Live Review: S9.E6 - The Woman Who Lived

The first episode to blur the lines of what constitutes a two part story, The Woman Who Lived follows on from The Girl Who Died but has a different writer and is set 1000 years later. It was known to star Maisie Williams again though and with such a similar title, it had to be part two...

We join the story amid a highwayman's ambush as The Nightmare robs a stage coach - he's faster than Sam Swift the Quick and deadlier than Deadly Dupont! The Nightmare is quick to pour derision on their pseudonyms but it's too late, the pompous grandiose of swashbuckling music is already tipping this episode over the edge and we're only just passing the first minute! The Nightmare appears to be in league with the devil as his accomplice hiding in the bushes has bright glowing eyes. Meanwhile, the Doctor steps out of his TARDIS with a gadget, clearly in search of something until he stumbles upon and rambles through the robbery, oblivious to the threats hurled at him until his gadget finds what he is looking for and it becomes clear that the Nightmare is after it too...

Live Review: S9.E5 - The Girl Who Died

This episode was all set to be one of the greats. It was written by Jamie Mathieson who wrote last year's The Mummy On The Orient Express and Flatline, though Steven Moffat was sharing credit this time (which could simply mean there is a chunk of the story that relates to ongoing matters, but could mean a major rewrite or simply collaborative work). It was also to feature Vikings and guest star Maisie Williams of Game Of Thrones fame... something of a coo and potentially a stroke of genius since that show is consistently in tight competition with Doctor Who at awards and usually takes the win. But as I have said before, on first viewing The Girl Who Died did little more than disappoint. Perhaps all the hype and expectation were a big part in it, but that was not what I was thinking as I watched. My recent second viewing cast it in a better light, but that's the benefit of knowing what to expect and with such low expectations the second time, there was greater scope to be pleasantly surprised... but ultimately The Girl Who Died is like a cross between The Romans and The Time Meddler...

Time and Relative Dimension

It's been a while since my last review was posted. Technically, I've only just posted my last review but I wanted to get that out of the way before I made this post, for fear of losing interest in writing again... As I write this, the penultimate episode of Series 9 has aired and without posting any spoilers it makes everything OK again, which is good because the next episode I am to review was pretty painful viewing. It's that pain that put me off writing before I even finished Before The Flood and it really put a downer on the series. The next episode after that felt slow and dull and I even dozed off for a minute or two! But don't worry, the Zygons would be returning after that and there was strength in those episodes, only they were a bit heavy on the drama and adult (grown up) feeling. That fits in with the show's later start times this year, but it isn't good for the show or its viewing figures. The Zygons were followed by a creepy single episode from Mark Gatiss that had audiences divided, an episode like none seen before which I really enjoyed. Then a second single episode story lead into the two part finale (which itself is really two single episodes tied together!)

So in review terms, I'm about to drop to the bottom of the Doctor Who scale, but I can do it with sight of the light at the end signalling the way forward to increasing greatness that ties everything together and gives the lesser moments a purpose. The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived are two stand alone adventures that tie together and at first seemed to be nothing more, but they are in fact the beginning of something far more reaching than the tie between themselves...

Live Review: S9.E4 - Before The Flood

Steven Moffat has commented that the double episode stories in this series are not so much adventures told over two parts but more two part adventures. That is to say that while the second follows on from the first, the narrative and pace take a bit of a dog-leg and make a shift in gear. The first story saw episode one hanging off the mystery and setting the scene whereas episode two threw us into the action. This time, Under The Lake gave us a scary ghost story in a classic 'isolated base under siege' scenario that led to the ominous cliffhanger of the Doctor appearing as one of the ghosts then Before The Flood transposes the Doctor and three of the crew back in time to investigate the origins in the open space of the un-flooded village.

Before that however, the first new content for this episode does two, if not three things I didn't like. First of all, the Doctor is alone in the TARDIS and talking to himself... this is fine until you realise that he's not just talking to himself as he did in last year's Listen but he is talking to the audience and often directly into camera. Secondly, he is telling a story of a time traveller who wanted to meet Beethoven as if it really happened (presumably to him) but he states that it isn't a true story. Finally, he explains that the point of the story is to enlighten the viewers about the 'bootstrap paradox' saying "Google it." thus pointing at what is about to happen in the episode (why else talk about it?) and almost apologising for it, or at least warning the critics that the writers already know the potential pitfalls that they will moan about. It does however give Peter Capaldi an excuse to play his electric guitar again and Murry Gold an excuse to rock out the theme tune...

All that nonsense aside, the TARDIS has landed in what appears to be a bleak Russian town but which the Doctor soon points out is an abandoned Cold War training site in 1980... I say 'abandoned' because there is nobody there and the mysterious space ship they have come to investigate sticks out like a sore thumb! The Doctor explains that it is the hight of the Cold War and the military were being trained for combat on enemy soil... so should it really be so deserted? Is this a plot hole or was it a mistake to specify that it was 1980? Perhaps the town was only in occasional use on an ad hoc basis...

There's a little teaser snuck in to this establishing scene as well. O'Donnell reveals that she knows a fair bit about the Doctor, referring to Amy, Rose and Martha, because she is ex-military intelligence (she was demoted for dangling a colleague out of a window!) The little teaser comes as she registers the time they have arrived in, it's before Harold Saxon, the Minister of War, the Moon exploding and the big bat coming out of it... The Doctor picks up on "Minister Of War" because it's not one he's aware of but then stops her from explaining "I expect I'll find out soon enough." The question is, is this something being set up by Moffat for later in the series, or some time beyond? Or is it just a random idea dropped in by writer Toby Whithouse for anyone to pick up or not? Only time will tell, obviously.

Live Review: S9.E3 - Under The Lake

Following the highs of the first two-part adventure, could Toby Whithouse deliver more in the second? His previous work has been mixed, in my opinion, but despite its tendency to go a little off track it has mostly been good. Under The Lake delivered a few classics right off the bat but introduced its own twists and turns as the episode unfolded to make it another great adventure - his best in my eyes.

The episode opens with an establishing shot of a base under murky, green water and I'm instantly reminded of Warriors Of The Deep and The Moonbase (a tried and tested 'isolated base under siege' scenario). A caption tells us this is "The Drum: Underwater Mining Facility" and I'm reminded of The Silurians and Inferno to name just two (drilling never ends well in Doctor Who!) The year is 2119 and a craft has been found at the bottom of the lake that must have been missed in the initial survey 20 years earlier. The Drum's inhabitant are reluctant to call it a space craft but it seems like nothing from Earth. An alarm sounds, complete with a corporate identity message, and we see the episodes point of threat... ghosts!

Any long term viewer will know that in the Doctor's world there's no such thing as ghosts, yet as the TARDIS lands three days later, she isn't happy!

Live Review: S9.E2 - The Witch's Familiar

For the first time since the seventies, Doctor Who received an unexpected omnibus repeat showing on 27th September, combining the first two episodes into one. The Rugby World Cup is having a painful effect on the viewing figures and England were playing on the 26th when The Witch's Familiar was originally shown. Although no reason was given for the Sunday afternoon repeat, it is a reasonable presumtion that it was to alleviate the pain of this conflict.

In the omnibus edition, the episodes flowed straight though with no credits or reprise and titles in the middle, just a fade to black a caption for the second episode title and on with the show. In the original broadcast, the story recap was all that preceded the titles, reminding the viewers that the Doctor had thrown away his sonic screwdriver to speak to the young Davros, Missy and Clara had teamed up to track him down and had ended up being exterminated by the Daleks on Skaro. The TARDIS had also been exterminated of course, and the Doctor was last seen brandishing a Dalek gun at young Davros. What a way to end the first episode of a new series! Could any of that be taken at face value though?

Cut to the first new scene and the world is spinning upside down... but wait, it's Clara you is spinning, tied by her ankles and hanging from a rocky outcrop with Missy sat beside her telling her a story that ultimate explains why they aren't dead...

Live Review: S9.E1 - The Magician's Apprentice

The eagerly awaited Series 9 opened with a rip-roaring double like no other series opener. The reviews were strongly in favour and the world (of Doctor Who viewers at least) breathed a sigh of relief that Peter Capaldi's second series would be as good as, if not better than his first. It was tinged with a slight sadness and trepidation tough as Jenna Coleman had just confirmed the rumours that she would be leaving the show some time before the end of the series...

The episode opened on a desolate battlefield with a classic quarry-like appearance. A biplane flies over head firing lasers at gas-masked soldiers defending themselves with bows and arrows. This all feels strangely familiar, but could it be... A little boy wanders lost amongst the fighting and stumbles into a minefield, but these are no ordinary mines. These are hand-mines! Hands that thrust up from the ground to grab their victim's ankles and drag them under. But there is hope for the little boy as a device flies across the screen and lands at his feet. It's the Doctor's sonic screwdriver...

Time - It's all relative

Well what can I say? Since my last post, a rift has opened up somewhere near my desk and on one side it is sucking time away from me whilst on the other side it is spewing out more time than I can measure. On the one hand I simply haven't had time to watch Doctor Who and review the classics as I have been. On the other hand I am busy at work and catching up with all sorts of TV recordings that I'd been used to watching during the day and the time is just flying past me.

It's hard to believe that my last review was nine months ago and, frustratingly, I still have notes from "The Evil Of The Daleks" waiting to be typed up. I'll almost certainly have to re-watch it before I can start typing, which wouldn't be a bad thing were it not a recon.

Live Review: Christmas 2014 - Last Christmas

The 2014 series had been a bit patchy, even if the two part finale smoothed over some of the annoyances. It even had the audacity to end with a heart stopping kick in the gut as a moping Doctor is told exactly what the viewers are thinking "You know it can't end like that. She's not OK and neither are you..." by none other than the ephemeral Santa Claus! The line between fantasy and fiction can be hard to define but is something Doctor Who occasionally flirts with and has an unwritten understanding of haw far it can go. Indeed, this series had already seen the legend of Robin Hood given a reasonable explanation but doing the same for Santa was surely pushing it too far...

The opening scene of Last Christmas seemed to reinforce the premise as Clara is woken by the sound of Santa's sleigh crashing on her roof and elves arguing amongst themselves! The Doctor arrives in the TARDIS and tells her to not say anything and just get in... and so the adventure begins. Clara can hardly believe that she is back in the TARDIS but she's loving it already so when the Doctor asks her if she really believes in Santa, as if her life depended on it, she gleefully says "You know what? Yeah. Right now, yeah, I think I do"... Roll opening titles complete with extra snow storm for the TARDIS to fly through (no jingle bells in the music though!)...It looks like it's going to be a regrettable, silly Christmasy episode.