But Moffat hasn't done anything complicated since Series 6 and the River/Silence thread

 

I can't explain it properly but I just get really lost with his stories and it takes a lot of hard work to get a hold if what he's trying to do with the show.... :wacko:

Having a writer like Moffat who actually makes you sit and think about each of the episodes you're watching is far more preferable to having everything spelled out to you with alphabet spaghetti like RTD did.

Having a writer like Moffat who actually makes you sit and think about each of the episodes you're watching is far more preferable to having everything spelled out to you with alphabet spaghetti like RTD did.

 

I disagree, I think some degree of mystery is good but I want to sit back and be entertained by Doctor Who, rather than think about it like I'm solving a Maths problem, I do that on a day-to-day basis at school so don't want to do that when I watch TV.

Not sure if a few people have missed the point with this one by expecting a definitive answer.

 

It could be a lifeform under the covers and it could be something outside the spaceship door although logic says it's probably another child and the sound and subsequent movement of the ships hull decompressing but because of Clara's presence in The Doctor's past he (like everyone) has an innate fearan belief of the unknown in the dark. It's deliberately left up to the viewer to decide. Her intervention completes a time loop that both starts and ends the story.

 

Whichever way you take it this is easily up there with the best episodesof all Dcotor Who. Solid performances all round, a delightful script and extremely well directed. My only gripe was after the scenes in the children's home going back to Clara's date removed a lot of tension that had been skilfully built up at least until they arrived on the planet, but that's the sacrifice you make with a family tv show.

 

A genuine Who classic.

 

I think the orphanage bit was really well done and up to that point I was completely hooked by the story, I did like the fact that we didn't know what the thing under the covers was and I did find it a particularly inspired moment for them to be under the bed being scared by something on top of it.

 

It was the future bit I was particularly let down by, I liked the concept of playing on people's fears of noises when they think they're alone (or not as the case may be!) as that continued the rational/irrational choice storyline but the door thing just threw me as I think I must be missing something - the doctor unlocked it which I'm fine with and I'm fine with the noises fitting in to the potential rational/irrational explanation scenarios, it's the specific bit where the doctor said he wasn't opening the door that I'm not - doesn't that mean something or someone else must have been opening it from the other side? Or is there some element of compression physics that I'm just not getting that provides the alternate possibility that's needed for the rational/irrational thing to work?

 

The bit after that when Clara was under the doctor's bed was great, a really well thought out explanation in a way that wouldn't leave kids watching scared by the prospects of what was under their beds etc. The complete opposite to Blink which killed off the scary statues and then deliberately made all the kids watching think that they could be any of the many statues in their towns! :D

 

 

I disagree, I think some degree of mystery is good but I want to sit back and be entertained by Doctor Who, rather than think about it like I'm solving a Maths problem, I do that on a day-to-day basis at school so don't want to do that when I watch TV.

 

This sums it up for me. I want to be entertained in an hour of TV, I'm happy to have to do a bit of thinking and not have every detail explained to me!

 

Moffatt's responsible for 2 of the best episodes of the new Who (Blink/Silence In The Library) but now his stories just don't work for me, nothing has matched the quality of those stories and I find it an effort to watch the show now. I even gave up on the show from the end of Matt Smiths first series until Capaldi took over especially after the joke that was the River/Amy 'twist'....

I even gave up on the show from the end of Matt Smiths first series until Capaldi took over especially after the joke that was the River/Amy 'twist'....

So really, you didn't give up until part of the way through series 6.

So how could Clara visit the Doctor's past? They can travel to Gallifrey now?

This is now a kid's show, but shouldn't be, so it's ridiculous they feel the need to make it 'kid friendly' by having Clara being the one under the bed, etc.

 

 

I don't think it being kid friendly was the sole reason for the ending, it was quite a clever resolution really and not one the viewer would have sene occurring - well, I didn't anyway...

So how could Clara visit the Doctor's past? They can travel to Gallifrey now?

It wasn't Gallifrey. It was the same barn the War Doctor visted in The Day Of The Doctor which is not said to be on Gallifrey at any point in either story.

This is now a kid's show, but shouldn't be, so it's ridiculous they feel the need to make it 'kid friendly' by having Clara being the one under the bed, etc.

Doctor Who has ALWAYS been a kids show. It's just so many of us grew up with it that we still watch it as adults.

I really liked this episode - the best episodes of Doctor Who are the ones that are clever, make you think and play around with time. (I always enjoy the 'time' episodes more than those that focus on 'space.') For all of Moffat's shortcomings, his episodes usually encapsulate all of the above really well.

 

This episode managed to make something everyday and turn it into something a tad creepy (another good Moffat trick.) The fact that we never found out whether there is something to be scared of in the dark or whether it's all a figment of our imagination was a much better ending than if we had been showed some ugly OTT monster, particularly as it turns out that it was Clara who started it all off for the Doctor, so we can believe her summary at the end about "never being alone with fear as a companion." (I'm really hoping that when the Doctor finds out that Clara has visited Gallifrey, that he realises there IS a way to get back there. If they just swept it under the carpet, I'd be disappointed.)

 

I love that they are concentrating on expanding Clara as a character in this series. Four episodes in and I already feel like I know her a lot better than I did previously. It feels more of a double act than Matt Smith and his "mystery girl." I'm also loving the relationship between Clara and the new grouchy Doctor.

 

Intrigued to find out more about Clara's and Danny's futures.

 

9/10

It was the future bit I was particularly let down by, I liked the concept of playing on people's fears of noises when they think they're alone (or not as the case may be!) as that continued the rational/irrational choice storyline but the door thing just threw me as I think I must be missing something - the doctor unlocked it which I'm fine with and I'm fine with the noises fitting in to the potential rational/irrational explanation scenarios, it's the specific bit where the doctor said he wasn't opening the door that I'm not - doesn't that mean something or someone else must have been opening it from the other side? Or is there some element of compression physics that I'm just not getting that provides the alternate possibility that's needed for the rational/irrational thing to work?

There was a single blink and you miss it line about how it could be down to the decomprssion opening the door.

 

The whole point of the episode is that it's all maybe, could be and possiblilities but the imagination/fear plays tricks on you.

Ah! I must have blinked. Which, as we all know, is dangerous during Doctor Who.

 

loving the discussions. sign of a great episode.

 

I was 5 when I first watched Dr Who. It was the first episode, and I have schoolbooks age 6/7 enthusing on how much I loved Dr Who, the companions, the butterfly people and the scary big ants. Pics of the Tardis wot I drew, Dalek films at the cinema, and hiding behind a pillow or sofa when it got scary. Crucial stuff to a kid!

Watched this earlier and loved it, but thanks for clarifying that the story was ambiguous as I was wondering if I had missed something.

 

Very impressed by Capaldi so far!

Who started the craze of hiding behind the sofa?

 

I watched it as a kid and it was not scary and I certainly would never, even as a kid hide behind a sofa from a tv.

 

 

After 'Listen', TV reported to be scared that someone might be hiding behind the sofa.

 

Having a writer like Moffat who actually makes you sit and think about each of the episodes you're watching is far more preferable to having everything spelled out to you with alphabet spaghetti like RTD did.

 

Is it weird that I actually prefer RTD to Stephen Moffat? :D I just found the plots much more interesting in general with his whilst Moffat kinda makes too many arches that make everything so confusing. Series 6 was done great. Series 7 felt a bit meh but still better than series 3, however I just can't watch them without getting bored at the moment.

 

On the other hand, I think I'm liking Jenna Coleman now! Took a while but she's much better than Amy :wub::

HA no way is she better than Amy!

 

She hasn't even had a stable personality, they've just transplanted her with this thick, gobby girl now that she has no interesting mystery.