Some fun paired episode names there (vs "X, Part 1" and "X, Part 2").
Only having a dozen episodes kind of sucks, of course, but better than than half a dozen or just a Christmas special.
I'm not sure the world needs more Zygons, but it beat more Daleks. Except we're getting more Daleks.
Originally shared by +Doctor Who TARDIS Crew:
Timeslords and Timeladies, the titles have landed…
More goodies and info… bbc.in/1Oq3Nk6
While I appreciate the Home Made Gin kit, what's more fascinating is the (likely inadvertent) visual idea that the Cybermen are, in fact, Gin Craze Victims, dulling their emotions for more efficient operation.
Ten years ago since Doctor Who restarted with "Rose" and the Ninth Doctor. Here's a very cool tribute video about it.
I've sure enjoyed the ride (and where I haven't, it's been more out of frustration at it not all being the great stuff.)
(h/t +Les Jenkins)
Vague, amorphous, non-specific spoilers for Series 9:
Quoth Moffat:
“Peter magnifies anything that is dark so I’m pushing him the other way. I am writing him funny this year."
Oh, Good Lord.
“What I’ve been saying to him is: ‘You’re not the stern Doctor. You’re not the rude Doctor. You’re not the brusque Doctor. You’re kind of the ‘don’t give a damn’ Doctor.’”
Wasn't that the last Doctor?
'Moffat also went on to reveal that, despite reports suggesting otherwise, there will be no return for Strax, Madame Vastra or Jenny this series, as he doesn’t want to “rely” on such characters, as he explained to the publication: “The moment you start relying on something, you should probably throw it away. I always kind of feel that nothing should stay in The Doctor’s life.”'
Except, apparently, being funny.
(By the way, that's about the extent of the "spoilers" in the article.)
Doctor Who Spoilers: Series 9 will see a new Doctor, promises Steven Moffat! | Unreality TV
When we found out that Scottish The Thick Of It star Peter Capaldi was to be the next Doctor Who, we did wonder how much of foul mouthed Malcolm Tucker he
We managed to watch the season/series finale for "Doctor Who" tonight and …
[SPOILERS, obviously]
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… okay, so I feel more than a bit mixed about the finale. Which I've felt about this season as a whole, so that's not surprising.
The final two eps felt the most Doctor-like, in terms of acknowledging anything about the greater Doctorverse — a classic opponent or two, in particular, but also the sense of something greater than the Doctor/Clara Show. I don't mind that this season hasn't been weighted down in Doctor backstory, but a little bit less stand-alone-ness would have been kind of nice.
The first episode of the finale was wildly complex and careening, but had some fantastic reveals as well as personal drama. The second half tried to keep the pace going with a wild array of activities, but was more important (and successful) for the character moments. The tying together of the Doctor's early question about being a Good Man with the resolution of the episode's conundrum was neatly done, as well as a very nice, even unique, path breaking up Clara and the Doctor.
Oh, and the call-out to the Internet meme of Mary Poppins being a Time Lord was worth a good chuckle.
That said — ugh. There were some places things just fell flat, or worse.
While I appreciated the finale giving long time fans plenty of chewy Doctor lore, a lot of it felt too much like last-,moment throwing stuff at the wall to see what would stick. Cyber-pollen was the most hand-waving fantasy element in the season to date (and that's having just seen living trees and fairies as being real and out to save the Earth from a solar flare). The return of the Brigadier's daughter was nice, but using it to drive an almost-perfunctory tribute to the Brigadier himself felt almost appallingly trivial. The UNIT protocols seemed a waste. Missy abruptly shifted from being maniacal schemer to mental basket case with a lethal edge, shifting from Lex Luthor to the Joker in the course of one episode. UNIT guards monitoring a prisoner are apparently pretty oblivious to anything the prisoner is doing. Osgood's fate seemed a gratuitous dispatch of a nifty character solely as a throw-away to help the viewers understand how lunatic and evil Missy was (yes, I think we already figured that out).
Danny Pink was much the same blend of greatness (his traumatic backstory, his grasp of Clara and her lies, his torment as a Cyberman, his final decision) and poor storytelling (when, exactly, did he go from guy in Heaven / Backup Data to a Cyberman? And yes, of all humans, he gets to override Cybermen programming, because, of course, LOVE).
The Doctor and Clara did really click in the episode — I liked both of them individually and together the most I have in pretty much any time this season. Clara's lies (to the Cybermen) (and their lovely echo in the title credits) was brilliantly done, and the Doctor and her lies to each other at the end of the ep were deeply moving.
But as a whole, the Doctor's arc this season has been unsatisfying. Teased as a darker Doctor, Twelve has been mostly confused or out of touch, unable to understand humans, testy and cranky but not actually menacing or dubious. A bit of threat cracks through in the finale but too little, too late, and pretty much defused by the Doctor declaring that the whole Good Person / Bad Person question was somehow missing the point.
Clara has much more grounded this season (after having been Magic Impossible Girl), and her desire to try and have it all — career, boyfriend, and a time-space-hopping hobby — was fun to watch. Her final decisions, and conclusion to her story line, seemed apt (if trauma-driven abrupt), even if I suspect there's going to be a lot of late-night drinking in her future.
All in all, watching "Doctor Who" remains a heck of a lot better way to spend time than watching most TV. But I'm pretty much ready for Steven Moffat to turn over the reins to someone else. Whether he does or not, I'll be there for the Christmas Special, and for whenever the next season rolls around, so I guess I deserve what I get. I just think we can get a lot more.
+Ross Goodall shares a lovely video from Peter Capaldi (the current Doctor on "Doctor Who") to his 9yo autistic son, whose nanny had just passed away. Thanks both to Mr Capaldi for doing it, and Mr Goodall for sharing it.
Nice.
I like the timing of the "corner turn" in the 9 sequence, the orchestration in the 10, and the clockwork of the 12.
Originally shared by +Doctor Who TARDIS Crew:
The titles of 9, 10, 11, 12. all at once…
// Youtube youtu.be/Tk6OdImwW28
Though I'm still waiting for Twelve to be as gruff and dark as Three was.
Originally shared by +May the hunting Whovian:
"Time Lord magician" by blizzaro
[DERP WARNING: “Listen” was, of course, the fourth episode of the season, not the third. D’oh!]
So we’ve seen three four eps of the latest Doctor, Peter Capaldi — which means its probably enough data to draw some broad conclusions.
First off, unless they are pulling their punches for later in the series, the idea that Twelve was going to be a profoundly dark Doctor, obsessed with correcting his past mistakes, all grim and gritty … was pretty much incorrect. Yeah, there have been a few moments, but I’ve been finding myself mapping Matt Smith onto the screen, and I don’t think there would be much difference in the stories or how they have been played.
Capaldi’s Doctor is most noteworthy for his Scottish accent and being older in appearance than any of the Modern Era Doctors, but his demeanor to date is still a bit frenetic — more verbal and less physical than Smith’s Eleven, but just as scattered and occasionally befuddled.
I hope the role gets a bit meatier as the series goes on. As it is, I’m enjoying it, but more as a dessert than a meal. The Doctor as zany old uncle is not that much different from the Doctor as zany weird boyfriend.
As far as Clara goes … I wish she’d go farther. Away. Granted, the classic Companions had low agency and were too often played for Damsels in Distress. But Clara has surpassed even Amy in turning this on its head — now it’s the Companion who hangs around with her own life, getting picked up for rides when the Doctor needs her. It’s the Companion who controls the action a substantial portion of the time. It’s the Companion who overrides the Doctor’s orders and tinkers with the timeline — and does so with that little smug and perky smile that Clara seems to carry around all the time.
“Oh, hey, can you do me a favor, stop the TARDIS here, let me risk universal catyclism if I mess up the timing, all so I can fix up a problem I had with my date? Right, thanks.” Yeesh.
I am not a Clara fan, as you might guess.
What I’d like to see happen to her is … well, not necessarily anything fatal (unconfirmed rumors notwithstanding), but something where her chirpy, headstrong, but always-right behavior leads to some major, tragic mistake. As a character, I feel like she needs to be taken down a peg or ten, learn a little humility. As it stands, it feels like the universe (and the show) revolve around her.
So a moderately enjoyable but hardly earth-shattering start to the new series. I do hope things will amp up soon.
Anyway, three observations:
1. As has been noted elsewhere, this was highly influenced by this fan-made title sequence (http://youtu.be/oXOBHnWiinY), which Moffat saw and loved. I can well understand why. I'm not sure that I don't like the prototype better — the pocketwatch and Gallifreyan bits are nice adds — but it still works for me.
2. It also marks a clear shift from semi-somewhat-reality to symbolism and fantasy. Yes, clockwork gears and spirals of Roman numerals 1-12 are very apropos for a time traveler, but a far cry from the Modern Who original (pathways of energy through time, actually red-shifted or blue-shifted based on the direction). It's not a good thing or a bad thing, but it still strikes me as a thing.
3. On the other hand, the music was much more electronic, harkening back to the original series. That's surely meaningful as well.
So, overall, I like it. It's an interesting shift, bigger than the season-by-season (or doctor-by-doctor) evolutions we've seen before. I think it works well with the Doctor, and perhaps foreshadows some elements that Capaldi and Moffat are looking to bring to him. But I do miss the pocketwach.
Well, the episode was not quite what I expected — though that's not necessarily a bad thing. …
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(Spoilers, sweetie, though mostly at a high level.)
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Capaldi channeling Matt Smith for about the first half of the episode was also unexpected, but brilliant (and in keeping with the personality issues each of the Doctors of the modern era, at least, have had upon regeneration). The episode (as I'm guessing a lot of the series will be) was about identity: Who is the Doctor? And why is he different? And is he different? If so, how? And if so, again, why?
(Questions seem important.)
Part of the answer seems tied up in Clara, almost to an excessive degree. I don't like the idea that the Doctor is that dependent on the Companion, for a variety of reasons.
Identity, of course, was a key to the whole plotline on the SS Marie Antoinette, focusing on the identity of the cyborg captain and whether, over the millennia, replacement after replacement of the parts meant that the cyborg was no longer who he originally was (and, in case that was too subtle, there's the Doctor, seeing his own reflection in the mirror).
There was plenty of setup for some series-spanning plotting, related to the Mysterious Creepy Woman at the end, whether it was a jump or a push, the nature of the Promised Land and its possible relationship to the Creepy Clockwork of the Girl in the Fireplace …
I found Clara's difficulty in accepting the Doctor's regen to be annoying, even though it was a bit refreshing, too. Of course, I find Clara annoying, too, though she was a bit less so overall this time, until we got to the end and suddenly the Doctor is so dependent upon the Companion. Except that Clara appears to know this, and is willing to take (even jokingly) advantage of it. Ugh.
The dinosaur subplot was both fascinating and irritating, the latter due to (a) some awful scaling [T-Rexes were not 300-odd feet tall] and (b) the logistics of the dinosaur's final disposition and the motivations thereto, not to mention (c) it just felt a bit gratuitous.
It was, of course, a joy to see the Paternoster Gang again, especially seeing more of them and their relationship. Watching how folk touched by the Doctor go about their lives when he's not around (the PG, Sarah Jane Smith, Captain Jack, Mickey and Martha) is always fascinating, and that trio are the most fascinating of all.
Overall, it was a much more scattered ep than I'd expected, and the Doctor not quite as all grim-dark as had been hinted (though he had his moments).
l look forward to watching more.
Reshared post from +Doctor Who Fans
Radiotimes poster for Deep Breath!
Free #DoctorWho newsletter – http://bit.ly/TheWhoMail
Anyway, taking it for what it is, yeah, it's fantastic.
Reshared post from +Les Jenkins
I would so watch this.
RT @neilhimself: Watched Deep Breath, the first new Doctor Who Episode tonight. Peter Capaldi is glorious as the 12th, not-cuddly Doctor. A…
I've seen some bootleg footage of the main titles for the show from the Cardiff early preview this past weekend, and they look very, very cool — both in line with what has been done in the modern (2005+) era, but also unique. Look forward to seeing a clean version.
Peter Capaldi extends Doctor Who deal
Peter Capaldi will star in a second series of ‘Doctor Who’.The 56-year-old actor – who hasn’t yet appeared on screen as the Time Lord – has extende…
Reshared post from +Doctor Who TARDIS Crew
Peter Capaldi interviewed today by The Sunday Times
Capaldi admitted that despite being a life-long fan, he needed to be convinced before accepting the role: “I didn't want to be Doctor Who in a Doctor Who I didn't like. I had to be convinced the show was going in a direction I was interested in.”
Speaking on the relationship between the Doctor and Clara, he said: “There'll be no flirting, that’s for sure. It’s not what this Doctor’s concerned with. It’s quite a fun relationship, but no. I did call and say, ‘I want no Papa-Nicole moments.’ I think there was a bit of tension with that at first, but I was absolutely adamant.”
Capaldi said that deciding on an outfit for the Twelfth Doctor to wear took a long time: “I tried on everything anybody suggested. We'd go to a costume house and have huge, exhausting sessions of getting dressed up. It’s fine for about 15 minutes, but by the time we've done 3.5 hours, it’s like, get me out of this. The most ridiculous outfit, the one I loved, I looked like Count Arthur Strong with a real, old cardigan.”
“I think it’s quite a hard look,” he said of the costume they finally settled on. “I always wanted him to be in black – I always just saw the Doctor in dark colours. Not tweed. Matt’s a really young cool guy – he can wear anything, but I wanted to strip it back and be very stark.”
He went on to respond to criticisms that recent stories have become too ‘over the top’: “We still blow a lot of shit up. That’s very important, but it’s going to be a bit different from what we've seen over recent years. A bit more gravity.
“Some situations are more sombre and I think there are more rooted dramatic scenes. Over the past two or three years, which I've loved, there has often been a breathless vigour; we still have that attack, but we have another level of drama, another tone. And the scenes are longer.”
// More pics, blogtorwho: goo.gl/xsSdzz
~DSD #DoctorWho #Series8 #CapalDay
RT @georgewiman: In #StarTrekTOS I just realized agen Gary Seven’s pen is basically a sonic screwdriver Were there Doctor Who fans on write…
Reshared post from +History In Pictures
London Schools in Wartime 1941.
The Musketeers: Insider: The Cardinal’s Clothes
Love the Cardinal’s opulent clothes? The Musketeers star Peter Capaldi offers a closer look at his character’s lavish wardrobe behind-the-scenes of the series.
(Also, Dick Van Dyke as the Second Doctor, with Mary Tyler Moore as his Companion is … delicious.)
Reshared post from +Mark Means
Whovians
I think I saw this…or at least the 'list'….floating around a while back. Cool to see a vid of it, all the same.
Not real sure about Sam Rockwell as a "Doctor", but I could really see Burgess Meredith and Vincent Price rockin' the T.A.R.D.I.S., though.
