Doctor Who

[Garwoofoo]

It felt as much like a reboot for Clara as it did for the Doctor. She was great in this.

Capaldi is ace, though. He feels so much like the Doctor already. He's somehow very old-school but also seems to be channelling Smith. Pretty much perfect so far I'd say.

[CBT]

I watched the new one out of curiosity. Well, it was certainly an episode of Doctor Who. Capaldi was good when the script wasn't making him tiresomely quirky, although the scene where he berates a tramp was the wrong side of unsettling (and I can't quite believe I just wrote that about Doctor Who). Making jokes about being derivative of previous stories becomes less of a joke and more of an inadequate apology with each iteration; also, the twee fetishisation of the British Empire that so plagues anything Moffat does was on full display. Gross.Don't think I'll bother in future. I'll manage without.

This is pretty much exactly how I felt. It felt a little like a Russell t Davies directed episode, where it looked a lot more cartoony and less like the Matt smith ones which looked way better in terms of the set and lighting; I can't really describe it but if you watch even a minute of a Martha jones and tennant clip and then a Gillan and Smith clip the latter feels a lot more cinematic?

Will be interested to see how Capaldi interacts with the daleks next episode but all I remember was after the eleventh hour and even DT's opening episode I was immediately sold as them being the Doctor. It's a real shame I can't really same the for PC.

[CarloOos]

Took 20 minutes to find its feet, but from the alley scene onwards (basically when he started being himself rather than 'zany', which didn't suit his style at all) I found Capaldi absolutely magnetic.

The episode itself, well, it was no Eleventh Hour but far better than Tennant's and Eccelstone's openers. Very much liked the amibiguity at the end, about the nature of his character.

[Mogster]

it looked a lot more cartoony and less like the Matt smith ones which looked way better in terms of the set and lighting

I was just about to post about how much I liked the look, as it was often quite dark and moody. Maybe it was just the cinema screen, but it looked great to me.

I loved it! Capaldi's Doctor is so different to Smith's already, a lot darker but still funny in his own way. It feels like he's given himself a lot of room to develop the character too. The clockwork men were really creepy, especially in the restaurant, and Moffat's very good with his horror gimmicks. "How long can you hold your breath?"

Oh and the intro was great. I was surprised at just how similar it was to the fan one, and the new synthy theme tune was ace.

[sofasurfer]

So

Were the robots from The Girl in the Fireplace? They did mention The Madame de Pompadour. And the doctor sent that ship back in time. Is this season going to be about the Doctor's past catching up with him?

[Monkeyboy]

Are the lizard girl and her servant married? Because they didn't really mention that.

Yes, they're married, and they did mention it.

Anyhoo, Capaldi got bettter as the episode went on. I liked his more subdued style right at the very end when he was standing outside the Tardis talking to Clara.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

Doctor Chewits!

[Mogster]

So

Were the robots from The Girl in the Fireplace? They did mention The Madame de Pompadour. And the doctor sent that ship back in time. Is this season going to be about the Doctor's past catching up with him?

The ship was the Marie Antoinette, which they said was the sister ship of the Madame de Pompadour.

[sofasurfer]

The ship was the Marie Antoinette, which they said was the sister ship of the Madame de Pompadour.

Ah..got you. Must have missed that.

[jonamok]

Thought that was rubbish. Poor story, crap dialogue, shaky, overly quirky, occasionally muffled performance from Capaldi. Improved a bit towards the end, but too little too late.

And all those Moffat-scripted pleas for Clara to see the Doctor we all know and love beneath the lined face and grey hair was blatantly aimed squarely at the younger/female Who fan base. Lol.

[MrPogo]

It had an awful lot of rubbish filler (most of the first twenty minutes and a lot of the last ten or so), but was decent when it was actually going. Hopefully this extended episode length is just a one off though, as they were really struggling to fill it with quality.

[WibbleWorldGiddy]

if you watch even a minute of a Martha jones and tennant clip and then a Gillan and Smith clip the latter feels a lot more cinematic?

Matt Smith benefited from being the first Doctor to be broadcast in high definition. Even on a SD broadcast, the episodes seem to look better and have more background detail than would previously have been broadcast.

[Mogster]

For the people who thought Capaldi's performance was "overly quirky", that pretty standard post-regeneration stuff until his personality settles in. Capaldi isn't going to be the super quirky Doctor.

[Comrade]

And all those Moffat-scripted pleas for Clara to see the Doctor we all know and love beneath the lined face and grey hair was blatantly aimed squarely at the younger/female Who fan base. Lol.

No, that was for Doctor Who's primary demographic: children. There are kids for whom their whole life Doctor has been a pretty boy. Him turning into a scary old man could probably freak a lot of them out.

Anyway, I thought this was a pretty great episode, god knows what people want from this show if they were disappointed. They even retconned in some character for Clara!

Oh and the lady at the end is transparently the Master. She even calls herself "Missy", i.e. "the Mistress".

[Scribblor]

Why was the dinosaur so big? They didn't really try to explain it away with Mrs Lizard saying "I was there, they were all this big really", did they? Because that was utter shite.

[kensei]

...unless it's a red herring.

Decent opener, bit slower burning than Smith's, not overly sold on Capaldi but a few good scenes and I'm sure he'll settle in. About on par with Rose, I think.

[Harsin]

Christ almighty, that may be the worst Doctor who theme yet. Yes, even compared to some of those atrocities from the 80s. Sounded like Murray Gold composed it on one of those cat pianos you can download from the App Store.

As for the episode, this felt like the ghost of RTD combined with all Moffat's overused writing tics that became stale about 20 episodes ago. A mysterious powerful middle-aged woman obsessed with the Doctor, really stretching yourself there Steve.

Capaldi, was fine when being himself, when he has to play the Captain Wacky version of the Doctor he struggles. Hopefully the writers play to his strengths going forward.

At least none of the other Doctor actors had to put up intros which bombarded you for an hour with 'Ewwwww he's old, but try not to worry about it kids!

Thought it was funny that Moffat went so far as to reboot the entire universe to try and fix RTD ruining the playground, going so far as to outright mock onscreen the idea of a giant Cyberman running amok in Victorian London, and now we have a dinosaur (which is Godzilla sized for some reason) running amok in, er, Victorian London.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

I think it's very telling that Moffat's pet crew of badasses calls Victorian London their home. It fits in very well with the nauseating Keep Calm And Carry On type artificial nostalgia for empire that permeates the entire programme.

[Not Thread Owner]

I really didn't like the shitty special effects. The green screen work with CGI London looked utter shit.

But Capaldi? Aye, he's aight.

[Comrade]

I think it's very telling that Moffat's pet crew of badasses calls Victorian London their home. It fits in very well with the nauseating Keep Calm And Carry On type artificial nostalgia for empire that permeates the entire programme.

Yeah, what a monster Stephen Moffat is. How does he sleep at night?

[Mogster]

I really didn't like the shitty special effects. The green screen work with CGI London looked utter shit.

But Capaldi? Aye, he's aight.

Did you watch the behind the scenes thing? The half clockwork head in particularly looked unnervingly real and had some really intricate stuff inside.

[Flub]

I think what they need to do is more sexing up of Jenny. She's well hot when they let her be. No wonder the lizard married her.

I must admit I didn't like the new theme music on first listen but I think it's going to grow on me. Didn't like the title sequence when it went viral. Still don't like it. The clockwork just doesn't work for me. There was another fan title that I much preferred that I can't find now. All asteroid belts and weird rocky planets and shit. Much better

*Edit* Found it and it takes the piss out of Moffat at the end

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Yeah, what a monster Stephen Moffat is. How does he sleep at night?

He undoubtedly sleeps very soundly, knowing that he's hit upon a winning formula of static focus-grouped mediocrity whose faults can be explained away by an unsubstantiated 'it's for children', as if children can't deal with being challenged or introduced to new concepts - something that Doctor Who frequently used to do for kids, even a few years ago, and no longer does.

[Mogster]

I'm sure he's very happy. He's made a show that people still watch religiously when they've apparently hated it for years.

[Graham S]

At the cinema, we got an extra bit right at the beginning, a piece by the Sontaran straight to camera enumerating the various Doctors.

When Capaldi disguised himself as one of the cyborgs, was the face he burst out of Matt Smith's?

[Rudi von Starnberg]

I'm sure he's very happy. He's made a show that people still watch religiously when they've apparently hated it for years.

I've seen four episodes of the show since the end of Matt Smith's second series and that includes this one because I went off the show so thoroughly. Don't worry, you'll have your thread of uninterrupted positivity back next week.

[Graham S]

Anyone seen Capaldi's Oscar Winning short film? Worth seeking out?

[Hexx]

Not enough love for the best bit of the episode

[Protocol Penguin]

Just watched the episode, it's a load of old shite really. Series needs to have the creative team replaced ASAP, or be put to bed for some years again. All a big self indulgent mess really, and having a much better actor in the lead role this time round doesn't save it.

Blatantly seemed like it was meant to be a normal length episode, but they just threw in stuff that would be usually edited out to just to pad it out full of superfluous crap.

[Comrade]

I've seen four episodes of the show since the end of Matt Smith's second series and that includes this one because I went off the show so thoroughly. Don't worry, you'll have your thread of uninterrupted positivity back next week.

Right, so you're saying that the show doesn't challenge children or introduce new concepts despite the fact that you've hardly seen the programme recently. Suffice to say, literally every second that you've missed has been stuffed to the brim with all the children-challenging new elements you could imagine, which is pretty impressive for a meagre second of a TV show.

Honestly, Doctor Who has its ups and downs but the idea that it's on some great decline is just bollocks. This "new Doctor" episode was way better than either Ecclestone or Tennant's "new Doctor" episodes. Moffat's got his problems but he makes RTD look like a joke.