Doctor Who Revolution of the Daleks Review

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13th Doctor, Black Dalek, Captain Jack, Chris Chibnall, Daleks, Doctor Who, Doctor Who New Years Day special;, Doctor Who Series 12, Doctor Who Series 13, Jodie Whitaker, John Barrowman, John Bishop, New Daleks, Revolution of the Daleks, Series 12, Series 13, TARDIS, The Timeless Children, Thirteenth Doctor, Torchwood

Doctor Who Revolution of the Daleks

Review by Paul Bowler.

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!

Images Belong BBC

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About The Author

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 Christmas Special Twice Upon A Time Review

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12th Doctor, 12th Doctors regeneration, 13th Doctor, 1st Doctor, Bill Potts, Chris Chibnall, David Bradley, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Christmas Special Twice Upon a Time, Doctor Who Twice Upon a Time, Jodie Whitaker, Mark Gatiss, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, Rachel Talalay, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The 10th Planet, The Doctor

Doctor Who Christmas Special Twice Upon A Time

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers!]

A glittering festive voyage awaits in this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special: Twice Upon a Time as the 12^th Doctor (Peter Capaldi) teams up with his original self, the first Doctor (David Bradley – Harry Potter, Game Of Thrones), and former travelling companion Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) for one finale adventure in time and space.

The two Doctors with one destiny meet in the frozen landscape of the South Pole, each stubbornly refusing to regenerate, but soon the Time Lords and their TARDISes must unite against mysterious enchanted glass people that have been snatching victims from frozen time. A First World War captain (Mark Gatiss), fated to die on the battlefield, is also plucked from the trenches to play a role in the Doctor’s story. There’s an emotional reunion with Bill Potts for the Doctor as well in this moving tale of hope during humanity’s darkest hour. Twice Upon a Time brings the 12^th Doctor’s era to a spectacular close as the Time Lord confronts his past to embrace the future, before a new lifetime of adventures begins as Jodie Whittaker becomes the 13^th Doctor!

As well as being Peter Capaldi’s swansong after four years as the Doctor, Twice Upon a Time is also the final episode to be written by outgoing show runner of nearly eight years, Steven Moffat, and the special 60 minute episode is directed by the brilliant Rachael Talalay (Director of 2014’s Dark Water and Death in Heaven, 2015’s Heaven Sent and Hell Bent, and 2017’s World Enough in Time and The Doctor Falls).

Peter Capaldi is on sparkling form in Twice Upon a Time as the Doctor struggles to hold back his regeneration. Tired of becoming other people his world is turned upside down when he encounters the first Doctor! From its wonderful opening recap of events from The Tenth Planet (1966) – the 1^st Doctor’s final story which also featured the first appearance of the Mondasian Cybermen – Twice Upon a Time magically revisits this momentous point in the programmes history via original footage, some digital wizardry, recreations of the Snow Cap Base and the interior of the Cyber-Ship, together with David Bradley in the role of the 1^st Doctor (originally played by the late William Hartnell who Bradley also portrayed in 2013’s An Adventure In Space and Time, and featuring Jared Garfield and Lily Travers in the roles of the 1^st Doctor’s companions Ben and Polly.

“Its far from being all over” for the pre-regenerative Doctors just yet, as this Christmas Special sends the Time Lords to the South Pole in 1986, the Western Front in 1914, a spaceship, and ruins on a distant alien world at the heart of the universe. The fabulous chemistry between Peter Capaldi’s 12^th incarnation and David Bradley’s 1^st Doctor positively lights up the screen. It creates a really fun and spiky dynamic too as each Doctor confronts the reality of who they were and who they will ultimately become. At times the 12^th Doctor is clearly embarrassed and frustrated by his former self‘s old fashioned attitude, while the 1^st incarnation is aghast as his future self’s reliance on sonic sunglasses and the like, making for some delightful moments that are sure to raise a wry smile – especially when Bradley’s Doctor steps inside his 12^th incarnations TARDIS! The 12^th Doctor epitomises the heroic force of nature that the Doctor has become, while the 1^st Doctor is the adventurer he was before he fully became Earth’s protector, each has their own strengths and flaws, but it is their journey together and the respect they gradually find for each other that makes Twice Upon a Time feel truly magical.

Prolific writer and guest star of Doctor Who, Mark Gatiss, also gives a strong performance as the British captain taken away from a bomb crater frozen in time during the Great War as he was confronting a wounded German soldier (played by fellow Doctor Who writer Toby Whitehouse), and his subsequent adventure with the two Time Lords and Bill has a profound affect on how events gradually unfold in the episode – even influencing the Doctor’s own timeline.

It’s great to see Pearl Mackie back as Bill Potts for the Christmas Special as well. Her character was the undisputed highlight of Season 10, and Mackie excels once again in the role of the Doctor’s former travelling companion. She also gets to meet the Doctor’s original self, her scenes with the 1^st Doctor are glorious fun, especially when the action shifts to the original TARDIS (Its interior recreated in exquisite detail), but it is the moving reunion of the 12^th Doctor and Bill and the dynamic between their characters that really steals the show. Twice Upon a Time brings a nice sense of closure to Bill’s time with the Doctor, and I’m so glad Moffat brought her back for Capaldi’s last story.

Unusually there are no real monsters of bad guys to speak off in Twice Upon a Time, aside from the eponymous Glass Woman that’s actually an advanced AI controlling the Testimony, whose vast spaceship takes people out of time to harmlessly record their memories before death and returning them to their fate. They’ve now set their sights on the 12^th Doctor’s TARDIS because the captain has somehow become removed from time to and embroiled in the Doctor’s adventure, and they must return him to his proper place in time. Its only when the Time Lords, the captain, and Bill escape in the 1^st Doctor’s TARDIS to the most comprehensive database in creation at the centre of the universe – controlled by Rusty the Dalek from 2014’s Into the Dalek – that the 12^th Doctor finally realizes there is no foe to fight as Bill reveals she is part of the Testimony as well.

Along with providing a fittingly epic finale for Capaldi’s era, Moffat peppers the scrip with numerous call-backs to various elements created during his tenure as show runner, but Twice Upon a Time never feels overly burdened by the need to explain every obscure nuance or overloaded with gratuitous continuity references. Twice Upon a Time is easily one of Steven Moffat’s finest scripts for the series. It works on so many levels, profound underlying themes resonate powerfully, there’s a beautifully philosophical speech for the 12^th Doctor, and it brings some mystery back to the Time Lord while celebrating his past and of course some emotional goodbyes. Its all impressively directed by Rachael Talalay, from the battle scarred landscape in WWI, to the glimpses of the Doctor’s other incarnations the 1^st Doctor witnesses in the Testimony spaceship, and of course that beautifully nostalgic original TARDIS interior, Talalay brings Moffat’s script to life amidst a wealth of stunning action set-pieces and dazzling special effects to ensure this Doctor Who Christmas Special provides a rousing send off for both showruner and leading actor.

With the timeline in Ypres 1914 restored amidst the Christmas Armistice the Time Lords also discover that the captain is actually Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart (an ancestor of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), and he asks the Doctors to look after his family. As the 1^st Doctor and 12^th Doctor finally go their separate paths to face their regenerations Twice Upon a Time will have made you laugh, it will almost certainly have tugged at your heartstrings too, and there’s even a surprise return appearance from Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald and Matt Lucas as Nardole to bid a fond farewell to the 12^th Doctor as well before that moment of regeneration finally arrives and Capaldi’s spiky eyebrows and fierce-yet-sad eyes blaze away as the Time Lord becomes Jodie Whittaker – the female incarnation of the Doctor! Her debut is, quite frankly, “oh brilliant”, and the turbulent cliff-hanger aftermath of the regeneration will leave you on the edge of your seat with anticipation for the beginning of the 13th Doctor’s adventures!

Now the stage is set for Series 11 and the beginning of Chris Chibnall’s tenure as Doctor Who’s show runner. The new season will comprise of ten week run of fifty minute episodes (with an hour long episode for the series launch) that will air in the Autumn of 2018. I’m sure Jodie Whittaker will be fantastic as the new Doctor, she was great in Broadchruch, and no doubt her portrayal of the Doctor will be just as riveting and special. The 13^th Doctor will be joined by a regular cast of new friends, including Bradley Walsh as Graham, Tosin Cole as Ryan, and Mandip Gill as Yasmin. We’ve already seen the 13^th Doctor’s new costume and the TARDIS exterior (it reminds me a lot of the TARDIS exterior from the 1975 classic series story Planet of Evil) in publicity pictures, we can be sure that Chris Chibnall has plenty more surprises in store for us, and I can’t wait to see the 13^th Doctor and her friends new adventures in Time and Space in 2018!

Happy Christmas Everyone!

And here’s that fantastic regeneration scene!

Images and Clip belong BBC

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