Doctor Who

[mellowinman]

Huh. It seems to be getting worse rather than better. The writing has fallen apart and the stories seem just totally uninspired and uninspiring. "Kill the Moon" is probably the worst episode in a long, long time (although, for me, the final few minutes redeemed it just a little bit).

I don't know why, but the franchise just seems to have lost its way at the moment. That's not for the first time, though. I'm hoping it can recover again.

I liked "Kill the Moon." I thought it was a very weird, and atypical episode, and an improvement over the last installment. I do wish the stories would return to a more scary and cosmic feel, and I'm not getting very inspired by Clara's boyfriend as a plotline. It seems like the show kind of peaked when they first brought out Matt Smith, and now they're kind of lost.

I find myself watching more and more 60s/70s Dr. Who, just to remind myself that the show always had issues. Sometimes it was fantastic, and sometimes it was embarrassing. I really like the way Capaldi portrays the Doctor, so there is plenty of hope.

 

[zontar]

I liked Kill the Moon--yes the idea of the Moon being an egg isn't the greatest, but it was a fun episode--and CLara had some cool stuff going on, as did Courtney.

 

[BassyBill]

The reasons I didin't like it included the poor science - for example, "prokaryotes" that just happened to look like spiders? Come on. And the pretty much unexplained mass increase of the moon (made it easier to shoot the episode in terrestrial gravity, I suppose). I get the idea of suspending disbelief but I felt these ideas were just lazy and stretched credibility further than the Daleks ever did.

Also, the portrayal of teenager Courtney was horribly shallow and stereotyped - "I'm bored, have you got any games?" Again, lazy - and very weak script writing.

Capaldi is a class act and he could make a really good Doctor, but I think he deserves much better material (all just my opinion, of course).

 

[Rusty Chainsaw]

Kill The Moon was good - not the best of the series so far though (that honour goes to Listen). The "egg" conceit was a bit silly and far-fetched, but the spider thingies were scary in the classic hide-behind-the-sofa Who mould, and there was great acting and tension all around.

The last 5 minutes with Clara ripping The Doctor a new one made the whole thing worthwhile. I think the whole thing with Twelve being basically unlikeable is part of the series' arc and will resolve itself. He looked genuinely hurt when Clara stormed off, and it's actually made Twelve a more mysterious, interesting character, not a million miles away from Four, Six or Seven (especially Seven).

It's probably just that he's played by Capaldi, but I can't help but think that Twelve treats every day in the manner of one of Malcolm Tucker's famous proclamations - "just another day at the %&#!-office".

 

[MartinG1957]

As a trained scientist (how pretentious does that opening line sound!) I engage my "willing suspension of disbelief" button with any science fiction film or programme I watch... yes there were a couple of howlers from that point of view in "Kill The Moon" - but we are allowing for the fact that the central character is a centuries old humanoid from a different planet with two hearts who, when killed, regenerates apparently at random into another body but still retains all past memories and abilities and travels through time and space in an old style English Police Call box which is "bigger on the inside"and also apparently regenerates its configuration following the regeneration of the driver - but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of it -I also thought it was a good old style Who yarn -the beasties were scary enough and the story twisted a little, especially with Clara's rebellion - makes a change for the companion to dump the Doc instead of the other way round...

I think Capaldi, as I have said before is excellent -as the weeks go on he is developing the Doctor very nicely and I have to say, as a fellow countryman, in a particularly "Scottish" style - cant really explain what I mean by that but I'd bet that fellow Scots would probably know what I meant.

 

[Titania]

I thought we'd seen the worst with the Robin Hood episode....apparently not. Kill the Moon was beyond awful. That episode was beyond suspension of disbelief. There was absolutely no point to the ridiculous unicellular spiders (***!) that can somehow be killed by Windex. Why did no one really think it was weird there were spiderwebs on the moon? The gravity on the moon. No one seems especially concerned about that, other than the parody of a NASA astronaut. Gravitational physics, aside, how does a beastie hatch from the moon, then lay an egg that is larger than itself in seconds? The moon as an egg is a horrible idea to begin with, but if you HAVE to go through with this stupid storyline, why not make it a sky whale that hatches out of the egg? Then at least there would be some consistency with past episodes and the beast might have had a reason to exist.

Courtney was one of the worst character introductions ever on the show. Good god, what a horrible, pithy character with no reason whatsoever for being. That NASA astronaut seemed to exist only to be contrary to everything the Doctor said. Otherwise, she seemed like a complete dolt.

I really want to like Capaldi, but the writers keep letting him down. This version of the doctor has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He's acerbic just to be acerbic. I feel that Eccleston rode that line of very alien/likeable much better, even though many of his episodes were clunkers too. The big argument between Clara and the Doctor...we've seen it before. Except this version was much nastier.

 

[BassyBill]

Martin - I can believe in the Doctor, and the Tardis, and Daleks, and lots of stuff, by suspending my disbelief for an hour or so. But I'm drawing the line at "prokaryotic" spiders! I mean, not just merely unicellular. Prokaryotic, to boot. Pffft.

Fingers crossed, must be some good episodes coming very soon.

 

[MartinG1957]

Sometimes the Doctor lies

 

[Rob22315]

If it makes you feel any better out the moon/egg thing, that was the premise of an old pulp sci fi story I read growing up in the 60s. All the planets were actually eggs.

 

[JMacBass65]

I really like the way Capaldi portrays the Doctor, so there is plenty of hope.

Agreed.

 

[JMacBass65]

"Are you my Mummy........."

Ha! Good one!

 

[MartinG1957]

Noticed that, nice one

Again, I enjoyed this one nice yarn, introduced a few possible continuances... Who is Gus. Another reference to a previous episode when the Doctor took a call to a problem on the orient express (was it from "your majesty, IIRC?) So is Missy tied in to it?
For our American friends who might not know, Perkins (nod to The Railway Children's "Perks" who was a train station manager and played in the film by Bernard Cribbins ? ) was played by Frank Skinner who is a very well known UK stand up and TV presenter.

 

[Rusty Chainsaw]

Great ep this week. A proper monster-of-the-week-type episode, with plenty of other interesting stuff going on. Great production design with that Bioshock-style steampunk/art deco feel. A lounge-jazz version of Don't Stop Me Now. Lots of nods back to the past as well, including the jelly babies in the cigarette case, the inevitable return of "are you my mummy?", the lady who dies at the beginning is the same actress who played Ms Hardacre in The Curse of Fenric (7th Doctor adventure), and Twelve talking to himself in Tom Baker's voice! Lots of fun lines too, especially "I'm The Doctor - nosy parker".

 

[mellowinman]

Great ep this week. A proper monster-of-the-week-type episode, with plenty of other interesting stuff going on. Great production design with that Bioshock-style steampunk/art deco feel. A lounge-jazz version of Don't Stop Me Now. Lots of nods back to the past as well, including the jelly babies in the cigarette case, the inevitable return of "are you my mummy?", the lady who dies at the beginning is the same actress who played Ms Hardacre in The Curse of Fenric (7th Doctor adventure), and Twelve talking to himself in Tom Baker's voice! Lots of fun lines too, especially "I'm The Doctor - nosy parker".

I agree. This was a successful episode in most respects.

 

[zontar]

"Are you my Mummy........."

Ha! Good one!

Too bad he wasn't wearing a gasmask when he said it.

 

[BassyBill]

Great ep this week. A proper monster-of-the-week-type episode, with plenty of other interesting stuff going on. Great production design with that Bioshock-style steampunk/art deco feel. A lounge-jazz version of Don't Stop Me Now. Lots of nods back to the past as well, including the jelly babies in the cigarette case, the inevitable return of "are you my mummy?", the lady who dies at the beginning is the same actress who played Ms Hardacre in The Curse of Fenric (7th Doctor adventure), and Twelve talking to himself in Tom Baker's voice! Lots of fun lines too, especially "I'm The Doctor - nosy parker".

But unfortunately, very little in the way of a coherent plot or storyline.

 

[BassyBill]

More rubbish this week.

I think the show needs to go back to the format where they had four or six episodes per story. That was much more satisfying and engaging than the 50 minutes of crap we're currently seeing every Saturday.

 

[zontar]

More rubbish this week.

Really?

I loved it--very entertaining and quite humorous in spots as well.
They're setting things up nicely.
If Clara leaves I will really miss her.
She has been developing into a real good character.

And I liked the idea of the Tardis shrinking--it should have been done sooner.
I quite enjoyed it and so did those I watched it with--including a hardcore Whovian.

 

[BassyBill]

Maybe I'm being too harsh, but I'm just not enjoying the stories. The shrinking Tardis thing was a good idea, but that was about it for the entire episode.

I wonder what current fans would think if the show went back to a serial format where a story was spread over several episodes. I'd like to see them give this a try. It would definitely give the writers more substantial scope for plot development.

I don't think we've seen anything yet this series to match the better stuff from the David Tennant/Matt Smith eras. I've always liked Peter Capaldi as an actor so it's not him that's I'm finding off-putting, or even Clara as a character (at least she always looks great). It's the stories that I'm finding uninspired and uninspiring.

 

[Rusty Chainsaw]

Good episode this week. They're definitely taking a more adult approach this year, some of the stories have been quite scary, last night was no exception. The 2D zombies were very well done, great special effects. Maybe that's why they've started putting it on at 8.30 at night now?

If you look back, the first series with a new Doctor is usually good, but rarely great. I have liked this series, but it's been a bit inconsistent, as each writer is trying to do something a bit different with The Doctor. They need at least one series to settle into the role, and for the writers to get used to how they deliver their lines. The subsequent series then tend to be better. I expect great things of Capaldi next year.