turn the Doctor into a background character in a show named after him, while converting his companion into a supermassive attention devouring black hole
Ah, so they're going back to the series' roots - all the way back in season one of the original series. Maybe it's because Capaldi is old? Nah, I'm just kidding.
"What's out there? What's waiting for me?"
Honestly One and Two are the doctors I've seen very little of. Hard to catch reruns of classics, just random selections of Three, Four, Five and (rarely) Six.
To be fair, this wasn't the first time that the series made the companion more of a protagonist than the Doctor. That was the basically Seven and Ace's relationship, with Ace being the one who got the lion's share of Character Development, and her slowly learning how to be like Seven. (Which continues into the EU, and from what I've heard, it ain't pretty. In a good way, much like Twelve and Clara's relationship.) So this isn't really anything new, is what I'm saying.
Doctor Who — Long Way Around: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13536044/1/Doctor-Who-Long-Way-AroundLeave a Comment:
Doctor Who- Now With 50% less Doctor!
For Peter Capaldi's first season, the showrunners decided to go a bold and daring new direction by deciding to turn the Doctor into a background character in a show named after him, while converting his companion into a supermassive attention devouring black hole. A risky move, certainly- but will it pay off?
No but, to be honest Capaldi's first season is a letdown in many regards (Spoilers ahead, I suppose). Not for any faults on the actors part of course- Peter Capaldi makes for a very different character to how Smith and Tennant played the role, very distinct and very interested. Even Coleman does some very good acting, even if this season made me want to gouge my eyes whenever Clara was on screen, i.e ninety percent of the episodes. She wasn't as insufferable as say, River Song, but this season just makes her so much more unbearable than she was in last season. Quite a feat considering how forced that 'impossible girl' business was.
Capaldi makes for a good and disinct incarnation of the Doctor, but it feels like we get so fucking little of him when his first season should have been all about defining his version of the character. Instead we're given a Coronation Street-tier romantic tumor that I couldn't give less of a fuck about serving as the focal point of the damn season. Missy made for a good villain, particularly when her backstory came to light, and hell she made for a barrel of fun in the season finale.
The season, when not being shafted for the sake of that bland relationship, tends to dip and rise in quality with some episodes being rather good (Into the Dalek) some being absolutely fucking dire (Kill the Moon), some that set up good ideas and then did about fuck all with them (Listen) and some that are just kind of average (Mummy on the Orient Express). Hopefully the next season will be a better one.
And hell, maybe if his next companion doesn't become the center of the universe that might well be possible. Maybe bring back K-9? K-9 was cool.