Doctor Who Showrunner Wasn't a Fan of Season 11 Finale Either
Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall stated that season 11's finale, "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos", is his least favorite of his era's episodes.
Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall has stated that season 11s' finale episode, "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos", is his least favorite of his era's scripts. The showrunner took the helm of the series from Steven Moffat in 2018 for the long-running sci-fi show's eleventh season. Chibnall is set to depart in Fall 2022 alongside current Doctor, Jodie Whittaker.
Following on from Moffat's seven-year tenure as showrunner from 2010-2017, Chibnall took over the role in 2018 with Doctor Who's eleventh season since its 2005 revival, ushering in a new era and Doctor with "The Woman Who Fell To Earth". Across his time as showrunner, Chibnall aimed to introduce a new generation of audience members to the beloved franchise alongside Whittaker's new regeneration of the Time Lord. To do so, season 11 features mostly standalone stories and forgoing the series' legacy villains for new characters, only addressing the deeper lore in later seasons when he attempted to make the show more mysterious again through the introduction of Jo Martin's mysterious Fugitive Doctor and "The Timeless Child" storylines. With Chibnall set to depart following a special episode made to celebrate the BBC's centenary, the showrunner has shared what he feels is his least favorite story of his era.
As reported by Radio Times, Chibnall was asked in an interview with Doctor Who Magazine what his least favorite script that he was involved with during his tenure, to which he stated that he disliked season 11's tenth and final episode, "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos". Chibnall revealed that due to him assisting other writers during the season and numerous rewrites, he feels the finale could have been refined. He did state that he aimed to make sure that the following episode, "Resolution", would make up for the season 11 finale's failings. Check out Chibnall's full response below.
“Particularly in that first series, I spent a lot of time helping other writers. We had some problems towards the end and I had to go back and do some big rewrites. Which meant that the version of episode 10 [The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos] that we filmed was a first draft. But I just didn’t have time to do a second draft. It didn’t feel enough like a season finale, and that was entirely down to time.
"So that’s my least favorite script of mine. But I really attacked Resolution, so hopefully I made up for it with that one."
Chibnall's era has seen no shortage of issues during production, as following his problems with season 11, unforeseen world events put pressure on the showrunner. McTighe revealed in a recent interview that he had written a story for the Doctor Who season 13, though his episode was soon scrapped when the COVID-19 pandemic forced production to reorganize and prioritize so things could go ahead safely. Eventually, the season was reworked, being shortened into a six-part serialized storyline titled Doctor Who: Flux.
"The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos" has been a widely-critiqued episode due to its lower stakes, lack of an emotional arc for its cast, and underwhelming return of Whittaker's first foe, Tzim-Sha (Sam Oatley). As such, it is understandable why Chibnall also doesn't view it favorably, as it is an outlier among his era's other larger-scaled, high-stakes finales. With the announcement of the next Doctor on the horizon and a new era under returning showrunner Russell T. Davies, it is interesting to reflect on Chibnall's tenure with the added context of his own experience, and perhaps some additional drafts could have aided his first Doctor Who finale greatly.
Source: Doctor Who Magazine (via Radio Times)