Lugal

Moff needs to go back to writing school (and not just for the horrible mess that was "Listen") and learn the difference between a Main Character and a Viewpoint Character. The companion has always been the viewpoint character, while the Doctor is the main character. When the show premiered we followed Rose through her life and job at the shop until she goes down to the basement and meets the Doctor. But it was the Doctor's actions and decisions that moved the episode. But here we have the Doctor taking them to the moon and figuring out what's going on but then he bows out for Clara to make the Big Decision, and then she puts it up to the planet to vote (well half the planet, she could not have seen those of us on the other side) which she then ignores anyway.

OK, I called it, saying the moon's an egg, but thinking this seems familiar. I kinda remembered that it was a Superfriends ep.I could see bits of the brilliant Doctor that Capaldi should be shining through. Unfortunately the focus on Clara sort of distracted from that. Couldn't we get a couple of scenes of the Doctor to get some insights into his reasoning for stepping back, instead of Clara and Danny's love life. Her tantrum near the end was bad. The Doctor let her make a decision about the future of humanity and I think of how Donna was willing to stand next to the Doctor in "Fires of Pompeii" and accept the decision with him. And the whole kill it and everything's fine versus let it live and it could kill us all (but turns out not) dichotomy is just terrible writing.

She's actually right with the cycl- related to words circle and cycle. It comes from the belief that Cyclopes had a large round eye in the middle of their head. That said she really did blow it with the concept. It looked like an alien, but it wasn't a half bad looking alien (and just close enough to the challenge the judges could let it through) as opposed to the poorly done faun cheerleader and terrible goblin jock. I did love Sasha's wide-eyed shock at being safe, though. I always thought they should do a model challenge where the models come up with a concept and then they pick the artist to do it.

And after the tank runs it over, the guy opens the hatch: "Sorry! We don't normally drive these things in the air force."

YMMV. I personally thought Eccleston and Tennant were great Doctors. I didn't like Matt Smith but Capaldi does shine through despite the crap he gets to work with. As for John Hurt, of course he's a good actor and was awesome as the War Doctor, I can't help but feel that there's nothing in "Day of the Doctor" that he did that could not have been done by Christopher Eccleston or Paul McGann. For some insight into Moffat, check this out: A sort-of panel from 1995. I know it's been 20 years, and I'm sure some of his opinions changed (I know he's supposedly retracted "If you look at other stuff from the Sixties they weren't crap - it was just Doctor Who"). But it does give some insight into Moff's thinking regarding the show.

It feels like they mixed up their A and C plots in this one. The A plot is the MOTW, the B plot is the Doctor undercover and the C plot is Clara and Danny's love life. Which one did they focus on? I think Capaldi is an awesome Doctor, I just wish the writing was up to his level. I could even get behind the Doctor's hatred of soldiers if there was a reason and it didn't come out of nowhere. Like Clara and Danny's Epic Love, it must have happened off screen. I really don't care for Danny. He sort of blundered into everything, but most of it was Clara's fault for not really speaking up when she should have and the whole "talking about two different people when they think they're talking about the same one thing", you really went there, Moffat?

My first Doctor was Four when I caught a Four and Leela story on PBS as a kid, but as for my favorite, it's hard to tell. Ten is the one I most think of as The Doctor, followed by Nine, and wish Christopher Eccleston had stayed around longer. My favorite Classic Doctors are Seven and Four, although I like Three as well, and I'm liking Twelve so far. Favorite companions: Martha, despite the crush she had on the Doctor, she was cool enough to walk away, and she got over it. Wasn't sure about Donna at first, but she won me over in "Partners in Crime" and "Fires of Pompeii" ranks as one of my favorite episodes of all time. I liked Rose, but the whole love and angst between her and the Doctor grew tiresome. I did like Amy and Rory, but I haven't really connected with Clara. I liked River Song at first, but she sort of overstayed her welcome, when it started to feel like the River Song Show featuring the Doctor. Classic Companions would be Sarah Jane, you don't really need to say anything else, Sarah Jane's just that awesome. I really liked Ace (she took out a Dalek with a baseball bat, and she makes her own explosives: "Ace give me some of that Nitro 9 you're not carrying!") I liked her relationship with the Doctor, he was sort of a mentor to her and she was so protective of him. I liked Leela and the costumes she wore, and that she was always ready to pull a knife on someone. I wish Lady Christina had been a long term companion, and I also would love to have seen Wilf on a few more adventures.

Which is too bad because it's not like they're writing Downton Abbey here. Any character smart enough to travel with the Doctor is smart enough to catch onto the technology pretty quick, like all those moments in Classic Who you mentioned. And like benteen said, it provides some of the best moments in Sleepy Hollow. I always figured it was only partially the TARDIS and partially because the Doctor seems to live on what Native American friends refer to as Indian Time.

Davies was the better overall showrunner. His run had a more cohesive feel to it and I rewatch his episodes far more than I rewatch Moffat's (there's only a few Moffat episodes, I've rewatched at all). Not that there are things Davies did that I didn't agree with. I didn't like his tendency to get too maudlin and the fact that anyone who did not like the doctor was shown as stupid or evil. Think early appearances of Mickey Smith. Moffat is the Idea Guy. He can come up with some really creative ideas, (although lately his formula is starting to show through). The problem is the Idea Guy should not be put in charge, since then there is no one to tell him when one of his ideas doesn't work and there is no one to fit all his ideas into a whole narrative. Moffat tends to do things simply because it's cool, like when we see all the Doctors enemies united against him in "The Pandorica Opens". It looks really cool to see the whole Rogue's Gallery there, but it makes no sense from a narrative perspective. The Daleks would never unite with anyone and they themselves tried to destroy the universe with a reality bomb just a season before. Ultimately it does come down to personal preference, and I prefer the RTD era to Moffat and I prefer Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant to Matt Smith (too early to say with Capaldi, but I really like him so far)

I agree the Last Centurion was cool, and the Girl Who Waited didn't grate like the Impossible Girl (Moffat's Law of diminishing returns?) I did like Amy and Rory. I thought they did develop into really cool companions and I think that may be due to Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill (especialy if you've seen him in Broadchurch) than to anything Moffat did. You could kind of see this early on with the Girl in the Fireplace. You have the nickname and something about this girl the Doctor must figure out. It was still an awesome episode, but it shows how long Moffat's been going to that well. It did make sense with Rory and Amy. They were the beginning of the part-time companion, but were not as part time as Clara is and they were a married couple. I remember they did comment on how dull their life is when they weren't traveling with the Doctor, and about how they didn't have any friends. I thought that was pretty cool, to address their culture shock when they got home. (I also hated their finale. They were sent to the past but the Doctor could never see them again for some stupid Moffaty reason. I thought they deserved better.) Clara however, is the Impossible Girl, but her mystery has been solved and I don't think Moffat knows what to do with her. Jenna Coleman is doing the best with what she's got, but it's not much. Clara is the one who should be ready to leave with the Doctor, since she has no close family that we've seen and her job seems to be exasperating, yet she treats traveling with the Doctor like it's a distraction. It doesn't do much to make me like her.

You can kind of see the Meaningful and Significant thing with the Moffat-era companions. You have Amy Pond "The Girl Who Waited" and Clara "The Impossible Girl" and even with Rory, "The Last Centurion." It's like they need that extra title or something to flesh them out a little more. But it really doesn't add anything to them. If I just say: Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Sarah Jane Smith, Ace. If you were watching when they were on, you already know more about the characters without the Significant Title. I miss it when there was something about the companion that impressed the Doctor as opposed to the companion being some mystery for the Doctor to figure out. Say what you will about RTD (and there were things he did I didn't like) but his episodes have a higher rewatch value. The only Moffat-era eps I really remember rewatching multiple times are A Town called Mercy and The Crimson Horror

Moffat once said (granted this was 20 years ago): "My memories of Doctor Who are based on bad television that I enjoyed at the time. It could get me really burned saying this, but Doctor Who is actually aimed at 11-year-olds. Don't overstress it, but it's true." This is how he sees the show, or at least how he came into it. There is a juvenile aspect to Moffat's Who that is kind of under the surface, in the whole feeling of: This is cool! Who cares if it doesn't make sence in the context of the show (or even the same episode). Clara assumes she and Danny will end up together because she meet his (and presumably their) great-grandson, but she and Danny could just as easily have a rough relationship only lasting a few years with a child that Danny ends up raising.

This episode reinforces my thoughts that Moffat is an idea guy. An idea for a villain that can only get you when you're not looking at them. Cool! And we got the Weeping Angels. But you never put the idea guy in charge, or else you get the Silence without anyone who can say, wow these guys seem familiar. A bunch of cool ideas that never tie together. This episode had a good idea, the ultimate hider even if it does seem familiar to the Weeping Angels, the Vaishta Narada, and the Silence. But he couldn't even carry it through the whole thing and we end up with the Barn of WTF. I like Jenna Coleman and I want to like Clara, but Moffat's not making it easy. Also Clara's speech about companions rings kind of hollow since she's busy with her life on Earth going on awkward dates as opposed to traveling the universe with the Doctor.

The part time companion thing annoys me as well, I think back to Sarah Jane's advice to Rose in School Reunion to basicly go and take the full experience of seeing the universe with the Doctor, because it's worth it even with the inevitable parting. Now we have Clara (and to a lesser extent Amy and Rory) who has her normal life and only goes wth the Doctor when he shows up for the adventure of the week, and then gets back and resumes her noral life. "Yeah I'll go with you and see stars being born and traveling through history and meeting aliens, but I want to be back in time for work tomorrow." --said no one, ever.

Actually the place Yana/the Master was sending all the people to was Utopia. I hope that Missy is not a female incarnation of the Master. I wonder if she could be a female incarnation of the Black Guardian. Although Moffett doesn't like classic Who so probably not.

And not just villians either, but think River Song. In interesting character when she first appeared, who I wouldn't mind seeing more of. In her next appearances: cool we get to know more about her. After that she was shoehorned in so often, it started to feel like the Doctor was a guest on his own show. I get the feeling that we're going that way with the Paternoster Gang too. Too bad, because I like them, and wouldn't mind seeing them on their own show. Although I can see Moffett's reaction to the offer: A show with girls for leads? Jenny's posing and Vastra isn't even painting ha ha ha! I thought that Jenny/Vastra scene kind of sums up Moffett. For that gag he now has all kinds of weird implications about their relationship. I do like Capaldi and thik he's going to be an great doctor, once he settles in. I didn't really need the phone call, but then I never cared for Matt Smith's Doctor anyway. The whole "I speak Dinosaur" part at the beginning seemed like it was Matt Smith's Doctor. Although the look after the android leader fell/jumped/was pushed was awesome and I can't wait to see that Doctor. Also cool: that the Doctor is Scottish and not only Capaldi but Neve McIntosh (Vastra) got to use their real accents.

They showed that in the first half of the season and it was real. She nearly passed out because of it, and I think they had to just cut her out of the corset.

You really want to tell someone "Smile! Have a shitty day!"

Ok, having watched the trailer for Gracepoint, I have to say it looks really close to Broadchurch.

She did murder her brother and seems to be the last surviving member of the line of Offa, so she can do what she wants. But on the other hand, she may not last long as in real life Offa's son ruled less than a year and his successor was not really related to Offa.

That's actually been my theory, that Floki is Raven-Floki. I could see him pulling away and going off on his own before he would betray Ragnar. Loved seeing Earl Lagertha, and I also noticed she was the only woman who did not look away during the Blood Eagle. She rocks so hard! I actually knew about the Blood Eagle before this show, but that scene was beautifully shot. I actually came to respect Jarl Borg for that. Although I wonder was the eagle real (They don't tend to come out at night) and I first thought it was Jarl Borg's vision, but then it looked like Ragnar saw it too.

Long Story short, the Romans left Britain in the early 400s when the emperor told them to look after themselves. They were raided by Irish and Scots and someone thought they could hire the Saxons to defend them (what could possibly go wrong?) The Saxons then took over and forced the native Britons out. There is even a theory that there was a plague that wiped out most of the British population. The Saxons were pagan and illiterate for about the next 200 years. The idea that a race of giants built various monuments mainly Stonehenge was a folk belief until early modern times. I could see the idea conflating it with some of the Roman ruins around. And this would be a belief of the laypeople. Anyone with any learning at all would know who the Romans were.