I question what convoluted board meeting birthed the hodgepodge of hot garbage that is season 11 of “Doctor Who”. I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who ever since the revival of the show in 2001. I could look past the silliness of a show and see the great drama that was hiding behind its British humor. It had three solid doctors: Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith. The three brought swagger and laugh worthy humor that always brought a smile to my face. Steven Moffat was in his prime and wrote some of the best story arcs that the series had ever seen. There was the occasional clunker episode or cringe worthy special effect, but I could look past these flaws to see the silver lining. However, all of this came crashing down with the eleventh season of the critically acclaimed show.

The show premiered back in 1963 and was campy just like all the other shows of the era, however, It had a compelling new story that appealed to British audiences. The show’s fame quickly spread with the ever growing popularity of The BBC. When it was cancelled, the public was deeply saddened to see their favorite time traveling explorer land the TARDIS one last time. The revival of the show was a smashing success. People were excited to see the show when it aired, since it had not been seen in years.  They had three fantastic doctors in a row, but the show’s streak ended, in my opinion, when the companion Clara was added. The actress who plays her (Jenna Coleman) has energy, but I think the script’s writing was what started the show’s decline. The once brilliant writing that Steven Moffat had been producing now felt stale, lifeless and stupid. I wanted to love the show that followed Clara’s arrival, but there were whopping problems with the show that could not be ignored.

Then there was the introduction of Peter Capaldi, who I’m sure was not as bad an actor as the script that was being rammed down his throat. After the first few episodes of the season, I lost my love for the show. I tuned out, saying to myself, ”You’ll catch up with the show when you have free time.” I never caught up with the show, and yet here I am three years later with the same feelings about those seasons.

When I heard that there was going to be a female doctor on the eleventh season of the show, I was not shocked. The show needed something new to spice up the lackluster performances of the past few seasons. Hype was building for months as members of the casts were revealed and trailers were released. Everything was looking good for the show.

It was the night of the premiere and I was ready to have a taste of the space epic to come. My entire family was sitting with me in our living room as we had for so many episodes of the show in the past. I watched the show and considered every aspect of its production, from the effects to the cinematography, and I felt an overall sense of dissatisfaction. I slogged through the episodes that followed the season’s premiere and still they left me wanting more out of the show. The jokes fell flat, the effects were all laughably bad, but not in the campy way that the show had felt before and the writing never made me question my views of the world like the previous seasons had. My biggest disappointment was in Jodie Whittaker’s casting and performance as the doctor.

The casting of Whittaker felt more like an attempt to stir up controversy rather than a new direction for the character. The many original plotlines and character interactions that could have stemmed from the Doctor’s gender change could have been fantastic. There should be a reaction from the Doctor about his change in gender, but none of these plot threads are explored enough in the show. Whittaker has terrible pacing as an actress as her jokes always almost fall flat and she never really shows a dynamic array of emotions. The rest of the companions that masquerade with her are slightly better as they each know how to use pacing when acting, but all three of them fell the same in tone and pretty much have nothing that sets them each apart.

Lazy script writing is the biggest culprit when it comes down to what ruins everything that this season could have been. Every episode feels like another badly written piece of fanfiction. The whole show feels like fanfiction that never should have left the cutting room floor. Every episode needs to showcase each of the characters’ strengths and weaknesses in order to build strong characters. There needs to be new antagonists that question our views on science fiction and our ideas of what makes a hero. When there is the occasionally well-told episode, it’s immediately ruined by a twist that ruins everything that the episode had been doing well. The special effects on the show also tend to come off as cheesy, and the cinematography is nothing to brag about.

However, it seems as though the writers may have pulled themselves out of a nose dive with the most recent episode in the series. The tone of the most recent episode was leaps and bounds better than that of the previous episodes, almost as though it had a whole different writing team. They are finally starting to build complex character arcs for each of the companions that make sense with what we know about their backgrounds. The aliens and phenomena that the group encountered were fresh and creative. It was a pleasant surprise that I was hoping the last few episodes would incorporate into their plotlines.

As we are currently two episodes away from the season finale of the show, I can confidently say that there is nothing in the last two episodes that can drastically change my opinion of the show, however if these episodes are reasonably good, I will definitely keep an open mind for future episodes . The previous episodes have been mediocre at best this season will never rival it’s greatest contemporary science fiction competitors like “Black Mirror” and “Mr. Robot”. I hope that the shows writers and director can see that controversy almost never makes for a well done story. If they keep producing the same previous episodes  by using the same tired formula the show conforms to, it will definitely lose viewership and be cancelled. Because of these reasons, I give “Doctor Who, season 11” a five out of ten, because I still have hope that future episodes can improve on the mistakes of this season.