Well it seems like we're in a minority because review-wise this episode seems to be getting panned all around :( everyone just seems to want grim dark serious Capaldi 24/7 with super serious plots. I was glad to see he can still do a campy Doctor while still giving it his own distinct flavour.

Yeah, I've long since realized my Doctor Who tastes fail to coincide with the masses. I'm mostly OK with it these days. I particularly enjoyed this episode because, despite the Doctor not being a fan of it, there was a lot of lovely banter featured.

I'm with you two actually. My opinions rarely seem to line up with the rest of today's audience for this series. And this was another great episode.

I did find anything egregiously bad with this episode. I enjoyed it too.

This is going to go down as the episode where Capaldi finally clicked for me. I've been a little unable to fully accept him as the Doctor until now, but the fight with Robin Hood and especially the bit with him examining the Merry Men have definitely banished my reservations. This is definitely the Doctor.

And as far as the episode itself goes, I loved it. It very much felt like the Tardis somehow landed in The Princess Bride and everything about it was just plain fun. Robin was hilariously over the top and his interactions with the Doctor were fantastic. I also liked the Sheriff, although I found him eerily reminiscent of Anthony Ainley (not that that was a bad thing, just kind of weird).

Incredible episode.

Just found out about the Patrick Troughton easter egg in this episode and it's blowing my mind a little.

I can not wait for next weeks episode. The trailer is perfectly chilling, if Capaldi clicked this week, then next week he'll own it.

That's strange. I loved this episode! It was absolutely fun, and the ending twist was a nice bit that showed that there are heroes after all.

I liked this episode. Surprised we didn't see Missy this week though, I thought for sure she would've brought one of those Robot Knights or the Sheriff to The Promised Land. And the thing about the internet is you can never make it happy. He'd be dark all the time and they'd bitch about that. What did they want him to do; cut off Robin's head?

Funny you said that, because the original cut of this episode had a beheading in it and the BBC cut it :lol

I heard. Still though the criticism about him not being dark every episode is idiotic. He wasn't completely dark in his premiere episode either. He called a dinosaur a big beautiful woman, flirted with her, and then had that whole exchange with Clara and the Clockwork in the larder/ship. The problem is that some fans think the Who Fandom needs to drop all the people who loved 11 and 10 for being 'cute' and 'campy' and whatever-else by turning Doctor Who into something so dark they go back to watching Supernatural or something. It's idiotic.

i hope the original cut is the version that come out on dvd and blu ray

Maybe. But watching the episode I don't see where beheading someone added to the story. It still flowed nicely and was entertaining.

And does anyone else notice that the plots so far have harkened back to earlier reboot episodes?

The Clockwork to The Girl in the Fireplace
The Good Dalek to Asylum of the Daleks

And the Robot Knights smelting a new Circuit Board reminded me of The Ashes of Pompeii. Where those Volcano aliens were trying to do pretty much the same thing. Also, ironically, the first Who episode with Capaldi.

To me that all leads back to Missy possibly being The Master. And setting everyone in this series up to troll the Doctor.

Yeah, I was trying to work out where exactly it would be and couldn't find an obvious place.

Me either. It was a great episode without it.

dont get me wrong i enjoyed the episode and smae as i could not tell but it be nice to have the original cut

I really enjoyed this episode, and so did my family. I'm surprised for all the hate about it- Capaldi doesn't have to be dark and gritty all the time, he can do that every couple of weeks. Also, I was hoping for a giant gold robot before the spaceship thing... I'll take what I can get. Also, the Second Doctor totally dressed up as Robin Hood one time.

Next week- What looks like the first really scary episode since The Waters of Mars!

Looks like another week of being in the minority as the world seems to be in universal praise of this episode, while I found it pretty average. The direction and general atmosphere were superb, but the story kind of felt all over the place and left a whole lot of unanswered questions even with the "twist" at the end.

And on that twist - I really didn't like it. I've just come out a long "discussion" with my fan-of-the-series-through-the-reboot girlfriend about how modern audiences are more demanding of glimpses into the Doctor's backstory, but it never seems to sit well with me right. I enjoy the Doctor as this complete enigma, and we've had more insight and revelations in Moffat's few years as show runner than we have in the entire show's run before. Afraid of the dark is fine, but not so much the sleeping in a barn or expected to become a soldier thing - I'm obviously very traditional in that respect.

That said, if it was a Tennant/Smith episode I'm sure I'd have outright hated it. Capaldi's Doctor was perfect for this episode, and combined with last week it just shows how perfect he is for all aspects of the character. Even if I found the Doctor looking for trouble and willingness to frighten/torment someone for the sake of his curiousity a little harder to wrap my head around this week. Not necessarily complaining, just an observation :lol

Yeah, I was definitely not a fan of this episode. You've covered most everything that rubbed me the wrong way. I'm tired of Moffat trying to make his mark on every aspect of the Doctor's backstory. It isn't needed. I don't need to know everything about everything. It minimalizes the myth of the character, I think.

The red herring with the blanket was ridiculous, too. No kid would act like that. It was a pointless moment that only existed to further the false narrative track. Not to mention the dialogue and "characer moments' between Danny and Clara were the worst kind of tripe. The speed at which they're being forced together and the terrible words coming out of their mouths make the whole thing painful.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm ready for the door to hit Moffat in the ass on the way out.

I like it well enough. I had hoped it was a more conventional monster, but I don't mind what we got.

The bit at the end of time reminded me heavily of Midnight by RTD.

Really liked this episode. It started off appropriately creepy, then got really interesting and mysterious with the Orson stuff, and then the last ten minutes were just jaw-dropping. My eyes damn near popped out of my head when it was revealed whose bed she was hiding under and again when we found out what that building was. All in all a fantastic episode.

Except for Samual Anderson's wig. That thing was awful. :lol

I enjoyed this episode. I was creeped out a bit because I have a habit of talking to myself when I'm alone. But I think that was the point. I think they already started forshadowing Clara's departure with Orson. She leaves to be in a relationship with/marry Mr. Pink there. I liked the ending. I loved it. I also appreciate they didn't show the boys face clearly, it would've ruined it somehow.

How exactly are Weeping Angels, the Silent Priests, and the Vashta Nerada Sci-Fi species? Their premises, while indeed terrifying, seem too out-of-place for the genre and more at home in a fantasy setting. Sure the VN are at least similar to a brown rat/man-o-war hybrid in that they could evolve to work as a single organism and stow away on spaceships to spread to other planets( even though that STILL has some problems), but the other two feel more at home as Fair Folk or Yokai than a naturally occurring species subject to evolution like any other species.

Or perhaps I'm just missing something because I'm an unwashed heathen. After all I still think Daleks are the stupidest idea for Universe-conquering "Threat" in existance.

Also, how do people watch this show? How do you jump in to something as long running like this and how can anyone that's not in Britain be able to watch it on a regular basis?

weekly downloads is how ive stayed into the show since the 9th doc, and just like star trek forget what happened before you jumped on cause it'll just get retconned in a few years anyways. the silence were explained as genetically altered but yea weeping angels and some of the others are kinda weird from a science point of view but I guess that's the fun of not trying to be so serious all the time. I choose to enjoy the show this way, the doc in my eyes is like all the heroes from my childhood, he-man,batman,spiderman,superman,optimus prime and literature heroes like robin hood, peter pan and others. he's a guy that wants to have fun but also do good wherever adventure takes him. he's what every adventorous kid wants to be. but this is just me. oh and when I say optimus prime as a hero I mean classic prime not heart ripping face smashing prime.

this was a good episode. I got to watch it with my 2 year old niece. from the second the doc opened his mouth to the second the credits started she was just awe struck. never have I seen her awake but silent, not just watching but listening and she even understood the boy was the old man.

Well for a start Doctor Who has always had elements of fantasy in it as well as sci-fi. Especially since Moffat over as show runner.

Secondly, the Silents are genetically modified beings so they aren't naturally occurring.

I'm pretty sure hyper intelligent mobile tanks with zero mercy/tolerance for anything would be a pretty effective 'threat'. Looks aren't everything you know.

Well, that explains why one of Moffat's brainchildren seems more like something out of a fairy tale than a naturally occurring species. Science Fantasy is always a bit difficult to do, since if you aren't careful, the science aspect will be stronger than the fantasy aspect rendering the fantasy aspect difficult to swallow.

Ah genetic modification/mutation, one of the Sci-Fi writer's favorite tools for explaining stuff. That works then. Though now I'm curious about why you'd bother putting a creature that you can't remember into a story. Are there beings that canremember them to balance it out?

And yes, in concept Daleks, a species so xenophobic that they devoted their existance to wiping out the one thing that could stop them so the rest of the universe could be taken easier, is terrifying. But the main problem for me is just the design of the tank suits. The Sixties were FAR to campy for the idea of Daleks. If they looked like a mix of Diagnostic Drones from Beast Machines and a robotic jellyfish or something, yeah, then I'd be able to take them a bit more seriously initially. And yeah, they should be taken seriously. It's just that the design, albeit very iconic, just holds back the horror aspect. I know they can hover, but anything that rolls across flat surfaces and looks like it could be defeated by falling on its side I can't take seriously as a threat. How does one get back up after falling over?
Were the Daleks still genetically healthy back in the Gallifreyan Genocide and not in the suits yet? And are all the non-suit Dalek tech the retrofitted remnants of the ancient Dalek armies? The lack of arms makes it hard to belie they can still pilot or manufacture anything in their quest to EXTERMINATE!!!!

The Daleks show their threat in the episodes. Very few Dalek episodes last without an immensely high body count, and they are more or less unstoppable when they do decide to fight back. More often that not the Doctor has to resort to some convenient plot device to win, and he never really gets ultimate victory over them.

They don't look like much, but their actions speak for themselves. They're extremely menacing in action, at least for me.

I'm don't agree with this. Sure, some elements revealed in previous episodes have been either ignored or explained away in the years since, but that's to be expected in a show that's been around for so many years and with this depth of internal history. I'd say most of the show's canon has remained relatively consistent.

I actually started with the 2005 series, but went back and watched all of the classic series (filling in the missing episodes with restorations, some of which better than others) and I enjoyed most of it immensely. There is a lot of material there that can flesh out the current series in fulfilling ways. Not all of classic Who is good, just like not all of the new series is good. But there are some real gems in there. Simply ignoring it all would be a loss. It's worth at least checking out the earlier Doctors, just to see the actual characters behind the faces that still crop up now and again.

Moffat does struggle to strike that balance, which is why quite a lot of people show disdain for his seasons (particularly 6 and 7). While I've always preferred the alien sci-fi side of Doctor Who, the fantasy element is good to have so that not everything has a rational explanation.

Presumably the Church of Silents would be able to remember them, since they were the ones that created them. They weren't initially meant to be a confrontational species - that only happened when a sect of the church went a bit crazy and tried to kill the Doctor.

Mostly though, it plays on the notion that there's always something watching you even if you can't see/it remembering it. Moffat's main thing is taking simple childhood fears and then crafting a story around them.

Well, the general idea is that you shouldn't be able to get near enough to a Dalek to knock it over :lol but yeah, you knock one over and they aren't exactly much of a threat. Which is probably why the new series has build them up as looking much heavier and never actually shown them falling over unless their blowing up. The thing is if you knock over one, there's most likely another one right behind it killing you before you can celebrate.

They're arrogant enough to overlook their design flaws, but their sheer dedication to survival is what makes them so powerful a species.

The Time War stuff only happened between the classic and modern series (although parts of the classic series have been retroactively placed in its timeline), so yeah - they were in the cases when all that happened. So naturally all their tech is designed to work with the plunger arm (though there are alternate arms for different purposes - claws, cutting tools etc), which they've made a point of proving is far more powerful than it might look. For example...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RwOGYnoMaY

Seconds later its then used to break a combination on a vault's button pad. Dalek was an exceptionally good episode for breaking down all the jokes modern audiences were going to have about the outdated design. The sucker arm is the one thing I wouldn't have minded them dropping for the new show, but they've made it work so far.

Well at least they're aware the Daleks look to campy and stupid to be initially seen as a threat. :lol

But know I'm curious how the Daleks make the suits. Are their non-genocidal Roomba models that assemble the main ones? Were the manufacturing forces for the suits made during a period when the Daleks were just beginning to genetically break down?

The Daleks were initially a humanoid race (the Kaleds) before their chief scientist began manipulating their form into what they are today. The Kaleds were already embroiled in massive nuclear war that was beginning to take it's toll on them, but Davros was trying to persuade that the Daleks were the only way the race would survive. Of course, Davros was also a megalomaniac who wanted to be certain his creations would go on to become the dominant species in the universe :lol

Before they eventually turned on Davros (he wasn't a Dalek, therefore he wasn't fit to lead them), there was already an assembly line for breeding new mutants and building the cases. As they've improved things over time, odds are they've used slaves to put the lines together and fix them whenever it's needed. Daleks are always taking new slaves.

I probly worded myself wrong. a lot of the show past is good but the a lot of the cannon has been getting "rewritten" lately.(See what I did there :) )

So, where would one find the series 8 episodes online? I kinda want to watch them now.

Family of Blood came on this morning. And I realized that those two episodes (Human Nature and The Family of Blood) are my favorite 10 story. They're the two episodes where if they come on I instantly watch without thinking about it first.

Wow, so it's not just me. I was on a Fanfic Doctor Who forum and all everyone seemed to have was praise for the episode, especially the last scene. It's nice to know it's not just me. But, ignoring that scene, I didn't mind the episode in general. The romance scenes seemed a little "off" to me, but it's not a romcom, it's a sci-fi show.

I liked that episode quite a bit. It wasn't groundbreaking Who or anything like that but it was a solid episode nevertheless, and kept me guessing even when I thought I had all the answers worked out.

Both this and Into the Dalek have made me realise how much better Moffat works when he has a co-writer.

The only thing better was End of Time where they brought her actress back to play her great granddaughter. The end of that movie was nothing but feels and tissues.

I was talking about this week's episode (I should have specified sorry :lol).

I do like Human Nature/Family of Blood though. I should get around to reading the 7th Doctor book its adapted from.