New Doctor Who Series Discussion *Spoilers*

Another point, and although it's kinda repeating an idea, in this case it's more of an homage to classic who, and a sign of which actor Capaldi is channelling: Seems like 12 has remembered 3's Venusian Akido, with the chop to the back of the neck and "Hai!". Also fits with the black and red frock-coat (recalling the cape Pertwee wore) and all the hand gestures.
 
glunark said:
Anyone notice one of the photos of Robin Hood that flashed up was Patrick Troughton?
Click to expand...

Had no idea during the show but a quick search later and boom..

10301_gall_002.jpg
 
Considering it was a robot head that came off, and he didn't die... I think they could have left it in. For my tastes, Clara is a little too excited at the beheading, but the whole scene is in the context of a fun sword-fight full of banter and then the bad guy has another trick up his sleeve.
Maybe it could have been considered too light-hearted given recent events, but I'd have left it in. It's not like (as I initially thought it might be) it was part of an execution scene. I'd originally pictured something like Prince of Thieves with Robin's head on the block.
 
Oh dear Panto seasons started early this year.!!!!!, I guess all I can say about this weekends effort is it was one for the kids. It almost undid every warm feeling I had about the new series since last weeks brilliant episode ( I actually watched it twice!!!) but it had all those trite annoying elements of old New Who with New New New New Dr Who just about making it watchable. Couldn't help but feel Capaldi was channeling more of Dr Whouse, particularly when using the blackboard and doing all the diagnosies , but I like him never the less. Which is more than I can say for the rest of it, though Ben Miller was surprisingly good. Typical Mark Gatis episode , the quality of his output is failling horribly.
 
Middle of the road episode. Hated when the Doctor and Robin were trapped in the cell arguing, one arrow fixes the ship? Silly.

But definitely some fun moments there.

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk 2
 
Even for a Gatiss episode that was a little dodgy. All of Davies' shortcomings as a writer but lacking in emotion. It's a wonder that he actually managed a decent script in "Cold War" and the Sherlock episodes he's written.

I want to like 12, I appreciate the direction they're going with him. I just haven't bought into him yet. With 11 I was unquestionably sold on him when he stepped through the hologram, fully dressed, proclaiming himself to be the Doctor. 12 hasn't had a moment yet where he's won me over. He asks if he's a good man, and I don't believe he means it. He protests when Rusty sees his hatred and I don't believe him. I don't know if it's Capaldi's style/personality, if it's the writing, or the directing, but it's not working for me.
 
DuneMuadDib said:
Even for a Gatiss episode that was a little dodgy. All of Davies' shortcomings as a writer but lacking in emotion. It's a wonder that he actually managed a decent script in "Cold War" and the Sherlock episodes he's written.

I want to like 12, I appreciate the direction they're going with him. I just haven't bought into him yet. With 11 I was unquestionably sold on him when he stepped through the hologram, fully dressed, proclaiming himself to be the Doctor. 12 hasn't had a moment yet where he's won me over. He asks if he's a good man, and I don't believe he means it. He protests when Rusty sees his hatred and I don't believe him. I don't know if it's Capaldi's style/personality, if it's the writing, or the directing, but it's not working for me.
Click to expand...

We caught it late. Must've been just after the writers' credit rolled. I didn't realize Gatiss wrote that one. He's usually better than that.

I thought the episode was...fine. Just kind of a fun little nothing episode. The Doctor seemed not as well defined this time around, but I still like what I've seen of 12.

As with 11 (in my opinion) it takes several episodes for the actor and ESPECIALLY the writers to settle into who this character is. In fairness, that's true with a lot of the characters who are longer-term players. It takes them a while to figure out who they are. If it works out and the writing team is on, you get well-defined, interesting characters. If it doesn't, you get....Adric.
 
My biggest problem is this "Paradise" thing. Halfway through the epusode I was wondering if it was going to be Robin, The Sheriff, or one of the robots that was welcomed by whoever the woman is.

The moment they showed the sheriff I thought of the Master from the 70's.
 
Yeah, he did bear a striking resemblance to Anthony Ainley.

And I agree with the whole Missy/Paradise thing. I'm honestly kind of dreading how all that factors in at the end.
 
This last episode reminded me a lot that Doctor Who was meant to be a kids program - although it was stupidly silly in a few areas, it was still a lot of fun. I didn't like the actor playing Robin Hood at all and the arrow at the end was just ridiculously bad. But, it's very interesting to see how the new Doctor is developing... I still have concerns that they're trying too hard to distance him from the Smith/Tennant era by making him just too mean, I think this episode showed us a much better Doctor than the last two.
 
DuneMuadDib said:
...I want to like 12, I appreciate the direction they're going with him. I just haven't bought into him yet. ... 12 hasn't had a moment yet where he's won me over. He asks if he's a good man, and I don't believe he means it. He protests when Rusty sees his hatred and I don't believe him. I don't know if it's Capaldi's style/personality, if it's the writing, or the directing, but it's not working for me.
Click to expand...

I could not agree more. There are flashes here and there of things that I like, and I understand we are only three episodes in, but things still aren't gelling when I feel like we have been much further along at this point with previous new Doctors.

Something still isn't clicking and it's hard to put a finger as to what. The scenes of the Doctor and Robin being trapped and bickering could have been comedy gold but it just fell flat and became annoying. I go back to the way similar scenes played out in things like BlackAdder and think of what could have been made of the material they had been given. In fact running back over the whole episode the ideas seem pretty decent. The Doctor refusing to believe that Robin Hood is real, running around scanning everything has great comic potential. The Doctor being annoyed by Robin Hood's over-the-top personality and bravado -- I hate to keep going back to BlackAdder but all I can think of is the dynamic of Lord Flasheart. Of course if they had played that too closely I would no doubt be complaining that they were just being copy-cats. These are all ideas that are really solid and aren't executed anywhere near as well as they could have been. Maybe in this case it is the direction.

Who knows. Maybe next week things will start snapping into place but from the preview my hopes aren't high.
 
To the extent that there are problems right now, it is almost certainly a combination of direction and writing. We KNOW these actors are perfectly capable. But they have to be guided properly, and they have to actually have something to work with.
 
Thoughts on Listen?

I wasn't a fan of the payoff in the end or what the "monster" ended up being. I am liking Capaldi though I do hope things pick up with him. I could care less about Clara's relationships / dates.

One thing that keeps bugging me is how they keep making Clara as this huge impact on the Doctors life.
 
I thought it started well but ended up confusingly. There wasn't supposed to be any monster in the end I think , just the Doctors over active imagination, but if that were so then what was that thing under the bed clothes? Again Capaldi made it very watchable,but Clara is irritating the hell out of me, by as you say, having too much influence over the development of the Doctor. And the date night was just so pointless, particularly when linked to the potential family history, which again seemed a confusing jumble, but I guess that was down to using the same actor for different roles. It just seemed to be an episode like a public health warning on the perils of messing with your own timelines.
 
I thought it was brilliant, hard to believe it was the same Moffat who has given us so much drivel lately.

I guess it was just another kid in the bed after all, or maybe another episode will feature the same monster later on and ruin it, like they did with the weeping angels.
 
I love seeing Moffat toy with childhood fears like that. No complaints about that episode. Well, Clara may be wearing out her welcome a bit, and I can see where people would complain about her having too much influence on the Doctor's timeline.

I hope that the "monster" isn't revisited, just so it can be left up to the viewers to decide if there was an actual monster or if it was the Doctor's imagination and a kid pranking Rupert/Danny.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

CopperRevan
Transformers One Movie
Replies
16
Views
2,918
B-Movie Zombie
B-Movie Zombie
Doppelganger01
Logan’s Run TV Series Scripts 1977-78 and Battlestar Galactica TOS 1978-79
Replies
0
Views
232
Doppelganger01
Doppelganger01
Jaitea
  • Locked
Doctor Who Phase 3
Replies
19
Views
2,356
Birdie
Birdie
Duncanator
Limited Run New Hope style R2D2 Pocket and Side vents!
Replies
10
Views
2,090
Bjorn
Bjorn
Douglascraig
Rogue - Doctor Who. WIP ring, blunderbuss and costume
Replies
1
Views
1,072
TangoGirafarig
TangoGirafarig
Back
Top