Doctor Who

[brozy]

That pretty much sums up my thoughts on this season aswell sometimes the writing just feels like they let a 8yr old with ADHD do it.

And Clara oh god i really hope she does actually die at the end of the season, liked her well enough last season but i cannot stand her now and they really need to tone it back with the amount of screen time they are giving her(and all this lovey dovey shit Dr. Who managed 30 odd years with it much of it and if you are going to do it, do it offscreen and do not use a near whole episode for it) probably wouldn't of been as bad if i actually liked her but i'd still be pretty pissed that The Doctor has pretty much been religated to companion status in a few episodes thus far.

[Takiwaki]

Anyone else noticed the faster frame cameras used?

[Talragan]

I like both the actors from this season, and I had high hopes for Clara's character (got sick of 2-3 seasons of whiny bishes) and you can tell Capaldi is a decent actor. As stated by Byrnoth its both frustrating and disappointing that they're going back to the parts of the Doctor Who formulae which I always loathed.

[dejet]

Have not been keeping up last few weeks, but I'd had hopped for Clara's death with the new doctor. She's well past her time here.

[ronin sparthos]

Capaldi is straight up getting boned right now. It's sad because I hope this doesn't lead to him getting shitcanned for a new doctor.

None of the episodes thus far have been that good and while I'll agree that this weeks episode wasn't terrible, the soldier theme is being beaten to death at this point. Mummy turns out to be ancient soldier that simply needs to be put to rest, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. More padding for an obvious twist that precious episodes are being squandered on? Check. Clara being set up for an obvious fall? Check.

I enjoyed "Into the Dalek" for the usual reflection on the Doctor/Dalek relationship and "Robot of Sherwood" wasn't that bad as your typical period episode and it had good banter between Capaldi and Robin. A fun romp all around. I'd certainly watch either over the dreadful "Time Heist".

However, for rough comparison we had:
"The Empty Child" / "Doctor Dances" two parter thus far into Eccelstons run.
"The Girl in the Fireplace" and "Rise of the Cybermen" / "Age of Steel" with Tennant.
"Time of the Angels" / "Flesh and Stone" two parter with Smith.

Capaldi has nothing that compares to these. *red alert*

[Silenka]

I agree with pretty much everyone on this. This season has been ridiculously bad and inconsistent overall.

I would have liked the last episode a lot more if not for

Spoiler: show

-Oh look, Clara's back for ONE LAST HURRAH (which we knew it wasn't gonna be)
-The mummy was a soldier the whole time and so was the other antagonist-turned-protagonist of the story, the guy who turned a blind eye until he was shown the way!
-The Doctor isn't the least bit upset about casualties! How quaint.
-The bioscanner can SOMEHOW take a person's memories, feelings and psychosis and transfer them to someone else's alien biology! THAT MAKES SENSE WHAT

The one thing I will say is that Clara was very very pretty.

Ughhhhh can we please have some better writing? I feel bad for Capaldi.

[Kaslo]

Capaldi is straight up getting boned right now. It's sad because I hope this doesn't lead to him getting shitcanned for a new doctor.

None of the episodes thus far have been that good and while I'll agree that this weeks episode wasn't terrible, the soldier theme is being beaten to death at this point. Mummy turns out to be ancient soldier that simply needs to be put to rest, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. More padding for an obvious twist that precious episodes are being squandered on? Check. Clara being set up for an obvious fall? Check.

I enjoyed "Into the Dalek" for the usual reflection on the Doctor/Dalek relationship and "Robot of Sherwood" wasn't that bad as your typical period episode and it had good banter between Capaldi and Robin. A fun romp all around. I'd certainly watch either over the dreadful "Time Heist".

However, for rough comparison we had:
"The Empty Child" / "Doctor Dances" two parter thus far into Eccelstons run.
"The Girl in the Fireplace" and "Rise of the Cybermen" / "Age of Steel" with Tennant.
"Time of the Angels" / "Flesh and Stone" two parter with Smith.

Capaldi has nothing that compares to these. *red alert*

Comparing the start of Capaldi's episodes to late-season episodes of the other doctors. Not very logical.

[ronin sparthos]

Comparing the start of Capaldi's episodes to late-season episodes of the other doctors. Not very logical.

"The Time of Angels" and "Flesh and Stone" were episodes 4 and 5 into Smiths run.
"Girl in the Fireplace", "Rise of the Cybermen" and "Age of Steel" were episodes 4-6 during Tennants run.
"The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" were episodes 8-9 during Eccelston's run.

Capaldi's on episode 9 and he's got what? "Deep Breath"? Womp womp womp. I rest my case.

[Kaslo]

"The Time of Angels" and "Flesh and Stone" were episodes 4 and 5 into Smiths run.
"Girl in the Fireplace", "Rise of the Cybermen" and "Age of Steel" were episodes 4-6 during Tennants run.
"The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" were episodes 8-9 during Eccelston's run.

Capaldi's on episode 9 and he's got what? "Deep Breath"? Womp womp womp. I rest my case.

Are we really 9 episodes in? It feels like 4-5...

[ronin sparthos]

4 more episodes. ~.~

[Jamison]

For my money, "Listen" is one of the best episodes of all time, right up there with Girl in the Fireplace and Empty Child/Doctor Dances.

[Exoduso]

The point I'm struggling with is that this season just feels... empty somewhat. A bunch of short stories, not really being told in any coherent manner other than the fact that Clara is taking center-stage with that horrible actor playing her boyfriend. They started teasing that afterlife chick and then just dropped it 3-4 episodes ago and we haven't seen shit since.

I just don't see where the main story is going... if they planned to do this just so they could spend a season getting the fans familiar with Capaldi before they actually do some interesting stuff with him, it's a gigantic waste of time and was written so poorly it just makes for mediocre episodes that don't really feel like they have any meat to them.

[Sunrider]

Frankly, I'm pretty pleased with the season.

I'm not fussed about the overarching story (or lack thereof), and just enjoying the standalone adventures. For now, the ongoing turmoil Clara feels about traveling with Twelve has been plenty to keep my interest--looking forward to seeing that come to a head.

'Listen' was probably the least satisfying episode for me, and I'm largely unconcerned about the whole Netherworld story. We'll get to it soon enough and I suspect 'Mummy' has an indirect tie to it.

What's really got me interested is the equations and lore Twelve seems obsessed with; I expect it'll have much to do with finding or restoring Gallifrey.

[Kaslo]

I loved Listen until the end.

I'm anticipating what the resolution of the "soldier" theme of this season will be.

[TummieGaruda]

Well we get our "two parter" at the end of the season with episodes 11 and 12 featuring

Spoiler: show

Missy and an army of Cybermen

so there is still hope. I am actually OK with this season so far though. Capaldi is brilliant but he is suffereing from bad writting in some episodes. Also with the possibility of

Spoiler: show

Jenna Coleman leaving after this series

we could see better writing in season 9.

[Deftscythe]

Does Jenna Coleman write for the show? Why would her leaving fix anything?

[Myrrh_Quetz]

I like her Character. I don't like what its turning into and the hate of her is silly. The writers are the ones ruining it.

And having her be a bitch when he regen'd was fucking stupid. She has to be the only character to truly understand regeneration. To force her to be a bitch about it him changing was completely out of place IMO.

And the show has been massively sub par. The episodes are horribly cheesy with no consistency. Listen had the potential to be a new "Don't Blink" but they threw that out the window. Even his line in the Mummy was an after thought that was tossed in there for the joke of "Are you my Mummy?". Just look at how quickly he said it.

They have great actors but are too afraid to push them

[Sunrider]

The thing is that from Clara's perspective, 12 is crabby, ugly, rude and dismissive--the near opposite of 11's genial, handsome, and thoughtful characteristics. She saw a major shift in the guy she thought she knew, and is having a hard time seeing through to the similarities, which is not surprising--12 is even more like 1 than I previously thought 11 was--he's almost intentionally difficult.

Her temper tantrum notwithstanding, I feel the change in her behavior toward him makes her a much better foil for this Doctor that has a tendency to get ahead of himself, and gives her loads more personality than the doe-eyed-and-dull-as-a-brick Clara we had last season.

After this season, I can actually say I'm gonna be sorry to see her go.

[Kanriel]

I find myself initially agreeing that Clara would be the one who knows the Doctor the most. But then I realize that she's only jumping into a time in his life to fix the changes being done by the great intelligence. She isn't in fact traveling with the Doctor through his different incarnations, she's only doing minor tasks to keep his history from majorly changing. So I can get behind her not being too happy with Capaldi's Doctor.

As well, I think we're going to see a major change in Capaldi's Doctor after the season ends. I think he's being far too calculating and logical. We saw Tennant and Smith doctors go above and beyond the "logical" conclusions and attempt to be more and better, and we're not seeing that in Capaldi so far. So here's my theory: He's "broken". His emotions are nearly gone as he's overwhelmed by his role in everything, his gratefulness to the Time Lords who, as we know, are a terribly difficult bunch when it comes to the Doctor, and him being able to possibly save them, and have them even give him a new set of regenerations, has got to really overload his mind. And I believe Smith was his longest regeneration yet, Ecclestion was what, 900~? So that's around 100 years for each of the first Doctors (and likely more focused on the 1st as he had to grow to old age first, eh?) and Smith was around 800 years all on his own? He lived 600 of those years in a single planet, while endlessly warding off countless enemies, his travelling, companions, etc. have been "lost" to distant memory. So as people have said he's acting a bit like the 1st, difficult to be with, but I think he's also overloaded because of the Gallifrey situation, as others have noted his obsession with certain things. I think his emotions are beyond a breaking point and he's "broken" now, leading Clara to have to make up for it, which is why she has changed. I mean Smith was pretty emotional for a Doctor, imo. Tennant had his moments (and the best moments, I think) but he was pretty quick to shoot things down and ignore them, I think Smith sounded the most caring with how he played the part. And now Capaldi is all facts and reason, not even giving away hope that he can save the blonde in the last episode, which I think the other doctors would have likely stated they could save. I think we're going to get a two-part/finale (since it's the same thing this season) that might flip the full Doctor back into play.

As for Clara possibly leaving, I'm split. I like her as a character, and while I'm iffy on her bitchiness this season, I think she's getting to or past Rose's level when it comes to top tier companion, and I think that's great to see. Although that's often when something happens to get rid of them. I was hoping Pink would actually be a 2nd companion, but I guess they don't want to Rory/Amy that up so soon. There certainly seems to be more story to go on with Pink, his lineage, etc. and exploring more of their importance to human advancement. Which could lead to why she has to leave. But oh well.

I think they get rid of companions too early a lot of times. Which might be good for the story but I think I'd like a bit more time spent specifically on adventures without having to explain backstory on the new companion every couple seasons.

[Myrrh_Quetz]

The thing is that from Clara's perspective, 12 is crabby, ugly, rude and dismissive--the near opposite of 11's genial, handsome, and thoughtful characteristics. She saw a major shift in the guy she thought she knew, and is having a hard time seeing through to the similarities, which is not surprising--12 is even more like 1 than I previously thought 11 was--he's almost intentionally difficult.

Her temper tantrum notwithstanding, I feel the change in her behavior toward him makes her a much better foil for this Doctor that has a tendency to get ahead of himself, and gives her loads more personality than the doe-eyed-and-dull-as-a-brick Clara we had last season.

After this season, I can actually say I'm gonna be sorry to see her go.

But that's just it. She didn't get bitchy because he has a different attitude than 11. She got bitchy because he changed, he got older. That was the entire point of the first episode this season. That's what I don't get or like. As someone who has seen every regeneration and understand it more than any other companion, she has zero reason to be bitchy about it