After tiding fans over with two short teasers, Doctor Who has finally released the full-length trailer for the show’s eighth season—the first starring Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor. There’s a lot to unpack in the 65-second trailer, as shots of Daleks, Cybermen, and a giant T-Rex are intercut with images of an exploding TARDIS. While Matt Smith’s era was often characterized as a fairy tale, this new season (or at least this trailer) plays up the “darker” aspects of the show. The Doctor admits he’s made “many mistakes” over his 2,000 years of life and—as in the first teaser—he asks his companion Clara whether he’s a good man. She responds “I don’t know.”
Of course its always possible (and probable) that this kind of brooding identity crisis will be limited to the show’s premiere, rather than be a defining characteristic of the new Doctor. (Capaldi is simply too good at comedy to be this serious all the time.) But for now, the show is really hitting the somber nail on the head—as when Clara asks the Doctor where they are going, and he answers, “Into darkness.”
Doctor Who returns August 23, at which point fans can find out if that’s setting up a Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover, or whether it’s just the 12th Doctor’s really odd catchphrase.