What The Flux?

[The Legendary Shark]

Not to undermine your enjoyment at all, but I've moved from being frustrated to fascinated by those who say its enjoyable to watch. 

For me, as a amateur writist, I find it informative in a "do it like this" or "do not do it like that" kind of way. Certain aspects (ideas, characters, effects, etc.), whether good, bad, or indifferent, spark off little seeds of inspiration for me - during boring programmes I often find that I get to the end without having much recollection of what's been going on because I've been running through alternate possibilities in my head. I guess with Who I enjoy the parts more than the whole, which can be true for just about any series - sometimes I come across an episode that engages me throughout, so that I'm not thinking about the parts so much, and those are the episodes I love the most.

[Leigh S]

Yeah, thats a legitimate reason, and is sort of the reason I have been watching it, as I am interested in what about it is so "off".

Just realised they never did deal with the 7 Billion Sontarans on the Lupari craft

(and BTW why didnt the Lupari, knowing the Flu ws coming, give Earth and the rest of the Universe for that matter the technology to block it)

Not to undermine your enjoyment at all, but I've moved from being frustrated to fascinated by those who say its enjoyable to watch. 

For me, as a amateur writist, I find it informative in a "do it like this" or "do not do it like that" kind of way. Certain aspects (ideas, characters, effects, etc.), whether good, bad, or indifferent, spark off little seeds of inspiration for me - during boring programmes I often find that I get to the end without having much recollection of what's been going on because I've been running through alternate possibilities in my head. I guess with Who I enjoy the parts more than the whole, which can be true for just about any series - sometimes I come across an episode that engages me throughout, so that I'm not thinking about the parts so much, and those are the episodes I love the most.

[IndigoPrime]

(and BTW why didnt the Lupari, knowing the Flu ws coming, give Earth and the rest of the Universe for that matter the technology to block it)

I don’t know how many people here are familiar with Ryan George’s Pitch Meeting series on YouTube, but I can imagine him ripping into this series with much gusto.

[Colin YNWA]

(and BTW why didnt the Lupari, knowing the Flu ws coming, give Earth and the rest of the Universe for that matter the technology to block it)

I don’t know how many people here are familiar with Ryan George’s Pitch Meeting series on YouTube, but I can imagine him ripping into this series with much gusto.

Ripping into Flux, that's tight.

[IndigoPrime]

“It’s going to be tricky for The Doctor to get out of that situation!”

“Actually, it’s going to be super easy—barely an inconvenience!”

“Oh, really?”

^ Suitable for 90%+ of Chibnall Doctor Who cliffhangers.

[Jim_Campbell]

^ Suitable for 90%+ of Chibnall Doctor Who cliffhangers.

That's hardly unique to Chibnall. Have we forgotten the "OMG! The Doctor's been shot by a Dalek — he's regenerating!" cliffhanger from RTD, resolved by the continuity-mangling and never-revisited revelation that the Doctor can just choose not to regenerate.

[IndigoPrime]

Fair point. It’s just how rapidly they were fired past us in Flux.

[The Legendary Shark]

I would have liked a three-way double-cross between the Sontarans, Daleks, and Cybermen - that way the Doctor could have had a SonDalCybe co-operative solution fall apart at the end so the bad guys engineer their own demise. I find it hard to believe that the Daleks and Cybermen would trust the Sontarans (or each other) and wander into a trap so naively or that the Doctor wouldn't try to foster cooperation even knowing the chances of a triple-cross (which she'd use in a Plan B).

[wedgeski]

I would have liked a three-way double-cross between the Sontarans, Daleks, and Cybermen - that way the Doctor could have had a SonDalCybe co-operative solution fall apart at the end so the bad guys engineer their own demise. I find it hard to believe that the Daleks and Cybermen would trust the Sontarans (or each other) and wander into a trap so naively or that the Doctor wouldn't try to foster cooperation even knowing the chances of a triple-cross (which she'd use in a Plan B).

And if they'd split her into three earlier in the arc, it would have provided the perfect means to do that. Three Doctors, working as one to engineer a rock/paper/scissors defeat of her three biggest enemies.

I say all this with due acknowledgement of the fact that it is *much* easier to re-write a story after you've seen it fail.

[Hawkmumbler]

The last time the Doctor went full genocide mode it was in the (BTS) flow of showing his devolvement into The Valeyard, only for it never to come to fruition.

Honestly, after the last season, kind of feels like Jodies Doctor IS The Valeyard at this point.

[The Legendary Shark]

I say all this with due acknowledgement of the fact that it is *much* easier to re-write a story after you've seen it fail.

That's very true, but if I ever have the need to write a Justice Department / Search/Destroy Agency / Indigo Prime crossover, this Flux finale would offer some decent pointers...

I had to Duck Duck Go "the Valeyard" (I'm the worst nerd ever), and yeah - that's a good story waiting to be told. Might as well have the next regeneration go awry, resulting in two Doctors (each played by a small person?) and a season or two of strife culminating in the reunification of the two aspects (yeah, yeah, I know - worst plotter ever as well...).

[IndigoPrime]

I say all this with due acknowledgement of the fact that it is *much* easier to re-write a story after you've seen it fail.

I dunno. I don’t write fiction but would agree with my own writing work that there are always improvements you can see with the benefit of hindsight. Still, before I file something, I do tend to make sure everything makes sense. Sometimes, it doesn’t quite hang together—and editors tend to catch that, at which point I rewrite something to make it work.

There’s no logic in Flux. Stuff just happens because it happens. When you get to the point of “well, it doesn’t matter because timey wimey” or “it’s just a kid’s show” or “it’s Doctor Who so *hand wave*”, which it appears Chibnall did, you’ve already lost.

[von Boom]

Mad as hat full of squirrels only with less logic.

[Leigh S]

That's very true and I see Chibnall as a direct consequence of the "don't criticise the plot, feel the emotions" version of Who that RTD perfected.  The big problem is that Chibnall is simultaneously unable to tell a coherent story, or do anything otehr than mimick things he thinks the show should do "guns bad", so lacking in his own style that he's turned the show into a parody of itself worse than any of it's critics could conjure up.

The "no more regenerations, no more life - masters after you" line is straight up blaned down rip of "He will knock four times" - heck the whole thing is like a apraody of Stolen Earth(?) with 3 Doctors and loads of companions.

Even the Corner Shop was a call back to Tennant wanting to own a shop?

"The Memory Cheats" may be true at times (Galaxy 4, Dalek Invasion of Earth), but its the last resort whoen you cant defend the show on its current merits - whataboutery, essentially?

^ Suitable for 90%+ of Chibnall Doctor Who cliffhangers.

That's hardly unique to Chibnall. Have we forgotten the "OMG! The Doctor's been shot by a Dalek — he's regenerating!" cliffhanger from RTD, resolved by the continuity-mangling and never-revisited revelation that the Doctor can just choose not to regenerate.

[IndigoPrime]

I recall Chibnall’s sense of logic was summed up way back, with that episode that featured spiders as foes. The Doctor had a go at someone with a gun, but the end result was that the spiders, rather than being humanely killed, would instead starve to death, after having spent a lot of time eating each other.