Doctor Who Series 8 (SPOILERS)

Doctor Who 08x04 "Listen"

Wow. Wow.

Wow.

That was a helluva an episode.

Just what the heck was that thing behind Clara, under Rupert's bedsheet?

A kid, a silence, some other random entity, who knows.

That was a good episode - bloody creepy, almost Twilight Zone at times.

More like that will make me happy!

Keeeck ahhss.

And the question the Doctor seeks an answer to remains totally unanswered. Good episode.

Balls.

You didn't care for it?

No, I thoughts it was balls. Or tits, as the kids say. Jolly good show, no lengthy critique of mine is going to add to it.

By a very large margin, the best of the three Capaldi episodes we've seen so far.

I'd even say it was better than a good chunk of the Matt Smith episodes.

No complaints here, it took some chances (rather melodramatic intro monologue, uneven structure) that paid off. Definitely not a standard episode.

I like it a lot and it was creepy as hell.

But it seems like Moffat is still playing with the thoughts he started in the Silence, which was a similar incredibly creepy presence that was around all the time but perfectly hidden.

The problem was his answer to what the Silence was was pure garbage - taking a potentially brilliant bad guy and turning them into just another inane part of the ridiculous arcane and convuleted sequence around River Song and Trenzelore. Though I am looking forward to the inevitable Trenzelore audio play by Big Finish when Matt Smith wants to do some Doctor Who again.

So with this one Moffat hit the reset button and came at an interesting idea in another way.

This one was far more satisfying - though the 'why do we talk to ourselves' part was just freakin' silly.

I like the tie in to the barn and what that meant for the doctor, and IMO Clara is the best companion they've had in years.

And the manner in which they left the resolution as open ended allows for a lot in the future.

This is the type of 'break the mold' episode that I really like and wish they'd do more of. To me some of the best episodes actually have real time travel in it, as opposed to the Tardis going to a time and just dealing with the events of that time period. And the ones where we break the normal formulaic plots like Family of Blood and the first Weeping Angels episode are awesome.

Let's hope a few more of these are sprinkled in over the rest of the season.

Saw in a Youtube review that the whole "fear makes companions of us all", line goes back to the second episode of the first doctor.
Kewl.

The Onion AV review said it was the best Moffat written episode since The Eleventh Hour. Can't disagree.

I was fascinated by what te childhood scene (presumably) revealed about The Doctor/Galifrey/Time Lords.

Perhaps Whovians already knew these things but I didn't. For example: "He'll never make a Time Lord" implies that not all natives of Ga,ifrey are Time Lords but rather it is a sort of rank or position. Also, the idea that the TARDIS can rewvisit Gaifrey as well as previous times of the Doctor's life provokes intriguing speculation.

Well, it stands to reason all the poor dirty faced dopes and whelps running around getting zapped at by Daleks in "Day Of The Doctor", weren't Time Lords.

I completely missed that implication! You're right -- this means that Gallifrey's past is accessible to the TARDIS!

I totally missed that one too.

Wonder if that was intentional or if Moffatt screwed the pooch on that one.

I thought Gallifrey had been completely wiped off the space/time continuum.

^I'm not sure it is as such, don't forget the safetys were off and was being navigated by 'the impossible girl', generally I expect Gallifrey to be off limits.

It was a nice tie in that the shed the War Doctor goes to in Day of the Doctor is the one he went to for comfort as a child though. When you're about to decide to obliterate two races, you prolly need to be somewhere comforting!

That wasn't Galifrey they travelled to. The sky is all wrong, and it wasn't under fire when the Daleks were bombarding Galifrey on the last day of the war. Clearly, the Doctor spent at least part of his childhood on another world. The Master once mentioned his family had estates (as in plural), it's not inconceivable the Doctor's family had a summer home off-planet.

That does make more sense.

This episode would've scared the bujeebus out of me as a kid.

Based on this episode, Capaldi may develop into less "wonder and awe" and more "must find things out".

I had a sense of the barn being on a non-Gallifreyan planet in "Day of the Doctor". This episode does add some welcome meaning to the War Doctor's choice of destination.

What about this? What if "The Doctor" was kicked out or didn't graduate or whatever it takes to be a Time Lord, but instead "cheated" his way to becoming one. And that could be why he is the last Time Lord. We already know he stole the T.A.R.D.I.S., and the Council has no choice but to accept him as one. The line "He'll never make a Time Lord" could imply that he was there but they already knew he wouldn't make it according to their rule or regulations. And we've seen that The Doctor will do whatever it takes for him to get what he wants. And that Clara, at least now is always appearing in what we've seen to be critical moment in the Doctor's life (ives), so perhaps later we may see that Clara has something major to do with him becoming The Doctor. This episode shows that what Clara said to him is what gives him his determination and drive when things seem at their worst and hopeless for The Doctor,

under fire? The what now?

When Clara grabbed his ankle and the whole thing suddenly came full circle with an audible click.
Just... brilliant.

Excellent, excellent episode.

Any possibility that Orson's rescue was foreshadowing for altering the "impossible girl's" ultimate fate? She does have an almost throwaway line about how "my timeline keeps changing." Yes, I know Coleman's leaving at the end of this season, but can't Clara come to a better end?

All good ideas. Though we already know that the Doctor did finish the Academy, albeit with less honours than the Master ("Spearhead from Space"); it's pretty much implied that he cheated (several conversations with Romana); and we know Clara was there when he chose his erratic TARDIS (last season's finale).