Doctor Who : Closing Time

And so, after the intensity of pretty much the rest of this semi-season so far, we needed a calmer episode.
This was an hilarious change in pace.
Just like last year, I warmed to James Corden's character, despite the fact that I don't seem to enjoy his performances in anything else I've seen him in bar The History Boys.
It makes delicious sense that the 11th Doctor would, in this time of crisis, call in on his only other new friend this regeneration.  (Yeah, the inner geek would think he would probably really try to see if Susan, his granddaughter, was really alive but also this Doctor is trying to avoid the guilt, which would preclude visiting pretty much any of his travelling companions. And he's never shown any indication of trying to track down his cloned daughter Jenny from the 10th Doctor's era - curiously wiki suggests that Steven Moffatt requested that Jenny survive her episode so maybe she may reappear yet.)

Matt Smith does odd so very well. And Corden plays a wonderful straight man (in every sense as it turns out).
Yes, the story's not the most substantial.
However we see the Doctor grieving for himself and preparing to meet his death, which prepares us nicely for the finale.
And also I think this is easily the best use of the Cybermen since the revival.

So, erm, next week.
How unearth can the Doctor's death arc get resolved satisfactorially after all this build-up?
I'll be somewhat disappointed if they get out of it using a Ganger.
I wonder if maybe just maybe we see the Tardis sacrifice herself to revive him. We've seen the Doctor leave Colchester in a Tardis but I don't think we see that Doctor's Tardis in The Impossible Astronaut. So back in April, did we see the Tardis be killed instead?
And we could then have a year sans Tardis until the 50th anniversary in 2013 when he recovers/regrows the old girl.
It's a theory anyway....

Doctor Who : Night Terrors

The late Jon Pertwee once said that there's nothing more scary than coming home and finding a yeti sitting on your loo in Tooting Bec.
Which, whilst quite the mental image, is true and so therefore it's a bit of a shame that televised Doctor Who has only in this millenium got round to spending serious energy in showing the fantastical in recogonisable real-life settings. (Yeah, I know 7th Doctor companion Ace was grittier but in a middle-class-writer's view of grittiness)
And Night Terrors is a very solid example of how effective the show can be when things are pared down and it's just the Tardis crew in our world.


Yeah, you can predict the twists. A fellow Caravanner worked out where Rory and Amy were pretty quickly.
But it was the humour (Rory wondering if he was dead again) and the strength of the acting that really made this.
It reminded me an AWFUL lot of RTD's Dr Who novel Damaged Goods, set on a Thatcherian council estate beset with drug-dealers. Which is a compliment.

There was much brow-beating about things being hidden in plain sight. And before we get too excited about that as any kind of clue to this year's story-arc, we need to remember that this was originally going to be shown in the first half of the season when Amy was a Ganger.

All told, rather good, which is what we've come to expect from writer Mark Gatiss.

Doctor Who - Let's Kill Hitler

Upon rewatch, this stands up so much better than I had imagined.
You see, with any program, big event episodes tend to crumble a bit once you know what's coming.
Take 5th Doctor story Earthshock. When that was first broadcast, apparently there was no advance publicity that there were Cybermen involved and certainly no hint that companion Adric was about to snuff it. With that knowledge it is a lot of grim action in search of a plot. (though it can still shock as I found out when a casual fan I know watching on UKGold decades afterward berated me for not warning him that Adric dies)
So, yeah, Let's Kill Hitler is none of that.
While it does resolve the River mystery once and for all, there is much joy to be had, especially in the flashbacks to Amy, Rory and Mels.
The plot itself is a tad slight though it allows Alex Kingston to have a whale of a time. And Matt Smith to produce one of his most stunning performances as a dying Doctor.
But yeah, River. I do kind of think we need to rest this one a bit however we know from the midseason trailer that she will pop up again soon, this time with eyepatch.

Some folks don't care for the overly cryptic arc-plotting of the 11th Doctor's tenure but I do kind of enjoy the mysteries (even if they're not subtly presented at all).
Mewonders if the question that when asked dooms everything has nothing to do with the Doctor's name or lineage. And possibly everything to do with what exactly Rory is.

Time will tell. It usually does....

Doctor Who : A Good Man Goes To War

This is an exceptional season finale.
Last year's didn't stick the landing but, yeah, this delivers.
And going from some friends, it can be enjoyed without having seen much of this season.

And now we delve into

spoilers

Looking back it was obvious that River would be Rory and Amy's daughter.
I had kinda suspected for a while.
But the reveal was still enjoyable. (Sure, some people twigged as soon as we learnt the baby was called Melody. But I was too caught up to notice.)

Yeah, there wasn't much to the villains as yet. Evil Christian fanatics in the future has been done before (even in Doctor Who - Mark Gatiss's St. Anthony's Fire ).
And there wasn't anything distinguishing about this mob.
However the temporary supporting cast more than made up for it. I loved the idea of the Doctor calling in his debts. And the Silurian adventuress and her housekeeper girlfriend were wonderful. Even if they don't reappear on the show, they'll be in the spin-off books and audios. A lot.
Also this was the best use of the Sontarans since that mid 90s Doctor Who Magazine story Pureblood (it had an ideologically flamed war between cloned Sontarans and pure ones - very awesome).

And "Let's kill Hitler" is the best episode title ever. I assume it'll be about time loops rather than actual Nazis but, hey, that title had me in hysterics.

Yes, some of the red herrings regarding Melody's parentage and River's origins didn't make an awful lot of sense.
But this episode had to put a cap on this half of the season, answer mysteries and whet the appetite for the autumn, as well as entertain.
And it did all of that.

Doctor Who - The Almost People (spoilers)

Well, that was a lot stronger than the first episode.

It went darker places.
Solid acting all-round help finally bring this to life, a minor miracle given how unimpressed I was by the first part.
And also, in retrospect, last week's offering had a lot of water-treading to do to conclude with that cliffhanger.
So, free of that burden, this installment explored the dilemmas of having clones wandering about and the inherent questions of identity and what it means to be human.

Mucho spoilers

And this whole storyline was clearly foreshadowing for THAT cliffhanger.
Amy, trapped in a booth, about to give birth whilst watched over by the eyepatch-sporting woman.
Easily the best cliffhanger of the Matt Smith era.
And I love how it calls back to all the deaths of Rory we've seen. He's kept on dying but coming back alongside (for this season at least) a fake Amy Pond. And the Tardis was right. The only water in the forest is a River.

I still think we'll have a Ganger get-out for the dead Doctor mystery.
But now the Doctor knows he's going to die so maybe he'll be able to cook up a better plan than that.
The twist as to which Doctor was real was unexpected. To be honest, that question hadn't crossed my mind. And it was such a wonderful and in character way for Amy to spill the beans to the Doctor.

On the whole Ganger question, yes, it slightly devolved into a monster-of-the-week but at least we saw that one Ganger lived and we saw that Gangers weren't as monstrous as the humans. It would have been more fun (and messier) if both an original and their Ganger survived. (Didn't think that would be my sole criticism before I started watching this part)
And, so after all we weren't seeing the beginning of the Autons or the Sontarans or even a breakdown in Amy and Rory's marriage. But I somewhat suspect we're leading up to the Ponds' exits.

God knows what's going to happen next week. I hope we'll get a final answer as to whether River is Amy or Amy's daughter or none of the above.

Doctor Who - Rebel Flesh (spoilers)

Two part stories can be a risk.
If the first episode's weak, then you're probably not looking forward to the next installment.
This is particularly true when this story is going to be the penultimate taste of new TV Dr Who until the autumn.

As with The Curse Of The Black Spot, the supporting cast are unlikeable.
Yes, there's a knotty moral dilemma that it looks like the show will deal with head-on. In that way it reminds me very much of Malcolm Hulke's Silurian stories from Pertwee's era.
Unfortunately the plot hasn't caught alight and instead feels like an ethical debate over 90 minutes.

So, yeah, I'm hoping that next week's will be somewhat better.

Spoilery thoughts and speculation follow this photo of Rory and Amy

I genuinely can't see how we can get another episode out of this.
So is something going to come in from left-field?
Like the eye-patch lady making more than a fleeting appearance...

I also hope that the Ganger Doctor won't end up being the one we see get killed in The Impossible Astronaut. This must be a red herring, surely?
Discounting Tennant's hand-Doctor, it's been a very long time since we've had a character resemble the Doctor. (Which seemed to happen with such frequency in the 60s and 70s that the companions must have established safety words)

Also, is this the start of the Nestene Consciousness or at least their Auton-ising process?
Might we get final resolution as to whether Rory is still an Auton?
And is his friendship with Jennifer going to cause a rift between him and Amy? Methinks yes, even if it's just temporary.

Whatever happens next week, it needs to be more interesting than the first part and also not resolve the dead Doctor story-thread (because if it does, that will be the biggest disappointment in the show since the revelation of what Bad Wolf was all about)

Doctor Who : The Doctor's Wife

After last week's undercooked Pirates of the Caribbean riff, this was an absolute treat.
A Neil Gaiman-penned script was always going to be highly anticipated.
Fortunately this delivered in spades. The Moffat era has become increasingly like a fairy tale, especially when you think of the original aliens we've encountered.
This episode was like something from the darker reaches of the Brothers Grimm, equal measures terrifying and hilarious. The cast is top notch, especially Suranne Jones.
And crucially the plot just couldn't have happened in any other series, unlike last year's megastar-written episode from Richard Curtis.
It is dripping in the show's mythology but has a strong story to tell in it's own right. The show is at its best when it is a feast for the imagination and, yup, this episode is up there.
It's clearly an act of love by Gaiman and it is probably Matt Smith's best episode to date.

Doctor Who - The Impossible Astronaut

As season-openers go, this was rather good.
Witty and exciting with more than a touch of menace (and The Silence are wonderful nightmare fuel)
Yes, thus far, it seems to be a collection of set pieces rather than a plot.
Maybe it'll all become clear with the second part.
Moffat is implying that not everything will be concluded by episode's end. So maybe this season's one big arc - it's certainly a possibility.

In a remarkable turnabout, River feels less tired. She's far flirtier than I recall her being last season. Moffat's made her fun again.

The beginning is excellent - from a fun precredits to a stunning attention-grabbing moment. If you haven't seen the episode yet, you need to watch it from the very beginning.

And there's much to discuss so here be

<< Spoilers sweetie >>

Minor things first. I actually enjoyed the fact that Rory and Amy are settled and living together away from the Tardis. Yes it might stretch credibility a bit too much if this becomes the status quo, with them every now and again meeting up with the Doctor, but it's a nice touch.
I'm not sure where we're going with the pregnancy storyline. Are we setting things up for a tragedy? If so, it'll be very dark even for this era of the show.

Given the rumoured death in the Tardis family, I'm a bit disappointed if this is it.
As it's clearly a cop-out. Methinks as I speculated a while back that we'll be led to think this was it before someone else gets killed off in the next 5 episodes.
I wonder if the future Doctor will still be dead and instead we'll see the next few episodes with the sword of Damocles hanging over the Doctor.
My only concern is that we don't have a convoluted get-out.
River and Amy have made it clear that they can't save the Doctor as that'll create a paradox. Us readers of the 90s novels may wonder if we're seeing the introduction of the Faction Paradox into the TV series. (Certainly there's echoes of the cliffhanger to book one of Interference)

Also, who is in the astronaut suit at the start? River perhaps? We know she is supposed to kill the Doctor at some point.

All told, it's a solid start but there's a lot of balls being juggled.....

That slightly spoilery Dr Who press conference

There was a bit of spoilery coverage of the upcoming Dr Who series, even reaching The Guardian.
So erm here be

» spoilers. «

Stephen Moffatt's taking the approach Marvel did with the Fantastic Four, namely announcing a death but not saying who's going to be taking a dirt nap.
Whilst it does spoil, these tactics deliver as sales of Fantastic Four show.
But remember that magical cliffhanger in Tennant's last season?
The one in which he looked like he was regenerating.
Wasn't the shock and surprise exhilarating?
And that painful wait until the next episode....

So to business. Who is going to die?
I assume not Rory as we have been this way before.
Also, whoever it is, there better not be a quick resurrection unless it's the Doctor.
And Matt Smith is too new to be leaving though I am sure we will be led to believe it's the Doctor for the chop.
Smart money is on Amy, especially as we have seen River die in her future.
Which makes me more convinced it will be River as her demise would show something is wrong with time.
But what do I know? I thought Bad Wolf would be Rose...