Of course there's got to be a female companion, who else is going to do the screaming ? Only joking !

I think, as a writer, Moffatt is excellent. As a showrunner, I am not so sure. Yes, I've enjoyed the Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi series, but not as much as series 4. The later series have had some excellent stories, storylines and even horror, but they've been a bit uneven.

There is also a storyline that they appeared to be building up, that seemed to get forgotten. When Clara joined the Tardis, the Tardis appeared to hate her. I suspect this was because at the end of the series, she jumped into The Doctor's timeline, visiting every single incarnation, and the Tardis had a problem with this, but that was never actually explained in the story.

That said, I enjoyed the 50th Anniversary episode, and was glad that Steven Moffat used that episode to effectively close off the Time War storyline. I was never particularly comfortable with the idea that The Doctor, for whatever reason, would kill an entire race. I always thought he would face that kind of decision and find some clever way around it. As he did in the 50th Anniversary episode. Sadly, they seem to have forgotten about the Doctor hunting for Gallifrey storyline they appeared to be hinting at at the end of the 50th Anniversary ep.

He may have said that in the original DWM article but its not in the DS article that was linked to which IMO didn't contain anything to get worked up about.

Ugh if this is true it will be my worst nightmare and I know my parents who are watchers of the show will find it hard to watch too.

I can't stand another endless repeat of the "Doctor's assistant loves him" arc and the episode after episode longing looks etc.

Secondly why do they have to be "dashing"? SO just simple eye candy for the kiddies and girls to swoon over? Also it will introduce what I hated so much about the Matt Smith era, IE Matt prancing around like an excited puppy on speed with all sorts of "zip zappy wim wammy flim flanny biggity bingity boingity" dialogue and zany behaviour...

David Tennant was probably still best know when he joined for his Shakespeare work. It's certainly where he cut his teeth. Can't we have a good actor rather than a "dashing one"? I don't mean to be blunt but as many kids that watch Doctor Who, there are 40,50,60 year old parents and 20-30 year old geeks like me.

When the Doctor was stuck with UNIT they really were his assistants. Official



I thought that was stupid, effectively writing off Ian, Steven, Ben, Jamie, the Brig, Turlough, Adric, Harry, Jack and Mickey, all of whom were great characters in their own right and playing off the females they happened to be travelling or working with at the time.
It always works better with male and female companions. A young adoring female on her own (Martha, Amy, Clara) is just boring after a while as they seem to need a backstory and 'arc' these days to justify them being there. Adding Rory gave Amy a much more interesting side and Donna was a huge improvement. I liked Rose but with Jack as well for those few episodes it looked so much more balanced.
The only time I don't think it worked was with Danny Pink. I quite liked him (better than Clara, anyway) but the storyline felt so forced it negated him.

I very rarely post on here anymore, but I do find this article really interesting. I gave up with Doctor Who last year. I didn't finish the series. Got no interest in the Christmas special (didn't even remember about it until I just saw a clip on Tumblr). I'm just not keen on Capaldi in the role at all. But I'm intrigued by what will hopefully be a huge shake up by Chibnall, even though I'm not usually keen on his writing.

I quite liked 11 & Clara together, but their series was so short that I barely had the chance to properly enjoy the show again. Never liked Amy Pond and thought she was in it for far too long. I got very used to Russell's way of changing things every year - either a new companion or a new Doctor - and I'd love for that to return to be honest.

But yeah, I was a huge Doctor Who fan back in Tennant's time. Bought the merchandise, bought the DVDs, visited the exhibitions, went to the BBC Doctor Who Proms etc. - loved Torchwood too. I'd say Doctor Who was a huge part of my life, actually! A lot of my friends loved it too. It was event TV, you know? Brilliant stuff. We used to chat about what might happen in the next episode in form time at high school.

Moffatt's episodes under RTDs were excellent, but I don't think I've enjoyed any of his episodes in his own run anywhere near as much as Blink, The Doctor Dances or The Girl in the Fireplace. But I don't remember much as I've never rewatched any of the series past series 5. Plus, the whole thing got terribly confusing and it became impossible to watch Doctor Who with my old Dad anymore (aged 73 now) as he just didn't understand it and kept calling it stupid. Personally, I'm more bothered about caring about the characters, and I never really did that much since series 5. I thought Matt Smith did a brilliant job, but it always felt like that was despite the scripts, you know? I saw him at the BBC Proms too and he was excellent with the youngsters in particular. He was just...a character. Although, I didn't like his ending at all.

The other thing is, I was always under the impression that Doctor Who was supposed to be popular with 8 year olds. I work in a primary school (have done for almost 4 years now) and I've never heard a single child mutter anything about the show, and I've not seen any of the merchandise either. I think that's a huge shame.

Anyway, that's just a few random points. I was just being nostalgic about Who and stumbled back into this forum. Looking forward to hopefully a new start when Moffat goes.

I'm inclined to agree here. I keep hearing names like Eddie Redmayne being thrown around and if that was the case I'd just feel like they're trying to pander to all those young girls again who watched because they had the hots for Tennant and Smith. Like you said, there are geeks like us who want to watch it without feeling embarrassed because it feels more like Supernatural than something everyone can enjoy. I want more sci-fI with a bit of soap opera rather than soap opera with a bit of sci-fi. Soaps are, in my opinion, part of what is wrong with television and why we can't have real storytelling.

I hear, see and feel myself the same sort of sentiments you are detailing here.

I never hear who brought up as a subject in the real world, unless it's by me, to which all anyone wants to do is say how it was so much better in the Tennant era. Yes, that's my subjective experience, but the post i've quoted above is saying the same thing as so many have in the past.

Anyway, although I still watch because there are still some good episodes, (though I have to do trying to ignore arc hints because I know they will ultimately come to nothing satisfying) I am also looking forward to perhaps being able to be a proper full on fan like I was in the RTD era instead of sort-of-half-fan I feel like currently.

Well, Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov in original Star Trek did a great job, so it just shows it can be done by males effectively!

Nearly a week on and I still think this article is completely true.

Terrible wording and personal bias in the article aside, it just makes so much more sense for Chibnall and for the BBC to completely revamp the show and to do that, everything needs to be new.

Nearly a week on, there's still zero evidence either way.

It makes sense or doesn't make sense depending on your viewpoint - it can be argued persuasively either way.

However the striking thing about the article was the way it referred to Chibnall's series as some way-off future event which was still under discussion and key decisions hadn't been finalised. I don't find that credible, for the following reasons which I posted a few days ago:

Interesting, isn't it. If Peter C is moving on, when will we know? He's filming Series 10 up to end of March and unless I've missed something I assume they'll be filming the 2017 Christmas Special, Moffat's swansong, some time between then and July. As we're hurtling towards Christmas and 2017 I too would be very surprised if major decisions about Series 11 haven't already been made. Of course focusing on the upcoming Special and Series 10 is paramount, but I do find it unlikely that Peter C hasn't already made his decision.

If he's staying, well, there we go....if he's leaving, surely steps have already been taken to sort out who is taking over.

I agree and feel the same. Colleagues at work who used to watch it as a non fan are stopping watching it and telling me how rubbish it is. Which is a bit disheartening. RTD definitely knew how to promote and sell the show to the wider audience and keep them hooked.

Only thing I want him to do is declutter the stories.
he needs to sort out and keep PC's doctor on a specific path. that's one of Moffats biggest problems for me. He's got a talented Actor and hasn't managed to use his talents to the very best.

Watching the series on Netflix from 2005 onwards and you can see the stories just getting more and more complicated. A lot of the recent ones just don't need that level of complexity and totally switch people off.

Kill the moon, and Robot of Sherwood should never have left the ideas table let alone be part of the first series of a new actor playing the doctor.

I like Kill the Moon bar the all egg stuff, but the massive issues for me were character inconsistency and being sidelined. Like Robots of Sherwood for instance. Then we have that soldier nonsense which was taken way too far imo and made him quite unlikable. But on top of that we had a Clara focused season over a new Doctor, although i really did like Clara that season, at the expense of the Doctor and accompanying that fool Danny Pink who was infuriating made it a tough watch at times.

I love Robot of Sherwood. Yes it has it's faults but I think it's both funny and moving.

Kill the Moon is a great example of a problem many shows have now, not only Doctor Who. There always HAS to be a subtext or metaphor or moral dilemma instead of just telling a great, exciting story. The first 20 minutes of that episode are fantastic. It looks amazing. But it falls to pieces once it starts taking itself too seriously (and I say this as someone who has professed their love for the more thoughtful and darker episodes). They could have kept the conflict at the centre of the episode by changing it slightly and cutting out the self-righteous nonsense that blighted the second 30 minutes and collapsed into outright farce by the end. Maybe one of the crew becomes infected and its a greater good versus the individual kind of thing. Something. Anything. Anything but the ludicrous and heavy handed silliness we ended up with.

The episode would have been brilliant, maybe an all time classic, if they had just kept it basic. They're on the Moon. There are some evil creatures. The Doctor and friends must defeat them and escape. Sometimes less is more! Whats wrong with that? Nothing wrong with some dumb fun and thrills every so often.

The Doctor and Clara conflict was the best part of the episode and one of the best in the season for me. I found it great that The Doctor got called out with that behaviour which i am not a fan when companions always immediately forgive his actions. Not every story should be good vs evil, some need to have some tough choices which the show did for over 50 years.

The problem however i feel rests in the other episodes for almost none taking a lighter tone so an episode like this stands out more, the only couple which took a lighter tone were the worst received and most hated of the season. Because in the case of Forest of the Night, they took the piss.

Interesting that it worked for you. Don't get me wrong. I welcome the light and shade that Doctor Who often brings to the screen. We don't want or need simplistic notions of good or bad every week. But I think on occasion it is better to just have a classic good vs evil battle to break things up a bit. Too often New Who has been quick to neuter the threat of its 'villains' by throwing in a sympathetic back story. Can we not just have some bad bastards that the Doctor has to defeat for once? There's a reason the Daleks and the Weeping Angels have been so enduring.

I agree with you about the conflict between Clara and the Doctor. I would cheer for more of that. I would welcome more discontent on the Tardis. But in this instance the reveal was so dopey it negated everything that went before it.

Oh and as far as the Doctor/Clara conflict goes...if only it had actually had some more significance instead of being pretty much dropped by the next episode and having zero impact beyond a few lines of dialogue.

Very true, i really disliked that episode. Most poorly the characters were written for the season.

Yes, like The Doctor, Vicki and Steven or The Doctor, Ben and Polly, or The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria or The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, or The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry, or The Doctor Romana and Adric, or The Doctor Nyssa and Tegan, or The Doctor, Amy and Rory.

Four real years means nothing in Doctor Who as of late. That four real years could be as little as 24 episodes (a single season here in the US). Give me a guaranteed episode count of at least 50 more episodes and then I will agree with you.

Moffat has gone way overboard in altering the past. The Hybrid stuff is just the most recent debacle.

Moffat doesn't seem to like men. He seems to put up with them in The Tardis if they advance the women, but that is all. He seems to worship women to the point that he makes them out to be Supreme Beings in their own right (see "The Impossible Girl", The girl who went into The Doctor's Timeline and was actually the one who saved him through each and every incarnation and in each and every adventure forever, etc.) to even having a fetish for turning The Doctor female. Moffat, in his comments, simply disregards all of the male companions as superfluous. I can't wait for him to leave the show.

If it is going to be Moffat and Capaldis last episode could have some important returns old friends and enemies.

Would love it to be a two parter end with a cliffhanger on Christmas Night followed by the second part on New Years Day.

Won't be a two parter this time around. Just a Christmas episode but maybe a slightly longer one so if Capaldi is leaving in it, it gives the story some breathing space and doesn't feel too rushed.