You Get A Prize, Honey - The 'Doctor Who' Thread

[AlluAllu]

This was a great episode. I loved the subtle musical cue at the end.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I feel like there needs to be a big shakeup in the Who-verse. Time needs to get broken or something which could also help in seeing past Companions.

 

[the_ultimate_evil]

Just watched it it was a decent start and the series looks promising. I'm just hoping with a former coming back missy isn't on the outs


And ohh I see the usual moaning and *****ing has started on various social networks about the next dr not meeting wanted elements(gender and race) and the fact the new companion is gay. In other words the sky is blue and the water is wet

 

[Tanin]

[BLACKOUT]Kris Marshall [/BLACKOUT]will do a fine job. If it's true.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

I think after the last two series, we've been inundated with so much "companion mythology" that an episode that is essentially a reset to the old days, when you have a self-contained story that contains only a hint at an overarching long-term story, that it seems odd. While I like the Clara saga, I am also glad an episode like this has launched this new series.

Yeah, I agree.

Plus, this being Moffat he's puling from his usual bag of recycle, but since it feels like he's using the Eleventh Hour as template, I'm okay with it.

What's behind the door feels like retread of the Pandorica containing the Doctor/Amy.

 

[Dark Raven]

Which version of the Doctor Who theme are people's favourites?

For me, I'd say it's this one from the Matt Smith era:

[YT]Ny6hmRnTu6U[/YT]

with these opening titles where the Tardis is being struck by lightning in that wormhole thing:

[YT]WCD_Aw9RXxU[/YT]

I just posted the first link first because it had the middle eight but doesn't show the titles.

For me, it's got everything I'd want in the theme, from that dramatic fanfare playing over the pulsating base to that adventure chase theme running over the main iconic Doctor who melody.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

Matt Smith's first theme and his original Tardis design were the best of NuWho.


I wonder if the BBC will foot the bill for a new Tardis for the 13th?

 

[Lord Valumart]

McGann's TVM theme and the TVM TARDIS. I mean they're awesome and you can't find fault with them.

I wasn't overly taken with some of the kit bashed things on 9/10's console. And the design of 11's first felt very small, despite having vertical space. The current one is ok. Like the stuff scattered around.

 

[Dark Raven]

I found the McGann Dr Who theme a bit plodding and like giddyup music.

The Matt Smith one has the most sense of adventure. It almost has a swashbuckling feel to it and even brings to mind the spirit of series like Legends of Tomorrow.

But the current theme seems a bit of a throwback to the theme from the 70s and 80s. It's more mysterious and seems a bit geared more towards gothic horror, which is what Tom Baker's run was a bit like. I don't know if that really is characteristic of the show now though, so maybe that kind of theme is not quite as fitting anymore.

Certainly if you were ever going to play it in an orchestra, the Matt Smith one is the version to go for, because it has the most parts to it (ie the fanfare, the pulsating base, the chase motif, the main theme, the middle eight etc) and would therefore be the most interesting to play.

 

[Dark Raven]

Has anyone ever tried to play the Matt Smith Doctor Who theme over the Airwolf opening titles, or playing the Airwolf theme over the Matt Smith Doctor Who opening titles? These actually work very well and both still completely fit, especially if you have the Dr Who theme with the middle eight. That fits the helicopter flying in battle.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Got around to seeing this yesterday and... Meh. Not a bad start but it all felt pretty underwhelming. Bill came off well enough and it's obvious that vault is part of a long arc but... meh. I didn't feel they got across Bill's need to go with the Doctor. Maybe it's that the "threat" to her was so imminent that instead of making it about a threat to Earth it was something focused on her personally and as such there wasn't as much time to devote to her as a companion's "specialness" or qualifications for going with the Doctor. And by that I mean the POV/personality that the Doctor find's intriguing or sees a kindred spirit in some way. Instead of that getting focus it came off more like a case of the week scenario. Which again, isn't to say the actress was bad or the character. If anything you can see the inherent charm and moxie there. It's evident for sure, it just felt like the episode itself was kinda "blah" too often. It felt a bit pro forma all around.

 

[RetroNaz]

At this point I'm just looking forward to the backend changes that will come with the new showrunner.

It really is time to see some fresh perspective for this show. It's just bad timing that Capaldi's run had come after the glorious (IMO) Matt Smith run which is probably what expended most of Moffs best ideas.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

I have a question? it was suggested the he's been teaching at the school for 50 years, did he actually stay there for 50 years straight? or did he just keep going back there in-between traveling?

cause its always been said that the Doctor can't enter his own timeline, so wouldn't he have to leave anytime there was another version of him was traveling to that time (anytime over those last 50 years)?

at this point I can't imagine there are many points in time left that he hasn't traveled to that he could stay anywhere for an extended length of time

 

[Pink Ranger]

I have a question? it was suggested the he's been teaching at the school for 50 years, did he actually stay there for 50 years straight? or did he just keep going back there in-between traveling?

cause its always been said that the Doctor can't enter his own timeline, so wouldn't he have to leave anytime there was another version of him was traveling to that time (anytime over those last 50 years)?

at this point I can't imagine there are many points in time left that he hasn't traveled to that he could stay anywhere for an extended length of time

Lol, he's probably one of those really high-ranking professors that just has a big office, kinda shows up when he wants to and rarely does any real work, eternally claiming he's working on some research. Teaches a class for two hours a week every couple of years. Kind of like some professors in real life.

The Doctor's office hours are from 3:25 pm to 3:51 pm on the third Wednesday of every month that ends in the letter "y."

 

[Matt]

At this point I'm just looking forward to the backend changes that will come with the new showrunner.

It really is time to see some fresh perspective for this show. It's just bad timing that Capaldi's run had come after the glorious (IMO) Matt Smith run which is probably what expended most of Moffs best ideas.

I feel like a big problem with the Capaldi Doctor is that the writers never had a clear idea of what they wanted him to be. Initially, it felt like they were just so desperate to get away from Tennant/Smith era charming, youthful, whimsical Doctor and so they went to the polar opposite. Unfortunately "crotchety" as a primary character trait isn't really as endearing as they hoped. It actually drained just about all of the fun from the character. Then when the writers tried to inject a bit of life into him, it came off as forced and gimmicky (the guitar, the sonic sunglasses, etc). Now he is in just some sort of in-between limbo where nothing about him is really well defined or endearing.

Even after this premiere, the only time I have totally bought into Capaldi as The Doctor, 100 %, was during The Return of Doctor Mysterio. I feel like its the best Capaldi has ever been and it actually stems from him doing the absolute reverse of what you'd expect from the Doctor. Usually it is the Doctor being out there and the companion playing it straight. With the absurdity of Doctor Mysterio, we kind of got the reverse, with the companions being the absurdists and the crotchety old Doctor being the straight man. This would've been an interesting route to take the character from the beginning, but I feel like that got bogged down with Clara, whose existence kind of precluded that role reversal.

I'd like to think there is an alternate universe out there where Ashildir was 12's companion and we had this wild, adventurous, energetic, reckless, immortal wanna be, but never quite could be, Time Lady trying to travel through history and essentially be the Doctor and the actual Doctor being the crotchety, hesitant, companion. For once, rather than being the trickster, he would be the one trying to keep everything together. That could've actually been a really fun route for 12.

But alas, we didn't get that. So I feel like 12's legacy will always be that of a kind of poorly defined Doctor, who tried way too hard to be a dark and gritty antithesis of 10 and 11 and then tried way too hard to course correct when it became apparent that the original route wasn't working and as a result we got an inconsistent in-between with no real personality or defining traits. And it is a shame that that will be the legacy of Capaldi, someone who clearly adores the character and spent his life dreaming of playing him.

 

[Scarecrow_King]

I feel like a big problem with the Capaldi Doctor is that the writers never had a clear idea of what they wanted him to be. Initially, it felt like they were just so desperate to get away from Tennant/Smith era charming, youthful, whimsical Doctor and so they went to the polar opposite. Unfortunately "crotchety" as a primary character trait isn't really as endearing as they hoped. It actually drained just about all of the fun from the character. Then when the writers tried to inject a bit of life into him, it came off as forced and gimmicky (the guitar, the sonic sunglasses, etc). Now he is in just some sort of in-between limbo where nothing about him is really well defined or endearing.

Even after this premiere, the only time I have totally bought into Capaldi as The Doctor, 100 %, was during The Return of Doctor Mysterio. I feel like its the best Capaldi has ever been and it actually stems from him doing the absolute reverse of what you'd expect from the Doctor. Usually it is the Doctor being out there and the companion playing it straight. With the absurdity of Doctor Mysterio, we kind of got the reverse, with the companions being the absurdists and the crotchety old Doctor being the straight man. This would've been an interesting route to take the character from the beginning, but I feel like that got bogged down with Clara, whose existence kind of precluded that role reversal.

I'd like to think there is an alternate universe out there where Astrid was 12's companion and we had this wild, adventurous, energetic, reckless, immortal wanna be, but never quite could be, Time Lady trying to travel through history and essentially be the Doctor and the actual Doctor being the crotchety, hesitant, companion. For once, rather than being the trickster, he would be the one trying to keep everything together. That could've actually been a really fun route for 12.

But alas, we didn't. So I feel like 12's legacy will always be that of a kind of poorly defined Doctor, who tried way too hard to be a dark and gritty antithesis of 10 and 11 and then tried way too hard to course correct when it became apparent that the original route wasn't working and as a result we got an inconsistent in-between with no real personality or defining traits. And it is a shame that that will be the legacy of Capaldi, someone who clearly adores the character and spent his life dreaming of playing him.

This nailed it. I'd also say that Capaldi was 100% the Doctor in Heaven Sent. It showed the lengths the Doctor could go, and was overall just a great episode.

 

[Matt]

This nailed it. I'd also say that Capaldi was 100% the Doctor in Heaven Sent. It showed the lengths the Doctor could go, and was overall just a great episode.

I didn't care for Heaven Sent as much as others. I appreciate the technical aspects of it and the desire to do something new, with no one but Capaldi on screen. But the overarching importance of Clara throughout the episode (a character I have never really cared for) combined with the four billion year long imprisonment (which is just something I can't help but hung up on for a reason I can't even explain to myself) just kinda spoils the story for me, which makes it hard for me to really enjoy the Doctor.

 

[The Batman]

Not gonna lie, I don't know why Heaven Sent gets the level of praise that it does. I admire its innovation, but that interesting parts of the episode for me were the "Doctor in the imaginary Tardis" and end scenes.

 

[Scarecrow_King]

The reveal at the end of what he was doing--how it changed the perception of the Doctor's apparent despair to showing it was pure determination--is what made me love that episode.

I have nothing but disdain for Clara, so I get why the Clara elements don't do it for everybody. But if you remove Clara from the equation, it's still a great character study for the Doctor.

 

[Schlosser85]

I'm not feeling it these first couple episodes. It feels very rote.

Hopefully Missy and/or Saxon liven this season up.

 

[Scarecrow_King]

I like the first episode, but this one didn't do much for me. Somehow, it felt like it was both rushed and that nothing happened.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I'm not feeling it these first couple episodes. It feels very rote.

Hopefully Missy and/or Saxon liven this season up.

Gotta say... Yeah. Rote is what I would describe them as too. I understand the usual companion shake down cruise aspect of the first few episodes when they bring in a nw one for Who but these first two felt run of the mill. Again, I like Bill so far but the stories have not grabbed me, and the through line for Bill hasn't been made apparent to me yet. Perhaps it's supposed to be literally the Doctor as cosmic tutor, but that doesn't feel like it's at the forefront to me. Maybe instead of getting Bill on the TARDIS from the jump it would have been better to get into the season arc for two episodes and involve her tangentially and then have the Doctor reveal himself to her in all his glory? So far these two have felt very slow and inconsequential. They have seemingly nothing to do with whatever is keeping the Doctor at the university and as stand-alone stories they were not particularly remarkable.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm really just excited to get a new showrunner on board. Don't dislike Moffat, but his run on the show has really just waned and worn out.

I thought Capaldi was OK as the Doctor, but it seemed like they were always constantly switching gears with him.

My other issue is that I think Moffat goes overboard in making every arc mythology-shattering, or every companion has to have some dramatic deep origin-connection to the Doctor.

I also hated all the dumb creative world play. "The hybrid is ME." OMG! WHAT DOES HE MEAN! Does he mean he's the Hybrid? IS IT LADY ME?! OMG! I hated that nonsense.

 

[RetroNaz]

Yeah. Unfortunately, Capaldi will probably fall under the 'over-hyped and under-delivered' category when his run is complete.

I can't help but think he'd be disappointed himself, being such a fan and all. But Who know. They may view things differently from within the bubble.

 

[Scarecrow_King]

Part of me wonders if they are purposefully short changing Capaldi. Using him almost as a "transition" Doctor.

Right out the gate, they tried to make him drastically different from Smith. And they knew how much people loved Smith. So they try to reset expectations by giving us a rather bland Doctor before coming out the gate strong with the next one.

Plus, most of Capaldi's stories were focused on the companions (stupid Clara). Not the Doctor himself.