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[Sheroking]

Donna is very often considered to be one of the best companions in the series history. She had the one season. (plus a couple specials, I guess)

Sometimes one season is all you need.

It's not about the time you have, it's about what you do with it.

(which is why people consider Wilf one of the best companions, too)

I suppose that's true.

Donna did feel as though she were around much longer, though, as her time on Doctor Who did range between Christmas 2006 and New Years Day 2010. A lot of her popularity came from her awesome chemistry with David Tennant, and do you really sense that anyone thinks Pearl Mackie and Peter Capaldi are electric? I'd classify it as the least involved relationship The Doctor has had with a full-time companion - and even some one-offs - in NuWho.

There's still time, but I'm underwhelmed with Bill.

 

[liquidtmd]

Clara will have three times the episodes and almost certainly a more prominent role and arc than Bill will ever have.

Eccleston had one Season and only really one Arc in the Bad Wolf sense yet remains probably my favourite Doctor ¯_(&#12484_/ ¯

 

[FutureLarking]

while Bill will be his Donna: a companion fondly remembered who is not THE companion.

I can't fondly remember anyone who at times feels like they're coming straight off a CBBC acting job - Bill is giving S1 Mickey a run for his money in the questionable acting department. (I thought he got better when Martha came around but he's not a top tier actor). Not that Pearl is inherently bad, but her acting range so far seems to be quite... limited, and at times completely laughable and off base.

Spoiler

(Rewatching "Nardole's" death in Extremis when he goes behind the projectors is straight up lol worthy levels. Did she forget to act or what? )

She's lucky to be sandwiched between Capaldi and Lucas, it tends to help gloss over it.

 

[Sheroking]

Eccleston had one Season and only really one Arc in the Bad Wolf sense yet remains probably my favourite Doctor ¯_(&#12484_/ ¯

Everybody has preferences, but Eccelston's Doctor is clearly the one with the least fanfare and reach among the four modern Doctors, and that's probably a lot to do with how short his tenure was

Although I rewatched Season 1 recently and it's really not good.

 

[liquidtmd]

Although I rewatched Season 1 recently and it's really not good.

Oh I don't know...I'd say for me Eccleston and Piper's rapport is strong from the get go, and Chris just has a charm that resonates with me. Strong and firm whilst rarely raising his voice or mugging.

The stories themselves for the most part aren't great but I think S1 for me has a unique charm within modern Who due to it having a feeling of unpolishedness and finding its feet that the more confident swag of S2 (for better or worse) had. Parting of the Ways, Father's Day, Empty Child and the Doctor Dances still hit big highs for me.

 

[Boem]

Only slightly related, but there's a new Paddington movie coming out, and Capaldi is back for this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjT0asphdIE

It won't be of interest of most people here, but I can heartily recommend the first movie to anyone with little kids. Just a good, sincere movie with a surprising amount of depth to its message, for a movie like this. It's my brother's daughter favorite movie (which is fun in a way, since I was obsessed with the books when I was a kid), and I'll be taking her to this one. The Dutch side of the family, so I'll get to see Capaldi with a Dutch voice actor, which is going to be weird.

Just another step in becoming the cool/weird uncle who indoctrinates the little ones into the cult of Who.

 

[Blader]

Like, I think in a decade when people are talking about "remember the Doctor and X" it's going to be 11 and Amy and 12 and Bill. She really did hit her stride later on in her run, but it was almost too late in a sense. I'll never understand why Moffat didn't write Amy & Rory out sooner, at the end of S6 (or given where they were parked in S6, left them there to have them return for Smith's finale or something).

I wonder, given how the show was really blowing up in America at the time of the Doctor/Amy/Rory trio, there was pressure -- either from the BBC or even himself -- on Moffat not to rock the boat and keep that group going for as long as possible.

 

[Boem]

I wonder, given how the show was really blowing up in America at the time of the Doctor/Amy/Rory trio, there was pressure -- either from the BBC or even himself -- on Moffat not to rock the boat and keep that group going for as long as possible.

It was also fairly late when Smith decided that the christmas special after Day of the Doctor would be his last episode. If he had stuck around for even one more year, I think the Clara/Smith relationship would have benefited a lot, and if they knew Smith was going to leave earlier, I think she may have entered the show as a full companion earlier as well.

With everything that was going on in Series 7B, Clara was just overshadowed. Not just the storyline that treated her as a plot point more than a character, but the entire buildup and hype towards the 50th. Things were pretty insane back then. New companions (or Doctors for that matter) already face an uphill battle in a 'normal' series of episodes.

With that in mind, it's probably a good thing that they haven't gone too heavy on 'the Doctor is going to die soon' so far this season. The episodes we've had so far feel like Capaldi just doing his thing and being completely in the game, as opposed to, for example, the last set of Tennant episodes, which definitely (intentionally of course) felt like a last victory lap before the end. The impending sense of doom hung heavy over those.

 

[liquidtmd]

With that in mind, it's probably a good thing that they haven't gone too heavy on 'the Doctor is going to die soon' so far this season. The episodes we've had so far feel like Capaldi just doing his thing and being completely in the game, as opposed to, for example, the last set of Tennant episodes, which definitely (intentionally of course) felt like a last victory lap before the end. The impending sense of doom hung heavy over those.

Agree, I'm equally pleased about this. Tennant and indeed Smith's era, the impending 'the Doctor will die' flavour seeped through what felt like a years worth of stories.

We all know Capaldi is leaving but it doesn't feel that way at all beyond one trailer that was structured that way. The episodes don't feel like that at all

 

[8bit]

There are rumblings of some announcement coming tomorrow about 60s Doctor Who, some kind of thought lost prop? Presumably something worthwhile for some fanfare.

https://twitter.com/JR_Southall/status/869558221937287168

 

[Boem]

There are rumblings of some announcement coming tomorrow about 60s Doctor Who, some kind of thought lost prop? Presumably something worthwhile for some fanfare.

https://twitter.com/JR_Southall/status/869558221937287168

At least he immediately rules out missing episodes.

That said, I don't think what other 'discovery' could apply here. If they didn't use that word, I'd guess it's an official announcement of David Bradley returning. Maybe they're playing it as them rediscovering a missing adventure, but it's actually a new one with Bradley?

Edit: Oh so it seems to be a prop. I don't really know how that would be a big announcements except for the real enthusiasts. Maybe one or more of the old Daleks?

No idea, but I don't think it's going to be anything really big.

Edit: They sort of revealed it: it's a rediscovered screen used 60s monster head, probably the only one left in existence:

https://www.facebook.com/TheToyBoxTreasures/posts/734810126702425?hc_location=ufi

They'll reveal what monster at that date. Fun if you're into that stuff I suppose. I'm hoping for a Voord.

 

[Goldrush]

Series 9 and 10 may be more consistent than past years, but I don't value consistency as much as I do episodes that engage me completely. Heaven Sent and Listen are the actual only two episodes that have done that for me in the Capaldi era. I feel as though the show is less ambitious in general.

For me, the metric for how much I'll miss Capaldi is how sad am I going to be when he regenerates. I was rolling manly tears during 10 and 11's last scenes, and I really do not think I'm going to be nearly as effected by 12.

I agree with this where consistency is near meaningless when I'll only turn on the A+ episodes on rewatch. However, I think that would only help Calpaldi. Didn't count yet, but I believe he have just as many if not more episodes in my rotation than any other Doctors.

Clara should have left at the end of series 8/Christmas special, which is what was originally planned if I recall correctly?

It was a great exit and then she came back and had a worse exit in Hell Bent.

The Christmas Special was a nice ending, but I would have been pissed that her most interesting storyline, Clara Who, went nowhere.

I feel like that too. The companion being "unimportant" and just a normal human being with a normal life is part of what makes the concept appealing to me. The more developed their life outside of the Doctor, the better. They should be special because they're human, and that's it.

I'd still like to see a companion from a different era (rip Clary Poppins), but I don't know when/if we'll ever get that in current Who.

I feel the opposite where I dread the Companion's life interfering with the Doctor's adventure. It's why I like Clara so much as a companion. She's horribly ill-defined as a character with numerous continuity errors to her own personal history. However, when the Doctor is with her, I feel like the Doctor is free to be the Doctor. Not to say that Clara's didn't disagree with the Doctor, but Clara didn't really ground him in anyway. She was created during the peak of Smith's fairy tale aesthetic and she never really lost that other-worldliness. She talked in riddle and act with an endless optimism that only encourages the Doctor's weirdness.

Spoiler

After writing that out, I just realize that I agree with Missy that Clara is the "dog."

 

[Boem]

I feel the opposite where I dread the Companion's life interfering with the Doctor's adventure. It's why I like Clara so much as a companion. She's horribly ill-defined as a character with numerous continuity errors to her own personal history. However, when the Doctor is with her, I feel like the Doctor is free to be the Doctor. Not to say that Clara's didn't disagree with the Doctor, but Clara didn't really ground him in anyway. She was created during the peak of Smith's fairy tale aesthetic and she never really lost that other-worldliness. She talked in riddle and act with an endless optimism that only encourages the Doctor's weirdness.

Spoiler

After writing that out, I just realize that I agree with Missy that Clara is the "dog."

I really like this take.

Which also really that the best thing for companions (and Doctors) to do is to be different every time. It won't be to everyone's tastes every time, but we can't just keep repeating Rose (or Ace). I think it makes sense to go from someone like Clara to someone like Bill, and I don't think liking Bill invalidates what they did with Clara. Or that all companions have to be like Bill in the future (or like Clara for that matter). Keep mixing it up.

In a way, I think it makes writing a new companion even harder than writing a new Doctor.

Clara was Clara and I really liked her. She made my girlfriend cry when she died.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

It wasn't the most brilliant episode, but aside from scooping up it wasn't terribly offensive like some of the RTD era were (they fluctuated a lot more in quality, yet everyone seems to have forgotten that).

But on the topic of the monks: I came across a video of Kermode talking James Moran and one picture in it stood out, which is a shot for The Fires Of Pompeij where twelve got his face from, and it's that of one of the sisterhood (had to wiki this ep) having become a stone lady:

and while the clothing may be coincidental, it's curiously similar looking which is somewhat interesting considering the whole 'why this face' and the incoming end of it. Also, Karen Gillan is in this episode as well. I had no idea she was on the show before playing Amy Pond.

There's no story connection there though, aside from maybe some time-lock shenanigans, so that's probably just a coincidence.


If this was already mentioned as part of discussing Donna then I completely missed that.

 

[Davide]

It wasn't the most brilliant episode, but aside from scooping up it wasn't terribly offensive like some of the RTD era were (they fluctuated a lot more in quality, yet everyone seems to have forgotten that).

It's true, RTD era stories were often if not usually awful. Season 10 has only been consistently mediocre, IMO. Tennant had the highs of Moffat episodes and the Satan Pit and the lows of Daleks in Manhattan.

Although stories as bad as Aliens of London had some charm.

 

[Jason Frost]

How the Doctor is able to see with his glasses when he is blind? I'm trying to understand...

 

[M.Bluth]

How the Doctor is able to see with his glasses when he is blind? I'm trying to understand...

psychic link, according to dialog in Extremis

 

[lastplayed]

How the Doctor is able to see with his glasses when he is blind? I'm trying to understand...

What's the point of making him blind if he can see with his glasses anyway? Is it just an easy way to create drama and tension now and again?

 

[mrklaw]

What's the point of making him blind if he can see with his glasses anyway? Is it just an easy way to create drama and tension now and again?

It's not even that. It's been used meaningfully once for a stupid 'I can't see combination lock' and aside from that it's been him hilariously not noticing someone/something important in front of him and Nardole going 'ooh look it's the Pope'

Waste of time

 

[Boem]

What's the point of making him blind if he can see with his glasses anyway? Is it just an easy way to create drama and tension now and again?

Slightly off-topic, but I had the same problem with Daredevil, when they revealed that, even though he is blind, he sees the world as 'a world of fire', which would have been a nice symbolic way of putting it, but then they actually show the world from his point of view. Turns out he can actually see the environment he's standing in, with all the objects and people in it, but everything is made of fire.

That was so dumb to me. Here's a cool thing - a show about a blind guy being a superhero (including a very well done alternate audio track for blind people). Such a cool thing for blind kids/teens watching. And then he's not really blind. That was a bummer to me. Although I don't think they ever brought it up again later, although I can't remember now if I ever finished all the episodes.

As for the Doctor's blindness - I kinda have the same problem here. But even when it was revealed his bilndness would carry over to other episodes, I was sure it would be cured before the end of the season. I would be very surprised if he's blind all the way to his regeneration scene.

Which would have been cool, but yeah. I do think they managed to get some good story beats out of his blindness, especially in relation to his lying to Bill (and Nardole doing a very bad but effective job of covering up for him), but I don't know if the x ray function on the glasses was needed either. It seems he can see now again so it won't happen, but I kept waiting for those little age/sex/heart beat/whatever indicators whenever he sees people to be used for a reveal. Something like: 2 hearts? Missy! Wait, 16 years old? Susan?

Or something better, I'm no writer.

 

[Kuraudo]

iPlayer's telling me I can't watch this week's episode live for legal reasons. Wtf?

 

[JonathanEx]

iPlayer's telling me I can't watch this week's episode live for legal reasons. Wtf?

Were you not just a bit early and seeing the end of a film?

 

[iFirez]

The Monks have been with us... always.

 

[Kuraudo]

Were you not just a bit early and seeing the end of a film?

That might be it. I'm trying to do the "watch from the start" so if it's a few mins late that might be the problem. Can't fast forward either, so I'll try letting it sit a few minutes.

 

[iFirez]

The room the doctor is broadcasting from looks a lot like the one he regernates in from the trailer.

 

[BossDarkseid]

The Monk's Regime almost feels comically dystopian.

 

[iFirez]

The room the doctor is broadcasting from looks a lot like the one he regernates in from the trailer.

Yep it's happening.

 

[Cronen]

Such a fake out.

 

[iFirez]

I really liked the regeneration effects actually, I hope that's the kind we see when it actually happens.

I wouldn't be surprised if the scene Capaldi talked about filming (a regeneration) was this one and he hasn't actually filmed his regeneration yet because that will happen at Christmas.

 

[Spirit of Jazz]

At one point maybe Moffat will write something with some meaningful payoff as opposed to everything always meaning nothing.

 

[Static Veins]

All of the build up through trailers, playing up to the fact we all know Capaldi is leaving sometime...

That was some next-level trolling.

 

[iFirez]

Missy is one of my favourite Moffat creations, she's amazing.

 

[Chille]

I really love Nardole, he is amazing

 

[iFirez]

I really love Nardole, he is amazing

I'm waiting for the spin off all about where he won his hand.

 

[APZonerunner]

All of the build up through trailers, playing up to the fact we all know Capaldi is leaving sometime...

That was some next-level trolling.

I dunno, it was resolved 10 seconds later. Next level was The Stolen Earth, where for a whole week the newspapers AND the fans were in absolute insane overdrive because nobody really truly knew if Tennant was going then or not

 

[Chille]

I'm waiting for the spin off all about where he won his hand.

and I would watch it

 

[Static Veins]

I dunno, it was resolved 10 seconds later. Next level was The Stolen Earth, where for a whole week the newspapers AND the fans were in absolute insane overdrive because nobody really truly knew if Tennant was going then or not

I know it was quickly resolved, but that regeneration scene was teased months ago in the trailers. I think a lot of people expected it to be the start of the Doctor's regeneration that ended with him changing at Christmas.

Anyway, enjoyed that. Resolution felt a bit easy, but the dystopian setting and Missy's scene made it feel like a worthwhile outing.

Next week's looks really fun.

 

[Quick Mustard]

Damn, the music was on point.

We surely, HAVE to get a Series 9 and 10 OST release after this.

 

[Spirit of Jazz]

I think I'm done. I don't think I can tolerate any more plots about how people need to make sacrifices but never do. There's never any consequence to anything, nothing's ever interesting, it's always just the super special Doctor and his super special companion saving the day because they're super special.

 

[Exterminieren]

I think I kinda loved that one. Yeah, I can quibble about the resolution and the fact that the Monks were sort of useless when all was said and done, but the tone, atmosphere and performances were good enough that I don't really mind.

I'm REALLY interested to see how Extremis, The Pyramid at the End of the World and The Lie of the Land play back-to-back.

 

[Mr. Bad Example]

I am so done with the Moffat-style "maternal love solves everything, even if the mother in question is dead and imaginary" wish-the-bad-guys-away bullshit that I can't even tell you.

 

[tomtom94]

Best way I can think of to describe my feelings is I was more interested in the story Harness and Moffat set up than Whithouse's conclusion. It's not a bad episode per se, it's just a bog-standard resolution, it's been done many times before.

Then again I shall try not to criticise the episode for what it wasn't, that would be unfair.

 

[xandaca]

Lord, that was bad. Set up a potentially incredible episode in the first fifteen (Doctor siding with baddies, Bill has to turn to Missy for help) then threw it away for trailer bait (fake regeneration, which Bill seemed rather indifferent to considering she doesn't know what regeneration is), instead having everyone ambling easily into the enemy lair and saving the day with some Power Of Love drivel that apparently should've fried Bill's brain one way or the other, but apparently just didn't. Urgh. This season is throwing away so many potentially great stories for really half-baked ones.

 

[Shiggy]

That was a rather forgettable episode. Next time another Mars episode, not sure if I'm really looking forward to that.

I want the Master now

 

[Broken Joystick]

I'm going to miss Missy so much. Gomez is a terrific actress and the chemistry between herself and Capaldi is perfect.

 

[Tizoc]

I wonder if the Doctor will talk about death and dying in the next episode or as a subvertion start talking about life and how great living is.

 

[Exterminieren]

If we are to have Mark Gatiss episodes, next week looks like precisely the sort of thing I want him writing- big, pulpy, Edgar Rice Burroughs nonsense.

 

[mrklaw]

I think I'm done. I don't think I can tolerate any more plots about how people need to make sacrifices but never do. There's never any consequence to anything, nothing's ever interesting, it's always just the super special Doctor and his super special companion saving the day because they're super special.

Kind of. Liked the scene where the doctor is walking away with Bill and Missy's voiceover is talking about how his version of insisting on victory without any cost is vain and indulgent was excellent.

It almost got thrown away at the end but effectively Bill was willing to sacrifice herself - but it did boil down to love/emotion/purity of spirit will overcome evil yet again. But too predicatable perhaps, but maybe ok considering the memories of her mum are directly down to the doctor bringing those photos so it's nicely self contained.

 

[Quick Mustard]

I did like the episode, amazing music as mentioned earlier.

Few nit picks though.
Bill just surviving with no explanation about it, it just happened.
The Doctor still having his eye sight. Would've thought that would've been taken away again.

Overall, 8.5/10.
Glad the trilogy is over and we can get onto the back end of the series.

 

[Jackpot]

They never explained what the monks were getting from ruling Earth.