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8X06 "The Caretaker" Grading/Discussion)(SPOILERS!

Grade 'The Caretaker"

  • I'm a Caretaker now. Look I've got a brush.

    Votes: 35 35.0%
  • Good

    Votes: 36 36.0%
  • Ok

    Votes: 22 22.0%
  • Terrible

    Votes: 6 6.0%
  • Lost in the Delta Quadrant with a Banjo.

    Votes: 1 1.0%

  • Total voters
    100
I think I completely missed something at the beginning. What was with the weird intro on the Mars-like planet? How did it have any involvement with the story at all? I admit, I was a little distracted at the moment, but... I'm at a loss.
 
I think I completely missed something at the beginning. What was with the weird intro on the Mars-like planet? How did it have any involvement with the story at all? I admit, I was a little distracted at the moment, but... I'm at a loss.

They were alternating scenes of Clara with the Doctor and Pink to get the rest of the plot going. Clara got tanned by the binaries when they were being locked on the desert planet*, and then Pink noticed her tan.

I think the desert planet scene was out of place. Half throughout the episode I was expecting that they were going to end up there. Something about it was off, unlike the rest. But I must have liked the episode, because I was actually busy watching it and eventually forgot to wait for the thing.

* OK, dear nitpicking mathematicians, at least one 45° view, in one direction, in a single location on the planet, on a single day in history, for at least a few seconds was desert-like. Happy?
 
This was the first person getting to "Heaven" that didn't sacrifice themselves for the Doctor.

The half-faced robot guy from the first episode didn't sacrifice himself for the Doctor.

Well, maybe he did by jumping to his death on his own volition so the Doctor didn't have to push him. It was left open in the episode but because of the other people going to heaven I came to the conclusion that he probably did jump himself. In any case, the possibility was there. With this death ot isn't.
 
I really enjoyed this episode a lot. About halfway through I realized the Doctor was taking a backseat to Clara's story, but then I realized I was OK with that, it's not like the first Doctor was the star of his own show, not at the beginning at least.

I was a bit disappointed at the ending, I thought he'd finally get Pink with him on the TARDIS as a second companion. Aren't we supposed to be leading up to that? I can't believe we're taking this long to get there. But I can't complain too much since I really am enjoying he ride.
 
Liked it a lot. Though I really don't like Danny after this episode. I was on the fence with him, but this episode pushed me into the negative.
 
I think his behavior had to do with the fact that the Doctor was judging him solely based on the fact that he was a solider. I imagine we'll hear more on why that bothers him in future episodes.
 
I think his behavior had to do with the fact that the Doctor was judging him solely based on the fact that he was a solider. I imagine we'll hear more on why that bothers him in future episodes.

Wasn't just the scene in the console room. It just he overall attitude in the show. Controlling is the word that comes to mind, but might be a bit to far.
 
This was a very cute and amusing episode. I really loved the Doctor playing janitor. (do they call janitors "caretakers" in the UK?)

And man, I went from mildly disliking Danny Pink to actively hating him with this episode. He acts like a complete asshole to the Doctor and gives him this smartass attitude and then orders and threatens his girlfriend to tell him everything about him or he'll break up with her?! WTF?! Are people cool with his behavior?! Sorry. Behaviour.

And yes, the killer robot looked extremely dodgy. :lol: It actually looked quite cute with its tiny little T-Rex arms!
 
Is this the episode where Doctor Who jumps the robot? :)

I liked that Danny made his comment about officers and soldiers as it has been bothering me ever since they went down this whole "soldiers bad" arc of the 12th Doctor. Unfortunately, it also highlights just how misplaced this whole storyline feels, IMO at least.

Is this the first sense that the Doctor has been adventuring with Clara in unseen adventures? I was a bit surprised by the scope of what we were shown there. That said, those glimpses and their aftermath on her dates was fun even if seemed a bit odd.

Also, has Danny been a teacher long enough to have spoken to those parents the year prior? I thought he had just started at the school.

I thought it was strange that Danny felt their relationship was far enough along that Clara should've been open to him that she travels through time and space with an alien.

The whole Doctor as caretaker (I guess in the US we'd say custodian?) thing works better than it deserves. Heck, I even liked the "Disruptive Influence" companion and the Matt Smith proxy was a hoot. Basically Capaldi and Coleman carry the episode. The robot really was rubbish though (I guess being a MacGuffin they didn't have much interest in it) and that invisibility device seems like a really disruptive idea to introduce. I see lots of future "Why doesn't he just use...?" questions or worse bad Deus ex Machina future uses.

So I guess fun setup with the Doctor as caretaker but with a lot of qualifiers dragging it down.



I think I was too tired and need to watch it again, I honestly didn't understand half the dialogue. Agreed... the robot was just ballz.

And we were left with a body (or bits of a body) from the policeman, but he still ended up in "Heaven" or wherever it is.

I've started watching with the captioning on as I found I miss a lot of dialogue.
 
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With this episode and the ones prior, why do I feel as though the Doctor has been exiled to stay on Earth again? Admittedly, the bank from Time Heist was on another planet, you wouldn't know it. This season feels like Coupling Feat. Doctor Who.

The robot this week totally sucked.

Also, what ever happened to the Doctor responding to Gallifrey's 900 year distress call on Trenzalore and finding it? Long way round indeed.
 
I'm the opposite from most of you. I went from being on the fence with Danny Pink to being totally positive about his character. Maybe its because I have been in the army and have seen officers who behave the way Danny described, inspiring the confidence and loyalty of his men (rightly AND wrongly). I thought Danny Pink finally showed up in terms of his his personality, his assertiveness in front of The Doctor, his deep concern for Clara.
 
I'm the opposite from most of you. I went from being on the fence with Danny Pink to being totally positive about his character. Maybe its because I have been in the army and have seen officers who behave the way Danny described, inspiring the confidence and loyalty of his men (rightly AND wrongly). I thought Danny Pink finally showed up in terms of his his personality, his assertiveness in front of The Doctor, his deep concern for Clara.

^ This

The 12th Doctor's contempt for soldiers seems misplaced. Given all his time with UNIT and companions from those adventures. You know the Brigadier, Sgt. Benton, Harry Sullivan, Liz Shaw, and Martha Jones (in Series 4). Not to mention the Doctor's own time being a solider during the Time War. Even before the John Hurt Doctor was retconned in to existence.

I suspect the Doctor is suffering from some for of shell shock. The Day of the Doctor helped absolve the Doctor of his guild over destroying Galifrey and fighting in the Time War. But The Time Of The Doctor saw the Doctor fighting a protracted siege for 800 years. Maybe that's why the Doctor isn't to keen on soldiers and what they stand for on the surface. The Doctor just spent nearly a millenia in everyday combat.


It's odd, that the Doctor doesn't seem to recall the words of Davros during Journey's End. How he (the Doctor) takes ordinary people and turns them in to weapons. Danny was right to make an analogy to the Doctor being an officer. Look at Clara. When we met her she was nothing but a nanny for children. Now she's fighting aliens and monsters across time and space without so much as a second thought to the danger.
 
I wouldn't fault anyone ignoring moral criticism on the sanctity of life coming from a genocidal lunatic.
 
I was watching the 10 Doctors yesterday.

(Youtube.)

Some bugger spliced together clips from everywhere cohesively to make a 10 doctor's story.

There's a clip of 10 in a landrover with a Soldier...

"That's Ross. We like Ross."
 
I thought Danny confronting the Doctor was the best scene myself. Danny got into the Doctor's face and the Doctor deserved it considering how shitty he's treated him. The whole "sir' thing and aristocratic reference worked. It set up an officer/soldier conflict between the two and given how the Doctor reacted seems to indicate to me that he's suffering from PTSD from both Trenzalore and the Time War. It's the only way to explain his bizarre anti-soldier garbage this season. Otherwise, the Doctor's dislike of Danny is just contrived nonsense.

I did end up enjoying this one. The Doctor's nonsense with Danny aside, I thought Capaldi was a lot of fun interacting with everyone else.

I finally started liking Danny at the end although I don't buy that Clara suddenly loves him now. It seems like that all happened off-screen. Still not a fan of Clara being a part-time companion. I like Jenna Coleman and I think Clara's fine but I also think she's never going to a truly memorable companion.

It would have been nice to have some mention of the Doctor's history at Coal Hill. It was basically the true start of his adventures through time and space. Not that Clara would have remembered. Her line to the Doctor asking if any of his companions put up with what he does further indicates that she remembers nothing about being in the Doctor's timestream.
 
Is the hatred of soldiers, along with the self-hatred we've seen, just the way this Doctor copes with having been a soldier in the Time-War*™ ?

The two previous Doctors were "ashamed of being a grownup" and were maybe avoiding what he might have done during the war.

Now he knows he didn't burn Gallifrey, he might be dealing with the other things he actually did.
 
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