Tick, tock...

Nearly there...

Someone at the BBC needs to learn how to use Photoshop.

Like I said before, a Doctor's first episode tends to be underwhelming, and this felt...well, it's hard to say how this felt.

I cared for pretty much none of the whole robot-storyline. A brief nod to Girl in the Fireplace *yawn* whatever. What I loved about the episode was the coming together of who the Doctor is or who he will be. I loved that he was violent, angry, and threatening. The hobo scene was great because it was such a departure from his two previous incarnations. 10 and 11 could get mad, spiteful, even wrathful, but their rage always seemed restrained. Capaldi felt unbound. I think that comes with having an Older Doctor, someone who is not necessarily less of a friend but more of an authority figure.

My hope is that Capaldi develops into a melding of 3 and 8, with slight elements of 4.

I thought it was a great start. Hope we'll lose a little bit of the wacky along the way, but otherwise great. On board with Capaldi from the go. Liked the new intro & theme, too. Felt like getting back to business after some overblown broken promises. Wouldn't mind a break from major story arcs for a while.

Saturday, @BBCOne at 7.30pm... Into the Dalek.

Haw!

Saw it finally. It was alright. I fell asleep though for a minute or two around the 30min mark (not because it was boring, but because I was tired and the couch was very comfy lol).

I actually didn't like the new intro theme, especially near the end, it felt a bit messy. :-\

Peter looks promising.

Was a bit lukewarm on the second episode. Felt like very recent old territory revisited to no great result. Will be interesting to see if there's a mounting larger context. If this version of the 'can you have a good Dalek?' conundrum seems to lean toward actually giving us the affirmative. If the thematic tapestry of the series turns out to be The Doctor actually effecting positive change in ways he never has, that might sit a bit better.

That said, it all came about very lightly. We haven't had the teeth grinding frustration of false perils and cheating exits, but a Sunday stroll through the centre of a Dalek was awfully easy. The end of the last Doctor's reign felt like a lot of importance cut off at the knee. A little bit of that residue here, perhaps. Cavalier diminishing of key mythology.

Not a bad episode, all the same. Enjoying the firming of Capaldi's version.


Ahhhh! It's classic!

Roll on next week:

a.k.a. Moffat-ing. He's already doing it by bringing up a sister ship that apparently existed millions of years before the first ship did, without any explanation of how that happened. I'm not expecting one either since Moffat seems to just forget about these things instantly. I do have a slight expectation that he'll contradict it later though.

Technically we've already seen "good Daleks", if you can call them that. Dalek Sec as a hybrid, Dalek Caan setting up Davros to fall, a Clara Copy Dalek helping The Doctor, and now this latest one, despite the hatred it went by. Making a "good" Dalek out of a "pure" Dalek seems to just be an impossibility, and should probably stay that way, limiting any "good" Dalek to anomalies.

Dalek starts with "d" and ends with "k".
Dick starts with "d" and ends with "k".
Daleks are dicks.
Kronspiracy.

I'm also not fully in favor of the new intro. The theme is nice, and at the main part reminds me of the menu screen from Metroid Prime. Capaldi's eyes are a nice touch. But the very last part seems to be done just to have something be done, and the title and writer texts seem too small. Might just be my TV. Maybe they'll tweak it as it goes on, maybe even after Clara leaves (supposedly on the Christmas show), cause it might use a couple.

Just don't overdo the large, lighting-spawned names #11's run started with.

Also, this thing with this Missy and this "heaven", I think Moffat may run this longer than it should, but we'll see. I am curious as to what that's about.

Loved the set-up of Listen. Pretty solid episode all the way through -- until the end. Little bit of a cop-out and a return to meddling with mythology that I'm not terribly sure needs to be meddled with. Diminishing it. Making it smaller and less important. Imposing importance of the presence at the expense of the past. Presumptuous and a bit shit.

Great episode opener, though. More of that! I like to see Capaldi's Doctor as a more independently driven version. Which is what I felt that opener really did, and the simple trope of his leaving Clara and collecting her for excursions and intervals. I dig all that.

Yep. Moffat-ing at its finest. Possibly its apex. I don't see how he can out-Moffat himself after that one.

I'm really digging 12, so far. Now we just need to dump Clara. I've never been totally anti-Clara, but she's outlived her run. The funny thing, however, is that I actually like Dan. I loved his conflict with the Doctor, particularly when he pointed out that the Doctor comes from aristocracy.

Last two episodes have been great. The thrust of the episodes still feel very light and simplistic, but the relationship dynamics and forming of The Doctor is really picking up. Really enjoyed The Caretaker!

Interesting episode, last week. Always a little dicey redefining the terms of something as omnipresent as The Moon, but the story itself was a pretty satisfying romp. Nice bit of high concept, nice bit of conflict drama, nice bit of character stuff. Enjoying Capaldi's Doctor more with each episode.

Any thoughts on the Mummy? I've been mulling it over in my head a bit. Interesting episode. Loved the Queen song.

I missed a big chunk of the open, but I enjoyed the meat of the episode.
Design and high concept were fun. Resolution wasn't too bad. I'm liking the episodes that don't have the little Heaven sub-plot - even if I was suspicious Gus and Frank Skinner (Perkins) might have something to do with it. (Or The Mummy, with a notion that everyone who's popped up there has been a soldier of some description -- unless I'm forgetting someone).

I'm not really enjoying the character conflict between Clara and The Doctor.
It feels a little bit like they've decided to try to jump ahead on moving Clara out for a new companion. The premise is good, but the speed and severity of it feels like a sharp right turn. It also feels as if we should accept that it isn't an ageist issue - but it can't help but look a bit like that.

Receiving Capaldi's Doctor with open arms. Loving that aspect. Enjoying the simple, self-contained episodes while they're here.

I'll probably try to catch the opener on the Saturday replay.

Another and particularly inventive monster of the week episode. Fun role reversals for Doctor and Clara. More enjoyment had. It feels just a little bit more like the pre-reboot era, at the moment, which I kind of like.

I was watching The Thick Of It before going to sleep, too, so it was fun waking up to a Doctor with deflated poof. Wasn't sure if he was going to compliment Clara in the face of certain doom, or rip her a new arsehole.

Dark Water wasn't bad. Explanations about the thrust of the plot seemed a tad nebulous, but maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention. I'm unclear exactly how X relates to Y in a practical sense. (Maybe someone here can help).

Nice returns. Nice presentation. Nice Doctor. Iffy misdirection, but I wouldn't complain. Interested to see where it all goes next week. Feels like it should be a big one, but I'm not sure how it lives up to that.

Welp. That reveal was a huge letdown. Should have been River Song.

^ I'm glad it wasn't. I got really sick of all the River song stuff during the Smith episodes.

Just saw the last episode. Loved the 'I need to know' moment. Loved what Mr. Pink did with the bracelet in the end, great stuff. I must say I liked season 8 as a whole. It felt refreshing after all the messy brain-hurting forwards/backwards parallel time flowing (ugh)... I'm really pleased right now and glad I continued watching (I had a little break early on during the season and wasn't sure if I was going to keep watching).

Capaldi totally won me over. Something about the way he talks, expresses himself, just love it. Even the color of his voice. If I had to pick a Doctor to travel with, I'd pick him.

'Never trust a hug, it's just a way to hide your face.' Interesting.

No love for the color of his kidneys?

So, the end of series 8 and Santa? To be honest the two I really seemed to keep coming back to are Robot of Sherwood and Mummy on the Orient Express. Those two really gave a us a glimpse of who this Doctor is, and I really liked him so far. Goofy, serious, kind, and cold all somehow wrapped into one single character.

Look to La Egg