Capaldi did a good job with what he was given and was a welcome change to an "older, serious" Doctor after the last two "look at meeeeee, I'm sooooo maniac and wacky" portrayals.
It's the writing staff and producer Steve Moffat that utterly failed Capaldi's era.
I don't think it failed in the least. He's behaves exactly like the Doctor should.
shareTo me he's the most classic new who doctor and reminds me of my favourite doctor, pertwee. Sadly a lot of younger fans seem to prefer a young doctor. From the start it seems people have been asking who will replace him. I feel sorry for him.
shareI think it's the writer's fault. So, one of the cliches of Who is the doctor going through his thought process and then his brilliant light bulb moment and then this remark on how he understands for the audience's perspective. They do whatever and set this up every time. But there's no compelling stories. "Smile" was lame. The best Capaldi episode was "Listen" and they let that plot fizzle out. There's nothing comparable to the best Tenent or even Matt Smith's. The companion's function is merely to comment on how brilliant the Doctor is at this point. It's not his fault.
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I think it's the writer's fault. So, one of the cliches of Who is the doctor going through his thought process and then his brilliant light bulb moment and then this remark on how he understands for the audience's perspective. They do whatever and set this up every time. But there's no compelling stories. "Smile" was lame. The best Capaldi episode was "Listen" and they let that plot fizzle out. There's nothing comparable to the best Tenent or even Matt Smith's. The companion's function is merely to comment on how brilliant the Doctor is at this point. It's not his fault.
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Correct!! You NAILED it!!! :-)
It's some kind of lip-service about how great the Doctor is, but the show isn't holding it's end in reflecting that. We're supposed to take the word of the female companion.
shareYep and if you look at it back, that is what they did with Clara, it almost became The Adventures Of Clara and a Man Called the Doctor. Even the latter Matt Smith episodes work like that leading to it being resolved in The Name of the Doctor which was followed by The Time of the Doctor, which is when Capaldi walked into it all.
Capaldi basically walked into the Clara Oswald show, it was to me like they had some idea of bringing back The Sarah Jane Adventures as The Clara Oswald Adventures.
And then they did that whole, Clara's not attracted to the Doctor anymore thing which was just painful. Maybe they should cancel it. Does Moffet still run this show. He does four episodes of Sherlock every two years and they're all brilliant and since Clara showed up every episode of Doctor Who has been painful. And also, is it worth mentioning that Karen Gillian is a blockbuster star at this point and Bill/Pearl is an unknown? I'm not British but I'm pretty savy in Brit accents and she was really difficult to understand sometimes.
shareHer accent hasn't bothered me much, the dialogue in general has though it's like:
"Wots dis button 'ere fur Docta.[/i]
[i]Oh, don't push that button.[/i]
[i]Why not Docta.[/i]
[i]You don't want to know."[/i]
Or even to the extent Bill is going to accidently push the wrong button and the Doctor is going to say Oh, you shouldn't have done that. It's just been so laboured and clunky, it's like they've taken one part Rose and added one part Donna, then dumbed it down to early Rory level for Bill and where do you start with the Doctor.
I mean:
[i]I met an emperor made of algae once.[/i]
[i]He fancied me. (long wistful look).[/i]
[i]There's broadband in there.[/i]
[i]Go! Go and watch some movies or something![/i]
[i](various stuff from Bill)[/i]
[i]And stay away from my browser history!
Really? They're taking the Doctor to that level of urgh now.
So the Tardis turn up in Birmingham during a blackout and have no idea why they're there. Surprise surprise it's the cybermen and they're the ones causing the blackouts all over England because they need the electricity for power(ing themselves).
Oo are those men all dressed in arma'?
They're Cybermen! ... A very dangerous race of alien cyborgs. They turn humans into cybermen.
Wot?
Just ... I'll explain it all later.
Really any fan could write a spec script at this point if this one hasn't already actually been done.
Exactly, it's like there's some sort of online Doctor Who Script Creator and you throw any rubbish in and it spits it out like that. Or perhaps there are some South Park type Manatees writing scripts by pushing balls around or Mr Burns Monkey's from the Simpsons banging away on typewriters.
shareWe could probably start a spec script thread and spit out an episode in a couple of hours.
shareCapaldi has been a terrific doctor. The episode "Heaven Sent" is the best hour of television I've ever seen in my life. Seriously. Too bad the writing can't always be that great.
shareThat script was creative in concept. The better Who episodes usually have some kind of suspense. If I was going to criticize Capaldi I actually think he seems more lovable as himself than as the Doctor. There's something repetitive in his line delivery.
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