Warning: spoilers, sweeties! This article is dedicated to all of you Doctor Who fans at BC.
Season 8 of Doctor Who FINALLY premiered about a month ago! And I’m still overflowing with opinions, so I just had to write an article about them.
Before I talk about the season thus far, it’s important to set the scene. It was a much anticipated premiere for several reasons. First, we had a lot of waiting to do! Season 7 officially ended in May 2013, the 50th Anniversary special only hit the screens in November 2013, and the last Christmas special aired in December 2013. Getting back to a regular Doctor Who schedule was a relief after having only two specials to watch over a 15 month period.
Peter Capaldi as the Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara in Season 8.
Second, there were a lot of emotions I had to deal with before I could accept the new season. In general, Doctor Who makes me laugh, cry, and worry all at the same time. I would have to go on forever if I wanted to discuss every emotion that I felt and all of the characters or plot lines that made me cry. Therefore, I’ll try to be a bit more succinct. Why was I emotional? Not too long ago in season 7, Amy and Rory unexpectedly were killed by the weeping angels and forever parted from the Doctor. This one really hit the feels for a long, long time. Then afterwards, I was absolutely ecstatic as I watched the 50th Anniversary special because not only was it an overall fabulous and positive episode, but David Tennant and Billie Piper were back! And on the same screen as Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman! You know that was fantastic. Plus, there turned out to be an extra War Doctor played by John Hurt. So much excitement!
Going back to the anticipation, third, season 8 means a new Doctor. This is definitely the biggest change I would have to get through. I loved Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith! I say that Tennant is my favorite, but truth be told, I love them all. Each time a new Doctor came around it took me some time to come around as well. I never wanted the Doctor to change and I was sad during each regeneration. Eccleston, Tennant, and Smith were honestly flawless. They were different, but each was kind, funny, quirky, and ridiculously good looking. Because of that, I wasn’t sure how I would react to Peter Capaldi.
Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith as the ninth, tenth, and eleven Doctors, respectively.
While I was anticipating the start of season 8 and Capaldi as the Doctor, I definitely didn’t want to accept Matt Smith’s departure. Honestly, I thought I would be disappointed by Capaldi because of my shallowness – I would miss Smith and I knew Capaldi would bring an older, wiser vibe to the Doctor. I know that many of the original Doctor Who fans who watched the older series would disagree with me and say that they were looking forward to Capaldi because he would bring the Doctor back to his roots and he didn’t need to be young and attractive to be successful. Nonetheless, I had my doubts, but I was ready to see what the show had to offer.
Matt Smith as the Doctor with Karen Gillan as Amy and Arthur Darvill as Rory.
After watching season 8’s opener Deep Breath, I was split. I liked that Clara was still the Doctor’s companion and that many old characters, such as Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax were back to get the show running again. It helped connect Capaldi to the show’s past. I enjoyed the dinosaur (mainly because I like dinosaurs and that really has nothing to do with Doctor Who) and the idea behind the Half-Faced Man. I also liked at first that the show mentioned what I was thinking – that Capaldi is relatively old. However, I thought the constant repetition regarding Capaldi’s age and his reassurance that there will be no flirting with Clara just got annoying. I understand that he was establishing his character, but did everyone in the show have to continually reference that most of the time? Therefore, I was at a 60% Capaldi approval rate at this moment.
After watching the second episode Into the Dalek, I was genuinely disappointed. I was initially glad that they stopped discussing Capaldi’s age and relationship to Clara. I was beginning to see Capaldi developing as a unique Doctor while still retaining the general elements of the Doctor. My Capaldi approval grew to 70%. However, that plot made me nuts! I thought going inside the Dalek was an interesting and original idea. Unfortunately, the storyline just spiraled downwards for me. The Doctor finds a Dalek and knows that Daleks are programmed to kill, but this Dalek is broken – he is a nice Dalek. So he decides to help the Dalek and fix him. Isn’t it obvious that this would be a disaster? If you “fix” a broken Dalek who is mistakenly kind because he is broken, of course you’ll get a disastrous Dalek who will want to kill you! I cannot emphasize enough how genuinely annoyed I was by this plot, not to mention the whiny and mean Journey Blue. My Capaldi approval fell to about 40%, even though the plot wasn’t really his fault.
The Doctor with the “broken” Dalek
Being so disappointed, I knew the third episode would have to be extra good to win me back. And… it delivered! Both, the third and fourth episodes, Robot of Sherwood and Listen, respectively, were amazing! I have always loved Robin Hood, so the theme of the third episode immediately drew me in. I liked the hopeful tone it set by comparing Robin Hood to the Doctor and the episode’s story. Listen also demonstrated a very detail oriented, careful, and interesting plot. The episode was able to bring us to the end of the universe while still being simple in the sense that it was simply about a nursery rhyme and scary dreams we could relate to.
Robin Hood from Robot of Sherwood.
Additionally, besides the great stories, I genuinely liked Capaldi himself. He was no longer talking about his character, and instead, he successfully established himself as a likeable new Doctor. He might not be as bubbly as Matt Smith, as silly yet thoughtful as Tennant, or as “fantastic” as Eccleston, but he brings his own charm to the show. I haven’t figured out exactly what that is, but I like him. I like his professional and slightly older looking style, as I think it is quite fresh. I like that he doesn’t seem too overconfident, as we sometimes saw in previous Doctors, but he still knows what he is doing. I like his Scottish accent. And lastly, although I never thought I’d say this, I like that he is a wiser father figure, instead of a flirtatious, cute guy. We will always have the young, attractive Eccleston, Tennant, and Smith, no one can ever take them away from us. Why not try something different that could also work? By the end of Listen, my Capaldi approval hit 100%.
Capaldi as the twelfth Doctor
Long story short, I think I like Peter Capaldi. It took me a long time to accept him since I’ve been trying to deny his existence ever since the twelfth Doctor was announced. I don’t know what else I’ll see this season yet, but it’s safe to say that he’s been doing well so far. I will always love nine, ten, and eleven, and like I said, no one can ever take that away from me. Yet I think I can finally move on to twelve, and I am happy to say that Peter Capaldi is, thus far, a great new Doctor. I’m excited to see what else this season has to offer!
Photo Sources:
http://pcnewspull.dtforum.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/6487210-low_res-.jpg
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http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/216/c/a/12th_doctor__peter_capaldi__by_butters101-d6gmebb.jpg
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2014/072/e/d/13_doctors__but_to_me_12__by_butters101-d7a11ck.jpg