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Jenna is Going

That said, I certainly wouldn't mind a Doctor who got serious about finding better alternatives to destruction. Twelve said at the end of "Deep Breath" (and in, like, about ninety thousand promos) that he's made many mistakes in his life and it's time he started to do something about that. Maybe that means refining his methods, or being more proactive about keeping situations from getting so far out of hand that destruction is the only alternative left. So kind of like a less ruthless Seventh Doctor, masterminding situations in advance but with the goal of finding better solutions rather than simply winning.
 
^ I think when you get involved with stopping evil doers who are in the process of doing bad things, it's bound to be messy! I'd say all the previous Doctors have gone out of their way to minimize collateral damage but it's impossible, even for the Doctor, to always be perfect. And, that would be boring too!

Although, masterminding situations in advance, as you describe, does sound intriguing. More of that would be pretty cool actually!

Mr Awe
 
I didn't say perfect, I just said trying harder to find alternatives. And I wouldn't mind seeing more stories where the Doctor actually succeeds at minimizing collateral damage, instead of the virtually zero success rate he had on that count in the original series. It's a bit hypocritical when writers have their heroes speak of reverence for life even while the writers themselves are stacking the deck to guarantee that the villains die. It kind of undercuts the message.
 
I think he had a good success rate in the classic series! He often saved the day with no collateral damage. However, I would say it's more realistic to have something go bad in the course of "doing good" than for things to work out perfectly. But, in the classic series, most things worked out perfectly.

But, I do like the idea of preplanning things instead of waiting for things to go bad. Of course, there's an entire universe of baddies doing all sorts of things, so he's not always going to know in advance. But, it would be neat to see him set stuff up.

Mr Awe
 
Well, a common streak int eh old series was more that the Doctor would save the day once there'd been enough collateral damage for him to finally carry out the unpleasant solution he could have employed a lot earlier...
 
I think he had a good success rate in the classic series! He often saved the day with no collateral damage.

Perhaps the problem is the use of "collateral," which isn't really my point; I'm saying that, despite his preferences, he rarely managed to solve a problem without the destruction of the villains. And since the storylines generally had to span 4-7 episodes, there were usually a lot of casualties along the way.

Remember "The Doctor Dances?" "Just this once, everybody lives!" The Doctor was overjoyed to find a situation where nobody died at all, because those were so vanishingly rare in his experience. Moffat's actually given him more "everybody lives" days than just about any other Doctor Who writer.
 
^ Well, if you're counting the destruction of the villian, sure, but that's not really collateral damage.

Mr Awe
 
That's what I mean -- I let the introduction of the word "collateral" into the conversation distract me from my original point. I mean, the Doctor is not someone who's perfectly okay with killing enemies so long as nobody he likes gets hurt. In an ideal world, he'd want to save his enemies too; it's just that he rarely finds one who's willing to let him.
 
But, I do like the idea of preplanning things instead of waiting for things to go bad. Of course, there's an entire universe of baddies doing all sorts of things, so he's not always going to know in advance. But, it would be neat to see him set stuff up.

There's no need to preplan things in advance. With a TARDIS, you can preplan things after the fact.

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Bill and Ted also used the technique.
 
So kind of like a less ruthless Seventh Doctor, masterminding situations in advance but with the goal of finding better solutions rather than simply winning.

Except the Seventh Doctor actually sucked at it.

Case in point the Doctor admitted he didn't count on the Renegade Daleks showing up In Remembrance of the Daleks and pretty much spend the rest of that story trying to make sure the right Daleks got the Hand of Omega, while making sure to keep the number of people they kill down as much as possible.

Plus I don't see the draw of the invincible hero outplaying his enemies time and time again. It gets boring after awhile.
 
So kind of like a less ruthless Seventh Doctor, masterminding situations in advance but with the goal of finding better solutions rather than simply winning.

Except the Seventh Doctor actually sucked at it.

Case in point the Doctor admitted he didn't count on the Renegade Daleks showing up In Remembrance of the Daleks and pretty much spend the rest of that story trying to make sure the right Daleks got the Hand of Omega, while making sure to keep the number of people they kill down as much as possible.

Plus I don't see the draw of the invincible hero outplaying his enemies time and time again. It gets boring after awhile.
I'd like to see a whole Series/Season of the Capadi Doctor fixing earlier fuck-ups (4 Fixing Xoanon was awesome, and though it's much panned , I love 6's Timelash (To fix an unseen 3 Adventure), and all the made up stuff for 7 to fix, plus 5's Guilt to fix 3's failure with UNIT and The Silurians (3's Getting pretty well Shat upon with responsibility for Fuckups, LOL.)
 
Revisiting this comment:

Strange you should mention that--since this new Doctor really needs a Jamie to serve as muscle.

After rewatching the episode, I'm not so sure of this. I realized that Capaldi's Doctor is remarkably physical. He's climbing out of windows, hopping across rooftops, hanging from a tree, riding a horse, standing on top of a railing, diving into the Thames to swim across it -- this is no feeble guy tottering along on a cane. However many lines there may be on the face he's chosen, his body has been rendered essentially brand new, so it's no wonder he's so incredibly sprightly. Sure, Capaldi no doubt needed stunt doubles and greenscreens to do most of that, but that's nothing new for TV. What matters is whether the character can cut it physically, and so far it seems that Doctor #12 is entirely capable of being his own "muscle."
 
^^It's even more notable to point out he's doing all that when he's still in his post-regenerative funk, meaning he's not even operating at 100% his capability yet.
 
^^It's even more notable to point out he's doing all that when he's still in his post-regenerative funk, meaning he's not even operating at 100% his capability yet.

In the past, the Doctor has been shown to be display extreme physical strength immediately after regeneration, Tom Baker karate chopping a brick (and failing to repeat the action after "stabilising"), and McGann battering a steel door off its hinges.
 
^^It's even more notable to point out he's doing all that when he's still in his post-regenerative funk, meaning he's not even operating at 100% his capability yet.

In the past, the Doctor has been shown to be display extreme physical strength immediately after regeneration, Tom Baker karate chopping a brick (and failing to repeat the action after "stabilising"), and McGann battering a steel door off its hinges.
Eh, Hartnell's Doctor kicked the crap out of a young Roman in The Romans, so, being an adept Fighter in an older man body is nothing new for him.
 
But, I do like the idea of preplanning things instead of waiting for things to go bad. Of course, there's an entire universe of baddies doing all sorts of things, so he's not always going to know in advance. But, it would be neat to see him set stuff up.

There's no need to preplan things in advance. With a TARDIS, you can preplan things after the fact.

.

Postplan.
 
I know some people, not me, were complaining about River being played by Alex Kingston being older than Matt, that shouldn't be a problem anymore, I hope she might be there, for a few. But River isn't just a companion, she couldn't be the permanent replacement. I'd like to see another companion like Jamie or Leela.
 
Actually, if the new cycle of regenerations were unforseen, not supposed to happen becuase the Doctor Dies on Trenzalor... Is he supposed to/allowed to meet River?
 
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