(A quick note before we begin: "Legend Of The Aquatic Silurians" is pointedly not the name of the episode in question. The titlular antagonists are referred to by what is, for better or worse, their canonical Doctor Who monster name. For reasons I'll lay out as we get into things, I refuse to use that name for them. Hence the title replace. If you're going to look into the episode somehow, you're not going to find it by the name listed here. Okay, on with the show.)
I thought I'd be angrier at the episode than I ended up being. The fact that I'm not is kind of telling in how much my interest in the show has waned since November 2021.
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| Am I not turtley enough for the Turtle Club? |
Let's begin there, I guess. I absolutely railed against the finale to Flux, a show which disappeared completely up its own ass to be Doctor Who about Doctor Who, rather than anything pertaining to anything about the world or the human condition. In its own way, Legend is kind of like that as well on a smaller scale. Supposedly it wasn't even going to be a thing, and Jodie Whittaker's final episode would have aired here with its grandiose bombast and conclusive regeneration. Instead we kick the can with all of that in it down the road by about six months and get a bonus track. A romp. Disposable fun with Chinese pirates, swashbuckling adventure, spooky pirate ships, a giant sea monster, and EVIL TURTLE PIRATES. Yeehaw! Turn your brain off for 45 minutes and watch one big dumb fun Doctor Who adventure with all the Doctor Who things before our big grandiose finale in like six months!
It's a wonderful idea. But it doesn't work.
