How do you feel about Doctor Who Series 8?

[Starkers]

Season 8 was kind of all over the place. Some weeks it was delivering masterpieces (Mummy on the Orient Express, Flatline) while others it was dropping complete turds (Kill the Moon, Forest of the Night). While everything else ranged from decent if not really special (Deep Breath, Into the Dalek) not particularly memorable (Robot of Sherwood, Time Heist) and even pretentious (Listen). The finale story is its own category which I'm not even sure how to describe.

Capaldi delivered a solid performance in his first season, and often times was what elevated otherwise forgettable scripts. I like the return of the Master as Missy, even if her only real story in the season was somewhat of a mess. Clara's constant indecision about travelling with the Doctor was annoying, and her relationship with Danny Pink was painful to watch.

Overall, I found season 8 more enjoyable than season 7 but still not one of the show's best seasons.

See I think most seasons are like that. Take series 3. Even when you get great episodes like Blink and Utopia you have to put up with dreck like 42 and the Lazarus Experiment, and for good solid eps like Smith and Jones and Gridlock there's substandard Dalek 2 parter, and while I have reappraised the Sound of Drums in recent years, Last of the Time Lords is still terrible.

I think series 8 was better than series 7 overall, though most of the problems I have with series 7 mainly come from 7B

As with series 6, I enjoyed the episodes individually, but don't think much to it as a season. Moffat's era seems to give DW the opposite to the Trek movies- the even numbered ones he's done are the disappointing ones, and the odd numbered the good, so far.

I really like series 6 though. I think if series 8 reminds me of any other series it’s the Eccleston one, a show that seems unsure about its tone which is odd given it’s not exactly Moffat’s first rodeo, but I guess a new Doctor and, (possibly?) the BBC pushing for something less convoluted may have contributed to this.

RTD was wise to depict the Master's return, because he had previously set up that the Time Lords are all dead but the Doctor. Moffat, on the other hand, goes for the mystery route - but its a nifty gamble, because what fans do want is to see Simm regenerate into the Mistress. And the fact she's back also doesn't mean Gallifrey's back - only that he somehow left...

That said, another thing that annoys me is how she was around for YEARS. Like she wasn't just freshly regenerated. Which means, another one of RTD's tropes thrown out of the window.

Really, Moffat's been slowly rewriting RTD's NuWho, it seems.

What RTD trope is this? That we have to see a regeneration? Because we didn’t see 8 into 9 (as we imagined) or Roberts into Jacobi? And surely in some respects Saxon had been around for years.

And RTD doesn't own Who, each new showrunner can choose to amend/throw out what's gone before if he doesn't like it (much like RTD did)

 

[Ithekro]

Timey-whimy. The Doctor's adventures and Missy bits could be in any order really. The Master known how things work, so she can do it how she wants.

Plus the Doctor spent several hundred years parked on one planets. Plenty of time for the Master to do whatever after the Day of the Doctor (we can assume the Master slips out during this event, while timey-whimey nonsense keeps him-her from doing anything during the Ninth through Eleventh Doctor's eras. Even the Master has to follow the rules from time to time, if only to save his own butt from oblivion.

Unless of course Moffat decides to make everything a plot by the Master (a long, overly complicated plot that doesn't work, but causes enough problems that it might as well have worked). Everything from the Eleventh Hour onwards being something to do with the Master (the cracks and all).

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Didn't they state that Missy likely has a TARDIS, hence her ability to follow the Doctor around and pick up 'souls' from different eras such as the cyborg from Deep Breath and the soldier from (presumabely) the future in Into The Dalek?

 

[Richard Baker]

The season was uneven for me- some excellent shows and some which just were there. The worst part was Danny Pink- instead of adding something to the series he actually took something away. Now that he is gone I have great hopes for the new season.

Favorite shows-
Robot of Sherwood
Flatline
Listen
Mummy on the Orient Express

Worst-
The Caretaker
Kill the Moon
Into the Dalek
In the Forest of the Night

Meh-
Dark Water
Death In Heaven
Deep Breath (although I do love how it was resolved with a sit down discussion)

 

[Mr Awe]

My sentiments echo much of what has been said here. Capaldi as the Doctor is great. Jenna Coleman as Clara is also great. There were some great episodes in series 8 and some really bad ones. Some spark was missing. The bad ones in series 8 seemed to be much worse than the typical off episode from previous series too. Danny and the soap nature really brought a large portion of the series down.

The arcs just didn't gel and actually served as detractions. The question of the potential future Pinks and grandkids went nowhere. Missy didn't need a whole series build-up because it led to the inevitable let down. They should've kept her identity a mystery for an episode or 2, not most of the series. All of those people mysteriously being saved through out time and space but ultimately played no future role. Ditto the repeated android theme and the search for the promoised land.

I still enjoyed series 8, but it was a notch short of all the other series in the new program.

Mr Awe

 

[mredom]

Season 8 brought me favorite scene and line of dialogue: in the aftermath of Danny Pink's death:

DOCTOR: You asked me what we’re going to do. I told you. We’re going to hell. Or wherever it is people go when they die. If there is anywhere. Wherever it is, we’re going to go there and we’re going to find Danny. And if it is in any way possible, we’re going to bring him home. Almost every culture in the universe has some concept of an afterlife. I always meant to have a look around, see if I could find one.
CLARA: You’re going to help me?
DOCTOR: Well, why wouldn’t I help you?
CLARA: Because of what I just did. I just
DOCTOR: You betrayed me. Betrayed my trust, you betrayed our friendship, you betrayed everything that I’ve ever stood for. You let me down!
CLARA: Then why are you helping me?
DOCTOR: Why? Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?

That was the entire season for me.

 

[Ithekro]

Clara means the world to the Doctor. Betraying him would not stop that. She saved his life...thousands of times over. Dozens even without being the Impossible Girl. She was his obsession for a bit as the Eleventh Doctor. A question that had no answer, yet in a dress that was a tiny bit too tight. If anything else, Clara helped the Doctor move on from his guilt over the Ponds.

 

[ATimson]

Series 8 was the best or second best of Moffat's run (series 5 is the other candidate).

But I'd still take series 1, 3, 4, and maybe 2 over any of them.

 

[Sybok Was Wrong]

This is the First season of New Doctor Who I have watched because I thought Peter Capaldi was anot interesting casting--

I thought the show was pretty entertaining! Capaldi is great, Coleman is good--there's something off about the chemistry tho--but couldpotentially work to the shows advantage.

The "will she stay or go?" grew tiresome; Clara was more the main character at times than The Doctor, which was a mistake to me; I didn't like Danny Pink--he and Coleman didn't have real chemistry and I don't know what she saw in him. I was happy to see him go.

Overall- good entertainment! I think this show and Doctor will only get better and Capaldi is a great doctor! Bold casting choice after the last 3 actors, who appealed to the younger viewer

 

[The Wormhole]

Clara was more the main character at times than The Doctor, which was a mistake to me;

That's actually very common for modern day Who, the companions have arguably been the main character and its through their eyes we get to know the Doctor.

 

[Lance]

Clara was more the main character at times than The Doctor, which was a mistake to me;

That's actually very common for modern day Who, the companions have arguably been the main character and its through their eyes we get to know the Doctor.

It was the original 'modus operandi' of the classic show as well. Go way back to the first season in 1963 and the focus characters in all episodes were very much Ian and Barbara. The focus didn't really shift to the Doctor himself until after they left. Subsequent companions only became secondary to the Doctor because he was the stable ''carry over'' character for the viewers at home, regenerations excepted, whereas the assistants started to come and go with some frequency as the show progressed.

 

[RoJoHen]

Okay, as I suspected, I liked this season a whole lot more the second time around. Moffat's storytelling, I feel, is always better on repeat viewings. He packs a lot of detail and lot of subtlety into his stories that you almost never see the first time. I'm still not a huge fan of Danny Pink or his relationship with Clara, but I really enjoyed Clara and the Doctor and the way their relationship changes.

The main problem with Clara and Danny is that we're told they love each other, but we're never really shown it. Too much of their relationship happens off screen.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I loved most of series 8. Series 7 for me sucked like nothing has ever sucked before. There was like maybe 1 or 2 episodes I liked. The rest were garbage..

Series 8 however is a gem compared to that. Flatliners is my all time favourite episode, though they didn't make it anywhere near as scary as they could have..

 

[Lakenheath 72]

My issue with this season is the depiction of the military. I have been learning how modern warfare is conducted. No soldier would ever enter a building by himself. He or she would be part of a team. It would have made more sense if Danny Pink's trauma arose from watching his comrades being killed and wounded.

I didn't like the season arc, for it seemed that there was no plan for the arc. I still don't know why robots were looking for the Promised Land.

After watching the three first seasons of the new Doctor Who, I don't think the Moon as egg is any more stranger than a blow-jobbing face in a concrete block or human-pig slaves or a sentient star.

 

[RoJoHen]

After watching the three first seasons of the new Doctor Who, I don't think the Moon as egg is any more stranger than a blow-jobbing face in a concrete block or human-pig slaves or a sentient star.

I'm just waiting for the episode that tells us that our solar system isn't really a solar system at all. The moon is an egg. The only reason the Earth formed at all is because the giant Raknoss (sp?) ship pulled all the debris into its gravity well.

I wasn't really bothered by the moon being an egg, but I was kind of annoyed that the giant creature managed to leave a new egg in its place.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

In Listen was that an unseen creature or not?

And how did the chalk write on the Doctor's blackboard?

 

[Mage]

Ups and downs for me.

I think it's a show trying to find itself again. Not just a new Doctor, but really trying to establish the character again, and that hasn't always worked so well this season. I do think there were some great episodes. And the fact that opinions varied on what the good episodes were, shows that there still is something for everyone in this show.

Also.....

I'm not a big Moffat hater as somepeople are. It's very easy and simple to always blame on person for a show, but the simple fact is, it's not just him making this stuff. Period. I do think that when Moffat decided to find a new road this season, he struggled with a general direction. So, here's hoping that he found it for season 9.