Regeneration game for Doc
PEOPLE were going crazy on Doctor Who.
They rowed, they feuded, they fought… it was like the whole world had turned into Walford.
Or the Tory Party.
The chaos was the work of The Toymaker – think Star Trek’s Q crossed with The Joker.
Disney’s cash injection has beefed up everything except the scripts.
Showrunner Russell T played fast and loose with the Doc’s backstory by replacing regeneration with a “bi-generation” that created two Doctors.
He really doesn’t want to lose David Tennant, does he? The new Doc, played by Ncuti Gatwa, arrived looking a bit like a young Eddie Murphy. He’s charismatic and promising. Let’s just hope he keeps his trousers on.
Bi-generation can’t make up for the show’s long, slow degeneration under previous boss Chris Chibnall. But in fairness, this was the best of the three new episodes. Even if the Toymaker’s downfall, after losing a game of catch, was a massive anti-climax.
What happened? Did the FX budget run out?
He’d appeared because David Tennant’s Doc sprinkled salt at the edge of the universe. Eh? But how was making humanity go mad/madder a game? Russell T is far more interested in camp – hence that TikTok-friendly Spice Girls dance scene – than trivial things like sci-fi or logic.
Once Doctor Who villains were inspired by history – Daleks were Nazis, Cybermen were Communists. Now they’re more likely to be twinkleeyed and fabulous.
UNIT now has a hi-tech base worthy of Iron Man’s Tony Stark. Expect a spin-off series with Mel and Donna.
DAVROS can walk, the Toymaker has stopped dressing like a Chinese Mandarin… what villains will get a woke makeover next? It’s a minefield.
Daemons would upset Satanists, and Sontarans look like Gregg Wallace clones – unsettling for small kids.
I’d revive the Axon, the golden angelic parasites could be Boris’ intergalactic love children.