Jump to content

Official Doctor Who New Series Discussion (spoilers)


The Shadow
 Share

Recommended Posts

We watched it tonight. It was cute-- Peter Capaldi continues to be awesome. Steven Moffat continues to decline. I know it's passe to beat on him, and I generally don't and think he's done a lot of great things-- but I just haven't felt like he really clicks with Capaldi's Doctor despite the fact he created him. It was the usual-- great Doctor lines, some heartwaring stuff-- and some insipid thing that makes zero sense, like an alien hiding a gun in his head.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

So Capaldi has announced that he is leaving the role! This year's Christmas special will be his last episode. That'll be three seasons, so pretty standard for someone to play the part.

 

But! Who (ha!) will be next to take up the role? There's some speculation that it will either be a non caucasian or even a woman actor in the role. I think it would be weird for the character to be a woman, does regeneration even work that way?

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38808070

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Master switched genders, and the never-depicted Corsair (see "The Doctor's Wife" episode) reportedly did as well. If Time Lords can regenerate every cell in their body, change height, hair (perfectly styled at that), weight, then why not gender or skin color, or both? Would be fun. So, does Chibnall get to cast the Thirteenth Doctor, or will Moffat do it again?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hope they make the next Doctor a black woman just to piss people off.

 

I'm bummed though, I feel like Capaldi never really hit his stride. I don't think Moffat was a good fit for him. He's had a ton of great performances and moments, but they were in between a lot of stupid Moffat stuff. And I say that as a person who hates Whovians bashing on show-runners.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A different Doctor needs a different show-runner. Otherwise the Doctors' personalities run together. When Smith started his run, I could easily hear Tennant performing all of the same dialogue. It wasn't until the second series with Smith that he was a distinctive Doctor from Tennant's. Same for Capaldi, I think. His Doctor wasn't sufficiently distinct from Smith's until his second series.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Master switched genders, and the never-depicted Corsair (see "The Doctor's Wife" episode) reportedly did as well. If Time Lords can regenerate every cell in their body, change height, hair (perfectly styled at that), weight, then why not gender or skin color, or both? Would be fun. So, does Chibnall get to cast the Thirteenth Doctor, or will Moffat do it again?

In that case, I recommend Hayley Atwell! The article says she expressed interest!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hope they make the next Doctor a black woman just to piss people off.

LOL, this reminds me of the amazing amount of hatred there is among gamers for the character of Nadine from the last Uncharted. Since she

doesn't die in the end, there were gamers who wanted her to show up in the DLC just so she could be killed :|

 

 

I'm bummed though, I feel like Capaldi never really hit his stride. I don't think Moffat was a good fit for him. He's had a ton of great performances and moments, but they were in between a lot of stupid Moffat stuff. And I say that as a person who hates Whovians bashing on show-runners.

 

I agree about Capaldi, I don't think he really got a moment to shine in the role. I think Heaven Sent was one of his best episodes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heaven sent was an excellent episode!

 

I also like the idea of Hayley Atwell if they do go down the route of having a female Doctor. She can pull it off I would say.

 

Shame he is leaving - having no series last year was a pain, so it feels like he has barely been in the role that long. 4 series and a few Xmas specials would have been a nice run, but it's only going to be 3 series sadly. Quality actor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Not a bad opener for the new series. Introduced Bill nicely and enjoying Nardole throwing in a few lines here and there. I like it when they have 3 companions.

 

But the preview for the rest of the series!! Looking forward to seeing John Simm's Master coming back, and there was a glimpse already of the regeneration for Capaldi - maybe he goes before the Xmas special?

 

https://youtu.be/7QjNwwQjYBo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess they figured since it was announced he was leaving they may as well tease it?

 

Just once I'd love it if they kept it a secret so they could really surprise us with it.

 

I thought this episode was great, Moffat is really good when he's not throwing everything but the kitchen sink into an episode. Okay, maybe the Dalek wasn't needed, but they need to keep that IP with the BBC and that's one way to do it without giving them a dedicated episode.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was a fun start. I have really, really enjoyed Capaldi's doctor.

 

One thing I get distracted with in the Moffat era is trying to figure out what pieces will be in play throughout the season. This episode wasn't an exception.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Liking this new season! I wasn't sure about Bill at first but she is growing on me. Her pointing out how it didn't make sense for the chairs to be so far from the console was funny. :D

 

I want one of those emoji robots!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But the moment above WAS the time war. And in the season opener he went to it, just not Gallifrey.

 

I guess that means the time war is no longer time-locked?

 

The overall timeline is confusing. Gallifrey was exempt from changes in time, wasn't it? But after the reboot of the universe I'm not sure what the state of things is. I remember Smith-Doc being confused that Amy didn't recall the Daleks moving the Earth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah. It's confusing.

 

I want to clarify that I'm just guessing that Twelve hasn't traveled back to participate in the saving of Gallifrey yet. He may have, but I think that Moffat would want to recycle that dramatic appearance of Capaldi's Doctor, but do it from Twelve's perspective. Just seems like something Moffat would do.

 

Gallifrey was immune from changes in the timeline in the classic show. Presumably the Last Great Time War was destructive enough to remove that protection, or the Time Lords just stopped enforcing it. Else how could Clara and Twelve appear in the Doctor's childhood barn? Or why would the Time Lords go back and resurrect the Master and Rassilon? Presumably the whole of Gallifrey's existence was timelocked, not just the Time War portion of it. The only time I can recall when multiple Doctors were on Gallifrey simultaneously was the 20th annivesary special, and that was a deliberate action by the Time Lords, I think (I may be conflating the 10th and 20th anniversary specials here). Usually when the Doctor traveled to Gallifrey, it was always "now" for Gallifrey; he couldn't travel into his own planet's relative past. It was also why Time Lords always met in the "right order". When the Doctor and the Master met, it was always after their previous encounter, no matter when the encounter was in the Universe. That presumably is no longer the case, either because of lack of enforcement or because of damage from the Time War. That might explain why the rules are bent or even non-existent. Once the timelock on Gallifrey, and the war in general, was broken, there was no repairing it.

 

Moffat has been the show runner that took the most advantage of the time travel aspect of Doctor Who. Previous show runners just let the TARDIS be an excuse to travel to different eras and different places, but the adventures were not really about time travel. I wonder if Chibnall will be as ambitious when it comes to telling time travel stories.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.