Doctor Who Series 11 Thread.

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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

There was a teaser clip released a few days ago, looks pretty good (he says making a judgment on 1 minutes wort of footage, but isn't that how things work now?) https://youtu.be/L6QRnULIjv4

Reminds me of Tenants' Doctor. Its only a few days away!!! Wooo
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Post by Denyer »

Seems like pretty standard post-regeneration confusion these days, less overtly wacky than Smith or Capaldi but at least they've resisted the urge to homage murder-Colin.

Still getting a strong Eccleston feel.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

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Post by inflatable dalek »

Anecdotal of course, but not having seen it I'd forgotten how big a thing Broadchurch was. I was at a party last week where people with no other interest in Who were planning to tune in because they loved that show and Whitaker in it (and indeed, got told off for not having seen it).

Of course, it's how it grabs the kids that really matters, but I'd be surprised if the first one doesn't grab the biggest non-Christmas audience for the show in years.

Slightly disapointed to see the BBC themselves put the boot into the "Not Universally popular" Capaldi in their own promotion for the show though. I'm not a big fan of the last few years, but that feels dickish and very much like the "Everything after Tom Baker was shit" attitude they had towards the 80's for years.
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Post by Cyberstrike nTo »

inflatable dalek wrote:Anecdotal of course, but not having seen it I'd forgotten how big a thing Broadchurch was. I was at a party last week where people with no other interest in Who were planning to tune in because they loved that show and Whitaker in it (and indeed, got told off for not having seen it).

Of course, it's how it grabs the kids that really matters, but I'd be surprised if the first one doesn't grab the biggest non-Christmas audience for the show in years.

Slightly disapointed to see the BBC themselves put the boot into the "Not Universally popular" Capaldi in their own promotion for the show though. I'm not a big fan of the last few years, but that feels dickish and very much like the "Everything after Tom Baker was shit" attitude they had towards the 80's for years.
I think Calpadi didn't get off to a good start, in his first season he was way too mean and cynical too the point where I started wondering why Clara wouldn't just leave and stay with Danny Pink, and it wasn't until he said "I'm idiot with a screwdriver and a box." to Missy in the final episode of his first season where the 12th Doctor finally showed some warmth. Honestly season 10 was finally where the 12th Doctor gets to have some fun and have a sense of wonder and whimsy again and I think that is what the show needed.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

At the end of a long day where I was hanging out with Paul McGann, Brian Cox and Hannah from S Club 7 (plus a Dalek operator who couldn't say whether he's worked on the new series or not) so just a quick scattershot opinion:


Me liked.


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Post by Denyer »

There's some Troughton there too, and really like what they've gone back to with the credit sequence. Plus generally darker in both tones and palette -- the new filming style gives it an edge.

Not terribly keen on the Predator type scenario, feels a bit trying-too-hard as did the teeth thing and wrapping up with a funeral (but think it was a good idea to set the stall out now if that's what they're going for with the series). Also, at some point the first-episode-temporary-amnesia plot device will hopefully get scrapped, but it wasn't too annoying here.

Team solidified well over the course of it.

Capaldi was saying that about popularity four years ago, so assume it's received wisdom within the production circle. It did get us Virgin-esque takes like Heaven Sent, so am glad that they ran with it and explored the side that the Doctor isn't exactly what we'd call sane (similar to how Ed Greenwood often describes characters of his that have lived for centuries).

Clara really suffered from an abridged build-up to an anniversary deus ex machina plot and being woven into the Doctor's timeline etc before having "regular companion" stories dumped on her.

edit: Twitter's on form...

"I’m a traditional Dr Who fan, I prefer the series opener to be overshadowed by the assassination of a US president"
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Post by Ryan F »

Yeah, that was okay. A solid 3/5 for me.

Gripes out of the way first: didn’t really like Bradley Walsh, though hopefully he’ll improve (or I’ll mellow towards him) as the series goes on. Really disappointed in the lack of an opening title sequence - we better get one next week, as the new theme arrangement sounds superb.

Oh, and I realise that you need convenient shortcuts and coincidences in order to cram the story into the runtime, but it was very awkward scripting how both Ryan (cool name!) and his relatives on the train both just happened to have alien encounters in the same night...

But what I did enjoy was the “Unearthly Child”-esque juxtaposition of the mundane and the supernatural. Unlike the ‘fairytale’ stylings of the Moff era, here was a Sheffield that felt real and lived-in, from the aerial shot of Bramall Lane football stadium, to the drunk guy chucking the salad out of his kebab (we’ve all done that!) to the scenes in the construction site and the bus station. This felt like Doctor Who landing on the real world again, not the heightened reality of Amy Pond’s Ledworth or the weird version of Colchester that James Corden’s character lived in. This felt more real-world than anything since the early UNIT era (the factories of The Invasion or Inferno, the train station in The Silurians). In that respect, this had a kinda Torchwood vibe to it, that kitchen sink style.

Whitaker was good, she has the generic Doctorish blend of kooky / charming / authoritative down quite well, though I’d like to see how in future episodes she makes the role her own. Other than the brief references to her being a woman, you could imagine the script suiting many of the previous Doctors - I’m interested in this Doctor’s unique quirks, traits and foibles, and I don’t really think we got much of that. But it’s a post-regeneration story, both writer and actor are still getting to grips with the character, and hopefully this stuff gets developed as the series goes on.

So, yeah, I quite enjoyed that, but I’m acutely aware that some of my buzz is purely down to the show returning for another series, and that a post-season rewatch in the cold light of day might result in a rethink. But for now I’m happy, and eager to see how it all pans out.

Oh, and did I mention that the younger male companion has a kick-ass name?
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Longer thoughts!

Whitaker was great, and loved the new cast (Ryan is a very silly name).

I liked that the villain was just a dick who without his advanced technology would have been completely shit, felt very true to real life big game hunters, and was a good variation on the usual Noble Hunter Predator tropes.

His credit at the end was hilarious as well.

Plot was slight and obvious, but for selling the new cast, that's what it needed.

Will be amazed if Bradley Walsh makes it out the season alive.
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Nice solid opener, and I'm glad it was just 'the Doctor's a woman now' and not too much faffing or jokes around that. Cast were all likeable, but being from the north, I did feel like everyone sounded a bit too northern. Maybe that's just me though, as I'm used to the dialect so perhaps don't 'hear' how it sounds to others the same. No idea if that makes sense. There were a couple of playsckool sci-fi ideas I could do without with 'Earth is a battleground between two warring species'. Not again. I'll put that down to post-regeneration fog. Jodie was great, and even her cheesy helping people speech was well sold.

Wasn't sure about the guest actor roll call at the end - that felt like it was never going to end..! Although I am excited to see Shaun Dooley, he's great and I loved him in Misfits.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

So at 8.2 million, it had the best overnight viewing figures of any episode in ten years, and more than the last two Doctors débuts. A lot more than Capaldi's (someone posted the full final ratings from high to low for every new series episode and the bottom just made me want to go find Capaldi and give him a hug). If it has a similar bump from IPlayer/Catchup as the Capaldis, it'll be pushing ten million.

Now of course, there will be a drop off for episode 2 (remember when End of the World got three million less than Rose and it looked like the... well, End of the World), but if it's on a similar level to previous years we're back in Matt Smith style success territory.

And this is the slot where the Bodyguard was getting four million extra viewers on its final ratting from catchup (though that's shows ludicrous OTT cliffhanger nature will make it hard for Who to match, imagine if it gets even halfway every week?).

Considering how the BBC work, that's pretty much guaranteed Whitaker season 2 no matter what happens the next 9 weeks. It's effectively outperformed all expectations.

None of that is related to the quality of course, but it's so nice to see the show bounce back (especially as the series original 26 year run isn't standard for TV and a show in its 13th should be more winding down than gearing up).

And it turns out the audience was still there, they just weren't biting the last few years. Makes you wonder what the BBC giving the series a proper make over and a bit of TLC in the late 80's could have done rather than letting it die on the vine.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

The Ghost Monument.



Another good solid romp, with the cast gelling nicely and some fun set pieces, only really stumbling when it tried to have a serious point (guns are bad speeches from Doctor Who never really work).

Not sure about the new Tardis console room, but overall it's shaping up to be good stuff. Though Rosa Parks is going to be the first hard to pull off concept of the season.

Final ratings over ten million for the first episode, and the overnights for this were only a million down on last week, so most of the people who tuned in out of curiosity stayed with it.
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Post by Denyer »

Liking the tonal shift from the Smith/Capaldi overconfidence. Also not particularly sold on the TARDIS crystals, but it was a great build up to the reveal (frankly the "I've lost my key" *click* moment had more dramatic impact) and the credit sequence continues to be a joy -- doesn't work quite as well as opening credits, bit too busy and the false start grates.

Not hating the companions yet, even Turlough's bearable. Plus one for the COD reference, which was actually quite amusing in the moment, minus one for the NVQ forced context. Would give it about four out of five, better than last week and first 'proper' episode.

Am always wary about serious historical episodes (ditto comedy Churchill for that matter -- exaggerated Hitler, Shakespeare or Van Gogh is an easier sell because there's far less / nil exposure to real footage) but it stands a chance of pulling it off that only Eccleston or Capaldi might have managed in less scenery-chewing scripts.

edit: It's not so much the crystals as the way the set feels very cramped -- compared to a https://www.reddit.com/r/doctorwho/comm ... _interior/ or even a http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/doctor-w ... nsole.html it doesn't make a very impressive statement about dimension folding.
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Post by Ryan F »

Episode 2: I thought it was okay. It certainly looked really nice (TARDIS interior notwithstanding), and the locations were great.

I’m not sure I quite bought into the concept, though - neither of the two racers seemed particularly competent or eager to reach the finish line (lots of naps and quiet conversations).

Didn’t like the fact that “highly flammable” wasn’t number 1 in Ryan’s list of “Properties of Acetylene”, Yaz got nothing to do, and those flesh-eating water microbes were built up as a big threat but ended up doing nothing at all. A very well-made runaround but this one left me a bit cold, I’m afraid.

Love the new titles and music though - the new composer is fabulous.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Yeah, do enjoy the titles.

Main sloppiness for me was everyone at the end forgetting they'd been told the Tardis only appears at certain times and they'd arrived early by taking the short cut through the tunnels.

And I was amused today that Big Finish were livestreaming the release of their new Tom Baker staring Zygon Hunt vinyl from my hometowm and the very Sainsbury's I'd picked my copy up from a few hours earlier (where I thought I'd very dramatically grabbed the last one, I wonder if they held some back so there'd be some product for BF to film?) and talking about the local mad any old random crap store Mr T's as if it's a quaint record shop.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Took me a few days to catch up as I was away at the weekend, but really enjoyed the Rosa Parks episode. Felt like the best the series had been in years, taking a subject that could have been easily ballsed up, but in a nice straightforward style that sensibly stuck pretty close to real history (indeed, it's the closest we've had to a pure historical since the series came back, with the one SF element being the more of a bastard Meddling Monk style villain). I know some folk were unhappy and some of the condensing of events and ideas--especially when it came to the scale of the bus protest planning--but it still really worked in a good emotional way.
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Aye, it was a bit Quantum Leap which used to do this kind of thing really well, but a good, solid thoughtful episode.

Last nights' with the spiders was another solid episode too. 'Solid' seems to be my feelings on the series thus far. Good, well told stories, but nothing to get super excited about. Nice to see the Doctor take a little more charge last night.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Must admit, the fourth underwhelmed me a bit. It didn't seem to have an ending. Yaz' dad didn't even get his parcel in the end!

The big news of the week though is that it seems we won't be getting a Christmas special, but a new years one instead.
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Post by Tetsuro »

"I won't let you shoot these spiders! We're gonna treat them with respect and dignity! So instead we'll just lock them up into a room and let them suffocate and starve to death."
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Doctor Who and the Scraplets was the first real, real weak link of the year. Felt like it was supposed to be a comedy they forgot to put any jokes in and the fact Graham and Yaz have almost entirely ignored each other to date is starting to get odd.
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