Ditto these comments on last night's Christmas special. It did feel more like the Who episodes of old.

Bookwyrm, thanks for that connection to

Also liked seeing Vastra and friends again. Some slapstick humor there. And Clara's

Spoiler

"It's smaller on the outside"

Like most, I was most interested in the introduction of Clara, who reminded me a little of Donna as well. I'm looking forward to

I have finally caught up on Doctor Who Series 7, and have seen the Christmas special.

I am actually kind of glad the Ponds left now. There really wasn't any story arc left for them. Besides, I didn't really like The Angels Take Manhattan. It may be just me, but I have not found the Weeping Angels to be that frightening, especially post-Blink.

Well, I think the Chris Chibnall episodes are improving, on a positive note. They may have been more for pure fun, but they certainly were. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship showed a darker side to the Eleventh Doctor towards the end, if you know what I mean. Power of Three had quite the interesting plot, albeit a rushed ending that did not make much sense to me.

Now the Christmas special was great. I thought it was better than the 2011 one, but I can't judge a Christmas Carol since I have not seen that. However, writers: please stop making the companions kiss out of romance! If you know about the First Doctor's history, it's just... unsettling. The Doctor loves each and every companion in different ways, but does every show have to have a romance? On the up side, I did like Clara other than the one scene. I wonder what her next "incarnation" (I'm just calling her next life that) will be like?

Yes! So tired of every new companion having a crush on the Doctor. I think Donna is the only female companion to have escaped this. It's just not interesting anymore. I didn't even find it that interesting when Rose did it.

I think the reason why the Angels were so frightening in Blink was because it was just normal people like the viewer dealing with them. They really aren't a threat to a time traveler, much less a quasi-immortal like the Doctor and so they have to keep manufacturing increasingly absurd scenarios in order for them to be a threat to the Doctor. If we ever see them again, I'd prefer it to be an episode completely absent of the Doctor. Something like Turn Left where the companion is on their own and has to survive based upon their own wits.

1.)When did you first hear about Doctor Who? In the NW chat. It's hard to be a member and not hear about Doctor Who.
2.) What was the first episode that you watched? Season 1, episode 1; Rose.
3.) Classic Who fan or NuWho fan? NuWho.
4.) Who is your favorite Doctor? I love 9, 10, and 11, it's pretty much impossible to choose a favourite for me.
5.) Who is your favorite Companion? Amy and Rory Pond are my ultimate favourites, but I also love Rose.
6.) Who is your favorite Villain? DALEKS.
7.) What is your favorite episode? Argh, this one is too hard. I can't choose. I love every episode. ...mostly.
8.) How excited are you for Series 7? Well, as I am a bit late on this, half of season 7 has already passed, but I'm very excited for the rest.

Must admit, I wasn't keen on this year's Christmas special. I thought the snowmen, with their big toothy grins, looked silly, like something a five-year-old had drawn. I think they would have looked more menacing if they had looked like ordinary snowmen, but had had some way of devouring people (maybe by enveloping them and then dissolving them?) Instead they copped out by cutting away from the scene and you just heard the workmen screaming, supposedly to leave it to your imagination but it made you wonder why the men couldn't just push the snowmen over and kick them to pieces. A comparison is how the Autons were depicted: they didn't have silly snarling faces, they continued to look "normal", but that didn't make them any less deadly. (Incidentally, when I was 6 and the Autons appeared for the first time in Jon Pertwee's era, I found them much more frightening than the Daleks because the Autons looked like something real and I found myself imagining, what if the shop window dummies in my local clothes shop did come to life?)

I also wasn't convinced by the "Doctor's Friends". The Silurian lady was just about credible (I mean as a character; I've no problems with the standard of the acting), as the Doctor had always been equally on the side of the Silurians as the humans on Earth, but I still can't work out how the Sontaran came to be not just a friend of the Doctor but also a servant, when the Sontarans had always been enemies and intent on conquering everywhere. His character just seemed to be played totally for slapstick humour.

I find that with most Doctor Who episodes in recent years, I have to watch them at least twice to understand properly what's going on. A lot of the dialogue is delivered very fast, and important lines can be buried in a quick exchange; if you miss them, what follows doesn't make much sense. The trouble is, I can imagine many people just watching it once and thinking, "I don't understand this - Doctor Who's rubbish." If too many people say that, then it may get taken off our screens again...

I suspect we're probably never going to find out exactly how Vastra and Co. ended up as associates of the Doctor. It was vaguely hinted at in A Good Man Goes to War, but I don't remember the exact details.

1.) When did you first hear about Doctor Who?

I was on a ski trip with my Venturing Crew, our crew leader advised my sister and I to watch them. When I first heard the plot I even thought it sounded dumb. But, I watched a episode he brought, and my sister loved it and eventually, I became a fan.

2.) What was the first episode that you watched?

''The Unicorn and the Wasp.'' My sister is an Agatha Christie fan, she loved the references.

3.) Classic Who fan or NuWho fan?

I think a little of both. I can't find as much as the old ones as I can on the new ones, and I love Tom Baker.

4.) Who is your favorite Doctor?

I have 2. One from Classic and one from NuWho. The 4th and the 9th doctor.

5.) Who is your favorite Companion?

Rose. Every single time.

6.) Who is your favorite Villain?

The Master. I wanted him to live so badly. I wanted him to become good and travel with the Doctor.

7.) What is your favorite episode?

That's hard. I love any episode with Rose and the 9th Doctor best. I think I like,

8.) How excited are you for Series 7?

Yes, and no. Very mixed. I am sad to see the the Williams go.

Apparently BBC America is running a series called the Doctors Revisited. They are starting with the first Doctor on Sunday. Totally cool! I hope it's better than some of their more recent "specials" that focus only on the current doctor and have some people nattering on about some stuff that is totally pointless.

I watched that last night. It was pretty cool. Interviews with the First Doctor's companions and assorted people like David Tennant, Moffet, and Neil Gaiman and then The Aztecs serial. Finally got to see some Classic Who.

http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/watch-the-new- ... -45880.htm

Two new Doctor Who Series 7b trailers! They're pretty close in footage except for a few shots. Major spoilers... possibly, especially at the end of both trailers.

Thanks for posting the links, Louloudi. At the moment I'm resisting the temptation to watch them before series 7 starts up again.

Bookwyrm and starkat, I finally got around to watching that First Doctor special on demand today. I especially enjoyed the Aztecs serial. I followed it with another viewing of "Asylum of the Daleks" and "The Snowmen."

I was thinking that not only has Doctor Who changed a lot over the past 50 years, but television in general has...writing, pacing, incidental music, and special effects all have very different expectations now than they did back then. It reminded of other shows from roughly the same period, such as the first Star Trek episodes and slightly earlier shows like The Twilight Zone or even Dragnet.

Okay, two VERY big things have happened today in the Doctor Who universe.

First, today was the return of Doctor Who with the episode "The Bells of Saint John". I am still gathering up my complete thoughts from this, but I think it was a good episode that was a lot of fun.

Second of all is the 50th anniversary. Today, it was confirmed by the BBC that

Either way, my hopes have gone up for the 50th anniversary and the rest of Series 7.

The second half of Series 7 is getting close to finishing, and I'm curious what people have thought of it. I'm still behind (just saw the Christmas special), but I noticed that a lot of people here were kind of 'meh' on the first half, which is pretty much how I've felt too. So, how have you all felt about the second half? Is it better, worse, or the same? Should I be rushing to catch up, or just take it when I have spare time?

Also, how has Clara settled in? I haven't been at all impressed by her first two appearances, for most of the reasons you all have mentioned already, but then again, the first episode with Donna was a bit of a shock and I ended up loving her. So, does Clara grow on you, or have her first two appearances been pretty standard for the rest of the series?

On another note, can someone clear up something about River's timeline for me?

I'm liking Clara but I much prefer the stories of Series 7 part 1 (excluding Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and The Snowmen) to part 2. I enjoyed The Bells of Saint John but everything beyond has been either average or mediocre. Even Neil Gaiman's episode - Nightmare in Silver was merely good. We've learned some interesting things along the way, but most of the part 2 episodes themselves haven't been cohesively of good quality. I hope the final episode is better.

Yesterday was the Series 7 finale. Wow. A lot of what happened was unexpected.

I loved the opening title sequence.

Character wise,

The ending...

With the six months we have of waiting, I'm going to try to watch more of the classic series. Having already seen at least one episode per classic Doctor, I must say I am fond of the Third Doctor episodes for some reason. BBC America has been airing monthly specials on each incarnation of the Doctor, and I believe next Sunday they are showing a Fifth Doctor episode.