Doctor Who In Eleven Seasons, Season 12: Timeless Child

If we know each other in real life, or if we are friends on social media, you know I am a huge fan of Doctor Who, in general. I'm critical of parts of it, but, for the most part, as long as I don't see  Mark Gatiss's name as the writer of an episode, I go into it with an open mind.

I was incredibly excited for the Thirteenth Doctor. I like Jodie Whitaker as an actor, and I enjoyed the first season of Chris Chibnall's Broadchurch (I haven't seen the other seasons).

I, uh. I don't love it. I love Jodie Whitaker as The Doctor. I love some of the risks they've taken in the interest in writing a more progressive series. I like the idea of the companions. But ... I haven't been able to finish an honest Twelfth Season comprised only of episodes that I like. Chibnall's take on the characters is Super Clunky. His companions are rarely given enough  time to be interesting, and his Doctor takes a whole season to figure out who she is, which didn't work when Moffat/Capaldi tried it a few years ago, and it didn't work for Chibnall/Whittaker.

But in November 2019, I started rewatching the modern Doctor Who episodes with my partner. And I used this series of blog posts as a guide. It's been great, and helpful. I had made some mistakes in episode selection when I created the original list, and we would watch a Not So Great episode, talk about why it didn't work, and then I'd find an episode that I'd previously left off, and update the list. I stand by the current incarnation of this list.

Except this post. This post will start off well, but it will get mired in continuity episodes, which I usually would skip out on except...there aren't enough episodes yet, so I needed to flesh them out.

This list WILL change if there is another season of Doctor Who (all signs point to yes, as the UK, like every other modern nation has done a better job containing Covid 19 than the US). But for now, here's my suggesting for getting completely caught up with modern who, featuring the new awesome Doctor, her mediocre companions, The Best New Character In The 21st Century, and her inconsistent writing staff.

Sometimes a Doctor's best companion is themself.

Season 12: The Timeless Child
(Jodie Whittaker, Jo Martin)

Episode 1: The Woman Who Fell To Earth
(13,  Ryan, Yasmin, Graham, Grace, Tim Shaw)
64 minutes

The Doctor: "Why are you calling me madam?"
Yasmin Khan: "Because… you’re a woman?"
The Doctor: "Am I? Does it suit me?"
Yasmin Khan: "What?"
The Doctor: "Oh yeah, I remember – sorry, half an hour ago I was a white-haired Scotsman!"
It's a whole new Doctor. This one, a goofy steampunk engineer is an absolute delight. She spends most of this episode trying to figure out who she is, and why some tooth-stealing alien is killing humans.


Episode 2: Demons Of The Punjab
(13, Yasmin, Ryan, Graham, Nani Umbreen, Thijarians)
50 minutes

As a favor to Yasmin, The Doctor and crew head to Partition era Pakistan to learn about Nani Umbreen (Yasmin's grandmother)'s past. Of course there are aliens involved. It's Doctor Who. But there are some great misdirects, interesting historical notes, and significantly less whitewashing than most Doctor Who historical episodes. While you may learn a lot, and there are certainly political notes, this feels more like a character driven story with political mesasages than a political statement that they wrapped a plot around. It is my second favorite episode of this season.


Episode 3: KERBLAM!
(13, Ryan,  Graham, Yasmin, Judy, Dan, Kerblam Deliverymen)
49 minutes

It's Amazon Dot Com in the future! Fewer humans. More robots. Less humanity. This was the first episode of Whittaker's reign that felt like a fun, classic Doctor Who scrape. 
 

Episode 4 : Spyfall
(13, Yasmin, Ryan, Graham, The Master,  Daniel Barton, The Kasaavin)
120 minutes

An alien race is killing international spies indiscriminately. The companions realize that they really don't know anything about The Doctor. The Master is back. The fictional version of Google is run by a truly evil fuck (no, not The Master). Plus important female historical figures serve as temporary companions when The Doctor is separated from her more boring, contemporary companions. The new Master is fantastic in this serial.


​Episode 5: Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror
(13, Yasmin, Ryan, Graham, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison,  Skithra)
46 minutes

This episode will probably be removed from the list in the future. It's a fun romp that focuses on the bad blood between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. The alien threat is nonsensical, and it lacks the emotional whomp of "Vincent And The Doctor" but it's not terrible.


Episode 6: The Fugitives Of The Judoon
(13, #?, Ryan, Graham, Yasmin, Jack Harkness, The Judoon)
50 minutes

Vinay Patel is far and away the best writer from Chibnall's era of Who. Having also written "The Demons Of Punjab", this episode, reintroduces The Judoon, introduces a new Doctor, and brings back a companion we haven't seen since the end of our Season 9. Everything about this episode is perfect. I loved it even before the returning companion. And well before the reveal of the new Doctor, but those other notes helped this episode climb to My Absolute Favorite Chibnall-era Who episode.


Episode 7: Can You Hear Me?
(13, Ryan, Yasmin, Graham,  Grace)
49 minutes

Another episode that will be cut when I have more material to choose from, this episode is a nebulous story about nightmares featuring aliens with ambiguous plans, references to the classic Doctor Who series, and some character introspection...but not enough.


Episode 8: The Haunting Of Villa Diodati
(13, Ryan, Yasmin, Graham, The Lone Cyberman,  Mary Shelly, Percy Shelly,  Lord Byron)
49 minutes

An ultimately disappointing followup to a reference made in "The Prisoner Of The Judoon". The Doctor and companions finally stumble across The Lone Cyberman, while having haunted house shenanigans with the writer of Frankenstein and her famous writer friends and lovers. This is another episode that will absolutely be cut when I have another season of episodes to select from.


Episode 9: The Ascension Of The Cybermen
(13, Ryan, Yasmin, Graham, The Master, The Lone Cyberman, The Cybermen)
49 minutes

Sigh. There was a lot of potential for this season. The Lone Cyberman as an idea. The new Doctor  whose place along the timestream we don't know. The Master teaming up with The Cybermen again. It could have been great. But it's pretty dull. I think I fell asleep three times watching this episode but it does setup the final episode of modern Who sofar. So, eh. This episode will also be cut later.


Episode 10: The Timeless Children
(13, #?, Ryan, Yasmin, Graham, The Master,  The Lone Cyberman, The Cybermen)
65  minutes

Continued sigh. This is a complicated episode to consider. Parts of it are wonderful, and open up a whole new storyline for Doctor Who that has the potential to be the most interesting concept since The Doctor thought he killed everything in the Time War. But the episode itself is clumsy with a ridiculous tiny reveal as an excuse to martyr a character that you've been given no reason to care about anyway. The epilogue scene is intriguing and offers an interesting short term storyline to compliment the long-term arc that THE BIG REVEAL opens up. You have to watch this one, and a majority of it is fun and intriguing. But I'm hoping to peel at least one episode off this season's list and replace it with The Holiday Special.