My patience with Doctor Who has been stretched to breaking point in the last couple of years with far too much clever-clever plotting and story arcs that make absolutely no sense to me, and I’m far from a casual viewer. I felt Capaldi was desperately under served by the Moff, and wondered why no one had actually realised this who had anything to do with the production.
So much was my disillusionment that I actually put off watching the Christmas special until quite recently – it was better than I feared, but stiil approached the new series with some trepidation.
But…what’s this..? An episode that actually made sense, with genuine humour, mild jeopardy, some scarey stuff and a sense of a new beginning. The word ‘reboot’ came immediately to my mind, and the title of the episode (The Pilot) may be quite clever. You could start anyone here as it required no knowledge of previous Who, and was all the better for that.
Final thoughts – Capaldi finally had a script worthy of the name, the new companions are fun, and the trailers for the series at the end look genuinely exciting.
Anyone else bothering to watch..?
Kid Dynamite says
Yep, I thought it was a decent start. New companion is promising, and already more engaging than the charisma vacuum that was Clara. The glimpse of some Movellans tickled my nerd core, and I really really want the Doctor’s study.
David Wright says
With you on Who, I have totally lost faith with it in recent years, but last night was a solid start and I actually enjoyed it. Your right, Capaldi has been served badly by Moffatt’s stories, which have at times been too complex, smug and lost in the shows own mythology. Simms looks like he will back with a beard as The Master. Hated all that Riversong business as well.
Colin H says
Heartening stuff, Nigel – I too (and I *am* a casual viewer, just wanting a bit of fun escapist TV from it, not a load of smug, labyrinthine, up-its-own-etc, too-clever-by-half, self-referential bollocks stretched over an ‘arc’ with nothing making any sense) was tempted by the preview write-ups of last nights episode, having not bothered with it for a couple of years. Haven’t watched it yet, but will do so.
Ainsley says
I really enjoyed it but to be fair I’ve ALWAYS enjoyed it, even in it’s most up-it’s-own-arseiness moments. That said it was really promising, Bill was better than the short trailer earlier in the year had suggested and there was a welcome directness in the story.
Wheldrake says
Excellent episode. Yes the new companion is a major improvement on Clara (heaven knows why they stuck with her for so long). Should hopefully build nicely towards the regeneration in (I assume) the Christmas special.
Gatz says
I considered posting along the lines of ‘We’ve got the Doctor back!’ For the humour, pace, peril i’m more than happy to overlook the fact it was little rubbish of you looked closely [possible mild spoilers ahead] – what, the baddie was a leak from an alien spacecraft?, and the Doctor’s first thought to get rid of it was to head straight for the Daleks? It just shows that Moffat can still do it when he tries, or perhaps more accurately when he doesn’t try too hard.
Paul Wad says
Just watched it, after deciding not to bother with this series cos the last few years have been pretty rubbish. Really enjoyed it and now a little disappointed that Capaldi is leaving, because he hasn’t really been given a chance due to the poor scripts. Hopefully the series keeps up and he can go out on a high. Would like to see a break of a few years after this series though, so that they have time to write some better shows for its return.
count jim moriarty says
I enjoyed it, with reservations. I’ve never been keen on Matt Lucas, but I can tolerate him without his even more annoying mate Walliams, who is an instant channel changer AFAIC. It was full of Moffat’s usual trademarks, which over the last couple of series have started to turn into cliches. I think it’s right that he has chosen to step down as showrunner, and will be intrigued to see in which direction his successor Chris Chibnall chooses to take the show. A chance for a fresh start, especially as there will be a new Doctor, who I presume Chibnall will choose rather than Moffat (as happened when Moffat took over from Russell T Davies, when Moffat chose Matt Smith to take over from David Tennant).
Sewer Robot says
Introductory episodes are always problematic, so I’m reserving judgement.
One thing that did strike me was that the plot point ***I suppose this counts as a spoiler for those daft enough to read this thread before watching the episode**** that the one thing you never see in a mirror is your face (because it’s always reversed) actually fulfils the original remit of the programme, was that it would, through the Trojan Horse of entertainment, introduce scientific ideas to kids…
MC Escher says
I love the fact that mirrors only reflect “selectively” for humans (i.e. horizontally left for right), because (I guess) our brains “know” which way is up and therefore it reprogrammes the image for us, and flips it into the “correct” orientation.
I have nothing to add on Dr Who, BTW 🙂
evilspock says
Hi MC Escher
Can’t completely remember the details, but the mirror doesn’t reverse the image left to right, it reverses the image front to back…
Sewer Robot says
The most satisfying explanation of this phenomenon I’ve read is in Martin Gardner’s book The Ambidextrous Universe. He pretty much starts on page one by asking what’s going on with your mirror reflection and then uses this as a jumping-off point to explain the significance of symmetry and asymmetry in areas like anatomy, molecular biology, particle physics and communication (for example, it took them a long time to figure out why some drugs worked while others did not despite having the same formula, before finally realising that different “identical” molecules had different symmetries…)
rotherhithe hack says
I always liked a few darker, more obscure episodes mixed in with the fun and games, but agree that the last series went too far and, a la Sherlock, got lost up its own rear end. And yes, Clara was boring.
But this was much better, despite a couple of holes in the plot. Hopefully Moffat will sustain it throughout his final series.
fishface says
I was a proper “hide behind the sofa” watcher from mid Patrick troughton onwards.
the last full story I can remember watching “live” was tom bakers “horror of fang rock”.
over the years I’ve collected a fair few classic series dvds…..so much easier since the price of discs crashed….but at no point have I been remotely intrigued by the modern reboot.
the single episode format is IMHO, just not right. some of the actor choices seem a bit “right on”…but my biggest problem is THE BLOODY MUSIC!!
why the damn bbc orchestra have to ride roughshod over every scene…strings a’ blazing, creating artificial tension is beyond me…..I much prefer the plinky plonk of a analogue synth.
joe robert says
Watched it with 10-year-old daughter – who was an avid Tennant and Smith fan, but got lost about halfway through Capaldi’s first series.
She approved. Could follow the storyline, and got scared at all the right moments (“no, don’t go in there! Don’t pull that curtain back!”) Despite not really taking to Bill at the start of the episode, she declared that “actually I’m starting to like her” by the end. And glimpsing the Master in the series trailer was a proper OMG moment for her. Although imagine if Simm’s return happened mid-episode with no pre-announcement – if it was actually a real surprise? Couldn’t happen in this day and age I suppose.
chiz says
I imagine everyone involved with the last series was thoroughly ashamed of their piss poor efforts, with the exception of Capaldi who did nothing wrong and was clearly embarrassed to be the public face of that shit shower. But Moffatt is too good a writer to misfire forever and this was great entertainment, superbly shot and lit and crackling with wit and energy. The Tickbox Sidekick sounded awful on paper but she’s very good too.
Hopefully they’ll stop writing for a couple of thousand bedsit-bound chatroom saddoes obsessed with arcs and callbacks and timey-wimey exposition, and go back to what Dr Who always should be – a funny, scary Saturday night kids’ show for adults.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Pretty much agree wholeheartedly. Would just add that the story needs to last the series – not just the bloody “arc” (which used to be considered the back story, and was revealed at a leisurely pace across multiple years) – and that each episode needs to end with a cliffhanger. If the audience is too attention-deficit challenged to cope with that, fuck ’em.
paulwright says
We (as a family) enjoyed it. Job done.
badartdog says
i’m a casual viewer but i quite enjoyed the last series.
Sniffity says
I understand they’ve just finished shooting the latest series last week, so it’s too late for my suggestion to Steven Moffatt: reveal in the last episode that new companion Bill is actually the new regeneration post-Capaldi, and that they’ve actually been working The Two Doctors-style, for a whole season (without Capaldi’s incarnation knowing it).
Just think how some folk would howl to find that a young, black, gay woman, whom they’ve had a couple of months to get to know, is actually the Time Lord’s latest face. It’d be a one-in-the-eye final gesture on Moffatt’s part, and leave new showrunner Chris Chibnall something new to play with…
count jim moriarty says
Wouldn’t happen. The new Doctor will be Chibnall’s choice, just as Moffat chose Matt Smith when Tennant and RTD stepped aside – RTD had no input into the casting choices.
JustB says
I thought it was alright. I’m reluctant to go much further than that, because I’ve still got the hump at how bad it’s been for the last few years. Matt Smith’s first series and a half were great, and then the whole thing turned into the sci-fi equivalent of Be Here Now.
Bill was likeable, and infinitely preferable to Jenna “where’s the bloody remote” Coleman. I’m just hoping that the rumours of Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the new Doctor bear some fruit. She’s ace. (Plus it means some kids will accidentally watch Fleabag and then have a lot of new vocabulary and awkward questions for their parents, which will be splendid.)
Moose the Mooche says
“the sci-fi equivalent of Be Here Now” – love that.
Lando Cakes says
Harsh but fair.
Chrisf says
I have this vague recollection that somewhere in one of the Doctor Who series (although it may have actually been the movie with Paul McGann), it was stated that a Time Lord has thirteen lives – given that Capaldi is number 12, does that mean whoever is next will be the last ?
Gatz says
The whole thing got ‘reset’ when … when … oh, someone pushed a button or something. And nothing had never happened. Ever. John Hurt was involved somehow, and I’m sure it would make perfect sense as a spreadsheet being talked through with judicious use of PowerPoint.
DogFacedBoy says
Any other nerds notice that Bill and the object of her affection, Heather were named after 1st Doctor Hartnell & his good lady wife?
I thought the opening episode was excellent, a slow burner instead of a bang and whimper. Capaldi playing it with fun n mystery – finally able to get a handle of how he wanted his Doctor to be. I know some bits n pieces about what’s coming but not enough to spoil.
I have no insight into the next keyholder but will be Chibnalls choice, I’m guessing a younger white man and apparently Kris Marshall is odds on with the bookies.
NigelT says
Oh, good work! Spoiler alert…..look away now….
This today as well on nerdbastards.com (yes, this apparently is a thing)…
According to The Mirror, Capaldi will share the screen this Christmas with David Bradley who played William Hartnell in the TV movie An Adventure in Time and Space. Hartnell, as you know, was the First Doctor in 1963, and it will be in this capacity that Bradley will appear on Who this Christmas according to The Mirror. Sources say that One and Twelve will team-up to move Galifrey to another dimension in order to save it from an as-yet unknown danger. On top of that, the sources say that Twelve’s appearance in the 2013 special “The Day of the Doctor” was the start of his regeneration, meaning that appearances from other Doctors, even just in clips, might also be likely.
Read more at http://nerdbastards.com/2017/04/18/guess-who-might-be-returning-for-doctor-who-christmas-special/#mdAopsXW1bQGm0dX.99
Black Celebration says
There was photographic evidence on Twitter that the “out of order” sign on the Tardis was the same as the one used by Hartnell.
nogbad says
Erm, no..despite seeing PC and his partner in and around Muswell Hill.
I do however, warmly recommend the bits of the new series which feature the mad buildings of Valencia designed by Santiago Calatrava.. Go and see them yourself – they’re wkd.
joe robert says
Thought last night’s was another really strong episode – I’m going to miss Peter Capaldi, and even Moff if he can keep up this standard. Acid test will be whether 10-yo daughter will enjoy it, but I can see her loving the emoji robots and the whole concept behind them.