Dan-da-dan-dan-da-dan-dan-da-dan. Da. Woo-hooo...

[poliphilo]

The daleks have been destroyed umpteen times- and they're back.

The Master has been destroyed umpteen times- and he's back too (as Missy)

Davros has been destoyed two or three times- and guess what? Here he is again. He says he's dying but why on earth should we believe him?

And the Doctor is- yet again- facing personal annihilation. Well that's a laugh. No-one ever really dies on this show.

Except Adric- and that was a long, long time ago.

I'm tired of Dr Who. I think the show has entered a period of decadence- all flash and bang and devastating one-liners but no heart . I've given up wondering who Jenna Coleman's character is supposed to be and why I should care. Peter Capaldi's Doctor is charmless.

Or perhaps I'm just too old for this sort of thing.

Comments

[splodgenoodles.livejournal.com]

I agree about the decadence and one liners - it's become terribly self referential and clever. And it's now always about the end of the universe, annihilation cranked up to 11 every single time.

But I love Peter Capaldi. I feel certain it's redeemable, maybe back to some good old _small_ battles against evil?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think it needs to be prised out of Stephen Moffat's hands. I'm sorry to have come to that conclusion because there was a time- back in the Davies era- when he was writing the show's best scripts.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Agreed on all points. I watched last week's episode with my daughter, and we had almost exactly that conversation.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I know the BBC isn't going to want to do anything drastic to such a popular, money-making franchise, but I wish they'd take it away from Moffat and let someone else have a go.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I heard that viewing figures were significantly down last week, compared the season opener last year. That may concentrate managerial minds.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Good.

I'll have been one of the viewers who was missing. I finally caught up through the i-player.

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

They need to give it a rest. Its pretty much become the type of show only the die hards still watch - and they seem to forgive anything.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I suppose I qualify as a die hard. My memories go back to the Hartnell era- and I hold the show in great affection. To be honest it's often been a bit rubbish, but there have been better patches than the one its going through at the moment.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

Never watched it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've been watching it since the 1960s.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

Well, see - that's my problem. Do I just dive in now or do I go back and binge watch half a century of episodes? It's easier to just let it alone.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'd leave it alone if I were you. It's never been that good. For the spell to work it has to be laid on you when you're young and uncritical.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I can't see kids enjoying it any more. I did, briefly, start watching it again from the re-launch until the David Tennant era, then I just lost interest because it had become all about the Doctor and not about having adventures in space and time.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The Doctor was a more interesting character when we knew less about him. Now the magic and mystery have all but gone- and he's just another superhero.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Lots of folk want to watch it when they want. The seven-day totals may tell a different story (I admit I haven't seen them). It was also suggested that some folks want to watch both parts of the two-parter one right after another.

I thought the episode was a lovely follow-up on Tom Baker's "Do I have the right?" moment in Genesis of the Dalek.

Besides, Capaldi channeled Roy Orbison, so for me the episode was full of win for that, if for nothing else. I will say this incarnation of Davros reminds me more than a little of the Emperor in the first Star Wars trilogy, wanting so badly to bring The Doctor over to the dark side.

Finally, I absolutely adore Peter Capaldi's crochety Doctor, and I like where Moffatt goes with things.But what do I know? I'm just a tasteless Umerrican.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'll continue to watch- and maybe part 2 will make me revise my opinion.

One thing I do approve of is the decision to have more two part stories. I've always thought 40 minutes was too short.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I utterly adored Part II. I'll be interested to hear what you think.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'll probably watch it later today.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've watched it now.

I liked it better than Part I, but all that bluffing and double-crossing made my head spin.

Perhaps I'm just not in the mood...

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I thought it provided closure with a capital C. I was okay with all the double-crossing: they've been doing that for years. Have you ever seen the Red Nose and/or Comedy Central episode, The Curse of the Fatal Death?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do-wDPoC6GM

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Closure? But these accounts are never closed. Davros will be back and so will Missy/the Master.

I watched that Red Nose sketch when it was first broadcast. I think it came at a time when the show was in abeyance.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

The closure was with Boy Davros, and with us (having been shown the Doctor apparently pointing his gun-thingy at a child, shudder).

Edited to add: and now that the Doctor's regeneration energy has been added to Every.Single.Dalek, it's very possible that they'll all have a scintilla of compassion -- Davros, too -- and that will complicate his evil schemes.

[butterscotch711.livejournal.com]

The latest episode (I mean the opening one) gave me similar feelings.

I had felt the Moffat era was out of steam, but then I thought he did a great job with the 50th anniversary (which had to please so many different audiences), and I also thought last year's season found new creative legs and got a bit more experimental and dark. The one where the Moon was an egg was probably the silliest thing Doctor Who has ever done and I didn't like that ... but I think some episodes managed more atmosphere and thoughtfulness than has become the Doctor Who norm. And Clara as a more realistic adult with a realistic job worked so much better.

I thought the new episode suffered from idea hyperventilation. The hands with eyes reaching out of the mud, the gradually appearing planet, the person made of snakes - those ideas needed more breathing room if they were to grow into something more coherent.

And, yeah, if you're going to still be using the Daleks at this stage, I think it's time to break through into using them in some much, much fresher and re-imagined way.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, the episode was over-crowded. It's one of Moffat's besetting faults- he overloads his scripts with ideas and images and leaves most of them undeveloped and undigested. He needs an editor to tell him when enough's enough- and I'll bet he doesn't have one.

I wish he'd put the daleks out to pasture. They stopped being scary about 40 years ago.

[butterscotch711.livejournal.com]

He needs an editor and maybe that's why his stuff under RTD was so good. I think they were a pretty complementary mix.

I'll try to avoid a rant, but I think the Daleks have been pretty mis-used in both the new series and the classic series. The design was brilliant for conveying them as very alien but also a recognisably arrogant and withdrawn kind of evil, and it works if they are conniving mandarins swishing around inside a city-palace. I think the Doctor Who production team should either totally re-think how they're going to let that design inform narratives, and how they're going to stage the design -

- or they should just wheel out the Daleks briefly once in a while for novelty's sake, because they're never going to be able to stop themselves doing that at least.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

You know i tend to agree. Moffat has become trapped in his own success and we need new writers badly. I still think Capaldi could be good but somewhat hamfisted by the scripts.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Capaldi is a terrific actor, but I don't feel he's nailed the role yet.

[heatherp8.livejournal.com]

OH, well said, sir. I've about had it with the show as well. For my money, no one could top David Tennant but that's just my humble opinion