Doctor Who

[Mongrel]

Ironically that probably had a higher production value than an original Dr. Who episode.

lol

[Thad]

Madam Vastra confirmed.

[Mothra]

Aww, are they gonna blow up the tardis again? The current layout is easily the best they've ever done.

Though I do miss that huge wall-mounted hex screen in Smith's FIRST tardis layout.

[Bal]

Getting a late Sylvester McCoy era vibe from that trailer and I am LOVING IT.

[Smiler]

[McDohl]

As a man who abhors violence, I must say I took great satisfaction in that.

[Esperath]

Señor Abhor's anchor rankled the Rancor.

[Thad]

Infographic of how long each actor played the Doctor, in hours.

Hartnell was only on for three seasons, but they were LONG seasons.

[Thad]

Fathom doing theatrical screenings of the season premier.

[Thad]

[Thad]

[Bal]

Shades of The Christmas Invasion with The Doctor seemingly ill and in a bed coat after regenerating. I expect we'll be getting the "here's the new doctor, this is kind of what he's like" story that we tend to get from new doctor episodes. Which isn't bad by any means. Seems like the tone is going to be slightly silly heading toward more grim as we get to know this doctor a bit better.

[Thad]

Yes, there are a lot of fan-made opening title sequences for Doctor Who.



But the Beeb is apparently actually basing the new season's titles on this one.

[Mothra]

I like

[Grath]

Shades of The Christmas Invasion with The Doctor seemingly ill and in a bed coat after regenerating. I expect we'll be getting the "here's the new doctor, this is kind of what he's like" story that we tend to get from new doctor episodes. Which isn't bad by any means. Seems like the tone is going to be slightly silly heading toward more grim as we get to know this doctor a bit better.

Also: Strax/Jenny/Madame Vastra episode to introduce the new doctor so we have familiar faces.

[Thad]

The biggest problem is that Clara not being able to deal with a newly-regenerated Doctor and accept that he's the same person runs completely counter to absolutely everything that has been established about Clara up to this point and feels like it was shoehorned in sideways as a way of trying to guilt the fangirls into continuing to watch the show.

It still made for some pretty good scenes; I quite liked Vastra bawling her out and also flirting with her. While I definitely think they brought her, Jenny, and Strax in for the sake of a feeling of continuity, it also doesn't hurt that they're really fun and do a great job with the kind of banter Moffat likes to write.

More eyes, because of course there are, and more mysteries that may or may not ever be satisfactorily resolved, which is okay. And the new villain appears to be a sexy psychopath who's got a thing for the Doctor, which I'm not even going to spoilertag because it's about as surprising as "monsters with their eyes emphasized".

Capaldi did a great job, and they're finally giving Clara some personality traits, even if they seem to be entirely negative.

So far so good.

[Mothra]

I reeeally did not like the first half of this episode, but it got significantly better around the time Capaldi was rooting through the garbage in a back alley.

The fact that Clara mentioned she's into older men seems like a potential harbanger of terrible on the horizon.

Good Strax, this episode.

I'm hopeful, but wary.

[Bal]

I didn't feel the discontinuity with Clara myself. Rose had a similar problem in The Christmas Invasion, it just wasn't explored very thoroughly because Davies got distracted by a butterfly or something, but this to me was a much better exploration of the kind of trauma a companion might suffer if they were to witness the Doctor simultaneously die and not die at the same time. You'll notice that it wasn't really Clara complaining that he was old, she was just pointing out the incongruity of a new face being old and how that deepened the overall sense of loss and incongruity she was already experiencing. Other people were projecting their ideas of what was bothering her. As the Doctor said at the end "I never said it was your mistake". What was bothering her is that the Doctor she knew died, right in front of her, and was immediately replaced by someone who, aside from some confusion to start with, is insisting that he's the same man.

Ultimately it was going to be a regeneration episode, and that is what we got. I enjoyed Vastra and company, because who doesn't, and as I suspected, silly to start, moving toward grim as we get to know Capaldi's doctor. I like him so far. He is grim, but there's a sense of vulnerability about him, even by the end of the episode when he's more or less gotten a handle on himself, and not just in regards to Clara. He does need her, but I think it's in the way the Doctor often needs a companion. He seems, to me, afraid to be alone and more conscious of that fact than usual. Usually the Doctor comes out of these episodes all swagger and come on lets go see the universe, but Capaldi's almost begging, and yes part of it is due to Clara still not "seeing" him, but other Doctors would have been like "Suit yourself" *wheezcronk* and found someone else. Not this time. He's desperately afraid to be alone with himself.

New villain seems interesting. Maybe the woman from the shop that gave Clara the number? Obviously these are the hooks for the season, and I look forward to their being explored. Overall I really enjoyed the episode, and I'm looking forward to Capaldi's run.

Man, poor David Tennent. He does all the leg work, and then the next Doctor gets the big budget and better writing, and the Doctor after that gets to be Scottish!

[McDohl]

Spoilers for Name of the Doctor, Day of the Doctor, etc.

The issue with Clara, is that Clara has seen all of the Doctor's lifetimes. While the lasting effects of jumping in to his timeline can only be guessed at, she calls out Smith as the 11th doctor. "Eleven faces, all of them you." I believe the quote was. So, conceivably, a part of her might have been there in the crash at the end of Caves of Androzani, and has seen Peter Davison regenerate in to Colin Baker. I'm sure there's a point in there somewhere that GI could pop in and break everything, and Clara had to fix it.

Anyway, point is, by jumping in to the Doctor's timeline, she knows how regeneration works, and in Time of the Doctor, doesn't she say something that triggers Moffett the Doctor saying that John Hurt and Tennant 2 count toward his final regeneration? So yeah, she knows that regeneration is a thing. I think that Coleman overreacted a bit to the whole thing. Peri was bewildered, but seemed to take it in stride (when Colin Baker wasn't strangling her). Rose got weepy, sure, but she still managed to keep her wits about her for the Sycorax thing, making up all that crap about Shadow Proclamations and etc. etc. Clara? She gets weepy, bewildered, and seems to reject Capaldi for a good long while.

EDIT: Also, (spoiler for Deep Breath) Matt Smith, you CHEATED, getting a second goodbye in the new Doctor's first story!

EDIT 2: Is it just me, or is the title music also a bit more shrill? I don't like it.

[Bal]

She doesn't seem to have come out of the Doctor's ruptured timeline with any particular insights, or even clear memories, of the Doctor and his lives. Given the nature of the process as we saw it, I'm not surprised. Not to mention that when she did it there was no Doctor beyond Smith, because his was the last face before Time of the Doctor. Rather than Colin Baker, I'm more reminded of the Troughton Doctor's first story, where the companions aren't even in agreement that he IS the Doctor for much of the serial. Anyway, I just took it as the experience being particularly traumatic for Clara, for whatever reason. It doesn't contradict anything for me.