The first series of Russell T Davies’ return to Doctor Who and Ncuti Gatwa’s first season at the helm of the world’s longest-running sci-fi show comes to an end with Saturday’s Empire of Death. So what did fans of the series think about the Disney-backed first season?
We spoke to four people: Tony Jordan, 65, co-ordinator of the Doctor Who Society, who has been watching since he was four; Lauren Amelia Miller, 31, is a disabled writer and actress who has been a fan since she was five and owns a Dalek nicknamed Woody; Zoe Butler, a 23-year-old civil servant who started watching in 2005 and names David Tennant as her favorite Doctor; and JJ, 28, who works in digital media, blogs on Doctor Who and has been a fan since 2012.
How did Ncuti Gatwa happen?
Lauren: Ncuti did a great job. His angry speech at the end of Dot and Bubble felt less like Doctor Who and more like he was telling us his personal story. It was cruel and twisted. He’s an extremely complex player.
Zoe: There’s a fun campiness to it, but she was also filming Sex Education, so there’s a certain difficulty in connecting with the character. She doesn’t feel like she’s entirely her own.
Tony: I don’t think we see enough of him; We had two Doctor-lite episodes. I think he’s a fantastic actor, but I’m not sure the role was written correctly for him. It’s sad that he cries every episode. She has a gorgeous sparkle in her eye, but the scenarios need to be more challenging.
JJ: He has the potential to be one of the best Doctors we’ve ever had, but this season has felt like a bit of a mixed bag. Boom and Rogue gave me insight into their Doctor; Otherwise it was a general mix of technobabble, exhibition and RTD-style pop culture references. I enjoy the little quirks and flourishes he adds, but there were a few too many times where he had no answers to anything and felt like a sobbing passenger of the plot.
What was Disney’s influence?
T: Controversial. Disney wanted lots of exhibits for its audience. You can see the money on the screen, although it is not infinite. Some might say the Daleks were wandering around the Albert Memorial and Westminster Bridge in 1964. [in The Dalek Invasion of Earth] This year was more iconic and powerful than anything else.
Z: I love the wardrobe, but I don’t like the special effects budget used as a cover for a weak plot. Some of the best Doctor Who episodes, such as Midnight and Blink, come from desperation and lack of money; so they are working on the script to get it up and running. Most of the tension and mystery in this series comes from the special effects. The first 30 minutes of the episodes are fine, then too much production money is spent tying up loose ends and making them look good.
L: I have friends in Orlando and Belgium who can watch now thanks to Disney, which is a good thing.
What do you think of the ratings?
T: It’s disappointing, but we are in a different world. We’re between 3-4 million, but we’re still in BARB’s top 10. Linear TV is dying faster than anyone expected. I have no doubt that Davies is right when he says Space Babies reached 5.8 million viewers following its BBC Three release and iPlayer viewing.
What do you call a meta plot?
L: Writers craft these stories well, but fans create such great stories in their heads that sometimes the actual plot lets them down. I think this is a risk Davies likes to take.
Z: I was a little hasty towards the end. Sutekh was a fun villain, but the idea that the God of Death would be hindered by his curiosity about Ruby’s story [Sunday, played by Millie Gibson] The mystery was sweet but frankly didn’t make sense. Snow didn’t make sense. I didn’t like this scenario at all.
What about individual episodes?
L: 73 Yards took the simplest folklore story and created something dark that reminded me of the Gothic books I read as a child. The Devil’s Chord connected with me not only because of Jinkx Monsoon, but also because of my fear of music disappearing as a singer. He was like Weeping Angels, scaring us even from the simplest things.
J: Dot and Bubble’s final return [the people who the Doctor was trying to survive turned out to be white supremacists and ultimately refused his help because he is black] It might be my least favorite scene of the entire series, and it confirmed my concerns about the lack of black writers for the first black mainstream Doctor. The idea of dropping breadcrumbs for a clever racial “twist” at the end reeks of a white liberal writer patting himself on the back for “solving problems” by brazenly using black trauma as a cheap shock tactic. Adding the Doctor’s first experience of racism to the end of such a ridiculous episode shows me that Davies doesn’t really understand the depth of the issue. It was a moment that felt awkward and insulting in design and execution.
What do you think of Millie/Ruby?
T: I thought he was the highlight of the entire season. The audience’s eyes and ears are in good company and I give credit to Davies for making it smart and having its own plot.
J: He wasn’t given enough unique characterization. I felt like someone had taken the broadest features from the previous companions and made it Gen Z and Northern. There were no scenes of her and the Doctor hanging out, meaning they felt more like colleagues than best friends.
What about the bad guys?
T: Sutekh was well established but did not provide very good service. I loved Maestro.
Z: The villains in this movie looked like the human race, which I liked too. It is more interesting and complex that the monster is a reflection of humanity. Maestro was fantastic as the villain; No notes on Jinkx’s performance, but I wish there had been more satisfying tension between the Doctor and the villain.
What is your end-of-term report on Russell T Davies?
T: I could have done better. There were beautiful things inside. It dealt with sex and gender a bit heavily in the beginning, but it got that out of the way. I wonder if we’ll see Rogue – Captain Jack 2.0 – again. I thought Jonathan Groff was very good. Another gay North American singer/actor – RTD is a creature of habit.
Z: It was too fast to create tension. I love the return to camping and fun adventure, and many of the concepts are interesting, but they felt like remakes of better versions. He needs to slow things down and his pretentiousness can be looked at. If you’re going to include issues, really dig into them rather than using them as cheap asides. If you craft a well-thought-out episode, it won’t look like you’re just trying to be “woke.”
J: I thought this season as a whole and on an individual episode basis was pretty weak. There wasn’t enough time to stop and linger on anything, which meant each episode paced awkwardly and there wasn’t room to add depth or explore the concepts introduced.
L: Doctor Who has always been hit and miss but it’s not afraid to try something new and that’s the beauty of it. It was a great first series for Russell T Davies. It wasn’t the most dramatic, but it spoke to the core values in dynamic families. For a generation that knows what they want and who they are. This might be tough for older fans, but I love how the show tackles disability representation and queer storylines.