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The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (first draft script and it shows) - Take Two Doctor Who Review
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2022
- Chibnall wraps up his first series as show runner with a show down on an absurdly named planet. What dangers will Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor and her companions face? Besides having to say these ridiculous words out loud that is.
Original review: • Doctor Who Review: Bat...
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My video on the issue of the BBC's support of Transphobia: czcams.com/video/aN4uc0HZrWE/video.html
Shaun's 1st video, which includes some additional confirmed information: czcams.com/video/b4buJMMiwcg/video.html
Shaun’s 2nd video, which follows how the BBC is trying to dodge accountability for all of this: czcams.com/video/qfjTG6SVjmQ/video.html
Shaun’s recent 3rd video: czcams.com/video/fRn1UZ4fhdE/video.html
Laura Kate Dale's recent protest speech outside the BBC offices: czcams.com/video/hBjGnWkwAjI/video.html
"You set yourself up for something that you didn't pay off!"
That's basically the Chibnall era in a nutshell isn't it?
It's my headcanon that the guy who created the sniperbots was well aware of how bad they were and decided to name them sniperbots as a joke.
Not every Season needs to end on a big note, but it should leave an impression on the audience about how The Doctor has been over the Season (especially if it's their 1st). I feel Graham and Ryan got more development/left a bigger impression from this finale then The Doctor herself did.
that's exactly why I think It Takes You Away would have been a better finale for series 11 and its themes. It's a simple emotional resolution but it fits. Even though I don't like It Takes You Away either and find it really bad it's a lot better than this
The big payoff for Tzim-Sha is an after-credits scene of him in stasis, thinking aloud to himself:
"Actually, I would kind of like some salad."
This Doctor says "that's impossible" actually quite a lot to things that really are totally possible and she should realise are so based on her past. It happens in Legend of the Sea Devils too
I think this is the episode that Chibnall revealed in a recent interview was a first draft - which goes a long way toward explaining most of the problems you mention. The sort of things which would have been tidied up in later drafts so they made more sense and didn't leave loose ends hanging all over the place. Although tbh, the more surprising thing to me was that the rest of Chibnall's scripts weren't first drafts.
I honestly forgot about the psychic planet. Honestly, if they hadn't done something similar in the previous episode, this would have been a great chance to devote some time to Graham and Ryan's grief. You could have Grace appear to them as the planet messes with their heads, possibly either egging them on to go after Shaw, or to leave him, depending on how warped the visions of her were.
Chibnall’s Doctor doesn’t kill. So they have do wonky work arounds…they lock villains up, they drop them out of airlocks or they teleport them away.
"This whole Idea of the planet with phsyco-kinetic waves coming off it that mess with the mind"
Me: Oh, wow, that actually sounds really cool! How come I don't remember that part of the episode?
"You know how that factors into the story? IT DOESN'T."
Me: Oh.
The thing that really stood out for me in this episode is that they show the laser hitting the Earth, but they dont show how any of the people on Earth react to that.
I am NEVER going to refer to the Chibnall era as anything other than 'The Sad Cello Years'. Any review clip that comes up that's supposed to hold emotional weight but is just empty dialogue that doesn't show us anything, it's that BLOODY 'be sad now' cello in the background.
To me, all of the problems of the Chibnall Era can be encapsulated by comparing the 13th Doctor's reaction to planetary genocide in this episode to the how the 4th Doctor reacted to planetary genocide (I mean literally a near-identical evil plan) back in The Pirate Planet.
4th Doctor: Appreciate it? Appreciate it?! You commit mass destruction and genocide on an almost inconceivable scale and you ask me to appreciate it all because you've made a pretty toy??!!!
13th Doctor: Man, I already didn't like you before, but I really don't like you now.
All of Chibnall's failings are laid bare in 13's pitiful reaction to mass murder. The whole era is exemplified right there. Bland and uninspired.
_"All of Chibnall's failings are laid bare in 13's pitiful reaction to mass murder. The whole era is exemplified right there."_
You demonstrate that with Thirteen's weak response to Tim Shaw. And that does demonstrate the point.
But what really made that point for me, and made it with emotional power, is when the episode finally ends. It was clear that the Ux had no good reason to follow Tim Shaw. They had no excuse for taking part in this multiple planetary genocide. So then Thirteen gives a big hopeful speech full of smiles... "Keep your faith. Travel hopefully. The universe'll surprise you... constantly." It reads to me like someone buying the "just following orders" line from Nazi war criminals and wishing them luck. How about a world cruise? Vacation! Enjoy yourselves! Everything's fine!
Everyone's dead... The Ux killed them.
Kira Nerys from Star Trek DS9 is the best depiction of an alien of faith that I can think of.
I'd like to mention Delenn from Babylon 5 as another example.
@@antney7745 RIP Mira Furlan
@@antney7745 I'd also put forward G'kar of Babylon 5
I just had a realization for why Whittaker’s Doctor just doesn’t feel complete.
She isn’t clever, and it never seems like there’s anything going on under the surface with her
Watching these re-reviews is interesting because I’m starting to realize that I remember almost *nothing* from the episodes written by Chibnall.
It’s like his writing is memory-proof. (Almost like the Silence. LOL?)
Honestly, the only things I seem to remember are a vague frustration with his alien names… and a profound annoyance with “The Timeless Child” retcon. But the individual stories themselves? I remember almost nothing.
Like, *this* story? I remember being annoyed with the title. But I’d forgotten, literally, *everything* else. The plot. The characters. “Tim Shaw”. All of it.
And I am soOOooo not the kind of person who just forgets things. Quite the opposite, in fact.
For all the criticism of The DaVinci Code, I did appreciate that the author explored many different characters' perceptions of their faith, from the person who took the discipline of his church to extreme actions, to the woman who enjoyed having a sense of community in her congregation and knowing she could sing along to hymns out of tune during Sunday services and not feel like people were judging the quality of her voice.
23:10
Yeah, 13 being inconsistent/hipocrite/liar doesn't really feel intentional or like a theme for her character. It's not well established and it comes off like bad writing, not a character beat (could be both).
One of my favourite characters of all time is Sigfried Farnon from All Creatures Great and Small, and its established in the second chapter he's in that this dude is a massive hypocrite who makes statements and then does the complete opposite when it affects him. It's repeated throughout the book in both minor and major situations. It's a character flaw which does affect him and everyone around him.
In series 11, it doesn't feel like that, it feels like a hand wave to avoid writing a consistent character.
I hate the title of this one. I always call it either Battle of Raxacoricofallapatorious or Battle of Rimsky-Korsakov. Chibnall REALLY sucks at naming things lol
The battle of Rancid colon
also ux rhymes with flux 🤔
Chibnall has recently revealed he didn't have enough time to do a final draft of this episode and he genuinely doesn't like this episode. And I can see how obvious that is
So, this was a first draft but the Timeless Children… wasn’t??
Can we just say that 'Resolution (of the Dalek)' is the actual series finale?
as long as we can agree Timeless Children never happened.
@@jamesstewart7736 Yeah.....not gonna go down that portal right now, thanks.
I have done that since it aired
I don't remember a lot about this ep except that it fell flat, like most of season 11 and 12 for me. Your other reviews saying the episodes needed more rewrites and was like bullet points undeveloped, is right on.
"UX" -- Is used in the legal phrase, "et ux," meaning "and wife." So it was probably a random name, or else she was running around talking about a species of real housewives? LOL, no. Yes, they needed to make up better alien names / words.
Deep Space Nine does a much better job of portraying religion in science fiction.
The Chibnall era was a mess, too often. It had potential sometimes but didn't know what to do with it. (In my opinion.) I still feel Jodie was miscast, plus given bad advice not to study up on previous Doctor Who. Not her fault. But it contributed to problems that shouldn't have been there.
I will say one (and only one) nice thing about this episode. Ranskoor Av Kolos is by far the best alien name in this era.
I actually really quite like it, even if it doesn't quite accomplish what it set out to do and I'm very interested in the production issues that waylaid the delivery of the script.
A quieter finale that calls out Thirteen's inaction and leaves an uneasy future for the TARDIS team. (Ryan and Graham will at least be refered to in the centenary by Tzim-Sha, there was a three year plan for The Fam, etc)
Such a boring finale, even more sad because it's a first season of a new Doctor, i think it as clear back then that 13th never had a fixed personality.
God i'm so thankful that Chinibal is gone..
"Chuckle-heads!"..... I have never laughed so loud 😂
Setting up something that doesn´t pay off and waste of potential seem to be the motto of the whole run of 13. It is a shame.
I keep coming back to that Mitchell and Webb “Numberwang” sketch. The Chibnall era is the American remake: it both understands the concept too well, and entirely misses the point.
Or: if Moffat’s “Clara wants to be the Doctor” arc was “that’s Numberwang!”, everything involving Yaz is “Yes, that IS a number!”
i was about to say that Chris Chibnal went really deep into outer space to find truely alien sounding names that just kills the vibe....then you talked about the Ux......it's like wow
also ux rhymes with flux 🤔
I still maintain that S11 should've ended with the Stenza putting team tardis on trial in an imperial court for breaching tzim shah's legal hunting agreement
The faith discourse in this video reminded me of Twelve trying to convince the Vikings that he was Odin and utterly failing lol
Yeah see, that I didn't mind because it threw aside the idea that they'd buy it, and then even when their sky god alien thing came in the Doctor convinced them it was fake, not by negating their faith, but by pointing out gods don't actually show up as a rule.
AKA one of THE Best 12th Doctor scenes.
Btw the same "random god from the sky" happened again in the flux lol it's like that they write the humans in this Era as a brainwashed stupid things..
Thanks for posting this - insightful and very funny.
Great review. Anyone can say "here's what was bad", but only you advance a plausible guess as to how Chibnall got himself into this mess. The thing about his era is it's not enough for me to assess it; I want to understand what happened. I think you've hit on something: he works backwards from plot hole neutralizations. The best DW scripts, classic or new, have always used a different kind of working backwards: deciding what clues will help the Doctor & the audience work out what's going on.
If I were being VERY generous to this episode, I think you can spin some kind of understanding of the Ux religion/credulity situation that does rely on their being only two of them on a psychic attack planet. The status quo we're presented with is one older Ux orally teaching one younger Ux. They don't get visitors from outside their race/cult because of the planet's condition, and and they have no true peers to wander by and say "hey, you've handed down our religion incompletely/poorly/whatever". If one person does a bad job of teaching the next one, you permanently lose all the content of the religion that didn't get passed down. So you could argue they don't know anything about their Creator figure to compare against.
This does not explain why they don't decide to ditch their loyalty to their "Creator" once they have 3700 years to know him, though. :P
It really needed a name people could actually remember, that would have helped. The politest my friends call this is "The Battle of Whatist", the rudest is a play on rancid body parts. Nobody remembers what it is supposed to be called.
The saddest part about inventing concepts like a psychic planet just to cover holes in a story is that actually going down those rabbit holes and seeing where they lead is one of the most rewarding ways to write a story; organic exploration of a weird and unique concept often results in a better story than the plot you thought you had when you came up with that concept; and, in fact, some of the best sci-fi ever written at the very least feels like it could have been written that way.
So that whole idea isn't just a setup with no payoff, it's a massive missed opportunity for a different, better, story.
I know, intellectually, that I've seen this episode before because I remember recognizing the lady from Downton Abbey. I do not remember a SINGLE thing about this episode.
There is no battle.
I can at least appreciate that Chibnall wanted to go for a more low-key finale. But I don't think it's very well written.
6:34 "Not betrayal, portrayal" Well, technically, the Ux do betray Tim Shaw to the Doctor later in this episode, and then they let him take all the heat for the war crimes they all participated in.
12:56 - 13:23 The Chibnall era in a nutshell. This era of the show spends so much time setting up stuff for future episodes, and then half of it never goes anywhere.
23:12 This is one of the most honest things that the Thirteenth Doctor has ever said about herself: she is indeed a massive hypocrite.
Oh, boy... I'm really, truly sorry to sound like such a downer, but I found this finale to be incredibly flat, boring, lifeless and uneventful, spoiling any amount of goodwill I had left towards Series 11 and ended the series on a disappointingly sour note for me. For something called 'The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos', there was very little battle and mostly consisted of people standing around and spouting endless exposition or saying what the characters are feeling at all times. At one point, I actually found myself shouting "Do something!" For all the build-up of Tzim-Sha being a powerful threat that was worshiped as a god, he was a terrible villain that was easily taken out with one shot to the foot, not to mention that there were plenty of interesting ideas that were just completely wasted. The whole psychic planet idea was just thrown away, the Ux didn't leave any lasting impression, and they set up a companion-revenge narrative at the beginning of the story, only to do nothing with that for most of the runtime and then just whimpers out at the end. Honestly, it made both 'The Wedding of River Song' and 'Hell Bent' look like masterpieces for me, because as much as I disagreed with the choices made in those two finales, at least they took risks, taken chances and had raised stakes. This finale had none of that, and personally for me, I'd rather have something take a risk and fail rather than have something that was safe, generic, bland, forgettable or uninteresting. At least the failure will leave a memorable impact and get a reaction out of me. Not only is this both the worst series finale and the worst episode in Series 11, but it's quite possibly the worst story of Modern Who, as well as one of the worst stories in the show's history. Hell, it wasn't even so bad it's good. It was just BAD.
I considered this to be the worst episode of the revival for very similar reasons, until about a month ago when "Legend of the Sea Devils" supplanted it. It's just a bland unfocused story with next to nothing redeemable or worthwhile about it
I don't think it was reverse engineered from the amnesia, I think it was so they'd have the dampeners to stop the Ux. Not that that's better.
For me this episode the problem with having a series with such underwhelming villains. It made it very hard to have a returning threat. To be honest most of Chibnall' s best villains have all been new versions of existing villains. When it comes to completely new villains there's only a handful that I thought truly worked. I prefer your idea of making the Stenza the threat but even then they'd have needed more build up.
in America religion has been a rather destructive force. yes there are people who use religion as a guide in their lives and I respect their right to believe as they see fit, but the vast majority of churches push a literal interpretation of the bible, teaching creation in place of science to children too young to know how to reason. indoctrinating them at such a young age. I do think that is destructive and I am a fan of scifi that points out and examines the negative impacts of religious fanaticism. this episode doesn't do that. you are right its the worst example of religious commentary in scifi.
Honestly, I like this story, it's nothing amazing but I enjoy it. I like how Bradley gives an understated performance when he's angry as going into an emotional rage would've been out of character.
And, imho, out his acting range quite frankly. Love Bradley, but he's hardly a genius in the thespian stakes.
Hey, kids, who wants to rewatch 'The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos?' Kids...?
The psychic waves could have been solved by just simply having them be localised to one are of the planet. Psychic bombs could have been fired at the ships where they met the amnesiac pilot. Once they leave the ships and get closer to the Ux and Tsim Sha the influence would reduce.
THIS. This is what made me stop watching Doctor Who, or even thinking much about it, for 3 + years. After struggling my way through Season 11, all the while having increasing doubts about continuing at all, then we get to this utter mess of an episode. The sheer level of contrived coincidence going into ludicrous speed, and then the completely forked up [excuse my Good Place swearing] morality of the end decision to imprison Tim Shaw in what is essentially an eternal hell, and then presenting it as if it's the "right" solution...[Even writing about it now makes me all riled up.] I'm just glad I jumped ship before the Timeless Child debacle. But I'm not sure if I want to even try Season 14, after all, especially if Russel T. Davis continues the Timeless Child storyline. I just wish I didn't feel so jaded and cynical about it. I've been a fan since 2013, which really isn't very long compared to some, but...anyway. Does anyone have any advice for this tired, questioning Doctor Who fan?
The beauty of doctor who is its capability to embrace change, even if you don't like these years of the show, you can always come back when a new doctor or new showrunner takes over, and just see for yourself if it resonates with you.
There's absolutely zero shame in just skipping a few years and jumping back in at the next pit stop. No one can predict what RTD will do, or what the next doctor will be like... so if you're any bit curious about it, you can just try and see. Just cuz an era doesn't work for you, doesn't have to mean the show as a whole cannot work for yoy any more :) embrace the change
The actual Creator should've turned after the Doctor. 'The God of many Teeth'
Also it should been part of a Stenza civil war - there's those consequences.
Happy Pride Month, Vera! 🏳️🌈
The Battle of Hamsters have Colons is a terrible finale with a half arsed villain.
Your point is your spot on 100%
You are so true on this one spot on.
I'm not religious but I grew up as a Jewish.
I had my beliefs when I was a kid then I grew out of it.
With that said I have a Mormon friend and we always have a discussion about religion
I asked him why do you believe that your religion works for you and his answer is always just does. I asked him what if I gave you a million dollars to change your religion, would you? He said absolutely not.
You can say he's close-minded. I can say he's not because I know him very well.
And I can imagine anyone who has faith in a religion whatever that is whatever religion you believe that is true and your faith is true.
Would probably say the same thing same answer no, you would not take a million dollars to switch.
When you are a believer of something a true believer you'll always believe it you always have faith in it. It's the way it is for religious people no matter what their domination is.
I can see where they were going with this on a TV show with only 45 minutes. But doesn't excuse dishonoring religion in itself.
They should have been very careful with they wrote this episode.
When somebody's religious and has faith in their religion they have no doubt that's the religion that they are born to be.
As for me I didn't grow up in a religious home so I had a choice I had an open mind.
But I always be Jewish no matter what.
You cannot take away that form me.
It might not be very wise to use your Mormon friend as an example, considering that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is considered by most criteria to be a cult.
I think it would've been better if this episode and It Takes You Away switched places. ITYA works better as a finale IMO.
Especially from an Emotional Standpoint.
@@nekusakura6748 Exactly.
In a nutshell, this finale (s)Ux
If after this episode somebody still considers Chibnall "quality writer" or "pro"... Sorry, it's just ridiculous :P
Chibnall said he regrets this episode.
When they tried to tease flux by getting the doctor to say uks a lot
It's one of the worst pieces of Doctor Who media I have ever experienced. It shifts the scales of series 11 from being meh to being bad. I remember just after watching it when it aired thinking that if I wasn't already a hardcore fan who had spent years invested in the franchise I would have quit watching then. This is worse than The Web Planet, Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks, Fear Hear, The Idiot's Lantern and Dimension in Time. I'm currently watching the whole TV series in order with a friend starting with an An Unearthly Child and I am dreading having to sit through this and a couple other series 11 episodes again. This is the kind of Doctor Who that makes JNT's worst seem genius.
I kind of love what it does, even if it's not enterily successful. A small scale threat calling out Thirteens inactivity, Thirteen displacing her struggle onto Graham ('wiser' Doctors would tried to persuade Graham), Ryan and Graham taking action and doing the 'right' thing, the legacy stuff inherent, etc.
I don’t find Ranskoor to be terrible as it’s made out to be. Yeah, it’s not fantastic (a writer can’t please everyone) but it’s still enjoyable. Most finales in Doctor Who aren’t great (in my opinion, depending on the part/s or as a whole) such as Inferno, The Time Monster, Army of Ghosts/Doomsday and The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords. I give the rest a pass, ‘cause I enjoy them as they are or for other reasons. I know many count Utopia as part 1 of 3, but it’s better as a standalone (same with Turn Left)
Says alot about the character when you don't mention Yaz at all in the review.
I actually quite like Chibnall's alien names. I mean, nothing beats Raxacoricofallapatorian, but IDK, Chib's alien names are just fun.
The whole Graham not killing storylines was so boring and predictable and reminded me of every superhero show ever.
I'm not too sure they are portrayed as idiots, just people who have seen an impossible act happen in front of them and then connected the dots in the wrong order.
If someone happened to teleport in front of me and then claimed to be a god, I'd have half a mind to believe them, and I'm agnostic.
sometimes you believe cause everyone else seems to believe and you just need to hear good arguments against religion, so logic can work, it worked for me when I was 17
Even Chibnall considers Resolution to be the true S11 finale...
He's said they had to go with the first draft about this one. And it shows.
I have not rewatched this, and I doubt I ever will.
It's very messy but I didn't hate it and enjoyed more the second time and even a bit more the third time. It's not great but definitely not terrible.
a mess an absolute mess lol
My initial thought on seeing Tim Shaw was back was that the Doctor, after a whole season of being especially overbearing and condescending about violence and killing, would now find herself seriously tempted to break that rule after seeing the consequences of letting him live the last time. But no, she just does more of that same lecturing and Graham gets out of it with an even more BS ethical loophole than in Batman Begins.
imo those that are religious deserve a little belittling.
that episode had so many issues but honestly? it could've been saved had it been a two-parter. the ending felt rushed. it could've actually been good but nope
I am a fan of Chibnall and Jodie but I really thought this finale was pretty boring. Still better then the wedding of River Song though
@@chaserseven2886 Sorry but what are you saying?
I'd agree this was boring, yes, but despite its flaws The Wedding Of River Song was miles better than this rubbish.
@@steveosborne3714 Nah wedding was not good and very confusing
@@booradley8895 You must be easily confused. And to be a fan of Chibnall and Jodie you'd have to be pretty poor at discerning quality.
I actually like tim shaw and the stenza, ut why, the religious people belonged in their own epiode. And tim shas relative or whatever. And tim shaw being elsewhere stranded and building himself weapons? an lure the doctior in with a fake help signal or something. have scary weird weapons that he blackmails the doctor or something. Ad you could do the same, just have relatives of tim shaw later that could free him and help with rvenge?! Employ tim shaw for their purposes given a debt?!
Still the worst title