S9E1: "The Magician's Apprentice"

This episode was the best Doctor Who I've seen in quite some time. mind you, in dealing with some major changes in my personal life (an explanation for my hiatus) it's the only Doctor Who that I've seen since probably the Christmas episode, but the point still stands.

So, why was it so good? The first few ten minutes of the episode brought us to the past of Doctor Who, with visits to The Shadow Proclamation and Karn (and the Sisterhood), glimpses of ood, and I believe one Sycorax, a new, em, creature, Colony Sarff. But before all that, the name of the boy who was not going to die that day: Davros. (It's not a spoiler if it happened before the title sequence, right?)

S8E12: "Death in Heaven"

Well that tied up a lot of loose ends.

#Disclaimer:
I write under the assumption that you've seen the episode if you go past the page-break, which is only visible if you're on the home-page of the blog. Any other way, you must have clicked directly here, in which case, there is your error. As always, I do not give a synopsis, I give a critical reaction.

S8E9: "Flatline"

It's that time of week again...

I write under the assumption that you've seen the episode if you go past the page-break, which is only visible if you're on the home-page of the blog. Any other way, you must have clicked directly here, in which case, there is your error. As always, I do not give a synopsis, I give a critical reaction.

S8E7: "Kill the Moon"

As usual:
I write under the assumption that you've seen the episode if you go past the page-break, which is only visible if you're on the home-page of the blog. Any other way, you must have clicked directly here, in which case, there is your error. I do not give a synopsis, I give a critical reaction.

S8E6: "The Caretaker"

I write under the assumption that you've seen the episode if you go past the page-break, which is only visible if you're on the home-page of the blog. Any other way, you must have clicked directly here, in which case, there is your error. I do not give a synopsis, I give a critical reaction.

S8E5: "Time Heist"

I write under the assumption that you've seen the episode if you go past the page-break, which is only visible if you're on the home-page of the blog. Any other way, you must have clicked directly here, in which case, there is your error. I do not give a synopsis, I give a critical reaction.

S8E4 "Listen"

I write under the assumption that you've seen the episode if you go past the page-break, which is only visible if you're on the home-page of the blog. Any other way, you must have clicked directly here, in which case, there is your error. I do not give a synopsis, I give a critical reaction.

S8E2: Into the Dalek

This episode was absolutely phenomenal. It has great writing and a fantastic plot.

I am writing under the assumption that you have seen the episode if you go past the page-break, which is only visible if you're on the home-page of the blog. Any other way, you must have clicked directly there, in which case, there is your error. I do not give a synopsis, I give a critical reaction.

S8E1: Deep Breath

This episdoe, rightfully so, had a lot of hype surrounding it. Not only was it a series premier, but it was the premier of the new Doctor.

I don't think many people had much doubt that Capaldi would be fantastic, aside from the people who are still upset that he's not young like Matt and David were. But let that go. He was absolutely fantastic, as most expected. The character's arch through out the story was clear: he starts out confused and disoriented from regenerating, and becomes more and more coherent as the story goes on. That was done beautifully, not only in the acting, but it was a finer moment for Moffat's writing as well. The scene about the bedroom was just perfect.

The Time of the Doctor (Ley's Take)

Spoiler warning!

"The Night of the Doctor" Reaction

"I'm a Doctor...but probably not the one you're expecting."
#WhatYouDidThereISeeIt

You have to hand it to them--I had no idea Paul McGann was going to pop up in this.

There we have it. Undeniable proof  that the speculations were correct: John Hurt is a Doctor. Or, as the credits put it, he is "The War Doctor."

But what does it all mean? I don't know. But I'll try to make sense of it as I write.

Cass, a sassy young girl who wants to see the universe (Clara??), is pretty much about to die. But then her salvation comes in the form of the Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann. He looks a lot different since we saw him last--different hair, different clothes, but his personality remains the same.

Cass denies to go aboard the with the Doctor as soon as she hears that it's bigger on the inside. Because it's a TARDIS and he's a Time Lord. She snatches her wrist out of the Doctor's hand, "Don't touch me!!"

He knows exactly what her reaction was about and explains: he's not a part of the war and never was. But she doesn't care. He rebukes, "at least I'm not a Dalek!" She slams on a button to close the bulkhead and says, "who can tell the difference anymore?"

What had the Time Lords done in the Last Great Time War (LGTW) to make her react like that? To call the Doctor a Dalek? While we do see similarities to the Doctor and a Dalek in S1E6, "Dalek," (topic of that week's podcast), that's far in the future.

Then, they crash on the the planet Karn, home to the Sisterhood of Karn. This is a callback to the 1976 episode, "The Brain of Morbus." The Sisterhood was once ruled Gallifrey until the Time Lords booted them from power. So they are a crucial part of the history of Gallifery, which I predict we will learn much more about in "The Name of the Doctor." The leader of the Sisterhood, Ohila, sees the crash and says, "Here he is again...the man to end it all."

What is he going to end? Cass pointed that a lot of the universe had been destroyed with the war. Is he the one to end the universe? No--I think they imply that he is the one to end the war.

The Doctor critiques the Sisterhood--they are the Keepers of the Sacred Flame of Eternal Life (or eternal boredom, as the Doctor says...) That means two things. One, he's starting to think--Ten put it best-- that "a Time Lord lives too long..." (End of Time pt 2). And also--confirmed by the fact that Ohila talks about the improvements of regeneration--that the Sisterhood is responsible for making regeneration possible for Time Lords. Plus, one can now choose what the regeneration will be like.

Then, Eight does something. He takes Cass' belt, thinks about how he couldn't save her and says to Ohila, "Warrior...I don't suppose there's any need for a doctor anymore." Before drinking the elixir, he asks, "Will it hurt?" Ohila respond that it will. He says, "Good." He wants pain. Why? Why does he want to be in pain?He says the names of companions from the audio adventures (so they are officially cannon now!!), salutes his friends and companions...then apologises to Cass. He says, "Physician, heal thyself," a proverb from Luke 4:23. The common explanation of the proverb in context of the Bible is that, during Jesus' resurrection, he expects for people from Nazareth, his home, to use this phrase to criticise him, and that the people of Nazareth expect him to do miracles there like he has done other places. For the Doctor, it translates to saying that he is being expected to end the LGTW. The parallel could not be more striking, especially comparing the resurrection to regeneration.

He drinks the elixir then and regenerates. The first thing he does is touch Cass in sorrow and then he puts on her belt, prepared to fight with the memory of the the woman he killed.

The reflection of the newly-regenerated "War Doctor"

What happens next is key. He says, "Doctor no more," which corresponds directly to the end of "The Name of the Doctor" when Eleven says that what the War Doctor did was not in the name of the Doctor. We see his reflection, and it is younger than the white-haired John Hurt we are used to (but by the voice and credits we know it is supposed to be him). What does that mean? It means that this "War Doctor," as the credits put it, has, when we see him in "The Day of the Doctor," it has been quite some time--as the War Doctor we see then is more wrinkled and has white hair. So this has to mean that Time Lords do age some, visually. But how much time does it take to make the one in the reflection the one in the 50th? I guess only time will tell (see what I did there!).

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"Nightmare in Silver" 7x12

Original Air Date: 11 May 2013

I must say, I do like the new design of the Cybermen.

For me, at least, this weekend's episode didn't quite live up to expectations, like the rest of the 7.2 series. I don't know exactly what it is about it, but the closest thing I can get to is that they lack the continuity of overarching plots like we've now had since the very first time we heard the words "bad wolf" back in "Rose" in 2005 (The Nestene Consciousness said it). I mean, next week we are going to Trenzalore, and we can assume that Silence Will Fall, and that has been a plot point since 2010 ("The Eleventh Hour", said by Prisoner Zero), and there hasn't been a real mention of the Silence or anything since the Ponds, may they rest in peace.

"Nightmare in Silver", written by Minneapolis' own Neil Gaiman  reminded me of "Rings of Akhaten": the writing is okay, my problem lies with a Moffat decision: to not have any two-parters. I think that both of those episodes could easily have been two-parters. There was so much more to explore. The end of "Nightmare in Silver" was also a bit lacking. It was so simple, to just teleport out. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't do that earlier.

Matt Smith was very, very good. Usually, I am not too happy with him and find him not believeable, but he really played the Jeckyl/Hyde thing quite well. His eyes changed when he was being controlled by the cybernetic part of him, and it wasn't as transparent as I anticipated it being. So, kudos to you, Matt, if for some reason you are reading this. And if you are, I'd really like to know.

Clara held her own nicely, and Jenna-Louise Coleman also had a fine performance. For the most part, it was the first time that Clara was left to her own devices to get stuff done, and she filled the spot nicely.

Speaking of filling spots, I'm not going to ignore the little quasi-flirting that the Doctor did with Clara. We are left to assume that the Doctor (a plus to the possibility of learning the man's name next week? We can write it instead of "Doctor" and spice things up a bit) hasn't seen Rose in over 200 years and lets hope for his sake that he's moving on. Yes, he may be married, but some fans point out that Clara may be River Song after the Library. (The CAL kid looks like Clara more than a bit, and maybe she gave her likeness to River because the Doctor saved her or something like that....and we've heard that "The Name of the Doctor" does feature Dr. Song post-Library). Who knows! Yes, some lucky Americans who got the Blu-Ray leak, they know.
That's all I have to say on the ep for now. Comment your thoughts!

Also, please leave some comments as to what you'd like to see from the blog. Thanks :)

"The Crimson Horror" 7x11

Original Air Date: 4 May 2013

It might interest you to know that this was the 100th episode in the revival. It wasn't a significantly great episode, and it wasn't like "oooh, 100th ep!" or anything.

The callbacks to prior Doctorial shenanigans was fun. The refrences were almost exclusively to Tegan Jovanka, who was a companion of the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison). She's the "gobby Australian" the Doctor speaks of to Clara, harking back to Four to Doomsday to Time-Flight, over the course of which they are trying to get to Heathrow Airport. "Brave heart, Tegan" was something that the Doctor would say to her, and he says it to Clara in this episode. It'd be interesting to know why Tegan is on his mind.
I didn't see any real things of note as per the overarching plot of "Silence will Fall", which really should be coming up--"Nightmare in Silver" is next week, then "The Name of the Doctor", the 2012-3 season finale is the week after! (Does that mean two weeks until Trenzalore?)
I understand that it's helpful to have stand-alone eps to bring new viewers, but they are going to be quite confused come 18 May.
As for the episode on its own, I was happy to see Vastra, Strax, and Jenny back. I specifically loved the bit were the boy name Thomas Thomas (Tom Tom) gave Strax directions. The trio's dynamic is very fun, and I think their presence and persistence to find the Doctor have something to do with things that may (or may not) have happened post-Ponds, as well as what Clara is
As Seth pointed out to me, there was a bit of a role reversal at the end of the ep. He words it best:

"An Unearthly Child" had two authority figures investigating out of concern for a child, and getting inadvertently and unwillingly getting swept along in the TARDIS.
The end of tonight's episode has two children investigating out of concern for an authority figure, and begging to be let on board.

I'm not so sure if it means anything, and I don't know if the kids were investigating in concern; I interpreted it as they stumbled upon the photos. Who knows. But I think they're going to die in the next ep--they're cute and we know there will be cybermen.

What did you think of "The Crimson Horror?" Comment!

"Hide" and "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS"

Hide

"Hide" was a bit boring. It may be because I have ADHD (legitimately), or that it just wasn't amazing. It definitely had some high stakes, I'll give it that, and some very interesting dropped hints as to the social plot in the scene where Clara and Emma Grayling (the psychic) have a drink together. Wiskey is the eleventh most disgusting thing ever invented! (I wouldn't know). I was a bit confused--was Hilda supposed to be in love with that monster that looked like Voldemort mated with a Racnoss? I found that Neil Cross' writing was much better than it was in his last episode, which was "Rings of Akhatan". The refrence to Metebelis III was nice ("The Green Death", "Planet of the Spiders") Some people thought that the genre crossover into horror was a bit far-flung and strange, but I think we can all agree that David Tennant pulled off the orange space suit much better than Matt Smith.

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

I was seriously enthralled by "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS". As well as being absolutely horrifying at some parts, it was extremely high-stakes, threatening to kill Clara again. I have a friend who will be very disappointed that it doesn't feature the wardrobe room. I thought we would see more of the TARDIS, as I'm sure most people did, but it did feature parts of it that I hadn't even thought of, like the library. By far, I think this episode was the best in the season thus far, rivalling "The Angels take Manhattan". The plot was clear and easy to follow, although complex; it was explained well. It featured many emotions and evoked many emotions. Each of the actors were showcased very well. Don't you wish more things had a big friendly button?

"Rose"

Original Air Date: 26 March 2005 (leaked on 5 March 2005)

Have I ever mentioned that I love the song that plays at the very beginning  It's called "Westminster Bridge" if anyone's interested.
Did you notice that one of the autons chasing Rose is a shirtless woman?
About sixteen minutes in, we get the first glimpse of how this Ninth Doctor is gonna be.

Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go. That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home.

And, as soon as that bit ends, we hear "The Doctor's Theme" for the first time. It is an almost entirely vocal piece, deigned to evoke feelings of sadness and being lost. And it does. Prior to hearing this, the Doctor has appeared as a happy man, and every time we hear the song and the note progression from it, we know that the Doctor is remembering his past, what he is running from, and how alone he is.
Just once, I'd like to see someone go in the TARDIS for the first time and just be like, "Oh, okay, bigger on the inside."
Why do the boyfriends of "Who" get turned in to plastic?
"Lots of planets have a North!"
I've always found this episode a bit rediculous. Perhaps its just the idea of the Nesetene Consciousness and the whole living plastic thing. I don't know.

"Rings of Akhaten" and "Cold War"

I have to say, the second part of this season is not living up to my expectations. I really am quite disappointed  They remind me of the classic episodes in that they have a good plot, but lack the character development and complex emotion that I really love--and fully expect--from the show.
Moffat designed these episodes to be stand-alone, and I do get that having less of an over-arching plot helps new watchers ease in to how complex Doctor Who can be. While I'm sure that the 50th will be full of "never apply logic to Who" moments, I really miss the clever callbacks to previous episodes.

Here's what I've thought of the past two episodes:

Rings of Akhaten

I was certainly skeptic of the episode being billed as having the most aliens we've ever seen, but I was proven wrong. The one thing I have to ask: what was with that one who barked? is the translation matrix on the fritz?

The episode definitely filled my desire for those moments when we remind ourselves that the Doctor is going to be okay because we know that there's another episode on next week, a desire which was still left longing after "The Bells of Saint John".

The story and symbolism of the leaf was beautiful  I think that's almost a fact rather than an opinion  I wonder if Akhaten really sucked anything out of the Doctor-perhaps his memories of Rose? Why not go for the best (and worst) first?

I thought Emillia Jones was magnificent as Merry Gejelh. I hope that maybe we will see her again at some point. I always like seeing plots revolve around a child. It adds a new layer to the emotion behind things. 

Cold War

Talk about a stand-alone episode! It may have been a returning monster, but everything got explained perfectly. 

I'm a bit suspicious of the Ice Warrior out of it's armour. Was I the only one who thought it sounded like a Silent? I liked it a lot from an artistic perspective.

It seems that the translation matrix is still broken-even though it translated the spoken Russian, I saw some Cyrillic writing! 

I don't really have anything overwhelmingly bad to say about it, but there also wasn't anything very good, either. 

Aside from the wet Matt Smith. And even that-Matt, please stop trying to fix your hair: it is very distracting!

New Episode Reaction: The Bells of Saint John SPOILERS

I may be in the US, but I watched the premier with the UK.
And I have to say, I thought it would be a lot better.
The episode gets 2 1/2 stars.
That is not to say that it was bad and you are all not in for a treat, but for a premier episode, it was very lacking. Spoilers below.