Im not a fan of Capaldi
I do like Matt Smith.
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I do like Matt Smith.
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Doctor Who - Warning, Spoilers!
- Thread starter Edcculus
- Start date
Why should I have all the fun (although mine isn't a rewatch)?
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Capaldi was a total fail for me. Tennant was probably my fave of the post movie Doctors, but Matt Smith was good too. I've bought them all on DVD except Capaldi. Whittaker just needs to be better than Capaldi, and then I might start buying them again. The Doctor needs the light and shade to work properly, but Capaldi could only deliver the shade, and in the few episodes I've seen, his assistants were far more multidimensional characters than he was. Really glad he's finally stepped aside.
When I considered my own thoughts on the "new" Doctors I thought that the Capaldi era being a total fail was too strong a statement until I really started thinking about it. I think I tend to agree with @AimlessWanderer. There was too long a period where they didn't seem to know what to do with him and where he took a back seat to everything else that was going on. I liked Clara as a companion during her reign but the Capaldi era was saddled with her worst story arc with the chemistry free relationship with Danny Pink. Outside of Clara, I can't say that I really liked any of his companions. With the recent talk of watching the seasons of the new Doctors it made me want to re-watch the series before they started up again (I have the first 6 series on DVD so I'm only missing Smith's final season) I'm looking forward to re-watching Eccleston, Tennant and Smith but when I think about it, I really have no desire to re-watch any of the Capaldi shows. I'm glad that he's moved on as well though I'm not exactly thrilled with the new direction of the show. It remains to be seen how that's going to play out. I'll admit that I'm skeptical but I'll try and reserve judgement until I've had a chance to watch what they do with that.
I think Tennant was my favorite followed by Eccleston. I think Eccleston could very well be considered among the best of the Doctors had he stuck around longer. I think it took me the longest to warm to Smith but I grew to like him quite a bit.
I loved Eccleston
He got shafted by the management. Found out he was out after they signed Tennant.
While I like Tennant, I have to say that sucks. He was my first Doctor, so likely to remain my favorite. I’m not that way with companions. I like Donna best (so far) because she isn’t a lovesick puppy like Rose and Martha. She appears quite capable of holding her own with the Doctor.
I have no idea what you guys were watching with Capaldi.
Then again, if it's no Scottish.....
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Then again, if it's no Scottish.....
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Capaldi had a rough first season with the Clara and Danny plot, but Capaldi was always enjoyable to watch.
His second season though was fantastic and Hell Bent is one of my favorite Who episodes in both new and old. Clara was also much better written in her last season. His final season was okay with a great two part finale.
Not sure all the hate he gets, definitely in my top 5.
Sidenote: Murray's theme for 12 was fantastic.
This with knobs on.
The second season is my favorite ever, from the grand guitar intro to the return to Gallifrey (though they could have done the latter better).
Heaven Sent is easily the best performance by any actor as the Doctor in one episode. Or at least up there with "do I have the right?"
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If I didn't have a complete dislike for Catherine Tate, I could probably agree with you.
But....will I still have to really turn the sound up to understand Jodie's Yorkshire accent like I did with Peter's Scottish?
I don't think I'm going out on a limb here by saying that Capaldi was as good an actor as any who have played the role.
I didn't like the Capaldi era but I would totally agree with this statement. For me, the problem wasn't so much his acting, it was what he was given work with. His whole first season was practically a waste. It seemed to me that the writers were asking themselves, "What should we do with him?" and from what I was seeing, they weren't really able to figure it out. He got the worst of Clara with that whole Danny Pink debacle. I never warmed to Nardole or Bill and the whole socio-political agenda where she demonstrates or announces that she's gay every other show was grating and annoying. We get it, the show is supportive of the LGBT movement. Quit hammering me over the head with it and move on. I HATED the sonic specs gimmick and the whole guitar thing didn't work for me either. Was this the kind of thing that passes for clever in the writers room? Put an older guy in Ray Bans and have him play electric guitar to show that he's still cool and young at heart? It was so forced and cliche. I think Capaldi showed great potential to be a great Doctor and in some of the shows, that potential was realized but overall, I think the show mis-utilized him and early on, under-utilized him. The way he was molded and written made him the least likable modern Doctor for me. (So far... I might add)
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Great summation mike, agree with you on it. Although I didn't mind the guitar, but it was like, OK and that is for what?
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1. AgreedIf I didn't have a complete dislike for Catherine Tate, I could probably agree with you.
But....will I still have to really turn the sound up to understand Jodie's Yorkshire accent like I did with Peter's Scottish?
I don't think I'm going out on a limb here by saying that Capaldi was as good an actor as any who have played the role.
2. Subtitles! We have the closed captioning technology
3. Most definitely!
In part, I agree that problems Capaldi faced were with the quality of the show writing ... the material he was given to work with. Also, I think our idea of "light" (to use the AW term) for the Doctor was too much in the Matt Smith silliness mode, and we hadn't shifted gears yet to see something less slapstick as "light".
I think a lot of people ... myself included ... were hoping that we'd see "Malcolm Tucker as the Doctor" (sans blue language, of course, but with a fair bit of the 'tude). But they kept the leash on pretty tight, and this is pretty much all we got:
Ratings fell during the Capaldi years in a way not seen before (in New Who's era.)
They have taken a big gamble with the show's new direction, and ... time will tell how that plays out. One anticipates that a lot of old fans will be lost ... and presumably the management are hoping that even more new fans will be found. (Perhaps they are thinking that anyone who'd stick around through Series 10 will stick around through anything, so why not take a gamble ... but I suspect that's erroneous.)
Oh well.
At least the Doctor is English again.
I would pay good money to see Malcolm Tucker as the Doctor.
If I didn't have a complete dislike for Catherine Tate, I could probably agree with you.
Here in the States, my only knowledge of/exposure to Catherine Tate came with her appearance on Doctor Who. Did she have some kind of following for something overseas prior to Doctor Who?
I've had a spectrum of feelings about Donna. I hated her when she first appeared as the bride in the Christmas special. She was so obnoxious, abrasive and unlikable. When she reappeared in the series as what I assumed would be a new companion, I had this sinking feeling of dread thinking we'd be getting a weekly dose of such an unbearable character. Thankfully, her personality softened and she became more relatable and a great foil/companion/challenge to Tennant's Doctor. They had great chemistry and Donna became one of my favorite companions. They were both part of my all-time favorite scene from Doctor Who, the scene where they were reunited after years of not having seen each other.
I think that Donna probably had one of the best end stories in her final season. It was so poignant, bittersweet and sad. I seem to recall that it actually had me choking up and teary-eyed. I ended up liking her a lot but whether you liked her or not, she was certainly a memorable companion!
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Good points all, but I would also say Mel was a memorable companion. Didn't make her good, only stuck in memory that no mind bleach can get rid of.
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Ah, the viewing figures. Always a great way to prove how much Moffat is hated despite keeping consistent figures for years...
To throw some shade on the drops for the last 2 seasons:
Series 9 episodes were not in a consistent time slot - in fact several episodes were forced to move into clashes with "Dancing Britain's Got an X-Factor Voice Idol with Talent" because the content was deemed unsuitable for earlier viewing - we're quite strict on what content can be shown at what time before 9:00PM here in the U of K.
Series 10 was after a year long break - Doctor Who's original slot would have clashed with the Olympics, Moffat didn't want to split a series again (like series 7) due to several leaks at the time.
There has been a big increase in viewers on iPlayer (BBC's Hulu equivalent), partly because you can start from the beginning once an episode has aired for 5 minutes, and partly because programmes are added for repeat viewing within half an hour. It used to be that if you missed the start you had to wait however many hours/days before the BBC gods would allow you to watch it. Also, HD got added.
All TV viewing figures are down - including Eastenders, Coronation Street and whatever tosh Simon Cowell is pimping out now. Netflix/Amazon/catchup are having a significant impact.
If you can't find any Capaldi episodes to love, I'm afraid you don't actually like Doctor Who. I know you'll claim you do, but you just don't.
Why Moffat gets pilloried for Capaldi classics like Listen, The Caretaker, Flatline, Dark Water/Death in Heaven, The girl who dies/Woman who lived, Face the Raven, Heaven Sent, Hell Bent, Pilot, Thin Ice, Knock Knock, Extremis and World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls (to name a few), but Russell T Davies gets a free pass for the Adipose, the Slitheen, the Rose/Doctor love story, Kylie in the space Titanic and a goodbye longer than the epilogue of Return of the King is totally beyond me.
Also Billie Piper's series 4 invisible gum shield - now I've told you that, try watching those episodes again - it cannot be unseen...
She was famous for being a sketch comedian - Lauren the schoolgirl (am I bovvered though?) and Nan were the big hits from her show. It was felt she would be too loud/silly/annoying - which was completely wrong as it turned out.
SWEAR WARNING
Once you have an idea of how the format of Lauren sketches work (they're all basically the same), this one is utter genius
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
That seems quite a desperate statement. Maybe I would have enjoyed them with a different actor playing the Doctor. I have far less of an issue with the writing than the acting. I'm sure any one of his three predecessors would have gotten more from each scripts, and made for significantly better episodes. I'm really glad he's gone, and taken his incoherent mumbling, and one dimensional character portrayal with him. Maybe with Whittaker in the lead, I'll start routing for the Doctor again, instead of wishing the Daleks and Cybermen would obliterate him, and put him out of our misery.
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