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Doctor Who "The Power of the Doctor" Full Reaction

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Comments

Azmat Mahmood

This story is very mixed, but mostly pretty awful imo. The plot was incomprehensible. It made no sense. There was no cause and effect. No linear progression. For most of the story we were jumping from scene to scene making the pace of the story very erratic. Things seemed to be happening without any rhyme or reason. It felt like Chibnall was just throwing everything at the wall to see what would stick. With all that being said, some of the character moments and all of the nostalgia/fan service was very well done. The last 15 mins especially were quite nice with the way they built up to Jodie's regen, and the regen scene itself felt very fitting and in character for her Doctor. It was lovely. And of course, Tennant appearing knocked my socks off. I really can't believe my fave Doctor and fave writer/showrunner are both back! Obviously, it was well known Tennant was returning for the 60th, but there were a lot of rumours that Jodie would regenerate into Tennant. Naturally I was skeptical, but RTD actually did it! The mad bastard! If I trust anyone to make this great, it's him. It's also funny that the TC and fugitive Doc were completely ignored and not paid off at all. People were saying to not judge all of that too negatively until this final ep because they were convinced it would all get paid off and explained. Lol, yeah. It was all swept under the rug, making it all utterly pointless. Like I, and a lot of other people, said all along.

Nicole Mazza

Thought this was mostly a hot mess of an episode (though I did like a few of the Classic companion and Doctor moments). And I'm still pissed about the regeneration (degeneration?). But hoping the specials will fix all that.

Monty Magpie

"I know these teeth!" Russell T Davies starting off his Doctor Who return with a callback to The Parting of the Ways.

Ryan

I was mostly just looking forward to your inevitable reaction to Ian. The dude comes back at 97 years old, in what I'm pretty sure is a record for the longest running TV character all with one actor. When he said "Did you say her?" I could only think "Oh honey, you have missed some things."

Saltire

Funny, as a Brit growing up in the 80's, I did see Doctor Who on the tv, and liked Peter Davison as the Doctor, but outside of watching a few episodes with the great Tom Baker, I never got into it, even when it rebooted with Eccleston in around 2005. I love Capaldi as an actor, Tennant I can take or leave, and Jodie Whittaker off screen is a hoot, and was great with Tennant (and superstar Olivia Colman - what a career trajectory she's had!) in Broadchurch. Perhaps one day, when I've caught up with my fave shows, I'll take a peek, as it is a British institution.

Anonymous

I had absolutely no idea that William Russell was going to be in this episode. I don't usually have particularly emotional reactions when watching television, so I surprised myself by crying when I saw Ian. It just felt so... special. I was particularly surprised as I understood that his age had finally forced him to retire from acting - I don't think he does anything for Big Finish any more - so it was a total shock to see him there. He must have been about 96 when they recorded this last year, so amazing that he was able to do it, and I'm so happy he was able to take part. I also liked it for boring production reasons. This is - almost certainly - the last episode of Doctor Who that will ever be made by the BBC. From this point on, it's been contracted out to be made for them by an external company called Bad Wolf. So I rather liked the fact that someone who was in the very *first* episode of Doctor Who to be made by the BBC also turned up in the last!

Mark McKeown

Bad Wolf are also owned by Sony Pictures which is pretty cool, so I'd say there'll be a leap in production value (which had already gone up a notch or two when going from Season 10 to 11). But the BBC are still involved, it's just a partnership now, but it opens up the show to new things, and allows the company to potentially expand the universe and franchise - I think I read somewhere there could be opportunities of 'MCU-like story telling'.

Thomas Corp

Yes, you do know it’s a Chibnall episode when you’re bouncing around like a pinball on amphetamines. I mean this whole special was most enjoyable, I'm not trying to impugn the quality of it, more I'm saying that it felt like five or six and a half episodes crammed into one. It was great how it honored the history of Doctor Who. I was aware going into this about the return of Janet Fielding as Tegan and Sophie Aldred as Ace. It was great to see both of them again, Ace especially. You mentioned how you love how Ace calls the Doctor “Professor.” That got me emotional in this episode. It’s like how Twelve had the emotional moment hearing One refer to the Tardis as a ship. I had a similar moment where I said, “Professor. She still calls the Doctor “Professor” I love it!” I also loved Ace rocking the coat and wielding the bat, once again, as well as her line, “Beyoncé copied all my moves.” to which I laughed and said, “Haha! YES, she did!!” I had a feeling you’d live for Tegan’s sass. Seeing the Doctors past was great. David Bradley continues to be superb at channeling William Hartnell. The scene with Five and Tegan made me cry, and once I started to recover from that, we had the scene between Seven and Ace, which broke the dam; I could not stop crying. Seeing Sophie having that scene with Sylvester McCoy was pure brilliance. Evidence to this is even though you’ve not seen that era of Classic Who, you became as emotional as you did. Your reaction to that scene was beautiful, Jess. When Graham showed up, I remembered that I had heard he would be returning and had forgotten about that. Happy to see him again. I have mixed feelings about the departures of Yaz and Dan. I do like that they leave of their own volition, the door is open for them to return, and I don’t begrudge Dan’s reason for why he leaves. Still felt a bit abrupt. The companion gathering was a pleasant surprise, and I lost it all over again seeing William Russell back as Ian. I tell you I sobbed my eyes out. Your reaction to seeing Ian was the emotional high point of the reaction. I saw that, and I said, “That’s it, Jess. That was it. You expressed it perfectly, Jess.” As to the regeneration itself, I share your going into this thinking that there were doubts that the regeneration itself wouldn’t be terribly emotional. One, despite my best efforts, Thirteen ends up being presently second to last on my ranking of Doctors, consequently, there wasn’t the strongest emotional connection to her, and that’s really more because of the writing, as the acting was great. And two, Twelve is my Doctor and the show had already given me the most perfect, most emotionally satisfying regeneration story to conclude his run. Hence, for me at least, any future regeneration of a Doctor is going to pale in comparison. Having said that, I thought that Thirteen’s regeneration was well done. It was fitting to who Thirteen is as a character, and it was a nice send-off for Jodie Whittaker. I don’t know as I haven’t gauged much in the way of fan opinions, but I could see that those who have Thirteen as their Doctor, they’d be content with her story’s conclusion. And if nothing else, she went out with a smile, on her own terms, and that’s good enough for me. Now, as to the surprise development at the end, I knew about it before I started watching the episode. The reason being because of the difference in time zones of exactly when this airs in the UK, around two o’clock in the afternoon, hours before it aired on tv where I live in the states, the internet suddenly became VERY loud about the final scene, hence my being spoiled. I confess that I did know far in advance that David Tennant was returning, but I thought it would be as Ten. Having now seen the surprise development at the final scene of the episode, my thoughts are, um... I thought, um... Well, I’d say, um... ...Yeah, I got nothing. I guess I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, I suppose. Maybe a month or two from now I'll have something more concrete as to what to say or how I feel about it. For right now... I’m telling you I got nothing, sorry, just, you know, mind’s drawing a blank. It warms the heart to hear how kind the Whovian fandom continues to be to you, Jess. Thank you for this beautiful reaction, and I look forward to next year to continue the Doctor Who journey.

Ryan

I'm mostly just amused that if you weren't keeping up with the show news, it probably comes off as "Ha, you believed us that you'd be getting a black Doctor? No, we're all just about pandering to the old school fans now."

Anonymous

Indeed, it's nothing strange or unusual, and I wasn't trying to suggest otherwise - most of the BBC's dramas are made for them by other companies now, and have been for some time. Doctor Who still being made by the BBC had become something of an anomaly. And of course they still *own* it, in the same way they own their other big, long-running "brands" made for them by indies now, like Question Time and Songs of Praise.

Ian Smith

Your review sums up my feelings completely. It felt as though I were being offered some of my very favourite chocolates, carelessly wrapped; and presented in a poorly designed box, which had started to fall apart even before I'd finished eating the chocolates! Ultimately, this story was an enjoyable experience because of what it offered up - it could hardly be anything less; but the plot itself felt like a first draft which needed a second writer to perform a polish on.