Think I’m a dumbass or agree? Either way, actual discourse is encouraged/allowed here! Let me know what you think.

The Doctor Who haters weren't haters. They were once Doctor Who lovers. Classic Who. The wilderness years. The tv movie. The comics. The audio dramas. And the vast majority of 2005 - 2017.

They loved it but were the first to spot the red flags in the writing, the creative approach, and the attitudes towards the fandom and criticism from that fandom.

They were labelled and dismissed. Which only galvanised them. Now, they've been vindicated but tbh, theyre not happy to see the show fail, but they are happy that such a poor direction and decade of toxic creative decisions weren't rewarded with success.

At the end of the day it's the same old story regardless of your flavour of politics: take something that worked, replace the stuff that worked with stuff that the writer wants, justify it with outrageous and provocative reasoning, then act surprised when everyone says the soul of the original is gone.

Maybe it's time writers start writing for the story, and not for their own message or agenda.

The ratings went into the toilet and it was cancelled....so clearly SOMETHING was wrong with it.

The crying game thing every episode was the biggest fail, 15 was at his best in his first story (the toymaker one) he didn't cry just because the episode was 40 minutes in. Nothing against crying as a thing but if you do it every episode, it devalues it and its just a character trait.

To me it died with the timeless child

Trust me, I am a sensitive creative soul who is more than in-touch with his feelings, but I don't want crying and mawkish sentimentality in my Sci-Fi!  🤖👍🇬🇧

As someone who is just now getting into Doctor Who, starting from the very beginning, I cannot comment on the recent turn the show has taken as I haven't seen it, but I have seen the trends of modern storytelling. I think one of the real problems I see nowadays that applies here is that some people seem to not understand the difference between "social commentary" and "wokeness." I see a lot of people nowadays excusing bad woke storytelling by saying that a show was "always political," which in my opinion, is a deliberate distortion of the truth.

A lot of shows, especially in the sci-fi genre, have always had social commentary, but usually said show wasn't always preachy, ham-fisted, and focused on attacking one specific political aisle. That's what I think of when I see woke storytelling: it's about politics. Social commentary, on the other hand, at least to me, is about "truth." It subtly says something about the human condition that can be applied across the large majority of us, with no group being above rational criticism. Unfortunately, it feels like a lot of writers now are not willing to put in the effort to write something that most reasonable people can relate to or agree with without hitting them over the head with it. They just use their position as a soapbox, telling you exactly what you should think. At that point, you're not writing a story. You're writing propaganda. We need more stories, and less propaganda.

How I feel about western entertainment right now for sure. I don’t want to be beaten over the head with a message give me something that requires me to think without suffering blunt force trauma

Good points, all well made,  I really need a new profile pic on my bluesky profile. Now, Space Babies, you know I love that episode. Maybe you should do a best of the worst episodes of NewWho.  Everyone loves a top 10 video.😄

Ok, that cracked me up. 17:19 My first thought was "Snow White ?!"
yeah, I know she has been in other things ( Is the voice of Judy Hops in Zootopia actually )
But I know her from Once Upon A Time.

An interesting and reasonable analysis of the fandom and online critics. Our reaction and behaviour towards others online certainly needs improving. As you say we need to respectfully disagree with others without resorting to insult. Thanks for a thought-provoking video.

"A Madman in a Box." The Doctor was always a Madman in a Box. When that changed the show went downhill.

All I want from Doctor Who is for the Doctor to feel like The Doctor. The Doctor changes but his core self is still inside each incarnation and the actor needs to let that shine through.

Literally every one of your criticisms are the same as the ones those "fake fan grifters" started to raise nearly a decade ago. They were, at best, ignored--but usually were shouted down and called intolerant bigots. After so much time being vilified for saying "hey, have you noticed they cast minorities as a shield against criticism of bad writing?"... yeah, it makes sense that any colorblind/diverse roles are going to be met with immediate skepticism--and eventually, immediate rejection.

This is by far some of the best discussion of things Who-related I've watched in such a long time. I have been a fan since the mid to late Seventies, and was genuinely excited to see the reboot. I have been particularly disappointed with Gatwa's Doctor because I thought the writing was so weak. Really disliked watching one of my shows just become less and less good. I really would like to see the show return, but with good writers and stories that aren't always about saving the entire Universe.. When Doctor Who is good, it's some of the best SF out there. Anyway, just my opinion. Looking forward to more well thought out and produced commentary and opinion, my friend!

Honestly, I can't wait to see what comes back. And if it does not, well we had sixty years of mostly excellent stories

I didn't agree with everything you said but I agree with a lot of it. I did find that you argued and clearly explained your points in a respectful manner so when I did disagree, I didn't feel attacked.

I kinda stopped engaging with Doctor Who's fanbase because I was just annoyed at how negative people were about everything with no real argument. So I just decided to watch it and decide for myself what I liked.

I have massive issues with the show at the moment and there is a lot I would change, but I bet if I pitched my version, I would have people think it sounds bad....and that is fine.

"I'm still hesitant to say anything bad about her because I don't want to be lumped in with those youtubers that rail against transgender people"

This is the biggest problem with a lot of people who claim they are progressive, especially in online discourse. You are scared to say anything critical about genuinely flawed character writing because you don't want to be seen as someone who hates transgender people, but it is very clear that this isn't your intention at all. Only fools who think only in absolutes and in black and white wound be so narrow-minded to take any and all criticism of a transgender character as an attack on progressive values. Which is unfortunately rife in the progressive community today, and so disheartening. It's weirdly fascist in a way; labelling any kind of criticism as an attack on an ideaology is not something we should be just accepting. Criticism of a character, or a performance, or of writing is not in itself transphobic. People need to learn this.

4:25 it's been political but the politics never been put over the story