Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013

[Thorin]

Doctor Who is on tonight!  8pm on BBC America where I am, 7pm on Space back in the Old Country where y'all are.

If you haven't heard anything about it, you might not want to read the following spoilers:

Spoiler

The Doctor tries to save a town called Christmas.

Matt Smith's doctor regenerates into Peter Capaldi's doctor.

Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Silurians, and a couple other races may be part of the action.

[close]

Enjoy!

[Mr. Analog]

It's times like this when I regret not setting up my PVR to record

[Thorin]

Hah, the downloaded version will be better because no commercials   Plus, the seeding will be FAST for the next couple of days.  Not a lot of seeding credits, I'm willing to bet...

[Darren Dirt]

My initial response @ the end: Confusing.

My mega-fan daughter's response: hated it.


I expect it's better with a second viewing though.

[Thorin]

I thought it was absolutely awesome.

[Lazybones]

It was ok but it is hard to top the "A Christmas Carol" one. It had a better story, better characters and singing!

[Mr. Analog]

I've been catching up on nu Who via Netflix

God I love this show!

[Darren Dirt]

It was ok but it is hard to top the "A Christmas Carol" one. It had a better story, better characters and singing!

And flying sharks, dintit? Plus holy crap "Scrooge" was Dumbledore!?



But love it or hate, that Christmas Special was goodbye to Matt Smith... gonna be missed for sure, that "clown and hero", that most "human" of Doctors:
http://herocomplex.latimes.com/tv/doctor-who-farewell-10-extraordinary-matt-smith-moments
To paraphrase, "we wanted to see the universe, so we stole us a Time Lord and ran away -- he was the only one mad enough..."

[Mr. Analog]

Yeah, he will be missed that's for sure, not a long enough run but now we have a new Doctor to learn about

[Darren Dirt]

Yeah, he will be missed that's for sure, not a long enough run but now we have a new Doctor to learn about

His run aka # of episodes = one of the tops IIRC; I think only One and Four had a longer run, and that only ended cuz of his ailing health...

found this infographic to help support my ^ pulled-outta-my-ass claim ^
http://www.cabletv.com/doctor-who-by-the-numbers

...and turns out I was wrong, I guess Ten had more eps than Eleven, yeesh didn't realize that! I guess all of those very-ambitious Eleven story arcs were far more ... Universe-Impacting, they just felt like they took longer to play out.



EDIT: this is the detailed infographic I was looking for...
http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2013/11/doctor-who-doctors-travels-one-infographic/
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131119-doctor-who-travels-through-time

...which tells us that Eleven might have been with us a shorter duration than some, BUT he was the Most Well-Travelled by far!

[Mr. Analog]

Well I think I mentioned either earlier here or on Facebook that I'd recently started going over nuWho episodes I've missed (which, admittedly, was a lot more than I thought).

What I found interesting with 11 was that they threaded themes all throughout his run seemingly culminating at various points but then continually adding at the same time

A trap the writers have fallen into is similar to bronze age comics in that they are repeatedly "killing off" things only to bring them back again. At one point having no Daleks or Cybermen or Time Lords was a very serious and surprising thing to do in canon, but by bringing things back so quickly and frequently the threat (and interest) in killing something off "for good" becomes kind of moot. I'd also like to see a return to some more balance in the favour of good (i.e. the Time Lords return), I suspect this is where things are heading given the overwhelming amount of evil waiting for them in the Christmas episode. I kind of like the idea of having more balance between good and evil because you can start to tell more stories where evil has to "work for it".

A recurring theme through the series is that evil lurks in the dark corners waiting for a chance to grow, these are usually among the better episodes because there is tension when things are smaller and more intimate, easier to get your head around. Not that I mind seeing huge battle fleets and armies causing CG mayhem but only because it's not something I'm used to seeing in Doctor Who, but I prefer the stories that get up close, where the threat of things to come is what is scary.

Tension is the Doctor stuck in a room with Davros for an hour rather than fighting hordes of Daleks for a few centuries.... actually those both sound like good ideas where's Terry Nation's phone number lol

But I also like the stories where they find something totally different too, the writers reminding themselves they aren't limited to the fan favourite villains and situations

Geekin' out here

[Darren Dirt]

A trap the writers have fallen into is similar to bronze age comics in that they are repeatedly "killing off" things only to bring them back again. At one point having no Daleks or Cybermen or Time Lords was a very serious and surprising thing to do in canon, but by bringing things back so quickly and frequently the threat (and interest) in killing something off "for good" becomes kind of moot.

You mean like the 11-or-12 regeneration count limit?


re. NuWho, I pretty much started with Eleven, saw a handful of Ten before that but ran through the entire Eleven story arcs week by week as my daughters were just as excited as me ... but I have refused to watch any Clara eps due to ... well, it's Clara ... My daughters have confirmed I made a good decision.

But eventually I'll watch them because I need to "get it" re. the stuff referenced in the Anniversary Special as well as this Special. But first I'm still pressing through my very first viewing of the Ten eps, during Christmas break finished up to The Satan Pit, wish I could watch them all in one sitting, but my head would asplode all Time-Vortex-Absorbing-like.

[Darren Dirt]

BTW I really hope that in the NEW NuWho they take full advantage of the 2 distinctive features of Peter Capaldi

-first of all his ability to actually use his true Scottish brogue (sorry Mr. Tennant!) ... although I expect his dialog will be less family-unfriendly than he is used to saying (aka as Malcolm Tucker). {I think I've decided that this TV show is a must-see for me.}

-secondly of course -- the EYES/EYBROWS* it's like he's a stern English schoolteacher or something, you almost feel like apologizing when you look at him -- even if maybe he's not mad at you, he's just grumpy? ... but they also function doubly for an exaggerated sense of wonder or amazement or maybe even fear/terror.

Like Tennant's consistent-but-fantastic shocked look in his eyes, I hope Capaldi's glare is actually over-used throughout the surprising plot-twist moments with Twelve. In the same way that both Eccleston and Smith's could instantly trigger a shared sense of childloike joy and excitement and hope etc. by just making a giant grin.




*yup, there's a tumblr for that! http://petercapaldieyeshotfanclub.tumblr.com/ ... and also a make-your-own-mask: http://whovianleap.blogspot.ca/2013/12/capaldeyes.html

[Mr. Analog]

Half the fun is learning the personality and look of a new Doctor.

Yarg, I'm looking forward to more episodes now...

[Darren Dirt]

Half the fun is learning the personality and look of a new Doctor.

Yarg, I'm looking forward to more episodes now...

With this actor, east of the Atlantic he's got tons of fans who know him best as a perpetually angry spin doctor on a half-improvised swear-filled dark comedy ... So makes me wonder how much freedom Steven Moffat is gonna give him to creatively riff on the set of Who