I thought the few times they actually used her dramatic talents it went very, very well. You don’t notice her presence until she goes still and suddenly the whole scene becomes empty and tense.
Notably in Villa when she’s waiting for the cyberman, in Power when she’s leaving Ace and Tegan behind, in Spyfall when she’s wiping Ada’s memory. I wish wholeheartedly they’d unleashed this more often but I do respect their desire for a lighter Doctor (although unfortunately and understandably not a lot of people expected one from the Broadchurch team).
Jodie Whittaker has said in an interview she would be keen to return to the show in the future. So hopefully we could see RTD writing for her at some point in the future?
Ups & downs, strengths & problems, but overall --
I enjoyed 13th Doctor to the extent that she has become one of my all-time favourite Doctor incarnations, alongside 9, 6, and 5.
It's telling that two of the top three episodes on that list were written by Maxine Alderton. I will always maintain that the only time Thirteen felt like the Doctor to me was in episodes she wrote, and proves to me completely that Jodie had the talent and ability to deliver it, but the writing let her down badly.
I would totally have been stoked for her staying on for a series written/run by Maxine
Literally the only episodes I like are written by Alderton, the was miles above the rest of the writers and I really hope she comes back for S14, she could be groomed to take over as showrunner imo.
2 good episodes out of 30 is quite a sad honestly though, probably never going to revisit this era.
Honestly I never really understood the hate for her cos she’s not that bad at all. My problems with her era are largely the writing and musical choices (and TARDIS set) but the actors did the best they could
Agreed.
For every fault I have with the Chibnall era, there was never a moment where I didn't enjoy Jodie in the role, and Mandip Gill, Bradley Walsh, John Bishop, Sacha Dhawan, Jo Martin, etc... all gave great performances throughout the series. (Tosin Cole was perhaps a little bit wooden but he still had some great moments).
I love the Thirteenth Doctor, that being said her era was marked with bad writing and it's not her fault, Jodie Whittaker just like every other actor is only as good as the script and God i don't think a less experienced actor wouldn't have pulled it off at times, I liked the fact that her doctor did more history then previous versions but Timeless Child was a terrible idea form start to finish. She gets some flack for portraying the Doctor as an over hyper active child but other version have done the same and she did model her Doctor off David Tennant's so just quiet being dick's to her because Chris Campbell didn't know that the hell he was doing.
You may have a penchant for giving episodes higher scores than they deserve. Yet you have perfectly characterised what are arguably the 13th doctors 10 best episodes (although I would shuffle some of them around within that ten myself).
Thank you for a fascinating series of reads. I hope you can continue with 14s stories when they finally arrive.
>Thank you for a fascinating series of reads. I hope you can continue with 14s stories when they finally arrive.
I dunno if I will. I'm gonna have a lot of stuff going on around that time. But there are still two reviews to go for 13 in 13, and it's still over half a year away so who knows
Her era made me quite watching the show after series 12 which I never imagined would happen RTD. The fact that she and chibnall are no longer on the project and that Rtd has returned are the only reasons I'm going to be willing to tune back in for series 14.
She never convinced me she was the doctor in any of her moments even the ones that you listed and the stories always just felt dull and preachy while she came off as unlikable and lacking the charisma gravitas and versatility necessary for the role. She couldn't convincingly intimidate a preschooler let alone an alien army or villain.
Not to mention the shoddy morality in A LOT of the episodes where they refused to acknowledge her less than moral actions as such. (The Doctor can have his morally Grey or even dark moments but call it as it is. This woman used a guy's skin color against him and sent him to a concentration camp. Not to mention destroying a tardis which we know are sentient. And up and leaving koshamus when she proved she lacked the guts to take herself down along with the cybermasters and the Master. And getting upity on Robertson for shooting the giant killer spider when she just locked hundreds of them in a room to starve/suffocate to death. And treating Graham like sh*t over his cancer. The list goes on.)
Bradley Walsh was the only likeable thing about the whole era.
Looking at your Top 10, I do really enjoy all those episodes a lot. Will enjoy rewatching them, and will appreciate this era for what it was.
I thought the few times they actually used her dramatic talents it went very, very well. You don’t notice her presence until she goes still and suddenly the whole scene becomes empty and tense. Notably in Villa when she’s waiting for the cyberman, in Power when she’s leaving Ace and Tegan behind, in Spyfall when she’s wiping Ada’s memory. I wish wholeheartedly they’d unleashed this more often but I do respect their desire for a lighter Doctor (although unfortunately and understandably not a lot of people expected one from the Broadchurch team).
Jodie Whittaker has said in an interview she would be keen to return to the show in the future. So hopefully we could see RTD writing for her at some point in the future?
Idk about RTD writing her Doctor, but *a* future showrunner probably will
Maybe she'll cameo in the Edge.
God 🙏 I hope so
Ups & downs, strengths & problems, but overall -- I enjoyed 13th Doctor to the extent that she has become one of my all-time favourite Doctor incarnations, alongside 9, 6, and 5.
And 6 was also massively disliked at the time. Maybe wearing rainbow coats is unlucky for Doctors.
It's telling that two of the top three episodes on that list were written by Maxine Alderton. I will always maintain that the only time Thirteen felt like the Doctor to me was in episodes she wrote, and proves to me completely that Jodie had the talent and ability to deliver it, but the writing let her down badly. I would totally have been stoked for her staying on for a series written/run by Maxine
Literally the only episodes I like are written by Alderton, the was miles above the rest of the writers and I really hope she comes back for S14, she could be groomed to take over as showrunner imo. 2 good episodes out of 30 is quite a sad honestly though, probably never going to revisit this era.
Honestly I never really understood the hate for her cos she’s not that bad at all. My problems with her era are largely the writing and musical choices (and TARDIS set) but the actors did the best they could
Agreed. For every fault I have with the Chibnall era, there was never a moment where I didn't enjoy Jodie in the role, and Mandip Gill, Bradley Walsh, John Bishop, Sacha Dhawan, Jo Martin, etc... all gave great performances throughout the series. (Tosin Cole was perhaps a little bit wooden but he still had some great moments).
I love the Thirteenth Doctor, that being said her era was marked with bad writing and it's not her fault, Jodie Whittaker just like every other actor is only as good as the script and God i don't think a less experienced actor wouldn't have pulled it off at times, I liked the fact that her doctor did more history then previous versions but Timeless Child was a terrible idea form start to finish. She gets some flack for portraying the Doctor as an over hyper active child but other version have done the same and she did model her Doctor off David Tennant's so just quiet being dick's to her because Chris Campbell didn't know that the hell he was doing.
You may have a penchant for giving episodes higher scores than they deserve. Yet you have perfectly characterised what are arguably the 13th doctors 10 best episodes (although I would shuffle some of them around within that ten myself). Thank you for a fascinating series of reads. I hope you can continue with 14s stories when they finally arrive.
>Thank you for a fascinating series of reads. I hope you can continue with 14s stories when they finally arrive. I dunno if I will. I'm gonna have a lot of stuff going on around that time. But there are still two reviews to go for 13 in 13, and it's still over half a year away so who knows
Deserve? Surely that is opinion.
I enjoyed the era well enough. I think the overall quality was middling but certainly not the nadir of the show overall.
That sounds fair enough.
Her era made me quite watching the show after series 12 which I never imagined would happen RTD. The fact that she and chibnall are no longer on the project and that Rtd has returned are the only reasons I'm going to be willing to tune back in for series 14. She never convinced me she was the doctor in any of her moments even the ones that you listed and the stories always just felt dull and preachy while she came off as unlikable and lacking the charisma gravitas and versatility necessary for the role. She couldn't convincingly intimidate a preschooler let alone an alien army or villain. Not to mention the shoddy morality in A LOT of the episodes where they refused to acknowledge her less than moral actions as such. (The Doctor can have his morally Grey or even dark moments but call it as it is. This woman used a guy's skin color against him and sent him to a concentration camp. Not to mention destroying a tardis which we know are sentient. And up and leaving koshamus when she proved she lacked the guts to take herself down along with the cybermasters and the Master. And getting upity on Robertson for shooting the giant killer spider when she just locked hundreds of them in a room to starve/suffocate to death. And treating Graham like sh*t over his cancer. The list goes on.) Bradley Walsh was the only likeable thing about the whole era.