The new season of Doctor Who is here, and with it the introduction of Peter Capaldi as the latest actor to wear the mantle of The Doctor.
When the doctor arrives in Victorian London he finds a dinosaur rampant in the Thames and a spate of deadly spontaneous combustions.
Did you watch the episode? What did you think? Use the comment section below to share your thoughts on the new Doctor.
Stephen Schleicher began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen has freelanced for Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog, and Gizmodo. Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment. You can follow him on Twitter @MajorSpoilers and tell him your darkest secrets...
19 Comments
I saw the Latest Doctor in his small screen debut, and I really liked it. Honestly I never concern myself with the actor who plays the Doctor because I am always more fascinated by the common elements of the character.
That being said, For those who will speak against Capaldi, please consider this, you can’t judge the doctor on hid first appearances. Think about it, Tenent, who many consider still the pinnacle of the latest series of Doctor Who, spent 65% of his premiere episode asleep. And Steven Moffet even said recently he didn’t really have a voice for Smith’s character until three episodes in.
We are going to see a lot of Capaldi shine through, and as he to was a huge fan of Doctor Who, I cannot see his Interpretation being fabulous. So Far I was impressed, and I can;t wait to see more.
A great episode focused on charterer over story and an ideal showcase for Capaldi who seems to have hit the ground running (as the Doctor should).
Also an on screen kiss for the inter-species same sex married couple and the internet hardly exploded at all, well done humanity there may be hope for you yet.
It was clearly an episode with an agenda. It used Clara as an analog for all the fans that were unsure about an older Doctor. I think the message came through clearly and pretty effectively.
I was hoping to see a beginning to the search for Gallefrey, but I can wait.
I hope this episode is the end of the Paternoster Gang for a while. Much like River Song, they’re interesting characters who’ve been run into the ground with overuse.
I don’t yet feel like they’re overexposed, but I find that Vastra’s interaction with Clara was pretty heavy-handed. (To be honest, though, I blame Clara.
For everything.)
Respectful and civil disagreement! (Except for the part about Vastra’s heavy handedness. She was, indeed, the jerkstore’s top seller.)
I think the problem with the Paternoster gang is that they’re never on screen enough to develop to any great degree. And there’s not enough to each of them anyway to sustain a longer narrative if Moffat somehow convinced the BBC (perhaps by plying them with liquor) to spin them off.
My big hope going into series 8 was that the tone of the episodes themselves would follow the tone we’ve been led to expect regarding Capaldi’s performance. Instead we get more of the same, esentially the worst excesses of the Smith era. If this is an indication of the direction of series 8, then all the hard work that Capaldi will undoubtedly put into his portrayal will be lost in a haze of quips, poor plotting, frenetic editing and comedy Sontarans. Which may demonstrate a lack of faith by the production team to trust the audience to come along down a new track as blazed by Capaldi’s performance.
So a decent episode, which doesn’t justify its length. Coleman given some more to do, which is pleasing, and hopefully a pointer to actual character development down the track. 6/10
I can’t get enough for the Paternoster Gang. They need their own spin-off TV show.
If I was still playing the Dr Who rgp they would totally be in my adventuring party.
I’m still not sure how I feel about the new Doctor as it usually takes a few full episodes before I’ve gotten an accurate idea of who a new Doctor is. But I will say Capaldi has some great moments (such as the door and window scene and reminding the dino that he was not flirting).
Overall, I wasn’t disappointed by the episode. It wasn’t anything super epic, but it was a pretty fun episode and we got to see more of Strax, Jenny Flint and Madame Vastra, which made me happy (I choked on my drink laughing at the Clara/Strax exchanges).
Strax still makes me laugh, no matter how much they use him, I find him funny. I started w/the Doctor on PBS in 77 so I’ll always be a Tom Baker acolyte, the idea of an older and more old school doctor really appeals to me. I think the episode lacked a bit of focus and was a bit too heavy handed with “give him a chance”. Whovians always give new Doctors a fan but as others wrote you have to stick with the new regeneration for a few episodes until they find his voice. Wasn’t a terribly strong episode but hopefully he’ll find his voice and find some chemistry with Clara. If not, when she leaves she can be replaced by Leela’s daughter… or Romana…………….
To those that doubt Capaldi, watch the restaurant scene again, I think that really set the tone for his Doctor and how well he and Coleman can work together. That’s when the Doctor really kicked in for me.
Yes, the restaurant scene is where the episode worked best for me, too. Clever dialog without relying on wacky non-sequitors.
I’m tiring a bit of the manic zaniness that seems to permeate the modern incarnations. I miss the logical mind and strong charism of Hartnell, Pertwee and Davison. So I hope we get more of the restaurant doctor and less of the bedroom doctor in episodes to come.
Part of why I liked the bedroom scene (that is going to sound REALLY naughty out of context) is precisely because I don’t think that is the direction Capaldi will take. I do expect humor, but not quite the wackiness we had with Tennant and Smith.
I’m interested in what people think about the “lady or the tiger” question in the episode: Which one was lying about his core programming, the Doctor or the cyber-baddie? i.e., suicide or murder? And do you think that this will be answered for us, or left hanging like the “To be Continued” at the end of “Name of the Doctor?”
My money’s on suicide, because the Doctor’s always been good at talking others into dubious action.
But my money’s also on we’ll never get a sure answer, because I’m beginning to think that Moffat enjoys making up good questions as springboards for adventurous stories much more than actually providing satisfying answers to them once the stories conclude.
I found this episode a little lackluster.
i think it had more to do with the production tone than anything else though.
It felt so muddy. I was not a huge fan of the color palette either.
perhaps I will be able to rewatch this episode in a few months and it will resonate with me more.
Other than an awful sound effect that put the Doctor to sleep, some muddled plotting/villain-threat and the fan inspired intro (Didn’t work for me). I thought the episode worked well enough. The tone of the new Doctor will undoubtedly evolve over time, especially these next few episodes everything else that was off or didn’t work this episode I suspect was part of the whole feel and the adjustment of new Doc, a longer running time this episode, the “give him a chance” plot and the intro stuff for new viewers. What worked though worked well.
Clara got to be the hero.
Capaldi was grrreat.
Strax, acid, newspaper.
Restaurant.
Missy, Mistress? Mast—!
And I’m still not tired of the Pater Noster gang. I like them used sparingly. They don’t get to evolve much but I’d rather not have them over-used or spun off. Maybe change the status quo the next time we see them, hint that they have their own adventures and lives a bit more? I also look forward to more of “Missy”, she seems crazy interesting .
I’ve always hoped that if they did get a spinoff, it wouldn’t be a full spinoff like “Sarah Jane Adventures” or “Torchwood”, but either a short online series of mini episodes about 5 – 10 minutes long, or an occasional special full length episode (similar to Tennant’s final year as the Doctor where we got a few specials rather than a full season). I’d love to see more of them, but part of that appeal is because they are used sparingly.
Never saw his stuff so I think it’ll be a while before he grows on me. But he saves Clara so that’s points in my book.
More Strax!