DRG

Weird start for me. For an episode that seemed to exist to convince Matt Smith fans to stick around, they sure dragged it out for awhile before showing anything likable from the new Doctor. And Clara just felt off for some reason. I liked the creepy animatronic alien things, although I think they would have worked better in an episode without the Doctor changeover drama.

I didn't dislike Capaldi, but the whole time I kept thinking how great this episode would have been with Hugh Laurie in the role.

JasonF

It has been announced that:

The Valeyard

It was a slight stumble out the gate. The overall story and "villain" of the piece was pretty meh. The 75 minute running time did not help at all. Especially when it was padded out by comical moments of Clara hanging out in Vastra's house. The whole episode felt like it needed a good trimming. It may have worked better at 60 minutes.

Don't get me started on the "zany" sound effects at the start of the story (when the Doctor passes out pre-credits and again when Vastra knocks him out in bed). I was worried that was going to be the norm for the new Doctor but I didn't notice anything else beyond that. So maybe it's a non-issue.

It took a while for Capaldi to kick into gear but that's expected for a regeneration story. Great bits at the beginning (for me) included the Doctor translating dinosaur while half-asleep. Or maybe he wasn't translating? "No one can see me. I am alone."

By the end of the story, I could see his Doctor emerging. His conversation with the cyborg reminded me of "Remembrance of the Daleks" when Sylvester McCoy convinced the Dalek to commit suicide. Did the Doctor push the cyborg out of the building? Either way, the Doctor's hands are dirty. I guess we'll see how Capaldi's Doctor treats others in the coming weeks to know for sure.

For Clara, I thought it was odd for her character to have issues with regeneration after bouncing around the Doctor's timeline and saving him throughout his life. She's meet all 11 Doctors. This should be old hat for her by now. Yes, her Doctor is gone but she acts like she's never seen this before.

As a team, the exchange between them in the restaurant was cute and worked well. How he sees her now (or always saw her). When she reached back to find him, I didn't expect him to pop up. I really thought he abandoned her.

Really not a fan of Vastra's team. They are becoming just as intrusive as River Song. If I didn't have to see them for an entire season, I'd be happier.

Crazy lady at the end - Ugh! Do we really need another story arc that Moffat will probably get bored with before the end? Gimme single stories for a few seasons with some good two-parters mixed in. Lay off the story arcs for awhile.

New title credits and theme - Eh. I'm sure they'll grow on me. Better than the previous theme/titles that were used during the last half of Smith's era.

All that said, I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. Capaldi is a great actor who is fantastic when given good material to work with. I always thought that the uneven writing of Smith's tenure is what hurt his Doctor the most. Sometimes everything was on fire and other times not so much. I hope this will not be the case with the new Doctor.

Groucho

I did like that this story had smaller stakes. For once, the Doctor wasn't trying to save the universe. Or even Earth. Or even London! More of that, please.

Shazam

Meh. Regeneration episodes are throwaways. A big waste of time.

I did appreciate the slower pace though.

I've never though Matt Smith was a good actor but that was an absolutely terrible performance from him during the cameo.

Groucho

Yeah, he really phoned it in.

Shazam

I was trying to refrain from saying that.

Supermallet

Well first, how much of that does she remember? Second, it's one thing to see the Doctor with a different face (which she does in Day of the Doctor as well), but another thing entirely to see a regeneration happen before her eyes and to realize that HER Doctor is gone for good.

Groucho

Bear in mind that Clara's whole storyline was strictly intended to talk NuWhoers off the ledge.

Supermallet

The hell you say!

Shinobi

And the lizard lady is a lesbian. They may have mentioned that once or twice or three or more times during the episode.

Groucho

What is relationship to the maid, Jenny? Did they mention that at all?

windom

By "announced" you mean "rumored", right?

boredsilly

I totally see why you wouldn't have liked that, but the stuff with Clara at Vastra's house was the stuff I liked the most. I'm not a big fan of Clara's character, but that actress has always been very charming in the role, so the stuff in the house let her shine IMHO.

Didn't care for the rest of the ep at all. It just felt entirely ho-hum. And while it will take some getting used to the new Doctor, it didn't help matters that he wasn't himself for a good chunk of the ep.

I really could have done without all of the talk about Capaldi being old too. Addressing it is fine, but going on and on and on about it just really took me out of the ep.

I've already been teetering on the edge with Who, so I'm curious if this season will be able to keep my attention. I'm a Moffat fan, but I think I've had my fill of his take on Who.

JasonF

I thought there was an official announcement. Is that not the case? I hope I'm wrong and this turns out to be a false rumor.

The Valeyard

A lot of her dialogue at the start is "how do we get the Doctor back?" (or something to that effect) which Vastra chastises her for. Not counting "Name of the Doctor," she should know this is a permanent situation based on her encountering two other Doctors in "Day of the Doctor" or the conversation with Smith's Doctor during "Time of the Doctor." She should know this is a done deal.

But yes, I can see her reaction being mainly from the grief of losing "her" Doctor. Especially during the 11th Doctor phone call.

Shannon Nutt

The maid is WAY hotter than Clara...The Doctor should leave Clara with the lizard and take the maid with him.

Shinobi

I think they said "midwife". The lizard lady must be pregnant.

Timber

Why are they aging the Doctor so fast now? I was watching Day of The Doctor this weekend and 10 mentioned he was 400 something years old and 11 said he was 900 something. He aged 500 years in the time we've been watching?

edit: and I don't remember how long he was on Transelor(sp?) during the Christmas episode but now he's a couple of hundred years older even.

The Valeyard

In "Pyramids of Mars," the Fourth Doctor tells Sarah Jane that he's about 750 years old. The Sixth Doctor says he's about 900 years old a few years after that. The Tenth Doctor says he's around 900 through out his tenure.

In "The Impossible Astronaut," The Eleventh Doctor is 909 (younger version) and then 1103 (later version). He then spent about 900 years defending Trenzalore making him about 2000 years old-ish now. Maybe.

The 400 years thing during "The Day of the Doctor" comes from the War Doctor saying he was 400 years younger than the Eleventh Doctor. He did follow that up by saying he was so old he couldn't remember if he was lying about his age.

Josh-da-man

I can't say I'm a fan of having the eleventh Doctor live longer than all of his previous incarnations combined. It just seems... so... self-important on Moffat's part or something... like his Doctor has to be the most important one. I also hate the idea of centuries passing for the Doctor between scenes, which 11 did twice.

I am of the mind that the Doctor's age should never be explicitly mentioned, and we should only know is that he is very old and long-lived. He won't tell us what his name is; he shouldn't tell us he's 909 years old, either.

Timber

That's my problem as well. It seems like Moffat is trying to put his stamp on the mythos and in the process discounting everything that came before him.

Supermallet

I don't know, I like the idea that we're seeing mere snippets in the Doctor's life, and that there's a lot (centuries even) that we're not privy to.

Jimmy James

I haven't watched yet because I'm still working my way through Smith, but who the fuck let Kurt Sutter start editing Doctor Who?

Keith6601

I like the gaps in the Doctor's age because then you have everyone trying to pinpoint where exactly in the timeline stuff occurs because it isn't laid out crystal clear.