Im not saying its perfect but i feel Series 8 is getting sleeped on and not talked much
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You know, I thought that I understood the Silence āarcā and that itās really not that complicated, but reading this I think Iāll have to agree with Delta, because I donāt think I understand anything from it actually.
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In Moffatās defence, I waffle a lot, and the longer my post gets, the more it ends up being brain vomit 
. I think the criticisms of Moffatās writings sometimes being too āsmartā are fair, but I quite enjoy it, it almost feels like a puzzle to be solved, which I can totally get being offputting for some people
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RTD, Moffat, Chibnal, itās ultimately just a matter of taste, and Iām never going to tell someone that their taste is wrong, or that their criticisms are invalid, as long as everyone engages fairly and is genuine about their criticisms (I donāt see that being a problem on this forum), then you have my full respect.
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No no I think your post was really clear honestly, it just never clicked in my head that Time of the Doctor was meant to be part of that arc. Nor that the Silence stuff was supposed to be an arc for that matter. I thought it was a bunch of teases for Day of the Moon and then later we find out their origin, and I thought that was neat, little through line for Elevenās era, but I never realized there was an actual like arc thing. So in retrospect I donāt think I understood it lol.
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Itās probably more accurate to say the Silence AND the cracks in time are the arc, because for the most part, the Silence are only in S6, they get a brief cameo in the Pandorica 2 parter when they blow up the TARDIS, have their whole S6 deal, then basically donāt exist until TotD, the inverse being true for the cracks in time, being a S5 thing and then coming back for TotD. Itās been a hot decade+ since I first watched 11ās era and Iāve given this a lot of thought, so if weāre being honest it could actually be overly esoteric writing, and Iāve just forgotten, then again Iāve seen Evangelion and nothing is ever going to be as esoteric as that 
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The Silence storyline (a bit long, but not too terribly complex, it just spans three seasons of the show)
There is a prophecy that at Trenzalore, the Doctor will be asked his name (the Question, āDoctor Who?ā) and if he answers that question, the Time Lords would be able to return to the universe through a crack in the fabric of reality and restart the Time War.
The Silence is created as a religious order dedicated to the purpose of preventing this happening. The Silence refers to the Doctorās silence at being asked the Question.
Now, there is some disagreement as to how that should be accomplished. Some, such as the Kovarian chapter, decide that the best way to ensure his silence is to kill him. So they abduct his pregnant companion and turn that child into a weapon to kill the Doctor at a specific fixed point in time, hoping to create a death he canāt get out of.
Of course the Doctor does still get out of it with the help of the Tesselecta, and its destruction goes into the history books as the Doctorās death, its destruction becomes the fixed point. Kovarianās plan fails.
Meanwhile, an alliance is being formed, because others have started to notice these cracks in the universe, and have traced it to the explosion of the Doctorās TARDIS. So they create a scenario, a trap, based on the memories of Amy, and eventually trap him in the Pandorica.
While heās trapped, Kovarianās chapter, gets the TARDIS to blow up (the details of how they accomplished this is unknown, but not all that significant) which destroys just about all of the universe except a little bit which happens to be Earth, being kept alive by the TARDIS. This creates the very cracks that are the source of the prophecy and their concern of the return of the Time War.
The Doctor is able to escape the Pandorica, and fly it into the explosion, to spread its restorative light to the entire universe to re-boot it. And through Amyās memory of him, and how sheās spent so much of her life by one of these cracks, heās able to survive. The cracks for the most part are fixed, with some scar tissue remaining, including at Trenzalore.
The Doctor of course saves Gallifrey in The Day of the Doctor, trapping it at the end of the universe, another dimension sort of thing, and through that crack at Trenzalore, the Time Lords attempt to return. This of course creates the prophecy we began with, their signal brings many to Trenzalore and thereās a battle, and the Doctor exits this time loop with a new set of regenerations, but everything weād already seen before still set in motion.
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(Considering this thread has evolved into a Moffat Era/s Discussion Topic, I might as well add my two cents to it):
Personally speaking the Moffat Era as a whole is a Story or Two Tales unlike RTD1, I think 11 and 12s Era are so vastly different in most Aspects that I rarely if ever group them together like I do with 9/10.
As far as New Who is concerned for me 12ās Era is easily the High, looking at the Stories there are only very a few which i dislike or donāt like at all. 12, Clara and Bill are all some of the very best Characters we had in the revived Series (at least in my Eyes) and I can praise this Era into the Heaven mostly.
Meanwhile, I do like 11s Era, but itās not an Era which I am in love with as much as many others are. There is a lot I do like in his Era from Episode, Aspects, Tone and so on, but I think some of Moffats Weak Points were in that Era a bit more egregious/noticeable in my Eyes. Obviously like any Era it has still as I said plenty of Things I love.
To bring a new Point to the mix: I really liked his attempts of shake-ups in format, be it having Three Parters (well there are arguably only two but still), the whole Series 9 having mainly Two-Parters and/or Two-Parter adjacent Stories and so on.
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Where is it being slept on?
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Well I rarely see it getting talked on,its more Series 10 and 9 that get talked about .
Weāve discussed Series 8 loads on the forum. Iām not a fab of the series as a whole but it has some great stories like Deep Breath, Into the Dalek and Flatline.
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The Moffat Era was my favourite time as a fan, I just loved all the theories and speculation. I love when Doctor Who has story arcs and mysteries. Itās part of the reason I had such a backlash for Series 11 which stripped all of that away.
I really hate when people say things like āit was too confusing!!ā because it really wasnāt. You just have to pay a little attention. I enjoy media that rewards people who pay attention and who think about it for longer than the runtime.
I really miss Moffat, I think his writing is the best and his arcs are really fun. Also River Song.
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And Listen 
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