It Takes You Away (3709 / 1109)

[P-90_177]

It does seem that the ratings are slipping since the season premiere, which I guess hit a series record.

At least two British news outlets have run articles implying that the fans think the show has gone too "PC" and is being preachy about it.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbi...fall-pc-plots/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...2-million.html

I've noted the trend too, mentally tagging this incarnation as "The Diversity Doctor", but it doesn't bother me. I guess I'm just used to TV shows pushing political points of view these days, many US shows do.

Yeah don't go by what the Sun or the Mail say. Both are right wing centric papers that think the BBC is too left wing (it's not. the opposite in fact) and will take frequent shots at it to ultimately try and destroy the entity itself.

[Annoyed]

I hate it. And it's terrible because none of this is the actors faults but I've seen online how people have been ranting about how they should have never hired a female Doctor and the show is tanking (for the record I'm not sure it is) and I just want to scream that the problems are nothing to do with performance and everything to do with production.

It does seem that the ratings are slipping since the season premiere, which I guess hit a series record.

At least two British news outlets have run articles implying that the fans think the show has gone too "PC" and is being preachy about it.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbi...fall-pc-plots/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...2-million.html

I've noted the trend too, mentally tagging this incarnation as "The Diversity Doctor", but it doesn't bother me. I guess I'm just used to TV shows pushing political points of view these days, many US shows do.

[P-90_177]

*lol*

I totally get what you're both saying... but for me, this was a stand out. This at least made me feel like I was watching Doctor Who.

Yes, the Solitract was probably the worst "monster" this decade (has it been a decade since Fear Her?), and maybe it reeked a little bit to much of Smith's Hide episode, but... well, it felt like Doctor Who again, except...

To be honest at this point I'm really feeling that Whitaker just doesn't have the presence, the other-worldliness, that the Doctor needs.

Oh - and - kudos Doctor Who team for having only the second blind character in 55 years. (Battlefield from 1989 being the first.)

After watching every episode this season, I have to admit that this just doesn't feel like Doctor Who.

Just one episode left. Let's see how it ends.

Is it bad that Im missing the Daleks/Cybermen? I know they were overused but I miss alien planets and proper threat with the Doctor standing up and knowing exactly what to do and having that stand up moment if you get what I mean.

I reckon with the right material, Jodie will be excellent, I just still feel like shes unsure of herself.

I can't help but agree. I think Jodie makes a fantastic Doctor. She has all the makings of one. But the writing, pacing and direction is just.... meh.... There's imagination. But no real wow factor. And I've stopped counting the number of times I've been let down because the writers in general but most especially those penned by Chibnall have missed a huge opportunity to throw in some awesome piece of plot development or some character interaction that would have been easy to throw in instead of some other scene. And it bothers the hell out of me because every actor has been great. Graham, Yaz and Ryan are great companions. They have a point of view that we've not seen in the show for quite some time but they are let down by bad and clunky writing.

A perfect example of a missed opportunity for instance was the episode with the cute little alien that was eating the medical ship. Rather than that it would have been far cooler to see the aliens from Planet of the Dead back. But just one on its own. After all the Doctor never got to know much about them (if you don't remember them they're like the flying mantarays with the metal exo-skeleton) so the mystery is still there, but it would have been a bit more sinister and added a little more "hide behind the sofa" shock value.

I hate it. And it's terrible because none of this is the actors faults but I've seen online how people have been ranting about how they should have never hired a female Doctor and the show is tanking (for the record I'm not sure it is) and I just want to scream that the problems are nothing to do with performance and everything to do with production.

[GodAtum]

I still get the feeling that things are leading up to something.

Hahahaha I felt like that the whole episode, but it just ended with a fing frog!

[Teddybrown]

Is it bad that Im missing the Daleks/Cybermen? I know they were overused but I miss alien planets and proper threat with the Doctor standing up and knowing exactly what to do and having that stand up moment if you get what I mean.

I reckon with the right material, Jodie will be excellent, I just still feel like shes unsure of herself.

[BruTak]

I still get the feeling that things are leading up to something.

[pscard]

After watching every episode this season, I have to admit that this just doesn't feel like Doctor Who.

Just one episode left. Let's see how it ends.

[Annoyed]

*lol*

I totally get what you're both saying... but for me, this was a stand out. This at least made me feel like I was watching Doctor Who.

Yes, the Solitract was probably the worst "monster" this decade (has it been a decade since Fear Her?), and maybe it reeked a little bit to much of Smith's Hide episode, but... well, it felt like Doctor Who again, except...

To be honest at this point I'm really feeling that Whitaker just doesn't have the presence, the other-worldliness, that the Doctor needs.

Oh - and - kudos Doctor Who team for having only the second blind character in 55 years. (Battlefield from 1989 being the first.)

I think Whittaker can play The Doctor just fine, I already like her better than Matt Smith's Doctor, but I'm not fond of the stories this year.

[BruTak]

You know how each episode of Friends was titled "The One with..."?

This will now, and forevermore, be known as "The One with the Frog".

Just as "The Deadly Assassin" is "The One That Got Right Up Mary Whitehouse's Nose".

[cosmichobo]

*lol*

I totally get what you're both saying... but for me, this was a stand out. This at least made me feel like I was watching Doctor Who.

Yes, the Solitract was probably the worst "monster" this decade (has it been a decade since Fear Her?), and maybe it reeked a little bit to much of Smith's Hide episode, but... well, it felt like Doctor Who again, except...

To be honest at this point I'm really feeling that Whitaker just doesn't have the presence, the other-worldliness, that the Doctor needs.

Oh - and - kudos Doctor Who team for having only the second blind character in 55 years. (Battlefield from 1989 being the first.)

[Teddybrown]

Can Stephen Moffat come back please?

[BruTak]

Realistically, and being brutally honest, I can only give it 5/10.

It's as if writer Ed Hime had the beginning of one story - Hanna in the cabin - but didn't know how to finish it. The end of another story - the Solitract universe - and didn't have an opening for it.

And so he welded the two together, to the detriment of both.

And as for the talking frog?
I predict that in years to come, it'll be spoken about with the same derision as the snake in "Kinda".

[GateWorld]

DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 37 (11)
IT TAKES YOU AWAY
EPISODE NUMBER - 3709 / 1109

In present-day Norway the group finds a blind girl alone in a remote cottage -- with a missing father, a monster on the prowl, and a portal to another world.

VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >>