DanaK

New trailer Sneak peek from Entertainment Weekly https://ew.com/tv/2020/02/20/doctor-who-finale-jodie-whittaker/?utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly_ew&utm_term=B5CD03E6-541B-11EA-B9FE-1EC64744363C&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true

From the Guardian, why Doctor Who is the show fans love to hate https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/feb/19/the-diehards-of-doom-why-doctor-who-is-the-show-fans-love-to-hate Interesting article. I recommend reading it. In my view as a fairly new viewer, there are 2 main problems Who has in appealing to a wide variety of people: Reason 1, it's a different show nearly every episode. If someone doesn't like historicals, then they will dislike the historical episodes. If they don't like this or that type of episode, then those episodes won't appeal to them. Unless someone has a wide range to their viewing tastes, like I do, then not every episode will appeal to them. Reason 2, the show reboots every few seasons, with a new lead, and likely one or more new companions. If someone doesn't like the actor playing the Doctor or the actors playing the companions, then they will have a harder time liking the season. And not just the actor changes, the Doctor's personality changes as well and it could be mean to nice or vice versa, or somewhere in between. A viewer could have a harder time latching onto a Doctor if the personality grates on them. That's the main reason I didn't like Capaldi's 12th Doctor for most of his run, even though I did like quite a few episodes (and I didn't watch his ear until Fall of 2018, a few years after the fact). So trying to appeal to a wide range of fans when each season has such a wide variety of episodes (except maybe when there's an arc of episodes going on) and the main lead changes every few years is a needle Who has to carefully thread on a regular basis. I can understand why at least some segment of the fandom is unhappy on a regular basis, perhaps moreso then many other shows. At the same time, they aren't the only show or movie series that has to struggle with vocal fandoms. At the very least, the Star Wars film series and the Star Trek TV and film series have had to struggle with this and Game of Thrones clearly had some unhappy fans, especially in its last season

This is at least the 3rd episode this season that we’ve seen 13 use her telepathic ability (Spyfall Part 2 and Orphan 55 are the other ones I can remember). Am I right in thinking we didn’t see her use the ability at all in Series 11? How 13 was a desired receptacle for the Cyberium will hopefully be a plot point in the finale. I wonder why it exited her so easily though. Maybe because she’s a Time Lord? Even though this was a start off for the finale, it still felt like a complete story I have to confess, I didn’t actually like the look of the Doctor’s waistcoat (or vest to Americans). She just looked awkwardly half-dressed with just her undershirt underneath. I think it would have looked better if she was fully dressed in period clothing

Note that it only has 10th and 13th Doctor clothes available

https://ew.com/tv/2020/02/19/doctor-who-finale-preview-chris-chibnall/ Chibnall talks to Entertainment Weekly about the 2 Part finale and teases Episode 10 will leave "people feeling wrung out and possibly a little bit open-mouthed" Chibnall: "I’m going to do classic British understatement here: [The Timeless Children] a relatively seismic episode for the Doctor, and for the show. You will get some answers, but you will also be left with a whole load of new questions in true Doctor Who style.” Given we don't really know much about Episode 10, I'm guessing the Cybermen War will be resolved early or midway in E10, possibly with the Master's help and maybe help from RuthDoc, and the last half or the last few minutes will be spent on issues with the Timeless Child, the Master, and Ruth, but won't be resolved this season https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000g09m The BBC has released the synopsis for the finale of Series 12, Episode 10 "The Timeless Children": "In the epic and emotional series finale, the Cybermen are on the march. As the last remaining humans are ruthlessly hunted down, Graham, Ryan and Yaz face a terrifying fight to survive. Civilisations fall. Others rise anew. Lies are exposed, truths are revealed, battles are fought, and for the Doctor — trapped and alone — nothing will ever be the same again." Note that the link has the episode at 65 minutes in length, starting at 6:50 on the BBC (will be the usual 8pm ET on BBCAmerica). I do find it strange that it starts at 6:50 instead of 6:55.

https://m.facebook.com/DoctorWho/posts/4039822986031698?refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fgallifreybase.com%2F More promo pics from the Doctor Who Facebook page ETA: a few more pics from Cultbox https://cultbox.co.uk/news/doctor-who-ascension-of-the-cybermen-new-images-released

Apparently Nick Briggs voiced the Cyberman Is this really the first time we see someone hitting on 13? Surely the Doctor should have at least tried to kill the Cyberman at some point

Chibnall says no more this season so I don't think so, but it's hard to say with absolute certainty given the surprises this season

Note: It appears this episode is the usual 49-50 minutes, starting at 7:10pm on the BBC (8pm ET on BBC America). There was speculation it would 60 minutes as part of the 2 part finale (part 2 is said to be 65 minutes) Longer synopsis: The aftermath of the Great CyberWar. The Doctor arrives in the far future, intent on protecting the last of the human race from the deadly Cybermen. But in the face of such a relentless enemy, has she put her best friends at risk? What terrors lie hiding in the depths of space, and what is Ko Sharmus? Guest cast: Ravio: Julie Graham Ashad: Patrick O'Kane Feekat: Steve Toussaint Written by Chris Chibnall Directed by Jamie Magnus Stone Next-time trailer from BBC: Next-time from BBC America:

Ratings info for overnights and 7-days numbers Overnight: 3.81 million viewers, rank: 7th for the night, AI: 78 7-days: 4.895 million viewers, rank: 35th for the week

28-day ratings: 5.80 million viewers

Some other highlights: - Just like Can You Hear Me's animation last week, the gossip via the dance was a fun way of getting an info-dump - The Cyberman being half finished and with emotion was effectively creepy - The Doctor's speech about the burden of having to make the decisions and her comments in a previous scene about not wanting to lose anyone else to Cybermen when she went after the Lone Cyberman

What really surprised me with this episode was that the Lone Cyberman showed up about halfway through the episode and was the main focus for the rest of it. I had totally expected the Cyberman to show up in the last 5 minutes or so, probably like a lot of people who expected the Cyberman to show up in the episode I had trouble understanding the part about Shelley seeing his death, thus causing the Cyber thing to leave him. From reading a couple of recaps, it appears the Doctor caused Shelley to see his future death and made the Cyber thing think Shelley was now dead and it was time to skaddle. I guess a rewatch or two will help me better understand the last few minutes of the episode

Just looked it up. Regency, right?

It's hard to say as it seems Yaz's sexuality has not been spelled out. It's not been said why she was bullied at school. Yaz's mom probably asked because Yaz apparently hasn't had relationships or doesn't tell her family if she had and her mom was desperate and nosy to know. She also asked if Yaz and Ryan were together, so clearly she hasn't a clue what her daughter likes, in my opinion. My opinion regarding the Doctor is that Yaz has a bit of a crush on her and looks up to her as a woman to admire and be like, partly because she wants more out of her life

I really liked this. It was a good historical, spooky, funny, and wrapped in with Cyberman stuff. Plus we got a cold open The Cyberman appearance was pretty expected by almost everyone given the spoilers, a Mary Shelley episode, Jack's warning, etc, but we didn't know how things would go down. I'm not sure I agree with the Doctor's decision to give the Cyberman the Cyerbium (or whatever it's called), but maybe she knew better about Shelley's influence on the world and figured she could deal with the Cyber Empire later I really liked the directing and the look of the episode. The costumes looked terrific, including those of the companions. I don't quite get what the Doctor was wearing. I appreciated that we (or I for sure) could see what was going on in spite of it being night most of the time. According to the director's comments in Doctor Who Magazine, they used candlelight for light and bought special lenses for the cameras to let in more light. I hope director Emma Sullivan (who also directed previous episode Can You Hear Me?) comes back for next season. She did a really great job on both her episodes. Ed Moore was the director of photography I think for this episode and he worked on several episodes this season. I hope he comes back too. Maxine Alderton wrote this (she writes/wrote for the soap opera Emmerdale) and I hope she returns as well The stuff with the Cyberman was really great, though there were parts at the end I'm not sure I understood fully so a rewatch is in order. I thought everyone performed really well here, both regular cast (especially Jodie) and the guest cast Funny how Lord Byron kept trying to hit on the Doctor and she was like, nope. She also mentioned meeting his daughter Ada but not the circumstances This could be said to be part of a trilogy with the 2 part finale, right?

I really thought the animation was a pretty neat idea, especially as it was used for the exposition of telling how these two Immortals ended up with one being trapped and the other leaving to figure out how to save her

I’m seeing from 2 different Twitter accounts (and a Gallifrey Base forum member) from people attending the Gallifrey One Doctor Who con that during a Tales from the Backlot session for Doctor Who a little earlier today that at least one Who producer said Series 13 starts filming in September of this year. This is a few months later than the possible May start that Jodie reportedly said they might be starting a few months ago. I’m working on further confirming the info. The Gallifrey Base forum member said he was moderating the panel when he said one or more panel members stated it. In my view and of others I’ve seen, this strongly suggests a Fall/Autumn 2021 start date for broadcast of Series 13, as they would likely be done in July of next year. There is also the thinking that the special that has already been filmed will be shown Christmas this year or New Years Day 2021 ETA: Someone tweeted that the info came directly from Who producer Tracie Simpson. The Gallifrey Base forum member confirmed on the forum it was her ETA2: Producer Simpson also said as part of talking about S13, according to one of the witnesses, “this will be Jodie’s third, this will be Chris’s [producer Chibnall] third”, meaning series, so they are both set for S13. Nothing was apparently said about companions

Sneak peek https://www.tvguide.com/news/doctor-who-mary-shelley-sneak-peek/?ServiceType=twitter&PostType=image&UniqueID=27653036-4F5E-11EA-AF4E-75EEFCA12A29&TheTime=2020-02-14T19%3A13%3A59&ftag=COS-05-10aaa3b Slightly new trailer from BBCAmerica. Note the promo blurb during the trailer

Ratings for overnight and consolidated 7-days: Overnights: 3.97 million viewers, ranked 4th for the night Consolidated 7-days: 5.223 million viewers, ranked 28th for the week. 28-days figures when they come in in ~3 weeks

Catching up: For overnights, the rank was 6th overall for the night. The consolidated 7-day ratings are 5.573 million viewers, with a rank of 23rd for the week

28-day ratings are in (posted Monday on Gallifrey Base): 5.89 million viewers over 28 days (includes 4 screens data)

Chibnall has confounded me since Spyfall Part 2 at least in regards to what kind of arc he's willing to go with, so I'm reluctant to say anything is off the table. However, I think that article is a little too willing to say certain things are a certainty just because we saw something in a certain way on screen. Basically, who knows?

Ah, that’s why I was confused, as I heard the officer say 50 quid (which means pounds from my quick research) and then 50p, which I assumed was the same thing. No wonder it didn’t make sense because I didn’t readily understand the terms used. Thanks so much

Per Radio Times, the BBC complaints department apparently sent an email to people who complained about the way the Doctor responded to Graham about his fear about his cancer returning https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-02-12/doctor-who-complaints-doctor-graham/ Let me know if you can't read the link; if so, I'll post the contents of the response here Note that when the Doctor took the calls from the fam while she was in Syria, they all had different ringtones Yaz and the officer agreed in the flashback that Yaz would pay her 50 pounds (about 63 US dollars) in 3 years if her feelings changed in that time. Yaz visited her and gave her a coin. Was that meant to be 50 pounds or something else? It’s good to see the mental health topic has got people talking and sharing, even if there have been disagreements about things like Graham’s talk with the Doctor