Topic: The new Doctor

[Colin-ICE]

*** Please be aware I will do my best not to put any spoilers in this post but I cannot promise that there won't be any ***

I would like to hear other people's thoughts on the new series of Doctor Who. I would also like to avoid being rude or unnecessarily harsh to anyone involved in the program who I have no doubt works incredibly hard to create a program that caters to the desires of a VERY diverse audience (and does a d**n good job in my opinion).

First about me. I was never into the old Doctor Who. I joined with Eccleston and so far HE is my favourite Doctor. Before he started as the Doctor I was a fan of Peter Capaldi having seen him in a number of things, not least of all as Malcolm Tucker in 'the thick of it'.

Now for my review. I think Capaldi is brilliant. He's dark and brooding and sinister and is taking the show away from being a knock-about romp (of which we've had quite a few seasons now) and back to the darkness of Eccleston and beyond to a sinister, angry Doctor. That said, I do have a few minor things that are jarring with me so far. My first is that Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are completely different types of actor and that the characters of Clara and the new Doctor just doesn't fit for me. I think each of them are brilliant in their own way but when they're on screen together it just... doesn't feel right. My other qualm is that while the Doctor himself has got darker, his story lines seem to be the same sort of stuff they were getting Matt Smith to do. I would like to see more morally ambiguous, lower key 'adventures' rather than pick a monster and put it in a certain era in history.

What are your thoughts?

[Grinnen Baeritt]

I started watching Dr Who way back.... Jon Pertwee... and have seen most of the earlier doctors through repeats and videos since. Work/Life commitments meant I missed many of the 6th Colin Baker & 7th Slyvester McCoy episodes. I've seen all the recent resurrected series since where the basic format of the programme changed from multi-part episodes (with cliffhangers) to longer single story programmes with a story arc running through the series.

I'm liking the Capaldi version, though the character hasn't quite "settled into" the part yet. This is a process that ALL the previous incarnations have gone through, so that in a way it's a little early to judge. I first saw him when he was in "Local Hero"... and to be honest haven't kept up with his career since. Though I like the fact that there is now an "Older" actor playing the part of an "Older" Doctor once again... it's been a while. In fact, there hasn't been since William Hartnell (and Peter Cushing in the two cinematic releases, if you count them... which I do )

The latest episode "Robin Hood" was an interesting one, the writers have taken a bit of a risk with it. Slapstick combat is a bit reminiscent of the Slyvester McCoy era, but merged with more serious Hartnell/Cushing version. The best bits of Dr Who now are the interactions between the Doctor and his companions, which, from Billie Piper "Rose" onwards have taken centre stage. I'm loving his interactions with Jenna Coleman's "Clara", very amusing.