Doctor Who!!!!!!!

[Kim in Appalachia]

So I watched it.  What did you all think?

First thoughts,

It felt like the Class instead of Doctor Who.  There were too many people (I don't mean the final 3)

I didn't care for the on the nose speech towards the end (people can evolve.......) I don't mind a little self referential stuff, but it was too much.

I did like her upbeat tone.  I loved, loved, loved Capaldi, but his character could be a real downer.  Hopeful is nice.

It will be nice to have more than one companion in the TARDIS.  I liked it when it was Amy and Rory and Rose and Mickey.  It will be good to have a mix 

The overall story wasn't bad.  The alien was an interesting combo, but good.

As always, the acting was excellent. They find good people.

 

 

 

[cintinative]

The last scene confused me. No one would survive in that scenario. 

I also didn't like the "everyone can evolve" speech. It seemed out of place to me.

Edited October 8, 2018 by cintinative

[Kim in Appalachia]

1 minute ago, cintinative said:

The last scene confused me. No one would survive in that scenario. 

I also didn't like the "everyone can evolve" speech. It seemed out of place to me.

 

Yeah, that's how I felt about it.  It felt forced. 

As for the last scene, I'm sure the magic screwdriver will help. ?

 

[I talk to the trees]

I haven’t watched it yet, but I have high hopes for this season. Count me in the group who thinks that multiple companions are a good idea.

Edited October 8, 2018 by I talk to the trees
subject-verb agreement- oops!

[Angie in VA]

Not a Whovian (but my dc have been at different times, not sure about now) but a huge Jodi Whittaker fan. LOVED her in Broadchurch! 

Who knows? Maybe I'll watch for her. BTW, I never saw David Tennant as The Doctor, but I love him too! And I want Olivia Colman to move next door. 

[I talk to the trees]

33 minutes ago, Angie in VA said:

Not a Whovian (but my dc have been at different times, not sure about now) but a huge Jodi Whittaker fan. LOVED her in Broadchurch! 

Who knows? Maybe I'll watch for her. BTW, I never saw David Tennant as The Doctor, but I love him too! And I want Olivia Colman to move next door. 

 

Dd and I have already decided that if the BBC keeps the Doctor female for the next few regenerations, Olivia Colman should be next in line. (Actually she would have been my first choice for a female Doctor, but no one asked me!) 

[Paige]

I liked it well enough but I'm not sure about the new doctor. I think she may grow on me but right now I still miss Capaldi. It took me a while to get used to Matt Smith and Capaldi too, so in a few episodes I may feel like she is perfect. 

15 hours ago, cintinative said:

The last scene confused me. No one would survive in that scenario. 

I also didn't like the "everyone can evolve" speech. It seemed out of place to me.

I thought I saw a faint outline of the tardis behind them. In the past, they've explained that there's some sort of oxygen cloud or something surrounding the tardis. I expect that in the next episode the tardis will appear behind them, she'll use her screwdriver to open the door, and they'll all be sucked in.

 

I was really hoping that the female doctor would be Helen McCrory! Maybe next time...I think she would have been perfect. I bet they went with Jodie Whiitacker because she's blonde and conventionally pretty.

Edited October 8, 2018 by Paige

[happi duck]

Finally watched last night: we loved it!

[I talk to the trees]

We finally watched last night, and I was a little disappointed. Jodi Whittaker was good, but I think she lacks the energy that the previous four doctors have had. Her lines were delivered too slowly and deliberately. But I do think *she* will evolve as she settles into the role. I also think she was working with a difficult script. The dialogue was a bit strained, especially the speech mentioned above.

But for all my criticism, I did enjoy it, and am looking forward to this season.

[cintinative]

So I guess I'm a little geeky in wishing this, but I kind of wish she had lamented that she was not a ginger.  The last three have I think. ?

[Kim in Appalachia]

10 hours ago, cintinative said:

So I guess I'm a little geeky in wishing this, but I kind of wish she had lamented that she was not a ginger.  The last three have I think. ?

 

 

i know, And she had red hair in Broadchurch.  It was a dark auburn, close to brown, but still some red.  I was disappointed when I initially saw the reveal and she was blond.   

[cintinative]

Does anyone have some season wrap-up thoughts?  

I'll be honest, our family did not enjoy this season as much as in the past. 

[theelfqueen]

We like Jodi.

We didn't care for the writing this season. For the first time in 13 years (and we are both classic Whovians) we arent watching. 

[cintinative]

Just now, theelfqueen said:

We like Jodi.

We didn't care for the writing this season. For the first time in 13 years (and we are both classic Whovians) we arent watching. 

 

We didn't like the writing either. There were times we struggled with it when Peter Capaldi was doctor, but nothing like we did this season.  It's sad! We have been watching old episodes instead. 

[Robin M]

We enjoyed it and like Jodi Whitaker.  Love how they incorporated the past with things remembered and how it affected her in the here and now.   The writing was hit or miss and some of the episodes were totally awful with some things left unexplained or endings that left you hanging. The last three episodes were really good, along with the new year's special and it seemed they were just hitting their stride.   Other doctors had equally hit or miss episodes - remember the absorbalot in David Tennant's Love and Monsters?  Every time the doctor has regenerated, it's taken me a few shows to get use to them along with their various sidekicks and companions.   Couple years back we started with the 2005 episodes and Christopher Eccleston and worked our way through to the present.  Now we're currently watching all the old ones, bouncing back and forth a bit. Those will keep us busy until 2020.

Do you think they may have decided to just film the one season and wait to see what kind of reception Whitaker got, before going ahead with writing more for another season which is why we have to wait until 2020? 

Edited January 17, 2019 by Robin M
Grammar and spelling.

[hjffkj]

On 10/9/2018 at 10:00 PM, cintinative said:

So I guess I'm a little geeky in wishing this, but I kind of wish she had lamented that she was not a ginger.  The last three have I think. ?

haha, I thought the same thing

[nixpix5]

As a long time Whovian I thoroughly disliked it. It felt...off...it just wasn't the same for me at all. My kids have enjoyed it but honestly, they love Doctor Who so much I don't think they are picky. My husband has enjoyed a few episodes but as the season went on he liked it less and less. I am trying not to completely throw in the towel because Capaldi's first season was not great for me either but after that I adored him. I am probably the only person on the planet who didn't want the Doctor to be female. I was perfectly happy with River Song as our female counterpart. I was really hoping for an Asian male doctor, I thought that could be awesome or finally a ginger 😉 I did feel this season was way over the top preachy. It felt like they were trying too hard and it wasn't organic or authentic in presentation. I will probably try it for a bit longer in the next season but if I still can't do it I will jump ship. 

[alisoncooks]

7 minutes ago, nixpix5 said:

I did feel this season was way over the top preachy. It felt like they were trying too hard and it wasn't organic or authentic in presentation. 

This is what DH said. He stuck it out the entire season, but (with having a heavy-handed social justice focus) he felt it just lacked the fun aspect of DW. 

[nixpix5]

7 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

This is what DH said. He stuck it out the entire season, but (with having a heavy-handed social justice focus) he felt it just lacked the fun aspect of DW. 

Agree, which is saying something because Doctor Who has always been progressive and cutting edge in this way yet  it always felt organic. David Tennant seasons had, what felt like a heavy dose of it at times but still done in a way that kept the story focused. This season felt like they ripped topics from news headlines and pasted a Doctor Who theme on it. If just didn't feel like it was done as elegantly. Again though...I know many don't share my view on this. I just take a while to like new Doctors 😂

Edited January 17, 2019 by nixpix5

[Bluegoat]

15 hours ago, cintinative said:

 

We didn't like the writing either. There were times we struggled with it when Peter Capaldi was doctor, but nothing like we did this season.  It's sad! We have been watching old episodes instead. 

 

This is disapointing.  We gave up at the start of the Carpaldi era - I though the writing really started to tank in the second half of Matt Smith time, but I kept on until Carpaldi hopig it would revive with a bit of new energy.  

I've not be sure about bothering to watch the new doctor, but I'm not hearing that there has been a lot of improvement?

[Lori D.]

14 minutes ago, Bluegoat said:

...We gave up at the start of the Carpaldi era - I though the writing really started to tank in the second half of Matt Smith time...

Long-time hard-core Whovians here -- and I mean, starting with discovering re-runs of the original series back in the 1980s! -- and that's exactly when we drifted away (second half of Matt Smith era), and why. We enjoyed Matt Smith a lot, but not the show's direction and writing. I watched just the first few Capaldi episodes, and again, great actor, just did not care for the writing, the frenetic and scattered pace, the heavy dose of political correctness, and the agendas being forced onto the world of Doctor Who. Those sorts of things tend to ruin any work of art (film, TV, literature, painting...). JMO.

At some point, I'll check out a few Jodi Whittaker episodes, but I've actually been having fun this year dipping in and out of the original series -- last summer, Twitch website ran a summer-long marathon of almost all of the surviving episodes of the first 7 doctors, and right now is about halfway through doing a speeded up (3 weeks) encore. A lot of really cheesy (and bad!) writing and episodes, but some really fun classics in there, too. 😉

Edited January 17, 2019 by Lori D.

[Garga]

The writing got confusing in the middle of Matt Smith and continued through Capaldi. I could never figure out Clara.  She was utterly perplexing to me as a character. 

I find the writing easy to follow with Whitaker and I appreciate that.  I was often left hanging for the past few years wondering, “What the heck actually happened in that episode?” And finding glaring plot holes in most episodes.  But Whitaker’s epsiodes are straightforward and I like that better. 

My dh was getting so very sick of how every episode had the entire future of the galaxy resting on the Doctor’s shoulders.  He much prefers episodes where the Doctor is helping out some random group of people on some planet somewhere and the whole of existance isn’t in the balance.  So, he’s been happy that they toned down the scope of the episodes.  He’s a rabid fan.  We play a game here where we play the first 20 or so seconds of any classic Who show, and he will tell us the name of the episode, the director, and possibly the writer.  When I say he’s a fan...he’s a fan!  So, he appreciates that they’re pulling back and these episodes are more like classic Who episodes or like Eccleston, before every week was almost the end of the universe.  

Jodi needs to work on packing an emotional punch.  She gets a lot of lines that, if said right, would make the hair on your arm stand up because they’re so good. But she says them too fast or without the right emphasis.  But I might be comparing her too much with Tenant.  A bit ago, I was watching a bunch of Matt Smith episodes, and randomly watched a Tenant epsiode, and wow.  Tenant is just so far above everyone else in his acting that he makes everyone else seem bad by comparison.  (My opinion, of course.). Sometimes Whitaker says a line and I think, “But Tenant would have emphasized a different word and made his eyes look different and it would have been *better.*”

[Lori D.]

16 minutes ago, Garga said:

...and wow.  Tenant is just so far above everyone else in his acting that he makes everyone else seem bad by comparison.  (My opinion, of course.)...

Agree -- he IS a fantastic actor -- I've loved him in everything I've seen him in.

JMO: David Tennant is such a high water mark in the "re-boot" series -- a world-class actor, coupled with a writing team that really hit their stride in Tennant's years as the Doctor -- it will be hard for anyone to match that strong combo. 😄 Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi have strong acting skills and did wonderfully creative things as the Doctor, BUT... they had very erratic storylines and hit-and-miss writing to have to fight upstream against.

[Bluegoat]

Yes, those are the things that made me lose interest too.  I generally like complicated stories, but a lot of them I was left confused, and the end of the world all the time, too self-referential, and also all the companions seemed to be a nexus or paradox or something.  (And, many of the same problems in later seasons of Sherlock, so I think it's pretty easy to pin a lot of the blame for all this.)  I think the last episode I watched was when Capaldi made a speech about babies that I found totally embarrassing.

I know my parents have been watching the new series and suddenly found they could make sense of the plot without knowing the backstory for the past 7 seasons, so that is something I appreciate.  I have worried about the shoehorning in political stuff which I find annoying when it's noticeable, and I thought the switch to a female doctor was along the same lines, so I am not feeling like that will necessarily be gone. Shows can be meaningful when such things are really brought out of story, but when the issue determines the story it often doesn't work for me. We'll see.

 IN the meantime, my kids bought me a Britbox subscription for CHristmas so we can watch the whole series from the beginning now if we want to.

I thought Tennant was really a high bar as well, but Eccleston is really my favourite modern doctor - that moment when he tells Rose to run in the first episode kind of makes my heart leap, every time I see it.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Bluegoat

[Bluegoat]

2 hours ago, Garga said:

The writing got confusing in the middle of Matt Smith and continued through Capaldi. I could never figure out Clara.  She was utterly perplexing to me as a character. 

I find the writing easy to follow with Whitaker and I appreciate that.  I was often left hanging for the past few years wondering, “What the heck actually happened in that episode?” And finding glaring plot holes in most episodes.  But Whitaker’s epsiodes are straightforward and I like that better. 

My dh was getting so very sick of how every episode had the entire future of the galaxy resting on the Doctor’s shoulders.  He much prefers episodes where the Doctor is helping out some random group of people on some planet somewhere and the whole of existance isn’t in the balance.  So, he’s been happy that they toned down the scope of the episodes.  He’s a rabid fan.  We play a game here where we play the first 20 or so seconds of any classic Who show, and he will tell us the name of the episode, the director, and possibly the writer.  When I say he’s a fan...he’s a fan!  So, he appreciates that they’re pulling back and these episodes are more like classic Who episodes or like Eccleston, before every week was almost the end of the universe.  

Jodi needs to work on packing an emotional punch.  She gets a lot of lines that, if said right, would make the hair on your arm stand up because they’re so good. But she says them too fast or without the right emphasis.  But I might be comparing her too much with Tenant.  A bit ago, I was watching a bunch of Matt Smith episodes, and randomly watched a Tenant epsiode, and wow.  Tenant is just so far above everyone else in his acting that he makes everyone else seem bad by comparison.  (My opinion, of course.). Sometimes Whitaker says a line and I think, “But Tenant would have emphasized a different word and made his eyes look different and it would have been *better.*”

 

Yeah, what the heck was Clara about?  And the Victorian lizard lady?  It always seemed like some odd dream sequence to me.

I kind of disliked the Riversong plot too, so as that was emphasised more I really didn't like it.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Bluegoat

[Kim in Appalachia]

I didn't care for the season at all.  And I was excited about Jodie, so it was not that.  The writing felt like fan fiction.  Every episode felt as if it was missing a proper ending.  Each one left me asking, "What just happened?"  

My kids have stopped watching.  They could barely tolerate Capaldi's episodes, though they were happier without Clara.  But now, they all think it's just pointless, which is sad.

It did seem like every episode was designed to pander to a certain group instead of just telling a story.  Good writing tells a story and creates characters you care about.  This season did not do that. 

[nixpix5]

9 hours ago, Garga said:

The writing got confusing in the middle of Matt Smith and continued through Capaldi. I could never figure out Clara.  She was utterly perplexing to me as a character. 

I find the writing easy to follow with Whitaker and I appreciate that.  I was often left hanging for the past few years wondering, “What the heck actually happened in that episode?” And finding glaring plot holes in most episodes.  But Whitaker’s epsiodes are straightforward and I like that better. 

My dh was getting so very sick of how every episode had the entire future of the galaxy resting on the Doctor’s shoulders.  He much prefers episodes where the Doctor is helping out some random group of people on some planet somewhere and the whole of existance isn’t in the balance.  So, he’s been happy that they toned down the scope of the episodes.  He’s a rabid fan.  We play a game here where we play the first 20 or so seconds of any classic Who show, and he will tell us the name of the episode, the director, and possibly the writer.  When I say he’s a fan...he’s a fan!  So, he appreciates that they’re pulling back and these episodes are more like classic Who episodes or like Eccleston, before every week was almost the end of the universe.  

Jodi needs to work on packing an emotional punch.  She gets a lot of lines that, if said right, would make the hair on your arm stand up because they’re so good. But she says them too fast or without the right emphasis.  But I might be comparing her too much with Tenant.  A bit ago, I was watching a bunch of Matt Smith episodes, and randomly watched a Tenant epsiode, and wow.  Tenant is just so far above everyone else in his acting that he makes everyone else seem bad by comparison.  (My opinion, of course.). Sometimes Whitaker says a line and I think, “But Tenant would have emphasized a different word and made his eyes look different and it would have been *better.*”

So true. Nobody was the Doctor like David. He is just an outstanding actor in everything I have seen him in. Plus he is a really nice guy to his fans. He had a darling conversation with my DD at a comicon that made her giggle (I think she has a bit of a crush 😂)

[Rosie_0801]

I liked the series, though it seemed Ryan was written by someone who doesn't know dyspraxia. It was nice to have contained episodes without the fate of the universe resting on the choices of some sheila from wherever, but doing that also meant some issues were resolved too tidily. As if Ryan and his dad would have worked through their stuff that quickly...

I think Graham is a well placed character. He takes on most of the nurturing so that Jodie doesn't have her Doctor-ness diluted by it.

[Paige]

1 hour ago, Rosie_0801 said:

I liked the series, though it seemed Ryan was written by someone who doesn't know dyspraxia.

Was he supposed to have dyspraxia? I must have missed that. If he is, then I agree- they aren't writing it well. 

I like Jodi. I didn't really care for this season. It didn't feel like Doctor Who to me but more like the Sarah Jane Adventures or Torchwood, but not as cool as Torchwood because no Captain Jack. I wanted some more continuity with something- all the companions were new, almost all of the villains were new, there were few references to recent history, and it felt like some other show in the Who universe but not Doctor Who. I got really really tired of the writing and all the, "No! It couldn't be....But what if....Oh, it is!" 

I liked the new companions too- nothing wrong with them and I especially like Graham, but something was missing. 

 

[Rosie_0801]

1 minute ago, Paige said:

I got really really tired of the writing and all the, "No! It couldn't be....But what if....Oh, it is!" 

 

To be fair, 10, 11 and 12 did a fair bit of that too.

[Paige]

11 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

 

To be fair, 10, 11 and 12 did a fair bit of that too.

They definitely did, but they had style. And I think, but I'd have to rewatch, but I think they mixed up the words and delivery a bit more. We didn't see the Doctor mourning Bill or dealing with her complicated feelings about Missy. We don't know what happened to Nardol. It was disappointing considering that Jodi meets her new companions right after the regeneration. All that should have been fresh in her mind, but we got nothing. 

[Rosie_0801]

22 minutes ago, Paige said:

They definitely did, but they had style.

 

13's style seems to be sociable but very serious. Perhaps it is necessary for the first female doctor to be more serious than the blokes.

[cintinative]

8 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

 

13's style seems to be sociable but very serious. Perhaps it is necessary for the first female doctor to be more serious than the blokes.

 

Maybe a bit off in the social etiquette category too? Her dialogue with Ryan's dad was so blunt. I don't recall a prior doctor being so harsh with a companion's family members, even if they were jerks.

 

[Rosie_0801]

8 hours ago, cintinative said:

 

Maybe a bit off in the social etiquette category too? Her dialogue with Ryan's dad was so blunt. I don't recall a prior doctor being so harsh with a companion's family members, even if they were jerks.

 

 

10 smacked Donna's mum pretty hard.
The "bit off in the social etiquette" category feels the same as the way 10 played it, to me.

[Garga]

18 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

I liked the series, though it seemed Ryan was written by someone who doesn't know dyspraxia. It was nice to have contained episodes without the fate of the universe resting on the choices of some sheila from wherever, but doing that also meant some issues were resolved too tidily. As if Ryan and his dad would have worked through their stuff that quickly...

I think Graham is a well placed character. He takes on most of the nurturing so that Jodie doesn't have her Doctor-ness diluted by it.

I caught a couple of allusions to adventures that the four of them have been having that weren't episodes we watched.  I think they've been together doing more things than we've seen.  Also, being together 24/7 in multiple life and death situations would probably make people handle their stuff in a different way than normal.  They'd be forced to confront the issues and deal with them and resolve them, too, in order to be able to depend on each other for survival.

 

8 hours ago, cintinative said:

 

Maybe a bit off in the social etiquette category too? Her dialogue with Ryan's dad was so blunt. I don't recall a prior doctor being so harsh with a companion's family members, even if they were jerks.

 

Eccleston HATED Rose's family and was pretty clear about it--he called Micky by the wrong name on purpose and sat around moping and rolling his eyes whenever he had to be around Rose's mom.  Capaldi was downright vicious toward Clara's fiance.  

[cintinative]

43 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

 

10 smacked Donna's mum pretty hard.
The "bit off in the social etiquette" category feels the same as the way 10 played it, to me.

 

Good reminders from you and Garga. I don't have as clear a recall from the Eccleston period.