Doctor Who IV - Everything Whovian - Would you like a jelly baby?

[Enigmatic Undead]

Preview for Doctor Who The Eleventh Doctor #3

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...eview&id=23769

[Vidocq]

I wonder if anyone will be getting this next week:



Now if I'm not mistaken, this is the first literary work to be written from an in-universe perspective right? 11 writes this book for 12. I admit I want this just by that alone. Reminds me of the Star Wars Essential Guides and other stuff. Would be great to see some preview images.

Oh, you mean these beauties?





The Timelord book, similar to this one looks like great Shelf Candy. Hope it comes out in hardcover.

[Kyer]

I was watching some of Silence in the Library and I realized where the appearance for the 11th Doctor came from. The Doctor mentions that he has a head full of stuff and that he needs a bigger head. Hence the big head of 11.

That would make even more sense if he told himself he needed to 'take it on the chin'. Also, does he have such fierce eyebrows as Twelve because as Eleven he had almost none?

Does the How To Be A Timelord book come with coupons for purchasing a Tardis or at least driving lessons?

Kyer can't wait for the next episode and is currently on a fruit juice fructose high: The Doctor needs more cleaning instruments for props. (Thinks back to the Panopticon story arc.)
Want to see Ian Chesterton and K-9 again. Also Barbara. Tie ins to continuity make me smile.

Edit: and....this doesn't:

http://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Twe...+graphic+novel

Dropping the Matt Smith book will help, but $18 is really getting up there for five issues worth of so-so art ad stories that are companion-origin heavy.
I wonder if they'll do like Marvel and DC: year or more later offer the same material in cheaper overall 10-20 issue books? Or a 2015 Holiday season book sale?

[Jim Kelly]

No spoilers, but having seen the Canadian flag on prominent display in the latest episode, I wonder if these small crumbs are all we'll ever get from the mother country, or could her loyal colony hope for some greater recognition on DOCTOR WHO? There have been American and Australian companions--would there ever be a Canadian?

I don't know if the Tardis has ever even landed in Canada--unless maybe in the high arctic. Although Torchwood was located at One Canada Square in London, England.

[Kyer]

would love to see Canada. beautiful country.
bored by this episode. girl barfing was only hilight.

[Jim Kelly]

As I was watching this episode, I thought this is one of those that people will either love or hate. I loved most of it. But I find that Danny gets less interesting the more we get to know him. I'm not too sure if he'll be a great companion. He's in Harry Sullvan and Turlough territory. Nowhere near Rory or Captain Jack. About as good as Mickey. Certainly better than Adric (anyone woud be). I can't imagine he'll ever be as good as Steven Taylor, Ian Chesterton, Jamie McCrimmon or Lethbridge-Stewart.

[Cyke]

I quite liked this episode. The scene where the Doctor explains his "disguise" in the teacher's lounge set the rest of the episode's humor off well. We had a swashbuckling episode, a thriller episode, and now a comedy. But it's lovely that we've had at least two episodes so far focused so much on character work. Clara learned some lessons here, Danny got to assert himself properly and like a human being, especially being human, and the Doctor learned never to make signs while angry.

For the first half of the episode, I kept wondering how Tennant or Smith would do here since they've also done undercover work (Tennant in a school, specifically) and thought they could handle the humor, too ("I'm the caretaker now. Look, I've got a brush." -- that's totally a Smith line). But in the second half, when the Doctor loses his cool and is almost constantly annoyed, along with his arrogance and disdain for humans, I think the only other Doctor who could have pulled it off would be Eccleston. Colin Baker would have just smirked and talked condescendingly to them. But no, Capaldi's angry and he wants you to know it.

By the way, very spot-on analysis by Danny of the Doctor. I've always said that he's had an air of aristocracy around him with his nose up for many of his incarnations, but Danny nails it. The Doctor is also very mindful of competition: Danny is a soldier who's fought in wars; the Doctor was too and just recently came to grips with that, but let's combine that with how he saw Danny's grandson as a rival time travelling explorer, too. But that only speaks to a larger point about this season: since it's much more character driven than previous seasons, that also means that we're learning more and more about the Doctor as it progresses, which is no easy feat for a 51-year old franchise. It'd be easy to say that it's just Twelve's personality quirks, but they reference so much of his past -- first we saw Baby Hartnell, and his exchange and disdain for soldiers easily evoke Pertwee and maybe Tennant. So in a sense, these aren't just Twelve's traits, but examined traits that belong to the Doctor's life as a whole, not just separate incarnations.

With that said, the monster itself was the least-interesting thing, handled just as cleanly and routinely as any other MOTW on the show, but that's just an excuse to get the characters together, and that's good enough for me. Great work by Anderson and Capaldi in their scenes together.

Lastly, I know that Clara's fellow English teacher was purposely supposed to evoke Eleven with the bangs and the bow tie, but the brown curly hair also reminded me of McCoy, who's no slouch in the looks department himself. Most likely unintentional, but I'd like to think that this teacher is thus a combination of the two.

[Xalfrea]

The Caretaker...I think this one bumped up to being my favorite episode of the series so far.

Sure the robot action and trying to stop him was fine and dandy, and he fulfilled his role as being the MOTW, but that was B-plot. A-plot was character interactions, and I'm a sucker for character interactions. After weeks of seeing Danny and Clara interact and their relationship getting stronger and having hints of The Doctor's disdain for soldiers really came to a head here, and I loved it. The episode really kicked into high gear during the first encounter with the robot, and all the Doctor-Clara-Danny interactions were just wonderful. The highlight is when Danny and The Doctor verbally spar and Danny rightfully points out The Doctor's foibles, with Danny the soldier and The Doctor the officer. Clara throughout this episode was also good and this episode I think goes to show why I disagree with the accusations of Series 8 so far being "The Clara Oswald show featuring The Doctor". By the end of this I'd like to think that all three characters have been changed one way or another, and I hope to see their dynamic continue as the series progresses.

And of course, the continuing mystery of The Promised Land. I'm curious as to why this cop guy showed up there when he wasn't involved with The Doctor, and why Missy was busy and needed an assistant to help this cop. Mysterious indeed.

This one is definitely the first comedic episode of the series and it was balanced well alongside the character drama. I like how Clara told Danny that The Doctor used to look similar to the other teacher, and all the stuff with Courtney.

Now speaking of her, I do have to wonder a bit. I was surprised that The Doctor told her about the TARDIS and even took her for a quick trip. Someone on another board pointed out how Courtney really did stand out among the other students by her shirt. I suppose in-show it could just be she's a disruptive influence and is a rule-breaker, but given that this student was already mentioned and shown a few times previously, could there be more to her? This could be a stretch, but if Clara and Danny are meant to be similar to Barbara and Ian...could Courtney perhaps fill the role of Susan? Not in the granddaughter sense obviously, but as the kid role.

Nothing much else to say, I just really liked this one. And the wait begins for the next episode with freaking scary moon spiders.

[The Celtic Batman]

Loved this latest episode. Great chemistry between the 3 main characters!

My current ratings of favourite Doctors! (obviously just an opinion!!!):

1) Peter Capaldi
2) Tom Baker
3) Paul McGann
4) Peter Davison
5) Matt Smith
6) Sylvestor McCoy
7) Colin Baker
8) Jon Pertwee
9) Patrick Troughton
10) William Hartnell
11) David Tennant
12) Christopher Eccleston (only because of the way he's shunned the Who community, shame really, he had a lot of potential)

John Hurt's War Doctor was pretty cool, but doesn't count imo.... yet.....

How are other people feeling about Capaldi so far? and anyone feel up to sharing their own current 1 to 12 rating list (or 1 to 13 if you do count the War Doctor)?

Cheers!

[foxley]

My current raking (subject to change without notice):

1. Jon Pertwee
2. Peter Davison
3. William Hartnell
4. Tom Baker
5. Colin Baker
6. Sylvester McCoy
7. Patrick Troughton
8. Peter Capaldi
9. Paul McGann
10. John Hurt
11. David Tennant
12. Matt Smith
13. Christopher Eccleston

To my mind, Capaldi is the best of the 'new' Doctors as he feels like an old school school Doctor. I quite liked the little bit we saw of Hurt's Doctor, and especially enjoyed the way he slapped down Tennant and Smith for several of things I find irritating about 'NuWho' (like 'timey-wimey stuff').

[Xalfrea]

Among the new Doctors, I want to say Capaldi so bad, but I want to judge him solely based on his performance and everything after he leaves, and not simply because Capaldi is my first ever Doctor. But to rank the other new ones among the episodes I've seen, and not counting John Hurt:

Smith>Eccleston=Tennant

For classics among the episodes I've seen:

Pertwee>McCoy>Troughton=Colin>Hartnell=Tom>Davison =McGann

[brettc1]

My son was actually the first to spot the reference to Matt Smith in the other English teacher - and once I saw it I though "of course!" Naturally the Doctor's ego would lead him to the hilariously wrong conclusion.

I did however feel this episode did not take enough time to give the Doctor/Danny confrontation. While I thought Danny's picking up on the Time LORD title was good, I don't think they did nearly enough to explore the Doctor's disdain for soldiers, especially considering what we saw during "Inside the Dalek". I was really expecting this to turn into a two parter.

Here's hoping they get back to reviewing this further down the track.

And honestly I think there would be quite a few upset P.E. teachers. I'd bet money there will be a bit a stink about it in the news.

[The Celtic Batman]

My son was actually the first to spot the reference to Matt Smith in the other English teacher - and once I saw it I though "of course!" Naturally the Doctor's ego would lead him to the hilariously wrong conclusion.

I did however feel this episode did not take enough time to give the Doctor/Danny confrontation. While I thought Danny's picking up on the Time LORD title was good, I don't think they did nearly enough to explore the Doctor's disdain for soldiers, especially considering what we saw during "Inside the Dalek". I was really expecting this to turn into a two parter.

Here's hoping they get back to reviewing this further down the track.

And honestly I think there would be quite a few upset P.E. teachers. I'd bet money there will be a bit a stink about it in the news.

The casting of that teacher was spot on. I thought he was kind of a Matt Smith/Peter Capaldi 'hybrid'. Facially he seemed like a young Capaldi. They have the same nose!

[Jim Kelly]

I thought "Robot of Sherwood" was a funny one, as well. And there have been funny moments in all the Capaldi stories. But this one had a lot of jokes before it got down to the meat of the story. I didn't really like the interactions between Danny and the Doctor--maybe because they weren't funny, where everything else had been. I didn't think calling Danny a P.E. teacher was funny--I wondered if it was meant to seem racist. From Danny's p.o.v., did he think the caretaker was assuming that because he was black, he couldn't teach maths?

It's still too early to tell with Capaldi how high he'll rank among the Doctors. Poor Eccleston, always getting put near the bottom. In any list, someone has to be near the bottom, but I think the Ninth Doctor deserves a lot of credit for being the one who relaunched the series. It seems to me, that it was partly Eccleston's name that helped the producers to get the green light for a new series.

Tennant also deserves some respect, because he's the one who picked up the ball and ran with it. He made the series popular for a new generation.

Just as Hartnelll deserves high praise for being the Doctor, because it all starts with him. Every other actor who comes along is simply replacing Hartnell, as his health made it impossible for him to keep going on in the role.

And Troughton should be saluted as he was the first to show what a regnerated Doctor could do--taking the character in a completely different direction and proving that the series could survive the substitution of its lead actor.

[Crimson Knight]

The casting of that teacher was spot on. I thought he was kind of a Matt Smith/Peter Capaldi 'hybrid'. Facially he seemed like a young Capaldi. They have the same nose!

I liked that bit from the Doctor about the bow tie, like he's hearkening back to the recent days past - or a homage for Elevenites!

Also, very much agree. Said to my Dad, asked - do you think that teacher looks like Matt Smiths' Doctor? The way he used to dress?

I'm glad you feel a similar way.

And, don't know about others, but I didn't really feel the Doctor and Danny got on that well. Felt in that faux-obedient soldier impression, Pink was being overly obnoxious. Could've made the same point, a less rude, or annoying way.

And, still love the bristly nature, bad temper and all, of this Doctor, like the First Doctor if he fell into the Tenth and spat out Twelve.

Also, almost agree with Jim Kelly, above. Not sure if they'll work as Doctor and Danny, adventurer and companion. Doctor and Mickey might've been that bit better, same, perhaps, with Doctor and Ian.

Part of me's wondering if the Doctor just gets on better with female companions, and not for romantic, love, or sexual reasons. To be carers, different to how he is, and contrast with the personality and instincts. I mean this for the most part, as I'm sure Rory wasn't the worst, Captain Jack not so vicious.

And I've only really come across Ian and Steven in classic, so cannot gauge too well, but got on better with the latter I think.

Jim Kelly, out of curiosity, who do you think is the best male companion, best modern, 2005 to present, of that, and your favourite of each?