Guest Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 What exactly did those who didn't enjoy it not like? And what did you expect? I'm new to the show, but wasn't a bad hour of tv to me picking it up having only watched the special last month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Red Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Add me to the haters list. Over indulgent, nonsensical bollocks, between me and the girlfriend we were guessing what would be said almost word for word because it was a walking cliche. Awful  It's a Christmas special episode of Dr Who, which had the unfortunate role of serving as Matt Smith's final episode and tying up all the loose ends. It was never ever going to be the finale he probably deserved because of it's airdate and required 'christmassing up'.  By calling a town "Christmas"? There's adding a seasonal touch to it, and shit, lazy writing. That was shit, lazy writing. They may as well have had elves as bad guys, or have him save Santa.  Sorry, but that's worth a slight eye roll at most. It hardly ruined the episode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members FLips Posted December 26, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted December 26, 2013 Add me to the haters list. Over indulgent, nonsensical bollocks, between me and the girlfriend we were guessing what would be said almost word for word because it was a walking cliche. Awful  It's a Christmas special episode of Dr Who, which had the unfortunate role of serving as Matt Smith's final episode and tying up all the loose ends. It was never ever going to be the finale he probably deserved because of it's airdate and required 'christmassing up'.  By calling a town "Christmas"? There's adding a seasonal touch to it, and shit, lazy writing. That was shit, lazy writing. They may as well have had elves as bad guys, or have him save Santa.  Sorry, but that's worth a slight eye roll at most. It hardly ruined the episode.  I didn't say it did. I said it was shit and lazy, which it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vamp Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 (edited) I enjoyed it for what it was. It looked amazing and the acting was top notch as always. The whole dig at people who were obsessed by the silly regeneration rule was a laugh. Handles was lovely. The Christmas dinner stuff was fun (and Clara finally felt like a real person). The Doctor staying was pretty cool (and very brave to age him that much I thought). I can understand the criticisms though. It just felt rather hollow and shallow at times, like the writing wasn't driven by a story or even a character but rather through ideas for 'cool' lines and visuals and so a highlights package was jumbled together. The visuals and acting held it together for me really. But that's just the house style at the moment. They like to skim along the surface of things at a million miles and twist and turn a lot. The people who like going for the ride think its great, the people who'd quite like to stay and look at the destinations get a bit frustrated. I know that happens with me sometimes and then I probably get overly critical at what's mostly an enjoyable romp. Edited December 26, 2013 by Vamp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patiirc Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 It's a Christmas special episode of Dr Who, which had the unfortunate role of serving as Matt Smith's final episode and tying up all the loose ends. It was never ever going to be the finale he probably deserved because of it's airdate and required 'christmassing up'. I really enjoyed it, sounds like you were ready to hate it before it even aired to be honest.  Dude! My interest was rekindled after the excellent Day of the Doctor. So it was an Xmas Special? Doesn't mean that it has to be naff. And it was, naff. The Deus Ex Machina of the rengenerations was well done, paying homage to Matt's first episode with usage of the cracks. But the rest of it would have benefited from being a two parter, allowing the story to breath rather than rushed through, because they were running out of air time, for the money shot at the end, where, 'bammo' Peter Capaldi and New Kidneys . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members DEF Posted December 27, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted December 27, 2013 (edited) This review pretty much sums up my thoughts about it. Â Warning Contains SPOILERS SFX.co.uk Might watch it again today. Edited December 27, 2013 by DEF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 (edited) I think that's probably accurate. Â I'd score it higher, if only because I'm 'in' on all the in-jokes and old storyline references and so am not overly arsed if it is inaccessible, but I can see why from a dry, critical perspective that could score them down. Â I do wonder if they'd expected Matt to carry on another season because, Christ, they did chuck a lot at the episode. Â Part of me worries that I've become such a fan of Matt Smith, that I'm not going to be able to take to a new Doctor, even if I do love me some Capaldi. I'm a Moffatt/Gatiss fan, but accept that their writing is, erm, 'ambitious' so they really need a central performance that is assured, strong and one that has the appearance of control, and of understanding everything that is going on around them. It grounds their writing, I think. If they run with a 'confused' Doctor (or, horrendously, if they run with an idea that I've thought of whereby the new set of regenerations is like a reset button on the Doctor who has to be taught to remember all the things he's done) then they could be in trouble. If the central character isn't in control, then it could be chaos. Â *edit* though, I guess, if they transferred control to Clara (she's been exposed to every part of his timeline, in theory she could know everything he knows) then it could work in the short term and assuage those who are annoyed that we didn't get a female Doctor. If she played the straight guy trying to coax, coach and encourage a confused new Doctor struggling to come to terms with who he is then it could work in the short term. It might lead to nice revelatory moment in the mid-season finale where he finds his bollocks and 'becomes' The Doctor. Edited December 27, 2013 by d-d-d-dAz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted January 27, 2014 Awards Moderator Share Posted January 27, 2014 First official pic of Capaldi in costume has just been posted on the Doctor Who Facebook page. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vamp Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Looks very subdued at first glance but then it's only a publicity photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GalaxyV.2 Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Looks brilliant IMO. A Doctor wearing Dr Martens is gonna be a winner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CavemanLynn Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Capaldi looks excellent. Good to see a classy look, rather than the "hipster maths teacher" look we've had with Tennant and Smith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Bizarrely/worryingly/strangely, a lot of stuff doing the rounds from a 'senior BBC source' that Capaldi was only ever intended to be a single-season Doctor as a sort of bait-and-switch so that the actual, proper new Doctor can be revealed as a complete surprise and take the show in a completely new, 'Controversial' direction. Â Don't believe it for a second, but it'd be pretty huge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vamp Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Capaldi has always felt like a one series doctor to me for some reason. I hope not obviously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 (edited) For the record, when I say 'doing the rounds' I mean newspapers as well as fan sites. Not just a wally on an Internet forum. I still think its guff, probably, but its not a rumour completely without merit. Â Thing is, I reckon you're either going to want to be a 1 year Doctor or a 4/5 year doctor. Either wham, bam and a shock exit or stay round long enough for people to get an emotional connection to your character, and care about your exit. In the middle, somewhere, is neither here nor there and a bit 'meh'. Â At Capaldis age, is he going to want to do a five year stint filming a show for 10 months a year in Cardiff? Matt Smith took the role at 26 and by 30 announced his intention to leave because, despite loving the show, the schedule was killing him. And they've got rid of the mid-season gap now, too. It might be better if he gets in and gets out in a blaze of glory. Edited February 23, 2014 by d-d-d-dAz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GalaxyV.2 Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Possibly, but then given his age he might want a settled job for a few years. You could see it either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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