The Thirteenth Doctor’s first season has come to an end with a final battle against a familiar face…
Summary
The Doctor detects nine distress calls coming from the same area of a planet called Ranskoor Av Kolos (translated to “Disintegrator of the Soul”), and decides to go investigate. She gives everyone special neuro-balancers because the planet throws off waves that interfere with a person’s mood and ability to focus. When they arrive on the planet they meet a man named Paltraki (Mark Addy) who has lost his crew but doesn’t know how. The Doctor gives him a neuro-balancer, and they are contacted by the person in charge of planet: Tzim-Sha. He wants something that Paltraki and his crew retrieved, and will kill them one by one if it’s not returned. It’s some kind of buzzing sphere contained in what looks like crystal, but the Doctor can’t figure out what it is. Graham tells the Doctor that when they see Tzim-Sha, he plans to kill him for Grace. The Doctor insists that he not do so, but he doesn’t seem to care.
The Doctor meets a woman named Andinio (Phyllis Logan), who is part of a very small and select people named the Ux. They have incredible abilities to bend matter and such, and serve a creator. Andinio believes that Tzim-Sha is that creator and she and her cohort Delph (Percelle Ascott) have been doing his bidding. The parcel that the Doctor is carrying is a captured and miniaturized planet, and they have shrunk many more for their “creator.” The Doctor meets Tzim-Sha again, and he admits that he’s been waiting to get back at her for what she did to him on Earth 3,407 years ago. He’s also strapped to machinery and barely alive anymore. Now he plans to take the Earth, but the Doctor is certain that the world cannot maintain stability with so many tiny planet on it. In the meantime, Ryan and Graham are helping to free a group of stasis-bound people who Tzim-Sha has been holding hostage, including Paltraki’s crew. He and Yaz try to stop Andinio and Delph from taking the Earth (Delph wants no part of this thing, but Andinio leaves him very little choice). The Doctor instructs Paltraki to help Ryan and Graham, and she and Yaz try to figure out how to stop the Ux. They end up fitting the duo with their neuro-balancers so that they can think clearly.
The Doctor calls the TARDIS to her with the sonic screwdriver, and together with Andinio and Delph, they put all the planets back where they belong. Graham gets the chance to kill Tzim-Sha, but makes the choice not to on Ryan’s plea, and they put Tzim-Sha in stasus instead. The Doctor tells Graham that he’s one of the strongest people she knows. They takes the survivors away from the planet and let Andinion and Delph go searching for a new place to serve their creator.
Commentary
Honestly, I enjoyed this episode overall, even with its multitude of weaknesses and plotholes. And if it’s not enough for some people because it’s supposed to be a season finale, then I count that as a good thing. For my money, Doctor Who shouldn’t attempt a big kapow season ender and then try for it again immediately after with the holiday special. It needs to be one or the other, and it seems like the big baboom is being saved for the New Year. As it stands, this was a fun, dramatic space episode set in the future with some good character work and a few neat conceptual ideas thrown into the mix. It was fun, and everyone was in top form. If you’re new to the show (which it seems as though a good portion of the audience is this season, given the high viewing numbers that Whittaker and Chibnall have drawn), then something that’s less bombastic is likely to work for you, too.
The biggest mistake in this episode is that I kept hoping Grace would be in one of those stasis pods with the people Tzim-Sha was keeping alive. Somehow. I wish that they’d just made it abundantly clear from the start that there was no way for that to happen. I still wouldn’t have been happy for her to have missed out on this whole season of adventures, but I can’t stop being upset that she’s not going to be a companion.
We’ve reached our end goal with Ryan and Graham’s relationship solidifying, on the other hand. It’s pretty aggravating that Graham thinks murdering Tzim-Sha is going to somehow make up for Grace (revenge is a common plot scheme, but the commonality of it means that it rarely ever packs the punch you need it to, and instead makes the character seeking revenge seem out of touch), but Ryan is mostly responsible for snapping him out of it, calling him granddad once again and making it clear that he loves him. They even finally get their fistbump in, which is a lot to ask on Ryan’s part, so things between them are clearly golden.
Yaz, on the other hand, has delightfully assumed the role of the person closest to the Doctor in their little trio, the one who goes off with the people they meet in order to safeguard them and get intel, the person who agrees to the tough choices, the person who says to the Doctor “I’m not leaving you.” After worrying that Yaz might get sidelined as the one female companion with a female Doctor, the opposite has really been true. Yaz has come into her own, and clearly enjoys being Thirteen’s friend and confidant and partner in crime. Their relationship is closer than ever, which is pretty much everything that I could have wished for. The idea that a female version of the Doctor would have an even more seamless bond with the other women in her life really does ring true.
There’s a decidedly Star Wars/Darth Vader vibe going on with Tzim-Sha in this episode, and I kind of wish they’d leaned into it more? It works, but it could have been sharper and even more interesting if they’d just let it be more Vader-y. It also would have had the benefit of making Tzim-Sha a more interesting villain who had truly evolved in all the time since he’d seen the Doctor last. The whole reveal of him in that chamber attached to all those apparatuses was actually pretty cool, but it wasn’t used. And then he suddenly doesn’t seem to need it later? It’s just not that well conceived or pulled through the whole plot. On the other hand, really cool aspects of the plot, like Paltraki not having the use of his memory for most of the episode, was a really smart device that could have been used more.
There are some weird plot holes in this episode, or at least plot bits that weren’t thought all the way through. For example, if Tzim-Sha wanted to nab the Earth to get back at the Doctor, why didn’t he go after the Earth first? Sure, the other planets have relevance according to him, but if he really cares about what the Doctor did all that much, you’d figure he would start there. How do the powers of Andinio and Delph actually work, and why? Why does the planet throw off mess-with-your-head waves again? They seem to be a pretty interesting and advanced species who we don’t really learn much about (particularly in regard to the trappings of their actual religion). If Tzim-Sha had meant to get back at the Doctor all this time, why wasn’t he more actively seeking her out? Why does he need “trophy” people in stasis instead of the other trophy format that we know his people already do? At the end of the day, Chibnall is good at reverse engineering mysteries and murders (which you know if you’ve watched Broadchurch), but his SFF plotting could use some more meticulousness.
All in all, there could have been more care taken with the general premise and world-building, but I’m just as happy to not have the season finale be OH NO IT IS EVERY VILLAIN THE DOCTOR EVER FACED AND EIGHTEEN UNIVERSES ARE IN PERIL WHATEVER SHALL WE DO PROBABLY YELL AT THE STARS WHILE LOCATING A MACGUFFIN. Ultimately all the important hallmarks are there, including a crystallization of the Doctor’s personal M.O.—when Graham asks if it really needs to be them helping with the distress calls on Ranskoor Av Kolos, the Doctor replies, “No, not at all. But everyone else has passed them by. You think we should do the same?” If you need a better motto for living a good life, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find it.
Also have to appreciate the Doctor finally admitting to Ryan that she sets very specific rules for new recruits, but that they do actually change all the time.
Yeah. I’ll take this. I’ll take the Doctor telling people to “travel hopefully” and reminding them of the wonder in the universe. And also I’m incredibly excited for the New Years Special.
Bits and asides this week:
- The Doctor mentions having dragged a planet across the universe using the TARDIS (the Tenth Doctor and a bunch of friends had to do this with the Earth in “Journey’s End”) and using the TARDIS to rebirth a Slitheen egg (which the Ninth Doctor witnessed in “Boom Town”).
- Graham says “Yippee ki-yay, robots” in perhaps the nerdiest reference to Die Hard ever made on television. And I say this with the knowledge that Brooklyn Nine-Nine is constantly making nerdy references to Die Hard.
- Someone finally enjoys the Doctor’s decision to refer to her crew as “fam.” It’s only Yaz, though. Graham and Ryan are still less than impressed.
- Coming out of this episode, I still feel really bad for Delph. Poor guy deserved better.
- This is not the first time the Doctor has encountered someone who miniaturized planets. The Fourth Doctor and Romana encountered a planet named Zanak, which had hyperspace engines and was piloted by a half-robot that used it to plunder the resources of small planets in the serial “The Pirate Planet.”
- Yaz says that there’s seven billion people on Earth perhaps not realizing how far they are in the future; Tzim-Sha says it’s been over 3400 years since he last saw the Doctor, so it’s a practical guarantee that the population is much larger. (Looks like it’s doing okay, though, since there’s a lot of greenery and blue oceans still left.)
- Continuing to call the TARDIS a Ghost Monument is just really very excellent. Count me a fan, please always keep this up, it’s such a good name.
- The Doctor makes mention that teachers used to limit her questions in school in order stop having to teach. Which is probably something that every student has faced in one class or another. And given the Doctor’s rough relationship with her people, it comes as even less of a surprise.
- Hi Mark Addy, does anyone remember when you played younger Fred Flintstone in that weird live-action Flintstone prequel Viva Rock Vegas? (I know he’s done far better things than that, but it’s way too fun to remind everyone of that awkward, awful thing.)
Emmet Asher-Perrin will continue to travel hopefully. You can bug him on Twitter, and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
Thanks for the mention of “The Pirate Planet.” Between the miniaturized planets and the containers looking like pieces of the Key to Time, it felt like a very deliberate reference to me.
As for the episode, I thought it was…pretty good? I appreciated the character work, even if it was somewhat predictable. I thought Bradley Walsh sold it pretty well. I still can’t get into Tim Shaw as a villain, though. He had what sounded like a decent revenge plan, but when it actually came time to menace someone in person, he just stood there and glowered.
Some good ideas here, but underdeveloped. The AV Club reviewer called it a messy first draft and I agree. Ideas are introduced but not followed thru. Why are the Ux only a 2-person species? How do they reproduce? How in a science-fictional universe do they have magical faith-based powers? Why would they take at face value an obviously mortal, weakened creature as their “Creator”?
The miniaturizing of planets, while killing anything alive on them, should’ve posed a moral problem for the Ux. Of course we have the convenient device of the planet they’re on messing with their minds, but it’s too convenient. Far too many undercooked ingredients in this stew. That doesn’t even touch on the problem of where the planetary masses went. Same silliness as in Ant-man and Wasp where they can drag a large shrunken building like a suitcase. The size doesn’t matter if the mass is the same.
What is Tim Shaw’s plan? It’s very muddled. And why does it take him 3,407 years before the doctor shows up? He’s already committed multiple planetary genocides and she’s reluctant to take him out. The episode doesn’t even follow thru on her ultimate responsibility for those genocides as a consequence of her actions in episode one.
Based on the weaknesses of Chibnall’s scripts, I’d say less writing from him would be better next season.
Good episode, another one that ended with things being set right rather than exploded. There were some high stakes, but not overblown, as has been all too often the case at the end of previous seasons. Team Tardis has become quite a tight little group over the course of the season. And we got a nice hopeful speech from the Doctor to bring the season to a close.
Always nice to see Mark Addy. And it took me most of the episode to recognize her, but it was good to see Phyllis Logan (Mrs. Hughes from Downton Abbey).
I’m looking forward to the New Year’s episode, but not to the long wait until the next season, which reportedly won’t appear until early in 2020.
It was okay, but imperfect. Revenge stories about villains trying to destroy the Earth are rather a cliche, and so are stories about heroes trying to talk other heroes out of sinking to revenge. Although Walsh’s quiet, amiable, sad delivery made it more effective than the teeth-gnashing rage you’d usually expect.
I liked it that the Doctor referenced the TARDIS sign’s “respond to urgent calls” text. I don’t think that’s been done before. It’s also kinda neat that the dematerialization field emanated from the roof lantern. I guess that explains why it flashes when the TARDIS comes and goes.
I knew I recognized Percelle Ascot’s name from somewhere, and when I saw it in the end credits and put it together with Delph’s face, it finally struck me. He co-starred in Wizards vs. Aliens, the show that Russell T. Davies and Phil Ford made after The Sarah Jane Adventures (which also co-starred a pre-Game of Thrones Gwendolyn Christie as one of the title aliens).
@3/Alan: Yeah, Mark Addy is a terrific actor. He brings such sincerity and poignancy to every line.
“It’s just not that well conceived or pulled through the whole plot.” – I feel like this is a good summary of Chibnall’s writing on Doctor Who.
For instance, the Doctor had an extra neuro-balancer for Paltraki, but not an extra pair for the Ux? And then they go right back to having to use them themselves, so they’re only under the effects of the planet for, like, 5 minutes?
Underwhelming. I’m fine with having a quieter season finale (and yes, certainly the ‘all my classic enemies are here’ needed to go, but this wasn’t even particularly good as a single episode, and based on a villain Chibnall obviously thinks is a lot more interesting than I do.
The whole “we won’t do classic monsters or enemies” is fine as a goal but then you really need to bring your A-game in creating new ones, and that’s the show’s largest failing this year. The closest thing to a memorable threat (for that matter, a memorable addition to the universe whatsoever) were the delivery robots with explosive bubble wrap and the Pting. And even they were fairly lackluster. The villain in “Rosa” might have potentially been an interesting recurring antagonist if his motive wasn’t just “time travelling racist idiot.”
Chibnall’s writing in general has been lackluster… I’m not ready to call for his removal but I hope he relies more on other writers in future years.
As for specifics, Graham’s “going for revenge… okay no I won’t because I’m a good guy” was predictable, though it had some decent moments (like his ‘I shot him in the leg, don’t tell the Doctor she’ll be mad at me!’). I’d almost hoped he’d actually do it just because I’d have liked to see the Doctor follow through on her “I can’t travel with you if you do that” threat. And I still don’t buy the “granddad, I love you” stuff (I mean, a bit if he was just trying to get him to do the right thing, but they popped the Granddad cork last episode and it didn’t work for me there either). Again, he’s been with Ryan’s Nan for THREE YEARS. Impossible that, from that amount of time, he loves the guy like genuine family, enough to call him “Granddad” and say “I love you?” No, but they haven’t sold it by actually showing a whole lot of affection. I’d have been a lot more happy if the planned arc was for Ryan to go from “You’re just the dude who married my Nan, I don’t even like you that much” to “okay, you’re actually a pretty decent dude, I can see why she fell for you.”
I did actually think this was pretty good. I think everyone in the room with me thought “The Pirate Planet” when we were introduced to Tzim-Sha’s “trophy room” (“But what’s it for?!”) and I spent a good chunk thinking it actually was going to be the Key to Time. We predicted a return for Tzim-Sha (really bad idea giving him that recall, Doctor) but at least it didn’t get too silly: When the Sniper Bots turned up as well, I was expecting Krasko and the Pting to come round the corner next.
I’m afraid I didn’t really buy Graham’s revenge quest. It just doesn’t fit his amiable cheepy-chappy persona and I think Bradley Walsh had a hard time selling it. His reaction to shooting Tzim-Sha in the leg felt more in character. I do appreciate the development of Ryan and Graham though. He still called him “Graham” at least once, so he’s saving the “Grandad” for special occasions. And there’s been a through line since at least Arachnids in the UK of Ryan realising that Graham’s the one that’s been there for him when his biological family haven’t. (He was living with him and Grace, it seems.) If the Doctor can consider people she’s known for less time as family, I don’t have a problem with this.
Phyllis Logan, who’ll always be Lady Jane from Lovejoy to me, is one of these people you always wondered why they hadn’t been in Doctor Who, so that was about time.
But really, Emily, enough with the Grace! We saw her body, we saw her funeral, they couldn’t have made it any clearer that she wasn’t going to magically turn up in a stasis pod thousands of years in the future. That doesn’t even make sense.
3407 years in the future would make this after the Great Break-Out of the year 5000 mentioned in The Invisible Enemy when humanity spread out into space, after the solar flares that decimated the planet and led to mass evacuations as mentioned in The Ark in Space, after the genocidal dictatorshop of Magnus Greel as mentioned in The Talons of Weng-Chiang…so I don’t think we should assume the population would necessarily be greater than in the present day.
It was an okay episode, once again dragged down by plot-holes and Chibnall’s sloppy writing. I hope he either learns how to write sci-fi or uses more guest-writers in the next season.
@6/ghostly1: And I still don’t buy the “granddad, I love you” stuff
I’m with you there. My mum and my step-dad are married for 25 years now, and I would never think of calling him “dad”. He’s family, we’re close, but he’s not my dad, and that’s okay. Frankly, I don’t really understand the fuzz about the whole “granddad” thing.
Overall, the season was a bit underwhelming. There were some episodes I liked (The Witchfinders and Demons of the Punjab in particular), and I’m glad they cut back on the angst and the drama, but it lacked excitement and pure, simple fun.
Underwhelming indeed.
the entire season feels underwhelming. I was watching the last episode with my partner, and we realised that we were 10 episodes in and couldnt really recall anything exciting at all about the series.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the writing. I think there are unreasonable expectations for the showrunner doing most of the writing. Every lead writer we’ve had so far has had strengths and weaknesses. Russell was great at emotional beats and ramping up tension, but tended toward plot holes. My favorite episodes during his tenure were written by Moffat and Paul Cornell. Moffat crafted amazing puzzle boxes, but was short on human emotion. While Moffat wrote several big, exciting episodes during his tenure, everybody remembers “Vincent and the Doctor” by Richard Curtis, and Neil Gaiman’s “The Doctor’s Wife.” Toby Whithouse and Jamie Mathieson also did some good episodes during his tenure.
I think I’m in a minority in that I enjoyed “42,” “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship,” and “The Power of Three” (up until the ending, anyway). Torchwood, not so much, but that’s fine. I haven’t seen much of Broadchurch to judge. But I think it’s clear that Chibnall needs to let other writers have more space to shine. I’d heard rumors of a “writers room” like American shows have, and I’d be curious to see if that would work.
@10 Count me as another fan of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. That episode was a lot of fun. This show is, after all, for kids as much as it is for old grumpy adults who watch for plot holes that they can complain about on the internet. ;-)
Ratings are not encouraging. This one did better than last week, but overall they’re way down.
http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/doctor-who-series-11-2018-uk-ratings-accumulator-88397.htm
I presumed that their “faith based powers” were just their own explanation to how they did what they did.
When the Doctor put the neural rebalancers on the Ux, she changed them to be neural blockers, to shut off their psychic powers.
I felt Walsh’s cold, calm demeanor when discussing killing Tzim-Sha was very well done. I’ve seen that done in other places, so it felt natural. And then his change of heart, while predictable, was equally effective. He is the better person for it.
I also presumed that Tzim-Sha didn’t deal with the Earth until the Doctor was there to witness it. He was stuck there, and had no way to contact her until Paltraki’s crew came along. Then as the Doctor came passing by his temporal zone, the distress calls came through (or however a psychic time machine gets phone calls from varying temporal zones).
When the Ux manipulated rocks in the opening, they, or rather one of them (another unexplained anomaly that one is more gifted than the other), made me think of the orogenes from NK Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy. It matters little whether their powers have a science fictional explanation in Clarke’s sense since none is given and they appear very gullible, easily falling under the influence of their “Creator,” Tim Shaw.
Few more details: the Doctor should’ve had a pocketful of the neural blockers. She brings one extra, but there’s no reason why the TARDIS couldn’t have manufactured more. Restricted only for plot reasons.
They only expect find a couple crewmembers, but find many dozen more, and no one questions who they are.
The Earth shown prior to capture should’ve looked different. I’d expect many more satellites, or perhaps orbital cities 35 centuries from now in the year 5425.
The Congress of Worlds apparently sends only one small crew to retrieve entire planets. The Congress should’ve just called the Doctor, since No. 10 already towed a few with his TARDIS.
In any case, other reviewers have pointed out that this season has done excellent character work and fallen short on the SF concept side. Some have mentioned Broadchurch, and I’d agree that the first season is tightly plotted and suspenseful. However, I dropped the second season like a hot potato. Without spoiling things, I’ll say it quickly undoes the ending of season 1, rendering it hollow. And then it goes bonkers from there, with twists upon crazy twists. It’s partly why I was skeptical of Chibnall as showrunner.
@2: Based on the weaknesses of Chibnall’s scripts, I’d say less writing from him would be better next season.
If the rumour mill is to be believed then neither Chibnall nor Whittaker will be returning – https://screenrant.com/doctor-who-jodie-whittaker-showrunner-exit-2019/
I really wanted to like this season and this doctor given all the vile misogyny surrounding it but i sit down with the best of intentions to watch each episode and find myself distracted by something else. Episode after episode is just weak tea with poor plotting, cringe-worthy writing and rushed endings. It feels like i’m watching a first draft most weeks, there’s very little that is engaging.
I would be sorry to lose Jody. All she needs is better stories. A Doctor’s first season tends to be shaky. If she does go I would definitely like to see her replaced by another woman.
@14: At the risk of going off topic, I’ve never seen Broadchurch but I seem to remember hearing that the plotline for Season 2 was pretty much forced on Chibnall and he hated it as much as everyone else.
@15/politeruin: You’re behind the times. The rumor about Whittaker leaving was debunked three days ago. The rumor about Chibnall is probably just as bogus. It’s just the toxic, hate-driven side of fandom making up lies because they want things to fail.
Re: The Rumour – As I have yet to see any mention of this from anything approaching official channels (there isn’t even an article discussing it on this site, and tor.com is not known for pulling its punches), and as we live in an era where rumours and lies have been weaponized through social media and clickbait-y “news” sites to influence elections and referendums, I’m inclined to doubt it. At best, it’s wishful thinking on the part of misogynists – at worst it’s a deliberate attempt to influence the show.
As for this episode; I liked it a lot. This season has had its ups and downs, but this felt very much like a high note for me. I didn’t really notice the plot holes mentioned on watching – doesn’t diminish their existence, per se, but I think that if one’s “wait a minute” moment comes after the closing credits have rolled, then the show has done its primary job of entertaining the viewer.
I admit, I was scared Graham was going to take the easy way out, and that we’d see a breakup of Team TARDIS at the end – it wouldn’t have been the first time the Doctor kicked a companion out for breaking the rules. So while revenge stories are old hat, kudos to Walsh and Chibnall for making me doubt if Graham would follow through or not.
As for Tzim-Sha not being more Vader-y… I’m actually okay with that. He’s a cheat and a murderer and he hates to lose; like Krasko in “Rosa” he’s just not that complicated. In truth, a lot of Doctor Who villains – as well as a lot of real life ones – aren’t complicated; they are simply a threat.
@19. Andrew: “there isn’t even an article discussing it on this site, and tor.com is not known for pulling its punches…”
I wouldn’t put much stock in that. Tor.com has been falling by the wayside when it comes to news reporting. For example, far as I know, there hasn’t been any mention of the Netflix cancellations of Marvel shows.
Also, both Whittaker and Chibnall are returning for another season, which won’t be out till 2020. Maybe that’s to give them some room to breathe. I think that’s a good idea if it gives more time for the scripts to develop.
next season in 2020
I was extremely disappointed by this episode, and I’ve liked most of this season. There was too much explaining and not enough showing, which I also noticed in the previous episode. I agree that there have been some interesting rough drafts of scripts that haven’t been cleaned up before filming. The episodes tend to lack focus and stop short of what can clearly be stellar plot lines with a bit more oomph.
I’m glad the stakes were somewhat lower, that we didn’t have another villain reunion, and that the doctor encouraged hope and curiosity over revenge and violence. I’m not hugely impressed with “Tim Shaw,” I feel like he’d have had to be in another episode or three to be treated as the ultimate big bad that we were supposed to view him as, here.
This season overall: love Jodie and the new companions, love the attempted theme(s) of the season but think they needed a script doctor.
I’m interested to see how they handle the New Years episode
I thought it was really well done until about halfway through: Spooky setting with a destroyed fleet of alien ships, mysterious villain with mystic servants in his thrall, some sort of weird vibe from the planet that might make them question themselves and their reality…
Except most of it just winds up just being set dressing. We never learn how Tim Shaw defeated the ships that litter the planet. The mind-altering field of the planet never really threatened the doctor or her companions and mostly seems to be an excuse for Paltraki’s amnesia. (The field would have been a good reason for Graham to be uncharacteristically planning on revenge, but they make it clear that the companions are protected from it.) And it is bizarre that a villain who has defeated fleets of alien ships and armies is so easily defeated by two companions who don’t even really want to shoot him.
I think there was meant to be a link between the reality warping nature of the planet and the reality warping powers of the Ux, but that idea is undercut by the suggestion that the Ux fell under Tim Shaw’s sway because of the mind-warping field, and the doctor’s use of the neural dampeners later to restore their sense of self.
My reading of it is that the neural dampers didn’t change the Ux’s minds, they just stopped them using their powers while the Doctor talked them round. (Which does make their responsibility for a bunch of destroyed planets and ships somewhat high, but I guess they were just dupes at the end of the day.)
I’m guessing the other people in stasis were from destroyed ships, that Tzim-Sha’s health was temporarily restored by the Ux channelling energy into him and that he used their powers to destroy the ships which is why he was taken down easily once they switched sides. Anything else?
@22/Jeffronicus: “And it is bizarre that a villain who has defeated fleets of alien ships and armies is so easily defeated by two companions who don’t even really want to shoot him.”
No doubt it was the Ux who used their powers to bring down those other ships. Tim Shaw’s only power was that they believed he was the Creator so he could trick them into doing his bidding. Remember, Tim Shaw was never that formidable a threat individually; his touch could kill by an accident of biology, but he was a coward who needed to cheat in order to win his people’s test of courage and leadership. And now he’s still weak and damaged from the gene bombs and was detached from his life support system, so he can’t have been all that dangerous in himself.
“I think there was meant to be a link between the reality warping nature of the planet and the reality warping powers of the Ux, but that idea is undercut by the suggestion that the Ux fell under Tim Shaw’s sway because of the mind-warping field, and the doctor’s use of the neural dampeners later to restore their sense of self.”
No, the Ux were apparently native to Ranskoor Av Kolos — the Doctor said it was one of three planets where they’ve been found — so apparently they were immune. They fell under Tim’s sway because of blind religious faith, and as cap-mjb said, the dampers only blocked them from using their telekinetic powers to destroy Earth.
@14: The starting scene reminded me of this short (with Aidan Gillen) made for ESA and the Rosetta mission.
@24/ChristopherLBennett
I get the feeling that having a coherent storyline comes in a distant second to character beats for Chris Chibnall.
@26/jeffronicus: But really, when was the last time “coherent storyline” was a priority in Doctor Who? Certainly not during the Moffat era, at least. At most intermittently in the Davies era.
@26, 27 True enough, coherent story is the least important part of doctor who for me. But the characters can’t function in a vacuum, which is what will end up happening if the story falls apart in every episode. You can’t have emotional beats that come from nowhere.
Nicely shot, good character interactions between the Doctor and companions, but an utterly forgettable episode. Most of this season has been like that.
The fact that the spheres were shrunken down planets was obvious as hell (and I haven’t seen The Pirate Planet), and I never really felt a sense of menace from Tim Shaw and his acolytes.
@7 – cap: Agreed on the Grace thing. I wanted her to survive, but it’s been obvious enough that that’s not going to be the case. Also on the Earth population bit.
This was one exceptionally poor season, primarily due to exceptionally poor writing.
We had the episode without an ending. Two episodes with your freshman history class. An episode with about 1/3 of the airtime irrelevant to the plot. The lamest Big Bad ever, and that’s including the original series that had no budget. Haphazard attempts at characterization and character development that sometimes come off and sometimes fizzle when a shiny new toy wanders by.
This season was almost a waste of time. It played like a Saturday morning cartoon version of Doctor Who. And that is entirely Chibnall’s responsibility.
But it shouldn’t be surprising. Broadchurch started off well before sputtering to a discreditable end of bad writing and iffy plotting as well. Always promote from within, I guess.
This was one exceptionally poor season, primarily due to exceptionally poor writing.
We had the episode without an ending. Two episodes with your freshman history class. An episode with about 1/3 of the airtime irrelevant to the plot. The lamest Big Bad ever, and that’s including the original series that had no budget. Haphazard attempts at characterization and character development that sometimes come off and sometimes fizzle when a shiny new toy wanders by.
This season was almost a waste of time. It played like a Saturday morning cartoon version of Doctor Who. And that is entirely Chibnall’s responsibility.
But it shouldn’t be surprising. Broadchurch started off well before sputtering to a discreditable end of bad writing and iffy plotting as well. Always promote from within, I guess.
Does anyone know where one could find the watch cap that Ryan puts on in the stasis room? It looks very soft and cozy.