(798) The Name of the Doctor

We are now down to the final three episodes of the Matt Smith era and it’s the beginning of the Doctor trilogy which incorporates the 50^th Anniversary Special and the Christmas Special. This is the 42^nd episode for Matt Smith and is now tied with Sylvester McCoy in terms of episodes. The problem when episode names are revealed is that fans (myself including) of jumping to conclusions. When it was revealed that this episode would be called The Name of the Doctor, people would assume that we learn what the Doctor’s name is. Of course things would never be that simple.

The episode starts off fantastically because it starts off with the First Doctor stealing the TARDIS (with Susan). Then we see the remaining Doctors and there is some clever editing used to put Jenna Coleman in with already recorded footage of the previous Doctors. It’s a sign of how good technology has become that this can be achieved and achieved well.

I don’t quite know why, but its good to see River Song again. It’s her first appearance since The Wedding of River Song and it felt like enough time had passed since that story. This is at the time of writing her last appearance in the show and the final scene for her was quite nice and it was good that her last word was her catchphrase.

Trenzalore is a word that has been mentioned occasionally throughout the last year and it becomes quite important to the story which I liked. Trenzalore is a place that a time traveller should never find themselves in. This is where the Doctor is buried. I like the build up to us seeing inside the tomb which is the console room and a bright white light where the console was. I love that look of the TARDIS because it shows the console room in the worst way imaginable.

The mystery about Clara is also revealed. The Clara seen in Asylum of the Daleks and The Snowmen are splintered versions of Clara. It’s a nice idea from Steven Moffat and it’s the ultimate sacrifice from Clara for the Doctor. It has been another good episode for Jenna Coleman who gets a lot to do and does it rather well.

The Whisper Men are a good creation and very effective in the story. It’s good to have Richard E Grant back because he is clearly loving playing the Great Intelligence. The Great Intelligence wants to go into the Doctor’s timeline and change every aspect of the Doctor’s timeline which is quite a bold idea. I think that they could be a monster in their own way without needing the Great Intelligence being in the story.

The final scene is fantastic and sees John Hurt introduced as The Doctor. This is a great moment because the Doctor finds Clara and it’s at this point we see the back of John Hurt and the Doctor reveals that this person is the Doctor who ‘broke the promise’ and is the Doctor’s secret. When he turns around and the caption appears INTRODUCING JOHN HURT AS THE DOCTOR. This was at a time when Peter Capaldi hadn’t been announced as the Doctor yet but Matt Smith’s departure had been announced so there was a possibility that John Hurt could be the Doctor.

This was a great ending to a series that has been very good. Even when we include the Amy/Rory part to the series, I have to say that the quality of stories has been better and the whole tone of the series has been better because it’s wallowing in darkness. This story does two things and does them quite well. The first thing is that is ends the series in the best way possible and also it leads up to the 50^th Anniversary. I am looking forward to tomorrows episode and the end seems to be getting closer.

(796) The Crimson Horror

Yorkshire 1893. Not somewhere that the show has visited often and the pre-title scene ends with an image of the Doctor appearing in someone’s eye. If I am being honest, I thought that this story didn’t quite fit into the range of stories that there have been in this half of the series. This is probably the weakest story of this half of the series and the weakest since A Town Called Mercy in terms of ratings.

This story sees the return of Jenn, Madame Vasta and Strax which in the past is something that wouldn’t have been a good thing just two years ago but since I have been watching these episodes a day at a time, I have grown to like this group. They start the episode and its 14 minutes before the Doctor makes an appearance and a further 3 minutes before Clara appears. The Doctor’s first appearance is rather strange because he is covered in some weird red make up.  Clara first appears via a flashback and a gobby Australian is mentioned and I thought that was a nice nod to Tegan if somewhat unexpected.

Dame Diana Rigg guest stars in this episode and her daughter is also in the episode and actually plays her daughter in the episode as Ada. Rachael Sterling plays Ada as a poor downtrodden young woman and Diana Rigg plays the character of Mrs Gillyflower as a rather unpleasant and at times vile old woman. Gillyflower’s secret has a bloodsucking leech attached to her. The actual leech thing is a bit silly looking and its one of those things that are better left to the imagination.

It’s a story that was ok but I don’t think that it is the best Mark Gatiss script. There are some good moments and I thought that the performances from Diana Rigg and Matt Smith were fun to watch but there was something that didn’t quite work for me. Another that I did like was the directing because it looked very grim and dark and helped added to the style of the episode.

I found the most interesting part when Clara returns home and sees a picture of her from 1974 (Hide) and 1983 (Cold War). It’s good that people who travel with the Doctor and there being physical evidence of their travels. What slightly ruins it is that those annoying kids are blackmailing her into travelling with the Doctor which leads into the penultimate episode of the series. The NEXT TIME trailer is one to get excited about because it features running Cybermen and what I think is the best Cyberman story of the new series.

(791) The Bells of Saint John

There are just 23 days left in my marathon and so I will still be finishing on Thursday August 6^th and its weird now to start thinking about what I will do with my evenings when this is finished. In this stage of Doctor Who, I have now reached the 50^th Anniversary year and the mid-way point of the 33^rd series of Doctor Who. The opening story of this half of the series is one that deals with a very modern technology and that is social media and technology. The story deals with Wi-Fi and that’s a good threat. Wi-Fi is everywhere and we have become so use to it that it could easily take over us.

One of the most interesting moments come when the TARDIS lands on a plane that is about to crash into London and the Doctor has to try and land it. For bonkers moments it certainly up there. Another of the most interesting moments and arguably the best is when the Doctor uses a bike to ride up the top of the Shard.

This story sees the third different version of Clara for Jenna Coleman to play. This however is the version that she sticks with. I don’t quite buy the nanny situation that she starts the story in because it seems like a rather convenient thing and is perhaps the only aspect of the episode that didn’t quite work. During the first conversation between the Doctor and Clara we learn that there is a woman that gave Clara the TARDIS phone number (thinking it was a internet helpline number) and at the time this doesn’t mean anything but would go on to mean that it was the Master/Missy. It’s weird that such a insignificant moment doesn’t get mentioned until towards the end of Peter Capaldi’s first series.

Celia Imrie is one of the big names of this episode where she is playing the sort of role that Sarah Lancashire played in Partners in Crime. I quite liked the character as there were moments when I found her unlikeable. When she is back to normal she starts talking like a child and that suggest that she has been under the control of the Great Intelligence for quite a long time. Richard E Grant makes a surprise return as it seems that he has become the voice of the Great Intelligence taking over from Ian McKellen.

The big scene between the Doctor and Miss Kizlet comes quite late in the episode and was quite good as the Doctor made Miss Kizlet think that she was talking to the Doctor but it the robotic version of him. That was a nice twist which I had forgotten about and to be honest I had forgotten most of this episode when it aired in 2013 so it was nice to see this episode again. The Bells of Saint John was a nice episode that starts the Clara Oswald aspect of the series well. The title is a bit misleading really cause it has very little to do with the story. The Great Intelligence being part of the story arc is something that is a good idea from Steven Moffat and I am looking forward to the second half of the series and the build up to the Anniversary continues.

(790) The Snowmen

I have now arrived at the eighth Christmas Special of the new era and one thing is clear and it’s that the Moffat Christmas Specials feel more Christmassy than the RTD ones. We get a new title sequence which is rather good and sees Matt Smith’s face in the credits. That is the first time since Sylvester McCoy’s era that a face has appeared. We also get a new TARDIS console room and I quite like it. There is a small glimpse in the middle of the story but its not until towards the end that we get to see it in all its splendour.

In this story we get not one but two big names in this Christmas Special. The first is Gandalf. Ian McKellen is one of the big names in the world at the moment and obviously famous recently for the Hobbit and Lord of the Ring films and he does the voice of the Great Intelligence. I think that McKellen probably deserved a better role than just being a voice. It’s becoming a regular theme for casting big names and giving them less than ideal character. Someone that this doesn’t apply to is Richard E Grant who ironically played the Doctor in Scream of the Shalka. His first scene ends with him watching over a group of workers being killed by Snowmen and it’s a great opening bit. He was superbly cast and played it brilliantly.

Jenna Coleman makes her second appearance in Doctor Who although its as Clara. Coleman is rather good as she seems quite confident in the role so soon after joining. In this story she has to play two different version of the character and does it quite well. Oddly she dies and its only when she dies that we know that she is called Clara Oswin Oswald who was born on November 23^rd. As much as I have enjoyed the character of Clara/Oswin, I would like a companion to be introduced to Doctor Who that didn’t have some backstory

There are great visual in this story. The first is obviously the killer Snowmen who look quite scary and not the sort of Snowmen that you would want to stick a carrot in the middle of its face. The next is when Clara climbs the staircase and sees the TARDIS on the clouds. Another was the Ice Nanny

Ok I have been whinging about how the Strax/Jenny and Madame Vastra gang and how its terrible but watching this story I found myself liking it and in particular Strax. I thought that Dan Starkey played the role perfectly and there was a nice vibe from the character. Strax’s interaction with the Doctor was highly amusing because they were quite dysfunctional.

There is a funny moment where the Doctor is pretending to be Sherlock Holmes and its funny because of Steven Moffat’s involvement with the current BBC version of Sherlock. There is another funny (not ha ha funny) bit where the Doctor pretty much sets up the events of what will happen in The Web of Fear. He has a lunch box with markings of the underground and the Great Intelligence says he doesn’t recognise the markings and the Doctor tells him that is it strategic weakness

I liked this story a lot more than I thought I would. It was a Christmas special that was more about the characters than the actual story. Despite this it’s still a better Christmas story than the previous one and somehow I think its better than Smith’s first Christmas Special. Even though there will be less than twelve hours between todays episode and tomorrows, when the shows aired there was three months before Clara would return properly. The show is now entering its 50^th year and the build up to the Anniversary special starts now.

(787) A Town Called Mercy

A Western is another thing that Doctor Who has done in the past that didn’t work out quite well. Yesterdays episode was Dinosaurs and todays is the western which was attempted in 1966’s The Gunfighters. In 1966 they filmed in a TV studio in London, this story was filmed in ‘Mini-Hollywood’ in Spain and its incredible just how much location filming can make a story come alive. I honestly believe that if they could have found the budget to film outside then it would have worked. The western town that was used in Red Dwarf 6 would have helped but sadly we have to wait until this story for a Western story to be done right.

The pre-title scene is shorter than usual running at just over a minute. It pretty much sets the tone of the episode and this is another story from Toby Whithouse and another one that has some interesting characters. The gunslinger is rather good although he does a little bit like Kryten at times. The idea that he is someone seeking revenge is good. The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive at Mercy where a psychotic cyborg is watching over the town and the cyborg is after Kahler-Jex. At first Kahler-Jex is seen as an innocent person but quite quickly its revealed that he is infect a bad person. There is a nice moral question in this story and its whether the Doctor sacrifices Jex to save the residents of Mercy. There is a lot of not wanting to give Jex up despite all the bad things he has done so it’s a little surprising when Jex ends up killing himself. It seems like a 180 degree personality turn. It all gets wrapped up neatly at the end because the gunslinger (cyborg) is made the Marshall and looks over the town.

The central performances were good and whilst it still feels slightly odd to have Gillan and Darvill in the story, their presence feels put into the story than it did in Asylum of the Daleks. Smith’s performances continue to be good and his scenes with Jex are very good and the highlights of the episode.

This is a story with a good plot and some good location filming. I thought that despite it being filmed in Spain, it feels like we are in the mid-west. Despite this the story didn’t grab me in the way that I thought it would. It’s certainly not bad but I don’t know if I am not in the mood for today’s episode or what but something hasn’t worked on me in the same way that it did when it was transmitted in September 2012.

Three episodes in and the series is slowly starting to feel like it did in 2010. The dark tone from the previous series has well and truly gone and the humour is starting to get more involved in the stories. Without the silence and River and the heaviness the show is getting its mojo back and its weird to think that there are just two episodes before the Christmas Special. Two more episodes before Jenna Coleman joins the show properly and the Amy and Rory era is coming to an end.

(786) Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

The last time that Dinosaurs featured in Doctor Who, it wasn’t the greatest of experiences. Invasion of the Dinosaurs was a good story but was let down by the rather poor dinosaurs. So it was with great curiosity that Dinosaurs made a return to modern Who. There is a ship heading towards earth where the Doctor has six hours stopping a ship from being destroyed. That’s the whole point of the episode but there is a whole thing about Solomon taking Queen Nefertiti that seemed to get bolted on at the end which didn’t really make much sense.

Mark Williams joins the show as Brian Williams (Rory’s Dad) and is the best casting since Bernard Cribbins was cast as Wilfred Mott. Everytime he talks I find it funny and I love the bit where he is sitting on the edge of the TARDIS looking at the earth.

First thing to say about the story is that the Dinosaurs are much better than the 1974 version. That should go without saying. There is a mixture of CGI and physical props and its difficult to tell the difference. I suppose that computer graphics have improved enough in the intervening 38 years and I think that if Barry Letts had been arrived in 2012 then he would have liked these dinosaurs in his story because Invasion of the Dinosaurs would be rated differently by fans.

Robert Webb and David Mitchell are a comedy duo and voice the two Robots. At first I found the robots to be annoying but over the course of the episode, they seem to be quite funny and I wish that they were allowed to be more in the story because they are actually quite funny people and if you are going to have a comedy double act then you should at least let them show their talents.

David Bradley plays Solomon who is a rather unlikeable person but shortly after this he would play William Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time. Solomon wanted refuge on the Silurians ship, killed the Silurians to get the cargo and then got outsmarted by the Silurians in death so he is stuck on the ship. The interation between Solomon and the Doctor is quite good and its easy (ish) to dislike Solomon because he really has no remorse for killing the Silurians.

I thought this was an ok story but the mixed tone meant that I couldn’t really get involved in the story and thought that after the great start to the series, this one was always going to struggle to match it. I didn’t have quite the same problem with Amy and Rory that I did in the previous story. The NEXT TIME trailer reminds me that a good story is coming up and this series so far does seem to be slightly better than the previous one. It is definelty more lighter in tone than the previous one.