While not quite as obvious an upward shift, Jon Pertwee was also one year older than Patrick Troughton. And Sylvester McCoy is about the same age as Colin Baker. That’s not an upward change, but it doesn’t count as “getting younger” either.
I’m very happy with the casting of Capaldi. Call me old school, but the absolute minimum age for The Doctor should be around 40.
Clara “You’ve redecorated. I don’t like it.” At first I thought she was giving a nod to Troughton’s doctor. Turns out it’s become somewhat of a running joke.
Regarding the age, there was a David Tennant clip - one of the specials, not an actual episode - where he said something about how he used to be all old and crotchety, “as you do when you’re young”. I found that amusing.
He was talking to the 5th Doctor, who at that point was the youngest. He said before Davison he was “always trying to be so grown up” until Davison broke that habit.
Capaldi was brilliant, of course - but my first exposure to Jenna Coleman had been her gig as Clara last season, so I had no idea she had these sorts of chops. Damn. The banter was hilarious, and her bit of absolutely terrified bravery confronting the Droid leader was heartbreaking.
Acting!
I think its sort of a dig at fans who always dislike when they change the TARDIS.
I didn’t realize it until I saw it again in Day, but I really didn’t like 9/10’s TARDIS interior. It just looked so run down and poorly lit. Like someone just decided to build the new control room in an abandoned factory or something.
I think the Doctor was still depressed after the Time War and didn’t care. The Christopher Eccleston Doctor didn’t even bother to wear anything other than drab functional clothing.
I don’t know what version you were watching, but I heard (and the BBC subtitles said): It would be like dropping a piano on you.
Well, this goes for just about every human orifice and fluid/air interface membrane. As long as they aren’t actively cycling fluids and semi-solids to the environment, then any object can be sexy after a few beers, or at minimum can be a distracting topological concept to think through while getting your groove on.
The commentary I’ve seen suggests that the Doctor’s progressively younger regenerations represent his guilt over his actions in the Time War, and his subconscious desire to go back to his youth and redeem himself. Now that he has, he’s ready to embrace maturity. Which may not be just fanwank - it certainly fits in with what we know about how Capaldi will play him.
You are correct.
THE DOCTOR
You want a psychic link with me?? T
size of my brain, it would be lik
dropping a piano on you.
VASTRA
Be gentle then.
THE DOCTOR
I’ll try. Brace yourself! Piano!
That doesn’t work in face of the trend existing in Classic Who, and even in the relaunched series pre-Time War - Eight was older at Regeneration than the War Doctor, who had just aged a good bit before The Day of the Doctor.
Whatever the Doctor’s reasons for adjusting downward each time (consciously or subconsciously), it being connected to the Time War doesn’t really work out.
More than anything, I just think the showrunners wanted a very different Doctor to freshen things up. It’s worked, I think.
OK, somehow it seems Moffat et al haven’t been reading my posts on SDMB and other forums. The nerve! One more time guys: ENOUGH ALREADY WITH VASTRA, JENNY AND STRAX! Seriously, they just keep getting more tedious.
Wifey and I were both thoroughly bored for the first 40 minutes or so, until the UNENDINGLY CREEPY AND DISTURBING CYBORGS SHOWED UP! Yowsah! Now that’s an enemy. (OK, the leader had shown up earlier, but it was the restaurant scene that really got things going.) I understand that the Doctor is usually disoriented for a bit after a regen, but I really don’t need to see it again. Also, he and Clara had had at least one adventure already offscreen (where they got the T-Rex). Shouldn’t that have been enough time to get over it?
Did not like Vastra’s veil business, nor her treating Jenny like crap, nor Clara whining about how old the Doctor is now. (She’s the Impossible Fricken’ Girl. She’s seen him old, young, and in between! And if you tell me she’s forgotten all that, I tell you that’s lazy storytelling. When you finally give a character some development and purpose after a season of meandering, don’t hit the reset button!)
Did like Clara stepping up to the plate against the cyborgs. Did like Capaldi, though I’m eager to see him more “normal,” once the regeneration after-effects subside. Even did like the Matt Smith surprise. I’m hoping things will recover after a somewhat shaky start.
That seems like a good guess, because, yeah, that ain’t a normal T-Rex, no matter what BS Vastra cooks up though wiki tells me that she appeared after that, sans T-rex, so it’s not a direct follow-on.
I was just worried because I thought she said something about being the Doctor’s “girlfriend” which made me think: “Please, please, don’t dredge up River Song again.” I’m hoping she’s not a regeneration of River. (Yes, River used up her regenerations to save 11, but 11 used up his too, and here we are. Who knows what could be pulled out of Moffat’s nether regions?). Can someone confirm if I heard that right? Considering that I’d always thought “the woman in the shop” who gave Clara the doctor’s number was River for some reason (were there ever any clues about her? I forget) I’m concerned.
IIRC, she called the Doctor her boyfriend; close enough. It does leave the door open for River speculation; I too hope that it isn’t. Moffat has displayed a certain tendency to “rest on his laurels”, so to speak; so far we’ve had more Angels and more River. (Arguably, we’ve now got more Girl in the Fireplace robot things.) Neither the Angels nor River have benefitted from Moffat’s further attentions.
Rani’d be fine, I suppose, as it’d be something new to a big chunk of the audience. But I’d really just like for it to be SOMETHING NEW. Sort of like River, the Angels, and the Fireplace Girl were before they weren’t any more.
(Grumping aside, put me firmly in Team Liked This Episode. Sure, not flawless, but damned good. And I’ll never tire of Vastra, Jenny and Strax; they’re the one well that Moffat hasn’t managed to foul by going back to it for me yet.)
Missy = Mistress = gender-swapped Master.
…which is why I want to see the Grand Moff develop them further. Strax is probably a one trick pony, but Vastra and Jenny I think could sustain a real character arc, if they were suitably deepened. The actresses seem to have the chops to invest the roles with depth. IMHO, of course.
Your opinion has been outweighed by the VJS contingent. Like them, we work in not-so-secret ways to make sure they keep coming back. 
I like this theory. I like it a lot. The way Missy acts is not dissimilar from Mr Saxon, and the ‘my boyfriend’ could be a play on the perceived romantic tension between the Doctor and the Master (that aspect may not play well with the audience after the reveal in this case), and the Master is set to return this series. Yeah, I’m putting my money (10 Gallifreyan Pandaks) on you being right, here.