The Doctor Who Thread.....

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Indeed, sir. Putting the Davros debate to one side, I'd just like to say ... 

A very happy 60th anniversary, Doctor ... who (arf) would've thought it way back on 23rd November 1963, eh? From modest beginnings to telly's greatest hero in its longest running sci-fi show. Quite remarkable, really. 

May your adventures across space and time continue to be a bright spot in this ever-darkening world, to both me and many others. I look forward to watching the colourised 'cutdown' version of your first encounter with the Daleks on BBC4 tonight, and to seeing what's in store for your fourteenth incarnation across the next 3 Saturday nights (especially the explanation as to why he appears to be your tenth one all over again, lol). 

Happy times and places. Allons-y! 








 - William Hartnell, lol

- Paul McGann, lol 

[pixie_twinkle 48]

Happy birthday, Doc! Wonderful chap. All of them.

[Brónach 1,302]

14 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

 if it wasn't for storytellers like RTD being vocal about it and -crucially - actually doing something about it by presenting queer stories and platforming queer actors.

 

well we'll see

[Oswin Pond 58]

I have restored The Day of the Doctor with Murray Gold's original vision. I'm sure some here would be interested so I am sharing the link to the showcase! Check the description for more infos. Happy anniversary!

 

[enderdrag64 624]

16 minutes ago, Oswin Pond said:

I have restored The Day of the Doctor with Murray Gold's original vision. I'm sure some here would be interested so I am sharing the link to the showcase! Happy anniversary!
 

 

How'd you isolate the dialogue and sound effects in order to replace the music?

[Oswin Pond 58]

3 minutes ago, enderdrag64 said:

How'd you isolate the dialogue and sound effects in order to replace the music?

 

Audacity, the episodes are encoded with 7 channels and you can easily just delete the music channel. Alternatively, the links are all available on youtube if you search "Doctor Who Unscored" on google !

[enderdrag64 624]

47 minutes ago, Oswin Pond said:

 

Audacity, the episodes are encoded with 7 channels and you can easily just delete the music channel. Alternatively, the links are all available on youtube if you search "Doctor Who Unscored" on google !

The music is in its own channel???

[Oswin Pond 58]

3 minutes ago, enderdrag64 said:

The music is in its own channel???

Yes it is! The middle one if I recall correctly.

That's how most people do Unreleased musics, they take it out and publish it. Sadly some sound effects are in it as well which means unscoring is easy, but the music itself is not great to listen on its own.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Colourised Dalek thing was enjoyable ... I'm sure there will be those who consider it sacrilege, but the original 7 ep serial is on iPlayer and of course on physical media too. 

The scene where Ian and the Doctor scoop the mutant out of its casing and send Barbara and Susan outside the cell to keep watch (but really because what they're doing is 'man's work') was intact, interestingly. 

Does this mean that RTD is OK with early 60s sexism in Who? The bloody hypocrite!  

[Brónach 1,302]

I was more annoyed by Moffat exagerating it.

 

Or perhaps he view it as self parody. I don't know.

[HunterTech 994]

Self-parody seems more likely, since the novelization apparently suggests that the first Doctor more did it to annoy Twelve than because he sincerely believes in it.

[IheartMelissaBenoist 36]

As a Doctor Who fan for over 40 years, here's my take on a couple of things.

 

Davros - If only RTD hadn't said a bloody word, I highly doubt there would be this s**tstorm, at least to the extent or intensity that there's been. I actually have no problem accepting this different Davros IF any further Davros stories are set BEFORE his injury/accident/disfiguration/etc. But thank goodness it's still OK for older, slightly hunched white males to be portrayed as villains... 

 

Daleks colorised - Meh, I know what they were trying to achieve, but as long as the original, black-and-white 7-part story is still readily available, I'm not too interested. But the obsessive collector in me says I MUST buy it

 

The Daleks and sexism - I was watching the recent 4k versions of the Peter Cushing Dalek movies, and I still am not sure what caused them to put one of those "Hey, this is a really old movie, we don't think or say or do those kinds of not-very-nice things anymore, honest" warnings in them... What are they warning against? Is it the sexism? That's about the only thing that strikes me as "offensive" in any way in those. 

 

Tales of the TARDIS - Sweet and lovely and for this long-term fan somewhat touching and emotional. And damn but Nicola Bryant still looks good!

 

Also... it's back tomorrow!!!!

 

 

[Oswin Pond 58]

Murray Gold finally explains why he didn't release the series 10 soundtrack

 

[MattyO 62]

What did he say? I can't see the report.

[mstrox 6,651]

A previous OST leaked early and then a bunch of pukes shared and reshared.  It made him rethink the value of the effort he puts in to curating, mixing, etc. the albums.  He didn’t prioritize it.  He figured he’d get around to it eventually but family life and other work got in the way and he doesn’t have two months of his life to work on an old soundtrack album while he moves on with his own business.

[MattyO 62]

I'm trying to not be annoyed by his reasoning but I'm sure there's some album producer or music assistant who'd happily do the grunt work for him, taking the time factor out of the equation. It still doesn't make sense to me that it hasn't been released and this makes it sound very much that it never will be.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

The Star Beast, then. Hmmm.  

 

Spoiler

Chemistry between Tennant and Tate came flooding back. There's an undoubted joy in having DT back 'Doctoring' again. I liked Ruth Madeley's UNIT operative and her rocket-firing wheelchair (blueprints stolen from Q Branch in the mid-90s, maybe?). Action stuff was well done.  

But ... the sonic can now apparently create solid objects from scratch, sooo what ... it's just a full-on magic wand now? Also, the gender identity stuff felt rather forced and 'box-ticky'. And it's possible we've gone from a too messy Tardis interior to a too clinical one ...  after the initial 'Wow, look at how BIG it is!' wore off, I realised what I was reminded of was an Apple store. 

So a mixed bag for me. We'll see how the other two pan out.   

 

[Brónach 1,302]

the sonic what. and here i am suggesting to get rid of it.

[TBO1711 32]

Finally back to a proper Doctor Who episode. None of this wishy-washy emotional Doctor stuff back to an energetic, whimsickal fun doctor. I don't mind the gender identity stuff, we are in new era and its about time we change to it and that's what RTD is doing. Tardis interior is awesome and the new sonic is awesome and cool. 6 more days until the next awesome episode, can't wait 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,543]

Thanks for this, guys. I haven't seen it, yet, as I was watching the footie on the other side (we won ).

I'm house-sitting for some friends, this week, so I'll catch it then.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

Ugh, what RTD has unwittingly done by calling this 'series 1' is that it's on its own page on iPlayer.

 

I don't give a shit about the naming, but I do want to be able to actually find the episode!

[enderdrag64 624]

On 25/11/2023 at 1:06 AM, mstrox said:

It made him rethink the value of the effort he puts in to curating, mixing, etc. the albums.

Easy - just make a lazy sessions dump 

[mstrox 6,651]

4 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

Ugh, what RTD has unwittingly done by calling this 'series 1' is that it's on its own page on iPlayer.

 

I don't give a shit about the naming, but I do want to be able to actually find the episode!

I guarantee that’s the whole purpose - it’s “a whole new show” and therefore legally distinct from the last iteration for the purposes of the Disney distribution deal.  It’ll always be listed separately from the 9-13 years.

[DarthDementous 1,059]

I've not quite settled on how I feel about this episode but here's my spoiler-free reaction

I loved everything, except for how the resolution was executed. It's a premise I can see working but it was done rather clumsily and confusingly which annoys me more than the political messaging. I suppose I was expecting for RTD to instantly shown he's grown as a Doctor Who writer but these are very much the old pitfalls. For now I'll chalk it up to regression due to working with familiar elements and hope that both with the remaining specials and especially Gatwa's era that RTD shows what he's learnt in the interim between his last stint to take things in a fresh direction.

Foundation wise though this is the most Doctor Who has felt like Doctor Who in a really long time, the pathos is there, the music is there (need the TARDIS reveal cue immediately) the banter is there, the character work is there, and I was smiling ear to ear for 95% of the episode. It's a bit of a wobbly start but the moment to moment experience of watching RTD Doctor Who is there and for me that was really important and not something I was going to take for granted. It's actually rather surreal how much it felt like watching a Series 4 episode, to go from 5 years of something so strange and alienating to something that whilst different still had those comfortable feelings of familiarity, it's a really unusual experience. Arguably more than 5 years, to be honest.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,543]

So... now there are three "Series 1"s.

For fuck's sake.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

Some thought on the first episodes. A couple of plot-related points in spoilers.

• Entertaining, funny and generally overall a return to form for the overall feel of the show.
• The bigger budget is immediately evident in the quality of the effects, the sets, etc. I think it does make a difference as you're not constantly distracted by a dodgy CGI spaceship.
• The music was way, waaaay more interesting and inspiring than what I was hearing from Gold in his later series. It's more modern but not in a bad way and I look forward to the (hopefully) eventual release. I really think that after 10 continuous series where the musical demands didn't really change, there came a point where he needed a break and to come back to the show with some fresh eyes.
• Kudos to RTD for making an effort to increase inclusivity. I'd merely suggest that he does less song/dances around it in terms of PR, and just makes the show how he wants to.

And finally...

Spoiler

I did like the 'loophole' for not killing Donna - the toys she was making and her name, and the shed design.

 

Although.... someone correct me if I've got this wrong, but if all Donna needed to do was switch a few switches, why couldn't the Doctor have just told her what to do? Why did he need to restore her memory to do all that, through a transparent screen here he can see everything anyway?

 

I didn't mind the upgraded sonic actually - it felt like a bit of fun, and when he created those barriers the whole sequence directorially felt like a last resort given the bind they were in. It also perhaps gives some opportunity later on to see what the Doctor would do in different situations, given he can now do physical things.

 

[Brónach 1,302]

2 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

So... now there are three "Series 1"s.

For fuck's sake.

 

yeah but now it's funny

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

13 hours ago, mstrox said:

I guarantee that’s the whole purpose - it’s “a whole new show” and therefore legally distinct from the last iteration for the purposes of the Disney distribution deal.  It’ll always be listed separately from the 9-13 years.

 

I think the legal aspect may be part of it. But I'd also guess that it's mostly Disney trying to introduce Doctor Who to American audiences who might not have seen it, and they're concerned (probably correctly) that people might not want to jump into a show at season...what season are they on?

 

Isn't that what they did in 2005?

[DarthDementous 1,059]

4 hours ago, DarthDementous said:

I've not quite settled on how I feel about this episode but here's my spoiler-free reaction

I loved everything, except for how the resolution was executed. It's a premise I can see working but it was done rather clumsily and confusingly which annoys me more than the political messaging. I suppose I was expecting for RTD to instantly shown he's grown as a Doctor Who writer but these are very much the old pitfalls. For now I'll chalk it up to regression due to working with familiar elements and hope that both with the remaining specials and especially Gatwa's era that RTD shows what he's learnt in the interim between his last stint to take things in a fresh direction.

Foundation wise though this is the most Doctor Who has felt like Doctor Who in a really long time, the pathos is there, the music is there (need the TARDIS reveal cue immediately) the banter is there, the character work is there, and I was smiling ear to ear for 95% of the episode. It's a bit of a wobbly start but the moment to moment experience of watching RTD Doctor Who is there and for me that was really important and not something I was going to take for granted. It's actually rather surreal how much it felt like watching a Series 4 episode, to go from 5 years of something so strange and alienating to something that whilst different still had those comfortable feelings of familiarity, it's a really unusual experience. Arguably more than 5 years, to be honest.

 

Fresh from a rewatch. First time there was a lot of anxiousness going into it and I watched the episode over a video stream with online friends at 1080p on my computer

 

This time it was in the comfort of my living room, 4k HDR

 

And it was pure joy. The parts I liked I loved this time, the emotional scenes hit way harder and I felt the weight of all the previous stories this time, and the parts I didn't like bothered me less. Seeing it in a much more pristine visual fidelity helped me appreciate the effects and directing a lot more, the show looks absolutely fantastic

 

Oh my God and the music. I am so happy to have Murray Gold back because whilst there's restraint it makes the big moments hit really effectively and it soars in a way I remember it doing, as a jaded adult feeling and believing that whimsy is a superb experience. Initially I thought there wasn't enough past music but I think it was the perfect amount for musical continuity and evoking the emotional connection without being reliant on it. Very keen for the soundtrack.

 

I also felt particular dread at the end. I've seen that "You should visit more often" from RTD before and what follows it is never good. I have a really bad feeling we are heading towards tragedy but my God it will be incredibly potent stuff if even the suggestion Donna was dead brought me to tears when I knew she couldn't be. David Tennant and Catherine Tate were beyond amazing, incredible performances.

 

After 5 years of wondering whether the show was for me anymore, holy fuck it is good to be back

[Richard Penna 3,694]

Yes, Tate's performance in the 'buttons' scene was superb particularly. Switching from the 'nice' Donna to her mentality from before was subtle but strong acting.

 

One other thought, and this definitely qualifies as an unpopular opinion: there's too much going on in the new main theme before the 'A'' part (too many orchestral flourishes that don't add anything to the core theme), and the transition from the brief 'B' statement to the end is way too sudden. I'm sure Gold was having some fun but Akinola's version had a simplicity to it and I think there might've been a middle ground.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Meant to say, quite like the new title sequence ... reminiscent of the Smith era 'cloud' vortex. Certainly a step up from the Tardis-less Whittaker 'blobs' sequence.    

[DarthDementous 1,059]

1 hour ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Meant to say, quite like the new title sequence ... reminiscent of the Smith era 'cloud' vortex. Certainly a step up from the Tardis-less Whittaker 'blobs' sequence.    

 

I like it too, feels very much like an RTD Doctor Who intro but a little bit more fancy and fresh

[TBO1711 32]

By the looks of this pic for the Xmas special this year i'm getting 9th Doctor and Rose vibes as in the way RTD introduced The Doctor to Rose in the episode Rose

Spoiler

Or they could be tied up together

 

[Brónach 1,302]

i thought that one would mostly feature 14

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

1 hour ago, TBO1711 said:

By the looks of this pic for the Xmas special this year i'm getting 9th Doctor and Rose vibes as in the way RTD introduced The Doctor to Rose in the episode Rose

  Hide contents

Or they could be tied up together

 

Pirate ship, maybe? 

Watched the closing episodes of The Tenth Planet and Meglos last night ... not a 'lecture' in sight, quite refreshing tbh. 

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

4 hours ago, Brónach said:

i thought that one would mostly feature 14

I think regeneration from 14 to 15 happens in 3rd of the anniversary specials, then it's 15 from Christmas special onwards. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,543]

11 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Watched the closing episodes of The Tenth Planet...

"Love, pride, hate, fear. Have you no emotions, sir?"

I love the way that the Cyberleader doesn't even answer. It just dismiss what The Doctor says.

 

 

11 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

... and Meglos last night ... 

 

Isn't that the one where Tom Baker turns into a cactus?

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Yes, yes it is. And it also has Jacqueline Hill, but not as Barbara. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,543]

Here's another fun fact: William Russell was meant to reprise his role as Ian Chesterton, in "Mawdryn Undead", but he was unavailable, so they got Nicholas Courtney, instead.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

I think Hill doing it that way round is fairly unusual in Who ... usually it's an previous appearance in a different, lower-key role and then becoming a companion/ally later (Eve Myles, Freema Ageyman, Karen Gillan), or indeed the Doctor (Colin Baker, Peter Capaldi).  

[Naïve Old Fart 9,543]

Watched it, last night.

Oh, wow. How many boxes did that tick?

Let's count them off, shall we?

The return of a familiar, and popular, Doctor ✓

The return of a familiar, and popular, companion ✓

New TARDIS ✓ (actually, I like it),

The return of a familiar, and popular, writer/show-runner ✓

The return of the familiar, and popular, companion's mum and husband ✓

Now, here's where it starts to go all wibbly-wobbly:

Non-binary daughter ✓

Religious minority character (in this case, a Sikh) ✓. He's allowed to wear a turban which offers zero protection against any potential head injury. Still, if he wants to play silly buggers with his life, then that's his own lookout.

The Doctor being corrected - by a fucking kid , no less - over his use of personal pronouns ✓ How woke is that?!

An actor who has spina bifida, and is, consequently, playing a character who is confined to a wheelchair ✓. Just totally ignore the fact that this particular wheelchair fires bullets and rockets. "But, oh, no, she's in a fucking wheelchair! She must be a villain!", I hear you cry. Well, she's one of the good guys, so I guess it's ok to have a wheelchair that has the potential to kill and maim, if you work for U.N.I.T., but not if you just want to get around, on Skaro. So much for "wheelchair equals bad" (!).

Added to this, there is an antagonist that goes from cute and virginal, to white supremacist cunt, in 2.5 seconds.

What else? The "comedy" missed the mark, often, and the score was simply ingratiating. Twenty minutes in, I wanted it to just shut the fuck up. Thankfully, most of the score was mixed so low as to be almost inaudible. It was a very poor effort by someone whose muse has clearly left him, or, at the very least, taken an extended vacation.

Did I like anything about it?

It's an improvement over the waste-of-fucking-space Chibnall shit... but only just.

As previously stated, I like the very clean, and very white, TARDIS. 

Now, before you all call for my total evisceration, I am aware that I am in a minority in my opinions, and that this is only the first chapter in a three-part story. Things might improve. I really hope they do, because I see more genuine wit and intelligence, in the opening episode of "Spearhead From Space", than I did, in one wasted hour of "The Star Beast".

If this is how DW is to continue, if it wants to win back viewers, then it has to do much better.

 

 

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Hoping that RTD got all the box-ticking out of his system in The Star Beast, and that Wild Blue Yonder will be better. The clip of Donna freaking out and then the Doctor calming her and explaining that it's possible the Tardis has abandoned them because the HADS has kicked in already suggests it will be.  

[Naïve Old Fart 9,543]

"HADS"? Did I miss something?

Did Donna spill coffee on the TARDIS console on purpose? If so, and knowing her history with the ship, it was a very irresponsible thing to do.

At least the coffee maker is better than the machine that dispensed Custard Creams (ffs).

[Brónach 1,302]

so far i've read trans people complain about this or call it "very 2000s"

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

1 hour ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

"HADS"? Did I miss something?

Did Donna spill coffee on the TARDIS console on purpose? If so, and knowing her history with the ship, it was a very irresponsible thing to do.

At least the coffee maker is better than the machine that dispensed Custard Creams (ffs).

The Tardis - 'Yeah, the Doctor ALREADY charges about everywhere like a nutter ... but not enough. I know, coffee machine!' 

HADS - Hostile Action Displacement System. Self-defence sort of thing. Activated during the Second and Eleventh Doctor's runs, but not much otherwise as far as I know.    

[Naïve Old Fart 9,543]

The TARDIS running away?

The TARDIS is many things, but one thing she isn't, is a coward.

So, HADS was around in the Troughton era? When?

[mstrox 6,651]

https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Hostile_Action_Displacement_System

[Brónach 1,302]

it says that it has to be manually set first

 

(not that the writers would care lol)

[HunterTech 994]

On 27/11/2022 at 1:43 PM, HunterTech said:

Walmart has suddenly become a place for me to buy random TV show sets because the price was very appealing (Quantum Leap was $10 for the whole series when I bought that, for instance). In this case, series 1-10 with all the specials for $50 was too good a prospect for me to pass up. I can't imagine it being standard def will be an issue for 9 and 10, though I'm sure it's less ideal for 11 and 12. I certainly wish this was in a proper slipcase instead of put together so slap dashedly, but there's a weird charm to finally owning these lazier "exclusive" sets a store can have. I can't imagine I'll be quick to watching these, but I'm glad I finally have a proper incentive to watch the revival instead of continuing to merely think about it. [Oh yeah, I bought another copy of Thriller because my previous one is scratched up, I miss when I actually bought CDs at retail stores, and the bonus tracks were too appealing in spite of some sounding worse than when they were released elsewhere.]

 

 

A year later, and this set is already obsolete!

 

I was one of the supposed 6,000 to purchase the limited edition set for the Blu-rays of series 1-13, with the first 4 having work done to update their HD upscales. This set has already become infamous from just how badly the BBC have screwed the pooch by cutting corners, since the marketing lied by implying it would use regular BD cases instead of the cheap clear plastic DVD ones they actually do. Cue many loose and scratched discs from unlucky customers. I think I ended up getting one of the better ones, since nothing looks unusual from the recent home media purchases I've made, but there's still a matter of seeing if everything is actually playable. For the discounted price of $153, I honestly don't mind the overall package, but it definitely should've been a lot better.

 

 

[DarthDementous 1,059]

16 hours ago, Brónach said:

so far i've read trans people complain about this or call it "very 2000s"

Ah yes, that very unified and homogenous group known as trans people. I've seen discussion go both ways from all kinds of people and groups, praising it, appreciating the effort but finding it clunky, or finding it a misfire entirely. Fortunately it seems the wider public is less terminally online so the insufferable political discourse isn't defining that episode for them

 

 

19 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Watched it, last night.

Oh, wow. How many boxes did that tick?

Let's count them off, shall we?

The return of a familiar, and popular, Doctor ✓

The return of a familiar, and popular, companion ✓

New TARDIS ✓ (actually, I like it),

The return of a familiar, and popular, writer/show-runner ✓

The return of the familiar, and popular, companion's mum and husband ✓

Now, here's where it starts to go all wibbly-wobbly:

Non-binary daughter ✓

Religious minority character (in this case, a Sikh) ✓. He's allowed to wear a turban which offers zero protection against any potential head injury. Still, if he wants to play silly buggers with his life, then that's his own lookout.

The Doctor being corrected - by a fucking kid , no less - over his use of personal pronouns ✓ How woke is that?!

An actor who has spina bifida, and is, consequently, playing a character who is confined to a wheelchair ✓. Just totally ignore the fact that this particular wheelchair fires bullets and rockets. "But, oh, no, she's in a fucking wheelchair! She must be a villain!", I hear you cry. Well, she's one of the good guys, so I guess it's ok to have a wheelchair that has the potential to kill and maim, if you work for U.N.I.T., but not if you just want to get around, on Skaro. So much for "wheelchair equals bad" (!).

Added to this, there is an antagonist that goes from cute and virginal, to white supremacist cunt, in 2.5 seconds.

What else? The "comedy" missed the mark, often, and the score was simply ingratiating. Twenty minutes in, I wanted it to just shut the fuck up. Thankfully, most of the score was mixed so low as to be almost inaudible. It was a very poor effort by someone whose muse has clearly left him, or, at the very least, taken an extended vacation.

Did I like anything about it?

It's an improvement over the waste-of-fucking-space Chibnall shit... but only just.

As previously stated, I like the very clean, and very white, TARDIS. 

Now, before you all call for my total evisceration, I am aware that I am in a minority in my opinions, and that this is only the first chapter in a three-part story. Things might improve. I really hope they do, because I see more genuine wit and intelligence, in the opening episode of "Spearhead From Space", than I did, in one wasted hour of "The Star Beast".

If this is how DW is to continue, if it wants to win back viewers, then it has to do much better.

 

 

"Religious minority character"
I'm amazed you even noticed this and cared enough to point it out

"The Doctor being corrected by a kid over his use of personal pronouns"
Yes, the 15 year old trans kid who's grown up being identified in a way based on their outward appearance in a way that doesn't align is more conscious of The Doctor assuming the Meep's gender based on outward appearance

"An actor who has spina bifida who is confined to a wheelchair...this particular wheelchair fires bullets..."She's in a wheelchair she must be a villain"...well she's one of the good guys, so I guess it's okay to have a wheelchair that has the potential to kill and maim, if you work for U.N.I.T, but not if you just want to get around, on Skaro. So much for "wheelchair equals bad"!
This isn't what RTD was saying. It's not about the wheelchair itself being depicted as dangerous, it's that the overwhelming amount of disabled characters, i.e. in a wheelchair, play villains and that otherness tends to play a role in their villainy. This is RTD putting his money where his mouth is by including a character in a wheelchair that is explicitly not a villain, the fact it has all kinds of gadgets makes sense for a U.N.I.T officer.

"There's an antagonist that goes from cute and virginal to white supremacist cunt in 2.5 seconds"
What in the ever living fuck is 'white supremacist' about Beep the Meep? This is reaching of the highest order to read politics into something

"I am aware that I am in a minority in my opinions, and that this is only the first chapter in a three-part story"
This is a bizarre thing to say when it's followed up by "If this is how DW is to continue, if it wants to win back viewers, then it has to do much better" you can't both be in the minority on positive reception to the episode and also say that the show is in dire need of winning back viewers.

Don't think I could disagree more about the comedy or the music, but that's at least down to personal preference. Although I would say that the humor was very natural in that it came from character interactions more than 'I will now tell a joke, please laugh' that Moffat's Who was prone to fall into. The music was also not mixed low, it was just more withdrawn except for key moments where it was especially prominent in the mix which worked well to accentuate scenes without overpowering them and saving the big musical moments for key scenes.