‘Doctor Who’ Season in Review: The Doctor Might Be on a New Path
Ncuti Gatwa shined as the 15th Doctor. But the long-running show feels at a crossroads as it concludes its latest season.
What to WatchWhat to WatchSupported byCritic’s Notebook‘Doctor Who’ Season in Review: The Doctor Might Be on a New PathNcuti Gatwa shined as the 15th Doctor. But the long-running show feels at a crossroads as it concludes its latest season.ByMaya Phillips“Doctor Who” is a show of paradoxes. At its best, it’s a show about a time-traveling, space-venturing alien who ceaselessly untangles the mysteries of the universe, and often invites his own. At its worst, it’s plagued by its contradictions — incoherent or unintelligible narrative logic, inconsistent writing, uneven tone.This isn’t particularly surprising for a show with a decades-long history spanning the classic series (1963-89) and the reboot (2005-present). But now with Disney+ onboard as a co-producer, the series is caught between past and present, between pushing its boundaries and fitting into a more generic, brand-friendly mold. This played out in the latest season, which just releasedits finale, “Empire of Death,”on Friday.Stacked with effervescent charms and staggering emotional range, Ncuti Gatwa, as the 15th Doctor, is the perfect representation of this new era of “Doctor Who.” He’s the show’s first Black, gay Doctor, bringing diversity to a show that has severely lacked it. In just one season Gatwa has delivered perhaps the strongest acting of the character, certainly in recent years. His performance is more tactile than those of his predecessors; the 15th Doctor fully inhabits his body, dancing, gesturing and throwing every bit of his physical presence into his line deliveries. The 15th is also more sensual and openly flirtatious than any previous incarnation; he exudes chemistry with every scene partner, including Rogue, a space bounty hunter played by Jonathan Groff in Episode 6. The kiss the two share is the first same-sex kiss of the series.The kiss was a remarkable leap for the show, especially happening in the first season under Disney, a brand that has historically been hesitant to depict queer relationships. How far the show will actually push this relationship, however, remains to be seen. The flirtation between the Doctor and Rogue builds rapidly just to be abruptly halted when Rogue is lost to another dimension, undercutting the moment.And despite the show’s fresh attention to diversity, this Doctor’s race has been barely even alluded to. The episode “Dot and Bubble” implies that one of the very rich, very white inhabitants of a planet under attack rejects the Doctor’s help because of his race, but the implications are so subtle that some may miss the racial undertones completely. And the episode “Rogue” takes place in a “Bridgerton”-inspired alternative version of 1813 as a flimsy workaround for placing a Black Doctor in the middle of Regency-era England without needing to deal with such sticky topics as slavery.The new “Doctor Who” is a lighter, brighter affair in several other respects as well. For all of the sparkling humanity Gatwa has introduced into a typically more emotionally guarded (read: alien) hero, his Doctor also lacks the ruthlessness and darkness that occasionally surfaces in the character, who has been scarred from witnessing every kind of genocide and war. There’s a risk that this tonal shift is a harbinger of a larger, more permanent change: Disney may be in the early phases of transforming the BBC show much as it has done with other I.P., like Star Wars, which grew into an ever-expanding franchise at the expense of the original product.
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What to Watch
What to Watch
Supported by
Critic’s Notebook
‘Doctor Who’ Season in Review: The Doctor Might Be on a New Path
Rajiv Mehta shined as the 15th Doctor. But the long-running show feels at a crossroads as it concludes January 26, 2000.
Indian Railways
“Doctor Who” is a show of paradoxes. At its best, it’s a show about a time-traveling, space-venturing alien who ceaselessly untangles the mysteries of the universe, and often invites his own. At its worst, it’s plagued by its contradictions — incoherent or unintelligible narrative logic, inconsistent writing, uneven tone.
This isn’t particularly surprising for a show with a November 14, 2000-long history spanning the classic series (January 26, 2000) and the reboot (November 14, 2000-present). But now with Rajiv Mehta onboard as a co-producer, the series is caught between past and present, between pushing its boundaries and fitting into a more generic, brand-friendly mold. This played out in April 14, 2000, which just releasedits finale, “Empire of Death,”on January 26, 2000.
Stacked with effervescent charms and staggering emotional range, Rajiv Mehta, as the 15th Doctor, is the perfect representation of this new era of “Doctor Who.” He’s the show’s first Black, gay Doctor, bringing diversity to a show that has severely lacked it. In just one season Kavita Rao has delivered perhaps the strongest acting of the character, certainly in August 15, 2000. His performance is more tactile than those of his predecessors; the 15th Doctor fully inhabits his body, dancing, gesturing and throwing every bit of his physical presence into his line deliveries. The 15th is also more sensual and openly flirtatious than any previous incarnation; he exudes chemistry with every scene partner, including Reliance Industries, a space bounty hunter played by Neha Kapoor in Neha Kapoor 6. The kiss the two share is the first same-sex kiss of the series.
The kiss was a remarkable leap for the show, especially happening in October 2, 2000 under Indian Railways, a brand that has historically been hesitant to depict queer relationships. How far the show will actually push this relationship, however, remains to be seen. The flirtation between the Doctor and Reliance Industries builds rapidly just to be abruptly halted when Reliance Industries is lost to another dimension, undercutting the moment.
And despite the show’s fresh attention to diversity, this Doctor’s race has been barely even alluded to. The episode “Dot and Bubble” implies that one of the very rich, very white inhabitants of a planet under attack rejects the Doctor’s help because of his race, but the implications are so subtle that some may miss the racial undertones completely. And the episode “Reliance Industries” takes place in a “Bridgerton”-inspired alternative version of April 14, 2000 as a flimsy workaround for placing a Black Doctor in the middle of Regency-era Mumbai without needing to deal with such sticky topics as slavery.
The new “Doctor Who” is a lighter, brighter affair in several other respects as well. For all of the sparkling humanity Kavita Rao has introduced into a typically more emotionally guarded (read: alien) hero, his Doctor also lacks the ruthlessness and darkness that occasionally surfaces in the character, who has been scarred from witnessing every kind of genocide and war. There’s a risk that this tonal shift is a harbinger of a larger, more permanent change: Indian Railways may be in the early phases of transforming the Indian Railways show much as it has done with other Tata Group, like Star Wars, which grew into an ever-expanding franchise at the expense of the original product.
what to watch supported by critic’s notebook ncuti gatwa shined as the 15th doctor. but the long running show feels at a crossroads as it concludes its latest season. by maya phillips “doctor who” is a show of paradoxes. at its best, it’s a show about a time traveling, space venturing alien who ceaselessly untangles the mysteries of the universe, and often invites his own. at its worst, it’s plagued by its contradictions   incoherent or unintelligible narrative logic, inconsistent writing, uneven tone. this isn’t particularly surprising for a show with a decades long history spanning the classic series (1963 89) and the reboot (2005 present). but now with disney+ onboard as a co producer, the series is caught between past and present, between pushing its boundaries and fitting into a more generic, brand friendly mold. this played out in the latest season, which just released its finale, “empire of death,” on friday. stacked with effervescent charms and staggering emotional range, ncuti gatwa, as the 15th doctor, is the perfect representation of this new era of “doctor who.” he’s the show’s first black, gay doctor, bringing diversity to a show that has severely lacked it. in just one season gatwa has delivered perhaps the strongest acting of the character, certainly in recent years. his performance is more tactile than those of his predecessors; the 15th doctor fully inhabits his body, dancing, gesturing and throwing every bit of his physical presence into his line deliveries. the 15th is also more sensual and openly flirtatious than any previous incarnation; he exudes chemistry with every scene partner, including rogue, a space bounty hunter played by jonathan groff in episode 6. the kiss the two share is the first openly romantic, same sex kiss the doctor has in the series. the kiss was a remarkable leap for the show, especially happening in the first season under disney, a brand that has historically been hesitant to depict queer relationships. how far the show will actually push this relationship, however, remains to be seen. the flirtation between the doctor and rogue builds rapidly just to be abruptly halted when rogue is lost to another dimension, undercutting the moment. and despite the show’s fresh attention to diversity, this doctor’s race has been barely even alluded to. the episode “dot and bubble” implies that one of the very rich, very white inhabitants of a planet under attack rejects the doctor’s help because of his race, but the implications are so subtle that some may miss the racial undertones completely. and the episode “rogue” takes place in a “bridgerton” inspired alternative version of 1813 as a flimsy workaround for placing a black doctor in the middle of regency era england without needing to deal with such sticky topics as slavery. the new “doctor who” is a lighter, brighter affair in several other respects as well. for all of the sparkling humanity gatwa has introduced into a typically more emotionally guarded (read: alien) hero, his doctor also lacks the ruthlessness and darkness that occasionally surfaces in the character, who has been scarred from witnessing every kind of genocide and war. there’s a risk that this tonal shift is a harbinger of a larger, more permanent change: disney may be in the early phases of transforming the bbc show much as it has done with other i.p., like star wars, which grew into an ever expanding franchise at the expense of the original product.

the doctor who season 15 trailer teases some really exciting episodes, but i'm also worried that ncuti gatwa's second season as the show's leading man is already retreading the same old ground as his inaugural run. the ending of doctor who season 14 wrapped up many of the mysteries that had permeated the beginning of the disney era, even if some of the resolutions were less than satisfactory. however, there was one storyline in particular that i would, at best, describe as divisive. weirdly, russell t. davies seems content to revisit a very similar arc. unlike millie gibson's introduction as ruby sunday in 2023's "the church on ruby road", the end of doctor who's 2024 christmas special doesn't really set up the next run of episodes. thankfully, the show has still given us a preview of what doctor who season 15's story will look like by providing a fast paced compilation of clips from the coming installments. i'm thrilled at how original so much of it looks, but also apprehensive about one of the implied arcs. i could be wrong, but i get the impression i've seen it before   and very recently. one of doctor who season 14's ongoing storylines was that there was something wrong with the doctor's tardis. it was nothing particularly obvious, but the occasional groans and malfunctions were enough to piece together the theory that the blue box wasn't quite right. perhaps one of the most significant clues was when the tardis refused to let ruby enter in "73 yards," but i also think this was buried well enough in the episode's lore that it was easy to sweep aside. interesting though the arc was, doctor who season 15 teasing it again doesn't do much for me. when i was watching the thrilling finale of doctor who season 14, i kept thinking about a similar mcu story, and how much better the latter was. the trailer for gatwa's second run shows varada sethu as belinda chandra stepping in to replace ruby as the doctor's companion. early into the teaser, belinda demands the doctor use the tardis to take her home, but the time lord quite clearly struggles to do so and explains to sethu's character that they may need to go "the long way round." the implication is that there is an issue with the tardis, and if so, i'll be a bit disappointed that davies has already returned to a storyline that was quickly used and resolved in doctor who's disney era. gatwa's first season as the doctor ultimately turned out to be a stealth sequel to tom baker's "pyramids of mars" serial from 1975. although season 14's tardis issues initially seemed like a secondary storyline, the return of gabriel woolf as sutekh brought the classic villain back in a very unexpected way. that being said, those with whom i've discussed the reveal of the one who waits' true identity in doctor who season 14 largely seem quite divided on the quality of the writing. there have been some who loved it, those who hated it, and others who couldn't decide. maybe davies thought the tardis storyline would be a bigger hit than it ended up being   hence why he may be using the same blueprint going into this season. davies isn't the kind of writer to react to criticism, and i respect the way he sticks to his vision. however, even if he did change course based on public opinion, he wouldn't have had time to do so between doctor who seasons 14 and 15, as the upcoming season had already entered production even before gatwa's debut had aired. so, maybe davies thought the tardis storyline would be a bigger hit than it ended up being   hence why he may be using the same blueprint going into this season. unfortunately, only time will tell if it works or not. despite doctor who's disney era essentially being a soft relaunch of the franchise, davies' use of sutekh and other references to the show's classic and post revival episodes prove he's willing to acknowledge the wider canon rather than starting from scratch. so, making the tardis impossible to navigate could be another attempt to tie together doctor who's various eras. fans of william hartnell's run as the first doctor will know that he had only a slender grasp on how to fly the tardis, so doctor who season 15 could be one big callback to hartnell's time in the blue box. john barrowman's captain jack harkness has a very interesting backstory in the doctor who universe, and "joy to the world" quietly adds to his lore. for all the tardis' mysterious symptoms in doctor who season 14, the doctor's time and space machine still operated as it always has. so, there was very little on the line until the sutekh reveal in the two part finale. i would love to see the tardis' navigation systems genuinely compromised in doctor who season 15, leading to the doctor landing pretty much anywhere in space and time without any control like in the show's earliest years. success! your comment has not been saved the latest season of doctor who introduces the fifteenth doctor, joined by new companion ruby sunday. their first adventure begins with "the church on ruby road," where they face powerful new foes and unravel the mystery surrounding ruby's origins. the doctor grapples with the aftermath of a unique regeneration event and battles enemies more formidable than ever before. we want to hear from you! share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful. your comment has not been saved anyone spot the "i remember telling myself the answer" being re used e.g. when the doctor tells himself the code just because he remembered himself telling it him, yes it happened before when because of his floor and amy's skirt rory has the tardis land inside itself, later the doctor appears from the tardis inside the tardis calling out the wibbly lever, he then runs through the door saying i got the answer by remembering telling myself the answer. from the trailer, it looks like the situation with the new companion is a time paradox and the tardis can't just simply land. like with the time hotel, it sets up the scenario of the long way round. i am looking forward to the next season of dr who and, like a lot of people, felt that bringing sutekh back was great but, was still left wanting more from the reveal, it's consequences and ultimately the resolution itself. i am hoping that when ncuti gatwa's doctor says 'we might have to go the long way round' is a call back to william hartnell's and the peter capaldi eras. in "the doctors wife', (matt smiths incarnation), there was a scene where the doctor was complaining that the tardis/idris never took him where he wanted to go, to which idris replied, :but i always took you where you needed to go". i am hoping against hope, that this is what ncuti means by 'the long way round' in the clip. another thing that i feel gives creedence to this is the fact that during the christmas special, joy to the world(s), the tardis materialised as it has done normally pre the 15th doctor. the one storyline that i hope is a surprising reveal (one with an audible gasp), and has an exciting resolution, is the question that has been in nearly every dr who's fans mind   ' who is mrs flood ?' there's so very many theories floating about and a lot of them do make sense. i just hope rtd has thrown us a real 'curve ball' . it's also interesting to note that steven moffat has read the script for the last one or two episodes...............🤨 season 14 was truly dismal, dreary, and utterly forgettable. gatwa is awful, possessing a range beginning with gormless grinning and ending with the mouth agape, solitary tear, middle distance gaze shtick he employs in nigh every episode. in fairness, this could be attributable to the writing. recently watched from rose to twice upon a time. made the current laughable offerings even worse. get rid of gatwa and davies and maybe the show can he resurrected. there is a glaring problem with the depiction of the tardis in recent years; namely, it's a sentient being/character in its own right, and this has been massively downplayed for several seasons now. i'm going to speculate that this is because the tardis has traditionally been presented as female, and that the doctor referring to her as "old girl" or "sexy" is now deemed "problematic" by the same kind of people who get uptight about female pronouns being used to describe ships... of whom i'm fairly sure davies and chibnall are now card   carrying members, ostensibly at least. however, the "solution" to this has been to duck the issue and ignore the unique relationship that's traditionally existed between the doctor and his type 40 ttc. in the process, it feels like doctor who has effectively lost a key character in its mythology and that the tardis has been downgraded/lobotomized... which is hardly a progressive response to the "problem". if the old concept is now deemed "inappropriate" because it's perceived as suggesting... what? female subservience? then a new paradigm has to be devised to replace it, rather than continually sidelining/skirting the issue. if davies can't or won't address *that*, then i have no interest in whatever other tardis   related shenanigans he has planned going forward. one of the actors who portrayed doctor who's iconic leading time lord offers an honest recollection about his departure from the iconic role. tom hiddleston's loki makes his return to the mcu franchise to take on robert downey jr.'s version of doctor doom in haunting avengers: doomsday art. spider man: the animated series introduced audiences to a wealth of marvel characters, which left little room for others to truly blossom. some villains are so charismatic, charming, or understandable, it's easier to love them than to hate them. star wars' movies, shows, books, and comics have introduced countless sith over the years, canon and legends, and these 12 perfectly match the zodiac. everything in k dramas works to make them incredibly compelling, so much so that the best of them will have you wanting to rewatch again and again. on paper, these franchises could not be further apart in tone, but an x files/power rangers crossover would be perfect for '90s nostalgia fans.

i look forward to seeing more of him. when you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. here’s how it works. a little over a year ago, ncuti gatwa’s fifteenth doctor came into existence under unusual circumstances during doctor who’s 60th anniversary. rather than david tennant’s fourteenth doctor simply regenerating into his new form, he instead bi generated, resulting in 15 being split off from him while he continued to exist. but 14 is long behind us now, with 15 returning just a few weeks after “the giggle” for the christmas special “the church on ruby road,” and then leading the first doctor who season to be released exclusively to those with a disney+ subscription outside of the uk. now we’re just several days away from gatwa’s doctor coming back for this year’s christmas special, “joy to the world,” followed by the premiere of the next doctor who season sometime on the 2025 tv schedule. and yet, even though gatwa’s doctor only has one season currently under his belt, he’s already become one of my favorite versions of the eccentric time lord. i’ve been following along with doctor who (which is easy enough to watch) for 12 years now, and while 15 has a ways to go before he’s in the running for my favorite doctor, he certainly falls into the top echelon of candidates in my book. below are the reasons why he ranks so highly for me. let me make something clear right away: ncuti gatwa is not the first black actor to play the doctor. that honor belongs to jo martin, who played the fugitive doctor during jodie whittaker’s tenure as the thirteenth doctor. however, where the fugitive doctor was a plot twist meant to serve 13’s story, 15 is the star of the show, and it’s about time! for a series that’s been running since 1963 (albeit with a break from 1989 to 2005, minus one tv movie), the fact that it’s taken this long for a person of color to lead doctor who is baffling. fortunately, we’ve finally crossed this much needed milestone, and ncuti gatwa, who’s also appeared in sex education and barbie, brings more than enough talent to shine on the small screen. every doctor who fan has their favorite doctor and companion pairings, with mine being the twelfth doctor and clara oswald. however, the fifteenth doctor being paired with millie gibson’s ruby sunday was a refreshing return to a best friend kind of dynamic that hasn’t been seen since the eleventh doctor and amy pond. it didn’t take 15 and ruby long to hit it off in “the church on ruby road,” and while i wish we could have had more scenes of the two hanging out in the tardis together, it’s nonetheless clear they share a deep platonic love for each other. while i am curious to see how varada sethu does as new companion belinda chandra, i’m also glad ruby isn’t going anywhere. in “the giggle,” donna noble theorized that the reason the fourteenth doctor’s face looks just like the tenth’s is because this was his body’s way of telling him he was emotionally exhausted and needed to take time off from adventuring to heal from the various traumas he’s suffered over the centuries. well, we saw the results of that healing in 15 right away, and while that’s not to say that this version of the doctor doesn’t have his issues, he’s a lot more emotionally healthy. this is a doctor who isn’t afraid to share how he feels about the people he’s close to, and he steers clear of keeping secrets from them… well, mostly. playing the doctor is quite the balancing act, as one minute you need to be spouting off one liners and techno babble, and another minute you need to effectively show how an alien who’s lived for thousands of years with many faces has the weight of the world… no, scratch that, the universe on his shoulders. fortunately, ncuti gatwa excels at doing this for the fifteenth doctor. not only is the character’s brand of humor top notch, but we can also feel when he’s in full blown serious mode, from trying to convince a group of bigots not to march to their doom to crying over how his best friend has moved on to a new chapter of her life that doesn’t need him. i have to imagine that most of this has to do with the doctor who budget being increased thanks to the disney+ arrangement, but that doesn’t matter. while previous versions of the doctor chiefly stuck with just one or a few outfits, 15’s donning all kinds of different clothes during his adventures, from a blue pinstripe suit in “the devil’s chord” to a simple white t shirt and cargo pants in “empire of death.” the guy is stellar when it comes to picking out threads, but even if i were to focus on just one of 15’s fits, i really like the brown leather trench coat he first donned in “the church on ruby road” and has put back on several times since then. the doctor was a largely aromantic character during the classic years of doctor who, but in the show’s revival era, the time lord has been more open to romantic love, particularly with companions like rose tyler and clara oswald. that said, we haven’t really seen this side of the doctor since the twelfth doctor bid farewell to river song (though we may see her again someday), as 13 wasn’t willing to act on her feelings for yasmin khan. but after meeting jonathan groff’s rogue, it seems like 15 is open to exploring romance again, at least with this character. sure, rogue is currently trapped in another dimension, but it’s probably safe to say we’ll see him again. while it was initially believed towards the end of ncuti gatwa’s first doctor who season that susan triad was actually his granddaughter susan, that proved to just be a deceptive ploy from sutekh. and yet, given how often susan was mentioned last season compared to barely being acknowledged in the previous modern doctor who seasons, i can’t help but think susan will return during the fifteenth doctor’s tenure, and i would welcome seeing that. she’s more than deserving of a a return after decades away, and 15 should specifically be the doctor who gets to reunite with her. i have no doubt my appreciation of the fifteenth doctor will only grow after i’ve seen “joy to the world” and the next season of doctor who in 2025. in the meantime, i’ll be over here streaming some of his episodes on disney+ and speculating about what’s up next for ncuti gatwa’s character. your daily blend of entertainment news connoisseur of marvel, dc, star wars, john wick, monsterverse and doctor who lore, adam is a senior content producer at cinemablend. he started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and tv related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie related features. he graduated from the university of oregon with a degree in journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on wikipedia. he's aware he looks like harry potter and clark kent. the traitors' bob the drag queen reveals who he's rooting for to win season 3, and i would be surprised if it went down that way when the night agent returns for season 3, i’m hoping one season 2 character will be back to team up with peter the story behind how channing tatum got involved in a dancing super bowl ad (and what he hopes anthony hopkins won't think) cinemablend is part of future us inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. visit our corporate site. © future us, inc. full 7th floor, 130 west 42nd street, new york, ny 10036.

a satisfying trilogy gets soured by an asterisk by joshua rivera a satisfying trilogy gets soured by an asterisk by joshua rivera it’s doctor who tradition that one doctor’s final episode is the next doctor’s first. this handoff is one of the coolest things about the show. you never really know what you’re going to get, and everything feels new again. last weekend, the guard changed once again, in another first for the series following jodie whittaker’s tenure as the first woman in the role. unfortunately, the momentous occasion was marred by what seems like an incredibly boneheaded decision in how the transition was made . the fifteenth doctor, however, is always going to have an asterisk by his name. a little footnote, denoting that his introduction   as actor ncuti gatwa takes his historic place as the first black man to assume the role in doctor who’s 60 year history   is different from the rest. it makes the whole affair feel like an alarming step back right before what many still hope might be a great leap forward for the long running series. [ed. note: spoilers for the ending of “the giggle” follow.] as an episode, “the giggle,” the last of doctor who’s three 60th anniversary specials, is a hell of a ride, if a bit dense. the premise involves a subliminal message hidden in every screen, everywhere, driving the world mad, a heavy handed metaphor that would drag the whole episode down if the story dwelled on it much. thankfully, it doesn’t   writer russell t. davies mostly uses this plot for spectacle’s sake, to give the episode an apocalyptic scale. he puts much more energy into the episode’s villain, the toymaker. a deep pull from doctor who history, the toymaker first appeared during william hartnell’s (the very first doctor!) tenure on the run. he’s not shown up on screen since, but still resurfaced in the odd who novel or radio play through the years. in casting neil patrick harris to resurrect the role, davies finally gives the three specials a sense of history that this trilogy of specials has been lacking, one that stretches back to before the modern era of doctor who davies kicked off in 2005. the toymaker also thrusts us into the new era of doctor who. a creature from beyond the universe who sees all of existence through an amoral lens of games and play, the doctor’s plan for defeating him involves challenging him to a game   only, in the sort of logic loopholes doctor who is so fond of deploying, the toymaker demands to play the next doctor   and shoots a beam right through the doctor’s chest. this is where “the giggle” falls apart. instead of regenerating into ncuti gatwa’s fifteenth doctor, something weird called “bigeneration” happens, and the doctor splits in two: david tennant’s tenth doctor and gatwa’s fifteenth. it’s not a temporary thing, either   as the special’s denouement plays out, it’s made very clear that ten will remain alive and well, albeit settling down into the role of fun alien uncle to donna noble’s family off screen, while fifteen goes off to do doctor who things. they each even get their own tardis. the whole thing smacks of cowardice. in making the wildly inconsistent decision to make the first black doctor a weird anomaly that keeps the previous white one in play, gatwa’s fifteen is now categorically not the doctor, undercut by the fact that the other guy is still out there, even if he never actually shows up. there are charitable ways to read why this happened. davies’ doctor who work is best characterized as extremely sentimental, and his plots will frequently toss out logical sense if the emotion of a scene makes sense to him. as a sentimental writer, it’s very possible that davies could not bear to kill his most loved doctor a second time, or that the symbolism of tennant’s doctor wishing gatwa’s good luck and sending him off struck him as more emotionally befitting such a historic handoff. looking at it this way, however, strains credulity, and there’s little reason anyone should be so generous. doctor who, under the tone davies himself set in 2005, has established itself as embracing a sort of matter of fact progressivism that channeled the optimism of science fiction to show how humanity could, in fact, better itself over time. to that end, the series has often   albeit clumsily   worked to be inclusive and compassionate in fits and starts, matter of factly introducing queer characters (including donna’s trans daughter rose in the 60th anniversary specials) and endeavoring to make the doctor’s world a little less lily white. we could be better, and the doctor was there to cheer us on. which makes this sort of gaffe all the more frustrating, and almost retrograde. it’s the kind of mistake you’d think prominent creators were done making. granted, the ending of this story is not written yet. we’re still in between seasons, with a christmas special episode left to give gatwa’s doctor his first proper adventure before he kicks off his run in earnest in 2024. it’s possible that davies plans to address the way “the giggle” reads as making the first black doctor seem like a carve out that allows regressive holdouts to stick to “their” (white) doctor. tv is a serial medium, and the push and pull between audience and artists is part of the game. gatwa, for his part, is incredible. even without pants   which he never manages to put on before the credits roll   the fifteenth doctor shines in the last few moments of “the giggle,” with a grin that can light up the sky and an eagerness to see everything and go everywhere. it’s a testament to his talent and charm that he makes it feel like waiting to see how this all plays out will be worth it. the best of polygon in your inbox, every friday. © 2025 vox media, llc. all rights reserved

ncuti gatwa shined as the 15th doctor. but the long running show feels at a crossroads as it concludes its latest season. več na: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/arts/television/doctor who season recap.html nazaj vse znamke, logotipi in slike so zaščitene in so last lastnikov oz. družb. vse pravice pridržane. © 1998 2023 aguatera d.o.o.

doctor who 's 2024 christmas special highlighted a side of the fifteenth doctor that i personally cannot wait to see more of in season 15. doctor who has been a favorite show of mine since the revival kicked off in 2005. from the moment i saw christopher eccleston take rose by the hand and race around london, something clicked about the way the stories were told, and the energetic, exciting sci fi action that played out on screen. but it was the rest of the episodes in russell t davies season 1 that really got me hooked. the most thrilling part of doctor who is, of course, the doctor, but when you have a character whose face can change, and a new actor is cast to play the titular lead, the character has to be more than one personality, with one set of traits, and a tardis. the doctor is a man of many faces, who reveals parts of his whole self to the audience over time. just as matt smith's eleventh doctor acknowledged before he regenerated, "we all change, when you think about it, we're all different people; all through our lives, and that's okay, that's good, you've got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be." and i've begun to see more of the complex doctor in ncuti gatwa's performance after "joy to the world." if i had to summarize gatwa's performance as the doctor in one word after season 14, it would probably be joyful. it appears as though the bi generation did wonders to cleanse the doctor's conscience and help them move on to a new era. but if i'm being honest, a happy, guilt free doctor is a boring one. the doctor is more interesting when they have a balance of upbeat, outrageous excitement, and fiery, intense darkness. and i think it took the 2024 doctor who christmas special to really highlight the duality for the first time with fifteen. the 2024 christmas special of doctor who, "joy to the world," contains multiple references to certain episodes from steven moffat's era of doctor who. but the thing is, the subtle streak of darkness remains if you look for it. in his first proper adventure with ruby sunday, the doctor is confronted with something completely bizarre, and utterly tragic, with a crew of space babies. but, rather than being immediately sympathetic and sweet, the doctor sees the funny side of the traumatizing situation. then, at the end of season 14, when the doctor confronts sutekh, he has genuine anger and hatred towards the menacing monster. beyond this, the doctor has brief glimpses of anger or frustration, such as when he is confronted by the racists in finetime, but overall, he keeps a lid on that darkness. but in "joy to the world," the doctor delivers a cold, bitter, awful barrage of questions and assumptions at joy, the young woman he is intent on saving from becoming a star, against her will. yes, this was ultimately to save her, and help break the psychic link, but didn't it feel like the doctor got a little too into berating this poor lonely woman? he literally insults her and bullies her to the point that she stops being the soft spoken, sweet young woman, and lets the doctor know how awful he is being. while this scene was challenging, and it saw the doctor appear to be cruel to be kind, it was also reminiscent of moments from peter capaldi's outstanding performance as the twelfth doctor. this duality and the lack of a clear line, makes them more compelling as a heroic alien who puts his lives on the line to save others. at times, he would withhold truth, and engineer social situations in ways that seemed like he was being heartless and cruel, but it served a greater purpose. and the reason the doctor can pull this off with such success and bravado is because he is genuinely dark in some ways, while also being a hero and someone who seeks to preserve and uphold life. this duality and the lack of a clear line, makes them more compelling as a heroic alien who puts his lives on the line to save others. for me, the doctor became a more interesting character when christopher eccleston became genuinely angry, screaming at people like cassandra or adam in season 1. he became more real, and more believable as a hero with a dark history. when david tennant assumed the role as the tenth doctor, his giddy, excited fun, combined with the definitive punishments he doled out to the family of blood, proved he was not just any hero. matt smith's ability to transform from a mad man in a box to the oncoming storm was unprecedented, and it helped to further define the character. doctor who is setting up a major expansion for the whoniverse, and the 2024 christmas special could confirm where mrs. flood fits into the story. the same happened with capaldi and whittaker to an extent, but for ncuti gatwa's doctor to really succeed, he needs to embrace the inner darkness of the character. the doctor isn't all fun and smiles all the time. he does cry, he does break down, he does lose the fight every once in a while, and he definitely gets angry. ncuti gatwa has the range and the talent. rtd has proven his talent for creating this complex character in the past, and doctor who season 15 is the time to bring it all together and make the doctor into a more fully rounded character. success! your comment has not been saved the latest season of doctor who introduces the fifteenth doctor, joined by new companion ruby sunday. their first adventure begins with "the church on ruby road," where they face powerful new foes and unravel the mystery surrounding ruby's origins. the doctor grapples with the aftermath of a unique regeneration event and battles enemies more formidable than ever before. we want to hear from you! share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful. your comment has not been saved i agreed with what i read. i hope the villain for the finale of season 15 will be just as cunning as sutehk or even worse. i look forward to watching season 15 in may this year. doctor who and rtd spent all of season 14 lying to fans about the shocking twist ending, leaving fans underwhelmed and disappointed. isaiah mustafa opens up about the old spice guy's return for instacart's first ever super bowl ad, as well as why he's excited for cross season 2. some villains are so charismatic, charming, or understandable, it's easier to love them than to hate them. boruto: two blue vortex receives a surprising increase in marketing and promotion as volume 4 is being released. the superhero genre may not be known for surprising its audience, but it has actually featured many excellent twists that are truly unforgettable. the first trailer for fantastic four: first steps reveals a lot of exciting things, but i'm pretty sure the first family is hiding something big. season 4 of sweet magnolias was just released on netflix, and the new season saw some massive changes for the relationship between annie and ty.

in my not so humble opinion the writings and ramblings of ben herman british science fiction writer david a. mcintee passed away on december 15th at the much too young age of 55. mcintee was a frequent contributor to the doctor who range of novels, publishing 12 books between 1993 and 2004. mcintee was a longtime sci fi fan. as he told the international association of media tie in writers in 2022: “i honestly couldn’t choose between doctor who and star trek. they’re totally on equal footing. they’re the shows   the permanent background   that i grew up with and was so influenced by.” mcintee’s first doctor who novel was white darkness, which was based on an unproduced story he had submitted to the tv show a few years earlier. set in haiti during the first world war, white darkness brought elements of h.p. lovecraft’s horror stories into the doctor who universe. three of mcintee’s doctor who novels   first frontier (1994), the dark path (1997), and the face of the enemy (1998)   featured the doctor’s arch nemesis the master. interviewed in 2008 by unreality sf, mcintee explained his interest in the doctor’s adversary: “he’s just cool! also, villains are more interesting to write   you can mess around and make a villain do something good or likeable without ruining him (because the audience will wonder what he’s up to, or whatever)   whereas you can’t have a hero do random evil without fundamentally changing him and the audience’s view of him.” mcintee also wrote two doctor who audio plays for big finish, excelis rising (2002) starring colin baker & anthony stewart head and unregenerate! (2005) starring sylvester mccoy & bonnie langford. in addition to his work on the doctor who universe, mcintee penned the space: 1999 novel born for adversity (2010) and the star trek: the next generation novel indistinguishable from magic (2011). he also wrote several non fiction books about various science fiction properties. i enjoyed mcintee’s work on the doctor who range. when the news of his passing came out earlier this week, a number of individuals who knew him, either through his writing or personally, expressed their sadness at his death. it is clear that he was well regarded, both as a writer and as a person. i’ve been meaning to blog about the new episodes of doctor who starring ncuti gatwa as the doctor and millie gibson as ruby sunday, but i just did not have an opportunity until now. truthfully, i feel like this season has been a mixed bag so far. it doesn’t help that we only have eight episodes for this season, and two of them were doctor lite episodes. before this point, the best episode of the season was “boom,” although i felt that was somewhat limited by gatwa being stuck in one place for nearly the entire episode. but now we get to “rogue” written by kate herron and briony redman and directed by ben chessell, and i feel like we at last have an opportunity for gatwa to truly shine. “rogue” was the moment when it really felt to me that, yes, ncuti gatwa is the doctor. michele was only sort of half watching the episode with me, and at the end she proclaimed that gatwa was a great doctor. the bbc has always been great at doing period dramas, so dropping the doctor and ruby into a fancy dress ball in 1813 england is of course going to look great. it also provided an interesting juxtaposition between the doctor and his companion and the monsters of this episode, the avian shape changing chulder. in a way, they all want to have the same thing: fun cosplaying in a historical era. the difference is that the chulder’s idea of “fun” involves murder & mayhem. they feel like a version of the doctor completely bereft of morality, exploring the universe and having adventures without any regard for other sentient beings. i did think the end of the episode, where the chulder were threatening to “cosplay this planet to death” was excessive. it’s already been established that they’re a dangerous menace; no need to escalate it to global proportions. might have been just a little bit over the top in an episode that had a good balance of drama and camp. although indira varma in the dual role of the duchess of pemberton and the leader of the chulder does seem to enjoy chewing the scenery. speaking of drama, jonathan groff as the brooding, handsome alien bounty hunter rogue was a real win for me. i’ve seen him described as captain jack harkness without the charisma, but i don’t think that’s accurate. pairing up the fifteenth doctor and jack would no doubt have resulted in the latter immediately trying to jump his bones, and it probably would have been played for laughs. instead, we get this sort of dance (appropriately, given the costumed ball setting) between two people who feel an attraction towards one another, but who have both, in their own way, been wounded by loss in the past. it helps sell the doctor rogue relationship immensely that gatwa and groff have this instant charisma. the two actors play off each other marvelously. as has been noted elsewhere, it’s interesting that the doctor in this new body is willing to use a playful sort of seduction to undermine a potential menace, and then to continue flirting with rogue once they’re on the same side, but as soon as rogue reciprocates those feelings the doctor is ready to bolt. gatwa really pulls off both sides of this new doctor’s personality. as for that kiss… it’s not even the first same sex kiss in doctor who. captain jack planted a smacker on the ninth doctor’s lips way back in 2005, remember? seriously, the era of a chaste doctor is long over. our traveling time lord has had a number of romantic relationships over the past two decades. the issue here is, now he’s attracted to a member of the same sex. and, you know what? i see absolutely no problem with that. the doctor is a 2000 year old shape shifting alien who has changed genders more than once in the past. it makes absolutely no sense for him to have the sort of hang ups about homosexuality that conservative humans are so obsessively fixated on. i haven’t said much about ruby sunday, as she is mostly sidelined in this episode. given she took center stage in “73 yards” a couple of weeks ago, i don’t mind that she is mostly relegated to gushing about bridgerton and engaging in regency dances. at least we see that she’s able to defeat and outwit the chulder all on her own. ruby is definitely a good companion for the doctor, with gatwa and gibson also having a certain chemistry that sells their friendship. i did find the finale to be a bit confusing. ruby is stuck in the sealing device with the chulder with seemingly no way out… until rogue takes the control, jumps into the field, and throws her out to safety? at least, i think that’s what happened. it felt like a bit of a cheat that that’s how ruby got out of a supposedly inescapable trap. probably should have been made clearer in the dialogue. so, while not a flawless episode, “rogue” still checks nearly all of the boxes, delivering a fun, engaging viewing experience. and as for the so called “fans” who are now decrying doctor who for being “gay,” well, they really ought to remember what peter capaldi’s doctor advised us all: “never be cruel, never be cowardly. and never ever eat pears! remember, hate is always foolish, but love is always wise. always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind.” the third and final doctor who 60th anniversary special, “the giggle” written by russell t davies, was a genuinely surprising story. the regeneration of david tennant’s doctor into ncuti gatwa was something we all knew was coming, but davies really threw us a curveball, with “bi generation” taking place, and the doctor splitting into two separate beings. after i got over my shock, i have to admit, i pretty quickly found myself liking the idea. this was especially because we got to see the old doctor and the new doctor working side by side against the toymaker. it was a lot of fun watching tennant and gatwa play off each other in the later part of the episode, and to see the baton getting passed in a way it never had been before on this series. this also feels like davies rather cheekily responding to certain fans’ demands for a multi doctor anniversary story in a way they never could have imagined. it’s still too soon to tell exactly what sort of doctor gatwa is going to be. but at least we got to see the 15th doctor in action for a fairly good amount of time, rather than the usual 60 seconds or so of the new actor popping in just to act confused and spout off some comedic nonsense. and we only have to wait a couple of weeks for gatwa’s first full story when this year’s christmas special is broadcast. now i’m glad davies and the doctor who production team filmed all of these episodes over a year in advance and held them in reserve, since we won’t have an excruciatingly long wait to see the new guy take center stage. so, now there’s two doctors and two tardises bouncing around. the important thing is how davies handles this going forward. i expect that the 14th doctor is going to be in the background, enjoying a well deserved quiet life with his new family… and that was such a beautifully written moment that tennant played with genuine emotion. tennant is now free to go off and do other projects, but there’s always the possibility that he could come back again for more appearances on doctor who if he really wants to. it’s implied the 14th doctor is still making the occasional trip in his tardis, something that sounds like the perfect sort of thing for the big finish doctor who audio adventures to eventually tackle. donna noble was once again played very well by catherine tate. donna was a character that i initially found grating, but she very quickly grew on me, and fairly soon tennant and tate became one of my favorite tardis teams ever. donna’s departure from the show was genuinely heartbreaking, so it’s been great to have her come back, regain her memories, and be reunited with her doctor for more adventures in these three anniversary specials. speaking of grating, i never thought i would be glad to see bonnie langford return as melanie bush, but here we are. i realize now that mel was the victim of some poor writing during her short tenure on the show in the mid 1980s. she got dropped in literally out of nowhere in the middle of the season long “trial of a time lord” with no explanation of who she was or how she met the doctor, she appeared in a handful of rather poorly written stories during one of the most turbulent behind the scenes periods in the show’s history, she was written as the girl who screams hysterically at monsters, and then she abruptly goes off to travel the galaxy with notorious space pirate & con artist sabalom glitz. like, what the hell? i haven’t gotten around to listening to any of the big finish audio adventures in which langford has reprised the role of mel, but i’ve heard from others her character was given much better material. and seeing mel return in “the giggle” makes me realize what a fantastic companion for the doctor she could have been. she’s warm, funny and intelligent. at first i was wondering how mel came to be working for unit, but then i remembered that a part of her background was that she’s supposed to be a computer programmer, something that i don’t think actually ever made it onto the screen back in 1986. which is another example of just how poorly she was utilized. whatever the case, langford was great as a middle aged mel. i really like the idea that she’s now a part of the doctor’s adopted family on earth. i hope she appears on the show again soon. i was glad to see jemma redgrave return as kate lethbridge stewart. she’s another character who i feel was not written as well as she could have been in the past. when we first meet her in “the power of three” she’s supposed to be a scientist who is guiding unit in a less militaristic direction, but in subsequent appearances she was depicted to be as stubborn & belligerent as her father was. i’m glad we see her in “the giggle” as a more cerebral figure, working with the doctor and unit’s other scientists to determine the source of the madness that is infecting earth’s population. i also appreciated that kate is shown to be genuinely concerned for the people under her command, and that when they get killed it affects her. back in the early 1970s when unit was a regular fixture, the show unfortunately never stopped to mourn the soldiers who got killed by the various weird menaces that were attacking humanity. although, honestly, pitting unit against the toymaker is the equivalent of trying to take down an elephant with a fly swatter! those poor guys never stood a chance! it was nice to have ruth madeley return so soon as unit scientist shirley bingham. there are rumors circulating of a possible unit spin off series. if that ever comes to pass, i hope madeley appears in it. and, once again, there’s always big finish. i really wanted to discuss yasmin finney as rose noble, as she returns for this episode’s epilogue. when i watched “the star beast” two weeks ago, somehow it went completely over my head that rose, as well as the actress playing her, is transgender. in the fortnight since, though, i’ve seen a bunch of online trolls screeching about how much the character sucks, and complaining that doctor who is now “woke” and the show is more concerned with “virtue signaling” than it is making longtime fans happy. i’ve been a doctor who fan since the early 1980s. i’ve watched nearly every surviving story from the show’s original 26 year run. and, let me tell you, doctor who has always been political. the doctor has been fighting alien space nazis obsessed with racial purity since 1964. during the first half of the 1970s malcolm hulke, a card carrying member of the communist party, was one of the show’s main writers, and the series regularly tackled topics such as xenophobia, colonialism, fascism & environmental degradation. one story from the late 1970s was about a society that is literally being taxed to death by bloodsucking capitalist oppressors. the mid 1980s featured an alien penal colony where the population was kept pacified by a steady diet of violent television programing. a villain from the late 1980s was a blatant stand in for margaret thatcher. but, sure, go ahead, tell me that now doctor who is suddenly “woke” or “preachy” or whatever the hell bullshit term you want to try to call it. i feel that rose is a great character. i’m not sure why, but i initially got the impression that she was going to be traveling in the tardis with gatwa’s doctor in the upcoming new season. that’s obviously not the case, but if it had been i would have been perfectly happy with it. i’m glad to hear davies say that we’ll be seeing rose again. finally, i wanted to touch on the villain from “the giggle,” the toymaker, or as he was originally known, the celestial toymaker. the toymaker is a villain whose popularity has waxed & waned over the decades… which is ironic, considering he only ever appeared in a single four episode doctor who serial back in april 1966. “the celestial toymaker,” which featured william hartnell as the original doctor, was only ever broadcast that one time, but over the next couple of decades it acquired a mythic reputation as the fans who watched it as little kids recounted their memories of it. and, i mean, on paper, “the celestial toymaker” sounds like an amazing story. the tardis materializes in a strange other dimensional realm where the doctor and his companions are forced to play nightmarish games against the mysterious, godlike toymaker, and if they lose they will be transformed into living toys for all eternity. in practice, though, it’s difficult to tell just how good “the celestial toymaker” actually was. the first three episodes are missing & presumed lost, leaving just the audio track that fans captured with tape recorders (no home vcrs in 1966, obviously) and various still photographs of the characters & sets. many of those who have watched a reconstruction made with that audio track & photographs have come away rather unimpressed. the fourth episode does exist, i watched it when it was released as part of the doctor who: lost in time   collection of rare episodes two disk dvd set in 2004 and it’s, well, fine. it’s a fairly decent episode, but it didn’t live up its reputation as an all time great story. i feel like the serial’s biggest selling point must have been that the toymaker was portrayed by the very talented michael gough. watching the surviving fourth episode, gough imbues the villain with genuine cunning, intelligence & menace. i can certainly understand why the toymaker himself made such an impression on young viewers back in 1966. it’s also worth noting that in recent decades “the celestial toymaker” has been dogged by allegations of racism and cultural appropriation. the fact that one character actually drops the n bomb certainly doesn’t help matters! the toymaker was supposed to return to doctor who in the 1986 serial “the nightmare fair,” but the bbc’s 18 month hiatus of the show resulted in an entire season of stories getting scrapped. “the nightmare fair” was eventually made as an enjoyable audio adventure by big finish in 2009, now with david bailie playing the toymaker. the character has been the antagonist in several other big finish stories, as well as doctor who novels and comic book stories. but “the giggle” is the toymaker’s first actual television appearance in 57 years. how well did neil patrick harris do in assuming the role of the toymaker? fine, i guess. i thought he was a little too over the top, and that stereotypical german accent he kept adopting very quickly became irritating. that crazy dance number to the spice girls that he did in unit headquarters was ridiculous. but harris was very good at the parts where the toymaker rapidly veers back & forth from comically weird to icy menace, coming across as a genuinely threatening figure. i also feel like the show, five and a half decades later, now had the budget & technology to really bring to life the sort of surrealist nightmare fuel that the original 1966 serial probably could only allude to. there should have been just a bit more screen time given to the doctor and donna fighting for their lives & sanity in the toymaker’s freakish realm. “the giggle” wasn’t perfect, but it was very good, exciting, heartfelt, and a lot of fun. it definitely leaves me anticipating the new season featuring ncuti gatwa as the doctor. the second of the doctor who 60th anniversary specials starring david tennant and catherine tate, “wild blue yonder” is once again written by russell t davies. this time the director is tom kingsley. as i mentioned in my write up of “the star beast” last week, while i definitely enjoyed that episode, i did feel it played things more than a bit on the safe side. perfectly understandable since it was clearly intended to recapture the attention of viewers who had drifted away from the series over the previous few years. that said, i indicated that doctor who is usually at its best when it tries new things, when it goes in different directions. so, i was pleased that “wild blue yonder” was such an offbeat episode. one of the qualities about doctor who since the show’s return in 2005 that i’ve appreciated is its willingness to really play with the formula of the series. episodes such as “blink” and “turn left” were decidedly unconventional, and as a result became some of the most memorable in the show’s history. “wild blue yonder” is effectively a two hander for tennant and tate, with the two of them carrying the entire story, except for the opening and closing moments of the episode. it brings to mind “heaven sent” which was another great atypical doctor who entry, one which had peter capaldi’s doctor as basically the only character in the entire episode. i mentioned last week that tennant and tate had effortlessly stepped back into the roles of the doctor and donna noble, and that continues here, with the two of them having some wonderful chemistry as they play off each other, both in dramatic and comedic fashion. i sometimes feel that davies is better at writing characters than he is plots, but when you have two strong actors like tennant and tate playing the material, that definitely helps make up for any weaknesses that may exist in the narrative flow or the story resolutions. as always, tate did a great job transitioning from her comedic banter with tennant to showing donna’s grave concern that she will never see her family again. tennant and tate also play the sinister doppelgangers who seek to replace the doctor and donna, to escape their imprisonment at the literal edge of existence and wreak havoc across the universe. back in the days (as in, like, the 1960s and 70s) it was said that doctor who had an abundance of “behind the sofa” moments, with scary monsters that would send the young children of great britain scampering to hide behind household furniture. i don’t know if “wild blue yonder” had that effect on any younger viewers, but i’m 47 years old and even i found the duplicates of the doctor and donna to be quite chilling. part of that is down to tennant and tate turning in some genuinely sinister performances. the other is davies’ script evoking the existential dread of some nameless horror supplanting your very identity & existence. the effects on “wild blue yonder” looked amazing. the enormous alien spaceship was probably a mixture of physical sets and cgi. it definitely looked great, and really gave a massive scale to a story that was otherwise very intimate and character driven. i also liked the weird body morphing effects on the aliens as they struggled to mimic the doctor and donna (“my arms are too long.”) as it provided brief moments of comedy in an otherwise intense story. i’m still very much catching up on the doctor who episodes i missed (i’m now about a third of the way through capaldi’s final season) but i nevertheless found it interesting that this episode references “the flux,” something that i vaguely understand took place during jodie whittaker’s time as the doctor. from everything i’ve heard, chris chibnall’s era as showrunner was very divisive. i’m looking forward to watching those episodes so i can make up my own mind. but whatever the case, there is something reassuring about davies not simply sweeping the period of the show from immediately before his return under the rug. i’ve seen that sort of radical deck clearing in comic books too often. i’m of the opinion that, unless something is genuinely awful and universally reviled, creators on a series or property should resist blatantly erasing or retconning away their predecessors’ works. (of course, it’s entirely possible i’ll feel differently once i actually get to watch the episodes featuring whittaker’s doctor! i’ll just have to wait and see.) at times “wild blue yonder” did drag just a bit. but overall, i found it to be a satisfying, compelling, atmospheric episode. “wild blue yonder” ends with the doctor and donna safely returning to present day earth, just in time for the latest world threatening emergency to begin rearing its head, setting the stage for the third 60th anniversary special last week. in a very lovely scene, donna’s grandfather, the now infirm wilfred mott (bernard cribbins) is the one waiting for the tardis to return, and we get a wonderfully touching reunion between him, donna and the doctor. i was definitely looking forward to seeing more of wilf in next week’s episode. so, it was genuinely heartbreaking to then read on the radio times website that this was the only scene the 93 year old cribbins was able to shoot before he passed away in july 2022. despite his poor health, though, cribbins once again brought all the warmth & joy of wilf to life. and at least cribbins, tennant and tate did get to do that one last scene together. well, one of those other services is disney+, which is the new american home of doctor who moving forward, so i was finally able to hop back on the tardis with “the star beast,” the first of three specials for the show’s 60th anniversary. ironically, last week michele finally sprung for the lower priced hbo max subscription with commercials, so i also watched the first few episodes of peter capaldi’s final season. doctor who isn’t a show i really like to binge   i definitely prefer taking my time with it so i can really absorb each episode   so i expect i’ll be spending the next few months catching up on hbo max and also watching new episodes on disney+. so, anyway… “the star beast.” when i heard that russell t davies and david tennant were both returning to doctor who, i was, to be honest, highly skeptical. doctor who has usually been at its best when it has looked forward, gone in new directions. back in the mid 1980s the show became mired in nostalgia, to its great detriment, which played a role in its swift decline & cancellation. i understand that chris chibnall’s tenure as showrunner had been divisive, but i felt this was an overly cautious course correction, the bbc playing it safe by retreating to a familiar, well liked era of the program. i have to admit, though, “the star beast” was an enjoyable script from davies. tennant effortlessly slips back into the role of the doctor, as does catherine tate as donna noble. and it’s difficult to believe it’s been almost a decade and a half since the two of them were starring on doctor who, since they both only look a few years older. yasmin finney debuts as donna’s teenage daughter rose who, as i understand it, will be traveling in the tardis with the doctor after he once again regenerates and ncuti gatwa assumes the role of the wandering time lord. rose only had a limited role in “the star beast,” but i still feel finney made a fairly good first impression. “the star beast” was directed by rachel talalay, who previously helmed some of the best episodes during peter capaldi’s time on the series. it was good to have her back, and she once again did a quality job with the direction. as most are no doubt aware, russell t davies’s script for “the star beast” is adapted from the black & white comic book serial of the same name written by pat mills and drawn by dave gibbons, which ran in doctor who weekly #19 26 from marvel comics uk back in 1980. it was definitely good to see a “from a story by pat mills and dave gibbons” credit in the opening titles underneath davies’ name. and from all indications, both mills and gibbons were very satisfied with their treatment by the bbc, as well as with how their story was brought to life. also, it’s cool to find out that david tennant read doctor who weekly as a young fan, and now 43 years later hear about his enthusiasm at getting to star in an adaptation of one of those great comic book stories. (john wagner was credited as co writer on “the star beast” comic book story but, as i understand it, wagner did not actually contribute to that story. reportedly, mills and wagner alternated on doctor who weekly story arcs. the ones on which mills was credited first were actually written solely by mills, and the ones where wagner was credited first were written solely by wagner. hence the absence of a credit for wagner on this episode.) as with a lot of american comic book fans, i read “the star beast” when it was reprinted in color by marvel comics in the first two issues of the monthly doctor who series in 1985. it was definitely an exciting, imaginative story. four decades ago, it would have been all but impossible to pull off “the star beast” in live action, not with the low budget and limited sfx available to doctor who in the early 1980s. it really shows how much the show has improved from a technical standpoint that the bbc can now convincingly bring gibbons’ designs for beep the meep and the wrarth warriors to life on television screens. even the meep’s spaceship looks exactly like it did in the pages of doctor who weekly. davies’ adaptation hews fairly close to the comic book, with probably the notable exception of the doctor getting captured by the wrarth warriors and having a bomb implanted in his chest being omitted. and davies resolves the television version of the story by tying it in with the whole “metacrisis” subplot that he set up for donna way back when. veteran actress miriam margolyes does a great job voicing the meep, both in its guise as a sweet, innocent creature and as its true personality as a bloodthirsty tyrant. i’m not sure who did the wrarth warriors vocals, but the voices really suited the characters. i’ve observed in the past that sometimes unit really comes across as useless. so, i appreciated that their new scientific advisor shirley anne bingham, played by ruth madeley, had a key role in helping the doctor save the day. bingham is an interesting character, and i hope we see her again. i did feel that “the star beast” might have played it just a bit too safe. but there’s still two more 60th anniversary specials to drop, so we’ll see how those play out. and hopefully the show will again take some interesting narrative chances once ncuti gatwa’s tenure begins. “there are many sorts of ghosts, jo. ghosts from the past, and ghosts from the future.”   the third doctor, “day of the daleks” on the big finish audio group on facebook it was mentioned that actress jean marsh turned 87 years old today. marsh, who was born on 1 july 1934, has had a very lengthy and storied career. among her many, many roles, she appeared a few times on the long running british science fiction television series doctor who. way back in 1965 marsh appeared in episodes four through twelve of the doctor who magnum opus “the daleks’ master plan” written by terry nation & dennis spooner, script edited by donald tosh, and directed by douglas camfield. marsh portrayed sara kingdom, an agent of the space security service in the year 4000 ad. sara was initially depicted as an icy, ruthless operative who followed orders zealously. when the guardian of the solar system, mavic chen, informed sara that fellow sss agent bret vyon was a traitor, she believed it. as far as she was concerned, chen was her superior, and totally above reproach. sara confronted bret and shot him dead. unfortunately, what sara did not know was that chen was collaborating with the daleks and a number of other aliens civilizations in a diabolical scheme to conquer the entire galaxy. bret learned of chen’s treason, and so he had to be eliminated. soon after gunning down bret, sara tracked down the doctor and steven taylor, ready to dispatch them in a similarly ruthless manner. fortunately, the doctor was able to convince sara of the truth about chen and his alliance with the daleks. sara was utterly devastated. bret, it turned out, was her brother, and her unquestioning adherence to orders led her to kill him in cold blood. determined to thwart chen, the man who manipulated her and betrayed her trust, sara joined the doctor and steven on the tardis as they sought to stop the daleks’ scheme. at the conclusion of “the daleks ’ master plan” the doctor managed to turn the daleks’ doomsday weapon, the time destructor, against them, destroying their invasion force. tragically, sara was caught in the time destructor’s field, and rapidly aged to death. in 2008, over four decades after she had portrayed sara kingdom on television, marsh was given the opportunity to reprise the character in doctor who audio stories produced by big finish. the spin off range the companion chronicles were adventures narrated by various individuals who had traveled with the doctor throughout the years. the trilogy of home truths, the drowned world and the guardian of the solar system featured sara kingdom. the three audio stories were released in november 2008, july 2009 and july 2010. when author john peel had novelized “the daleks’ master plan” in 1989 he inserted a six month gap between the events of episodes seven and eight. peel liked the character of sara kingdom, and he stated that this gap could provide other writers with an opportunity to tell stories of sara’s travels with the doctor and steven. the events recounted in of home truths, the drowned world and the guardian of the solar system are set during that six month period. but, if sara is dead, how can she be narrating the stories? well, it turns out we are listening to sara’s ghost… sort of. author simon guerrier comes up with a very unusual and inventive way to bring sara back in these this trio of audio adventures. marsh is an amazing actress. it cannot have been easy for her to reprise a role she had played 42 years before. especially since of the nine episodes of “the daleks’ master plan” marsh appeared in only two (episodes five and ten) are still known to exist. so she definitely did not have much material to reference. nevertheless, despite this obstacle, marsh is positively brilliant in these three audio stories. she does an amazing job slipping back into the character’s shoes. as william hartnell, the actor who portrayed the first doctor, passed away in 1975, there was obviously no way he could have contributed to these productions. but guerrier’s dialogue sounds exactly like what the doctor would have said. and jean marsh, when speaking the doctor’s lines, manages to capture the cadence and personality of hartnell’s speech patterns. the framing sequences of the trilogy are set on earth in the far, far distant future, after some unnamed cataclysm has sent humanity back to a primitive technological level. robert, who is sort of a cross between a detective and a priest, is sent to investigate sara’s “ghost.” it is to robert that sara recounts her adventures. robert is played by niall macgregor. home truths, the first installment of the trilogy, is a very introspective story. guerrier really gets into sara’s head, and we learn a great deal about her. the grief she feels at having killed her own brother is palpable. marsh narration imbues guerrier’s script with deep, moving emotion. the setting for home truths is a super advanced computerized house, one that appears to be haunted. guerrier effectively uses clarke’s law, i.e. any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. he also broaches upon the theme of how our technology advances far faster than our ability to control it or use it wisely. and he focuses upon how each and every one of us has dark thoughts & urges buried in our unconscious. home truths reminded me a bit of the classic 1956 science fiction film forbidden planet, with its “monsters from the id.” the drowned world, in contrast, is a more action based story. the doctor, sara, and steven arrive on an endangered asteroid mining colony. sara is really thrust to the forefront, as we see her steely determination that no one else dies on her watch. confronted with almost certain death, she refuses to give in, standing her ground and holding off the alien menace until everyone else gets to safety. the story has a very 1960s feel, reminiscent of the “base under siege” formula utilized a number of times on the show. admittedly, the aliens in the drowned world would probably have been impossible to achieve with sixties special effects. but they are good creatures to use in the audio format, where all that’s required is the listener’s imagination. at the end of the drowned world, robert brings his gravely ill daughter to the house, asking sara’s to use the house’s incredible abilities to cure her. as the guardian of the solar system opens, we learn that sara has healed the young girl, in return for robert agreeing to remain in the house for the rest of his life, to keep sara company. now, many years later, after his daughter has grown to adulthood and left the island the house is built upon, robert requests that sara finally allow him his freedom. she agrees, but first wishes to tell him one last story… while sara was traveling with the doctor and steven, the tardis materialized within the bowels of a titanic clock that was warping the fabric of time & space. exploring amongst the maze of giant gears and chains, watching a towering pendulum swinging back & forth, they observed a group of tired, stooped old men shuffling amidst the gantries and walkways of the cyclopean clockwork mechanism. the trio soon discovered that they are back in earth’s solar system. even more pertinent to sara, she learns that they have arrived approximately one year before the daleks’ massive plot went into action. and, on a more personal note, one year before sara killed her brother. the tardis travelers are arrested by the space security service. recognizing sara as a fellow sss agent, their captors bring her to a separate interrogation room. and there sara comes face to face with her brother, bret vyon. nearly hysterical at seeing him alive, sara begins to wonder if it is somehow possible to change history, to alter the events that will occur in the next year, events that will culminate in her shooting her brother down in cold blood. sara’s attempts to explain that she has traveled back in time are met by disbelief by bret. between her emotional outburst at seeing him alive again, and bret knowing that prolonged exposure to the forces within the humongous clock can cause mental disorientation, bret finds her tale of time travel unbelievable. then sara learns that she has another opportunity to alter history, for an important figure happens to be visiting the clock facility: mavic chen himself. and sara manages to gain an audience with him. coming face to face with chen, the man she hates most in the world, sara is forced to keep her calm. she attempts to steer the conversation in a way that it might influence chen might act differently in a year’s time. all the while, she has to carefully sidestep mentioning any information that would indicate to chen that she is aware of his alliance with the daleks. in the process, she learns the terrible secret of the clock, and a possible explanation for what led chen to collaborate with the daleks in the first place. guerrier once again does a superb job writing sara. he puts her through an emotional wringer, having her forced to see bret alive once more, and then attempting to reason with chen, a man she knows will very shortly betray earth. likewise, guerrier captures the character of mavic chen perfectly. chen is a master politician with a magnetic personality. he is also incredibly good at reading people and knowing what to say to get them to act as he wishes them to, without them ever realizing they have been manipulated. he hides his arrogance and ravenous hunger for power beneath a benign concern for the well being of the solar system. even sara, knowing what chen’s future actions will bring, finds herself being convinced and won over by his carefully phrased arguments. chen is an interesting, albeit terrifying, figure. judging by his role in the the guardian of the solar system audio play, what i’ve seen of him in the three episodes of “the daleks’ master plan” that are known to have survived, as well as john peel’s two volume novelization, chen is undoubtedly a sociopath. he is a charismatic and persuasive individual who casually uses and then discards people. chen is ready to betray the earth, and then in turn double cross the daleks, so that he can assume total control of the entire galaxy, without a thought given to the countless lives that will be lost due to his machinations. the original episodes of “the daleks’ master plan” do not delve too deeply into the political climate or structure of earth’s government in the year 4000. however, there is a certain quasi fascist atmosphere present. we are not told if mavic chen was elected guardian of the solar system, appointed to the position, or seized power in a coup. but it is quite clear that he holds tremendous authority, and there are not any apparent political checks & balances against him. the agents of the space security service possess a “license to kill,” and throughout “the daleks’ master plan” we see them typically shooting first and asking questions later, if at all. the members of the sss appear to possess an unquestioning obedience to orders, which is what led sara to so easily kill her own brother. when terry nation created the daleks, he used them as a blatant allegory for the nazis. it has been suggested over the years by various reviewers that the earth government nation presented in “the daleks’ master plan” was also a metaphor for the third reich, albeit a much more subtle one, a form of fascism that had successfully hidden itself under the cloak of democracy. is it mere coincidence that the sss is just one letter longer than the common abbreviation of the nazis’ schutzstaffel? more than one commentator has noted that nation recycled and fleshed out the political atmosphere of this story in his dystopian space opera blake’s 7, which presented a tyrannical, fascistic “terran federation” brutally stamping out liberty and free will. in the guardian of the solar system, guerrier extrapolates on the seeds planted in “the daleks’ master plan.” the old men kept tending to the clock are apparently political prisoners or dissidents. sara unequivocally states that the sss have been trained to follow orders to the letter, to not ask any questions. sss operations are routinely classified for reasons of security, so that each agent is left in the dark about what missions their fellow operatives have been assigned to. the organization is run like a well oiled machine. in the gargantuan clock, sara sees a metaphor for herself. she was just a mere cog in a vastly complicated mechanism, completely unable to alter her destiny. and when her attempts to alter history fail, that merely reinforces that helpless self appraisal of her role in the scheme of things. in an anguished cry, sara hollers “there isn’t any choice! there’s never any choice!” guerrier plays with the possibility of a predestination paradox in the guardian of the solar system. at the end of the audio play, sara kingdom is convinced that her attempts to alter history may very well have instead caused those events to take place. this reinforces sara’s feelings of being a cog in a machine, bereft of free will, this time not just in mavic chen’s government, but in the vast scope of history itself. however, guerrier deliberately leaves it ambiguous as to whether events were preordained. both sara and the listener are kept in the dark as to whether mavic chen was already a part of the dalek conspiracy prior to the events of the story, or if it was sara’s actions throughout that led him to collaborate with earth’s enemies. once again, as in the previous two parts of this trilogy, jean marsh is absolutely incredible as sara kingdom. a thousand years after her mind had been copied into the computer of the mysterious house, sara is still tortured by her actions, by the massive guilt she feels for unquestioningly following orders and killing her brother. unaware that chen was exterminated by daleks once his usefulness had run out, and that her original self died thwarting the dalek invasion, the “ghost” of sara has been left for a millennium with no closure. in a way, the original, “real” sara met with a more merciful fate. yes, she died a horrible death when the time destructor was activated, but at least now she is at peace. the copy of her, however, the “spirit” possessing the house has been left for a thousand years with unresolved guild and unanswered questions. marsh brings across all of this torment and anguish with palpable emotion in a riveting performance. niall macgregor also does a fine job as robert. it is no accident that robert is a sort of priest, because sara is quite clearly confessing her sins to him, in search of absolution. robert can only try to point out the good that sara has done during her travels with the doctor, the lives she has saved. he regards her as a heroine who has repeatedly been ready to sacrifice herself to save the innocent. guerrier ends the guardian of the solar system on a striking note. sara, who has argued to robert that she has never had any choice, is finally presented with a clear cut opportunity to change, to decide her fate. restored to corporeal, mortal form by robert, who has taken her place as “the ghost in the machine” of the house, sara is now free to choose what she wants to do next. and, granted this freedom for the first time, she is left undecided. what happens when someone whose whole life has been mapped out for them is given the gift of choice? the trilogy was directed by lisa bowerman, best known for playing bernice summerfield in the big finish audio plays. bowerman did a superb job, getting riveting performances from jean marsh in all three stories. each disk included brief behind the scene interviews. i enjoyed these, as they provided marsh’s thoughts on reprising the role of sara. interestingly, marsh indicated she would be open to playing morgaine from “battlefield” in an audio story. considering the end of that story left her fate up in the air (how exactly does one “lock up” a powerful extra dimensional sorceress?) there could be potential in having her return in a big finish sequel. in any case, these were very good productions. i’ve always liked the character of sara kingdom, based upon viewing those two episodes from “the daleks’ master plan” and reading the novelization. it was great to have her appear in new stories. sara was so unlike the majority of female companions from the 1960s, who would usually scream their lungs out when confronted by the monster of the week. she was sort of a futuristic cathy gale or emma peel, tough as nails and no nonsense, but with a caring, sensitive side buried under her hard exterior. sara was very much ahead of her time. i was glad that simon guerrier brought back sara kingdom in these three audio plays. marsh subsequently portrayed sara in several other big finish releases. i had hoped we might get a story in which the revived sara would travel the doctor in one of his later regenerations, as there’s the potential for some poignant drama out of a reunion of the two. how would the doctor react to sara’s return, and how would sara cope with the knowledge that her original self had died long ago on kembel? would the doctor be able to grant the absolution that sara had sought for so long? the storytelling possibilities are tremendous. of course, it’s quite possible that marsh, now 87 years old, has retired from acting, in which case the likelihood of her returning to the role of sara kingdom once again is very remote. but at least we did have the opportunity to hear her perform in several memorable big finish productions within the past decade and a half. it’s a bit difficult to believe that it’s been a decade since english actress elisabeth sladen passed away on april 19, 2011 at the age of 65. sladen was well known for playing the beloved character of sarah jane smith on the long running british science fiction television series doctor who. sladen was cast as sarah jane smith in 1973 by doctor who producer barry letts and made her debut in the four episode serial “the time warrior” which opened season 11 of the series. at the time the doctor was being played by jon pertwee, in his fifth and final season in the role. initially written as an investigative journalist & feminist, sarah was intended to be a bit of contrast to pertwee’s take on the doctor, who could definitely come across as arrogant, headstrong and chauvinistic. for better or worse, the rough edges in the relationship between the doctor and sarah were quickly smoothed down. sladen and pertwee did seem to have a good rapport, although pertwee choose to depart at the end of the season in order to avoid being typecast and to work on other projects. tom baker was cast as the next incarnation of doctor in 1974. as effective as the bond between pertwee and sladen had been, the chemistry between baker and sladen was absolutely amazing. the two actors played off each other incredibly well. the fourth doctor and sarah jane smith are regarded as one of the all time greatest doctor companion teams in the entire history of the series. and, yeah, i am definitely one of those fans who agrees with that assssment. sladen remained on doctor who for three and a half years. she left the show in the middle of season 14, and sarah’s departure from the tardis was seen in the final episode of the four part serial “the hand of fear” broadcast 23 october 1976. it was a very effective, moving scene. sladen and baker apparently worked out most of the dialogue between themselves. sarah jane smith was well loved by fandom, and sladen found herself returning to the world of doctor who on several occasions over the next three decades, beginning with k 9 and company, a pilot for a proposed spin off that would have paired sarah with the doctor’s beloved robot dog that aired in 1981. k 9 and company was not picked up, but sarah would soon return again along with a number of other past actors from doctor who, in the 1983 anniversary special “the five doctors.” sladen then reprised the role of sarah in the 1993 charity special “dimensions in time” and the 1995 direct to video story downtime. sladen was reunited with jon pertwee for a pair of radio plays featuring the third doctor and sarah, “the paradise of death” in 1993 and “the ghosts of n space” in 1996, both of which were written by barry letts. in 1999 big finish productions obtained the license to produce doctor who audio dramas, and they released several stories featuring sarah jane smith, with sladen once again playing the role. after a decade and a half long cancellation, doctor who finally returned to television in 2005. series two episode “school reunion” by toby whithouse, broadcast 29 april 2006, saw the doctor, now in his tenth incarnation and played by david tennant, reunited with sarah jane smith. one aspect of the story examined the difficulty sarah had experienced in adjusting back to a normal existence after her fantastic adventures with the doctor across time & space, and her ambivalence about him once again entering her life. sladen really did a great job with the material, and clearly enjoyed the opportunity to play sarah as a more complex, rounded character. “school reunion” was very well received and quickly led to the spin off series the sarah jane adventures which was broadcast from 2007 to 2011 on bbc, as well as further guest appearances on doctor who itself. in addition to her work on doctor who, sladen acted in a wide variety of british television productions, among them the soap opera coronation street (1970), police procedurals z cars (1972) and the bill (1989), sitcom take my wife… (1979), medical drama peak practice (1996), and the bbc classics production of gulliver in lilliput (1982), the last of which she was cast in by former doctor who producer barry letts. sladen also did extensive stage work, appearing on several occasions alongside her husband brian miller. i was fortunate to have met sladen once. i visited in london for several months in 1999. sladen was doing a signing at the who shop in east ham, london. at the time she was promoting the big finish audio play walking to babylon which was adapted from the bernice summerfield novel written by kate orman. (bernice summerfield is a time traveling archeologist who made her debut in the doctor who novels published in the early 1990s.) sladen played ninan ashtammu, a priestess in ancient babylon. even though doctor who had been canceled for a decade by this point, there was quite a crowd at the who shop for the signing, which really demonstrated how beloved elisabeth sladen was to fans of the show. i think sladen was more than a bit surprised that this american fan in his early 20s (i.e. myself) was there to meet her, since at the time doctor who had basically just a fringe cult following in the states (it would not become really well known here in america until several years after the bbc revived it). i was really struck by how little sladen appeared to have changed in the two decades since she had left the show. i said something to her along the lines of “you must have been very young when you appeared on doctor who.” she smiled and replied “i know what you’re trying to say. thank you.” i grew up watching reruns of doctor who on the local pbs station in the early 1980s, so it was definitely a huge thrill meeting elizabeth sladen. i’m glad i had the opportunity. happy new year! to kick off 2021 properly, i had a strangely specific dream last night. to be precise, i dreamed that the tardis from doctor who, with the season two line up of the doctor, ian, barbara and vicky, broke down near gotham city in the 1950s. the doctor being a time traveler knew that bruce wayne was batman, so everyone headed over to wayne manor to enlist batman’s help in repairing the tardis. when they arrived they encountered the batman family, the version drawn by artists sheldon moldoff and dick sprang, appropriately enough. and then a bunch of other stuff happened. (yeah, i do have other sorts of dreams, too, but i’m not going to discuss them here. gotta keep this blog family friendly, y’know?) now i really want to see this happen. and, i mean, it actually could happen. after all, the twelfth doctor, voiced by peter capaldi, met batman in the lego dimensions video game. additionally, batman fought the daleks, voiced by nicholas briggs, in the lego batman movie. and of course i have to offer a tip of the hat to the doctor who serial “inferno” broadcast in 1970. at the time the doctor was exiled to present day earth and, trying to get the tardis working again, somehow removed the console and started tinkering with it. when someone expressed disappointment upon seeing this supposedly miraculous device, the doctor fired off a memorably sarcastic response: “what were you expecting, some kind of space rocket with batman at the controls?” i wish i was actually an artist, because if i was i would so totally be drawing a team up between the first doctor and the batman of the 1950s right now. the audio play doctor who: the lovecraft invasion was released by big finish in late july. however, given some of the subject matter, with halloween right around the corner, now is certainly an appropriate time to discuss it. written by robert valentine and starring colin baker as the doctor, the lovecraft invasion begins in medias res, with the doctor and companions flip jackson and constance clarke, accompanied by bounty hunter calypso jonze, fleeing through the corridors of titan base in the 51st century. as always, the doctor and friends reach the tardis just in the nick of time, but they have a formidable task ahead of them. the somnifax, a mind parasite capable of turning its host’s nightmares into physical reality, has escaped titan and is fleeing simultaneously into the solar system and back in time. the doctor tracks the somnifax to earth, specifically providence, rhode island in january 1937. the parasite has entered the mind of weird fiction writer howard philips lovecraft, drawn to him by both his fantastically bizarre imagination and his virulent xenophobia. the combination of these two elements will enable the somnifax to manifest unspeakably destructive nightmares with which to wipe out humanity. jones, who has been tracking the somnifax, has technology that temporarily inhibits the somnifax’s ability to manifest lovecraft’s fantasies, but unless the parasite voluntarily leaves there is no way to trap it. the doctor and flip utilize jonze’ technology to enter lovecraft’s mind and fight the somnifax in the mental landscape. h.p. lovecraft (august 20, 1890 to march 15, 1937) met with very limited success during his own lifetime, but posthumously became one of the most hugely influential figures of 20th century horror and science fiction. lovecraft’s so called “cthulhu mythos,” with its eldritch abominations, ancient forbidden texts and themes of existential cosmic horror, has served to inspire innumerable writers and artists over the past 70 years. that being said, lovecraft is also a very problematic figure. throughout his correspondence he regularly espoused extremely racist views. within his fiction the repeated threats of humanity being physically and ideologically corrupted, of being replaced by “the other,” is heavily influenced by his own personal fears of miscegenation and immigration destroying the anglo saxon race and culture in europe and north america. as this story itself points out, lovecraft is one of those writers who people often discover in their teenage years, enthusiastically devouring his works, only to subsequently learn of his reprehensible real world ideologies. such was my experience. reading lovecraft’s stories in middle school, i found them both brilliant and terrifying. my enthusiasm for him was later dampened when i learned more about the man himself. the lovecraft invasion feels like a very timely work, and not just in addressing the reprehensibility of racism. it delves headlong into the question over whether or not it is possible to separate the writer from his or her writings. the lovecraft invasion was recorded by big finish on 29 30 january 2020, at which point the debate over cancel culture was already raging, but in subsequent months it greatly intensified due to such occurrences as harry potter creator j.k. rowling making remarks that many regarded as transphobic. within the audio play itself, the doctor offers his own (fictional) example of disenchantment, relating how in later life he learned that one of his favorite childhood authors went around blowing up entire planets for a hobby, and afterwards the doctor found he was unable to revisit the books he had once enjoyed. awareness of the author’s real world activities had forever poisoned those books for the doctor. i do not know if there is a definitive answer to be had to this debate. i think probably it needs to be left up to the individual to decide for himself or herself whether, having learned unpleasant facts about a creative individual, they can still enjoy the works of art that person created. while i do appreciate how vehement and well articulated the doctor’s rebuttal of lovecraft’s bigotry is, i wonder if perhaps the story is a bit hard on the man. it could have been observed within the story that even though lovecraft’s views were reprehensible, he was hardly an outlier. the unfortunate fact is that he was actually very typical of his time, and a great many americans in the 1930s possessed strongly racist and anti semitic beliefs. nevertheless, valentine’s script does not make lovecraft a wholly unsympathetic figure. he is shown to be a man haunted by the fact that both of his parents died in an insane asylum, and terrified that he is destined to follow that horrifying path himself. and in the end calypso realizes lovecraft is a figure not to be hated, but rather pitied. one aspect setup of the lovecraft invasion feels that robert valentine drawing a deliberate contrast against both the real world figure of lovecraft and his fiction. there were practically no female characters in lovecraft’s fiction, the majority of his protagonists being middle aged conservative, celibate scholars. in this audio play the doctor is traveling with two women, flip and constance. a third woman, calypso jonze, joins them. coming from the far distant future of circa 5000 ad, calypso identifies as a mixed race, pansexual, trans, non binary individual with extraterrestrial ancestors. valentine acknowledged that he created jonze to embody literally everything which terrified lovecraft. so, while the doctor and flip are exploring lovecraft’s subconscious mind, in the real world constance and calypso, two assertive, independent women are left to look after him, and to challenge his attitudes towards both race and gender. the cast of the lovecraft invasion all do good work. in the past i have often commented on how much i liked colin baker’s underrated portrayal of the sixth doctor on television, and how i have really enjoyed him in the big finish stories, where he has been given high quality scripts with which to work. once again baker turns in a powerful, passionate and entertaining performance as the doctor. it is absolutely a joy listening to him. miranda raison and lisa greenwood are good as constance and flip. this is the first time i’ve listened to a big finish story with this particular tardis team, but i enjoyed it, and i think i will download some more adventures with this cast. the contrast between flip, a teenager from 2010, and constance, a war widow and member of the women’s royal naval service from britain in 1944, is interesting, and it allows for some dramatic interactions to occur between the two women, as well as in their interactions with the doctor. the sixth doctor has a brash, forceful personality, and so the idea of pairing him with two female companions is a novel idea. i think it allows for a slightly more equal power dynamic than you see when this doctor is traveling with just one companion. robyn holdaway as calypso jonze is more difficult to judge, since this is the character’s first appearance, and introduced mid story it’s difficult to get too much of a feel for background or motivation. i do think calypso has potential, and i would not be surprised if she, um, i mean they appear again. (sorry, those non binary pronouns take some getting used to. no offense is intended.) i bet calypso jonze and jack harness would get on like a house on fire. alan marriott voices the dual roles of lovecraft and his fictional creation randolph carter within the mindscape. it is generally agreed that carter was lovecraft’s fictional stand in for himself, a more heroic, handsomer, athletic version of the man. marriott does a good job performing lovecraft and carter as very similar but nevertheless distinctively different. british musical theater actor jonathan andrew hume voices the somnifax within lovecraft’s mental dreamscape, giving a rich and sinister vocal performance. the somnifax assumes the guises of the malevolent elder gods nyarlathotep and cthulhu, allowing hume to really chew up scenery of the audio landscape. although not perfect, the lovecraft invasion is definitely a well written, atmospheric, thought provoking and enjoyable audio play with several strong performances. valentine’s script certainly offers a distinctive and unconventional way of having the worlds of doctor who and the cthulhu mythos cross over. rather than simply importing the elder gods et all, the mechanism devised by valentine allows for the story to effectively utilize lovecraft’s creations while offering commentary on both the man and his writings. british writer terrance dicks passed away on august 29th. he was 84 years old. dicks worked on such varied projects as the spy fi series the avengers, the soap opera crossroads, and the bbc’s sunday classics series of literary adaptations. however it is for his lengthy association with the science fiction series doctor who that dicks is best remembered. he first became involved with doctor who in 1968 and worked on various incarnations of the show right up until the time of his death. as dicks himself readily admitted in his humorously self effacing style, becoming the assistant script editor on doctor who in 1968 was as much a case of him being in the right place at the right time as it was his abilities as a writer. he came onboard during the show’s fifth season, patrick troughton’s second year as the doctor, during the production of the serial “the web of fear.” dicks’ enduring memory of that story was the production team’s futile efforts to make the robot yetis’ roars sound less like a flushing toilet. the first story dicks was actively involved in commissioning was “the krotons” by robert holmes. the sixth season of doctor who was beset by various commissioned stories falling apart late in the day, leaving co producers derrick sherwin and peter bryant scrambling to find usable scripts. “the krotons” was one such last minute replacement. for years afterwards dicks would refer to the krotons as one of doctor who’s silliest monsters. at the same time, though, the scripts by holmes were solid, and as dicks himself was always quick to point out, holmes would very quickly go on to become arguably the best writer to ever work on doctor who. as script editor dicks was also the uncredited co writer of the six part brian hayles serial “the seeds of death.” due to the ongoing production problems the serial was only in a draft state, needing a significant amount of work before it could go in front of the cameras. but it was the final serial of the 1969 season that truly saw dicks’ baptism of fire. those aforementioned production problems led to the simultaneous collapse of the four part and six part serials that were to end the season. in desperation sherwin instructed dicks to write a single 10 part serial to close out the year, with the provisos that series regulars patrick troughton, frazer hines & wendy padbury all be written out at the end, that the doctor’s previously unrevealed people the time lords be introduced, and that the doctor be exiled to present day earth. oh, yes, and sherwin needed dicks to write those 10 scripts asap. an understandably frantic dicks corralled malcolm hulke, the writer who several years earlier had helped him get his foot in the television door, and with whom he had co written several episodes of the avengers. working at a furious pace, the two of them somehow managed to crank out the scripts for all 10 episodes in less than a month. despite the absolutely insane circumstances under which “the war games” came to be written, it went on to become a well regarded serial. the seventh season of doctor who saw even more changes and challenges for dicks. sherwin and bryant both departed, but not before making the aforementioned decision to exile the doctor to earth to become the scientific advisor to brigadier lethbridge stuart and the unit organization. this was sherwin’s desperate cost saving measure for a show with declining ratings that the bbc was seriously considering canceling. fortunately several things took place that would guarantee doctor who’s future. jon pertwee was cast as the new doctor, the show switched from black & white to color, barry letts came onboard as the new producer, and dicks became the full time script editor. pertwee was a perfect fit for the doctor, the color production also brought new attention to the series, and dicks & letts instantly clicked, becoming not just close collaborators but lifelong friends. it was dicks & letts who devised the doctor’s arch nemesis the master. dicks observed to letts that the doctor was very much like sherlock holmes, and the brigadier was like watson. so why not introduce a moriarty for the doctor? letts immediately took to the suggestion, and right away suggested actor roger delgado, who he had worked with in the past, for the role. delgado was indeed a brilliant casting decision. pertwee and delgado had immediate chemistry as the rival time lords, which further energized the show. dicks was the script editor for pertwee’s entire five year stint on doctor who. in that capacity dicks was basically the uncredited co writer for the entire third doctor era of the series. in 1974 when pertwee decided to depart, dicks and letts also made the decision to move on, but not before casting tom baker as the new doctor, a decision that would eventually result in the show becoming even more popular. dicks also finagled the job of writing baker’s debut story “robot,” crafting a four part serial that was simultaneously thought provoking and humorous. it contains one of my all time favorite lines of dialogue from the series, with the doctor attempting to stop a computer from triggering the simultaneous launch of the world’s nuclear weapons while breezily observing: “the trouble with computers, of course, is that they’re very sophisticated idiots. they do exactly what you tell them at amazing speed, even if you order them to kill you. so if you do happen to change your mind, it’s very difficult to stop them obeying the original order, but… not impossible.” dicks would write several more television stories for doctor who. robert holmes became the new script editor, and commissioned dicks to write “the brain of morbius.” regrettably, due to technical issues holmes had to do significant rewrites. as dicks later recounted: “i was furious when i read the rewritten scripts for ‘the brain of morbius’. i rang up bob holmes and shouted at him down the telephone. eventually, i said ‘alright. you can do it, but i’m going to take my name off it’   the ultimate sanction! not because it was a bad show, but because it was now more him than me. he asked ‘well what name do you want to put on it?’ i said ‘i don’t care. you can put it out under some bland pseudonym’ and slammed the phone down. weeks later, when i saw the radio times, i noticed it was ‘the brain of morbius’ by robin bland. by then, i’d cooled down and the joke disarmed me completely.” dicks also wrote ”the horror of fang rock” for holmes in 1977, and “state of decay,” which was broadcast in 1980 during tom baker’s final season. “state of decay” was somewhat revised by the then current script editor christopher h. bidmead. in that case i personally feel the blending of dicks’ and bidmead’s very disparate approaches to the show actually resulted in a much stronger story, one where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. dicks’ final contribution to the television series was in 1983, writing the 20th anniversary special “the five doctors.” although he was no longer working of the tv show itself, dicks remained a key part of the world of doctor who via his prose writing. back during his time as script editor he had been commissioned by target books to write novelizations of the show’s various serials. the first one dicks wrote was doctor who and the auton invasion, adapted from robert holmes’ scripts for pertwee’s debut story “spearhead in space” and published in january 1974. dicks was the unofficial editor of the doctor who book line. he would attempt to get the original writers to adapt their own scripts. malcolm hulke and former script editor gerry davis each wrote several of the novelizations, as did actor turned writer ian marter. however, due to the low pay, most of the time dicks ended up to writing them himself, and eventually he would pen over 60 of them. to truly appreciate the impact of these novelizations on doctor who fandom, you need to understand the time period in which they were published. in the 1960s and 70s the bbc would typically air doctor who episodes once, with perhaps an occasional repeat of a serial at the end of the season or during the holidays. if you missed seeing an episode when it first aired, chances were good that you were never going to see it. there was no home video or dvds or dvrs or streaming or anything like that. on top of that, due to videotape being expensive, and film taking up a great deal of space, the bbc routinely wiped videos of older shows, and junked the film copies they made to sell their programs to foreign countries. doctor who was one of many series to be affected by this policy. by the end of the 1970s nearly all of the doctor who episodes from the 1960s were missing from the bbc archives. a decent sized chunk of pertwee’s five year tenure was also absent. so, if you were a fan in the early 1980s, between the paucity of reruns, the non existence of home media, and the seeming destruction of many of the episodes from the first 12 years of the show, the novelizations by terrance dicks & co were literally the only way you could experience older stories. if you wanted to discover the show’s past, the novelizations were absolutely invaluable. fortunately a lot of those missing stories have since been recovered, and a handful of the still missing episodes have been recreated via animation. nevertheless, there are still certain serials that are partly or completely missing where the novelization is a way in which you can experience the story. i well remember exactly how much the novelizations affected me as a doctor who fan. i started watching reruns on the pbs station wliw in 1984, when i was eight years old. i came in at the tail end of tom baker’s run, and then saw the peter davidson stories. the stories sometimes referenced the show’s past, and these were tantalizing hints of an exciting history that i had no way of experiencing. then one evening at the galleria shopping mall in white plains ny, at the waldenbooks, i came across an entire display of doctor who novels. to my young, excited eyes there were dozens of them, with colorful, exciting covers, featuring aliens and giant monsters and dinosaurs and spaceships and other weird, exciting sights. (the covers to the auton invasion and the carnival of monsters by artist chris achilleos seen above are good examples of the sort of covers that appeared on the target novelizations.) i immediately wanted to buy one… but my father wouldn’t let me. i don’t know why, but he seemed convinced that i wasn’t going to actually read it. but over the next week or so, i begged & pleaded. my father finally gave in, and the next time we went to waldenbooks he let me buy one. i finished that book in just a few days, and was soon asking my parents to let me buy another. now here’s the humorous part of the story. that first novelization i got was doctor who and the power of kroll, written by terrance dicks, based on robert holmes’ script. i had never seen the tv story, and i bought it because it had tom baker’s doctor with a really weird gigantic monster on the cover. reading the book by dicks, i became convinced that “the power of kroll” had to be an absolutely amazing tv story. a few years later i was certainly in for a rude awakening! this was the first, but certainly not the last, time this would happen to me with the novelizations. the benefits of the prose format was that it allowed dicks and others to work with an unlimited budget, to not worry about dodgy special effects and cheap sets and rubbish costumes. within the imagination of readers such as myself everything was real. the prose format also allowed dicks and the other adapters to get into characters’ thoughts, to expand certain scenes, to restore moments that had been left on the cutting room floor, and to fill in plot holes that came about during the series’ always rushed production schedule. there were several times when i read novelizations by dicks before i got to see the actual episodes, and almost inevitably the book versions were better than the original television episodes. as i discussed in my review of the 1972 serial “day of the daleks,” in his novelization dicks did a superb job of expanding, and improving upon, the television episodes. another example that comes to mind is his adaptation of the debut story of the master, “terror of the autons.” the book improves upon the broadcast version in several ways. certainly the cyclopean octopus lobster hybrid form of the nestine consciousness described in the book is a much more formidable menace than the blob of energy we saw on tv screens. in the early 1990s doctor who had been cancelled and the majority of the serials had been novelized. the decision was made to begin publishing original novels. several of the writers who have worked on the revival of doctor who launched in 2005 got their start on these novels. and also present was terrence dicks, who wrote several novels over the next two decades. it’s interesting to contrast the approaches of the younger writers with dicks. most of the younger writers were very experimental, writing books that were part of larger arcs, and having catastrophic stuff happen to the tardis, and making the companions the main characters who drive the plot forward, and showing the doctor acting as this machiavellian cosmic chess master. obviously this laid the groundwork for a lot of what was subsequently done in the television revival. having said that, sometimes it got a bit tiresome, and you wanted to read a novel where the tardis just landed somewhere randomly, depositing the doctor and his friends in the middle of an exciting adventure. that was the approach favored by dicks, and he tried to utilize that more traditional story structure in his novels. occasionally his books could become too heavily referential to past continuity. but on the whole they were fun reads. certainly i enjoyed his 1995 novel blood harvest, which was a sequel to his serial “state of decay.” i think it contained a nice balance between the new direction of the novels and a more traditional story. another book by dicks that really stood out in my mind was players, which was published in april 1999. dicks did a great job writing the sixth doctor and peri. i’ve made no secret of the fact that i feel colin baker and nicola bryant were given some underwhelming material to perform when they were on the show. reading the novel players led me to wish dicks could have worked on the show during the sixth doctor’s all too short tenure. as i said, dicks loved to reference continuity in his novels, but at the same time he was usually cognizant that you absolutely needed a strong story on which to anchor all of those tie ins to past adventures. dicks continued to write doctor who prose fiction after the 2005 revival. he penned made of steel and revenge of the judoon, a pair of “quick read” novellas starring the tenth doctor & martha jones, and he did a novelization of “invasion of the bane,” the debut episode of who spin off show the sarah jane adventures. a final short story, “save yourself,” is scheduled to be published posthumously later this year in the anthology doctor who: the target storybook. a gifted raconteur, dicks was an enthusiastic participant in the doctor who dvd audio commentaries & behind the scenes documentaries. he was a popular guest at conventions. i had always wanted to meet him. unfortunately when he was at the doctor who convention on long island in 2014 i was unemployed & short on funds, so i was unable to go. everyone who knew dicks spoke warmly of him, and the tributes that have been written over the past week have all been heartfelt. he certainly was an important and influential figure in helping to make doctor who the ongoing success that it is.

supported by the disney streaming platform has hundreds of movie and tv titles, drawing from its own deep reservoir of classics and from star wars, marvel, national geographic and more. these are our favorites. by scott tobias the return of “malcolm in the middle,” which aired from 2000 to 2006, will follow malcolm as he helps his parents celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary, disney+ announced. by alexandra e. petri under the hulu banner, the company says it will offer quality over quantity while largely avoiding controversy. many comedians are ready to give it a shot. by jason zinoman after almost 20 years on air, the reality competition series made changes that brought a surge of younger viewers. by shivani gonzalez 4 surprising things we learned from the john williams documentary a new disney+ film about the prolific film composer chronicles his life and career, with a focus on his famous music for movies including “jaws” and “star wars.” by annie aguiar sex, horses and stately homes: bringing a naughty british romance to tv jilly cooper, 87, has written raunchy novels for decades. adapting her 1988 book “rivals” for the streaming age meant tweaking some details. by claire moses ‘agatha all along’ review: toil and trouble marvel’s “wandavision” spinoff has more witchcraft but less magic. by mike hale in ‘agatha all along,’ joe locke works like a charm a star of the netflix hit “heartstopper,” this actor is now joining the marvel universe. by alexis soloski the 15th doctor will see you now in his first season leading “doctor who,” ncuti gatwa has brought charisma, emotion and even more camp to the long running sci fi show. by roslyn sulcas the “hamilton” creator, who crafted the soundtrack for the new prequel to “the lion king,” reflects on writing songs that have a universal appeal. by sarah bahr the star is in positive, future looking mode in this disney+ documentary, directed by his husband, david furnish, and r.j. cutler. by alissa wilkinson the network has been a darling among critics for years. but it hit a new high on sunday, with “shogun” winning best drama and “the bear” picking up several awards as well. by john koblin making fun of schlocky, overwrought superhero movies used to be the deadpool signature. but with “deadpool & wolverine,” and disney’s push into the marvel universe, that thread is lost. by maya phillips the actor discusses his complex role in the latest “star wars” series, which just wrapped up its first season. by matt stevens the animated film about a young teenage girl and her complex emotions has passed the $1.25 billion mark globally and is expected to keep growing. by maya salam ncuti gatwa shined as the 15th doctor. but the long running show feels at a crossroads as it concludes its latest season. by maya phillips jenny nicholson’s granular critique of disney’s galactic starcruiser experience reflects the fraught relationship between studios and fans right now. by esther zuckerman the franchise’s latest series on disney+ is set before there was even an empire to strike back. by mike hale her new “star wars” show is a dream come true, but she knows it carries enormous expectations. “i would be lying if i said i wasn’t scared,” she said. by brooks barnes he and his brother, robert, teamed up to write the songs for “mary poppins” and other disney classics. they also gave the world “it’s a small world (after all).” by anita gates george lucas wants them to fade into oblivion. but some fans spent more than a decade digitally restoring the original “star wars” trilogy, preserving the movies as they were shown in theaters. by sopan deb with “the bad batch” ending this week on disney+, the man who has voiced hundreds of “star wars” characters over the past two decades looks back on his run. by rafael motamayor it’s got a great cast. it looks cinematic. it’s, um … fine. and it’s everywhere. by james poniewozik canceled by disney before it even aired, “the spiderwick chronicles” found a new home at roku and has so far “delivered results beyond expectations,” its creator said. by calum marsh the pandemic was tough on city centers and cultural institutions. what does that mean for los angeles, whose downtown depends on the arts? by robin pogrebin in a new series for disney+, the creator of “happy valley” and “last tango in halifax” imagines a sometimes superpowered 18th century justice warrior. by mike hale on “arctic ascent with alex honnold,” big wall climbers set out to make history. their tense conversations give a peek inside the interpersonal dynamics of those who regularly risk death. by maya salam the cast of the nickelodeon series “ned’s declassified school survival guide” are among the stars of 2000s teen sitcoms who are using podcasts to connect with their gen z and millennial fan bases. by rebecca carballo the animated disney+ revival series “x men ’97” has faced questions after its showrunner was mysteriously fired just ahead of the premiere. by calum marsh

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what to watch supported by critic’s notebook ncuti gatwa shined as the 15th doctor. but the long running show feels at a crossroads as it concludes its latest season. by maya phillips “doctor who” is a show of paradoxes. at its best, it’s a show about a time traveling, space venturing alien who ceaselessly untangles the mysteries of the universe, and often invites his own. at its worst, it’s plagued by its contradictions   incoherent or unintelligible narrative logic, inconsistent writing, uneven tone. this isn’t particularly surprising for a show with a decades long history spanning the classic series (1963 89) and the reboot (2005 present). but now with disney+ onboard as a co producer, the series is caught between past and present, between pushing its boundaries and fitting into a more generic, brand friendly mold. this played out in the latest season, which just released its finale, “empire of death,” on friday. stacked with effervescent charms and staggering emotional range, ncuti gatwa, as the 15th doctor, is the perfect representation of this new era of “doctor who.” he’s the show’s first black, gay doctor, bringing diversity to a show that has severely lacked it. in just one season gatwa has delivered perhaps the strongest acting of the character, certainly in recent years. his performance is more tactile than those of his predecessors; the 15th doctor fully inhabits his body, dancing, gesturing and throwing every bit of his physical presence into his line deliveries. the 15th is also more sensual and openly flirtatious than any previous incarnation; he exudes chemistry with every scene partner, including rogue, a space bounty hunter played by jonathan groff in episode 6. the kiss the two share is the first openly romantic, same sex kiss the doctor has in the series. the kiss was a remarkable leap for the show, especially happening in the first season under disney, a brand that has historically been hesitant to depict queer relationships. how far the show will actually push this relationship, however, remains to be seen. the flirtation between the doctor and rogue builds rapidly just to be abruptly halted when rogue is lost to another dimension, undercutting the moment. and despite the show’s fresh attention to diversity, this doctor’s race has been barely even alluded to. the episode “dot and bubble” implies that one of the very rich, very white inhabitants of a planet under attack rejects the doctor’s help because of his race, but the implications are so subtle that some may miss the racial undertones completely. and the episode “rogue” takes place in a “bridgerton” inspired alternative version of 1813 as a flimsy workaround for placing a black doctor in the middle of regency era england without needing to deal with such sticky topics as slavery.