I think it comes down to what the individual expects from Doctor Who.

Pertwee was my first Doctor, not that I really remember, I was eight when Tom Baker took over and I moved on to other things around the time of Colin Baker. For me Doctor Who isn't, or from my expectation shouldn't be, about the Doctor; it's about the situation the Doctor finds themselves in. I really struggle with Moffat's era simply because he made the Doctor the centre of the thing. In classic Who, and to an extent in Davies's first period, the Tardis would arrive somewhere, the crew would discover some threat, help overcome the threat and move on. It was about the threat, the situation, and how to react to it,. Moffat seemed to be more about taking the threat to the Doctor, whether it was Amy's baby being kidnapped to become the Doctor's assassin, or the Doctor's enemies coming together to place him in the pandorica, it was all about the Doctor.

If you've come to the show during that, or that is your favourite era, then that's what you expect Doctor Who to be. Chibnall and Whittaker moved it back to being about the situation, which is why I think some fans felt a slight jarring at the start of Chibnall's time.

Also having a female Doctor and storylines around subjects that hadn't been touched on in as much detail before may also added to the difference between some fans' expectation and what was shown.

Before we ask whether the show needs to be saved, we need to ask is it wrong or is it just different. For me, as I said, it was Moffat that was different and from that perspective if it was ever saved, if it had ever needed saving, it was Chibnall who saved it.

I don't actually think it needed saving after Moffat, but I do enjoy the Chibnall era far more than the preceding one.

@Falkirkdouglas Agreed 100%. I enjoy some of what Moffat did for Doctor Who enormously. But I don't necessarily enjoy it as Doctor Who.

I think what you say is also true of the characters. Many people note how none of Jodie's companions are really changed by the end of their time on the show compared to the start—but that's also true of virtually every pre-Ace companion of the classic series. The question is whether they feel familiar and likeable, and whether we root for them, and generally speaking we absolutely do. It's not about having a big story arc. Clara's was certainly well-written, but in my opinion it worked to the detriment of the show—the stories and locations took a back seat, and as sufh a more interesting story was often avoided in favour of developing the characters.

@Neosaiyan7 :

"Episode 1: Boring dialogue and not much of any plot"

Strongly disagree. There's a big plot here with the DoctorDonna arc reaching a conclusion through the Doctor doing his best to stop a world ending threat and preserve Donna's inability to remember him only to be forced to give in and restore them in the third act. While it was very deus ex machina for Donna to survive by simply "letting go" of the metacrisis energy, the first 2/3s of this episode were stellar.

Episode 2: brilliant concept, mystery, and villains, but doctor and noble talking about their life was so boring

Disagree that it was boring dialogue. Tennant in particular gets some amazing lines about his TARDIS being an eternal watcher suffering through longevity with the story serving as a metaphor for himself. Plus, all the Flux/Timeless Child dialogue was on point. Him unravelling the Not-Thing's plot was strong as well. The CGI was kinda bad though, at least in the large corridor scenes.

"Episode 3: Neil Patrick Harris brilliant actor and as toymaker, great character, but why bring Mel Bush back for just fan service or something,"

It is a 60th special: bringing back prior characters for fan service is a staple way to celebrate the show: every multi-Doctor special or anniversary special does this.

"ruined that version of the doctor, to not turn into next one, but knowing he could've been around doing adventures but he is retired while this new one took over, which doesn't make sense to me, that's not who the doctor is."

That's not what happened though? The 15th Doctor is the successor to the 14th Doctor. He retires, heals, then regenerates in 15. How does that ruin the character?

Just my opinion, but again, good or not, how did they treat the Jodie Whittaker run, did Russel T Davies improve it, ignore it, or just keep reminding you that it still exists, he did nothing even though the people in charge of doctor who promised.

Indeed. And disagreements and debates over the episode’s quality are where the fun is at for us to justify snd discuss why we prefer some episodes or characters over others.

@Anastasia Cousins, sometimes, those who've got enough knowledge of a franchise, it would appear they regard said franchise as like a religion.

@Neosaiyan7, therein is a problem. The license fee. We all must've heard people's frustrations over paying it, even when they watch scant, if any, BBC stuff.

@Kevin 'Chalky' Kaiba i would rather pay a license fee than have to put up with constant advertisements and the a profit drive organisation creating the most bland and palatable stuff that never challenges the injustices in society because that is not profitable.

@Anastasia Cousins Absolutely agree. The BBC is one of the only (it might be the only, to my knowledge) outpost left in the U.K. that doesn't rely on advertising. I don't watch everything it produces, and don't like everything I do—but I think it's a hugely important thing.

@Anastasia Cousins, well, look at the Red Dwarf revival. Broadcast on advert-based Dave, but their stuff was sometimes political/satirical. If that's anything to go by, there's hope for Who if and when the Beeb loses its license fee (which I've noticed always increases, yet it seems that no matter how much money goes in from all streams, there's never enough).

A similar problem I think persists with Channel 4; all their channels have reruns, but they are also reliant on the public's money.

Could always try becoming a subscription service. Half their shows are repeats anyway. Sorry if we've detracted, TPTB.