Reviewing The Walking Doctor: A Tale Of Two Season Openers
Sunday was the season 9 opener for The Walking Dead, and the--what--season 48?--opener for Doctor Who, the British SF series originally designed for children that went into development the year I was born. It was also my only night off that week, so even though my wife doesn't like watching more than an hour and a half or so of TV a night, we managed to catch both of them close to the hour of their premiers.
They'd make for a great crossover, since the Doctor often seems to spend most of his time running from things that want to eat him, anyway.
Many think The Walking Dead has stumbled the last few seasons, and despite the fun presence of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, the show's best villain yet, they're not wrong. (Your opinion may vary--The Governor was pretty cool, in a bad way.) It's hard to keep a show fresh for going on ten years, even killing off several major characters every year.
But this time around The Walking Dead does seem to have invigorated itself with season 9, which flashes forward several months from the climactic battle with Negan's Saviors at the end of S8. Negan is imprisoned, the Saviors part of a wider attempt at a community, Maggie's years-long pregnancy is past, and one of the show's most annoying bad guys is no longer hanging around by the end of the episode. There's a new show runner, and we go in with the announcement that Andrew Lincoln's Rick is exiting the show, apparently at the mid-season break.
The perfect time for A New Beginning, which happens to be the title of the episode. It mostly concerns a mission into Washington, D.C., and its aftermath, and we get both hope for the future and hints of conflicts to come.
Lots of people watch The Walking Dead for the zombies, and there are plenty stumbling around. I watch the show for the characters, and in that it remains strong. Whether it can continue to be strong without the strong center of Rick I don't know, but ... so far, so good.
Meanwhile, back in England, a mysterious woman who can't remember her own name falls out of the sky--literally. For the uninitiated, The Doctor (His/her name is not "Doctor Who") is a time and space traveling alien who can cheat death by regenerating into a new body. The thirteenth Doctor is also the first female one, played by Jodie Whittaker as caring, a little frenetic, and slightly daft, about the average for the more recent Doctors.
Instead of getting the time she needs to adjust to her new self, the Doctor is thrown into a mystery involving a mysterious alien device--a lot of alien tech ends up in England--followed by a nasty alien warrior. The Doctor follows his--um, her--usual pattern by collecting together some new companions and throwing them in the deep end.
There's been a lot of discussion about this version of the Doctor, some of it pretty nasty. I'm not a fan of gender swapping established characters, but in this case we already know the Doctor can swap bodies, and being an alien there's no reason why he can't regenerate into a she. My normal new Doctor fears evaporated by the end of the episode: Whittaker does a good job, and as she adjusts to the role might become great at it.
Unfortunately, my concerns about the rest of the show remain. The writers seem determined to avoid any connection to the former Doctor Who universe, having ditched last season's companions and announced there would be no appearance this season by the more popular villains. We didn't even get the iconic opening credits, and the theme music only faded in for a moment when the Doctor first appears. The Doctor's ship, the TARDIS, didn't even show up in the episode.
That seems like a terrible idea, to introduce a brand new doctor and not keep anything to anchor long time fans. What, Bill and/or Nardole couldn't have stuck around for another season? To make matters worse, the new companions seem a bit uninteresting in comparison, and the episode as a whole had little of the comedic flash that often gave relief to darker storylines."It's darker" isn't necessarily a compliment.
In short, the new Doctor is fine; but the new season needs some work.
The Zombie concept never appealed much to me, but now after so many years it seems even more rediculous. What do the Zombie look like by now? Puddles of goo, or walking skeletons like in Sindbad's Journeys? Well, who cares, as long as it sells...
Its different with Dr Who, although also that became a little worn in recent years. I dont know what it is - the drop in imaginative story writing, or that we (the viewers) are expecting much more from SF than we used to do in the 70s. And not all Doctors managed to keep the standard of the first few, as well.
The high number of alien visitors in Britain in the Dr Who series is somewhat surprising indeed. I think in reality the number of reports is much lower than in the US. May be aliens have a tea allergy, or the dont like rainy weather, who knows.
A researcher character covers that early in the series, when someone asks him why the zombies aren't dying. They are, he says ... just very, very slowly, basically kept alive by the virus they host. The show runners take great care to show the zombies deteriorating as time goes by, following that idea.
But, just as with Doctor Who or any fun SF show, you can only enjoy it if you have a certain willingness to suspend disbelief. Almost every TV show depends on something that, at the heart of it, is ridiculous. People getting knocked out and hopping right up again with no long-term problems, jumping cars over things, amazingly coincidental meetings, nonexistent investigative technology, whatever. It boils down to whether you're entertained, and with great characters and stories onTWD, I am.
Of course, just as unlikely is that all the aliens who come to Earth will end up in England! But it's a British show, so -- there you go. It's had its ups and downs since we started watching with the 2005 reboot, but overall it's still better than a lot of other stuff on TV--which isn't saying much, considering all the reality TV crap that's out there.
Well, there is a lack of plausibility on all ends of the Zombie model. Another is for example: what do they "run" on? There are almost no normal people left to eat, and being such dumbasses as they are it will be near impossible for them to catch even a animal. So all they have left is eating each other - but that will reduce their number drastically as well.
And they do have to eat something. If they move around, they need energy for that. And to regenerate body cells, else they just decay over time, and certainly dont last for years.
But I guess its all this miraculous virus that sorts all this out. Somehow.
No, its not the question if its believable with Dr Who. It just seems they are beating a dead horse after so many episodes. At the beginning, it was all new and exciting (even if it was a little silly at times), but in the later years, the story plots became very predictable and the behaviour of the characters - the Dr and his assistant as well as the villains - got a fixed pattern. I admit I didn't watch all of the newer episodes, since I felt it was being always the same at the end. And, as I said, I didn't find all of the later Doctors "cool" like the early ones.
But there has to be a distinction made anyway, between the "first" Dr Who, the b&w seasons from the 60s, and the "modern" seasons that came later after a pause. Between them, the whole SF genre had changed its look completly, also in movies. The special effects of the 60s looked just silly to the young audience, and the aliens were not so "alien" anymore, after Star Trek and all that.
But I guess its a problem all the new SF shows and movies are facing: to show something really new and different, but without being too far out that the audience cannot comprehend it. Not a easy task.
Oh, they never eat their own ... well, not in the Walking Dead universe, anyway. It's one reason why they're getting progressively weaker and slower, only showing energy when a food source does show up. They seem to manage to catch horses a lot, although only when they're in groups and manage to corner one.
Although I certainly don't tune into a zombie show expecting realism (or most any other show, come to think of it), The Walking Dead operates on a shortened time span: One entire season took place over only about a week, for instance. So they're not nine years dead in the show's world, although I'll bet that world REALLY stinks at this point.
I didn't start watching Doctor Who regularly until after the 2005 reboot, but it's obvious that it's a whole different show after the pause--and not just because they don't use as much aluminum foil on their aliens. I don't think there's any TV show that doesn't battle with staying fresh after a half dozen years, let alone fifty, but it does help that they have such a big turnover in cast. Each new Doctor is slightly different, and the companions sometimes considerably different, and their ability to travel all over time and space keeps it fun for me. But I have an idea of how you feel, having seen it on other shows--especially police procedurals. It's another to each his own thing.
I dunno... may be I was a bit unlucky with the newer Dr Who episodes I happened to watch. I have not seen all of them by far, just some by coincidence. It seemed they were pretty similar in their story line.
Of course it is a problem many long running series have. To stay innovative, but without changing much. That leads to repeating patterns in the stories. One famous example is the "Captain, we are receiving a distress signal." in Star Trek, as a way to get a story rolling. It always made me laugh, because it reminded me of the ADAC, thats a automobilist club in Germany, and if you car brakes down you can call them and they send a mechanic or get you towed to a workshop. :)
By the way, you mentioned reality TV earlier. I came across a show on a rather dubious channel, which says its TV for real men. But not porn or such, its shows about gold digging in Australia, building RC helicopters, the Orange county chopper guys and similar "manly" subjects.
And one is about a guy in Germany who has a huge junk yard, but entirely for US army surplus materials. He has a contract with the Pentagon to buy everything (cheaply) that they decomission in Europe. Everything except weapons and ammo, that is.
And its absolutely shocking how much they throw away, sometimes stuff that was never used and only sat in storage for 10 or 15 years. And also shocking is how expensive this stuff was when the army bought it. Every item has a sticker with ots part number, purchase date and price on it. Some of the prices leave you speechless - like a compressor unit for filling oxygene bottles for divers (or other breathing apparatus?), unused, fully intact, for a original purchase price of $ 307.000 ! Or several complete dentist chairs with the drill unit and all, perhaps 15 years old for thousands of dollars.
But his main interest is vehicles. From little fork lifts to huge tank transport truck and everything inbetween. but especially those that are a bit easier to sell, like the old Chevy pickup trucks and Hummers, school busses, REO trucks ect.
The other day he had something that would have even appealed to you, I guess: a proper FD ladder truck with a 100ft ladder. And not in green, but in the civilian FD look. About 20 years old, but fully operational. They tried it all out on the junk yard - man, 100ft is surprisingly high, when you stand at the top end... :)
Could be, or it could just be that I'm way more easily entertained than you are. Or it might be from my writing experience, in which I've discovered there are absolutely no new ideas--only new ways to deal with them. After all, I've written some distress signal stories, myself!
$307,000 for a compressor unit! Our fire department unit cost a full zero less than that! Some of those kind of shows I like, especially when they teach me stuff I didn't know before, or uncover interesting history. It's the ones that create artificial conflicts between people, or claim to show "reality" when it's really following rich and vain people around, that I dislike.
But in any case, I'd love to have that ladder truck. And yes, you don't realize how high a hundred feet is, until you're up there looking down.
That there cannot be any real new story is a somewhat sad thought.
Basically it means, one could quit reading - at least the new publicated books.
But looking at the amount of books that have been written by now, it may be close to the truth.
Yeah, they were pretty speechless when they saw this price tag. And then pretty happy... :)
The thing is, the guy (Michael Manousakis, a german with greek roots) buys the stuff bulk, without knowing what it is. Like "3 semi trucks full of stuff for 15.000 Euro." That can turn out to be 3 truck loads of itchy army underpants that nobody wants, or 3 trucks full of expensive machines, spare parts for vehicles, entire mess kitchens to cook for 3000 people, or God knows what else.
He then has to see how he gets the stuff sold somehow, on Ebay or so.
With the vehicles - his main business - its similar. For example he buys 20 REO 6x6 army trucks for 20.000 Euros. 6 or 8 of those are total write offs, only a few parts of them are still usable as spares. 2 or 3 trucks are pretty good still, and can be sold after some minor repairs, repaint ect., for 10 or 12.000 each. And the rest needs more extensive repairs before they can get sold. But thats his speciality - he has a dozen people working for him, who do the repairing, and he has a huge assortment of parts to use for that. All thats what this show is about, and that they are all mildly crazy.
And Michael is also kind of crazy. Appearantly this scrap business works rather well - since one of his hobbies is collecting airplanes. Not RC airplanes, real ones. He has 5 or 6 already, all very special old models. Like a Antonov AN 2, a Soviet built single engine, double decker plan. And he doesn't just collect them... He flew the Antonov (which looks so dodgy that you wouldn't even dare to fly a round around a airfield) from Collogne, Germany to Scotland, then to Iceland, Greenland (where he nearly got himself killed in fog), New Foundland, NYC and then to Oklahoma! All because he wanted to swap that airplane for a slightly newer Chesna that was formerly used in Vietnam and Honduras by the CIA. And when he had taken a look at the Chesna, he look back at the Antonov and said: "No way I'm giving this thing away now, after what we have been through. I just pay cash for the Chesna."
That the kind of guy he is. And in this show there isn't all that much scripted. You not gonna make someone fly over the Atlantic in a 60 year old Antonov for a TV show, when everybody says "You'll never make it, you will get youself killed if you try!"
Just for fun I post the link to the episode that shows the compressor unit (sorry, it was "only" $304.200) right at the beginning, as well as the ladder truck and some other stuff. It is - surprise - in german of course, but perhaps you can still make some sense out of what you see there.
https://www.dmax.de/programme/steel-buddies/video/die-absolute-hohe/DCB468480005100
I didn't say there are no new stories: I said there are no new ideas. All sorts of fun stories are coming out constantly, taking the same ideas and giving them new twists, characters, settings, combinations, and so on.
Luckily, authors have more imaginations than governments do!
Hi markrhunter,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Thanks!
That was interesting review, I watch “Walking Dead” I believe just the first season, but did not really like it so stopped and actually did not that they will keep going so far, seems like people like it and even some of my colleagues have bought the DVD’s with the seasons.
As to “Doctor Who” because my hubby and son both fans of it, I watched majority and liked more older versions. Last two seasons somehow I do not really like and when I heard that now Dr. will be a woman that is it, I lost an interest, I do not think it is good to change characters completely. It is like “James Bond” a female agent. I can appreciate that the stories may be really good made and I hope there will be new fans since this season. Thank you for your review.
If there's ever a show that's not for everyone, it's "Walking Dead"! It's not ordinarily my kind of show, but my wife talked me into watching and I got hooked on the characters.
Ordinarily I'd agree with you on such major changes to a character. But it appears I've become a "Whovian", willing to give it a shot no matter what, and so far--so good. I don't think they handled the opening for the thirteenth Doctor well, though, and I hope they don't lose too many viewers over it.
Ahh...i am not a tv buff and also these series are not telecast in India. Anyhow i never belived in Zombies. But i do belive in ghost as i met twice .....
Posted using Partiko Android
I don't believe in zombies, either ... if I did, I probably wouldn't be watching the show!
I've heard so much about the walking dead BUT I never watched one episode :) I was always afraid that it would be too scary.. But 10 years? Wow! I thought they just started to show it on TV a couple of years ago :)
Thank you for review. I'm sure it will help people who like this series :)
Well, it can be just a bit on the scary side!
Almost ten years--it's the beginning of the ninth season for the show, the eighth season for its companion show Talking Dead, and I believe the fourth season for its spinoff, Fear The Walking Dead. I've heard their ratings are down, but they're still among the highest rated shows on cable.