@christinewhoyt I will be too, but unfortunately RTD just said in an interview that he will be upholding Chris Chibnalls writing direction, and continuing the timeless child story ):
- and Police Boxes were usually made of concrete slabs, not wood. The TARDIS seen in the DW series is wearing the shape of a TV series prop, not a police box. Odd, that.
1:23 - "An episode that exemplifies this is Deep Breath, which kicks of the show's eighth 'series'. That's the term they use instead of 'seasons' in Britain, because the only weather they know is rain." - As a British person, I take issue with the idea that we only know rain. 😤 It's often very windy here too.....and sometimes we have fog and sleet. 🧐
It was done deliberately to separate the “classic” and “new” Who. Classic who uses seasons and new who use series. However it is going back to “season 1” with the 15th Doctor Ncuti Gatwa. Hope that helps :)
Greatest show of all time in my opinion, it’s by no means the best written but it’s the most entertaining for me to watch personally. I love it , will never get bored either
@@NicholasGresik with the resurgence of doctor who as well we are living good , we have RTD , Murray Gold , Catherine state and David Tennant back. It feels like we are living a fever dream , also Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th doctor is an inspired casting for sure. I just know he will be phenomenal.
Instead of "unhinged", check the tenets of Surrealism. You may be surprised at how Doctor Who fits within. I've been a Surrealist for as long as I can remember, back to the sixties when the programme first launched onto our television screens and that was a time when The Goons were fresh in the memory. As a matter of fact, an episode called The Siege of Fort Night, featured a dimensionally transcendental gas stove that if you turned it's dial, and entered through it's oven door, led to a railway station and the train to Fort Night was just pulling in. It's writer, Spike Milligan, was certainly one of Britain's leading Surrealist writers at the time. The Beatles were also well tinged with Surrealism. Doctor Who was part of that philosophical environment and uses that philosophy so it can boldly go anywhere that would seriously bend any of the more purist SFs and possibly even break them. Star Trek had to invent the holodeck in order to match up that degree of flexibility.
Yes, funny, scary and epic are three good reasons for watching this genius idea for a TV show, but I would also have included "emotionally impactful" as an equally strong facet of the show. When it's written well, as it probably is about to be again with RTD's new era, then it can be heart-wrenching at times.
While I'm fully ready for RTD to break my heart again, I will say that I do appreciate that this last doctor, 13, had zero companions die or have tragic endings. That was nice reprieve from the tragedy and heartbreak that's usually been associated with companions. It was fun and completely not serious in tone the entire time. Yes, messy than the show usually has been execution wise in the modern era, it still fits in quite nicely with lots of the nonsense from the Classic Era.
@@TheGeorgeD13 Yes, there has to be a lot of depth to characters and their story arcs before it's possible to become emotionally invested in their joys and tragedies, and the past few years were - for me, personally - too lightweight for any of that to evolve.
@@TheGeorgeD13 Well, it's a good thing for those who think it's a good thing. Those who don't are probably looking forward to something with a bit more dramatic weight. But I think that there will be a lot of light-heartedness in RTD's Who, which you might enjoy, although light-hearted isn't the same thing as lightweight.
Man the fact RTD , Murray Gold , David Tennant and Catherine Tate are back feels like a fever dream , I can’t believe it. I’ve Heard RTD is gonna be around for at least 7 series too which would be phenomenal, no one does Doctor Who better than him , Moffat comes close however.
1:38 the reason why it’s called series 8 is because it’s the reboot of Doctor Who, which happened in 2005 after it was cancelled in the late 80s, so everything before the late 80s is seasons and everything after is series, so people don’t get it mixed up except there now changing that with the new ‘season’ coming out which is going to start from season one again. And yes, the only thing I know is rain.
In defense of Ghost Light, light isn't from our universe so he doesn't understand time as we do. But it's a strange story. As for people just accepting the Doctor it's a time lord thing. Sometimes it works. Sometimes the Doctor is assumed to be a spy or a murderer but nobody seems to notice the incongruity. Even when he is playing an electric guitar on top of a tank.
it is amazing how far you can get when you're confident, and i must say the doctor is always confident. he always enters the situation and takes control, and why stop him? he seems to know what hes doing.
Kill the Moon is honestly one that flew under the radar slightly for me, because Peter Capaldi sold these things so well 😭 and the ending was distracting enough for me as an angst lover.
Btw it’s a police box, and we call the classic show seasons so it doesn’t get confusing And the Doctors forget Day of the Doctor intentionally, also the TADDIS translates everything to English for us
I'm glad you highlight the bad episodes! Part of what makes Doctor Who so special is that you really *never* know what you're going to get. Is it going to make you cry, laugh, change you as a person, or will it be the worst shit you've ever seen?
Thanks for this lively, witty recommendation of Doctor Who, Nicholas. I am British and was born in 1970 and became hooked in the mid-Fourth Doctor era (although I have memories going back farther). I loved it with all my heart, and continued to do so when it was eventually cancelled in 1989. Since its revival in 2005 I have enjoyed much of what has been served up. There are in-series explanations for why we see alien writing in English, but I won't bore you with them on here (they don't entirely convince anyway!). And British TV calling seasons "series" - you're probably right - we don't have any seasons as it's always raining. 😂
Thanks for watching! Really appreciate the positive feedback :) And yeah, you can probably poke holes in my arguments because of the show's really flexible rules, but again that's part of the show's charm 😊
18:10 time protects itself and if a time traveler interacts with themself, the younger version doesn’t keep the memories. also it’s standard english because the audience counts as a character (as we’ve seen with the weeping angels) and thus is affected by the translation circuit
As a Doctor Who mega fan, I agree with practically everything here. Except for the fact that Ghost Light is sheer brilliance. The show has its bad episodes, but those are mostly Warriors of the Deep and Legend of the Sea Devils.
the empty child was one of the first doctor who episodes i ever watched, and the ripe age of like. 7 or 8. it still TERRIFIES me to this day, and at the time, put me off the show for a good three months
Lol, yeah I can see how that one can be traumatic 😅 The first episode I ever saw was the "Runaway Bride" and the Empress of the Racnoss gave me nightmares for a while
"Wow! The TARDIS! Finally, I get an adventure!" *Opening credits roll* *Attack of the Daleks* "Eh. They're not that scary any more..." *By Russel T Davies* "Oh no."
Love the vid! Quick correction though! They actually use Series for the 2005 reboot as a way to not be confused the original that started in 1963 as that era used Seasons.
Thanks for watching :) And I actually didn't know Classic Who had "seasons." Always thought that was a universal thing in the UK that they were called series
The main part of Ghoslight is what the underlings on Light's spaceship are up to - one is the survey agent and the other is the experimental control. Light is going through a dormant phase and the survey agent evolves into a Victorian Gentleman as it's designed to take on the form of the dominant life-form of the planet being surveyed. While its master is asleep, it forms a plan to use an invitation to a royal event from the explorer chap to assassinate Queen Victoria and take over the British Empire and eventually the world. The survey agent calls himself Josiah Smith and sets up a twisted version of a Victorian Household having killed and/or hypnotised the family that live there. The Control agent breaks free from her prison in the ship and begins to evolve into a Victorian Lady heavily referencing Pygmalion/ My Fair Lady and de-evolves the Survey Agent while the Doctor deals with Light. It's about madness, power, Victorian notions of biological and divine superiority and emancipation and it's brilliant. The audiobook of the novel is helpful in pulling the elements together cuz, as you said, it was cut down from 4 eps and so is pretty confusing.
Ghostlight is seriously one of the best Doctor Who stories of all time. I may be biased as i first watched it when I was 10, but if you watch it 100 times over and see all the stuff you missed every other time you watched it, its awesome.
I started with the New Dr Who, a couple years ago, and suddenly one day I stopped. And this week I started to watch it again, but this time I started with the Dr Who classic to meet all the doctors :)
3:51 I'll be deep in the cold cold ground before I let someone get away with calling Cluedo, Clue. The creator of the game was Anthony E Pratt, of Birmingham, who lived quite close to where I am. So put some respect on his creation.
I’ll add that “Kill The Moon” isn’t just absurd because it’s pretending the moon is an egg, but also because it’s an awful anti-abortion metaphor and the Doctor literally says “It’s your moon, womankind, your choice!” then proceeds to shame the idea of blowing up the moon.
Hey, note from a sound nerd here: Most editing programs have a "dehummer" or "denoise" effect you can add to clips, and just tweak it around a bit which would massively improve audio quality. Highly recommend as you seen to have a rather loud humming noise in the background, but it's a consistent one which means it's much easier to get rid of :) Hopefully I'm not spewing info you were already aware of, and hope you continue the good work!
"Heaven Sent" kills me to watch. Such an incredibly well written story, such amazing acting, such a well thought out setting, all ruined by one decision reeking of such incredible stupidity that I can't see anything else for it. He punches the wall with his fist. Look I understand why so many love this episode so much but for me that is something I can never forgive. There is no possible chance his fist would ever have done anything to that wall. To do what he's doing there you have to have something with at least enough hardness to chip the tiniest bit off what you're hitting. Your fist is so full of padding it's nonsense to think it touches that wall. And he absolutely had an option that would have at least been believable. He had a shovel!
Honestly one of the most unhinged moments that stays with me is Captain Jack, imprisoned in an until then quite fun fashion game show. His clothes are singed off and the robots tell him: "Time for a face-off" Capt Jack: "Oh, will I compete with someone?" Robot: "No, literal face-off" *reveals chainsaw hands* Other robot: "A dogs head would look good on you" *reveals and snips scissor hands* Captain Jack: *grabs pistol from behind* Robot: "Where were you hiding that?" Jack: "You don't wanna know" And it all turns out to be a complicated plot to transport gameshow contestants to alien labour prisons I feel like the writers of this show single handidly power half of the illegal drug industry
I’m not sure whether this was intentional or not, but the “Failed Career as a Hand Model” joke is actually pretty relevant for the 1st Doctor! In a short story written by Eoin Colfer, “A Big Hand For The Doctor”, the 1st doctor is getting hand replacement surgery after losing it in a fight :)
During the tenure of Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi, the show runner was Stephen Moffat. The Moff tried to turn Who into a fantasy, rather than sci-fi/ space opera, and had several stories that really broke from the mold that made for great Who. “Kill the Moon” was one of these stories. He is also responsible for having the Doctor refer to himself as, “A madman in a blue box”, and trying to establish that, “Rule #1: The Doctor (tells) lies”, both of which really detracted from the titular character’s… character, IMO. Further, he changed established canon on a whim, to suit the story he wanted to tell, and went so far as to say that Doctor Who has no canon, which is, quite frankly, nonsense. As a writer, I consider the Moff to be quite exceptional. As a show runner, not so much. He needed someone to put him in check when he went OTT, and the show suffered somewhat because of this. I am of the opinion that he did more damage to the show, than much-maligned Chris Chibnall (his successor) is accused of doing. I am not a huge fan of Chibnall, but he did try to restore some mystery to the Doctor, even though it was clunky, and heavy-handed. One plot point I wish they had pursued was what has become known as “the Cartmel Masterplan”. During the tenure of the seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy, then script editor for the show, Andrew Cartmel, and the writers, decided to add to the Doctor’s backstory. Rather than just being another Time Lord, they were going to reveal that the Doctor was one of three individuals, who were responsible for the creation of Time Lord society. The first two were Rassilon, the legendary leader of the Time Lords, and Omega, the Time Lord who created the Eye of Harmony, from where the Time Lords obtain the energy necessary to power their society, machines, etc. The Doctor was going to be revealed as “the Other” - the third person in this trinity. This was meant to give some new mystique to the character, as well as to explain why the Doctor is the only one of his people who is not indolent, and the only renegade who is on the side of “good”, as it were. Sadly, the show went into hiatus just as they were planning to introduce this to the show. As this was never carried out, it paved the way for Chibnall, some 20+ years later, to introduce the concept of the Doctor being “the Timeless Child”, a being whose existence was the catalyst for the Time Lords gaining the ability to regenerate. As a result, we now do not know what the Doctor’s origins are, other than they were found at an energy gate as a lost child, brought back to Gallifrey, and adopted by a scientist, who experimented on the child to learn the secrets of regeneration, once this ability was discovered.
Oh yeah, I totally agree I should've included that. The Eleventh Doctor's theme is just perfection 👌🏼So stoked Gold is coming back for the new series too
4:43 I would unironically watch that 🤣 also,none of the Doctors remember Day of the Doctor's events except the most recent incarnation.If I'm not wrong,this is the explanation for "The Five Doctors" and it still applies,I think it's to prevent problems in time or something.The quote "You've redecorated! I don't like it." is said by the 2nd Doctor in the 1st multi-doctor story,"The Three Doctors".
Doctor who often ignores established scientific facts. Actually, they seem to have hard time in grasping gravity in particular (eg. episode Impossible planet).
Honestly, its insane how dr who will go from an episode which is a metaphor for abortion (lets kill the moon) then proceeds to give you one of the best piece of media like heaven sent. dr who is truly unhinged
'Kill The Moon' was an example of a BBC mandarin who demanded that, as his kid's favourite book is 'The Dinosaur The Pooped A Planet', that Doctor Who MUST REFLECT THIS GREAT TRUTH. - and spiders, everyone is frightened of spiders.
@@stevetheduck1425honestly its insane to me how even the thought of the episode got screened, you couldnt even say it was a fun episode considering there was no humor or fun to it, half of it was just them screaming the message "abortion bad" at you in the least subtle way possible
Honestly, _Kill the Moon_ could have gotten away with throwing everything we know about the moon, gravity and eggs out of the window if it were halfway interesting. Almost every episode of Doctor Who is on some fundamental level incredibly stupid. What sets the good ones apart, is how well they distract you from that fact. It's as you say when discussing _The Day of the Doctor:_ "why is there a fez there? Who cares! It's the 10th and the 11th doctor together in the same scene!"
The reason the previous Doctors don't remember anything is based on an old rule of the show. When two of the same person from different points in their timeline meet, the youngest copy loses the memory of the meeting once they depart from each other. This prevents paradoxes in the timestream. The only one who remembers the meeting is the most recent version. In this case, the Eleventh Doctor would be the only one to remember meeting his past selves in order to save Gallifrey. The War Doctor even mentions this. War: I won't remember this, will I? 11: The timestreams are out of sync. You can't retain it. No. War: So, I won't remember that I tried to save Gallifrey instead of burn it... I have to live with that...
The Doctor might be writing in English or Gallifreyian. It doesn't matter as Tardises telepathically translate almost any language and there is more than on TARDIS on Gallifrey.
The phone was available to use by anyone, a little cupboard on the outside of the box. The box itself could be used as a temporary cell for any criminals a policemen might apprehend before they could be collected and taken to the station.
Its always kinda annoyed me how sometimes the doctor and his companion will travel to the past and show up in modern clothing yet no one will say anything.
I suppose it's since they travel into the past so often, it'd get old seeing characters go: "My, my! What strange garments you're wearing!" for the ten thousandth time, lol. But yeah, I get what you mean
No. They use the word series to differentiate post 2005 reboot Doctor Who seasons from the original 1963-1989 seasons. Plus police boxes weren't phone booths, they were essentially mini prison cells where a suspect could be detained until back up arrived. I mean why do you think the phone is accessible only from the outside?
Hey mate if you dont have it i recommend just one peace of acoustic foam and put it around your mic to try and null that buzzing in the back of your audio
I'm glad you like "Heaven Sent" because a lot of people hated it. I love it, it's a masterpiece. Science is terrible in this series, as are season arcs. But for whatever reason drawing on itself it possible as rabid fans have become writers. Star Trek and Star Wars have a sort of self-reference too but I think Who is careful not to lose the episodic focus so companion banter is always front and center and if a viewer is lost, they can just follow the comedic companion banter and it is the essence of the show I think. It used to be the Doctor would always get hit on the head and captured, but they shortened it to just getting captured. The doctor is resourceful enough to wreak havoc without weapons, but he does need reasons and often there are interesting or weird situations, as you highlight. The Doctor is barely in "Blink" and all the characters in it are brand-new, so I do think there is yet more spin-off potential that somehow isn't still happening. I think even a spin-off without the Doctor could work, although none have lasted. I am curious of what you think of Torchwood and Class and The Sarah Jane Adventures? Terminator had good spinoffs too I think. Also what you thought of the Jodi Whitaker doctor?
What is Class? Everything I found in IMDb doesn't seem like doctor who? Edit: never mind. It is the 2016 8 episode thing. I'll just leave my comment for engagement of the channel.
I LOVED Torchwood but haven't seen Class or the Sarah Jane Adventures. I haven't seen really anything of Jodie Whittaker's era as the Doctor either so I can't comment on that. But I wish they'd bring back Torchwood so bad because that darker take on the Doctor Who universe was amazing. Thanks for watching :)
HOW ARE YOU CONFUSED ABOUT THE FEZ?? ITS 11's iconic accessory that he loves and wears at every possible opportunity, of course there's a fez Easter egg! Can I just check that you have actually watched the show? 😅
I just find it weird the Queen deemed it "dangerous," which is why it was hidden away to begin with. What's dangerous about a fez? It's like the most innocent thing in the world 😂
So, Ghostlight, Light is a surveyor of the universe, from a noncorporeal species. It created an experiment to help it catalog life, with a test and null component. The test component decides it wants more and crashes the ship trapping light and the null inside the ship. The test component then takes over the house that was built in the crash sight, driving mad the inhabitants and mesmerizing them. The test's idea of evolution is one of progression towards supremacy (a eugenicists view) with the target set upon English royalty (Sax Coburg)...so is intending to overthrow the monarchy to place itself there. The Doctor frees the null which voices a view of becoming a 'proper lady' thus changing itself, something the null component isn't meant to do. Light is awakened and due to a lack of understanding of evolution or an incomplete understanding is disgusted that all it's work has been for naught, at which the plot ostensibly is as you state... There's also this whole thing with Ace having been to the house in the future and having felt the lingering 'presence of evil' and then burnt the house down...which elicits the amazing 'Burnt toast' speech. The above being said the serial does not convey almost any of this with any clarity as it was chopped up, (and originally was meant to be the Doctor returning to his own family home, this would later become the Doctor Who book Lungburrow).
Great video man, really astounding that the algo picked you up so well so early in your career here. Good job, keep it up. Also lmao we do not hate "kill the moon" for the same reasons. For me it's the clumsy ass abortion metaphor. But I respect all haters of kill the moon, regardless of reason
Ah, Ghostlight. I admire what they attempted, loosely transposing the story of an absurdist Soviet era Russian Sci-Fi novel into a Dr Who episode. Sadly, only a tiny minority of viewers understood the premise and most of those still thought it was a weak episode.
I've seen a lot of people explain the episode here in the comments, and I guess I can see what they were trying to go for. Could've really used that fourth episode to even things out
I feel like this video has stirred the slumbering giant that is the "Ghost Light" fanbase 😂 Based on some of the comments I've read, it's definitely a force to be reckoned with
I'm sorry, I'm going to be that guy. The reason none of the other Doctors remember the 50th special is addressed in the show. Hell, it's been explained since Classic Who. Only the oldest incarnation remembers what happens because of sci Fi shenanigans. Also the fez is because tenth left it and the real Queen Elizabeth still had fondness if a little too much hatred for the Doctor, that's why she kept the painting of her and him
If you like the whole "long running serialized adventures that constantly reinvent themselves", check out One Piece. Im more a whovian, just generally know the gist of that show, mainly from my brother whos a megafan
I think I’m the only fan that thinks Heaven Sent is “meh”. Time loops aren’t original story ideas, but ok, let’s see where it goes. Ok, fine, fine, interesting. And he hits the diamond wall WITH HIS FIST! Every other fan’s first thought: That‘s so surprising! And so dramatic!! And moving! My first thought: That’s idiotic. Why did they stop and take the time in the first 5 minutes to highlight the fact that there’s a shovel in the building. Use that. And the story is: he has to do this dozens of times! All right. No, hundreds of times! It’s diamond, makes sense.Thousands of times! That’s so sad. Millions! Wait, hang on. No, BILLIONS! Ok, stop right there, Shakespeare. Step away from the quill. This isn’t a tragedy. Now it’s my ten year old telling me how long he’s waited for the newest Pokémon game.
Ghost Light should not be lumped with 'Kill the Moon' which I agree is a complete turkey of a story. The computer entity 'Light' is assumed damaged from its crash - hence its increasingly paranoiac solution. However the references in the story are rooted in philosophy (both western and eastern). Plato believed the phenomenal world was illusory - a shadow of a higher reality rooted in the rational and mathematical. Plato observed that any object is in a constant state of flux (a pear was once a tiny bud, it ripens on the tree branch, then goes rotten falls to the ground, becomes soil). Though the changes are imperceptible in a given momentum, soon as you define a pear (on the molecular level) it is no longer accurate. Whereas a mathematical idea (2 + 2 = 4) is eternal - it will always be true. Plato was probably influenced by the Vedic traditions of India via the Athens trade port - the doctrines of 'emptiness' (reality cannot be grasped, only experienced) comes from the Vedic doctrines of Insubstantiality (objects are always in flux) and unity of 'in' and 'out' (all is one). In new classicism, Plato's rationalism was compared to Apollo (god of the sun and light), whereas the arts (such as music) was compared with Dionysus - an outlook not focused on analytic reductionism but on wholistic experience rooted in the moment. This dualistic split manifests in the empirical vs. rational schools of philosophy. If you understand the references, Ghost Light is a fun placing of Doctor Who into the heart of the deepest philosophical and scientific conundrums such as the collapse of the wave function: is light a discrete particle (photon) or a wave.
That's quite the advanced analysis, I admit that I only realy understand up to platonic thinking. My thoughts on the story are that Light, Control and Survey (Smith) are artificial lifeforms created by beings outside of the universe (The Eternals from Enlightenment or some such entity), hence how their spaceship moves 'at the speed of thought' and is somewhat beyond their understanding. Also as you said, light became damaged and Survey kind of went feral, so the whole system is broken until Control and the Doctor restore equilibrium.
There so many pointers in the story to the theme of dualism - indeed the Doctor embodies I kind of resolution between science and art (or magic). The stuffed animals in the story - dead and inert by analytical anatomy. But 100% with you on your take on 'Kill the Mood' - in my 'whoniverse', this episode happened in the Matrix and was just the Doctor, knowing Clara was interwoven with his time stream, wanting to be doubly sure of her morality and so separated her in the Matrix and then used it to test her morality. @@zarrg5611
Thanks so much!! And yeah, that idea is definitely what got me hooked on the show. I remember when 9 told Rose he had a spaceship, and I was all like, "Ok." And then he popped back saying, "It also travels in time." Then my mind kinda imploded because I realized that with that power, literally anything you can imagine as a storyteller can become possible. It's such a brilliant premise
To watch Ghost Light, I used a streaming service called "BritBox." They've got a ton of classic Who on that, it seems, but none of the newer stuff. I live in the US too so maybe that helps
