doctor who season one felt different. here’s why. [FULL ANALYSIS + ALL EPISODES REVIEWED!] 

TIME STAMPS: Intro: 0:00 Church on Ruby Road: 1:16 Space Babies: 10:28 Devils Chord: 20:35 Boom: 29:46 73 Yards: 39:30 Dot and Bubble: 1:03:20 Rouge: 1:15:05 Legend of Ruby Sunday (GROUP) 1:27:45 Legend of Ruby Sunday: 1:35:10 Empire of Death: 1:46:00 Final Wrap Up: 2:02:25

THEORY TIME: Perhaps ruby's had mother had originally died and it was the trickster that was the original person who left her at the church - for their boss Sutekh, perhaps pointing to betray and to take over the pantheon. But, now the doctor won - the trickster, who would now be in charge, has changed time by giving ruby's mum life, his gimmick, which changed time and also the doctors memory (as he mentions).. This would ultimately ensure ruby and the doctor are separate because they are such a powerful duo that they killed a god.. and this would all make it easier for the weaker but more cunning trickster to take over. It wouldn't undo anything from this season and would make a lot of sense why they wanted to leave it like this, we was tricked like the doctor - another type of fourth wall break.. this would also not make ruby's mum special as the tricksters story as always about bringing back normal people who should have died and that changes time.. so ruby doesn't have to be special either but the relationship she should have had with the doctor was cut off prematurely, and making the doctor vulnerable as perhaps she was supposed to save him. Just my thoughts on it all:) would love anyone's inputs or opinions!!

Chaotic. For a reboot, you want your audience to be able to buy in and care about the characters. This was almost a clear fail. Episodes lacked continuity. Characters displayed inconsistent personalities and behaviours. It sometimes felt the order of the episodes were mixed up. The set up from the Christmas episode did not deliver. Sutekh mattered to us who have been long time fans but was nearly entirely unrelated to the magnitude of what was suggested by the start. Just poor showrunning overall.

Completely different: The Doctor is no longer a wise traveller, who uses knowledge and problem solving to win the day. In modern Who the companion is now the main protagonist so very reliant on the strength of that character. Genre change to mainly fantasy means the solution can be fairy dust or magic rather than some clever sci-fi logic. There is no longer any evil in the universe - just misunderstood monsters. Etc etc.

Adipose, you do _not_ wanna know where that title cuts off on my recommended page 💀

For me it was the characters which weren’t explained properly. Although the stories were Doctor Who-y enough, there was zero character drama. Because of this the series felt empty to me - I didn’t care about anyone, because I didn’t know who anyone was. Way more time in season two needs to be devoted to the characters and especially the story, as this was a series I hated, because half the time I didn’t know who anyone was or what was going on. Why could the babies talk? Who was Rogue? What was going on in 73 Yards? Who was Maestro? What were the slugs in Dot and Bubble? Where was the 14th Doctor while everything was going on? Way too many unanswered questions. The series didn’t make narrative sense, and needs to be fixed next series.

This season felt like Series 2 as it was very incoherent. The good thing about Series 2 however was that Series 1 set the ground work for new viewers to understand what Doctor Who was about.

One thing I can definitely say is we should call it for what it is Series 14. This was no way a reboot like series 1 was and is silly people call it season 1

Considering this series was shorter each episode needed to pack more of a punch. For me the first three stories were pleasant enough but too light and not very impactful. The series didn’t really kick in until Boom which might have been a bit too late for some.

Dot and Bubble a chefs kiss 💋🔷

Comparing this new season of Doctor Who to the show's other reboots is a really good way to look at it rather than comparing it to the basic new Doctor (or new showrunner) transitions. And I very much agree with your assessment of it 'cause, yeah, it was fine (as you said) but, I think one of its biggest problems is that RTD clearly didn't approach the season with the priority of attracting new viewers as much as he did when he was rebooting the show in 2005. So, he played around with a lot new things but, didn't work as hard to set up for new viewers what Doctor Who really is (as a show) and why it's worth watching. And, yeah, you could definitely feel how he didn't try too hard with the Doctor and Ruby's dynamic, which is a major shame and a blindspot (especially since Ncuti and Millie have such great chemistry). It felt so off when The Doctor said goodbye to Ruby as if she was so special and she had such a major impact on him when... we never really saw that. She was just kinda always there. They had fun but... I couldn't feel them growing closer in any profound way. My mom only watches Doctor Who occasionally and she actually told me about how she didn't like Ruby. After some pressing, I realized it was because Ruby is so emotionally "cool" and "fine" with everything the majority of the time that my mom just couldn't relate to her. It all comes down to what you pointed out about Ruby's relationship with the Doctor lacking character drama and ultimately just being too easy with too little conflict. It really made their dynamic very basic. I think it's a major mistake for a writer to ever refer to a main character as "typical/average" 'cause you basically have just set the bar that they're going to be forgettable and interchangeable, which (even if it happens by accident sometimes) that isn't exactly what you should be aiming for from the very start... (especially for a new reboot on a new platform).

This isn't Doctor Who. Ncuti Gatwa's version of the Doctor isn't otherworldly. Or alien. Or a Time Lord. His Doctor is a camp, attractive, very vulnerable young man. As such he's completely ineffective as the Doctor. He's the irrelevant Doctor as his presence doesn't resolve situations. He is incapable of influencing others and controlling the narrative - he's a bystander. Because he's so vulnerable he's also prone to frequently weeping and running away. Or singing. Or dancing. But not behaving like the Doctor in a Doctor Who episode.

For me it's the episode count that brought it way down for me. Also the episodes felt very much out of order, I mean.. they really were and that was obviously because of the number of episodes! The Devil's Chord was obviously not supposed to be the 2nd episode but rather a later one but we needed a pseudo-historical to be at the beginning and Rogue was written to also be an episode that was supposed to come later in the season so they went with The Devil's Chord. Also having it closer to the end would probably mean we would get two gods very close to each other in the season, because they couldn't do more ''filler''/''standard'' episodes in between. And there was no place for a third pseudo-historical because we only have 7 stories in the season. All a big mess. Also 73 Yards, at least to me, felt clearly as a pre-finale episode, very Turn Left style. Even the Roger ap Gwilliam plot tied into the finale (weirdly though). The problem many people had with it was that the ending lacked the Doctor explanation, right? Well, wouldn't it make sense if 73 Yards was placed just before the finale two-parter and included a scene at the end explaining what actually happened with the Doctor then going full on Bad Wolf mode with something like ''Okayyy... so that's kinda super weird isn't it? It's all about you. Ruby, (dramatic pause) let's find out who your mother is.'' which would tie nicely into the finale where they try to find the mother via UNIT tech. To me, the first UNIT scene in The Legend of Ruby Sunday was super off-putting as it just felt out of place. It came out of nowhere, like why search for the mother now? I'm also still disappointed at the way the Doctor just forgot that Roger ap Gwilliam happened to have put in place the very convenient obligatory genetic population screening which helped them find the mother. (Also, why was the mother so difficult to find??? Why did it keep snowing etc....?) Anyway, I think the episode count really hurt the pacing (obviously) and structure of the season. Edit: Concerning Roger ap Gwilliam, it now occurred to me that perhaps the reason for the Doctor not realising they can use the 2046 genetic population screening could have been that it wasn't put in place in timeline no. 1 because Roger never became PM. Then timeline 2 happened with Ruby being the cause for stopping him or maybe it's somehow the same timeline, idk. But then, when Ruby told herself to not step it created a new timeline where Roger did become PM. I need to rewatch the Empire of Death now, to notice the way they go around the plotline, I might be stating the obvious for all I know haha... It all unpacks a whole new can of worms which was actually opened in the 73 Yards episode itself and that's the nuclear war stuff.. but who knows? Maybe we'll get continuation of this plotline in series 15? Edit 2: One more thought... I think that both the current and future show runners ought to learn from series 10's structure. Series 10 started with the mystery of the vault and what/who is in it, which we soon found out it's Missy. Not only that but the whole latter half of the season was the Doctor, Bill and Nardole interacting with her all the time. That really caried the season and created a sense of cohesion no other series, in my opinion, has accomplished. And THEN it all lead into the finale (I think it's fair to say, objectively the best finale ever). This to me is what they should be aiming for more, at least to some extent. Take series 14 into account and think what carried that season? Susan Twist twist, Ruby's mystery, partially Mrs. Flood's mysterious appearances... all mystery boxes, no character drama, no friction, no character development for the main characters. Maybe I'm a bit harsh, comparing the first season of the new run to the final episode of the last.. I mean, last good run. But it's fair to say that Doctor and Ruby's relationship lacked. Something. Maybe the Doctor could have had scenes where he contemplates how he's become more emotional or Ruby having to deal with her abandonment issues or have them bicker about going or not going to the Church on Ruby Road for plot development sakes! Or just have them interact with the Susans, idk, something. Imagine series 10 without learning what's inside the vault until the finale. No ''will she/won't she'' for Missy, no set up for Doctor failing Bill, no drama, no nothing. If, say, Susan Foreman comes back and joins the Doctor on his travels again, I want family drama. And if my biggest hope comes true, that is, the next incarnation of the Master is good (or really trying like Missy) and travels with the Doctor, then let's go full in with Doctor becoming the Valeyard. Then we could actually have the Doctor and Master's roles swapped and I would be so into such drama. Seeing what would push the Doctor to become the Valeyard would be so interesting to me and, well, it could only work if there was someone good opposing him who is also just as powerful as the Doctor and that could be either Good Master/Missy or another timelord, perhaps even Susan. Oh, look at that, I got to my wishful thinking of Valeyard happening again in a comment. Anyone wishfully thinking with me?

There aren’t timestamps for each episode, did you forget them?

2 hours of content is gonna be great, its so much nicer to have a supercut.

oo great reviews, thank you so much!

Here is your 🧸

Curious if the Discord will grow to be relevant again or if you will read and respond here on RU-vid?

Rogue was my favorite episode too.

Rogue was terrible. The Doctor shouldn’t be trying to get into someone’s pants as that’s out of character but what made it worse was his companion was in mortal danger at the time. The writing is atrocious. Magic hammers, magic gloves, magic earrings and intelligent rope! 😂Gatwa was at least proactive in the Goblin episode but for the most part of the new season he was incompetent and emotionally breaking down. RTD should never have come back. There was no need to change the show into more fantasy but I think RTD did that due to the fact he clearly can’t write science fiction.

Since the 73 Yards Susan Twist character was in modern day, was she the same one as Susan Triad?

*Season 14

Been a silent viewer since Jodie’s era but finally made an account and subscribed!🤣love the positivity you carry in your videos!

Yay

Is it too late to add chapters?

You gave Umpire of Death a 6 or 7 arrrrrrrrrrrrr I thought Sue Techs Scrappy Dappy Doo Cosplay deserved a 9.5 or 10 ...................gutted 😛

It was random. chaotic, idiotic rubbish