I don't know if she's met future ones; that certainly wasn't depicted in "Name". In general, though, I would say there's a difference between knowing what the Doctor does and being around for it; same reason she ultimately objects to using The Moment.

Which could lead to an interesting dynamic. Basically, all the Doctor's known for the last 500 years is Tranzalore. So conceivably, he could have forgotten a LOT about the universe, and we'd see a Doctor who's a bit less of a know-it-all.

On that note, I really liked, "They called the police! We never call the police! We should start!"

OTOH, he's a lot more capable than 10 and 12 were at first, and that conspiracy-theorist guy indicates that 9 has already had some adventures (though, hey, timey-wimey). I think it could go either way, and this is just the first chance he has to actually look in a mirror.

And, to be fair, I think that RTD stamped down on that part of the rug more than a little too hard.

This is pretty spot on. I might also argue- I'm not wholly committed to this, but I MIGHT argue it- that in a show where, structurally, the female character has an awfully tough job- she's the question-asking-one, the audience surrogate, the emotional through-line and the foil for the main character, all at once- it…

Yeah, but could we maybe wait to criticize that until it happens, if it does?

I mean, since that situation is going to be resolved one way or the other by, I dunno, the time the sixth episode airs, I kinda doubt it.

Well, she had *just* seen one of the rules of regeneration thrown out the window…

Maybe "patriarchal"? I don't sense that it comes from any real animosity toward women, just being more interested in the male characters, an insensitivity to how that comes off, and some outdated social attitudes.

Well, they make pretty clear that "egomaniacal game player" applies pretty equally to the Doctor, too.

The funk is a problem, and something I never liked about the Christmas Invasion, either. No one really cares about seeing the Doctor discombobulated (he's alien enough already), so just get to his new character traits.

Those two things aren't really mutually exclusive, which is the whole WIR problem in the first place. It leaves creators with a lot of bad choices.

I'd also argue that the Han/Leia plot is thematically essential. Yoda tells us about the Force, that's its this living connection between all things- and here we see two people with nothing in common, two people who go out of their way to annoy each other, fall in love. Even Lando and Chewbacca rebuilding C-3PO fit…

Okay, whakever. Again, like what you like, but when your example of over-exposure of the character type is a ten-year old TV series that didn't even last a full season, I'm not sure "…Again?" makes much sense.

I do! I just don't see how the simple profundity of Yoda's explanation of the force, or the jaw-dropping reveal of Luke's parentage, or the perfect composition of the Luke/Vader dual are hurt by the Han/Leia storyline- and I note that the Han/Leia storyline has some of my favorite SW moments itself ("They didn't even…

Put it this way, I certainly wouldn't argue that TPM is better than ANH *because* it doesn't have Han Solo (I wouldn't even argue the first part of that, but you take my meaning).

"I think that the PT's success is largely its own."

I mean- again, like what you like. That's fine. You're just the first person I've ever encountered who's been like, "A character like Han Solo? YUCK!"

I guess I just don't feel like that happened with the OT. Even Han mucking about with teddy bears does nothing to diminish the moment where Luke looks down at Vader, and sees his own robotic hand.