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Doctor Who

He's older, even crankier, but Peter Capaldi's Doctor is a return to classic Doctor Who.

2014-08-24_2340So we’re in Victorian London and there’s a dinosaur on the loose. Doctor Who must be back on the telly. Where else would you expect such a confounding opening scene merging merry old England and prehistoric times? You don’t get that on Midsomer Murders.

Before long this anguished T-Rex has spat up the TARDIS and the 12th Doctor -in the form of one Peter Capaldi (The Thick of It, The Musketeers, Local Hero)- has arrived, having regenerated from his 11th self (Matt Smith).

But the Doctor doesn’t recognise his companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) nor the lizardy Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), her wife Jenny (Catrin Stewart) or butler Strax (Dan Starkey), aka the Paternoster gang, before fainting on the banks of the Thames.

“I don’t understand. Who is he?” asks Jenny.

“That’s him,” says Clara. “That’s the Doctor.”

“Well then. Here we go again,” Madame Vastra replies.

Indeed. With that we barrel headlong into the opening title sequence, marking the next chapter in the life of this 5-decade sci-fi.

Having left the youthful 11th Doctor, our hero is struggling to come to terms with his surroundings. He’s also translating the feelings of the lonely dinosaur, trapped and roaming in London. There’s no ominous crack in the wall to mark his arrival, but he chalks on the floor with all manner of equations, only distracted by the T-Rex in need. However the dino bursting into flames propels him into the plot of Deep Breath.

At the centre of this first episode are cyborgs and a ‘dino-murder,’ although they feel like two separate tales.

One of the best scenes was a two-hander between the Doctor, dressed in a bedraggled nightgown and a tramp in an alleyway. Here we learn he’s confounded by his new appearance. He’s aged, he’s grey and -and he speaks Scottish (David Tennant must be jealous).

“Look at the eyebrows. These are attack eyebrows. You could take bottle-tops off with these!” he gasps.

A restaurant scene with Clara and the Doctor sparkles with the chemistry between Capaldi and Coleman as they bicker over a newspaper ad that has drawn them to lunch. But this is a most deceptive of restaurants where the guests are all robots who don’t breath.

“Anything we can do?” she asks.

“How long can you hold your breath?” he replies. In typical Steven Moffat-style, it’s a line that will become more relevant as the plot unfolds.

The restaurant hides a lair of robots turning themselves into humans with body parts, where Clara is left in jeopardy and an action scene ensues. How can one not mention the score that brims with adventure and heightens emotion across the episode? It helps elevate this 80 minute premiere into the realm of the big screen.

The most touching part of the episode involves a nod from past to present that is an inspiring fusion of time travel and sentiment. This has always been a show that messes with our hearts as well as our heads, and why we remain longtime fans.

And is it just me? This new Doctor is also momentarily rude (to the tramp and to the “planet of the pudding brains”) and even leaves Clara in jeopardy with the cyborgs before coming to her rescue. It perhaps makes him more flawed and irascible than his recent predecessors.

Capaldi’s Doctor is a return to “classic” Doctors, putting the relative youth of David Tennant, Christopher Ecclestone and, especially, Matt Smith, behind us. He’s seemingly wiser and definitely paternal. Put all thoughts of any romance between Doctor and companion to one side. I’m happy about that. It always felt to me like Doctor Who was chasing a younger audience with hints of unresolved sexual tension amongst recent cast.

After all these years Doctor Who still brings out the child in us all. With Capaldi, a former child fan himself, its legacy is in good hands.

Doctor Who airs 7:30pm Sundays on ABC.

13 Responses

  1. Thanks Cam Reed, I thought I must have missed the start when you mentioned Strax’s video blog. Look forward to seeing it when the DVD/Blu-Ray is released.

  2. After talking about this episode with others, I have discovered the Video Blog part with Strax discussing the Doctors and their numbers and how they were confusing (as per my below comment), was only part of the start of the episode in the Cinema episode. The extra start piece also included Madame Vastra and Jenny, it was tied into this episode; went for about 5 minutes and lead directly to the Dinosaur in the Thames.

    Guessing it will be part of the Blu-Ray/DVD release as well, it may pop up on YouTube at some point, if it does it’s worth seeing it was hilarious.

  3. I expected not to like anyone replacing Matt Smith’s young, wild and crazy Doctor … but Capaldi is a great choice! Very much a combination of the more traditional Doctors and the only way to go after Matt.
    I loved the new title sequence (inspired by a fan-made video) and the surprise appearance by Matt Smith had me in tears … 🙂 sad, I know!
    The 14th Doctor is a “good man” in my opinion!
    This is going to be a magnificent season form all that I have seen, read and heard…
    I wonder if it will be Moffat’s last … and will his replacement be Mark Gatiss???? 🙂

  4. Given that at the start of the episode Strax was doing a video blog and talked about how what number the Doctor’s are now are confusing, they have now put it in to storyline canon that no-one is really sure what number this Doctor is.

    So technically David, ScottH, Unclepete and Natalie you are all correct on what number Peter Capaldi’s Doctor is.

    I liked the episode and wondered if the: “You’re Scottish, you haven’t got a say,” and the line about his eyebrows wanting to secede from the rest of his face were in reference to to Scottish Referendum coming up.

    Overall I think Peter Capaldi will be a good Doctor, though I do wonder if it’s time for Moffat to move on. As given how many other story elements and even lines of dialogue were reused in Deep Breath from past episodes, originality doesn’t seem high on Moffat’s mind.

  5. Initial reaction : Meh!
    Disliked the Mr-Bean-on-acid, Peter Capaldi, & started to doubt the wisdom of his selection as the new doctor.
    All this is odd, as I’ve loved Dr Who & even Capaldi for a very long time. The badly superimposed dinosaur irritated me; Even the “new”, old style credit sequence grated with me – then it dawned on me : I’m just too old for this, now. The whole show made me feel old, & having lived with a TV series of Who all of my conscious life, I now feel past it..
    It may be a good, new series but I just feel that I’ve outgrown it. It’s not Who, it’s me… Sad but true. 🙁

  6. On the whole, greatly enjoyed it, although I did feel the story was a little thin in parts due to stretching it out to the longer running time. Peter’s Doctor was spot on for me, a real return to the old style of Doctor. Very impressed.

    @unclepete – technically, Peter would be the 13th Doctor – the Doctor’s 12th life was established as being used during his failed regeneration in Journey’s End (not on his clone), so same doctor = two regenerations, no number change. However, Steven Moffat has stated that John Hurt’s Doctor is not an officially numbered Doctor, and is only know as the War Doctor (the BBC have also referred to him as this). So, while he should technically be 9, they don’t count him as such, leaving the numbers unchanged.

  7. In any case, I thought the episode was brilliant, marking the arrival of far more (possibly) morally ambiguous Doctor that has been alluded to in past episodes/series, most notably in “Trial of a Time Lord” where the main protagonist “The Valeyard” is thought to be a future regeneration of the Doctor himself!

    I reckon this season is going to be a rip-snorter 🙂

  8. @ScottH – I think it was actually Russell T Davies (not Richard) that established the Doc could speak animal fluently by conversing with a horse (nicely alluded to in this episode as well).

    Also, David, forgive me for being a Whovian nerd, but isn’t Peter officially the 14th doctor? The 9th was established to be John Hurt, moving Eccleston and Tennant one further along (10th and 11th). The 12th Doctor was established in “The Time of The Doctor” to be the Tennant “clone” that ran off with Billy Piper, making Smith the 13th Doctor, and hence the need for the Time Lords to grant him new regenerations as shown in the same episode?

  9. As a long time Doctor Who fan I was just a little disappointed with the first episode. Jenna Louise Coleman was definitely the stand out and I like the idea that she wouldn’t trust this new version of the Doctor.
    Steven Moffats problem is je writes stupid aspects to the character which I wish he would leave out, such as “the doctor speaks dinosaur”. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the knack for writing for the Doctor that Richard T Davies had.
    However, I am looking forward to the season improving.

  10. Great to see a return to the traditional older, crustier doctor.
    Judging by his debut in this first ep I think Peter will do justice to the role.
    Apparently a huge fan as a child in the early days of DW so he really knows what’s required to play the Doctor.
    Episode itself was pretty ordinary though…

  11. I like the new Doctor and how the transition went, the first ep is always messy as he finds himself. No Fishsticks and Custard (or a bow-tie) this time but I think he fits in nicely and it’s clear Clara is somewhat in control and can handle the new Doctor.

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