We've been watching a lot of
Dr. Who the last couple of days, so I thought I'd give my evaluation of Peter Capaldi's first season...
First the good news:
My concerns that Capaldi's Doctor would be "too dark" were unfounded...
He's perfectly capable of doing the humor part of the role, in fact his Doctor has a sarcastic streak which is somewhat more biting then Smith's or Tennant's...(He
really showed he could do the comedy in the "Robin Hood" episode...)
Given the right scripts, he'll make a perfectly fine Doctor...
Now the
bad news for this last series:
Season 8 saw the introduction of a character that represents a greater threat to
Dr. Who than all the Weeping Angels, Cybermen, and Daleks put together...
I'm speaking of course, of "Danny Pink"...
This guy was possibly the
worst Third Wheel Character in the history of Third Wheel Characters...
Whiny, pouty, insecure and totally self absorbed, there was never any kind of believable context created for why Clara was attracted to him... (I say "was" because on a hopeful note, the character is supposedly dead...I certainly hope he stays that way; on
Dr. Who the dead don't always remain in that condition)
To give you an idea of just how whiny, pouty, insecure and totally self absorbed this guys is, in one episode the earth is suddenly being completely over run by tree growth. With this bizarre civilization threatening thing unfolding, what's got Danny most upset ? Why the fact that Clara is still hanging out with the Doctor after she told him she was done with that of course...
As wet as Rory was, (I kept hoping for
his demise as well) at least there was context created for his relationship with Amy...
They had known each other since they were kids, and their "romance" developed over a period of time...
In
this "romance". in one episode Clara and Danny are working as teachers at the same school, they go out once, and the next thing you know she's so crazy mad in love with him that she steals the key to The Tardis and threatens to destroy it, (assuring that both she and The Doctor will die) if The Doctor doesn't try to figure out some way to bring her beloved Danny back from the dead....
And that aspect of the Danny Pink character, even worse then the character itself, was the effect he had on Jenna Coleman's character whenever he was a prominent part of the storyline...Not only was he a completely unnecessary and detracting part of the show, but he made
her character less likeable and appealing...
That having been said, there
were some pretty good episodes...
And the less Danny Pink there was in the episode, the better it was...the best episode was the one with "The Orient Express..." (coincidentally, except for a brief cameo at the end, there was no Danny Pink...)
One thing that became quite clear this season is that despite the age difference, Capaldi and Coleman have already developed an appealing and believable chemistry and timing between them, and they are quite capable of carrying the show without a "third wheel"...
I've got absolutely nothing against actor who played the role, (Samuel Anderson) he may be a fine fellow and an excellent actor...(I'd never seen in him in anything before, but from his profile on IMDB, it looks like he's got a lot of BBC television credits)
But I began to get the impression that the way this character was created, might have involved the producers coming to the writers and telling them to create a "third wheel" (perhaps because they didn't have enough confidence in the chemistry between Coleman and Capaldi to think they could carry the season by themselves) and the writers, (because they
did have confidence that Peter and Jenna could handle it with out any help) decided to prove that point by creating such an unappealing and superfluous character...
Like I said; hopefully he will
stay dead...
