Doctor Who Hell Bent Review

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Ashildr, Claire Higgins, Clara Oswald, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Hell Bent, Doctor Who Series 9, Donald Sumpter, Face The Raven, Gallifrey, Heaven Sent, Jenna Coleman, Maisie Williams, Me, Ohila, Peter Capaldi, Rachel Talalay, Rassilon, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Doctor, The General, The Sisterhood of Karn

Hell Bent

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

The Doctor has faced his greatest ordeal and reached Gallifrey at last. Now, with everything taken from him, betrayed on all sides, and with his hearts broken after Clara’s death the Doctor must now confront the power of Time Lords themselves. But how far will the Doctor go to save his dearest friend? Its a confrontation that will take him to the very end of time itself, and soon the mystery of the hybrid will be revealed…

Following Clara’s death in Face the Raven and the Doctor’s lone struggle to escape in Heaven Sent, the series finale of Doctor Who’s ninth series is finally here. Hell Bent, written by Doctor Who show runner Steven Moffat and directed by Rachael Talalay (The director of the two-part 2014 finale Dark Water & Death In Heaven, and series nines incredible solo Doctor story Heaven Sent) finds the Doctor back on his home world of Gallifrey at long last in this special sixty five minute episode for a cataclysmic showdown with the Time Lords.

Hell Bent effortlessly draws us in with an ending veiled within a new beginning, as the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) chats to a waitress in a Nevada diner, she looks exactly like Clara, but neither of them seem to recognise the other… The setting may be the same as the diner in The Impossible Astronaut (2011), but this is indeed Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman), and as the Doctor tells her his story about “Clara” these flashbacks begin to entwine with the narrative of events unfolding on Gallifrey to bring all the various plot threads of Series 9 together as one.

Gallifrey awaits, the bells are ringing in the cloisters, and the Cloister Wraiths are growing restless as we find the Doctor revisiting a poignant location from his past on the outskirts of the citadel – the barn the Doctor visits here seems to be the same one we saw in The Day of the Doctor (2013) and Listen (2014), although its not actually stated. A line is drawn in the sand and the Doctor is soon confronting President Rassilon himself (Donald Sumpter), who he blames for horrors of the Time War. Peter Capaldi is on magnificent form once again as the Doctor confronts the highest echelons of Time Lord society. The way he turns the tables on Rassilon is brilliantly staged, this Doctor of War is unarmed, but his reputation as a war hero is more powerful than any weapon, and its enough to win over the military and have the President exiled in a heartbeat.

After this less than welcoming homecoming the Doctor learns he was actually trapped inside the confession dial for four billion years. The General, last seen in The Day of the Doctor (Ken Bones), has a key role to play in Hell Bent, and following her appearance in The Magician’s Apprentice, Clare Higgin’s also returns as the mysterious Ohila, leader of the Sisterhood of Karn, and she has some really good scenes with Capaldi’s Doctor in this episode. It seems that Clara’s story isn’t quite over yet either, as the General and Ohila want to know more about the Hybrid (A creature spawned from two warrior races long prophesised by the Time Lords that could potentially unravel the web of time itself), but the Doctor insists to help them he will need to speak his old friend, Clara Oswald, and use the Time Lords Extraction Chamber to remove Clara from the time steam at the exact moment just before she faced her tragic death in Face The Raven.

Though it might seem a bit convoluted, the reappearance of Jenna Coleman as Clara is another undoubted highlight of this series finale. Her reunion with the Doctor is one that soon leads to an impromptu, if somewhat superfluous regeneration for the General, who then become the female General (T‘nia Miller) from here the pace of Hell Bent doesn’t let up for a moment as the Doctor and Clara flee into the cloisters. The heartfelt revelations continue to come thick and fast after they evade the Cloister Wraiths, especially when Clara realises just what the Doctor has endured to save her and uphold his duty of care to his companion.

It is here that Steven Moffat skilfully begins drawing together the numerous plot threads that have been surreptitiously woven throughout series nine, indeed, there are connections to past series too, many of which only begin to gradually become apparent in this episode, with everything from Missy’s (Michelle Gomez) throwaway remarks to Clara in the series opener, to the story the Doctor tells Clara of the lone Time Lord that supposedly escaped from the cloisters and went mad, and the ominous Time Lord prophecy of the Hybrid finally becomes a startling reality knocking four times on the door as Hell Bent races towards a thrilling, and deeply moving conclusion. Hell Bent is an episode that touches on elements and themes from both the past and the present; and it seamlessly folds everything together in the most sublime way imaginable.

The direction by Rachel Talalay is superb, every scene of this epic action-packed saga is beautifully shot, the special effects are jaw-dropping, and you will be blown away by the sheer scope and spectacle of it all. There are so many memorable moments in Hell Bent: from the Doctor playing his guitar in a the diner in Nevada and chatting to the waitress Clara, to the majesty of Gallifrey itself, shadowy glimpses of Cloister Wraiths, the hell of the Time Lords were haunting phantoms act like a firewall that guards the Matrix, where Time Lords, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, and even a Dalek lurk in the shadows. In fact, I’d say the sight of a Dalek ensnared by the living cables of the cloisters, filed away for all eternity and begging to be exterminated, is perhaps one of the most disturbing sights and concepts I’ve ever seen in Doctor Who. Throw in the General’s unexpected regeneration, along with the Doctor and Clara escaping from Gallifrey in a stolen TARDIS, complete with a beautiful original style TARDIS console room, and you have a polarity reversing series finale that rocks and rolls its way across time, space, and continuity which is often as poignant as it is exciting.

However, the Doctor’s attempt to get Clara far enough away so she regains her heartbeat, travelling to the end of time so she can evade the moment of her death in Face The Raven even though it may damage time itself, ultimately leads the Doctor to an encounter with Ashildr / Me in a reality bubble at the end of time. Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams makes a triumphant return as the immortal Ashildr / Me in Hell Bent, her character’s arc comes full circle here at last, and her theory concerning the actually identity of the Hybrid brings a new dimension to the Doctor’s and Clara’s friendship that is resolved in a heartrending farewell that finishes where everything begins.

As the Doctor’s original plan to wipe Clara’s memory of him in turns becomes his own fate, his memories of Clara fades away (Perhaps echoing the similar fate Donna‘s (Catherine Tate) character endured in 2008‘s series finale Journey‘s End), and we return to the diner in Nevada where the Doctor finishes telling the waitress his story. She goes into another room, where we see Ashildr in the original style TARDIS console room, the diner is a TARDIS, and as Clara and Ashildr depart in their TARDIS for their own adventures, the Doctor is left alone with his own TARDIS which is still covered in the memorial Rigsy painted on the exterior.

The closing moments of Hell Bent sees the Doctor entering the shadowy TARDIS interior which suddenly bursts into life around him. Donning his jacket, a new sonic screwdriver, and with a final message from Clara on the chalk board offering one last piece of advice – and perhaps a mission statement for series 10 and beyond – the Doctor is finally ready to depart in the TARDIS and continue his adventures in time and space – with the paintings for Clara on the exterior gradually peeling away as the time machine dematerialises.

On the whole, I think Series 9 has been a relatively strong season. I really liked the return of the two-part stories, like the Doctor, I think we all love a good cliff-hanger, and there was something very special about how this series kept the suspense and excitement building throughout each adventure as the overall story arc gradually built towards the finale. This has also been a great season for Peter Capaldi’s Doctor, his portrayal of the Time Lord continues to go from strength to strength, and he’s really made the role of the Doctor his own now. Likewise, I think this has been one of Jenna Coleman’s strongest seasons too. I know her character has divided opinions at times, but I’m still glad we has one more series with Clara before her departure, and its perhaps fitting that the impossible girl eventually had to leave the Doctor in the most impossible of circumstances imaginable for both of them…

Well, series nine is over, its been fun reviewing the episodes, and thank you for reading my reviews. We still have the 2015 Doctor Who Christmas Special: The Husband’s of River Song to look forward to though, along with the return of Alex Kingston as River Song, its sure to be a fun episode, and I can’t wait to see what the chemistry is like between the 12^th Doctor and River Song in this special Christmas themed episode!

Images Belong / BBC

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Doctor Who The Magician’s Apprentice Review

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

The Magician’s Apprentice

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Images Belong: BBC

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