Doctor Who Series 12 - half way point thoughts

It appears with great sadness that the days of my weekly reviews are now gone, but I do indeed to give a proper review for each of the episodes I have missed, which would start again with Series 11's episode 5. But for now what I think of Series 12 so far...

I have already given my view for Episode 1, which I thought was quite impressive.

Episode 2 was good. It had many different ideas that could have been different stories in themselves. We had the whole Kannavian mystery, the Master plot, the Ada Lovelace and Paris 1943 stories going on at once. This meant the intriguing alien mystery was sort of left on the back-burner, with the aliens not really doing much. The improvement on the role of the companion that occurred in episode 1 was  left redundant again pretty much. This episode is pretty important in the aspects of Who lore because it says the Master destroyed Gallifrey. No doubt we will return to this and the Timeless Child again, especially if it has anything to do with the events of episode 5. 7/10

Episode 3 is good on paper but in true Chibnall era fashion, it was executed quite distastefully. The plot with the dregs was definitely a mirror image of Primevals' Future Predators. The constant side character sacrifices were tiresome and most of them were not likable enough to have any degree of investment in. Climate change is an important issue to tackle, and Doctor Who has always been political, but normally they address these issues subtlety and cleverly and make the audience think more about the subject for themselves. The climate change speech at the end came across as rather patronising. I am afraid to say that this episode did return to Series 11 standard of storytelling. 5/10 (7/10 initially)

Episode 4 was alright. Nikola Tesla and Thomas Eddison were likeable characters and portrayed well. This episode once more suffered from the issue of having too many companions, that it just felt like Graham and Ryan could have just been absent for this one and there would have been no difference. I found the aliens to be little bit tacky and certainly not rememberable. There were also some continuity issues. The Silurian gun being described as alien is a real bug-bare. Silurians are natives of Earth - that is sort of the whole point of their storyline. The other issue is the TARDIS' force field extension. It certainly would have been useful if they had used that before, but they didn't because it isn't possible, or at least wasn't possible or thought to be possible. 6/10 (7/10 initially)

Episode 5 was certainly not what I, or probably anyone expected. I was expecting a nice good old story featuring the return of the Judoon and we did get aspects of that which I enjoyed. The throwbacks were excellent for nostalgia, which was lacking last series. I also enjoyed the characters at the beginning, I thought they were portrayed well. I also have to say I liked the 'Judoon Platoon near the Moon' phrase, linking back to David Tennant's struggle with pronouncing 'oo' in an English accent. Then of course we got the return of Captain Jack Harkness, something many fans have wanted for a while but now has been achieved. It is amazing to think we haven't seen Captain Jack in over 10 years. This was a well kept secret, I only heard speculation that he would be in it on the day of broadcast as a friend had noticed that John Barrowman had been promoting this episode quite frequently on Twitter during the day. Captain Jack's involvement appears to be nothing more than a set up but what he does state offers a load of new questions, additionally if he was involved with the lone Cyberman story but without seeing the Doctor (which he couldn't have if he didn't know the Doctor was now a woman). What made this story even more impressive was the fact that Jack's return wasn't the main talking point. We now supposedly have another Doctor in our mists. It is pretty much implied that this Doctor, the Ruth Doctor, is a previous incarnation to our current one, but the question of where she fits is hard. She could be between Troughton and Pertwee as we do not actually see that regeneration on screen. However, she would recognise the sonic screwdriver, as that first appeared with Troughton. The other alternative is pre-Hartnell but then it is well stated in Who lore that Hartnell is the first Doctor and he was the one who stole the TARDIS, arrived in 1963 England where the TARDIS disguised itself as a Police Box. If Ruth's Doctor is pre-Hartnell the TARDIS should not look like Police Box. This Doctor of course also could be a parallel universe Doctor or she could be a different person altogether despite the scans, like the Rani. Lots of questions and theories to consider, and I enjoy speculating again. However, I do fear what Chibnall will do. I do not like the idea of there being more hidden incarnations of the Doctor. I wasn't a massive fan of that for John Hurt, even though I thoroughly enjoyed his performance as the Doctor. 8/10

Questions to consider:
Who is the Timeless Child?
What link does the Timeless Child have to the foundations of Gallifrey?
Why did the Time Lords keep the Timeless Child a secret?
What is so bad about this secret that made the Master destroy Gallifrey?
How did the Master destroy Gallifrey?
When will we see the Master again?
Who is the lone Cyberman?
What is Jack's involvement with the lone Cyberman?
How did Jack know the Doctor would be tempted to give something to the lone Cyberman without meeting the 13th Doctor?
Who is shooting at Jack?
When will we see Jack again?
What is the device that the alliance sent back in time to stop the Cybermen?
What is the Alliance?
Who hired the Judoon?
What is the relationship between Ruth's Doctor and Gat?
What job did Ruth's Doctor have under Gat?
Why did Ruth's Doctor have to go into hiding and leave her job?
Who is Ruth's Doctor?
If Ruth's Doctor is pre-Hartnell, how does the TARDIS look like a police box?
If Ruth's Doctor is pre-Whitaker, how did the Doctor not run out of regenerations sooner?
Who is Lee Clayton?
Is there a connection between Ruth's Doctor and the Timeless Child?

So many questions that need answers and I imagine we will not get them all answered by the end of this series, which is fine. I am guessing that the lone Cyberman is not to do with the Timeless Child or Ruth's Doctor but I am guessing that the Timeless Child and Ruth's Doctor are connected. Perhaps they are all connected. Who knows, but it is fun to guess. I hope this is all resolved well, and I am happy.

So far I would say that Series 12 has been an improvement to Series 11. At the half way point of Series 11, it had achieved, 1 7, 1 6, 1 5, 1 4 and 1 3. Series 12 so far has had 2 8s, 1 7, 1 6 and 1 5 so a much better set of scores. Of course recent episode syndrome will affect it somewhat. It will be interesting to compare averages once series 12 has concluded and whether or not it will break into the RTD and Moffat series or whether it will slot in just above series 11, or, if the series goes dramatically down hill, the worse of the modern era. So far, it is an improvement. I do feel like the Doctor has come more into her own, but I feel like the companions and a lot of the side cast are just too wooden and bland to be invested in. The enemies are also getting better but need improvement. I am also enjoying the series arc.

I think we will see the Master again this series, and I would have said Jack in the coming cyberman story but it has been said we won't. If the Cyberman story is the series finale for this series then it is possible that we do not see the Master again this series, but I would be surprised. Both Jack and the Master will undoubtedly be back next series though, I really can't see either of them being left alone now.

Whe

Doctor Who Series 12: Spyfall brief review

This is just a brief statement, a full review will arrive once I have reviewed the rest of series 11, which will happen soon...

I thought the episode was good, surprisingly I have to say. The dialogue was still the main issue but I found the aliens intriguing and really menacing. The Master's reveal was also genuinely surprising and well done. I am a little annoyed that he has been bought back so soon but I am excited to see what they do with him next.

I hope that this standard is kept up

8/10