Hey youtubers it’s Charlie. Hopefully you guys have had a chance to see the first episode.
Since this is our first time seeing Peter Capaldi as The Doctor in a proper story most
of this video is going to be spent on him. But there’s a lot of talk about what’s
happening with Clara and TV Guide even spoiled a few big things. So once I get through the
important stuff I’ll address all that.
If you’re just finding me for the first time I’m doing weekly doctor who videos
for all the episodes. And a weekly giveaway. All you have to do to enter is be a subscriber
and leave a comment. I’ll announce the winner when I post my Q&A video tomorrow.
So important stuff first, Top 10 moments from the premiere. Careful for spoilers if you
haven’t seen it yet. I’ll wait just a sec...okay. Here we got. Number 10 - The New
Title Sequence
I feel like this is going to be one of the more controversial changes to the show. I
knew they’d change them to suit the tone of Capaldi’s run but I didn’t think they’d
change this much.
There’s actually a cool story as to why they went with the pocket watch over the time
vortex. There was a fan who made his own clockwork titles, steven moffat saw them and thought
it would be a good update.
The final version they use on the show is different from what the fan originally made.
His name is Billy Hanshaw. He’s a professional graphics designer so he makes titles like
these for a living but it’s still really cool to think Steven Moffat made a change
this big based on something a fan did.
Moffat said it was the best idea for a change to the titles he’d seen since 1963. Depending
on what you count as a title edit there have been over 13 versions, here’s a quick montage
of them all.
Number 9 - The Grand Entrance
I always like that no matter what the Doctor’s personality is, he always makes a grand stage
entrance and getting spit up by a dinosaur is a nice addition to the deck of cards that
comprise all the doctor’s first introductions.
Most of the interviews Capaldi has been doing peg his Doctor as uncaring but I think the
bit with slamming the door in Strax’s face does a really good job of showing how funny
it’s going to be despite the new pro-Robot Suicide Doctor.
Matt Smith was quick with the jokes but I feel like Capaldi nails the dry wit of british
humor perfectly. If any of you guys from the UK want to explain the difference between
british humor and American humor please do, personally I think it’s all about the subtle
turn of phrase. Being clever and biting in a very casual way.
Capaldi insults everyone that walks into his field of vision, but turns out it’s okay.
Because he’s gone Scottish.
That by the way was my favorite quote from the episode. “Have I gone Scottish?” “Now
I can REALLY complain about things!”
Just for reference, David Tennant, Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat are all Scottish in real
life too. But David Tennant didn’t lean on his Scottish accent when he took the role
of the tenth doctor. Peter Capaldi made special mention that he would be keeping his Scottish
accent during his run. And I think it’s great.
Number 8 - Clara Reacts To Peter Capaldi
What would you do if the person you loved changed their face. I guess you could consider
that a joke about plastic surgery. But really this is Clara’s first experience with a
regeneration. Vastra and Jenny were a nice analogy for what the ideal version of a relationship
should be.
Loving someone no matter how they change. This whole episode was meta in that it’s
Clara getting used to the new doctor and we as the fandom getting used to him. So for
a lot of the episode we’re viewing things from Clara’s perspective.
When Vastra put him to sleep and Clara heard him whispering he had this really poetic speech
about how alone he really is. He even said it later to the Robot Leader, I don’t expect
to make it to paradise. Which is just a metaphor for Gallifrey.
He is utterly alone. Which is why the companion relationship is going to be so important this
series. Capaldi’s Doctor is more afraid that ever, which might explain why he insults
people so much. Usually that’s a red flag for insecurity.
I tried to find a reference to the speech he whispered, “All the world is grey and
I am alone.”
All I could think of was Metaltron from Series 1. Metaltron and the 9th Doctor have that
conversation where the Dalek ponders it’s loneliness. The Doctor also said the Dinosaur
was all alone too.
The Doctor is utterly lonely but for some reason he doesn’t like hugs. I love how
funny some of the contradictions in his personality are. The hugging part seems like a very Victorian
british thing too. Not being outwardly affectionate, especially in public.
Which leads me to Number 7 - The doctor isn’t cuddly anymore
This is taken from a Neil Gaiman Quote after he first saw the episode. One of the major
differences in Capaldi’s portrayal is a Doctor that doesn’t yearn for affection.
Not flirting, don’t get any ideas.
When he said that line all I could think of was River and all the attractive female companions
from Classic Who till now. Not all Doctors before Capaldi were flirty, it’s mostly
something that the show has pushed forward since the 2005 series began.
The cuddly part is all Matt Smith. I never found it off putting but I was still pretty
new to the series when he started in 2011. I didn’t see a lot of the Darker Doctor’s
till later.
I think about half of you guys loved Smith and the other half thought a cuddly Doctor
was rubbish.
I’m really interested to see how much darker Capaldi gets. There were a couple scenes that
summed him up pretty well that i’ll explain in a sec.
on to Number 6 - The Doctor and Clara get to know each other again
Loved the banter, they seem more like an old married couple or a couple of really old friends.
Making fun of each other without taking it too seriously. The doctor makes fun of her
vanity, clara makes fun of his grey hair.
Both of them are saying this is who I am, I’m not going to change. But it doesn’t
mean we’re not friends.
I got such a Sherlock vibe from the whole episode but the restaurant pre-capture was
a good example of a conversation Sherlock would have with Watson. Their relationship
is a good metaphor for Clara and the Doctor’s relationship.
The Doctor is the brilliant but crazy one and Clara is the sensible one who serves as
his interpreter when he starts speaking gibberish or gets too rude.
There were also a lot of obvious sherlock references too. Like Vastra saying “The
Game is Afoot”, “There’s a murder, the Doctor has taken the case”.
Steven Moffat said that he was totally open to the idea of a Wholock story if Benedict
Cumberbatch and Peter Capaldi’s schedules ever worked out.
Number 5 - The Rubbish Robots from the Dawn of Time
The were reports from a long time ago that the Clockwork Droids from Girl in the Fireplace
would be back. The doctor kept referencing the episode by saying this all sounds familiar.
And even held up that logo. Just to be clear. The ship in Deep Breath
was the Marie Antoinette and it was the Sister Ship of the Madame de Pompadour. The Pompadour
was the ship from Girl in the fireplace, so these droids were not the same ones.
They were based on the same technology, but it’s a different group of robots. Searching
for paradise.
I’ll talk more about Paradise in a sec, because that ties in with the villain and
the finale this year.
But Number 4- There Doctor Doesn’t Ever Expect To Get Home
This was another Rule number 1 moment where I couldn’t tell if the Doctor was lying.
If you believe Matt Smith is in there, then he’s taking the long way round back to Gallifrey.
So he does expect to get home.
I think he was just saying whatever it took to get the leader to jump out of the skin
balloon ship. I
I loved how he confronted the robot throwing his immortality in his face. “There is no
trace of you left.” Capaldi can’t remember where he got his face from, like he’s talking
to himself as much as he’s talking to the robot.
He also had that line earlier in the episode when he got his first set of clothes. He looked
in the mirror and said “I’ve seen this face before” “But I didn’t make the
frown lines”.
I’ve seen theories that this is a reference to Capaldi’s character from Fires of Pompeii.
Meaning that the doctor could have chosen that face as a sign that he really does care
despite it being against his nature as a time lord.
In fires of pompeii he went back to save the capaldi character, which was against his rules.
He cared so much he broke his own rules. So it’s possible that the explanation of his
face is that he chose it to remind himself that he cares. Even though he’s supposed
to be the not-caring doctor.
Then he turns on a dime and pretty much says he does have it in him to murder in order
to protect his friends. Which is super dark. We can talk about this one scene all day.
This is what Capaldi’s doctor is all about. Fierce and distant but not uncaring.
and Number 3 - The New TARDIS
Everybody pointed out the bookshelves in the trailer, but here we can see him sitting in
a chair just like the seventh Doctor. His TARDIS was made to look more victorian so
when Peter Capaldi’s debut was announced as a victorian episode I wondered if there
was a connection Really there are very minor changes structurally.
It’s just a color pallette shift. It’s dark lighting with warm colors. Which I think
is just a callback to his personality. Outwardly very dark but still bigger and warmer on the
inside.
Lots of great references to old doctor’s tardises here though. Especially the round
things. That was one of the funniest references from the 50th Anniversary when Smith and Tennant
saw John Hurt’s Tardis.
They were also confused by the round things.
Just to explain that, for several seasons the first couple of doctor’s tardises all
had round things. Even the 9th doctor’s tardis in 2005 had the round rivets.
But Number 2 - Phone Call from Trenzalore
This was spoiled pretty early on, but I still enjoyed it all the same. Matt Smith came back
to do the scene, they didn’t film that during the Christmas Special.
It’s just a way for Peter Capaldi’s Doctor to explain time lord regeneration to Clara.
They’re all the same person even though the faces and personalities change. Thus the
no hugging.
I did like that Matt Smith made jokes about Capaldi being old. Doctor Who does the best
job of making fun of itself without going too far.
But my Number 1 moment was The Woman, Missy.
I am convinced this is not River Song despite all the boyfriend talk. I know a lot of you
have Rani theories. But let me point out something really interesting. Moffat Referred to her
as the Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere and she appears in the two part finale. So she
is very important.
But her paradise callout is also really interesting because we have no idea what the nethersphere
is and this garden looks mysteriously like the garden Amy Pond got stuck in during The
Girl Who Waited.
In that episode, paradise was literally a resort planet called Apalapucia. So it’s
possible that the clockwork droid was transported there by Missy.
There’s also the thematic link to the girl who waited episode too. In it, the doctor
choses to leave Amy Behind to die. So does that mean that capaldi is going to have to
make the same choice.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he did it when they were on the clockwork
ship. Even though he came back. It might just be foreshadowing that he’ll have to leave
clara behind for real at some point this season. Just something to think about.
And then there’s the bit about the woman that gave clara the doctor’s number. Capaldi
even says that whoever she is, she’s very keen on keeping Clara and the Doctor together.
That woman of course is Missy. So why does missy want clara to remain with the doctor?
I’ll save some of my missy theories until after we learn some more about her. I don’t
want to jump to Rani too soon. But clearly she has known multiple versions of the Doctor,
and there are very few females in the universe that are as long lived as the timelords.
Let me know what your favorite things from the episode were and what you think of capaldi
so far.
Here’s a couple quick easter eggs before my review.
The person early in the episode who gets his eyes stolen is Ser Dontos from Game of Thrones.
Which is funny given how each of those characters ended up.
The Sonic Devices that Strax, Vastra and Jenny used in the episode were designed by fans
in a Blue Peter contest last year.
And possibly my favorite easter egg was the scarf. When Capaldi’s going on about clothes
he says he needs a long scar, but the backtracks quickly say, no that’d look stupid.
I imagine Tom Baker laughed pretty hard when he saw that.
It also sounds like the Doctor gave his pocketwatch to the man to get those clothes, which I think
could come back to bite him in the ass.
There were a lot more so if you saw references to other episodes write them in the comments.
Overall I gave the episode a solid A for being so different and hypnotizing despite using
a lot of old things from Moffat’s run like the clockwork droids. Peter Capaldi said it
best in the episode, I’ve seen this before.
I felt like the use of the paternoster foreshadows a potential spinoff. I don’t expect it to
happen, but I felt like this episode asked more from those characters in terms of performance
than any previous episode they’ve appeared in. As if to show that they can carry a show
without The Doctor.
I am so enjoying this new Grumpy Scottish Doctor and based on what Moffat has said about
each of the episodes this series I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I did a video summing
up all of what he said, I’ll add a link to it at the end.
In related news, my Q&A for this will post Sunday, so hopefully everyone will have a
chance to rewatch the episode and come up with questions.
I’ll also announce the winner of the giveaway when I post that. Remember all you have to
do to enter is be a subscriber and leave a comment on this video. It’s open to international
people too.
You can get the Q&A video by clicking here. I’ll add the annotation as soon as I post
it. And click here for the full Series 8 Schedule with Moffat’s explanations for everything.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tonight. Now let’s all high five and rewatch the
episode.