Tonic

Mind 1.1:

Fuck you, Russell. Eat shit.

Ok but seriously, gatwa's exit was highly suspicious. It was presented to the newsmedia as voluntary, citing exhaustion from the demanding filming conditions. Certainly some anecdotes imply that it was a really sub standard working environment (actors allegedly referenced exhausting schedules, implicitly more gruelling than it used to be*)

*I'm inclined to believe that this is true, based on the overall rushed feel to the show in recent years compared to when rtd first led it. But that is just vibes.

However, the elephant in the room is that Gatwa's inclusion in the show was beset by racist and homophobic naysaying the entire run. The main thing anyone had to say about his time was "its woke and therefore bad". Meanwhile, the crowd who claim to show up for diversity and lgbt rep (i.e. that woke shit), weren't exactly an impenetrable wall of stalwart defenders. And some of that is because [see part 1.3 of this rant], and some of it is because a lot of you are racist.

A lot of people do not show up for queer stories when they're not about white people. A lot of people openly bragged about how they were only here to see Tennant again and didn't care about the next doctor. And like... yeah I think it's plausible that Gatwa didn't want to return to this environment.

I also think it's plausible, if completely unevidenced, that he felt pressure to withdraw. Especially given that the beeb undoubtedly was getting complaints (both internal and external) to cut that woke shit. We don't know. We'll probably never know.

But yeah the ugliness around Gatwa's exit from the show makes me feel "fuck you you deserve to be semi cancelled" about this.

Mind 1.2

Also in the show itself the whole thing was bullshit.

This isn't news. We all know it felt like a slap in the face to ditch the 15th doctor so suddenly. It felt very much like they'd pivoted away from whatever his story was due to backlash, and hastily replaced him with a white woman.

Friends of the blog might remember this feeling from how the mcu seems to have consciously ditched its post endgame cast (which is mostly women and poc) in favour of bringing back everyone's favourite white men.

Hell, the 15th doctors introduction was similarly uncomfortable. Instead of simply regenerating into Gatwa, we get a stupid gimmick where Tennant is preserved in the role. The show actively steers away from letting a Black man feature, taking time to remind the audience of the continued presence of their white fave.

Fans of this blog may be reminded of the mcu's cowardice circa 2021/22, where they seemed incapable of launching samcap without simultaneously launching captain Carter. It was giving "we'll have a black captain America, but we'll do a white woman as captain kinda america at the same time, to soften the blow"

It delegitimises his status (both 15 and sam), and it's uncomfortable and no fun at all. Generally bad vibes.

Mind 1.3

Ok so the only way to say it is that the last two series just weren't that good.

There were some great episodes. Genuinely great.

But overall the vibe was off. In particular, both series finales really didn't work. The big dramatic climatic feeling that the early rtd series had? Not to be found.

Incidentally, I think this is more evidence that the filming environment is not optimal. We know this same machine can produce a better product.

So.. while I haven't been following Who that much (I fell off around the end of the matt smith era and only watched sporadic episodes since), i am aware that overall quality has been An Issue for the show in the last few years. A lot of people felt like rtd's return would be its salvation, but clearly not.

This isn’t an autopsy; I'm not going through the highs and lows here. But overall, its been a mixed bag of quality and the show probably does need a break. It needs to come back with fully worked out ideas, and a clearer vision.

So yeah. Maybe this is good news.

Mind 2:

Maybe this is bad news.

Because that woke shit has indeed been cut. The bad guys won.

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