Doctor Who: Series 8

Finding it hard to believe, as nerdy as this group is, that there's not already a DW thread. So, fellow Whovians, what did you think about the Capaldi iteration?

I really, really liked it. As much as I liked the frenetic whimsy of Matt Smith, I really dug the new, darker Doctor. (He SO pushed the clockwork guy out the door, then looked straight into the camera as if to say "Yeah, I did it. What's it to you?!")

 

Doctor Who gets brought up in the running geek thread from time to time, but I have no problem with a separate thread.

First impression of Capaldi was so-so, but it usually takes the better part of a season for the actors to find their footing as the Doctor. I did like the explanation of why he aged so much during the regeneration. The idea that he no longer has to hide anything -- from his companions or himself -- raises a lot of intriguing possibilities.
I just hope Jenna Coleman sticks around a while longer. She is an absolute smoke show.

 

I really liked Capaldi in general, and was happy with how he did in his first episode. That episode was much more about Clara being okay with the new Doctor than about exploring the all that there is to know about the new Doctor. And I'm okay with that because I felt like Clara's character development was flimsy and weak up until now. This was the first episode in which she was able to be more forceful (especially in the scene with Madame Vastra) and actually be an active character instead of a reactive one. I'm happy that there won't be any relationship type feelings between them, and I think this will be a much stronger season for Clara than the past one.

As for her sticking around, the rumor is that her last episode will be the upcoming Christmas episode. So you have one more season with her, Batman.

 

I'm intrigued by Capaldi and am looking forward to seeing where he goes with his Doctor. On the other hand, Clara is my 2nd least favourite companion ... not sure why, but she does nothing for me at all.

Always happy to see Strax, however.

 

Oh, Strax is golden. Anytime he, Vastra and Jenny are in an episode, I know it'll be good.

And even though Capaldi is darker, there were so many great one-liners from him. Don't look in the mirror, it's furious. I hate karaoke and mimes. These are attack eyebrows. Planet of the pudding brains, et al.

I did spend a bit of time annoyed with Clara in this ep, but she won me back at the end.

Anyone hear if we'll hear from River anytime soon?

(Edit: From an interview in the Daily Mirror on Aug. 10: "Doctor Who was a great opportunity. I hope that my role hasn’t ended because I wasn’t officially told, ‘That’s it.’ I loved watching it growing up and I’m amazed that young girls have an obsession with River Song. They consider her to be a great, strong role model, which is lovely.")

 

I really enjoyed the episode. Loved the advancement of Clara's character, and Capaldi was great.

Really, really strong until the last scene. If this "Missy" and "promised land" is going to be more ridiculous, convoluted Moffat logic I'm not going to be happy.

I'm perfectly fine thinking Clara got the number from A) River or B) the original shop girl from Blink; Personally I don't need more inserted 'backstory we didn't know about' and confusion.

 

Unfortunately, I think that's what we're in for.

 

Crap. I watched every episode of Seasons 6 and 7, and I'm still not sure what the hell happened. As great as Vastra, Strax and Jenny are, they really just appeared out of thin air and it feels like I missed a half-dozen episodes.

 

The past few seasons really need to be seen multiple times. A bunch of things I didn't fully understand fell into place for me on viewing the eps again. A lot of it, though, unfortunately comes down to "because the Doctor", which gets annoying.

 

I've watched them a couple of times, some of the stuff makes sense and some of it is nonsense.

I think we're just supposed to accept that the Doctor met Vastra and Jenny on his own, at some point hooked them up with Strax, all off camera. I honestly couldn't tell you if he was 10 or 11 when he met Vastra for the first time, and IIRC Vastra as a character wasn't actually in the Silurian episode with 11....

They're entertaining characters but there's definitely a ton of "because timelord" in there to look past.

 

Strax joined Vastra and Jenny after the Battle of Demons Run (they revived him, asked him to join them), but the Doctor met all three off-screen, in the series literature. I'm okay with that.

 

River couldn't have given Clara the number. Clara saw River in "The Name of the Doctor," so she knows who River is to the Doctor. Otherwise, wouldn't Clara have answered, "Oh, the lady from the shop was River. Didn't realize it until the first time we went to Trenzalore and I saw her ghost/holograph/whatever."

I'm guessing the mystery person is the new character we just saw. Question is whether this is an old character redressed or someone new.

As far as the actual episode goes, I've gotten so conditioned to the frantic pace of Matt Smith and how episodes were cut to match his energy that some of the longer scenes threw me off. It's still the same show, but it's going to feel fresh because of those small touches.