Doctor Who Series 8

[Epona]

I loved that episode. TBH i've enjoyed every episode this season. I'm biased because i am a massive Peter Capaldi fan, but his acting ability has really shone through this season. Jenna Coleman has been an excellent companion this season as well.

Yeah I am really loving Capaldi - he's a good actor and suits the role really well, also I have to say that having an older Doctor makes me feel slightly less decrepit. Coleman is also good, I think she has great things ahead of her.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Missy is spectacular. I absolutely adore her. In one way I don't want her to be overused. In another though, I feel that she didn't get enough screentime this series so I'd be happy with her coming back sooner rather than later. She's the highlight of this series. Her flying in via her umbrella was perfectly ridiculous. I'm sad she never had occasion to say "Spit Spot!" though. Sad times.

I'm okay with the utter ridiculousness of the Doctor somehow flying his way into the TARDIS.

Almost everything on the plane felt unnecessary though. Apart from the bits with Missy and Osgood, and some of the stuff with Missy and the Doctor.

I'm not sure I'm very happy with how they solved the problem of the Cybermen, it felt like a weird anticlimax. That said, I did like her turning it around and it being about her and the Doctor, rather than about any maniacal plans to take over the world or gain power for herself or whatever. I like it when the Master is driven by her relationship with him, how she feels about him.

I'm a bit uncertain about the status of this supposed afterlife though. I don't think Moffat should have taken it upon himself to pronounce on whether there is one or not, even if it turns out it's kind of maybe some kind of alternate universe and not related to any of our ideas of religion. It was a place that didn't need to be gone to.

I liked how the Doctor and Clara both lied to each other at the end, to make each other feel better. That was quite sad.

Were those Silurians at the end then? Nick Frost as Santa is a great move.

 

[spanglechick]

Do we not think Missy's dead, then? I thought the Leftbridge-Stewart cyberman zapped her...

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Yeah I nearly shed a tear when she said about feeling special.

I shed a tear at the Brigadier bit

Really enjoyed it though, like a kind of Wagner opera in space!

 

[Vintage Paw]

Do we not think Missy's dead, then? I thought the Leftbridge-Stewart cyberman zapped her...

She teleported away, right?

The death zappy thing from Missy's contraption is orange. When she teleported away on the plane it was blue. What happened in the graveyard was blue. I thought that was what happened, and it all just kind of happened at the same time so as to cause confusion. I'm not sure what colour the Cyberman death ray of doom is, but the effect that happened to her seemed decidedly similar to what happened on the plane.

 

[Vintage Paw]

You can't perma-kill the Master!

 

[Vintage Paw]

Incidentally, my mother has been telling me for near upon a year now to watch out for episodes of Who in a cemetery. A family member lives by the cemetery it was filmed in (in Wales) and saw them filming way back when. Apparently the largest and most ostentatious grave thing in there belongs to my family *claim to Doctor Who fame*

 

[binka]

i think it was the least objectionable finale in new who but the story was still a load of old balls. there was so much that didn't make any sense. why would the cybermen have to manually activate the inhibitor? have it turned on by default ffs.

 

[spanglechick]

She teleported away, right?

The death zappy thing from Missy's contraption is orange. When she teleported away on the plane it was blue. What happened in the graveyard was blue. I thought that was what happened, and it all just kind of happened at the same time so as to cause confusion. I'm not sure what colour the Cyberman death ray of doom is, but the effect that happened to her seemed decidedly similar to what happened on the plane.

I'll watch it again tomorrow.

 

[Plumdaff]

Watching the programme has changed since I moved to Cardiff. Just last week I realised that I was walking past where Danny got killed by the world's quietest car. I carefully obeyed the green cross code.

I cried too. Looking forward to Santa.

 

[danny la rouge]

Old hat - Bond was doing that sort of stuff back in '95

I can quite believe you, because James Bond is utter crap.

There's no need for that kind of shit in Dr Who.

 

[Vintage Paw]

I hope the Santa episode is better than the Scrooge episode. I still get an eye twitch thinking about that.

 

[binka]

There's no need for that kind of shit in Dr Who.

i don't think he flew into the tardis so much as he remote controlled the tardis to position itself to where he was falling

 

[Vintage Paw]

I'm in two minds about the flashbacks, where the Doctor was all "oh, so that's why that episode was important." On the one hand, it is nice to see how things come together, but on the other aren't those things better when the audience works them out for themselves and draws the connections?

It didn't feel as objectionable as his neon close ups of the damn crack every episode though.

 

[danny la rouge]

i don't think he flew into the tardis so much as he remote controlled the tardis to position itself to where he was falling

There was no need for it. It was boring, tawdry shite, and detracted from the episode.

 

[Lazy Llama]

Good episode but in a lot of ways I think it sums up the entire series.
Capaldi is superb, he IS The Doctor. Possibly always has been.
Jenna Coleman has been very good throughout this series too, she just seems to work better with Capaldi than she did with Matt Smith.

Stories have been very variable, with the tendency to passable/poor.
Having said that the dialogue have been really good - sharper, mostly more interesting and, in Capaldi's case, delivered at such a speed that you have to watch it twice to catch everything.

Better story ideas needed for next season, and maybe give the season-long theme a break? It's been going on for a while now and it's tired.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

It didn't feel as objectionable as his neon close ups of the damn crack every episode though.

BAD WOLF

 

[Vintage Paw]

BAD WOLF

Bad Wolf was done really well. Same with the Vote Saxon stuff.

After the first Smith episode, I remember reading fans trying to decode everything in every scene. What was the date on Rory's nurse badge? What did it mean? Was the colour of his pens in his pocket important? Most of that is fan obsession and daftness, but the feeling of piecing things together when you're given just enough but not too much is far more satisfying than being hit over the head with it. Sadly, there wasn't much to piece together once Moffat took over, and all that initial excitement trying to decipher the signs was for naught.

 

[danny la rouge]

Better story ideas needed for next season, and maybe give the season-long theme a break? It's been going on for a while now and it's tired.

There were some great episodes, like the Flat Land one (whatever it was called). How about sustaining an idea over 4 episodes, say, in a sort of serial? You know, with plot development, and threats that aren't overcome at the end of each episode?

 

[DotCommunist]

cyberman dan was hilarious. A curates egg for me, I liked bits and the story worked out but cybermen, so meh. At least we are on course for gallifrey.

 

[danny la rouge]

At least we are on course for gallifrey.

Are we? I thought the Doctor bashed the consol because the planet had been destroyed or something. (He was telling Clara the same lie she was telling him, and for the same reason).

 

[Vintage Paw]

The Cybermen were diffused as a threat the moment UNIT was taking selfies with them in London. They became pretty inconsequential after that, felt that way anyway. Even when they were bringing the plane down they never felt like a threat.

To be honest, I think that's okay, like the zombies in The Walking Dead just being a backdrop for a show about the humans left behind. There's been a lot of that in this series, where the monsters and aliens have just been vehicles to move the story about the doctor and relationships forward. I wouldn't like it if that became the focus of the whole show though, but I'm okay with it being done in theory.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

Bad Wolf was done really well.

No it wasn't. It was just a word that was onscreen sometimes for some sort of series-ending deus-ex. It was used well near the end of Donna's run though - it had acquired some meaning and power by then

Same with the Vote Saxon stuff.

Again, just random sightings.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Are we? I thought the Doctor bashed the consol because the planet had been destroyed or something. (He was telling Clara the same lie she was telling him, and for the same reason).

I was unclear what we were meant to take from that. I took it more that she'd simply either given him the wrong coordinates, or there was something else there, or whatever. I didn't think it meant it had been destroyed. That would be a bad move, imo, and I don't think Moffat would do that. Wouldn't he love the legacy of bringing back all the Time Lords? The whole show is, after all, about Moffat's legacy.

 

[Vintage Paw]

No it wasn't. It was just a word that was onscreen sometimes for some sort of series-ending deus-ex. It was used well near the end of Donna's run though - it had acquired some meaning and power by then




Again, just random sightings.

I guess it depends the kind of thing you like, then. That's the kind of thing I like.

 

[Epona]

Are we? I thought the Doctor bashed the consol because the planet had been destroyed or something. (He was telling Clara the same lie she was telling him, and for the same reason).

Yep, he opened the door of the TARDIS and there was nothing there. I thought that was fairly clear. He was telling Clara a white lie so that she could get on with her life. IMO - I don't think there's anything more to be read into that.

 

[danny la rouge]

Wouldn't he love the legacy of bringing back all the Time Lords? .

I thought for a moment we'd be getting that, but then what was the distress about? (And the Parallel with Clara's lie & the hug to hide your face?)

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

He was telling Clara a white lie so that she could get on with her life. IMO - I don't think there's anything more to be read into that.

They both were, which I thought was kind of sweet

 

[DotCommunist]

ma was annoyed that the bloke from goodness gracious me died first because she was hoping for lols. But it was in tone a very serious episode. Suppose thats how season finishes go.

What do we have for best and weakest of the season?

I'm going monsters from flatland for best, and weakest for the robin hood one. I liked it ut it was a bit shit.

 

[Lazy Llama]

So Danny's descendent - the last man alive - where did he come from?