# I saw a CAPALDI!



## Morrus (Dec 25, 2013)

The Xmas episode was epic. Scottish accent. That is all.


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## Crothian (Dec 26, 2013)

I guess there really is a war on Christmas


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## trappedslider (Dec 26, 2013)

good bye raggedy man...I love the last words of the episode however

And the deleted scene is up http://www.bbcamerica.com/doctor-who/videos/clara-and-the-doctor-hug-it-out/


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## Bedrockgames (Dec 26, 2013)

Kidneys!


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## Morrus (Dec 26, 2013)

Bedrockgames said:


> Kidneys!




"Kidneys.  New ones.  I don't like the colour of them!"


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## Bedrockgames (Dec 26, 2013)

Morrus said:


> "Kidneys.  New ones.  I don't like the colour of them!"




I misheard the second bit completely (I thought he said "Kidneys. I have no kidneys"). "New kidneys" makes much more sense (and is far less fatal).


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## Morrus (Dec 26, 2013)

Ah, here we go. 

[video=youtube;vOCsZMrlu-M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOCsZMrlu-M[/video]


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## Mark CMG (Dec 26, 2013)

trappedslider said:


> good bye raggedy man...I love the last words of the episode however
> 
> And the deleted scene is up http://www.bbcamerica.com/doctor-who/videos/clara-and-the-doctor-hug-it-out/





Strange that the caption says -

"The *Eleventh* Doctor and his companion reunite in this deleted scene from The Time of the Doctor."


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## Cergorach (Dec 26, 2013)

Is it just me or are there others that dislike every new doctor and hate to see the old one leave the show? Have only been a Who fan since the reboot in 2005 (seen some of the older series, but never grabbed me).


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## Morrus (Dec 26, 2013)

Cergorach said:


> Is it just me or are there others that dislike every new doctor and hate to see the old one leave the show?




It's been an extremely common phenomenon for over 50 years and 12 Doctors now.  Happens every time.  Don't worry; it's normal.


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## Morrus (Dec 26, 2013)

Mark CMG said:


> Strange that the caption says -
> 
> "The *Eleventh* Doctor and his companion reunite in this deleted scene from The Time of the Doctor."




They kept the same numbering.  Hurt is the "War Doctor" rather than the "9th Doctor". That way they don't need to re-issue the packaging on millions of toys, books, and comics.


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## Mark CMG (Dec 26, 2013)

Morrus said:


> They kept the same numbering.  Hurt is the "War Doctor" rather than the "9th Doctor". That way they don't need to re-issue the packaging on millions of toys, books, and comics.





They might be fighting the tide, considering even in the episode they go out of their way to highlight regenerations and the number of them in evidence.


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## Crothian (Dec 26, 2013)

People in general hate change


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## Raunalyn (Dec 26, 2013)

"Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?"


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## Morrus (Dec 26, 2013)

Raunalyn said:


> "Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?"




Yeah, I wonder what that's about? Memory loss?


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## Bedrockgames (Dec 26, 2013)

Morrus said:


> Yeah, I wonder what that's about? Memory loss?




I figured it was just temporary change from the regeneration process. But I do wonder if it will be more prolonged as a plot point (they established that Tasha Lem can fly the TARDIS so maybe they intend to bring her on as a second companion?).


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## Kramodlog (Dec 26, 2013)

A new set of regenerations means that the doctor sort of forgot his past lives? Sort of a reboot in a continuity? Or it'll last for a few episodes then he'll remember everything.


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## Morrus (Dec 26, 2013)

Could be any of those things.  I guess we'll find out next year.


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## Raunalyn (Dec 26, 2013)

goldomark said:


> A new set of regenerations means that the doctor sort of forgot his past lives? Sort of a reboot in a continuity? Or it'll last for a few episodes then he'll remember everything.




That was precisely my thought. Kind of a reboot, as in he's forgotten all of his past lives.

Then again, it could be that Capaldi is going to play his Doctor as a trickster and said that as a joke.


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## Mark CMG (Dec 26, 2013)

Well, he remembers it needs to be "flown" in any event.  I'm not sure someone with no memory would think of that interior as that of a "ship" of any kind.


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## Jester David (Dec 26, 2013)

McGann also had amnesia after his regeneration and it was less... traumatic, being a normal one and not the first of an unknown number.
Smith had to save the Earth without the sonic or TARDIS having recently regenerated. Having Capaldi save the day without his memory would be a heroic deed. 

The episode was okay. But I think following so close after the 50th didn't help. The need to add a Christmas tone likely didn't help. 

It it will be interesting to see how they present Capaldi. 
Smith was an old man in a young body. Capaldi's Doctor will be the oldest Doctor, possibly by a few hundred years. But he's also the first in a new set of regens. So he might feel young despite his apperance.


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## Morrus (Dec 26, 2013)

Yeah, how old is the Doctor now?  He was 1200 as Smith, and that episode covered how many years?  300 did he say? That puts him at 1500, meaning he was Smith for about 600 years.


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## Raunalyn (Dec 26, 2013)

I know it will likely never happen given that his reign was during the time war (and Moffat has said that they will probably never go into great detail about those happenings), but I would love to see a few stories that focus on John Hurt's Warrior Doctor. I know he was only in that one movie, but I absolutely loved his characterization of the Doctor.

"Again with the pointing? They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do? Assemble a cabinet out of them?"


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## Grumpy RPG Reviews (Dec 26, 2013)

I wonder what is the color  of his kidney. I mean the man has two hearts, so perhaps his kidneys are not actually... uh... kidney colored.

Also, it has been pointed out elsewhere, that at the begining of this regeneration cycle the Doctor does not know how to operate the Tardis properly and his companion is a teacher at the Coalhill School. Which is much as things were 50 years ago.


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## Quartz (Dec 26, 2013)

Morrus said:


> The Xmas episode was epic. Scottish accent. That is all.




I felt it was a dreadful, nonsensical, mess.


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## Nellisir (Dec 26, 2013)

I liked it. Between this and Day of the Doctor, it feels like they wrapped up a lot of lose ends and really cleaned the slate. Matt Smith never really clicked for me; I think Capaldi will be more enjoyable.


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## MarkB (Dec 30, 2013)

Nellisir said:


> I liked it. Between this and Day of the Doctor, it feels like they wrapped up a lot of lose ends and really cleaned the slate. Matt Smith never really clicked for me; I think Capaldi will be more enjoyable.




I thought it was okay, but it suffered from the fact that it was more about tying up loose ends than about actually telling a story. It'll never become a classic Christmas episode - I re-watched the Christmas Carol episode on Watch earlier the same day, and was far more impressed with that one.

The Doctor just sitting in one place for three hundred years feels so out of character that it's little wonder we only see it in glimpses - any more and we'd never be able to swallow it.

The entire siege feels forced - something that might start out as a united front, but would devolve into in-fighting within weeks, not continue for centuries. Heck, the Doctor on anywhere near the top of his game would be able to engineer just such a falling-out with a few well-chosen phrases.

I think it is time for a change, but any issues I had with Smith's Doctor felt like they were at least as much about how he was written as they were about the way Smith portrayed him, so I'm not confident that a change of actor will get to the heart of the matter. Time, as always, will tell.


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## Nellisir (Dec 31, 2013)

MarkB said:


> The Doctor just sitting in one place for three hundred years feels so out of character that it's little wonder we only see it in glimpses - any more and we'd never be able to swallow it.
> 
> The entire siege feels forced - something that might start out as a united front, but would devolve into in-fighting within weeks, not continue for centuries. Heck, the Doctor on anywhere near the top of his game would be able to engineer just such a falling-out with a few well-chosen phrases.
> 
> I think it is time for a change, but any issues I had with Smith's Doctor felt like they were at least as much about how he was written as they were about the way Smith portrayed him, so I'm not confident that a change of actor will get to the heart of the matter. Time, as always, will tell.




Well, yes, I mean it's a given that most of the time I want to like Doctor Who and am severely disappointed at the last minute. It's like watching Charlie Brown try to kick a football. But I liked David Tennant more than I liked Matt Smith, so hopefully I'll like Capaldi. I don't think the stories will get any better, but at least I'll enjoy the actor a little more.  Small victories.


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## delericho (Jan 5, 2014)

Morrus said:


> Yeah, how old is the Doctor now?




In "Day of the Doctor" he said he was 1,200, but he also said that he lost track and that he might well be lying. Indeed, he said he was so old he forgot whether he was lying about how old he was.

Obviously, we don't know how long there was between "Day" and "Time". In "Time", there's a stated 300-year gap between Clara being sent away the first time and the TARDIS returning. There's then an unknown gap between her being sent away the second time and Tasha Lem returning for her.

The pre-release spoilers said the episode spanned 900 years, which feels about right given the aging of the Doctor in the episode, but it's hardly canonical.

So... my guess would be about 2,000 years. That's a nice round number.

Oh, and also...

On my second watch-through of the episode, I spotted two things:

The prophecy that the Silence were trying to thwart was: "On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the eleventh, when no living creature can speak falsely *or fail to answer*, a Question will be asked, a question that must never, ever be answered." (Emphasis mine.) So, that one didn't quite link up.

The second thing I noted was a more direct contradiction. Near the end, when the boy who isn't Barnable comes to get the Doctor, he says "don't worry; I have a plan." He then tells Clara that he doesn't have a plan, but that it makes people feel better if they think he does. The only problem is that _he's standing right next to the crack in the universe, and so should be affected by the Truth Field_, and of course those things can't both be true - he can't both have a plan and not have a plan.

But those are both really just nitpicks. I actually found that I enjoyed the episode a whole lot more on a second viewing, even though I watched it again immediately after watching the (IMO superior) "Day of the Doctor".


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## Grumpy RPG Reviews (Jan 5, 2014)

I missed the bit about lying to the young man at the end, about the plan. That is a good catch.


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Jan 5, 2014)

delericho said:


> In "Day of the Doctor" he said he was 1,200, but he also said that he lost track and that he might well be lying. Indeed, he said he was so old he forgot whether he was lying about how old he was.
> 
> Obviously, we don't know how long there was between "Day" and "Time". In "Time", there's a stated 300-year gap between Clara being sent away the first time and the TARDIS returning. There's then an unknown gap between her being sent away the second time and Tasha Lem returning for her.
> 
> ...




I don'T remember when he said this to Clara-  he wasn't in the TARDIS or anything, was he?

I figure the Dcotor, after a few centuries, can lie even in a truth field. The Doctor Lies, right?


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## delericho (Jan 6, 2014)

Mustrum_Ridcully said:


> I don'T remember when he said this to Clara-  he wasn't in the TARDIS or anything, was he?




No, it was the church - he then left, after which she approached the crack and gave her "you've got it wrong" speech.



> I figure the Dcotor, after a few centuries, can lie even in a truth field. The Doctor Lies, right?




That did cross my mind. But it was a truth field set up by the Time Lords - I would expect they would do a better than normal job!

As I said, though, it was a nitpick, so I'm not going to dwell on it over-much.


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Jan 6, 2014)

delericho said:


> No, it was the church - he then left, after which she approached the crack and gave her "you've got it wrong" speech.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I would not be surprised if it was actually a plot point that would be used further, though I have to admit that it would be difficult to bring up. But I can't quite believe that they set up the whole truth field thing and forget it so easily.

Of course, one could argue that the doctor always has a plan - fake it until you make it.


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## delericho (Jan 6, 2014)

Mustrum_Ridcully said:


> I would not be surprised if it was actually a plot point that would be used further, though I have to admit that it would be difficult to bring up. But I can't quite believe that they set up the whole truth field thing and forget it so easily.




I actually kind of hope not. To a certain extent, the last two episodes have had a feel of tying up loose ends to them, while also setting up a new set of plots. So, I suspect we won't hear much more about Trenzilore, River Song, the War Doctor, the "Silence will fall" prophecy, etc. Going forward, I expect the major Capaldi arcs will probably be the search for Gallifrey, and probably some more about the Papal Mainframe.

(In some ways, it's a similar feeling I got from "Skyfall" - it's a clearing of the decks in some respects, a re-establishment of a new/old status quo, and then you're set up to move forward. At the end of "Skyfall", I felt the Bond franchise was actually a lot fresher than it had been for years. At the end of the "Day of"/"Time of the Doctor" pairing it feels like the show is again ready to move forward. Which hopefully includes not doing a huge amount of looking back - especially looking back at fairly trivial details.)

I could, of course, be wrong.


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## Richards (Jan 7, 2014)

Mustrum_Ridcully said:


> Of course, one could argue that the doctor always has a plan - fake it until you make it.



That's what I was thinking.  "Don't worry, I have a plan" is technically true if the plan is just to wing it and see what happens; "I don't really have a plan" is true if we're talking about specific actions I intend to take.  They could both be technically true enough to satisfy the truth field.

Johnathan


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