This week, we decided to have a discussion about the new incarnation of The Doctor – Peter Capaldi. While our opinions on the series as a whole are decidedly mixed, we all have positive opinions about Capaldi. We talk about Clara, the Victorian Scooby Gang, and Steven Moffat. We also spend a little while on the 50th anniversary special and the War Doctor. Given we are not super fans, we probably get some facts wrong. Feel free to correct us in the comments!
Preliminary comment: Molly clearly wasn’t thinking things through, because Pacific Rimjob 2: Robots Fingering Aliens writes itself.
Main comment: I don’t watch Doctor Who (HORRORS!), but I know Trek had the same problem with recurring adversaries getting less cool as time went by. Q’s first couple of appearances were suspenseful, but after that he was a giant joke. (With occasional exceptions.) The Borg were menacing as hell on TNG, but were a complete parody on Voyager. Don’t even get me started on Dukat and Winn, or the Mirror Universe, on DS9.
The problem is that we, as viewers, can’t be satisfied with one good story; we want to see our favorite baddies again, and the repeat appearances never quite live up to the initial promise.
Sylvester McCoy was indeed born in Scotland.
I listen to several Doctor Who podcasts, and you three are actually the first I’ve heard say that Clara is less interesting now that the Impossible Girl gimmick is over. I like her better now that she has a real life, and far from not knowing what to do with her, I think the writers have done a good job of making her integral to most of the episodes. That said, I agree with Nick that involving her in the Doctor’s childhood on top of being the Impossible Girl was too much. And Molly made a great observation about “Robot of Sherwood” (which I also disliked), that it would have been more interesting if Clara had always wanted to be Robin Hood.
It sounded like Nick was implying that Robin Hood was a robot, which was not the case; he was revealed to be a real person that history had let fade into legend. (The conversation he and the Doctor have at the end, about the Doctor’s similar legendary status, is pretty much the only thing I liked about this episode.) It was actually the Sheriff who would have been revealed as a robot, but they cut a scene where his head is knocked off, deciding it would be too disturbing amidst the recent ISIS beheadings in the news.
I hope you will check in again at the end of the season, as I’d like to hear your opinions on later episodes. There are only four left to air at the time I’m writing this!
I forgot one more point I wanted to make. I had dismissed the idea of Missy being a Time Lord villain from the past, but Nick actually makes the best argument for her being the Rani that I’ve heard. I hadn’t thought about the circular garden resembling a TARDIS (though we’ve seen her in different settings since then).
Ha, right, I forgot it turns out he’s not actually a robot. It was just so unremarkable, I think my brain chose not to remember it to protect itself from reliving that episode.
We have a few more in the backlog, maybe we’ll record another episode about the second half of the season, to see if our opinions changed at all. Thanks for listening!
I thought the Weeping Angles absolutely deserved another episode. Just not any of the ones we got.
Although I didn’t think Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone were *that* bad, but they screwed it up when they changed the rules and gave them new powers.
I know it’s just a typo, but I would totally watch a Weeping Angles episode.
Triangle man hates person man.