time: the moment was not earned.)
A lot of Whovians would put "Orphan 55" at the bottom of their list for Series 12 but I bump it up a notch. Yes, the messages about climate change are heavy handed but the the episode starts strong (the Doctor removing the hopper virus from Ryan is a comedic highlight of the season) and the Dregs are truly creepily scary monsters.
"Can You Hear Me?" is at the bottom of my list for all the missed opportunities in this episode to truly do something strong and powerful with the companions. Why is Chris Chibnall so damned scared to give us any solid character development for Yaz? Learning Yaz ran away from home after being bullied is a significant development but I think in exploring people's nightmares, the real nightmare for Yaz wouldn't be the running away but the bullying itself.
In general, Doctor Who Series 12 continued to struggle with overcrowded casts and overstuffed plots requiring breathless exposition from the Doctor to explain.
On the plus side, the Doctor felt more like the Doctor this season and even if struggling to find something to to for all the fam each episode, everybody had a couple of key moments each episode.
With Series 12, Doctor Who felt more like Doctor Who. It was a stronger season than before and I appreciated the risks taken.
________________________________
Coming up tomorrow on the Tuesday TV Touchbase, I look at Star Trek Picard.
Next week, contemplation about Doctor Who and the future.
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