Doctor Who WAS New!: The 2025 Post-Mortem

Doctor Who Is NEW! where I post about the latest new episode of Doctor Who.

Since last week was the end of the season (series?), there is no new episode of Doctor Who to talk about this week so instead we get this:

Welcome to Doctor Who Was NEW! where I post about the latest (last?) season of Doctor Who.

The season just past was either season 2, series 15 or season 41. For simplicity, I will refer to it as season 2.  ("I see you've changed how you count seasons. I don't like it.") 

I will say that I thought that overall I liked season 2 more than season 1. "The Robot Revolution" was a stronger start than "Space Babies".   

As much as I wanted to like Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) as a companion, I did find that Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) was a stronger, more engaging character. A lot of that owed to her status as an unwilling companion. Belinda did not ask for travels through time and space, she just wanted to get back home.  (A trait that was not annoying unlike Tegan Jovanka's incessant whining for the 5th Doctor to get her back to Earth in the appropriate year.)  

The Doctor cannot get the TARDIS to Earth on May 24th, 2025 and the mystery as to why that is provides a compelling arc for the season (until the end).  

While I was on board for Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor from his first appearances in 2023 ("The Giggle" and "The Church on Ruby Road), it was not until season 2 that I think he really found his voice as the Doctor.  Instead of relying on smiles and charm, Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor has greater range and depth, even giving us glimpses of the "fury of a Time Lord" (as described in 2007's "The Family of Blood").  

There was some cool stuff that got Whovians buzzing:

• In "Lux", Alan Cumming as the animated Mr. Ring-A-Ding who is a member of the Pantheon.  The Doctor and Belinda becomes cartoons and later emerge from a TV to meet Whovians watching "Lux".  
• The unexpected connection in "The Well" to the 2008 episode "Midnight".  
• Jo Martin's surprise cameo as the Fugitive Doctor in "The Story and the Engine". 
• And whatever Russell T Davies wanted you to be talking about after "The Interstellar Song Contest", what he got was a galvanic reaction throughout Doctor Who fandom (and even beyond) embracing that blasted Dugga Do. 

So I would say that season 2 of Doctor Who was a success. 

Until the end.  

What the hell happened?

The big reveal after 2 years that Mrs. Flood was the Rani was anticlimatic. Fans have been speculating on a return of the Rani for years now but how did the fourth wall breaking Mrs. Flood square with the classic series Time Lord villain?  

Bi-generating got us Archie Punjabi as the Rani whiling keeping Anita Dobson around as "Mrs. Flood" who became subservient to her new incarnation and really, what is going with that? 

And what is the Rani's big plan? Using Conrad from "Lucky Day" and a baby that grants wishes, the Rani has created a strange version of Earth that will crack open on May 24th in order to bring about the return of Omega, the classic series antagonist who was the founder of the Time Lords.  

(Despite some comments online, the return of Omega does not revoke Chris Chibnall's Tecteun and the Timeless Child. Tecteun explains how Time Lords are long lived through regeneration. Omega is the source of their power to travel through space and time.)  

Like Sutekh last year, Omega shows up as a giant mutated demon monster.  

Who immediately eats the new Rani and the Doctor defeats with a really big gun 2 minutes later. 

All that time and effort, all that build up... for that? 

The season (series?) finale is full of exciting set pieces (UNIT HQ ray blasting giant bone beasts, the Doctor riding a sky cycle, etc) in search of a plot.  

The resolution of Belinda's journey where time is re-written and she was always the mother of Poppy is...  questionable, I think. Yeah, we get flashbacks to scenes in earlier episodes we did not actually see where Belinda talks about getting back to her daughter and about Poppy's dad, etc etc.   

On one hand, yay! Poppy is not written out of existence and gets to live.  On the other hand, Belinda now has a child she didn't have before and was always a doting mother who only wanted to get back to her child.

Conrad himself could not have wished for a "better" ending. 

And it's the ending of Ncuti Gatwa's time as the Doctor.

NO! Really? Already? 

Regenerations do NOT happen without some kind of advance notice.  If you get what looks like regeneration without any prior warning, it's a fake out.  (see 2008's "Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End").   

Yeah, I saw the rumors that the season (series?) would end with Ncuti Gatwa regenerating but the Whovian rumor mill is so frequently unreliable. 

Not this time.

The Doctor's decision to trigger a regeneration in order to restore Poppy to life is a momentous one that leads to a brief but memorable multi-Doctor interaction. 

Jodie Whittaker's return as the 13th Doctor was a complete delight. In those few minutes she's on screen, Jodie shows her strength as the Doctor that was undermined by not good writing during her original run.

But time's running out and it's time for Ncuti Gatwa to say goodbye in a regeneration sequence that is spectacular but also kind of dodgy.  The close up of Ncuti's face as the regeneration takes hold is just a fade out to a silhouette to a fade in to Billie Piper. 

There are rumors of last minute changes to the script and last minute reshoots and a feeling that Ncuti Gatwa's departure was not really the plan and what all.  

And if Ncuti was going to leave, was there a clear plan on who was going to replace him? The appearance of Billie Piper has the feel of a Hail Mary play in a desperate bid to keep our attention in the uncertain future to come.

Through out this post I have made oblique reference to "the end of the season (series?)". 

Is this really the end of Doctor Who?  

That's speculation for a future post.

NEXT WEEK:

Doctor Who Is NEW! returns as we look at the special edition of Doctor Who Unleashed that celebrates the past 20 years of modern Doctor Who.

AFTER THAT:

More Doctor Who as I speculate madly on the future of our beloved show.

AND BEYOND THAT:

The return of Doctor Who Is CLASSIC! with a look back at a tale of Tom Baker as the Doctor.