[TV] Doctor Who

[MatadorMedia]

There's too much random stuff going on with the Missy character and the Promised Land to even try and figure it out. It's really not even interesting at this point. At least the series arc about the cracks in the wall was intriguing and seemed to fit into the episodes. Anyway, I'm sure the end result will end up much more disappointing than any cool fan theories we can come up with. After the massive disappointment that was the 50th and the generally bland first episode this season, I'm not holding out much faith in Doctor Who this year. I'll keep watching it obviously, but it's bugging me. Kind of like how I'm still going to watch the Walking Dead even though a five year old could write a better script.

[Arrowstormen]

There's too much random stuff going on with the Missy character and the Promised Land to even try and figure it out. It's really not even interesting at this point. At least the series arc about the cracks in the wall was intriguing and seemed to fit into the episodes. Anyway, I'm sure the end result will end up much more disappointing than any cool fan theories we can come up with. After the massive disappointment that was the 50th and the generally bland first episode this season, I'm not holding out much faith in Doctor Who this year. I'll keep watching it obviously, but it's bugging me. Kind of like how I'm still going to watch the Walking Dead even though a five year old could write a better script.

Oh, for a second you had me worried.

[MatadorMedia]

Series 7 really started draining me during the second half. The Snowmen was amazing and the following episodes went progressively downhill. Moffat's determination to make every episode a mini-movie to celebrate the anniversary meant a lot of deus ex machina endings; why he has contained this trend into Series 8 we don't know. The Series 7 finale was grand and I loved it, even if Moffat tricked us into thinking we'd see the Trenzalore story play out.

Then we had the 50th and I was so excited to see the Time War unfold... instead, we were treated to 3 Doctors bickering and then not blowing up Gallifrey. No massive space battle, no Rassilon, no Master, no Could-of-Been King, no Nightmare Child, no Davros, not even a legitimate Dalek threat... just the doctor talking to himself. The Doctor not blowing up Gallifrey changes his entire character for me and he's yet to repair that character loss. The idea that he was willing to sacrifice his entire planet and commit genocide of his own people is what made the Ninth Doctor so tragically flawed and an interesting character when I first started watching.

Anyway the Christmas special was a narrated bunch of crap with arbitrary non-threatening situations that were easily resolved and then Matt Smith regenerated; the drawn out out 800 year story took away all tension that Trenzalore had promised for years. Series 8 started off slow and with a lot of nonsense but Time Heist finally showed some promise. Otherwise this series has been just okay. Moffat said he was changing up the way the show was written and played out but that was a lie because it's the same one-and-done deus ex machina crap. I really want to be excited for the rest of the series but I've been let down far too much, so I'm going to try and keep my expectations very, very low and maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Arrowstormen]

Series 7 really started draining me during the second half. The Snowmen was amazing and the following episodes went progressively downhill. Moffat's determination to make every episode a mini-movie to celebrate the anniversary meant a lot of deus ex machina endings; why he has contained this trend into Series 8 we don't know.(1) The Series 7 finale was grand and I loved it, even if Moffat tricked us into thinking we'd see the Trenzalore story play out. Then we had the 50th and I was so excited to see the Time War unfold... instead, we were treated to 3 Doctors bickering and then not blowing up Gallifrey. No massive space battle, no Rassilon, no Master, no Could-of-Been King, no Nightmare Child, not even a legitimate Dalek threat... just the doctor talking to himself. The Doctor not blowing up Gallifrey changes his entire character for me and he's yet to repair that character loss. Anyway the Christmas special was a narrated bunch of crap with arbitrary non-threatening situations that were easily resolved and then Matt Smith regenerated.(2) Series 8 started off slow but Time Heist finally showed some promise. Otherwise this series has been just okay. Moffat said he was changing up the way the show was written and played out but that was a lie because it's the same one-and-done deus ex machina crap. I really want to be excited for the rest of the series but I've been let down far too much, so I'm going to try and keep my expectations very, very low and maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

1) He hasn't.

2) If you expected big battles, the fault is with you. Also, the Doctor needed a change from the young looking old man who tries to hide his guilt and regret.

[apepi]

Series 7 really started draining me during the second half. The Snowmen was amazing and the following episodes went progressively downhill. Moffat's determination to make every episode a mini-movie to celebrate the anniversary meant a lot of deus ex machina endings; why he has contained this trend into Series 8 we don't know. The Series 7 finale was grand and I loved it, even if Moffat tricked us into thinking we'd see the Trenzalore story play out.

Then we had the 50th and I was so excited to see the Time War unfold... instead, we were treated to 3 Doctors bickering and then not blowing up Gallifrey. No massive space battle, no Rassilon, no Master, no Could-of-Been King, no Nightmare Child, no Davros, not even a legitimate Dalek threat... just the doctor talking to himself. The Doctor not blowing up Gallifrey changes his entire character for me and he's yet to repair that character loss. The idea that he was willing to sacrifice his entire planet and commit genocide of his own people is what made the Ninth Doctor so tragically flawed and an interesting character when I first started watching.

I thought the 50th was very good.

Anyone else want to see the War Doctor and Capaldi interact? :P

[prwraith]

After watching saturdays episode, I really hope Mr Pink isn't a regular character.

He's such a little bitch, I could not do a season or two of listening to him.

[Arrowstormen]

After watching saturdays episode, I really hope Mr Pink isn't a regular character.

He's such a little bitch, I could not do a season or two of listening to him.

He's so awesome. Loved the group dynamic of Twelfth, Clara and Danny, after Rory and Amy I don't think having only one companion is as good.

[prwraith]

He's so awesome.

If by awesome you mean, annoying bitch, then yes he's awesome. He'll be ranked way down there with Donna as the absolute worst pieces of trash ever written into companionship for the doctor.

[apepi]

If by awesome you mean, annoying bitch, then yes he's awesome. He'll be ranked way down there with Donna as the absolute worst pieces of trash ever written into companionship for the doctor.

Donna wad great, you know nothing!

[Arrowstormen]

If by awesome you mean, annoying bitch, then yes he's awesome. He'll be ranked way down there with Donna as the absolute worst pieces of trash ever written into companionship for the doctor.

Your opinion will not sway Good Guy Danny! You probably didn't like Rory, either!

[Sierra85]

Danny Pink is alright but i hope he stops whinging as much. I assume he's going to man up a bit more soon.

[Arrowstormen]

Danny Pink is alright but i hope he stops whinging as much. I assume he's going to man up a bit more soon.

It's not like he doesn't have a reason to "whine", everybody categorizes him because he's been a soldier, and the Doctor judges him quite harshly because of it. Plus, he's probably right about the Doctor.

[Deleted]

There's too much random stuff going on with the Missy character and the Promised Land to even try and figure it out. It's really not even interesting at this point. At least the series arc about the cracks in the wall was intriguing and seemed to fit into the episodes. Anyway, I'm sure the end result will end up much more disappointing than any cool fan theories we can come up with.

Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man
I am excited to know more about Missy, and the photos taken during filming the finale made me even more excited.

After the massive disappointment that was the 50th

Okay, I shouldn't have taken you seriously..

He'll be ranked way down there with Donna as the absolute worst pieces of trash ever written into companionship for the doctor.

Well, okay..

[prwraith]

It's not like he doesn't have a reason to "whine", everybody categorizes him because he's been a soldier, and the Doctor judges him quite harshly because of it. Plus, he's probably right about the Doctor.

I'll give you that, he does have a fairly legit reason to be upset. But being upset and acting like a child are too different things. There's only room for one person who acts like a child and that's the doctor right now.

If pink doesn't develop into an adult the tardis is basically going to turn into barneys fun camp with bitchier kids.

[Ryme]

I hate Danny Pink, I hate Clara, I hate how much attention is focused on their dry, unemotional, awkward relationship. Couldn't enjoy the episode because of this - just keeps feeling like the Clara Show every week.

[prwraith]

I hate Danny Pink, I hate Clara, I hate how much attention is focused on their dry, unemotional, awkward relationship. Couldn't enjoy the episode because of this - just keeps feeling like the Clara Show every week.

Clara and Smith had a good and interesting dynamic. Clara and the new guy are a bit painful to watch.

[Deleted]

Series 7 really started draining me during the second half. The Snowmen was amazing and the following episodes went progressively downhill. Moffat's determination to make every episode a mini-movie to celebrate the anniversary meant a lot of deus ex machina endings; why he has contained this trend into Series 8 we don't know. The Series 7 finale was grand and I loved it, even if Moffat tricked us into thinking we'd see the Trenzalore story play out.

Then we had the 50th and I was so excited to see the Time War unfold... instead, we were treated to 3 Doctors bickering and then not blowing up Gallifrey. No massive space battle, no Rassilon, no Master, no Could-of-Been King, no Nightmare Child, no Davros, not even a legitimate Dalek threat... just the doctor talking to himself. The Doctor not blowing up Gallifrey changes his entire character for me and he's yet to repair that character loss. The idea that he was willing to sacrifice his entire planet and commit genocide of his own people is what made the Ninth Doctor so tragically flawed and an interesting character when I first started watching.

Anyway the Christmas special was a narrated bunch of crap with arbitrary non-threatening situations that were easily resolved and then Matt Smith regenerated; the drawn out out 800 year story took away all tension that Trenzalore had promised for years. Series 8 started off slow and with a lot of nonsense but Time Heist finally showed some promise. Otherwise this series has been just okay. Moffat said he was changing up the way the show was written and played out but that was a lie because it's the same one-and-done deus ex machina crap. I really want to be excited for the rest of the series but I've been let down far too much, so I'm going to try and keep my expectations very, very low and maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

I'll agree that series 7 and Time of the Doctor where pretty crap. But the 50th was amazing, you're the first person I've seen who didn't like it. I think that your complaints about the 50th where actually what made it so great. If it had all of those things crammed into it it would have been a bloated and overstuffed mess. But thankfully it didn't try too hard to be the most super awesome and serious episode of Doctor Who ever. Most of it was a lighthearted plot line that could have appeared in any everyday episode of Doctor Who. Which is of course the whole point - it's paying tribute to the standard bread and butter episodes of Who. And then that was complimented by the Time War (which we got to see a decent amount of) and the reveal of Gallifrey's survival which gave it the significance worthy of the 50th anniversary. It really sounds to me like you where missing the point, and there's time for all that Timelord stuff to be explored when Gallifrey is found.

[imabanana]

Meh, was hoping this episode would develop a bit this Pink character and make him a little interesting. After seeing it I still find him one of the most annoying/boring/pointless characters ever. Could have been a good episode without him.

[Shockeye]

Last night I got caught up on the last two episodes -

Time Heist was pretty terrible. For a bank with such a staggering reputation of imperviousness it sure has a lot of easy-access ventilation shafts. The concept of the story should have resulted in a top-notch episode as there actually was a lot of clever stuff in it, particularly the Teller (the double entendre name was great), and the characters of Psi and Saibra had enormous potential but were badly written and poorly acted. Keeley Hawes did a fantastic job as Ms Karabraxos/Delphox though, but not enough was actually done with her to any great effect.
Hands down the best part was Capaldi's channeling Malcolm Tucker in the "shut up! just shut up! shuttity up up up!" moment.
And it's not the fault of the show, but any sci-fi action bank robbery will, to me, be forever compared to the brilliant Farscape three-parter "Liars, Guns, and Money", as the gold standard of sci-fi bank heist shenanigans.

The Caretaker - For a fluff piece, this was pretty entertaining. The monster looked great, but was sadly, painfully, generic, pretty much just a Dalek variant, right down to the repeating combat action phrases and behavioural dialogue. Nobody annoyed me this time, and the pacing was actually quite nice, it didn't feel rushed to conclusion, this one actually took it's time and I appreciated that a lot. The relationship between the Doctor and Clara continues to be extremely forced, it's clear these two characters just do not mesh at all.

For me, this season is struggling severely. We've got a new Doctor with quite a change of persona from the last two, and a companion that has no reason to be with the Doctor (aside from "seeing wonders" and feeling, artificially, responsible for him). The tone of the show and writing is at firm odds with the new Doctor rather than embracing his "user unfriendliness" the episodes go to great lengths to work around it.

I just hope this is a case of "first season of a new Doctor" stumbling that's not entirely uncommon, and by the end or start of next season the footing will be found.

[MatadorMedia]

The relationship between the Doctor and Clara continues to be extremely forced, it's clear these two characters just do not mesh at all.

Thank you. Clara has no reason to stay with the Doctor. The only reason she sticks around is because she feels somehow responsible for his well-being, like he'll self-destruct without her. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the basis for a seriously abusive relationship. The Doctor has become an abusive "boyfriend" or "father" or whatever you like because he treats Clara like crap, uses and manipulates her, and then claims he'll die if she leaves him. Clara needs to get out of that situation. But like all abusive relationships, the most dangerous situation is the break-up and the Doctor might actually explode / break bad in order to keep her. I have the feeling that Clara is going to be taken away rather than choose to leave, like killed by Missy or something. But all the same the Doctor is going to lose it I hope. He needs to do something because he's just filling time right now and he absolutely needs to remove himself from Clara (for his own character development).