But I suppose that you all knew that I'd get around to it eventually... after all, this daft little kid's TV show that started over half a century ago does seem to have got inside my DNA like no other before or since in a way that makes me care about it in ways that must seem very strange to the "Not we" to whom it remains irrelevant and, perhaps, just a little bit silly.
Personally, I've found, perhaps rather surprisingly, that I've loved, well if not exactly every minute of it, certainly enough of it to know that I still rather like this show, and I've definitely found Peter Capaldi's take on the character to be rather wonderful, but it seems that this is not as widely held an opinion as I might have hoped for, especially as choosing him to play the part was pretty much perfect casting in my humble, if old-fashioned, opinion.
It must be the crotchety old man in me manifesting itself...
It must be the crotchety old man in me manifesting itself...
It all started off way back in August with the extended episode called "Deep Breath" which, after all of the hype and excitement, seemed a little bit "Meh!" to me on first transmission, especially in comparison to the wonder that was "The Eleventh Hour" which introduced Matt Smith, and was in fact probably not helped by the fact that the sound mix that appears to be used on BBC HD and BBC1 seems to swamp the dialogue and make it far less intelligible.
When the inevitable DVD Box set arrived in November, I found myself not really looking forward to re-watching what I had by then decided was a lacklustre tale about robots in Victorian London, and was surprised to find how fresh, fast and funny - in fact downright witty - it actually was, especially when you can hear all of the words clearly. Strax throwing up the newspaper remains a joy, even if the "Blue Peter Competition Winner" scenes seemed a little bit tacked in, and an appearance by the late Elisabeth Sladen's husband makes another moment seem very special.
The character known as "Missy" makes her first appearance, too, which was a plot development that would keep at least me guessing for a while by trying not to read any spoilers.
When the inevitable DVD Box set arrived in November, I found myself not really looking forward to re-watching what I had by then decided was a lacklustre tale about robots in Victorian London, and was surprised to find how fresh, fast and funny - in fact downright witty - it actually was, especially when you can hear all of the words clearly. Strax throwing up the newspaper remains a joy, even if the "Blue Peter Competition Winner" scenes seemed a little bit tacked in, and an appearance by the late Elisabeth Sladen's husband makes another moment seem very special.
The character known as "Missy" makes her first appearance, too, which was a plot development that would keep at least me guessing for a while by trying not to read any spoilers.
"Into the Dalek" Apart from some frankly bonkers plot structuring at the beginning to introduce Danny Pink earlier in the season - presumably to increase his significance to the story arc - this was a good, solid and, again, witty episode, based loosely upon the premise of the movie "Fantastic Voyage" which addressed the worrying question of whether the Doctor was "A Good Man" - something that seemed very questionable during the scene where his alien-ness became apparent as he used the "already dead" soldier to help him with his plan.
This was also the episode which guaranteed that Peter Capaldi would at least - like every previous Doctor - be assured of at least one proper face-off with a Dalek during his run. Some of it felt a little like it was just meant as an introduction for the online "The Doctor and the Dalek" video game that used to get advertised after the episodes had finished this year, but any script that contains the line "Don't be lasagne" can't be all bad.
This was also the episode which guaranteed that Peter Capaldi would at least - like every previous Doctor - be assured of at least one proper face-off with a Dalek during his run. Some of it felt a little like it was just meant as an introduction for the online "The Doctor and the Dalek" video game that used to get advertised after the episodes had finished this year, but any script that contains the line "Don't be lasagne" can't be all bad.
"Robot of Sherwood" certainly seemed to divide opinions, but I found it a lot of fun and, given that by this stage, a lot of people seemed to have been having difficulties with the "darker" aspect of the Doctor which was being portrayed, a bit of light-hearted fun ought to have been just the ticket for the doubters, but it seemed that this was not to be in an episode that also got stymied by some last-minute re-editing for very sound reasons of sensitivity.
"Listen" was another divisive episode, which looked into the dark realm of childhood nightmares, added more to the Clara and Danny dynamic, trotted around in a frankly terrifying Children's Home, visited the far distant future on a rescue mission, and seemed to irritate some people by visiting the boyhood home of a certain Gallifreyan and find him weeping in a barn because he didn't want to be a soldier.
It wasn't to everyone's taste, but I found it to be very atmospheric and spooky... but something still moved that chalk...
It wasn't to everyone's taste, but I found it to be very atmospheric and spooky... but something still moved that chalk...
As old fans of "Hustle" and heist movies generally, "Time Heist" was always going to be a favourite concept for us, although, in the end, it perhaps failed to deliver, despite a few stylish touches, and the "hilarious" sequences with the memory worm. Sadly the "alien love story" resolution felt a little like a similar storyline in the last season, and wasn't ever going to score much in the originality stakes, which was a bit of a shame, because I found it to be an entertaining three quarters of an hour without it being all that memorable.
"The Caretaker" suffered by not being quite what "Closing Time" and "The Lodger" had managed to be in previous years when putting the Doctor into an ordinary domestic environment. There was something rather satisfying about having him work - in the fiendish disguise of a brown coat - in the dark depths of an ordinary school, but the "killer robot" threat, and the annoying schoolkids, didn't really work for me - although perhaps some genuine schoolchildren might have loved the idea that their own caretaker might be a space alien, which is probably far more important.
"Kill the Moon" It may have involved some weird and dodgy science and a big old row on t'interweb, but there was a lot to enjoy in this episode. I did hope that the stupid science of the Moon being a great big egg, and being replaced - luckily for us - by another great big egg might get explained by a great big, end of season, "pocket universe" (or something) reveal, but it appears that this was not to be. Still, there were some strong words to be said about humanity and what it is in this episode, and the big bust-up between the Doctor and Clara led to a very downbeat ending.
"Mummy on the Orient Express" A story idea first noted at the end of "The Big Bang" but not picked up upon, at least until now, and it turned out to be a corker, and the peeling back of the onion which is the twelfth Doctor really came into its own here, and anything that combines the full-on Agatha Christie in a "Doctor Who" setting is always going to work for me, even if last week's argument between the Doctor and Clara seemed far too easily glossed over, and there was yet another soldier crowbarred into the plot's resolution.
"Flatline" had given me rather low expectations before it aired because it looked like being the annual "cost saving" offering, but also turned out to be a cracker. Scary, inventive, and funny, and it finally gave Peter Capaldi the opportunity to go all out for a full Heroic "Doctor" moment which, to be honest, did seem rather overdue by this stage.
"In the Forest of the Night" was enjoyable enough, although a lot more very dodgy science - really, by this stage I might even have been craving the horrors of an "it was all a dream" get-out - and more prattling schoolchildren didn't help it engage with me too well. Still, the child actors were pretty good, the relationships between the leads played out nicely, and it all looked very pretty, but the whole thing, especially with the undamaged world aftermath, just seemed a little twee, perhaps rather too 'worthy" and, frankly, a little bit (and I hate to say this) dull...
Then the Radio Times committed what I considered to be a major blunder, which was the sort of thing that made me wonder whether I should tell people what I "reckon" at all, and hence delayed me publishing a piece like this.
What did they do, exactly?
Well, they published an article about how people "reckoned" Peter Capaldi had been doing, which, whilst it is symptomatic of the modern world ad everyone having an opinion upon everything that SIMPLY! MUST! BE! HEARD!
You see, I just thought it smacked of being disrespectful, because I couldn't think of any other acting job where "people" would be asked to comment upon somebody's performance like that, and seriously wondered if it got a great big "Well, f***ity f*** you all!!!" at Capaldi Towers when it turned up?
After all, you don't get articles about whether Nicholas Lyndhurst isn't as good as Alun Armstrong was in "New Tricks", do you...?
By this time, and when I was ranting about this to anyone who'd listen, "people" were prepared to tell me that - instead of caring all that much about that - they'd stopped watching anyhow... which felt like a bit of a shame to me, (it still always feels like a very personal rejection of me and everything I enjoy...) but there you are...
Now, my choice of a time to take my annual holiday meant that I didn't get to see the two-part finale on transmission, and had to leave the country with several plot point - and a ruddy great big trailer - unresolved, and with BBC America being unlikely to feature in every motel room, I just had to wait and see, and hope to avoid too many spoilers, even though the "Doctor Who Appreciation Society" managed to dump a bloody great big one right on the top of my TimeLine when I happened to venture into FizzBok when I got a Wi-Fi connection somewhere in northern California.
Bah!
I also got inklings of "trouble at t'mill" from reading one or two things on the BBC Entertainments News page a week or so later, but luckily those didn't completely ruin the stories for me when we sat down, jet-lagged to hell, two weeks later and swallowed both "Dark Water" and "Death in Heaven" in one glorious, self-indulgent lump.
I'm not going to "spoil" those for anyone who hasn't yet seen them, but I thought that they were dark, creepy, clever (we're still kicking ourselves about how long it took us to spot the "teardrop eye" logo) and thoroughly enjoyable, even if one or two favourite characters didn't quite get to make it out of there alive, and I'm very, very glad that I didn't have to endure that week-long wait between the last two episodes.
Whether all the (perhaps just made up for publicity purposes) "controversy" was justified remains to others to decide, but it didn't really concern me too much because of how effective it was, and I think that I can look back upon this twelve-week run and (finally) say that, yes, I think I've rather enjoyed watching this new Doctor in action.
A few weeks later, almost inevitably, the DVDs arrived and I started my re-watch and, to be honest, I was a little worried by this, given that I wasn't particularly bothered about re-watching "Deep Breath" but I'm still enjoying the show, despite any misgivings that I may have mentioned above, and will still be settling down late on Christmas Day to enjoy the next one, even though the Christmas episodes always seem just a little bit too Christmassy for an old cynic like me...
Because, you know, it's firmly ingrained into my DNA and instincts now.
But I may have mentioned that already.
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