Review - The Day of the Doctor

Well there was a whole bunch of hype leading up to this momentous event. It could have gone either way, but I'm glad to say it lived up to the hype, and I very much enjoyed The Day of the Doctor.

The 50th anniversary Special - The Day of the Doctor

Starting with the original credits and a reference to both Coal Hill Secondary School and the I. M. Foreman scrapyard where we first encountered the TARDIS in An Unearthly Child, right from the off you can see we are set for a whole flood of references to the past 50 years of Doctor Who. We had a couple of references to Omega, a big scarf, some nice bits and bobs in the Black Archive, and to my great pleasure, a reversal of the polarity. Sure, it wasn't of the neutron flow, but obviously The Doctor has sharpened his physics knowledge in recent years.

Nostalgia ahoy!

The Moment was sort of interesting, but I'm still not sure how I feel about it choosing Rose/Bad Wolf as it's interface form. This essentially boils down to getting Billie Piper into the episode somehow, really, but that's fine. It would have been good to see the Interface shift a few times to take on other forms using file footage. Maybe just flicker between them at times, or when first settling on a form.

When Ten and Eleven get together the interplay between them is truly awesome. Matt Smith and David Tennent have a clear chemistry on screen that gives a wonderful energy to the episode. I was worried John Hurt's War Doctor would end up being all dour and sombre and kill the buzz, but he only made things better. I loved every second of Hurt's interplay with the other two Doctors. In a way he was an in-show avatar of me expressing confused bewilderment at where Doctor Who has ended up, commenting on everything from the age of the other Doctors to the use of the phrase "Timey wimey".

They're scientific instruments, not water pistols!

Despite making fun of many of the things that usually irk me, we still had a whopping great In-Who-Endo added when Ten and Eleven compared Sonic Screwdrivers. We had plenty of other bits of funny banter between them without resorting to a tired old dick joke, thanks very much.

Hur hur hur! Willies.

Some of the scene transitions seemed to be a bit weird. I recall one wipe came in far too soon, whilst Kate Stewart was still talking, which seemed a bit sloppy to me. That said, the morph effects on the Zygons were awesome. Really smooth and natural looking. The 3D paintings looked really cool too. I imagine seeing it in 3D would have been quite the treat at that point, but I feel it would have been wasted throughout most of the rest of the episode.

The episode did have some pretty glaring continuity issues though. I'm still struggling to see how this whole thing fits with the events of The End of Time. The Doctor is clearly now looking to find Gallifrey and restore it to the galaxy, but he was previously determined not to let the Time Lords return because they planned to destroy reality. Is the Time Lock the same thing as the Stasis Cube, or are Rassilon and the other Time Lord high council trapped somewhere else? Hopefully subsequent episodes that build on this story and fill in the gaps, because I am rather confused at the moment. I may have to re-watch The End of Time again and see if that helps. It would have been awesome if they got Timothy Dalton back in to play Rassilon though.

There were also some internal story issues with Elizabeth and the Zygons. She would have had to be remarkably quick thinking to be able to replace the Commander and subsequently find out all of the details of the Zygon's plans without arousing suspicion. Overall I found that to be a tad clumsy even with the offhand "they never considered I would survive" line. It was fun to see the gap in Ten's life just previous to The End of Time filled in there. Of course you have to feel bad for Liz because you know she's going to end up bitter and hateful towards The Doctor. I'm also left feeling The Doctor is a bit of a dick for following through with the wedding when he wasn't actually interested. And how is he able to tell Ood Sigma about it? Doesn't he forget? Either way, John Hurt made that little bit of Hunka hunka burning Doc tolerable.

Is there a lot of this in the future?

It does start to happen, yeah.

The Zygon plot was sort of left unresolved. I don't think it would have taken too much to make mention in the closing scenes of whatever resolution they came up with. It felt a little unfinished, or that Steven Moffat decided it wasn't important any more, as we'd moved on to resolving the Time War plot, which was far more interesting and important. In a way it was always just a secondary plot that provided the vehicle for plot exposition as well as the final solution, but it got so much screen time that I feel it deserved more of a resolution than it received.

Throwing Capaldi in there at the end was inspired. I only wish that was the first reveal of him in the role of Twelve. The fan reaction would have been insane, especially if it was just that short flash of his eyes. There would have been so much discussion about who it was. Such a missed opportunity.

Do you recognise these eyes?

Overall I'm excited about how things were left, even if I was a bit annoyed at throwing Tom Baker in there with a weak "reusing old faces" line. Seeking out and freeing Gallifrey is a great way to go, assuming the aforementioned plot confusion is addressed. Most excitingly it gives us an opportunity to resurrect a sorely wasted foe.

The Master is waiting!

10/10

Can we fix it?

No. All we need was a bit more exposition on some of the minor plot points and the removal of a rogue wang reference. It was a perfect homage to the 50 years, encapsulated in that epic final shot.

Review - Tooth And Claw

The Doctor and Rose take yet another jaunt to the Victorian era, this time in Scotland so the new Doctor can take his native accent for a spin in Tooth and Claw.

Season 2, Episode 2 - Tooth And Claw

We open on a precession of sinister looking monks. We know they're shifty because they're all wearing black hooded robes. Well, for a while, anyway. The black is soon shed in one of the most genre-wrenchingly random moves I've ever seen, as the monks bust out some  Shaolin wire-fighting Kung Fu action.

History's coming to life!

The Doctor and Rose appear in Scotland just in time to meet up with Queen Victoria herself. I can see why there is so much crossover between Whovians and Steampunks. The Doctor does seem to spend an awful lot of time in the age of steam. Pauline Collins was far from a dead ringer for Vicky. They could have padded her up a bit or something. Still, she did a top job. 

Not a lot of Maccas on the road to Scotland.

Hong Kong movie tricks aside, this is only a slight twist on a classic monster movie plot. People alone for the night in an isolated manse at the mercy of The Wolfman. Lycanthropy as an alien inteligence was an interesting concept, and was exposed reasonably well over the course of the episode. Sir Robert's story telling was maybe a bit of a clumsy or rushed way of getting the background out there, but within the constraints of the 45 minute format, there's very few ways of doing that.

The werewolf effects were very good though. The change scene was slick and the creature itself was very natural looking, with only the occasional bit of dodgy movement.

Don't mind him. Time of the month, you know?

The idea of a trained allergy to mistletoe as a means of control was inspired. If the monks worship the Werewolf, though, why do they feel they need to control it? If the creature itself is aware of the plot to infect Queen Victoria and is clearly a willing participant, why is it being hauled around in a cage?

I liked the use if the Koh-i-Noor diamond in the solution. I also adored the fact that the solution was not The Doctor's, but had been devised years before by Prince Albert and Sir Robert's dad. The Doctor only had to put the pieces together. 

I believe the term is "Pew! Pew!"

Of course the big reveal of this episode is the creation of Torchwood, which as we know, is the season arc for season two. This one is by far the least subtle season arc hint of them all. The Queen's detailed explanation of her plan to set up an institute to fight aliens was verging on Bond-villain monologue.

More than enough of a hint without a word being spoken.

Despite the unanswered questions about the monks and their relationship with the creature, this is a very watchable episode. The pacing was good and the supporting characters, with the possible exception of Father Angelo, are all strong and well performed. All up, quite re-watchable.

8/10

Can we fix it?

Only a couple of tweaks needed here, really. As we are already taking the time to tell stories around the dinner table, surely Father Angelo could have given us a bit more of an indication of his part in the whole thing. It'd be tough to balance with The Doctor's research in the library scene. A nice subtle hint at the end of Sir Robert's chunk of plot exposition would have been better than having a little sing-song.

Review - New Earth

Back into the swing of things again with the new Doctor, this time taking a trip far into the future to meet an old enemy on New Earth.

Season 2, Episode 1 - New Earth

We get very early hints at the villain in the form of the spiders from The End of the World. Just to be safe we're also given a verbal reminder by The Doctor talking about Earth burning. Of course this leads to a very early reveal of Cassandra and her new attendant, Chip.

Of course this early reveal is a bit of a fake-out, because whilst Cassandra is up to no good, she is clearly not the main issue here.

The Sisters of Plenitude were a solid set of Agent Goons, set up nicely as the sort of villains that think they're doing good. Of course there are all sorts of subtle moral questions at play here, and it's funny because I can sort of sympathise with the Sisters here. I suppose it depends on how you feel about things like cloning and animal testing.

It's a perfect excuse to see Angry Doctor though.

I like how they worked in an explanation on how the clones can communicate. It may have been a bit half baked, but it was worked in naturally and didn't really need to be expanded any further. The clones themselves were yet another "move forward slowly and menacingly" Zombie-like type of Monster Goon. 

Grrrr! Arrrrgh!

The Doctor's eventual solution seemed a little glossed over and was rather simple. I get why the disease would be instantly transferred on touch, but why was the cure also transferred? The cure liquid was somehow strong enough for the residual amounts transferred by the brush of a hand to be effective on those heavily infected clones, but used on the patients it took days to work? Hmmmmm.

Cassandra's ability to disembody and possess a new body was similarly glossed over. Was that a side-effect of the Psycho Graft? Why didn't she just possess a Sister and get the info she needed that way? I suppose inhabiting a non-human body would probably have been distasteful for her. Didn't stop her possessing The Doctor though.

A good chunk of this episode was devoted to re-establishing The Doctor as a love interest for Rose. It seemed they had decided by about mid-Season-1 that the relationship was platonic (apart from that bizarre kiss cure at the end of The Parting of the Ways) but now he's looking younger and hotter, seems Rose is back on the Hunka hunka burning Doc train. First we see poor Mickey getting played again:

"I love you."

"See ya."

Then we've got all of Cassandra's teasing and In-Who-Endo when she possesses The Doctor. Of course Cadsandra herself gets in on the action:

To be fair, if you'd been a flap of skin for a few hundred years,
you'd probably jump whomever was handy.

The Doctor's reaction to it is a weak, "I've still got it." Now that's a classic line and was played well. Sadly it doesn't fit The Doctor at all. There is clearly a strong push to make this relationship romantic from early on.

Cassandra's end this time around was much better though, much more Doctor-like than Nine's murder through inaction. It was a good way to end the episode. Not quite enough to fully salvage it though. Ultimately there wasn't much to this episode beyond setting up the Doctor / Rose romance. I could really take or leave this one.

5/10

Can we fix it?

Of course the first thing I'd do here is ease up on the romance. The subtle hint with Rose not reciprocating Mickey's "I love you" was enough. All of Cassandra's teasing and The Doctor's reaction to the kiss can go. The kiss is fine, but The Doctor should push Rose away and be all, "What the hell are you doing?" This behavior from Rose should be as much of a clue something has happened to her as her not caring about the clones.

I'd add a bit more explanation to how The Doctor's cure worked. This would involve a bit of an expansion to the explanation of how the clones work. Essentially the clones are infected with everything and their modified immune systems are producing huge amounts of antibodies for all their diseases. In order to ensure the clones stay sick (and continue producing antibodies) they all have one specially designed cancer that somehow draws the antibodies into special tumours around the clones' necks and faces, where they are syphoned off by the Sisters of Plenitude to give to patients.

The Doctor determines that curing this "keystone cancer" will allow the clones' immune systems to distribute the antibodies and cure them. After some thinking and tinkering and mixing of cures, the overall solution plays out the same way with The Doctor adding a line about how the cure will be taken up and replicated by the clones and excreted from the skin once the tumours are no longer collecting it, meaning it can be passed on by touch. Once their immune systems have destroyed all of their multitude of illnesses they return to normal.

Just a little extra depth to make the ending easier to swallow. It'd still not be a favourite, but they can't all be, can they?