Thoughts and feelings on Doctor Who: Series 11 (2018)
Chris Chibnall's selection as showrunner for the series was strangely-enough the most logical, despite him not being at the top of many, if arguably any fans' lists. Having written and executive produced three incredibly successful seasons of Broadchurch for ITV, it makes sense that the BBC would want to draw Chibnall back, and given his interest in writing Doctor Who beforehand, selecting him as showrunner seems like a safe bet - at the very least from a production standpoint, given that he'd be the most experienced of the regular writers likely to take on the role.
Chibnall's Torchwood episodes are generally regarded as hit-and-miss, but his Doctor Who output is more interestingly diverse in my opinion. '42' adds a creative gimmick to the typical "base under siege" formula, but it fails to really bring the episode to life. The whole thing feels quite underdeveloped, and the constant raising of stakes leads to both underdeveloped characters and plot points. Bizarrely, setting the episode in "real time" fails to make a dramatic impact, or even build the tension. His 2010 two-parter 'The Hungry Earth' and 'Cold Blood', on the other hand, feels a bit too formulaic. The episodes are so predictable and flat that you find yourself easily distracted, but part of the issue is down to budgetary restraints. A big action set-piece written by Chibnall was cut for being too expensive, giving the first episode little to work with bar building up to the Silurians' reveal. The Silurians themselves look terrible, lacking anything remotely Silurian-esque from their classic 1970 design, or even the tacky 1984 look from 'Warriors of the Deep'. There were meant to be lizard creatures in the cut action set-piece, and no doubt later on in the episodes as well, but without them the story never quite kicks off. Don't get me wrong, there's some lovely ideas, but we've seen this story done before - and done better.
More recently his output consisted of 'Pond Life', 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship', 'The Power of Three' and the never-filmed 'P.S.', all of which demonstrate Chibnall's fantastic talent. Brian Williams is his best creation so far, a character so lovable and charming that you almost forget that he's only in those two full episodes. Considering Amy and Rory never had a consistent supporting cast of friends and family over their time in the TARDIS, it's nice that Chibnall wrote in a character audiences could actually like and relate to, because God knows we can't say the same for Amy's aunt Sharon, her parents or Mels. If Graham in the new series is anything like Brian, he'll be another much-loved character - and would play to Chibnall's strengths. His episodes also incorporated Kate Stewart as the head of a branch of U.N.I.T (in the Tower of London, no less) - introducing a regular character into the series who could very easily return once more in Series 11 - as well as dinosaurs, Rupert Graves as a big game hunter, the Indian Space Agency (a wonderful futuristic detail I love), the mysterious Cubes and the brilliantly evil Solomon. Such a shame then that the comic relief robots, the whole third act to 'The Power of Three' and the pay-off to 'Pond Life' in 'Asylum of the Daleks' are so disappointing and, quite frankly, a bit rubbish.
What does this have to say about what Chibnall will do as showrunner of Doctor Who then? Well, absolutely nothing at all. None of Chibnall's episodes have made any kind of impact, but I'd be lying if I said he's created anything bad. Underwhelming perhaps, but not bad. Saying that, his best episode is still 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship' - an admittedly fun romp, but nothing particularly brilliant. Regardless of what his next five episodes bring, Chibnall's best and worst seems to be still yet to come...
Otherwise, the writing staff consists of Malorie Blackman, Ed Hime, Pete McTighe, Vinay Patel, and Joy Wilkinson, and I have absolutely nothing in particular to say about any of them. Sure, it's great to see two new female writers come on board for the show's first female Doctor, but having two female writers in a series isn't so much new as it is a rarity - Series 9 had both Catherine Tregenna and Sarah Dollard after all. The only writer I've actually heard of is Malorie Blackman, but mostly because she wrote a Doctor Who short story about five years ago. I'll give that a read at some point soon, actually - even if I doubt it'll give me an idea of what sort of episode she'll write. It's great to see such an acclaimed children's author tackle Doctor Who though, and I hope she rises to the challenge as Neil Gaiman did with 'The Doctor's Wife' back in 2011.
Then we reach the elephant in the room - the casting of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. I've intentionally left this one for a little bit for *certain* people to get bored and stop reading. If you are still reading, fantastic! It means that someone actually reads my little blog. Anyway, I have a number of hesitations when it comes to casting a female Doctor. For one, it opens up a Pandora's box of potential controversy when inevitably future showrunners want to hire a male actor as the Doctor. No matter how good that man may be, people will still be unjustly outraged for the show even daring to do so, and that leaves the showrunners in a no-win scenario. They have to cast the best performer for the job, but if the Doctor changes gender again they'll get a hell of a lot of flack (and potentially bad press) for it. Otherwise, there's the potential issue of the showrunners going too far and making the Doctor particularly effeminate or "girly", despite the character never being (at least in my opinion) overtly masculine in the past. I mean, the Master regenerated into a woman and changed her name, general look, personality and quirks for no definitive reason (apart from Steven Moffat wanting to do a big reveal moment that Missy is in fact the Master...but a woman).
Imagine my delight then with how the series has (so far) handled the Thirteenth Doctor. Not only do we have Jodie Whittaker playing the part, but she's got a proper Doctor-y costume, screwdriver, TARDIS and all. Jodie has already become the Doctor in my eyes, and given Chibnall's recent comments that the change in gender won't affect the character or the show (verified by an anonymous source who's seen some of her episodes), I couldn't be happier. Loads of people seem to be over the moon about Jodie's casting for personal reasons, and that's absolutely delightful. For me though, I'm just glad Chibnall cast such a terrific actress in the part.
We also have the new companions who...I have absolutely no feelings on whatsoever. It's nice to see a larger TARDIS team, I'll admit - and Chibnall has written well with the ensemble casts in 'The Hungry Earth', 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship' and 'The Power of Three' - and it's even better to see a more diverse main cast in the show. Some have complained about this being "box-ticking", and while I can understand that, given that Doctor Who has had so many companion characters, casting actors who won't look exactly the same as previous main cast makes a lot of sense. Sure, they technically shouldn't stand out, but it's nice to see some casting variation. I just hope that the characters are interesting enough to justify this larger TARDIS team.
From an aesthetic point of view, there's a lot to like in Series 11. It's been shot with anamorphic lenses in the 2:1 aspect ratio, giving it a more cinematic look comparable to the likes of Stranger Things and Star Trek: Discovery, and the brighter colour palette makes the show more visually appealing. I've always wanted Doctor Who to hide it's budget and actually look great, and it seems that Series 11 is going to succeed in that respect. Has it been shot in 4K though? 2:1 is standard for 4K, and 'Twice Upon a Time' is going to be released in a few weeks on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, so it's entirely possible - if not likely. I absolutely adore that new TARDIS box as well, even if the leaked interior photo and sonic screwdriver redesign aren't quite clicking with me...yet. Segun Akinola is scoring the new series, and based on his SoundCloud work, I think he'll bring a new musical voice into the episodes. Here's hoping for more synthesised tracks! Oh, and some cracking new themes for the title sequence and Jodie's Doctor.
Soooooooo...what more can be said about Series 11? There's only ten standalone episodes, but rumours indicate that there will be a 2018 Christmas Special and Series 12 next year, so here's hoping that the re-worked production schedule will ensure a more consistent run under Chibnall's guidance. Filming on the next series is set to start in November, so we'll be getting more of this era whether we like it or not. Of course, if we don't like it, it's going to be a bumpy ride. But, if we do like it, it does mean that we won't have another horrible eighteen-month gap until the next series - as had been rumoured a while back. Now all we need is a start date...
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