Doctor Who: Best And Worst Story Of Each New Who Doctor

Seasons 11 and 12 have been controversial era’s in the show for a myriad of reasons, some of which are fair criticisms and some of which are internet trolls throwing their toys out of the pram. Like any era of the show though there are highs points and low points.

Episodes like “Orphan 55” can be criticized for bad production issues and a heavy handed message about climate (which was handled much better in another Thirteenth Doctor episode “Praxeus”) and “The Timeless Children” has caused a huge outpouring of rage across the internet due to a seemingly canon-breaking twist. However, that story arc has yet to finish playing out so it doesn’t seem fair to include it here.

Season 11’s “The Tsuranga Conundrum” however is an unforgivably bad episode that feels like it would have benefited from a heavier pass over from a script editor. The plot is all over the place and it never quite seems to settle on what the episode wants to be about. Ryan finds himself dealing with a pregnant gentleman who is having second thoughts about his impending fatherhood.

The Doctor meanwhile is chasing around a small creature called a Pting which, whilst not malevolent or evil like the Daleks or the Cybermen, is every bit as dangerous as it eats non-organic material and has a ravenous appetite. The Pting is eating its way through the ship and this will cause them to crash if they don’t stop it. Graham and Yaz…well they’re sort of around.

An ongoing problem with the Thirteenth Doctor era has been the size of the TARDIS team and this episode is a good example of why. There’s too little for each character to do and so some of them end up feeling like they’re getting in the way or that the show has to invent things for them to do. As a result the episode feels unfocused and it is difficult to keep track of what is going on.

Whilst season 11 and 12 have largely had good production values, they are still working within the limits of a BBC budget. The Pting is a fully CGI creature and it doesn’t look great. It feels pasted onto the screen at times and never comes across as a viable threat, despite The Doctors thwarted attempts to stop it. To the episode’s credit however, it is a nice change of pace to have an enemy that is not evil but is actually just living its natural life and following its natural instincts.