Board 8 > Jodie Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall are leaving Doctor Who

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jul/29/jodie-whittaker-chris-chibnall-will-leave-doctor-who-bbc-confirms

I have some bad news and I have some good news.

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Has it been good? Full disclosure: I haven't seen an episode since Capaldi took over.

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colliding posted...

Has it been good? Full disclosure: I haven't seen an episode since Capaldi took over.

not particularly

some episodes have been alright

You should watch the Capaldi era, it takes a few episodes to get going but contains some of the best ever episodes and Capaldi himself has a fantastic arc.

The current era is bad. Great acting from Whittaker but the driest stories imaginable. Its Who by numbers, though there have been some good historical episodes. Its not apocalyptic but a change of showrunner is pretty necessary.

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oh, yeah, i missed that you said you hadn't seen capaldi. his stuff is good. i like seasons 8 and 10 quite a bit. not 9. (but many like 9 the most so)

Capaldi's era is the best of the reboot.

Whittaker is great as the Doctor, but she just got utterly fucked by awful writing and heavy-handed storylines that take themselves far too seriously. It's good Chibnall's leaving, but I feel bad that Jodie never got a chance to really shine in the role.

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I'm not surprised really that Chibnall's stuff hasn't been good. He's been a hack since Torchwood if I'm being real here.

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I haven't seen any of the Chibnall era, I dropped out in series 8 I think. Moffat's tropes were getting incredibly tiresome to me, though there were some great eps every now and then still. Chibnall has never stood out as a good writer though so I'm not too surprised at the current response.

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I actually really liked Broadchurch season 2, which he was the head writer for. So I had somewhat high hopes despite his Doctor Who episodes all being mediocre. But... yeah.

season 12 made the classic mistake of backstory over character development. like, great, i've learned a ton of lore about the history of the doctor and the time lords and stuff that happened before the 1st doctor. but I don't feel I actually know Jodie's doctor very well. and i never cared about that lore anyway

season 10 is fairly moffat-trope-y but he actually does some fresh things and i really liked it. season 9 is the one that just feels like moffat trying to one-up himself every episode. season 8 actually has a few episodes that felt like RTD-era, including the finale somehow.

Capaldi had some great episodes, just sucked that he was stuck with Clara for so long

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i thought clara was at her best in season 8. they actually gave her a character other than being super clever and perfect and knowing everything. they even gave her flaws.

Season 9 was great - thought it was a good deal better than 8. S10 felt like a step down, and then S11 was the worst season I'd seen by far. Haven't watched any since then.
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Well season 9 does have Heaven Sent, which is a big plus for it

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Capaldi was pretty whatever with some notably awful episodes

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Oh I did see Heaven Sent, it must've been s9 where I stopped. That one was great. Weirdly it's the only 'great' ep for Capaldi that comes to mind, all the other specific memories I have are eps I disliked.

I think Clara was much better with Capaldi than with Smith, and Coleman is a good actress, but Moffat just has this thing writing women where they always feels inauthentic.

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Season 8 is my second-favorite season of the reboot. I think the Capaldi/Clara dynamic was great, and the Clara/Danny dynamic was great.

Season 9 is still good, but it's just not AS good.

And Season 10 is kinda forgettable, aside from the finale (which is great).

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I think season 10 is his best season overall.

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Nfun's liking of you depend solely on how much you enjoyed Kill The Moon

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Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Nfun's liking of you depend solely on how much you enjoyed Kill The Moon

Haha I remember Kill the Moon being divisive at whatever forum I was on discussing it when it came out. I personally hate the ep for its story and really weird message, though Coleman gave a great performance in the final scene. The thing hatching then laying an egg the exact same size as it was just a step too far for me, even for this show lol.

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I love Kill the Moon, so that could definitely explain it.

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I hate Kill The Moon

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I wasn't super in love with Jodie's Doctor, but I do think it's a shame she never got a competent showrunner to allow her to shine. Hopefully the final season at least gives her a nice send-off.

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Kill the Moon was nonsense and dumb.

I've been so unenthusiastic during Jodie's run. Might be due to the group of friends that I used to watch it with kind of falling apart during it but I loved the earlier seasons while watching by myself. Echoing what others have said, Jodie seems fine as the Doctor but never shined due to the material. Felt the same for Colin Baker's run too.

Season 8's best episode was the one on the space train for me
Heaven Sent was great too, as was Dark Water
They were just let down by their follow-ups... as is the Moffat curse. (Subversive part 2s work only once, and that was season5, Steven!)

Never saw season 10, but I guess I should.
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Ironically, Zygon Inversion is a case of part 1 being lame, and part 2 being amazing.

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Capaldi's era had so many bad episodes... but he was such a fantastic Doctor. He brought the best out of the worst episodes, and the best stories of his seasons were some of the finest of the series.

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I thought Hell Bent was great.
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