Much ink has already been spilled over this special, and I suspect much more will be spilled going forward. It's not, per se, bad, but it raises serious questions about the assumption that Moffat and Chibnall are responsible for the drop in quality for the last two seasons.
Broadly, what works best is the stuff that *feels* like classic RTD. The crisis happening in the midst of a London neighborhood, the relationship between the doctor and Donna, David Tennant's mannerisms. All of these are glimpses of what the show once was and, perhaps even, could be again.
The episode's biggest failure, in my opinion, is how they reopen Donna's story. Donna's metacrisis is resolved like it was never really a problem at all, just in a way that "a male-presenting Doctor wouldn't understand" (an ironic statement considering that in-universe the Doctor was a woman so recently that his psychic paper uses 'mistress' instead of 'master'). If this were the case could Jodie have spun by and saved the Doctors "best friend in the whole wide universe" this entire time? The entire thread seems like a cheap excuse to dredge up a character for nostalgia. Ending the metacrisis has no cost, no pain, no price. One of the most poignant story threads in New Who, wrapped up with a wink and a shrug. A show so lore intensive as Doctor Who cannot survive if it's willing to undo it's most difficult decisions with little impact. You can't expect viewers to care about the lore of a show whose show runners don't even treat it with respect.
This behavior is again exemplified by the further degradation of the sonic screwdriver into a deus ex machina. How many episodes could have played out differently if the sonic screwdriver could have made a short-term barrier to projectiles. Well now it can! Making the sonic screwdriver too versatile means that the classic creativity and witty solutions to sticky problems that was a hallmark of Eccleston and Tennant's tenures is no longer a requirement.
Now: That out of the way, let's talk about Rose (Donna's daughter). Rose is... fine, but she's a 1D character. It seems like she was written for two reasons: 1) To serve as the plot contrivance that saves Donna 2) To land a handful of 'clever' one-liners that even the show doesn't seem to be convinced were actually all that clever (e.g. Asking the pronouns of the alien, 'binary and non-binary', etc.) Many viewers are going to be put-off by Rose's transness, but much of this comes down to 2) above. Had Rose been an interesting character who happened to be trans, I think she could have received a warmer welcome (a la Captain Jack as a bi character), but as it is, I can't help but feel that she represents a missed opportunity.
Is the series doomed? No, not yet. Am I optimistic? Much less so than I was before I watched the special. They can still solve my biggest complaint by having some sort of delayed consequence for resolving the metacrisis. Many of the other complaints boil down to 'write better', and there's evidence that RTD can, but he has a small window to execute before those of us who fell away during the Capaldi and Whittaker years fall away again. Here's to hoping they figure it out over the next few weeks and this represents a rocky start to a new renaissance.
Broadly, what works best is the stuff that *feels* like classic RTD. The crisis happening in the midst of a London neighborhood, the relationship between the doctor and Donna, David Tennant's mannerisms. All of these are glimpses of what the show once was and, perhaps even, could be again.
The episode's biggest failure, in my opinion, is how they reopen Donna's story. Donna's metacrisis is resolved like it was never really a problem at all, just in a way that "a male-presenting Doctor wouldn't understand" (an ironic statement considering that in-universe the Doctor was a woman so recently that his psychic paper uses 'mistress' instead of 'master'). If this were the case could Jodie have spun by and saved the Doctors "best friend in the whole wide universe" this entire time? The entire thread seems like a cheap excuse to dredge up a character for nostalgia. Ending the metacrisis has no cost, no pain, no price. One of the most poignant story threads in New Who, wrapped up with a wink and a shrug. A show so lore intensive as Doctor Who cannot survive if it's willing to undo it's most difficult decisions with little impact. You can't expect viewers to care about the lore of a show whose show runners don't even treat it with respect.
This behavior is again exemplified by the further degradation of the sonic screwdriver into a deus ex machina. How many episodes could have played out differently if the sonic screwdriver could have made a short-term barrier to projectiles. Well now it can! Making the sonic screwdriver too versatile means that the classic creativity and witty solutions to sticky problems that was a hallmark of Eccleston and Tennant's tenures is no longer a requirement.
Now: That out of the way, let's talk about Rose (Donna's daughter). Rose is... fine, but she's a 1D character. It seems like she was written for two reasons: 1) To serve as the plot contrivance that saves Donna 2) To land a handful of 'clever' one-liners that even the show doesn't seem to be convinced were actually all that clever (e.g. Asking the pronouns of the alien, 'binary and non-binary', etc.) Many viewers are going to be put-off by Rose's transness, but much of this comes down to 2) above. Had Rose been an interesting character who happened to be trans, I think she could have received a warmer welcome (a la Captain Jack as a bi character), but as it is, I can't help but feel that she represents a missed opportunity.
Is the series doomed? No, not yet. Am I optimistic? Much less so than I was before I watched the special. They can still solve my biggest complaint by having some sort of delayed consequence for resolving the metacrisis. Many of the other complaints boil down to 'write better', and there's evidence that RTD can, but he has a small window to execute before those of us who fell away during the Capaldi and Whittaker years fall away again. Here's to hoping they figure it out over the next few weeks and this represents a rocky start to a new renaissance.