A Final Word

I will be honest and say that I didn’t think that I was going to make it to the end of this marathon. It seemed like a good idea before I started to watch an episode of Doctor Who a day every day. This wasn’t the first time that I had done this because back in 2011, I had attempted to watch an episode a day but that quickly disappeared and it took me ten months to get through the whole thing right up until The Wedding of River Song. Another difference between the 2011 marathon and this one is that I didn’t write a blog for that one. I didn’t think about doing a blog until quite late in the course of the marathon so it wasn’t a worthwhile idea but I knew that when I started this marathon that I would try and do the same this time.
I knew that there were issues to deal with such as holidays and what if technology let me down and stuff like that but the biggest problem was always going to be the lack of episodes during the black and white era. Whilst it was easy to get an audio copy of episodes, it was always harder to enjoy these episodes as opposed to ones which existed on DVD.

The William Hartnell era was good because it was fun to see how the dynamic of the show changed over the course of just three years. There were more episodes during a season than most Doctors and it yet the quality stayed the same. Ok there was the Web Planet which remains the worst story that I watched during this marathon but Inside the Spaceship is the best story of the marathon and has been since the second story. Towards the end of the Hartnell era the Doctor’s involvement seemed to get less and less noticeable. The change happened at just the right time.
During the Patrick Troughton era I did think that I would lose the energy to do this marathon but I perceived and before too long the Troughton era came to an end. There were too many episodes that didn’t exist and when the stories aren’t that good then it becomes harder to appreciate.
Season 7 has always been my favourite season but in terms of ratings it isn’t the best which is something that I could understand. The Pertwee era was felt like the era I thought it was once Katy Manning joined the show.

The Tom Baker era was always going to be a test in itself because it was 172 episodes long and there are quite some clunkers to contend with. The Key to Time era was a bit tough to watch because the idea of 26 consecutive episodes having a link was a bit much to watch. The Tom Baker era changed many times over the seasons but if I am being honest the era lasted two years longer than it should have done.
Peter Davison’s time on the show was better than I had given it credit for. Yes there were some stories that just didn’t work like Warriors of the Deep but on the whole the quality of stories was quite good and this era saw the biggest surprise when I actually liked Kinda and thought that it was one of the best Davison stories which isn’t something I thought I would be writing at any point.

After the Davison era was over there was a nice dress rehearsal for the new era because season twenty-two was 45 minutes long and I think that 25 minutes is a better length. The Trial of a Timelord season was fun to watch partly because it was interesting to see just how many times the camera zoomed in on Colin Baker’s face. Baker’s time on the show was far too short and I thought that he would have been good had he been allowed to carry on.
Sylvester McCoy’s time on the show was a bit of a mess. The first season was just unbearable, his second season was better and his third was a bit of a mixed bag. Like Colin Baker’s time on the show, McCoy’s era ended too soon.

From the Colin Baker era to end the end of the McCoy era it would take two weeks to get through a season and by the time I got to the end of the McCoy era I was looking forward to the new era because it would be single episode stories and the special effects would be better and there were some absolute classics.

I don’t know why but the new era of the show felt longer than the classic era. Going from 25 minutes a night to 45 minutes a night was a bigger change than I was expecting. There were some night when I was more able to write a lot than other nights. Some nights I wanted to say the bare minimum and other nights I didn’t know when to stop. I always tried to go for 500 minimum and most night I ended up around that mark but there were a few 1960 episodes where I was under and quite a lot of episode where I was well over. Knowing I don’t have to do that anymore is a good feeling.

The Eccleston era was quite good and by the end of his time I had grown to appreciate what a great actor he is and what the show would have been like had he stayed beyond that one series. When David Tennant came along I thought that the marathon was going to be like the Tom Baker one and that is up and down and its true but once Billie Piper left the show things started to improve and it then started to slope off towards the end and I think that the specials in 2009 were a mixed bag. Matt Smith’s tenure was more enjoyable as I think that the whole vibe of the show changed when Russell T Davies handed over the reigns to Steven Moffat. Moffat bought a grungier and perhaps bleaker style to the show and its one that I thought worked well. I would have liked Matt Smith to have stayed a bit longer but as the old saying goes – always leave them wanting more.

It’s difficult to say what I really think about Peter Capaldi’s time on the show because a) it was so recent and b) there were only thirteen episodes to judge him on. I’d dare say that if I ever did this again then I might think differently of Capaldi’s time on the show.
As I write this I have a weird emptiness in me. Today is the first time since May 16, 2013 that I haven’t had to watch a Doctor Who episode and write a review and that’s a long time to feel that. It will be nice to watch whatever story I want whenever I want to and also watch it in one go if I feel like it. To be honest I don’t think that I will be doing this marathon again. It’s too long a journey as it is and time progresses, the number of episodes increase. Maybe if the missing episodes are found I might do it again but that seems unlikely and I can go back to being a normal Doctor Who fan and watch the DVD’s and the superb extras.

Over 813 days, I wrote over 590,000 words words and that has taken 945 pages over 5 volumes. To end this epilogue, here are the ratings for all the stories and let me know if you disagree with them or what.

1 INSIDE THE SPACESHIP 8.60
2 THE DAY OF THE DOCTOR 8.25
3 THE TV MOVIE 8.20
4 THE DEADLY ASSASSIN 8.12
5 BLINK 8.05
6 THE DOCTORS WIFE 8.02
7 HUMAN NATURE/THE FAMILY OF BLOOD 8.01
8 REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS 8.00
9 THE NAME OF THE DOCTOR 7.98
10 DEEP BREATH 7.98
11 THE WATERS OF MARS 7.97
12 VINCENT AND THE DOCTOR 7.95
13 THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI 7.93
14 THE GIRL WHO WAITED 7.93
15 THE ANGELS TAKE MANHATTAN 7.90
16 BAD WOLF/THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 7.88
17 THE END OF TIME - PARTS ONE AND TWO 7.86
18 THE STOLEN EARTH/JOURNEYS END 7.83
19 ATTACK OF THE CYBERMEN 7.82
20 THE ELEVENTH HOUR 7.82
21 COLD WAR 7.82
22 TRIAL OF A TIMELORD: THE ULTIMATE FOE 7.81
23 MISSION TO THE UNKNOWN (1965) 7.80
24 AN UNEARTHLY CHILD 7.79
25 BOOM TOWN 7.78
26 RISE OF THE CYBERMEN/THE AGE OF STEEL 7.78
27 THE TIME OF THE DOCTOR 7.78
28 AMY'S CHOICE 7.77
29 THE PANDORICA OPENS/THE BIG BANG 7.77
30 NIGHT TERRORS 7.77
31 ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS 7.77
32 NIGHTMARE IN SILVER 7.77
33 SMITH AND JONES 7.75
34 TERROR OF THE AUTONS 7.75
35 THE CHRISMAS INVASION 7.75
36 JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE TARDIS 7.75
37 THE EMPTY CHILD/THE DOCTOR DANCES 7.74
38 THE INVASION 7.74
39 MIDNIGHT 7.73
40 THE SHAKESPEARE CODE 7.73
41 A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR 7.73
42 THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG 7.73
43 THE POWER OF THREE 7.73
44 DARK WATER/DEATH IN HEAVEN 7.73
45 SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE 7.72
46 SURVIVAL 7.72
47 TOOTH AND CLAW 7.72
48 LETS KILL HITLER 7.72
49 FLATLINE 7.72
50 THE ARK IN SPACE (1975) 7.71
51 THE GREEN DEATH 7.71
52 UTOPIA/THE SOUND OF DRUMS/LAST OF THE TIMELORDS 7.71
53 GRIDLOCK 7.70
54 REVELATION OF THE DALEKS 7.70
55 THE IDIOTS LANTERN 7.70
56 THE WAR GAMES 7.70
57 TURN LEFT 7.70
58 CLOSING TIME 7.70
59 THE SNOWMEN 7.70
60 THE TENTH PLANET 7.69
61 PYRAMIDS OF MARS 7.68
62 RESURRECTION OF THE DALEKS 7.68
63 SCHOOL REUNION 7.68
64 THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET/THE SATAN PIT 7.68
65 THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN 7.68
66 THE GOD COMPLEX 7.68
67 THE RINGS OF AKHATEN 7.68
68 THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT/DAY OF THE MOON 7.67
69 INFERNO 7.67
70 KILL THE MOON 7.67
71 GENESIS OF THE DALEKS 7.66
72 THE ENEMY OF THE WORLD 7.66
73 VENGEANCE ON VAROS 7.66
74 THE HAND OF FEAR 7.65
75 INTO THE DALEK 7.65
76 MUMMY ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS 7.65
77 THE DALEK INVASION OF EARTH 7.63
78 THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE 7.63
79 THE SEA DEVILS 7.63
80 A CHRISTMAS CAROL 7.63
81 HIDE 7.63
82 TIME HEIST 7.63
83 EARTHSHOCK 7.62
84 KINDA 7.62
85 PLANET OF THE OOD 7.62
86 ROSE 7.62
87 TERROR OF THE ZYGONS 7.62
88 THE FIVE DOCTORS 7.62
89 THE NEXT DOCTOR 7.62
90 THE BELLS OF SAINT JOHN 7.62
91 IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT 7.62
92 INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS 7.61
93 THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS 7.61
94 THE FACE OF EVIL 7.60
95 THE RUNAWAY BRIDE 7.60
96 THE THREE DOCTORS 7.60
97 THE CARETAKER 7.60
98 THE MARK OF THE RANI 7.59
99 THE SEEDS OF DEATH 7.59
100 THE VISITATION 7.59
101 CASTROVALVA 7.58
102 THE DAEMONS 7.58
103 THE ICE WARRIORS 7.58
104 TRIAL OF A TIMELORD: MINDWARP 7.58
105 LAST CHRISTMAS 7.58
106 DOCTOR WHO AND THE SILURIANS 7.57
107 LOGOPOLIS 7.57
108 PLANET OF THE DALEKS 7.57
109 SILENCE IN THE LIBRARAY/THE FOREST OF THE DEAD 7.57
110 SILVER NEMESIS 7.57
111 THE STONES OF BLOOD 7.57
112 TRIAL OF A TIMELORD: TERROR OF THE VERVOIDS 7.57
113 THE TIME OF ANGELS/FLESH AND STONE 7.56
114 FULL CIRCLE 7.56
115 ROBOT 7.56
116 THE SONTARAN STRATAGEM/THE POISON SKY 7.56
117 THE DOCTOR, THE WIDOW AND THE WARDROBE 7.55
118 ARMY OF GHOSTS/DOOMSDAY 7.55
119 CITY OF DEATH 7.55
120 THE END OF THE WORLD 7.55
121 THE LODGER 7.55
122 THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH 7.54
123 BLACK ORCHID 7.53
124 FRONTIER IN SPACE 7.53
125 HORROR OF FANG ROCK 7.53
126 THE ANDROIDS OF TARA 7.53
127 ALIENS OF LONDON/WORLD WAR THREE 7.52
128 IMAGE OF THE FENDAHL 7.52
129 STATE OF DECAY 7.52
130 THE INVASION OFTIME 7.52
131 THE LAZARUS EXPERIMENT 7.52
132 THE LONG GAME 7.52
133 THE SONTARAN EXPERIMENT 7.52
134 THE CRIMSON HORROR 7.52
135 THE LEISURE HIVES 7.51
136 THE TWO DOCTORS 7.51
137 THE WEB OF FEAR 7.51
138 FEAR HER 7.50
139 PLANET OF THE SPIDERS 7.50
140 THE AZTECS 7.50
141 THE MIND ROBBER 7.50
142 THE VAMPIRES OF VENICE 7.50
143 A TOWN CALLED MERCY 7.50
144 THE CURSE OF FENRIC 7.49
145 CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS 7.48
146 ENLIGHTENMENT 7.48
147 THE TALONS OF WENG-CHIANG 7.48
148 DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP 7.48
149 DRAGONFIRE 7.47
150 THE MIND OF EVIL 7.47
151 THE RESCUE 7.47
152 THE ROBOTS OF DEATH 7.47
153 THE UNQUIET DEAD 7.47
154 VICTORY OF THE DALEKS 7.47
155 FRONTIOS 7.46
156 MEGLOS 7.46
157 THE MONSTER OF PELADON 7.46
158 THE WAR MACHINES 7.46
159 THE CLAWS OF AXOS 7.45
160 THE CURSE OF PELADON 7.45
161 THE DALEKS 7.45
162 THE KROTONS 7.45
163 ROBOT OF SHERWOOD 7.45
164 ARC OF ININITY 7.44
165 TERMINUS 7.44
166 THE TIME MONSTER 7.44
167 BATTLEFIELD 7.43
168 DALEKS IN MANHATTAN/EVOLUTION OF THE DALEKS 7.43
169 FATHERS DAY 7.43
170 REVENGE OF THE CYBERMEN 7.43
171 THE ANDROID INVASION 7.43
172 THE SEEDS OF DOOM 7.43
173 THE WHEEL IN SPACE 7.43
174 DALEK 7.42
175 DESTINY OF THE DALEKS 7.42
176 PLANET OF GIANTS 7.42
177 THE DALEKS MASTER PLAN 7.42
178 THE FIRES OF POMPEII 7.42
179 THE TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN 7.42
180 COLONY IN SPACE 7.41
181 MAWDRYN UNDEAD 7.41
182 UNDERWORLD 7.41
183 THE HUNGRY EARTH/COLD BLOOD 7.41
184 NIGHTMARE OF EDEN 7.40
185 PLANET OF FIRE 7.40
186 THE FACELESS ONES 7.40
187 THE MOONBASE 7.40
188 THE TIME WARRIOR 7.40
189 THE KEYS OF MARINUS 7.39
190 THE MUTANTS 7.39
191 42 7.38
192 THE SENSORITES 7.38
193 WARRIORS OF THE DEEP 7.38
194 THE ARMAGEDDON FACTOR 7.36
195 GHOSTLIGHT 7.34
196 THE GREATEST SHOW IN THE GALAXY 7.34
197 THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA 7.34
198 DAY OF THE DALEKS 7.33
199 THE SUN MAKERS 7.33
200 THE TIME MEDDLER 7.33
201 NEW EARTH 7.32
202 THE CHASE 7.32
203 TIME-FLIGHT 7.31
204 THE INVISIBLE ENEMY 7.30
205 THE POWER OF KROLL 7.30
206 WARRIORS GATE 7.30
207 THE MASSACRE OF ST BARTHOLOMEWS EVE 7.29
208 SNAKEDANCE 7.28
209 THE ARK 7.27
210 THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER 7.27
211 THE RIBOS OPERATION 7.27
212 THE UNICORN AND THE WASP 7.27
213 TRIAL OF A TIMELORD: THE MYSTERIOUS PLANET 7.27
214 PLANET OF EVIL 7.26
215 MARCO POLO 7.25
216 TIMELASH 7.25
217 THE POWER OF THE DALEKS 7.24
218 THE AWAKENING 7.23
219 THE PIRATE PLANET 7.23
220 THE UNDERWATER MENACE 7.23
221 THE BEAST BELOW 7.23
222 THE KINGS DEMONS 7.21
223 THE SPACE MUSEUM 7.21
224 THE DOCTORS DAUGHTER 7.20
225 THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS 7.19
226 THE HAPPINESS PATROL 7.19
227 FURY FROM THE DEEP 7.17
228 PLANET OF THE DEAD 7.17
229 THE TWIN DILEMMA 7.17
230 VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED 7.17
231 PARTNERS IN CRIME 7.15
232 THE CREATURE FROM THE PIT 7.15
233 THE SAVAGES 7.15
234 LISTEN 7.15
235 THE REIGN OF TERROR 7.14
236 GALAXY 4 7.13
237 THE CURSE OF THE BLACK SPOT 7.13
238 PARADISE TOWERS 7.11
239 THE REBEL FLESH/THE ALMOST PEOPLE 7.10
240 DEATH TO THE DALEKS 7.08
241 FOUR TO DOOMSDAY 7.04
242 TIME AND THE RANI 7.03
243 THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMEN 7.02
244 THE GUNFIGHTERS 7.02
245 THE MACRA TERROR 6.96
246 THE HORNS OF NIMON 6.91
247 DELTA AND THE BANNERMEN 6.88
248 THE CRUSADE 6.81
249 THE DOMINATORS 6.81
250 THE ROMANS 6.79
251 THE SPACE PIRATES 6.76
252 THE HIGHLANDERS 6.52
253 THE MYTH MAKERS 6.48
254 THE SMUGGLERS 6.38
255 LOVE AND MONSTERS 6.22
256 THE WEB PLANET 6.01

To everyone who has ever visited this blog even if it were just a couple of times or everyday. Thankyou and thankyou to everyone who favorited a tweet or re-tweeted one of my tweets. It was those sort of nice gestures that gave me the motivation to continue when I was considering quitting. Also a thankyou goes to Will Brooks who did his own marathon via Doctor Who Online and was the inspiration for me the do this in the first place. Well on that bombshell, its time to say goodbye …… One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye.

(813) Last Christmas

Now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. Well that’s enough Frank Sinatra lyrics for now but it is the end and the moment has been prepared for. After 812 days, I get ready to watch the most recent episode of Doctor Who to air on British TV. Episode 813 is another Christmas episode and it’s the 10th Christmas Special. This is the 34th episode to be credited to Steven Moffat, taking him above Russell T Davies and ties him with David Whittaker and Dave Martin. He is at the moment the fourth most prolific writer in the shows history. Also this is the 57th episode for Steven Moffat as Executive Producer and he is three behind Russell T Davies. The episode starts with Nick Frost’s Santa encountering Clara and there is no explanation as to what happened at the end of the previous episode. This episode sees Michael Troughton appear. Michael is the other son of former Doctor Patrick Troughton and its nice to his other son in the show. He plays Albert Smithe who does come across as a bit of a dirty old man. In a way its not the greatest role for Troughton to play as all he does really is eat a chicken leg and gets sucked into a TV screen. That is quite a good way to die and effects wise its well done but I think that the character could have been better served with some better stuff to do. During the scene with Doctor Who’s answer to the facehuggers, the Doctor learns that Danny Pink is dead and that Clara was lying. Clara lied so that the Doctor would leave her and the Doctor lied about finding Gallifrey so that Clara would stay with Danny. They both deserve each other. The facehuggers are called Dreamcrabs which is a cool name for a cool looking monster. Even Smithe calls them facehuggers and references Alien and I like how the Doctor gets annoyed with this. When Clara gets covered with a Dreamcrab, the Doctor decides to be attached to a Dreamcrab to convince Clara that she is in a dream and that Danny is the antidote to stop Clara from screaming. When the Doctor and Clara think they have woken up it was quite obvious that they were all still asleep. There is a line that Clara gives when she says that you cant believe what you see which means that this is an episode where things will happen and there is always going to be a question and to whether they are really awake or still asleep. It does get a bit tiresome after a while as all it seems to do is fill a bit of time. This was due to be Jenna Coleman’s last episode and most people think that she is one of the longest serving companions but in reality she the fourth longest serving companion in terms of episodes. She is two behind Arthur Darvill, seven behind Billie Piper and 10 behind Karen Gillan. This wasn’t the greatest episode for Clara and had it been the last one for her then it would have been a disappointing end for the character. As it isn’t then its possible to be kinder to her and I hope that when she does leave that her departure is better thought out. Her best scene comes at the end when she has aged about sixty years and the prosthetics used to make her look old doesn’t work as well as it could have done. Her performance was good though and it was a nice scene between her and Capaldi. I like how it looks like its real and then Santa comes in a shows that they were dreaming and when the Doctor sees Clara again she is young. I suspect this is the part that got re-written when Coleman decided to stay. Speaking of Peter Capaldi, he was on fine form in this episode despite the story not being as good as it could have been. It’s nice that the Doctor is allowed to smile and be positive and I did smile when the Doctor took control of Santa’s sledge and hopefully the future will see a lighter side to Capaldi’s Doctor. I don’t want a Matt Smith version of the twelfth Doctor but something in between. The problem with this episode is that the show spends an hour saying that nothing is what it seems and whilst I like the idea of doing a Christmas Special with a very dark tone to it, I would rather have a Christmassy plot rather than a nice tone to it. Also I really don’t know what to make of Santa because I can’t quite make my mind up whether Santa was supposed to be a good guy or a bad guy. This might be down to Nick Frost but the confusion is something that did bother me a bit. Well that is the marathon over which ends at 8:48pm on Thursday August 6th. The marathon which started on May 16th 2013 is now over and I am tempted at the moment to regenerate this marathon into a Torchwood marathon. I don’t know at the moment but I am happy now to have completed the marathon and to have watched and listened to every single episode of Doctor Who that has been transmitted. I will post a ending statement tomorrow but at the moment I will say that this wasn’t the best episode to end the marathon but I am convinced that Capaldi is a very good Doctor and the new series starts in just over a month so there is something to look forward to.

(812) Death in Heaven

Today is the penultimate episode of the marathon and the final story of the thirty-fourth series. The revelation that Missy was the Master was a cool way to end the previous episode and things start in quite an interesting way when Jenna Coleman’s name comes before Peter Capaldi’s which is a first and shows just how much the role of the companion/assistant has changed over the years and also how the character of Clara has become just as significant as the Doctor’s. The episode picks up where it left off with Cybermen coming out of St Paul Cathedral and I quite like how the adoring crown around the Cybermen were actually working for UNIT. Kate throws an old Cyberman head which was a nice nostalgia nod. The idea of Water/Rain bringing dead people back to life is quite a fun and grim idea and it’s quite a clever idea from Missy. Yes it has hints of convolution that Delgado and Ainley’s Master would have been proud of but there seems something rather epic about it. On the subject of Missy, I am now convinced that Michelle Gomez’s casting was brilliant. There is the nice coincidence that both the Doctor and Missy are Scottish but they are just as good as each other in acting terms and the scenes they have together are rather good. What is perhaps more interesting than Missy’s plan to turn dead people into Cybermen is the revelation that Missy knows where Gallifrey is or at least makes the Doctor think that she knows. From the moment that this is bought up, I start to lose interest a little bit in the main plot. With UNIT bought into this story it means that it sees the return of Kate Stewart and also Osgood who is now wearing a bow-tie. I miss the fourth Doctor’s scarf that she wore in Day of the Doctor. Quite early on in the story the Doctor is made President of the Earth. The quick way this sort of thing can be arranged is rather implausible and also the mere idea that the US, Australian, Chinese or even French armies would hand themselves over to the Doctor is perhaps a bit of stretch even for a show which encourages you to give you suspend your disbelief. The death of Osgood is a bit of a surprise but slightly undermined by the music played the moments after. Since then it has been revealed that Ingrid Oliver is coming back in the new series so it isn’t the sad moment that it seemed to be at the time. The sight of Cybermen coming out of graves is a very good one and keeps the dark vibe going. It could be argued that the Cybermen are slightly sidelined in this episode and that might be true but in my opinion they are still used in a clever way and I thought that the Cybermen continue to be used in a good way under Steven Moffat’s stewardship. Despite all the good things going on in the episode there is still the matter of Captain Grumpy. I know you could say that waking up after you thought you were dead and then wake up and find yourself as Cyberman isn’t the greatest feeling in the world but its still no good reason to be grumpy. When Danny reveals takes his mask off and shows Clara what he now looks like. Sadly Captain Grumpy returns when he is talking to the Doctor. Just when I think that Grumpy is going to end grumpy he sacrifices himself to save the day and then he uses his one and only opportunity to travel back to Clara with a bracelet to let the boy that he killed in his army days go back to his family. I think that the character has run its course and there isn’t much more that could be done for the character. Samuel Anderson has done well with what is a rather thankless role but I cant say that he has been the worst actor in the show. There is one moment that made me think that Steven Moffat had gone out of his mind and it was when the Doctor is shown flying through the air to meet mid-air to get to the TARDIS. This is a bit like the tank falling to the ground in the recent (ish) A-Team movie. Kate reveals that the Brigadier only wanted the Doctor to salute him once. This leads to a lovely moment when a Cyberman points out that Kate is alive and the Doctor concludes that the Cyberman is the Brigadier and the Doctor salutes him and this was unexpected. It was nice and it was about three years after Nicholas Courntey’s death its impressive how much he is still a part of the programme. That picture of him on the plane is a pretty big indication of his impact on the show. There is one last swerve in the story and that is when Missy reveals the co-ordinates of Gallifrey. I remember watching it and wondering whether Gallifrey was going to be found after being pretty much ignored since Day of the Doctor. The Doctor and Clara both lie to each other. Clara lies that Danny came back and the Doctor lies that he found Gallifrey. It’s a rather grim ending really because there isn’t the cheery ending that there normally is. What we do have just after the credits start is the cliffhanger and the lead up to the Christmas Special where Santa (played by Nick Frost) asks the Doctor what he wants for Christmas. Whilst there were some impressive moments in this episode and in the previous one, I cant help but say that it was a little underwhelming. It didn’t have that end of series finale that most finales have. Well tomorrow is the final episode in the marathon and I am waiting until tomorrow to say the line I have used a few times during this marathon but will be used for the last time. Last Christmas is the last episode and I just hope that the marathon ends on a great note.

(811) Dark Water

Not only is this the finale of the series but it’s the first two parter since The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People story back in the 2011 series. The episode starts off in quite a grim way because Danny was hit by a car and died. I know I have been calling him Captain Grumpy but I can’t say that it was good to know that the character had died. This is a really dark way of starting the episode. It’s fair to say that this sends Clara a bit mad as within minutes she is threatening to throw all the TARDIS keys into molten lava if the Doctor doesn’t bring Danny back. I know she’s grieving I cant help but feel that Clara is a being a bit selfish.

It’s quite amusing when its revealed that Clara was tricked by the Doctor into thinking that she’d thrown away all the keys. Moffat has had a recent track record of misleading people and then revealing what actually happened and its only frustrating when its revealed what has happened. I liked it when the Doctor says that he is going to help Clara find Danny and bring him back despite what she had done. This shows why the Doctor is better than Clara.

There is almost a sense of black comedy in this as the appearance of Chris Addison who worked with Capaldi in The Thick of It and its nice to see him play something different with the right amount of humour. In fact the whole episode is very dark because the Doctor and Clara come across skeletons sitting on thrones. Then there is the moment where Danny meets a young boy that he killed when he was in the army. This isn’t the sort of thing that anyone would expect in Doctor Who.

Missy’s first encounter with the Doctor is quite strange bearing in mind that she is in fact the Master. It’s weird to think that the same role played by Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley has snogged the Doctor. When Missy reveals that her name is short for Mistresses it doesn’t mean anything to the Doctor and then when she says that she couldn’t keep calling herself the Master then the penny finally drops and this has to realise that Missy is the Master. I think that the idea of changing the Master’s gender is a bold move for the role because whenever there is a new Doctor there is always the idea that the Doctor could be a woman so this sort of proves that this could happen. The casting of Michelle Gomez might be one that would raise eyebrows but I cant say that it wasn’t a good piece of casting. She brings the right balance of madness and menace to the role and this is why the episode and in fact the whole series story arc works.

The moment when the water in the tombs empties out of the chambers and reveals that the Cybermen are skeletons.

There is Timelord technology that is being used in Missy’s plans but the question is just how she managed to get it but that is something that will be answered in the next episode. Cybermen walking down the steps of St Paul Cathedral seemed to try and mirror the Cybermen walking around London in the Invasion. Despite it not being original it is an awesome sight and it’s the perfect way to end the episode and the final episode of the series looks like it will be just as good as I remember it and as good as it needs to be. Two more episodes to go.

(810) In the Forest of the Night

In the forest of the Night is the penultimate story of the series and another one that has an interesting idea to it. One day everyone wakes up to find the world has become a huge jungle. Landmarks such as Nelson’s column are now surrounded by trees and shrubs. This story has Captain Grumpy back in the show and not just in one scene but from start to finish and I know I have been saying that he hasn't been as grumpy as he started out as but sadly he seems to have reverted back to his old self again. Quite frankly if I had a kid and captain Grumpy was their teacher then I would be worried. This is because he loses a child quite quickly.

The big mystery is how and where the trees came from and why they have appeared overnight. The explanation that they are protecting the earth from a huge solar flare is quite a good one and it quite a creative way of taking a normal thing like a forest and giving it a hugely sci-fi purpose. I think there maybe some science truth in what happens with trees but I don't know nor understand that so that can be left for another blog. Maybe when I finish this marathon then I could do a science blog…..maybe not. Anyway I thought that the writer did a good job with the script but there were a few things that didn't quite work. First the school kids were just a constant source of irritation because it seemed like just when things were getting somewhere the kids would be there to slow things down. Then there is the small matter of Maebh who is an interesting character and has a interesting back story and its that she lost her sister which at first I thought meant that she had died but turns out she went missing. Now for 99% of the time that she is on screen I thought she was quite interesting (more interesting than Clara) but when it's revealed that her sister was in fact in a shrub in her front garden I thought that it slightly ruined the character for me. It seemed like a bit of a cop-out which might seem a bit harsh but it's how I saw things in this episode.

I've gone quite far into this blog before I mentioned the Doctor and there isn't a particular reason for that because it was a fine performance from Peter Capaldi. He dealt with the kids rather well and was running around with the kind of energy that I don't think I have seen from him so far. Jenna Coleman was just frustrating in this and that is because Clara wanted to be having the adventure but the teacher in her stopped her and she seemed at times to be happy to be saddled with Captain Grumpy.

The appearance of Missy was quite enjoyable but I do wonder what interest she has in the earth covered in trees. She acts surprised when the earth is protected and I can't remember whether this is part of the arc so it will be interesting to see whether it's revealed. 

On the whole I enjoyed this episode because there was enough to maintain my interest and the idea itself is rather good and the directing was good enough. Sadly the whole thing was ruined by Captain Grumpy and his trusty sidekick Clara. Now the series has reached the finale and the trailer is making me look forward to tomorrow's episode. Everything is going to be explained and I now have just three episodes left and I think that two of them are going to be fantastic but which two ?

(809) Flatline

Flatline is the second episode to come from Jamie Mathieson who wrote the previous episode and this is another story that has some good ideas and some good characters. The pre-title scene is of a man on a phone who then disappears and then reappears but stretched out on a wall.

When fan taken photos of this episode were put on the net, this episode took on a new level of interest. The idea of the TARDIS shrinking is one that has never been explored in Doctor Who since Logopolis and even that wasn’t very interesting. The effect of the Doctor handing Clara the Psychic Paper and the Sonic Screwdriver.

The effect of things being flattened is quite good and the effect of the people taken walking is even more impressive and one that I think is a huge success for the show.  The Doctor names the monster as the Boneless which is an average name really but serves the purpose which is all you can really ask for with a name. I just wish that they had come with the name earlier on in the episode

With the Doctor stuck in the TARDIS, it means that Clara is on her own except that she is partnered with Rigsy (who is due to return in the 2015 series). I don’t know why but I quite liked the character of Rigsy. He wasn’t annoying and whilst I don’t think his character that big enough to warrant a return, I don’t hate the idea and that might be down to Joivan Wade who comes across as a likeable person who gets the world he finds himself in really quickly.

The Doctor using his hand to move the TARDIS out of the way of an incoming train is such a fantastically ludicrous thing. It’s amusing to me that Clara comes up with the Adams Family reference and the Doctor instantly knows what to do. The Doctor being stuck in the TARDIS is a brave thing to do really because it means that Clara has drive the story outside of the TARDIS. Clara comes up with the idea to save the Doctor without any help from the Doctor. This has been the strongest episode for Jenna Coleman.

Captain Grumpy makes another appearance and this is another appearance where he isn’t quite as grumpy as he was. I don’t know if he will lose the grumpy title because he becomes quite involved in the next episode but the last couple of appearances have shown Captain Grumpy to be less grumpy than I have implied but I have a suspicion that this will change and he will show me the reason why he deserved to be called Captain Grumpy.

Missy makes an appearance at the end where she is holding a tablet showing Clara and Missy saying that she chose wisely. This is the most that we have got from the Missy story arc for quite sometime. I remember thinking in 2014 (seems like a lifetime ago) that there were a million theories about who Missy was and this was a time when the end was being built up to and there is just one more episode before the series finale starts.

Flatline was another solid episode that flipped the dynamic of the Doctor/Companion relationship and seemed like a relatively cheap episode yet managed to maintain the drama and tension. I now have just four episodes left in the marathon and have to seriously start to think what I will do with my evenings. Maybe a Torchwood or a Sarah Jane Adventures marathon. I don’t know what I will do but the end is almost prepared for.

(808) Mummy on the Orient Express

Like Kill The Moon, todays episode has a rather interesting title. Any title that has the orient express in it is likely to make people think that Agatha Christie isn’t too far away and that would be the wrong because it’s the train orient express and its in space. The pre-title scene is quite good cause it pretty much sums the story up in 66 seconds and has a mummy in it. The friction between the Doctor and Clara does seem to have disappeared a bit because the first time they appear in the episode they act like things are normal. Although there is a line that seems to suggest this might be Clara’s final adventure. I think that it was obvious that she wouldn’t be leaving because some announcement would have been made or an announcement made about her successor so it seems a bit silly to act like she is leaving. There is a moment when Clara lies to Maisie and it seems like she the Doctor.  

There are two names in this episode which are well known. Well I say well known because I had never heard of Foxes who sings ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ at the beginning of the episode. Normally this would mean that she would play a bigger part in the story but that isn’t the case.\The other big name is Frank Skinner who has done a lot of things but at the moment is the host of Room 101. I quite Frank Skinner on that show and most of the things that he has done over the years but sadly I think that he wasn’t very convincing in this. It didn’t seem like he was acting but just giving the sort of performance a fan would give thinking it was a Laurence Olivier type performance. Christopher Villiers plays Professor Moorhouse and this is a return for him after appearing in The Kings Demons as Hugh. Janet Henfrey appears as Mrs Pitt and previously appeared in The Curse of Fenric as Miss Hardaker.

Captain Grumpy plays a small part in this episode and whilst he was quite positive I still think that he is Captain Grumpy but even grumpy people can have a bit of cheeriness in them.

The truth about the train is that everyone on the train is either a hologram or a scientist and the train changes to look like a lab. This is when the episode shifts a gear and really find its feet. The Mummy is a great costume design and despite not saying anything it is quite a good monster. It’s purpose is explained and there is a phrase that makes it stop and it is We Surrender and this means that the mummy is a soldier. There is then a quick burst of tension as the Doctor tries to stop everyone from suffocating. There is sadly no answer to who came up with Gus or why the mystery of the mummy needed solving. There is one visual effect shot where its hand goes through the Doctor’s head and I thought that was one of the coolest shots of the story.

The final scene with the Doctor and Clara is a nice one and one which seems to mend their relationship. By the very end of the episode it seems like they are on the same team and they go on more adventures. It might have taken much longer than it needed to but it seems like things are back to normal. I liked this story but I can’t say that it’s the best story of the series. This was the first story for Jamie Mathieson and he has done well with it. The idea in it was well conceived and worked out really well.