Episode 146


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As the eighth modern season of Doctor Who comes to a close, trees spring up overnight to protect the world ("In the Forest of the Night") and an old frenemy returns to menace (and kiss) The Doctor ("Dark Water" / "Death in Heaven"). Please pardon the audio glitches, as well as the outdated references. [ 1:37:20 || 47.0 MB ]

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Aw, it's breaking my heart a little to hear you guys sound so down on Who.  Now, In the Forest... absolutely is awful, and deserves all the criticism it gets for its heavy-handed / downright irresponsible messages (Hey kids!  Don't take your medication, trees might be talking to you!), but it is one weak link in an otherwise very strong series, in my view.  While some of the Moffat "tropes" (I hate using that word) are still there, and will continue to be in Series 9, I do think that getting the new Doctor in gave Moffat a kick up the ass, creatively.  Series 8 is far from being the worst series since the show came back - I don't like ranking things in this way, because the show is so different now even from when it came back in 2005, that it's hardly possible to compare.  I still get as much enjoyment out of the show as I ever did, though, which is what counts for me, and as long as it keeps surprising me and entertaining me, I'm happy.

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I cannot wait until the review of the Christmas special. It is the closest thing anime fans have to a live action Yu Yu Hakusho.

It IS?!

I love this podcast but I think I'm finding my own personal take on new Who to be on another planet compared to a lot of other people. Yeah "In the Forest" was crap, but the rest of the season was fine for me. IDK, the Moffat era ranking episodes always end up being discussed a lot harsher than the individual episode discussions were initially. Didn't you guys like Robots of Sherwood? Why is that so low?

I do get it though, there are elements of the Moffat run which are repetitive and can make for a less interesting story. I agree with Dan that his propensity to have female couple members (?) constantly shit-talk their mates is really not cool. When he brought that up I'm like "Yeah, Amy and River did that all the time too." Rose, Martha and Donna all seemed a lot more realistically ingratiating comparatively.

I was happy to hear the Michelle Gomez love tho! By far my favorite villain done in the series to date. I think she's like Roger Delgado in that while she's a seriously attractive woman she also kind of looks naturally evil. It may be those big eyes, but even in publicity photos of the actress, Michelle Gomez is making Master/Missy face. I love her. In the Davros two-parter she's played a bit more Ainsley-esque in the way of an antagonistic foil rather than a worst enemy, but she still has moments of pure malice. I love her reaction to Clara speaking as a Dalek, she's pure evil in those scenes.

Dan made another great point about Danny Pink in that at the end of the day his character was a means to an end for Clara's development. Well acted, nice character as a person but not intrinsically interesting. That was an astute remark.

But IDK, I can't really agree that this season is anything close to a "WORST" season contender. Some stories are more interesting than others, I'll grant you. But aside from "In the Forest" and the contentious "Kill the Moon" (and "The Caretaker" was kinda meh) I personally thought season 8 was perfectly harmless. Season 9 is way better for me, and although I still haven't wrapped my head around the last two episodes, I personally can't drudge up the enmity that some folks showed to have for it.

IDK. I get that some of the Moffat bits are tired, but I disagree that the level of them being tired has now become unforgivably awful.

Edited by Donomark
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I cannot wait until the review of the Christmas special. It is the closest thing anime fans have to a live action Yu Yu Hakusho.

It IS?!

The only other thing that I could think of that was close to YYH live action is "The Invisible" starring Justin Chatwin, months before Dragonball Evolution.

If you could think of something closer I would love to hear about it. Because everything I have come across does not come anywhere near. 

Edited by Rjoyadet
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  • 4 weeks later...

I enjoyed this season quite a bit, and watched every episode on day of transmission (or within a day of it), but I'm getting... "bored" isn't the right word, but I'm certainly not super excited by a new episode like I used to be.

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Agreed. Peter Capaldi might be one of the best to play the part, but the show itself feels tired. It needs a major shake-up, not just on the creator level but also on the concept side. Have The Doctor and The Mistress travel together, have Rassilon (or the Time Lords) hunt him down, have a lead male companion. Something new, please.

Welcome to the forums!

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Agreed. Peter Capaldi might be one of the best to play the part, but the show itself feels tired. It needs a major shake-up, not just on the creator level but also on the concept side. Have The Doctor and The Mistress travel together, have Rassilon (or the Time Lords) hunt him down, have a lead male companion. Something new, please.

The funny thing is, Moffat's set himself up for something new multiple times. The Doctor was going to work in the shadows after "The Wedding of River Song;" next episode, "nah." The fiftieth anniversary special set up a search for Gallifrey, perfect for actually visiting other planets. We got one mention of the search in the Series 8 finale, then it was never mentioned again until he just dropped The Doctor onto it in this past series' finale. Both were interesting set-ups full of possibilities, both got glossed over like they never happened.  

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