Finally watched the new episode. Meh.
Capaldi was great but a lot of things in the episode REALLY didn't work for me.
First, which really should be a no brainer, there was a T-Rex BIGGER THAN THE ELIZABETH TOWER which was able to swallow the TARDIS whole. Ugh. Took me right out of it. The Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) is approximately 24 times the hight of a full grown T-Rex. You should know that in grade school.
Agreed, and I was a bit disappointed that they never really addressed this. I've grown numb to this kind of Moffatean casual disregard for "Wait, hang on. That doesn't make sense" aspects. It's part of his style. An annoying part, but it's like asking Jon Nathan-Turner to have good taste for costumes.
Second, Vastra & crew. Don't like 'em. Like River they were good in their first appearance and become more and more grating with each consecutive one. Strax remains mildly amusing but holy crap Vastra herself is a bitch in this episode.
See, I thought they were a necessary evil in this episode. I agree that they, like River, get a bit kitschy after a while, partuclarly the whole "THEY'RE MARRIED. AND LESBIANS!!" bit. I mean, ok, we get it. Nobody cares at this point. And girl-on-girl kisses stopped being racy some time in the late 90s.
That said, the first 1-3 episodes after a regeneration are always weird. You're still fleshing out the new Doctor's character (and often borrowing bits from the old one -- as Capaldi did here). I think, therefore, it's helpful to have not merely one familiar face, but a group of familiar faces to surround the Doctor. You may not like this particular group, but I don't think there are too many from the Moffat era who'll be much better. For that matter, you could make the same argument for the 10th Doctor's regeneration, where he was surrounded by Rose and her friends and family. They could get annoying too (although they also had good moments). By contrast, the "odd" numbered regenerations (9 and 11) were very disorienting, because you not only had a new Doctor, but also had a new companion. So, as between the two, I think I prefer the "familiar faces" approach.
Which reminds me, apparently sexism is okay now as long as it's towards men. I particularly appreciated when Jenny was offended thinking that Vastra had called people monkeys but was okay when she clarified that only men are monkeys. I challenge someone to write that about women and see if it flies. Quite frankly I was ashamed to hear that. Especially watching with my two sons.
I see what you're saying, but...eh, it was fairly mild. There's plenty of sexism/objectification going the other way, too, even in this episode (see also "Oooooooh....lesbian kiss!"). That said, I think the sort of "Straight guys are lame" approach has been going on for pretty much the entirety of the new run. The straight guys like Mickey and Rory have only occasionally been allowed to be heroic and, even, competent. Only sexually ambiguous guys like Jack Harkness and the (mostly) asexual Doctor is allowed to be a hero. That's been true for a while now, though. I think it's a heavy-handed approach and could be modulated, but there've been PLENTY of criticisms about the way the show has portrayed women in the Moffat era, and I think they tend to be valid. Moffat's run has just been a mixed bag. An entertaining one, on the whole, but not without its faults. I'm hoping we'll see some changes down the road, like, an actually competent straight male companion for a change, instead of a bumbling fool.
The rest of the episode was alright, but felt pretty blah. Capaldi, when let loose to actually act, was quite good. I'm looking forward to seeing him develop the character. I think having Matt Smith tag along took away from things though. Time to move on. If I recall, this is the first time an exiting Doctor has crashed the introduction of the new one.
Yeah, I think you're right. Matt Smith's appearance, though, was necessary from a demographic viewpoint. Doctor Who has, since 10's run, become EXTREMELY popular with young women, no doubt in part due to the dashing appearance of the Doctor, and the lovey-dovey companion that tags along with him. The switch to Capaldi is going to be REALLY jarring for that demographic. A female friend of mine who only recently got into the show was actually saying "I don't like the new guy. I need some cute there to hold my attention." I think she's probably representative of a decent portion of the demographic. Having Matt Smith show up, and the scene that followed it, again provides a degree of grounding that allows the show to dovetail from one era to another, rather than just doing a hard shift that throws people off completely.
Anyhow. Hope to see less of Vastra, looking forward to more Capaldi, and next time a CG guy wants to make a dinosaur for ******'s sake please don't scale them by 2400%.
I expect we won't see Vastra for a little while. I think that this series will be a "transitional" one as Capaldi makes the part more and more his own, and the writers learn how to write for him and to his strengths. Those strengths seem to be a degree of gravitas that wasn't entirely possible with Matt Smith, due to his age. I'm also hoping for a bit more...hmm...hardness and distance from the Doctor. There'll still be aspects of "The lonely god," but I think he needs to be a bit inscrutable for Clara and/or whoever else joins him.
