Capaldi talks about Series 10. (Very vague Spoilers.)

[The Wormhole]

You're right, I limited it to named characters, though of the ones you mentioned, I left out Victorian Clara and Oswin, since they are just extensions of Clara, Danny since he still lives in the Nethersphere and Cleric Bob since he got absorbed by the Weeping Angels or something.

The six permanent deaths by my count are Father Octavian, Lorna Bucket, Abigail, Joy the White House secretary, Colonel Ahmed (the "Man Scout" from Death in Heaven) and Professor Albert (Michael Troughton in Last Christmas).

Actually, upon review, I'm not sure about Abigail being on the list since her death wasn't actually shown.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I really like The Snowman and for me the stinker in 7A was A Town Called Mercy, but otherwise I totally agree, 7A was the last time I really loved Who prior to Series 9 which did thankfully bring me back into the fold.

It's a curious thing, really from a narrative perspective Amy and Rory should have left in Series 6, their story was told and it was the right time to go, but the show benefited from them being in 7A and missed them thereafter.

I have problems with both of Moffat's entries in 7A, but the rapport that Smith, Gillan, and Darvill had energized the material.

I don't know if it was because everyone was focused on the 50th, or because nobody knew quite how to write for Clara, but 7B had some proper stinkers. Really the only ones I like are The Crimson Horror, The Name of the Doctor and Cold War.

I wonder if the decision to make Clara a present-day companion rather than a Victorian companion late in the day had an effect on Clara's characterization. By and large, I look at 7B Clara as a walking, talking plot point rather than a character. I feel like she finally felt like a character in "The Day of the Doctor."

 

[Starkers]

^I agree with that, it was really The Day of the Doctor when I started to like Clara. In 7B she was a trifle all over the place, I'd kinda like her one episode yet totally hate her the next, she's just far too smug and sure of herself sometimes. I do think they should have kept her as Victorian Clara (if nothing else the knock on effect of thereby having her Victorian charges in Nightmare in Silver would have made for a slightly less annoying episode, although I'm not sure anything could have salvaged that episode).

The Wormhole, Clara's splinters is a stretch but they are supposed to be independent characters, and I didn't think the Angels absorbed Bob, I thought they just used him to talk through after they killed him? (and talking of named characters aren't there two named clerics who are offed by the Angel before Bob? Not taking into account the men who are later erased from existance)

 

[The Wormhole]

^I agree with that, it was really The Day of the Doctor when I started to like Clara. In 7B she was a trifle all over the place, I'd kinda like her one episode yet totally hate her the next, she's just far too smug and sure of herself sometimes. I do think they should have kept her as Victorian Clara (if nothing else the knock on effect of thereby having her Victorian charges in Nightmare in Silver would have made for a slightly less annoying episode, although I'm not sure anything could have salvaged that episode).

It is true that some stuff in the episodes was clearly meant to be for Victorian Clara, such as suddenly making a joke about Twitter being a plot point. Makes sense for someone from Victorian times, not at all with someone from modern days, no matter what level computer skills they have,

The Wormhole, Clara's splinters is a stretch but they are supposed to be independent characters, and I didn't think the Angels absorbed Bob, I thought they just used him to talk through after they killed him? (and talking of named characters aren't there two named clerics who are offed by the Angel before Bob? Not taking into account the men who are later erased from existance)

Let me refine my criteria to say "characters who no longer have a role in the show after they die." Which the Clara splinters do and because the Angels use his voice, so does Bob. I'll have to re-watch that episode to confirm if there are other clerics killed before Bob. As for the guys erased from existence by the crack later, we know by the end of the season all the damage from the cracks was repaired, which presumably means those guys were restored, and we now have no idea what happened to them afterwards.

 

[Starkers]

I watched the episode quite recently and there are other clerics killed before Bob, and they do have names--they're the ones who lure Bob to his own demise

 

[The Wormhole]

Well, at the moment they don't exist to me, so I'll choose to ignore this fact just so I can be stubborn.

 

[StCoop]

Series 10 not due until April or May next year.

http://omelete.uol.com.br/series-tv...ue-seria-otimo-ver-um-doutor-negro-ou-mulher/

 

[The Wormhole]

I was kind of expecting April anyway, Easter next year is April 16.

 

[Csalem]

I really hope it goes back to its "traditional" Easter start date.

 

[StCoop]

I really hope it goes back to its "traditional" Easter start date.

I wouldn't bet against it.

Funnily enough I saw people on other Message Boards complaining that if the series ran into June or July the ratings would be terrible, which proves how short memories can be because it got millions more viewers when it used to do that, than when it finally wound up in the Autumn/Winter timeslot that some kept insisting was its natural home.

 

[Csalem]

I wouldn't bet against it.

Funnily enough I saw people on other Message Boards complaining that if the series ran into June or July the ratings would be terrible, which proves how short memories can be because it got millions more viewers when it used to do that, than when it finally wound up in the Autumn/Winter timeslot that some kept insisting was its natural home.

Yeah Easter was better for Who as there was no competition like X Factor or Strictly Come Dancing for it so got a bigger audience.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

If they go every year after 2017, without any gaps, hiatuses (hiatii?) or otherwise, the starts should be on Easter.

How long have we been doing fall starts since the last time it was April?

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

IIRC, the show always did a spring start in Seasons 1-6. Season 7A started in the fall but Season 7B started the following spring. Seasons 8 & 9 were the first full seasons to start in the fall.

You're right, I limited it to named characters, though of the ones you mentioned, I left out Victorian Clara and Oswin, since they are just extensions of Clara, Danny since he still lives in the Nethersphere and Cleric Bob since he got absorbed by the Weeping Angels or something.

I agree that the Clara splinters shouldn't count because they led to Clara ultimately becoming a regular character on the show.

However, I would count Cleric Bob. He's a distinct character from Angel Bob with totally separate personalities & agendas. Furthermore, Angel Bob only used Cleric Bob's voice. Cleric Bob's body was dead and not seen again.

As for Victorian Clara vs. present day Clara, I agree that Victorian Clara would have been a more interesting choice. At the very least, a companion that's not from present-day Earth would be a welcome change of pace. Also, while I really enjoyed Clara's first 2 appearances as the splinters in "Asylum of the Daleks" & "The Snowmen," present day Clara seemed to lack a lot of the spark that made the splinters so fun. I'm not sure why that is. I don't think I started warming up to her until "The Day of the Doctor." It didn't help that "The Bells of Saint John" is one of my least favorite episodes from the Matt Smith years.

One thing I'm hoping for is that we get a companion departure that's not a huge, universe-shattering event. That's not just a Moffat problem. That was an RTD problem as well. Martha is the only major new series companion to get an ordinary departure where she walks out on her own steam. Everyone else was forced out by plot circumstances: Rose got stranded in a parallel universe. Donna had her memory erased and couldn't ever remember the Doctor ever again. Amy & Rory got stranded back in time by the Weeping Angels in a time period that the Doctor can never go to ever again. And Clara erased herself from the Doctor's memories for reasons that felt very contrived.

 

[ATimson]

One thing I'm hoping for is that we get a companion departure that's not a huge, universe-shattering event. That's not just a Moffat problem. That was an RTD problem as well. Martha is the only major new series companion to get an ordinary departure where she walks out on her own steam. Everyone else was forced out by plot circumstances...

Honestly, I think Martha's was the most contrived of the departures so far. You've got to have some reason for the companion to want to leave after having spent 13-32 episodes running around with the Doctor with no qualms. And you can't have the Doctor doing bad awful things to drive them away because... well, he's your main character, and if viewers don't like him that's it for the show.

Martha had a year of offscreen character development to explain her departure, but you can only do that so many times before it gets old.

Maybe it's time to go old-school and start killing them instead? (Literally instead of merely metaphorically in Rose/Donna's cases.)

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I dunno. I think it works when the companion just kinda gets sick of it after a while and wants to move on to something else. People do really do that in real life, you know. And I thought it worked pretty well when they did it with Sarah Jane in "The Hand of Fear" & Tegan in "Resurrection of the Daleks."

And for my money, Clara's best departure was her most low-key one at the end of "Death in Heaven."

 

[Starkers]

We should really have a discussion about the best character exits. Personally I like it when the companion leaves on their own terms. Sure sometimes in the classic series it was a bit random. Leela leaving to be with Andred(?) who she'd barely interacted with, Mel running off with Glitz (who no doubt sold her into slavery five minutes later) the Doctor dropping Sarah Jane off then not popping back to pick her up again being some examples.

But I think Ian and Barbara finally getting home was lovely. And Tegan's departure in Resurrection of the Daleks was wonderful, I think we forget that for all of the wondrous things a companion sees they also see horrible things, monsters, death and destruction. Personally I think at times the classic show was a little better at showing the emotional strain this might put on a companion.

Unfortunately the modern show seems wedded to the idea of a companion wanting to travel with the Doctor forever, which is a bit like some teenager spending their gap year travelling and deciding that want to do that forever, and obviously whilst some do most will want a home/career/family/vocation etc.

Part of the problem is that the Doctor has so much control over the Tardis these days that its so easy for him to pop back to see people. It would be interesting to focus on the idea that the Doctor actively abandons people because he gets bored of them (Moffat touched on this slightly in Angels in Manhattan but only slightly) You would think a Timelord that old would tire of people quickly, after the intial buzz of seeing the world through their eyes again wears off.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I kinda wish they really did have 12 having problem navigating the TARDIS properly as hinted by Time of the Doctor. It'd have made so much sense, IMO, after centuries of not travelling anywhere.

 

[Mr Awe]

I dunno. I think it works when the companion just kinda gets sick of it after a while and wants to move on to something else. People do really do that in real life, you know. And I thought it worked pretty well when they did it with Sarah Jane in "The Hand of Fear" & Tegan in "Resurrection of the Daleks."

And for my money, Clara's best departure was her most low-key one at the end of "Death in Heaven."

Totally agree with this. While traveling around in time and space would be great fun, the constant threats to your life would get old after awhile as well as the constant death and destruction. In reality, the threats to your life would get old very quickly! I think it would be quite natural for a companion to want to stop traveling with the Doctor.

Mr Awe