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Official Doctor Who New Series Discussion (spoilers)


The Shadow
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effective, schmeffetive-that doesn't really work, does it? Anyway, I don't care how effective they are, I care how entertaining and how terrifying. The Silence are terrifying because never remembering you don't know is my worst fear, I think. It's like having evil alzheimer's.

With the daleks, yeah, I'll get exterminated. Where's the mystery?

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the Daleks are kind of amazing. They're one a of mere handful of genuinely transcendent (yet simultaneously cartoonish) recurring portrayals of evil in post-WWII popculture that still really work long after one assumes they're too overused to pack any storytelling punch. Also, for some reason, all these portrayals of evil start with the letter D : Daleks, Darkseid, Darth Vader, Dredd.

 

and now as always I say the holy twelve word formula "THIS WEEK'S EPISODE WASN'T SO GOOD BUT NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE LOOKS GREAT" but this time you guys I really mean it I mean come on it's robin hood

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A thought on an older Doctor...

 

I think that the War Doctor called it when he met 10 and 11-- he was having a midlife crisis. The Time War aged the doctor from what we could see and was clearly a defining moment for him. I think while regeneration is unpredictable for the Doctor his subconscious clearly plays a role. When he regenerated to 9 it was post-Time War. He had lost everything, was alone and depressed. The 9th Doctor was very stripped down and by the rules.

 

His time with Rose sort of rekindled the way he used to be. His 10th form was a response to that. He was somebody who was in love with the universe again and allowed himself to feel and express that. As said, this Doctor experienced a crap load of trauma but pushed on with having fun. Again, a lesson learned from the Time War, this time he dealt with it differently. The War Doctor and the 9th Doctor had weight on their shoulders that controlled them and they had survivor guilt. The 10th form's personality was the way it was to heal that-- and it worked so well that he "didn't want to go." Totally different to the 9th and War Docs who were resigned with changing.

 

His resistance to changing again resulted in his next personality being in denial almost. The 11th Doctor was child-like, forgetful and completely for going against the rules. His subconscious had put up a wall and he was repressing a lot of the things he'd done. If the 10th Doctor was the ego, the 9th was the super-ego and the 11th pure id.

We didn't see it, but the 11th Doctor was the longest living, and outside of a momentary reversion to youth as he was dying, when he went he was the oldest he'd ever been, which is an interesting contrast to that form starting as the youngest.

 

So he'd gotten used to being thoughtful and patient again, had cheated a fixed-point in time death sentence and was both proud of what he'd done and in a lot less denial. So it would make sense his next form reflected that by being more stately and aged instead of young and spastic. He's not running from his past any more.

 

I don't think that RTD of Moffat planned it this way-- but it works.

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and now as always I say the holy twelve word formula "THIS WEEK'S EPISODE WASN'T SO GOOD BUT NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE LOOKS GREAT" but this time you guys I really mean it I mean come on it's robin hood

 

The next story is a lighthearted comedy romp. If Matt Smith was still the Doctor, the episode would not be that great, but it works with Capaldi. His more serious Doctor is a perfect counterpoint to the goofy comedy going on around him. I think it's a pretty good outing myself. Not the BEST of the batch, (that's still to come), but enjoyable.

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I'm liking the new take on the Doctor. It's a refreshing juxtaposition to how Tennant and Smith (who I also loved) portrayed The Doctor, but it doesn't feel so different as to make me think it's another character totally. Just a different ways of expressing the same thing. You can see the same stories would have been played out with different Doctors; same outcome, different portrayal.

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I like how Capaldi manages to be gruff but dainty at the same time. Sometimes he moves in a tippy toe hop like thing and with his hands at angles reminiscent of a magician preparing a slight of hand trick. He does it several times in the last episode so I think it's conscious and not just a thing that happened. I know he did the 3rd Doctor hand thing in his promo shot, but this is a different level. I love it.

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Nice little romp! Some really good performances, with just enough development of the Doctor and further exploring the dynamic between him and Clara. The villains felt a little like the clockwork men from "The Girl in the Fireplace," but their course was heading the same direction as the other clockwork man from "Deep Breath" - so there's that connection.

 

P.S. Please ring back Ben Miller if the Master is ever returning. He's practically a ringer for Anthony Ainley. (Maybe if there's ever a reason to revisit An Adventure in Space and Time.)

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As the sheriff he totally does have the Master thing down. Good call.

 

I thought this episode was full of silly, but there was charm so I enjoyed it. Not the best episode however. Next week looks fun and eerie, could be good as DW often pulls off that balance well.

Like I said, I think Capaldi's version of the Doctor elevated the episode above what would have been sub-average.

 

Of the five leaked scripts, the next story is, in my opinion, the best. And it's a Moffat episode.

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Couple other changes that seem to be intentional episode to episode--

 

The Tardis and the Doctor's control of it are steadier than ever. No running about, no sparks and rough landings.

 

His use of the screwdriver is almost awkward and uninterested. Or maybe it's just that he doesn't twirl and toss it about like the last Doctor. Odd too that they didn't change the design. It's so bulky and industrial I'd expect this Doctor to have something more elegant.

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The Tardis and the Doctor's control of it are steadier than ever. No running about, no sparks and rough landings.

And no more ridiculously overshooting the mark ("Oops! Meant to drop you off thirty seconds after we left, but it's actually been nine months. WELL SORRY BYE!") that drove Rose and Amy nuts.

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The Promised Land might involve that Naked Church and the Naked Church Lady that the Doctor was friendly with in Smith's last episode. As we saw Capaldi's Doctor do in his second episode I think this Church is snatching people out of time at the moment of their "death". Why? I dunno. Maybe they're looking for Kris Kristofferson but they are really bad at targeting their Time Saver.

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The Tardis and the Doctor's control of it are steadier than ever. No running about, no sparks and rough landings.

And no more ridiculously overshooting the mark ("Oops! Meant to drop you off thirty seconds after we left, but it's actually been nine months. WELL SORRY BYE!") that drove Rose and Amy nuts.

 

Well he did do that with Clara's coffee run-- though he admitted he had gotten sidetracked.

 

Anybody got any theories about what the holy hell is going on with the metaplot this season? Missy and the Promised Land and all that? The next two scripts offer no answers. I'm baffled. Could we be dealing with the Rani?

No Rani and no Master. Every single time there is a new big bad people say it is going to be one of them. It's a tired concept at this point. To be honest, the idea of collecting people the doctor has wronged is old too, but that's what this is. I don't think it's their actual souls, just some science that creates a dupe for Missy to work with.

 

The real question isn't who Missy is, (she's Missy), but WHY NOW? Why start collecting the Doctor's collateral damage with his 12th body and not further back?

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I was suspecting some relationship with the Church (Tasha Lem might've been a tip-off too early in this run?) but we also don't know if Missy's intentions are adversarial towards the Doctor. Though I'm pretty sure to be proved wrong on that later.

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