The Official MZ Doctor Who Thread!

[Dr Kain]

Well now that the Halloween festivities are over, it's time to dive back into Doctor Who.

A Christmas Carol - Easily the best Xmas special to date. It's competently written, well thought out, never bores, Michael Gambon is just awesome, it's based on the greatest book ever written, and most of all, Earth is not in peril at all because Earth is not even featured in it. Talk about a win-win all around. THis is easily Moffat at his finest.

The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon - A fantastic premier that has elements of horror, sci-fi, and ties it all together nicely with a lingering plot that is going to develop over the entire season. Awesome! We're off to a great start right from the get go, especially with the opening segment with an older Doctor dying and his younger self having no idea what is going on. I also have to give praises to the dude who played Nixon as he was fantastic. Then we have the Silence, who are just awesomely creepy creatures. Another praise to Moffat for coming up with yet again an excellent set of adversaries for the Doctor to face like he had with the Weeping Angels several seasons earlier. I will admit it is kind of weird that the Doctor just decides to push the little girl plot aside just so they could have some filler episodes.

The Black Spot - No where near as good as the two part premier, but not bad, though it does kind of get dumb towards the end. Also, what happened to the crew member that the captain's son scratched? He was in the room with Amy and gang when the other dude ran out and that was the last we ever saw of him. Is he just sitting in the back of the ship on his own after everyone went to the other ship and is all like, "Hello? Is anyone out there? Hello?"

[Benjamin Haines]

The last new episode of Doctor Who that I had seen for the past few years was the 2015 Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song. With the show available to stream on Amazon Prime, my girlfriend and I have been rewatching Peter Capaldi's episodes over the last few weeks before proceeding to the ones we haven't seen yet.

Last night we finally watched the 2016 Christmas special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio. It's cool to see this show do its own take on the modern superhero trend. In terms of prior cinematic adaptations, it actually seemed to be influenced by Richard Donner's Superman, Tim Burton's Batman and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man more than anything modern, which was also cool. The ode to River was touching and it was fun to have Nardole stick around as a companion for at least one more episode.

Next we proceed with Peter Capaldi's final season as the Doctor, and then Jodie Whittaker's debut season!

[Dr Kain]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

I still need to watch Peter Capaldi's final episode as the Doctor as well as anything Jodie Whittaker. Probably closer to Christmas I'll watch Capaldi's final episode as it'd be fitting since it is the 2017 Christmas special.

[Dr Kain]

Started the next disc, but I forgot to mention yesterday that I'm a little disappointed with the way BBC did Season 2 for Smith. Unlike Season 1, the prequel segments do NOT play before their respective episodes. As such, you have to constantly go back to the disc menu, go into the features section, and then play the prequel, then go back to the main menu, Episodes, and select the next episode. So freaking stupid and time consuming. Yes, I know, first world problems, but still. It's dumb.

ANyway:

The Doctor's Wife - Okay, so a few seasons ago with had and episode titled "THe Doctor's Daughter" and now we get "The Doctor's Wife." Um okay... not really sure how the Tardis is his wife, but sure, whatever. The episode itself is pretty good. Better than The Black Spot, but not as good as the two part premier. I do love the scene when the House takes controls of its two lackeys as I love how the duo just cease all body functions except for their mouths at the drop of a hat. The stuff happening in the Tardis later on with Amy and Rori is quite cool to. Overall, a pretty good episode.

The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People - And here we go, the first true major bomb in Smith's run. In fact, this is to Matt Smith what 42 is to David Tennant. A lackluster as all heck, unoriginal, uninspiring generic borefest that drags on and on. It feels like an hour long story stretched out to be a 2 parter because the writers couldn't figure out what to cut out and decided to just needlessly extend it. Most of the banter is extremely cliche. Thankfully there are some great moments between the Doctor the Flesh Doctor that can relieve some of the boredom, but for the most part, it's a train wreck. What makes it even worse though is that it HAS to be watched due to its last 5 minutes. There's nothing worse than a terrible episode being part of the show's main plot.

A Good Man Goes to War - There is so much build up, so much tension, so much suspense, and then it all peters out like a wet fart thanks to a poor payoff. Of course, it also doesn't help that we now have a comic relief Sontaran that's a nurse? That seems extremely out of character for everything that I've seen since Tom Baker's run revolving around their race. I know he states it was punishment by the Doctor, but that still doesn't make any sense. The reveal of River was cool though even if it leaves a lot of lingering questions. I did like the Sith Lord monks. They aren't as cool as the Silence, but still an intriguing concept.

Let's Kill Hitler - I loved this episode when I first watched it all those years ago. Sadly, I can't say the same this time around. I don't know, but it just felt off. First, showing us that Rori and Amy had this delinquent friend the entire time just seemed out of the blue as there was never once a hint of her at all. Secondly, the Inside Out Robot crew seems rather... well... dumb. Like really dumb even by Doctor Who standards. Also, they turned HItler into a blundering idiot. The man might have been a terrible person, but I don't think his persona fits with Saturday morning cartoon villainy. Next up, I'm a little confused. Mels told everyone the last time she regenerated was in 1969, which means she stayed a child for over thirty years just so she could grow up with Amy and Rori. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... what? That seems extremely convoluted. Oh right, I'm watching Doctor Who, I keep forgetting that it doesn't have to make sense.

[Dr Kain]

And in the blink of an eye we have finished the second season to Smith.

Night Terrors - I really liked this one. It was weird, suspenseful, and featured a lot of creepy moments, which is how I love my Doctor Who. I do wish the apartment manager had gotten killed as he deserved it, especially because that meant nothing was ever at stake, but oh well. An enjoyable episode nonetheless and it's sad how relatable the parents were.

The Girl Who Waited - Some interesting ideas, but ultimately a very dull and boring episode that felt like it was never going to end. I do have to give praises to the make-up people though as they managed to age Amy without it looking extremely fake as aging tends to look.

The God Complex - Oh my god, it's like The Shining meets Doctor Who meets the Minotaur's Labyrinth. I LOVE IT!! This episode was so damn awesome with a lot of excellent visuals and so much suspense and tension. Easily one of the season's best episodes.

Closing Time - Huh, Craig's back and he has a baby. Interesting. I love the name Stormageddon. That is just badass! Anyway, this was a really interesting way to execute a Cybermen episode, though, I really think they should have used a more traditional Cybermen design given they were supposed to have been shipwrecked there for centuries. The resolution also comes off a bit farfetched, but as I said yesterday, it's Doctor Who, there are no rules. Anything can happen because the plot needs it to.

The Wedding of River Song - Well that was certainly an enjoyable, yet convoluted rushed mess. It makes more sense than the Pandorica season finale though, so I'll give it that. I wish they had done more with the Silence though, especially since I would have loved to have seen some sort of origin story for them. I do think using the robot lawmen body was quite clever. It's also cool that they planted seeds for the next season. However, like I said, it was way too rushed. This should have been a 2 parter instead of having the Flesh episodes be a multi-part story.

Overall, after I watched it the first time back in 2011, I thought this season was better than his first. This time around, I have to say the first was a much tighter season. This one kind of meandered around some ideas the excellent premier introduced as if the writers were trying to figure out what they actually wanted to do with the concepts introduced at the start. It had its ups and its downs, but it did end on a high note that wrapped almost everything up. As I said, more should have been done with the Silence, especially since I don't believe they really do anything else with them for the rest of the series beyond a brief appearance in the regeneration episode and nothing at all in Capaldi's run.

The development they gave Rori and Amy continued to rock and the trio has great chemistry. This may be the best DW trio since the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry in Season 12/Baker Season 1. It was nice how almost every episode tied into the overall plot, yet, I feel like the season still stalled a bit in its stand alone episodes. The Doctor's Wife and Night Terrors served absolutely no purpose to the overarching story at all while a borefest like the Flesh 2 parter did. That doesn't make them bad episodes, it just means that they should have been removed to do something more with the Silence, the Impossible Astronaut, or as I said above, paced the finale out better.

I also have to mention that upon thinking about it, Let's Kill Hitler was also pretty bad because the plot had absolutely nothing to do with Hitler. I'm surprised it wasn't written by Chibnall.

My rankings of this season's episodes are:

1. A Christmas Carol
2. The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon
3. The God Complex
4. Night Terrors
5. The Doctor's Wife
6. The Wedding of River Song
7. Closing Time
8. A Good Man Goes to War
9. Let's Kill Hitler
10. The Black Spot
11. The Girl Who Waited
12. The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People

I'm quite fearful for the next season as I hated it when it first aired. I especially hated how they brought Amy and Rori back despite this season feeling like a great finale for them. Hopefully it won't be as bad as I remember.

[Dr Kain]

The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe - Not bad, it has some touching moments, and I like the concept of the tree people, not to mention the hilarious scene between the trio of dumb soldiers with the mother. The ending kind of plays it too safe, but it works with the context of the story. It doesn't compare to A Christmas Carol, but it isn't terrible.

[Dr Kain]

Here we go:

Asylum of the Daleks - So the Daleks can actually become people? What? That makes absolutely no sense. Beyond that, this episode is quite boring and nonsensical. It just doesn't make sense even for Doctor Who standards and repeating the whole "Doctor who?" bit at the end seemed a little too on the nose. Not to mention the Amy/Rori divorce bit just feels completely out of left field regardless of the reasons for it later on. It's like they needed to add in some unneccessary drama as if it were a CW show. This may be the worst episode Moffat has written thus far.

Dinosaurs on a Space Ship - Dinosaurs on a freaking space ship? How can this go wrong?! Well in the words of Ian Malcom, "There are dinosaurs on this thing, right?" Seriously. There's like 3 dinosaurs in the entire thing that make up maybe 10% of the episode while the other 90% is just inane boring banter. It also seems out of character for the Doctor to just leave the thief to die. That is something Tennant's Doctor might have done, but never has Smith shown any type of relentlessness beforehand. Hell, there was an entire conversation about that in last season's finale with the lady with the eye patch and Amy.

A Town Called Mercy - Um... so NOW Amy cares that the Doctor is going to let some random stranger die? WTF? She had no problem with it last episode. Beyond that, we have yet again another uninteresting episode that is more talk than excitement. I don't know what it is about this season, but it feels like they are trying to channel their inner Colin Baker with the worst writing this show has ever encountered at this point. Anyway, I will give this episode some credit for its wild west setting as it makes it look different than the other episodes. No endless corridors or staircases here. The Gunslinger is also a cool concept even if the execution isn't up to par. Oh, and the scene when Amy keeps shooting off the gun by mistake was pretty funny, especially when the one dude yells, "ANYONE NOT AMERICAN HAND OVER YOUR GUN!"

[Dr Kain]

We just finished the rest of the Amy/Rory arc and what a load of "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" it was.

The Power of Three - This one started out with an interesting concept and watching the Doctor hate being bored was down right hilarious. It's also quite fitting as that is how I've been feeling when watching this season so far. I just want to get up and do something else. Nevertheless, the episode was doing pretty good until Not-Emperor Palpatine shows up and it all goes down hill from there like an orgasm that abruptly ends thanks to a wet fart. I did like the aspect of Rory and Amy trying to decide which life they want to lead, but it's kind of irrelevant at this point given what is about to occcur in the next episode.

Angels in Manhattan - Hands down the worst Weeping Angels episode of the franchise! I loved the Noir vibe the episode kicked off with, but it was such a "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" show when it came to being the grand finale for Amy and Rory. God damn it makes me angry that this is how Moffat decided to send off the show's long staying companions. What was the point? Why not have just ended their run as his companions with the Xmas special? Or have him befriend a new companion for most of the season and then Amy and Rory join in with him and the new companion for the season finale? Why did they have to send them away in such a "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" manner? Does the Doctor even go and tell Brian that they will not be returning home any more given the conversation they had in the last episode? Ugh, god damn this blows.

Also watched this bonus feature for this shorts called Pond Life. They were fun, especially the Ood on the toilet one. However, it seems like they take place BEFORE Asylum of the Daleks, so why the hell are they bonus features on the SECOND disc with Angels in Manhattan? They should have been on the first disc.

[Dr Kain]

The Snowmen - A very entertaining Christmas episode even if it still doesn't compare to Carol. Clara is much more interesting here than she was in Asylum of the Dalek and I love how the Doctor is kind of unsure of himself. I do like we get to know a little bit more about Vastra and her wife, but I really could do without the goofiness of the Strax. Wow how the mighty Sontaran race has fallen. Anyway, the plot dealing with the snowmen is quite intriguing but the best scene of the episode is hands down Clara's "It's smaller on the outside," especially with how the Doctor responds to it. Same goes when she asks him for a kitchen.

The Bells of St John - Okay, here we go! Doctor Who seems to be in top form once more with a fantastic mid-season premier that not only introduces a new threat, but does it in a really creative manner by utilizing Wifi as being the main tactic for attack. Very well done as it keeps a sense of mystery and the solution to the problem is solved logically. I know it's Doctor Who, and that there are no rules, but it is nice at times to have an episode every now and then that doesn't pull some macguffin out of the Doctor's ass at the last minute just so he can save the day. It also helps that this episode has a lot of snappy dialog and quips that keeps the comedy and drama balanced perfectly. I just don't understand why the first half of the season couldn't pull this off, but whatever.

[Dr Kain]

Another disc done. We're coming close to the end of Smith's run.

The Rings of Akhaten - Quite an enjoyable first entry to kick off Clara's travels with the Doctor. It has an interesting plot and a lot of really cool costumes and aliens in it. I especially love the design of alarm clock monster thing. It looks pretty damn scary looking. A shame nothing was really done with it. Then again, even the foot soldiers were cool. I was hoping to hear one of them say, "So you like Castlevania?" but alas, no lucky. lol

Cold War - Whoa, an Ice Warrior. No "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!"! It's been a long ass time since they have appeared as I know fully well they never showed up in any Tom Baker and beyond run. The plot of the episode was a bit intriguing, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut, if this is supposed to be a Russian sub, why is everyone British? Hell, half of the cast seems to be from Game of Thrones. I do wish they had done more with David Werner though as I feel like his talents were wasted. Regardless, getting to see an old school monster that wasn't the Daleks was a nice welcome. I am wondering about something though, if they are from Mars, does this mean the alien water from The Water of Mars was created by them? o_O

Hide - Whoa, this one is just absolutely amazing. Perhaps the best episode of the season! It reminded me a lot of Ghost Light from McCoy, even down to the overly convoluted ending. Ignoring that little tid bit though, this episode had it all. Suspense, atmosphere, tension, drama, with a few perfectly timed bits of comedy to relieve the tension, etc. I will say that the professor and the psychic lady did make me think of the Warrens from The Conjuring a little too much (except the Warrens didn't have like a 20 year age gap to make it feel creepy). The monster also had a pretty cool design and I loved the way the camera would shake when he was around to give him this twitchy vibe. Like I said, fantastic all around despite the flaws.

Journey to the Center of the Tardis - I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Some of it is great, I love the mind screw within the Tardis, and the creatures that look like they were ripped out of Silent Hill were pretty damn spine-chilling, yet, other bits, especially with the drama of the 3 brothers, felt too mean spirited. Also, the ending sucked because it was one of those redundant, "This episode needs to end with status quo so the script tells me I need to do this to fix our problem" scenarios. Not a fan of that.

The Crimson Horror - Another episode that started out really fascinating and then crumbled apart in the end. Everything up until the reveal of Mr Sweet was enjoyable and then the whole Mr Sweet aspect was just down right ridiculous, and not in a good way. It also had the same macguffin mission successful ending the last episode had too, but in an even more over the top manner.

Only two episodes left to the season with four more in total when counting the specials. I am excited! I also have to say that I am enjoying Clara a lot more this time around than I did when these episodes first aired. She's witty and grounded, something that makes more sense considering how bombastic and aggresive Amy and Rory were. It balances the two sets of companions out. Now i'm kind of wishing she had been the companion the entire season as opposed to Amy and Rory. Though, I still would choose 1800s Clara if I had a choice. Nonetheless, it is nice to see my original viewpoint of her was skewed.

[Dr Kain]

First off, I totally forgot to mention with The Crimson Horror last night that I now got the reference the Doctor did to Clara when he mentioned spending a lot of time trying to get an Australian girl to an airport. That was absolutely brilliant!

With that said...

Nightmare in Silver - I'm not sure how I really feel about this one. There are some cool things about it, but there's equally a lot I don't like. Clara just looks really bad as a nanny given that she is supposed to be watching over these two kids but then goes and ditches them. Also, the military squad being a bunch of bumbling idiots was kind of dumb. I get they are supposed to be expendable failures, but still. The chess game bit between the Doctor and his cyber counterpart really dragged on too much as well. On the other hand, I did love the Helms Deep-esque scenario and that the Cybermen just tossed Clara's entire plan aside like someone kicking a kitten. Other than that though, I don't have very many praises here. It's not bad by any means, but not exactly great either. Oh, and I totally hate the snotty little brat girl. Clara should have given her a great spanking for being a little "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!".

The Name of the Doctor - I love the design and concept of the Whispermen despite being a little too much like the Silence in execution. I also still don't understand what the Great Intelligence is and I can't remember if they explained them in the next episode. In fact, this entire episode seems to keep building up all of these big plot points that never get resolved, and if they do, it's very sloppy and too easy. Not to mention way too convoluted. Retconning scenes from the old series to include Clara was intriguing, but the photoshop effect looked extremely poor, although I'm not exactly sure if they could have done it any other way. I do wish they had gone more into those versions of Clara for more than a couple of seconds even if it were just to watch them die. The way the Doctor saves her seems very convenient. I don't know. Like Nightmare, I'm not sure if I like this episode or hate it. It has some cool stuff going on, yet, as I just said, it seems disorganized. I'm going to need time to reflect on this one a bit longer. Of course, that could just be the cliff hanger ending and my feelings will come together once I rewatch The Day of the Doctor. We'll see.

[Dr Kain]

Well now, The Night of the Doctor and The Last Day were quite interesting to watch. I have to say that I find it brilliant in the manner they have finally given all of the Doctors regeneration scenes now as it makes that very minute, yet important process, feel complete. Moving on...

The Day of the Doctor - This episode was just down right amazing. It seems like they saved all of their top talent from this lacking season just for this tale and this tale alone. I love it. It does suck that the Great Intelligence never once showed up, as it makes them hands down the worst main villains of the seven seasons thus far, and I do have to say the opening this episode is weird considering the cliff hanger the last episode left off on, but everything else is so good that I am easily able to ignore that minor nitpick. Tennant is in top form and I feel this is the best performance he has given as the Doctor since Journey's End. John Hurt was absolutely amazing as the War Doctor too. The only complaints I really have deal with the Zygons as they didn't really do anything interesting with them. They also didn't resolve the UNIT take over plot. Oh, and they weren't really all that creepy. The second complaint would be the Time War just didn't feel as massive as the early seasons made it seem. Anyway, My favorite scene has to be the bit in the dungeon, especially when the War Doctor asks his two counterparts how many children died on Gallifrey. Though, the Tom Baker scene is also incredible. Overall, this is easily the best episode of the season and such a great way to celebrate the anniversary of the franchise.

The Time of the Doctor - Eh, so this is how Smith's run ends, not with a bang, but rather a whimper. Some of this did not make a damn lick of sense. Like where the heck did the Doctor get a Cybermen head from and why did he program it to work for him? Also, if I recall, Vastra and gang do not show up ever again, so it would have been nice if they had had some sort of send off or something in the opening. Instead, the last time we saw them was when they were standing around Transilore waiting for the Doctor to save Clara. I guess my issue is that too much time seems to have jumped between this and the Day of the Doctor as I feel like I missed an episode between the two even though that is not the case. Furthermore has the Papal Chuch even shown up before? Or are they just some new entity that the Doctor has always known about while we remained ignorant? Why were the SIlence there? Were they the ones that created the Silence? If so, why were they trying to take over the Earth? Also, where was the eye patch lady from the previous season? Does she work for this church?

Ugh, too many questions, but the only question asked is "Doctor, who?" because now it turns out the Time Lords have been living in the crack in time the entire time. Oh my brain is hurting too much.

Okay, okay. I did think Matt Smith turned out a wonderful performance as he was going all out on the acting. He was clearly excited to be done with the character and wanted to provided everyone with a grand send off. He is hands down the saving grace for this story. Well that and I am so glad the Earth was not in peril for this regeneration episode. It brings a nice change of pace from the previous two Doctors. Hell, I've been very happy with how little Earth has been in his run of Christmas specials. With that in mind, the naked stuff was a little bit awkward, even for Doctor Who standards. Was that really necessary? The same goes for having the Cybermen, Weeping Angels, and Sontaran's in this thing. They were pretty irrelevant as well. Hell, even the Daleks didn't need to be there as this plot could have easily worked without them too. Jenna did a good job with what little she had to work for Clara this time around.

I do wish they had actually done more to the reset regeneration cycle, maybe instead of spending time on pointless villains or religious figures they could have explored the ability to reset a cycle. I also have to wonder, if the Time Lords can extend the cycle, why does it even exist in the first place? I mean, I know it was stated in the old show they could do that considering they offered it to the Master in The Five Doctors, but again, why have a limit to begin with when it is immaterial?

Well I'm babbling too much so I'll just say that this episode was not the high point of Smith's run, especially after coming off of the incredilous Day of the Doctor one. It did at least improve upon Tennant's regeneration story and it did have entertaining parts. Overall, Matt Smith's run as a whole was quite enjoyable despite the low points as he brought a lot of energy to the role with some of the best chemistry with his companions I haven't seen since Davison, Nyssa, and Teagan.

My ranking for the seventh season is:

1. The Day of the Doctor
2. Hide
3. The Snowmen
4. The Bells of St John
5. Cold War
6. The Rings of Akhaten
7. The Crimson Horror
8. The Doctor, The Widow, and the Wardrobe
9. A Town Called Mercy
10. Nightmare in Silver
11. Journey to the Center of the Tardis
12. The Name of the Doctor
13. The Power of Three
14. Asylum of the Daleks
15. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
16. Angels in Manhattan

Wow, I just realized that this season had absolutely not multi-part episodes. To be honest though, that was hard to rank be pretty much after #6 almost anything could be in any order, that's how lackluster I found this season to be overall. Like I said earlier, it features the worst seasonal main villain of the seven seasons and they screwed up almost everything with Amy and Rory.

Finally, my top 10 favorite episodes from his run are:

1. A Christmas Carol
2. Day of the Doctor
3. Vincent and the Doctor
4. The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
5. The Eleventh Hour
6. The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon
7. Hide
8. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
9. The God Complex
10. The Snowmen

Next up... well a couple of bonus discs before I move on to Capaldi as I really want to see what this Adventures in Space and Time documentary is all about and then watch the Sarah Jane episode along with the concert.

[Dr Kain]

We watched most of the bonus disc tonight for Smith. The Sarah Jane Adventures episodes were not bad. This was my first time ever seeing the show, but to be honest, they didn't make me want to run out and watch the whole thing. Also, since I've only seen one tale with Jo Grant, her reunion with Sarah, as it were, was not as grandiose as I'm sure it was for others. It was still cool to see an old companion come back and I liked the ending when she started to talk about what the other companions did after they left the Doctor.

The concert was down right awesome as I expected it to be. Loved every single minute of it. Though, I am still trying to figure out why the call it a Prom. Anyway, they played a bit of the classic Who's music during it and now it makes me wish BBC would do an alternative version of Tomb of the Cybermen with the soundtrack rerecorded with a full orchestra as god damn did the Cybermen theme from that concert sound amazing.

Despite my love for the concert, I think the highlight of the set was this feature called The Five Doctors-ish Reboot. Just down right hilarious. Oh man words cannot fathom how fun that was. I especially loved McCoy constantly promoting The Hobbit in it and then the bit on the set of The Hobbit when Petere Jackson has to tell McKellan he is going to have to do the scene alone. This is something I'm going to totally show to our friends when they are over on Thursday.

Lastly, I started the 2 hour documentary called The Ultimate Guide, but I only made it about 10 minutes in before I turned it off. It wasn't because it was bad or anything, but all of the documentaries on this set seem to be repeating the same information over, which is often the same information I've gotten from all of the individual documentaries for each story from the old series' DVDs and stuff. I just can't sit through 2 hours listening to the same stories over.

Anyway, like I said, I'm pretty much done with that disc, so all that's left is Advetures in Space and Time.

EDIT:

My Doctor Who DVD/BD Collection:

[Dr Kain]

Well, now learning that the new season of Doctor Who is going to be much sooner than I anticipated, we decided to jump into Capaldi's run a little earlier than planned and watched the first disc. First off, I have to say holy "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!", I just learned from the bonus features on the disc that I have been pronouncing the man's last name wrong this entire time. Anyway...

Deep Breath - Not exactly a strong premier. I did like the call backs to The Girl in the Fireplace, but the story was just a glorified mess. It's easily my least favorite of the four premiers I have watched thus far. I did totally forget that Vastra and gang were in this, so that was a nice surprise to see them back. The scene where you think Vastra is paining Jenny is hilarious, especially when it is revealed she was not doing such. Capaldi is okay, but sometimes his regeneration kooky-ness feels forced. Also, the episode drags on way too much. It did not need to be 80 minutes long. It doesn't help that the villains were quite uninspiring for being the same machines from Fireplace. They went from feeling like this unintentional threat to Saturday morning cartoon villains. Finally, god damn can Clara hold her breath for a long time.

Into the Dalek - What's worse than ANOTHER Dalek episode? A boring as hell Dalek episode! Oh god, this makes Asylum of the Daleks and the Manhattan 2 parter look exciting. Oh, and now the Daleks have totally forgotten who the Doctor was again? o_O I can't keep track anymore. Whatever happened to the Robot Taskforce Dalekranger group? I feel like they just disappeared or maybe I didn't realize they were wiped out a long time ago. Nevertheless, back to this episode, it's basically Fantastic Voyage but less exciting. Hell, this episode was normal length and yet felt longer than the premier.

So far, not exactly the best way to premier a new Doctor. I guess it could be worse, it could be Whitaker's introduction, but that is a thought I'll save for later when I revisit that season. For now, ugh.

[Dr Kain]

Knocked out another 3 episodes.

Robots of Sherwood - <Yawn> Boring and just down right dumb. The Doctor also acts way out of character throughout the entire thing. Like since when would he reject the notion that someone could exist? There's not a single scene I liked.

Listen - FINALLY!! This episode is just down right awesome! Lots of great intense moments with an enjoyable story to boot. It was interesting to see a really paranoid Doctor.

Time Heist - A really intriguing episode that seems too short for its own good. I feel like this should have been a two parter as there was so much going on and all of it was interesting, but again, rushed. I want to know more about the "Tellar" and his race. I want to know about this robot thief and the shapeshifter lady.

[Dr Kain]

The Caretaker - This was a fun episode. There was a lot of great chemistry between the Doctor and Clara here and their banter came off quite natural sounding. My favorite scene is probably when Danny played the Invisible Man inside of the Tardis and the Doctor of course knew he was there while my favorite piece of dialog is when Clara tells him traveling on his own would require him to get a conscience. The alien was neat even if it barely did anything.

[Dr Kain]

Kill the Moon - "What an "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!"!" said Gilbert Godfried when regarding the Doctor. The overall plot was a little ridiculous in the end, but the episode featured a lot of great suspense as those spider creatures were quite creepy. It was funny at the beginning when the Doctor had no idea who Courtney was since he only knew her as "Disruptive Influence." Not sure how I feel about him being reckless enough to bring a child to the future, but it's not like he didn't do that last season either, so meh, whatever. The whole egg thing though... I don't know how I feel about it.

Mummy on the Orient Express - Oh man, this one is right up there with Listen in being the best of the season. Such an incredibly tense episode with a new take on a mummy story. Not to mention it takes place on a train and trains are cool. Loved it! I don't remember if we ever meet Gus again, but I enjoyed this episode from start to finish even if the ending felt a bit rushed. A shame the engineer guy didn't stick around.

[Dr Kain]

Flatline - Another really solid horror-esque episode. I loved that those who were taken didn't get reverted back at the end as this show will sometimes do. It had great moments of tension, a fascinating breed of creatures, and some well timed moments of comedy to relieve the suspense before amping it back up. I loved Clara's comment about moving the Tardis Addams Family style.

In the Forest of the Night - This one was kind of a mixed bag for me. It started out with a compelling narrative, only to take a nose dive in pacing as it continued on. Plus, the final act was just dumb. So god damn stupid. It may not be the worst episode of the season, but it's definitely at the very bottom. My favorite moment was when the Doctor is trying to figure out why none of the kids are amazed at the Tardis and one of the girls retorts with, "There wasn't a forest, then there was. Nothing surprises us anymore."

[Dr Kain]

Dark Water/Death in Heaven - Killing off Danny the way they did seems a bit... forced as if they were trying to do it for shock value more than anything else. It also seems way too soon to off him as it makes half of this season utterly pointless. Fortunately, there is a good story to go with it that makes up for it as I loved the whole Night of the Living Cybermen plot. Missy turning out to be the Master was obvious, yet, well done. I loved the moment when she pretended to be a robot. The Doctor being deemed the President of the World seems a bit farfetched, but at least it made for a great burn towards Missy. It also seems a bit contrived that the Doctor managed to program a bracelet to bring one person back from the dead, yet, it is Doctor Who, so meh, whatever. The show's gonna do what the show wants to do.

Overall, the season started out quite shaky and improved along the way for the most part. There wasn't a single episode that was perfect, though when the season was great, it was truly great. When it was low, it went beyond the bottom of the barrel. Thankfully, it was an improvement over Smith's final season, so kudos for that. I do feel like they are finally figuring out how they want to write Capaldi, so that's good, now they just need to keep up with it.

My rankings for this season are probably as follows:

1. Listen
2. Mummy on the Orient Express
3. The Caretaker
4. Time Heist
5. Dark Water/Death in Heaven
6. Flatline
7. Kill the Moon
8. Deep Breath
9. In the Forest of the Night
10. Into the Dalek
11. Robots of Sherwood

And since we had time, we got started right away on Season 9 with...

The Last Christmas - Nick Frost kills it as Santa. I love the homage to Alien and even their comments about the film and the Doctor's reply towards it. It's got a lot of layers to it and it kind of justifies the finale to the last season. If I have any complaints towards it is that this should have been Clara's goodbye. Her being old should not have been a dream and this si where her and the Doctor parted ways. That would have made for a much graniose finale for a companion as opposed to another companion dying scenario. Nevertheless, it may not be better than A Christmas Carol or The Snowmen, but it is certainly up there.

[Benjamin Haines]

[Dr Kain]

We kicked off Capaldi's second season today and damn does this thing kick off with a bang. Before I get into it though, I've gotta say that this has got to be the longest string of horror-esque episodes the show has had since the Hinchcliffe era. I love it. More than half of the run so far has all been horror, which is amazing. Kudos to Moffat and I am really loving the two part format this season is offering.

The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar - At first, I was like, "Jesus, ANOTHER god damn Dalek episode?" However, not only is this the best Dalek story since Journey's End, but it perhaps the best use of Davros since his very first appearance in Genesis of the Daleks. If you're going to bring back a villain, THIS is how you do it! Additionally, every scene that featured Missy was just pure gold. Gomez is really putting out all of the stops to make her version of the Master fun and intriguing, yet, threatening. Never let your guard down against her because it will probably be the death of you.

Under the Lake/Before the Flood - Aw damn, this one is even better than the last story. It's exceptional! Lots of suspense, lots of tension, a creative plot, a really cool looking alien monster, and just a lot of great chemistry from the entire cast. I think my favorite moment of dialog though comes from the Doctor's, "Who's in charge so I know who to ignore?" And then when he asks "Why are you still talking to me?" to the corporate executive jackass. Another thing I find interesting is how reckless Clara has become. She clearly doesn't care about her own safety anymore as she's got nothing to lose and I love this portrayal. It adds a nice touch.

Wow, four episodes done and this season is already off to an amazing start.

[Dr Kain]

Knocked another two episodes out today.

The Girl Who Died/The Woman Who Lived - Not as good as the last pair of episodes, but still good nonetheless. I really enjoyed the callbacks to Fires of Pompeii and the Davison story where the London Fire occurred in from his first season. On the other hand, Williams was pretty much just playing Arya Stark, just with a different name and in a different universe. The concept of her being practically immortal is a cool idea, especially with the toll it took on her in the second half. I will say I don't think the second part was as strong as the first, but meh, whatever. At least the Doctor finally admits he can do whatever he wants because he is the Doctor.

[Dr Kain]

The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion - This feels like an apology for the unfinished plotline from the anniversary special. It's also a mess in a lot of places, but at least it ends pretty well. There's just too much going on with too many subplots happening and despite being a two parter, not enough time to fully flesh them all out. Like the plot with Stewart in New Mexico. That was absolutely pointless. On the other hand, Coleman was terrific when it came to playing Zygon Clara. Just absolutely stunning and it is probably her best performance in the entire show. The Doctor's speech towards the end with the boxes was fantastic too and it is a shame it was a slog to get there. Beyond that, I did love the bits of horror sprinkled throughout even if it didn't always hit. It might be the weakest of the 2 parters from this season, but it still had its moments.

Sleep No More - Leave it to the Japanese to love the idea of a machine that will let them continue to work without needing sleep. :-p Anyway, this episode is garbage just for the fact that it is filmed in a found footage style. I hate found footage films so this one lost me instantaneously. Thankfully it does have the line, "Why do you humans always put space in front of everything just because it's high tech?" to make the episode worth watching. It's a shame though, because if it wasn't done in the found footage style, it could have been a horror masterpiece in the same vein as The Robots of Death or Seeds of Doom.

[Dr Kain]

We didn't feel like watching the next disc of Capaldi tonight, so we decided to kick off our Pertwee viewing.

Spearhead from Space - As I thought last year when I watched this for the first time, it was very damn good. It was well paced and never bored me for even a micro second. Pertwee does a great job discovering who is Doctor is as the show progresses and Shaw seems like a good companion to replace Jaime and Zoe. The Autons also make for an intrguing group of villains despite the climatic battle being a tad underwhelming. Overall, a truly kick ass premier.