Live Review: S8.E3 - Robot Of Sherwood

When I first heard of this episode before the series began, there were two alarm bells that rang. First of all, the title sends a quick shiver down the spine with cheese and predictability, no prizes for guessing what it would be about. Secondly, it was written by Mark Gatiss which experience told me it could be either a good thing or a not so goo thing. I wouldn't say he has written any bad episodes, but they do have a tendency towards going too far and being a bit silly at times. When the episode came to be broadcast, I had forgotten it was a Gatiss episode so I watched with little preconception. Tit title, however, was unavoidable...

The episode opens with something which I forgot to mention in my last two reviews: The Doctor writing and working things out with a piece of chalk. In Deep Breath he found a piece of chalk (by smell, no less) and proceeded to scrawl all over the floor and walls of his bedroom. Into The Dalek featured a shot or two of a blackboard in the TARDIS covered in Gallifreyan calculations, and Robot Of Sherwood opened with a shot of the Doctor writing on it... suggesting that Into The Dalek was originally intended to come after Robot Of Sherwood, but that needn't be the case. He turns to Clara and tells her it is her choice where they go this time. She almost reluctantly suggests a meeting with her hero, Robin Hood... As he sets the TARDIS towards Sherwood Forest 1190AD-ish, the Doctor points out that heroes like that are never real, saying "You'll only be disappointed"...

Live Review: S8.E2 - Into The Dalek

As the title suggests, this epiode sees the return of an old enemy. The oldest, in fact. As stated in the accompanying episode of "Doctor Who Extra", it's hard to come up with new Dalek episodes after fifty years, but what we have here really is something new. Echoes from the past may be present, but like Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS last year, Into The Dalek gives us plenty of new mysteries and does something that only dreams could conjure up before now. Like in Christopher Ecclestone's Dalek, the Doctor is presented with a captured and damaged Dalek and asked to fix it, only this time it seems to be a good Dalek. Captivated by this paradox, the Doctor wants to get inside its head to understand what has happened... and he explains to Clara that he's not talking metaphorically...

Live Review: S8.E1 - Deep Breath

And so it begins. The second half-century, the Doctor's second regeneration cycle, the Twelfth Doctor's era, Series 8 or Season 34... it all begins here with Deep Breath. Following the massive success of the world dominating anniversary special simulcast, Moffat and the crew wanted to capitalise on the show's new found audience and set off on a twelve day world tour to give the first episode of the new series a cinematic preview with Q&A sessions in six countries across all five continents. They were struck by the scale of the show's popularity and recent news that lax security on a server in Miami had lead to the first few episodes leaking and the dubbing delays this lead to for German viewers all seemed like a drop in the ocean. Who fans are loyal and dedicated the whole world over and we don't want spoilers, we want to enjoy the ride. That is why the world tour worked and they were able to screen the first episode each time - the less fortunate majority would be happy to wait a few more days for the television broadcast (again simulcast in several countries) The only disappointment was missing out on the little prequel which we will presumably get to see on DVD/Blu-Ray...

Hopefully, the prequel will fill in the gap nicely, because we last saw the Doctor leaving Trensalore as he completed his regeneration and told Clara he didn't like the colour of his kidneys, then asked if she knew how to fly the TARDIS... we first see them in Deep Breath arriving in Victorian London courtesy of a giant dinosaur...

Season Three Reviews Completed

The turbulent third season was made up of 10 stories across 45 episodes and came to an end with the reasonably high scoring The War Machines which had a score of 72% (matching the two previous season scores). However, even The Daleks' Master Plan's 84% wouldn't be enough to bring the Season Three average in line with its two predecessors because the lows were just too low...

#	Title	Content	Production	Total
018	Galaxy 4	36%	80%	58%
019	Mission to the Unknown	29%	46%	38%
020	The Myth Makers	47%	82%	65%
021	The Daleks' Master Plan	81%	86%	84%
022	The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve	38%	62%	50%
023	The Ark	51%	50%	51%
024	The Celestial Toymaker	53%	74%	64%
025	The Gunfighters	43%	78%	61%
026	The Savages	68%	64%	66%
027	The War Machines	68%	76%	72%

The resulting final score for Season Three is therefore just 61%, 11 down on the previous two.
There will now be at least a two week break because I'm away on holiday!

Summer Slowdown

As Summer arrived, it was perhaps inevitable that my watching/reviewing would slow down. Hot lazy days and warm breezes making the curtains 'breathe' are classic distractions from any form of activity. As Steven Moffat said a few years ago, the long warm evenings are a time to be outside having fun, not staying in watching dark scary television.

In fact, although this is all true, my slow down has been triggered by computer issues. Not problems as such, but upgrading first my parents' and then my own computer from Window XP, getting everything settled and replacing outdated software and getting used to the new. On top of this, the next story to watch was The Gunfighters which is quite possibly my least favourite so the pull to get back to it just wasn't there. Having eventually watched it, re-watched it with the commentary and again to read the production subtitles (which I think all happened on three separate days) I was in no mood to sit down and write about it as well. But I finally have and you can read it HERE

This does of course mean that I am now two weeks behind and with Wimbledon starting next week, I wouldn't be surprised if I drop another week before heading off on holiday (which will certain hold things up for two weeks). Returning from holiday could prove an interesting time as well with the new series due to start in August. I should be OK to review that at the same time but only time will tell how well I manage it...

While I'm here, I'd also like to express my joy at Julie Gardner receiving an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list on Saturday for "services to the Economic Development of the Television Industry in Wales", a pivotal point of which must surely have been her part in bring Doctor Who back. She was always a joy to watch on Confidential and in behind the scenes DVD extras and it was her passion along with Russell T Davies's that made it happen and enabled it to grow, much like Verity Lambert forty years earlier.

John Barrowman was also honoured with an MBE for his entertainment and charity work, while Peter Capaldi received an RTS Scotland Award for his outstanding contribution to television and the show itself won "Best Science Fiction, Action, and Fantasy" and "Best Scripted Programme" at the Banff World Media Festival. All within the last week!

Season Two Reviews Completed

Exactly two months on from completing the First Season, the Second is now complete - 9 stories over 39 episodes. Frustratingly, I'm still four stories behind schedule and with Easter next week I expect that to increase. However, half the stories for Season Three are missing or partially missing and one of those is the twelve part The Daleks' Master Plan so in terms of episodes the percentage is much higher (68%). I will of course be watching the Loose Cannon reconstructions of these episodes but since there are no commentaries or production subtitles I won't need time to watch them three times!

So without further ado, here is the summary of scores for Season Two

#	Title	Content	Production	Total
009	Planet of Giants	68%	80%	74%
010	The Dalek Invasion of Earth	77%	82%	80%
011	The Rescue	73%	86%	79%
012	The Romans	71%	100%	86%
013	The Web Planet	65%	78%	72%
014	The Crusade	44%	80%	62%
015	The Space Museum	42%	38%	40%
016	The Chase	71%	74%	73%
017	The Time Meddler	74%	90%	82%

This then gives us a combined over-all score for Season Two of 72% (the same as Season One!)

Season One Reviews Completed

So here we are, two and a half months into the epic project and I've just completed the first season - 8 stories over 42 episodes. For some reason, I've found myself writing up The Reign Of Terror a week late and when combined with the delay at Christmas, I'm currently 4 stories behind schedule! I don't mind dropping back because of holidays but dropping random weeks isn't good. Thankfully, like last time the next story should be a breeze - Planet Of Giants was originally a four part adventure but was cut down to just three before broadcast. The unedited version no longer exists but has been reconstructed for the DVD... it's interesting to watch but easy to see why it was cut down and I won't be watching again this time around.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd post a round up of my scores for season one since I've been including them in the reviews (something I hadn't originally planned). My scores are devised from various content and production categories (which I'll breakdown in another post at some point) which give me two percentages that I then combine for an over all score...

#	Title	Content	Production	Total
001	An Unearthly Child	61%	76%	69%
002	The Daleks	73%	78%	76%
003	The Edge of Destruction	73%	76%	75%
004	Marco Polo	47%	96%	72%
005	The Keys of Marinus	53%	72%	63%
006	The Aztecs	59%	84%	72%
007	The Sensorites	69%	88%	79%
008	The Reign of Terror	48%	92%	70%

This then gives us a combined over-all score for season one of 72%