Late to the party on all fronts, and a diehard Doctor Who fan here. For those not in the know, the most recent season finale, The Timeless Children, decided to overwrite 57 years of television history for a cheap plot twist. The main character was now always destined for greatness, had always been a suitably diverse woman first and foremost, and the reason that nobody mentioned this up until now is "hurr durr she had her memory wiped". As you can imagine it did not go down well with longtime fans, but the SocJus crazies ate it up, most likely because of the flashing colors and lights.
I only mention this because I recently came across a review on the dedicated Doctor Who review site for the episode in question which epitomises the infestation currently in the show and in all other facets of media. Exerpt as follows:
"Now let’s be honest here. People hate Chibnall [showrunner and episode writer]. And I’ve held off on saying my peace but I won’t anymore. Chibnall has changed Doctor Who forever. People hate him and love him, but you can’t ignore his vision. He may have made the show far more geared towards children, but he also added messages. Yes, even as a diehard libtard myself I find them often shoehorned in and annoying, but they will alter how the next generation behaves, and I can’t applaud that enough. As for those who think Chibby Boy hasn’t grown since last season or who think he’s gotten worse… how? It’s not what you like, boy oh f*cking boy does it have issues. Yes, he has completely rewritten continuity… but need I remind you of the BS that our last two showrunners did? One wrote out the timelords, the other wrote in 2 characters who have always been by the Doctors’ sides AND retconned the writing out of the timelords. I think Chibnall has grown, he’s far from the next John Nathan-Turner, he grows. He listens to criticism and grows. He went from too slow to too fast and I hope that next time he will get things perfectly. I thought he’d improve, I called that he would be better this time, and he was. He’s not perfect. His run is a massive change. And if you don’t like it, fine. I think it’s one of those things that you can just leave behind, but don’t ruin the fun for those who like it, and let the kids enjoy it at least. I think we can all learn something from this new era and the reaction it’s had… but let’s move on."
Emphasis mine, and it should be noted that despite the author acknowledging that it's poorly written with a mess of pacing, they still give the writing and every other aspect of the episode a 9/10.
So, if ever you get told that the comics about SocJus folks invading a space then kicking out the old guard are a strawman, or the criticism that there are those who think that brainwashing the kids comes above everything else is not representative of how any real person thinks, I hereby provide you with a counterexample.
In the meantime I'll go back to enjoying the niche and far reaches of Doctor Who which remain largely uninfested by this crap.
I kept watching DW through Peter Capaldi but never watched any of the last iteration. Once Tennant left each new one was like revisiting your old hot girlfriend years later. "Oh, she's gotten really fat.", etc.
For all its faults, and Russel T Davies is a raging lefty to boot, everything seemed to go wrong after Tennant and Russel went. I'm not sure how, but there was something about the way Moffat ran things that didn't sit right with me (the villains lost a lot of their edge, I notice). Dr Who has been rotting for over ten years straight, despite the superhuman efforts of Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi.
Davies, as much of a raging leftist he may be, has enough respect for his craft to prioritize writing a good story. He is able to separate his own politics from the script he is working on, and has the wisdom to know what will work and what will be instantly dated; and has the wisdom to know what, over the 50 years of Doctor Who, is hard canon not to be meddled with and what has more leeway.
It is a real shame his successors didn't share those traits.
I'd also argue the various monsters were treated far more seriously, regardless of poor execution (the Absorbaloff, as absurd as it was, killed about half a dozen people). For example, in Moffat's run we had a scene were the Daleks talk about hatred as beautiful, as a method of making us sickened by them (and as a hack explanation for why they don't just butcher the mental defects). They also then proceed to kill fuck all over his time as show runner, with many jokes made at their expense.
2005 Daleks could chill your blood with one word.
Oh, fuck yeah, I thought my skin was going to crawl off when I first saw that.