Doctor Who; conversations

[bironic]

1.

Super brief and not really spoilery thoughts on the new season of Doctor Who so far:

I really like Peter Capaldi in this role. He's doing interesting things with the character that are not all necessarily clear at this point. He is also lovely to look at.

With this Robin Hood episode, I feel the season has finally hit its stride. It had such lively writing, a great leadership role for Clara, and a nice arc with the Doctor and Robin from bickering to reluctant cooperation to grudging acknowledgement of their similarity in a way that made a point about the nature of the Doctor. Felt more organic than last episode's point-blank "Am I a good man?", although that set us up well for this.

My main complaint concerns the season premiere. It should have come after this episode. We needed to get to know Twelve a little before other characters could start complaining about him or expressing suspicion. The way it aired, we had about three seconds to get used to Peter Capaldi's face before everyone was all, "Ew, you're old," "You're not Eleven," "Who are you," "What are you doing," and the guy hadn't even had a chance to settle into his skin yet. Far less charming than Eleven meeting little Amy. And maybe nothing will ever be Eleven and Amy, but I was predisposed to like Capaldi and the whole premiere just felt prematurely defensive. They needed to show us Twelve before we could form an opinion about him.

Oh, speaking of Eleven and Amy, or Eleven/Amy(/Rory), and sexual tension with companions, "Clara, I'm not your boyfriend" was the freaking sexiest thing I've seen on TV in a while. If the show didn't suddenly seem so ageist, it'd be enough to make you suspect they're headed toward proving that statement wrong. (For the record, I'd be in favor. Although the soldier teacher dude seems cute enough.)

2.

Interesting conversations that have happened recently and may still be going on:

On capitalization in fic titles, over at roga's

What about doing a Vidding Bingo, by thirdblindmouse

Comments

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

It never would have occurred to me *not* to use full capitalization (I avoid Tumblr) except that it's very common in my current fandom (Football RPF). I generally use it now when I'm quoting a song lyric for my title, especially if there's a parenthetical phrase embedded.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't think I'd come across it much until Inception, where it seemed as common as title case.

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

"Clara, I'm not your boyfriend" was the freaking sexiest thing I've seen on TV in a while.

Oh, good. I thought it might be just me, having read other interpretations of that line that seemed to ignore the unspoken "...but hot damn I want to be" that I could swear I heard.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*happy sigh*

Even just the sudden acknowledgement of the subtext did it for me.

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

Capaldi projecting sincerity, vulnerability, and restrained desire is quite something. After sitting Who out for a while, he's got me back in.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Mmmm.

Don't know if you've seen this week's yet? The tension/innuendo ratcheted up another notch. It was kind of wonderful.

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

I'm three episodes behind. Alas, I have again made the mistake of watching a show with someone who has a different schedule than mine.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

the title capitalization thing made me curious so i went thru and counted all the things i've posted online that i could easily find. (there are probably more i've long last track of but OH WELL)

title case: 40
sentence case: 13
start case (so like title case i guess except 'small words' are also capitalized): 6
can't tell which one of the above b/c the title was only one word and it was capitalized: 7
all caps: 2
lowercase: 1
other or a combination of multiple cases: 5

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I feel like one appropriate response is, "Graphs or it didn't happen!"

But mostly, "Yay, numbers!"

I did a quick tally of sentence case titles from my AO3 archive when I commented on roga's post, but now I want to go back and do what you did. \quantifying/

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

God, I am so with you on a) the prettiness of Peter Capaldi, b) the annoyance that the series premiere seemed so determined to bang on the "you're old! you're not Eleven!" can, and c) the unbelievable sexiness of "Clara, I'm not your boyfriend." I don't think the show will actually go there (I've read some interviews with Capaldi where he was pretty clear that he didn't want to do that) but that certainly won't stop me from going there. *grin*

oh! and also let me add: not only is he pretty to watch, but his voice, my God. He could read the phone book and I would be entranced.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

FOR POSTERITY: http://youtu.be/HmaSxI_BO-o?t=2m46s
(Ignore the Moonlight Sonata clip collage on either end, as you please)

>>I don't think the show will actually go there (I've read some interviews with Capaldi where he was pretty clear that he didn't want to do that) but that certainly won't stop me from going there. *grin*

:D As a fan of ongoing sexual tension, I'm not sure what to root for. I'd be on board if they did it, but there's also something delicious just in an older man like him saying that to a younger woman like her, and in the sudden bald addressing of what had until that moment been subtext. And in the very denial that he would follow through on what he just acknowledged he recognized as a frisson between them (or at least that he recognized or thought he recognized that she might have felt a frisson between them, which in turn might just be him projecting, but anyway, that's enough parentheticals), because he's being responsible about being an adult in a position of power and that is sexy, too!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Uh, and not to spoil anything since you likely haven't watched this week's yet, but the subtext just keeps getting textier.

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it yet -- planning to watch on Tues with sanj -- but I've seen a few animated gifsets on tumblr, so I think I have a glimpse or two of what's coming. *grin*