How does it smell?

I prefered RTD's style of storytelling just one big story and continuos non of this overcomplicated wibbly wobbly backwards to front bits. Although I loved the tone of Series 5 and loved it all the way through and I really thought it was gonna continue throughout Series 6 was ok the good still outweighed the bad for me but after it just took a massive left turn for me.

I think in the long run there's a fundamental problem with both. Change is part of the make-up of Doctor Who (hence how it's managed to stay popular for so many decades) but equally people like to watch a show they can invest in - that rewards their long-term involvement.

I'd argue that RTD did too much of that. It worked for four years, more or less, and he delivered something remarkably consistent. But The Specials were poor, and I hear the closing 'companion-roster' visit scenes criticised just as much as they were praised.

At the other end of the spectrum Moffat shakes things up annually. Every year has a different feel, and so it's hard to know how you're going to want to invest from one year to the next. Series 8 was okay for me, Series 9 even better - and it's easy for me to forget that Series 7 just before them was by far my least favourite.

I think the next showrunner needs to establish a balance with that. Not a small request by any means, especially when you factor in having to work to a schedule, a budget, cast availabilty, schedules and episode commissions, but the healthy balance between the change and consistency is what should be strived for. I feel if we'd have had RTD's consistent approach for further years, we wouldn't have a Series 9 right now - because the show would have become incredibly stale and there's no indication from what we have seen that he was capable at massive change. Moffat on the the other hand has proved he's capable of massive change (and regardless of anyone's opinions, Series 5-9 have all still been relatively successful) but hasn't proved he can deliver consistency (even Clara who has been around for an unprecedented three series hasn't been consistent - and she's a character!) and I feel that if we were subjected to Moffat for too many years that constant upheaval will push people away - Series 10 is pushing it, if we're in for yet more tonal change.

I do think the irony needs to be addressed though, that people complain that Moffat brings annual change to the show, and then at the same time criticise him for a line like "same old, same old" in the trailer. As much as dialogue like that should never be in a trailer, people are contradicting their own argument when they criticise both - and it's been done.

I just hope the new companion doesn't go down the whole mysterious puzzle for the Doctor to solve.

New companion, adventures. Simple as that. We learn about the companion through her/his...it's!!! interactions with the Doctor. I really dont want the show-runner at the pre press saying the new companion 'is a riddle for the Doctor to solve, all is not what it seems' mumbo jumbo.

The biggest mistake Mr. Moffat made was not ditching the whole splinter in time Clara stuff at the drawing board. Victorian Clara would have made an excellent companion with no series arc mystery baggage. The 'Impossible Girl' tosh dragged the character of Clara down, especially in her début series and, for me, the character never recovered from the lack of genuine character development. Even in series 9 I just dont buy her as a character.

Victorian Clara, just as an everyday girl, no baggage and no clap trap mystery would have made an excellent companion. We develop compassion for her through her adventures and culture shocks, through dialogue, through her mistakes and successes. I still think 'The Snowmen' is Jenna's best performance because, in essence, she was playing a believable 'real' character and not the plot device the actual Clara became in the following series.

So, new companion. Keep it simple.

I'm in total agreement with this. The last thing we need is somebody so important they will save the universe. Can we just have someone who is interesting, fun, enthusiastic and not cleverer than the doctor?

I suppose it boils down to personal tastes in how it is written. After all, Donna saved the universe. The writing and character development between Donna and Clara are totally different. With Donna the viewer became aware as the series progressed that there was a mystery around her, with little hints and mentions of 'Doctor/Donna' and 'worlds converging' yet, the character had already been established as a person within her own right. The viewer develops compassion and a fondness for her via the things she does and says. The viewer learns about the mystery along with the character so to speak. So, when it came to Donna's fate she has the compassion of the viewer.

The difference with Clara is that we are told from the off there is a mystery around her, a mystery that must remain hidden until the finale. Therefore the character remains illusive, the viewer does not really get the know her as a person but as a mystery to be solved, someone to second guess from her very first moment on screen to her last. It hindered genuine and natural character development to the extent she was nothing more than a plot device. So, when it came to Clara's fate in her début series, 'the impossible girl' resolution, it becomes 'So that's what it was all about..mystery solved'

The whole point about Clara is that while 11 may keep thinking of her as a mystery and some strange impossible girl, she is in fact (as Emma in Hide told him) perfectly ordinary.
If you look at her personality it's actually pretty consistent throughout her run, she was confident and a touch bossy from the start - watch Hide to see that. of course she's changed, but that's it's over a period of years, and just as with Amy and Rory, her actual time with the Doctor is a lot longer than we see on screen. In RTD's era screen time was similar to real time, hence Ten having a patheticly short life when compared to Eleven!

It wasn't just 11 that kept thinking of her as a mystery though. It was also the viewer. The character was introduced as a mystery quite deliberately. That a character in 'Hide' said she was 'perfectly ordinary' was also part of the mysterious arc around Clara. It was there to add to the mystery, just as the TARDIS refusing to let her in was. We as the viewer did not know Clara was a 'perfectly ordinary' because she had not been established that way.

I actually really liked that TARDIS moment. But just imagine how much better it would have been if Clara had just been presented as 'perfectly ordinary from the off. How better it would have been if the viewer wasn't told to look for clues, to second guess this mystery. Imagine if she hadn't been referred to as 'The Impossible Girl' but plain old Clara from Dagenham..or wherever she was from. No girl trapped in a Dalek, No Victorian Clara.



Much like Amy. Who, after a promising start with series 5, come series 6 became a mystery to solve with the whole baby shenanigans.


Personally, I feel too much of Moffat's era has relied on filling in the gaps because it all happened off screen. It became jarring and ultimately pointless regarding the rewards of the finales. The Doctor proclaiming he had become to loud and was going into the shadows? Could have led to an interesting series. But it all happened off screen and was ditched straight away come the next series. Riding a motorbike up The Shard. (it was pretty cool though)

Of course it's all horses for courses and personal tastes. I'm not saying you are wrong because you are not, just as I am not right. Just giving my view on how I have perceived the character writing. I dont think it has been strong enough, nowhere near. I was saying it at the time to be honest, it isn't a hindsight thing.

Actually in Hide, I was also thinking about the scene where she is quite aggressive towards Emma when the Doctor gets stranded. A lot of her character traits from S8 are in S7 as well.

My interpretation, is that while the Doctor thought Clara a mystery, he was wrong, and inadvertently "misleading us". After all what do we actually see? An intelligent girl working as a nanny to 2 children, which what she is. This was an interesting way of approaching a character I felt, though others clearly disagreed!

I agree CAMERA OBSCURA that it's a bad habit of Moff's to jump around too much. Clara going from being a nanny to a teacher is perfectly natural for an English graduate, but we needed to see something, or even just have a reference in S7 to Clara wanting to be a teacher after travelling. Similarly her love of Souffles got completely dropped after S7, not even ONE mention since.

I hadn't thought of that. Actually made me laugh out loud.

Maybe in her final scene she will whisk one up. Moffat does like his emotional recalls.

A new companion from Alpha Centauri would change (i.e. lower) the tone....

I hope they cast a bloke....well a lad anyway

What would change the tone of the show would be a Shit Monster from Shiticon V

That would be a game changer!

Basically the Shit Monster would be called Poo McCrap... and er, would have a family in Scotland and was lonely for adventure.

But Poo has a secret, he isn't really shit at all. He's chocolate!

Well it is a family show...

I disagree with Capaldi about one companion. Maybe for the first half Series 10 but adding a secondary/recurring companion for the second half would be great and keep things fresh.

The next companion should be a contrast to Clara in nearly every way.

The more I look at this series objectively, the more I think it was a mistake keeping Clara on.

Series 9 should've started with a new companion.

Clara, great as she has been should be a cautionary tale though for writing future companions - no overwhelming mystery and no keeping a companion past two series.

Series 10. Coming Soon to BBC1. The Adventure Continues....(clips and dramatic music)

(Gravelly Voiceover) Welcome a new companion who you may or may not like! The Twelth Doctor! Yes, he's still there! This will please some! Displease others! These stories will delight you! Or not depending upon individual taste, obviously! Tune in this Saturday! Or catch up later! Or not! It's really up to you! We're doing our best you know!

The chocolate revelation will make it a lot easier for us to accept the scene of the Doctor kissing Poo.

It would be nice to have another reluctant companion(s) once again, just as Ian & Barbara or Tegan were, not always agreeing with him yet at heart they respected what the Doctor stood for.

1950s police man played by Iwan Rheon or Damien Molony please.
Then have a female companion, from the near future, join 3 or 4 episodes in.

The problem is the easily navigated TARDIS...

"Doctor, take me home...NOW"

"OK"... (vworp,vworp)..."sorry about the kidnapping and your dead auntie and stuff!"

Oh my god. Nailed it. I love Sass already (but her boyfriend gets on my nerves). Can we put up a poll so I can vote her best companion ever already?

I love her because she's sassy and saves the universe all the time. But even in a pinch she never loses any of that feistiness!

Perhaps someone who can't go home but would rather not be with the Doctor necessarily, like a survivor of some horror.

Or a brilliant young mathematician, cut off from his own universe. He could wear primary coloured jim jam's.

I liked Turlough and the 'enemy within' type stuff.

I liked Turlough in his trunks!

You might be upset to hear there will be prophecies that Sass Feistington WILL DIE SOON!

I think there are a few 'happy swimwear' memories from that story.