DID IT SUCK? | Doctor Who [THE POWER OF THREE REVIEW]

[@HarrysMovingMedia]

Do you guys think Chibs would come back to write another episode when the showrunners change hands?

[@spectra5407]

I fucking hope not He's done enough damage

[@nonono732]

moffats and chibnals weaknesses are that they cannot write good long term content for an entire season/s. chibnals and moffats single offs are some of the best episodes of the entire series (eg weeping angels.). I think if they wrote the occassional episode every once and a while it would be fine.

[@DiamondFire]

@@spectra5407 He hasn't really done "damage" he's just been so "EH".

[@Im-LP]

Yes so he can push his unresolved narratives further

[@spectra5407]

@@DiamondFire um the entire Timeless Child, retconing The Doctor 's entire history, The Master wiping out all life on Galliefrey JUST after The Doctor had just saved his race from being destroyed by HIM during The Last Great Time War

[@gordonw.8831]

To be fair, the super-convenient and rushed ending is not actually Chibnall's fault. It should've ended very differently, but the actor playing the Shakri just didn't cooperate and they sacked him and they had to come up with a different ending quickly.

[@Thomas_of_the_forest]

Wait what? First time hearing about this!

[@SceneSurgeSnippets]

@@Thomas_of_the_forest yeah the guy playing the Shakri was very difficult to work with apparently

[@rhodrage]

What was the original idea?

[@NileSWPhotography]

At this point everything’s Chibby’s fault.

[@kneau]

@@rhodrage apparently, "ending never made it to the shooting script: his character was supposed to be stabbed to death with syringes by Amy and Rory."

[@Squicx]

I have to admit, Chris SHINES when literally NOTHING SCI-FI happens. One scene for example is when 11th gets bored and gets stressed. He literally says “NOTHING! NOTHING!”

[@jxsh03]

Thats probably why Broadchurch is so good.

[@edadankmemes]

I don’t understand how Chibbs was able to write the interactions between The Doctor, Amy, and Rory so brilliantly, but fail to capture that dynamic with his era’s companions.

[@fabesey2016]

Yeah, I'm baffled too. Maybe because he's not being filtered through other people anymore? His shitty dialogue is on full display in Series 3's "42" though for some reason.

[@loomingmoon4682]

Moffat being the main showrunner means he has a lot more influence on the dialogue than you'd think, he gets the final say on everything, he supposedly wrote some of the best lines in the Doctor's Wife despite it not being his episode

[@jxsh03]

I don't understand how he made a show as great as Broadchurch, then made the worst era of Doctor Who.

[@loomingmoon4682]

@@jxsh03 Doctor Who is a continuation of a long running sci-fi show that some writers understand and some don't, whilst Broadchurch, as far as I know, is his own story, so it makes sense that his show is appealing to a fresh demographic of people whilst Doctor Who he's trying to appeal to a much wider range of new and old fans, which is a much harder task

[@jxsh03]

@@loomingmoon4682 I get that I just mean how could the quality of his writing get so much worse.

[@PortsTM]

A good mini arc would have been the cubes making their first appearance in Asylum of the Daleks. Imagine having those three or four stories with the cubes as background set (similar to Saxon posters) before making it a pivitol story plot in Power of Three. Now we don't waste time with the set up in the episode and can actually cut straight to UNIT and kick off the story. This could also be a good finale instead of the angels and be an ending to Amy and Rory.

[@thecodingethan]

Imagine telling a story where the bad guy is introduced and defeated in one scene

[@rhyslloyd3200]

They had no choice. The actor playing the Shakri basically refused to work.

[@peacemaster8117]

@@rhyslloyd3200 It was their choice to not even MENTION the villain before that moment.

[@booradley8895]

@@peacemaster8117 Why is it people whinge about an episode not written by Chibnalll in his era when he is a showrunner but when the showrunner is RTD or Moffat nothing is said??

[@jamescarr8196]

@@booradley8895 because Chibnall has influenced his stories more negatively than previous showrunners

[@booradley8895]

@@jamescarr8196 Still not explained why RTD and Moffat trusted Chibnall. RTD even said Chibnal was the only writer he did not have to make any changes to his script

[@koipebbles4904]

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve rewatched those episodes and every time my memory just cuts out after the masked guys are revealed. It’s honestly impressive how I manage to actually quite like the time the Ponds spend balancing life and the doctor, and then remember absolutely nothing about the end or the main villain.

[@Somebody-kj6be]

The Doctor, Amy, and Rory scenes are fantastic. Love the Ponds to bits. So seeing them live their regular normal lives, and fighting the struggle of balancing this with the time-travelling adventures was absolutely sweet and enjoyable. Obviously the 3rd act and the villain were really lackluster.

[@danieljackowitz2343]

Regarding Rory being absent from that hospital for months, there are traveling nurses, who go from hospital to hospital. So, it's conceivable that Rory works at this hospital briefly, then goes with The Doctor for a while and his colleagues just assume he's at other work sites. Also, I love the set up of this episode, even with all the talking, but showing. Yes, it feels forced, but with the nature of the show, where things change drastically between episodes, I do tend to give it a pass. The ending is horrible tho. Not all Chibs fault, as I understand it, but it drags a episode with a good idea and some fun moments down quite a lot.

[@daisylee4449]

I laughed so hard when they didn't save all the people on the ship and didn't even mention it after it blew up 🤣

[@Immortal_Ninja]

Ngl the "Twitter..." line aged like a fine wine, you can see the frustration in 11's eyes as he utters the name of the dumpster fire that it is.

[@lamaahruloma4270]

That from 5:17 is quite realistic. You would be surprised what patients can come with. Sometimes it's work for some other profession.

[@connormountford]

On the 'how does Brian know other people travelled with the Doctor' point - you literally see other people travelling with the Doctor in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. There are two other companions in that episode who aren't Amy and Rory and who are obviously not in the Power of Three. So I don't think this question is unfair to come from Brian as he clearly clocked the Doctor travels with other people. For all we know his question might have been talking about those in DoaS

[@MrTrueFury]

Can you imagine if following Amy and Rory disappearing there were missing posters or articles during all the Clara and Bill stuff? That would've been a random neat thing. If amy truly is/was a model she would've had some kind of following and if so many people knew and cared about them it would make sense.

[@something1600]

Fun fact: the book where the Spoon robot girl got its appearance (in Bells of Saint John) from, was written by Amy.

[@ianumathews5922]

The latter half of this episode is really really bad lol but honestly, overall this one is still a highlight for me. After a rewatch I actually think series 7 was pretty good. Only ones I outright disliked were Asylum, Bells of St John, and the cyberman episode. Not too in touch with the fandom so im not sure how controversial that opinion is lmao. Maybe I’ll dislike this one the more I experience Chibnall’s writing; Havent seen the Jodie Whitaker seasons yet

[@leejones8582]

Series 7 is weak cause of the anniversary coming up and cause it was split up.

[@M0psyd]

I loved the fact that chibnall tried to redeem this episode by clawing as many celebrity cameos as he possibly could into a 40 minute run time

[@MisUnderstood_Rose]

This review had a lot of problems in my opinion, but I just had to internally scream in agony when he got to the anniversary trip part of the episode. He complained that instead of seeing what happened it cut to afterwards and we were told instead. Excuse Me. THAT'S THE JOKE!!! It's supposed to be funny because the doctor intends to take Amy and Rory on this great and wonderful trip in the past for their anniversary and it ended up going horribly wrong. This type of joke is SUPPOSED to play out with a cut to the aftermath that doesn't show anything that took place. In fact the joke works BECAUSE they don't show the events actually happening. These reviews have a lot of problems and errors in my personal opinion, but this one really drives me up the wall. Talk about not getting the point of the scene.

[@orangeaceproductions]

Oi! Don’t knock the Wii Also, I’ve always said this story would’ve suited a novel much better than an episode. It just gives us flashes and glimpses of stuff that could’ve been really interesting if any of it had time to breathe. Kinda like the good bits of “Beautiful Chaos” from the 10th Doctor range.

[@carealoo744]

The cubes should have straight up played the chicken dance song non-stop 24/7 until everyone went insane and started killing each other

[@rhocat362]

Still beats hell out of what Chibs did to poor Jodie!

[@neilgodwin6531]

Arthur Darville was educated at Bromsgrove School, a top tier public school. Mark Williams went to North Bromsgrove High School, a former grammar school. He was a couple of years below me, so we never interacted. He won a scholarship to Oxford University, btw, so really intelligent guy. Watching this episode and seeing two men with such strong Bromsgrove connections playing father and son is still weird. Later, in Chibnall's era, Sir Lenny Henry, native of nearby Dudley, played a character who said he was from Bromsgrove. Seems my home town has a lot of Whoniverse connections 😊

[@DiamondFire]

You know what sucks about this episode? The fact that Chibnall had a better ending planned but the actor for the main villain guy was a dick on set and wouldn't do anything because he thought he was better than everyone. Chibnall was onto a winner episode and it got fucked up out of his control...

[@peacemaster8117]

Did the actor also rewrite the entire first and second act? Cos if not, I can't imagine how it's his fault that the entire episode is awful.

[@DiamondFire]

@@peacemaster8117 the rest is one of my favourite and most intriguing episodes

[@shadouk6737]

Surely the actor in question was under contract and would've just read the lines presented to him? This reminds me a bit of people blaming Covid restrictions for the Sea Devils being so awful.

[@DiamondFire]

@Shado UK Nada. Th __ ere was a whole ordeal about it. Pretty sure it made newspapers at the time. Chibnall had to rewrite the ending last second. The original ending involved the dude moving more and getting stabbed with syringes.

[@yalieyal4362]

@@peacemaster8117 this first half is great, and it sets up the cubes as a literall mystery box really well... and then it goes down hill

[@astelevey]

The cubes didn't process at the beginning on day 1 because they wouldn't be as spread. After a while, people become attached and that means they would be placing the cubes everywhere possible - allowing the cubes to gain more information. Why they didn't do it earlier than the 60th or so day is still a mystery

[@matthewsawyer4864]

A little black girl with no speaking parts is as common in Chibnall's episodes as are countdowns.

[@JynxedKoma]

I'm guessing Brian is used to throwing his logs about then.

[@Voltaic_Fire]

I liked it, it wasn't a masterpiece by any stretch but I found it amusing and I was kept on the hook by the mystery of the cubes.

[@NileSWPhotography]

Not going to lie.. I really enjoyed this episode 😂 we didn’t get enough episodes in the Smith era set primarily on Earth 👍🏾👍🏾 was a pointless episode but was fun nonetheless

[@Sparx632]

I always liked this one for some reason, I think it’s just fun to watch with the day to day life stuff and the mysterious cubes.

[@doctorson7026]

8:08 I think it was established that they were unactive for so long, for people to get used to them and act naturally

[@windyhawthorn7387]

The fact we never see Amy's parents after the Wedding.

[@JakeyBabesxXx]

Kate says they have subjected the cubes to 200°c, Like its a potato or something. A little more heat maybe next time as not even tin would melt at that temperature.

[@kingmuizz708]

Anyone else remember the Dr asking "how do you guys fight off the.... Self harm?" crazy... Wasn't in this episode(iirc) but its wild

[@stratusgio]

Chibbs can write very nice episode starters, but Boy, he can't hold it the entire time

[@stratusgio]

Tho he is very good at non sci-fi. Just not a good fit for doctor who

[@SOSWhistance]

When I first saw this episode I really liked it * because I thought that it was a two parter * I was so confused when it just kinda….. ended

[@MartinBennett12]

Flicker was a social network site like Facebook and twitter.

[@JontyLevine]

2:04 "We've subjected them to temperatures of plus and minus two hundred celsius." So what? So. Bloody. What? My oven can do more damage than that. If you want an extreme temperature, try plus TWO THOUSAND. Those lines went by so quickly in the original broadcast, I'm only now realising how stupid they are. "dropped one out of a helicopter at ten thousand feet and rolled our best tank over it." A tank. A TANK?!? God damn. Are UNIT so strapped for cash that they can't afford a hydraulic press? That would have been so much more effective than a tank at this specific task, and probably... cheaper?? Wait, so that can't be a budget thing. And it can't just be that UNIT is run by military blockheads, because if that were the case, then EXPLOSIVES would be one of the first things they'd try. It's also implied here that no military in the world has thought to do this. Unbelievable. And I know we still have those pesky bans on nuclear testing, but I'm pretty sure they'd make an exception for a test like this. And that's not even counting all the people (military and civilian) in possession of alien technologies, as established in previous episodes. But anyway, this should *not* be viewed as a failure of the human race to crack even ONE of these things open. It's a failure of the writer's imagination. Chibnall bad!

[@ezra_harryvitale5626]

3/3? So 100%? Makes sense! (Love the review! Keep up the great work. Hopefully you enjoy Angels Take Manhatten!)

[@mathieuleader8601]

this episode would have been a great debut of the Viryans from the Doctor Who Yearbook

[@william...1]

the way this is my favourite 11 episode

[@matt81864]

I actually don't mind this one

[@mattthesilent777RED]

I loved this episode - Chibnall only does good when he's not in charge!

[@BloxieStuff]

More Chibnall... yay! *pain*

[@josephabrams4059]

This should have been a two part episode.

[@MidnightChimey]

"The Shakri are simple, and indescribable"

[@stewartmcdonald2144]

after all these years, ive just gotten that in side joke.

[@tothersoundtrack8855]

It is truly a morbsterpiece.

[@MinecraftImplosion]

i feel like the power of 3 was the first ep that feels modern looking back now

[@jvblhc]

I always liked this episode, though it falls apart in the end.

[@Kranitoko]

A 3/3? Damn. Full points, Harry loved it.

[@brigadier-tc8565]

By the way, the guy who played the Shakri is Steven Berkoff, he was in Beverly Hills Cop. He's one of the theatre practitioners taught in A Level Theatre, so no wonder he's a bit detached from reality

[@Squicx]

I love it how the Shakri just sounds like your depressed Math teacher. IMAGINE if Russell brings him back leading up to the reveal that Omega is the one who they serve. Being Gallifreyan legends, it’s no doubt Omega would use ancient history to his advantage

[@lucifersdevilishdetails.]

I know there was the ageing factor, they are time travellers why are they missing for month Yes I know the tardis isn’t reliable still they could of left for a week and before their tea break ends.

[@AlexHyde666]

They have to go missing for long periods of time for no reason just to add forced conflict it seems, ike when Rose disappeared for a year.

[@someguy4405]

I see you’ve stumbled into the cube den.

[@rhodrage]

So in this episode they're under Henry 8ths bed, and in the episode before they mentioned leaving a phone charger under Henry 8ths bed. Are these the same event? Or seperate events?

[@badwolf66]

If you watch it 3 times you might like it, 3rd time's the charm as they say :P

[@shortangel333]

you should do more torchwood so you can review more Chris Chibnall stuff. AHAHA MWAHAHAH AHAHAHA. You can NEVER escape Chris Chibnall.

[@marlzz92]

“Fucking hell, lad” Cracked me up 🤣

[@marlzz92]

But maybe Rory’s dad was asking questions because his son had talked about The Doctor to him at some point? Rory was unsure about Amy and The Doctor at one point… I’d ask on behalf of my son 🤷🏾‍♂️🤔

[@marlzz92]

I also agree with the 3 🤣

[@DragenSoul]

This video made me realise why I didn't enjoy the Chibnall of who as much as other series. He trys to introduce villains that are bigger than they should be. It feels like he goes into the episode with the monster of the week like its going to be the next iconic Who-Monster akin to Dalek or Cyberman. The whole season of flux and this entity that the doctor is losing to and has all this information just to be thanos snapped away, The two gods from (Can you hear me?), Toothface from 13's first episode. He really wanted to make a big impact on the Whoniverse but in the wrong way.

[@joshsteinmetz3570]

I completely forgot this episode existed

[@something1600]

10:45 the purpose was probably experimentation.

[@mullaoslo]

Ey the doctor played wii sports in 2010 and I played switch sports yesterday so I think it aged rather well

[@davidbrent8031]

Pure, undiluted Chris Chibnall.

[@niklas4940]

2:46 It might be unnecessary, but maybe there should be a seizure warning at the start for that? (I honestly don't know if something like that could set someone of, but maybe just to be sure?)

[@Pink_Panther79]

What's wrong with the Wii aye? Wii Bowling has aged like fine wine

[@TheInternetHelpdeskPlays]

This episode was a nothing burger. With an ending that was so pants. So many random additions of things about 3, multiples of 3 or cubes

[@jamister91]

HE'S GOING TO RELEASE MORE CUBES

[@gunmasterx1164]

bro you had to say this episode is nearly 10 years old

[@cessnacitation-x]

So earlier you said they were having myocardial infarctions (heart attacks), but then later it's now cardiac arrest? What?

[@tolland4433]

There are a ton of these reviews that I SWEAR I remember harry doing before, like this episode. Am I tripping?

[@englandgoals9672]

Possibly thinking of Nit Pix Chibnall video

[@Lefty7788tinkatolli]

He's not done any series 7 before recently, so he's working through it for the first time. So far the only episode he's re-reviewed was Vincent and the Doctor.

[@leejones8582]

Steven Berkoff walked off the set and they had to come up with a new ending.

[@lesigh1749]

It was a red flag warning of Chibnall's "creative" style for the show. Dropping in major plot factors and entire races of god like power that were he insists ALWAYS there in the setting, but that had never existed in the show until his crappy episode mentioned them. This Shakri whatever was a dry run for the Timeless Child retcons. He is a total hack.

[@booradley8895]

His writing was good enough for RTD and Moffat. His writing was good enough for Torchwood under RTD and he was good enough to showrun series 2 of Torchwood and write some brilliant episodes. Also good enough to showrun dr who for 3 series.

[@lesigh1749]

@@booradley8895 His writing was AWFUL in everything you've mentioned. It was without exception either poor scripts of his own devising, or repackaged rewrites of old 70s episodes with the plot lumps strained out to make it easier to swallow for low attention audiences. He is a hack, he has always been a hack, and this hack came perilously close to permanently killing Doctor Who. Make no mistake, he and his hack team believed the show was ending forever with Whitakers final episode until the BBC coaxed RTD to come back and rescue it from the axe. There's no way to justify him being a good show runner, unless you want the audience chased off and the show cancelled.

[@booradley8895]

@@lesigh1749 Countrycide, Adrift, Fragments and Exit wounds were all excellant

[@lesigh1749]

@@booradley8895 in your opinion. Cyberwoman was awful though, the Siilurian two parter he did was the Pertwee story repackaged as his own work, the power of three and 42 were derivative countdown clock plots and Arachnids in the UK was the green death with a different bug. Everything he has done has been weak or he copied some other writers plot. Even his horrible canon wrecking Timeless child crap was a reworking of the Cartmel masterplan. He is a plagiarist. You can like some of his stuff, but you cannot seriously argue that he is a good writer, and he remains the show runner that toppled JNT as the worst producer the show ever had. arrogant and destroyed the shows fanbase.

[@booradley8895]

@@lesigh1749 I have seen many reactions to the Torchwood episodes I mentioned and 99% have been positive. RTD wrote the awful slithereen two parter and the long game in series 1. Cyberwoman was not a bad episode but of course it is remembered for her outfit which he did not design. RTD wrote episode 1 of Torchwood where he had Owen raping two people but it is done for laughs. Chibnall sure is not perfect but deserves more respect

[@someguy4405]

YES ITS STOCK VIDEO MAN! STOCK VIDEO MAN IS BACK!

[@Bucking_Fastard]

10 years later and I am still mad that they have ruined such an amazing premise by a completely shitty development and ending.

[@xman577]

I thought dinosaurs in Space was one of his worst episodes before he took over

[@CameronKinvig]

Is it just me or does the cinematography of these episodes look a lot lot better than modern who? Like it justs looks so bright and fresh where as 13th doctor who just looks a bit... yuckgh

[@booradley8895]

There are 7 sides to a cube

[@Sivoris17]

I think the "sides" thing is a joke. Top side, front side, back side, left side, right side, bottom side, annnd inside.

[@marcamusprime9513]

10:25 Are you joking? They come from behind the camera lol

[@jamescarr8196]

Wonder what you’ll think of angels take manhattan

[@Lefty7788tinkatolli]

3/3. Does that mean you technically give this episode a 10/10???

[@MichaelM28]

Chibnall episode = Yes it sucks

[@epicrabid1857]

chiby doing hes thing

[@booradley8895]

Was that a joke that Harry has never heard of flickr?

[@something1600]

7:07 that is called Foreshadowing and is one of my only liked part of the episode.

[@samanthareviews1963]

The first half is honestly amazing, the second half completely falls apart, it’s not all Chibnall’s fault especially with the actor who played Cube man but the moment they go into the hospital it all falls apart

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

This is one of my least favourite episodes of the whole show, and "It's like the Cube One" is a running joke in my family about tv shows or films that aren't very good. Barring the overall concept, and the montage of the Doctor doing random things to stave off boredom, those are both good. And have you seriously never heard of Flickr, or is that a joke?

[@Bobbymaccys]

His name is not Bryan, his name is Arthur Weasley and he works for the misuse of muggle artefacts office

[@cait812]

Surprised you didn't research enough to find out and mention that the ending wasn't his fault.

[@therusn8r10]

3/3…isn’t that full marks?

[@davidhurcombe6505]

I think I'll give this episode a 3/3, or why not a 5/5? Better still a 10/10!

[@extraña_es_la_vida]

I liked this episode

[@jonathanward2527]

A 3/3 ranking? Do you mean 3/333?

[@TPH250290]

I thought it at the time and I still think it now, this is the worst ending of any episode of "New Who".

[@ianumathews5922]

I actually enjoy this episode but I have to agree there

[@booradley8895]

Well if the actor playing the villain wasn't such a pain in the ass the ending would have been entirely different

[@AirQuotes]

Haha I'm sorry

[@booradley8895]

Jeez does Harry not like a moan or 10

[@HellfireComms]

This is a pretty forgettable one for me. I remember watching it live and just feeling nothing when it's finished. You can really tell that Chibnall had no idea how to write sci-fi and it shows in his tenure as a showrunner

[@SanctumSanctorumVidz]

3 / 3... so...a perfect score.? jk... yeah, it sucked.

[@benking743]

Do you actually like doctor who bro

[@masterodg5406]

Nah this episode was rubbish tbh

[@davidpacker7602]

There are so many complaints in the first half of this video that just don't make sense

[@lgbtqia2silovetranskids403]

Bit late on this review but better late than never I suppose