Doctor Who - Series 8 - Peter Capaldi cometh

[Maxximus 353]

It really took me awhile to warm up to Matt Smith. I like him, but nowhere near as much as David Tennant who was my first real proper Doctor. I watched a few episodes of Tom Baker when I was a kid on PBS but that was it.

 

I honestly wasn't a Doctor Who fan until Tennant so that's probably why it took me awhile to warm up to Smith. That said, I really liked Christopher Eccleston's Doctor when I went back and watched that season. I thought he had a lot of potential. I would have liked to have seen at least one more season with him.

[Guest Inno]

I have to say I'm not that sorry to see the back Matt Smith; he was good, but the show became The Matt Smith Show rather than Doctor Who. Capaldi being cast seemed to be a big step away from the Tumblr shipping crew and I like anything that serves as a big "up yours" to people :)

[Guest Yodahew]

Yesterdays episode was called 'listen'. Decent episode few potential jumps in it for the younger viewer and it has moved claras story on a bit. Capaldi is starting to make the part his own now and im starting to enjoy him more as the dr. Nice links to past episodes as well in this one.

 

My only gripe about this ep was clara. I dont care about the companions much and this episode was all about her.

[BRM 220]

Easily the best episode of this season so far.

 

Basically a continuation of the Impossible Girl story and the influence that Clara has had over the Doctor over his entire life. Also a explanation of why they ended up in the random barn in Day of the Doctor.

[dsrchris 190]

Yeah, really liked this episode, and I'm really warming to Capaldi as a more facetious Doctor.

 

I marked out for the barn stuff too. I'm dying to learn more about the Doctor before he became the Doctor and stole away with the TARDIS.

[Kam 243]

The trailer for the next episode looks pretty epic:

 

[video=youtube;p_HdeOXdBUo]

[BRM 220]

The Cybermen/St Paul's thing looks like a clear homage to The Invasion.

 

I've enjoyed this series but must concede that they've overdosed on Clara.

 

I'm still going with Missy being The Master, if it's River then ergh!

[dsrchris 190]

Has anyone considered the possibility of:

 

 

Missy being Clara?

 

 

I've got no real evidence to back it up, it's just a gut feeling I've had throughout the season.

[Guest Jayfunk]

Missy is short for mistress which is they female version of Master is my thoughts on it

[Evil Gringo 279]

Hmmm, well the Tardis doesn't like her and they have referenced that on several occasions - that might tie in.

 

Anyone who is complaining about this series being more about Clara then the Doctor needs to realise that this is a theme that the writers have done for some time now. The second (modern) series was more about Rose and Bad Wolf then the new (at the time) Doctor, Donna became a time lord/human hybrid and her granddad caused the Doctor to have to regenerate and Amy...

 

As much as I loved the Ponds, it was less the Doctor Who show during their time with Matt Smith and more Travelling with the Ponds - see them marry, see them wait for a thousand years for one another, seem them conceive, give birth (to the Doctor's future wife no less, which is a bit weird and Pedo looking back lol) and then die. Seriously, the show was more about them and their lives during their time in the Tardis.

 

Clara is just another extension of that logic and type of companion from the writers.

[Guest Jayfunk]

Called it

[BRM 220]

I called it back after the first episode.

 

The whole episode was extremely dark, the whole "don't cremate me" thing could of probably done with a bigger arc, it's sort of brushed over despite really being terrifying.

 

Danny's story also became both more interesting and darker. We knew he had killed serving his country and that it had a impact on him. But to see the story about how and who he had killed gave the whole Danny story some much needed kick.

 

Clara has probably sealed her fate with the Doctor now. He's helping her because she's his friend but he won't be able to trust her again and her time on the TARDIS must surely be coming to a end I'd imagine at Christmas.

 

Many questions to be asked going into the final episode with the Dark Water leaving us with 3 cliffhangers. I'd imagine that not all questions will be answered but I'd expect Danny's fate to be sealed somehow and maybe his relationship with the Doctor to change dramatically. As I said before I expect Clara's story to finish at Christmas.

 

With Missy/Master we may get some answers but I can see her arc to stretch out over the next series. She somehow escaped Gallifrey in the pocket universe and that's part of a much bigger picture that won't be able to be explained in one episode.

[Guest Yodahew]

Poor finale for me. Capaldi is good as the dr but poor stories and very annoying companion isnt helping. Good mid credits scene setting up the xmas day episode though.

[dsrchris 190]

Poor finale for me. Capaldi is good as the dr but poor stories and very annoying companion isnt helping. Good mid credits scene setting up the xmas day episode though.

 

I know what you mean. I really like Capaldi as the Doctor in theory, but this season doesn't seem to have backed him up as strongly as it should. The Doctor himself is great, but everything else is...meh.

 

Interesting side fact: I went to school with Samuel Anderson who plays Danny Pink in this series. I marked out when I saw him on a Ginsters pasty ad, so seeing him pop up in this series of Doctor Who has blown my mind. :lol

[Evil Gringo 279]

That ending was the very definition of meh.

 

 

As good as Michelle Gomez is and as good as her performance was as the female regeneration of the Master it was wasted on some shoddy material. The Deus Ex Machina of having that bloody general survive so that the Doctor didn't have to finish it at the end was appalling, having Danny resist it as well to save the day, whilst giving the character a noble and unselfish end to his arc was another with no explanation or sense - is it implied that because Clara wanted to know what was going on but not lose Danny that he managed to keep his feelings and resist the full conversion when she used the Sonic?

 

What about the whole issue of the Master/Missy's plan being a complete load of unintelligible pap in the first place? Escape a different dimension, come back, raise a new species of Cybermen to rule the world and then give them away leading to you're own demise? Really? Then the fact that everyone went back to the hard drive when it had been turned off and that someone could pass from there back into the real world at the end despite you know, not having a f**king body?

 

 

I know it is a show about a 900 year old man who travels space and time in a police box that is really bigger on the inside and a time machine/space ship and has several long platonic relationships with a bevy of attractive women but this whole finale was full of more plot holes and unexplainable twists then even that premise can cover.

 

As for Clara - she will be gone by Christmas most definitely and this Doctor will be better for it. There is nothing wrong with Jenna Coleman or her work on the show in terms of performance, but it is the same with everyone for the past season and a half, the material itself is the issue, not the cast. Her character has been neglected from day one, unlike the Ponds or Rose before them.

 

Martha was the last one I can think of that was just there like Clara has and like her suffered from following a memorable and loved predecessor and then given zero material or character to work with.

 

Oh Desser, Mr Pink will also be in the new series of Trollied on Sky One as well.