Doctor Who (2005): Series 11 Review

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Doctor Who's 37th season, or series 11 if you're just counting the stories aired since it came back in 2005. Really they've could've drawn another line right here and called it Volume 3, Series 1 with how different the show is behind the scenes and on screen now. It's practically a spin-off of itself: the Star Trek: Discovery of Doctor Who, though I think this regeneration was necessary and the change didn't come a moment too soon.

This was the season that Jodie Whittaker took over from Peter Capaldi as the show's first madwoman in a box and Chris Chibnall took over as showrunner, so it was fairly monumental in that regards. But were the episodes anything spectacular themselves? If you've read my individual episode reviews you already know my answer to that, but I might as well say it again now.

I should also mention that I'm not going to shy away from dropping huge SPOILERS here, for everything from The Woman Who Fell to Earth to the season finale The Battle of Rancon Az Kolor Razkol Ab Kosor Ranschool As Kloplot... Resolution, and no doubt a few of the earlier episodes too.

Doctor Who (2005) 11-10: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (Quick Review)

Episode:

850

|

Serial:

286

|

Writer:

Chris Chibnall

|

Air Date:

09-Dec-2018

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I would've been writing about Doctor Who series 11's epic two-part finale, but they decided to end the season with a relatively low-key one-part story this year so I'm stuck writing about that instead.

I feel like I should be talking about how The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos is actually the first and only one-part finale in the revival series, as modern Doctor Who seasons always get ridiculous at the end, but I checked and it turns out that The Wedding of River Song and The Name of the Doctor both packed their absurdity into 45 minutes, so it ain't true.

But I can talk about its singularly awkward name, because Chris Chibnall's gone against 55 years of tradition here. You get one made up word per Doctor Who title, that's the rule, and unless I've overlooked something it's never been broken until now. Mostly because writers typically gravitate towards titles that people are able to remember, spell and say. They really tripped up a lot of podcasters with this one.

Anyway, I won't be going through the full episode scene by scene this time, I'm just sharing observations and opinions here, but if you continue reading past this point you'll find yourself knee deep in SPOILERS for this story and maybe earlier ones as well. The Pirate Planet jumps to mind. Castrovalva too, but ain't no one wants me to go off on a tangent ranting about Adric and block-transfer computation so I'm pretending I didn't think of it.

Doctor Who (2005) 11-09: It Takes You Away (Quick Review)

Episode:

849

|

Serial:

285

|

Writer:

Ed Hime

|

Air Date:

02-Dec-2018

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Is it just me, or is the title text getting smaller with every new episode this season?

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm giving you my opinions and observations of It Takes You Away, the third episode by writer Ed Hime. I don't mean his third Doctor Who story, I mean the third episode he's ever written for TV, as according to IMDb all he's been credited for before this was a couple of episodes of Skins. He's also written for radio and theatre though apparently. I'm pretty much as clueless about him as I have been about any of the new writers this season to be honest.

Though one thing I do know is that showrunner Chris Chibnall will be back next time for the series finale, then the New Year's special, and probably the series 12 premiere after that, so it'll be a long while before we see any episodes by new writers again.

There will be SPOILERS beyond this point for this story and maybe earlier ones too. Just giving you a heads up.

Doctor Who (2005) 11-08: The Witchfinders (Quick Review)

Episode:

848

|

Serial:

284

|

Writer:

Joy Wilkinson

|

Air Date:

25-Nov-2018

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm sharing my thoughts on The Witchfinders, episode 848 of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who's had female writers and female directors before, but it's rare for an episode to feature both like this. In fact its only happened twice before in the series' history, both in the classic series: Enlightenment and Mark of the Rani. And Mark of the Rani was co-written by a guy.

Here's some other trivia which will get more interesting years from now when people have started forgetting it: Amazon Prime subscribers accidentally got to see the episode three days early in place of Kerblam!, which just happened to be an episode criticising Amazon. I guess now we know that the company's not run by witches at least.

There will be SPOILERS for the episode and earlier ones below, and if I'm feeling particularly precognitive I might even spoil future stories too! For instance, I'll tell you now that the long awaited four-part Star Trek: Destiny / Doctor Who crossover in series 15 will be a bit of a let down, but The Fourteen Doctors will be the best multi-Doctor story since Day of the Doctor.

Doctor Who (2005) 11-07: Kerblam! (Quick Review)

Episode:

847

|

Serial:

283

|

Writer:

Pete McTighe

|

Air Date:

18-Nov-2018

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm reviewing the episode of Doctor Who known as Kerblam!

It's not the only episode in the series history to use punctuation in the title (there's The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe for one) but it is the very first to feature an exclamation mark. There's still exactly zero episodes with a question mark in the title though, so that's still up for grabs. Incidentally Star Trek has two exclamation mark titles and six question mark titles, so Doctor Who has some catching up to do. Fun fact: your life wasn't improved by knowing any of this.

This was the second episode directed by Jennifer Perrott (after The Tsuranga Conundrum, a title I can now spell correctly without looking it up), but the first to be written by Pete McTighe, a screenwriter I know nothing about. It's interesting how they went with entirely new writers for this season, like they were trying to make absolutely sure the episodes had no resemblance to anything that'd come before. That probably wasn't the worst idea actually, but I'm still hoping they give Jamie Mathieson another episode in series 12, considering how well Mummy on the Orient Express and Flatline worked out. Or let him take over as showrunner, either's good.

There will be SPOILERS below, so this would be a good place to stop reading if you don't already know what happens. I might also mention a few things from earlier episodes too, but I couldn't spoil anything later if I tried because they haven't aired yet.

Doctor Who (2005) 11-06: Demons of the Punjab (Quick Review)

Episode:

846

|

Serial:

282

|

Writer:

Vinay Patel

|

Air Date:

11-Nov-2018

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, the first episode of Doctor Who's 11th series not written by Chris Chibnall! Well I'm sure he did a lot of rewriting work on it, as that's his job, but he's not gotten a 'written by' credit this time.

Vinay Patel is brand new to Doctor Who, and to me, but director Jamie Childs is on his second episode now... kind of. Doctor Who directors work on two episodes in a row for whatever reason, and he directed the season premiere The Woman Who Fell to Earth, so I figured that must make this the second episode filmed. But nope, it was actually the ninth episode to be produced, so that second episode is still out there somewhere, waiting to confuse us with how the actors seem very slightly less comfortable in their roles.

There will be SPOILERS beyond this point for this story and maybe earlier ones too. I will not be spoiling anything about series 1 episode Father's Day though, mostly because I haven't seen it yet.

Doctor Who (2005) 11-05: The Tsuranga Conundrum (Quick Review)

Episode:

845

|

Serial:

281

|

Writer:

Chris Chibnall

|

Air Date:

04-Nov-2018

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm talking about Doctor Who again! Why? Because I feel compelled to finish this season and I can't write about two shows a week anymore because I burned up all my enthusiasm and determination a couple of months ago when I wrote about the entire classic series.

Uh, I mean I'm writing about this episode because I have many opinions on it... probably! None of them are really leaping to the forefront of my brain but I'm sure there must be some in there somewhere and I'm dying to share them with people.

I've also got at least one fact for you, which is that the episode was written by showrunner Chris Chibnall. That might not come as a huge shock considering that his name's on the title card up there and he was credited for the four that came before it as well, but you may not know that this is going to be his last for a while. The next four episodes, basically the second half of the season, were all written by new writers. So any one of them could be the next Blink or Flatline... or the next Fear Her or Sleep No More. They'll be a change at least. Hopefully.

There will be SPOILERS after this point, for this episode and maybe earlier ones as well.

Doctor Who (2005) 11-04: Arachnids in the UK (Quick Review)

Episode:

844

|

Serial:

280

|

Writer:

Chris Chibnall

|

Air Date:

28-Oct-2018

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's Arachnids in the UK: the fourth episode of Doctor Who's 11th season to be written by showrunner Chris Chibnall. In a row.

Everyone knows that the title's a play on the Sex Pistols song Anarchy in the U.K. but there's also a subtle clue in there that the episode's about spiders. By an interesting coincidence the fourth serial of the classic show's 11th season, Planet of the Spiders, was also about evil spiders! Well okay it was the sixth serial, but close enough.

This is a spooky story just in time for Halloween, but I have to admit that I wasn't overly hyped for it. Mostly because I was worried it'd put me off my food. Writers should be more considerate of people who watch TV while they're eating their dinner!

There will be SPOILERS below this point, for this episode and perhaps even earlier ones, but no SPIDERS. I realise that most people reading this would've watched the episode already and have no problem with scrolling down to a surprise spider screencap, but I figured I'd play it safe. 

Doctor Who (2005) 11-03: Rosa (Quick Review)

Episode:

843

|

Serial:

279

|

Writer:

Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall

|

Air Date:

21-Oct-2018

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I've got another relatively brief Doctor Who review for you! It's all opinions, no recap, and like the shiny text says it's for an episode called Rosa.

The shiny text also claims that it was written by showrunner Chris Chibnall, continuing his streak of writing every episode this season, and Malorie Blackman, who's new to the series. I was going to make a dumb and shameful joke about her being both the first Blackman and black woman to write for the series, but it turns out that the situation's more depressing than that, as she's apparently the first non-white writer that the TV show has ever had. Still, I can't say that the Rosa Parks episode was a bad time to bring her on board.

This is the first celebrity pseudo-historical of the Chris Chibnall era, arriving right on schedule. Russell T Davies brought in Charles Dickens for his third episode and Steven Moffat had Winston Churchill, so it seems like it's become a tradition now. Hopefully it's a little better than those two stories though. I mean I don't actually know if The Unquiet Dead's any good or not, I've never seen it, I just hope this is better than it anyway.

There will be SPOILERS for this episode below this point and I might mention something that happened in an earlier story too. Like just then when I carelessly mentioned that Charles Dickens was in The Unquiet Dead.

Doctor Who (2005) 11-02: The Ghost Monument (Quick Review)

Episode:

842

|

Serial:

278

|

Writer:

Chris Chibnall

|

Air Date:

14-Oct-2018

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I've got a quick review of The Ghost Monument for you. All opinions, no recap. Here's a bonus opinion right at the start: it's nice that they've given me a proper title to put at the top of my review this time so I didn't have to screencap the end credits instead.

This is the second episode of the season to be written by showrunner Chris Chibnall and it seems that I'm going to have to get used to seeing his name under the titles as he's written a good percentage of the episodes himself. I suppose that's nothing new though, as if you look at the writing credits for the stories filmed during Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat time in charge you'll see their names show up on half of them. It's a big change from the classic era though, where the job was sort of split between the producer and script editor, and neither of them were supposed to be writing episodes (but they sometimes did anyway).

There will be SPOILERS underneath, both for this episode and maybe earlier ones too.

Doctor Who (2005) 11-01: The Woman Who Fell to Earth

Episode:

841

|

Serial:

277

|

Writer:

Chris Chibnall

|

Air Date:

07-Oct-2018

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Doctor Who series 11, episode 1: The Woman Who Fell to Earth. It's the very first Jodie Whittaker story, arriving just 14 months after the end of series 10.

We're actually in year 13 of the revival series now (we didn't get seasons in 2009 or 2016), and the classic series ran for 26 years so it's halfway to matching it! If you're curious, if the classic series had started airing in March 2005, we'd be up to The Talons of Weng-Chiang right now, three years into Tom Baker's run. Somehow I don't think they'd get away with airing that in 2018 though.

There's been two distinct eras to the modern series so far: the Russell T Davies era of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors, and the Steven Moffat era of the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors. But with this we've entered the third era, of Chris Chibnall and the Thirteenth Doctor. Man, it's going to get awkward writing the Doctor's names out like this once we reach the One Hundred and Twenty-First Doctor. The transition from RTD to Moffat was pretty noticeable, and that was with a lot of the team staying on, including composer Murray Gold. This time around they've apparently got a lot of new people working on it and it seems like it's going to be a much bigger change in tone and style. But I don't know yet as I'm writing this intro before I've watched it.

I have seen a few of Chris Chibnall's episodes before though, like The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, and The Power of Three, and to be honest I don't see this series being disappointing in the same way Steven Moffat's run could be sometimes. Because I had sky-high expectations for Moffat's episodes after he amazed me with his early stories and I'm just hoping I'm not too bored during these ones.

There will be SPOILERS for the episode below and perhaps earlier ones as well, but I'll say nothing about happens after it. And not just because it's the latest episode and I don't know what happens next. I won't be spoiling the David Bowie movie The Man Who Fell to Earth either as I've never seen it.

Star Trek: Discovery 1-15: Will You Take My Hand? (Quick Review)

Episode:

15

|

Writer:

Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts

|

Air Date:

11-Feb-2018

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm sharing my opinions on Star Trek: Discovery's first season finale: Will You Take My Hand?

There aren't actually all that many Star Trek episode titles with question marks in. I'm sure it's not something you've ever wondered or cared about, but out of 707 titles, this is only the 6th to have a question mark in the title, after the Original Series' What Are Little Girls Made Of? Who Mourns for Adonais? and Is There in Truth No Beauty? and Deep Space Nine's Doctor Bashir, I Presume? and Who Mourns for Morn? Hey, that Morn title is a play on the other one! I never realised that.

The episode's written by showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts, and directed by Akiva Goldsman, so they've got the Context is for Kings team back together for this one, more or less. There's only one episode of Discovery so far I haven't been keen on, and it wasn't that one, so no warning signs there for me. Though whenever Akiva Goldsman's involved I can't help but be just a little concerned that Mr Freeze and the Riddler are going to pop up at some point and have a pun battle.

By the way, it says (Quick Review) up there, but that's basically a lie this time. I won't be going through the story scene by scene like I usually do, but you'll be getting a similarly epic mountain of text. Plus I'll be throwing out massive SPOILERS for the whole episode, so please factor that into your decision to read any further. I'm also going to be considering the whole rest of the franchise up to this point fair game, so don't be shocked if you find spoilers for things like Deep Space Nine, Star Trek III, Star Trek IV and Star Trek Into Darkness underneath as well. But not Alice in Wonderland this time.

Star Trek: Discovery 1-14: The War Without, The War Within (Quick Review)

Episode:

14

|

Writer:

Lisa Randolph

|

Air Date:

04-Feb-2018

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about Star Trek: Discovery's The War Without, The War Within.

It's debatable whether Discovery's had the best episodes of any Star Trek series' first season, but one thing that's not in dispute is that it's got the longest titles of a Trek series first season. The War Without, The War Within is the 10th longest title in the franchise's history, meaning that Discovery's already claimed three slots in the all-time top ten. Hopefully they can do better next season; I want to see them knock For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky off the top spot in time for the story's 50th anniversary.

The episode's credited to Lisa Randolph, who also wrote The Wolf Inside just a few weeks back. I guess that explains why it wasn't called The Wolf Within, as she was saving the alliteration for this one to get a higher combo. It was directed by David Solomon, who did a whole lot of Buffy and Dollhouse, plus everyone's favourite episode of Firefly (Out of Gas). He never did any Angel though, weirdly.

Beyond this point there shall be SPOILERS and not just for this episode. Well mostly for this episode, but I may also mention some things that happened in earlier Trek.

Star Trek: Discovery 1-13: What's Past is Prologue (Quick Review)

Episode:

13

|

Writer:

Ted Sullivan

|

Air Date:

28-Jan-2018

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Discovery season one's antepenultimate episode What's Past is Prologue. Wait, hang on, Trek already had a story called Past Prologue! It was the second episode of Deep Space Nine. Though now that I think about it the first episode of DS9 stole its name from a Next Gen story called The Emissary, so it's only fair.

The title comes from The Tempest, which means this is the second Discovery episode in a row to take its name from a line in a Shakespeare play. The phrase 'vaulting ambition' appears in Macbeth, and is spoken by a character trying to talk himself out of committing regicide, while in The Tempest 'what's past is prologue' is said by a character talking someone else into it. So I'm spotting a bit of a theme there. I don't know if that was deliberate though, as this one's by a different writer.

With this Ted Sullivan becomes part of the elite group of writers who've written more than one episode, and Olatunde Osunsanmi becomes the only director so far to return. So if you were ever curious about what would happen if the writer of the episode with the shortest title (Lethe) teamed up with the director of the episode with the longest title (The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry), now you know: they made an episode with the most average length title. Organise the episodes by the length of their name and you'll find this in the exact centre of the list; it's spooky is what it is. I thought both of their previous stories were decent enough though, so no warning signs there. In fact, I've actually been pretty hyped for this one, mostly because the title maybe possibly hints that we're getting some backstory and explanations at last.

This is going to be one of my relatively quick reviews, meaning I won't be going through the episode scene by scene, but you'll still find massive SPOILERS for this story and the ones that preceded it below. In fact, I'll throw in some spoilers for other Trek series like Deep Space Nine for you as well, plus Return of the Jedi and Alice in Wonderland.

Star Trek: Discovery 1-12: Vaulting Ambition (Quick Review)

Episode:

12

|

Writer:

Jordon Nardino

|

Air Date:

21-Jan-2018

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about the shortest ever episode of live-action Star Trek! Discovery's beaten this record twice already, but it's outdone itself yet again here as without the 'previously on' clips and the trailer they like to put at the end, the episode's just over 36 minutes long.

It's called Vaulting Ambition by the way, which is a quote from Macbeth, a story I know absolutely nothing about! But if I wasn't so completely clueless, I'd probably mention that it's from a soliloquy by a guy who realises he's got no good reason to murder a king other than his ambition. Some titles have been a little too obscure, but this one's perhaps a little too clear.

But if you want SPOILERS you're in luck, as my review's going to be full of them, for this episode and probably earlier ones too. I'll also give away the ending of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at some point, so there's something for you to look out for.

Star Trek: Discovery 1-11: The Wolf Inside (Quick Review)

Episode:

11

|

Writer:

Lisa Randolph

|

Air Date:

14-Jan-2018

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've finally managed to get a review to land on the correct day! Or at least that's what it'll look like after I mess with the post date to shave a half-hour off. It was more luck than planning this time, as I didn't realise until the last minute that I was writing this on 17/01/2018; a perfect day for a Star Trek post in my opinion.

Unless you're in a country which flips the date to 01/17, in which case it's not.

But I'm not writing about Kirk's crew, I'm writing about Star Trek: Discovery again, as I have done 10 times before. Well, 12 times if you count those trailer reviews, in which I blessed the internet with my hot take on the first draft USS Discovery's boxy ass. This time I'm giving you my reaction to The Wolf Inside, which according to IMDb is the title of exactly zero werewolf movies. I thought I remembered it being a Telltale adventure game at least, but I just checked and the game's actually called The Wolf Among Us.

This is one of my (relatively) quick reviews, which means that instead of a long tedious scene by scene commentary I'll just be sharing my tedious opinions. There will however still be SPOILERS; mostly just for this episode, but I may mention a thing or two about events in earlier Trek episodes.

Star Trek: Discovery 1-10: Despite Yourself (Quick Review)

Episode:

10

|

Writer:

Sean Cochran

|

Air Date:

07-Jan-2018

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm finally getting around to sharing my thoughts about Star Trek: Discovery's new episode, Despite Yourself! I've left it a bit late I'm afraid, as by the time I'm posting this the next episode's almost out. Could be worse though, as I'm 25 years late on my Deep Space Nine reviews.

Discovery's been a bit lazy itself, with the way it took December off, but it's back now for season 1, chapter 2, and Trek veteran Jonathan Frakes is at the helm! I've been waiting for this episode ever since watching the episode of The Orville he directed, Pria, as I was curious which would turn out to be better. Not that a TV director has that much influence on an episode, it's not like he wrote it, but I'm still interested in how it turns out. Which of them is going to impress me more, Despite Yourself or Pria?

There'll be huge SPOILERS for the episode, by the way, and probably earlier Trek episodes as well. Though this is just a quick review and I won't be going through it scene by scene like I usually do with TV shows.