This was rubbish! This was horrid!
This was brain-insulting stuff!
This was far too complicated
Or, perhaps, not quite enough!
All the writers should be fired,
With about two-thirds the cast
They could never hold a candle
To the folks from seasons past—
Why, I still remember watching
[Insert favorite doctor here]
And [some previous companion]
From the best and greatest year
This new Doctor disappoints me
Most completely, it would seem
(And you mustn’t get me started
On the credits or the theme)
Yes, my utter disappointment
Makes it difficult to speak…
So expect me here, like clockwork,
To complain again next week.
Yes, the latest regeneration of Doctor Who landed this past weekend, and the one thing we could reliably predict about it is that internet commenters would love it, hate it, find it too complicated, find it too simple, find the acting wonderful, find the acting atrocious, love the writing, hate the writing, find the time to comment that they haven’t had a TV in decades, ask “what’s Doctor Who?”, hate the new opening, love the new opening, cheer or boo particular plot elements or characters, and argue about trivia.
And the same verse holds true, and will hold true, for every regeneration (at least those that have internet comment enabled). Very predictable. It seems we’d much rather watch it and complain, than not watch.
Cuttledaughter and I enjoyed it, though the T-Rex was more Godzilla sized than dinosaur sized.
Waste of time comparing them…
They’ve all been rubbish since the Blessed Tom Baker!!!
I rather enjoyed it. My first doctor was 4, and I do like 9 and 10. Not so much 11. I think I’ll like Capaldi. He makes a great Richelieu in “The Musketeers”, especially when he declares that “No god” will stop him in what he wants to do. :)
Had an enjoyable tussle with folks on Facebook about why the ‘Lizard lady’ was able to walk around looking lizard-y.
I have no idea why, Kylie–I just accept it and move on! Never occurred to me to consider it!
But then, I walk around as a cuttlefish…
My one complaint with the episode: Eleven called Clara as he was close to death, telling her to help Twelve. He looked young and dapper, if a bit weak and out of breath, and was calling from the TARDIS. The problem was, he lived in Christmas for more than 300 years and was looking quite elderly when he was close to death, and did not know there would be a Twelve until his elderly self was on the bell tower, about to be destroyed by the Daleks.
Continuity? In Dr. Who? Don’t be daft.
Gregory–
11 called Clara after regeneration had started. The reboot had happened, but the final form not yet gelled. At the end of A Town Called Christmas, we see Clara enter the TARDIS (hanging up the phone on her way in) to see the Doctor looking young again, moments before he pops into 12’s form and asks her if she knows how to fly this thing.
(My memory isn’t that good–but BBCAmerica replayed that episode after they aired the latest new one, yesterday at some point, and I made note of that particular bit of timeline.)
Cuttlefish is right, Gregory. The reboot had already occurred by that point.
You know it’s odd… I only ever saw the Christmas Special once, and yet I’ve seen people who’ve claimed to have watched it numerous times now totally forget the fact that the reboot had already occurred by the time Clara had started walking back to the TARDIS (when he would have called her), while I remember that rather clearly from only one watch. Why is that?
I cannot express how excited I am by Petr Capaldi. What I want to know is (spoiler alert), why was that T-Rex so big? They didn’t explain it at all…
“Petr”, of course, should be “Peter”,
Generally liked it, Capaldi seems really good, only time will tell if he’s up to the same standard as my two favourites, 4 and 10. Moffatt’s writing seemed much better than in the past two series, though nothing like as good as the stuff he did when RTD was in charge. I absolutely love the opening credits, what a relief after the dreadful ‘thunderstorm’ of series 5 and 6. Opening episodes are usually a bit weak too (think Smith and Jones, Partners in crime, Impossible astronaut, Let’s kill Hitler and Asylum of the Daleks) so all things considered a pretty promising start. I get the impression I’m not going to like the story arc much though…
I really liked it. Madame T. Rex was way too big but that was my only big issue with the show and that I can chalk up to dramatic license. I usually need a little time to warm up to a new Doctor but I instantly liked Capaldi, however part of that might be that I already enjoyed him as Malcolm Tucker so I knew that he could deliver characters I enjoy watching. I’m really curious to find out who the woman at the end is, I have my theories which may or may not pan out but I’m hoping I’m right.
I like the new Doctor – hurray for Capaldi! The Paternoster crew need to sit out most of the rest of the season to keep the shiny from rubbing off, though – they’re feeling a bit overused.
I do not like the new version of the theme music; irritating, though I could really get to like the clockwork gears around the intro.
Wondering who that odd woman at the end was – so far the guesses over at rpg.net is a genderswitched Master, the Rani, Iris Wildthyme (from the books) or somebody completely new – incidentally, the last guess was mine.