Ah, that’s also fair.

Honestly I do like when stories have smaller, more personal stakes– whether that’s the relationship-focused sort of story I mentioned, or an action-adventure type thing where only a few people are in danger.

Involving the whole world’s safety doesn’t automatically make the audience care more– because ultimately we’re here for the main characters and their storylines, and the rest of the fictional world is a backdrop.

And when a series keeps trying to make them care more by upping the stakes higher in each installment… well, it doesn’t work, and eventually it’ll run out of stakes.

(the Doctor has to save the Earth! Now the Doctor has to save the Galaxy! Now he has to save the Universe! Now he has to save ALL the universes throughout all of space and time– okay. Now he has to save this one companion that he really likes. And for the audience, nothing’s even really changed about the stakes, this whole time.)