Let's get this out of the way: I've been a fan of Doctor Who since I was 12 and caught a part of Genesis of the Daleks on PBS. As a kid, you don't care so much that the seams are showing in the monster's outfits and the space effects look like something out of a local children's show. All I cared about was that the Doctor was tasked with destroying his greatest enemies before they became his greatest enemies a la the age old conundrum of "If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a child, thereby saving millions of Jews, gypsys, and gays, would you in fact then be able or should you have the right to kill that child?" Heady stuff for what was always considered a children's program. And I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd been a faithful viewer since then (even back in the days before BBC America and streaming when the only way to see the show was to buy VHS tapes of each separate story (then usually about 4 episodes in length or 2 hours long in NuWho usually the length of 1 hour long episode) at a whopping $40-$50 a pop. So yes, I was always a dedicated fan. And I've always loved NuWho. But, and this is a big but, I was pretty much a Moffatt hater from day one. Not as a writer. Blink, The Empty Child, and The Girl in the Fireplace are stone cold classics. But he was only a writer for hire then (though I found out later that he was the ONLY one of the writers on the show with a final cut clause meaning no one could touch his scripts) not the showrunner. Once he was put in charge, his tropes and weaknesses became painful at times. And his complicated plots hurt my fucking head to think about. If I have to get out an abacus to figure out in what order the Doctor met River Song, you're doing something wrong. Matt Smith's first season as the Doctor is one of my least favorite seasons in all of Who. The Doctor does nothing of consequence while stuff happens all around him. I give the Van Gogh episode a pass because it is an utter thing of beauty in a season of full of trash, but it was of course written by someone else. That's not to say that I hated all of Moffatt's tenure, though. Once Clara became a companion I enjoyed it more, and my love of Peter Capaldi certainly fueled my enjoyment through his time as the Doctor. But needless to say, I was quite thrilled when Moffatt was said to be stepping down. When Chris Chibnall was announced as his replacement, I was dubious since none of the episodes he's written for Who in the past are what any fan would qualify as classics, or even very good. But as change is integral to the show, I waited patiently to see what would happen. And then his first big change to the format became known.
Like the rest of the fandom, in Summer of 2017 I was shocked when a teaser trailer revealed Jodie Whitaker as the first ever female Doctor (besides some not in canon charity specials). After years of speculation and debate, somebody in charge actually took the chance. And I give full credit to Moffatt, he is the one who actually built the unisex regenerative powers into the show's mythology, so in essence, he made that possible. Right away, though, the fandom and the world at large got a good look at just why the Doctor hadn't been cast as female before. There was outrage! "How could they do this to my childhood?" "The show has been PC garbage for years but this is really the end!" (more on that later) You get the point. But personally, I was thrilled. I'm not necessary a purist and I try to roll with change, and I loved Jodie in Broadchurch so I was excited to see what she would do with the part. For me, as always, it just has to tell good stories that make me care. There were little hints of things to come after that. Like the Thirteenth Doctor's costume which though I didn't like at first, I've now grown to appreciate. The coat especially. And a hint that during the season, the Doctor and her friends would visit Alabama in the racially segregated 1950's. The collective moans of anti-PC trolls could be heard from shore to shore. Then there was word that for the first time in NuWho the new season would feature no returning characters, monsters, or elements beyond the Doctor herself. That was probably the most scary to me as a fan. I love fan service (and Moffatt usually did that very well). But to actually go cold turkey on the lore and feature all new monsters and characters and ONLY all new, that was maybe even a bigger risk than casting Jodie. In fact, the last time Doctor Who had a season containing no recurring elements at all (unless you include Unit which up to then had been a minor player) was way back in 1970 in The Third Doctor's first year. But that pleased me in a way. Jon Pertwee's tenure is one of my favorite eras of the show and several of the stories from that first year (Doctor Who and the Silurians and Inferno, an all time classic from ANY fan's perspective) are justly favorites. To say I was eagerly awaiting the premiere of Series Eleven would be an understatement. So how did Chibnall and Jodie and Co. do on their first time out?
Pretty damn fine if I do say so myself. As regeneration episodes go, this isn't on par with Tennant's in The Christmas Invasion (where the Doctor is sidelined for most of it but in the manner of 15 minutes establishes himself completely), but it is a pretty cracking story and a fine debut for the Thirteenth Doctor. Calling it The Woman Who Fell to Earth earns it points right out of the gate for placing it in league with David Bowie. The plot itself is pretty standard scifi fare, really. Sort of Doctor Who crossed with Predator as the Doctor tries to stop an alien warrior from hunting a human who has been designated as his prize. Where Chibnall shines is in the character developments and in establishing his brand new take on the Doctor. The first thing you notice when you watch the episode is that there are no credits or episode titles which for a first Doctor story is quite shocking really. And then we see the fields of suburban Sheffield (or suburban Wales doubling as Sheffield but nonetheless), not London for once, which was doubly as shocking in NuWho. But even in regards to direction, this is at once a totally different show but also the show we've always known and loved. A scene with Ryan and Graham and Grace perched atop a cliff overlooking Sheffield is stunning to behold. And we meet our four main companions first (for this episode at least): Graham, Ryan, Yas, and Grace, and Chibnall sets his goal out of the gate. This is going to be an ensemble piece as in the early days of the show (when don't forget there were 3 companions as well). Thirteen (which I'll refer to Jodie as from this point forward) even sets it in stone in the first few minutes of her screen time when she can't decide what to call them ("Troops? Team? Gang? Fam?") but even more so at the end of her first confrontation with the alien threat when she doesn't furrow her brow a la Capaldi and level threats but utters a promise, no less firm: "Leave now, or WE'RE gonna stop you!" This is a Doctor who doesn't have companions, but fellow travelers whom she expects to get the job done (while still protecting them on occasion from things they may not understand). Jodie Whitaker is a joy in the part, talking at breakneck speed about technical mumbo jumbo (as every Doctor does) one minute, then quietly comforting Ryan when his Dad doesn't show up in the next.
Two scenes, in particular, put a new spin on age old parts of the mythology and show just how different Chibnall's era of the program will probably be. One is the scene where Thirteen builds her new sonic screwdriver. Almost every Doctor has had a sonic, and we've known for decades that they design and build it themselves (or maybe have the Tardis build it for them as it's never implicitly stated). But for the first time, we actually see the Doctor put a blowtorch and sledgehammer to work creating this amazing bit of alien technology out of "Sheffield steel" (spoons as it turns out, one of which shows that very logo on the finished product) and it's wondrous to behold. Full disclosure, it's actually my favorite sonic in all of NuWho and I went out and bought one that lights up and makes the sonic noise as anyone who saw my post a few weeks ago will already know. The other is when Thirteen explains the process of regeneration to her new friends. We've never quite heard it put so succinctly before as when she explains how awful the pain is of realizing that you're going to die and then feeling the pain of your own birth. She also gives an explanation of how she adapts to the new body while also retaining her core values as a "call to who I am" which is interesting. There is also a lovely moment when Yas asks the Doctor if she has family. The Doctor's family is often referenced or alluded to though we've never been told exactly what happened to them (beyond his niece Susan leaving the Tardis in the early days). But here, Whitaker is given a somewhat opaque but no less beautiful bit of dialogue to explain what she thinks of them: "I carry them with me. So even though they're gone from the world, they're never gone from me."
The action moves pretty briskly as it should for this show, all leading to a confrontation atop a crane where Thirteen takes a literal leap of faith and has her final (for now) meeting with the alien menace. All through the episode, due to regenerative trauma, she hasn't been able to remember her name. Now, challenged by Tim Shaw the office junior, Thirteen and Chibnall set forth her new mantra: "I'm the Doctor. Sorting out fair play throughout the universe. Leave this planet now." And the audience (if they're like me) felt a surge of pride. Probably the biggest surprise of the ep (SPOILERS!) is the death of Grace while helping to defeat Tim Shaw. We barely got to know her. But as Ryan and Graham have an uneasy relationship at the moment, I'm sure this will lead to much soul searching in the episodes ahead.
Almost immediately, fan backlash ensued. Which I find disheartening, even though it in no way diminishes my love for the show, but still. Hardcore fans picked apart the plot, the addition of a black and Pakistani companion as being solely for equal opportunity inclusion and not for story purposes, Chibnall's apparent PC approach to the show. You name it, some fans complained about it. So loudly that during the first run (I'm watching all of these a second time to write these reviews) it became worrying that no other fans felt positively about the show like I did. The negativity all but drowned out any positive words. So these reviews are my attempt however feeble to right that. Let me address a few things right away, even though it is still early in the season.
For people who gripe about PC culture overtaking the show and social justice being part of the narrative drive....are these morons fucking kidding me?!?! Social justice has been a part of popular culture since before Captain Kirk realized that he had to let Joan Collins die or the Nazis would win the war in the original series of Star Trek. And indeed, in this very program countless times before, the first example coming to mind being the Third Doctor story The Green Death which concerned veganism and ecology long before they both became fashionable concepts. Social justice can drive great drama if it's done well. And nothing the show or Chibnall has so far done has been hamhanded or badly written in that respect. I tend to think that if you feel Jodie as the Doctor is in itself a feminist touch that's not because of anything that Chibnall has written (in this ep at least), but because giving her the role simply IS a win for feminism in general and you probably have a problem with that alone if you have a problem with the show now. But I digress.
The other main complaint that I hear from lots of people is that Jodie (whether in this ep or by the end of the season) hasn't established herself in the role and that they don't know who her Doctor is. To them I say: You're not paying attention. In this debut episode alone there are numerous examples of who Thirteen is and what she's setting out to accomplish. Besides the fair play mantra, we also get another goal set forth: "When people need help, I never refuse." But there are loads of little moments which define her, from Thirteen saying "Thank you, Grace." after Grace says she will get something to cover up a dead body, to her apologies that her new friends have to go through this with her. This is the Doctor at the most empathetic we've ever seen her, even beyond the Tennant era "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She also expresses moral outrage several times, both when Carl kicks Tim Shaw off of the crane ("You had no right to do that!") and when she finds out that the Stenza race keeps their human prizes in stasis chambers alive forever ("How completely obscene."). She has a childlike enthusiasm as the Doctor, which, coupled with her empathy and determination is a kick to watch. Her mocking of Tim Shaw's name is a delight.
I have a few minor quibbles with the plot. The Tardis team leaves a trail of chaos and dead bodies in their wake everywhere they go, how do they explain all this to the police? Perhaps Yas' job as an officer in training comes in handy at this point, but we never find out. The greatest entreaty to long-time fans of the show probably comes from the Doctor herself, speaking to Tim Shaw and imploring him to do what is right: "We can evolve, while still staying true to who we are." Better get ready to evolve any of you disgruntled fans, or the next several years are going to be a bumpy ride.
