The Timeless Children by Chris Chibnall

Oh.

The Timeless Children by Chris Chibnall

My opinion on the Timeless Children is considerably different than most, and it’s as follows:
The Timeless Children is a bad idea.
No, hold on:
The Timeless Children is a bad idea done well-
Ah, there’s the hot take you were looking for. Don’t really want to talk about this one, and at first I didn’t think I’d have much to add, but I do, actually.
I really do. First off, the problems:
One- On paper, the canon shoehorning in of about 28 different incarnations of the Doctor, before Hartnell is a terrible idea and as much as I hate to say this, an affront to canon. Yep, you’ve heard this complaint.
Two- Ashad, the best original villain this revival has had is miniaturized both literally and figuratively by the threat of the Master.
Three- This is the third time we’ve had a finale Include Cybermen and The Master.
Four- Gallifrey. The more info we get on Gallifrey, the more it loses its mythos, much more so than the Doctor in my opinion.
Whoops.
You see, I don’t like a single idea Timeless Children has.
But I kind of love the episode.
The Timeless Children receives an unfair amount of hatred for what it actually is, a decently done story with some excellent moments, and I love the world building it does for past Gallifrey, despite my problem with the idea. I love the flashback that takes up the episodes plot, how it is both a love letter to the lore and how it punches the lore in the face, the audacity of what it’s trying to do, the sheer bravery of Chris Chibnall for daring to put this on paper, Sacha Dhawan, the best Cybermen designs since the very original, Jodie’s best performance yet, and the utter gorgeousness of the Ruth Doctor’s cameo followed by a pure fan service scene of the Doctor breaking out of the matrix.
I love this story because it makes me think “What the fuck was Chibnall thinking,” while also saying “Chibnall, you mad lad, this is actually cool.” The thing is, no matter how you might complain, this story doesn’t invalidate any bit of canon. I don’t care what you say about it, any book or audio you have that is “invalidated” by Timeless Children is still there. And there’s no way the only thing you liked about it was that it said something about The Doctor’s regeneration order.
So, I’m sorry but I completely disagree with the many many Internet forum people who argue about the “canon,” because this is Doctor Who. There isn’t any.
I love this episode.
I hate this episode.
It’s the Timeless Children.
Timeless Children/10

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