Doctor Who - Season 8

[Goaty]

Ben Wheatley? Seriously? Ben fucking Wheatley? Haven't they seen anything else he's done, or are they really determined to have parents joining their kids hiding behind the couch, quaking with terror? Michael Smiley would make a great villain.

Well Michael Smiley is in the next episode, also by Ben Wheatley.

[shaolin_monkey]

I was not happy about the title sequence or the new music, but it might grow on me. What happened to the simple vortex/face, eh? Back in my day all we had was the radiophonic worship, dontcha know. You whippersnappers don't know how easy you have it.

Anyway, Capaldi was excellent, but the story was confusing and lacklustre.

I'm still looking forward to the rest of the series though!

[Trout]

I loved it all. I watched it with my kids and we all had lots of fun. Capaldi was great and the story was exciting, with several laugh-out-loud moments. Strax, as ever, was hilarious.

And that's about as far as a review should go, in my opinion. Either you liked it or didn't, and in either case it's polite to explain why. There's a hell of a lot of deep analysis on this thread and far too much criticism of an individual. I complained about it when these threads were full of rants about RTD and it's just the same now.

It's all-ages TV. Don't like it? Turn it off.

Also, please don't post information about coming episodes that you've seen online. That's just plain wrong.

- Trout

[Mattofthespurs]

Fell asleep halfway through 

Can't say I was over impressed by what I saw up until the snooze.

Have taped it and will watch all the way through next week sometime.

[Greg M.]

Jenna Coleman was brilliant also and shows here how much she was clearly phoning it in before as the half-character Clara - suddenly desperately sad to see her go.

Intriguingly, the Clara / Doctor relationship now has the potential to grow into the most interesting one of the modern era. She's like a new character, in that she now has a character. I'm particularly happy to see that she now seems to suit her job, when it previously seemed an afterthought. When Capaldi called her a control-freak, I thought "Well, of course she is - she's a teacher."  It's probably the defining trait of the profession - I should know.

[Frank]

Ben Wheatley? Seriously? Ben fucking Wheatley? Haven't they seen anything else he's done, or are they really determined to have parents joining their kids hiding behind the couch, quaking with terror? Michael Smiley would make a great villain

Well Michael Smiley is in the next episode, also by Ben Wheatley.

As long as he kills a paedo with a hammer, I'll be happy. The dinosaur should have been a paedo, and Capaldi should have killed it with a hammer.

[auxlen]

i enjoyed the slower pace and the music seemed toned down.

[klute]

Jenna Coleman was brilliant also and shows here how much she was clearly phoning it in before as the half-character Clara - suddenly desperately sad to see her go.

Intriguingly, the Clara / Doctor relationship now has the potential to grow into the most interesting one of the modern era. She's like a new character, in that she now has a character. I'm particularly happy to see that she now seems to suit her job, when it previously seemed an afterthought. When Capaldi called her a control-freak, I thought "Well, of course she is - she's a teacher."  It's probably the defining trait of the profession - I should know.

I loved Jenna in this episode she's really coming into her own.

[Goaty]

Loved the episode!

But it is dark, and the Doctor is so darker!

Capaldi is perfect as the Doctor!

[Goaty]

[Richmond Clements]

Jeez, but some of you are miserable bastards!

[CrazyFoxMachine]

It's all-ages TV. Don't like it? Turn it off.

You're all taking this far too seriously.

Cheers

Jim

Nah. If you go onto a forum made up of rabid genrefans you must expect a certain level of overanalysis. I don't think it's right at all to say "if you don't like something, just ignore it - don't criticize it", everybody has a right to be critical about anything surely and just because most Whofans are hyper critical doesn't mean its so much of a cliche that we should all just not bother and blindly enjoy it.

Also what I posted in the spoiler tag was personal speculation (actually my mate's speculation) rather than actual knowledge I've gleaned from spoilerhunters there. So it may not be true although it seems terribly likely.

[shaolin_monkey]

I've enjoyed Coleman ever since she started wearing that wee tartan skirt.

Also, nice pins in that interview afterwards!

Sorry, someone's gotta bring the tone down.

[Jim_Campbell]

I never said people couldn't/shouldn't discuss it, only that if you're not prepared to extend a new Doctor a bit of a grace period then maybe you're taking the whole thing a bit too seriously.

Personally, I think it's both baffling and more than slightly hilarious that a TV show whose fundamental premise includes changing the lead actor and often the entire tone of the show every few years should have a fan base that seems so consistently and doggedly resistant to change.

Cheers

Jim

[Professor Bear]

I remember when Colin Smith criticised an issue of Spider-Man for having the main character torture someone, no less than the editor of the comic took to Twitter to indulge in name-calling and suggest that maybe a grown man shouldn't be reading comics for kids.  I'm getting that vibe from some of the dismissal of criticism on here, and while I don't necessarily agree with some of what's been said, Who is an all-ages show and not just a kids thing (unless CBeebies shows have blowjob jokes in them) and its adult audience is entitled to say if they feel shortchanged by the bits meant for them.

That first scene wasn't funny and felt like it went on forever, then the person I was watching with went "what is this shit?" during the title credits.  A lot of scenes that felt pointless then followed, along with some really poor cgi work that abandoned any sense of scale by not being composite shots but being people pointing off-camera - was that t-rex really supposed to be in the Thames?  But it picked up a bit later, I thought.  I liked some of the interaction, the deep breath bit with Clara walking out of the ship, and the monster of the week, and while the lady detectives' witty banter stuff felt very forced and overplayed, I imagine that's a sop to the watching kiddies.  Capaldi was good when he - eventually - stopped doing that whacky guff.
Some good bits, but overall I didn't enjoy it very much.