Kdogg

Yeah it would be. Christmas in the UK is pretty secular. It’s not political at all. It’s barely religious out side of the carols. I’d argue the Church of England took the “Christ” out of Christmas a few hundred years ago.

The Valeyard

Tonight: The Tsuranga Conundrum

Superman07

I thought this episode was best of the lot so far. Nice puzzle, new setting, and some fresh faces. The entire episode came together amazingly well too given how many characters had to be juggled. The exchange between the General and the Doctor was pretty funny comparing size of written content. A,azingly, the pregnant guy story worked and didn’t detract too much.

I really loved Axos in the short amount of time we had with him. I’d have liked to have seen more of him. Could have been a great companion!

Side note: I thought I recognized the guy playing the General’s brother. Turns out I did. Ben Bailey Smith is a U.K. actor/comedian/rapper. If you have the chance check out some of his standup clips on YT.

Kdogg

This was better than the last episode. The Doctor had a lot more screen time even though she spent most of it without the companions. I still don’t know about this ensemble approach to the show. It’s like they wrote a subplot for Graham and Ryan so they would have something to do.

Orbi-Wan Techno

I'm just not feeling it like other seasons. I like Jodie well enough, but I’m having a hard time getting into the stories. Still waiting for it to grab me....

Josh-da-man

Yeah, this season is terrible.

I’m not feeling Whittaker as the Doctor. She comes off to meek, almost like a grade school teacher or something. The Doctor is someone who walks into a room and immediately becomes the center of attention. Whittaker just sorts blends in with the scenery.

And it doesn’t help that she’s saddled with three companions, who are all sort of wishy-washy to begin with. They’re all good-natured and earnest, and are just sort of dull to watch. At least the Fifth Doctor had a whiny brat and a neurotic flight attendant in his over-stuffed crew.

And the stories have all been c-level crap like “Love & Monsters” or “The Idiot’s Lantern.” The strongest one was probably “Rosa,” but that was sort of awkward and uncomfortable to watch, and the Doctor was presented as so passive that I was embarassed for her. If that guy had bitch-slapped Ryan in front of Capaldi, he would have made him piss himself with one look.

SunMonkey

This last episode was just a bit better, and as a whole, I am fine with actors and characters they portray. To me, the main problem is the scripts. Mediocre to terrible story telling is pretty much the worst thing they could do to Doctor Who at this point in its run.

Eric F

Better I guess. Wish they'd concentrate on a better script rather than all the crappy effects.

The Valeyard

Tonight: Demons Of The Punjab

Kdogg

Damn! This last episode was personal (meaning I'm biased) so I thought it was fantastic. Potent, heartbreaking, and fantastic. They might have retreaded Rose's father's episode but framing it in a historically tragic and largely forgotten (in the West) period was powerful.

Koby

Yeah I'm officially done with this show. Dropping it. This season is by far the worst season since the 2005 reboot.

Eric F

Interesting but kind of bland.

Geddlo

Neither the Doctor nor the aliens really had anything to do with this episode.

greydttwo

Liked the episode - brought a small tear to my eyes + made me interested in looking up more information about the Partition. Felt they handled history in this episode better than “Rosa” which went overboard on the date/name drops.

I finally did see what others were saying with the “too many companions” aspect starting with “Rosa”. Having 3 companions while introducing a new Doctor kinda short changes them all. Hoping it sorts itself out over time.

I’m a long term fan since the 4th Doctor, so sticking with it. Haven’t seen anything (in this season or any other season) to cause me to rage quit, so still enjoying it!

RoboDad

It was OK, but still not great. At times it felt like a History Channel docu. I hope this doesn't become the trend of the show, browbeating us about the plight of oppressed people.

The only really interesting part was the idea of having to let someone die to preserve the future. It was a much weaker version of City on the Edge of Forever in that regard.

The aliens were a complete waste. They offered no real conflict, and ended up being an overly-emotional red herring.

The Valeyard

I appreciated the history lesson of the story but overall... it was dull. Just dull.

They didn't even need the aliens outside to stretching the story out a bit. Once the Doctor discovered their "secret," they completely dropped from the story. I think I would have preferred the story more if it was a purely historical story. No sci-fi elements (outside of time travel to get there).

Superman07

I enjoyed the episode, but more as a historical fiction. Not really sure anything about it was a Dr Who episode. Half the plot was around the aliens. Of course they were introduced as some old race on par with Time Lords, but then that was all shelved.

Also, did I miss something? Her husband was the one who died or no? Seemed like the guy moved his gun and pointed it at the younger brother.

I was also super puzzled that the grandmother didn’t let on that she remembered what happened and had been waiting to talk to her about it. Maybe it was the same reason Marty’s parents never said anything in BTTF?

randian

That was 68 years ago. Her memory would be a little fuzzy, plus she probably thinks it mere coincidence that the woman she met looks like her granddaughter. That in itself is absurd. Given the timeline, Yaz should be her great granddaughter.

Cusm

This is my feeling the past couple of weeks. The Doctor series has always addressed social/political issues, but this season seems like that is the show runner's primary goal and an interesting characters or series is not in their goals.

Unclejosh

Oh did Supergirl's show runners move to England?

The Valeyard

Tonight: Kerblam!

Orbi-Wan Techno

KerB!am is starting off as an old fashioned Tenant/Smith style episode. Inter-galactic Amazon, psychic paper, a fez - I’m enjoying it. Hope I feel this way about it when it’s over.

Eric F

You liked that? I hated it- another poor allegory- We get it, Amazon is a huge soulless company and people are just cogs in the machine. Machines are taking jobs away from people, etc, etc.

I fail to see what the whole point of that episode was, terrorism works? The terrorist got what he wanted- he killed a lot of people and Kerblam! ultimately became a mostly human staffed company.

Superman07

I don’t understand this Doctor at all. We’re at least 5 episodes in and she’s running around still clueless as to her personality. There are a few lines that made me feel like she’s still going through a regeneration process.

Also - and this has happened several weeks in a row - we get the following:
- Somebody does or says something the Dr doesn’t like
- The Dr tells them they better not or she’ll be cross and they won’t like her when she’s cross
- They proceed to do something
- Dr does nothing

I’m just confused and a good bit disappointed so far. Currently, if any of these were ona rerun I’d just skip past them.

Xiroteus

Why is the Tardis still messing up or getting lost?

How did the robot get inside? She allowed it to happen?

So far every episode appears to be commentary on something in the world.

I enjoyed parts of it. However they are still having The Doctor not know things a bit too much.