Doctor Who: Into the Dalek

So, Spoilers.


So we're on episode 2 of season 8, and this time we were shrunk down with the Doctor and Clara and went inside the shell of a "Good/Moral" Dalek, aka. "Rusty".

Am I the only one who was disturbed that they defined a "Good" Dalek as a Dalek that wished to destroy other Daleks until the very end, when the Doctor did a Vulcan mind-meld with Rusty and Rusty saw the Doctors hatred of Daleks and through deus ex machina of a remembered birth of a star and the mind meld the Dalek became "Good" again, in that it wanted to kill other Daleks, not humans. But now, at the end of the episode this is no longer "Good" and the Doctor is upset that the Dalek wants to actively destroy other Daleks. But they didn't expound on the self-guilt that would have made that flip make any sense. Don't get me wrong, the guilt is there, as is the arrogance that he is right, but it feels like an afterthought.

That's the other thing. Classic series Whovians, please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that they are basing Capaldi's Doctor off of the 4th. Which is fine, I mean, he's not my favorite of the classics, mostly because he seemed to have a cruel streak. And it's that cruel streak that I think we're seeing in Capaldi's Doctor. 9 (usually), 10, and 11 especially tried to save everyone, and mourned the ones they couldn't. 12 will use those who he expects to die or who are about to die to further whatever crackpot plan he's got for the episode. Maybe I'll get used to it, like I did to 10 and then 11 when they had their turns. But damn, that cruel, or maybe the word is cavalier, attitude is disturbing. He doesn't care that people are dying to further his ends. It's exceedingly jarring.

And then to make it even more bizzare and uncomfortable for the viewer, they started and ended the episode with the Doctor asking Clara if he's a good man. At least her response is "I don't know."

I'm starting to think I'm watching hoping that Vastra and Jenny will show up because I'm certainly not coming back for Clara. Nor particularly for the Doctor. His character is, as of right now, one that I feel sorry for, but to whom I can't connect to. It's like.....it's like he's all-too-human in the worst possible ways.

The Next Doctor

I like Peter Capaldi as the Doctor.

I wish they would give Vastra, Jenny and Strax their own show.

I like that they took the time to allow us to get used to the new doctor, like they did for Ten.

As an American, Capaldi's accent got a bit troublesome, so I resorted to subtitles, but I think it'll only take an episode or two more for me to get used to it.

There were more back references to past (mostly new Who) moments in this one episode than I can ever remember in a single episode prior.

I think Clara is actually a better foil for Capaldi than she was for Smith. The chemistry feels more friendly and is more like what Ten and Donna had. It feels more natural. Personally, I appreciate the pointed removal of the crush/love interest companion, partly because I'd like to see River continue to make appearances.

Clara actually had personality this episode. She's been hit and miss to me, and this was one of the good ones.

The Day of The Doctor

It's here! Today is the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Grab your fezzes, sonic screwdrivers, and popcorn. We get one more episode/movie with David Tennant, remember why we finally accepted Matt Smith as The Doctor, and find out just how John Hurt both is and isn't The Doctor.

I have avoided even the trailers that have released over the last few weeks, as well as turned off all the Doctor Who in my Facebook feed so as to avoid any spoilers.

The Day of The Doctor airs at 2:50 pm Eastern.

I will post some reactions after the show, and possibly a few during, it depends on if I can get internet set up in the location I will be watching at.

UPDATE:

And it is over. Warning:

John Hurt is a Doctor, he was very believable. I loved seeing him interact with Matt and David. I loved seeing Matt and David interact. Clara was a more minor role, Jenna Coleman did a good job. She wasn't a damsel in distress this time, which was nice, her in that role always annoys me. We also got our first glimpse of Capaldi as the next Doctor. But I can't tell if we're supposed to call him the 13th doctor now or not. They strongly implied that Hurt's Doctor is actually the 9th, as in the credits they did a fly-by of all the Doctors faces and Hurt was immediately prior to Christopher Eccleston.

BBC aired it without *any* commercials during the show, which was amazing. There wasn't anything to pull you out of the story.

We found out why Elizabeth the First was so hostile to the 10th when he saw her with Martha.

The Zygons were really a fairly minor role. Almost a MacGuffin rather than a proper bad guy.

I will admit I was disappointed that Billie Piper was only there as the "Bad Wolf," not Rose. Makes it impossible to place where in the timeline this story is supposed to take place.

Also, the Doctors were able to save Gallifrey. They locked it in a pocket universe inside a painting. How this is supposed to jive with The End of Time I doubt we'll ever know, considering Moffat's tendency to ignore a fair bit of the cannon from the 9th and 10th Doctors era. There were no big gold hats/collars, and no Timothy Dalton.

The end cameo by Tom Baker, and the appearance of Baker's 4th Doctors Scarf throughout was epic.

It also looks like we will be returning to Trenzalore for this years Christmas special. It has been strongly implied that this episode has re-written a lot of the Doctors history for the last 400 years (the modern series). So we'll see. Now I am going to be eagerly anticipating the Christmas special. and we are going to have to wait until about this time next year to see Season 8.

Happy watching!

Really Moffat?

So I'm scrolling through my Facebook feed this morning and one of the posts I come across is "Women Don't Want Female Doctor -- Moffat." This was the headline for a news article posted on 3news.co.nz.

So I clicked on it to see the actual quote. This is what I got:

"It's absolutely narratively possible (that the Doctor could be a woman) and when it's the right decision, maybe we'll do it. It didn't feel right to me, right now. I didn't feel enough people wanted it. Oddly enough most people who said they were dead against it - and I know I'll get into trouble for saying this - were women. (They were) saying, 'No, no, don't make him a woman!'"

So line by line my reaction was, "Sweet, they formalized that into canon!" followed by, "oh, ok, I guess that makes sense" then, "Wait, really? Since when is the Doctor a popularity contest?"

And then came the kicker, repeated to refresh the impact, "Oddly enough most people who said they were dead against it - and I know I'll get into trouble for saying this - were women."

Wait...What? "I know I'll get in trouble for saying this" Protip, if that's your reaction, don't say it.
Also, sure I can believe there is a decent swath of the Whovian community who would flip their shit if there was a female Doctor. Fuck knows I've seen too much of the same attitudes in the Sci-Fi community at large, as well as the atheist/skeptical communities over the last several years. Hell, I would be more surprised if there wasn't a segment of the fanbase who flipped their shit.

But seriously, Moffat, you already gave a valid reason for not selecting a different actor or actress for the Doctor--it didn't meet what you wanted to do with the storyline. Why not just leave it at that?