Finally! We're back to our regularly-scheduled entries! No need to try to figure out some of those mysteries Chibnall set up for us in the most recent season or create something celebratory for the latest anniversary of the blog. We can just get back to what I was trying to write about before all these extenuating circumstances occurred!
When things were normal, I was trying to put a handful of new Dalek stories into my existing timeline. I'd dealt with Resolution first and felt like the entry had gone on long enough. It needed a Part Two. At long last, we're able to do the sequel.
Since it's been a while, here's the link to Part One:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/02/chronologies-and-timelines-history-of.html
It is quite fitting that we divide this particular entry into two separate installments. Part One discussed Resolution: a "proper" Dalek story. The central conflict of Resolution is about dealing with a Dalek. The threat it poses to humanity and the need to eliminate it is the main thrust of the tale.
In Part Two, we are dealing with Dalek cameos. These are adventures where the Doctor's attention was focused on something else entirely for most of the episode. But a Dalek or two briefly gets introduced into the plot for a bit. Their involvement in the story is minimal, though. Once they are no longer needed, they disappear.
Dalek cameos can seem almost negligible, sometimes (I actually forgot to try to figure out a timeframe for when a Dalek briefly appears in Hell Bent and didn't even really deal with the whole thing til I was trying to work out a chronology for the Weeping Angels). But, as fleeting as they can be, it is still fun to try to figure out where they might fit in the overall history of the species.
The Pilot and the Possible Confusion It Can Create
So we're back to handling things in order of transmission. Before Part One of this latest Appendix, we looked at where Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar sits in Dalek History (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/11/chronologies-and-time-lines-history-of.html). The next time a Dalek appears on the show would be near the end of The Pilot.
Where and when this cameo happens is actually somewhat difficult to determine. Details about the whole moment seem purposely vague. It's almost like Moffat is having fun with pathetic little pedants like me who try to make everything fit in its own little place. Nonetheless, I'm going to take a shot at this:
Let's start with the geographical rather than temporal location of the story. As the Doctor is trying to lead the Pilot to the Daleks, we see Nardole looking at the TARDIS console and proclaiming something to the effect of: "Not there! I hate going there!" He is, obviously, looking at a screen of some sort that is displaying the coordinates of their destination. I actually believe that Nardole is seeing that they are bound for Skaro.
The set of corridors they are running around in certainly look like this could be in the Great Dalek City that we first saw in the last Capaldi Dalek story. The conflict they are having with the Movellans appears to be a land-based battle. So either this is Skaro or just a planet the Daleks have occupied and the Movellans are trying to drive them off of it. I'm more inclined to believe it's Skaro.
Which gets me to think that the time Pilot takes place in would be shortly after the events of Apprentice/Familiar. Missy came up with some clever plan to save the Daleks from their revolting sewers (I just can't get enough of that pun) and the Daleks of Skaro are back on their feet. We are only on the Dalek homeworld for a few minutes- but I do believe Davros was probably lurking about somewhere. The TARDIS crew just isn't there long enough to see or hear from him.
Now there are some things that happen in The Pilot that renders the dating process a bit confusing. The first being that we see Movellans. This leads some to believe that the story is taking place around Destiny of the Daleks and/or Resurrection of the Daleks. Since this is when conflicts with the Movellans happened. If this were the case, this would put The Pilot at sometime around the 27th or 28th Century. I'm more inclined to believe that The Pilot takes place shortly after Apprentice/Familiar - which would put it closer to the 50th Century.
To get this to work with the timeline I prefer means that this has to be a second war that we're seeing with this android species. It helps that the Movellans appear to be acting very differently than they did last time we saw them. I believe that they have upgraded themselves since Destiny/Resurrection and now seem to have some level of emotional capacity. So these are Movellans that are much further down the road from the ones we saw in the 27th/28th Century.
Skaro was hidden from the Universe for quite some time. But, since the events of Apprentice/Familiar, the whereabouts of the planet have become widely known. The Movellans have chosen to resurrect their old feud and have taken the fight to the Dalek homeworld. The fact that we are seeing bronze-liveried Daleks is another visual cue to help re-enforce this. Destiny and Resurrection are pre-Time War stories. We only see bronze Daleks after the Time Wars. So this story must be from a second clash with the Movellans.
The other element of confusion is created by something the Doctor says to Bill as they are running around in corridors trying to evade Daleks. Bill asks if they are still in the future and the Doctor says they are now in the past. This would lead one to believe that the whole incident is taking place in some time period before Bill lived. Which would mean some time before the 21st Century. If this is the case, we would even have to disqualify Destiny and Resurrection. It is made quite clear in those tales that we are in a time period far into Earth's future. Apprentice/Familiar, by my reckoning, is at an even later time period.
So then, when is The Pilot taking place? If it is meant to be "in the past" - as the Doctor puts it, then where does it fit in Dalek History?
I would be inclined to believe that when the Doctor says they are now in the past he is speaking in relation to their last destination. The Doctor wants to see if the Pilot can time travel. So they leave modern-day Australia and go several million years into the future. Sure enough, the Pilot finds them within a few minutes. So now the Doctor wants to lead her to the Daleks. There are probably some Daleks kicking about in the time period that is several million years in the future, but he might have a harder time finding them. He wants to visit a time where he definitely knows where the Daleks are. This causes him to have to go back into the past.
So when he is saying: "We're in the past." to Bill. He is actually meaning: "We were millions of years into the future. Now, we're only thousands of years into the future."
This is considerably easier than trying to come up with a war with the Movellans that we never knew about that takes place sometime between The Daleks and the backstory of Resolution!
Twice Upon A Time - Considerably Easier to Work Out
And so, we continue with the transmission order. Which brings us to one last Dalek cameo before Moffat and Capaldi finally bow out. I'm speaking, of course, of the Triumphant Return of Rusty the Dalek in Twice Upon A Time.
Dating this one is considerably easier than The Pilot. Moff has the Doctor establish a timeline with just one bit of dialogue. However, that dialogue might not be entirely accurate.
After persuading Rusty to get naked, the Doctor claims it's been a few million years since their first meeting during Into the Dalek (which would take place sometime in the mid-to-late 40th Century). However, the mention of New Earth in the video Rusty digs up of the Glass Woman would suggest an even later period. Something more akin to a billion years or so.
This puts the appearance of Rusty as being one of the most far-flung into the future. Rusty is probably not the last of his kind, either. We see that other Daleks come to Villengard on a regular basis to try to kill him. He's happy to just destroy their casings and let the mutants within scamper about. I get the impression that the occasional lone Dalek chooses to undertake the mission to kill Rusty. All those Kaled Mutants running around is an accumulation of many solo attempts that have been made on Rusty's life. Which indicates to me that there are tonnes of other Daleks out there that just can't be bothered to come to the ruins of the weapons factory and try to kill him. Which indicates that, even a billion or so years into the future, the Daleks are still thriving.
The only appearance later than this would be the Dalek cameo during Hell Bent. Which is, technically, taking place near the end of the Universe. We don't know, however, if the Dalek we see captured in the Cloisters is the last of its kind. By my reckoning, that Dalek would have first been trapped in the Matrix some time after the Ravalox Incident involving the Andromedans. Which, according to a vague dating we're given in Mysterious Planet, is several million years into the future. That one Dalek ends up at the Death of the Universe because Gallifrey, itself, goes there to hide for a bit. The Dalek is transported there rather than being something that has properly survived all that time. So it could be that, sometime between Twice and Hell, the Daleks do finally die out. Rusty might have even been the one to do that job. But there's really not enough for us to go on. It's equally possible that the Daleks make it all the way to the end of the Universe.
In many ways, however, Rusty's cameo in Twice Upon a Time does represent the latest period in Dalek History. The cameo in Hell Bent is a bit of a cheat since there's some time travel involved.
A Bit More Predicting That Will, More Than Likely, Prove Wrong...
Once more, we are current on placing the latest Dalek appearances in some kind of chronological order. Yes, another Dalek story is scheduled to come out over the Holidays. I didn't feel like waiting that long to do this, though.
Doing this chronology now also allows me to make a few more unsuccessful predictions about what that Holiday Dalek Story might be about.
The title of the episode has been released. As have a few pics from the filming of the story. The name Revolution of the Daleks and images of two different models of the Daleks does seem to insinuate that a hope of mine might be coming true: we may be getting another Dalek Civil War of some sort.
If you bothered to read my Appendix that places Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar in a timeline, you'll have seen that I was already entertaining the idea that there might be two distinct factions that were developing. I called one the Spacefaring Faction and the other the Skarosian Natives (or something like that). I was hoping that these two groups might clash against each other in a future story.
Could something of this nature actually be happening? They might not quite be the schisms that I described. I postulated that Davros and the Supreme Dalek would be running the Skarosian Natives while the Spacefarers might be lead by someone like the Dalek Prime Minister that we saw in Assylum of the Daleks. But it might not quite be that power structure.
Still, it does look like we will be seeing Dalek fighting Dalek. Which, for some odd reason, I find greatly exciting. Truth be told, it makes for some generally static visuals. But, somehow, that's highly entertaining for me!
Appendix to Dalek History is now complete. Let's see if my latest prediction is even close to being vaguely accurate....
Once more, if you're feeling brave (God knows you've got some time on your hands, right now, with this pandemic). Here is everything I have ever written on Dalek History:
Original Entries:
Part 1:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/06/chronologies-and-timelines-tymecian.html.
Part 2:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/06/chronologies-and-timelines-part-2-of.html
Part 3:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/07/chronologies-and-timelines-episode.html
Part 4:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/07/chronologies-and-timelines-episode-4-of.html
Part 5:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/07/chronologies-and-timelines-episode-5-of.html
First Appendix:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/11/chronologies-and-time-lines-history-of.html.
Second Appendix - Part 1:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/02/chronologies-and-timelines-history-of.html
Wednesday 25 March 2020
Thursday 19 March 2020
BOOK OF LISTS - FIVE UNPOPULAR OPINIONS I HAVE ABOUT DOCTOR WHO
Five years. I can't believe I'm still writing this thing! More importantly, I can't believe people are still reading it! I've tried to do something a bit different to celebrate the anniversary every year. Admittedly, I'm running out of ideas! Here's a bit of an opinion piece for this one. It gets you to understand me a bit better.
Having been involved with any number of fan groups over the years has made me some legitimate friends. Familiarity, as always, breeds just a little bit of contempt. Some of these fans who have genuinely gotten to know me a bit have given me a nickname: The Great Contrarian.
It's a suitable title. There are any number of Popular Fan Opinions that I openly disagree with. I don't just feel this way to be contradictory. I genuinely seem to go to the show for very different reasons than a lot of other people do.
There are, of course, some tastes that a lot of fans have that I do actually share. But there are many more that I just can't get my head around. I don't understand why fandom loves the things they do. Here are five of the bigger issues involving Fan Opinion that I don't particularly agree with (one for each year that my blog has existed!)
1: 70s Who Kinda Sucked
Strong words, I know. I will confess: I wanted a title that grabbed your attention.
I don't think Doctor Who in the 1970s is completely horrible. But I do think it is the show at one of its lowest points. Whereas many fans consider this to be the Golden Age of the program.
I think the Jon Pertwee stuff is probably the worst. Season Seven is magnificent and I wish they had continued making the sort of stories we got during that period. But the show became horrifically paint-by-numbers after that. Which always strikes me as some pretty weak writing. And those of you that complain of the "preachiness" of Chibnall-era Who need to go back and watch the Pertwee stuff. We get end-of-story sermons (or even middle-of-the-story or beginning-of-the-story sermons) all over the place. I also didn't enjoy the screeching halts stories came to just so Jon Pertwee could tool around for a bit in a new vehicle he was dying to try out!
Yes, things got considerably better with Doctor Four and the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era. But I also think the era is a bit on the overrated side. There were some definite duds that we all seem to try to gloss over. The Android Invasion is one of the worst stories ever (seriously, who wears an eyepatch for three years and never looks under it?!). Aside from Sarah Jane's final scene, Hand of Fear is completely awful, too. But no one seems to want to say this.
Later Tom Baker stuff also seems to go a bit formulaic. The basic formula is that Tom just goes around and takes the piss out of everything he can. Never has the show mocked itself this much. Some of the comedy is legitimately blissful. A lot of it is really bad. Some even offensive (ie: Jewish aliens in Creature from the Pit).
Again, I don't completely despise this decade. But I find it to be pretty weak, overall. I'm a notorious "re-watcher" of the show. DVDs of 70s Who are the ones that go in my player the least.
2. Not All Classics Are Classics
There are certain stories that fans seem to foam at the mouth over. Some I agree with. Others, I'm just not sure what the fuss is about. A few examples:
Caves of Androzani
Considered by many to be the best story of them all. I can agree with about 75% of that opinion. Those first three episodes are amazing. Particularly the cliffhanger of Part Three. But that final episode goes a bit pear-shaped. Right from the first few seconds where the Doctor finally seems to find retro-thrusters or something of that nature (it's never specified) - the "fix" seems pretty anti-climactic. Then we just move in to yet-another end-of-story slaughterfest that we see far-too-often in Seasons Twenty-One and Twenty-Two. I'm sorry, but you can't resolve a plot by just killing off 95% of its characters. You need to actually find a better way to end a story. And, for this reason, I can't quite love Androzani the way other folks do.
Genesis of the Daleks
My God, do fans go nuts over this one! It has a great introduction, I'll admit. It's totally cool when the Doctor meets that Time Lord in dark robes and they talk about how evil Daleks are and all that. But, after that, this story develops a lot of problems very quickly. It's biggest being that it doesn't have enough plot to fill the six episodes. So we get lots of captures-and-escapes. There's the absolute worst cliffhanger resolution in the history of the show (Sarah on the scaff-holding). Davros seems to drone on for ever and ever in places that fans seem to see as "great monologues" but I see more as just padding. Having said that, the Doctor's "Have I the right?" is a great monologue, yes. But after so many bad writing choices, it comes across as too little, too late. I'm sorry folks. But Genesis works far better in theory than it does in execution.
Talons of Weng-Chiang
Here's one that I really don't get. Some of the period drama of the tale is quite entertaining. There's a nice homage to the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. But there's really not much else to this story. For the most part, it's kinda boring. Even the double-act stuff with Jago and Lightfoot seems forced. Again, there's not enough there for six parts. The ending also just seems to peter out. There's a bit of a gunfight and Tom Baker wrestles with an over-sized doll and then it's all over. The yellow-face acting is sooo painful to look at, too. Leela getting wet in a white slip is enjoyable, I suppose. But only to a certain demographic. Otherwise, I actually think this is one of the weaker stories Robert Holmes wrote. I would love to spend a day in the head of a fan who loves this to see what they see. Otherwise, I'm at a loss.
3. Late 80s Who Rocked
It is very sad that Doctor Who died as the 80s reached their conclusion. But I can't agree with those people who claim the show was "at a creative low point" when it went off the air. In fact, I kinda want to punch fans who say that!
We're all aware of the "duds" of the 80s (Timelash, Time and the Rani etc...). But, as I just pointed out about the Hinchliffe period, every era has misfires. Late 80s Who had any number of strong stories and then quite a few amazing ones, too. The ratio of good-to-bad stories is no different from any other era of the show. If fans removed their rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, they would see this quite clearly.
I particularly hate how low poor 'ole Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy end up in the fan rankings because they were the Doctors stuck in those dying days. Both of them brought a great "edge" to their portrayals by exploring some of the darker aspects of the character. McCoy, in particular, nearly transformed into the monsters he was fighting. Giving the Doctor some teeth and making him both vindictive and manipulative are traits that carried over into New Series Doctors. Which speaks volumes of what Colin and Sly achieved.
What I loved best about late 80s Who was how hard it pushed the boundaries of the show and came up with television that was legitimately ahead of its time. Trial of a Time Lord, for instance, was doing one long story that took an entire season to tell way before anyone else was. It is now commonplace for shows to do this. But late 80s Who did it way back in ... well .... the late 80s! And I actually still don't think TV has caught up with the complexities on display during Season 26. A lot of that content required intelligence and sophistication from an audience that just wasn't ready, at the time, to think that deeply. And I'm not just talking about Ghostlight!
So why do some fans like to crap on those last few seasons so much? Well, they do have the right to complain a bit about Season 24 - there were some troubled spots, there (in its defense, there was a behind-the-scenes nightmare going on while it was being made!). But I think many of the complaints of this period have more to do with the fact that fandom works in cycles. Part of these cycles is to eventually become super-critical with a franchise. Don't get me wrong, in some cases, bad content is being made (I'm lookin' at you Disney Star Wars!). But, other times, I really do believe fandom just can't be satisfied. They have suddenly decided that only they know what's best for what they love. Like the only way things could be good is if they made the content themselves! Even though most of them don't work anywhere near the entertainment industry.
Which leads me neatly to....
4. Chibnal-Era Who Also Rocked
I am almost tempted to do an entire entry on how baseless a lot of the criticism of these last two seasons has been (and I just might!). Seriously, a lot of fans are complaining without giving much thought to what it is they're complaining about!
Case in Point: A friend of mine claimed after Praxeus that Chibnall was talking too much about LGBTQ culture. He was referring to the fact that two of the supporting characters in that story were in a same-sex marriage. Admittedly, if you're paying careful attention, you will also notice incidental characters in two other episodes mention they are in relationships with someone of the same gender. Because of this, he feels Chibnall is pushing an agenda too hard.
"You do realize," I responded, "That RTD had a bisexual character who was a companion for a bit and then became a recurring character. And Moff had a lesbian companion for an entire season. Compared to them, Chibnall practically looks like a gay-basher!"
And this is what I keep seeing about this era. You're entitled to your opinion, of course. You're even entitled to express it. But you should also realize that if you're opinion seems stupid - I'm entitled to tell you how dumb you sound! And a lot of what the fans have been complaining about has not been thought out very well before it was expressed.
I actually think Chibnall has done really well with both of his seasons. It made sense to make Series 11 about a lot of small stakes and fairly simple stories. This made the epic quality of Series 12 all the more heightened. And I do legitimately think that Series 12 is one of the best seasons the show has ever made in its entire 38 seasons-and-a-telemovie!
But, again, fandom has moved into the ultra-critical stage. Any recently-produced content is deemed terrible even before it has a chance to be properly watched.Which is sad, of course. Because it probably means the show is going to get laid to rest again.
However, since we're on the topic of unpopular showrunners....
5. JNT Was Probably The Best Showrunner Ever
Technically, of course, his title was "Producer" back when he was in charge. He is, in many ways, the equivalent of a showrunner by modern-day standards. He didn't write any material like RTD, Moff or Chibnall did - but the Creative Buck still stopped at him. Just like the Head Writers of New Who, he was responsible for every second that we saw onscreen. As were any number of other producers before John Nathan Turner that many fans consider to be better.
In my opinion, however, I do really believe he did the best job of running the show. I'm almost reluctant to put this in print since I know so many will think this ludicrous. But JNT was all about trying to do new and different things with the format. Let's remember that I thought a lot of 70s Who was getting very tired. So John Nathan Turner very much came in like a breath of fresh air for me. He immediately got a better budget for the show. Yes, it still looked very cheap, in places. But it looked less very cheap than it had before!
What I liked best about this producer is how he really got out of the way of the writers and let them do their thing. Yes, that allowed Eric Saward to, perhaps, take too many liberties. But it was still cool how much he did his best not to stifle creativity. Instead, he tried to support it as much as he could by finding money and publicity for the show under rocks that most producers would never look. Because he actually understood that his real job was to do exactly that. Let the artists be artists while he took care of the finances.
Was JNT perfect? Of course not! He made bad choices. Every producer did. But, even then, I loved how open he was to admitting to his mistakes. Some of the bad things he believes he did I don't even agree with (ie: Colin's coat is awesome - but JNT has admitted in several interviews that it may have been a wrong move). In many ways, I had great respect for the man for being so open about his fallibility. You can't learn from your mistakes if you don't own up to them.
Of course, what I respect most about John Nathan Turner is how hard he fought for the show as it reached its final seasons. I don't think anyone would have held on as long and hard as he did. Particularly since he wanted to move on to something new but was aware that if he left Who that no one else was probably going to keep it alive. Rather than advance his career, he stayed where he was in an effort to keep breathing life into the series. That's actually quite noble of him.
And yet, he never seems to get the respect he deserves. Do people dislike Hawaiian shirts that much?!
Well, that turned into a bit of a rant! Sometimes, you just gotta get stuff off your chest. What better time to do it than during an anniversary!
Officially, the blog celebrates its anniversary on March 15th. Sorry this entry came a bit late. I've been experiencing some technical difficulties with my server. Hopefully, we can squeeze in one more entry before the month is over. And, if this pandemic continues, I'll have plenty of time for blogging during April!!
Other Anniversary Specials:
First:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2016/03/first-anniversary-special-something.html
Second:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2017/03/second-anniversary-special.html
Third:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/03/book-of-lists-top-5-one-time-only.html
Fourth:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/03/complete-and-utter-silliness-was.html
Having been involved with any number of fan groups over the years has made me some legitimate friends. Familiarity, as always, breeds just a little bit of contempt. Some of these fans who have genuinely gotten to know me a bit have given me a nickname: The Great Contrarian.
It's a suitable title. There are any number of Popular Fan Opinions that I openly disagree with. I don't just feel this way to be contradictory. I genuinely seem to go to the show for very different reasons than a lot of other people do.
There are, of course, some tastes that a lot of fans have that I do actually share. But there are many more that I just can't get my head around. I don't understand why fandom loves the things they do. Here are five of the bigger issues involving Fan Opinion that I don't particularly agree with (one for each year that my blog has existed!)
1: 70s Who Kinda Sucked
Strong words, I know. I will confess: I wanted a title that grabbed your attention.
I don't think Doctor Who in the 1970s is completely horrible. But I do think it is the show at one of its lowest points. Whereas many fans consider this to be the Golden Age of the program.
I think the Jon Pertwee stuff is probably the worst. Season Seven is magnificent and I wish they had continued making the sort of stories we got during that period. But the show became horrifically paint-by-numbers after that. Which always strikes me as some pretty weak writing. And those of you that complain of the "preachiness" of Chibnall-era Who need to go back and watch the Pertwee stuff. We get end-of-story sermons (or even middle-of-the-story or beginning-of-the-story sermons) all over the place. I also didn't enjoy the screeching halts stories came to just so Jon Pertwee could tool around for a bit in a new vehicle he was dying to try out!
Yes, things got considerably better with Doctor Four and the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era. But I also think the era is a bit on the overrated side. There were some definite duds that we all seem to try to gloss over. The Android Invasion is one of the worst stories ever (seriously, who wears an eyepatch for three years and never looks under it?!). Aside from Sarah Jane's final scene, Hand of Fear is completely awful, too. But no one seems to want to say this.
Later Tom Baker stuff also seems to go a bit formulaic. The basic formula is that Tom just goes around and takes the piss out of everything he can. Never has the show mocked itself this much. Some of the comedy is legitimately blissful. A lot of it is really bad. Some even offensive (ie: Jewish aliens in Creature from the Pit).
Again, I don't completely despise this decade. But I find it to be pretty weak, overall. I'm a notorious "re-watcher" of the show. DVDs of 70s Who are the ones that go in my player the least.
2. Not All Classics Are Classics
There are certain stories that fans seem to foam at the mouth over. Some I agree with. Others, I'm just not sure what the fuss is about. A few examples:
Caves of Androzani
Considered by many to be the best story of them all. I can agree with about 75% of that opinion. Those first three episodes are amazing. Particularly the cliffhanger of Part Three. But that final episode goes a bit pear-shaped. Right from the first few seconds where the Doctor finally seems to find retro-thrusters or something of that nature (it's never specified) - the "fix" seems pretty anti-climactic. Then we just move in to yet-another end-of-story slaughterfest that we see far-too-often in Seasons Twenty-One and Twenty-Two. I'm sorry, but you can't resolve a plot by just killing off 95% of its characters. You need to actually find a better way to end a story. And, for this reason, I can't quite love Androzani the way other folks do.
Genesis of the Daleks
My God, do fans go nuts over this one! It has a great introduction, I'll admit. It's totally cool when the Doctor meets that Time Lord in dark robes and they talk about how evil Daleks are and all that. But, after that, this story develops a lot of problems very quickly. It's biggest being that it doesn't have enough plot to fill the six episodes. So we get lots of captures-and-escapes. There's the absolute worst cliffhanger resolution in the history of the show (Sarah on the scaff-holding). Davros seems to drone on for ever and ever in places that fans seem to see as "great monologues" but I see more as just padding. Having said that, the Doctor's "Have I the right?" is a great monologue, yes. But after so many bad writing choices, it comes across as too little, too late. I'm sorry folks. But Genesis works far better in theory than it does in execution.
Talons of Weng-Chiang
Here's one that I really don't get. Some of the period drama of the tale is quite entertaining. There's a nice homage to the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. But there's really not much else to this story. For the most part, it's kinda boring. Even the double-act stuff with Jago and Lightfoot seems forced. Again, there's not enough there for six parts. The ending also just seems to peter out. There's a bit of a gunfight and Tom Baker wrestles with an over-sized doll and then it's all over. The yellow-face acting is sooo painful to look at, too. Leela getting wet in a white slip is enjoyable, I suppose. But only to a certain demographic. Otherwise, I actually think this is one of the weaker stories Robert Holmes wrote. I would love to spend a day in the head of a fan who loves this to see what they see. Otherwise, I'm at a loss.
3. Late 80s Who Rocked
It is very sad that Doctor Who died as the 80s reached their conclusion. But I can't agree with those people who claim the show was "at a creative low point" when it went off the air. In fact, I kinda want to punch fans who say that!
We're all aware of the "duds" of the 80s (Timelash, Time and the Rani etc...). But, as I just pointed out about the Hinchliffe period, every era has misfires. Late 80s Who had any number of strong stories and then quite a few amazing ones, too. The ratio of good-to-bad stories is no different from any other era of the show. If fans removed their rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, they would see this quite clearly.
I particularly hate how low poor 'ole Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy end up in the fan rankings because they were the Doctors stuck in those dying days. Both of them brought a great "edge" to their portrayals by exploring some of the darker aspects of the character. McCoy, in particular, nearly transformed into the monsters he was fighting. Giving the Doctor some teeth and making him both vindictive and manipulative are traits that carried over into New Series Doctors. Which speaks volumes of what Colin and Sly achieved.
What I loved best about late 80s Who was how hard it pushed the boundaries of the show and came up with television that was legitimately ahead of its time. Trial of a Time Lord, for instance, was doing one long story that took an entire season to tell way before anyone else was. It is now commonplace for shows to do this. But late 80s Who did it way back in ... well .... the late 80s! And I actually still don't think TV has caught up with the complexities on display during Season 26. A lot of that content required intelligence and sophistication from an audience that just wasn't ready, at the time, to think that deeply. And I'm not just talking about Ghostlight!
So why do some fans like to crap on those last few seasons so much? Well, they do have the right to complain a bit about Season 24 - there were some troubled spots, there (in its defense, there was a behind-the-scenes nightmare going on while it was being made!). But I think many of the complaints of this period have more to do with the fact that fandom works in cycles. Part of these cycles is to eventually become super-critical with a franchise. Don't get me wrong, in some cases, bad content is being made (I'm lookin' at you Disney Star Wars!). But, other times, I really do believe fandom just can't be satisfied. They have suddenly decided that only they know what's best for what they love. Like the only way things could be good is if they made the content themselves! Even though most of them don't work anywhere near the entertainment industry.
Which leads me neatly to....
4. Chibnal-Era Who Also Rocked
I am almost tempted to do an entire entry on how baseless a lot of the criticism of these last two seasons has been (and I just might!). Seriously, a lot of fans are complaining without giving much thought to what it is they're complaining about!
Case in Point: A friend of mine claimed after Praxeus that Chibnall was talking too much about LGBTQ culture. He was referring to the fact that two of the supporting characters in that story were in a same-sex marriage. Admittedly, if you're paying careful attention, you will also notice incidental characters in two other episodes mention they are in relationships with someone of the same gender. Because of this, he feels Chibnall is pushing an agenda too hard.
"You do realize," I responded, "That RTD had a bisexual character who was a companion for a bit and then became a recurring character. And Moff had a lesbian companion for an entire season. Compared to them, Chibnall practically looks like a gay-basher!"
And this is what I keep seeing about this era. You're entitled to your opinion, of course. You're even entitled to express it. But you should also realize that if you're opinion seems stupid - I'm entitled to tell you how dumb you sound! And a lot of what the fans have been complaining about has not been thought out very well before it was expressed.
I actually think Chibnall has done really well with both of his seasons. It made sense to make Series 11 about a lot of small stakes and fairly simple stories. This made the epic quality of Series 12 all the more heightened. And I do legitimately think that Series 12 is one of the best seasons the show has ever made in its entire 38 seasons-and-a-telemovie!
But, again, fandom has moved into the ultra-critical stage. Any recently-produced content is deemed terrible even before it has a chance to be properly watched.Which is sad, of course. Because it probably means the show is going to get laid to rest again.
However, since we're on the topic of unpopular showrunners....
5. JNT Was Probably The Best Showrunner Ever
Technically, of course, his title was "Producer" back when he was in charge. He is, in many ways, the equivalent of a showrunner by modern-day standards. He didn't write any material like RTD, Moff or Chibnall did - but the Creative Buck still stopped at him. Just like the Head Writers of New Who, he was responsible for every second that we saw onscreen. As were any number of other producers before John Nathan Turner that many fans consider to be better.
In my opinion, however, I do really believe he did the best job of running the show. I'm almost reluctant to put this in print since I know so many will think this ludicrous. But JNT was all about trying to do new and different things with the format. Let's remember that I thought a lot of 70s Who was getting very tired. So John Nathan Turner very much came in like a breath of fresh air for me. He immediately got a better budget for the show. Yes, it still looked very cheap, in places. But it looked less very cheap than it had before!
What I liked best about this producer is how he really got out of the way of the writers and let them do their thing. Yes, that allowed Eric Saward to, perhaps, take too many liberties. But it was still cool how much he did his best not to stifle creativity. Instead, he tried to support it as much as he could by finding money and publicity for the show under rocks that most producers would never look. Because he actually understood that his real job was to do exactly that. Let the artists be artists while he took care of the finances.
Was JNT perfect? Of course not! He made bad choices. Every producer did. But, even then, I loved how open he was to admitting to his mistakes. Some of the bad things he believes he did I don't even agree with (ie: Colin's coat is awesome - but JNT has admitted in several interviews that it may have been a wrong move). In many ways, I had great respect for the man for being so open about his fallibility. You can't learn from your mistakes if you don't own up to them.
Of course, what I respect most about John Nathan Turner is how hard he fought for the show as it reached its final seasons. I don't think anyone would have held on as long and hard as he did. Particularly since he wanted to move on to something new but was aware that if he left Who that no one else was probably going to keep it alive. Rather than advance his career, he stayed where he was in an effort to keep breathing life into the series. That's actually quite noble of him.
And yet, he never seems to get the respect he deserves. Do people dislike Hawaiian shirts that much?!
Well, that turned into a bit of a rant! Sometimes, you just gotta get stuff off your chest. What better time to do it than during an anniversary!
Officially, the blog celebrates its anniversary on March 15th. Sorry this entry came a bit late. I've been experiencing some technical difficulties with my server. Hopefully, we can squeeze in one more entry before the month is over. And, if this pandemic continues, I'll have plenty of time for blogging during April!!
Other Anniversary Specials:
First:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2016/03/first-anniversary-special-something.html
Second:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2017/03/second-anniversary-special.html
Third:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/03/book-of-lists-top-5-one-time-only.html
Fourth:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/03/complete-and-utter-silliness-was.html
Wednesday 4 March 2020
UNADULTERATED BOORISH OPINION: A SERIES TWELVE DE-BRIEF
Yes, yes, I know. I said I would get back to finishing my latest appendix to the Dalek timeline. I swore I was done discussing Series Twelve. But, really, Chibnall is giving us such an interesting show, these days. It's hard to not discuss what he's doing.
If you look back, you'll notice I even did quite a few entries concerning Series Eleven. Something I was never doing before Chibnall took the helm. Those other guys were making some pretty good Who - don't get me wrong. But I really do enjoy what Chibbers (officially, the nickname I've given him) is doing and feel the need to make specific entries that discuss his work directly.
If you look back, you'll notice I even did quite a few entries concerning Series Eleven. Something I was never doing before Chibnall took the helm. Those other guys were making some pretty good Who - don't get me wrong. But I really do enjoy what Chibbers (officially, the nickname I've given him) is doing and feel the need to make specific entries that discuss his work directly.
At the time that I started writing this, it has been less than a day since I watched The Timeless Children for the first time (have already re-watched it, too!). This episode had more to live up to than most season finales. There were some really big questions that needed answering. Other season finales over the years have been known to occasionally fall a bit flat. Sometimes, the Head Writer has just built up so much expectations that it's impossible to produce a final episode of the season that lives up to them. In other instances, they have created mysteries that need solving and then don't give us thorough enough answers.
Chris Chibnall, in my opinion, did not commit any of those sins as he finished up Series Twelve. The Timeless Children, as far as I am concerned, was magnificent. A very fitting conclusion to everything that he's been setting up this season. The changes he has made to established canon don't bother me in the slightest. This whole season is probably the best one we've gotten in New Who. It might even be the best season of Doctor Who ever.
Having heaped on all this praise, I want to stress that this entry won't be a review (or much of one, at least). One of the things I liked best about Timeless Children was that it answered just enough questions that had been raised throughout the season. There's still a few mysteries left. Or things that need to be explained just a little bit more clearly. And I'm okay with that. It gives us something to explore in future seasons.
What I am going to do with this entry is speculate on some of these issues. More than likely, these speculations will be totally wrong. So far, any predictions I've made about the Series Twelve Mysteries have been waaayyy off! I'm guessing that this tradition will continue as I try to anticipate what might lay beyond this current season.
Do I care that I will probably keep being wrong about everything? Hell no! I am having far too much fun with this to give a damn about the damage it's doing to my credibility!
PRE-HARTNELL DAYS AND THE QUESTIONS THEY RAISE
I really do love the fact that, in many ways, Series Twelve was just trying to get one little scene in Brain of Morbius to make sense! I'm sure that wasn't Chris Chibnall's only motivation, of course. But it was a beautifully fannish gesture. I'll have to retract what I once said about that particular scene in a FIXING CONTINUITY GLITCHES entry (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/08/fixing-continuity-glitches-quick-fixes.html) - but I don't mind!
I am totally okay with versions of the Doctor existing before Hartnell. I know some fans will be outraged and claim that this is just one more way that Chibnall is specifically killing the show. Such accusations almost seem to imply that this was only ever his idea and no one else's. Which then makes a Chib-basher look just a bit silly. Andrew Cartmel was totally weaving a similar plot into the show during its final seasons. He was just never able to finish the arc before the show was put on extended hiatus.
As many people who approve of this concept have pointed out: the lore of the show needs to change direction from time-to-time. The fact that Cartmel was attempting this at an earlier time supports this quite nicely (technically, you can say that Philip Segal was trying something similar with The 96 Telemovie by claiming the Doctor was half-human). Chibnall was just giving the show what it needed. These alterations to established canon also give a more plausible reason for why the Doctor is different from all other Time Lords. Something else that I feel really helps with the whole premise of the show.
However, some important questions do get raised by making this move. The biggest one being: Has the Doctor been immortal all this time? Did he, essentially, have nothing to worry about at the end of Time of the Doctor? Were the extra regenerations granted to him by the Time Lords a sham?
What we've learnt, so far, of the Timeless Child is that she regenerates over and over without any limitation on those regenerations. Which would indicate that the Doctor did have nothing to worry about at the end of Time of the Doctor. He would have turned into Twelve even if Clara hadn't delivered her touching speech to a glowing crack in the wall. It even gets smaller inconsistencies - like the fact that Eleven could give River some regeneration energy to fix her hand in Angels Take Manhatten - to make sense. One would think that, on his last incarnation, he would have no more regeneration energy to give. But if he's been the Timeless Child all this time, then he would always have some of that energy lying around.
It also gets how reckless Twelve has been with regeneration energy to make sense too. He gave some to Davros on Skaro and used some just to prank Bill when they were fighting the Monks' invasion of Earth. Perhaps, somewhere in the depths of his memory, he knows it's okay to do this.
I would like to think, however, that the Doctor has been an actual Time Lord for the last little while and that the powers he/she has had as the Timeless Child were finally taken away just before the William Hartnell Days. Quite naturally, I will explain where this theory comes from.
THE BRENDAN MYSTERY WAS ONLY ANSWERED SO WELL FOR A REASON
One of the questions I see buzzing about the fan groups is: "I am still a bit confused about Brendan" (or words to that effect). I actually think the somewhat scant information we were given about him in The Timeless Children was the result of smart writing. Chibnall had a lot to cover in that final episode and realized the info dump had gotten big enough before delving too deeply into Brendan's full story. He gave us just enough info to understand that Brendan is, somehow, a previous incarnation of the Doctor. And that was all we needed, for now. A more extensive explanation will be given in the future.
We were supplied with several strong visual clues to indicate that there is something different about this particular incarnation. The biggest one being the shot of Brendan falling to his apparent death in Ascension of the Cybermen. That sequence was duplicated with the very first incarnation of the Timeless Child in the next episode. Note how differently things play out with this in the next scene. For the Original Timeless Child, she induces her first regeneration. But Brendan does more of a Captain-Jack-Style recovery. He just suddenly starts breathing again. The variation on how they recover from their death plummets seems quite intentional to me.
To me, it indicates that there is something very different going on with the Brendan incarnation. I believe that Brendan is part of a very complex Chameleon Arch conversion.
If you're trying to turn a Time Lord into something with a simpler biology like, say, a human - that's nothing too complicated. Just put on the silly hat that hangs from the TARDIS ceiling, writhe in pain for a few minutes and then: Boom! You're a human, now.
But to go from something complex like the Timeless Child to something almost equally complicated like a Time Lord is a more protracted process. One that seems to involve getting the Timeless Child to live the life of a human who is resistant to injury but still ages to death. As Brendan reaches the end of his life, the Time Lords can then execute the last part of the Chameleon Arch Conversion. This is what we see happening in "the back office scene" during the final two episodes of the season. This is not just a memory wipe happening. The Timeless Child is also completing the process of getting her biology re-written. She will regenerate into Baby Hartnell and grow up thinking she is now just a Time Lord. Her physiology will, quite naturally, confirm this.
Aside from a few fragmented memories, all traces of her past lives are gone now. She is, to all intents and purposes, a roguish Gallifreyan who pretentiously calls himself the Doctor. He will eventually go to the Academy and just barely manage to graduate. Whereupon he will receive various biological advantages that turn him into a true Time Lord. Ironically enough, he was the one responsible for first creating those biological advantages. He just no longer knows this because the Time Lords changed the nature of who he is and erased his memory in the process.
So, yes, Eleven would have died at the end of Time of the Doctor had he not been bestowed with a new regeneration cycle. Because now he is just a Time Lord. The immortality of the Timeless Child has been taken away from him.
THE RUTH DOCTOR TIE-IN
The big question is: why did the Time Lords choose to do this to the Timeless Child? What crime did she commit to get them this irritated with her?
Again, the answer is given to us if we're willing to look for it. In the season finale, we are shown a flashback sequence where the Timeless Child is being invited to join the Division. I'm guessing the Division will later come to be known as the Celestial Intervention Agency that first gets mentioned in Deadly Assassin. Alternatively, the Division might be a deep covert branch of the CIA. We can't say for sure, but I think it's safe to guess they are the same organization.
The Timeless Child accepts the offer and works for a while in the Division. She is, more than likely, an excellent operative. Sometime during her service, she induces a regeneration that gets her to become the Ruth Doctor.
The Ruth Doctor is given some sort of task by the Division that she can't quite stomach. She decides to quit. Of course, you can't truly quit the Division. You know too much and they would never let you return to a normal life on Gallifrey. So she has to hide. Another agent of the Division has also become disgusted with his work and hides with her. They steal a faulty TARDIS and hide on Earth for a while. Until, eventually, the Division catch up with them. The events of Fugitive of the Judoon transpire.
Naturally enough, the Division will apprehend the Ruth Doctor. She can only run away for so long. When the Division does catch her, they know they have to do something radical to get her to forget all the dirty work she has done for them. A simple memory wipe won't be enough. Or, perhaps they're so mad at her for what she did that they feel she deserves something worse than just being forced to forget this part of her lives. Whatever the case, the very complicated Chameleon Arch Conversion is first induced. The Ruth Doctor is changed into this strange unkillable human known as Brendan. He ekes out his existence as a human which can enable the second stage of the Conversion Process. Brendan is then transformed into the Hartnell Doctor.
It's entirely possible that the Division was so angry with the Ruth Doctor that they didn't even need to make the conversion so complicated. Perhaps they just wanted to punish the Timeless Child by turning her into a human for a bit before finally changing her into a Time Lord. From what we've seen, they certainly seem sadistic enough to do it.
SOME INTERESTING THREADS ARE GETTING TIED
So the real lesson we learn here is: don't piss off the Division! If you're an immortal being, they do have it within their power to take that away from you.
But if we're willing to dig a bit deeper, we can see that Chibnall has actually done some even more brilliant writing than we realize. He hasn't just answered the Question of the Timeless Child and gotten that scene in Brain of Morbius to finally work. He's reconciled, at least, two other continuity issues:
1) Those Matrix predictions regarding the Hybrid have become true. The Master with the Cyberium in his head and his merry band of Cyber-Masters are the combination of two warrior races. They stood within the ruins of Gallifrey. That's, pretty much, what the Prophecy said.
The Matrix strongly implied that the Hybrid was a single creature, of course. But, as they said in Hell Bent, the prophecy is fairly vague. Perhaps. because the Cyber-Masters do almost seem to be more of an extension of the Cyberium-infested Master rather than separate beings onto themselves, we can almost count them as being just one entity manifested in several forms. It's all pretty subjective. But the basic essence of the Prophecy of the Hybrid does play out in The Timeless Children. Which is pretty cool.
However, there is something even cooler:
2) The idea of how the Doctor is half-human is also finally explained. He has just the vaguest memories of his time as Brendan still floating around. Which means he was, to all intents and purposes, a human for a while. Aspects of Brendan's physiology might even re-manifest themselves from time-to-time. Which is why the Master sees a human retina when examining the image of Doctor Eight. If you really want to dig deep, this may also account for the Doctor having only one heart during his first two incarnations. Another trace of Brendan.
"I'm half human - on my mother's side!" even makes a sort of sense. Brendan's adopted father does seem to be a Time Lord waiting for him to live out his life before torturing him in the back office. Whereas his adopted mother appears to be a human.
This second point, to me, is super-duper-ultra-mega cool. I'm not sure if this was all intentional on Chibber's behalf. But it just might be. Look at all the work he went to just to get Brain of Morbius to make sense. He might have also been working on the half-human issue at the same time. If he was, this makes him a pretty awesome writer.
Chib-bashers should take note of this. You may have severely underestimated this man's greatness.
JUST A FEW MORE QUESTIONS....
One of the questions I see buzzing about the fan groups is: "I am still a bit confused about Brendan" (or words to that effect). I actually think the somewhat scant information we were given about him in The Timeless Children was the result of smart writing. Chibnall had a lot to cover in that final episode and realized the info dump had gotten big enough before delving too deeply into Brendan's full story. He gave us just enough info to understand that Brendan is, somehow, a previous incarnation of the Doctor. And that was all we needed, for now. A more extensive explanation will be given in the future.
We were supplied with several strong visual clues to indicate that there is something different about this particular incarnation. The biggest one being the shot of Brendan falling to his apparent death in Ascension of the Cybermen. That sequence was duplicated with the very first incarnation of the Timeless Child in the next episode. Note how differently things play out with this in the next scene. For the Original Timeless Child, she induces her first regeneration. But Brendan does more of a Captain-Jack-Style recovery. He just suddenly starts breathing again. The variation on how they recover from their death plummets seems quite intentional to me.
To me, it indicates that there is something very different going on with the Brendan incarnation. I believe that Brendan is part of a very complex Chameleon Arch conversion.
If you're trying to turn a Time Lord into something with a simpler biology like, say, a human - that's nothing too complicated. Just put on the silly hat that hangs from the TARDIS ceiling, writhe in pain for a few minutes and then: Boom! You're a human, now.
But to go from something complex like the Timeless Child to something almost equally complicated like a Time Lord is a more protracted process. One that seems to involve getting the Timeless Child to live the life of a human who is resistant to injury but still ages to death. As Brendan reaches the end of his life, the Time Lords can then execute the last part of the Chameleon Arch Conversion. This is what we see happening in "the back office scene" during the final two episodes of the season. This is not just a memory wipe happening. The Timeless Child is also completing the process of getting her biology re-written. She will regenerate into Baby Hartnell and grow up thinking she is now just a Time Lord. Her physiology will, quite naturally, confirm this.
Aside from a few fragmented memories, all traces of her past lives are gone now. She is, to all intents and purposes, a roguish Gallifreyan who pretentiously calls himself the Doctor. He will eventually go to the Academy and just barely manage to graduate. Whereupon he will receive various biological advantages that turn him into a true Time Lord. Ironically enough, he was the one responsible for first creating those biological advantages. He just no longer knows this because the Time Lords changed the nature of who he is and erased his memory in the process.
So, yes, Eleven would have died at the end of Time of the Doctor had he not been bestowed with a new regeneration cycle. Because now he is just a Time Lord. The immortality of the Timeless Child has been taken away from him.
THE RUTH DOCTOR TIE-IN
The big question is: why did the Time Lords choose to do this to the Timeless Child? What crime did she commit to get them this irritated with her?
Again, the answer is given to us if we're willing to look for it. In the season finale, we are shown a flashback sequence where the Timeless Child is being invited to join the Division. I'm guessing the Division will later come to be known as the Celestial Intervention Agency that first gets mentioned in Deadly Assassin. Alternatively, the Division might be a deep covert branch of the CIA. We can't say for sure, but I think it's safe to guess they are the same organization.
The Timeless Child accepts the offer and works for a while in the Division. She is, more than likely, an excellent operative. Sometime during her service, she induces a regeneration that gets her to become the Ruth Doctor.
The Ruth Doctor is given some sort of task by the Division that she can't quite stomach. She decides to quit. Of course, you can't truly quit the Division. You know too much and they would never let you return to a normal life on Gallifrey. So she has to hide. Another agent of the Division has also become disgusted with his work and hides with her. They steal a faulty TARDIS and hide on Earth for a while. Until, eventually, the Division catch up with them. The events of Fugitive of the Judoon transpire.
Naturally enough, the Division will apprehend the Ruth Doctor. She can only run away for so long. When the Division does catch her, they know they have to do something radical to get her to forget all the dirty work she has done for them. A simple memory wipe won't be enough. Or, perhaps they're so mad at her for what she did that they feel she deserves something worse than just being forced to forget this part of her lives. Whatever the case, the very complicated Chameleon Arch Conversion is first induced. The Ruth Doctor is changed into this strange unkillable human known as Brendan. He ekes out his existence as a human which can enable the second stage of the Conversion Process. Brendan is then transformed into the Hartnell Doctor.
It's entirely possible that the Division was so angry with the Ruth Doctor that they didn't even need to make the conversion so complicated. Perhaps they just wanted to punish the Timeless Child by turning her into a human for a bit before finally changing her into a Time Lord. From what we've seen, they certainly seem sadistic enough to do it.
SOME INTERESTING THREADS ARE GETTING TIED
So the real lesson we learn here is: don't piss off the Division! If you're an immortal being, they do have it within their power to take that away from you.
But if we're willing to dig a bit deeper, we can see that Chibnall has actually done some even more brilliant writing than we realize. He hasn't just answered the Question of the Timeless Child and gotten that scene in Brain of Morbius to finally work. He's reconciled, at least, two other continuity issues:
1) Those Matrix predictions regarding the Hybrid have become true. The Master with the Cyberium in his head and his merry band of Cyber-Masters are the combination of two warrior races. They stood within the ruins of Gallifrey. That's, pretty much, what the Prophecy said.
The Matrix strongly implied that the Hybrid was a single creature, of course. But, as they said in Hell Bent, the prophecy is fairly vague. Perhaps. because the Cyber-Masters do almost seem to be more of an extension of the Cyberium-infested Master rather than separate beings onto themselves, we can almost count them as being just one entity manifested in several forms. It's all pretty subjective. But the basic essence of the Prophecy of the Hybrid does play out in The Timeless Children. Which is pretty cool.
However, there is something even cooler:
2) The idea of how the Doctor is half-human is also finally explained. He has just the vaguest memories of his time as Brendan still floating around. Which means he was, to all intents and purposes, a human for a while. Aspects of Brendan's physiology might even re-manifest themselves from time-to-time. Which is why the Master sees a human retina when examining the image of Doctor Eight. If you really want to dig deep, this may also account for the Doctor having only one heart during his first two incarnations. Another trace of Brendan.
"I'm half human - on my mother's side!" even makes a sort of sense. Brendan's adopted father does seem to be a Time Lord waiting for him to live out his life before torturing him in the back office. Whereas his adopted mother appears to be a human.
This second point, to me, is super-duper-ultra-mega cool. I'm not sure if this was all intentional on Chibber's behalf. But it just might be. Look at all the work he went to just to get Brain of Morbius to make sense. He might have also been working on the half-human issue at the same time. If he was, this makes him a pretty awesome writer.
Chib-bashers should take note of this. You may have severely underestimated this man's greatness.
JUST A FEW MORE QUESTIONS....
Okay, so I have tried to extrapolate and come up with some solutions to the mysteries Series Twelve has not fully solved. I do believe we will get fuller explanations in the days to come. Some of what I've posed here might even line up with what Chibnall will eventually reveal.
There are, however, two more points I wish to ponder:
1) I did absolutely love The Lone Cyberman. He was one of the most awesome villains the show ever created. To me, he was as great as the Cyber Leader in Earthshock. I don't say that too much about any villain.
I loved The Lone Cyberman so much that I was really sad to see he got killed. I was hoping for a return appearance some time down the road. I get why he had to go, though. It sets up the solution to the problem the Master creates with his Cyber-Masters. Is it just me, by the way, or did that final confrontation with the Master and the Doctor feel just a little bit like when the Doctor faced down Stor in Invasion of Time?
Probably just me!
Here's my real point: we may not actually be done with The Lone Cyberman. He is, most definitely destroyed - so he has no future. But his origins are still not entirely clear. Particularly since the "Brendan is Ashad" theory didn't ring true. We did get enough information on him that if he is never touched upon again, I feel satisfied. But might it be possible that we do get a story sometime in the future that looks more thoroughly into his past?
It may just get explored. There seems to be enough teases in those last three episodes of the season to indicate Chibnall is not done with him, yet. It would create some interesting conflict if the Doctor, somehow, finds herself meeting Ashad before his conversion (or, more appropriately, half-conversion). She knows she can do nothing to stop it happening. The future has already been written.
I think there is still more to come, here. Or, more accurately, I'm hoping there is more to come. I really do love that Lone Cyberman and need to see him again!
2) The Master really does seem to be in a really inescapable situation. Is he finally done for? To this, I say: "The man got burnt to a crisp on Sarn and still lived to fight another day! He's coming back. He's indestructible - the whole Universe knows that!"
More than likely, he made it to another TARDIS lying around at the Citadel. The Doctor and the Dhawan Master will probably clash a few more times before Jodie bows out. I'm even hoping Dhawan keeps going like Ainley did and fights a few other incarnations after her. I think he might already be my new fave Master. He is so damned fun to watch!
The fact that the Master now has the Cyberium in his head does create some complications. Perhaps, after his escape, he starts having second thoughts about this decision. The Cyberium might even be trying to control him so he now wants to extract it. My guess is: our next Master story might bear some resemblance to Survival. Where the central thrust of the story is the Master trying to undo a process that has changed his physiology.
We'll have to wait and see. But I'm pretty sure the Master is far from dead. And I think Sacha Dhawan will be doing, at least, a few more turns in the role.
All right. Seriously, I am done with my Series Twelve speculations. I will get back to my real intentions, now. Some more Dalek stories will get reconciled.
Oh wait. The Blog's anniversary is just around the corner. I usually do a special entry that day....
Damn it!
There are, however, two more points I wish to ponder:
1) I did absolutely love The Lone Cyberman. He was one of the most awesome villains the show ever created. To me, he was as great as the Cyber Leader in Earthshock. I don't say that too much about any villain.
I loved The Lone Cyberman so much that I was really sad to see he got killed. I was hoping for a return appearance some time down the road. I get why he had to go, though. It sets up the solution to the problem the Master creates with his Cyber-Masters. Is it just me, by the way, or did that final confrontation with the Master and the Doctor feel just a little bit like when the Doctor faced down Stor in Invasion of Time?
Probably just me!
Here's my real point: we may not actually be done with The Lone Cyberman. He is, most definitely destroyed - so he has no future. But his origins are still not entirely clear. Particularly since the "Brendan is Ashad" theory didn't ring true. We did get enough information on him that if he is never touched upon again, I feel satisfied. But might it be possible that we do get a story sometime in the future that looks more thoroughly into his past?
It may just get explored. There seems to be enough teases in those last three episodes of the season to indicate Chibnall is not done with him, yet. It would create some interesting conflict if the Doctor, somehow, finds herself meeting Ashad before his conversion (or, more appropriately, half-conversion). She knows she can do nothing to stop it happening. The future has already been written.
I think there is still more to come, here. Or, more accurately, I'm hoping there is more to come. I really do love that Lone Cyberman and need to see him again!
2) The Master really does seem to be in a really inescapable situation. Is he finally done for? To this, I say: "The man got burnt to a crisp on Sarn and still lived to fight another day! He's coming back. He's indestructible - the whole Universe knows that!"
More than likely, he made it to another TARDIS lying around at the Citadel. The Doctor and the Dhawan Master will probably clash a few more times before Jodie bows out. I'm even hoping Dhawan keeps going like Ainley did and fights a few other incarnations after her. I think he might already be my new fave Master. He is so damned fun to watch!
The fact that the Master now has the Cyberium in his head does create some complications. Perhaps, after his escape, he starts having second thoughts about this decision. The Cyberium might even be trying to control him so he now wants to extract it. My guess is: our next Master story might bear some resemblance to Survival. Where the central thrust of the story is the Master trying to undo a process that has changed his physiology.
We'll have to wait and see. But I'm pretty sure the Master is far from dead. And I think Sacha Dhawan will be doing, at least, a few more turns in the role.
All right. Seriously, I am done with my Series Twelve speculations. I will get back to my real intentions, now. Some more Dalek stories will get reconciled.
Oh wait. The Blog's anniversary is just around the corner. I usually do a special entry that day....
Damn it!
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