S10.E01: The Pilot

[eurekagirl mOo]

Closed Captioning is your friend. I spent 2 seasons not understanding about 50% of what was said. Then I turned on the cc....Bliss!

Loving "Bill" but those eyebrows! Get thee to a good waxer..

[Whimsy]

On ‎4‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 0:35 PM, Bruinsfan said:

I started out disliking River Song, but came around during the Matt Smith era even though I never really bought the grand romance between the two. With Capaldi, I buy the relationship.

I actually HATED River Song when she first appeared.  She was just too smug and her "spoilers" wanted me to dig out my eardrums.  I also warmed up to her.  I think Alex Kingston & Matt Smith had great chemistry, despite the age difference, and Capaldi seemed more age appropriate.  I don't like Capaldi's Doctor, so I honestly don't remember much of any of the shows with him, even though I've seen them all. 

19 hours ago, call me ishmael said:

I loved Amy and Rory (Amy remains my favorite modern companion) but the River Song thing just was too contrived.  Everything has to be connected to everything else in Moffat world.  I'm surprised we haven't discovered that Clara was River's nanny when Melody was borrowing the Doctor's crib. 

 

59 minutes ago, smorbie said:

I'm so sorry you feel that way.  It took a long time for me to like Capaldi, too, but then Matt Smith will always be MY Doctor.

I adore Amy and Eleven, with Rory coming in a very close third.  To me, that combination was magic and I miss it tremendously.  I am a relatively new Who watcher, only coming into it about 3 years ago when I binged all the New Who episodes and then started watching as the new episodes aired.  I liked Nine, loved Ten and adored Eleven.  Still haven't warmed up to Twelve and don't care that Capaldi is leaving at all.  I am very nervous who will be next, though.  I think, for me, the magic is actually gone.  But, I enjoyed Bill WAY more than I originally thought I would.  When I watched the previews I didn't like her at all.  The complete episode did make me appreciate her more than I thought I would.  I hope this season is just lighthearted (well, as much as imminent danger can be lighthearted) fun.

[benteen]

It took me a long time to warm up to Capaldi as well but I have.  His Doctor definitely thrives when he's not around Clara and I'm glad to see him with a companion that's actually written for him.

[Bruinsfan]

I think the way the Doctor feels most "right" to me is as a brilliant, demanding, and somewhat crotchety old man as exemplified by Richard Hurndall in The Five Doctors. Capaldi is the closest the role has come to that in the modern era, so I was onboard with him from the word go even if I've only liked the last handful of episodes featuring him.

[Mulva]

I'd like Bill a lot better if I could understand what she was saying.

[that one guy]

On 4/18/2017 at 1:05 PM, Chaos Theory said:

I disagree on the River Song point.  I actually thought the entire River Song is Amy and Rory's child was one of the more brilliant things Moffat did.  Then again I thought the vast majority of the Amy and Rory romance bordered on brilliant.  

This was my favorite era of New Who - I loved that the Doctor had a family and his relationships mattered to him. But with River and Amy, I felt the relationship was earned over time. It was a weird forced retcon with Clara that didn't work for me, and I never bought Rose as the super specialist companion ever. Aside from the Ponds, the Doctor/Companion relationship I like best in New Who was Ten and Donna, which I also felt was earned. The scene where they run into each other again at the beginning of Season 4 is an absolute classic. Some of this comes down to actor chemistry - Matt Smith and Arthur Darville were friends before either was on Doctor Who, Tennant and Tate do live theater together in London - my favorite original series pairing, Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, were dating at the time. It's more fun to watch actors who are having a good time with it than it is to watch Capaldi perpetually annoyed with Jenna Coleman. The fact that they didn't much seem to like each other was one reason I didn't like the first two seasons of Capaldi as Doctor. (Also, the moon is not an egg).

But, you know, YMMV. Some people hate River, personally I hate "Waters of Mars" and don't get the love for it at all. There are plot holes, and then there's forgetting you have a time machine in moments where it might be useful...

But I liked this one, think Capaldi might finally be growing on me. He had a couple very Doctorish lines which told me the writing might be getting better as well: "Nobody's from space, I'm from a planet like everyone else" and the "Most things are hungry" speech were lovely moments where I believed he was the same person as Four underneath it all. 

[proserpina65]

I have to say, as someone who always needs to know where the closest bathroom is, I loved that Bill's first question in the Tardis was about the bathroom.

[rur]

1 hour ago, that one guy said:

 (Also, the moon is not an egg).

 

Sorry … I couldn't help it: http://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=991 . 

It started running though my head once the big reveal occurred in that episode.

[Suzysite]

On 4/19/2017 at 11:39 AM, smorbie said:

I'm so sorry you feel that way.  It took a long time for me to like Capaldi, too, but then Matt Smith will always be MY Doctor.

Yup, mine, too.  Matt and Amy Pond were the best combo ever.

[festivus]

1 hour ago, that one guy said:

(Also, the moon is not an egg).

I am telling you. Nothing on Doctor Who has ever made me roll my eyes like that. Close second would be Waters of Mars where there were no Americans at the base. Are you kidding me? Do you think there would be a base on Mars with no Americans? Ha!

[sugarbaker design]

1 minute ago, festivus said:

Nothing on Doctor Who has ever made me roll my eyes like that. Close second would be Waters of Mars where there were no Americans at the base.

Definitely one of my favorite episodes (at least 5 minutes before the ending) and I hadn't realized this.  It's interesting but it doesn't bother me at all, at least not as much as the ending.

[festivus]

I actually liked the ending the best. Never had 10 seemed so alien as he did then. Tennant was awesome and scary to me. Anyway, it does bother me about the Americans because you know the US would be all up in that shit. If there are people from other countries on Mars then by god we will be there too. It's the American way. :)

[sugarbaker design]

38 minutes ago, festivus said:

Anyway, it does bother me about the Americans because you know the US would be all up in that shit.

No one said there wasn't Americans up there, maybe there was an American station and an Everybody Else station.  Unfortunately only the Everybody Else station was affected.

[Mojoker]

  On 4/19/2017 at 10:39 AM, smorbie said:

I'm so sorry you feel that way.  It took a long time for me to like Capaldi, too, but then Matt Smith will always be MY Doctor.

Yup, mine, too.  Matt and Amy Pond were the best combo ever.

Funny, I never warmed to Matt Smith as The Doctor. Tennant was great, but my heart still belongs to #9, Chris Eccleston. I don't think either Tennant or Smith was as successful as Eccleston in pulling off that amazing combination of humor, rage, and heartbreak.

[Mojoker]

I'd like Bill a lot better if I could understand what she was saying.

We watch with the closed captioning on. My husband doesn't do British very well.

[that one guy]

1 minute ago, sugarbaker design said:

at least not as much as the ending.

What bothers me is that he said at the beginning that the base was destroyed and no trace of the crew was ever found. So why did he act like his only choices were to let them die or take them home? Why not take them 5,000 years in the future after all the events he talked about had already occurred? Then he would not be altering history much. I'm sure their appearance would not be much more than a passing novelty to the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire, and they'd be able to live out their lives in peace without disturbing much. The Doctor has made much bigger changes (writing This Is A Fake on the canvas used to paint the Mona Lisa for example) without blinking an eye.

The show is full of plot holes big enough to power a TARDIS (don't get me started on the death of a childless Danny Pink after meeting his grandson!) but my suspension of disbelief is strained when I need to ignore a huge one in order to accept the terms of the "moral dilemma." It's like the "Cold Equations" b******t where the writer wants you to accept that this dude has to chuck a girl out the airlock because of weight restrictions, but he sits behind a desk in the story, and I'm all "chuck the desk out the airlock, idiot, and the chair, and the closet door, and the gun..." A certain kind of writer wants to create scenarios in which the main character is forced to be a dick, but it's really hard to do. Mostly being a dick is the wrong choice.

[Jamie Satyr]

54 minutes ago, Mojoker said:

Funny, I never warmed to Matt Smith as The Doctor. Tennant was great, but my heart still belongs to #9, Chris Eccleston. I don't think either Tennant or Smith was as successful as Eccleston in pulling off that amazing combination of humor, rage, and heartbreak.

Ecc was more an accomplished actor who didn't think the reboot would take! I'm betting it was something to do between movies so even though he might have been a great DOCTOR, it was inevitable that he'd leave Sooner rather than later! I could handle his "love" of Rose, but Tennant made me nauseous with his concern for her; taken over by Smith and his affection for Amy! Capaldi was ready to destroy the fabric of time and space just to bring back Clara! Please send me back to the standalone, unemotional era of Classic Who! NuWho tries to "tear jerk" everyone and has way overused the Daleks! Nice seeing the Movellans even for a brief moment! ;-)

[Bruinsfan]

On 4/19/2017 at 10:41 AM, cardigirl said:

House is gone, so Clara and her TARDIS are safe.

I thought one of the producers had said it might return at some point? It was originally intended to escape when given the boot by the TARDIS.

48 minutes ago, Mojoker said:

Funny, I never warmed to Matt Smith as The Doctor. Tennant was great, but my heart still belongs to #9, Chris Eccleston. I don't think either Tennant or Smith was as successful as Eccleston in pulling off that amazing combination of humor, rage, and heartbreak.

I think Eccleston's season was the best combination of writing and acting on the show since its return. I liked Tennant's Doctor better, but I don't necessarily think his performances were as powerful as Eccleston's (with the exception of what he did in "School Reunion"), and the scripts generally weren't as good (with a few exceptions, like "Blink"). Capaldi is probably at least as good an actor, but his scripts were even worse and he's had to play second fiddle to his costar for most of his tenure.

[smorbie]

1 hour ago, Mojoker said:

Funny, I never warmed to Matt Smith as The Doctor. Tennant was great, but my heart still belongs to #9, Chris Eccleston. I don't think either Tennant or Smith was as successful as Eccleston in pulling off that amazing combination of humor, rage, and heartbreak.

Ahh, I loved Eccleston.  He was fantastic, and I will never forgive BBC America for pretending he doesn't exist.

I've actually liked all the NuWhos.  But, Smith, he's the man.

[Mojoker]

32 minutes ago, Bruinsfan said:

I thought one of the producers had said it might return at some point? It was originally intended to escape when given the boot by the TARDIS.

I think Eccleston's season was the best combination of writing and acting on the show since its return. I liked Tennant's Doctor better, but I don't necessarily think his performances were as powerful as Eccleston's (with the exception of what he did in "School Reunion"), and the scripts generally weren't as good (with a few exceptions, like "Blink"). Capaldi is probably at least as good an actor, but his scripts were even worse and he's had to play second fiddle to his costar for most of his tenure.

I was really annoyed by Tennant's exit.  They did this big build up, then the big goodbye tour, and then all his whining about not wanting to go -- jesus!  It got exhausting!  He's a fucking time lord who's regenerated 9 other times without a bunch of hoo-ha, so why is he all of a sudden acting like someone coming to the end of a fight with a terminal illness?  He wasn't dying, just regenerating.  I mean I get why Tennant was sad, and I get why the show wanted to acknowledge his tenure, but at least stay true to the story and the character.

48 minutes ago, Jamie Satyr said:

Ecc was more an accomplished actor who didn't think the reboot would take! I'm betting it was something to do between movies so even though he might have been a great DOCTOR, it was inevitable that he'd leave Sooner rather than later! I could handle his "love" of Rose, but Tennant made me nauseous with his concern for her; taken over by Smith and his affection for Amy! Capaldi was ready to destroy the fabric of time and space just to bring back Clara! Please send me back to the standalone, unemotional era of Classic Who! NuWho tries to "tear jerk" everyone and has way overused the Daleks! Nice seeing the Movellans even for a brief moment! ;-)

I never felt any chemistry between Matt Smith's doctor and Amy Pond.  Smith's Doctor always seemed to me to be completely asexual, which was particularly noticeable in his rather antiseptic interactions with River Song.

[smorbie]

hmmm. Okay.  I never got that feeling at all.  But, to each his own.

I thought Smith had a sweet manner to his Doctor that was almost childlike.  But, it doesn't mean he wasn't a man.  And I thought the chemistry he had with all three of the other main players, River, Amy, and Rory was brilliant and shown brightly.

[ganesh]

1 hour ago, Mojoker said:

He wasn't dying, just regenerating.  I mean I get why Tennant was sad, and I get why the show wanted to acknowledge his tenure, but at least stay true to the story and the character.

Taking in in the context of the show at the time, we had assumed that Nine was recently regenerated out of the Time War and was basically suffered from PTSD. Regeneration into Ten was a chance to shed some of that and get back to "Doctoring around." Keep in mind that he regenerated into himself as well. So, it wasn't a normal regeneration. He was finally getting to a place where he didn't have to carry around all that guilt and then he had to regenerate *again*. Even if the Doctor traveled a lot that we didn't see, the time from Nine to Ten to Ten to Eleven was awfully short even for him. So he was just frustrated. 

That's why I thought he wasn't really over it until Eleven, which makes sense that Ten regenerated into someone young and mercurial. Outside of the show, we know Eleven traveled around for centuries and essentially allowed him to let go of all that. I always thought that what Ten really wanted to do. 

[QuantumMechanic]

On 4/17/2017 at 6:18 PM, HauntedBathroom said:

The one who insisted that the Doctor needed someone to hold his hand to be special was Snowflake Rosey. Now there was a character that clung on like shit to a dogs arse.

Thank you!  I've always felt Rose Tyler to be the worst companion of all the Doctors I've seen (4, 5, bit of 6, 9-12).  Could not stand her.  At all.  Don't get me wrong -- didn't like Clara either, but Rose was unquestionably worse.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 4/20/2017 at 2:48 PM, festivus said:

Anyway, it does bother me about the Americans because you know the US would be all up in that shit. 

One of the things I've always enjoyed the most about this series as a US viewer is its  there'll-always-be-an-England UK-centrism - verging on I'm-so-bored-with-the-USAism.    As in the Bond movies, but stretching through infinite space and time.  

[festivus]

12 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

One of the things I've always enjoyed the most about this series as a US viewer is its  there'll-always-be-an-England UK-centrism - verging on I'm-so-bored-with-the-USAism.    As in the Bond movies, but stretching through infinite space and time.  

Oh, I love the fact that it's mostly England based, I never really want to see an American companion and I like the fact that they set very few episodes here. The Mars thing just jumped out at me because I know Americans and I know if there was a base on Mars we would be there. Everyone has their little nitpicks and this one is mine.

 

So upthread someone said that at the end The Doctor said to Bill that if she traveled with him maybe she would find him. I re-watched last night before the new episode and that did sound like what he said and I wonder what he meant by that.

[John Potts]

9 hours ago, festivus said:

I never really want to see an American companion

There's already been one! The obviously American Perpugilium (Peri) Brown, played with a "highly authentic" American accent by the (Guildford born) actress Nicola Bryant. Probably most remembered (at least by male viewers) for first appearing in a pink bikini and leaning over Peter Davison (Five) as he was regenerating into Colin Baker.

[festivus]

Yeah I did know that but I haven't watched much of 5's run. I remember watching Doctor Who on PBS when I was a kid but I only remember 4. What I mean is that I don't really need to see one now although it wouldn't bother me if they did have an American. What I would like to see is someone truly alien from another world or someone from Earth but from a different time period. I know they used to do that in the old days. 

[cardigirl]

I'll ask this question here.  Did anyone else notice (in this episode) when Bill followed the Doctor and Nardol down to spy on them in the basement the first time that there was something that looked like the shell of the robot from The Husbands of River Song?  Or was I just making something up in my mind?  I know the Doctor said that he had dug Nardole out of the robot...just wondering.  Thanks.

[clack]

The Doctor teaches at the university for 70 years and never ages, and people are only mildly intrigued. What is the point of that bit of silliness?

[Llywela]

10 minutes ago, clack said:

The Doctor teaches at the university for 70 years and never ages, and people are only mildly intrigued. What is the point of that bit of silliness?

Moffat likes to throw out big numbers for the years supposedly passing by in between episodes - he likes to say it's to leave gaps for others (fanfic writers, Big Finish, etc) to play with. But he also tends not to think it through in terms of either the sheer logistics or the character development (or lack thereof). We're either not supposed to notice such minor details, or are supposed to invent our own explanations/stories to fill the gaps.

I mean, I can get behind his general reasoning, I just think he takes it way, way too far, shattering credulity along the way.

[Mabinogia]

This is a show about time travel. There doesn't need to be gaps for fanfic writers. We can just send him off in the TARDIS. He just thinks these big numbers or impressive when in reality they sound childish to me. Like a little kid who thinks 40 is ancient!

It would be fine if the Doctor had been hiding out in the library or something for 70 years. He becomes a sort of legend. "Hey, have you seen that guy who creeps around the campus at night? They say he's been here for 70 years!" "Oh, that's just an urban legend. haha" But to have him actually teaching means that he is in constant contact with people who would notice. I think Moffatt was only thinking about the students, which have high turn over so that makes sense they wouldn't really notice, but the staff would.

It was just a pointless point to make.

[Llywela]

1 hour ago, Mabinogia said:

This is a show about time travel. There doesn't need to be gaps for fanfic writers. We can just send him off in the TARDIS. He just thinks these big numbers or impressive when in reality they sound childish to me. Like a little kid who thinks 40 is ancient!

Moffat's showrunning style often puts me in mind of a 13-year-old writing fanfic - lots of great ideas, but no restraint or control at all. And then I remember that he's a lifelong fan of the show who once was a 13-year-old writing fanfic. Being put in charge unleashed his inner child!

Although I will add that I think the Doctor's 70 years at the university are meant to be paying homage to the unaired serial Shada, written by Douglas Adams, in which the Doctor happened upon a renegade Time Lord hiding in plain sight as a dotty old professor at Cambridge, who'd been there decades without anyone noticing. But the professor in that case was portrayed as a dusty old fellow barely anyone noticed - not the hippest, most happening lecturer on campus who everyone wants to see!

[John Potts]

5 hours ago, clack said:

The Doctor teaches at the university for 70 years and never ages, and people are only mildly intrigued. What is the point of that bit of silliness?

That was one of the references to (the never filmed) Douglas Adams story Shada and its subsequent adaption as The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. One of the gags in that story was that nobody notices that the Professor (Chronos? Chronitos? Something time-y) at the Cambridge (or possibly Oxford) college that seems to have been there forever really HAD been there forever (or at least as long as the college had existed).

[clack]

1 minute ago, John Potts said:

That was one of the references to (the never filmed) Douglas Adams story Shada and its subsequent adaption as The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. One of the gags in that story was that nobody notices that the Professor (Chronos? Chronitos? Something time-y) at the Cambridge (or possibly Oxford) college that seems to have been there forever really HAD been there forever (or at least as long as the college had existed).

Ok, the 'Shada' joke I get.

Now, if the Doctor were presented as some dotty, dusty, obscure professor -- the fact that he had been hanging around unnoticed for 70 years might have been funny. Why, instead, was he shown as some rock star lecturer? That totally destroys the whole point of the joke.

[Llywela]

2 minutes ago, clack said:

Ok, the 'Shada' joke I get.

Now, if the Doctor were presented as some dotty, dusty, obscure professor -- the fact that he had been hanging around unnoticed for 70 years might have been funny. Why, instead, was he shown as some rock star lecturer? That totally destroys the whole point of the joke.

Yep. That's Moffat (and his writers, who are guided and steered by him) wanting to have his cake and eat it too, I'm afraid. Shada gets away with it because the whole point of Professor Chronotis is that he's this dusty little old man tucked away in a dusty little old office, so much part of the furniture that no one ever really notices him or thinks twice about him - we had a few of those during my own stint as a student. But I don't think any incarnation of the Doctor is capable of a) staying on one place for so long, or b) leading such a quiet life for so long - especially not the Doctor as characterised by Steven Moffat, as amply demonstrated right here in this episode! It's all part of the inconsistent writing and characterisation of this entire era, which undermines the integrity of its own characters and storylines to facilitate cheap gags and overblown plot. It's part of what's been driving me mad about the show for years. I feel more forgiving of it here, though, because I'm actually enjoying the show and its characters for the first time in several seasons!

[tennisgurl]

Finally got a chance to watch the episode! It seems like its been about 70 years since I last saw a new episode! I really enjoyed the episode, probably my favorite premier in awhile. Not perfect, of course, and most of the plot holes have already been discussed on this thread (why did aliens leave this amazing goop just laying around? why was The Doctor hanging out at the same school for years with no one noticing he never aged?), but I still thought it was a good episode, both alone, and as a start to the new season. The possession puddle was super creepy (the girl possessed by water seemed like some kind of Asian horror story), but ended on a poinient note, and the actresses really sold the connection Bill and Heather had, even if they didn't really know each other beyond a crush.

I like Bill so far, more than I thought I would in the trailers. I like that she's just a normal person, not some Super Snowflake, and that The Doctor asked her to come hang out with him because she impressed him with her intelligence, and her adventurous spirit. She seems fun and likable, and I hope will lead to a more adventurous and enjoyable season, and she will be a good friend to The Doctor, without all the Drama of the last few companions. The only thing I really have to complain about her is that, yet again, we have an attractive young modern women from the UK as the companion! Granted, its great that they made her a lesbian or bisexual POC this time, and that makes her different than the last few companions, but, that doesn't change her that much from the other companions in backstory and background. In the New Who, I'm sick of having the companions from the same place, and the same time, over and over. Would it just be so unbelievably difficult to have a companion from the past, the future, or another planet? That could be really interesting, and give them a more unique perspective on the events going on, or a more fascinating backstory to explore, beyond connections to The Doctor or being some kind of time anomaly or something. Or, just someone from another country, if having a companion from another time period or an alien is just too hard to possibly write for. It could add a slightly different dynamic to have a character from another culture, and maybe spread out a bit more from the shows "England is the center of the universe" thing its always had going on. But, again, I guess that's just too hard to write. Writing an alien is apparently harder than writing a person from, like, Switzerland or somewhere. Its not like the older episodes didn't have companions from other times and places. They had their fair share of contemporary Brits around, but they had a decent amount of companions from different time periods, species, and even the occasional non brit. Its just baffling to me that the old writers were able to write these more unique companions, but New Who writers seem terrified that audiences wont be able to relate to anyone who isn't exactly like them (the young British audience, I guess), or they cant feel that they cant write for anyone else.

[Starla]

I just found this episode for free on Amazon Prime.  I am so happy with it. I love Doctor Who, but for the past two season I wasn't feeling it, and thought I disliked Peter Capaldi as the doctor. I loved him in this episode! Obviously Clara has been the problem. It was so good without her.

I really like Bill. I liked how she related everything going on to stuff she'd seen in scifi shows or movies. I would be exactly the same way. I would think the Doctor's screwdriver was the "clicky clicky thing" from Men in Black, there to wipe my memory. 

I went ahead and bought the whole season from Amazon so I can watch in in real time. Hallelujah, I can love this show again.

[Jamie Satyr]

2 hours ago, Starla said:

I just found this episode for free on Amazon Prime.  I am so happy with it. I love Doctor Who, but for the past two season I wasn't feeling it, and thought I disliked Peter Capaldi as the doctor. I loved him in this episode! Obviously Clara has been the problem. It was so good without her.

I really like Bill. I liked how she related everything going on to stuff she'd seen in scifi shows or movies. I would be exactly the same way. I would think the Doctor's screwdriver was the "clicky clicky thing" from Men in Black, there to wipe my memory. 

I went ahead and bought the whole season from Amazon so I can watch in in real time. Hallelujah, I can love this show again.

Bill's on my last nerve; not just looking to get into trouble, but to judge and make the Doctor's job all the harder with her whining, the rapid-fire questioning, and as smart as she appears to be, seeming to be totally naïve and ignorant about life and death! Is the Doctor supposed to pine away for every death he sees after being around 2000 years? Next time she wanders off to sulk, maybe he should leave her behind like Ashildr! ;-)

[cardigirl]

On 4/30/2017 at 1:55 PM, Jamie Satyr said:

Bill's on my last nerve; not just looking to get into trouble, but to judge and make the Doctor's job all the harder with her whining, the rapid-fire questioning, and as smart as she appears to be, seeming to be totally naïve and ignorant about life and death! Is the Doctor supposed to pine away for every death he sees after being around 2000 years? Next time she wanders off to sulk, maybe he should leave her behind like Ashildr! ;-)

 

Funny, my son had a similar reaction to Bill.  He hated all the questions all the time.

[AudienceofOne]

Did Moffatt just devote a full half hour of an episode to character development of a black lesbian companion that had nothing to do with her sex appeal or magical womb? 

Maybe he has been listening all these years?

Actual characterisation? Check

Three-dimensional female character? Not quite (this is still Doctor Who) but I counted at least two so that's an improvement.

I really liked that the Doctor was motivated by a perceived resemblance to his granddaughter. I've always felt this was the real reason he travels with young women so that was a nice callback to the better parts of Original Who.

The basis of the antagonist for this episode was extremely weak and resolved just as weakly. But I'll take it over anything from the last two seasons. It was comparatively extremely strong.

Two small quibbles that remind us this is Moffat: the companion's IQ dropped about 50 points at various stages for "laughs" and the lesbian has a boy's name. Because Moffat still hasn't quite got these gender issues down. 

Apart from that, I'm looking forward to this season.

Edited May 5, 2017 by AudienceofOne

[jhlipton]

The Star in the girl's eye was important because it was why she could see the reflection was "wrong".

As a new viewer, I'm glad Donna wasn't referenced during the almost mind-wipe.

[LoneHaranguer]

On 5/3/2017 at 8:36 PM, AudienceofOne said:

Two small quibbles that remind us this is Moffat: the companion's IQ dropped about 50 points at various stages for "laughs" and the lesbian has a boy's name. Because Moffat still hasn't quite got these gender issues down.

I presumed the name is intended to be a basis for humor, like Bewitched got from Darrin calling his wife "Sam" for short.