FTA-TV Doctor Who

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The Christmas Special wasn't as terrible as I was expecting. Gave me hope that Moffat hasn't completely lost the plot.

That being said, he's still a knob who has ruined was was built from the return up through the end of the Tennant era.
 
Howard Littlejohn said:
Christmas specials are normally tripe. That one wasn't. In fact it stands up as one of the better episodes for the year.
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Says a lot about the other episodes in Capaldi's first season as the Doctor.
 

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Interestingly enough I loved Capaldi's first season as The Doctor (bar that silly Episode in the Forest with the annoying kids) but wasn't a big fan of The Last Christmas.

Maybe Capaldi isn't really a festive Doctor, certainly in my opinion Matt Smith is the Most Christmassy Doctor, A Christmas Carol and The Snowmen are by far the best Dr Who Christmas specials (hated all of the Tennant ones bar Voyage Of The Damned, which is underrated fun)
 
Toby Whithouse is strongly tipped to replace the multi-award winning show runner Steven Moffat at the end of next season.

Happy about that, Moffat has made the show watchable again after the shower of **** that was the RTD era, and Whithouse is a brilliant writer, The God Complex is arguably the most cerebral and intellectually satisfying 'Nu-Who' episode so far.

Thank God it won't be Gareth Roberts or Mark Gatiss
 
I was wondering.. which Doctor/Companion combination is everyone's favourite? Personally, I don't like those where there is URST between the Doctor and the Companion (e.g. Tennant/Rose) or where there is a really badly written boyfriend (e.g. Clara/Pink). So, restricting things to the re-booted version and excluding those who only appeared in the "specials" (e.g. Lady Christina de Souza & Astrid Peth)...

Ecclestone - Rose Tyler
Yes, Rose had a boyfriend - Mickey - but he was mostly used to provide comic relief and rarely got in the way of telling the story. He certainly wasn't as irritating as Rory or Pink. I thought the Ecclestone/Rose dynamic worked quite well. They were at pains to emphasise that there was nothing sexual going on between them and the stories were more Doctor than Rose. The only episode which was really Rose-centric was "Father's Day" and that episode had a great deal to offer in exploring the potential impact of time travellers going back in time and changing history. Early episodes suffered from the need to establish both the new Doctor and the new companion. It's a pity that Ecclestone refused to sign on for more than 1 series in the role.

Tennant - Rose Tyler
You know something is horribly wrong when the final scene of the series ends with the Doctor attempting to say "I Love you"... Rose was the first companion to have anything like this sort of a relationship with the Doctor. Unfortunately, she wasn't the last. At least most of the stories were still Doctor-centric.

Tennant - Martha Jones
Martha was clearly in love with the Doctor, but the feelings were (thankfully) not reciprocated. This wasn't as big a problem as it was with Tennant/Rose, but it was definitely an issue. That's a pity, because the Tennant/Martha dynamic worked quite well otherwise. She didn't have any baggage tying her back to a particular place & time on the Earth. While there were still an unnaturally high number of episodes set on the Earth (compared to the classic series), they didn't revolve around her having to constantly check in with mothers and/or boyfriends.

Tennant - Donna Noble
This is probably the best pairing since the show returned. Donna was clearly not in love with, or infatuated with, the Doctor. They were "mates" and that was all there was to it. She didn't put up with any of his rubbish and she gave as good as she got. She even ended up saving the world as the "Doctor Donna". There was lots to like about this pairing - and very little not to like. Donna did have family, most notably her grandfather Wilfred, who she had to check in with regularly, tying many episodes to current-day Earth, but other than that it was mostly escapist fun.

Smith - Amy Pond
The Smith/Pond pairing started really well, with Amy dressed up as a stripper/policewoman. Things went rapidly downhill 10 minutes later when Rory was introduced - and kept going downhill all the way to the bitter end. You know things have gone horribly, horribly wrong though, when they apply a voiceover to the starting credits, declaring that the show is all about Amy Pond and not the Doctor. That's getting things arse about in the worst possible way. Rory was, quite possibly, the most useless side kick in Doctor Who history - only Adric gives him a run for his money. The show could have been much, much better without him wasting our time. The final series of Smith/Pond, AKA the Amy/Rory show, was the absolute nadir.. until the introduction of Danny Pink. Am I the only one who actually cheered when they got their comeuppance at the hands of the Weeping Angels?

Smith - Clara Oswald
I really liked the "Impossible Girl", in the few episodes she had with Matt Smith. These episodes raised the bar and showed what Smith's time as the Doctor could have been like, were it not for the Amy & Rory show. Only the Donna Noble series was a match for these few episodes. Lots of flirting, but no evidence of any sexual attraction between the two. They had real chemistry together. Unfortunately, things came to an end all too soon, with Smith regenerating and Pink entering the fray....

Capaldi - Clara Oswald
The writer who came up with the character of Danny Pink needs to be shot, lobotomised (probably unnecessary as they are already brain-dead), then dismembered, with their parts distributed to as many parts of the Earth as possible (and preferably fed to wild animals). Danny Pink is the Jar Jar Binks of the Doctor Who universe. The presence of this character completely destroyed any chance Capaldi & Clara had when it comes to establishing some kind of on-screen (non-sexual) chemistry. Not only was the character completely unlikeable and his romance with Clara completely implausible, but the writers felt the need to create some pathetic excuse for generating friction between him and the Doctor. The Doctor didn't like Pink, because Pink was a soldier; Pink didn't like the Doctor, because the Doctor was an officer. Seriously? What brain-dead monkey came up with this rubbish? When did the Doctor suddenly develop this irrational hatred of soldiers? This is his 4th regeneration since the Time War and he didn't show any such behaviour in any of the previous regenerations, why start now?

In a way, I'm glad that Jenna Coleman changed her mind and decided to do another series, even if it did destroy the ending of the Christmas Special. I'm looking forward to seeing how she interacts with Capaldi's Doctor, without Pink sabotaging things from the background. Hopefully the writers will conveniently ignore that he ever existed, deus ex-machina, allowing Clara & Capaldi to move forward. I loved Clara as the "impossible girl" and I'm very keen to see how she interacts without the baggage from last season. Hopefully she'll return to the form she showed before Smith's regeneration.
 

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Andre said:
Those in specials are excluded, but what about recurring characters? Smith / Riversong was a good pairing. If you exclude that Tennant / Donna was definitely the best.
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Agreed - Smith/Riversong worked well. I didn't consider the recurring characters (other than the boyfriends), just the "companions".
Kram81 said:
I though Donna was pretty ok, maybe not great but definitely not bad.
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I rate the Tennant/Donna pairing as one of the 2 best since the series was revived in 2005.
 
Is the Arya Stark Susan Foreman? The very first companion from 1963, granddaughter of the Doctor and fellow Tardis thief?

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Ice-Wolf said:
If Missy is back does that mean that Clara can get Danny back? Because the whole Orson Pink thing is a massive plot hole if he doesn't end up alive again unless Clara was pregnant and had a baby off screen.
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I agree that its a massive plot hole. I dont agree that it should have even been made. It just made no sense.

From memory, if you watch carefully, Missy doesnt get shot with a bolt. Rather, its a teleportation shot (probably) in order to lead into this series. If that makes sense
 
Only thing that bothers me about Moffat's writing is that his fixed timeline plotlines means a brilliant, well written and acted character like Canton can't possibly return.

Watching The Impossible Astronaut/Day of The Moon again right, terrific two parter, The Silence are a very underrated monster IMO, and yes Mark Sheppard steals every scene he's in (Crowley is my favourite Supernatural character) .. :)
 

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