# Doctor Who Series 9 discussion (spoilers as it airs) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2015, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754 "2015-09-19T11:40:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/361 "2015-11-07T20:58:58Z")
Tonight’s episode has what I think will be the defining moment of Peter Capaldi’s tenure as The Doctor. Just magnificent. Also, we now have a new canonical definition of what TARDIS stands for: Totally and Radically Driving in Space ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/362 "2015-11-08T01:43:41Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Tonight’s episode has what I think will be the defining moment of Peter Capaldi’s tenure as The Doctor. Just magnificent. What moment? I thought this was, naturally, the far superior half of the two-parter. This episode did not need two parts to achieve its goal. I’m finding this season frustrating in some ways. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/363 "2015-11-08T03:05:04Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > What moment? > > I thought this was, naturally, the far superior half of the two-parter. This episode did not need two parts to achieve its goal. > > I’m finding this season frustrating in some ways. The last ten minutes or so. I’m still in awe. Just INCREDIBLE. It seems that some were right when they called Kate having outwitted the Zygon and taken its place and Harry Sullivan having developed the nerve gas. (And bonus points for the Doctor calling him an “imbecile”!) ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/364 "2015-11-08T03:08:59Z")
I still want to know where Kate’s “sister” was. And I am glad for the implication that we’ll be seeing more of Osgood. I also was drawn in by podded Clara was able to control Bonnie (if that isn’t what Zygon-Clara called herself, blame it on my crappy speakers) But I agree that if they’d trimmed some of the crust/lace/fat, they could have told the story in one episode. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/365 "2015-11-08T03:46:22Z")
Of course, since we still don’t know whether the murdered Osgood was a Zygon or Human, now we don’t know whether we have a Human and a Zygon Osgood, or two Zygon Osgoods. The question is…does it matter? ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_Hey_Paula)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/366 "2015-11-08T06:10:15Z")
Am I the only person who spent most of tonight’s episode thinking, “I want BadClara’s lipstick! What is that lipstick, I want it!”? No, just me then? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/367 "2015-11-08T06:12:09Z")
Kate said [“five rounds rapid”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0grVDUL_en0)! 😃 Makes up for all the UNIT stupidity in the last episode. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/368 "2015-11-08T06:50:29Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Well, Jack does eventually die of old age after turning into a giant head after millions or billions or trillions or gajillions of years. The theory I’ve seen that I’m really fond of is that, as the series says, Rose/Bad Wolf screwed up and made him a **fixed point in time**. This doesn’t mean he’s immortal, it just means that at every moment in the universe, there’s a law that a Jack Harkness must exist. When he died as the Face of Boe, it’s because that was the last second Jack needed to fill, there was officially a Jack at every instant from the Big Bang to the End. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/369 "2015-11-08T08:12:27Z")
> [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](#): > > Am I the only person who spent most of tonight’s episode thinking, “I want BadClara’s lipstick! What is that lipstick, I want it!”? No, just me then? Oh, no, I thought “That would look totally cool on me!” What? ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/370 "2015-11-08T08:53:24Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > The last ten minutes or so. I’m still in awe. Just INCREDIBLE. It was a riveting performance, Capaldi just owned the screen for the whole long scene. A much, much much better episode than the rather weak set-up from last week; we didn’t really need the unconvincing globe-trotting: they could have played the whole story in London and it would have been much tighter. Also Zygella was much hotter than Good Clara. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/371 "2015-11-08T16:45:36Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Tonight’s episode has what I think will be the defining moment of Peter Capaldi’s tenure as The Doctor. Just magnificent. You’re speaking, I assume, of the revelation that the Doctor’s first name is Basil. So now we know his full name. Doctor Basil Who. What? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/372 "2015-11-08T17:42:16Z")
> [@MacSpon](#): > > Of course, since we still don’t know It seemed to me that the original story of the murder was a lie. A pretence so one could remain secret. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/373 "2015-11-08T17:44:32Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > So now we know his full name. Doctor Basil Who. By which you mean “Doctor Basil Disco”. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/374 "2015-11-08T19:35:12Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Tonight’s episode has what I think will be the defining moment of Peter Capaldi’s tenure as The Doctor. Just magnificent. That scene with Kate and Bonnie at the boxes was about the most powerful thing I’ve seen this season. It feels like Moffatt and his writers have been reading Philosophy 101 textbooks this season - we’ve had the bootstrap paradox, and then this episode, which is all about the Prisoner’s Paradox and game theory. > [@leahcim](#): > > By which you mean “Doctor Basil Disco”. “Did you just call yourself ‘Doctor Disco’?” ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/375 "2015-11-08T20:03:37Z")
I like Capaldi a lot this season, he’s less abrasive than in his first outing, but he is still the most _alien_ Doctor we’ve seen since Tom Baker. The scene where he’s sitting in the car showing Osgood his smile was hilariously disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/376 "2015-11-08T20:27:22Z")
Stupid question. Were the buttons in the boxes really labeled Truth or Consequence, or since the room had mind altering equipment were they just imagining that? ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/377 "2015-11-08T20:35:48Z")
The better episode in a poorly written two parter. They were doing so well this season too. Let’s hope next week is back to form. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/378 "2015-11-08T21:05:15Z")
Did you spot Ashildr’s alien helmet behind the table in a glass cabinet? ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/379 "2015-11-08T21:36:41Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > The better episode in a poorly written two parter. They were doing so well this season too. Let’s hope next week is back to form. I don’t like this season’s decision to make every story a two-parter, though. There just hasn’t been enough story material to support it, and it’s meant a weak and flabby set-up followed by a much stronger finish. It’s like the old days where each story was a multi-parter, and the actual story was padded out by a lot of running back and forth. A bigger budget now means the earlier episode is now padded out by _stuff_ - a lot of _flying_ back and forth, in this case, with a silly cliff-hanger tacked on: did anyone _really_ think Zygella had shot down the Doctor’s plane? why does the Doctor need a plane anyway? - but the story-telling suffers. The story would have been far better told in a single location with a smaller cast: all we really needed was the stand-off between Kate and Zygella over the boxes, with the Doctor giving his impassioned speech. Everything that didn’t get us there - UNIT being stupid, the New Mexico stuff - was extraneous and distracting. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/380 "2015-11-08T21:55:19Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > It seemed to me that the original story of the murder was a lie. A pretence so one could remain secret. But then there would be _three_ Osgoods: the two originals (one human, one Zygon) and then the additional Zygon (“Bonnie”). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754.md?page=20)