Written by and for white people? Doctor Who: Dot and Bubble Review (with David Chipakupaku) 

As a black person, I cannot disagree more that this was 'for white people'. I have heard from too many other black people who love this episode!! It speaks to a real issue, that awareness of being excluded because you are 'other' is usually subtle and has never just 'gone away' if we ignore it. As for being written by a white writer, don't forget RTD is gay and has lived with being 'other' too. Racism, anti-LGBT, all the bigotries and hates come from the same root. Finally, while there does need to be more POC behind the scenes, white writers should address racism just like all artists should feel free to address problems they feel need to be discussed.

As far as the Doctor's surprise is concerned, not only is this the first black incarnation that they have memories of, but it kind of illustrates that there is a difference between observing and understanding that racism exists, and experiencing it yourself. As far as the tone, I think it was perfect for hiding the racism underneath. Racism is not always dark or something that is obvious, and more often is something that racists try their best to hide, and they leveraged this for the reveal moment at the end.

I totally agree that the production needs needs more people of color and black people especially. RTD has said that the Whoniverse is meant to be diverse, but even Chibnall knew to bring in a black co-writer when writing Rosa and a British-Indian writer to do Demons of the Punjab. Having a white writer handle the racism episode feels weird. Like David, I absolutely LOVED Ruby's reaction at the end for all the reasons he gave. I actually don't mind the Doctor's reaction. He doesn't truly remember being anyone before Hartnell's Doctor. He has glimpses from the experiences at the end of Series 12, but his clearest memories are of Hartnell on. In Nu Who especially, the white Doctors spent years brushing aside their black companions' uneasy feelings about being black in a potentially racist society. In Human Nature/Family of Blood, Thin Ice, and Rosa, those companions have to deal with racism. The Doctor straight up told Martha to strut around like she owns the place in Elizabethan England. The Doctor has lived for thousands of years with sympathy, but also white privilege instead of true understanding. This episode was the moment when that privilege goes away and true understanding begins. It's similar to when Thirteen realizes in the Witchfinders that plenty of people won't believe or trust her because that incarnation was a woman. You hypothetically know mentally, but you don't fully understand emotionally until it happens.

I think the Doctor reacted that way because it's literally the first time we see him not being able to save people because of his appearance, he didn't really know how to deal with that, realizing that no speeches would change their mind

I had thought the Doctor’s reaction wasn’t because they were being so racist but because they were sooo steadfast and stupid in their racism they’d die for it. Like he was angry they were going to die despite how they treated him.

I don’t think the doctor has the memories of the fugitive doctor, so as far as the Doctor’s conscious mind is concerned, this is his first time as a black man

I personally disagree with David's suggestion of having a darker tone throughout, because my takeaway from this episode was a bit more general than just a commentary on racism. RTD is calling out his white viewers directly for not noticing the signs of racism everywhere, but you can easily generalize this as a metaphor for all forms of oppression. Nobody is a member of every group experiencing oppression. So metaphorically he's also calling out everyone for their own inattentive blindness to those outside their bubble. The most powerful aspect of the episode for me was not simply the twist that they were racist the whole time, but the identification that racism requires dehumanization, and dehumanization requires a level of separation (such as the bubbles around the people and the city itself). I think it's important to have the contrast in tones in the episode to establish that the more personally comfortable thing to do will always be to focus on what's inside your bubble, so the tone is happier while Lindy is able to maintain her bubble. But living in our own bubbles pushes us towards being idiotic (racist) and incompetent (can't even walk) from the perspective of those outside our bubbles. Once the bubbles drop, we see the true consequences they have had on people, and this functions better as a stark contrast. The point about no black writers is important, though. Keep making noise about that for sure. But I think if you recognize the parallels in how different types of oppression function, I think the episode still works well as a message to everyone.

Her being rich and privileged isn’t the problem, in my opinion. It’s how stuck up, narcissistic and racist she is which the bigger issue of her character. The way she exploits her wealth and privilege, among many other things, is why I hate her, yet Callie did a phenomenal job at portraying her.

Thank you for having me on Christel!

This episode is about the monster you cant see sitting right next to you, which is a racist. you cannot obviously spot a racist on appearance alone in the same way you can see a black person.

Next week's "Rogue" will be first episode since February of 2020 that wasnt written by one of the same three white men: Chibnall, Davies or Moffat.

I'm glad you brought on David for a different perspective. FYI I'm a non-black POC, and I agree 100% that not having any black writers is a big oversight on RTD's part and something I hope is corrected by next season. On the point about David's confusion that The Doctor would be surprised because of how old they are, maybe I am cynical, but I do find it believable that a being that has spent most of their existence being privileged as The Doctor has could have failed to learn a lesson about what it is like to be a racialized minority-- for example I don't really think that white people who may read a lot about the history of racism can know what it is like to be black. (though I admit I did not factor in "The Fugitive Doctor" in this equation... never saw that episode--- but apparently the memories of that incarnation have been erased from the Doctor's perspective canonically, so this incarnation is the first one where they can apply the experiences of being black to their perspective). In a way I think it would be short sighted and problematic if the show implied that just being alive for a very long time and only having prior memories of being a privileged white human presenting being was enough to not be phased by knowing that some people you can save would rather take their chances with death simply because of the color of your skin. Though ironically this is very connected to the same mistake RTD made by not hiring any black writers.

On the "written for white people?" question, I really recommend watching RU-vid reactions from a diverse group of people to develop a somewhat informed view on that question. I have, and none of the reactors I watched saw the ending coming, plenty of reactors (not all of them white) still didn't realise that it was about racism even after seeing the ending, and only one reactor (who was white) noticed racism before seeing the ending. So I didn't see any evidence that white people were exceptionally slow to pick up on the message. Maybe I would with a larger sample size, but the point is that a person's reaction to the epsiode cannot be reduced to the colour of their skin. Dot and Bubble should be praised for genuinely surprising almost everyone, despite giving all those clues that seemed so obvious in hindsight. Yeah, the writer was white... if episodes like Rosa and Demons of the Punjab didn't exist, then that would be a legitimate concern, but I think it would be a mistake to say that white people should never write about types of discrimination that they haven't suffered from.

Having this set in the far future is a warning to society as a whole.

What if Susan Twist’s characters are another version of the “Impossible Girl”? Another “Clara” who keeps popping up in the Doctor’s timeline?🤔

5:23 Shoutout to David for making this point, because it is also my biggest concern for this "season" -- now that RTD called it from time to time. If RTD is aiming the show to be diverse, new, and unlike anything like all the other notable sci-fi shows in the show, surely there must be a lot of diverse writers and directors, right? It's so funky to me that we're getting almost the same writers who, in some episodes, make the issues of our society -- racism, capitalism, growing up orphaned, the rich abandoning the powerless -- the focus as if they know them. This comment is not out of spite, but out of great care and concern for the show because I am rooting for the show to thrive beautifully -- but in order to do that, the show needs to be open to a variety of UK writers, of varying races and ethnicities, and especially of varying sexualities and genders, because mind you the future and space is very fluid than these rigid societal constraints that persists for centuries and to this day.

I think this episode, much like Killers of the Flower Moon, was aimed at raising awareness of how systemic white supremacy is. I do think there should have been consultants at the very least who can speak to their experiences, but for this episode in particular I think it was mostly aimed at 'white liberals' who don't question their privilege or assume there is no racism in todays society.

Ah, blue/red is Doppler effect, approaching and moving away. Remember they did this in the titles for Ecclestone and Tennant, 9th and 10th Doctor eras.

I really appreciate this perspective on the episode, and such valid points! I always thought the angry reaction of the Doctor at the end was more the frustration that he couldn't save them since they were a bunch of racists. I think it was just pure frustration. That's how I read it anyway.

If I were to rank these and the specials now, I think it would go a bit like this: 01. 73 Yards - A creepy and scary character study that I keep thinking about even now. 02. Dot and Bubble - Clever and thought provoking. I like episodes that feeds me all the clues and can still (shamefully) surprise me at the end. 03. Church on Ruby Road - Ncuti's real entrance, introduces Millie as Ruby, lots of energy, lots of energy, lots of chemistry lot's of fun. This seems like the real start. 05. The Star Beast - Good old Doctor Who! 06. Wild Blue Yonder - I kinda hate that Doctor explains out-loud what the whole next season is going to be about. This one could be 07. 07. Boom - It's good, although that one individual landmine seems to get an awful lot of visitors. This one could be 06. 08. The Giggle - It's fine, I guess. Great guests and musical number, and Neil Patrick Harris steals the show, but this seems like another episode purpose-built to confuse the new would-be viewers. 09. The Devil's Chord - _HOW CAN YOU HAVE A BEATLES EPISODE WITHOUT ANY BEETLES' MUSIC!?_ This one would be dead last without Jinkx. Season position-wise this episode feels like it should be the climax, or something that happens next season. What new Who-viewer is going to know the Doctor rarely if ever gets this scared? 10. Space Babies - I'm just not buying the Doctor's rational to save the boogieman at the last minute. Even an out loud observation about how lonely it must be to engineered to frighten everyone around you would have helped. I don't hate any of these, but four of the last five on the list have at least one moment that drags me completely out of the action, and Space Babies did that the hardest.

I was the same as David, I didn't pick-up on the clues but something felt off.

I do think this episode was subtle. Tons of people didn’t get the micro aggression, sadly I did. I attribute that to living subtle racism.

Hi Christel, I hope the next Doctor Who (2005) episode will be dedicated to William Russell.

Took me some time to clock it because the signs were so subtly coded. Also afterwards my sense that this was a story where the Doctor arrives after the villains had won ie The Cleansing , sort of like the first Doctor already arrived after the Daleks were created . The actions are the consequences after the villains’ triumph after developing an ai so sophisticated that it deemed them redundant as a society

Wish I had this vid when the ep came out. Well articulated, thank you guys!

Please don’t think this particular guest fully represents the black diaspora. Each person has a right to their own opinions. I do not agree with a lot of his views. No not an episode for “white” people anyone sitting down to watch this has to answer to themselves why it took so long to see what was staring them in their face. We all experience where anti-black sentiments are enduring irrespective of ethnicity. I do look forward to a writers room which can pull on a wider range of experiences by having a more diverse group. But I fear it is too late for 15. I personally would love to see more of the fugitive doctor. However 15 and fugitive do not share memories. This would be the first time he is directly experiencing racism aimed at him. Fugitive has been my favourite in years. (Not going to rank 15 until after the final episode of this season. )

What she did to Ricky September was just to make sure people didn't like her at all, even before the racism reveal. Otherwise, sadly, not everyone would have disliked the character. Many, many people today would have been just fine with it, but killing another yt person beforehand. 😱

What I learnt from this episode was we need a lot of salt for those slugs.

Very interesting to hear David’s perspective. Thanks 🙂

First thank you for this video, great job on the title, as that is why I clicked, I will explain. When I first started watching the reviews after it aired, I was initially at a loss and had to go back to the episode (I'm African American). I thought maybe it was an AMERICAN thing because I missed the whole race thing. I like the comment of written for and by white people..., agree and disagree. Many things are, and we often just take it at face value at this point (50 + years of TV viewing experience for myself). I really appreciated the irony that David is bringing here. I did not even think of that angle, again no assumption was made that the production team behind this show is all white. What I can say, is that it reminds me of so many shows/movies that have lived this experience, and the actor has simply said "black people don't talk/act this way"... Anyway, so many good points here, suffice it to say, the fact that it is about racism, diminishes the episode for me. Why, cause the issue is partially saturated and thus has been better represented not only in Doctor Who itself, but in so many other shows. Also, why would the doctor, notice he was black or white... seriously as an alien, stop and THINK about this (Star Trek TOS Let That Be Your Last Battlefield) hints at this .... at the same time, maybe this is why Ruby noticed first. Having a black doctor, albeit cool CANNOT represent black people, as there is no shared experience to relate to, he is an ALIEN, so maybe in all his travels, he has seen and experienced some levels of racism, it would rarely be because he was black, however highlighting it in an episode as was done in "the family of blood" with Martha, was brilliant, as it made the point yet did not detract from the main story. @Christel Dee, thank you so much for this video, it really clarified how I felt about this episode, which I totally got wrong., thank you for bringing on David, although still have different backgrounds he expertly chimed in on a lot of nuances that I could feel but not articulate. In my head, for me to actually like this episode it cannot be about racism, as I did not notice it was an all-white cast until after it was "shoved" in my face. If I had a reaction channel, I think that would be an very interesting video essay from an African American perspective.... why many of us, failed to notice (as I was not the only one.)

Finally someone wants to know my ever-changing ranking of this era’s episodes! 😁 1. 73 Yards 2. Boom 3. Wild Blue Yonder 4. The Church on Ruby Road 5. Space Babies 6. Dot and Bubble 7. The Star Beast 8. The Giggle 9. The Devil’s Chord Feel free to disagree with me! 😊

The Vlinx was wearing blue.

Making the tone of episode darker throughout would be what a good writer can do. But gear shifts and subversion of expectation? Thats what great writers aim to achieve. This whole series has been experimental on the level of narative, and clearly RTD (and SM) has been brilliant at this. Why would you ask them to do something that they can already do very well, and not giving us something that is new and special and challenging the form of narratives?

Such a good perspective and such valid points. I do think it smells funny that not a single non-white writer has been employed for the first series of Doctor Who led by a black actor. Very strange, tbh - wasn’t aware of this until now. But otherwise have no complaints with the episode itself - if it was written for white people, it at least managed to start a conversation.

Wow! David completely missed the point of the episode.

I thought that one of the things that stops us from realising that everybody is white in that world is, funnily enough, the color scheme. The colours on finetime are all crayon and watercolour. That kind of colours don't match dark skins, and come to think about it, dark hair. They wouldn't look good on me, italian, dark hair, dark eyes. It's clearly not only a white people world, it's a blond people world!

When I first watched it I completely missed the racism parts, I saw it all as them being classist. But then through watching reactions to the episode, a lot of microaggressions were pointed out and I was like ohhhh, duh XD. But I do think it was a little too subtle. And I certainly saw some comments of people who also thought it was about class too. So I think it could have been a touch more overt. Also, Ricky would have made such a fantastic temporary companion! Gahhh!

It may have been a forced issue concerning "alleged" racism, but really it wasn't that at all. Pepper met the supposedly guy of her dreams that sings her favorite song it seems and she's all about being with him until he says he unplugs from the system and goes out and tries to live a normal life. Now here is where the psychopath narcissist first rears her ugly head. But she still follows him to get to the river. Now they are stuck in a room like a rock and a hard place. And when the "ball" comes looking for them and Pepper realizes that she's next to be dispatched, she goes into photogenic memory and tells the ball that the poor "White" guy that's trying to save her, well his last name started with a 'C' until he changed it sometime last year. So, this really has more with the haves and have nots and it doesn't matter your race. Pepper being a Sociopsychopath caused all of her feiends at work to be killed, a genuine guy that liked her and tried to save her, and she will cause the death of anyone as long as she's the one that comes out alive. She is an equal opportunity killer.

Well Rt davies is kind of hands on

Rosa handled it much better - it was co written.

This was the first episode I didn't like. I think it's because the main character - was so unlikable and I didn't care at all what happend to her. I liked the ending but felt unearned and could have been handled better. Also, the episode was just a lot of "go here, go there".

Does the doctor see himself as black.

I thought your guest was a bit unfair criticising the white production team, only 18% of the uk population is non white so only one in five of the team would need to be black to represent this. Especially when Russell has always championed diversity even back in 2005 and we have a black doctor. What a fantastic episode and kudos to the team for facing the issue head on

I feel like David needs to get better at communicating his ideas because a lot of his argument just comes down to "this feels off" and then pointing out Russell T Davies is white. We all know Russell T Davies is white so it's rather pointless to point out. Maybe he has a deeper idea below the surface but it feels like he's spent a little too much time on twitter and struggles to say his thoughts out loud

So much about this episode irritated me. It had too many themes for a start. If you are going to cover racism surely it really needs to be set on earth to understand the context? We have no idea what planet this was set on or the history of the people. I think it would have been more interesting if all of the population have been Asian and they were exposed as racists. Why is it continually white people that are harangued as being racists it works for any race. This is just one of the many issues I had with this story. How did those giant bugs get created by AI?? It was very childish and seems to be aimed at a low intelligence audience. Hammering home the same points endlessly it just got tiresome pretty quick form

I see that 🍉 😍❤️

Another way of interpreting the episode is as cancel culture, ruby and the doctor challenge the preconceptions of the Finetimers, and for that they get cancelled, I could also see how other people interpret it as being racism, but, i tend to see racism as an example of cancel culture

I wonder how many people noticed how often Doctor Ncüti used sexist, condescending terms such as _honey_ and _babes?_

Can people stop talking about race and diversity, hire the best actors and make good stories and guess what well have good shows again and diversity of stories and characters, diversity of character and people are what people want, just thinking black and white is why people are sick of modern media. Is it racist to have a place that is all white or all black... no its not and it fine to have an all black episode and or all white episode, it depends on the area or time period. Adding diversity to the past where it wasn't, is just infuriating but if you want diversity do episodes of African nations but you have to remember this is a show made for England, primarily white and obviously most charters in episodes based in England would be white. Just please stop with Everyone white is unconsciously racist and need to check their privilege. you could see this episode as racist as Russel T Davies has written an episode assuming people in the future that are white are the only rich privileged people and you could see that as a racist assumption but we just need to chill and make good stories and forget about DEI and make good characters.

Show is 💩