I had felt that the quality was slipping a bit in the last season with Capaldi. Not TOO badly, but enough that I thought there was the possibility
that Whitaker and Chibnall would shake things up a bit in a positive way.
I sure was wrong..
"Doctor Who for Dummies" is exceedingly apt. Overall it felt like a completely different show, and despite sci-fi content, it sure didnt
feel
like sci-fi anymore.
I literally cringed at more moments than I could count. The writing took a horrific nosedive and Whitaker was inept at bringing the character to life.
She felt like an imposter from the first episode, and that has nothing to do with her being female. Honestly, some of my favorite characters in the
series have been female like Missy, River, and the Doctor's Daughter (PERFECT setup for a spinoff).
I do feel like they decided to tell and not show, when "show, dont tell" should be a standard. Many franchises are falling for this, from Star Trek
Discovery to Star Wars to Doctor Who. And, what they are "telling" is generally in the same vein as what people identify as "SJW."
I feel like thats just incidental though.. Some series, like Star Trek, have been able to pull off really, really interesting stuff in "social
justice" territory. In my opinion, the difference is that they
used to present a situation and let the viewer come to their own conclusions. I
like this. Especially because it "scales" according to how deeply the viewer wants to take it.
However, when it starts to feel like an hour long lecture on how we should think about the situation on screen, packaged with poor writing, poor
storylines, and poor acting.. I lose interest quickly. Impressively quickly in this case.
My dad had introduced me to the original series years ago, then I introduced him to the new one. Every week we would get excited about it, he'd get my
dog singing at the intro music, and we would settle in for an adventure.
I had a
significant amount of good will towards the franchise because of those memories, but they were able to eradicate it in the very first
episode. We both had started to lose a bit of interest at the end of the Capaldi era, and he passed away before Whitaker. I miss him.. And Doctor Who.
Because of all that was connected to it, it was more than just a "show" to me.
Oh well.. Sorry for the long rant, Aug 1 was ol' pop's birthday and its been on my mind.