Season 11 stoops to a new low. This episode is full of terrible dialogue, cringeworthy acting and simplistic moral signalling, and the only reason anyone could defend it is because it's Doctor Who, and Doctor Who *used* to be good.
Compare the dialogue to the episodes of the RTD era or early Moffat era. It was sharp, to the point, intelligent and witty, whereas the jokes here just aren't funny. Its attempts at humour involving King James are pathetic. It's as if the BBC have aimed it at preschool kids. That's the level of sophistication we're talking about here. The funny thing is Doctor Who used to be intelligent enough to appeal to kids and adults at the same time. I think that if I was still a kid, I'd be equally furious to see it dumbed down like this.
Look at the portrayal of historical characters we see here. I don't know much about King James I but I couldn't believe what I was seeing when he came onscreen. Is that accent supposed to be funny? Is this the level Doctor Who's "humour" has stooped to, overexaggerating accents? Not to mention the completely unfunny lines given to King James to make him seem like an utter twit. There is no comparison between this and NuWho's portrayal of Queen Victoria. She was realistic but also the source of jokes. But those jokes were actually funny, in keeping with her character, and not totally stupid. Plus, the acting used to be good. Alan Cumming goes out of his way to look idiotic, but I don't much blame him in a way because what else can you do with such an atrocious script?
As if this episode wasn't bad already, it throws in countless PC comments about how bad life was for women in those days. The duck stool was for shutting women up, apparently. Good job we have the Doctor here, battling for social justice across time... oh, what was that she said a few minutes ago about not interfering in history? Oh, I get it. What she meant was don't interfere unless you see a woman being harmed, in which case it's absolutely fine to break the Gallifreyan law of non-interference!
I could go on, but what's the point? Chris Chibnall has decided what direction he wants to take Doctor Who and there's nothing we can do about it now.
Compare the dialogue to the episodes of the RTD era or early Moffat era. It was sharp, to the point, intelligent and witty, whereas the jokes here just aren't funny. Its attempts at humour involving King James are pathetic. It's as if the BBC have aimed it at preschool kids. That's the level of sophistication we're talking about here. The funny thing is Doctor Who used to be intelligent enough to appeal to kids and adults at the same time. I think that if I was still a kid, I'd be equally furious to see it dumbed down like this.
Look at the portrayal of historical characters we see here. I don't know much about King James I but I couldn't believe what I was seeing when he came onscreen. Is that accent supposed to be funny? Is this the level Doctor Who's "humour" has stooped to, overexaggerating accents? Not to mention the completely unfunny lines given to King James to make him seem like an utter twit. There is no comparison between this and NuWho's portrayal of Queen Victoria. She was realistic but also the source of jokes. But those jokes were actually funny, in keeping with her character, and not totally stupid. Plus, the acting used to be good. Alan Cumming goes out of his way to look idiotic, but I don't much blame him in a way because what else can you do with such an atrocious script?
As if this episode wasn't bad already, it throws in countless PC comments about how bad life was for women in those days. The duck stool was for shutting women up, apparently. Good job we have the Doctor here, battling for social justice across time... oh, what was that she said a few minutes ago about not interfering in history? Oh, I get it. What she meant was don't interfere unless you see a woman being harmed, in which case it's absolutely fine to break the Gallifreyan law of non-interference!
I could go on, but what's the point? Chris Chibnall has decided what direction he wants to take Doctor Who and there's nothing we can do about it now.
