No talk about Dr Who?!
The new series has just started in NZ (the first two episodes so far, only a week behind England) so time to open up the discussions again. I'll try not to put any spoilers in here for anyone who hasn't seen them yet.
I think I missed a bunch of episodes from the last series because of travelling, although I did get to see the last episode of the last series (where Clara steps into the whirly thing and gets dispersed across time to all the different Doctors' timelines, and there was John Hurt there as well), but I guess I missed an in-between stand-alone episode bridging that series and the new one (explaining how Clara is now back again).
After two episodes I'm not a fan of the new Doctor yet (Peter Capaldi). I like that they have an older actor again but he hasn't grown on me yet. Usually with the new actors you don't really like them straight off the bat but by the end of the first episode you're like “yep, he's a good Doctor”. This guy I think will be a good Doctor, I'm just not sold quite yet.
Anyway, starting off the new series was the feature-length episode “Deep Breath”. It was good, but sort of up and down. Trying too hard I think to “make” the new series but not really getting it right. I liked it, but it could have been much much better. And the T. rex – how big is that thing??! It was like Godzilla! I get that Dr Who is fantasy but they do try to make things believable in a Dr Who way, and making the T. rex the size of a blue whale was stretching things a tad.
I thought they made Clara a bit... I dunno, too unaccepting of the Doctor's new regeneration. Almost like they were using her as a stand-in to answer potential criticism from fans not wanting an older actor. On the plus side, she was wearing Victorian garb. She's a pretty lass but sort of ordinary when in modern clothes. In period costumes she looks amazing! In this one and in "The Snowmen" (aka the Dr Who Christmas Special 2012) where she first met Matt Smith she was in Victorian costume. I see from the trailer for the third episode she's wearing “Robin Hood era” garments and looks fantastic in that too. I think I was born in the wrong time period.
The second episode “Into the Dalek” was, I hate to say, kinda boring. The premise was good, the execution I think not done all that well. Maybe I just don't like the director, I don't know (that's Ben Wheatley, who directed both episodes). Maybe it's just because I feel like Capaldi's still in his settling-in period for the role. Sticking the “mystery woman” in both episodes seems really forced as well, like they “need” to get a guessing-game into the series.