What the Flux Happened to Doctor Who Series 13? 

What really bothered me is how little Dan and Yaz cared about Jericho’s death. They spent 3 YEARS just the 3 of them, and I don’t believe either shed a tear when he dies

Funny that Time turned out to be the real life villian for Chibnall in the end.

The sheer amount of characters in this thumbnail alone really sums up the Flux experience. And it doesn't even have everyone.

I agree that shortening the season didn't do anyone any favours, but it doesn't change one major fact. None of the characters that Chibnall introduced made any sense or did contribute anything towards solving the overall mystery. Not Dan, not Diane, not Vinder, Bel or the Baby. Not the Professor, not the Serpent and ceretainly not Swarm and Azure. Heck, even Tecteun was a complete waste. The only character that had some sort of insight or knowledge was actually Doggo, because he knew the Doctor before. I am not even going into all the other logical mistakes, because you can't explain the Flux and the questions surrounding it with Covid. Chibnall may have had a great story on his mind, but he sure as hell did not know how to deliver it. Take away the great special effects and the fast pacing, what is there left? Well? Not a lot. And none of that would have changed with more episodes, because everything or everyone has been dealt with. The Doc is off to a new adventure as if nothing happened. So, yes. I do think it that simple. Chibnall is a bad storyteller. At least when it comes to Doctor Who.

As much as I adore Dan, it would have made more sense for Claire to be introduced as the new companion and then have the mystery of the Angel being inside her built until Episode 4 when the Angel is revealed. Oh and the Williamson Tunnels concept is honestly a really cool idea, its a shame that didn't get a full episode- that way Williamson could be introduced within his own episode rather than showing up at random points during the series and maybe he could walk through to the present day and spend some point with Kate, which could have made her presence feel a bit more necessary.

I really hate the direction the series has gone and that’s because what I always liked was simply, mysterious old kindly alien professor type traveling around time and space in a stolen craft stumbling into problems and solving them. These huge epic universe shattering events I’m just done with.

The greatest gifts from the Flux: Professor Jericho & the Dog Man.

My biggest issue with Flux overall was that I felt it had so much potential. I looked forward to each new episode, and enjoyed the first few episodes... But the ending felt so unsatisfying... Which in serialised over episodic storytelling really hurts the replayability of the show. I can watch Series 2 over and over while skipping the episodes I don't like, but with Flux being one story, a landing that doesn't work makes it difficult to rewatch episodes that just serve to build up to it, with the exception of the Sontaran one that could reasonably be watched in isolation.

Hey, just offering some additional insight into what we know about the production. So when you brought up the 8-11 episode count, we need to remember that it wasn't until the latter-part of filming the production blocks that the centenary-regeneration/special was commissioned by the BBC. Chibnall was referring to the difference between the S11 and S12 11-episode filming blocks (10 seasoned episodes and 1 special) to go now to 6-episodes for the season and two specials. So I don't think that numbered episode count (which was established before filming) is the issue. Now, we know that the two filming blocks are split by their directors. 1,2 and 4 going to Jamie Magnus Stone then 3, 5 and 6 going to Azhur Saleem. For me, the big issues and when the serialised story starts to fall apart is Episode 5 and 6 when we get UNIT, Tecteun, the Grand Serpent returning etc. We also know that the Bel/Vinder scenes in Ep 4 were doing by a 2nd UNIT team at the same time as the 2nd block (confirmed by crew on Twitter). Also, 6-episode dramas are the standard at this point at the BBC. 'Doctor Who' has actually been the very rare exception over the past few years. I'd be very surprised if the studio thought they'd be getting more than 6 episodes once they knew the episode-count would be reduced. With this in mind, I honestly think that "what happened" (and this might sound pessimistic on my part) is that Chibnall just got way too ambitious and threw way too many plot elements into the episode meaning everything gets muddled. You can see this happen throughout his run, especially Series 12 and it's not exclusive to Flux. The main thing that made Flux different as an audience was that it wasn't until the end when it started to fall apart because the story seemed to be heading to these conclusions...that then never happened. Maybe there were some production issues and some contracts and elements were put into motion really early on that they couldn't back out of and had to include (maybe they didn't want to cast Craig Parkinson and then remove his character once they realised it wasn't going to pay off, or maybe they had spent money on UNIT sets and couldn't back out). You brought up the "Taking me back to Atropos in the past" example from 'Once, Upon Time'. But this is something that's been present throughout the Chibnall era. Unless there's been an issue throughout his entire run, I think that form of exposition is standard for this team. For me, I think the "what happened" is on the creative side. Chibnall gave himself a million plates to spin and then dropped most of them by the end. It was self-defeating.

Honestly, one of the things that disappointed me most, was the utter lack of attempt to build up the relationships of the TARDIS crew. After the years of shoddy character building, especially concerning Yaz and Ryan, I really hoped this season would be kind of a refocusing of character given Yaz was the only remaining companion left. I was pleasantly surprised before with Clara, who was a mystery box and not a character in season 7 and grew a personality after a reshuffling of the cast. But nope, I don't know if it was the Covid restrictions or just bad writing, probably both, but we got minimal character development on Yaz's part. Most importantly, they brought in a new companion without giving his relationship with the Doctor... Anything? The actors seem like they're having a blast together, but there's absolutely nothing in the text to characterize Dan and the Doctor's relationship. The TARDIS crew spend more than half the series apart, often separated completely by narrative shortcuts. Beyond Covid restrictions, which were known to some degree during the writing, not developing Yaz's character and bringing in a new companion who seemingly has somewhat of a character outline but refusing to connect him emotionally to the doctor is disappointing.

I'm pretty sure the 8 episodes Chibnall was talking about was for the six episodes of season 13 and the two specials that had been greenlit. The centenary special was added at a later date. When all is said and done though the production team have to live and die by what is on screen and Doctor Who Flux is a complete mess. Even if some of the fanbase are willing to overlook its shortcomings the general public must have watched it and had all their worst fears about the poor state of Doctor Who confirmed.

This series has done nothing but confirm that Chibnall is an incredibly stubborn person. 1. He refused to become showrunner unless the doctor was made a woman. 2. He refused to drop Yaz from the cast despite the vast majority of fans disliking her character or finding her boring. 3. When he was told he had to cut back to a 3 year plan instead of a 5 year one, he refused to cut any of his ideas and made a series with three separate story arcs and series villains (four if you count the Sontarans!) 4. When he had to cut the episode count, instead of leaving dangling plot threads that would have hopefully been resolved in the missing episode he kept all the superfluous stuff in there, leading to an incredibly bloated and confusing story.

It’s interesting hearing your point about whether the episode count was cut down. I assumed the 8 episodes was just the 6-episode series and 2 specials (new year and Easter). It was announced months later, that they’d been asked to do another special on top of that (the centenary). So a 6 episode series and 3 specials. From that perspective, I’m not sure that necessarily suggests the episode count was cut down. But it is interesting that Chris said that they MAY end up with 8, rather than the usual 11. That suggests he wasn’t completely sure how many episodes they would get in the end. We may never really know what actually happened behind the scenes.

While it is fair, to point out production issues, it is no excuse for bad execution. For a counter example consider Babylon 5 season 4: During the season JMS (the showrunner) was told mid production there would not be a 5th season. So he had to cut the remaining schedule planned by 4 episodes, to move in 3 episodes from the planned 5th season to finish up one major story arc. Originially S4E18 "Intersections in Real Time" would have been the season finale. He had to jugle pushing that one ahead without making everything seem rushed; produce a new series finale (which would have aired as the final episode) _and_ when all of a sudden the 5th season was greenlit by another network _produce_ a new S4 finale and keep the originally shot finale on the shelf for the true show finale at the end of season 5 (which is the reason on actress is in the show finale, beside leaving the show in Season 5) Thats what a _competent_ showrunner is able to do. Oh and btw, JMS has written like 90 out of the 110 episodes, something unmatched until today.

Personally, I think that if you cut characters who, in my opinion, add very little to the story overall like Dan, Diane, Vinder, Bel and The Grand Serpent, it really wouldn't take much effort to write them out, as well the Ravagers, who felt a bit too forced as villains, although they would likely be more difficult to remove, and focus on the Lupari, Sontarans, Weeping Angels and Division, then Flux may have worked. Instead it was overstuffed with too much time wasting on new characters who ultimately had little effect on the plot rather than trying to wrap up the story of the Timeless Child and Division, which is what I, at least, was there for and even at the end they've started setting up a new villain even though Whittaker has 3 episodes left of her whole run.

The fact that some fans think this is good Doctor Who is a testament to how far the quality of DW has fallen. I’m not trying to be a hater and I like some contributions if the Chibnall era. But can you really say to yourself that anything comes close in quality compared to Empty Child, Satan Pit, Family of blood, Blink, silence in the library, Amy’s choice, god complex, orient express, heaven sent?? Don’t kid yourself. This is not good Dr Who. Sorry to be negative. I hope the specials give Jodie some good material to work with. Roll on the 60th.

Sapphire and Steel already did the “Time and Space as two conflicting forces” very well. It felt like Chibnall was trying to replicate some of their plot points into Doctor Who without trying to fit it in with the rules of the universe that Doctor Who operates in

In the end, for me the six-parter felt like an old game my friends and I used play when we were bored. Somebody would start writing a story but could only do one line. Then he would hand it off to the next person, who would either pick up on the first story or go in some completely different direction, but only using one line. Then it would go to the next person... and so on and so on so that at the end, the finished story would be one giant jumble of confusion that barely made sense. Except that in this case, it is Chibnall himself who is doing all the writing. He writes one scene and then a completely different scene, then writes in a character who has nothing to do the previous two scenes, then goes in a different direction again, then add two more characters, then brings in a villian... and so on and so on until at the end of the story, it is one giant jumble of confusion.

As someone brought up in a review I've seen (can't remember which), great set up would have been seeing the work of the Division throughout series 11 or 12. Maybe the villian of the Rosa episode was a member of the Division, etc. Etc. Have instances where it's ominously creepy how efficient they are in completely upheaving whole societies and historical events.

Susan told her teachers that space and time are separate, and she couldn't solve a school assigned problem because they weren't included

Being someone who loved Broadchurch series one, yet hated series two, I got an insightful view into Chibbers' writing, lots of ideas and intrigue but no idea how to tie up plot threads......and doctor who flux is that same writing but times 1000. Why was Diane? Why was Claire? Why was Jericho Oh and Azure's reveal was that way because her human form was an actress who did well in line of duty so would have looked well in trailers

The reason I think The Timeless Child MUST be actively retconned, is mainly that it takes away too much without adding in anything of benefit, but also the more meta reason that it impacts OUR story of the Doctor. Think about it, even if its never refed again in the show, any and every attempt to explain the Doctor, official and unofficial, including fan wikis, *must* devote space to detailing it in order to be complete! This is far more disruptive than the 'half human" line its often compared to (besides, there was an almost decade long break for that to be forgotten, no such break in production here). And if its never brought up again, then whats the point? Also, on a more subjective note, the notion that there are literally thousands of unknown Doctors wandering through space and time (mostly on Division missions, I guess, but not all), *in the same TARDIS no less*...just really bugs me. I hate, hate, HAAATE that idea, and I'm honestly not sure I can really articulate why, it just really rubs me the wrong way. Even if TC is mentioned, I know we'll never see any of them, unless a future showrunner uses it to just Stunt Cast Famous Actor for a couple of eps...Ugh, I just really personally detest that happening, even if it's an actor I like! So, those are my rational AND irrational reasons for wanting TTC actively retconned! Agree or disagree?

In the first episode when Azure was still in her Human form, what was that alarm beacon thingy that they destroyed all about? Why did they pretend to ignore it?

The series gave us way too many plot lines and characters but not enough time to explain them and to tie them up. One episode wouldn't even help that. It feels like they had to pivot the story slightly due to how the Timeless Children twist went over and thus we get a story about the Doctor having a single-minded focus on her memories and The Division while we get plot characters and a universe altering event that the Doctor doesn't really care about too much as she's focused on her memories more.

I think the series itself was always 6 episodes. The 8 episodes was referring to the special too, but remember this production still did 8 episodes, as they filmed 2 specials, the new years one and the spring one.

Best accidental companion for series 13 is Prof. Jericho, I was sad when he couldn’t escape the Sontaran ship.

Also have to remember John bishop tested positive for COVID in the first weeks and production was stopped for two weeks

I enjoyed individual beats in each episode but over all it didn't work. My feeling with Diane is Dan was supposed to play a bigger part and it would have been clear she was a hostage to effect him. But as it is it makes no sense.

Honestly, I think even if the we had more episodes it wouldn’t have made such a difference. I doubt we would get a proper answer for anything that happened this season. I’m just really upset about the fact that timeless child story did happen and i am curious how RTD is going to play with that story-if he will.

The shortening of the schedule is a fair point. *But the bad planning is just another consequence of the showrunner doing a poor job* (which is _not_ the same as being as being a poor showrunner). You have been ( *overly* ) generous since the beginning of this showrunner/actor combo. *Agendas?* Go ahead. But at least let us see it sold well. This is just bad, even if we would like to explain it. Griffith and Riefenstahl works and agendas *_turn our stomachs_* , but they were great artists. This is just tomorrows recycling.

Hi there, first time watching your content. I'm from a group called The Unearthly Podcast. We review new episodes currently on the Tuesday after they air, and yes about half of us had issues already from last season for sure, and this season we were almost in unison with our disappointment, from pace, to wasted characters, to not caring for this Timeless Child story, to a lot of big events and concepts making no sense, and just so many more things. So yes, even if given more time this story was a mess, just a less clustered one with an extra episode. And the semi stand alone episodes were probably the best in the season.

Is nobody else frustrated by the ep 1 - ep 2 jump where they were basically just like "they magically survived" with a very unsatisfactory explanation?

The thing with the episode count assumes that the extra special we are getting in spring isnt counted as one of the 8, it very much could be. I think.

the "8 episode" quote was including the Easter special... Jodie's final special had not been announced yet but the second special had. So 6 episodes for the main season and 2 for the specials... that's how he got 8 out of that...

When I used to work in the corporate world we had a saying, "set your expectations low and you will rarely be disappointed." Unfortunately, based on Broadchurch my expectations were high for the Chibnall era. When Flux was announced I thought this was going to work because it was a single story like Broadchurch. Instead we got what the Flux. I hope the production pressures do not indicate that the BBC is trying to kill Doctor Who again. They did just that during the JNT era in order to cancel the show in 1989.

That was a fantastically put together video and I'm glad you're so very open to people having their own opinions. I myself, thoroughly enjoyed Flux, although understand it's flaws. At the end of the day, despite many of it's loose threads and over complication of it's story, Flux made me excited to sit down on a Sunday evening and watch Doctor Who again. Taking it for what it is (as defeatist as that may sound), I had a wonderful time with it! Have a great day Vera!

I'm very conflicted about Flux. I genuinely had fun watching it, and there were lots of things I liked. But I was so confused the entire time I watched it. This is kind of like if The Wedding of River Song was stretched into 6 episodes, in terms of how incoherent it was. It felt like there were 10-12 episodes worth of ideas that were crammed into just 6 episodes. Very strange.

Idk, I feel like if he was allowed a seventh slot, he would have made even more mysteries and characters

So far the best review I've heard of why flux didn't work. It was methodical, and took things into consideration I hadn't thought about. Heard too many jerks saying "cause chibnal sucks!", or "cause diversity doesn't work!". This review actually puts some brains behind it. I'm so subscribing to your channel!

11 months late, but I think the 8 episode count given might refer to the 6 episodes of Flux we got + Eve of the Daleks + Power of the Doctor I don't remember where I saw it but I heard at one point that Legend of the Sea Devils wasn't originally planned to happen. Take that with a pinch of salt though since I'm only vaguely remembering

I absolutely understand all your points. I enjoyed the series, but only because I was trying not to think about it too deeply. I agree that it was chaotic and we certainly didn't get answers to a lot of things.

You raise a good point there with the shooting schedule possibly having ripped into this, however I think that this is an excuse that can only go so far. If it had created, say, 6 or 7 holes in the story, then it could have been somewhat understandable. However, we're dealing with something like 2892 holes, and they all can't be down to scenes that had to be scrapped or an actor not being available for a shooting day. Besides, assuming that they really didn't learn of the episode cut until after the first production block, it didn't stop Chibnall to keep introducing *even more* tangents in those final two episodes. Why cling to subplots like UNIT and the Grand Serpent instead of just focusing on what you already have, especially when said elements don't amount to much in the first place? Anyway, considering how even "The Halloween Apocalypse" struggled to be coherent (or other Chibnall work outside Doctor Who for that matter), I doubt that 2 or more episodes would have changed much. The pacing would have been more balanced and the editing would have been better, but I'm afraid those two areas would have been the only ones to show improvement. The story itself was ill-conceived and no longer shooting schedule in the world would have made it more coherent or any less baffling. That the ending scene of "Flux" retreads a point that was already explored and dealt with in the previous series finale only confirms how little thought went into the writing. Ah well, tl;dr version of my rambling comment: The assumed tightened shoot didn't truly create problems in the story, it only magnified the ones that were already there.

my wife and i just binge watched season 11 12 and 13 of dr who to catch up and prepare for season 14 soon. we both thought it was great, especially the late episode. the new master actor we both think is great. thought were were only like 1 or 2 average episodes in the bunch. looking forward to the next doctor in a few months.

Have you ever thought that Broad church was just a shot in the dark, or a broken clock being right at least twice.

I just think Chibnall is just incapable of crafting a plot in his current state, to the extent I can't fully believe he's the same person that wrote Broadchurch or his past episodes of Who. Were there ghost writers translating his ideas? Were the producers and previous showrunners having to hold his hand until he constructed something coherent? How could someone be competent enough to be able to create those plots, but then be so utterly incapable of even the basics of storytelling in this current situation? There must be some kind of explanation right? An external factor helping him in the past that isn't there now? Or something new that's hindering his ability to write? I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but am I the only one having a really hard time wrapping my head around this massive change in the quality of his output? Can someone smarter than me compare the before and after and figure out what the hell happened?

Remember there are three specials airing next year, the new year’s special, the spring/easter special and the centenary special. I believe the first two specials were filmed in the same production block as Flux, bumping it up to 8 overall episodes. So I don’t think they necessarily lost an episode during production.

yea but we had fundamental filmmaking blunders even before this season (writing mostly). the missing episode only contributed to the regression that was already happening.

I don't know if anyone explained it in the comments. Chibnall was asked late into production if he would add episodes to 2022. Instead of making more, he simply extended Flux into 2022, meaning the original run of it doesn't have an ending. That is what I got from his interviews

8 episodes have been shot. Flux, the New Year’s special and the Easter special. No missing episode.

10:05 "Why did it wipe out Azure and Swarm?" Honestly, by this point, I was happy for any deus ex machina to come in and do exactly that, because the way those two were set up, there was no way we were getting rid of them without one of those. I have many of the same questions about this entire series, but the one thing that really stands out above all else is that I found Swarm and Azure to be two of the least compelling villains the show has ever produced. They're depicted as basically omnipotent except when the plot hands them the Idiot Ball, and omnipotent direct antagonists are just not interesting. This descended into "only the writers can save them now" really quickly and really predictably. I wanted those two gone from the second I first saw them. Not in a "love to hate this smug villain" way (that was maybe the one thing that actually worked about the Grand Serpent - that's how you portray a character I want to see get what's coming to them), but in a "if I never see you again, it will be too soon" kind of way. "Get out of this story" is not a sentiment I should have towards the main villain at the start of episode 1 of 6.

My biggest problem is how the slowly disintegrating village seemed to just fall off the story once the episode stopped. Yaz and Dan are out in the 1906 world suddenly. All the creepy village by itself in the cosmos stuff gone and forgotten.

I enjoyed this series, but I had quite a few problems (especially by the end) that I don’t think were tied up and resolved very well. So I agree with a lot of your points here. I will defend one point you made though. The Rogue Angel describes Claire as her ‘sanctuary’. It’s only there because the other Angels are hunting it. When they change their plan to take the Doctor instead, there’s no reason to live in Claire’s mind anymore, because it’s no longer being pursued. I don’t think that’s a question that needs answering because it’s very self-explanatory based on the established concept.

Some great questions that I've had myself and it's nice to hear them aired. I did enjoy Flux more than Chibnall's earlier series (which isn't saying much) but that was because of individual pieces - the whole was a mess. I feel sorry for the writers who came up with some solid/great ideas, only for Chibnall to bastardise them into this 'single story' that isn't really a single story. Then Chibnall chucks all those fan favourites into the mix, to distract and cover up the lack of a cohesive plot. The pandemic and episode cutdown certainly played it's part, however that isn't a valid excuse IMO. There was plenty of stuff that could have been excised as they played no significant part. As you say, filming hadn't finished which means things can be rewritten. Even with less episodes, he still chose to keep two specials tied in to filming with the six episodes (not counting the centenary special), instead of cutting one special and putting out more series episodes. That was 100% his choice from what I've read. Hey, at least we didn't get a season finale containing half an hour of pure exposition explaining the main thread of the series. That's something. :-)

'Chibnall sucks - it can't be that easy.' Occam's Razor begs to differ.

I think a more impactful final scene with the watch would be the Doctor realizing that her obsession with the memories was harming her relationship with Yaz. I actually thought that's what they were going with on my first watch.

Sorry I missed the premier. You get a thumbs up and comment interaction from me for your hard work. Thanks again madam.

Chibnall had years to work on season 1 of Broadchurch, and even then it wasn't that great. The acting was fantastic but the actual storyline was mediocre at best. The further diminished writing quality of seasons 2 & 3 showed conclusively that Chibnall is completely incapable of working to a deadline. That's why he includes a deadline/countdown (or Time itself, in the case of Flux) in so much of his work, because it is his own personal greatest adversary.

They just go off at the end like nothing happened, but most of the universe was destroyed?? What are they going out to see? The destruction? This season took Earth-centrism to a ridiculous level.

This was a really great video that injects some much-needed nuance into the conversation. Also, it shows a lot of maturity that a lot of people in the fan base lack. Thank you.

One year later I couldn't tell you what in the heck happened in Flux. I enjoyed watching it with friends at the time. We had some discussion like, 'was the universe just mostly destroyed and was that fixed?' I'm just drawing a blank.

A nuanced take on the Chibnall era? Say it ain't so.

Chibnall isn't writing Doctor Who, he's writing a bad versión of Star Wars.

Ooo! These are really interesting ideas! I’m going to suggest a slightly different possible thing that happened. Based on a few leaks, the BBC asked for an additional special to be added somewhere between end of January to beginning of March, 2021, which would have been smack in the middle of filming block 1, and he had to shift around schedules and plans (and budget, apparently) in order to make that happen. My guess, is that Chibnall’s original plan was to have longer episodes in the second filming block, but in order to accommodate the new special, he compressed/rewrote the second block’s scripts, which would shorten the time needed to film the block, and shifted the time and budget to the production of the Chinese Pirate episode. Based on the interview in this week’s Doctor Who Magazine with the director for the New Years special, Chibnall was scrambling to finish the scripting of it at the time that the director started her part of the production (she had expected to be given a completed script), so she was included in some part of that writing process for that special, so at minimum, the addition of the extra special caused some chaos with the production. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of this scramble was as a result of needing to rewrite the NYD special to shift budget and time to the extra special. (The leaks I saw were 1. a post on Reddit back around end of January stating the plan for the series was 6 episodes, 2 specials. 2. same person posted on Reddit around the middle to end of March that the BBC had asked for the extra special, so it became a 6+3 series. That person also leaked that both Jodie and Chibnall - not just Jodie - were leaving the show about 2 months before it was announced)

I didn't understand what flex going on

Thank you for such an interesting and in depth analysis! Be well, Vera. Blessings, P

I still say that if you were going to start from scratch knowing you're only getting 6 episodes, scrap Williamson tunnels (that's just local flavor for Dan's sake), scrap Bel and Vinder and Great Serpent, scrap the weird Diane interlude, but most importantly scrap the Ravagers or Division (preferrably the Ravagers) and keep the Sontarans. A: because of all the stuff that is the story of the Sontarans trying to make hay out of the Flux works the best and is the most relatable/understandable and B: the Ravagers and Division are redundant to each other (if you keep the Ravagers keep them as a one off villain to depict what the hell Division is working against, ie you could just about keep Once Upon Time if you kept its scope localized to that episode and the Ravagers as a one off, defeated in that episode and thus end their narrative there), they have ultimately the same goal and the same means of doing it and C: preferably the Ravagers because they are literally just a whatsit out of nowhere that seems to have no foreshadowing and came off as you said 'that's not how any of this works, it's not how any of this ever worked...'. Whereas you can flesh out Division and even justify Tecteun's motives for bringing the Doctor with them.....

Question: regardless of how we feel about the story lines chosen, they were still chosen. So how many extra episodes (pre special) would you have given them to give these plots the appropriate room to breathe?

Love that summary of things that were not explained and not in a good way. I really hope the 3 specials will answer some of these...fingers crossed!

You present many good questions many of which could be good topics for future episodes.

I hated that it was all questions and like no answers. I just binged it and kept going onto the next episode like surely they'll explain in the next episode or have a big reveal and never got it

I'm not sure that the math works out. If you're counting the specials, then Chibnall will actually have nine episodes by the end of this. The six episodes of Flux, plus the New Year's Dalek special, and the two specials next year, including the BBC centenary special.

I realized Chris Chibnall was a lost cause the moment he followed one of DW's best cliffhangers in years (i.e. the Doctor's transformation into a Weeping Angel) with the visual equivalent of a deflating balloon. The Doctor puts her hands down. SHE JUST PUTS HER HANDS DOWN. YOU FUCKING FAIL, CHIBNALL.

I think you make an interesting point here and I do agree it would have been better overall had circumstances been better and had episodes not have to have been cut. Also I think many of the episodes would have been stronger had there been more additional writers as seems to have been planned at one point (according to Chibnall), I don't think its entirely a co-incidence that what seems to be the most popular episode is also the one which had a co-writer. That being said I still suspect many of the flaws would still be there regardless because they are bigger issues. Many of the issues (e.g bloated cast size, undeveloped original villains and underwelming pay offs) are ones that you see in other episodes and can even be seen in episodes he wrote before he took over as showrunner. As such while I think it would have been better I suspect I still would have found it not great.

is it just me or did the timeless child had the same potential of The Hybrid but it didn't have the same impact?

Also whatever happened with the cobweb and the moving door of the TARDIS? Did they ever give an explanation of what that was?

So strange. I agree that it seems they had to lose an episode of Flux *mid-production* ...but they also wrapped Jodie's final episode just short of a year before it's due to broadcast. For comparison, Twice Upon a Time was still being adjusted hours before transition. Some very peculiar scheduling here. I don't think they ever managed to adjust to Covid. Although the next special looks like its set to be one location, small cast, simple shoot of repeated shots. _That's_ how you write in Covid. Looks great, can't wait for that. Still concerned.

oooooh it's so validating to have someone ask all my same questions

Okay, now having seen the review I can definitely agree that Covid probably really impacted the quality of the story. A lot of my problems came from how incredibly lore-heavy it was, but having a little more breathing room definitely could have helped with that. I do think that one thing that wouldn't have changed is how confusing the whole "time at war with space" nonsense was. Just,,, what?? Why??? They could have so easily gone "oh, here are two bad guys using an anti-matter weapon to destroy the universe because of their religion," instead of making so incredibly confusing. I really liked the visual designs of the Flux ppl (who's names I never actually caught). They were cool villains. But I had no idea what on earth they were trying to accomplish or where they came from for most of the series. Tecteun is also kind of disappointing. She had so much potential- the doctor's mother who is actually evil and tries to get the doctor to join her?? That I really like. What I don't like is the where tf has she been all this time, what even is division, oh and how does the fugitive doctor even exist? Does the Doctor not have memories of growing up as a child? Was the fugative doctor from before the 1st Doctor? My other problems, such as who or what is the Grand Serpent, Vincent and Bel, and what was going with Diane could all have been solved by more episodes, although I'm not entirely sure just one more would have been enough. Also, now that we've had a second special, doesn't that mean that we had the full number of episodes?

I agree with everything you've pointed out. Which is rare 😀 obvious production discontinuity. But, no, not entirely. There is _something else_ awry here 🤷‍♂️

I liked it but I was left somewhat confused at the end. I still don't know why the great serpent was relevant to the plot

As a DW fan who only recently just caught up with Flux...I spent basically all my time going "...what ?" and "HUH ?!?". It was all so confusing and felt so meaningless. The old Doctor Who (and when I say old I mean around 2005-15 just to be clear) could make me cry over characters who'd only just been introduced in that episode. The only time I shed tears or felt affected at all by an episode in the most recent seasons was during Donna and the 10th Doctor's episode.

I feel bad for Jodie-I really feel she could have acted anything she was given. Under a better writer, I think her run could have been something like MacGyver in Space.

I think the thing with the watch was that there wasn't enough time left in the episode to go through its contents. While it was dumb how there was no payoff in the moment, it's not like she destroyed the thing and undid the whole journey. She's just putting it aside for a while to pick up later, because we know the Tardis will just give it back when she asks for it.

Surely if they lost an episode midway through production, then the important content of that episode was either: 1. put into OUT, SOTF, and TV, in which case none of the answers to any of our questions were ever written at all and everything Chibnall thought we absolutely needed was put on the screen. or 2. omitted entirely, in which case Chibnall had the required materials to complete his story but decided not to rework them and integrate them into the second block of filming. Surely the resolutions to the plot threads of the series weren't cut for time? With all the filler of OUT and SOTF that did nothing to progress the plot, surely there weren't ever answers that were abandoned in favour of that?

I like how they actually worked social distancing into the script during the scene where Bel sees Azure "rescuing" people with Passenger.

I appreciate how you broke down the season…. I feel the same but I don’t think I could have explained it as well…. Also, thank you for being my therapist through this season. I felt like I was being kind of a b*tch but, I see my issues were not unfounded…

Chibnall never tried to develop any of the characters. He could have dropped some of the story lines midstream if he would have just developed a few of the characters in the end.

I really enjoyed the Sontarans yelling "SONTAR!.... HA!!!!" Me and my friends took shots everytime they said it. We didn't come very far that day...

Another question I had since War of the Sontarans that’s been bugging me was why and how did Vinder show up in Atropos??

I loved Bel and Vinder. I hope they get a spinoff (if they're going to be doing some spinoffs). They are really the only part of this series I enjoyed.

I just finished getting caught up with doctor who after not watching it for a few years and I can’t fully express have much my brain just turned to mush watching these 6 episodes in one sitting

Yep, lots of unanswered questions. However, as for why Diana was spared, I think she mentions to Vinder in the last episode that she was considered insignificant (or something) and hence they didn't both killing her. (And yes, I realise that that, in itself, doesn't make much sense!).

The point about the series' directors was really interesting, and I certainly agreed on the episodes from the first production block being both relatively more tightly written and better executed visually than those from the second. Honestly, I feel bad for the second block's director, he's never worked on the show before, and it's like he's been thrown straight into the deep end as he's saddled with these episodes that are convoluted and messy even by Flux's standards

I think this was a really fair and balanced review - I pretty much think you got it spot on.

I see the Division as being a bit like the TVA in Loki....

I do have question. It seems like filming of this series began on Nov 2020. Which, of course, means it was written all through 2020 when we were in the height of the pandemic. To me that means the COVID restrictions shouldn't have been much of a surprise, right? I think he should be at least be partially faulted for trying to even write such a huge overarching story when they didn't even know IF they would be filming at ALL. I just mean it was the wrong time for such an experiment. Stand alone episodes would have been a safer bet.

12 minutes into the video I had a headache. I skipped series 13 and now I'm glad I did. Jesus....mess was polite.

Episode 1-4 = great, including Chibnall’s best who work Episode 5-6 - everything falls apart but at least it’s not boring. Thumbnail tells you the main problem. It’s the opposite of too many cooks. Too many ingredients with only one chef and he isn’t exactly Gordon Ramsay

Tldr version: Chibnall had no idea how to write sci-fi.

27:43 I know its unrelated but this is my exact problem with Rey in The Rise of Skywalker. They did the same thing again but worse and it didn't need to be done.