Complex Numbers

Revisited: "Who"

Today is my regular trip to the past, and I landed by chance on an entry that's definitely worth another look. It's a good time for this to have come up in my random pickings: "Who" 

It's from October of 2018, and it's about the show Doctor Who; a rare, for me, opinion on pop culture. I've learned not to give out too many of those, because I almost always get burned. Praise an actor? Turns out they're a pedo. Say something good about a show? It goes downhill. That sort of thing.

Anyway, let's see what I said then and how things are going now.

So... I've seen every episode of Doctor Who.

Still true.

Well, I haven't gotten around to watching the recreated 4th Doctor episode Shada yet, but as it never aired when it was made, it doesn't really count.

Bit over five years later and... nope, still haven't seen that.

There's been a lot of hype about the most recent incarnation, which premiered Sunday.

There is, of course, always hype. The difference then was that the actor was a chick, which angered the usual assholes, which pleased me.

The reason this older entry is appropriate now is that they just introduced a new Doctor again. Well, there were shenanigans when 13 regenerated into 14, who was actually 10 (David Tennant) for a couple of specials, but now they're on 15, who's a black dude, which angers the usual assholes, which pleases me.

Anyway.

New Doctor, new companions, new composer, new showrunner...

Yeah, now, the composer and showrunner have reverted to the folks behind the 2005 series revival, and this is a good thing.

Well, I'm here to tell you that the 13th Doctor *is* The Doctor. Thoroughly, completely, without a doubt. She nailed it. The other actors nailed it. The writers nailed it.

I stand by my opinion on Jodie Whittaker's first episode. The rest of her stint as the Doctor, though... well, it had its ups and downs, but I wasn't all that impressed by the writing or directing (though the acting continued to be solid, an actor can only do so much with a mediocre script). It wasn't bad; it just didn't really hook me.

Of course, now that I've posted this, the rest of the season might very well suck.

Many people seem to have only two opinions about anything: "That's awesome" or "That sucks." Long ago, Netflix had a star-rating system like we do here on WDC. I liked that, because you could express opinions in the middle. Have some nuance. Unfortunately, we now live in a world where many people seem to think that anything less than five stars means something sucks, and Netflix changed their rating to "awesome" or "sucks" (with the usual thumb icons).

There's nothing wrong with three stars. And that's what I'd give the 13th Doctor's run if I were asked (or, because it's my blog, I don't have to be asked). It didn't suck. It wasn't awesome. Those aren't the only choices.

I'll keep watching.