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

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Here's some fun facts:

*Christopher Eccleston was born one day after the second episode of the First Doctor story The Edge Of Destruction aired.
*David Tennant was born during the airing of the Third Doctor story Colony In Space.
*Matt Smith was born between the airings of Time-Flight and Arc Of Infinity, both Fifth Doctor stories.
*Ditto for Billie Piper and Arthur Darvill.
*Karen Gillan was born during the airing of the Seventh Doctor story Dragonfire.
*John Barrowman was born on the same day the first episode of the Second Doctor story The Macra Terror aired.
*William Hartnell died during the airing of the Fourth Doctor story Revenge Of The Cybermen(ironic, isn't it?)
*Patrick Troughton died between the Sixth and Seventh Doctor eras. On the night before he died, he requested a screening of The Dominators, possibly a favourite of his.
*Dr. Kit Pedler, one of the inventors of the Cybermen died between the Fourth and Fifth Doctor eras.

Never underestimate a bored Whovian.

[rushy]

Robot Of Sherwood is a classic. It's a perfect blend of historical and futuristic, the tie-in to the main plot is good and everyone are having a heck of a time. A lovely story.

PLOT

The Doctor begrudgingly takes Clara to Sherwood Forest to prove that Robin Hood doesn't exist, only to discover that he does, and that there are Cybermen rip-offs with a slightly convoluted plan on the loose.

CHARACTERS

Peter Capaldi shines as the Doctor. His stubborn nature prevents him from believing Robin's existence until the very end as it should be, his interactions with Hood are brilliant, brilliant stuff and his wit has never been better. I friggin' love Doctor 12. He's like the grumpy, awkward grandfather you don't visit a lot, but secretly love to be around with and are in awe of. I like the way he hates people laughing for no reason, it's the first time I've considered a Doctor to be similar to me.

Clara Oswald is still kind of naturally not fun(no offence, but there's just nothing brilliant here), but at least she has an electrifying scene with the Sheriff Of Nottingham.

Robin Hood gets some real depth(well, more than he already had in the stories). I do wish we could've seen more of the less-heroic and more normal Robin, but I was still a wonderfully nuanced performance.

The Sheriff Of Nottingham was a great villain, suitably menacing and slightly OTT, but in a good way. He worked great with the cast and like Robin, had a bit of nuance to him and why he was bad.

NOTES

*I knew they'd sneak Patrick Troughton in here somewhere!! Called it!

*I see the Doctor's been watching those Ginosaji videos.

*The next episode seems to be crap. Yet another kiddie horror story. And a retread of "out of the corner of your eye" from The Eleventh Hour.

*We need non-feminist writing ASAP.

*If Doctor Who looks any more HD, my eyes will burn.

*No plot holes, no paradoxes, no logic fails. So refreshing. Sorry, Steven. We still love you.

BEST LINE

"There's no such thing as Robin Hood!"

CONCLUSION

A fantastic outing from Mark Gatiss, Capaldi becomes his Doctor, the historical elements are beautiful, the futuristic elements are awesome... 10/10.

Next Classic Story: The Evil Of The Daleks
Next New Story: Listen.

Seriously, I am dreading the next Capaldi ep. Well, besides Danny's appearance. He's cool.

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The Evil Of The Daleks is one of the best Dalek stories I have ever seen. The variety of awesomeness keeps it constantly fresh and exciting, the characters are complex and it's got an epic feel to it.

PLOT

The Doctor and Jamie are kidnapped by the Daleks to Victorian ages via a mirror-based time machine so that they can create indomitable Human Daleks(Davros is hitting his head against the wall). Eventually, it turns out that the Doctor's experiment has allowed them to discover the Dalek factor instead. However, the Doctor's machinations lead to an army of Human Daleks who wreak havoc on Skaro.

CHARACTERS

Patrick Troughton gets to display the Second Doctor's intelligence in constantly making multilayered schemes against the Daleks. This leads Jamie to distrust him and at one point, threaten to leave. It's Steven all over again.
In fact, much of the story has the Doctor apparently work together with the Daleks(a historical sight) to isolate the Human Factor from Jamie.

Edward Waterfield is a cowardly, but well-meaning character who hates his new "obey the Daleks!" job and merely does it out of a genuine love towards his daughter, Victoria. Ultimately, he dies saving the Doctor during the Skaro carnage.

Maxtible at first appears to be an Albus Dumbledore-esque guy, but soon is revealed to be in complete cahoots with the Daleks to obtain the secret of the Philosopher's Stone and lies and manipulates everyone he meets to his own ends. A wonderfully gentle performance that transforms into an evil Ebenezer Scrooge-like one.

Victoria Waterfield, the new companion is unimpressive. She's just a damsel in distress. Heck, the quiet, but wonderfully communicative and sweet Kemel would've been a much better companion(but no, he gets completely randomly killed off).

And then there are the Daleks themselves. They are one of the most menacing pepperpots ever in this story. At any time the characters try to talk, they scream "silence!", immediately commanding your attention and keeping the characters on their toes(try and talk with these guys, 11). At one memorable point, they threaten to force feed Victoria. Creepy stuff.
And the human Daleks even manage to be complex. If this story were written nowadays, the human Daleks would be a show off of everything we do good. But the human Daleks here do kill and get blown up. Humans are not immune to evil and these are still Daleks, after all(although incredibly cute ones). I love the Doctor's interactions with them and how they kinda act like his kids. "Dizzy Daleks! Dizzy Daleks!"

NOTES

*The Doctor's recorder makes a triumphant reappearance. He concentrates by playing a slightly somber tune in a cell.

*How did the radiation on Skaro not affect the Doctor and co?

*This is the first story since The Massacre Of St. Bartholomew's Eve to feature the Doctor traveling with only one companion.

*Why does the Dalek factor only work on humans?

*All the best Dalek stories seem to include the Dalek Emperor. Well, except maybe Remembrance.

*How did the TARDIS get outside the Emperor's room?

*Why didn't the Daleks just exterminate the Human Daleks? And if they did, how did the Daleks start questioning orders before they became Human Daleks?

*Considering that humanity has always defeated the Daleks, why does the Doctor not hypothesise that the Human Factor will do the same during his work?

*Why does the Doctor think this is the Daleks' final end when that happens in The Daleks? Is the lone Dalek at the end suppose to signify that they will never leave their city again? If that's so, it ties up their story arc neatly, though still goes against some dialogue from the first story.

*And it also finally explains the Dalek history. Leaving aside the Thals' POV, the Daleks developed space travel, became conquerors of time and space and that's when all their classic stories take place in. Then this happens and that leads into their first story where they die. All that is changed in the Time War of course. But ignoring the Thals, it works!

*How did the Doctor and Jamie move the cabinet time machine if it was merely a door to a giant room with mirrors? If it was a Dalek time machine, when and how did it get a Chameleon circuit? If it was Maxtible's, how did it become bigger on the inside?

*Why doesn't Maxtible just go forwards in time until he finds his alchemy secret?

*What was the point of Terrell in the story? His entire existence seems to be mere padding.

*The Emperor Dalek is very impressive. But how does the Doctor know of its existence?

*How do the Daleks know of Jamie? They never meet in any other story.

*How did the Daleks know exactly when and where the Doctor was going to be?

*If this really is a prequel to their first story(like the First Doctor suggested all other Dalek stories were) how did the Daleks forget the Doctor?

*Who else wants an "Alpha, Beta, Omega" spin-off?

*Why Omega and not Gamma?

*Patrick Troughton as a Dalek was brilliant.

*I might be mistaken, but Skaro's background sounds were from the first story. I like that. It's a shame they didn't reuse the door opening sounds that they snuck into, like three other stories, at least one of them from the Troughton era.

*David Whittaker's my favourite Classic Who writer at the moment.

BEST LINE

"We will obey, but not without questioning!"

CONCLUSION

A simply fantastic outing from nearly everyone involved. The Daleks at their finest and the best Classic season finale yet. Onto the thankfully much more existent Season 5.

Next New Story: Listen
Next Classic Story: The Tomb Of The Cybermen

Are you excited? I'm excited!

[rushy]

The Tomb Of The Cybermen is visually the most impressive story yet, but the writing is nonsense, the characters are caricatures and it just feels like the Troughton era is constantly failing to live up to the hype(the previous story not included).

PLOT

The TARDIS materialises on the planet Telos, where an expedition is trying to break into a Cyber tomb. Curious himself, the Doctor gets them in, only to find that two nutballs on the team are trying to revive the Cybermen.

CHARACTERS

Besides some dumb moments where he inadvertently tells the villain vital information(like this Doctor seems to do often), Patrick Troughton shines again. I loved the scene between him and Victoria to bits.
Actually, the TARDIS crew are going pretty strong now. There's a great rapport between them all.

How characters like Kliegg and Rousseau(Lost reference) even got on the expedition is a complete mystery to me. Same for the American buffoon. The only genuinely nice guy was the nervous wreck, as you could sympathise with him. When you weren't mixing him up with Kliegg(they look very similar).

The Cybermen aren't scary. When they first appeared, I could look past the cobbled together suits because of a) They looked cybernetic, b) Their voices had a lot of character and c) they didn't squawk all the time.
The new Cybermen in their silver suits just look... messy, in a bad way. They're still Cybermen and always will be, but I'd take David Banks any day. And seriously, what's with the random noises when they're fighting? And worst of all, how come smoke affects them? Shouldn't they have perfect memory or something?

NOTES

*The story is full of memorable moments, but all cobbled together like the sketches in the Star Wars Holiday Special.

*Toberman SMASH!!

*I love how the Doctor refuses to acknowledge the final end of the Cybermen because he hates to make predictions, but only declared the end of the Daleks in the last story.

*Like last time, there's no real explanation as to how this group of Cybermen even exist. I mean, where were all these guys in the previous Cyber story?

*The Cybermen's plan to draw in new people is ridiculously complex. Wouldn't it be easier to compile a distress signal, wait for someone to respond and steal their spaceship?

*I did like the unexpected reveal that the Cybermen also operate on a digital level, as shown by the wordless communication between the Cyber Controller and Toberman.

*How does one Cyber-gun get the Cybermen's cooperation, limited or not? Do they seriously not have weapons or defence systems in their tombs?

*I didn't expect to see a Cyber-gun til Earthshock.

*The beloved Episode 2 cliffhanger might've super-excited me, might have, if I hadn't seen it on YouTube a while ago. I don't know. As it stands, it was just really cool.

*Cybermen: They're running out of energy, yet have enough left to put their new insignia everywhere.

*The Doctor: He plans to stop the Cyber Controller by powering him up to 100%(why not just let him shut down, he could barely move!!) and tying him up with ropes.

*When they enter the cold Cyber tombs, where does the First Doctor's old cloak come from? I didn't see the TARDIS crew carry anything.

*It's a shame they didn't have Troughton wear his astrakhan.

*Why do the Cybermen use valuable Cyber suits for dummies?

*The TARDIS crew could've tried something else to convince Kliegg of their side of the story. All they say is "Are you sure this is a good idea." a hundred times over. No wonder he thought they were idiots.

*Why on Gallifrey does the Doctor open the Cyber tombs' hatch, especially knowing there are shady fellows along?! Wouldn't his time better have been spent on finding the Cybermen's database?

*The fake snow looks much like the explosive mineral from Attack Of The Cybermen. Ah, the irony.

*The fake snow doesn't melt after the tombs warm up.

*The tombs frost up again way too fast. Rewinding footage always, always looks bad, btw.

*The opening scene was so great, but why did the Doctor and Jamie recap the premise? Was Doctor Who being shown somewhere for the first time or was it just to remind the audiences what the heck they're watching?

*And why was the TARDIS so echo-ey. It added to the cold atmosphere of the story, but seemed very odd. Where has that lovely hum gone to?

*The Doctor shows a remarkable lack of caring when he announces he's made the doors the equivalent of an electric chair again.

*Symbolic logic??

BEST LINE

"Our lives are different to anybody else's. That's the exciting part, that nobody in the universe can do what we're doing."

CONCLUSION

There is gorgeous stuff in this(most of all set design and camera direction), but it's so clumsily put together that it becomes distracting. Plus, there's very little actual entertainment here. It's nearly soulless. And surprisingly, that isn't a good thing.

Next New Story: Listen
Next Classic Story: The Abominable Snowmen

I'm putting high hopes on the Great Intelligence...

[cosmichobo]

Tombs is a very unique story, in that during its absence from the archives it was declared by fandom to be the absolute pinnacle of Doctor Who, the most amazing wondrous story ever... And then they went and found it in Hong Kong, and rush released it to VHS, only to have fandom go - Oh ****, that's complete ****!

('Scuse the french)

For me, having never seen the story until its VHS release, it is a wondrous story, because I never thought I'd get to see it. I had clippings from DWM on my wall, and longed to be able to see that Cyber Controller in action... And then the news came that they'd found it, and basically immediately I was able to buy it! Not even with a 6 -12 month delay like normal (due to living in AU).

Yes, we've got some rather simplistic baddies, improbable situations, realllly bad reverse-film effects... But this to me, is one of the best Troughton stories (that exist). I could, and have, watch it a hundred times...

And that American buffoon is one of my favourite characters!

[rushy]

Listen is a mediocre, confused story saved by great acting on the leads' part and equally great direction.

PLOT

The Doctor has issues about the dark so Clara travels back in time to Gallifrey and pats him on the head. And something about Danny, kid Danny and Danny's descendant.

CHARACTERS

Peter Capaldi perfectly embodies someone you know is going a bit crazy, but considering Moffat's usual clichéd writing, might just be right. I just loved his look of concern when Clara seemed hurt. It pulled at my heartstrings in a way most actors never have.

Clara works really well with Danny Pink. They should get a spin-off and we should get a new, less self-centered companion.

I really like Danny. He's destined to be a bit of a goofball, but does the hurt thing well. However, I don't buy him as a war veteran. Like John Hurt, he's far too nice.

NOTES

*I have to applaud Moffat for choosing a kid whose hair is reminiscent of William Hartnell's.

*So if the Time Lords are still accessible via time travel, how come they've failed to notice all those universe reboots, the Reapers, the Doctor's meddling in history etc.

*And did the Ninth Doctor seriously not run a "is my planet still there?" check?

*I felt like cheering when the Doctor said "Do as you're told!"

*So if the Doctor imagined it all, what was up with the guy under the blanket and the pounding on the door?

*How come the Gallifreyans wear Earth-style clothes?

*So we've finally established a difference between Gallifreyans and Time Lords. Nice.

*Shouldn't the Doctor have had a breakdown in the many dark stories before this? Why is it Capaldi's Doctor who gets all those weird ideas in his head?

*I'm really gonna hate the woman next ep.

*The telepathic circuit thing directly contradicts numerous episodes, most notably The Two Doctors.

BEST LINE(S)

"He will never be a Time Lord if he doesn't stop crying." This is probably the first epic DW thing I haven't been spoiled on. I caught my breath and that's certainly never happened before. Epic.

"I'm against the hugging!!!"

CONCLUSION

Great ending, crappy episode.

Next Classic Story: The Abominable Snowmen.
Next New Story: Time Heist

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The Abominable Snowmen is a great adventure, taking a break from the futuristic stories of late at last. Having the setting be in the Himalayas feels very refreshing and let's the story seamlessly explore its own potential without using the monsters as a crutch.

PLOT

The TARDIS crew arrive in a Tibetan monastery only to find robot Yeti on the loose and a bunch of paranoid monks led by the Great Intelligence, who controls/mostly controls/semi-controls a 300-year old man who controls the abbot. To add excitement, there's also an eccentric Yeti researcher and a discount Worf from Star Trek.

CHARACTERS

Patrick Troughton is exemplary as always. I love the early scene with him in the TARDIS, going through the chest from his first story and his understated reaction to finding an old artifact. Throughout the story, he displays genuine respect towards the monks(not something the newer Doctors would do, probably) and a strong, paternal influence towards the companions.
The story's also somewhat personal for him, since Padmasambhava is his old friend, even if that's not explored too much.

The relationship between Jamie and Victoria is also fantastic, the two relying on each other in this friendly(and *gasp* not flirty or snarky) relationship.

Khrisong(Worf) is set up as a minor antagonist, but over the course of the story, becomes the crew's biggest ally. A strong performance, showing the evolution from unlikable character to a very likeable one.
Much the same goes for Professor Travers, who initially thinks the Doctor killed his best pal(nah, screw my friend's corpse, I'm gonna find Yeti!), but ultimately grows to trust him.

There's a cool atmosphere about this story I really like, sort of like taking a fresh air after being stuck in your apartment for too long. It's mysterious, adventurous, makes good use of its characters, has the freakin' Great Intelligence in it and works well as a Base Under Siege. In fact, it's the best use of the formula thus far.

NOTES

*Who took a scimitar to the TARDIS?

*I personally like to think that the artifact thing the Doctor was so fond of was built by Susan, maybe even for his birthday or something.

*The recorder reigns again! The Doctor sings a tune whilst locked up by the monks and later when the story's over.

*Why did the Great Intelligence waste 200 years to build robot Yeti instead of just getting straight to the bodybuilding? Who was he expecting to be fighting in Tibet? And ultimately, it's the Yeti who call attention to him.

*The Intelligence is extremely inconsistent here. Sometimes it's a whispery alter-ego of Padmasambhava, sometimes it's a nice-speaking, controlled Padmasambhava, sometimes it can only be heard by Padmasambhava. They should've sticked with one.

*Songsten is a completely unnecessary character. He's only there to give the Intelligence someone to talk to and a reason why no one ever sees Padmasambhava. It would've been better if the whole 300-year old angle wasn't there and the Intelligence was just hidden in the sanctum on his own.

*The Doctor appears to have redecorated. I don't like it.

*Speaking of which, is that the food machine from The Daleks?

*Thankfully, the comforting TARDIS hum is back.

*According to the Wiki, the St. John emblem was lost in the late Hartnell era, but I distinctly remember it being there in the last story.

*The recons are of an unusually high quality, with moving pictures and CGI involved.

BEST LINE

"Jamie has come up with a plan. I think we should be discreet now." It's funny, even though Jamie having bad plans has never come up before.

CONCLUSION

One of the strongest Troughton outings yet.

Next New Story: Time Heist
Next Classic Story: The Ice Warriors

[rushy]

The Ice Warriors is an average Base Under Siege story, with no pratfalls nor major accomplishments to speak of.

PLOT

The TARDIS crew end up in a future Ice Age on Earth, where a base of scientists are working hard to keep the glaciers at bay. However, things soon grow problematic when a group of Martians are cut out from the ice.

CHARACTERS

Patrick Troughton is really strong in this story as he worms his way into the position of scientist in the base. I loved the scene where he used the chemical replicator to create water just because he was thirsty. His relationship with Victoria is really sweet, holding her safe and calming her during a crisis.

Frazer Hines has little to do, so I won't talk about him.

Deborah Watling may be one of the screamer companions, but she's the most vulnerable and likeable of the lot. When she screams, she really means it(unlike Peri or... ugh, Mel). I do wonder how she knew what a reactor is though.

The guest stars are strong. Leader Clent comes across as a well-rounded character, someone who is hopelessly out of his depth in a crisis, but means well. Penley is the sort of stubborn old scientist you often see in movies(though younger than most). Even the Scottish tramp with the comedy voice was memorable and nice.

The Ice Warriors have good parts and bad parts. They're spooky and mysterious, but at the same time have ridiculous Lego hands and move like pantomime robots. I liked the whispery voice they had, but was unimpressed with the horrible lip-synching.

NOTES

*Why did the Ice Warriors leave Victoria unguarded? They kept a camera on her, but she just escaped regardless!

*The direction was ahead of its time, but the editing was shoddy at times. The Doctor and Victoria escaped from the ship to the base and the Ice Warriors went from the base to their ship in about 5 seconds.

*What's with the gigantic titles?

*I liked the friendship between Jamie and the Scottish tramp.

*Who names their kid Storr?

*I'd love to see how that Ice Age is gonna happen with the ice caps melting(do something, America! DO SOMETHING!!)

*I loved the phone dial on the chemical replicator.

*Why is the computer so revered?

*And why does it sound like the Mechanoids? Who would give their computer a barely understandable droning voice like that in a base as important as that?

*The anti-computer message is as subtle as being painted purple and dancing in front of a harpsichord singing "COMPUTERS ARE EVIL!!!"

*Since when does the Doctor hate computers? Didn't the First Doctor even describe his own thinking as that of an organic computer?

*Why did the Doctor refuse to introduce himself?

*Why were the production team looking for more recurring monsters? Back in the Hartnell days, the Daleks were enough. Now they have the Cybermen + Yeti. How many baddies do they need?

*This story is excruciatingly hard to follow. Lots of talk about radiation, reactors, chemicals, ionising etc. And it doesn't help that everyone are dressed psychedelic for no good reason, usually shout and take orders from MechaHAL.

*I adored Jamie's attempt to get Victoria into a catsuit.

BEST LINE

"The ice is alive." Such an awesome tie-in to The Waters Of Mars.

CONCLUSION

A decent story, but nothing spectacular.

Next New Story: Time Heist
Next Classic Story: The Enemy Of The World

Salamander sounds friggin' awesome.

[rushy]

Time Heist is good popcorn Doctor Who, but not something you'd watch again.

PLOT

The Doctor, Clara, a hacker and a shape shifter rob a bank. Only they fail. And then it turns out they planned the robbing. And then it turns out it was a rescue mission in the name of some old, bitter lady.

CHARACTERS

The guest stars are all forgettable, besides the "antagonist". Seriously, Moffat could change his name to MILFet.

Peter Capaldi's still great with his dry wit, but he needs someone to play off of, like Blackadder had Baldrick. The closest we got was the fantastic final line.

I like Clara's sexy outfit. I also am rather fond of her developing relationship with Danny. Yeah, I'm actually fond of her after a while.

NOTES

*I hate the undoing of the characters' deaths and also the fact it wasn't a real heist. And even if it was, it would've been a crappy one, since we never saw the planning. In Farscape, the bank rob was one of the coolest things the show did, because the characters came up with wacky plans, things went increasingly worse, two brilliant villains were involved, it was personal for the characters, it genuinely felt unpredictable and the bank wasn't empty. Y'know, despite it NOT being anything, but a bank for criminals unlike the big galaxy one here. By the time they left, the main lead was literally half-insane. This is just painfully disappointing.

*Psy has bigger eyebrows, why isn't he the leader? I'd rather hope the Doctor relied on his 2000 years of experience.

*How did the Doctor guess the woman was gonna call her? If it had been Missy, yeah, but it was just some random lady.

*The "word turns out to be literal" joke has been old since 2005.

*Same goes for humans being legally creepy murderers.

*I miss Capaldi's brighter costume. The new one looks too casual to be cool.

*Have I commented on the intro yet? Because it's probably one of my favorites ever.

*I don't think William Russell's gonna drag himself to the next episode so... *sigh*.

*After 2000 years, "embarrassing" is all you have to say of old Eleven?

BEST LINE

Doctor: "Don't rob any banks what?"
Clara: "Without me."
Doctor: "Course not, boss." *turns around* "Robbing a bank. Robbing a whole bank. Beat that for a date."

CONCLUSION

A mediocre let-down.

Next New Story: The Caretaker.
Next Classic Story: The Enemy Of The World.

[rushy]

The ambition of The Enemy Of The World is unbelievable. Seriously, we are way past the direction of The Keys Of Marinus here. Of course, that's not entirely a good thing. It's so overspiced you can barely feel the story in it, but I've always found ambition very admirable. It gets you where you want to go.

PLOT

The year is 2018 and a Mexican named Salamander plots to take over the world by causing natural disasters and then fixing them(making the world dependent on him to survive). Things get complicated when it turns out that he has an uncanny resemblance with the Doctor...

CHARACTERS

This is where The Enemy Of The World excels. Patrick Troughton's double role is played off brilliantly, to the point where even I questioned which character I was watching. That's just how good he is.
Firstly, the Doctor. I absolutely adoooored the opening scene where he rushes off to the beach to play with all the glee of a six-year old. That just says so much about his character. He also displays the Doctor's pacifism, absolutely refusing to assasinate Salamander, despite the kind of man he is.

Speaking of that, I loved the way he and Salamander met at the end. It was the most atmospheric scene Doctor Who has done thus far and the way both knew the other through their actions in the story alone was brilliant. The only thing it really lacked was incidental music. But yeah, the end was epic. And hey, the TARDIS doors were opened mid-flight again(I can just imagine a mini-Salamander wandering around the house from Planet Of Giants)!

Salamander himself was a hilariously great villain. There was a likability about him(the way he handled things with good humor and a kind of forgiving attitude) and the accent was funny as hell. You've also got to give him credit for being one of the very few villains to get into the TARDIS.
The other villains were good too. Bruce was a very real person, loyal, but questioning. So was Benik. You're not always supposed to like villains and I HATED Benik.

Jamie and Victoria were spot-on too. The way Jamie protected Victoria and how she looked up to him. Oh jeez, I love these moments.

But now to the issues.

The Enemy Of The World is just filled with characters, sets and concepts that could easily work in stories of their own. There's the doppelganger thing, the isolated underground base, the natural forces attacking, the resistance against an evil dictator. It's just tiring. Very memorable and good, but just overdone.

There was the funny chef(who reminded me of Ted from Scrubs), the firm Fariah, the secretive Giles Kent and her brave assistant, Fedren and the Controller and of course Bruce and Benik. That's a lot of people to keep track of. And it is really hard to, especially since there's a big lack of establishing shots and scenes.

The direction is also overdone. Like in the last few stories, there's a real cinematic feel to it, but sometimes, it just cuts so fast you have no idea what's happening and how. Now that I think about it, the direction and style of the story seems very reminiscent of New Who, which isn't bad, but New Who's stories are designed to be 45 minutes long whilst this story seems to suffer from being a four-parter.

It's also extremely dated, with giant phones and mini black-and-white TVs(hey, I still have one of those!), not to mention being set in 2018.

NOTES

*There's a bit of incidental music here(the mysterious one that plays when we see Salamander's underground base) that Stanley Kubrick later used in "The Shining". That is just incredible. Hey, I bet mini-Salamander retired in that mini-maze in the Overlook Hotel.

*I'm glad they broke off from the Base Under Siege for a story, but I'm not so glad it was for this story because as I said above, it really is a case of throwing too much at the viewer. It was not as enjoyable an experience as you might imagine.

*The recorder itself doesn't appear(Jamie made the Doctor leave it in the TARDIS), but the Doctor proves he's not Salamander by pretending to play it.

*RTD later reused "Australasia" in The Parting Of The Ways.

*Why was Giles turned into a villain? It just doesn't seem to gel.

*Is Salamander a serious Mexican name?

*I wonder if another doppelganger episode is gonna come up with Peter Capaldi, considering that he's played in Doctor Who before.

*Why can't the Doctor just leave the records room at the end if the door was locked from the inside?

*Giles Kent looks a lot like Pete Tyler. Aha! Another conspiracy!

*What is Benik arrested for? He didn't seem to commit a crime besides grabbing a gun. Is Bruce THAT real? Wow.

BEST LINE

"I didn't need you once. I don't need you now."
FIVE SECONDS LATER
"You were useful once."

CONCLUSION

Certainly something wildly different, but it's like eating crispy, delicious bacon with sweet, cold ice cream on it. Both are gorgeous, but the mixup is bizarre.

Next New Story: The Caretaker
Next Classic Story: The Web Of Fear.

Lethbridge-Stewart on the phone!

[rushy]

The Caretaker is an average Doctor Who episode uplifted by some really great performances.

PLOT

The Doctor dresses up as a caretaker to infiltrate Coal Hill School because there's a monster robot there(what a coincidence!). Meanwhile, Danny finally realises the truth.

CHARACTERS

Peter Capaldi shines next to Sam Anderson. The two play off each other wonderfully, rather than the bickering they have with Clara. I can't wait for Anderson to take over entirely, I really can't.
Speaking of which, Sam Anderson shines next to Peter Capaldi. His soldier-Time Lord relationship with him is spot-on. Although I am a little iffy as to how he apparently deciphers the Doctor's personality in 10 seconds. Clara's rubbing off on him.

I liked seeing the junkyard again(even though it looks NOTHING like the ones from the 1980s). Also, Missy's finally back, though apparently too busy for her side of the plot today. Lolz.

NOTES

*You have an entire episode set in the Coal Hill School and you have the audacity not to include a cameo from William Russell?!?! They could've had him in the TARDIS instead of that dumb kid!

*I really pity that police officer. To die and find himself in the crappiest Promised Land ever...

*I bet they're not dead though. It's gonna be another "everybody lives!".

*My mom claims Clara's just another Peri wearing a mini-skirt in a school and while it's not THAT bad(actually it is, because the Sixth Doctor at least didn't take his companion seriously), it is the closest match.

*All I'm really asking is that Clara appreciate the life of time travel and be more subdued and less demanding.

*It's especially frustrating since I'm switching between 12/Clara and the infinitely better 2/Jamie/Victoria TARDIS teams.

*Did the Doctor really leave alien tech lying around the school? I'm disappointed in him.

*Why doesn't the Doctor just tell the kid that his box is a disused police box instead of fidgeting around?

CONCLUSION

Meh. I loved the scenes with Danny(he's basically the new Rory), but that's all this is worth for. No rewatch value.

Next New Story: Kill The Moon
Next Classic Story: The Web Of Fear

A story set on the moon? Nice!

[rushy]

An Adventure In Space And Time is a heartwarming/breaking, entertaining, educational, brilliant, but sadly predictable look back at the Hartnell era.

PLOT

In 1963, William Hartnell was in a bit of a ditch. Despite his great talent and ambition as a character actor, he was forced to play one-note military leaders. But God was giving and he became the star of the children's series, Doctor Who. And just when Hartnell's dream of popularity and being appreciated was realized, his old body began to wear a bit thin... and he didn't want to go.

To give much deserved credit to Mark Gatiss, he makes the docudrama as mainstream as possible and doesn't give too many details about the origins of the show beyond how it came to be in the first place. The direction is brilliant and captures Hartnell's pain perfectly, even when he's not there. I loved the effect of TARDIS travel and the look of the old console room and how it was invented.

However, we pretty much knew the whole story at the start when Hartnell's looking at the police box and everything goes pretty much as we expected. Times move on, people leave, guy doesn't want things to change... it's all pretty cliche. But it's the execution that matters and this thing passes with flying colors.

CHARACTERS

David Bradley makes for an endearing William Hartnell. He nails the rudeness and stubbornness of the old man, not to mention his despair and loneliness although I felt much of the commanding presence and edge was missing. To the people working on the show in the 60s, Hartnell was a loose card, ready to explode at any moment which didn't come across at all. I also think he should've altered his performance for when Hartnell was playing the First Doctor, to show the difference between what happens behind the scenes and what happens in front of the camera.

Reece Shearsmith only appears during one scene, but he was brilliant as Patrick Troughton. There was a "new era" feel about him, which was absolutely necessary. I liked the obvious respect between the two, despite seeming like polar opposites.

Brian Cox was a bit over-the-top as Sydney Newman, but I liked him. He was professional, but had a good sense of humor and knew what was best for the show.

Verity Lambert and Waris Hussein were much more important to the show's birth than I realized. I thank them for what we have here today.

NOTES

*I had no idea they tried experimenting with Hartnell's face in the intro!

*The introduction of the Daleks was brilliant, though at the time, "Exterminate!" was not a catchphrase and was certainly not part of the script read out loud by Sydney Newman.

*It was a very cool idea to tie in "Exterminate!" to JF Kennedy's assassination.

*Most of the costumes look great, but the Cybermen are really iffy. They were far more stretched out than what they looked like in their actual story.

*It's rather funny, but all of the female actresses look like their original counterparts, yet none of the males look remotely like the originals.

*I hated the way William Russell and Jacqueline Hill were underused. They were an important aspect of the show's central premise. After all, it was supposed to be educational(which is barely brought up here) and they're teachers.

*I caught Carole Ann Ford's cameo, but have no idea where William Russell is. Or Mark Eden(Marco Polo).

*Hartnell barely spends any time in his First Doctor costume. He's usually dressed in his outdoors outfit from the beginning and end of his era or just the vest.

BEST LINE

"Well then, who's who?"

CONCLUSION

A wonderful look back at the show's start. However, if you know the story, there's little here to find.

Next New Story: Kill The Moon
Next Classic Story: The Web Of Fear.

[rushy]

The Web Of Fear is just classic and a fantastic(perhaps even better) sequel to The Abominable Snowmen. It's a great example of how to get continuity right. Not to mention how incredibly well-written the whole thing is.

PLOT

After Professor Travers accidentally reactivates a Yeti control sphere, the Great Intelligence finds its way back to Earth and proceeds to try to and capture the Doctor to absorb his knowledge(I wrote a fanfic about that without knowing it actually happened!!) in the cut-off London Underground.

CHARACTERS

Patrick Troughton is as great as he's ever been. I loved his cunning plan to stop the Intelligence(although I don't get why he instructed Jamie to use the microphone thingy if he didn't want that to happen) and the scene where he apparently waits his mental demise was brilliant.

Jamie has his best moment to date, when he tells the Doctor, deadpan: "You're not going to give yourself up." The Doctor should have companions as loyal as this more often. I watch Jamie and I wonder why the hell the Twelfth Doctor still bothers with Clara.

Victoria is still a screamer, but she still makes it believable. And it pays off very well with the obvious closeness between her and Jamie.

Nicholas Courtney is legend. He's like the epitome of a trustworthy soldier, someone with an open mind, but a pragmatic view of reality. I love that calming, authoritarian voice of his.

The Welsh get royally screwed over with poor cowardly Evans, though. To give him credit, he maintains a certain level of likability about him. You can't rely on him, but you can't hate him either. Maybe it's the down-to-earth accent, I don't know.

The Yeti redesign isn't an improvement over the blank-faced originals, but it's not a downgrade either. It's just different.

Professor Travers really does look changed. Kudos to the make-up people and of course, the actor himself. I was only confused by his sudden expertise in the robotic Yetis and their tech when in the previous story, he only cared about the real ones. I also hated his performance as the Great Intelligence, it was too over-the-top.

Anne Travers started out really annoying with her "ooh, I'm a tough woman so beat it!" attitude, but once she got rid of that, I liked her interactions with the Doctor.

The guy playing Staff Sergeant Arnold did a great job. When he was Arnold, he was just the kind of reliable old dog you'd expect and when he was the Intelligence, he was eerily distant.

NOTES

*Hail the recorder! The Doctor plays a sad tune whilst the mind extraction machine is being prepared.

*I thought the microphone and control box were the same thing, but apparently not.

*I loved the early long scenes in the TARDIS. We don't get to see the TARDIS nearly enough. And were those sandwiches from the food machine?

*No offence to Courtney, but what exactly was Lethbridge-Stewart's point in the story? They could've easily just kept one of the earlier military dudes alive without having to make up some kind of wacky reason to have him show up out of nowhere and take charge.

*That mysterious music from The Shining and The Enemy Of The World is here again! It plays during Episode 1 when we first see Travers.

*When the Yeti fight the military outside, we hear the Troughton-era Cybermen theme, which I believe is called Space Adventures.

*How did the Great Intelligence go from "Revenge is for losers" to "I'll kill myself to have revenge"?

*The Yeti didn't need nursery rhymes to be scary.

*Should I watch Downtime(of course when I'm done with the classic series)?

CONCLUSION

A dark, gripping Base Under Siege with one of the best Doctor Who villains of all time. It's one episode too long, but that's the only real complaint. I now uncontrollably want UNIT to show up already.

And next time on Going Through Doctor Who: Kill The Moon.

Can Capaldi have another really great episode?

[rushy]

Fury From The Deep is a Steven Moffat horror story years ahead of its time. The only thing missing was a cheesy nursery rhyme.

PLOT

The TARDIS lands in a gas control rig which is being slowly infiltrated by sentient seaweed. To make matters worse, the rig is controlled by the most stubborn commander so far and Victoria discovers the TARDIS secretly made its' crew participants of this galaxy's Temporal Base Under Siege Games™.

CHARACTERS

Patrick Troughton is relatively underused here. His only real role is to tell exposition and doesn't much care about anything else.

I loved both Jamie and Victoria in this story. It's entirely natural of Victoria to feel fed up over the endless alien menaces(seriously? They haven't had ONE vacation trip?), though I'm actually surprised she didn't ask Jamie to stay, considering how close they are. And speaking of him, the scene where the two discussed Victoria's decision was the best Jamie moment thus far. Jamie McCrimmon: Brilliant.

I enjoyed Mr. Robson a lot, as he portrayed an obsessive perfectionist manager not capable of handling a serious situation very well. Waaaaay better than General Cutler in The Tenth Planet. I mentally snort every time I think of that guy. Robson was also really good when he was possessed. It was quiet and subtle, a big difference from his normal behaviour.

I liked the loyalty exhibited by Mr. Harris. He's one of the nicest guys the crew has ever run into. He doesn't have much for brains, but his heart is in the right place.

I didn't see the point of the Captain Janeway-wannabe, but she portrayed confidence and intelligence very well and worked as a counterpoint to Harris.

NOTES

*Yay, let's play in the foam!! Nowadays, Clara would be the one splashing foam and the Doctor would pick some up, smell it and be perplexed for no immediately obvious reasons...

*A big applause to the introduction of the sonic screwdriver! I'd actually forgotten this was going to be introduced in this story. Hearing Troughton say the familiar words got me in mega-fan mode.

*What happened to Mr. Oak?

*Did the TARDIS really fly back up into the air or was the footage reversed by the recon team? If it did fly, why?

*Since when has the Doctor wanted to pilot a helicopter?

*Where did the sentient seaweed come from?

*Why does the Doctor refer to the seaweed as mere matter when it's obviously sentient? And doesn't he sound like the First Doctor when he calls the war between humanity and seaweed "the battle of the giants"?

*The Doctor spends several episodes trying to find the seaweed's nervous centre, finally goes to it in a helicopter and then escapes and says it was in the control rig this whole time?

*I loved the music whenever Oak and Quill showed up.

*Did they remind anyone else of Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd?

*One time, I and my friend reminded ourselves of them, cause we were interviewing random people as a pair(moving around and whispering: "that guy has potential(to talk to us)". And when we did get one who was walking, we were both on different sides like creepy stalkers, lolz.

*I know it's been a while since the last review, but the real world has kept me very busy as of late. Fortunately, my next week is entirely free.

*Isn't the secretary guy the same as the old guy from The Macra Terror?

*Also, the engineer is definitely Smythe's assistant from The War Games(canNOT wait to review that one!)

BEST LINE

"It's down there, in the darkness, in the pipeline, waiting..." I can hear Matt Smith in my head, saying those lines.

CONCLUSION

Very atmospheric, but lacks in content and is overlong. Nice effects, though. Victoria's departure was also one of the best, so kudos.

Next time: The Nightmare Fair.
Go from move 1024!!

[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?