Chased by the End of the Universe

Story: Flux - Chapter One: The Halloween Apocalypse
Written By: Chris Chibnall
Length: 50 Minutes
Year: 2021

And once again, after yet another long wait, we are back!  I'd say that the Chibnall/Whitaker era will be known for the long waits between seasons, but honestly that will be forgotten when you aren't living it.  Oh...it's been so many months since we've reviewed an episode but yet a lot has happened in the meantime! It was announced that Chibnall and Whitaker will be leaving not long after this series concludes, and the BBC has tapped Russell T Davies to return to the role of showrunner, a role he held when the show initially returned in 2005, and as that is my favorite era of the show...I am excited.  But before any of that, we have Jodie's final season in the role, and a few specials that will see her out. Her final season is really truncated, unfortunately, but at least the 6 episodes will be one big epic story, and then we get like 3 more specials, followed by Davies taking she show over again, who will be the overlord of the 60th anniversary and a bit more.

This new series launches with a bang too.  Whitaker and Gill are both in fine form, and the addition of John Bishop as Dan is very nice.  This is really the setup for the whole 6 episode mini-series, so there is a lot to get through. We begin with the Doctor and Yaz caught in a trap, but the escape and chase dow nthe Dog-Man they were after and find he has kidnapped Dan from Earth.  The reasoning turns out to be that Earth is about to be destroyed by something called the Flux, and the Dog-Man is actually part of a team that is meant to rescue humans from this. Meanwhile some kind of evil alien escapes a prison across the universe, and he brings his sister back for them to bring destruction on everyone, and they have clearly had some dealings with the Doctor despite her memory being erased.  Oh and Weeping Angels and Sontarans are involved as well. Anyhow, this all ends with a cliffhanger of the Flux seemingly about to destroy the Doctor, Yaz, Dan, and the TARDIS (and a lot more), but as this is episode one we can assume this will be resolved in classic "how do they get out of this one!" fashion. 

I really enjoyed this.  I have often said that I have preferred the more striped back version of Chibnall's era, and feel he is not as effective at the big epic stories...but this was a promising start. I suppose I really enjoyed the bulk of Series 12, I just really didn't like the ending wit hthe Doctor as a Time Lord Jesus or something, it just felt unearned and also feels wrongheaded.  I like the Doctor as a wanderer who happens to fix things, not some kind of be all progenitor of a species or something.  

As long as this is just a big grand adventure that can end that adventure without making the Doctor some kind of super being, I think this will be a fun ride!

NEXT TIME:  The Sontarans Get in the Mix