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Capaldi’s gone.

by 56 Comments

Thank god.

Surely it’s time for them to retire the Doctor for a while?

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Comments

  1. Yes with a new showrunner coming in they will rest the series for a while.

    They will pitch the Doctor and the whole series younger. Cute Doctor to get the “Tennant – squee” audience back. Less money, less effects and brings back Lalla Ward. Or something

  2. While I thought PC was an ok Doctor there was absolutely no chemistry between him and Jenna Coleman, so the last series felt a bit disjointed. I enjoyed the Christmas special but the preview of the new series with the new companion don’t set my pulse racing. I will watch it cos I always do.
    Speculation for the next Doctor is always way more entertaining than the next Bond (not a fan) but since the series reboot all choices have been good with me.

    • I honestly think PC was a really disappointing docto,. I like him a lot and it should’ve worked on paper but didn’t.

      Moffat needs to heed the Go Home You’re Drunk comments and do it.

  4. Capaldi was a really good Doctor, as was Matt Smith. They were both let down by the poor scripting under Moffat. I can’t think of one really really really good, still talk about it years later, story from his tenure. I’d be happy he was going if it wasn’t for him being replaced by the man responsible for the worst piece of television ever made*, ie the Cyberwoman episode of Torchwood.

    Richard Ayaode for Doctor, I say.

    *you probably think I’m using hyperbole to make a point here. I’m not.

      • Agreed on the Doctor’s Wife. I thought River was all played out long before then, though.

        Moffat and Smith’s first series was really good, though.

      • I did like The Doctor’s Wife a lot, but it took your comment to remind me of it. The Wedding Of River Song (and associated episodes) was pretty much everything I dislike about Moffatt-era Who. It’s just too in love with itself, too twisty turny for the sake of being twisty turny, and the eventual revelations and explanations just don’t stand up. OOAA.

        My favourite episodes of rebooted Who would probably be Blink (yeah, written by Moffatt, I know), the Human Nature two parter, and, ooooh, I don’t know, Midnight? I liked Silence In The Library as well. Moffatt was great when he was writing one offs – when they gave him the keys to the sweet shop he ate so much he was sick.

          • “The Doctor’s Wife – albeit Gaiman written.”

            Interesting….

            Did you ever wonder why his next episode aka that crappy Cyberman one was so stinky?

            *gets exterminated*

            • Well I would say that if you didn’t like ‘Heaven Sent’ then you don’t like television but I may be a bit biased

              The Impossible Astronaut
              Listen
              Time Of Angels\ Flesh & Stone
              The Crimson Horror (Mark Gattis writing a Douglas Adams romp)
              Vincent & The Doctor (Richard Curtis writing the most non sci fi episode imaginable)
              Dark Water
              The God Complex
              The Girl Who Waited
              The Lodger

              all full of creative ideas, images, performances and such different tones and concepts.

              The BBC did consider axing the show when Tennant left as they thought that no-one could follow his success. Forgetting what a gurning prancing ninny he had become.

              Its getting a reboot with new showrunner, Doctor and I believe slanting towards a younger audience with more fun, less jeopardy and less horror. As long as it’s inventive and interesting television then I’d prefer that to all the other Saturday night TV – pale imitations of New Faces, Come Dancing and Noels House Party.

              • Heaven Sent is excellent TV, as are Blink and Vincent – two Moffatt scripts and a Curtis, and all of them standalone episodes. They’re not part of clever-clever story arcs, no talking aliens, no reliance on Tardises or psychic spanners or any of that lazy shite. Just great writing. They’d be just as good if they weren’t part of the series.

        • Used to be a massive Dr Who fan ,but have lost faith with it, probably during the Matt Smith era. Loved the The Empty Child, Blink, Father’s Day, but the show has become to preoccupied with its own legacy and Moffatt has become to clever for his own good. Some of the stories are just too complicated and… boring. Thought Peter C was a good Doctor but he was let down by the writing. Glad Moffat is going, the last few Christmas specials have been dismal as well. The show like The Apprentice just feels so tired now and needs a rest or a rethink. Hated River Song and all those stories as well. TIME… for some classic Tom Baker revisits I think.

  6. I’d put it to bed for four or five years. I’ve been a big supporter for the last 50 years but its clearly run dry. They’ve thrown everything at it short of inviting Any and Dec to play the “Two Doctors”.
    A decent break worked wonders before and may do so again.

  9. I liked Capaldi’s Doctor but my kids found him impossible to warm to. They wanted another Doctor in the mould of Tennant/Smith: charming, swashbuckling, gregarious, and didn’t like 12’s prickliness. I mean, his catchphrase was “shut up!” Over time I think Capaldi and the writers have addressed this, to the point where in the Christmas episode they found just the right balance of twinkle and irascibility. But by now my kids don’t want to know and just ask me if he’s regenerated yet.

    I think he’s a Doctor for the grown-up fans. I think it was Andrew Collins who said – approvingly – he takes us back to how Doctor Who was in the old days when we were young and the Doctor was old.

    Likewise the storylines became way too complex and self referential. Moff said we should credit kids with being smart enough to follow them – well mine couldn’t. And I think it was in Word mag, at the time of relaunch, when Mark Gatiss said the 1996 TV movie referenced The Master, the Daleks and Gallifrey in the first 30 seconds, and promised that nu-Who wouldn’t do this.

    That said, for those asking if there’s been a memorable Moffat era episode, The 11th Hour is one I can rewatch and rewatch (“fishfinger custard!”) and I thought the 50th anniversary episode – and its 8th Doctor prequel – were very well handled.

      • I’ve only see on Capaldi episode (which I enjoyed) but I do think Joe’s kids have got a point.

        From the little I’ve seen of the last few seasons, the show seems to have become more of a show for (middle-aged?) adults rather than for kids. If it’s lost the 10 -20 year olds, it has lost its way. Then again, they are a notoriously fickle bunch: far more likely to be watching clips on YouTube than a TV show.

  10. Some heavy words here – so lightly thrown. Capaldi is really good as the Doctor and I am sorry to see him go. The standard has been really high, with big film productions and Capaldi keeping the serious side well balanced with the odd one-liner.

    At the last reboot I really thought Rhys Darby was on the cards. He tweeted a picture of himself standing next to the Tardis. If the Whovians can cope with a New Zealander, I think he’d be brilliant.

  13. Nooo! What are you doing to me???? In this age of increasingly frequent celebrity deaths, you do NOT name a thread ‘Capaldi’s gone’!

    I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that.

    Where’s the brandy?

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