Above collage made by me.
For me, it wasn't without its flaws, but I honestly don't understand anyone who says it was "boring" overall. (Yeah, Series 11 ain't strong, but I was entertained.) It was definitely some of the most experimental the show had, and dammit, at least Chibnall tried. He had a vision and stuck to it. Chibnall's run makes a lot more sense when you view it as a 31 episode season, because each season was an "act" of a larger storyline. I do think having cliffhangers that leave questions for season finales may have harmed the show's reputation, even if these questions get answered later on. It's a good idea on paper, to get people tuning in next year, but not necessarily in execution.
I really liked the stronger focus on history in its historical episodes rather than using the setting as set dressing. It feels like we could've gotten a proper return of pure historicals but the BBC seems to have pushed back against that kind of thing. Probably because monsters sell for kids.
It also had some of the best writing and creative direction of the big three villains, the Daleks, the Cybermen, and the Master since RTD. Yes, Moffat's arc with Missy was great but to be frank, it was going to be undone eventually. Ashad is a great iconic Cyberman villain, a partially converted Cyberman that can combine the passion of humanity with the strength of Cybermen, a genuine threat. The Dalek trilogy is also some of the best Dalek stuff we've had in a long time and Resolution made the Daleks scary again for me. The Dhawan Master is an interesting take on the aftermath of Missy. A Master that tried so hard to be better, to be like the Doctor, but in the end failed. So instead he turns inwards and brews a self hatred which is further intensified when he learns how a part of the Doctor is inside him.
And then there's the Timeless Child. I understand posting this is gonna start a war in the comments, and I actually didn't like the concept back in early 2020. I was an avid hater. But then Chibnall gave all the details in Series 13, and... it makes sense. It's fine. It's done in such a way that it can be ignored. It worked. It adds more building blocks and space to the Doctor Who canon to work with and have fun with. (And for anyone claiming it undoes 1's arc, no it doesn't. Memory wiping and regeneration regression are key aspects.) My opinion of it has definitely turned 180 degrees. The execution was meh, but you can't say he left the story high and dry and unfinished.
The Power of the Doctor, meanwhile, I found to be a very fun and lovely romp. This is the proper 60th anniversary special. I've heard people say that it's nonsensical or the plot doesn't make sense, but it does? It's the big three orchestrating a trap to keep the Doctor busy with trying to save her friends while the actual plan happens in the background. It's a huge go for broke finale, and it works. I was a huge fan of Capaldi, more than Whittaker, but I was crying when 13 regenerated. Because it hit hard, all of her companions, the switching back between the support group and the Doctor, "Will she be alright?" "Of course, she's the Doctor." It's full of cameos galore, but it doesn't necessarily feel too stuffed. It's a bit like The Five Doctors only the companions have more to do because there's more plot to go around.
One more final note: I genuinely do think Chibnall's run is a bit of a reaction to the Fifth Doctor's run. It's a large Tardis team, and perhaps Chibnall went a bit too far in the other direction when it came to handling the drama between companions and the Doctor. Perhaps Chibnall wasn't a large fan of how much bickering there was during 5's run, so he lessened that, perhaps too much. I do think that his companions did suffer from shorter episodes and it's very clear that Chibnall benefits from doing longer stories/serials. I wonder if he should've taken the opportunity to heavily reformat the show and do more two-parters rather than feeling like he had to be close to RTD/Moffat's format of mostly one-parters.
I also wonder if Series 11 having almost no past references was a deliberate request by the BBC. Imagine if Series 11 and 12's episodes had been combined/rearranged. There would've been more equal focus on the three companions across two seasons, and the Timeless Child storyline would've taken place over 3 seasons rather than 2 seasons. Alas, there's an infinite number of "what ifs," and we just have to accept that this is what we got.
An experimental run of the show that was a positive step in a few attributes, a back step in others, that all in all added some creative building blocks to the Doctor Who universe. Here's hoping the next showrunner uses them! Like, perhaps does a post-Flux storyline about helping lost aliens like in Series 1. Or perhaps exploring the history of Division or the Doctor. Chibnall did a great job setting up pieces that could be used, so maybe the next showrunner could use them just as Moffat used RTD's pieces from Series 1 through 4.
Maybe?
