Comment down below your issues with the second episode of the eighth series of Doctor Who.
Comment down below your issues with the second episode of the eighth series of Doctor Who.
I’m remembering that Capaldi’s first season had a rough start as I’m posting these…
I really don’t like this episode. By this point I’m way past Dalek fatigue, I want them to take a good few years off. Nothing about this episode is remotely intriguing to me, besides the good writing and chemistry with Clara and Danny. Unfortunately, that’s one scene, and the rest is a mixture of “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and a rip-off of a much better Eccleston episode.
Am I a good man? Who’s to say, but I feel like that question also works a lot better for Eccelston than it does Capaldi (especially considering Smith’s last two episode involved him saving Gallifrey and beating death after defending Trenzalore for almost a century). I don’t really get the direction here, but don’t worry, Moffat will forget about by the end of the season anyways.
The Doctor's prejudice against soldiers is way too extreme this season (though it does pay off a bit when Danny calls him on hypocrisy) but his parting words to Journey at the end of this episode is probably the biggest gripe I have with it. The Doctor has never liked the military, but he has never been so openly dismissive of someone's good qualities because of it, so instead of taking a moral stance, his "I just wish you hadn't been a soldier" line just comes off as him being a dick. It's a pity, really. I reckon Journey would have made a great companion. I would have liked to have seen her tag along for at least a couple of episodes.
Yeah, I really don't like this one either. It just doesn't work for me on any level. I can't quite bring the details to mind on why I disliked it so much both at the time and now, but this is certainly one of my least favourites of series 8.
One thing I do remember is this is the first time I deeply disliked Clara. She's been irritating before now, but her severity (and assault of the Doctor) is still absurd to me. I am dredging up memories of this episode now. "She's my carer. She cares so I don't have to" is nowhere near as hard a line as people seem to think it is—for one thing the Doctor, even if they're grumpy, should never not care. The visuals when the Doctor is talking to the Dalek mutant are also a bit all over the place. As I said, nothing works. Even the inside of the Dalek (which surely should have been the showpiece) is just weird, with convenient corridors all around. Bringing this Dalek back for Twice Upon a Time was also insane.
The Fantastic Voyage knockoff just didn't work. Microscopic drones in the Dalek's casing...just felt dumb. Couldn't like any characters.
Just watched it today! It's...not good. Early Capaldi feels like character assassination on The Doctor and this episode is a prime example.
It almost feels like Moffat wanted to evoke the gruffness of Hartnell because Capaldi was much older than the other New Who Doctors, but he totally jettisoned any of the charms of the o.g. and 12 is just...rude, even mean.
Oh, also, I dislike that we never saw The Doctor do anything amazing and name it after Gretchen Allison Carlisle.
What do you think?