“Get Off My Planet”: Doctor Who Season 9 Finale Review

Did you watch it? Have you seen the Doctor Who finale yet? No? I’ll wait.

Great. It’s been a few days and spoilers are all but impossible to avoid, but you really need to get caught up on Doctor Who. The finale was chock full of twists, surprises, and tears, but I think Steven Moffat has at long last figured out how to combine character death with time travel and leave me feeling satisfied without the depression. Let me tell you why.

Spoilers abound for the last few episodes of Doctor Who’s ninth season.

Checking in with the Doctor: Series 9 Midseason Review

You need to start watching Doctor Who again.

Okay, I never stopped. But I get it. I was skeptical too. I fell in love with the show when the Ninth Doctor told Rose that he could feel the turn of the Earth. Puns and camp and coincidence are all excusable when the Tenth Doctor is basically Jesus and the recurring theme is the wonder of the world and the value of humanity. Eleven even told us, with a cold fury, “In 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important before.” And then somewhere along the line, the show stopped being about that. Characters changed personalities depending on who was writing the episode, coincidence got us out of trouble instead of into it, and it was hard to care when the world was ending, again, but the Doctor just had to push the reset button, again, to save the day. In Series 7 it was clear to me that when it came to Clara’s personality, none of the writers were on the same page. In rewatches of Series 8, I felt like the show was almost contemptuous of its audience, as if it couldn’t care less if I gave a damn about it. Or maybe that was just the vibe I got from Capaldi’s Doctor.

But for Series 9, things are changing. I’m seeing some glimmers of the show I loved so much. So if you’ve stayed away, let me show you what you’ve missed, and why it’s a good time to give it another chance.

Lots of spoilers for Doctor Who, Series 9, through Episode 7 and hints for later on.

Checking in with the Doctor: Doctor Who Season 8 Midseason Review

It’s been a while since we last checked in with Doctor Who’s Season 8. We last covered the Season 8 premiere, and I had some mixed feelings about it. The next five episodes haven’t followed much of a cohesive plot. Rather, they’re one-off ideas for what might make an interesting Doctor Who episode. Steven Moffat seems to be asking a lot of questions about who the Doctor really is, and what it means to be the Doctor. We’re also finally getting some character development for the Doctor’s companion, Clara. So has Moffat produced some quality Doctor Who? Sort of.

Spoilers for the first half of Season 8 below.

Deep Breaths, Everyone: Doctor Who’s Series Eight Premiere

Welcome back, Whovians. After eight months of waiting, we’re finally treated to series eight of Doctor Who. We’ve got a new Doctor, a dinosaur, clockwork-y cyborgs, and the Paternoster gang. With the massive amounts of media hype surrounding the series (including some major script and episode leaks), does the series opener live up to its promise? Sort of.

Loads of spoilers for this episode below the cut.

Doctor Who Gets a New Companion

If you haven’t heard the news yet, consider yourself informed: there will be a new face in the TARDIS when Doctor Who returns this fall, and I don’t mean just Capaldi.

Actor Samuel Anderson will be joining the regular cast as Danny Pink, a fellow teacher at the Coal Hill School and a coworker of Clara’s. Anderson has been in a ton of British television shows that I’ve never seen or heard of, but fan reception of his acting seems to be positive. Anyway, I have a lot of feelings about this announcement, so let’s get right into it.

“Time of the Doctor” Review

Merry Christmas, Whovians and sundry! Yesterday sure was… something, wasn’t it?

Hit the jump for spoilers.

Doctor Who? Your Guide to the Newest Doctor

After a long wait, we now know that the next Doctor is Peter Capaldi! Yeah, I wanted a non-white, non-male Doctor too, but Moffat’s said that Capaldi was the only actor he auditioned for the role, so as long as we’ve got Moffat on board I suppose the Doctor will always be white and male. As white male choices go, though, I think Capaldi was a great one. For those of you who don’t know, Capaldi is a 55-year-old actor most known for his role as Malcolm Tucker in the British political satire The Thick of It and its spinoff In the Loop. Like David Tennant, he’s Scottish; unlike Tennant, he’ll get to keep his accent as the Doctor. Capaldi is a huge Doctor Who fan and is delighted to step into the Doctor’s sizable shoes, and I think Capaldi’s going to bring a very different sort of energy to the role. Not gonna lie, I’m a massive fan of his. Let me tell you why.

And the Twelfth Doctor is…

After a truly anxiety-inspiring wait, it has been announced that the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor will be played by Peter Capaldi!

Capaldi previously appeared in Doctor Who in the S4 episode “Fires of Pompeii”, in the Torchwood Children of Earth series, and has played roles in several other shows.

From the live reveal special, he seems like a nice enough guy, and I wish him all the luck in the world with the role. However, I do find it depressing that, yet again, when given the chance to cast an actor of color or a woman in the role, the BBC opted to cast another old white guy. (Also, so much for my hopes that the twist of the reveal would be that Moffat, not Matt Smith, was leaving the show.)

What do you think of the new actor, readers? Who was your dream Twelve? Let me know in the comments!