Doctor Who Thread

Pearl Mackie is a nice name.

Obviously, I can't judge until I see her in some episodes. My only concern is that they do another Martha and completely undermine having a black lead by constantly bringing it up really awkwardly.

Hmmm... it's not a premise that I'm immediately invested in, I have to say. The Doctor is enough of a superhero on his own. Still, we can only see what happens. At this point it feels like it's been off the air for years, so I'll take what I can get!

I don't feel one way or the other on this at the moment. We shall see.

The episode better have tons of green gas, impostering, and grand monologues!

I'm sure it won't be a straight superhero story - remember when they gave us Santa?

Athrun888 wrote:

The episode better have tons of green gas, impostering, and grand monologues!  

I'm disappointed in myself that my brain went to Rey Mysterio before it went to ol' Fishbowl head.

So the Christmas episode has been and gone. Not the most Christmassy Christmas special there's ever been, but pretty good fun nonetheless. The enemies were creepy and the actual superheroics not as over the top or facepalmingly silly as they could have been. What d'y'all reckon, y'all?

I thought it did better for not being overly Christmassy. No guff about the power of love overcoming all - just silly antics, and the kid being restricted to the first third. A relatively good Christmas special with some decent jokes.

I really enjoyed it actually, a decent send-up of superhero tropes without losing the heart of the story.

I also quite like Justin Chatwin. It wasn't his fault his character didn't fit in War of the Worlds or that the version of Goku he played in Dragonball: Evolution was nothing like the character; he was absolutely born for the mild-mannered, heart of gold superhero role.

So...

Spoiler:

After a female Master, and showing an old white man regenerating into a black woman, it would feel like a wind up not to give us one now.
I am gutted, I love Capaldi but I don't feel like he's been given a fair crack of the whip.

It feels like I'm always lamenting about the "best Doctor since the show's return" leaving every time the time comes for the next regeneration, but it just goes to show they keep getting the casting spot on perfect.  Safe to say I'll miss Capaldi and his Doctor, at the same time I've yet to see the x-mas episode and we have one final year of episodes culminating in a story where pretty much anything can and probably will happen, so I'm still feeling optimistic.  If I'm honest I was kind of expecting this anyway, the trend seems to be three series and with Moffat's time as head writer coming to a close I was already well braced for the news.  

One thing I really hope happens is they get a bit of a move on with releasing the series 9 soundtrack.  The year passing hasn't dulled my desire for those stunning pieces in Heaven Sent, and if they don't get to it they'll be a series behind!

Capaldi has been really very good indeed - Heaven Sent is one of the best things I've ever seen on television, never mind just Doctor Who. I'm happy with his body of work in the role, let's say, and I'd kind of like to see what sort of storylines he could get once Mr. Chibnall takes the reins... but speculating about the identity of the person who'll play the Thirteenth Doctor will be good fun too!

My pick: Damien Molony.

Was that the one in the watch Zero? If so, I'm right there with you, corker of an episode.

Capaldi's been brilliant, although I couldn't disagree more about Sexy Young Dave. And that worries me, because I've heard stories that they want to replaces Capples with a newer younger sexier model to boost ratings. Tennant, for me, had no personality - he was just pretty. And I'm worried they'll go the same way again.

Balladeer wrote:

Was that the one in the watch Zero?  If so, I'm right there with you, corker of an episode.  

I think the one in the watch was Hell Bent, and Heaven Sent was the one after.

It's Heaven Sent > Hell Bent.  As in

Subject spoilers:

Not very puny but it's how I always manage to keep the two titles in order!

Ah, I thought the first one was Hell bent because it was the Doctor's stubbornness that got him out of the trap. Yeah, that was by far the better of the two.

Did anyone watch Class, the spin-off that went on to BBC3? I've just bought the DVD set and am eager to know more.

It's one I was interested in, but totally forgot it existed without access to the Beeb these days. Heard good things though.

Just watched The Pilot, the first episode of series ten. The monster seemed like a composite of better monsters in Russell T. Davies eps, but it was a nice intro to the new companion. I'll get the second one watched tomorrow so I can compare notes with y'all.

I've enjoyed these two so far. Emoji robots were very Doctor Who, I thought. This is the show that once had Bertie Basset as an enemy. . .

Good start to the series, I'd say! Lucas is good as the Doctor's stooge, I've enjoyed Bill despite the ham-fisted expression of her lesbianism in the first episode (I guess that's probably still necessary, which is sad), and Capaldi is Capaldi. I enjoyed emojibots more than sentient water lady, although maybe that's just me.

Yeah, Smile felt like something better than The Pilot. The plot unfolded more cleverly, for me. Good work, all!

Good season continues being good. I'll really miss Capaldi. Although I thought the ending of Knock Knock stuffed up a very good episode otherwise - see also The Empty Child duo.

Ah - I thought the ending was the best part, although I always think they've stuffed it up when

Spoiler:

It felt like it could have been a great episode but the execution was a bit lacking.