I don't think the Chibnall era was really given much of a chance. I mean Series 11 was very underrated in my view. Fans seemed to lash out at some changes, very probably because of THE major casting decision, but they seemed disheartened that the show was a lot more stripped down than it had been under Moffat. It had less of Moff's kooky pizazz and plot threads, less of the Doctor giving big ol' speeches, and it was mostly just nice adventures with the Doctor and some friends hopping through time and the universe. I genuinely enjoyed the bulk of it. And full disclosure, I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about the swapped gender of the Doctor going in. I wasn't vocally against it, I certainly wasn't angry, I was just a fan used to the Doctor being a HE and was unsure what this change actually meant. But I was over it pretty quick into her opening episode. I thought her debut was one of the better debuts a Doctor has gotten. I felt very much reminded of "The Eleventh Hour" at the time. And I liked most of the first season. I had few complaints.
But I think fan outrage got the better of Chibnall. I think if nothing else he lacks confidence in his work on the show. Series 12 he seemed to abandon his style of stripped down more low key stories, there were less historical episodes that shined a light on shameful moments in human history...no, now it was more like copying Moff's grandiose style in many ways. He added more speeches and "epic" moments, added more time twisty plots and major blockbusting twists...twists that really didn't work in my view. I mean he aped everything RTD and Moff had done...he had a surprise Master, a secret past Doctor, destroyed Gallifrey, and then added that one game changing plot twist that will never truly work for me: he genuinely made the Doctor sort of Godlike being, the Jesus of the Time Lords. That sucked. It took some of Moff's worst tendencies (isn't the Doctor so COOL!?) and turned them up to 11 (or 13). It did what the so-called "Cartmel Masterplan" seemed to want to do in the 80s before cancellation, and kind of did in the Virgin Novels, and revived it despite it being a terrible idea to begin with.
The bottom line is this, and I think I have reiterated this too many times in reviewing this era: stripping down the grandiose elements and stopping the ever growing "now we gotta top that!" style was a terrific and much needed idea. It is a shame that Chibnall backed off on it. But even in Series 12 and through Flux and the specials leading to Whitaker's exit, I have found a lot to enjoy in this show. I thought Series 12 was firing on all cylinders until the big twist reveal of the Doctor's origins in the end. It was an enjoyable series until that moment.
And Flux was a fun mini-series! I thought it had a lot going for it. Dan proved to be a solid replacement for the lovable Graham and the sadly deadweight character of Ryan was out of the picture. Did I enjoy all the Doctor secret history stuff? Not really. I know a lot of people love the secret Fugitive Doctor, but I am not sure I really do. And honestly, it just makes no damn sense that she is flying around in a Police Box Pre-Hartnell. It was established in the first Hartnell story that it just got stuck like that. It was reiterated for decades. It was clearly shown that Hartnell was the one to steal the TARDIS and that it was NOT a Police Box in "The Name of the Doctor." So I just find the entire secret past Doctor to be totally wrong. But despite that Doctor and the Doctor's secret past being crucial to the storyline? I had fun with every episode. It was not a series that overstayed it's welcome and I enjoyed the ride.
And the specials have been good fun too. "Eve of the Daleks" was a fun groundhog's day story with a Dalek and Aisling Bea (who I love), "Legend of the Sea Devils" was perfectly good fun and had a perfect revival of a classic monster, and Whitaker and Chibnall had a great exit with the fun "Power of the Doctor." I would say that this had been a good season (I am including the specials in with Flux because it makes sense to me to do so), and think even the messier bits are worth it for the fun that was had.
Whitaker's casting causes a lot of waves and rifts within fandom. In my opinion it was all unfounded and pointless bluster from a minority of loud annoying fans whose masculinity is far too frail when you consider they spent too much time watching Doctor Who. And Chibnall has had the shit kicked out of him during his entire run. I will not pretend he was my first choice for showrunner, or that every idea worked, or that he didn't make some mistakes...but the vitriol I saw online for his writing was ridiculous and over the top since he took over. I would say the ratio of good episodes and bad episodes was on par with RTD and Moff's run. I think apart from the character of Ryan, he had good characters throughout his run. Do I think he was far weaker at writing story arcs? Sure. Was his character work as good as RTD? No. His complicated kooky plots as sharp as Moff? Maybe not...but Moff had plenty of messy plots that failed to lead anywhere too interesting, so let's not pretend Chibs was the first showrunner to fall on his face from time to time.
I enjoyed the Chibnall/Whitaker era. I really did like Whitaker as the Doctor. I think she did a great job despite the furor her casting caused, despite how suddenly fans were looking at the writing with a fine tooth comb and digging at every flaw (newsflash, the show has long had plot holes and writing issues, but the casting of a lady made everyone want to call it all out extra hard), I think she really brought something fresh to the role and not just because she was a lady.
The era could be slightly flawed, but what era wasn't! It is Doctor Who after all, you have to take the rough with the smooth.
NEXT TIME: Some Animated Daleks!
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