Who Cares? - Dr. Who Fans Talk TV

How has RTD relaunched Doctor Who? How has he remixed and rejigged the previous eras of the show? How to sell the magic of Who? How do the aesthetics of this era compare to what’s come before? What’s present, and what’s missing? And what do the extras and the novelisation add? (00:00:00) Thoughts vs. Specials 1-3 (00:06:48) Awkward 'Special 4' positioning (00:10:59) Doctor dancing in club scene (0...

Was the regeneration satisfying? What’s a Doctorverse? How is the show reorienting to fantasy? Why do people feel so differently about the bigeneration? How is the Toymaker’s legacy handled? What’s different in the novelisation? What does this finale say about the show’s past and future? We discuss The Giggle in depth, while also covering the novelisation and the bevy of extras. (00:00:00) Journey...

Doctor-Donna genesis, lyrical lovesickness, character regressions, vindictive villainy, musical escalation, Racnoss drowning, Christmas imagery & more are discussed in this review of The Runaway Bride, Doctor Who's 2006 Christmas special. (00:00:00) Comparing RTD Christmas specials (00:04:27) Stakes + establishing Doctor/Donna bond (00:08:30) Lance representing insecurity (00:14:54) Actors acr...

Anniversary expectations, aesthetic foundations, timeless parallels, equine verisimilitude, character servicing & more are explored in a discussion about the episode, as well as the interquel comic, novelisation, and multiple extras. (00:00:00) Expectations & disappointment (00:10:01) Celebrating the cast + anniversaries (00:16:45) Newton, mavity, reactions (00:24:33) Bi Doctor (00:27:13)...

Maker of Toys. Recasting actors. Character crossovers. Chaotic rewrites. Scuppered returns. Script archaeology. Fandom reassessments. The 1966 Toymaker serial is a bizarre window into a very strange and liminal period of Doctor Who, and a very strange and scattered set of production circumstances. (00:00:00) Introduction & first reactions (00:03:42) Why has it persisted? (00:06:38) What the To...

RTD’s second reign begins. New characterisations, layered resolutions, focal perspectives, conversations with other eras, new & old aesthetics, physicality, crypticism, milkmen, & more are explored in a discussion not just about the episode, but also the hours of extras, as well as the novelisation. (00:00:00) Returning show, returning cast (00:05:43) Rose & main characters (00:15:28)...

What divides comedy and sincerity? When is a skit not a skit? How did Destination: Skaro lead to fandom crossing wires? Why did the 14th Doctor's era start with months of Dalek froth and frippery? Bootstrap paradoxes, tonal contrasts, Dalek nostalgia, comedy as deflection, showrunner blame, minisode structure, journeys into the past, and more are discussed! Neo, Ingiga, & Missy discuss the las...

Fire, technology, and knowledge beyond understanding. Horror, humanity, and forming a tribe. Imagination, magic, and metaphors for TV. We discuss the first four episodes of Doctor Who — the characters, the themes, the visuals, and why they've lasted from 1963 to today. (00:00:00) First episode vs the next three (00:07:06) Horror & humanity (00:12:52) Ian & Barbara + value of mystery (00:17...

Meep! Meep! Why has this comic persisted through the decades? How did Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors make their impact on Doctor Who? What makes Doctor Who comics unique from the show? How did The Star Beast presage later eras of the TV show? Why does David Tennant think this era of comics was even better than the TV show at the time? We get into all these questions in a discussion of the o...

We discuss the audio follow-up to the first TV show from Russell T Davies! Prestigious returns, technology & mysticism, shifting formats, generational storytelling, RTD writing for non-TV mediums, supernatural schools, & more are discussed in this review of the 2023 follow-up to Dark Season's 1991 TV run. (00:00:00) Impressions of what’s new (00:07:40) The cast across generations (00:16:40...

A deep dive into Ryan Sinclair and disability representation. What is dyspraxia? How was Ryan’s dyspraxia depicted in Doctor Who? How should representation be approached? How does Ryan’s characterisation resonate with people with dyspraxia? How do infantalisation, cyclicality, relationships with time, and narrative stasis play into all this? All these sorts of questions are explored in a thorough...

Hope. Fatherhood. Pting. The midpoint of series 11 is where the era well and truly solidified. What did this episode present us with? Where did the idea for the Pting come from? What does it mean for the series to nebulously bring up the idea of 'hope in dark times' so often? What's unusual about the episode's structure? (00:00:00) Initial reactions (00:05:05) Origins of the script + Pting appeal...

Steven Knight's incredibly interesting adaptation of the 1860s novel raises questions of society's relationship with Charles Dickens, revising endings, the British collective subconscious, shock tactics, adaptive remixing, myopic approaches to cultural touchstones, problematising periods, social mobility, rags-to-riches storytelling, character agency, cultural ownership, and much more. (00:00:00)...

What does this episode say about history, civil rights, education, revolution, pacifism, complicity, the law, and race? What did the fandom and press reactions to the episode tell us? What is the legacy of the episode? (00:00:00) Intro + reactions to the episode (00:04:25) Introducing ideologies (00:05:44) Usage of the companions (00:10:43) Incuriosity & agency (00:14:52) Pessimistic view of c...

What defined the Chibnall era? How did fandom process the era? How is the era being reassessed? How did those behind the era see it when they first began work on it, and how do they see it now that it's over? Audio commentaries, interviews, panel discussions — we discuss all of these through a bookending chat tracing it from the commentary for its very first episode, to Chibnall's debrief conversa...

What's the future of the franchise? What sort of Doctor Who esoterica is out there? Could Doctor Who work as an animated show? How do our nationalities affect our experience of the show? How do the Eighth and Twelfth Doctor's storylines rhyme? We answer our Q&A questions focused on future plans, esoterica, franchise direction, & the most specific and in-depth questions we received overall....

Why did Murray Gold return as Doctor Who's composer? How did RTD2's first directors approach the 60th anniversary specials? What does the ready unveiling of the Fifteenth Doctor's 1960s costume tell us about how RTD approaches branding? What Murray Gold tracks best showcase how he approaches the show? What happened to the Thirteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver? We explore these questions in a discu...

How should regeneration be handled? What’s special about the TV format? What can Doctor Who never change? How should RTD2 handle companions? We answer our Q&A questions focused on matters ‘behind the scenes’, regeneration responses, celebrity historicals, reconciling writer differences, interactive adventures, & much more! (00:00:00) Questions (00:01:49) Voices in a discussion (00:04:25) P...

Murder, repression, escapism, Britishness, politics — lots is at play in Steven Moffat's play the Unfriend. We discuss the play itself (including the differences between iterations), as well as where the play came from, the theatre experience, how the play sits in Moffat's career, and how the play has been received. (00:00:00) Approaching The Unfriend (00:04:38) Reading vs watching (00:23:45) Orig...

What's the appeal of Doctor Who? What makes a favourite episode? What's intended in Hell Bent? What's in a good spinoff? We answer our Q&A questions focused on preferences, favourites, backgrounds, characters, RTD2, spinoffs, the UK, storytelling mediums, Torchwood, future marketing, fond memories, fan films, & more! (00:00:00) Questions (00:02:50) Appeal of Doctor Who (00:12:56) Fond memo...

Questions. Queries. Quizzes about the Qurunx. Do you have any? We'd love to hear them! Who Cares has reached 1000 subscribers and 100+ uploads, so we're commemorating those milestones with a Q&A. Send in any questions you have — to us the hosts, Neo and Ingiga, or any of our friends that have appeared on Who Cares as well. Write your questions in the YouTube comments, or send them in privately...

Luther moves into film in The Fallen Sun. What does that format bring to the series? How does the paratext of James Bond Idris Elba fancasting play into the actual film? How does the film shift our understanding of the show, and the ‘Luther Land’ setting? How does making a standalone-ish film after five serialised TV seasons work? We delve into these questions, along with ‘red rooms’, moral conund...

For Luther, 2015 hosted a short fourth series, and an Idris Elba character concept album. 2019 presented a seemingly final series. What drove those episodes? What did those songs mean? Talks of a prequel film adaptation, to series 4 being a TV film, to series 5 being a final series before a film — why did the show shift in all these ways? How did Luther’s character calcify across these series? Wha...

What is the story of Chibnall’s era, in his own words? How did Chibnall see his job as showrunner? What is the arc of the Thirteenth Doctor, & what drove Chibnall to write it? What was putting Flux together under the pandemic like? What deeper meanings were behind the P’ting episode? We unpack these questions (and many more!) in a metacommentary looking at a new 2023 interview with Chibnall, t...

The third series of Luther presented cracked mirrors of Idris Elba's title character, and broke down the core of the show in surprisingly conclusive ways. We discuss this early finality, along with Neil Cross ideology, the social role of TV, perverse fan pleasing, embracing comic book conventions, London verisimilitude, infectious ideas, British 'bubbles', middle class radicalism, Thomas Marwood a...