I do agree with Sam that Jack is absolutely the cleanest parallel to make to Yaz. Amy might fit, less in the romantic sense obviously but the fact that she also was abandoned and had to wait all so many years (it's something Chris seems to gravitate to, given S7A, Torchwood S2 and obviously what he's said about the Timeless Child). Jack and Yaz are also the most subordinate of the modern companions, they question the Doctor the least, take orders the easiest, always try to follow their example
13 sitting on the secret rather than desperately trying to crack it feels more in character and sits nicely alongside the force for change or stability dichotomy you laid out in Series 12.
honestly I thought it was going to be revealed that Bel and Vinders baby was going to be the Toymaker and the Toymaker was going to be the doctors enemy because of them dying because of the Flux
Having the Doctor remember Tecteun and all the timeless child abuse is, in my opinion, the one thing you need to make that story worth telling. The way you work it in here contextualizes her caginess and leans into the survivor’s guilt we’ll see in the 14th. Working a big twist around what your protagonist doesn’t remember is baffling and I’ll never understand the Timeless Children’s insistence on it. If you want to do the Cartmell plan, the Doctor needs to know what’s going on.
Grand Serpent in Division... that was one thing I always advocated for. Honestly, it made more sense than just random space Dictator. Also centreing Flux around Tecteun... yes please. I still don't know why we didn't get this in the first place. Also heh, making the Doctor post-canon... making a jigsaw out of their history, but embracing that jigsaw. ;P Also wow, making Tecteun even darker by having the idea of the Doctor being groomed, damn. Honestly, I'm just surprised (but in a good way as a damn dirty apologist for it) you're actually reincorporating the Timeless Child stuff into your ideas, just trying to make it more coherent and focusing on what's most thematically important. also wow the ending just went nuts lol, all i will say is i hope tecteun dances to the rasputin song
A very interesting alternative version of the era there is a lot I like about it. I was thinking maybe do Power of the Doctor and then do Nikola Tesla something similar to planet of fire followed by Caves of Androzani, where one raps up all the plot and character beats first and then follow in a standalone epilogue.
What if instead of the Doctor just being a cagey jerk who refuses to share her issues with her friends because she doesn't see them as occupying the same space that she does (ugh), Her caginess IS treated as a problem, but one born from trauma. Her past is a painful memory that she prefers to keep buried. Yaz feels entitled because she's shared her whole life with the Doctor, but after Demons of the Punjab she has learned a lesson about respecting boundaries. So it becomes a story about a middle ground between two people both coming from a reasonable perspective. Or hey, nothing is good too. Sorry I underestimated you, Chibnall, clearly your way was the best one.
My new head cannon is that Tecteun is the woman in the End of Time. Yes I know she is the doctor's mother but after you've pointed it out Tecteun really works well as a messed up foster mother role so why can't the woman be her
9:49 Well, it's something RtD can talk about now, given that Lammy mentioned not too long ago that they want to send immigrants to *Libya* and *_Syria._* (God damn *_Syria,_* I stg why do so many people's worldviews hinge around a denial of the reality of Syria?)
1:04:14 Well Sam, the problem is that he's an insane eugenicist who was fundamentally wrong about 80% of the things he did, including the main premise of the episode.
I thought most of them where good. The 1st 3 (ignoring the weird middle one that is 3 I mean the weeping angle one as 3rd) & the 2 after where alright. I am unsure about eve of the daleks & I think the sea monster one was shit. The final episode was alright not too good or bad but that's really because it was the best series of Chibnall's doctor who.
We actually did discuss Martha, but I cut it out as we came to the conclusion that the Mickey/UNIT stuff would be a pain to write around and that reducing her to her relationship with the Doctor again might be reductive for her. I'm still into it, though. We've had Martha warn Donna before, but I prefer someone who's a Doctor lapdog to have the conversation with, like Jack.
Options of returning companions for the following: Revolution of the daleks-rose Tyler just bad wolf it up The flux saga-Susan as the doctor said that they were going to go back for her and she deserves it The New Year’s Day special- Martha is the most obvious one as she did say “I’ll see you again mister” so yeah. The Easter special- simply just put Ian and dodo and celebrate the early days of the show. The centenary special- Donna as it would be a perfect fit for the show to set up the 60th anniversary and she doesn’t even have to meet the fourteenth doctor before the regeneration and also the set up of the current era
Your version of Flux is superior in so many ways. The actual series is so offensively inept, it’s hard to believe it’s by the same guy who wrote the much lauded Broadchurch.