Doctor Who Series 12: 10 Huge Questions After Spyfall Part 2
7. Was The Whole Story Old School?
When the Doctor makes telepathic contact with the Master, she uses a form of communication familiar to fans of the classic era. The same trigger word ‘contact’ is used by the Doctors to confer and share information in The Three Doctors. The Master, almost breaking the fourth wall, observes that the Doctor has gone old school.
He might not have used his legendary hypnotic powers of suggestion, but the Master has also rolled back the years by using the tissue compression eliminator rather than a laser screwdriver or vortex manipulator.
There is something of an old school feel about Spyfall, particularly the second part which opens with the Doctor looking almost Hartnell-esque in the Kasaavin’s domain. But it is the high jinks adventuring of the Pertwee era that is most in evidence here. It is no coincidence that the third Doctor is often likened to James Bond.
The bold casting of Jodie Whittaker as the first female Doctor aside, Chibnall is something of a traditionalist. The ambitious retconning and repeated re-imaginings of Steven Moffat have been replaced by a more faithful rendition that is as timeless as the red herring of the Timeless Child. It jars, continuity-wise, especially with a portrayal of the Master that makes no reference to Missy’s near redemption.
Critics will argue that old ideas are being recycled in an almost paint-by-numbers manner (here from the Russell T Davies years, as much as the 1970s), but many fans will have enjoyed the throwback nature of the story.