Now that we’ve had a few days to think about the Doctor Who series 8 premiere, we have couple of thoughts.
After waiting since spring 2013 for another full series of Doctor Who, we’ve all had a lot of hopes for the new series. Overall, we are positively optimistic. We’ve seen some things that we like a lot. On the other hand, there are a couple of things that have us shaking our heads.
The Pros
1. Peter Capaldi
Meeting a new Doctor is kind of like meeting a new roommmate. You want to be excited, to have it be the perfect relationship, and even to be BFFs, but you’ve got to play it cool because you don’t want to commit early if it doesn’t work out.
So far we are liking Capaldi. He’s got the energy, an expressive face (attack eyebrows and all), and seems to handle the punchlines and the serious matters equally as well. It’s a tall order for anyone to handle talking to a dinosaur, running around in a nightshirt and rags, having a battle of wits with an obstinate Clara, and battling the clockwork army all in one episode without coming off flat. Probably Capaldi’s greatest asset is that he’s not afraid to look like an idiot. He doesn’t overthink it. Rather, he just goes for it. We believe he’s the Doctor because he does. His passion is palpable. Right now he has us guessing, and that is a very good thing.
2. Bringing back the clockwork aliens
We may not like everything Steven Moffat has done over the years, but we will say he has a talent for creating new, scary creatures. The clockwork aliens in “The Girl in the Fireplace” were a terrific creation. It was great to revisit them, and to see where they ended up. Moffat took a risk by bringing back something from reboot Doctor Who, but it worked. Doctor Who doesn’t always have to be old foes like Daleks, Cybermen, and Sontarens. Perhaps more revisits would be a welcome sight. Vashta Nerada anyone?
3. Clara’s character development
We know there’s still a long way to go on this one, but we’ve seen progress. Clara was driving a good deal of the action. She seemed to be more… Well, frankly, she seemed to be more Clara instead of The Impossible Girl. We want to see where this is going.
4. The new title sequence
Kudos to the BBC for recognizing fan art talent. Let’s face it, fan talent was regularly surpassing what was happening in-house at the BBC. Too many times we’ve seen official artwork and wondered if it was someone’s first day with Photoshop. The new titles and the clocks that were spinning rather than bouncing through the time vortex all worked. Additionally, the music is not so techno-glitzy. It’s totally a case of less is more.
5. Eleven explains it all
After having what seemed like a never ending barrage of words to the effect of, “He’s new. He’s gray. There’s no romance. Get over it,” coming either directly from the mouths of the Paternoster Gang, the Twelfth Doctor, and even the BBC PR team, it was great to have the Eleventh Doctor help us make the transition. He validated our fears without pandering to them, and he then let us know it was time to open a new door. It could have been too preachy, but thanks to the talent of Matt Smith, just the right note was struck.
The Cons
1. One garden in all of Wales
When we got to the final scene where we met Missy, the one who was acting like Mary Poppins on an acid trip, things started to look familiar. The gardens were the same Amy encountered in “The Girl Who Waited.” They were also Gwen Cooper’s wedding gardens in Torchwood, as well as John Watson’s in Sherlock. Surely there must be more gardens in Wales. Lord knows it’s moist enough.
2. Who are you and where is Vastra?
We love the Paternoster Gang. In fact, we’ve been saying they need their own spinoff well before Chris Hardwick said the same thing on the post show review. This is why we can’t understand why Vastra is suddenly treating Jenny poorly. Jenny is Vastra’s equal partner. They fight side-by-side on so many cases. The Doctor trusts Jenny, and asks her opinion. Jenny has even come to the Doctor’s rescue solo. So why was Jenny asked to just stand there and look pretty while Vastra created her Victorian flow chart? Why didn’t she use Jenny’s talent of her brain and have her help?
3. Random dinosaur
So, the Tardis went haywire, they bounced around, a T-rex ate them, and they landed in London? We feel like we’re missing something. So, the clockwork aliens are back, they want Paradise, their leader went out the window, and now he and the deranged Mary Poppins are chums? We still feel like we are missing something. So, there’s this mysterious woman in the shop who gave Clara the helpline, and the Doctor has never asked for a physical description of this woman who has his number? You guessed it, we are still missing something. Could we get a tighter plot please?
4. Destroying Big Ben, again
From what we can recall, in the reboot era alone, alien craft have crashed into Big Ben twice causing significant damage. There have also been some near misses with the Tardis. As of Saturday, we can add impaling one clockwork alien to the mix which once again resulted in destruction to Big Ben. Are there not other iconic buildings that we can damage? For kicks and giggles how about abusing Tower Bridge for a change? We know there is a large American audience now, but even Americans know there’s more to London than Big Ben.
5. Flirting
So, Clara never thought the Doctor was her boyfriend and she didn’t instigate any flirting? Really? Clearly we have different definitions of flirting. We pretty much felt it was a two-way street between the Doctor and Clara. There was flirting going on, and even a request for him to appear as her boyfriend at Christmas. If the Doctor wants to fall on his sword and say it was all him, he can do that, but we aren’t quite buying it.