Saturday, December 15, 2018

Doctor Who Season 11 Review

Doctor Who season 11 was conceived and built for success. Brand-new show runner (Chris Chibnall), new music composer (Segun Akinola), new VFX company (Double Negative), new group of writers & actors, and the first woman (Jodi Whittaker) playing the role of the Doctor ... there was no way it could fail. 

The series had a lot of good will and supporters. As to be expected, the premier episode, “The Women Who Fell to Earth,” did very well in the ratings. Moreover, according to the Nielsen Company, the overall ratings in the UK fluctuated throughout the 10-episode season but they remained consistent. However, the viewership in 18-49 demographic in the US dropped by 1 million viewers. According to a statement released by the BBC, Doctor Who has been renewed for a 12th season and will return in the spring of 2020.  

The question that begs to be answered … was season 11 any good?

The simple answer is … the season was a huge missed opportunity that should have been a great new direction for the series, but instead, wound up becoming a boring slog of mediocrity.

Doctor Who season 11 is a mixed bag. Right from the outset, the casual observer will notice that the BBC reduced the episode count and overall budget for the series. For instance, the out door locations and the cinematography were gorgeous and impressive. However, the interior set designs and special effects run the gamut from sleek and sci-fi functional to low budget plywood and unconvincing CGI effects. Steven Moffat, the show runner for series 5 to 10, complained that the BBC needed to put more money into Doctor Who, in order to make it more competitive with other shows that have movie quality production values. He was completely right. 

The next thing that will jump out at the casual viewer is the musical score by composer Segun Akinola, is very distracting and annoying. Long time Doctor Who composer Murray Gold perhaps overstayed his welcome, but there is no doubt that his music has been a vital part of the show in its modern-day format and his absence in season 11 is keenly felt. 

Other things that become apparent: 

The scripts were poorly written and disjointed and the Doctor’s companions were not developed beyond the initial premier episode. Of particular concern is the acting. 

With the exception of Bradley Walsh (Graham), Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Mandip Gill (Yaz), and Tosin Cole (Ryan) lack screen presence and charisma, and very seldom strike up enough energy to make any of their scenes memorable or credible. However, in the interest of fairness, it must be noted, that the actors were really hampered by terrible scripts … so there is some room for considerable growth if better writers are brought in.

The editing and directing was erratic, leaving glaring plots holes that killed the pacing of the episodes. 

The villains: Classic Doctor Who villains (Daleks, Cyberman, and the Master) were sidelined this season. Instead, show runner and head writer Chris Chibnall opted to introduce new protagonists that fall into two categories 

1. Run-of-the-mill sci-fi baddies that consisted of tooth-collecting bounty hunters, giant spiders, mud-monsters that were actually elite alien soldiers imprisoned on Earth, and pocket universes that desperately need a friend. 

2. Bland and one-dimensional human baddies that are poorly written tropes meant to showcase the worst of human impulses, hate, bigotry, greed, religious intolerance, colonialism, paranoia and superstition. 

Overall, season 11 was a dysfunctional mess that felt like Doctor Who in name only. What was once a great science fiction series has been turned into terribly boring, agenda-driven after-school special.   

Can the series be fixed and made better?

The optimist in me would say yes. 

Doctor Who as a concept is a hard sell. The main character is basically space-Jesus, flying around in a magic box, getting into all sorts of wacky adventures with his/her friends. But despite all that, the series has stood the test of time and the fan base still supports it even after 55 years of time-traveling shenanigans. To be sure, like any long running franchise, Doctor Who has fallen out of favor and receded into the background, only to come roaring back with a fresh coat of blue-paint. 

Case in point, after years of declining ratings, the series was quietly cancelled in 1986, and triumphantly returned in 2005 with Russell T. Davies as show runner and Chris Eccelston taking on the role of the Doctor. Nu-Who has been on the air for 13 years and the fan base still supports it. So, it can be safely assumed that the series can falter and stumble and it can still be brought back from the brink. 

Will it be fixed? 

That depends …

Former show runners Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat had their fair share of red herrings and nonsensical conclusions to convoluted story arcs, but at the very least, they understood the character of the Doctor and wrote stories that kept the fans engaged. Current show runner Chris Chibnall, clearly has no long-term vision for Doctor Who, and season 11 feels like he ran out of ideas and just made stuff up as he went along.  Moreover, the stories that he has penned in the past, and now in season 11, are horribly conceived, painfully disjointed, and just bland and boring. Chibnall’s milquetoast version of the Doctor is woefully inconsistent from episode to episode and not very interesting.

Of particular concern, the BBC and its rabid supporters on social media has shown very little interest in listening to the valid concerns and criticisms of long time fans, and instead have opted to silence them by claiming that they are a bunch of hateful, misogynist malcontents. This type of strategy didn’t work for Columbia Pictures/Paul Feig (Ghostbusters 2016) and Disney/Kathleen Kennedy (Star Wars The Last Jedi 2017).

And if history repeats itself … it won’t work for Chris Chibnall and the BBC. 

Ultimately, Doctor Who fans could take a page from the Star Wars fandom and stop supporting or boycott the series until their concerns have been addressed and corrected. Doctor Who is a beloved series that has been around for over fifty years. However, success is never guaranteed, and the BBC, just like Disney and Lucasfilms might find themselves with a product that the fan base doesn’t want to support. 

Doctor Who is at a crossroads, and the long-term viability of the series is dependent on the decisions the BBC makes going forward. The viewership in BBC America has declined this season, but the ratings in the UK are still good enough to justify a delayed season 12.   

Whatever road the BBC takes is clearly up to them, but one thing is for certain … the fan base that have supported the series throughout its 55 year history deserve better.

Certainly much better than the cheap knock-off that the BBC is trying to pass off as Doctor Who. 



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