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Series 8

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iank
ClockworkOcean
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1Series 8 Empty Series 8 18th October 2019, 3:48 am

ClockworkOcean

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Dick Tater

In light of what NuWho has become in recent years, retrospective criticism of Series 8 tends to focus primarily on how Missy paved the way for the disaster which followed, but even without the gender-bending bullshit, Series 8 almost feels like it was specifically designed to alienate the family audience. At the time, it was marketed as "the biggest departure since 2005" and "the darkest series yet". This, combined with the casting of an older, ostensibly more traditional Doctor led some to believe we were in for the modern equivalent of the Hinchcliffe era, which told stories dark and substantial enough to engage an adult audience, but did so with a sense of childlike wonder, adventure and escapism. Series 8 certainly is darker than the Smith era, but in the worst possible sense. It seems to view the very core of what Doctor Who is with cynicism and disdain.

The whole dynamic of this series is centred around a toxic relationship between a prejudicial, mean-spirited Doctor and a smug, narcissistic, part-time companion with such little passion for adventure that she'd rather work a stressful, underpaid 9 to 5, live on a shitty council estate, and go through the banal drudgery of everyday life than travel through time and space. Where's the sense of escapism, wonder and excitement? Which part of this is supposed to inspire and capture the imagination of bright young kids?



This scene perfectly demonstrates the problem with Series 8. It presents several brief clips which hint at interesting sci-fi adventures, yet swiftly casts them aside as a nuisance, a scornworthy distraction from "real life" rather than an alternative to it, which really lays bare the weary, cynical disdain with which Moffat had come to view the heart and soul of the show. By this point, writing stories about sand piranhas and fish people was as much a chore to Moffat as living through them was to Clara. This theme continued into Series 9, with the sci-fi elements (even those as significant as the return of Skaro and Gallifrey) relegated to backdrops for his spiteful deconstructions of the Doctor's character and relationship with his companions. Contrast this with the adventurous, escapist spirit of Series 5, and it becomes clear that Moffat had utterly fallen out of love with the show.



While much of this stems from Moffat's fanboy neuroses, I have to wonder how much of it was a deliberate marketing strategy on the BBC's part. The generation that grew up with the RTD era was moving on, the show had increasingly failed to draw in new viewers due to Moffat's overcomplicated, made-up-as-he-went-along story arcs, and the core fanbase isn't enough to sustain the franchise commercially. Perhaps they thought that their best bet was to reinvent the show for tumblr millennial crowd who'd become an increasingly vocal part of the fanbase over the previous few years. The sudden injection of SJW propaganda was obviously part of that, but what if the later timeslot and things like the "don't cremate me" shit (which the BBC were uncharacteristically eager to defend) were part of a deliberate attempt to shake off the child demographic in favour of a new target audience whose prevalence they'd vastly overestimated - a misjudgment they're only just beginning to comprehend?

2Series 8 Empty Re: Series 8 18th October 2019, 3:56 am

iank

iank

The biggest problem with most of the Crapoldie era is that most of it is just plain boring.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKNC69I8Mq_pJfvBireybsg

3Series 8 Empty Re: Series 8 18th October 2019, 4:59 am

Tanmann

Tanmann
Dick Tater

I think it was a case of Moffat thinking that the show's young audience was growing up, and therefore the series needed to show it had grown up too.

I also think in hindsight that maybe Moffat had been watching Rick and Morty and decided to make Capaldi's new Doctor a lot closer to the model of Rick, and the caustic one-liners he would come out with. The problem is it was an imitation that missed the mark, and often just seemed strained.

Capaldi's Doctor just looked like he was looking out for the most petty things and idiosyncrasies about humans he could complain about. And I think as you touched on, it was almost as if this Doctor saw being the Doctor as some irritating chore he could barely be bothered with. For all the comparisons to Colin, I sensed none of the strength of will that Colin's Doctor had in Capaldi.

As for Clara, I think Moffat was desperate to retro-engineer her some kind of character, and all he could come up with was 'unhinged control freak' which ended up becoming her only characterization and one that was ran rampant with, until essentially she began to come off as Capaldi's abusive carer.

I think Moffat does genuinely have some paranoia about women, and a fixation with showing the companion eventually betray the hero, as we saw happen in Dark Water's opener.

As for the SJW influence, a lot of the Matt Smith era was made the relentless target of tumblr feminists, and I think Moffat must've taken a lot of that to heart, and felt obliged to appease them so that they'd come to like him and his show after all. Hence Clara being made more prominent, hence Missy, and hence the growing misandry.

Whatever the reason, I just know that the excitement of Into the Dalek quickly gave way, and I was struggling to maintain interest in the show anymore, and I struggled to put my finger on why. But I think the truth is it all just felt confused and not very well honed about what it was trying to say about the Doctor, and as a result, I couldn't quite get into the stories because they were being held up by the leads' inexplicable pettiness.

4Series 8 Empty Re: Series 8 18th October 2019, 9:14 am

iank

iank

I kind of felt like they were trying to make Capaldi Dr Whouse, but much of those attempts weren't actually funny, and Capaldi seemed uneasy with it, while also lacking the charm and humanity that Hugh Laurie brought to that character beneath the caustic one-liners. As you say, Capaldi's Doctor did seem rather bored with it all himself, at least in series 8, lacking any of the real fire and passion of House or, as you point out, Colin's Doctor.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKNC69I8Mq_pJfvBireybsg

5Series 8 Empty Re: Series 8 18th October 2019, 12:56 pm

Tanmann

Tanmann
Dick Tater

I've still not yet seen House, beyond a few clips that were included in one of Undoomed's anti-feminist videos. Looks like a really funny show.

But I sense Series 8 was like trying to make the Doctor that, only having it played utterly serious, and pitched against a more militant Clara who's determined to outsmart him (meaning the joke is prevented from working anyway) so it just came off nasty, and indeed lacking any spark of life.

6Series 8 Empty Re: Series 8 18th October 2019, 2:41 pm

REDACTED

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To be honest, I was actually looking forward to seeing Series 8 at the time.

With an older actor cast as the Doctor and the promised darker and mature tone, I was hoping that NuWho might actually be getting good again for the first time since Series 5.

Sadly that was not the case....

Deep Breath is a decent start and feels like a more darker, grittier version of The Christmas Invasion and Capaldi gives a strong performance, yet sadly its bogged down by a bunch of Paternoster bullshit and I thought as interesting and gruesome as the Clockwork Men were here. I was disapointed in how they were wasted and handled.

Into The Dalek is a rather poor effort with an generally uninteresting script that feels like its rehashing 2005's Dalek and a lot of the whole disdain towards soldiers bullshit that leaves a nasty aftertaste as does the scene where Clara slaps the Doctor for being hostile towards the Dalek. The one pro it does have is that it is nice to see the Daleks actually killing people and being menacing for once in the Moffat era, although at the end, they are once again, easily and lamely destroyed. Just an bunch of recycled plot points that show how tired the Daleks were at this point (And they hardly got better afterwards.).

Robot Of Sherwood and Listen are both pretty shite and dull. The former feeling too sickly and twee and the latter being needlessly pretentious and po-faced.

Time Heist is enjoyable although it isn't really memorable and doesn't feel like its going anyway tonally wise.

The Caretaker is another fucking dull story that sees the whole Doctor interfering in his companions shitty life shtick at its most dull and tedious. The scene where the robot incinerates the PSCO was an admittedly well done scene though.

Kill The Moon overall is my eqivalent of Warriors Of The Deep for the NS. Dull, moronic and feckin awful characterizations all round see this as where I stopped caring for NuWho (And even for a short while, Doctor Who as a whole.)


The rest I haven't seen to this day and I don't think I ever will.



Last edited by Indrid Mercury on 8th January 2020, 10:38 pm; edited 1 time in total

7Series 8 Empty Re: Series 8 18th October 2019, 6:43 pm

SomeCallMeEnglishGiraffe

SomeCallMeEnglishGiraffe

All excellent points from Clockwork and Tanmann, and perfectly encapsulates why Series 8 is one of, if not the worst Who Seasons/Series to come out of the franchise, next to Series 11. The difference between Series 8 and Series 11 is that at least the former has some good episodes like Time Heist, Mummy on the Orient Express and Flatline, whilst I still can't find a genuinely good story in Series 11 (It Takes You Away was so close but once it practically became a different story in 35 minutes, it goes downhill quickly).

8Series 8 Empty Re: Series 8 18th October 2019, 7:21 pm

Tanmann

Tanmann
Dick Tater

I think 'It Takes You Away' is the epitome of the problem with Series 11.

It's like they had a choice between sticking to a good story premise, and derailing it for the sake of making social commentary about bad fathers, and decided they had to go with the latter.

9Series 8 Empty Re: Series 8 8th January 2020, 9:54 pm

Mott1

Mott1

Season 8 displayed a new genuine talent in Jamie Mathieson, whose original, clever stories shone amid some mind-bogglingly awful material. A shame his episodes sucked donkey donger in later runs.

10Series 8 Empty Re: Series 8 10th May 2020, 10:07 pm

iank

iank

Saw Deep Breath again last night. Still very enjoyable and one of Capaldi's best. Like it more every time I see it, and I have to say I actually think it was a mistake to not see the Paternoster Gang again in his era, especially as his Doctor fits in with the Victorian milieu even better than Smithy's did.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKNC69I8Mq_pJfvBireybsg

11Series 8 Empty Re: Series 8 11th May 2020, 1:16 pm

Infinitic

Infinitic

Love it except the moon-egg episode Smile Capaldi was great, as well as Gomez. Missy's mystery was my favourite between new series' story acrs\suprises.

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