Doctor Who The Doctor Falls Review

Tags

Bill Potts, Cybermen, David Bradley, Doctor Who, Doctor Who 2017 Christmas Special, Doctor Who Series 10, Doctor Who The Doctor Falls, Doctor Who The Doctor Falls review, John Simm, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Mondasian Cybermen, Nardole, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The 10th Planet, The 12 Doctor, The 12th Doctor regeneration, The 1st Doctor, The Doctor, The Master

Doctor Who The Doctor Falls

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

Time is running out for the Doctor! The Mondasian Cybermen are emerging and the Master has returned. All hope seems lost for the Doctor. Bill has been horrifically converted into a Mondasian Cyberman and Missy has sided with the Master against him. Now, with the parallel evolution of Cybermen past and present gathering on all sides the trio of Time Lords must face the ultimate choice as the time of the Doctor’s final battle draws near…

The Doctor Falls, written by show runner Steven Moffat, and helmed once again by the director of the penultimate episode of 2017’s tenth series World Enough and Time, Rachael Talalay (Dark Water / Death in Heaven (2014), Heaven Sent and Hell Bent (2015), is a series finale of truly epic proportions that pits the Doctor against a trio of his most deadliest enemies – The Master, Missy, and the Mondasian Cybermen!

The end of days is coming for the 12^th Doctor. Following the ominously scene-setting pre-title moments, we flashback to events that reveal how the shuttle reached the solar farm after the Doctor and his friends became trapped on board a huge colony spaceship caught precariously in the gravity well of a black hole. Having discovered that Bill has been transformed into a Mondasian Cybermen the Doctor must devise a way escape from the hellish hospital rooftop as the two incarnations of his arch nemesis Missy and the Master dance amidst the twisted maelstrom of chaos they have wrought as the Cybermen rise to challenge them all!

But the whole city is now a machine to turn people into Cybermen and its not long before the Doctor reveals how he’s already managed to turn the tables on the Master and Missy; altering the parameters of the Cybermen’s programming so that the Time Lord’s become targets as well as the humans. However, even when Missy knocks out the Master in a bid to help, the Doctor remains unsure which side she is on as Nardole returns with a shuttle. In the rush to escape from the rooftop the Doctor suffers an electric shock from a Cyberman, fortunately Cyber-Bill rescues him and they escape in the shuttle to a higher level of the gigantic spaceship.

Peter Capaldi is utterly magnificent here as the 12^th Doctor faces his darkest of days, John Simm and Michelle Gomez are also a delight to behold as their waltz of evil unfolds, and the electrifying chemistry between this opposing trinity Time Lord’s as they clash makes for compelling viewing throughout this episode. Bill Pott’s must also grapple with the tragic reality of her Cyber-Conversion, heartbreakingly played by Pearl Mackie, especially when Bill tells the Doctor that she doesn’t want to live like this is she can’t be herself anymore.

While the build up to the finale in World Enough and Time was dark and claustrophobic, The Doctor Falls strikes a markedly different in tone once the action shifts to floor 507 as the apocalyptic uprising of the Cybermen at the hospital gives way to gnarled forests, farmland, and rolling hills. The scenes at the solar farm where our alternating viewpoint between Bill’s human perception of herself and her actual Cyber-self, is heartrendingly portrayed as the Doctor explains to her how her inner strength – from dealing with the Monks mass delusion earlier in series ten – has enabled her to create a perception filter in her mind to cope with the horror of becoming a Mondasian Cyberman, and it’s this visual dynamic of Cyber-Bill that is continually used to great effect across the rest of the episode. Of course the time here has allowed the Doctor a brief respite to recover from being electrocuted, but he’s also exhibiting the early signs of his regeneration which he tellingly hides from Bill. Matt Lucas continues to shine in his role as Nardole, proving his worth and loyalty in more ways than one, with the character once again playing a surpassingly key role in the action.

Right from the stark openness of this episodes pre-titles sequence, The Doctor Falls is without doubt Steven Moffat’s most ambitious script ever. Its an impressively bold and exciting hour-long series finale, brilliantly directed by Rachael Talalay, the epic scale, big action set-pieces, hints of romance, and sweeping revelations ensures the extraordinary pace of this episode hardly lets up for a moment. The Doctor has a plan of his own worked out as he battles to save a group of humans on the solar farm led by Hazran (Samantha Spiro), along with Alit (Briana Shann), Gazron (Rosie Boore), and Bexhill (Simon Coombs), whilst single-handedly attempting to hold off an army of Cybermen and perhaps most devastatingly – his own regeneration!

Following their impromptu genesis of sorts in World Enough and Time, the original Mondasian Cybermen are back in force in The Doctor Falls, having been diligently remodelled for their impressive return to the series. The Mondasian Cybermen originally made their debut back in The Tenth Planet (1966), which starred William Hartnell as the 1^st Doctor, it was written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, and directed by Derek Martinus, and as well as heralding the Cybermen’s first appearance this classic story also featured the Doctor’s first ever regeneration.

Now the Mondasian Cybermen are back in The Doctor Falls, and this time they are appearing alongside their modern counterparts from the 10^th and 11^th Doctor‘s eras as well! It goes without saying that the Cyber-Set-Pieces in this episode are an exciting fan pleasing spectacle in their own right, but it is Bill’s plight as a fully converted Mondasian Cyberman that really strikes a cord. This is as exciting a Cyberman episode I think I’ve ever seen in the modern series, and the Mondasian Cybermen’s return now brings the Cybermen’s journey full circle amongst the elite pantheon of Doctor Who’s most successful recurring monsters.

With the Cybermen flying through the levels of the ship to reach them and any hope of returning to the TARDIS on the bridge now a mathematical impossibility, the Doctor intends to use a camouflaged lift in the nearby forest to evacuate the humans to safety on another floor. The 12^th Doctor’s disdain as Missy and the Master refuse to stand with him against the Cybermen is almost palpable, as they are all forced to face some unsettling home truths, and the exchanges between them here is electrifying to behold. As they leave the Doctor to his fate, with Cyber-Bill at his side while Nardole reluctantly leads the humans away along their escape route, and it is here that the Doctor prepares to stand his ground as the combined forces of the Cybermen close in.

Michelle Gomez is fabulously wicked as Missy in The Doctor Falls, especially now that she’s teamed up with John Simm as the earlier incarnation of The Master, and as they abandon the Doctor to return to the Master’s TARDIS it seems Missy has indeed returned to the path of evil. The warped chemistry between the Master and Missy is superbly played by Simm and Gomez, yet their characters dark union ultimately sees Missy have a change of hearts (s), and true to their nature they end up – quite literally – stabbing each other in the back. I’ve really enjoyed Michelle Gomez’s portrayal of Missy, she’s brought a fresh new dynamic to the Doctor’s arch enemy, her team-up with the Simm incarnation of the Master has been great fun, and Missy’s demise in this episode provides a fittingly ambiguous final end to the renegade’s time in the 12^th Doctor’s era.

There are far too many to mention, but along with the obligatory mention of jelly babies, as you’d expect with any series finale there are also a number of references to Doctor Who’s previous series. Missy mentions she knows the Doctor has fallen before, because it was when the 4^th Doctor plummeted from a radio telescope in Logopolis (1981). The Doctor Falls also features a pre-regeneration sequence were the Doctor sees images of his past companions and friends, something which also happened to the Doctor in Logopolis, and the cloister bell which tolls after the 12^th Doctor forcefully holds back his regeneration was also first heard back in Logopilis when it was explained to be a warning of imminent catastrophe and a call to man the battle stations.

There’s a great mash-up of the 4^th Doctor’s comment to Harry from Robot “You may be a Doctor, but I am the Doctor. The definitive article you might say”, and the 1^st Doctor’s ( played by Richard Hurndall) comments to Tegan “As it happens, I am the Doctor, the original you might say.“ from The Five Doctors (1983), during the final scenes of The Doctor Falls with the line “You may be a Doctor, but I am the Doctor… The original you might say.” There are lots references to past Cybermen stories as well to look out for relating back to events on other worlds, including name checks for Mondas from The 10^th Planet (1966), Telos from Tomb of the Cybermen (1967), Planet 14 mentioned by the Cyber-Planner in Invasion (1968), Voga from Revenge of the Cybermen 1975), Canary Warf in Army of Ghosts / Doomsday (2006), and the Moon from The Moonbase (1967). Capaldi’s Doctor also echoes the 10^th Doctor’s finale words “I don’t want to go” from The End of Time Part 2 (2010) as he faces the prospect of his own regeneration.

The final battle in the forest between the Doctor and the Cybermen is explosive, violent, and potentially fatal for the Time Lord as he eventually succumbs to the overwhelming odds and firepower stacked against him. In the last moments of the battle as the Doctor detonates the pipes in this levels infrastructure, the resulting explosion kills all the Cybermen, but the Doctor is also mortally wounded as a result. Cyber-Bill arrives, distraught at the Doctor’s apparent demise, she weeps, and her tears suddenly summon Heather (the sentient water based life-form Bill fell for in the series 10 premier The Pilot). It transpires Heather left Bill her tears behind and it formed a connection between them. Heather restores Bill back to her human form and they set out to explore the universe together, but before she goes Bill says goodbye to the unconscious Doctor resting inside the TARDIS, leaving her own tear behind before she departs.

Although some might find Bill’s fate a little contentious, I though it was handled really well, and gave the character a good sense of closure. Of course, it’s the closing moments of the Doctor Falls, as the Time Lord angrily refuses to regenerate, that events bookend with World Enough and Time’s astonishing pre-titles sequence where the Doctor kneels in front of the TARDIS about to regenerate, only for his regeneration to be delayed again before the surprise arrival of the 1^st Doctor, played by David Bradley, reprising his role from An Adventuree in Space and Time (2013) where he starred as William Hartnell in a dramatization of the early years of Doctor Who in the 1960’s. It’s a terrific moment, one that also brings with it heaps of nostalgia as well for good measure, and it certainly rounds off The Doctor Falls in fine style.

The Doctor Falls is a fittingly epic and action-packed finale to series ten. Overall this series of Doctor Who has arguably had one of the strongest runs of episodes that we’ve seen in recent years. There’s also been a distinct classic series vibe to this whole season, that has easily made it one the best and most accessible from Steven Moffat’s time as show runner. Needless to say, Peter Capaldi has been superb throughout as the Doctor; likewise, Pearl Mackie was also an absolute revelation as new companion Bill Pott’s. I was a little hesitant about Matt Lucas’ return as Nardole though, primarily because I was unsure that the character would work as a series regular, fortunately I’ve been proved wrong as Lucas and his role as Nardole has turned out to be a real boon for series ten

Now with the end of Moffat’s era and Capaldi’s tenure rapidly approaching, The Doctor Falls has paved the way for the 12^th Doctor’s departure, and engineered a thrilling lead-in to the 2017 Christmas Special in the most spectacular way imaginable as Peter Capaldi’s incarnation gets set to teams-up with David Bradley as William Hartnell’s 1^st Doctor for one last adventure before the impending regeneration of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor draws near….

Images Belong BBC

Follow @paul_bowler

Advertisements

Doctor Who World Enough and Time Review

Tags

Bill Potts, Cybermen, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Series 10, Doctor Who The Doctor Falls, Doctor Who World Enough and Time, Doctor Who World Enough and Time review, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Mondasian Cybermen, Nardole, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The 10th Planet, the Cybermen, The Doctor

Doctor Who World Enough and Time

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

A close friendship for the Doctor will become the catalyst for his most impetuous decisions of all time… In her bid to change her evil ways, Missy has joined the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole on their adventures in the TARDIS. When they become trapped on a gigantic spaceship caught in the gravity of a black hole, the Doctor faces the demise of someone he’s sworn to protect. But on this ship of uncanny life forms, where even time is working against him, old enemies await – the Mondasian Cybermen and the Master!

The inexorable path to the end of an era begins in the penultimate episode of series ten, World Enough and Time, the first part of the series finale, written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Rachael Talalay (The director of the two-part 2014 series finale Dark Water and Death in Heaven, along with 2015’s Heaven Sent and the series nine finale Hell Bent. As the title for World Enough and Time suggests, it’s a reference to a poem by Andrew Marvel, entitled To His Coy Mistress, the lines of which resonate strongly with Missy’s role and the Vault story-arc that has been so prevalent across the entirety of series ten.

Kicking off with a startling pre-titles sequence as the Doctor emerges from the TARDIS into a frozen snowscape where he begins to regenerate, World Enough and Time is an episode that hit’s some powerful emotional beats right from the outset, and from there Steven Moffat’s taut script doesn’t let up the pace for a moment. In deciding to give Missy the chance to explore her newfound goodness as part of her rehabilitation, the Doctor lets her take the lead in a mission to save a 400 mile long colony spaceship attempting to reverse away from a black hole. Yes, there’s a new Doctor, In-The-TARDIS… well, sort of, as Missy glibly assumes the role of “Doctor Who”, along with Bill and Nardole acting as her trusty “disposables” while the Doctor observes from inside the TARDIS.

However, when the blue-skinned humaniod Jorj arrives and holds them at gunpoint the Doctor soon has to intervene. The ship is on full reverse, but because of the time dilation caused by the close proximity of the black hole, time is moving at significantly faster rate at the top of the vast colony ship than at the bottom. Fearing the beings about to arrive in the lift, Jorj shoots Bill when she admits to being human, fatally wounding her. Sinister humanoids dressed in hospital gowns then emerge from the lift and take Bill’s body away despite the Doctor’s protestations.

It is from this shocking moment, as we linger for what seems an eternity on the gaping wound in Bill’s chest, that World Enough and Time spirals momentarily into flashback mode to bring us up to speed with the events that have brought us to this point. There are some wonderful scenes as the Doctor and Bill discuss his long-standing friendship with Missy / the Master, its all beautifully played by Capaldi and Mackie, and it makes what is to come feel all the more heartbreaking as a result.

With the Doctor’s telepathic message instructing her to wait for him haunting her from this moment on, Bill awakes in a strange hospital to find a mechanical device has been grafted to her chest – effectively replacing her heart. Befriended by one of the hospital workers, Mr Razor, Bill gradually settles into life at this end of the colony ship as the population prepares to be upgraded for Operation Exodus, meanwhile the Doctor begins to piece together what really happened to the bridge crew, and the implications of the time dilation for the Doctor and Bill quickly become frighteningly apparent as we observe events seemingly conspiring to keep them apart.

Soon, the TARDIS trio are thrown into total chaos, dark secretes and treachery will strike, there are patients crying out quite literally in “Pain” in a creepy hospital, and old enemies are gathering against the Doctor. Peter Capaldi is, as you’d expect, is on magnificent form throughout as the Doctor tackles the rapidly evolving plight they now face. Pearl Mackie also gives a wonderfully emotive performance in this episode as Bill faces some chilling horrors in the hospital, and Matt Lucas continues to impress as Nardole. The guest cast also includes a good performance by Oliver Lansley as Jori, along with Paul Bright well (Surgeon), and Alison Lintott (Nurse).

Michelle Gomez is quite simply fabulous in World Enough and Time as Missy, the female incarnation of the Doctor’s arch nemesis, The Master. The subplot concerning Missy’s incarceration in the Vault, along with her subsequent desire to renounce evil and make up for her wicked ways, finally delivers the ultimate payoff in this episode as we get to see just what the self-confessed Queen of Evil is really capable of.

The World Enough and Time also marks the return of the Cybermen, and this time it’s the 1960’s style Mondasian Cybermen that Peter Capaldi’s 12^th Doctor finds himself face-to-face with, and this iconic fan-favourite monster with its distinct low-tech cloth-faced look has been faithfully recreated in a the most remarkable way possible for their return here in the modern series. Superbly voiced by Nicholas Briggs, their unsettling form of speech – established with a very creepy rationale – together with their imposing presence ensures that this wonderfully dark and sinisterly toned episode will have you on the edge of your seat as a plethora of macabre and unsettling incidents unfold – especially with the episodes grim exploration of Cyber-Conversion

The Mondasian Cybermen first appeared in the 1966 story The Tenth Planet, staring William Hartnell as the 1^st Doctor, it was written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, and directed by Derek Martinus. Although for much of World Enough and Time we are actually only presented with their frightening intermediate stage, as seen en mass in the spaceships vast hospital wards, when an original Mondasian Cybermen does finally emerge from the shadows to face the 12^th Doctor and Nardole in this episode the splicing of fan-expectation and nostalgia it generates is stunning.

Once the lift brining Doctor, Missy, and Nardole eventually arrives at the bottom level of the ship, the Doctor and Nardole head off to find Bill while Missy is entrusted with finding out about the origins of the colony ship – which she soon discovers is from an Earth-like world; Mondas! Approached by Mr Razor, Missy is shocked when he peels away his disguise and is revealed to be her own previous incarnation – The Master!

Yes, its not just the Mondasian Cybermen who are back, John Simm also returns in World Enough and Time as the earlier version of The Master, last seen in the 10^th Doctor’s 2010 swansong, The End of Time Part 2, and his brief presence really brings an electrifying sense of frisson and drama to this episode as events gradually begin to spiral out of control for the Doctor. Sporting greyer hair and a neatly trimmed goatee, John Simm ensures his portrayal of the Master is just as villainously evil and menacing as ever, and the scene stealing moment where the Master and Missy unite against the Doctor is brilliantly played by Simm and Gomez, and its made all the more shattering once the Doctor realizes the Mondasian Cyberman he’s found is Bill when it tells him that it waited for him. This has to be one of Doctor Who’s most powerful cliff-hangers ever. However, it is a great shame that John Simm’s return as the Master wasn’t kept secret though, as the build up to this big event is really good and it would’ve made one hell of a surprise when coupled with the horror of Bill‘s tragic fate.

While not as loaded with Cybermen references as I might’ve expected, World Enough and Time does hint to some other key points from the programmes past. Missy’s insistence on calling herself “Doctor Who” during her fleeting role as the Doctor in this episode is an interesting word-play on the Doctor’s actual name, which often tends to be used in this manner more like a question, like in The War Machines (1966) when WOTAN, the computer in the Post Office Tower, demanded: “Doctor Who is required.” John Simm is back as the Master, as is the renegade Time Lord’s penchant for disguises, something Roger Delgado’s Master often employed in his schemes following his debut in Terror of the Autons (1971) to outwit UNIT and the 3^rd Doctor (Jon Pertwee), most memorable of which was probably adopting the identity of Reverend Mr Magister in The Daemons. When the Master returned in the 80’s played by Anthony Ainley other disguises included the elderly Portreeve in 1981’s Castrovalva and the wizard-like Kalid in Time Flight, and in 2007’s The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords the John Simm incarnation of The Master took on the persona of the newly elected Prime Minister – Harold Saxon. In another clear link back to the 3^rd Doctor’s era Peter Capaldi’s Doctor also uses some Venusian Aikido in World Enough and Time to deal with Jorj.

Even though Missy and Bill take centre stage over the Doctor for a time, Peter Capaldi still gets some incredibly dramatic scenes, there are some timey-wimey shenanigans as well, but Moffat doesn’t trowel it on so thick that it overloads the plot, and of course the return of Jon Simm as the Master is the icing on the cake in this brooding horror-tinged episode. Impressive in scope and atmospherically directed by Rachel Talalay, the sight of Bill fully converted into a Mondasian Cybermen and flanked by Missy and the Master as they confront the Doctor, is as gut wrenchingly emotional as it is exciting, and Moffat and Talalay prove once again what a winning team they make in World Enough and Time when is comes to these two-part extravaganzas. With its opening hints towards the 12^th Doctor impending regeneration and its Genesis of the Cybermen premise, World Enough and Time is one of the darkest and most sinister episodes of this series, and the thrilling cliff-hanger masterfully sets everything up for what promises to be a truly epic series finale!

Images Belong BBC

And here’s the next time trailer for the final episode of Series 10

The Doctor Falls

The Doctor Falls BBC Trailer

Follow @paul_bowler

Doctor Who Series 10 New Iconic image featuring Missy & The Master!

Tags

Bill Potts, Cybermen, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Series 10, Doctor Who Series 10 New Iconic image featuring Missy & The Master!, Doctor Who World Enough and Time, Doctor Who World Enough and Time review, John Simm, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Mondasian Cybermen, Nardole, New Missy and the Master Image, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The 10th Planet, The Doctor, The Master

The Master Returns in new iconic image featuring Missy & The Master

for the Season 10 Finale!

A new image has just been released for the Doctor Who series 10 finale, featuring Missy (Michelle Gomez) and the Master (John Simm) together for the first time. The pair are seen either side of the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) as they put their own chilling spin on the iconic poster image that previously accompanied Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor.

Simm is returning to Doctor Who as the Master for the first time since New Year’s Day 2010, when he was instrumental in brining about the Tenth Doctor‘s regeneration. Now the Master will come face-to-face with Missy, his own later regeneration, and battle the Doctor in the series’ two part finale which begins next weekend.The episodes also feature the return of the Cybermen – including the original Mondasian Cybermen, for the first time in over 50 years. Peter Capaldi’s 12^th Doctor is accompanied by Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) and Nardole (Matt Lucas) in an epic story that will change Doctor Who forever!

Doctor Who’s series finale begins with episode 11, World Enough and Time, at 6:45pm on Saturday 24 June on BBC One. It concludes on Saturday 1 July with episode 12, The Doctor Falls – an extended, 60 minute episode.

Images Belong BBC.

Follow @paul_bowler

 

Doctor Who The Empress of Mars Review

Tags

Bill Potts, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Series 10, Doctor Who The Empres of Mars, Doctor Who The Empress of Mars, female Ice Warrior, Ice Warriors, Iraxxea, Mark Gatiss, Mars, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Nardole, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Doctor, Victorian Soldiers, Wayne Yip

Doctor Who The Empress of Mars

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

Not all is quite as it sss sseeems when the TARDIS arrives on Mars and the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole gets caught up in the middle of an uncanny conflict between Ice Warriors and Victorian soldiers! It appears that the Earth has somehow invaded Mars. As the Martian forces in the hive awakens, their Ice Queen Iraxxa prepares to lead them to war. Now the Doctor faces an impossible choice. It is the humans, and not the Ice Warriors that are the aggressors this time around, so which side will the Time Lord choose to be on?

The Empress of Mars is written by Mark Gatiss, the writer of several Doctor Who episodes: including The Unquiet Dead (2005), The Idiot’s Lantern (2006), Victory of the Daleks (2010), two episode from 2013’s seventh season, Cold War and The Crimson Horror, along with Robot of Sherwood (2014) from series eight, and 2015‘s Sleep No More. Now, with The Empress of Mars, Mark Gatiss makes a welcome return for series ten with a story which also features the classic Doctor Who monsters – The Ice Warriors!

Stylishly directed by Wayne Yip (The Lie of the Land), The Empress of Mars sees the Doctor Peter Capaldi), Bill (Pearl Mackie), and Nardole (Matt Lucas) gate crash NASA as the Mars probe Valkyrie relays an image from the red planet showing the words “God Save The Queen” etched on the barren Martian surface beneath the polar ice cap. Taking the TARDIS to Mars, in 1881 to investigate, the Doctor and Nardole become separated from Bill when she falls down an underground shaft, but when Nardole returns to the TARDIS to fetch rope the time machine inexplicably dematerialises with him inside. Marooned on Mars, the Doctor and Bill soon discover a group of Victorian soldiers Goodsacre (Anthony Calf), Catchlove (Ferdinand Kingsley), Seargant Major Peach (Glenn Speers), Jackdaw (Ian Beattle), Vincey (Bayo Gbadamosi) and Coolidge), who, along with their servile Ice Warrior survivor Friday (Richard Ashton), are busy excavating on the desolate red planet.

The Ice Warrior “Friday” was so named by the soldiers who found him and his crashed spaceship the middle of the South African veldt on 19^th century Earth because he reminded Colonel Godsacre and Captain Catchlove of Man Friday in Robinson Crusoe. Friday is really a lone guardian, appointed after a brutal civil war when his Ice Queen ordered her warriors into hibernation, he was to guard the Ice Warriors hive and reawaken them when it was safe to rebuild their world. But disaster struck and his ship crashed on Earth instead. Feigning submission and grief at his species apparent demise, Friday promised the soldiers the riches of his homeworld if they helped him return to Mars, and tricked them into using technology from his ship to mine the plant. But when “The Gargantua” cannon breaches the Ice Queen’s Tomb it doesn’t take long before Empress Iraxxa (Adele Lynch).is revived and a disastrous initial meeting with the soldiers causes her to awaken the dormant army of Ice Warriors for battle, and the soon Doctor is faced with the daunting prospect of mediating between the invading Victorian Soldiers and the reptilian Martian warriors as conflict erupts.

Mark Gatiss’ love of the Ice Warriors shines through every aspect of his script for The Empress of Mars. Along with subtle nods to the creatures past, Gatiss continues to explore new facets of their society and culture – though perhaps not quite as successfully he did in Cold War. Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie, once again shine in their respective roles, this is a comparatively Nardole-lite episode for Matt Lucas though, but he still plays one particularly significant role in the plot when the TARDIS starts “playing up” and prevents him returning to Mars. Nevertheless, the regular’s performances complement each other perfectly, and this TARDIS trio is now rapidly becoming one of my all time favourites.

The majority of the supporting cast of characters that make up the Victorian soldiers are also good, if a little clichéd, however it is their duplicitously subservient Ice Warrior, Friday, played by Richard Ashton that really stands out – especially in the scenes with the Doctor and Bill. Michelle Gomez also briefly returns in this episode as Missy, the Doctor’s arch Time Lady nemesis and Queen of Evil, when Nardole seeks her help in piloting the TARDIS back to Mars. Having been confined in the Vault she now apparently seeks redemption for her crimes against the universe, Missy’s actions in The Empress of Mars would seem to offer some validity to her new moral stance, and once again Michelle Gomez’s brilliant understated performance proves as utterly compelling as ever.

The Ice Warriors are amongst the classic pantheon of Doctor Who monsters. Ever since the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) originally encountered them in The Ice Warriors (1967) and The Seeds of Death (1969), they went on to return in the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) stories The Curse of Peladon (1972) and The Monster of Peladon (1974), The Waters of Mars (2009) implied the Ice Warriors had discovered a horrifying force beneath the surface of the Red Planet, and the 11^th Doctor (Matt Smith) was confronted by Grand Marshal Skaldac when the redesigned Ice Warriors made a triumphant return in Cold War (2013).

It’s astonishing to think that in the fifty years since their debut story, we’ve never actually seen the Ice Warriors on their homeworld. Now at last The Empress of Mars finally shows us the Ice Warriors on Mars. Although initially a little bit of a slow burn to begin with, the episode soon kicks into high gear once the Ice Warriors awaken en mass, and they also utilize new and rather gruesome way of killing. Of course, aside from the impressive regular Ice Warriors, there’s also a notable addition to legacy of the Ice Warriors, and indeed the series’ mythology overall, in The Empress of Mars, in that it features the first appearance in the programmes history of the species female Queen, the Empress Iraxxa, played by Adele Lynch. Iraxxa provides a whole new dimension to these classic monsters, and Lynch’s performance is quite good – if a little bit over-the-top at times. Pearl Mackie also continues to impress and show great versatility as Bill really steps up as the Doctor’s companion in this episode, getting some fantastic scenes and verbal exchanges with Empress Iraxxa.

In a fleeting, glimpse-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, we see a portrait of Queen Victoria in the soldier’s underground camp on Mars – or at least the version of her played by Pauline Collins in the 2006 episode Tooth and Claw. Unsurprisingly for the return of the Ice Warriors in The Empress of Mars, Mark Gatiss has pepped his script with fun references to the classic series, but there is one surprise guest appearance few could’ve expected – the return of Alpha Centauri!

Yes, it may only be for a short greeting on a screen, but the wonderful addition of Alpha Centauri – a friend of the Doctor’s and ambassador of the Galactic Federation who originally appeared in the previous classic series Ice Warrior stories The Curse of Peladon (1972) and The Monster of Peladon (1974) which starred Jon Pertwee as the 3^rd Doctor – is a great callback to the classic series that many fans are sure to adore. Its something made all the more special as well because Alpha Centauri’s original voice actor Yasanne Chruchman also returns to deliver the characters dialogue for this scene.

The Empress of Mars races towards a thrilling conclusion, with bloodshed seemingly unavoidable and Iraxxa being held at knifepoint by Captain Catchlove, the disgraced Captain Goodsacre attempts to atone for his past act of desertion by killing Catchlove and offering to die honourably before the Ice Queen in the hope she will spare his men. Impressed by the human’s actions, Iraxxa orders her Ice Warriors to stand down, and accepts the Doctor’s offer to help them send out a signal requesting assistance to help them leave Mars – a signal which is quickly answered by Alpha Centauri from the Galactic Federation. Leaving the Ice Warriors to prepare for their new role in the universe, the Doctor and Bill help Goodsacre leave the message on the surface that will be seen by both the rescue ship coming for the Ice Warriors and the  Valkyrie probe in the present day, and when Nardole returns in the TARDIS to retrieve them the Doctor and Bill are more than a little shocked when they discover Missy onboard…

The Ice Warriors return in The Empress of Mars is without doubt one of the most fan-pleasing moments of series ten so far, so its perhaps no surprise that it also feels like a very old school classic Doctor Who story in many respects. The madcap premise of this bizarre sci-fi mashup of Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Zulu, along with a good pinch of Steampunk thrown in for good measure, makes for a highly atmospheric and entertaining episode. The drama builds from the moment Iraxxa’s sarcophagus is discovered, and the subsequent clash between the Victorian Soldiers and the Ice Warriors presents an extremely interesting dilemma for the Doctor.

Most of the action takes place underground, but there are some nice establishing shots on the surface of Mars, the scene where the hive is activated are superb, and later the way the Ice Warriors emerge from the ground to attack is also very effective. With its great opening set-up, strong performances from Capaldi, Mackie, Lucas, along with the surprise addition of Michelle Gomez as Missy, and of course Alpha Centauri’s special guest appearance, this episode is a fantastic return for the Ice Warriors. Sure, Mark Gatiss’ script is a tad self-indulgent at times, but ultimately The Empress of Mars is still one of the major highlights of series ten!

Check out the Next Time trailer for The Eaters of Light.

Images Belong BBC

Follow @paul_bowler

Doctor Who The Lie of the Land Review

Tags

Bill Potts, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Extremis, Doctor Who Series 10, Doctor Who The Lie of the Land, Doctor Who The Lie of the Land review, Doctor Who The Monk Trilogy, Doctor Who the Monks, Doctor Who The Pyramid at the End of the World, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Nardole, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Doctor, The Monk Trilogy, Toby Whitehouse, Wayne Yip

Doctor Who The Lie of the Land

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

The entire world is in thrall to a collective delusion and only Bill Potts’ can see through this mass lie to the truth. With even the Doctor choosing the wrong side, it falls to Bill to persuade the Time Lord that the whole human race is in danger, because if she can’t convince the Doctor, Bill might have to kill her best friend to save humanity.

The eighth episode of series ten, The Lie of the Land, marks the Doctor Who debut of Director Wayne Yip, his previous credits include Secret Diary of a Callgirl, Utopia and Misfits, as well as episodes 6 & 7 of the BBC Three Doctor Who spin-off series Class. The Lie of the Land is written by Toby Whitehouse, his seventh script for Doctor Who, along with School Reunion (2006), The Vampires of Venice (2010), The God Complex (2011), A Town Called Mercy (2012), and most recently 2015’s Under the Lake / Before the Flood.

As the final chapter of the Monk Trilogy, The Lie of the Land presents us with a drastically altered present-day Earth following the aftermath of Bill’s “executive decision” in The Pyramid at the End of the World. Earth has been invaded by the Monks, history has been rewritten, and the Doctor is now seemingly on their side – as the Time Lord’s constant broadcasts of fake news would seem to attest. Unbelievers who do not accept the Monks as their world’s benefactors are imprisoned. However, the Monks have been on Earth for only six months, not millions of years as they’ve led humanity to believe. Only Bill can see through the global deception, with Nardole’s help – now recovered after his exposure to the chemical biohazard at Agrofuel Research Operations – she must rally the resistance against the Monks regime, but when Missy’s knowledge of the Monks is needed to help the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole to save the world their mission soon becomes even more dangerous.

Toby Whitehouse’s intense script plunges the world into a warped dystopian nightmare unlike anything we’ve quite seen before. From the chilling prologue, the Monks uncompromising rule is frighteningly reinforced by the Doctor’s rather creepy behaviour. Peter Capaldi excels in every scene, brining a dual edge to the role of the Time Lord, and giving arguably one of his strongest performances so far this season. Pearl Mackie also gives a sensitive and engaging performance as Bill Potts, who must now face the harsh agonies of this darkly reinvented world that she’s ultimately responsible for, and at times its affected her so much Bill’s even started to talking to her late mother (played by Rose Jane) to prevent her from loosing her mind. Nardole once more provides some much needed comic relief to dispel the gloom, Matt Lucas gets some great lines, and his characters key role here highlights what an integral part this TARDIS trio he has become.

Bill and Nardole finally manage to track the Doctor to a prison ship off the coast of Scotland, but to their horror it seems that he has really swapped sides and joined the Monks. This in turn forces Bill to make one of the most difficult decisions of all, and it’s a truly heart-in-the-mouth moment as Bill steps up to the plate and shoots the Doctor! From this shocking turn of events an early regeneration appears to be on the cards, but when the Time Lord’s sudden regeneration quickly stops, it becomes clear the situation on the ship is an elaborate ruse by the Doctor, Nardole, and the soldiers of the resistance to make certain Bill is free of the Monks influence. In order to learn more about the Monks though, the Doctor and Bill must return to the university to seek help from a certain Time Lady who knows a thing or two about how the Monks manage to subjugate entire worlds.

Michelle Gomez returns in The Lie of the Land as Missy, the female incarnation of the Doctor’s arc nemesis; The Master. This episode finally takes us inside the Vault where Missy has been incarcerated. It would appear Missy is going “cold turkey” from evil, but she still delights in revealing that to break the Monks psychic grip on the world they must find whoever opened the door for the Monks and kill them, which obviously isn’t good news for Bill! Just as in Extremis, Michelle Gomez turns in a slightly subdued performance that completely wrong foots our expectations about Missy. Her appearances bring added gravatis to the episode, together with a moving insight that once again shows her character in a somewhat different light, but has the Queen of Evil really changed her ways or is Missy simply playing her wickedly evocative brand of villainy to a different tune?

Having played the Monk in the first two parts of this trilogy, Extremis and The Pyramid at the End of the World, Jamie Hill (The Foretold in 2014’s Mummy on the Orient Express and a Silence in series six) is back, this time as the Giant Monk for The Lie of the Land. After being given pure consent to take over the world by Bill in the previous episode – to save the Doctor and restore his sight – these cadaverous looking red-robed Monks have shaped the world to suit their own twisted Orwellian designs. Now they are part of the very fabric of humanities development, they’ve guided our history, the technological advances, and even protected us from alien invaders. Although the Monks don’t actually say or do that much in The Lie of the Land, we do see more of their energy powers as they defend the interior of their main pyramid, where the Giant Monk sits overseeing a giant central broadcasting chamber that maintains the psychic mass-delusion.

Along with the terrific performances from Peter Capaldi, Pearl, Mackie, Matt Lucas, and Michelle Gomez, The Lie of the Land also features a great supporting cast, featuring Solomon Israel (Richard Curnew), Stewart Right (Alan), Beatrice Curnew (Group Commander), Emma Handy (Mother), Athena Droutis (Girl), Amanda Mealing (Connie), and Tony Marshall (Noel).

The Lie of the Land has distinct echoes of The Last of the Time Lords (2007) and Turn Left (2008) about it, both were episode which also depicted the Doctor’s companions (Martha and Donna respectively) taking a more central role in a another stark dystopia version of the world. The Doctor’s opening monologue about the Monks exploits in The Lie of The Land include glimpses of a Dalek from Into The Dalek (2014), a Cybermen in Nightmare In Silver (2013), and a Weeping Angel from Blink (2007), later we see scenes from the Pilot, and in the Monks cathedral we see other still images displayed from the current tenth series. The brand Magpie Electricals – originally introduced in 2006’s The Idiod Lantern – is also quite prominent in this episode. Missy plays some of Erik Satie’s Gnossienne No 1 on the piano and later some of Scot Joplin’s The Entertainer. Perhaps most notably, aside from a brief glimpse when Bill mentally battles against the Monks in the cathedral, the TARDIS doesn’t feature at all in The Lie of the Land, not something that often happens in modern Doctor Who – 2008’s Midnight is another fine example of a TARDIS-less episode from the programmes current era.

The episode builds to a rousing finale as the Doctor, Bill, Nardole, and the rebel commandos fight their way into the central chamber of the Monks main pyramid, where the Giant Monk resides over the psychic broadcast controlling the population via the signals emanating from the giant statues the Monks have strategically built around the world. When the Doctor’s attempt to link his mind to the Monks systems and override their control fails, Bill steps in, despite his protests, and prepares to sacrifice herself by taking his place to mind-link with the Monks. Bill’s memories of her mother being overriding the Monks broadcast, and it is this loving memory that ultimately awakens humanities hope and causes them to rise up against the Monks control. Defeated, the Monks abandon Earth, later the Doctor and Bill discovers everyone has forgotten about the Monks, and back in the Vault it would seem Missy is finally beginning to feel genuine remorse for all the people that she’s killed…

As well as providing us with a great new monster, The Monk trilogy has brought an intriguing change of pace to series ten, and skilfully dispelled any kind of mid-season lull. The leads all give exceptionally powerful central performances that make The Lie of the Land extremely compelling viewing at times. A great set up during the first half of the episode skilfully builds the tension and the plot gradually draws us into the heart of the Monks grand designs. Although the conclusion does fall back on some rather familiar tropes, it nevertheless provides a satisfying resolution to the trilogy overall. Toby Whitehouse’s intricately crafted script, together with the strong direction from Wayne Yip, ensures The Lie of the Land presents an extremely challenging adventure for the Doctor and his companions, and an exceptional finale to this thrilling mid-season trilogy.

Here’s the Next Time trailer for The Empress of Mars

Been looking forward to the return of the Ice Warriors!

Images Belong BBC

Follow @paul_bowler

Doctor Who Extremis Review

Tags

Bill Potts, Daniel Nettheim, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Extremis, Doctor Who Extremis review, Doctor Who Monk Trilogy, Doctor Who Monks, Doctor Who Series 10, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Nardole, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Doctor

Doctor Who Extremis

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

The Doctor must investigate an ancient mystery in Extremis. Within a secret library of the Vatican, there is a book of dangerous power – The Veritas. History accounts how anybody foolhardy enough to read it has subsequently taken their own life. After a new translation appears online, The Vatican asks the Doctor for help. But will the Time Lord read The Veritas, and can even the Doctor endure the terrible truth it holds?

Extremis is a dark, brooding tale, written by Steven Moffat, and directed by Daniel Nettheim – who also helmed The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion (2015). This sixth episode of series ten also features the return of the 12^th Doctor’s arch nemesis, Missy (the female incarnation of the Master), played by Michelle Gomez. Last time we saw Missy she was surrounded by Daleks in their crumbling city on Skaro in The Witch’s Familiar (2015), but now she’s back and this time it seems like her luck might be about to run out…

Following Oxygen’s shock cliff-hanger, where the Doctor secretly confided in Nardole that he was still blind, the Time Lord doesn’t want his enemies to learn of his sight loss, and he’s adamant that Bill shouldn’t know either. Extremis is also something of a major turning point in series ten as it forms the first episode in a linked trilogy of stories were the world comes under threat by an emaciated corpse-like order of sinister Monks.

When Bill’s date night with Penny gets embarrassingly gate crashed, she’s soon off on her next adventure in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Nardole, and this time it concerns the Pope and an ancient text called The Veritas held in a secret Vatican library: the Haereticum. The Veritas is older than even the church itself, with its language and translations seemingly lost after a sect’s bizarre mass suicide. Now the Veritas has been translated again, however, everyone that worked on the translation online has mysteriously killed themselves. At the behest of the Pope himself, the Doctor has been called upon to solve the dangerous mystery surrounding the Veritas, but in doing so he must also grapple with his own hidden agonies.

Essentially two stories in one, Extremis, with its secret libraries, mysterious portals, and international conspiracies, is one of Steven Moffat’s most ambitious episodes to date. Taking in Rome, CERN, Washington, and a visit to a distant planet, Moffat infuses Extremis with elements of The Ring, The Da Vinci Code, The Matrix, and The Name of the Rose, effortlessly splicing them with the core underlying themes of series 10, and the end result is an assured adventure that make for a remarkably compelling and thought provoking episode.

An ominous sense of impending dread gradually builds throughout Extremis. Peter Capaldi’s Doctor – sporting his trusty enhanced sonic specs – must draw on every ounce of his resolve to deal with the enigma of the Veritas. Once inside the Vatican’s secret library of blasphemy, the Haereticm, where strange portals are forming, they discover a priest has emailed a copy of the Verita’s translation to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) before killing himself. After sending Bill and Nardole to investigate, the Doctor borrows from his own future to temporarily restore his sight to enable him to read the Veritas, and soon finds himself in deadly danger as undead-looking Monks close in to seize the Veritas for themselves!

Bill and Nardole discover another portal that leads to a collective hub of portals controlled by an unknown form of alien technology. Following a brief sojourn to CERN, where a chilling game of random numbers with scientists about to blow themselves up ensues, but after fleeing back to the hub Bill is horrified when Nardole realizes the portals are actually computer projections and watches him slowly fade away – a fate she also shares when she finally catches up with the Doctor inside another projection that simulates the Oval Office inside the White House. Pearl Mackie continues to impress as Bill, and she constantly brings a refreshing sense of vitality and compassion to the role of the Doctor’s companion. Matt Lucas gets to play a tougher side of Nardole as well in Extremis, his character really steps up, especially when he’s teamed with Bill, and his reasons for being with the Doctor also start to become more apparent as Extremis unfolds.

Along with Joseph Long as the Pope (Long previously appeared in the 2008 Doctor Who episode Turn Left as the Italian newsagent, Roco Colasanto), the guest cast in Extremis also includes Corrado Invernizzi as the Pope’s trusted aid Cardinal Angelo who turns up at the university looking for the Doctor, Ivanno Jeremiah as Rafando, Laurent Maurel as Nicholas Rorke Adekoluejo as Penny, and Jennifer Hennessy as Billd’s foster mum, Moria.

The main foes in Extremis are the Monks. These withered, burgundy robed creatures, with their clawed hands and menacing presence are hell bent on taking over the Earth, and it seems it’s something they’ve been planning for a long time. Seeking the Veritas for their own ends, they are a marvellously creepy and effective adversary in this episode. These super-intelligent beings have used their technology to craft this huge VR simulation, where even the Doctor and his friends are just simulations in something akin to a highly sophisticated video game which the Monks have been using to assess Earth’s capabilities and weaknesses before launching a perfectly calculated invasion. The Monk the Doctor faces in Extremis is played by Jamie Hill, he also appeared as the Foretold in 2014’s Mummy on the Orient Express (as well as one of the Silence creatures in series six), and the chilling voice of the Monks is provided by Tim Bentinck. Bizarrely, it’s interesting how the Monks are slightly reminiscent of the Silence, with their long fingers and ingenious invasion plans, yet they speak with their mouths agape in a way that’s also similar to the original Mondasian Cybermen.

After all the build up, hints, and speculation, Extremis is the episode of series ten where we finally discover who is inside the Vault that the Doctor and Nardole have been guarding at the university on Earth, and it turns out to be – Missy! Yes, even though we’d probably already half-guessed this big reveal, it doesn’t diminish it to finally have it conformed in Extremis. This all ties in with the numerous flashbacks that permeate every aspect of the episode, where Missy is a prisoner on Carnathon awaiting her execution which will be instigated by non other than the Doctor himself, and her body then subsequently placed inside a waiting Quantum Fold Chamber which the Doctor has solemnly vowed to watch over for a thousand years.

Michelle Gomez makes a welcome return as rogue Time Lady and self styled Queen of Evil, Missy in Extremis, with a surprisingly restrained and vulnerable performance, and her characters impromptu return to the series really heightens the drama in this episode. Extremis also presents Missy in a completely different light, she even begs the Doctor to help her change her ways at one point, and Gomez is excellent throughout as ever. However, the full extent of Missy’s role and her fate remains somewhat unclear, at least for now…

There are a number of references that pertain to River Song in Extremis, most notably when Missy mentions she’s heard rumours amongst the Daleks of the Doctor’s retirement and “Domestic bliss on Darillium” (a planet first mentioned in 2008’s Forest of the Dead), where the Doctor and River went to see the Singing Towers in the 2015 Christmas Special: The Husbands of River Song after defeating King Hydroflax. Missy also offers the Doctor her condolences on River’s passing. Nardole also turns up as a Cleric at Missy’s execution in Extremis to meet the Doctor, having been given special permission by the Doctor‘s late wife, and he also has River’s distinctive TARDIS styled diary (first seen in 2008’s Silence in the Library) which she used to keep track of her out-of-sequence adventures with the Doctor and their haphazard timelines. The Doctor also mentions as he is part of the Prydonian Chapter, first mentioned in the Deadly Assassin (1976).

Extremis concludes with some truly powerful scenes, when the Doctor is confronted by a Monk in the simulation of the Oval Office. The Time Lord reveals he is fully aware that he is also a simulation, but warns the creature that the Earth will be ready for them as he’s been secretly recording everything via his sonic sunglasses and has just emailed the file to his real-world self guarding the Vault. This all entwines with how the Doctor outwits Missy’s captors and death sentence to spare her life, explaining why he’s been overseeing her incarceration in the Vault. It all collectively builds towards the episodes thrilling cliff-hanger, where the real-world Doctor gets the email sent from his digital self and asks for Missy’s help through the doors to fend off the invasion.

Although in retrospect Extremis is actually just a set up for the “Monk Trilogy” of stories, there’s still a wealth of exciting developments in this episode, with terrific performances from Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, and Matt Lucas as the new TARDIS team faces their greatest challenge so far. Steven Moffat’s scrip is audaciously epic in scope and scale, presenting just as many questions as it does answers, and director Daniel Nettheim offsets the striking visuals with a darkly atmospheric edge – especially during the library scenes. Extremis is a great episode; it places the world in dire peril, and sets everything up for the next stage in this intriguing saga!

Images Belong BBC

Follow @paul_bowler

Doctor Who The Witch’s Familiar Review

Tags

Clara Oswald, Colony Sarff, Daleks, Davros, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Sereis 9, Doctor Who The Witch's Familiar Review, Hattie MacDonald, Jemma Redgrave, Jenna Coleman, Kate Stewart, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Doctor, The Witch's Familiar

The Witch’s Familiar

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

The Doctor is trapped and alone at the heart of the Dalek Empire on the planet Skaro, surrounded by Daleks from throughout the ages. Having witnessed Clara, Missy, and even the TARDIS suffer maximum extermination at the orders of the Supreme Dalek, the Doctor now faces Davros simultaneously on the eve of his death, and via an uncanny twist of destiny, on a pivotal moment from when Davros was a child. Will the Doctor now kill this child, or will mercy prevail, as the Time Lord endeavours to risk everything to save his friend?

The Witch’s Familiar continues the two-part opening story of Series 9, with an even darker episode, written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Hettie Macdonald (The director of 2007’s Blink). The cliff-hanger “Exterminate” ending of the Magician’s Apprentice left us all on the edge of our seats, when the Doctor appeared on the battlefield strewn with Hand-mines in Skaro’s distant past to exterminate the young Davros with a Dalek gun-stick. Now in The Witch’s Familiar, the story builds from this crucial moment as fate, compassion, and evil collides with far flung consequences as the Doctor confronts Davros on Skaro.

With the loss of Clara, Missy, the TARDIS, and without even the Sonic Screwdriver to help him, the Doctor must faces his ultimate challenge on Skaro as he wrestles with his conscience at the gates of Davros’ beginnings. The heart-stopping quandary of the cliff-hanger with the young Davros (brilliantly played by Joey Price) holds this episode on a constant knifes edge, while in the future, protracted, almost heart-felt exchanges unfold between the Doctor and Davros as the old enemies debate the Daleks ultimate defect and the fate of Gallifrey. This really plays to the strengths of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor, his performance is totally compelling, especially when the Doctor realises the Life Support / Hyperspace Relay in Davros’ chamber can touch the beating heart of every single Dalek on Skaro – once again presenting the Time Lord with the temptation of inflicting genocide on the Dalek race. Julian Bleach brings a cold, rasping, cocktail of evil and emotion to this ancient version of Davros, as the Daleks creator’s heinous scheme finally become apparent. Indeed, The Witch’s Familiar shows sides to the Doctor and Davros unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.

Naturally enough Clara (Jenna Coleman) and Missy (Michelle Gomez) were not killed during the climatic moments of The Magician’s Apprentice. Missy’s gleefully casual explanation quickly alters Clara’s perspective on their escape from extermination, with a gloriously psychedelic classic Doctor story / energy manipulating / teleporting just-in-the-nick-of-time solution. Clara’s uneasy alliance with Missy continues as they find a way into the Dalek city, where the Time Lord has gone AWOL from the Infirmary in Davros’ own chair, but his audience with the Supreme Dalek is cut short as the coils of Davros’ grand design ensnare him once more!

Much of The Witch’s Familiar revolves around the epic face-off between the Doctor and Davros, there are several moments here that revisit classic elements from Genesis of the Daleks (1975), and every scene between Capaldi and Bleach in the infirmary crackles with tension as the Time Lord confronts his arch-enemy. Peter Capaldi is excellent, he brings so much gravitas to his role as the Doctor, but it is Julian Bleach as the wizened Davros who makes for the most riveting viewing in this episode with a outstanding turn as the Daleks creator that is almost on a par with Michael Wisher’s magnificent original performance as Davros from Genesis of the Daleks. Indeed, when Davros asks the Doctor “Are you ready to be a God?” there are echoes of a similar debate that Davros once had with the 4^th Doctor (Tom Baker) in Genesis of the Daleks – about unleashing a virus that could destroy all life in the universe – and the Dalek creator even eschews the 12^th Doctor’s own mission statement from Series 8 when he asks the Time Lord “Am I a good man?”

The Daleks are at their ruthless best once more, cold, calculating, and extremely protective of Davros. We also get to see a lot more of the Dalek city in this episode, a glorious re-imagining of the original 1963 sets and city model designed by the late Raymond Cusick, where Daleks now fly amongst its gleaming futuristic spires and towers. Scenes in these eerie corridors also resonate powerfully with the Daleks classic debut story. Putting Daleks from different eras of Doctor Who together on screen was an inspired move for these episodes, the Supreme Dalek and his new & classic Dalek minions make a formidable sight, and director Hettie Macdonald ramps up the horror as Clara and Missy descend into the grungy Dalek sewers where we discover even more disturbing qualities about these mad Skarosian tanks of bubbling hatred.

Jenna Coleman is exceptionally good here as Clara. Missy’s plan, to hijack a Dalek and then get into the city with Clara hiding inside the Dalek’s casing, is also reminiscent of the very first Dalek story, when Ian (William Russell) hid inside a Dalek, and we really get a sense of Clara’s fear as the casing closes around her – chillingly echoing the soufflé girls fate in Asylum of the Daleks (2012). Michelle Gomez is brilliant as the evil Missy, her incarnation of the renegade Time Lord is wickedly enchanting, and Missy’s summation of the genetically hard-wired Dalek remains condemned to rot in the sewers leads to a startling lesson in Dalek vocabulary for the Impossible Girl. Perhaps most unexpected of all is the comparison Missy makes with the Cybermen to explain how the Daleks reload, which like much said here in the Dalek sewers, certainly offers us plenty to dwell over…

After their ploy to reach Dalek control succeeds, Missy treacherously begins to bargain with the Daleks, and offers Clara “gift wrapped” inside the Dalek casing. Meanwhile, it seems the Doctor has been foolish enough to look into his enemy’s eyes, and believing him sincere, he willing uses a fraction of his regeneration energy to power the Hyperspace Relay and grant Davros his dying wish – to live long enough to see the sunrise on Skaro. But to the Doctor’s horror his regeneration energy is suddenly leeched away by Colony Sarff (disguised as the coils of the machine) where it is transferred into every Dalek on Skaro, making them into Dalek / Time Lord Hybrids, while also simultaneously revitalising Davros during the process! Perhaps inevitably Colony Sarff (Jami Reid-Quarell), the serpentine henchman of Davros, does get a little overshadowed by everything happening in this episode, but his menacing presence is still used to great effect.

The exciting finale has Missy arriving in the Infirmary to assist the Doctor at a critical moment, the Doctor reveals that he knew what Davros was planning, and soon generations of decaying mutant Dalek hatred – revitalised by the Doctor’s regeneration energy – is bubbling up from the bowls of Skaro to wreak havoc on the Dalek Empire! If that wasn’t exciting enough, everything is rounded of with a magnificent scene where the Doctor has to see through Missy’s deceptions to save Clara from her Dalek casing. A showdown with the Supreme Dalek follows just as the revolt of mutant sludge strikes the Dalek city, while Missy also has a really good idea at an opportune moment, and the Doctor and Clara are finally reunited with the TARDIS thanks to the Hostile Action Dispersal System – first used in the 2^nd Doctor story The Krotons (1968/9) and more recently in 2013’s 11^th Doctor story Cold War – and a very nifty pair of sonic shades. Soon the Doctor and Clara are ready to leave Davros and the Daleks to their fate. The contents of the confession dial remain a secret for now. But the question of how a tiny sliver of mercy managed to find its way into the DNA of Clara’s Dalek remains, and it is this startling moment of realisation that provides the Doctor with the impetus to complete one life-changing task before they set off on their adventures in time and space…

The Witch’s Familiar saves an exciting time-twisting surprise for the last moments of this opening two-part adventure. Steven Moffat ushers in some big timey-wimey developments in this episode. Some will admire the scale and ambition of Moffat’s vision, others will no doubt balk at his playing fast and loose with the rich tapestry of the series’ mythology, but this is still probably one of Moffat’s most ingenious storylines, and the pay-off is all the more powerful because of the Doctor’s unwavering sense of compassion and mercy.

The Witch’s Familiar certainly lives up to the expectations of this first half of this new season opener. I found this episode to be just as exciting, if not more so because of the face-off between the Doctor and Davros, there were moments here that seemed like a natural extension of classic scenes from Genesis of the Daleks, the Daleks were well served by the story, and the conclusion was outstanding! Series 9 is already shaping up to be one of the best yet, I really like the dynamic between the Doctor and Clara now, they make a great team, Missy was also excellent in these episodes, and the return of the two-part stories make for most a welcome – and long overdue – addition to the programmes format. Roll on the rest of Series Nine!

Images Belong: BBC

Follow @paul_bowler

 

Doctor Who The Magician’s Apprentice Review

Tags

Clara Oswald, Colony Sarff, Daleks, Davros, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Series 9, Doctor Who The Magicians Apprentice Review, Hattie MacDonald, Jemma Redgrave, Jenna Coleman, Kate Stewart, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Ohila, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Doctor, The Magicians Apprentice, The Sisterhood of Karn, UNIT

The Magician’s Apprentice

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

Doctor Who series 9 begins with the blockbusting premier episode The Magician’s Apprentice, where the skies of Earth have succumbed to a strange alien power as a desperate cry for help echoes from the past, and Clara Oswald needs to find her old friend the Doctor. But the Time Lord has gone missing, is this really the Doctor’s final night, and what terrible event could have driven the Doctor into hiding? Clara must join forces with the most unlikely ally of all if she is to find the Doctor, dark secrets from the past return, old foes will be confronted, and soon the Doctor will have to face the most impossible challenge of all …

The Magician’s Apprentice is about as epic and cinematic a series premier as Doctor Who has ever had, written by Steven Moffat and directed by Hettie Macdonald (director of the highly acclaimed 2007 episode Blink), the opening moments alone quickly establish what we can expect from this the dark and ominous two-part story – and indeed the new series itself.

A blanket of fog swirls over a battlefield on a distant world as a child of fate runs though a mud-strewn land covered in Hand Mines… But what is the secret shame of this awful place that has made the Doctor take to the shadows, and who is the mysterious cloaked figure – Colony Sarff – that has been searching for the Doctor? When a bizarre alien force strikes the Earth, freezing passenger jets in the skies, not even Clara, Kate Stewart, and UNIT can locate the Doctor. So, when the Doctor’s old enemy Missy inexplicably reappears in a foreign locale, with a Confession Dial that holds the Doctor’s last will and testament, Clara must form an uneasy alliance with Missy to find the missing Time Lord. Their journey will take them across space and time, but the Doctor is already proceeding along a dark path of destiny, one that will soon lead him into the most terrible danger of all and a confrontation with his deadliest foes – the Daleks!

Peter Capaldi’s performance in the Magician’s Apprentice is little sort of superb, Capaldi seems completely at ease now in his role as the 12th Doctor, and his commanding presence permeates though every aspect of the episode. His incarnation of the Doctor is clearly not afraid of making difficult decisions either – or accepting the consequences of his actions. Jenna Coleman is also on fine form as Clara Oswald, and the erstwhile Impossible Girl once again proves she is as confident and resourceful as ever. Michelle Gomez returns as the new gender-swapped incarnation of the Master, Missy, to meddle in the Doctor’s and Clara’s lives again – while gleefully glossing over her apparent demise in the Series 8 finale Death in Heaven (2014) – and Gomez excels herself here as the Doctor’s wickedly evil nemesis. It’s also good to see Jemma Redgrave returning as Kate Stewart, along with UNIT, to deal with the crisis Missy has engineered to get their attention.

The Magician’s Apprentice is a big, bold adventure, set on a grand scale, and the pace doesn’t slow for a moment as time ladies Clara and Missy team-up to find the Doctor just as he is about to face his greatest moral dilemma and most ruthless adversary. The story travels between numerous locations in time and space: including a grim battlefield in the past, an alien bar, the grand fortress of the Shadow Proclamation, the planet Karn, an outlandish medieval tournament in Essex 1138 AD, and a very familiar looking city on the Daleks original home planet of Skaro…

The character of Ohila (Claire Higgins) from The Night of the Doctor (2013) also returns along with the Sisterhood of Karn (Last seen in the 1976 story The Brain of Morbius), and Ohila’s tense scenes with Colony Sarff (Jami Reid-Quarell) resonate powerfully with her appearance in the 1^st online prequel for Series 9. Jami Reid-Quarell is also very menacing as the snake-like Colony Sarff, a strange creature with a message for the Doctor, whose quest has taken him to the Maldovarium, the planet Karn to address the Sisterhood of Karn, and even the mighty Shadow Proclamation, but nobody seems to know where the Doctor is. The Magician’s Apprentice weaves a complex path through Doctor Who’s mythology – past and present – juggling extensive nods to the past and a wealth of continuity references, with some perhaps far more pertinent than others, along with a few surprise voices from the Doctor’s own past as well!

It seems the mad man in the blue box has really disappeared this time, because even the Daleks are looking for him! Yes, the Daleks are back with a vengeance in The Magician’s Apprentice. Daleks from throughout all of time have assembled to wreak havoc on the Doctor in a story that harkens right back to their origins. Nearly every type of Dalek that you can think of is here for this ultimate Dalek team-up! Seeing the original classic 1963/64 slivery-grey Dead Planet style Daleks, a black domed guard from Evil of the Daleks (1967), along with a grey Renegade and the Special Weapons Dales from Remembrance of the Daleks (1988), in the same scenes as gold / bronze modern era Daleks, a Dalek Sec style Black Dalek, overseen by the gleaming red and gold Supreme Dalek from The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End (2008) and its like all our fan-boy dreams have leapt from the pages of the old TV Century 21 comics to unleash maximum extermination on TV!

The Dalek city in The Magician’s Apprentice has been beautifully realised on screen in this episode, a clear homage to the original 1963 Dalek city on Skaro designed by the late Raymond Cusick, and its been reimagined here in exquisite detail. The design of the Daleks control room in this episode – whilst containing nods to Cusick’s designs – also provides a delightful throwback to the Peter Cushing Doctor Who films, Dr Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks’ Invasion of Earth 2550 AD (1966). Even the 12th Doctor’s revised costume has a hint of 60’s era of Doctor Who about it, especially the Hartnell style check trousers.

Ok, here we go. BIG SPOILER ALERT! The Daleks are back, Missy is back, but there’s one more old adversary vying for the title of the Doctor’s arch-enemy – much to Missy’s consternation – in this episode, Davros! Yes, the creator of the Daleks, the Dark Lord of Skaro, is dying, and he has sent Colony Sarff to bring the Doctor to his chamber on board a medical space station. Julian Bleach reprises his role from 2008’s The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End, giving a blood-chilling performance, and the malevolent creator of the Daleks certainly has a few nasty surprises for the Doctor! The lines between past and present blur constantly as the young boy Davros, played by Joey Price, cries for help ring out across time to haunt the Doctor, and I can’t think of one instance in the history of Doctor Who where sound of the TARDIS dematerialising has ever sounded so cruel…

The Magician’s Apprentice is a great start to the new series. In fact, there’s so much going on in this first episode of the opening two-part series premier that it actually feels more like a series finale! Steven Moffat has gone for big spectacle, high drama, and full timey-wimey overload for The Magician’s Apprentice. Drawing heavily on the programmes past, the intricate plot is dark, intense, and even the 4^th Doctor’s iconic “If someone who knew the future, pointed out a child to you, and told you that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives… could you then kill that child?” speech from 1975’s Genesis of the Daleks takes on a whole new perspective in the context of the Doctor’s actions in The Magician‘s Apprentice – setting up some interesting themes that will no doubt impact on the ongoing narrative of new series. There are moments of wry humour too, particularly when Missy and Clara are working together, the way Missy compares the Daleks plan to destroy the TARDIS with a certain part of a Dalek casing is another standout moment, and it’s clear that the Doctor’s bond with Clara is now even stronger than ever.

Exciting, if initially a little bewildering, The Magician’s Apprentice, while somewhat grim at times, also has a great sense of adventure and fun – especially when the Doctor makes a surprise – if somewhat superfluous – rock and roll entrance with an electric guitar! It’s a story that probably needs multiple viewing to fully appreciate every nuance of the storyline, even the Sonic Screwdriver has an unexpectedly significant role to play, but despite the slight overloading of the script there is still a lot to enjoy here. Once all the characters have been drawn together, a space station that isn‘t quite what it seems leads to a fittingly epic face-off between the Doctor and Davros, and the build up to that first glimpse of the Dalek city and then the Daleks themselves are both breathtaking moments.

Minor quibbles aside, I really enjoyed this first episode, and thought it got the new series off to a fantastic start. The Magician’s Apprentice races towards an incredibly exciting cliff-hanger, the stakes get raised impossibly high as the full horror of the Daleks plan actually sends the Doctor to his knees, and you will be left wondering how those nerve-jangling final moments can possibly be resolved in the conclusion of this two-part story – The Witch’s Familiar.

Images Belong: BBC

Follow @paul_bowler

 

Doctor Who Death In Heaven Review

Tags

Chris Addison, Clara Oswald, Cybermen, Danny Pink, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Death In Heaven, Doctor Who Series Eight, Ingrid Oliver, Jemma Redgrave, Jenna Coleman, Kate Stweart, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Osgood, Peter Capaldi, Rachel Talalay, Samuel Anderson, Sanjeeve Bhaskar, Seb, St Paul's Cathedral, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The 12th Doctor, The Gate Keeper of the Nethersphere, The Master, The Nethersphere, UNIT

Death In Heaven

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

In 24 hours the human race will cease to exist. The Cybermen have invaded London, a new indestructible army built from humanity’s dead. Missy has been revealed as the Doctor’s arch nemesis, the Master! With Danny deceased, trapped in the Nethersphere, an impossible decision looms for Clara as the Cybermen close in. As the Cyber-Invasion spreads around the world, the Doctor joins forces with old friends, but can even the might of UNIT help the Doctor defeat this terrifying alliance between the Master and the Cybermen? The Doctor must his face the greatest challenge of all and difficult sacrifices will have to be made to save the world…

Death in Heaven concludes the exciting two-part series eight finale, as the Cyber-Invasion continues in this special hour-long episode, written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Rachael Talalay. Now that the secret of the “Promised Land” and Missy’s true identity has been revealed, the dark and ominous tone of this this action packed season finale kicks into high gear as Steven Moffat engineers the mother all showdowns for the Doctor and his UNIT allies as they battle the combined menace of Missy and the Cybermen.

While Clara tries to deceive the Cybermen that she’s really the Doctor, the Cybermen hidden in the Dark Water tanks at the 3W Institute begin to emerge onto the streets of London, where the Doctor, still reeling from discovering that Missy is his old enemy, the Master, can only look on helplessly as the Cybermen march past St Paul’s Cathedral towards the unsuspecting civilians. Missy encourages people to take selfies with the Cybermen, giving the concealed UNIT forces time make their move, but even though they capture Missy the dome of St Paul’s cathedral opens and 91 Cybermen take to the air – except for one that remains and explodes over London to unleash a deadly cloud of Cyber-Pollen. Missy gleefully informs the Doctor, Kate Stewart, and Osgood the Cybermen will target the other key areas of significant population density in the UK to spread the Cyber-Pollen – something the Cybermen are now doing simultaneously on a global scale in every town and city around the world. As the dark clouds gather over graveyards, funeral homes, and mortuaries, the rain starts to fall and the Cyber-Pollen begins its heinous work – infusing the corpses of the dead and reanimating them as Cybermen.

Steven Moffat rounds off series eight of Doctor Who in fine style with Death in Heaven, building on the deeply unsettling premise established in Dark Water (Where all of Earth’s dead had been transformed into a Cyber-Army, their minds stored in the Nethersphere – a Gallifreyan Hard Drive – were their emotions are subsequently deleted before transplantation back into the Cybermen), to provide a harrowing and emotional roller coaster ride for the Doctor and Clara that will test their friendship to the limit.

Needless to say, Peter Capaldi is superb as the 12th Doctor in Death in Heaven. Here we see just how dark and uncompromising this incarnation can be, and Capaldi delivers an absolutely magnificent performance that will have you on the edge of your seat. Jenna Coleman is also brilliant as Clara Oswald, whose character has constantly evolved over the course of series eight, and the culmination of the events and decisions Clara ultimately makes in Death in Heaven makes this arguably one of Coleman’s best episodes to date.

Death in Heaven also marks the welcome return of UNIT to help the Doctor fight the Cybermen and Missy. Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor has constantly voiced his dislike of the military since his regeneration, which creates a really interesting dynamic here as he’s forced to work alongside the Brigadier’s daughter, Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), together with Ossgood (Ingrid Oliver), now sporting an 11th Doctor style bow tie instead of the 4th Doctor scarf she wore in The Day of the Doctor (2013), and Colonel Ahmed (Sanjeev Bhaskar). The Time Lord takes to the skies as the newly appointed President of Earth, where he is given control of the worlds military forces and is expected to coordinate their retaliation against to the Cyber-Invasion.

Its good to see Jemma Redgrave return as UNIT’s chief scientific advisor Kate Stewart, she gets some really powerful scenes alongside the Doctor, even confronting the Cybermen in London where she throws the head of an Invasion style Cybermen – that originally featured in The Invasion (1968) – at the feet of their new counterparts to make her point. When Kate brings the Doctor, the TARDIS, and the captured Missy to a special UNIT aircraft that serves as its secret mobile headquarters (just like her father Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart used in The Invasion), there’s a great scene where the Doctor notices a portrait of Kate’s late father – its a fleeting moment; and one which resonates poignantly with events later in the episode.

Samuel Anderson gives a particularly moving performance in Death in Heaven as Clara’s boyfriend, Danny Pink, the former soldier turned Maths teacher, sent to the Nethersphere after he died, where Missy’s conniving assistant, Seb, sinisterly played by Capaldi’s The Thick of it co-star Chris Addison, now explains to Danny that he – along with the other minds of the recently deceased stored in this Gallifreyian data cloud – are about to be sent back from what they believed was the afterlife with an added upgrade…

Transformed into a Cyberman, the moment where Danny awakens in the Chaplet Funeral Home is genuinely chilling. He saves Clara from the Cybermen at the 3W Institute and takes her to a graveyard, where Danny’s role becomes even more vital, and the groundwork already established earlier in the series really comes to the fore. The traumatic event that caused Danny to leave the army, when he accidentally killed a young boy (Antonio Bourouphael), continues to haunt him in Death in Heaven while his love for Clara remains undiminished, despite her lies, and she becomes his guiding light as he later confronts the most heartrending decision of all.

The army of Cybermen created from the remains of every human being that ever died, is a deeply unsettling concept, and one from which Steven Moffat skilfully wrings every ounce of horror from as we witness Clara stumbling through a graveyard just as the Cybermen begin to rise from the graves. Danny’s Cyber-resurrection in the mortuary is another scary scene that’s sure to send a few chills down the spine before the realisation of who he actually is begins to sink in. The Cyber-Pollen is perhaps the most grotesque use of cyber-technology that we’ve ever seen in Doctor Who, used to weaponise the dead, the Cybermen have created the ultimate form of Cyber-Conversion, and the way its implemented in this episode is truly horrific. These Cybermen also have a new ability, the power of flight, and their chest units emit a scanning beam to try and validate Clara’s identity when she tries to buy herself more time by pretending to be the Doctor – a witty subterfuge that cleverly spills over into the opening titles of the episode to keep us guessing.

It doesn’t take Missy long to orchestrate her escape, she ruthlessly kills Osgood, and summons the Cybermen to attack the plane mid-air. I was really surprised when Osgood was killed, and the senseless nature of her sudden death left us with no doubt just how evil and manipulative Missy can be. When the Doctor confronts Missy he’s horrified by what she’s done to Osgood, but when the Doctor receives a call via the TARDIS from Clara whose just discovered that Danny is a now a Cyberman, Missy finally reveals that she was the one that originally gave Clara the phone number to the Doctor’s TARDIS in The Bells of St John (2013), and she also put advert in the paper in Deep Breath (2014). Missy is the person who brought the Doctor and Clara together, the control freak and the man that should never be controlled, and the irony of her grand design to keep them together really hits home as the Cybermen tear into the fuselage, sending Kate Stewart plummeting to her doom before Missy teleports away and the plane explodes. The special effects used to bring us the Cybermen’s attack on the plane are stunning, the action doesn’t let up for a single moment, and the aftermath of the aircrafts destruction throws the Doctor into a nail biting freefall towards the TARDIS.

The gender reassignment for the Doctor’s old enemy, the Master, has given the renegade Time Lord a whole new lease of life as the gloriously twisted Mary Poppins-like incarnation known as Missy – the woman that we’ve seen welcoming the recently deceased in series eight after they’ve arrived in the faux afterlife of the Nethersphere. Michelle Gomez gives a wonderfully villainous performance as Missy, successfully channelling the sinister charm and menace of the Master with a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she revels in her evil scheme. The scene where she kills Osgood, initially taunting her, and then crushing her glasses underfoot after killing her is really cold. Missy’s scenes with the Doctor are the real highlight of Death in Heaven, especially when she taunts him about killing his friends and teases him with her claims that she actually knows the location of Gallifrey. The chemistry between Michelle Gomez and Peter Capaldi is positively electric, their verbal sparing perfectly captures the essence of the classic rivalry between these two characters, and it certainly makes for a fittingly epic confrontation between the 12th Doctor and this new version of the Master.

After using the TARDIS to reach the graveyard, where Clara is trying to activate Danny’s emotional inhibitor to end his suffering because even though he’s a Cybermen he has still retained his emotions, the Doctor is reluctant to help as he fears Danny will try and kill Clara after his emotions are deleted. The Doctor also needs to know what the rumbling storm clouds of Cyber-Pollen will do next, however, Danny informs him that in order to access the Cybermen’s hive mind his emotional inhibitor will have to be switched on. The Doctor reluctantly agrees and Clara tearfully says goodbye to Danny before using the sonic screwdriver to switch on the inhibitor. Danny reveals that a second rainfall is imminent, and this time all humanity will die and rise again as Cybermen. Missy teleports to the graveyard and offers the Doctor control of the Cyber-Army as a twisted birthday present for the Time Lord, so he can use them however he wants to save the universe from tyranny. Aghast that anyone should have such power, the Doctor rejects the offer, giving the control bracelet to Danny, whereby the former soldier takes command of the Cyber-Army and orders them to fly into the skies where they explode and destroy the Cyber-Pollen clouds.

These riveting final moments of the battle conclude with a furious Clara threatening to kill Missy with her own weapon, and she’s angry that the Doctor hasn’t done so before. The Doctor intervenes, saying he will kill Missy for her, but before he can act a lone Cyberman suddenly fires at Missy and vaporises her. The Doctor and Clara discover Kate Stewart unconscious on the ground nearby, she’s still alive, and was saved by the Cyberman. The moment when it suddenly dawns on the Doctor that the Cyberman that saved Kate is her father, the Brigadier, also resurrected by the Cyber-Pollen, is both haunting and deeply moving, and the Doctor’s farewell salute to his old friend before the Cyberman soars into the sky makes this beautifully poignant scene even more special.

Death in Heaven really shows what the Doctor and Clara are made of. We’ve seen over the course of series eight how both of them have been capable of making difficult choices that haven’t always necessarily rested easily with them, secrets and lies have also shaped and defined their adventures, so it is perhaps fitting that this series finale concludes with the Doctor and Clara not being entirely honest with each other. The coda that unfolds two weeks later as Clara meets with the Doctor to end her travels with him and say goodbye is tinged with sadness and deceit for both of them.

We know Danny found enough power in Missy’s bracelet to return to the living world, but Clara doesn’t tell the Doctor that Danny chose instead to send the young boy he accidentally killed when he was a soldier back in his place – sacrificing his last chance of being reunited with Clara – knowing she will help him put things right. Likewise, we see the Doctor take the TARDIS to the coordinates that Missy said were for Gallifrey – having claimed the planet had actually returned to its original location – only to find an empty region of space, where he flies into a furious rage inside the TARDIS at being given this glimmer of hope by his old enemy only to have it cruelly snatched away. After saying their farewells, unaware of the others lies, the Doctor’s solitary travels in the TARDIS are suddenly interrupted by a very unexpected and special Christmassy visitor…

I really liked how Dark Water and Death in Heaven were not quite as time twistingly complex as some of the previous season finales, instead we had the focus placed firmly on making it a more straightforward action-adventure, and I think that made these episodes all the more enjoyable. Sure, it’s not 100% perfect, few season finales ever are. The resolution to the cliff-hanger was initially a little stilted, with civilians taking selfies with the Cybermen, and I was really sad to see Oswin get killed. However, overall I thought Missy was an excellent foil for the Doctor, and the Cybermen were used effectively by the story and were really creepy in the graveyard scenes. Steven Moffat’s tense and exciting storyline was fast paced and skilfully brought all the elements of series eight together, and Rachel Talalay’s confident direction made this two-part series finale gripping viewing.

Death in Heaven was a great way to bring Peter Capaldi’s impressive first season as the 12th Doctor to a close. I’ve really enjoyed series eight, there’s been a great mix of stories, and the performances by Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman as the Doctor and Clara have been excellent. Samuel Anderson has also been exceptionally good as Danny Pink, and Michelle Gomez was superb as Missy. Peter Capaldi has completely won me over as the 12th Doctor, he’s proved to be a perfect choice for the role, and I can’t wait to see what happens next in the Christmas Special!

Images Belong BBC

Follow @paul_bowler

Doctor Who Dark Water Review

Tags

Andrew Leung, Chris Addison, Clara Oswald, Cybermen, Danny Pink, Dark Water, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Dark Water, Doctor Who Series 8, Dr Chang, Jenna Coleman, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Peter Capaldi, Rachel Talalay, Seb, St Paul's Cathedral, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The 12th Doctor, The Gate Keeper of the Nethersphere, The Master, The Nethersphere

Dark Water

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

The finale begins… Somewhere, in the mysterious realm of the Nethersphere, a sinister plan has been devised. When the secret organisation known as 3W promises “death is not an end”, the Doctor and Clara must face the darkest day of all. Missy is about to meet the Doctor at last, soon an impossible choice has to be made, and it is during this blackest hour the Time Lord will confront his old enemies – the Cybermen!

Dark Water moves the action to the Nethersphere for the start of this two-part season finale, with a story written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Rachel Talalay. This deeply unsettling and dark episode doesn’t pull any punches as Moffat’s grand design for series eight begins to fall into place, tackling concepts of heaven and the afterlife as the mystery of the “Promised Land” is revealed – delving with unflinching clarity into the chilling life-after-death experiences that await in Dark Water when someone dies.

When Clara decides to phone Danny while he’s on his way to her flat, tragedy strikes, and Danny is struck by a car and killed. Some time later, while Clara’s Gran (Sheila Reid) is visiting her flat, the Doctor finally answers Clara’s telephone call. Hiding her grief, Clara deceives the Doctor to get the TARDIS to a volcanic world, before attempting to force the Doctor to help her change what happened and save Danny – throwing the TARDIS keys into the lava each time he refuses to comply. However, the sleep patches Clara believes she’d managed to subdue the Doctor with have actually been used by the Time Lord to send her into a dream-like state, one that allowed Clara’s grief stricken scenario to play out – albeit harmlessly inside the TARDIS console room – so the Doctor could see how exactly far she was prepared to go to save Danny.

Dark Water gets this two-part series finale off to a cracking start, with its harrowing opening scenes testing the Doctor’s and Clara’s friendship to breaking point. Peter Capaldi is magnificent as the 12th Doctor in this episode, he dominates every scene he’s in, and the sheer gravitas that Capaldi bring to his performance is utterly compelling. Jenna Coleman is also superb in Dark Water as Clara Oswald, whose role has now become so integral to the ongoing narrative of this eighth season, and this episode really rewards us with some major turning points for her character.

Samuel Anderson also returns as Danny Pink in Dark Water, and his sudden demise in the opening moments initially leave you wondering if that’s his lot. Danny soon himself being welcomed to the unsettling realm of the Nethersphere, just like so many before him this series. Samuel Anderson gives his strongest performance yet as Danny Pink, his anguish at discovering he’s apparently dead, is heartrending to watch, and over the course of this episode we also discover the terrible tragedy that caused him to leave the army. Chris Addison (Peter Capaldi’s co-star from The Thick of it) is also excellent as Seb, a being who exists inside the Nethersphere as Missy’s assistant, and there are some terrific scenes between Seb and Danny as the real nature of this otherworldly realm is gradually revealed.

In a brilliantly scripted moment between the Doctor and Clara by Steven Moffat, were even treachery and betrayal fails to diminish their timeless bond of friendship, the Doctor resolves to help Clara bring Danny back from whatever hereafter might exist. With the navcom offline, the Doctor has Clara use the telepathic interface to locate Danny (just like she did in the episode Listen), which brings the TARDIS to a foreboding mausoleum, where the individual tombs contain seated skeletal corpses immersed in a clear fluid.

On closer inspection, the Doctor and Clara discover the mausoleum is the 3W Institute, and following their initial encounter with Missy (Michelle Gomez), who pretends to be a multi-function interactive welcome-droid, they encounter Dr Chang (Andrew Leung) – using the psychic paper to establish the Doctor’s credentials in a way that humorously references Capaldi’s former well known role as the foul-mouthed Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of it – who offers Clara the chance to talk to Danny Pink, via signals the institutes founder, Dr Skarosa, discovered in broadcast white noise signals that are believed to be telepathic messages from the recently departed. The horrific nature of Dr Chang’s and Seb’s claims, that the dead remain conscious and fully aware of everything that’s happening to them, provides a ghoulishly disturbing afterthought that takes this episode into some of the darkest territory that has been explored so far over this course of this series.

The Cybermen make a dramatic return in Dark Water. Ever since they made their first appearance in the 1st Doctor’s final story, The Tenth Planet (1966), the Cybermen have become one of the Time Lord’s deadliest enemies. The Cybermen have undergone several upgrades over the years. This latest version of the Cybermen, which debuted in Nightmare in Silver (2013), are sleek, fast, and have the ability to quickly adapt and repair themselves. In Dark Water the Cybermen are in league with Missy, and this time they have ingeniously hidden in plain sight. The skeletal bodies, which Dr Chang explained to the Doctor and Clara as being held in a support exoskeleton and suspended in a “Dark Water” solution that makes the exoskeleton invisible, are really the Cybermen – their metal bodies hidden because inorganic material cannot be seen in the liquid.

Dark Water illustrates just how inhuman the Cybermen really are, perhaps more so than ever before, revealing how little organic mater actually remains within them to make the prospect of Cyber-Conversion seem even more grotesque, transcending the horrific loss of emotions and individuality, and taking the concept of body horror to the ultimate extreme as we realise how completely their victims humanity is stripped away.

The tombs seen in the 3W Institute are reminiscent of the Cybermen’s frozen tombs in the 2nd Doctor’s adventure, Tomb of the Cybermen (1967), and when the Cybermen are unleashed in Dark Water, director Rachel Talalay portrays a Cyber-Invasion that re-creates one of Doctor Who’s most iconic scenes from the 1968 story The Invasion, were the Cybermen also invaded London and marched past St Paul’s Cathedral. Impressive set designs, especially the doors and offices in both the Nethersphere and the 3W Institute, also carry subtle hints of Cyber-Design. Along with the chilling scenes with the skeletons in the tanks, the impressive visual effects also give us our first glimpse inside the Nethersphere itself as Danny contemplates the afterlife.

Having established contact with the Nethersphere the Doctor leaves Clara to talk to Danny in the 3W Institutes office, having prompted her to question Danny to make sure that its really him she’s speaking too, while he goes with Dr Chang to investigate the tombs and finds that Missy is waiting for them. While a distraught Danny faces a fateful decision, one that will delete his pain and thereby all his emotions, Missy kills Chang and gives the command to drain the tanks and release the Cybermen. The Nethersphere is revealed to be a Gallifreyan Hard Drive that is actually contained within the 3W Institute itself, where the memories of the dead have been stored so their emotions can be removed before they are transplanted into the Cybermen in the tanks. The Doctor races outside where he is shocked to find himself standing outside St Paul’s Cathedral in present-day London. The Time Lord desperately tries to warn the civilians to flee the area as the Cybermen emerge, but there is one more surprise in store for the Doctor as Missy finally reveals her true identity…

Michelle Gomez gives a mesmerising performance as the villain known as Missy, or perhaps we should say Mistress… Yes, the big reveal of the identity of this mysterious Mary Poppin’s like character that has been welcoming the recently deceased to the Promised Land (one of the many names the Nethersphere is known by) over the course of this season, finally happens in Dark Water. Missy is The Master, the renegade Time Lord and arch enemy of the Doctor! Now the Master is back, as a new female version of the classic villain, having forged a frightening alliance with the Cybermen that will take advantage of mankind’s biggest weakness – the fact that the dead outnumber the living – to strike against humanity in the most horrific way imaginable. The Master’s love of disguises is also utilised in this story, when Missy pretends to be a multi-function interactive welcome-droid, and she even kisses the Doctor at one point!

Michelle Gomez and Peter Capaldi both give incredible performances in Dark Water, the chemistry between them is brilliant, and this episodes cliff-hanger sets up a fittingly epic confrontation between the Time Lord and Time Lady that is sure to keep us on the edge of our seats. With its dark themes, excellent performances all round, great story by Steven Moffat, and taut direction by Rachel Talalay, the first instalment of this two-part series finale is an exciting and thought provoking episode. Dark Water certainly lives up to all the hype, it was great to see the Cybermen return to the series in a more prominent role as well, and I look forward to discovering the full extent of the Master’s grand plan in the concluding part of the series eight finale: Death in Heaven.

Images Belong BBC

Follow @paul_bowler