So, I am aware that I haven't posted in a while.
I've mostly been busy and all. College courses have been pretty tasking and I've been trying to keep up. That and I've been working on my stories. But I managed to get around to completing Season Eight ever since last year when I caught the Season Eight premiere, "Deep Breath". I watched "Into The Dalek" and "Robot Hood".
How were they? Well, I have mixed emotions.
I confess, one thing that's kind of turned me off a bit on those episodes is the personality of the Twelfth Doctor. Don't get me wrong; Peter Capaldi is a great actor, and Twelve has his moments, but there are times when he seems rather cold and removed. I guess it may be a bit of a throwback to William Hartnell's Doctor, who was rather brusque, and Christopher Eccleston's Doctor, who was a tortured soul, but even they had their softer moments (Eccleston especially). I know some of the comments about Clara in "Into The Dalek" (e.g. her being old. I mean, come on; maybe she's not like, twenty or so, but she's not old. Also, pot, kettle, just saying. XD *) as well as saying that Journey Blue shouldn't have been a soldier. I mean, the Doctor was also a soldier in the Time War. (Yes, technically the Time War didn't result in blowing up Gallifrey since "Day of the Doctor", but even so, a nod to the events would have been nice. One thing I really liked about the way the Time War was handled in the RTD era was how it was really emphasized how it weighed on the Doctor, as it would for anyone who had to do something like that) And a lot of what Journey was doing was perfectly understandable, considering her position. A lot of what the Galactic Resistance was doing was perfectly understandable. They did what they could, considering the circumstances.
Then there was the matter of the whole Robin Hood thing. I dunno; through a lot of the trip, it seemed like he was competing with Robin Hood. And generally acting sort of uptight. Not to mention when he revealed to Robin Hood that he was really an imposter, he seemed sort of gleeful about it. Sort of like he was rubbing it in. He did turn around at the end, by acknowledging Robin Hood as a kind of equal, and reuniting him with Marian (that was a genuinely touching moment). And in "Into The Dalek", the scene where he was showing the Dalek (or trying to show him) that there is life outside hatred, was a genuinely powerful, moving scene. So there is that. And who knows -- I might warm up to him a little more as I go through the season. Twelve was advertised as a darker Doctor, after all -- so this may be overall part of his arc.
As for the good things about the episodes? Well, for "Into The Dalek", the very idea was intriguing, not just the idea of a "good" Dalek (which was explored previously in "Dalek", "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks", "Journey's End" and -- sort of -- "Asylum of the Daleks", even though it was technically a copy of Clara that ended up inside a Dalek) but going inside the Dalek, where you actually get to see inside the Dalek's biology. It was one of those things that I found very interesting, and the fact that they had to find a way to repair the Dalek (yeah, I'm aware that on the surface, it sounds like a terrible idea. It...makes more sense in the context of the episode) and later, get it to stop killing people, was also an interesting idea. (And the New Series wasn't the only one to come up with this idea. Back in the Second Doctor's era, they had "The Evil of the Daleks", I heard. Even before "Dalek", they had a story toying with the idea of "are the Daleks all simply Chaotic Evil? Can there be exceptions?" Very science fiction-y, come to think of it, considering that one part of science fiction is examining different ideas. Sort of one of those places where the "science" comes in) The part where the Dalek actually sees into the Doctor's soul and his memories was, again, a very powerful scene. And "Rusty" the Dalek was a very good character. The design of the interior of the Dalek was also very interesting, though from what the Doctor said in "Doomsday", I did picture it kind of like a Vader-esque prison. Sort of sealed away from the outside world, unable to really feel anything. Still, it makes sense they'd have antibodies to fight off interior threats, etc.
I also liked Clara's faith in the idea that the Dalek could possibly be saved. And I like that she turns out to be right, even if the Dalek (much to the Doctor's chagrin) ends up turning on the other Daleks. It's not as if there was much of a choice, though.
I also liked Danny Pink. He was pretty cool, from what I saw of him, and I am intrigued to know more about him as a character, and his suggested past. Considering that it's referenced that he was apparently a soldier, I'm also wondering how the Doctor's going to react to this.
As for "Robot Hood" -- well, I think the premise is intriguing. I like how it ties back in to "Deep Breath" with the matter of the Promised Land, the acting was genuinely good in this (I haven't found a single bad actor in Doctor Who, really), Robin Hood was genuinely likable here (the actor who played him did a great job playing him as the sort of romantic hero of the tale. ** I also really liked Clara in this -- in this and "Into the Dalek", she was clever, she was brave, she was funny...I already liked her quite a bit as a companion, but I'm liking her more and more by the episodes. The guy who played the Sheriff was very good as well. I liked how Robin Hood ended up living up to his legend anyway, even though he was still a copy, by coming to the Doctor's aid. I liked the humor at the beginning of the episode as well, with the Doctor and Robin's first interaction. And I liked Robin reuniting with Marian at the end, as I said, and how he, Clara and the Doctor used the golden arrow prize in order to save the day in the end.
So yeah, they were decent episodes. The Doctor's going to take me a while to get used to, but nonetheless, they were pretty decent.
* And to be fair, I guess that might have been intentional, especially from Clara's reactions. Sort of like Ten saying rude things without realizing it.
** And I agree with Clara; Robin Hood is awesome.
So overall? I recommend them. Not as much as other episodes, but I still recommend them.
How were they? Well, I have mixed emotions.
I confess, one thing that's kind of turned me off a bit on those episodes is the personality of the Twelfth Doctor. Don't get me wrong; Peter Capaldi is a great actor, and Twelve has his moments, but there are times when he seems rather cold and removed. I guess it may be a bit of a throwback to William Hartnell's Doctor, who was rather brusque, and Christopher Eccleston's Doctor, who was a tortured soul, but even they had their softer moments (Eccleston especially). I know some of the comments about Clara in "Into The Dalek" (e.g. her being old. I mean, come on; maybe she's not like, twenty or so, but she's not old. Also, pot, kettle, just saying. XD *) as well as saying that Journey Blue shouldn't have been a soldier. I mean, the Doctor was also a soldier in the Time War. (Yes, technically the Time War didn't result in blowing up Gallifrey since "Day of the Doctor", but even so, a nod to the events would have been nice. One thing I really liked about the way the Time War was handled in the RTD era was how it was really emphasized how it weighed on the Doctor, as it would for anyone who had to do something like that) And a lot of what Journey was doing was perfectly understandable, considering her position. A lot of what the Galactic Resistance was doing was perfectly understandable. They did what they could, considering the circumstances.
Then there was the matter of the whole Robin Hood thing. I dunno; through a lot of the trip, it seemed like he was competing with Robin Hood. And generally acting sort of uptight. Not to mention when he revealed to Robin Hood that he was really an imposter, he seemed sort of gleeful about it. Sort of like he was rubbing it in. He did turn around at the end, by acknowledging Robin Hood as a kind of equal, and reuniting him with Marian (that was a genuinely touching moment). And in "Into The Dalek", the scene where he was showing the Dalek (or trying to show him) that there is life outside hatred, was a genuinely powerful, moving scene. So there is that. And who knows -- I might warm up to him a little more as I go through the season. Twelve was advertised as a darker Doctor, after all -- so this may be overall part of his arc.
As for the good things about the episodes? Well, for "Into The Dalek", the very idea was intriguing, not just the idea of a "good" Dalek (which was explored previously in "Dalek", "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks", "Journey's End" and -- sort of -- "Asylum of the Daleks", even though it was technically a copy of Clara that ended up inside a Dalek) but going inside the Dalek, where you actually get to see inside the Dalek's biology. It was one of those things that I found very interesting, and the fact that they had to find a way to repair the Dalek (yeah, I'm aware that on the surface, it sounds like a terrible idea. It...makes more sense in the context of the episode) and later, get it to stop killing people, was also an interesting idea. (And the New Series wasn't the only one to come up with this idea. Back in the Second Doctor's era, they had "The Evil of the Daleks", I heard. Even before "Dalek", they had a story toying with the idea of "are the Daleks all simply Chaotic Evil? Can there be exceptions?" Very science fiction-y, come to think of it, considering that one part of science fiction is examining different ideas. Sort of one of those places where the "science" comes in) The part where the Dalek actually sees into the Doctor's soul and his memories was, again, a very powerful scene. And "Rusty" the Dalek was a very good character. The design of the interior of the Dalek was also very interesting, though from what the Doctor said in "Doomsday", I did picture it kind of like a Vader-esque prison. Sort of sealed away from the outside world, unable to really feel anything. Still, it makes sense they'd have antibodies to fight off interior threats, etc.
I also liked Clara's faith in the idea that the Dalek could possibly be saved. And I like that she turns out to be right, even if the Dalek (much to the Doctor's chagrin) ends up turning on the other Daleks. It's not as if there was much of a choice, though.
I also liked Danny Pink. He was pretty cool, from what I saw of him, and I am intrigued to know more about him as a character, and his suggested past. Considering that it's referenced that he was apparently a soldier, I'm also wondering how the Doctor's going to react to this.
As for "Robot Hood" -- well, I think the premise is intriguing. I like how it ties back in to "Deep Breath" with the matter of the Promised Land, the acting was genuinely good in this (I haven't found a single bad actor in Doctor Who, really), Robin Hood was genuinely likable here (the actor who played him did a great job playing him as the sort of romantic hero of the tale. ** I also really liked Clara in this -- in this and "Into the Dalek", she was clever, she was brave, she was funny...I already liked her quite a bit as a companion, but I'm liking her more and more by the episodes. The guy who played the Sheriff was very good as well. I liked how Robin Hood ended up living up to his legend anyway, even though he was still a copy, by coming to the Doctor's aid. I liked the humor at the beginning of the episode as well, with the Doctor and Robin's first interaction. And I liked Robin reuniting with Marian at the end, as I said, and how he, Clara and the Doctor used the golden arrow prize in order to save the day in the end.
So yeah, they were decent episodes. The Doctor's going to take me a while to get used to, but nonetheless, they were pretty decent.
* And to be fair, I guess that might have been intentional, especially from Clara's reactions. Sort of like Ten saying rude things without realizing it.
** And I agree with Clara; Robin Hood is awesome.
So overall? I recommend them. Not as much as other episodes, but I still recommend them.