Take Me Higher

Yes Boss

Thank you [for the music] Boss Ross.

A couple of very smart guys lifting Diana Ross higher. Chris von Wangenheim shot this famous image in 1978.

Last time on Face the Music: Diana Ross - the Boss. As I was searching for a copy of the sleeve, I ran into a much more appropriate image. A group of hunks hoists La Ross in the air like the queen she is. Which pretty much sums up the rest of her life.  

[Verse 1]
♫ Fancy me
Thought I had my degree
In life and how love
Ought to be a run
I had a one step plan to prove it
Guide in my pocket for fools
Folly and fun
Love had to show me one thing... ♫

Great image, don't know what else I can tell you about it, other than that it's more than appropriate. And that she was at North Sea Jazz [link in Dutch] this summer, still performing at the age of 78. Sadly I missed it.

---

Face the music

Today two obvious choices, both by La Ross herself. In 1982 she joined the disco craze. The Rolling Stones were belting out Miss You. Yikes. La Ross sang about Muscles. Listening back it's a bit of a roller coaster with ups and downs.

In 1995 disco was officially dead and buried, which is why Take Me Higher is classified as retro. You wouldn't say. Catchy tune but a bit bland, it's the tempo that moves it.

[Chorus]
♫ ...I was so right (so right)
So right
Thought I could turn emotion
On and off
I was so sure
So sure (I was so sure)
But love taught me
Who was, who was, who was the boss... ♫

Listening to the intro to Muscles, I recalled a promise I'd made to myself. To remember singer Joyce Sims who died on October 14. Most people know her from her 1987 single Come Into My Life. Not nearly as famous as Diana Ross, she is just as much the B.O.T.A. [boss]. Fame doesn't necessarily equal fab, just ask Vlad. P.

Both Come Into My Life and Muscles have this light intro before heading into very different directions. Featuring Come Into My Life is not the best way to remember Joyce Sims, that's listening to her albums. Another excellent choice is looking at those who were inspired by her. As I'm writing this Angie Stone is on the radio. I Wanna Thank You features a sample from Come Into My Life. Guess the devil is playing with his matches again. 

Angie Stone - I wanna thank you [click to listen]

Dutch is also playing with fire, loading Muscles into Virtual DJ to refresh my memory. The track sounds a lot better if you speed it up. Not exactly a smooth match for Joyce Sims but if you strip the music from the chorus where Diana Ross wants [a man with] muscles and replace it with the intro to Come Into My Life, it could be the beginning of a beautiful [musical] friendship. It's not that easy, agreed, but I think I'm on to something.

Elisa Rose, you have your way with intro's, up for a challenge? Oh, you're not reading this. Bummer. But in case you do - in private, I get it, just remember how I wrote about Ada Lovelace and Her Royal Highness The Unbreakable Spy Princess Noor Inayat Khan only for them to turn up in a two-part Doctor Who Christmas episode a year later. 

And yes - now that you [I] mention it - we have to talk about the Doctor. Follow me to the footnotes.[1100]

Final thought. Did you know that track two from Diana Ross' 1978 album the Boss is called I Ain’t Been Licked. Happy Locktober. Who says personal gravity and sex are mutually exclusive? My English may not be that good but looking back the seventies weren't probably that bad either.

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247

Sadly, it's day 247 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine already.What else can I say?

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[1] Diana Ross' Take Me Higher was produced by Narada Michael Walden. Narada is a protégé of Quincy Jones. He started out as a jazz musician but moved to dance, both as a singer and producer. Born in 1952, for some years now he's been the drummer for rock band Journey. 

His 1988 dance track Divine Emotions was one of the first records I used to learn about mixing. Let's say I'm still learning. Never been good at it, reading the crowd is more my thing. Anyway Divine Emotions is the perfect title for an upcoming post on the beauty of the Divine Bitches label. I shouldn't have said that? Oops.

[2] Muscles, the 1982 Diana Ross song, was written and produced by Michael Jackson. [3]

[3] Now look at the album art for Take Me Higher [1995]. Purple Rain anyone?

[4] Angie Stone's I Miss You samples a lot of 1980s disco, including Brazilian producer Deodato, Al Debarge and the S.O.S. Band. 

[1100] Power of the Doctor

Well, that was no Robot of Sherwood. Worse, much worse.

Drivel, chaos - and I'm being kind here - sums up The Power of the Doctor. Still wondering what flashed before my eyes. And why now? The BBC's CCO [chief content officer, not making that up] explained that it was aired as part of a week of celebrations, celebrating a 100 years of the BBC. My guess? BBC CCO Charlotte Moore knew just how bad it was and tried to get it out of the way before the holidays. What other reason can there be? Spoilers from here on.

I was full of hope when it all began. Sadly, Jody Whittaker keeps on disappointing. Most reviewers have changed their stance. They no longer blame Mrs. Whittaker, great actress and so on, but the scripts of executive producer Chris Chibnall, who, incidentally, should consider a new career in recycling. Waste management offers exciting options these days. More on that later, in a minute or so. [For once.] Throughout three series of Doctor Who, Whittakers performance is as flat as a man's chest without man boobs or muscles. Does she even want to be there? A while back I stumbled upon The Asset, a 2013 TV show. Jody Whittaker plays a CIA officer, hell-bent on capturing a mole inside the spy agency. The actual case officer spent over six years finding the traitor with dogged devotion. You wouldn't say if you saw Jody Whittaker. Sorry, but Jody is part of the problem, the other half being Chris Chibnall. If he is a good writer and showrunner then I'm the world's greatest alpha male. [More on that later, and yes, I have a plan.] [44]

The whole episode is a horrible maelstrom of golden oldies, most of which I don't remember. Just be glad, very glad I didn't choose Boney M as todays track. Sacha Derwan is back as the master and I absolutely love him but even he must have been crying himself to sleep after what Chibnall made him do. Dancing as Rasputin in 1916 Russia, with Boney M playing loud over the speaker. Also, did the program run out of money for the make-up department - overly gracious severance pay for Chibnall and Whittaker perhaps? Why does Rasputin have to look so weird? What Derwan does well and what is missing from Whittaker's doctor is the beautiful madness that he bring to his character even though the writers portray the Master/Rasputin as a clown of sorts. If he can work with that, why cannot Whittaker? 

[Verse 2]
♫ ...I'd defy
Anyone who claimed that I
Didn't control
Whatever moved in my soul
I could tempt
Touch delight
Just because you fell for me
Why should I feel uptight
Love had to show me one thing... ♫

Boss I
The real gem in this episode was Yaz. Yes Yaz, the woman who saves the world with the doctor's rather useless hologram as her sidekick minion. She and the She-doctor are in love but as the doctor is about to die [regenerate] there's not even a single kiss. Meanwhile Rose is living her best life with a copy of He-doctor in an alternative universe. What gives? Perhaps after it's second centenary the BBC will give the green light for two women to fall in love on screen? Only 100 more years you say? Don't hold your breath. Just one of many horrible things about this episode. Never liked the fam and certainly not Yaz but this episode turned me into a fan. What a surprise. Basically Yaz took over as the doctor and the doctor was her usual self, an empty shell at best. It made the use of holograms extra painful. More than once I found myself thinking of the emperor's new clothes. Basically this episode reached the point where Doctor Who is better of without the doctor. Seriously. [7]

Quick confession, twice I shouted at my TV: Just go! If you think that's odd, you're reading this because you are into femdom.

So the doctor is dying, regenerating so you will. She loves Yaz and Yaz loves her back. What does she do? She sends Yaz away. "I think I have to do this myself." Only moments before she doesn't want to regenerate and now this. Doesn't sound nearly as much fun as the show makes you believe it is. Why not ask Yaz to stay with her throughout? Nobody sends their loved ones away when they're about to die, for them and for us. It also would have been a nice twist. Once the fireworks are over and the doctor is reborn, they look at Yaz and say I love you before asking who she is. How hard can it be? And yes that would also be heartbreaking for Yaz. Why not, it's entertainment for the whole family. 

[Chorus]
♫ ...I was so right (so right)
So right
Thought I could turn emotion
On and off
I was so sure
So sure (I was so sure)
But love taught me
Who was, who was, who was the boss... ♫

Boss II
Ok, now I'm getting ahead of myself, we're still discussing Jody's performance here. This episode saw many faces of past doctors, none of which I recognized. Doctor Ruth, aka The Doctor - some call her The Fugitive Doctor - her, I did recognize. Nobody knows if she is a past Timelord, present one or future incarnation of the Doctor. All we know is that from the moment she shows up, even if it's just a measly hologram, she is The Doctor. My point exactly. There is this commanding presence whenever she shows up. Two seconds in and she takes over the whole scene. In case you don't get personal gravity, just watch doctor Ruth. People instantly realize, this is someone you don't mess with. OK not those post-humans refitted as some kind of Robocop soldier thingies. Nor do the Daleks.

Discussing a previous episode, the same thing happened. As soon as doctor Ruth enters the stage, you sigh a breath of relief. The doctor, finally! How can it be that Jo Martin, who has only three lines at best is such a commanding presence and Jody Whittaker is not? For once you cannot blame it on the writing.

To be an actor doesn't mean each and every role suits you. Anything action-related is not for Mrs. Whittaker. She's more the brooding type, why not send her of with Yaz to Shangri-La or even Atlantis? We all know Yaz deserves it. 

[Breakdown]
♫ ...Love taught me
Taught me
Taught me
Taught me ♫

[Or you just say Let Love Rule.]

    - The Boss, Solid writing from husband-and-wife songwriting-production team Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Recorded by many. 

Ncuti Gatwa is the next doctor. His choice neatly follows the ladder of equality. Just invented that phrase. [5] Don't get angry but it works something like this. First there are white males. All the world sees is them [us, also me] Hey we have to be more inclusive, let's hire some woman. After which black and white television was abolished and they had to come up with a new plan. Let's find a non-white male for the role next. You know who is on the lowest rung of the ladder. Why not make doctor Ruth the next Doctor instead? She's brilliant, everybody wants her to be The Doctor, so what does the BBC do? Not that of course not. The BBC is not a democracy. Bad joke, apologies.

The Doctor regenerates and it's doctor Ruth. "Finally" are her first words. She's also the wife of River Song, who drops by moments later. "Hello Sweetie, love your new look" [not necessarily meant as a stab at 13. Feel free to interpret it as such] after which they kiss. Everybody loves it - who doesn't love kissing, but that's not what I mean - especially because the episode opens with Yaz and 13 confessing their love for each other. Next the Master generates into Missy, dusting herself down and says, 'now then, where were we?' [1302] Twice again, how hard can it be? Which leads me to the final conclusion on the tenure of Whittaker. Writers know who they are writing for, making the most of the actors [material] they have to work with. In the end we are all professionals.

And yes, you can interpret that last line as a compliment for show runner Chris Chibnall, who wrote most of the episodes himself. Or you can look back on D13 as one big mess. Not much of a choice, now is it?

The opening of The Power of the Doctor is perhaps the weirdest thing of the whole 90 minutes. John Bishop joined Doctor Who only last year and only minutes into the Power episode, he bid farewell. Too dangerous and off he went. Huh?

After the opening credits we're on a train, a space train. No, not again is my instant reaction. Remember Mummy on the Orient Express? Clearly the Doctor's writers have a thing for closed spaces, just think Astrid Peth in Voyage of the Damned. Anyway where is Kylie Minogue when you need her?

What happens next is even stranger. You're in deep space, aboard a 1950s police box, which, I have to agree, makes a lot of sense. But why use a ladder to land on the roof of the train? Sonic screwdriver anyone? Remember the episode Oxygen? Bill [miss her], Nardole [miss him] and 12 are aboard a space mine, run by a capitalist corporation. Fifty cents in the meter please or we turn off the oxygen, nothing personal, just business. So, the Doctor knows oxygen is pretty useful for humanoid life forms, but doesn't need it when walking on the roof of a train in deep space? Personally I think 13 lost her marbles long ago but now I'm sure.

Of course the train carries a secret. Today it's a toddler locked in a safe. First rule of incompetent writing is consistency. After the Cybermen invade the ship, you get a good look at just how laughable the guards are. They don't even qualify as toy soldiers. Apart from Vladimir Putin and Olga Druzhinina [€] nobody steals a child, not even on TV. Correct, the little girl turns out to be an energy being,  a powerful one, which why she is chained to a planet of doom. Don't worry if you don't get it. Don't re-watch the episode either. Like I told you, it's 90 minutes of drivel and chaos.

Then we switch to 1916 Russia and see the Master as Rasputin. Still not exactly sure why, most likely because this is where his evil plan starts. Somehow we hop to 2022 and the head of UNIT - a super secret intergalactic spy club, think Men In Black with an unhealthy dose of naivety - studies missing paintings in a London museum. She smells a rat. I do too, how can you study a painting that's stolen? Also a bunch of geologists are missing. Turns out the Master has shrunk them to the size of Barbie dolls, for fun. And probably because he wants to be captured badly. In case UNIT doesn't get the message, all of a sudden his face turns up in the missing painting. Another thing that has been done before; living paintings. Of course UNIT captures him and locks him up in their super secret sky scraper somewhere in central London.

Not that the Master didn't anticipate, au contraire. Classical Chibnall, if you don't have a clue what you're doing, throw in some fan service. The concept is originally from Japan where publishers believe they sell more books and cartoons to young adult males if they include lots of semi-nude females. Mr. Chibnall has a slightly different approach. He re-introduces old fan favourites for just a couple of minutes each. Jack Harkin in yyy [why would I even bother to look it up?]and the Osgood Twins in xxx [I just don't have the strength]. This episode sees two of the Doctor's companions from before the millennial reboot. No clue as to who they are but they sure do talk a lot when the world is about to end. One of them carries a little doll, a gift to remember her adventures. As it happens it's a babushka with an army of miniature Cybermen in side. As soon as they're free, they quickly grow to their natural size and start shooting the place up. All of that happens in the most secure, most secret destination in the world. In comparison Area 51 feels like a tourist destination on par with the Eiffel Tower.

It's not the robot's strategic inside that wins the day. UNIT's defenders are pretty useless. You're fighting Robocops from outer space - they have flashy pew-pew laser guns, dangerous and so on - and you earthling have not even the grace to hide behind a pillar or something. Why not step into their firing line right now? Those who don't get killed are captured and immediately converted into Cybermen. It all looks very menacing with drills, bone saws and screams but it compares pale to the muted horrors of World Enough and Time. In the ship's sickbay patients mumble almost inaudible. During their 'upgrade' to Cybermen they softly whisper the word pain. That is frightening, not this drivel.

Because the boss lady of UNIT is a silly softy, she surrenders to the Cybermen to save her minions. An attractive offer she believes because she is a walking encyclopedia of who is who when it comes to earth's defenses. To which, post-upgrade the Cybermen have full access to. Dereliction of duty, treason most likely, but above all stupid. They're robots, not humanoids with a heart. When Bill was captured by the Cybermen in World Enough and Time, the first thing they did was 'upgrade' her heart. Why in the world do you trust them? Of course Kate Stewart doesn't because she has sent the last remaining old-time companion of the Doctor 111 floors down to the basement. There is a kill switch that let's the building implode on itself. Rather risky, don't you agree? Also straight out of the 'Making awesomely [bad] B-movies for Dummies" book.

Of course the old lady makes it in the end, flips a switch and the building explodes. Both women escape unscathed. They even manage to run out of the front door. Never mind everybody else who is left in the building when it blows up, including the brave men Kate Stewart wanted to save. Not that anybody cares as they hop in the Tardis. Surprisingly it's the first time for the head of UNIT and she utters the magic words: it's bigger on the inside. Can't be Locktober every single month honey. Normally I'd worry that this merry band of Whovians will turns into Fam2.0 but since 13 is on her way out, I'm at peace. Almost that is, because moments before, for the second time (1+1) I scream at my telly "Just Go Already!"

Nope, instead the agony continues. The Tardis flies here and there. While Fam 2.0 [8] does things, like pulling levers at the same time - technological very sophisticated and so on - 13 rights the many wrongs that happened during this episode. Story-wise or so, that is. Final shoot-out with the Master, bla bla, hit and miss, then suddenly her hand starts to glow. It's time to die [regenerate], but not before Yaz and 13 share a magic moment, like only non-erotic friends can. Also without oxygen. Sitting atop of the Tardis, they look at earth - certainly not each other - and ramble about the beauty in blue. Tell that to Putin. Why does it have to end like this? So unfair. 13 drops of Yaz at the first available bus stop after which she parks her blue box atop of some cliffs and - wait - a change is gonna come. Less dramatic than you think because she turns into 10, David Tennant. Should be a big surprise but it's not. Read about this spoiler at least 11 times in the months before. Talk about disgusting fan service.

If the opening scene of today's episode was the weirdest ever, it's final one is the worst. Companions Anonymous, friends and past travelers sitting in a circle, discussing their feelings. What gives? Get me out of here. Scotty, beam me up. Wrong franchise you say? Help.

This time the Master's grand plan is to destroy earth and blame the Doctor. It's why he kidnapped all those geologists and miniaturized them, I think. Still doesn't explain the stolen paintings. He also forces the Doc13 to regenerate, taking over her body, so he can claim that he [13] wreaked all this havoc. Luckily grandpa Graham is part of the rescue effort. Suddenly he appears at the bottom of a live volcano, explaining to the woman he just met - a companion from before the MM-reboot - just how dangerous everything is. As if Mrs. Old-timer doesn't know. Only question remains is why Graham shows up right there and then. Kudos for continuing to read this far, right now I'm as lost as you are. Also one more thing, Vedder [or is it Vledder?], a character from last season, falls through a worm hole and lands on the invisible planet powered by the captive alien being. He helps the Doctor, I assume, she helps him return home, a galaxy far, far away, to his wife and his baby. Fan service doesn't always have to be gross, sometimes it's just lame. Chibnall only brought Vlinder [who cares about his name anyway?] back because Flux was one of the more somewhat acceptable episodes. Desperation never looks good . So sad. And that is just one episode under the reign of Chris Chibnall. Some people call it almost OK, which is high praise by modern standards.

Almost 99 percent of anything that Chris Chibnall does during his tenure as show runner of Doctor Who is horrible. There are some good bits and pieces though. About 1.1 percent of the entire output. His best move - ever - is to introduce Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor. You and I know her as Doctor Ruth. The bad thing about it is that Chibnall is abusing race for ratings. What's even worse is that he doesn't realize just how awesome Doctor Ruth is. Or does he? Anyway we never get any answers as to the why, where and how.

Another hardcore evil twist is cross-breeding [yikes] the Cybermen with the Timelords. Extra points for that. Also quite the hole he digs for his successor.

Trying hard to come up with more good things. Don't wait for it. You know what they say about hell freezing over. [1320] Let's move on and discuss the other 99 percent. One thing that stands out, like a sink hole to the center of the earth, is the golden child. Doctor Who is no longer the last of the Timelords but an alien child, raised on Gallifrey by their adoptive parents, who copied her regenerative genes for the glory of the Timelords. All of a sudden 13 is super special. Everybody hates it. And like clockwork, shortly after introducing the concept, he discards it. Now what? Usually this is where I say, it's simple, only it's not that simple. Still not that complicated. River Song is an intergalactic archeologist with Doctor Who as her hubby. And yes that makes perfect sense. Of course it does. If anyone can explain the perils of interpreting deep space canon, it's her. Short version, the timeless child does exist and for the past 50 years we haven't been watching the adventures of Doctor Timelord but of an imposter who regenerates like a proper Timelord. Bye, bye 13. As a bonus all those over 70 who stopped watching in the 1960s or so, after X or Y became the nth incarnation and whose day job it is to rant about how bad the latest episode is, despite the fact they haven't seen a single episode of Doctor Who for at least 40 years, feel validated in their choice of abstinence. Guess that's why some guys love Locktober. Hey, even those who are old and grumpy have rights.

The Weeping Angels "are "kind" murderous psychopaths, eradicating their victims "mercifully" by dropping them into the past and letting them live out their full lives, just in a different time period." And they are scary. Whatever you do, don't blink. Don't.

Frightening, that was until Chibnall decided to turn them into mercenaries for hire for a group of rogue Timelords, called the Division. Why dude, why? Didn't your mom teach you not to touch things that belong to you? Come up with your own ideas, don't feed of other people's creativity. Instead of adding to the canon, you've cannibalized it like a desperate clown. So very disappointed. Oops. Time's up. Lucky me. Now I have to return to my dungeon cleaning duties. Lucky me, I have a sonic toothbrush, don't tell mistress.[No, still haven't got my power-tools back, don't think an intergalactrolectric toothbrush counts as such.]

Hmm, actual toothbrush is for brushing teeth [only]. Says so on the box. Guess mistress always wins. Except for when it comes to Doctor Who. 

Sonicare? It's just a toothbrush. I hate marketing.

You know what else horrified me? Endless discussion with hologram doctors. The end of the world is any moment now and then this. You're talking to a hologram. Besides no-one knows who you are or that weird, translucent guy you're talking too.

I'm good now, don't worry. Just had to mention it. Let's move on to things that truly matter. Read on please.

Final note: While filming The Power of the Doctor, Jody Whittaker was pregnant. That's great. Wishing you and your baby all the best; love, health, happiness and everything else.

[5] John character is out, despite the fact nobody knows why he was in the Tardis in the first place. Looking back, same thing goes for Jody Whittaker. In retrospect why wasn't Mandil Gip [Yaz] 13? Oh, wait, I get it. The answer is in the Ladder of Equality. Silly me, just invented it myself and already forgot about it. [6]

[6] Perhaps I should send in my resume to the BBC and apply to be the next show runner. Loose ends and so on. 

[7] I'd even vote for impossible companion, Clara Oswald, as the next Doctor. That bad? No, worse. I  Just cannot come up with the words.

[8] Femdom over famdom. Always.

[44] As a future alpha male I have a brilliant plan, trust me.

[44] It looks increasingly like I might not get my 44 billion from Elon Musk after all. As of today he officially owns Twitter. For now keep your fingers crossed. But in case he doesn't honour his promise - which hardly never happens - a tip for you Elon. As a billionaire, the only ones you compete with are other billionaires. Jeff Bezos just rescued sci fi show The Expanse. Why not make him see green with envy and sponsor Doctor Who with a small amount of, say, 10 million per episode? Jeff will be furious. OK, he still owns the Washington Post and you have Twitter, so just consider this a first step on your path to salvation.

[1301] From the Guardian's comments: "bet Boris Johnson was watching that regeneration scene and crying bitter tears of what-might-have-been."

[1302] From the comments: "I wanted the Master to regenerate into Missy, dust herself down and say, 'now then, where were we? Especially the dusting off part is brilliant.

[1303] More often than not I disagree with Martin Belam, The Guardian's favourite Doctor Who writer, but he has class and his style is second to none. And don't get me started on his encyclopedic knowledge of Doctor Who. Thank you sir.

[1304] Of course his inner encyclopedia of all things Doctory ever makes it a different viewing experience for Martin Belam than for the rest of us.

[1305] Also enjoyed the time he wrote about not to nag too much about continuity. Any program that is on TV for some time, runs into those issues. Then again...

[1306] In case you stumble upon the comments in The Guardian by accident, remember the be kind or be banned ethos severely restricts the discussion, which might give you warped impression of the quality of the show. Drivel & chaos, I stand by that.

[1307] From the comments: "Awful, awful CGI"

[1308] Referring to Master Rasputin: worst thing about the show? Now I have to review The Great for you. I don't know.
insert image.

[1309] From the comments: "Glorious until HE turned up at the end to overshadow Jodie's epic goodbye." Capitalization is silly, to be continued for sure. Caesar Non Supra Grammaticos.

[1310] From the comments: "Questions persist to why they cannot make a decent science fiction show out of Doctor Who."

Martin Belam: Because it is a fantasy show with the intention from the BBC that it will appeal to the whole family on a weekend evening including younger children?

Ahum no kid under eleven even recognizes David Tennant as 10.

[1311] Let alone the parallels between Broadchurch and Doctor Who. At the end of the Powerless Doctor, Whittaker regenerates into Tennant atop of a cliff. Broadchurch also has this thing for cliffs. Not even I picked up on that, despite me ranting about a dead body at their feet in both shows previously. And yes, Broadchurch is murder mystery by Chibnall, featuring both Whittaker and Tennant. What's that phrase again? It's complicated? No, the other one.

[1312] From the comments: "In my head the Push The Button video by Sugababes set in their Tardis Lift where they kidnap Matt Smith is canon." Funny.

[1313] That was the Guardian, now let's turn the page over to Gizmodo and it's bull's eye. "Nothing lands emotionally, despite the fact we are constantly shouted at that these things are all dire and that the Doctor is facing her toughest battle yet."

[1314] From the article: "“The Power of the Doctor,” the final outing of Jodie Whittaker’s 13th Doctor and Chris Chibnall’s run as Doctor Who’s show runner, is, like a lot of the duo’s recent escapades in time and space, a difficult piece of television to write about." True.

[1315] From the article: "There are few finales that could navigate the complex, nuanced weirdness of the current state of Doctor Who"  Just weird is enough. We get it.

[1316] From the article: "the fatal problem with “The Power of the Doctor” is that for the vast majority of its burdensome 90-minute runtime it does not even try, flinging cameos, story threads, and scenes at a wall and desperately praying that they will stick—and for the most part, they don’t."

[1317] From the article: "Chibnall’s fondness for title cards with locations and years on them in an attempt to manufacture scale without actually showing scale is only matched for his fondness for plot threads that can barely flow with each other..."

[1318] Checklist? Yes.

[1320] Found another gem from the Chibnall era: professor Eustacius Jericho. His character was tossed aside after a few episodes as well, such a shame.