The Dr Who thread

[Harlequin]

All the Doctors have had often wildly varying personality attributes, skills and weaknesses. I thought the line last week about his knowledge of sign language having been replaced with semaphore was quite intriguing. Troughton lost the irritability and forcefulness of Hartnell, Pertwee lost Troughton's sly manipulation, BakerT lost Pertwee's paternalism and fighting skills (which Capaldi seems to have at least partially regained – Hai!) … right up to the reversal of romantic interest/competence and domestic/social knowledge (highlighted particularly in The Lodger) between Tennant and Smith. There seems to be a change in both skills and wiring with each regeneration. See also Moffat's first televised Doctor Who script (with a great many ideas he's used since, including the climax of Time of the Doctor) below:


While both Moffat and Capaldi can also be classed as Doctor Who nerds, my impression of Capaldi's first season was that, to a large extent, they were bravely trying to do the Sixth Doctor right: starting as abrasive, insensitive and seemingly callous then having him slowly mellow into the second season (which I understand was the plan with BakerC, right down to Baker wanting, but being denied, a black jacket for his 'costume'). They may have emphasised the AS-ish traits a little more for Capaldi, as with the cards last weekend, but I feel the primary reason was probably to make it easier to allow the softer interior to surface than with BakerC's portrayal (the arrogance of which was such a strong feature as to give the impression it was the main source of these attributes).

[Istar]

Well... OK, if you're a youngster and have never contemplated the Grandfather Paradox before I suppose that might have been quite cool.

I don't think it lived up to the promise of the first half, and is easily the weakest of the season so far - but then, we've had three barnstormers, so it had a lot to do.

Not bad, but not great. 6/10.

[phattslagg]

Wonderful stuff.

Quite possibly the best episode of new Who.

[Mayhem]

After the introductory part, I was essentially waiting for...

Spoiler: show

things to be a bit like "Blink", and the fact that you only knew the information you knew because you'd already seen it, but from someone in the future. And thus, the Doctor wasn't really dead. Although I did wonder if he caused the flood and stole the energy cell, and I was correct. Show the gun on the mantelpiece in the first moments, and let people forget about it until later...

[Governmentyard]

Abandoned place in Britain, lumbering bloke in big suit baddie, creepier ancillary enemies, rudimentary 'base' indoor sets, genuine peril, peril borne of idiocy, wife grabbing your arm halfway through, various deaths, a totally crap spaceship, bit of time stuff but followable, running around, hiding, Doctor playing his enemies, companion being slightly tiresome... it had everything Doctor Who should have. First rate stuff.

Except for that fucking bloody awful fourth-wall break at the start. Yes, I'm quite sure it served a purpose, or Patrick Troughton did it in 1923 or whatever, but I don't care, it's shit and I hate it.

[phattslagg]

I felt that I should have hated it (the 4th wall stuff), but I loved it. He's Doctor fucking Who - of course he can break it. He's probably the only character in TV history who can.

[Harlequin]

What I initially felt were weaknesses are striking me more now as strengths. The script turns narrative conventions against us! To the extent that the quick exposition at the end was mostly telling us things that had always been foregrounded but distracted from.

But then weaponised semiotics was the subject of the plot.

I am rather hoping they keep the new theme music. I think I see the aesthetic Capaldi is going for now and the glasses fit it well.

After the introductory part, I was essentially waiting for...

Spoiler: show

Show the gun on the mantelpiece in the first moments, and let people forget about it until later...

Spoiler: show

Although I feel that was subverted for the main plot device. I have seen complaints about the non-Chekhoving of the hologram technology last week. It turned out that the scene was a Chekhoving in itself. That it resolved a major situation, though, let it be forgotten as having solved its narrative purpose.

Except for that fucking bloody awful fourth-wall break at the start. Yes, I'm quite sure it served a purpose, or Patrick Troughton did it in 1923 or whatever, but I don't care, it's shit and I hate it.

The same technique was used in Listen. I think it emphasises what the Doctor said last story, that he is just a storyteller in a box. Come to think of it, the entire pre-credits sequence of The Witch's Familiar was the telling of a story about the Doctor.

I felt that I should have hated it (the 4th wall stuff), but I loved it. He's Doctor fucking Who - of course he can break it. He's probably the only character in TV history who can.

I very much agree. Some people say there has been an explanation for that ever since The Mind Robber.

[Cloudane]

Remind me again why some of you guys even watch this? What's the point in watching something you seem to hate with a passion... is it like a train wreck kind of thing where you just can't look away? I mean... I can understand liking something so much you can criticise it, I get that, but when it's week after week after week of whinging about it. What's the point?

==

Thought the 4th wall speech was cleverly done, it might seem a bit silly in 10-20 years (just Altavista it!) but it made me pause and google it. Well played.

The rock intro really hurt my ears - no more!

And then I just got absorbed to fuck and stopped taking notes

[pogo]

The rock intro really hurt my ears - please more!

FTFY. And of course we can oblige:

[Cloudane]

It's at times like this that season 1 ST:TNG "Encounter at Farpoint" clips would be useful on Youtube. "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP THE PAIIIIIIN!"

[Harlequin]

Remind me again why some of you guys even watch this? What's the point in watching something you seem to hate with a passion... is it like a train wreck kind of thing where you just can't look away? I mean... I can understand liking something so much you can criticise it, I get that, but when it's week after week after week of whinging about it. What's the point?

I often wonder the same myself but I am still waiting for the whinging to appear here on tonight's episode. For me, I thought the games being played with narrative conventions were brave, clever and great fun.

Thought the 4th wall speech was cleverly done, it might seem a bit silly in 10-20 years (just Altavista it!) but it made me pause and google it. Well played.

I am reminded that the Doctor has been breaking that wall since at least his Christmas greeting in The Daleks' Master Plan and continued to blatantly do so in stories like The Invasion of Time and Remembrance of the Daleks. And DW has always been very much of its time in references and design (although accepting this and indulging pop culture to this extent has been more of a post-Buffy twenty-first century thing).

The rock intro really hurt my ears - no more!

Pah! I want it, along with the glasses, to be kept for the rest of this season at least.

[F-ZeroOne]

This Doctor, he will ROCK YOU LIKE HURRICANE!.

Ahem.

Regards the fourth wall - the way I looked at it was that he was explaining it to the two from the base who went with him, we just didn't see them in shot.

[Governmentyard]

Didn't even notice the rawk theme... I'd stopped listening to it at all closely in recent years. I'd prefer a nice evolution done electronically given that it's one of the defining pieces of electronic music in history, but I'm convinced Gold hasn't got the chops in that field. I'd just settle for the reinstatement of the middle eight, tbh.

/edit It actually exists! Couldn't find it last year...



Although with the synth he's using for the main melody, I suspected he'd either have to dull it down for the eight or it'd sound a bit too stylophone... and that's seemingly the case - it's as if he's kept the line in but put the workload on the orchestration to carry it though, which pretty much drains it of the transcendental, icy shimmer that makes it so good.

I imagine he'll remain in charge as long as the music side of it coins it in with the proms and such. We'll always have the Howell and Derbyshire stuff

[Jonesey]

I'm going to have to watch that one again. I got bored watching it. But I am bingeing Rick and Morty atm.

[Baggypants]

I felt incredibly tense during the bit in the fake-o-church and the wandering round the base. Excellent editing cutting between the two locations.