Doctor Who [12]

Yeah exactly like a pantomine villain -I actually dont mind that- all versions of the Master have had a touch of the panto villian and twirly moustache villain about them- what I didn't like was he is one-note- bat-shit cray as you rightly say- thats it- and he is for 99.9% of the time the villain- which the Master never was in entirety where the Doctor was concerned- the best thing Moffat has done with the character as far as I am concerned was to go back to the originals and bring back out the root relationship between the two- best of friends and dealiest enemies. And a Master who is both engaging and likeable and can be a source of help, and a Master who is psychotically twisted on a whim- such as when Missy tries to get the Doctor to shoot Clara when she is in the Dalek casing after being on the 'good guys' side to that point.
It greatly broadens the character out from Simms manic laughing villain to one where the initial and original friendship colours everything else that happens and serves the solid writing use of shedding light on aspects of the characters of both of them by seeing how the treat one an other and act. As well as making the Master, or Missy, far less predictable in what she will do next, it might be good it might be very bad indeed. Something Moffat perfectly summed up in the plaza scene in The Magicians Apprentice-

CLARA: Since when do you care about the Doctor?
MISSY: Since always. Since the Cloister Wars. Since the night he stole the moon and the President's wife. Since he was a little girl. One of those was a lie. Can you guess which one?
CLARA: He's not your friend. You keep trying to kill him.
MISSY: He keeps trying to kill me. It's sort of our texting. We've been at it for ages.
CLARA: Mmm. Must be love.
MISSY: Oh, don't be disgusting. We're Time Lords, not animals. Try, nano-brain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship. A friendship older than your civilisation, and infinitely more complex.
CLARA: So the Doctor is your bezzy mate and I'm supposed to believe that you've turned good?
MISSY: Good?
(Missy uses her controller to disintegrate a Secret Service man.)
SOLDIER [OC]: Man down!
CLARA: (sotto) No!
(Clara get up and goes towards where the man was.)
SOLDIER [OC]: Man down!
MISSY: By the ring on his finger, he was married, and I, I think I detected some baby leakage on his jacket, so he had a family. No, I've not turned good.
(She shoots another man.)

Missy is never engaging and likeable. But your description of her is exactly the relationship Simms Master has with the Doctor, only you cant bear the thought that he is better than Moffats creature. Who is pretty boring btw.

She is very popular for someone so boring.

There are two scenes I can think of which play on the friendship aspect between 10 and the Master- the conversation about Gallifrey- and its largely exposition really- and the final scene where the Doctor holds the Master in his arms- and that's more about being left alone than it is about losing a friend, though friendship is in there (and a suggestion of more because its RTD and he has two men to play with!)- Moffat sets his stall out on this one pretty early on- to anyone who watched the Master in classic its instantly more recognisable than Simms version was.
And I have never been a hater of Simms Master- he has some very fun moments and a couple of decent ones- its the characterisations of the Master I have issue with- its too much laughing maniac who has been driven mad by the drum beat and not enough the closest friend the Doctor has ever had and from childhood.
Plus that drum beat thing was a pretty poor bit of retroinjection into the Masters story line that doesn't fit anywhere with anything we heard or saw in classic or with his character, and which so far Moffat has wisely chosen to ignore.

Moffat took that idea and used it in his episodes ad nauseum.

Two excellent Dalek related vids-

Rewatched Heaven Sent- an episode which just impress more each time I see it.

Spoiler:

Interestingly writing wise this shares something with RTD's Midnight- both are episode whose concepts the writers had for a very long time but did not use because they feared it simply would not work and people would hate it- and in both cases the writers produced one of their best works for the show.

Yeeeeee They are the one creation that still scares the shit out off me, I dont think IL ever get used to them.

Heaven Sent - for anyone who hasn't watched this episode yet- even if you don't watch Who this is great tv by any standards.

Moffat on series 10 - “I’ve spoken to [Peter Jackson] face to face, and he would like to do one. He accepts that there’s no money and that there’s no time, and it would have to be when he’s available… I think it will probably happen at some point.”

“…we’ve had meetings today with two writers who’ve never written Doctor Who before. If I told you their names, your brain would explode … brilliant, prominent and amazing writers.”

“We’re planning one right now which is very much an Ancient World episode, but I won’t tell you which part of the Ancient World.”

"I know that what I’ve signed on to do is 13 more episodes of Doctor Who – including a Christmas special. I’m trying to argue for slightly more than that, but we’ll see.”

Michael Pickwoad (production designer) says that Season 10 will begin filming next May.

Peter Capaldi: “I think [filming begins] next year… at some point.”

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Rewatched Heaven Sent- an episode which just impress more each time I see it.

Spoiler:

Interestingly writing wise this shares something with RTD's Midnight- both are episode whose concepts the writers had for a very long time but did not use because they feared it simply would not work and people would hate it- and in both cases the writers produced one of their best works for the show.

only Midnight is genuinely scary and brilliant. and Heaven Sent isn't.

here to help.

I find Heaven Sent deeply disturbing, its unnerving psychologically and shares many of the seem feelings as being trapped inside a nightmare.

And whilst you may not have liked Heaven Sent (though that seems a change from your previous position, again) there is no doubt it went over very well indeed with the fan and critical base and Capaldi's performance in it is clearly amazing- it doesn't even need any justification, he caries a 55 minute episode on his own. With seeming ease. Its also the best direction and cinematography I have seen on the show. Ever. In all 51 years of it. Its just so effective and inventive.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:I find Heaven Sent deeply disturbing, its unnerving psychologically and shares many of the seem feelings as being trapped inside a nightmare.

And whilst you may not have liked Heaven Sent (though that seems a change from your previous position, again) there is no doubt it went over very well indeed with the fan and critical base and Capaldi's performance in it is clearly amazing- it doesn't even need any justification, he caries a 55 minute episode on his own. With seeming ease. Its also the best direction and cinematography I have seen on the show. Ever. In all 51 years of it. Its just so effective and inventive.

first off I didn't say I disliked Heaven Sent, so I haven't changed from my previous position of thinking it was so-so. Capaldi's performance was good and I didn't say it wasn't either. The cinematography was interesting, but the concept was no way as interesting or as well acted as Midnight.

I am a big fan of Midnight but there isn't much to the concept- Doctor goes off in a bus basically with a few passengers- encounter mysterious entity, everyone gets paranoid, entity defeated, the end. Most of it is left completely unexplained and a mystery.

Heaven Sent has a lot more going on in its concept than Midnight, good as Midnight is.

And as for saying Heaven Sent is not as well acted as Midnight- that one just boggles my mind.

Heaven Sent. The Doctor runs round a castle two billion times. that's it.

Yeah because thats what its about.

I've just watched Pertwee's Spiders, his regeneration into Baker, then Robot King Kong. It's been kind of fun in a very cheesy way going back to all these old Doctors. Pertwee seems to have been trying a bit too hard to be James Bond (agent for UNIT, car chases, hovercrafts and helicopter chases, fight scenes where he has a martial arts stunt double, all with never a wink. I have to say, Baker's lighter tone of self-mockery is a breath of fresh air in comparison. Of course he's the first Doctor I ever met, so I'm naturally a little bit prejudiced in his fovour...

Well it was the 70's- spy film's, Moores Bond, and Pertwee was a gadget nut anyway- he was responsible personally for quite a lot of the gadgets- the terrible Whomoibile, Whochopper ect

I like some of the Pertwee era, but its easily my personal least favourite era of classic and the one I have rewatched the least.

Pettytyrant101 wrote: Yeah because thats what its about.

No it wasn't.

ok. it was about the Doctor running round a castle two billion times trying to get out. and failing because he has suddenly forgotten how to outwit a monster.

Pettytyrant101 wrote: Pertwee was a gadget nut anyway- he was responsible personally for quite a lot of the gadgets-.

I was wondering about that. Was this the period when the sonic screwdriver came into the picture, or was it earlier? It certainly seems like something Q might have invented.

Also, the robot King Kong is called K-1. Any connection to K-9 ?

But we never got an explanation as to why.- Halfy

That episode is the middle episode in a three part finale story Halfy- the answers are in the next episode- and spread throughout the preceding series.

Glad you enjoyed it however.   And yes the music is superb- I am fan of Murray Gold's Who music anyway- but I thought in general in this series he really outdid himself- and that episode is a highlight of it as the music has to help drive the narrative.

'Was this the period when the sonic screwdriver came into the picture, or was it earlier?'

No that was the second Doctor -but its during the Pertwee years it becomes more than a screwdriver and a sort of multi-purpose device- originally it really did unscrew screws and nothing else, sonically.

After Tom Bakers run they dumped the screwdriver for the entirety of the 5th Doctors run as the writers were worried it had become a solve anything get out of jail free card- an accusation levelled against it again in 11's run- for 12 Moffat toned its use right back and its never been used to solve a plot since just as an aid.

As far as I know the K-1 and K-9 are purely coincidental. As far as I know.

it took me ages to work out K-9 meant canine.

Capaldi's favourite episodes fROm classic (well a few of them!)-