• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Doctor Who Series 10 |OT| He's Back, and It's About Time

"C'est super!"
- Missy

-----------------------------------------------

"Fake news"
- The Doctor

Then later, there is an image of Donald Trump.
 

tomtom94

Member
Maybe I misheard, but didn't The Doctor straight up refer to Missy and himself as the last of the Time Lords again in the last episode?

That title doesn't really work when you brought a whole planet of them back.

Edit: Yeah, he introduces Missy as "The other last of the Time Lords." which makes no sense now that there's a planet of them kicking around again.

It's also possibly a reference telegraphing the return of Simm's Master.
 

takriel

Member
I think some of these criticisms are slightly duff, but my main issue with the Moffat era, which I've still enjoyed enormously, is the third of these points. It's that the show has become about the Doctor, right down to a season arc being dedicated to the question of 'Doctor Who', etcetera. Tennant's Doctor was brash and overconfident and fond of his "you have no idea who I am" speeches, but it's notable that he for all his grandiose speeches no enemies ever turned and ran from him based on the power of his name alone.

Not even, say, the Sontarans, who knew him specifically from his time in the Time War as well as all the past adventures in the classic series. Indeed, a lot of them were given chances/warnings and ignored them, forging on so he's forced to act against them. Except, of course, for in Silence of the Library/Forest of the Dead, which is really a prelude to Moffat's whole era.

This is actually the same criticism you can level at Sherlock too, in a way - the show is about how amazing Holmes is as a man more than it's about the mysteries he's solving, and that's actually a bit of a misstep, I think.

I feel like they chase this in search of developmental scenes for the Doctor, but you can find them without this - see sort of what we see Tennant's Doctor learn and change even in a relatively fluff story like The Doctor's Daughter, there's some big moments for him in there.

Thanks for taking the time to write this out. This is exactly what I meant with my hastily written third point.

I think the show is at its best when it's not about how awesome the Doctor is, or how powerful or smart he is, or the mysteries behind his character. For me, the show is at its best when we are reminded that even the Doctor has his limits, and when we see him dealing with them. It's at its best when the actions of the Doctor or his companion have far-reaching consequences that cannot easily be undone by the Doctor.
 
Thanks for taking the time to write this out. This is exactly what I meant with my hastily written third point.

I think the show is at its best when it's not about how awesome the Doctor is, or how powerful or smart he is, or the mysteries behind his character. For me, the show is at its best when we are reminded that even the Doctor has his limits, and when we see him dealing with them. It's at its best when the actions of the Doctor or his companion have far-reaching consequences that cannot easily be undone by the Doctor.

I like the show more when it's not particularly about the Doctor himself, but the situation he's in and the people there.
 

Davide

Member
I got caught up with this season, this has been by far Capaldi's worst season.

Sad with the Monk story too because they had great potential. I have to say they were at least more interesting than the first half.
 

Cerium

Member
I'm trying to get back into this series, can anyone recommend the best episodes of this season? Have there been any standouts?
 
I'm trying to get back into this series, can anyone recommend the best episodes of this season? Have there been any standouts?
The clear standouts are Oxygen, by the guy who wrote Mummy on the Orient Express, and Extremis by Moffat. Extremis is a bit of a weird one, because it's technically the first of a three-parter, but all three are standalone enough that you could just watch Extremis and feel satisfied.

Beyond that, it's been a solid season without any hilarious clunkers but without a huge amount of consensus classics. I'm very fond of Thin Ice and The Pyramid at the End of the World, which I know some people dislike, but I really don't like Knock Knock much, whereas others really do. Oxygen and Extremis are the ringers, though.
 

Davide

Member
As someone who really liked Mummy on the Orient Express, I thought Oxygen was pretty generic and dull. Extremis has been the most interesting episode.

Edit: but yeah, a set up, so no standalone standouts.
 
You absolutely could not watch Extremis stand-alone. It is entirely set-up.
Eh. It's standalone in the way that, say, Utopia is- yeah, it's obviously the first part of a longer story that you don't get more than the set-up of, but I'd recommend watching it in and of itself. It's distinct enough from the others that it kinda works-
the Monks' modus operandi isn't really connected with what they do later on, and the concept of the world as simulation is strong enough that you don't necessarily need the real-world aftermath to feel satisfied
.

I consider the Monk arc more as a series of linked one-parters than a single coherent three-parter, mind.
 

Razmos

Member
Bill looks like a warrior princess with that hairstyle

Also damn the episode is introducing a lot of mysteries very quickly lol

The guy with the moustache and sideburns is cute
 

Razmos

Member
That was a good episode.

Still confused as to why the TARDIS went back to Earth.. unless it went to Missy because it knew there was something up with the Doctor, hence Missy asking if he was okay. Is he already dying?

Next episode looks lame.
 
Honestly? Coming off of the disappointing Monk trilogy, I kind of loved that one. It felt formulaic and the resolution was a bit naff but Victorians on Mars fighting against upright alligators is just the right kind of wackiness I love in Doctor Who. I also found the Victorian villain guy hilarious. If the lame monks got a three parter, why couldn't he!
 

8bit

Knows the Score
0072.jpg



Hahahahahahahahah
 
I can't say I have any strong feeling about that episode one way or another. It was just very much an episode of Doctor Who without excelling or doing anything particularly wrong. It had the expected level of campness.

Really hope we see more of Nardole and Missy in the next few episodes.

At this point I'm half expecting the next Doctor to be
John Simm.
 

tomtom94

Member
I have to admit I wasn't really watching today's episode - I'm knackered after staying up late on Thursday - but I enjoyed it (hello Strickland). The Frozen line was a bit of a clunker but as said above the episode on the whole is the right kind of silly.

Funny that after an excellent series of two-parters where the single episodes were a bit duff we're now having a strong series of standalone episodes where the three-parter wasn't as good.

Really confused by Missy turning up on the TARDIS. Not even in a "ooh, what's next" way, just... genuinely confused.
 
Dictionary definition 7/10, that one. Not rewriting any rule books or anything, but a fun, solid slab of Who. If this is our farewell to Gatiss, he's gone out on a good one.

Lovely to see Alpha Centauri, and to get Ysanne Churchman back into the bargain!
 

Jackpot

Banned
Thought that was pretty lame. The usual "I am so impressed with your ability to throw your life away at a time when it was clear you only had seconds to live that my honour insists I stop killing you!" bilge.
 
Alpha Centauri! So nice to have a genuine surprise in an episode.
My feeling about that episode is the same as a lot of Gatiss' stuff - they're enjoyable but they never seem to really catch fire.
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
nope nope, I think that was probably the worst episode of the series so far.

Rather lame and generic, with a weak and rushed resolution.
 
Honestly? Coming off of the disappointing Monk trilogy, I kind of loved that one. It felt formulaic and the resolution was a bit naff but Victorians on Mars fighting against upright alligators is just the right kind of wackiness I love in Doctor Who. I also found the Victorian villain guy hilarious. If the lame monks got a three parter, why couldn't he!

This is basically my take. I thought the ending was pretty solid though. Good times.

The Alpha Centauri cameo is something that went entirely over my head. Guess you gotta get that stuff in before the refresh.
 
I thought it was an OK knockabout fun kind of episode. I think the main thing that would have improved it was deeper characterisation but it would have needed to be a two-parter for that.
 
Alpha Centauri's cameo did make me a little wistful that the rumoured Brexit-themed Peladon story never panned out. Would have been fanwank of the highest order, but Christ could that ever have been something.
 
Alpha Centauri! So nice to have a genuine surprise in an episode.
My feeling about that episode is the same as a lot of Gatiss' stuff - they're enjoyable but they never seem to really catch fire.

It was lot better than his usual attempts, even acknowledging his error with that sand episode last season by having the movie lines along with "you'll love it, everybody dies".
Some annoying habits remain, but this was fairly decent, on the whole.

As for Missy's question:
I'm guessing Bill did not actually shoot a blank last week, or there is some kind of catch to how the monks brought his eyesight back. Going to guess we'll see them again near the finale.
 
That was a lot of fun. After the Monk trilogy it was nice to have an episode like that. Straight forward.

Two bits of mystery:

Why did the TARDIS pilot itself?

Why does Missy seem so concerned about the Doctor?
 

Bluth54

Member
So does anyone know now that Missy is out of her cage is she going to be a companion in the next episode? That would be pretty awesome.
 
I really enjoyed it. it really didn't feel like a Moffat who at all but something that had the vibe of the original series with modern sensibilities. I think they did the Ice Warriors much better here than in the Matt Smith ep.

I let out a very loud laugh when i realised that voice was an Alpha Centauri.

So not a standout ep, but by far the most fun.

Next week's looks a bit meh
most previews this season had me thinking the same and then I ended up enjoying the episodes
 

Boem

Member
Sonofa...

I never thought I'd see the day we'd get Alpha Centauri back in the modern show. I think I even called him out as one of the least likely ones to return here on Gaf a couple of years back.

Makes sense that Gatiss was the one to do it though.
 
Top Bottom