Gasp, I missed a day! But that is alright, I was at work, and then I was out until well after midnight so I forgive me.
Tomorrow morning we get to see Peter Capaldi, a life-long Doctor Who fan, play the role it seems he was born for. My choice of words betray some very high hopes on my part, I admit, but I can't help it. It is the same when anything major changes about the production.
When it was relaunched with Christopher Eccleston, I had extremely high hopes that slowly got dashed. When David Tennant came on board I was more cautious having been burned once. When Russell T Davies left, and Steven Moffat took the helm, I was hopeful for a more serious, considered tone along the lines of some of the episodes he had written. Though I did enjoy the Matt Smith Doctor more, I was disappointed by the plot holes and inconsistencies; I found Moffat a far better episode writer than show runner.
Capaldi's Doctor, by all accounts in the media, is set to be a more serious take. Less of pretty face, more substance. Gravitas. I'm extremely hopeful and looking forward to seeing the episode in the morning.
One thing I'd like to touch on is how disappointed I was about the way they portrayed the Time War in The Day of the Doctor. This universe-affecting conflict of staggering scope and proportions was shown as a laser light show better suited to a low(er) budget version of Starship Troopers than Doctor Who. I know that a TV series doesn't have a Hollywood blockbuster effects budget, and so should they. Don't try to tell the story with light shows and explosions! Show the odd fleet conflict, sure, but show the universe buckling and warping under the weight of two forces trying to out-time travel one another. Show weirdness and implicit wrongness caused by it. Allude to it.
They also indulged in yet another bit of internal inconsistency with the way they portrayed the other Time Lords. I thought their 'current' character had been established in an earlier David Tennant story? How does that reconcile with The Day of the Doctor? It just seems sloppy.
Speaking of Time Lords, I am still sore that they only used Derek Jacobi as the Master in one episode. He was staggeringly good in the role.
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