The Twelfth Doctor... (spoiler alert: actor's name)

[bloom]

I am extremely bored of the current dynamic: Doctor gets usually attractive young woman as companion, attraction young woman holds The Key To The Universe! She is a Special Snowflake and she is Very Important.

Rose was Bad Wolf, Donna with the whole DoctorDonna thing, Amy's crack in the wall, Clara's the Impossible Girl (although I'm not actually caught up on the current series, I've only seen up to Dinosaurs on a Spaceship so please correct me if I'm off base here). The thing that bugs me about all of these companions is that their Specialness is passive. They did not act to become these things. I guess arguably Rose took charge with the whole staring into the essence of the TARDIS thing, but it was all very spur of the moment. Martha is the only companion who actually really stood up and went out there and did something as opposed to having something happen to her. Not that it matters because I've never known anybody who likes Martha at all.

This makes it sound like I don't like the companions. I do! Well, except Rose, who I wish they'd just kill off so we'd never have to see her again.

But I'm really terribly bored of this dynamic. What I would like is a companion with a really good head on her shoulders who takes charge of situations, but one who isn't the Key To The Universe, the All Important Companion of the Doctor. Just a normal person who the Doctor happens to pick up and they go on adventures and everything's cool. Isn't that the way it used to be before the reboot?

I would also like to say how much I fucking love Donna. She's hands down the best companion of the reboot. ADORE her.

[Jorm]

Moffat is good at little clever things, one lines and gags, he's not good at over-arching plots. The whole show went down hill when he took over from Davies.

[Heathcliff]

Moffat is good at little clever things, one lines and gags, he's not good at over-arching plots. The whole show went down hill when he took over from Davies.

I disagree; I think I preferred it under Moffat's control. Although really, most Doctor Who episodes are self-contained and it varies so much episode by episode. I think each series has had at least one terrific episode, and at least one rubbish one... and most are somewhere in between.

[count tiszula]

Over the weekend Sandy Toksvig and Susan Calman pointed out that most of the issues adumbrated above would be solved if they had been cast as leads in the programme.

Calman, as the daughter of the Chief Medical Officer of Scotland, would have retained the overrepresentation of Scots that is now traditional, while Toksvig, as a Danish subject, would avoid the accusation of racism. They could both be openly lesbian without being obviously sexual , which we gather is not attractive even when virtually compulsory.

Of course, as a Scottish Italian, Capaldi represents an even smaller minority than say Ayoade, who as a British Nigerian man represents only about 0.5% of the population. I must admit I am a bit lost as to how the size of ethnic minorities affects their soundness,

The two ladies also pointed out that because of their stature no one would ever have to ask how they manage to fit into a police box .