The Doctor Who Spoilers and Speculation Thread V3 - "Oh, brilliant." - Film, Television and Music

Series 9 is both one of my favourite series and least favourite. I LOVE the Flood two parter and Heaven Sent but the rest is pure wank. But I think 12 is probably the most deeply written Doctor yet. I can't get enough of him. Also, with the new pictures released of the New Year's special, the picture of the Doctor and Team TARDIS looking at numbered bones looks like it could be in the Tower of London or something. I bet Chibnall will do what RTD did and use his first special to introduce UNIT. (I know UNIT was in the Slitheen two parter but they weren't really, it was more of a cameo thing)

IMO Season 9 was fantastic. Magician's Apprentice, Witch's Familiar, Zygon Invasion/Inversion, Face the Raven, Heaven Sent and the Husbands of River Song made it Moffat's strongest season for me next to Season 6.

Maybe I'm to far up Capaldi's rear but the only episodes I didn't enjoy or I find tedious to watch from his run is forest of the night and sleep no more. His whole series 8 arc where he was quite cold and distant and uncaring and rough made for some excellent drama and it was nice to see the dynamic of Clara and him. How they both pulled eachother in opposite directions. I think Clara worked best in series 8 over series 9 and 7 as the friction between the two was entertaining and it showed they had a strong bond due to the fact they stayed together throughout. Thats why I liked kill the moon - not because of the really poor monster of the week but the exploration of how far friends would go for eachother. The connection and "betrayal" between the two in that episode alone makes it worth it for me.

Zygon Invasion/Inversion was terrible except for the climax. Everything building up to it was pure incompetance.

Haven't had the time to watch until now, currently watching Episode 5 after finally getting through Arachnids episode. Why is it so predictable and boring, with no stakes? I never thought I would miss Moffat, but I do miss the hints of what to come of the plot, nods to the past and re-appearing characters. I do get that his is like a fresh start, and that stuff might come back, but so far this is really tedious to watch for me. The Davies to Moffat change did at least feel like the same show. So far, season 11 is too unfamiliar. It breaks my heart. I wont give up on it of course, especially as I've hear that the non-Chibnall episodes are the best.

I've fully come around on most Capaldi episodes now apart from Sleep No More and In the Forest of the Night - I even really love Hell Bent now. At the time I saw it as a bit of a mis-step in regards to how they handled Gallifrey but ultimately that's not really the point. It's the culmination of an arc about a toxic relationship and co-dependence. It's sincerely great and I love it.

so moffat, you finally reveal your account here

it's good guys it's good

I'm sincerely baffled about what happened to the Stenza and the Timeless Child. Even if they bring it all back in the finale it's just been a really weirdly paced arc, no apparent mention of it throughout most of the season

I worry the Stenza thing might have just been a part in the second episode to make us relate to the woman more and the timeless child was just a vague reference to the Doctor's entire past - both of which were then blown out of proportion by the fandom into being supposed season arcs. Maybe I'm wrong but it would make sense to me, personally (but could also make sense if I was totally wrong, too, tbh).

Tim Shaw identified the Stenza as "conquerers of the nine systems" and the finale synopsis says it involves the Doctor answering nine separate distress calls but I wouldn't be surprised if it's literally just another standalone ep

Capaldi might have been one of the best-acted Doctors of the new seasons but he was given dogshit on a regular basis to deal with. Watching such a fantastic actor try and make such utter donkey shit work was so stressful I couldn't stomach his entire run.

Season 18 is the next to Blu-Ray folks: https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/211506/8a09aec5-3f7a-4722-b63b-606247c7fb60/image.png From the Leisure Hive to E-Space to Castrovalva, folks! With Best Spinoff K-9 and Company for good measure!

I've stopped buying DVDs and Blu Ray as I just can't afford the space for them all. Fully digital now. But these Tom Baker sets look like fine collections. Wish they did them in order instead of doing Season 12 and 18. I know they're releasing based on what will sell but it's tedious. If they just did a "Complete 4th Doctor" or whatever I think people would buy them. Surprised they didn't even do a Season 1 with Hartnell yet.

I bet they're waiting on some bloody cartoon reconstruction of some of his missing episodes.

Dunno about that, but then again, all Classic Season 1 needs is a reanimation of Marco Polo to be "complete"... Eight episodes, herculean effort to animate, but... Then again, the Polo story's been rumored to be on the verge of rediscovery for a while (There were reports that the guy who found Enemy of the World/Web of Fear got some others, but is being held back for various reason), who knows.

Honestly I appreciate the effort of those reconstructions, my issue comes from the fact the Beeb has sought fit to use them as an excuse to re-issue relatively pricey physical boxsets more than once rather than offer them digitally in any form.

I'm really liking Season 11. Arachnids felt like watching Eccleston again and Alan Cummings was great in Witchfinders. But I do feel like this season has a problem sticking the landing, like in Kerblam. Except for a few eps. (Also, hi, I used to hang around this thread and came back just to talk about S11.)

You see I'm still bitter that Gatiss didn't end up locking the cast of AAISAT in and reshooting Marco Polo like was tempted to do back in 2012/2013. It would have been perfect. They could have shot it with the original production notes, matched up audio to get the pacing right, and even filmed it with period cameras if they wanted to maintain the style.

I mean, I've been enjoying it, but like, it has felt more, Sarah Jane Adventures than it has Doctor Who, plot wise.

At some point along the way somebody surely suggested a cameo of someone from The Doctor's past who she would have to reject - but was overruled by a talking frog.

I don't know if I should be hopping mad or if the bat shit moment towards the end toad my boredom away.

Loved it tbh. Probably my favourite of the entire series. Next week looks alright. Definitely Tim Shaw coming back.

What a fantastic episode. Honestly, my favourite 13th Episode now.

Conversely that was probably one of my least favourites, way too much 'Oh this is happening now' with little of it really adding anything to the overall story The whole section with the alien in the anti-zone felt like an utterly pointless and extended way to introduce the flesh eating moths, which got a grisly murder scene that was totally undercut by the fact they were... well moths. The time taken there could have been spent on the father, his inferred mental illness from his wife's death and the reasons why he was overly protective enough to rig up a fake monster, but now careless enough to just leave his daughter behind the latter of which could have been done in a few more scenes exploring him and his wife. The Solartracts(?) final conversation was pretty lacklustre, with the 'friend forever' part feeling insultingly simplistic and a missed opportunity to hear this doctors big speech about the wonders of the universe (Ok maybe it's just me that'd want that) Feels like it had great potential to focus on loneliness and accepting death in different ways, but we only really got Grahame and Grace's scenes (which we kinda already had in a previous episode)

Idk, it felt all over the place for me. None of the ideas had enough focus

Shit just realised they should have given the Solatract Wi-Fi at the end

I sort of fell off because I felt like the first 3 episodes were quite weak but just caught up on 4 through to 9(?) and wow this season has been damn good. I just want to dump some thoughts. I'm pretty sure this is non consensus, but I'm really happy. A lot of the episodes feel very New Who early Tennant and Eccleston kind of episodes, which is my jam. I'm liking that they've gone back to having a throughline that feels genuine, even if it is vague and muddled. The spider episode and Yaz's grandma are straight up some of the strongest episodes in years. With the general concept and how it plays out is straight out of that 2005 point of the series. Generally I just love the companions. Graham, and his relationship with Ryan, in particular is just excellent. The dynamic I think was rushed to begin with, and maybe suffered from it, but they pulled it together quickly. I know it's not aspiring to that much to say "I just want it to be like when it was good" but honestly, it is good. I'm loving the grounded character stuff, and it's building to loftier sci-fi themes, even if it's been just passable with them so far. This is probably going to be controversial but I think the Doctor might be one of the weaker parts of this season. She looks and acts the part, but so far has been incredibly light on character and mostly jut runs and jumps around looking and feeling like the Doctor without much underneath. I'm not sure if I'm missing something? 9 episodes feels like enough to say that now. I just feel like the Doctor currently facilitates the plot and not much else, and just kinda works it all out and saves the day when need be. She's a lot more of a non-thing/force of nature than earlier incarnations. Another massive flaw is probably the aesthetic. It fits sometimes, but has a sort of blanket application that just doesn't work whatsoever. It leads to a lot of the show feeling cold and clinical, which doesn't really vibe at all with the characters or plot. I'm left wondering if it's a purposeful decision that's leading up to something, because it is in such stark contrast to Jodie's outfit it seems almost absurd for it to be an oversight. Tennant's Tardis was an (almost) steampunk mess and most environments reflected that sort of thing. World's felt lived in and human, the crappy camera quality and no lighting kind of helped everything feel a bit more natural. I'm definitely not onboard with constant harsh lighting, blue filters and sterile clean environments. Because in places like Kerblam and the medical ship it works, but not really literally everywhere else. also why the fuck is Lee Mack in my episode about how capitalism isn't equipped to deal with automation? and why did I quite like his performance, even if the episode itself was maybe a little confused?

Had an evening to think on it more. This is definitely my favourite episode of the series by a country mile. It gave me everything I wanted. The new realistic tone of Chibnall smashed together with Douglas Adams madness. It works so fucking hell. I hope he takes notes and writes more of these episodes for s12 because it was probably the best Doctor Who we've had since Heaven Sent. I've complained a lot about 13 lacking a real edge. This episode gave her one. She reminded me a lot of 12 in this episode, not nice but kind. Trying to do the right thing for everyone even though it hurts. The episode turned into a 10/10 when the Doctor drew the 'map' on the wall. I thought it was a little out of character that she was assuming the dad was alive but that floored me. Such a Doctor thing to do. Pretty sure I read online that this was one of the last episodes filmed and the finale was one of the first, so I doubt any of that character development will carry over in her performance which is a bit of a shame.

From what I've seen on the Tardis Wiki and the Series 11 Wikipedia page, Take you Away was actually one of the first to be produced, and the finale was the last.