Doctor Who Discussion [Spoiler Zone!]

[KabeRinnaul]

This season is managing the unforgivable. It's making me into one of those "This show was better when..." guys.

I never wanted to be that guy.

But while watching the latest, it kept reminding me of Eccleston's episode "Dalek" (S1E6), so after we got done with this latest (and dullest) Dalek appearance, we rewatched that one.

It's stunning how much better it was at that point.

[Gizmo]

Ok, I'll admit I had problems with Smith and stopped watching completely after a while with him. Even when we watched the multiple doctor special I still didn't like him.

However, my review of the 2nd Capaldi episode is as follows:

-Did the 'poor little PTSD thing'

-Back to the Doctor thinking he was bad and wanting to be told otherwise.

-Trite use of "bolshy" female soldiers. (and dissing them at the end...)

-"Just Blow up all the shit" attitude to move the story on.

-Clara being all "you’re an asshole..." to the Doctor feels unnecessary and not well handled

-Over playing of the whole "who/what is the doctor" and "I am the doctor" bullshit that made any of Smith and the last few of Tennant suck.

-The fact there was nothing in there to make me think of it as nothing bar a B movie SyFy fail….

And I agree with those above that said that Capaldi is directionless, confused and listless. I hate to say it but Smith (what I saw of him) was better.

[AccountingDrone]

Though 'my doctor' should be Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker [I watched on PBS when they were rare imported shows] I really prefer Chris Eccleston. I am very ambivalent about Capaldi - I expect the first show of the new Doctor to show him as confused as he works into his new body, but he is still wishy-washy in the second episode. If he had been the 10th Doctor, I would have expected him to wrap things up by blipping back and saving Blue's brother from burning up, and an overall happy ending for the hospital ship and earth.

I am not certain where the 12th Doctor is headed, but I do hope his rudderless ship gets an oarsman soon.

[Jester]

This episode was definitely better than the first, and had some direction to it. Maybe not as much as we'd like, but it wasn't as confused or muddled as the first. I rather enjoyed it, and it gives me hope for this season, or at least more hope than I had after the first episode.

Someone definitely needs to pull that stick out of Twelve's ass, though. Don't know if it's Capaldi or the writers making him so listless, but it needs to get fixed. I don't think every Doctor has to be as energetic as Tennant or as manic as Smith, but even Eccleston had some life to him. So far, Capaldi has only give us a few sparks here and there, hints at what he could be, but so far, that's it.

Also, I don't hate Clara as much as some people seem to. Okay, that sounded bad. I mean, I don't hate Clara, as some people do. There, that's better. No, she's not Rose or Amy, but she's pretty cool. I like her.

Of course, I adored Amy, but she was a redheaded Scottish badass hottie. How could I NOT?

[Kheldarson]

This episode was definitely better than the first, and had some direction to it. Maybe not as much as we'd like, but it wasn't as confused or muddled as the first. I rather enjoyed it, and it gives me hope for this season, or at least more hope than I had after the first episode.

It had direction, but the biggest problems were the same as always with Moffat: doing too much and not doing enough.

We introduce Clara's endgame, which is fine, but we can't just introduce him, we have to try to elicit major feels for him despite him only being on screen a few minutes at that point.

We have a "rebel" ship that's not seemingly rebelling against anything, because I don't think you can rebel against someone who's not your overlord.

We have a Dalek plot that is a direct callback to an earlier episode and does nothing to really expand on the premise.

Then we have Missy and heaven, which really felt like a "oh right, we have to include a shot of this plot" moment because it completely interrupted the flow of the episode.

And let's not forget the rehashed "am I a good man?" plot. Which isn't being focused on any better than it was in Smith's.

Anyone of these plots could've stood to be better expanded on or cut out in order to get a better damn episode.

Someone definitely needs to pull that stick out of Twelve's ass, though. Don't know if it's Capaldi or the writers making him so listless, but it needs to get fixed. I don't think every Doctor has to be as energetic as Tennant or as manic as Smith, but even Eccleston had some life to him. So far, Capaldi has only give us a few sparks here and there, hints at what he could be, but so far, that's it.

If Capaldi's main difference from previous Doctors is supposed to be that he's willing to let people be killed, I may start throwing things >.<

Also, I don't hate Clara as much as some people seem to. Okay, that sounded bad. I mean, I don't hate Clara, as some people do. There, that's better. No, she's not Rose or Amy, but she's pretty cool. I like her.

Of course, I adored Amy, but she was a redheaded Scottish badass hottie. How could I NOT?

I like Clara, but for me the issue is that she had two really strong episodes before she became the Companion and then became sorta washed out once we found the real Clara. It feels like she's only now getting that cocky adventurousness back.

And that's not Clara's fault so much as Moffat's again.

[Sapphire Silk]

9, 10 and 11 were too convenient in my eyes. A lot of the classic run, we were still finding out who the new incarnation was after several episodes.

Oh, I disagree with that. Tom Baker set the tone for his Doctor in his very first episode. So did Peter Davidson and Sylvester McCoy. Colin Baker never did find his place at the Doctor; it was like he tried to combine the best of Tom Baker with his own personality and it didn't quite work. Though I never thought he was as bad as some people complained (but then again, I also like George Lazenby as Bond, and I hate Roger Moore).

I thought Eckelston, Tennent and Smith did great jobs of setting their own styles from the very beginning. Capaldi, I'm not as sure about, but what he's doing recalls more to mind of Hartnell or Pertwee and that actually could be a refreshing change.

[KabeRinnaul]

So, new theory about Missy, which came from conversation with Kheldarson before bed last night.

Missy is Clara—in a way. She's a product of the damage Clara caused to the time stream when she jumped through 11's time scar in "Name of the Doctor".

"Heaven" is going to be found by those who sacrifice themselves in the Doctor's name. The male soldier didn't arrive because he died going against the Doctor's word. The female solder did because she knew her actions would result in her death, but believed it was necessary for the Doctor to succeed.

This also gives us our answer to the final scenes of "Deep Breath". The Half-Faced Man jumped, sacrificing himself in the name of the Doctor's ideals.

And Clara herself, in jumping through the scar, has sacrificed herself for the Doctor a dozen times, spread across his entire life. Which is why she's at the core of Missy/Heaven.

Note also "Deep Breath". Missy refers to the Doctor as "my boyfriend" just after the Doctor tells Clara "I'm not your boyfriend."

Subtlety is not one of Moffat's strong points.

Anyway, I'm betting this will eventually be used as cheap torment for the Doctor when he's forced to confront how many lose their lives in his name.

Another habit of Moffat's—retreading the same ground as Davies. We already did that "so many in my name" bit during The Stolen Earth/Journey's End.

It's going to be so disappointing if I'm right and the finale of Capaldi's first season is just a rehash of one of Tennant's biggest scenes.

[dakhur]

I'm liking this new doc a lot more after episode 2. He wasted the first ep, enough that I joked about crowd-funding a hit on Moffat if that was the best he could do. But, this ep had everything I like in a light episode. The Doctor, still sorting things out but getting it together to try everything he could to save the Daleks.

The hatred the Brits have of guns and how they love showing that if you need to use a weapon, you've already lost the argument. Showing that even when the Doctor says he doesn't have a plan, he at least has an idea, and it's a good idea for you to go with him.

And last, regrding the school stuff, that they're real people who do real things and act in real ways. I was laughing my head off at the maths teacher replaying it with the right answers and then getting busted and his reactions. Yep, that's what real people do. I know, I'm one of them who does that.

So, overall, I like it. I'm starting to like this Doctor. As long as Moffat continues to use a writing staff and sticks to seeing to the overall story arcs, we might make it past christmas after all. And Capaldi would be ideal to go back to 4 episode stories again, instead of this yank sit-com style they've used the past few years. Let the man stretch and show us what he can do. We won't be disapointed.

[Moirae]

This episode was better but we still don't know anything about the doctor or the personality he has. It's rather frustrating. At least it was obvious with the last three. Oh heck, all of them. We knew the doctors quickly. This one seems directionless. At least he displayed more of the cleverness of the doctor in this episode than the last.

[Moirae]

Ok, so this weekends episode...

I absolutely loved it. Though it still feels like I'm waiting for the episode to start (like it has for every episode with this doctor), this is the first time I've seen Clara actually do anything other than be along for the ride. She was quick witted and snappy. And the doctor... he's rather childish but its incredibly funny. It's about time we started seeing the doctors personality come through.

Not to mention, Robin Hood is one of my favorite stories of all time so I'm with Clara on this one. If there's any time period that I'd like to visit, it's this one. I'd love to meet him, especially if he's as charming as the stories say.

[Kheldarson]

The episode made me laugh, so points for that. I had to walk away when the Doctor was making an ass of himself trying to figure things out. It was much better paced, and I did love Clara in this. I just wanted to smack the Doctor. A lot. What's with the cynic mode?

[Kheldarson]

We're not even finished with the episode, and I'm sooo frustrated.

Edit: episode done. I'm sad. Very sad.

[Jester]

This episode had so much potential, and some truly awesome moments. But once again, as a whole, the thing seemed a bit....muddled.

Four episodes in, and while it's not horrible, I don't know any Whovian who's really happy with this new season. I can think of a season that went this deep without someone saying that okay, enough bitching, this is good.

And again, I don't think it's on Capaldi, but more in on the writers. A sports analogy: the rookie quarterback may or may not be able to play, but it's hard to tell with the coach sending in so many screwball plays.

[Kheldarson]

And again, I don't think it's on Capaldi, but more in on the writers. A sports analogy: the rookie quarterback may or may not be able to play, but it's hard to tell with the coach sending in so many screwball plays.

Agreed. This whole season's issues are directly on Moffat. As a note, last episode (the only one I've rather enjoyed so far) is the only one that doesn't have a Moffat writing credit.

[Moirae]

Finally we get a real moffat episode. One that ties together the bits and pieces. This is the way its always been done. One of the reasons I never liked the Clara stories is that they were almost all "one off" episodes with nothing joining them all together. This one changed that. It's about time.