S11E09: It Takes You Away (Spoilers)

Comment on the ninth episode of Series 11

Proper weird and high-concept. Graham was great. Jodie had some excellent moments in there.

Like a good mix of "Flatline" and "Hide."

My favorite part was Yas's hair looking like upright wolf ears.

Wait, didn't the Doctor first learn of Zygons in "Terror of the Zygons"? So how did Granny make comments all those years prior? If I recall correctly Tom Baker certainly seemed fascinated by this new race.

I know its just a bit of humor, but these small comments bug me. Much like the comments about Daleks and Cybermen not being allowed in the Game of Rassilon during "The Five Doctors". If the Doctor really discovered the Daleks and Cybermen years later, how did the rest of the Timelords know about them? I'm sure there is some way of explaining this away other than writers not being careful.

"I never knew what the heck Granny was talking about Zygon spies until 3 lives later when I finally found out what a Zygon was."


Other than that minor quibble, the episode was fine.

Well, except for the "monster" being an ancient legend from before Gallifrey. That just drops another huge chunk of mythology and gets you wondering why didn't anything pop up during "Edge of Destruction" when the Doctor stopped by for a visit. Could just as easily been a run-of-the mill alternate dimension popping in to say hello because it was lonely. So I guess my biggest issue must be with the script editor.

I recall reading that Terror of the Zygons doesn't have any explicit mention that The Doctor doesn't know of them before the episode and rather helpfully he meets them off screen.

This was an ok episode. I didn't care for the backstory of the Sentient Universe but the basic premise wasn't bad.

The creepy creature was lame.

I really enjoyed seeing Grace again as she was one of the very few bright spots for me on the show other than the other companions.

The writing is still very very poor imo and Jodie doesn't do it for me at all.

Next week is the finale and I highly doubt they will go out with a bang.

Show needs a HUGE overhaul and I don't mean just adding Daleks or Cybermen.

I give this episode a 4.5 out of 10

One podcaster had a VERY important point...

To date, there has not been even ONE established science fiction writer on this season's Doctor Who.

In fact, we have no proof that any writer on this season's Doctor Who even LIKES science fiction or has a deep understanding of Doctor Who history.

Now I'm not saying that we need "fan" scripts, but with the VAST number of qualified Doctor Who WRITERS (Big Finish, the novels, etc) and generally good sci fi writers (Neil Gaiman stepped quite nicely into the role, for example), the series suffers because of the choice of inexperienced sci fi writers.

Sometimes, non-sci fi writers can deliver FANTASTIC scripts, but usually they have a special gift. For example, some of the historical dramas work well because the writer has a fabulous working knowledge of history and they can imagine what it would be like to be a time traveller arriving in a specific time.

Sadly, we don't even get that with the current writers. Their "history" is mostly stereotypical and not particularly insightful.

I don't know... that logic seems to somewhat evade that not all of the established writers were in Sci-Fi before their turns on Doctor Who and that some of the worst clunkers in the new series are attributed to some of those folks. Gaiman's Nightmare in Silver is a bungled mess and he recently commented about not enjoying his second go around. Matthew Graham gave us Fear Her and he did Life on Mars and currently does Electric Sheep.

Also... wait a minute... Malorie Blackman is an established Young Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer who previously wrote a Doctor Who ebook for the 50th anniversary. So that fact is just incorrect. Also... Chibbers is pretty well-versed in the series.

It also looks like Peter McTighe has written for some fantasy/supernatural series in Australia and made a joke about his entire career being a plot to write Doctor Who.

Admittedly, two of the writers are playwrights more than screenwriters.

A quick look over the past few seasons shows a more balanced mixed of vets and newbies, but it's clear Moffat was trying to pull in new voices during Capaldi's run and Chibnall decided to go with all new voices.

I don’t care who is writing these episodes as long as they are good and about Doctor Who.These episodes are neither of the two. Doctor WTF!?!