Doctor Who Deep Breath Review

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12th Doctor, Ben Wheatley, Clara, Deep Breath, Dinosaurs, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Deep Breath Review, Doctor Who Series 8, Jenna Coleman, Madame Vastra, Missy, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, Strax, TARDIS

 Doctor Who Deep Breath

Review by Paul Bowler

[CONTAINS SPOILERS]

 

In Victorian London, a dinosaur suddenly appears outside the Houses of Parliament. The Paternoster Gang, investigating trio extraordinaire, Silurian Warrior Madame Vastra (Neve Mclntosh), her human wife/maid Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart), and the Sontaran Nurse/Butler Strax (Dan Starkey), arrive to help Inspector Gregson (Paul Hickey) just as the T-Rex spits the TARDIS out onto the banks of the Thames. After taking charge the Paternoster Gang soon encounter a newly regenerated Doctor (Peter Capaldi) when he emerges from the TARDIS along with travelling companion, Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman).

On their return to the Paternoster Gang’s residence Clara struggles to accept the Doctor’s transformation and new personality. When the Doctor witnesses the dinosaur bursting into flames from the rooftops, he sets off to investigate, and soon the connection with the recent outbreak of spontaneous combustion in the capitol becomes apparent. A newspaper advertisement for the Impossible Girl catches Clara’s eye. Believing it’s a message from the Doctor, she goes to meet the Time Lord in a restaurant, where the patrons turn out to be clockwork robots from the 51st century, controlled by the sinister Half-Face Man (Peter Ferdinando), who has been ghoulishly harvesting human body parts to rebuild himself.

Trapped inside the robots buried spaceship, the Doctor manages to escape, seemingly abandoning Clara in his confused state. Clara holds her breath to try and evade the robots, she’s captured, but the Doctor uses a robot disguise to reach her as the Paternoster Gang join the battle. The Doctor and his companions must end the terrifying menace of the Half-Face Man before he can escape, but exactly who is this new incarnation of the Doctor, is he a good man, and will the Time Lord’s friendship with Clara survive?

The eighth series of Doctor Who launched in a blaze of publicity with Deep Breath, a special feature-length episode, staring Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman, and written by show runner Steven Moffat, and Directed by Brian Minchin. Deep Breath certainly gets the 12th Doctor’s era off to a great start as Peter Capaldi, actor, Oscar-winning film-maker, writer, artist, and life-long fan of the show, known for playing darker roles, especially the notoriously potty-mouthed Malcolm Tucker from BBC’s cult political comedy The Thick of It, brings a much darker, edgier side to his incarnation of the Time Lord. With his piercing gaze, wild eyebrows, spiky attitude, and unpredictable nature, the 12th Doctor is instantly captivating, very impatient, abrasive, and even a little intimidating at times. Peter Capaldi’s superb performance energises virtually every scene and quickly establishes the mercurial idiosyncrasies of the new Doctor’s personality.

Post-regenerative high jinks aside, in between forgetting everyone’s name, his insistence that Clara is a control freak, running across rooftops in his nightshirt, or charging off into the night on horseback, the Doctor actually spends a lot of his time in Deep Breath telling people, and even a dinosaur, to shut up! There is a great scene were the bewildered Doctor meets a tramp, Barney, played by Brian Miller (the widower of Elisabeth Sladen), where the ensuing discussion about the Time Lord’s new face, the fact he’s Scottish now, and has “attack eyebrows” provide some really fun moments. Midway through the episode we being to get a real sense of what Peter Capaldi’s new Doctor is about: he’s a real livewire, he wont necessarily care what you think about him, and he certainly wont stand around waiting for your to keep up with him either – if anything, his erratic behaviour and unruly nature makes him seem even more alien and mysterious.

Jenna Coleman is excellent in this episode as Clara. Its clear from the start that Clara is struggling to cope with this radically different, older, and greyer version of the Time Lord, who she had, until now at least, developed a close friendship with. Now she’s not even really sure who he is anymore. The Impossible Girl proves as resourceful as ever though, especially after she’s reunited with the Doctor in the restaurant, their banter is terrific, and the flashback when she becomes the Half-Faced Man’s prisoner gives us further insight into her character. Jenna Coleman really gets a chance to shine in this episode, she makes Clara seem bolder, more confident, and as a consequence the new dynamic that’s established towards the end of the episode between Clara and the 12th Doctor also feels all the stronger and refreshingly different as a result.

Fan favourites, The Paternoster Gang, also make welcome return in Deep Breath. Neve McIntosh is magnificent as the Silurian warrior Madame Vastra, she is accompanied by Catrin Stewart who plays Vastra’s human wife Jenny Flint, and Dan Starkey is also back as the hilarious Sontaran Nurse/Butler, Strax. This episode is a great showcase for their characters individual strengths: Vastra’s and Jenny’s relationship is beautifully portrayed, Vastra also provides some very timely advice for Clara about the Doctor, and Strax gets some brilliant comedic moments too.

Deep Breath also heralds a significant change in the pace and tone of storytelling from Steven Moffat as well, there are longer, more developed scenes, and the extended running time is an added bonus that really allows the plot and characters a chance to develop naturally. Deep Breath is Directed by filmmaker Brian Minchin (Kill List and Sightseers), who brings his own distinct style of horror and suspense to this episode, and as a result, the sombre atmosphere, Victorian streets, and sinister Clockwork robots are elevated to a whole new level that really underlines the darker tone of this of this new series. There are references to a number of past Doctor Who adventures as well in Deep Breath: perhaps most notably with Vastra’s initial observation about the 12th Doctor, which is reminiscent of the Brigadier’s line: “Here we go again,” from the Planet of the Spiders (1974), when Jon Pertwee regenerated into Tom Baker, there is also mention of the 4th Doctor’s long scarf, and when Clara first sees the changes inside the TARDIS she says: “You’ve redecorated, I don’t like it,” echoing Patrick Troughton’s classic line from the Three Doctors (1974/74). During her debate with Vastra, Clara also mentions Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who she quoted in the 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor (2013) while teaching in a lesson at Coal Hill School.

The Clockwork robots are also very effective, it’s clever how the episodes title forms the basis of how they attack, and their clunky, jerky movement are quite unsettling. The Half-Face Man (Peter Ferdinado), driven by his quest to reach the Promised Land, with his creepy mechanical features, unnervingly brought to life with some incredible special effects, also makes a perfect foil for the 12th Doctor. I thought the scene where Clara held her breath to try and evade the robots was really tense, and the way the Doctor then disguised himself as a robot provided an unexpected twist. The Doctor’s confrontation with the Half-Face Man in the restaurant after it takes off using a hot air balloon made of human skin, also reveals the Clockwork robots link to the 10th Doctor story The Girl in the Fireplace (2006), when the Doctor discovers this ship is the SS Marie Antoinette, sister ship to the SS Madame De Pompadour. The parallels between the Doctor and the Half-Face Man are actually quite striking in this story, both are attempting to rebuild themselves in some way, and the resolution of their conflict is chillingly effective.

When the Doctor and the TARDIS vanishes, leaving Clara stranded in Victorian London, Vastra assures Clara that the Doctor will return for her, which he soon does. However, Clara is unsure if she wants to continue travelling with him but when the TARDIS lands in Glasgow she gets a call from the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) on her mobile, imploring her from Trenzalore to stay and help his new incarnation. The 12th Doctor remembers this conversation, he asks Clara if she will help him, and she agrees as they leave to go for a coffee. It is this scene that really stays with you long after the credits have rolled. Matt Smith’s cameo as the 11th Doctor provides a great link into the events of The Time of the Doctor (2013), Jenna Coleman handles this scene perfectly, and when Capaldi’s Doctor steps from the TARDIS and asks Clara to help him it become a heartrending moment of clarity that effectively re-defines the Time Lord’s friendship with his companion and reboots the series in an instant.

In the final scene the Half-Face Man wakes in a garden, where he is greeted by a strange woman called Missy (Michelle Gomez), who seems to know the Doctor and refers to him as her boyfriend, as she welcomes the Half-Face Man to Heaven. Michele Gomez’s unexpected appearance in Deep Breath as Missy, having already been officially announced as playing the Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere, hints that this bizarre Mary Poppins like character will play a key role in series eight. Could she be the woman in the shop, the one who gave Clara the Doctor’s phone number in The Bells of St John (2013), the same person who apparently put the advert in the newspaper so Clara and the Doctor would meet at the restaurant in Deep Breath? For now she remains a mystery, whoever she is she certainly knows the Doctor, and seems to delight in telling the Half-Face Man that he has finally reached the Promised Land.

Deep Breath features a brand new title sequence, a glorious steam punk mix of whirling cogs, punctuated midway with Capaldi’s steely gaze, all set against the swirling backdrop of the time vortex as the title logo is revealed. The special effects in Deep Breath are uniformly excellent, and the attention to period detail is exquisite. There’s a new theme tune as well, which initially took me by surprise, but it‘s really beginning to grow on me now. The TARDIS also gets something of a makeover, bookshelves now line the upper gantry of the console room, and a vivid orange glow emanates from the time rotor – swathing the entire TARDIS set in deep shadows.

While events in Deep Breath are resolved relatively straight forwardly, above all else it is Peter Capaldi’s terrific performance as the new Doctor that really impresses. Jenna Coleman also excels, and return of the Paternoster Gang was most welcome. Deep Breath, while not the most complex of stories, still offers an excellent introduction to Peter Capaldi’s new Doctor, and provides an enjoyable start to the new series.

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Doctor Who The Name of the Doctor : Review

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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.

Doctor Who The Crimson Horror : Review

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Catrin Stewart, Dan Starky, Diana Rigg, Doctor Who, Dr Who, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Jenny, Madame Vastra, Mark Gatiss, Matt Smith, Mrs Gillyflower, Neve McIntosh, Rachel Starling, Saul Metzstein, Strax, Sweetvill, The Crimson Horror, Yorkshire

The Crimson Horror

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

The Crimson Horror sees the Doctor (Matt Smith) and Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) teaming up with their old friends Madam Vastra (Neve McIntosh), Jenny (Catrin Stewart), and Strax (Dan Starky) to investigate Sweetvill in Yorkshire, 1890. It seems like an idyllic place, this enclosed factory community with its happy workforce, but ghastly secrets are concealed here and no one ever leaves. People have come to Sweetvill to work in the factory, where they are offered absolution from their sins, and protection against the imminent apocalypse foretold at The End of Days.

While the streets may be spotlessly clean and the people beautiful, dead bodies covered in red wax are being washed up in the river, and a terrifying secret is brewing behind the doors of the Sweetville Mill run by Mrs Gillyflower (Dame Diana Rigg), along with her blind daughter Ada (Rachel Starling), and their mysterious business partner Mr Sweet. When the Doctor and Clara go missing at the mill Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax are informed of the strange goings on at Sweetvill. They set out to investigate, with Jenny infiltrating the shadowy building, where she finds the Doctor locked in a room.

After being captured by Mrs Gillyflower, the Doctor was lowered into the steaming vat that houses the Crimson Horror, but because the Doctor is an alien the process fails. Instead of disposing of his body in the river, Ada took pity on him, and locked him away to keep him for herself. When Jenny finds the Doctor his skin is red and he can hardly move. She helps him reverse the process and rescue Clara, just as Vastra and Strax arrive to fend off Mrs Gillyflower’s henchmen.

It transpires that Vastra knows of the Crimson Horror, she informs the Doctor that it is really the venom of a prehistoric parasite which once affected her own race, the Silurians. The parasite is really Mr Sweet, a slug-like creature that has bonded itself symbiotically to Mrs Gillyflower’s body. She has been milking its venom so she can launch it from a rocket inside the mills chimney stack. The Doctor and his friends must stop Mrs Gillyflower from launching the rocket, or the entire world will be poisoned by the Crimson Horror.

Fortunately the Doctor and Clara are able to save Ada from being shot by her mother, while Vastra and Jenny remove the venom from the rocket before Mrs Gillyflower can launch it. A well timed shot from Strax’s gun sends Mrs Gillyflower tumbling to her doom. The parasite detaches itself and tries to crawl away, but Ada finds it, and swiftly kills the creature. The Doctor and Clara say their goodbyes and he takes Clara back home, where he departs for now, but it would seem that the two children Clara is a nanny to have found out about her time travelling adventures…

This story by Mark Gatiss features the welcome return of Madame Vastra, Jenny, and the Sontaran Strax. These characters became fan favourites after they banded together to help The Doctor and Rory rescue Amy Pond from Madame Kovarian’s base on Demon’s Run  in A Good Man Goes To War (2011), and they returned to help the Doctor and Clara (The Governess) fight the Great Intelligence in the 2012 Christmas Special: The Snowmen. It’s great to see the Silurian Detective Madame Vastra and her loyal companion Jenny solving mysteries again, while Strax is as hilarious as ever and together they make a brilliant team as they explore the Sweetvill Mill.

The Crimson Horror is a comparatively Doctor-Lite episode, with the Time Lord and Clara not really featuring much until the midway point of the story. Instead we discover what is happening in Sweetvill as Vastra, Jenny and Strax carry out their own investigation as they attempt to rescue the Doctor and Clara from the mill. Neve McLntosh gives a sublime performance as the Silurian detective, Catrin Stewart plays a pivotal role in the action as Jenny, and Dan Starkey is absolutely hilarious as Strax. The banter between Vastra, Jenny and Strax is really good, with the Sontaran getting all the best lines. This trio of characters work brilliantly together, at times this episode almost feels like a pilot for their own spin-off series.

Indeed, if the onscreen camaraderie between Vastra and her friends in The Crimson Horror is anything to go by, then as spin-off featuring Vastra, Jenny, and Strax solving mysteries and fighting strange alien menaces in Victorian England would be an absolute delight.

Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman are really settling into their roles now. The relationship between the Doctor and Clara is really starting to evolve into something very special, they seem to share a unique bond, and this episode really highlights just what a good team they make. With the Doctor wearing a new variation of his costume, sporting a bowler hat, and with Clara dressed in a Victorian outfit reminiscent of the one she wore as the Governess in The Snowmen, their initial role in the story is told mainly through a series of grainy old film-style flashbacks. There is also a nice reference back to one of the Doctor’s pervious companions, Tegan (Janet Fielding), who travelled with the 5^th Doctor (Peter Davison), when the 11^th Doctor talks about Tegan and says to Clara: “Brave heart Clara.” It’s these nice little touches that have really made the second half of the season so special.

The Crimson Horror also has some fantastic guest stars, with Diana Rigg and her daughter Rachel Stirling appearing on screen together here for the first time ever. Incidentally they play mother and daughter as well in The Crimson Horror, with Diana Rigg as the wickedly evil Mrs Gillyflower, the owner of Sweetvill Mill, and Rachel Stirling as Ada, her poor daughter – who was blinded by her mothers cruel experiments. Mark Gatiss’ wonderful script really plays to their strengths, they have some fantastic scenes together, particularly when the truth about Mr Sweet is revealed, and it’s a joy to see Matt Smith and Diana Rigg working together in this episode.

After his fabulous work on The Snowmen, director Saul Metzstein returns to bring the same distinctive gothic atmosphere to The Crimson Horror as he did with the 2012 Christmas Special, having also directed Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and A Town Called Mercy for first half of the seventh season. The attention to the period detail is as impeccable as we have come to expect, as are the costumes, and the blood red venom being created in the mill is a really sinister concept. I like how the deadly wax-like venom turns people into Mrs Gillyflower’s slaves, it’s quite horrific to see the Doctor infected as well, although the parasite creature is strangely cute for something so disgusting.

This episode also marks something of a landmark for Doctor Who, as it is the 100^th episode to be shown since it returned to our screens in 2005. So far Mark Gatiss has written six stories for Doctor Who, and I think his contributions to Season Seven have been some of his best episodes so far. The Crimson Hand is a good old fashioned mystery, with the Doctor’s images captured uncannily in a dead man’s eye, a laboratory full of bubbling test tubes, some brilliant action for the Paternoster Row gang, and a thoroughly macabre sense of fun with plenty of horror clichés thrown in for good measure. The scene with the young street urchin called Thomas Thomas, who gave Strax some very precise directions to the mill, was a really neat twist on Sat Nav by Mark Gatiss. There are some nice references back to The Snowmen as well, especially as the Doctor tries to explain how Clara is still alive to  Vastra and Jenny, and a funny  closing scene where Clara realises that the children she looks after have found out that her secret “boyfriend” is really a time traveller.

The Crimson Horror is another great episode by Mark Gatiss, it’s full of dark humour and cheeky double entendres, and it’s great to see the Doctor working with Vastra, Jenny and Strax again. The plot involving Mrs Gillyflower and her bonneted assistants as they ensnare their unwitting workforce in their scheme is really chilling, transforming them into her mindless puppets, so she can launch a rocket full of the red venom and infect the entire world with the Crimson Horror. The period setting is a bizarre amalgamation of steam punk and fantasy, with some foreboding gothic undertones, that work together with the terrific ensemble cast to make The Crimson Horror one of the most entertaining – if slightly silly – stories of the seventh season.

Dr Who Christmas Special The Snowmen

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Captain Latimer, Clara, Doctor Who, Dr Simeon, Dr Who, Dr Who Christmas Speical 2012, Great Intelligence, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Jenny, Madame Vastra, Matt Smith, Oswin, Richard E Grant, Saul Mctzstein, Steven Moffat, Strax, TARDIS, The Doctor, The Snowmen

Dr Who Christmas Special 2012

The Snowmen

[Contains Spoilers]

Review by Paul Bowler

On a snowy Christmas Eve in 1842 a little boy is busily building a snowman, blissfully unaware that he is creating a monster out of telepathic snow… Fifty years later we rejoin The Doctor on Christmas Eve as an ancient alien force descends over the snowy streets of Victorian London in 1892, but instead of being full of Christmas cheer, the Time Lord has been left devastated by the loss of Amy and Rory after their terrifying encounter with the Weeping Angels in Manhattan. Consumed by sadness The Doctor has become a lonely recluse, cutting himself off from the universe, content to wallow in his despair as the festive season overtakes him unnoticed.

However, when the villainous Dr Simeon hatches a deadly plot it falls to a resourceful young governess, Clara, to enlist the help of The Doctor when Captain Latimer and his children are threatened by Dr Simeon’s plans. Clara manages to lift the stubborn Time Lord’s spirits, coaxing him out of his dark mood to save mankind, and together with the help some his old friends Madame Vastra, Jenny and The Sontatran Strax, they battle to save the world from the icy clutches of Dr Simeon and his menacing horde of icicle-toothed Snowmen!

The fall of the Ponds has had a marked effect on The Doctor and Matt Smith’s superb portrayal here of a more sombre, and melancholic, Time Lord is quite startling. Having turned his back on adventuring he now lives in the TARDIS high amongst the clouds and rarely visits the city below. It would seem that a considerable amount of time has passed since the tragic events in The Angels Take Manhattan, and this years Christmas Special gives Matt Smith a chance to really address The Doctor’s pain in a sensitive way that allows a satisfying sense of closure for him. Matt Smith’s striking new outfit for this adventure has more than a hint of  the Artful Dodger about it, with a long purple coat, and battered top hat the Time Lord looks perfectly at home as he wanders the Dickensian streets. The Doctor even adopts a deerstalker as part of his Sherlock Holmes disguise when he breaks into Dr Seimeon’s laboratory, where he discovers the giant snowgobe housing the alien intelligence that controls the great swarm.

Of course The Snowmen is an extra special Christmas episode of Doctor Who because it features the debut of Jenna Louise Coleman as Clara, in her first full adventure as The Doctor’s new companion since her surprise appearance in September as the ill-fated Oswin in Asylum of the Daleks. There has been endless speculation about what role the Warterloo Road and Emmerdale actress Jenna Louise Coleman would play after Oswin’s unfortunate fate in Asylum of The Daleks. It turns out that Clara is an entirely different person who just happens to looks like someone The Doctor has encountered before; but as the story unfolds we learn there is much more to Clara than meets the eye… Jenna Louise Coleman does a remarkable job in establishing her role as The Doctor’s new companion. Clara is a very different character to Amy Pond, she’s more down to earth, from the Victorian era, feisty and curious with a mission of her own, and she certainly has a profound effect on the Time Lord. When we first meet Clara she is working as a barmaid in the Rose and Crown to make ends meet, but a chance meeting with The Doctor leaves her determined to follow him so she can find out who he really is. The Snowmen is a wonderful introduction for Clara’s character, someone who The Doctor is immediately drawn to by her strength of will and tenacity. It can be tricky to introduce a new companion to viewers, particularly when The Doctor’s bond with his previous companions is still so clear in our minds, but Jenna’s fantastic onscreen chemistry with Matt Smith and her spirited performance as Clara will win you over in a heartbeat.

Richard E Grant (who once starred as The Doctor himself in the animated adventure Scream of the Shalka and a Comic Relief Spoof) plays the wickedly evil Dr Simeon, a man consumed by the power and corruption of a malicious alien intellect, who is determined to unleash his deadly army of Snowmen as a living blizzard of death sweeps across the city of London. Armed with a talking glass globe (voiced by Sir Ian McKellen) that allows him to control the Snowmen, Dr Simeon provides a suitably chilling menace for this Doctor Who Christmas Special. Richard E Grant gives a scenery chewing performance as the power crazed Doctor Simeon, basking in the glory of his evil plan as the snow begins to feed on the thoughts of the terrified children in an attempt to resurrect the Ice Governess, as well as some terrifically tense confrontations with Matt Smith’s newly invigorated Time Lord.

Joining The Doctor and Clara against The Snowmen is Captain Latimer, played by Tom Ward, who is best known for his role in the forensic crime drama: Silent Witness. Captain Latimer is an old naval captain; he is struggling to build a relationship with his children, and becomes unwittingly embroiled in Dr Simeon’s plot to overthrow the world. Fortunately his children’s governess, Clara, is able to convince The Doctor to help them save the world from Dr Simeon’s icy clutches.

Also making a welcome return for this yuletide special is Neve McIntosh as the Silurian warrior Madame Vastra, she is accompanied by Catrin Stewart who plays Vastra’s loyal human companion Jenny, and Dan Starkey is also back as the straight-talking Sontaran Nurse Strax. These characters quickly became fan favourites after they banded together to help The Doctor and Rory rescue Amy Pond from Madame Kovarian’s base on Demon’s Run  in A Good Man Goes To War (2011). Its great to see these characters return again, the Silurian Detective and her faithful maid make a brilliant team as they prowl the streets of London, while Strax has plenty of humorous observations to share as the planets only Sontaran Nurse/Butler. There will be more adventures with the Victorian Era Duo to look forward to when they return for the spring 2013 season of Doctor Who. If ever there was a Dr Who spin-off crying out to be made, then one featuring Vastra, Jenny, and Strax solving mysteries and fighting strange alien menaces in the fog shrouded streets of Victorian London would certainly fit the bill!

The special effects in The Snowmen are astonishingly good, seamlessly enhancing Steven Moffat’s action packed story: the streets sparkle with the silvery shimmer of telepathic snow, the Snowmen themselves are one of the series most fantastic creations to date, a frightening encounter with the Ice Governess is brilliantly staged, and the “ascent” from a magically suspended ladder which shows Clara climbing a winding staircase to discover the TARDIS floating above the cloud tops is a magical moment that will endure long after the credits have rolled across the screen.

Just as The Doctor finds a new companion in Clara, the TARDIS also gets a makeover for this Christmas Special – courtesy of designer Michael Pickwoad. This new, slightly darker TARDIS console room, is the third time the set has been remodelled since Doctor Who returned to our screens in 2005. The splendid new consol is a more refined version than the one seen in Matt Smith’s first two seasons. Bathed in an aquatic glow, it has a design which harkens back to the more traditional TARDIS interiors from the classic series, as well as a central column that swoops upwards into a lighting unit adorned with uncanny symbols from the Gallifreyan alphabet that swirl and rotate when the TARDIS is in flight. As well as a new TARDIS interior, The Snowmen will also see the introduction of an exciting new theme tune, as well as a colourful new title sequence that finally contains a glimpse of The Doctor’s face – both features reminiscent of the early years of Dr Who – that I’m sure will leave many viewers with a warm fuzzy glow of nostalgia as the opening moments harmonize exquisitely with the programmes past.

The Doctor Who Christmas Special is always an extra special box of delights for Doctor Who fans on Christmas Day, and The Snowmen is no exception to this rule. Steven Moffat’s has crafted a hauntingly magical tale that glitters with the spirit of Christmas, transporting us into a winter wonderland of fantasy and adventure as The Doctor returns from his self-imposed retirement from adventuring to battle Dr Simeon and his frosty legion of Snowmen. Of course Clara is the special person who persuades him to leave the confines of his rickety old TARDIS and take up the good fight against Dr Simeon, they make a fantastic team, and when the alien entity manifests itself as the Ice Governess (voiced by Juliet Cadzow), the children’s former Governess who drowned in a pond within the grounds of Darkover House, Clara’s true spirit and resolve shines through to allow The Doctor to save the day.

It is then, after climbing up to the TARDIS to escape the Ice Governess, that Clara actually enters the TARDIS for the very first time, and we finally get a hint of the tenuous ancestral – or should that be temporal – connection Clara has with Oswin. When the Ice Governess drags Clara from the TARDIS and Clara plummets to the ground even The Doctor is unable to save her. As Clara lay dying at Darkover House, The Doctor and Vastra take the TARDIS to Dr Siemon’s lab where The Doctor tricks Siemon into being bitten by a mind draining parasitic worm, but the globes intelligence still manages to possess Dr Siemon‘s body anyway. The Doctor and Vastra are no match for Dr Siemons’s newfound strength, however, the grief of Captain Latimer and his children as Clara dies, shedding a single tear, provides enough psychic energy to turn the snow into rain, destroying Dr Siemon’s and the alien entity controlling his body. With this new “Great Intelligence dissipated – a nice link to the alien force that controlled the Yeti in the London Underground during the 1968 story The Web of Fear  – The Doctor visits Clara’s gravestone with Vastra and Jenny and sees Clara’s full name: Clara Oswin Oswald. Although he only ever heard Oswins voice, The Doctor begins to realize what might be happening. He rushes off  to discover the mystery of the souffle girl who died twice, just as a very familiar face visit’s the same cemetery in the present day, Clara Oswin…

Clara’s identity remains a mystery, at least for now, even the fantastic coming soon trailer doesn’t give too much away – although it provides a tantalizing glimpse of some of the new episodes; with scenes featuring Jenna Louise Coleman, and plenty of monsters, including a brief glimpse of the new look Cybermen! It is entirely possible that Clara is indeed the same person, living out each life as she adventures with The Doctor, or maybe she is fragmented throughout time and space by some external force, perhaps in much the same way as The Key to Time? Clara’s connection to Oswin is sure to keep us all guessing. Whatever awaits us, I’m sure Steven Moffat will have plenty of surprises in store for as the mystery of Clara Oswin unfolds when Doctor Who returns in the spring.

The period detail lavished on The Snowmen by director Saul Mctzstein (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship / A Town Called Mercy) is nothing short of excellent; effortlessly recreating a bustling Dickensian world shimmering beneath a fairytale blanket of crisp white snow. Every moment of this blockbusting Christmas Special is overflowing with verve and energy as Mctzstein teases every Christmassy nuance from Moffat’s script as The Doctor and Clara team up with Vastra, Jenny, and Strax to face the snowmen.

The Snowmen is a hugely enjoyable story for all the family. There are plenty of nice continuity touches for fans to pick up on, the Ponds are far from forgotten (the mere mention of their name during  crucial telephone conversation with Vastra is more than enough to bring The Doctor back down to earth), we get a brilliant twist on Clara’s first reaction to the TARDIS “smaller on the outside”, and even the sonic screwdriver gets a new setting! The moment The Doctor gives Clara a key to the TARDIS is wonderful, and when The Doctor straightens his bow tie near the end you can see that the Time Lord is well and truly back in business! It successfully introduces a new companion for The Doctor, offering an endearing slice of festive fun whilst providing a fitting coda to the Ponds heartbreaking exit, allowing the show to embrace a new era – along with a sleek new TARDIS interior – as we take our  first exciting step towards Doctor Who’s 50^th Anniversary  celebrations coming up in November 2013!