Doctor Who season 12 finale discussion: The Timeless Children

Hello everyone and welcome to another Doctor Who discussion post, this time looking at the season 12 finale, The Timeless Children. Last episode’s “finale-part one” made the Cybermen the dominating threat that they used to be along with a real air of danger and threat. They threw in the Master and Gallifrey at the end for good measure but could episode 10 stick the landing? In my opinion not really but there was a mix of bits I liked, really great but underdeveloped ideas and things I really really hated.

First off, the Master carried this episode. The performance was crazy and unhinged while actually quite focussed in his goal of messing with the Doctor and taking over the universe. He had great chemistry with both the Doctor and the Lone Cyberman, while also acting as a strong narrator for the origins of the Time Lords and regeneration. Now…if you take that story in isolation of a scientist discovering an alien child with the ability to regenerate and then extracting it to use themselves and their race then I liked it. It was a simple and interesting idea for how the Time Lords came to be and also opened the door for other species having similar abilities.

Now I think you can guess the aspect of the story that I hated. Why did the Timeless Child have to be the Doctor. There was no need. It was stupid! It needlessly rewrote history and just gave the writers an excuse to throw away any sort of narrative continuity to do whatever they want. You want this random actor to play the Doctor? Well here you are! They can as it was just a regeneration he/she forgot about. So now William Hartnell is what? The first Doctor she remembers being? We saw the “Ruth” Doctor who didn’t really explain anything, instead just fobbing of the audience and just saying who cares to the answers! Why bother explaining everything!

They tried to big up Yaz as the main companion which I didn’t like as I am past being unable to not be irritated by her. Her dialogue and delivery is clunky with her showing very little emotional range. Graham tried to explain how great she was but even Bradley Walsh isn’t convincing me. Him and Ryan were fine and fun but all three were just there again. They weren’t really needed and just felt tagged on. I’m surprised that all three survived but it felt like the episode couldn’t even dedicate enough time to kill one of them off.

And lastly the Cyber-Lords as I’ve deemed them. They were an absolutely amazing design and a brilliant concept. I really loved the idea but they were so underutilised. Forget the Timeless Child rubbish. This should have been the Cybermen doing what that scientist did and extract the ability to regenerate to give themselves the ultimate upgrade. A stripped back story following these lines would have been much more enjoyable and less controversial.

The Judoon cameo was neat with the Doctor now being alone and imprisoned. Roll on New Year! I hated the Timeless Child thing though…I really really did.

DD Rating: 6/10