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I think that two-parters work for Peter Capaldi's Doctor. His stories are a bit slower (but get some nicer development).

The deaf scientist was interesting and I like how the Doctor worked with her. I went to a Uni with a very large deaf population and you very commonly saw new people say they knew sign, sign 2 or 3 words, then fail miserably, but regular people don't even acknowledge the lack of hearing because we're all used to working around it.

This evening, with literally nothing else to watch, I turned back to Dr Who...

And to my surprise, managed to get through all 3 episodes without once wanting to turn it off, which after the monstrously bad ending to last year's series that pretty much killed any interest I had in this year's is quite remarkable.

First two episodes I liked rather more than I expected; the silliness with the guitar and the tank aside, there was very little 'dead' time in the plot (unlike most of last year's episodes that had at least 5-10 minutes of Clara side plot before anything interesting happened) and the scenes with Davros and The Doctor were very good. I also found myself not having as much of a problem with Missy as I did last year, although I still can't bring myself to think of her as The Master. Yeah, parts of the plot were obvious and there were a few holes here and there (and the less said about the sunglasses the better, frankly) but it was perfectly watchable.

The third episode was great. No overhanging plot arc, a classic 'base under siege' plot with a few good twists, a nice, tight cast and script, and a fascinatingly spooky monster... And a 2-parter simply because the story deserved it, rather than because it was a part of the series plot arc. This is what's been slowly going away over the last few years, so it's good to see a comeback here. Long may it continue.

In short, bring on next week's! I'll still be looking at a review or two for future episodes before watching in case there are any stinkers, but so far, I'd say this series is 3 for 3! I can't see myself ever being as much of a fan as I used to be a couple of years ago, but I'm hesitantly optimistic for this series...

Moffat, don't screw this up.

I'm starting to actually like Missy as the Doctor's crazy girlfriend more than River. I really hope they meet at Christmas.

Note that episode 3 was not written by Moffatt.

It's my view that a lot of the best episodes for the whole new series have been written by 'outsiders', including Moffatt during the Russell T Davies years.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Note that episode 3 was not written by Moffatt.

It's my view that a lot of the best episodes for the whole new series have been written by 'outsiders', including Moffatt during the Russell T Davies years.

Agreed. I am generally confident with anything by Toby Whithouse, Jamie Mathieson, Gareth Roberts or Chris Chibnall. Moffat used to be excellent consistently (all his stuff before he became showrunner I think is great. Blink, Girl in the Fireplace, Library, Empty Child, all great) but I think the power has gone to his head slightly, and I wasn't at all a fan of his contributions to the last series. Gatiss and Gaiman are hit-and-miss. I wouldn't mind RTD coming back to do one or two one-offs, actually. I'm also hoping at some point they let Patrick Ness write one- he's just been given a spin-off to replace the Sarah Jane series which I'm not that interested in, but he is one of my favourite authors and I think he could do a good job on the show proper.

That said, I'm not looking up writers or synopses of anything this series; I plan to take each episode on its own merits rather than a) getting my hopes up or b) lowering my expectations based on prior information. The reason I hadn't watched any until yesterday was simply that I couldn't be bothered to be disappointed week-on-week like I was for a lot of last year (there were about 4 last series that I thought were better than mediocre, the rest I can quite happily forget).

Of course, what helps is that the cast at the moment is great. Capaldi may well be the best Doctor there's been (with the right script) and Coleman is sooo much better now than she was when she first appeared (I think she actually fits Capaldi's Doctor much better than Smith's).

They're doing another spin off?

Yeah. One one hand, it's written by Patrick Ness... on the other, it's about a class of school kids doing... well, that's all a little vague, probably stuff with aliens...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34415344

Not terribly excited, but like I say it does mean we might one day get Ness doing a proper episode, which could be great.

I don't think I ever heard of Totally Doctor Who before reading that article.

 -Shrike- wrote:
I actually quite liked this week's episode. Sure, the ending was obvious, but it felt much more like a monster of the week(s) affair - no blatant overhanging series story arc to worry about.

Also wasn't really expecting it to be a two-parter, that was quite a nice surprise.

Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was a little disappointed when I realised it was going to be a two parter.

Only real complaint with this series so far is those bloody sunglasses.

Sarah Jane Adventures were actually rather fun though a bit juvenile, and she made a good return to Dr. Who in a couple of main series adventures.

I am biased by the fact that a young Elizabeth Sladen was the important companion of Jon Pertwee, who was the most important Dr. Who actor for people of my age. So I remember her with affection. Doctor Who itself was more juvenile in those days too.

 insaniak wrote:

 -Shrike- wrote:
I actually quite liked this week's episode. Sure, the ending was obvious, but it felt much more like a monster of the week(s) affair - no blatant overhanging series story arc to worry about.

Also wasn't really expecting it to be a two-parter, that was quite a nice surprise.

Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was a little disappointed when I realised it was going to be a two parter.

Only real complaint with this series so far is those bloody sunglasses.

More Merchandise though.

 insaniak wrote:

 -Shrike- wrote:
I actually quite liked this week's episode. Sure, the ending was obvious, but it felt much more like a monster of the week(s) affair - no blatant overhanging series story arc to worry about.

Also wasn't really expecting it to be a two-parter, that was quite a nice surprise.

Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was a little disappointed when I realised it was going to be a two parter.

Only real complaint with this series so far is those bloody sunglasses.

I fully expect them to be stepped on or smashed like the first fez Smith had.

I have to say, they are really inconsistant with the first 2 parter
I mean, The Daleks have the word Mercy. Ok that means Davros put the word in their vocabulary, But he was still willing to kill the Doctor and Create the Daleks.
But if the Daleks have Mercy, should that not mean that they are capable of mercy?
and one final thing, So, it says that Davros ina way control all Daleks.......Could it be that the only reason the doctor is still alive, and defeats the Daleks constantly is cause Davros wills it?
And, Could it be the Hybrid is not a bad thing? Maybe Davros realized the Daleks are Wrong and that they are not surperior, but still wants to save his people.
Too many questions

Well whaddaya know, another decent one! Standout was the visual design of the alien, and the cameras being given ample time to show that off.



Yep, all in all, good stuff!

I did like the Fisher King alien design. - I'd actually call it movie level!

Very much seemed like a mix of a Space Jockey with The Predator.

I did have mates that pretty much predicted as soon as they saw the Ghost Doctor that he'd be in the capsule.

As for the plot, it was basically you're standard Terminator 1 stable time loop, right?

It was a bootstrap paradox, which isn't really Terminator, but it was a nice time travel add in that didn't really hurt the story too much.

I rather liked the Guitar Opening myself, still bugged by the sonic sunglasses.

Just saw the latest. Not bad.
I like how they explained the Bootstrap Paradox. But man, This is why Time Travel sucks.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, Remember the sentiment how the doctor will finally meet River Song who has yet to meet him?
Anyone think that is gonna happen?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Just saw the latest. Not bad.
I like how they explained the Bootstrap Paradox. But man, This is why Time Travel sucks.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, Remember the sentiment how the doctor will finally meet River Song who has yet to meet him?
Anyone think that is gonna happen?

I thought they'd covered that in 'let's kill hitler'

I can conceptualise how it is possible for a character from your future to remember having met you before you remember having met them. It is a question of how their two world-lines intersect. Given practical time travel, it is easy to wrap these around like long bits of string to allow it to happen.

 statu wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

Also, Remember the sentiment how the doctor will finally meet River Song who has yet to meet him?
Anyone think that is gonna happen?

I thought they'd covered that in 'let's kill hitler'

Yep. First time she meets the Doctor is in LKH, he knows her (once she regenerates) but she doesn't know him as anything other than the target The Silence set her up to kill. Last time from her perspective is The Library, with the 10th Doctor; there, she's seen everything that'll happen to them, he has no idea who she is.

 Paradigm wrote:

 statu wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

Also, Remember the sentiment how the doctor will finally meet River Song who has yet to meet him?
Anyone think that is gonna happen?

I thought they'd covered that in 'let's kill hitler'

Yep. First time she meets the Doctor is in LKH, he knows her (once she regenerates) but she doesn't know him as anything other than the target The Silence set her up to kill. Last time from her perspective is The Library, with the 10th Doctor; there, she's seen everything that'll happen to them, he has no idea who she is.

Which is honestly why I wish they'd leave her alone. She had her run, she got closure, let's move on to pastures new.

Agreed. Her arc came to a nice end in series 6, she was shoehorned into series 7, and now they're bringing her back again!

Have an original idea, pleased, Moffat!

With his resurrecting of the daleks (again), the cybermen (still to come) and the suckerhead zygons (also still to come) and it being a short season, I don't think he has time to be original - let alone I don't think he's capable of it anymore.

I went to school with some deaf kids and they taught me to sign - but they had a nickname for me - "the hick" because I "spoke" so slowly.

 chromedog wrote:
With his resurrecting of the daleks (again), the cybermen (still to come) and the suckerhead zygons (also still to come) and it being a short season, I don't think he has time to be original - let alone I don't think he's capable of it anymore.

I definitely think there's scope to be original within the framework of those, though. Look at, say, Dalek from series 1, Stolen Earth from series 4 and Victory of the Daleks from series 5, they're all completely different types of story using the same antagonist. Dalek is almost a horror, this one unstoppable creature just making its way through dozens of humans. Stolen Earth is an epic, 'they might actually kill the universe this time so let's get ALL the supporting cast in', and Victory is a suspense, as you work out what exactly Daleks are doing in British Military Greens (a suspense ruined by the look of the teletubby Daleks, but the plot is sound). So yeah, you don't need to invent something entirely new to be original, just do something different with it.

Actually, this series' opener was a good example of that; there were parallels with some older stuff, but ultimately this was a 'new' dalek story.

Of course, what we don't want is a resurrection that completely changes the face of this monsters. The Cybermen have got the short end of the stick here in recent years, firstly with the aptly named 'Nightmare in Silver' with its T-1000-meets-Borg Cybermen reboot, and then last year with the Cyber-zombie-iron-man monstrosities. But even an extensive reboot can work if done well, I loved the almost steampunk Cybermen in 'The Next Doctor'.

With River, though, she's not a seminal part of Dr Who history in the same way the Daleks or Cybermen or The Master are; she had an arc, it was interesting, but it's concluded, and there's not a great deal more you can do with that character. I thought she was great, but her story is told, her mystery solved, and bringing her back now just makes the 'ending' to her story matter less and less.

Moffat himself, though, I agree about; he can write a solid one-off episode from time to time, and when he has a good idea it's typically really good (Weeping Angels, Silence, Vashta Nerada), but in terms of writing characters or plots he suffers when compared to many of the other writers. These days, that is, he used to be consistently great before he got the ego boost of being handed the showrunner position.

Another thing about Moffat is that he is not only in charge of Doctor Who, he is in charge of Sherlock too, and he probably is spreading his energies too thinly.

I just watched the latest episode. The Fisher King has to be the coolest looking monsters they've ever had on the show, both in terms of visuals and design. Plus, how many enemies do you know that are brave enough to chastise timelords?

I really hope he wasn't a one time enemy in the show. All that work on such a cool costume and it's going to collect dust in a closet.

Yeah, the Fisher King was pretty awesome. Loved the episode as a whole.


I don't get the guitar stuff... It's randomness for the sake of randomness. If they had cut it out of the episode, nothing at all would have been lost, and it really adds nothing useful to the character of the Doctor.


Having said that, I did actually quite like the guitared-up opening credits

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Just saw the latest. Not bad.
I like how they explained the Bootstrap Paradox. But man, This is why Time Travel sucks.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, Remember the sentiment how the doctor will finally meet River Song who has yet to meet him?
Anyone think that is gonna happen?

We already had that, it was "Let's Kill Hitler."

It would be interesting if this special episode has the Doctor take her to the Singing Towers, then at the end he would hand her a screwdriver and drop her off with that crew headed for the Library.

I totally forgot let's kill Hitler.