I mentioned the Doctor Who marathon in my last post. I have thoughts.
The new Doctor is female, played by Jodie Whitaker. I'm still a bit confused about which number she is. 13, I think is the official one, but the introduction of the Doctor of War back in 11's time, and the meta-Doctor in 10's time makes that debatable. Anyways. There was much excitement and anticipation about the first female regeneration of the Doctor. As always, sometimes it takes time for a new Doctor to grow on you. You became attached to the last one. Most fans seem to have accepted her right off the bat just because she's female. I'm a little more reserved.
13's season wrapped up (annoyingly short!) with the New Year's Day episode. This is the first time there wasn't a Christmas Day season finale. I like Jodie Whitaker's Doctor, but I haven't been on board with all the episodes. The first one was good. The Doctor is always disorientated after regeneration, and this was no different. Always fun to watch the Doctor find herself again. She had also lost the TARDIS due to her explosive regeneration. The second episode, she found it. That was a good one, too, as the TARDIS had become a sort of mythological object, and she found it via a grueling race on a hostile planet. The rest of the episodes were kind of meh for me. The New Year's Day finale was the best, and more like the Doctor Who we've come to love (Daleks!). The new Doctor is growing on me.
Here's the problem as I see it. The Companions. There's too many, and I feel like they're all there for the sake of diversity. Doctor Who has always been diverse so there's no need to pander to it. Besides the white female Doctor, there's a middle aged white guy, a young black guy, and a young Middle Eastern woman. Three companions is just too many. There's no chemistry with the Doctor or each other, something that has always been immediately evident with each new companion. The white guy lost his wife to the first monster when he met the Doctor, and as a result, has an innate anger towards aliens. The young black fella is his wife's son, and has a chip on his shoulder. The young woman was a rookie cop, and has the least baggage of the three. If I had to choose one, it would probably be her. She's kind, smart and level headed, just what the Doctor usually needs. I'm ambivalent about the other two so I couldn't choose one to stay or go. I just don't think it's possible to develop any real chemistry with that many elements.
According to reports there won't be any new episodes until at least fall. Or later! I forget exactly what was reported. I really hope they figure it out by then. Jodie Whitaker deserves the chance to grow on us.
By the way. If you're in the mood to get lost in a deep dive into the Time Vortex, The TARDIS Data Core - Doctor Who Wiki is the most comprehensive site I've found for all things Doctor Who going all the way back to the beginning, and including non-television fiction and graphic novels to fill in the blanks.
tnt
