What The Flux?

[Leigh S]

And this week "guns bad" genocided the Cybermen, Daleks and Sontarans (did the Lupari ships survive? in which case there are still 7 Billion Sontarans left I suppose.

Oh and they stranded Grand Serpent on an asteroid - classy!

[Leigh S]

Nice of Chibbers to explain it all - its a bit like what we hope for from Boris Johnson with the Christmas Party

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc28I-BIs7w&t=94s

[GordonR]

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.

I keep on going back to that as well.  The whole episode is Prime Chibnall, i.e. stupid as hell (a Trump straw man stand-in opens his new global showpiece luxury hotel.....in Sheffield) and his Doctor gets to be all morally superior while very clearly doing something completely stupid.

If she cared about the spiders so much, couldn't she have used the Tardis to transport them to, like, a planet overrun with giant flies?  I mean, how hard would it have been to fix that resolution with one semi-amusing line?

[Jim_Campbell]

I keep on going back to that as well.  The whole episode is Prime Chibnall, i.e. stupid as hell

Plus, as I said at the time, if you're handed the keys to (arguably) the BBC's single largest bit of IP and by the fourth episode of your first series you're serving up "Giant spiders because something-something-toxic-waste" then you clearly don't give a shit about any of it.

I can kinda-sorta-maybe understand lazy filler if you've done four series of something, but if you can't get halfway through your first (short) series without falling back on this...? Jeez. I just don't know how anyone thought you were up to the job.

[Tiplodocus]

In contrast I watched the first episode of SUPERMAN AND LOIS where we also have a much loved character whose backstory is widely known but instead of confusing the heck out of casual viewers by completely rewriting that backstory, they chose to move forward by putting the characters in a new (for most casual viewers anyway) situation that brings them new challenges that can't be fixed by crossing two wires. And do it with heart too (rather than running and shouting). I hope the rest of the series carries on in that vein.

This last few series of DOCTOR WHO is now, for me,  pretty much what I feel like when I accidentally switch on Radio One. It's just a cacophony. Not just the music but the presenters and news. Everything just seems loud and shouty and focused on the wrong things.

What would the Radio 2 equivalent of Doctor Who be? I probably need to switch to that.

[IndigoPrime]

What would the Radio 2 equivalent of Doctor Who be?

Big Finish? Although I've never listened to those, so have no idea how good (or not) they are.

[Proudhuff]

I gave up on Radio 2 years ago...

[Daveycandlish]

What would the Radio 2 equivalent of Doctor Who be?

Big Finish? Although I've never listened to those, so have no idea how good (or not) they are.

Some of them are very, very good indeed.  I actually prefer them to the last few years of TV Who (and I don't just mean the Chibnall years)

[MumboJimbo]

I was flu(mmo)xed on first viewing, but I binge-watched the whole thing again this week, and it made a lot more sense. There's a shedload of plot weaknesses - things that don't really add up, and I honestly can't be arsed to enumerate them, but I'm not sure if it's significantly worse than that of the average season finale of any NuWho series to date.

Where The Flux does compare unfavourably to previous NuWho (especially the RTD era) is exploring the emotional consequences of plot events. Eg Karvinsta is now the last of his species - oooh don't we have someone to hand who can empathise with that? Oh, my mistake, apparently not. The bulk of the universe has been destroyed- that's a got to be a bit of a downer? Apparently not. The doctor just had to commit genocide of the three races to save the universe. That must be a hard pill to swallow? After all, the Doctor would surely balk against such "end justifies the means" tactics, that's presumably why she left The Division. No, it's all good - hey, Dan, fancy joining us for another jolly adventure? My step mum who brought me up, and shaped me to be the person I am, even though I don't remember it, and she's clearly gone a bit twisted and evil, just got murdered in front of me. How do I process that?

Ultimately if these things don't appear to affect the story characters in any way, then it's not going to emotionally resonate with the average viewer.

[MumboJimbo]

And I've got a sinking feeling that in the New Year's Day episode, none of the fallout of The Flux (see above post) will be even acknowledged, and we'll just have some light-hearted festive shenanigans with Aisling Bea and a bunch of daleks who shouldn't exist any more. Hope I'm wrong, though

[MumboJimbo]

To end on a more positive note, there were some things I enjoyed about the Flux. The performances of the guest starts was generally of a high caliber. The general look of it, from CGI to set design to costumes was great. In places it gave me "70s Doctor Who"-feels much more than NuWho had before - particularly the Temple of Atrapos. That and the whole "not understanding what's going on" deal made me feel like I was 6 years again!

But to end my positive note on a negative note (thereby reverting to form), I hated with a seething passion that whole sorry business of Bel's tamagotchi interface to her unborn baby. Not the idea, but the execution of it, with those bloody animated heart emoticons. That's the most dystopian I've ever seen Doctor Who get.

[Proudhuff]

How many times has the entire race of daleks been wiped out now?

[GordonR]

How many times has the entire race of daleks been wiped out now?

Not to worry, because a few minutes after we saw them totally wiped out for the third or fourth time in TV continuity, we see them back again in the New Year episode trailer.

[Colin YNWA]

That one (Eve of the Daleks) was actually pretty good. I mean no way you dared to look at the 'logical it all but it was funny Aisling Bea was superb and overall pretty well done.

[Leigh S]

Yeah, an interesting idea let down by wonky execution -  at least having an interesting idea put it ahead of most Chibnall efforts.

Didnt they go out of their way to say Nick would always die at the 4/5 minute mark, so once they had less than that time left he would be perma-dead, then promptly ignored that (interesting) idea?

The reset keeps putting them back to the same place but with less time?

It's frustating as it was only 8 minutes that needed to be kept in line, and they didnt seem able to do that.