Doctor Who Series 8

[Chz]

That was fucking ace! Best one of the series by a mile. Whoever wrote/ directed/ influenced this episode, please get them to do the rest- for I can't believe it's the same person who's written some of the others in this series.

I also like the idea of a new, menacing foe in the shape of Gus. The Doctor has been missing a proper nemesis.

The writer is new to Who. He was originally responsible a number of episodes of Being Human.

And we'll have a chance to see if it was a fluke - he wrote the next one, too.

 

[Callum91]

I loved last nights episode but it's making me think...is Capaldi really a good choice to be The Dr? I really struggle to separate Malcolm Tucker from his portrayal of the Dr, he seems constantly stuck in angry mode. I'm not saying he's necessarily a bad Dr... but... he won't be replacing my beloved Eccles cake

 

[DotCommunist]

spot on review

http://io9.com/doctor-whos-old-school-monster-story-manages-to-feel-am-1645164850

Capaldi continues to be incredible in the role of the Doctor. The real joy of this season, thus far, has been watching Capaldi in a variety of situations, just nailing the strangeness and curiosity of the Doctor. I said earlier that he seems at times to be doing a bit of Tom Baker — but his voice is actually reminding me at times of Jon Culshaw doing Tom Baker, instead, in a wonderfully wry tone. He gets so much mileage out of lines like "She was an old woman. It's practically their job description." And of course, "Are you my mummy?"

And meanwhile, Capaldi is constantly using his eyes to telegraph when the Doctor is being especially calculating, or not entirely straightforward with people. In this particular story, especially, the Doctor keeps looking to one side when he talks to Clara, as if he's trying to sneak something past her. The Clara-Doctor relationship has been a lot more fascinating this year, and not just because Clara is no longer a mystery to be solved — both Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are really bringing a lot more layers to their interactions, and it's great to watch. This season's stories, thus far, have ranged from "okay" to "superb," but the performances have been pretty much uniformly great

 

[ViolentPanda]

I loved last nights episode but it's making me think...is Capaldi really a good choice to be The Dr? I really struggle to separate Malcolm Tucker from his portrayal of the Dr, he seems constantly stuck in angry mode. I'm not saying he's necessarily a bad Dr... but... he won't be replacing my beloved Eccles cake

I try to bear in mind that this doctor regenerated shortly after facing up to his role in the Time War, and that he's suffering the consequences of that, hence the abrasiveness and anger - he's dealing with trauma that he'd been suppressing for three previous regenerations (if Hurt fell between McGann and Ecclescake). Now he has to actually (because of the situation with Gallifrey) think about what he did, and the ongoing consequences.

 

[Belushi]

Watched it this afternoon. Dr Who is the only British show I watch and I'm very often disappointed but this episode was class. Capaldi is everything I want in a Doctor and he's now my second favourite after Tom Baker.

 

[Awesome Wells]

Capaldi is great. The storytelling is not.

 

[belboid]

Capaldi is great. The storytelling is not.

Stop watching. Or, at least, stop posting.



That one deffo worked best so far. There's been some very good stories, some wonderful lines, and some very nice costumes, but this was the first one where it all came together. A couple of them have been very good, but felt slightly under-rehearsed, with the lines delivered half a fraction too late, a couple have been very good except for a silly bit (golden bloody arrow...), a couple have only been good. But this one hit all the nails squarely on the head - even with Frank Sodding Skinner. Cracking stuff.

 

[Cloo]

Watched it this afternoon. Dr Who is the only British show I watch and I'm very often disappointed but this episode was class. Capaldi is everything I want in a Doctor and he's now my second favourite after Tom Baker.

He was very consciously channeling Baker at a few points in this episode, I thought, and I'm not just talking about the jelly babies.

 

[ruffneck23]

yes it was almost spooky with the voice and the teeth

 

[belboid]

GUS was very Douglas Adams (Sirius Cybernetics Corporation) as well.

the writer did previously write the Dirk Gently adaptations

 

[Mr Moose]

Why did the brand new moon/egg already have craters on it?

e2a: I'll stop now

How did the moon/egg thing gain mass? Even if the larva eats the moon as it grows the moon doesn't gain mass. Solar wind? Daft.

A couple of the early ones were terrible, the first one with the drippy Lizard woman and Mr Potato head and also the Robin Hood one, but some good ones latterly, particularly the 'Foretold'.

But it's all so bleedin random. Story arc doesn't have any import or interest. Clara likes him/doesn't. Meh. Tbh Clara's character seems to be there to be a clothes horse mostly.

Basically Dr Who needs to just pitch up, solve the problem and leave again. Each week. I never needed to know what Shaggy and Scooby were feeling (apart from hungry or scared. Zoiks!).

 

[belboid]

Story arc doesn't have any import or interest.

good, series long story 'arcs' are shite

Tbh Clara's character seems to be there to be a clothes horse mostly.

Utter nonsense

 

[Pseudopsycho]

good, series long story 'arcs' are shite


Utter nonsense

There is a story arc ("heaven") but it's not being massively shoved in our faces too much every week. With regard to the soldiering thing I think Mr. Pink nailed it with his bit about the Doctor not being soldier but an Officer and Capaldi squirmed brilliantly at that.

 

[billy_bob]

It could have been a good story, but the pacing was way off.

Who was 'Gus'? Oh doesn't matter.
What was this soldier? Why was it a mummy? Oh doesn't matter.
Why does Gus want all this stuff to the point of torturing people? Oh doesn't matter.

That doesn't work for me. It's not satisfying at all. The orient express in space thing is really cool, but i feel it was wasted.

I think I'd prefer a serial, like of old. Something that has a chance to develop and doesn't have to be shoehorned into 45 mins.

Spot on. All the elements of a great episode, but squandered by the underwritten 'oh, he's not that evil, really' - poof! and he's gone - 'faulty tech' denouement. If you had more than one episode, with cliffhangers, you could have drawn out the suspense better without having to rush the ending.

I was sure Frank was going to turn out to be implicated. Misdirection is fair enough but, if he wasn't relevant after all, why didn't he teleport/ vapourise when it was revealed that everyone else who wasn't a necessary scientist etc. was just there to make it look more real?

 

[billy_bob]

There is a story arc ("heaven") but it's not being massively shoved in our faces too much every week.

Doubtless that will change, more's the pity.

 

[Pingu]

hmmm...

have to say that after a promising start this series is starting to lose me. the stories are really shallow and sometimes feel too random.

i think his potential as the doctor is really really good but he needs the stories for it to happen.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

i think his potential as the doctor is really really good but he needs the stories for it to happen.

aka the mcgann effect.

See also first series of McCoy's and large chunks of colin baker's run

Although i personally don't rank cb he was hit badly by the same problem

The reverse is the tom baker effect where a good doctor manages to pull up the quality of shity stories.

 

[Mr Moose]

good, series long story 'arcs' are shite


Utter nonsense

Yeh, I agree really. Don't want story arcs. All gets too earnest and actory.

But Clara? She's a nice and energetic enough screen presence, but that's it rather than adding gravity or curiosity to the role.

Why doesn't the doc ever take a balding middle aged man with him if he luvs hoomins so much?

 

[belboid]

But Clara? She's a nice and energetic enough screen presence, but that's it rather than adding gravity or curiosity to the role.

she's a much more rounded character this time, and she does what all the companions are meant to do - make the Doctor more intelligible/fun/scary

 

[Pingu]

Yeh, I agree really. Don't want story arcs. All gets too earnest and actory.

But Clara? She's a nice and energetic enough screen presence, but that's it rather than adding gravity or curiosity to the role.

Why doesn't the doc ever take a balding middle aged man with him if he luvs hoomins so much?

cos he like a bit of eye candy?

 

[DotCommunist]

yeh with Clara no longer being the impossible girl tm she's become an actual character rather than a story arc in of itself

can't mention this weeks dress enough though, I wish I had a time machine and could go back to the 20s

 

[DotCommunist]

prohibition era chicago

 

[DotCommunist]

thats where the doc should go next week, fill it with bugsy malone nods for the lols, capone turns out to be a slitheen. The doc weilds a tommy gun (with spplooge in it)

 

[Mr Moose]

cos he like a bit of eye candy?

He's 900 years old!! You keep those mucky thoughts to yourself.

 

[Pingu]

every traveller needs a bit of giggity to help with the bank

 

[billy_bob]

Yeh, I agree really. Don't want story arcs. All gets too earnest and actory.

There's a difference between the kind of self-important 'theory of Doctor Who' story arcs we've had since the reboot, and the multi-episode 'adventure' of old, though.

I agree the former is tedious. It seems to come from a desire to 'make it more than the sum of its parts', reflecting how much the writers/producers love the thing presumably (ie well-intentioned), but it's really superfluous to enjoyment of the programme and always so riddled with holes it's just irritating.

The latter, though, isn't about trying to crowbar in some high-falutin concept, just about not feeling like we're being bundled at breakneck speed through the ups and downs, false endings, misdirections and eventual triumphs of any particular storyline.

 

[Vintage Paw]

He's 900 years old!! You keep those mucky thoughts to yourself.

2000 years old now, apparently. He skipped 1000 years in between the last time he told us how old he was and this new series. Tennant's Doc was 900. Smith's jumped to 1000-and-some years. Capaldi's 1 mention of his age had him at 2000.

 

[ruffneck23]

that's cos he spent so much time chilling on trenzalore

 

[DotCommunist]

all that shit with turlougth and the key to time, the white guardian who turned out to be evil YAAAAAAAWN kept getting in the way of good stories, and peter davidson had some corkers.

the new who story arcs are good though, bad wolf was great. They don't often make a huge deal of sense but all the visual clues and rndom hints keep me guessing

 

[Mr Moose]

all that shit with turlougth and the key to time, the white guardian who turned out to be evil YAAAAAAAWN kept getting in the way of good stories, and peter davidson had some corkers.

the new who story arcs are good though, bad wolf was great. They don't often make a huge deal of sense but all the visual clues and rndom hints keep me guessing

It's very tedious when the whole of creation is in peril. It's never going to live up to that kind of build up.