Doctor Who: The 12th
Aug. 25th, 2014 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pen_gruntMay contain spoilers ahead so....
I was...disappointed...by the season (series) premiere of Doctor Who this weekend.
The good bits:
• Peter Capaldi has the potential to be bad-ass. He had some very bad-ass moments (um...having a scotch before "defeating" the villain? yessss...).
• It seems to have the potential to be a bit more grown-up and serious. Not that I didn't like Matt Smith's portrayal, but I think the writers/showrunner purposefully made him confusing and silly sometimes--conflating wacky and confusing with interesting plot.
• I always love the Strax/Jenny/Madame Vastra combo.
• There were funny bits.
• I love the older Doctor. Or, rather, the potential of it.
The bad bits:
• Gratuitous dinosaur. Not bad on its own, but this is gratuitous dinosaur in Victorian England....and everyone was like: "Whelp, no big deal..." I think that 1. The reaction would have been bigger and more panicked and 2. People wouldn't have been so widely educated about the intricacies of dinosaurs at that time.
• CONTINUITY. Um. So. Clara is supposed to have seen all Doctors through time. She knows he regenerates like this. While there is some argument to be made that she wouldn't necessarily retain consciousness of all these episodes, she's AT LEAST recently seen the Matt Smith/David Tennant/John Hurt....oh wait, and all the other Doctors together saving the world...so never mind. No excuse.
• CONTINUITY. Um. Wasn't Jenny dead? Not that I want her to be, I was just certain that was a plot point in a previous episode. If she was saved, I sure don't remember it.
• Also--hasn't Clara MET the Jenny/Strax/Mme Vastra combo before? Yes?
• Steven Moffat shits all over his female characters and this is quickly becoming untenable. Not only did he turn Clara into a paper-doll-egomaniac in love with (AGAIN...another companion in love with the Doctor...WHY!??) the Doctor, but he has people complain about it. SO many examples of other characters talking about how the women in the series are shrewish, etc. ENOUGH Steven Moffat. I'm taking away your female companion privileges. Give me a male companion for a while and some strong supporting female guest characters.
• The focus on the age of the Doctor. And the reason the Doctor was young before was because he wanted to impress the ladies with a young face? What the actual fuck is that?
As a broader general complaint, I don't understand the inclination to make romantic relationships/entanglements with The Doctor and his companions. The first time they did it with 9/10 and Rose, it was kind of nice because it was totally fresh--a new angle. The fact that every companion afterward either had to fall in love with the Doctor: Martha, (Martha...oh, how they ruined Martha, my favorite companion before the contrived fall-in-love-with-the-Doctor plot...which felt very forced), Kylie Minogue from the special, Amy Pond, River Song, Clara or there was confusion about romantic intent at first because why wouldn't a companion fall in love with the Doctor? (Donna.)
It just seems...so not necessary. And it becomes distracting and takes away from the fun when it becomes central to the plot.
And Steven Moffat? Confusing and riddled-with-continuity/plot holes does NOT make an episode more "interesting" or mysterious. The last season was sort of a head-scratcher all around because lots of things just *were* and were supposed to be big and mysterious...but they weren't explained or justified.
And, Steven Moffat? I'm taking your women away from you if you can't play with them nicely and respectfully...you know, like they're actually human beings instead of props.
I was...disappointed...by the season (series) premiere of Doctor Who this weekend.
The good bits:
• Peter Capaldi has the potential to be bad-ass. He had some very bad-ass moments (um...having a scotch before "defeating" the villain? yessss...).
• It seems to have the potential to be a bit more grown-up and serious. Not that I didn't like Matt Smith's portrayal, but I think the writers/showrunner purposefully made him confusing and silly sometimes--conflating wacky and confusing with interesting plot.
• I always love the Strax/Jenny/Madame Vastra combo.
• There were funny bits.
• I love the older Doctor. Or, rather, the potential of it.
The bad bits:
• Gratuitous dinosaur. Not bad on its own, but this is gratuitous dinosaur in Victorian England....and everyone was like: "Whelp, no big deal..." I think that 1. The reaction would have been bigger and more panicked and 2. People wouldn't have been so widely educated about the intricacies of dinosaurs at that time.
• CONTINUITY. Um. So. Clara is supposed to have seen all Doctors through time. She knows he regenerates like this. While there is some argument to be made that she wouldn't necessarily retain consciousness of all these episodes, she's AT LEAST recently seen the Matt Smith/David Tennant/John Hurt....oh wait, and all the other Doctors together saving the world...so never mind. No excuse.
• CONTINUITY. Um. Wasn't Jenny dead? Not that I want her to be, I was just certain that was a plot point in a previous episode. If she was saved, I sure don't remember it.
• Also--hasn't Clara MET the Jenny/Strax/Mme Vastra combo before? Yes?
• Steven Moffat shits all over his female characters and this is quickly becoming untenable. Not only did he turn Clara into a paper-doll-egomaniac in love with (AGAIN...another companion in love with the Doctor...WHY!??) the Doctor, but he has people complain about it. SO many examples of other characters talking about how the women in the series are shrewish, etc. ENOUGH Steven Moffat. I'm taking away your female companion privileges. Give me a male companion for a while and some strong supporting female guest characters.
• The focus on the age of the Doctor. And the reason the Doctor was young before was because he wanted to impress the ladies with a young face? What the actual fuck is that?
As a broader general complaint, I don't understand the inclination to make romantic relationships/entanglements with The Doctor and his companions. The first time they did it with 9/10 and Rose, it was kind of nice because it was totally fresh--a new angle. The fact that every companion afterward either had to fall in love with the Doctor: Martha, (Martha...oh, how they ruined Martha, my favorite companion before the contrived fall-in-love-with-the-Doctor plot...which felt very forced), Kylie Minogue from the special, Amy Pond, River Song, Clara or there was confusion about romantic intent at first because why wouldn't a companion fall in love with the Doctor? (Donna.)
It just seems...so not necessary. And it becomes distracting and takes away from the fun when it becomes central to the plot.
And Steven Moffat? Confusing and riddled-with-continuity/plot holes does NOT make an episode more "interesting" or mysterious. The last season was sort of a head-scratcher all around because lots of things just *were* and were supposed to be big and mysterious...but they weren't explained or justified.
And, Steven Moffat? I'm taking your women away from you if you can't play with them nicely and respectfully...you know, like they're actually human beings instead of props.
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no subject
Date: 2014-08-25 05:05 pm (UTC)I was kinda thinking a lot of the same things about the dinosaur and how Clara was all confused about a new doctor. She has met or seen all of the doctors (at least the doctors up to and including 11, so why she was all confused is something I didn't get.
I've actually liked Clara quite a bit. I kinda wish that actress was the doctor (though so far I like Capaldi.)
The bit with the scotch was brilliant. None of the other new doctors probably could have pulled that off as well and had it come off that way. Maybe 9....maybe.
no subject
Date: 2014-08-25 05:10 pm (UTC)I hope they can resurrect her potential and that this is just a first-episode-introducing-everyone misstep.
I wouldn't have minded her as The Doctor. Though with Steven Moffat at the helm I'm sure she would have engaged in a series of off-world romantic mishaps...and that would have been her Doctor story.
no subject
Date: 2014-08-25 05:15 pm (UTC)Like, in this episode, is it just me or were the Doctor and Clara just randomly shown being in that restaurant? Like....how did they not notice that everyone in there was a robot when they walked in? Did no one ask to seat them? I just don't get it.