Well, give it a go for yourself a week Saturday and you never know, you might enjoy it!

You aren't impressed with literally all positive reviews?

You clearly have a personal vendetta against Capaldi.

He's only trying to wind us up. He's not going to watch the new series apparently so I would ask that he not bring this agenda in to this thread.

I don't think anyone really cares, mate. Maybe if you've got a detailed opinion after you've actually watched the episode, and can break down what you liked and disliked, there'll be something for people to discuss with you.

Or, y'know, start yourself another Opinion As Fact thread that'll get locked in short shrift? Maybe your next one'll work out better for you.

Ohhhh yes. Now I'm even more excited for the whole run.

Thanks CD93 for your excellent review - one of the best posts I've read on here for ages.

I really am looking forward to this series. Nice that Jenna will have a chance to shine, and wonderful to think we'll see Vastra again. But of course the main event will be Capaldi. It's great that I've not seen a single negative remark from anyone who has seen him in the part.

I agree, as someone who was not a huge fan of the Smith era I am very excited to see what Capaldi will bring to the role....

I started off loving Ecclestone, by the end I was well bored of him and couldn't believe what a waste of Chris's talent RTD's take on the character was.

I started off loving Tennant and by the end was sick to death of his OOH! GOSH! HUMANS! schtick. It didn't help that his entire last story arc was utter crap (all that Dalton/Master stuff, God almighty it was corny, grandiose, blustering bs)

I started off loving Smith and by the end... well, to be honest I think Smith was pretty good throughout.

I sincerely hope I never tired of Capaldi, but looking back I see it's down to the writing and direction as much as is it is the choices the actor makes. I suspect Tennant had no choice but to make his Doctor go "OOH! GOSH! HUMANS!" every damn week.

You are correct, of course. Like WelshNige I was not a fan of the Smith era. Smith himself, though, was a wonderful Doctor and I will miss him while simultaneously loving Capaldi.

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Yes, this along with Moffat's statement of "Think Series Five, rather than Six" with regards to the arc, have made me really optimistic about Series 8

I don't even know what that really means. What happened in 5 that was distinct from 6, that could be applied to 8?

Series 5 had an arc which didn't really intrude on individual episodes in a big way, but still made progress throughout the series before revealing itself properly in the two-part finale. It was similar to Series 1-4, but had more substance to it in the run up to the finale. More hints as you went along, the crack, the silence mentions, the date, the TARDIS debris....

Series 6 had, say, five episodes which were really devoted to the arc itself and jumped back and forth. The beginning was the end, the end was the beginning - the middle was a muddle. It followed a character in five different stages of her life. It was less subtle.

I agree to an extent, but I think for the absolute perfect episode you need the getting inside characters heads with the actual story threat itself working in balance with equal importance, otherwise if you just have an episode where the charcters are really revealing themselves and the villains are just being pesky nuisances in the background, you almost sort of think 'why were they even there, they didn't really do much'. Blink for example is a such a well balanced episode - on one hand we really get to know sally sparrow and warm to her character, yet at the same time the angels are not only prominent but are absolutely part of the driving force of the episode.

I am glad that they will be exploring the characters though. We don't know anything about how the doctor will be different now he's 12 and it feels like we haven't really 'got to know' Clara before now because of the impossible girl stuff ( to me she's only really started to connect since day of the doctor when the messy 'impossible girl stuff was done with, almost as though we only really met her actual character then as they were trying to keep her mysterious before but as a result she seemed bland until day) so it sounds good that the episode will shed light on both of them.

How could you be bored with just 13 episodes?

Absolutely excellent review, CD93. I'm now more excited for Series 8 than I have ever been. Can't believe that after so much waiting, we've only got two weeks to go!

Just one question: Obviously I want to hear no details (and I doubt you could actually give me any without being thrown into a crack in time), but were there the beginnings of an arc present in Deep Breath? Did you leave, not only dying to see more of Capaldi, but with questions you're looking forward to seeing answered?

Yes, and in a slightly different way to what we have seen before. A good way.

Yup, great review CD93. Got the vibe across without the detail, which can be tricky.

Fantastic. That's all I needed to know. Can't wait.

Glad I have been of some help. It was typed on a tablet in a hotel room at night so I'm glad it has been of some use.

I will be writing some additional thoughts tomorrow - character-centric stuff.

Everyone else seems to be, so that's probably just your problem.

This is Deep Breath pretty much down to a tee. Maybe they'll expand on it down the line, but the villain(s) of the first ep almost might as well not be there.

They have the same amount of impact as Prisoner Zero / Atraxi spread out across a longer episode.

More threatening than Prisoner Zero, though. He/She/It just had more of a staring contest with The Doctor & Amy... and it is Victorian London, so no TV broadcast threatening the Earth, I'm afraid.

No way. Once 11 comes back for older Amy, the villains are an ever present, ongoing threat and everything revolves around saving the world from them. The Deep Breath non-entities are nowhere near as impactful.

There are matters of opinion people can disagree on, but I can't see how anyone could honestly say those two villains are comparable in prominence or impact.

Absolutely. The villains need to feel fleshed out rather than being plot devices for a truly excellent story. As the saying goes 'every villain is the hero of their own story'. It's one of the issues with the monster of the week format (that you don't get to know the villains in that time) and why shows generally tend towards having arcs instead. It'd be nice to see a new ongoing villain with a proper arc who we really get to know. The issue with the Silence was their overall story remained a mystery for most of the time and then it wasn't wonderfully tied up. I was hoping after the Snowmen and Bells that the GI would make another appearance in 7b before the end but alas...

So whilst I think Moffat needs to dial back the story arcs in some ways (hearing him admit to an audience that he doesn't plan anything on paper and it's all in his head explains a LOT of the problems!) a good, straight forward villain arc would be great to see.