The Power of the Doctor marks the end of an era and Jodie Whittaker’s final adventure as the thirteenth Doctor. The stakes couldn’t be higher this time around either as the Doctor battles to save her very existence as she faces the Daleks, Cybermen and her arch nemesis, the Master. The Doctor and her friends must solve the mystery behind a series of bizarre happenings; including an attack by the Cyber-Masters on a speeding bullet train in a distant galaxy, the disappearances of seismologists from 21st century Earth, and the defacing of some of history’s most iconic paintings. As the Doctor is confronted with threats on multiple fronts, the Daleks are also inexplicably trying to contact with the Time Lord, and just what kind of hold does the masterful Rasputin have over Tsar Nicholas in 1916 Russia? The Doctor soon faces a battle to the death against her deadliest enemies. Friends and allies, both old and new, will unite and fight alongside her before one last heartbreaking choice seals the 13th Doctor’s fate forever…
Jodie Whittaker’s five year tenure comes full circle in The Power of the Doctor.
This feature-length episode is a time twisting epic, written by outgoing show runner Chris Chibnall, and directed by Mangus Stone (2020’s Spyfall Part One, Praxeus, Ascension of the Cybermen and the Timeless Children, along with the 2021 Flux episodes The Halloween Apocalypse, War of the Sontarans and Village of the Angels. The Doctor’s companions Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) and Dan Lewis (John Bishop), accompany Jodie Whittaker for her final outing as the Doctor, and Jacob Anderson also reprises his role as Vinder from Doctor Who: Flux to briefly rejoin the TARDIS team.
Indeed, a host of friends and foes make a dramatic return in The Power of the Doctor, including Classic companions Ace (Sophie Aldred) and Tegan (Janet Fielding), along with Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) for the special, even Bradley Walsh returns as Graham… and that’s just for starters! The Master (Sacha Dhawan) is back too, as is Ashad / The Lone Cyberman (Patrick O’Kane), and classic monsters the Daleks and the Cybermen all have key roles in this blockbusting adventure which also pays tribute to past Doctor’s and the legacy of Doctor Who.
Jodie Whittaker’s five year tenure comes full circle in The Power of the Doctor. Her final bow provides a timely celebration of Doctor Who itself, and the special also nicely bookends numerous aspects of the 13th Doctor’s era. The Power of the Doctor is a veritable roller coaster ride from beginning to end. In terms of scale its certainly also one of the most spectacular to date as it features the most special effects shots ever seen in an episode of Doctor Who. Every big action set-piece is massive, even the pre-credits feels like a mini movie in itself. Writer and show runner Chris Chibnall’s era has been something of a mixed bag at times but he certainly delivers the goods here in the scripting of Whittaker’s final adventure.
Airing as part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations, this adventure is packed with action and Easter eggs galore that fans of every era of the show will enjoy. Following the frenetic opening the Doctor discovers the Cyber-Lords have a machine-like world lurking in the Earth’s shadow, one that’s tethered to the Master’s TARDIS and seemingly powered by a mysterious child-like entity. Its not long before the Master’s presence is felt in both the past and the present, leading to a reunion for the Doctor and Yaz with some old friends at UNIT, before the Daleks and Cybermen also enter the fray! There’s a wealth of emotions, action and humour woven throughout Chibnall’s overarching plot as the 13th Doctor rallies against the Master, the Cybermen and the Daleks who have joined forces for a volcanic team-up in order to spring a deadly ‘forced regeneration’ on their mortal enemy.
Jamie Magnus Stone’s stylish direction keeps everything on track, with events racing along at a cracking pace, before giving way to the emotional conclusion that beautifully leads into the 13th Doctor’s startling regeneration.
At its heart though, it is Jodie Whittaker’s outstanding performance as the Doctor that makes The Power of the Doctor into something really special.
It’s clear that Jodie Whittaker had a blast working with Who veterans Jemma Redgrave who plays Kate Stewart, and 80s-era cast members Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred, as Tegan and Ace. Their return isn’t just window dressing either, and they each have a crucial role to play as the action unfolds. There are heartwarming moments aplenty and emotional farewells too. Mandip Gill gives a particularly standout performance as Yaz’s adventures with the Doctor draw to a close, and there are moments that are especially poignant for the Doctor and Yaz.
Past Doctor’s also show up thanks in part to the Doctor’s subconscious because of the her forced regeneration and her own emergency holographic AI programme, with: David Bradley as the 1st Doctor, Peter Davison as the 5th Doctor, Colin Baker as the 6th Doctor, Sylvester McCoy as the 7th Doctor, Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor and Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor! That’s not all, the same AI enables Tegan to have a heartfelt chat with the 5th Doctor, and Ace gets a reunion with the 7th Doctor as well. Both are magical, fan pleasing scenes, and genuinely heartwarming. It was also fitting to see Bradley Walsh return for the 13th Doctor’s send-off, even thought was a little bizarre to see him suddenly appear and team-up with Ace to destroy a volcano full of Daleks! Later its revealed Graham has set up a support group of sorts for ex-TARDIS travellers, where we see Dan, Yaz, Ace, Tegan and Kate Stewart are joined by three more classic Doctor Who companions of yesteryear: Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford), Jo Jones (Katy Manning) and Ian Chesterton (William Russell) reminisce about their adventures with the Doctor. This was another wonderfully staged and unexpected moment that rounded off this episodes nods to the past in fine style.
At its heart though, it is Jodie Whittaker’s outstanding performance as the Doctor that makes The Power of the Doctor into something really special. Whittaker brilliantly channels the bright and breezy essence that has made her incarnation of the Time Lord so unique from her predecessors. Her Doctor has been a celebration of change, she built a fam of her own, boldly confronted injustice and darkness throughout time and space, and always remained compassionate even in her darkest hours. This episode, above all, perhaps delves deeper into the psyche of the Doctor than ever before.
Most notably of course The Power of the Doctor is also the first time that three classic foes of the Doctor have featured together in one storyline since the shows revival in 2005. The return of Sacha Dhawan as the Master was an inspired move by Chibnall to front the trio of major foes the Doctor must face. Sacha Dhawan brings a scenery chewing performance along with a manic intensity to his incarnation of the Master that is both charming and disturbing. He’s always been the perfect foil for the 13th Doctor, never more so than here, and at times it looks like he could actually succeed in his grand design to highjack her forced regeneration and claim her infinite regeneration cycle for himself. He’s not alone though. The Daleks are also part of his Masterplan, and Patrick O’Kane’s welcome return as the chillingly evil Lone Cyberman makes the Cybermen seem even more deadly than ever this time around.
Now it falls to incoming show runner Russell T Davies to see if he can capture lighting in a bottle for a second time!
The build up to the regeneration itself is another beautifully crafted piece of fan service. It was lovely to see the Doctor and Yaz share one last trip before going their separate ways. Jodie Whittaker is resplendent in her final moments as the 13th Doctor takes in one last sunrise as she regenerates, and in a surprise twist when that regeneration happens she done’t change into her recently announced successor, Ncuti Gatwa, instead she miraculously turns into returning Time Lord David Tennant! Yes, it seems David Tennant and Catherine Tate are indeed reprising their roles for the 60th anniversary, and it has been confirmed that they will appear in three special episodes, set to air in November 2023. The next Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, will then take control of the TARDIS, with his first episode airing over the festive period in 2023!
The Power of the Doctor was a spectacular finale for the 13th Doctor that sets the groundwork for a whole new era moving forward. Now it falls to incoming show runner Russell T Davies to see if he can capture lighting in a bottle for a second time!
Hi, I’m Paul Bowler, blogger and reviewer of films, TV shows, and comic books. I’m a Sci-Fi geek, a big fan of Doctor Who, Star Trek, movies, Sci-Fi, Horror, Comic Books, and all things PS4.You can follow me on Twitter @paul_bowler,or at my website, Sci-Fi Jubilee, and on YouTube and Facebook
At las the long wait is over. Check out the awesome new trailer for Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor. Jodie Whittaker’s swansong as the 13th Doctor looks set to be an epic adventure as she faces her final battle in The Power of the Doctor on 23rd October 2022!
Hi, I’m Paul Bowler, blogger and reviewer of films, TV shows, and comic books. I’m a Sci-Fi geek, a big fan of Doctor Who, Star Trek, movies, Sci-Fi, Horror, Comic Books, and all things PS4.You can follow me on Twitter @paul_bowler,or at my website, Sci-Fi Jubilee, and on YouTube and Facebook
Doctor Who Eve of the Daleks New Year’s Day Special
Review by Paul Bowler
Having survived the Flux the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and companions Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Dan (John Bishop) are back to face the Time Lords dreaded nemesis, the Daleks in this festively themed New Year’s Day special! The Daleks return with a bang in Eve of the Daleks as the Doctor and her friends find themselves caught in a time loop with the Daleks hot on their heels!
The feature length special, written by showrunner Chris Chibnall is set on New Year’s Eve and guest stars Aisling Bea (from Channel 4’s This Way Up) who plays ELF storage facility manager Sarah, Adjani Salmon (of BBC2’s Enterprise) as Nick, the lovestruck customer who visits every New Year’s Eve, and Father Ted’s Pauline McLynn as Mary. Their lives turned upside down when they get caught up in an adventure with the Doctor, Yaz, Dan and the Daleks. The episode cleverly utilises its core cast and single set to great effect as it blends its rom-com elements with time loops, themes of loneliness, unrequited love, and of course lots of Dalek action!
Eve of the Daleks is essentially Doctor Who doing Groundhog Day with a Sci-Fi twist after the Doctor’s attempts to reset the TARDIS backfires, and the complex fun filled plot positively rattles along at a cracking pace from the outset. Jodie Whittaker excels as the 13th Doctor once again, the rest of the cast are also on fine form, and the action sequences are pretty spectacular as well. Director Annetta Laufer manages to strike just the right balance between the interconnecting plot threads, quirky humour and frenetic high-drama to keep everything on track.
This time though the Daleks are not just trying to end the universe. Instead this special squad of executioner Daleks have set their sights on the Doctor herself and are hellbent on getting some payback!
Eve of the Daleks is fun run-around that milks its complex timey wimey laden premise for all its worth. The slapstick humour and goofy romantic sub-plot gets a tad overcooked in places, but the non-stop-action and great dynamic between the 13th Doctor and her companions more than makes up for any shortcomings. This is the first of three specials that will round off the 13th Doctor’s era in 2022 before the Time Lords imminent regeneration in the autumn. Eve of the Daleks provides a great showcase for the return for the Daleks as they battle the Doctor, while also providing an engaging coda for the events of Doctor Who Flux, and setting the stage for things to come. To top it all a surprise next time trailer heralds the return of the classic Doctor Who monsters the Sea Devils this spring in Legend of the Sea Devils!
Hi, I’m Paul Bowler, blogger and reviewer of films, TV shows, and comic books. I’m a Sci-Fi geek, a big fan of Doctor Who, Star Trek, movies, Sci-Fi, Horror, Comic Books, and all things PS4.You can follow me on Twitter @paul_bowler,or at my website, Sci-Fi Jubilee, and on YouTube and Facebook
Doctor Who Flux blasted onto our screens this Halloween staring Jodie Whittaker as the 13th incarnation of the Time Lord, along with Mandip Gill as Yaz, and new travelling companion Dan played by John Bishop. This series will also feature Game of Thrones actor Jacob Anderson as Vinder, and a host of monsters including the Weeping Angels, Sontarans, beings known as the Ravagers and many, many more! Series 13, or Doctor Who Flux as its subtitled, is the first time modern Doctor Who has told a single story across the space of a whole series (a move necessitated in part by logistics and COVID restrictions), but given Chris Chibnall’s history with serialised drama – most notably ITV’s smash-hit Broadchruch – its perhaps no surprise this format would have been adopted at some point during his tenure as show runner anyway.
Each of this seasons six episodes have been written by Chris Chibnall, apart from episode four which has been co-witten with Maxine Alderton who wrote 2020’s The Haunting of Villa Diodati. The workload behind the camera has been split between two directors as well, with Jamie Magnus Stone (Spyfall Part One, Ascension of the Cybermen and the Timeless Children) handling episodes one, two and four, with newcomer Azhur Salee on episode three, five and six.
The new series kicks off with the appropriately Halloween themed season premier, The Halloween Apocalypse. Its Halloween time all across the universe, and horrifying forces are awakening. Everywhere, from an industrial excavation in Liverpool 1820, to the Artic Circle, and the void of deep space an ancient evil imprisoned since the dawn of the universe is starting to break free! Back on present-day Earth, in Liverpool, the life of Dan Lewis will soon change forever after he’s hijacked by an alien and propelled into an adventure with the Doctor and Yaz in the TARDIS.
Doctor Who Flux certainly starts with a bang with The Halloween Apocalypse, plunging the 13th Doctor and her companions into what can best be described as season finale level action and intensity right from the outset, with the Time Lord hot on the trail of the canine looking alien called Karvanista (Craig Els) who has worked for the Division – the mysterious Time Lord cabal behind Series 12’s ‘Timeless Child’ reworking of the Doctor’s origins. Jodie Whittaker is assuredly confident in her role now as the 13th Doctor, with the Time Lord pushed to the edge as the TARDIS starts to malfunction just as she’s attempting to unravel the mysterious enigma known as the Flux.
Mandip Gill has also come into her own as Yaz since the end of Series 12, she’s not afraid to challenge the Doctor when it’s clear the Time Lord has been keeping secrets, and she’s adept enough with alien technology now to enable her to help Dan escape from his cage on Karvinista’s ship. Comedian John Bishop makes a welcome addition to this TARDIS team as Dan Lewis, a fun everyman style character. Bishop brings a delightful sense of warmth and Liverpudlian humour to Dan, a classic audience associative figure, who gets kidnapped by Karvanista on Halloween, and ends up being rescued by Yaz and the Doctor – leading to Dan’s priceless reaction to stepping into the TARDIS for the first time. Jacob Anderson also debuts in the first chapter of Flux as Vinder, who is based on the intriguingly named Observation Outpost Rose in deep space, and is the first character to witness first hand the destructive power of the Flux – a cataclysmic force that’s sweeping across the cosmos.
Chibnall is clearly setting up major aspects of Doctor Who Flux with the introduction of the Swarm.
With old enemies of the Doctor kicking around in the background waiting to make their move and an armada of Karvanista’s species spaceships on their way to Earth, it seems we are only scratching the surface of the forces gathering against the Time Lord. Sam Spruell’s ghoulish turn as the Swarm may prove to be one of the Doctor’s scariest and deadliest foes yet. Chibnall is clearly setting up major aspects of Doctor Who Flux with the introduction of the Swarm, a former archenemy of the Doctor in their life as Division agents before their memories were wiped, whose his psychic connection to the Doctor leads to some of this episodes most dramatic moments, and chillingly he knows the Time Lord but the Doctor is left complexly on the back foot as she has no idea who he is. The Swarm also travels to Earth in a hauntingly creepy scene to revive his sister, Azure (Rochenda Sandall), who is hiding in human form in a remote house near the Artic circle. The Halloween Apocalypse is chock full of scary moments. The Swam is frighteningly powerful, seemingly draining his victims body and soul as he renews himself. The creepiest scenes though had Annabel Scholey’s mysterious character, Claire, who claims she’d taken “the long way round” (a phrase closely associated with the Doctor’s own journey to find Gallifrey), and has a frightening encounter with a Weeping Angel on her doorstep!
So, with the Doctor bewildered and the TARDIS on the run from the Flux, seemingly immune to even a face-full of time vortex energy shot from the time machines leaky crystalline central console, and seven billion spaceships from Karvanista’s dog-faced Lupari species about to prove they may actually be man’s best friend after all The Halloween Apocalypse proved to be a resounding success. I had to keep pausing the episode to answer to the door to trick-or-treaters, but other than that I thought it was a great action-packed series premier, with an epic scale, and a menacing new adversary to boot. All that and we got a doozy of a cliffhanger too, with the Doctor confounded by the Flux, and the warmongering Sontarans returning as well. The Halloween Apocalypse felt like proper old-fashioned Doctor Who again at last!
The Cloister Bell rings out in the ominous aftermath of the TARDIS being engulfed by the Flux as War of the Sontarans transports the Doctor and her companions into an unexpected encounter with one of her oldest and deadliest foes, the Sontarans, who have become a new faction during the Crimean War! This exciting second chapter of Doctor Who Flux marks a dramatic change of pace as Chris Chibnall sends the Doctor, Yaz and Dan off on three separate adventures – with the Doctor teaming up with renowned nurse Mary Seacole (Sarah Powelll) for the historical portion, while Dan returns home to contemporary Earth where Liverpool docks have been turned into a Sontaran ship yard, and Yaz finds herself transported to a mysterious temple on a planet called Time along with Vinder.
Even though the Flux is rapidly obliterating the universe the Sontarans have eagerly seized the chance to use the Crimean War as a staging ground for their temporal assault on Earth’s history. The militaristic clone race of the Sontarans positively relish the chance to engage in what they perceive as a glorious conflict. Skaak / Sontaran Commander Riskaw, brilliantly played by Jonathan Watson, is the ruthless Sontaran leader who confronts the Doctor on the field of battle, Jodie Whitaker excels here as the Doctor intervenes spectacularly, and Dan Starky (who has played a number of Sontaran’s in the past, most notably Strax of the Paternoster Gang) stars as the injured Sontaran Svild who has hilariously suffered the indignation of been captured by the British and nursed by Mary Seacole. This is the first time we’ve really seen the Sontarans en masse like this since The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky (2008), and the battle sequences in War of the Sontarans mark a truly spectacular return to form for them.
War of the Sontarans is an action-packed, exciting and fun run-around for the 13th Doctor and her companions.
Jodie Whittaker really gets some great material to sink her teeth into with this episode as the Doctor struggles to prevent the British army going into battle against the Sontarans. The 13th Doctor is still desperately playing a game of catch up, with the TARDIS continuing to malfunction alarmingly, and even the Sontarans frustratingly seeming to know more about the Flux than she does. Whittaker’s Doctor and Sarah Powelll’s excellent turn as Mary Seacole makes for an inspired historical team-up with the Time Lord, the compassionate Mary Seacole’s moving words of wisdom about the futility of war resonate powerfully with the stories darker elements, and the Doctor’s disgust with General Logan (Gerald Kyd) after he blows up retreating Sontarans is perhaps one of the most ‘Doctorish’ moments of Whittaker’s era so far.
Dan Lewis is rapidly becoming one of my favourite NuWho companions, and John Bishop almost steals the show in this episode. We briefly meet Dan’s parents after he’s displaced back through time to present-day Earth, before he sets off to find a way to stop the ‘potato head’ aliens that have taken over Liverpool docks armed only with a wock and his wits! Fortunately Karvanista shows up just in tine to pull his fat out of the fire, the dynamic between Bishop’s and Craig Els’s characters is great fun, and one of the highlights of this episode.
Yaz, who has also been displaced in time like Dan, ends up in the Temple of Atropos along with Vinder from Observation Outpost Rose. Mandip Gill gets to do all the fun exploring bits in War of the Sontarans as Yaz ventures into the temple (blagging her way through mystery and danger no doubt in part thanks to an ingenious note she’s written on the palm of her hand during an inspired note-to-self moment between adventures), and bizarrely encountering one of the Liverpool industrialists from 1820 before meeting a curious triangular automated Priest (voiced by Nigel Richard Lambert) that asks if she can help repair the damage the Flux has done to the temple and the Mouri – silent quantum locked women held in stasis that miraculously maintain the very flow of time. Yaz also meets Jacob Anderson’s Vinder here, there’s clearly an instant chemistry between them, but Vinder’s character still remains a frustratingly unknown quantity at this point.
The fear factor gets ramped up to the max when the Swarm and his sister, Azure, enter the Temple of Atropos. Sam Spruell and Rochenda Sandall’s scenery chewing performances continue to impress, although this time their characters are accompanied by a mysterious newcomer – the Passenger (Johnny Mathers). While the Sontarans are brutish, bloodthirsty and not the smartest aliens on the block, this trinity of terror are clearly seeking to capitalise on the damage caused by the Flux. Chris Chibnall masterfully juggles storylines and characters, providing just enough hints and revelations about the Flux and the Swam’s plans to keep us guessing and on the edge of our seats – especially given that chilling finger-snapping cliff-hanger!
War of the Sontarans is an action-packed, exciting and fun run-around for the 13th Doctor and her companions. The corruption of the TARDIS by the Flux, with even time itself seemingly damaged, has certainly raised the bar in terms of the sheer scope and scale of the danger the Doctor faces. With its stylish blend of historical and sci-fi action, awesome battle scenes, and callbacks to the Sontarans first appearances in 1973’s The Time Warrior, War of the Sontarans is easily one of Series 13’s best, and indeed the modern series’, most standout episodes.
After two bombastic scene-setting episodes, Once Upon a Time allows the 13th Doctor a chance to explore the events behind the universe spanning peril this Flux mini-series has set in motion. Time has been disrupted in the aftermath of the Flux and is running wild. The Doctor throws herself into the heart of the Time Storm in a desperate bid to save her friends from the Swam’s trap, and together they find themselves simultaneously lost and working collectively as they journey through their memories of the past, present and future while time unravels all around them.
The third chapter of Doctor Who Flux is at times both bewildering and brilliant, it reaches for greatness, and ends up falling into the cracks somewhere between the two. We do finally start to get some answers though, especially concerning the nature and cause of the Flux phenomenon. Jodie Whittaker spots a reversed coat version of her iconic costume as the Doctor explores her unknown past and history with the Division on the planet Time as the Fugitive Doctor, alongside Yaz, Dan and Vinder who experience the Siege of Atropos with her as the Division’s ancient battle with the Swarm and Azure comes to a head. Jo Martin, who first appeared in Fugitive of the Judoon (2020), makes a welcome return as the Fugitive Doctor, another incarnation of the Time Lord, and her scenes offering sage advice as the reflection of Jodie Whittaker’s startled 13th Doctor provides some of the episodes most riveting moments.
Once Upon a Time focuses heavily on the Doctor’s time displaced companions as well. Mandip Gill gets some great scenes, with Yaz’s job as a Police Officer and home-life leading to some especially scary moments with the Weeping Angels, and relations between Yaz and the Doctor continue to feel the strain as the Time Lord’s obsession with recovering secrets from her past seems to threaten to drive a wedge between them. We also learned that Dan was once going to be married during a somber interlude with his would-be girlfriend, Di (Nadia Albina). Bishop really excels in these quieter, emotional scenes, and there’s a perplexing encounter in the 1820’s between Dan and Steve Orman’s Joseph Whilliamson that gets thrown into the mix to keep that unusual plot element spinning in the background as well.
Most intriguingly though, we actually get some backstory to Jacob Anderson’s character, Vinder, in this episode. It seems Vinder was some kind of intergalactic whistleblower who exposed the throughly unpleasant Grand Serpent’s (Craig Parkinson) dealings and was excelled to Observation Outpost Rose for his troubles, whereby his forlorn messages to his nearest and dearest have been relayed to the newly introduced character Bel, played by Thaddea Graham.
Bel’s narration and story nicely distracts from the more complex aspects of the episode that has time playing games with everyone and the Doctor furiously negotiating with the etherial supersized Mouri. Bel and Vinder’s heartfelt journey in Once Upon a Time seemingly runs along parallel lines across time and space, Bel’s mission parameters knowingly tug at the heart-strings as Vinder’s true love while she single-handedly survives the apocalyptic aftermath of the Flux, evading Dalek patrols and becoming a one-woman army as she battles Cybermen – not bad for an expectant mum-to-be.
The monsters are out in force in Once Upon a Time, with Daleks, Weeping Angels, and the Cybermen all getting a piece of the action.
Sam Spruell’s and Rochenda Sandall’s double act as the gloriously evil Swarm and Azure didn’t really have much to do other than relish being menacing on the sidelines for most of this episode – despite sidekick Passenger actually being a living prison and far more crucial to the plot than expected. Matthew Needham returns again for the role of Old Swarm during the flashbacks to the era of the Fugitive Doctor’s adventure in the Temple of Atropos, however, he’s no match for Spurell’s gleefully villainous addition to the modern series’ pantheon of ‘big bad’s’. Fortunately Spurell is back on hand as Swarm by the end to ramp up the mystery and danger quota just in time for the next episode.
The monsters are out in force in Once Upon a Time, with Daleks, Weeping Angels, and the Cybermen all getting a piece of the action. It was an unexpected surprise to see the Daleks appear during Bel’s monologues, and it was great to see the Weeping Angles again. Although used sparingly, the Weeping Angels had probably the greatest impact, appearing in the Time Storm with the Doctor and creeping up on Yaz in the mirrors of her Police Car, and later striking at her again via a video game she was playing. The Cybermen also returned in force; battling with Bel in her spacecraft. These action-packed scenes were really exciting. However, as they’ve always been my favourite Doctor Who monster I was a bit disappointed that the Cybermen’s appearance related to little more than a cameo and didn’t really contribute all that much to Once Upon a Time – especially considering how heavily the Cybermen’s presence was promoted for this episode.
If all those Moffat-style time-twisting highjacks Cibnall utilises wasn’t enough it also became apparent that Karnavista’s Lupari species must be extremely long lived, as events in this story surprisingly reveal they were hanging out with the Fugitive Doctor during her time with the Division. Vinder got to have that classic Doctor Who moment of entering the TARDIS for the first time as well (although curiously he seemed to know what a TARDIS was), even though his journey home ultimately ended up being one tinged with sadness, and Barbara Flynn made her first appearance as the enigmatic ‘Awsok’.
The term ‘Temporal Haze’ is bandied about a lot in Once Upon a Time, which probably best surmises what will probably become the Marmite episode of Doctor Who Flux. Covid filming restrictions also clearly impacted on how some scenes were framed, the plot positively groans under the weight of its often incomprehensible narrative at times, and the scatter-shot dialogue made the episode feel more like the frenetic middle act of a MCU movie than a Doctor Who episode. Despite all that Once Upon a Time still managed to deliver enough shocks and surprises to gloss over most of its shortcomings. Jodie Whittaker’s engaging performance as the Doctor continues to keep everything on an even keel, her incarnation of the Time Lord seems to thrive amidst the chaos, and we also got a super scary cliffhanger with a Weeping Angel in the TARDIS to boot as well!
The Weeping Angels take centre stage for Village of the Angels and bring some good old-fashioned behind the sofa scares to the fourth chapter of Doctor Who Flux. Chris Chibnall and Maxine Alderton craft a wonderfully creepy tale here with an eerie gothic horror vibe – a genre that Doctor Who has often drawn its influences from with great success in the past – and the episode provides lots genuinely chilling thrills as a result. After a Weeping Angel hijacked the TARDIS and brought them to the village of Medderton in Devon, November 1967, the Time Lord and her friends split up, with Dan and Yaz investigating the mystery of a little girl who has gone missing, while the Doctor meets Professor Eustace Jericho (Kevin McNally) who has been conducting psychic experiments with the help of Claire Brown (Annabel Scholery) – the same woman ambushed on her doorstep by a Weeping Angel in The Halloween Apocalypse. Medderton, or “The Cursed Village” as it is known, is a place haunted by Weeping Angels, where dark secrets lurk in the shadows, and in the graveyard there seems to be one gravestone too many.
Village of the Angels showcase the great dynamic evolving between Yaz and Dan. Mandip Gill and John Bishop are effectively dealt a two-hander by the scrip which sees their characters marooned in 1901 after a frightening encounter with a Weeping Angel. Yaz gets to use her Police skills and Dan gets all the best lines as they come to terms with being trapped in Medderton in the past along with the young girl, Peggy (Poppy Pollynick). It was also tragically sad how Mrs Hayward (Penelope McGhie) turned out to be an older version of Peggy, who’d been ridiculed for years for trying to warn everyone in the village about what happened there when she was ten years old. Poppy Pollynick’s reaction as the young Peggy to the horrific demise of her elderly carers Gerald (Vincent Brimble) and Jean (Jemma Churchill) in 1901, where the village has been taken out of time and space by the Angels, was another of this episodes most disquieting and standout moments.
The Weeping Angels return with a vengeance in Village of the Angels.
The supporting cast are also superb, especially Annabel Scholey as the psychic Claire and Kevin McNally’s stalwart scientist and war veteran, Professor Eustace Jericho. Their scenes help establish and built the haunting atmosphere that permeates every aspect of this episode, with Jericho’s EEG printing out the image of an Angel, and Claire hallucinating that she has stone wings in one particularly disturbing moment. Claire’s precognitive abilities establish how she was able to know about and find the Doctor in the first episode and how she also knew so much about the Weeping Angels. From this point Village of the Angels goes into full on classic Doctor Who base under siege territory, with Weeping Angels surrounding the Professor’s house, and the Doctor, Claire and Jericho barricading themselves in the basement.
Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor positively excels in this environment, fending off the Weeping Angels, and desperately trying to keep Jericho and Claire safe. It is only when the Doctor telepathically enters Claire’s mind that she uncovers the terrifying truth. Claire has a Rogue Weeping Angel hiding inside her mind, the other Angels are a quantum extraction squad sent to find her, and what’s more, the Angels are working for the Division!
After the revelation in the Timeless Children it would seem the secret Time Lord organisation is still very much present and active in the universe. Jodie Whittaker gives a commanding performance as her Doctor has to grapple with peril on all sides, whilst trying to stay one step ahead of the Angels, and come to terms with the secrets of her past.
The Weeping Angels return with a vengeance in Village of the Angels. Ever since their first appearance in the highly acclaimed episode Blink (2007), the Weeping Angels have become one of the modern series’ most popular monsters. Village of the Angels plays out like a greatest hits of their scariest moments: from dust in the eye, to lurking in graveyards, with Claire’s torn-up drawing of an Angel notably reassembling as it projects itself into the room and then bursts into flames when the Doctor sets the sketch alight, there’s an underground tunnel with Angels growing out of the walls, and perhaps most unnervingly of all they use Professor Jericho’s own voice to play on his insecurities in an attempt to make him lower his guard.
Bel’s voyage to find her soulmate continues in a brief interlude to the main action, with Thaddea Graham’s character travelling to a barren world where she saves Namaca (Blake Harrison) when Azure and Passenger show up to rescue refugees that have gathered on the planet in the aftermath of the Flux event. Sadly Swarm didn’t appear in this episode but we did get to see Passenger’s powers in action. Jacob Anderson also featured during a brief mid-post credit scene, where Vinder discovers Bel is still alive after Namaca leads him to a holo-recording that she’d left for him.
This episode had it all. Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor even got to utter the 3rd Doctor’s (Jon Pertwee) iconic catchphrase “reverse the polarity of the neutron flow” at one point! With the Rogue Angles dire warnings about what the Doctor will soon find out about herself Village of the Angels races towards its nail-biting cliffhanger. With Dan, Yaz, Peggy and the Professor trapped in 1901, they can only watch on helplessly across the divide of time to 1967 where the Doctor slowly turns to stone, wings growing on her back, as she is imprisoned as an Angel to be ‘recalled’ by the Division.
As cliffhangers go, this one was right up there with the best, and it rounded off this brilliant episode in jaw-dropping style. Village of the Angels is the undisputed jewel in the crown of Doctor Who Flux, as riveting as it was scary, and easily one of the best episode of the 13th Doctor’s era.
In the penultimate episode of Doctor Who Flux the Doctor, Yaz, Dan and Professor Jericho must face their most perilous journey of all. Survivors of the Flux sees their quest to save the universe confounded by circumstance and insurmountable odds at nearly every turn. As the Doctor confronts her Weeping Angel captors while in transit to the Division, her stranded TARDIS team go tomb raiding in 1904 in order to decrypt an ancient text that can help them find their way back to the Doctor.
Chris Chibnall skilfully manages to bring numerous plot threads together in Survivors of the Flux, with the Doctor’s opening monologue rapidly connecting the dots for the audience, and numerous characters story-arcs dramatically intersecting with one another as Flux races towards its conclusion. Of course, any enjoyment of this episode and its impact on the Doctor’s legacy depends very much on whether you liked the Timeless Child arc which set-up the Division as a secret means for the Time Lords to meddle indiscriminately with the development of the universe, and revealed that the Doctor was also the Timeless Child.
Survivors of the Flux reintroduces Barbara Flynn’s character, now called Tecteun, along with an Ood (Simon Carew) servant, when the Doctor arrives at Division HQ’s bizarre vessel on the fringes of the multiverse. Here the mysteries of the Flux finally begin to unfold as the Doctor learns the Division has expanded across all of time and space, recruiting countless alien species, and now they want to take their mission to other universes – burning ours on their way out. What’s more the Division caused the Flux to prevent the Doctor uncovering the truth about their organisation and Tecteun was the Gallifreyan who found the Timeless Child and stole its genetic ability of regeneration for the Time Lords. She was also responsible for wiping the Doctor’s memories – memories which now tantalising reside in a fob watch. Jodie Whittaker gives a towering performance in this episode, running a gauntlet of emotions during her powerful exchanges with Tecteun, and Barbara Flynn is wickedly chilling as the Doctor’s cold-hearted ‘adoptive mother’.
Survivors of the Flux was a really ‘Ood’ and exciting episode.
One of the most fun aspects of this episode through was the light-hearted Indiana Jones style adventures in 1904 that Yaz, Dan and Jericho’s embarked upon. Mandip Gill really stood out here as Yaz has clearly taken charge of this TARDIS team in the Doctor’s absence, and calls all the shots throughout their globetrotting quest. The moment where Yaz watches the adaptive hologram recording the Doctor managed to secretly make for her was especially moving too.
Kevin McNally’s Jericho was another great addition to the team, gleefully sharing the comedy spotlight with John Bishop’s cheeky Dan Lewis, and proving to be the perfect foil to mix-up the dynamic between Yaz and Dan as bit as well. There were some brilliant moments as they encountered a hilarious Hermit in Nepal, Karnavista’s reaction to their attempt to get a message to him was priceless, and they also got to meet Joseph Williamson as the mystery behind the industrialists haphazard appearances throughout the 19th century in Doctor Who Flux were finally made clear at last.
Another surprise was seeing Craig Parkinson’s Grand Serpent return in a far more villainous capacity, this time on Earth under the alias of Prentis. It would seem this mysterious character has been manipulating UNIT since its formation, and has been present throughout the organisations illustrious history of dealing with extraterrestrial threats. I thought it was wonderful to see these early years of UNIT explored during this episode, with knowing call-backs to that ‘Post Office Tower business” from the 1965 Hartnell story The War Machines, and of course it was lovely to hear the voice of the late Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier when a snippet of dialogue from part four of Terror of the Autons (1971) rang out in the background. To top everything off Jemma Redgrave also returned as UNIT boss Kate Stewart and almost completely stole the show out from everyone in the process! All in all, it was fantastic to see UNIT back in Doctor Who again, especially that tense confrontation between Kate Stewart and Prentis. Mind you, I think having the 13th Doctor’s TARDIS in UNIT HQ during the 1960’s is bound to cause a few temporal hiccups!
While the supporting cast is slightly sidelined events in this episode do lead to some decidedly unexpected team-ups, with Bel and Karnavista’s missions becoming chaotically linked at the worst possible moment for them both, coragerous soldier Vinder and feisty modern-day scouser Di also find themselves in trouble when they inadvertently discover what the Ravagers have planned for the missing citizens of the universe.
Tecteun’s scheme to burn our universe to cover up her own machinations possibly makes her the most monstrous person we’ve encountered so far in Doctor Who Flux. Everything builds towards a magnificently pitched cliffhanger, with the Lupari shield breached as the Grand Serpents allies – the Sontarans – attack Earth, while the Swarm and Azure show up to enact their revenge on Tecteun and destroy the Doctor. The special effects were outstanding as well, especially the backdrop of countless Weeping Angels featured during the Doctor’s conversion and the cosmic scale of Tecteun’s heinous plans for our universe. Survivors of the Flux was a really ‘Ood’ and exciting episode. Unlike the time twisting Once Upon a Time, Survivors of the Flux juggled all of its timey-wimey threads with consummate ease, every character and throw-away line was relevant to the overarching narrative, and it provided a fantastic set-up for the series finale as well.
All hope seems lost in the explosive final chapter of the Flux. The Vanquishers sees the Ravagers insidious campaign against the Division and the Doctor has come fruition as the forces of darkness take control. The monsters have won. Swarm and Azure are hellbent on unleashing a constant destructive loop as the Flux consumes the universe, Earth has fallen to the Sontaran empire, Kate Stewart is leader of the resistance against the Sontaran occupation, and the Doctor is tempted to delve into the lost memories of her past as the fate of her companions and the universe hangs in the balance! The Vanquishers strikes a fine balance between being both a stand-alone adventure with the Sontarans using Earth as a staging ground for their conquest of the universe and providing a conclusion to the six part Flux story arc. For the most part Chibnall succeeds in this by ingeniously turning the episode into a multi-Doctor story – of sorts – by splitting the Doctor into three personas across multiple time zones and locations. The Time Lord even saves herself form being tortured by Craig Parkinson’s intriguingly double pulsed Grand Serpent at one point, before reuniting with friends and allies alike. Claire (Annabel Scholey) returns to throw a proverbial psychic spanner into the works of the Sontaran Psychic Command and the Odd in Division HQ plays a pivotal role in helping to weaken the effect of the Flux. Jacob Anderson and Thaddeea Graham’s star-crossed lovers Vinder and Bel also get a happy – if somewhat underwhelming – ending as well.
Chibnall really hit the landing with this one.
Jodie Whittaker’s amazing central performance and multiple portrayals of herself is the driving force of this complex episode. Her Doctor’s warmth and endearing personality makes light work the exposition heavy moments and keeps the narrative engaging. The Vanquishers showcases the 13th Doctor like never before, especially when ‘big bad’s’ Swarm and Azure taunt her with the mysteries of her past, but it is the quieter moments where her incarnation really shines. There are emotionally charged scenes with Yaz in the TARDIS as the Doctor finally admits she’s been keeping secrets from her, Steve Oram’s Joseph Williamson gets a moving farewell from the Doctor, we also have 13’s first meeting with Jemma Redgrave’s tough-as-nails Kate Stewart (who fittingly also sends the Grand Serpent packing), and perhaps most heartrending of all is the scene where Whittaker’s Doctor realises Craig Els’ grumpy space-hound Karnavista once travelled with her during the Fugitive Doctor’s era.
The Sontarans are as ruthless as ever, invading Earth, exterminating the Lupari and even luring the Daleks and Cybermen fleets into a trap – although I’m surprised either of these intergalactic superpowers actually fell for it but it certainly made for some spectacular special effect sequences as the Flux closed in. The Sontarans plans quickly came unstuck after Karnavista turned the Lupari ships against them, Professor Jericho (Kevin McNally) met a noble end, Di’s (Nadia Albina’s) inspired idea of using Passenger to absorb the Flux also helped save the day, while Swarm and Azure were fittingly vanquished, and the Doctor got a reckoning with time itself to round everything off. Even though the multi faceted resolution and drawn out coda got a tad convoluted, Chibnall really hit the landing with this one. So, with Karnavista, Vinder and Bel setting out on their own and a Masterful portent about the Doctor’s impending fate looming Doctor Who Flux concluded with the tantalising prospect. Namely that of the fob watch containing the Doctor’s forgotten memories being squirrelled away in the depths of the TARDIS for safekeeping by the Doctor, and best of all John Bishop’s character Dan joined the TARDIS team for more adventures in time and space.
Chris Chibnall delivered a truly epic saga with Doctor Who Flux. I really like how Chibnall drew influences from so many eras of Doctor Who and included plenty of fan-pleasing callbacks to the shows past. Although the Timeless Child reboot of the Doctor’s origins is no doubt still a dealbreaker for many, given its context post Flux it arguably complements the Time Lords legacy now rather than detracting from it. The entire cast, crew and production team clearly pulled out all the stops to make this series under the most difficult of circumstances during the pandemic – a commendable feat in itself. Doctor Who Flux had some outstanding episodes, high production values, and stunning visual effects. The reduced episode count and serialised approach offered a more concisely structured narrative, and with a veritable army of popular returning monsters to endanger the universe it got Doctor Who firing on all cylinders again – both creatively and dramatically.
Jodie Whittaker’s outstanding performance as Doctor was another major highlight of this mini-seres. Her incarnation of the Time Lord has come a long way since Whittaker’s bright and breezy debut in 2018’s The Woman Who Fell To Earth, and the 13th Doctor became an all-commanding presence that has positively flourished here during the crisis of the Flux. Mandip Gill has also excelled as Yaz, with the character finally shrugging off the trope of being the underdeveloped third wheel of the TARDIS team, and John Bishop was absolutely brilliant as new companion Dan Lewis.
Overall I think Doctor Who Flux turned out to be an extremely good season, one that was actually much better than I expected to be honest, and minor quibbles aside I throughly enjoyed it. I also took the decision to write a series overview of Doctor Who Flux this time around rather than individual episode reviews. It was nice to try out a new format, I’ve really enjoyed just chilling out watching Doctor Who Flux, and taking a step back from the treadmill of individual episode reviews for a change.
Well, Doctor Who Flux might be over but the 13th Doctor will return to kick off 2022 in a New Year’s Days Special: Eve of the Daleks. This will be the first of three Doctor Who Specials airing in 2022, with the second arriving in the Spring, and Jodie Whittaker’s final feature-length Special (where the 13th Doctor will regenerate), to be shown during the autumn of 2022 as part of the BBC’s Centenary celebrations before Russel T Davies takes over from Chris Chibnall as the new Doctor Who show runner to usher in the programmes 60th Anniversary in 2023.
Hi, I’m Paul Bowler, blogger and reviewer of films, TV shows, and comic books. I’m a Sci-Fi geek, a big fan of Doctor Who, Star Trek, movies, Sci-Fi, Horror, Comic Books, and all things PS4.You can follow me on Twitter @paul_bowler,or at my website, Sci-Fi Jubilee, and on YouTube and Facebook
The Doctor and her friends face the return of the Daleks in the 2021 New Year’s Day special Revolution of the Daleks, written by Doctor Who show runner Chris Chibnall and directed by Lee Haven Jones whose Doctor Who credits also include Series 12’s Spyfall Part Two and Orphan 55. Locked up in a high-security alien prison, the 13th Doctor is isolated with no hope of escape. Back on Earth her companions Yaz, Ryan, and Graham are doing their best to continue their lives without her. Its not easy though, especially when they uncover a dark plot involving a Dalek!
When we last saw Jodi Whittaker’s 13th incarnation of the Time Lord in the Series 12 finale, The Timeless Children (2020), she’d been locked up in a space prison by the Judoon following the epic battle with the Master (Sacha Dhawan) and the Lone Cyberman’s (Patrick O’Kane) army of Cybermen in the ruins of Gallifrey. Although Revolution of the Daleks was filmed long before lockdown, we can perhaps sympathise with the Doctor’s plight and her sense of isolation in this friends without idea what’s happening back on Earth.
Meanwhile Graham (Bradley Walsh), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Ryan (Tosin Cole) have had to adjust to life back in Sheffield while the Doctor is in space jail, and this episode highlights just how resourceful they can be in her absence.
Yaz is still determined to find out what happened to the Doctor, but the gang soon find themselves busy investigating a sinister scheme that’s been brewing with the Daleks. Trouble is, how can they possibly fight a Dalek without the Doctor’s help? Fortunately Captain Jack, played by the brilliant John Barrowman MBE, also makes a return for this New Year’s Day spectacular as the Doctor’s friends prepare to face their greatest challenge of all time!
As well as the welcome return of John Barrowman as Captain Jack, Revolution of the Daleks features a wealth of guest stars including Sex and the City’s Chris Noth who returns as scheming business man Jack Robertson from Series 10’s Arachnids in the UK (2018), making their Doctor Who debut are star of the stage and screen Dame Harriet Walter as a corrupt government minister, and TV star Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (The Trial of Christine Keeler) who plays the young scientist Leo Rugazzi.
Chris Chibnall’s pacy script for Revolution of the Daleks is packed drama, emotion, and bold action-set-pieces. We really become invested in the Doctor’s plight as she struggles with her incarceration, Jodie Whittaker gives a superb performance, and it turns out the Time Lords been in prison for a very long time indeed! Mandip Gill is also great as Yaz, who refused to give up on the Doctor in the last ten months since they returned to Earth in a spare TARDIS, and has almost becomes obsessed with finding her. She also keeps the gang together and takes the lead in their investigation into the Daleks. Fortunately, with with some help from an old friend, the Doctor manages to break out of jail and return to Earth. However, the reunion with he friends isn’t all plain sailing, and the Time Lord is still struggling to come to terms with the fact that everything she once knew about herself has now changed forever.
As you’d expect John Barrowman is quite simply “Fabulous!” as Captain Jack. His guest appearance in Fugitive of the Judoon was one of the biggest highlights of Series 12, and while the Jack who returns in Revolution of the Daleks is slightly older and wiser he’s still every bit as fun and flirty as ever! There’s a lovely scene in particular where Jack talks with Yaz about how she feels about the Doctor, and of course Jack knows all too well the thrill of travelling with the Time Lord in the TARDIS and also how it can feel when the Doctor leaves you.
Revolution of the Daleks not only picks up after the events of The Timeless Children but its also a sequel to 2019s New Year’s Day special Resolution, we get to find out what happened after the Dalek attacked GCHQ, and director Lee Haven Jones deftly balances all the drama, character arcs and Dalek action in fine style.
This new year themed special of course features the return of the Doctor’s deadliest enemies, the Daleks! Last time we saw a Dalek was in 2019s New Year’s Day special Resolution, which saw the 13th Doctor confronted with a lone Reconnoissance Scout Dalek. Now boasting an updated casing reminiscent of that same steampunk Dalek design, this new glossy black Dalek design makes its debut here in Revolution of the Daleks when a fiendish scheme is unleashed to manufacture “defence drones”, but when the Recon Daleks mutant remains finds a fresh human host and begins cloning itself a new Dalek menace soon threatens the entire world. Even with Captain Jack on their side the Doctor’s friends find themselves thrown in at the deep end, battling against impossible odds as a mass inter-Dalek conflict unfolds around them, and they must hold off the Daleks at all costs until the Doctor can find a way to defeat both of the waring Dalek factions.
Of course the Doctor eventually uses some clever slight of hand to save Earth in the nick of time help her friends fend off the Daleks, but this New Year’s reunion with her “Fam” will sadly be short lived, as this episode also marks the final appearance for Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole as Graham and Ryan in the show. Their departure is an especially moving moment, and I doubt there’ll be a dry eye in the house as it unfolds.
Packed with thrills, spills, Easter eggs galore and a few surprises too, Revolution of the Daleks is a landmark event for the 13th Doctor’s era. It’s great to see Doctor and her friends go up against the Time Lords deadliest enemies, the Daleks, before the status quo introduced in The Woman Who Fell To Earth (2018) is changed forever. A spectacular sequence featuring the Daleks that was filmed on the Clifton Suspension Bridge is another big highlight of this New Year’s Day special, we also get to see Whittaker’s Doctor meet Captain Jack at last, there are fond farewells for the TARDIS team, and new adventures ahead for the Doctor and Yaz. Revolution of the Daleks is an emotional, action packed treat. It ties up many of Series 12’s loose ends, whilst also providing a moving coda for Ryan and Graham that beautifully bookends their travels with the 13th Doctor, and nicely paves the way for the next chapter of the 13th Doctor’s adventures. Series 13 will also see the Doctor and Yaz welcome a new travelling companion to the TARDIS when actor and comedian John Bishop joins the cast as ‘Dan’, and the new series will appear on BBC One later in 2021!
Hi, I’m Paul Bowler, blogger and reviewer of films, TV shows, and comic books. I’m a Sci-Fi geek, a big fan of Doctor Who, Star Trek, movies, Sci-Fi, Horror, Comic Books, and all things PS4.You can follow me on Twitter @paul_bowler,or at my website, Sci-Fi Jubilee, and on YouTube and Facebook
The new trailer for Revolution of the Daleks is here at last! The Thirteenth Doctor and the fam are back to kick-off 2021 with a special action-packed episode on New Year’s Day – Revolution of the Daleks!
When we last saw the Thirteenth Doctor at the end of series 12 she was trapped in a high-security alien prison. Now in this upcoming festive special episode, Yaz, Ryan and Graham are on Earth and continuing their lives without her. But a threat involving a Dalek is brewing. Can the Doctor escape her prison and how will her friends fight a Dalek without the Doctor’s help? Fortunately Captain Jack’s back, but even with his help the Doctor and her friends are about to face their greatest challenge of all time…
Staring Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Bradley Walsh (Graham), Mandip Gill (Yaz) and Tosin Cole (Ryan), with a guest cast featuring John Barrowman MBE as Captain Jack, along with Chris Noth as Jack Robertson, stage and screen star Dame Harriet Walter also makes her Doctor Who debut with TV star Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (The Trial of Christine Keeler).
Revolution of the Daleks will air on New Year’s Day 2021, the special episode is a standalone episode and direct sequel to Resolution, and marks the debut of a special new Dalek design.
Hi, I’m Paul Bowler, blogger and reviewer of films, TV shows, and comic books. I’m a Sci-Fi geek, a big fan of Doctor Who, Star Trek, movies, Sci-Fi, Horror, Comic Books, and all things PS4.You can follow me on Twitter @paul_bowler,or at my website, Sci-Fi Jubilee, and on YouTube and Facebook
A thrilling new adventure awaits Team TARDIS in Resolution, the Doctor Who New Year’s Day Special! The Doctor and her friends return to Earth as the new year is about to begin. But an ancient evil is also rising, something forged throughout centuries of human history, and now it threatens to destroy the entire world.
Although we’ve not had our usual festive themed Doctor Who Christmas special this year, the New Year’s Day special Resolution more than makes up for it. Written by showrunner Chris Chibnal and Directed by Wayne Yip (who also helmed 2017’s The Lie of the Land Empress of Mars for Peter Capaldi‘s final season), Resolution is an epic, fast-paced adventure that sees Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor (now sporting a nice new scarf) uncovering a bizarre archaeological mystery in Sheffield together with her companions Graham (Bradley Walsh), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Ryan (Tosin Cole), along with new allies Mitch (Nikesh Patel who appeared in Indian Summers) and Lin (played by Call the Midwife star Charlotte Ritchie) who also get caught up in the action.
Following the century spanning opening scenes exploring the myth of some legendary custodians, the full scope and scale of Resolution quickly becomes apparent as Chibnal’s frenetically paced script deftly balances the creeping horror awakening at the archaeological dig beneath the Town Hall in Sheffield with the big action set-pieces. The drama and danger ramps up even further once the Doctor arrives and realises the menace is none other than one her deadliest enemies… the Daleks!
Yes, the Doctor’s greatest foes are back with a bang in Resolution! Well, at least one of them anyway! It transpires in Resolution that this Dalek is a reconnaissance scout that was defeated in the 9th Century, its parts divided around the world to be overseen by custodians, but now it has returned – albeit only initially here in its mutant form. We’ve seen how dangerous a lone Dalek can be before in 2005’s Dalek, and the Dalek in Resolution is every bit as deadly.
The Dalek mutant also goes a bit Venom at one point, forming a symbiotic bond with Lin. She is able to resists long enough for the Doctor to track her down, but not before the Dalek has been able to rebuild itself. I really liked this steampunk style Dalek and how it cobbled itself together. It’s quite a striking design, very different from anything we’ve ever seen before, but instantly recognizable and packed with hidden weapons!
Jodie Whittaker is again on superb form as the Doctor. Its great to finally see her incarnation of the Time Lord face-off against the newly reborn Dalek, and the powerful scenes between them were the highlights of the episode. The Doctor’s companions all get a moment in the spotlight as well, Tosin Cole got some great scenes when Ryan has a reunion with his long absent father, Aaron (Daniel Adegboyega), Bradley Walsh once again gets some emotional scenes as Graham, and Mandip Gill is right at the heart of the action as Yaz. Nikesh Patel and Charlotte Ritchie also make good mini companions for this adventure as Mitch and Lin, especially when Lin is taken over by the Dalek mutant and does all she can to resist the creatures influence.
There are moments of fun in Resolution as well, especially when the Dalek shuts down the UK’s entire internet and Wi-Fi, and the shocked population realise they might have to spend New Year’s Day actually having a real – shock horror – conversation! Not even UNIT is safe these days either, having seemingly been scuttled by Brexit, much to the Doctor’s consternation.
Wayne Yip’s stylish direction keeps Resolution rattling along at a cracking pace, especially once the Dalek trundles into action against the army. The showdown at GCHQ between the DIY junkyard Dalek and the Doctor and her friends is another spectacular action sequence, one that culminates in a final battle inside the TARDIS itself, and a moving reconciliation between Ryan and his father rounds off the episode in fine style.
In many respects Resolution actually feels a lot more like a popper season finale than The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos. I don’t think the shift from Christmas Day to having a New Year’s Day Doctor Who special has been at any detrimental cost to the series either, after all there’s only so many Christmas themed stories you can realistically tell, and this move also offered a chance to do something a bit different with the format. Resolution proved to be an exciting Doctor Who story bursting with action and spectacular effects, it was great to see the new Doctor and Co taking on a Dalek, and it also brought a nice sense of closure to series 11.
We’ve had two Christmas Specials and a hiatus between series, but now the waiting is finally over as Doctor Who’s tenth series gets underway with: The Pilot. Worlds collide when the Doctor meets Bill Potts! There’s a girl with a star in her eye, a race across the universe, and old enemies lurk in the shadows as Bill joins the Time Lord and Nardole on board the TARDIS for a whole new series of adventures in time and space!
Even though series ten will be a year of big changes for Doctor Who, with it being Stephen Moffat’s sixth and final year as Doctor Who show runner, and Peter Capaldi final season as the 12th Doctor, The Pilot begins the series’ journey towards a new era with what is effectively a soft-reboot for the series, and of course the introduction of Pearl Mackie as the Doctor’s and Nardole’s new travelling companion – Bill Potts.
If you thought you’d have to wait for series eleven and Moffat’s successor as show runner, Chris Chibnall, to revamp Doctor Who, then you’d be mistaken, as Steven Moffat’s somewhat cheekily entitled series ten premier The Pilot actually turns out to be very effective and refreshing reboot of the series’ overall format. It ticks all the right boxes, there are lots of fun references for long term fans to enjoy, but just as importantly the episode also provides a good jumping on point for new viewers, and serves as a great introduction for the new companion Bill as she becomes embroiled in the Doctor’s madcap timey-wimey adventures.
Pearl Mackie makes a great debut as Bill Potts, a bright, geeky, twenty-something who lives with her foster mum, Moria (Played by Jennifer Hennessy, who also appeared as Valerie in the 10th Doctor story, Gridlock, in 2007), Bill also works at the canteen in at St Luke’s University, in Bristol, where she’s fallen for a girl that she’s been serving extra sized portions of chips to in the canteen. There’s a scene were Bill looks in a box containing old photos of her late mother is also especially touching, it gives us further insight into Bill’s life, and is really well played by Mackie. Of course, The Pilot still has all of the familiar tropes that we’ve come to associate with the series – since its return in 2005 – when a new companion joins the TARDIS: such as a contemporary present day setting, with the explanation for the TARDIS being bigger on the inside than on the outside, and its chameleon circuit malfunctioning Police Box exterior, touching all the necessary bases. Indeed, Bill asks all the right questions, and some rather new and unexpected ones as well! Because of Bill, and in another first in the series‘ history, we also get to learn where the TARDIS toilet is located! While it might take Bill a little while to get to grips with the TARDIS and its amazing interior dimensions, she gets there eventually. Her first moments inside the TARDIS are a joy to behold, and Bill’s introduction makes the Doctor’s world feel all the more richer for her presence as she brings a very real sense of fun, innocence, and wonder along with her.
Naturally, it goes without saying that Peter Capaldi is as superb as ever. The Doctor is now giving lectures at the university, but what is the real reason for his mission on Earth? Capaldi’s eminent Professor becomes Bill’s tutor after he notices her sneaking into his lectures, there’s a great teacher / student dynamic between them, and Pearl Mackie’s scenes with Peter Capaldi are beautifully scripted as the Doctor and Bill explore the mystery of the strange puddle that’s far more dangerous and powerful than anyone could‘ve suspected. Following his appearance in the last two Christmas Specials, Matt Lucas also returns as the alien Nardole, and he’s been helping the Doctor investigate the mysterious Vault they seem to be guarding at the university. Nardole pops up intermittently over the course of the episode, but still has a key role to play, and he gets all the best jokes!
Superbly directed by Lawrence Gough (whose previous television work includes episodes of Misfits, Atlantis, and Endeavour), The Pilot sends the new TARDIS crew on frenetic chase across the world to Australia, before embarking on a voyage to the other side of the universe, and back again. There are a some scary moments with Heather (Stephanie Haym), the mysterious girl with a haunting connection to a liquid spaceship, strange pools of water prove deadlier than they seem, romance blossoms in a war zone, a Dalek battle – featuring the same three minute Friend From the Future scene which was originally shown during half-time of the FA Cup Final last April that announced Pearl Mackie‘s casting as Bill Pott’s – is another highlight and the exciting and emotional finale that will leave you eager to see where the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole’s adventures will take them next.
There are plenty of fun and nostalgic links to past to look out for in this episode as well. The Doctor’s study in the university is reminiscent of Professor Chronotis’ study at Cambridge from Shada (the abandoned story from the Classic series’ seventeenth season in 1979/ 80), framed pictures of River Song and the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan, adorn his desk, there’s even a pot filled with a collection of the Time Lord’s old sonic screwdrivers, and the “Out of order” sign on the TARDIS door is a nice throwback to the one used in The War Machines (1966). The Movellans, a race of robots that waged war on the Daleks, last seen in Destiny of the Daleks ( 1979), also make a blink-and-you’ll-miss- it appearance. The Pilot also has numerous hints towards the modern series as well, especially with its depiction of Bill’s everyday life, which seems reminiscent of Rose Tyler’s introduction in Rose (2005). Most notable though, is when the Doctor attempts to wipe Bill’s memories at the end of The Pilot, which clearly mirrors the moment when the 10th Doctor took Donna Nobel’s memories away to save her life in Journey’s End (2008), but the Doctor’s change of heart and Bill’s subsequent avoidance of this fate uncannily resonates with previous companion Clara’s decision to erase the Doctor’s memories of her during the 2015 season finale: Hell Bent – a point accentuated further by the short inclusion of Murray Gold’s score for Clara’s theme.
But it is the closing moments of The Pilot after the next time trailer for Smile, where the addition of a tantalizing coming soon mini-trailer featuring none other the return of The Master himself, played by John Simm, that really provides the icing on the cake that elevates the excitement surrounding this new series to a whole new level. John Simm’s gave David Tennant’s 10th incarnation of the Doctor a run for his money when he played the Master in 2007’s Utopia, The Sound of Drums, and The Last of the Time Lords, and The End of Time Parts 1 & 2 (Dec 25th 2009 / Jan 1st 2010). Simm’s return is even more thrilling because we also know Michelle Gomez is returning as Missy, so, thanks to the wonders of time travel it looks like Peter Capaldi’s Doctor will be confronting two incarnations of his old nemesis this series. If that wasn’t enough, the coming soon trailer also seems to provide a startling glimpse of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor swathed in even more regeneration energy than we‘ve seen in pervious trailers! Could this momentous event be happening sooner than we think, or are we just being teased?
Posing almost as many questions as it does answers, chiefly the mystery surrounding the vault that the Doctor and Nardole have been watching over at the university and why the Doctor wants to keep his true identity there a secret, The Pilot gets series ten off to a really exciting start. Boasting some impressive special effects, this fast-paced adventure has a decidedly more upbeat tone, along with an energetic sense of fun, and the Doctor even belts out a smattering of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on his electric guitar for good measure too. The Pilot makes the Doctor Who universe feel fresh and invigorated again, a palpable sense of anticipation has built up around this new series, and there is a great rapport between The Doctor, Bill, and Nardole. One things for sure, if the rest of series ten is as good as this episode we are going to be in for one hell of final jaunt around the universe with Peter Capaldi’s Doctor!
Once seemingly forgotten and unloved by the BBC, Doctor Who was lovingly resurrected from the enforced exile of cancellation in 2005 by Russell T Davies, Julie Gardener, Mal Young, and Phil Collinson. Together they crafted a new vision of the world’s longest running Science Fiction programme, capitalizing on their heartfelt love of Doctor Who and its rich mythology to successfully regenerate the concept in a way that would appeal to fans of the classic series whilst simultaneously capturing the imagination of a whole new generation of fans.
One crucial element, however, was initially missing – the Daleks. So when the TARDIS brought the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) to Henry Van Statten’s vast underground museum of alien artefacts near Salt Lake City, Utah, in the series one episode Dalek (2005), we watch transfixed as the Doctor is led to a gloomy cell for an encounter with the proprietors prized exhibit – The Metaltron – little knowing that the hate-fuelled horror trapped inside will prove to be a terrifying reminder of his own not-so-distant past in which he sacrificed everything to save the universe from a war of eternal oblivion…
It’s hard to believe now, that this momentous moment almost never happened. The BBC had initially been unable to gain the permission of Terry Nation’s estate to use Skaro’s eponymous metal mutants in the new series of Doctor Who. Thankfully the matter was soon rectified, allowing Russell T Davies to incorporate Robert Sherman’s own adaptation of his Big Finish audio Jubilee – a story which quite rightly instigated a renaissance for Colin Baker’s undervalued 6th Doctor – as well as providing this seasons “Big Bad” for Christopher Eccleston’s battle hardened 9th Doctor to fight.
The episode Dalek effectively stifled any chance of a mid-season lull by whipping up a frenzy of speculation with a trailer that was little more than a strangled voice in the dark: “DOC-TOR…” The Daleks were back, and with them in place the enduring legacy of Russell T Davies’ bold vision was assured, Doctor Who would soon become an unparalleled success – spawning two spin-off shows, Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures (with new spin-off Class (2016) set in Coal Hill School begin the most recent addition to the Doctor Who universe), animated adventures, merchandise galore, and critical accolades from around the world.
The Doctor’s initial terror at being trapped in the Cage with the Dalek quickly dissolves into pious joy as he realizes the Dalek is unable to exterminate him; although the ranting diatribe which then ensues between the mortal enemies almost chews up the scenery, we, like the Doctor, are all too aware of the destructive capabilities even this solitary Dalek could pose to humanity. The war of words culminates in a chilling realization for both Time Lord and Dalek – for without orders to govern it the Dalek is devoid of purpose or function, while the Doctor, bereft of his people, has been left broken by the terrible consequences of his actions.
To coin a phrase, Christopher Eccelston is absolutely “fantastic” in this episode. His embittered portrayal of the 9th Doctor’s fury is almost palpable here, matching Nicholas Briggs superb delivery as the voice of the equally war ravaged Dalek antagonist word for word, and it is only now in hindsight that we realize how just pivotal this moment was for the new series. Bear in mind that at this point in the new shows mythology the Doctor and the Dalek were as much in the dark as we were, having already learned of the cataclysmic fate that befell Gallifrey during The End Of The World (2005), but nothing more beyond that point.
Of course, the Daleks with all their ingenuity have indeed managed to survive the Time War: The Emperor has been rebuilding his Dalek Empire in orbit above Earth in the far future (2005‘s Bad Wolf & The Parting of the Ways), the Cult of Skaro have escaped into The Void (2006‘s Army of Ghosts & Doomsday), even Davros’ ship somehow evaded destruction after being consumed by the maw of The Nightmare Child (2008‘s The Stolen Earth and Journey‘s End), but perhaps most audacious of all is the lone Dalek Cruiser that travelled back in time to become part of Winston Churchill’s war effort during the Blitz (2010’s Victory of the Daleks), infiltrating Churchill’s War Room with tea-making “Ironsides” in an ingenious ploy to trick the Doctor into activating The Progenitor – effectively resurrecting the Dalek race with a pure genetic matrix unblemished by their past defeats.
Besides the Doctor, the only Time Lord who initially seemed to have evaded the apocalyptic demise of Gallifrey was The Master in Utopia, played initially by Derek Jacobi before he regenerated into John Simm’s incarnation of the renegade Time Lord for The Sound of Drums, and Last of the Time Lords (2007), but a small handful of Time Lords also became stranded in a pocket universe The Doctor’s Wife (2011) where they, and their TARIDS’, unfortunately succumbed to the interstellar parasite known as House. Even Rassilon (played by Timothy Dalton) and the Time Lords would later use their esteemed power and knowledge to attempt to transcend the laws of time to escape the all consuming Time Lock of the final conflict as Gallifrey burned along with the ten million strong Dalek Battle-Fleet in The End of Time Parts 1 & 2 (Dec 25th 2009 / Jan 1st 2010)
So, in retrospect, when the Doctor confides in Rose Tyler that he would be able to sense if any of his people had survived; a point which further emphasises this 9th incarnation’s inherent loneliness. Interestingly it is this one inherent weakness of the Doctor which the imprisoned Dalek in the Series One episode Dalek uses here to its advantage: “And the coward survived…” it grates during their initial encounter in the Cell, then later deflecting the Doctor’s incandescent fury after it has ruthlessly exterminated the security teams sent to cover Rose and Adam’s escape by stating: “You would make a good Dalek!”
Of course, one of the big mysteries in 2005 was how did the 8th Doctor regenerate into the 9th Doctor? It wasn’t until the 50th Anniversary special min-episode The Night of the Doctor (2013) that we learned the exact nature of the 8th Doctor’s (Paul McGann) regeneration and how his role evolved into something far darker in the Time War. The catalyst for this most ignoble of the Doctor’s incarnations regeneration, however, also became entwined with a hitherto unknown aspect of the Time Lord that actually existed before Christopher Eccelston‘s 9th Doctor, after John Hurt was revealed as another incarnation of the Doctor – The War Doctor – in the Season Seven finale: The Name of The Doctor (2013). The Time War itself was finally realised in all its glory on screen in The 50th Anniversary special The Day of the Doctor (2013), effectively rebooting the series once more, with the Time Lords later granting the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) a new regeneration cycle in The Time of The Doctor (2013), and fuelling the quest to find Gallifrey that would ultimately lead to the 12th Doctor’s (Peter Capaldi) eventual rediscovery and return to his home world for the Series 9 finale Hell Bent (2015).
But it is in the episode Dalek where the genesis of these tangled plot threads inadvertently rests. Of the supporting cast in Dalek, Cory Johnson plays the suitably odious billionaire Henry Van Statten. For all his wealth and power, Van Statten has been unable to capitalise on his most treasured exhibit from another world – the Dalek. Even though it has been tortured remorselessly by the sadistic Simmons (Nigel Whitmey) the Dalek steadfastly refuses to talk to Van Statten. The entrepreneur has built his fortune on the back of extraterrestrial finds such as this, but he also has a contemptible attitude towards his staff – wiping the minds of those who fail him and turning them into homeless junkies. It is perhaps fitting then that he suffers the same fate at the end of the episode when his PA Diana Goddard (Anna Louise Plowman) usurps him and closes the facility down.
Then we have Adam (Bruno Langley) a teenage genus who claims to have almost started WWIII on his home computer. Whether or not Adam was just showing off to impress Rose, it seems he was plucked from obscurity by Van Statten to serve as his personal scientific advisor – cataloguing and discerning the use of every exhibit. Indeed, when the Doctor shows Adam and Van Statten how to play a strange musical instrument, we see a faint glimmer of a potential in Adam, but it’s soon quashed when Adam is revealed as something of a misguided and gutless wannabe after his one – and only – journey in the TARDIS (2005‘s The Long Game).
When the Dalek crash landed on the Ascension Islands it burned in a crater for three days, screaming helplessly within the chaotic embers of a decaying temporal shift, leaving it critically damaged and at the mercy of Henry Van Statten. It soon took pride of place in Van Statten’s collection, which also includes a Slitheen arm and the head of a “Revenge” style Cyberman, where it was tortured to within an inch of it life. The new Dalek design is chunkier than the “classic” version we all know and love: enhanced with ablative armour plating, a wider, more angular “skirt”, and bedecked with a golden livery that belies this Daleks role as a ruthless weapon of mass destruction. Even in this damaged state, the Dalek is mightily impressive to look at. The new eye stalk is particularly unsettling with its blue optics and dilating iris. Once regenerated by Rose’s touch this Dalek displays a wealth of new abilities: it bristles with enhanced firepower, a rotating mid-section, astonishing computational skill, and most sensationally of all – the power of flight. Yes, that age old joke about the Daleks and stairs is finally laid to rest as Rose, Adam, and De Maggio (Jana Montana) make their escape – looking on in horror as the Dalek gracefully rises into the air to follow them up a staircase.
De Maggio sacrifices herself to buy Rose and Adam more time to escape from the Dalek, but Rose becomes trapped in the Vault with the Dalek. The Dalek may have tricked Rose into touching it, thus enabling it to absorb the energy of a Time Traveller and escape, but it didn’t bargain on the exchange being a two way street! Rose notices the change in the Daleks behaviour, even stopping it from killing Van Statten, before leading the Dalek towards the upper levels where it blasts a hole in the concrete overhead. The sun pours in through the gap as the Dalek opens its casing to reveal the mutant inside. It basks in the sunlight a moment, perhaps lost in some latent Kaled race memory, to a time before Skaro was consumed by war…
Rose is horrified to see the Doctor train the energy cannon he is carrying on the Dalek. Billie Piper gives a magnificent performance here, as Rose makes him see what has really happened to the Dalek, how it has been changed by her DNA, and the Doctor almost falls to his knees with the horror of what he has become. The Dalek asks Rose, in another standout moment for Billie Piper, if she is afraid, as if seeking some bizarre recompense for the contamination that her DNA has caused it. She realizes how horrific it must be for the Dalek to survive in this state, so she complies, and orders the Dalek to self-terminate so that it’s twisted; miserable existence might finally come to an end.
Dalek is one of the major highlight of Doctor Who Series One, but its also the episode that really made us all see the Daleks as more than just mindless killing machines. Brilliantly directed by Joe Ahearne, it also featured a critical juncture in the relationship between the Doctor and Rose, reaffirming the vital role which the companion plays in providing the light that tempers the Time Lord’s steely resolve. Dalek is still my favourite episode from Christopher Eccleston’s brief tenure as the 9th Doctor, it stands as a powerful portent of the many adventures that followed, and indeed those that no doubt are still to come, and remains a landmark event in Doctor Who’s triumphant return!
Check out the awesome new Doctor Who Series 10 trailer! Staring Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, with Pearl Mackie as new companion Bill, along with Matt Lucas as Nardole, Doctor Who Series 10, begins on Saturday 15th April 2017! I think it’s a great looking trailer, lots of locations and monsters, can’t wait for the new series!
Sci-Fi Jubilee 