Doctor Who: Flux episode 2, "War of the Sontarans," was as full of audio and dialogue problems as the Doctor's pockets are filled with useful devices; here's why the sound was so bad. Unfortunately, the sonic screwdriver was of no help to the many viewers who took to social media during the episode to complain that they couldn't understand what the characters were saying due to the music and sound effects being too loud. This represents one of the many problems that have dogged Doctor Who in the final season for actor Jodie Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall.
Season 13, Doctor Who: Flux represented a major change for the long-running science-fiction series, marking the first time that a single season would be devoted to a single storyline, albeit it being an abbreviated mini-season. Despite this promise, many found the first chapter of Flux to be a chaotic mess, with too many subplots struggling to breathe and the Doctor being needlessly secretive for no apparent reason other than to build the tension between her and her companion, Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill). Despite some fantastic visuals and many novel ideas, most Whovians found the episode to be a prime example of why the Chibnall era has few defenders.
Flux Part 2 found a new way to vex viewers, with a subpar sound mix rendering much of the dialogue inaudible compared to the music and sound effect tracks. This is a particularly impressive feat given that the episode reintroduced the Sontarans, a hostile race of alien warmongers well-known for their tendency towards shouting and their boisterous war chants. Despite this, even the many Sontaran soldiers featured in Doctor Who season 13, episode 2 were helpless before the audio onslaught of the soundtrack. Sadly, while it was exacerbated in the Doctor Who episode, the sound mix being bad or uneven is a widespread problem in television for a few reasons.
While it is unclear what the exact cause of the sound problems was, a likely culprit is the difference between standard television speakers and the high-quality professional speakers used by most sound technicians. Modern digital sound mixers are capable of blending more channels than ever, creating numerous effects that sound quite good on high-end stereo systems or when listening through high-end headphones. Unfortunately, the small speakers built into most flat-screen TVs have a limited range and weaker amplifiers, making it impossible for them to reproduce and differentiate multiple frequencies at the same intensity as sitting in a professional sound studio. The problem is comparable to the lighting issues on Game of Thrones season 8, which looked impressive on an OLED TV but was barely visible on older models.
Whatever the cause, it is clear from the sheer number of people complaining about having to switch on the subtitles to understand the latest episode of Doctor Who: Flux that something went wrong somewhere. It beggars belief that so many people could experience the same problem and not have it be related to the mix of the soundtrack rather than a technical issue with their own home theaters. In any case, viewers can only hope that the rest of Jodie Whittaker's final season of Doctor Who will be free of the same sound issues.
Doctor Who releases new episodes every Sunday on BBC and BBC America.