The Mother****in Doctor Is In

[bumblemusprime]

We meet Doctor Twelve (or Fourteen? damn it, Moffat) today!

Rather excited for Capaldi's interpretation, given that his lifespan has correlated to the run of the show.

[Professor Smooth]

I loved it.

[spiderfrommars]

I have high, high hopes for the new series after that.

Some of those scenes were unlike anything I've ever seen in Doctor Who before. The sequence with Capaldi and the tramp? Amazing.

Poor dino.

It didn't have the big triumphant ending of The Christmas Invasion and The Eleventh Hour but I think that was the idea. I was sort of left a little bit on edge... but definitely keen to see more of The New Guy.

[bumblemusprime]

Capaldi is totally hamming it up and I enjoy it very much. Apparently our villain/love interest/central mystery is a weird obsessive girl... getting shades of River Song already.

[Best First]

loved it - the Matt Smith bit really worked without upstaging Capaldi.

Little bit character over plot tho, wasn't much effort to flesh out the baddies or their motivations.

[Bumblebot]

wasn't much effort to flesh out the baddies

No pun intended?


I was getting a Hartnell and Colin Baker vibe, although it may be that it was just the angry & confused post-regen effects, and that his calmer self will be quite different.

[spiderfrommars]

The actual premise of Into the Dalek didn't engage me all that much (the whole Fantastic Voyage thing), but Capaldi was electric. He just seems to inhabit the Doctor, he doesn't seem to have to reach for the role at all. And he was so badass in that first scene with Journey Blue (great name by the way) whilst staring down the barrel of a gun. His is somehow a very still, controlled performance and very big at the same time.

I enjoyed the Clara/Jimmy scenes. Again we're spending a lot of time with the characters, it doesn't feel as rushed as it has been in the past.

Ben Wheatley's direction really shone in the Dalek attack scenes. The sequences managed to be exciting and quirky at the same time.

[Best First]

Loved it.

plus Vod and Tyres. winner.

[Metal Vendetta]

Am I the only one who couldn't wait and downloaded the scripts for episodes 1-5 and the unfinished videos of episodes 1-3 and then devoured them in a single night before the premiere even aired?

Dammit, I have no patience or self-control whatsoever.

[Professor Smooth]

Episode 3's probably my favorite of the new season so far. I think this new Doctor is really going to be something.

[Professor Smooth]

As much as I liked episode 3, I liked episode 4 that much more. WOW!

[Professor Smooth]

Kill the Moon was pretty damn fantastic.

[Bumblebot]

Yes, it was.

The Caretaker, on the other hand... well, seeing Capaldi in the brown coat and backpack was rather too reminiscent of Tennant's ghostbustering back in Series 2 for my liking, although the rest of the story made up for that.

[Brendocon]

He's back.

He always comes back.

Er, she. She always comes back.

What the Dark Water was hiding would have been a lot better had they not been in the trailer and main promo images (the Beeb have dropped the ball with that sort of things a few times lately).

Not really quite sure about the general plan. Ie logistics or point thereof, but solid reveals and good cliffhangerage.

[Professor Smooth]

It does feel kind of nice to have guessed the main twist straight off. Sorry. Bit of idle back-pattery.

"Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make any difference?" D'awwwwww.

Something I love about Capaldi's Doctor is that he feels like a natural progression of Matt Smith's. I'd always have a hard time reconciling that Tennant was the same character as Eccles, likewise Smith and Tennant. But I could picture the 11th Doctor saying most of what the New Doctor does.

Quick complaint, the Doctor didn't notice that Missy had two hearts? Guess he was a bit confused...

Anybody get flashbacks to the Comic Relief Doctor/Master bit with Rowan Atkinson?

Wonder if there were any Master regenerations that we didn't see. Maybe there was War Master. Or a Meta Time Crisis Master.

Can't wait for next week! Then I'm gonna have me a nice New Doctor (are we calling him the 12th? That seems weird.) marathon so I can fully appreciate Capaldi in all his Doctor Dickishness. Hmm. The Dicktor? Nah. Sounds like a spoof. A sexy spoof.

[Brendocon]

Quick complaint, the Doctor didn't notice that Missy had two hearts? Guess he was a bit confused...

Basically yes.

Wonder if there were any Master regenerations that we didn't see. Maybe there was War Master. Or a Meta Time Crisis Master.

Historically there've been lots of Master regenerations that we've never seen, so almost certainly.

The Derek Jacobi incarnation was the (or at least a) War Master. Depends how long he lasted after being resurrected before doing a runner.

[Professor Smooth]

Quick complaint, the Doctor didn't notice that Missy had two hearts? Guess he was a bit confused...

Basically yes.

Wonder if there were any Master regenerations that we didn't see. Maybe there was War Master. Or a Meta Time Crisis Master.

Historically there've been lots of Master regenerations that we've never seen, so almost certainly.

The Derek Jacobi incarnation was the (or at least a) War Master. Depends how long he lasted after being resurrected before doing a runner.

Indeed.

Still stuck on "Do you think I care for you so little...l". It's the most eye-watering "D'awwwwww" thus far, in a series absolutely *teeming* with D'awwwwwww moments.

[Optimus Prime Rib]

I broke down and started openly sobbing when he told Clara to feel all of her pain and let it burn...
It just had to be this week, right?

[Professor Smooth]

"Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?"

That's been stuck with me for the last day. I just keep coming back to it. I didn't know why, but it just kept repeating in my head, over and over and over again.

But it finally came to me. It's the exact approach I take at work, in regards to the kids. I'm a cynical, petty, vindictive, broken man who can, does, and openly enjoys holding a grudge over almost any slight, no matter how small, real or imagined. But in nearly a decade, having taught more than ten thousand students in dozens of schools in more towns and cities than I care to remember, I've said that the students, the kids, have "infinite credit" with me. The Doctor's quote was the perfect summation of why.

[Bumblebot]

So...

I thought when we last saw the Master, he had kind of made up with the Doctor?

Does Missy have a constant drumming in her head?

How does Danny Pink's death impact on their timelines, given their interaction with his lookalike time-travelling descendant, who now will never have existed?

I'm guessing that "utilising Time Lord tech" is the explanation for how Missy was able to acquire late entities from the future (i.e. the soldier from Into The Dalek), while longevity explains her acquiring entities from the past.

[Optimus Prime Rib]

My girlfriend was pissed that I had figured out that the master was involved. This season by the theme music. The drums are the driving beat.

[Metal Vendetta]

I'm not sure the Beeb could have kept the Cybermen under wraps - this season has been short on classic monsters and they needed something for the publicity machine.

This was a bloody great episode though, especially following on the heels of the utter dreck that was last week's.

[Brendocon]

I'm not sure the Beeb could have kept the Cybermen under wraps - this season has been short on classic monsters and they needed something for the publicity machine.

That's fair. Personally I'd managed to avoid all publicity beyond last week's "next time" trailer and the static image of Cybermen that accompanied the program listing on the BBC website when I went to check what time it was on. Reinforces my feeling that the "next time" stuff is often better left until the end credits have rolled.

This was a bloody great episode though, especially following on the heels of the utter dreck that was last week's.

Yeah, this season's been patchy. There's been a couple of episodes I've really enjoyed, but overall a lot of it's been met with a shrug.

The more I think about this week's episode, the less the masterplan (mistressplan?) makes sense. Am holding off full judgement until the finale, but as it stands it's got about as many holes in it as Logopolis did. Don't get me wrong, it was executed brilliantly, I'm just not sure how well it'll hold up to scrutiny once we're done.

[Professor Smooth]

How do we think the machine works? Are Danny and all the others really dead and their souls held in the device? Or is it something like they're alive, but their consciousness is being held captive? Kind of an out-of-body experience type thing. That'd explain why the bodies can't be cremated.

Is it Sunday yet?

[Professor Smooth]

It's not a mark *against* the finale, but... Wow. That was incredibly depressing.

[Best First]

Yeah it was pretty relentless bar the final note on Kate.

I didn't find it very satisfying to be honest - some powerful emotional beats but not entirely sure what the Mastresses plan really was, especially with regard to Clara - Moffet is a bit Furmanesque in that he is better at the build up than he is at the resolution.

I also found the development of Danny from someone who wanted no part in the world to Cyberman a bit jarring.

And like you say all pretty bleak. I felt a bit let down by the lack of honesty between Clara and The Doctor at the end - all a bit soap opera-y.

[Professor Smooth]

At least the Doctor's lie about finding Gallifrey keeps Clara from telling him that they'd been there just recently. Which *still* bothers me.

[Brendocon]

In Listen?

That was Gallifrey in the past, along the Doctor's own timeline. If he wanted to go back to there/then he could use the telepathic circuits to get to it himself. But it still wouldn't tell him where it is now.

All in all, I agree with Besters on the general subject of Return of the Living Cybermen.

[Professor Smooth]

I don't think I really understand the "frozen in a single moment" bit.

[Brendocon]

Nobody does.

Intentionally vague handwavery bobbins.