But didn't the Doctor say in Into the Dalek that they shouldn't know who he is? I know it could be at different time points but it still seems like Moffat was forgetting his own plots.
He was specifically referring to the fact that he had a brand-new face. He wasn't surprised the Daleks knew about the Doctor, he was surprised Rusty recognized him, specifically, as the Doctor (which Rusty didn't, actually, but that's neither here nor there).
Still that means the daleks know of the Doctor only from what Tasha Lem knew and only I guess then was possibly the 11TH Doctor's face. The Daleks know the Doctor changes his face but until he arrived on Skaro, they probably didn't know what his new face looked like. That means the strategies, and fighting techniques the Doctor uses are now unknown to the daleks and should make them easier to defeat going forward.
That makes sense. Still they never did anything interesting with the idea that the Daleks forget who he is.
I preferred Moffat’s scripts over Davies during Russell’s run, but Davies never gave us anytjing as remotely ridiculous as rat eating skulls. The main story arc for Moffat’s run, for me, was River, but it wasn’t really resolved to my satisfaction. I’d Definitely be up for an epic River novel that tied it all together, but since River’s origins are to be found in a brazen attempt to name an epidode that could be abbreviated as ARSE (A River Song Ends), I shan’t hold my breath.
Silly for sure, but rat eating skulls? It doesn’t compute. How do they digest? It would be like when the Cookie Monster devoured cookies. Bits of cookies everywhere but down the hatch.
That was silly too. But I’ll maintain, Rat eating skulls take the overall biscuit. I’ve thought long and hard, backwards and forwards. Considered the absolute bollocks that was the moon is egg, and magic trees as heat shields, stories foisted upon Capaldi to sully his run. Rat eating skulls win out. I am now the Official Keeper of the Whovian Nonsence Archive. Self appointed, and only half arsed.
What about a giant steampunk Cyberman that looks like a Transformer stomping on Victorian London? I could make the argument that a lot of really, really corny stuff sullied Tennant's run too.
Rose's whole arc was basically the same as Clara's. In season 2, she increasingly moved towards taking charge of situations when the Doctor wasn't around, getting the confidence to make the decisions for herself and not just follow the Doctor around. She does that pretty clearly in "The Satan Pit" and "Fear Her." In 'Doomsday" she is left to be the superhero guardian of Pete's World. When she comes back in "Turn Left" she is the Doctor to all intents and purposes - she works with Unit, refuses to say her name, says ludicrous technobabble that no-one understands, and convinces ordinary Earth women they're better than they think they are. Clara was definitely not the first companion to spend her time learning to be the Doctor. Martha was actually the most bad-ass of the RTD companions, I think. She was already the most independent and mature in "Smith and Jones" - she had moved out of the family home into her own flat, was putting herself through medical school, all her friends and family came to her with their problems because she knew best. As much as she pined after the Doctor, the lesson she learned was that she didn't need a man. She was forced to work without a net in "42", "Human Nature" and obviously "Last of the Time Lords". And after that she goes on to an independent career - yes she was obviously influenced by the Doctor, she likes him, but she doesn't need him. She can do it herself. With Donna, I have always noted the fact that while she was supposed to be the main companion for the year, she was constantly overshadowed by the return of one former companion throughout the season, spent three eps with another former companion, spent two episodes with a future companion, and then the whole clusterfuck of former companions at the end. But that IS Donna's character right there - it's showing you her character instead of just telling you. She is the temp. Her whole story is about self-esteem, and being overshadowed by others is the manifestation of that. So while I can certainly see the similarities, there are also differences. I realise this is several pages back now, but you keep going on about Clara 'murdering' the Doctor. No such thing ever happened, you are literally imagining that. She never even threatened to do that. The Doctor himself was never in danger. Even discounting the fact that none of it happened, the most you can say she did is that she threw away his car keys. .
Good point. Thankfully, Big Finish rectified that with three more adventures for their canon where the past companions are nowhere to be heard or seen
Yes, she did. It is literally what she was going to fucking do, and only didn't succeed because the sleep tech doesn't work on The Doctor. What happened in her head was what her plan was, and what she would have done if one small part of her plan hadn't failed. Also, you're outright hiding info to make her seem better. She "threw away his keys" alright...on a fucking dangerous planet that was literally going to kill them if he couldn't enter the TARDIS. Sure, Doctor Who fans know that The Doctor can literally snap his fingers to open the TARDIS, a power he may not use much but I doubt he lost the ability between his 10th and 12th incarnations, but Clara (and possibly the writer) didn't know that. As far as she was concerned, she murdered The Doctor. It is dishonest to pretend that she didn't, just because you may like the character. She specifically chose the planet in question and the situation to put The Doctor in a life or death situation, and then just went for a murder/suicide when he refused her demands. She wasn't planning to strand him if he didn't do what she wanted, she was planning to kill him and herself. You can argue whether or not you think the act makes her irredeemable, and whether or not grief can justify the actions, but it is indisputably an attempt to kill him because he wouldn't break the rules of time. She entered that TARDIS willing to kill him. Was it the goal of her plan? No, but it was an outcome she planned for and was completely willing to accept if he refused her demands. The fact that the last part of her plan only happened in her mind doesn't mean shit. It is what she intended to do, up to and including killing herself and The Doctor if he refused to break time travel rules. Its like saying that someone who attempts armed robbery, fires at the victim when they don't get what they want, but then happens to miss doesn't count as a robber because the victim didn't get hit.