It would have been so cool if he’d been able to play the Doctor…
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Onto Hide! I absolutely adore series 7B, all these stories are a bit of me.
Forgotten how much I loved series 7 as a whole!
Give me a spooky 13th Doctor audio, Big Finish! I want ghosts and a spooky house!
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My favourite thing about this NewWho rewatch is seeing the character developments of each Doctor.
Seeing the 10th Doctor’s “time Lord victorious” seeded from the very beginning,
Seeing the 11th Doctor’s love for the Ponds and need for it to never end, only to have them ripped away from him. Then the only reason he keeps going is because of Clara. “You’re the only mystery that’s worth solving.” Beautiful.
Does make me wonder what’s going to happen with Eleanor, and how she’s going to fit into that gap when he thinks the Ponds believe he’s dead. Really excited for August, to see where they’re going with her!
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said it in the FFA thread, but considering starting a 13th Doctor rewatch as i haven’t seen any of her stuff since it aired
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Back on Deep Breath. 25 minutes left.
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I was looking at my S7 notes for the Openers vs Finales tournament, and from my last watchthrough I realized that the “impossible girl” thing is less about building Clara up as a big mystery (because he finds out, over and over, that she’s totally normal, and if he had any sense, he could easily surmise that it’s something that happens in her future, not her past) and it’s more about him clinging to this mystery because it’s the one tiny thread keeping him from going back to sulking on a cloud. And, as Missy saw first, she’s like perfect Doctor-bait and helps him get back to himself despite himself!
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That one done. Onto Into the Dalek. I think this is going to be a struggle. I just remembered that Danny exists. 
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single Danny Pink tear
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Well, along with Romana, Zoe was the only classic companion who could match the Doctor on intelligence, and she was always very good at sticking up for herself with clever remarks whenever Jamie said anything she didn’t like.
It does also help Zoe is my second favourite companion
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We finished Deep Breath. What a hard story to like. The first 30 minutes or so just isn’t that good. The scene in the restaurant is great, and then underground until the Doctor reappears felt like Doctor Who to me. Then once the Paternoster Gang showed up again I started losing interest again. The fight was boring, and the Doctors scene with Clockwork Droid in the restaurant was barely watchable. I will say the Eleventh Doctor stuff worked well for me, and of course Missy. This was a real struggle. 2.5/5
We got about halfway through Into The Dalek before we gave up and went to bed. It’s an interesting idea, but my partner did sum it up with “why is the doctor a pr**k?”. I’d completely forgotten about Danny… this is going to be a struggle to get through.
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If I had a nickel for every time an associate of the Doctor went through their friends, family, and acquaintances turning against them one by one thanks to a mysterious force, including their mother, a Black single mother named Carla, I’d have two nickels which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.
(Curse of Clyde Langer is outstanding)
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I’ve finished The Parting of the Ways and with it, the first series of my New Who rewatch. As I remembered and expected, this one was great. Let’s go through the best stuff.
Eccleston is in top form as the Doctor. Of course, he nails the serious moments, like his hologram goodbye to Rose and his increasing desperation during the Daleks’ siege. But he also surprisingly gets a few more lighthearted moments here. It’s surprising to see him make fun of the Daleks, after being in complete PTSD mode during the entirety of Dalek, but Davies is smart enough to also show us that it’s just a mask, as the Doctor eventually has an outburst that even makes some Daleks flinch.
And of course, his regeneration speech is performed perfectly. I love that this Doctor, so tortured by his past, ends his life with joy, finally accepting that he’s made a fantastic impact on the world and the people around him.
Piper is selling Rose’s depression at being stuck on earth very well. Her conversations with Mickey and especially Jackie are not only written well, but performed amazingly, hitting you right in the heart. It once again plays to this season’s biggest strength: the character work. Half a season later, we’re still exploring the impact Rose meeting her father had on her and that is AMAZING.
Barrowman unfortunately gets less to do in this episode, but he does shine as the leader of humanity’s last stand. I love that he kisses the Doctor goodbye after kissing Rose: not only queer representation, but also a great subversion of the trope of confessing hidden love before going off to die. I said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s a damn shame Jack didn’t stay around for at least one more season.
The supporting cast is also great, which leads to a real impact when the Daleks methodically kill each and every one of them. Lynda’s death hits especially hard, thanks in part to Nine’s reaction.
The episode just exudes sheer dread for most of its runtime. It’s bleak in a way that wouldn’t be repeated until the end of series 10: as the episode ends, basically every character we met apart from the main cast has died.
And then, there’s the Bad Wolf. Rose’s transformation is absolutely a deus ex machina, but I think here, and only here, it works. This season hasn’t been about the technical ways in which enemies can be beaten. It’s been about Rose and the Doctor, their bond, their connection. And this is what the Bad Wolf is meant to reflect: Rose overcoming every law in the universe in order to save the Doctor, after he saved her so many times. I love it. It’s earned. And even then, the deus ex machina leads to this Doctor’s end.
Parting of the Ways is just great. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hit quite the same way for me anymore, knowing what’s coming, but that’s hardly the episode’s fault. It also leans a bit too much into the action for me, sacrificing some time that could’ve been spent on character moments, but that’s basically the only thing keeping this episode from being perfect.
9/10 for the episode. What a season. Incredibly consistent and a brilliant return for Who.
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Into the Dalek wasn’t that bad, but the most frustrating part is the Doctor. There are moments when he feels like “the Doctor”, but then he turns around and is just a di*k. I don’t mind a brisk Doctor, but he just comes across wrong to me.
No shade to anyone who likes these stories, but I’m struggling connecting with the Doctor. As I’ve said before, I know he will soften and I will enjoy him, but for now I am more watching to get to the good stuff.
3/5
On we go to Robot of Sherwood.
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This is exactly the issue I had with 12 during Series 8. I have softened to it in recent years and I think watching stories in isolation rather than in sequence has helped hugely because it lessens the dickishness quota a bit.
But it doesn’t get better and, for me, reaches a peak in The Caretaker which is still possibly one of my least favourite Who stories ever.
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The Caretaker is where I tapped out on airing. I didn’t come back until series 10. My feelings at the time was that all the “main” cast was annoying. The Doctor, Clara, and Danny all rubbed me the wrong way.
Just as aside; I like the briskness of the First Doctor, but his was smoothed out by not being the main character, and enough other things going on to make it a lot more enjoyable.
It was just a thought.
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Starting The Abominable Snowmen today
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Robot of Sherwood was a welcome reprieve of fun. The comedy, for the most part, worked all the way through. The briskness of the Doctor is tempered by Robin and Clara pushing back at him. 3.5/5
Listen is next. 
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Listen is a serial that I should really like. I like the idea of an unknown/unseen “monster”. It does tread the same ground as Midnight, but with extra bells and whistles. My problem is that I don’t like Danny at all. I empathise with the character. I have experience with people who have the same past, but I just don’t think they are giving him any nuance, and I just don’t want to watch it. It’s too easy to label him a dick, but that is where my mind goes whenever he starts going off.
This serial is saved for me by the final scene in the barn.
3/5
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I remember when I rewatched Listen a few years back, the scenes with Danny at the restaurant made me cringe so much that I had to stop watching for a minute. Even now, his scenes make me hesitate to rewatch it.
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