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Official Doctor Who New Series Discussion (spoilers)


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An extremely good, well written episode. This one certainly sets a high-water mark for the show, in my opinion.

 

I'm glad I can talk about it now, something that has been present throughout all the episodes, but none moreso than this one. This episode rather cemented the idea that Clara is not like his other companions. Most companions have been, not the Doctor's inferiors exactly, but not a level playing field. There have been a few exceptions, but generally the relationship is essentially the same, the Doctor is always far more knowledgeable and experienced than his companions. He's this mysterious figure who always seems to have everything figured out, and no one can really understand or keep up with. But Clara. She knows more about the Doctor and his history than any other companion. That gives her a unique place.

 

Clara is the Doctor's equal, or as close to being his equal as anyone can be. The Doctor defers to her far more than he has most others. She tells him to sit down and shut up, and he does so. She calls him on his bull****, and he listens. With 11, she was his nanny. With 12, she's... I dunno what she is. The dynamic is different. They fuel each other. They both learn from each other and experience things together. They are more on the same level.

 

Especially with 12, it makes for an incredibly refreshing change of pace. It's going to be a shame when Jenna Coleman leaves. There seems to be so much more potential they could explore with this particular dynamic.

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I think what we see is the Doctor heeding to her keen teacher's instincts and her ability to process situations then act, to do. She is not a deer in the headlights. Clara seems to be the type of teacher that would be able to reach "hopeless cases". Someone as heroically intuitive as Helen Keller's teacher Anne Sullivan, also obviously those similarly gifted that taught Anne and so on and so forth. It's perhaps crass to compare but poetically meant also that often the Doctor/Clara dynamic feels like the blind leading the blind... not enough info to truly see but they forge on with intelligent clarity anyway. We've also seen the Doctor act more academic since his regeneration with her as his companion, which was never more so apparent than this week.

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Clara is the Doctor's equal, or as close to being his equal as anyone can be. The Doctor defers to her far more than he has most others. She tells him to sit down and shut up, and he does so. She calls him on his bull****, and he listens. With 11, she was his nanny. With 12, she's... I dunno what she is. The dynamic is different. They fuel each other. They both learn from each other and experience things together. They are more on the same level.

Their chemistry was on great display in this one. So many little nuances in their performances. And I was absolutely riveted mid-scene in the barn.

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I agree that this episode certainly showed that Clara is much more prepared to take on the role of 'The Doctor' if/when the real Doctor is incapacitated. They play off each other like equals and I like it a lot. I know that others don't and complain that the show is getting to be about her too much, but it's really not. The show is just a story and we see if through different peoples eyes.

 

The Doctor has taught Clara how to be an effective companion and she has learnt well from it.

 

Now that the episode has aired over there I can ask the following:

 

Do YOU think that the monster really existed?

 

I certainly do, I mean we saw it and it was on top of the bed but a lot of people seem confused and angry about the possible ambiguity and the fact that it was never revealed face-to-face with The Doctor.

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I agree that this episode certainly showed that Clara is much more prepared to take on the role of 'The Doctor' if/when the real Doctor is incapacitated. They play off each other like equals and I like it a lot.

 

 

 

I know that others don't and complain that the show is getting to be about her too much, but it's really not. The show is just a story and we see if through different peoples eyes.

That's the same complaint people have had since it came back. 'It's too much about Rose!', 'Donna is taking up too much focus', 'Amy sucks because she's taking all the focus'. The complaint is missing the point. The show is called Doctor WHO for a reason. It's phrased in the form of a question. Because it's not supposed to be about the Doctor. It's about his companion, and how they perceive the Doctor. The Doctor himself is a mystery, and his companion is the audience surrogate, constantly trying to figure out who this person is. The new Series, to it's credit, understands this far better than the older series did near the end of it's run.

 

The Doctor has taught Clara how to be an effective companion and she has learnt well from it.

 

 

Now that the episode has aired over there I can ask the following:

 

Do YOU think that the monster really existed?

 

I certainly do, I mean we saw it and it was on top of the bed but a lot of people seem confused and angry about the possible ambiguity and the fact that it was never revealed face-to-face with The Doctor.

I think the monster is real. I suspect it's tied in to the metaplot this season, and we'll get our answers then.

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I love CapaldiDoc so much. I don't know that I've taken to a new Doctor so quickly before. Most Doctors have always had moments where we see previous versions pop up at times, but Capaldi plays the Doctor in a way that some is ever-present of all the Doctor that came before him. He's like the uberDoctor.

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I love CapaldiDoc so much. I don't know that I've taken to a new Doctor so quickly before. Most Doctors have always had moments where we see previous versions pop up at times, but Capaldi plays the Doctor in a way that some is ever-present of all the Doctor that came before him. He's like the uberDoctor.

12 is on his way to becoming my favorite Doctor. I've never had one before (the closest to my favorites are 4 and 7), so this is something new.

 

12 is kind of what 6 could have been under the right hands. There are also elements of 7 and 1 in there, and even some 4 and 3. It's amazing.

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I love CapaldiDoc so much. I don't know that I've taken to a new Doctor so quickly before. Most Doctors have always had moments where we see previous versions pop up at times, but Capaldi plays the Doctor in a way that some is ever-present of all the Doctor that came before him. He's like the uberDoctor.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts. Unbelievable talent and exactly what I wanted from him

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They never explained the opening scene. The episodes are becoming increasingly fragmented and spastic. The next could just be my set-up but the music/fx are too loud drowning out dialogue, in addition Clara is speaking so fast at times it heightens this sound levels problem. If this keeps on it doesn't matter how much I like Capaldi, I'll have to drop the show.

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I enjoyed that one - the banter between the Doctor and Danny was good fun. The Doctor thinking Clara's boyfriend was a chap that looked similar to his previous self was enjoyable as well - the sort of smug look he had was great stuff!

The robot thing looked pretty rubbish, but it was a side plot really to Danny's introduction to Clara's other life, so no big deal. It would be nice to have an adventure where there isn't an alien presence just tacked on for the sake of it. You have a time machine, we can just have a purely historical episode with the bad guys being people from that location. Just for a change maybe.

 

Next weeks episode is supposed to have something quite important happening according to Wikipedia. We shall see. I've enjoyed this run of episodes! Highlight was definitely "Listen".

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They never explained the opening scene. The episodes are becoming increasingly fragmented and spastic. The next could just be my set-up but the music/fx are too loud drowning out dialogue, in addition Clara is speaking so fast at times it heightens this sound levels problem.

I had the same problem with Tennant and Smith, especially since my hearing sucks. Closed-captioning takes care of that issue for me.

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Our cable company has pretty unintrusive subtitles. They're not those old-fashioned giant-sized closed-captioning black strips that look like they were spat out of a label maker.

 

(Handy old man's tip: never watch subtitles on a Google Play purchase. They're huge, bright yellow, and appear to be transcribed by fourth-graders who don't get proper nouns.)

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I use cc on almost everything I watch.

 

ALSO, I'm running behind-I just finished Into The Dalek / Fanstactis Voyage Dr. Who

 

* When did the TARDIS get a St. John's Ambulance sticker?

* Why does the dalek's brain have an eyeball in the grey matter?

* Why are dalek's memories made of giant CPAP tubes?

* I like Gretchen Allison Carlysle

* hyp-mo-tizing doctor was a little bit cheesy

* Liked the black-on-black dalek

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I can understand the accents, no problem there, for me it's a sound levels thing. The music and soundFX drown out the dialogue. Could be my set up, but I think it is the recording levels because other things sound fine. Of course in fairness I should say I have four kids who sorta watch with me and that sometimes gets testy.

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I love CapaldiDoc so much. I don't know that I've taken to a new Doctor so quickly before. Most Doctors have always had moments where we see previous versions pop up at times, but Capaldi plays the Doctor in a way that some is ever-present of all the Doctor that came before him. He's like the uberDoctor.

RITE? This guy can ACT. In fact, I liked Matt Smith's doctor almost right away-or at least I wasn't as nearly bitterly disappointed as I'd assumed I'd be after they tried replacing Tennant. I argued with a friend who hadn't even seen him yet when his run was about 3 shows old and I got to genuinely like his doctor. I saw him as the most childish, the youngest and that allowed me to accept more flaws, I think. Now, I still love Tennant's doctor best but Capaldi is growing on me and was okay with him immediately. He's very good at both the big scenes and the throw-away lines.

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