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November 5, 2021 at 2:28 pm #335
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KeymasterDID IT SUCK? | Doctor Who Flux #1 [HALLOWEEN APOCALYPSE REVIEW]
Doctor Who is back on TV! New friends, old enemies and some crystal people appear and of course, Harry has an opinion on it all in his review of the Doctor Who Flux (Series 13) episode “The Halloween Apocalypse”
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it’s that time again fervent
anticipation for this new series has
been higher than ever before maybe it’s
because once again they left it to the
last minute to actually confirm anything
but this is fine with me i honestly love
being kept in the dark avoiding trailers
rumors and the rest that is until harbor
wilms bangs on my door at 3am shouting
and screaming about the latest news
after watching this first episode of
series 13 i could only think of one
thing same [ __ ] different year i mean
don’t get me wrong they seem to have lit
several matches at once with two
returning villains and a whole bunch of
other weird new [ __ ] i much prefer the
idea of a series that balances recurring
and new villains as opposed to one or
the other overall though i just felt
like it was one massive teaser for the
series as a whole instead of having
anything substantial happen to anybody
bar the ending oh and uh
our new companion getting forced into
becoming a companion
nice to meet you roles run for your life
the dialogue is just as infuriating as
ever there was too much and too little
happening simultaneously pretty
run-of-the-mill for this iteration of
the show there’s actually a lot more to
unpack than i initially thought and due
to this series being chronological from
start to finish there will be more
speculation than i am generally
comfortable with putting into a review
i’ll get into the core of my thoughts
surrounding this episode in a moment but
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let’s get on with the review oh and uh
spoilers obviously the episode
excellently illustrates within seconds
the oldest and greatest issue the show
suffers from
where would you like to go next star who
[ __ ] cares anywhere in the universe
within budget budget i am not kidding i
initially thought the pair were just on
a green screen and that they’d genuinely
forgotten to put a backdrop in here the
scene is as exposition-ridden as you’d
come to expect of this era ridding it of
any tension you might expect from the
two main characters hanging upside down
above a pit of acid i want to blame
budget again for the fact we didn’t see
their failed attempt at sneaking on
board this guy’s base but simultaneously
with all the waffle we’re subjected to
in this scene a dependence on dialogue
probably can’t come from anywhere else
aside from the writer the idea that the
audience were deprived of not only a
whole segment of this adventure but
several adventures without graham and
ryan since ryan and graham left have i
not taken you to amazing places of
course was a really poor excuse for
these two being essentially friends what
does it matter because i thought we were
friends we are friends with friends sure
you can blame covid for this gap of
friendship development but thinking back
to the two whole series she’s been a
companion it never really felt like
either character did anything to make
this friendship justified it always
tried to force it and not develop it
hence the opportunity to do so is long
gone i can only think of one episode
that might give their relationship some
weight out of 22. it’s no wonder they’re
constantly quarreling and bickering not
only does the pair’s shared dialogue
condemn them into being unbelievable
friends but genuinely gets them out of
falling to their deaths
that high gravity circus workshop who
are the top two in the class
because of an adventure the pair had
that the audience can’t relate to this
escape sequence truly had me gawking
with my nose
this is what it looks like oddly i found
the handcuff voice activated release
mechanism gag to be rather funny this
may be the only obstacle the pair faced
with some difficulty before the end of
the episode and i genuinely appreciated
the nod to modern voice recognition
devices being suitably unreliable the
peak of the comedy though was the fact
that tardis just happened to be sitting
face up on this random rock here what a
coincidence what chibnall was trying to
say by having a double bed just sitting
around in the tardis console room and
two sets of handcuffs in the doctor’s
pocket remains to be seen another aspect
of this episode that remains to be seen
is the first interlude a bunch of people
are doing some digging and some wealthy
businessmen have a squabble about who
has the bigger brain given that there is
a connection of location between this
place and present day liverpool perhaps
some wibbly wobbly timey-wimey events in
this initial timeline will have a cause
and effect ripple on the modern day how
this potential matches up with the
impending apocalypse in the present day
though leaves me a little apprehensive
about the prospect also did anybody else
feel that this transition into the
window was painfully stuttery we’re then
introduced to dan the series’s new
companion he’s got this desperate
underdog vibe to him that i thought was
reminiscent of yaz in her introductory
episode he’s escorted out of the museum
of liverpool for not being an official
tour guide by a character called diane
this character definitely felt odd to me
considering one moment she’s giving dan
a spanking and the next so are we still
on halloween drinks tonight all right
maybe there’s a reason for this sudden
change in attitude that’s to be revealed
she also claims that dan’s got a trade
that he should be focusing on instead
which i don’t actually think was
established in this episode if it was a
job duller than a broken sandwich it
might be somewhat compelling for a
potential companion had they not already
used this excuse twice before maybe if
they made it more contemporary like he
lost his job because a curved and he
resorted to escapism that might make for
a refreshing twist on the companion
dynamic we are then thrown into a
psychic vision of the doctor watching a
crystal guy named swarm get free after
being chained up since the dawn of the
universe maybe having a first-person
perspective from swarm might have made
this psychic link a bit more believable
when the trick-or-treat gag happened at
the end of this guy’s scene i genuinely
forgot that the doctor was forced to
witness all this in her mind apparently
yaz was just twiddling her thumbs the
whole time and then realized that the
tardis had a leak nothing to worry about
is fine i’m five tardis is fine we’re
all fine once again yaz displays
cardboard characteristics here unable to
identify that the doctor is absolutely
lying through her teeth instead she says
halloween
trick or treat
as though the doctor’s strange behavior
and the leak had just been erased from
her memory this is also reinforced later
when the doctor gives herself a brain
analysis quick mit check on my mind had
a little
glitch he didn’t mention it you know
what yes i don’t mention everything well
exactly the doctor was subjected to a
four-minute long vision and yaz didn’t
even notice the dialogue in this
sequence was just downright atrocious
too the teacher and student dynamic here
has the former delivering exposition
that even chibnall acknowledges is just
ridiculous do not engage with the
prisoner in conversation do not do
anything that it asks i mean obviously i
have done my sight resistance training
despite this command mere moments
afterwards she breaks her own rules and
becomes personally affected by this
prisoner’s prophetic words so much for
our job is to ensure all incarceration
systems are still functional and get
their hell out this whole vision felt
like a massive joke to me we have a
prisoner who could have escaped the
whole time a veteran guard getting
killed and of course telling and not
showing containment chamber active
containment chamber function your last
tour in syntac now you’re handing over
your task to a child
damn i was two days from retirement
back in liverpool dan is seen handing
out drugs to the staff at the local food
bank as well as the children out trick
or treating handing out drugs for free
clearly isn’t working out for him
financially though so a big guy with a
shaggy dog face comes along to take him
away the warrior tries a jedi mind trick
on dan that ends in failure and so
instead zaps him into a cage and takes
him to safety considering we learn later
that the race of northern chewbaccas are
actually here to save humanity his line
about executing them comes off as a
little odd the doctor then appears on
dan’s street with a rather phony
backdrop of anfield stadium being shown
behind them the pair make their way into
dan’s house and the doctor suddenly has
an illustration of an army of ships
headed for earth there 7.2 minutes ago
kavanaugh’s ship leaving earth shielded
against detection looks like you
detected him without issue though the
pair figure out just at the right moment
that this laptop isn’t dan’s the house
is then shrunk to the size of a grabable
object which immediately reminded me of
how the master had shrunk people in the
previous series presumably carvinista
put the laptop there knowing that the
doctor would go for the first bit of
text she saw to try and track him down
it certainly shows foresight on the part
of this character except for the fact
that it only decided to activate after
the pair left the house he’s
deliberately leaving traps in case he’s
followed yes thank you captain obvious
the pair then bumped into a character
named claire who had foreknowledge of
the doctor i was quite surprised that
despite this rather notable recognition
the doctor took so little interest in
her and preferred chasing carvinista’s
heels despite this it was still quite a
fascinating moment to me because i have
always been in love with the idea of
people meeting the doctor in the wrong
order i just haven’t met you yet even
the shot of her standing in front of the
tardis making herself walk home clearly
troubled by something was quite
effective in displaying a character
forced to face fixed events in time she
continued walking home and found a
weeping angel i appreciated that she had
the foreknowledge of how to handle this
thing
fat love good it did her though
i understand it’s instinct to turn your
head to see what you’re doing but the
fact this character does it not once but
three times made the scenario a bit of a
laughing stock i’m assuming that more
about this character and the angel will
be developed across the series but this
introduction had me feeling like they
put the angels in here purely for the
fact it’s a halloween special and
nothing else
[Music]
did somebody step on a plate here what
the [ __ ] with that sound effect
hot on the trail once again the pair
forcefully spouted what they were doing
to find carvernister’s ship sending
cavanist’s craft id cross referencing
with special temporal locations i’ll
restrict to this solar system and time
zone for exact trajectory oh you’re just
so cute dan is then seen aboard
carvernister’s ship once again chibnall
doesn’t seem to expect the audience to
understand the situation that’s put in
front of us the dog shot me the bars on
that holding pen are electrified
that’s space however i was quite
interested by this fluffy character
begrudgingly saving the human race from
its imminent demise it establishes his
species as being authoritative enough to
respect whereas the task is something he
despises as though he was made to do
bigger and better things it makes his
rather hot-tempered attitude seem
believable and incentivizes me to watch
out for his actions throughout the
series the doctor and yaz arrived to
save the day and the doctor uses
leftover hopper virus particles to screw
up the ship’s security systems just like
they did in orphan 55. she pulls the
packet out of her pockets making me
wonder if they’re bigger on the inside
too she confronts carvinista without
obstacle thanks to the sonic screwdriver
it made me wonder how she could have
possibly messed up so badly to get her
in that sticky situation we saw at the
beginning of the episode he has got dan
out of his cell in equally convenient
fashion and we discover that the lupas
carvinista’s species are out to rescue
humanity from the apocalypse i wasn’t
too fussed about this reveal given that
the whole 7 billion ships humanoid dog
thing had previously been established
making this oddly satisfying throughout
this conversation it’s revealed that
this guy is or was a member of the
division that weird gallifreyan secret
service that was alluded to in the
timeless children it seems like the
objective of the season is to have the
doctor find out what they are up to
we’ll just have to pray that this
exploration resolves some of the
questions that the previous finale left
me craving answers for meanwhile in a
very non-specific region of the arctic
circle some british people smash a ufo
thing in their garage they both appear
expectant that this thing would turn up
at some point and later on the bloke got
disintegrated and the woman
was revealed to be this crystal guy’s
sister i honestly haven’t the [ __ ]
foggiest what’s going on with these lot
the santarans also got a little teasy
return that honestly i felt was quite
out of place in this first episode maybe
i’m saying that knowing they’re
supposedly taking center stage in the
next one however they didn’t look bad
and i did laugh at them calling each
other disgusting and the prospect of
them taking advantage of this universal
destruction had me pretty hyped for the
next episode it was also great that they
brought back dan starkey as this
hologram santaran who has the privilege
of delivering one of my favorite lines
in the show’s history
bring it on i say
out there in the vast wilderness of
space grey worm from game of thrones was
seen living the dream
watching the universe go by he’s
apparently observed over 21 000
rotations whatever that means with
everything remaining the same i loved
the sarcastically optimistic commentary
he gave to his superiors though it made
me wonder if he is being punished in
some way perhaps a prisoner more than a
worker it gives the absurdity of this
situation a bit of acknowledgement
before we get to see the flux for the
first time disintegrating planets like
they were nothing i do really like the
look of it and it’s strange saying that
given the episode’s rather appalling
visuals displayed thus far it will be
interesting to find out whether this
thing was created or is merely a product
of nature perhaps drawing parallels with
the pandemic’s origins and how it spread
like wildfire the trio escaped
carvinista’s ships thanks to more
convenient laser inaccuracy and the
tardis brought them near pluto or
something they witnessed the flux first
hand and the doctor got a hilarious
vision of this random planet getting
completely annihilated this led to the
doctor having an obi-wan kenobi reaction
to it all i can feel it all i can feel
the universe breaking i felt a great
disturbance in the force as if millions
of voices suddenly cried out in terror
and was suddenly silenced and then she
has another teasy vision with mr
crystalline implying that he had fought
her before but she can’t remember it the
doctor then brought the flux directly to
earth where the band of dogs instantly
formed a protective shell around it now
bearing in mind that carvinista up until
this point
a
doesn’t like the doctor he laid traps
for earth’s number one protector knowing
she would have a problem with his
species actions b has limited knowledge
of the flux itself
a cataclysm of unknown proportions or
patterns with
we don’t know for sure and c
isn’t command of this battalion to my
knowledge otherwise why would he resent
the fact he has to save human beings and
yet suddenly at the push of a button on
his ship all 7 billion of them are
cooperating and creating a considerably
sized sphere to shield the earth from
the flux i do like the sentiment of at
least die trying but those ships must be
[ __ ] massive at least 10 football
pitchers per ship if i’ve done my maths
right and by the way this calculation
assumes that the ships are locked
together in this way on the surface of
the earth which they aren’t so these
ships are going to be even bigger than
10 football pitchers do they really need
all that space for one human and a dog
whatever we’ll just have to hope and
pray the doctor blasting vortex energy
to burn a hole into the flux does enough
to protect herself her friends the
tardis and the earth in the following
episode
so
did it suck
i mean there’s plenty to chew on i like
that at least it’s the doctor who
variety hour i was kind of reminded of
the german netflix series dark which
i’ve previously recommended to you guys
the variety of different timelines that
directly affect one another make it
really enjoyable the only thing is those
timelines were explored and established
over the course of three whole seasons
the first episode of doctor who flux has
thrown so many bits and pieces at us
that it makes some of them downright
forgettable perhaps there will be focus
on one or two next week and then another
two the week after subscribers of the
channel will know i normally give out a
rating at the end of my reviews but this
time i’ll be reserving such gradings
until part 6 is out i think it a bit
unfair and hasty to judge moments like
the crystalline sister kidnapping diane
off the dodgiest looking street corner
in liverpool and the fact that tardis
seemingly grows new doors from the
inside yet at the same time i can’t help
but feel this episode was like one
massive trailer for the series rather
than packing some serious punches left
right and center it’s not helped by the
two prior series being so divisive and
frustrating to watch and this first
episode appears to be a continuation of
that trend instead of maybe doing a soft
reset like they did with series 10. i am
somewhat eager to see how all these
threads tie together and i am kind of
praying that they actually do so don’t
forget you can sign up to my patreon
page for early access to reviews like
this one as well as a whole bunch of
bonus content you won’t find on youtube
thanks for watching see you all next
week
[Music]
i mean don’t get me wrong they seem to
have lit several matches at once
once how this potential matches up with
the impending
acolytes can’t say a copper lips packing
some serious punches left right and
center -
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