A playlist of videos covering the issues with the BBC and transphobic reporting: kzread.info/head/PLmWFOeT2jEofVIDW9X3OL7GqWuX3Dxopu

Never thought I’d live to see the day that Vera called anything to do with the timeless child a good thing. Truly, we live in the end times. Also, I agree.

@rngwrldngnr

27 күн бұрын

Saw your snippet and came to make a comment, only to see it was literally your second sentence after the break.

@Zach90888

27 күн бұрын

I’ve watched this channel so much, and this is the first time I’ve learned her name. Thanks

@loftus4453

27 күн бұрын

Hi Jessie!

@thatotherted3555

27 күн бұрын

Right? Checking out my window for flying pigs 🔭

@nicnaknoc

26 күн бұрын

​@@Zach90888me too or I knew Vera was the girl name, but thought They still used the legal name as well 😄 She might do, now I have to watch some missed videos 😅

Introducing the Doctor’s new companion Ruby as a foundling, like he was, is definitely the right move.

@nekusakura6748

25 күн бұрын

That kind of kinship is probably one of the reasons why he was so welcoming of her to join him in his travels.

If you break a bunch of tile, you can toss it or create a mosaic. I'm glad RTD is attempting a mosaic.

@CouncilofGeeks

27 күн бұрын

Well said.

@ftumschk

27 күн бұрын

Brilliant analogy!

While I don't hate the idea of The Doctor having lives before Hartnell, I still don't like the Timeless Child Twist Chibnail gave us. If anything, the concept would have worked much better if it had been with The Master instead of The Doctor since the revelation would explain why The Master hates both The Doctor & Time Lord society so much.

@dalekman9999

27 күн бұрын

i mean to be fair russell already gave a reason, the timelords purposely drove him insane

@olivefernando7879

27 күн бұрын

The master also has a weird habit of not dying (even for a timelord) which would be explained if he was the timeless child and not the doctor

@friendlyotaku9525

27 күн бұрын

I've never agreed with this idea that it should be the Master as that would perpetuate harmful tropes.

@Silverwind87

27 күн бұрын

It would also be thematically satisfying as the Master was previously the unwitting pawn of Rassilon's grand plan in the final days of the Time War. It could've been that he was so susceptible to the Drumming because he was some sort of acausal being that existed above the Time Lords.

@guy3854

27 күн бұрын

@@friendlyotaku9525 uh... what?

RTD always understood the emotional core of the stories he told and prioritized emotional impact over almost anything else. Even through to the end of his run with the "Doctor triumphant" themes. Moffat sometimes got it, the 50th anniversary special is as brilliant as it is because of how it centers the emotional experience of the Doctor across multiple incarnations, even going so far as rooting the Doctor's trauma in the events of the Eighth Doctor's life. Chibnall seemed to misunderstand the qualities that the audience treasures about Doctor Who almost entirely. While I do share some of the reservations about RTD returning, I do think he's shown his heart is in it and he's bringing the focus back to the emotional core. The fact that he invented bigeneration specifically to give the Doctor a kind of happy ending he couldn't have otherwise, and then using that happy ending to free the 15th Doctor from having to play yet another round of self torture tells me that RTD isn't interested in just rehashing the past. This is the most excited and interested I've been in the series since the 50th anniversary.

@teowachowski1143

17 күн бұрын

Yess 100%

In that same episode where 12 says he's just an idiot passing through, he also becomes the defacto President of Earth which is sorta ironic.

@voltijuice8576

25 күн бұрын

Which he more or less blew off, not unlike when he ended up president of Gallifrey

@parrot998

7 күн бұрын

​@@voltijuice8576Which time? Cuz that happened like 3 times. lol

My take on Mrs Flood. She is a normal person but due to the time travel shit she is now aware of who the doctor is because she met the Doctor and Ruby back in the 1960s. That's likely it.

@nellebolton7910

20 күн бұрын

Alternative theory. She's a Zygon

VERA 26 MINS IN > talks about 'such and such controversial plot point led to good things' MY BRAIN > oh yeah, JUST like Barbara Gordon in the Killing Joke VERA 27 MINS IN > talks about Barbara Gordon in the Killing Joke MY BRAIN > ***INCOHERENT SCREAMS OF VALIDATION***

@aliwantizu

26 күн бұрын

Exactly! RTD has the ability to pick up the "lemon" that is The Timeless Child and turn it into Agave Lemonade the way The Oracle was created and Batgirl ultimately was forever improved after others fixed the "lemon" The Killing Joke dropped.

Anyone watching Dr Who and complaining about it being woke has really not been paying attention. It has always appealed to the marginalised, the nerds and the geeks. Even Unearthly Child talked about a child who stood out in class. And that is why I love it.

@Freak80MC

27 күн бұрын

Reminds me of the Matrix situation. People thinking that they "own" a property that never was about them to begin with.

@koylar

27 күн бұрын

I think people have an issue with how blantant they do it , the doctor always makes remarks about how gender , race, etc are primitive thinking and hateful but it was done in brilliant scenes and lines that call back to early situations . But in Chibnals run it was just “men suck. I’m a woman with a woman brain so we’re in luck” And i understand building up women , but as a boy speaking for the boy audience it feels terrible and shitty to be told how awful we are constantly - and being from the audience of progressiveness and “woke” it feels misplaced and almost betrayal to be constantly put down for my race and gender that i didn’t have a choice in

@eshbena

27 күн бұрын

@@koylar Short version of that is that Chibnall's writing on the show was awful.

@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o

26 күн бұрын

Sci-fi in general always had political commentary. Just look at War of the Worlds from 1897. That novel comments on and criticizes colonialism.

@tylerboothman4496

24 күн бұрын

Remember when Sarah Jane told an alien queen about the Women's Liberation Movement?

This reminds me of my issue with the war Doctor and the resolution to that end: telling me there’s a secret regeneration between previously established Doctors is contrived. I hate it. But then the story they told was amazing and John hurt was perfect. They solved the problem of Ecelston not returning and executed a bad idea so well that I stopped caring about how bad it was. RTD2 could achieve this with the Timeless Child.

@ThePlayTyperGuy

27 күн бұрын

I’m not sure I’d say it was contrived. We never saw McCann regenerate into Eccleston’s Doctor so we *assumed* that there was no other Doctor between them.

@Quirderph

27 күн бұрын

@@ThePlayTyperGuy I'd say it was kinda contrived, since it retconned the Doctor from "has regenerations left" to "is out of regenerations". But it was born out of necessity, it wasn't a twist for the sake of a twist.

@myxomatoad2

26 күн бұрын

@@Quirderph exactly. It was a contrivance born of necessity, and, again, it was well executed so… yau

Absolutely, asking what the reveal means for The Doctor, how it makes them feel & how it will change them is the perfect way to proceed. Chibnall felt like he was writing TARDIS Wiki entries rather than actually telling a story.

@RockinRhinox

26 күн бұрын

Chibnall's era felt souless like it was going through the motions of making Doctor Who but really didn't understand it.

I love how this was already an emotional plot beat in the church on ruby road. The Doctor stating that he's an orphan and him connecting with Ruby and her family through that

My biggest problem with the timeless child is that it's specifically the doctor who is the timeless child. I think if they had chosen the master instead it would have been a much better idea.

@not_enough_space

27 күн бұрын

Well, ideally an entirely new character or vague hints that it's Susan.

@SunlessNick

24 күн бұрын

@@not_enough_space I'd have gone with Professor Chronitis from Shada.

@SnowLily06

20 күн бұрын

​@not_enough_space I feel like the doctor would've noticed if his granddaughter was the timeless child considering he was likely at her birth

@not_enough_space

20 күн бұрын

@@SnowLily06 If she's not the Timeless Child then, yeah, things will not be as though she is. But is there a reason she can't be? Or for drama reasons shouldn't be?

I like the general idea of The timeless child but think it should have been Susan and they reveal that the doctor found out and that's why he takes her and runs away but some how got the memory taken away

@hotdog1214

26 күн бұрын

Same. I'm not keen on the TC being the Doctor. I am open to what RTD will do with it but am of the mind that having it be Susan (or someone else entirely) would also have opened up narrative corridors to explore which I personally would have found more interesting than it being the Doctor - for reasons that Vera has discussed in the past.

@LeeTAZ-sl7de

12 күн бұрын

I don't hate the fact the Doctor turned out to be the timeless child, it would make more sence to why he was so different to the timelords, why he wanted to travel and do something rather than just watch. That being said Susan being the timeless child would have made just as much sence, the Doctor could have still had his mind altered to make him believe Susan was his real Grand daughter and he protected his family member. They could have whiten in that the reason why the timelords chased the Doctor around time and forced him to regenerate because he allowed the timeless child to go it alone and not protect her.

If it'd been up to me, I'd have just filmed a "short" that showed the Master hanging around in a Victorian gentleman's club, swirling a glass of brandy and saying: "... So anyway, I told her she was 'The Timeless Child' and she believed it!" Cue laughter from those around him, fade to black. And then it can just be disregarded as vaguely non-canon. 😂

@Venemofthe888

27 күн бұрын

Like the villain pub lol

@not_enough_space

27 күн бұрын

Unfortunately, that wouldn't work. The Doctor asked Tecteun if what the Master said is true, and she confirmed it. We'd need some explanation for the Master and Tecteun both lying.

@CallunaNightWolf

27 күн бұрын

​@@not_enough_spaceand you'd have to explain the fugitive doctor too

@not_enough_space

27 күн бұрын

@@CallunaNightWolf I think many would be happy with a Season 6B style theory to explain her. That is, she's between the Second and Third Doctor. Many like to think the Second Doctor went on missions for the Time Lords between regenerations. (There are various bits of media used to justify this.) All we have to do is suppose this lasted more than one regeneration and some temporary memory wiping kept it hidden from the Doctor. After all, the Time Lords wiped the Doctor's companions' memories during that same Two-to-Three regeneration.

@AllThePiecesMatter_

26 күн бұрын

Brilliant!

The Doctor being half human was brought up, he was talking about regeneration sickness and said “I even thought I was half human once” it was a throwaway line wish I could remember they episode

@CouncilofGeeks

27 күн бұрын

I... have zero memory of this. And besides that it wouldn't actually fix things because his half-human status is confirmed by the Master (like I said, it's a major plot point).

@kyrauniversal

27 күн бұрын

​@@CouncilofGeeksYES! Exactly! The thing is that I actually love that explanation because it isn't a trope, in a worldwide sense. It was literally only used once for Spock, which is literally a joke in series 1, as I doubt it was only based on the ears (though given how unpleasant Eccleston felt, I wouldn't be surprised) All I'm saying is that maybe give The TARDIS a chance to shine more. She is sentient, after all, so she truly knows what's going on.

@ryno1509

27 күн бұрын

@@CouncilofGeeksit might have been from a cut scene of minisode I can’t remember

@Deathlygunn

27 күн бұрын

You might be thinking of the scene in Hell Bent. Where Lady Me states that The Doctor is half human, and The Doctor doesn't deny it. Lady Me: Why couldn't the Hybrid be half Time Lord, half human? Tell me, Doctor, I've always wondered. You're a Time Lord, you're a high-born Gallifreyan. Why is it you spend so much time on Earth? The Doctor: That's your best theory? I'm the Hybrid? I ran away from Gallifrey because I was afraid of myself? That doesn't make any sense. Lady Me: It makes perfect sense, and you know it. Am I right? Is it true? The Doctor: Does it matter?

@ryno1509

27 күн бұрын

@@Deathlygunn no what I’m referring to was a lot earlier than that 9th or 10th doctor

Agree with the majority of this, I’m genuinely glad it won’t just be ignored but actually built on. Been saying for a while that’s my preference. Also agreed on the LGBTQ+ inclusion and master on pause quotes, definitely positive developments. There’s one more I really liked that you didn’t mention here, which is that he said 15 will be a lot more emotionally open than past doctors as a way to normalize dealing with mental health struggles, like him openly crying in the Christmas special-and side note, that’s doubly positive to have with a black masc-presenting doctor considering the norms around black men.

RTD made a conversation between the Doctor and a Dalek more emotionally charged than it had any right to be, and reinvented the Daleks (okay, the one Dalek in "Dalek") to be the scary, unstoppable monsters we remembered them being when we were younger, if we'd watched the older series as kids/teens. If anyone was going to find a path for the Timeless Child, it was going to be him.

@marocat4749

21 күн бұрын

Anf that in the same episode the daleks defeated their biggest enemy, stairs.

@irrevenant8724

20 күн бұрын

@@marocat4749 They'd already done that previously (I want to say _Remembrance of the Daleks?)_ but "Daleks can't do stairs" is such a meme that it was a good idea to reinforce that no, that's not the case.

@HOTD108_

15 күн бұрын

​@@irrevenant8724Yes, but reiterating it in Dalek was SO important. Not only had the show just come back, and thus was being introduced to a whole new audience, but Remembrance of the Daleks specifically was a story that aired during a time when Doctor Who was at its lowest in terms of popularity (not necessarily in terms of actual quality, I'm merely referring to public perception at the time) and was largely seen as a laughing stock outside of the dwindling fandom, so even though that story is beloved today, it was still important that the revival re-establish that Daleks can indeed overcome stairs.

@irrevenant3

14 күн бұрын

​@@HOTD108_I think you're agreeing with me?

If it helps for future reference if you need a clip for the "half-human" thing, i believe it's as The Master gets into the TARDIS that he says a line "The Doctor is half-human" which showcases that it wasn't intended as a joke a bit better. If you can't find one of that, I'm happy to look more precisely myself at some point

This was actually one of the things that got me the most excited when I watched the 14th Doctor specials. It wasn't _super_ conspicuous in those episodes next to all the other things that we got out of them, but we did get to see some hints of how the Doctor was still trying to mentally parse not only the Timeless Child revelation, but also the events of the Flux, with half of the universe being eradicated. When the Toymaker was taunting the Doctor about the cataclysmic way the Flux ended during his puppet show, the Doctor's anguish about it was palpable. And I could see what RTD was doing in those moments, and I remember remarking to myself as I watched, that he was doing Chibnall a big favor by tying up all of the loose ends he left behind. Really, I don't think there's any way for the show to proceed that _doesn't_ do that-- it's the elephant in the room now, and it has to be dealt with. Chibnall backed the series into a corner with his contributions to the lore, and I'm optimistic that RTD seems to understand what needs to happen to get it out. On another note... yeah, *definitely* watch the other two seasons of _Broadchurch._ It absolutely confounds me that such a well-written series came from, and even _precedes,_ the same writer who was responsible for Series 11-13. It's like all of the understanding of emotional beats and character development and plot payoffs that Chibnall demonstrated in _Broadchurch_ was completely abandoned during his work on _Doctor Who,_ and I still can't wrap my head around why.

@irrevenant8724

20 күн бұрын

Personally I suspect there were behind the scenes issues. Quite a few of the scripts seem to have been rushed.

@era95v

16 күн бұрын

Broadchurch was something else. Season 1 was definitely better but I think that was mostly because story wise that’s when the characters were experiencing the more emotional moments and swings. Season 2 was the aftermath, slightly calmer. Still a brilliant show though. I think the issues with Chibnall is that he can nail complex characters and storylines but sci-fi isn’t really his thing. At least not the level required for DW. I know he had written for the show before but writing an episode here and there with established characters, monsters and story lines isn’t the same thing as creating it all from scratch.

I also really appreciated him saying doctor who is open to everyone, even if you're as "straight as a nail". Online discourse would have you believe that if something is embracing LGBTQ people that it's no longer made for anyone else, almost turning it into an "us vs them" situation, when that simply doesn't need to be true. The quicker there's less segregation in society the better, and I think Russell saying LGBTQ is just a part of his life, and that he's not making it "for" anyone in particular is, I think, very reassuring.

@voltijuice8576

25 күн бұрын

Werd - drives me bloody spare. So many reactionary cranks have complained that "Welp, it's obvious I'm no longer welcome here!" when other aspects of the characters or actors have never made them unrelatable before. That loudmouth "Pronowns!" guy AZ did a "review" of the Christmas story where he was pleading people not to watch it, that it was no longer suitable for families, and even went so far as to say that it was essentially pornography! Nothing in his review gave any indication that he'd even watched the episode. The YT outrage mill is so sad, people literally scouring trailers and press clippings to rant about for 20 minutes over a briefclip or quote without context. Just about every day I am removing channels from my recommendations over that tired soapboxing-as-ctitique.

Moffat had the best response to the half human bit, it was because he had had human blood and human tech inside of him so it messed with the regeneration. Honestly, the master being the timeless child makes WAY more sense since he seems to have ways of keeping himself alive that no other timelord has. But they've already expressed that exposure to the rift in time and space created the ability to regenerate. So maybe they were a timelord who fell into the space time continuum and gave them the ability to regenerate but the timelords didn't know who the kid was so they gave it a name. Chibnal also can't write scifi. He's very good with human drama and mystery

The series always manages to survive retcons. Hartnell's Doctor being the first was only made explicit in the Fifth Doctor's run - by which time we'd already seen three or four prior incarnations, so that was a retcon. The Master first appeared in the Third Doctor's run - in his debut episode, it was clear they'd never met (although they had heard of each other) - while the new series depicts them as childhood friends, so that's a retcon too. It'll survive the Timeless Child thing too.

I feel like RTD has watched the Chibnall era and gone ‘addressing that, addressing that, addressing that…’. So far he’s given weight to random deaths, which Chibnall rarely did, properly addressed the ramifications of Flux, touched on the Doctor’s pain from the Timeless Child discovery, and now he’s stated that he plans to delve deeper into that pain.

Not to be too pedantic but Time Lord is a title, not a species-though it's been referred to by non-Gallifreyans sometimes as the species name, that's just incorrect. The Gallifreyan people are Shobogans, and Gallifreyans can become Time Lords after attending the Academy and passing some tests. Which the Doctor did do. So while the Timeless Child revelation suggests they may not be Shobogan or native Gallifreyan, they are definitely still a Time Lord.

@jakeoliver9167

27 күн бұрын

Not to be pedantic but it's both. Time Lord DNA exists, proving it's a species too. The rank is exclusive to gallifreyans (residents not necessarily born) But the DNA is not. Every time Lord (species) is a hybrid of two species. Gallifreyan Time Lord like the master. Human time Lord like river song. And Unknown time Lord like the doctor.

@jakeoliver9167

27 күн бұрын

They are still a timelord by rank AND species. As the gallifreyans became time Lord's... through the biology of the child

@jakeoliver9167

27 күн бұрын

When baby melody was scanned... she had "time Lord DNA" because of the vortex exposure. Obviously that's not gallifreyan DNA. So time Lord as a species... IS a thing.

@octaviasaenz6666

27 күн бұрын

@@jakeoliver9167 good point. To me, that's more of a mutation or genetic enhancement than a species, but you're right.

@ThePlayTyperGuy

27 күн бұрын

I’d agree and add that the reveal doesn’t mean the Doctor *isn’t* a Time Lord but that all Time Lords are the Doctor, in other words what made Gallifreyans Time Lords comes from the Doctor. I don’t like that change, of course, but I do think that’s the implication.

Imo this has always been one of RTD's greatest strengths as a writer. He has his flaws, but he's very good at finding the emotional core of an issue and sticking the landing with that payoff. He makes me care. Initially, I was also hoping he might just ignore the Timeless Child stuff, but I think if he's looking to use it as a tool to create new drama and explore the Doctor's character in a different way, that could work out really well. I think at the end of the day, while I'm not a huge fan of the Timeless Child as a concept, my BIGGER issue was that Chibnall dropped something so huge on the audience in one massive lore dump and then just didn't do anything interesting with it. Now, I actually liked the majority of Flux, but the stuff I enjoyed about it wasn't really related to the Doctor's past XD

@apm77

26 күн бұрын

To me it doesn't matter that Chibnall didn't do anything with it afterwards, but I do care that he didn't put the effort in to earn himself a lore dump in the first place. He insulted the audience by essentially declaring by fiat that a narrative so full of lazy cliches that it might as well begin with "once upon a time", is a factual account of Gallifreyan history. A narrative in which Gallifreyan spaceflight is declared to have been pioneered by a single individual, even though everyone with a brain knows that history doesn't work that way, only mythology does. Chibnall treated us all like idiots who don't know the difference, just so he could tell the biggest possible story with the least possible effort. I really hate that.

I don't know, I think Chris Chibnall did everything he was going to do with it. It's likely he had bigger plans for it had COVID not happened, but even then I don't imagine he was going to put all the toys back in the pram once he'd done. I suspect RTD has previously discussed certain aspects of it with Chibnall, and maybe that's why he invited him to write for his new era, although that offer was ultimately declined. Davies is a very clever man who understood the gift Chibnall left him, and it's a gift with enormous storytelling potential.

@Rik77

26 күн бұрын

Every writer is different, and o just think chibnall as a writer for doctor who is more interested in plot rather than characters. In interviews he was always talking about doing this cool thing and that cool thing with lasers blah blah blah. Whereas as RTD always talks in terms of themes and characters. Chibnall is similar i think to the writers in 80s doctor who. There's a focus on fun plot for the sake of plot.

@andrewbowman4611

25 күн бұрын

@@Rik77 That's a fair point, and one worth discussing. It's certainly true that Broadchurch was about the story rather than the characters, but the characters were also interesting in and of themselves. I'd even agree with your point about eighties Who, which was clearly a formative period for him. After all, he was 16 when he appeared on Open Air, although he didn't say a great deal. Like most 16 year olds, he didn't have a clue what he was talking about, although his observation about Terror of the Vervoids being somewhat old-hat isn't without some merit. Personally, I like his era of the show: he explored themes and situations which hadn't been properly approached before, and I genuinely think he should be applauded for that. Like every other era, his isn't without fault, but I truly believe he doesn't deserve the merciless drubbing he got for his efforts. He's a fine writer who perhaps lacks the wit of both Davies and Moffat. Frankly, if that's his only crime, then it's a fairly minor one in the grand scheme of things.

@voltijuice8576

25 күн бұрын

I suspect that Chibnall would have done something more with the arc if he was allowed to. Management seemed to be hitting a reset button after every one of his series, so I think it was more a case of "you have one short season to finish whatever you're doing, then go away". Unfortunately I never saw any indication that Chibnall had anything interesting to say with the Timeless Child, but I don't doubt that there was something meaningful there to him.

@andrewbowman4611

24 күн бұрын

@@voltijuice8576 Well, the meaning for Chibnall is that, like him, the Doctor is adopted. It's the same reason Graham is a cancer survivor; so's Chris Chibnall. He's putting his own experiences into the show, which is fair enough, I would think.

@mxrichardsonsneighbourhood5402

24 күн бұрын

I feel there is also an argument to be made that the purpose of the Timeless Child was to reintroduce mystery into the origins of The Doctor. In Listen and Hell Bent we get elements of the Doctor's origins. I do feel like there should always be a shroud of mystery around The Doctor's beginnings. Anything a fan comes up with in speculation will be 1000x more interesting to me. In that vein, it is never explicitly said that the portal baby Doctor came through DOESN'T come from Gallifrey. In fact, the one time we see it used in the present it exclusively connects there. There could be a temporal aspect to the portal.

I just found your channel, this is my 5th video watching and I’m sitting here through all of them like I'm in a church service, just “yup”ping and “preach!” I freaking love it and you're amazing! You're helping me say my frustrations and thouhts into words! THANK YOU!!! ❤❤❤❤

As someone who didn't like the timeless child and also didn't care for RTD's original run in the first place, this decision makes me respect him a lot as a writer. Doctor Who, as a long-running serialised story, is a collaborative work of art, and that means taking the good ideas from the past with the bad and building on them. To me, his take on this shows a profound respect for the show as a whole, which incidentally his successors did not demonstrate when it came down to it. Moffat took the biggest and most character-informing part of Russell's tenure, the Doctor's decision to end the Time War, and basically threw it and all the character development it led to out the window - and then did nothing with it aside from bringing back the Time Lords for one story where he subsequently did nothing with them. Chibnall then took that decision to bring back the Timelords and completely undid it by having the Master destroy Gallifrey off screen, and then proceeded to do basically nothing of substance with it, since the Time Lords being alive didn't really preclude any of the timeless child stuff. All it did was give us a new symphonic metal design for the Cybermen. But here is Russell, who almost certainly knows how stupid of an idea the timeless child is, but is going to do what he can with it anyway because, like it or not, it's part of the story now and it should inform the characters.

I feel like the episode Human Nature was a salvaging of the "Eighth Doctor is half human" plot device, since both stories involve the Doctor rewriting his own "history" and becoming human in order to hide from someone. I don't see RTD expanding on the Timeless Child's lore, but I could imagine him or another writer making an episode clearly inspired by the concept. I do like the idea of regeneration being something not unique to the Time Lords, or even something that was artificially created. That idea originated in the classic era with episodes like The Hand of Fear and Mawdryn Undead. So maybe RTD could take the concept of "alien from another dimension with the ability to regenerate" and make it work, so long as that alien were somebody other than the Doctor.

@irrevenant8724

20 күн бұрын

The _Human Nature_ two-parter might be partly in response to the "half-human" thing but it was primarily based on a 7th Doctor Virgin New Adventures novel from 1995, which predates the TV movie.

I don't know... What if I said one of the things that justified the idea of the Time War was that it gave the Doctor his sonic screwdriver. Surely one good objection to that is that it didn't do any such thing -- the Doctor had his sonic screwdriver before that plot point. The Timeless Child and adoption is analogous to that. We're being told the drama of being an orphan could justify the Timeless Child idea, but the Doctor was already an orphan before the Timeless Child story. It's fine for RTD to do a story exploring being and orphan and adoptive family, and I'm sure plenty of good emotional moments can come from it, but there's just no reason to credit the Timeless Child for it.

For regenerations, the best Regeneration story is still 'Caves of Androzani'. No universal stakes - Like 'Logopolis' - not even Earth threatening. The Doctor dies trying to save ONE person. Because that's who the Doctor is. He doesn't need massive threat to drive the story. He'll go in hard for one person...

Thank you for mentioning Broadchurch. I recently went back and did my first rewatch for Matt Smith through Jodie Whittaker to see if I felt differently (I didn't like the Godlike/VIP Doctor, Clara or Timeless Child). Then I got to rewatch Broadchurch on a free trial. I kept going "this man wrote one of the things I think is amazing and also one of the things that made me want to pull my hair out?! How?" I also hadn't remembered that Jodie's second series was all written by Chibnall.

@irrevenant8724

20 күн бұрын

Where did you hear that Jodie's second series was all written by Chibnall? Wikipedia reckons he wrote around half the episodes in S12 (including _The Timeless Children)._

@CLJlovesmal

20 күн бұрын

@@irrevenant8724 I was watching the credits each of the 6 episodes.

@irrevenant3

20 күн бұрын

​​@@CLJlovesmalAh, I see the confusion, that's Jodie's 3rd series (Season 13, aka _Flux,_ not her 2nd one. Her second season is 10 episodes and is the one that ends with the Timeless Child reveal).

@CLJlovesmal

20 күн бұрын

@@irrevenant3 oops, my bad on season listing.

The timeless child actually has some precursors. The Morbuis Doctors, The Cartmell Masterplan, the House of Lungbarrow. But the first two were vague, and never fully explained, and the third was a book, from the 90s, which I don't think is canon.

In RTD's hands, The Timeless Child becomes a timeless idea.

For me, i think it really is RTD bailing out his friend. RTD has subtly disagreed with Moffat's run, but RTD and Chips are close friends.

I wanted Russell to just completely ignore the timeless child because I despise the concept and still want to forget it ever happened. It was always going to be a thing in the show's history after it was done, but I was hoping it could be forgotten to the point of effectively decanonized over a long enough time frame, similar to what happened with the reveal that the Doctor is half human It alters so many fundamentals about the show in ways that I deeply dislike on multiple levels However, if Russell is going to *not* ignore it, the way that he's decided to handle it is probably the second best alternative. His approach to handling it is the best way to address it if you have decided that you will address it

When the fake Donna brought up The Timeless Child and The Flux to Tennant's second version of The Doctor in Wild Blue Yonder I thought, OMG is he gonna actually Do Something with this? That he is just makes me happy. While I also wasn't fond of the idea, what I Hated is that NOTHING was done with it. RTD should be able to get to the emotional impact that had on The Doctor, even if THIS Doctor has "healed" from his trauma, RTD can still find a way to show it to US. Wow, it actually has me excited to see what RTD will do with TTC. BTW, I am hopeful that the analogy to The Killing Joke and Oracle/Batgirl ends up being the end result to The Timeless Child. Thanks Vera!

Great analysis and very well put. Thanks for doing what you do.

I don't mind so much that it's the old team back, especially the music, the gorgeous Murray Gold music glue that held the show together for me. I'm looking forward to hearing about your S1 thoughts!

When the Timeless Child came out, I came up with an idea I thought would make the most of it. In my idea the Timeless Child, not being native to this dimension, had trouble managing their regenerations. Over time, the Timeless Child began to develop an identity crisis and was going mad as a result. To try and manage their many lives/regenerations, they begin to create personas. Some personas were benign, others were malevolent, etc... Among those personas, one was the Doctor, and another was the Master. Eventually the madness was so great that the Gallifreyan leaders were terrified of the Timeless Child, and out of both fear of the Timeless Child and compassion for the Timeless Child's suffering, they decided to split the Timeless Child into multiple new beings. Each persona would be born a new Gallifreyan infant (or maybe some will not even be Gallifreyan). There are now many Timeless Children who all used to be part of each other, part of the same being. This leaves the door open to the Master learning that they are also a Timeless Child, that the Doctor and him were once the same, that they share the same madness, but the Doctor used it for good, and the Master did not. It could open up many avenues for their friendships and animosity. But then Chibnall had to make the Master try to turn into the Doctor, which I feel would kind of wreck the idea that they actually are parts of the same being.

I’m a Doctor Who fan. I've seen lots of videos criticizing the show in my feed. Even though I blocked those channels, I subscribed to yours because you came up with valid points and I enjoyed your video. The blocked channels mix alt-right politics with sci-fi stuff, which doesn't really fit. Science fiction often explores modern injustices through futuristic scenarios, critiquing social, political, and ethical issues. It's like going to a trains spotting event and complaining that people are always talking about trains.

Hadn’t seen the latest RTD interview, but happy to hear his thoughts - and your reaction to them. Thanks, as always!

This is the first video i’ve seen from you and wow , you perfectly said everything that i think 😂 and i love your energy

RTD is the master of taking crazy ideas that sound awful on paper, and making strong emotional stories out of them. I think thats why he and doctor who go so well together.

Imo the problem chibnal had (and it showed) was that he didn't want to do a scifi. The studio mandated that a portion of the series be science/action and when that happened every single time he phones it in. His historical episodes, I enjoyed every single time but as soon as anything 'science' was needed he would hand wave the story away without any thought, planning, research or consequences.

My own personal headcanon is that just like the Doctor in classic who was not a great student and overall fairly unimpressive when it comes to timelords, and only appears impressive and intelligent when compared to humans, the Doctor should be rather average for whatever species they are, because it allows them to preserve the little man nature they always had. You could also tie the Doctor up with the Eternals if you wanted, I think that could be interesting, and I'm honestly surprised they haven't used them at all in NuWho yet.

@JeffCook-vj7nt

27 күн бұрын

Actual canon given the exchange between romana1 and the doctor when they firt met that went something like Romana "I have a first class degree in celestial mechanics" Doctor "You think thats impressive?" Romana "Well it certainly beats scraping a pass at the second attempt" Doctor "Who told you that?!"

@irrevenant8724

20 күн бұрын

Yeah. We don't know anything about where the Doctor came from so it's entirely possible they're a fairly rubbish member of the Timeless Child species too. :) (Assuming they even *are* a species - I've seen it suggested that the Timeless Child is a time-displaced Gallifreyan Time Lord, for example).

A lot of things about it, just didn't make sense. Like pre-Hartnell Doctors having a TARDIS, etc. And I liked this nothing-special, orphan lad growing up to become the Doctor (see Listen). That he's a part of Galifrey, a Time Lord. Not the cause of Galifrey and the Time Lord civilisation, etc.

@SunlessNick

24 күн бұрын

That's a bit of an exaggeration, though. It's just regeneration the Shobogans got from the Doctor - there's no indication that the Doctor was responsible for anything else about Time Lord civilisation.

Personally, I did really like the way the Timeless Child unfolded, even though it complicates the lore, and even though it hasn't been paid off yet. There are very interesting things to be done here, with an individual who has been assembling their own found families for so many lifetimes... Coming to terms with being an orphan, with their sense of belonging to both the Timelords who took them in and to Gallifrey, the only home they've ever known... And coming to terms, perhaps, with a sense of betrayal, having been used by their guardian, experimented on, used and ultimately discarded. Tecteun clearly had little, if any, deep or meaningful affection for the Doctor. The Doctor has gone to war with the Timelord council multiple times at this point, for good reason. This is a very interesting place for the Doctor to be. And I absolutely think they can still be an idiot in a box at the end of the day. I do also find it interesting what it means for the relentless superiority complex of the Timelords that they stole their whole thing from someone else. I think their motives for stealing the Doctor's ability and building a society around it, as well as how the Doctor has been treated by them ever since, could be compared to how a narcissist relates to their target. That last point would take far too long to get into. But I think exploring that aspect could also help center the realism of the Doctor's character as just an idiot in a box instead of a mythical figure of utmost importance.

I don’t like the timeless child but you made some good point. Now I have hope that it could be salvaged and turned into a good story.

First David Tennant’s return and now The Timeless Child. You’re certainly changing your mind about a lot of things that you hated about Doctor Who of late.

@CouncilofGeeks

27 күн бұрын

It certainly helps when they're done better than I had any expectation.

Lovely vlog, so well explained & argued. When you have big positive hopes Vera, it makes me super happy. Haven’t always 100% agreed with your reactions, but always 100% get a better view and learn something new. This time, along with the other 90% or more of times, you are so on the frikking money 🤗 Can’t wait for new eps & reviews to come soon!!

I enjoyed the Butterfly Effect as a joke, was worried we'd be getting a whole episode of it. And yes, totally agree with you on the "The Doctor is a unique godly being" plots are terrible. And God yes, the Last of the Time Lords was huge and emotional when it came out. Also, so glad to find someone who enjoys Doctor Who and dislikes pretty all the things I dislike. (Timeless Child, 14th Doc, Bi-generation)

the later seasons of Broadchurch are good but the first is AMAZING

In my humble opinion i think RTD, while embracing the timeless child, he will not give it a real answer, i think this season will end with The Doctor coming to the conclusion that finding out who he really is isnt important because his real family is his adopted family, it wont matter because he is a timelord even if he wasnt born on Galifrey.

I've always been of the opinion that if the timeless child was going to be a thing, it makes more sense for it to be The Master. It would give some level of justification for his anger and Rage at the timelords even if he didn't remember. I, like most people, like the idea of the Doctor being a rogue who just likes to travel and runs away

@mrdr0161

26 күн бұрын

The Doctor is still a rogue who stole a tardis and ran away. The timeless child didn't change that

This is great to see. I was worried too and now I agree 💯 with you vera. I'm also glad rtd is going to acknowledge it and I'm hoping he also ties a bow on the flux. So happy to see your excitement. It makes me feel a little better now. So bring on doctor who! Here's hoping it's a great season.

12:23 my 2 cents: I don’t have an issue with the timelords stealing the regeneration ability from an alien life form but I don’t think it had to be the doctor.

I am curious to see what RTD will do with the Timeless Child, but I still can't get excited for it. But it's great that you, Vera, and anyone else who is excited can be.

Outstanding talk. Really enjoyed that!

I like how this might turn out. I am glad they are exploring that with them, looking forward to witnessing it

Did I misunderstand something? Plenty of reacuring enemies have appeared before the master, such as the silurians or the autons.

Spot on! I really like what you have said here, and I agree. It's a chance to put the 'Who?' back into Doctor Who.

When I first learned that RTD was going to do something with the timeless child story, I was happy but nervous. I hope it gets drip fed to us over multiple series similar to how the time war was over the first 7 series culminating in the 50th Special. How you explain why your enthusiasm for the upcoming season is exactly why I love the Cyber Timelords/Cybermasters and like their amazing design because it's awesome and because the Master just can't help showing off. It hits the Doctor personally (like what the Master did to the future humans in series 3) and regenerating cybermen... love it.

@irrevenant8724

20 күн бұрын

As an aside I very much love how much the Master looked right past the obvious "CyberLords" name and named them after himself instead. 😂 It's so him.

I gotta say I also hated how Moffat brought back Galifrey then Chibnal burned it to the ground, again leaving the Doctor to be the last Time Lord.

Great analysis

Chibnell so clearly just wanted to have big plot twists with zero thought to their lore implication. This was particularly frustrating with the episode introducing the idea that the first doctor was not the first doctor, where the Doctor finds a TARDIS hidden beneath a fake gravestone... and it's a police box. Because the Doctor's TARDIS looks like a police box, even when it's a different TARDIS and a version of the Doctor before they traveled to the UK in the 60s and set the chameleon circuits to look like a police box.

As an X-Men fan, I was nodding my head when you were talking about not everything has to be "undone". If a plot point is made and never referenced again. That's a better way to deal with it. Retcon just brings more attention to the subject. As opposed to just ignoring.

In all fairness, Chibnall wrote Broadchurch on his own largely while Torchwood and Doctor Who have always has a variety of writers under the showrunner. As such, the detective story had a lot of his personal touch and a consistent voice throughout the storyline. There was also how it wasn't episodic and was written for adults who are often treated to more serialized storytelling even before streaming. Plus, I feel like Torchwood was his strongest show of producing for the Doctor Who franchise due to how it was largely grounded on Earth and operated like a police procedural drama but with top secret alien hunters. He seems a lot more in his element when the story is for adults and in a grounded setting. I think that's kind of why Flux was the most entertaining. It was messy due to Co-Vid but I feel like it was part of the charm, bringing in elements of Classic Who's serialized storytelling with NuWho's style of storytelling. It felt like he was cutting more loose and getting crazy. I think it was what Season 12 was missing. I mean, it was gonna split audiences anyways.

Thanks!

Totally agree with you vera I was frustrated that chibnall did nothing with this concept as well and thank you for an amazing video glad rtd will do something with it

Well this is interesting news. I do like that idea. I was surprised when I saw the video's title! Still I'm very interested to see how Russell will go with it. Also love that last comment too!

I understand your points about TC but respectfully disagree. I don't think it's worth anything RTD can do with it to keep it considering how (to me) it ruined the history of the show. Plus, i am confused when he did a line in The Giggle so fans can ignore it when the toymaker says, "I made a jigsaw of your history." RtD said its to help juggle all the different origins and make them all canon but then doubles down on TC.

If he does bring the Master back in season 2 or 3, I'd quite like the odd episode where either Missy, the most recent or Simm, show up again with no need to introduce a new incarnation for a while.

@MrSukram777

21 күн бұрын

Jacobi?

The Timeless Child is a really intriguing concept but they shouldn't have been the Doctor. It would have been cooler if they were someone the Doctor had to save, or had to fight - either way, it shouldn't have been the Doctor themself. Frankly, it would've been really interesting for the Timeless Child to begin as a nemesis, then regenerate and become a friend, then a companion. Something to scare the crap out of the Doctor.

@nekusakura6748

25 күн бұрын

Personally, I'd have made Susan the Timeless Child

I love the sentiment here. "It's a bad idea, but it was done well."

Tbh I actually like wokeness in dr who and want to see more of it… Aslong as it’s written right, because the end of the star beast was written badly, when rose and Donna basically said they can let it go cuz they r woman and the couldn’t let go cuz he a was guy even tho he was a woman like a year ago

It was your hand at the end of The Giggle, wasn't it?

What I’d do with the Timeless Child in the long run personally is that I’d make it the perfect way to, if the show ever had to finally end, use it as the ending. The Doctor regenerates into the Timeless Child and passes through the space time portal to become their original self once more. The Doctor has no beginning or end, and exists as a stable cycle.

The Church on Ruby Road also touched on The Doctor's trauma at being exploited because of the vulnerability of not having safe family, when he is devastated by alternate version Carla Sunday saying she only took in foster kids for the financial benefit.

Half human was brought up during the Capaldi era. Also loved that idea. To each their own.

Spot on, Vera! You're spot on! A poorly idea that's well executed is way better than a good idea poorly executed. That said, I do think Chibnall did some great character buildings for the minor characters of some episodes of Doctor Who, but forgot them for the main cast. Praxeus comes to mind, the first Holiday special is another one. Even in the Witch finder, as long as the noble dame still is a human being, and in Kerblam, where the female boss actually shows big concern when she realize something's wrong. Professor Jericho is another character better explained than most of the main cast during Chibnall's run. His plot points were quite un explained, though. They were more confusing than good. Thanks for a great youtube channel 🫶

I'm actually in the camp that didn't hate/actually quite liked the Timeless Child as a concept, but even I will fully agree that Chibnall dropped the ball *hard* on doing anything remotely worthwhile with it. Regardless of how things go forward from here it's always going to be jarring just how much time we spent with the Doctor after such a big revelation about their past, where they just... didn't mention or confront it in any meaningful way. Still though, I'm genuinely excited to see how RTD goes about exploring this.

It's been obvious lately that russel is gonna do something with the timeless child stuff, given WBY and Church on ruby road. Even using it as a way of connecting the doctor with ruby. I may still hate the idea but Russel seems to be the king of having terrible on paper ideas and making them work exceptionally well. So I'm excited to see where it goes.

I'm so glad to see you being excited about it again, I'm not sure why but this really makes me happy. I do agree Doctor Who works best when The Doctor is an outsider, sometimes when he's a legendary figure and is like oh wait what how did that happen it's cool but it has been done to death.

I love the way you think- I don’t always agree ( I am a different human so that makes sense) but you tell it like it is and how you feel about it. So thanks. ❤️😎

The irony about the Timeless Child is that it's almost self-aware and actually voices your own complaint; moments after the Master reveals the Doctor's pre-Hartnell history, she basically replies, "So what? You think this changes anything?" I get the feeling the line is in there because Chibnall realised at this point in writing that the storyline wasn't really working, but he was too heavily committed to it by then. The Timeless Child wasn't a new idea in fact, it was adapted from non-canon Doctor Who novels written in the early-1990s, and while it just about fitted in okay back then, re-creating it after fifteen years or so of new stories on TV was just too much for it to work. As for RTD, yes, he's big on emotional pay-offs, but a lot of the time the "emotion" is very forced and artificial, with characters bursting into tears much too easily. I also wish he could write a coherent "therefore/but-structured" plot with no lazy "deus ex machina" resolutions.

My biggest problem was destroying Gallifrey like Chibnall did. Showwriters seem to forget that Gallifrey is a planet teeming with life and alien ecosystems...not just the High Council of Gallifrey. There could have been multiple opportunities to see, save, and interact with Gallifreyan creatures. And the Doctor had friends and mentors (usually also rogues) beyond just the Master that would tie them to Gallifrey. ------ ...in that light, I think something like a "Time Lord Seed Vault" placed on planets like Earth could be a way to open room to let the Doctor explore and remember the positive parts of Gallifrey.

@nekusakura6748

25 күн бұрын

His former Companions Romana and Leela were on that planet (assuming they weren't casualties of the Time War).

Great take as usual

Honestly I agree. I hope RTD succeeds in putting things in a new light and using the tools he was handed. I'm looking forwards to the next season and seeing where it goes. Chibnall has done some great story lines, I liked what he did with Class, but some of the best writing I've seen him do is when he's been fired or about to be fired. And I think Jodi did pretty good with what she was given to work with. I'm excited to see where Ncuti goes and what he does. I like to try to go in with an open mind. Because sometimes things can surprise you.

The Timeless Child removed the doctor’s regeneration cap. Not a really a plot point, but it makes indefinite continuation of the show easier. At first I had a head-cannon theory to tie together the whole Timeless Child and Half Human origins together. It’s a little gonzo, but basically the theory revolved around the mysterious destination that the rift the last humans were escaping from the Cybermen through. I considered that perhaps they were effectively stepping unprotected into the time vortex like walking into a singularity. Perhaps somehow this took all the people and smushed them into a single being or something, perhaps birthing the timeless child and spitting it out into the distant past, or creating the civilization the doctor came from. I mean hell, river song was born with the ability to regenerate just from being conceived in the T.A.R.D.I.S. right? I thought perhaps that might explain the doctor having human blood in the 8’s movie as well. But no. There was no further reveal, and then C.C. left without touching it again. Looking forwards to seeing the new series.

Vera, my go-to Dr Who News and analysis😄

(Edit: Just saying “he” for the master and doctor for my own ease, nothing meant by it) I will forever think that they should go with it for a few episodes and then have it come out that THE MASTER is the timeless child. They could say he found out and so distraught, he decided to put it on the doctor (who he has always tortured) instead. Like he wanted the doctor to share in his misery by making him believe the same thing about himself. They could even have an emotional redemption “I knew you’d be able to handle it better than me” and make like he somehow made his own mind even believe the doctor was the timeless child. Like he chose to change his own memories kind of thing. I just think it should’ve been the master. It fits the overall story arc from new who so much better. It could be used to explain a lot of the treatment the master got from the elders there, and why he went so crazy (from experimentation etc) and If the doctor actually is a pure Galifrayan (sp?) it could explain the resentment- even if it started before he knew his origin, maybe he could just sense. The doctor had things that he didn’t, and the doctor had reasons to not feel like an outcast while he did. They should have it be this, and then have the master be gone once, and for all after. Like I don’t know exactly what the storyline would be lol but obviously the doctor would find this out… Maybe they could make it like he wasn’t dying when he saw the toy maker but that he was s*icidal, still not satisfied even after passing the misery to the doctor… that would also make sense… Because not only is the toy maker powerful enough to kill him, but it would explain why the toy maker, then suddenly went to visit the doctor after not seeing him for hundreds of years… but the toy maker didn’t want him gone, because the toy maker loves people who are mischievous and evil so maybe the toy maker trick him so that he would end up being put in a tooth when he lost instead of being ended. And then they could team up again, but like for real to take down the toy maker, and then the master could die lol. But like for real this time. That’s what I think lol and excuse me if I’m a little off on any of the law… I watched the timeless child episode once and I haven’t been able to stomach watching it a second time lol . Love your videos❤

I trust Russell T Davies on it

In regards to RTD saying that he wants to give the Master a break, I seem to remember Moffat saying something similar years ago about giving the daleks a break and I think they were back like the next season so I'm taking that comment with a little bit of salt. The Master is an easy go to for a single villain to focus on instead of an army of Cybermen or Daleks but they've been over used and I don't mind The Master being trapped in the tooth for a little while longer.

RTD has always been good at digging into the emotion of a good character/story nugget.

I'm still not convinced this makes the timeless child in any way a "good" thing. Mostly because it had already been hinted at that the Doctor could have been an orphan during 11's run when we saw the Doctor as a child. Maybe not their whole life, maybe not without other relatives to take over for lost parents, but still someone coming from some kind of at least partially broken home at a young age. I'm fine with the Doctor being an orphan, or more to the point, with the Doctor being adopted, but none of that requires them to be a special unique one of a kind alien from an entirely different reality and the origin of Time Lord regeneration. EDIT: and to be perfectly honest, I'm not even sure I can agree that what RTD is currently doing with the concept is all that original either. The Docto not knowing where they come from seems like a retread of the same kind of melodrama as the Doctor being the last Time Lord... both amounting to a similar notion of the Doctor being alone in the universe with no place they can call home.

@CouncilofGeeks

27 күн бұрын

Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's good. But this will hopefully make it not completely pointless.

The timeless child is an opportunity to tell a story around what an individual owes to their society. If it saves a whole people, is it ok to torture a child? Is it possible for a child to consent to the responsibility of becoming the savior of a people. Especially if the consent isn't exactly informed consent. What if the child wasn't the only way to save the people, just the easiest. Were the people actually in danger, or was this just a way to make life easier for the rest of the people at the expense of the child. Can innocence be reclaimed by loss of memory of a traumatic event? What happens to the personality created through these events? Is this why the Doctor has a savior complex; because he saved his people as a child, but doesn't remember it? Perhaps that has something to do with the feeling that he had the right to destroy Gallifrey later as the people became destructive. Perhaps that is why he is always running away from responsibility, only to find it later on another planet with another people. Is his inability to watch as others are hurt a learned response from saving people all his life? And is that a personality trait formed by being repeatedly required to save people as a child, or is it a trait inherent in him that allowed the Gallifreyans to exploit him? Then after posing all of these questions, they can go into whether it was because of the Doctors unique capabilities, or if anyone who could regenerate could have been used to construct Gallifreyan society around. Was the Master another child put in that position, and is that why the Master and the Doctor have such a love hate relationship. Was the master met with the same demands, and refuse? Would the moral quandaries be simplified if it had been an adult who was put into this position? Was it just that this one person had this capability and no one else would do? How hard did they look for an alternative? There is a mountain of story possibilities that can be expanded with this bit of the Doctor's history. It's a shame that none of this was explored.

Fundamentally agree, I have a lot of complaints with the specials but one thing undeniably strong is the Timeless Child have SOME kind of emotional consequence and wait. Its great to have basic drama back.

@guy3854

27 күн бұрын

If Russel T Davies is good at one thing, its bringing emotional depth to his stories :)