Ringthane

Oh, no - please don't tell me Moffat's trying to bring back the Cartmel Masterplan. Something I realized while thinking about this episode - the Doctor is really a jerk to Zygons. How many times since 2005 alone have we heard him say to somebody "I've got a TARDIS - hop on in and I'll find you a planet all your own". Yet, twice now that we've seen (and apparently at least fourteen more, if the Doctor is to be believed), when it's the Zygons, it's all "Nope, screw you. You make it work here." Sure, there are twenty million Zygons to relocate. But if what this episode is saying is to be believed, most of them want to just live somewhere in peace. The Doctor should be all over that like bees on honey. If Twelve has really gone through this fifteen times since the treaty, then either a) he just hates the Zygons, b) he's lying when he says Earth is protected, or c) he's just being a colossal idiot. None of these make him look very good. Actually, that is kind of the problem with Twelve all along. He has his moments where you can tell he's really up on things and really quite a few steps ahead of everyone, but a lot of the time, he just really makes a lot of stupid decisions. This episode is a perfect example. Sometimes you just want to say to the guy "Come on, you're smarter than this." Edit: speaking of stupid things, did the writer really have Clara type and send a text from a cell phone, without even looking at the screen? This isn't a computer keyboard, where you can touch type and get the tactile feel of the keys. You're basically tapping on a piece of glass. Most people have trouble typing out texts at the best of times, when they can see the screen. And yet SuperClara can do it without even looking? How did she even open the messaging app to text in the first place? For all she knew, she could have been opening Hulu or Angry Birds or something.

It took me a minute to realize what you guyses meant when you said "ho". I was wondering if I was watching a completely different show. :)

Two thoughts: 1) Man, Capaldi can sure rock that burgundy coat. 2) Clara's exit is going to be long and painful? Does Moffat know she's been on the show for two years now? How much more long and painful can it possibly be?

I think one of my favorite parts was when the Doctor went back to the TARDIS and said "I'm going back to the future to stop the ghosts, and nothing and nobody is going to stop me!". And immediately, the cloister bell goes off. The look on his face was perfect. Yeah, it was surprising that for a Moffat story (whoever wrote the script), that people died and stayed dead. I figured they'd all be projections of some kind and that the people would be alive at the end. But this time, everybody that died was really dead. Very good, Moffat. You're learning. I do agree with whoever said it would have been better for the guy to die and for O'Donnell to live, so that she could see traveling with the Doctor isn't the grand adventure she thought it was. Also, I agree that the stories this season have seemed a little padded to reach two parts, so far. "The Magician's Apprentice" has a lot of stuff in the first part that could have been trimmed (the whole part in 1138 or whatever could have been trimmed up quite a bit), and once the Fisher King was introduced, he only had one or two scenes before the Doctor beat him and everything was tidied up. Both stories seemed to have enough content for about one and a half episodes, but not quite two. But I don't think anybody could argue that Doctor Who's production standards have really stepped up - the shot with the Fisher King being overtaken by the water looked as good as a lot of the stuff you'd see out there. A far cry from the CSO blue screens of the 70s. And they really did come through when they said this season would be darker than the last ones. Even the TARDIS feels a bit darker and less hospitable this year than it did last year. It just seems like there's something... Hiding, or something, for want of a better word. Like there's something else in there besides the Doctor. Which I know was worked out in "Listen". But there are times when it feels like there's something in there that we're supposed to see, but is hiding just out of sight, just like the door in Amy's house. It's probably just me, but it just feels a little darker in there and a little less open and inviting. Maybe she's being a bit more protective of her Doctor now that he's on a new cycle of lives, but goes around telling people he's a "clerical error". I don't know what it is - something just feels different since the shift from the blue lighting to the orange ones.

Was that the one that was hosted by Emily Richardson, or whatever her name is? The blond that won one of their shows or something? If not that, I have no idea.

Another big problem with Richard Madden is that he may be too associated with Game of Thrones for a lot of people to take him seriously. Peter Davison had the same problem when he took over the role - everyone saw him as "Tristan in space". Even Tom Baker says this in the "Logopolis" extras about being replaced not by Peter Davison, but "by a bloody vet". I think, although he'd make a great Doctor, Hugh Laurie would have the same problem. He's so ingrained as House in so many peoples' heads now. The best Doctors seem to be the ones that are lesser known before they take the part. It would be a shame if Capaldi did step down (or was forced to step down) after such a short run, as he's such a fan of the show, and you can tell he's putting everything he's got into it.

Didn't he drop Clara off in Aberdeen by mistake at some point? I remember something being said about Aberdeen at some point in Twelve's run. I know there was a recent reference to it.

Or what if she was worried that not only would the Doctor die, but there would actually be more than one ghost of him out there? What if whatever makes the ghosts was able to tap into his mind and find all 13 of his former selves - the ghosts were almost able to get a ride on the sub with just the ghost Twelve's message (since the other ghosts were all in the Fararday cage at the time, weren't they? Or else it was the day cycle or something?). Imagine what havoc they could wreak with 14 of him running around. Since we don't know exactly how the ghost thing works, it's feasible that whatever does it could make the mistake of thinking that his past selves are actually dead people and make ghosts out of them. Just a thought I had.

I can't believe nobody said anything about the guy's name being Richard Pritchard. For two reasons - 1) it just sounds hilarious, and 2) the shortened, more common version of Richard that summed up the guy's character nicely. One thing about Capaldi - his Doctor is sure good at insulting you. His asides ("I understand - you're an idiot", "Why is this man still talking to me") were perfect. I think this Doctor has finally come into his own, now that he doesn't have to be one-third of a love triangle. And I thought it was interesting that he had the flashcards, especially since it seemed like Clara was the one who wrote them, and she was also the one with all the post-its last season with all the things she needed to tell Danny. She seems to need to write things down in order to function properly.

He always wears that. It's Capaldi's real wedding ring, but I don't remember if they ever explained why he wears it in the show. It's not the first time a Doctor's worn a ring - Hartnell had a ring with a blue stone, and I believe Pertwee used to have a pinky ring.

Or the Degrassi High version of the Sarah Jane Adventures. Oh, and Moffat? Could you please take a hint from Mr. Ness and bring some "all-new villains and aliens" over to the parent show? Just give it a try. It won't hurt. As benteen said, what a disappointment. This is exactly what Doctor Who fans have been asking for all these years. Except that it's not. Not at all.

They said it was good news, so it could be Moffat leaving. Could even be more missing episodes found, or almost anything.

As well, Clara was also a sliver of the Impossible Girl thing, and not just a normal human to begin with. So she probably had some attunement to the Doctor and friends because of that.

I look at it this way: each new Doctor tends to be the other side of a characteristic of the previous one - Two was clownish and disheveled because One was a grumpy, put together old man. Three was more stylish and such because of Two. Four was more bohemian and anti-authority because of Three, and so on. So, as Smith's Doctor often seemed to be an old man in a young man's body, Capaldi's Doctor seems to be a young man in an old man's body. I liked this episode. Although I'm skeptical of how good a teacher Clara is, if she knows Dalek systems work by thought, but still has to be told to think "open" in order to open the Dalek casing. Something that's just my opinion, but that occurred to me while watching this two-parter: this Doctor may be the first one that works better without a companion. Twelve just seems to be more alive, more engaged, or whatever in what's going on when he doesn't have a companion weighing him down. Of course, the only one he's had since he renegerated is Clara, so maybe it's just her. But I like Twelve more when he's just doing his thing and not having to stop and deal with companion issues. He just seems more Doctor-like when he's on his own. The only other Doctor I remember that was like that was McGann's (he seemed to be doing fine on his own in the minisode where he regenerates). One humorous thought I had while watching - did the Doctor just take off and leave Clara standing there at the end, when he went to save Davros? She didn't seem like she was in any hurry to follow him. It would be funny if he would be doing something at the beginning of the next episode, and suddenly said something like "Oh, crap! Clara's still standing there on Skaro, waiting for me!" I would laugh at that.

Well, we still don't know exactly what happened to the clockwork guy from "Deep Breath" - did he fall or was he pushed?

That's kind of the point I was trying to make somewhere though (about this Doctor not knowing who he is or what he's really like). He's just received a complete new regeneration cycle, something we've never seen happen on the show. He spent 900 years on Trenzalore expecting to die at the end of it - no more regenerations and no more Time Lords to do anything to help him. Suddenly, he has thirteen new lives. That's got to be a huge shock, even to a Time Lord. Imagine knowing for centuries that you're going to die, preparing for it, and then getting that new set of lives. How does that change a Time Lord? Does that mean he's still the same person, or is he a new person? A better producer would have set up Capaldi's first season to explore that more thoroughly and completely, and then ended up with the same epiphany at the end. He should have spent the entire season in an identity crisis, so to speak.

I don't believe so. But I haven't seen that movie in so long I could be mistaken.

Well, maybe between that and the report in another thread (or maybe this one) that the BBC's annoyed with Moffat for spending so much time on Sherlock to the detriment of DW, something will be done and he'll kindly be asked to move on. We can but hope.

I don't think 10.5 (HandTen) existed at that point. He wasn't created until the Doctor regenerated, at which point Rose was already here and had found 10. But knowing her, and how much she pouted during the video call where no one could see or hear her, she probably did want to get back with him and sail off into the sunset.

Come on, it's Moffatt. Even if Clara dies, she won't stay dead. Nobody ever stays dead when Moffatt's around.

That's what I mean - they obviously have a connection to Gallifrey beyond just being neighboring planets. I'd be willing to bet they might have a better idea of where it is or where to look than most beings would.

When I play it, it says "The Planet Karn" in big letters in the bottom right corner. Which brings up a question - if the Sisterhood is so knowledgeable about Gallifrey that they can offer elixirs to save a Time Lord's life or allow them the power to choose their next body or whatever, do they know where Gallifrey might be now (or at least have some sense about where it might be)? I don't remember if they said in "The Brain of Morbius" why they were so close with the Time Lords, but maybe they could feel something or something... Dunno.

Every time Friends dealt with mental issues, they played it for laughs. Ross's rage issues and Rachel obsession could have really been some interesting character development, if he would have actually admitted he had a problem and went and got counseling for it. Just think of how much better Phoebe could have been as a character if someone had said to her "OK, your mom killed herself. It's time to deal with it and move on, instead of using it for every little issue" (and it couldn't have bothered her too much since she used it for things like getting the last muffin and stuff).

"The day after Santa came"? Huh. I thought it was "the day after summer came" since I first heard it over twenty years ago. How about that.

Especially since Eight lost his memories (I believe) twice - once in the BBC books for sure. It just takes so much away from the character. I wonder when we'll get a producer that actually lets the hero of the show be, you know... The hero.