Resolution: new teaser, and my spoilery comments!

[auroracloud]

Just noticed the new teaser trailer for the Doctor Who New Year's special, Resolution, on YouTube. (Link takes you to the video on YouTube. While it's short, it is spoilery for something in the episode that hasn't been shown or mentioned before, so don't watch it if you don't want to know!


Putting my quick comments behind the cut. Don't read if you don't want spoilers on teaser and what info it gives!





Haha, so it is actually The Resolution of the Daleks! (One of the many Doctor Who fandom podcasters - I think Steven Schapansky from Radio Free Skaro, but it was in a podcast episode with so many people I'm not entirely sure - said his suspicion was that the real title of Resolution was Resolution of the Daleks and I decided then I was going with that. I mean, Resolution of the Daleks is such a perfectly old-school Classic Who Dalek story title, and just about the only "...of the Daleks" phrase that hasn't been used yet. And well, I wanted it to be a Dalek story, for reasons mentioned below - and was pretty sure it would be.)

An aside, this makes me think, which things are there more of - Things of the Daleks or Things of Rassilon?

Anyway, I was very happy, if unsurprised, to hear that "Exterminate!". While I largely enjoyed watching S11, and love Thirteen and her team, I did feel the villains were underwhelming on a whole, and that there was a distinct lack of the Doctor having to deal with properly destructive bad guys and really stand up against threats and evil; and that the Doctor did start to feel a bit too nice and non-threatening. It's not Whittaker's performance, which I love, but the writing, which didn't give her enough moments of being badass in the Doctor way, though she can definitely handle it when she's given material.

But whether or not you find the evil metal pepperbots to be frightening villains as such, there's no denying they are gleefully destructive and unlikely to listen to reason and aren't just misguided. Not to mention being a truly iconic Doctor Who villain. So it will be interesting to see how this Doctor is going to deal with them, and if that will be a turning point for her or put her to the test! An actually interesting conflict about how the Doctor is going to deal with the villains is one thing I would have liked to see more of in S11. (Along with more character development for Yaz, and heck, more character development for the Doctor. But my proper S11 comments will come... uh, later. Not on Christmas Day, anyway.)


So, anyway, in conclusion, I was very relieved to hear that one word. Resolution of the Daleks, I'm waiting! (We'll get it here on January 2nd.)

(And, er, nobody's said it's officially called Resolution of the Daleks. But I'm calling it that from now.)

Comments

[kat_lair]

Iiiinteresting. I've kind of enjoyed having new story lines and people, rather than just the rehashing the classics but I know this will make a lot of people very happy.

[auroracloud]

I like having new foes and such, too, and I don't think that the show should focus mainly on looking back, and I'm glad they first did a full season without old monsters returning. But the Daleks have been in Doctor Who so much that they (like the Cybermen, though I find Cybermen more truly frightening) are in a different category for me from most past baddies - the show just has to have them every now and then. :-D But also, I'm just up for the threat level being upped, and they should provide that.

[kat_lair]

I'm with you about Cybermen being more frightening. The episodes with Billy and 12 that explored their origin were proper creepy.

[auroracloud]

I'm still traumatized by those episodes because what they did to Bill was awful. But as a Cybermen story, outside what happened to Bill, it was excellent stuff. I find Cybermen particularly scary because they feel more real, like something like that could happen one day. Better not think about it too much...

[fucktheg0ds]

Oooooooh boy! I'm excited now! Glad they're finally going to use some established aliens. And hopefully we get to see a darker side to Thirteen.

[auroracloud]

Me too! Doctor Who has such a long history, and some of the recurring monsters are such a part of the show. And as you say, it will hopefully allow us to see a darker or rougher side to Thirteen. I like her lots, but they've played too safe with her so far - I miss the sharp edges and darker sides that we've gotten with all the other Doctors.

[foreverdawning]

I'm so glad they decided to do something with Daleks this season. When I heard they weren't doing a Christmas episode I was super disappointed but I'm so relieved that instead we're getting a New Year's treat.

I know that they're treating this season like a reboot so I think they want to ease new watchers into the wacky Doctor Who baddies. I look forward to new fans being acquainted with the Daleks and many more other classic villains.

[auroracloud]

I don't mind not getting a Christmas episode, because I feel like they've explored Christmas so much. But then, I've only recently started watching as the show actually airs, so I haven't had time to establish a Christmas tradition of watching the Christmas special. But I think a New Year's special can suit Doctor Who very well!

Yeah, it makes sense to start with less background you need to know when diving into the show, and ease the viewers into the weirder traditional villains a bit later. Kind of like the RTD era was a good jumping point for someone who'd never seen the show before. They did have Daleks in the first season, but only mid-season when they'd already established the universe quite a bit.

[ellieet]

I actually agree with a lot of what you've said. I love Jodie as the Doctor but I feel she would have benefitted from some classic monsters to make it more Whoish as it didn't always feel like Who. So I greatly welcome Daleks, please and thankyou. :)

[auroracloud]

t I feel she would have benefitted from some classic monsters to make it more Whoish as it didn't always feel like Who.

I think new monsters could also have worked if they had been really effective villains, but I do have to say Chibnall doesn't really shine at creating convincing monsters. As it was, as wonderful as Jodie's performance is, the scripts didn't challenge her Doctor to be bad-ass enough, and the villains often required her to be inactive rather than active, or the stories carried a strange message (*coughKerblam!cough*). So it's time for some old-school Really Bad Monsters that she has to get tough against. I look forward to seeing how that plays out! And I am fond of the ol' pepperpots as villains.:-D

[ellieet]

I actually came away from this season nursing a bit of a crush on Jodie and I thought I was straight! I agree with Chibnall's apparent inability to create monsters but maybe he's so used to writing situations of reality (ie Broadchurch) that he's used to creating human monsters, flawed and desperate. And yes, perhaps 13 wasn't always badass enough; I believe she can be but I do remember thinking at the beginning of the series that 13 had lost a lot of 12's sharp edges. Which is fine, because obviously they're two very different characters and in her own way, 13 won't take any bullshit. But perhaps they need to demonstrate this a bit more. I will personally take a Weeping Angel or two into the mix!

[auroracloud]

I do crush on her, too, though for me it's not that surprising since I'm definitely not straight. (Though I do prefer brunettes...) It's very true that Chibnall seems to find it more natural to explore the way fairly ordinary humans can be monstrous. It's definitely fine for me that Thirteen is a different person from Twelve, that always is a part of regeneration, and I also feel that her being more of a people person, more likely to apologize and emphathise and so on, is a natural progression from all that Twelve learned during his lifespan. I don't object to the Doctor being likable, anyway; my favourite Doctor is Two, who is easily one of the more likable Doctors and more friendly towards his companions than most incarnations (though even he has plenty of sharp edges and temper tantrums). I just miss a certain feeling of being able to trust that when things get really bad, she will be able and willing to act, rather than sit aside. That's got nothing (or very little) to do with Jodie's interpretation, and more with the fact that she hasn't been given enough really active scenes.

The New Year's special helped that a bit, though for certain other reasons I wasn't super-excited about the episode. I just feel like the creators play it a little too safe, and maybe commit the fallacy of writing female characters too nice and non-confrontational, because of the cultural expectation that that's what women are like. I just wish we'd have seen more powerful moments like the one in the first episode where she makes her own sonic screwdriver from scraps.