My main criticism with Flux is that Chibnall and the rest clearly *wanted* to do an ambitious sci fi epic with big stakes, big action, big cliffhangers, big set pieces, big reveals etc...but pretty much nobody knew how to execute it well.

I'd love an episode where instead of the doctor stating the year, they walk past some locals who say something like "1850 is so gonna be my year"

Really, Flux is Chibnall repeating the same problem of execution he had in Timeless Child; potentially interesting ideas aren't explored due to the pacing and overemphasis on having shocking reveals. Thus, the whole enterprise becomes the television equivalent of jangling keys in front of the audience (Sontarans! Weeping Angels! Fugitive Doctor!) so they don't think about what little answers they're actually getting or the actual lack of depth from the character drama. It's amazing to me that once upon a time Danny and Clara's relationship issues once got focus throughout an entire series under Moffat, meanwhile under Chibnall a terrible betrayal by the Doctor's revealed parental figure gets relegated to a subplot for 1-2 episodes.

Something's gone badly wrong when the heel-turn in The Five Doctors carries more weight and personal impact to the Doctor that we've actually seen than the one in Survivors Of The Flux does.

The Doctor has been with Yaz her whole incarnation. From her regeneration story, wherein she met Yaz, she has been travelling with her without pause. The few times she isn't in the same scene as Yaz, like Can You Hear Me, she verbally explained that she's not used to being away from her companions, so we know that she can't have gone on any significant adventures without them. She was in prison for 19 years, but it would be weird to say she broke out and travelled around for a time without them. This essentially means, when Big Finish and other media starts telling 13th Doctor stories, they must have Yaz with her otherwise it wouldn't make sense. What makes this worse is that while the Doctor hasn't had any opportunistic time away from her, Yaz, Jericho, and Dan had three whole years of trekking around the globe on various adventures without the Doctor. There is more storytelling opportunities for Yaz, Jericho, and Dan stories than there is for standalone Doctor stories in this era. Wild.

Mary Seacole is such a good historical character for Doctor Who: a Jamaican widow opening a “hotel”’ in the middle of a war in the Ukraine. She was the best thing about that episode, but was criminally underused.

If the episode count was cut down due to COVID then I understand. What I don’t understand is why they kept all of the same plot points and just CRAMMED it all in 6 episodes. Would it really have been a loss to cut one of the plot lines to allow the series to flow better? Either way, I feel like Flux is very flawed but I do enjoy it (it’s certainly not boring) Great vid Stu

The Grand Serpent being exiled reminded me of the scene from Phoenix Smith’s Doctor who parody fan films where the Doctor just resolves the plot by telling Razzilon that he’s banished, so Razzilon just casually leaves. Doctor who is now officially making mediocre remakes of fan made shitposts and I have no idea how to feel about it.

"It plays like a series of scenes, rather than a coherent narrative" is the crux of EVERYTHING Chibnall has done as showrunner of this show. Some interesting ideas here, lots of random characters all about, mix in some attempts at fan service and you get Chibnall Who. But it almost never equals a coherent story with a logical beginning middle and end. It's just a bunch of stuff that happens.

"Like it or not Tharries, I am your future" that felt like it came out of nowhere but made me laugh more than it should have. (shit this man is my future to, sad times)

Series 11: Chris Chibnall attempting to make his version of the show be as accessible as possible to a wide audience and failing miserably due to writing Series 12: Chris Chibnall focusing mainly on old villains and fanwanking to try and get viewers back and failing miserably due to writing Series 13 Flux: Chris Chibnall's fanfiction he made back in high school that no one can understand whatsoever.

Looking back, the 13th Doctor's character arc was about not letting her past mistakes define her and trusting others. She was introduced as a rejuvinated, motivated doctor trying to project an optimistic disposition and throwing herself into conflict without explaining herself to her companions. Then she was given a reason to doubt herself, her hidden past, and tries to carry the burden alone. Her story should have ended with her becoming more honest with Yaz, and being more honest because she doesn't need to pretend to be the Doctor, she is the Doctor. Sadly, this was just not put to screen.

I think the fact they used the Impact font for the captions - the default font for all memes ever - is the most telling thing about what The Halloween Apocalypse thinks of itself. LOOK LOOK LOOK AT THESE IMPORTANT AND IMPACTFUL THINGS THAT WE KNOW MAKE NO SENSE OUT OF CONTEXT BUT YOU'LL BE REFERENCING FOREVER.

"doctor who flux is such an ingenious idea that never been don before" insert trial of the time lords right here

It is super fucking weird that they introduce Dan as a companion, and he barely spends any time with The Doctor. I remember in the build up to Flux they were promoting Vinder as another new companion, and that they'd focus more on Yaz's mental health, both of which didn't even happen?

To think, before this, I was quite looking forward to the return of serials to Doctor Who. A modern storyline akin to The Invasion or Genesis of the Daleks... Turns out Chibnall didn't know how to structure a serial, full stop. *_Sigh_* Swarm/Azure/Flux - Antagonists and threat Dan & Karvanista - New companion/allies That's it. That is all the self-titled *Flux* serial should have contained. Even rework episode one into War of the Sontarans. Give it the alt-history concept so that the Doctor knows something is off with time. Cue episode ends with the return to present day and ...Flux!

Just want it to be clear, the Daleks and Cybermen only fell into the trap for the soul reason that thee Sontarans owned the only possible defence against the Flux, so they would've been Fluxed if they didn't accept the Sontaran's proposal in the end.

Anyone remember the old game 'The Movies'? The AI generated movies that your studio produced consisted of random scenes cobbled together in ways that were head-scratchingly baffling and if there was any semblance of sense, it was purely accidental. Chibnall used it to write this mess.

My favourite part was when Dan said "it's fluxin time" and just absolutely fluxed all over the place, definitely one of the Dr.Who stories of all time

Imagine if 13 was in Genesis of the Daleks. She would've connected those two piece of wire together without skipping a beat and genociding the entire Dalek race in less than 5 seconds. No "Do I have the Right?" just large scale genocide.

At least Flux gave us the Stu type comedic gold that gets generated whenever you and Jay stream. 11:10 There's bound to be some form of expanded media story that shows that the Doctor and Dan went on half a dozen adventures between defeating the modern day Sontarans and reaching the planet Time... 44:20 I never thought I'd see the day where Stu compared Doctor Who to Hollyoaks: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ibKakteinZu6k4E.html

I may be nitpicking too much, but I got hung up on The “I have offered at least six mass murderers pardons because I’m such a pacifist” Doctor immediately assume ls that a swarm of immigrants from a space disaster would be coming exclusively to wreck and take over Earth Esther than, idk, refuge. I fear Chibnall’s politics may have shown there.

Here's a simple way to fix Flux : Ep 1 - we meet Dan. He is kidnapped and the Dr becomes involved, meeting the dog people and realizing they know something about the Division AND can protect earth from the flux. Ep 2 : The Dr samples the flux, realizes it is a break in time or something and traces it back to the Crimean war with the Sontarans invading. She forces the invasion to a standstill and travels to the planet of time by tracing the flux backward. Ep 3: On the way to the planet of time the Angels show up, split people up due to their properties and the Dr ends up on Time, Dan and Yaz in the village in England. Ep 4: We have a meeting between the skull faced people and they explain their plan. The Doctor agains fights them to a standstill for now and goes to find Dan and Yaz. Ep 5: (Taking place at the same time as Ep 4) dan/Yaz dealing with Angels in the English village Ep 6 : The Dr shows up, reunites everyone, travels back to Time and defeats the skull people. They were there to steal the fob watch to grab the Dr's memories to find a parallel universe to flee to after the flux had destroyed this one. The Dr defeats them and restores the universe. We can still end with her dropping the watch into the TARDIS. Remove about 60% of the subplots, split the cast up for only 2 eps and provide the villains with a plan and motivation.

Petition to make “doctor who ducks” a thing

At last! Been waiting for this one, great to see you back in the Doctor Who saddle Stu!

Flux was a cluster flux. Some outstanding acting wasted in over the top Virgin New Adventures style OTT-ness.

My biggest problem with the flux is that at the end, literally nothing gets fixed. Half the universe got deleted and it doesn't get repaired or even mentioned past the new years special.

Did the Flux evaporate planets or did it mess up time? This wasn't clear. For me, that meant "Flux" wasn't really a story but, as you put it, an unfocused mess. Love your visual aids.

The stuff with Williamson's Tunnels was better than I expected and the Joseph Williamson actor did well. Surprisingly.

I feel like I'm in a weird mix of the stages. Stage 1 for big finish and bits of classic who, plus other experiences like Time Fracture and making memories with my kiddo, stage 2 when I am actively watching the new stuff but stage 3 going into it. I am not expecting greatness and enjoying picking it apart. But this is OK. Cause when the next Heaven Sent or Bill Potts comes along I'll be genuinely blown away.

What would've been cool is if the first episode you meet Dan and he runs into the Doctor after she and Yaz are already chasing the Flux. You have whatever happens in the first episode happen, then the next few episodes are the Doctor, Yaz and Dan going from planet to planet, villain to villain (maybe chasing the two big villains through those worlds like Terry Nation always wanted to do) and then you have each episode be semi self-contained while also being more properly connected between the stories

While the way it works was unclear up to this point, IIRC, Village has a throw-away line about how the Angel had to focus to manifest themselves through the image, so that would suggest it's more like, "that which contains the image of an angel, becomes a portal for an Angel". Though that doesn't explain how one was able to plant themselves in Amy's eye like a mine. However, theory: The reason that Moffat added the "that which contains the image of an Angel, becomes an Angel" rule, was to spook little kids who had drawn Weeping Angel fan art So maybe it's futile to think about it in terms of mechanical consistency. I think Vindor and Bel's stories worked fairly well in isolation prior to their revealed relationship. Bel's depicting the desolate post-flux universe (thought this ultimately doesn't matter much), and Vindor's, showing him put his principles over his high-status position. However, Tecteun was a completely damp squib, and I don't see them mining any value out of it at this point. Unless somehow she isn't dead. Emotional investment aside, we didn't even learn exactly what Divisions values are. Just that they're vaguely nefarious. For such a significant lore addition, it's remarkably low-impact.

Was it ever answered as to why Swarm looked completely different after escaping his prison? Like it's a completely different actor and costume but I it just kinda happened and was never explained.... And please no " you just weren't watching closely" answers.... I've rewatched it and still don't understand why that happened

I've got a trial of a Timelord bingo card and an RTD era bingo card. I'm wondering which will be closer to bingo by the time Chibnall leaves.

My main issue is that Chibnall tried to cram too much into 6 episodes. They could have cut out The Grand Serpent or made him to be the Human form of Swarm, like they did with Azure and that random woman. That streamlines that part. Also maybe not wipe out the Lupari And also Tectuen was absolutely wasted. They could have cut her appearance and saved most of The Division stuff for one of Jodie's last specials. And in regards to doing other 13 stories without Yaz, it can be done due to those few times 13 goes off by herself when she goes back to the ruins of Gallifrey. She could have solo adventures in those moments.

I don't know what stage of fan I'm at... Not quite old enough to have caught the very beginning. _My doctor_ was Tom Baker briefly but most Peter Davison. I was excited for it to return in 2005, and loved how much faster it was on relaunch. Recently, I took to rewatching some classic Who. I genuinely can't understand why I loved the original show. It was painfully hard to watch. With so much filler, and so many dull or repetitive episodes. Too dull to even sit through. It gave me a whole new appreciation for the new version. That same apathy gripped me by the throat as I half-heartedly watched Flux.

Omergod, tharries is the fugitive stu??

being concise doesn't necessarily mean dumbing it down to for the general public though

I think the complaints on the overcomplication of the angels is one that probably could be leveled at just about every alien threat in Doctor Who undergoing the metamorphosis from clever one-off foe to Classic Doctor Who Monster. Remember that period where cybermen were allergic to gold? I see that as pretty equivalent to the image of an angel business in that it sort of made sense kind of in the story where it got brought up, but was incredibly debilitating to telling stories with those enemies going forward. Honestly, I think this happened a lot with aliens now considered classic. It's just that most of the growing pains occurred before a lot of us were even alive. At least the angels are compelling enough people are interested in doing something with them still. The only other NuWho addition to the Doctor's foes I can think of is The Silence and they got squandered so completely I doubt if we'll ever even see them again.

You can tell which series was Chibnalls least favorite when he thinks the big twist that the time lords are “Decadent, degenerate and rotten to the core” means something to anyone who’s watched any episode with a timelord in it Also I thought Unit didn’t exist anymore because modern politics happened

So you're saying you've become a Doctor Who Boomer? Nice, me too.

And Chibs called Trial of a Time Lord confusing. Ironic.

I was happy to hear the return of “for some reason” catchphrase.

Lol. I entered Stage 3 myself as of last year! haha. It took me about 8-9(?) years to get there, so you hung in there longer than I did!! (also now in my 30's) Appreciate the coherent and helpful synopsis. It brought a bit of "ah, that's it" to the mess that's been my feelings about this incarnation since it began and (almost) ended.

Question is: What happened in Episode 13.4.5? Answers on a postcard. At the end of 13.4, the Doctor has been turned into an Angel and Yas and Dan being trapped in a time-locked 1901 village floating in space. Then at the start of 13.5, the Doctor is returned to normal and Yas and Dan have been globetrotting round early 20th Century Earth for 3 years. Erm...how did they get back? What did we miss? What did they want in Mexico and how did they get there? (this is 1901-1904 so pre-flight so would take quite a bit longer to globetrot, just ask Jules Verne). Also how did the Grand Serpent go from ruling some Empire to just randomly showing up on Earth. If you suppose the Doctor spends the whole episode as a time-locked stone statue then you can suppose she missed it all and you can write what you like. Season 6B strikes again (if you don't know what that is, look it up.)

18:15 - 18:25 is the summary of Chibnalls entire era bar maybe s11 and it’s only missing the blatant copying from popular nuwho episodes themes idea and extended content but done with none of the finesse that is sprinkled in and the depression inducing dialogue. I also agree with your Dan point I feel more connected to him in one episode than I still do for the 13 Doctor and Yaz entire run and I know that the evil Dan memes definitely played a part but Dan was one of the reasons I could even watch this mess even tho he had little screen time and then became Yaz’s hype man(like Graham) for the rest of the flux thingy.

I wholeheartedly agree on "Blink" being the only story we needed about Weeping Angels. They're so overdone as to be toothless and not scary or creepy any more.

OK, I really like your 6-epidose Daleks vs Cybermen vs Sontarans series concept...but on the other hand #justiceforRutans! Seriously, the Sontarans were put in a situation to wipe out their main rivals using the Flux, and the Rutan Host wasn't even among their priorities.

0:15 Yeah, let's just pretend the Classic series never existed. I mean Chibnall sure as hell wants us to forget.

Damn it Stu, you forgot to draw Moffat's massive massive brain in his drawings.

I think Stu has hit the nail on the head here? I felt this was a Frankenstein season cobbled together rather crudely from stories which were originally intended to be separate. It still somehow manages to be slightly better than Legend of the Sea Drivels though 🤔

11:04 True, by the end of Flux he's more Yaz's companion than 13's, which is honestly, just sad.

I'm at the end of my early 20s and I already reached Stage 3 by this point.

Well, it's a good thing I got The Macra Terror for Christmas then. Also I plan on chiseling out War of the Sontarans and Village of the Angels to add on to the multitude of stories I plan on making. Some day, I dunno.

I did phase 2 and 1 backwards. 13 being shit is part of what inspired me to get into big finish and teh classics

Oh I've been looking forwars to this...

This video of yours, Stuart, and I sincerely mean it, is a work of genius. It's brilliantly scripted and flawlessly delivered. I haven't laughed so much in a long time. Keep up the great work, man.

Woo more stubagful who content

I did like Vinder. Although that might just be Jacob Anderson being a really charismatic performer - though the actual best thing about the series is easily Dan.

I do feel Flux would benefit from a recut to move elements from the story around to when they're more relevant. Allowing the Sontaran and Atropos sections to play as one continuous event rather than intercutting and in general streamlining pieces here and there. Won't wholly fix the Vanquishers but should do wonders for the pacing and coherence of the event. Would make it a more solid, if still flawed piece of media.

Why does the Grand Serpent look like a Cosmic Keir Starmer?

I’ve been a Who fan since the Fifth Doctor, & say what you want about the JNT era, there were plenty of damn good stories. With one exception, Fugitive of the Judoon, the Chibnall era has been mostly forgettable. I don’t blame Jodie, she has done the best she can with what she had to work with. I just don’t think Chibs gave her very good material. Which is sad, because Broadchurch was outstanding.

Awwww, you put in the electric splumbydoo JUST FOR ME. :)

16:09 Ok, here’s my theory on that. Flux was going to be just Series 13, as you said, but this was for a very brief period of time. By summer 2020 the decision was taken to make it 8 episodes, they literally announced it would be 8. If you look at some filming and BTS images for Village of the Angels the filming slates are labeled 5. This could be the filming blocks but what do I know. You can guess how the structure would have differed but another 100 minutes probably would not have helped, unless you cut the ridiculous amount of fat and random, nonsensical, pointless cogs in this machine of nothingness Chibnall has built, out. Why did the cut it down further? This decision was probably made when the BBC asked Chibnall to write the Centenary special. I would go on about what all this means and give my personal thoughts but I’m already tired and skipped to acceptance. Hopefully RTD2 will be intellectually stimulating and comprehensible.

I'm just glad that R.T.D is coming back and it will reach new heights again.

Random question, are you planning on reviewing the Evil of the Daleks animation? If not, that’s fine. Was just curious

If the Sontarans had always been there... and you missed this... Wouldn't they have conquered the world already? Fixating on the motivations of the Crimean war is a minor haggle in comparison.

I feel like I’m still always in Stage 1, with some points of Stage 2, however with Modern Who I am at Stage 3 with Flux where I give it the benefit of the doubt and I did like one or two episodes and a few moments here and there. It isn’t a perfect season but I wasn’t going into the season (given the storylines thus far) that it was going to instantly change

So glad I didn't start watching the video from this really good channel that covers a piece of media I actually know a lot about, which popped up in my notification just a couple of minutes ago. Otherwise, I would have had to leave it to start watching this video here on what may very well be my most favourite channel to watch a video on a piece of media I know next to nothing about. (I have seen some of your other Doctor Who videos, hence the "next to nothing".)

Is it like trial of a time lord? Where the bbc changed the episode length so they changed the story around it. But chibnal has admitted he was burnt out and couldn't be bothered to make major changes

I don't understand the Techteun thing at all. She tortured the Timeless child, etc. okay. But weren't the Doctor's memories of that time wiped? We saw him sleeping in that barn as a child, scared of monsters under the bed, etc and Clara helps him come to terms with his fear. He lived with some sort of family/parents - shouldn't those people be the ones Jodie remembers? As in, forget feeling betrayed, etc - how does she even know her as a parent at all?

I passed on Flux as I am presently taking break from watching Doctor Who.

Good review. I share similar feelings. As a fan since 1980 I find myself watching merely out of habit now. No anger, no hatred, just weariness with the occasional whiff of an appreciative shrug at the odd line or performance. The best I can say is I managed to watch all the episodes of Flux on the day of transmission (well the finale I watched half and the second half the next morning). I just don't think Who does series arcs well anyway, unless they're of the minimal Bad Wolf variety. I don't think Who should do extended stories or arcs. Who does well with the anthology structure. Old Who was (partly out of necessity) an assortment of different flavours, styles, genres etc. To hell with continuity a greater variety of writers are needed. Burning out one good writer till they're sputtering out regurgitated flapdoodle hasn't worked so far. Flux, was...oh I can't be bothered. It just isn't worth it.

You where pretty much spot on here.

Sorry stu I'm pretty sure my brain's off and on switch has been super glued to stay on so I can't turn it off and enjoy the pretty colours

I love how Stu is so old that he still thinks Ermahgerd is still a relevant meme. Never change Stu

I loved this video! Every second of it!

Now do the Key of Time arc!

I've had too much experience with Moffat carrrot baiting the shit outta revealing stuff about the Doctors past without resolutions that i couldnt care less at this about the damn watch

Your perspective on why the viewing figures don’t matter is fine but at the end of the day, a lack of investment and therefore a lack of interest = a lack of viewers. The figures do matter when you take it from the top down perspective of “how many people still care” which is clearly not very many people and people don’t care because there are not invested in the runtime because they can’t follow it.

I finally saw it and thought it was the best chibnall season by far and that Dan is probably my favorite revival era companion

My biggest issue with this season - I hate Swarm and Azure, they are really boring villains Their motivation - they want to free time from the prison of space... I hate this as a concept, and their plan is to... basically do nothing and let Division, their enemies, do most of the work for them with the Flux... which I guess they knew about in advance.

I didn't like John's character at first but by the end, he was my favorite. Idk what it is about him, but I like him.

im going through all 3 stages at once and have been for all my life

Chibnall needs a strict script writer as there is so much potential but so much slack needs losing each time. However, whatever anyone says about the writing, I don't think anyone can deny that Jodie acted her heart out during Flux.

Cheeky couple years late but as someone who has no idea who John Bishop is (I had no idea acting wasn't his main gig, I thought he was doing a great job), I found Dan to be delightful. He was funny and charming and throughout Flux I found myself wanting to see more of him. Everyone was dryly commenting on everything throughout the Chibnall era but when Dan did it it felt like an intentional personality trait on a primarily comic relief character instead of an inability to write characters being genuinely affected by their experiences.

This is one of those stop what you're doing and grab a snack videos, nice.

I'm a lot kinder to this season than i would normally be Because of the whole fact that what we got wasn't what was planned due to covid messing everything up, it does feel like half a series with a lot of missing ideas. And also the fact that the BBC screwed over yet another doctor (that's at least 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 & 13). Watching it though i can't help wondering what a normal series 13 would have looked like.

Hello future self

"Power metal Bungle from Rainbow" and the best Companion of nWho.

36:19 actually made me laugh how true this is

It took me awhile to realize the reason I hate location subtitles is directly related to Chibnall.

imo it would have been interesting if the flux were a timewar weapon instead of something some random organization we never heard about made.

Was looking for a recap video to skip over the jumbled mess of the last few seasons and be somewhat caught up to give the new stuff a fresh chance, but this was a more entertaining alternative, I think. lol

Biggest question is the universe destroyedish or reversed it.

I would love to see what the original intention for S13 was

Honestly, yeah. I’ve been watching *Who* since the ‘70s, but Chibnall has done the seemingly impossible: I just *don’t care* anymore. It’s no longer something that I enjoy; rather, it’s become a chore that I keep postponing... 🤷🏼‍♂️

…ohh that explains everything! Kill the Moon didnt give me massive psychological trauma, it just made me hit stage 3! Also the baiting for the inevitable “crazy master comes back to be evil and crazy” was lame as heck. Why introduce “Time as portrayed in Sapphire and Steel” into the whoniverse to just have it wear a nice coat and go “Dahwan is coming, boooo!”?

Chibnall seemed to think that by throwing everything at the wall, some of it has to stick. P.S. having the Angels working for Division just completely destroyed one of the greatest of all Doctor Who. Chibnall seems to have to tell us everything secret about everybody before we get to the story itself, which is why it took about 20 minutes before "The Doctor" finally shows up in "The Woman Who Fell To Earth". Meanwhile, back in the good old days, Rose Tyler met The Doctor in about the first five minutes of "Rose" and Martha Jones met The Doctor around the 8-minute mark in "Smith and Jones". And both were wonderful episodes worth watching multiple times, something I won't be saying about "Flux".

The Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyndrobwllllantisiliogogogoch title card fucking killed me. Bravo.