Who Cares? - Dr. Who Fans Talk TV Who Cares?

Was the regeneration satisfying? What’s a Doctorverse? How is the show reorienting to fantasy? Why do people feel so differently about the bigeneration? How is the Toymaker’s legacy handled? What’s different in the novelisation? What does this finale say about the show’s past and future? We discuss The Giggle in depth, while also covering the novelisation and the bevy of extras.

(00:00:00) Journey to France
(00:06:34) ‘There’s no such thing’
(00:08:03) Impressions & attitudes
(00:16:29) Goals of the episode
(00:27:51) UNIT, lasers, journalists
(00:32:28) Unleashed racism
(00:49:08) Music + Toymaker origins
(00:58:23) Giggle thematics + giving fans tools
(01:14:12) Music, Moffat, montage
(01:35:54) Social commentary
(01:44:42) Mel
(01:52:20) The Ruminant
(02:02:07) Ball game
(02:09:21) We can be celestial
(02:13:49) Bigeneration: qualifiers & The End of Time
(02:25:00) Bigeneration: time loop & Tales of the TARDIS
(02:33:09) Bigeneration: opinions & Oliver
(02:45:51) Bigeneration: inquiries & Ingiga
(02:55:28) Bigeneration: Doctors as different people
(03:03:52) Bigeneration: guilt, continuity, baggage
(03:11:14) Bigeneration: emotions, finality, family
(03:21:40) Bigeneration: retirement, cheating, two TARDISes
(03:36:54) Bigeneration: I stay there, he flies off
(03:46:09) Bigeneration: affording a house in France
(03:52:07) Bigeneration: spectacle, toys
(04:00:07) Bigeneration: costume handover across regenerations
(04:07:41) Doctorverse
(04:42:52) Novelisation: appeal, politicians, UNIT
(04:48:58) Novelisation: Toymaker perspective, hashtag Donna reasons
(04:57:15) Novelisation: choose your own adventure + Flux
(05:03:22) Novelisation: musical sequence
(05:11:03) Novelisation: bigeneration + defeat
(05:15:10) Novelisation: third act expansion
(05:26:57) Novelisation: ending
(05:51:20) Books, brands, the future, pop
(05:57:51) Addendum: bigeneration — behind the scenes
(06:06:56) Ncuti’s casting + TARDIS talk
(06:10:09) 14’s house, parallels with Mel, actor expectations
(06:17:03) Script details + regeneration handovers
(06:23:26) Outro… Continue reading →

Doctor-Donna genesis, lyrical lovesickness, character regressions, vindictive villainy, musical escalation, Racnoss drowning, Christmas imagery & more are discussed in this review of The Runaway Bride, Doctor Who's 2006 Christmas special.

(00:00:00) Comparing RTD Christmas specials
(00:04:27) Stakes + establishing Doctor/Donna bond
(00:08:30) Lance representing insecurity
(00:14:54) Actors across time
(00:16:37) Empress of the Racnoss
(00:20:02) Handling of Rose's absence
(00:28:23) Love Don't Roam scene & lyrics
(00:34:00) RTD & Christmas imagery
(00:36:36) Orchestral & cinematic scale
(00:42:28) The real core of the Earth
(00:46:05) Spider web attack on London
(00:48:47) 10 drowning the Racnoss
(00:55:57) Introducing Gallifrey & wider universe
(01:00:05) Vindictive villainy
(01:03:31) 'You can stop now'
(01:05:17) Donna imitating Rose's swing moment
(01:09:55) Bookending Doctor/Donna relationship
(01:12:16) Episode archaeology
(01:15:37) How Lance became a companion
(01:17:13) The Snake in the grass
(01:23:36) The 1:50 AM Incident
(01:25:09) Fan judgement & children's acceptance
(01:30:16) Donna's wedding 'regeneration'
(01:33:22) Sympathy for the Racnoss
(01:40:35) Donna not joining the TARDIS
(01:43:39) Staging of the ending scene
(01:45:25) Cruelty & warmth in Donna's life
(01:49:44) Retrospective thoughts & looking forward… Continue reading →

Anniversary expectations, aesthetic foundations, timeless parallels, equine verisimilitude, character servicing & more are explored in a discussion about the episode, as well as the interquel comic, novelisation, and multiple extras.

(00:00:00) Expectations & disappointment
(00:10:01) Celebrating the cast + anniversaries
(00:16:45) Newton, mavity, reactions
(00:24:33) Bi Doctor
(00:27:13) Visual effects
(00:39:05) Music
(00:42:44) Flux & the Timeless Child
(01:04:24) Physicality & warmth
(01:08:06) Characters underserved
(01:25:40) Space plot, Moffat, cut pages, time meddling
(01:35:10) Alien gender + countdown pacing
(01:42:21) Music & motivations
(01:47:50) Wilf
(01:52:36) Unleashed banter + verisimilitude
(01:57:50) Timeless TARDIS parallel + food
(02:06:38) Wild Blue Yonder song + Mrs. Bean
(02:14:57) Anniversary expectations + camp
(02:29:47) TARDIS usage
(02:32:55) Interquel comic
(02:41:02) Magazine comments
(02:44:19) Novelisation: novel types + Newton prologue
(02:48:59) Novelisation: internal additions + TARDIS personification
(02:52:05) Novelisation: cut lines + chase sequence
(02:57:22) Novelisation: Flux + Doctor breakdown
(03:02:22) Novelisation: Exorcist moment + 14’s face + Donna’s yoga
(03:06:16) Novelisation: sonic kiss + doppelganger deaths
(03:11:05) Novelisation: ending + 60th novel differences… Continue reading →

Maker of Toys. Recasting actors. Character crossovers. Chaotic rewrites. Scuppered returns. Script archaeology. Fandom reassessments. The 1966 Toymaker serial is a bizarre window into a very strange and liminal period of Doctor Who, and a very strange and scattered set of production circumstances.

(00:00:00) Introduction & first reactions
(00:03:42) Why has it persisted?
(00:06:38) What the Toymaker actually does
(00:08:29) Watching characters do puzzles
(00:10:42) Internal logic
(00:12:57) Darkness of the story & humanity of the toys
(00:16:43) Wasting time & trap of meaninglessness
(00:21:34) Steven & Dodo's roles
(00:25:24) Thoughts on the 'visuals'
(00:28:06) Toymaker compared to the Doctor
(00:30:01) 'Cheat' resolution of the story
(00:33:47) Pathos of the toy characters
(00:37:53) Toymaker as a villain & a performance
(00:41:46) Music & things we wish we could see
(00:44:45) Absence of Hartnell & his qualities
(00:46:22) History of the serial: script editors
(00:48:56) Genesis of the script, George & Margaret
(00:54:37) Rewrites addressing tonal issues
(00:56:31) Early regeneration of Hartnell?
(00:58:51) Transition of the production teams
(01:01:54) Replacing George and Margaret & impact of the rewrites
(01:06:53) Contemporary & fan responses to the story
(01:11:03) Racist elements & interpretations over time
(01:14:32) The 'occidental Mandarin' & British juxtapositions
(01:19:15) Toymaker as an appropriator & depicting Orientalism
(01:27:50) Public schoolboys & Empire psychology
(01:31:44) Lost potential for meaning
(01:34:10) Absence leaving room to project & reimagine
(01:38:10) Position in the show's progression/regression + outro… Continue reading →

RTD’s second reign begins. New characterisations, layered resolutions, focal perspectives, conversations with other eras, new & old aesthetics, physicality, crypticism, milkmen, & more are explored in a discussion not just about the episode, but also the hours of extras, as well as the novelisation.

(00:00:00) Returning show, returning cast
(00:05:43) Rose & main characters
(00:15:28) Metacrisis resolutions; ‘I’m finally me’
(00:21:23) Official behind-the-scenes shows
(00:31:26) Rose’s role in the climax; non-binary characters
(00:45:21) Male-presenting Time Lords; double resolutions
(00:53:32) Conversing with past eras; watching forwards & backwards
(01:05:50) Differences from the comic
(01:15:16) The episode’s visuals & music
(01:24:49) The weather report; preferring 14
(01:34:31) Titles; Donna’s charity
(01:52:54) New sonic, new TARDIS; physicality
(01:58:00) The Nobles; roads
(02:08:02) Pronouns; Shirley
(02:15:53) The Face of the Doctor; the Curator
(02:22:24) Lampshading crypticism; show’s social purpose
(02:27:32) Unleashed & the in-vision commentary; boom mics
(02:37:21) Clarifying the weather report
(02:41:26) Novelisation: Stolen Earth milkman; sonic
(02:49:17) Novelisation: memos, Wilf, Sylvia
(02:58:21) Novelisation: Rose, Sharon, Kate
(03:05:25) Novelisation: Wrarth lore; Galaxipedia
(03:11:12) Novelisation: metacrisis resolution; Donna’s forgiveness
(03:16:20) Novelisation: promixity to transmission… Continue reading →

What divides comedy and sincerity? When is a skit not a skit? How did Destination: Skaro lead to fandom crossing wires? Why did the 14th Doctor's era start with months of Dalek froth and frippery? Bootstrap paradoxes, tonal contrasts, Dalek nostalgia, comedy as deflection, showrunner blame, minisode structure, journeys into the past, and more are discussed!

Neo, Ingiga, & Missy discuss the last gasp before the second Doctor Who era of Russell T Davies starts in earnest with the 60th anniversary specials, looking at Destination: Skaro, Liberation of the Daleks, and Doctor Who: Unleashed.

(00:00:00) Doctor openings + Children in Need
(00:07:58) Destination: Skaro + types of humour
(00:25:48) Unleashed’s format + RTD’s words
(00:43:43) Fandom processing culture
(00:58:21) Genesis & Moffat
(01:03:37) RTD’s journeys into the past
(01:14:11) Accents + wobbly sets
(01:23:40) The music
(01:28:00) Bootstrap paradoxes + Bleach & Eccleston
(01:34:44) Liberation of the Daleks
(01:45:06) Outro… Continue reading →