Doctor Who (1963 - present)

I spent almost the entire episode wondering where is Clara, til she pops up in the final few moments.

BBC ought to get it right though, I doubt crowds were multi-racial back then when they were going to hang someone.

Zygons next week...they're some oldschool classics

'The Woman Who Lived' was definitely the weakest episode of the current run imo, despite a great turn from Capaldi and (in the brief glimpses) Rufus Hound....... really not wanting another Riversong or even Missy style character atm let alone any greater labouring of the theme raised.

As to Clara I figure that reuniting with Danny Pink in death or in life is perhaps driving her eagerness to travel even more dangerously than the Doctor himself. Death is a tricky theme to juggle, I just hope it doesn't overwhelm what is otherwise a terrific run.

Looking forward to the Zygons return though...

There's a lot of 'foreshadowing' of Clara's upcoming departure, I've noticed.

Enjoyed 'The Woman Who Lived'.

Over the weekend at Belfast Comic-Con I met Who alumni Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Peter Purves (Steven Taylor), Louise Jameson (Leela), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates of UNIT), Samuel Anderson (Danny Pink) and Colin Baker (Sixth Doctor) ... nice people all :) .

Interesting to see the use of the Zygons as an ISIS metaphor in last weekend's episode.

Capaldi was passionately and movingly brilliant as he pleaded with Clara's Zygon double not to enter into all-out war with the human race in last night's ep.

Capaldi was indeed brilliant in that scene...although the story didnt quite hold up imo and although I am really enjoing most of this season some really significant and far reaching problems have been introduced.

To the Zygons we have on the one hand that wonderful empassioned speech, but then we ended without anything seemingly changed - yes one person has been 'won over' but is that really all there is to bring the revolution to a halt....then the thorw away 'like the 15 time previous' really emphasizes that the situation is far from resolved and while outright war may have been averted in each of those occasion people (humans and zygons) are dying - surely there really needed to be something more to establish that each time the truce breaks down something is done to hopefully prevent it from doing so again?

Then there is this hybrid theme and the headgear of the mire was in the black archive.....immortality is now seemingly just a pill away for anyone, all of the Mire are probably immortal baring accidents... this just seems to undermine so much in terms of logic and motivation within the series?

Am wondering if the hybrid thing is going to turn out to be this series' arc.

As previously mentioned, watching this during Remembrance weekend gave me goosebumps. And it's sadly equally as moving and relevant in the wake of the horrors in Paris. Superbly written and brilliantly performed.

This week the sad but I suppose inevitable swerve into David Tennant territory, great performances by the regulars but I have to confess it didn't resonate like I feel it was supposed to, the last few episodes do seem to have gone of the boil amid larger pretensions imo.

Next episode looks like a Capaldi tour-de-force.

More inexplicable Grauniad bollocks:

Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat denies he has made show more misogynist:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/28/doctor-who-writer-steven-moffat-denies-misogynist-claims

Odd, as today's Dr Who is about gormless till-girls with the Doctor hovering in the background. Still, inevitable that a children's programme attracts infantile Lefties. After all, their shared worldview is that of a child:

Quote :

Ahhh, Russia. All them corn fields and ballet in the evening...

More misogynist? The Guardian is conveniently ignoring the large swathe of the fandom who are of the opinion that the show recently revolved around Clara to such an extent that the Doctor became a secondary character in his own show there. Still, no wonder if it doesn't fit their argument.

Well, she's dead now. And the fucking gorgeous, sassy and smart Alex Kingston is back in the Christmas special. Looking forward to seeing her and Capaldi spark off each other.

Possibly a little over-indulgent in its runtime, but otherwise terrific stuff. Capaldi carried the first-ever episode to feature the Doctor alone for almost its entirety magnificently.

On the one hand brilliant episode but on the other yet another example of an increasingly conceited self obsession that stands the risk of disappearing up its own backside.

Increasingly I find media caught in an all but autistic loop whereby literal exposition has to be heaped on every quirk and foible while tethering their respective universes to a naively solitary focus, sometimes less is definitely more.

As to writing for women, Dr Who is definitely one of the most feminine centric and pro actively 'PC' programs on tv imo, less so under Moffat perhaps but that is largely that this aspect was laboured and 'self harming' while under that pretentious pillock RTD.

Finale was partly epic, thrilling and moving ... and partly baffling and slightly frustrating.

Classic Moffat, in other words!

Grrr Rant time....

To me the finale was a massive let down and more RTD than classic Moffat, the science and logic was dodgy to say the least while so much of the build up and promise was shafted in favour of a very indulgent self preening.

The hybrid was never really defined, either in terms of its importance or what it was - toward the end the all important 'who' that Rassilon had been so keen to discover seemed more than slightly irrelevant and in no way important to anyone other than the Doctor himself.

Clara's death relatively poignantly and respectfully delivered a few episodes back is more than simply undone, in the event she gleefully abandons the Doctor, shows none of the dignity and courage she talked about clearly willing to place the universe at risk to joyride...such as that risk might actually be as it seems she has been made immortal with no pulse but a fully functioning mind and in infinite time to return to her death as the crack in the universe seems extraordinarily patient or was just forgotten at the end.

The potential of the discovery of Gallifrey and the return of the timelords was more than slightly squandered, made no real sense (a more stupid, obscure and unlikely means to discover 'important' information than Rasillons plan I would struggle to imagine) but then it just ceased to be a factor - crazy for a race with time travel technology there was no better way.

The image of the Doctor supported by warships and back up was a bit of an insult to the concept imo.

The response and reaction toward the Shielder was incomprehensible compared to the response to the Timelord's themselves.....was there any consistency or point to her character?

Worse still perhaps is how cheap and inconsequential is immortality now in this reality, a quick pill from the Mire, a time loop with no disadvantage or consequence already in the Timelords hands (Barousa must have been kicking himself wasting time trying to achieve infinitely regenerations when he could have been frozen at any point in his life without ever being frozen in any real sense). Not to mention the Teleport.....

The script played the notion of the Doctor being trapped for 4.5 billion years, Clara saw it in his eyes......yet it was all bollocks, this Doctor was a few days older than when he saw her die, he was restructured from that pattern stored in the teleporter (ohhh we could actually have an infinite number of anyone now at any time presumably thanks to the teleport tech....another immortality giving device is on the cards, albeit by proxy).

The memory device is an oddly unsatisfactory 'reset' too.....whereas a mind wiped Clara might be returned to earth and never meet anyone who could remind her of her past, the Doctor can and will bump into have any number of associates he bumps into fill in all the details of Clara.....assuming it mattered to him.

At the end of the day there is something endearing, quirky and engaging about a character that is bored and pulls himself from his routine escaping with his daughter to a life of change and adventure...so much more persuasive and entertaining than this rewritten history of the superwarrior......one of those stories that isn't just doing the talent involved a disservice but the entire philosophy behind the show - very sad.

Hmm ... much preferred the 'big silly romp' tone of the first 50 minutes of the Christmas special than the shift into attempted tear-jerking during the last 10. Who has handled the emotional stuff well in the past, but it felt a little awkward to me this time.  

Increasingly I find myself out of step with new Who, which is a shame I love Capaldi's take on the character and he can switch between drama, comedy and action with effortless ease.... but wtf has happened to the series - how has it gone from a humble and earnest adventure in time and space to this self aware and self important pretentious claptrap.

The Xmas special didn't raise a smile from me although it was desperately trying to do so, and toward the end there was such an abrupt and discontinuous change of tone it felt jarring and out of place - once again the plot seems to just evaporate at a moments notice to languish in some trite soapy melodrama (oh we're all going to die) . The problem seems to be Moffat, an extremely inventive writer, just loves the sound of his own prose too much and loves his own creations even to the detriment of story and logic. Clara got her send off at the expense of pretty much ever plot thread and lore the series has enjoyed to date and now River-song gets lashings of pathos despite the fact she's overtly unworthy and often obnoxious.....Then again maybe its just the times we live in as this problem has curious but strong parallels with what's happened to Bond imo......get over yourselves, we've all got problems and there are more than enough soaps to go around without you becoming another one.

There is to be no new series (just a Christmas special) of Who this year. The next series will air spring 2017 ... it's to be Moffat's last, and then Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall becomes the showrunner.

Watched there reconstructed/animated Power of the Daleks the animation is hit and miss, the Dalek scenes awesome and full of atmosphere the people scenes rather too Captain Pugwash.....however what a terrific story and debut for Troughton and still very topical in the way political ambition just runs roughshod over long term safety, it is also quite brutal in its conclusion one of the rare instances of showing the devastation wrought by the Daleks albeit also brought on by the humans themselves. Dr Who at its very best.

The DVD is on my Christmas list.

Am re-watching last year's series, am 7 episodes in (halfway through the Zygon 2-parter). It's after that story when things start going a little awry, if memory serves.

In many ways, it's been a dark year ... I'm not saying that Steven Moffat necessarily had that in mind when he penned 'The Return Of Doctor Mysterio' but it was a welcome slice of sweet, funny and heroic Who, perfect for Christmas Day teatime.

For the first time in a long time I just never got round to seeing the special.....ironic since Capaldi is my favourite Doctor of Nu-Who but the structure and bias of the program has definitely undermined any enthusiasm I had for it. ON the other hand I really enjoyed re-watching the Moonbase story from 1966 with two animated and two original episodes the animation this time around much better than the recent 'Power of the Daleks' and probably the best reconstruction style so far attempted by BBC video.

Well, having watched it a second time I stand by what I said ... sweet, funny and heroic. You could do a lot worse than watch it :) .

Capaldi has announced his departure it seems, I thought he might have gone another year. He has been great even when the program has not and will be missed.

Several Bond Alumni in the betting for his replacement, though much like with Bond I'd prefer to be surprised by that name you never quite expected.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38808070