TV Review: Doctor Who - The Woman Who Lived

Stand and deliver! Well I'm pleased. I was so disappointed with last week's “The Girl Who Died” that I feared we were returning to the shoddy writing that plagued the previous season of Doctor Who. It turns out that tonight was a very clever episode in which the normal dialogue between Clara and an increasingly detached Doctor were mirrored as the Doctor tried to allay the infinite fear and pain of an immortal Ashildr.

“The Woman Who Lived” opens with the Doctor interrupting a highway robbery in England, 1651. He has a nice new contraption, a curio scanner, and the highwayman is none other than Ashildr. Except that she can no longer remember her own name. It turns out that the centuries have taken their toll and all the names she had ever known had died with the people who knew.

She is me, Lady Me, just like The Doctor is The Doctor. 

As you've come to expect from an Addicted to Media review, I'm generous with the spoilers so here is your three-second spoiler warning.

*** Spoiler warning. Moderate spoilers ahead: proceed with caution if you’ve not watched Doctor Who – “The Woman Who Lived” ***

What I Loved

There is so much to love in this episode. I loved the concept of Ashildr / Me surviving through the ages and watching those she loved died. I thought that it was interesting that this immortal is a woman and that she could bear children. In genre shows, we often know of vampires and other supernaturals surviving through time but they aren't often women and even more rarely have children.

The scene with Ashildr losing her children to the plague was especially poignant and created a great background to her present detachment and coldness. She is determined that she will never bear children again and significantly, she has never used the immortality pendant that The Doctor left her with.

Rufus Hound steps in as fellow highwayman Sam Swift and he is a lot of fun. He's as likely a lad as ever there was and absolutely no match for Lady Me. See? This is what happens when Steven Moffat doesn't write an episode of Doctor Who - a woman can actually achieve and maintain the upper hand over men and there is no dramatic comeuppance where she must ultimately fail and learn her rightful place.

Perhaps the best part of the episode was Leonian Leandro (Ariyon Bakare) (even if he was a dead ringer for Ron Perlman’s Beast) and the alien invasion. If this episode had somewhat of a Torchwood feel to it, that is because it was written by Catherine Tregenna. I miss Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures too.

What Must Die A Horrible Death

So was there anything about The Woman Who Lived that I didn't like? Yes. The sonic sunglasses are back. Seriously. They need to go.

The Verdict

I loved this episode and am so glad that the season picked up after last week’s disappointing turn. If I’m honest, I’d simply insist that Steven Moffat not write any more scripts. Perhaps I can start a rumour that he is leaving the show?

Notable “The Woman Who Lived” Quotes

“The Woman Who Lived” didn’t have much in the way of witty one-liners like the first two episodes of the season but as lot of very poignant, moving lines were said and Maisie Williams did well to deliver the slow-burning fury of Ashildr.

“I can’t remember most of it. That’s the problem with an infinite life and a normal-sized mind” – Ashildr

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“This is no way to live your life, desensitised to the world” – The Doctor

“Do you intend to fix me?” – Ashildr

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”You’re the man who runs away” – Ashildr

“Who told you that?” – The Doctor

“Maybe I just worked it out” – Ashildr

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“What happened to you?” – The Doctor

“You did Doctor. You happened to me” – Ashildr

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“You didn’t save my life, Doctor, you trapped me inside it” – Ashildr

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“It’s infuriating. You think you don’t care but then you fall off the wagon” – The Doctor

 

Doctor Who returns with “The Zygon Invasion” next Saturday evening 31 October 2015 at 8.15pm on BBC One.

All images © BBC

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TV Review: Doctor Who - The Girl Who Died

Oh, the promise of a brand new Doctor Who episode! “The Girl Who Died” opens with Clara in a most perilous situation, stuck in space with nothing but a space suit to protect her and something crawling up her back. The Doctor is fighting to locate her and suddenly he does. Before you know it, they’ve landed in a forest and are abducted by Vikings.

Strangely enough, the sight of Clara running around in a bright orange spacesuit during Viking times wasn’t the strangest things about it episode but it possibly made more sense than the rest of the plot.

I was worried last week that they would do to Viking what they did to Robin Hood in “Robot of Sherwood” and it turns out I was right to worry.

Which is just my way of saying that I didn’t quite enjoy this episode. You’ll find a fair bit of spoilers below, especially in the bits where I reimagine the script as Steven Moffat actually wrote it so here is your spoiler warning.

*** Spoiler warning. Proceed with caution if you have not yet watched Doctor Who – “The Girl Who Died” ***

What I Didn’t Like

It’s hard to be enthusiastic about Doctor Who when you have episodes like this. A lot was said that was perhaps important to the Doctor Who canon but there was so much that was annoying, weak and underdeveloped.

There was a scene in the Twilight film (not the book) when Edward is reading people’s minds and he goes “money, sex, money, sex, cat”. It was corny and embarrassing and one of the most regrettable moments in cinematic history right up until Clara said, “he speaks baby”.

That line might even have worked as a one liner but then they milked it a bit. There is the line about how babies think laughing is singing and even then, I’m thinking this is okay, cute maybe, but a little overdone. Then the baby’s cries become an integral plot point and they milk it some more and somewhere in there I lost the will to watch the rest of the episode.

Perhaps I should have gone with my first instinct because I don’t think the episode improved after that either. We have Ashildr (Maisie Williams) and she has some uncanny ability to influence certain outcomes which is a great idea but one that is so undeveloped that you might miss the whole point of it if you blink.

Perhaps I’m being unfair and comparing “The Girl Who Died” to Toby Whithouse’s clever writing in “Under The Sea” and “Before The Flood” but honestly, sometimes Steven Moffat’s writing feels like someone hurriedly racing through a storyboard. Imagine the scene as Steven Moffat takes the cast and crew through the story:

“So The Doctor and Clara get kidnapped by Vikings and one of them can kind of see the future stroke influence outcomes, right? So there is this warrior race and the Vikings declare war on them, right, but then the Viking girl tricks them and the Vikings win. Almost the end, except for for some hugely important canon stuff about The Doctor reviving the girl and not being able to bear losing people. We’ll throw in “The Fires of Pompeii” and kill that canon about not affecting the outcomes of history stroke fixed points in time. The End”.

Except that nobody realises that he forgot to write an actual script and flesh out the storyboard with an actual plot. Quite unforgiveable when you consider that he co-wrote this one with Jamie Mathieson (Doctor Who, “Mummy on the Orient Express”).

As you can see from the fake scenario above, I’m beginning to think that Doctor Who is becoming a little flaky and backtracking on its own canon. Which is fine, if they can bring Bobby Ewing back from the dead, they can make The Doctor completely change his tune and begin reviving people from the dead. But then don’t get overdramatic and over emotional about depriving someone of their ability to die. Why do it in the first place if you immediately know it is wrong?

What I Didn’t Dislike

So that was pretty lengthy but was there anything I liked?

Yes! I was thrilled when the sonic sunglasses were broken in two. Yay! No more sonic sunglasses!

I also liked the idea of The Doctor being able to do anything at all except stop losing people.

That’s pretty much all I liked. I wanted to like the Vikings but they were reduced to a parody and I wanted to like the Mire but the deadliest warrior race in the galaxy was reduced to a punch line. I wanted to like Ashildr because Maisie Williams but we weren’t given a chance to get to know anything about her at all.

And I desperately wanted to cheer on during the great battle but it was so weak and contrived that I could barely see the screen for the disappointed look on my face.

I kind of liked Clara in an orange spacesuit.

Verdict

I’m too afraid to give a verdict. I want to say that we should get rid of Steven Moffat before he ruins the show and falling ratings force a reduction in future production. The problem with that is what if it is true? The biggest losers there will be the fans and I kind of feel like we deserve better. So I’m not actually going to say all of that and I’ll suggest rather that we wait and see and hope that this was a small glitch in an otherwise enjoyable season to date.

Quotable "The Girl Who Died" Quotes

“We’re time travellers, we tread softly. It’s okay to make ripples but not tidal waves” – The Doctor

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“People talk about premonition as if it is something strange but it’s not. It is just remembering in the wrong direction” – The Doctor

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“He speaks ‘baby’” – Clara

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“Babies think laughter is singing” – The Doctor

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“I’ve got too much to think about without everyone having their own name” – The Doctor

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“Silence is even worse than a Scottish accent” –Clara

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Doctor Who returns with “The Woman Who Lived” next Saturday evening 24 October 2015 at 8.20pm on BBC One.

All images © BBC

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TV Review: Doctor Who - Before the Flood

Question. If a time traveller goes back in time but can’t find Beethoven, but said time traveller happens to have Beethoven’s works on him and recreates those works, who created the music? Beethoven or the time traveller?

This episode is all about the Bootstrap Paradox, whether information can exist if it was never created in the first place and whether we can go back in time to change the future. For the most part, I loved this Toby Whithouse written sequel to “Under the Lake” but I have to admit that it left me feeling more than a little uneasy at first.

As always, I’m generous with the spoilers so here is your three second warning.

*** Spoiler warning. Moderate spoilers ahead: proceed with caution if you have not watched Doctor Who – “Before the Flood” ***

The Paradox

The Doctor, O’Donnell and Bennett have landed in Krasnodar, Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. Little do they know what is at stake because back at The Drum in 2119, Clara and the rest of the crew have seen The Doctor’s ghost. He is dead. Or is he?

What I Loved

Despite that minor reservation, there was a lot to love in this episode and I am really enjoying this season so far. The Creepy Zombie Rabbit Undertaker is back in the form of Prentis and the fact that he is alive doesn’t make him any less freaky.

We discover that the spaceship is a hearse and that it is carrying a body, and we learn that the chamber will be opening.

Oh wait, I know this one… The Chamber of Secrets is opening and The Doctor is the heir of Slytherin, right? No? Moving on swiftly…

I loved the Soviet setting in “Before the Flood” and the surreal remnants of the Cold War. Why was the town deserted, why were there mannequins hanging around in phone booths, why was it all so surreal? I don’t know, but I liked it.

“Before the Flood” is really scary. First, there is the first timeline where O’Donnell (Morven Christie) is killed which saddened me because I liked her a lot. She had great lines and kicked ass.

But then The Doctor and Bennett decide to back in time and things get even more terrifying.

The Doctor meets The Fisher King who is honestly the most horrible alien I’ve ever seen. He looks like a giant grey praying mantis and I freaking hate praying mantises. The Fisher King stands at over 8 feet tall and was in fact played by Neil Fingleton who is over 7’7” himself. As horrible as he was, I loved this nemesis and was suitably creeped out by his horrible appearance.

The Fisher King had invaded and enslaved the planet of Tivoli for a decade before he was defeated and supposedly killed by the Arcateenians. As per their custom, they send him to a barren and hostile outpost (Earth) to be buried but he is obviously not dead and he intends to draw his allies to him to enslave Earth.

And so we must come back to the paradox. Knowing that he is to die and realising that the planet is at stake, the Doctor must cheat death and defeat the Fisher King. But how?

Back at The Drum, Lunn, Cass and Clara are being terrorised by the ghosts. There is a horrible scene with the creepy as heck ghosts surrounding Lunn (Zaqi Ismail) but they don’t see the message in him and he is not attacked.

Clara and Cass decide to go out after Lunn and no sooner has Clara said that they must not get separated than they go their separate ways.

Because that always ends well.

It is then that we are treated to one of the most terrifying scenes in Doctor Who history. The ghost of Moran (Colin McFarlane) is stalking Cass while dragging an axe on the floor behind him. The axe is screeching against the concrete floor like nails down a chalkboard and then… silence. Cass (Sophie Stone) can’t hear him and every time she turns around, he is gone.

I really liked the resolution in this episode. I enjoyed the way in which The Doctor tricked and dispatched The Fisher King and I especially like him uttering “The Timelord lied” before the dam burst. I appreciated how The Doctor stowed away in the chamber and returned to Clara.

And best of all? I liked how the episode had me going off on a “how come The Doctor gets to live if Pete Tyler died?” tangent before we realised that The Doctor’s ghost was simply a hologram. Nicely played, Toby Whithouse, nicely played.

The Verdict

I thoroughly enjoyed “Under the Lake”and “Before the Flood” and would absolutely not complain if Toby Whithouse replaced Steven Moffet as head writer on the show.

I’m looking forward to next week but hope that they don’t do to the Vikings what the did to Robin Hood last season. That was pretty dire.

Notable “Before the Flood” Quotes

“This is called The Bootstrap Paradox – Google it” – The Doctor

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“I was demoted for dangling a colleague out of a window” - Alice O’Donnell

“In anger?” – The Doctor

“Is there another way to dangle someone out of a window?” - Alice O’Donnell

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“I’m not trying to kill you. Why am I not trying to kill you?” – The Doctor

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“Clara, I need to talk to me now!” – The Doctor

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“She said to ask if travelling with The Doctor changed you or were you always happy to put other people’s lives at risk?” – Lunn, translating for Cass

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“This world is protected by me” – The Doctor

“Yes, one man, lost in time” – The Fisher King

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“The Timelord lied” – The Fisher King

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Doctor Who returns with “The Girl Who Died” next Saturday evening 17 October 2015 at 8.20pm on BBC One.

All images © BBC

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TV Review: Doctor Who - Under the Lake

Doctor Who continued this week with an explosive episode and an unexpected cliff hanger. Well, I’m sure that there are those people who were paying attention and knew this week was the first part of a two-parter but I certainly wasn’t expecting it. What I was expecting was very creepy ghosts and “Under the Lake” certainly didn’t disappoint.

The episode kicks off at The Drum Underwater Mining Facility in Caithness, Scotland, 2119. The T.A.R.D.I.S. is not happy and it doesn’t take us long to realise why when we meet a Killer Bunny Rabbit Ghost in a Top Hat (that’s what he looks like to me, anyway).

Of course, The Doctor confidently tells us that ghosts don’t exist, until they do of course and then they are real and they are hell bent on killing everyone else at the facility.

This recap won’t be as full of spoilers as the previous two reviews but if you haven’t seen the episode, I would still proceed with caution.

*** Spoiler warning. Mild spoilers ahead: proceed with caution if you have not watched Doctor Who – “Under the Lake” ***

What I Loved

I knew from the minute we saw the teaser at the end of “The Witch’s Familiar” that I was going to love the baddies in “Under the Lake”. Despite his resemblance to a killer bunny rabbit, I loved Prentis (Paul Kaye), the ghost in the top hat. We find out that he is from the planet Tivoli, revealed in “The God Complex” as the most conquered planet in its galaxy, so we have to wonder what turned him from being so welcoming and lovely to becoming a killer.

I loved the genuinely scary way Prentis rose from beneath the floor, materialising without warning and the menacing way in which the ghosts were hanging vertically from the walls in the cafeteria scene.

The Empathy Cards were such a fantastic idea and further evidence of how far The Doctor is straying from the Timelord he had come to be under Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant. Interestingly enough, the Doctor we met in 1963 was completely devoid of human empathy and understanding. I loved that even with the help of the cards, he couldn’t get it right!

The concept of the coordinates and the dark (of space), the sword (of Orion), the forsaken (and abandoned ship) and the underwater temple was simply brilliant. I also loved the idea of words that couldn’t be translated by the T.A.R.D.I.S. and the idea of magnets. I loved that writer Toby Whithouse (Being Human) created an intricate puzzle of clues and took the audience along on his journey of discovery.

In fact, I loved the whole of Toby Whithouse’s script and was thrilled to see so much banter and witty one liners in “Under the Lake”. I thought we were going to miss Missy but it turns out we needn’t have worried.

There were some fantastic guest stars in this episode. I loved Steven Robertson in his role as Pritchard. The last time we saw Robertson was in his role as Mr Rook in Being Human – "War Child". I also liked Morven Christie in her role as O’Donnell and loved the inclusion of deaf actress Sophie Stone. Stone is a fine actress with an incredible range of expressions.

I was highly amused when The Doctor assured Clara that he would simply go back in time and save the day. The thing is, he lied. He doesn’t go back in time at all well and has never been able to hit the mark in terms of accuracy (just ask Amy Pond about that).

Finally, I was completely blindsided by the unexpected ending as I was not expecting a cliffhanger. I can’t wait for next week’s episode now.

Notable “Under The Lake” Quotes

I thought that we were going to miss Missy and all of her witty one liners but there was no shortage of quotable quotes in “Under the Lake”.

“Right, I didn’t expect that. Hands up, who expected that?” – The Doctor

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“So who’s in charge now? I need to know who to ignore” – The Doctor

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“I’d like to take a look at that spaceship but what about those things that aren’t ghosts?” – The Doctor

“No, it’s okay. They only come out at night” – Alice O’Donnell

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“Death was the one thing that unified every single living thing in the Universe and now it’s gone” – The Doctor

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“Wait a minute, you just raved about ghosts like a kid who’s had too much sherbet” – Clara

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“I’m fine by the way, in case any of you were worried” – Clara [I was]

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”The dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple” – The Not Ghosts

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“Surely just being around me makes you cleverer by osmosis?” – The Doctor

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“Clara – why don’t I have a radio in the T.A.R.D.I.S.?” – The Doctor

“You took it apart and used the pieces to make a clockwork squirrel” – Clara

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“Trust me, don’t you Clara”? – The Doctor

Doctor Who returns with “Before the Flood” next Saturday evening 10 October 2015 at 8.25pm on BBC One.

All images © BBC

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TV Review: Doctor Who: The Witch's Familiar

It would have been difficult to follow up the success of last week’s explosive Doctor Who season opener “The Magician’s Apprentice” and in some ways, I was expecting to be disappointed with “The Witch’s Familiar”. I expected sloppy writing and convenient resolutions but was ultimately quite pleased with the episode. It was utterly grim in many ways and for a long time I thought it was going to sink in sentimentalism but it redeemed itself in the end and I have very few complaints.

This review will not be as laden with spoilers as last week’s episode but I’d certainly not recommend watching unless you’ve seen it so here is your 3 second spoiler warning.

*** Spoiler warning. Close this webpage now if you have not watched Doctor Who – “The Witch’s Familiar” ***

What I Loved

I really liked the opening scene with Missy and Clara on the hill and Clara hanging upside down. I hadn’t wanted their supposed extermination to be the end of the world for Missy and Clara and was pleased with how it was handled. I liked the idea of Missy sharpening a knife and could almost imagine her cooking Clara over a fire – it displayed her carnal nature and reminded us that she is dangerous by nature.

What Was Utterly Disgusting

With the notable exception of Bones, it is rare that a TV episode will turn my stomach but many aspects of this episode were quite grim. It starts off with what I thought would be the most disgusting thing I could ever see and I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to erase the image of (half of) Davros lying discarded, his wires and innards spilling over the floor. Of course, that sickening visual was replaced less than a second later with The Doctor in a Dalek tin can.

It turns out, that was nothing. Moments later, Clara and Missy are in a sewer and the walls are positively oozing with snot-like organic matter. As I type this, I’m taking a long, deep breath to try settle my tummy because that was bad enough before Missy informs us that this is a Dalek graveyard.

Minutes later it turns out that Snakeman Colony Sarff is back and we’re treated to him swallowing up The Doctor. It is really like one grim, disgusting concept after another and I loved it!

The pinnacle was Missy pulling a dead Dalek carcass out of a tin can – it really is a credit to this show that all of this has such a strong effect on the viewer and I’m certain I wasn’t the only viewer going “eew”.

There was more to come though. There was the sight of Davros’s watery, rheumy eyes; the idea of him being deep and meaningful and, worst of all, Davros smiling. It was simply horrendous.

What I Thought I Didn’t Like

For a large part of the episode, I really didn’t like the sentimentalism and the idea that Davros and Missy were acting entirely out of character. I was bored with Davros moping on about dying and was just wishing he’d get it over and done with when The Doctor himself asked him to get on with it. 

The scene with Davros’s eyes and eyeball-curdling smile was even worse when he asked if he was good. I found myself yelling at the TV “the &%$£ you’re a good man!”

I was therefore as thrilled as could be when Davros began stealing The Doctor’s regeneration energy and a little part of me danced when Missy began acting like an evil little troll.  Of course she’d try get The Doctor to inadvertently kill Clara because she thrives on chaos!

I thoroughly enjoyed Michelle Gomez in her role as Missy and I certainly hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of her.

What I Really Didn’t Like

Which neatly brings me to what I really didn’t like – Missy’s line “tell him the bitch is back”. Firstly, this is a children’s show and I didn’t like it when Molly Weasley used it in Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows and I liked it even less here.

Secondly, no. No Moffet, no. Don’t ever call a woman a bitch you misogynistic piece of crap. That word is so problematic and no matter Missy’s motives and reasons, you don’t reduce her thoughts and actions to one slur.

That’s all I have to say on the matter – feel free to disagree.

Verdict

That problem aside, I enjoyed the episode and was pleased with the ending. I didn’t like the idea that The Doctor would hurt a child and was glad that he rescued our blue-eyed little boy Davros.

I’m also thrilled that The Doctor got his T.A.R.D.I.S. back but really, really hope that he gets over the idea of wearable technology and sonic sunglasses soon. They are nasty!

One final thought – you’d have to have been listening closely to catch it but when Missy handcuffs Clara, she’s waxing on about dark star allow and says:

It’s pretty, though, isn’t it? Got it in the olden days on Gallifrey. The Doctor gave it to me when my daughter…

At this point you should be asking yourself what daughter? I really hope there is more to come because this would be an incredible storyline.

Notable “The Witch’s Familiar” Quotes

As always, the one liners and quotes made the episode and these are some of my favourites.

"Can I have a stick too?” – Clara

“Make your own stick” – Missy

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“Because if Clara Oswald is really dead, you’d better be careful how you tell me” – The Doctor

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“You keep saying that, but you keep not dying. Can you give it some welly?” – The Doctor mirroring my thoughts exactly.

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"My Daleks are afflicted with a genetic defect” – Davros

“What defect?” – The Doctor

“Respect, mercy for their father” – Davros

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“Is this the conscience of a Doctor or his shame?” – Davros

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“Compassion… grows strong and fierce in you like a cancer” – Davros

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“You’re my secret favourite, don’t tell the others” – Missy to the entire Dalek hive mind

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“It wasn’t me who ran, Doctor. That was always you” – Missy

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“Dalek Supreme, your sewers are revolting” – Missy

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Doctor Who returns with “Under The Lake” next Saturday evening 3 October 2015 at 8.25pm on BBC One. The monsters look incredible and I simply cannot wait for this episode! 7 more sleeps.

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TV Review: Doctor Who - The Magician's Apprentice

Wow. That was one of the most explosive and most divisive Doctor Who season openers in years. Twitter is exploding as we speak with half the Twittersphere calling it bad fan fiction and the other half lauding it as a streak of mastery.

And me? I really enjoyed it. The episode was full of surprises and a real treat for lifelong fans and newcomers alike. I don't think it will be possible to do a spoiler-free review of the episode and frankly, I'd like to remember the best parts of it. So here you go, here is your spoiler warning.

*** Spoiler warning. Close this webpage now if you have not watched Doctor Who – “The Magician's Apprentice” ***

What I Loved

I pretty much loved the whole episode so this section is going to be more of a synopsis than usual and less a few bullet points on what I loved.

“The Magician's Apprentice” opens in a war-torn landscape. A young boy gets trapped in a handmine field and the man who tries to help him is brutally attacked and pulled under the earth. I loved the handmines. At first I was struggling to understand what the actors were saying but it really was 'handmines' and they really were creepy, terrifying and ominous. And the eyes. That is amongst one of the most surreal Doctor Who concepts ever.

I did not expect to see The Doctor but suddenly he is there, telling the boy he has a one-in-a-thousand chance of survival and to take that chance. And then he asks the boy what his name is and he says it is... (gasp!) Davros!

Following the credits, the next several scenes are all over the place but in a good way. The scene opens to Nick Cave's “Weeping Song” and the terrible Colony Sarff is looking for The Doctor. His search leads him to the Shadow Proclamation and the Sisterhood of Karn. What does Davros want with The Doctor?

Back on Earth, Clara (Jenna Coleman) notices a plane hanging in the air. She urges her class to get online and on Twitter. “Hashtag the planes have stopped” she says and within seconds Twitter goes meta with a real life #theplaneshavestopped.

Soon we realise that The Master Mistress Missy is behind it all and she would very much like to speak with Clara without being executed. The fact that Missy is in fact not dead comes as a surprise to absolutely no one given that the BBC likes to flood us with spoilers and Missy was in just about every season 9 promo photo.

Case in point:

Just in case you weren’t paying attention before, I really am going to dig through the whole episode here so if you haven’t seen it yet, this is your second spoiler warning.

*** Spoiler warning. Close this webpage now if you have not watched Doctor Who – “The Magician's Apprentice” ***

It turns out this is The Doctor’s second-last day on Earth and he has sent his will and testament to Missy. But how is a Time Lord meant to die, Clara wants to know. With meditation, repentance and acceptance, says Missy ominously.

Suddenly we are in Essex in 1148AD and in perhaps the most bizarre sequence of all time, we meet ZZ Top Doctor. What the…? And then The Doctor is hugging Clara, hiding his face and giving the shifty-eyed look that so many of us associated with Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor. Remember, hugging is just a way to hide your face.

This is followed by the appearance of Colony Sarff and the genuinely disturbing visual of him unravelling like a snake. Ewww. Some things you wish you could unsee. It turns out he has found his target and The Doctor will meet with Davros. And so, it seems, will Clara and Missy.

For a moment there, it felt almost poignant that Davros and The Doctor would be together at the end of the former’s very long life. But we now know why The Doctor is there and the twisted causality that lead the Twelfth incarnation of The Doctor to betray Davros and bring down an era of war and suffering.

There was another audible gasp from behind the sofa (it might have been me) as we realised that we were on Skaro and that we’d come full circle. How on earth do you explain to people who have only watched since Christopher Eccleston that we are where it all began 52 years ago in An Unearthly Child?

And suddenly Missy and Clara are exterminated and I can’t believe my eyes. There is utter and complete silence in the room as my mind rapidly embarks on a cycle of bargaining and denial. I refuse to process it and imagine that yes, this will be continued next week.

What I Don’t Get

I’m willing to ride with it and see where it goes but I don’t get Missy’s attitude to The Doctor. Sure, The Master is mischievous and likes to play games but ultimately he/she is a brutal sociopath who lets nothing and no one stand in the way in of universal domination and total power.

Which neatly brings me to my next point. I’m sure from the wording of my sentence above, it is clear that I don’t believe we’ve seen the end of The Master or Clara for that matter. I’ve been wrong before and tend to err on the side of denial and naivety when it comes to the loss of fictional nemeses (or favourite characters) who have been around since the dawn of time but I’m kind of hoping and wishing that they aren’t really gone.

Then again, the prevailing message that Doctor Who has taught us over the years is that an event like the extermination of Clara and The Master probably creates a fixed point in time and there is probably no coming back from it.

If this is it, if that is the end of the story for these two characters, then you can imagine a bit of a diatribe a little further along the line because I don’t like it. I’ve never really been a fan of Clara’s but The Master / Missy is the ultimate nemesis and deserved a little better than that.

Notable Quotes

Most of the notable quotes in this episode come from Missy (Michelle Gomez). She really is the most witty, delightful, psychotic character and gets all the best lines.

“I’m just a passer by. I was looking for a bookshop. How do you think I’m doing?” – The Doctor to a young Davros

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“We can’t just find The Doctor and bleat. He’ll go Scottish” – Clara

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”Not dead. Back. Big surprise” – Missy 

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“A friendship older than your civilisation and infinitely more complex” – Missy

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“Hang on. Davros is your arch enemy now? I’ll scratch his eye out” – Jealous Missy

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“A mutant in a tank that would ever, ever stop and they never did” – The Doctor

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“Davros made the Daleks but who made Davros?” – The Doctor

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“Hunter and prey held in the ecstasy of crisis. Is this not life at its purest?” – Davros

The Verdict

I really enjoyed The Magician’s Apprentice and cannot wait for The Witch’s Familiar which will air next Saturday 26 September 2015 on BBC One at 7.45pm. I’m really enjoying Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor and am hoping they give him some decent storylines this season.

If you’re wondering where to visit next, why not try 12 contenders to replace Jenna Coleman as Doctor Who's next companion.

All images © BBC

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TV Review: Doctor Who – “The Angels Take Manhattan”

A silence descended as “The Angels Take Manhattan” drew to a close, broken only by a brief stirring as the trailer for the Christmas special aired.  My mouth was hanging open, my eyes dry after almost an hour of not blinking, and I knew there was nothing else to do but watch the episode again.

I’m not really sure why I was so shocked, as that is the overall feeling that prevailed after both viewings of the episode, but perhaps it was the finality of it all?  I’m going to go right ahead and list my favourite moments and quotes from the midseason finale of series 7 and perhaps I’ll have reached a verdict by the end of the post.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Spoilers for “The Angels Take Manhattan”

What I Loved

I loved the pulp noir detective feel to the episode, especially the opening scenes.  I’ve always had a weakness for the genre and enjoyed how fact blended into fiction with The Doctor’s narration, as well as the paradox of him narrating his own story before it had happened. 

I loved the return of the Weeping Angels and I thought that the Liberty Angel was just fabulous.  This time they were more terrifying than ever but the notion of the Winter Quay time energy factory was just sublime.  The Weeping Angels were always one of my favourite nemeses but I think this episode was my favourite too.

I enjoyed the banter in Central Park and the scene with Rory pretending not to have noticed Amy’s aging.  I loved Amy playing Poohsticks and I liked her wearing glasses.  I was a little disappointed that The Doctor made no reference to his previous incarnations use of spectacles!

I loved this scene:

I thought that the special effects were awesome and I loved when The Doctor remarked that they had bounced off of 1938.  How surreal.

I liked that The Doctor felt drawn to Melody Mallone, that he had a schoolboy crush on her, before he even realised who she was.  Of course he’d like her!  And I loved that he was all nervous before seeing River Song again and that he took the time to straighten himself up. 

This is going to sound strangely sadistic but I adored The Doctor’s pain and fury on realising that this was Amy’s final story.  It was a powerful scene and I really enjoyed the magnitude of his reaction.

I loved the scene with The Doctor and Amy backing up the stairs, away from the Baby Angels (who knew we’d have a sinister variation on that term?)

Fabulous Quotes and Dialogue

The Doctor: “I hate endings”.

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Amy: “What was that?”

The Doctor: “1938.  We just bounced off it”.

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The Doctor: “It’s their preferred form of attack.  They zap you back in time.  Let you live to death”.

___

Amy: “Time can be rewritten”.

The Doctor: “Not once you’ve read it”.

___

River Song: “You realise it’s screaming; the others can hear?”

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River Song: “It mean, Mr Grayle, just you wait until my husband gets home”.

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The Doctor: “Sorry I’m late honey, traffic was hell”.

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River Song: ”If it was that easy, I’d get you to do it”.

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River Song: “Didn’t you use to be somebody?”

The Doctor: “Didn’t you kill The Doctor?”

River Song: “Doctor Who?”

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River Song: “When one’s in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve-year-old, one does one’s best to hide the damage”.

The Doctor: “It must hurt”.

River Song: “Yes, the wrist is pretty bad too”.

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Rory: “I always wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty, I guess she got impatient”.

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Rory: “To save you, I could do anything”.

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The Doctor: “What are you doing?”.

Amy: “Changing the future. It’s called marriage”.

 

What I appreciated despite myself

I never wanted Amy and Rory to leave.  When I considered the possibility that they might not die, I realised I didn’t want a repeat of Rose or Donna.  As shocked as I was by the finality of it all, by the creation of a fixed moment in time, I have to admit that I was impressed by the finale.  I love time paradoxes and I liked that the Weeping Angels were thwarted by Rory’s double death.

I’m not so sure I liked the idea of them all conveniently living to tell the tale but I accept that having Amy, Rory, The Doctor and River Song trapped in limbo for the rest of eternity might not have been appealing to the audience. 

All I really have to say about the scene where first Rory and then Amy were attacked by the Weeping Angel is that it would have been so much better if it weren’t for the unavoidable spoilers and the cacophonic headlines announcing Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan’s departure.  It really would have worked better if it had been a surprise.

I have to admit that I think Stephen Moffat tied up all of the loose threads pretty well and I am as surprised as anybody that I actually enjoyed one of his finales.  Amy and Rory Pond get to live a happily ever after, albeit not in their chosen timeline, and River Song is free to tear around the universe.  For now.

What I Didn’t Like

I get the feeling that I’m not meant to feel this way but there wasn’t really anything I disliked in this episode.  Sure, I’m aware of the preoccupation with marriage but I’m also the first to cry out at the lack of role models for young people.  Likewise, I have to wonder at the insistence that The Doctor, as a man, can’t just go out and conquer the universe on his own but why would we want to push the notion of loneliness and isolation?  So even though I refer to what I didn’t like in this section, the fact is that there wasn’t anything that offended me.  For once, the companion doesn’t lose everything when she leaves the TARDIS, be it the life she knows, her precious memories or her broken heart, but she actually gained everything and got to live a happily ever after.

 

 

   

Doctor Who returns on Christmas Day

All images and promo stills © BBC 2012

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TV Review: Doctor Who – “The Power of Three”

In “The Power of Three” we take a year out in the life of The Doctor and in Amy’s words, it is “the year of the slow invasion, the time The Doctor came to stay”.  Like Chris Chibnall’s “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”, this episode has a Christmas Special feel to it but overall it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride.

The episode begins with with a great pop culture montage of how we imagine life with The Doctor to be (adventure, aliens and explosions) compared to how it really is (waiting around for The Doctor to arrive).  Rory and Amy realise that they must choose between ‘real life’ and life on the TARDIS.  Just not today though.

Little black boxes have begun to appear out of nowhere on planet Earth.  They are perfect little cubes but nobody knows where they come from or what they are for. 

 

What I Expected

I expected not to like it.  I’m not a fan of Whoniverse alien Earth-invasion stories not because I don’t like the concept (I was obsessed with the original V series after all) but because I rarely enjoy their execution.  I get a little weary of these massive, apocalyptic invasions that are incredibly systematic and well thought out by the invaders but not as well thought out by the writers when it comes to plot, logic and the reasoning behind them.

 

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Spoilers for “The Power of Three”

What I Loved

I didn’t love all of “The Power of Three”, or even most of it as I had with the first three episodes of season 7, but I did love a lot of it.

I loved seeing Mark Williams reprise his role as Brian Williams, Rory’s father.  He is such a fabulous comedic actor and it occurred to me that he certainly didn’t get enough chance to shine in the Harry Potter films. 

I loved the patient and indulging look in The Doctor’s eyes as Brian goes through every possible theory regarding the origin of the cubes.

I adored The Doctor being busy, trying to entertain himself while waiting for the little cubes to do something, anything.

I loved the return of fish fingers in custard and was shocked beyond belief when one of my non-Whovian friends admitted he eats Vienna sausages dipped in strawberry yogurt.  There is a missed Doctor Who fan calling if I’ve ever seen one.

Most of all, I adored the conversation between Amy and The Doctor outside the Tower of London.  I loved the views of the Shard and the Tower and I loved what was said.  It was possibly one of the best scenes in the history of Doctor Who.  Ever.

Fabulous Quotes

I loved the quotes and lines in this episode.  This is the type of dialogue that should send the Tumblr fan base into overdrive with awesome gifs and interpretations.  And I liked that Rory and Brian got some great lines too.

The Doctor: “Invasion of the very small cubes, that’s new”.

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The Doctor: “I don’t want them to be impressive.  I want them to be vulnerable with a nice Achilles’ heel”.

___

Rory: “What you do isn’t all there is”.

___

Rory: “Did real life just get started?”

___

Brian: “My middle name is diligence”.

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The Doctor: “Oh, if Fred Parry could see me now.  He’d probably ask for his shorts back”.

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The Doctor:  “I’m not running away from things, I’m running to them before they flare and fade forever. […] I’m running to you and Rory before you fade from me”

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The Doctor: “Humans. The Great Early Adopters”.

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The Doctor: “The Shakri craft, connected to Earth through seven portals in seven minutes”.

What I Didn’t Really Like

A couple of people complained that “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” felt like a Christmas Special and while I admit that it had a big, ensemble cast feel to it, I didn’t mind too much.  With “The Power of Three” we have another Chris Chibnall episode but I have to admit that it felt again like a Christmas Special and this time I didn’t enjoy it as much. 

It reminded me a lot of Torchwood: Miracle Day and not in a good way.  I guess it also reminded me of “The Last of the Timelords” and “The Empty Child” too.  Once again, I do love Chris Chibnall’s writing but for the first two-thirds of this episode it felt almost like a tribute to Doctor Who which took on too-large a plot to properly resolve in 41 minutes.  The thought crossed my mind that I wasn’t enjoying this episode very much at all.

Like Torchwood: Miracle Day, there were some pretty interesting concepts that were introduced but not properly followed through.  Why bring in the Brigadier’s daughter Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) if you’re not going to explore her role a bit more?  Why design the terrifying humanoid forces with their deformed funnel-like mouths if you’re going to drop the topic minute we arrive in the spaceship?

Have no fear, it wasn’t all bad and, in fact, I think it was all resolved the minute Rory walked into that goods lift.

*** DOUBLE SPOILER ALERT ***

In which I practically give away the ending of “The Power of Three”

The Redemption

I loved the idea of the lift portal into the spaceship and I loved the vision and conceptualisation of Shakri (Steven Berkoff).  I liked that The Doctor faced something that he didn’t know, something that he thought to be a myth.

Most of all?  I loved that for once, a massive Earth invasion has been planned and executed with a reasonable, realistic and logical end goal in sight.  Shakri was quite explicit that he had sought to “halt the human plague before the spread”, before they colonise space.   He emphasised that “the human contagion only must be eliminated” and I thought that presented a vivid picture of a universe years into the future where humans have destroyed, ruined and exploited planets, natural resources and populations just as they have done on Earth.  It made perfect sense to me and I could absolutely see why this being, one of the “pest controllers of the universe”, would take the measures to wipe out the human race before we could even begin.

And then, just when you think it’s all over, The Doctor reminds us why we are human and what it means to be alive.

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The Doctor: “You want a tally.  Put their achievements against their failings through the whole of time.  I will back humanity against the Shakri every time”.

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I don’t often give away the ending of episodes (well, except last week and this week) but there was something about the Shakri’s final warning that “the Tally must be met” compared with The Doctor’s dismissal of him as a “talking propaganda poster”. 

So, a difficult, jumbled, busy episode that was absolutely redeemed by the final fifteen minutes.  If only I could look forward to this week’s episode rather than feeling terrified of what is to come.  Next Saturday, it all ends.  And I am pretty sure that I will never be happy about that.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to Saturday night?  What are your predictions and what do you think of River Song returning?

All images and promo stills © BBC 2012

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TV Review: Doctor Who – “A Town Called Mercy”

Out of the five episodes that we’ll be seeing in the first part of series 7 of Doctor Who, it was always “A Town Called Mercy” that I was looking forward to the most.  I absolutely love anything to do with the Wild West and I’m pretty partial to cyborgs too. A cyborg, The Doctor and a Frontier town called Mercy? Sounds like my cup of tea.

In “A Town Called Mercy”, the Frontier town has recently fallen siege to a lone gunslinger who demands that “the alien doctor” be delivered to him, but all is not what it seems.  Can The Doctor sort it out without losing his mercy altogether?

I loved this episode.  It was one of those episodes where I was immediately aware of how much I was loving and enjoying it and I know why too, so without further delay, let’s dive right in.

What I Loved

Two words, Toby Whithouse.  Toby is creator, writer and executive producer of Being Human.  In short, he is a genius and I absolutely love his writing.   When I saw that he was writing “A Town Called Mercy”, I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed.  This is the man who reunited The Doctor with his beloved Sarah Jane Smith, after all. 

Expectations aside, I felt that the writing was a lot tighter and the plot made sense for the first time in a long time.  “A Town Called Mercy” was truly scary at times and I loved the twist in which the roles of friends and foes was so easily reversed.

I liked the set design and costumes in this episode.  Like I said, I have a fascination with the Wild West and I quite liked this town of 81 residents, with its dusty roads and wooden buildings.  (Okay, I admit, how hard can it be?  But I liked it, okay?)  I liked the Stetsons and other assorted hats and costumes with the sole exception of poor Sadie (Joanne McQuinn).  That was one horrible corset.

I really liked the historical Earth setting.  If I had my own way, all Doctor Who stories would be set either in our past or way into the future, with most set on Earth or other interesting planets.  There would be less set on spaceships and less where present-day Earth is obliterated.  Not that I don’t enjoy those but I far prefer a bit of world-building or tampering with history from time to time.  I’d also like for the Timelords to be miraculously revived, for real this time, and for us to see some real Timelord action but moving on swiftly…

I really enjoyed the guest characters in this episode.

Ben Browder (Farscape) was divine as Marshall Isaac.  He’d barely made his entrance when I decided that I liked him very much indeed.  I liked this smart, witty sheriff who commanded the utmost respect of the townspeople while maintaining his integrity.  Oh, alright, I’ll admit it: I thought he was pretty easy on the eye too.

One thing I really liked in this episode was the accents (including Isaac’s) and it seemed to me that the fabulous Western drawls accentuated the Doctor’s own accent. 

Another character I quite liked was Dockery (Sean Benedict).  Perhaps we’ll see more of him on UK television screens now that he’s living in London?  I certainly hope so, he was good.

I really liked Andrew Brooke as The Gunslinger.  I thought his costume was brilliant, as was his cyborg interface, and I really liked his backstory and resolution.  Well, I managed to say all of that without divulging any spoilers, which wasn’t as easy as I originally thought.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Spoilers for “A Town Called Mercy”

I really enjoyed the dialogue in this episode.  It wasn’t as witty as “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” but a lot of it was really clever and quite significant.

Amy (to The Doctor): “Why would he want to kill you?  Unless he met you”

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The Preacher (referring to the horse): “He’s called Joshua.  It’s from the Bible, it means ‘the deliverer’”.
The Doctor: "No he isn't".
The Preacher: "What?"
The Doctor: "He's called Susan and he wants you to respect his life choices".

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The Doctor: “Today, I honour the victims first.  His, the Master’s, the Daleks’.  All the people who died because of my mercy”.

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The Doctor: “Frightened people.  Give me Daleks any day”.

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The Doctor: “You committed an atrocity and chose this as your punishment”.

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Kahler-Jex: “We all carry our prisons with us.  Mine is the past, yours is your morality”.

___

I liked that after skirting around the issue for some time, they finally broached the subject of The Doctor’s mercy, his morality and his purpose.  It had seemed in the previous two episodes that he (and the writers) had forgotten all about it but I really loved that his current crisis of conscience was linked directly to his guilt over those he had failed.

It was absolutely fitting, too, that it was Amy that reminded him of that.  When she told him that this was not what we are all about, it was a statement of how much The Doctor has always needed his companions to link him to humanity.  That is what he loved about humans: our hope, our capacity for forgiveness and our mercy, and that is why he stood apart from the rest of the Timelords with their single-minded brutality. 

What was especially refreshing was that Amy was focused on The Doctor at all and not on breaking Rory’s heart or feeling that she’d somehow let him down.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

In other words, I give away the ending here!

What I Didn’t Like

It wasn’t a complete lovefest with this episode but it was pretty close.  I didn’t like that Kahler-Jex (Adrian Scarborough) killed himself in the end.  Granted, The Doctor did not kill him and neither did The Gunslinger which means that the themes of mercy and restitution were resolved but I still don’t like it.  What it means is that the audience did not forgive him and thus participates in his judgement and execution.  Not only is that bad form for a children’s show (I know, there are those of you who deny that it is) but it is inconsistent with the entire message of the episode, never mind the show.

Given my love for Toby Whithouse though, I try to think how else it could have ended.  And the answer is that Kahler-Jex should have met his punishment in a manner consistent with the traditions of his planet.  In other words, he should have been handed over and imprisoned.

The Future

Amy and Rory declined further adventures with The Doctor at the end of the episode, warning that their friends would soon notice that they were aging faster than them.  So it is off back to Earth in the next episode “The Power of Three” and then the Weeping Angels return in “The Angels Take Manhattan”.  If you’ve missed my moaning and don’t know what is happening in “The Angels Take Manhattan” then I’m not going to bring it up again but there’s not much I can predict in the space of two episodes. 

I have a feeling that “The Power of Three” is going to be my least favourite type of Doctor Who story: unidentified yet surprisingly evolved and effective alien attack on Earth where we never quite figure out why they’re doing it or how no one noticed it coming in the first place.  Having said that, I’ve always quite enjoyed Chris Chibnall’s stories (he wrote last week’s “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”) and it is a chance to see Mark Williams as Rory’s dad again, so maybe it’ll be okay?  Maybe we can also look forward to more Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy allusions too?

 

   

All images and promo stills © BBC 2012

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