Doctor Who Prequel: The Night of the Doctor Review!

Hello everybody, Donlinedude here and welcome to my review of The Night of the Doctor,

 "I'm a Doctor, but probably not the one you were expecting". With all the media attention, as well as the fanbase, focused on David Tennant, Matt Smith & John Hurt appearing in the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who, The Day of the Doctor (and rightly so), the last thing anyone expected was for Eighth Doctor Paul McGann to star in a prequel to the episode. As well as being a very nice surprise, The Night of the Doctor contains a plot with a remarkable amount of substance given it's modest run-time of six and a half minutes.

The story opens just the way you'd expect with Doctor Who. The Doctor comes to the aid of a young woman in mortal peril, in this case the pilot of a crashlanding spaceship named Cass. But soon our expectations are subverted by Cass refusing to go with the Doctor when she discovers he's a Time Lord. This gives us some much needed insight into how the rest of the universe views the Time Lords and the Time War. They're seen as no different to the Daleks (which is quite a statement), to the point where Cass would rather die than travel with one, even if he claims to be "one of the nice ones". It also says a lot about the Eighth Doctor that, in spite of being capable of escaping via the TARDIS, he still stayed with Cass on the ship when it crashed on the planet Karn.

 

It's at this point that we meet the Sisterhood of Khan (a nice callback to the Fourth Doctor story The Brain of Morbius), who retrieve the now-dead Doctor and revive him temporarily for four minutes. Through the following scene, the main crux of the story becomes clear. The Night of the Doctor is about how the Doctor (quite literally) became a warrior, about how he was forced into the Time War despite trying his best to uphold his morals. This prequel does an excellent job of setting the Doctor on the path that led to his decision to wipe out the Daleks & the Time Lords, as well as finally answering the question of just what caused the Eighth Doctor to regenerate. It's rewarding for the fans as well as a compelling story. And the scene where the Doctor salutes all the companions he had during this incarnation was a nice gesture to fans of the Big Finish audio series that starred the Eighth Doctor.

Paul McGann is brilliant in his return as the Eighth Doctor, giving a charismatic performance as the Time Lord. While he means serious business throughout this episode, he's not above memorable lines of quirkiness, "bring me knitting!" Emma Cambell-Jones & Clare Higgins also provide compelling turns as Cass & Ohila respectively. The production aspects of the episode are surprisingly good. The sets are haunting and atmospheric and the visual landscape of Karn is well realised considering the modest budget this episode had in comparison to the 50th special, not to mention the clever use of archive footage of a young John Hurt. Overall, this was a wonderful send-off for McGann's Doctor as well as a nice linking up of the classic series with the new. I only wish McGann had established a catchphrase I could use to round this review out with. Oh well, Allons-y!

Score: 5.0/5.0

Doctor Who Series 7: The Name of the Doctor Review

Full spoilers for the episode follow. 

Hello everybody & welcome to my review of the finale to Series 7: Part 2 of Doctor Who. The Name of the Doctor.

There's been a lot building up to this episode. There's been the mystery surrounding Clara Oswald,  the Great Intelligence, the planet Trenzalore and of course The Name of the Doctor. It's thankful then that Stephen Moffat has managed to deliver a brilliant (though not entirely perfect) episode that has left me even more excited for the 50th anniversary special.

The plot of the episode is very compelling, and despite the initially smaller scope when compared to previous series, there's an epic nature throughout, especially in the last act when things escalate considerably. There's also an element of sadness throughout, as the Doctor is forced to visit his future grave on Trenzalore in order to save his friends. Matt Smith really nails the emotional moments in this episode (& there are a lot of those by the way), and the almost weary tone in his voice is a nice touch to the performance. Matt has really come into his own as the character during this series now that he has more serious material to dig into & his chemistry with Jenna-Louise Coleman has been very fun to watch. Coleman also nail's the emotional material as Clara Oswald. Clara has quickly become one of my favourite companions since the series re-launched, right up there with Rose Tyler. She's given a great moment in the third act where she chooses to sacrifice herself to save the Doctor, which gives Moffat the opportunity for a hell of a lot of fan-service.

 The supporting cast across the board deliver in spades. Dan Starkey as Strax gets some of the episodes biggest laughs, the best being the gag of him wrestling Scotsmen in Glasgow during his day off, that one had me laughing. Neve McIntosh & Catrin Stewart are also very good and they handle the more dramatic material they are given with ease. I also really liked the "conference call" scene, which took place in a communal dreamstate (that's the kind of writing I like to see from Moffat). Alex Kingston is brilliant in what looks to be her final appearance as River Song (though there's always the chance that Moffat might use a younger version of her later on). I've had a mixed opinion on River over the past series, the character became quite annoying from Series 5 onward, particularly after the shock reveal in A Good Man Goes to War (this isn't a criticism of Kingston's acting, it's just the dialogue the character was given and her sketchy characterisation), but here, since this takes place after Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead from River's perspective, the character is better handled by Moffat's script and is given the send-off she deserves.

The Great Intelligence returns as the primary villain (which wasn't exactly a surprise given his cameo in The Bells of Saint John) and while he is a very sinister presence, his new minions, the Whispermen, don't do very much in the episode other than kidnap the Doctor's friends and attempt to stop their hearts in a later scene. Richard E. Grant however gives a very creepy performance as the G.I. His plan to enter the Doctor's "grave", which in this case is a column of energy set inside a wrecked future-TARDIS (which is also gigantic as a result of the bigger-on-the-inside leaking out) to undo the Doctor's past is diabolical, although his line about wanting vengeance kind of irritated me. The only problem with this villain plot is that it's impact is diminished because the Great Intelligence hasn't been enough of a presence in the series to warrant this kind of line. He appeared twice during Patrick Troughton's run on the series and has only appeared as the main villain once before. Maybe if we'd gotten a line that indicated that the G.I was previously affiliated with the Silence perhaps?

 The Great Intelligence's plan provides an excuse for some classic Doctor action, as we see flashes of all the classic series Doctor's with Clara & the G.I. Now at times this looks really seamless, especially
during the awesome pre-credits scene where Clara meets the First Doctor himself, William Hartnell, stealing the TARDIS from Galifrey. Other times though, it's pretty obvious that Jenna & Richard have been superimposed into the archive footage from the classic, but I dug the novelty too much to care.

Clara's sacrifice at the end provides a great explanation for how she has met the Doctor and died several times, in fact it's enhanced by the classic Doctor appearances. One of the best things about this episode (and in the case of the recent series, original) is that the Doctor actually repays Clara for her sacrifice and saves her, going so far as risking his own timestream collapsing in on itself to do so. The big reveal at the end and the surprise appearance from John Hurt (I got chills when I heard his voice) was masterfully handled and the line delivery from Hurt & Matt Smith was pitch perfect. I'm interested to see how Stephen Moffat explains this "secret incarnation" of the Doctor

The production aspects of this episode are blockbuster standard. Trenzalore is dark, gloomy and morbid, the same applies to the vegetation-ridden future-TARDIS (which reminded me a little bit of Portal 2). The direction from Saul Metztein was superb, he's quickly becoming one of my favourite directors on the show. There are plenty of awesome money shots here. The ending scenes set inside the Doctor's timestream are rushed in some places though. The Doctor Clara reunion was swept aside a little too quickly in favour of the big reveal. This was a truly fantastic episode, a fabulous return to form for Stephen Moffat and a fitting end to the current series. Now we just have to wait 6 whole months for the 50th. Right now I wish I had a TARDIS of my own...

Score: 4.5/5.0

Doctor Who: Series 7: Nightmare in Silver Review

Hello everybody and welcome to my review of Nightmare in Silver.

When Neil Gaiman wrote "The Doctor's Wife" in 2011, he created a fantastic tale that was pure, quintessential Who, which enhanced the very premise of the series and was the absolute standout episode of Series 6. Naturally, anticipation has been high for Gaiman's second story, especially since it features the Cybermen. It's a shame then this episode proved to be something of a disappointment.

Picking up from the amusing cliffhanger at the end of "The Crimson Horror", the Doctor takes Clara and the kids (Angie & Artie) to whom she is nanny (after they sort of blackmailed Clara into taking them with her) to an extraterrestrial theme park, which they soon discover to be full of Cybermen. After Angie & Artie are kidnapped and the Doctor is partially infused with Cyber-technology, Clara must lead a military platoon against the Cybermen, who are now more powerful than ever.

This sounds like a decent premise, but unfortunately there is too much going on in this episode and most of the plot threads don't properly come to fruition. The biggest problem are the children, Angie & Artie. Putting aside the fact that the child actors aren't very good (I'm sorry but I have to be honest here), the characters themselves are just frustrating to watch. Angie in particular comes across as extremely unlikable. I don't care how dilapidated the theme park looks, if I were that girl, I would be far too amazed at the fact that I just TRAVELLED IN TIME to care about whether or not my phone had 3G. Artie is just an empty vessel, there's nothing interesting about him whatsoever. Thankfully these two are benched for the rest of the episode a quarter of the way in after they are given Cyber ear pieces. Maybe Gaiman became just as annoyed with the children as I did (though that doesn't really excuse him for writing bad dialogue for them, sorry again).

The guest stars are a little mixed, Tamzin Outhwaite has a pointless role as the leader of the military platoon, who is killed just as her character is given something to do. Warwick Davies gives a good performance as Porridge, but he doesn't get enough of a purpose to be onscreen until the end, which admittedly was kind of a surprise, though the moment when he asks Clara to marry him was quite forced and came out of nowhere. Jason Watkins fares quite well as Webley to begin with, but his character just fades off the map after he is infused with Cyber technology.

The Cybermen themselves are a mixed bag. While the new design looks very cool (miles better than the "Mighty Morphin" Daleks re-design from Victory of the Daleks), they aren't given enough screentime which diminishes the impact of their new abilities. There are some chilling moments. but they're few and far between. It's also frustrating that Nicholas Briggs only gets a few lines of dialogue, and even then it's the same sentence repeated. The Cyber-Mites are really creepy and they're a good evolution from the Cybermat's, which in honesty looked a little clunky.

The best thing about this episode is the Doctor's mental battle with the Cyber Planner/Mr Clever. This allowed Matt Smith to give a great performance as he switched back and forth between the two personalities, the Cyber Planner allowing Matt to turn the creepy dial up to eleven (see what I did there). This definitely reminded me of Superior Spider-Man, except here, the malevolent persona was rightly expunged in the end.

Jenna-Louise Coleman got some funny scenes here as Clara commanded the somewhat incompetent squad of soldiers against the Cybermen, though it did make Tamzin Outhwaite's character even more useless. While I've heard some criticism that this is out of character for Clara. I see it as more of an evolution of the character. Clara has faced down some pretty scary monsters in this series so it's natural that she would eventually become more confident in the face of danger.

The production aspects of this episode are mixed. There's some sloppy editing in places and the effect of the Cybermen disintegrating when they're hit with a shot from Clara's gun looks pretty lacklustre. The shot of the army of Cybermen however looks great and it gives the episode a much needed epic scope, and the props and make-up are very good, particularly the Cybertech on the Doctor's face, and of course Murray Gold's music is awesome. I'm glad that the theme of the Cybermen from Series 2 is still there, even if it has been changed up a bit.

Overall this was an ok episode, though by Gaiman's standards, it was quite an anticlimax. Every writer produces a dud now and again though, it's just a shame that it had to be this one...

Score: 2.5/5.0

Doctor Who Series 7: The Crimson Horror Review

Full spoilers for the episode follow.

Hello everybody and welcome to my review of The Crimson Horror. I realise I've fallen behind a bit in my reviews for Series 7 (tbh I've been falling behind on all my reviews). I'm sorry for the delay and I'll try and get my reviews of the previous two episodes up as soon as I can.

So far I've enjoyed this series as a whole. Jenna-Louise Coleman's Clara Oswin is easily a more interesting and compelling companion than Karen Gillen's Amy Pond and Matt Smith has really benefited well from the more serious, yet still fun tone of this new series.

So far though, none of the episodes have been able to re-capture the fun factor that I had with the series premiere, The Bells of Saint John, and after the admittedly disappointing "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS", I was a little worried. Thankfully The Crimson Horror delivered on that aspect in spades. This was a very fun episode.

The first half of the episode is from the perspective of the Silurian detective Madame Vastra her human wife Jenny & their butler, the Sontaran known as Strax. I've always had a fondness for these three characters since their first appearance in "A Good Man Goes to War" and they certainly haven't worn out their welcome yet. Jenny plays a bigger role here than in previous episodes and Catrin Stewart is clearly having a lot of fun with the role. This comes at the expense of Madame Vastra who has less screentime but that's forgivable as the character of Jenny needed fleshing out and Vastra has had enough exposure in previous episodes, and of course Neve McIntosh gives a good performance as the character. Strax meanwhile is just a bundle of fun and Dan Starkly is an absolute riot in the role, providing many of the episodes laughs.

Don't take this to mean that the Doctor & Clara don't feature prominently, once they appear we have a nice, old timey flashback to how they became mixed up in this story. Matt Smith is really coming into his own now as the titular character and the same applies to Jenna-Louise Coleman, these two have such great chemistry, and their Yorkshire accents weren't that bad either.

For the villain, we have Dame Diana Rigg as Ms Gillyflower, who along with her prehistoric leech companion, Mr Sweet, plans to cover the skies with his venom. Dame Diana turns in a grade-A performance as the villain. Ms Gillyflower is certainly a villain we love to hate by the end of the episode. She is joined by her real life daughter Rachel Stirling, who plays Gillyflower's disfigured daughter, Ada. This is in fact the first time these two have acted alongside one another. There's plenty of intensity in their scenes together and I really came to like the character of Ada after a while. Her scenes with the Doctor were very emotional.

The direction by Saul Metztein was very good and the same applied to Murray Gold's music (though in honesty Murray Gold always delivers). Mark Gatiss provides a witty script with plenty of laughs sprinkled in, though they are balanced by some dark and serious moments, such as the revelation that Ms Gillyflower experimented on her daughter so she could develop an anti-toxin to Mr Sweet's venom. What a nasty old woman!

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. It wasn't perfect, there were a few problems (the Tom-Tom joke wasn't that funny and it felt out of place with the Victorian setting), but nothing glaring enough to ruin this joyride...

Score: 4.0/5.0

*Updated* The Rumour About John Hurt's Character in the Doctor Who 50thAnniversary Special

*Update* It is now confirmed that Hurt will be playing "The Doctor" (that's all that the titles said anyway). This has sort of shot my theory in the foot as the Eleventh Doctor is shown to be aware of Hurt's Doctor, which means that it's unlikely that his character will attempt to deceive the Tenth & Eleventh Doctor's in the special, though he could be messing with their memories, but that's just speculation. It pleased me to hear the Valeyard mentioned by the Great Intelligence however, and maybe it's still possible that the John Hurt could be playing the Valeyard.

 

*Original article*

So there's a rumour going around that John Hurt is actually playing the Ninth Doctor in the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who. Apparently the other Doctor's have forgotten that he existed due to Hurt's Doctor supposedly being the incarnation most involved with the Time War. If this is true, then that would make Christopher Ecclestone the 10th Doctor, David Tennant the 11th Doctor and Matt Smith the 12th Doctor, which would mean the Doctor would only have one regeneration left due to Time Lords having thirteen total incarnations. Naturally, this has got a lot of the fanbase riled up, but I think there is more to this than meets the eye.

Hurt has said in an interview already that he plays "part of the Doctor" in a "kind of trinity", so that confirms that his character is at least closely tied to David & Matt's Doctor's. But that doesn't necessarily mean he is the Ninth Doctor. This "rumour" is likely an intentional leak to stir up anticipation for the special, and very likely is a fake-out.

It's my theory that Hurt's "Doctor" will eventually be revealed as the Valeyard, an evil version of the Doctor that exists somewhere between the Doctor's latter incarnations. The character first made an appearance in the Sixth Doctor story "Trial of a Time Lord". Toby Jones previously played a version of the character in the Series 5 episode "Amy's Choice". He will likely appear to the Tenth & Eleventh Doctor's claiming to be the Ninth Doctor in a bid to manipulate them for some unforeseen scheme, revealing his true identity near the end of the special.

I know this is all speculation on my part, but it would certainly make sense for a twist and I don't think anyone can argue that the Doctor being the main villain (in a way) would be an awesome idea, especially if it's John Hurt playing the role. Steven Moffat has stated that the special is about looking forward as well as looking back, and perhaps one could interpret that as resolving past aspects of the series that are still prevalent today. There's already enough evidence to suggest that Moffat is looking to resolve the Doctor/Rose relationship so it isn't too much of a stretch to assume that he's also seeking to shed more light on the events of the Time War.

Besides, this story was originally reported by The Sun, so I think we should take this with a pinch of salt anyway ;)...

Doctor Who Series 7: Cold War Review

Full spoilers for the episode follow...

Hello everybody and welcome to my review of Cold War. This episode features the return of the Ice Warriors, an enemy not seen since the 70's. I'd been looking forward to seeing this classic monster return to the series and writer Mark Gatiss handles this episode very well, even if it doesn't quite reach the heights of the series premiere.

This episode takes place entirely on board a Russian submarine during the Cold War, they have retrieved an Ice Warrior from the North pole, thinking it's a frozen mammoth. After being freed from it's prison, the Ice Warrior attacks. At the same time, the Doctor & Clara (thinking they're heading to Las Vegas) arrive on the submarine and are stranded there when the Tardis mysteriously de-materialises. Normally this would have seemed too coincidental, but since thanks to dialogue in the Series 6 episode "The Doctor's Wife", it's easy to assume the TARDIS brought the Doctor here because he was needed.

The dialogue between the Doctor and the Ice Warrior, General Skaldak, is great and Nicholas Briggs does a great job voicing the character, but then again, Briggs is always great whenever he does these roles. Skaldak's armour looks fantastic, its very faithful to the original look of the Ice Warriors and the fact that it's used minimally makes it all the more awesome when we see it in action. The episode is also given an Alien vibe by having Skaldak leave his armour for half the episode and scuttle around the submarine picking off the crew. I would have liked if the Doctor had referenced how he's the last of his species to Skaldak when he attempts to launch the submarines nuclear missiles, but that's only a minor gripe. It's nice that this episode ends somewhat happily for Skaldak when he is rescued by his people at the end of the episode, proving he isn't the last of his species like he thought, which helps prevent this episode from having too many parallels with Series 1 episode "Dalek".

Jenna Louise Coleman & Matt Smith give good performances as usual. There's an interesting dynamic between Clara & the scientist Professor Grisenko (played brilliantly by David Warner), who is the one character they meet in this episode with any real personality. The rest of the submarine crew, while the actors give decent performances, aren't very memorable. This is a mostly serious episode, though the few jokes there are prove quite funny. The music by Murray Gold (who I haven't really mentioned much in my reviews for some strange reason) is brilliant as ever. I've enjoyed his work on the show from Series 1.

This was a good episode. The Ice Warriors are back with a vengeance as is Doctor Who in general, and this makes me all the more pumped for the impending 50th anniversary special. I'm really enjoying this series right now, let's hope that the next episode continues this trend of quality...

Score: 4.0/5.0

Doctor Who Series 7: The Rings of Ahkaten Review

 

Full spoilers for the episode follow...

Hello everybody and welcome to my review of The Rings of Ahkaten. This is actually a difficult episode to review, evidenced by the fact that I took a whole week to get it done. It has a good start in terms of story. We see the origin of Clara Oswald in mere minutes, from the moment her parents met to the tragic death of her mother, all observed by the Doctor. These scenes were beautifully handled. I liked the explanation of the leaf in Clara's book and the fact that she lost her mum makes her all the more sympathetic. What also works is that this takes the focus away from the mystery surrounding Clara, so we can appreciate her as a character rather than an interesting plot device.

Since this is Clara's first trip in the TARDIS, she needs to be taken to a wondrous place, and the Rings of Ahkaten are the perfect location. The special effects are some of the best I've seen on the show, and the props and makeup matched them in quality. The scene with the Doctor and Clara in the alien market reminded me of the troll market scene from Hellboy II, not really in look, but in the general atmosphere. This was a truly immersive place...it's just a shame the plot didn't match it. Try as I may, I struggled to maintain an interest in the Old God plotline. It wasn't that it was bad, it just didn't interest me. The Old God wasn't a particularly original villain. The scene where the Doctor faces off with him reminded me a little too much of Satan's Pit. I would have liked the Old God to have a voice at least. Considering he's an alien sun, that would have gone a long way towards making him an actual being rather than a big force of nature (Galactus must surely sympathise). I did like the touch of Clara sacrificing the leaf to defeat the Old God, it was certainly an emotional scene.

The Doctor is given less to do in this episode due to most of the focus being on Clara, but he has some funny moment regardless and Matt Smith delivers them well, though I think he overplayed the scene with the Old God a bit. The direction from Farren Blackburn was also a highlight. This episode looked great. Even though this wasn't as good an episode as The Bells of Saint John, I still enjoyed it more than some the other Moffat-era episode's I've seen. Clara benefits very well from this episode and as her first trip in the TARDIS, this isn't that bad a start...

 Score: 3.5/5.0

Doctor Who: Series 7: The Bells of Saint John Review

Full Spoilers for the episode follow...

Hello everybody & welcome to my review of the mid-series premiere of Series 7 of Doctor Who. The Bells of Saint John. This episode marks a change for the series in more ways than one. Jenna-Louise Coleman's "official" debut as Clara Oswin Oswald brings with it a refocused tone to the series. In fact, the Doctor's outfit reflects this perfectly. The more goofy elements of the past two series are mostly gone, and the few that remain no longer feel obnoxious in their humour. This episode is more edgy and possesses a spirit of fun and adventure that Series 5 & 6 mostly lacked.

The chemistry between Jenna-Louise Coleman and Matt Smith is the best thing about this
episode. These two are hilarious together. Jenna won me over in Asylum of the Daleks and she's just as good here, if not better. Clara is a model companion to the Doctor, she's plucky and quick-witted, as well as being something of a genius herself. That particular trait is explained away by technobabble in this episode, but it makes sense and allows Stephen Moffat to use a hilarious joke about Twitter as a plot point. Moffat also makes Clara sympathetic by showcasing her sense of responsibility. I also appreciate that despite being held captive by the villains twice, Clara still manages to be instrumental in their defeat. I'm not saying that Jenna is a better actress than Karen Gillen, but Clara is certainly a more likable and compelling protagonist than Amy Pond.

The villains, the Spoonheads, while interesting, don't quite reach their full potential here. I do love that Moffat uses Wi-Fi as the main threat though. It makes this episode feel very modern and while it isn't nearly as scary as the Weeping Angels, it's still pretty unsettling since we all take Wi-Fi for granted. Celia Imrie does a good job as the woman in charge, Miss Kizlet, considering she is really just a lackey for Richard E. Grant's Great Intelligence. I was pleasantly surprised to see Grant again, and it's great to see him in a prominent role given how he only looked set for a guest appearance in The Snowmen. It's great that Moffat is making full use of Grants talents by making him the big bad of the series (unlike what Richard Curtis did with Bill Nighy in Vincent & the Doctor) and I'm looking forward to seeing him again.

 

Thanks to the more serious nature of the script, Matt Smith is able to portray the Doctor as an eccentric traveller instead of an insufferable man-child. Matt is just as capable of playing it straight as he is at being comical, and being able to do so allows him to give one of his best performances as the title character. The Doctor has grown up since losing Amy & Rory, he's no longer as goofy or overly alien. He's more enigmatic, more calculated, he has a better sense of style, and he owns an anti gravity motorbike! Now that is cool. I prefer his new outfit over the old one, it's dashing and perfectly mirrors the new tone of the series. I also need to comment on the new TARDIS interior design. It looks awesome, a lot more sci-fi as well as a throwback to the design of the classic console. 

The direction of this episode is stunning. Colm McCarthy does a fantastic job. I love that Moffat & co are trying to make Who look as cinematic as possible. The opening and the scene where the Doctor drives the anti-grav motorbike up the Shard are highlights of this visual fest. Moffat's script is sharper, wittier and creepy as ever. This is Moffat back to his best, and I hope it maintains. He also turns the creepy factor up to 11 (see what I did there) when The Great Intelligence orders Miss Kizlet to "reset" all the staff (including herself) and Kizlet is shown to have the mentality of a small child.

 

This is one of the best Moffat-era Doctor Who episodes I've seen, right up there with the Doctor's Wife. This is a brilliant opener to the second half of series 7 and I'm looking forward to the rest, not to mention the 50th anniversary special...

 Score: 4.5/5.0