Doctor Who Before The Flood Review

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Cass, Clara Oswald, Corey Taylor, Danlie O'Hara, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Before The Flood, Doctor Who Series 9, Jenna Coleman, Paul Kaye, Peter Capaldi, Prentis, Sophie Stone, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Doctor, The Fisher King, Toby Whitehouse

Before The Flood

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

Separated by time, Clara is stuck at the underwater Caithness mining facility in the future under attack by ghostly apparitions, while in the same location in the past the Doctor explores the remote military outpost before it was flooded. A ruthless alien called the Fisher King has engineered a scheme to survive at all costs. As the fate of the past and the present ripples across time, the Doctor may have to break all the rules to stop the alien warlord. Even considering the most unimaginable possibility of all – the Doctor will have to die…

Before The Flood concludes Toby Whitehouse’s first two-part story for Doctor Who. The writer of Being Human (2008-20015) and the Doctor Who episodes School Reunion (2006), The Vampires of Venice (2010), The God Complex (2011), and A Town Called Mercy (2012), has returned for Doctor Who’s ninth series with Under The Lake & Before The Flood – a ghostly underwater time-travelling adventure directed by Daniel O’Hara that sees the Doctor and Clara facing haunting danger across two time zones.

Trapped inside the lake-bed mining base The Drum in 2119, Clara (Jenna Coleman), second-in-command Cass (Sophie Stone) and Cass’s sign-language translator Lunn (Zaqui Ismall), now face the grim reality of the Doctor’s own ghost standing outside the base – and the Time Lord makes for a particularly disturbing looking spectre as he gazes through the window! The cliff-hanger for Under the Lake saw the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) becoming a hollow eyed phantom, just like commander Moran (Colin McFarland), Vector Petroleum rep Prichard (Steve Robertson), and Parentis (Paul Kaye, who played Thoros in Game of Thrones), the mysterious top-hat wearing Tivolian (a species created by Toby Whitehouse for his 2011 Doctor Who story The God Complex).

Clara and the crewmembers notice the Time Lords ghost is silently speaking their names instead of the coordinates like the other ghosts. The Doctor telephones Clara from the TARDIS, trying to reason with his own ghost, but the Doctor’s spirit releases the other ghosts trapped in the Faraday Cage. With the mystery of the spaceship with the indecipherable writing on its walls in the main hanger and whatever is sleeping inside the recently recovered suspended animation chamber remaining unresolved in 2119, the Doctor, systems technician O’Donnell (Morven Christie), and marine geologist Bennett (Arsher Ali) have been exploring the same site in 1980 before the dam burst and flooded the old town. The Doctor certainly faces a difficult task, he’s confronted with tragedy, the bizarre anomaly of being stuck in his own time line, and a towering new enemy – the Fisher King. But it is the telephone call the Doctor and Clara have across the waterlogged centuries that divide them which confirms the Time Lords worst fears; he will have to die to save the day. Its already happened, Clara has seen the Doctor’s ghost in the future, there’s no escape from his fate, or is there..?

This is a fabulous episode for Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman as the Doctor and Clara face their most challenging adventure yet, and there are some highly emotional scenes between them – particularly during their timey-wimey phone conversation before Clara, Cass, and Lunn, have to take refuge in the Faraday Cage from the ghosts. Clara has become a bit of a thrill-seeker recently, enjoying the danger that accompanies the Doctor’s adventures. Before The Flood really highlights the profound effect that travelling with the Doctor has had on Clara since Danny’s death, now she has to contemplate the possibility that the Doctor might also die; and these moving scenes reveal just how much Clara’s friendship with the Doctor means to her.

Toby Whitehouse has created some really great characters for this two-part story, the crew of the Drum are a highly-skilled team, and they all get a good share of the action in Before The Flood. Sophie Stone, the first deaf actress in Doctor Who, gives a terrific performance as Cass, whose lip-reading skills and lack of hearing gives her a pivotal role in the unfolding drama. Zaqui Ismall also plays a key role as Lunn, Cass’s designated sign language translator, the ghosts won’t harm him because Cass wouldn’t let him read the strange writing inside the alien vessel, and this proves vital in getting Clara’s phone back from the ghosts. There’s also a powerful scene between Clara and Cass after Lunn bravely sets out from the Faraday Cage to retrieve the phone (the only way they can maintain contact the Doctor in the past), it’s a brilliantly scripted moment, and one that is in no needs of translation either!

The Doctor, O’Donnell, and Bennett soon discover the alien craft in 1980 on the military training site in Scotland – modelled on a Russian town – was used train troops at the height of the Cold War. It seems the craft is actually a hearse, carrying the body of the Fisher King, the suspended animation chamber and power cell are still intact, and there are no signs of the untranslatable writing on the walls – at least not yet… We also get to see a lot more of the dapper top-hat wearing Tivolian, Parentis, played by Paul Kaye, and discover the intergalactic undertakers role in events here in 1980 before he is killed by the revived Fisher King – who then inscribes the symbols that will make the ghosts into transmitters on the interior of the ship.

O’Donnell’s zeal for adventure also sadly leads to her untimely death, whereby events take a dramatic turn which even the TARDIS won‘t allow the Doctor run away from. Meanwhile, Clara, Cass, and Lunn must venture outside the safety of the Faraday Cage in the future with homicidal ghosts and an undead version of the Time Lord stalking the base, as Bennett and the Doctor clash bitterly over the Time Lord’s actions in the past concerning O’Donnell, but what exactly has Beethoven’s Fifth got to do with ghosts in the 22^nd century, and is the Doctor really powerless to stop the Fisher King’s plan to ensure his own survival?

The monstrous Fisher King is a fearsome creature. It has taken three people to bring this lumbering alien to life on screen. Neil Fingleton is the man inside the creature costume, and at over 7ft 7in, he’s also Britain’s tallest man. The Fisher King is voiced by the award-winning actor and comedian Peter Serafinowicz (He was the voice for Star Wars Episode I villain Darth Maul, the actor also played Pete in Shaun of the Dead, and Denarian Saal in Marvel‘s Guardians of the Galaxy), and the creatures blood chilling roar is provided by Corey Taylor – the lead singer of the metal band Slipknot. The Fisher King is a truly terrifying foe, the monsters scenes with the Doctor are electrifyingly tense, and their epic showdown resonates across time and space.

The Fisher King is without doubt one of the most dangerously powerful creatures the Doctor has ever faced, and their face-off is a magnificently menacing scene. There are some really dark moments of horror on The Drum as well, particularly when Lunn has to venture out alone to face the ghosts in the shadowy corridors, and later, when Cass is wandering alone, she is followed by Moran’s axe wielding ghost – a scene made all the more terrifying because Cass cannot hear the axe being dragged along the corridor behind her. O’Donnell makes a number of references to the Doctor’s past companions and exploits in this episode. Unfortunately her enthusiasm also puts her in terrible danger, she gets killed by the Fisher King and joins the ranks of the ghosts on The Drum menacing the others, and sadly she will never know how much Bennett really cared for her.

With the consequences and destruction set to spiral out of control, the Doctor sends Bennett back to the TARDIS while he confronts the Fisher King. The Doctor tricks the alien warlord into leaving the church and the suspended animation chamber behind. Outside the creature discovers the missing power cell the Doctor has placed, which detonates, destroying the dam and flooding the entire area – killing the Fisher King. It’s only really here in the closing stages of the story that things get a little muddled. The time-twisting resolution, with the Doctor emerging from the suspended animation chamber in the future on The Drum, together with a little help from his sonic shades and a neat trick with his cleverly programmed ghost / Doctor / hologram, does all feel a little contrived, but Toby Whitehouse manages to tie everything up so well everything almost reverse engineers itself to paper over the cracks. With the ghosts trapped in the Faraday Cage for UNIT to sort out, romance in the air for Cass and Lunn thanks to Bennett, and the Doctor’s timey-wimey bootstrap paradox laden explanation for Clara everything wraps up in fine style to the strumming of the Doctor’s electric guitar.

Before The Flood is structured around some brain wracking concepts and leaps of logic. I’m certainly not even going to pretend I understood all of it either, but like the Doctor said, you can always google it if you really want too! There are a wealth of continuity points and fun references to look out for, including such things as the brand name of the Doctor’s amplifier for his guitar, and the fun slogan on Prentis’ business card! While not quite as good as Under The Lake, Before The Flood still provides a breathtakingly exciting conclusion to this story, and Toby Whitehouse’s excellent multi-layered scripts for Under the Lake & Before The Flood mixes deep-sea adventure, with time travel, and ghosts to make this one of the highlights of Series 9. Boasting strong performances from the entire cast, with some clever 4^th wall shattering moments from Capaldi’s Doctor, a menacing monster, stunning special effects, an amazing rock version of the opening theme tune, and the brilliant direction by Daniel O’Hara, this two-part story recaptures the essence of the classic series and seamlessly blends it with the fast-paced excitement of the new series to forge something very special indeed!

Images & Clip Belong: BBC

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And just for fun here’s that rock version of the Doctor Who theme!

Doctor Who Under The Lake Review

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Cass, Clara Oswald, Daniel O'Hara, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Series 9, Doctor Who Under The Lake, Ghosts, Jenna Coleman, Peter Capaldi, Sophie Stone, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Doctor, Toby Whitehouse

Under the Lake

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

In the year 2119, the crew of the underwater Caithness mining facility, The Drum, find an alien spaceship on the lake bed. After bringing the sleek craft aboard, they find it is empty. When something stirs inside the vessel, tragedy strikes, and the survivors find themselves attacked by hollow-eyed phantoms. When the Doctor and Clara arrive they discover the base and crew are under siege from terrifying apparitions. Their friends won’t stay dead, but what has brought them back? The Doctor and Clara must face the strangest possibility of all: could ghost really exist? So, when the Doctor finally uncovers the truth, the horrifying cause of the ghostly manifestations proves to be more unearthly than anyone could have possibly imagined…

Under The Lake continues the dark tone of Series 9, with the beginning of a two-part story by writer Toby Whitehouse. The Being Human (2008-20015) and Cold War drama The Game writer has already written several outstanding episodes of Doctor Who: including School Reunion (2006), The Vampires of Venice (2010), The God Complex (2011), and A Town Called Mercy (2012). Now Toby Whitehouse is back for Series 9 with the new episodes Under The Lake & Before The Flood, a spooky sci-fi ghost story which also has the added distinction of being Toby Whitehouse’s first two-part Doctor Who adventure.

The TARDIS materialises inside The Drum three days later, but it seems she’s not at all happy about landing here. Clara might soon get her wish for more adventures, monsters, and things blowing up, when they encounter two decidedly homicidal ghosts. Taking refuge with the crew hiding inside a Faraday Cage – the only area the ghosts cannot enter while the base is in night mode – the Doctor learns the area was a military training site before the dam burst and flooded the valley, and now Vector Petroleum have acquired the rights to mine the oil reservoir beneath it.

When day mode resumes the ghosts vanish. The Doctor inspects the ship in the main hanger, where he finds the crafts suspended animation chamber and power cell is missing. He’s also intrigued by the undecipherable writing on the walls, writing that even the TARDIS cannot translate. But as the Doctor proposes they might actually be facing real ghosts the base enters night mode and the TARDIS cloister bell suddenly rings out…

Peter Capaldi is on excellent form here as the Doctor, especially when the Time Lord takes charge of the situation, enthusiastically theorising about both the existence and the prospect of dealing with genuine ghosts for the first time. Jenna Coleman is also great as Clara and she is right in the thick of the action. The Doctor also begins to notice that Clara seems to be enjoying their adventures in Time and Space a little too much – it’s almost as if she has become addicted to danger that accompanies the Time Lords adventures. Toby Whithouse’s story tackles this issue in the superb TARDIS interior scenes between the Doctor and Clara as we discover why the time machine was so upset by the ghosts. It’s a sublime moment as the Doctor, quite literally puts the breaks on the whole adventure, and takes time out to address his duty of care to his companion in a moving scene that poignantly speaks volumes about how just strong their friendship has become.

There are some fun moments to break up all the ghostly happenings though: the psychic paper quickly establishes the Doctor’s UNIT credentials, the Time Lord uses some specially prepared prompt cards to hilarious effect, the sonic shades also prove very practical when you are face-to-face with a ghost, classic monsters the Autons get a mention, and there’s a fun explanation for why the Doctor doesn’t have a radio in the TARDIS.

Under the Lake has a great guest cast. The crew of The Drum are a mostly military team, commanded by Moran (Colin McFarland) who tragically becomes a ghost in the opening moments, and there’s also a corporate rep from Vector Petroleum named Prichard (Steve Robertson). Second in command Cass, has to step up and take charge of the crew, and her character, like Sophie Stone who plays her, is also deaf. Its great to see a deaf character served so well by the script, Cass’s sassy and confident, her disability is never made into a big issue, she plays a vital role in helping the Doctor understand what the ghosts want at a crucial moment and also helps in discovering the true meaning behind the unintelligible writing on the ships walls. The rest of the crew is comprised of O’Donnell (Morven Christie) a systems technician who knows of the Doctor, the marine geologist Bennett (Arsher Ali), and Lunn (Zaqi Ismail) is the sign interpreter for Cass.

There is a distinctive alien-looking ghost with a top hat in this episode, Parentis (Paul Kaye, who played Thoros in Game of Thrones), from a species the Doctor identifies as Tivolian, a being from the mole-like race that Toby Whitehouse invented for The God Complex – the character Gibbis (played by David Williams). The Doctor is clearly puzzled why a being from such a peaceful and subservient race as the Tivolian’s has become such a violent ghost. Indeed, special effects used are excellent. The ghosts in Under the Lake are all brilliantly spooky looking and are genuinely unsettling with their silent voices and blank eye sockets. There are some particularly scary ghost encounters with the crew, especially when Prichard returns to The Drum, Lunn also faces a terrifying moment when he gets trapped with a ghost, and the disquieting sight that greets Bennett when he takes a sneak peek inside a room where the ghosts are lurking is sure to send a few chills up the spine.

There is one pivotal scene that also finally lets us in on what that brilliant: “Every time I think it couldn’t get any more extraordinary it surprises me. It’s impossible, I hate it, it’s evil, it’s astonishing… I want to kiss it to death!” line from the Series 9 trailer was really all about. The Doctor has faced ghost-like hauntings before, such as in the episode Hide (2013), but even he could be out of his depth against these underwater spirits!

The ghosts begin using the base systems against them, even sending a fake message to call in a rescue sub. With the Drum in quarantine the crew attempt to catch a ghost! Playing a deadly game of cat and mouse in the corridors with the phantoms, Clara, Bennett, and Lunn lure the ghosts to the Faraday cage so the Doctor can finally confront them. The ghosts silent words are really coordinates, each death and ghost created has made the signal stronger, and the fourth part now pinpoints the source – a church in the old flooded military town. Using a remote controlled sub they recover the missing suspended animation chamber, and it becomes clear the untranslatable writing on the walls of the ship are insidiously connected to the ancient threat sleeping inside the chamber.

In order to get to the bottom of the mystery the Doctor decides he must travel back in time to find out what happened, but a sudden computer malfunction initiates the emergency protocols, flooding the base to cool the reactor. In all the chaos the Doctor, Bennett, and O’Donnell get separated from Clara, Lunn, and Cass. The Doctor is left with no option but to leave them behind, as he cant bring the TARDIS to them because of the ghosts, but after they’ve gone Clara is horrified to witness the terrifying sight now walking across the lakebed towards the base…

Under The Lake provides an exciting and spooky opening to this two-part adventure. Toby Whitehouse’s story takes the classic base under siege story and splices it with numerous sci-fi / horror tropes. Although at times it does feel a little like an undersea mash-up of themes from The Impossible Planet, 42, and the Waters of Mars, Toby Whitehouse’s multi-layered story is nevertheless packed with standout creepy moments, some of which are actually quite disturbing, and there are plenty of grim deaths to keep us on our toes. This is also the first full-length episode to be produced by Derek Ritchie, having already been script editor on The Time of the Doctor (2013), Deep Breath (2014), Into The Dalek (2014), and The Caretaker (2014), along with the Five(ish) Doctors Reboot special (2013), and he’s done a fantastic job with Under The Lake as well.

Director Daniel O’Hara skilfully builds the tension and menace, using the fantastic sets to great effect, and the clever use lighting makes this underwater base look really convincing. Under The Lake is a fantastic episode, it has all the hallmarks of a classic Doctor Who story, and I really enjoyed it. There’s also a complex time-bending mystery resting right at the heart of the story, it builds towards to what is possibly one of the most jaw-dropping cliff-hangers the series has ever had, and it sets the scene for a thrilling conclusion in Before The Flood.

Images Belong: BBC

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