Doctor Who finale - spoilery thoughts
May. 31st, 2025 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivdunstanGoing to put these in a firm spoiler cut. Only read these when/if you have seen the episode.
Very sad to see Ncuti go. He's been a wonderful doctor. I believe he was expecting to film a third series later in 2024, but the Disney+ negotiations and renewal were extremely protracted. I wish we could have seen more of his incarnation. Tonight's Doctor Who Unleashed (on BBC3 and iPlayer, and in a YouTube version on the official Doctor Who channel in the rest of the world) was a wonderfully emotive farewell to him. Extremely touching.
As for the episode itself, I have mixed thoughts, but am a lot happier than I was with last year's finale. I think this year's was overly long - could easily have lost 10 minutes of excess talking (and I'm not talking about the ending or its buildup - that was fine). And I was very sad not to see Susan yet. But there were many things I liked: the story of Poppy was moving, we got Anita again, chomped Rani and we get to keep the Mrs Flood version, and great to see UNIT working again, with finally a rather intimate moment between Kate and Colonel Ibrahim. And best of all Thirteen/Jodie again! I was ridiculously happy to see her.
I knew going in that regenerating into Billie Piper was a possibility, assuming there was actually a regeneration. I'd prefer that she's a short term filler, rather than taking on the role long term. More worryingly we haven't been told yet when Who will be back, and there are reports it could be a couple of years off. Maybe they are managing to film a Christmas Special with Billie in the lead? But for now it's all up in the air. But I suppose regenerating into her is a leap of faith, at a time when some fans feared for the series continuing at all.
I wasn't wowed by the trailer for the spinoff. That is going to have to impress me a lot more than that. It also felt oddly reminiscent of Torchwood's "Children of Earth". But we'll see. I do wonder if we might have got a third series with Ncuti if that spinoff hadn't been made. Because Disney+ had agreed to a fixed number of Who related episodes. Did the spinoff count towards that tally?
Anyway, yes, regeneration. Which I am sad about. But at least there is hope for the future.
And thank goodness I have some wine chilling in the fridge!
Very sad to see Ncuti go. He's been a wonderful doctor. I believe he was expecting to film a third series later in 2024, but the Disney+ negotiations and renewal were extremely protracted. I wish we could have seen more of his incarnation. Tonight's Doctor Who Unleashed (on BBC3 and iPlayer, and in a YouTube version on the official Doctor Who channel in the rest of the world) was a wonderfully emotive farewell to him. Extremely touching.
As for the episode itself, I have mixed thoughts, but am a lot happier than I was with last year's finale. I think this year's was overly long - could easily have lost 10 minutes of excess talking (and I'm not talking about the ending or its buildup - that was fine). And I was very sad not to see Susan yet. But there were many things I liked: the story of Poppy was moving, we got Anita again, chomped Rani and we get to keep the Mrs Flood version, and great to see UNIT working again, with finally a rather intimate moment between Kate and Colonel Ibrahim. And best of all Thirteen/Jodie again! I was ridiculously happy to see her.
I knew going in that regenerating into Billie Piper was a possibility, assuming there was actually a regeneration. I'd prefer that she's a short term filler, rather than taking on the role long term. More worryingly we haven't been told yet when Who will be back, and there are reports it could be a couple of years off. Maybe they are managing to film a Christmas Special with Billie in the lead? But for now it's all up in the air. But I suppose regenerating into her is a leap of faith, at a time when some fans feared for the series continuing at all.
I wasn't wowed by the trailer for the spinoff. That is going to have to impress me a lot more than that. It also felt oddly reminiscent of Torchwood's "Children of Earth". But we'll see. I do wonder if we might have got a third series with Ncuti if that spinoff hadn't been made. Because Disney+ had agreed to a fixed number of Who related episodes. Did the spinoff count towards that tally?
Anyway, yes, regeneration. Which I am sad about. But at least there is hope for the future.
And thank goodness I have some wine chilling in the fridge!