S8E4: Listen (SPOILERS)

I don't know much about this story but I hear there's a controversial scene in it, and it also has that scene we saw on YouTube of the Doctor shouting at Clara which was epic.

It kinda of looks like it's going to be another "timey wimey" adventure written by Moffat.

I wonder if "Listen" is going to be the new catchphrase after "Don't Blink" and "Take a Deep Breath."

Deep Breath was so meh I don't think the latter will catch on.

"Take a deep breath" was a catchphrase? I liked the episode but I don't think that line is really worthy of being on the same level as "Don't blink."

I got the feeling they were trying to make it the next "Don't Blink."

Or at least trying to duplicate its success.

I'm not sure if it was intentional per se. Regardless of the perceived quality of the episode, it wasn't really a cornerstone of the episode (Maybe said 3, 4 times?) like Blink. Less a mantra, more just reminding the audience of the "out" for the situation.

As we all know, this episode will be about the Doctor encountering the horror of Navi the Navigation Fairy from The Ocarina of Time.

That scene with Clara and the Doctor they put up earlier in the week is suitably awesome. Performance-wise, Capaldi's been on fire these past episodes. And Jenna's really formulating a character - even if the fawning over Robin hood was a slight regression.

Can't wait for tonight's episode!

I liked Clara in it, but I don't like Pink. There's something about him that doesn't click for me.

I really wish Dr Who / Moffat would stay away from trying to make everything grand. All we need are good little romps like last weeks ep.

As much as I like Clara though, I wish they'd let the Doctor run the show...

Krynoid wrote:

As much as I like Clara though, I wish they'd let the Doctor run the show...

It's been that way since the Amy and Rory show, with special guest star, the Doctor!

oh this one is creepy.

The Companion has been of equal or greater value since RTD.

Liked this one, interesting resolution, not quite sure how I feel about the barn bit was executed though.

The script was all over the place but I liked what it was getting at and quite enjoyed the creepy atmosphere and the overall point of it. But really it wasn't executed very well and there was hardly any actual story.

The unneeded timey-wimey-ness of this story made it hard to follow. The whole future great-grandchild thing was unnecessary and not very well done. What actually was the point of that? Was there really any need for the whole meddling with Danny's timeline? I feel this time could have been used to make an actual story and focus on these creatures we still have no clue about.

I really didn't like all the cutting from scene to scene in Danny's and Clara's date at the beginning, I feel like we missed a lot of key interaction between them and so their relationship feels very forced and superficial here, much like Amy and Rory's separation and divorce that just came out of nowhere in 'Asylum of the Daleks'. Although I like Danny, I don't think his scenes in this story worked.

As I said though, I enjoyed bits of it, too. I really liked the barn scene at the end. We got to see the 1st Doctor as a child!! And it makes the Doctor's use of the barn in 'Day of the Doctor' so much more meaningful now. That barn was the place he first refused to be a soldier. It's as if when he was going to destroy Gallifrey he wanted to connect to 'The Doctor' again before dying. I really like that.

Capaldi is great yet again. Loving the exchanges between him and Clara, the witty ones and the "DO AS YOU ARE TOLD!!" ones. I love that the Doctor was greedy for knowledge again, too, much like the 3rd Doctor was in 'Planet of the Spiders'. Some great lines again, too, such as "Oh no you've taken your make-up off now!" "I'm still wearing my make-up." "Oh well you probably just missed a bit, come on!"

There's a lot of unanswered things here though... For instance, we still don't know what these creatures are? Were they suggesting that it was just Clara under the bed after all? If that's the case, what was under the bed cover in Danny's room? Clara? Or were they suggesting that there is something still out there but Clara is under kids' beds to protect them? Basically all we found out in this episode is that there are invisible things in the shadows that like scaring the crap out of us. Does the Doctor do anything about it? No, not really. He looks at what it is, even though we don't, and appears to do nothing about it. There was no resolution to any of this at all. Just "I know you're scared, and that's okay." Which I think was the point - to creep us out  with the unknown - but it doesn't really work as a story.

All in all, this does a good job at being a bit creepy, but it's really weak as an actual story. This story is literally just like "There are creatures" and says nothing else. It does nothing but states that they exist. That certainly creates a creepy atmosphere, it doesn't make an interesting or enjoyable story though. However, there's something about this episode that I quite like; I'm not sure if it's the atmosphere or that barn scene, or maybe something else. By no means is this the worst story, but it's miles from the best, too. I voted 'Good' but I'm falling more towards 'Okay' now... 6/10.

P.S Scary is a superpower!

"Focus on the creatures we have no clue about." If such things actually exist. ;-) (I'm not convinced there are.)

TinDogRory wrote:

The Companion has been of equal or greater value since RTD.

Back when the show started, the companions were definitely the big story leaders with the Doctor being the conduit for adventure. The format quickly changed and evolved over time, but 21st Century Who seems to try to make the companions as important to the story—if not more so—as the Doctor to varying degrees of success.

That said, after I watched the episode—which I did enjoy—I did say, "Stephen Moffat's going, 'Oh, you thought I made Amy the be all and end all companion? BWAHAHAHAHAAHAAAA!!! Just wait until you meet Clara!'"

Spoiler:

TinDogRory wrote:

"Focus on the creatures we have no clue about." If such things actually exist. ;-) (I'm not convinced there are.)

So the thing under the cover and the slamming door and 'LISTEN' written on the chalk board was all a collective hallucination or...?

Good story, once again too much Clara

Last weeks was far better than this weeks, roll on next week!

Finally, a great story for once. Hopefully we can get another one before the season is out. Hate for this season to be a one hit wonder like 3 with Blink

"Listen" reminded me of "Hide" & "Midnight" but not nearly as irritating.

Once again, we get unnecessary filler scenes with Clara (no wonder the Doctor is talking to himself since his companion / carer comes on trips with him as she pleases) and her date with Danny (sorry just FF'd all of them) and she's once again interfered with the Doctor's past, this time when it was just a boy. We also find out the barn which was ground-zero for Gallifrey's destruction was a place where the Doctor found a sanctuary as a child. Lovely. Moffat, please leave the Doctor's past alone and stop giving Clara equal (or more) airtime than the Doctor. I detested Amy because she seemed to constantly overshadow the Doctor and become the star of the show and now we have Clara once again taking over things. It was never like that under RTD.

The episode was okay in the end with the current series being extremely uneven in not only stories but the flubs (e.g., the disappearing bucket, the TARDIS door being open/closed in last week's show, etc.) and the overall bad execution / production. With a high profile actor like Capaldi, I would have thought they would have done better. Really hoping Time Heist will finally turn things around for the better.

i agree it seems the doctor is taking a backseat to clara. which is never good but right when your trying to get into a new doctor it makes it even worse.

Scary wrote:

TinDogRory wrote:

"Focus on the creatures we have no clue about." If such things actually exist. ;-) (I'm not convinced there are.)

So the thing under the cover and the slamming door and 'LISTEN' written on the chalk board was all a collective hallucination or...?

"Did we just save him from the kid down the hall?:
"Possibly."

I like the idea that this is an episode about fighting a monster that really isn't there, a creature from the Id, the irrational part of your brain. Sure, there are teases there's something to it all... but who's the monster under the bed? It's Clara.

http://io9.com/theres-not-much-point-in-arguing-about-moffats-doctor-w-1634481730

It's an episode based on atmosphere. I don't love it, I think there are some issues, but Capaldi has some really brilliant scenes. I also liked Danny Pink. I want him in the TARDIS proper.

I loved the scenes of the mattress being depressed in the orphanage & Orson in the restaurant.
It'd be lovely if Danny was just upset that everyone assumed he was a killer instead of a humanitarian rather than him having a secret tragic backstory.
The unspoken question of whether the Doctor is going senile is more interesting than him asking if he's a good man.

What the heck ever happened to the Transduction Barriers around Gallifrey and isn't the Planet now lost in the Time War?

But as Robert Holmes was fond of demonstrating, never let canon/continuity get in the way of a good story. Very nice atmosphere and well done even if the plot may not stand up well to intense scrutiny.

The TARDIS's safeties were off. Do we know the transduction barriers were in existence when the Doctor was 5-10 years old? Do we know for certain that a point in Gallifrey's past before the First Doctor encounters the Daleks is totally inaccessible? Certainly the TARDIS knows how to breach the Time Lock anyway, from "Day of the Doctor." Basically, there's enough "Continuity cushion" for me to give it a pass.

Also, hey, if we take the two people who visit the young Doctor to be his parents, then the comment "the other boys" give us the continuity approval for Braxiatel!