Yep, I also really disliked the falling in love all over again, since this time it was only one sided and I kept feeling bad for Martha. But apart from that I quite liked Martha, especially in the episodes you mentioned. It really showed how strong she was and how determined she was to take care of those she loved. I also liked her development after being a companion and it was good to see her again in the fourth season. Too bad she only got to show her full potential when she wasn't in the direct company of the Doctor.

You and Nurr are actually the first Whovians I know who also like Donna the best, so woohoo!

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Exactly. *Nods* My initial viewing of S3, I felt the same way about Martha then as I do now about Amy and Rory, Amy especially— just "Meh". In other words, I neither liked nor disliked Martha. If I happen to catch an episode from S3 now, though, particularly if it's a favorite, I can recognize how strong a character she is when she's not pining for the Doctor.
It did, . That's especially evident in what I'll refer to as "The Master Trilogy", that is, the "Utopia"/"The Sound Of Drums"/"Last Of The Time Lords" storyline. I mean, she wandered the entire world alone, just so she could save her family and all of humanity from the Master's plans! That's a very strong, special young lady! *Nods vigorously* Me too . It is :[. *Nods*

Yeah? Interesting, and a bit surprising , as I think she and Rose are nearly tied for fans' favorite New Who companion. But then, I used to frequent Gallifrey Base a lot, which is, I think, the main contemporary site for the DW fandom, so that could be why I'm so surprised to hear that you've met so few Donna fans.

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The end is where we start from.
– Captain Jack Harkness

Has anyone watched the Christmas special yet? We were having dinner when it aired yesterday, but I recorded it and watched it today, and I really liked it


POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD
At first I was a bit turned down by the depressed Doctor. I know the Ponds meant a lot to him, but it seemed like loosing his other companions was nothing compared to loosing the Ponds, which seemed a bit unfair.

But I loved the references to Sherlock Holmes, and the repeated mentioning of "Winter is coming". Such a wonderful and subtle fandom mix-up And I really liked Clara, although I'm now dying to know how she is and what's the matter with her!

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SPOILERS AHOY!

NO SERIOUSLY, DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE CHRISTMAS EPISODE.

I really liked this one. It was quite refreshing after the last few episodes, which I think have been a bit too over the top, really. Like they've been trying to put too much into too short a time. This one felt "normal", if you will.

I loved the references Another one which I'm not sure people picked up on, is that the voice of the Greater Intelligence (the snow, as it were) was Ian McKellen! I was like "that sounds A LOT like Gandalf..." and then I made sure to have a look at the credits, and sure enough, it was him. So cool!

I loved Clara, and I think Jenna will make a great new companion. I'm curious how they're going to do it, I hope she doesn't die anymore, that was quite overdone with Rory, so hopefully this is the last time and the next time he meets her she actually gets to live

The different names-thing for when she was a barmaid and when she was a governess I think was a bit confusing and unnecessary, though.

I don't think the depressed Doctor thing was too much. He was taken much more by surprise when he lost Amy and Rory than any of the others, and he really can never see them again, and I think it's a bit "I lost another one" as well as the specific people he lost. Also, David Tennant's specials were episodes where we see what happens if the Doctor travels alone after losing someone, so maybe what they were trying to show us this time was how the Doctor knows he just has to stay away from it all because he can't be trusted to travel alone.

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by Lembas

DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET

On the depressed Doctor: That actually sounds very logical, I hadn't thought about it that way yet.

I also quite liked the new TARDIS interior, it reminded me a bit of 'traditional' spaceships, while also being completely uniquely TARDIS. I especially liked the spinning things on top of the console

And ofcourse the voice of Sir Ian McKellen! It took me some time to recognize it, but once I did I kept smiling whenever he talked. I love it when fandoms collide

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Lhunardaien- Rather late, but I agree with Anameleth about the whole depressed Doctor thing, and why he decided to just become a hermit .
Wasn't it (I'm a big Game Of Thrones fan, too) ? Quadruple-fandom collision, if you include the fact that Ian McKellen voiced the Great Intelligence (those other two fandoms of course being The Hobbit/LOTR and the X-Men movies) .

I liked Clara a lot too , from the moment we saw her in "Asylum Of The Daleks", in fact 8). I'm really looking forward to seeing her again .


Anameleth- Really? I thought all the recent episodes except "The Power Of Three" were very much self-contained— there wasn't any huge overarching storyline (though I liked that aspect of S5 & S6 a lot), except of course the oncoming, racing freight train that was the end of Amy & Rory's time with the Doctor, but that was handled pretty subtly. Anyway, back to "The Snowmen". I liked the ep a lot, too . I've actually liked all the Christmas specials of Eleven's tenure so far, but this one and, fluffy as it was, "The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe" the most.

Same here . Me too. *Nods* I agree.
That's what I'm hoping, too. *Nods* The whole barmaid/governess thing was kind of confusing, yes, but I think Moffat intended to simply provide an early hint of what may become one of Clara's trademarks, if you will— some version (occasionally multiple ones) of her is able to exist in multiple times, but she is, in essence, one person, if you get what I mean.

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The end is where we start from.
– Captain Jack Harkness

Anyone know when the next episodes are coming out?

I read somewhere that it will return in April 2013, but I'm not sure if that's correct. I don't know how much time there usually is between the Christmas episode and the start of the second half?

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I've heard April too, but I couldn't say for sure.

EDIT: The DW twitter just said March 30, and that it's an episode by Moffat. So now we know

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by Lembas

Ah you beat me to it! But March 30th is only 8 days late for my birthday, so that's pretty nice. Oh, and an episode by Moffat, that should be interesting.

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What do you guys think of the new episodes with Clara? I'm enjoying it so far but I'm a little dosappointed to hear there will be no 2-parters this season Anyway, SOOOOOO EXCITED David's coming back for the 50th anniversary!!!!!!!!!
Oh, and have any of you heard of the new soundtrack competition? Basically you get to score a scene from The Snowmen, and the deadline's 24th May. Link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rryy ... ompetition
If only I could join it!!!

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Nai andúnë elen
Siluva lyenna,
Nai írë mornië lanta
Órelya nauva sanda.

~Sírelindë~

^ So far I liked Clara as a companion, but I have not been particularly fond of the episodes with Clara as a companion. The storylines were either too vague or too superficial, and they were not as interesting as episodes in earlier seasons.



SPOILERS LAST THREE EPISODES OF SEASON 7 (12, 13, AND 14)
These three episodes were easily my favorite episodes from this season. What I liked in 13 was the return of Victorian London and its characters, especially Strax. The episode was also interesting, although that leech-like reptile was just disgusting. But that's Mark Gatiss' writing, so I hadn't expected anything less.
Episode 14 was written by Neil Gaiman, AND about the Cybermen. Two major bonus points, and I loved the episode. The new Cybermen looked very cool, and I loved the split personality-Doctor scenes. It was actually the first time I realised Matt Smith is acting to be the Doctor, instead of being the Doctor He was equally brilliant as the nice Doctor and the evil Doctor, and the personality changes were as much fun to watch as the Smeagol/Gollum dialogues in LotR.

And then the season finale.. I thought it was absolutely amazing and mindblowing. I've never felt so confused after watching a DW episode, which should be interpreted as a good thing. I loved how they explained Clara's story, and it was fun to see her pop up with the older Doctors. And the end was just.. wow. I sat on the couch for at least five minutes, unable to speak or think coherently. Now that's good TV!

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OMG the next Doctor has been announced, it's Peter Capaldi!!!! I'm SOOOOO EXCITED to see him as the Doctor! I think he's gonna be great

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Nai andúnë elen
Siluva lyenna,
Nai írë mornië lanta
Órelya nauva sanda.

~Sírelindë~

To be honest I'd never ever heard of Peter Capaldi before his name came up on the screen yesterday evening. I only found out they were doing a Doctor Who special thingy on the BBC 10 minutes before it started, so I nearly fell down the stairs to make sure I would sit in front of the telly in time, but that's another story

Anyway, I think he will make a nice new Doctor. His looks are completely different from Matt Smith, and I'm very curious to see whether this 12th Doctor will be more like the earliest Doctors or more like the Doctors from the new series. Also, I think it's good that this an older actor. It wouldn't have made much sense to let a 900+ year old Timelord regenerate in a 20-something looking guy again

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It might have made sense but it's simply not necessary, it's a nice change we got now an older actor after quite a long 'reign' of younger actors I'm curious on his personality too, for example in relation to Clara. I wonder if the he is going to be more like a friend or a father to her (that's, too caring than Clara would like it, heh).

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Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though I oft have passed them by,
The day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon and East of the Sun.

Since we're now talking about a topic other than this past season, I'll just be short and to the point about my view of it :]. S7 as a whole (e.g. both part 7a & 7b) is my favorite of the Moffat era so far, and is now just behind S4 in my list of fave seasons . My favorite episodes from it, in no particular order, would be "Asylum of The Daleks", "A Town Called Mercy", "The Crimson Horror", "Cold War", "The Name Of The Doctor", "Nightmare In Silver", and "The Angels Take Manhattan".

Now to the topic of Peter Capaldi being cast as Twelve. I'm really excited to see what he does with the role, too . Apparently, he's watched the show from the beginning, and is a massive fan, possibly a bigger one than even David Tennant. Those two things alone make me think Capaldi's going to present a very interesting, unique take on the role, so I have high hopes for his stint as the Doctor :].

Lhunardaien- You might have seen him before, but not known it . He played the father in "The Fires of Pompeii" (which was also Karen Gillan's, a.k.a Amy's, first appearance in the show; she played one of the soothsayers), and if you watched Torchwood along with DW, you might remember seeing him as the character Frobisher in "Children Of Earth". He's also been in a lot of other stuff, including The Thick Of It, In The Loop, and The Hour (I've personally heard of those first two programs, but haven't yet seen them, and I've watched the third one, but don't remember the character he played very well).

Because Capaldi's watched the show from the beginning, I suspect his doctor will have a little bit of all his predecessors in him, which would make Twelve a very interesting doctor indeed .


Nirielle- I think Twelve is probably going to be sort of like a grandfather, father figure, or eccentric old uncle to Clara. It'll be a relationship akin to the one the Seventh Doctor had with his companion Ace, in other words, which would be quite interesting, since we've never seen a Doctor/companion relationship like that in "New Who".

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The end is where we start from.
– Captain Jack Harkness