I recently acquired the boxset of Doctor Who series 8, Peter Capaldi's first series as The Doctor. I quite often revisit DW after a little break - partly because I'm a cheapskate and wait for the prices to tail off a little, but mainly because leaving things for a time helps to get past those initial gut reactions to a piece.
I do it with my own writing - and I'm not alone. Many writers speak of putting away first drafts in a drawer, to allow it to be seen later on with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective.
Strangely it's the same experience with new Doctor Who episodes. Maybe it's hype, maybe it's the complexity of getting to grips with strange new settings and ideas, but I don't always enjoy DW on first viewing. Conversely, the episodes I did enjoy first sometimes offer little rewards on repeated viewing. But it struck me recently that I was surprised at just how much I now enjoy series 5 & 6, with Matt Smith, despite some misgivings about the stories contained within. Furthermore I even revisited "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" and "The Lodger" and found a lot there to enjoy.
So, I decided to put down my thoughts somewhere, while I revisit series 8 for the first time. Here seems as good a place as any.
First, though, I'd like to set down my memories and expectations. Once I've reacquainted myself with an episode, it's hard to recapture my feelings from the first viewing. So, what follows is what I remember from watching Peter Capaldi's first season for the first time.
Series 8 overview
The TL;DR version? Loved Peter Capaldi as the Doctor. Abrasive, alien, unpredictable - everything the Doctor should be. Hartnell at his most uncaring, Troughton at his most enigmatic, Baker 1 at his most inscrutable, Baker 2 at his most blasé, McCoy at his darkest and most manipulative. (I've missed a couple, there. Pertwee and Davison were just too much like nice guys for a reasonable comparison!)
However, I remember some of the episodes as very shaky. Probably about half I didn't really enjoy. I remember some truly incredible moments of writing - some of the best Doctor Who has ever had. Danny Pink's clever tirade against the Doctor as an "officer" figure; Capaldi's description of Clara as his carer: "She cares, so I don't have to"; dimensional hiccups with the size of the Tardis - all brilliant. However this was interspersed with some of the worst writing I've encountered. A golden arrow on the side of an engine? Fully-functional Cyberman reconstituted out of water? Really?
Deep Breath
I'll admit to some distraction here. I was very tied up with seeing how the 12th Doctor's personality would coalesce. I remember very little of the plot, beyond a burning T-Rex and lots of hand-wringing with the Victorian/Lizard/Sontaran crew. I recall annoyance that they spent so much of the episode making excuses for Capaldi's age - especially given that Clara had already seen The Doctor's entire regeneration cycle to date. A parting phonecall from Doctor #11 was a particularly insulting moment, although a clever bit of continuity from The Time of the Doctor.
Into the Dalek
A good idea - some nice DW continuity references (the mini-scope) and great casting. I remember not being totally impressed with the realisation of their Fantastic Voyage-style adventure - and some of The Doctor's callousness towards death felt hard to accept.
Robot of Sherwood
Oh dear. Honestly? Not even looking forward to revisiting this one. A silly idea, brought to a head with one of the worst dramatic climaxes in television history. I remember lots of arguing for Clara's attention, leading to a resolution which one Who fan referred to as "like pouring petrol on the outside of a car and expecting it to work".
Listen
I remember this being really creepy. A very clever idea and some good cheeky continuity with the 50th special. However, the actual detail of the plot hasn't stuck in my mind. The ending was a very original concept, but I remember feeling distinctly deflated. Overriding memory? A lot of tension, but nothing actually happened.
Time Heist
I recall really enjoying this one. Classic Ocean's Howevermany style robbery caper. Slightly awkward re-use of sets not masked very well and a sense that the team that had been essentially were largely superfluous redshirts, once it was revealed what actually needed to happen, but a good romp, nevertheless. Creepy monster and a palpable threat.The Caretaker
Strong feelings about this one. This episode contains a lot of interpersonal stuff about how the Doctor treats people - And whether he uses them to die for him. Danny confronts the Doctor in amazing style, with all his experience from being a soldier. The robot was a bit cheap-looking and kiddy (it would have looked great in a Sarah-Jane Adventures story) and the main plot was a bit of a non-starter, but the character drama took centre stage.
Kill the Moon
Need to try not to think too hard about this one. Lots of weird inconsistencies and coincidences. For example, there are large creature living on the moon which are essentially germs, so they can be killed with a spray of anti-bac? Either I or the writers don't understand how anti-bac works, because I'm pretty sure that couldn't happen. Anti-bac spray creates an environment in which germs cannot survive. A large creature with complex anatomy isn't going to be felled like that. Also, it is a bit of a coincidence that a) that character happened to be holding a spray and b) they even thought to use it. And, while I like the idea that the moon is an egg for a space-creature, the idea that the creature leaves behind a brand-new egg, with exactly the same mass, on the day of its birth is a bit of a stretch. That said, it was a genuinely new and brilliant idea, a great moral choice at the heart of the story and - from what I have written here - has stuck in my mind far more than many other episodes. I think if I can ignore the plot holes, this could be a great story.
Mummy on the Orient Express
Tricky one, this. Could be exceptional, but for The Doctor's callous attitude to other people's death. Need to reconsider that on a second viewing. But otherwise this was a great bit of period-charm silliness, a scary monster and a chilling tale. Seem to remember this story leaving unresolved issues.
Flatline
Probably my favourite episode from the series, so it has a lot to live up to. Playing around with the dimensionality of things, with monsters that only live in two dimension, while The Doctor is stuck in the Tardis, because the outer shell has materialised in too small a size. Good, creepy monster. Great settings and a good cast of characters.In the Forest of the Night
My main memory of this is wondering why an overgrown London suddenly only seems to have about three people living in it. There was nothing in the plot about human disappearances, so why is the centre of the city suddenly no more than a quiet walk in Epping Forest? That aside, this is the episode where Doctor Who finally managed to include children in a story without them being really irritating. There was some controversy, as I recall, over the Doctor's assertion that children with behavioural problems shouldn't take their medicine. I think the plot was a bit ho-hum?Dark Water
I can't think of this without it being coloured by the travesty that was Death in Heaven, but honestly I remember a very gripping, interesting set-up story. I can't remember what actually happened to fill 45 minutes, but I remember enjoying it. The final revelation of Missy as being The Master was a bit of a squib. It couldn't realistically have been anyone else, although I remember a brief moment of doubt during the episode when I thought it could be a Romana turned bad.
Death in Heaven
I was very disappointed by this, although again it's hard to remember why. Lots of silly plot holes. Cybermen from rainwater without any further explanation (if someone had even bothered to say Nanites I'd have at least felt they were trying to make it logical), also if the cybermen can be built from virtually nothing, why need people at all? The Master escapes and kills a character while armed soldiers in the background do nothing to stop her. Danny breaks his Cyberman programming because of his love for Clara - because of course all the other millions of Cybermen in history never loved anybody important. And a Cyberised Alasdair Lethbridge-Stewart appears, also having broken his programming. It seems hard to imagine the Cyber legions could maintain discipline with so many rogue units among their numbers. That said, I liked that the Master did it all as some kind of ill-judged gift for the Doctor - and, more importantly, I liked how tempted the Doctor was to use his new army. But overall I felt this episode was very badly judged and disappointing. But having said that, that was also my reaction to The Curse of the Black Spot and Let's Kill Hitler, both of which I have warmed to.
We'll see.
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