Going Through Doctor Who (Spoilers all Eps aired on BBC/BBCA)

[rushy]

Hey, problem over here. I've been trying to listen to The Nightmare Fair, but it goes randomly mute for ages. Anyone know anything about that or is it the problem of the one I have?

[rushy]

Big announcement to all fans of this series: I, Rushy, who can be considered a NuWho fan(I started from Eccleston) am now focusing entirely on the classic series.

I have, in every meaning of the word, given up on the Peter Capaldi era. Every episode is a chore, every episode makes my eyes roll so much they're popping out. I just can't enjoy a single episode of Series 8, with the exception of the third.
I just got halfway through Kill The Moon and... no more. Random, dumb references to the classic series, talking about regeneration for no reason, stereotypes for characters and the Doctor "knowing" things again. I hate hate hate it.

I do have to credit the episode for making Courtney a semi-relatable character, but other than that, it flat-out sucks. Not because of the concept, which is fine and out there, like Who regularly is, but because of the childish writing and naivety every episode lately oozes.

Peter Capaldi deserves to act like a grown-up, not another kiddie Doctor which he obviously is(Moffat seriously writes for him the way he wrote for Smith. He even said so.). If you're gonna promise us a darker Doctor, then give us someone who really blurs the borders of good and evil, not "Dr. Scrooge".

I'm almost willing to watch Time And The Rani. That's how bad things have gotten.

[rushy]

Being a dedicated fan, I will continue to try and check out Series 8 episodes, but if I see the same dumb blonde writing, I won't hesitate to turn off. I hope you'll forgive me.

[rushy]

Mummy On The Orient Express is the best Peter Capaldi episode yet. I'm not saying it's entirely rejuvenated my faith in his era(particularly since, again, this episode was written by someone other than Steven Moffat), but it's certainly proven to me that when written well, Series 8 can be fantastic.

PLOT

Whilst taking a ride on the Impossible Gimmick Express, a mummy starts to attack various passengers and staff members, giving each 66 seconds, plus a mysterious computer locks everyone down and forces the Doctor and his audience(seriously, what were those other scientists even doing?) to find the cause.

Besides paying homage to Hercule Poirot, we're dealing with a classic case of a good claustrophobic episode, similar to Midnight and The Wheel In Space(which I happen to be watching right now, in fact). The ticking clock adds tension and gives everything a deadline, which I love.
The solution might've been a teeny tiny fast(I was convinced they had ended up in heaven) and Gus wasn't explained at all, but other than that, I loved it to bits.

CHARACTERS

When the Doctor and Clara were at that beach, I swear I saw an older, worn-out William Hartnell in Capaldi's eyes. His performance was just that good. I loved how he didn't turn out to have lied about the "I knew she might die" thing. The Twelfth Doctor rocked this episode.

Clara wasn't annoying!! The episode fit into my viewpoint of Clara being a whiner where traveling with the Doctor was concerned and almost totally rehabilitated her.
Basically, she's gone from Jar Jar Binks annoying to C-3PO annoying(not that I find either of them annoying... it's just meant as a reference point). It's sad that the next week trailer promises a return to the awfulness...

Perkins was an absolute hit. At the end, I could practically see the Twelfth Doctor begging for him to hang around. He would've been a perfect guy companion. We really need more of them.

NOTES

*So if this is the same train as the one from The Big Bang, how come the Eleventh Doctor never arrived, where's the Egyptian Goddess and how did the Twelfth Doctor even remember that phone call from 1100 years ago?

*I'm gonna visit the dentist tomorrow. Pray for my soul, folks.

*What was with the super fast conclusion to the Express storyline? It just blew up and suddenly everything was okay.

*Funny how there was no Voyage Of The Damned reference, given the similarity between the episode styles?

*Okay, here's an obvious one, but it must be asked: How the hell is there an Orient Express in space(yes, I know they explained it)???

*Has anyone else realised that the Doctor Who universe is absolutely bonkers? There's an Orient Express and Titanic in space, the Devil in a black hole, dinosaurs on a spaceship, a forest powering the ship's oxygen tanks, a sea working as an engine, a dinosaur and a giant Cyberman in Victorian London, Queen Victoria meets werewolves, Shakespeare meets witches, giant wasp aliens, giant ant aliens, giant bee aliens, giant hippo aliens, aliens who scoop out the planet's core and drive the planet around, faces on concrete slabs, living drawings, evil TVs that suck your face off, statues that send you through time, etc.
The only exceptions are the First and Ninth Doctor eras, which get burdened with building the series mythos. That's why I love 'em so much.

*Why did the ALIEN mummy make an American military salute?

*What was the point of arresting the Doctor, only to let him loose the next scene?

BEST LINE

"I'm the Doctor. Nosy Parker." *cue Joker grin*

CONCLUSION

A fantastic, daring episode that immediately highlights the mediocrity of the other Capaldi episodes thus far. It also cements Capaldi's position as the Twelfth Doctor.

[rushy]

Flatline was a solid ep, raised by a fancy gimmick and more good writing.

PLOT

After landing in London, the TARDIS takes on increasingly smaller dimensions for no real reason and 2D monsters invade.
And the Doctor's stuck in the TARDIS a la The Girl Who Waited(but no cool glasses this time).

CHARACTERS

Peter Capaldi was fine as usual.

Clara seriously shined here, as an equal to the Doctor. It's nice to see her be likeable after a long while.

The guest characters all had some spirit, especially the cranky old guy. All of them were decent.

NOTES

*Nice to see the door being opened from the console again.

*How and why did the aliens reduce the external dimensions of the TARDIS?

*And why did they stop reducing it? A micro-TARDIS would've been cool.

*I loved the scene where the TARDIS switched back to the blue box. Like it was always meant to be.

*I survived the dentist!

*Jamie Mathieson can come back anytime.

*I liked the Doctor trying to move the TARDIS with his fingers. It's funnier than you'd think.

*Why does Clara pick up the phone in life-and-death situations?! Just let the sucker ring, you can call back later!

*If invasions happen so often and so invariably, how come every planet in the universe isn't already dominated? And if it's because of the Doctor, why can't we see more of that? As with Tom Baker, the show should move away from Earth.

CONCLUSION

Yeah, not much to say. It wasn't a shining brilliance like the last episode, but it was a decent one-off.

[rushy]

The Wheel In Space was an excellent Cyberstory. It had atmosphere, build-up and the new companion is one of the greatest yet.

PLOT

After running out of mercury(for real, this time), the TARDIS makes an emergency landing on an abandoned rocket. Soon, the Doctor and Jamie find themselves on the Wheel, a space station that... is in space. And the Cybermen sneak around once more.

Space being far more empty than the moon, the Wheel has actual personality(and it was really cool to see it in the intro). But by far, the best part of the story was the bottle episode at the start, which just has the Doctor and Jamie investigate the Silver Carrier. Very mysterious and spooky. I'd love to see it restored.

CHARACTERS

Patrick Troughton was charming as always. I really liked the way he first studied the Wheel before taking charge and also his determination to defeat the Cybermen even if it should cost human lives.

I honestly don't know why everyone picks on Zoe in this story, given that she's presented with a very pleasant, enthusiastic personality. Or maybe it's just the actress. In any case, Zoe is the cutest girl yet(in Classic Who), and given what we've seen, that's saying a lot. I liked the bantering between her and Jamie.

The international cast is getting old. While the Russian lady was very charming, her American friend just drove me nuts every episode.
The Controller's mental breakdown(is this the third time?) was unique, so kudos to David Whittaker!
I liked the CMO, Gemma. Nice doctors are always nice to have.

NOTES

*Troughton pulls a Hartnell and gets knocked out for an episode.

*That Time Vector Generator is really handy, isn't it? It can contain the TARDIS interior, it can shoot ray beams and radio beams and even upgrade a laser cannon.

*The mercury aspect of the story is a nice bit of continuity. Nowadays, it'd be nothing special, but you don't really expect Classic Who to pay so much attention to itself. Again, Whittaker is awesome.

*I've heard Zoe is from the 21st century, so I guess that's the time period here. In that case, how come no one's heard of the Cybermen? Also, if this is another survivor ship from Mondas, how do they know of the Doctor, especially the Second one? There's no way the guys from The Moonbase survived to tell the tale.

*Wouldn't it be smarter for the Cyberships to spread out and start over instead of trying to attack Earth? What have they been doing since the 1980s anyway?

*The Cyber-Planner is epic, but I really hope they get rid of the old voice once and for all. Also, why does it ask for the Doctor's name if it knows him already?

*The Cyber-plan is pretty clever, but really hard to follow. First they bust up the laser and send the meteorites against the base so the staff would get the bernalium from the Silver Carrier so they could sneak in and then repair the laser again so they wouldn't be blown to smithereens along with everyone else.

*I almost feel like I have to read The Wheel Of Ice again, just to see all the references to this story again. It's practically a sequel to this. I highly recommend it for the imaginative sci-fi writing(think 2001: A Space Odyssey-style Doctor Who).

*Jamie did not just threaten to spank Zoe...

*If Jamie thought of the name John Smith and the Doctor's obviously never used it before, how did the First Doctor have a library card with that name, as seen in Vampires In Venice? And why was the Eleventh Doctor even carrying it around? Also, would the paranoid First Doctor really write the real location of the TARDIS on the card? Woops, nitpicking the wrong story.

*Why don't the Cybermen use hypnosis all the time?

*Reusing costumes from the previous story is just lazy. Surely you have something lying around! It's black and white too, for heaven's sake!

*I can't imagine how the Cybermats became popular. They're just silly.

*Should I watch The Evil Of The Daleks all over again?

*I would've preferred if the Doctor just had a discussion with Zoe of the dangers ahead. Or used the Time-Space Visualiser(anyone remember that?).

CONCLUSION

A fantastic and well written, but quite a slow story. The Cybermen are working in the background in this one, using Cybermats and controlled humans in their stead. So it probably won't appeal to die-hard BUS fans. Nevertheless, I'd call it the best Troughton story featuring the Cybermen.

[rushy]

Bashing the new series has gotten old I feel, so in order to clarify my feelings, here's a list of the ten aspects of NuWho that I currently don't agree with it(in no particular order).

10. The Doctor telling people things he wouldn't tell before, for no reason.
I mean, why on earth does the Twelfth Doctor ramble about his costume choices to Karabraxos in Time-Heist, as if she'd get what that means?? And how would you have liked it if in The Unquiet Dead, the Doctor would've said: "Well, I'll make sure next me brings your body back to your mum." Of course they couldn't bring up regeneration that casually back then, but why bring it up casually now?
My point is, don't talk about Time Lord-y stuff unless it's relevant. And never talk about regeneration outside of a regeneration story. It's just wrong.

9. Focusing so much on the companion's life.
Having stories like The Caretaker ground the series in reality whilst Doctor Who stands for journeys through time and space. Also, having a companion live both a real life and a Doctor life is unrealistic. With the Ponds, I can understand them maturing and weaning off the Doctor(well, until their abysmal departure), but Clara is in the prime of her life and has no reason to NOT go gallivanting around time and space.

8. Bland TARDIS interior.
Okay, this is a nitpick, but the current console room is really boring.

7. Lack of a darker, more daring Doctor.
I'm fine with Capaldi's "Ebenezer Scrooge" persona, but it's really no darker than Matt Smith's bubbly one.

6. Arrogant characters.
Similarly to Rose in Series 2, Clara seems to try to fit the world around her instead of living in it. Sometimes, it'd be nice to face a problem with a solution, not a one-liner and an exasperated moral message. And why the heck can she open the TARDIS doors? That's just stupid.

5. No varying companions.
I really hope the next one will be from either the past or the future.

4. The fantasy theme.
In Series 5, it fit the imaginary friend arc, but ever since then, it feels like the series is unnecessarily sugarcoated. To that end, I've actually written a story idea. Here goes:

The Daleks have found a method for crossing parallel universes safely. As such, they plan to team up with alternate universe Daleks and conquer the multiverse. But since the multiverse is infinite, so is the planned war. It fits with the Dalek dream of neverending horrors, a limitless supply of forces and an ultimate victory over the Doctor. However, the Doctor composes his own army(cameos of old allies) which he leads out into the multiverse to gather parallel heroes to fight the Daleks.
Only he doesn't. He seals the walls of the universe and announces he's planted the seed for an eternal match between the Daleks and the good guys, keeping the world in balance. However, he never revealed this to his friends who are now off fighting a war they can never really win while the Doctor doesn't consider his own further participation a necessity. Clara gets pissed off and makes a huge fuss and then leaves, while the Doctor is left to ponder the personal consequences.

That, in my opinion, would be a genuinely dramatic story, a nice callback to the RTD-style "Daleks conquer everything" story and would allow the introduction of new aliens, since all the old ones are out fighting the Daleks(although some of the Daleks naturally stayed behind to guard this one and take their place as baddies).

3. No historicals.
C'mon, how many aliens can invade this one planet?? Having a historical again wouldn't only be cool, but it would make sense.
Vincent And The Doctor is the closest we've had so far, but no, they had to ruin it with a forced invisible monster...

2. The Twelfth Doctor's inconsistent costume.
It's fine to wear something else for a change, but the black jacket and jumper just makes it look like they just couldn't bother putting him in costume that day. Variations are okay, but there are limits.

1. Making fun of itself.
Sometimes it's okay, but Doctor Who is almost self-deprecating these days...

0. Random stuff with no basis.
The universe is big, but it will never be big enough for an Orient Express in space.

[cosmichobo]

Following The Wheel in Space, for (I'm pretty sure) the first time ever, an episode of Doctor Who was repeated - Evil of the Daleks. This was, I believe, to accommodate Troughton's demand for filming less episodes, as it was just too hectic a schedule. So - essentially that scene with the Doctor showing Zoe a scene from Evil, was because it was leading into a repeat of Evil the following week...

[rushy]

Following The Wheel in Space, for (I'm pretty sure) the first time ever, an episode of Doctor Who was repeated - Evil of the Daleks. This was, I believe, to accommodate Troughton's demand for filming less episodes, as it was just too hectic a schedule. So - essentially that scene with the Doctor showing Zoe a scene from Evil, was because it was leading into a repeat of Evil the following week...

I was already aware of that. :-). That's why I asked whether or not I should do a repeat as well.

[rushy]

Kill The Moon was, as I already thought, a very dumbed-down variation of the drama in The Waters Of Mars, except here, the Doctor has to carry all the idiot cast members(sorry, but that's just how I feel. You don't like it, you don't read it).

PLOT

Because the Doctor told a kid she's not special, Clara guilts him into taking her to the Moon where the Doctor magically guesses it's an egg(okay, maybe he sensed it or sth, but then he would've said so) and Courtney is retarded enough to post pictures of her time-traveling on Tumblr. One shoe-horned abortion storyline later, Clara blames the Doctor for setting her up for a test. Ace, she isn't.

CHARACTERS

The captain's melodramatic and trusts the Doctor for no reason, her crew's forgettable, Courtney is *insert ugliest word you can think of* and Clara is as annoying as ever.
Hail Peter Capaldi though. He's still great, I think.

NOTES

*I see Moffat(OK, he didn't write this, but he does edit the scripts) has yet to learn the good old "show, don't tell" rule.

*How does Courtney post photos of herself? Is that Clara's phone? If so, why is it in the TARDIS? And how come it just takes the sonic to make phones do that nowadays?

*Wouldn't the Earth suffer from all kinds of crazy weather because of the moon's explosion?

*What about the debris falling through the atmosphere?

*I swear to god, if I see Clara casually using those controls one more time... some things are meant to be sacred! Remember Troughton slapping Jamie's hand off them?

CONCLUSION

It's just plain bad.

[The Flyattractor]

Like I said... "Kill the Moon" was a cool story concept.... When I say it on an old "Super Friends" cartoon when I was 5. Seriously Moffatt,.....WTF!?

[rushy]

In The Forest Of The Night is a bitter disappointment, since it started so well off with a great mystery and direction, only to sink into cheesiness and generic plots.

PLOT

Random new aliens make a giant forest cover the Earth to use them as a shield against the solar flare. Who the heck reads this and thinks: "Yeah, that totally works!"

I refuse to accept that this can just happen and go away. Human forgetfulness only goes so far. Besides, did anyone really think the world was gonna end?

CHARACTERS

Clara is officially the most despicable character ever put on anything, ever. When the world ends and there's a chance to save a group of children, her reaction is: "No, let's get them to their mums... and death."
And why is it that in every serious-as-hell situation, her reaction is "meh, let's make jokes about others making jokes in situations like these."
She is a hypocrite, a whiner, a drama queen and a goddarn thorn in my viewing experience! And the kids of Coal "Nobody has an IQ over 10" Hill aren't much better. And the random return of Annabelle was random.

Someone, give Peter Capaldi a decent script. Somebody! This is worser than Series 2! I'd rather watch Love And Monsters than sit through most of Series 8 again.
And speaking of Capaldi, I loved his interactions with the little girl, a little gem in an otherwise ridiculous episode.

NOTES

*The Doctor may be 2000 years old, but he constantly makes guesses based on no evidence that inevitably work out. It's just stupid. "Oh, oh, oh, but what if the trees are programmed? Yes, they have roots so obviously that means root code." is pretty much becoming a Twelfth Doctor meme.

*Why does Clara embarrass the Doctor in front of the kids all the time? So childish.

*How did the lose the little kid to begin with?

*Kids having sleepovers in museums? Is that a thing?

*What happened to Ruby's "I'm actually clever" subplot? Also, ginger girl=Ruby?

*How exactly are solar flare-protected trees threatened by anything humans could cook up?

*And did anyone seriously listen to that kid?

CONCLUSION

*sobs* I just wanted a good episode!!

[rushy]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8AGz7LXZokg
This is just scary...

[rushy]

This was supposed to be a review of The Nightmare Fair, but since my first copy had holes in the audio and my second one was an audio book with fake voices, I had to ditch that story. From what I heard though, it was a very 1980s story. I liked the new, older and madder Celestial Toymaker and his playing a video game against the Doctor. I thought Colin Baker(of the Awesome Coat) and Bryant still sound too old. And I was bored by the rest. It was more about the visuals than story, that one. It'd be cool to see with Capaldi, however.

With that out of the way, The Holy Terror is quite the shocker. It starts off quite farcical, shamelessly parodying medieval culture, but becomes increasingly serious as its characters grow, which make it all the worse when everyone dies at the end, not to mention the twists. I would pay good money to see any visual adaptation of this story.

PLOT

The Sixth Doctor and his American penguin spy agent companion(I think this is why people love Big Finish) called Frobisher arrive in a medieval castle filled with absurd traditions and hateful rulers. As the people declare Frobisher a God, the Doctor uncovers a horrible secret surrounding a particularly murderous child and an old, worthless scribe...

CHARACTERS

Where do I start? Paired with Frobisher, Colin Baker's age seems to disappear and I can almost imagine him going around in his Coat Of Awesome.
Frobisher himself sounds pretty stereotypical, but I really grew to love the idea of a talking penguin. His voice just seems to give the character charm.

Then there's Peppin, who finds himself to have a lack of confidence and tries to give responsibility over to Frobisher, his brother Childrik who plots against him out of sheer insanity and tries to create a God,the coward who can't stop being one, the good old scribe who turns out to be a murderer...
The depth given to all these people is just awesome. You really feel like you're in a new society, although the self-deprecating aspect makes them intentionally slightly fake.
Kudos to the writers and actors on this.

NOTES

*This seems to be the second time the TARDIS is called a temple. The first ones were the Trojans in The Myth Makers.

*Why is Frobisher a penguin?

*The whole twist of Eugene killing his son is what the BBC should and did have the guts for.

*Although I've given the story much credit for its emotional side, I did feel its comedy was merely passable.

*It's kind of sickly hilarious how the reason behind Eugene's son's murder was: "I was insane."

*No references to previous Who adventures! It's a miracle!!

*If the TARDIS can create anything out of thin air, why doesn't the Doctor make more use of it?

*Who built the prison?

BEST LINE

"Who is my father? Who is the man who created GOD?!?!"

CONCLUSION

It was a very complex story, but it's a bit too much for me. If you want Shakespearean Doctor Who, you might enjoy this.

P.S. I accidentally deleted this whole review. Thank Frobisher for auto-save.

[rushy]

Dark Water/Death In Heaven was a load of continuity-filled continuity-glazed continuity codswallop, as the British might say. I will admit it had its good side and the first and only dramatic moment in the entire Steven Moffat era so far though. Clap... clap... clap...

PLOT

The Master invents an undefeatable army of Cybermen to prove a point. Also, Cyber-Brigadier, "oh my giddy aunt!", "bow-ties are cool" etc. And of course, the whole world forgets about it because no one filmed 9/11 or anything...

CHARACTERS

This is the good part. Osgood is someone I enjoyed having back. She and the Doctor had chemistry. Real chemistry!! I almost forgot what that felt like.

The Cyber-Brigadier could've been utilised more. Where did he go, anyway? And wouldn't you have loved it if he walked by the Doctor and said: "WELL, HERE WE GO AGAIN." before flying off? It felt a bit empty without words. Okay, it didn't, but still, Cyber-Brigadier. Jeez.

The Gomez Master was a bit iffy. I liked her crazier moments, but the silly little girl villain thing was pure annoying. At those points, Jar Jar Binks would've been a better Master. So yeah, probably the worst Master.

Clara Oswin Oswald is my idea of the anti-Christ of this show by now. Putting the world in danger, carelessly going around Cybermen, BEING CREDITED BEFORE THE DOCTOR and threatening the Doctor's chance at finding Gallifrey.

Not that Mr. "Ego to the end" Pink was any better.

Poor old Peter Capaldi. He's such a good performer and the Twelfth Doctor has grown on me. I want him to do a serious story, not this clutterfest. I did like the moment where the whole thing is revealed to him(the "You are a good Dalek" would be way cooler if they used the original line from Dalek though), but other than that, the Master was right about him being on a leash. The Doctor or Capaldi, you might ask? You know my answer to that.

Oh yeah, and what was up with Kate's "protocols"?

NOTES

*That one great, powerful moment I was talking about is when the Doctor realises the Master gave him the wrong coordinates. More of that, please.

*I sincerely hope the next companion won't have anything to do with Earth as we know it today. Doctor Who needs to get back to the "TARDIS is the only constant" formula.

*I liked the dark water, even though I'm not sure why they didn't just use a regular old x-ray. Seems old-fashioned somehow. Figuring out that it was the Cybermen in that dark water was a lot fun.

*The Master inventing afterlife was a guess(like most of the Doctor's deductions this season), so without further proof, I call this the one thing he got wrong.
Because it's one of the dumbest thing I've ever heard, offensive, even.

*Bye Danny! I guess Orson Pink ain't gonna happen!

*Here's a guess: the next Christmas special will be related to Victorian England.

*For those tired of my cynicism, relax now: I've resumed watching 60s Who. Yeah, it's The Dominators, but heck, it's moving Troughton!! Watching him is like dipping a feverish-hot head in a bucket of cool water.

BEST LINE

"Pain is a gift." Unless it's the 50th anniversary special...

CONCLUSION

What a mess.