Doctor Who opinions

Just thought of a continuity error: shouldn't the Doctor already know there was another Time Lord on Earth? The ninth Doctor said he could feel if another Time Lord was alive and the tenth said the only reason he couldn't was because of the perception filters so how did the Master go on without being noticed? Thoughts?

I think there was a perception filter involved in some way the entire time. That's why neither Clara, or anyone else in the Black Archive saw Missy come out of the painting in the 50th.
 
I never thought of her getting out during "The Day Of The Doctor" that's actually very likely. I was just going to wait for an explanation sometime during the next series or something but that's a really good theory.
 
I thought it was her for a bit, but then REALLY thought it was Romana when she said "The one you abandoned." I thought E-space warped Romana's mind somehow.
He didn't abandon Romana. She chose to remain in E-Space at the end of "Warriors Gate" to help free the Tharils. In turn, they showed the Doctor how to get back to his own universe.
The books and radio shows give varied and conflicting acocunts of what happened to her. Eithger she became President of Gallifrey and died in the war, or regenerates again into the guise of 1920s actress Louise Brooks(!) and became a ruthless dictator who again, died in a war against an enemy I didn't quite understand. Her mind also could be contained in the Matrix (on Gallifrey, not with Neo).
That's the kind of thing that explain why I hate expanded universe stuff...
 
He didn't abandon Romana. She chose to remain in E-Space at the end of "Warriors Gate" to help free the Tharils. In turn, they showed the Doctor how to get back to his own universe.
The books and radio shows give varied and conflicting acocunts of what happened to her. Eithger she became President of Gallifrey and died in the war, or regenerates again into the guise of 1920s actress Louise Brooks(!) and became a ruthless dictator who again, died in a war against an enemy I didn't quite understand. Her mind also could be contained in the Matrix (on Gallifrey, not with Neo).
That's the kind of thing that explain why I hate expanded universe stuff...

Right, but the fact that she voluntarily left made me think that E-space had somehow warped her mind so that she hated the Doctor and thought he'd abandoned her.
 
Going off into a different topic, how long do you think an actor should stay in the role of The Doctor? Should it be the minuscule single year of The Ninth or as mighty as seven years of The Fourth, or anywhere in between, maybe even longer. What do you think?
 
Going off into a different topic, how long do you think an actor should stay in the role of The Doctor? Should it be the minuscule single year of The Ninth or as mighty as seven years of The Fourth, or anywhere in between, maybe even longer. What do you think?

Personally, I think they should stay until it gets stale. I could have used more of Patrick Troughton, Colin Baker, and David Tennant myself. Tom Baker stayed about two seasons too long, as did Pertwee. The rest were about right for my taste.
 
Yeah I know what you mean, I'm personally a fan of Colin Baker and I'm well aware that many people think that Tom Baker stayed at least a season too long, but I personally loved John Pertwee. I very much agree that Patrick Troughton should have stayed at least a while longer and I feel the same way about David Tennant, but at the same time I fee as if they left at the right time. Patrick Troughton left at the end of the black and white era and David Tennant left at the end of the RTD era. As actors playing the Doctor I wish they stayed longer, especially so with Patrick Troughton because even though David Tennant is my favorite Doctor I'd like more Patrick Troughton because we don't really have much of him available on dvd. But as actors in the way the show was headed it works well to me, it'd be weird to see Patrick Troughton in color regularly since he'd been in black and white and it'd be weird to have David Tennant in series 5, especially because after both these actors left no character was still there to help ease the transition, well except the Brigadier but at the time he wasn't nearly as important to the whoniverse.
 
My biggest problem with Jon Pertwee was that the direction the show went with him for his first couple seasons (stuck on Earth) made for a pretty mundane program. All of a sudden he was no more special than a smart scientist. I did like his dynamic with Liz Shaw though, I wish they had kept her around. However at the end of his tenure you could really see his age holding him back. His last season I just didn't find him convincing as the Doctor.

Colin Baker COULD have been great. But the show was on it's last legs by the time he came on sadly.
 
Yeah I know what you mean, the idea of Doctor Who without time travel and the usual stuff was really risky and I more than except that it didn't work out for you. To me though, I absolutely adore the third Doctor and I never thought he gave a bad performance. Also you're absolutely right about Colin, the BBC was really against the show at the time. He really had no chance.
 
Jon Pretwee as the 3rd Doctor was good, but only once he was away from the Secret-Agent/Man From UNCLE style of story. And as much as I love The Brig, teaming the Doctor with UNIT just didn't work. Even now, when they brought UNIT back, they realised it was better to leave the soldiers in the background and focus on the (Brig replacement) leader and a scientist.
Plus (I've said it elsewhere) someone at the BBC really should have vetoed Pertwee's ego-trip Whomobile nonsense, especially for the episode where he rides that, plus Bessie, plus a hovercraft AND a bloomin' gyrocopter!

As it is, I'm tempted (during my latest re-watch) to skip from the end of The War Games, straight to Peladon
 
When it comes to Doctors outliving their welcome, I think the other thing you have to consider is the showrunner's influence. Baker's run went on too long, because he was personally tired of the role, but he could still do it justice. The problem was with John Nathan-Turner's (JNT) running of the show. JNT was a very important and very detrimental influence on Doctor Who. When the show succeeded during his run, it was largely in spite of his influence, rather than because of it. With Russel T. Davies (RTD), you had a new direction that worked...for a while, but in all honesty, if you go back and watch the Tennant specials, while the final "I don't want to go" scene is heartrending, the rest of the specials feel...off. Some are too contained to feel truly "special." Some are too bleak in tone. And some are way too bloated.

As a result, I think Tennant picked the right time to leave, and he -- like Davison -- left on a high note without people saying "Man, I'm so glad he's gone." Better to leave folks thinking they could've done with a bit more of you, than with folks thinking "Oh man, he had such a great run....until the end, when it just got boring."


Right now, I don't think the issue is with how long this or that Doctor sticks around. I'm really enjoying Capaldi. I hope he sticks around for a while. But I hope he gets good material to work with, because if he doesn't, then it doesn't really matter how good he is. Moffat, at the moment, is the weak link, I think. His season arcs just don't feel right. And while this season was probably one of his best, it still had issues with so many of the plots being just too...bonkers for my tastes. The moon is a ****ing space egg? And it gets replaced by another space egg? Trees have spontaneously grown at various times and we "forget" it?

There was an interview with Benedict Cumberbatch a little while ago where he apparently spoke with Moffat about understanding Sherlock's background and what makes him tick, what his childhood was like, why he behaves the way he does. Moffat's response was "Couldn't he just be, like, really good at solving stuff? Why does he need a background? Can't he just be really good?" Likewise, Cumberbatch said "We need to give him a weakness like his inability to connect with people." Moffat's response was basically the same "Why? Can't he just be really good? Why's he need a weakness?"

I think those impulses show in Moffat's style with Doctor Who. "Why do we need to ground....anything? Can't we just be off-the-wall loony?" Well, yes, you can, but you have to ground your lunacy in something real. This season, that "something" was the Doctor's relationship with Clara, and the pull she felt between the Doctor and a normal life. And the way the final episode of the season ended? Perfect. I worry that they'll try to add some saccharine or depressing coda to it, and it's just like...dude....know when to fold 'em. This story is done with. Some relationships end like unfinished songs -- with notes that just never get played. You don't need ****ing Santa Claus to show up and make it all better. So, I'm hoping the Christmas special will leave the Doctor and Clara's parting on a dignified level and basically exactly where it was when we saw them part.
 
I agree that while series 8 is overall pretty great I hated some episodes, but I loved the finale a lot. When it comes to the Tennant specials I overall thought they were pretty great. Each of them had ideas I absolutely loved like the Doctor meet a future version of himself without the audience knowing it, I love anything the Doctor has done with UNIT in the new series, I think all of waters of mars was incredible, and I love how dramatic end of time was, and while I love the tenth doctor's final line I know many hate anything to do with anything tenth doctor after series 4, personally I don't have a problem with any of the specials and think some of them are some of the greatest episodes in all of Doctor Who. When it comes to Moffat, I think I'm one of the few people to actually really love him, I personally think that he's a better writer than RTD but worse as a show runner if that makes sence. And I love the grand majority of his episodes thought I'm more than ready to admit he's had some real clunkers. I think the only bad episodes of series 8 were from the other writers, but I still don't think that Capaldi has had a truly amazing episode yet. 9 had "Dalek", 10 had "The Girl In The Fireplace", and 11 had "The Eleventh Hour" all in there first season and while most people will say that "Listen" is that episode, it didn't really do it for me other than the ending, but I can say that about "Vincent and The Doctor" too. I really hope 12 stays for a couple more series at least, but I hope that the build up to the finales get better instead of just a reminder that there's a threat at the end of the episodes.
 
I agree that while series 8 is overall pretty great I hated some episodes, but I loved the finale a lot. When it comes to the Tennant specials I overall thought they were pretty great. Each of them had ideas I absolutely loved like the Doctor meet a future version of himself without the audience knowing it, I love anything the Doctor has done with UNIT in the new series, I think all of waters of mars was incredible, and I love how dramatic end of time was, and while I love the tenth doctor's final line I know many hate anything to do with anything tenth doctor after series 4, personally I don't have a problem with any of the specials and think some of them are some of the greatest episodes in all of Doctor Who. When it comes to Moffat, I think I'm one of the few people to actually really love him, I personally think that he's a better writer than RTD but worse as a show runner if that makes sence. And I love the grand majority of his episodes thought I'm more than ready to admit he's had some real clunkers. I think the only bad episodes of series 8 were from the other writers, but I still don't think that Capaldi has had a truly amazing episode yet. 9 had "Dalek", 10 had "The Girl In The Fireplace", and 11 had "The Eleventh Hour" all in there first season and while most people will say that "Listen" is that episode, it didn't really do it for me other than the ending, but I can say that about "Vincent and The Doctor" too. I really hope 12 stays for a couple more series at least, but I hope that the build up to the finales get better instead of just a reminder that there's a threat at the end of the episodes.
When exactly did Tennant meet a future version of himself?
 
Seing as the Christmas special is coming up, I was wondering what you guys think about Clara and wether you want her to stay or go. I'm leaning more to her leaving to be honest, but what are your thoughts?
 
Seing as the Christmas special is coming up, I was wondering what you guys think about Clara and wether you want her to stay or go. I'm leaning more to her leaving to be honest, but what are your thoughts?

I think her exit in the last episode was quite powerful and how it should end. She should be gone until way down the line when the Doctor finds out what actually happened. And then only back as a cameo in one episode.
 
I think her exit in the last episode was quite powerful and how it should end. She should be gone until way down the line when the Doctor finds out what actually happened. And then only back as a cameo in one episode.

Agreed. Sadly, I'm guessing she'll be back for at least the bulk of the Christmas special. And possibly for next year, which would be a real drag.
 
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