Take it for what you will considering where it is coming from The Sun but they have reported that the new Doctor has been internally announced as
! Kris Marshall, who recently left Death in Paradise and appears in some form this season.
Take it for what you will considering where it is coming from The Sun but they have reported that the new Doctor has been internally announced as
! Kris Marshall, who recently left Death in Paradise and appears in some form this season.
Just finished watching the season premier, and I'm never looking at puddles the same way again. Thanks a lot, Moffat.
Just finished watching the season premier, and I'm never looking at puddles the same way again. Thanks a lot, Moffat.
Dude has a way of making the most mundane things terrifying.
Really enjoyed the first episode. Was skeptical about about Bill and the whole "first openly gay companion" thing (just because I don't always trust Moffat to handle such things accurately) but so far she's exactly the kind of companion I've been hoping for.
And Movellans! That was a fun little throwback. I doubt anyone who hasn't watched the classic series had any clue, though.
Take it for what you will considering where it is coming from The Sun but they have reported that the new Doctor has been internally announced as
! Kris Marshall, who recently left Death in Paradise and appears in some form this season.
I don't trust the Sun TBH, but that name has been on the top of many lists for many months. Then again, so was Ben Daniels last go around, and it ended up being Capaldi.
Yeah, it was a pretty good ep.
I was bugged by some random ship nanopuddle being able to travel through time and defeat daleks, though Dalek/Movellan war era Daleks aren't that strong I guess. Though I don't remember them being his friends really, unless he was trying to be ironic.
The relationship was good as it was subtle. Moff's normally too self satisfied with himself for doing that kind of thing and ends up making it obnoxious, so this was a nice change of pace.
A good start, and a nice "soft-reboot", if you're inclined to call it that. Wasn't too excessive on the exposition, and it's nice to see Nardole and the Doc having some fun with the usual companion stuff ("It's bigger on the inside" "Hey, we finally got there!"). I also like that she wasn't completely clueless, and had some inklings of something "sci-fi" going on.
One of my favorite moments was when
! The Doctor was about to mind-wipe Bill, and she says, "Just imagine if someone did this to you", and then Clara's theme plays quietly in the background.
! And Simm's is sporting the classical beard!
Decent start to the season. New companion seems fun. Thankfully we're FINALLY getting away from the damn lovestruck companion nonsense they've insisted on for basically every companion since the relaunch.
Except Donna. Which is just one of many reasons Donna was the best NuWho companion.
It's weird knowing this is Capaldi's last season. It feels like we just got him. It might feel different after the string of episodes has actually aired, but… his stint seemed to just breeze by.
Maybe I was more invested before, or its because they broke the seasons up weird with a split season and the anniversary year. but I felt like we were with Matt Smith a lot longer.)
Season premier was fine, I guess, but I'm steadily finding myself becoming less and less interested in Doctor Who as the years go by. Maybe I need to pay more attention like, for instance, I had no clue what the alien was about or how it even functioned in this episode.
Also did anyone see that "Class" show? Is it any good?
All I can say is
Season premier was fine, I guess, but I'm steadily finding myself becoming less and less interested in Doctor Who as the years go by. Maybe I need to pay more attention like, for instance, I had no clue what the alien was about or how it even functioned in this episode.
Also did anyone see that "Class" show? Is it any good?
Thats going to happen with ANYTHING you follow for a long time. It stops being fresh and new to you eventually and reaches a point where you've seen basically all it has to offer and it becomes routine, no matter what the quality level. ANd that's fine. (One Piece is certainly subject to this.) Look a few posts back and you'll see how tired I am of getting Daleks, Cybermen, and the Master EVERY season filling 4-6 episodes of the run.
Persoanlly I've felt that way since the start of Capaldi's run. Nothing wrong with him, he's fantastic in the role and has had some cracking episodes and I wouldn't mind him having a Tom Baker length run if he were up for it. But I've been less enthused since the anniversary and Matt Smith leaving. I guess he was just my Doctor.
(Also, they kind of squandered the search for Gallifrey by setting it up in the anniversary, and then solving it the very next episode in the Christmas special… and the 30 year old limited regeneration problem)
Maybe the next guy and a new showrunner will mix it up and respark it some.
I'm still quite excited to watch Doctor Who, incidentally.
Every new showrunner changes things, so if you don't like the direction, just wait till it shifts.
Bryant/Lloyd/Sherwin, Letts/Dicks, Hinchcliffe/Holmes, JNT/Cartmel and RTD are all great eras to me, and very different. Moff has been very different to RTD (and not to my personal enjoyment mostly), and I've no doubt Chibnall will be very different to Moff.
I personally hated the RTD era and mostly enjoyed Mofatt… so we're opposites there.
Though even I'll agree Mofatt has stayed around too long and is long since starting to repeat himself... and it would have been nice if both Amy and Clara had left a season earlier at their natural stopping points and we'd gotten a third companion in sooner. But regardless, the Smith era was basically everything I wanted the Doctor and the show to be.
Generally I just found RTD's foibles a lot easier to forgive. Like he was rubbish at endings and about as subtle as a punch in the face at times, but his stories had super energy to them that carried it through, and often some great morality themes (plus I'll always love him for giving us that wonderful Sarah Jane/Davros moment).
Moff took a kind of fantasy storybook approach, while at the same time he crammed his stories full of these subtle hints to grand overarching plots. His downside was that these hints often never went anywhere and the stories sometimes didn't hold up to scrutiny(Trenzalore in particular was a mess and the Pandorica wasn't much better). Plus I didn't like how he used a lot of RTD's time war mythos in Day of the Doctor and Hell Bent and yet got so much of it wrong (Gallifrey the centre of the time war? Rasilon a senile old fool? Time Lords being about to lose? What?). I guess I just resent sometimes there being a feeling we're treated like idiots with moff, like we have to ignore the cracks (ha!) in the plot.
Moff's probably second only to Robert Holmes when it comes to writing a cracking story though.
I mostly found Rose completely intollerable and a lot of the RTD era stories to be reeeeeally stupid. (Moffatt's era had plenty of stupid one offs too. Not going to pretend he didn't)
Yeah, Trenzalore was a big letdown. As was the hunt for Gallifrey like I said.
I sort of get the feeling that maybe Moffatt thought he was going to have Matt Smith for another year, and then suddenly he wasn't so he felt the need to rush and wrap up everything he had going on in one episode rather than carry that baggage to the next guy. A little akward given the delays caused by holding out for the 50th and all but… there's no way to interpret Matt's last episode other than "okay, time to wrap allll this up now."
Regardless, I hope that after Mofatt leaves, he still does one story a year. When he's not showrunning two different programs and trying to write half their scripts, I bet he could get back some of his old quality.... though its possible we've just seen his whole bag of tricks at this point and that is what it is.
Also more Neil Gaiman episodes.
I don't think we'll see anything from Moffat for at least a year or two. I think he'll be burned out on DW and want to find something fresh and new to get involved with, like RTD did. But, unlike RTD, I think he'll be more likely to jump at the chance to write a new episode, if he has a good idea for one.
I've never seen anyone else complain about this, so I guess this is a "me" thing, but I think the thing that bugs me the most about Moffat's era is the lighting. I like RTD's era for how bright and colorful everything was, but in Moffat's episodes it's like I'm watching Fant4stic
I've never seen anyone else complain about this, so I guess this is a "me" thing, but I think the thing that bugs me the most about Moffat's era is the lighting. I like RTD's era for how bright and colorful everything was, but in Moffat's episodes it's like I'm watching Fant4stic
I'm the opposite - disliked RTD's bright lights and whatever weird filtering he used early on - always seemed very "flat" and sort of old school sitcomy to me. First thing that struck me when I started watching The Eleventh Hour was a massive improvement in lighting and filming quality in general. I don't find it less colorful at all, not sure how you're seeing that.
RTD had some baaaaaad writing but I much preferred the tone of his run. It felt more human, the Doctor seemed to care about people and it felt like the episodes were more about the moral messages and the characters in those stories, like the Doctor was an observer trying to help other people and nudge them in the right direction. Moffat's run felt like he was way too much in love with the Doctor, suddenly the Doctor became this supreme alien God that can do absolutely anything and every episode felt like it was more of an excuse to fellate him, characters constantly going on how amazing he is, stories centered around what weird convoluted concept Moffat wanted to explore and completely ignoring the human element not helped by the tons of story threads he kept shoving in all into one episode or the blatant deus ex machinas that didn't even feel like they had the self awareness of being trash like the RTD rubbish endings had.
Persoanlly I've felt that way since the start of Capaldi's run. Nothing wrong with him, he's fantastic in the role and has had some cracking episodes and I wouldn't mind him having a Tom Baker length run if he were up for it. But I've been less enthused since the anniversary and Matt Smith leaving. I guess he was just my Doctor.
I feel the same way. Capaldi's run has been very lackluster to me.
I think its Moffat. If we'd had Capaldi under a different Showrunner, PERHAPS, it might have seemed fresh and new. Too bad he's leaving with Moffat though, I would have loved to see what Chibnail could do with that talent.
Capali's run also isn't helped by Clara staying on a year too long. She was fine the first season as a counterbalance, someone who was with the previous doctor and the new and to help him through a rougher regen where he was too mean… but she really should have wrapped on that Christmas episode. Her arc was done, and she had a nice poetic end... everything in her last year was just going through the same paces.
I've really enjoyed the Capaldi's run personally…though I agree that both Clara and Moffat stayed too long. Seeing a completely new companion interact with the Doctor gives a proper change in perspective.
To be fair, Moffatt was ready to leave a season ago but the next showrunner wasn't ready yet.
I believe that, but I also don't think he was itching to leave, he was just waiting to be told his time was up. I think he genuinely enjoyed working on Doctor Who. He always said it was his dream job the moment he decided to go in to writing for TV.
Also, only one t in Moffat :P
I believe that, but I also don't think he was itching to leave, he was just waiting to be told his time was up. I think he genuinely enjoyed working on Doctor Who. He always said it was his dream job the moment he decided to go in to writing for TV.
Also, only one t in Moffat :P
One of my friends is a Moffatt so I don't forsee spelling it with only one t any time soon.
Well, I personally think Smile was a step-up from last week, even if the plot was fairly conventional and predictable.
Though, come to think of it, there are really only three types of villains in Doctor Who.
-Aliens that want to kill everybody
-Aliens that are misunderstood
-Incompetently programmed robots
I was pleasantly surprised by "Smile", maybe because I really disliked the last story written by this particular author (In The Forest of the Night, Where Nothing Happened).
Very classic Who like, also reminded me a lot of "The End of the World" from season one. Makes me think next week will be this series "The Unquiet Dead".
It wasn't mind blowing or anything, but it was was, I'd say "Proper Doctor Who". The scenery and world building was quite nice too. Peter and Pearl already have much more chemistry than he and Jenna ever did.
Well, I personally think Smile was a step-up from last week, even if the plot was fairly conventional and predictable.
Though, come to think of it, there are really only three types of villains in Doctor Who.
-Aliens that want to kill everybody
-Aliens that are misunderstood
-Incompetently programmed robots
And the Master.
Whose MO is to do something completely batshit that makes no sense just cause.
I ended up enjoying "Smile" quite a bit, especially the Bill and Doc interactions. It's very much a student and professor kind of relationship, and Bill questions things without coming across as too ignorant, she genuinely learns things as she goes along.
I'd say Capaldi found his groove last season, but this episode made me realize how much I think I'm actually going to miss him once he's gone. He's established his own unique personality by now, and I look forward to seeing how he does for the rest of the season.
I'd like to hear Bill call him "Professor" at least once. ;)
And the Master.
Whose MO is to do something completely batshit that makes no sense just cause.
Do you remember the classic who ep where he was working with some aliens (who as usual were going to betray him) and had the doctor at his mercy and the doctor just said "dude, they're totally going to betray you", and then the master acts like he never considered that and frees the doctor?
I howled with laughter
After Capaldi did a perfect Tom Baker impression in Orient Express, I kind of would have liked for him to inhabit that a little more.
Do you remember the classic who ep where he was working with some aliens (who as usual were going to betray him) and had the doctor at his mercy and the doctor just said "dude, they're totally going to betray you", and then the master acts like he never considered that and frees the doctor?
I howled with laughter
Or the time he used a device to turn everyone on earth into a direct clone of himself just so he could set up the horrific pun of having the "Master Race"?
Or the time the Master set up a device to harvest every soul on earth that died for 4 million years so that they could then be put into Cyberman bodies, so that the control could then just be given to the Doctor just to see what the Doctor did with unlimited power? Oh, and he was a woman at the time so there maybe have been a sexual element to it.
Or the time he posed as a Greek college professor so he can build a time-travel experiment on Earth named TOM-TIT, which he can use to contact the lost continent of Atlantis in the past, so he can seduce someone and get to the evil god Kronos, which he has no clue how to control.
Or the time he had gotten hold of an alien parasite that feeds on negative human impulses. So he puts it inside a fancy machine that plays Edith Piaf's "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" when it's in the presence of a psychopath (after which the machine siphons off all his/her violent emotions.) Then the Master pretends to be a Swiss psychologist and sells his machine to a British prison, as a way of "curing" inmates of their dangerous thoughts. Meanwhile, he's hypnotized a Chinese diplomatic aide and is using her to assassinate other diplomats, to sabotage a peace conference, so he can steal a nerve-gas missile. Yes, a giant missile full of nerve gas. And once he has the missile and the machine full of people's psychopathic thoughts, he plans to… umm...
I don't even know how to begin paraphrasing the insanity of Logopolis. He actually killed Tom Baker during that, at least.
Of course, the lunacy isn't limited to the Master. A bunch of the Dalek plans are pretty batshit. And then you get the Kraals who had a virus that would have just wiped out mankind but somehow needed a ploy that involved androids hiding in asteroids and an astronaut with an eyepath...
And also, uhm, the entire plan of the Silence including manipulating history for billions of years, building a lot of tunnels, and the creation of River Song.
Do you remember the classic who ep where he was working with some aliens (who as usual were going to betray him) and had the doctor at his mercy and the doctor just said "dude, they're totally going to betray you", and then the master acts like he never considered that and frees the doctor?
I howled with laughter
I think you just described every Delgado Master story premise ever?
I think you just described every Delgado Master story premise ever?
They normally actually get to do the betraying first!
For once the Doctor kindly saved him the ignominy.
OK, you have to remind me which serial that was…I can kind of remember the scenario, but it's not clear in my mind'
Well, that was an episode.
Not good, not bad. An episode.
Do you remember the classic who ep where he was working with some aliens (who as usual were going to betray him) and had the doctor at his mercy and the doctor just said "dude, they're totally going to betray you", and then the master acts like he never considered that and frees the doctor?
I howled with laughter
Terror of the Autons. I re-watched it recently because a DW Podcast I like, Who Back When, did a review of it and, in my own submitted mini-rview, pretty much expressed serious dislike for the utter copout of an ending that was. Liked it fine otherwise, since the Master is a deadly as hell villain to watch and it also introduced Jo Grant, one of my favorite classic companions.
Robby sums it up well. The episode was pretty standard, the Landlord was about the only thing that stood out, and he wasn't even on screen that much. I did like last week's episode better, though.
Supposedly the roommate Hary was gonna be a grandson of the fourth doctors companion but the reveal was dropped. Mostly because they didn't believe anyone would remember a 40 year old character.
That at least would have been something interesting about the episode to talk about.
I mean, it wasn't bad. It was no Fear Her or Kill the Moon or anything. But it was just… there. I can't quite place what it was, but it was just... ordinary.
Shame because the Doctor and Bill have had some good chemistry so far.
The episode was written by Mike Bartlett, who is the creator of the series Doctor Foster, and in generally a renowned award winning writer.
People are always clamoring for new writers and people who are considered great writers to be brought on to the show but it seems people like the relative unknowns better than the seasoned ones.
Personally I thought it was really good and extremely creepy, but it was light on explanations for what was happening.
So, over the weekend, I finally got around to listening to some of the Doctor Who audio dramas I had taking up space on my computer. For the most part, I had a blast listening to them.
The Sandman - A cool concept in that it shows how the The Doctor relates to one of the many tyrannical races he's defeated during his career, in this case the Galyari, who are much more submissive and fearful of The Doctor.
The One Doctor - Had a very Hitchhiker's Guide vibe to it. At first I was a bit worried since the plot line of "imposters who are confronted by the real deal" feels a bit tired to me, but they managed to pull it off really well. The various trials are when the story really shines.
Flip Flop - Easily my least favorite of bunch. Yeah, it's a neat concept with the whole book being split into two halves of the same story, but it has such a bleak defeatist attitude, and some really uncomfortable implications about immigration, especially now that we really do have a refugee crisis going on.
The Holy Terror - Another goofy story (at least for the first half), but for some reason this reminded me more of a Terry Pratchet novel. Anyway, this is another strong story with a really engaging mystery, a super creepy and dramatic second half, and maybe the best companion The Doctor has ever had (Frobisher).
Honestly, these audio dramas made me realize the potential that Doctor Who has. It's a story that can be set anywhere at any time, and the possibilities are practically infinite. So it's such a shame that it feels like, in a lot of Doctor Who episodes, they just fall back on the same old done-to-death storylines and monsters we've all seen a million times. I mean, I know some more ambitious stories might require a higher budget, but that makes me wonder if Doctor Who might not work better in a different medium, like a cartoon, or a comic, or, you know, an audio drama.
Well, there ARE Doctor Who comics….
wish I was working on them, but the publisher won't return my emails.
They also have the Dark Souls license. So yeah...
I would love a high quality Doctor Who animated series with a decent budget. I think it would suit the property very well.
Sometimes I wonder if Doctor Who would do better under a different network. Now, I know that'll never happen since the BBC's got a tight grip (plus they'd be insane to give up a show with such a history and popularity right now), and quite a few people like that it's British aspect, but it'd be nice to see Doctor Who with a bigger budget, and not to be triffled with stupid scheduling. What exactly was their reasoning for the 2016 dry spell?
Be kinda neat to see how the likes of a Netflix studio could handle some seasons of Doctor Who… but again, probably will never happen.
So, over the weekend, I finally got around to listening to some of the Doctor Who audio dramas I had taking up space on my computer. For the most part, I had a blast listening to them.
The Sandman - A cool concept in that it shows how the The Doctor relates to one of the many tyrannical races he's defeated during his career, in this case the Galyari, who are much more submissive and fearful of The Doctor.
The One Doctor - Had a very Hitchhiker's Guide vibe to it. At first I was a bit worried since the plot line of "imposters who are confronted by the real deal" feels a bit tired to me, but they managed to pull it off really well. The various trials are when the story really shines.
Flip Flop - Easily my least favorite of bunch. Yeah, it's a neat concept with the whole book being split into two halves of the same story, but it has such a bleak defeatist attitude, and some really uncomfortable implications about immigration, especially now that we really do have a refugee crisis going on.
The Holy Terror - Another goofy story (at least for the first half), but for some reason this reminded me more of a Terry Pratchet novel. Anyway, this is another strong story with a really engaging mystery, a super creepy and dramatic second half, and maybe the best companion The Doctor has ever had (Frobisher).
Honestly, these audio dramas made me realize the potential that Doctor Who has. It's a story that can be set anywhere at any time, and the possibilities are practically infinite. So it's such a shame that it feels like, in a lot of Doctor Who episodes, they just fall back on the same old done-to-death storylines and monsters we've all seen a million times. I mean, I know some more ambitious stories might require a higher budget, but that makes me wonder if Doctor Who might not work better in a different medium, like a cartoon, or a comic, or, you know, an audio drama.
I love all those (I think you asked for recommendations a few years back, and those were the ones mentioned?), but man Flip Flop really does take on some uncomfortable extra baggage now…
I think you would also really like Doctor Who and the Pirates. The ending was the final push that made Colin Baker's Doctor my favorite.
@Mr.:
I love all those (I think you asked for recommendations a few years back, and those were the ones mentioned?)
Yeah, probably.
I think you would also really like Doctor Who and the Pirates. The ending was the final push that made Colin Baker's Doctor my favorite.
I've got that one too, but it's been years since I last listened to it.
Making my way through some 8th Doctor Adventures now, starting with Blood of the Daleks. Seems that these episodes are a bit shorter (which is fine)
Making my way through some 8th Doctor Adventures now, starting with Blood of the Daleks. Seems that these episodes are a bit shorter (which is fine)
Yeah the Eighth Doctor Adventures range features 45min-1hour long stories with the occasional two-parter, sorta to reflect the modern show format.
EDA Season 1 is amazing, Season 2 is probably my least favorite but still decent, 3 is better, 4 is phenomenal.
So…
! The Doctor's blind. A pity we already know that he's going to regenerate. But it'll be interesting to see how that plays out for the rest of this season
So…
! The Doctor's blind. A pity we already know that he's going to regenerate. But it'll be interesting to see how that plays out for the rest of this season
! Considering we see him have a regeneration scene in the trailer for this seasonI wouldn't be surprise they pull a Tennant and have him regain his eyesight when he absolutely needs it.
Some of the capitalism lines were a little too on the nose, but overall excellent. Three great solo eps in a row from Mathieson. Hope Chibers brings him on next year (though it looks like that may not be happening).
Will be interesting to see if the issue brought up in the conclusion lasts all the way till the end of this series.