The Friendly Dalek

The Haunting Of Villa Diodati- This is my favourite episode of the Chibnall era so far. The acting is excellent across the board. Jodie finally gets some great stuff to work with, and in my eyes she proves she could be a good Doctor if the writing was always this good. The pacing is excellent, the set design is fantastic, and the editing is good. Maxine Alderton did a brilliant job with the script. On a technical level, I have no issues with this one. This episode's greatest strength is Ashad, played fantastically by Patrick O'Kane. This is the most chilling a Cyberman has been since the original Mondasian Cybermen in my opinion. I was captivated by him every second he was on screen. The most interesting Cyberman in recent years was one which still had emotion, which is somewhat ironic. This episode introduces something completely new for the Cybermen, and that's probably why it is so much more effective than the boring robots we've had over their last few appearances. The last 15 minutes of this episode are some of the best Doctor Who content that this era has given us. I love seeing a Doctor who is scared and aggressive, unsure of what to do. It's a great contrast to 13's usually hugely optimistic self. I also love to see The Doctor lose, and this episode provides an interesting moral dilemma for The Doctor- let one person die or save them and risk millions more lives. It brings depth which is missing from a lot of episodes in this series. Overall- 10/10. This is something I wasn't expecting from Chibnall's era. My first 10 rating. I do think this episode deserves it though. Every aspect works fantastically, it was one of the few I was looking forward to rewatching and it was even better this time around. The characterisation of Byron lets it down ever so slightly, but not enough to lose it a point.

We're so close to finishing this now. Only three more episodes to go. As this is effectively a three-parter I'll probably watch it all today, so it's gonna be a long review post as I'll most likely be doing all three in one.

Can You Hear Me?- After the hideously poor Praxeus, my expectations for this one were low. I am happy to report that this is one of my favourite episodes of the Chibnall era. The first third of this episode isn't the best. The Aleppo sequences are dull, and the pacing as a whole is slow. Zellin's first appearances aren't as intimidating as they should be (the ear thing immediately diminished any initial credibility he had in my eyes). Once the story gets to the spaceship, that's where it improves considerably. The prison adds some nice mystery, and I liked seeing the Doctor make a mistake in unlocking the prison, something 13 rarely does. This is how a classic villain should be reintroduced. I loved the fact that this episode brought back The Eternals, a race I've always thought have been poorly utilised in the show itself. They're great when they do show up, but they've had far too few appearances. The expanded universe does a lot with the Eternals, but it's nice to see more exploration of in the television episodes. Ian Gelder and Aruhan Galieva are great as the villains. I love when the show tries to be unique, and that animated sequence was a great example of that. It's something the show hasn't done before, and delivered exposition in an engaging way, something a lot of Chibnall era episodes fail to do. The Doctor defeats the Eternals a bit too easily for my liking, but it's not too much of an issue. The acting is surprisingly excellent all around. All of the leads give good performances, and the supporting cast are effectively utilised. The writing is far superior to most episodes of this era, it made a nice change to have a script which wasn't annoyingly weak or pandering. That brings me onto the theme of the week- mental health. This episode treats it's messages properly. This is handled with far more respect and subtlety than the environmental messages given in Praxeus etc. Yaz finally gets an effective story, and I loved it. As someone who has struggled with mental health issues myself in the past, this episode definitely spoke to me. The only issue I have is the scene in which The Doctor interacts with Graham. Cancer is not a joke, but the way the Doctor shrugs off Graham's concerns seems like it was played as a comedic moment to me. It was way off character in my eyes. It started as a heartfelt moment, with Graham admitting his fears and looking for support. The Doctor always tries to help, even if it doesn't work exactly as they intended. I don't see any other incarnation reacting like this, and completely disregarding it, thus ruining the scene and any emotion it was evoking. The contrast between the excellent Yaz arc and this scene is quite sad to see. If it wasn't for this one scene, this portion of the episode would be flawless. Overall- 8/10. This is a flawed episode. The pacing is off at times, and the villains are defeated too easily. However, for me, the pros far outweigh the cons with this episode. The script is good, the acting is great and the Eternals are effectively utilised. The theme of mental health is explored with care (for the most part), and that's something Doctor Who has been missing for a while. The stories have always had messages like these, the difference comes from how effectively they were crafted into the story at hand. This episodes succeeds in my eyes where many other Chibnall era episodes fail. This was my first tie watching this episode since it aired, and I'm happy that it still works for me as well as it did on that first watch.

Praxeus- A massive step down in quality from Fugitive. I was looking forward to this one, as it was written by Pete McTighe, who wrote my favourite episode of series 11. Sadly this episode doesn't come close to Kerblam. The biggest mistake this episode makes is including far too many characters. As a result, I didn't relly care about any of them, as none of them had much to them in terms of personality. The acting was fine but the writing just wasn't good enough. By rapidly jumping between locations and characters, there wasn't enough time to become attached to any of them. The TARDIS crew do very little as well, and Jodie once again fails to deliver a good performance. The pacing of this episode was atrocious. I remember being bored when it aired, and it was even worse this time around. The central mystery wasn't intriguing enough, so I wasn't interested in what was happening. The twist that the Suki character is an alien who wants to find an antidote for herself could have worked had I actually cared about the character before the reveal. The best thing about this episode is the visuals. It looks fantastic, and Praxeus itself is well realised. That's about as far as my praise will go for this episode. I was enjoying the fact that we had two episodes in a row with no forced political messaging, but this episode throws us straight back into the typical Chibnall-era politics with the environmental themes. The fact that this was explored just a few episodes earlier may also explain why this falls flat. Much like in Orphan 55, The Doctor overly explains absolutely everything, no subtlety to it whatsoever. Chibnall has a co-writing credit on this episode, and I have no doubts that scenes like this one were what he contributed to it. I was also annoyed about how The Doctor was able to save Jake. He seemed like he was going to make a noble sacrifice, a note-worthy end to a character who I admittedly wasn't impressed with, but this could have added something to him. Instead, The Doctor saves him at literally the last second. Also, if The Doctor is now able to save people in such a fashion, why couldn't he do it for Adric? The Doctor also seems very un-fazed by the massive reveals of the last episode. She acts like nothing happened for most of this episode, surely those revelations would have done something to her attitude? Overall- 2/10. Not quite as bad as Orphan 55, but it comes dangerously close.

Happy birthday @Raylenth

Never played any of the games, or read any of the books, but I actually quite enjoyed the show.

I know I share mine with Nikki Blonsky from Hairspray.

My quarantine has just been improved. Also, that signed poster I mentioned the other day, heard back from the place I bought it from, and they basically said that they can't send me a signed one because they're sold out so they're issuing me a full refund instead.

It does feel like any time I criticise any aspect of a Chibnall era episode I am immediately called every -ist under the sun. Frrom what I've seen that goes for the majority of Who fans nowadays, always labelling each other nasty things just for having a different opinion on a show. I won't comment on Jodie overall as an actor because I honestly haven't seen her in enough projects, but she definitely hasn't nailed the role of the Doctor yet in my eyes. That's not to say she won't, or that she doesn't have good moments, but overall she hasn't proven herself to be a good fit for the role.

I always say a female Doctor was never the issue, the issue was making Chibnall the head writer. I want to see the next showrunner with a female Doctor at some point, to prove how anyone can be a good Doctor if the writing is up to par with their potential performance. As you say, somehow Chibnall managed to create a more effective Doctor in 15 minutes with Ruth than he has with Jodie. 7 and 12 could definitely fit in line with that more mature side of the character if we're looking at series 8 12 and season 26 7, if that makes sense. It's nice to see how people can have such a different view on one character regarding how they'd compare this Doctor to previous ones, shows how different people are able to interpret the Doctor in so many ways.

Fugitive Of The Judoon- A highly effective story. Series 12 is still relatively recent, so I'll give a spoiler warning for this one. I'll start with the acting. The acting is good across the board. Jodie has some very good moments, and Yaz for once gets something to do, with her police background coming in useful for a change. Joe Martin is great, both as Ruth and as The Doctor. I'd even go as far as saying she out-acts Jodie in their shared scenes. Her Doctor seems more mature and composed, more in line with 3 or 9 than 13, and it worked brilliantly. 13 seems really over-the-top when placed against a calmer Doctor like this one. The Judoon themselves are very effective. The episode is well-paced, and the production values are high. The Judoon themselves seem far more expressive here than in their last appearance, evidencing the higher quality of the costumes. This episode is unfortunately lessened by some weak characters, with characters such as Lee and Gat having very little actual characterisation about them. The Captain Jack sub-plot is something I'm mixed on. Obviously seeing John Barrowman reprising the role is a joy, and he clearly enjoyed coming back. Sadly, he is reduced to an exposition dump, seemingly only in the episode to serve the larger series arc. This plot also seems like a cheap way of removing all of the companions from the action with the Doctors. As much as I enjoy Ruth's Doctor, there are still aspects that leave major questions, but more on that when we get to the finale. I'm trying to judge all of the series 12 episodes based on the quality of the episode itself, rather than by how the Timeless Children affects them, if that makes sense. I'll praise this episode for how it set up the reveal of the Ruth Doctor, and I'm not going to deduct points from this episode because of how the Timeless Children turned out. Although series 12 as a whole suffers in my eyes from that finale, my thoughts on the individual episodes leading up to it remain relatively unchanged, although knowing what this episode was building up to does hurt it slightly upon rewatch. It's mainly an issue with this episode because this one is so heavily focused on progressing the series arcs. Overall- 8/10

The Mind Robber is one I always enjoy watching. Really well paced across all 5 episode, unlike a lot of the 60s stories. I didn't know that about Hamish, that's sad to hear.

Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror- This is a frustrating one for me. Not because it is terrible, but because there are some brilliant elements which are brought down by some rushed aspects. The lead's are good, and Bradley Walsh especially stands out. Goran Visnjic is absolutely fantastic as Tesla. He alone makes this episode worth watching. Edison and Dorothy are also entertaining characters. The relationship between Edison and Tesla could certainly have been explored in more depth. The acting from the whole cast is generally great. The set design is great, with the historical setting of the early 1900s making for a nice change. The visual effects also tend to be very good. The episode falls apart thanks to it's structure. It is very poorly paced. The train sequence felt like a desperate attempt to throw in some action, but it still managed to be boring. The biggest negative I have with this episode is the villains. The red-eyed people looked stupid, and the Skithra's design isn't interesting. The queen of the Skithra looks utterly ridiculous. It is clear that a lot of effort went into making the costume, but I just couldn't take it seriously. The Skithra themselves feel far too much like the Racnoss, preventing them from being able to stand out as memorable villains. There's no unique characteristics to them either, they're very basic monsters. Overall- 5/10. This is a fairly decent episode. The acting is good, and there are some good characters. The production values are fantastic. The episode is saved by Visnjic's excellent performance, but the issues with the pacing and the poor villains prevent this from being a great episode in my eyes.

That sucks that it's happened to you as well, whether it's the same artist or not it's always an annoying thing to happen.

As the statement says, no one knows what the situation will be like by the end of July. I'm sure Showmasters know what they're doing and will cancel the event if necessary, but right now it's not a certainty that it'll need to be cancelled.

With luck they can send me a signed one, but if not then I think I can accept the refund.

Even better than that, on the website there wasn't even the option to get an unsigned version of this poster. Guess they'll have to refund me the whole thing.

Remember that signed item I mentioned receiving a little while ago? It was a poster signed by a musician I really like. Well, I finally got around to opening it today, and would you believe me if I told you that the poster itself was fine, but there's no autograph in sight. Had to contact the place I got it from (the musician's official store) to ask if there's anything they can do about it but I doubt it since they're sold out now.

Orphan 55- Oh dear. I had relatively high hopes for this one, as it was written by Ed Hime, who also wrote It Takes You Away. That episode features lots of interesting concepts, but the execution let them down. I had hoped that here he could deliver a story which featured high concepts and was well executed. Sadly, it has neither. Let's start with the characters. Hyph3n is one of the dumbest characters I have seen in a while (and her costume is ridiculous), and everyone else is either unlikeable or just bland. Vilma is by far the most irritating. It felt like there was only a gap of mere seconds between every mention of Benni, so that got annoying very fast. The TARDIS crew are all very poorly written, and the acting doesn't manage to save it. The Dregs were fine at the start of the episode, when they were mainly shown in quick close ups and kept in darkness. Unfortunately the episode makes the bad decision of showing us full glimpses of these creatures in bright lighting, and they look stiff and unconvincing when shown like that. The idea that the Dregs are an evolved form of humanity also doesn't sit well with me. The twist that Bella was Kane's daughter was laughable, and it added nothing to the narrative because I just didn't care about either of them. There is a lot of comedy in this episode that falls flat every time, and the pacing is horrendous, making this one a very difficult watch. The final scene in the episode is incredibly preachy, and I feel like the Chibnall era frequently runs into the problem of assuming its audience is stupid. As a result of this, absolutely everything is explained through needless exposition. When it comes to a political message like this, the writers seem afraid to put in a message with subtlety. Instead they have to be certain the audience will know exactly what they're trying to say, so will get the characters in the episode (in this case The Doctor) to explain absolutely everything about the political message they are trying to present. The message is a good one to present, the problem comes from how it is presented. The audience can't be left to figure things out on their own, and as a result the show feels like it is talking down to its audience, rather than presenting them with interesting ideas to think about once the episode has finished. Overall- 1/10. There's literally nothing about this episode I like. It is by far the most incompetent episode series 12 gave us. Another thing that I wanted to mention is how this episode presents time travel. It claims that the future we see is just a possible timeline, which could happen if humanity continues on its current path. I'm no quantum physicist, but I'm pretty sure that's not how time travel works in this show. When the Doctor travels through time, we see the future as it happens, not always something that could happen. That's the whole point behind the idea of fixed points in time, things happen in both the past and future that can not be altered (the waters of Mars is an example of a future fixed point in time in the show). Unless I'm missing something big, the Earth is supposed to be ravaged by solar flares, which leads to humanity venturing into space in the Arks. Why was the Doctor able to go to a future where this wasn't the case, and humanity fell as a result of nuclear fallout? I get that the Waters Of Mars, The Dalek Invasion Of Earth, and other future events are irrelevant to the story this episode is trying to tell, but it doesn't explain why this alternate future exists or how the TARDS team got there. We've seen alternate timelines and dimensions before, but there's always an explanation as to why the lead characters are experiencing these alternate things. In this episode there is no such explanation, they are just in an alternate future. This episode was trying to tell a story about how climate change can have disastrous consequences on the planet, but surely they could tell that story in a way which doesn't come at the expense of a concise narrative that fits within the rules of the show. I hope you all understand what I'm trying to get at with this.

As it stands, the event is going ahead. Showmasters released a statement recently explaining the situation, which I'll link for you. If the event is cancelled then yes you will be refunded.

Getting through series 11 again wasn't an easy task. Definitely wasn't high on my list of things I wanted to watch again. Interesting to see how both of you dislike the current interpretation of the Master, considering how much I like this one. Hopefully Dhawan's version improves for the two of you in the future, maybe he'll pop up again in series 13, who knows.

I don't think I've spoken to anyone who thinks 11 was better than 12. The interesting part comes in seeing how much better you think it is, and how it holds up against previous series from the pre-Chibnall era.

It's a shame you aren't a fan of Dhawan's Master. For me he's by far one of the best things series 12 has to offer, so if I didn't like him then this series would hugely suffer, so I do wonder how you're gonna rate this series as a whole.

Spyfall part 1- Not really the spectacular start to series 12 I was hoping for. We were promised an epic, explosive spy story, but instead we got a weak parody. The spy theme is wasted here. Chibnall once again blatantly steals from something popular and dulls it down into something no where near as good as what they were paying homage to. They didn't go the full comedy route and make it a parody, but they also didn't take the situation wholly seriously, so instead I found that this was a tonally confused episode that doesn't commit to any style. The action sequences also fell flat, the heavily-marketed motorcycle chase being a prime example. Somehow this episode managed to cram multiple action scenes in, but still feels badly paced, and honestly boring. It's so boring because the plot barely goes anywhere, and I just wasn't invested in the plot. Barton is a weak villain. If it wasn't for the fact that he was played by Lenny Henry, he would fall right into the bland villain category. The Kasaavin, on the other hand, had potential, but were so visually uninteresting I feel like a big opportunity was wasted with them. The big positives I have for this one are the production design and the leads. This episode is gorgeous to look at. The leads finally show off some acting skill, clearly more comfortable in the roles this time around than they were in the last series. Unfortunately their dialogue is still terrible, but the acting shows improvement. The best thing about this episode by far is the cliffhanger. Goodness me, I remember watching it live when it aired and thinking wow, I'm actually excited to see where this'll go, something I hadn't felt since series 10. That ending single-handily saves this episode from being a completely unmemorable event. Overall- 4/10. Spyfall part 2- Wow. I don't know what Chibnall was doing when he wrote this one, but he needs to do it more often. This is miles better than part 1. The plot feels far more focused, and the pacing is excellent. I have to talk about Sacha Dhawan. This guy absolutely kills it as The Master. I loved every second he was onscreen. His chemistry with Jodie was clear to see, and their interactions are fantastic. Jodie for once gets good material to work with and she proves she can hold her own when the writing is up to par. The relationship between The Doctor and The Master is one of the best things in this show, and Chibnall managed to keep it that way. All of their interactions are great and feel in line with the characters I know. The rest of the tardis crew actually get a decent story as well, with some nice character bonding moments. Graham is the stand out as usual. The supporting cast are good as well, particularly Sylvie Briggs as Ada Lovelace. The implementation of historical figures is done far more effectively here than in some others of this era. There are some really nice movements with Ada and The Doctor. Unfortunately this episode isn't a perfect affair. Some of the dialogue is still poor, and a lot of the comedy doesn't work. The Kasaavin are side-lined by The Master, and although I love what they did with The Master, I can't help but think about the wasted potential of the Kasaavin. Barton's defeat is hugely rushed, and the Master was also beaten far too easily. Overall- 8/10. Why can't all of Chibnall's episodes be this good? For once he provides a script with a strong villain in the Master, good supporting characters and a fun, well paced plot. It suffers from some common Chibnall issues, weak comedy and a rushed ending mainly, but it's a huge improvement over what he usually gives us. Spyfall is an odd one for me, I'm not a fan of the first part at all but I love the second part, probably because it drops the silly spy homages and tells a proper time-travel story, which is what I want to see.

Thank you. I'm not quite as bad as I was, so there is an improvement happening. I've done very little the last few days other than watching movies, so I am watching good material in between Chibnall Doctor Who episodes.