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Doctor Who - Series 8


Paul.Uni

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I think the new series got off to a very promising start. The dinosaur bit was rather silly, dinosaurs were big but nowhere near that big! I specially enjoyed the several humorous touches.

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Partner & I went to the cinema to see last nights Doctor Who, realy enoyed the story as a whole and would love to see more at the cinema ( though last nights perforrmance ran from 7:44 to 9:50 and cinema seat are not good for that lenght of time).

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I thought it was ok - at least the plot wasn't totally impenetrable unlike most of the last lot. I quite liked Capaldi, I hope we'll see him gradually developing the role to be more of a different personality. It was both scary and funny which is definitely a good thing.

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Hi all this is 1st post since joining, somewhat daft it's non rail ralated but hey ho...

 

I kinda agree and disagree with whats been said. There was quite a bit of silliness and the pacing was off, but I thought Capaldi owned it, very Tom Bakerish in many aspects. You have to think back and both Matt Smiths and David Tennants first outing where a bit ropey as I suppose he is all over the place after regenerating (Tennant spent most of his 1st episode in bed and Smith was all over the place throwing food everywhere). To me the entire series went downhill after Russell T Davies left and Moffat took over....but I have high hopes for this. Oh..one last thing, there were many subtle references to Bad Wolf in the Eccelston series, most of which missed at the time then made obvious. Outside the resturant in Deep Breath there were 2 very out of place looking blue obelisks....dunno what they mean, poss nothing...jus saying!

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Having caught up with it after a couple of days am not at all sure.  All the other Doctors in the modern era had far more impact (for me at least) in their 1st episode.  As others have speculated I think there was a lot there that will be built on in later episodes eg obelisks, and surely Missy (some kind of evil Mary Poppins?) will be back - in fact you can bet your boots they will be, as that's the way Steven Moffet writes.  He certainly knows how to weave an intriguing yarn over many episodes.

 

As to Peter Capaldi, he seemed (to me) to be rather like William Hartnell, or more accurately rather like David Bradley playing William Hartnell in the 50th anniversary drama/doc/tribute 'An Adevnture in Time and Space'

 

There were encouraging signs that Jenna Coleman would be getting some more feisty lines and getting more range to her character in this series. 

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Hi all this is 1st post since joining, somewhat daft it's non rail ralated but hey ho...

 

I kinda agree and disagree with whats been said. There was quite a bit of silliness and the pacing was off, but I thought Capaldi owned it, very Tom Bakerish in many aspects. You have to think back and both Matt Smiths and David Tennants first outing where a bit ropey as I suppose he is all over the place after regenerating (Tennant spent most of his 1st episode in bed and Smith was all over the place throwing food everywhere). To me the entire series went downhill after Russell T Davies left and Moffat took over....but I have high hopes for this. Oh..one last thing, there were many subtle references to Bad Wolf in the Eccelston series, most of which missed at the time then made obvious. Outside the resturant in Deep Breath there were 2 very out of place looking blue obelisks....dunno what they mean, poss nothing...jus saying!

Welcome to the forum Dust-devil, some good points there, looking forward to your future posts. Steve

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A promising start overall, I thought. The bit that got me was the "sister ship of the Madame de Pompadour". The Doctor never knew the ship's name, or why the clockwork robots fixated on Reinette, so it was quite nice to see the Doctor finally put the puzzle together.

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Peter Capaldi is Doctor number 13 I believe. The introduction of John Hurt as the War Doctor last year in the 50th anniversary special bumped everyone from Christopher Ecclestone onwards forward one place.

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I thought it was OK as first appearances go. Dinosaur was silly but at least we had no repeat of fishfingers and custard! I think he will settle into the role and be a bit darker than the last few doctors. Will be good to see the impossible girl get a bit more feisty and develop her role too. But who is the lady that collected the clockwork man at the end?

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Peter Capaldi is Doctor number 13 I believe. The introduction of John Hurt as the War Doctor last year in the 50th anniversary special bumped everyone from Christopher Ecclestone onwards forward one place.

 

He is only 13 in the sense of being the 12th regeneration. It's been made fairly clear in programmes and 'behind the scenes' that John Hurt's regeneration doesn't get to call himself 'The Doctor' outside of the 50th anniversary episode's ending, meaning that Capaldi's regeneration gets to be the 12th 'The Doctor'.

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....." But who is the lady that collected the clockwork man at the end? "

 That's no lady......That's Michelle Gomez ( She played Sue White in 'Green Wing', Miss Pickwell in 'Bad Education' to name but two.)

 

http://hoydenabouttown.com/20080810.2069/friday-hoyden-michelle-gomez/

 

Whhooaaar,... 'Bout time we had a bit o' kinky glamour on the show ! 

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Thing is with this show, you can speculate all you want, but due to anything being possible in the world of DW, very rarely is someone right with their predictions.

pendlerail: In the 2013 Christmas Special, Matt Smith said that even though he hadn't changed face, his regeneration after being struck by the dalek in 'Journeys End' still counted, add in the War Doctor, and he was actually on his 13th and final life, saying that if he died now, that'd be it. Then the Time Lords gave him more regeneration energy. After his 'reset regeneration' but before his face changed, he said it was a whole 'new regeneration cycle', so are we to count that as another 13 lives granted? In which case, Capaldi is Series 2 Doc 1 :D
 

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Well for me, loved the characters as much as was possible (except for the robot who just seemed one dimensional), loved some of the scenes, thought the dinosaur was a tad on the large side, and didn't enjoy the story much.

 

What I would really like is to forget the big blockbuster episodes just for a minute and do something that's, well, smaller and cleverer. Something that can really bring out the personalities of the main protagonists. Help us get to know them.

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I've been a fan since I can remember (Pertwee rocks but Baker is the best). I think Capaldi will be up there with the greats. I'm also a fan of the more recent doctors. Ecclestone and Tennant were both brilliant in different ways. That's the beauty of the doctor. Each one brings something different to the role.

 

Bring on the Daleks.

 

The new title sequence was a bit of a shock. Gone are the timey-wimey swirls to be replaced with the clock motifs. Not sure yet.

 

Time will tell. Lol

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Well that was somewhat disappointing and irritating in equal measure. (IMO)   :beee:

At least (I presume) it wasn't dragged out to no less than 105 minutes packed with commercials, not to mention promos for the show you are currently watching, the way it was presented on BBC America on Saturday night.

 

BBC America commercials are pretty bad. Pimple cream, rehab facilities. It's dire.

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At least (I presume) it wasn't dragged out to no less than 105 minutes packed with commercials, not to mention promos for the show you are currently watching, the way it was presented on BBC America on Saturday night.

 

BBC America commercials are pretty bad. Pimple cream, rehab facilities. It's dire.

 

Does sound dire, Michael; even with the limitations on ads on commercial channels here, the breaks in short programmes such as The Big Bang Theory seem longer than the show. I'm afraid that "Pimple cream and rehab facilities" made me giggle, though. Do those seem to be targeted, or are they used throughout?

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Thanks for the welcome LondonTram. Missy could be the master regenerated into a female as we now know this can happen of you watch the rather excellent Paul McGann short online (Missy being short for mistress the female opposite of master), could be River Song (prob not) could be female timelord the Rani (as played by Kate O'Mara, we havnt seen that character yet). Though I do keep reading she is Guardian of the Nethersphere whatever that may be. She was interesting, and slightly bonkers. I may be wrong about the obelisks, they just looked really out of place.

 

There is much we could see....the character Romana who went to live in E-Space, the return of the doctors "daughter". In one of the trailers (I can see into your soul doctor) there is a very obvious woman with red hair who face you dont see...could be the return of the suprisingly excellent Catherine Tate as Donna, a coincidence that the doctor now has the face of the Roman marble sculptor from the Pompei episode?!

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Bit of a mediocre starter I felt. Matt Smith had a much stronger start in "11th Hour".

 

On the plus side, Capaldi's Doctor looks promising although we will have to wait and see how he settles down after his post-regenerative scattiness. Strax "sending up the paper" was obvious but still amusing.

 

The story felt quite ponderous at times. A villain resurrected from a previous storyline where they were just there to add some depth to the Doctor's character as well as lots of rambling. Vastra's chat with Clara seemed particularly jarring since the last time they met, Vastra saw Clara risk her own life to save the Doctor (and, by extension, Jenny).

 

The berrating seemed out of character and entirely there so Vastra could deliver a couple of lines to inform the viewers how the Doctor felt after his regeneration.

 

Interesting to see who "Missy" (the Doctor's girlfriend) turns out to be. The "soul" of the Tardis perhaps? Her manner seems not entirely unlike that of Idris from "The Doctor's Wife".

 

I give the story 3/5 and hope for better to come.

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... the breaks in short programmes such as The Big Bang Theory seem longer than the show. I'm afraid that "Pimple cream and rehab facilities" made me giggle, though. Do those seem to be targeted, or are they used throughout?

Gordon,

 

I'd say it's probably more a function of the price of BBC America's air time, than directed at a particular audience.

 

American broadcast TV (like The Big Bang Theory) is scheduled with 22 minutes of programming per half hour. Some cable operators (like BBC America) will schedule even more than 8 minutes per half hour of commercials and bulk it up further with programme promotions. I've seen cable operators schedule movies from the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings franchises into four hours or more. And they're sneaky, the frequency of the advertising increases as you get further into the show.

There is a hierarchy of advertising to match. The evening network news is dominated by pharmaceutical and vitamin supplement commercials, since the demographics for this programming are older. Sporting events are inevitably full of commercials for cars, trucks and erectile dysfunction medications. The price for this airtime is expensive and the advertising has higher production values.

 

At the bottom of the pile are the 'cheap' commercials that run on cable stations with lower ratings. BBC America does well with shows like Doctor Who and Top Gear but they rerun a very small number of shows endlessly, interspersed with the 'cheapest' forms of commercial.

 

It can make an entertaining show a chore and a less entertaining show quite tedious.

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