As far as Clara's actions in "Dark Water," I'll agree that's not her finest hour. But her actions were understandable given the circumstances. Plus, I love how badass Capaldi is in that scene! "Throw the key or stop threatening me! There really isn't a 3rd option here!" I'm willing to forgive a lot if you do something that gives Capaldi an awesome moment!
Yes, the London Toy Fair was the other week and there was far more non-Capaldi stuff than 12th Doctor stuff. But that's an Effect not a Cause.
I dunno. I think some of it comes down to brand management. Right from the get-go, Capaldi's ongoing comic series had to compete with ongoing comic series for Tennant & Smith. You didn't see this before. During the Smith years, they took great care to limit the Tennant merchandise that came out. Similarly, Tennant didn't have to deal with a lot of Eccleston merchandise during his tenure.
I wonder how much of this had to do with Capaldi taking over right after the big 50th anniversary multi-Doctor crossover? I suspect that played a large part in generating greater interest in past Doctors. Plus, since there was such a long gap between Smith's finale in "The Time of the Doctor" and Capaldi's debut in "Deep Breath," it meant there was a longer than usual time when we didn't really know anything about the "current" Doctor.
At the end of the day Moffat and Capaldi both thought it was a great idea to make the Doctor an unlikable jerk in his first Series and then had to radically tone it done in his second. But by that point a sizable chunk of the audience had already decided not to return.
I'm not sure how on-board Capaldi was with that idea to start with. It seems more like that's something that Moffat had somehow gotten into his head was a good idea, god knows why, and it took him a while to shake it. Capaldi's performance often seems to be resisting it when he can. The worst part of that was that it smacked of trying too hard. Capaldi, by his very nature, is a more severe and less reassuring presence than Tennant or Smith. They should have just let that naturally come out in his performance rather than emphasizing it so much in the writing.
Who else died recently? The last one i remember is Sladen, but that was back in 2011.
2011 & 2012 were both bad years. In 2011 we lost Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) & Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart). In 2012, we lost Caroline John (Dr. Liz Shaw) & Mary Tamm (Romana I).
This year, we've thankfully only had one death-- John Hurt (the War Doctor). But Peter Capaldi's announced departure from the series has sucker punched me just as badly.
Your mileage may vary, depending upon how attached you were to Capaldi's Doctor. But, for me, I was quite attached. But maybe Season 10 will do a good job of weaning me off of him anyway. In the cases of both Tennant & Smith, I was ready to see them go by the end of their respective 3rd seasons. Smith seemed kinda bored in Season 7, as if he'd already explored everything that he wanted to do with the character and no longer had the excitement of finding anything new. He elevated his game somewhat when teamed up with Tennant & Hurt for the 50th anniversary special but otherwise seemed not as fully engaged. Tennant I was ready to see leave when he did, although, in hindsight, I think it was more that I was sick of RTD's writing. I suspect that, had Tennant stuck around for Moffat's first season, I would have come away with a much more positive impression of Tennant's Doctor than I ultimately did.
