The Doctor Who Thread

[Gothmogxx]

The Time Monster is my personal weakest Pertwee but on that note, I still like it. That's a sign of a good era when even the weakest Story has it's high points. As a story It's certainly better than most 2010-2013 Who, with a few exceptions.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Time Monster is better than all series 10.

Except for Empress of Mars which was a Pertwee story in all but name anyway.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The shimmery Vardans from The Invasion of Time (1978)

[Gothmogxx]

Capaldi's final Season was just okay. See the thing is, and this also applies to Smith, both of them were great Doctors who weren't served well with the writing, more so in Smiths case. I can't think of a single 10/10 Story from that era. I feel kind of harsh saying that but its true. Closest to a 10? That's difficult and easier to answer when I get there but I'll try. The Weeping Angel 2 Parter starts out brilliantly. Episode 1 starts off great. River tends to divide fans, personally I'm kind of in the middle with her. She's just okay (She's not Barbara, Zoe, Jo, Sarah Jane etc. Better than Vicki, Dodo, Polly, Victoria though). So we get the set-up: great stuff, then the Angel coming out the screen, great stuff. Then the Angel turning all serial killer like in a dark area snapping necks, great stuff. Then, the best part: ALL THE OTHER STATUES ARE WEEPING ANGELS TOO. So the first Episode is basically the first really good Smith, a fantastic set-up. Its even starts off really good in Episode 2 with them getting chased through the ship! Its not like they could ruin that badly by, you know, letting a story arc about some crack in the wall get in the way... Oh yeah they do that, and I couldn't care less about it. Even not knowing the outcome of the Season final, I was so annoyed that this plot-point from earlier episodes decided to just barge its way into the middle of the Story! And when you consider how bad the Season final is (I'm sorry but it is. Not at first, like the Angel two-parter its set up fine and then... They run around a museum for ages) it just makes it seem pointless. A story arc in a show like this should be kept at a minimum: a few easily missed Bad Wolf/Torchwood/Mr Saxon/Rose Tyler references for instance: there's an arc there, but its kept out of the way of the main story and doesn't interfere until the final when it should. But this one just ruins this episode: It'd be like if in Spearhead From Space the crack briefly appeared, then in Inferno, right when everybody in the parallel world is about to die, it re-appears and the Doctor... Oh I don't know, reverses the polarity or something to use the crack as a means of saving them all. That's how it feels in Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone: A good beginning and middle, ruined by a terrible end.


The Snowmen would have been a 10 but the Snowmen suck (why couldn't they have grown a pair and used the Yeti?!?!? Re-designed Yeti for a new audience by all means fine but not terrible, non-threatening Snowmen who do absolutely nothing almost the whole Story). Aside from that though I did like that one a lot.


Day of the Doctor has to much going on in it (either use the Daleks or the Zygons, not both) but I did like it. Not a 10 though.


Capaldi has it betterish. A strong first Season opener and ending with a Story arc that works. Missy is there throughout but its never in a "in your face" kind of way. An appearance at the end here, a quick three second appearance during Into the Dalek there...And she's interesting, a lot of people didn't know who she was. I have to admit, I did kind of have a feeling she was The Master deep down, but all the same, it was a brilliant cliff-hanger that mixed the old (St Pauls Cathedral) and the new (Missy).


His second Season had Heaven Sent. Masterpiece. A poll was started on Gallifrey Base between this and The Deadly Assassin over which was best. Personally I prefer it the The Deadly Assassin. The other Stories were ok to.


The issue is that his final Season feels average most of the time. Neither good or bad, just average (I still haven't seen Doctor Mysterio yet). The Pyramid at the End of the World was amazing (yeah its the middle of a three parter but if I can cheat then as an Episode alone its a 10) but the real Jewel in the Crown was World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls. It was marketed terribly (why did we need to know that Simm and the old Cybermen were back) but aside from that it was a 10. Alongside Heaven Sent, the only 10/10 in 2010-2017 Doctor Who (unless Mysterio can do well).

[Gothmogxx]

Oh and 2010-17 Who rantings aside, I loved Carnival or Monsters, Frontier in Space and the first 5 Episodes of Planet of the Daleks (finishing it tonight)

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

As far as i'm concerned there are no 10/10 stories. (There aren't any films i'd give that mark to either)

I thought Heaven Sent was a mess on transmission - so many holes in it - and when i viewed the dvd box set i turned it off half way through.

Capaldi's entire second series was abysmal. Only the Dalek and Zygon stories and Face the Raven had one or two redeeming features.

[Gothmogxx]

I forgot the Zygon Story: That was a good one. Not quite Terror of the Zygons but a good one, with a brilliant speech from Capaldi at the end.

[iank]

I thought Capaldi's first two seasons were utterly dire. His third was a mild improvement, but not enough to rescue the era.

[nosferatu42]

I really like Capaldi as a doctor, preferred him to Smith and Tennant in his delivery of lines, just thought the stories weren't strong enough.

[nosferatu42]

Same with Colin Baker and McGann, good doctors with not enough decent stuff to do.