OH MY GOD HE'S OOGLY: nu-Who season 8

x-post - Fair point, but I'm not sure trying to come up with some kind of scientific explanation would have added to the drama much.

Post-its also a nice way of telling the viewer why she's calling without having to put in some clunky scene where she rehearses what she's going to say to him.

the jump from the graveyard to clara at home when danny sends the kid back was the worst bit in the whole episode. "oh the doctor explained to you" blah blah...it just seemed like they were trying to cover a major hole, or something else had been cut for time.

this was otherwise good, if exceptionally silly. the end was touching though I was certain she wasn't departing yet because they still haven't explained how she and danny have a descendant in the future.

So now that this is done, is everyone here in agreement that Capaldi has been amazing in this role? Is that just because we're all old? My wife taught creative writing to a bunch of middle schoolers this week and at their break they were talking about Doctor Who and all said they had a hard time relating to him; they all liked Tennant the best.

Capaldi ruled and tbh I don't think you're supposed to relate to his Doctor so um mission successful?

I think there's more to it, or at least we were supposed to think so even if it went nowhere.

http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/doctor-who/32782/doctor-who-series-8-the-clues-in-claras-post-it-notes

This one makes me think she might be pregnant:

http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeek/files/styles/insert_main_wide_image/public/3/76//three_months.jpg

also as it says on the article, the Doctor describing her as “quite the mess of chemicals” after scanning her with the Sonic.

exactly.

whenever I pop in to comments in anything (youtube trailers, fb posts from the show) the amount of whining and bitching about this series is just exhausting. moffat is bad, clara is still bad, capaldi is bad, blah blah blah.

My kids like Capaldi being rude and blunt but I think both prefer Smith & Tennant.

I do think the age thing is an issue, sadly.

I do feel like most of the people complaining about the sexism of modern Who (#notallcomplainers) never saw the original series

or noticed how every maternal figure in RTD's era was a terrible harridan who made life worse for everyone around them

The age thing is definitely an issue, they could get round that in future by including a younger/cooler/hotter male companion in the Tardis entourage though.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f9fWHdU_eiE/UYlI_st00EI/AAAAAAAAAdw/5Tf6BEcY7Ns/s1600/06+Adric.jpg

Will MattDC ever know if he was right?

I didn't notice the "three months" Post-It, but I guess Clara's pregancy is kinda likely now, since it seems Danny won't be coming back from the dead, and we already know an identical grandkid of his exists in the future, so Danny must've procreated somehow before his death. And I doubt they're gonna reveal he already had a kid with someone else...

hahahaha DJP

That would be a good plot idea Tuomas, had it not already been established (by the same writer) that foetuses travelling in TARDIS become Tiem Babbies and can regenerate and all kinds of shit. Plus because they're Tiem Babbies they're of special interest to time travelling alium species that nobody knows exists (and weren't defeated or anything, just had the "I don't need to show you what happened in the gap, go away and think" logic applied to them) who'll stop at nothing to kidnap and indoctrinate them because they're unique. Although of course they won't do that if The Doctor is in hiding and nobody in the entire universe knows he's alive.

Three months could well be pregnancy, but I took it more as her attempt to keep tabs on her own timeline... i.e. three months in Danny's time was when she went back to young Rupert's time. The Orson thing does suggest she's pregnant though.

I thought that only applied to kids *conceived* in the TARDIS? Which River was, but the potential child of Clara and Danny Pink presumably wasn't.

(xpost to Aldo)

I think that only applied to Amy Pond

I'd need to rewatch to check but pretty sure it was exposure to the vortex at the developmental stage. Pretty sure River was supposed to be conceived on their honeymoon.

pretty sure it was exposure to the vortex at the developmental stage

that's one hell of a deleted scene

Wiki sez conceived on their wedding night. Which they supposedly spent in TARDIS when I'm pretty sure they spent it at a party with Amy's newly resurrected parents.

maybe only babies conceived in front of their grandparents end up inheriting Time Lord powers

That's probably right.

Graeme Harper is directing tonight's Hollyoakes. How the mighty have fallen.

IIRC Amy explicitly said River was conceived in the TARDIS. It was certainly implied they had sex there.

Did the cervix turn red or blue?

Fairy nuff. Tiem Babbies are a bit like baking obviously, the magic happens at the point where you combine the ingredients and not afterwards.

There's probably a joke to be made about Rory being the one making the wheezing groaning noise.

Not totally a Tiem Babbie. Conceived in Tardis, then genetically engineered further by Madame Kovarian and Co.

Clara would've been rather callous not to tell Danny she's pregnant just before he sacrificed himself to save the world; so I'm guessing it's not that. Or maybe just that she doesn't know yet.

Anyway, the episode -- some of it was quite awful, and Capaldi was a a bit underused throughout, but then the final scene in the cafe (reminiscent of the scene with Bernard Cribbins, now I think of it) was just so heartbreaking and well done. And perhaps it's that mixture of awful and amazing that makes Doctor Who unique.

Re: Capaldi's age - I don't remember being that bothered by old lead actors, when I was a kid, but then again, when I was young, almost everyone on TV was a grey haired old white person, so I guess I didn't have much choice.

Shame about Oswald - I guess they needed a "no, the Master really is evil" moment, and someone slightly above the average redshirt for it to happen to - but it still felt like a waste.

(I mean Osgood)

The whole reason the finale of season five is called The Big Bang is because it alludes to the Ponds having sex in the TARDIS afterwards.

Willing to bet it was the Zygon Osgood that got vaporised.

chuck tatum otm

Osgood's death was the best bit!

I was disappointed with Osgood's death too, because I was kinda hoping she'd become the next companion, it would've been a nice change to have a female companion who looks and acts like a normal person... There hasn't really been one in nu-Who besides Donna.

Has there been any confirmation that Coleman will actually leave the show in the Christmas episode, though? Everyone seems to be assuming so, and last weeks episode certainly felt like her time as a companion will end, but I can't find anything on the internet that would confirm her leaving... There's just a Radio Times interview from September where she says she doesn't want to comment on the subject so future plot developments won't be spoiled. Which is fair enough, but I don't think it'd be much of a spoiler at this point anymore.

In what universe is Osgood a "normal person"

I meant "normal person" in the sense that she isn't necessarily super confident/brave/selfless/heroic, and that she doesn't look like a model.

I wasn't expecting Osgood to become a new companion, but I did like the idea of her character being a recurring one. So hopefully it was the Zygon. There have been less believable ways of bringing characters back.

yeah surprised the ditched her before she had a chance to bring back some other doctor outfits. maybe she'll be back.

I do think this second parter was a big letdown from dark water, which is almost typically the case with two parters on who.

Maybe the Zygon Osgood will be the recurring character.

Zygons revert to type if the human they're copying is killed. So the dead Osgood has to be Zygon Osgood if we're to get moar Ingrid Oliver.

Osgood is so transparently fan-service/audience proxy/surrogate cynical TV shite creation that it's impossible to take her as more than a nod. No real character, just glasses/bow tie pandering, the eager-beaver selfless nerd archetype from every SF in the last decade.

tbh I was surprised she didn't get killed in the anniversary special

The character is kinda one-note - thought the actress had presence, though (even if her comedy show is unfortunately kind of awful).

The fact she's called Osgood is (not only imo) a crack-handed tribute to the socially-stunted but electronically talented UNIT soldier of the same name in The Daemons.

He also had glasses and clothes that didn't fit 'properly'.

Quite liked the musical, ahem, tribute to the James Bond theme during the skydive.

I thought she (and Kate for that matter) had more potential than the Victorian gang, who really have run their course now and I was pretty happy not to see them past the first episode.