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REVIEW: The Vampires of Venice by Toby Whithouse

SERIAL: PB5, 5.6, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Doctor Who has never shied away from the supernatural, even if not actually portraying them in as supernatural a light as they usually are. Vampires appeared on a planet in a bubble universe in State of Decay, spawned by a deadly entity that once fought the Time Lords, and as the Haemovores from The Curse of Fenric, vampiric descendants of humanity from an alternate, polluted future brought about by the evil Fenric. So what bigger draw to the series in this post-Buffy and Twilight generation than having vampires, and in Venice? But can it make for more than an alliterative title?

Realising that Amy has issues about her impending marriage to Rory Williams, the Doctor intervenes, and gives Rory and Amy a wedding gift, a trip to Venice in 1580. But he soon learns that the House of Calvierri, which runs a prestigious school for girls, has dark secrets. Teaming up with boatbuilder Guido, whose daughter is in the school, but changing into something, the Doctor and his companions soon learn that the girls, as well as Signora Rosanna Calvieri and her son, don't like sunlight, have sharp fangs, and don't appear in mirrors. Vampires? That's what it seems like at first. But the truth may be even more dangerous for the Doctor, Amy, Rory, and the city of Venice. The Saturnyne have arrived in the city as refugees from another world, and they intend to make Venice their new kingdom, no matter what the cost...

Finally, after the first three episodes (and excluding the brilliant previous two-parter), we have a story that finally gets back to the norm. Not brilliant, not bad, but just run of the mill for the series. It's a nice gimmick to have vampires in Venice, and to reveal that they are a very different kind of alien (a sort of bizarre fish-prawn hybrid), and the aliens are sympathetic, even if they are nasty in the end, although the Doctor doesn't even give them a chance to stop, compared to earlier iterations. And the storyline around Rory and Amy's wedding is nice. It's just a little too traditional and run of the mill, albeit with some nice dialogue.

Matt Smith continues to do fine as the Doctor, with joy and anger taking part. Karen Gillian as Amy doesn't exactly inspire, although she does have her moments. However, Arthur Darvill as Rory shines here, being an ordinary bloke thrown into the adventures of the Doctor, and calling him out about how eager people are to impress him. Of the guest stars, Helen McCrory is elegant and menacing as Rosanna, although she could have been a little more evil. Alex Price as Francesco is clearly enjoying himself, even if his character is little more than an evil mamma's boy. Lucian Msamati as Guido is good, even if the character doesn't seem to be used as best as I think possible.

The design of this story is gorgeous, and the direction suits a suspenseful period drama and horror. Someone clearly went to town with the costumes, and the location filming in Trogir, Croatia (which was actually settled by Venetians) helps sell the story. But unfortunately, it's a shame about the special effects. The Saturnyne are, as often is the case with Doctor Who monsters in the new series, a good design, but shame about the execution. They are suitably bizarre and horrifying, and only the conspicuous nature of the CGI effects break the illusion. This isn't helped by the final storm scene, either.

The Vampires of Venice, while average by Doctor Who standards, still shows promise that the series can continue to capture the magic. A quirky, if rather standard, mystery for the series, and one that hints ominously at Silence...


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for Amy's Choice...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDKva5s39kU[/youtube]

REVIEW: Amy's Choice by Simon Nye

SERIAL: PB7, 5.7, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


With the addition of Rory in the TARDIS crew, there would inevitably be some friction. And so Steven Moffat turned to an unusual choice for the episode that would address that. Fellow comedy writer Simon Nye (of Men Behaving Badly fame) would write a story where the issues of Amy and Rory travelling with the Doctor would be resolved, and where hints of the Doctor's future would come in...

Five years after leaving the Doctor, Amy and Rory are living in Leadworth, Rory now a doctor, and Amy heavily pregnant. The Doctor comes to visit. Except...they fall asleep, and awake in the TARDIS, where it malfunctions. Two realities, each apparently mutually exclusive. And soon, they realise who the culprit is. The malevolent, impish Dream Lord is the mastermind, and he has decided to play a little game with them: two worlds, one a dream, one a fake. Both with deadly dangers, with homicidal aliens inhabiting the elderly in Leadworth, and a cold star in the TARDIS. And if they die in the wrong world, they die for good. But even as they struggle to tell which reality is which, the Dream Lord taunts them, showing intimate knowledge of all three time travellers, and intending to turn them against each other. As the TARDIS begins to freeze in one reality, and the alien parasites begin decimating Leadworth in another, the Doctor, Rory, and Amy find themselves at loggerheads. Who is the Dream Lord? Why is he so determined to make the time travellers suffer? And which world is the true reality? As it turns out, it may be Amy's choice in the end, whether to go with the Doctor, or with Rory...

Given the writer, Amy's Choice turns out to be quite a good story, with some good twists and some real psychological uncertainty. While not quite at the psychological horror level of some other previous stories, it nonetheless has a sense of mystery sustained throughout that works, and the final resolution of Amy's relationship issues is actually quite well done. We also see, in the Dream Lord, some foreshadowing of a character who should recur before long: the Valeyard. After all, they are both the distilled darkness of the Doctor.

In this story, there are four characters that matter: the time travellers and the Dream Lord. Matt Smith's Doctor is good, and Amy actually gets some development here, with her actions regarding Rory's 'death' and calling out the Doctor understated but good. Not sure about her faking labour to piss the Doctor and Rory off, though. Rory is getting even better, and Arthur Darvill is getting even better. Particular note has to go to the impish Toby Jones as the Dream Lord, who manages to make his character more interesting than the Valeyard, being more snide and sly than bombastic and malicious. The Enkodine weren't exactly well done, but then again, it was meant to pastiche the usual plot of the series.

Production-wise, it's a bit staid. It suits this story, of course, but one wishes that the psychological elements of the story were brought a little more to the fore. Instead, it feels a little too staid and plodding. This doesn't make the story bad at all, just not as good as it could be. Most of the special effects work, save for the Enkodine disintegration effects. The music is used to great effect, with strange, reversed-sounding music being played.

Amy's Choice helps show that the series under Moffat is still capable of continuing. Not only that, but it takes care of some of the tension in the TARDIS, with a nice, cerebral episode...



SCORE: 9/10


And now, the next time trailers for The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYsHN4YAZKs[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ffu38PcLqA[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood by Chris Chibnall

SERIAL: PB4, 5.8/5.9, 2 X 45 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


If I had to choose a particular favourite out of all the aliens and creatures from throughout the series, after some careful consideration, I would choose the Silurians. Created by Malcolm Hulke after a discussion with Terrance Dicks, these creatures are sympathetic in their motives, being residents of Earth before humanity. But with the new series reviving them, can they be brought back with any success? Or should they have remained buried?

Cwmtaff, a small village in Wales in 2020, the site of the Discovery Drilling Project. Headed by Dr Nasreen Chaudry and Tony Mack, it is designed to drill deep into the Earth's crust, trying to find what has caused trace minerals to come to the surface for the first time in millions of years. But when the Doctor, Amy, and Rory arrive, having intended to head to Rio de Janeiro, they find trouble. Tony's son-in-law Mo has disappeared. Corpses are being taken out of their graves from beneath. And when the drill is started up again, Amy is sucked into the very soil itself. The Doctor soon learns that the soil beneath their feet has been converted into a potent weapon by a race he knows very well: Homo reptilia, AKA the Silurians. A group of the humanoid reptiles had been hibernating for millions of years beneath the ground, and have viewed the drilling as an attack on their underground city. One is taken hostage, but many humans, like the son of Mo and his wife Ambrose, Amy, and Mo, have been taken prisoner as well. The Doctor is determined not only to rescue them, but broker a peace between the Silurians and humanity. But he has failed before, and with both sides harbouring warmongerers, it may be that even if he succeeds, it will come at great cost...

In a way, this story is almost a remake of the original story, Doctor Who and the Silurians. A scientific installation disturbs the hibernation of the Silurians, and despite the Doctor's attempts at negotiations, ends rather badly for both. But Chris Chibnall manages to surpass even Malcolm Hulke, the creator of the Silurians, in this story. We have the Doctor succeeding, after a fashion, in his negotiations, even if the resurgence of the Silurians won't be for another millennium. Themes of family, and how close the humans and the Silurians are in nature are expanded upon, something that wasn't as much explored in the original serial. And the death of Rory and the revelation of what might have caused the cracks in time are suitably unexpected and disturbing.

Like Hulke's stories, this story's key success is in the characters. Matt Smith's Doctor is doing well here, particularly when confronting Alaya for her pretending to be the last of her kind. Karen Gillian as Amy is surprisingly good here, especially during the scenes when she is suffering from the loss of Rory, and Rory...it is touching to see the Doctor show how much he truly trusts him, and his death scene is played well. Neve MacIntosh pulls quite excellent double duty as both Alaya and Restac, and manages to convince us that they are different, albeit subtly so, characters. Meera Syal's Chaudry, Nia Roberts' Ambrose, and Stephen Moore's Eldane also deserve particular praise.

Oh, is there any part of this story that doesn't work? In my opinion, only the effects of the drill exploding and the Silurian tongue, and quite frankly, they are small potatoes compared to the whole. The Silurian redesign, while very different to previous iterations, actually help us empathise more with them more than the original costumes did, and so I think it was worth the reimagining. The sets of the Silurian city are marvellous, and even have some hints from the original story.

So far, it seems that the two-part stories are the best reason to keep watching Doctor Who. With this story comes the best reintroduction of a creature since Dalek. And here's hoping for more of the Silurians...


SCORE: 10/10


And now, the next time trailer for Vincent and the Doctor...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzme7w2CpEU[/youtube]

REVIEW: Vincent and the Doctor by Richard Curtis

SERIAL: PB5, 5.10, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Steven Moffat, before he wrote for Doctor Who, wrote for comedy, in particular founding the series Coupling, as well as writing the Comic Relief Doctor Who spoof The Curse of Fatal Death. And this season has seen him bring in other comedians. Mark Gatiss of The League of Gentlemen and Nebulous fame was an already established writer for the series, but while Simon Nye of Men Behaving Badly fame was a newcomer, so too was Richard Curtis. The creator of Blackadder and The Vicar of Dibley, he was commissioned to write an intriguing story, once more bringing the Doctor and his companion into contact with a famous historical figure...

The Doctor is taking Amy to all sorts of nice places, feeling responsible for Rory being erased from existence, and her memories. But a trip to the Musée d'Orsay and an exhibition of the works of Vincent van Gogh changes things. The Doctor spots a malevolent alien face in a window in The Church at Auvers, and decides to investigate. Travelling back to 1890, he and Amy find van Gogh a troubled soul, struggling to support himself on paintings felt to be worthless at the time, and subject to bad fits of depression and mental instability. But worse is happening: something is killing the locals, something only Vincent, with his mental problems, can see, and while the locals blame Vincent's madness, the Doctor and Amy soon realise that Vincent is telling the truth. But can they stop the alien monster before it kills more?

The story is a singular, very lightweight one, with no extra plot threads, and a rather overlong ending. But even then, Curtis shows that he can write drama fairly well, with the story centreing around van Gogh's depression, and the impact Amy and the Doctor have on his life. It's a wonderful, heartwarming and touching story, a little heavy-handed with the moral about depression, but still a needed one.

Matt Smith does fine as the Doctor, and Karen Gillian's Amy, while not exactly inspiring, nonetheless manages to pass muster. But it is Tony Curran's van Gogh that steals the show, playing a complex, tortured soul who manages to be both angsty and heroic while managing to remain human. Bill Nighy's small role as Doctor Black is a nice one, if not quite the best role for his talent.

The direction is rather sedate, but it suits this story, which is more about human drama, and the moods are right, more often than not. But unfortunately, this is one of the times where both the monster design and the realisation are a major failure. The Krafayis looks like a bizarre gigantic chicken, and while it does manage to look menacing sometimes, it also looks too bizarre and even a little comical, something not helped by the dud CGI.

Vincent and the Doctor is another nice little number that helps keep the fifth series above water. No means perfect, with a dodgy monster and a thin storyline, but a nonetheless good story.


SCORE: 9/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Lodger...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaHsWupNJlU[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Lodger by Gareth Roberts

SERIAL: PB7, 5.11, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No (not completely)

After the success of Human Nature/The Family of Blood and Blink as adaptations of other Doctor Who media, the time had come to try another adaptation. Steven Moffat tasked Gareth Roberts with adapting The Lodger, a comic strip Roberts wrote for Doctor Who Magazine. But could the adaptation work? Or would the story lodge like a piece of food, choking someone...

Meet Craig Owens, an office worker in Colchester with few aspirations, and enmeshed in a platonic relationship with Sophie, a coworker. Both want to move upwards, but are afraid of ruining it. But Craig is about to receive a very unconventional lodger: an eccentric calling himself the Doctor. The Doctor has been separated from his TARDIS, and it seems to be thanks to something in the upstairs rooms of Craig's house. But the Doctor must try to act like a normal human being so that the presence doesn't detect him. No small feat, as he begins to upstage and usurp Craig at every turn. What is the secret of the room upstairs, and why does it seem to lure people to their fate? Can the Doctor help Craig, or will Craig decide that the new lodger is too crazy for his tastes?

This is a fairly average story (by Doctor Who standards), nice, and domestic. Problem is, some of the comedy sticks out like a sore thumb, and I'm not comfortable with watching the Doctor be a gooseberry, as well as upstaging poor Craig. But it's not too bad, with some interesting foreshadowing of the Silence as they appear in the next series, a decent mystery, and some genuinely funny moments, like when the Doctor tells Craig who he is by two psychic headbutts (I wish I was making that up).

Matt Smith's comedy (and soccer!) skills come to the fore in this story as the Doctor, making for some good moments. James Corden as Craig is well scripted, if a little too much on the receiving end of the comedic abuse (being upstaged in particular), and Daisy Haggard's Sophie is fine enough. The other characters...fine enough, but not exactly memorable.

The direction suits this episode well, with the comedic and dramatic tones. Design is pretty good too, with the pseudo-TARDIS (linked to the Silence in next year's The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon) suitably sinister and recognisible. The special effects, or at least those that are there, also work well.

The Lodger is a nice bit of time-waste before the grand finale. Nothing too bad, just rather average dramedy with a happy ending. Until Amy discovers her engagement ring...


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Pandorica Opens (no next time trailer for The Big Bang)...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7oWxX8eWr4[/youtube]

Now that I'm coming to the end of series 5, I'm fairly sure that I will watch, and finish, series 6 shortly thereafter, thus finishing my sojourn through both the classic and new series.

However, that's far from the end of the blog. Another catch-up is due soon, and I intend to include the series 7 Christmas special, The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe, in that catch-up.

What stories will be in the next catch-up? Well, in order, and in all likelihood, the classic series stories The Daemons, The Face of Evil, Nightmare of Eden, (hopefully) Dragonfire, (hopefully) The Happiness Patrol, and the new series story The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe.

After that? I wonder whether I should watch and review each story as it is released. And there's also the possibility of watching and reviewing the animated stories The Infinite Quest and Dreamland. And then, there is one last possibility: listening to and watching any surviving material for the missing stories.

Looks like the stories left to be released is getting shorter. After Dragonfire and The Happiness Patrol, the following releases have been confirmed up until August (in the UK): Death to the Daleks, The Krotons, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, and Planet of Giants. The remaining stories yet to be released (including partially incomplete stories that have been released on VHS previously) are The Reign of Terror, The Tenth Planet, The Ice Warriors, The Ambassadors of Death, The Mind of Evil, and Terror of the Zygons, along with the surviving footage from Shada, and the newly found episodes from Galaxy 4 and The Underwater Menace.

REVIEW: The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: PB6, 5.12/5.13, 2 X 50 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


After the entire series, Steven Moffat not only had to bring in a threat to test the Doctor's mettle, but also wrap up the threads of the series. Between cracks in time and space, Amy being apparently central to events, and whispers of the Pandorica, something had to be resolved...

In the last days of his life, the tormented Vincent van Gogh paints a disturbing painting: The Pandorica Opens, depicting the TARDIS exploding. River escapes from prison after she is called by Winston Churchill, who saw the painting. River then steals the painting, and brings the Doctor and Amy to 104 AD, Britain, near Stonehenge, where River has managed to deceive a group of Roman soldiers. They learn that the Pandorica is nearby, buried under Stonehenge, a prison that is claimed to contain an evil creature of legend. But with his oldest enemies gathering in the skies above Earth, and Rory revived as a Roman centurion, the Doctor soon learns that everything centres around Amy. For her mind was used as the basis for a trap for the Doctor: the Pandorica is empty, awaiting the Doctor as its prisoner. The reason? An alliance of his enemies believe that he is responsible for the TARDIS exploding, and potentially wiping out all creation. But with River in a TARDIS hijacked by an unknown force, the Doctor is now trapped, unable to prevent the end of the universe, with the Earth at the eye of the storm. Can the Doctor, Rory, and Amy save reality itself?

The major complaints that I have with this story is that one: it feels disjointed, with two very different episodes, and two: the ending, as with the previous two finales (Journey's End and The End of Time, Part Two) goes on for too long. But I found my opinion of this story improving on a second viewing. The first episode in particular is an excellent one, with a genuine mystery surrounding Rory's miraculous revival and the identity of the prisoner of the Pandorica. The second part is rather bleak and apocalyptic, but spreads the story too thin and uses too much incident rather than plot. But there's some wonderful dialogue, and some foreshadowing of the future, even if those responsible for the destruction of the TARDIS are never quite identified (and I somehow doubt whether it was actually the Silence from the next series, despite the hints). We even see some things that were hinted at much earlier in the series, and the resolution is at least hinted at well before the conclusion, enough so that it isn't a deus ex machina.

Matt Smith does a good job as the Doctor, with an excellent speech and a rather heart-rending series of moments as his timeline unwinds, while Karen Gillian has some of her better moments as Amy, particularly when she remembers Rory, and her speech at her wedding. Arthur Darvill makes a welcome return as Rory, even if for most of the story he is an Auton Replica (why can't they use the word 'Auton'?), and Alex Kingston as River gets some moments, including one with a Dalek that foreshadows her future in series 6.

The production does fairly well, with the special effects working well enough, including the spaceships swarming above Stonehenge, the sun/exploding TARDIS, and the total event collapse at the end of the first episode. And Murray Gold chooses the exact right moment to have the music cut off into silence at the end of said episode. The stone Dalek is an excellent conceit, and does well.

It may take a while to get used to, but this story is actually quite a fitting end to the fifth series. Nice and good, but leaving too many questions unanswered, as well as being a little too uneven.


SCORE: 9/10

PROGRESS REPORT THIRTEEN: NEW SERIES FIVE: A MADMAN WITH A BOX

STORIES: Total for this era:

Cumulative total: 152. 15 William Hartnell, 6 Patrick Troughton. 17 Jon Pertwee. 37 Tom Baker. 20 Peter Davison. 11 Colin Baker. 9 Sylvester McCoy. 1 Paul McGann. 1 Spin-Off. 10 Christopher Eccleston. 36 David Tennant. 10 Matt Smith


TIME: Total for this era: 8 days

Cumulative total: 184 days

PERCENTAGE NEVER WATCHED BEFORE: 1/10, or 10%

Cumulative total: 43/173, or 25% (Wait, may have to revise this figure...)


MILESTONES:

First hints of the Silence

First hints of River's history


COMPANIONS: Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song


THOUGHTS:

Steven Moffat, writer of many a gem from the new series, took over as showrunner after Russell T Davies left the series. Many would have thought this a winning decision, especially when Moffat decided to bring things back to a fairytale air for the series. But reality can bite and bite hard, and with its first three episodes, two written by Moffat, one could be forgiven for thinking that the preconceptions were wrong.

Part of the blame, indirectly, can go to Moffat, or more specifically, his position as a showrunner. With less time to work on his scripts, and a need to contribute more of them, it's understandable that quality would drop, and he certainly put the effort in for the later stories he contributed to the series, both the two-parter Weeping Angels story, and the disjointed but good season finale. But one has to examine the curious choices made. The character of Amy Pond is really a child that never grew up, and while that could have worked in some regard, Amy doesn't work all the time, coming across as flat, though due to no fault of Karen Gillian, who proved in some key sequences that she could act. And the character's importance and competency soon turned out to have a very real reason behind it.

The magic of the series has, at times, been lost to spectacle that works to entertain but not always to involve. To be fair, the same could be said of some stories from Russell T Davies' era, or at least that the sentiment was laid on thick with a trowel. But even if they didn't manage to capture the fairytale feeling they were going for consistently, after the bumpy start, the fifth series picked up steam. Stories like The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood, Amy's Choice and Vincent and the Doctor showed where the series had been, and where it can go with great elan.

A new Doctor at the helm could also mean trouble, and while Matt Smith may not be anywhere near my favourite Doctor, he still manages to capture both the youth and the age of the character. And despite the rocky beginning of the series, Moffat warmed to me as a showrunner. The tone of the series may not be quite right, but the spirit is still there, still going. And let's hope that it does continue that way...


BEST STORIES: The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood

WORST STORIES: The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks

REVIEW: A Christmas Carol by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: PB1, 6.X, 60 minute special

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


When I first watched this story, I hated it. Not because it was a ripoff of the famous Charles Dickens story, but rather because it seemed almost pointless at the time, with the Doctor trying to redeem a bitter misanthropic miser. So now that I come to series 6 of the new series, and watching it again, will it remain bad, or will it improve on further viewing?

On a planet in the future, the weather and the world of a distant colony is controlled by the misanthropic miser Kazran Sardick. Unfortunately, the electrified fog created by his weather machine causes a spaceliner with Rory and Amy to start plummeting to the ground. With less than an hour to save them, the Doctor tries to appeal to Sardick, the only man who can save them, who rebuffs him. But although he initially intends to stop Sardick by force, he sees in Sardick's trappings and mannerisms a damaged old man, and decides to save the soul of Sardick, in order to save the lives of everyone on the spaceliner. But as the Doctor works his magic, inspired by A Christmas Carol, changing Sardick's history, he may make an even bigger mistake. In introducing the young Sardick to Abigail, a woman his father froze as collateral for loans, the Doctor may have doomed his companions, and Sardick's soul...

Leaving aside the plagiarism of Dickens' story, this special has two major flaws: the flying fish, and the fact that it is hard to give a flying f**k about the older Kazran Sardick. The flying fish seem like something that came to Moffat in a fevered delusion, and stretch the boundaries of credulity for Doctor Who too damn far. But leaving those rather substantial criticisms aside, A Christmas Carol actually improved on second viewing, for me. It's a cleverly plotted story, even if a bit too sentimental and a nasty ass-pull to prevent the Doctor from winning too easily. But there's a clever use of the Ghost of Christmas Future at the end.

Matt Smith is in his element as the Doctor, although I thought it a bit remiss of the Doctor to not inquire further about Abigail's counter. And while Karen Gillian and Arthur Darvill have some decent scenes of comedy (though Amy is, as usual, somewhat flat), it is the actors playing Sardick that deserve praise. Although older Sardick (despite what the Doctor says) seems beyond redemption to me, Michael Gambon nonetheless plays him well, especially in the moments when older Sardick is happy. Ditto with the actors playing his younger incarnations, Laurence Belcher (poor kid, unfortunately named) and Danny Horn, although the younger Sardick is far easier to give a crap about.

Production wise, well, this is sort of run of the mill. Nicely done, but nothing distinguishing, save for the intercutting between Kazran's past adventures with the Doctor and his present day recollections. Although the effects of the fish are rather blatantly false (and couldn't they make the fish look a little more alien than just having them swim through the air?), the other effects are good.

I didn't expect A Christmas Carol to be any good watching it again, but really, all it needs, I think, is the right frame of mind to watch it. Some story issues and character arcs mar what could have been an excellent special...


SCORE: 8/10


And now, the trailers for series six...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpe1Ywz8azM[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: PB2, 6.1/6.2, 2 X 45 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Season openers to the new series aren't always so good. In fact, they are usually average at best, and the previous season's The Eleventh Hour didn't quite cut it. So, with a second season of Doctor Who to begin, and continuing the story arc of the Silence, could Steven Moffat buck the previous trend with a two-part story, filmed partly in the US?

Two months since they were left at home, Rory and Amy are keeping an eye out for any word from the Doctor, only for it to arrive unexpectedly in the form of an envelope, inviting them, River, and an old man called Canton Everett Delaware III to Lake Silencio in Utah. There, they meet a 1103-year old Doctor, who has invited them to a picnic on the shore of the lake, and he says that they need to go to 1969, something involved with Apollo 11. But something clad in an Apollo spacesuit rises from the lake, and murders the Doctor, preventing his regeneration. Burning the body, they soon learn that this Doctor has invited his past self to take Amy, Rory, and River to 1969, but they cannot tell the Doctor about his fate, a difficult proposition, as the Doctor is distrusting. In 1969, they find a younger Canton, a former FBI agent, asked to help Richard Nixon deal with a mysterious child who calls the White House, begging for help. But even as the Doctor and his companions help, they soon discover that there is more to the situation than they first thought. Aliens calling themselves the Silence are everywhere, but people forget about them as soon as they are out of sight. What are the Silence, and what is their agenda? What connects the child to a NASA spacesuit like that the Doctor's killer used? And what is the terrible secret Amy Pond has to tell the Doctor?

Whoo! This story is an excellent one, starting the series off with a bang, with the Doctor killed in his personal future, the return of River, and the introduction of a creepy new alien. While this story makes a lot more sense when viewed in context with the other key episodes of the season, it is still an excellent stand-alone episode. The Silence are, while not quite as immediately horrifying as the Weeping Angels or the Vashta Nerada, extremely creepy, getting under your skin with their "you can only remember them when you see them" gimmick, and the ending is well used. The only issue with this story, I feel, is if the Silence have the technology to build a sophisticated life-support suit in the first place, not to mention their space-time craft (last seen in The Lodger), why the hell do they influence humanity to go to the Moon? Oh, and how does the US get dwarf star alloy at a stage when they are only just going to the Moon? Not to mention many unanswered question that will later get answered in the series. But there's some excellent shocks, not to mention the ending.

Lovely performances all around. The regulars do well, with Amy getting some better moments than usual, and ever better stuff for Arthur Darvill's Rory. Matt Smith's Doctor is getting better with each episode. Alex Kingston as River gives perhaps one of her better performances here, with a heart-rending speech to Rory about her strange relationship with the Doctor. Mark Sheppard as Canton's younger self and Stuart Milligan as Nixon round up the good performances, with Nixon having a more sympathetic portrayal at this point in time.

It seems that this time around, they pumped a lot of the production values into the opening story, and it shows. Brilliant location filiming in Utah and Arizona help sell the American setting, and the set design completes that. The effects are on the dime, and the direction helps with both action and suspense. The Silence are a brilliant design, a sort of bastard hybrid between Munch's The Scream, the men in black, and Gray aliens, suitably creepy and sinister.

Save for a few imperfections, this story bucks the trend of average season openers. Not only does it establish the overall story to come in the series, but it is an excellent story by itself, establishing a creepy new enemy for the Doctor, and beginning to offer some answers, and even more questions...


SCORE: 9.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Curse of the Black Spot...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5D9HzurXDE[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Curse of the Black Spot by Stephen Thompson

SERIAL: PB4, 6.9, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes

Doctor Who has dealt with piracy and the high seas before. During the events of The Smugglers, the Doctor dealt with pirates near Cornwall. In The Highlanders, Ben was nearly taken on a boat to become an indentured servant in the aftermath of Culloden. And while not on the seas, The Space Pirates had the Doctor fighting against ruthless space pirates, as did The Infinite Quest. With the revival of the pirate movie with Pirates of the Caribbean, it's about time that the series revisited the setting...

The pirate ship Fancy has been becalmed in strange waters, and the captain, Henry Avery, is troubled. Whenever one of his crew get so much as a scratch, a black spot appears on their hand, a mysterious siren appears, and disintegrates the afflicted crewmember. And the arrival of the Doctor and his companions don't help matters. Their claims of having intercepted a distress signal makes no sense to Avery, and they are just more mouths to feed and water when supplies are low. But when the siren appears after Amy fights the crew to save the Doctor and Rory, the Doctor soon learns that there is more to this than meets the eye. Why is the siren attracted to the wounded and ill? Who is the other stowaway? And what is the true meaning of the curse of the black spot?

Okay, when I first watched this story, I had more reservations about it. But on further viewing, I found that it wasn't bad as much as too straightforward, run-of-the-mill. The story is almost a repeat of Moffat's earlier story The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, but with pirates and sexier alien medical technology. This doesn't make it bad, but it lacks inventiveness, and the story just doesn't excel. Plus, the ending takes so long to get to the point.

The regulars do well enough, with Amy getting to fight off pirates with a sword in an amusing sequence. But the others...well, Lily Cole is a strangely apposite choice for playing the Siren, as she looks alien enough. And Hugh Bonneville is quite good as Captain Avery, but with the exception of Oscar Lloyd's Toby, there isn't that much meat on the other pirates, who are all pretty much interchangeable.

The production values are pretty good, managing to film on an actual ship, always a good idea when you're doing a story like this. But it doesn't help when later, the alien spaceship looks like the modern equivalent of the el-cheapo spacecraft sets used in the classic series, looking like an abandoned warehouse was dressed up and used. The special effects work, though, enhancing the eeriness of the Siren.

The Curse of the Black Spot is not the best story in the series, nor is it the worst. It's rather run of the mill, average, its biggest drawcards being pirates and a Siren, but nothing much else to stay for...


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Doctor's Wife (I am looking forward to watching this one again...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn_KhjnAui8[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Doctor's Wife by Neil Gaiman

SERIAL: PB1, 6.3, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes

Way back in season 21, then-showrunner John Nathan-Turner wanted to find a leak in his office to the Doctor Who fans, and posted, in place of the scheduled The Caves of Androzani, The Doctor's Wife. Over two and a half decades later, this was the title given to a story written by famed fantasy writer and fan of the show Neil Gaiman. But could Gaiman live up to the hype that would inevitably come about of him writing for the show?

A Time Lord hypercube arrives at the TARDIS, notifying the Doctor that one of his Time Lord friends has survived, trapped in a bubble universe. Travelling into it, the Doctor and his companions receive a rude shock when the TARDIS loses power, and its Matrix or soul. Venturing out into the lone world of the bubble universe, they discover that it is a sentient asteroid called House, who admits to having encountered Time Lords before, but there are none at the moment. But amongst the other inhabitants of the asteroid include a woman called Idris, who seems to know the Doctor, calling him her 'thief'. Sending Rory and Amy back to the depowered TARDIS for safety, the Doctor soon learns the truth, that House eats TARDISes, and uses Time Lord hypercubes as lures. And knowing now that the Time Lords perished in the Time War, House hijacks the TARDIS, leaving the Doctor stranded. Can Rory and Amy survive being the playthings of House? Who is Idris, and why does she know the Doctor so well? And can she help him save Rory and Amy? The Doctor is about to truly meet his oldest companion for the first time, and it might be the last...

What could have been a gimmick, getting Gaiman to write for the series, turns out to be one of the best guest writers to ever write for the program. We have the Gaiman hallmarks of fantasy, horror, and a certain amount of humour, but also an intriguing concept that, while explored in spin-off media (like the Big Finish audio play Zagreus, or the graphic novel The Forgotten), has never been explored in the TV series: what if the TARDIS could talk directly to the Doctor? The show even draws on elements from the distant past of the series, like the Time Lord hypercube from The War Games, or the mind games in the TARDIS from The Edge of Destruction. The only minor quibble is that the ending seems to come out of nowhere, but it's a lovely story about a Time Lord and his TARDIS. And despite the compromises Gaiman needed to make, it still works well.

This story showcases Matt Smith's Doctor at one of his best times, with the Doctor going through all sorts of highs and lows. Karen Gillian gets some nice moments as Amy, particularly when Rory 'dies' (how many is that now? I count four times by this point in the series), and Arthur Darvill is, as usual, great as Rory. Michael Sheen as House is marvellous in his menace, but the real star is Suranne Jones as Idris, both before and during her possession by the TARDIS Matrix. I'm not sure whether anything better could have been done, short of getting Helena Bonham-Carter for the role, but she brings about the manic nature of the TARDIS, suiting the character, and we get some interesting new interpretations of why the TARDIS acts like it does.

Once more, the series films in a quarry, but thanks to the set dressing, it looks wholly appropriate. The effects work well enough, and the costumes for Idris and the Patchwork People look suitably like something out of Gaiman's The Sandman graphic novels. There's some rather dull TARDIS corridors, but this is more than made up for with the return of the original new series console room, and the makeshift TARDIS (though the latter was designed by a Blue Peter viewer for a competition).

The Doctor's Wife goes to show that not only can the magic be maintained in the series, but that new and fresh angles can be found on established continuity. Not only that, but sometimes celebrity writers can live up to the hype, and more...


SCORE: 10/10


And now, the next time trailers for The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbE2waEsfks[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eh24ZTyyrY[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People by Matthew Graham

SERIAL: PB3, 6.5/6.6, 2 X 45 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Having written for Doctor Who previously, for the second new series episode Fear Her, Matthew Graham (cocreator of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes) returned to the series for a two-part story, designed to lead into the mid-season finale. But with a tale of acid mines, instant clones, and identity crises, could he pull it off?

The TARDIS is hit by a solar tsunami, and ends up crash-landing on Earth in the 22nd century, near an acid mine in an old monastery. The workers there use a programmable matter called the Flesh to create duplicates who are expendable, called Gangers. But the Doctor suspects that the Flesh is becoming aware, even sentient. The workers dimiss this idea, but when the main wave of the solar tsunami hits, the surge of energy causes the Gangers to become sentient, gaining the memories and personalities of the humans that piloted them. With the humans and their Gangers at each other's throats, the Doctor tries to solve things, but he now has a Ganger himself. Why is the Doctor so interested in the Flesh? Can his Ganger be trusted? Can they stop a war between humanity and the Gangers? And what dark secret links the Gangers to Amy, and the mysterious, eyepatch-wearing woman she keeps seeing?

This two-parter has an intriguing story that could have come from the pen of Malcolm Hulke rather than Matthew Graham, exploring identity and new technologies. It's a fairly standard Doctor Who story with some nonetheless excellent twists, and some nice moments of horror. There's even some uncertainty, until the end, as to which Doctor is the Ganger. It nonetheless manages to work very well, and the twist ending, while hinted at throughout the series, is nonetheless very startling.

One of the areas that is let down is the characterisation. Although most of the parts are decently cast, most of the actual guest characters, with the exception of Mark Bonnar's Jimmy, aren't that well characterised. Raquel Cassidy's Miranda Cleaves doesn't have enough consistency, Marshall Lancaster's Buzzer is a bit dull, and while Sarah Smart evokes sympathy as Jennifer at first, she devolves too swiftly into a bog-standard crazy villain, and why she got the worst of it than anyone else, I can't tell. And what cut-rate talent agency did they get for Jimmy's son Adam? The kid has less acting ability than a lump of wood. Matt Smith is a delight as the Doctor and his Ganger, clearly enjoying himself, and Arthur Darvill's Rory gets protective over Jennifer, presumably because of his own experiences as an Auton. But Amy gets really bitchy in the second episode, and you'd think after so much travel, she'd be far less antagonistic to the Doctor. I may be going too far with this, but her fate seems to be payback for her close-mindedness.

Production wise, there's some excellent direction, making the monastery/factory nice and gloomy, adding to the atmosphere. The make-up for the Gangers are suitably grotesque and eerie, but manage to do so without losing sympathy for them when they seem human. Some of the CGI is excellent, like the solar tsunami and storm at the start, as well as the initial Flesh sequence, but the 'Fleshpile' and Jennifer Lucas' final mutation are both examples of excellent designs, but bad execution.

This two parter, then, is quite a good story for the series, with some excellent themes and a twist ending. Only some crappy CGI and characterisation mar what could have been a better story.


SCORE: 9/10


NOTE: I will be reviewing A Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler separately. I'm also using the latter title to see if WP still filters it.

REVIEW: A Good Man Goes to War by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: PB4, 6.7, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Although Doctor Who had mild hiatuses mid-season, ever since the first classic series, this is the first time that a series has been split into two with months between stories. So a mid-season finale seems to be in order, and what better way to do so than to finally reveal one mystery plagueing the series since the fourth new series: who is River Song? Some fans, however, saw it coming...

Amy Pond has been kidnapped by an organisation, assisted by the Clerics and the Headless Monks. Their purpose seems to be centred around Amy's newborn daughter, Melody. But as those defending Demon's Run prepare for the arrival of the Doctor, the Doctor and Rory begin preparations, recruiting allies from across time and space, all to storm Demon's Run and rescue Amy. But taking over Demon's Run may turn out to be only half the battle. Why does the organisation, represented by Madame Kovarian, want Melody Pond? Can the Doctor save not only his companion, but her daughter? And why won't River Song join the battle? Demons run when a good man goes to war, but this may be a war the Doctor is fated to lose...

A Good Man Goes to War is not a particularly strong plot, being basically a romp where the Doctor recruits his allies to rescue Amy, but it has some excellent points to make about the Doctor's reputation. It states that not only is he the origin of many equivalent words for healer, but also in some cultures, he's the name for a mighty warrior. What's more, Melody was kidnapped because someone wants him dead. The revelation that Melody is River was something a number of fans saw coming, myself included (though I held out hope that Moffat actually had a different thing in mind), but it's still very much a game-changer and an excellent surprise. Still, the whole story feels like more of a vehicle to continue the story arc of the season.

Here, we see the Doctor at his most impish, awesome, and dark, with Matt Smith laying it on thick. Karen Gillian gets some good material as Amy, and Arthur Darvill as Rory gets some real great moments in battle, and showing what he can be when pushed. It's also welcome to see Neve MacIntosh and Dan Starkey return to roles as Doctor Who monsters, albeit ones allied to the Doctor, a vigilante Victorian Silurian called Madame Vastra and Commander Strax the Sontaran nurse respectively. Frances Barber gets her first full story as the sinister Madame Kovarian, and while rather too much of a singular villain, vicious and smug and not justifying River's reveal of the fears towards the Doctor, she is nonetheless quite good. Simon Fisher-Becker as Dorium, Danny Sapani as Colonel Manton, Christina Chong as Lorna Bucket, and Catrin Stewart as Jenny round out the guest stars, doing their roles fine enough.

Production values are fair, with the special effects working well enough, and some great costumes, but Demon's Run doesn't look militaristic enough, and despite the epic nature of the story, it does look once again like they used the same old locations for Demeon's Run as they have for other installations. But there's some good fight scenes that work well, and it's nice to see the Silurian and Sontaran costumes brought out again.

A Good Man Goes to War is a rather average story, and doesn't quite work as a mid-season finale. Even so, the ending and final revelations work in hooking in viewers for later on in the season...


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the trailer for the rest of series 6...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM7AMK[/youtube]

REVIEW: Let's Kill Hitler by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: PB7, 6.8, 1 X 50 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


With the revelation of River Song's true identity in the mid-season finale, Moffat needed a big hook for people to watch for the rest of the season. Quite appropriately, the story had one of the most audacious titles in Doctor Who history: Let's Kill Hitler. As far as intriguing titles, and a concept about whether time travel and the infamous Nazi leader mix are concerned, it's a good hook. But are there meat on the bones?

Amy and Rory get the Doctor's attention after a long hiatus in their travels. But the Doctor hasn't found Melody Pond yet, and soon, Amy and Rory's delinquent childhood friend Mels turns up, and hijacks the TARDIS. Mels blames the Doctor for all the disasters he never prevented, and so decides that killing Adolf Hitler may be a good start to rectifying this. But they are not the only ones in 1938 Berlin with Hitler in their sights. The Tesselecta, a time-travelling shapeshifting robot, crewed by miniaturised humans, intend to punish Hitler, only for the crashing TARDIS to accidentally intervene. In the ensuing chaos, Hitler is shoved into a cupboard, but not before he shoots Mels, who reveals that she is actually Melody Pond. She regenerates into the woman who would later become known as River Song, but she doesn't know who River is yet, and she poisons the Doctor. As Melody flees into Berlin, pursued by Amy and Rory, the Tesselecta follows, having found that for her killing the Doctor, she is an even greater target than Hitler. With the Doctor dying before he is fated to die at Lake Silencio, and Melody Pond about to be executed before she becomes River, time is beginning to run out...

Okay, so this isn't exactly a deep and meaningful story, just a wonderful romp that explains away not only River's origins, but also some other elements of her story, even if they haven't been fully resolved. But this is rather too straightforward a story, with less examination of what TV Tropes calls the Hitler Time Travel Exemption Act (Hitler even gets locked up into a cupboard before the story gets anywhere near halfway through), and a rather blatant, if still workable, retcon showing how Mels (aka Melody Pond's second body, after the events of Day of the Moon) influenced Amy and Rory's life. It also seems rather vicious what Amy and Rory do on the Tesselecta on the Doctor's instructions. But there's some very funny dialogue (like Melody taunting a squad of Nazi soldiers) and some touching scenes.

The regulars, as usual, are pretty good, with everyone getting something to do (my favourite being Rory punching Hitler!). Nina Toussaint-White as Mels is wonderfully psychotic, as is Alex Kingston as pre-River Melody, and Kingston seems to be enjoying herself just a little too much. The crew of the Tesselecta are fine, but not exactly distinguished. Albert Welling makes an unusually understated Hitler.

Production values work in this story. The period drama capabilities of the BBC are shown off again, showing pre-war Berlin and Nazi Germany. The effects also do their job, with spectacular usages of regeneration energy, and the interesting transitions of the Tesselecta. The Antibodies are a bit duff, though, not looking quite menacing enough. Other than that, though, not a bad production at all.

While a decent enough opening for the rest of the series, Let's Kill Hitler draws people in on the title, but leaves one wanting. Average by the standards of Doctor Who, it nonetheless manages to wrap up a few loose ends...


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for Night Terrors...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbhGsj9ftVM[/youtube]

REVIEW: Night Terrors by Mark Gatiss

SERIAL: PB1, 6.4, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


A decision was made during production to swap two episodes of the sixth series, Night Terrors and The Curse of the Black Spot, in production order, in order to give a certain variety of stories in the first half of the series. This meant that Night Terrors would eventually be transmitted in the second half of the season. Written by new series regular writer Mark Gatiss, this story would explore childhood fears...

George is the eight year old son of Alex and Claire, living in a housing estate, and terrified of many things. So much so that somehow, his pleas for help to save him from monsters reach the Doctor's psychic paper. But as the Doctor finds George, Amy and Rory, who are still looking for George, end up somehow in an old 18th century house, but with the weirdest additions. And as people around the housing estate begin to disappear, the key to the mystery may be George, and what he hides in his cupboard...

As a story, this is very reminiscent of the new series 2 episode Fear Her. A child with unnatural powers, able to trap people in an otherworld? Here, though, the story is a lot more psychological, but it doesn't have quite as much meat as it should. There were some missed opportunities, as other reviewers have noted, about children overcoming their fears, and it feels a bit thin on the ground, but there's a nice twist at the end, even if there is little mention of the story arc.

The regulars do fine, with Matt Smith getting more of the juicy stuff as the Doctor with his 'old eyes' speech. Daniel Mays, who previously played the diabolic Keats from Ashes to Ashes, transforms himself into worried father Alex quite well, and Andrew Tiernan plays a particularly vile landlord. While George is written okay, I find myself not impressed with James Oram's acting. It seems rather flat, and if I didn't know any better, I would have said he didn't look very frightened at all.

The production is dark and atmospheric, but not particularly distinctive. The dolls are creepy, but don't seem quite malevolent enough, despite their abilities, to be taken seriously. More eerie is the lullaby used throughout the episode. There's some excellent special effects, though, such as when the landlord sinks into the floor of his flat. But otherwise, the story feels rather run-of-the-mill.

Night Terrors is an interesting, but ultimately average story. The potential was there to make it great, but in the end, it is average by Doctor Who standards.


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Girl Who Waited...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCm-ff5Hqec[/youtube]