• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

New to Who

I was wondering if anyone would get the reference. Good job!

Right now series 8 is playing again so the Christmas special should be on again. What is the general consensus regarding Twelve? Is he mostly liked or hated, or split?
From the posts I've seen, I think Capaldi's performance is higher rated than the episodes he's been in. IE: Most of the folks that didn't like the Clara version in S8 or had some other reason for feeling luke warm about the Season as a whole, have clarified that they like his portrayal, they just wish the episodes were better.
 
I was wondering if anyone would get the reference. Good job!

Right now series 8 is playing again so the Christmas special should be on again. What is the general consensus regarding Twelve? Is he mostly liked or hated, or split?
Overwhelmingly positive I'd say. Even most of the negative reviews I've seen for season 8 go out of the way to compliment Capaldi in the role.
 
Yeah. I do think he has great screen presence. Even though you can't really tell from how he portrays the Doctor, I bet he's having the time of his life.

I still hate the new opening.
 
Last edited:
As for Clara herself, I liked that she was given more than just "The Impossible Girl" but her regular life seemed to take center stage, ahead of the Doctor, and that was pretty boring.

The thing about Clara, at least as described in interviews by Moffat, is that she thinks the show is called "Clara". She thinks it's all about her - it's not the Doctor's show and she's tagging along for the adventure, it's her show and he's just her chauffeur. That doesn't always come across in the writing IMO, but if you watch with that in mind you can see it there.

It's also what has led to a lot of people complaining that the show is too much about her and not about the Doctor these days. Personally that doesn't really bother me - I liked Clara as a character a lot more in season 8 than in season 7, because there was actually something there to like. In season 7 she was bland and generic. In season 8, Twelve gave her someone to react against in a way Eleven never did, and she became more of a presence and a character for it.

And I like the fact that season 8 concentrated so much on character. The entire Eleven era was a bit too much of a timey-wimey wankfest to my mind, whereas the Twelve era has so far mostly eschewed that in favour of telling stories about people. That's a positive to me.


What is the general consensus regarding Twelve? Is he mostly liked or hated, or split?

I think he's a riot myself. His mean lines to Clara about her looks are hilarious, especially because she thinks so much of herself. And I think they're only half mean, and half because he just really doesn't get it and/or care about these things. He genuinely can't tell if she's wearing makeup or not because those things simply don't register on him, they're not relevant.

.
 
I pretty much agree with lvsxy808. Also I watched Snakedance last night, which has Five and Nyssa do exactly the same thing, as she flaunts in, in a new dress, and Five barely notices then says "Do you look different?".

I also really enjoyed season 8.
 
I was wondering if anyone would get the reference. Good job!

Right now series 8 is playing again so the Christmas special should be on again. What is the general consensus regarding Twelve? Is he mostly liked or hated, or split?
From the posts I've seen, I think Capaldi's performance is higher rated than the episodes he's been in. IE: Most of the folks that didn't like the Clara version in S8 or had some other reason for feeling luke warm about the Season as a whole, have clarified that they like his portrayal, they just wish the episodes were better.

That's my opinion. Capaldi was great as Twelve, but the writing of the episodes (and of Clara) let him down, at least in my opinion. I think 12 has been a nice change (although I enjoyed 11 a lot, too). I like his attitude and personality. He was acted and written well. If the episodes and Companion had been done as well, Series 9 would have been great.
 
As for Clara herself, I liked that she was given more than just "The Impossible Girl" but her regular life seemed to take center stage, ahead of the Doctor, and that was pretty boring.

The thing about Clara, at least as described in interviews by Moffat, is that she thinks the show is called "Clara". She thinks it's all about her - it's not the Doctor's show and she's tagging along for the adventure, it's her show and he's just her chauffeur. That doesn't always come across in the writing IMO, but if you watch with that in mind you can see it there.

.

Tha's how Moffat himself views the show not Clara and it does show in the writing.
 
JG, the School she works at was first seen in the 1963 pilot to Doctor Who.

The Doctor's grandaughter went there, and then he kidnapped two teachers from Coal Hill and became lost in time/space.

Which means that her presence there is incidental to that fact that THERE is important(ish).

On a rewatch of season 8, I didn't deem it as necessary to spend hours feeding Danny into a kitchen blender.
 
It still be pink in the end.

Time to go back to at least the bits of the 10th Doctor you missed. Or at least the Recommended Lists of episodes.
 
OK. I've watched very little of nuWho (and none of Capaldi) so I can't reference your observations. But I'm currently watching the first 1963 Hartnell stories and The Doctor is kind of a douchebag at the start of the series. As with any long-running shows, they've tried to reboot from time to time, when they've gotten too far from the origins. They made Colin Baker kind of a douchebag too, but JNT (the producer) wasn't nearly as skillful as Moffat or Verity Lambert, so it was a bit of a mixed bag. But I'm guessing this is kind of what they're trying to do with Capaldi. His visual cues borrow heavily from the 3rd Doctor, but it sounds like his personality is, in some ways, very like the 1st Doctor (who had two Coal Hill School teachers in tow in the beginning).
 
Capaldi's first Doctor was the First Doctor. When they introduced him to the public he even stood like the First Doctor. His getup is more like the Third Doctor. But his Doctor is his own plus all the other Doctors. There are bits of all of them in there. A lot of Four from time to time...when he's being more alien in nature, or somewhat self-centered egotistic. When's he's being rather cross it is a mix of the First, Sixth, maybe Nine, and some of the others depending on tone. When he's talking fast, its Eleven and Seven, with a hint of Ten if there's a gadget involved. Also Three if their is a gadget involved or some martial arts. Also Seven when he adds spoons to the swordplay.

The ones he seems least like, are Eight, Five, and Two. He's not so much Nine as he doesn't have the weight of burning Gallifrey anymore on his shoulders. Though he still questions himself over all the other things he did in the Time War.

Though the trailer for Series Nine would seem to indicate that he's going to show off a little of his inner Two, and now that he's more sure of himself, maybe Eight as well. Not sure if he will get to his Five or not.
 
Has the city of Adelaide or the state of South Australia been referenced in DW?

An obvious reference the Doctor or Tegan Jovanka could make in Big Finish is to the famous Beaumont children disappearance - presumed abducted and murdered, they were never found and the person responsible never was caught. If BF ever gets the rights to Madame Vastra, they can have her deal with him the same way TV Who had her deal with Jack the Ripper.

Alternatively Tegan could refer to the Adelaide Oval having been renamed Ratcliffe-Gordon Park
 
Capaldi's first Doctor was the First Doctor. When they introduced him to the public he even stood like the First Doctor. His getup is more like the Third Doctor. But his Doctor is his own plus all the other Doctors. There are bits of all of them in there. A lot of Four from time to time...when he's being more alien in nature, or somewhat self-centered egotistic. When's he's being rather cross it is a mix of the First, Sixth, maybe Nine, and some of the others depending on tone. When he's talking fast, its Eleven and Seven, with a hint of Ten if there's a gadget involved. Also Three if their is a gadget involved or some martial arts. Also Seven when he adds spoons to the swordplay.

The ones he seems least like, are Eight, Five, and Two. He's not so much Nine as he doesn't have the weight of burning Gallifrey anymore on his shoulders. Though he still questions himself over all the other things he did in the Time War.

Though the trailer for Series Nine would seem to indicate that he's going to show off a little of his inner Two, and now that he's more sure of himself, maybe Eight as well. Not sure if he will get to his Five or not.

I actually understood most of that. Guess I'm now officially a whovian.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top