The Doctor Who 2014/15 Thread

[inflatable dalek]

Love that an old-school fan's been cast.

I like the fact the Radio Times have digitally reprinted the tenth anniversarry special just because Capaldi sent them in a letter about it when he was 15...

Generally a good fun episode with a fine performance from Capaldi (it really didn't need the Smith cameo). It did however feel as if Moffat had written a first draft, then looked at it and and gone "Balls, I've done this before haven't I?" and then decided to make it a Girl in the Fireplace sequel so as to excuse the reused ideas.

Prequel.

Equal.

I really wouldn't travel on any 51st century spaceship either way.

The Q&A was mostly good fun, worth it for the Moff taking the piss out of a five year old (though let's face it, it was probably Martha Rose Amelia's dad who was really asking the question), for Capaldi getting a bit tired and emotional and talking with great sadness about the death's of Barry Letts' and... Nick Briggs (I really hope Mr. Briggs hasn't died tonight, that would be awful. I'm guessing he meant to say Nick Courtney and got a bit confused. It did take him two attempts to say Nick Briggs after initially saying Nick Gibbs....), and the prequel talk from Stax was as lovely as ever.

The cinema wasn't as packed as it was for Day of the Doctor (then; full, now; three quarters full), but I suspect the BBC are working out the mean average between the two right now and, assuming they like the sums, we'll have an actual Doctor Who film before Capaldi leaves the role.

Oh, and Zoe Ball had to really struggle to stop Moff and Capaldi having a really in-depth discussion about whether the Mondosian Cybermen should come back (Capaldi wants the proper Tenth Planet version realised with modern effects; the Moff was at best open to just having This Universe's Cybermen in an episode unambiguously).

[inflatable dalek]

And... we're just going with that being The Rani as a matter of course now, yeah?

[Skyquake87]

I watched this last night! Girlfriend banished herself from the living room so I could watch the only TV show I really give a sh*t about in peace without her talking all the way through (now that's love folks).

First off: The opening titles, and my didn't they look familiar...cribbed as they were from a fan on YouTube. Not that that's a bad thing, the clocks and cogs is nice, but the TARDIS swooping across looked a bit rubbish.

I can't say I particularly liked the anemic take on the theme tune, which sounded to me equally as whispy and horrible as that version got used during Trail Of A Timelord.

Onto the episode itself...I really enjoyed the scatterbrained approach they took to the after effects of regeneration this time around. There was no mucking about and the quips weren't annoying ("don't look in that mirror, its very cross!") and you could really see this incarnation pulling himself together throughout from scraps of what he used to be whilst figuring himself out. I also liked that there was a very strong undercurrent of this Doctor being quite furious and almost sinister and definitely less 'user firendly', I really really loved the scene where he apparently f**ks off and leaves Clara to sort herself out. Brilliant. What really helps is that Peter Calpadi brings some proper weight to all the strangeness which we haven't had for a long long time.

Clara was just briliant in this episode too. Arguably this is simply because she felt real for a change and got something to do. I hope there's plenty more of this as the show runs on and that she sticks around for all of 12's run as I think she'll make a great foil for him. Hooray for Jenna Coleman!

The Paternoster gang leant able support, and I was pleased to see Strax's silliness inform his character and more about him, in his own way, trying to fit into his 'new' life. I think that's the first time I've picked up on that, if it wasn't there already. Really enjoyed that scene of him and Clara where he's mopping the floor. Vastra and Jenny were great too, but I especially warmed to Jenny this episode. Again, I think its because she was more fleshed out and there was more character to her this time around. The changes to her costume helped too. Caitrin Stewart whom plays her is gorgeous!

The plot itself was decent and I think the familiar elements helped with the introduction of the new Doctor, especially with this new Doctor being a little different to what we've had recently. And horror of horrors, an older man! (Loved all the stuff about the faces and where they come from). The Smith cameo was probably unnecessary, but I enjoyed it and I think it worked better as a farewell from him to Clara than the speech he gave at Christmas which felt to me like something he'd prepared earlier. This felt much more warmer and real than that.



Bloody Daleks next week. Sigh.

[inflatable dalek]

First off: The opening titles, and my didn't they look familiar...cribbed as they were from a fan on YouTube. Not that that's a bad thing, the clocks and cogs is nice, but the TARDIS swooping across looked a bit rubbish.

Though for those who haven't been following this (and the endlessly entertaining hissy fit thrown by someone else who made their own Capaldi titles who feels they should have been the chosen one) the Beeb did pay and credit the guy for the use of his idea, so it's not a thief in the night thing.

I can't say I particularly liked the anemic take on the theme tune, which sounded to me equally as whispy and horrible as that version got used during Trail Of A Timelord.

As with the last few versions, I think the big problem is Gold has now done, what, five or six takes on the theme tune and probably achieved everything he was aiming for with the first Tennant big orchestra arrangement. Since then he's clearly running out of different ways to do it and it now sounds rather desperate.

The main flaw with this one for me (a lot of people are complaining about the dinosaur stuff being "Padding", when I'd say giving the Doctor a side issue to deal with that lets him show off various sides of his new character was rather the point) is the main droid man never really felt like he was "Alive", so any issues about pulling his plug didn't feel all that dramatic to me.

Otherwise though, good stuff.

[Rack 'n Ruin]

Only just seen it. Enjoyed it. I did struggle to understand the Doctor at times. I'm not sure if that was: A. Intentional post-regen gobbledegook, B. Me not getting the Scottish brogue yet, C. Me just being old and half deaf, or D. The sound just being pants on iPlayer.

Maybe more thoughts later, but the Doctor being insistent on him never going to reach his "Promised Land" did make me think again of Gallifrey. I'm reminded of my idea from the 50th anniversary special that 13th arrives while 1-12 are sealing Gallifrey away not to help his previous selves, but with his own agenda. Gallifrey finale ahoy?

[Skyquake87]

I don't think that was just you. I found the sound a bit muffly in places too - usually the bits where people turned away from the camera, oddly enough.

Apparently, all the stuff about the Doctor not being the assistant's boyfriend and about him being older has caused great offence amongst some fangirls. As if all that stuff was pointed squarely at them, which I don't think it was. Still, I'm an old bloke, so what would I know, right?

[Rack 'n Ruin]

Was a bit confused about the Doctor being 2000 years old or so. Thought he was "only" 900 or so. Or is that just Yoda? I forget. Anyway, anyone who knows more Who than me want to speculate on the likelihood of the Rani ( and fill me in on why she is such a big deal)?

[Summerhayes]

I enjoyed that, though I don't think it quite deserved that whole runtime. Did it make more sense on the big screen?
Overall, I really liked capaldi and felt that he had good chemistry with Coleman. Looking forward to seeing him get into his groove as the Doctor.

One thing that pissed me off way, way more than it should have done was the bbc one sting before the episode had a dalek shooting from its eyestalk. Did nobody who'd ever watched and episode of DW even give that a cursory glance?

[Denyer]

Was a bit confused about the Doctor being 2000 years old or so. Thought he was "only" 900 or so.

Think the stuff at the end of the last series advances the timeline a lot; i.e. he's in his dotage before he regenerates. Gaps between regenerations are assumed to be much longer than those of renegades like the Doctor and the Master who put themselves in harm's way.

[Skyquake87]

@Rack N Ruin The Rani is another renegade Timelord from Gallifrey. Unlike The Doctor and The Master, she has specific aims and goals in mind. She is a scientist and a completely amoral one at that, and just sees the Universe as a giant lab for carrying out various experiments on. IIRC, she was exiled from Gallifrey after one of her experiments went awry. She was played by Kate O'Mara (though I believe Big Finish have recently regenerated her for their audios - inflatable dalek will probably know this!) on TV and appeared opposite the Sixth Doctor in 'Mark Of The Rani' and in the Seventh Doctor's debut 'Time And The Rani'. The former was her best outing.

She is only a big deal as - since the show returned - any female villain or agent provocateur is speculated to be The Rani by navel gazing idiots in online forums and national newspapers.

[inflatable dalek]

Yeah, the final Matt Smith episode was set over a thousand years.


And boy did it feel like it in places.

As for the Rani, for all that Pip and Jane protest she's a completely different character, she is basically The Master with tits. Ludicrous plans, ridiculous disguises, only marginally less camp. The only real difference is she has a specific area of scientific interest whilst the Master was an expert at whatever story they decided to shove him in depended on.

Certainly, it would make more sense for Missey to be the Rani rather than what seems to be the most popular theory, that she is literally the Master with tits. It seems a bit pointless to do that to him when the series already has a recurring evil female Time Lord who'd do the same job just as well.

The Rani seems to be one of those characters that's better remembered than you'd expect, probably helped by being played by a properly famous actress (a surprising amount of non fans I know remember Kate O'Mara was an evil Time Lord even if they don't remember the character's name).

Of course, her being part of all the "Every regeneration ever" montage clips, complete with the single gayest line in the history of the show, has probably helped cement her in the public's consciousness.

She'll probably be an entirely new character after all this.


Or The Man With Chips. With tits.

[Heinrad]

I don't think it's the Rani. Missy seems far more nuts than the Rani ever did.

Or it could be that the Rani managed to pull off one of her experiments and went completely loopy as a result, which would explain her location and why she seems about as sane as the Master was when he was playing Saxon.

[Summerhayes]

And there I was thinking that was the TARDIS from the doctors wife, and the robot fellow had just been uploaded or something as an act of mercy by the doctor...

[inflatable dalek]

I don't think it's the Rani. Missy seems far more nuts than the Rani ever did.

That's the Rani who once made a land mine that turned people into trees? That tried to take over the Universe with a massive disembodied brain? That dressed up as Bonnie Langford?
That once trapped the Doctor in a time loop in Albert Square (it's canon, you know it is)?

Rack'N'Ruin, this will help you realise the true power and evil of the Rani:

[Brave Maximus]

Hey all...

I don't know if this was discussed earlier... I didn't see it... but I'm blind, so...

But my theory on Missy isn't Rani or a female Master... but instead.... Clara. There were clues through the episode, and while they might be red herrings, I don't think Moffat is that cleaver... I think it's more a "see, I told you from Episode 1"....
That's just me though...

[Skyquake87]

Ugh...Dimensions in time...I can still remember being embarrassed watching this.

What a terrible load of arse that was

I was so excited and then we got that load of tripe. And Noel Edmonds - whom also appears to be pickled in time as he still looks the same on the wretched Deal Or No Deal (or 'open the box' - what I wouldn't give for a Seven style twist to that horrible dragged out pile of cack).

Back on topic...I don't know whom Missy is, but Michelle Gomez is ace - she was one of my favourite things about Green Wing - ha! Perhaps she'll turn out to be her character from that.

I hope she's not Clara or The Rani or River Song and just someone new. Although her having what appears to be prior history that we haven't seen with the Doctor is a bit of an eye roller. Especially as that worked so well with River Song.

I would actually like it if Missy's 'boyfriend' turns out to be someone else entirely.

[Rack 'n Ruin]

Hey all...

I don't know if this was discussed earlier... I didn't see it... but I'm blind, so...

But my theory on Missy isn't Rani or a female Master... but instead.... Clara. There were clues through the episode, and while they might be red herrings, I don't think Moffat is that cleaver... I think it's more a "see, I told you from Episode 1"....
That's just me though...

Can't say I noticed any Clara is Missy clues myself. Can you elaborate please?

[Tetsuro]

I feel kind of bad for taking this long to realize this.

But when Vastra accuses Clara of having hung out with the Doctor all this time only because he was attractive, she wasn't saying that just to her - she was saying that to the audience as well.

[Skyquake87]

Hence uproar on less senisble interwebs...I love writing in TV that hits home and makes you think

[Tetsuro]

I actually only realized that once I watched the youtube video "Teens react to Doctor Who", a lot of whom were already fans - and when the topic of Peter Capaldi came up, one of them said something about how he's going to drive away all the "fake whovians", and I kept thinking about what she said - and when I thought about that scene in the episode, it all clicked into place.

But yeah, I guess I've been spared from said uproar.

Morbid curiosity makes me want to see this uproad in question though...