They say you “never forget your first Doctor,” and I find it to hold true that whichever Doctor someone starts out with ends up remaining their favorite. Personally, I started with and loved the Ninth Doctor, very slowly warmed up to the Tenth, and disliked the Eleventh through his entire run. I guess I’m just a no-bow-tie kind of girl.
So when Netflix announced earlier this month that season 8 of Doctor Who was now available, I was very excited to finally get rid of Eleven and meet the Twelfth Doctor.
The only thing I had overheard (and that had been implicated in Twelve’s teaser trailer) is that Twelve was “the dark Doctor.” Did that mean he was evil now? Stern? Unlikable? I wasn’t sure.
Well we’re only halfway through season 8, but I couldn’t wait to talk about it. I love Twelve!! Dare I say I might even love him more than Nine? *Gasp!*
Yes, this Doctor is darker. Not evil, just much more realistic. Whereas Nine, Ten, and Eleven always miraculously saved the day, Twelve seems to leave a pretty significant death toll in his wake. More than that, he seems totally okay with it as he consistently exposes the deaths as justifiable (paraphrase: “He was going to die regardless of what we did, so instead I saved ourselves”). He is no longer the all-knowing and all-powerful hero that Nine was, or the quirky idealist that Ten and Eleven were. It makes the Doctor feel suddenly much more “human”—if that term can be applied to an alien. In fact, he can be a condescending a**hole sometimes—*cough* *cough* “Kill The Moon” episode *cough*.
What I’ve enjoyed even more than watching the Doctor coming down off his goody-two-shoes miracle-worker pedestal is the deprecating banter he has with Clara that is reminiscent of the Ten+Donna “oy!” days. I keep cracking up at the gibes he throws at Clara, and while I wish Clara had more spitfire in her like Donna did, I love that Clara isn’t ruffled by it in the least.
Beyond this new Doctor being Awesome with an capital A, I have to say this season (as far as I’ve gotten, at least) has been superbly written. I love Doctor Who, but overall, I always felt some episodes were really great and some were boring fillers with subpar writing. The quality was significantly inconsistent throughout every season. In this season, however, all episodes have really knocked it out of the park for me thus far. Captivating, fresh, and clever, each episode has left me thinking “wow, that was a good one!” and “I wish I could write like that.”
For those of you keeping up with the show on the regular TV schedule, season 9 premieres September 19th. But don’t talk to me about it until it comes out on Netflix next year!
I agree! I am a fan of 12! I think however, that he has gone back to the darker Doctor of his past. There were a few Doctors like 1 that weren’t the bright optimistic Doctor like 10 and 11. I feel the Ware Doctor said it best, when he told the pair of them they were acting like children. The Doctor is grown up again and a force. I’m pleasantly surprised at how hardened this Doctor is.
I have also started watching Doctor Who Season 8. After much anticipation, I must say that I am quite underwelmed. The first 3 episodes were poorly written and difficult to watch. “Robot of Sherwood” was as you said, “boring filler”. “Listen” was the best of the lot so far. The writing came up quite a bit and it was a good time travel story. The twist at the end was worthy of Rod Serling. I like Peter Capaldi and all actors. But Doctor Who has definately changed and lost a great deal of it’s charm and character when Russell T Davies turned things over to Steven Moffat.
BTW, my first Doctor was Tom Baker. The best of the new series was David Tennant, closely followed by Christopher Eccleston.
I had been out of the “Doctor Who” loop for a while, bailing out midway through Series 2 — while well-made and acted, it wasn’t giving me the same “feels” of laughter and wonder as the original series did (particularly my favorite era, the Tom Baker seasons). I kept up with plot developments and the like through reading recaps, but recently I decided I was tired of that left-out feeling and decided to sample some episodes from 11 and 12’s tenures.
As it turned out, the Twelfth Doctor struck my heart as surely as a golden arrow would. I agree with Dina — at hearts, he’s an old-school Doctor tweaked just enough to work in the soapier new series. He’s clever, cranky, condescending, determined to the point of ruthlessness, struggling with the darkness in his soul…yet witty, capable of great compassion and empathy, achingly lonesome and secretly tender to the bone, and full of wonder — rather like an ancient child, for better and for worse. A few episodes I’m skipping over simply because, having read up on them in advance, they’re too heartbreaking (have Kleenex handy for the final stretch) but I’m keying myself up for Series 9 already, girding my heart for the adventures, heartaches, and joys to come. I hope you enjoy the rest of the season, Ariane, and don’t forget the Christmas show after that!