...you know there's a lot of b.s. on both ends. Haters and fanboys have one thing in common: their reactions are emotional and make little or no attempt to engage with the actual objective qualities of the episodes. For example, objectively, it's clear that the production value of series 11 is far more sophisticated than any past Who. Episode 6 is a good example of this. The opening scene, where they're scavenging on a garbage planet, not only looks gorgeous, but it very similar to the look of the San Diego garbage dump scenes in Blade Runner 2049 - not a coincidence, I imagine, as the visual effects studio for series 11 worked on BR 2049. But you won't see any of the haters pointing this out. The interior spaceship sets also looked beautiful in episode 6. Other things are not so successful - the music, for example, in this episode - a ceaseless techno drone - is really irritating after a while. The monster of the week is pathetic and wasted, once again. The Doctor is still flitting around a little too manically - though she at least finally displays some scientific expertise in this episode. She also still waves the sonic screwdriver around like a magic wand, which is a cheap, lazy substitute for real writing - but to be fair, this was already a feature of the Smith and Capaldi Who eras. The problem is that Chibnall hasn't fixed the problem.
And in truth, what a lot of the series 11 haters seems to be (conveniently) forgetting is just how crap and disposable the vast majority of Who episodes of the Moffatt era were. Anyone remember "Smile" or "Knock Knock"? These were so dreadful I couldn't even sit through them. And that's just a random sampling of the mediocrity. Have we seen anything truly brilliant yet from Chibnall's Who? -no. Are we likely to? -I doubt it. But it's been better on average so far than the average Who episode of the last 5 years. I think it's a crisis of expectations: everyone is expecting/demanding that each new episode be as amazing as Heaven sent. But not even Moffatt could live up to that expectation, unfortunately.
I didn't support the choice of Chibnall as show runner and I think in the long run it will turn out to be a strategic mistake on the part of the BBC: they made the safe choice - choosing an "inside man", so to speak - at a time when what the show needed was a brave, original new direction. So far, what we've seen marks an attempt to return to a more Russell T. Davies style of Doctor Who. But it's coming across as anodyne and unimaginative and is not likely to please anyone - critics or fans. But what we've got so far in season 11 - objectively speaking - is neither brilliant nor more dreadful than most of what we've seen from Doctor Who in the last few years.
And in truth, what a lot of the series 11 haters seems to be (conveniently) forgetting is just how crap and disposable the vast majority of Who episodes of the Moffatt era were. Anyone remember "Smile" or "Knock Knock"? These were so dreadful I couldn't even sit through them. And that's just a random sampling of the mediocrity. Have we seen anything truly brilliant yet from Chibnall's Who? -no. Are we likely to? -I doubt it. But it's been better on average so far than the average Who episode of the last 5 years. I think it's a crisis of expectations: everyone is expecting/demanding that each new episode be as amazing as Heaven sent. But not even Moffatt could live up to that expectation, unfortunately.
I didn't support the choice of Chibnall as show runner and I think in the long run it will turn out to be a strategic mistake on the part of the BBC: they made the safe choice - choosing an "inside man", so to speak - at a time when what the show needed was a brave, original new direction. So far, what we've seen marks an attempt to return to a more Russell T. Davies style of Doctor Who. But it's coming across as anodyne and unimaginative and is not likely to please anyone - critics or fans. But what we've got so far in season 11 - objectively speaking - is neither brilliant nor more dreadful than most of what we've seen from Doctor Who in the last few years.