Doctor Who Flux Highlights The Worst (& Best) Of Chibnalls Era

Doctor Who: Flux Highlights The Worst (& Best) Of Chibnall’s Era

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Doctor Who season 13, or Doctor Who: Flux, has begun, but the premiere episode sums up both the strengths and the weaknesses of Chris Chibnall’s era.

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Doctor Who Flux Highlights The Worst (& Best) Of Chibnalls Era

Doctor Who season 13’s opening episode is a perfect representation of the weaknesses – and, indeed, the strengths – of Chris Chibnall’s time as showrunner. Following Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat in the Doctor Who hot seat was never going to be easy, and arriving with intentions of giving the long-running BBC sci-fi series a shake-up, Chris Chibnall couldn’t expect to please everybody. Even so, the past 2 seasons of Doctor Who have proved hugely divisive, courting more criticism and controversy than the past 10 combined.

Doctor Who: Flux marks the beginning of Chris Chibnall’s final lap as showrunner. Alongside Jodie Whittaker, he’ll be stepping down following season 13 and a series of specials, regenerating into an “old favorite” by the name of Russell T. Davies. Given how Doctor Who season 12 improved upon season 11’s biggest problems (no familiar baddies, an overly-happy Doctor), Doctor Who: Flux gives Chibnall another opportunity to refine his formula and address recurring problems. Sure enough, Doctor Who: Flux’s premiere contains more of what Chris Chibnall’s era does well… but also more of what it doesn’t.

“The Halloween Apocalypse” leaves Doctor Who’s audience with questions aplenty. How does Swarm know The Doctor? Why hasn’t The Doctor heard about the Flux until now? Where were these space dogs the other 1,03,042 occasions Earth was in trouble? Amidst all of these questions and more, however, the Doctor Who: Flux premiere makes one thing absolutely clear – Doctor Who needs Russell T. Davies.

Doctor Who Season 13’s Story Is A Chaotic Mess

Doctor Who Flux Highlights The Worst (& Best) Of Chibnalls Era

The opening Doctor Who: Flux episode suffers from a deluge of storylines all fighting for attention – some only getting a single scene before they’re forgotten about completely. It’s important to consider that “The Halloween Apocalypse” is the first chapter in a larger Doctor Who story, and Chris Chibnall is clearly planting all the necessary seeds here ahead of their sprouting further down the line. Unfortunately, that means “The Halloween Apocalypse” as a standalone episode is burdened with a labyrinthine narrative cramming far too much into its 60-minute runtime. Among the plots covered (or at least started) are The Doctor chasing down Karvanista, 19th century tunnel digging in Liverpool, age finally catching up to the TARDIS, the introduction of John Bishop’s Dan as a new companion, Weeping Angels chasing someone who knows The Doctor, Swarm and his Flux ravaging the universe, Dan’s date being abducted, Sontarans doing Sontaran things, and Vinder abandoning his space station lookout.

All of these paths will merge eventually but, as a first taste of Doctor Who: Flux, the relentless crusade of setup compromises the flow of the first episode. More importantly, the sheer volume of stuff gives no single storyline opportunity to breathe. How are viewers supposed to care about Vinder’s escape when Chibnall’s script has already moved onto Claire, then Diane, then some couple in Iceland? It’s like Marvel setting up The Avengers in a 1-hour special.

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And it’s the hectic, tangled narrative of Doctor Who: Flux’s opening gambit that continues the biggest problem of Chris Chibnall’s era – storytelling. The 4-team TARDIS crew, for instance, spread each companion’s screen time much too thinly, whereas focusing on one or two companions would’ve yielded more emotional depth. In the same way, Doctor Who: Flux bites off more than it can chew, dividing audience investment across 10 different plot threads instead of picking three or four and doing them well.

Doctor Who’s season 13 troubles also repeat a Timeless Child problem – over-ambition. For his grand “Timeless Child” reveal, Chris Chibnall rewrote the very foundations of Doctor Who canon. Whether you consider that an aberration of history or a brave reinvention, the Timeless Child concept essentially meant Doctor Who season 12’s finale became one giant chunk of exposition via flashbacks and The Master’s monologue. An entertaining end to the season was overlooked in favor of ambitious future setup. Making the very same error, Doctor Who: Flux is boldly attempting to raise the stakes by building toward an epic multi-part event… but at the cost of delivering a cohesive, entertaining season premiere.

Since The Doctor’s Scottish accent went walkabouts, Doctor Who storytelling has either underwhelmed or overwhelmed, and this imbalance has come to define Chris Chibnall’s tenure as showrunner. True to form, “The Halloween Apocalypse” falls very much into the “overwhelm” category, and once again misses the narrative sweet spot.

Doctor Who: Flux Makes Chibnall Era Strengths Better – Including Jodie Whittaker

Doctor Who Flux Highlights The Worst (& Best) Of Chibnalls Era

Some will say otherwise, but Chris Chibnall’s era of Doctor Who has plenty to enjoy – and those bright spots shine even brighter in season 13. As part of the Chibnall revolution, Doctor Who began employing an entirely new, more cinematic style of filming. This meant a noticeable uptick in visual quality that even the most damning of Chibnall’s critics can’t ignore. Alien planets, Northern English countryside, and the star-studded voids of space have all gleamed off the screen in stunning fashion, and nowhere is that clearer than “The Halloween Apocalypse.” Iffy CG intro sequence aside, Doctor Who: Flux drops money shot after money shot, including The Doctor and Yaz showing Dan the wonders of outer space, the Flux carving its deadly path across the universe, and The Doctor’s psychic dance with Swarm. Clumsy narrative structure might hold Doctor Who back from the grandiose sci-fi Chibnall is aiming for, but in terms of pure eye candy, season 13 couldn’t feel bigger.

Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor remains another undisputed highlight of Chris Chibnall’s Doctor Who. Sadly not blessed with the scripts of her predecessors, Whittaker has wrung every drop of heart and humor from the material she’s given, and Doctor Who: Flux finds her on typically top form once again. Her near-interrogation of Karvanista shows bite to the Thirteenth Doctor’s bark, nurturing her (very) subtle darker side. Breaking down in the face of the Flux displays Whittaker’s excellent ability to be vulnerable (as a counter to the wonderfully closed-off Twelfth), while hammering the TARDIS into life allows the outgoing Doctor to be comedic in the face of potentially catastrophic red flags. The credit goes to Whittaker, but Chris Chibnall makes the right choice by letting the actress lead Doctor Who with freedom and personality.

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Due to the cramped TARDIS in Doctor Who seasons 11 & 12, Ryan and Yaz would often fade into the background, but Bradley Walsh’s Graham rose to the top as a reliable highlight of Chris Chibnall’s Doctor Who. That ability to build relatable older companions comes in handy once again, as Doctor Who: Flux introduces John Bishop’s Dan. Despite the plot overgrowth elsewhere, Bishop commands every scene lucky enough to have him, as compelling muttering to his own shadow as interacting with others. Is Doctor Who’s new companion drastically different to Graham? Probably not, but Every-Man-Dan provides the wry human smile Doctor Who needs to avoid taking itself too seriously, and as with Bradley Walsh before him, there’s inner strength to this working class hero.

Incidentally, Mandip Gill’s Yaz is drastically improved one-on-one with The Doctor, proving how much the character suffered competing with two other assistants. Hopefully, the triumvirate of The Doctor, Yaz and Dan will strike a cleaner balance.

Flux Proves Doctor Who Needs Russell T. Davies

When the BBC announced Russell T. Davies would return to Doctor Who and straddle Chris Chibnall as both a predecessor and successor, the overwhelming reaction was a positive one. Not only did Davies successfully bring Doctor Who back from its 1990s wilderness, but he presided over one of the most critically and commercially successful stints in The Doctor’s long history, conjuring up numerous classic episodes with Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor and David Tennant’s Tenth. Though many fans praised the rehiring, Doctor Who: Flux proves why it was necessary.

Russell T. Davies spearheaded the modern Doctor Who format of episodic adventures building toward a larger narrative, and his template arguably hasn’t been bettered since. Storytelling comes as naturally to Davies as scientific waffle does to The Doctor, both in terms of pacing and structure, and more importantly, making the audience care. Though Davies was certainly guilty of throwing the kitchen sink on occasion, his companion mega-team-ups and Dalek-Cybermen clashes still felt sharply focused, worlds away from the scattered incompleteness of “The Halloween Apocalypse.”

Russell T. Davies’ Doctor Who wasn’t always shiny and polished, but it was almost always cohesive and meaningful, sometimes even artistic in its simplicity of story. Doctor Who: Flux is a beautiful mess crying out for a disciplined figurehead to rein in the smattering of good ideas, and streamline the lot into a palatable narrative. Few names suit that mission statement better than Russell T. Davies.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/doctor-who-flux-premiere-chibnall-era-best-worst/

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