Doctor Who Series 8 |OT| We've fucking time-travelled, yes?

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M.Bluth said:
Highlights of the New York Q&A are now available
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Damn, Capaldi just exudes so much confidence. It's so obvious he's enjoying himself.

Anyway, I'm almost done with my rewatch of seasons 4-7. Just TotD is left now; so I might try to rewatch S1-3 in what's left until the 23rd. Can't wait. Also, watching Day of the Doctor today, the "No sir, all 13!" bit felt so much more epic now that I feel that Capaldi really is the Doctor.
 
I'd be fascinated to see a male companion, it would appease the young female fans and it would be a good way for this doctor to be a father figure something I'd like to see.
 
Well, could be usual tabloid nonsense, but the timing... plausible. Could see it happen.

DSN2K said:
I'd be fascinated to see a male companion, it would appease the young female fans and it would be a good way for this doctor to be a father figure something I'd like to see.
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We have a male companion for part of the series, recurring character I think.

You wouldn't want to have no female in the TARDIS though - not good for representation of women, you have the balance, and although young female fans may like to see people to fancy, seeing people to idolise and like is very important to.
 
Jenna's tenure wasn't as great as the Ponds, but she will be missed. She didn't have as many episodes to work with, but she was involved in the big ones.

I'm hoping Series 8 is when she really develops, and I hope she gets a good send-off. Something simple.

Christmas seems like the best timing. Seems fitting to enter (as a companion) and leave at Christmas.
 
I'll be interested to see what you two think of Clara after episode one, with all the Impossible Girl stuff out the way. I think there's some clear development, but I didn't dislike her anyway so my take may be different.
 
Quick said:
The Impossible Girl story was a bit weak, but it seemed to have existed mostly to kick off the 50th Anniversary festivities.
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She had a few great eps - Asylum, Bells, the 50th and the Christmas Ep. Several OK ones, and a few mediocre ones. She did fine with the material given. Can't wait to see her this season based on the rumors.
 
BrokenFiction said:
She had a few great eps - Asylum, Bells, the 50th and the Christmas Ep. Several OK ones, and a few mediocre ones. She did fine with the material given. Can't wait to see her this season based on the rumors.
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She was great, I think. I'm just talking about the actual Impossible Girl story. It wasn't fleshed out enough and the conclusion felt rushed and, again, was there mostly to facilitate the 50th Anniversary stuff, with each Doctor showing up in The Name of the Doctor.
 
V_Arnold said:
You do realize how funny this sounds when her FIRST full season is yet to come, right? Right?
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Really. Donna started out incredibly annoying and insufferable, but ended her season's stay as the best companion of them all (though that memory wipe was such bullshit, I hate it).

I don't understand the Clara hate. Jenna is a better actress than Karen, and we've seen her really shine with a few bits of the good material she's had so far.
 
so, can anyone give a simple answer to someone who hasn't been following the series very closely since it returned in 2005 or whenever:

Why is the twelfth doctor the thirteenth incarnation?
 
There's a Doctor between the 8th and 9th Doctors that refused to use the title of Doctor. Truth is, he was as noble as the rest of them, but it took both that Doctor and the Doctor we follow on screen a long time to remember it. Hence there being more incarnations of the Doctor than there is numbered Doctors.
 
Alright, so I've been super disconnected from Doctor Who ever since the last special. Haven't thought about it, haven't followed the new stuff, haven't even rewatched it. So I'm going to rewatch Series 7 in its entirety, and I'm thinking I'll post episode by episode re-impressions here since S7 is so...interesting
 
Clara leaving is fine by me. I don't really have any problem with her, but I don't really like her that much either. She's just kind of there most of the time.
 
V_Arnold said:
You do realize how funny this sounds when her FIRST full season is yet to come, right? Right?
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Seriously. If she is leaving at Christmas, we've so far seen 10/23 of her stories (discounting Asylum and Snowmen).

S7 Clara is a bit-character created to have someone there to tide over to the 50th. Seems weird to be writing her eulogy based on that, rather than the upcoming series where theres already been plenty of hints that shes properly fleshed out.
 
Mister Saturn said:
Really. Donna started out incredibly annoying and insufferable, but ended her season's stay as the best companion of them all (though that memory wipe was such bullshit, I hate it).

I don't understand the Clara hate. Jenna is a better actress than Karen, and we've seen her really shine with a few bits of the good material she's had so far.
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Jenna is probably the best or second best (to Tate) companion actress of the last 9 years. Her performance in Time of the Doctor, particularly the last 15-20 mins, is excellent and heartbreaking.
 
Maddocks said:
That was terrible. Was terrible then and reading it again reminds me how terrible it is.
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So stupid.

Timelords are meant to have 12 regenerations (13 bodies) and then they die.
Smith was the 11th Doctor, but in the 50th special we saw the War Doctor (john Hurt) who's supposed to come between the 8th (Paul McGann) and 9th (Eccleston). If you then count the War Doctor, Matt Smith is then the 12th Doctor and Capaldi would have been 13.

But Moffat wanted to have Matt Smith's Doctor go and visit the one place in the universe the Doctor was never meant to go, the Doctor's grave on the planet Trenzalore. And then he goes again in the 2013 Christmas Special Time of the Doctor where, in order to increase the jeopardy of the character, Moffat concocts a stupid way of skipping to the end of the Doctor's life so that when Smith dies, that's it.

I mean there were so many ways to do this and they went with stupid. I mean, there's even the Valeyard, which is a version of the Doctor between 12th and 13th incarnation, which could have easily explained the jump if Moffat wanted to. But Moffat didn't want to. I'm glad I'm not OCD because that's going to drive some fans nuts over the next few years. So Capaldi's actually the 14th Doctor. Or he's 2.01.

So the thing is, both Moffat and former showrunner RTD are good writers, but not necessarily great at Science Fiction.

I'm happy I'll have 13 more episodes of watching an episode an just thinking how cute Jenna Coleman is. Based on how glamorous she looks on the tour, I'm guessing she's being offered lots of stuff.
 
KuwabaraTheMan said:
Clara leaving is fine by me. I don't really have any problem with her, but I don't really like her that much either. She's just kind of there most of the time.
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My only problem with Clara is she's like the distilled essence of every Moffat female character. Super smart, flirty and awesome at everything. A little too Mary Sue-ish for my taste. But I still enjoy her.
 
Asylum of the Daleks

Okay so I really enjoyed this when I first saw it, and that hasn't changed a whole lot.

-Aesthetically its awesome. From the Dalek parliament to the actual asylum itself, an entire episode set in Dalek inspired architecture is really fun to watch.

-"What color?" Rory being the best part of the episode as usual

-The hollowed out Dalek people make no sense but then again Dalek lore is so nonsensical I don't really care. They work for this episode, I'll be surprised if we see them again.

-The episode is really carried by the Oswald subplot. As an intriguing introduction to the character and general twist its really excellent. I'm inclined to call it straight up the best instance of Clara in the entire series, although the rewatch might change that. But its 90% of why this episode works.

-But is it just me or is she much sassier and smarter in this episode than she is in the rest of the season? There's a reason this episode got me excited for her as a companion: she's fun here, and it seems like the rest of the time she was just there.

-And while the Clara stuff works, the Amy and Rory stuff just doesn't. Its not bad or anything, but its absolutely flat. Not only were there no hints of tension in their relationship in S6 but trying to shove the whole "divorce" subplot into those short clips means that I just don't care that they're supposedly getting divorced

-And while I'll try to keep this retrospective from becoming a Moffat bashing session, this is exactly symptomatic of why almost everything he goes for dramatically falls on its face: he's weirdly inept at long term character development and tries to make up for it when he thinks we should care by very explicitly telling us about why we should be invested right beforehand instead of thinking far enough ahead to let things build up. If I'm remembering things correctly this is going to be at the heart of the S7 finale. You can't just make the audience care by telling them that they should care.

Pretty good, middle of the road episode overall. Like I said though, the parts that work best are all around Clara
 
googleplex said:
My only problem with Clara is she's like the distilled essence of every Moffat female character. Super smart, flirty and awesome at everything. A little too Mary Sue-ish for my taste. But I still enjoy her.
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Somewhat true, but she's a lot less obnoxious about it than either Amy or River were, although some of that might just be down to how Jenna plays her. The impossible girl stuff was worse for me, but hopefully with that over Clara and the Doctor can just be a couple of friends traveling together and there doesn't need to be any DEEPER MYSTERY.
 
V_Arnold said:
You do realize how funny this sounds when her FIRST full season is yet to come, right? Right?
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Well, it is true that she has been in the show for two years now and it is true that for those two years her character development has been awful or more like non-existent. Her first full series coming up, where she'll probably (hopefully) have better development now that Moffat isn't pressured by 50th anniversary preparation, doesn't change the fact that she's been a nothing character for two years.
 
KuwabaraTheMan said:
Somewhat true, but she's a lot less obnoxious about it than either Amy or River were, although some of that might just be down to how Jenna plays her. The impossible girl stuff was worse for me, but hopefully with that over Clara and the Doctor can just be a couple of friends traveling together and there doesn't need to be any DEEPER MYSTERY.
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Honestly, I'd rather she be actually smart and sassy. See my impressions of Asylum right above. Her appearance there is really fun if a little bit infuriating, but in the rest of the season she just feels like...a not too interesting college student? She's "the girl next door" in the most uninteresting way.
 
Hot Coldman said:
The Valeyard is bad and you're a bad person for endorsing it
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Would you prefer The Watcher? How about Kanye?
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I've said it before but I think a lot of people who aren't so keen on Clara will be pleased with her in the new series, she's so much better from what I've seen so far, not that I really disliked her to begin with. Even Moffat said he was shocked at how much better she is.
 
Its a bit early to say because from the sounds of things Clara is better in the new series but I think it would have been nice if they could have had Roy and Amy for 7.5 and we got another clean break with a new Doctor.

New doctor, New companions, New Tardis interior. Matt Smiths run ends like it starts. As a clean slate.
 
Slowdive said:
I've said it before but I think a lot of people who aren't so keen on Clara will be pleased with her in the new series, she's so much better from what I've seen so far, not that I really disliked her to begin with. Even Moffat said he was shocked at how much better she is.
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That's a weird thing for him to say considering he's the one writing her! And Jenna Coleman has always been top notch in the role and can only do what the writing tells her.
 
funkystudent said:
Its a bit early to say because from the sounds of things Clara is better in the new series but I think it would have been nice if they could have had Roy and Amy for 7.5 and we got another clean break with a new Doctor.

New doctor, New companions, New Tardis interior. Matt Smiths run ends like it starts. As a clean slate.
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No, I wouldn't have wanted Smith's Doctor to have the same companions for his entire run. You need a little bit of a change, even if it comes fairly late.
 
funkystudent said:
Its a bit early to say because from the sounds of things Clara is better in the new series but I think it would have been nice if they could have had Roy and Amy for 7.5 and we got another clean break with a new Doctor.

New doctor, New companions, New Tardis interior. Matt Smiths run ends like it starts. As a clean slate.
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Rory and Amy should have left at the God Complex.
 
DECK'ARD said:
Rory and Amy should have left at the God Complex.
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Agreed. Even though I enjoyed meeting Rory's dad and seeing him have fun with The Doctor, s7pt1 is the very much a case of characters overstaying their welcome. All that growth of Eleven thrown out, too. The God Complex was so fantastic an exit, and completely a surprise to boot.
 
I wonder if Moffat had any plans to bring Tasha-Lem back. Because, with Capaldi not wanting a romantic subplot for the Doctor, she probably won't be coming back any time soon.
 
So friend who doesn't like sci-fi is coming over in a few days. I want to try to get her into DW. I might only have one chance so I have ot go hard with a great episode. I'm thinking Blink maybe?
 
jwk94 said:
So friend who doesn't like sci-fi is coming over in a few days. I want to try to get her into DW. I might only have one chance so I have ot go hard with a great episode. I'm thinking Blink maybe?
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Eleventh Hour, if you want to give her a proper Doctor Who experience.

Blink is great, but it's not your typical episode.
 
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