Doctor Who

[shapinglight]

Sooo, last night's DW (which was the first episode of the new series I watched on its first broadcast)...

Slight spoilers behind cut



...was again, IMO, an improvement from the (so far) series low of Listen. Again, I enjoyed all the guest characters and the overall plot, though daft, was fun. Plus, the Doctor got some great lines of dialogue.

'Course, it wasn't really about the MOtW, but about Clara's relationship with Danny, and what the Doctor thinks of it - and that does puzzle me slightly.

I get that the Doctor is jealous and doesn't like the idea of Clara drifting away (which she clearly is), but much is being made of him not liking Danny because he's an ex-soldier, and I just don't remember the Doctor having such an antipathy to the military.

Well, okay, he's anti-killing things, which is what soldiers do, but he seemed to get on pretty well with the Brigadier, as I recall.

Not that it matters. I think the whole, "I don't like him because he's a soldier" is just an excuse anyway.

Comments

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was pretty funny - and this Doctor (Twelve? Thirteen?) seems to have a "once he gets an idea into his head, there's no shifting it" thing going.

[shapinglight]

You mean the PE teacher thing?

I'm pretty sure it was deliberate.

Or maybe not. Maybe the current incarnation of the Doctor just can't conceive of an ex-soldier who'd be good at maths.

[ex_peasant441]

I find it in-character for the Doctor to hate soldiers after what he has been through, I just hate people who hate soldiers so I'm hating this story line.

I found this week rather boring, but I was very tired and having trouble hearing, so that may be why.

[shapinglight]

I find it in-character for the Doctor to hate soldiers after what he has been through.

Yeah, but he never has before, I don't think. I think he's just jealous myself.

As for having trouble hearing, I usually watch things with the subtitles on as a matter of course these days.

[ex_peasant441]

Doesn't the doctor's character change a bit with each regeneration? So maybe this is just one of the latest tweaks, brought on by having to re-face all that Time War stuff just before his regeneration.

And I am pretty sure he said most of the anti-soldier stuff before he knew who Danny was, so there must be more to it than just jealousy. Unless of course he is jealous of soldiers who go through wars and don't crack up and turn into massive balls of self-doubt. Which might lead to some interesting story lines since I think we have had hints that Danny is not entirely free from PTSD himself.

I think I'm going to have to start turning on the subtitles too :(

It would help of course if we could turn off the bloody background music.

[shapinglight]

It would help of course if we could turn off the bloody background music.

Yep. It continues to be as OTT and bonkers as ever.

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

The dislike of the military seems to be a thing from Tennant's era. Something about the hierarchy I seem to remember and the dislike for the 'chain of command'.

I did enjoy the weird outfit that the 'caretaker' was wearing - what on earth was going on with the shirt!

[shapinglight]

The dislike of the military seems to be a thing from Tennant's era. Something about the hierarchy I seem to remember and the dislike for the 'chain of command'.

I don't remember any of that.

I do remember Jon Pertwee's Doctor getting irritable with the Brigadier and co at times when they just wanted to shoot stuff - but not to the point of despising everything to do with the military.

[rahirah]

And we know Eleven still remembered the Brig fondly, so...

[shapinglight]

Yes, exactly.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

But Jon Pertwee's doctor came before the War Doctor in his personal timeline. And both Tennant's and Smith's Doctor had repressed and denied the very existence of the War Doctor. Capaldi's Doctor is the first one who is trying to come to terms with an acknowledgement of what he did in the time wars.

[shapinglight]

This is true, I suppose, but have to admit, I have trouble keeping all this stuff straight in my head - and it doesn't help that Moffatt will blithely contradict his own canon whenever it suits him.

[rahirah]

Yeah, the whole anti-soldier thing just isn't working for me, because despite people saying that well, it's a consequence of Eleven's long final war, it just seems to come out of nowhere to me. But I'm really liking everything else about the season so far.

[shapinglight]

Yeah, the whole anti-soldier thing just isn't working for me, because despite people saying that well, it's a consequence of Eleven's long final war, it just seems to come out of nowhere to me.

That's very much how I feel.

Was this 'long final war' the thing in the Christmas special, because I found that so irritating I've tried to repress all memory of it.

[rahirah]

Uh huh. It was not as ridiculous as Dobby!Jesus!Tinkerbelle!Doctor, but it was not one of the series' finer hours.

[shapinglight]

Hmm, I think I may have missed Dobby!Jesus!Tinkerbell!Doctor altogether.

The last Christmas special was actually the first one I've watched for at least two years, possibly longer.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

I just watched episodes 2, 3 and 4, yesterday, so I have only just encountered the anti-soldier thing. It did hit me as a rather strong aversion, at the end of the dalek episode, so I have been thinking about it. I find the uncertainty and hesitancy in this Doctor quite interesting. He looks older than his last 2 incarnations, but it seems that inside he is still reeling and is almost having to re-learn who he is. Of course, you have 2 episode's advantage on me, so I may be making premature judgements *g*

[shapinglight]

No, I'd say that's a fair description.

[sibilant.livejournal.com]

I actually enjoyed this episode. Even Clara didn't grate as much, although I find Danny a bit standard nondescript Londoner, I'm afraid. Didn't really see any evidence of love between the 2 of them. I like Capaldi's Doctor more with each episode.

I had to get a hearing aid 3 years ago, and still need subtitles for shows that are mumbly or with mad background music - why do showrunners love it so?

[shapinglight]

I had to get a hearing aid 3 years ago, and still need subtitles for shows that are mumbly or with mad background music - why do showrunners love it so?

God, I wish I knew!