It’s been nearly eight months since the last episode of BBC America’s “Doctor Who,” and with that long wait comes MASSIVE EXPECTATIONS. Add in the first true appearance of Peter Capaldi’s new incarnation of immortal Timelord The Doctor, and our anticipation for the season premiere, “Deep Breath,” is through the roof.
Which is why we’re going to break down the 6 things we have to see on the August 23 premiering episode.
1. A New Doctor
Well, dur. But we don’t just want to see Peter Capaldi, we want to see what makes him new, different and exciting! We’re big fans of Christopher Eccelston’s turn as The Doctor, but David Tennant and Matt Smith made us fall in love with their takes almost instantly.
We already love Capaldi for his amazing work in “The Thick Of It,” but will he be able to pull away from iconic roles like Malcolm Tucker and make The Doctor his own?
2. A Better Clara
BBC America
Speaking of falling in love, Jenna Coleman captured both our hearts with her first appearance in “Asylum of the Daleks,” then cemented it with her whip-smart turn in “The Snowmen.” And then for the rest of series seven, she didn’t get a whole lot to do.
Coleman is clearly an extremely talented actress, and we love having her on the show, but we’re hoping her rapport with Capaldi works better than with Smith, who dominated nearly every scene he was in.
3. Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey
BBC
Our favorite “Who” stories – and particularly the ones written by Executive Producer Steven Moffat – involve some sort of crazy playing around with the timestream. There’s certainly been plenty of that the past few seasons, but there’s also nothing more thrilling than Moffat figuring out a new way for The Doctor to use his TARDIS.
Given we’ve already seen Capaldi’s Doctor (or his eyebrows at least) at play during “The Day Of The Doctor,” it’s entirely possible we could see Twelve hopping around in time during “Deep Breath.”
4. The Calm Before The Oncoming Storm
Matthew Horwood
On the other hand, “Deep Breath” certainly implies that we’ll be getting the calm before the storm, a break after the millennia spanning adventures of Smith’s last few episodes. We’re sure there will be plenty of running around hallways and wacky monsters, as per the usual, but maybe we’ll get a calmer “Who” episode than usual.
5. The Master
BBC America
Okay, pie in the sky hope: we know we’re going to see Cybermen and The Daleks later in the season, but we haven’t seen the anti-Doctor, The Master, since Moffat took over from Russell T. Davies. Could this season’s Big Bad be the biggest bad of them all?
6. A Shot-For-Shot Remake Of “Fear Her”
One can only hope.
What do you want to see on “Deep Breath?” Let us know in the comments below.
Alex Zalben
Writer/Editor at MTV News. You can follow him on Twitter, but not in real life because that would be weird.
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