Since this is my first episode related to Doctor Who, I wanted to find a way to introduce the topic to people. One idea I had was to do an interview style episode, where I was kind of interviewing myself. In the end, I thought that was really weird, so I decided not to do it. In preparation for it, though, I wrote it all down, my questions, and then my answers. I thought it might be interesting to include that here with the liner notes for this episode.
I have been looking forward to this week since I started this series of blog posts at the beginning of the month. There are so many TV characters that I love, and it is interesting to look back on how my tastes have changed over the years. For instance, there was a time when I just didn’t get the appeal of Doctor Who. I saw it on late nights on PBS, but I just never got it. More and more people were talking about it, so I tried to give it another shot, and found a new favorite character.
Oxygen, the latest Doctor Who episode just premiered on Saturday, and we need to talk about it. Normally, I try to make these kinds of posts spoiler free, but not this time. Please consider this a friendly and courteous spoiler warning. There is an image right after this paragraph, and then there will be spoilers, so if you have not seen the episode, please stop reading after this paragraph, go and watch the episode, then come back and we can discuss.
Everything is changing for Doctor Who after this current season. New show runner, new Doctor, new everything, including a new companion. While I am sad to see Capaldi go, and I have mixed emotions about seeing Moffat go, the real tragedy is that Bill is also going.
It’s been a long time since we have had new Doctor Who. It will be exactly one year when the new Christmas special airs. In all fairness, this year may have felt really long to those of us who are “new” to the series. Let’s remember, thought, that from May of 1996 until March of 2005 there was nothing. No Doctor Who on TV for nearly ten years. The last episode before the 1996 TV movie was aired in 1989. Our little one year break is really nothing.
My capstone paper at BYU was on online fandom and I had to explain a lot of terms in detail to a professor who wasn’t very well-versed in modern trends. Since graduating, I’ve found out there is a lot more to fandom that I wasn’t even aware of, including terminology and slang. If you use Pinterest and Tumblr or you follow fandom sites on Facebook, the following may be some ideas to be aware of when looking at fan art and reading others’ posts, as well as commonly used slang. The slang terms you can look up in the Urban Dictionary (which is a site I DO NOT recommend for children).
Another week is in the books, and we are bringing back our “This Week in Geek” feature. In this feature we are going to take a look at a few of the stories that happened this week in the world of Geek. We aren’t a news site, so this won’t necessarily be a comprehensive list, just a few highlights. If you see a story throughout the week that you think should be featured here, then send it along to me and I will include it. You can send it directly to [email protected]. Alright, let’s get to This Week in Geek.
Wow. What a season of Doctor Who. I am still trying to catch my breath. I think we saw Peter Capaldi start to reach his potential as the Doctor during season 9. I enjoyed him last year, but this year he has really taken ownership of the character. He has become the Doctor, and what’s more, he seems like he is really enjoying his turn as our favorite Time Lord. This season was also an emotional roller coaster in a lot of ways, and the writing has been stronger than it has been in a long, long time. Last year there were a few good episodes, or at least ok episodes, and a lot of really sub-par episodes. This year is the opposite. I think there was only one episode I really didn’t care for, and it was in the second half of the season, and we’re going to talk about it.
With this weekend’s episode “The Zygon Invasion,” we are now starting the second half of season 9. It’s all down hill from here. As I was watching the latest episode, it got me thinking about what we have seen so far this season. It led me to a couple of conclusions. Number one: I wish these seasons were longer. Number two: So far, season 9 has been pretty decent. An improvement of season 8. My only disappointment is that each story this year has been a two -parter. Sometimes I enjoy the quick, one parters. That might be nit-picking, though, which I know is strictly forbidden in the Doctor Who fandom. Let’s take a look at each episode as it aired, starting with “The Magician’s Apprentice.”
I was asked by my brother a while back what my favorite episode of Doctor Who was. That’s not an easy question for me to answer. Not a title I like to give out very easily, because there are so many episodes that i really like quite a bit, and for a variety of reasons. That being said, we have a new, very strong contender in the favorite episode department. “Under the Lake” was a really good episode for a very specific reason for me, and it was a big enough reason that I may call it my favorite for a while. No, that reason isn’t that this was a creepy ghost story just in time for October. That was fun, but not enough to make this my new favorite. The reason this was my new favorite had to do with one thing, well, person. Cass.