Doctor Who Christmas Special The Return of Doctor Mysterio Review

Tags

Charity Wakefield, comics, Doctor Who Bill, Doctor Who Christmas Special The Return of Doctor Mysterio, Doctor Who Christmas Special The Return of Doctor Mysterio review, Doctor Who Season 10, Doctor Who Series 10 trailer, Justin Catwin, Justin Chatwin, Matt Lucas, Nardole, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, River Song, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Doctor, The Ghost, The Return of Doctor Mysterio

Doctor Who Christmas Special The Return of Doctor Mysterio

Review by Paul Bowler

Get ready for a festive treat of super-powered adventure in this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special: The Return of Doctor Mysterio, as the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) returns for Christmas Day and teams-up with a bullet proof comic book superhero, The Ghost, to save New York from menacing brain switching aliens!

When a boy called Grant (Logan Hoffman), is given superpowers, the young comic book fan grows up to be the geeky Clark Kent-esque Grant Gordon, played by Justin Chatwin (Orphan Black, War of the Worlds, and the US version of Shameless), and becomes the caped vigilante know as The Ghost. But he finds balancing life as a superhero and maintaining a secret identity isn’t easy, especially when the Lois Lane of his life investigative journalist Lucy Fletcher (Charity Wakefield from Wolf Hall and The Player) gets caught up in his madcap superhero world, and there’s even the mysterious high-tech Harmony Shoal corporation with a ruthless Lex Luthor style villain fronting an alien invasion for the Doctor to contend with as well!

The Doctor and his new travelling companion Nardole, played by Matt Lucas (Little Britain), who has inexplicably returned to accompany the Time Lord after literally loosing his head to a despot robot last Christmas, arrive in New York and soon joins forces with Lucy Fletcher and the Ghost to save Manhattan as aliens prepare to attack, but what secrets will be revealed this Christmas when we see behind the Ghost’s mask..?

Doctor Who finally returns to our TV screens for this first time this year with The Return of Doctor Mysterio. This special 60 minute Christmas Special, written by Stephen Moffat and Directed by Ed Bazalgette (Director of Series 9’s The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived), provides a glittering blend of superhero action and Whovian Christmas cheer! Essentially a fond homage to the comic book genre, particularly Richard Donner’s Superman films staring Christopher Reeve, this Doctor Who-Superhero mashup delivers a fittingly exciting and action-packed adventure. Indeed, the Doctor Who Christmas specials have now become something of a major highlight in the TV schedules since the programmes revival in 2005, and given that this is the first chance we’ve had to catch up with the Doctor this year the anticipation levels for this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special has been heightened even further!

Peter Capaldi is on fine form as the 12^th Doctor. His incarnation of the Time Lord dominates every scene, with his stylish and commanding presence, along with a no-nonsense attitude that’s now tempered with a wry dash of humour, he also seems to have gained a taste for sushi now, and acquired a new companion since we last saw him. Yes, Matt Lucas is back reprising his role as Nardole from 2015’s Christmas Special: The Husbands of River Song, and he’s already travelling with the Doctor when we first meet him in this episode. Nardole is also the first non-human companion the Doctor has travelled with for some time. The Return of Doctor Mysterio vaguely explains how the Doctor somehow restored Nardole after he was decapitated and trapped inside Hydroflax in The Husbands of River Song, and why he’s now travelling with the Doctor in the TARDIS, and no doubt Nardole’s story will be explored in greater detail in Series 10 next year.

There is a great supporting cast in The Return of Doctor Mysterio. Justin Chatwin is brilliant as the dorky live-in-nanny Grant Gordon, Charity Wakefield is also excellent as Daily Chronicle reporter Lucy Fletcher, and there’s a delightful Superman movie style – Lois and Clark TV series vibe woven through Moffat’s script that plays out between these two characters which forms the basis of some of this Christmas specials most enjoyable scenes. There are also great roles for Aleksandar Jovanovic as the sinister Dr Sim, who is accompanied by Tomiwa Edun as Mr Brock, and an especially fine performance from Logan Hoffman as the young Grant who has some brilliant scene with the Doctor – especially when they talk about comic books.

Of course there is a sinister alien plot to take over the world to be stopped in The Return of Doctor Mysterio which the Doctor seemingly stumbles into that just happens by chance to involve the same superhero that he also inadvertently created – which certainly throws some timey-wimey complications into the mix! The monsters that feature in this Christmas Special are themselves fairly new to the series, but we have seen them before. The Brains and Harmony Shoal are in fact the same multi-nucleate organisms akin to The Shoal of Winter Harmony; the head-splitting Aliens we last saw in the Husbands of River Song. The Brains stored in the New York Harmony Shoal building – like those in other key strategic points located around the world – are waiting for compatible host bodies, like Dr Sim and Mr Brock to become “vehicles” for the Brains to use. Indeed, the distinctive diagonal scar down their face, eyes that glow occasionally, along with a tendency to seep blue liquid, is the only thing that gives them away. The scene where a terrified Mr Brock is about to be surgically possessed by one of the Brains is genuinely chilling, and the split-head effect we see employed later is also especially gruesome. These aliens take body horror to a whole new level, its used to great effect throughout this story, and their plan to crash their spaceship into New York so they can possess world leaders as they take refuge in Harmony Shoal’s facilities is a warped stroke of genius when it comes to invasion plans.

Although most of The Return of Doctor Mysterio was filmed Wales, there were also a few days filming in the Nu Boyana Film Studios in Bulgaria, with their magnificent standing New York sets doubling for the Big Apple. The episode features some truly remarkable special effects magic which completes the illusion and brings the iconic New York setting to life for this story. The Ghost, with his classic style superhero costume and art deco chest emblem, and his powers, especially the flying sequences, are all well realized on screen. The Brains with their little eyes and the split-face effects uses for Dr Sim and Mr Brock are also impressive and imaginatively done. However, surprisingly for a Doctor Who Christmas Special The Return of Doctor Mysterio isn’t exactly the most Christmassy looking episode the series has done. Apart from one scene Christmas hardly features at all, but in other, more subtle, and emotional ways this episode with its themes of loss, hope, and new beginnings, actually ends up feeling like the most emotional Christmas episode of all.

This is also Doctor Who’s first real take on the superhero genre. Peter Capaldi clearly relishes the chance to do something new with the character of the Doctor here. After all, in many ways, the Doctor is a superhero of sorts, like Superman he’s an alien, has tremendous powers, at certain points he has also been tragically the last of his kind, so its perhaps no surprise when the eight year old grant names him as the erstwhile Doctor Mysterio – which is in fact the translated title Doctor Who in Mexico – of this Christmas specials title.

The Return of Doctor Mysterio only really goes off kilter slightly in the last act, with the Doctor and Nardole trapped on a spaceship about to crash into New York, while Grant and Lucy are trapped by Mr Brock and his team of surgeons who have set their sight on acquiring the Ghost’s body for one of the Brains of Harmony Shoal. The conclusion is fittingly heroic and romantic, there’s brilliant closing speech from the Doctor that will melt your heart, and a moving finale scene and story from Nardole that provides a beautiful coda for The Husbands of River Song. Steven Moffat has done a brilliant job with the script for The Return of Doctor Mysterio, its fun, exciting, it also provides some emotional closure for the Doctor concerning River’s death, and it’s peppered with loads of comic book Easter Eggs that are sure to raise a wry smile or two!

I’ll admit I was extremely sceptical when I heard Matt Lucas was returning as Nardole. River Song’s former helper was fine as a one-off character in The Husbands of River Song, but I couldn’t see how the character really warranted a return in The Return of Doctor Mysterio – let alone as part of the cast for Series 10! Thankfully I couldn’t have been more wrong! Matt Lucas gives a delightfully understated performance as Nardole in The Return of Doctor Mysterio. His banter with the Doctor is fun, but not too over the top. I was surprised that Nardole can fly the TARDIS now, but it certainly came in handy in this episode for the Doctor. Nardole’s reasons for being with the Doctor are especially poignant, he’s far from being just the one-note comedy character we might have envisaged, and Lucas proves to be a revelation in the role.

Final word must go to Peter Capaldi and his magnificent performance as the Doctor. The grouchy rough edges of this incarnation have now significantly mellowed. Capaldi has now undoubtedly made the role his own. His sheer dedication and love for Doctor Who shine though in every scene. The Return of Doctor Mysterio also gave us an insightful trailer for Series 10 to enjoy, it looked amazing, and I’m certainly looking forward to seeing new companion Bill joining the Doctor and Nardole on their new adventures in time and space.

The Return of Doctor Mysterio sets us on course for Series 10 in Spring 2017, beginning Steven Moffat’s final season as show runner, which will star Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, with Pearl Mackie as new companion Bill, along with Matt Lucas as Nardole. Steven Moffat’s run concludes with next year’s Christmas special, before work begins on Series 11 and Chris Chibnall takes over as Doctor Who’s new show runner. With its excellent cast and extremely high production values The Return of Doctor Mysterio was a great Christmas Special, its one of my favourites now, and I can’t wait to see what adventures Series 10 will bring!

Happy Christmas everyone!

And here’s the trailer for Series 10!

Follow @paul_bowler

Doctor Who Christmas Special The Husbands of River Song

Tags

Alex Kingston, Christmas, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Christmas Special, Douglas Mackinnon, Greg Davies, King Hydroflax, Matt Lucas, Nardole, Peter Capaldi, River Song, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Husband's Of River Song

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015

The Husbands of River Song

Review by Paul Bowler

Time and space is decked out with plenty of exciting festive action and surprises in The Husbands of River Song. Welcome to Christmas Day 5343 on the snowbound human colony world of Mendorax, where the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is trying to avoid Christmas, but when the Time Lord’s help is sought by Will Nardole (Matt Lucas) for a medical emergency on a crashed spaceship the Doctor finds himself reunited with his old flame, River Song (Alex Kingston)! However, instead of River always being one step ahead of the Doctor like she usually is, the tables are turned as – much to the Doctor’s surprise and amusement – for some inexplicable reason River Song doesn’t seem to recognise him!

Soon the Doctor gets recruited by River Song and together they embark on a frenetic chase across the galaxy! Sonic Screwdriver and Sonic Trowels are the order of the day, as the Doctor discovers River has enraged her latest husband, the warrior King Hydroflax (Greg Davies), by trying to steal a priceless diamond (which also just happens to be lodged inside his brains!), but now his giant robotic body guard is after them and out-of-control! Can the Doctor save the day in time for Christmas, and will River Song figure out who he is? It’s a seasonal adventure that will take them to a starliner full of intergalactic villains, on a voyage through space, where everything will be revealed as they reach a destination which the Doctor has been trying to avoid for some time…

Yes, its that most wonderful time of the year again, Christmas, and the 2015 Doctor Who Christmas special: The Husbands of River Song, written by Doctor Who show runner Steven Moffat and Directed by Douglas McKinnon (The Sontaran Stratagem & The Poison Sky, The Power of Three, Cold War, Listen, Time Heist, and Flatline), is packed with lots of comedy high jinks, romance, adventure, and excitement to enjoy as the Time Lord is finally reunited with River Song at long last for this Christmas special.

Having hoped to avoid Christmas this year, the Doctor has shut himself away in the TARDIS following the dramatic departure of Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) in the 2015 season finale: Hell Bent, but the Time Lord quickly finds there’s no escape from comedy antlers, Christmas carols, or festive cheer this year, especially with his long-lost wife River Song around! Peter Capaldi is as fabulous as ever in this special episode. The Doctor had to endure some pretty dark moments over the course of series 9, but that level of intensity can’t last forever, and it is Christmas after all, so it’s nice to see Capaldi playing a lighter side to the Doctor’s character for once as the Time Lord embarks on this fun filled adventure with River Song.

Having been mistakenly recruited by River’s little helper Nardole, a brilliantly fun, yet quietly understated role for Matt Lucas, the Doctor quickly discovers that his archaeologist wife professor River Song is now married to the megalomaniac cyborg King Hydroflax played by Greg Davies (star of Man Down, Cuckoo, and the Inbetweeners). Greg Davies is wickedly good as the blustering infinite majesty King Hydroflax of the Final Cluster, and his gigantic lumbering robotic alter-ego is brilliantly realised on screen. River has had the Doctor brought here believing him to be a surgeon, as her husband King Hydroflax is dying, but it soon becomes clear its all part of River’s plan to acquire the precious diamond that has become wedged inside the kings brain. The fun really begins when King Hydroflax’s head gets separated from his body, stuffed inside a bag, and the Doctor and River team-up and go on the run with it with the robot bodyguard in hot pursuit.

Alex Kingston is back as River Song in this Christmas special. When we last saw River in The Name of The Doctor (2013) she was a ghost, it seemed at the time like it would be her final story, however, it turns out The Husbands of River Song is not only set before that episode but it also takes place after the events of 2012’s The Angels Take Manhattan. River’s character really shines in this episode, Alex Kingston gives a wonderful performance, its great fun to see River teaming up with the Doctor again, especially as she doesn’t know who he really is for much of the episode (she believes the Doctor can only have the 12 faces she familiar with), and the chemistry between Kingston’s flirtatious River Song and Capaldi’s brilliant Doctor is an absolute joy to behold.

After being teleported to safety by another of her significant others, Ramone (Philip Rhys), River decides to steal the Doctor’s TARDIS. This leads to a hilariously staged entrance to the TARDIS for Capaldi as the Doctor gets his own “its bigger on the inside!” moment, as River takes the TARDIS and sets course to complete their mission. But because Hydroflax’s head and body are separated, the time machines safeguards won’t allow it to dematerialise. With River’s associates losing their heads in all the chaos, the robot manages to use their knowledge to find the TARDIS and force its way inside, but before it can attack their journey across time and space resumes and brings them to the starliner Harmony and Redemtion packed with aliens. The madcap heist plot does begin to skitter off the rails here a little bit, especially when River’s friend Flemming (Rowan Polonski) betrays them and lets the robot bodyguard out of the ships hold as the deal with Scratch (Robert Curtis) turns sour, but Capaldi and Kingston soon get things back on track as the timely foreknowledge of a meteor strike builds to a lovely emotional scene where River finally recognises the Doctor at last.

There are some nice timey-wimey threads of continuity running throughout this story that pertain to virtually every episode River has appeared in. Those that really stand out were the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpse of a fez, River’s wallet contains a snapshot of every Doctor, except Capaldi’s of course, the scene where River’s diary gets read out serves up a veritable treasure trove of continuity references, there’s a very special – and significant – Christmas present for River as well, and the beautiful ending with the Doctor and River gazing out at the view of The Singing Towers of Darillum (a particularly important place for both of them first mentioned in the 2008 story The Forest of the Dead ) brings River’s story full circle in the most magical way imaginable.

Steven Moffat has crafted a glittering seasonal box of delights with this Doctor Who Christmas special. The Husbands of River Song is bursting with festive fun and jokes, the sets and effects looks stunning as well, even the title sequence gets a dusting of snow especially for the holiday season, and director Douglas McKinnon ensures that the pace of this exciting roller coaster ride never lets up for a moment. But it’s the chemistry between Peter Capaldi and Alex Kingston and lighter tone of this Christmas episode that makes it feel extra special. The Doctor and River Song have a terrific adventure together here, there are plenty of laughs, there’s even a few tears as well as their uncanny timey-wimey relationship is key to the moving denouement, and it all adds up to a fantastically uplifting Christmas treat! Happy Christmas sweetie!

Follow @paul_bowler

Doctor Who Christmas Special The Husband’s of River Song Trailers

Tags

Alex Kingston, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015 Trailer, Doctor Who Christmas Special The Husband's of River Song, Peter Capaldi, River Song, TARDIS, The Doctor, The Husband's Of River Song

Doctor Who Christmas Special: The Husbands of River Song Trailers

Check out the Doctor Who Christmas Special: The Husbands Of River Song Trailers!

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015 Next Time Trailer

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015 Official TV Trailer

Images and Clips Belong / BBC

Follow @paul_bowler

 

Doctor Who Series 5 The Time Of Angels / Flesh & Stone Review

Tags

11th Doctor, Adam Smith, Alex Kingston, Amy Pond, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Series 5, Flesh and Stone, Karen Gillan, River Song, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Time of Angels, Weeping Angels

The Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone

Review by Paul Bowler

The Doctor (Matt Smith and Amy (Karen Gillan) visit the Delirium Archive, a museum in the distant future, where they find a rather odd exhibit – a flight recorder inscribed with old high Gallifreyan symbols. After discovering it is actually a message from Dr River Song (Alex Kingston), who is currently travelling on the spaceship Byzantium 12,000 years in the past, the Doctor uses the TARDIS to save her before the ship crash lands on the planet Alfava Metraxis.

Right from the spectacular opening scenes, where River sends the Doctor a message back through time “hello sweetie” before opening the air lock on the Byzantium, sending her hurtling through space and into the TARDIS, it’s clear that this is going to be very special adventure. The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone (2010) are the fourth and fifth episodes from Matt Smith’s first season as the 11^th Doctor, written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Adam Smith. These episodes from Series Five also feature the return of Steven Moffat’s most frightening creations, the Weeping Angels, from his Series Three story Blink (2007). Here they return in force in an action packed storyline that makes them seem even more terrifying than before.

While Amy gets acquainted with River Song, and her uncanny relationship with the Doctor, who still doesn’t know who she really is at this point because they both keep meeting at different points in his time stream, River tells the Doctor that the Byzantium’s cargo is a deadly Weeping Angel – a quantum locked stone creature that can only move when nobody is looking at it. As they survey the wreckage of the ship, River sends a message to a squad of military clerics in orbit, commanded by Father Octavian (Ian Glen), who beam down to help secure the Angel before the radiation leaking from the ship restores its full strength.

As the Doctor and River check out a book written by a madman about the Weeping Angels, which states: “That which holds the image of an Angel, becomes itself an Angel,” Amy suddenly gets trapped inside the trailer in the cleric’s base camp where security footage taken of the Angel inside the Byzantium is still running on a continuous loop. They rush to help her but find the door is locked. The Doctor warns Amy not to look into the eyes of the Angel, because they are the doorway of the soul that will allow the Angel to enter there. Amy manages to deactivate the video loop and switch off the screen, just as the Weeping Angel begins to emerge from the screen into the room. Together they set off with Octavian’s troops to reach the Byzantium, but in order to get there they must first find a path through “The Maze of the Dead”, a dark and foreboding labyrinth full of eerie looking humanoid statues built by an ancient race, where Amy begins to feel something in the corner of her eye…

Alex Kingston makes a very welcome return as River Song in this story, bursting back into the Doctor’s life once more, River’s still always inexplicably able to keep one step ahead of the Time Lord, though tragically – as we would later discover in Series Six – she’s also always moving one step further way from him as well. The complex nature of their relationship is a joy to behold. They behave like an old married couple at times, teasing and trying to get the better of each other, which in hindsight all seems rather apt now. With her trademark “spoilers” and TARDIS diary, River is a brilliant character, and here we get to enjoy what I feel is perhaps Kingston’s best performance in the role. Free of the continuity of things to come, River Song is a vibrant and unpredictable character. Later that sheen would diminish a little, but here she is both gloriously mischievous and mysterious in equal measure. I also like how River gets to fly the TARDIS and quickly forms a strong bond with Amy; and the two of them delight in winding the Doctor up – although he still manages to win over River’s uses of the blue “boring” switches by simply taking in the atmosphere outside the TARDIS to identify the planet they’ve landed on.

The long journey through The Maze of the Dead takes a sinister turn when some of Father Octavian’s forces begin to go missing. As the Doctor and River talk about the ancient two headed race that built the statues, they suddenly notice how all the statues only have one head and must really be Weeping Angels! The slow, gnarled creatures begin to take shape, stalking them through the shadows, communicating with them by using the voice of the Cleric Bob (David Atkins), who they have slain. The Doctor has to help Amy after she believes her hand has been turned to stone, preventing her from moving, she is being influenced because she looked into the eyes of the Angel on the screen in the camp, so the Doctor bites her hand to convince her otherwise.

Having been forced to the highest point in the maze by the misshapen Angels, they find themselves directly below the crashed ship. The Doctor shoots the gravity globe which allows them all to jump up into the Byzantium and escape the Weeping Angels momentarily, but the Angels quickly follow as they flee to the ships oxygen factory – a forest within the ship itself. After noticing a familiar crack in the wall of the secondary control room, the same one from young Amy’s bedroom in The Eleventh Hour (2010), the Doctor suspects the Angels are trying to feed on the time energy.

Matt Smith is already settling into the role of the Doctor, bringing lots of his distinctive characteristics to the fore, which will become a mainstay for his incarnation of the Time Lord during his tenure. There is a lot of humour as well, particularly when he makes the TARDIS landing noise after River “parks” the ship. He also has to save Amy from the Angels, his fear for her is almost palpable when she is walking blindly through the forest, and his rage when trapped before he uses the gun to save them during the cliff-hanger of The Time of Angels is quietly restrained, and almost menacing in the intensity of Matt Smith’s delivery of his lines (Despite an animated banner trailing the BBC’s Over the Rainbow programme notoriously appearing on screen too early and spoiling this dramatic moment during the original UK transmission of the episode). I think this is what made Matt Smith’s 11^th Doctor so good, right from the start his performance is more measured, and the way his Doctor often speaks very quietly to make his point is a marked change from his predecessors.

When it becomes clear Amy has begun counting backwards, the Doctor quickly stops her, instructing Amy to keep her eyes closed to starve the Angel that’s gotten inside her brain and prevent it from killing her. With Amy unable to move, the Doctor, River and Octavian go to find the main control room, the Doctor learns that River is actually a prisoner who has been released into Octavian’s custody, offering her help in return for a pardon. Octavian is later killed by the Weeping Angels. Meanwhile the crack in time continues to grow, swallowing up the Clerics guarding Amy in the forest. Now terrified and alone, Amy must then carefully follow the Doctor’s instructions to reach the control room. But as Amy blindly makes her way past the Weeping Angels she stumbles and falls, revealing her blindness, and they begin to turn on her. Fortunately, River is able to teleport Amy to the control room before the Angels can kill her.

Once the Angels have drained the ships power they gain access to the main control room, but they have overlooked the gravity of the situation. The Doctor uses this to his advantage as the vessels artificial gravity systems fail, sending all the Weeping Angels plummeting into the glowing rift, eventually sealing it while the Doctor, Amy, and River cling onto the controls. With the Angel now erased from her mind Amy quickly recovers, the Doctor says goodbye to River before she teleports back to the Clerics ship, but she tells him they will meet again soon when the mysterious Pandorica opens, which the Doctor dismisses as nothing more than a fairy tale. On their return to the TARDIS, Amy asks the Doctor to take her back to the night they left Earth. Amy explains that she’s actually getting married in the morning, showing the Doctor her wedding dress and ring. Suddenly she tries to seduce the Doctor, but he backs away, having noticed that the date of Amy’s wedding, 26^th June 2010, is the same as the time explosion he believes is responsible for the cracks that have been appearing across time. So he takes Amy away so that he can try and figure out what is happening…

This is also a great story for Karen Gillan, who really gets to earn her stripes as a resourceful companion as she literally comes face to face with the Weeping Angels. Amy manages to switch off the security footage of the Weeping Angel, but she has inadvertently looked into its eyes, and allowed the creature to imprint itself on her brain. There is horrific moment when she rubs her eye and dust pours out as they are exploring the Maze of the Dead, and later her hand seems to turn to stone. Perhaps most chilling of all though is the countdown Amy does without even noticing she’s doing it; as the Angel continues to attack her from inside her own mind. Steven Moffat has crafted these scenes perfectly, as viewers it’s almost as if we are stumbling though the forest with Amy as she blindly struggles to escape only to disturb the Angels who slowly begin to turn around and notice her.

In Series Five the crack in time on the young Amelia’s bedroom wall plays a pivotal role in the events leading up to the series finale. In Flesh and Stone the Doctor begins to realise how the rift on the Byzantium is linked to the crack in Amy’s wall, which has begun to appear throughout time and space, erasing anyone from time that it comes into contact with, and is somehow linked to a massive time explosion. Although these plot threads are left unresolved for now, while the main story arc begins to focus more on Amy and Rory, the events linking the cracks in time would eventually fall into place – particularly a conversation between Amy and the Doctor in the forest in Flesh and Stone – during the complex series finale: The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang (2010) when all of the Doctor’s enemies unite to imprison him in the Pandorica.

The Weeping Angels themselves are as fabulously unnerving and creepy as ever. From the moment we see the Angel moving on the screen towards Amy, growing ever nearer, until it begins to emerge from the screen, much like the ghostly entity in the film, The Ring, they are always lurking in the darkness and ready to strike. The statues in the Maze of the Dead begin to come to life and turn into Angels; these lumpy, misshapen things are absolutely horrific as they stalk the Doctor and his companions. When the Angels use the voice of the Cleric, Bob, to taunt the Doctor, it offers an even more gruesome aspect to the Angels powers. On the ship they become full Weeping Angels, caught in the muzzle flash of gunfire, they advance relentlessly, before cornering Amy in the forest – a chilling scene in which the unsettling concept of actually seeing the Weeping Angels moving also becomes a reality. It is only really in the closing moments, when the Angels are sent tumbling into the rift that some of the tension is lost, and it feels like they were defeated a little too easily.

Looking back at The Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone now, this exciting action-driven story by Steven Moffat is ingeniously constructed, it successfully broadens the mythology of the Weeping Angels established during their debut story, Blink, and slots perfectly into the ongoing story arc of Series Five while also remaining immensely enjoyable as a stand alone story in its own right. The special effects are also outstanding: from its exciting opening moments in space, to the brooding menace of The Maze of the Dead; through to the final showdown on the Byzantium, director Adam Smith’s work on these episodes is exceptional.

The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone are both thrilling episodes, with some terrific performances all round, together with the return of the Weeping Angels, this exciting two-part story is a real highlight of both Series Five and Matt Smith’s first year as the Doctor.

Follow @paul_bowler

 

Doctor Who The Name of the Doctor : Review

Tags

Alex Kingston, Clara, Doctor Who, Dr Simeon, Dr Who Season 7, Great Intelligence, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Jenny, Madame Vastra, Matt Smith, Richard E Grant, River Song, Saul Metzstein, Steven Moffat, Strax, TARDIS, The Doctor, The Name of the Doctor, Trenzalore, Whispermen

The Name of the Doctor

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

He is revered and feared in equal measure, this Time Lord who has worn so many faces, gathering friends and enemies after centuries of adventures that have shaped the destiny of the universe. From the majestic splendour of Gallifrey, to a junkyard in 76 Totter‘s Lane, the Doctor’s exploits have touched countless lives and planets. When the Time Lords perished in the Time War the Doctor endured the torment of the carnage he had witnessed, he came back from the edge of destruction, finding hope with new companions and even greater adventures.

But like any time-traveller ever journey the Doctor takes has caused ripples throughout time and space. These gaping wounds in the fabric of the cosmos now threaten to undermine everything that the Doctor stands for. The mystery of the impossible girl, Clara Oswald, has somehow become linked with paradox upon paradox to filter back through every moment of the Doctor’s life. All paths now lead to Trenzalore, the one place that the Doctor should never visit, where legend foretells of the fall of the eleventh.

Someone is kidnapping the Doctor’s friends to bring him to Trenzalore. The impossible girl may hold the key to his salvation, but with his past, present, and future selves in danger, Clara will need the help of Professor River Song if she is to save the Doctor from the Whispermen and the old adversary who has returned to witness the Doctor’s downfall. The end is nigh, this is the Doctor’s darkest hour, and his greatest secret will be revealed at last…

Matt Smith’s Doctor faces his greatest challenge yet as the enigma of Clara Oswald begins to unravel in this incredible season finale. Jenna-Louise Coleman is as outstanding as ever as new companion Clara Oswald, the impossible girl, who keeps bumping into the Doctor across numerous time zones. The Name of the Doctor finally reveals that Clara is the girl who was born to save him, meeting him throughout all his incarnations, reaching right back to the very moment where the legacy of Doctor Who began on Gallifrey itself.

The eleventh Doctor has never faced a threat quite like what he must confront in The Name of the Doctor.  From the moment the Doctor is bound for Trenzalore the bleak tone of this episode turns jet black as the Time Lord faces the threat of the Great Intelligence and the Whispermen. Nothing really comes close to what Steven Moffat has orchestrated here, it provides one of Matt Smith’s most defining moment as this eleventh incarnation makes his stand at Trenzalore.

Several familiar faces also return for the season finale to help the Doctor in his hour of need. The Paternoster Row gang are back: Silurian warrior Madam Vastra (Neve McIntosh), her companion Jenny (Catrin Stewart) and their Sontaran butler Strax (Dan Starky) are drawn together for a psychic conference call with River Song and Clara also in attendance – but they receive some unexpected visitors. The vivacious Professor River Song (Alex Kingston) returns with a dire warning, her involvement brings her story full circle at last; her fate having becomes inexorably linked with he fall of the eleventh and Clara’s ultimate destiny.

The entity behind the insidious plot to destroy the Doctor is the Great Intelligence, played once again by Richard E Grant, with his incorporeal from assuming the physical manifestation of Doctor Simeon. Having suffered a crippling defeat in The Snowmen (2012), the Great Intelligence returned in The Bells of St John (2013) to feast on the minds of people it absorbed through the Wi-Fi networks. When the Doctor found the base in the Shard, the Great Intelligence ordered his servant Miss Kislet (Celia Imrie) to sacrifice herself to prevent it being discovered. Now the grand design orchestrated by the Great Intelligence is revealed, to discover the name of the Doctor and use it to destroy him.

The Great Intelligence also has some new allies to do his bidding, the terrifying Whispermen. Clad in black, wearing top hats, these featureless creatures with their rotten teeth are like ghoulish undertakers. Their powers are hauntingly effective, stalking their victims with rhyming chants, before their heart-stopping touch transports people to Trenzalore. The Whispermen are in fact just another extension of the Great Intelligence, faceless pawns in his grand design. Richard E Grant makes a superb foil for Matt Smith’s eleventh Doctor, their epic showdown brings together many of Steven Moffat’s long running storylines, leading to one of the most emotional acts of self sacrifice ever seen in Doctor Who’s 50 year history.

The Name of the Doctor is like a love letter to the series past. With the assured direction of Saul Metzstein (The Snowmen, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, A Town Called Mercy, The Crimson Horror), the finale of Season Seven heralds a voyage through the life of the Doctor quite unlike anything we have ever experienced before. Steven Moffat has crafted a momentous epic which manages to encompass every era of the show. Each incarnation of the Doctor makes their presence felt in The Name of the Doctor as the barriers of time are swept aside by the events unfolding at Trenzalore.

After the Whispermen capture Vastra, Jenny, and Strax, the Doctor resolves to rescue them from Trenzalore, the place where his body is buried on a planet in the future. He forces the TARDIS to land on the desolate planet, which turns out to be a huge graveyard where the Doctor’s final resting place dominates the horizon. This gigantic tomb is a future version of the Doctor’s own TARDIS, now a dying shell with its internal dimensions leaking; the Police Box exterior has grown into a huge monolith that towers over everything.

Professor River Song is waiting for them by her own gravestone, but only Clara can see her. She explains how she kept the line to the conference call open so she could help. This version of River is like an echo that should have faded long ago; she says that the Doctor cannot see her, so it is up to Clara to help him. Using the hidden entrance concealed beneath River’s grave, the Doctor and Clara enter the TARDIS tomb, braving the warped interior, where Clara begins to remember what the Doctor told her in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS.

On reaching the tomb the Doctor and Clara are reunited with Vastra, Jenny, and Strax. Together they make a valiant stand against Doctor Simeon but the Whispermen overpower them as the Great Intelligence demands that the Doctor speaks his name to open the tomb. River steps in and opens the tomb to reveal the console room, overgrown with vines, the central console now just a gleaming wound of energy caused by the Doctor’s adventures. The Great Intelligence enters the energy beam and begins to rewrite the Doctor’s lives, undoing all his victories.

Clara instinctively knows there is only one way to save the Doctor. She steps into the scar in time and becomes splintered across the Doctor’s time line, encountering his previous incarnations, becoming the paradox that will ultimately provides the Doctor’s salvation. After a touching farewell to River Song, where the Doctor reveals that he could always see her, he steps back across time to save Clara from oblivion, but one last incarnation of the Doctor is waiting in the shadows…

The Name of the Doctor offers some tantalising glimpses from the past as Clara encounters the Doctor’s previous incarnations in her attempt to save the Doctor. These sequences are superbly shot, with  Jenna-Louise Coleman being superimposed with images of the classic Doctor’s, it’s a technological and nostalgic marvel, spliced with snippets of dialogue, that helps complete this spellbinding adventure as the Doctor’s best kept secret threatens to bring all of creation to its knees. There is a sublime moment where the impossible girl meets the first Doctor on Gallifrey, where she advises him on which TARDIS to take, that is wonderful to behold.

Alex Kingston gives a lovely understated performance as River Song; her final scenes with the Doctor were incredibly moving. The Paternoster Row gang are placed in mortal danger when the Whispermen hijack their conference call. There is a real sense of creeping dread as the Whispermen attack, which quickly turns to horror when Jenny realises she’s just been murdered. After she is revived by Strax on Trenzalore, the damage inflicted to the Doctor’s timeline by the Great Intelligence causes Jenny to fade away and Strax to turn on Vastra. Neve McIntosh is brilliant as Vastra, her Silurian make up conveys every moment of heartbreak as she watches her comrades being altered by the paradoxes. Catrin Stewart is also really good as Jenny, and Dan Starky continues to impress as Strax. Here’s hoping these characters get a spin off series of their own.

The cliff-hanger ending to The Name of the Doctor, where John Hurt is revealed as another incarnation of Doctor, is sure to send rippled thought the cosmos as Steven Moffat sets the scene for the 50^th Anniversary Special. This fantastic revelation will no doubt play a significant role in the Anniversary Special and may have far reaching implications for the future.

John Hurt is a brilliant actor and I’m sure he will make a fantastic Doctor. Ironically for an episode all about the Doctor’s greatest secret it is the identity of John Hurt’s incarnation of the Doctor that holds the key. He could be any version of the Doctor, past, present, or future. Perhaps he is a dark shadow lurking at the end of the Doctor’s lifespan, like the Valeyard was, or even an older version of the 8^th Doctor from the Time War that was responsible for the demise of the Time Lords.

The Name of the Doctor provides a rousing climax to the Seventh Season of Doctor Who. Overall I think it’s been a terrific season. While it was sad to say goodbye to Amy and Rory, I’ve really enjoyed the mystery of the impossible girl, Clara Oswald, and have been impressed by diverse array of episodes and themes present in the second half of this season. I’m looking forward to the 50^th Anniversary in November, where this story will continue, and to the eighth season and beyond.

The Angels Take Manhattan

Tags

Arthur Darvill, Doctor Who, Dr Who, Dr Who Season 7, Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, River Song, The Angels Take Manhattan, Weeping Angels

The Angels Take Manhattan

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

The Angels Take Manhattan takes full advantage of New York’s famous landmarks

The Angels Take Manhattan opens in the shadowy streets of 1930’s Downtown New York as Sam Garner (Rob David) narrates the darkest day of his life. Garner has been given the task of investigating an old apartment block, Winter Quays, by an odious collector called Grayle (Mike McShane). When Sam arrives at the run-down building he explores its dark corridors, where he is shocked to discover a version of himself as a dying old man. His older self urges him to escape but before he can flee Sam is attacked by the Weeping Angels…

An idyllic moment of happiness for the TARDIS crew

We join The Doctor, Amy, and Rory in present day New York as they enjoy a relaxing day in Central Park. The Doctor has been reading aloud from a pulp-fiction novel that he has found, although his companions don’t quite share the Time Lords enthusiasm for the adventures of private detective Melody Malone. But this idyllic moment of happiness for the TARDIS crew soon gives way to horror when Rory goes to fetch them all some coffees, only to be hunted by a cackling stone cherub near a fountain that transports him back to 1938 where he is reunited with Professor River Song before they are both captured by Grayle’s henchmen.

The new “Cherub” Angels with their mischievous giggling are particularly unsettling

The Doctor and Amy must travel back to Manhattan 1938 to save Rory, as the Weeping Angels begin to unleash a wave of terror from within Winter Quays, but as The Doctor and River race against time to help the Ponds escape, the time has come for Amy and Rory to make the ultimate sacrifice…

The Angels Take Manhattan sees The Doctor faced with an almost impossible situation. Matt Smith is excellent in this episode, giving his most emotive performance yet as he effortlessly walks the fine line between the Time Lords turbulent eccentricity and menacing gloom. Indeed, Matt Smith has done some remarkable things with The Doctor’s character this season, nevermore so than here – when the stakes have been raised so high – do we get to see the strength and humility that makes The Doctor such a universal force of nature.

Amy and Rory’s lives are ripped apart by the Weeping Angles

As this is the last story to feature Amy and Rory as The Doctor’s companions, it is perhaps all the more poignant that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill are to depart just as the Ponds are at the height of their popularity. Steven Moffat’s incredible script for The Angels Take Manhattan sees the Ponds lives ripped apart by the Weeping Angles as their plot to ensnare the Time Travellers draws them inexorably towards the episodes tear-jerking climax. This is an episode full of fraught emotions: even the stoniest heart will melt when Rory tries to get Amy to push him off the roof of Winter Quays, and you’ll be dismayed as River Song is forced to allow fate to take its course, but nothing will prepare you for The Doctor’s heartrending cries of despair as Amy valiantly stands her ground against a Weeping Angel to be with the man she loves.

Steven Moffat’s quantum locked creations are utterly remorseless and without mercy

Ever since their first appearance in Blink (2007) The Weeping Angles have gone on to become one of the series most popular monsters. Here they are at their horrific best, lurking amongst the shadowy halls of Winter Quays, ready to strike from the dark without warning, and the startling new “Cherub” Angels with their mischievous giggling are particularly unsettling when  Rory is trapped with them in Grayle‘s basement. Steven Moffat’s quantum locked creations are utterly remorseless and without mercy, predators of time who feed on the timelines of sentient beings in order to survive. After their apparent destruction in The Time of Angles / Flesh and Stone (2010), the Weeping Angels are back with a vengeance, gorging themselves on the latent energy of “the city that never sleeps” to feed their relentless hunger: turning every stone statue, monument, and gargoyle around Winter Quays into Weeping Angels. Even the Statue of Liberty itself becomes a twisted monstrosity as it silently stalks its prey across the Manhattan skyline.

Matt Smith and Alex Kingston have some great scenes together

Alex Kingston makes a welcome return as Professor River Song, making her most timey wimey entrance yet as she inveigles her way back into the Time Lords life from the very pages of the Melody Malone novel he’s been reading. The Professor River Song we meet in The Angels Take Manhattan is as vivacious as ever, and still flies the TARDIS better than The Doctor, but the woman that Alex Kingston portrays here seems more akin to the River Song we first saw in her fateful encounter with the 10^th Doctor (David Tenant) in Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead (2008). There are some great scenes between Matt Smith and Alex Kingston in The Angels Take Manhattan: when River is trapped by Grayle’s chained Weeping Angel we learn she has been pardoned for her crimes and that all knowledge of the man River was imprisoned for killing has been wiped from every data bank in the universe; which perhaps explains what The Doctor has been up to while the Ponds decided to remain on Earth between adventures. The Doctor now dwells within a mysterious veil of anonymity, even the Daleks don’t seem to know who he is anymore, leaving only River Song to weave the last remaining threads of his past, present, and future to form the unequivocal testimony of the woman who killed Doctor Who…

Amy know the risks inherent when The Doctor travels alone for too long

River may have been able to help Rory after he got transported back to 1938, whilst able to keep one step ahead of Grayle and his sinister plans, but even her incredible foreknowledge is no match for the power of the Weeping Angels. The Melody Malone novel holds even more secrets than River’s diary, binding them all too future events that cannot be changed once they are read. She lies about breaking her wrist to escape Grayle’s prized exhibit, the chained Weeping Angel, but the Doctor uses his regeneration energy to heal her – which leaves River none to impressed with The Doctor. A brief interlude between River and Amy after they’ve escaped Grayle’s building also foreshadows the gathering storm that will soon engulf them all. When River warns her mother never to let the Time Lord see the damage he does, adding that The Doctor“doesn’t like endings”, which is especially poignant as they both know the risks inherent when The Doctor travels alone for too long.

Grayle’s prized exhibit, the chained Weeping Angel

Mike McShane’s villainous collector has foolishly imprisoned a Weeping Angel. He needs River Song to help him find out what the creature is, but is unprepared for the full extent of their terrible power. Having tortured the latest addition to his collection, it is perhaps fitting that when the Weeping Angels come for Grayle, their revenge is sure and swift.

Nick Hurran’s lavish cinematic direction elevates this episode to a whole new level; the location filming in New York looks absolutely stunning. The impeccable attention to the period detail of the scenes set in the 1930’s also help Hurran to strike the perfect balance between the two time zones. The Angels Take Manhattan takes full advantage of New York’s famous landmarks: Tudor City, Central Park, Times Square, and The Brooklyn Bridge, all play a part in Doctor Who’s most ambitious transatlantic adventure to date. Hurran also filmed some key scenes in Cardiff: locations that range from Cardiff University, The Glamorgan building in Cathays Park, and Box Cemetery in Llaneli are all flawlessly enhanced by the magic of CGI to give them the distinct look and feel of the high rise buildings of New York.

The Doctor and Amy must travel back to Manhattan 1938 to save Rory

Murray Gold’s score for The Angels Take Manhattan is as equally spellbinding, enhancing every key emotional moment as the Ponds exit draws near; no doubt leaving many fans reaching for the tissues as we say goodbye to Amy and Rory for the last time.

Steven Moffat promised that Amy and Rory’s departure from the TARDIS would be truly heartbreaking, and he is true to his word. From the moment you see the black swirling vortex of the title sequence – and the Doctor Who logo wickedly tinged in green – you are propelled into one of Moffat’s most labyrinthine scripts ever as he effortlessly ties everything up, even finding time to include a lovely coda for the young Amelia Pond’s very first story: The 11^th Hour (2010.

Amy And Rory decide to face their destiny “together, or not at all”

The weeping Angels have been feeding off the residents of Winter Quays, using them like a battery farm, but when The Doctor, River, and Amy catch up with Rory at Winter Quays they find he has discovered an old man – and just like Sam before him – Rory is confronted by the fully horror of his elderly self dying in a bed. Rory and Amy witness the older Rory die as The Doctor and River look on, soon the Weeping Angels begin to come for Rory, determined to send him back in time again and feed off him like the other residents. But Amy has other ideas, leaving The Doctor and River to cover their escape, they plan to leave and cause a paradox – the only thing powerful enough to destroy the Weeping Angels. Trapped on the roof by a giant Weeping Angel, Rory decides to jump to his death to create the paradox. Amy refuses to let him, instead joining him on the ledge, and as Ponds decide to jump from the roof and  face their destiny “together, or not at all” they sadly find that the last page of their story has already becomes set in stone; and not even The Doctor can save them.

A Weeping Angel has survived and catches Rory unawares as he finds his own gravestone

As the Paradox wipes out the Weeping Angles it returns Amy and Rory safe and well to the Graveyard to rejoin The Doctor and River in the present – where we caught a glimpse Rory’s grave earlier. Tragically a lone Weeping Angel has survived and catches Rory unawares as he finds his own gravestone. As Rory is catapulted back into the past a distraught Amy confronts the Weeping Angel, ignoring The Doctor’s warnings, she turns and says goodbye to her “raggedy man” and fades away to be together with Rory in the past. As the wailing Time Lord sinks to his knees Amy’s name appears alongside Rory’s on the gravestone. River leads The Doctor back to the TARDIS, where The Doctor asks River to travel with him. She agrees, at least to joining him at some point in the future, as right now she has a date with history and a novel to write…

So as the credits roll and we leave the girl who waited and the last centurion to their fate, the brief teaser for the Christmas Special will at least go some way to easing the pain of Amy and Rory’s final adventure with the mad man in a blue box. The Angels Take Manhattan is one of the best episodes so far this season, full of grand spectacle and fantastic scenery; it also offers a thrilling finale for Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. Together they have found a place in our hearts, they will be fondly missed, and their time during the 11^th Doctor’s era will be forever in our thoughts.