Doctor Who (Warning: 2023 specials Spoilers from page 22)

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I found episode 2 to be rather good, and quite unsettling (but in a good way, I guess) - I got "Midnight" vibes from it. And it was rather lovely, if bittersweet, to see Bernard Cribbins again as Wilf.

I didn't particularly care for Donna Noble in the Runaway Bride, but did quite enjoy Series 4 and found her to be a refreshing change from the previous "in love with the Doctor" companions.

Looking forward to the third episode, though I have to keep avoiding articles that pop up that seem to be trying to spoil it!

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I found the second special rather strange, like they needed to slow down the progression of the story of Donna & 14th Doctor before the third special & christmas ones.
I am sad to hear that Wilf doesn't make any further appearances, he wasn't able to film anymore prior to his death, but i'm thankful for what we got of him, one of the sweetest most beloved characters in new who.

Donna in Runaway Bridge was fairly irritating i found, but I did love her when she did her full run, i was sad when it ended after just 1 season. I'm glad they chose to revisit Donna out of all the available companions.

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And just like that, we have a new a Doctor!

I won’t post any spoilers here just now in case anyone hasn’t seen it yet, but I again quite enjoyed today’s episode, and the twist was certainly an interesting one. I wonder what that may mean for the future…

[Chrill]

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Are they both doctors now? Can there really be two Doctors, two Tardises, or is he weakened somehow? At least this definitely gives the opportunity to have a lot of "cameos" from Tennant over this series.

[orudge]

On another note entirely, it amuses me that this topic still warns of spoilers from an episode that aired nearly 14 years ago. That said, I’m not intending to rename it just now, maybe for the new series…

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Well that was rather exciting.
Be warned, there are actual spoilers in these spoiler tags, as surprising as that may be.

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Neil Patrick Harris absolutely smashed this episode, his acting could have easily fallen on the side of too hammy/overacting in many places, but he somehow made it all work. Even the bits where he was doing that, such as the entire "Spice up your life!" scenes at UNIT HQ were fantastic. My only disappointment was the end of the episode was fairly firm on shutting the door for the Toymaker / NPH to return, the gold tooth being left over seemed more of a return of the Master (see, i said spoilers!) who is allegedly we learned trapped inside it.

I feel the ending was a very obvious plant at setting up some of the rumoured potential spin offs, which in their own way worked, but I do feel it was a very hard hit over the head of "we might do more stuff with these guys, stay tuned to the doctor who news outlets, please pretty pretty please!". Some in the sphere of social media are saying it was knowing set up / nod to explain existence of The Curator we see in The Day of the Doctor, and how we got two doctors there who were not (at first appearance) involved in time shenanigans that War Doctor & Tenth doctor were in and interacted with each other. I guess maybe? Doesn't explain why it was the face of the fourth doctor the Curator used, which was left entirely unexplained / open ended within that story, so who knows?!

Overall I found it a massive improvement over the previous special of Wild Blue Yonder, it tried to do a bit of horror and comedy that didn't really mix well for me. It reminded me of the times Star Trek has tried to do horror, which is sometimes... fine, such as The Thaw in Star Trek Voyagers second season but a lot of the time leaves a lot to be desired. For me at least, two of the specials were great, the first & third, and now the third left me looking forward to what the Christmas Special will have in store for the new doctor.

Every so often in these specials there were obvious signs of "we got a big budget now all hail the House of Mouse, Disney!", and then that was often offset with really quite jarring CGI effects in other places, hopefully they find a happy middle ground that they can achieve reliably throughout the new season, without going too hard that they can't keep up with for the entire run and it gets jarring again in some places.

[orudge]

Spoilers? But I've already seen it!

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That said, I’m not intending to rename it just now, maybe for the new series…

I figured I'll edit it, or else we'd forget.

I saw someone post online and then spun this idea further myself.

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What if the 14th Doctor always is scheduled to turn into the 15th, but thanks to the Toymaker the "rules" of the universe broke and 15 generated too early? They say he is "older" even though he should be the same age as 14, so maybe he is from the future as it were. 14 will go do therapy, heal as Gatwa told him to, and then regenerate into 15 at the end of the upcoming series. And all the knowledge, experience, and events of 14 is already within 15 now, even though they are yet to happen. 15 just "turned up" at the HQ of Unit, but his regeneration wasn't there. It'll happen later.

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Spoilers? But I've already seen it!

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haha, that meme has entirely taken over the Dr. Who facebook pages. Some of the ones they've done are even amusing!

These three specials have left me cautiously optimistic for the RTD 2.0 era. I wonder how much the Christmas special will hook off these 3 specials, if at all.

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What if the 14th Doctor always is scheduled to turn into the 15th, but thanks to the Toymaker the "rules" of the universe broke and 15 generated too early? They say he is "older" even though he should be the same age as 14, so maybe he is from the future as it were. 14 will go do therapy, heal as Gatwa told him to, and then regenerate into 15 at the end of the upcoming series. And all the knowledge, experience, and events of 14 is already within 15 now, even though they are yet to happen.

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An interesting theory, but it has been stated that Tennant will not be appearing again, or rather there are 'no plans' for him to return, but who knows. The Doctor lies, so maybe Doctor Who bosses also lie?
It would be genuinely amazing if the end of The Giggle was used as a jump off point for the rumoured spin off series that keep getting rumoured. But whilst Catherine Tate doesn't seem to do much in terms of TV anymore, I imagine Tennants schedule, and £££££ cost is still fairly sky high.

[Chrill]

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An interesting theory, but it has been stated that Tennant will not be appearing again, or rather there are 'no plans' for him to return, but who knows. The Doctor lies, so maybe Doctor Who bosses also lie?
It would be genuinely amazing if the end of The Giggle was used as a jump off point for the rumoured spin off series that keep getting rumoured. But whilst Catherine Tate doesn't seem to do much in terms of TV anymore, I imagine Tennants schedule, and £££££ cost is still fairly sky high.

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I'm not too keen on there being a Doctor Who universe really. Too many spin-offs will just make it messy to follow, much like Marvel releasing a new movie every week. I do think Tennant not dying will linger above Gatwa until they resolve that storyline, so Tennant must surely be returning at least in the upcoming series finale.

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just make it messy to follow, much like Marvel releasing a new movie every week

Honestly this is basically why i never really keep track or try to watch whole sagas in things like Marvel & Star Wars. Seems a huge commitment just to find all the things and the correct timeline order and just aaaaaaa
Having said that, the TV show Loki was amazing, best thing Marvel have done (#unpopularopinion time) in like a decade, including films.

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New series! Or, erm, season, apparently (thanks, Disney ).

I quite enjoyed Space Babies, it was good fun. Ncuti almost seems like he's 'always' been the Doctor already, which is generally the sign of a good Doctor! I don't know if I was just tired when I watched it (last night) but I didn't really 'get into' The Devil's Chord so much. Maybe I'll rewatch it at some point.

Steven Moffat-penned episode next week, that's exciting. Random fact, Steven Moffat is now 7 years older than William Hartnell was when he first starred in Doctor Who. In fact, Russell T Davies is 6 years older, too. I can't say I look at either of them and think "oh, they're in their sixties"...

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Space Babies was cute, I am intrigued to learn more about Rose Sunday. I haven't seen "The Devil's Chord" yet, will probably watch it tomorrow!

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Well, 73 yards was

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brilliant.

I'm not actually a fan of doing episodes without a doctor so early in his run, but I suppose it conflicted with his work on Sex Education as they were shot concurrently. Regardless, this was an absolutely fantastic episode.

I still don't necessarily understand it. Why 73 yards, what did she say that made Ruby's mother and even all of UNIT run away, and how did she return to become the woman they all saw? And what did those hand gestures mean?

Also, the woman who played a hiker in this episode has featured in every episode so far. This was her sixth appearance, and her sixth role. Something is brewing for sure. https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Susan_Twist
Some speculate her character is named Susan Triad, S. TRIAD. TARDIS. Is she a human form of a TARDIS?

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Yes, I rather enjoyed it too - was hooked from start to finish!

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And as they sung, there’s always a Twist at the end…