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Doctor Who

The fan who made their own titles is also credited in the show credits too which is a nice touch. The new title sequence is very nice, hopefully it stays for a long time, has a very 'classic' feel to itself.
 
Amy still beats Clara on that one. :p

I thought it was inevitable Jenna would be leaving this year. She wasn't given an easy character to play with and Clara's story pretty much came to an end last year. Shame as Amy was a pretty spot on character, Clara lacked everything. Hopefully Moffat writes the next companion a little better. His female characters seem very hit or miss.
 
Well last night's episode was brilliant! Peter Capaldi seems like he's going to be an absolutely fantastic Doctor!

I was glad to see the reappearance of the clockwork robots from Series 2, as they always gave me the creeps, and they didn't disappoint in this episode, I found them extremely creepy. That surprise appearance by Matt Smith at the end was phenomenal, I was not expecting that one bit! Oh and I must say, the ending of the episode reminded me a lot of the ending from The End of the World in Series 1 .

Roll on the rest of the series!
 
I liked it too! Capaldi seems to be a great choice for the Doctor, I'm excited to see how his version plays out.

The garden at the end looked eerily similar to the one in 'The Girl Who Waited'. I wonder how many series Moffat is going to string this arc out to! :p
 
This years story arc will be just that and not extend to great lengths after this series has concluded. Think of series five with the cracks in time... pretty much follows that kind of pattern. So expect some more scenes at the end of episodes and maybe an episode that plays a bigger role in the series arc...

BBC Wales like to reuse a lot of locations too, hence why the last scene looks like the garden in 'The Girl Who Waited', because it is the same place. :p I read a quote a few months back from one of the guys who works on set designs and he said they find it easier reusing locations as they know how to get access and it can often be easy to make them look different (although I disagree with that).

I thought the episode was very good. Aside from some very dodgy editing in the first 15-20 minutes, it was an amazing episode. That cheesy CGI, gotta love it!
 
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Not really sure what to say about Saturday's episode.

As for the new Doctor - I thought he was great. Capaldi already appears to be the antidote to the "fun" Doctors of recent times and is definitely the refreshing change of Doctor that was needed. His acting was actually very good (although I detest the silliness that we have to put up with after every regeneration, it's just not funny in my opinion - it wasn't quite as cringey as the fish fingers and custard thing though, thank goodness). He made the best of what was essentially a naff script.

As for the plot - diabolical writing. I get that some people love Steven Moffat, but for me, it was just one massive confusing mess. I kind of feel like the writers feel that the recurring story arc is some kind of excuse to go crazy and just start scribbling whatever they want down. One minute, it's a tense scene with Clara confronting the clockwork creatures, the next it's human/lizard lovers raining from the ceiling in ninja gear "in the name of the British empire". Bizarre. And it looks like yet ANOTHER crappy, complex story like all that rubbish about Demon's Run we had to endure. It's not that I like shows where I don't have to think - quite the opposite, in fact - but it's just utter tripe time and time again at the moment.

So hopefully next week will bring something better to the table, especially seeing as the Daleks are out to play. I'll look forwards to seeing Capaldi against them, it could be interesting.
 
Here goes.....

The first episode suffered something that the last series suffered from, too many great ideas in such a short space of time. The story was good, just needed to be edited abit. Trim the fat. Moffat seemed to have forgotten you could have two episodes for one story. Have a cliff hanger. Have a story that doesn't involve your big ending.

Capaldi is going to be amazing. Least he doesn't flap his arms about like Matt Smith.

As for Clara its such a shame that she isn't as good a character as early Amy was (later Amy was too whingey and was dwarfed by Rory at times) Jenna has been spot on and gave her the best she could. She has more then made up for the story's she has been in.

Big hope for this series, smaller stories, with few strong characters. and get rid of strax and co. We don't need a comedy troupe in it.
 
With any luck, we might just be in for a darker version of Tom Baker. At least, that's what I'm hoping for based on that first episode.
 
Luckily Capaldi is a hardcore Who fan and he wants a no-nonsense Doctor. Apparently there were some worries behind the scenes with the way Capaldi has wanted to change the Doctor. He's been quite adamant that twelve will be darker and not be as childlike as Matt Smith and David Tennant.

I think the BBC have had a harder job this time around, due to this Doctor being not as pc friendly they've had to try and ease general viewers into this. I believe this series does that too, as the episodes go on we'll see some darker things happen, even some morbid things too.

I think it's an exciting time for Doctor Who. It's a risk by the BBC. But it should hopefully pay off. I love that Capaldi wants the Doctor to return to some of the routes we saw in the classic series. The past few years the show has got too comical and childish for my liking. A darker, more serious Doctor is the way to go.
 
I always felt Matt Smith had a lot of the dark about him and enjoyed his doctor (certainly my favourite post reboot until now). Shame the stories rarely allowed him to explore that as much as I would like. Think Capaldi has the gravitas to force the stories to suit his doctor though and think he will bring a sense of depth but maintain some of the quirky comedy.

Tom Baker really did get the balance right between mysterious, slightly sinister alien and quirky comedy. The doctor needs both elements as it's always been part of his make-up. But sometimes the new doctor who series have put comedy above story. I think Capaldi will keep the tone edgy but inject the humour as well.

Have to say though I'm not a Moffat hater like some (RTD was worse in my view) I think he needs to seriously consider stepping aside as show runner. He rushes his plots way too much.
 
Smith was great with the dark stuff. Shame he wasn't able to develop that. Shame Matt didn't get to do a lot of things really. He's a brilliant actor, but I don't think he was used to his fullest by the DW writers.

Matt wasn't a Doctor Who fan as such, so he probably got a little walked over since he wouldn't have known the history of the show so much. Capaldi knows the show inside out and knows most (if not all) of the Doctors. So he has gone into this show saying 'I am the Doctor, this is what the Doctor will do, this is what my Doctor will be like'. Capaldi has been able to tell Moffat and co how he wants his Doctor to be, rather than Moffat and co telling him how they want the Doctor to be. Hopefully that will show a lot as the episodes go on.

Moffat's signed on until 2015 at the moment. Few rumours that he will leave the show after series 9 (leaving a new showrunner for 2015 Christmas Special/series 10). There might be a light 10th anniversary special episode next year too so that will be a good time for Moffat to go. I hope rumours are true, I have liked Moffat's style but it's getting boring and repetitive now. I have enjoyed one -off writers stories more than Moffat's recently. It's time he lets someone else have a go at it.
 
+1 for Mark Gatiss! I'd definitely like to see Neil Gaiman write another episode too. I don't really mind Moffat but I agree it's time for him to step aside as showrunner, although I would like to see him come back to write a few stand-alone episodes.

To be honest, I don't really have a preference for who writes it or becomes showrunner after Moffat as long as RTD is nowhere near it!
 
RTD only got one good story arc/ finale right and that was the Davros series. The rest just seemed a bit naff.
 
The problem I have with Moffat is that, to me, some of his story's are almost instantly forgettable. I have trouble remembering most episodes from Series 5/6/7, whilst I can remember nearly all from 1/2/3/4.

I enjoy watching his stories, but once I've finished it, there's nothing that stick with me for a while.

:)
 
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