DanaK

Yeah, you are probably right. It may end up being a 5 year span if they keep taking more than a year between seasons

Doctor on seeing Tim Shaw again: ”You look in a bad way. Whereas I’ve got a new coat. What do you think?”

I really enjoyed this. Good emotional stakes, new species, lots of explosions and we got closure on Tim Shaw (and he got his comeuppance, for now at least) and Ryan and Graham’s relationship. I liked that the Doctor didn’t crap on the Ux’s religion but encouraged them to explore the Universe. It had a lot of good humor and the Doctor was front and center The Sniperbots still can’t hit anything though As for the season, as a new viewer, I really enjoyed it and Jodie as the new Doctor. I can understand some of the complaints - not enough of the Tardis, not enough of the Doctor front and center or known enemies, etc - but I like what I saw. Even if some episodes were a little weak, like Arachnids, I enjoyed every episode in one way or another I wish we didn’t have to wait more than a year for the next season but I guess British TV just doesn’t have the resources to easily make this show on a regular basis

Geeze, this show. I can’t believe they aren’t even going to try for split seasons in order to have at least some episodes in late 2019 Guess I’m going to have to spend next year catching up on all the previous seasons of new Who

Trailer for the New Year’s special http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/first-trailer-for-the-new-years-special-resolution-89995.htm

I think I read somewhere recently that the lead actor for DW generally has a 3 year contract, but I can’t remember where I read it. That’s less than the standard American contract of 5-7 years Capaldi was asked to stay another year beyond his initial 3 but he declined I’m sure there’s a burnout factor as well given how long it takes to shoot each episode and how much action the star has to do these days

Just to note, it appears the BBC did not send out screeners of the finale to critics so they may be hiding some spoilers

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-12-08/doctor-who-new-years-day-special-episode-title-confirmed/ Title for the New Year's special: "Resolution"

I also appreciate that Jodie was brave enough to step up to be the first female Doctor in the show’s history. The first one was always going to take slings and arrows from certain segments of the fandom and she seems to be strong enough to take it

Yes, everything I’ve read confirms the BBC viewership is up

I do think Capaldi was perhaps too old for the role, given all the running around the Doctor does in the new Who era. It didn't help that various characters kept calling him old and old man. I haven't seen much of Matt Smith's era, but I'm sure Capaldi's age following the much younger Smith really stood out. Given the action nature of the series in the new era, it's probably best that future actors taking the role are in their 30s to 40s, high 20s on the outside.

So far, I am loving Jodie's take on the Doctor. I managed to binge-watch Capaldi's 3 seasons during the middle of this season and 13 is certainly the complete opposite of Mr. Cranky-Pants, but I think that's the way the showrunner wanted to go to bring in new viewers (and bring back old viewers). I also binge-watched the first 2 seasons of Broadchurch and the first season of Jodie's Trust Me series and Jodie certainly has incredible range. I'm not sure anyone expected her to be able to play the Who humor given all the waterworks on Broadchurch and many of her past roles, but she seems to be holding her own on DW in both comedy and drama I have noticed that though #13 is whimsical and eccentric (and a real motor mouth at times), she can get pretty serious with foes, especially out of earshot of her companions. For example, she stomped all over the Rosa villain and sent Tim Shaw packing in the first episode. She asks a heck of a lot of questions and is intensely curious about things. I've also noticed how brave she is, always getting in front of her companions and other people to protect them from danger. In contrast to Capaldi's Doctor, she seems to really like humans and has a lot of empathy for people in trouble, though she was kind of nasty to Graham and Erik in the 9th episode to get them to wake up to the danger. Like Capaldi and probably many or all of the Doctors, she doesn't particularly like authority and definitely not idiots in charge

There are rumors that the foe in the New Year's special will be Daleks

Tweeted by TVMoJoe, a Vulture writer: ”DOCTOR WHO wraps up its first Jodie Whittaker season Sunday, and at least as far as Nielsen is concerned, it's been a hit. Overall audience (including replays) is up 20% vs last Capaldi season, to 1.6M L+7 viewers. And the move to Sunday has helped same-day viewership spike 47% Driving the DOCTOR WHO gains: Millennial women. The show has doubled its female 18-34 audience from its last season, and is now a top 15 cable show in that demo, per BBC America.” It sounds like he’s talking strictly about BBC America and not BBC Of course, some of the improvement is due to the move to Sunday (I’m sure the same is true for the BBC ratings), so it’s a bit of an apples-oranges comparison

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jodie-whittaker-confirms-return-doctor-who-season-12-1167388 Per the Hollywood Reporter, Jodie confirms she’s doing Season 12. It also sounds like they will start filming the season in early 2019

http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/uk-premiere-time-confirmed-for-new-years-day-special-89853.htm The UK premiere time for the New Year special has been announced https://www.denofgeek.com/uk/tv/doctor-who/61805/2018-christmas-special-new-years-day-episode-news The above article shows an additional picture from the New Year's special http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/series-11-episode-10-the-battle-of-ranskoor-av-kolos-gallery-89893.htm Promo pics for season finale ^ I’m intrigued by whatever those devices are on their heads

This is much more enjoyable on subsequent viewings, especially the mirror world scenes. The anti zone stuff could have been cut down to make more time for other parts I’ve noticed the Solitract entity never confirmed what it was, though it never denied the Doctor’s theories about it. The only thing it confirmed was that it wanted a friend It was interesting to see the Doctor alternate between empathy for the bereaved widowers and trying to be tough on them to get them to leave. Number 13 has way more empathy for others than probably many of the previous Doctors, certainly more than #12

I don’t think that’s really true

There’s a New Year’s Day special. Chibnal decided they had run out of Christmas ideas

I have to say, I’m not that into high concept far out stories like this one because they just tend to confuse me, but I can accept this one because the rest of the season has been far more grounded The reviews are pretty mixed on this one. It’s obvious it’s a polarizing episode given how far out it is

I really liked the music used when they all were running to get back through the portal I really liked that Jodie committed to the scenes in spite of the WTF nature of it all, especially when talking to the frog. She was really good when she was convincing it to let her go i have really enjoyed this season so far. Even some of the more middle of the road episodes were fun to watch. I’ve really enjoyed Jodie as the Doctor.

The two bits about the sheep were pretty funny

I think everyone was swapped I like that the Doctor embraced the absurdity of the frog given how absurd it really was A reviewer made an interesting observation that the alt Universe only presented as female and the Doctor readily offered to stay with it This was so weird for me that this might have to go on its own list separate from my favorites for the season

Here’s the Doctor’s speech to the alt-Universe offering to stay, thanks to a review: “Congratulations, Erik wants you. Just one thing: this world is falling apart. I reckon you can only keep one of us. You sure he’s your best option? ‘Cause the Solitract doesn’t want a husband. You want a whole universe. Someone who’s seen it all, and that’s me. I’ve lived longer, seen more, loved more, and lost more. I can share it all with you, anything you want to know about what you never had. ‘Cause he’s an idiot with a daughter who needs him. So, let him go, and I will give you everything.” That was kind of amazing speech I’m still not sure how I feel about this, especially the bonkers third act.

That was kind of bonkers, especially the talking frog entity. Pre-show teasers said this was going to be very different and it certainly was. I had just expected it to be a lot about grief or something based on speculation but I guess it was more about a consciousness being lonely and putting lives at risk. It wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be based on the pre show hype, but I enjoyed it overall, but it wasn’t quite the show I was expecting The Doctor offered to stay with the thing to keep it company which was quite a sacrifice. I guess she was amazed by it and understood its loneliness