YOUR LETTERS
This issue: your reactions to Doctor Who series nine.
Dan Shenton, email Capaldi has begun to outshine his predecessors from the revived series and is even giving the classic Doctors a run for their money.
Martin Horn, email Underwhelmed to say the least. I feel Doctor Who has lost my interest and that of my nine-year-old. Saturday evening TV is no longer Daddy/Daughter quality time, sadly, hiding behind the cushions together.
Doug Sims, email Capaldi’s monologue at the end of “The Zygon Inversion”… my god, that man can act. That speech gave me chills and the optimist in me hoped like hell that millions of children soaked it in like a sponge and on some level that it will stay with them.
Galgomite, GamesRadar+ They just haven’t nailed a prevailing tone yet. Sometimes it’s too adult, sometimes it’s too childish, sometimes it’s not as clever as the showrunner thinks it is.
Hazy, GamesRadar+ Put the show on hiatus for five years and come back refreshed with some new exciting ideas, not the insular dirges we’ve been served.
SFX Five years? Pah. Some of us lived through 16. Look at my scars! Look at them!
AbleScholar, GamesRadar+ The final arc, and the unleashing of the fury of the Time Lord, was perfectly played by all involved and the finale’s final scenes put a lump in my throat. Jenna Coleman will be missed.
Richard Edward Lawrence, Facebook Love the guitar, hated the specs, thrilled the Sonic is back.
Paul Morris, Facebook If Capaldi wants to play the electric guitar, let him resign, and form his own band! SFX Are you looking for a Dreamboys revival, by any chance? Is Craig Ferguson free?
Baz Hood, Facebook The worst series since the revival for me. A brilliant actor in Capaldi, being mostly wasted with sub par material. ONE genuinely innovative episode in “Heaven Sent”, followed by yet another underwhelming finale.
Mark Howe, Facebook The return to Gallifrey should have been massive but was very underwhelming.
Love the guitar, hate the specs, thrilled the Sonic is back
Keith Tudor, email It was great to see the cliffhangers back with the two-part format that dominated most of the run.
Neil Alsop, email Time for Steven Moffat to move on, I think, before he drags a once-great series down even further and it ends up getting cancelled again, this time perhaps permanently.
Andrew James Spooner, Facebook One of the most consistently wonderful and entertaining seasons of Doctor Who since its return.
Andy P Meakin, Facebook After a few years of nonchalance towards the show, and feeling more and more that the Who of “my” childhood had gone forever (I am a child of the Tom Baker years), I’m now in love with the show once more – and more to the point, all my kids are loving it too (plus, anyone who says it isn’t scary anymore, try asking young kids what they think. My daughter has been hiding under a blanket at some episodes). SFX Aw. Truly, there’s nothing more heartwarming than the thought of terrified children, is there?
Look out for the next SFX Hot Topic at bit.ly/SFXHotTopic
#COLEMAN CUTS THE MUSTARD
Timothy Williams, email Wow, what a sour bunch [Hot Topic SFX 268 on Clara’s departure from Doctor Who]. Spiteful sneering, old regurgitated complaints, attempts to belittle, hopelessly inaccurate declarations of how awful she was and so on. The nastier, more insecure face of fandom, frankly. Now, I’d normally have sympathy for a letters editor picking from a limited choice of submissions. But not this time. Whoever chose them must have had some positive letters but they still almost entirely went for the negative. Even the positive ones that were picked included some reference to Clara being disliked, as if that were the norm. And that’s actually rather unpleasant. Because if someone writes in with something as ridiculous as “Clara has no personality” out of spite, you only print it if you either think they have a point (in which case, frankly, you’re an idiot) or you want to validate that spite to sell your magazine (which is, frankly, a little despicable.) Either way, it’s easy for your magazine to wind up looking out of touch with the majority of your readers. (A tribute to Clara posted on the show’s official facebook page after “Face The Raven” aired has been “liked” nearly 78,000 times. That’s what Doctor Who viewers think of her.) Now, having said all that, I suppose I can appreciate there were limited messages to choose from, and sometimes only people who want to moan write in. But you must have had more choice then that. SFX We try to be as balanced as we can, Timothy – and Doctor Who’s one of those shows that attracts nuclear-level passion, on both sides. Personally I think Clara’s one of the best companions we’ve ever had and the negativity makes my brain boggle. Can you imagine how poor old Adric would have fared in the Twitter age?
#NEAT TRICK
Mike Garner, email Arrow is now dealing with magic, the kind of thing that could have killed the series if they had started out with it. Magic on TV comes across as cheesy a lot of the time (CGI on the small screen, with a smallscreen budget can look, well, crap). The journey Arrow has gone on though means magic just seems like the next logical step. Then along came Constantine. Firstly the short-lived show got the right actor, they just missed the mark
My fanboy side has excitement levels I can’t contain
with the show. So for that character to turn up on Arrow could have been a step too far. What has happened though is one of the greatest guest star appearances ever. It’s such a shame it was a one off. Constantine could have been a character that showed up on The Flash and Supergirl too, connecting all the shows together without having to have the main cast swap shows. The mardy English mage should live on! SFX I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the most iconic crumpled raincoat since Columbo’s…
#QUACK OFF
Ant Pugh, email The latest issue of SFX states that Disney have had little influence on the new Star Wars movie. If that is the case then why do the new Stormtrooper helmets look like Donald Duck’s beak? I keep expecting all the troopers to say “Aw, phooey!” whenever they get shot. SFX Now we think about it there’s a definite hint of Daffy Duck about Kylo Ren. “You’re dethpicable, Thkywalker!”
#PAST: PERFECT
Larry Conway, email Robert Graham’s letter [SFX 268] on how the BBC treats Orphan Black has valid points but he makes a mistake branding the days of early evening showings as a sign of disrespect to the genre. From the days of Def II (remember that?) showing repeats of classics like The Invaders, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century and the original Battlestar Galactica, to modern hits like Buffy and Farscape, Star Trek in most of its forms (original, TNG, DS9 and Voyager) and, lest we forget the repeats of Doctor Who that were for a long time the only showings the show had during its exile from our screens. What do we have now? Perhaps the most tedious quiz show ever in the form of Eggheads and various other shows that should be on at daytime (Two Tribes gets a pass as a cousin of mine was on it and won) and not early evening. Perhaps we should think back to those days and see how lucky we were… SFX It was a golden age, Larry. A golden slot. Even the thought of Normski makes me feel strangely nostalgic...
#WE ALSO HEARD FROM
Stephen McAfee, email So, Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. What a trailer! I actually got goosebumps... DOOMSDAY!!! My fanboy side has excitement levels I can’t contain. Can’t even focus to do my staff’s wages… SFX Focus, Stephen! Your staff are relying on you!
Harold Okafor-Withers, email I checked out the Manchesterbased For The Love Of The Force Independent Star Wars Fan Convention. Some of the elements were not as good as they could have been but the full size X-Wing was most impressive, as was the Jabba exhibit. As an indie effort it was nothing short of impressive. And as ever the presence of the 501st and other cosplayers made the event something really, really special. Here’s hoping they make this a regular fixture in Manchester’s event calendar.
chloeyoshifan2, email I was shocked to hear news of Dominion’s cancellation. The show has a compelling storyline and great characters, yet Syfy decided it would rather continue making crappy films like Sharknado! The majority of the fandom hope that Netflix sees its potential and picks it up, giving us the third season it deserves.
Darth JayjayWinks, email Just wanted to share a picture with you. Like the rest of the galaxy our Midi-chlorians runneth over pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens. So much so that when we received the latest subscription copy of SFX we felt strangely compelled to put it on display in our Hall of Geek. As you can see, with Stormtroopers and Lord Vader standing prominent, we have descended into the Dark Side... SFX Excellent, our young apprentice! Now renew your subscription and your journey to the Dark Side will be complete…