Jenny Flint was pretty hot too.
When a new Doctor regenerates, he spends most of the first episode being loopy while he gets used to his new body. Tennant and Smith were the same, so I’ll reserve judgement until we’ve seen more of him him being ‘normal’. Did he regenerate as Scottish because of guilt about Amy, who was also a Scot?
I though it was so he could blame stuff on the British.
Overall, meh episode. Way too much whiny “oh teh noes hes old” Clara. Need more Capaldi, who I already looooooove.
The Scot are also British, it’s the English they hate :). The old joke is that when Andy Murray wins the BBC call him British and when he loses they call him Scottish.
Does nobody producing the show even care that its stories are just incoherent gibberish now, perked up by some good character moments? It’s not even happy go lucky incoherence - it’s dense and self-important nonsense that pretends it’s trying to tell something sensical, but cryptic. Nothing ever makes any sense - it’s just sentimental moments and some fun character dialogue.
I do have hopes for capaldi, and am glad that we got an older doctor - not sure having Matt smith reappear to highlight the contrast was a good idea though, but I liked that we got a surprise multi-dr episode. It looks like next episode is aiming for a more tense and serious Dalek episode, which could be just what the show needs to establish a new tone
Enjoyed Capaldi a lot, didn’t particularly care for the episode, though it had some good lines (particularly liked “Don’t look at that mirror,. It’s incredibly angry”). It was just all over the place. As Mike says, though, that’s a fairly typical post-regeneration theme, though, so I’m giving the season the benefit of the doubt so far. Slightly worried by the hints of Moffat going back to the well (again) with first the explicit call-back to The Girl In The Fireplace and then the tease of next week’s baddy.
I thought it rather sloppy writing that Doc skipped straight to the “There is no promised land!” rant without first asking WTF the robot meant by “promised land”. It could have been anything. Heck, it could have just been the name of a planet.
Thought it was a bold move to work in the criticism from some of the younger fans (i.e. “Ewww! He’s old!”) into the story line. Not sure it was a smart move to tell off the very people you think might drop the show, but I found it very satisfying.
Too bad the rest of the plot was the usual nonsense. Oh well, like people have noted, the first post-regeneration stories are rarely very good (though Spearhead from Space and The Eleventh Hour are notable exceptions).
Hate to hear the rumors about Coleman leaving because she was finally given something to do. And the chemistry between her and Capaldi was quite entertaining, almost reminding me of some of the better Donna/Doctor moments.
As for Capaldi, I have high hopes. Everyone gets to chew scenery in their regeneration sickness scenes, but the later moments were very promising. He’s definitely got the dramatic chops, and he’s underplaying the wacky humor a bit. Hopefully, the trend will continue. I think Matt Smith was aces, but I don’t want to see Capaldi being forced into doing an imitation because the writers don’t alter The Doctor’s voice enough.
Well, given that that’s been true of the majority of episodes in every season from Martha Jones onward, no, I don’t think they do. I’m hopeful, but not expecting, that Moffart will leave some of his bad habits behind with Smith, though rehashing another idea from back when he had time to develop them fully (i.e. before he became show runner) is a bad sign already.
It’s not even happy go lucky incoherence - it’s dense and self-important nonsense that pretends it’s trying to tell something sensical, but cryptic. Nothing ever makes any sense - it’s just sentimental moments and some fun character dialogue.
Yep. Season one and two mostly avoided it, apart from the Bad Wolf fetishism, but it’s been standard ever since. The fun character bits and the occasional stand-alone episode of quality (formerly provided by Moffat, but now apparently delegated to Neil Gaiman) are all that keep me watching.
Also, where’s our Vastra/Strax/Jenny spinoff?
The episode was all over the place and Capaldi was all over the place, I found it very disappointing.
I thought the first half was a complete mess, but then in the last half the ship sort of righted itself and it became a bit more enjoyable. Overall, I’m not sold on Capaldi as the new doctor. But with the exception of Smith, I’ve had to acclimate myself to the new actors over the course of a few episodes before I was able to jump on board with their portrayals.
I hope Moffat reigns it in a bit in future episodes though. I know he wants to be Whedon, but long story arcs aren’t his forte. I prefer his one offs.
We got to see Clara get hit in the face with a newspaper, so I’m calling the episode a net win.
I found it ok, but the Matt Smith cameo at the end sorta took a lot away from this being Capaldi’s big debut.
That is my only complaint about the episode.
Seemed really unnecessary.
I get why they put it in there, to help the fangirls a bit with the transition. I guess. As if the “I’m not your boyfriend” line wasn’t enough, but maybe it wasn’t. I honestly didn’t think it took anything away at all, but I’m kinda in love with Capaldi. ;)
ANY appearance of Strax is a net win.
While I agree the plotting of late is utter pants, just a friendly reminder that “incoherent gibberish” is not just a modern Who phenomenon. :)
Ugh god I COMPLETELY agree. I love the first four or five seasons of doctor who, but the most recent series over the past few years have been… Weird. They make little to no sense. I really dislike the direction the series has been going on, and this episode reaffirmed that belief. It was just incredibly sloppy. I like the the main actors (Capaldi and Coleman) but the story was just lame. They had a dinosaur that served basically no purpose at all, and felt extremely out the place. I personally am sick of having so much attention placed on the lizard and her girlfriend or whatever. The fight scenes were totally terrible and a lot of the jokes were simply not very funny. I did like the restaurant scene though.
I am just hoping that the show moves towards a more serious and grounded feeling. It doesn’t have to be serious, but it really REALLY needs to come back to reality and be more like the show it was in the first four seasons instead of the airy fairy bullshit anything-goes thing it has been doing recently.
“Airy fairy”? Well, that’s a new one.
I’ve watched the entire Chris Eccleston run & a smattering of episodes with the first few Doctors and the last two; and frankly, I was unaware that any episodes were meant to be reasonable & coherent.
I thought the whole point of Doctor Who was ridiculous, cheesy nonsense (classic serial sci-fi) with charismatic actors. We got that in spades in this first Capaldi episode. I liked it a lot, for what the show is.