Quick musings on resumed Twelfth Doctor rewatch

Recently I rewatched the Matt Smith Doctor Who stories again. And I'm now rewatching Peter Capaldi's run. But it's been tricky to keep going. I think he's one of the best actors ever to play the part, but the characterisation as presented is often so unlikeable. Especially at the start of his run, but also with his treatment of Danny. It's very difficult to relate to this Doctor early on, and to want to watch the series.

I paused my rewatch part way through "Robot of Sherwood" and it took me some months to summon up the enthusiasm to restart. I'm now part way through season 8 episode 6 "The Caretaker". I've enjoyed some of the previous stories more than I expected to. Not least "Time Heist" which I could barely remember anything of. Though I rather yearn for simpler old style storytelling, rather than Steven Moffat esque convoluted timey wimeyness.

But I'm still hating the dislikeable aspects of this Doctor, which are particularly evident in season 8. Not so much his alienness, but what I perceive too often as unnecessary cruelty to watch in the series. It feels like experiencing the early Sixth Doctor all over again. But pushing on ...

Burns Night

Thinking of my Dad who would have been 91 today. He loved Robert Burns poems and songs from a young age, and I inherited a book of them he bought as a young man in Yorkshire. He always used to treat himself to a haggis meal on Burns Night. Still much missed.