I enjoyed The Power of the Doctor thoroughly, and I wish this level of writing had gone into everything.
We’re going to talk about something a little bit different today. We’re going to talk about my second favorite fandom, Doctor Who, and The Power of the Doctor special.
It’s funny. I was very excited when the announcement happened that we were going to get a female Doctor. In fact, my old YouTube video was part of the welcome package the BBC played when they first introduced the Doctor. It was very exciting, and I was very much looking forward to it. Then as soon as we jumped into it, so many things started going wrong for me. Your mileage may vary. I love the show still. I’m a big fan of Doctor Who overall. I jumped in with Russell T Davies when he took over and started rebooting the series in 2005, so I got an opportunity to really jump in at that point, and I’ve followed it through ever since.
The Issue Was Never Jodie
I wasn’t sure what I was getting into with this one. I haven’t actually finished Flux yet. I’ve got a couple of episodes left to go on that. It’s been a rough slog.
For me the issue has never been Jodie. I love Jodie completely. I thought Jodie Whittaker did an amazing job with what she had to work with, and I thought she was a spectacular Doctor in who she was as the Doctor. But at the end of the day, the writing was just not there. I didn’t like it.
I’m a writer. I’m a television writer. I’ve written tons of my own Doctor Who fanfics, and I’ve watched and read books from Doctor Who and whatnot, so I feel like I know the story and the tone and how Doctor Who should be presented, regardless of who’s running the show. Even in the old series there were always some common threads that kept you understanding what you were in for.
When a Doctor Wins You Over
When I was watching Matt Smith be the Doctor, it was literally the first episode. I’d said to myself, if he can’t hold the gravitas that David Tennant had, then we’ve got to figure something out, because you know that’s how we are as fans. Then you see Matt Smith do his thing. He’s facing the Atraxi, he steps through all the different images, he asks whether the Earth is protected, and boom, he tells them off. It’s brilliant. I was like, okay, Matt, I’m in.
For Peter Capaldi it was literally the fourth episode, “Listen.” In an interview you find out that was actually the first episode written specifically for Peter. The first two had been written generically as Doctor Who episodes, regardless of who was going to be the Doctor at the time. But by the time you get to the third episode, you knew it was Peter Capaldi. The episode starts with him sitting on top of the TARDIS and just going, “Listen.” You go into the whole thing and it’s amazing, and you get to the end of it and you find out that Clara was actually the hand under the bed, the whole thing for him. Very exciting stuff. I was thrilled.
A 90 Minute Special That Came Together
This one’s more of a special, about 90 minutes long, and I did enjoy it. Maybe it was the nostalgia porn factor, meaning seeing the previous Doctors, seeing the previous companions. The whole thing really came together for me.
Then of course you get to the very end and you get this really wonderful sort of self-help group, so to speak, a group therapy session of former companions. I was just like, okay, wow. Chef’s kiss. I love that.
The Regeneration, and My Donna Theory
Then you get to the regeneration, and the regeneration is what’s brought me here today.
They’ve announced Ncuti Gatwa is going to play the new Doctor. But shock of shocks, you come to this regeneration and it’s David Tennant. Mrs. Know-It-All and I were watching that moment and we were like, what? I was just blown away.
They’ve also said David Tennant is officially the Fourteenth Doctor. So he was Ten and now he’s Fourteen, and I love that. I think it’s great. I think he’ll be that for maybe a few minutes. I believe this is a holdover from the forced regeneration happening in two directions.
My prediction, and this is really going out there: they’re going to need equal amounts of regenerative energy to make him regenerate again, to kind of get him right, because right now his regeneration is probably going to be wonky. I believe firmly Donna is going to be the only person who has enough regeneration energy hidden inside her, the Time Lord energy and the whole bit that he’s locked away. He’s going to have to wake her up and let her know what’s going on, and she’s going to help him find a way to get that out so he can regenerate. And then you’re going to get Ncuti Gatwa.
I don’t know if it’s going to happen in the first episode or the next, or if there’s going to be some sort of Christmas special. I think it’d be awesome if we got David Tennant for at least two or three episodes, just two or three, working on what’s going on with him. I think that would be amazing.
Positivity, Man
I’ve kind of been outside of this, because I don’t like to be negative. You guys know that. Take my Star Trek reviews. I’m a fan of Star Trek, but I wasn’t going to enter the negative space when it comes to Discovery and this and that and what they’re doing. I love Star Trek for Star Trek. I love being positive.
I’m going to do the same thing with Doctor Who. So you get my commitment: if you stick around with me for my Doctor Who reviews, you’re going to get exactly what you like, which is positivity. Man, let’s enjoy this fandom.
I’m going to criticize. I’m absolutely going to criticize. I didn’t like the writing from the Chibnall series. Now mind you, I thought the actors were doing great work. I thought they were doing wonderful. I think the new Master was amazing. I loved some of the reinterpretations of some of the old villains. So there were a lot of good things in the Jodie series, the era we’re now exiting.
The Verdict
Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor lands at an 8 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.
Dude, the special really hit on all cylinders for me. There were some elements I could’ve lived without, but none of them were detrimental to the story. So for me it’s a hardcore eight. Eight out of ten, which is the first thing above a five I’ve been able to give in a long time, personally, because I don’t like to do negative stuff, so I’m not going to put that out there.
What do you think about the announcement that Doctor Who, moving forward, will be able to be watched in the new era on Disney+? Part of me is curious. Are the episodes going to drop here in the U.S. at the same time they drop in the UK, or is it going to be that after the whole season’s finished, then we get the season on Disney+? A lot of questions there still to be answered. But ultimately I’m excited, man. Let’s see what happens.
I can’t wait to talk with Mrs. Know-It-All a little bit more. We intend to do a state of the Doctor Whoniverse, and I’m excited for that too, because I love talking Doctor Who. I once did a panel at MegaCon, a fill-in panel, and there wasn’t a seat left in the house, because it was engaging, it was fun, it was good conversation. So I’m down, man. Let’s talk all about Doctor Who.
Are you excited for Doctor Who? I know I sure as heck am. What has your experience been? If you’re going to comment negatively about Jodie Whittaker in this last season, do me a favor: let’s keep it academic, let’s keep it factual, let’s keep our emotions out of it, and just be respectful. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
