Doctor Who

[calsnowskier]

Forgot to mention...

I love the way they flipped the opening sequence for this last episode. Clara is trying to convince the Cybermen that she is the Doctor, then the opening sequence plays with her name first and Capaldi in the companion slot, and they show her eyes instead of Capaldis.

Great touch!!

 

[BigRedMoe]

No one is ever actually dead in DW!

I think we'll see further resolution with Clara, and Danny too, in the second half of the series. What that will be, I have no idea (I would guess some type of reunion for Clara and Danny). She is "the impossible girl" though.

 

[BigRedMoe]

So, who else loves the casting of Nick Frost as Santa for the Christmas Special?

 

[calsnowskier]

So, who else loves the casting of Nick Frost as Santa for the Christmas Special?

Did you watch it yet?

 

[BigRedMoe]

Did you watch it yet?

Nope, not yet. Been really busy with family holiday goings on. Plan on watching it with the kids tomorrow evening. Was it good? The X-Mas specials usually have a bit of a different feel to them but are entertaining.

 

[calsnowskier]

Nope, not yet. Been really busy with family holiday goings on. Plan on watching it with the kids tomorrow evening. Was it good? The X-Mas specials usually have a bit of a different feel to them but are entertaining.

I don't want to spoil anything, so I will leave it this...

I really enjoyed it.

 

[Darkstone42]

I love Capaldi's Doctor, but I really hate Moffat as a writer. He's terrible at it. He's ruining Sherlock, too, and he has the benefit of two excellent actors to center on with that one.

 

[calsnowskier]

I love Capaldi's Doctor, but I really hate Moffat as a writer. He's terrible at it. He's ruining Sherlock, too, and he has the benefit of two excellent actors to center on with that one.

Capaldi is slowly growing on me, but he still isn't there yet, IMHO. I really became a big fan of Smith's portrayal as he went on, so Capaldi has big shoes to fill.

As I have spelled out in earlier posts, the character has gone through some major changes since the War Doctor arc, so I think a lot of the issues I have will be cleared up by the end of Capaldi's run, and re-watching this past season will make much more sense after some time and further developments.

As for Moffat, he can be aggravating, but I trust that he has a love for the franchise and wants to keep it strong. For an institutional franchise such as this, I cant really ask for much more than that.

 

[Darkstone42]

Capaldi is slowly growing on me, but he still isn't there yet, IMHO. I really became a big fan of Smith's portrayal as he went on, so Capaldi has big shoes to fill.

As I have spelled out in earlier posts, the character has gone through some major changes since the War Doctor arc, so I think a lot of the issues I have will be cleared up by the end of Capaldi's run, and re-watching this past season will make much more sense after some time and further developments.

As for Moffat, he can be aggravating, but I trust that he has a love for the franchise and wants to keep it strong. For an institutional franchise such as this, I cant really ask for much more than that.

I think Moffat does care and wants to keep the series strong, and he has some talent (Don't Blink still might be my favorite episode), but he's been using the same tired tropes (especially the time loops) over and over again, and it's getting tedious. He's also clearly averse to giving his characters consequences for their actions. One of the biggest strengths of Tennant's run was that the show was written in a way that made you feel loss. If that Doctor screwed up, not only did someone pay, but he was written to feel it, too. I don't get that from Moffat's tenure, certainly not as consistently as I think I should.

 

[calsnowskier]

I think Moffat does care and wants to keep the series strong, and he has some talent (Don't Blink still might be my favorite episode), but he's been using the same tired tropes (especially the time loops) over and over again, and it's getting tedious. He's also clearly averse to giving his characters consequences for their actions. One of the biggest strengths of Tennant's run was that the show was written in a way that made you feel loss. If that Doctor screwed up, not only did someone pay, but he was written to feel it, too. I don't get that from Moffat's tenure, certainly not as consistently as I think I should.

Angels take Manhattan...

 

[Darkstone42]

Angels take Manhattan...

Eh, I know he wasn't going to see them again, and it was sad, but that sort of thing didn't happen with nearly the regularity it should have--given the things they had been doing--and they didn't leave the way some of Tennant's companions did, kind of telling him off for his god complex and saying they couldn't deal with him anymore. He wasn't made as much to feel like it was his fault.

Because it usually is his fault.

 

[calsnowskier]

Was Davis the runner during Tennant's run, or had Moffat already taken over? I think that hand-off took place DURING Tennants run, but I am not sure.

I look at NuWho as basically all a lead up to the War Doctor.

Eckleston (sp?) had turned himself off, emotionally, and was actively trying to block out and forget what (he thought) happened.

Tennant was showing the strain of what happened, and was losing his grasp. He began to view himself as a monster, and his actions reflected that.

Smith was a complete mental explosion. He reverted to a child persona because he didn't know how else to deal. He was probably clinically insane.

Capaldi now knows the truth, and has come to terms with all facets of what happened. He has taken an avatar that more reflects his age (Capaldi is the oldest actor to take the role) and he is more comfortable in the fact that he does what needs to be done. He still does not know, however, if he is good or bad. That is his major dilemma. But the events of the War Doctor are now just events of his past. Not the event that broke him and killed his people.

Given that view, I think Moffat has done a rather good job with the big picture.

 

[Darkstone42]

Was Davis the runner during Tennant's run, or had Moffat already taken over? I think that hand-off took place DURING Tennants run, but I am not sure.

I look at NuWho as basically all a lead up to the War Doctor.

Eckleston (sp?) had turned himself off, emotionally, and was actively trying to block out and forget what (he thought) happened.

Tennant was showing the strain of what happened, and was losing his grasp. He began to view himself as a monster, and his actions reflected that.

Smith was a complete mental explosion. He reverted to a child persona because he didn't know how else to deal. He was probably clinically insane.

Capaldi now knows the truth, and has come to terms with all facets of what happened. He has taken an avatar that more reflects his age (Capaldi is the oldest actor to take the role) and he is more comfortable in the fact that he does what needs to be done. He still does not know, however, if he is good or bad. That is his major dilemma. But the events of the War Doctor are now just events of his past. Not the event that broke him and killed his people.

Given that view, I think Moffat has done a rather good job with the big picture.

Moffat occasionally wrote for Davies, but I'm not sure when the transition happened. And Moffat was a fine writer early in his tenure, too, but I think his style just gets old to me. Sherlock, for example, was brilliant at its start, but the third series was really odd.

But I do agree that the evolution of the Doctor through the various regenerations has been handled well.

 

[calsnowskier]

Moffat occasionally wrote for Davies, but I'm not sure when the transition happened. And Moffat was a fine writer early in his tenure, too, but I think his style just gets old to me. Sherlock, for example, was brilliant at its start, but the third series was really odd.

But I do agree that the evolution of the Doctor through the various regenerations has been handled well.

I don't watch Sherlock, so I can't comment there.

I have heard a lot of complaints about Moffat, and I see and understand them. And I am not very impressed with the individual episodes so far from Capaldi (Xmas, the season finale and Whispers (??) were really good, though), but I like the direction he is going with his struggling with his place on the good/evil scale.

Like everyone else, Moffat has strengths and weaknesses. For me, he is a net plus.

 

[calsnowskier]

Since when does The Doctor drop the fourth wall?

I HATED that cold open. So un-Doctor like.

Kinda killed the entire episode for me. The Doctor has always attempted to avoid paradoxes to this point. Yesterday's episode completely dropped that idea completely and, IMHO, broke the cardinal rule of sci fi.

The show will need to do a lot to recover from that episode, I think.

 

[calsnowskier]

Anyone catch the Christmas special?

AWESOME Episode!! Maybe the best Christmas episode yet.

 

[BigRedMoe]

Just like last year, I still have it on my DVR waiting to be viewed! Argh!

 

[calsnowskier]

Just like last year, I still have it on my DVR waiting to be viewed! Argh!

I immediately jumped on Netflix to watch a few past episodes after watching this special.

That's a sign of a good ep, IMHO.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

I immediately jumped on Netflix to watch a few past episodes after watching this special.

That's a sign of a good ep, IMHO.

the only thing i did not understand/like was why River did not recognize the DR?? don't remember it being explained in the episode...

 

[calsnowskier]

the only thing i did not understand/like was why River did not recognize the DR?? don't remember it being explained in the episode...

She had not met the Capaldi Doctor. The first doctor that she met was Smith and Tennant was the last she met (she only met him once, at her "death").

She met Capaldi for the first (and only) time in that episode. She only knew of the first 12 doctors (she had the pics).