Ncuti Gatwa
Doctor Who 2024: The Legend of Ruby Sunday
A new review of the penultimate episode of the 2024 season of Doctor Who starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. This is drawn from discussions about the show with my Generation Star Wars collaborator John Hood and others in the dedicated Whovians conference on The WELL. See here for more details including a public preview in the Inkwell section that’s free-to-all to read, and for details of a special offer of a free three-month membership to The WELL so you can join in.
2024.E7 “The Legend of Ruby Sunday”
Contains MAJOR spoilers for the episode
It’s always problematic to review the first of a two-part season finale. For one thing, by definition you only have half the story and still have the rest to come which makes it hard to know how well (or otherwise) it all comes together. And that’s especially the case for a season finale where you’re expecting all the promise of the season leading up to this point to be delivered upon, with all the answers to the various tantalising mysteries given and to make sense.
Read the rest of this entry »Doctor Who 2024: Rogue
A new review of the latest episode from the 2024 season of Doctor Who starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. This is drawn from discussions about the show with my Generation Star Wars collaborator John Hood and others in the dedicated Whovians conference on The WELL. See here for more details including a public preview in the Inkwell section that’s free-to-all to read, and for details of a special offer of a free three-month membership to The WELL so you can join in.
2024.E6 “Rogue”
Contains mild spoilers for the episode
Love them or hate them, we’ve had quite a lively run of episodes in this latest series of Doctor Who, from the childishness of the “Space Babies” to the song and dance antics of “The Devil’s Chord”, the high suspense stillness of “Boom” and the deliberate ambiguity and lack of answers of “73 Yards”, and most recently some very on-the-nose satire of the corrosive effects of social media in “Dot and Bubble”. There was plenty to talk about in each case.
Read the rest of this entry »Doctor Who 2024: Dot and Bubble
A new review of the latest episode from the 2024 season of Doctor Who starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. This is drawn from discussions about the show with my Generation Star Wars collaborator John Hood and others in the dedicated Whovians conference on The WELL. See here for more details including a public preview in the Inkwell section that’s free-to-all to read, and for details of a special offer of a free three-month membership to The WELL so you can join in.
2024.E5 “Dot and Bubble”
Be aware, this review contains some references to spoilers
One of Doctor Who’s biggest strengths (and occasionally its Achilles Heel) is the range and diversity of stories that it can tell thanks to its anthology format, and the magic box device of the Tardis able to take them anytime, anyplace in the universe. It means you can get sharp changes in style, tone and direction from week to week, and while Russell T Davies is usually very strong when it comes to giving the overall series an overarching sense of cohesiveness and consistency, sometimes those handbrake turns can nonetheless strain audience loyalty.
Read the rest of this entry »Doctor Who 2024: 73 Yards
A new review of the latest episode from the 2024 season of Doctor Who starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. This is drawn from discussions about the show with my Generation Star Wars collaborator John Hood and others in the dedicated Whovians conference on The WELL. See here for more details including a public preview in the Inkwell section that’s free-to-all to read, and for details of a special offer of a free three-month membership to The WELL so you can join in.
2024.E4 “73 Yards”
It’s been absolutely fascinating watching the reaction of viewers to the latest episode of the 2024 season of Doctor Who, which I think is fair to say has created something of a schism within Who fandom. There are those who think “73 Yards” was magnificent, one of the best episodes of Who (or any other drama come to that) in recent years; while others are acutely disappointed and dismayed if not outright angered by writer Russell T Davies’ wilful refusal to address or explain any of the questions seemingly raised by the plot.
Read the rest of this entry »Doctor Who 2024: Boom
Another review of a new episode from the 2024 season of Doctor Who starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. This is drawn from discussions about the show with my Generation Star Wars collaborator John Hood in the dedicated Whovians conference on The WELL. See here for more details including a public preview in the Inkwell section that’s free-to-all to read, and for details of a special offer of a free three-month membership to The WELL so you can join in.
2024.E3 “Boom”
After the candy floss nonsense (with a dark centre) of “Space Babies” and the song and dance fun of Maestro and “The Devil’s Chord” both pushed the boundaries of what fans expect and are prepared to accept from Doctor Who, we were back on much more familiar ground with the third story “Boom”, penned by former showrunner Steven Moffat. It’s his first contribution to the show since he left in 2017 and on so many levels there is no mistaking his hallmark on the episode which could only be a Moffat script. That said there were one or two additional bits that felt like they might have come from current showrunner Russell T Davies making a suggestion here or a tweak there. Or perhaps that’s us being too picky, our expectations too high, or the familiarity of all the scripts Moffat wrote while in charge breeding a certain resentful familiarity with Moffat’s box of tricks in hindsight?
Read the rest of this entry »Doctor Who 2024: Space Babies/The Devil’s Chord
Over in our Inkwell discussion and related Whovians forum on the WELL, John and I and the other participants have been talking about the first two episodes of the 2024 season of Doctor Who. Before the hotly anticipated third episode “Boom” released tonight/broadcast on BBC One tomorrow, I thought I might report back on what’s been said so far.
(You can read our public comments in the Inkwell here and send questions and comments in to inkwell@well.com. If you want to join the members-only Whovians forum please do get in touch to see if we have any free three-month gift membership available).
Read the rest of this entry »Doctor Who 2024 – a Whovian conversation
So you might have noticed that the new series of Doctor Who starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson starts this weekend on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK, and of course globally on Disney+. There’s been the odd mention of it on the news as well as some trailers posters and the like – all very subtle, obviously.
In the past, John Hood (of Generation Star Wars) and I have collaborated on features and reviews about the show, although it went a bit quiet during the pandemic. We’re keen to revive that tradition, and moroever to step it up a bit. Rather than stand-alone features, we’re setting up a new community to run alongside the broadcast/streaming of the new episodes in May and June, and hope that some of the people reading our respective blogs will come over and try it out.
It’s being hosted on The WELL, one of the world’s original and longest-lasting online communities. It’s a membership site but non-members can read our public discussion of all things Who over the next few weeks by going to this link:
https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/544/John-Hood-and-Andrew-Lewin-Findi-page01.html
You can send any questions and comments in to the moderator by email to inkwell[@]well.com, but if you want to participate directly or access the full Whovians forum then you’ll need to sign up for an introductory membership at https://www.well.com/join/.
Alternatively, we also have some gift invites that we can offer that will give you a free three-month trial which will do the trick. Just contact me directly at draml[@]well.com with ‘Whovians’ in the title, a few words about yourself and your interest in Doctor Who, and mentioning that you saw the offer here on Taking The Short View.
Hope to see you there, but either way – enjoy the new season of Who!
Taking the Short View 