The test of how closely a Doctor Who fan pays attention to the show comes in how they explain the plot of Flux. (If they have a coherent answer, they were not paying attention.) - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

scribblesscript.bsky.social • 92 days ago

The test of how closely a Doctor Who fan pays attention to the show comes in how they explain the plot of Flux.

(If they have a coherent answer, they were not paying attention.)

Comments

meddlingmonkee.bsky.social•91 days ago

I'm still waiting on Flux 2 : The Fluxening

tardisbluex.bsky.social•91 days ago

Was it ever explained why the TARDIS kept popping doors at the start? Or was it just the flux?

scribblesscript.bsky.social•91 days ago

"Flux debris" according to Eve. Which doesn't make much sense given the problem started earlier in Halloween Apocalypse than it getting thrown in the way of the Flux but hey ho.

tardisbluex.bsky.social•91 days ago

What.

ayyitsalii.bsky.social•92 days ago

The flux storyline is something I definitely need to rewatch. There was so much going on and I’ll admit, for the first time whilst watching the show since 2005, I was left slightly confused. Hopefully on a rewatch I’ll understand better 😂

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

Unfortunately the more you follow what it's doing the less it holds together. It's like a plotting gish gallop.

dead.garden•91 days ago

The test of how dedicated a Doctor Who fan is to Doctor Who lore comes in whether or not they think Doctor Who lore is real / coherent

crpalwho.bsky.social•91 days ago

One thing that confused me was how the flux seemed to be happening in all of time and space, you'd figure the Doctor would've encountered it before then

funkymosquito.bsky.social•92 days ago

It's interesting Grade ruined Dr Who by treating it with contempt. Currently show runners and writers are doing it with a long run of terrible writing with the odd gem. Flux is fan fiction where you build up the importance of the character to ridiculous levels.

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

I don't know what to say to this

funkymosquito.bsky.social•90 days ago

It's all true 😀 Increasing the significance of the doctor has been going on for a long time and is right up there with truly bad ideas that multiple show runners have went with.

scribblesscript.bsky.social•90 days ago

I don't think this is a very on point criticism

funkymosquito.bsky.social•90 days ago

As someone who has watched since the original series the increasing importance of the doctor is something that has made me cringe on occasions. It also reduces tension in the stories when your main character is too powerful. But my criticisms are mine other people can like its current path, I dont.

joebern.bsky.social•92 days ago

I still struggle to recall what started it in the first place?

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

Tecteun is like "whoa Dr Who is too big a deal she's fucking the universe up, I'm gonna go break some cosmic entities out to destroy the whole thing lol"

joebern.bsky.social•92 days ago

Huh… yeah I was totally checked out by that point in the monologue lol. (I do not miss the Chibnall era one bit)

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

I unfortunately have got a pretty good idea of what every piece of the plot in Flux is. Keeping track doesn't improve things, it just draws attention to how much of it doesn't join up.

joebern.bsky.social•92 days ago

I’m so sorry. I think by that point in the era I was just waiting for it all to be over. RTD2 is honestly such a lifeboat for me as a Doctor Who fan. (And Jeje is the Carpathia)

j-t42.bsky.social•92 days ago

Besides the nonsensical setup, at least it’s not the first time the show has completely ignored the actual or logical ramifications of destroying a significant part of the known universe (Logopolis)

I’m currently choosing to pretend that the deus ex machina resolution of Sutekh also undid the Flux.

finalgwen.bsky.social•92 days ago

"So there was this bit where they basically retold the Anchoring Of The Thread, and then... Space dogs, not much character development, then the hot quasi-Cenobites got killed by a 13 clone who was really Time, I think?"

spideyinthetardis.bsky.social•91 days ago

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kathie72.bsky.social•91 days ago

Flux.
Looked very pretty - especially the geode suit people and the Doctor/Angel.
And cute ideas like the village, tamagotchi baby and sontaran chocolate fix.

But not a bloody clue what happened.

williamshaw.bsky.social•92 days ago

John Bishop said 'what's the point of being alive' and then fell deeply in love with a dog alien. Everything else is window dressing.

tomdhj.bsky.social•91 days ago

I had forgotten about John Bishop showing explicit fan art of DanxKarvanista on National TV until this.

williamshaw.bsky.social•91 days ago

That image may be the lasting legacy of the Chibnall era and I think that's beautiful.

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

This is correct

ashleycstj.bsky.social•92 days ago

It was, as one of the Flight Through Eternity hosts said, “Space People with Space Names doing Space Things for Space Reasons.”

nathanbottomley.com•92 days ago

I think I eventually settled on “blaring space nonsense”.

pressabtostart.bsky.social•91 days ago

Nearly had an aneurism reading this because I didn’t realize the first 2 times I read you meant “Doctor Who” the show. I kept reading “a doctor who” and expected you to describe a doctor who did something specific. You even capitalized it, I just had a brain fart.

jobeeart.bsky.social•92 days ago

the thing about flux for me is that it completely slid through my brain and now i don't remember a single thing about it. this must make me the ultimate Flux Understander

pauljoemccoy.bsky.social•91 days ago

Some stuff happened. The Doctor did a clever thing. Everyone home in time for tea.

azdamine.bsky.social•92 days ago

Case in point, the literal writer’s answer isn’t coherent

resurrectedmarquis.bsky.social•92 days ago

"So imagine a Sontaran re-enacting the chocolate bar scene from Die Hard..."

mrgreen93.bsky.social•92 days ago

Flux sucked and isn't canon

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

It's as canon as anything, which is to say there isn't a canon but if there were it would be in it alongside many worse things.

mrgreen93.bsky.social•92 days ago

If I say it's not canon, it's not canon because I'm always right about everything

meddlingmonkee.bsky.social•91 days ago

Flux is STILL better than anything 10 did. (Not hating Tennant, I just despise Ten)

bmorebaker42.bsky.social•92 days ago

I think the real answer is The Pandemic fucked up shooting and logistics enough that they tried to cobble together something with with the time remaining contacts would allow.

bmorebaker42.bsky.social•92 days ago

Much in the same way that the answer to “why is Rise of Skywalker,” such a mess? Is because Carrie Fisher died unexpectedly and Disney got real cold feet from internet racists thus messing everything up.

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

That's part of it. The other part of it is "Chris Chibnall is not very good or very comfortable writing hard sci-fi even in ideal conditions"

bmorebaker42.bsky.social•92 days ago

I haven’t watched flux yet, but I liked 13’s first series well enough. You have a show that has as much a history as it has, can’t all be winners though.

fycuriosity.com•91 days ago

Th ratio of winners to losers should be better than what Chibnall achieves overall, though.

bmorebaker42.bsky.social•91 days ago

I’m talking about series in general. Flux didn’t land. Oh well.

andythecorsair.bsky.social•92 days ago

It's just, like, vibes, man. And Sontarans invading Russia while something happens under Liverpool and a couple of Day of the Dead-ass metaphors have a master plan. Don't worry about it.

liquidparanoia.bsky.social•91 days ago

There was some stuff that happened, maybe the Doctor’s mum destroyed some of the universe with a cloud of sparkles?
Also some Fugitive Doctor backstory.
There was a talking dog (not K9), which may have included some slash.
Professor Eustacius Jericho and the Angels.
And a Sontaran on a horse.

sbsart.bsky.social•92 days ago

I've actually STILL not watched Flux yet
but as far as I can tell, from what I've picked up..

stuff is consumed by rainbow glitter because of the Doctor's evil mom, the concept of Time is sentient and there are sparkly skull people (who hate space maybe?) and also a snake guy with UNIT + dog man?

nathanbottomley.com•92 days ago

That makes it sound a lot cooler than it is.

sbsart.bsky.social•92 days ago

did I get anything even remotely correct from fandom osmosis? lol

I'll get around to watching it properly, eventually. I've heard it's fun at least

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

All of that is there and none of it meaningfully connects. It's a lot of plot thrown at the viewer, and a lot of the plot mechanics are retconned or dropped as it goes.

sbsart.bsky.social•92 days ago

I was honestly kinda disappointed when I found out that all the Evil Dan stuff people were talking about was just a meme and he doesn't actually go on a villain arc in the show :(

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

He doesn't go on an arc full stop

jamiejones723.bsky.social•92 days ago

I have a legitimate question about Flux. Was it ever explained what the hell the deal was with Azure being turned into a human? Swarm was in his prison for millennia. Did Azure's human form age during that time? How did nobody notice she existed for thousands of years, if not?

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

Oh yeah it's explained in a single line in Once, Upon Time. It's not very helpful.

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scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

The Doctor punished her to erasure of identity and Swarm to prison. That's all we get.

jamiejones723.bsky.social•92 days ago

While that doesn't explain the mechanics of it, it's also weird that there's never a connection drawn to the fact that the Fugitive Doctor ends up essentially doing this to herself to escape Division. You'd think that would come up with Azure. And both times, the human partners die with no fanfare!

spencertracyfan.bsky.social•92 days ago

Were there 2 Flux events? The first one destroyed everything up to planet Earth but it got sucked into the TARDIS?? Then the second Flux did something?

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

There were several yeah

spideyinthetardis.bsky.social•91 days ago

Really? I watched it a few times (actively trying to follow any logic) and I never picked up on that

scribblesscript.bsky.social•91 days ago

That's why they call the one in the finale the "final" Flux event

spideyinthetardis.bsky.social•91 days ago

Right

scribblesscript.bsky.social•91 days ago

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spencertracyfan.bsky.social•91 days ago

The final Flux event

spencertracyfan.bsky.social•92 days ago

The fluxes destroying everything, because the Doctor gave the universe hope

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

I'm relieved Wild Blue Yonder came in and definitively said "yeah no they definitely did not undestroy the universe" so we finally got to stop arguing about that.

dimwittedly.bsky.social•92 days ago

Which reminds me:
https://bsky.app/profile/dimwittedly.bsky.social/post/3kidcvaa2ls2e

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

Clearly Dan meant to say "you saved what's left of the entire universe last week"

carrickoftheord.bsky.social•91 days ago

Which was considerably less than half so we're still left with the impression that half got saved offscreen

adamclegg.bsky.social•91 days ago

“And I’m sure you’ll help me replace my house.”

oldmanferdiad.bsky.social•92 days ago

Also wasn’t a big chunk destroyed in Logopolis?

bmorebaker42.bsky.social•92 days ago

Fun theory “the watcher,” is the regenerated ancient form of this bigenerated 14 that is now wandering around.

scribblesscript.bsky.social•92 days ago

I mean yes but I don't think that makes it better

liamk.bsky.social•91 days ago

The only reason there's not more commentary on how making the Master responsible for sextillions of deaths completely wrecks the character is that it happened 43 years ago and half the current viewers weren't watching or were tiny humans.

oldmanferdiad.bsky.social•92 days ago

We’re going to run out of universe

spideyinthetardis.bsky.social•91 days ago

Thank fuck it’s theoretically infinite